The away team reached the bottom step of the stairwell entrance of the sewer. The tunnel ahead was unremarkable in design, having been fashioned out of purpose-made bricks in some antiquated century. Despite the wear of the ages, signs of maintenance were all around, from patches in areas of the walls, recently-fitted drainage outlets, and even boot prints on the grimy walkways on either side of the channel, although they didn't appear to have been made that day- a simple comparison to the tracks being left by the Muramasa crewmembers confirmed that no one had been down there that morning.
The tunnel crossed through the city diagonally, rather than following the street grid above, and the crew would be walking southwest. Unfortunately, the grade of the channel was a downward slope in that direction, meaning that the further they walked, the deeper underground they would have to go. More importantly, there was a sudden drop of roughly ten meters located somewhere ahead in the darkness which necessitated a detour to the left, connecting to a more claustrophobic tunnel which contained a large number of natural gas lines. After a quick double-back down another flight of stairs, the crew would emerge on the lower side of the main tunnel, where they would walk an additional distance before exiting into a massive biochemical septic tank. According to their materials, there was a ladder which would take them back up, to a manhole cover on the processing plant's property.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/D5sgfhE.png[/img]
Before the crew got even halfway to the first turn, alarms began to sound on their personal breathing equipment. The air in the tunnel was barely breathable; by the time their gas masks and helmets had fully filtered out the harmful gasses, there was barely anything left to sustain the crew. They would be safe, so long as they remained calm and took measured breaths. However, it occurred to them one by one that the sewer gas was likely flammable. Plasma-based and explosive weaponry were therefore ill-advised.
Up at the surface, Istasha and Hariim's programs were beginning to take their toll on the electrical grid.
Istasha + Hariim
CH Estimate: 1/4 x 3(Ingenuity) + 1/4 = 1
Roll Passed.
A power surge was building in the network, and residents in the surrounding area were experiencing fluctuations in their access to power. Appliances stopped working. Lights began to brown out. And then, with a terrible flash, the substation overloaded and discharged into the ground around itself like a crash of lightning. Unknown to the crew, a Black Fleet patrol in the air was watching for this sort of sabotage, and bit hard on the bait. While they investigated, the path to the processing plant was likely open.
However, the crew's efforts to locate any security system inside the sewer turned up empty. There didn't seem to be any cameras or motion detectors, or anything that would be of use in that manner. They were alone with the poop, it seemed. The smell was deplorable, even through their masks. Upon reaching the tightest hall, where the gas pipes were arrayed, they found that most of the systems at this level were actually fully mechanical, a big surprise in an era of automation. They squeezed into this tunnel in single file, moving forward until they encountered a hatch which blocked the way to the stairs, and it was locked with a large hydraulic deadbolt.
Maddox pointed at the deadbolt. "Johannes, freeze and crack."
*snip*
Markus grunted has his old mask struggled to keep the air in his mask suitable for breathing.
"ahh ya *cough* don' say, luv." he wheezed. He turned a small screw on his filter and it made a hissing sound as he took a deep breath.
His filter was now working overtime to allow him to breath normally as well as heavily if need be, but it would also mean he might have to change the filter faster than he normally would.
He then proceeded to take out his mag with regular bullets and replaced it with a cartridge with nail rounds. Compressed with extreme pressure, firing the rifle would fire a sharp nail instead of a bullet.
This would mean he wouldn't have as much stopping power, but he would be able to fire at any possible hostiles without turning the sewer into a pizza oven.
The lock mechanism shattered from the force of Johannes's blow, having been made brittle by the coolant. Pushing the door open revealed the expected staircase, and with an exchange of nods, Maddox took the lead again and led the team down into the lower area of the tunnel. As the exited the stairwell, the sound of falling sludge from the upper layer forced the team to speak over the comm. They moved forward, toward the exit, and began to notice something unpleasant-
The surface of the wastewater was rising, or appeared to be, because of the downward slope of the tunnel. It appeared that whatever outlets had originally been designed into the tunnel had been sealed in favor of the septic tank the crew would need to enter. This presented a problem: the entrance to the septic tank was fully under the surface. Stopping at the point where the walkway slips under the surface, the crew stopped to eye each other nervously.
"That's not good." Maddox turned to the squad. "Ideas?"
*snip*
"It looks like it's too small." Maddox looked at Istasha and Hariim. "Can the two of your figure out possible scenarios that would happen if I toss a grenade in there?"
*snip*
Hariim chimes in. "Yessir! My qubit processors are ideal for simulation. Starting it up now..." Hariim pulls as much sensor data as is possible from Maddox's suit, and from those of the squad surrounding him. With this data, he begins modelling all the likeliest scenarios based on what Maddox wants to do. He pulls in the extra processing power of Itasha's equipment as well, since it seems to be so well optimized. [Gotta get dat collaboration bewst!]
