Gmm50

Ka-clack, ka-clack. Ka-clack, ka-clack. The sound of the train's engine pulling it along echoes as it enters the station, it's sound a grievous omen- If you work in the wrong place, as it signifies that the Fatebreakers are once again reunited. You're not here to sabotage a facility, a factory responsible for supplying most of the armies owned by the chamber of commons and the Chancellor.
The engineering team, Harriet and Serenity, has arrived earlier. Thankfully the station features a nice café wherein you can enjoy a good cup of coffee and a sandwich, or even something fancier if you want (something involving milk, coffee and pressurized air seems to be the current trend)
Harriet is all about that coffee. And sandwiches are probably a good idea too.
The train's noise signifies the arrival of the infiltration team, Hughbert, Amal and Anton. Their tran arrives without much fanfare, as trains are wont to do
Serenity‘ is, admittedly, mildly curious about Super Science Coffee.
Harriet: "I wonder if they serve bundt cake here…"
JayM: They certainly do
Off in a different corner of the station, you see a familiar face and hear a familiar song. A certain golden-haired bard is putting a performance
Hughbert steps off the train and takes a look around. "Hmm… I’m not sure if I should be able to see them from here, but I am sure I smell something delicious."
Harriet gets in on that action, because that's what you do at a train station. She figures the others can find them on their own time.
Amal really hopes they get the chance to try some of the Science Coffee, maybe everything in Akavir isn't terrible after all.
It's considerably good coffee milk, provided you like coffee milk. The way the milk's steamed by the hot pressurized air makes it kind of foamy
Cafés are, after all, places of reunion aren't they?
Hughbert follows the smell of coffee and leads the rest of the team to a nearby cafe. "It seems like this cafe is the one that's… Oh, I believe we already have a table."
Harriet waves them over when she sees the trademark suit.
Amal ABSOLUTELY gets some of that science coffee, then. Oh, and, reunites with the rest of the team. Right. Yes. That's important. Priorities!
Hughbert has a seat and orders enough Science Coffees for everyone who hadn't already gotten their own. "How did your assignment go?"
Serenity: "Easy."
Harriet: "We saved the village with their miserable pittance of materials, because we're basically the best at this game."
Hughbert: "Good to hear. Not only was ours a success, but I managed to get you a souveneir as well." Hughbert pulls a folder out of his suit and lays it on the table. Inside the folder are documents that contain information on five Killer Weapons developed by Akaviri R+D, targeted towards each Fatebreaker.
Harriet: "Oooh, these look fun." Harriet picks one of the documents up and flicks through it.
Amal: "Hehehehe, they're scared of us! That's adorable!"
Serenity‘ glances over Harriet’s shoulder while munching on a sandwich.
Harriet: "Oh man, Serenity, check it out, this is hilarious."
Serenity: "Oh I thought it was just Hughbert, one for everyone makes a hellva lot more sense."
Serenity: "Also are you fucking kidding me they weren't doing proper shielding on their force gears before they heard about what I could do? That IS funny."
Both Harriet and Serenity should be rather amazed at the kind of detail that the akaviri intel must have had on you to achieve this. This kind of information is the sort of thing that requires a lot of time to acquire with specialized equipment, makes you wonder why they had those
Serenity: "Not thrilled with the level of DETAIL on this folio though…."
Harriet: "Yeah, where the hell did they get all this?"
Hughbert: "I read them on the way in. The document on Amal is my personal favorite, most likely. They truly tried their best…"
Amal: "Oooooh I SUPER wanna see."
Amal's document really is different from the rest, his is missing a lot of information. Although those were some interesting methods to figure out what his gear's attributes should be based on the fact you all work together so there is cross-influence. Basically guessing what his should be like based on everyone else
Hughbert slips one out from under Harriet's pile with bureaucratic precision and lays it on the table.
