Operation Big Mother – December 2015

The Goal:

To create a multi-layered green field covering most of Adelaide enabling the creation of more black Illuminators for the SA enlightened team.

Planning Stage:

Following involvement in a previous enlightened operation as a link breaker, I (@Pol42) decided that I would like to be involved in the planning of a mega from the beginning. A chat with @MoLEontheHiLL in October revealed that he had a lot of keys for Showtime in Bourke (from when he worked there for a while) and initial planning was around using Edithburgh and Penneshaw as well as Bourke for a multi layered field which would take in much of Adelaide. However during November I discovered that I was going to have to make a trip to Mt Gambier, so the plan changed. Some time was spent drawing lines on Intel maps to work out how to get the most layers out of the portals available. On the first weekend of December my family all went to the Mount. We spent the Saturday afternoon and evening gathering keys for the planned fields (and then spent all day Sunday slowly driving home whilst we stopped for unique portals). Once we had the keys it was a matter of recruiting some enlightened team-mates to be involved in the execution of the plan, and to work out when we were all available to carry it out. The date was set – 15/12/15. Some took time off work to take part.

A Problem:

The plans were drawn and lists of blocking links were made. During a routine sweep of the main links on 10/12, it was discovered that our Bourke anchor portal, which had been green since early October, had been captured by the Resistance. Our plans were in disarray – there had originally been no intention of actually having an agent in Bourke. A desperate call went out in the Enlightened community and an 11th hour Samaritan appeared. @raeman decided he could come home from Sydney – via Bourke!

On 12/12 many of our blocking links disappeared. Not long after, a Resistance multi-layered mega appeared. The frogs of Adelaide rallied and the field was dispatched. Blockers to prevent the Resistance field from reforming were placed – most very carefully to ensure that they would not interfere with Big Mother a few days later.

Operation Day – 15/12

A few blockers were dropped casually in the morning – not too many so as to not arouse suspicion. @raeman had arrived in Bourke and stayed fairly quiet the day before. Our other anchor teams set off during the day and they, as well as the blocker teams, were in place by 1800 CST. Our two operators, @MoLEontheHiLL and @Sellyme, did a final check and then at 1830 the signal to go was thrown. Our blocker breaker teams did a great job and the link from Yorke Peninsula to Bourke was the first to drop. The lane from Mt Gambier to Bourke was clear, but a Resistance link appeared which blocked Yorke to the SE. As the long link from the SE to Bourke would have been hard to clear again, the decision was made to throw it whilst a blocker team (@fizzyfantastico and @Washingtonnavel) drove (within the speed limit) to Fishery Beach to drop the new blocker. It was a very tense 20 minutes whilst we waited to see if they would get there and dispatch the blocker before any more appeared. They did and the final link of the first field went down at 1853. All involved breathed a sigh of relief (and there was a bit of cheering). Our mobile blocking team turned around and returned to Rapid Bay (where a blocker was interfering with later layers) as the first 4 layers were built. The SE anchor hit black illuminator after 7 layers, and so the emphasis was shifted to ensure the Yorke peninsula team also accomplished this milestone. Due to our nervous delay at the beginning, only 12 of the final 25 layers were complete by checkpoint at 1930, but the team was on a high and the remaining 13 layers were complete by 2000. Then it was time to locate some food, for @raeman and @RideTheTiger to stand down from anchor guarding, and for everyone involved to celebrate.

The Aftermath – 15/12-18/12

We were really pleased when the whole field made the next checkpoint at 0030, 16/12 (many of us were still on the road returning from our locations). We were really surprised when the next cycle started in the evening of 16/12 and the field was still up. By 17/12 conversations were being had as to whether we should recharge the anchors – the consensus was that we should – it would be a bit anti-climactic for Big Mother to die from decay. Finally at lunchtime on 18/12 there was an attack at Port McDonnell. Word was passed around to ensure that we could put up blocking links to prevent a Resistance mega from forming as ours went down. (The mega, when it came, originated in Victoria, not along the lanes of our mega) A little later there was an attack at Edithburgh on the Yorke Peninsula. It took just under an hour from first attack for the central field to drop.

RIP Big Mother.

Big Mother Personnel:

Key Farmers:

@BobTheFurry

@jdub943

@mayethu

@MoLEontheHiLL

@Pol42

Operators:

@MoLEontheHiLL (also Big Mother mentor for the whole planning stage)

@Sellyme

Anchors: