Operation: Third Eye

[loannes]

OOC: Closed to Zarfef and myself. All posts are classified.

IC:

"Dispatch some Caucasus Guard Special Forces into the Aether Empire to hack into their foreign, domestic, and military communications. We might be able to save a few lives. Shorten the war a bit."

-HRH King James I

Sergeants Greggory Wall and Aleksei Abelev sat in the tent-mess hall raised in the Caucasus Mountains for the Caucasus Guardsmen stationed there. As both were off duty, they were able to sit around for awhile, drinking mugs of hot coffee.

"You still with Jenny?" Greg asked, setting his mug down.

"I am," Aleksei replied, his voice covered with a thick Russian accent.

"How're you guys doing?"

"Very well. First thing I'm going to do when I get discharged and go home is drop to one knee and propose to her."

"$%&@ed her yet?"

"That's my business, you blasted barbarian."

Captain Andrei Chzov opened the flap to the tent and stopped in the entrance, looking at the scattered groups of soldiers as they spoke softly to themselves. He spotted Alexei and Wall and strode over to their table. The two sergeants stood at attention, both barking, "Sir!"

"At ease." Chzov dropped two folders on the table. "You two have something to do. Major General Glebov wants you in his tent in two minutes. Better finish that coffee fast, boys."

"Yes, sir." Alexei chugged the last of the coffee before he and Wall grabbed their folders and set off at a swift jog.

They arrived two minutes later at Glebov's tent. Inside was a small desk, a table, and a short cabinet. Glebov, a tall Russian man from Krasnodar Krai, nodded to the two sergeants as they entered. "Have a seat, gentlemenn." When they had done so, he spoke again. "Now, both of you are obviously aware of the war in Arabia. Our allies, Rebel Army, are supporting Novakian loyalists in an attempt to overthrow Raochin. Nod and the Aether Empire are supporting Raochin. NoN and the Raochinians aren't causing us any problems, so we've been neutral. But the Aether Empire has insistently dogged and insulted Caucasia, and, after awhile, we grew sick of it. So, we'll be helping our good friends in the RA out.

"You two will each take one squad of Caucasus Guard Special Forces, and will be dispatched to the Aether Empire. Your job, in a nutshell, is to infiltrate the Aether military command so that we can hear all their military orders, and then to infiltrate the Aether foreign communications. Snag a bit of their old info if you can. Your objectives are in those two folders, along with the most detailed description of the Aether Empire as we could get. Their technology is laughable, so it wasn't hard.

"Read the files, choose your squads, and brief your men. You fly out in 4 hours."

"Yes sir!"

[loannes]

Wall and Aleksei made their choice quickly. Each squad contained the two sergeants plus five men. When necessary, they would break into two, three, or four groups to prevent suspicion. They had enough men to fight if needed, but it would be avoided if possible.

The ten soldiers stood in a semi-circle in a large tent set off about half a kilometer from the main camp. Wall and Aleksei stood at a table in the center of it. A map of the Aether Empire and surrounding region was visible.

"Security's bound to be tight at their ports, because of the Carthaginian fleet sitting in the Red Sea, so waltzing in as tourists won't work if we want to bring our weapons inside the country. While the Aether defenses are engaging the Carthaginians, we'll be dropped in on the western part of Aether, on the African side. Stealth will have to be our greatest weapon here; only a few of us can pass as an Aether citizen." Aleksei's eyes scanned the three soldiers from southern Azerbaijan and Armenia. "We have a few targets to deal with; their military communications will be the hardest. Reports say that the Aether Emperor, Zarfef, fancies himself an evil genius of sorts. Has his own lair. A bit like when I was about three years old." A couple of the guardsmen chuckled. "Now, the initial Lair Infiltration will be the easiest. A few cameras, couple of patrols. Their equipment is a wee bit outdated...about 29 years old. It shouldn't be that hard to get around the cameras, and if we run into a stray guard or two..." he held up a silencer. "...we can deal with it. Reports said that it would be hidden, but it'll most likely be the place surrounded by guards and such. There's going to be a security lock of some kind on it. But we all know the effectiveness of 1980s technology against more modern things."

"We've been assigned the equipment that Command thinks we'll be needing," Wall said, taking over. "UV lights, weapons, ammo, and something...experimental." A soldier raised his hand. "Yes?"

"What's the experimental thing?"

"Marijuana."

"Weed?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Have you ever seen a guard work effectively when he's inhaling cannabis?"

"No, sir."

"Now, if any of you use this stuff personally, we'll drop you in the middle of the Sahara desert on the way home. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" the ten soldiers barked.

A buzz started in the distance, and grew steadily louder. It grew to a growling noise, and then a roar, as three Black Hawk helicopters began hovering overhead.

"Grab your gear," Aleksei said. "Four to a chopper. Leave nothing behind."

The twelve Caucasians slung large packs over their shoulders and headed to where the choppers landed. They'd changed out of their Caucasus Guard uniforms, and now wore simple shirts, vests, jeans, and boots, but each of them wore a Kevlar vest under their clothing. They would have minimal bodily protection on the mission; they would have to follow their king's old saying: Don't Be a Dumbass.

[Zarfef]

OOC: Now, this is hopefully how an RP should be done. This all takes place in about 2-3 days at most, nothing more, so time delays of the real RP have nothing to do with how this turns out.

IC:

The mountains of the Southern Aether Empire... really getting in was going to be a pain in the neck, the helicopter would notice upon arrival that Aether from the East African War had learnt their lesson on air-combat. RADAR was one tight nasty critter at the higher levels, but the mountains of the region that extended out into the sea would prove to be a life-saver. Entry would require the use of terrain masking that such a helicopter could easily perform and would hence be given the opportunity to fly with the mountains. Security details were also surprisingly light for such a small nation that could boast a several hundred man army, e.g. things would be seen as somewhat amiss. All the same a secure landing from such a helicopter was achievable and wouldn't harness much interaction if done properly with some good stealth.

