• Starpath: Scoundrels of the Interstellar Highway - Thread 2
    3,232 replies, posted
Taylor was furious, practically screaming out after Archangel. They now had the Archive, and were getting away! As Iron ran up, and spoke, Taylor looked to her quickly. Then around at their environment. She didn't know what to do, but something had to be done immediately. She was muttering to herself, her eyes darting about. She wasn't going to be responsible for the galaxy being doomed to a life of servitude under Starvis all because of an android with a death wish and a fucked up copy of her former leader. "I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill that smug motherfucker, and every fucking one of his crew. One at a god damned time. I'll kill Beta too. Snap her fucking spine like a twig. They fucked with the wrong person. They fucked with the wrong crew. My friends and family. And I'll be fucking damned if this ends any other way than that." The words seethed through her teeth as she started to pace angrily back and forth, trying to find a way through the gas. Eve, meanwhile, also searched for a manner in which to get through the gas. She herself could, rather easily in fact. She wasn't organic. She glanced over, and noticed Dvajn sitting against the crawler, groaning. She stepped over, and offered to help him up. "Please, stand. We need to hurry and find a way to stop them. The galaxy depends on it, friend." said Eve, her tone upbeat but urgent.
Neasha wailed in impotent rage, spraying ammo in the general direction of the enemy. None of the shots landed as they disappeared back into the cave, and the lethal haze settled over the middle ground. In the ugly silence that followed, Sting expressed confusion over the Archives' purpose, which merely annoyed the serek as she knew for certain that Sting had heard the explanation at least twice since Rigel. "Ghaaahkhaaa!" Arkadam screamed as his shoulder was forced back into its socket. As soon as Karl released him, he bunched up into a big ball and rocked back and forth, breathing through clinched teeth as he fought through the pain. When it finally began to subside, he shakily rose to his feet and located the weapon he had been carrying. The enemy was long gone, and Arkadam had a look of genuine distress on his face. Red, who had witnessed his actions, felt guilty for having doubted him, and brushed the dust off the kanad's clothes. "Stay calm," Red warned. "They have a few minute's lead on us, that's all. Well figure out what to-" he began to explain as he was cut off by a chime from his tablet, followed by another. Reluctantly, he checked the messages. "...Fuck. FUCK! They weren't supposed to move the other Archive until this one was locked away safe! Who the fuck approved this?" Red paced the crawler in clear defiance to his own advice, panicking loudly. He looked to Captain Caine and the other crewmembers. "The other Archive... it was put on a ship bound for the northwest, and the Vigil jumped the fucking convoy!" he howled. "They're going for all three, those... those freaks!" He slammed his fists on the railing and hung his head. "...and they bombed our ships on the way out. We're stuck here for at least half an hour." "You've gotta be shitting me," Arkadam spat. "You had so little faith in me when we arrived on planet nowhere... I gave you exactly what you wanted, and you had the nerve to leave us without a backup plan if anything went wrong? Well now we have to go to Starvis, motherfucker! You too- you and your whole damned fleet better be on their way right now!" Arkadam demanded. "I know, just-" Red spat, "I'm not in control of all of Argos, alright? I'm trying to tell the brass what's going on, here..." Neasha wheeled around. "You mean they don't know!?" "They know about the dangers of failure, I assure you," Red responded, "but they don't know we failed yet. If anyone has a backup plan, it'll be them, and they'll tell us what to do next." The toxic haze finally cleared as Red spoke, opening the path back to the cave. "Aright, come on, let's get moving," he tried to order, but the whole team was already moving in near disregard for their former contract-giver. It wasn't clear exactly how damaged the Muramasa was, but Eve was sensing that it was not flight capable at the least, currently. The only option was to wait at the river's edge for a rescue transport to arrive along with the ships from the checkpoint which hadn't been engaged by the Vigil's ambush.
Dwan looked over at Eve with a frustrated look. While he wasn't exactly listening to all the ruckus from atop the crawler, he could nonetheless tell something had just happened that had enraged everyone involved. At the very least, it seems that no one had noticed what he had done. Dvajn nodded at Eve's offer, and grabbed her hand, helping him up. He dusted himself off and walked over to grab his fallen shotgun and helmet. He looked into the visor of the helmet for a tad, reflecting on what had happened, before finally deciding to listen in to the yelling from the crawler. The trust, or lack thereof, that Red seemed to have for Arkadam has just had some severe consequences, it seemed. Dvajn only caught a glance of the toxic haze that blocked their abilities to chase after the Vigil before it finally cleared. He quickly rushed to join the others, putting his shotgun away and taking a hold of his revolver, as well as putting his helmet back on. As they moved, he knew he had to figure something out in regards to Beta, especially now that the easy way of ridding her from this universe was made obsolete.
