(Log) Fire From Heaven - Strategy

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WHO: Alia, Axl, Prismatic Spider, Mac, Signas, Sing, Zero
WHAT: Signas leads a strategy meeting to plan the assault on Heaven's Fortress.
WHERE: Castle Schwarzheim - Grand Hall
WHEN: Friday, April 11, 2221. Evening.

The approximate IC time is: Fri Apr 11 21:18:15 2221 EST

Castle Schwarzheim - Grand Hall

A vast and cavernous room, holographic torches line the walls of this grand hall, the centerpiece of Castle Schwarzheim. A red carpet runs from the door to the stairs at the far end of the hall, and the walls are festooned with tapestries from throughout European and Schwarz family history. Long benches allow people to rest, viewing the tapestries before being led to other parts of the castle. Despite its size, this place is usually empty, though it is used as the main room for social events, chandeliers on the ceiling spreading elegant light all throughout the area. Holographic torches and electric lights aside, this place still looks much like the medieval castle it is, few modern conveniences here.

The Grand Hall is bustling with activity as all of Castle Schwarzheim prepares for the siege on Heaven's Fortress tomorrow. Mechanics run here and there. Younger and newer Hunters help with the setup, chatting nervously to each other. Veterans lounge and relax, waiting for the meeting to begin. The air is thick with tension. Tomorrow, not everyone here will be coming home.

Into this maelstrom of activity comes an island of stoic calm. Almost twelve feet of black and gold armor strides towards a hastily-erected holoprojector, creating an eddy of silence and stillness as he passes. Hands clasped behind his back in that familiar mannerism. Mouth curving downwards at either end. Towering over most in the room.

The Diplomat. The Strategist. The Signas.

He stands at the holoprojector for a while, simply waiting, feet shoulder-width apart. He waits. And, in time, the silence will come. Then, the planning can begin.

Mac arrives from the Main Courtyard. Mac has arrived.

The Blonde Bomber is in attendance, though she will not be mobilizing on the operation tomorrow. Alia is here mostly for the sake of being in attendance and helping to offer ideas for the assault. She nods in greeting to her brother, but she doesn't say anything to him.

She has become more guarded with her words lately. She is more outgoing.. but she has remained quiet, replacing some measure of discomfort with speaking for a desire to use words sparingly.

This is the first military planning ever since the end of the Zombie Menace, now a bit more than a month ago. Axl is not in the attendance in the seats. It's quite rude of him to not be here at all! Extremly rude at all!

Oh. Wait. Axl's slowly making his way from the Triage Center and is heading straight for the Holoprojectors at a causal pace, standing on the other sides of the things. He watches the attendance, nods at a few with his usual bright smiles.

Dressed in his jeans and white t-shirt, Zero makes his way in holding a beer. He might not have much to say on this meeting, but he figures it's important to be here just the same. Moving toward the first chair he comes across, he turns it around so the back is facing Signas and seats himself down on it, his chest pressed against the back as he leans against it, waiting for everyone else to get in.

Mac will be unable to be there. He is going to listen to Triage this time. He is going to stay the whole time. They say if he doesn't, permanent damage could occur. He doesn't need /another/ full rebuild. The purple reploid is mostly whole, though his left arm is skeletal, a replacement until his real one is rebuilt.

Mac knows a little, and Signas did so much, he feels required to be here and offer his advice.

Sing walks in, shuffling through what appears to be a lot of pictures of nine different robots. He has, it seems, a strangely personal stake in what is being discussed in this meeting.

He takes freedom very seriously.

Signas returns Alia's nod and marks Axl's progress across the floor. The silence begins to fall. Still he says nothing, until there are no mumbled words floating across the hall. At last, he nods.

"Hunters," he begins, sweeping his gaze across those gathered. "Tomorrow we will attack Heaven's Fortress. It will be very dangerous." A pause. "I see many new and familiar faces here tonight, and it gives me great joy to see the enthusiasm you all bring to the cause of justice." Indeed, his mouth flattens into a Signas Smile. "Nonetheless, by the time we return... some of these faces may be gone."