The road to the lair itself though would be somewhat more difficult to find, some brief logic would impose that Zarfef would place his evil lair where most evil villains do... in the heart of the canyons and mountains that are most difficult to reach. Around these mountains lay nests of soldiers cameras, artillery... a literal hornets nest waiting for the slightest interaction to go blasted crazy, but most were concerned about a major invasion and setting up for that large invasion so direct ground patrols would be less common. The occasional XA-37 would also do a fly-over, but they too were not equipped to look for minor units. They would come across plastic dummy tanks of the Aether War Tzar and other units placed around to fool enemy intelligence from above.

Ultimately, combing these hundreds of miles of canyons would have been a dastardly job of incredible danger, on one such occasion the group would likely see an entire rock face move and a nasty looking War Tzar tank move out... luckily it would only be armed with surface to air missiles where the main cannon turret was, but the alternate fire, set to regular cannons pivoted around scanning over the horizon as those inside spent more time doing drills on the skies above. A false move, even if success was achieved in killing those involved would likely be disasterous with the surveillance equipment and other observation posts in the region.

The bad news was that with some good tracking, the observation lines (although perilous to move along because of their constant camera action and patrols if they shut off or died unexpected) could be used to trace back to main data entry gates). At last, the gate of the main entrance through this method could be revealed, hidden well within the canyon walls, with sentry guards in rock inlets and two guards standing duty at the front. It was made of impressive steel that looked to be a foot thick with an impressive set of digital commands on the outside that were far more out-standing then something you'd expect to see on a real 1980s system. There were retina scan systems and fingerprint scans and even a voice recording system one could venture to say would check your vocal chords resonance frequencies with those within a computer data base. Massive ventillation shafts breathed hot firey air on either side from huge spinning turbo fans that powered some kind of massive air-filtration or movement system for the doors... they were truly an amazing sight to be seen, a cold slab of blue steel against the hot dessert. Far more impressive then any of the other systems in the area.

It would be there that they would be approached first...

Tom the Henchman Trainer: Why hello there.

Tom rolled up behind the group in a five-trolley caravan attached to a golf-cart painted inconspicuously white.

Tom: You must be the new henchmen recruits, I heard your trainer had some... things to attend to elsewhere, but to think he'd leave you out here without any equipment. You weren't thinking of trying to enter that door over there were you? He should have told you that that's not a real entrance. That is there to lure in unsuspecting spies that are good enough to make it past our real security, which is real great (sarcasm) since Arascal was killed in the Carthage incident. But anyways, open that baby up which isn't too hard for anyone of that calibre and you'll be looking into a super-hot furnace waiting for a breath of fresh oxygen to cause a massive explosion that will fill several canyon blocks... with nothing to show to boot save your burnt butts.

Tom: Anyways, we best be going, jump on board!

OOC: Wanna take a tour of my evil lair .

Edited September 25, 2009 by Zarfef

[loannes]

The mountains of the Southern Aether Empire... really getting in was going to be a pain in the neck, the helicopter would notice upon arrival that Aether from the East African War had learnt their lesson on air-combat. RADAR was one tight nasty critter at the higher levels, but the mountains of the region that extended out into the sea would prove to be a life-saver. Entry would require the use of terrain masking that such a helicopter could easily perform and would hence be given the opportunity to fly with the mountains. Security details were also surprisingly light for such a small nation that could boast a several hundred man army, e.g. things would be seen as somewhat amiss. All the same a secure landing from such a helicopter was achievable and wouldn't harness much interaction if done properly with some good stealth.

The pilots of the choppers were also part of the Caucasus Guard, and part of their training had been how to maneuver through mountains. Three Black Hawks close together in narrow mountain passes would cause a loud, echoing roar, so they spread out, moving through one at a time. The Guard Pilots found this to be a cakewalk.

The road to the lair itself though would be somewhat more difficult to find, some brief logic would impose that Zarfef would place his evil lair where most evil villains do... in the heart of the canyons and mountains that are most difficult to reach. Around these mountains lay nests of soldiers cameras, artillery... a literal hornets nest waiting for the slightest interaction to go blasted crazy, but most were concerned about a major invasion and setting up for that large invasion so direct ground patrols would be less common. The occasional XA-37 would also do a fly-over, but they too were not equipped to look for minor units. They would come across plastic dummy tanks of the Aether War Tzar and other units placed around to fool enemy intelligence from above.

The twelve soldiers dropped down about a mile from the farthest ranging security system, and the Black Hawks flew to a secure location. The Guardsmen were equipped with G36Cs, which were small enough to conceal in their simple, civilian-modeled rucksacks with their other equipment. They'd draped around themselves sand-colored blankets. They began their walk through the heat and sand, taking an occasional drink of water. As they neared the location of the first cameras, they dropped to the ground, blankets and tan cargo pants, shirts, and vests blending in perfectly with the Somali desert.

Ultimately, combing these hundreds of miles of canyons would have been a dastardly job of incredible danger, on one such occasion the group would likely see an entire rock face move and a nasty looking War Tzar tank move out... luckily it would only be armed with surface to air missiles where the main cannon turret was, but the alternate fire, set to regular cannons pivoted around scanning over the horizon as those inside spent more time doing drills on the skies above. A false move, even if success was achieved in killing those involved would likely be disasterous with the surveillance equipment and other observation posts in the region.

