lucetilogs | MISSION #11 - Droid Sabotage

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MISSION #11 - Droid Sabotage

Who: Field Leader: Steve Rogers; Security: Alia Shepard, Sophie, Rogue, Greg Lestrade, Gai Tsutsugami, Masaomi Kida, Leonhardt; Stealth: Trafalgar Law, Fujiko Mine, Nara Shikamaru, Albert Silverberg, Loki; Technicians: Donatello, Artemis Fowl II, Daisy, Tony Stark; Programmers: Robert Hastings, Pascal, Doctor “Eggman” Robotnik, Raine Sage
What: MISSION # 11 - Droid Sabotage
When: September 21st-23rd
Where: Malnosso Facility C-342
Summary: A mutual friend of MARS and Luceti has made arrangements for a select few of Luceti’s number to even the odds against the droids.

Excitement was not how the mission to disrupt the production of Malnosso droids started. On the first day, the selected participants were brought in by bus to a small laboratory in the middle of the forest. There they were greeted by a voice that should be familiar to them due to a recent message over Luceti’s journals. That voice belonged to the woman they knew as Rem. She stood before them with her customary cigarette.

“This is quite a momentous occasion. So momentous, in fact, that it makes fraternizing with the Organization almost worth it. We all have a long few days ahead of us and while I’m sorry to say I can’t go once more unto the breach with you -- the rogues don’t take too kindly to Lucies like me,” she gave a bitter cluck of her tongue and fluttered her large wings, “but I will be keeping tabs from a remote location. You have some time here to get your schemes in order but once you’re inside, we can’t extract you until your twenty-four hours are up. So be careful, dears. Believe it or not? I’d hate to see your smeared and smudged all over their factory.

Most of you will be focusing on getting your brainiacs into the code room. Watch out for Kidston -- she’ll do whatever she can to keep you out. She’d burn the wings off her own back to protect her precious droids. But the rest of you will have to put your infiltration and disguise skills to the test while you distract the rest of the facility. Plan carefully and do what you must. However high the cost, remember that the prize could very well be an end to droid abductions as you know th--”

A soft beeping interrupted her speech. Rem tapped ash off the end of her cigarette and swore somehow rather elegantly before touching an earpiece and presumably activating a communication device. As she walked off, her words could still be heard: “Damnit, you ungrateful blue toad. My life went much smoother before I ever crossed the rubicon and gave you my num--what am I wearing? Ugh. Nothing, dear Biliruben. It’s causing quite a stir with the volunteers...”

Following her address, the participants were introduced to two other individuals: a technician and a programmer, and both were accomplices of one Biliruben. The technician was a younger man named Thoxus Brinn, a pointy eared fellow adorned with piercings from the tip of his ear to the bottom of his chin. Even so, he was surprisingly knowledgeable and incredibly jovial, possessing a knack for math-related jokes. He no doubt inspired many groans from the Lucetians in the hours to come. The programmer was a woman of indeterminate age. She was, as they found out, actually an android. Not of Malnosso design, but from another world. Her small wings gave her away and her designation was merely The Eighteenth. Often impatient, she created an impression of barely disguised indignation at having to work with Lucetians. Though if anyone cared to ask, it was revealed she simply didn’t like dealing with biological beings.

For forty-eight hours, these two would be their primary guides: instructing them in the schematics in the physical design of the droids as well as their programming. It was grueling work, but important information would be gleaned from it:

The base code for the droids programming is heavily encrypted and self-erased with even the mildest of tampering. However, the code’s higher level programming language is very easy to learn and implement. Though the droids possess no less than a billion lines of code, each piece of it is easy enough to read and understand for a proficient programmer. The Malnosso devised a very sophisticated language which allowed the droid’s programming to be wildly efficient. In combat situations, they can extrapolate millions of potential reactions from their target. It is estimated that in any given combat scenario, they have a total of two minutes and forty-three seconds already plotted out.

Their primary power source is a continuous Shift, which uses a single battery, possessing less electricity than a car battery, that was cycled infinitely into itself for a power source that never expired. This, along with the computer processor, is tied into a chip made from an unnamed element that was native to this world. This element is incredibly versatile, able to be altered into the shape of nearly any composition. More importantly, the element can be used to produce and stabilize artificial Shifts. Embedded at the heart of the chip is a single piece of this element, no bigger than a grain of sand, that makes the whole thing work. Only another Shift can alter these ‘chips’. The cultists can do this with ease.

