Brotherhood of the Machine (IC Thread) [PG/14] {03}

[Arcalane]

Almost on cue, the prison transport rolls up to the gates, looking a little worse for wear but still serviceable. After a brief incident there, it lumbers into the parking zone and does it's best to fit into a parking space, with Exo climbing out of the hole on the roof and hopping down to ground level, making a solid whump. The 'bot strides over to the others, plasma repeater held in one hand carefully.

"We had some... minor problems with a roadblock or two," Exo starts, apparently sporting some fresh dents and slight scarring from small arms fire that gradually and almost imperceptibly seem to be fading and evening out, "..nothing we couldn't handle. I take it everyone else had a safe drive?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx stumbled out of the van after Exo, cackling slightly to himself. The Superbunny T-shirt-made-bandanna was slightly askew on his head, and it looked like he had a few more small cauterized wounds. "Heeheehee...that was fun!" He giggled.

[Azlan]

Morgan had given up being difficult with the medical staff as they carted him off to the infirmary.  It was hard to convince them that he would be fine without their help, what with all the blood stains, his general pallor and the bandages wrapped around his lower torso.  At least they meant well.

"Do you know your blood type?  If not we can do a blood work on you."  A nurse asked the red-haired lad.

Morgan turned a shade paler as his mind raced through a dozen responses, "uh... well, no, but I have a nanite support system, so organic plasma transfusions will not work, they will attack it.  I also wish to keep this technology proprietary and my own, so I ask that you respect my wishes and do not analyze it.  If you must pump me full of plasma, use class C universal synthetics."

"Class C?  That cheap stuff? They use it in veterinary and anthro medicine more than humans..."

"Yes, well, it is also readily available and the least likely to cause a nanite uproar.  Thanks in advance!"  Morgan sounded awfully cheerful for a being in his position.

The nurse shrugged and placed the request in the system, shaking his head, "whatever."

[Ryudo Lee]

As soon as Exo and Jexx exited their vehicle, the medics came to see if anyone else was in there, and then the mechanics showed up to take it away.  One of them whistled when they saw the damage on the vehicle.
"Damn Exo, you couldn't've roughed her up some more?" He asked as they piled into the vehicle.

Everyone who was able, and not being checked out by the psychics, was ushered into a debriefing room.  Armstrong had a thick folder, showing that there was a lot to talk about.

[Arcalane]

The bot makes a slight chuckle. "My apologies. Next time I shall ask the Brotherhood to deploy two assault personnel carriers rather than one. I was forced to quickly disable it's weapons systems, and I fear they shall be picking bits of the turret out of the street for the next few days."

It then strides off for the debrief, making sure to drop the plasma repeater off with the gearheads first.

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan settled in for the debriefing.  He had a few questions of his own, but those could wait.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Fetrethar wasn't quite sure how he found himself in the medical wing. The medics, wielding their white coats as an instrument of coercion, managed to speak in a tone that was half pleading, half condescending, and more binding than any command could ever be. The colors were a warm blend of orange and blue and green, and Fetrethar could almost feel a soporific effect oozing from the walls, forcing him to bite back a yawn.

A few minutes after that, Fetrethar was rubbing at the patches they made over 43 injections into his upper arms, he had counted each prodding separately, all the while decrying something about "immunization". He was then sprayed with a fine mist of something or other, and one of the medics told him that after his "psych evaluation" he was to take a thorough shower.

He was directed, not by one of the medics, but by a larger man, garbed in some dark green material that Fetrethar couldn't recognize. They walked for several minutes, probably more than ten, and Fetrethar thought he detected a decrease in elevation. The lights were definitely dimmer in this section he was heading towards, the colors darker.

Eventually, they came to a dull metallic door, fully eight feet tall, four across. The gruff man that Fetrethar guessed was in security rumbled out, "You're to go in alone." Pushing at the door, in moved much more easily than it's exterior would have suggested. There wasn't even a hint of a creak, the loudest sound being that of Fetrehtar's own breathing.

