Archive Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Chapter 6.1: Lachesis

[Joani]

(ooc: The events here happen an hour after 6.2. The PCs present are: Tim, Tom, Grav, Simon, Savannah and Kevin. For continuities sake I decided that Kevin has been brought in through a portal from Grav. I don’t want to keep one Player separated much longer. I was expecting that you guys would spent a few days with some R&R but obviously that was not on anyone’s mind. Adrian and Rebecca will be turned into NPCs until Adrian comes back. They are both in Rebeccas quarters because she is feeling sick.)

Eve quickly included Kevin into her Datafiles accepting him as a full member of the team like all other mutants. A private quarter was quickly assigned and everyone was gathered in the ‘main’ hall which Tim somewhat ‘hijacked’ as his HQ. Several screens displayed all important Data they had gathered so far including the latest newsfeeds and updates directly from the military.

Fortunately there were no activities beyond the constant traffic between the Moonbase and the German baseship.

Food has been delivered and drinks were plenty. The only thing lacking were cigarettes…

[Tim Wiley]

Tim lounged in a chair with his fingers playing lightly on a computer keyboard in front of him. Every so often, a new small tidbit of information came across the feed and was immediately sorted for its worth. Valuable information was collated with existing information of worth. Data deemed 'worthless' was sorted by type and alphabetized accordingly. It was hoped that after new information came in, the 'junk' data would become relevant. So far, most of the information consisted of traffic between the moon and Germany.

Why only Germany?

"Eve" Tim said, rising from his chair. "Are there any significant statistical differences between the frequencies of ships moving between Germany and the Moon, as opposed to the Moon and Argentina? For that matter, what is the frequency of travel between the German ship and the Argentinian one?" The questions were a blind stab where none probably existed. But if there was some difference in the numbers of ships going to Germany and Argentina, it could be important. Maybe the ships were not in communication, or not as 'allied' as we thought. It could even mean that different aliens inhabited the different places and some did not need supplies or whatever it was they transferred. If they were going to plan an assault, they needed to know as much as they could.

[Joani]

Eve quickly replied providing Tim with the requested data. Her female yet mechanical voice sounded more confident as she gained more experience through interaction with the Mutants. “There is no traffic between the Ship in orbit above Argentina. I’ve counted two contacts in the last 3 months between the Argentinian ship and the German ship going from the German ship to the Argentinian. I have no data about the vessels since most of the data we receive from our satellites in that area is corrupted.”

“The traffic between Germany and the moon is comparable to the JFK-Airport in NYC. Again this data is solely based on visual scanning and the extraction of corrupted satellite data.”

[Grav]

Grave sat there and assimilated the data on the screen. "The ship over Germany is certainly more important, but that also means it will be much more heafvily guarded. In addition to that If it has engines like the other then there's a chance it will interfere with my ability to open Warpgates there and away."

"EVE is there any data on irregular gravitational forces emmanating from the ships?"

[Rorx]

"Is there any obvious differences in the size or design of the ships? " Asks Tom as he sips his lemon tea.

"Also what are the frequency of ground to ship flights like?"

[Tim Wiley]

,,

Quote:

The ship over Germany is certainly more important, but that also means it will be much more heafvily guarded.

"It might and it might not be either." Tim shrugged his shoulders. "If I was worried of an attack, I might want to make the enemy think that my most important ship was the most visible, but in fact, the other one really was. It could also be that they want us to go after the ship that seems the easier target, but is in fact a trap for those who assume it is unguarded. For all we know, the enemy could know us better than we know ourselves."

Tim sat back down and began to analyze the data concerning the traffic and frequency betweent he two ships in the hope of gleaning some sort of flaw or vulnerabilty in the alien's ship traffic.

Click to reveal.. ( Analyze Weakness)

(12:39:15) ChatBot: (Tim_Wiley) rolls 7d10 and gets 9,1, 1,4,7,4,8. (first two are Mega)

4 sux

[Stargaizer]

Kevin sat back and listened to everything that everyone else was saying, processing it.

After everyone else had spoke, he leaned forward and spoke. His tone was questioning, showing that he was just throwing around ideas, not yet trying to make concrete plans. "Those are all good points. But, do we even have to assault the ships first? Grav, would you be able to make a portal to the base we saw on the moon? And, if you did, would the vaccum translate through, or would it keep it on one side? Simon, Savannah, you control the elements, correct? Would one of you be able to create a bubble of air big enough and hold it long enough for us to find or make an entrance into the moonbase?

