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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2014 16:24:03 GMT -6
Iskra felt herself tense. Then why didn't he tell her....?
She shook her head, clearing her mind. "I never said I would not go, Eric. Simply questioned the choice of making me the leader.""
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Post by Maelstrom on Aug 27, 2014 16:31:32 GMT -6
"Just insert the vial," Bridges said.
Maelstrom nodded. It was a relatively simple procedure, taking only a few seconds. When it was done, Maelstrom set the empty container down on the table.
"Well," he said, "unless you have something else you want to run by me, I think I need to go screw with my shuttle's security protocols again..."
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Post by Eric Lysander on Aug 28, 2014 7:54:55 GMT -6
"I never said I would not go, Eric. Simply questioned the choice of making me the leader."
A relieved smile formed on Eric’s face. “… alright, then. We better get goin’ – we’re late enough as it is. And don’t worry about Fearless Leader’s inoculation. Maelstrom convinced him to take his medicine.”
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Post by Esteban Bridges on Aug 28, 2014 12:05:54 GMT -6
"Well," he said, "unless you have something else you want to run by me, I think I need to go screw with my shuttle's security protocols again..."
Esteban was not exactly sure what Maelstrom meant by again. It did not seem wise to him to change security settings away from a space station. But, it was not his shuttle. So instead, he extended his hand. "Thank you," he said to Maelstrom genuinely. It felt good to be able to share his concerns and thoughts with someone who was not a VI. "I still need to speak with Morgan. So I will not be going anywhere yet."
Esteban stepped back, outside of the audio-null zone. "Data," he said. "End audio cancellation."
"Of course sir," the VI replied, ending the dampening protocol.
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Post by Maelstrom on Aug 28, 2014 14:08:58 GMT -6
"So I will not be going anywhere yet," Maelstrom took the offered hand and shook it.
He was tempted to stay back with Bridges to listen to the conversation with Morgan, but instead, he said, "I'll see you soon."
As he was leaving, he could have sworn he heard Bridges talking with his VI.
"Emily," he said, turning off his external speakers with the touch of just a couple fingers, "let's get to work deleting Iskra from our roster of trusted users and demote her to the state of authorized users."
"Very well, Jonathan," his VI replied. "How would you like to start?"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2014 19:25:47 GMT -6
Iskra slid on her helmet and clicked it into place. Pulling the hood up over the tubing in the back. "I shall see you down there. I just need to retrieve a few more supplies."
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Post by Eric Lysander on Aug 29, 2014 10:06:17 GMT -6
Eric nodded again and left the med bay, allowing Iskra to gather up what she needed. He activated his omni-tool and composed a message to his employer… -------------------------------- To: Bridges, E. From: Lysander, E. Subject: Final Briefing
Okay, now that everything’s been settled or set aside for later we can finally be a team again. I’ll meet you and the others down in the cargo bay to go over how exactly we’re going to break into the Collector base, come up with diversionary and evac strategies and so on.
Iskra will be coming along.
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Post by Esteban Bridges on Aug 29, 2014 18:35:38 GMT -6
Esteban leaned against the wall, tapping his foot impatiently. The minutes kept on ticking by and so far, no Morgan. He took another deep breath and pushed himself off the wall. That was when his omnitool made a small beep, telling him he had a message. He raised it up curiously while Data displayed it for him.
------------------------------- To: Bridges, E.
From: Lysander, E.
Subject: Final Briefing
Okay, now that everything’s been settled or set aside for later we can finally be a team again. I’ll meet you and the others down in the cargo bay to go over how exactly we’re going to break into the Collector base, come up with diversionary and evac strategies and so on.
Iskra will be coming along.
---------------------------------
Esteban pinched the bridge of his nose, wincing. He asked the former N7 for one small thing. But he was too distracted to apparently do that. He shook his head and pulled up the interface for his omnitool to type up a reply.
------------------------------------
To: Lysander From: Bridges Subject: Where is Morgan?
Eric. While I am pleased you were able to have your conversation with the good doctor, I asked you to find Morgan and have her come up to the upper level. I will take care of that.
-----------------------------------
Esteban hit send.
"Data," he said into his omnitool. "Use the ship's sensors and locate Morgan."
After a brief moment, Data replied. "Located sir."
"Good. Send Morgan a message. Ask her to come up to the upper level for a quick briefing on Collector technology."
"At once, sir."
