Lilibeth tries to help with the chemistry analysis but isn't sure if she hindered more than helped. _"Nuts!" she says under her breath, then grimaces and looks at Jacob. "Guess I should have paid more attention in class," she tells him.

OOC
Runa rolled 74 using 1d100.  Chemistry @55
This message was last edited by the player at 04:18, Sat 10 Dec 2022.

In reply to Winter Herald (msg # 106):

Without an hesitation, "I would not have suggested this plan if I was not willing to take responsibility for its results."

"Acceptable response." Winter Herald nodded. "Unless Senor Garcia has an objection, I am willing to endorse this plan of yours, if only because of your clear belief in it. May entropy be in your favor, Justicar."

In reply to Lt. Smohk (msg # 110):

Justicar addressed Captain Smohk, "Captain, is there any chance each of the Sentinels could be armed with a single flash-bang grenade from your armory?  It might make subdual and capitalization on any surprise assault on our opponents we make even more effective."

Winter Herald wanted to object to such oversight, and was running calculations about whether the Lieutenant's objectives were at odds with the greater good of the world they lived in. There was the obvious flare of what he had identified as pride, but in this moment he struck that down. Winter Herald himself would have recommended oversight for the team after their first operation, and he had little grounds to decline such.

It was just that the Lieutenant clearly wanted those records badly enough to pull in some serious favors to get them, and someone powerful was breathing hard down his neck. Something was wrong about this, but his consensus could not phrase it into a logical form. So, he decided for honesty.

"Based on my prior experience with this unit, Captain, I would strongly advise against any of your team coming with us until we have given the all-clear on the presence of empowered entities, which we believe will be the first or second contact foes."

“JUSTCAR, I didn’t bring my sniper rifle...” Then admitting he was no longer in his prime.  “...as I can only haul so much stuff in my old age.” But then he adds things the young man may have overlooked. “Making our entry at each of the three hatches is great, but you’re forgetting a fourth point of entry, where the sub is docked under the island, and a fifth point of entry the underwater airlock.”

Senor Garcia then laid out an ideal role he could play in this, while still incorporating JUSTCIAR's ideas. He knew what he was suggesting was risky, which is why he preferred to go alone.

“Now, I can do this with or without backup. My only real worry is getting detected by the underwater cameras.”

“I’m less likely to be detected if alone, and if alone that means we can assign two team members to each of the three surface hatches. But if someone wants to come with me that’s fine.”

“I can swim up to the sub, place C4 on the screws to disable or sink it. This will deny the island occupants the most obvious method of escape.”

“I can set the charges on a timer, set them to go off if tampered with, and I can also set them off remotely.”

“If I am detected it will only draw some of the island’s personnel away from the rest of you.”

“After setting the charges, I’ll figure out a way to gain access to the facility from underwater. There’s the underwater airlock, and the sub may have an escape trunk I can enter as well.”

Then there was the subject of the SEALs going along as observers, Senor Garcia understood why Winter Herald objected to them coming along. From his own experience as a SEAL himself in Vietnam, the SEALs wouldn’t just sit back and observe. They’d engage, if need be, and were a force multiplier. They could cover some of the hatches as the Sentinels made their entry into the interior of the island. There were plenty of ways they could assist the Sentinels.

“Winter Herald, the Captain knows what he is asking of his SEAL team. Those men are all volunteers, and know the risks they are taking as well. They will be an asset and force multiplier for us.”

OOC: From the way I read msg # 93 of this thread, the submarine is docked under the island to a docking port. There is no way for Senor Garcia to provide overwatch on the sub even if he borrowed a sniper rifle from the SEAL team. He can’t get into the docking port, but can go in through one of the subs other hatches on the hull (it would have to have one or two for loading personnel and supplies), or the underwater airlock.

[Private to GM: 15:00, Today: Secret Roll: Senor Garcia rolled 8 using 1d100.  Military Intelligence 101% (ID class of sub).
PASS, can we make this a Kilo class sub? There are dozens of them built and would probably be pretty easy for a Super Villain to get one.

Also, if it is a Kilo class, can we say Senor Garcia has infiltrated one in the past? ]

Bellissima was again reminded that the group was changing from what she had thought it was.   She thought she was joining a police force, not a military force.  A police force was more about protecting people and arresting people who break the law. A military force was about neutralizing threats.  Those were two different mindsets and she much preferred the police force mindset.  She wasn't comfortable with the Sentinels turning into more of a Swat team for Center City.

She looked at the others, "Remember, I am not at full strength.  I am not up for a full fight and if I meet Vitaly, I am more likely to be just punching him out." She sighed and rubbed her temples, knowing that she was going to be overstraining herself again with this mission.  "I might be able to take over the craft when I get on as well, depends on how much interconnected mechanical systems it has.  If it is mainly organic, I have no idea how my powers will interact with it."

