Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run [FINISHED] — Legacy Forums

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#121

It took about 5 seconds, then the Barons grating voice replied energetically.

"Chief Justice, this is the Baron speaking. Oh, how glad I am to hear your voice. Listen in, son, I have a deal to propose. I sense that you are a wise man, one who sees opportunity when it arises. It just so happens that I have heard that your little space bird is wounded. At my facility I have amassed some pretty impressive tech. I am able to provide you with repairs, even outfit your bird with some pretty impressive new equipment. All you have to do, is to... offer something in return"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#122

Breathing deeply, Rebecca leaned against a wall outside the lab, and returned to the matters at hand.

The Baron was too far away for a detailed reading, but his tension, anger and psychotic mania could be felt across.. how many miles?
Rebecca's eyes widened upon the realization.
Slowly, she sneaked towards Angus, and whispered in his ear: "He is 39 miles away... and furious. Please, do not make him any angrier, unless you wish him to shoot us regardless of consequences as soon as we appear."

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#123

"Ahh" he mouthed toward Becky quietly. "I see."

"Baron, we are ready to accept your offer. If you would clearly explain what this *something* is that we would have to offer, we can quickly come to a definitive decision. As it were, by the way, our captain is currently preoccupied, but extends his regards."

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#124

"I have many things I wish to accomplish. If you want to retire to earth, I am always willing to give you a fair deal on that bird of yours, or any spacer material within. Secondly, I am interested in labor. Especially skilled labor. If you are willing to sell me some of your men, or women, I would be a happy man. Thirdly, I would loooove to see what your former masters have on that station of theirs. We could team up and take a peek, perhaps? And lastly, there is this place I am unable to access. With your bird, and your skills, I would pay much to have you go there and retrieve an item for me. As a matter of fact, several items. A set of ancient tech combat items, as a matter of fact"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#125

"Hang on Baron. There are those present here at my end who would question your intentions, being as you tried to kill us and all, but I am assuring them that if you wanted to kill us, you would have easily done so already. Please just give us another thirty seconds..."

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#126

The Baron hesitated for a couple of seconds, then his reply came.

"Yes. Yes. Understandable. I, uh, regret the misunderstanding"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#127

"I say we go on that retrieval mission," Mortimer said, startling some of them. He had left the cockpit and wandered back here. He was the type of person you could never remember when exactly they had entered the chamber. "Selling slaves would ruin morale, after all, and the other options and frankly ludicrous."

Besides, Mortimer thought to himself, I would like to see some more of this world.

He leaned against the doorframe, presenting a cockier image than what was perhaps true. "And by the way, thanks, Doc, for patching me up."

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#128

Phil had come in shortly afterwards.

"Well, It seems we may have consensus here. Good job, Mr. Justice.

Perhaps we can do business Baron, though we're going to need a sign of good faith from you first. How much are you paying for the retrieval mission? And what can you tell us about it.
In light of recent events, I ain't moving without real details."

Phil was far more angry with the scientists than the slavers, as much as their profession sickened him.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#129

"Baron. Let's skip over the slavery bit and forget the Mary Sue for a while", Angus added. "Our mercenary streak has reached a consensus. We'll get these baubles if the price is right, as Captain Marion says."

With that he withdrew to a corner. Regardless of his feelings, the Captain was the Captain. You didn't get anywhere if basic rank was not observed. Marion was back in charge.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#130

The Baron paused for a short while, then Mary Sue began to speak.

"They are having an internal debate, Captain. Here, I have already hacked their comms. Let me turn on their speakers for you, so you can get the inside scoop"

The voice of the Baron and his advisors started booming on the intercoms.

Unknown male character: "With all due respect, sire, I do not believe these men are as easily duped as this Dark Master from the Space Station led us to believe. I urge you to consider them as potential allies, especially now that our long range sensors tell us three more ships have launched from the Copernicus"

Mary Sue interjected: "Three more ships? How is that even possible?"

The Baron: "Agreed. And with the Dark Master being as furious as he is, it is my estimation that we can expect him soon. I really need that piece of ancient tech to greet him if he indeed intends to take revenge for us not keeping up our end of the bargain"

Unknown elderly female character: "Jerome. Why not play this on the safe side? If we just invite these men over here, and talk with them, we can do the same to this Dark Master person and then play the cards in our favor, whatever that may be"

The Baron: "No. I do not wish to encounter this "Master" without an ace or two up my sleeve. We can invite them all over later, if the Dark Master agrees to that. Pieter... Do you have any information on these three vessels?"