The droids are constructed from a unique metal alloy that combines titanium with a diamond-based metal. This makes the droids incredibly difficult to damage, explaining their superiority in combat. This alloy is made in the same facility where the droids are themselves assembled. The technicians are encouraged to introduce impurities or imperfections to make them more vulnerable.

Unfortunately there is little information on the new variation of droids. The facility they were being manufactured in had been closed down after a recent breach in security. They have yet to find out where they are currently being manufactured.

For the same forty-eight hours they had, the group was given full access to droid data, comfortable quarters, regular meals, and any other comforts that could be made available. Participants who are not scientists were instead supervised by a Malnosso security officer named Foreman Zapha, an incredibly strict woman who does not tolerate imperfection. By the time she was done with the security and stealth experts, they’d be able to blend in with the Malnosso without issue.
This includes instruction on such elements as:

Facility layout, including access points and significant time spent familiarizing the participants with detailed floorplans.

A brief jargon tutorial, where Zapha goes over terminology typical to the Malnosso presence in this building.

Feather First Analysis (FFA): A security protocol based on identifying an individual’s unique wing make up, called a feather bio-print.
Chief Programmer Kidston: The head boffin at the facility. She is well-known for her commitment to the rogue cause and it is her feather bio-print that accesses the core server room. However, Zapha warns the participants that she is likely to self-sabotage her own pair of wings and risk a death penalty should she even begin to suspect that someone is going to knock her out and drag her to the security check.
J.J. Kelms: A VIP who is touring the below-ground facility around the same time as the mission. ‘Kelms’ is an assumed name for someone who is supposed to be part of the core Organization’s upper echelon and he is being wined, dined, and recruited over to the rogue splinter cell.
Narrow Creek Mountain: The name of the resort and vacation complex that comprises the facility’s above-ground presence. Although higher-ups in the Organization suspect it to be a front for rogue activity, it remains a highly popular vacation destination and pulls in a number of high profile visitors on a monthly basis. At the time of the mission, the center is hosting a well-known bubble fiction convention.
Enclosure-Con: A fan-convention for all things related to the genre of bubble fiction, a category of television shows, movies, comics, and other media that romanticizes and fictionalizes what it must be like to live in the Malnosso enclosures. Although the fiction very rarely gets it right or uses actual names or events from actual enclosures, those involved in the genre have highly involved fictional versions that are very popular with most audiences. Notable titles include the blockbuster Barcoded trilogy; the long-running soap opera, Of A Feather; a gritty and bloody graphic novel called I, Resident; and an up and coming young adult series, First Draft Chronicles. An up and coming movie called Two’s Company will have a never-before-seen trailer at the convention, depicting a comical situation where two very different enclosures are forced to live together and learn to get along. It appears as though a large majority of the fans are large-winged.
Lucies: It turns out this is apparently a derogatory term used by beyond-the-barriers society to refer to those individuals who were born in the world and who possess large wings. Zapha does not explain the term’s origin.
Free the Test Subjects Association (FTSA): A protest group that is actively engaged in trying to dismantle the enclosure system. They are known for their dramatic stunts (such as kidnapping high-ranking Malnosso representatives and forcefully tattooing barcodes on their neck). A very vocal contingent is on-site protesting Enclosure-Con for ‘glorifying and exploiting’ the enclosure situation.

An overview of the building’s security system. The rogue Malnosso facility uses an outdated protocol generally seen as barbaric by the bulk of the Organization’s cells: FFA, otherwise known as Feather First Analysis. In a world where magic and Shifts allow hostiles to readily alter their own eyes and fingerprints, wings are found to be the only trustworthy identification method. As such, they are prime targets for security checks. Each participant (scientific and supportive) is given a single feather that Zapha assures them possesses a valid DNA code for entrance to the facility. She also alerts the participants that random electronic sweeps are made throughout the building and so each participant had better hold onto their feather -- to lose it means to expose the entire operation.

Building upon this last point, the core processing room for the droids’ source code is protected by a more advanced piece of FFA technology. A single feather is useless to access this room and instead the infiltrators will need to bypass the full-wing scan set up just outside its door. Zapha explains that there are only roughly two options available: find the Chief Programmer and use her (or more accurately, her wings) to access the room or force the room’s door and incur a response from the building’s security team.

