[21:42] <> [21:43] ( BUT BY GOD, WE'VE TRIED. DAMNIT, VERNON. ) [21:43] ( Sorry. Hot Tamales make me giddy. ) [21:44] (>>) [21:45] <> [21:46] ( *BOM* "What's that?" "Dunno." ) [21:47] <> [21:48] (Remain?) [21:48] ( Like we ever were? ) [21:49] ( Charlie, unlike the rest of the party, enjoyed a good book and talked to a person of the opposite sex who wasn't carrying a weapon. ) [21:49] (Weirdo.) [21:49] ( Go, Chuckles! ) [21:49] ( ^_~ ) [21:49] <> [21:50] ( ... ) [21:50] (Oh, I'm going to pound the Cube into mush.) [21:50] ( Well, at least it's named after something durable. ) [21:51] ( I think, for punishment, its components should be used to build Aibos. ) [21:51] <> [21:54] (So what do we have in this common room now anyway?) [21:54] (Wander in or be present as you wish.) [21:54] * Isis is sipping tea and reading "Journey to the West". [21:55] * Vernon is paging through a large stack of R&D reports. [21:55] <> [21:56] * Tim wanders in, looking like someone who's just been digging through all things SIG-ASP for hours on end. [21:57] * Charlie is playing DunnoPool.. over there-ish. [21:58] * Chako is there, just kinda looking over the room, holding a tablet or somethin'. She catches Tim wandering in, and says, "Geez, Tim, finally. Ya alive?" [21:58] I... don't... know. [21:58] <> [21:59] ( Who do they work for, and how is ATC affording the finder's fee? ) [22:00] (Hey, not ALL of ATC is like SIG-ASP.) [22:00] * Chako shakes her head, and taps the tablet on her wrist. "Well, I'll just have to scavenge what you and Vernon found off your dead bodies then. What'cha got?" [22:00] Oh, we got stuff. Vern, tell the nice lady what she's won. [22:00] * Vernon looks up at the mention of his name, tilts, and nearly falls out of his chair. "Huh? Oh..." [22:01] * Isis flips a page. Paper is her indulgence. Her eyes appear over the cover of the book to flit between Vernon and Tim. [22:01] * Vernon puts down the paperwork and cracks his joints. "Okay, we managed to get two prototypes, as well as some information about the spiders that might be useful." [22:03] Like? [22:03] * Isis closes the novel and sets it on her lap, sipping her tea. "Well, your information will probably help us make decisions with *our* information, so let's hear what you have first." [22:05] The small ones can spit acid, and the large ones can talk and use guns. Spy satellites saw a third, larger type around Red France. [22:05] It's a hierarchical hivemind. Each large one controls seven small ones. The Super Size ones also control a number of large ones, but we don't know how many. [22:06] * Isis raises an eyebrow. "In the vast field of taxonomy, the best you could do was 'super size'?" [22:06] The good news is that computer viruses will apparently work, and mess up their communication to some extent. [22:06] * Vernon rubs the back of his head. "Sorry." [22:06] (Tall, grande, and venti?) [22:06] ( That works. ) [22:07] ( I was thinking Zergling, Hydralisk, and Ultralisk. o/` ) [22:07] (Wee, not so wee, and frickin' HUGE!) [22:08] (... Charlie wins.) [22:09] * Chako frowns, says, "Guess that works, if we have to hit 'em. That's a little off, though." She eyes the tablet, and shakes her head. "What ya got for the prototypes?" [22:10] * Charlie has come over to listen, by now. [22:11] Two magnetic force fields. That's about all I know about them, really...none of the papers have much of an explanation. [22:13] Two? Is there a difference between them? [22:14] * Chako frowns, and smirks a little. "Man, Sig-Asp is slipping. Forcefields?" [22:14] None intended, unless there are manufacturing defects. They're both personal size. [22:14] * Vernon grins. "Well, there's an immense amount of research going on, but those are the only things that are less than 40% likely to backfire on us at this point." [22:15] * Isis raises an eyebrow. "What a comforting margin of error." [22:15] Well, these seem to be okay. The other stuff is either very experimental...or only works under controlled circumstances, for use in large-scale parking lot construction. [22:16] That's downright cushy after some of the stuff we looked at. [22:16] * Tim chuckles at the parking lot joke. "That or open stadiums." [22:16] (Antimatter! Eat it for breakfast!) [22:16] (Antimatter jam!) [22:17] ( Antipasta? ) [22:17] *** Zegon (Zegon@12-213-43-67.client.attbi.com) has joined #atc [22:17] (OMG A SPECTATOR) [22:17] (You know, we very nearly did pick the antimatter.) [22:17] ( Finally, you develop wisdom. ) [22:17] (Don' [22:17] ("Candygram!") [22:18] (Don't mind me, I'm just here for the cake.) [22:18] (We have cake?) [22:18] Well, that doesn't change much of anything. [22:19] * Vernon nods. "Sorry...I hope it helps a little. There was one other project that might have given us a useful prototype, but the side effects were totally unknown, and could be nasty." [22:20] * Isis shakes her head. "I don't think we're in so much danger that we need to resort to unstable mad science." [22:21] Maybe not, but it might be nice to have something to soften their forces up. This isn't exactly even odds. [22:21] * Chako looks around the room. [22:22] <> [22:24] * Chako waves her hand. "So, ya wanna start, Isis, or should I?" [22:24] * Isis mms to herself. "There's not much to say from our part...." [22:25] Hum. Well, one possible odd-evener would be taking out some big ones and seeing weather the smaller ones stop doing anything. [22:25] * Isis gets up. "Basically, the plan is to somehow separate Black Bean and Red Bean to deal with them individually rather than just throwing ourselves on the rocks all at once." [22:25] Sounds good. How? [22:26] That *is* the question. As you probably noticed from the satellite photos, their forces are all massed in the eastern part of Red France. One strategy is to send in a sabotage and infiltration squad from the west. [22:28] * Tim smirks faintly. "Sounds fun. I like sabotage. Although Red Bean would spot me an' Vernon in no time. Unless he miraculously forgot our last tussle." [22:28] * Vernon nods. [22:28] * Tim smirks more. "Therefore, I nominate Isis and Charlie. Congratulations." [22:29] (That reminds me.. Did anybody ever actually repaint their suits?) [22:29] (No, but only Chako was affected.) [22:29] (If I was in this game, I probably would have...) [22:29] * Chako chuckles. "As if ya had any say in it anyway." [22:29] ( Join us, Kevin! It's bliss! ) [22:30] (Ignorance?) [22:30] (I'll see about joining. Maybe...) [22:31] (It'll be a couple sessions, if you really want to.) [22:31] * Isis chuckles. "That seems like the smartest division of forces, provided Red Bean is sent west. But we're open to other options, if anyone else has a better suggestion." [22:31] ( One that doesn't force Cham to schedule split sessions. -_^ ) [22:32] (I don't particularly mind.) [22:32] (Hehe.) [22:32] (*looks at the char creation info...) [22:33] Do we know where the Beans are, exactly? [22:33] Or is it 'just in the middle of that mess' *he grins* [22:33] * Chako grins and says, "Nope, they're leadin' from the front of their troops. Easy to find." [22:35] The other trick is that we have to make damn sure they split, and not just retreat. So I'm thinkin' me, Vernon, and Tim get to sit right in front of Red Baguette with pretty much everyone we got, since that looks like that's where they're goin' next. [22:38] Do I have to be in front? Can I be, I dunno, kinda' off to the side? [22:38] * Isis chuckles at Tim. "The soldiers will do all the real fighting. You're there to back up Chako with logistics and repairs." [22:38] * Chako hits somethin' on her tablet, and the wall lights up with a map of most of the Hippie-infested zone. It's got 8 cities in it, with a big red line to the east of it that is marked, "Hippie Front", and a city a bit to the east of the front marked, "Red Baguette". [22:38] Oh. Okay. [22:38] Hmm... [22:38] * Chako grins. "But hey, if ya want those forcefields, ya can even take a hit or two." [22:39] Consider it the ultimate field test. [22:39] (It looks almost like Chako scanned the picture it in from a placemat from SpaceDenny's.) [22:40] (Also, Red Tokyo is to the south of the whole Hippie infested area by a decent distance.) [22:41] ( And all the other cities in Red France have recently normal names, other than Red Baguette. :P ) [22:41] (Guess which ones I named and which ones Todd named!) [22:41] I'm none too keen on fighting on the front lines, but I think I can defend myself. Thanks to you, Chako. [22:42] * Chako smirks. "Yeah, well. I figured it'd look bad if some of my troops couldn't take a hippie in single combat." [22:43] We got a plan to split up the beans? [22:45] * Isis nods. "The sabotage team will take out supply