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[Yoink]

Jobasio spent the shuttle ride slumped (well, as slumped as a robobody can get) in his seat, stroking his beloved gauss rifle with clumsy metal fingers and muttering to himself about a wide range of mostly-nonsensical topics. When the shuttle finally lands and opens, he bounds quickly outside to take a look around.

"Well then, here we are. Time to do our job, whatever that job may be!" He remarks in a toneless voice, then clambers up on top of the shuttle for a better vantage point. "...Just what is it we're looking for, again? A rogue machine of some sort, correct? I can't say I was paying a great deal of attention."

Climb atop the shuttle to scan the surroundings (above and below ground) with both my normal cameras and the cam-eye on my robo-schlong.

[Nunzillor]

((Just re-read M18 for inspiration.   What I came away from it with is don't punch the alien, no matter how tempting it is at the time.  Reposting actions here to make sure they are seen by pw:))

Does Eddie have enough scrap to create some sort of metal riot shield?  If so, would it actually be any good? Use remaining scrap to MFM into existence 3 sets of tongs.  If there's not enough scrap, use one metal pole.

Collect some of the frost in Eddie's specimen jar using tongs.  Does it just look like normal frost?  Also use the manipulator to assist Christopher in determining the temperature of the area nearby.

Also contact the green voice Eddie heard:

"Are you this 'computer' I've heard about?  That's truly remarkable!  You must be the key to this organization's strategy against the government.  Why do you have to bring it down?  Do you have a name?  In any case, can you please tell me a little more about this tunnel?  Where does it go, are there branching paths and if so where do they lead, etc?  Could you perhaps even provide a map?"

"Also, is there a way to the target that doesn't take us through a cramped, ambushable, trappable, and collapsible tunnel?"

[NJW2000]

Try and get a shoebox-sized artifact container that can be easily carried. Then try and determine roughly how cold the ground is - does it look like 0 degrees, or -30? Keep Sullen Moon boxed up and on person.

But forget about these if they'll take too long - go with Vladimir and open the hatch with him.

  Christopher thinks briefly, then calls out, "I volunteer to be one of the people to open the hatch. I doubt my life's worth any more than anyone else's here, and I have no scientific or investigative skills, so it's probably worth a damn sight less than some people's right now. I'll lead the vanguard, or at least be in it. Anyone else gonna come with me?"

[Comrade P.]

Vladimir tosses the cigarette stud out of the shuttle gate on the frozen ground, puts on the helmet and steps outside, his rifle hanging on its simple sling behind his back. He passes people gathering their stuff, examining the equipment, doing last bits of their tinkering, and heads directly to the hatch. On his way, he taps Christopher on the shoulder:

- Come on, let's open it.

Get closer to the hatch in the ground and briefly examine it. If nothing seems immediately wrong about it, try to open it and take a look inside.

[Nunzillor]

"I'll be ready to come with you, union leader, in a moment."

[Aigre Excalibur]

@Christopher

"I volunteer to come with you! I can at least aim a chem thrower properly."

@Flint
"With your permission, I'd like to grab a chem thrower and a helium tank, unless you'd rather I do something else.

[Moopli]

Mutter mutter: "Nobody even bothers trying to make a plan, I see how it is. Drastic measures then."

Listen up, maggots!
1. Nobody goes inside without Flint's ok.
2. We have a large team, and until we're ready to breach the depths we can do a quick perimeter scout to see if anything is weird.
3. It would also be a good idea to gather more intel. Flint was just talking to the air, addressing something names "AreSteve". Assuming AreSteve is the resident computer system, I suggest we at least wait until AreSteve replies.
4. I'm currently trying to activate my wristpad's mapping software, I'm sure it has something, and it might be useful for all of you to have some too.

So, there are things we can do before we dive right in. You people by the hatch (could I have your names? I don't like calling you "you people"), grab a few more people, hopefully competent, hopefully including Flint, and await his orders.

Oh yeah and I don't really think you're maggots, it's just a nice turn of phrase.
How do we split items? I suggest they go to the most competent, though of course people who requisitioned supplies for themselves can distribute them as they will. I think it's rather foolish, but we have to work with what we have.

I predict that there will be a maze of tunnels down below, so we'll need a couple scout teams ready to work in small groups. I don't suggest they split up too far, though -- teams should hopefully always stay at most a few rooms away from the others. We don't quite know what's down there, could be dangerous, and we want to systematically sweep clear a perimeter so we can set up containment.

Speaking of containment: Be careful with that liquid helium. We don't want to have to use that where there is atmosphere, it would go to waste just freezing the air. This is why containment is important, we're going to have to try to set up airlocks. I gather we have some guns that can launch a sealant, we'll need to use those for that, most likely.

So, plan: A few teams sweep through the compound, exploring a perimeter around the source of the Thermophage, mapping everything. Containment team follows behind, we'll have to apply our minds quite a bit to figure out how best to seal off and depressurize the anomalous zone (if we're lucky, the current containment systems active have already done so. If not, we'll need to use that sealant and our brains). Containment team will also set up the contingency nuke (speaking of, if someone could do a perimeter check, say, a few km radius, then we'll know how much to worry about collateral damage. Or, just ask AreSteve). Once that's done, or at least once we're confident in containment, scout teams can enter the depressurized zone with artifact containers and the liquid helium and so on.

So, there's the plan. Concerns? As I said, I'm good at planning but this is my first mission, so if someone's experience gives them concerns, please, air your concerns instead of simply disregarding the plan.

I'll be doing a lot of thinking on what sort of physical problems the extreme cold might give us. I will let you all know in a bit.

