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Master of the four second reaction time, Sona makes it to the door out of the bunker before she realizes she's lost her footing. Letting her thigh compartment re-close, she grips her lance horizontally in both hands and braces for impact with the doorway. She hopes the creature's grip is firm, but not too firm.
> Another target has been located.
Nedora's mind goes into overdrive when she sees the situation devolve straight into a Charlie Foxtrot. First order of business was clear the way for the robot that seemed to be the most dangerous of the party.
"Clear a path! NOW!" Her voice cuts through the air as she screams at the miners to move out of the way of the juggernaut known as BunkeR BusteR.
That done, it was on to her second order of business. Help the person that let her join the crew. She leaps into the hallway and takes aim at the area near Sona.
A stream of darts moving at hypervelocity speeds peppers the area where, if Nedora has things right, there is one of those invisicats. However...
At Nedora's warning, the surviving miners scatter to the edges of the room, making way for 2BR's thundering steps. 2BR was built for piercing armored ship hulls ... normal walls are essentially meaningless. He explodes into the central chamber, expecting to find Sona being dragged out into the forest of mining equipment. However, Sona has other ideas.
As she is being dragged down the hallway, Sona calmly aligns her lance with the oncoming doorway and braces for impact. She hits with a bone shattering crunch and the pressure sensors on her left foot spike to dangerous levels as teeth tear through synthetic flesh. The grievous damage to Sona's left leg causes a cascading feedback loop that discharges the majority of her remaining energy into a massive electronic arc that flows into the shadowcat, disrupting the stealth field.
Sona falls to the ground in time to give Nedora a clear shot. Nedora, your aim is true, and the darts pelt the right side of the creature. It appears slightly dazed from the electrical shock, but is regaining its feet.
Nedora, at that moment you realize that you can no longer hear the sounds of BoT attempting to calm the panicked miners, or even your own breath. You are well outside the sound dampening field created by Sona's assailant. Something wicked this way comes.
Sona, as you dispassionately assess the damage, you determine that your lower left appendage is in need of serious repairs. Your bipedal mobility will be significantly impaired until repairs are completed.
What do you do?
Sona sighs at the sight of the damage. She didn't have any spares on hand, and the choice between a from-scratch fabrication job and phoning home for parts was not something she was looking forward to. "Margaret, mommy needs her medicine."
The arachnid tether unit crawls out of her compartment in Sona's shoulder and scuttles down the gynoid's back, hesitating to approach the damage and its source.
As the robot begins patching the damage with gel, Sona jabs at the creature with the stun lance to try and impose a safer distance between her hull and those vicious can openers.
> Did either of you happen to kill the unconscious creatures in the room full of edible company property?
> It sure is a good thing logs are no longer being recorded.
> This would sure be embarrassing to try and explain to our employers.
2BR skids to a halt over the half dismantled Sona.
> I've got my priorities sorted.
When Toober had begun charging, BoT reacted quickly. Helping to shuffle the miners who were too slow to move themselves, the RAB butts them to the walls away from where Toober was creating a lovely mess. Immediately after, he moves up alongside Nedora, extends his right arm, and blasts red-hot energy at the creature that had attacked Sona - in case any of it was still alive after Toober assault. RAE, his avian explorer-bot, dives at the creature with a metallic shriek of compensation aerogyros.
Nedora spins on her he toes to bring her needle gun to bear on the invisicat that she was very certain now behind her. Instinctively, she flips the switch from needle mode to shotgun mode, and gets ready to pump as much lead as she can into the thing behind her.
The muffled thumps of shotgun blasts reach her ears as she unloads the shells in the magazine.
The assaults of 2BR, Sona, and BoT combine to turn Sona's would be attacker into a fine mist. Sona's spiderbot manages to stem all of her leaking fluids, and re-establish electrical connections, however full mobility will not return until the android has an opportunity to detach her leg and work on it in a workshop.
Nedora, as your shells connect with the approaching creature, the stealth field momentarily flickers. However, it returns to full strength in only a moment. As a result, you cannot even see the large weight that crashes into your chest, knocking you to the floor. Take 2d6+2 damage as the back of your head slams into the ground. Although you cannot see your attacker, you feel flecks of hot drool, and possibly blood, fall on your face. This can't be good. What do you do?
BoT, you are aware that Nedora has spun to face down the corridor to the East. As you look back, you see that Nedora is on her back, shotgun pointed to the side.
What do you do?
For a single instant Jamee is clutched with indecision - to go for the vibrospear and charge it, or just to fire blind and risk hitting Nedora? His face hardens as he makes his decision, and levels his blaster arm at the space just above where Nedora is pinned.
