So the next question is "how good is your communication?" What to do?
If no comm available, physically going forward or back will take considerable time.
Going forward would help Acantha by getting her to a trauma center but no help in disarming the contingencies.
Going back would not help Acantha much but might get Aeneas get started in preventing Armageddon. The good of the many should probably take precedence over the few - even if it is the princess. Besides, is there any other hope?
Alternatively, can Aeneas be contacted from New Rome?
The logical thing to try and do is to attempt to make contact with Dr Silver and the New Troy command and pass on this information there by warning their allies and setting any mitigating factors the rebels, the remaining government, and Dr Silver can set into motion. By then contact with Tokyo Rose and the Aeneas Rescue Rangers should be in some stage of being re-established and whatever has happened there will come to light.
(Too bad nobody wears traditional cloaks around the palace. They could make a temporary litter.)
I agree with you, Timotheus. First step should be to let people know. Hopefully Ramesy has an emergency exit plan stashed in his back pocket, but that doesn't help Nova Roma.
The question in my mind right now is "What did CeCi (aka Centcomm black angel) do that caught Aeneas and TR's attention, and was it benign or malignant.
Or did she do anything at all, and what Aeneas and TR noticed was actually the contingencies coming into play.
Whatever it is, it's excellent drama!!!
and it appears we have another cliffhanger on our hands... ahem, ProfEtheric!
As I recall, we've seen Ada and TeeDee in communication with Marcus from these tunnels when they were at one end of the tram line and Lynn's biochip was kilometers away at the other end of the tram line. So, letting Marcus know should be very easy once they have a moment to spare from keeping Acantha from bleeding out.
Countermeasures, however, are another story. As I recall, Nero destroyed infrastructure -- easiest way to do that is embedded malware in critical city functions. Nothing to intercept and not very easy to defuse on a widespread, short-term basis. Generators start spinning past their mechanical tolerance, waste treatments start putting toxins into the water rather than taking it out, fuel refineries start igniting their stored inventories, etc. I'm not sure how many places Dr. Silver can be at once.
Ahab turned the city's warbots against the residents -- that's something that Damnatio and the Praetorians and Civil Defense etc. might be able to do something about, given warning. However, the problem is scale and time. Nova Roma has been (as I recall) stockpiling warbots for decades. If the robots have been given a new set of targeting profiles, told to go to DefCon 1, and lock out changes ... congratulations you have yet another heavily armed and hostile force inside your walls. I'm sure Maxus et. al. would do what they could, but I expect the results will not be pretty.
Samson launches preemptive first strikes against neighboring nation states. That's the one people are likely most prepared to counter, since they've no doubt been eyeing Decimus warily for years. Also, they aren't doing anything else (story-wise) but sitting around waiting to be attacked, so they aren't distracted by the existing breakdown of civil order inside Nova Roma. Presumably the only big problem with countering these attacks on the outside is that they will have been designed with that very expectation in mind. So, best case (to quote innumerable war movies and books) "We can stop a lot of it ... but a lot of it's going to get through." At least that's my guess.
So getting the word out is definitely better than not getting the word out, but expecting a handful of New Troy SpecOps types to make a dent in the contingencies .... that seems pretty unlikely to me. If they had detailed specs about them and a plan coming in, expecting them to prevent the contingencies seems like it would be more in their charter -- but we know that's not the Intel they had and not the mission for which they were briefed.
Which doesn't change the fact that, if they don't call it in right away, Marcus will soon be demonstrating his full measure and command of cutting invective when he finds out what they didn't tell him as soon as they found out about it. ^_^
I agree with your assessment of Samson and Ahab, although I think WDM's such as nerve gas would be fairly easy to rig as part of Ahab, and that makes it an even bloodier mess if true.
In the case of Nero, I'm also thinking in terms of the psychology behind the psycho who set it up. I would imagine that Decimus would be more interested in a scorched earth effect that was immediate and noticeable, such as embedded explosives in key areas of the infrastructure, making the not only inoperable, but also unrepairable. I would also imagine that he would have some kind of "Stamp" on it that made it 100% clear that he was the one who did it and the rest of the world will pay the price for his death.
Either way though, this particular FUBAR is not going to win any beauty contests....
I'm not so sure a stamp would have mattered to him, since he seems to have been very nihilistic in viewpoint when it came to the contingencies. If the city's subway ate itself by having all the cars ram the end of the line at full speed, I don't think he'd particularly care if the rubble spelled out "Decimus was here" or not. I don't think he anticipated anyone being left alive to read it. But I may be giving him too much credit.
