Business Is War [M] (S)

[The Bartender]

Hime raised her hand like in the school, waiting for her turn to talk.
"Yes?" Britta Engel said.
"How...How many casualities is minimum?" Hime asked with a silent voice, but absolutely serious about her question.
"The..there are about 200... no maybe 500 people working there so how many would be acceptable to kill?" She reformed her question.

[Azazeal849]

“Any that pose a threat to mission completion.” Britta said steadily, fixing the youngest Agent with an intense stare. The question was unexpected, but gave her a valuable insight into where on the scale of self-awareness this team sat in comparison to standard Agents. “This means armed guards who engage you directly, and anyone attempting to raise the alarm before the lockdowns have been disabled.”

[Mihaw]

Carter carefully listened and watched all the information that was suddenly in his head. As all the details were given, and britta finished talking he sat still, waiting for someone else to ask the first question. As Britta finished answering the question of the woman she called Hime Carter raised his hand but without waiting he asked the first question that went through his mind: "What about losses and heavily wounded? Is getting them out just as important as the mission?" Carter wasnt sure of this as he did not know if himself the other 9 members were important to this corporation.
Then he asked another question before Britta answered his first one, looking at trent for the first few words :"And what if me and trent are inside as the alarm goes off? Are you getting us out? or are we screwed?"

[SandQueen]

White listened attentively to the woman's spiel before saying, rather loudly "I've got questions." He counted off on his fingers as he spoke "You said there was an informant? So where are they?" One finger went up.

"If the guards need to check in every ten minutes and we're not synced up with their reports Agent Hime and Miller will need to improvise. If their communications have any sort of visual aspect the security control room is going to be aware of what's going on. So what are they supposed to do if ten minutes comes up and the rest of the plan isn't on schedule?" Another finger went up.

"Do we have any information about the Atomic lab's layout or interior? My weapon has a neutron emitter that disables electronic components. If there's anything in there like that then you could be looking at a lot of dead metal. Or a mushroom cloud." Three fingers.

"And it's just my stance but I do not believe that it would be beneficial to the mission for the other Agents to waste time evacuating wounded. If we have the target in hand and move him to a safe location for him to sign things over to you then he could just as easily screen any press and dismiss employees that refuse to cooperate. Why bother with a piece of meat? It's not like we are wearing uniforms and you did say that plenty of other companies were looking to have a stake in this technology."

[Azazeal849]

“And what if me and Trent are inside as the alarm goes off? Are you getting us out? Or are we screwed?”

“Self-preservation instinct.” one of the cybernetics scientists behind Britta muttered, with interest. Britta resisted the urge to shush him.

“You’re not expendable,” she told Carter, “Because you’re expensive. Be thankful you don’t work for Sonbushi - they’ve been known to fit their Agents with self-destruct devices. But if you can’t evacuate yourself from the mission zone then yes, essentially, you are screwed.”

And so am I she thought wryly.

"I've got questions." White said, rather loudly. He counted off on his fingers as he spoke.

Britta listened to White speak in his rolling Glasweigan accent, pleased at how much the bald, scarred Agent had been able to infer. She nodded.

“Essentially, yes. As for our informant, you don’t have to worry about accidentally shooting him while in the complex because he’s long gone. He was attached to the last delegation we sent to negotiate with Auffret. It’s impressive what a few bugs can do.”

She pulled out the chair at the head of the table and sat down, folding her hands.

“We will be listening in to the guard’s radio transmissions from the airship. I’ll give you the signal to go so that you have the widest possible window of opportunity. To the best of our knowledge, the guards’ communications are audio only. The security posts have feeds from CCTV cameras across the site, but they are located mostly around the entrances and so there are potential blind spots for Hime and Miller to exploit. If Trent and Carter look unlikely to reach the security post within the first ten-minute window I will instruct Anderson to hold his fire until after they report, giving you another ten minutes. As for the West Wing…”

She smiled.

“I don’t think you need to worry about mushroom clouds. You don’t think Auffret conducts his nuclear research in an office block, do you? The Atomics department is where all the computer modelling and safety studies get done. Still, because they’re working with top secret blueprints you can expect a large proportion of the security staff to be stationed there. It’ll make Kerberos’ mission a lot easier if you can keep them busy until we’ve secured the CEO.”