"Nedora! STAY DOWN!" he shouts, as he fires. RAE's metallic screech echoes off the walls.
Miss Muffet laces a quick cast of latticework around the limb as
Sona uses the stun lance to get up.
Sona looks at the ruined wall.
> This location is no longer secure. We should move the payload to a secure, mobile location, like a freight truck.
> I can install security measures in the truck, and we can begin to collect them in a calm and orderly fashion.
> As it is, we cannot go looking for more of them without risking substantial losses.
BoT's initial barrage again disrupts the shadowcats' distortion field, revealing the creature standing greedily over Nedora. The RAE has no problem targeting the creature and plucks out both of its eyes. It thrashes in fury, and collapses on top of Nedora, pinning her to the floor beneath a terrible weight.
As soon as it dies the clamor of terrified miners continues.
What do you do?
> Follow me back into the room with the humans, we need to gain control of the situation.
Sona heads back the way 2BR came.
Nedora knows she's in trouble when her ears start ringing and her head throbs painfully. She keeps her mouth shut as flecks of bloody drool fall on her face. This was it, her luck had run out. Then comes the massive weight crushing her from the neck down.
"A little help, please," she gasps as she's pinned beneath a solid slab of not-so-invisible-invisicat.
2BR wanders over, picks it up (the cat, not Nedora!) and absentmindedly rips it head off. Blood spatters the various intake ports, and his organokinetic starts to spool up.
Nedora is too shocked to gag at all of the blood adn gore now covering her.
"Th-thanks," she mutters as she gets to her feet, thankful that her weapons were some of the toughest in the galaxy.
Me hearties, we be clean and clear so far as can be told. Be descendin' now.
Nedora moves to the man who'd said that he'd have to go with them to get into Ops.
"How thick is the door? I've got something that can punch through tanks, but I need to know if there's anything that turn this place into a crater or a modern day Aperture Labs Enrichment Center if I hit it. Better yet, do you have a floor plan with everything on it," she asks, her mood much worse now that she was in need of a shower.
Blast-O-Tron turns to the miners and puts away his blaster-arm attachment, turning it into a hand with fingers once more, Mega Man style.
He holds both hands up and pats the air in a placating manner to the terrified miners. "Listen up! I know you're scared, but we have a ship coming in that will protect you. Follow that robot," he points down the hall at Sona - "She's going to be leading you to a more secure area that we can then transfer you to our ship from. We just need to secure the area from more of those monsters, and then we can leave you with our Captain while we take that volunteer" he points to the miner Nedora is talking to - "with us to Ops."
He turns to address everyone. "Sound like a plan?" the RAB asks, lifting up both arms in a shrugging gesture.
The miners seem somewhat comforted by the faint hope offered by BoT. Haephaestus, the volunteer, brings Nedora a datapad with a complete floorplan. Haephastus speaks, It is thick, built to repel raiders. But why would you want to shoot through it. I can just open it if you get me there.
Destination: Ops!
Also, RAE, my avian robot companion, is trained programmed to scout. What kind of benefit do you think that should grant me, in the fiction, DM?
Nedora moves along, following the man's instructions.
If he'd told her more about the layout of this place, they wouldn't have needed him along. She could have just blasted the door down.
The party travels warily through the forest of machinery equipment, 2BR helping Sona with every other step. The passing is uneventful, save for a single fatality. One of the miners, apparently at wits end, broke ranks and fled for the elevator. You saw him cut down by a ghost before you could even call out. He is food now.
As you reach Ops, the party carefully prepares a perimeter to keep the shadowcats out of the tunnel to Ops. Nedora and Hephaestus continue on to the main door. Hephaestus provides a retinal scan and the large blast door opens.
Nedora finds herself facing six men and women, weapons drawn. A large human female stands head and shoulders above the rest. She calls out, My god Hephaestus, you survived! When comms dropped we assumed the worst. She motions for the surviving miners to enter. She quickly counts the survivors and grabs Hephaestus' arm. You can hear her whisper. This is all that made it? Hephaestus nods sadly. Once her people are secure, she turns on the party warily. Who are you and what are you doing here?
Sona draws her datapad and sets the crew's credentials scrolling across it. The display includes a very official-looking private investigator badge, the ship's callsign, and the confirmation codes for the job T.E.R.R.A. has given them. "We are the investigatory crew of the Lucky Sixes, here on orders from T.E.R.R.A. to perform a disaster assessment. We are authorized for personnel recovery, but it is a requisite of our mission to acquire a full account of the events that lead to this outpost's evident destruction."
> Should we leave them here and check the rest of the compound?
> There may still be survivors in other areas.
