Scene #6043: #02: Echo - Record Trace

Owner	Pose
Gideon Kaspar	Finally, for a change of pace, showing up doesn't involve being dropped off in the middle of a suspiciously empty, suspiciously near-pristine, suspiciously east-European-looking rural sector. For all of their hard work in being squishy people who bleed doing a T-Doll's job (surprisingly well, apparently) they're invited to . . . well it's not really G&K HQ, but it is a sort of 'local' HQ at any rate. Were one to travel a few miles north or west, they'd be hitting pastoral countryside again, albeit this time with actual highways and roadsigns and lights in the mix. Here however, a small yet extremely modern city has cropped up, full of steel and glass and solar panels, almost right out of the grassy foothills before alpine mountains, where one would expect a historical mining town to exist instead. With an unusually large airport for its size, a large warehouse district, and access to a river, at the center of a spiderweb of huge roads, one would usually expect a trading hub with surrounding areas, but there really only are a couple of company logos to be found, and the permanent residency of full-time employees or part-time contract workers are apparently around enough that there are more than enough streets full of cafes, movie theatres, indoor gyms, and similar, basically making it look like the suburban and downtown recreation centers of a metropolis somewhere cut up and jammed together with the imports/exports and office sector, everything else extraneous having been left behind. It's also the first place relevant enough to warrant a Warpgate, which would be odd if it were just an outpost out in the sticks, albeit one small enough that conducting supply movements through it at any meaningful scale wouldn't be realistic. Despite being followed by a hell of a lot of cameras and street sensors, the journey to the central complex bearing the company's primary logo is pretty mundane. It's a bog standard trip through a very shiny but distinctly middle income downtown in fast forward, plonked in the middle of pristine eastern Europe.
Gideon Kaspar	They have IDs checked at the door, are waved through via pretty ordinary guards, guided around by a helpful and pretty secretary at the front and convenient light up wall arrows, then they take the elevator down instead of up, are checked by somewhat more guard-looking guards, and let into some kind of executive meeting room in the basement, mostly like what one would expect, except picked up and placed in a chamber with steel panelled walls and flooring and about half screens and holographic projectors in place of fancy windows and artwork. They end up meeting only two people. One is a tall, severe-looking lady in heels and a double-breasted coat in red, black and gold, wearing an intense, no-nonsense expression alongside what borderline looks like a tech monocle and a general atmosphere of Hugo Boss design. The other is the partially familiar man who chooses to wear the ostentatious company jacket about halfway, exposing much more of a tailored three-piece suit and red tie look while he reclines in a chair looking extremely bored, as if to make up for the former entry tapping up a storm on a sleek steel brick of a company tablet. "Welcome. Sit." she says without looking, and the first two words give her away as the mission control voice on the radio from the last couple of times. "I trust you know why you're here. After thorough questioning and examination of VZ-61's memory logs, we've determined that her claims hold up; VZ-61 did in fact only divulge false information to Sangvis Ferri, and has at no point divulged intelligence belonging to Griffin&Kruyger, our associates at IOP, or any information related to M-4 or the Anti-Rain project. Nevertheless, judging by your report and footage, p65 'Scarecrow' somehow obtained the data titled 'Sequence no. 835492660223'. Since you were the only ones who made contact with Scarecrow in the field, your continued services are requested in closing this information leak, and in ensuring the successful completion of the operation unit M-4 was tasked with prior." "Helian?" Gideon says, all but spinning his chair around on the spot. "Can't you offer them something to drink? This is incredibly boring."
Seifer Almasy	It's weird right up until the 'we need help containing the information leak.' It's weird because of how perfectly tiny the slice of city is, which even Seifer, who has been in exactly one large city (spoilers, it's another world's Paris), can tell is kind of strange. It's weird because of the layout of entertainment and exercise, weird because of the layout of the Warpgate, weird because of all kinds of little things. As the guards wave him in, Seifer can't help but think that there's something /wrong/, and he's noticably kind of tense. You don't get invited to a client's. You just, you don't. They don't wanna meet the meat. They don't wanna see how the sausage gets made unless they're true-blue idealists, people who want to sway you to their cause, like the Timber Owls. They just want to give you the check, get the job done, and pretend you don't exist as hard as they're able to. But then the attractive woman says 'we need help containing the leak' and Seifer, sitting at the table, immediately relaxes. That makes it not weird. That makes it routine. He swings his legs up onto an empty chair and leans his head back, arms behind his head in an extremely unprofessional manner. "So how can we help?"