Hariim's unique cybernetic setup is quite handy. By using the natural quantum properties of the human consciousness, the hardware in Hariim's skull can effectively function like a quantum processor. All the necessary parts are there in the naturally grown meat of his brain, it's just that they weren't getting used in the way they are now. Human ingenuity on display.
((Dropping from the game due to personal reasons.))
((OOC - Let's do this.
For those of you who aren't in the Discord chat, here's what went down.
- Apparently, Sno commissioned a drawing a long time ago for a previous RP which he's really fond of. Some people doodled on it, and he got hella pissed about it.
- Some people reposted the image in the Discord channel yesterday and pinned the post. Sno contacted me personally and asked me to delete it.
- I told him I wouldn't, because:
(1) His insistence that his rights were being violated didn't make much sense to me
(2) Even if I agreed with him, I couldn't enforce removal, because I can only delete the posts, the users could easily repost it
(3) If I were to start moderating content on the Discord, I'd have to remove a lot more than just that image
(4) I was clearly being drawn into a dispute that shouldn't have involved me in the first place, and I'm not keen on being the care police
- Sno didn't take kindly to my opinion that he was overreacting (I had called it "just a drawing"), and so he compared his personal plight to the transgender rights cause (a personal dig at me, for more info, check [url=https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1528670&p=50805343&viewfull=1#post50805343]this thread[/url])
- I told him he was insufferable and blocked him. :ok:
- He removed himself from the Discord channel and took his aggression out on this thread, by snipping all of his own posts in a deliberate effort to break the narrative flow.
And so:
- Sno is no longer welcome here
- Johannes and Istasha are under my control now, and I will use them appropriately until we can permanently remove them from the crew
I apologize to the players who are going to have to deal with this middle school horseshit, but given Sno's previous behavior on Discord and on Steam, it was bound to happen sooner or later.))
I unfriended you before you blocked me, and I quit the game before you arbitrarily decided I wasn't welcome. You're a shitty person and a worse moderator, and the fact that you're dragging a private discussion/disagreement here shows that. I didn't "snip my posts in a deliberate effort to break narrative flow", I left the game and my posts became irrelevant so I removed them.
At no point during our discussion did I say my "rights were being violated". I came to you as a friend and politely asked you to remove the picture because it was offensive and disrespectful, not just because it was something of mine that had been vandalized but also because it was a gross example of a "shitpost" in the discord chat. You spawned a tirade-style debate about the merits of deleting it and the "possible repercussions" and other bullshit when it's doubtful the person that posted it would even have noticed. It's also extremely hypocritical of you to refuse to delete a personal attack on another person which is creating a hostile atmosphere in the chat, but threaten to ban me from the chat/game in the past for being little more than 'cheeky'. And I'm not even going to touch your little 'transgender rights dig' bullshit. You know goddamn well what I said had nothing to do with the civil rights movement of the transgendered community.
You're free to do whatever you want with Johannes/Istasha. I would appreciate their removal from your game asap, however.
And as far as "middle school horseshit" goes, you're the one dragging this into the thread. Not me.
Have fun with that.
[editline]2nd August 2016[/editline]
And say whatever you will, poo-poo and downplay it however you like, it was not a 'doodle' and it was not merely 'reposted'. It was purposefully and maliciously reposted in the discord chat by one of the people who did it in the first place. It created a hostile environment. I come home from work to find the exact fucking thing I made a new account to get away from in the first place (disrespect, hostile environment, rampant shitposting, and all around terrible fucking people) plastered all over a chat room I frequent because, what, it's fucking funny?
[QUOTE=Snoberry Tea;50815211]I unfriended you before you blocked me, and I quit the game before you arbitrarily decided I wasn't welcome. You're a shitty person and a worse moderator, and the fact that you're dragging a private discussion/disagreement here shows that. I didn't "snip my posts in a deliberate effort to break narrative flow", I left the game and my posts became irrelevant so I removed them.
At no point during our discussion did I say my "rights were being violated". I came to you as a friend and politely asked you to remove the picture because it was offensive and disrespectful, not just because it was something of mine that had been vandalized but also because it was a gross example of a "shitpost" in the discord chat. You spawned a tirade-style debate about the merits of deleting it and the "possible repercussions" and other bullshit when it's doubtful the person that posted it would even have noticed. It's also extremely hypocritical of you to refuse to delete a personal attack on another person which is creating a hostile atmosphere in the chat, but threaten to ban me from the chat/game in the past for being little more than 'cheeky'. And I'm not even going to touch your little 'transgender rights dig' bullshit. You know goddamn well what I said had nothing to do with the civil rights movement of the transgendered community.