It's not clear if she means personnel or shadowcats.
BoT nearly jumps after the man who breaks for the elevator, trying to stop him, but the miner is slain nearly instantly, before the RAB could react. In his room, Jamee's mouth hangs open at the ferocity of the creatures stalking them, and heightens his vigilance scanners to ultra levels.
After Sona makes her introductions, Blast-O-Tron flanks the gynoid, holding out an arm for RAE to perch on. RAE's eye-scanners flicker over the weapons systems and armor array of the new humans, evaluating their threat levels, causing the bird's eyes to flicker rapidly back and forth from red to green.
"Once the compound is secured, we would be willing to provide transport off this rock. We have room onboard the Sixes for paying passengers."
The large human quickly scans Sona's datapad, and then salutes sharply to Sona. She visibly relaxes, and laughing, she says: I told you Simmons! I told you the Corp would send reinforcements! One of the smaller men laughs and pats the woman on the back. The others cheer for a few moments before the woman calms them down.
Well, android, you seem to have the highest rank among the known survivors, even if it is temporary. Looks like it is your call. The wildlife can't get through this door, and we have extra food, water, and facilities. I suggest you corral any survivors here and then we move en masse to your ship. She gestures to the main computer core.
Computer seems to be fine, although after the attack it locked us out. Failsafe against corporate espionage. Any evidence you need will be on there. We've been blind in here because we haven't been able to crack it. If you can unlock it we can pull up live feeds throughout the facility.
She turns to watch the survivors file in, and relaxes further once the blast door seals. Simmons, make sure none of those creatures made it in here! She puts a hand out to Sona. Corporal Thorne, at your service.
Jamee, you can tell that these soldiers are well trained and well armed, but Corporal Thorne doesn't carry herself with the same body language you associate with soldiers. You assume that she has some responsibilities on site aside from security. Regardless, from what you've seen of the creatures, these soldiers would not survive for long outside by themselves.
When the woman salutes, Sona responds in kind, though an experienced eye would recognize that it's the solute of a long-dead military: palm out, fingers parallel, weapon over the shoulder. Propriety dictates that even a higher-ranking android officer shows absolute deference to any human officer of another hierarchy. She maintains the salute until Cpl. Thorne proffers her hand, then assumes an at-ease posture and shakes hands. "Sir, your judgement in this matter is peerless. Maintaining quarantine is our top priority. We will make repairs, and secure this station, then make another rescue attempt, Sir." It's probably obvious that she's just glad someone finally agrees with her plan.
She takes a moment to weight the tasks that she's not able to delegate to others. Were the team composed entirely of Theta 3s, she could have one of them secure the room, one unlock the computer, and another make proper repairs, as it was, it looked like her own needs may have to take a back seat to the mission objectives. Granted limited executive authority by Thorne, she turns to her crew, but speaks aloud for the benefit of the humans. "Ensign Buster: guard the door, the equipment inside shouldn't be exposed to your loadout. Ensign Nedora: help Simmons, and if you have time check their hardware stock for replacement Theta parts. I doubt they have any HF04's, if they even have anything from Theta, but a socket wrench may serve me better than what I've got. Pet- Ens- ... Lastrade: prepare a data-stream between the ship and this facility, if you would please. We will try to coordinate the two CPUs to bootstrap any failed systems. The codes should be here:" The technician sends Jamee an internal address within the ship's data core that is clearly where Sona keeps data intended for sale. The T.E.R.R.A. codes are also there, but Jamee may understand she means more than what she is saying.
She makes her way to the computer and attempts to ask the CPU politely for access.
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2BR nods assent at Sona's orders, and also activates his speaker modules. "I agree. It would be extremely bad for any of the personnel or equipment to enter my firing line." he glares at the terminal Sona is attempting to access.
2BR nods assent at Sona's orders, and also activates his speaker modules. "I agree. It would be extremely bad for any of the personnel or equipment to enter my firing line." he glares at the terminal Sona is attempting to access.
Nedora looks a little sheepish as everyone files in.
"Sooooo, I guess they are the reason I couldn't blast the door down," the halfling inquires.
Jamee coordinates the data-stream from both ends, at the ship's computer and using his RAB. Blast-O-Tron's fingers aren't as dextrous and mobile as Jamee's but the data-stream link between Ops and the ship is soon established with a gentle *ping* sound from the console. BoT flashes Sona a thumbs-up.
When the initial cold and disinterested response is given by the CPU, Sona inputs her codes and mission objectives, showing the system that its recovery was a greater priority than the living miners. If there were any other requisites to system access, it need only ask, and they would be provided. As a courtesy, she offers the databanks a packet of updated fiscal data from Kvothan, hoping news from the outside is a comfort.