Amal: "Also they're probably cheating? Either that or they have some kinda SERIOUS informant on the inside but I bet they're just cheating but not cheating enough to- ahahahahaahah that's adorable."
Serenity: "'Amal's Force Gear'. That *is* good."
Harriet: "Wait, hang on."
Harriet reads over a line another time, flicks through to Serenity's file and scans over it again.
Harriet: "This is the same fuckup I got from your readings because I'd been up for, like, two days."
Harriet: "I never bothered fixing it because I knew it was wrong."
Harriet: "Those bastards sniped my data."
Serenity: "Hm?"
Serenity: "How, you haven't even been filing it away anywhere have you?
Hughbert: "With this, you should be able to make the necessary adjustments to patch out the vulnerabilities these weapons are targeting, I believe. Any time we have a few minutes for force gear maintenance, would you make those changes for us?"
Harriet: "The only place I've been doing work on this stuff aside from on the road is like…"
Harriet: "Oh, goddamnit, they have access to my lab, don't they?"
Serenity‘ rocks her head back and forth.
Harriet: "Yeah, sure, I can fix it, just - just give me a second I gotta be really mad about this."
Hughbert: "Ah, don’t worry about it, Harriet. I found the mole in your lab when I was doing those inspections you asked me to. I also found one of us," he taps his emblem, "on the trail. I'm sure there was one less face around the lab during our break, no?"
Harriet: "I mean… I guess? I don't really pay attention to other people."
Serenity: "Actually I guess that's not too surprising since they had gotten Exceter under their thumb…"
Serenity: "And it's not like anyone's going to think twice about weird noises coming from your lab."
Harriet: "Yeah, they stopped sending people to check on me after I kept yelling at them for interrupting my thought process."
Harriet: "I just can't believe Akavir research-sniped me. Academic thievery is one thing, but, like, come on."
Harriet: "I told Matheus I needed death traps to secure my lab, but noooo, that was against university regulations…"
Serenity: "It's definitely gross to think they've been rooting through our personal shit but on some level it's hard to get too upset since we're doing the same thing."
Harriet: "I mean, yeah, but that's different!"
Harriet: "… okay, I guess it's not that different."
JayM: You DID just steal this document from a secure facility
Amal: "Hehehe. It's okay, our spies are better than their spies."
Harriet: "I guess now I know that my lab isn't secure any more. Hey, Anton, can I move my lab to the secret church basement?"
Serenity: "I bet you could get permission for non-lethal traps now at least."
Harriet: "But being electrocuted is really good motivation to stay out of a place…"
Harriet: "Still, yeah, I guess I could rig up some nets and junk to keep them in place until someone finds them."
Serenity: "Well yeah, just. Stun levels rather than cooking levels."
Harriet: "Sure, okay, I'll try stunning first."
Harriet: "After all, I need something to keep them in the nets instead of them immediately cutting themselves out like they're some kind of competent spies."
Amal: "Hahaha, yeah. You want 'em alive, that way you can question 'em!" …they sound way too enthusiastic about this.
Around this time you hear the music from the other side of the station stop. Not long after something else arrives at the table- A waiter has brought a soft-looking sponge cake to you to go along with your coffee. But when you look it isn't quite a waiter, no. It's the bard, Ignis "An offering of peace? For the interruption" he says
Serenity: "Who says no to a free cake?"
Harriet: "I guess so? That's not really my department. Hey, Hughbert, can you get one of your guys to look around my lab every so often for trapped spies? That's totally your departm-" wait a second the waiter is talking to them.
Harriet: "Hand over the cake and coffee and I guess I'll forgive you for interrupting my totally normal average conversation."
He smiles, setting it down. He already has a seat for himself, prepared as he was "Please, enjoy"
Hughbert: "Good to see you again. You seem no worse since our last meeting."
JayM: "And you seem positively better, I'd say"
Ignis: "Seems you've had quite the success"
Hughbert pulls another folder out of his suit and hands this one to the bard. "Indeed. Though they could not bring their handiwork back with them without defeating its purpose, I assure you they also did a commendable job."
