Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Weirdsound]

Final Week of April, 2017:

Latest Director Turn

Project Buckler Prisoner Roster (Updated!)

Project Buckler Personnel and Assets (Updated!)

Funds:

The Pioneer has 500k RC in his personal account
Wraith has 500k RC in her personal account
Prometheus has 500k RC in his personal account
Killer Queen has 500k RC in her personal account

The Shared Project Buckler account contains 4 Million RC. Presently all playable characters and the Director have access to the shared account.

---

The Pioneer:

Your week starts down in the cell block, talking crap to crossfire about his weapons. From past experience of being on the recieving end, you know exactly what nerves need to be touched to get a villain monologueing, ranting, and spilling secrets, and in a matter of minutes you have the big alien blowing a gasket.

"YOU CALL ME A FAILURE! MY DESIGNS TRASH? I'll have you know that what you call the "Corkscrew" is actually the last known Quartzite X89 Anti-Armor Gun in existence. A Gem from my dead world! THE ONLY FUCKING FAMILY I HAVE LEFT, AND MY BEST SHOT AT VENGEANCE! Dr. Deathray and I endowed the X89 with the Power of the Anti-Light Matrix! If I hit Solsong with that thing, Star Hopper and all the puny gods who built his ship are dead in an instant!"

You know 'Star Hopper' to be a legacy title given to the pilot of Solsong, a legendary space-fighter built by gods of crafts and the sun from many pantheons to serve as Earth's emissary to the stars. The current Star Hopper is a founding member of the JDF, and his identity a closely guarded secret. The current version of Solsong is considered indestructible, as it is able to regenerate both itself and its pilot from a pile of smoldering scrap and gore in a matter of milliseconds.

As for the 'Anti-Light Matrix', you have heard of it before, but understand it poorly. Supposedly it is either an Alien weapon system or artificial intelligence designed to slay benevolent gods. Some reports say that it allows those aligned with it to tap into Dark Energy, thus functioning as a limitless power source. Perhaps you should not be taking Crossfire or his toys lightly...

Deciding to explore this some more, you focus your attention on getting Crossfire to rant about the Anti-Light Matrix.

"Of course you wouldn't understand, FLESHY CUR! The Matrix is choosy about who it revels its secrets to. It saw my hatred for the divine, and deemed me an ally. It allows me to know the means through which it may interact with Quartzite Technology, so that I may use the weapons of my people to avenge their deaths at the hands of your worlds foul gods! The Anti-Light gives my toys powers BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION! Hatespike could extinguish your systems sun in an instant if I were to fly it close enough! The only reason your planet lives is that I need its mortals to draw out its gods! YOU HEAR ME?!?! I AM-"

You leave ecstatic. Project buckler isn't even a week old, and it already has the means to destroy the sun. If the Alien speaks the truth, this 'Anti-Light Matrix' warrants further study, study that you are now inspired to perform.

Your work on Matador's design goes slowly at first, but eventually you reach a breakthrough when Professor Ching of the Xenobiology department briefs you on the Unicorn Horn that Matador himself was captured with. Apparently the horn itself is a super strong and lightweight material, so densely packed that you could stretch it to make the frame of a human sized cyborg with some to spare. Such a cyborg would be both mobile and durable, and there could be other benefits as well; You have read plenty of studies in which patients augmented with the parts of a magical beast gained legitimate super powers...

It takes three days of intense charting and calculations, but eventually your design is complete. In addition to the unicorn horn, you would need about 300k RC in other supplies for Matadors new components, which could easily be assembled by lesser Project Buckler Staff. Once assembled, however, you would actually have to surgically install the upgrades on the subject, a task you wouldn't trust to anybody else.

Your scheduled meeting with Cromwell takes place on Friday afternoon. You stand in front of the small plastic capsule that is his Phantom Cell, and address him through a monitor on the opposite wall.

"So you must be The Pioneer, I presume. I've heard all about you, and I must say, I'm impressed. What is it you care to discuss today?"

RP Start!

Intel Report

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

-Fedor Sr. of the Blue Dawn contacts you with an offer: The sale of a mutant soldier-slave codenamed 'Molerat' for 50k RC. Apparently the mutant in question has a defective skeletal system, which they know you would be more than qualified to upgrade.