Unknown male character called Pieter: "Two vessels are smaller than the spaceship these men are flying. The third is significantly larger. It seems part of the space station broke loose and, well, that is the spacecraft. It is roughly 210 meters long"

The Baron: "Oh, this is as sweet as a mutant infested armory"

Mary Sue: "210 Meters long... My calculations indicate that that would be the observatory itself. But how is that even possible? My radar isn't showing anything. Captain, I advise we keep a low profile..."

The Barons voice started booming over the intercom again, still in conversation with his advisors

"All right. You, you and you, give orders to start evacuating the Bohr Facility. I want all inventory dismantled and moved via the railroad. Maximum security. Mask the facility from long range sensors. And give me the microphone, I want to give these savages what they want"

There was a slight delay, then the Baron spoke to the crew of Mary Sue.

In the Ural Mountains, central Russia, there is an old facility of the Russian Federation. Those crazy Rus, they invented a new type of Combat Armor, a mechanoid exoskeleton with firepower and strong body armor. I want that piece of armor. If you get it for me, I will provide you with repairs, and even throw in a couple of implants to sweeten the deal. The implants I have in mind is one "Bullet Dodge Mark IV", and another labeled "Advanced Healing & Regeneration Module".

"At any rate, here, I sent over the coordinates to your AI. Now, if you accept the deal, please go about your business. I have... urgent matters to attend. The Baron over and out"

Mary Sue displayed an image onscreen, then began speaking.

I believe this is an image from the location, Captain. The facility should undoubtedly be nearby.

http://goo.gl/maps/b8N6N

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#131

Once the Baron had signed off, Captain Phil was silent for a moment.

"Woah."

"Mary Sue - are those two smaller ships the size of the lifepods?"

Perhaps a more critical question:

"I do not doubt you dear, but is there any possibility your hacking could be detected? Can you get direct access to the Barons long range sensors? Or could the smaller 'vessels' be missiles of some kind? Perhaps jury-rigged lifepods since they seem to have the observatory? I think they are spiteful enough to bomb us, so relocating the ship might be a good idea."

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#132

"We could perhaps bring back one or two of the vehicles - the Scania and the nuclear-powered one; it would be a shame to leave them here. Perhaps as a gesture of good will? And, it's always good to have a nuclear device in your enemy's base..."
She wondered at herself as she continued:
"Angus, could you perchance rig the sedan with a remote detonator?"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#133

"I doubt they have detected me, Captain, though there is a remote possibility. As for the vessels, they seem to be slightly larger than the Vespertine class fighter drones. These are real fighter craft. The Barons sensors reveal what my sensors can't see. I am sorry Captain, but I am blind to this new threat. I advise against fighting them before we are on equal ground"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#134

"Any thoughts how we can .. Hide from those things? Don't Leyden it be said captain Phil doesn't learn from mistakes. Are we watertight?

Oh, and Rebecca, thats an idea I can get behind!"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#135

"With my current structural damage, I cannot guarantee your safety underwater. My advise is to fly low, using terrain as cover, and hole up somewhere. Perhaps in that Ural facility? ", Mary Sue replied

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#136

8 hours later...
"Captain, I have finally located what I believe is the entrance to the Ural Facility. There is a wide silo just beneath me right now, below the mist. The mist is too dense, so a visual is impossible, but my sonar pings do confirm there is an open silo just below. Seeing as it is the only entrance, and indeed only place to land, I am starting my descent now Captain"

Mary Sue descended gracefully, and Mortimer released the controls, letting the automated docking procedure commence. Beside him Rebecca also relaxed, and they both looked on as Mary Sue's lights illuminated the shaft they were descending.

Предупреждение. Военного округа.

They descended down past the huge orange writing in the shaft, and finally the Mary Sue settled down on a metallic landing pad with a loud clunking sound.