The Guardsmen continued to past the War Tzar without a second thought. They'd had the intel, and they were too busy crawling and ensuring that their clothing didn't slip and expose their skin to the mildly uncomfortable heat of the sand.

The bad news was that with some good tracking, the observation lines (although perilous to move along because of their constant camera action and patrols if they shut off or died unexpected) could be used to trace back to main data entry gates). At last, the gate of the main entrance through this method could be revealed, hidden well within the canyon walls, with sentry guards in rock inlets and two guards standing duty at the front. It was made of impressive steel that looked to be a foot thick with an impressive set of digital commands on the outside that were far more out-standing then something you'd expect to see on a real 1980s system. There were retina scan systems and fingerprint scans and even a voice recording system one could venture to say would check your vocal chords resonance frequencies with those within a computer data base. Massive ventillation shafts breathed hot firey air on either side from huge spinning turbo fans that powered some kind of massive air-filtration or movement system for the doors... they were truly an amazing sight to be seen, a cold slab of blue steel against the hot dessert. Far more impressive then any of the other systems in the area.

The Guardsmen traveled for several hours, crawling unless in a blind spot of patrols and cameras. At one such blind spot, they ran into about a dozen men not in uniform. The men had drawn handguns, but were mowed down by silenced G36Cs and stuffed in various cracks at ground level. They passed as sand dunes from a distance, or as part of the canyon wall. At last, they arrived at the door, and stood. They stretched in relief, stowing their weapons in their bags. One of the soldiers, an immigrant named Valdez, wandered over to the door, dodging around the ventilation shafts and tapped it lightly. "Seems decorative. I doubt it's the actual entrance."

Tom the Henchman Trainer: Why hello there.

Tom rolled up behind the group in a five-trolley caravan attached to a golf-cart painted inconspicuously white.

Tom: You must be the new henchmen recruits, I heard your trainer had some... things to attend to elsewhere, but to think he'd leave you out here without any equipment. You weren't thinking of trying to enter that door over there were you? He should have told you that that's not a real entrance. That is there to lure in unsuspecting spies that are good enough to make it past our real security, which is real great (sarcasm) since Arascal was killed in the Carthage incident. But anyways, open that baby up which isn't too hard for anyone of that calibre and you'll be looking into a super-hot furnace waiting for a breath of fresh oxygen to cause a massive explosion that will fill several canyon blocks... with nothing to show to boot save your burnt butts.

Tom: Anyways, we best be going, jump on board!

Trainees? Wall thought, then remembered the twelve dead men. Hm. He gave a meaningful glance to Ali, one of the southern Armenians.

"That's us, sir," he said, in a convincing Saudi accent. "Our trainer had to go to rehab. Methamphetamine addiction." The two squads each occupied one of the trolleys, and Wall and Aleksei both gave their men looks that said 'stay on guard.' And each man had his pakc next to him, their hands lingering just over the hidden G36Cs.

[Zarfef]

OOC: There is a lot here and I figured I'd do the tour in a shot, but if you want to edit in more RP in there, I certainly don't want to force drag you through everything... But it is quite crowded in there and jumping off ship randomly would appear to be somewhat a cause for alarm.

Tom stared at them for a minute, the trainer hadn't done that quite as much as having to rush off to war, but to think he'd give such a laim excuse seemed bizarre. Tom would motion over to start the ride and they would move on to a rather inconspicuous location where a dark cave was hidden behind a weave of rocks with sensors and cameras on every angle. Overall though, it looked from the outside like any other part of the canyon and it was not until deep within the dark cave (most likely with thermo cameras on every angle) that a large sound could be heard of a blast door opening.

Upon entering the world was a mesh of red artificial lights and metal hallways which branch down a myriad of darkened corridors. Tom would play out a written tour guide manuscript as they moved along.

Tom: Welcome to a marvel of the modern world within the ancient sands of Dubai, the evil lair of world famous Doctor Phineas Zarfef, soon to be ruler of the world, a task of great importance to which you are all to be well payed to help bring about and benefit from. As you can only imagine, the lair is quite extensive and with an incredibly clean nature for a location so deep within the deserts. The facility has it's own water supplies and food stores, entire power plants and an air-purification system in conjunction to a set of defenses that run deep down to it's very core, so while moving around, please be careful, that door will not be the last thing looking to do you harm, and if one of you succumbs to your curiosity, it would be a good idea to note that we don't have many cats around here for a reason.

Tom: A seperate lair, that likely still exists but is not well know about, is within the New Siberian Islands where it has been left to ruins and was the original location where Zarfef began to work on his master plan. No one knows what that master plan is, but it has garnered him enough support that shortly there-after, with massive success of his front industry he was able to achieve the empire's beginning's here in Dubai despite having no ethnic or philosophical ancestry related to the region. To that extent the nation of the Aether Empire and the Aether Organization are really two separate entities of which you work for the latter. The former is actually run according to the will of the people in a symbiotic relationship, the people allow the residence of the Organization to run and operate in Dubai an the southern shores of Arabia and we in turn take care of the organization process for free and allow them to achieve what they desire thus far.

Tom:Really, the people in town are quite friendly and happy and when you do enter the cities or towns. Try to return that courtesy as we have had a good repertoire with them. All of you will be happy to know however, that you'll fit right in as we have individuals from a vast array of nationalities or ethnic backgrounds that work for the Aether Organization. Diversity is key element of world domination we are proud to support, even from our beginnings. Our front organization, the Tensor Industries Technological corporation has been doing under the table technology deals for years developing and testing weapons of war for our private sellers. We originally tested these weapons to unify the disparate tribes tribes in the surrounding regions or most impressively in the East African War, where our famed War Tzar Tank proved a valuable asset and wiped out entire squadrons of the Somalian Air Force.

