MISSION: GET TO ZE CHOPPA

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: August 23rd, 2753 (OOCly forward-dated to the 1st)
Location: Uruguay National Defense HQ
Characters: All transports!
Summary: All transports are sent back to Uruguay to download a self-aware AI before it gets bombed out of existence by an early incarnation of the UE. Time distortion effects will be set right either on the way there or on the way back, according to player choice.
Warnings: violence, action movie tension, 3 terabytes of foot fetish porn.

The Transporter drops the entire transport population into what will quickly be established as Home Base, a mile from the vast, sprawling facility that is Uruguay's National Defense HQ. The low roar of helidrones moving above is pervasive, but the black ships can only be glimpsed here and there through the thick cover of trees overhead. If you keep calm and quiet, it's likely you won't be spotted. It's the UND HQ their attention is on, after all.

The population is quickly sorted by attending Initiate employees according to who volunteers to fight and who volunteers to protect, along with those with enough skill to access the computers, and those with enough skill to get them there. The fighters move out first, off to intercept the early UE's ships and ground troops, and to draw the automated defense systems of the facility alike. They'll be in a crossfire, and neither side will be happy to see them there.

The techies and their escorts are sent out far more quietly, in groups of three. Their task is to sneak past the front lines and into the facility itself. There might be alarms and automated defense drones, so those escorts may well be called on to earn their keep. The Initiative can't give any information about which building will house the AI's mainframe, that information was long since lost to history. All they can do is send out enough people to hope that one of them manages to find it.

And remember — as soon as the UE troops withdraw, there will only be minutes until the bomb drops. Everyone would do well to work fast.



[[ Mission information is here, and the techie/escort teams, along with their hacking results, are here. Each techie/escort group will have their own established thread, but Team Distraction and Team We'll Stay Here, Thanks are welcome to thread where ever and however they like! The newbie log that goes up on the 1st will also encompass the arrival back in Exsilium, if you'd like to play that out as well. ]]

Comments

[wilder]

[He catches sight of the woman staring down at him. No, he doesn't recognize who it is, even with his eyes. Some mysterious redhead in a mask. What are you supposed to say to that]

Yo.

[And give a wave. Sure, that works]

[gevurah]

[ She freezes for a moment, canting her head to listen closely for a strange noise she thinks she just heard-- until it's gone. Could have been the trees. It's making her anxious, deep down.

She finally looks back at Zelos, expression obscured by the mask. ]

Eyes ahead. [ "Not on me." ]

[wilder]

Hey- sorry! You were kinda distracting up there!

[But fine he'll turn his head back to look towards the distance. Not nearly time yet]

[gevurah]

[ He's not familiar with the cowl, so she can't fault him. ]

How are the others doing?

[wilder]

[he shrugs a little]

Half are antsy for a fight, lots shouldn't be here at all.

[gevurah]

Not much can be done now about that. [ Although she agrees. ]

[wilder]

Yeah, I guess not.

[a pause]

Hey, you know what an AI is?

[gevurah]

Artificial intelligence.

[wilder]

...I take it that doesn't mean when some idiot fakes intelligence.

[gevurah]

You're entirely unfamiliar with technology?

[wilder]

[Kinda not, but he's not going to own up to it. A mercenary would know nothing of Cruxis or Renegade tech]

Pretty much. Coming here was the first time I saw a fridge, much less anything else.

[gevurah]

[ She gestures vaguely with her gloved hands. ]

AIs are meant to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence.

[wilder]

So...humans don't have to do it instead.

[gevurah]

[ A slight nod of the head. ]

Exactly.

[wilder]

So...does that mean it's sentient or something too?

[gevurah]

That... I can't say for certain. [ It depends on how advanced technology is, who made it, what purpose it may have, etc. ]

[wilder]

[That's unsettling]

And I take it you haven't heard what the Initiative plans to do with it either, huh?

[gevurah]

Maybe they don't know themselves.

[wilder]

...Hm.

Oh well, not really my place to wonder about it.

[gevurah]

[ She watches him studiously. ]

They might prefer it that way. [ Good soldiers willing to do their bidding and never question their orders.

It almost sickens her, to think that might be what they think of them, and she's a soldier herself. She knew what she signed herself up for when she decided twenty years ago she was going to follow her in parents' footsteps.

Not this, though. This is beyond her wildest dreams. ]

[wilder]

[He keeps up the expression of a faint smirk, one that doesn't quite reach his eyes. He knows exactly what they are to them, what he's always been to anyone. A tool, nothing more. One they'll get rid of if they decide he's outlived his usefulness.]

[Maybe it's why he can't help but feel a bit of empathy for that AI. In the end, they aren't much different.]

Don't think there's any might about it.

[gevurah]

[ Well, someone gets it, at least. ]

For now, our objective is to protect those here. [ Too many kids. Again, why? She asks herself every single day. ]

[wilder]

Right.

I'm being sent out there, to distract, once the signal goes. [Distract, cannon fodder- he wonders if there's a difference to these men] Let's hope I distract enough from the base.

[gevurah]

[ She doesn't doubt the distraction is going to successfully do their part in this mission. ]

Make sure no kids or people who can't defend themselves get out there. [ Because there's always going to be someone who takes on more than they bargain for. ]

[wilder]

[a shrug] I'll do what I can. Can't promise to catch them all.