***

Guns drawn, flashlights illuminating the vast landing pad, the party disembarked the Mary Sue. The fog was less thick down here, merely forming a mystic veil, a smoke-like substance that drifted in and out of their light beams. Apart from the quietening hum of the Mary Sue, and the soft metallic sound of their footsteps, the place was eerily quiet. Beneath their feet was steel grid flooring, and below that the shaft just continued down a long distance, before ending in dark waters far below.

They circled the chamber and found a double doorway leading into the facility itself. Other than that the only way was up. Someone had shut the door, and the sensors did not open the doors as they approached.

OOC: You either have to force the door open, or try to hack your way through. Optionally you could also blast your way through with explosives, or even Mary Sue's gattling gun. Chance of Phil opening the door: 75%, chance of Angus hacking his way through: Science + 25 - 30 (difficulty). Chance of someone wearing the Stavros Suit battering through the door: 95%. Chance of Mary Sue blasting the door open: 100% (very, very, very noisy).

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#137

Phil seemed calm for once. The goal seemed simple enough, though usually thats when things went of the rails.

"Check for booby traps, then get the Stavros on 'er. Mary - anything here you can chop into like the Baron's system?"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#138

"This is a high security facility, Captain. There is no wifi here. In order to hack this system, Angus has to connect an USB50 cable to the control room. I can connect to his mobile and hack via its wireless, but that will only work where his mobile can receive my signal. Probably not very far into the facility. I can do nothing like I did to the Baron. The ancients were well versed in the dangers of an AI. This means I can probably help hack a few of the closest doors, if Angus plugs his system in, but the rest of the facility is out of my reach, unless it is somehow carelessly wired into one monolithic system, which I highly doubt is the case"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#139

"When we have the time, we need to cobble together a mobile relay for Mary Sue to use. But now - Angus, I can help you... if you want, I am not too bad with computers myself."

She did override quite a few doors on the Copernicus to get at hidden goodies.

"Perhaps you will be at the main controls and I here at the console? Let me see if I can get the panel open and find some shortcut."

Aiding Angus; I rolled 58, which is below my computer skill.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#140

Katherine looked down at the water below, she found a hatch, opened it and sat down to begin the climb.
"I'm taking a quick look down below, give me 5 or 10 minutes. And nobody follow me." With that she descended down the steel rungs into the dark waters, she turned on her water-proof flashlight and sank out of view.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#141

Her doctor's robe made swimming more clumsy, but at least it saved her from the open mouthed staring of Angus. Katherine slid under the surface. The water was cold, really cold. She was in the Siberian Ural Mountains after all.

She pointed her flashlight in various directions. There seemed to be some sort of tubes leading into the facility, but what really caught her attention was the bottom of the shaft. 20 meters below the surface she saw human remains. Skeleton upon skeleton in a morbid pile below the steel rungs. It was as if someone had just executed them and dumped them down into this watery grave. Katherine squinted and realized most of them had bullet wounds to the side of their head. She started counting, but lost count at 30. There were that many.

OOC: (14:51:59) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 19.

Katherine noticed something below some of the skeletons. There... It was a metallic belt of some sort. The years had done it no damage, and Katherine just knew there was something about it. It had the look of ancient war technology on it.

Pointing her flashlight into the two one meter wide tubes, Katherine saw nothing. There were no bars to block entry, but the tubes seemed to go on. She felt a bit dizzy. The water was poor in oxygen. She could breathe, but only just.

***

Rebecca toyed with the controls. They were alien from those on the Copernicus, with strange letters and symbols. More clunky and less finesse. She squeezed the sides of the panel, and discovered that she could flip open one more layer of the controls. Down there it was all cords and nodes, and she removed one of the two power cords and put the electrical current directly on the other.

HISSSSS

The sound of the door sliding open sideways was cut short by a metallic shriek as the door jammed when it had opened only 30 centimeters. It was enough to squeeze through, but no way they could get the Stavros suit through that crack.

Squeezing through, Rebecca discovered a long, three meter wide white corridor. There was no light in here, only the beam of Rebecca's flashlight.

On her right were windows she could look through into a two meter long, twelve meter wide control room. Ultra thin computer screens lined the walls and office chairs were put in front of them. The keyboards were in the same alien language they had seen in the shaft and on the door she just came through.

There was one door leading into the control room, but not from the corridor. The metallic door inside the control room led to the room behind it, but the corridor sported no window to look into it.

