RP: YSS Genei Mission 1 - Prologue

"I do not wish to avoid conversing with you Yamamoto-san. I enjoy our conversations. What I meant by discrete was that; if there are others around I will do my best to offer advice or suggestions in such as way as to not be obvious at the time." Konpeki smiled.

"Ah. I understand," said Nobutora, nodding. "Propriety is certainly a valid concern." At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder how anyone could enjoy a conversation with him. Is she a masochist or something? He grinned faintly at the thought, and recognized that it was a very good thing that he could, at the very least, find some amusement in the whole ordeal. He looked up at Eika again, meeting her eyes. "As I said, I appreciate it. And if there are any aspects of technical analysis you are unsure about, please feel at ease to approach me for assistance. I am quite well versed."

Konpeki smiled, "I will be sure to take you up on that offer. After all it would be silly of me not to avail myself of your expertise." She looked around the room, "It will be good to meet the rest of the team and the ship's crew. Plus once the Shosa tells us what cabin we are assigned to I would like to unpack."

"Yes, establishing personal space will likely be beneficial," agreed Nobutora. "And I will have to find a method of reconfiguring my space to a sleeping system more comfortable for my body than a Nekovalkyrja sleeping nest. I suppose that I could simply sleep on the floor if necessary."

"Well I only saw three crew quarters so I don't know how much personal space there will be," Eika replied. " I hadn't thought about the sleeping arrangements. I've slept in nests, chairs, and beds, I can sleep just about anywhere." She grinned. "But, I must admit I did not think about a Yamataian sleeping in one. If you can't sleep in one, then perhaps the Shosa will allow you to fabricate a Tatami mat for sleeping on the floor."

Once the crew had been assembled in the wardroom Yoshiko started down from the bridge. In front of each crew member sat a blank-screened datapad. Once Yoshiko entered she headed to the head of the table. "I now officially welcome you all aboard the YSS Genei." Yoshiko said with a smirk. "I look forward to working with all of you. Now, let's get down to business." the wall behind Yoshiko suddenly lit up with a rotating SAINT logo, as well as the screens of the datapads.

"Less than an hour ago we received our first assignment. A terrorist cell within Yamataian space has been discovered recently do to a tip off from an inside man. From the scant amount of information he provided, we've deduced that the cell is planning a cyber attack on PANTHEON. By the information provided to us, they seem to have some military grade computers, and a large amount of funding. They aren't really the problem however. After pouring over information from the informant SAINT has deduced that any cyber attack from such a group would be easily warded off by Layer 2 defenses within PANTHEON, as such they are not a threat.

What SAINT is concerned about however is where the funding and equipment is coming from. It is believed that this could be an effort by the Nepleslians to attack us from within. Whoever is funding them has deep pockets and access to military level equipment, we want to know if they're Nepleslian Intelligence Operatives, and if not then who exactly they are. As such, this is a quiet operation, we don't want to scare the funders away.

These are the people associated with the cell." As Yoshiko spoke the screen behind her flashed through a named list of the terrorists which also possessed pictures of them as well. This information was then made available on the datapads.

"Your mission is simple, find out how the cell is getting it's equipment and money, and specifically from who. There of course is one more catch. The informant that tipped us off wants to get him and his family out. So you'll need to find a way to extract him while fulfilling the other mission objectives." Yoshiko paused while she looked over the faces of the crew. Damn...I need to slow down. the neko thought to herself before speaking again. "If there are any questions I'll be happy to take them now, otherwise you have 48 hours to develop a unified mission plan and present it to me for approval."

((THANK YOU. It's impossible to get through that fog of back-and-forth two-person RP. There's a reason why some sites I went to have rules preventing two people from doing that when the RP has more than two in it.))

Daria was the first to raise her hand for a question, twitching and hopping slightly to get attention. She could be very childish for a neko of even 3 years' age, it seemed! But with a very subtle, leading smirk and a tone that was actually more informative than amused, she led off. There was almost a note of pride as she built her thesis, which ended up less of a question and more of a... conclusion.