Alexis Maaka	"'bout time we got to go someplace nice." Maaka mutters as she emerges from a warpgate. Her ears perked when she heard that GF was hiring for new ops, and now that her schedule's cleared up, she has no excuse not to poke her nose into this matter. This town looks like it was made amid the ruins of some Eastern European hellhole, sweeping away the horrors of war in favor of the glories of industry. "Mister Kaspar." She recognizes Gid from the press conference, the woman not so much. She's cold and all-business, and it's enough to make Maaka check twice before she eases up. "If you got scotch on offer, I'll take it." She says, taking a seat besides Seifer as she gets comfortable, a holstered Glock visible beneath her jacket just a smidge. It only just now registers she's meeting Seifer for the first time. And she glances aside, as if studying him.
Tomoe	Tomoe had been on one of the missions related to this kidnapped and was curious to know more she'd seen the ads for Gideon's hardware as well too. So here she was it wouldn't take long for her to find her way to the meeting point. Her ID checked out even with her wearing the Eisen skin apperance as she did from time to time. All thing were going fairly well as she's directed though the complex to the meeting room. As she's greeted she will move to sit do as she's greeted. 5R "Thank you." She's paying attention for a moment and she looks to Mistter Kaspar. "So what else can we help with here?"
Riva Banari	Riva is glad that she's not being dropped into a firefight for a change. No really, it's a nice change. She's a lover, not a fighter, even if she's way too heavily armed for a night on the town. Unless your definition of a night on the town involves Raccoon City. Considering her lack of context involving the ongoing conflicts in this area, Riva also appreciates the chance to sit down and talk about things. The sight of the clean, futuretech city is nice and all, but Riva makes mental notes to check some of the cafes and bars and that coffee shop over there when she's not being expected at the local G&K HQ. The usual rigamarole of entry occurs, and Riva plops herself into a seat, kicking back and looking over the trio present. She listens attentively, but already she is tilting her head and about to ask some things when Gideon spins. Riva purses her lips, almost put out as if she is irritated that she didn't think to spin in the chairs first. "Coffee is fine." Riva supplies. "Shouldn't be drinking yet. There's also a couple other points I wanted to ask about. This is useful information, but I don't have the context understand the signifiance." Riva gestures. "What can I do to learn more about this conflict with Sangvis Ferri, what roles the organizations are playing in it, what this Anti-Rain project is and what is the importance of M-4. Also, what is the deal with those Sangvis Ferri robots? They moved like something out of a killer robot sci-fi movie, and Scarecrow acted like a sadistic maniac."
Gordon Freeman	Gordon's here. He was wounded some of the worst in the event, but you'd hardly know it looking at him, it looks more like he took a bad slip in the bathtub, bruised as much as he is. That suit does wonders. Speaking of suit, he's not in his big orange hazard suit right now, he's in something a bit more business formal, with khakis and a dark-blue shirt with a Black-Mesa-colored tie. He's flanked by another man, far older, balding, with brown hair edging towards gray, and thick glasses. That's Dr. Kleiner; presumably, he's decided that it's rather unlikely Gordon will be as articulate as he might need to be, so he's here to ask what Gordon would push past. "Indeed she did, and it seems she spared not one bit of expense getting it to her employers. Why, I've already got our highest minds at work on finding new hazard shielding for a transmission like that. But, now I need to know! Does this mean that VZ-61 was able to tell us what we'll need to know to protect this 'M-4' friend of hers? Once the information is leaked, the only way I can see to neutralize it is to make that information harmless, after all." He adjusts his glasses, putting a finger up. "And after all this work, why, it would be a terrible loss for her to lose that friend who seemed so treasured to her." Gordon tenses and fidgets in a way that seems to emphasize Kleiner's statement. "Coffee." Is all he says; the tone isn't insisting or abrupt, the lack of "please" is more because it's built into the tone. He looks like he's been up late, and the skin on his hands has the accumulated signs of spent a terrible amount of time at work on repairing that HEV suit after the blast.
