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[Weirdsound]

Final Week of April, 2017:

Latest Director Turn

Project Buckler Prisoner Roster

Project Buckler Personnel and Assets

Funds:
(Unless otherwise noted, All funds are in Redcoin (RC), a Crypto-currency maintained by a cabal of shady super-beings and governments. Current Exchange Rate is 1 RC to 3.5 USD)

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:

Following the director's address to the prisoners, you retire to the ship's Mechanical Studies lab to help Richard "Rickety Rekt" Smith, the overeager and somewhat arrogant cyborg who serves as Project Buckler's Assistant Chief Engineer, perform routine maintenance on his leg hydraulics. As the pair of you work, you discuss the prospect of upgrading the prisoners.

Mr. Smith seems to think that the demon-blooded freak who answers to 'Prom King' is an ideal choice for your first project as part of project buckler, and in some ways he is correct. Young Master McIntire already has a handful of super human abilities to work with, which could be further improved upon by your tinkering. Your decades of experience, however, has taught you that half demons such as Prom King may continue to manifest new body parts and powers, which could easily interfere with existing cybernetic upgrades, well into their forties.

Your eye is instead on young Anastasia, who is 1/2 Greek God and already stronger than virtually any mortal human. She might have a bit more to grow in terms of size and power, but you don't hypothesize this will interfere with your upgrades or vice-versa.

Another good choice would be Paco Fernández, an agent of Beastslayer code named 'Matador' who you suspect might actually willingly subject himself to your upgrades. You have met Lady Crossbeau, the leader of Beastslayer, several times while hunting the most dangerous game with Dr. Zaivi's club, and she has floated the idea of hiring you to improve upon some of her less powerful but highly regarded underlings, including Paco, in the past.

Although you suspect improving him might hamper his alcohol based powers, The Brewmaster, Gerald Lee, is somebody you know and have worked with before. His specific knowledge on the chemistry of the human body makes him useful in breaking through particular roadblocks in your research and pratice, and although the red blooded American anarchist claims to 'hate your Nazi ass', he has nonetheless accepted payment to serve as a consultant on your behalf on several occasions, usually to great effect.

Biyu ‘Datajack’ Lao and the Invader from Britannica Prime called Cromwell are already enhanced with various artificial upgrades, and you might be able to learn new secrets by taking them apart. You are unsure, however, if you would learn much from studdying Ms. Lao, as she was upgraded by Dark Lord by the late Dark Lord Pryiex, who was infamous for stealing the research of other villians, including yourself.

Cromwell, on the other-hand, was built in an alternate universe, and although you have studded Cyborgs from Britannica Prime before, he is by far the most advanced model you have ever encountered. Still, it is to your understanding that he is the most powerful individual asset aboard the Illustrious, so causing irreparable damage to Cromwell might not endear you to the director and ranking national officers... It is also to your understanding that the United Empire of Britannica Prime is ideologically similar to the Third Reich, so the exotic cyborg is also a potential friend if you treat him well.

The strange machine ‘2QT4U’, brought aboard at the last minute by Killer Queen, worries you greatly. It allegedly has the ability to merge with electronic and mechanical components. You and your experiments had best avoid close contact with it...

Killer Queen:

You find yourself down in the cell block, trying to calm down Gnaw. Damn Sterling and his fire and brimstone speeches... The reptile may not fear death, but it doesn't appreciate being threatened.

The poor dear was one of your earliest magical experiments, an attempt to ressurect the bones of a dragon found in the basement of a manor in Glasgow. The result wasn't a complete success, but not a total failure either; Standing at 6'5 and armed with tooth, claw, and highly protective scales, the reptilian humanoid known as Gnaw is too obsessed with feasting upon the dead to be allowed any sort of freedom. It considers you its mother, but not even you can control it without constant supervision.

When you decided to take Gnaw along with you Project Buckler, you naturally had to bring ‘2QT4U’ as well. The strange machine absorbing machine was initially designed with stolen alien technology as a weapon to use against the invading Cyborgs from Britannica Prime, but wasn't completed in time to play a role in the crisis. Deemed too vain, ambitious, and emotionally unstable to risk putting into service, ‘2QT4U’ was held in the same facility as Gnaw, and managed to become fast friends with your 'son'.

Eventually you manage to get Gnaw to stop screaming bloody murder, and wind up in a discussion with ‘2QT4U’ about the other prisoners. After you manage to get the strange machine off the topic of Cromwell (whom it wishes to absorb), it tells you that it fears Biyu Lao, who attempted to highjack its systems while all the prisoners were out on deck together to hear the director's speech. This concerns you as 'Datajack' still worships the late Dark Lord Pryiex, and may well be the most irredeemable of all the prisoners.

