Miaoko glances at the interface, blinking a few times. "..Who the hell even uses these anymore..?" He sighed, shaking his head and typing in, 'MALEBRANCHE' and pressing enter. He then replaces the engine gimbal's damaged motors, and installs new turbo pumps into the fuel and coolant line, checking for any possible leaks.
As you hit enter, the screen flashes and a jolt surges through your entire body, rushing through all your nerves and causing a mild amount of spasming. As you recover from the literal shock, you notice that the screen is dead and no amount of tapping seems to revive it, seems that you probably shouldn't have trusted the hardware behind something with an interface that damn dated.
The motor and pump installation goes well. Physically at least. After all, this is far from the first time you've performed such a task, so whilst it goes off flawlessly (well, as close to flawless as possible when you're working at a frankly unreasonably rate) the sheer tedium really is beginning to set in. The cooling system however is a bit more problematic, perhaps even relievingly so. It turns out that one of the lines has an enormous leak by the virtue of not actually existing, so that's a definite issue, granted it's an easy fix, but at least it's some deviation, however small from the usual monotony. Looks like not even a whole war is going to make your job any more exciting.
Scratch that, something's happening. You notice it in your peripheral vision at first, a Loremaster Technician's uniform. Though strangely, it seems a bit, nonstandard, as it if someone modified it to be a bit more flamboyant in parts but also more stylized in others. Now, last time you checked, none of those technicians moonlighted as pimps, and considering the current circumstances, none of them are probably going to start either.
Huh, now that you glance at the wearer, you notice that you've never seen her before. You definitely would have remembered her otherwise, considering that "nonstandard" doesn't even begin to describe her attire. It doesn't just have modifications to it, about half of it seems to have been replaced with parts of a cloak, not unlike the kind that Dead Hand necromancers
supposedly wear.
As she smiles and waves, pale text, identical in font to that of the terminal fades into the air in front of her.
hi, you can haz magic nao, kthxbai
And with that, she vanishes. No extravagance, no showmanship, she just flat out vanishes from right in front of you.
Magic huh? That's what they call the blackbox tech that
doesn't predate humanity's fall, supposedly at least. The general public consensus though is that it's just lost tech like any other lost tech, albeit overblown by propaganda and a bit more enigmatic.
The consensus amongst certain pilots however, is that there is indeed something out there, something supernatural. Something dangerous. And whatever it is, it damages frames in ways that no known weapon could. Some postulate that its related to the Fall, after all, the NEE inhabits the systems closest to its point of origin - Earth. Others suspect that it has more recent, more human origins. The dominant theory amongst your fellow engineers however, is that pilots are bad liars who resort to blaming witchcraft when they misuse their equipment in ways you cannot even begin to comprehend.
There is but of course yet another viewpoint, that of the emergency lights and sirens. Their view is, that the facility's under attack
right fucking now. Their argument consists of bathing the work station in orange light and shrill sequels. It's quite a convincing argument, especially when the distant though still uncomfortably close cacophony of artillery fire and gunshots begins.
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))Begin the patrol. Check what's inside the box if I have enough time/hands free. Pick JUS_AD_BELLUM if I manage to turn the thing on.
The patrol so far remains uneventful, it seems that the route is as peaceful as usual. Either that or the automated frames the System League oh so loves to field have, yet again, gotten stuck trying to run through a building in the misguided belief that it isn't really there. It honestly wouldn't be too surprising if half their forces are just doing that somewhere, waiting for a stray shot to collapse the structure and unleash them like a Pandora's Box of concentrated idiocy.
As you hit enter, the screen cracks apart, shocking you in the process. Within the shattered shards that now adorn the tablet, you can see your disjointed reflection along with some of your cockpit, not exactly a groundbreaking discovery. What is odd however, is that there is another person in the reflection, right behind you in the blind spot that the damned harness makes more or less impossible to check.
It's a figure clad in full platemail, looking like a knight from ancient times. Within one hand, they hold a small book with a title that, whilst hard to discern due to being a broken mirror image, you are reasonably sure reads
The Art of War. Within their other hand, is something far more modern and quite recognizable device: one of the target designators used by forward observers to order artillery support.
Pale text precipitates into the air before your very eyes
Just for future reference, you really shouldn't sleep in these things. You might get deep vein thrombosis.
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))"Break! Break!"
Grab the box, drop it on the floor, and stomp on it a lot.
Valiantly stomping on despite the lack of any noticeable damage being done, you continue your brave duel against the fiendish box. Even as the lights cut out, you continue your courageous struggle. Nevertheless, your fight is forced to an untimely end once the emergency lights and sirens banish the brief moment of darkness, for in the not-far-enough distance you hear gunfire and shouting, unwelcome sounds that are growing just that little bit louder with each passing instant. Looks like you'll have to vanquish the evil box later. Or maybe these sorts of things run on videogame logic and the accursed box has its summoned minions because you reduced its health below a certain value.
Elias Newman
Leave the box inside the cockpit and jump out, taking my ALCYONE and clipping it to my belt (if I happen to have one) I approach the damaged LUPUS frame and ask the first person that crosses my path what happened.
"Is the pilot wounded ? What's the situation ?"
((Yes, your uniform comes with a belt designed with that purpose in mind.))
Shakily, through the large crack in the armor, the pilot replies in between pants
"I'm fine now mate, the things that did this all got turned to scrap. The League's getting quite insistent around the front today... " he pauses as he squeezes his way out of the crack that some of the engineers have now widened
"Ugh, they're resorting to horde tactics as usual, hiding in and flanking from whatever streets their frames can fit in." As he gets back onto solid ground, he extends his hand to you
"Jim Yarefeld by the way". You haven't a chance to react as several sirens go off and you hear a scratchy voice over the speakers as people move to their frames in a sudden hurry.
"There's been a surprise attack on Maintenance Terminal 3! Elias Newman will lead the attack team, Berius O'Greenahan will lead flank team; LUPUS units 33, 12 & 57 are with Newman in PHARAOH-01, and units 17 & 91 are with O'Greenahan in PHARAOH-02. WE NEED THAT MAINTENANCE FACILITY, MOVE PEOPLE!"A surprise attack? By the System League? Now that isn't something you hear every day. Normally, they're perfectly content with sending a constant deluge of units to whatever frontlines have formed until one side is forced to retreat. That's what they do. That's what they always do. Several years back when they were still buddy-buddy with the NEE, there was even an agreement that they'd keep up the pressure on front lines and leave all the tactics and maneuvering to NEE forces, or so you've been told.
This feeling. It felt so...right. He couldn't wait to get out there and start tearing into the System League's forces, but he needed his orders first to know which portion to tear into. Still, he didn't really care what his targets were now. He felt like he could take on anything the System League threw at him, or die trying. Waiting for orders was so boring though, so he decided to look through the box he got.
"Beirus O'Greenahan, standing by for orders."
Get orders, open box. If prompted to choose network, choose JUS_AD_BELLUM
Well the orders were just screamed out through the intercom system, how convenient.
As for what happens with the wonderful box of electric shocks, you receive your shock and the complementary hallucination in the same manner as Hawk.
You might want to get your curse-buddy down there to open his box. Or, you could start screaming about tripping balls and hallucinatory knights spamming you with text messages. Pick one.
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))Ao Shi
Oh wow, and how's this related to machine parts? Some super secret net catalogue? But these network names sound more like a porn channels... Huh, red queen sounds fun. Let's see...
Choose RED_QUEEN. Anticipate some kinky ASCII porn. Be disappointed.
Put the thing away and install legs and armor with the guys. Once done request arm actuator & armor to be delivered.
The text promptly vanishes, replace with footage of a photo-realistic though clearly fantastical figure.
It's a lady in a simple white dress. Her hair is stained red with blood, or rather would seem to be if it were not for the fact that her irises are of the same visceral hues. She appears to be brandishing a rather odd implement: a large antler covered with a layer of bacteria and fungi like plaque on a teeth. Through cavities on its surface, you can catch brief glimpses of various parasites scuttling about inside it, along with some of the chains that emerge out from its base.
Welp, it's certainly not ASCII, though porn or no porn, it's probably going to be kinky. The odds of actual pornographic content however still remain at fifty-fifty. Not that it matters much seeing as the screen proceeds to die whilst the tablet shocks you.
Now, you aren't actually qualified to install actuators, but with everyone learning how to do a bit of everyone else's jobs thanks to the current deadlines and rush, you know enough to actually contribute meaningfully to the installation. The armor, that, you're qualified to bolt on anyway. This whole process takes about 35-40 minutes and leaves both the legs functional and mostly armored. There's still some gaps in the back since the plating that fills them comes attached to the flight systems.
The good news is that the arm actuators and armor arrive. The bad news is, when the lights went off, so did the assembly chamber's mechanisms. Now, they should have gotten back online before the emergency lights and alarm turned on, seeing as they have backup power supplies after all, but it seems that those backups have also been taken out. Or, knowing the general theme around here, some idiot lodged something or other into them and ruined everything forever. Either way, it doesn't help your current predicament.
"Shit! Barricade the door!"Two of the engineers begin to frantically weld whatever scrap metal and plating they can carry onto the door, whilst a third stands around, trying to help but all in all accomplishes little due to not really having enough room to assist with the barricade construction.
Above, on the control platform you were previously standing on, an intruder stands. Its the lady from the screen, watching the current commotion with evident amusement.
((You are now able to summon a hallucination of the grimoire found in the OP and cast spells from it.))
Author
Topic: Perplexicon - Down the Foxhole - Raining Mecha (Read 179564 times)