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Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Posted by Black MagicFor group 0
Black Magic
GM, 30 posts
Mon 25 May 2015
at 22:58
  • msg #1

Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Hubs are nerve centers which allow the Wave to function efficiently; they allow for inter member communication as well as supplying needed and/or requested resources and providing information on any number of common or classified subjects. The exact number of hubs is currently unknown, but even though they share a uniform function their appearance can be in any form; a firm on Wall Street, a business office downtown, a private college, a cyber coffee house, a library, a suburb, any logical guise seems possible. Multiple attempts have been made by authorities in multiple countries to cease a hub and use it to find others, but somehow those in command of the target know ahead of time and activate a kill command that destroys all data before swallowing suicide pills. The lackeys that are left are apprehended, but can provide little to no useful Intel.
This message was last updated by the GM at 23:00, Mon 25 May 2015.
The Commander
player, 29 posts
Tue 26 May 2015
at 21:32
  • msg #2

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Paired with: Boura, Message #4.

Across the Namidian Darknet a localized message would find its way to the hands of any gifted currently operating within NorthEast America. Although the poster's details were technically Anonymous many of the recipients would easily recognize from his details and digital footprint that the account belonged to the domestic terrorist/revolutionary who'd made recent and very public attacks against the United States government. Although he'd only given 48 hours notice to each of his recipients he had already used the service to contract an international private military contractor who'd agreed to hire out over a dozen transport helicopters and three air superiority fighters in exchange for 18 million Panamanian balboa, up to five hostages of their choosing and full jailbreak/bail rights for any of their operatives captured throughout the course of their mission.

He'd requested military backup from any available parties to run interference, as well as the talents of any Gifted individuals who wouldn't prove to be a liability in a direct firefight. Contractors were permitted to name a reasonable price after they'd exchanged identities with the poster and had been given a partial dossier on their mission.
Dieter Sievold
player, 45 posts
Sun 31 May 2015
at 16:49
  • msg #3

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Paired with: Curacao

The website belonged to the Travel Bureau of a small island nation. It had tabs listing the island's many attractions, various pieces of information about the island's history, and flashy banners advertising the various tours available through affiliated companies.

One of the tabs led to a message board where people could post questions, make comments, and review various locations and hotels. Buried in this content was a small sub-board with only a handful posts about an obscure little village in the island's interior. The messages were all coded and undecipherable but a savvy mind would note that the messages weren't about hotels, orange groves, and travel distances but about targets, troops strengths, and allocation of resources.

A man sat behind a computer and lit a fat, Cuban cigar as he leaned back and regarded his last post. His handle was O Chefe and his latest post read simply: Green Light.
Dieter Sievold
player, 93 posts
Fri 26 Jun 2015
at 07:19
  • msg #4

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

The man smoking the Cuban had a knit brow as he read the reports on Chicago and grunted satisfaction. He looked up in consternation as his personal aide entered the study. It was the kind of place Teddy Roosevelt would have been comfortable in. He was surrounded by trophies from various hunts and operations in a large plush chair with a blanket over his lap. He was the second oldest member of Schwartze Augen and enjoyed the position his years of success had garnered. Teddy might have been nonplussed to note that many of the trophies were grisly battle trophies though none were as tacky as stuffed and mounted human parts. No, they were broken helmets, torn capes, weapons, and the like.

The aide approached with a stern serious face that said it was important or he would never had entered the study. He briskly handed over an envelope and then left just as briskly. The man frowned as he opened the envelope and looked through six documents. The first four were images captured by a camera in a private box at Zumanity, the fifth a transcript of a conversation from the second image, and the last was a dossier on the woman. The man frowned deeply and then reached into his smoking jacket and pulled out a phone. He hit the single button, spoke several coded phrases, then waited as it rang; Dieter was not amused.
The Commander
player, 58 posts
His word
is law.
Thu 30 Jul 2015
at 13:50
  • msg #5

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

>Connect proxy_server[TheCommander][latest]... Connection successful...
>Decrypt message latest...
>Decryption attempt[11]of[100]... Decryption successful...
>Open_Channel message... Connection successful..
>Run Channel