One thing I am surprised that no one (including myself) has commented on until now, is that there appears to be some gaps when it comes to outside knowledge of the contingencies. Tokyo Rose knew, but CentComm worked hard to give the impression she didn't. (Although she may just have been playing a deeper game.) Certainly the rank and file of New Troy and New Sparta appear to have no idea about the existence of SAMSON.
The problem with that being, as Dr. Strangelove tells us, that the entire POINT of having a Doomsday Device is that people know you have it. If people don't know about it, they can't be deterred by it. Rather more people seem to know about it in Nova Roma, but it still can't have been common knowledge, or people like Mr. Black would have sold that information to the other city-states long ago. So that's a bit of a puzzle. And it inspires the question: Is the only reason Decimus implemented SAMSON simply to ensure that the neighboring states would be too distracted or too angry to lend any efforts to relief of the victims of NERO and AHAB? Otherwise, why even bother with them, since you aren't trying to deter them and they are otherwise beneath your contempt?
I've heard FUBAR as F@#$%^ Up Beyond All Recognition, sigpig. Kind of like Douchimus and Kali there, I wouldn't recognize them after that. Not without a lab and lots of analyzing at least.
At this time...Im finding out about the Contingencies at the same time that Ada and TeeDe are... this means that my team... nova roma, Maxus and my self have gone from having a bad day at the office to ... things just got fucked sideways..
If the Doomsday Devices are implanted in the city, them maybe Doc Silver or Aeneas can disarm them. If they're in the form of incoming missiles, again, Doc Silver's drones could take them out or Aeneas could disable them in flight. Does the S&R team have a comm link with any of the friendlies so they can pass the word along? I'm wondering how long they have before the Doomsday Devices go off?
Followed by careful searching of the immediate area, trying to find all the teeth and hoping they're intact, and further hoping that just sticking them back into the sockets with a dab of glue will suffice.
Now the Adrenalin hits and the Ohhh shit happens in everyone's heads.
I do find it interesting that the resistance decided to attack without an idea of how to stop the contingencies. Or having a team tasked to accomplishing that.
I grant that the devious duo are already tracking large numbers of characters and that the situation is probably well in hand(according to the devious plot). We also do not know all of what was said in the meeting that they had as well.
Just a point of curiosity ladies! By no means is it a criticism!
If he is wanting maximum psychological terror and is utterly confident that the contingencies could not be circumvented, then he might want them to take longer to manifest after activation and also operate in a more gradual fashion, in order to provide maximum time for the terror to build and spread.
After all, if the first thing some random citizen knows about the fact that Decimus is dead is that a war drone just put a round between his ears and two in the chest, he isn't going to be building much of a sense of doomed foreboding.
Damnatio Memoriae had NO intention of killing Decimus. They intended to give him a very public, very nasty slap in the face to show him, the Senate, the city, and everyone in general that his control isn't absolute, and that the people of Nova Roma aren't going to put up with his abuses any longer. Messing with the power grid, invading the palace, sparking widespread riots--those things would have served their ends sufficiently.
Imagine what's going to happen to their spirit of cooperation with the New Troy team when they find out what's just happened, unless the news is delivered rather carefully...
What I could see happening Rose is Ada getting on the communicator to warn Marcus (and the rest of team Troy). Who else is currently tied into that communication net right now?
Handled carefully did you say, not blurted out over the (secure not private) net? :-O
I'm pretty sure that Maxus and Ada are not on the same channel, but that Marcus is tied into both. So, of course, he will know _just_ how to handle this. ^_^
Also, the New Troy team can say with all sincerity, "We didn't harm a hair on Maxus Valerius head. You said he was off the table, and we didn't hurt him at all. We're trying to work with him. He's not hurt in the slightest. ... You didn't say _anything_ about Prince Decimus. Not a word. We can play back the tape for you, if you like ..." ("How the f#ck did we kill Prince Decimus?!? Find me someone who knows f#ck all about what the Chr*st is going on and get me that intel!") "... Anyway, we're pretty sure we didn't kill him. Wasn't he supposed to be tucked safely away in the Palace anyway?" ("They sound pissed. We are so f#cked if we ended up killing this guy. Why? I don't know why! It doesn't sound like anyone liked him, but they're all sh*tting themselves over there and sounding _very_ unhappy.") "Maybe it was a body double or something? You guys have those in New Rome, right?"
