DreadStormers (OOC)

[TGLS]

Would it be possible to mind control someone into breaking the engines? Maybe on a different shift?

[GnomesofZurich]

Originally Posted by Hide

Reaching the station means the ship crew will think they got rid of us.

We don’t have to take over the ship in the next three days. We just have to make sure the team remains unexposed and complete.

Unless something escapes me, breaking the hyper drives won’t get you out of the situation

Day is going to expose the team and lock himself out of the mission; he is falling for the trap.

I'm thinking about everything in ericthered's quote below. Once the smaller ship arrives, swapping out large sections of the crew, replenishing the supply of psi-suppressing flour and administering pills in public all sound like bad things. I know Pacifica doesn't have to worry about the latter two points, but I spent a very long time in-game over-coming the suppressants to get Daymar's powers back, which I'm not eager to repeat.

Breaking the hyper-drives gives us time to take over the ship, and also gives the officers with fanaticism (Quinta Republica) a chance to start an insurrection. Going to the supply depot means erasing a great deal of work, and possibly exposes us.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Just before the ship arrives at the supply depot**, they plan to place an entire section of hyperdrive personel under arrest: Daymar's section to be precise. They also plan to leave a message saying they've run into dread stormers, and wait for a smaller ship that will hitting the same depot one to four days after the nightfall does. They will swap out large sections of the crew with that ship, as well as leaving a lot of their crew at the depot, especially ones suspected of being dreadstormers. They will also replenish their supply of psi-suppressing flour, and attempt to administer the pills in public to everyone again.

They've got a list of suspected dreadstormers... Pacifica is not on it. Daymar is on it, though he's in order with the rest of his section. Hua is on it as well.

[Hide]

Well just a few ideas here, hope I can help to put a plan together with you both. Let me know if this makes sense to you (including you, TGLS and Erick):

Once the depot stop ends, you might have to repeat the suppressant operation thing, but back then it was hard dealing with the suppressants because you did no have any powers. It is different now.

And did not one of you repeated that process already? Was not it quick?

Regarding the ship swapping people, I believe that was handled already. Our names shouldn't stand out now, our positions should not be endangered (considering Pacifica had a critical success doing her job).

I understood there was an agreement regarding Day’s section, so it could not be helped; but, Day has a chance swapping places with the other guy.

(BTW Erick, don’t they make psychological profiles of the soldiers in the navy? I guess you mentioned it for the matter of clearance. )

Regarding the pills, we mentioned Hua could provide Day with a fake one.

Hyperdrive section is hot. Messing with it will make it worse for all:

In order to trigger fanaticism you need a leader of La Quinta relaying the commands. Right now all we have is a few potential pawns. And they are isolated. They don’t have any means to organize themselves and their numbers are small. So, the logic thing to do is keeping a low profile (like us) until the depot operation is over. If you break the hyperdrives, if someone messes up, that person or group of persons (e.g. a section) will be the scapegoat.

I do have a plan to take over the ship.

I suggested sometime ago that one of the subverted should have had the delusion of awaiting La Quinta commands at their desk’s drawer. Hua could have delivered a note with the names of the subverted. That could have potentially triggered an insurrection under our command. We could pull this now, but I don’t think there’s not enough time for Day to subvert an important amount of people. Also, I don’t think the subverted officers have the power to take over the ship themselves, they don’t have enough means to “subvert” the people under their supervision. And they don’t know who their allies are. They are alone in the ship (theoretically).

And even further back I suggested using the infirmary to subvert regular soldiers and other officials. It might be for the best to wait until the swap is done, so the efforts don’t go to waste.

But the point is this, if you manage to break the hyperdrive, how much time will that buy? You will be more than likely locked down or forced to live in the run. Both scenarios imply you won’t be able to subvert a useful number of people, and that security in the ship will raise to the point it will be tedious to all of us do our thing.

I will wait for your comments before posting IC.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Hide

And did not one of you repeated that process already? Was not it quick?

Hua moved her supply of fake pills, the full process would take longer.

Regarding the ship swapping people, I believe that was handled already. Our names shouldn't stand out now, our positions should not be endangered (considering Pacifica had a critical success doing her job).

You've only convinced Zybo. Daymar's section is still suspect, and Hua has been accused and cleared once... which does make her still stand out.

(BTW Erick, don’t they make psychological profiles of the soldiers in the navy? I guess you mentioned it for the matter of clearance. )

They have records of things the spacers* have done. Psychological profiles? they have them, but the records are cordoned off by section: You'd need the records of a shield officer to get his profile.

Of course, you just recently made the 1st mate in the shield section (Lieutenant Chojo) a Quinta republic sympathizer...

*military people can be picky about terms. Its a service rivalry thing. Never call a US marine a soldier, it offends them.