The only way to see what was inside that room was to enter through a plain metallic door some ten meters down the corridor on Rebecca's right. The door had another keypad on it.

On their left there was another door, at the far end of the corridor about 30 meters down.
Beside it, directly opposite Rebecca at the far end, a third door.

Besides the three metal doors and the window, Rebecca did not see anything of interest in here.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#142

"Any dust on the floor, Rebecca? Signs of life?"

The 30cm opening would be nearly as tough a squeeze for the captain, and probably impossible for the goods they were there for.

"Can you see whats jamming it? Otherwise we'll need to widen it. At the very least if we have to book it, i'd rather not do it squeezing through that."

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#143

Rebecca looked at the floor. The layer of dust was perfect. She let her beam of light slash through the window to the control panel. Same thing. This place hadn't been used for a very, very long time. Focusing on the door, Rebecca noticed that nothing seemed to jam it. Nothing intentional at least. Perhaps it was rust? Or something broken?

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#144

Katherine picked up the belt, swam up and surfaced long enough to take a deep breath, banged the belt against the silo-wall a few times to reveal her intentions, hung the belt and her doctor's robe on the bottom rung then swam down again to investigate the tubes.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#145

Having left her coat and belt at a steel rung, Katherine dove for the tubes. She entered the left one, and swam down it. Her gills had trouble picking up air in here, but there was some. Beside, the lungful she got at the surface helped her until there was a T junction in the pipes. One of went up, the other straight forward. As she either had to turn or go up for air, Katherine swam some 20 meters up. Air. It was not fresh, but it was air. Looking around, Katherine noticed the tube continued up. There were steel rungs in the walls, like in the landing shaft.

Gossamer: I climb up until I reach a hatch or something, listen for a while and if I don't hear/see nothing I check out what's above.
(22:15:33) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 58.

Katherine climbed the cold steel rungs until she was just beneath another steel grid hatch. Up above two strange metallic backpacks had been stored. She sat perfectly still for half a minute, but heard nothing, so she opened the hatch and looked about.

Looking up, she saw another shaft. This one was sealed at the top by a huge steel gate. The layout was pretty similar to the other shaft that Mary Sue had landed in. Same width and layout. This one had doors on both sides, however.

Sneaking about, Katherine checked out the backpacks. They had small wings. Trying one on, she put it on her back and suddenly it started making clicking sounds.

Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.

Looking down she noticed the thing was strapping itself onto her chest, until it was firmly on. Then an engine sounded. A low hum that grew louder and louder. She felt something in the palm of her left hand, and noticed that a joystick of sorts rested in her palm. It came from a metal band around her wrist. The backpack sure had some fancy self-unpacking hardware.

Then the engine ignited and she felt like she was pulled from the ground. Suddenly she was suspended mid air, about 2 meters above the steel grid flooring. A flick of her right hand sent her spinning around her axis and one meter left. Looking over her shoulder she noticed rocket flames sticking out of the tip of the wings on her rocket backpack.

Fancy toys, but not what they were looking for.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#146

The place still had power. Nice!
Rebecca opened the door to the control room, and snooped around, then attempted to turn on the computers inside. Alien squiggles or not, there may be something useful - perhaps a language selection option as well?

While waiting whether the machines would run and boot, she returned to the door and tried to find a panel in the wall which might conceal the mechanism responsible for its operation.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#147

Rebecca opened the door that she suspected led to the control room. The procedure was the same as at the landing bay, so she just squeezed and flipped open the cover and opened it using the electrical current. This door slid open without problems.

Inside was a huge warehouse. It had everything. Shelf upon shelf upon shelf of military hardware. Engine parts, cannon shells, helmets, body armor, assault rifles, ammo crates. The last time she had seen anything like this was when she snuck into the main armory in the Scientists' section of the Copernicus!

Continuing past the military warehouse, Rebecca opened the only other door in the room. She entered the control room and went over to a computer. As she sat down in the chair it powered on, without her even touching it. A synthesized voice started to speak in an authorative voice, then light flickered on in the room, and indeed in the corridor outside as well.

"Имя и звание?"

Meanwhile the screen in front of her flickered to life, and a weird symbol rotated on screen. The keyboard did not work, however, and shortly thereafter the voice repeated itself.