"All due respect and suchsame, but... I must question the conclusions of our intel. I understand that the attack isn't a threat, and we should be worried about their funding source. What bothers me is that anyone would even fund this for that purpose, knowing the level of security PANTHEON has. It's my suspicion that this might be more than just a sponsored attack, but either an actual attempt to somehow compromise SAINT or divert its resources - or the front of some other kind of data-crunching operation."

Lowering herself slightly after the rather large speech/briefing-hijacking, Daria smiled a bit more broadly, and pointed... nowhere. But dramatically!

"So! To make this into a question, would it be a good idea to alter the mission parameters to take into account a possible counter-counterintelligence mission profile?"

"Seems like a standard snatch n' gab to me," Red offered, giving much different body language than before. Where previously she had been calm and mostly silent, now she was much more relaxed and informal with her elbow on the table resting her chin on her intertwined hands. "The intern, the manager, the student, we probably only need two off this list," she continued, moving one hand away to point out the various targets.

She looked about the room and seeing not much understanding reflected back, decided to elaborate on the point. "We take 'em in, download their brain, wipe the memory of the grab, implant appropriate false memories and we've got our data. Probably won't even have to ghost them, either." Another glance around before Red decided to explain herself again. "Where we ST swap into their bodies and go out there and be them while their memories are picked through in here."

The calmness in her voice reflected how often he had done this sort of thing. It was standard operating procedure in his old unit, especially on a smaller job like this. Low risk, high chance of success. Her eyes once more looked around the room to gauge the reaction of his new crew mates as she lifted her arms off the table and leaned back in her seat.

Konpeki listened to her crewmates suggestions while reviewing the data provided. Osaru-Hei wants us to do what! she thought. She did her best to remain impassive at the suggestion of such callous treatment of possibly innocent people.

After Osaru completed her suggestion, Eika stood, faced the captain with a brief bow. "Okana-Shosa, I believe that it would be premature to snatch and grab anyone at this time. I concur with what Adelle-Hei says; there is more to this than we are aware of. I suggest that we first establish reconnaissance, we should go into Takahashi Shipping and check it out. We should plant electronic surveillance in the most likely areas, and have someone like Yamamoto-Hei" pointing at Nobotura, "take a look at their computers, perhaps to implant a program to allow us to monitor their activity remotely. It should not be difficult for a person with his experience to identify any unusual patterns in their transactions. After all for all we know this informant may be the terrorist and using them for his own purposes. Perhaps to establish crediblity within our own organization."

Eika paused for moment. "By acquiring more data, it will better allow us to determine the most prudent course of action, and if the informant is what he claims, safely extract him and his wife." Konpeki then sat down and waited to see what other suggestions would come forth.

"If the Shosa will allow it, I will say that I understand Adelle-hei and Eika-hei's concerns," began Nobutora. His demeanor, like Red's, had changed. While he did sound more confident, his voice was now nearly leeched of emotion; this situation was a problem to be confronted on purely logical terms, without the intercession of more human considerations. "Naturally we can presume that there is some other aspect at play here, beyond the superficial. But I might note that people, including very experienced and intelligent people, do stupid things, so we cannot rule out the possibility that this is what it appears to be."

He paused for a moment, examining the data pad again. "Eika-hei is correct in saying that we should observe their communications, though I think it might be too risky to directly tap their computers. Direct access and subsequent communications with the tap leave entirely too much room for detection, something which, as the Shosa says, is unacceptable in this situation. If we can tap into their provider service, I believe that would make for a much better monitoring vantage. And at the same time, I have to agree with Osaru-hei," he said, nodding at the neko. "The data available from a memory download can provide material for analysis that simply won't be available in other forms. At this stage, it is vital to build a complete picture of their operation, and I think a memory download is a critical part of providing that. At any rate, such is my suggestion, ma'am."