A moving image of 'The Commander' resolved on screen as the digital conference program successfully executed. He was sat at his usual station within his Command room and from the cameras position the viewer would be able to see his naturally scowling jaw peeking out from under his cap. His tone, however, was amicable.
"Dieter. It's not often that I'm offered a personal contract- what did you have in mind?"
Commander's scowl deepened slightly, it was usually difficult to tell difficult to tell when Brett was angry or simply keeping a neutral expression- but there wasn't any doubt here.
"My consolations regarding Squad Bananas, by the way. If I run into the man responsible I'll give him a bullet on your behalf."
Dieter Sievold
player, 110 posts
Thu 30 Jul 2015
at 16:06
  • msg #6

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

>Connect proxy_server[DieterS][latest]... Connection successful...
>Decrypt message latest...
>Decryption attempt[17]of[100]... Decryption successful...
>Open_Channel message... Connection successful..
>Run Channel


It was always a bit hard to tell what Dieter would show up to the darknet meetings. There seemed to be more than one of him or the rumors were true and he was schizo. Whatever it was, it worked for him and Dieter operated on a massive scale with very little problems and very efficiently.

sometimes he was seated in a study straight out of one of Teddy Roosevelt's wet dreams smoking stogies and drinking liquor, sometimes he was in a casino office, occasionally he was other iconic locations. This time, it was the cold white and steel of the laboratory in Gaultown. This Dieter's eyes bored like drillbits as he regarded the Commander and seemed immune to anyone else's emotions.

"Aye, I lost two good teams in Chicago and a third will be inoperable for moths. Still, as long as everything proceeds according to plan it will have been worth it. That said, I appreciate your aid. That same... operative was responsible for taking Cimmeria out of action as well. Franklin Jackson, or so my file insists, though the man by that name should be someone's great-grandfather by now. I owe him more than a few things." Dieter's voice was flat though and Commander knew that this man bore no one actual grudges. God forgive the man or woman who ever stirred Dieter's heart to true anger again.

Dieter reached offscreen and seemed to fiddle with a few things and then a picture in picture popped up on the screen, "That was after Cimmeria dropped me off this little present. Some Rogue Protector operating in New York with a suite of powers and unknown intentions. I wanted him interrogated by the best, personally, and that means you. That voice of yours... heh, it gets the job done when you need people doing what they are told. I am prepared to offer you first dibs on any information gleaned or a copy of the datafiles my teams accumulated in Chicago... as well as a nice fee of course. Unless... there was anything else you needed?" The image was a live stream from the camera in Black Magic's cell far below.

Dieter sat back and steepled his hands over the immaculate white lab coat he was wearing.

EDIT: Fixed text coloring
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:18, Fri 31 July 2015.
The Commander
player, 59 posts
His word
is law.
Thu 30 Jul 2015
at 18:02
  • msg #7

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

"Money's always a good motivator of course, but now that you mention it I did have something specific in mind."
The Commander tapped his finger against the armrest of his seat and it's surface illuminated into a touchscreen keyboard and trackpad, with a few more swipes and jabs of his finger he illuminated a monitor placed behind his seat- the display shifted to show a wireframe globe with five marked points orbiting it.
"I need the digital access and update keys for these information relay satellites. My usual hacker and I had a falling out, and although I have hackers of my own I can't afford for this to get traced back to one of my servers."
He dismissed the map with another stab on his armrest.
"It'd be easy for you to get the information I need, and easy for me to get the answers you want. When do you you want the man interrogated?"

Commander leaned forward in his chair, presumably to examine the camera feed of Black Magic's cell.
"I will also need any information you have about this man's abilities, of course. If he were an ordinary prisoner I wouldn't need the precaution, but Gifted have always been... tactically complicated."
Dieter Sievold
player, 111 posts
Thu 30 Jul 2015
at 18:16
  • msg #8

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Dieter's eyes narrowed as a specific need arrived. He wouldn't have offered it if he hadn't thought the Commander had a specific need or if he wasn't willing to comply. As soon as the screen displayed the five satellites in question, he stabbed a button and captured the information. He shunted the information over to one of his operations specialists who analyzed it, identified the targets, and sent him back a rating of 3 on the difficulty spectrum, out of 5.

He then smiled at Commander, "Excellent taste as always Commander. I'd need you here as soon as possible. As you say, the Gifted are tactically complicated. He is currently held in the water cell, but I can't be sure it will hold him long. His suite of gifts is impressive. He's easily a category 3 or 4 purely based on power potential. If he's creative... well..."