Killer Queen:

You bury yourself in the study of Matador and his capabilities. It appears that he is little more than a normal human who has trained extensively in fighting with the sword, cape, and crossbow, and who happens to have a knack for anticipating and punishing the movements of dumb beasts. You do note, however, that The Pioneer has added some advanced looking cybernetic designs to his file... perhaps Paco is getting an upgrade soon.

Deciding to upgrade a soldier of your own, you head to the cells containing the common rabble, and survey prisoners until you settle upon an ex-cop and serial killer from Punjabi named Baagh Kayaamat. You have the 'lucky winner' moved from his standard cell to the ironclad wing, where he is housed next to Datajack. Once he is comfortable, you enter his cell and get to work. Performing basic enhancements on somebody with such a high kill count is a simple matter. You invoke the names of several afterlife keepers, demanding that Baagh be repaid for the souls that he sent them with blessings. In a matter of minutes, Baagh is something slightly more than human...
 
You spend most of the rest of the week sitting in front of the communications desk, waiting for your contacts to report. It is a slow week at first, with only Hades court reporting in, so you decide to stir the pot a bit and take initiative. You call Admiral Ji of the Chinese Navy, a friend and fellow high level military official who happened to spend time in a lost world, to get the scoop, and are not disappointed.

Intel Report

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

-Hades has heard rumors that the litter of Cerberus Puppies that ran away from the underworld a few years back has somehow found their way into the hands of Gatorman, a minor villian from the American South and known associate of Project Buckler Prisoner Gerald 'Brewmaster' Lee.
-Admiral Ji sends you coordinates to a small island in the South China Sea that he says is home to a facility run by the Gene Vault, a shadowy organization that sells clones of historical figures and powerful beings to other villain groups.
-Admiral Ji reports that there is conflict on the seafloor off the coast of Indonesia; Apparently the forces of Atlantis are fighting some unknown group that is using modified cybernetic technology from Britannica Prime.

Wraith:

You start your study on Crossfire with your own memories. According to Crossfire, he is one of the last of his kind. His people, the Quartzite, were vassals to the wicked Rasevi, until Amelia Airheart, the first human to bear the mantel of Star Hopper, vaporized their planet to destroy the Rasevi military assets kept there in the 1920's. Crossfire never commented on how he survived the apocalypse or got into mercenary work, but did tell you once that the only other members of his species exist in the zoos and prisons of the Rasevi. You imagine he had to endure some pretty terrible stuff, and you have seen him snap at a moments notice, but as far as inorganic killers go, you know he can be a pretty nice guy.

Most of Crossfire's gear, including his guns and ships, are apparently Quartzite made and extracted from military vaults tough enough to survive planetary destruction. Apart from Hatespike, the craft procured by Project Buckler, you know that Crossfire has at least two other Starfighters stashed away somewhere: the nimble Asteroidtooth and the artillerycraft Voidsmoke. Dr. Deathray helped crossfire imbue his ships and guns with chunks of his own body, allowing him to transfer energy to them more efficiently than he could have with the default generic Quartzite equipment.

More ominously, Hector and Crossfire would work together on something called the Anti-Light Matrix, which not even Dr. Deathray could understand without the Alien's help. You were never told exactly told what this Matrix was exactly, but were lead to understand that it could extinguish stars and slaughter gods if harnessed properly. You are pretty sure the Hatespike Craft was one of the pieces of tech heavily involved in those experiments...

Humanity knows little about the Quartzite outside of their interactions with Crossfire over the years, as knowledge of Alien Civilizations was not widely spread until the 70's, long after their world was destroyed, but there are rumors that in the alternate universe of Britanica Prime, it was the Quartzite who invaded Cromwell's world, prompting them to invade yours. Supposedly the British Military has extensive files on Quartzite tech, ripped from the files of captured Imperial Cyborgs. You might benefit from asking one of the officers with ties to the UK to request those files for you, or from just asking Cromwell what he knows about Quartzite weapons.

