Post by Adamant on Jul 19, 2021 19:33:23 GMT
Joint Expeditionary Task Force.
Arctic Research Station ‘Azimuth’ (Affil.: ARC).
T-Plus 552 hours from anomalous Terran impact.
Objective: Briefing.
Arctic Research Station ‘Azimuth’ (Affil.: ARC).
T-Plus 552 hours from anomalous Terran impact.
Objective: Briefing.
Azimuth Station had been chosen as the location where the members of the Joint Expeditionary Task Force would meet for one simply reason- it was the closest. The electromagnetic interference and seemingly-ceaseless snowstorm surrounding the gate made it impossible for a helicopter to simply drop the task force off at their destination, so the nearest pre-existing facility had been selected as their staging area. Every one of the Five Powers had their own Arctic bases, despite the lack of real strategic value in the frozen wasteland at the top of the world. The first one had been established out of pure scientific interest, but every other nation had followed suit shortly after, just in case the Arcadians had some secret reason for establishing a presence in the one major part of the world that wasn’t under one of the Great Powers’ aegis. At least one known Union base was located within the radius of the EM field, meaning they were cut off from contact with the outside world, but it was on the other side of the storm, so the task force wouldn’t be checking in on them. If anybody else had an off-the-books facility up there, they weren’t telling.
All five of the task force members were gathered in a briefing room. It was an Arcadian base, so an Arcadian official- Enrique Velasco, former Vigilant Knight -was giving the briefing. His mutation was a physical one- almost every one of his joints was a ball joint, allowing him to rotate his arms, legs, and even neck three hundred and sixty degrees. Technically speaking, Sophia outranked him, but instead of standing behind the man or off to his side, she was sitting next to the Mayan representative, the woman with pink hair and black eyes. Nobody wanted to give the impression that the Arcadians- or anyone else -was in charge here. The terms under which they were venturing towards the gate were tenuous, and if anyone took offense to anything, it could mean the whole thing was off.
Velasco stretched his arms outward, fingers interlaced- but with his shoulder joints ‘backwards,’ so the elbows bent the ‘wrong’ way, from the perspective of someone with an ordinary body. Even in a world where mutants were the dominant species, those with severe physical mutations weren’t especially common, and many were unnerved by their appearances. The former Vigilant Knight was gauging the reactions of the members of the task force, seeing if any of them would recoil. Particularly the African, who by all accounts was an ordinary human- something nobody had been expecting.
During the internal briefings Sophia had been privy to, a few theories had been put forth for his presence. Perhaps the African Congress had been unwilling to authorize anything more, as the result of some internal political turmoil. Or they hadn’t been willing to risk one of their more valuable operatives on a potentially dangerous mission. Maybe he was supposed to die, so that one of the other nations could be blamed for it. The unspoken final possibility was that he was more than he seemed- but whether he was a mutant or not, everyone had taken that as a given.
“Good day.”
Morning, afternoon and evening had little meaning this close to the pole. The sun was out, and it was going to remain out for the foreseeable future. Not that it would be providing the members of the task force much warmth during their journey.
“I’m sure that you are all eager to begin, and that you have received similar lectures from your own people already. So I’ll keep this brief.”
Having been born in the part of Arcadia once known, a very long time ago, as Spain, Velasco bore the traces of an accent coloring his words. Most children of the Empire were bilingual, raised speaking the common tongue of their region at home, and the lingua franca of Arcadian in school. Based primarily on the language of English, it adopted loan-words from Russian, Spanish, German, French, and just about every other language spoken in the territories that comprised the Empire. Creating a single tongue for everyone to share was one of the major ways the Emperor had unified his territories, though he’d been careful not to force it upon anyone. The perception of having your culture erased tends to breed revolution, something the Emperor was personally quite conscious of, having been a revolutionary himself.
All of the Great Powers had eventually adopted a single ‘official’ language, in order to unify the various ethnic groups within their vast territories, many of which had their own dialects. Diplomats and international businessmen tended to be fluent in at least one of the five major languages, besides their own nation’s. In this case, it wouldn’t much matter, because the Union’s android would be translating for all of them. Sophia had been raised on English alone, but tutored in each of the other four during her upbringing, to better serve as the living instrument of the Emperor’s will. That didn’t mean she was fluent, but if the robot was damaged, she’d at least be able to act as a halfway competent backup.
“About three weeks ago, an object landed here in the Arctic, fired deliberately from an unknown source. Not long after it made impact, it began generating electromagnetic interference that made observation nearly impossible, as well as- somehow -creating a snowstorm of unprecedented intensity, which has yet to end. Before the interference began, however, we obtained images of the object itself.”
