May 13 17:55:09 109 PA - Gabriel Advises Marcel on Defending the Compound
From Chronicles
REFUGEE COMPOUND
A couple weeks ago this sector was the stage of three brutal, but futile attacks led by independent mercenaries. But there is no evidence remaining of that today. Many things have changes for the fortifications of the refugee camp. Taking it from fortified to militarized in exterior looks. The wall surrounding it has nearly doubled in bulk but not height. Granting a much wider exterior base and crenelations to offer cover. Four additional turret posts adorn the corners of the enhanced structure, making for a formidable defense. And this is without considering vibro-wire laced hawthorn surrounding the wall and any traps in the earth beyond. Inside the walls much looks the same though one might notice new sensor units adorning the main entrances to the buildings.
Gabriel isn't in a hurry at this point - time has passed, so the rush is gone - but he makes no issue of dropping his weapons at the gate and then making a beeline towards Marcel's office. Sure, rubbing elbows with refugees will be inevitable, but it's the leader with whom he needs to speak. One way or another, he arrives at the pair of guards, smirking slightly at them as they stand there like guarding Disney's Queen of Hearst. There's a good chance that he'll get out, "I'm here to talk to Marcel about defending the compound," before they can even bother to ask what he's doing there.
There is a slight pause as Gabriel states his intentions so readily. One guard looks to the other who gives a curt nod before the both allow Gabriel to pass without real delay. Let the man on the mission to yell down the wall do just that if it pleases him. Marcel sits in his office reviewing reports much as he is normally found. "Mr. Blaze, you have a bad habit of costing me friendly bets." He observes to Gabriel in greeting.
"Thanks, I'm fun at bars, too," Gabriel offers jovially. "Good thing that I never made a bet with anyone that you had any respect for my charming personality. But which specific bet was it this time? It would be fun to guess, but I hate wasting time." He steps neatly into the office, not in his old day-to-day clothing, but his new uniform, which is mostly an old uniform, just updated slightly to reflect the drastic change to his life two years ago.
"How long you'd work for the Family for, and when I’d see you again. Lost on both counts. But as you just said I'm sure you're not here for your own score." Marcel answers with a casual tone, leaning back to relax for the friendly conversation.
"I wasn't sure how long I'd work for them, either. You have to admit it was an interesting deal. It went sour when I was supposed to kill you, which would have been an awful thing if I'd agreed, because you wouldn't look good with a hole in your head. But, I thought that I'd come by to talk about what they're doing to you, throwing 'collectors' your way." Gabriel offers a tiny shrug and purses his lips a little. "Granted, the compound looks far better than it was, but your victory wasn't exactly a resounding one. I thought I might come by and see if I could help with planning, strategy, that kind of thing."
Marcel nods and seems to agree with Gabriel on his points so far. "No it wasn’t resounding at all. But it was unprofitable for the green mercs that tried. With is the deciding factor in why the attacks haven’t continued with the same veracity. Now the experienced mercs are looking over us in detail now, and seeing if there truly is money in collecting for the Family." He says, still calm. "I think a hostage situation will come next. It got results before after all. Though it may be far more devious this time."
"Hostages along the lines of what Strala and I fought with a year ago?" Gabriel asks a quick question to clarify, rather than continuing.
Marcel shakes his head. "No, nothing so barbaric. Clash was formidable, but not complex on any level. This enemy will not be the same. No I fear this entire facility may be taken hostage. All of our lives held on the demands who would collect from us. A large complicated endeavor to be sure. But the right people could do it. And I've yet find or hear any means to prevent it."
With a light whistle, Gabriel settles himself into the chair, straightening his uniform neatly as he does so. "Taking hostage the people that you need the money from, knowing they can't or won't pay, thus hoping or forcing an outside entity to pay up? Complicated, indeed. Obviously an endeavor that you can't allow to happen. Which, if we can continue to talk, brings me to what I'm doing here, as I said."
"I have no higher priority. So if you have advice to offer by all means." Marcel invites, taking his own turn for a short reply to allow things to continue quickly.
"Do you have any idea what kind of attack it might be? It'll have to lead with *some* form of attack, unless there's a mage out there strong enough to just put a magic bubble over this place. If you can give me a better picture - even if it's only an educated guess, or non-educated guess - that would help me out." Gabriel waves outside the office. "You seem to have done well enough armoring up against the little mercs, but yes, clearly you'll need something more. Even if they don't want to take everybody hostage, you'll need more. Any intelligence you can pass along with help me, which will help you, which will save lives; and if you don't believe me, have your guys come in and read my mind. I'm here to try to plan, advise and otherwise keep my mouth shut."