depots, communications, munitions... anything that the front will need. They'll have to send someone back to protect their flank." [22:47] ( Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang will go with Long Wang to the front, while Sum Gai and I attack the rear. :P ) [22:47] * Chako nods too. "Yeah. And if we can convince 'em that they've got real troops back there doin' it, then they'll have to." [22:48] ( I seee.. ) [22:48] I see. Sounds promising. [22:48] (Tim's a man... he's a sleeping dragon man... It's sad that Vernon gets to be Pang Tong.) [22:51] <> [22:52] Hey, food. [22:53] <<"real" pizza. This is obviously not Real Pizza since Red Chicago is like on the other side of the planet.>> [22:53] * Tim gets up and heads thataway, zombie-like. [22:53] * Vernon does likewise. *_* [22:53] * Chako snickers, taps another thing on the tablet, and the picture goes away. "Yeah. So, Isis, Charlie. Leaving within the day, then?" [22:54] * Isis raises an eyebrow. "Likely tomorrow. We'll need time to plan our exact route and get ready." [22:54] * Charlie nods in agreement. [22:55] * Chako nods. "Alright. If ya can think of anything else ya might need, like a pickup team or something so we can join up easier, just lemme know. We're countin' on ya." [22:56] * Isis chuckles. "Just... don't lose track of your bean. We'll have plenty of trouble with the one we're going to attract." [22:57] * Chako snickers. "Yeah. Like trying to avoid him." [23:00] <> [23:01] ... [23:01] * Chako looks at the tablet, and sighs. "Too much crap to do. A thousand people is a lotta shit--" she growls. "Damn bird. I'm gonna catch some food. Pizza first." [23:02] Yeah, my stomach's a-rumblin' [23:02] * Tim shivers at Lenin's cackle. [23:02] * Isis stretches. "LIkewise. Though I suddenly have a craving for a chicken sandwich." [23:02] (Didn't you LEAVE, Time?) [23:02] ( ...I did. ;_; ) [23:03] (lenin.sandwich.net) [23:03] * Chako smirks. "Well, find him, and I'll make sure the kitchen lets ya cook him up." [23:04] * Chako taps the tablet, and starts wandering off, muttering about some idiot beating up another idiot. [23:04] (Snake, Raiden, do you ... I mean, Isis, Charlie, do you want to continue plotting your route?) [23:05] (Um? We can?) [23:05] (SOrry. Bafwoom.) [23:06] (Save me time later.) [23:07] (I'm good, then.) [23:07] (I'm alright for now. We continuing?) [23:08] * Isis glances at Charlie, snagging a data pad. "We can always plan over food." [23:08] <> [23:09] <> [23:09] * Tim glares into Lenin's face. "I know three ways to cook you, y'know." [23:09] <> [23:10] * Vernon is calmly eating his pizza. [23:10] * Charlie lines up for pizza.. if there is a line any more. [23:11] * Tim tears the edge of Lenin's bite off, not caring to catch whatever it has. He resumes eating his pizza. [23:11] * Chako is just finishing getting her food, and walks over to Tim and Vernon. She eyes the bird. "This is mine." [23:12] <> [23:12] * Tim eats pizza. ::mutter:: [23:13] * Isis gets something small and some water, then eyes Lenin. "Why the hell is that thing here, anyway?" [23:13] Well, some species of bird are naturally social. [23:13] * Isis sits down, eyeing Vernon. "That's not what I meant." She types away on the pad with one hand. [23:14] * Charlie sits with his food and starts eatin' [23:14] Ah. [23:14] * Chako says with a mouthful of pizza, "It's the Cube's idea of a joke. Paying Vlad to stick around, means the bird's around too." [23:16] "The Cube", she says around a mouthful of pizza, "has a really poor sense of humor." [23:16] I agree. [23:16] <> [23:16] <> [23:16] * Charlie says between bites "So Isis, what do we need to hit for one of the Beans to chase us?" [23:17] * Tim looks miserable. [23:17] * Chako mutters, "Not my idea, but he's still technically providing funding." [23:18] * Isis chews on a slice of pizza and slides the pad over to Charlie. "They have signal blockers on both friendly and outside communications. They're using specialized bugs to lay land lines between cities. I think that should be our major target." [23:19] * Charlie examines the pad. "Bugs, hmm?" [23:20] Hmm, we can have all sorts of fun with their infrastructure. [23:20] * Isis nods. "It'll be just the two of us. If we make any big enemy engagements, we'll be killed. And we can't travel between cities by suit... we'll have to commandeer a vehicle in