Dieter quickly pulled up Cimmeria's testimonial file as well as some information they have found in an internet sweep on the Vigilante known as Black Magic. This included a few cell phone videos of the public parts of his fight with Spurt and Cimmeria. He sent it over happily, "Consider that a gift if the job is not to your liking. It's all we have on him now; if we had more we wouldn't need the interrogation quite as... urgently."

If Dieter was using words like "urgent" that meant something. The man never over-reacted to anything in Commander's experience. "I think I can have the access you need inside of two weeks, but the interrogation needs to happen within two days, the faster the better. The detainee is at the Gualtown facility. Your usual entry codes and security passes will be activated once you notify me you are five minutes inbound. As always, you are allowed +7, no more than five of which can be armed."
The Commander
player, 60 posts
His word
is law.
Fri 31 Jul 2015
at 14:13
  • msg #9

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

"I can leave for Gualtown the moment I've ran through a post-mortem with my Chicago teams and greeted my hostages. Including travel time... call it four hours."

Commander rubbed the stubble on his chin as he considered the best way to use his seven men. A driver, a pilot, and five bodyguards seemed like the ideal configuration- he wondered whether it'd also be worth deploying Megalodon's sister-drone, Leviathan, as an extra measure. He decided against it- the extra firepower would be useful if the worst came to pass, but testing the patience of his fellow Namidians was never a wise strategy.

"I'll be flying in, but make my final approach by civilian vehicle- I know that you've spent a great deal of effort to keep your facilities discreet, after all."

With nothing else that needed to be said, or at least nothing that couldn't be said in-person after Commander's arrival, the call was terminated.
Dieter Sievold
player, 112 posts
Fri 31 Jul 2015
at 15:14
  • msg #10

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Dieter didn't bother confirming any of it. It was all factual observation that needed no correlation or meaningless pleasantries. He noted the four hour arrival time and then left orders to handle Commander's arrival, accommodations, and security details to his operations staff. He then pulled up data on the Chicago fight and continued to analyze as he waited. A large red clock was set and began to tick down from 4 hours as Gaultown made ready to welcome a fellow Namidian Lieutenant.

They might all play for the same team and work well together, but trust was not a commodity they spent hastily or easily. Dieter missed Cimmeria already.
Dieter Sievold
player, 195 posts
Sat 11 Jun 2016
at 12:42
  • msg #11

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Season Two

Vincent was still pretty new to it all, but he was getting on. He turned the handle of the door and stepped into the briefing room of the base he had been living at for the last two months. As a new addition to SA's forces, he had been receiving some training and education. He had to admit, SA made the Triads look like kids playing in the sand despite being thousands of years younger. He only knew pieces of it, but the flows of money, technology, and information that the shadowy organization brokered were staggering.

Inside the room, he nodded at the other two who had been sharing the compound with him: Lady Scarlet and Emily Nigma. Scarlet he enjoyed his time with; Nigma was a pain in his ass. One was a professional soldier and he got on well with her. The other was a narcissistic, know-it-all who, unfortunately, knew pretty much everything. The woman had only to look over a set of information once and it was locked away inside her skull. Both women had been at this base on the island nation of curacao, which might as well have been SA's private government, as one recovered from injuries and the other plotted with Dieter. They were two of his fellow lieutenants. Even as he greeted them and took his seat at a terminal, one of two screens on the back wall lit up and Mr.BLack joined them via a secured darknet signal a second before the other screen lit and the red headed madman grinned at them all. Mr. Black was the lieutenant in charge of North American operations out of Boura for now, since the real agent was imprisoned, while Redcap was contracting with them in Asia. An empty chair was meant to designate where Mr. Green should have been seated.

They were all situated so that they faced a bank of five monitors. Exactly on time, the center monitor lit and Dieter's visage, far from incarcerated as the world suspected, looked calmly out at them. He might as well have been downstairs as anywhere from the view behind him. The man was calling from a sound-proofed, blank, gray room.

"Lady Scarlet, status report. How are the upgrades?"