Gideon Kaspar	"Scotch. Coffee. Coffee. Get the young lady a coca cola or something." Gideon says into an earpiece pinned to the collar of his company jacket, before frowning slightly and continuing. "Yes, pepsi is okay, why would you even- you know what, just put Krysanthe on the line. She knows my usual." Helian appears to be more focused on business, where Gideon has clearly decided that if she's going to insist on doing all the briefing, he's going to not do any briefing as hard as possible. "All good questions." she says somewhat tersely to Riva. "Unfortunately, they're also all questions I necessarily owe you answers to. Mister Kryuger believes it won't be possible for you to productively carry out operational duties without that information." She finishes madly tapping on her tablet, and the Sangvis Ferri company logo, along with schematics of the drones and tactical dolls they've fought thusfar, come up on the screens. "Sangvis Ferri is one of a handful of related technology startups from just before the third World War, built by a man formerly belonging to a cell of underground scientists previously using the pseudonym '90wish'. It is a company for advanced weaponry, through and through, that originally took outsourced orders from IOP, but grew massively profitable at the break of the war, and diversified into the Tactical Doll market." "Sangvis Ferri isn't an actual military company like we are, but sells to governments for their nationalized militaries. Their private company army should be dramatically smaller and less equipped than what we've been seeing, which indicates at least several years of planning leading up to this. Sangvis Ferri and IOP have been on poor terms for a long time now; it wouldn't be unthinkable that the former would declare war on the latter if there were something to gain, which there is." The screen changes again, showing a cryptic series of numbers arranged in something that could barely be called a logo: 3, 15, 12, 20 "A subsidiary research contractor within IOP, responsible for most of IOP's AI and robotics advances, and a good friend of us here at G&K, is also a former member of 90wish -a colleague who fell out with the founder of Sangvis Ferri. 'Anti-Rain' is the codename of her most recent project. M-4 is an experimental tactical doll model built as part of it. I don't have the full details, but there are many reasons Sangvis Ferri would want to obtain it." Gideon suddenly reveals he was paying attention. "Her." he firmly interjects. Helian glides past it, changing the display again to footage taken from Scarecrow.
Gideon Kaspar	"M-4 was dispatched as part of an operation to determine the root source of Sangvis Ferri's recent inexplicable military expansion into surrounding sectors. After retrieving classified intelligence, she and her squad were forced to scatter to evade capture after a massive SF military response crushed our vanguard in the area to get at them, indicating this data must be of crucial importance. Though Sangvis Ferri is known for high quality equipment, their Tactical Dolls have always been relatively simplistic in terms of artificial intelligence, used with the philosophy of being mobile weapons platforms rather than individual soldiers." "Suffice to say, not only did a unit matching Scarecrow's description not exist until now, it still shouldn't be within the company's abilities to manufacture. The leap in AI technology is massive, to the point where our experts can barely decode it, to the point we believe that these advanced T-Dolls are actually responsible for the field command of the rest of Sangvis Ferri's forces; a T-Doll campaign lead by T-Dolls. We have no idea when, or how, these were manufactured, and we have information relating to at least one other. This is information M-4 almost certainly possesses." Helian paces her next words in a slow and grim manner, as footage cycles through dozens and dozens of equally abandoned towns and cities, exactly the way the Elites had found some in the field. "From our examination of Sacrecrow's memory core, we believe that this is the case because there are no Sangvis Ferri employees, or humans in general, in Sector09. For some unknown reason, the area appears to have been completely abandoned, and handed over to this massive force of SF military dolls to act independently, at the discretion of some far away commanding officer nowhere near the warzone. We currently have no information as to why he has deployed a previously hidden private army of such a scale in this area, and why he intends to conquer surrounding territories, or even his actual identity, since he appears to be working through these advanced T-Dolls as proxy commanders."
