Mission Update!

[lucetimods]

Droid Sabotage - Begins September 21st (fyi: we pushed the date up by one!)
Field Leader: Steve Rogers; Security: Alia Shepard, Sophie, Rogue, Greg Lestrade, Gai Tsutsugami, Masaomi Kida, Leonhardt; Stealth: Trafalgar Law, Fujiko Mine, Nara Shikamaru, Albert Silverberg, Loki; Technicians: Donatello, Artemis Fowl II, Daisy, Tony Stark; Programmers: Robert Hastings, Pascal, Doctor “Eggman” Robotnik, Raine Sage

New mission will come later this month! We're going to try out a shorter sign-up time to see if it raises more volunteers.

If you're new here, then this is a mission post. You can find available missions at rpmanager. You are welcome to subscribe or track the journal, but this is not required, as updates will be posted on this journal. For those of you who don't know about missions, the links below should help you out. I suggest you start with the Mission FAQ first!

The log is going up for this current mission at the same time. Check out the details inside for a special chance for one character to play ‘hero’ and save the day. However playing hero doesn’t come cheap, either. There will be a thread on here to volunteer for this role!

OOC: Mission Suggestions | Mission FAQ | Nitpicker's Guide: In-Depth Information | Mission Tracking
IC: Malnosso Information Post | Recurring Missions | Unique Missions | CJ's Announcement

Feel free to discuss and ask questions here! You may use this as a plotting post for the upcoming mission(s) as well.

Comments

[complicatedliar]

Psh. Innocent life. Like anyone is actually innocent.

/cough

[complicatedliar]

Your name's now been taken in vain on my plurk. Rogue might get sucked into Loki-sitting duty too.

Geeze. It's almost like people don't trust him.

[touchofrogue]

Okay, here's a question - after going through the mission stuff more carefully, it looks like the Security is going to be getting a lot of training from a Madame Zapha.

So does anyone want to thread any bit of the training/interacting around the training? Or do you guys just wanna focus on the mission action?

And as security, we'll probably be split off into teams - there are seven of us! Any idea on how that's gonna go down?

[touchofrogue]

Geeze. And he seems like such a nice guy!

...Rogue will be an interesting introduction to the world of mutants for Loki. And he will just love watching her and Tony interact, oh dear.

[complicatedliar]

Heh heh. He's looking forward to it.

Loki just wants a shot at fetching the chief programmer, really. Because he's good at that kind of thing.

[generalflirt]

Dibs on the diversion group.

I also would really love to thread that training because that seems like one of the most interesting parts to me. Bonus if we can force Aly oe Masa to NPC Zapha a little.

[touchofrogue]

And by "fetching," he means...?

Well, on the plus side, it's not the first time Rogue's worked with people who had been her enemies. And even though Loki's not done a thing to her - loyalty to Tony, yada yada. But team-ups with Magneto happened a few times even in Evolution, so she'll be able to help with the whole 'focusing' thing.

[complicatedliar]

Well, her or parts of her. You know. Whichever is more effective toward getting the mission done.

/cough

Because it's got to be better than trying to force those doors, that's for sure.

[touchofrogue]

...oh, that would be interesting. Though I know they're both busy. I guess we'll see if any of the other Security/Stealth folks are interested in threading it before setting something up.

Worst comes to worst, if you really wanna touch on it, Rogue and Masaomi could probably talk about it. Might be a SHORT conversation, considering the two participants, but hey.

[touchofrogue]

...there is a practicality here that Rogue can appreciate. She would, however, prefer 'her' to 'parts of her,' especially when it's so easy to knock someone out and drag them along...

ANYWAY, WHY AM I STILL PLOTTING I SHOULD BE SLEEPING /runs off

[complicatedliar]

Ah, but the question then is what compelling reason is there to leave her alive?

Unless they plan on kidnapping her too. That could be useful, come to think of it.

THEY SHALL HAVE TO DISCUSS. :3

Oh my god I want Rogue and Loki to be fetch-the-programmer-buddies so hard now. DARNIT.

[generalflirt]

Yeah for sure. Even a little overview of the lessons would be neat.

And yes that would be fun.

[eyesofstrength]

Honestly, what group I stick Leonhardt with will likely depend on where needs are, but would prefer to be in the diversion group since that will be where his skills will be best suited and because he has experience with those sorts of things.

[eyesofstrength]

Definitely not something he'll want to express with this crowd.

[voidseeing]

I'd be up for threading the training if other people are interested in that! And as far as where Gai ends up, he could easily be on either team, but he does have experience in causing distractions and infiltrating things if that would be of use.

Re: Science Team?

[i_speak_softly]

As an honorable ninja, Don would have serious reservations about kidnapping someone in order to use their body parts to get past a security device. He is, however, skilled at getting past locked doors, both destructively and otherwise.

In terms of sabotage, he would be in favor of something subtle, that would affect every droid manufactured until the error is found. For example, hiding a small subroutine in the billion lines of code that would interfere with droid functions, or tampering with some part of the assembly line so that a critical droid component gets put together or inserted incorrectly.

Re: Science Team?

[wise_maiden]

Would they all be on the same page about what they're actually programming, or is everyone going to do their own thing?

[lucetimods]

Here's some more insight into making another option after reading through some of the discussion. Just to put some of the stuff into perspective.