The trolley now came to a stop before a glass panel, in front of which was a massive auditorium filled with computers and three massive screens displaying data in real time. People below were moving around to and fro in a busy manner with orders being thrown about. Upon the screens as a dizzying array of symbols, acronyms and data coming in. It was well guarded and there was no visible entrance from the location they were currently at except to break through the glass which may have been bullet proof... even still, to try to enter would be suicide.

Tom: Behold the visual nerv center, a massive room filled with computers and the brains behind the Aether Military command. The Vons don't come by here often as they take care of things down in the lower levels personally with Zarfef. But the implementation of these commands for some of the more important missions still comes through that floor down there. To keep this information secret, the Aether Empire utilizes little to no RF signals whenever possible to implement the distribution of commands. Most major information is only transferred using trusted individuals or wire systems with counter-tampering technology built in. The entire facility itself is guarded against EMF signals and you have a higher probability of getting a portal to Heaven down here then a cell phone signal. This is mostly done to guard the facility against EMP attacks against our equipment. Even still, the backup systems will always be there in case of an all out failure, but they're not as close to cool as this place is.

At this point, the trolley car rolled past several rows of slanted floors inclined going off into the darkness high above them, each with steam-powered catapult systems one would normally expect on an aircraft carrier. Their purpose was made more clear with the last two which were attached to a XA-37s, which were armed and ready for take-off. The pilots were awaiting orders and munitions crews were below working through the equipment in a bunkered off room.

Tom: We're fairly close to the canyon walls now, and this somewhat speaks for itself, the greatest military force on the planet cannot allow itself to flaunt it's air-force above ground. So we hide beneath the Earth itself and fly out like worms... if worms could grow wings and drop 500 pound bombs. You may or more likely may have not noticed a similar network for our War Tzar tanks, the amount of entrances located within the Canyons here is of an immense nature, but most such locations are not connected with the lair itself in any direct manner. A few are rare exceptions of course for certain apparent reasons once you think about them. There is even rumored to be one heading out to the ocean itself, some kind of super-submarine or something. But that's just a rumor, but you'll find out that a lot of rumors around here turn out to be true, so I see nothing wrong with spreading them. It makes things more interesting, you are working in an evil lair after all.

Further, after another long segment of halls with their occasional arms room with guards nodding as the trolley passed, locked vaults, security facilities monitoring the movements of the region and defense control rooms (which controlled the defenses on other floors, not the floors they were stationed on, but rooms that would be hardest to reach from the locations that were deploying the weapons. Then, the trolley stopped and curled around on a rather large platform before it headed down further and further into the base until coming to a stop, apparently not at the bottom but deep enough. Hopefully the technology backing the elevator was good, should it fail, the crew would likely be dropped a few too many stories then anyone would want to think about. Where they were left off.

Tom: Ah, we're finally here. That, that is the newest toy that Von Zak is going to get to play with, a weapon so dark that not even I know the stats on it. It's not the final prototype Ziggy is working on, but... it is a good idea of what to come.

The silhouette located in the room with trip lasers around it from all angles and a security enabled glass door had two dual forward swept wings with angular stealthy features combined into a set of sick curves. It was apparent that it contained forward and back swept wings and a sheen reflected off it's sports car like finish before the RADAR absorbent coating being perfected was used to coat it.

Tom: That. That is the work of Tensor Industries put into full use, or rather their new child break off, The Ragnarok Fighter Aircraft Devision. The Ragranok R/F-B Nightmare. I've heard it was tested to move at Mach 1.7 and up, and expected to have the full maneuverability of a those crazy rusky planes, what are they the Su-47 Berkut? It has some kind of crazy polarization based RADAR defense system called ZEBRA weapons systems and a Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6-23 system equivalent for heavy ground fire-support using digital controls. In other words, electronically controlled bullets as seen in some of the more rapid fire weapons systems we've seen today. It's got some crazy group exponential enhancement model and wields a Bayern-Chemie Throttleable ducted ramjet mounted missiles similar to the MBDA meteor.

Tom: Of course. That's just the rumors, so everything I may be noting might just be kind of crazy. When I asked Ziggy about it one time, he gave me an odd look and said it's a bit more complicated then that, but was quite surprised to hear I'd heard of ZEBRA, although he wouldn't comment on what it was. But at least he granted me permission to take new recruits down here to see a prototype...I haven't been able to get that on the Uncle Ivan or other stuff yet... I just get to say we're building a new super-cool tank that couldn't fit in the smaller frame of the War Tzar and stuff like that. Anyways, here's a poster of the original concept... although as you could easily see, the new design is much better. It does give it some history and a lot of the features are visible in the new component.

OOC: My first drawing of this plane for another RP... where things had advanced a bit further so it could go at Mach 5 with scram jets... can't quite do that here. This next small pic is just a random tradition leaking over from that RP where I borrow a lot of material over from.

IC:

The tramway proceeded back up and one of the members would notice a rather strange image out of the corner of their eye, but it was most likely their imagination:

A hideous voice squeeled out into the night as the elevator flew by, "Sc*pth".

Then everything was back to normal.

Tom: Well, that about concludes the tour, we're going to get you to your training destinations soon, but first there is a special inauguration ceremony to go to first with all the other candidates. I heard this one is particularly special. You're a bit shabby though and not in uniform so I'll deliver you to the processing rooms where they'll get you checked up and suited up for the event. That way you don't stand out so much at the event.

[loannes]

As the trolley passed through military command, Aleksei gave a meaningful look to Valdez, at the edge of the trolley, who took his bag and ducked and rolled off the trolley. A soldier from Wall's squad did the same. They stared at the glass for a moment as the carts drove away, and Valdez looked at the other guardsman. "How the hell do we get in there? Wait, what's that?"