Gideon Kaspar	Finally, the screen toggles to a split between two different T-Dolls. One is obviously of Sangvis Ferri manufacture given the prevalence of slick, futuristic, black sci-fi design, but just like Scarecrow, looks significantly more believably human than the others, and is covered with considerable augmentations and non-standard weaponry, including head-mounted sensors, an oversized particle handgun, and a blatantly robotic right arm from the elbow down, apparently used for a massive sword of all things. The other looks to be a little more familiar, pictured with an assault rifle, but the only resemblance to G&K's design is the logo on an armband; there is no sign of standardization on her whole 'impromptu tactical' getup, loosely colour coordinated in black and green, including a bright stripe through her hair, and carrying wholly unfamiliar gear, oddly including half of a 'classic' skull-painted face wrap. "Scarecrow left an encrypted communique to a unit codenamed 'Executioner'. Our spy satellites have located the tactical doll you see on the left near the coordinates given by VZ-61 known as the last recorded location of M-4, currently in hiding. The right is M-4 herself; an incredibly valuable, one of a kind T-Doll built by our most valuable associate and backer in IOP, with vital information about this strange military incident that began a few months ago. The latter must absolutely be retrieved. The former would ideally be captured -intact this time- or else destroyed if necessary to protect M-4." Helian grimaces faintly in a distasteful way when she then gets to the point she has to answer Dr. Kleiner. Gideon trades a smirk that seems to be somewhat at her expense. The 'you owe me five bucks' kind of inside-smirk. "Thankfully, VZ-61 did possess the necessary data to track M-4's movements. She performed her job as a Griffin&Kryuger tactical doll commendably and professionally. She has requested to be transferred to our S09 branch here in order to participate in retrieving M-4." Finally, Gideon interrupts. "Then of course I say yes! If her desire to protect her friend was that strong under interrogation, then she'll be perfectly suitable to a battlefield in which that desire would normally be tested! Nothing is better than a passionate and highly motivated soldier!" Helian squints at him through her monacle while he gestures at the screen. "Plus, who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to rescue a beauty like that? It'd be a crime not to dedicate all resources possible to the search!" He then leans forward on the table, fingers laced. "I have a name picked out already. Calling her M-4 over and over again is boring and depressing." At last, the door opens, and the familiar silver-haired T-Doll that is usually seen around Gideon wordlessly enters bearing a tray covered in coffee mugs and crystal glasses, carefully setting them out in front of each person. Gideon asks, when she gets to Tomoe "Is that a pepsi?" "No, I located the coca cola as you requested. It seems we had some still unloaded from last week." "Krys, this place would fall apart without you."
Tomoe	Tomoe does not ask for a drink she seem good for the moment, she has a smart device out, she's not fiddling around with it, the redheaded currentl short woman is taking notes. Somethings are starting to become a bit more clear. "Do you think Scarecrow and her fellows have been cut lose or bailed?" She muses to herself and keeps listening. When offered he Pepsi though she will move to accept it. "Pepsi will do and thank you." It seems this is far form over and this whole situationd oes have Tomoe's attention. "I'm more than willing to sign up for a rescue operation." Also a sword user? That gets her attention as well.
Riva Banari	Riva listens, gaining some context on what's going on. She does give Gideon a smile and nod as he arranges for refreshments. When she gets her coffee, she murders with with lots of cream and sugar before drinking down the sweet concoction, listening while the caffiene and sugar buzz through her system. "Myaterious. So this is, in essence, a really high-stakes and scale corporate war. This '90wish' group seems to full of high-powered minds. A real think tank." She kicks back, slurping the coffee a bit. "So M-4 has something that the opposition wants. Intel on the source of the aggression would allow you to begin to predict where the enemy's going ot go, right?" But you don't know where precisely she is, and at the minimum you want to deny Sangvis the ability to capture her. Optimally, you'll want her back so you can actually make use of the data." A swirl of the cup. "Combine that with that jump in AI design and that sounds like bad news. And a T-Doll acting as field commander? That might explain the difference in how they acted when Scarecrow was around. They were WAY more efficient and deadly, kind of like she was controlling them like she was controlling those little beam drones of hers. Pew pew!" Yes, she makes the noises. And then there's a picture of Executioner. Riva winces at the sight. "Wow, she looks like trouble. I bet she could cut a tank in half with that sword. She'd probably have to be able to if she's bringing it to a gunfight, anyway..." A pause. "I don't know what's up with their design work, though. Are they INTENTIONALLY designing these to look like nothing more than horrible invader killer bots?" Riva nods at the response and looks back and forth between Heilen and Gideon's responses, squinting at the changes in approach. "Huh. So are these T-Dolls supposed to be people or combat robots? You guys seem to go both ways on it." She slurps loudly again. "Either way, that doesn't change the goal. Get in there, get M-4 out safe, and make sure she can make good on that intel she bled to get." A pause. "Do they bleed? I didn't check. Either way, M-4's way cuter, I bet she isn't sociopath like that Sanvis one was."