ICly, the characters are hinging a lot on this diversion. Although we have worked the mission into them succeeding at the sabotage either way, that's because none of us are actually smart enough to write a convincing piece of code to show that. So a big gamble on success? Not their best option.

Option A is attractive because it provides them with the most chance of success. The more they divide their forces, the less effective the sabotage can be, right? Option A is rather nice because two or three people can handle laying the explosives. Sure, people die... but they'll come back later.

Option B is also attractive because it's easy to do. Is it a throw away option? Not really. It may not have any 'bonuses' to it, but the diversion isn't the point of the mission - the droids are. It's the 'sensible' option for the unambitious.

Option C is a risky move that puts the entire mission in danger and may result in them losing their chance at accomplishing anything - at least, this should be their IC mindset. But it also is like effectively doubling what they gain from this mission. It's a gamble. Do you fold now and take your earnings or do you throw in everything and try to win big?

Option D? Well, that's up to you guys. Just remember that the goal is the sabotage. If they put a lot of their people on the job of diversion, then the sabotage is going to be less effective (or ICly they'd be risking failure). There's also keeping the integrity of the mission in tact. How much is too much before they risk blowing their cover? Who can they trust? The Malnosso are an intelligent bunch. How much are they monitoring not just in their base, but above it as well? What kind of tactics might they be using to keep their base safe?

The important thing to remember is that even if its hard-written into the mission they'll succeed at the sabotage, none of them have any idea if they'll even get past the first door safely. So they should plan accordingly.

[castbytheglyph]

Pascal would be fine going in and just winging it, but if all the programmers agreed to only alter certain subroutines or something more planned out then she would go along with that too.

Rewriting a billion lines of code is probably stretching it, so maybe the programmers could focus on drastically cutting the number of reactions the droids can predict. And maybe lowering how long the droids can plan ahead, too. It's all well and good being able to predict millions of reactions in combat, but not if there's only less than a second to act on these predictions before the situation changes again.

[castbytheglyph]

Pascal has gotten around security devices in the past, so perhaps rather than blowing the door or kidnapping Kidston there could be a group effort to bypass the wing scan altogether and get the door open some other way. Though when Kidston notices the door has been opened without her help then all hell will break loose.

Getting her perma-drunk on tranquilizers and keeping her with the group as they work seems to be the safest option, even if someone will have to end up babysitting her. If they open the doors any other way then there are going to be security personnel all over them sooner or later, even with the distraction going on with the other team.

[castbytheglyph]

Where would Kidston be in relation to the code room? Would she be the type to regularly pass by the code room and check to make sure everything is running smoothly, or will Team A have to look around the facility to find her?

Also, would it be possible for any of the techies or computer savvy people to bypass the security devices and the wing scan to the code room altogether, or would they be stuck having to subdue Kidston or blow the door?

Re: Science Team?

[fowlplots]

As a former criminal mastermind Artemis has no reservations about kidnapping someone just to use their body parts, since in canon once he pretty much PLANNED for cutting off a man's thumb just to get into a super secure safe. But considering the whole death/mutilation aspect of cutting off someone's wing he'd be more likely to suggest attempting to reprogram the wing scanner to recognize the wings of one person in their party, if only because a kidnapping can get messy in a high security situation especially if they're caught.

As for structural weaknesses to introduce, changing the carbon bonds in the alloy would definitely be a place to start. Drastically changing the amounts of alloy components might get noticed faster, though. So Artemis would recommend changing the formula just enough to lower it's breaking point to make it more easily damaged. There's also the question of how they might try and sabotage the batteries.

[daisy023]

I admit I exaggerated on the "perma-drunk" thing, but I meant more as getting her knocked out first and foremost before beginning their plans. Since the target is the most paranoid of the group, and there may be quite a ruckus with Team B, having the tranquilizers work ASAP would be for the best.

Perma-drunk... may not end well. /has memories of that Undergrads quote on why are hazings no longer done.

Still, having someone babysit her would be for the best, perhaps -- treating her as a POW in the middle of the Op. (No weapons given, observation of the target, keeping her out of lines of fire, etc).

..... Come think of it, in The Fall of Reach, they stuff an Insurrectionist Colonel into a crate when they tranquilize him. Could that be attempted?

Re: Science Team?

[daisy023]

For the batteries, a defect could be introduced that overheats the mechanism. The battery is an effective productor of perpetual energy, something that by all means should be impossible to the first and second laws of thermodynamics. (But again, shifts!)

It could be either made so that the battery delivers far too much energy that it could fry the motherboard (a defect in PC's -- hence why there is a safety lock that shuts a computer down if the cooler stops working... which could be toned down from the droids, by increasing the temperature tolerance, perhaps), or ruin it just a little so it gardually loses energy in combat situations.

Even the tiniest leak of energy that forbids the battery from being a perpetual energy mechanism could have serious effects on the droids.

[castbytheglyph]

My bad, I meant it in the same sort of way. Just keeping her out of it long enough for everything to come together. Though the idea of Kidston coming to and babbling incomprehensibly about the droids whilst still under the effects of tranquilizers is terribly amusing.

- If not a crate then maybe some sort of closet or small room they can lock her in and bar the door, providing every single room down there doesn't need some sort of intense security mechanism to be bypassed or whatever. I can edit my mod question above to reflect this if it's something the team would consider.