The other soldier, a man named Alex, looked up from a large piece of paper. "Map of the complex."

"Where'd you get that?"

Alex shrugged. "It was in a brochure on the trolley." He held it up so Valdez could see the back, which had bold font declaring, Welcome New Henchmen! on it.

"Hm. That's a slight security flaw."

"You think?"

"So the entrance is down that hall..." Valdez and Alex quickly found how to get to the entrance, took their G36Cs out, and started to walk.

As the trolley went through each room, Wall would angle his wrist towards anything of interest. Up his vest sleeve was a small, concealed camera, which would snap a shot as he tapped his finger against it. He took special interest in the Nightmare. When Tom mentioned processing rooms, he frowned, uncertain about how it sounded. He pocketed something white and stood. When the trolley slowed for a turn, he jumped onto the golf cart, pulled out the white thing, a blunt, and a lighter. "You should take us to the entrance of the military data section." He lit the blunt, put it to his mouth, didn't inhale, and handed it to Tom, winking.

OOC: Hope you don't mind the brochure

[loannes]

OOC: Bumped

[Zarfef]

OOC: I know this seems long, but I'm mostly trying to do some RP on the Aether Empire's anti-drug nature. I think this about sums it up , you can't just wander around the Aether Empire without looking like a henchman anyways... of course, joining has it's dangers as well... nothing that will kill you, but it is interesting for the plot. Feel free to interject at any point.

There is something interesting about the culture of the Aether Empire, something not many people or even the internet knows and that is, despite being an empire founded by an "evil" genius, it has a remarkably PG atmosphere in regards to alcohol and drugs. Zarfef himself as noted here pointedly notes that the Empire doesn't even support alcoholic beverages as they "cloud the mind".

http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?s...t&p=1725863

The Aether Empire only allows Root Beer into their country. No alchoholic beverages are alllowed. However, we respect you and congratulate you on making some friends.

They had trades mind you that stated they imported beer, but given that root beer was the only variety, this required little elaboration. You didn't for instance find an import of Jack Daniels or other forms of beer. Thus, when offered the chance for them to all "get a bong" it was somewhat shocking for Tom and he had visibly displayed a look of disgust at the violation of the law. As, the only place that allowed such devices in even a morale way was in the instance of being shot as a means of reducing pain. In fact, it was perhaps the worst decision they could make... the military data part wasn't even as shocking or interesting as the request to share drugs in secret.

Tom: Just. Say. No. I AM ABOVE THE INFLUENCE!

Tom slammed on the breaks and yelled out.

Tom: I NEED A CLEAN UP CREW! I'VE BEEN CON-TAMIN-NATED!

Suddenly the doors marking each segment of the region closed. The cameras in the room suddenly came alive and honed in on the perpetrators.

Old Creepy Lady on the Intercom System: Did I hear what I think I heard? Ah, looks like you children wanna smoke a bowl! Then you should learn the CONSEQUENCES!

A rolling thunder came... it came with some creepy theme song and music... it echoed down the halls and all who heard would tremble in fear... Tom himself looked shaken. The room was completely locked down with massive doors meant to hold back bomb blasts and not even a ventilation system big enough for a three year old to climb into... there was. no. ESCAPE.

Tom: It's alright. We're gonna survive this... it's a bit scary, but you'll never touch that stuff AGAIN! I promise... no one ever does.

Then... then it began... the door in front of them rolled up slowly revealing a black hallway with red dim back lighting meant for low power run-times. Blocking the road was a large truck... a fire truck... with a steamroller pin on the front... on board were five creatures from the heart of furry yiff hell. They were dressed as wolves, cats, birds... even a evily smiling octopus... Each could do terrible things, the one could remove it's scull cap and reveal a foam brain with paper worms that would swing from an inside vacuum cleaner done wrong, the other could use a similiar device to blow up red puss pocket plastic air-seaves along his arms and face, another had nasty breath and the octopus could fire it's eyeballs out with liquid goo behind them with spring launch power. Then in a voice that would cause Wierd Al to cringe in horror, like the squeel of a nails down a chalkboard mixed with the bodacious eight day old deep fried cheese fart of a sweat drenched Sumo Wrestler, the cat spoke.

Cat: I HEARD SOMEBODY HAD DRUGS!

Wolf: Hehe Let's go to the party!

Suddenly the vehicle moved forward into the light revealing it's neon colors and proceeded to blast out a steady fire-hose stream of green goo one would expect to find on Nickolodeons ooze shows:

Then... then beganing the singing that, horrible horrible singing... luckily after this was done, processing would grant them clean clothes and a private shower unit... between the creepy Furries, the ooze and the horrible singing... any man caught in the ooze would need it. Any who didn't shield their eyes alone would need it. Which explains why Tom would be hiding under the dash. Of course... they could always try to run for it... if they weren't blasted back by a green goo fire-hose or captured and mentally molested by an overly happy furry octopus and it's eyes... and what if they were found afterwards by one of the creatures... ALONE! @_@ In fact, running away wasn't the best of ideas... not to mention the guards in the back who were armed to remove the drugs... even though after everything was covered in goo, they wouldn't be useful. The world. THE WORLD WAS TO BE COVERED IN GREEN SLIME!

I want to live in a natural way

I won't be cheated of a single day

My body and mind are mine so I say

Just say no to drugs

I had a friend who said all the time

take this man oh you'll feel just fine

It took no great mind to see

He was no friend to me

I knew a kid who was constantly high

missing out on life as it went by

He never spent life straight

and now it's much too late

Drugs aren't fresh and drugs aren't cool

so don't become some pusher's fool

You just might wind up dead

let him be the fool instead.