Data compiled and sent off the message. The engineer fell back against the wall and closed his eyes. He did not understand what in the world was going on. It was as if nobody was listening to his most basic of instructions anymore. He scowled, considering his options.
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Post by Morgan Bryn on Aug 30, 2014 16:19:50 GMT -6
Morgan stood up from her hiding spot as she heard Eric leave the medbay. The ex-soldier's whole demeanor had changed after speaking to Bridges. Although his conversation with the doctor had been quite short, he seemed most concerned about convincing Iskra to still go on the mission, shrugging off her concerns about finding her data on the basis that Bridges claimed he'd get it for her. With all the new information that had come to light, Morgan wasn't sure she trusted Bridges to hand such data over without a fight... that was, if he remembered to look for it at all among the chaos of finding the prisoners in question. She hadn't worked with any of these people before, and if she'd learned anything in her past, it was the error of trusting a supposedly loyal team.
Pulling her coat around her, Morgan slipped back into the medbay proper to find only Iskra, the Drell now wearing a helmet and cowl.
"You okay?" Morgan asked simply as the Drell looked up at her approach.
(Reply Iskra)
"I promise I'll see what I can do with what you gave me," Morgan commented, being intentionally vague in case there were others listening in. "I'm glad to hear you're going though."
Her omni-tool lit up with a small orange ring on the back of her hand indicating she had a message, but she ignored it until Iskra had a chance to reply.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2014 16:37:58 GMT -6
The head under the hood shook in response, "I have met enough 'businessman' in my life to know not to trust them to keep their word, especially when they claim they are doing it for 'free'."
"I promise I'll see what I can do with what you gave me....I'm glad to hear you're going though."
Iskra sighed, annoyed that they had all assumed she was not going. She had only said her first priority was not what their's were. She grabbed the Widow sitting on the floor and slung it over her shoulder.
"It is not my first choice, to continue being forced into combat. But you all seem to want the little support I can offer."
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Post by Eric Lysander on Aug 30, 2014 17:01:05 GMT -6
"Dammit!" said Eric aloud at Esteban's reply, having forgotten all about tracking down Morgan. Not that he would have had much luck finding her without her comm code. Iskra likely would not know where she was either. Probably lurking about the ship or getting equipment from her hiding place. The time for distractions and misgivings was over. The N7 closed up his omni-tool and continued down the stairwell to the cargo bay.
When he arrived, he found some of the mercenaries assembled there. Others, including Esteban, had yet to arrive. No matter. Eric surveyed the present company and took a few breaths. This time around there was very little to plan on; everything would have to be done on the fly until sufficient intel could be obtained. Could this particular gathering handle it? What could be said to such a gathering to motivate them to do so?
Fortunately improvisation was not much problem for Eric.
He headed over to the nearest comm panel to open a ship-wide channel then turned to his audience and assumed an 'at ease' posture.
"Alright everybody! Cut the chatter and face front!"
Eric waited a few seconds to be sure he had the ship's full attention.
[Insert reactions from people in the cargo bay, if any. As with the Barce mission, assuming that all PCs are by or near comm stations.]
"Those of you who've been with me before, you know what I'm about ta do. For the new people joining us... this is The Speech. This is where I remind you what the stakes are. This... is where it gets real..."
Eric paused a moment to let his words sink in. He then started to slowly pace back and forth, hands still behind his back.
"To say that this trip out has run into a snag or two... would be a helluvan understatement . There'll be time enough ta deal with those issues later. As of right now we need to focus on our objectives... men, women... children. Human and non-human folks just tryin' to get by. Their lives interrupted by the Collectors. People goin' through the same abductions and tortures that were once dismissed by my ancestors as paranoid nightmares. Pretty goddamn ironic... that one descendant of those past victims found a way to profit from it. Donnel Udina... claims to be representing humanity at the same time he's offerin' it up to the enemy on a silver platter... "
The ex-commander stood in place. "... that shit stops today..."
His hands dropped to his sides as he more directly addressed the mercenaries aboard the Valiant.
"We've really got our work cut out for us this time. We're literally headin' inta uncharted territory so we all hafta be on the ball for this one. We'll be breakin' up inta three teams as before: Fearless Leader... Mr. Bridges... will be leadin' the Infiltrator team with Joe and Karn. Their goal is to reach the control centers on the Collector base and hijack their systems, get 'em to work for us. Seal off key doorways, vent some corridors, freeze or heat up enemy positions. Give the Collectors the runaround while guiding us to the cell blocks. They'll also be downloadin' as much data as they can from their servers: site schematics, troop positions, prisoner manifests, experiment data. Enough and then some to nail Udina into his own cell for the rest of his life! Who knows...? Maybe we'll find some more data on the Reapers as well..."