After writing the report, you get around to setting up a quarenteen for Crossfire's stuff, but sadly you arrive too late. Assistant Chief Engineer Richard Smith has already completely disassembled Crossfire's prized CX26 "Flyswatter" weapon. Even if it can be put back together again, you are sure Crossfire would notice the tampering. You have everything else locked away, but don't contact Crossfire right away as you had planned... You are going to have some 'splaining to do.

You spend the rest of the week preforming various team-building exercises with the Project Buckler Staff. Most of the important officers keep a respectful professional distance from you and your emotions, but when you organize a game of basketball between yourself and the Buckler Sentinels against Warzone and the Buckler Pilots, you manage to win the friendship of all groups involved.

Intel Report

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(Crikey, the dice like you)

-An anonymous source close to the Chinese President sends you coordinates and Ariel photos of a small spaceport just north of the China/Siberia border. Apparently the facility is being used to conduct transactions between Russia and the JDF.
-You get an offer from Sange. Apparently the Dark Magical Girls are planning to raid the castle of a water-spirit in another dimension to obtain an artifact called the Despair Sapphire. If you participate, you are welcome to any other loot you can get your hands on during the assault.
-Mankai has tracked down a surviving cell of Rasevi to Seattle, and are calling all their known allies for help taking it down.
-Turquoise Typhoon managed to stumble upon the lair of minor villain Jack 'Gatorman' Beauregard in the bayous of Louisiana. Apparently jack has stepped up his game, and is crossbreeding his reptiles with monsters from the Greek Underworld.
-The Altai Star Force recently discovered a long abandoned alien factory of some kind on Mars. The facilities' life support is still working, but the place is infested by moon trolls. They pass along the coordinates in case you wish to explore.
-Kaleido Crash, your old friend and master hacker who leads the Neon Strike gang has found evidence that the wicked Dark Lord Pryiex might still exist in the form of code scattered across the internet. As a precaution, he advises the execution of Biyu ‘Datajack’ Lao.

Prometheus:

You track down Professor Ching, who is busy plugging away at some project or another, and harass him until he gives you a rundown on some of the alien materials aboard the Illustrious. He answers your request, but it is clear his is now annoyed at you.

You learn there is little biological material of Alien Origin aboard the ship, save for the crew, but Ching gives you a rundown of what he knows. The Maggot class choppers that Project Buckler purchased from alien bugs seem to be actually armored with actual chitin. Ching suggests that it may be possible to reproduce the creatures this armor came from through the process of cloning if oversize cloning vats can be acquired.

Ching also explains that analysis shows that bits of Crossfire's own body make up the components of his craft and weapons. The xenobiologist thinks that the crystals making up the alien mercenary might be able to function as superconductors under the correct circumstances, and also comments that it is strange that Crossfire possess no significant regenerative abilities, but still somehow managed to donate parts of himself to his equipment without suffering irreversible harm.

Eventually you take the hint that Ching doesn't want to talk to you, so you head down to the common holding cells to see if any of the standard prisoners raise your interest. Most of the people contained in the standard cells are common murderers with a police or military background, but you do find two that strike you as unique.

Robert 'Nighthawk' Bundy was a fairly successful cat burglar... until he thought it would be a bright idea to break into a secure government facility and wound up seeing too much. You imagine that if you were to enhance his combat abilities, his skill set could be of use on missions.

Assieh 'The Stranger' Mohammad is a bantamweight MMA fighter with a blackbelt in Ju-Jitsu and a 6-2 Professional record. She also has an extreme fetish for 'alien contact' and was arrested for sexually assaulting the Quorluxian Ambassador to Iran. She begs to be experimented upon, noting that she would love to have alien cells 'inside her'.

You wind up talking to 'The Stranger' until lunch time, at which point you make the mistake of escorting her to the prisoner's chow hall to continue the discussion. As you talk one of the larger murderers decides it would be a bright idea to take a swing at you, and you are instantly dropped to the floor. A massive brawl breaks out, and the guards are forced to kill four prisoners to put it down. Eventually you return to your chambers beaten and bloody, knowing that neither the guards nor the inmates will likely be thrilled if you return to the standard cell block anytime soon...

Intel Report

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

-An old friend at Tyrant industries is looking to get rid of a couple hot prototype weapons with illegal alien parts. They are yours free if you are willing to risk trouble with the JDF.