Seifer Almasy	"I'd probably jump to rescue a beauty like that," Seifer offers (helpfully?), a wide grin on his face. He likes Gideon already. The massive sword on the one doll, the fact that they're all attractive girls, the fact that at least on the surface it seems like Gideon actually got stolen from and thus is probably in at least close to the right...this is a mission the sort Seifer Almasy lives for. He takes the coffee from the girl with a wink, then takes a sip. Seifer Almasy /hates/ coffee. But by Hyne, everyone in this room who isn't him is a reasonably attractive girl, or his employer, and Seifer is nothing if not the kind of guy who tries really hard to look cool in such circumstances, Caster or no Caster. "I mean," Seifer says to Riva, "It's how you know they're the bad guys. It's pretty convenient of 'em, really." Sip. Fight down the grimace. Grin. "We should thank 'em. Help 'em improve their designs." Sip. Grin. "Y'know, by showin' 'em where all the weak points are." Sip. Grin.
Riva Banari	Riva looks over to Seifer. "Do they have fashion sense? I guess we'd have to ask them if they stop self-destructing when we capture them." She pauses. "That hurt. A lot. The explosion, I mean." She shudders. "Maybe if we can get through to some of them with talking we can, but for now I'm going to have to focus on the kind of weak points you shoot."
Alexis Maaka	Maaka smirks. "You're already too easy." She teases Seifer, taking her scotch (and some ice) as she kicks back and listens to the briefing. She takes a sip, and replays the footage in her head through her implants. The sword user is enough to get her eyebrow raised. "What do we know about this Executioner, then?" She asks. "Seems to me we got more than just her ahead of us, at this rate." "Sometimes ya just -know-, I guess. It's hard not to take note when they got the jackboots and gas masks." Siiiiiip. She swishes her scotch softly, "In any case, where are we headed?"
Gordon Freeman	Gordon stares down, thinking about the self-destruct. How could one prevent that? Hmmmm. He does feel a little stressed that he couldn't manage to capture the target intact, but he's less focused on his own success and more on getting the matter solved. Gideon's interruption is actually interpreted quite positively, though, with a quick sort of smile from him. Kleiner seems to share his response. "If she's recovered, it sounds like she'll be quite the assistant to the team! I'll make sure Gordon gives her a warm welcome when she transfers to the branch. Gordon takes his coffee and drinks deeply. He contemplates it, as if reading his fortune in its surface. Kleiner continues the discussion. "Hmmm... It reminds me of work our peers at Aperture Science did. Rapid advancement in 'artificial intelligence' comes with it some great risks, after all, because it truly does amplify the nature of its designers and its data! If the region is being left to automated proxy commanders, who knows what fiendish plots they conceive when they're fed the darker depths of the mind." He makes a hopeful, upward gesture with his hand. "Now, if I didn't know better, I'd say our Administrator would jump at the chance for a collaboration like this! I can only hope Black Mesa itself might offer some assistance in that, allowing some cordial relations to be built not just with you peers at G&K, but with SOP as well!" Gordon nudges Kleiner with one elbow. "Lambda." He says, simply. "Ah! Yes! Excellent suggestion, Gordon. Perhaps we might even be of some assistance right now! Our facilities at the Lambda Complex offer quite an array of teleportation functions. If you have a location precisely on your spy satellites, perhaps we might get the drop on her, as they say, and have a better chance of both capturing her /and/ containing her in the event of a self-destruct, through the use of that teleport! Our sample extraction and containment facilities might just be sufficient, after all, with the right collaboration. What do you think, Mr... Kaspar? Ms. Helian?" He adjusts his glasses as he peers hopefully at them.
