Research and Development

[Jello Shot Mischa]

Commander Pleasance nods at Bones' introductions, looking each of the chibi over in turn. "While I have not had the pleasure of meeting Doc in person before, I believe he assisted Major Durant briefly before," she notes, before turning to Grumpy. "Ah, yes... I believe we spoke briefly around the time that penguin kaiju attacked Muffinville. And as for Atoc..." She smiles slightly. "I'm doing well, Mr. Atoc. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She pauses a moment. "I suppose I should introduce my own companions. This is Staff Sergeant Alexander Latimore, who serves as my aide," she says, indicating the young man standing nearby, who offers a polite nod to Bones and the chibi. "And this," Commander Pleasance continues, motioning towards the young silver-haired girl on her other side, "is Special Adjutant Lily, who serves as a personal bodyguard and assistant."

She sits back down, picking up a glass of lemonade and taking a sip. "Since we have a few minutes before we should begin, were there any other questions you had? Most of the reasons I requested your presence will become more apparent once we've begun in earnest, but I can try to at least offer some basic answers, depending on what you may wish to ask."

[Feng]

"At the moment I have none although I know Agent Atoc has expressed interest in the history of the installation. Perhaps you could enlighten him?"

Agent Atoc nods. "My apologizes if I am not up to date on the subject. Until recently my focus had been primarily on Chibi history and archaeology. Its very rare for one of us Chibi to study the human civilizations..." o///o

"When he's not digging holes for our organization Atoc works at Muffinvile University. While his inquisitive nature has proved a bit irksome, he has proved himself a reliable asset in our excavations. We hope to train him to assist in our side investigations of the Brotherhood, hence the reason we brought him along.

[Jello Shot Mischa]

Commander Pleasance looks at Atoc curiously. "I'm afraid I must admit, our installation here was largely constructed by the CTC. If you were interested in studying one of the Brotherhood facilities we've uncovered, however, we could certainly arrange a tour of one. In fact..." She glances at Lord Bones. "Given Lord Bones' interest in Brotherhood technology, I suspect he would appreciate such a tour as well. Perhaps once we've concluded our business here, we can travel out to one of the closer facilities together to continue our discussions."

Finishing her drink, she rises to her feet. "I suspect it would be best if we began our tour of this facility, however. We can exchange information about what we know of the Brotherhood as we do so, and I'd appreciate any insight into some of the items we've recovered and brought here for examination," she suggests.

[Feng]

"That sounds ideal, Commander" says Bones. "While I doubt we possess any juicy gossip concerning the Brotherhood the Chibi Express has plenty of experience with dealing with unusual artifacts. Of course we could also share information on our mail portal technology for a small price of course." ^_^

"Anyways lets get this tour started."

[Jello Shot Mischa]

Commander Pleasance nods, and motions for Lord Bones and his companions to follow her out the meeting room's door, leading the way back outside. She winces slightly as the group steps back out into the blistering heat of the desert sun, but continues walking across the sizzling tarmac towards the nearby mountainside, and it soon becomes apparent that she's heading towards one of the armored doors that guard access to the interior.

"Out of curiosity, what sort of price would you set for your mail portal technology?" she asks. "I'm afraid I'm not terribly well-versed in technical information, so it would likely be best to have you speak with someone more knowledgeable about such things to determine how useful it would be, but it does seem to be of benefit to logistics. At the very least, it would be interesting to know what value you attach to it," she says as they walk.

[Feng]

"We'll talk price when it comes time to that. Right now I am much more interested in this base."

Atoc takes a few photos while his colleagues keep a stoic silence, not making a peep.

[Jello Shot Mischa]

The commander chuckles. "Oh? Anything in particular intruige you?" she asks, a slight smile on her face as she glances back at Lord Bones.

As the group approaches the armored door, they'll find that it's guarded by a squad of CTC soldiers, some equipped with bulky suits of powered armor and heavy weapons. Additional weapon turrets can be seen built into the mountainside flanking the doorway. As the command approaches, however, they simply salute to her in greeting, and the door slowly grinds open with a mechanical noise, revealing an illuminated tunnel beyond.

[Feng]

"Don't worry Commander. What I seek is well within your price range. Now then, shall we proceed?" ^^

[Jello Shot Mischa]

Commander Pleasance nods, and continues walking once the armored door is fully retracted. Once the group is entirely within the tunnel, it begins to grind closed again.

The tunnel itself has been carved out of the rock, the floor lined with concrete to make a smooth surface, and is illuminated with lights strung along the ceiling. After a few moments, they approach another checkpoint staffed with soldiers, who check the commander's credentials, before motioning her onwards into an elevator.

"I suppose it's not much to look at," she says, "But there didn't seem to be much purpose in improving the aesthetics for this portion."

Once everyone is on board, the elevator begins to descend!

[Raleigh]

*Amusingly enough any scans of the desert will likely reveal what appears to be a mad man wearing cardboard and waving about the hollow tube that used to hold paper towels as if it is a sword trying to fight with a cactus. Even more particular is that closer inspection shows it to be clearly Raleigh with "I'm not me." written on his supposed armor.* Nope, I'm not here spying on two factions meeting each other at all. Nope, not at all. Now die you cactuar. *He opens up a mason jar of water and splashes it on the cactus while saying something about Water2.* Hahaha.

[Feng]

"Functionality is more important than aesthetics, commander. So where to first on our little tour?"

