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[Xantalos]

((You do have me as a last resort.))

[Sean Mirrsen]

((We are not solving one fleshhorror problem by throwing another fleshhorror problem at it. The fleshworm we have is at least predictable in its actions and open about its intentions.))

[Xantalos]

((And Xan wasn't?))

[Sean Mirrsen]

((Not very predictable at all, and sometimes seeming to have schemes and plans not directly related to ARM service. Not that the latter's bad per se, or in any way unique, I'm just calling 'em like I see 'em. Plus as far as we know your main body is still alive, and you're likely to be kept on ice through this unless things get really bad.))

[Xantalos]

(...from an out-of-character viewpoint I suppose he was a but unpredictable, yeah.)

[Empiricist]

((So which one's the last resort? The Sheep or the Other Flesh-horror?))

[Sean Mirrsen]

((The actual last resort should be deorbiting Epsilon. Besides huge amounts of collateral damage to everything, can we please not destroy one of the few working space vessels we still have? Before we actually run out of options?))

[piecewise]

Anton Chernozorov

Anton, please tell me you did not just do what I think you did. Did you detonate one of those drones, without even saying that you were doing so?

Anton replies in an exaggerated calm tone, even as he is giving his drones new orders and analyzing the creature's reaction.

"The technical term is "initiate", XO, and I had been left with the impression that the initiative for the creature's destruction was left at my discretion. The plan, at my latest approximation of it, was to destroy the creature via application of neutron bombs. The plan has been initiated, and is being adjusted as new information regarding the creature is making itself available. I suggest we all take active steps to prevent an escalating disaster now, and sort out the violations of chain of command when we can afford to."

Losing the calm tone, Anton addresses the base's AI.

"Aresteve, evacuate all personnel we have anywhere near the path the creature may take to the surface. Sound general alert if we have it. Give me a detailed map of the tunnels, update it with the creature's progress as soon as any new information is available.  There are still four N-bombs left, let's make them count. Analyze the creature's path and shape, and highlight for me the areas where another N-bomb blast will maximize the damage dealt. If it keeps coming up through the same shaft, we'll repeat the previous blast to cut it off and buy us more time.

Next, the Party Wagon is still up in Dock Three. Have it prepped and ready to fly. We should have some conventional blasting charges in stock - find two biggest ones we have and have them mounted on the missile pylons, primed to act as remote-detonation bombs. If that thing manages to breach the surface, I want to make sure it has a warm welcome.

And relay all information to Overseer Simus and Steve Saint. Keep the rest of the administration in the loop."

Basically, do the above. If the fleshhorror keeps coming up through the same spot we (I) blasted, repeat the blasting periodically to curb its progress. If we have relay drones and scout eyes to spare, waste no time pulling them out before blasting, minimize the risk of the bomb drone being disabled and command-detonate it. Have the Party Wagon (the atmosphere-only dropship with a gaggle of cutting laser turrets and two missile pylons we had - it couldn't participate in the fleet battle, so must have survived) refitted into a bomber/gunship with the largest conventional bombs we have in store, and position it (far) above the creature's predicted emergence point, with orders to blast away at it indiscriminately as soon as it surfaces.

Have the affected areas of the facility evacuated, and the rest of the facility alerted so people know to seek evacuation if something happens.

And check how fast can the production lines manufacture more drones and bombs.

Keep Simus and the rest of the crew in the loop as to what's being done. Any orders they have, assume Anton will follow them as long as they're reasonable orders.

Calculations of maximal effective detonation pattern complete. Warning: predictive degeneration of effect over time, will recalculate on 3 second loop to keep it as maximized as possible.

Sounding general alarm.

The lights in the room wink out for an instant and are then replaced with red emergency lights and the sound of sirens in the distance.

Beginning ship prep and refit. Use of human crew required to refit, blind spot in automated systems detected and stored for rectification. Authorize human crew?

What, was that?

Charles evacuates according to whatever orders he receives (if no order are applicable, he just runs out the shortest route that does not expose him to the fleshhorror risk). He concentrates, ignoring the bolded text to charge WILLPOWER.

The ground shaking and the lights turning red are two very obvious signs that something has gone quite wrong in a large way. You're not sure exactly where you should go, so you head toward the containment wing. It's largely insulated against outside threats, after all.