The woman shifted and then rolled her neck. She had been subjected to some of SA's best technology and techniques these last two months to repair the body a certain loud-mouthed ITSDA agent had shattered. Healing that might normally requires years of treatments and therapies had taken just two months. Additionally, she had been testing and refining a new type of exo-skeletal armored combat suit, "Sir, the dry run in Gaultown was a great leap forward in it's design. At least The Smith was good for something. It is combat deployable at will, sir. As for me, the medics have me at 99% recovered."

She knew better, like they all did, than to embellish. Dieter hated extraneous information. He cared for his subordinates but not for needless banter in these meetings. Dieter and the rest of SA had been mourning the massive loss of manpower in Gaultown after all. "Excellent, I may have an assignment for you coming up. At least that mess in Gaultown provided some information as well as a smokescreen for the blunder Smith caused us. Mr. Gray, how are the recruitment operations going?"

That was Vincent's new designation. They all used colors in SA hierarchy. He snapped to his own screen in front of him and pulled up the numbers from the last week, "Of the 30% North American manpower losses in Gaultown, we have recovered approximately 45%." No need to mention that even in a hiring boom, SA's standards for its soldiers had not been lowered. So, finding eligible men and approaching them quietly was going slow. There was also the restructuring that incorporated Redcap's strange cult into SA rank and file. "We recruited two more Banshees this week and Mr. Black found us another squad of ghouls. They are being trained in now." Since Gaultown, Vincent and Mr. Black had been put in charge of recruiting new soldiers as well as training them alongside Lady Scarlet. "We have also identified and sent to you information on a possible addition to the Sidhe. Recommendation?"

The Sidhe were SA's coordinators, tactical officers, and represented significant investment in training, resources, and talent. They were extremely hard to recruit as the requirements were narrow and unforgiving. Dieter pulled a file in front of himself and the most left screen lit up with the dossier of an Indian boy barely passed his eighteenth birthday. His academics were listed as well as several other parameters. The boy was an off the radar genius as well as a physical prodigy. They had lost two operators at the battle, which was a true blow: Peggy and Laura would be missed. Dieter nodded and spoke, "Make the preparations to approach him with the standard deal. Gray, I leave it to you. Miss Nigma, how is the plan formulating?"

The super genius shifted in her seat. She had been eying the dossier with a strange look in her eyes, "Well, finding the location wasn't hard. Hiding massive submerged prisons isn't as easy as it is cooked up to be. Information beyond that... has been more than impossible to find. We'll be flying blind in there." Dieter made an angry sound. Nigma was still one for commenting when unnecessary. Dieter seemed to tolerate it from her when he would reprimand others. In the last two months, Nigma seemed to have climbed SA's organizational structure into a new, if unconfirmed, position of sub-commander to Dieter alone. The woman was impressive. It had been her who suggested the piece of technology now wired into Redcap's head after all.  Dieter raised an eyebrow at her, "Yes yes, quite it with the commentary. Anyway, we have taken what little we could find and formulated a plan that will require my presence to enact but should work. It requires too much tactical flexibility and adaptation for anyone else to do it. As long as the scenario we spoke about is still in play?" Dieter nodded at her then shifted his attention to Redcap who was seated in a posh office with a distinct Asian decor.

The man didn't wait but started to speak, "The device was installed two weeks ago and has increased my ability to produce my particular brew and refine the recipe a bit. I have a 25% increase in stocks and a 10% yield of the refined product. Increased sales in Macao, Hong Kong, across India, and Singapore. Street level penetration is at all time highs, we are letting many Run Wild and maintaining a few. Penetration of higher level markets is slow. My product is pretty high profile. Nigma has been essential in securing a few, key clients. With the help of SA science a new version of Redcap's drug was on the market. It was diluted and produced a less severe physical reaction while the addiction was even more potent.

Dieter took in the information then nodded, "Prepare Operation: Atlantis for implementation. Gray, Scarlet, Nigma: your are leading the operations. Mr. Black, continue recruitment. Redcap, prioritize Hong Kong and Singaporean penetration. This meeting will be designated Echo-Lima 1483 and saved in the harddrives here as per usual." Vincent still didn't know why Dieter logged and saved everything in some mysterious place, but it was the signal that the meeting was adjourned. He stood and walked out with his fellows. SA had been recovering, licking its wounds for some time now. It had let the world think that Dieter was incarcerated and had moved slowly. Nigma had put forward a plan to make it look as if they were chaotic and unorganized while the restructuring and resupplying went on quietly in the shadows. But now was the time to strike and remind ITSDA just how hard this war was going to remain for them. among their first tasks was recovering lost assets and maybe even acquiring some news ones from a certain prison.
The Commander
player, 192 posts
His word is law.
His plans, patient.
Sun 12 Jun 2016
at 00:00
  • msg #12

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Season 2

The Commander tightened his fingers into a fist, and the fibreglass cast surrounding his hand creaked to accommodate the gesture.