"Murdach with Thor... and Maelstrom's asari friends... are Evac. They'll be securing what could be our only entry and exit point with help from the Vengeance. I know you'll guard that point like our lives depend on it... cause it will... anything with more than two eyes that flies at you, you turn ta confetti 'til we come back through!"
"Everyone else will be with me on the Rescue team. Maelstrom and Meldom can scout ahead with Rescue and Infiltration backin' them up until Infiltration reaches its objective, air out any patrols walkin' th' halls. Iskra and me can take up sniper positions along the way, sow a little confusion inta th' ranks. Morgan can provide some on site hacking, coordinating with Infiltration to relay battlefield info to th' rest of us."
"We'll need to have a fairly solid path established back to the Vengeance when we find the prisoners. They're gonna be scared, catatonic, panicky. Some may even get violent. We hafta hope that they're still together enough to want out and realize that we're the only ones that can make it happen. Iskra can probably help some of them recover from what the Collectors did to them... others... well... death may be the only cure... every prisoner we can't save will be one more life on Udina's head. We'll make sure that what we bring back from the base speaks for them."
Eric stopped again to collect his thoughts, trying to think up an analogy to illustrate the way the mercenaries needed to cooperate on this mission into an unknown battlefield. He then remembered a teammate he lost some years ago; a man with an affinity for Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis.
"The Collectors have home field advantage here, with plans for almost every contingency. But if Shepard's stories about them hold up... that's their biggest weakness. They plan... and they'll stick to those plans no matter how bad it gets. They could almost put the turians ta shame! They can't really think on their feet... but we can. There's a special kinda music called jazz back on Earth. Listen to a live song or two if you ever get a chance; it's like nothin' you've ever heard. The song names, the general melodies are th' same... but they never play 'em the same way twice. A jazz musician knows their instrument and their music enough to stray outside th' lines. How to riff off other musicians strayin' outta their lines and still make it all sound grand. That's what we hafta do if we're gonna win this one. We coordinate. We riff off each other. Collectors chuck somethin new at us, Fearless Leader or any of us gets new intel, we all play it n' spin it about. But we stick to the melody. Three simple beats playin' over 'n over in your heads under all the gunfire 'n chaos: get the prisoners, get the data... get out alive... we're the best musicians money can buy. We each have the instruments and th' talent to make some damn good rhythms on our own. Imagine what it'll be like playin' the same hall together. Shep says that the Collectors have no culture. No appreciation for music... our lil' jam session's gonna throw 'em for a loop."
Eric exhaled and regarded his teammates.
"Unless anyone has any questions or suggestions... we are go for Operation Middle Finger..."
He permitted a confident smirk."... let's strike up the band, guys..."
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Post by Joe Fischer on Aug 30, 2014 17:25:29 GMT -6
Joe looked up as Lysander arrived and then launched into "The Speech": part battle plan, part motivational sermon. It was a tradition as old as time itself, so he kept his mouth shut and respected it even as questions popped into his head, namely wondering what possessed the boss to assign him and Karn to the infiltration team. But it was too late for any further modifications to the plan; they would just have to do the best they could.
"Yeah, I got a question," he spoke up. "I'm assuming we'll be going for the quiet approach on this, right? Until, you know...we can't?"
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Post by Maelstrom on Aug 30, 2014 17:39:01 GMT -6
Maelstrom heard all of what Lysander said, as he sat at the pilot's chair on the Vengeance, entering in new security protocols directly to Emily. His work was sufficient though that he paid little attention to it. Despite that fact that numerous times changing Emily's security measures made it relatively quick work for him, it still required concentration. Everything needed to be re-prioritized in the wake of Artacus' betrayal and the recent drama between Iskra and Bridges. His main priority was getting the team out when things went wrong. He had a very hard time seeing such a discordant team doing well. Even krogans lost to blood-lust would have been more effective in his mind.
"Yay!" Maelstrom said with mock enthusiasm while pumping his arm at the end of Lysander's speach, thankful his helmet's external speakers were off. "Everyone acting like a bunch of brooding damned teenagers..."
"Are you okay?" Anelya asked, coming up behind him. She could not read the security protocols he was entering, the display coded so that it only came through accurately on his helmet's HUD.
He shook his head, letting out an exasperated sigh.
"They'll pull through this. You'll see," Anelya said.
Maelstrom just shrugged his shoulders. He would have to think twice about going on another mission with this crew. His personal quest against Cerberus had to come first, and he could not very well manage that if these people got him killed.
"This will all resolve itself. You'll see," Anelya assured.
Coming up and taking the copilot's seat, Enaya laughed. "You should have seen it. Aney almost shot Joe when he came up to the shuttle."
Maelstrom actually laughed at that, and they could tell by the heaving of his chest.
"That's everyone's problem," Enaya said. "You all just need to laugh more."
Maelstrom tilted his head to the side and shrugged his shoulders as if to say she might be right before returning his full focus to making sure his newly-updated security measures were airtight.
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Post by Morgan Bryn on Aug 30, 2014 18:45:57 GMT -6
Morgan sensed she'd said the wrong thing the moment the exasperated sigh emanated from the Drell beneath the hood.
"It is not my first choice, to continue being forced into combat. But you all seem to want the little support I can offer."
Morgan held up her hands in mock surrender. "I just meant you're the only one on this ship who's shown any sort of trust and kindness toward me thus far, with the exception of maybe Joe. I'm just saying it's good to see a friendly face along." She offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
"This data is important to you. I know you'd be down there looking for it yourself, if given the choice. I was just worried the other guys had their panties in such a bunch they weren't gonna allow you off the ship. It's nice to see I was wrong," she stated with uncharacteristic earnestly. "Plus, you said it yourself... the only way to stop huge swarms of those bug things is with biotics AND you're a doctor, right? With how much heat the team is packing, I can tell they're not expecting this to go well. I'd say that makes you the one person I need to stick close to when combat DOES break out..." Morgan leaned in, speaking in a mock whisper. "I mean, c'mon... I don't put it past that Maelstrom guy to not just shoot me and tell everyone else the Collectors did it." She smirked.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2014 19:21:29 GMT -6
A small chuckle came from under the hood, the doctor relaxing slightly. She was glad that she could trust someone on this ship, even though it was someone she least expected.
Her laughter fell into silence as Eric spoke over the comms, her mind going back to what was about to happen. She could not imagine that there would be places to provide sniper cover in this place, but she knew little of the Collectors passed the info in Dr. Solus's data.
Iskra's head turned to Morgan when the man's voice fell into silence.
"What is the importance of the middle finger?"
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Post by Morgan Bryn on Aug 31, 2014 1:29:54 GMT -6
Morgan was glad to hear a small chuckle from the Drell. It was one of the first moments she'd actually heard a happier emotion from the woman, but before much else could be said, Eric's voice erupted over the ship-wide comms.
She listened to his speech in silence, her arms crossed as she leaned up against one of the exam tables. She'd never been one for jazz. It was far too much of a cacophony of discordant sounds for her, but she at least got where the man was going with his analogy. Once his voice fell silent, Iskra turned to her once more.
"What's the importance of the middle finger?" the Drell asked.
Morgan paused, unsure how exactly to explain. "Err... it's sort of a um... vulgar insult in some cultures on Earth. Different cultures use different fingers and hand gestures to um... well, mean the same thing. It's sort of to... to tell someone off in a very serious way," Morgan replied sheepishly, quickly pulling up the message on her omni-tool to avoid explaining further.
(reply Iskra?)
Morgan frowned thoughtfully as she skimmed through the note from Bridges. "Well, looks like I need a crash course in Collector tech from the boss before we head out. I'd better get up there before I hold up the entire team..."
Iskra nodded in understanding and Morgan ducked out of the bay, heading up the stairwell to the upper level where Bridges had indicated. It didn't take long for her to spot him near the kitchen area.
"You wanted to see me?" Morgan spoke up in greeting.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2014 2:57:13 GMT -6
Iskra watched as the other woman left the medbay before grabbing the last of the supplies for the base. The nervous knot in her stomach had started to form again and in a silent prayer she asked for the stars to watch over everyone.
The doctor walked down to the cargo bay in silence, glad for the emotionless mask as she entered. Without a word to those standing there, she walked over to a crate and sat down awkwardly, like a kid as her feet swung slightly.