[Taricus]

"Cybernetics mostly. Rather interested in knowing how yours work."

[Weirdsound]

The Pioneer:

"I figured as much. Can't say I'd be much help to you. I'm a soldier, not an engineer. I can preform a few routine maintenance activities on my systems, but that is as far as I go."

[Taricus]

"Every little bit of detail helps in case of more serious damage, since it means I can repair it that much more easily and efficiently. And knowing the actual combat performance could definitely prove useful for upgrades or the like as well."

[S34N1C]

Spoiler: Report that i should have done last week (click to show/hide)

Report 0001, Agent "Killer Queen" reporting.

       I have done a preliminary analysis of the subject known as Anastasia, and come up with the following observations.
1. She has extraordinary powers over the dead/dying.
2. She is extremely reluctant to cooperate.
3. She seems to have some sort of interest in the subject known as Gnaw.
Current reccomendations are to get her some sort of etiquette coach( though it will surely prove ineffective), and to let her and Gnaw develop a relationship if they so wish. Additionally, in all further interviews with the subject, I am to be monitered, as she seems to be able to control my movements. I am not sure if she is able to read my mind, or make me speak, so there will be a mandatory "all clear" password (determined before the interview) that must be ststed before I am allowed to exit the interviewing chamber.

After submitting her report, Killer Queen decides to look into the lead regarding the Cerberus puppies.

[Weirdsound]

The Pioneer:

Cromwell considers your words. "Hmmm.... If Project Buckler was able to convince the British Government to give me up, I suppose they would have given their notes on me up as well. Have you tried checking the files?"

On the screen, the cyborg drums his fingers on his forearm. "I do actually have documents pertaining to my exact design specifications saved on my internal drive, but my systems are not compatible with your world's technology. If you were able to procure any sort of electronic device from Britannica Prime with a screen attached, I could show you blueprints and everything."

---

Everyone:

Director Phalanx paces the floor on the bridge of the ship, silently staring down each of you in turn before speaking.

"Alright, officers, welcome to our first ever mission planning meeting. I've got nothing this week. If any of you are dumb enough to suggest actually launching a mission week one before we get our bearings, or have any other issue to bring up while we are all here, now is the time to speak."

The director pauses, and a softer expression briefly passes over his face. "Oh. Yeah. Ideas for future missions would be nice as well. That way we have time to prepare and gather intel. Even those the scum we are working with are classified as expendable, I'd rather not waste em where it can be avoided."

[Lenglon]

"Ive got several things to talk about actually. First, I have reason to believe datajack's dark lord is alive. we need to either upgrade her security or expend her. Second, we need a consensus about how we want to handle Crossfire, I think I can get him to straight-up ally with us, putting additional ships and equipment of his at our disposal as well as expanding our diplomatic options, but that isn't going to happen without the cooperation of our research team, because of how he responds to his equipment being handled by others. And thirdly, I have a number of mission possibilities for us to look into further if we so choose, my informants were quite active this week."

[Weirdsound]

Everyone:

Phalanx gives you an odd look. "Dark Lord Pryiex lives? Is this from China? I don't care to execute an asset because one of the JDF pawns or washed up supervillains you are known to consort with think it's a good idea."

He pauses for thought when you bring up Crossfire. "According to the jailer team, all Crossfire dose is swear at them and explain all the clever ways he could or is going to kill them. I understand we share a common enemy with him, but do you really think he is stable, let alone trustworthy?"

When you mention mission ideas, the director gestures with his hand for you to go on.

[Lenglon]

