RP: Conference Characters: Seth, James, Albert Time/Date: Evening, April 7 Location: Conference room Warnings/Rating: Swears Summary: The heads of the Compound plot and speculate. Status: Complete
Seth exhaled as he settled down into his chair with his copy of the decoded information. They'd had a couple other people go over it, and they'd worked out what they thought might be approximate dates more deeply coded into the original material. Codes within codes. There was also the possibility this was a trap. They knew about Jaime, they'd known about the scramblers at the end, and it was possible they'd planted the reference to the future plans stored in the device. If it had been on the enemy network, it would have been a matter of hacking in. As it was, having it on the device meant they'd needed a physical presence -- which they had.
Except, the enemy knew (or strongly suspected) they had something like Jaime. Thus the odds it had been a plant, and a trap. Jan had said it hadn't exactly felt like a trap, but it hadn't exactly not felt like one, either. Quiet up 'til the end. Neither she nor Jaime had heard an alarm, and Logan hadn't seen anything amiss until January had dragged Jaime toward the gate.
Even so, could they really stake everything on the fact that the device was just a plant intended to take out their Finder? He didn't think so, especially since if it was a trap, it had been a shitty one.
"All right, gentlemen. We have before us six detailed plans of attack that may or may not be actual plans, and dates that may or may not be actual dates," Seth began. "The best defense is a good offense, so we're starting there.
"Given the nature of plans one, three, and six, they can be eliminated as pipe dreams on the part of the enemy. While we'll consider them and take what steps we need to defuse them, they are not high on my list of genuine concerns. Plan two has me most concerned because it is possible to release biological contaminants to affect the Compound and outlying areas, but we have already begun steps to prepare for that eventuality. The 'rat bombs' do not fill me with joy, gentlemen. Black Plague version twenty-seven point eleven. I want those equipped for it to find each and every rat and rat hole on this base and we'll plug the fuckers up."
Seth turned the page. "Plan four is set behind a minefield. Is this confirmed or suspected?"
"Highly suspected," Albert said. "There was a report three months back that suggested mines were being planted, but since our focus was elsewhere at the time, it was simply filed."
"All right. We'll need the Finder on that one then, because frankly I don't trust that goddamn dog. Any of y'all get the feeling Muntz was fucking with us when he said Dug was his best tracker?"
"Thought that the second I laid eyes on him," James muttered as he leaned back in his chair slightly. "'f any recruiter heads that way again, I'd like them to deliver a sharp kick in the balls to that fucker."
Seth nodded, a faint smirk curving his lips. "We'll send him out with the Finder then. Maybe she can teach him somethin'."
"Better send Reynolds out in that group then. I don't want another bloody earful from him tryin' to get himself invited along." James suggested. The Finder never went out without a body-guard, and since this one wasn't a stealth job and there'd be full-on fighting expected, he didn't think that request would be denied.
"Speaking of," Albert said. "Are we making efforts to keep the campus couples together?"
James shrugged. "They fight better that way. There's the added plus of rage-fueled attack if their better half falls."
"Always with the practicality," Albert quipped in return. But it was true, and he knew it. They all knew it. This was a war, not a tea party. "So we're going full frontal on this one then? Percentage?"
James looked thoughtful. "Sixty. I want some back to help with defense, and a smaller percentage for the other plans. I don't want this place to be deserted if some shit does go down."
Albert nodded and made a note even as he began to mentally sort his division in preparation for the lists later. "They'll need some tecchies out there, to defuse the mines. Davies can find them, and maybe the dog can, but neither one of them has the skill to defuse them."
James nodded. "We've got a couple of those." He paused. "So we'll run it that way then. The Finder, the dog, the defusers, and then a full on by the front lines?" The others nodded in agreement, and James made notes.
"Plan five," he said as he flipped through the pages. "Airborne assault. It mentions chitters. Does that mean anything to you?"
"Aside from the noise a squirrel makes? No." Seth frowned. It was going to be hard to defend against something if they didn't know what it was. "Mecha'd be my guess."
"Unless it's deeper code," Albert contributed. "Capital letters," he clarified. "Acronym for something."
James grunted slightly; it was hard to say, and dangerous to guess. "Double patrols? Maybe have the kid with the dragon doing sweeps more often?"
Seth sucked in his cheeks slightly, but he understood James' reluctance to mention the kid by name. Hiccup or Haddock, neither of them being particularly serious names. "I'll have my hackers do sweeps on the security, make sure we don't have any bugs in that, and I imagine we'll get the stealth hackers to see what they can crack open. Otherwise ... double patrols," he agreed. "'least until we get more news on this."
James nodded; there wasn't much else they could do about something they had so little information about. "Right then. I'll get the lists up and posted and we'll get this ball rolling," he declared before he folded up his papers. They'd do what they could and hope for the best. He rose from his seat, and the others rose as well, departing from the meeting room to tend to their various obligations.