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Post by Joe Fischer on Aug 31, 2014 3:22:33 GMT -6
As Joe asked his question, he saw Iskra enter and take a seat on a crate.
An urge to go to her and try smoothing things over rose up in him, but he stomped it flat. He knew it was more about making himself feel better than her, plus with the sort of person she was, she would just get agitated again.
But at the same time he didn't want to ignore her either, so he split the difference, settling for a quick nod in her direction.
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Post by Esteban Bridges on Aug 31, 2014 11:45:39 GMT -6
He remained still, listening to Eric's speech impassively while waiting for Morgan. It was impassioned, something that Esteban noted Eric could do rather well. He was able to summarize most of the mission fairly well... except for one part. His eyes opened when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
"You wanted to see me?" Morgan asked, walking over. Esteban gestured to one of the chairs at the kitchen table, quickly having a seat on the opposite side. He wore his neutral mask as always, hiding anything he may have been feeling or thinking.
"Yes," he replied with a nod, even his tone was neutral and nearly conversational. "Despite what Eric said, I am not seizing control over the security system of the base. You will be the one responsible for disabling any local security systems and opening up locked doors your team may encounter. It is not as easy as it may sound."
[insert response, if any]
"Intel on the technological designs of a Collector base is spotty at best," he continued on, tapping the back of his wrist. His forearm was consumed by the fiery neon glow of his omnitool. "Only one base was infiltrated. While the layout was documented and studied, there's no way to know of this is standard or not. But based on design, this is the overview of what to expect.."
Esteban arched his omnitool over the table. The flat surface ignited immediately, projecting up what appeared to be an impossibly complex beehive, filled with millions of small pinpoints of light floating around within small, contained areas. Each area had a thin path extending away from it, intertwining with other paths from other areas... all coming together in the center of the hive.
"Each node is its own independently functioning area," he rose up to his feet. Even at full height, the hive towered over him. He reached into it, pointing at one random node. "Most reports that I've read believes this is because of a sort of telepathic link between them, or maybe they have an alternative form of communication that does not rely on technology. Although, that does not account for the central area here."
Esteban pointed up at the heart of the hive, where all the roads ended at. It stood there glowing a soft orange.
"I suspect this is where the entire base is run and operated, or at least coordinated. Most others disagree. The machine language used by the central node here is orders of complexity greater than the machine language used everywhere else. They say it is functionally incompatible, like attempting to use a modern VI to run an abacus. I am not convinced of the analogy, but they spent close to three months studying the data carefully. They may see something I do not."
Esteban tapped his omnitool. A few of the wire-like roads vanished.
"The technology is hierarchical in nature, with clear-cut dominant and subservient programs. Within any given node, if you can locate the alpha program that controls every other one, you should be able to secure that entire area. But..."
Esteban paused for a moment to take a momentary glance at Morgan.
"Any questions on this so far?"
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Post by Morgan Bryn on Aug 31, 2014 15:42:48 GMT -6
Morgan was genuinely surprised to hear she would be assigned the task of disabling any local security systems within the base. She could have sworn Bridges had said that would fall to Meldom, but who was she to argue the logistics of a crew she was barely familiar with? She kept her face neutral as she analyzed the holographic display of the structure before her. It was a hard pill to swallow - the idea that what he was showing her, as complex as it was, might not even be the same layout as the base they were scheduled to board.
"Within any given node, if you can locate the alpha program that controls every other one, you should be able to secure that entire area. But..." Bridges paused, letting the sentence hang awkwardly. She was expecting him to continue his thought, but instead he turned the floor over to Morgan. "Any questions on this so far?"
Morgan blinked and shook her head as if trying to clear away cobwebs. "So... basically, you're saying we're going into a maze-like structure, completely blind, with only anecdotal intel at best, and no idea if their entire security network may or may not be bio-mechanical in nature and therefore, may or may not be hackable." Morgan paused, letting her words sink in. "Really, I don't see what could possibly go wrong."
(reply Bridges?)
She took a deep breath, rubbing at the bridge of her nose as she tried to process everything the business man had said. "You mentioned others who disagree with your assessment of the core and referred to them as 'They,'" Morgan commented, not feeling reassured that there was apparently a large portion of the galactic community who thought differently than their leader. "Is this anyone in particular?"
(reply Bridges)
"Also, I believe I understand you and Meldom are the only others on the team with Engineer capabilities. Can I ask what your roles will be in this, for... coordination purposes?"
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