Difference between revisions of "The Delicate Art of Treason"

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XCOM:_Gray_Dawn#Recaps
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When we last left off...

Game #10 6/22/14

Day 11

A couple days pass without incident, allowing some members of the Elma Resistance to catch up on some work they have been meaning to get to. AJ takes care of some administrative details, and checks on some infrastructure projects. Marie begins research on the alien alloy research project. Fayth is finally able to do some medical research on some of the LD-positive captives (both alive and dead). Brock is able to find out that it is impossible to win a game of Yukon with the deck of cards Fayth gave him to while away his time in quarrantine (as it is missing the 3 of spades). Brock has been confined to the medical research center at the Development Park because he snagged the can of Plasti-Flesh from Fayth and used it on a bullet wound he'd received to his leg. Doug has been working on...well, no one is quite sure what he's been up to. Probably no good.

On the morning of day 11, the available members of the core group (AJ, Fayth and Marie) have their morning meeting to discuss any recent findings and make plans for the day. Shortly into the meeting, they are interrupted by Marie's mother (who it later turns out was lurking in the hall nearby, waiting for an opportune moment to intrude. And probably eavesdropping; she used to work for the CIA, after all). She butts in to broach the subject of the group's willingness to formally join Project Covenant. Marie is positively frosty at her mother's intrusion (and has proportionately venomous regard for any proposal she might offer). AJ wants to know more concrete details before he agrees to work with Mrs. Kjelstad in any capacity, which she is reluctant to give at this time. Fayth has her reservations, as well, and abstains from judgment. As Marie opts to walk off to get away from her mother, she calls out hauntingly to her daughter, "You'll have to stand and fight some day, dear. You won't be able to run away from them forever." The "them" she references is not made clear, but rather than have her daughter storm off, Lillian departs instead, and leaves the group to ponder their options.

AJ, Fayth and Marie don't feel comfortable making a membership decision and speaking for a large group of people on their own, so they decide to break off and meet with certain key individuals that they trust and that are primarily involved in the activities of the Resistance. AJ strikes out to meet with his wife, Naomi, and tells her about the situation. Naomi is wary because she trusts her husband's instincts, but at the same time, she sees potential advantages to having the resources of Project Covenant's medical facilities available for use. She seems positively disposed; at worst, she is on the fence about joining.

Meanwhile, Fayth is sent to speak to Lt. Spiers and Sgt. Carville, since she is sort of googly-eyed for the boys in uniform, and because Sgt. Carville seems to be (ahem) positively disposed toward her. She hunts around for the two, and is unable to find them. She talks to some of the Rangers on watch to find out where their CO or NCO cadre might be. They suggest she check out the command trailer. Fayth checks it out (again), getting no answer when she knocks on the door (again). This time, however, she presses her ear to the door to listen in, in case there is anyone inside trying to dodge her. She doesn't hear anybody, but she does hear some kind of a printer kick on and produce a document. She decides to peek in (since the door seems to be unlocked), and perform a little snooping.

No one, indeed, appears to be home. She makes a circuit of the small trailer and as she meanders by the secure comm with attached printer, her eyes happen to pass over the classified document that is sticking out of the feed tray. She sees that the message has been sent by a Major Landry to Lt. Spiers, and the body of the message is grim. By the order or Brigadier General Theodore Larson, Captain Alonzo Jerome Kamastafall is to be apprehended for treason, murder, assault, robbery, going AWOL, etc., painting AJ as a clear enemy of the State. It also orders Lt. Spiers to apprehend Kamastafall's "accomplices," and furthermore, details that if any of them resist capture, on-site execution of the targets is authorized. Fayth sees one piece of paper crumpled in the nearby wastebasket, an identical printout time-stamped one hour earlier. She takes the freshly-printed message, and sabotages the connection to the printer, hoping to buy some time for the group in case the people trying to spell the Resistance's doom try to send the Rangers any more messages.

The fact that the Rangers are being given orders to capture her and her companions is enough of a shock to Fayth. This shock goes into overdrive when she hears a noise outside through the cheap single-pane windows of the trailer. Peeking out, she sees the main leadership cadre of the Ranger platoon heading toward the trailer. A few moments ago she had been looking for them; now she wants to avoid them at all cost! If they are looking for her, she absolutely does not want to be found snooping around the lion's den, especially if they suspect she may have seen what she has seen. The only door out is the one she came in; she can't use that without being seen by the Rangers (and she has no illusions of being a match for one of them, let alone four). Frantically, she looks for a way to escape. She finds a working window on the side of the trailer and sneaks out, landing cat-like and unheard outside. She remains close for a moment, to see if she can overhear anything said inside. Spiers and Carville discuss their options, and Fayth hears Speirs order Carville to go find AJ so he can "talk to him," citing that Carville seems to have a good rapport with him. She hears the Lieutenant tell his First Sergeant, "maybe you can get him to listen to our side of the story." Fayth doesn't know what this means, exactly, but she does hear the door open and shut. Presumably, Carville is on the hunt.

