Tarran Action: Loudly bang on door, make a great deal of noise. [Str 5+1, P.Empathetics 6+2] [End 5](-3 HP)
Ashley: Surf the system for Argos. [Mechanics 1-1 (Bonus Negated] [System Observation 3+1 Vs Ash Mechanics 4+1-1]
James: Go Check on Taric and lend a hand. [None necessary]
Taric: Show that terminal what for. [Mechanics 4+1 Vs System Firewall 6] (Jeez) [Mechanics 3+1 Vs System Observation 3] [Mechanics 1 (Bonus negated) Vs System Observe 5] (Oh no, not again.)
Dominique: Relax in thought. [Stamina 3+1] (8 stamina recovered.)
Jordan: Repair weapon [Mechanics 3+1] (12 more needed.)
Harry: Support Tarran [None necessary]
Tarran's options had at this point become severely limited, he could turn back and spend his time twiddling his thumbs, he could set up and equally pointless watch here, or he could set off for some reconnaissance and leave the men and woman entrusted to his service without. None of those option sat well with him.
"When the smart has been abandoned by elimination the brave, no matter how stupid, must be the correct option" He muttered under his breath as his assisted vision scanned the end of the corridor again for anything that he could have possibly missed.
"What was that?" Harry asked quietly from beside him, his own less augmented vision straining to see more than Tarran's vague outline in the dark.
"Nothing, I'm just going to bang on this door and see if I can't get a bloody answer." "And?" "And on the off chance that someone does answer I'd appreciate you putting a few holes in them." There's a moment of silence before Harry chuckles in the dark.
"Well it sure as hell beats playing twenty questions... Do it, I've got your back." He says as he plants his feet into a firing position and braces the SMG into his shoulder.
Tarran nods once and slams his fist into the door with surprising force.
"HEY, BAD GUYS, OPEN UP!" He shouts at deafening volume into the heavy metal of the door, continuing to slam his fist into it as he yells.
"I JUST KNOW YOU WANT TO KILL ME! OPEN UP!" The door resonates softly with the power of his blows but nothing happens as the sound fades away.
"Well that was bracing," Harry says
"but I don't thin-" "OPEN GODDAMN YOU!" Tarran yells over the larger man and smashes his balled fist into the door, sheer frustration condensed and loosed down a conduit of flesh and bone that hits like a freight train. With a moan of rapidly bending metal and a screeching pop the sliding door separates from one side of the frame, damaging it irreparably but also bending it far enough in that someone could slip in if they squeezed a bit. The rapidly blossoming pain in his hand however keeps him from fully appreciating his work, though Harry's face is a sight to behold.
"Everything better be all right down there" Dominique's voice calls out from up the hall.
" 'Cause if it isn't I'm too tired to kick its ass without kicking yours first for bothering me." "Fine," Tarran manages while clenching his teeth and clutching his injured hand.
"just punching down doors." Dominique grunts as if this was a fairly normal thing to be doing.
"Use your feet, breaks less knuckles." She says as she readjusts her position of recline against the side of the wall, never opening her eyes once through the entire exchange. Dominique's breath never slows into real sleep, just a light rest that can be maintained while standing up, and old workman's trick she picked up years ago. Orienting James had been a chore, not a big thing but she didn't want to be caught exhausted should something real and dangerous come up.
James himself seemed unaffected, rolling his shoulders experimentally. He felt only marginally different, a subtle thing as though he'd just dropped maybe 5% of his weight. He just felt.. better. Still he was slightly concerned, if Dom's reaction was anything to go on then he should be more effected than this...
"I don't feel much different, just a bit tougher and stronger" He said as he flexed his hands experimentally, though nothing of note happened when he did so.
"Anyway," he continued
"it felt like that was getting absorb-" James stopped cold before he finished the word. Absorbed. Dominique had tried to do something with his head, considering the guest he kept up there it seemed entirely possible that she'd gotten the wrong one. The implications of that were... unpleasant.