Elsewhere... In MY MIND! No... the military control center "nervous system" silly .

As they came to door they were met with a two door system, plenty of guards and a host of cameras and security equipment. The guards wore red cargo pants and shirts and looked quite well built with a shoulder structure that, contrary to the no drugs policy suggested the use of steroids... but in reality was nothing more then a natural build. They wore massive thick helmets and square eye visors over their eyes, a thick black flack-jacket (with an iron on name tag), they had massive combat boots, a handy utility belt filled with random goodies... like screwdrivers and flashlights... a sidearm and an overly massive but rather expensive looking military grade taser style rifle that could fire off round after round of nasty electrostatic shock... and they had gloves, big black thick rubber gloves. Because. These were evil henchmen and they certainly looked the part. First, began the left talking chin:

The human chin 1: STOP! Only authorized personnel are allowed further.... oh good grief, you must be one of the new recruits, you look like you've walked through the entire desert. Did Tom turn the corner too fast? I told him that thing is a golf-cart and not a race motorcycle.

The human chin 1: As you can see, we have a state of the art facility around here, no one can enter the nervous system without being granted access from the inside... or unless security needs access and validates opening it up... well there's always another way, but you'll have to be around here a while to find out... It's very well guarded with well over 50 guards moving about and all personnel are graduated henchmen moved to officers within... so don't try anything funny citizen! Or else we'll have to ARREST YOU! Heh heh, that's a joke, go sit down, the soda machine is around the corner (flips both of them a coin) that should be able to grab you something to drink!

The human chin 1: I got guard duty for the next 15 minutes, at which point Joe here will take over while my replacement comes in. It's good to be off, look forward to working with you guys! I'll have security roll around and bring you to the reception.

OOC: Silly, you can't just walk into the most guarded nerve center of the Aether Empire like THAT .

Edited September 29, 2009 by Zarfef

[Zarfef]

bump.

[loannes]

Wall opted to use the leaves for what he'd originally planned and stuck it back in his pocket. The Guardsmen watched the 'show' dully, not really perturbed. After seeing some of the things they'd had to see for training, everything was a cakewalk. Their goggles protected them from the goo, and the singing was easily overcome by another bit of training: mental walls. When a crappy song entered their head, their brains automatically responded with good music, and so they became oblivious to the sound of the singing, with Slipknot filling their thoughts instead.

As they came to realize the danger, Aleksei came up with a backup plan. He pulled something green from his pocket: oregano, which looked exactly like the hemp leaf. He set it on fire and hurled it at the guards, shouting, "Just a bit of weed, hurts nothing!" If the guards reacted how he wanted them to, the Guardsmen would be gone in an instant.

Valdez glanced at a ventilation shaft next to the guards outside the nerve center and smiled. "Sure thing," he said, and he and Alex walked around the corner.

"We could have shot them," Alex said in sign language.

"Too obvious," Valdez signed back. He took a lighter and his large share of 'tactical marijuana', unscrewed the ventilation shaft with a screwdriver, set it gently on the floor, and crawled through until he could see the guards. He quickly rolled it into a large cigarette, and set it on fire. Holding his breath, he backed back out of the ventilation shaft and returned the vent to the gap.

"What kind is that?" Alex signed.

"Northern Lights, with a few special additions," Valdez signed back. "They'll be as high as a kite in about a minute."

A trickle of smoke, too small to be noticed easily, entered the area around the guard. Caucasian Northern Lights was enough so that one deep breath or a few short would get a user dopey immediately.

[Zarfef]

The attempt at throwing the oragono was followed up by a blast of green goo from the fire-truck... putting out the fire and then blasting Aleksei down where the dog would walk over and start getting rather personal as he displayed a bunch of fake !@#$% bubbles on his body.

Bird-creature: THAT WHAT THEY SAID TO ME! BUT NOW MY BODY IS ON FIRE! AND THE MONKEY WON'T GET OFF MY BACK! OO OOO AH HAH!

After a few minutes the song was over and one of the guards motioned as the creatures moved back into the dark corners of the world they came from.

Guard: Alright, let's go, leave your stuff there, the processing room is around the corner... and don't try to sneak any of that stuff with you, we'll be clearing it out of your bags and making sure you don't have any during the processing event. From this point on, just the clothes on your backs people no weapons no nada. There is a rather special event today and want everyone here in tip top shape. From now on, as I'm sure you understand we do not allow any drugs around here. If you are caught with drugs three times we will stop with the silly displays and send you to a rehabilitation center, which means no work. Drugs were made for one thing, and that is to over-ride the human bodie's pain signals when shot or otherwise in severe pain, not so that you can use them for recreation. Now let's go.

There were about ten guards and the lead one motioned to each member of the group to have them searched for weapons and more importantly drugs. Entering the processing unit would require going through a metal detector and being checked out by a nurse along with, (because of the rush) getting one's new henchman uniforms. There was really something special going on at the moment and it seemed highly apparent to all that were working there... Tom was lead off, shaking in horror... the Octopus had done a tad bit too much to him and he would need some slight counseling before continuing on with service.

... Back at the other location... You know, the nerve center?

As expected, by the time they returned the guards were on the floor describing the pretty rainbows. Unfortunately... just as they returned, the other unexpected consequence of setting a fire off in a building occurred. Fire alarms...

The room suddenly became aflush with sprinkler systems spraying down the room while the sound of foot steps could be heard as men rushed to the area to find out just what the fire was and to put it out from every nearby hallway security point. The fact that people were unscrewing the ventilation shafts and crawling in just moments before would not help... especially when linked to the people who were requested by Tom to enter the facility. Even still, the other group was left alone, unharrassed...