"Имя и звание?"

***

Katherine was still suspended mid-air. She tried maneuvering the thing using small hand gestures and found that the rocket backpack was very responsive. OOC: It requires the pilot skill to successfully master. After a while she nudged back down on the steel grid. The rockets were still ignited. There were three buttons on top of her joystick. One was red, one was green and the third one blue. She had already worked out how to ascend, descend and move in various directions. The buttons, however, were untried and untested.

As she played with the controls the light suddenly flickered on. The double doors in front of her slid open, and from far, far away she heard a deep hum, like some machinery being switched on. It reminded Katherine of the sound of the Copernicus thruster booster.

A few seconds went by, and just as she started to calm down there was a distant shriek and then a deep, rumbling growl.

***

"This is fucking amazing! Screw that Baron character, I can fix the Mary Sue using this!", Wionna was in ecstacy as she rummaged through the warehouse. She went over to a double tank backpack that rested on a shelf. "Holy Nebula! This is a Petruschka wielding torch! I feel like we stumbled upon the fucking crown jewels of Ingh-Land!"

Within a few minutes, Wionna, Frank and Angelica were pulling supplies from the military storage and into Mary Sue's landing bay.

"Captain Phil, sir! I can fix the shuttle, sir!", Wionna positively beamed as she saluted Captain Phil.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#148

"Great - I know now that I know to words Russian - name and password."
She flipped the keyboard over and looked behind the screen to see whether some lazy technician left them behind. Even scientists did this. She looked under the table and under the chair too.

Then, there was the warehouse - she would merrily join in on the looting. Also, the facility was likely dangerous, otherwise the Baron would have sent someone ... less expendable. A little armor would do her good. Plus, the military made notoriously good survival gear - and the Earth was all about survival, as she could not have failed to notice.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#149

When Mortimer heard about the looting, he immediately squeezed through the door to join in. Truth be told, he didn't have much muscle mass to stop him from squeezing through the opening. Seeing the assault rifles, he grabbed two, and plenty of ammunition for each. He took the second to Phil, and said "Figured you might want one of these," and then handed over half the ammunition.

He then loaded his own assault rifle with some ammo, then told Phil "Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go see if there's anything else with my name on it in that warehouse."

Mortimer returned to the warehouse, and started looking for another exit that might lead to the Stavros, as well as some new weaponry for Mary Sue, more provisions, and other useful odds and ends. They would need more weapons if the Baron came looking for them again, especially if they reneged on a deal with him. The Stavros would be useful to have for themselves, after all, since the Baron wanted it.

Senses roll to see anything helpful or an exit or traps or enemies trying to kill me: (08:03:23) Minion: caesar193 rolls 1d100 and gets 12.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#150

Phils impatience was somewhat mollified by the rifle. He began to inspect it to understand all its widgets, after removing the magazine and clearing it of course.

"I'd love some armour if you see any," he said to Mortimer's retreating form.

Another thought - "Did you say welding torch? Wanna try it out by cutting a hole in this door?"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#151

"Of course, Sir!", Wionna put her visor mask on, and strapped the fuel tanks to her back. Then she lit the welding torch. Within a short while she had cut through one of the double doors, and Phil eased it down on the ground. There was enough room for Phil, and even Angus in the Stavros, to pass.

***

The Russian made assault rifles were impressive. Night Scopes, 100 bullet magazines and it felt just right in their arms. But the combat armor was another matter. She had given up finding a password, and Rebecca looked at the impressive black armor. It was made to cover the entire body, and Rebecca put on the black trousers first and buckled the black leather belt. The texture of the trousers was coarse, like it had been woven from various thick threads of some ultra-resilient matter. Then she put on the shirt and gloves, followed by the hood. She tightened the hood around the black and dark green mask, with both gas mask and some sort of goggles.

Breathing through the mask wasn't as hard as the gas masks they had on the Copernicus. But what really blew her mind was how the goggles adjusted her vision. Small data streams scrolled on the left side of her vision, while Wionna registered as a red and yellow humanoid blot.

Thermal vision.

Tapping a button on her goggles allowed Rebecca to switch to infrared, then to normal, and then back to thermal vision.

Within a short period of time Phil and Mortimer stood in the room as well, rummaging through the equipment.