Gideon Kaspar	"All war is corporate war." Gideon says to Riva. "At least, factoring out that there are apparently worlds where the concept of 'total warfare' hasn't been invented yet. "Using distributed parallel processing for one T-Doll to manage multiple 'dummy' shell bodies, with minimal or simple AI of their own, is something we already take advantage of here. The dummy system was invented by the same gal who started the Anti-Rain project, and G&K has serious hands in the tech. Sangvis Ferri never had anything like it. Saying that though, our Dummy Link technology allows one T-Doll to manage up to five bodies, turning one girl into a unified fire team. A T-Doll using similar technology to instead coordinate scores of completely different models on a strategic, rather than tactical, level, is a serious issue." "It's also complete conjecture." Helian states brusquely. "We have no actual evidence Scarecrow was anything more than a relay point for-" and then Gideon rather abruptly cuts her off, taking an actually serious tone. "I appreciate that you work directly for Mr. Kryuger, but I'm the commander in this sector. You know plenty about the network of companies involved here, and I know combat. Even with these guys helping, I could tell while at the command console: the commander was right there in the field." Helian frowns, but after considering words for a few seconds, apparently resolves to bite her tongue, and moves on. "Needless to say, 'Executioner's design is highly non-standard as well. You have all noticed the unusual armament. So far, our analysts haven't been able to discern what it was designed as an answer for, but we are forced to assume this unit's individual combat power is comparable to M-4, and that she may be working in tandem with standard SF units in the area to comb through the former city complex VZ-61 indicates M-4 is currently laying low inside. If these advanced T-Dolls are equipped with robust self-destruct features like these, there must be a reason Sangvis Ferri doesn't want us getting our hands on them." says Helian. Gideon shrugs at the design question. "Well, they clearly aren't trying to sell them. Looking intimidating is probably a better design goal than looking marketable." He ponders for a second. "Still though, that one could be pretty cute if you-" he trails off into intensely contemplative silence. "There is one other thing I should mention." Helian adds, removing Executioner from the screen and putting up three other girls alongside M-4, instantly identifiable as a unit due to a handful of commonly shared design traits, and apparently colour coordinated with those unique hair streaks. "M-4 is part of a team of four T-Dolls; bespoke units designed to fulfill the conditions of the Anti-Rain project as a whole. M-4 is the only one we currently know the location of, and the only one known to Sangvis Ferri at the moment, but any information regarding the whereabouts of the others, designating A-15, S-2, and M-16, is highly important. These are unique T-Dolls capable of acting independently on a battlefield at length without human direction, but if they were separated, they must have split up on purpose, to maximize their chances that one of them would make it back to Griffin command. That's the way they were trained." She actually uses the word 'trained'.
Gideon Kaspar	At seeing the full set, Gideon goes to contemplative to immediately focusing an intensely burning stare on the screen, half his face obscured by his interlocked hands. When he next speaks, it is with the grave voice that a president must deliver a notice of declaration of war to his people with. "We have to recover all of them as soon as possible. If they're truly one of a kind, they must be irreplaceable friends and comrades. It wouldn't be right to have less than all four." Helian tries to interject with a "Commander Kaspar-" and is solemnly overridden with "Just look. They match each other. What kind of bastard would only rescue two or three and give up before finishing?" Helian sighs in exasperation and says to Riva "Most of the T-Dolls Griffin&Kryuger makes use of are A-Dolls -civilian androids- recruited from other sectors and retrofitted with combat technology and AI upgrades courtesy of our close relationship with IOP. It's exceptionally cost effective, allows us to diversify our services beyond solely battlefields, presents a relatable face to the company, and is still highly efficient, considering what we pay next to what the government pays for their Dolls. A handful are units designed entirely for combat, with no civilian equivalent. M-4 and the Anti-Rain unit are some of those." Gideon seems to be completely dissatisfied with her answer, and adds "Krys, are you a combat robot or a person?" "I don't believe the two are mutually exclusive, but if I had to say one-" "See? Would a tool built for combat form an opinion? If you're just looking for killbots, you can buy junk like that from army contractors." The T-Doll herself makes a long, quiet, vaguely exasperated-but-used-to-it noise. "No one here particularly enjoys the company of army T-Dolls." she admits. "They are considered monofocused, unpersonable, simple-minded and violent by most on-base. The subject of how Dolls fit into human society is a complicated and disputed topic with multiple-" "Objectively wrong opinions by paid whitepaper pushers selling to government interest without representation from anyone who matters in the field itself. You shouldn't listen to old people with a lot of money as a matter of principle, especially on subjects that only started to exist after they were already fossils set in their ways. The future belongs to people with energy, vision, flexibility, and-" "No tenure. Yes, Commander."