Stepping in revealed a dull room, featureless save for a chair in the center with an odd half dome over the head of a seated man. Translucent glass framed the other three walls. The room was so featureless that it was hard to gauge distances. A pleasant, almost featureless voice said "Please sit in the chair." Fetrethar loped closer to the center of the room, glancing around, searching for some visual purchase to make. The voice became more agitated, forceful.  "Please sit in the chair!"

Lacking any real alternative, Fetrethar gingerly let himself into the seat. Almost immediately afterwards, to no real surprise, the dome capped itself on the top of his scalp. It was warmer than Fetrethar would have surmised, slightly higher than his own blood's temperature.

An odd feeling perforated Fetrethar's skull, like the sensation of motion, even though he knew he was sessile, didn't even have the illusion of movement from a shifting perspective. It took a few moments to realize that he was being probed somehow, his thoughts being read. His mind seized upon a particular memory, of a neighboring clan's warrior taken prisoner. Part of the softening up for questioning involved a projection into his cell, plastered over all the walls, of a bright, constantly shifting patternless color splatter, bright oranges and yellows and greens and snow whites being flecked about at random, shifting faster than the eye could see. Looking at the thing for more than a few seconds induced a headache. Embracing the pain, Fetrethar thrust the image into the fore of his consciousness, trying to choke whatever machine they were using to probe him.

Some indeterminate time later, whether a punishment, byproduct, strain, or self effort, Fetrethar blacked out.

[Lisky]

The four man escort traveled in a box, completely surrounding Darkshine while he was guided down a series of halls into what could possibly be the most plain room in existence.  A basic table stood in the middle of the room with 2 metal folding chairs on either side.  A short man, with scruffy, dark brown hair, and glasses sat in one of the chairs already.  The feline could feel that the man was already getting adjusted to his mind. 

Taking a few moments to get comfortable himself, Darkshine leaned back in the chair and opened his mind.  asking politely "uhh, any idea how long this is going to take?"

[Ryudo Lee]

There was no reply to Darkshine's question.  Only a soft static noise coming over the speakers.  After a few (awkward) moments, the door opens and Darkshine is ushered to a different room than the others.
"Looks like you're clean.  Jackson will want to talk to you." One of the soldiers says.

Fet would wake up very soon, and would find that he had been moved back to the medical wing... and had already been given a spongebath.  One of the nurses came in to check on him, and finding that he was awake, offered him something to eat.
"It's alright.  Half of the people who get screened pass out from it." She says.  "If you're feeling better, Jackson will want to meet with you."

As all the others filed into the briefing room, Armstrong looked over some papers that had been prepared for the debrief.
"Ahem, as like last time, you'll find that your bank accounts have gotten fatter.  Plus a bonus for taking out that prison transport and rescuing one of our guys.  And if those two other guys you brought in decide to stay, you'll see a little recruitment bonus as well.  We take care of our people here." He says.
He crosses his arms and looks over everyone in the briefing room.
"Now, let's start with the construction site itself.  We got reports that there were some fireworks over there.  And our boys in the garage found that you brought back some Brotherhood tech.  I want to hear about what you did, and what it was that you brought back." He says.

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan had been left in command of the stealth side of the mission and he wasn't sure that Exo had been briefed about this, the robot having been mostly involved with the attack side of things.  He took it upon himself to reply.

"I'm probably one of the best qualified to answer that," he said.  "Basically, the stealth team breached the tower by using grapples while the attack team distracted the guards.  Morgan penetrated the computer systems - you'll want to ask him for more details and a summary of whatever data he's acquired.
"Most of the tower was unfurnished and the defence mechanisms were not installed, however there was an electronically-locked door armoured with the same material that the tower structure was built from.
"When Morgan defeated the locks we discovered that it contained a large piece of machinery which we took to be some kind of field generator.  Ideally I wanted to bring it back for study - in whole or in part - but it was too massive and too firmly fixed to the structure of the building.  Izzie himself would be the man to talk to for more details, but my understanding is that he managed to dismantle part of the generator core, and bring it in for study.  He also stripped the control systems of all their storage media, so with the control software and parts of the generator itself, we may be able to divine its function through reverse-engineering."
"We also captured a mercenary - codenamed Darkshine - who had themselves been taken prisoner by the Brothers.  He was a little fractious to begin with but later proved a valuable ally when we attacked the prison wagon.  We then proceeded to do one final sweep of the tower before demolishing it.  That, I think, is an accurate summary of the tower mission itself."