[SandQueen]

“I don’t think you need to worry about mushroom clouds. You don’t think Auffret conducts his nuclear research in an office block, do you? The Atomics department is where all the computer modelling and safety studies get done. Still, because they’re working with top secret blueprints you can expect a large proportion of the security staff to be stationed there. It’ll make Kerberos’ mission a lot easier if you can keep them busy until we’ve secured the CEO.”

"That wasn't my worry" White said. "You can cover up bodies. Some bleach, a sponge... maybe some lye and saw. Flesh and blood can be erased as easily as a line of text. But covering up a nuclear explosion is a little more difficult."

He paused and looked away. He had seen something once. It felt like a long time ago but he remembered using a weapon similar to what now hung from his chest. He remembered seeing a plume of flame and smoke, bright as a star, lifting up above a jungle. He remembered seeing a flock of colorful birds pinwheel down through the air as a shockwave forced a line of palms nearly horizontal for a long moment before allowing them to snap back to position. He remembered. Or did he?

[dakkagor]

Something. . . . a textbook. A classroom. Fusion theory. A pretty girl he talked into helping him with homework he had no interest in, but he got a passing grade because of her. He couldn't remember her name. His name. It didn't matter.

"Fusion Reactors don't explode."

People looked at him, and he stared back.

"They don't. When containment fails on the magnetic fields, the plasma contacts the titanium outer core, the mass of the plasma is very small, but hot. The mass of the titanium is very cool in comparison and large, so the heat is mostly lost. The result is instant oxidisation of the magnetic components and sensors in the chamber, along with the magnetic coils, by super-heating the deuterium fuel remaining in the chamber and bonding it with the metal. Everything in the reactor is ruined, but the escaping energy is less than a tonne of the TNT, in the case of outer casing breaches."

He smiled.

"So we can be as rough as we want with the guards. We won't damage anything expensive or irreplaceable, or dangerous to us. i have no further questions"

[PaintSerf]

Wallace sat and nodded, some of his own initial questions were asked and then answered, while he rested his elbows on the table and placed his right hand over the left. He idly tapped and played with the spot on his left ring finger where its namesake would be. For some reason it felt like the natural thing to do while sitting and listening to a briefing. But instead of dwelling on what felt like a normal habit Wallace caught Brita’s eyes and attention after she finished answering another question.

“Is there an expectation of interference from the likes of Sphinx or Sonbushi?” Wallace paused enough to smile coolly before continuing, “I imagine that executing a hostile takeover isn’t exclusive to EuroCorp, or the use of bugs for that matter, and surely the thought of acquiring FusionTech or its research by any means has been considered elsewhere.”

“Also, continuing with third parties, can we expect local law enforcement…” at this Wallace’s visage wavered slightly, and his eyes broke away from Britta. He blinked a few times, as if trying to clear his mind of something, before clearing his throat and looking back to Britta with his usual resolve, “Pardon. But can we expect them to be proactive once the inevitable reports start to flood in?”

[Azazeal849]

“So we can be as rough as we want with the guards. We won't damage anything expensive or irreplaceable, or dangerous to us. I have no further questions.”

“There isn’t any nuclear material in the complex.” Britta repeated patiently. While the junior executive was able to keep her composure, the two scientists openly glanced at each other in surprise at the Agent’s unexpected display of knowledge.

Turning to Wallace, Britta met the tall black man’s eyes and said: “Xenakis makes a point of having as many police chiefs as possible on our payroll, but local law enforcement almost certainly will respond in some form. Hopefully, you will be in and out before they even arrive. We haven’t received word of any of our competitors moving into the area; Sonbushi are more likely to stick their nose in than most, so if you do see any of those Bratva-Yakuza bastards then I expect you to shoot on sight. I can assure you that they will.”

Her voice was calm, but inside her mind was racing. Between Robson’s recital and the tell-tale pause when Wallace mentioned his previous career, she was beginning to wonder if the memory-wiping process had for some reason not been as effective on this batch of Agents. Agents regaining their memories inevitably led to problems - perhaps she would have to have the memory wipe periodically repeated, and accept the loss of combat experience? Then she realised that she was probably overreacting. It was possible that this level of recall was entirely typical. Perhaps most Agents, with their reduced sense of self-awareness, simply didn’t display these symptoms so obviously. She made a mental note to ask the people responsible for CHIP implanting.

“Okay.” she said, brushing a strand of hair back behind her ear, “Anyone else?”

[Hex]

All of his questions were asked for him, he thought as he touched his fingers between his eyes, pushing a nonexistant pair of glasses back onto his face.

"Everything is clear as crystal. Get in, blind them, and take their king in the fog."