the dropoff point and use it." [23:21] (They can't? @_@) [23:21] (Duh.) [23:21] <> [23:22] ( A max of 40kph between cities? We'd be travelling at full speed for days. ) [23:23] (60 kph. Speed 3.) [23:23] ( Oooh yeah. That's, like, 35mph. ) [23:23] If we hit these supply caches *he points at the pad*, are we going to cut off communications to them first, or do we want them to know about it? [23:24] * Isis thinks about that for a moment. "We want to be conspicuous, but we also need to be doing some damage. We'll have to leave some communications intact or the Beans won't hear about it." [23:25] .. until they need supplies, but that could be a while.. What else are we going to hit? [23:25] ( Well, my hope is that we'll get a few good Tarot draws along the way, so by the time the Bean shows... ) [23:26] (I horrifically misparsed that and began seeing "The Bean Show" in my head.) [23:26] ("The Hanged Man!" "BOOO.") [23:26] * Isis mms. "The question is, how smart are the Beans going to be? If they figure this out, we'll be stranded in hostile territory with no support." [23:27] * Isis glances at Vernon and Tim. "We need to have some way to contact you guys in case of an emergency." [23:27] Do we need to take a few grunts with us? [23:27] Hmm... [23:27] I'm sure we can hack something together. [23:28] * Tim nods. "Sure. That'd be a snap." [23:28] * Isis furrows her brow. "Good question. THey might just get in the way, but... if we could leave a few troops in hiding in each city as we go... The question is, do we have any soldiers with infiltration experience?" [23:29] * Isis closes her eyes and smiles wryly. "What we need is some sort of mind-control drug to make the Hippies manning the communications relay to submit." [23:30] * Charlie thinks about that.. "No clue about infiltration. We could at least set them up to match our speed." (You're fast, right?) [23:30] ( Of course I am. ^_^ ) [23:31] (Isis' van is fast, foo!) [23:31] (thought so.) [23:31] * Chako looks down, hits some of her buttons, swallows. "You've got about 10-20, max." [23:32] * Isis shakes her head. "Four or five would be the most we could safely take without attracting attention. If we approach from different angles, and you can rig up some sort of communications, it might make this job faster." [23:32] * Charlie nods "I was thinkin' we wouldn't need or want many." [23:35] They'd help us take take out supply centers faster, at least. [23:35] We gonna need to take some C-4+ for that? [23:36] What were you planning to do? [23:36] * Isis nods. "ANd they could monitor Hippie communications." She looks at the map, then at Vernon and Tim. "I wish you two were a little more subtle. It'd be useful to have one of you along." [23:36] I can do subtle if I need to. ...just not in a fight, really. [23:36] * Vernon nods. [23:37] * Isis shakes her head. "Chako will need your support more than we will. You might not be soldiers, but you'll be more useful in battle than the average suited grunt." [23:37] I'd be able to help getting into any systems they have, too. [23:37] Besides, I might not look it, but I do have some experience with hacking. [23:37] * Chako smiles to herself at that. [23:38] ( And slashing, and cutting, and piercing... ) [23:38] ( Ha. Ha. Ha. ) [23:38] (>_>) [23:38] (Isis so funny!) [23:39] <> [23:39] * Isis glances at Lenin. "You might come, though, Tim. Bring the bird. We can use it to test security cameras and gun emplacements." [23:41] ...why not send it marching against the Beans, instead? [23:41] * Isis points a fork at Tim with a smile. "Excellent. They'll run screaming from that annoying laugh, and we'll dig pit traps or something." [23:42] * Tim grins. "Perfect. A masterful plan!" [23:42] * Vernon nods. [23:43] * Charlie smirks. [23:43] ( z.z ) [23:44] (YEah, we should wrap up.) [23:44] (yeah.) [23:45] ('kay.) [23:45] * Isis takes back the map and sips some water. "WEll, that's the general plan. We'll start out west with a handful of handpicked soldiers." She glances at the scientists. "I'm counting on you for that communications method." [23:47] * Vernon nods. "Not a problem." [23:48] * Tim nods. "Like I said, no sweat. We'll have it for ya' well before you head out." [23:49] Thank you. [23:49] No prob. [23:49] * Vernon smiles. "Glad to help." [23:50] ( And then we killed Lenin and had barbecue, the end. ) [23:50] <>