----

On the third day, the participants are separately escorted to the facility at different times. The facility itself is built into a mountain and most of it exists underground. To outside eyes, it’s merely a mountain resort, with ski lifts and tourists. On the inside, it is far more complex and insidious. This is no 9-5 job in play here. Those who work here, live here and have barracks where they sleep. Its primary purpose is for droid construction. There will be no kidnapped victims here. Though the complex has its own security guards, it is primarily maintained by a staggering number of droids fitted for a wide variety of roles.

The participants will need to organize themselves into teams. While one group intends to escort the technicians and programmers to where their work can be completed in the core code room and assembly line, another group will be responsible for choosing and carrying out a secondary objective that will serve as a distraction tactic. There are three options:

Destroy Resort - 90% success chance

Pros: Cripple facility by drawing attention to it, effective and quick
Cons: Cost of innocent lives, frames the FTSA as terrorists

Ruin or Disrupt Enclosure-Con - 80% success chance

Pros: Easy, accessible, non-violent.
Cons: Nothing gained, further villainizes and marginalizes the efforts of the FTSA, could take considerable time.

Kidnap Bureaucrat - 50% success chance

Pros: Cripple organization with ransom, obtain information, keeps all activity out of the public eye.
Cons: Very dangerous, jeopardizes mission, time-consuming.

What we need from you: Who will be on which team? How does Team A choose to get into the code room -- will they risk trying to subdue Kidston or will they force the doors? Which distraction option will Team B choose? How will they go about enacting their plan? Use this post to plot oocly. Each player will get a chance to vote for one of the three options here, which will ultimately decide what is done on the mission. A random number generator will determine the success of the selected diversion.

If everything runs smoothly, the participants will be collected and returned on the 22nd in the late evening. However, if the mission is compromised then a strike force will start a calculated sweep of the building and the participants will enter a combat situation. Foreman Zapha has darkly informed the groups that should this happen, it is unlikely that the Malnosso will provide support within the building itself until the mission’s deadline. However, regardless of whether the diversion succeeds, the droids will be sabotaged for the foreseeable future.

Should the diversion fail, the participants will be returned individually over the course of the next week, suffering from the typical kidnapping effects. Although their sabotage of the droids will have succeeded, the rogue organization will be more on guard in the future and may be potentially brutal to those returned (at the discretion of the individual players).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[At least Steve is probably more subtle in glaring at Loki. Tony, on the other hand? Not so much. He might be keeping quiet, but Tony doesn't exactly take a lot of comfort in that. It's disconcerting. Calculating. Like he's measuring out every possibility and refusing to act until he finds the one that's perfect for him.

They're bound to run into each other eventually. Loki is even going to be on his team. Isn't that just going to be peachy.]

[Loki knows he's being watched. Glared at, really. He revels in it by ignoring Tony in a very natural way - he's a very good actor. After about the first twenty-four hours, though, he can't quite resist poking at the man.

During one particular hairy glare, Loki gives Tony a pretty, pretty smile and bobs to him in a mocking curtsy.]

[He'd really be okay with punching you in the face right now. But that's generally frowned upon and probably a result of frayed nerves, and even if he knows full well he's being goaded Tony decides to come sit down right across from Loki at the table. Come on, make his day.]

[Oh, the smile Tony gets is so pleasant and sweet, it would make a church lady blush.]

Oh what honor is mine today.

[Loki lounges in his seat in a way that ought to be physically impossible, but he has his magic fully back and is feeling wonderful.]

[He wants every excuse in the world right now to knock that smile off his face.]

Why are you here?

[He's just going to cut to the chase.]

[Loki smiles sweetly and speaks with very obvious sarcasm.]

I am looking for babies to consume.

Yourself?

[He didn't come here for banter, and his mind flares up at the comment. Pepper had told him all about running into Loki at the art gallery. Claimed he liked children. It leaves a sour feeling in his heart.

But he stays focused.]

Cute. I'm going to ask you again. Why are you here?

[Loki raises an eyebrow, head tilting at an insolent angle.]

I have decided to make amends for my past wickedness by playing the hero.

Yourself?

[Everything just has to be a game, doesn't it. How much did Loki know about he past? Enough, obviously. But he still recognizes why he says it. He wants a reaction. One that isn't collected. One that's part of his game.]

You ever heard that saying, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? I think you should stop and think about that for a minute. Go ahead. I can wait.