From her hiding spot, Fayth can see across the parking lot where the command trailer is to the front door of the nearby medical center, where AJ went to talk to his wife. She sees AJ emerge, and Carville is bound to see him any second if she doesn't think fast. She gets on her comm to AJ and tells him not to ask any questions, just turn around and head back inside and hide. At Fayth's clear urgency, he chooses not to question her, and complies, ducking back inside. Fayth tries to sneak around the cars in the parking lot to put some distance between her and the command trailer (she doesn't want Carville to find her within snooping-range!), but Carville spots her slinking around. He calls her name, and Fayth responds at first almost as if he had harpooned her. Fearing the gig is up, all she can do is face capture gracefully, and prepares to brazen her way through what may come next.

Perhaps his feelings for Fayth blind his suspicions; he seems oblivious to her furtiveness. He does not try to apprehend her. Rather, he asks if she knows where AJ is. Carville says he needs to talk shop with the captain. Fayth plays the deception card, telling Carville that she doesn't know his current whereabouts. He thanks her anyway, commenting that maybe AJ's wife might know where he's at (which would take him to the medical center where AJ is currently hiding out). At this, Fayth tries to further mislead him, saying that she thought he might be heading to Doug's barn. Carville says he'll keep that in mind as he keeps moving for the med center. He turns back, seeming to muster up his courage, and asks Fayth if she has any dinner plans later. He claims to be able to do some amazing things with MRE cuisine, and would like to dine with her and talk. Fayth agrees, though it is uncertain whether her enthusiasm for the prospect is because she wants to have dinner with the affable Ranger or because her heart is a-flutter at the prospect of not immediately being taken prisoner. For all she knows, Carville will simply place her under arrest over a serving of Army-issued frank and beans. Carville heads off with a noticeable bounce in his step.

Fayth has no time to lose. She gives AJ a quick intel-dump, telling him to get the hell out of there and to make it sneaky. AJ is now aware that he has to dodge Carville and anyone else in uniform at all cost. He expertly ducks out of the medical center and steals a motorcycle to make his getaway. He goes to the Pershing's collection point at the Brigg's nursery to lay low and wait further information.

Fayth gets in contact with Marie, telling her to spring Brock from quarantine and to meet at Fayth's Volkswagen in the parking lot. Marie is able to check Brock out with a disturbing lack of opposition, luring him into compliance with a motorized wheelchair that she has souped up (boasting it has a top speed of 17 miles per hour). Brock gleefully accepts the honor of piloting the thing, and talks Marie into riding out with him. Dressed in nothing more than a hospital gown, Brock sails out with a beautiful, young lab geek on his lap. For the sake of her own sanity, Fayth chooses not to question how her directives led to this; they are here, and that is good enough. She corrals them into the Beetle, and rendezvous with AJ. They are unable to get a hold of Doug; Marie even tries to reach him on Draco's comm bracelet, but it appears as though Doug has not taken it with him. It is still at the "command center," where it turns out Sgt. Carville has arrived, looking for AJ. Carville tries to respond to Marie's voice on the communicator, but in an act of sheer panic, she begins blurting out random multi-lingual gibberish and squelchy radio noise to try and convince Carville that the doodad is picking up random traffic. Carville apparently doesn't pursue the issue, but also doesn't turn the feed off on his end, leaving the group able to eavesdrop on his radio traffic with Spiers. Carville tells the Lieutenant that he thinks he's being led on a goose-chase, and wonders if one or more members of the resistance may be on to them. Spiers calls Carville back to base for now.

Much discussion ensues as to what the hell the group should do. They definitely cannot carry on any semblance of "normal" post-alien invasion operations with an entire platoon of Army Rangers gunning for them. There are definite discrepancies in the content of the orders relayed to Lt. Spiers, but the authentication codes (the part of the message that tells the Rangers that the orders actually came from Maj. Landry) seem to be legit. The group eventually decides to enlist the expertise of Colonel Ruger to help bring a conclusion to this situation. They have placed their faith behind the man to be the legitimate authority in town, and he understands the fine minutiae of military law. They make contact with him and explain the situation. Since he has come face to face (and shoulder to bullet) with the existence of alien mind control, he seriously doubts the veracity of the orders. At any rate, he refuses to condemn the group, and chooses to stand by them when they opt to call in the Rangers and meet Lt. Spiers directly. They make contact, and invite him to meet at Elma City Hall.

Quickly, AJ calls his wife, and asks her to take a peek at what the Rangers are doing, hoping to get an early indication as to their intentions. She reports that nearly a full squad of Rangers (including Spiers and Carville) pile into a humvee and head out. AJ tells her to scoop up the kids, take the hummer and hide out; he doesn't even want to know where. The fact that Spiers is showing up with substantial back-up doesn't bode well in anyone's eyes. The group calls in the assistance of Officer Cristelli, who hides on the roof of city hall with Brock. A couple Elma PD officers provide security at the entrances to city hall. Spiers and his team arrive, and as he and Carville make entrance, Brock reports that the additional Rangers are spreading out from the humvee into tactical assault positions. This bodes extra-not-well. Needless to say, tensions are high as Spiers and Carville meet with AJ, Fayth, Marie and Colonel Ruger. The group feels they have built a strong relationship with the Rangers. The last thing they want is a firefight to break out (a gun battle they would probably lose!)