"Two months to recover? I must be getting past my prime."
Commander spoke with his usual mixture of dissatisfaction and self-loathing. He held his men to impossible standards, but himself even higher. The dark rings under his eyes indicated that the warlord hadn't slept well, maybe he hadn't slept well for years. Nonetheless the mans eyes themselves were sharp, focused, and most of all impatient.

"You'd have recovered in a lot less, if you'd only followed my advice and let it rest."
A heavily muscled man with a pristine labcoat and set of spectacles perched on the end of his dark-skinned nose fussed with his Commanders cast. He was Lieutenant Andarall, leader of The Commanders research division.

"I don't do that. Hurry up and cut- I have reports to read."
His Lieutenant did as bid, and with a slice of surgical scissors the medical prison surrounding The Commanders limb cut open. The Commander tore his hand free immediately and raised it to the light to inspect it.
His muscles had atrophied slightly from disuse, and a dark line of colour remained over part of his arm. He'd regained full use of it, but particles of metal and plastic still remained trapped within his system. The agent known as 'Jump' had phased his flesh into a solid object, and recovering it's use had been a painfully slow process- The Commander couldn't help but feel a stab of envy toward the Gifted who's abilities let them shrug off such wounds in their stride. Bastards.

He wrung the ache out of his disused hand before donning it in a glove, and marching out of his medical ward without another word. His journey took him through a series of corridors as he followed a deliberate path towards his goal. He strolled by a Barracks full of cheerfully chattering men and women who stopped to salute him as he passed, a busy vehicle bay full of the smell of diesel and the din of working mechanics, and a vast training hall where solders practised their combat maneuvers and used reinforced treadmills to build up their stamina under the load of full combat gear. He'd seen all of it before, and so ignored it.




"Status!"

The thick steel doors to Commanders command chamber hissed open, and the man himself stamped through. He tightened the decorative cap lower to his head and dropped heavily into a chair centring a steel-plated room. Besides himself the chamber was manned by several technicians working industriously at their terminals, and four squat towers which housed an impressive array of computing technology. A bank of multiple monitors covering the far wall flickered rapidly to show The Commander a wealth of information.

"Sir! Our eye's have touched down in Rotterdam Airport. They will establish full contact within the hour."

Commander acknowledged the technician with a nod, and then scowled over his monitors.
By all accounts he was doing well. He had escaped the Gaultown massacre with only a superficial injury, and although he still grieved deeply for the loss of his 'Keepers' unit he hadn't suffered anywhere near the same losses that some of his fellow Namidians.
-but doing well was no excuse for complacency. On the contrary; So long as he held the advantage he would double down his efforts to use it to full effect. If he lost the advantage he would double down yet again to get it back. He would never stop raising the stakes.

"What about our outreach to the black market? So long as the ITSDA have their hands tied we should pursue our 'White Sands' operation."

"Sir. Details are on screen. Ground teams are awaiting dispatch to corroborate the information."

"Send them."
The Commander
player, 229 posts
His word is law.
His plans, patient.
Mon 1 Aug 2016
at 19:31
  • msg #13

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

In the same uncertain location, before the prison assult- yet after the Beckerly raid:

A strip of runway lighting flashed along the ground of a vast indoor hanger, and the roaring sound of Megalodon's jet engine filled the enclosed space with deafening noise as it wound down from it's last mission. The weapon would eventually come to a complete halt, be attended to by it's Namidian engineers, and stored until it's next deployment. A few minutes later a nondescript van would screech it's way into the same space from a sealed service tunnel, come to a halt, and throw open its doors to a barrage of shouting.

"Everybody out! Do what the armed soldiers tell you, and you shouldn't have to stay long- but if you make a nuisance I'll double your ransoms, just because I can!"