"The attack that blasted a 60 foot hole in the wall was a pretty big eye opener to us, and them. Explosives are cheap they say. It would be easy to get enough of such to completely level this compound. And while no mage could create a bubble around it. Many could get such a device inside our walls. They have spells that can teleport them in. Only thing is that’s a very final approach. No hope of collection if we don’t give in. Nothing would survive. And though the family would appreciate it I doubt they'd pay for it. They make more money off of us alive now." Marcel explains in a calm but serious tone, clearly a threat that has been discussed several times. "So we think when it does come, it will be a less drastic weapon. Poison gas or similar. Something that if push came to shove, we would die with our possessions left to cash in."
Gabriel listens intently, nodding at the important points. He's quiet for a while, thinking, holding his chin in a couple of fingers. After a long pause of gazing at the carpet, he looks up to the refugee leader and says softly with steepled fingers, "Feign weakness and encourage their arrogance. They'd prefer you all alive, probably to work off their own employ or be sold off as slaves; and they want everything you own, to cash out at whatever value they can get. They want this land back. How long would it take to bring your generators and such from a cold start to full power? By the way... what's in the hole? I know, it's a factory for making industrial equipment. It just really resembles holes that I've seen before that were not peaceful industrial holes."
"Our three generators are never off. They are nuclear with a ten year life.. Well ten years if they don’t run turrets in regular firefights. Minimizing personal draw from them and those turrets will be good for five years, give or take. Was three, but a guy named Tek was a big help in fixing it up." Marcel answers, looking unsure about the reason for the question. Though not as unsure as the other question. "I haven’t seen the holes you speak of. But you could take a walk down there easily enough. See the smelters and forges and various machinery key to manufacturing many modern things."
"Okay. I might take a stroll down there. Sapping is ancient method of warfare, and it works very well. Given enough time, you might be able to drive under the Family's headquarters and blow it to hell. Even if it didn't kill them, it would be extravagant and disheartening to their followers." Gabriel arches a brow. "How far do you suppose it is in a direct line from the existing hole to that place, anyway?" He waves it off, allowing Marcel to ponder it as he continues. "As far as your nuclear generators, those are impressive, admittedly. I wouldn't want to go up against a fortress guarded like that. Not even the Family, if they could help it. So why not take them out of the equation? Everything can be camouflaged, one way or another, with either passive silence or dramatic fanfare. Bring in Tek and other experts to attach quick connects to your turrets. Even your lights and water systems. Everything. Some fireworks and emergency releases that some kind of circuit failed, and you're drawing on reserves. They might see a soft target, start to come in to take it - then you just slap on the quick-connects and flip the fuses to bring this place to life in seconds. Of course, that's just something off the top of my head."
"Why present a soft target at all?" Marcel asks in turn. "Goading the gangs does not seem advisable. Not with a steadily decreasing army of farmers to meet the invited guests. As for taking the offensive, some say the Family is not in the office block you mention. That they are truly out of reach. Which would explain their survival of the City's last purge of the Dregs, 50 years ago. Every structure was leveled or at least gutted I'm told. Because the corruption was bursting at the seams."
Gabriel nods. "Oh, I believe they don't live there. Seen them pop in from too many places. But it's still a rallying point for their 'troops.' However, what's the opposite of goading them with a lesser number of armed farmers, allowing them to believe that they have a greater upper hand, versus trying to put out a strong front, with an equally lesser number of armed farmers that they can plainly see? They want a battle - don't fight their battle. Pick your own time. Pick your own battlefield. Stack things as much in your favor as possible." Gabriel leans forward, but only a little bit. "Subterfuge is the greatest weapon that an army of professionals or an army of farmers can ever hope to wield. But perhaps you have a plan already? If so, I would really like to hear it. I might be able to help refine it. Or find that it's perfect. Or, or, or."
Marcel shakes his head again. "No that’s pretty much where we stand. What we have to hold this place and how we know to hold it. We're stuck in a reactionary game with the Family, and it is their move. Maybe we could counter attack whatever they intend. But first they have to do that."