Looking at the others, "We need to be on the look out for the loot from the bank, especially for the microprocessor that was designed by Dr. Grayson to save the life of a child."

As Captain/Lieutenant Smohk, "You mean the files of the millionaires and billionaires?  Why are you concerned with those?" She asked curiously, because that could mean that the Sentinels were just a convenient cover for Smohk's true mission.  The brunette was also wondering what blackmail material there was on the papers.

The lieutenant starts to speak, then frowns and turns toward the exit. Before he can take a step in that direction one of the, now suited up, sailors that will be accompanying the heroes comes into the room. The lieutenant nods, taps the bars on his collar and asks the sailor "did you get that?"
The sailor nods, and takes the lieutenant's place as Lt. Smohk moves to the command consoles. "You can call me Mac. In point of fact, you can call all of us Mac. We'll keep our internal communications open to handle everything else."
"We don't use flash-bangs when we're on an observation mission. Our orders are to observe your people and acquire sets of files. We've all been told we'll pay for our own ammo this trip, so you shouldn't expect us to assist you."
"I've split us into four pairs. Pairs one, two, and three will follow your people into the vessel. The fourth pair will remain topside, insuring we have clear egress. The hatches on the diagram were labeled one, two, and three. My people have the same numbers on their chest. If asked, please tell them which hatch you'll be using. That should keep things coordinated."

Winter Herald was no longer seated when the Lieutenant left. "Senor, we should enter at hatch A3. Based on the lack of negative feedback, I am presuming this plan enjoys some popularity, and I do not see an overt flaw with it. It is an early assault instead of a scouting operation, but it is quick, multi-pronged, and the field is small enough that overwatch should be done with shotguns or automatic rifles. We do possess enough information, if not the ideal amount of information, and we should be able to control who comes and goes from the submarine."

He moved next to Bellissima, close, pressed his neck, and spoke to her in a whisper and without the monotone. "Bellissima, this is conjecture, but the L-T may have a superior who wants something from this vessel very badly that they do not wish for us to touch first. I do not pretend to know what, but if my experience with our unit's secrets has taught me anything, it is that it cannot be good. I admit I cannot prove this. It is simply what my limited data is informing me, correctly or not."

He moved swiftly, perhaps too much so, to Mac and nodded. "Greetings, Mac, spokesperson of other Macs. I still advise against your presence given the likely close quarters, chaotic, and likely lethal nature of a metapowered battle, but since your orders demand you be with us, I encourage your sailors to maintain a low profile, and to be ready to bolt for the exit if things go poorly for us."

He thought, and realized they might be an asset if he was fortunate. "Do any of you Macs have your dolphins? We will have need of you at Hatch Three."

03:31, Today: Winter Herald rolled 39 using 1d100.  Military Etiquette, TN 98 with 6% overflow.
"Dolphins" is a term for a Submarine Warfare Insignia, which is generally a pin with two dolphin fish looking at a vessel between them. He's asking if any of them have experience on a submarine. They would likely not remember it fondly, given that it is cramped and intense, although the chefs on those boats are amazing.

Senor Garcia wasn't sure why Winter Hearld didn't see the flaw in JUSTICAR's plan, so he outlined it. "The only flaw I see in the current plan, Winter Herald is that we are leaving the underwater entrances and exits alone, which allows whoever is on the island vessel a means of escape."

"We don't have enough people to cover both the sub and the underwater airlock. But we do have the capability to prevent the sub from leaving."

He then explained why he was so adamant about sabotaging the submarine. "The island's occupants can enter the sub from either its dock, and I acknowledge that we may be able to cut off that avenue of escape from hatch A3.

"But the island's occupants could very easily exit the facility from the underwater airlock and enter the sub through the escape trunk."

"If give ourselves the ability to sabotage the sub so it can't leave, then we deny the islands occupants a means of escape, no matter how they get on the sub."

As for the US Navy wanting to obtain intel files for their own purposes, Senor Garcia had no problem with it. The crew of the USS Gemini was providing assistance to get on the island, so it made sense for them to gain something from providing said assistance. This was after all a joint operation, and all parties involved had to benefit.

Justicar raised his visor to look at Bellissima as she voiced her concerns meeting her eyes as clearly his troubled expression shared her same unspoken sentiments ~ the Sentinels were supposed to be a law enforcement 'catch the bad-guys', protect the public ~ Organization... not a military army of infiltration and threat elimination.

Hikari shrugged and spoke, "I have a tracking tracer on the sub... and I specifically looked for any other entrance points on the sub.. and found none.  It cannot be entered externally while it is docked. It is not a standard configuration for any sub I've seen ~ there is something strange about it's screws. Of course, it could have a 'secret' entrance, but I saw no such details."

