<GM to players:> The clocks around the compound tell you that it's
morning, however this far under ground, it's no different than it was in
the middle of the night. The halls are still dimly lit by some run down
lighting panels, the air is still cool and moist as well. Silas appears
in the doorway to your quarters and says, "Good morning, everyone. We have
a lot to do today, breakfast is in 5 minutes in the mess hall."
Mindwave stretches and quickly gets herself ready, "Thank you, Silas.
We shall be there promptly."
Silas nods and disappears from the doorway, leaving the party alone
in the small living space.
Bruno smirks, thankful that he brought essential supplies with him...<instant
coffee>. "So where exactly are we supposed to hit this thing?"
Mindwave turns to Bruno, "At a communications node, Doctor. Omega-1
relies on using the people to process abstract concepts, and during an
attack, no doubt, it will be taxed heavily."
Mindwave looks around the room as everyone else wakes up, "I trust
everyone slept well?"
Brenna sits up and mutters, "It's times like this that make me miss
boot camp..." She stands up and quickly dresses, saying more formally,
"As well as could be expected, Warlord."
Bruno polishes his monocle on his labcoat, "As well as can be expected
I'd suppose..." He starts looking around for someplace to boil some
water...
Mindwave heads out the door heading for the mess hall, "I'm sure they
have hot water in the mess hall, Doctor."
Bruno follows along, stumbling sleepily after.
Mindwave turns to Bruno as she walks down the hallway, "Doctor, do
you think your Widget could take over keeping the people alive if we shut
off Omega-1?"
The mess hall is already filled with a number of people. Silas
sits at one of the tables with his top people. He sees the group
walk in and motions everyone to sit down with him at his table.
Mindwave moves over to the table where Silas is seated.
Bruno shrugs and answers Mindwave, "I've no idea really... I must have
time to learn and translate the programming languages and routines this
thing uses... This is not something I can do in just a couple of hours."
Mindwave sits down at the table and examines the breakfast before her,
wondering if it is suitable for human consumption...
Silas nods and says, "It will take some time, but first we have to
find the data distribution nodes and break in. We can't translate
it until we have something to translate from."
Mindwave says, "Well, that seems to be our first objective then."
The meal before you is pretty meager, consisting of some sort of mush.
It really doesn't have much taste, but the people around you eat it without
complaint. Chances are it's been a long time since they've had a
real meal, if ever at all.
Bruno looks around for some water to boil. "Nectar of the gods..."
He sighs and eats his meal hurriedly before going to boil the beans.
Silas nods and says, "Yes, today we're going to try to find one of
their main nodes and see if there's a way to patch into it. If we
can do that, we can copy the signals that Omega-1 sends out, and once we
have that data, we can try to sort it all out and figure out which are
life support commands, which are data requests, and so on."
Mindwave says, "That sounds like a reasonable plan to me. However,
can we move around outside without being noticed?"
Silas ponders for a moment, then says, "Well, we know their patrols,
and we know paths that are relatively safe. With a little planning,
and a lot of luck, we can get to a spot where we can hopefully plug into
the main network."
Mindwave starts to eat her meal and considers what else needs to be
done.
Mindwave asks, "Anything else that needs to be done?"
Silas says, "I don't think so. We know how to get in, hopefully
we can get back out the same way. My only concern is if Omega-1 detects
us intruding on the network, it could change all of its patrols and security...
if it does that, we're going to have to do some improvising."
Mindwave glances at Bruno for a sec, "Well, we are pretty good at improvising,
Silas."
Mindwave turns to Silas, "We will be ready to move out whenever you
are."
Silas nods and says, "Good. We should have nothing to worry about
then." Breakfast time passes quickly, and soon Silas stands up to
address everyone in the mess hall, which is now full. He says to
them, "Ok, listen up, folks. We have a lot to do today. We
need to find one of the computer's main data distribution nodes and break
into it..." The room falls silent as he speaks...