Ignis picks up the folder, giving it a quick look-over "Ah… Quite what I was expecting, hrm… There's something else here too, is that… This will definitely take some time" he pulls out something from within a pocket, a rather large map of the factory you're supposed to sabotage "And here is something in exchange, only fair, right?"
Hughbert takes the map and opens it up to take a look. "Hmm… Now this is interesting."
The map shows how huge the factory is, because it isn't just above-ground but also underground. It even includes underground loading/unloading of materials on large cargo trains. Of interest are three marked areas, one is the central power generation wherein large loads of ragnite are used to fuel a generator and all of the energy is transmitted using gold ragnite to the rest of the factory. The second spot of interest is the small arms manufacture, it kind of looks really weird for weaponry production, you've seen automation of this kind of thing before but this looks a little bit too compact to be even useable. And the third spot is the warmachine assembly, it's more an assembly than construction as the parts are built on different sections but this place seems to have the highest energy draw of the factory as well
Ignis: "Should make the job easier. Need the factory offline, plus their storage destroyed. If you're doing something to the power supply remember to cutoff this" he points to a very large ragnite tube, the sort of large-scale metal tube you see rarely when dealing with ragnite "Before you do it, the generators on the four factories are linked and i'd rather their non-military factories not get disabled"
Harriet: "What's in the non-military factories?"
Ignis: "Well, Factory Three in particular produces civilian vehicles, Factory One produces household appliances in general but also has a small section dedicated to specialized medical equipment"
Ignis: "Currently, thanks to the most recent disaster, the Reinford factories were left with over eighty percent of all of the specialized force gear production"
Amal: "Oh, so that's why we want to spare the other facilities. Okay."
Harriet: "So we isolate the miltary factory and fuck it up? Doesn't sound too hard."
Ignis: "That is the idea"
Hughbert: "Alright… Collapsing a tube and stopping the flow should be simple. From there, we need only annihilate these other targets once the factory is isolated."
Ignis: "Indeed, not quite as gallant a plan as I would have favored, but it is the best we have"
Ignis: "While you're doing that, we're going to analyze this data you brought. There's some more in here in special cypher, but I should have it down by the time you're back"
Amal: "Heh. Being useful is better than being gallant."
Serenity‘ gives a thumbs up while eating the cake.
Ignis: "Well, I suppose it’s only best to make a timely exit at this point, then. The Four Factories are just north of here" he stands up, bowing "Good luck"
Hughbert: "I'm sure we'll meet again soon. Stay safe." Hughbert salutes, then finishes off his science coffee and some cake.
Serenity: "So someone else has a plan on how to do this? Breaking and entering and breaking without getting caught is a little outside of my field of expertise."
Amal grins. "Thanks! You stay safe!"
Amal: "Hughbert probably has a plan." Pause. "Right?"
JayM: A full frontal assault is always an option if you're fast enough :D
Hughbert: "I will in just a moment. I must gather some information from here. Let's see…"
Hughbert points to the railway on the map. "This delivery station is the simplest way to get in. It would be a terrible place to get into a fight, but if we can get through it without sticking out… The production areas are right beside it. As for how we're getting out… I wonder if we can acquire an escape vehicle. We'll need to go out the front." "
Harriet: "So, like, subtle entrance, flashy exit?"
Amal: "Hehehe. Once we've done what we came there for we can make as much noise as we want!"
Hughbert: "Very. We're stopping by the armored vehicle assembly anyway. Why not borrow something while we're at it?"
Harriet: "It sure beats walking."
Serenity: "That doesn't SOUND like a Hughbert plan… but okay."
Amal: "Any good strategist changes up their tactics when faced with an enemy with good intel!"
JayM: Sounds like you have a good plan.
JayM: Ready to head to the factory?
Serenity: "Uh huh, and that's not just Amal wanting to blow the shit out of some Akavir stuff, right?"