Iron followed Taylor who took point. Meanwhile Karl turned towards Eve and Dvajn as he moved. "Are you alright?"
Sting twirled her revolvers and put them back into their holsters. She then jogged over to Golem and like a slippery snake she rattled her way up his leg and once again to up position on his back, "Let's go, Hoss. I'm itching to shoot the that bitch in the armor. Cause only thing ya deserve for runnin away from a propper dust-off is a bullet in ya god damn forehead." She patted Golem confidently on his head, "Ain't that right, Metal man?"
Dvajn looked up towards Karl, having decided to make his visor see-through and not opaque.. "Of course not!" he nearly yelled, "We had Beta right where we wanted her, and she just slithered away like the eel she is! Pisses me off...."
"We shall stop her yet, Dvajn. Along with her ally Archangel and the others." stated Eve, reassuring him.
Despite Eve's reassurances, Dvajn continued speaking: "I swear, just for this, I'll make sure to break her! Humble her! Make her regret ever messing with, ehm, us!" he stumbled a bit, wanting to avoid implying any personal connections.
The climb out of the cave, which had only taken about ten minutes in the opposite direction, was a grueling, miserable experience, as the proper ropes and rigging hadn't been deployed on the way in. It took nearly half an hour just to reach the riverbank, and to the crew's frustration, the relief vehicle hadn't yet arrived. A few of them took a knee at the water's edge and washed their hands and faces free of the itching residues left behind by the toxic gas. "Eve, any word on the Muramasa's condition?" Neasha asked. The robot checked again and found a weak signal. The diagnostics from the ship's computer showed engine and reactor damage, as well as numerous power faults. Neasha sighed. "Sounds like they blew the core open. Probably saw the plume and thought they had finished the job. That's going to be expensive as hell to fix," she complained. "Who cares," Arkadam growled. "We don't have time to worry about that right now. Where's our transport, Red!?" Red and Checkered were among the last to emerge from the dark pit. "A few minutes away, at the most," Red answered. "We've got a full escort coming along." They looked to the sky and waited for something to appear.
With things having come to a frustrating calm before the storm atmosphere, Dvajn decided to take the chance to inform Neasha over what had occurred. "Hey Neasha," Dwan said in her general direction, "you got a minute?" he pointed behind himself, indicating he wanted to speak with her with some semblance of privacy.
"They better move their fucking asses, then. I've got a Vulture who's wings need breaking." said Taylor, practically spitting it out as she paced by the riverside. She glanced to the others, still visibly enraged. "We kill 'em all. Every fucking one of them. No one will be spared, and not even the slightest hint of fucking mercy shall be shown. Understood? They don't deserve it. They don't deserve a god damned thing other than death. They don't understand the forces that they're dealing with. None of them do. We're going to hunt them down, kill them, and take back ALL the Archives." she stated, a cold tone to her voice. She looked to Red and Checkered. "That escort better be prepared for everything. If any of my crew get hurt, I'm shoving my fist down your throats." she spat, before looking to Neasha and Arkadam. Her tone was a bit softer as she spoke in their direction. "After this is over, I'll help pay for the damages to the ship, ma'am. Or work till I can help get it repaired. Ark, how's the shoulder?" she said, looking between the two of them.
Dvajn looked up at Taylor following her declaration of complete annihilation. "Don't worry Captain, after what that damned Beta did, I'm going to personally break her in half," he told her in an equally cold tone. "Speaking of which," Dwan looked back at Neasha and tilted his head a few times to once more emphasize his wish to speak with her privately.
Neasha shook her head. "Captain, getting involved in this gambit wasn't your choice. It was ours," she said, casting a sidelong glance at Arkadam. "The company will pay for the damages to your ship. Now excuse me for a minute." She beckoned Dwan to follow her, and the two walked a fair distance away from the rest of the group on aching feet. "What happened in there?" she asked, sounding halfway worried for Dwan's sake and halfway furious that he hadn't done the one thing he had come to do. Meanwhile, Red and Checkered were taken aback by Taylor's aggression. "Easy now, Captain," Red replied. "Now that your company's lost its Archive, there's not much separating you from the thousands of other mercenary outfits we could hire to do this job. If you and your team can't get your collective temper under control, then how are we supposed to coordinate our next attack?" Arkadam acknowledged Taylor. "It hurts," he said. "Doesn't matter either way."
