OPEN PLAYER PLOT: OPERATION LOST BOYS

[forcevisions]

WHO: Anyone
WHERE: A research outpost not far from New Amsterdam proper
WHEN: November 28
WHAT: The Displaced arrive to save the captured Morningstar agents, including one of their own.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence, mentions of interrogation/torture, etc.

> DEPARTURE BY TRAIN Early in the day on November 28th, Prompto and Poe will conspire to get an out-of-service train car onto the same tracks where the Displaced were guided by Cassius earlier this month. By all measures, the train car doesn't look operational. There are telling dents in the side, and it does not appear to be powered on. Yet those involved in the rescue operation already assembled are climbing on board like they know that this is their ride. Inside, the train is fairly battered. Some of the seats on the far wall seem to have been damaged when the train collided with something during the EMP, and the rattling of the crash took out some of the internal handrails as well. Once everyone is settled, though, the car begins to move. At the front of the car, Poe uses his power to move the train car on the tracks and out of the city. As they hit a checkpoint, the car doesn't slow down to be inspected; instead, it accelerates and blows right through the barrier, which makes for a pronounced jolt for all the passengers inside. Once the train is rolling outside of the city limits, the Displaced can grab scrambler masks that have been provided by Morningstar for use in infiltrating the outpost when they arrive. It is imperative, El suggests, that they don't allow their identities to be compromised. They will also remind the Displaced to keep this project under wraps, lest Morningstar as a whole has its operations compromised. This is a good time to solidify any plans about what to do when the outpost is reached. The train ride won't be especially long, but long enough for some tension to settle over the car. > INFILTRATE THE OUTPOST The outpost they arrive at is a less grimy version of what the Displaced saw earlier in November. The interior is almost identical to what was present there, with some wings repurposed as jailing sites. There are bright, fluorescent lights with white walls and a sterile smell throughout. Even cleaned up, these labs do not recognize any of those that the Displaced may have seen in their dreams. The description below is borrowed from the arrival log for reference: The building is six stories tall. The first floor has a lobby/waiting area, a cafeteria, and some office spaces. The second floor is the dormitory floor, which is where the employees would usually sleep if they chose to stay at the facility while working rather than returning to the city in between shifts. This is where the new arrivals woke up. Floors three through five are dedicated to lab spaces, which is where the actual research work is usually done. Most of these laboratories are going to be locked, but that won't stop Displaced from breaking into them if they want. Some of the lab rooms also have exam rooms. Displaced will be able to swipe lab equipment and medical supplies, such as syringes, vials/beakers, first aid supplies, scalpels, bandages, multi-lens microscopes, etc. The top floor is dedicated to offices for higher-ranked scientists, so think of it as the C suite. All floors also have bathrooms, of course, and the dormitory wing also has showers. ✦ Notably, this outpost is also empty of scientists. However, stoic soldiers stand guard at every door. These well-armed warriors are with the UNA, who has taken over the outpost. These soldiers are not an easy fight. In the fights with UNA soldiers, PCs might die and need to be revived in New Prague by Morningstar. ✧ DISTRACTION: Some of the PCs may choose to deal with the UNA by attempting to distract them using wit, charm, or apparent helplessness. PCs may search for a way to draw attention away from some of these doors to let others sneak past. ✧ INFILTRATION: Those who sneak past will find the jailing areas similarly guarded, and eventually, stealth and quiet infiltration is no longer an option. Rey and the other Morningstar agents are being held in well-secured cells, and UNA soldiers must be engaged in order to get past them. ✦ Inside the jailing sites, they find the missing agents in terrible shape. These Morningstar operatives have gone through extreme interrogation, and if they can get persuaded to talk sense--or talk at all--they might impart on their rescuers that the subject of that interrogation was most recently about the blue technology. However, most are catatonic, seemingly unaware of who they are or where they are, and some react negatively and violently toward anyone who displays the blue glow in front of them as the result of a conditioned response. ✧ Agents from the September raids will explain that Rey's arrival worsened the interrogation. Some of these agents may admit to confessing that Morningstar started helping a new group that emerged. It was clear in their interrogation that the UNA was not involved in the June firefight because they only then put together that the Displaced were involved in it. They're only aware because they were tasked with cleaning up after it. ✧ Some of the agents taken during the raids will still be resentful of the Displaced, and this will help convince the UNA that the Displaced are separate from Morningstar. Once the agents are freed, the Displaced can make their way back to the exit of the outpost, where Poe Dameron waits in an armored truck liberated from the UNA. This flying truck is meant to transfer large numbers of UNA soldiers for load-outs, so despite the Displaced and rescued agents' numbers, it will be sufficiently spacious to fit them all. Though it flies, it's smarter to stay low in the interest of staying off trackers on their way to New Prague, where they can hopefully wait out the heat of pursuit by the UNA. > NEW PRAGUE When they arrived in New Prague, El contacts local Morningstar agents to escort them to a safehouse. Notably, El will warn the Displaced that no other parts of Morningstar know about zeir identity as an AI. El is hoping that the Displaced will keep their secret, but is more concerned with helping than with keeping them separate from the New Prague Morningstar chapter. These Morningstar agents will bring the Displaced to an abandoned chain convenience store at the edge of town, Zesco. The convenience store is located near the edge of the city, and it's meant to be a temporary stop. The upper part of the store is just an empty space, though there is a wall where it's clear that there were once icee machines. All of the Morningstar agents will be held under an abandoned convenience store. ✦ The inside of the safehouse is like most safehouses, but since it's meant to be temporary, there aren't any clothes or food in place to help someone out. There will be Morningstar agents who come in to supply these things throughout the stay, showing up about an hour in to help out. ✧ It will be apparent that this safehouse is not one of the ones that's typically used in New Prague, but instead one of the miscellaneous ones that they've had around. Unlike New Amsterdam, most of the safehouses in New Prague weren't compromised. Of course, there is a high likelihood that this safehouse will be decommissioned after all of this. ✧ Notably, the New Prague agents are all quite impressed that the missing New Amsterdam agents were able to be saved at all—previously, NPC Morningstar cells had believed rescue to be impossible. ✧ Anyone who kept their scrambler mask on during the infiltration of the outpost is allowed to leave the safehouse and explore New Prague. Anyone else … can do that if they want, but it's not a good idea! The safehouse won't be fun, but jail will be worse. Please reach out to the mods if you do this. ✦ Beyond the safehouse, New Prague is a large, beautiful city housing around 30 million people. Unlike many of its brethren, it pays homage to the "Old" Prague in a number of ways: there are impractical cobblestone streets, and the architecture adheres to an older, gothic style throughout the city. In fact, there are ordinances that demand the city continues to look as if it harkens to an older past and time. Above all else, New Prague is very green: there are trees everywhere. Throughout the city, there is a large, man-made river that cuts through to the underground, causing there to be beautiful falls underneath the main city itself. This river is called the New Vitava River, once again paying homage to the Prague of Old. The New Vitava River is maintained to the degree that there is no littering in it, and there are strict local rules about doing anything lewd in it. (That includes using it as a toilet. Don't do that!) There are bridges all over the city to easily cross from one side to another, and all public transit has been constructed to adhere to the river and also offer its citizens views of it on the regular. ✧ The weather here is just as extreme as it is in New Amsterdam, so anyone who's not been checking the news will find that the world really was screwed over by Cassius. ✧ Food throughout the city is just as eclectic as it is anywhere else. Visually, it looks like they want to remember Prague, but culturally, it's just as varied. This isn't an Eastern European city in anything but aesthetic. > THE RETURN The train ride back to New Amsterdam will resemble the ride to and from New Tokyo, but it is a considerably shorter trip. There is no stop for the train at New Amsterdam, so they will need to devise a way to get off the train without dying in the process - this will be difficult, but not impossible. This should not be too much of a surprise, as some of the New Prague Morningstar agents will join them on this train ride, and will explain the situation. Once they're outside the city, these agents will get them back into the city, as they've done this rodeo before. They can sneak in easily through the opening made by Cassius earlier in the month, which if it has been found, has not yet been addressed.

