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[Radio Controlled]

"I would like to speak next if it pleases you Sir."

"Go for it."

[Corsair]

"My report shall be relatively brief as there is little that I can do to expound upon hasala's and eddies report of the overall situation so I will give an account of the events after splitting up. My team leader Pancaek led us for a time as we explored one of the buildings and the surrounding area, eventually we ended up trapped against a partially collapsed wall and a ring of the statues. Pancaek, to his lasting heroism, risked himself and attempted to approach so he could see the roof above the collapsed section to engineer an escape, unfortunately he was "captured" by their aura. Thus I became team leader so we [the team] spent several minutes holding off  those creatures before we managed to escape into the building and hence to the roof. At this point I knew that we required additional knowledge of the battlefield, so I left Lucricia in nominal command and had the team take up defensive positions. This allowed for me to scout the area at which point the lurker came into play. I requested a sound off of commanding officers and prepared to take charge, Maurice reported in and I followed his order to preserve Bartholomew by lowering his suit temperature.

The lurker then arrived and began some form of summoning ritual using the puppets bar Pancaek who regained control about this point. I used my clf3 bullets to target the snow to damage the puppets as much as possible with flames and fumes. I was getting close to disabling a few cultists but was ordered to retreat to the transition between the dome and outside. I tested if it was in fact outside then proceeded. Maurice then set up a charge while I requested nuclear bombardment but received no response, I then directed everyone to maintain a course that kept the walls of the anomaly in the way of the impending blast. We fled to the shuttle where I piloted us away from the growing anomalous zone.

With a small miracle I managed to crash us several miles away from the anomaly where we received word of a ship several miles away. Using this Mk3-a suit I flew there and opened up the back of the shuttle with a force-field charge, which was moderately overpowered causing minor damage. I would like the record to show that this suit greatly contributed to the team's survival by allowing me to get there in only minutes and begin launch setup. After this I entered the ship and began launch, at this point maurice gave the order to the orbital weapons batteries in space which opened fire. I managed to break orbit with the planet through my piloting skill and overwriting several emergency warnings.

After some time we woke in a strange warped anomaly space, after determining that we were lost and alive we disabled the manipulators and decided to escape. Using encounters with a known body in the system we constructed a map and began heading home it took... well "time" as we lacked any reference with me and Pancaek navigating while the rest of the team was in stasis. We avoided a deadly radiation anomaly by using it's periodic nature to desynchronize with it and avoided a dead world that was giving off gibberish radio signals. Eventually we made it to the jump point and here we are."

[Nikitian]

No, no questions so far. Please, continue. Maurice shook his head as he stared into empty space, reminiscing of the events of the last mission.

[Pancaek]

"So uh," Pan says, as he's fiddling with the side of his mask "who's up next?"

[Caellath]

So far so good, though all he had heard up to the moment were nitpicks and mistakes that albeit damaging at the time shouldn't have costed the mission. It probably wouldn't last; the actual bomb had to be dropped during some point or calling that trial/meeting wouldn't have made much sense.

"Go for it."

[Pancaek]

"Right, so I'm still a bit hazy from becoming a procelein mask, so excuse me if I go for the cliff's notes version here.

Everything started allright. Then we entered the dome and, as other have said, we did this all at the same time. A bad move in hindsight, but I was too busy trying to understand the eldritch machinations of it to think about that. Inside, we established first contact with the frozen people, who I will henceforth call "puppets". The puppets did not seem dangerous at first, but we established a minimum safe distance. Then a whole lot of exploring went on until I got the order to check out one building or another with my squad.

So we hustle it over there, get in the building to check it out, yeah? Only the wall's collapsed. So we start digging, but that makes the puppets surround us. My opinion, and that of Doctor Sanctor if I recall correctly, was that destroying the building was attracting them. So I opted to try and step outside and amp my way up to the roof, as I thought that I would not be crossing the minimum safe distance doing so. I also went for it myself because frankly, I've been in touch with enough xenoshit that I think I have the best shot at fighting off xeno influences.

Boy howdy, was I wrong. So everything immediatly just goes black. Poof. Like I'm in a dreamless sleep. Now bear with me here, because this is going to get weird and I don't know how to explain this words. So after what seems like just a moment I become sort of half aware that something's not right. Like when you're dreaming and you look at your watch, only instead of numbers it says 'chicken pudding at martha's'? So, being accustomed to these kind of things I try to focus and make my consciousness come back to the forefront. Took me a few tries, but I managed to regain control of my senses. Literally my senses, because my body was still AWOL and didn't respond to my commands. So, I wake up, can't move my body and find myself in a some kind of ritual. I realize I have to skedaddle from there ASAP, so I amp myself up. Kind of overdid it a bit and rocketed myself away, but it worked. Then a whole lot of running away happened. I think someone picked me up, bless them, and Doctor Sanctor overloaded his suit to try to stop the Lurker.