Gideon Kaspar	The subject of teleporters is just bonkers enough to get an unsettled reaction from Helian, but just plausible enough after the whole Warpgate thing happened for Gideon to seize on it immediately. "Perfect. We have GPS coordinates to the general urban area M-4 is taking cover in, don't we, Helian? That'll let us deploy forces without any advanced notice for Executioner, and right inside of any defensive lines they may have set up to quarantine entry in and out of the city as well. Much more expedient than fighting our way in. Don't you agree?" The woman's frown intensifies, but she eventually relents with "If they are sufficiently accurate and have the capacity necessary to move at least one full echelon, I would agree." "So that's settled. Miss Banari seems to have the right idea about what we're doing, as a clearly intelligent woman of taste. Since we have satellite coverage of the area, I can handle tactical oversight once you get there, alongside my girls. I'll try not to fill Executioner with holes if it can be helped. There are some questions I'd like to ask as well. Clover comes first, however?" Helian asks in a 'dreading the answer already' tone of bafflement. "Clover?" Gideon points to the T-Dolls on screen, pointing to M-4's green colour scheme. "Clover." He then points to the red, violet, and yellow scheme copied by the others. "Rose. Violet. Marigold- no, she looks like a Hazel." Helian says "Their designations are-" Gideon interrupts again. " I told you. Number designations are boring and depressing. Nobody here is going to memorize all those letters and numbers." "You don't have to drink it if you don't want to." Krysanthe says quietly to Seifer.
Tomoe	Tomoe hears Gideon explain how the high end T-dolls work with drone verions and get it, it's rather clever when she thinks about it. She pauses at Helian's comment about Scarcrow as Gideon cuts her off she closes her mouth from the thing she was about to say. More insight about the other dolls is also given and she's glad she came tonight this is clearing up a lot of things. Then some social issues about AI's and the people of this world comes up and she looks to Giedon. "Most of the Synethic beings I have ment in the multiverse tend to a name of some sort over just a number and I'll be honest it's easier to recall non number names for me." She is enjoying the Pepsi now and goes quiet.
Seifer Almasy	Seifer's face goes a tiny bit red on being called out by an attractive girl. He doubles down and drinks it, because that's what adults do, in one gulp, because that's what adults do. He swallows it, he puts the cup down, and he grins at Krys. "It's fine. It's good. It's great coffee." He is /lying/ through his teeth, but hey. "B-besides, we got more important stuff t' worry about than the refreshments, right?! Ain't we got a damsel in distress to go save?! Huh!?" Seifer smacks the table and sits forward with a big, much more earnest, grin. He points at Krys. "And anybody who doesn't like the company of a cute girl isn't somebody I wanna know, y'know?"
Riva Banari	"Is this like how all restaurants are Taco Bell?" Riva asks with a joking smirk... And then looks around. "... Oh. Right." Media differences between worlds. She nods at the explanation oif the Dummy System, but then squints. "Yeah, you're right. It's a serious issue. Serious enough to put holes in me. Those lasers hurt a lot, I can see why that kind of tech would be a real benefit." A pause, and her eyes go distant for a moment as she thinks. "Wow, multiple mes..." She hums, and then shakes her head. "Nah. I don't think the world would be ready for that." She looks to the conflict between Gideon and Heilan. "It sure LOOKED like it to me, but I'll yield to your guys' expertise. I'm more used to solo or small group operations without backup." She tilts her head again. "Sangvis sure has a lot of surprises if they're able to release another T-Doll like this with the same kind of power level as M-4. You said she was a special type, right?" "Weird things seem to happen when companes that theoretically should be designing for the bottom line end up getting into total war concepts, don't they?" Riva replies. "That said, she's salvagable." The appearance of the rest of the AR Team gets a nod. "Huh. Able to act independantly? I guess that would make them special, then. I'll keep an eye out for them." She smirks at Gideon at his declaration. "You're pretty motivated, aren't you?" Riva taps her chin as Heilan explains the source of T-Dolls. "Oh, so they're civilian models? No wonder why they seem so personable, they're designed for dealing with the public. People don't generally buy antisocial androids, right?" She nods. "And yet, your pure war designs are really different than Sangvis'. It's almost like trying to compare an impressionism piece with some kind of hyperrealistic CGI portrait." Riva looks over to Gideon at the point being made. "Instead, listen to young people with a lot of money?" She replies with a smirk to Gideon. "Look, I get where you're coming from and I didn't intend to open up a can of worms. If they're people, they're people. I've seen some places where that wasn't the case, so I just wanted to know what the score was." A pause, and she looks back between the T-Doll and Gideon. "It looks like you guys haven't really answered that question definitively though." Riva then points out, "We'll have to fight our way around and out, at least. We'll have surprise, but as soon as they notice we're there, we're going to get dogpiled. Jumping in the middle means we have nothing to guard our back. I should know! I've done it all the time." The subject of Clover comes up. "Also, she's M-4, and she's going to have to be lucky like a four-leaf clover if she's going to survive all this."