Eika sat, keeping her face neutral. She made note of the transformation in Yamamoto-Hei's demeanor. The CIES had more emotion when it spoke to us, than he has at the moment, she thought. I can’t believe he is approving of violating a person’s mind. Maybe my joining SAINT was a mistake, no one else here seems bothered by the idea.

“And what if the person you snatch and download is innocent? Then we will have assaulted a loyal Yamatai citizen. We will then be guilty of violating Senate Proposal #75.” Eika said softly.

Yoshiko resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at Daria's hyperactive behavior. After listening in on the conversation for a little bit, Yoshiko finally spoke up. "We do not use such...methods...in our investigations." Yoshiko said coolly, though she was honestly surprised at Nobutara's agreement to such...callous actions. "As Eika-Hei has mentioned, it is quite illegal and this unit will not use such methods to get information." Yoshiko paused, "Concerning counter-counter-intelligence, that's always a risk we take and therefore is something you should probably plan for."

Nobutora simply swiveled his head to look at the Shosa. "It is merely a more efficient method to extract time sensitive information, ma'am. These... people are traitors, or at least are associating with traitors. But as the Shosa says, such a surveillance method is unacceptable." He turned to look at Red. The cool demeanor with which the neko had suggested the snatch-and-grab was one that he had not seen outside of intelligence professionals before; it seemed clear now that his original guess had been on. Contrary to appearances, she - or he; the Shosa did mention ST's - had to be an experienced operative. "Osaru-hei, do you believe it possible to get into position for a direct bugging of the targets? Perhaps it is not as efficient as... other methods, but it is the only viable option I can conceive of to provide comparable information for analysis." The icy demeanor of logic was still surrounding him; upon being labeled “suspects,” the individuals in question had abdicated their status as people, in his eyes. They were beneath contempt. The Shosa’s ethical decision merely registered as a change in mission requirements.

Osaru laughed in a manner more befitting of an older Geshrin man than a young Nekovalkyrja girl. "It's not illegal because we don't clone them and the only tampering we're doing is erasing our presence. We're not changing their opinions or personality and what have you," she explained. "And if they're innocent, then there's nothing for them to fear. We're not some police force here to arrest people or look for whatever other crimes they may or may not have committed."

She folded her hands together and set them on the table and nodded to Nobutora, "Bugging is an alternative, but they can be detected fairly easy by detecting the signals they send out." Internally Earle considered the cell. Daria had a lot to learn, Yamamoto is either too easy to please or needs to organize his thoughts better. Eika is a problem child, though. And the Captain was pretty quick to jump in on that. Interesting.

Nobutora nodded at Red. While he agreed with everything spoken by the neko, he had to smother his extreme annoyance at the accompanying conduct. The very idea of laughing, however indirectly, at a statement by a superior officer was beyond reprehensible to Nobutora's mind. "I thought as much." He turned again, looking back towards the Shosa. "As Osaru-hei says, there is simply no other option for gaining comparable information, ma'am. If direct bugging is out of the question, there will be a large spectrum of data that will remain unavailable for analysis. There is only so much that can be interpreted from emissions alone." He paused again for a moment, pulling up a legal reference on his pad. "If the Shosa finds the issue with Osaru-hei's suggestion to be a matter of legality, I propose we apply to the Empress for special dispensation, as discussed under Proposal #75. If we propose this under terms of Clause 11, Section 6 - Criminal Law - of the Laws of the Yamatai Star Empire, I believe it will be undeniably acceptable for such dispensation to be granted. But should the Shosa believe this to be an unacceptable method regardless of the context, we will have to accept a serious decrease in the amount of actionable intelligence we will be able to collect."

Daria tilted her head left and right, a long cat-ear twitching slightly as she thought about all that was discussed. All of this legal ethical moral malarkey! It was not the fitting business of an espionage group to concern themselves with such small niggling interpersonal laws. Did not the Star Army murder?