[GnomesofZurich]

Originally Posted by Hide

Well just a few ideas here, hope I can help to put a plan together with you both. Let me know if this makes sense to you (including you, TGLS and Erick):

Once the depot stop ends, you might have to repeat the suppressant operation thing, but back then it was hard dealing with the suppressants because you did no have any powers. It is different now.

And did not one of you repeated that process already? Was not it quick?

I don't want to roleplay through it again. It was an interesting challenge the first time through, kind of annoying the second time through, and I have no desire to repeat it again.

Originally Posted by Hide

Hyperdrive section is hot. Messing with it will make it worse for all:

In order to trigger fanaticism you need a leader of La Quinta relaying the commands. Right now all we have is a few potential pawns. And they are isolated. They don’t have any means to organize themselves and their numbers are small. So, the logic thing to do is keeping a low profile (like us) until the depot operation is over. If you break the hyperdrives, if someone messes up, that person or group of persons (e.g. a section) will be the scapegoat.

I'm not suggesting a drive error that can be fixed in a day. Serious damage, perhaps taking TLGS' suggestion of mind-controlling someone to do the job, but several, not just one. Once we drop out of hyperspace, Daymar can start subverting anyone with whom he comes into contact.

Fanaticism doesn't require someone to relay commands, a fanatic can, and likely would, take initiative.

Originally Posted by Hide

I do have a plan to take over the ship.

I suggested sometime ago that one of the subverted should have had the delusion of awaiting La Quinta commands at their desk’s drawer. Hua could have delivered a note with the names of the subverted. That could have potentially triggered an insurrection under our command. We could pull this now, but I don’t think there’s not enough time for Day to subvert an important amount of people. Also, I don’t think the subverted officers have the power to take over the ship themselves, they don’t have enough means to “subvert” the people under their supervision. And they don’t know who their allies are. They are alone in the ship (theoretically).

And even further back I suggested using the infirmary to subvert regular soldiers and other officials. It might be for the best to wait until the swap is done, so the efforts don’t go to waste.

But the point is this, if you manage to break the hyperdrive, how much time will that buy? You will be more than likely locked down or forced to live in the run. Both scenarios imply you won’t be able to subvert a useful number of people, and that security in the ship will raise to the point it will be tedious to all of us do our thing.

I will wait for your comments before posting IC.

I think TLGS may need to weigh in here, we're not in agreement how to move forward with this.

[Hide]

Originally Posted by GnomesofZurich

I don't want to roleplay through it again (...)

I understand you don’t want to play the “suppressant game” once more. It also means we should wait for you; it affects everybody. But I think the course of the mission is more important within “the spirit of the campaign”.

Originally Posted by GnomesofZurich

(...) I'm not suggesting a drive error that can be fixed in a day (...)

I am not against the plan of breaking the hyperdrives; but Day has to prevent getting himself locked before he takes action. Even if you don’t break the hyperdrive in person, the best result I expect is that you will be put in a “Planet of the Apes” situation: Shackled and locked down, put to work as a pawn. Day is of no use like that!

In other words, right now you don’t have a way out after you break the hyperdrives. Taking Nijothu’s place, is just an option to let you persist in the ship with minimal exposure. What is your plan to prevent Day from being arrested after breaking the hyperdrives? Going AWOL would put the ship in higher alert, and if Day did not build a critical mass when things were “cold” it is unlikely he will make it now that it will be “red hot”. That’s questionable in a covert-agent and Pacifica would argue that.

Also, the “depot” is really close. If you break the hyperdrives, the back-up ship can reach “our ship” if they call for help: “The Dread Stormers are striking with all their might! We can’t move! We are endangered! Come help us NOW!”

Originally Posted by GnomesofZurich

(...) Fanaticism doesn't require someone to relay commands, a fanatic can, and likely would, take initiative.

I still think fanaticism won’t make the afflicted lose their mind or make them impulsive. Even if they wanted to destroy the ship, they won’t turn into kamikaze, unless a legitimate representant of La Quinta gives the order. They will try to do things to help La Quinta, ensuring their survival. We could address them and tell them “Hey we are the Dread Stormers”, but that does not guarantee they won’t spill the beans and reveal our plans. After all, the subverted are not trained covert-agents.

Chancing topic, Nijothu’s personality would be the least of the concerns, here are some ideas:

Copying his persona right away is just one of the several approaches to the “issue”. We can have Zybo place him in another section (where nobody knows him, buying you time to learn about him from his buddy). And you can give Nijothu Day’s metal traits and have him learn from Pothi. You could subvert others in your section to make them think “the new Day” is legit, and so on. Anyway, they won’t be in the ship for long. You could spread the rumor “Day is different after he met with Zybo”. You could spread the rumor Nijothu was traumatized after he was removed from his section, just put something that justifies a personality shift and let it run.

