Oh dear.


I'll try to get through this recon as fast as I can and get Semo and Hugh back into things. Their attack is just predicated right now on Davis and Luis not screwing any pooches, and I only have so much time in the day.

That's why I'm not planning on taking the bait. I'm sure it's very nice bait, but we've got a mission.

Before leaving the area, Max would also like to frag the door controls that lead into the murder room.

If Davis spends a Wild Die or two on not being such a digital spazz, and that let's us get closer, that's good too. I mean, how difficult is getting close enough to figure out what it is?

Quote:

I mean, how difficult is getting close enough to figure out what it is?

Hmmm...I guess that's the real question. If it's within a certain realm...well, I do have a shitload of Wild Dice I never get to spend (11, to be exact). That makes me the best canidate for dropping some here without worrying about running out later.

All right, so, moving in and spending Wild Dice as needed to get at the mysterious shinies?

admiralducksauce wrote:

All right, so, moving in and spending Wild Dice as needed to get at the mysterious shinies?

Indeed!

*covets shiny things*

What the heck, why not? However, Luis is staying cautious. At the first sign we've been spotted, we bail and cover our tracks. Agreed?

Hells yeah. No need to get caught quite yet.

Hm. Hm.

Well, off the top of my head, I can think of three things that could be done right now.

1. Nothing. It's something that's nice to know, but we're pushing it being here in the first place. Certainly the safe option. It's also really boring and potentially a waste of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

2. The "Fuck You" option. If possible, leave a time-delay or remote-triggered program to inject a video message of defiance and revolution straight into the Emperor's cerebral cortex, followed up as much white noise will fit (I can't imagine having random noise shot straight into your brain does good things). Even better, code it to go resident in the Emperor's mind, jump around in his brain to avoid detection and run on a loop. You want to leave an impression? I think this will do nicely. The real question is if this is even possible and do we want to so thoroughly burn out bridges on this one. Still, if we're going with balls-out war, this would be the cherry on top of one hell of an opening salvo.

3. The "diplomatic backdoor" option. Similar to option #2, but instead of just carpet bombing his brain with our message and then giving him the mother of all grand mal seizures, we leave a message that if he's willing to listen to us and work towards avoiding what will certainly be a lengthy and costly war between Earth and the Imperium, we will be keeping a covert method of virtual contact open, exclusively for the Emperor himself, without interference from the military. This would be set on a longer timer, like maybe a day or so after the Napai raid. This takes advantage of the fact that we essentially stumbled upon a private hotline straight to the Emperor, and that we can possibly convince him to agree with our cause, and that the guy's even real and isn't some AI construct.

The third option is by far the most risky, as it is predicated on the idea that since we've seen practically nothing of the Emperor himself anywhere, not even as a talking head on some holoprojection, the Imperium is very much like Imperial Japan in WW2, with the Emperor still nominally in charge of the government and its figurehead, but with the real power currently vested in the military leadership (and that the guy's even real). If the Emperor ever wishes to consider our demands (cessation of attacks against Earth and the introduction of a Magna Carta of sorts for the Imperium and the transfer of power to a more democratic republic or parliamentary format, or at the very least recognition of Earth and her allies as a legitimate government and allowing all planets the option of joining either side at will and democratically), we will be listening. I know that this is a long shot on a completely uncertain factor (we have no clue if he really is like Emperor Hirohito or is just a raging psychopath who wants us all dead). I am also aware that all the historical precedents I'm citing here (Japanese at the end of WW2, the Magna Carta) happened after the side receiving the demands had their asses handed to them. Still, a quick and diplomatic victory is preferable to any other in this case, and even if he does nothing but taunt us initially, possibly after a few major defections and defeats, he might be willing to consider our terms. Hopefully we can make it clear that there are no winners if we fight this war, and that a more peaceful transfer of power is in his best interest and the best interests of his people.

Then we'd just need to take out the Imperial military after they appoint a new Emperor, declare war on the guy who sided with us and become even more crazy and hardline than before. Because, you know, that would be the easy part.

He taunted us over Greene. Fuck him.

Gatac

That is a good point. I suppose Davis could ask if it's worth attempting diplomatic relations with the Emperor, or if we should just light this fucker up like Las Vegas Boulevard.

(Edit: I still think keeping our options open is the best bet. Also, using option three does not preclude option two, while using option two definitely rules out option three.)

I think option three is best, but we shouldn't attempt until the rest of the raid goes down. If found too early, there's too much chance it could blow everything.

Is there any chance Luis could tap into the Imperium's news networks (essentially, get CNN in his helmet) without drawing attention? Also, if he's discovered by security, will it be a major deal? Would I just get a nice notes from the network admins to knock it off and get back to work, or a personal visit? With our forces as cut-off as they are, our best indication of the progress of the Boronai strike from where we are on Napai could come from comparing our knowledge of the battleplan to what we see in the Imperium's news channels. Then again, if they edit their news a lot (and I get some feeling they do), it may not really provide an advantage. Too much false chatter and bad info.

We might not have to hack in, it could just be like free planetary wireless, you just connect and get news. And as far as covering it up, that just means that the Boronai team needs to be extra-loud when they invade. Think you guys can handle that?

The Imps need the Gates open to broadcast info back to the Cortex. You're opening the space Gates to each other and you'll control the Gateport portal. If all goes to plan, the Spire Gate will be buried in rubble, so noone will know there's an attack on until it's too late.

You also would know the Imperium doesn't broadcast news - just propaganda. A "ravilar" is a spokesperson of sorts, a so-called voice of the many whose job it is to disseminate this information to the people.

You guys are basically comms-black. When/if you get to the Cortex, you have orders to insert a message indicating that success for broadcast when you open the floodgates.

Hm. But once the shit starts to go down on Boronai, will the news still be able to reach Napai? We need to have them paniced enough that they walk us right into the Cortex. I mean, if they need footage, we already knew about how the Cortex propagates info, we could have the team capturing the foot Gate could just open it up long enough for news of our invasion to hit the Cortex. As for timing with communications blackout, I think I already mentioned that we'd be running off of a synchronized timetable, so as long as each of us hit our marks, we don't need to be talking to each other.

Max, I can't possibly map out a space station the size of Delaware, nor can I enumerate all your possible search results. If you're looking for something specific in the computer (the files are INSIDE the computer! *smash* ), let me know.

I realized as I was doing an edit to my post that we never figured out if Swims was a man or a woman. Not particularly important, as we haven't seen much difference between the genders amongst the Wherren, but it's something I noticed as I was writing the "ladies and gentlemen" line.

Also, do we know how the news of the Boronai invasion will be making it to Napai so we will have the distraction we need? I asked earlier, and since we're about to get this sucker rolling, it'd be nice to know, if we have to do anything to make it happen.