Ruger frisks Spiers and Carville before he allows them in the conference room to meet with the group. They have, indeed, come unarmed (little reassurance there, considering the firepower they have available just outside). AJ cuts to the chase, telling Spiers that he understands the Rangers are looking for him and his friends. Spiers does not hide this fact, and reveals the message they received from Major Landry. Spiers also says that he met with his leadership cadre and the feeling is unanimous; they believe that the source of the message cannot be trusted. The experience of Sgt. Hoff has shown them all that sometimes, a man can be made to act against his nature. Spiers and the rest of them believe that Major Landry and possibly General Larson have been compromised, and are looking to target AJ and his team. Spiers says they are refusing to follow these orders because they do not believe their chain of command is intact any longer. He proposes that the Rangers become an independent force, and they wish to swear their allegiance to the ranking military authority around--Captain AJ Kamastafall.

On the one hand, this news is a Godsend for members of the resistance: They don't have to fear the Rangers hunting them all down, now. On the other hand, though, they desperately want to maintain the legitimacy they have struggled so hard to obtain. AJ realizes the Rangers cannot just refuse orders because of a gut feeling; they have to have some proof. Because of the nature of encrypted communications, obtaining that proof is exceedingly difficult. After coming to several dead ends, Carville suggests that maybe a tech-savvy girl like Marie might be able to trace the physical source of the transmissions if she is given access to their secure comm systems. Marie agrees that it is worth a shot, and Spiers grants her access. This is, of course, completely unauthorized, but considering they were just about to commit treason, this is definitely the lesser of two evils the Rangers could undertake.

With Fayth's timely help as a lab assistant, Marie is able to trace the next recurring transmission from Major Landry back to the Pentagon! Spiers knows that Landry and General Larson ought to be deployed to the Southern California area, and the transmission coming from the East coast is highly suspicious. It doesn't provide the concrete proof they need, however, and since they can't reveal to Landry the fact that they know where the message is coming from (because the Rangers ought not to know), they face an impasse.

Spiers is grasping at straws; he desperately wants these orders to be bogus. He hates the notion that AJ and his team keep pointing out every reason that he should follow the orders that would damn them. As a last ditch measure, Spiers sends a transmission to Landry asking to verify his location against the classified deployment registry, essentially asking Landry where he is located. He justifies this by claiming they believe their comm network may have been compromised, and wants to know if orders they have received originated from the designated source.

This ploy seems to work, as the source speaking for Landry claims to be providing civil defense assistance in the greater Los Angeles area (where they are supposed to be), even as Marie tracks the call in real-time to the Pentagon again.

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief as Speirs is able, with clean conscience, to disregard his orders. This realization hits Spiers hard in another unexpected way, though, when he tells AJ and the team, "Well, hell. I kind of liked it better when we were simply being traitors. This development means that our entire chain of command may be compromised, and that we are truly on our own." This is a sobering realization for the group, and causes them to return to their original course of action, namely asking how certain people felt about joining Project Covenant.

Fayth meets with Spiers and Carville. Spiers is eminently practical about the proposal, stating that the resources of the Project and the security offered by their dome would be extremely useful. Carville is a bit more personal with Fayth's concerns, trying to get to the root of their difficulties. She and all the others realize that Lillian's primary goal at this point is staffing the project; the worry is that if they do not accept the job, she may find people to fill the spot who are not so scrupulous. In the worst case, they fear Lillian Kjelstad will use them as her hit squads--her goons--to take control of everything she can get her hands on; that they will be forced to become the enforcers of her dictatorship. Carville suggests that perhaps they take a wait-and-see approach. He points out that Lillian is just one woman. If she gives an order and they don't like it, how is she possibly going to make them obey? Just by sheer numbers, they would have a great deal of power over her. Carville does not want Fayth to feel weak or at anyone else's whim or mercy. He wants her to feel empowered.

Marie meets with her father, to see how he feels about his wife's proposal. On the one hand, Peter Kjelstad has lost every shred of trust he once had for the woman he loved, but on the other hand, he sees that the lengths to which she has gone could only be taken by someone who truly believed in what they were doing. He may never forgive her for all her sins, especially for what she did to Marie, but he wants to see if there is something worth salvaging there. He vows to protect his daughter if she chooses to join the project, throwing his loyalty behind his own flesh and blood, and putting her safety ahead of the woman he married.

Since she seems to speak the same dialect of wacky, Marie is also elected to approach the unpredictable Doug, who has recently returned from his secret scouting mission. Doug is less enthused to be involved with Project Covenant, and is the only dissenting voice toward membership. However, he feels that this may not be such a bad thing. If the others join in, and he supports them in name only, that may set him up as an external mole that can help keep oversight on the covert agency. The group seems to think this may not be such a bad idea, and draw up a list of items they want from Lillian Kjelstad and Project Covenant before they will join. With these items on the table, the team prepares for their showdown with the ex-CIA Agent to see where it leads.