Upon realizing that the two guards had fallen over untouched, the idea of an air-weapon was announced over the system communication network and the group at the door was approached by about fifteen armed guards like those at the door... but with gas masks and goggles.

The sprinkler system would be turned off after the water from them would roll into the ventilation and knock out the fire (it would even if it didn't because of the munitions in use).

They would approach from three different angles down the hall with taser rifles leveled demanding that they put their hands in the air and get on their knees slowly. Their back up was armed with 9 mm handguns which they were aiming down for the moment but would fire in a moments notice to injure if need be.

OOC: Good strategy, if it were outside it most definitely would have worked .

[loannes]

OOC: Ok, really, fire alarms aren't THAT sensitive. I've burned half a stovetop before ours went off.

IC: Wall and Aleksei gave each other the, 'Welp, so much for that' look. Simultaneously, the ten Guardsmen took their G36Cs out, and threw down their smoke grenades. The room filled with smoke, and the Guardsmen moved quickly, heading for the exit away from the processing room. If one of them noticed an unfriendly silhouette in the shade, he would end him swiftly with a combat knife or a karate chop to the neck. They then hit the shadows, and quietly made their way back to the nerve center. One thing was left behind: a military patch with the flag of Nedland on it, the only purpose of which was to divert attention. (OOC: Ew, processing. Don't like the sound of that.)

Valdez and Alex glanced at each other, both with hands in their bags. They turned to the guards, then looked past them. No sign of Wall and Aleksei. They started to bring their hands up...then brought with them their silenced G36Cs. They opened fire on the guards with extreme accuracy; they fired on automatic, but they maintained a one bullet to one kill ratio. They would shoot all but one, whom Valdez would tackle, gag, and find a way to use him to get into the nerve center.

OOC: Keep in mind that Caucasus Guardsmen reflexes are good, and also the tech comparison, for your response. At my tech, I'll have developed more effective smoke grenades and silencers. Tech plays a part in this.

[Zarfef]

OOC: Ok, really, fire alarms aren't THAT sensitive. I've burned half a stovetop before ours went off.

OOC: Must depend on the fire-alarm, ours goes off for basically nothing, including smoke from something like that from another room. It was so bad one night, we had to yank the batteries out because we were tired of it going off for any little particle that set off it's fancy. Even still, two guards fell over on camera and you were still climbing into ventilation units at random in an evil lair (If two guards randomly fall over, someone is going to be sent out). I was trying to get them to go through the processing because that would get them a suit with which they could easily move about and blend in... Of course, I was also going to pick them out because they looked good and have them press the button that would start the Great Arabian War for the Aether Empire just to make it interesting.

IC: There was a legitimate problem. I mean, to ignore it would be very difficult to impossible even for the crew of Walmart. Guards were were being shot (in both cases there were security cameras too):

Suddenly the doors marking each segment of the region closed. The cameras in the room suddenly came alive and honed in on the perpetrators.

As they came to door they were met with a two door system, plenty of guards and a host of cameras and security equipment.

With a war about to be fully launched and smoke bombs going off, there was a BIG problem and the entire lair knew about it in an instant, it would be hard not to. Around Wall's group, they had lost track of the "enemy" and so to corner rats, a game of chess would have to be played and one after another, security systems were retracted back into the walls, cameras were deployed and the blast doors were lowered two levels around the expected contamination zone and within the contamination zone itself to minimize movement. That included the processing zone where suits were stored so they were immediately notified and went into lock down, the men's facial descriptions from the tour's videos distributed.

Then, to subdue them, the AC units were pushed to max and all of these rooms would be dropped to a freezing cold temperature with a massive draft from pushing the fans to max (as opposed to the outside which was nasty hot) and once it dropped to about 15 degrees Fahrenheit with wind-chill factored in, the sprinkler systems would be turned on intermittently to induce hypothermia. Meanwhile, the soldiers who were on the safe side of the barrier were preparing for an excursion into a winter-wonderland with an old defunct weapon of the East African war, incapacitators.

A message was broadcast throughout the entire complex... it was Zarfef.

Zarfef: It seems someone has set us up the bomb. But all our base are still belong to us. Make your time heroes, you're end has already been written. There are 100,000 ways to die in here and only one way to make it out alive... well maybe two. BUT NOW YOU ARE MINE! And that distant rumble you hear above the surface are my plans already fullfilled, a single Banshee chemical warhead that will slaughter hundreds of men in the start of The Great War of Arabia! But it is only the beginning... Now, Surrender like good children, I wouldn't want to have to hear that my men hurt you. But... what can I do... the furries are still waiting and they hunger. As for me, I am off to better places, enjoy. BWAH HA HA HAH HA!!!

At that moment, the lights in the quarantined zones went out and Zarfef had his computer broadcast sounds intermittently to the different intercoms of various animal sounds noises and false commands. It was pitch black for the time being with everything being cooled by the AC units and real dangers lurking in the complete blackness. In the enclosed enviroment, the sounds would echo about and reflect off the metal walls making a world of ghostly sonic phantoms.

What's worse is that now the entire military was on alert and so A-37s were scrambled to look for an insertion and any evacuation measures, the NoN was noted to be on high threat level along with Raochin and soldiers flooded the facility.

Back at the nervous system...

For every man shot another two would quickly arrive as the entire facility went into lock down. Instead of attacking directly they launched a set of flash bang grenades down the hall, covered the corner while waiting for the bang, then turn firing off a volley of Taser shots and a shotgun full of thick rubber bullet which sprayed the entrance... no heed was given for the guard they captured as per orders and it was noted that the nervous center was on complete lockdown with no one allowed in or out at the current time. Only Zarfef himself could open the doors from a remote position using a password he himself set.