You're free to do whatever you want with Johannes/Istasha. I would appreciate their removal from your game asap, however.
And as far as "middle school horseshit" goes, you're the one dragging this into the thread. Not me.
Have fun with that.
[editline]2nd August 2016[/editline]
And say whatever you will, poo-poo and downplay it however you like, it was not a 'doodle' and it was not merely 'reposted'. It was purposefully and maliciously reposted in the discord chat by one of the people who did it in the first place. It created a hostile environment. I come home from work to find the exact fucking thing I made a new account to get away from in the first place (disrespect, hostile environment, rampant shitposting, and all around terrible fucking people) plastered all over a chat room I frequent because, what, it's fucking funny?[/QUOTE]
((Johannes and Istasha's actions over the last five pages are relevant to the game at hand, whether you're here to play as them or not. Someone had to explain to the thread why those pages have huge gaps in them. I don't expect you to own up to your tizzy fit, but you could at least not post lousy excuses for your lack of decorum.
You wanted an image removed because you paid for it and didn't like how it was being used. If that's not a claim about property rights, I don't know what is. And I certainly don't consider what you did "coming to me as a friend." You told me to delete a post in the Discord and got increasingly belligerent with me when I started asking questions.
I don't know what you're trying to prove at this point. You've already given me, the Discord, and this thread the big "fuck you," so you can stop posting at any time. You won't be missed.))
I ASKED you to delete it. I very much remember the wording I used. I even said please. Get off your fucking high horse. I didn't get belligerent until you flat out told me to 'grow up' and 'get a thicker skin' over something I have every right to be upset about.
And what actions in the last 5 pages, exactly, do you need to re-read word for word? Johannes froze a lock and broke a door and Istasha helped Hariim overload a power station, both of which you already GM Posted and cemented as action. Whoop dee fucking doo.
The only one here throwing a tizzy fit is you, the person who, once again, dragged an OOC disagreement into the thread for no reason other than to satisfy your childish need to be the one in control. Why else would you make a point of mentioning you blocked me on steam and told me I wasn't welcome in the thread after I had already left of my own volition. And maybe you and the discord chat need a blatant "fuck you" if you're going to allow/participate in someone making the chatroom a hostile/unfriendly environment for another player specifically. The lot of you can sod off if you think that kind of shit is socially acceptable.
Grow up, Sega.
[How about you stop derailing the thread?]
[QUOTE=Snoberry Tea;50815280]Grow up, Sega.[/QUOTE]
((Nothing new in this post, either. Just more excuses and whining. Please stop shitting up this thread and move on with your life.))
[QUOTE=Sega Saturn;50815286]((Nothing new in this post, either. Just more excuses and whining. Please stop shitting up this thread and move on with your life.))[/QUOTE]
I'm not the one that brought the discussion here. That's on you. I'm just defending myself. Or is that unacceptable to you?
On second thought, scratch that. I don't really care if you think it's unacceptable.
((Wait what the fuck is going on? Can we take this to PM's instead?))
[I]Meanwhile on Gibel[/I]
The weather was getting to him. The goddamn cold mornings on Gibel were enough to make your blood freeze in their veins and now he was being called into service before the sun was even up. Goddamn robot needs to get it in his head that humans and just about any organic can't just come in and fly a stealth ship with only 3 hours of sleep. Specter's suit was enough to prevent him from freezing, he just needed something to keep him awake. Maybe the ship still had some of those pills. If he was quick, he could probably sneak in some and Arch would be none the wiser. After a few more minutes that dragged on for what seemed to be hours, Specter was on board the ship. Archangel was waiting inside. "Good morning Specter. We'll wait for the rest of the Vultures to show up before we take off. We will go to these coordinates and I will give the briefing on the way. I think you will enjoy this one."
"Yeah, why do you..." Specter froze for a moment and turned around. He looked at Archangel with a shocked expresion on his face. "Are you fucking smoking?"
"Hmm? Oh, you don't like the smoke? I'll step outside then."
"NO! Not that. How are you smoking? You're an AI in a robot body." Archangel looked around in a cautious manner before responding.
"Do you want to repeat that? I don't think the other half of the base heard you. And to answer your question, I started to do this out of the need to better blend in with my surroundings. You organics seem to do it a lot. It shortens your life span, you know. And there seems to be no good reason to do this. Seems sad to waste your life with them. Oh well, one of the many tricks I've learned while going through the memory cores."
"Blend in? Listen fully metal jackass, you are a walking tank. You don't need to imitate someone smoking to blend in. And you don't get the enjoyment out of it because you don't have lungs. And were those genuine emotions just now? You sometimes sound like you could emote."