Silas continues on, "We've trained for this for a long time now, but
the time has not been right for such a strike until now. Our guests
will accompany Team 1 in the actual assault. Team 2, you're backup
in case Team 1 is unable to penetrate the compound. Teams 3 and 4,
you will be covering the exit path for Teams 1 and 2. Stay sharp,
and remember your training. If we do this right, Omega-1 will not
even know we were there. Let's make it happen, people." With
that, the room begins to buzz with conversation as the freedom fighters
all get to their feet and begin carrying on their respective tasks.
Mindwave turns to her people, "Equipment check."
Brenna nods and says, "I've repaired the damage to everyone's armor.
Weapons are charged as well."
Mindwave says, "Excellent, then we should be ready to move out.
Keep your eyes open."
Mindwave walks over to Silas, "We are ready."
Silas says, "Good. This way please." Soon you're on your
way back out of the underground complex. Several vehicles of various
types and sizes are being loaded. Silas guides the group over to
one of the lead vehicles, saying, "It's a long way to the main complex.
We'll take the vehicles in most of the way, but we'll have to go the last
part of the trip on foot."
Mindwave says, "Understood."
The vehicles travel for a good six hours before coming to a halt seemingly
in the middle of nowhere. Trees still surround you as far as you
can see, but Silas opens the door and says, "We've reached the edge of
the preserve. We have to go the rest of the way on foot." He
grabs a large pack and starts giving orders to other people. The
vehicles are being covered with camouflage and Team 2 is digging in, while
Team 1 gets ready to move out.
<OOC> Empress says, "Is anyone doing anything
special? This is probably about the last point where you're going to have
all the time you need to prepare."
<OOC> Bruno is trying to grab any info he
can get about things like local technology, security, etc...
<OOC> Mindwave says, "is this just the information
gathering part? Do we want to launch an attack in space?"
<OOC> Empress says, "No, no attack yet. Right
now you're just trying to identify which nodes are the major communications
nodes so you know where to hit Omega-1 later when the time to attack /does/
come."
<OOC> Mindwave says, "that is what I thought,
but I thought I had better doublecheck"
Mindwave readies her weapons and checks again the area, "Ok, everyone, remember where we parked."
<OOC> Empress says, "Bruno, you've had plenty
of time to study local technology. Omega-1 keeps fairly regular schedules
for patrols and such, not really expecting an attack to come from anywhere.
Security at the main complex is very tight, however. It's basically a large,
steel bunker"
<OOC> Bruno says, "What I was more interested
in was the security TECHNOLOGY, does it use thermal sensors, what sort
of locks does it use, etc..."
<OOC> Empress says, "Ahh. Nobody's 100% sure,
but the general consensus is that the computer uses a combination of IR
and motion sensors throughout the complex."
<OOC> Empress says, "Locks are electromagnetic
for the most part"
<OOC> Bruno says, "Okay...thanks..."
Bruno scratches his chin, "Well...IR and motion
can be defeated...though we may have to be the only ones going in....
Bruno says, "Motion sensors can be defeated by
crawling VERY VERY slowly past them...if they're rigged to be too sensitive
they're an annoyance...so we can bypass those if we're careful, but the
IR sensors...those are going to be tricky...""
<OOC> Mindwave says, "is Strong with us?"
<OOC> Empress says, "No, he's in no condition
to do anything like this. He got pretty beat up in the battle with
those combat droids"
<OOC> Empress says, "and that was only a day
or two ago"
<OOC> Mindwave says, "ok"
Team 1 heads out through the woods. After walking about a quarter of
a mile, the trees clear and are replaced by sky scraper-sized metallic
structures that serve as storage racks for the tanks of humanoids. Everything
around you is made from a black metal, including the ground.
Mindwave reaches out with her mind for any signs of activity (other
than the team).
Silas leads the way through the maze of storage columns. He explains
quietly, "Each one of these columns is a node. Different nodes have different
functions as far as computing data for Omega-1. The main communications
nodes are actually inside the complex, so that's where we're going. I've
been there a couple of times before, but never got inside."
<GM to Mindwave:> There is a lot of activity coming from all of the nodes, which are actively analyzing data for Omega-1
Mindwave says to herself, "Interesting, very interesting indeed."