As for the Decimus dilemma, it is easily handled : "Official statement as follows, a Cassian killed Imperator Desimus Livius, we repeat, a Cassian killed the Imperator!"
@Sheela, you're right! That would undoubtedly calm everything down and help restore the faith of the people in the new mecha-friendly regime that is no doubt likely to move in and fill the power vacuum. The fact that one of the prince's most loyal and trusted bodyguards turned on him and took his life during an insurrection will in no way enflame the paranoid fears of the populace against soulless constructs who are poor imitations of humanity and secretly long, in their vile loathesome mockeries of hearts, to thusly serve all proper humans. ^_^
For that astounding idea, you get a treat! How about a nice, crispy, rib bone? Still has a few bits of meat clinging to it. ^_^
And remember if you ever want to do RealmsCon down by my way I'll help you out with hotel and such. The boys would love to help out also, especially if you can teach them some Daz tricks.
If no comm available, physically going forward or back will take considerable time.
Going forward would help Acantha by getting her to a trauma center but no help in disarming the contingencies.
Going back would not help Acantha much but might get Aeneas get started in preventing Armageddon. The good of the many should probably take precedence over the few - even if it is the princess. Besides, is there any other hope?
Alternatively, can Aeneas be contacted from New Rome?
(Too bad nobody wears traditional cloaks around the palace. They could make a temporary litter.)
The question in my mind right now is "What did CeCi (aka Centcomm black angel) do that caught Aeneas and TR's attention, and was it benign or malignant.
Or did she do anything at all, and what Aeneas and TR noticed was actually the contingencies coming into play.
Whatever it is, it's excellent drama!!!
and it appears we have another cliffhanger on our hands... ahem, ProfEtheric!
Countermeasures, however, are another story. As I recall, Nero destroyed infrastructure -- easiest way to do that is embedded malware in critical city functions. Nothing to intercept and not very easy to defuse on a widespread, short-term basis. Generators start spinning past their mechanical tolerance, waste treatments start putting toxins into the water rather than taking it out, fuel refineries start igniting their stored inventories, etc. I'm not sure how many places Dr. Silver can be at once.
Ahab turned the city's warbots against the residents -- that's something that Damnatio and the Praetorians and Civil Defense etc. might be able to do something about, given warning. However, the problem is scale and time. Nova Roma has been (as I recall) stockpiling warbots for decades. If the robots have been given a new set of targeting profiles, told to go to DefCon 1, and lock out changes ... congratulations you have yet another heavily armed and hostile force inside your walls. I'm sure Maxus et. al. would do what they could, but I expect the results will not be pretty.
Samson launches preemptive first strikes against neighboring nation states. That's the one people are likely most prepared to counter, since they've no doubt been eyeing Decimus warily for years. Also, they aren't doing anything else (story-wise) but sitting around waiting to be attacked, so they aren't distracted by the existing breakdown of civil order inside Nova Roma. Presumably the only big problem with countering these attacks on the outside is that they will have been designed with that very expectation in mind. So, best case (to quote innumerable war movies and books) "We can stop a lot of it ... but a lot of it's going to get through." At least that's my guess.
So getting the word out is definitely better than not getting the word out, but expecting a handful of New Troy SpecOps types to make a dent in the contingencies .... that seems pretty unlikely to me. If they had detailed specs about them and a plan coming in, expecting them to prevent the contingencies seems like it would be more in their charter -- but we know that's not the Intel they had and not the mission for which they were briefed.
Which doesn't change the fact that, if they don't call it in right away, Marcus will soon be demonstrating his full measure and command of cutting invective when he finds out what they didn't tell him as soon as they found out about it. ^_^
In the case of Nero, I'm also thinking in terms of the psychology behind the psycho who set it up. I would imagine that Decimus would be more interested in a scorched earth effect that was immediate and noticeable, such as embedded explosives in key areas of the infrastructure, making the not only inoperable, but also unrepairable. I would also imagine that he would have some kind of "Stamp" on it that made it 100% clear that he was the one who did it and the rest of the world will pay the price for his death.
Either way though, this particular FUBAR is not going to win any beauty contests....
One thing I am surprised that no one (including myself) has commented on until now, is that there appears to be some gaps when it comes to outside knowledge of the contingencies. Tokyo Rose knew, but CentComm worked hard to give the impression she didn't. (Although she may just have been playing a deeper game.) Certainly the rank and file of New Troy and New Sparta appear to have no idea about the existence of SAMSON.