[NJW2000]

Listen up, maggots!

"Having been in the military longer than some people here have been alive, and that's a  bad, bad way to get people to do what you tell them, if you aren't a real commanding officer."

I'll be doing a lot of thinking

thinking

"I highly doubt that."

[Comrade P.]

- Listen, Root. For starters, we have radio frequency running, you might want to use that instead of tapping your wristpad. Next, we're at the hatch to ensure the absence of immediate threat coming from there, because quick visual evaluation revealed that there is no such thing coming from anywhere around, it seems.
The name is Vladimir. Or Vlad, whatever. I think I can work an vanguard scout/mapping group with Christopher and a few others maybe.

[Moopli]

Well, can't say I didn't have that coming. Thank you Vlad. I prefer to type when I have a lot to say, but I'll use radio for everything else. I won't interfere with what you're up to, since you've explained your plan you don't seem so reckless anymore. I don't know you, I didn't see you, over the radio you sounded like you wanted to be a cocky hero, well, I'm glad you're cautious and pragmatic. In that case we'll probably get along fine."

[Unholy_Pariah]

"Try giving me orders again newbie, I dare you."

"We dont have any information on the capabilities of what we are facing, our current coolant supply is woefully inadequate, the fact someone brought a nuke to use against a thermophage boggles the fucking mind, and we are all pumping heat out of our various suits and machinery like its going out of fashion."

"What were gonna do is wait for Aresteve to give us the intel we asked for, we are gonna see if theres some fancy new toy that will make increase our odds, and we are gonna proceed in a calm and logical manner once we figure out how to make ourselves as unappetizing as possible."

"we dont need some wet behind the ears rookie serving half the team up to this thing on a silver platter, especially not when weve only got 4 liquid helium weapons between the 15 of us."

[Moopli]

"Try giving me orders again newbie, I dare you."

"We dont have any information on the capabilities of what we are facing, our current coolant supply is woefully inadequate, the fact someone brought a nuke to use against a thermophage boggles the fucking mind, and we are all pumping heat out of our various suits and machinery like its going out of fashion."

"What were gonna do is wait for Aresteve to give us the intel we asked for, we are gonna see if theres some fancy new toy that will make increase our odds, and we are gonna proceed in a calm and logical manner once we figure out how to make ourselves as unappetizing as possible."

"we dont need some wet behind the ears rookie serving half the team up to this thing on a silver platter, especially not when weve only got 4 liquid helium weapons between the 15 of us."

"You haven't even paid attention to what I'm saying. I'm telling people not to run in like idiots. NOT TO. FUCK. You don't need some rookie telling you not to go kill yourself, good for you. I don't know you're a vet until you say so, and rookie I may be, I'll continue to be vocal about telling people not to be idiots."

"If you actually listened to what I was saying, you'd say that the rookie you're castigating has already taken every fuckin' word out of your mouth. Fuck you, you don't want that, you just want to swing your dick. Well okay, you can be the boss, we've got the same plan anyway but you seem to only care that you're in charge."

((@U_P: Nothing against you, I'm guessing that's just how auron is?))

-- This file holds knowledge and suspicions on physical phenomena within the cold zone. Everyone may edit. --
-- Knowledge --



-- Suspicions --
- Atmosphere likely frozen by thermophage, so containment zone likely sealed off. If so, probably a good idea to try to jury-rig an airlock to enter/exit. Frozen atmosphere likely coats most surfaces.
- Metal, particularly crystalline, gets very brittle at low temperatures. Exoskeletons may go under massive amounts of stress, might fail catastrophically.
- With temperatures low enough (when a lot of Helium is sprayed, or near the thermophage), ie, about 4K, Helium goes superfluid. For those who don't know, that means it essentially spreads to cover all surfaces, gets in tiny cracks. We don't know what it will do when it touches the radiative surfaces of our suits, could easily cause damage. It might even get through our helmet/suit seals, which is very very bad. So, it could easily be a liability, but it might be our only choice.
- The thermophage might drain heat through aphysical, non-contact means, bypassing the suit to drain energy right from us. Not sure how we can safely test.

((should we keep this on the wiki? google doc?))

[AoshimaMichio]

((Wiki, in mission page. Make a new section for it.))

[Nunzillor]

"Everyone, there is no need for conflict.  We all have the same objective and we all value the same things: competence, safety, and care for our fellow comrades.  As a reasonable group of individuals with a common goal, let's elect a few people among us to lead the group so that we don't have people butting heads.  This is what happens when commanders are not chosen in advance, I suppose."

"Because Flint seems to be a senior soldier, I nominate him for field commander.  I also nominate Christopher and Root for subcommanders as they have both shown initiative and Root in particular seems quite organizationally inclined."

"Once we have, as a collective, chosen our leaders we must respect their commands.  We can make suggestions but we must also remember that group cohesion and mutual respect are vital to mission success."

Nominate them and vote for Flint, Christopher, and Root.

[Moopli]

Private channel to Eddie:
"What's the name of the guy who I was just screaming at? Sure, he completely misunderstood everything I said, but he shows initiative and cares about the same things we do, I might nominate him. Seems like it might work to reconciliate." Let's assume He simply learned all their names, makes stuff so much easier.

Hm. Well, I'll accept the responsibility. I'm already making plans which some people want to follow, it's only fair that I be responsible for them. I'm not built for running through corridors, I'll likely have to stay around the outer areas to be of any use, so if Flint accepts overall command and tasks me with organizing external things, like the brilliant idea of the contingency nuke, I'll do it. On that note, I vote Flint for overall command.