Gideon Kaspar	"Personally, I think you're at least a little insane for going where the lasers are." Gideon says to Riva, only to shrug right after. "I'd normally say something about that being a job for people who can be fixed up after, but apparently you have that covered. Since it wouldn't make sense to urge you away from the battlefield, I can only urge you to reconsider your choice in firearms. Honestly." "Correct." Helian says. "We don't know the full specifics of the Anti-Rain project, but I expect that M-4-" "Clover" "-is a large cut above any other units usually fielded by G&K-" "Except mine." "-and Sangvis Ferri's response indicates they believe this as well." She doesn't quite seem to get the art analogy, but then she doesn't come across as someone who spends a lot of time looking at art either. "Of course!" Gideon says to Riva instead, as an answer to multiple questions, though he follows up the last with "There's nothing wrong with having a lot of money if you aren't making it through trust funds and lobbying! Initiative is initiative!" Finally, Helian appears to agree and take the group's side on one thing. "The reason we've contracted outside help is due to the fact that S09 is technically not an area under Griffin&Kryuger's private jurisdiction. We would have to submit significant documentation to move the bulk of our forces from their existing postings, which would assuredly be denied while high-paying and government clients remain disinterested in this far away sector, which doesn't currently threaten them. A large scale assault is not feasible at this time. We can only rely on the local branch commander who happens to be adjacent to the incident area, and yourselves as external parties. Considering your previous performance, I believe you and Commander Kaspar will be sufficient." "Defensive lines are easier to breach from within than from without. We would only need to create a small opening to retreat through, and once done, they would have no units poised outside of their perimeter to intercept us. I am prepared for the risk." Gideon concedes. "Normally I would reject putting people onto the battlefield like this, but . . ." He nods along, both stoically and enthusiastically with basically everyone present -Seifer's bold way of clearly choosing the right values to fight for, Gordon's clear and intense concern for the T-Dolls involved, Tomoe being both female and backing up his point, and Riva also being a pretty woman and being in his general proximity. "We have a man after my own heart here, another I can see eye to eye with, and ladies I could hardly say no to. As long as you're willing to trust in my directions as a strategic specialist, and treat my girls with the respect they're owed, I can see this going smoothly enough. We'll have the upper hand of surprise, topographic intelligence, advance information, superior quality of forces, and the cooperation of the package. Sangvis Ferri's inferior products won't be able to keep up, and even that 'Executioner' won't be able to handle all of us at once."
Gordon Freeman	Gordon nods. He seems about settled for this plan as well, and wordlessly intending to participate. Dr. Kleiner makes an upbeat upward gesture as he says, "If there are more at risk, we will just have to make sure to be all the more thorough. Gordon is the kind of man who understands the value of life, and I'll expect him to put the full weight of his testing efforts to making sure your T-Dolls are returned home safely." Gordon himself makes a sort of silent couple of nods of agreement. "And with luck, we will surely find a solution to the puzzle plaguing Sangvis Ferri as well." Gordon looks thoughtful, frowning, remembering the absence of humans. Yeah, that one's weighing on his mind too, but at the very least the proxy nature of this warfare and the absence of humans means his zealous feelings can run wild and free and motivate a whole lot of killing. "It will surely benefit from thorough preparation though -- the Lambda team will need all the information you can provide for capture efforts. I believe the high-security Gamma Labs might be supplied to contain and neutralize a self-destruct risk, as long as the others manage to disable them..." Kleiner continues rambling, seeming eager to ~collaborate~ particularly. Well, he might be a /humanitarian/, sure, but he's also a defense industry worker, and if there's one thing that makes that industry go 'round, it's intimately interlinking them all to focus on the same interests incessantly.