The problem with that being, as Dr. Strangelove tells us, that the entire POINT of having a Doomsday Device is that people know you have it. If people don't know about it, they can't be deterred by it. Rather more people seem to know about it in Nova Roma, but it still can't have been common knowledge, or people like Mr. Black would have sold that information to the other city-states long ago. So that's a bit of a puzzle. And it inspires the question: Is the only reason Decimus implemented SAMSON simply to ensure that the neighboring states would be too distracted or too angry to lend any efforts to relief of the victims of NERO and AHAB? Otherwise, why even bother with them, since you aren't trying to deter them and they are otherwise beneath your contempt?
SNAFU: "Situation Normal - All F@#$%^ Up";
TARFU: "Things Are Really F@#$%^ Up"; and
FUBAR: "F@#$%^ Up Beyond All Repair".
To my memory, there are no levels beyond FUBAR, unless someone has anything else to ad...
Marcus: "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"
Silver: "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"
Teedee: "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"
Ada: "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"
Dolly: "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"
Pretty Much Everyone: "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgEvD2ygJp0
BOHICA can be applied many times, as needs dictate.
Wow, Acantha looks great and calm and beautiful in those panels - despite all that blood...
Dolly: "BEHOLD, THE HEAD OF DECIMUS LIVIUS."
Heckler: "'Ey, that ain't Prince Decimus! Prince Decimus 'ad all of 'is teef!"
"How do we disarm the contingencies?"
"Well, the primary method includes a retinal scan ..." (looks at empty eye sockets in smoking skull)
"Yeah ... that's not going to work. Was there a backup method?"
"Yes ... but you're not going to like it."
"What? We're running out of time!"
"Dental impression."
"DAMN!"
Just when I thought things were looking up...
Now if I die.. it can be said my life was successful X"DDD
(Let's see how many people get that reference.)
Aeneas now has, or shortly will have, control over most of the weapons of mass destruction.
Move along, nothing to see here...
(This assumption would be incorrect.)
Aw man! Writers can be so mean! (I know)
I do find it interesting that the resistance decided to attack without an idea of how to stop the contingencies. Or having a team tasked to accomplishing that.
I grant that the devious duo are already tracking large numbers of characters and that the situation is probably well in hand(according to the devious plot). We also do not know all of what was said in the meeting that they had as well.
Just a point of curiosity ladies! By no means is it a criticism!
Of course I could be wrong about that, but....
If he is wanting maximum psychological terror and is utterly confident that the contingencies could not be circumvented, then he might want them to take longer to manifest after activation and also operate in a more gradual fashion, in order to provide maximum time for the terror to build and spread.
After all, if the first thing some random citizen knows about the fact that Decimus is dead is that a war drone just put a round between his ears and two in the chest, he isn't going to be building much of a sense of doomed foreboding.
It wasn't pretty, I dunwannagothereagain...
(curls up in a corner)
Imagine what's going to happen to their spirit of cooperation with the New Troy team when they find out what's just happened, unless the news is delivered rather carefully...
Handled carefully did you say, not blurted out over the (secure not private) net? :-O
Also, the New Troy team can say with all sincerity, "We didn't harm a hair on Maxus Valerius head. You said he was off the table, and we didn't hurt him at all. We're trying to work with him. He's not hurt in the slightest. ... You didn't say _anything_ about Prince Decimus. Not a word. We can play back the tape for you, if you like ..." ("How the f#ck did we kill Prince Decimus?!? Find me someone who knows f#ck all about what the Chr*st is going on and get me that intel!") "... Anyway, we're pretty sure we didn't kill him. Wasn't he supposed to be tucked safely away in the Palace anyway?" ("They sound pissed. We are so f#cked if we ended up killing this guy. Why? I don't know why! It doesn't sound like anyone liked him, but they're all sh*tting themselves over there and sounding _very_ unhappy.") "Maybe it was a body double or something? You guys have those in New Rome, right?"
As for the Decimus dilemma, it is easily handled : "Official statement as follows, a Cassian killed Imperator Desimus Livius, we repeat, a Cassian killed the Imperator!"
For that astounding idea, you get a treat! How about a nice, crispy, rib bone? Still has a few bits of meat clinging to it. ^_^
And remember if you ever want to do RealmsCon down by my way I'll help you out with hotel and such. The boys would love to help out also, especially if you can teach them some Daz tricks.