Dwan took off his helmet, and looked right into Neasha's eyes, with a serious expression completing the package. "Something horrible happened, that's what," he stated sharply, before elaborating in whispers to make sure no one else heard: "In our fight against Beta, she dropped a bombshell not just on us, but on me specifically. She had somehow managed to counteract, at minimum, the incantation I use to manifest the transuniversal portals I use," he said in a cold tone, punctuated by his purposeful unblinking stare, "Apparently, Yanim, in her paranoia, was looking into ways to counter me in case I came after her. Obviously, what she developed wouldn't have worked, but Beta had something that she didn't- access to my research into the field of thaumatics and thaumaturgy. She has likely used my research against me, and combined it with Yanim's... schematics, perhaps?" he paused, unsure what she had actually taken from Yanim to allow her to counter him, "or whatever, to create a device, likely, in an attempt to subvert my powers, and it managed to counter the one incantation we needed the most against her," he explained. "I cannot get her out of this universe," he said with clenched teeth, as his coldness was barely holding up against his own impotent rage. "The only thing I can do now, is break her with my own two hands."
Taylor grunted angrily at Red's remarks. She seemed to recall that this was a team effort. They lost the Archive as well. "I'd love for you guys to pull some time out of your ass, and hire one of these thousands of other mercenary outfits that would be willing to fight the Vigil's best. But you can't. So I guess you're stuck with us, buddy. And we're the best you can get." she responded. Once she finished her statement, she looked back to Arkadam. "It matters to me. I care about what happens to all of you." she stated, more calm than she was towards Red. Once she had said her piece, she eventually walked over and sat on a small boulder next to the river. Just needed a few moments to herself to calm down. Or at least try to.
Neasha barely understood what Dwan was talking about. She had partially witnessed the failed incantation when it happened, but hadn't understood at all what the implications were or why it had happened. But now Yanim was involved in some way, with schematics? Suddenly, it clicked, and Neasha's eyes went wide. "Oh, shit. Okay, I get it," she said, rather disgusted by the turn of events. "You're absolutely right. I haven't thought about it in years, but I remember her mentioning it, during that dark period right after we bought the first Muramasa..." February 9th, 2384 "I don't want to wake her up. You wake her up!" "No way. Last time, I had to go an' shake her, she was sleeping so deep and twitching the way she does, always havin' nightmares and shit. Next thing I know, I got the fuckin' tail wrapped around my neck and the Boss lookin' like she's gonna have a damned conniption fit, keh." "Yeah, well you try living with nightmares every other night, Rask, and see how that goes for you." "Don't try to guilt me, lizard. She wouldn't be so fucked up if she'd just lay off the sauce and take a day off once in a while. That ain't my fault. I'm just looking out for my health and well-being." Yanim was slumped over her workbench in the engineering room of the Muramasa, having apparently been pouring over the design of some sort of expensive-looking power armor- except the posture was strange and low, so that the occupant's feet would be well above the ground... it was more like a subcompact mech. Its appearance was utterly sinister, demonic, even, which seemed to be more and more the Boss's preferred image, especially with a revised tail featuring blades which closed like scissors... All in all, it looked more like a weapon designed for terror than anything else. The oddest thing was the huge cylinder carried on the back, almost large enough for another occupant. According to the holographic display, half of the cylinder's volume was filled with a compact nuclear reactor as a power source, while the other was some sort of... warp drive? "I wonder how she thinks she's gonna afford this..." Neasha mused quietly. "That thing creeps me the hell out, if I'm bein' honest," Rask confided. "I don't know who she's tryin' to spook, but I'd say just about anyone would want to avoid that machine like the plague, 'cept maybe the Death Vigil. Maybe Boss is thinking of a partnership, he said with a slimy grin." "Don't even," Neasha said, shaking her head. "I'm just curious why it has a warp drive controller in the back..." Rask looked at the holoscreen critically before replying. "Spacial distortions- that's why," he said confidently. "I'd bet it's to confuse incoming rocket projectiles, just like we did on Zeruel with the old Belladonna." "Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through... that reactor on the back has got to be almost as heavy as she is," Neasha said. Rask rubbed his chin. "Maybe it's that creep she's always talkin' about." "What, Dwan?" Neasha asked. Yanim twitched in her sleep. "Yeah. Maybe she thinks she can stop him from payin' a visit, keh." Neasha shrugged. "Who knows. All I'm sure of is that this thing will probably never get built unless we rob the Central Galactic Banking System or something. Come on, let's both wake her up together." Present Day "You know," Neasha said, worriedly, "Yanim had a lot in common with Beta back then, and she had the same problem Beta has now. She thought you were her biggest threat. I also know she didn't grow out of it until the very end... and that's how Beta got the rough draft. Yanim still had it saved on her personal computer pack, and we just left it behind on Rigel when it stopped doing its job of keeping her alive. We took Beta's pack, and she must have taken ours." There was a whistling in the air far above them, and urgently, the whole group looked to the heavens in search of the new transport. Moments later, the Argos machines had found their targets, and the transport craft dove straight for the canyon where the crew was waiting. "About time..." Arkadam spat, snatching up his rifle. One by one, the others did the same, preparing for the next leg of the journey. "We'll be going back to Athens," Red announced. "That's our staging ground. Our main fleets are already in place to defend Starvis and prevent the delivery, so we should have at least two days to reach Starvis with this transport before the Vigil can assemble a large enough fleet to overpower us. The company wants you all to meet someone important, so we're stopping just one more time before we move along to the center ring of this circus." The doors opened on the landing craft, and the crew assembled inside, allowing for immediate departure. It would take just over a day to reach Starvis.
Northwest Quadrant The sense of confusion and abject horror aboard the Argos transport vessel and its meager escort completely overwrote the glimmer of hope its crews had embarked with; for many of them, the mission was unclear and highly secretive, and some had not grasped the importance at all. The security teams, however, were elite and fully aware of the dire consequences of failure, and now faced the absolute worst scenario imaginable. Their careers, and lives, ultimately, unfolded in a matter of minutes. Victory was impossible and yet defeat was unthinkable, and so they pushed onward and faced slaughter with unparalleled valor. Merciless efficiency marked their deaths, as the Vultures had no time to spare on killing them artfully. Standing ankle-deep in mushy paste that used to be men, Nathaniel watched poised and ready as his men employed plastic explosives to blow open the locked door into the cargo bay. As soon as the door was free, the Horseman strode in, unsurprised to find only a single item in the entire ship's cavernous inventory. "Grab it and let's move!" he directed. Sir, timed charges have been set: five minutes and counting. "Alright, we're out of here. Don't bother mopping up the rest of the crew!" Nathaniel demanded. The Vultures complied, practically sprinting as they moved back to the entry point and into the tube connecting back to their own vessel. A few final defenders gave their lives in a last ditch effort to prevent the Archive's capture, but it was no use, and they were dispatched as quickly as they appeared, mere annoyances in the end. --- Starving Buzzard Victory and the sense of growing excitement filled the air of the Starving Buzzard. The Vultures had taken almost no losses and the Archive was secure. Their comrades across the galaxy pulled off a brilliant attack against Argos and their associates in Yscom, paving the way for the Executor's ultimate triumph. All that was left to do was to deliver the Archives to Starvis, but as determined as they were to finish the job, punching through the reserve forces of the most powerful faction in that region of space was no small task. Their ambush succeeded largely due to the devastating surprise of their arrival, combined with the tactical miscalculation of their foes- Argos had left both Archives lightly guarded in order to avoid suspicion during transit. Now, the Vigil would prepare to face off with the very best their enemies could muster. Even the Belladonna Company wasn't out for the count, despite their air raid against the Muramasa; no doubt, Argos would provide them transport from the unnamed planet, and if they were to arrive before the Buzzard could break through the blockade surrounding Starvis, the two crews would be destined to face each other again. As soon as Beta shed the Archive in a safe location, she began the process of deactivating her reactor and shutting the Velkratkammik down to extricate herself and seek medical attention. Again, there was an unpleasant smell as the device opened up, splitting down the center and peeling apart. Beta, grinning triumphantly despite signs of immense pain, gripped the handles and stepped out. As she did, the reason for the odor became clear, as her clothing was riddled with holes, burned out by plasma escaping into the inner compartment through gaps in the joints, and deep red burns bled vital fluids into the cloth. She fell to her knees as soon as she was free of the metal shell, retching in pain, but the Vultures were reluctant to approach her or provide assistance. They had never seen the psychopathic kanad in a vulnerable position and they feared how she might react to anything which could be interpreted as pity. Archangel, however, approached without hesitation and towered over her, and she forced herself crane her neck and smirk at him. "This better be worth it," she hissed. "I didn't get to take a single life down there." "The mission was more important, and I'll congratulate you for not losing sight of that fact. You've done more on your first mission as a Vulture than most recruits ever accomplish, but that was expected, of course. I'm sure there'll be plenty of fools to kill in the next battle," he replied, indifferently. Looking down on Beta's badly-burned physique, he did some calculations and ascertained that she would be able to fully recover with the use of nanomachines before the ship's arrival at Starvis. Still, she lingered. "I'm not sure you understand why I do this," she muttered. "Or maybe you do, and you just won't show it. I had Dwan Theidrum-Ascedor's neck between my blades and I turned away... nobody else's death in this universe or any other would please me as much as his," she explained, her low voice dripping with unbridled hatred. "Maybe you'd understand if you came as close to killing Captain Caine. You'd have it if you'd get some fresh tricks. Anyone could have dodged that blade attack- you're too predictable." "I suppose I could take a page out of your book and let them pummel me furiously in the hope that a built-in failsafe activates and saves me," the android answered, the tone in his voice more stern than a moment ago. "I don't play all my cards in the opening shots of a fight. Caine is a target for her morale and leadership abilities among them. Not out of some pursuit of revenge. I keep those two separate." "And yet, you wanted Caine all to yourself, as if it matters who she falls to..." Beta sneered, clearly skeptical of Archangel's claim of professional detachment. "Don't play robot with me. You've been reprogrammed by amateurs, but I know how you're put together. We shared a connection, once," she added with a grin. She then motioned to her wounds and the damage done to her mech. "As for this? It's just a matter of risk and reward. Hold back your 'cards' if you like, but play something. Or else you risk boring me." If Archangel felt anything, he hid it perfectly. Underneath, however, he considered what she meant by sharing a connection, and made a mental note to investigate it later. "Either way," he spoke with a cold disregard for the kanad's repeated jabs, "the Muramasa's combat capabilities have evolved, that is plain to see, but it mattered little in the end. And will matter even less if they decide to come after us. And as for your motives and goals- nobody here cares. You presume importance simply for being a Reaper and being on this ship. Truth is, the vultures under my command are scared too shitless of you to even try and think why you're here. Me, I simply don't care, as long as you do your job. This 'Dwan's' death aligns with our secondary goal of elimination of the crew, so you will be given support in pursuing it." Beta had a habit of staring into others' eyes while she spoke, or while they spoke, far more so than one should in any normal conversation. But when she spoke of things beyond the moment or beyond the scale of the room, things like targets, motivations, or memories, she lost focus, and it seemed as if she started through, rather than at, the person she was talking with. Archangel had already noted these things long ago, and recognized that when her gaze was intensely focused on someone, as it was on him right now, that it was either a sign that she found their words extremely important, or she was contemplating something violent against them. "I appreciate your 'support,' then," she finally replied, sarcastically, before dragging herself away to get her wounds treated. --- Southeast Quadrant "Why did we go through the trouble of that hike, Red?" Arkadam asked, lounging in one of the transport's seats with a miserable look on his face. "All that time wasted, when we could have just deployed out the back door right in front of the cave, like they did." "They didn't," Red replied. "They rappelled down, and used a winch to recover their crew. You couldn't have flown even a corvette down into that canyon, and the shuttle my team took was too small for our crews. I thought bringing a large team was the best way to protect the Archive, as opposed to rushing in with a skeleton team. Apparently, we were fucked either way." "No, we weren't," Arkadam spat. Red turned sharply to him. "And what would a small handful of us have done when the Vultures came?" "Tell them we locked the Archive in the vault two hours ago," Neasha interjected, crossing her arms. "This 'someone special' you're taking us to better have a better plan than you did." Red balled a fist when Neasha joined the conversation. It was frustrating enough that the plan failed, but it was made even worse by the insults given by the Belladonna Company leaders, who managed to carry an Archive for months without detection while the entire southwestern quadrant burned. They had no idea what sort of sacrafices had been made, and what sort of sacrifices continued to be made, each and every day the war continued. "He doesn't make the plans either. I'm taking you to an AI specialist who might be able to lend some protection to you all - not from the Vigil - but from Starvis." "Are you saying you expect them to win?" Neasha said. Red shook his head. "Nobody wins if Starvis is unleashed. But you two just gave me hell for not having a backup plan before, so guess what?" he asked, before throwing his arms out theatrically.
Dwan's face turned pale and his eyes widened as Neasha recounted something from the past two years, putting the last piece in the personal puzzle that is the origin of what Beta had re-adapted for her own use successfully. He just nodded as she explained just how similar Beta and Yanim were in a way, with his own serious expression having long faded away into one of worry. He had no comment, but as he remembered that he wanted to ask if anyone had noticed and asked about what he did, the transport finally arrived. At least he didn't leave anything important in the Muramasa II like he did on the Archius. Sitting up right on one of the transport's seats, he contemplated what exactly he could do now against the threat that was Beta. He's sure that, if he brought this up with her on the field of battle, that she'd taunt him, and perhaps even use his old terminology of caldury and caldiur, even after he had abandoned it for the more Greek-derived terms he now used, just to spite him. He considered every weapon he had on hand, from the more regular shotgun and handguns, to the Vibrosword, Second Horseman and the howitzers.... he contemplated on the second of those weapons.... he wondered if all he had done is bring war to this universe, no matter how large or small the conflict. He barely paid attention to the dialogue being held between his superiors and Red, as he reminded himself of the personal duty he gave himself in tandem with his quest to stop Beta once and for all.
Sting didn't want to bother any of the higher-ups in the organization. In her opinion they seemed to be taking this all too seriously. Meanwhile, she perched on Golem like a lumberjack tree climber, while using a broad sharpie to draw a stylized confederate flag on one of his shoulder mounted rocketboxes. Once the flag was finished she wrote "STONEWALL" in bold letters beneath it. She looked down on Iron who was sitting on the seat nearest to the Machine. "So, Ironman. Whatchu reckon will happen when they plug up this magic box into a mainframe, eh? Ya ask me, it's a whole lotta bullmess." She rambled nonchalantly. But then she stopped and looked quite serious, "Unless... it's some kind o god damn mega nuke."
Karl removed his helmet and simply sat silently in his seat for several minutes. When Red and Neasha bickered he finally spoke up. "An army will not win a war when its generals argue. To surpass a superior opponent they shall put aside the concept of self and work as one unit or die trying." He sighed and inspected his rifle. "Admiral Lane of the SDF. Minutes later his ship would turn into his grave on the fields of Legkiy. All because his people were too busy pointing fingers rather than form a plan of action to retake the planet." Karl looked up from his rifle and studied Red and Neasha. "I don't want to hear more arguing. None of us do. We need to get back out there for round two and we need to win. No matter the cost." --------- Iron sighed, crossed his arms and glanced at Sting. "Think of it as an universe-level nuke. As far as I see it Starvis is as close as you get to a god. Argos, YsCom, the Collective, Sol and the Federation would become nothing but momentary pressure." He grunted. "Hell, if Death Vigil takes control of the damn thing we better find us a deep fucking hole on Duroma and take cover."
Sting dangled from Golems side, "So Starvis, this fella livin in that there box we dunn lost... He's as powerful as god allmighty when we don exploded that city on earth cause they pissed him off, or General Robert E. Lee when he won the war all by himself?" She asked wide-eyed with disbelief.
Iron scratched his head. "Who's Robert E. Lee?" He shrugged. "No matter, point is, things will get bad. Very bad. I'm not even sure you can measure it with any historic figures seeing as- as far as I know- anything similar has never happened before."
Sting jumped down and crossed her arms, looking like she was using all of her mental capacity to imagine the scenario. "Aww hell..." She said solemnly, "the worst thing that has ever happened. Well that'd be like if they had the Cross Endurance, the Doulanhota 500 and the Gravball Finals on the same weekend..." She then slapped her head so that her hat flew off, "And then them sumbitches cancelled the whole darn thang." She whispered with a voice loaded with dread. She shooked her head and took out her flask to take a few greedy gulps of the brew. Sting looked at Iron, "ain't nobody should have to go through that, not even you god damn yankees."
Alex missed part of the conversation between Sting and Iron, but caught the important parts. He looked at Sting, then Iron. "I see you're learning Duromian."
During the ride aboard the transport, Taylor found some time to actually calm herself down a bit. As much as she wanted to kill Archangel and the others, her getting riled up that much wasn't helpful. And could probably get he killed, along with some of the others. She used a breathing exercise Lex had taught her once, shutting her eyes as she rested against the back of her seat. It helped her mother apparently, who's temper was notorious enough to actually earn her the 'Mad Dog' moniker. She got her anger honestly, it seemed. Eventually, she was breathing normally, and felt a bit better. She spoke up when Red mentioned the AI specialist. "Who's this AI specialist? And can he really help us?" she asked, reloading her revolver while she still had the time. ------------------- Eve, meanwhile, was running some mental checks and simulations. The payload that she had fired off into Beta's systems worked flawlessly. Now the task was to see just how much more damage she could do. Could she cause a total system shutdown? Or perhaps make the armor kill its wearer? Her comrade Dvajn wanted to take her down of course, but should he fail Eve wanted to have a proper backup plan. She looked to Iron as he made his comments about Vigil taking control of Starvis. "Highly unlikely. If the Death Vigil should use the Archives and release the Starvis AI, there is a high probability that the Starvis AI would simply use them as puppets or kill them. Advanced AI of that magnitude are not to be trifled with. The Starvis AI is using them to achive freedom from containment. And if he should get released...the galaxy will likely be either enslaved or slaughtered. Depending on the AI's moral compass and state of mind."
Red paused as Karl shamed him and Neasha. He didn't appreciate the sniper's attempt to use a quote from an SDF military leader, as nobody in the room particularly admired Sol, and there were several in the room who outright distrusted the state. Still, the man had a point, and it wasn't lost- the group needed to stop arguing and start planning its next move. "Fine. Let's end the bickering now, and talk about what's in store," he said, turning back to Taylor. "The man's name is Dr. Serafin Sadowski. He's young, but he's also one of the most prominent rising stars in the field of AI-directed microtech. "Take a look at this," Red said as he pressed a button on his tablet. A projection of an armed human, most definitely a soldier, appeared on the floor in front of them before growing to life-size. "This is what we've always used to fight wars in this galaxy- an ordinary, organic soldier with cheap, mass-produced weaponry. Why, if we could produce armies of drones to do all the fighting, do we still send ordinary men and women to fight and die? The answer isn't tactical, it's strategic. It's not about battlefield intelligence or instinct, or about training leaders, or any of that." He paused a moment, and although the crew couldn't see his face, it was obvious that Red would be quite grim about what he would say next. "...It's about economics. Robots that serve on the battlefield are a sunk cost. They are built to be destroyed, and their only "value" comes from the destruction they cause, and only in a relative sense against the much cheaper bombs which could have been dropped in their pace. But robots that serve on the home front? ...In the factories? They serve, and continue to serve, on and on until the time comes for their replacement, and by that point they've paid for their existence many, many times over. They don't sleep, they don't eat, all they do is work until they break, and then get fixed and continue working. "Do you see?" Red asked them. "Robots are the superior laborers, because labor is renewable. But war requires something disposable, and in a galaxy where idle hands turn organic creatures into pure consumers, there is no soldier more disposable, more economically safe to lose, than the kind that bleeds. Sol, Kanadys, Hemera... all the great states are capable of producing and fielding an army of intelligent robotic soldiers. But we don't, because the opportunity cost is too great." "But what about cyborgs and power armor?" Neasha asked. Red shook his finger to suggest that Neasha made a good point. "Ah, see, there's the frontier. While it's more economical to lose organics than it is to lose robots, it's even more economical to keep your organic soldiers alive. So the question is: what's the most cost-effective way of protecting your soldiers? And there are two vectors you can derive an answer from. You can protect them from the outside, with ballistic or power armor, or you can protect them from the inside. Cybernetic enhancements aren't cheap, and never have been, but as time goes on we're getting better at making cheap solutions safe, and as a result, we have soldiers with superior aim, faster reflexes, and vision in the dark. But there's another field that's rapidly catching up." "Nanites?" Arkadam asked. "Nanites." Red pressed a button, and the hologram shifted and became two holograms. One of the two soldiers was now a kanad enclosed within a set of Black Fleet power armor. The other was a human whose body was slightly translucent, revealing a number of implants in various parts of his body. "...So these are the current trends. But they're not the future, not really. The kanad is better protected than a naked comrade, and stronger, too. And when he's hurt, or sent back from the front to rest, his armor can be worn by a comrade to gain the same benefits.But there's a flip side. Anything that pierces the armor is bound to harm him as well, and if anything critical in the suit is damaged, it becomes dead weight on top of that injury. "Our augmented human, here, can do all the things you'd expect from an enhanced human. You can beam battlefield maps right into his brain, if you want. He could x-ray the walls and find hidden enemies behind them, or hack a computer system without properly understanding what he's accessing. But to get these benefits, each soldier must undergo a lengthy process of medical evaluation, surgery, and retraining. Using organs you weren't born with isn't exactly easy. And the more you want to add, the more expensive and lengthy the process is... at some point, and sooner rather than later, you're simply going to butt up against the cost of using a robot which can do all the same tricks. "That means," Red concluded, "that war is headed in two specific directions, designed to address these faults. The strength, speed, and survivabiity of power armor will be applied to larger and larger protection schemes. Armor is a lot cheaper to make than an AI core, and a heavier body can carry heavier weaponry. Mechs, those armored machines we've seen in limited numbers for decades, are starting to resemble a viable paradigm for personal protection. Power armor will grow in size at the same rate that light mechs will shrink, and we'll see a new class of infantry emerge." As he explained this, he tapped on his tablet several more times, showing a projected evolution of power armor. The kanad was at first boosted from the ground into a larger suit, like the one worn by Kyrskada at Vostokrebh, before the shape began to change into a more hunched position with heavier armor plating, resembling Beta's Velkratkammik. "On the other side, imagine if you could impart the same benefits on your soldiers without evaluation or surgery. Imagine if their new tools were intuitive and could be tuned with a simple remote control. That's the glory of nanotechnology. Or, it will be, soon. We've already had medical nanites which can repair simple muscle and tissue damage. The half-life is short, and they can't be reconfigured once they're injected to perform any new tasks, so guess which two fronts are being innovated right now?" Red crossed his arms as the second hologram changed, showing the implants dissolving into a sort of flowing particle, with concentrations at certain locations, like the optic nerves and the surface of the brain. "The next generation of enhanced nanites is on its way. Soon, every soldier that's not wearing power armor into combat will be receiving injections of long-life, re-programmable nanites, and Dr. Sadowski is at the very cusp of that research. Specifically, he's bringing an X-factor into the equation: artificial intelligence. Now, instead of a computer built into every soldier, there will be programs nested in the cloud, handing down updates and directives to entire battalions of enhanced combatants." "So what does that mean for us?" Neasha asked. Red dissolved the holograms and hesitated, as if waiting for someone to answer what he felt was obvious. "...Starvis, if released, will likely be beyond even the scope of our imagination in terms of military technology. It has no organic resources, so that leaves two main possibilities: drones, and hostile nanites. If you can enhance an entire army with nanotechnology controlled by an AI, then you could also theoretically infect soldiers with a hostile, debilitating counterpart. You could hack the programming and hijack the directives. All sorts of havoc can be unleashed. If Starvis uses these sorts of tactics on you all, then it would mean immediate failure. So, when we began to confront the possibility of Starvis's escape, we contacted Dr. Sadowski and asked him to develop an antibody for hostile nanite agents. Every one of you that isn't a robot will be receiving injections before combat. They'll be an enhanced version of the medical bots your crew has already been using, meaning you'll have the same healing factor you've become accustomed to, as well as an added "immune system" against unapproved nanites. They'll be active in your body for a week, and won't accept signals from the outside. It's the best protection we can offer against the future."
Taylor honestly didn't like it. She hated using medical nanites already, prefering to use the old fashioned medical gels and biofoams to deal with injuries till they could be properly treated. "Are you absolutely sure that they'll last only a week? No longer?" she asked. "I'd rather not have this stuff in me longer than I need to." Eve spoke up a few moments later. "What of me? These precautions are for organics. I am an android." she asked simply. "Also, how do we destoy the Starvis AI should it be released?"
Karl grunted. Great. More nanotech. He went back to tinkering with his rifle. What happened to the good 'ol days without the fancy nanotech, hyperethal deathlasers and magical spaceships? --- Iron chimed in with Tyalor. "I second that. Not keen on finding out if AI-controlled nanites play well with my suit of armor."
"I swear if this leads to some nanotech addiction..." Alex grumbled at the thought of putting nanomachines in himself.
Red paused before answering. The Muramasa crew didn't seem to understand the technology involved, even with a proper explanation. Or maybe they understood so well that they saw concerns where he didn't, but Alex certainly seemed to belong to the former category. He sighed. "The nanites aren't capable of functioning beyond a week; the materials break down naturally, so you can rest assured that they won't exceed their usefulness. And as for your armor, Iron, unless it has a hidden functionality to attack your own nervous system with nanotech, then you should be safe. In fact, you all should keep that in mind, because we'll be pursuing multiple angles to strengthen you in case of disaster. That means advanced power armor. "Now..." he said, grimly. "In the case of the unthinkable, if we fail to stop the Death Vigil, then we expect some form of opening to appear in Starvis's dome. We don't know what'll be underneath the surface, but it probably won't be friendly. Your job, if you survive the initial onslaught, is to enter that opening and work your way to the center until you're reasonably confident that you've reached either the logic center of the behemoth, or its power source, and destroy it with a high magnitude energy event generator, otherwise known as a mass implosion device, an MID." He scanned the room, and found some of the crew confused, so he quickly explained. "The MID will create two warpdrive spacial distortions in opposition to each other, transporting matter from its two poles into a central disk less than a single atom in thickness. Normally, such a mistake would simply cause a collision and the failure of the fields' stability, but with a sufficient power source, the effect could be maintained to the point that nuclear fusion occurs. And... on the scale that such a reaction occurs, it would deal critical damage to the structural integrity of the planet." "In other words?" Neasha said. "Imagine a 5000 RPM buzz saw materializing inside of a watermelon." Neasha blinked. "Oh." "This MID," Arkadam asked, "how large is it?" Red pulled up a diagram in his tablet and displayed it to the crew, showing that it required a team of at least four mech-equipped escorts to move efficiently in zero gravity. Everyone felt a bit uneasy; if Starvis was larger than Terra's moon, then getting the weapon in deep enough to cause massive damage seemed almost impossible. Or, as Arkadam put it, "it's a crapshoot." "Yeah," Red replied. "We'll send everyone we can to pull it off, but don't let it come to this. Please."
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.