So we make it out of there and to a ship. By now, there's these huge pillars going skyward from ground zero, some real MC Escher bullshit. We get in contact with Steve, turn out all of our origin tech is a nice little door for the fucker. Great, I thought, I'm basically 25% loser, 75% origin tech, the hell do I do? So I destroy my synthbody and get my amps cut out, and then I'm back to being a brain in a tin can.

And that's basically it, I think. I guess I'm not terribly useful here, because I was fighting off that thing's influence when the important stuff went down. I may be forgetting to mention something, just ask about certain events if you think I did."

[Radio Controlled]

"Han, if you have anything to add to that from your experience, feel free to do so. Ulrich, you can also get to your part if you're ready."

((Doomblade hasn't really been active, so it might be best if we keep moving, he can still come in and participate is he wants to now.))

[AoshimaMichio]

"All right. As I said earlier and others mentioned it as well, we entered into the anomaly way too fast. All our initial object tossing revealed was that the objects indeed went through the boundary, not that they arrived safely. And then expedition leader already commanded us through. Once inside I immediately tested CEQ and found out that it did not work at all as it should. Every message I sent got only grabled response. After that I shot at mirror dome that formed the anomaly boundary and confirmed that it did react to kinetic force, indicating that sufficiently large explosion would perhaps break it.

After Pancaek's failed attempt to move the puppet people I shot single bullet over their heads and confirmed that their frozen status was not anything time related. At this point Hasala had already moved ahead. By order of Maurice the team I moved to where Hasala encountered the first moving puppet. We scanned the building, found more puppets inside and flew up to the roof, hoping to find a way in. I managed to open a hatch into the building, but then I noticed that the puppet people had moved from their original location and surrounded the building. Few of them actually were on the roof with us. The freaky thing about them was that they didn't disturb snow when they moved.

At this point it became clear that we were being hunted on, and as such Maurice forbid all interaction with the puppets, property destruction and ordered our team to move into center on the anomaly. Sensible order, really. Someone blew up a hole into the building in the center so we could get inside while rest of us kept eye on the puppets. As soon as we got inside we found that we were surrounded by puppets on both sides. So I collapsed the floor beneath the group that was between us and the anomaly center. And the fuckers were showing proverbial middle finger to gravity, floating in air like puppets on string. Then I blinked and they were gone. Completely. As if they never were there. We used the opportunity and moved over to the center.

The center of the anomaly appeared to be in a student room. There was a corpse of a student on bed, died long time ago presumably from sickness. Text was written on walls and various pieces of paper. Since the situation was deemed safe enough I began translating the texts. After I had managed to partially translate what was written on the walls, the real shit started to hit the fan. This is the part I guess you generals are most interested about, considering I'm the only person alive who saw what happened there.

I remember it like this: The room began suddenly expand extremely fast. In a few moments it grew into black endless abyss. I turned around and saw Maurice floating, his faceplate up and inside his suit was... nothing but swirling gas. Colorful. Almost pretty. At the same time multiple rings of pure white naked people appeared around us, black smoke bleeding out all of their orifices. I ran to Maurice, hoping that physical violence would cause some change to the situation, but before I could touch him he rocketed upwards. Not with the MK III rockets, mind you, but by some other effect. At the same time a great black upside down pyramid surrounded by white flame appeared high above us, falling down towards us like Maurice was falling up towards it.

It was clear as day that the situation was about to take turn to worse and something needed to be done about it. So I flew after Maurice, and so did Morul. I reached Maurice and tried to bring him down, but Morul continued past us right to the flaming black pyramid and touched it. At that very moment the black void collapsed. I have no idea what he planned to do, but I suspect the final result wasn't it.

So, the building collapsed on us. We got ourselves out of the rubble and Maurice had somehow deduced that the black flaming alien waltzing around with the puppets was Morul. So Maurice flew up yelling and I figure it would be good idea to be somewhere else. Which was pretty good guess since ruins of the dormitory were promptly eradicated by the alien. After taking a failed potshot on it I tried to use my mass amp to kill it. Which leads us to next problem. All amp users know this sensation of... a force tendril, if you will, reaching out and enforcing your intention. This time something... how I should put it? Something... grabbed... it, and yanked hard. I lost my consciousness momentarily there.

As soon as I regained my consciousness I decided this was about enough of alien fuckery and it was high time to leave. And since anomaly boundary was broken by the black alien, I flew out, contacted Steve and informed him about the situation. After that I de-assed the area and prepared our shuttle for escape.

That's about it. I have nothing to add that wasn't mentioned already."

[Nikitian]

I have nothing to ask, and I am ready to give my statement - but I suppose it is the time for your questions first.

However, in addition to my words, I would request Steve to show us the footage of the cameras on my helmet and Ulrich's suit's back, pertaining to the beginning of the anomalous event, which neither him nor I have witnessed.