Originally Posted by ericthered

(...) military people can be picky about terms. Its a service rivalry thing. Never call a US marine a soldier, it offends them.

Well, taking into account this and a previous comment of yours, I did some research on the subject (it is easy to address the military here) and I found things are organized differently in your region.

So, what we know as “the army” is what you know as the “navy” over there. The military members of the “armed forces” (not just “the army”) are called soldiers, but in formal meetings they are addressed separately: Marines, soldiers (military ground forces) and pilots.

I think it is great that you point the differences, they might keep popping, so I am writing them down (my personal notes).

This is fun, because “La Quinta República” is a name in Spanish. And just as “The Spanish Navy” is in fact “La Armada Española” (literally “Spanish Army”), the navy of La Quita Republica would actually be “La Armada de la Quinta República” (literally “The Fifth Republic Army”). And civilians would more than often call the military “soldados” (soliders) and sometimes (less likely) “marinos” (marines).

[ericthered]

The ship lacks FTL communication, so it can't send for help that way. Finding it if it drops out of hyperspace is doable, but will take quite a lot of time and effort.



Daymar can mold the fanaticism into either "I'm going to suicide bomb" or into "I'm looking for a way to do something meaningful for my side". I lean towards the latter, especially for officers. They won't need orders, but orders will help to get them moving. Let me know.



Waiting on the tie-breaking PC.



I suppose spainish is one of the languages that has a navy vs. army tradition as old or older than english. And it is funny how one branch claims the "generic" word as technical jargon.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by ericthered

They won't need orders, but orders will help to get them moving. Let me know.

I think it would be doable and worthwhile to give each of the officers the names of two of the other brainwashed officers. I don't think we need to give them orders, but knowing there are six or so other officers might get them to do more ambitious schemes.

Originally Posted by ericthered

Waiting on the tie-breaking PC.

The way I see it, once we reach the depot, there's about two weeks* before we reach a major fleet engagement and effectively lose. After resupplying with flour and suppressants, I think we're going to end up wasting between three days and a week with efforts to working around the system and purging suppressants. Even if it's just a delay and not a rush to the finish I think it's worth it to try and shutdown the engine (though I freely admit I rather see something come from all those busted voltmeters).

*Based off of this:

Originally Posted by ericthered

The supply depot is probably two jumps away from any major jakorbi world, and one jump "behind" Jakorbi space. One or two jumps after the depot, they should be positioned to intercept supply ships to the main jakorbi fleet before jumping in join in a major fleet engagement.

[GnomesofZurich]

Originally Posted by ericthered

The ship lacks FTL communication, so it can't send for help that way. Finding it if it drops out of hyperspace is doable, but will take quite a lot of time and effort.

Daymar can mold the fanaticism into either "I'm going to suicide bomb" or into "I'm looking for a way to do something meaningful for my side". I lean towards the latter, especially for officers. They won't need orders, but orders will help to get them moving. Let me know.

Waiting on the tie-breaking PC.

I agree with the latter interpretation, doing something meaningful rather than suicide bombing.

Originally Posted by TGLS

I think it would be doable and worthwhile to give each of the officers the names of two of the other brainwashed officers. I don't think we need to give them orders, but knowing there are six or so other officers might get them to do more ambitious schemes.

The way I see it, once we reach the depot, there's about two weeks* before we reach a major fleet engagement and effectively lose. After resupplying with flour and suppressants, I think we're going to end up wasting between three days and a week with efforts to working around the system and purging suppressants. Even if it's just a delay and not a rush to the finish I think it's worth it to try and shutdown the engine (though I freely admit I rather see something come from all those busted voltmeters).

I also think this makes sense, to help the turned officers to connect with one another and begin taking action.

What do you mean by "I rather see something come from all those busted voltmeters"?

[Hide]

So, in conclusion the subverted fanatics require some stimuli to work for us!

The idea of the names sounds good. I could have Pacifica make a memo on behalf of Zybo. I have a copy of a memo of his and since Pacifica was present during the interrogation I could also make her look like a legitimate co-worker. The memo will say something like “please check on this potential allies of La Quinta, report to Pacifica” (this is almost an example, not the final thought).

But how will the officers work to help us in alignment to our interests?

Erick, is the depot stationed within hyperspace?

I think TGLS means the voltmeters are a key tool. We have not seen their effect on the setting (now that they are broken).

It is alright if you two don’t want to run the suppressant game.
But it might be a necessary thing, eventually, it is the simplest countermeasure against psi.
Maybe the officers can do something about it in the future?

So, let’s say we “drop the ship”.
The only thing left to assess seems to be Day’s cover and safety.

What are your comments on that, guys?

Originally Posted by ericthered

(...) It is funny how one branch claims the "generic" word as technical jargon.

Indeed!