Spoiler: Power crystal calculations (click to show/hide)

Well, I believe someone made a needle rifle and I gave some numbers there. Assume the smallest crystal he's firing is able to kill a man, or at least kill them 50% of the time and the rest of the time make them very close to dead. Electricity is weird. It has an odd habit of not killing people when it should and killing them when it shouldn't. Hm.
Gauss rifle, normal shot...eh...Not grapefruit fat, but a bit unwieldy, like 8 inches long or so, but thin.

Assuming that 'eight inch but thin' shard that he said contains 2 TPU uses the same dimensions as a PSL shard, which is the default shape it forms when in a uniform tube, it's an inch wide.  Which means it would form a sphere with a radius of ~1.25 inches, and of course would use a much smaller volume of fluid.

But what's interesting is that it's exactly 64 times the volume of a single Testament shard.  Which means a standard magazine, which (I think) is about the size of a drum magazine, holds 27 potential TPU.  Compare to the laser rifle battery, which holds 120 TPU in a smaller battery, this isn't size efficient.

Since that magazine holds a thirtieth of a full PSL mag, that means a single full-size PSL shard has twenty seven TPU coursing through it- equivalent to firing a tesla arc for 2.7 seconds.  And here I thought most of the damage came from the explosion.

Further, you get those shards at a rate of 7.5 per token.  That's potentially 202 TPU worth of fuel, for a single token.  Compare to the cutting laser, which has our best token:TPU ratio (1 token per 240 TPU), that's... well, it's not particularly bad, but we have better.

So, in closure, PSL fluid functions as a way better power source than I thought it would.  But it isn't more size or power efficient than what we already have, under ideal situations where you get all the energy out of it.  It's not a good choice for a power source, especially when you consider that it's an armor piercing frag grenade.

Oh, and that revised FEL's proportions are weird.  I was basing the stock's length on how large the trigger hole was, but the grip you added is about as long as the trigger hole itself.  If the grip is the proper size, and the trigger hole is just absurdly massive, then the stock's original size was good.

_{This spoiler originally ended by complimenting Sean greatly, due to my original calculations having an error somehow resulting in a token:TPU ratio of 1:~1600.  I wish that hadn't been a mistake. ._.}

((FYI, all speech in this post is on the Hephaestus staff channel, so everyone can hear it.))

"What the... oh, fuck!  Anton, you- gah, uh, did you ever make a version of that drone OS thingy that works with MK.IIIs?  If so, send it to me now.

Charles... the fleshorror got pissed off.  It's coming back up, and it's enormous.  If you know where the robosods are, go follow them, they should keep you safe.

1.First, switch back to my actual body.

2.This thing is directly underneath us, right? 

3.Ask ARESTEVE where the two quantum entanglement backpacks I ordered a month ago are stored, and if they're in the path of the fleshorror.

"ARESTEVE!  We've got fifty robosods stored away somewhere.  Tell them to just start sprinting out of the facility, away from the fleshorror, in a single group.  Make sure three of them are carried by the others rather than running themselves, and use my remote control program to connect them to the three auxiliary robobodies I've been using.  They've got Mk.IIIs, so have those bodies run with the robosod group until I give further orders!"

4.Give ARESTEVE the orders stated above.

5.If the quantum entanglement backpacks are not in the way of the fleshorror, or I could get to them, and then get back to the surface without being caught by the fleshorror, go get them.

6.If I get the backpacks, fly to the sod group.  Give one of the auxiliary bodies a backpack, and wear the other myself.  Have a sod remote-control my body, and use it to carry his own.  Failing that, just have sods carry me.

7.Connect to the body with a QEB, and tell the sod that was controlling it to not send any commands unless I tell it to (failing that, just disconnect him).

8. (Only if 5&7 work, and fleshorror hasn't breached) Fly with the other two Auxiliary bodies back to wherever the fleshorror is going to breach, and try to rescue anyone important who's still there and can't get away themselves. (read: Anton, Charles, the guy we have in prison, random civvies for PR, in that order).  If there's nobody to rescue, or I can finish and still have actions left, do nine.

9. (Only if 5&7 work) Ask ARESTEVE if we have any manips stored anywhere that isn't near the fleshorror.  If so, lead my squadron to said manipulator stash, and collect armfulls of the things.  We will kill it, even if it becomes half the planet.  Failing manips, go get nukes or some form of weapon which would be dangerous to the monster.  DO NOT DETONATE ANY OF IT.  Only collect.