The ‘we’ in that sentence was being used in the royal sense. Arcadia had gotten satellite images, but the others had obtained intelligence through their own methods. Drones, on-the-ground reporting, and quite possibly messages from the distant past, if the Mayans’ Seer had foretold this event. Not everyone was willing to divulge the methods through which they’d obtained said information, considering it risked revealing the location of secret bases, hidden satellites, or advanced tech that nobody else knew about.
“It appeared to be a gate, under construction. Nobody got a good look at it before it landed, but we can say pretty confidently that it wasn’t gate-shaped. So it’s self-modifying. We have no idea what it’s going to look like when you get there, or if anything has come through. You five are going to approach the impact site, investigate, and report back. Your mandate is broad, because anything more specific would start arguments that we don’t have time for. Exercise your own judgement.”
It was said that a good compromise left everyone unhappy. The compromise that had resulted in the Joint Expeditionary Task Force had certainly done that. The Union had insisted that no organics go, because it risked introducing Terran diseases to the environment beyond the gate. The Africans, whose own robotics industry hadn’t yet produced anything quite as advanced as the ‘Warlock,’ disagreed, because it would put them at a disadvantage. The representative from Abya Yala had- presumably acting on behalf of their Great Spirit-argued against much of what the Mayans had suggested, doubtlessly as part of some scheme to divine what their Seer had or hadn’t said about this event. On and on it had gone, until they’d agreed on this.
“The EM storm means we can’t fly you in, and the terrain itself makes using land vehicles impossible. Luckily, we’re positioned well, so you should be able to reach the impact site in about two days’ time. The group strategy session narrowed your route down to two possibilities, and then bickered about which was better for two and a half hours. In the end, we decided to leave it up to you.”
As he’d been speaking, Velasco had gone through slides containing various images, mostly satellite footage of the impact site, which lacked detail, though the shape of a half-formed gate was clearly visible. The next one had two images- one, a flat expanse of snow and ice, the other a precarious-looking mountain path.
“Option one is the indirect route. This avoids most physical obstacles, but it’ll take slightly longer. Option two is the direct route, through the mountains. Faster, but you run the risk of avalanche. Personally, I prefer the latter. It’ll be easier to find somewhere to sleep, and the mountains will give you cover from the storm. On the other hand, the indirect route is safer, because you won’t be as close to the heart of the storm, and the odds of being buried under a thousand tons of rock and snow are lower.”
Like most men who’d seen a great deal of violence in their lives, Velasco had a certain grim, dry humor to him. He had more experience than Sophia, who was only twenty-seven, quite young for an Adamant Knight. Her unique biology meant she lived longer than average, which was how there’d only been ten generations of her since Arcadia had been founded, significantly more than ten generations ago.
“Once you’ve all decided, you can get moving. If anybody wants to grab some gear at the last minute, the armory is open, though I expect you all prepared extensively before even coming here.”
Without any further words, Velasco left the room, and the task force was alone.
Sophia stood from her chair, and turned to face the others, rolling her shoulders back. Under the halogen lights, her metal flesh would seem to ripple as it moved. Most of the others had brought extreme cold-weather gear, but her uniform was almost entirely unaltered. Harsh temperatures didn’t mean much to her, though frost had a habit of growing on her in the cold, and she’d glow reddish-orange if exposed to enough heat. She would, however, be carrying a massive bag with a great deal of supplies for the whole group, thanks to her enhanced strength. The robot would be doing the same, while their more fragile allies carried much lighter loads.
"Well, I suppose introductions are in order. In case any of you have been living under a rock for the past few thousand years, I'm the Adamant Knight. But you can call me Sophia."
After giving the rest of the group some time to introduce themselves, Sophia continued.
"Every minute we waste deliberating is another minute until whatever's on the other side of that gate decides to come through. So let's keep this quick. I vote option two."
With any luck, this group would be able to avoid arguing for quite as long as the group strategy session’s members had. Thankfully, they weren’t diplomats, so the broader political concerns didn’t weigh as heavily upon them. That meant they could actually decided based on the merits of one option over another, rather than taking a side because of some unrelated conflict. Of course, there were considerations that not everyone in the room was privy to. Information that each nation had given to their representative, but instructed them not to share. It was simply how things worked.
All anyone could hope was that they’d manage to get to the gate without killing each other first.
{OOC}I don’t want to have a huge debate over the decision IC, so what we’re going to do is have a single round discussing it, and then whichever option has the majority will be what we go with. If anyone wants to change their initial vote based on a later argument, just DM me to let me know. Once everyone has posted once, I’ll go again to get everyone into position, and we can begin this thing in earnest.