As the discussion moves forward, ‘2QT4U’ then procedes to tattle on Gnaw, informing you that the strange teenage female two cells over has been aggressively flirting with your creation. The female in question is Anastasia, Daughter of Thanos, who proceeds to silently flip you off when questioned on the matter. You suppose it makes sense; Both are highly attuned to death. You suspect that Sterling will either attempt to return Anastasia to the gods of Olympus, or make her into his own pet project, but if that doesn't happen, you can see great utility in encouraging the relationship and pairing her up with Gnaw in the field.

On your way out, you overhear a verbal altercation between ‘2QT4U’ and the Alien mercenary Crossfire. ‘2QT4U’ expresses interest in absorbing Crossfire's personal craft and guns which are held aboard the Illustrious. Crossfire, in no uncertain terms, threatens to reduce the cannibalistic machine to scrap and goo if it tries.

...You have your work cut out for you with this lot. You find yourself thanking Hades that you managed to bum a couple sets of experimental power armor off the military R&D lab before you left for this job. At the very least you can make any of the amicable mundane prisoners dangerous enough for missions with those.

Wraith:

You watch the strange humanoid she-wolf called Warzone, Project Buckler's Assistant Chief Security Officer, discharge the heavy weapons, captured alongside Crossfire the Vengeful, on the ship's firing range. You wince each time she picks a gun up, puts one down, or pulls the trigger. Crossfire is an old friend of yours, both he and Dr. Deathray were part of JDF member Star Hopper's rouges gallery, and would often work together. It was a good alliance while it lasted; Deathray was the only person in the entire sector Crossfire trusted to maintain and repair his tech, and Crossfire's unique energy absorbing biology made him extra dangerous while working with the not-so-good doctor. All your former boss had to do was blast him a few times, and the alien's already impressive physical attributes would be further enhanced.

Crossfire, although no fan of the Rasevi, ended his association with Hector when he aligned with the JDF against them; The merc blames Star Hopper for the death of his planet, and has no patience or mercy for anybody who might align with him. You figured that your betrayal at the hands of Dr. Deathray and the JDF would be common ground with Crossfire, and that you could reestablish your friendship with him and make him more than a prisoner. You know for a fact he has a handful of supply caches scattered across the solar system, and useful contacts beyond that. But you don't see any chance of getting on the alien's good side if everybody else in project buckler keeps messing with his stuff; The last of his kind, Crossfire considers his weapons and star-fighters to be the only family he has left, and dose not take kindly to others even handling them.

You try once more to tell Warzone to put down the X89 "Corkscrew", Crossfire's favorite piece of heavy artillery, but the she-wolf only sneers at you and fires another shot. Clearly her temperament isn't much much better than that of Crossfire's.

With a sigh, you pull up the basic prisoner roster on you tablet, and float over to a more distant vantage point. You have worked with Brewmaster before, and although he can be a pain in the ass there is no denying his talent. Anastasia and Prom King are both young and full of potential... you could work with either of them. Datajack scares the beejesus out of you; Her master, Dark Lord Pryiex, was insane enough to side with the Rasevi invaders, and even though he died in battle with the JDF, most of his disciples still worship his name.

Still, China sent you here because of your ability to herd and sheppard the scum of the earth. You have no doubt you can get any prisoner on the roster to do what you want given enough time and leverage. You just hope your colleagues don't abuse them too much before you can get to them...

(Mardent23 needs to get back to IronyOwl and myself regarding a recent PM we sent him before we can write Prometheus' intro. Everybody else is free to post their three actions. The Pioneer cannot leave the Illustrious, but everybody else has access to transport, and can go and do as they please. You may RP with each other freely on this thread. Eventually you will get to RP with the director as well, once the hivemind gives me a good feel for his personality and interests.)

(A full list of the assets and personnel of the ship will be posted soon, but unless you want to research gear captured with the prisoners or RP with the lesser staff of project buckler, you shouldn't need it to post your actions)

[Weirdsound]

reserved

[S34N1C]

Killer Queen leaves the holding cells for now to consider her first move. She obviously had some work to do regarding her "son" and his robotic friend, as well as potentially making more "children". For now, though, it was time to partake in the most English thing ever: teatime.

((Essentially, PTW until I think of an action))

[Taricus]

The pioneer went over the physicals provided by smith. The lad had talent, if unbalanced by his cockiness.