<OOC> Mindwave says, "could I tap in telepathically?"
After dodging a few patrols of battle droids, you find yourselves in front of the main complex. Storage columns jut out of the top of the complex and disappear into the clouds above...
<OOC> Empress says, "You can try, yeah. Roll your telepathy dice"
Mindwave rolls 12 dice and gets: 6 4 4 6 1 3 6
3 1 4 5 3
Body: 13
Stun: 46
<OOC> Empress says, "Yeah, that'll do it :)"
Mindwave reaches out with her mind to examine one of the communications
nodes.
Mindwave reaches out telepathically and connects with one of the people
in the tanks. Fragments of information are being placed into the mind of
the individual, and the mind returns a response to the fragment... much
like an association test on speed. The data seems to be directed
toward pattern matching for this particular node.
Mindwave relays what she has discovered to the rest of the team.
<OOC> Mindwave says, "could I disrupt it, or
plant false information in there?"
<OOC> Empress says, "Yes, probably. Based
on your experience with the humanoids on the captured ship, though, it
would be difficult to get the being to react correctly... they seem to
know what data is coming in the link and what isn't."
Mindwave says, "I can get in, but I don't know how much I can manipulate
the data flow..."
Silas nods and says, "Interesting." He points to the columns
rising out of the main complex, saying, "Those are the main data distribution
nodes. There are ten of them, going to the various parts of the planet.
Unfortunately we have to get inside to get to a place where we can plug
a computer in."
Mindwave says, "What if we could get to one of those towers, on the
outside?"
Silas rubs his chin thoughtfully for a moment, saying, "I hadn't thought
of that... do you think we'll be able to gain access to the data lines
from on the tower?"
Mindwave says, "Only one way to find out..."
Mindwave looks around for flying patrols.
<OOC> Empress says, "There are a few
patrols now and then that fly over, but they're fairly sparse."
Silas says, "I'm almost afraid to ask, but how do you propose we get
up there? We have no climing gear..."
Bruno peers at Mindwave. "That's a good question, I don't think either
of us can lift that far..."
Mindwave smiles, "Doctor, are you up for a little flying today?"
Mindwave says, "I can lift someone up there with you Doctor."
Bruno nods, "A cooperative effort would perhaps be best...no point
in rushing things, safety first and all."
<OOC> Empress says, "You can't TK each other at the same time either. Whoever's TKing needs to be standing on something solid. TK is not reactive in Champions."
Mindwave says, "Captain Brenna, do you wish to accompany the Doctor?"
Brenna nods and says, "I will if you wish, Warlord."
Mindwave says, "Very well... now, let's see where those aerial patrols
are?"
Silas is looking up at one of the main columns through a pair of binoculars.
He nods slightly and says, "I think I see maintenance hatches up there...
they have to have some way of getting to those tanks."
One of Silas' men speaks up, saying to Mindwave, "We've been keeping
an eye on them. It looks like there's about a three minute window
between flyovers. There aren't many patrols, but they're moving very
quickly."
Mindwave pulls out her binoculars and searches for the hatches
Looking up at the column, you do see what appear to be hatches at regular
intervals up the side of the tower. Unfortunately, they all appear to be
closed.
Mindwave says, "Think you can get into one of those in under two minutes,
Doctor?"
Bruno nods, "Well... how many are we talking about lifting?"
Mindwave says, "I can lift both of you."
Bruno says, "We can get a few up there relatively safely... or we can
get a LOT up there pell mell and hope for the best."
Silas says, "I don't see much point in lifting a lot of people up there.
We just need to patch into the data network, we don't have to take over
the whole tower."
Mindwave says, "Two people, the Doctor and Captain Brenna, will go.
Are you ready?"
Brenna nods and says, "I'm ready." She turns to the man clocking
the aerial patrols, asking, "How long before the next fly-over?" The man
promptly responds, "Thirty seconds..."
Mindwave mentally prepares herself for the task ahead...
To be Continued...