Serenity‘ finishes off the last peice of cake before gathering her things.
Amal: "I mean…"
Hughbert: "We will want to strike as many targets as possible with as little delay between attacks as we can manage. We also want to strike the armored vehicle section last before we leave."
Harriet: "I’m definitely a fan of blowing the shit out of some Akavir stuff."
Amal: "Hehehe, heck yeah!"
Harriet finishes downing her coffee, and gets herself up. Rattle-clatter go all her things.
JayM: So, then, ready to leave.
To head towards the factory is easy, very easy. Because this town is a worker's town, that came to be to serve the factories. The town itself is quite an interesting sight, a combination of old style and new construction methods. Though the buildings are generally built of stone blocks they're artfully designed and secured in place with cement (which tends to be part of the design as well). As you walk you pass by stores- And aren't they interesting places, though fashion is generally understated when you pass by the utility stores you see there's a lot of things avaiable, from kitchen appliances to even washing machines! You haven't seen a workable washing machine before and those definitely won't shred your clothes or self-destruct.
But the place of interest is the northern gate- It leads to a wide road that leads to the factories, the road is served by tram, that reminds you of the one back in Masharas but instead of using engines on both ends of the line instead the tram itself is powered. There's some vehicles heading to and from the factories, both large cargo trucks and small personal cars.
The road itself, however, is something of a work of art- Not due to artistic design but from the actual simmetry and alignment of it's cobblestones. They're all of the precise same size, all placed with unnatural precision and the road is the precise size that not a single cobblestone had to be a different size.
Harriet is briefly distracted by the shiny washing machines, but luckily there are plenty of people to keep her on-task.
Serenity‘ isn’t one of them but that's what they keep Hughbert around for.
After a while you finally catch sight of the Four Factories, and the blueprints for Factory Two did not make you ready for the industrial complex before you… The Four Factories altogether are larger than the Masharas city center, which itself is considerably larger than the Bloodworks. How could a single company have access to all of those?! Thankfully of the four Factory Two is actually the smallest, with Three being the largest of them (which one they are being easily identifiable from their signs)
Harriet: "This is all so cool, why does Akavir have to be evil."
Amal: "…I like this road a lot." Beat. "It's okay, once we're all on the same side we can have cultural exchange!"
As you come closer you catch sight of their security detail… And isn't that an interesting mix? You've seen the akaviri soldiers before, but there's more than just them here. Mixed in a few of the patrols, and often as isolated units, are clearly rissani mercenaries still wearing their own colors proudly.
Still, you're distracted for a moment by the sound of a train. It arrives fast and from the road you couldn't see the tracks because of tree cover, but just to your right is the rails, they tilt downwards and into the ground at a sharp angle
Serenity: "Uhh…. easier to cut through the beaurocotic tape when you're an authorian state… I guess?" Serenity rolls a shrug to Harriet.
Hughbert: "Right. After we finish our job here, perhaps they would accept an offer to help rebuild it afterwards. You would be able to see how it's put together again."
Serenity: "…Oh man the trains go underground."
Harriet: "So we beat the shit out of them and then we become besties? Sounds like a dimestore novel, I'm in."
Serenity: "How come WE don't have underground trains??"
Harriet: "I don't know, but we need them, holy shit."
Harriet: "Serenity let's go design an underground train complex for the city."
Serenity: "Definitely yes."
Amal: "Hahaha, Harriet. That's EXACTLY how it works."
JayM: Ready to head into that tunnel?
JayM: That will be quite a trip
Harriet is so ready.
Hughbert: "For once, I fully agree. There is limited ground-level real estate in Masharas. You would be solving an important problem."
JayM: Unfortunately today I need to abscond early- Because I go to work early tomorrow.
JayM: On the other hand, next week I can go on forever, so you better be ready, I plan on make up for delays
JayM: But for now-
JayM: We leave our heroes at the cusp of a mission

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