He glanced at the others.  "Have I missed anything?"

[Ryudo Lee]

Armstrong listened and nodded occasionally through Dorcan's story.
"Ah yes, the data from their computers, your primary objective.  Where is that data?  We need to get it to the computer guys to decode it." He says.  "As for the generator parts, they've already been moved so the engineering guys can get a look at it."


A short while after Darkshine was put in the waiting room, the door opened and Jackson, holding a file folder, stepped through.
"Ah, you must be..." He says as he opens the file and reads for a moment. "...Darkshine.  I hear that some of my men found you in the tower.  Tell me, what is your opinion of the Brotherhood?"

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Awakening was surprisingly easy, not like the usual flotsam drifting towards shore experience that Fetrethar had usually gone through if put to sleep involuntarily. He was not aware of how much time had passed between his evaluation and his awakening to find a tall, attractive dark haired nurse standing over him. Smiling at her, and her funny accent, he proceeded to devour the small meal, except for some sort of tuber that he didn't like the look of.

After making some concession to courtesy and wiping his fingers and mouth after eating with them, he turned up and asked the nurse "Who is this Jackson, and why does he wish to speak to me?" Feeling a bit of strength returning to his legs, he tried to get up out of the bed.

[Lisky]

Darkshine eyed the man quizically, either he was testing Darkshine, or he didn't take the stories from other mercenaries as seriously as many of the soldiers themselves do... thinking for a moment, he considered the easiest response, " I find the brotherhood a despicable organization, built on corruption and murder... the only reason they're still in power is that they've got the local populations too terrified to do anything about them... On a more personal level, they've taken someone very dear from me, and half the reason i was caught was because the brotherhood overseer i killed in the tower was involved in her death."

He kept his response flat, and his emotions level.

[Ryudo Lee]

The nurse smiles to Fet.
"He's the boss around here.  Since we rescued you, he'll want to talk to you." She says

Jackson nodded as he listens to Darkshine's answer.
"We have all lost much to the Brotherhood.  Homes, family, lovers... friends." He says, putting a sad emphasis on 'friends'. "I truly understand your loss.  And I hope that you can come to understand the work that we have been doing.  I am Jackson Phoenix, leader of the rebellion.  Many of the people here have serious grudges against the Brotherhood.  Many are in similar positions as yourself.  I'm here now to offer you a chance to fight back and make a real difference.  You've seen my people in action out there, how hard they fight against the Brotherhood.  I would like for you to join them in the fight.  We have more than enough money to pay you for the missions you complete, but there's also the added sense of accomplishment of taking the Brotherhood down another notch, as well as satiating that urge for vengeance against them."
He turns and opens the door.
"If you feel like this is the place for you, then you are welcomed with open arms, and you can go rejoin the group that found you in the briefing room down the hall.  If not, your gear and vehicle await you.  We will not stop you, but we will not render aid unless our missions overlap.  I hope that you'll make the right decision.  I will leave you to make your decision, as I have another meeting to attend to." He says, and then walks out.

[Lisky]

With his decision made before the question was asked, Darkshine waited just long enough for Jackson to leave the room before he stood up and and cracked the stiffening muscles in his back and shoulders.  Waiting a few seconds longer, he muled over the possibilities this line of work would open up.  With his thoughts in order, and both mind and body relaxed, Darkshine headed off into the briefing room.  Opening the door rather sheepishly, he paused when the door was opened barely a crack, making sure no one was talking when he entered... he silently took a seat and hoped he hadn't drawn too much attention away from the formal meeting that was still in progress.