***

Katherine logically tried the red button first, and the backpack came off like a 30 kilo stone. She catched its fall and let it gently to the floor.

Suddenly the corridor behind the open double doors went dark, and Katherine heard a low, deep growl somewhere nearby.

***

OOC: The armory holds:
100 Drakonov Assault Suits
100 AK-1047 Assault Rifles w/ 3 x 100 bullet magazines per rifle (7.62mm)
400 Fragmentation Grenades
100 Smoke Grenades

Engine & Machinery Spare Parts
Armored Metal Plates
Tools
Gasoline (10.000 litres)

Remember that the carrying capacity of Mary Sue isn't all that.

***

Frank and Angelica dropped an armored plate beside Wionna as she worked to repair Mary Sue's damaged hull. Suddenly they heard a croak and a groan, and they looked up towards the source of the metallic grinding.

The landing bay doors were closing.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#152

Stupid girl! All caught up in playing dress-up, playing soldier!
"Shut up, I know what I am doing!"
That ... might have come out loud. Hopefully not in the middle of someone's offer to help.
"Sorry."

How come the bay doors were closing, just so? A precaution against forced entry, activated by the damaged door?
Or someone's deliberate action?

She sat down, head in arms, and sent out her senses. Was there someone, deliberately trapping them? Was the facility as abandoned as it seemed? And was there at least one Russian who could translate? Rolled a 28. Yay!

EchoMirage rolls 1d20 and gets 8. Rebecca is forewarned and gets to act.
Rebecca jerked up from the vision with fervent speed.
As said, the Baron would come himself if he knew it was safe.
At the top of her lungs, she yelled: "The mutants are coming!" and stormed back through the door, before a hail of bullets was sure to block her way, ever so briefly before the reason for firing appears...
"Grab your guns!"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#153

Phil sighed, he sort of expected that _something_ would happen. He sped up getting into the suit - seemed pretty decent. He grabbed double the clips for the rifle, as well as a pair of the frag grenades.

If there was going to be a fight, may as well go big.

"Anyone figure out if these things have radios?"

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#154

"Oh oh"

With little time to try out one of the new toys, Angus cranked his shotgun and palmed his grenades for luck.

"Here comes--something." He stated plainly.

*******

Captain Phil yelled something about the gatling, but there was no time...

"Frank! Fraaaank!!!! Get on the gun!!" Angus screamed then to Mary Sue much more quietly, "Would you be a dear and go into full defense-mode asap? We've been breached baby."

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#155

Katherine made for the hatch and closed it above her, as she descended the rungs she looked above to see if she could glimpse whatever that thing had been.

She swam back through the cold stagnated water, retrieved her doctor's robe and the belt whom nobody had picked up. As she ascended, she noticed that the silo had been closed down. "Like rats in a cage..." She mumbled to herself and hurried inside the Mary for a quick hot shower and a change of clothes. She fetched her gun and her PDA that she had left behind, strapped on her armor and exited the spacecraft, but not before she said.

"Mary-Sue, can you run a diagnostic on this belt I found?"
-
"What's been going on here? Aside from the obvious I mean." She said when she ran into the others milling around.

"I ran into something, something big." Pending description depending on if I saw something or not.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#156

Angus manned the gatling. The turret wasn't as pleasant to sit in when there was gravity, but he knew that Mary Sue's firepower outmatched anything else they got. Fixing his crosshairs on the doorway, Angus kept his trigger finger ready.

"Master. I am worried. I feel trapped", Mary Sue said.

***

Katherine stepped out of the shower. Theodora was there. She handed Katherine her towel. She smiled back at Theodora and dried her hair vigourously. Then she put the towel around her neck. "What is it Theodora?".

Theodora stepped up to Katherine and kissed her. It was deeper, more passionate, than anything Theodora had ever done before.

"If we die today, know that I love you, Kath"

Theodora walked away.

***

Katherine stopped by a console and a camera, and put down the military belt.

"Mary-Sue, can you run a diagnostic on this belt I found?"

"I am on it, Doctor Bradshaw-Brennan", Mary Sue replied.

***

Wionna sweated heavily under her protective mask. Frank shot bolts through the metal platings, and Wionna followed with the torch, fusing the metallic seam shut.