Five masked thieves, Four hostages, and one Commander were greeted by over a dozen armed guards. Without ceremony Commander instructed that the civilians should be shown to a spare Barracks, that they should be instructed on how NOT to behave while under his protection, and then shoo'd the whole group away dismissively. He would make the time to interrogate them individually later. The Van that they'd arrived in was towed into storage and replaced by another, who's driver had already unlatched it's doors and begun loading a set of specialist scuba equipment into it's cargo hold. Commander shot 'One' a questioning and particularly irritated look.

"What the hell's all this? I need you in the war-room for post-mortem reports."

"The Acting-Commander set up a contract while we were out. Schwartze Augen requested a joint operation in Maine, and if we're going to test the equipment and make our rendezvous we need to leave now."

Tudor! That lieutenant of his was getting far too comfortable in change by far! That was partially Brett's fault for grooming him as his replacement. Commander had contingency plans for everything, including his own demise, but by preparing for disaster he sometimes felt as though he were inviting it... He let his soldiers finish their preparations to leave, and marched off to exchange words with his subordinate. The angry lines of his features hardened as they set into a scowl, and The Commander felt something in his mood break and give way to a strange sense of singular purpose.




The doors to Commander's war-room hissed open, and Tudor snapped out a salute as it's owner entered. He raised his voice in greeting but was silenced by a gesture as Commander spoke over him in a quiet monotone. The singular lack of emotion in his tone somehow managed to carry a threatening edge.

"Everybody leave, except Tudor."

The technicians and junior officers staffing the room did so, leaving Brett and Tudor to glare at each other in an uncomfortable silence. The lieutenant looked as though he were weighing the wisdom of speaking first. Brett's fingers were twitching by his waist, inches from his sidearm... the absolute only thing that Commander tolerated less than gratuitous violence was having his leadership usurped. More than one Namidian had been overthrown by their supposed Henchmen, and Brett had learned from example not to let his organisation crumble from within.

"I think I know what that this it about- I can explain, Sir."

"You'd better."

Tudor carefully leant over and tapped a finger onto the arm-rest of Commanders chair. The concealed keyboard lit up, and after a few deft key presses Tudor had brought up the Namidian darknet onto the rooms main monitor. The most recent interception showed a high priority message from Dieter Sievold, or rather, one of his organisations survivors- the mission looked difficult, and certainly not something that Commander appreciated being greenlit without his input.

"The Blackeyes want to free their master... I'm not surprised. Why did you accept this contract? I thought I made it clear that we were taking a break from joint operations after the complications we suffered in Gaultown and Chicago."

Technically he had suffered only minor losses at Chicago and Gaultown, or at least his losses were minor compared to what his enemies had suffered, but anything less than a perfect result would never be good enough to count as a 'win' in his book- and both of those operations had been notoriously messy. Initial scouting had revealed that the ITSDA were remarkably protective of their prison, and raiding the facility was almost a suicide mission. Brett was even more tempted to lose his temper than he'd been before, but as his eyes scanned the end of the document his mood suddenly changed; Tudor had done more than just accepting the contract on a whim, he'd negotiated a very convincing fee.

The reply to S.A's request had included a file attachment that described a glass plate, two feet in diameter- with exacting details labelled on it's compositions, molecular structure, and tensile resistances. For reasons kept close to his chest The Commander had been trying to acquire a lens of such specifications for several months- and Schwartze Augen had just confirmed that they had the facilities to produce the component. Brett's fingers stopped twitching and drew away from his sidearm, and Tudor let his posture sag in relief.

"Your mission will go ahead, but I will be overseeing it's execution. Do not risk overstepping your boundaries again, You are dismissed."

"Sir."

Tudor snapped a smart salute, and marched from the war-room without another word. It wasn't until the steel doors had hissed shut between himself and his leader that he released a breath that he'd been holding, and steadied himself against the corridor wall with a shaking hand.
He'd known that taking liberties with his temporary rank would have drawn the Namidians irritation, but he hadn't expected him to react with instant threats! Despite his reputation as a particularly moralistic villain The Commander was, after all, still a Namidian- worse, he suffered from the same delusions as many Gifted- and the impassionately merciless look that his own leader had shot at him convinced Tudor that he'd come dangerously close to crossing a line that Commanders delusions wouldn't tolerate. He ordered the war-rooms Technicians back to their posts, and decided to give the area a wide berth until whatever strange mood that'd seized his Commander abated.

Back in the hanger a torpedo-like Diver Propulsion Vehicle was finally mounted into the back of an idling Van. With the last of it's cargo stored the transport slammed it's doors shut, and sped off to it's next mission...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:15, Mon 01 Aug 2016.
Cimmeria
player, 60 posts
Mon 29 Aug 2016
at 12:34
  • msg #14

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

In a room buried under layers of concrete and earth, a portal of violet light opened on a wall a crossed from a computer, desk, and chair. Cimmeria emerged from the colored light flanked by two others: a small Japanese woman wearing a black kimono embroidered with lush red flowers. She wore a katana at her waist. The other was a frail old man clothed in a pink cardigan and freshly ironed khakis. His face was lined with age, the folds of wrinkles seemed to ripple outwards from his bright green eyes.

Without a word, to either of them, Cimmeria took a seat and began typing. Her fingers moved a crossed the keyboard as if it was a piano, never taking a pause to look up at her work on the screen. She opened several different windows, entering passwords and pins to get herself deeper and deeper into the darknet. After a few minutes went by she finally located the old message board only she and Dieter had used for communication. Even though this channel of communication was as private as she could have hoped, she still typed in code in order to hide their activities.

Her message read:



                  Alice has stepped back through the Looking Glass.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:17, Mon 29 Aug 2016.
Dieter Sievold
player, 285 posts
Mon 29 Aug 2016
at 17:26
  • msg #15

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Deep in his villa on the island of Curacao, Dieter was ensconced in one of his favorite chairs, smoking a fine Cuban cigar, and sipping the best of brandies. He was staring at a board made of black and white squares. The board was tacky cardboard material, straight from a Hasboro factory somewhere, and was scuffed and scratched. Across the board were dozens of odds and ends games pieces: a silver shoe, a pink plastic car with several pink stick people in it, a black king, shogi pieces, go stones, an even a triple decked red king. Whatever symbolism or rules the game represented were deep inside only Dieter's mind.

He was staring at two pieces in a corner. They were surrounded by four black checker pieces and consisted of a carboard cutout of the Green Lantern held up by a plastic widget and a white knight.

He shook himself from his reverie and noted a cursor blinking on his personal PC. He frowned and pulled the laptop to him then enabled several programs, apps, and entered dozens of passwords before reading a single line message. He began to cackle and looked to his board state. He reached for a white Go stone and placed it outside the wall of black checkers.

Chuckling still, he wrote a simple message back:
        The knave of hearts has offended the king. The dormouse knows what happened.
Cimmeria
player, 61 posts
Thu 1 Sep 2016
at 10:10
  • msg #16

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Cimmeria gave one of her rare smirks as Dieter's message typed itself out on her screen. The computer she was using was an older model, she found them more reliable and easy to hack with compared to the fresh models with ITSDA tracking systems built into the hard drives to catch conversations such as this. To most, the task of breaking into an Ultra Super Max Prison would be an impossible feat, for her it was a slice of pie. The last encounter with ITSDA had not gone her way, this time, it would.

Once again the assassin's fingers dashed along the keyboard. Her message, this time, was even shorter:

"Alice requires three lumps of sugar with this tea and the EXACT teapot in which the dormouse sleeps" Triple pay, not for herself but the two beside her. As fresh recruits, they needed a bit more convincing than she to go straight into the lion's den. The pair has just awakened to their gifts within the past few months. She prayed Dieter's sources knew the cell in which Mr. Green was kept, if not, her job was about to get a lot more difficult. She was fully prepared to go in guns blazing, but she preferred to get the nasty man to safety first.
Dieter Sievold
player, 290 posts
Thu 1 Sep 2016
at 14:30
  • msg #17

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Dieter smiled as things began to resolve around one particular problem. He read the reply then slowly typed a lenthy response. Code made it tough but after reviewing he thought it sifficient: The dormouse has been procurring a secret blend from the Knave in the Emerald City. I am sure if one looked about the pantry, some clues would present themselves. Or asking Mystery Women to secure knowledge. As far as sugar goes, the supply is ample.
Cimmeria
player, 62 posts
Tue 20 Jun 2017
at 09:48
  • msg #18