1.done
2.Not directly, at least not the bulk of it.
3.They're fine, in storage right now.
4.Are those robo-sods done already? Has it been long enough? Regardless, they're in the flesh pit and thats a deep site on the other side of the local complex. They're safe where they are, if they're there at all.
5.You run to storage and grab the two packs. They're a bit larger then you'd hoped and pretty damn heavy, but they're there.
6.The rest of this is dependent on the sods being done. But I thought it was a month process and I don't think it's been a month...

((At this point, I'm assuming that even parts given in action text rather than speech are being relayed to me anyway.))

I don't think we're going to stop that thing surfacing. Verflucht - Anton, scratch that idea for the party wagon, we have orbital assets that'll serve us better than self-destructing one ship with demolitions charges. We'll discuss your conduct and plan later. Saint, just get everything you can away from that area before that thing surfaces - you are not to attempt manipulator overloads, am I clear?

Aresteve, the remains of the original defence fleet, we should still have some operational ships in orbit. Get them in position so that when that thing makes it to the surface, they can fire on it when I give the order. Same with all remaining artillery assets from the defence. And get another few neutron bomb drones, or at least one, out - with 10 kiloton bombs, as quickly as possible. Send them, or it, to the lower levels when complete - if multiple, then spread them out around the area where the thing was.

Orders.
>Artillery stations will need time to be crewed, they are unmanned right now. And the orbital assets will need time to get into position. Beginning both preparations now.

He pauses a moment.

>I feel I should say that the "Hammer" is currently crewed and ready to fire. Steve left explicit orders to keep it on ready at all times. A parabolic shot is possible; though high yield explosives would more then likely be needed since the force of the shot would need to be drastically reduced. Your opinion, Ma'am?

"That hole is not very far from us.  Considering this thing, going directly up from the deepest mining levels, is going to reach the surface in only ten minutes, I doubt it will be slow on land.

And yes, the UWM fought the altered by application of raw force.  They fought the altered by practically destroying whole planets.  Massive amounts of force.  Stabbing Altered with a knife does almost nothing.  Shooting it with anything that one wouldn't consider artillery, does almost nothing.  Nukes, relativistic weapons, hitting it with things that utterly destroy biomass, those work.

And again, I'm not going to detonate a manip if any of us are anywhere nearby.  Not as in 'over at the other side of this complex', as in 'miles away on an MK.III at full burn'.  And I doubt that will happen.  I think we'll probably have enough nukes to take it out.  But if we don't, then I'd rather have a plan B.  Is the option itself such a bad thing?  Is there no situation that would justify a manipulator's use?  Actually, ignore that question. 


ARESTEVE!  Assuming the facility is lost, and all of us are distant, how dangerous or risky would dropping an overloaded manipulator on the fleshorror be, as compared to our other emergency, last chance options?"

Ask ARESTEVE that last bit above

((I forgot about the fact that our craft can go at relativistic speeds.  Yeah, I'll accept that deorbiting something would be sufficient.  Although, wouldn't we be able to go lower than six by firing the propulsion in the opposite direction?  I thought all of our ships could land on the planet.))

>Warning, Unable to accurately simulate all aspects of the chosen scenario. Warning, any opinions given by this system towards this scenario are purely statistical models and may have potentially dangerous artifacts in judgement.

[Empiricist]

Charles prepares to run if necessary. If the flesh-horror bursts out and attacks, he will cast Summon Sheep and use Speech to convince everything in the area not to harm him.

[syvarris]

((Haha, by my original intention, Saint would never have mentioned manips, because he hadn't gotten to that part yet.  For the sake of keeping everything though, I'll just say that he explained his plan while getting the QECs.))

Actually, going by what you've said before, at the time of that turn we would actually have had a hundred robosods.  Of course, I suppose it's always possible I misinterpreted things.

3.How long does it take for the modified fleshpit to produce a batch of sod brains?

3. Well, once you have it properly modified, not terribly long. 2-3 days per fully formed brain.

6.If the answer to 4 isn't extremely difficult, and the answer to 5 is that they're normal, then order the conversion of a single flesh pit to produce only sod brains

7.Get a completion date for 6

6.Alright.
7.Lets see...not next turn, the turn after that.