If this didn't work, they were afraid they'd have to use real grenades, but they would have to move fast to move the injured henchmen to the infirmary. They would fire until it had been noted via a mirror that the enemy was down, then they would be swamped with more shots to ensure they stayed that way at which point they would be tackled by about five men and hand-cuffed, their weapons removed... Of course, given that one couldn't enter the nerv center from the outside:

As you can see, we have a state of the art facility around here, no one can enter the nervous system without being granted access from the inside... or unless security needs access and validates opening it up..

(Security certainly wasn't going to grant it)

This could continue on indefinitely.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

OOC: Zarfef, I haven't finished reading this thread, I have been a bit busy with a few other things. However, I would ask you to tone some of your lair down. I'm not saying get rid of the whole thing or anything, the creativity is awesome, but some of the things inside the lair seem a bit much for your level of tech, just saying. I know this is general, but I haven't read the whole thread and honestly I don't have time to do so, its already extremely long. I'm just asking cause just scanning it some things seem out of place. I appreciate it.

If this is a problem, I can read the whole thread but it might take sometime.

Edited September 30, 2009 by Sarah Tintagyl

[Zarfef]

OOC: Sure, is there any place in particular that seems out of place, I'd be happy to.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

OOC: Sure, is there any place in particular that seems out of place, I'd be happy to.

OOC: Give me until tomorrow and I'll have the message back Zarfef thanks.

[Executive Minister]

...the furries are still waiting and they hunger.

OOC: Tell me that this was a typo, or at least a code name for something else. LOL

Edited September 30, 2009 by Executive Minister

[Zarfef]

OOC: It was a reference to the guys dressed up as creepy animals...

http://actnormal.files.wordpress.com/2009/...ies-kidding.jpg

Not that I have anything against people that are furries, but in this situation it would be kind of creepy to be locked in a labyrinth with them don't you think?

[Executive Minister]

OOC: It was a reference to the guys dressed up as creepy animals...

http://actnormal.files.wordpress.com/2009/...ies-kidding.jpg

Not that I have anything against people that are furries, but in this situation it would be kind of creepy to be locked in a labyrinth with them don't you think?

That's what I meant.

[Zarfef]

OOC: Brevity as promised.

IC:

In the corridors deeper in the facility the rumble of missiles could be heard taking off in the distance, alot of them... Soon afterwards though, something very bizzare happened. Where the soldiers were stationed, several doors opened leading in a particular direction, it was as though someone was trying to lead them somewheres... the music stopped and the AC turned off bringing the room back to normal temperature.

-------

As endless as the battle seemed it suddenly came to a stop near the control room. Suddenly there was silence and a single lone figure came out with his hands in the air.

Ziggy: You're the commandos that were sent here right? I'm here to help... or rather I need your help.

Edited October 12, 2009 by Zarfef

[Eden]

Gravedigging... don't do it!

[verum vox vocis]

Opened again. However, please be aware that if another contentless 'bump' post occurs, it will be locked again, as truthfully, that contributes nothing to the RP.

[loannes]

OOC: Brevity as promised.

IC:

In the corridors deeper in the facility the rumble of missiles could be heard taking off in the distance, alot of them... Soon afterwards though, something very bizzare happened. Where the soldiers were stationed, several doors opened leading in a particular direction, it was as though someone was trying to lead them somewheres... the music stopped and the AC turned off bringing the room back to normal temperature.

-------

As endless as the battle seemed it suddenly came to a stop near the control room. Suddenly there was silence and a single lone figure came out with his hands in the air.

Ziggy: You're the commandos that were sent here right? I'm here to help... or rather I need your help.

Wall looked at him suspiciously. "Aren't you with that creepy-$@! Zarfef guy?" he asked, motioning for the troops to level their rifles as a precaution. "Why should we trust you?"

[Zarfef]

Ziggy moves his eyes down to motion towards the knocked out guard and then back to the soldiers.

Ziggy: If you don't trust me I could understand, I'm as confused about me as you are. But right now, the only thing I'm begging you for is the chance to earn your trust, not for you to give it to me. I have a bad feeling about what Zarfef is doing, its complicated to explain here, but those missiles that just launched. They contained chemical warheads... on a weapon I designed... and I'm frightened about what he might do next and I don't want to be a part of it. In fact I want to stop it... but I can't, I can't without you! Please! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME FIND OUT WHAT OPERATION MOSES IS! And if it is... if it is what I think it is. Please. Help me stop it.

Edited October 12, 2009 by Zarfef

[loannes]

Ziggy moves his eyes down to motion towards the knocked out guard and then back to the soldiers.

Ziggy: If you don't trust me I could understand, I'm as confused about me as you are. But right now, the only thing I'm begging you for is the chance to earn your trust, not for you to give it to me. I have a bad feeling about what Zarfef is doing, its complicated to explain here, but those missiles that just launched. They contained chemical warheads... on a weapon I designed... and I'm frightened about what he might do next and I don't want to be a part of it. In fact I want to stop it... but I can't, I can't without you! Please! YOU HAVE TO HELP ME FIND OUT WHAT OPERATION MOSES IS! And if it is... if it is what I think it is. Please. Help me stop it.

"Operation Moses? Prob'ly has something to do with flooding Egypt and causing mass destruction along the Nile River by blowing up the Aswan High Dam or something," one Guardsmen said flatly. The others stared at him. He shrugged. "What? I was raised with parents that made me relate the Bible to possible real life scenarios." They kept staring. "Stop looking at me."

"We'll help you out," Aleksei said. "But if this ends up with any of us dead because of you, you'll find out just how much someone can do with a combat knife and a rifle."