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

Cimmeria gave the glowing face of the monitor a satisfied nod. She cut the power, stood up, dowsed the desktop is gas she procured from a micro-portal and lit a match. The tiny flame danced for a moment, then stood straight as an arrow towards the ceiling. Small droplets of perspiration formed on Cim’s upper lip from the heat of the match, her lips were tight in thought. Too much time had passed since her last assignment, too much down time. Her limbs felt encumbered with entropy, yet her mind was as clear as Caribbean waters.  She could sense the excitement of the pair the flanked her.
An awful pair

Quickly, she pushed the thought from her mind. Reading their files, Cim knew that the old man was a shape changer, and the woman a speedster, but, you can never be too careful around gifted. For all she knew, they had trump cards still hidden up their sleeves. “Satsuki, prepare the chopper. We’ll be with you in a moment.” The kimono-clad woman gave the slightest of bows and then faded into a blur of black and red. One could feel the air in the room rush to fill the space she occupied
A breeze, then nothing.
The old man stood still, like fresh corpse propped up for a morte memori. His kindly eyes unblinking as Cimmeria flicked the match onto the computer, which caught fire immediately.

“I require you to retain some semblance of self-control.” Cimmeria did not grace the man with eye contact when he said this. He unnerved even her cold and arctic stone demeanor. The sweat remained on her upper lip as the fire grew larger, the glass on the monitor cracked, then shattered. Electric blue light flashing before the flames took home upon the circuit boards and wires within its shell.
Burning the computer was excessive, she knew that. There was little chance ITSDA would even find the location of this chamber, let alone dig twenty stories beneath underground to reach it. Thick clouds of smoke hung in the air, yet still, the old man did not blink.

“I will try my best ma’am.” His teeth flashed, reflecting the flames.

“hmph.” Cimmeria turned away from the desk as it collapsed upon itself, embers fluttering into the air like fireflies. Ephemeral stars in the room’s darkness. She strode a crossed the room and stepped through the still opened portal without a word. The old man followed suit.
Dieter Sievold
player, 308 posts
Thu 27 Jul 2017
at 05:37
  • msg #19

Re: Namidian Hub (Location 6)

It was one of the most important rooms in the SA Central Theater. A small, cozy room warmed by a fireplace and appointed with soft, comfortable chairs. Inside, Dieter sat and thought as he stared into the flickering fires. He wasn't planning.

So many others of his ilk lost because they were always planning. Dieter was reviewing. He was carefully going over every piece in his vast army and running down what each piece was doing now. Not what he would do after they were done with their current missions, but just what they were accomplishing now. He sipped from a glass of his own microbrew as he did so and smoked a clove cigarette. Idly he reached over and took a macaroon from a tray and nibbled it as he concentrated. This was a daily ritual for him and one of the reasons that his theater of operation was so organized and successful.

His concentration was broken as the large oak doors cracked open and a familiar face stepped in. He smiled at his counterpart as the large man settled into a chair opposite him. "How did prison suit you?"

The man chuckled and shook his head, "It was as I expected it to be. Everything went according to the plan."

The first man went deadly still, "No, Three, everything did not go according to plan. We lost the Processing Hub. We will not have reliable access to that facility again for quite some time. Luckily for you, ITSDA did not actually find the installation. The blow to ITSDA via the Prison Break only mitigates your abject failure, it does not excuse it."

The second man look chastised but arched an eyebrow, "It is unlike you to indulge in hyperbole, Dieter. "Abject failure" is simply not an accurate description. That said, I understand if the Mind/Body protocol is being implemented. It is the move that I would make."

The first man rocked back in his chair and took a long, lingering moment of silence to adjust his attitude. Three had been correct in his assessment. "Regardless, the Mind/Body protocol is being invoked. Submit yourself to the kitchen. Have a drink and a cigar first, though."

The two Dieters sat in silence for a long time before the second one got up and exited the room. Dieter returned to his thought exercise again. It took him two more hours to finish going over all current SA operations in the world. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Things weren't as bad as he had made it sound,SA programs were advancing acceptably. The protocol was being enacted for many other reasons. Three had knowledge that needed to be disseminated; the risk of losing it was too high to maintain it in one location.

Dieter shifted in his seat as a very large dinner was set beside him and began to eat methodically and without passion as he went through his second exercise of the day, considering all the plots he could enact and how they would meet his goals.
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