1.Ah, so since we actually only have one fleshpit, and I asked for a single fleshpit to be converted to produce sod brains, did the entire thing get converted?  If not, make it do so now.

2.Before I asked for a batch of thirty sods to be made, and you said they'd take thirty days.  Does that mean thirty tubes were producing at once, and they'd each take thirty days?

3.If so, I guess that means a sod brain takes a fifteenth or a tenth of the time to produce as a full body sod?  You said one would take two or three days.

1. one week tilll the first brains are ready.
2. It takes thirty days to produce one sod, so you'd get 30 at once, not one a day.
3. About that.

I've been keeping track.  The first batch was ready on July 11th, and the second popped on the 14th.  I've just been assuming they only pop ever third day, instead of 'two or three'.

"Fine, Simus.  I still disagree with you, but I won't disobey orders.  Although, I would recommend you not use the Hammer without making sure it won't miss.  I'm sure you remember our artillery's performance during the defense, and they were designed to be used as artillery.  I'd be afraid to see what would happen if we fired an anti-orbital weapon as artillery, and it's probably one of the few things which really can hurt us while down here."

After saying that, Saint personally heads up to the VR machines, and plugs in.  Once inside, he opens a few 'windows' with camera feeds inside, to keep him aware of the situation on the surface.

1.Have production orders based on RL time froze while the fleshorror is out?  If so, we only have fifty sods.  If not, we have a hundred more than that.

2.If production orders have not been frozen, I would like to request that ARESTEVE begin building the infrastructure required for producing custom brains, for use in wetware.  Preferably, good enough to produce any brains we might have need for- including human brains.

3.Get the completion date for 2.

4.The below spoiler contains the FULL information (seriously, took awhile to sift through and compile.  I can provide links to the design posts if needed) for the Testament LSW.  The shard rifle.

Spoiler: Testament Light Shard Weapon: (click to show/hide)

Fires a small crystalline shard, about two inches long, and probably about a quarter inch thick in the middle, tapering to sharp points.
Damage: Penetration and electricity do most damage, detonation does local damage but isn't as spread as larger rounds.  Still probably fatal or at least really damaging if you manage to hit someone in the chest.

Can penetrate milnoplate with concentrated fire or a good hit.  Can hit a synthbody's braincase with less fire.  Can damage battlesuit plate about as well as Milnoplate.  Against unarmored targets, sometimes penetrates through without detonating.  Recommend using volley fire on them.

Power draw: 4 TPU, transmitted from a Power suit through the grip.  A small half-TPU capacitor is embedded in the hilt, which discharges if the power supply momentarily drops below 4 TPU.  It recharges when there's surplus power.

Rifle sized.

Has a fire selector with five settings:  Auto at 480 RPM - Semiauto - Safe - 4 shard fluid volley - 16 shard fluid volley

'Assault' magazines, presumably a little larger than real magazines, 1728 (12³) shots.
'Gunner' magazines, back mounted, a third the size of a propane tank, 17280 shots.  Assault magazines can refill from this, without interrupting fire of a weapon attached to the gunner magazine.)

All sections of the gun that are sensitive to a high-voltage shock are lightly insulated.

5.I want to know how many tokens it would cost, were we to put it into mass production and have it be included in the sword's new armory.  I do not want the cost of the suit that is needed to use it- only the rifle alone.

6.Cosmetic modifications that I'd like, but don't want if they would increase the price: Write 'This end towards tyranny.  Not allies.' on the barrel.  Write 'This end towards you.' on the stock.  Write 'Steve Saint's TESTAMENT Light Shard Weapon' on... whatever passes for the receiver.  Add accessory rails to the obvious places on the gun, for attaching accessories.  Use whatever is closest to standard.

7.Take a look at the MK.I prototype I modified for use with the gun (Spoiler below), and compare it with the MK.II and the UWM MK.I.  How do the latter two items get rid of the heat fins of the normal MK.I?  I'd like to integrate it into this prototype.

Spoiler: Power Suit: (click to show/hide)

A basic MK.I, with a 4 TPU generator between the shoulders.  A cable runs down each arm from this generator, to each hand.  If a cable is damaged, power to it is immediately turned off.  Power to either arm can be turned off, or set to a lower power level for stunning human targets, with voice commands.