[Tapewolf]

"Ah, good," Dorcan said.  "As for the data, you want to ask Morgan about that.  I wasn't privy to it at the time."  He glanced around to see Darkshine enter.  Good, not too worse for wear, he thought.

[Arcalane]

Exo, in the meantime, busies itself offloading various video logs, audio logs and images into the main system. "Several pieces of equipment were also recovered, namely a pair of plasma repeater weapons, one of which has been dropped off with our technical staff. I am sure they would appreciate an opportunity to examine the second as well."

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Shortly after agreeing, Fetrethar found himself hustled through several hundred yards of corridor, to a dull brown oaken portal, unadorned except for some hinges made of a metal that Fetrethar couldn't recognize.

Two knocks garnered him a muffled command of "enter". Fetrethar opened the door, which was heavier than it looked, although it swung easily, and without noise. Fetrethar stepped into the office, which a quick scan revealed little furnishing, simply a desk, some sort of electronic box, and a handful of papers scattered about the work area.

A man, with only a tinge of grey in his hair, but eyes that shouted old regarded Fetrethar. He dropped into a crouch, displaying his empty palms up on the floor, in a gesture of nonviolence. In a voice that was less tremulous than he actually felt, Fetrethar declared. "I wear the name of Fetrethar Goynavan, a proud man of the mountains. What has been done with my relatives?"

[Ryudo Lee]

Jackson had made his way back to his office and was just starting on the paperwork for Darkshine.  That's the problem with being a leader.  A mountain of paperwork.  A knock came from the door, and by reflex, Jackson responded with "enter".  The door opened and Fetrethar entered and took a seat on the couch.  Jackson was going to offer the seat anyway.  He grabbed a folder and flipped through it.
"Ah yes, Fetrethar.  I was just about to call for you.  Your relatives... well, the ones that survived long enough to be brought here are under the care of our doctors.  Let me assure you that they will receive the best care possible.  My name is Jackson Phoenix, and I lead the rebellion against the Brotherhood of the Machine.  Already, you've seen what the Brotherhood is capable of, since my men found you in one of their prison convoys.  Tell me Fetrethar, what happened that caused you to end up in the Brotherhood's captivity?" He asks.


Armstrong collected the data that Morgan had acquired from the tower's computer.  He opens the door and hands it over to a soldier and in a low voice gives an order to have it delivered immediately to the computer lab.  As the soldier hustles off, Armstrong turns back to the group.
"Excellent work.  That, as well as all the equipment that you all brought back will start producing some results very soon.  Now, if you're ready for another outting, we have another mission prepared for you." He says.
He pauses for a moment as he produces another folder and opens it.
"Jackson thought that you all have been doing such an extraordinary job that he's decided to give you a few assignments at the same time.  Not all of them are all that difficult, and not all require heavy firepower."
He turns and pulls down the projector screen.  A larger map appears on the screen, with three areas circled in red, one to the north, one to the east, one to the southwest.  He points to the circle to the north, in a forested area.
"Each objective is three days of travel away from here.  The first is here, to the north.  The Brotherhood have long had a hidden outpost here which they've been using as their primary fuel stockpile.  It's more than likely to be heavily guarded, so you should be on your toes... and heavily armed.  The objective here, destroy the stockpile.  The bigger the explosion, the worse it hurts them." He says.
He points to the circle to the east, in the foothills near a mountain range.
"The second is here, to the east.  An archeological team excavating what they believe to be some pre-apocalypse ruins in this area have been repeatedly trying to contract our services.  While we normally wouldn't go play guard duty for people looking for the end of the world, we have heard some whispers coming down the line from our spies in the Brotherhood that they've started taking an interest in pre-apocalypse ruins too.  That changes things.  So the objective here is to go to the dig site and provide whatever the archeological team needs in order to help them find whatever it is that they're looking for." He says.
He then points to the circle to the southwest, which is on the fringe of a desert.
"There has been some unusual seismic activity down here on the outer edge of the desert.  We don't have much intel on this, but we need someone to go investigate it and see if it's being caused by the Brotherhood." He says.
He turns back to the group.
"Any questions?" He asks.