"Senor Garcia is the Ex-SEAL/ Special Forces expert, perhaps we should just rely on his expertise in this?  We can have him rig it to blow but only do it if necessary? I'd like to take as much intact for analysis and not destroy the loot/evidence if at all possible."

Glancing at the 'MACs', he comments, "A Daimyo, has his Samurai..they are face of his might to the other lords, but Every Daimyo also has Ninja they will never admit it but they ALL do. It is the price of maintaining Honor."

Then he looked directly at Bellissima, "Wait! 'Microprocessor that was designed by Dr. Grayson' ~ Huh?  Save a child? What's this about... ?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:25, Sun 11 Dec 2022.

Having studied the images, Senor Garcia offered up his assessment of the submarine. “The submarine looks like an old Soviet Victor three. But your standard Victor three does not have a titanium hull.”

“So, this is a special one-off variant, probably a bridge between the Victor class and Sierra class, which does have a titanium hull.”

The screw design was odd but this was a sure way to ID the sub as a Victor III, as they were the only ones with two screws on one shaft. “The screw design on the Victor three is two screws on the same shaft. Whereas the Victor one’s and twos only had one screw on one shaft. Subsequent Soviet attack boats only have one screw on one shaft. The newer Akula, and Yasen class subs have a single flower petal designed screw.^***”

Senor Garcia then addressed one real problem the sub present, the number of crewmen.

“A fully crewed Victor three will have upward of one hundred crewmen, so we need to factor in that if disabled, the subs crew may fight us. But they probably won’t have many firearms, no place to really store a lot on a submarine. We should also account for the fact that the vessel may be highly automated and might not need one hundred crewmen.”

Looking at the images, Senor Garcia points to the semi-flexible tubing covering the upper hull of the submarine. “I can try to cut my way through this tubing to access the sub, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll try to gain entry through the underwater airlock.”

“I think most importantly is that we do not allow a highly modified nuclear submarine to escape. Placing a tracker on it is great, if the sub is gone when we get there, well, we can hopefully track it.”

"Planting explosives on the screws is just an insurance policy, to be used as a last resort."

^***I mentioned the 'flower petal screw design of the newer Russian subs, in case that is what JUSTICAR was referring to about strange screws. But the biggest give away the the docked sub is a Victor II is the twin screws on one shaft design.

If she wasn't so tired already and hadn't already scanned them to make sure they were human, Bellissima would be tempted to read Lt Smohk's and the Macs surface thoughts because she was not feeling particularly good about the situation.  And it was apparent that the ship was being monitored by the LT's superiors after Hrabowski's antics.  She nodded her head toward LT Smohk to indicate she understood what he was saying.

Winter Herald's whisper was acknowledged but she had already figured that out on her own.

Shrugging, "Disabling the submarine sounds like a reasonable precaution," Bellissima opinioned at Senor Garcia's suggestion. "That is the most likely point of retreat for the occupants."  She looked over at Senor Garcia, "If you can remote control the explosives and use just enough to disable the submarine's propulsion then the submarine could be used as a way to trap people.  If it could be done before we start insertion so that you could then join a team would be best."

She tilted her head toward Justicar, "Yes, it was one of the things stolen from the vault.  It was on the police list of stolen items, didn't anyone else look over that list?" She looked at the others on the team. "My vision indicates that the robbers took their loot here so there is a chance of recovering it, which is why I am reminding everyone of it." Shrugging her shoulders, "Up until now, we only had the portals to connect Holly's disappearance with the bank vault, so finding Holly didn't guarantee that we would find the stolen items.  The things to be recovered, uncut diamonds, rare coins, stolen files which the Macs are taking responsibility for, three paintings by Frank Frazetta and the microprocessor.  The microprocessor is hermetically sealed in a small unassuming case."  She took a moment to describe the case, "I am not sure why it was taken, unless they knew the chip was there or they grabbed it because it was hermetically sealed which meant that something important was in it.  If you find the case, DO NOT open it if it is still hermetically sealed," she cautioned everyone.

[Private to GM: Does Bellissima have an idea of how many unique individuals were on the sub?  Do we have to worry about a crew of a hundred sailors?   Or just the 4 to 5 people she mainly saw entering and leaving the sub?]

Although Mac's face is hidden by several layers of combat gear (yes, they all are and yes, it's a bit unusual) the smile in his voice betrays him as he responds to Winter Herald. "No, we've neither double dolphins nor crossed sabers. Though we act as crew, none of us belong to any military arm of the government."

---

It's entirely possible someone who can create a giant ocean vessel from a bio-engineered amoeboid would also be capable of automating a great many of the basic functions aboard a submarine. [Secret to Bellissima: Bellissima didn't get the impression there were a hundred people on board the sub.]

Bellissima turned toward Senor Garcia, "I am not sure how big of a crew there is, but there isn't a hundred people on it.  If it does require that large of a crew usually, I imagine Dr. Phage has figured out a way to automate it," she informed the military officer.

In reply to Bellissima (msg # 123):

Justicar shifted his gaze to the "MAC"...

Addressing Bellissima, "{snort}...its seems I'm mistaken Belle.. your US Daimyo has gone past Samurai and Ninja straight to 'Oni'!  The MAC are not men.. they are likely 'Military Autonomous Combat' {M.A.C.} units... they are drones."

Casting his gaze CMZ's direction, "...I guess we know what became of the FORCE Combat Drones we fought on San Sebastian Isle.. or at least their Tech."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Sun 11 Dec 2022.

"There is also the possibility we might need the submarine ourselves for an exit. Let us hope we do not."

"Also, Mac is mechanical?" Winter Herald was surprised that had not crossed his consensus, and then had a counter objecting to why it would. He was, for now, ignoring the parts of his mind warning of possibles. "Mac, are you a gestalt unit?"

So far, Mac had been nearly indistinguishable in conversation from an organic. "And what is an 'oni'? The other two I possess references sufficient to understand."

Bellissima rolled her eyes, "No, they are humans.  Don't be fooled by their request to be called the same thing.  I scanned them when I boarded." She informed everyone as she looked at the Macs.  "What branch of the government are you working for if not the military?" She requested seriously as she debated reading their surface thoughts.  "Before we trust you at our backs, we need you to provide us with more info, I have other means of learning and passing on the info if you wish," her voice sounded seriously displeased with the way they were being blindsided. "If there weren't two lives at risk, I would be pulling out of this mission."

Upon discovering that the SEALs on the USS Gemini were more than meets the eye Senor Garcia had his own suspicions. He also mentally chastised himself for not figuring it out sooner.

Were they augmented similar to how he was? Partial conversion borgs? He wasn't surprised that they were meta humans, or close to it. The US Military and US Government had been fielding augmented operatives with prior Special Forces training for decades. Senor Garcia himself was proof of that.

He too wanted answers and stated as such. "All you guys called Mac need to understand that Bellissima here can do some serious mind fucking."

"So, it would be extremely helpful if you just told the truth without her doing her thing."

"What are you?"

21:02, Today: Senor Garcia rolled 4 using 1d100.  70% trust/intimidate Macs.
Pass, obviously it is GM's choice if the MA roll will ultimately work

[Private to GM: 21:07, Today: Secret Roll: Senor Garcia rolled 49 using 1d100.  Military Intelligence 101% (are Mac's augmented SEALs?).
Pass before it seemed like there were SEALs on the USS Gemini, are the Mac's the same guys? Senor Garcia is wondering if in addition to the SEALs this group of Macs was also onboard.]

Mac[Secret to JUSTICAR; Winter Herald:, and several other human voices in other areas,] laugh[Secret to not JUSTICAR; not Winter Herald:s] aloud. "We're quite human, and that's all I'm at liberty to divulge."
After a pointed look at Señor Garcia, Mac continues, "Seriously, we have no choice as to how much we can say. We're all professionals, and we'll have your back, but our current task is all we're going to do. If you wish, we can wait till you've given us the all clear to board that thing."

Justicar comments, "We Did have a member of the Sentinels named 'Patriot'.  He was a cyborg... he also revealed he was also ex-military.. and indicated that there were others like him.  Perhaps, I was mistaken and they are similar... not full drones?  But with all the secrecy... the 'potential' coincidence and threat with what we know about FORCE is... uncanny and disconcerting."

Replying to Winter, "..'Oni' are trolls/demons, a colloquial term to indicate 'unnatural' Forces utilized to serve as a Lord's weapons."

Justicar closes and seals his suit.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Mon 12 Dec 2022.

"That 'oni' term would be a more apt description of ourselves. And yes, Mac, you should wait before boarding. Even by professional standards, it is going to become extremely dangerous down there once we go live." Winter Herald was liking this less and less. Everything prior to the mercenaries was within procedure, even if it was tripping him as unusual. This development meant there was high chance of a civilian presence with some long strings involving themselves.

"I might share consensus with Bellissima, but there is no reason to simply have you killed in battle without a purpose. Seriously, step clear, we will let you know when the danger has passed. If you insist, I will not stop you."

Jacob turns to Lilibeth, taking away his eye from the microscope.  Boy.  Were we ALL wrong.  They are not quite what I thought.
He facial expression is one of incredulity.  He can scarcely believe it himself.  These "plants" are actually part of a giant fungal amoeba-like creature.  The wind would spread spores, from those pods, similar to a plant, that would grow into other giant amoeboids, depending on how much they get to eat.
Suddenly, his expression becomes one of dawning knowledge.  Drek!  They'd be meshugenna to step on that island.  No one can set foot on it.  No one.  It's a trap!
This message was last edited by the player at 08:43, Mon 12 Dec 2022.