Each hand has two conductive surfaces connected to the cable: on the palm, and a tougher version on the knuckles.  Under these surfaces are further insulating material.  If the integrity of either surface is damaged, power is shut off to that surface.

It has been proven to reliably supply four TPU to anything gripped or punched- including people.  As four TPU is reliably quite lethal, it makes for an effective melee weapon.

Integrity is measured by electrical flow, which is remarkably accurate.

8.If I can, try and put transparent 'windows' on the suit, over the spots where a robotic body's more important extra eyes are located.  On the chest, and on the index fingers, IIRC.  If this would interfere with the perfect insulation that the suit has, put removable caps of the material over them.

9.If we started mass producing this suit, would it be possible to start issuing it for free, rather than the old MK.I?

[Sean Mirrsen]

((I believe it was 3 ingame days, not 3 RL days. Our fleshhorror situation kind of has us on a clock.))

Anton Chernozorov

Calculations of maximal effective detonation pattern complete. Warning: predictive degeneration of effect over time, will recalculate on 3 second loop to keep it as maximized as possible.

Sounding general alarm.

The lights in the room wink out for an instant and are then replaced with red emergency lights and the sound of sirens in the distance.

Beginning ship prep and refit. Use of human crew required to refit, blind spot in automated systems detected and stored for rectification. Authorize human crew?

"Yes, but keep surveillance and track the IDs of whoever enters and leaves, we'll dish out commendations and reprimands as appropriate later.

Beginning preventive bombing of target."

Use Aresteve's data and guide my remaining fleet of radioactive death-drones to inflict maximum damage on the creature. Make sure to keep aware of where the drones are in relation to each other, so that they are not knocked out by any EM effects or penetrating radiation prematurely.

"Saint, the Party Wagon dropship is being refitted into a bomber over in Dock Three. If you need a mobile base over the target site for anything, feel free to go there and assist the workers."

[PyroDesu]

Thank you, Saint.

Aresteve, what would you estimate is the chance that a shell from the Hammer falls off-target, and the consequences of such? And how long will it take for the ships to arrive in orbit?

Yeah.

((You know, I can't help but find some of the extreme multitasking a bit off-putting. Stuff like Sain'ts doing this turn - we're in the middle of an emergency (which he is responding to), he was acting fairly panicked just a moment ago in game time, and now he's... finishing off a design? And doing work (well, requesting information, but still) in the Tinker thread?

I dunno, it just feels weird.))

[syvarris]

((That's very true, and the Tinker's probably going too far.  I made that post kind've on the spot when I saw PW's tinker post, because I really wanted to know, and pretty much forgot about it afterwards.  I'll transplant it to my 'Tinker ideas' file.

Also, the gear switching is more because I was being an idiot.  I had originally forgotten that the command center was so well protected, and had been kind've imagining the monster as much larger compared to the complex, so I had Saint believe that he was at significant risk.  Then I realized that he wasn't, and that nobody that is remotely important is in danger, so he had no real reason to leave the base.  And I would hate sitting around doing nothing, so... design it is.

I had intended to put up a bit of RP saying Saint opens a virtual window to keep him abreast of the critter's progress though.  Editted in now.))

[PyroDesu]

((Oh, and just so you're aware, I plan to outdate the Mk series just as soon as design is something Simus can focus on (right now, the emergency kinda has her full attention). Not just a small modification like Saint's, it'll be a completely new design. Having suits that don't decompress unless you get shot in the helmet (in which case, you have other issues to worry about than decompression) would be a nice thing, neh?

Just mentioning, since I see Saint's seventh through ninth actions.))

[Sean Mirrsen]

((Oh, and just so you're aware, I plan to outdate the Mk series just as soon as design is something Simus can focus on (right now, the emergency kinda has her full attention). Not just a small modification like Saint's, it'll be a completely new design. Having suits that don't decompress unless you get shot in the helmet (in which case, you have other issues to worry about than decompression) would be a nice thing, neh?

Just mentioning, since I see Saint's seventh through ninth actions.))

((It seems we're all going to be doing this sort of thing then. The MACS has levels all the way down to a simple starting "plugsuit".

It might be best if we all meet in-character once we're done with the crises and consolidate our plans. ))