Scenario 1 - Escape from New York

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#1

New York, New York.
If you can get out of there, you can get out of anywhere…

Mission:
Air Force One has gone down in the Manhattan Island Maximum Security Penal Colony, your team’s mission is to rescue the President from the colonies Warlord. Your mission is clandestine in nature and must not be able to be traced back to the Prison’s Security Forces, there must be plausible deniability. Therefore any equipment you take with you must not be able to be traced back to the facility in question.

You must be able to sneak in and safely extract the President; you have a 48 hour window, any later than that and the press will begin to realize something is up when the President misses his big meeting overseas.

Plot Twist:
Your team finds a member of the Secret Service alive near the wreck and he divulges that a scientist was onboard with a sample of a bio weapon; he and his briefcase (including the sample along with notes and formulas on its manufacturing) were taken by a rival gang. He pleads with you to rescue the scientist and the bio weapon, God only knows what the gang would do with such a weapon.

Moral Dilemma:
Eventually your team pieces together the truth about the bio weapon; the scientist was en route to a government contracted facility to have the bio weapon mass produced. It was decided during a meeting (in flight) with the President and a few of his generals that the weapon could be used as leverage to bring the European Union and others in line with the US’s upcoming new foreign policies.

So do you destroy the sample to thwart the President’s unethical plans? Use the sample yourself as leverage? If you rescue the scientist but destroy the sample and his notes could the scientist potentially make another batch anyways? What do you do?:frowning:

Parameters:
In this version the bridges are destroyed, it just makes more sense… You can make the bio weapon whatever you wish, just make it nasty and fatal. The Chief Warlord is on one side of the island and rival warlord is on the other, you can place them wherever you wish just make them far apart, it ramps up the tension.

You may have to split up your team if you wish to achieve both objectives, because as soon as you free the President all Hell will break loose. So it should be far simpler to try and achieve both objectives at the same time,… or will it? If you had planned on escaping together how do you get back together to escape when you are on oppisite sides of the island?:wink:

#2

So is it OK for members of my team to bring in their own equipment as long as it isn’t something used by the prison security force?

#3

Yes, in fact if your equipment were of a superior technology or of an Alien technology it would be even better. No one could connect you to the Goverment or the Prison Security Forces.:wink:

#4

Good, variety of tech base is one of the driving forces behind the way I’ve built both of my teams.

#5

okay so i got an outline ready just not sure how to go about this i mean is this just two paragraphs or do we write short stories or what?

#6

It depends upon your style and what you feel comfortable doing. You can do a short overview of what your team did, or compress the unimportant or less interesting parts and embellish the fun parts. Or you can be very descriptive and even include dialog as you tell the story, I just suggest you not go over three full length posts. (I think a post is limited to 15,000 characters/or words, I can’t remember, I know PM’s are limited to 5,000.)

At that point it can cause readers eyes to glaze over, and if you put a lot of work into it you do not want readers to just skim your story. They will miss out on portions of the story if they do that, and you will not get the feedback you deserve for your efforts.

Does that help?

#7

Leave it to Omra to know the maximum post count. :smiley:

You should go back and read some of the different solutions in the first series. They are also in the GWC Fantasy Sci-fi Roundup section. It is all down to preference and the story you want to tell.

Did we have a schedule on this? Were we going to try weekly or play it by ear?

#8

Weekly should be a good pace, to keep it from getting stale. (The previous solutions were weekly)

A new scenario each Friday for our writers would be something nice to look forward to. And since we are not depending on just one person to come up with the scenarios it should be easier to produce a weekly sandbox for us to play in, than it was for poor Solai. Starsaber would be the next one to come up with an intersting problem for us to solve. Followed by Talos, then NCTibby and so forth…

#9

The island was a blackened and desolate burned out husk of the once great metropolitan city, a mere shadow of its magnificant past. Predators, scavengers and hollow eyed survivors scurried about its surface feeding off of its remains and burrowed into its bowels like maggots on a corpse. The once busy streets looked like dark geometrically shaped canyons, which were only illuminated now by the moonlight and no longer by the bright lights which used to line its streets and proudly display its rising towers. The air above the city was once as filled with traffic as its streets and subways, but now only carrion eaters and surveillance drones flew above the litter strewn streets and decaying buildings. The only existing sources of artificial light now were the two strongholds of the warlords, one who saw himself as the new Malcolm X and set himself up in the Harlem district. And the other on the south side, around the NYU- silver towers area.

Because it was winter few strayed into the inky sleet speckled streets, most stayed close to small fires to try and keep warm by cannibalizing their own pitiful structures to fuel the fires. Briareos surveyed the area around the northern compound; it stretched for many city blocks. But it was surrounded by a cobbled together wall which had very few actual working lights, and the occasional sentry was more interested in staying warm and awake than actually watching the streets outside the compounds meager fortifications. Briareos rechecked the PADD and decided based upon his observations the best route to his target, he signaled Gomtuu to start her lightshow.

Austin James original idea had been for her to power up the Empire State building and possibly the Chrysler building as a diversion, but Gomtuu feared that the structures were so compromised that to do so would start a fire that might cause a terrible loss of life. So she had decided that a holographic illusion would be safer and more impressive, and during the long wait for everyone to get into position she had come up with a few creative flourishes of her own which she looked forward to showing off.

It started with a few fireworks to draw the attention of the lookouts, then after a few crowds had gathered she made it appear the Empire State building was coming to life, floor by floor lights flickered on until eventually the colored display lights around its regal crown showed off its familiar shape. The compound came to life as rumors spread that the Southern Alliance had somehow restored power to the Empire State building, people scrambled to nearby rooftops to take a look. As more gathered she made it appear that even more of the surrounding buildings were lighting up, hysteria and wild theories abounded as they watched enraptured. And then to add insult to injury Gomtuu used her abilities to cause some of the power to fail at their own compound, confusion was now added to the mix and Briareos made use of it and the darkness to slip inside the compound. He hurried through darkened courtyards and alleyways using his night vision and quickly closed on the hypothesised location of his objective.

He spotted the building which Gomtuu had surmised the President was in, and based upon the number of guards on it he guessed she was right. They had indeed removed the tracking device he had been wearing and used it as a decoy or possible bait for a trap at another location, she had used the power signature of his artificial heart to divine what she believed to be his real location instead. Briareos sent a signal to a charge cluster he had left behind at the east wall, small explosions began going off as well as simulated gunfire. A number of guards began leaving the makeshift barracks next to where they were holding the President and shouted for others to follow them as they ran toward the gunfire. After issuing orders to the guards inside the building the officer in charge ran off to supervise his troops, once out of sight Briareos used his silenced pistol to take out the guards in front. He stepped up to the door and digitally imitated the officers voice and ordered them to open the door, they were going to ‘move the President to a safer location’. Once the door was opened he dispatched the guards and slapped a tracker onto the President and called Gomtuu, “Package secured.” They both disappeared in columns of shimmering light as they were transported onto the ship.

Further to the south

The scientist peered through the dirty glass at the cluster of guards who were dropping their poker cards and rushing to see what the commotion nearby was all about. Someone was yelling about a strange car that was driving around the compound, he loosened his tie and wondered what these barbaric people were planning on doing with him.

“Where is the vial?” a voice behind him demanded. The scientist whirled to look behind him; a smartly dressed young man was looking at him with intelligent eyes. “Who, who are you?” the prisoner sputtered nervously, “how did you get in here?” The handsome face became more serious, “I am a scientist and an inventor, but unlike you I create things to make peoples lives better,” his voice became cold and accusing, “not to take them.” The little mans face reddened, “How dare you, I… I was designing something to make my country safer, to protect it.” Austin sighed, “By killing millions with a bio weapon?”

He fidgeted with his glasses, “The… w… weapon is just a bluff, it is never meant to be used…” Austin stepped forward and raised his voice for the first time, “You lie!” The smaller man shied back under Austin’s tirade, “If that were true you would not be taking it to a weapons facility for mass production, if all you wanted to do was scare other nations into playing nice with you; all you would need to do is create a money and paper trail for them to follow. Plant a few stories for their intelligence agencies to find, and fund the right people and make it seem feasible that it might exist. And then produce a few fake videos of its supposed effects for them to steal and show to their superiors.”

The small meek man cowered, “I, I don’t know…it would never fool them, surely…” Austin shook his head and paced to try and cool off. “He assured… he, he promised me it would never be used,” he offered meekly as he straightened his glasses, “that it would simply sit in a bunker somewhere and…” Austin glared at him, “And you believed him?!” He leaned closer, “Good God man, any leader who would order the creation of such a horrible weapon could never be trusted to tell the truth, open your eyes man,” his eyes shined with power, “wake up and smell the napalm.”

The scientist staggered back and sat on a cluttered desk and pondered, “But surely the use of such a weapon would destroy his career, the public would crucify him…” Austin’s demeanor changed, he seemed to be getting through to him, “Deniability, it would be spun as a terrorist attack or a accident at a secret weapons lab some third world dictator was running.” The mans eyes widened with horror, “Dear God, of course…” he ran his fingers through his thinning hair, “that would be the proof of its existence, wipe out a terrorist training camp and claim the terrorists were experimenting with a new gas.” Austin nodded, “But the leaders would know the truth, once they see the power of the new weapon they would all fall in line.” The realization nearly crushed the man, “So in order to defeat the terrorists, we become terrorists ourselves…” He staggered to a cabinet and pulled out the alloy briefcase, it was covered with gouges from where the hoodlums had tried to get into it. He handed it to Austin, “I trust you can dispose of the contents safely?” Austin nodded solemnly, “Indeed my friend,” he put a hand on the man’s shoulder, “and what is to become of you?” The man thought long and hard, “I think I need to disappear, I think I know where I can go. But I am going to need a lift there, and… some help,” he looked at Austin pleadingly, “disappearing can be a little, expensive…” Austin squeezed his shoulder and smiled, “I think we can help you find a new life my friend.”

#10

That Tolstoy award isn’t just for show you know? (:

#11

I am wondering if we are following the movie timeline of events; in that the all the World Trade Center Buildings are still there. Not a major plot point, but I know that their use could cause emotions in fellow readers and I want to be sensitive to others on this issue.

#12

Well, I assume it’s our future, (just like the first version was their future (which was also my future at the time)) so no, they wouldn’t be.

#13

Even though this is clearly an alternate history/world I avoided any mention of them myself, just to be safe.

#14

thank you for the clarification

#15

My team might be doing this all wrong, partly because I’m not sure if I got what the mission entails exactly. My understanding of it is that my team should:

  1. rescue the President
  2. find the scientist who’s making a bad weapon approved by the president
  3. make a moral decision of what to do with the weapon, the plans for the weapon, and the scientist (or maybe even the president? :D)
    And, there’s a time limit on the mission

Here goes:

Ha! A rescue mission is something my team does very, very well with the help of Doraemon’s awesome Dokodemo door (a pink door that allows travel to basically anywhere). Easy as pie.

So first, the scientist (the president can wait, because his rescue would take all but a minute). I won’t bore you with the details, but Doraemon opens the Dokodemo door to where the scientist is, Faye snatches the scientist, Kurama snatches the weapon, and Senbei snatches the plans in one big swoop before anyone even notices anything. Faye knocks the scientists out before he realized what was happening, and ties him up with Kurama’s whip. They take apart the weapon (because they don’t really have any use for it), and burn the plans (but not before Senbei takes a good look , just in case they’d need that knowledge someday). But what to do with the scientist?