The Strategist turns, looking at the holoprojector. It activates, displaying a large 3D map of Heaven's Fortress-- at least, those parts of it which have been explored. "This is our objective. This is the seat of Grandmaster Meio's power." Once again Signas pauses, making sure that everyone in the Hall is focused. "Some of these faces may be gone... but not if I can help it. Brute force is not the key to this lock." He points at the main gates. "This lock, perhaps. But any progress made on that front must be no more than a diversion." The finger rises, tracing the intricate hallways and trap rooms, then enters the greyed-out zones, where the Hunter AI has extrapolated the most likely layout. It stops, pointing at a single room. "THIS is where one team must go. Our best data and our most powerful simulation AIs have extrapolated that THIS is where Grandmaster Meio performs at least SOME of his brainwashing procedures. We need to know how he does it. We need to know what tools he uses. We need to capture as much information on the process as possible... so that we can reverse it."

The finger slides down again, then drops away from the projection entirely. "Our secondary objective is to find and re-capture Berkana. She is brilliant. She is twisted. She is under Meio's control." A gleam crosses his stern eyes. "I certainly hope I do not have to explain why this is a bad thing. Now," Signas re-clasps his hands and turns away from the projections, "we /plan/. The floor is open. Give me your ideas. Show me your brilliance."

"Another person to keep in mind is Hiryu," Alia points out to her brother, "He has undergone some form of conditioning as well, but data suggests that he is activly trying to fight it. Or Meio's hold was not so solid when he first surfaced." She crosses her arms for a moment as she considers what else might be added to this.

Sing frowns slightly at Signas. He realizes that people may, in fact, die as a result of this operation. Some of them may even be Hunters. Still, he prefers not to operate on any doom or gloom. Best possible outcome. That's his motto. He flips the stack of pictures so that they are not visible to anyone at the table.

"What about Hiryu?" Sing asks. "Last we heard, this Meio guy had his claws in him, too."

"Hiryu was last scene during the fight against the Black Legion. During the struggle, Meio repeatedly made attempts to subdue and take away Pureri," Zero begins in a confident tone. "During the fight, she was able to take him down and he was taken back by Meio's forces. He's helped the Hunters repeatedly and been our ally. We owe him a rescue mission at the very least." His point made, Zero drinks some of his beer as if to reward himself.

At that, Axl nods. "I don't have any solid claims, y'mind, but I have a guts feeling that Hiryu is going to be in Heaven's Fortress, if he has to be somewhere." The young gunslinger says, turning around to face the holodisplay, pointing at the greyed areas.

"In my infiltration attempt, I noticed a few things -- one, security's is reeeeeeeeal tight outside and inside." He says, pointing a finger over the outer area, then moving on to a tall tower, pressing it to get a zoom on. "That's the Serpent's Tower, if I gathered right. So far, I've only seen Strider Trainee entering this place -- and for good reason. The first floor is one hell of a lethal, carefuly hidden death trap of a garden. Life is always training with Meio, so Linnea told me, and I'm agreein' there. I mean, seriously: they got /killer birds in there/."

He clears his voice, pointing up. "Solo, Linnea and I managed to go through, avoiding some trainee that were around and what we saw was an enormous stairway going up and down. I assume down was the engineering and vehicle bay if my space memory's didn't get scrapped by all my boozing, then infirmary to kitchen to barracks to Meio's own headquarters."

Axl turns back around at the audience. "That's all we managed to get. 'Cause, well, we had Meio after our asses at that point."

"Of course," Signas replies levelly. They're not going to like this part. "If the opportunity to capture or rescue Hiryu arises, take it. He has been a staunch ally." He pauses. Now for the bad news. "However, he remains a tertiary objective at this point." He holds up a hand. "Please let me explain before you get TOO upset. Hiryu is a skilled warrior and an exceptional human being. But he is not a scientist. He is not an inventor. He is not the one who cured the Maverick virus."