It is not I who is questioning the motivations of his teammate with such hostility, Tony Stark.

Perhaps you ought to listen to your own advice.

[His smile becomes utterly poisonous.]

You already know I can work quite effectively with that which I despise. You've seen me do it.

[His eyes narrow. He could be referring to those agents of SHIELD he brainwashed or the Chitauri--probably both.]

That's not what I'm asking. How well you work with the team isn't the issue. I want to know why.

[Motivation is complex. He knows that well.]

[Right. Because that will go well. The part where Loki elaborates on his reasons and then Stark implies he's lying is both predictable and tiresome. More than that, Loki doesn't see how he owes this hostile little mortal anything.

Pleasant smile.]

Then you will continue to want until you can stir yourself to ask nicely.

Oh, I think I've been remarkably polite so far.

[Considering Loki is a potential threat who tried to take over the world and destroy his hometown. Tony doesn't care if that's clouding his judgment. But there is so much at stake for him on this mission. Too much, even.]

We differ in opinion on that.

[And since Loki is the one Tony wants an answer from...

Loki doesn't take well to feeling as if someone is trying to bully or dominate him, least of all when it's someone whose skull he's fairly certain he could crush one-handed when said skull is not protected by a special suit.]

[And Tony should probably feel threatened--and in a certain sense, he does. But not for himself. For those unaware, those who hadn't seen Loki do what Tony had seen him do. Words can only go so far.

But Loki isn't here to cause havoc and jeopardize the mission. If that were the case, he would have done something already. Because once they're in that facility, they're all threatened by the common enemy. It's not a thought he likes to reconcile, but there's value to it. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And it's clear who the greater enemy is here.

But things aren't that simple. They're personal, and Tony can't just dismiss that.]

You want to know why I'm here? Alright, then. I'll tell you. Because I've been in this world for four hundred and thirty-eight days, and every single one of them I've spent learning everything I can about the Malnosso, the rogue faction, and their impenetrable technology. And this is an unprecedented opportunity. In those four hundred and thirty-eight days, not once has someone been able to capture and study one of those droids in the enclosure. I'm here because I owe these people a damned good try at that.

[And he isn't going to let his personal grudge against Loki stand between him and those four hundred and thirty-eight days.]

[Loki smiles like the blade of one of his daggers.]

And perhaps, Tony Stark, you are not the only one who places value in such information and the good it might do.

Good for who? Yourself? Or everyone stuck in the exact same situation as you?

For anyone I've reason to care for.

[And isn't that an open-ended statement right there.]

'Please, won't somebody think of the children'? Along those lines?

[Because outside of what Pepper told him Loki had said in the gallery, Tony has no reason to believe Loki would save anyone in this enclosure besides himself.]

[Loki tilts his head, eyebrow going up.]

...you know, I have no idea what you're on about.

I heard you had a little run-in with Miss Potts at the art gallery.

[Ah, right. That. Well, he'd known she'd run off to tell everything to her friends. Counted on it, really. What mystifies him is that she'd actually thought such a ridiculous implication was true.

...even if it actually is.]

I would call it a conversation, but as you like.

[He raises his eyebrows, putting a clear measure of disdain in his expression.]

And really, don't you know better than that by now?

[And this? This was why he'd been hoping that part of the conversation wouldn't make it out. He doesn't feel like being mocked by Tony Stark when it's something he actually cares about. Those things are few and far between.]

[Tony has no reason to believe Loki had been telling the truth to Pepper. Just as he likewise knows how easy it is to let a child who smiles at you and heals your scars into your heart. He wants to think Loki is beyond an emotion like that, but he can't dismiss it entirely. For all intents and purposes, he'd been the same way. But Luceti has a way of changing people. Just as he'd said before, and would say again.]

I'm open to being surprised.

[Loki can't quite hide the suspicion with which he regards Tony.

It's one of those rare moments where he doesn't have a plan on what to say. This isn't an expected response, but it could just as easily be a different sort of trap. It really feels like a situation where no matter what he might say, it will ultimately be the wrong thing.

He frowns faintly, and for the moment says nothing.]

[The look is telling, even if Tony can't quite decide what it's telling him. He doesn't deny it. But he wouldn't just come out and confirm it, either.]

Touched a nerve? Well, I'll award one point for surprising me, then.

MISSION #11 - Droid Sabotage

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