"Well, We'll start with Herr Fernández. He'd almost certainly be amenable to getting a few upgrades and I doubt we'd have to wrangle with Phalanx or anyone else for approval if he's volunteering for augmentation. Might have to revise a few designs to fit his fighting style..."

[Weirdsound]

The Pioneer:

Smith considers your statement, before pulling up footage of Fernández fighting some sort of mutant bull equipped with only a sword, red cape, and orange prison jumpsuit. "Hmmm.... yes. I can see what you mean. Most augmentation projects sacrifice some finesse and mobility for durability. That wont fly for our mate Paco, will it?"

He scratches his head and furrows his brow. "Bah. Its going to be lightweight material, isn't it? Aluminum is for airplanes I always say... Unless..."

A crazed spark appears in the eye of 'Rickety Rekt' "...We could use a stronger power source to move heavier material with ease! I bet if we pull apart the guns and spaceship that came in with Crossfire, we will find something that moves heavy metal like muscle moves bone!"

Tearing into an alien craft that may be capable of FTL flight just to power a single cyborg seems a bit on the wasteful and dangerous side. The kid may need to learn moderation, fast.

[Taricus]

"Aluminium isn't the only option for a lightweight material, and using more energy isn't always the answer. Besides, given that one of the prisoners in the hold is the owner, I doubt they'd appreciate us tearing into that technology.

...However, you have just came up with an idea for alternative. If we being down the amount of metal in the limb to being an artificial bone structure to support stronger, artificial musculature we may just be able to reduce a lot of the bulk of the cybernetics while still retaining the benefits."

[Weirdsound]

The Pioneer:

"Aye... but the non-aluminum options are not always easy to get a hold of... Most of that stuff is hoarded by the JDF and more established government projects than us."

Smith chuckles when the idea of not ripping up Crossfire's tech so as to not piss him off comes up. "Have you met that jerk yet? Like up close? He was threatening all sorts of terrible violence against my team for just transporting his stuff onto the ship. I don't think we could make him more angry. There is a pool in my department to guess the date you and/or Prometheus give up and tear Crossfire apart for science."

"Not a bad idea on the design... not bad at all. But I think we can only improve upon the current gen artificial musculature systems so much before we need a better power source anyway..."

[Lenglon]

Wraith:
I think for a few moments first, but Warzone's direct defiance has sadly forced me to act. I chide myself for letting this get out of hand in the first place, and for phrasing my objections in a way that gave the option of direct defiance. I really didn't want to start my time here like this. I give my final warning first though. "Warzone, you're done testing Crossfire's weaponry now." This is not a question, and Warzone should remember that Ive delt with insubordination before, in a villan organization. If she forces me to punish her, it wont be mild.

I need the respect of my team first and foremost. My intentions are to go with Warzone to the gym and get some sparring practice in, establishing ourselves to each other. After we're done, odds on Warzone will be more pliable and I can explain that we need to  sequester Crossfire's gear and minimize even our own handling of it. Then we'll bring Crossfire in to show him the state of his equipment and allow him to perform supervised maintainance on it. well have cameras running while he does to show the techies how the gear works. After hes done the gear will be resequestered with only the two of us having access codes, and once a week we'll let Crossfire check on them, inspect for tampering, and perform maintanance. we wont handle the gear at all without good reasons to do so.

Yes, theyre cool toys, but having people mess with them is a security risk and counterproductive to the peojects goals. Warzone should be able to understand that.

note: I will hold back while sparring to keep it a roughly even matchup.
after the situation is resolved Im going to go collect a chessboard and a stool to place it on, and then proceed to outside the cell of Cromwell, set it up, make the first move, and say "Your move."
I do not think I can take him at chess, but I'll do my best to take him on anyway, and the game isn't the real reason for this anyway. I'm trying to get a read of the guy, a handle of some kind. Also, the fastest way to learn is to have a master beat you. I hope he'll speak up about things other than the game, but I'm not going to prompt him. What he chooses to say unprompted will probably be more valuable than going fishing for information would be.

[S34N1C]

Killer Queen, having finished her tea - ironically, she drinks an Irish blend - she decides that it is time to get down to business. She heads back to the holding cells, and requests that she be taken to a private holding room for some "girl talk", and that there should be tea in said room.

((Also, can I get a physical description of Gnaw so I know what I'm working with here?))

[Weirdsound]

Wraith:

The Phantom Cell that contains Cromwell is a strange device; A large white capsule seemingly made from plastic. There are no bars or windows - instead Cromwell interacts with the outside world through a com screen positioned on the wall opposite his 'cell'.

