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

[skennen]

[Connor sits up a little straighter in his crouching at the sound of her voice, but he doesn't show any other, more obvious signs of recognizing her as the woman he spoke with on the machine.

He meant to ask how things have been going here but might as well get back to business.]

Lend a hand, of course.

[He reaches up and tugs at the bow that lies across his back.]

Unless you would prefer I lend a hand elsewhere...?

[gevurah]

[ She fixated on the blood on his shirt. ]

As long as you're lending it somewhere. [ They need to keep this up for as long as they can. ] Are you hurt?

[skennen]

I have been lending it often today.

[A simple statement devoid of any emotion that would otherwise make it a protest or a complaint. He glances down at his clothes and frowns.]

I will have a few scratches to attend to once the mission is over, but I am fine to help fight.

[gevurah]

[ Her mask hides her disdain; she doesn't kill on the battlefield, no matter what the stakes are. It's not how she or any of the Bats operate.

But while he's got a vantage point, she'll seize the opportunity to ask: ] Do you see any more soldiers coming? [ She'll have to move into the trees herself soon. ]

[skennen]

[Well, some people are Bats, and some people are wolves and eagles and bears.

Wordlessly, Connor stands and climbs up to the next branch, giving himself a better view of the land that stretches out around the base. He sees little through the trees and underbrush, but activating his second sight turns the forest into a dull wash of blue-grey and there, in the distance, he spots several glowing figures.

Red, he notes. True enemies now, given the threat they pose to the young and defenseless Transports.]

Three.

[He shifts in place, not quite squinting but looking harder nonetheless.]

With another three coming up behind them.

[He slips his bow off, draws an arrow out of the quiver, and fits it to the string.]

[gevurah]

[ She tenses immediately. The blood he's running with sent her warnings signals already, but she's not about to allow anyone to die on her watch. As she secures a line and pulls herself toward into the trees, she briefly takes her eyes off Connor to position herself toward approaching enemies. ]

Don't kill them. [ Her tone is commanding. ] We can use them.

[skennen]

[He doesn't take his eyes off the figure that's become his target.]

They will not show the other Transports the same mercy if they get past us.

[gevurah]

There's still more of them. We could use these ones to find out where the others will strike.

[skennen]

[That makes sense to him.

He's quiet as he draws back the bowstring, anchors his hand to his cheek, and takes aim. Ready for the first shot, he speaks over the arrow he's holding.]

How many will you question?

["How many do you want conscious?"]

[gevurah]

I only need one.

[ Gripping the edge of her cape, she springs into the next tree, closer to the trio approaching. She's surprisingly quiet. ]

[skennen]

[One it is then.

Though his gaze is directed ahead to the path he expects to fire into, he pays attention to where Kate goes and notices the silence and ease with which she advances to the next tree.

The first three men burst into clear view not a minute later. Connor wastes no time loosing his arrow. The flint arrowhead buries itself in the shoulder of the man standing at the center of the group. The soldier's gun has barely hit the ground when a second arrow pierces through his boot and lodges in his foot.]

[gevurah]

[ In their panic and confusion, she gets around behind them and in a great leap, cape spread behind her like a giant demon's wings, she kicks the one who's unfortunate enough to look behind right in the face. Too disoriented to stand, he lays on the ground clutching his face.

She leaves the one with the arrows for now, easily dispatching the next soldier before turning her eyes on him. Fingers curling against his neck, she gets him to his knees (it hurts him to put too much pressure on the foot with the arrow and she knows it). ]

Where will the other troops strike from?

[skennen]

[Connor hunkers back down and watches passively as she makes quick work of the three men, leaving the one he targeted to face interrogation. She obviously has things under control. He straps the bow back around him before half-leaping, half-falling out of the tree. Though he lands heavily, he straightens right up and gets moving. With a frown at the man on his knees, he stalks past them, heading for the next three soldiers. Looking with his other vision again confirms his suspicion that they've broken into a run at the sound of the scuffle ahead of them.

He is a short ways off but still in sight when he meets them head-on. He continues to oblige Kate's order, using only non-lethal tactics to subdue them.

The first man to tangle with him is knocked hard into a tree and left to slump at its base. The second puts up more of a fight, gets off a shot of his gun (strange looking firearms, Connor thinks, nothing at all like the pistols and muskets he knows), but he eventually finds himself held still, a large arm closed tight over his throat until blackness blooms over his vision.

In the moment it takes Connor to force the second man to pass out, the third turns and makes a dash for his arrow-decorated comrade. Reflexively, Connor retrieves another weapon from the pouches he wears at his waist and casts out a ropedart. The pointed barb catches the man in the muscle of his lower leg and a firm tug trips him up completely, bringing him down before he reaches Kate and the kneeling soldier.]

[gevurah]

[ The entire time, she had been this close to letting go of the soldier in her grip and joining Connor's side-- but he's got things under his control. He's skilled. Trained. She wonders where he picked up such skills and well-timed reflexes.

Her fingers tighten against the one in her coils already, the toe of her boot pressing against his injury now. ]

Where? Tell me. [ Her voice drops low and is almost pleasant, but behind the false sweetness is the threat of more pain. ]

[skennen]

[He drags the dazed escapee away and knocks him out before returning to Kate's impromptu interrogation. Curiously, the soldier seems rather tight-lipped despite his injuries and the promise of more pain to come. Loyalty, perhaps?]

If you tell us where your brothers will attack next, we will see to it that no lasting harm comes to them.

[He speaks up from behind them before circling around to the front.]

If we are not able to intercept them in time, they will be killed.

[But his assurances have little effect: the man doesn't utter so much as a word. Connor eyes him with some dubiousness.]

Do the people of this land speak English?

[He hadn't really noticed one way or the other in battle.]