[Jello Shot Mischa]

*Amusingly enough any scans of the desert will likely reveal what appears to be a mad man wearing cardboard and waving about the hollow tube that used to hold paper towels as if it is a sword trying to fight with a cactus. Even more particular is that closer inspection shows it to be clearly Raleigh with "I'm not me." written on his supposed armor.* Nope, I'm not here spying on two factions meeting each other at all. Nope, not at all. Now die you cactuar. *He opens up a mason jar of water and splashes it on the cactus while saying something about Water2.* Hahaha.

A passing drone pauses to watch the show!

"Functionality is more important than aesthetics, commander. So where to first on our little tour?"

"First, I'd like to meet with one of the research heads in this facility," Commander Pleasance explains. "He can show us some of the various artifacts we've been examining."

The elevator comes to a stop, the doors opening -- to reveal a high-tech research facility. In start contrast to the tunnels up above, the hallways here are clinical and clean, the walls painted an eggshell white. A nearby map displays the sprawling complex, broken up into color-coded sections and levels for various kinds of research, including metallurgy, high energy physics, computers, nanotechnology, and even a small section labelled "Reality Modification". Security forces are ubiquitous, but remain out of the way, and one can imagine after working here for a while they would be barely noticed.man

"Please, follow me," the Commander says to her guests, and she steps out of the elevator with a nod to the nearby security guards. A short distance away, the group can see an older man in a lab coat talking with younger man, perhaps an assistant or technologist. As Pleasance approaches, the conversation between the two seems to come to and end, with the older man sending the younger off with a wave before turning to face the commander. "Commander Pleasance!" he says in greeting. "It's a pleasure to welcome you to Cayenne Mountain. I'm glad to see that our timing worked out so well."

The command nods in response. "Doctor, it's good to see you again." She pauses, stepping to the side to make introductions. "Lord Bones, this is Doctor Nicholas Schuyer, an administrator for this facility and a head scientist in the CTC's Unusual Research Division. Doctor, this is Lord Bones, and his companions, Doc, Agent Grumpy, and Agent Atoc, of the Chibi."

The doctor makes a polite nod to each, offering his hand to Lord Bones in greeting. "Ahh, I see! The famous Lord Bones... I never quite imagined I'd meet a true criminal mastermind," he says. The commander makes a quick cough, and the doctor pauses. "Ah... I suppose calling you a 'criminal' may not be the most polite thing," he admits.

The commander chuckles. "Speaking of which... just now you were speaking with..."

"Ahhh, yes... Johann Mestiles. He's fairly new, but has been offering some interesting developments with regards to nanotechnology. Some good ideas for the HTR suits..."

Pleasance quirks an eyebrow, and then her eyes narrow. "Ahh, yes... Mr. Mestiles. If I recall... he's somewhat... 'erratic', is he not?"

Doctor Schuyer makes a nervous laugh. "Ahh, yes, well... you kind of have to expect it from some of the local talent we've recruited."

"I suppose. Still..." She pauses, and then shakes her head. "No matter." The commander turns to Lord Bones. "My apologies... was there anything in particular you might like to see first?"

[Feng]

"As long as the description includes the term mastermind you are free to portray me as a criminal all you like my good doctor. In fact I would encourage it for the sake of PR." ^^

Bones turns his attention to the commander while his minions address the professor in their own fashion.

Doc: *Bows* Its an honor to meet a fellow scientist. I am Doc of the Penguin
Grumpy: *Bows* .... ....
Atoc: *Offers handshake* Nice to meetcha! I'm Atoc!


Bones: "These suits, are they the ones you were using in that business with the Eastern Continent? That could prove rather... interesting."

[Jello Shot Mischa]

Doctor Schuyler nods, and begins speaking with the three Chibi agents, shaking Atoc's hand. "So what would you specialties be?" he asks curiously.

Meanwhile, Commander Pleasance nods to Lord Bones. "To a degree, yes. Our standard equipment for infantry is an environmentally-sealed suit of body armor, but we do have a large suit of powered armor for soldiers in high-threat situations. It is somewhat big, perhaps nine or ten feet tall, making it inconvenient in certain situations. Originally, we had planned to simply deploy EDU robots in environments which required the kind of armor powered armor could provide, but which had space limitations that prevented its use."

"However, after observing the Steel Talons in operation on the Western Continent, it was suggested that we should develop a personal armor comparable with the Steel Talon suits, as well as the armor designs Nokel is apparently using. For now, we've tentatively termed it High Threat Response armor."

She glances at Lord Bones. "I noticed that your forces deployed without any environmental protection there. Do the Chibi have access to any body armor or powered armor?" she asks.

[Feng]

"The Chibiwanbanshu do possess some full body suits for special occasions, namely when conducting crackdowns on sorcerer cabals in the Chibi District. Unfortunately these suits, archaic in design, are purposed solely in keeping out hallucinogenic gases. Compared to that... "stuff" we encountered on the Western Continent however..."

".... In hindsight we should have sent a non-living scout instead. We loss some experienced operatives in that fiasco."


Elsewhere:

"I specialize mostly in a combination of western and traditional medicine" says Doc. "My brother, Grumpy, is one of the higher ranking operatives for the Chibiwanbanshu who gather intelligence and engage in acts of sabotage and tracking. Finally Atoc, the newest member of our organization, is an Archaeologist from the local university."

"I help Team Bones dig up the cool stuff" interjects Atoc.