The Cyborg looks down at the chess board, clearly bemused. "What you present me is the game they call Chess in this world, correct? I'm afraid we don't have that where I come from, so I don't even know what a legal move would be..."

He studies the chess set, curiosity in his single organic eye. "The board looks similar to a game I know called Pawns and Kings, but there is a far greater variety of pieces, and there doesn't seem to be a deck of playing cards involved. If you wish to match wits with me, I have nothing better to do but play along, but I suppose I will either have to teach you my game, or you teach me yours."

---

Killer Queen:

You are brought to a private holding room, and soon both Anastasia and a pot of tea follow.

The girl stares at you with a bratty look on her face. "You are near death you know. Mentally and spiritually moreso than physically... but that still works for my power of control. I could make you my puppet in a heartbeat if I wasn't afraid of your crazy boss turning me into a human cabbage."

She then glances down at the teacup before her and scoffs. "Zeus... Haven't you people heard of Redbull? Just because this is a Chineese operation doesn't mean we have to drink this swill."

[Lenglon]

"I don't have a deck of playing cards with me, so lets start with me teaching you mine."
I teach how each of the pieces move and attack, the wincon (checkmate), the special rules (castles, en-passant, check), and chess notation (since he can't physically touch the pieces, he'll need to know how to say what move he wants to make). ya know, all the how to play of chess.
"I see no point in hiding what I'm doing here, you probably know it already or will figure it out quite quickly. My goal is to learn about you, how you think, what I can get from you, and what you want from me. I figure something like this is the simplest way to do that. And it gives you a chance to break up the boredom. And I figure establishing a pattern of being direct and up-front with you will help establish trust, which is why I'm telling you this. of course, you'll be learning much the same about me at the same time, but that's not a drawback in of itself, it's just something to be aware of. Your move."

[Weirdsound]

Wraith:

Cromwell picks up the rules. Quick. As the game progresses you note his playstyle is conservative, although you cannot tell if that is because he prefers to play that way, or he is just not comfortable enough with the game yet to make aggressive moves. As the turns pass, it becomes apparent that the odds are in your favor, although victory on your part is still far from certain.

"I can be up front as well then, it is only polite. What I want is to return home... but I'm not even sure I have a home left. To the best of my knowledge the resources of your earth were Britannica Prime's last hope against the invasion we were facing. In failing to bring ruin to your world, I failed to bring salvation to my own. Honestly, I'm not sure if I have anything left to lose... I suppose that makes me quite dangerous, doesn't it? The instant I give up hope and cease to value my own life, which may be closer than I care to admit, is the instant you lose your means of controlling me."

[Lenglon]

"It is very concerning indeed. It also gives me a quite valid reason to do something that I want to do anyway - give you something else to live for, something else you don't want to lose. Why do you value Britannica Prime? What are the things about it that you consider the best? That you miss the most?"
I slow myself down and double-check the board state very carefully. Cromwell is not to be taken lightly. There is a very good chance that he is giving me opportunities to overextend myself.

[Weirdsound]

Wraith:

As the board stands now, you could take Cromwell's queen and put him in Check with your next two moves, but doing so would put him a good position to start using his King offensively if he were to decide to start playing aggressive.

"Would I come across as shallow if I said it was my wealth and status? You can ask either of those two British officers... I wouldn't be in this cell if I were just some rank and file soldier. I ruled most of what is called 'Central America' on this earth. I was worth more than the entire GDP of your United Kingdom. I could have called the emperor himself up at any time, invited him over, and he would have likely accepted."

Cromwell emits a low mechical sound that could pass for a sigh. "...But I said I'd be open. I miss my stuff and my status sure, and that is what I'd prefer to talk about... but only because it hurts too much to remember my family. I have a wife and kids... Well had... Doubt they are still around."

[Lenglon]

check itself has no value whatsoever. the queen however would be very nice. lets look at what the king and such would take following however. Queen is worth approx 13 points if I remember correctly. but if I have a piece advantage already then it would have a greater value, because the player with a standing piece advantage is better off in even exchanges. I also need to see who will be retaining the initiative after the exchange, because if I can delay the trade until I can make sure I'll maintain initiative after the exchange or until I am about to lose initiative anyway then it'll help set me up for future plays.

((Btw, Lenglon is a decent chess player, having been taught by her father, who was a US national competitor many years ago. Lenglon beats most casual players very consistently, but is no grandmaster by any means.))

"Could you tell me about them?"