"Great. I need to explain something" he said as he blew out a breath
"I'd gone through some crazy dream torture from Technocracy tech before I woke up in that ship. As a consequence... well, my subconscious has a mind of its own, and it occasionally does... things, and well.... IT must have done something to part of your Orientation." he finished, looking at Dominique for some reaction, incredulity, surprise, alarm, anything.
She shrugged once without opening her eyes.
More than a little surprised James stared at Dominique.
"That's it?" "Mmm" She said, her dark eyes still closed.
"You aren't concerned about it or surprised?" Dominique finally cracks one eye at the blond man.
"Will it attempt to kill us?" "Er no, I don't think so." "Good, wake me if it does." she says and promptly closes her eyes again.
James gaped at her slightly. Thinking about it though James found her logic made a certain sense, there really wasn't a lot of point in worrying until something happened. Still, considering that it was keeping that thing from growing unchecked inside his head he felt he had legitimate cause to worry about it... Again though, worrying would do nothing. Feeling somewhat helpless and a little useless James left Dominique to her rest and walked into the substation, taking a moment to adjust to the shifting colors generated by the holographic displays. Taric stood working at one of them and James approached somewhat uncertainly.
"Need a hand?" he asked when he was abreast of the the dark haired man.
"No thanks," Taric replied
"my mother had real foresight and gave me a pair a while ago, haven't needed new ones since." Taric grins at James briefly.
"Nah, just stand still and watch a master seducer at work." James does as he's told and watched the screen as Taric's fingers manipulated the screen with inhuman speed. Still, standing in one place and watching the man's back James became aware of a tension in the shorter man's shoulders, a sign that things were not going as well as they should.
"Hell and high water..." Taric swore softly as the security mutated without warning for the third time in as many minutes. He'd underestimated the security badly, and if he didn't move fast things were going to degenerate rapidly. Focusing all his precision to the task he set about withdrawing his probes and reshaping his attack to the new iteration of the enemy.
It is of course at this moment that a single drop of sweat beaded on Taric's eyebrow and, unthinkingly, Taric raised her arm up to wipe the drop away. The hand movement made in doing so was in just the right place at exactly the wrong time, and the system interpreted it as a command to release the half formed spike program he'd been building. As the useless program activated it did absolutely nothing except for attract the security right to Taric's location.
"One day" Taric said as the red emergency lights glowed to life in the walls.
"I'm going to find the person who decided that command was a good idea and we're going to have a long talk. A tenth of a second later there is a crunching splatter of a sound behind Taric and James as the heavy door's safeties are overridden, forcing it to crush and bisect the unfortunate deadhead as it slammed shut. Then the door at the other end of the room slides open, affording a brief glimpse of a room full of tall tubes and harnesses before the broad shouldered figure of a deadhead clone blocks the doorway.
"Citizen Pyotr Ivanov, you are in violation of your contract, Technocracy law, and the global code of conduct. The deadhead intones as more of its brethren file up behind it.
"Yourself and the witness will accompany us to the holding cells. Failure to comply will be dealt with by force." "Taric" James said.
"Yeah?" "I hate you." ****
Meanwhile up at the north wing Jordan sat cross legged at the other end of the room from Ashley, picking through his rifle with a grimace as he made spot repairs where he could. There was fighting still ahead, and he didn't like not having the killing power of the rifle able to be brought to bear at the closer ranges. Still he kept an eye on Ash even as he worked, she was helpless like this and he would be her only defense until the other were brought up if it came to fighting again.
Ashley herself was sitting in the chair, staring at the floating holo-prism in front of her without moving. For all the life she showed she could have been catatonic for months, inside her head though things were moving apace... The curiously sea like world of the terminal had yielded to her this far, now was the time to make some waves. Flexing her virtual fingers and concentrating she shaped a series of small and basic seeker programs, designed to smell out the files she's sure are buried or deleted... but nothing ever enters or leaves a system without leaving a mark, and Ash can tell a lot by those marks. With a wave of her hand the dozen bright blue and faintly luminous programs jet away, each one searching and gathering data a dozen times faster than you could have manually.