[Tapewolf]

"Sir," Dorcan asked, putting his hand up.  No-one else seemed about to speak, so he continued.

"Just to be clear, are these assignments to be done in sequence by the whole team, or in parallel smaller teams?  If the former, do they have to be done in the exact order you've described?
"It seems to me - without knowing more - that the archaeological dig would be the highest priority, from a humanitarian viewpoint at least.  If we get there too late - unless we've already sent them a token guard - the Brothers may decide they want the dig site for themselves, and that doesn't sound like it would be a very good thing for the guys already there."

[Arcalane]

Exo whirrs a bit to itself, crunching numbers at a nearly incomprehensible pace. "Perhaps it would be best to dispatch a small strike force to eliminate the fuel deposit, and the remainder of the group to oversee the archaelogical site, which will no doubt recieve Brotherhood guests sooner or later."

It pauses for a few more moments, idly running over numbers and simulations. "A large fuel stockpile rarely needs a vast amount of encouragement in order to cause mass ignition in a pseudo-thermobaric fashion - long-range missiles could easily deal significant damage if one or two of the main tanks were to be vented into the air as gas, and eliminate a considerable portion of the fuel supply whilst running into minimal hostiles. From there, the group could proceed to investigate the disturbances to the southwest."

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Fetrethar bored a stare into this Jackson, trying to discern what exactly he was getting at. They had probed his head, he recalled blacking out from the experience. It was safe to assume that he knew everything down to why his people would not eat tubers. Why would he need to ask him to expose his ignorance?

Resisting the urge to pace, he slowly let out. "I know that you know that I do not know why we were attacked. Besides, what does motive matter? To your question, I ask what do you wish from me and my people, that you would feed and cure us?"

[Ryudo Lee]

Jackson nodded, understanding the hard stare and cautious nature Fet was displaying.
"Actually, we don't know why you were attacked.  I was asking your opinion." He says.  "The Brotherhood has motive, or had motive, or even made up motive, to attack you.  Perhaps they perceived you as a threat, or even perhaps magical in nature.  They only make real moves against peoples they believe are magical, or at the very least, in between them and those they seek."
He sits back in his chair.
"As to what we want from you, absolutely nothing.  We make no demands.  You and your people are free to leave at any time.  One of our people was on that convoy, but ethics and morals dictate that, given the situation, we had to rescue you as well.  I will, however, propose an offer, one of employment.  You've already had a taste of what the Brotherhood is capable of.  They will stop at nothing to get at the people who they perceive as threats, even going so far as to attack innocents.  Me and my people, the ones who rescued you from that convoy, are fighting back.  Understand though, even though we do go into combat with the Brotherhood, we will not allow innocent bystanders to be harmed, and will do what we can to help those who have been caught up in the fight.  We are not like them.  They would cut down anyone in their path, as you have already witnessed.  I offer you, and any of your people who also wish it, a place here among the rebellion, to rid the world of the Brotherhood and bring peace back to the people of this world."  He says, and then leans forward on his desk.  "Otherwise, you and your people are free to leave at any time.  We have offered our aid and hospitality without demand for recompense.  You may join us if you wish, but no one will make you remain here."


Armstrong shook his head.
"You are to approach your work as you see fit, but no other assignments will be given to you until these are completed.  At this moment, none of these targets are classified as urgent.  You can handle each one at your discretion.  And you will be paid as each one is completed." He says.

[Lisky]

Darkshine looked around the table, figuring he'd see what the others were thinking by stating his idea on how the operations should be conducted, "well, from the way i'm hearing things, we'll want a stealthy team to move to the north, take out the fuel depo, then head for the southwest.  In the east, we're going to want our heaviest weapons, as the people there are going to be more or less stationary, and on the defensive."