Faye: Just kill him already.
Doraemon: He deserves a chance to live!
Senbei: I guess it depends on whether he’s a good person.
Kurama: Do we even have a right to determine this, and even if we did, we’d kill him if he’s not ‘good’? Maybe it’s not his choice, heck, maybe the president is the bad one and not this guy!
All of them: Yikes.
Kurama: … What about your Forgetful Stick, Doaremon? We could make the scientist forget this knowledge of the weapon, and make the president forget about all about this weapon and plan and scientist.
Faye: But this just delays the problem. It’s only a matter of when this scientist, or hell, another scientist (looks at Senbei, who goes "Who, me?) figures out how to build this weapon all over again. Same goes for the president. We have to kill them both!
Doraemon/Senbei: We’re really not the type that kills people.
Kurama: It’s a matter of faith in humanity. When presented with the same choices again, it’s possible that they’d do the same thing again, but it’s also possible that they’d make the better choice the second time around. We could always stop them again should something bad happen, right?
Doraemon/Senbei: Teeeeaaam Old School!
Faye: Oh, whatever. (goes for a smoke)

So this is exactly what they did. They place the scientist on a bench in Central Park and hits him with the forgetful stick. The scientist wakes up and instantly gets mugged (though Faye already beat the muggers to the punch). “What was I doing in the park? Was I studying the plants? What a weird day I can’t remember.”

With plenty of time left, the team then proceeds to rescue the president, again via the Dokodemo Door and knocks him out (easier to transport).

Kurama: Faye, you do the honors. You can’t kill him, but at least you can hit him hard.
Faye: Oh, all right. How often does one get to slap a president around? smack!

The president wakes up safely in his bedroom in the White House. He wonders why he can’t remember how he escaped and why there’s a huge shiner on his forehead. But for now, he just feel truly blessed to have survived such an ordeal.

ETA: Oh, and the warlords? Well, they smack each other around for having somehow lost the president in the building - before the military swoops in and takes them all out.

#16

Most ships are clunky, that is the truth of it. Built by the lowest bidder they mostly resemble flying garbage cans that had wings and thrusters grafted on as an afterthought. Normandy 2 was not such a vehicle. It was attractive, elegant and powerful like a hanging branch from a Weeping Willow. Aboard the Normandy 2 there was a jovial atmosphere in the air. Another successful mission had just been completed by Team Solai 2.0 and everyone was toasting each other with champagne and shots of tequila.

In the midst of the team’s revelry the incoming message light pinged on. “Look sharp” Shepard barked at the group. He stared at Sheldon who was working himself into to slather debating the structure of alpha trans-warp frequency modulation parameters as generated by a brown dwarf with Mordin. Mordin looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable as he edged towards the door.

The room grew dark as the COM came online. Team Solai 2.0 stepped onto the transmission pad and all at once the image of the Illusive man surrounded them.

“Well done” he said in a tone that was half muttered half spoken. His ever-present cigarette wisped smoke delicately in his left hand, in his right hand a glass of clinking scotch. Somewhere a dog barked.

“Thank you sir.” Shepard responded.

“If you are ready I have another mission for you.”

Shepard pondered for a moment. He could reply, “Screw you!” but that didn’t feel right. He might say, “Tell me about your Mother” but that also did sit well. He could investigate the matter further, but decided it was time for more action. He decided on saying, “Go on.”

“It seems that although Cerberus view humans as perfection and strive to elevate our species some of us can make mistakes. We have a search-and-rescue operation for you back on Earth. It would seem some Presidents are, shall we say, more competent than others. You need to rescue the President of the United States and retrieve a scientist who is carrying an experimental bioweapon. Cerberus wants the President alive and returned. The bioweapon is of interest to us but trust to your discretion. Both are somewhere in the New York City maximum security prison fortress location unknown. A gang has captured him and are making demands.”

“How do we know if this gang really has the President, do we have proof?” Shepard inquired.

“Let’s just say he will never play the piano again” the Illusive man said with a smirk and a deep draw of his scotch.

“Thank you sir.” Shepard said, slightly nodding to himself. Something didn’t feel right about this mission, but the feeling could simply be a passing flu.