The the dull and near invisible predators that comprise the security of the system notice the little programs that Ashley created, and they move towards the helpless creations with hungry abandon. Wherever they find the seekers they engulf them and Ashley has to work fast, creating a working illusion that she herself is merely a chunk of cold data storage. When the last of her probes is engulfed the security will undoubtedly trace their source back to her.
Indeed when one of the odd somehow shrouded security programs finally tracks the last of her creations down she's able to catch glimpses of the security darting about in all directions in an effort to find their point of entry. Thanks to luck and skill however Ash's illusion holds up even when tested lightly by the security. After several long moments they move farther afield and Ash at long last allows herself a sigh of relief, she was still inside and she could still work- but the security was out and aware now, and that could make all the difference.
Deadhead 1
Class: Base Security Cyborg
Health 100/100
Wearing: Light Body Armor 50/50
Weapon: Disruptor Pistol
Secondary: Stun baton
Status: Fine
Deadhead 2
Class: Base Security Cyborg
Health 100/100
Wearing: Light Body Armor 50/50
Weapon: Disruptor Pistol
Secondary: Stun baton
Status: Fine
Deadhead 3
Class: Base Security Cyborg
Health 100/100
Wearing: Light Body Armor 50/50
Weapon: Disruptor Pistol
Secondary: Stun baton
Status: Fine
(There may be more deadheads that are not yet visible behind the first three.)
Memory Stick (Dom)
Broken Pad (Taric)
Ident Badge (Taric)
Health: 100/100
Charge: 125/150
Carried Weight: 96/200 (-25%)
Attire: Plain gray under-armor padding. [10lbs] Heavy Combat Armor, 116/150. [45lbs]
Inv:
Leanashe Assault Rifle [22/30 18lbs]
4.73 mm Caseless box mags x2
Cirri Light pistol [20/20 4lbs]
Energy cell x5
Manticore Pistol [9/10 6lbs]
Mechanical Bypass kit 4/5 [3lbs]
Arc implants, Planerian Implants
Stormcrow implants
Javelin Implants, Duelist Implants
Status: Primary Staff quarters.
Harry Nakamuno
Health: Damaged
Charge: Half Charge
Description: 6'3", weighing three-hundred and fifty pounds Harry is the frontline muscle. Generally calm but a man who dislikes doing nothing, slow to anger he's been friends with Jordan since the Conclave gained their freedom.
Personality Complication: Just cause. Harry Believes in the work he does, and he believes hard. He won't hesitate to put a hole through anything in the way of his duty.
Skills: Melee 2, Soak 2, Brawling 2, Marksman 1
Attributes,
Strength (Str): 6
Dexterity (Dex): 3
Endurance (End): 6
Charisma (Char): 3
Intelligence (Int): 3
Willpower: (Will): 3
Staggershock implants,
Aegis implants, Lazarus implants
Samson Implants, Duelist Implants
Equipment: Heavy Combat Armor 111/150, Wolfkin SMG 15/18, Disruptor Pistol (4/4 4lbs), .50 cal drum clips x3, HE grenades (2), Thermal Paste (1), energy cell x4
Jordan Grey
Health: Damaged
Charge: Almost Full
Description: 5'9'' Jordan is a slender blond man with the red scraggle of beard perpetually encroaching on his chin. Part of his memories were lost during translation, and all hope of recovering them lost in the second battle. His name is a combination of earth history and the book Grey's anatomy. His medical expertise remains intact along with his sarcasm and combat skills, but most of the rest of his life is hazy.
Personality complication: Hatred, he might not show it much of the time but Jordan holds a grudge against the... thing that robbed of the chance to ever recover his memories. He is determined to kill it, if it's the last thing he ever does.
Skills: Mechanics 2, Marksman 2, Dodging 3,
Attributes,
Strength (Str): 1
Dexterity (Dex): 6
Endurance (End): 1
Charisma (Char): 3
Intelligence (Int): 6
Willpower: (Will): 6
Javelin implants,
Spider implants, MD. Ande Suite
Toxicology and hazard recog, Arc implants
Equipment: Combat Armor 76/100, Laelaps Laser rifle 9/12 (15lbs, short range barrel unusable), Disruptor Pistol (4/4 4lbs), energy cell x5, Field Surgery kit 1/5, Advanced medical kit [4/5], basic medical supplies [3/5] , ORS pack 3/3.
Health: 110/115
Stamina: 65/115
Carried Weight: 143/200 (-25%)
Attire: Arbiter dress Uniform, pristine [10lbs] Standard Body Armor, 74/100. [35lbs]
Inv:
Abassy Heavy pistol -laser sight- [2, 8lbs]
Chimera Pistol [15, 5lbs]
Chimera Pistol [15, 5lbs]
Stun club (50/50 11lbs) x4
Fuath Riot suppression carbine [7, 13lbs, Caustic load]
.50 caliber pistol clips x8 (7, 2lbs)
Jormungandr Assault Rifle (A30, E65, 16lbs,)
.220 gauss slugs x2 (35)
Smoke Grenades x1 (neg)
Field rations x2
Basic medical kit (2/5) (5lbs)
Data storage drive [Romance novels]
Status: Primary Staff quarters, Hall.,
Health: 27/70
Stamina: 65/70
Carried Weight: 138/170 (-25%)
Attire: Technocrat Commander Dress uniform [11lbs] Standard Body armor, 66/100. [35lbs]
Inv:
Energy Cell x8 (3 lbs)
Frankenstein Versatility Rifle (A29, E57, 31lbs, in hand,)
.220 gauss clip x4
Basilisk pulse rifle 4/5 (13 lbs)
Piru Gauss Rifle (4/5 4/5 16lbs)
.45 Gauss slugs x2 (5)
Disruptor Pistol (4/4 4lbs)
Saun's Helmet (Quarter full of ants, enclosed.) (3lbs)
Box of terrible scrap components (20lbs)
Short Range Radio, (Off)
Memory Foam centerfold
colonist rations x5 (5lbs)
Tripwire emitter
Status: Security substation november.
Health: 35/75
Stamina: 68/75
Carried Weight: 133/150 (-25%)
Attire: High-prelate Uniform [8lbs] Standard Body Armor 60/100. [35lbs]
Inv:
Ichneumon Anti-Armor Rifle -Scope- (1, 20lbs, 1 rounds in speed loader)
1' sabot packs x3 (2)
Chimera pistol (15, 5lbs)
Combat Knife (1lb)
Sleipnir SMG (A5, E35 9lbs,)
Sleipnir SMG (A5, E35 9lbs,)
3 energy cells
8 .220 gauss clips (35)
Basic First Aid Kit 5/5 (5lbs)
1 .220 gauss clip (25)
Jormungandr Assault Rifle (A35, E70), 16lbs, in hand)
Status: Primary Staff quarters, Hall.,
Health: 38/75
Stamina: 52/75
Carried weight: 140/200 (-25%)
Attire: Exarch Dress uniform [8lbs] Light Body armor 40/50 [25lbs]
Inv:
Renfield SMG (10, 10lbs, in hand)
Orb Lightstand (35 lbs 19/20)
Riot shield (10lbs 30/30)
Piru Gauss Rifle (E5/5 A5/5 16lbs)
.45 Gauss slug clip (5)
Simone's Song (6lbs 7/7 -Frangible Rounds-)
.50 caliber Frangible pistol clips (7) x1
Dybbuk Flechette Canister Rifle (1/2 35 lbs)
20 mm flechette canisters (x2, 1 lb)
Status:Primary Staff quarters, Hall. Incredibly Smelly.
Author
Topic: Deviation-22. The End of All Things. (Read 529674 times)