"Sir, a large part of why I'm here is because I know a number of 'washed-up-supervillans and JDF pawns'. Yes, this intel is from one of them. A master hacker warned me of evidence of him living on in the net as pieces of code. Even if the conclusion is wrong, the evidence could be found by datajack and cost us control. Her zelotry is such that I have little doubt she'd be willing, even eagar, to die for her dark lord. She needs to be prevented from accessing the net in any way, directly or indirectly, and doing that will cost us the vast majority of her utility while simultaniously increaseing her upkeep cost signifigantly. Which is why I think we should expend her. I think she should be sent on high or extreme risk missions, preferably to other worlds with no connection to our net."
"Crossfire and I worked together a number of times in the past. Hes a hothead, and hes really touchy about his gear. Our handling of it the way we have so far is setting him off constantly. If we take our finger off his berzerk button then he'll be far more reasonable to work with."
"China has located a facility being used to conduct trade between russia and the JDF, if we could get in there quietly we could track what theyre trading, and maybe steal a shipment if its something we want.
A dark magical girl group has extended an offer to me to join in a raid theyre making, any loot I can get other than the primary raid objective is free for the taking, and the target location is a water spirit's castle, so magical loot is likely.
A heroic magical girl group has found a surviving cell of Rasevi in Seattle, and are asking for help taking it down. Rasevi are enemies of not just humanity, Crossfire also has a personal grudge against them.
And a intellar heroic group gave me coordinates for an abandoned alien manufacturing facility on mars we can loot at our pleasure, though the place is infested by moon trolls."

[Taricus]

With Cromwell
"Hmm, interesting. I'll take that advise up, and I'll see if I can't wrangle such a device from my 'commander'." The pioneer attempts to see if he can access the files from his current location, noting to ask Phalanx about obtaining a BP device when he can.

"And how are the systems holding up in there? Any problems that need to be sorted or is everything in good condition and fully functional?"

---
At the meeting:
"In regards to crossfire, just terminating the bastard would be clean and efficient. Don't have to worry about him going berserk if he's dead. Otherwise, relocation to a phantom cell would solve the problem. Besides, I doubt letting him loose would be a good thing if he knows of your divine connection sir, and I wouldn't want to really leave his weapons capable of destroying the earth either. I'd suggest termination of Crossfire and disassembly of all the tech. We may be able to reverse engineer a lot of the tech given the time to sift through it all."

"Regardless, A planned cybernetic upgrade of Matador is in the works and we can progress on it soon. Just need you to sign off on the expenses; 300k RC for all the mundane parts and the more esoteric component is already here thanks to it being brought with him. Once that's paid Smith and I can begin work on the upgrade immediately."

"In addition, if yours superiors in the UK have a PDA or something akin to one from Britannica Prime, see if you can't get them to send it over; Cromwell has a full, detailed schematic of all his cybernetics on him, though we can't use our devices to view the files."

[Weirdsound]

The Pioneer:

"Well my diagnostics show green across the board, but once we get you guys my specs, a full exam and tune up would be nice if you actually have designs of using me in combat. The government of your world's Britain did quite a lot of poking and prodding when they first captured me, and haven't exactly allowed me to maintain myself since. I'd especially like my flight systems examined, I'm afraid I'm a bit obsessive about those components... I actually had quite the fear of heights before they were installed."

Cromwell shakes his head. "Oh, yeah, my first captors also put some sort of inhibitor on my rocket launch tubes that you will have to deal with if you'd like me to make targets come down with a bad case of the gibbets. On that note, I only have the 10 rockets I was captured with, so if I am to be considered a long term project it might be wise to figure out how to manufacture more, or modify my weapons system to work with readily available munitions."

Whipping up your tablet, you quickly search for and find extensive data on Cromwell and Grand Protector units in general.

According to British Intelligence, the Grand Protector Cyborgs of Britannica Prime are built from only the most militarily talented members of the imperial nobility. Grand Protectors are the highest ranking officers of the United Empire to actually see combat, and are designed to lead heavy armor and air power between hotspots of heavy resistance on the battlefield. Their suite of capabilities is known to be impressive.

A Grand Protector's primary weapon is the electroblaster, which can mow down waves of rank and file cannon fodder with bursts of chain lightning at close to medium range. Archived Ariel footage from the battle of Newcastle shows a Grand Protector dispatching about 90 men in 45 seconds with the weapon, all while shrugging off a hail of rifle and small arms fire.

As Cromwell suggested, Grand protectors can carry and fire up to 12 Steam Propelled Rockets, the Warheads of which are shown to vaporize automobiles upon direct hits and generate enough heat to start fires near ground zero. Files note that these rockets are used exclusively at long range, leading British Officers to believe that they are powerful enough to harm the units that carry them.

Each of the three documented Grand Protector units had their own preferred sidearm, and Cromwell's was a device affectionately dubbed 'The Chainsaw Arm' by those who opposed him. The weapon does indeed resemble a chainsaw that replaces Cromwell's lower left arm while in use... if a chainsaw blade was tipped with some sort of plasma. A graphic video file shows Cromwell using the device to chop Bolthead, a mercenary cyborg you used to maintain and upgrade until his reported death in the Britannica Prime Crisis, clean in half. If you recall correctly, Bolthead had a carbon nanotube skeletal structure.

Grand Protectors are noted for their impressive physical attributes. They are constructed from a poorly understood hyper-dense iron alloy, and powered by a small and remarkably efficient internal nuclear fission reactor. They can fly at speeds of around 350 mph in urban areas, while weaving around buildings, are are speculated to go even faster when given a wide open area to work with. Their hyper dense frames (a Grand Protector packs 2.5 tons into a body not that much larger than that of an average human) and high speeds allow them to function as wrecking balls and battering rams in a pinch.

Lastly, it is speculated that through either a signal or voice recognition, a Grand Protector can directly control what the forces of Britannica Prime refer to as 'Wetware Androids', non sentient machines that use a human brain stem as a processor. Notes suggest keeping Cromwell away from Afghan Hound, Big Ben, Toucan, and Macaw class Wetware Androids, even reprogrammed ones, lest he hijack control of them.

---

Everyone:

Director Sterling takes a step back and smirks as The Pioneer suggests terminating Crossfire. He glances at Wraith, as if requesting a rebuttal.

---

"You have full permision to use the shared Buckler expense account if you'd rather not use your personal budget for Matador's upgrades Pioneer," Phalanx grants with an offhand wave. "As for the PDA, I'll think about it. You can always try finding one yourself or bothering Killer Queen for it."

---

"You are here because you know the washed up Villains and JDF pawns, Wraith," Sterling admits, "but I'm here to ensure we don't go taking everything they tell you at face value. Have your hacker buddy forward you his evidence if he is willing. Lets have some objective Project Buckler staff look it over before we jump to any conclusions."

He listens carefully to the suggested missions. "I don't think we are anywhere near the stage where we should be provoking both Russia and the JDF at the same time, but everything else sounds promising. Follow up on those tips and keep us posted."

[Lenglon]

"Sir I dont see how killing Crossfire is productive, and Im not proposing we immediately release him either. But reality is we need allies. Crossfire has at least two other ships and a number of supply caches, he has the technical expertise to modify and maintain his own equipment, and he knows races we dont and could get us an introduction and basic overview about them. If I can get the cooperation of our researchers to stop aggrivating him and burning bridges, then I can at least make an attempt at bringing him over to our side. Its not like him and his equipment wont keep. If things dont pan out we can always change our minds. I will make efforts to get Crossfire to teach us what he can about his own tech as well, and will keep the research team informed of what is found out, but I require full authority over him and his gear in the meantime to even try to fix the damage that has already been done by our researchers haphazard approach."

[S34N1C]

"My source in the Court of Hades - whom you should consider reliable, being Hades himself - has told me that there are some Cerberus puppies in the hands of one "Gatorman", an associate of Brewmaster. I, myself am eager to take them off his hands, as not only could they prove catastrophic in his hands, but they might to a great deal of good in ours.

In addition, the Atlantians may be at war with someone with technology from Britannica Prime. You and I both know how dangerous that could turn out."

[Lenglon]

"Hm? Jack "Gatorman"? I was told he was crossbreeding his reptiles with underworld creatures, didn't know anything about Cerberus puppies though. I got his current location from a JDF source if you want it."

[Weirdsound]

Everyone:

Director Sterling shakes his head. "Gatorman? Isn't he that nut from the USA who tried to convince the Prime Minister that mutant alligators would be effective weapons against cyborgs from another universe? Ugghhh... I digress. Gatorman might be a joke, but underworld critters are not. Don't try anything stupid and make it a one person job; I say either bargain with him for the blighters or plan a proper mission to crash his party."

He then turns his attention to the matter of Crossfire. "Alright. One way or the other we all need to be on the same page here. I say we vote on it. Who is in favor of giving Wraith a chance to make nice with the alien, and who would rather us torture it for whatever information we can get before terminating the bastard?"