The soldier from times long past asks, "You have one-thousand people down from Tolkeen, plus what looks like another four-thousand members of the Vigilantes, right? Crammed into an area of roughly a tenth of a square mile. That's still pretty dense, even at half of what you might have originally been. The Vigilantes have to be much better soldiers too, than your typical armed farmer." He lets out a soft sigh. "The unfortunate part is that most attacks can't be anticipated with enough accuracy for a preemptive strike. In fact, I've seen massive disinformation lead to a surprise attack, but in all my years I've never seen a battle that was read so completely beforehand that it was blunted by another strike. I've seen a generalized suspected attack pre-emptively hit... but never the real thing. That might just be a pipe dream, I'm afraid. Anyone going in to ask questions would just be suicide." Gabriel stops and ponders. "Marcel, have you ever seen an alligator in the water?"
"A what?" Marcel asks, apparently never heard of an alligator, let alone seen one. "As for the Vigilantes, they are better fighters, but ill-equipped. Been trying to even it all out of late. But a lot of my people are hesitant. Vigilantes used to number in the hundreds. Thousands of new recruits taking in the excellent facilities. How far can we really trust them to stand by us if push comes to shove?"
"I can understand the hesitance. But the Vigilantes seem to be the 'good guys' of the gang world. As far as I know they haven't conflicted with you in the past, and when it comes to reinforcements? Well?" Gabriel shrugs. "Beggars can't be choosers. Maybe in the heat of battle, they'd crumble. None of us can know. But at least you'd have them there for the start of the battle." He pauses to scratch at his arm, thinking on how he wants to phrase his next statement. "An alligator... is very big reptile. Aquatic, but also lives on land. Where I come from, they used to be very populace in what's now the Dinosaur Swamps, except that they were just regular animals, not beasts. Twenty-feet long, sometimes, with a huge long mouth that closed with thousands of pounds of tooth and pressure. They'd sit in the water, motionless. Just their eyes above the water like little pods." His hands are used slowly to carve out the image in the air. "People would look, think that there was something easy to trap, they'd jump in the water next to the little pair of eyes, and get torn in half by the rest of the twenty-foot animal. Or, they'd be sunning themselves on the shore, totally motionless - they're reptiles, after all. But if someone thought they'd come up quietly? They might, against the harmless-looking animal. Then a split second later, they'd be missing an arm." He holds his palms out. "My point is that you, I, no one except the Family can know what they're planning, and it is impossible to plan for every contingency. So be the alligator. Make this place, make the occupants, look pathetic and helpless. Invite the battle. Why would they bother to pay and send ten-thousand troops when they think they can walk in and get away with only paying two-thousand? Then the alligator bites. You and the refugees with hand weapons and rifles. Your turrets suddenly burst to life, electricity comes on..." Gabriel allows his long-winded speech to finally trail off.
Marcel shakes his head. "Too late I'm afraid. Maybe this advice would have been just the thing before those initial attacks. Get them all in one fell swoop. I had over 2000 more people then. Now our defensive capabilities are quite well established. I don’t see any way to hide them. Do you? Ways that won't cost lives reacting to this attack?"
"Marcel, the problem is that nothing is perfect. You will lose lives. Period. Maybe everybody will die. But what sounds better to you, being taken hostage, drawing a strong enemy into a strong fight to slug it out, or to take time to put effort into making it look like *more* people are leaving, and the place is falling into disrepair - an oh-so-unfortunate waste of previous resources." Gabriel nods his head. "Making something look genuinely poor is more difficult that making it look perfect, but it pays off. However, it's your army, your people. You're waiting for a poison gas attack and being taken hostage. If you'd like me to continue to help, just pick one direction that I'll try to specify better. Make yourself look weak and spring a trap? Or try to make vastly inferior numbers and technology look strong for a slug-fest?"
"Well maybe I can do that. I can try it. In a month there will be less than 500 of us. And who knows how many more than a handful will remain after that. So maybe what you suggest is inevitable. And we should meet it head on." Marcel admits, honestly considering how he could make a place he's strive to make impenetrable, look quite vulnerable. "I will put it to my council for further debate. And we will see what can be done."
Gabriel nods and rubs his hands together. "So.. that kind of sounds like a dismissal? Or do you want to continue about how to hit the bastards head on? Because while I came with a better idea... I'm certainly not unaware of how to punch a guy in the face and keep him down."
"Meet our weakness head on, not them." Marcel corrects before nodding for the dismissal. "Your council has merits we've not yet considered. Let us take time to action on it now."
Gabriel stands and nods, smiling. "Well, I'm glad that I could help, or at least possibly have put you in a new direction." He closes the distance and extends a hand. "We haven't always been great friends, we'll never be. But I respect what you do, and I assure you that I'm on your side, to help how I can. If you need me, you can get me any time of day or night on frequency 93.5. I use KONG encoding."