Thinking things through more throughly he continued "I'm curious, what kind of weapons are we going to be issued, shoulder fired anti-tank rockets would be useful for both teams, and if we've got the equipment perhaps some tripod mounted heavy weapons for the team at the archaeological site.
My personal gear is much more stealth oriented, and seeing as i've spent most of my life breaching defenses rather than establishing them, i feel i'm much more suited to head out with the team going north"

[Tapewolf]

"A lot depends what the Brothers use for fuel," Dorcan pointed out.  "If it's something volatile, then yes, it could conceivably be done from afar using rockets, assuming they haven't put the bulk of the fuel into a mountain bunker or somesuch.  However, if it's something relatively inert like depleted boron - which may be the case if they use fusion - it's simply not going to explode unless it's given a lot of help."

"Either way, my initial feeling was that we should look at planting explosives for remote or timed detonation."  He glanced up at Armstrong.  "Do we have much intelligence about the depot?  If not, we're going to need to have several very different plans, and pick the one most appropriate for what we find when we get there."

He paused, digesting what Darkshine suggested.
"East?  Isn't that the dig site?" he said, slightly surprised.  "We want to protect the guys there, not kill them.  We'll only need to do that kind of stuff if the Brothers get there first, and even then there's a big risk that we'd kill the archaeologists too."

[Lisky]

Quirking an eyebrow at Dorcan, Darkshine looked slightly confused, "uh, it seems you misunderstood me, the East is going to be a defensive operation, i understand that... being on the defensive has some advantages, but the team that goes to the east should be our most heavily armed and armored members, they don't get to choose the time, and direction of the attack, they need to withstand whatever the brotherhood throws at them in order for the site to remain safe.  The assault team can always back out and try a different strategy if it needs to, the defensive team doesn't have that option.  I propose giving them the most powerful tools at their disposal since they're going to be the ones who have the most limited logistical options"

[Tapewolf]

"Oh right," Dorcan said.  "The people we send there will be on the defensive.  I thought you meant the people we'd find there."

[Ryudo Lee]

The display of the map zooms in on the northern area.
"There is no aboveground structure here.  From what we've been able to gather, the section here is simply an access point, literally just a manhole.  The main entrance has yet to be found.  We figure that it's part of a network of underground tunnels which may lead back to a tower, some miles away from the site.  And since it's underground, and used for storing fuel, you can bet it's a hardened bunker.  Missiles won't do the job here.  And as far as we can tell, they're using liquid gasoline* as fuel, so one good explosion is all you should need.  The problem is getting inside.  This area has seen a lot of activity as of late.  They've obviously got an outpost of some kind there to protect the entrance." He says.
He looks to Darkshine.
"I don't think we're going to have any rocket launchers available for you.  But we've always got some heavier guns on the side to outfit Exo here.  You'll have to talk to the Quartermaster about the details." He says. "And of course, you can request a team of other soldiers to help you out.  Remember that we have dedicated demolitionists and engineers and the like at your disposal."

*Being this world's equivalent to gasoline.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Fetrethar had no response to this Jackson's analysis other than to make a low hiss. Mind racing furiously, he arrived at a decision, one that hopefully would garner him some respect amongst his peers, and miht even keep him alive.

"I will clear our debt to you. I will adopt your clan, as long as this fight lasts. My blood mingles with yours."

He bent his head low, almost touching his forehead to the ground,  "How may I serve elder?"

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan's eyes unfocussed slightly as he pondered the problem of the fuel dump.  "I'm no expert in volatile organic compounds, but generally with hydrocarbon fuels like that you need to have a good fuel-air mix for it to really go out with a bang.  I'm not honestly sure how that could easily be arranged.  An underground bunker with a small door like that is trivial to seal off and therefore starve the place of oxygen.  They probably have automation to do that too.

"The way I see it, if we want to take the site out permanently, we'd have to blow the top off the bunker, puncture the tanks so there's lots of lovely fuel vapour, and then ignite it.  Not impossible, but not simply a matter of sneaking in and walking away.

"Firstly, the Brothers may disapprove of our attempts to modify the complex in this fashion.  I don't like killing people, but I can't really see much alternative here.  However, we also have the problem that there may be contractors on-site and I do not want to be responsible for the deaths of neutrals into the bargain."