As the Normandy drew close to Earth Shepard considered his options on the bridge. “EDI!” he said, “scan the surface, locate the President and the Scientist.”

“Scanning” the blue holograph replied. “Found. The President is being held in a pub called Muldoons on what was once 43rd and 3rd. The Scientist is being held at 840 Broadway.”

“Thanks EDI. Sheldon! Martian! R2! Report!” the three squad members came bounding up. “You all know what our mission is. We have a choice between surgical precision or massive strike. My decision is to go with both: a massive surgical strike. Sheldon!”

“Yes sir!” Sheldon approximated what he thought a salute should look like.

“You are to design a maximum yield burst pattern for the Martian UFO fleet. I want the island completely leveled except for those two locations.”

“C-c-c-c-completely leveled?” Sheldon said in slight disbelief.

“Completely leveled.” Shepard replied. “I’m not used to repeating my commands. Make me do it again and you will join Grig and Marvin. I want you to level the playing field, literally.”

“Yes sir.” Sheldon said meekly.

“Once you are done I want you to feed the plan into EDI. R2, you are to go to the Martian fleet to assist in linking EDI to them and troubleshoot if necessary. Martian, your job is ensure cooperation from your compatriots.”

“ACK ACK!” the Martian replied.

One hour later the Normandy was in orbit around the Earth with five Martian UFOs. “On my mark” Shepard called out, “MARK.”

The next moment was eerily quiet. After a gentle ‘fwump’ and a blink of an eye the entirety of Manhattan save two buildings were ash.

“Okay,” Shepard said with a grin, “Now the playing field is leveled. Let’s go.”

Sheldon and Shepard boarded Normandy’s shuttle and met R2 and the Martian on the surface. The island was like something out of a dream, completely flat save for the natural elevation of the land and two buildings standing alone about two miles away from each other as what was formerly the island swirled in the breeze. As the shuttle landed outside the first building noted a willowy man sitting in the doorway briefcase to one side and a stack of comic books to his other.

Pulling out his assault rifle in one fluid motion Shepard stepped out of the shuttle. Glancing left to right and scanning the face of the building he called out to the surprised man, “Where are the others? Are your guards inside?”

The man adjusted his glasses, “No.” he replied, “They were outside having a smoke when the City was hit. Guess smoking really can kill you.” The scientist stood up, brushed himself off and headed over to the shuttle carrying his briefcase and comic books.

“ACTION COMICS NUMBER 1?!?!?” Sheldon squealed practically turning purple. “Can I have this?”

“Uh, sure.” The scientist replied. “I just needed something to read, this was all I could find in there.”

As it slowly dawned on Sheldon where the scientist had been held a look of shock came over his face. He attempted to throw himself out of the shuttle but was thrown back as the door came crashing down. “NO! NO! NO!” he cried banging on the glass as the shuttle lifted off the ground. “ACK ACK” the Martian said to Sheldon comfortingly touching his arm.
As the shuttle landed at the second location Shepard noted they wouldn’t be so lucky this time. The warlord stood just inside the doorway holding a gun to the President’s head who stood defiant.

“Release the scientist or I kill the President!” the Warlord cried out.
Shepard considered his next move. He could ask the Warlord about his background, perhaps make an observation about the newly transformed island or make a joke about his fancy hat…but talk was cheap and this solution had gone on long enough. Shepard pulled out his M-490 Blackstorm Heavy Weapon and with a click of the trigger and a sudden whoosh created a black hole over the warlord’s head.

“I have a better idea” Shepard yelled out, “release the President and I won’t create another black hole in the region where your crotch used to be.”

“Eeeep” the Warlord said masculinely. As the Warlord released him The President spun around and punched the Warlord in the face saying, “That’s for my finger, bee-yotch!”

Twenty minutes later they were all back in the briefing room, the champagne not yet cold from their prior celebration. The President’s left hand was bandaged and the Scientist had been provided with a fresh pair of pants.