But, she sighed, visibly, eventually joining back in at an appropriate moment. She didn't have the spunky-high-energy-kid attitude this time, but seemed more... irked? Impatient? Something like that.

"Do we really have the time to petition the Empress? If it's that big an ethical no-no, then let's just reconsider our options. They have financiers - monitor their transactions. They communicate. Bug it. They maintain computer systems. Compromise them. And..."

Now her demeanor turned a bit more playful again, as an appropriately catlike grin surfaced on her face. This idea, this idea had more merit. Honestly, she knew she was inexperienced! But they seemed to be blissfully unaware of the fine art of finessing. Even Red's direct, effective approach didn't have that certain artful charm to it.

"...If they're going to hack PANTHEON, and PANTHEON is going to stop them... couldn't we, as a last ditch, use PANTHEON itself to hack them back? Why just stop them with Level 2 security when you can rip them to shreds? If it sounds blatant and too unsubtle, it is. If necessary, we can use the uncharacteristic network backlash as a smokescreen to cover up whatever other intel operations we have in the background. A rat fleeing from its smoked-out hole knows it's being chased, but that doesn't mean it sees the cat."

Eika pushed her emotions aside and sat straight in her chair. She used her voice training to make her words carry without raising her volume significantly. “Okano-Shosa” nodding slightly towards the captain, “has made her stand clear on the matter of using coerced brain backups. Kindly stop acting like petulant younglings, and behave in a manner befitting personnel having prior Operative experience.” turning to look at Red. “Our mission parameters are to determine who is funding this operation, and how, and to extract the informant. That is all. I suggest that we focus on those tasks. Electronic surveillance is an option the risk of detection can be minimized. Instead of using radio transmissions, we can modify our equipment to use the building’s electrical system to carry the data thru induction coils. We can then receive the signals from outside the building with a receiver so modified.” Eika paused for a moment, looking briefly at the Shosa and then each of her team mates. “While we put our surveillance equipment in position, I suggest we allow Yamamoto-Hei to examine their computer and see if he can download the data for review later. We can use standard surveillance tactics to follow the subjects when they leave the building, tailing and ranged listening devices.”

Nobutora fixed Eika with his gaze, listening to her admonishment and suggestions. “With respect,” he began, “I do not believe it petulant to inform the Shosa when we think there is a superior alternative available. It is our job to ensure that the Shosa is making a fully informed decision. I can glean a great deal of intelligence from various communications and signals, but it is undeniable, as I have said before, that there are certain pieces of information that will be impossible to retrieve without utilizing the technique suggested by Osaru-hei. Of course, we will all follow the directions and orders of the Shosa, whatever her decision. Otherwise your suggestions are universally valid. I am not certain about the transmission security of induction coil systems, so if Osaru-hei is not familiar with the technology,” he glanced at the neko, “we ought to contact an expert before implementing it.” He sat back for a moment, considering his next comment, before turning to Adelle. “Adelle-hei, PANTHEON’s capabilities are such that we could easily back-hack their systems, but a brute force, offensive hack would be extremely inadvisable. Even if we were able to apprehend the current cell with that information, whatever organization was running them would instantly cut all ties. Passive surveillance is far more secure.”

"Alright, it sounds like you guys have a plan then." Yoshiko said, looking them over. "You have some time to get a list of everything you'll need, including what amounts of access to PANTHEON you'll need as well. Have that in list form and on my desk in 24 hours so that I can get whatever equipment you request." Yoshiko finished.

Konpeki made a list of items possible items.

• Possible mission items
• Covert Operative Sunglasses -SACOS
• Covert Directional Listening Device - SA-CDLD-2
• Lockpick set
• Camouflage fabric to conceal external equipment and or surveillance location.
• Encrypted Laser Transmitter for secure transmission
• Nondescript clothing

Later I will speak with Yamamoto, and Osaru and see if they can think of other things. she thought.