"Right. It couldn't just be an abandoned outpost full of hardware, could it. Noooo. Of course not! Of course we have to be sealed into a tomb. Next thing you know they want me up there, cutting a hole. Oh swell."

***

"Anyone figure if these things have radios?", Phils voice boomed through the assault suit coms, and Mortimer and Rebecca heard him loud and clear. Suddenly Katherine came running and stopped beside Phil by the jammed door, in his newfound black combat gear.

"What's been going on here? Aside from the obvious I mean."

"I ran into something, something big."

OOC: Katherine did not see it

***

Rebecca was very still. Very quiet. Her mind was probing, and she seemed like a doll, frozen in time.

It was an ocean of thoughts, melded into one.

Sneaking. Sneaking. Soon there master.
They cannot see me.
I am close, master. I can see them soon.
I am beneath them, looking from the water, master. What do I do? Do I lead my Kehorta into assault?
LET ME KILL, MASTER! LET ME KILL! CRUSH! GRIND! KILL! KILL!

Hush children. Hush. Careless assault will not win us the day. They are few, but they can hurt us. Wait for the surprise. Wait just a minute longer, and then they die!

Rebecca was rebuffed by their alien thoughts, their unbridled hatred. She saw through their eyes. Saw a human running on top of a steel grid... Katherine... She saw claws grip steel rungs, make their way out of the water. She looked from the eyes of something perched in the darkness, looking down on humans, welding metal plates together. Then she saw tens upon tens of crawling horror, grey skinned monstrosoties crawling through the submerged tubes, crawling past discarded rocket packs as they made their way to a closed double door.

Then she looked from the eyes of someone tall, with spidery grey hands, its index finger resting on a green button.

"Behold, stranger"

The button was pressed.

***

Rebeccas eyes snapped open as the double doors on the other end of the corridor slid open. Shit! She was inside the armory with Mortimer, and they were both cut off from the Mary Sue. Suddenly a shriek split the air, and myriad grey skinned, crawling creatures poured into the corridor, hissing and shrieking. They had clawed hands under bony white blades that grew from their wrists. Their heads were a mockery of human heads, grey skinned with retracted lips and sickening white gums. They rushed forward, at Phil and Katherine by the doorway. And only three made it into the armory.

Tilting its head back, the first one hissed threateningly. Then the trio charged Rebecca and Mortimer, their wicked blades carving the air as they approached.

Then she opened her eyes and realized it had not happened yet. She had some seconds to react before this became reality.

OOC: Phil, Katherine, Rebecca and Mortimer have a free round of action, due to their long range weapons.
It is impossible to see exactly how many G'Kraun charge, but it seems to be a looot.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#157

Phil wasted no time and sprayed the doorway, firing a heavy stream of lead at the charging things....

Firing to hurt as many as possible. Can't remember/find automatic rolls, so here are a bunch of d100 rolls:

24 -location 17 - dmg 6 on d10
25 -location 2 - dmg 7 on d10
86
16 - Location 18 - dmg 7 on d10
39
1

Small guns 30, big guns 20.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#158

Katherine lifted her gun and fired as soon as Phil did. "Don't bother trying hitting the heart, these things have two!"

(22:08:33) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d100 and gets 49. (hit)
(22:09:12) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d20 and gets 5. (Body part, head?)
(22:09:40) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d10 and gets 4. (6 Total damage)

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#159

"They are also below the grate.... and one's ... inside!"
She stood a piece of solid ground off the grate, and swiveled the muzzle of the rifle upwards, to where she had felt the lone feral mind, and pressed the trigger as the realization that it's been detected dawned upon the mutant.
EchoMirage rolls 1d100 and gets 7. Small guns skill of 60. With full automatic fire, this is a crit.
Not used to automatic fire, she pulled the trigger hard, but her reflexes and steady hand ensured the majority of the projectiles struck home on the surprised G'Kraun.

Re: Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run

#160

As the creatures came, Angus momentarily drifted off---they look like me after a bender he mused to himself--then as the others began firing he tossed a frag as far into the corridor as he could.

(rolled 21 on 100, aaaaand...Murometz rolls 4d6 and gets 6,5,6,6. BAM!)

"Look out for flying bits folks!" He yelled invigorated and raised his shotgun.