The Illusive man clicked online, “I have barely finished the cigarette I started from our last briefing.”

Shepard crossed his arms, “I work hard and I play hard” and after a quick glance at Miranda said a bit more quietly, “I need about ten minutes before our next mission if you please. I have some team exploration I need to attend to.”

“No problem.” The Illusive man said with a grin. “Mr. President, a word. I see Shepard chose to preserve the bio-weapon, what are your thoughts regarding how to handle it?”

“The secret recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken? It should destroyed.” The President said coolly.

“Why is that?” the Illusive man replied.

“Because he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes ya crave it fortnightly, smartass!. Oh, I hated the Colonel with is wee beady eyes, and that smug look on his face. “Oh, you’re gonna buy my chicken! Ohhhhh!” the President said wringing his hands.

“Ok,” the Illusive man said, “If that will be all, thank you all. See you in ten minutes.”

#17

Well, Team Solai certainly has no problems with killing bystanders. :wink:

And as for Coco’s Team, my question would be- how does Doraemon know where to ‘create’ his doors? If it is someplace he has never been, or to someone he has never met…

#18

In my defense it was an island of people essentially on death row, so you can view it as being kind…or kind of awesome! :smiley:

#19

Or possibly… BOTH.:wink:

#20

Team Dyno-Mite is informed of the situation from their secret base and head to Liberty Island via the Millennium Falcon. At the mission briefing, Tony Stark asks the Government if all onboard Air Force One were DNA tagged. The White house confirms that all have DNA tags and that information will be forwarded to the team. Once the tagging information reaches Tony, he asks T’pol to assist him in upgrading the Ironman suit to scan for all DNA tags similar to her tricorder. With the added tech, the team embarks to the crash site inside the prison.

At the crash site, Ironman detects a barely alive survivor. The survivor is a Secret Service Agent who informs the team of a bio-weapon scientist who survived with a sample that would turn all living souls to mush that it comes in contact with it was taken to the South. Some guy who calls himself the Duke of New York took the President to the North. Knowing Tony’s feelings on WMD’s, T’pol suggests that Tony go to save the President and rest of the team will deal with the scientist. As the Secret Service Agent passes, the team heads to Central park to land the Falcon. Leaving the Falcon with point defenses active, the team separates.

Han and T’pol jump into the transformed Ironhide and head south. They encounter little resistance and drive through any barriers and prisoners who try stop them. At the gates to the Southsiders base, Ironhide easily destroys their fortifications and walks into the courtyard with little problem. Han and T’pol provide cover fire and pick off any who try to shoot back. Inside the compound, T’pol and Han track down the scientist with the tricorder. Han blasts the guards before they know what has hit t hem. T’pol approaches the scientist and mind-melds with him to get the bio-weapon formula and other information and erases all memory of it from his mind. They team heads back to Ironhide to have him destroy the sample and they head back to the Falcon.

At the same time to the North, Ironman is making short work of the Dukes followers. The limited weapons of the Northsiders are no match against the Iron Man suit. Tony easily mows them down as they try to stop him. In the Duke’s last ditch effort to save himself, he takes a gun to the President’s head. With little warning, Ironman’s precision shot hits right between the eyes of the Duke. Tony contacts the rest of the team for pickup.

As the team is beginning to depart the Duke’s follower base, Ironman’s DNA tracking goes off and they discover another survivor. A beautiful young woman was captured and left for dead. The team rescues her only to find out that she was the mastermind behind the crash and has a secondary bomb inside of her body that is set to explode. With a Vulcan cold sense of logic, T’pol vaporizes the woman before the others can even blink.

As the team is landing back at Liberty Island, the President asks the Scientist about the weapon. Having no memory of it, the President panics. T’pol stuns the President and does another mind-meld to wipe his memory of the weapon.

After delivering the President, Team Dyno-Mite goes for a little fishing trip of blowing up a weapons manufacturing plant and weapons lab in the middle of the night just to be sure. And all was safe in the world for another day.