Signas shakes his head sadly. "We cannot spread ourselves too thin in THIS attempt, Hunters. Our primary objective is to obtain information on the brainwashing process, so that our scientists and AIs can work on reversing it. Our secondary objective remains re-capturing Berkana. Her mind workin on Meio's nefarious schemes is too great of a danger to ignore." His frown deepens; clearly he's not happy about this either. "Hiryu will have to wait until our next attempt. And there WILL be a next attempt. Consider, however, that if we DO learn how to reverse the brainwashing, subduing Hiryu enough to 'rescue' him will become infinitely easier. Hiryu is a brave and intelligent man." Signas' eyes shift away from the Hunters. "I am... certain he would understand. The risk is too great." His eyes return to the gathering, harden. "THIS time."

As Axl makes his input, Signas nods appreciatively. "That is why we must mount a convincing enough distraction to draw Meio OUT of the tower, or at least divert his attention from the INSIDE of the tower. My suggestion is for our more battle-oriented members to stage a frontal assault on Heaven's Fortress, while our more Intelligence-inclined Hunters make their way inside and attempt to secure the information we need and, hopefully, Berkana herself."

Sing cycles a breath slowly while Signas explains things before raising his hand. "Point of fact, don't we have someone who can reverse the process on humans?" Sing looks around. "After all, someone had to straighten Captain Archer's head out, right?"

The Blonde Bomber's expression hardens fractionally.. but she does not protest. Having some idea of what you're doing on your way in is one thing. The paln surviving contact with the facility itself is another thing entirely. Striking back at the Fortress would certainly be vindicating after everything else that's gone on.

The Hunter XO remembers why he hates strategy. It is something where emotion often has to be put to the side and sacrifices made. It's why Blues was so skilled at it and why Zero sucked at it. It wasn't a difference in intelligence, just a disagreement of priorities.

"First objective is to get the mission done. The second is to get everyone out okay. But if Hiryu does appear, we should make a grab for him. I'd offer to do it personally, but I know wherever I go, I'll likely be getting the attention of Serpent, Pandora, or Prowhatever... The dividing of two teams with one being the distraction is gunna be expected, but it's a necessary evil most times unless we have enough to do three."

"Prometheus," Alia says to Zero offhand. "Though he doesn't live up to his name."

One of the primary reason that Axl is going in this was TO retreive Hiryu. However, what Signas said does make some senses...What they will do will likely depend on what and who they find in there. "I'll be leading the infiltration team." He says, firmly looking over the audience, already pondering on who should come with him.

"And he DO live up to his name, he loves fire a bit too much. And flying skulls." Axl adds as an asides to Alia.

"Prometheus is Greek for 'Forethought,'" Alia explains, "The fire part is secondary."

"He does seem to operate on impulse," Sing admits.

"Details." Axl says, waving an hand dismissively.

"Yes, Axl. He lives up to the fire part... if not the 'forethought' aspect of the myth." Signas agrees with Alia, still looks troubled. But he shoves his qualms down and resumes his standard expression. "If you are able to come, Zero, I can think of no one better-suited to leading the frontal assault. I will take part, but if history has taught us one thing it is that I am not suited to leading Hunters in battle." His mouth twists into a sardonic line.

To Sing, Signas squints just a little. "If we do, I have not been made aware of this individual's identity or capabilities. I had assumed that Captain Archer was able to defeat the conditioning on his own." To the Hunters at large, he makes this a question. "Am I mistaken? Is there someone here capable of reversing Grandmaster Meio's specific form of brainwashing?" Signas would like very much for such an individual to exist, but he doesn't sound hopeful.

"It is important to remember that whatever we decide here, we must always remain vigilant and flexible on the battlefield." Signas pauses. "Of course, the REASON most of you are HERE is that you have already displayed those traits, so I am trusting in the skills and ingenuity of every Hunter to help carry this off with minimal damage to our forces." Another pause. "And the surrounding countryside."

Sing shrugs slightly. "Alloy might know. He ran with that crowd, if I recall," he says simply.

Alia replies, "Prismatic Spider did work on him." She pauses. "You might wish to speak with him about it." She has a talent for finding out things.