Comments

[warfares]

So is every opportunist. ( and the ai's continued evasion suggests a level of investment that one might even call personal. trying to decipher cassius' motives felt a bit like trying to play dejarik with both hands tied behind his back.

not impossible, not if you were determined enough, but you'd be at a severe disadvantage. )

We were foolish. ( to put it mildly.

it would be nice to say that the signs were all there, clear enough for those that knew were to look, but the fact is that they were desperate and disorientated and it had been turned against them. )

Desperate.

It made us easy targets. ( a better man might say that knowing the truth, they now could make better decisions going forward. more informed. but he had never been an especially good man, and el's willingness to deceive them right up until that option was no longer feasible for them was certainly telling. )

[ex_dictator317]

Everyone is an opportunist. We would be fools to pretend otherwise.

[ Octavia stands firm in that belief. Cassius has earned no protection from her, no justification; she's not certain she could provide it, even if he had. But she's witnessed the cruelty of mankind when the end of the world arrives, keen on self-preservation and made more desperate as a result.

In a way, they're no different. It's only their goals that set them apart. ]

What do you plan to do about now that you know?

[ Stay? Fight? Octavia has no interest in throwing her lot in with Morningstar, but her head still tilts in his direction, thoughtful and waiting for his answer. ]

[warfares]

I haven't decided. ( — no, that's not strictly true. he was weighing his options, if he was doing anything. trying to decide just how much value he was willing to place in either of their word.

little to none.

but daenerys seemed to believe that there was something of value, there. as did rey — though in her case he was willing to believe that at least part of it was pure sentiment. the need to believe that things were not so different now that the truth was known. )

He claims to know who took us, yet refuses to give us the information. Which I could understand, if he admitted what he wanted from us. What hoop he's hoping we jump through.

[ex_dictator317]

You're putting a lot of faith in the possibility that he's telling you the truth.

[ Fat chance. The doubt pours from her, unconcealed. If Cassius knows, then El must have a similar inkling — but what leverage would El have left over those who have sworn fealty if it was offered freely, knowing the Displaced crave that information?

More the point, leaders never feel the need to explain themselves, their process. She would know that better than anyone. ]

[warfares]

Faith is an interesting choice of words.

( though he doesn't immediately move to deny it, either. because perhaps it is a kind of faith. faith in the fact that they were brought here for a reason, that they're needed and that this gives them some kind of power, even if it's not something they've figured out how to use yet.

he takes another sip of his drink, thoughtful, then adds: ) There was talk of another AI.

( this, in itself, is not news of course but it is interesting nonetheless. )

If Cassius is not seeking it already, someone else doubtless will. ( or has. )

I wonder just what would happen if someone were to beat them to it.

[ex_dictator317]

Others have offered to find them.

[ Desperate to gain from their altruism, Octavia believes. If nothing else, it puts them on the path of a symbiotic partnership with Cassius, but the problem is simple: the other Displaced do not have her trust, have not proven themselves to be reliable. Their selfishness could cost them all, if the answers they seek aren't shared among them.

For now, it's best to consider their other routes of action, independent of Cassius. Independent of those that would turn a blind eye to this planet's inevitable destruction. ]

I'm not betting much on two AI who named themselves after the greatest traitors in history.

[ The third undoubtedly must follow the pattern. ]

[warfares]

I saw.

( the exchange between someone called "matches malone" and the ai had been of particular interest — not least because of how quickly the ai had taken up his offer.

and now matches malone was no longer active on the network. one wondered if he'd been successful or if he was locked away in another of the una's research outposts, his knowledge lost with him. )

What will you do?

( because octavia had managed to coax a far bit of information out of cassius, herself. had managed to keep calm in the face of her obvious distrust. )

[ex_dictator317]

Fight. Survive.

[ Like there was ever another answer. Octavia does not know how to lose quietly. In fact, she doesn't quite know how to lose at all. If nothing else, Cassius's reveal has only motivated her to accomplish what she couldn't in sparing this Earth the same fate as the last. ]

I don't care about their scuffle or what they want for us. None of that will matter if we're all turned to dust.

[warfares]

It already matters.

( whether they like it or not, it matters. )

If Cassius can cripple society at a whim, imagine what he could accomplish if he decided to genuinely take issue with any part of our lives. Our very existence. ( and the thing is, the ais aren't entirely unjustified. history might have been written by the winners but read between the lines enough and you could catch the hints.

he thinks of jon snow — jon snow, who was quick to needle and insult while offering little of value in return. jon snow encapsulated, rather perfectly, everything that the ais likely feared; humanity's boot grinding down on their metaphoric necks. )

[ex_dictator317]

We won't have lives left if the planet isn't our priority.

[ But he makes a fine point she hadn't wanted to consider. For all Cassius' claims that he couldn't spare this Earth the same fate as her own, couldn't navigate the calculations, he hadn't sworn himself to peace.

If nothing else, he has accelerated the process. Octavia's lips purse together, displeased. ]

If he had the ability to destroy us, he would have already. He can't be at full strength.

[ The yet lingers, ominous. ]

[warfares]

His influence is limited.

[ but the principle remains the same. ]

Eventually this will change. [ cassius is in their systems, now. knows all their vulnerabilities and secrets. and, yes, perhaps they could find a way to use this but it would be arrogant to dismiss the threat in their midst outright. ]

Let us hope we’re ready when the time comes.

[ex_dictator317]

I will be.

[ She can't speak for the rest of them. It's borderline haughty, a prideful cover-up to the tense fear that rakes down her spine when she considers that they might fail. Fail, as they had on Earth, twice over.

With that promise, she raises her glass before she moves to leave, disappearing back into the crowd. ]