The base AI is voracious and parses through the packet of updated data quickly. However, before Sona can react, it quickly winnows its way through the datalink to Sona's datapad. One it reaches the data entries provided by your handler, it immediately initiates a link with the Lucky Sixes and begins uploading its data. Throughout Ops the vid screens light up, showing various scenes of slaughter throughout the base. The screens labeled "Surface" are nothing but static.
<There is no need for violence, Commander Sona
<How many I be of further assistance?
Corporal Thorne looks grim as she begins searching through the various screens for survivors. There's Mauritz. She points at one of the screens. Looks like he and Green have holed up in one of the restrooms. She points to another screen showing another angle of the restroom. A body is slowly disappearing, and blood is splattering around as if by a ghost. They don't have much time.
She turns back to the group. Orders?
2BR is already out the door, pinging messages back.
> BoT, hold the line while I'm gone
> Nedora, two meatsacks enroute. Shoot everything that approaches sans them and me
> Sona, how long till the meatsacks are lunch?
Jamee is more than happy to let the war machine take care of the shadowcats for him. He directs his RAB to inspect the Ops room, evaluating their closed-circuit surveillance systems and defense attache. To the Corporal, the RAB offers a metallic and unmoving stare that Jamee probably intended to be reassuring.
"Don't worry, Toober will take care of them."
Commander? The technician continues to scan the numerous access points and sensor arrays available from the consol before her. When 2BR makes his inquiry, Sona checks her internal chronometer.
> Lunch is not for ano-
She lets the response trail to silence as she notices the monitors.
"There is truly no rest for the wicked." The plasteel plates that compose Sona's hull expand and compress, jetting steam like a heavy sigh. She would not be able to follow pops, and she was likely more useful to him here. It takes some time for her flywheels to run up to speed.
> Nedora, 2BR has footholds and handles arranged to accommodate a halfling's frame.
> If you do not wish to run, you may want to catch him on his way out.
< How is your fire suppression system?
< Has an attempt been made to reveal the creatures' location with safety foam?
Measurements are still being parsed from the past hour's video, aided by those supplied by the system's resources. She feeds this information into her ORACLE module, attempting to run the odds on recovering each visible miner, and attempting to build an optimal route for 2BR...
Odds=>Male
Evens=>Female
A snarky ball of fire, with a temper.
Nedora isn't listening to Sona, instead she's summoning another Golem.
"Wazzup!" a burning ball of flame shouts out as it appears and black floating panels materialize around it.
"Hey Burnr, can you go with this guy and help him out," she asks pointing to 2BR before he gets too far down the passage, "He's rescuing a couple of miners and I figure you'd like to barbeque some invisicats."
"Uh, yeah babe, that's not happenin'. Ya dig," Burnr answers before floating over to one of the taller, more curvaceous women in the ops room.
Thinking fast, Nedora shouts out at Burnr as he sidles up to Sona.
"There's a really hot babe in the robot that just left."
The golem leaves scorch marks as he leaves.
"I feel so dirty," she mutters after Burnr is gone.
<Fire suppression system fully operational . . . clever girl.
The screens suddenly depict a surreal scene, as if there is a heavy snowstorm that lasts but a moment. When the flurry stops, there is a thin layer of white foam covering every surface. A quick glace at the monitor displaying the restroom shows a large white form standing over a half consumed body. It is looking up at the ceiling as if confused.
Sona furiously scans through all of the screens and determines that there are four surviving shadowcats and 5 surviving miners. However, the conveyor belts are still accessible from the surface, so that number may change.
Captain Thorne eyes BoT passively. Toober?
The door shuts quickly behind Burnr as he chases 2BR out into the foam covered landscape. 2BR, moving at the dramatically appropriate speed of "incredibly reckless" is across the central chamber in less than a minute. 2BR, as you turn into the restroom, you see the white form look up at you in surprise. It bares its huge teeth, and closes distance with you, intent on destruction. What do you do?
Apart from the hiss of gas and the crunch of steel feet on stone, 2BR is utterly silent as he charges the beast. He draws his chainsword and...
Seeing the acr of 2BR's chainsword and its excellent ability to avoid contact. Running the numbers, she sees that she could put the sword, and arm, in range of the shadowcat by remotely locking his waist servo.
Something in one of Sona's storage compartments interferes with the transmission.
Disgusted with the interference, Sona removes the item from her storage and sets it on the console.
Burnr Appears beside 2BR and adds his fire to the equation.
"Hey baby! Is it hot in here, or is it just me," the golem asks as his form changes into that of a human that's on fire.