Zero nods. "It's what I do best," Zero states when it comes for full frontal assault. "If I get to the chewy chocolate center before the infilration unit, don't get mad. Though I'm sure it wo-" Zero stops as Alia mentions something about Prismatic working on Prometheus. He glances about for Spider. Looks like he has a chat for the near future to get to.

"I wouldn't worry /too/ much about the surrounding countryside, but I get whatchamean." Axl lets out, shurging a bit. "Well, then, we'll have to talk to Prismatic about this,."

Coincidentally, Prismatic's been hiding in the back all this time. The Spider Scientist stands, nodding to the others. "Actually, I did research on the mental control used by The Professor on Charlie." He taps a datapad, sending an image of a triangular crystal with four silvery posts on it. "The crystal sent the one it was affixed to into a trance which was accepting of The Professor's remote commands. I believe he was not able to use his normal method of mental control, which does not require such a device, because of the nanomachines of Mister Famous that resided in his brain. I have a signal jammer for it, but I doubt that the device is being used on others. Tron, for example, did not have one."

"I see," Signas says as Prismatic Spider is mentioned. And then, when Prismatic himself speaks up, he nods again. "Then our primary objective remains finding, capturing or destroying Meio's brainwashing equipment or techniques."

That handled, Signas returns to the question of HOW. "I understand that our CRABs are down to two daily. If that is not the case, fantastic. We can use them to commence the assault. If it is down to two, it maybe wiser to use air or ground transit for the bulk of our forces, and give Axl the use of one CRAB for the purposes of infiltration."

"Im sorry about that," Alia says, "I started some initial assessment work before the Black Legion mobilized. But then things fell by the wayside." She shakes her head after admitting to this.

OHGODTHESPIDERISTHERE. Just where did that darn Prismatic came out from, anyway!? Oh well. No matters. Just a tiny little detail, that. "That'd be useful, yes -- we'd have to be careful where we deploy the things." He says on the subject of the CRABS. "Anyway, I guess we'll know what we can do when and if we meet Hiryu or Berkana."

"Perhaps while a force assaults from the front, a second team can air drop from above, potentially taking them by surprise momentarily? A base that tall should have a roof entrance for aerial docking." Prismatic suggests. "If Berkana can be captured, I can assist in assessing any modifications made to her mental structure. The Professor's modifications of robotic minds is subtle and pervasive. It will take some time to deal with. Lifesaver has a good deal of specific medical information on it."

Zero is silent for the time being. He drinks his beer, but spy stuff is better left those that know it best or are tech minded in general. He listens actively though, glancing toward each person as they speak.

Alia doesn't have a lot to add at this point. She's offered her suggestions, but lacks any practical experience in the matter that could be helpful at this stage. She never went to Heaven's Fortress, so she has no further insights to provide

"A secondary diversion would be ideal," Signas agrees, looking to Prismatic Spider. "It will depend on the forces we have available. If we have enough to mount an aerial assault, we will certainly do so. If necessary I will lead it." Signas' mouth flattens. "If we are extraordinarily fortunate, Meio will think that the aerial attempt is what we are diverting his attention FROM, rather than being a secondary diversion itself." The frown returns. "It would be wise not to count on luck, however."

"Very well. Zero will lead a frontal assault while Axl will lead an infiltration team." Signas holds up his hands, counting off the points on his left fingers. "Remember the objectives are first to discover Meio's brainwashing techniques, second to capture Berkana, and third-- and ONLY if the opportunity presents itself-- capture Hiryu." The hands return to his back. "Is there anything else anyone would like to discuss, concerning tomorrow's operation?"

Zero shakes his head. "None here... Thanks for your input in this, Signas. Hopefully, this mission is gunna go smoother than I think it will," Zero finishes off his beer, crunching the can in his hand. Slowly, he stands with a sigh, stretching as he waits to make sure no one else has any more questions.

"Very well then," Signas says, as people begin to leave. "The meeting is adjourned. I will see you all tomorrow." Again, that flattened mouth. "Bring your 'A-Game'."

Signas nods to Zero, then turns to help the techs dismantle the holoprojector.

There is much to do. Tomorrow, they will bring fire to Heaven.