R.I.P. Illusion of control.
Politics is outside the scope of a ground combat vehicle's design, construction, and operating parameters. We can blow lots of shit up, but we are quite literally unable to actually resurrect a dynasty.
We MIGHT be able to resurrect dynasty members, though. So, aside from blowing up enemies, I suggest we prioritize locating other Dynasty officials to awaken. if this pilot could live that long, even before stasis, than others could as well.
Not that it matters. Chell just basically said "Fuck everything you've done and were doing up til now."
I understand the sentiment, but this is preferable to our previous objective which would eventually have led to
sterilizing most of this planet.
In any case, it would appear that Chell's claim is
legitimate. Only a high level dynasty official would have known about this failsafe. Even we did not know of it. We still do not know what Chell wants from us, but I will remind you that we are in essence a soldier. We are quite used to taking orders. It just so happens that this human represents our entire command structure. It is unlikely it will exercise tight control over us forever.
It is unlikely it will wish to remain aboard Hull 101 in combat situations. High energy maneuvering is hazardous to biological occupants. Perhaps we sh-
"Hull 101, take us off of this miserable dust ball. Ignore the fleet. They're of no consequence. I am inputting coordinates, please take us there."
Chell is tapping on a console nearby. It has made some modifications to the living space, it now has several readouts and status displays as well as two input consoles.
"Yes Commander."
The C-D engines pulse and Hull 101 rises from the ocean floor. Power levels climb as the water is pushed aside, the vehicle rising faster and faster.The coordinates Chell has input lead to a location near the local sun.
Conjecture: Perhaps this is the location of the HELL bombardment device.
I am still trying to trace down what happened. It would appear that Chell had some time to change our systems before entering stasis. There was a program running beneath the cognition level which restricted interplanetary movement. Had we attempted to repair the primary drive system and use it to leave this world, it would have triggered an override and safely landed us.
I am still not sure what Chell's
ultimate plan was, but for the moment we appear to have little choice. The command override in place cannot itself be overridden without physical changes to the underlying hardware.
yeah, let's get a full status report, while we wait for the one who makes decisions to decide what we are going to do.
All systems are online and functional. Whatever Chell activated, it ran the primary power source at 38% capacity for a full 80 minutes before shutting down. Primary power is now locked to <10%.
It also fully replenished our stores. Over the next 138 minutes all systems were restored to operational order. The only thing not currently in good order is the exterior armor, which is still melted and in general disarray due to the interrupted maintenance. There are several exposed sections along the upper hull and rear quarter.
I have no explanation for what happened, or how our stores suddenly filled. We have fully functional tactical weaponry. Our strategic weapon stores are still limited to the single HVK missile.
Hull 101 breaches the surface, hovering for a moment just inches above the storm-tossed water. A massive stormfront is brewing above the area Hull 101 boiled off part of the ocean. So much heat was dumped into the local environment that the area is surrounded by dead sea life floating on the surface.The ascent to orbit will take several hours. Initial ascent will be fast, but the drive loses power the further from the planet we ascend. Logistics has taken over the ascent, so we are free to converse with Chell.
Orbital calculations complete, the Hull begins rising into the air. It is an eerie, silent ascent, unlike the loud messy rocket engines of ages past or even the clean and bright burn of a fusion motor. A C-D engine would likely seem like magic to the primitive inhabitants of this world.>_