Or, if we're worried about taking out the ships, Grav, how big of a portal can you make, and what's your maximum range? What kinds of forces or eviromental factors pass through and what kinds don't? If you made a large portal underneath one and put the other end out in space, would it fall or get sucked through, or not be effected? If you could put one end near the sun and the other near the ship, would the heat, plasma, magnetic forces, gravity, radiation or anything come through? If so that could be a pretty big weapon for us to use.

Could your portal make it easier for Travis to 'push' it through?

The basics of warfare hold, but with the abilities that we have, we can make some completely new tactics. I honestly think that an 'outside the box' strategy would work best. Take them by complete surprise."

Kevin looked around the table to see everbody's reactions. He only mentioned a couple of his ideas. Hopefully this would get everybody thinking along non-traditional paths. Besides, the less they had to expose themselves, the better.

[Rorx]

Tom shrugs, "Hell, why not just set a portal up and send a nuke through?"

[Stargaizer]

Kevin nods and shrugs simultaniously at Tom's suggestion, both acknowledging it and not taking the conversation too far from finding out some of the limitations and abilities of the others.

[z025]

Simon thought about Kevin's questions. "I might be able to make the air, but it would really need a container for to be in or it would just float off. That and people would have to be able to keep themselves inside the air bubble. And we'd have to find a way to keep it warm. Savannah might be able to do that, but I don't know if it would be enough against the cold of space."

He frowned, "Do we know anything about the aliens themselves? Anything about their biology? If we could find something that's poisonous to them, we could try spreading it on the ships."

[Joani]

Originally Posted By: Grav

Grave sat there and assimilated the data on the screen. "The ship over Germany is certainly more important, but that also means it will be much more heafvily guarded. In addition to that If it has engines like the other then there's a chance it will interfere with my ability to open Warpgates there and away."

"EVE is there any data on irregular gravitational forces emmanating from the ships?"

“Affirmative.”, Eve answered, “The ship heavily interferes with all kinds of transmissions making it almost impossible to gather any technical data. All information I got is mostly based on visual scans and the rare output that is not corrupted like energy spikes.”

Originally Posted By: Rorx

"Is there any obvious differences in the size or design of the ships? " Asks Tom as he sips his lemon tea.

"Also what are the frequency of ground to ship flights like?"

“I can’t provide you with any data about your request about the ships sizes and designs. There is no ground to mothership traffic, though. All I get is irregular energy spikes both on board the mothership and random locations on the ground. It is always followed by a brief blueish white flash.”

Eve produces a floating holographic display showing how a blinding flash appears on the ground just before her sensors register an energy spike on board the alien ship.

“I suppose it is some kind of transportation.”

[Tim Wiley]

Energy spikes. Must be transporter technology. Tim imagined himself breaking down one ot=f the alien machines responsible for matter to energy conversion. He saw himself sitting at the head of a large table, CEO of Transporters Inc., and filthy stinking rich. Own a private island, lots of women. Maybe make a base on the moon and form his own nation there.

Tim snapped back to reality to give his own alalysis. "They are probably beaming people to and from the surface. If we could somehow make them think we are one of them, and get ourselves beamed to one of their ships, we wouldn't have to worry about our own warping abilities failing." Tim rested his chin on the palm of his right hand. "I suppose we could try to hijack the signal which controls the beams too."

[Rorx]

Tom address Eve, "We need information on the ships, is there any reason you can't get visual data on them? If not get someone to turn some astronomical telescopes in their direction, and preferably get a triangulation to pinpoint their location. From that you should also be able to scale the size of any images obtained to get the size and any significant differences in design."

He follows Tim's comment, with one of his own, "Are the energy spikes and ground flashes as frequent in South America? And is there any occassions when there is no ground flash but there is a corresponding energy spike at the other ship?""

[Savannah Tanner]

Savannah sighed, trying not to look bored, or like she was struggling to even understand most of what they were talking about. Simon was the smart one, not her, and most of what they were talking about was going right over her head.

How could we disguise ourselves as one of them? Do you mean like a really good costume? I just don't understand...

She shot her brother a lost look, but stayed quiet. She didn't want someone judging Simon based on her lack of comprehension.

[Grav]

"Because I likely cannot open a portal into the ships. I'd prefer to avoid nuking anything over a populated area."

She frowns. "So that means we either have to take control of the ships or Cut their main engines. After that then I can open gates and move things trough."

"Though I'd rather we come up with something else."

[Stargaizer]

Kevin spoke to the computer, "Approximately how far out from the ships do the gravitational anomolies extend?"

He then directed his comments towards Grav. "That is perfectly acceptable, if somewhat limiting to our planning. What about my other questions? What forces and enviromental factors translate through your warp gates? And, once you've established a stable gateway, would the ship passing through it, complete with anomolies, destabalize it enough to close it... what do you think? And do you know an approximate range for how far away you can make a gate? We've seen that you can from the moon... how much did that stretch you?"

