[Icelander]

This is just idle speculation, not a spoiler for anything that has happened.

Assume that the MSRT from Chesapeake, Virginia has been dispatched and the USCG Rear Admiral in charge District One in Boston has summoned all necessary assets to Jewell Island, as well naming a Captain the on scene Incident Commander (either the Sector Commander or the CO of the MSTR).

Who has the authority to decide not to assault the compound?

From a practical standpoint, who could get away with ordering the entire assault force to wait? The Admiral in command of the Coast Guard? The Secretary of Homeland Security?

And who could raise a stink over it, even if they couldn't legally overrule them, and thus would have to be convinced for this to be practical?

We'll assume that the order to wait was justified by a Top Secret -Special Compartmentalized Information briefing citing a serious risk of exposure to dangerous chemicals if anyone not wearing NBC suits steps on the island. Assume also that HazMat-qualified tactical teams are being being sent, either the Coast Guard (Atlantic) National Strike Force or an ultrasecret 'DHS' team if Onyx Rain is powerful enough to arrange it.

Let's say that Onyx Rain could produce plausible information that they are in negotiation with forces on Jewell Island and can stall negotiations for long enough to move HazMat-qualified teams into position.

How powerful would the conspiracy need to be for this?

Can anyone propose a plausible way that a coterie of powerful bureaucrats could do this? Assume they have the ear of a fair number of powerful political figures, but won't be telling an of them the whole truth.

Because a solution where the people they sent to Jewell Island (PCs and NPCs alike) are regrettably killed by 'terrorists' might appear preferable to the people behind Onyx Rain than allowing hundreds of 'ordinary', unvetted Coasties to tramp all over Jewell Island and Manhanock Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

The mission comes first, sure, or at least it ought to, but given that the mission won't be accomplished if the powerful people in charge of the conspiracy are indicted for a wide variety of felonies, I strongly suspect that the reality is that the cover-up comes first. Then the lives of expendable assets are somewhere a long way down the list of priorities.

Granted, there are some actual mid-ranking Onyx Rain members involved, but no one that the real senior leadership feels personal loyalty towards. Well, possibly Townsend. So I guess hope of rescue rests on two possibilities.

1) Director Vani Gujarat loves her charming personal assistant enough to risk her freedom and the success of a vital strategic mission that she has made her primary professional focus to maximise the chance to rescue him.

or

2) There is essentially no plausible way for Onyx Rain to interfere in the Coast Guard effort once it is launched and/or any such interference would be riskier than allowing the massive risk of leaks from the huge numbers of unvetted people that will see evidence of illegal experiments and superpowers if they step on Jewell Island.

The GM decides about 1). I'm expected to xome up with reasonable data to assist with his estimate of whether Onyx Rain could theoretically manage to keep all this evidence internal, using official DHS assets and their network of highly placed conspirators in various DHS agencies, or whether 2) holds true.