System Supervillain, Book 13 Prologue

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Capes & Cowls Forum, General Chat)

Message of the Day: Remember, Capes & Cowls is ‘neutral ground’. Keep it civil, and if you try to track someone through our site, it will not end well for you.

Speedy, AngelEyes, Victory, HotStuff, Jester, Freedom, Aegis, Stars, Emerald, Snowflake, MagicGurl, RedHot, Scholar, CantSeeMe, Turbo, Emperor, DontYouWantMeBaby, KoolAidMan, SliceNDice, Destroyer, Inquisitor, Narrator, PartyGurl, Chummer, Fabricator, TheWhiteHat, TripleThreat, LuckyDice, GrimDark, RazzleDazzle, Slicer, DarkAngel, Chiller, Sparky, MultiMe, Oracle, BelyyMedved, Stepford, DevilsDaughter, Dollmaker, Quickfoot, Mindtaker, MrRoboto, ItsyBitsySpider, Valkyrie, TitaniumTits, Lolth, InfoGirl, ScoopGirl, HolyBlessing, and DonJuan are in the chat.

Fabricator: Sixteen months in, and most of the cities attacked by the Gel-nak are back to normal. Mostly.

Jester: The King here in the UK decided not to build back Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and Parliament like they used to be. Instead, there’ll be new construction to put in a new Parliament building, and a new clock tower, as well. Supposedly done in a style that pays homage to the original buildings. Made a whole speech about wearing our scars with pride, in honor of those who were lost, but striding forward into the uncertain future with our heads held high.

TitaniumTits: Saw that. A secondary benefit of new construction is that you can fit in all sorts of new toys and abilities in them without worrying about how they’ll blend with the ‘classic’ construction.

Sparky: What do you mean, TT?

TitaniumTits: Well, historic buildings in any country usually have a lot of restrictions on what you can do with them, especially if they are government centers, major cultural sites, tourist locations, or some combination of the three. After all, a lot of the ‘weight’ those buildings have comes from them being old and unchanged. Changing anything about them comes with a lot of hurdles, even if you want to, say, install a shield generator to protect them from alien attacks.

InfoGirl: She makes a good point. I know that in Washington DC, they’ve been going in circles for years about ways to upgrade the defenses for the White House and Capitol building. Especially after someone killed a Senator during her speech. The fact that they still haven’t figured out Iceblade got in keeps a lot of security specialists on edge, since they don’t know what holes need patching.

Chiller: Well, I’m certainly not giving away my secrets. But I will say that, in general, a lot of security systems are more focused on the ‘outer wall’, rather than comprehensive internal security. Especially with the detection systems.

Stars: I see. Like wards which do more to keep threats out in the first place, rather than focusing energy towards detecting and suppressing threats once they are inside the perimeter?

Chiller: Exactly. While most high-end or government security systems have defensive measures within the building itself, those measures usually rely on alarms already being raised from the outside, or are linked to specific targets. For instance, alarms on the perimeter fence, grounds, exterior windows and doors? All well and good. But you can’t put motion sensors in an area where you’re expecting motion regularly, which is why you’ll usually see a second perimeter or checkpoint around a high security area within the building, and additional alarms and motion sensors in the vault, and so on.

TheWhiteHat: Except, the Capitol building had (and still has) a lot of detection systems inside the building, which aren’t networked, so they can’t be hacked.

Lolth: You should know that, no matter how sophisticated a firewall is, there’s always a way through, once you understand how it is constructed.

TripleThreat: Enough about that. What about the other cities that the lizards hit?

BelyyMedved: In Moskva, the area inside the Wall is now clear of debris, and the last of the Mutants and Zombies have been hunted down. The entire area has been stripped down to bare earth, but rebuilding can begin. However, the capital has been moved temporarily to Omsk, under the new Military Government.

MagicGurl: New Delhi is being cleansed of radiation, thanks to the work of Utprerak and Nirmaata (translates to Catalyst and Creator). Utprerak was able to synthesize a compound that dramatically increased the rate of radioactive decay in the area for the tritium from the fusion reactor, while Nirmaata made a device to capture the resulting helium 3, so it didn’t go to waste. According to estimates, the radiation, which should have been fatal for thousands of years, will be safe for normal humans in two to four years.

Oracle: Rio di Janeiro has returned to normal, the scars of the invasion are already fading. Actually, some of the tensions between different gangs have faded. I’m sure that they will return in time, but having a common enemy to fight cut through some of the existing disagreements.

Oracle: There was, however, a surprise when it was discovered that the SDI had their South American Headquarters in the city. They surrendered their facility with all the technology, infrastructure, and data centers untouched, giving it to the Brazilian government.

Emperor: I have been noticing SDI ‘defections’ in other areas, as well. Nothing on the level of a continental headquarters, of course, but still.

Freedom: There was a suspiciously destroyed facility in Houston following the defeat of the Gel-Nak. It is believed that the facility was a major site for the SDI, especially since they were so quick to have forces on site.

Inquisitor: I won’t lose sleep over the SDI getting kicked around in the crossfire. Though they’ll bear watching in the future. They’re zealots, and zealots pushed into a corner get extra dangerous.

Chummer: You would know, I guess.

ItsyBitsySpider: Shifting away from assholes here on Earth, what about the aliens?

Emperor: There has been no contact from the Gel-nak since the last holdouts were wiped out. Prisoners captured in London and Rio di Janeiro are being processed and interrogated for intelligence, but they were foot soldiers, primarily, and failsafe devices wiped all data from the computer cores on the captured or destroyed ships on the ground.

ItsyBitsySpider: On the ground. But what about the fleet caught in space?

Lolth: The Gel-nak were isolated and cut out of computer control before they could implement failsafes. The Uprising Controls saw to that. So, we do have star charts and the like for the local neighborhood. The Guild and UNSC have copies of the Gel-nak databases, except for the ‘ordering’ bioweapons. All physical and digital records have been THOROUGHLY destroyed, along with the actual weapons and their manufacturing equipment.

Chummer: So, they really were going to try and make genetic slaves of us all?

Chiller: Yes. Just as they did to their own species, and others under their rule. The masses are easier to control when they have disadvantages hard-coded into their DNA that makes rebellion all but impossible. Which tells you how mind-bogglingly stupid some of the leaders have been that the Uprising Controls were necessary in the first place.

BelyyMedved: Iceblade, while you are here, I’ve been informed that the Enchanters have finished construction of portal devices, capable of reaching across light-years. There are many people here, including the military government, who are most interested in spreading Russian culture to the Gel-nak. Like we did to the Germans in the War.

Chiller: I’ve received the same reports, Bear. The UN contacted me through the Guild, and has requested that I take thirteen of the devices with me, allowing anyone from Earth who wishes to go traveling abroad on ‘cultural exchanges’ to visit the ten planets that were (or would have been) connected to the landing sites, plus three more planets of my choosing, to repay the Gel-nak for the battleships which tried to destroy a few cities. Any individuals, teams, or military groups wishing to engage in cultural exchanges should let the Guild know, so that people can be staged appropriately when things light off.

Chiller: As far as timetables go, the Guild has finished construction on my ship, and we are almost through with trial runs and equipment tests. There were a few things that needed to be fixed. Nothing spectacular, but the kinds of things you expect when you build a new ship with a lot of new tech. Should be heading out in the next couple months.

BelyyMedved: This is good. I will let people know, so that they can prepare their gifts accordingly.

MultiMe: Is this a private party to only the nations that got hit, or can anyone join? A bunch of us up here in Canada have some fun ideas we want to share with the lizards.

GrimDark: Those poor bastards don’t know what’s coming for them.