Kevin eased off the questions, figuring that he'd laid enough on her. He then turned to Simon. "Those were all very good points Simon. I hadn't thought about the heat issue. Though I do wonder... I haven't needed to breath for a while now, and I'm comfortable in Siberia, outside, with no insulation... I wonder if I could survive on the surface of the moon. I wonder if anyone else could. I wonder if that's an ability that can be copied."

Kevin leaned back in his chair musing over his questions and waiting answers from the others... this could prove to be a very interesting plan they come up with.

[z025]

Simon frowned, "Are those ships being powered by mutants, too? I mean, that's what was what was happening with Savi and I, right? Could we get into the ship to free those people? Or maybe find a way to turn their powers off and turn off most of the systems on the ship too that way?"

He squeezed Savannah hand, his thoughts split between the questions he was asking and reassuring her. He sent her a mental picture of him dressed up like some City Defender, an image to give anyone that knew him well a laughing fit.

He also looked over the information Eve was supplying them with, trying to figure out something, anything that could help them defeat these creatures that had stolen over four years of his and his sister's life.

Click to reveal.. (Analyze Weakness Roll)

Mega is first, using the Discerning quality so long as you don't object, Joani. (I don't know if there's a standard in this game for what dies is the Mega, so I'm just going with what's done in SGU)

1d10=10, 1d10=10, 1d10=7, 1d10=7, 1d10=6

1d10=9, 1d10=10

1d10=9

9 successes....*puts her head down on the table and cries* "Why can't I get these rolls in combat?"

[Tim Wiley]

"I wonder about that too." Tim broke in. "My body has been changing, as I have noticed some strange recent developements. For example: When the pizza arrived, the cheese was molten hot. I know that because steam rose from it and the cheese was melted. I ate the first several pieces without even realizing I could have blistered my mouth. I didn't. Somehow, I was not affected by the molten cheese, and it makes me wonder if this is not a simliar sort of mutation. Hell. It might be a common genetic trait for mutants."

He got back to the ships. He was working his brain, and it felt good. He had been watching the orbit of the moon and noticed slight changes in it. He needed to confirm it. He began to type several physics formulae into Eve.

Click to reveal.. ( Science)

(08:35:47) ChatBot: (Tim_Wiley) rolls 9d10 and gets 10,10, 9,9,1,3,4,3,10.

9 sux

Finally, Tim says. "The moon's mass is increasing. They must be taking raw materials from Germany and transporting them to the moon base." Tim showed where the slight variations in the moon's orbit and relative gravity had been slowly changing of the past several months. "Due to the relative rate of the moon base's growth and available resources in Germany, they probably have until the end of the year. At that point, Germany will be depleted and the aliens will go somewhere else, or will be done with the base."

[Grav]

"For starters my gates are only about two meters across, at maximum. There is no way that the ship can fit through that. Secondly my powers are largely based on the manipulation of gravity, and only other gravitational fields can really mess with them. As far as i know, no other environmental contidtions transfer through the gate."

[Joani]

Originally Posted By: Rorx

Tom address Eve, "We need information on the ships, is there any reason you can't get visual data on them? If not get someone to turn some astronomical telescopes in their direction, and preferably get a triangulation to pinpoint their location. From that you should also be able to scale the size of any images obtained to get the size and any significant differences in design."

He follows Tim's comment, with one of his own, "Are the energy spikes and ground flashes as frequent in South America? And is there any occassions when there is no ground flash but there is a corresponding energy spike at the other ship?""

“I have no access to the space telescopes or any other astronomical unit that can provide me with more details. There is no way to gather enough data to make a successful triangulation. Aside from the interference and the electromagnetic static the alien ships emit they seem to have some kind of cloaking technology which displaces their actual location. Even visual observation is difficult and takes hours to analyze for reasonable data.”, Eve tried to answer the questions as precise as she could tending to the requests as they got issued.

“Yes they are as frequent in South America. I have yet to find any occasion when there is no ground flash paired with an energy spike. It is about the only data I can retrieve without delay.”

[Stargaizer]

Kevin nodded sagely. In response to Grav's statements, "Ok. Well, that combination takes out a chunk of the tactics that I have already come up with. But we're not even close to tapping the different and unique things that our group can do."

To no one in particular, after the Computer had finished 'speaking', "Can't seem to get any good data from instruments... maybe someone sly enough could get us some eyewitness data..." He then shrugged. "Who knows." He was trying to be cryptic, but it should be easy for anyone in that room to know he was talking about Fox and his TP.