He pulled at his pipe.

Steve, show us some video!

[Doomblade187]

Han notices, quite belatedly that his name has been called, and shrugs. "I'm afraid I won't be of much assistance. I was not present where the Lurker seems to have emerged. They're telling it rather accurately. I just held my blade menacingly and ran from danger."

[piecewise]

As he flew into the hangar, Maurice took a place somewhere in front of both Generals, flipped the visor up and sadly smiled as he filled and lit his smoking pipe, then drew a deep breath, waiting for other mission team members to assemble. Attempting something resembling standing at attention, he straightened up and began to speak.

Well, where should I start?..

In the course of the Mission 21, the alien extrauniversal entity known as the Lurker in the Angles was discovered, and attempted to possess me with overwhelming strength; it was not an immediate event, but a process that took... well, I can't say how long it took, without external senses during the event, but long enough for Morul Migrurkeshin to somehow intercept and interfere with that process, becoming the subject of its attention in return. As a result, he was possessed, and the entity proceeded to ascend, somehow. We have tried to stop it and to destroy the host's body, with limited success; trooper Bartolomew Markov was killed in action, the bomb we were issued gone with him. We retreated, and, having contacted Steve, proceeded to remove and destroy all Origin-linked equipment in our possession, then took a local ship to escape the planet. As we entered the atmosphere, I gave the order to sterilize the planet and destroy all Origin-linked equipment on it. It should be added that Morul himself was in possession of some Origin-linked equipment and possibly-extrauniversal-linked artifacts, as I have brought up to Steve before the communications were cut.

It is uncertain how the Lurker was initially brought through; it is possible that he was waiting for a possible opening or a host to appear. Though there might have been some transgressions, we did nothing, I repeat, nothing against the basic Competence regulations of yours, General Milno, that could have conceivably led to the Lurker's invasion. As of me, immediately prior to the possession attempt I was investigating the geometic center of the anomaly via the Mad Hatter auxilliary tool, as had been done regularly throughout the whole mission. Perhaps that was the opening it needed.

As the mission commander, I take full responsibility for the results of this mission. He tilted his head a little, and looked into the distance. My personal responsibility is that I have let Morul take my place, for I am certain that I stood a chance at containing this entity, even if he didn't. He smiled bitterly and looked down. I came to my senses when it was already too late.

With no smile and a very, very tired look Maurice raised his eyes to meet those of his old hero, later friend, then shifted gaze to meet the unblinking blackness of the Avatar's cam-eyes. Then spoke into the air.

Steve, does the footage in my helmet confirm my statements? I trust it has already been uploaded and processed.

>It seems to.

"Jaws wants a trial for what happened during M21.-" Milno said, pointing a thumb at Miyamoto. "And it doesn't seem that bad of an idea." He was even less happy then, what with Maurice's quasi-confession of "I didn't do nothing" mixed with "I take responsibility" and "I could contain the entity". As far as he had been informed the thing they had released was basically a godly being, so saying he could've contained it...

And Maurice's sad, coy demeanor wasn't winning him, possibly because he had been in a bad mood to start with.

I'll need the mission's video feeds too.

Consider it done.

"I guess Hasala can answer Maurice's questions now. After that, it's Eddie's time to give his report. No need to repeat yourselves too much. Maurice should be the last to give his full report. Anyone who was with him at the time of the disaster should be among the last, just before him." Milno said, checking the list of people on his datapad.

To Steve/pw.

And it'd be good if you could tell me if anyone lies through their teeth.

>To a degree I can tell you, but much of what went on there happened in the heads of the people involved and often their cameras and sensors went iffy.

I have nothing to ask, and I am ready to give my statement - but I suppose it is the time for your questions first.

However, in addition to my words, I would request Steve to show us the footage of the cameras on my helmet and Ulrich's suit's back, pertaining to the beginning of the anomalous event, which neither him nor I have witnessed.

He pulled at his pipe.

Steve, show us some video!

You can assume it's shown, however, that part where you guys were trapped in a weird dimension as the lurker came in, the part where morul interrupted coitus, that's all static.



Do me a favor guys, if something needs my attention quickly, PM me. I tend to only read through this every few days. And even then not very closely.

[Caellath]

Milno frowned at the static, ruining the chance for a more objective take on what seemed to be the most crucial bit of the mission. "Time for your version of the facts. I do have some questions but I'll ask 'em when you're done." he told Maurice.

[Parisbre56]

((Doesn't Lars have one of those mind reading amps? You could always read their minds to confirm their story. I bet it is absolutely safe. I mean, use Lurker infected Origin Tech to read the mind of someone who has seen the Lurker? What could possibly go wrong?

Also, this is a PTW. If you want to respond, do so in OOC.))))

[Nikitian]

I see. Maurice takes a pull at his pipe. I will not be waiting for Hasala's answers, shall I? I suppose he might be in shock after having to remember everything in such detail. We're safe now, so it should wear, or he could visit the Infirmary afterwards.

He closed his eyes, remembering how things began, and started to speak.

After we had landed, we approached the anomaly boundary. As the testing showed that the objects, indeed, entered the dome when thrown, we proceeded to enter it as well. In hindsight, I have recognised what may have been a somewhat hasty decision at the time as, unknowingly, the only proper course of action - additional testing would have taken time, entering the anomaly only with a part of the group would have been splitting the forces, and it seems that things have been escalating, giving us the time pressure for the whole duration of the mission - perhaps ever since we entered the anomaly, or even approached it.
It should be noted that at that time we have made visual contact with some of the people trapped inside the anomaly, so in the face of potential hostile we slowly advanced; I did leave a volunteer to continue with the testing of anomaly boundaries, but at the time I already had some sort of... you can call this vague premonition; so when I urged us to move on - finding a way out would be possible on our way out, having finished the mission, I reasoned - so this was already a rational decision based on that.

At this point Hasala volunteered for scouting duty, and Pancaek was flanking the mob on my orders. However, investigation of the dome and some already mentioned testing in regards to the frozen people - they were just "frozen" to us then - did not reveal much interesting, apart from the fact that some people had apparently been taken by the anomaly at different periods of time, and some had been active long enough to create the "Stay Away" banner. Morul has, with my permission, entered the voidspace and observed its appearance from the inside. When he reported the strange "glowy bubbles, which hasn't happened before" in the void, I immediately denied the following testing with the use of voidsuit. At the time, I reasoned it as possible interpretation of the time-bubbles around the frozen people - and I certainly did not want to lose a team member frozen in void - but, in hindsight, they might have been something else. Perhaps different worlds - one of which may have been the homeland of the Lurker.

However, it all got so much more complicated when Hasala reported that one of the "frozen" people has moved when he looked away.

We split into two teams and Team I, all capable of flight (except for Morul, but he could jump) moved on to the building of the supposed first contact with survivors. Hasala, while still investigating the same building as Team I, volunteered to investigate it from a separate entry point - alone; yet, thanks to the Mad Hatter shared video feeds, I was able to keep an eye on his progress all the time, and keep in touch with him all this time. As for Team II, it was to continue the sweep in the other direction - I let Pancaek handle it and just occasionally requested the status report, as, per the mission briefing discussion, the teams were meant to be semi-autonomous.

As it was discovered that, apparently, people have did their best to barricade all entrances; that contact with the frozen people was impossible and they had certain unnerving similarities to puppets taken by an invisible puppeteer - who didn't care about keeping all the limbs bending only in the right direction; that frozen people were, somehow, encroaching upon us everywhere - but especially where we had done damage to the buildings inside the dome; and that the restriction of their movement was apparently linked to keeping them in sight - our already tight timetable jumped a notch, and so I made the decision to make haste towards the centre of the anomaly. At this time I came under the impression that it was similar to the Ghostship mission - in that the opposition was overwhelming, played by different rules than mere physical laws as we know them, and that the correct course of action was to deal with the mission objectives as fast as possible, and then escape the anomaly. I shared the thought with Pancaek, the only other veteran of said mission on the team, and he acceded.

Unfortunately, at this point Hasala became trapped in the building. I knew that we had to step up the pace for the sake of saving the whole mission, and I asked him if he could get out by himself. He expressed a plan that I found good, and I sincerely wished him luck; and then Team I flew off to the next step of our course. ... I did not "just" leave him behind. Maurice's face hardened, and he fell silent for a moment.

((Long post. Taking a break. If anyone would want to interrupt Maurice, this small pause is a perfect IC opportunity for that. ))

[swordsmith04]

Hasala ignores the remarks on detail; he's always had an above average memory, and in any case if he, who had provided testimony before anyone else, had had time to review his suit's data to ensure his testimony was accurate, then so could have everyone else.

"I did not 'express a plan which you found good'. I claimed to have an idea, which I did not share at the time due to being distracted. Hold on, let me play the exact audio."

Hasala, status update.
...Oh, I see it. Damnation. Can you get out on your own?

:Maybe. Depends on if they move cyclically or on the Schrodinger principle.:

"As for answering your questions, once other testimonies were being given I decided to wait until they were finished. Since we're back on the topic now, though: Yes, you did leave me behind, on nothing more than 'I might have an idea'. We did communicate briefly once you'd left, but that was a result of my unprompted status reports. I'm lucky I had this generator-powered laser rifle; otherwise, I'd have been stuck attempting to burn down the building, or smash through the walls with rockets and my exoskeleton. I should send a 'thank you' message to that woman on Hephaestus when I get a chance... Simus, I think it was..."

Apologies for interrupting, Generals."