"No. I don't experience emotions like you would. I'm not organic. I'm as you said, "an AI inside a robot body." I can however imitate emotions to better convey what I mean when speaking with you."
Specter looked rather unerved after that explanation. "That is really creepy and unnverving." He shook his head slightly "Ok, enough of the lectures. Did you learn anything else from those memories you have been digging through?"
"My brand new witt."
"That is begining to make me wish I could slap you with an EMP. I fully understand why someone would want Merner dead. Anything else?" Archangel smilled.
"Safehouses, locations where one could store plenty of resources, drop off points and contacts. Many, many, MANY contacts."The smile turned wicked "Some of which are rather bad at covering their tracks."
---
[I]Meanwhile on Boome[/I]
Seth looked over a map. To say that he was angry would be an understatement. Noble wasn't helping the situation with pointing fingers. "We singed a deal!" was one of the sentencase he would repeat. "There was a fleet meant to guard this sector while we bled for their cause!" was the other. Seth couldn't deny when he was right. While the Boome's had been fighting proxy battles and helping secure worlds for the SDF, they would recieve help in defense of their home in the form of a fleet. Now there was an incusrion of Creed on the only other planet that could support life orbiting this forsaken star. Janope. And where was the fleet? Nowhere to be seen. Seth took a deep breath and exhaled. The past two days have consisted of him leading raids on Creed compounds that have been established on Janope and each time there was no sign of the mastermind behind this incursion.
"Boss, we found something." Noble yelled from outside the tent before entering. "Locals managed to escape a Creed ocupied compound here in the city." He said while pointing at the map."If what they say is true, your guy is there right now. Doing whatever sick shit he did to leave them is such a state."
"What do you mean?"
"One was missing his tongue. The other had an eye missing. And that's me skipping the details. Listen. I send Hunter squad to scout the place out. Here is what they confirmed. There place is surrounded by a fence, we can get through that without any problems. There are two buildings. Here and here. The smaller one has hostages, while the bigger one is full of Creed troops. What do you think?"
Seth looked at Noble, got out of his chair and said with anger in his voice. "I want this piece of shit in the ground by sundown. Take Merner and Piron squad and wait for my signal outside of the building."
"Your signal?"
"You heard me right. Now get the teams ready. You leave in 10 minutes."
---
[I]Back on the Muramasa[/I]
Alex entered the bridge. "You wanted to see me captain?"
[QUOTE=Viper123_SWE;50815863]((Wait what the fuck is going on? Can we take this to PM's instead?))[/QUOTE]
It was in PM over steam until Sega decided that it shouldn't be and made an OOC post about it here in the thread. :goodjob:
(( Take it to PMs because this is weird drama and is probably better off handled in the discord entirely.
That goes for both the GM and Sno. Should've just left it private. If people wanted to know what happened, you could've explained it to them outside of this.
Keep playing your RP or whatever, just leave Sno out of it and don't bring your OOC drama into the thread because I don't wanna get any more messages about this it's silly ! ! ! ))
[QUOTE]Alex entered the bridge. "You wanted to see me captain?"[/QUOTE]
"Yes. I need to speak to you about something in private." said Taylor, as she stood up from the Captain's chair. She had noticed Yuga walk in, remembering how her boots sound against the metal floor of the bridge. She didn't bother looking over to actually see if she was in the room. They weren't on the best of terms, so why bother actually giving her any more attention than was needed?
[QUOTE]Yes. I need to speak to you about something in private.[/QUOTE]
"Yeah, sure. As my previous captain put it. Captain's quarters are as private as they get."
[QUOTE]"Yeah, sure. As my previous captain put it. Captain's quarters are as private as they get."[/QUOTE]
"Lets go, then." she said, before strolling past him and off the bridge.
((Sega as for the situation in the sewers could you just make the barrier of shit go away if Hariim gets a good roll? As in, Maddox plants a shaped charge and detonate it.))
Alex followed Taylor out the bridge. After a few moments they were both in the captain's quarters, door locked behind them. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?"
[QUOTE]"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?"[/QUOTE]
"Well, I'll get straight to the point. I need a new first mate, and you're on the list alongside Mad and Jag." she said, turning to face him and folding her arms. "You know the ship, and tend to usually be on it most of the time. You know the crew, old and new. I think you might be a good choice to take over while I'm out in the field."
Alex was silent. The offer he deffinetly did not expect. "Uh, well. When you put it like that, I guess I can be considered for the position. Have you talked to Mad and Jag about it?"
[QUOTE]"Uh, well. When you put it like that, I guess I can be considered for the position. Have you talked to Mad and Jag about it?"[/QUOTE]
"Not yet. I plan to. Just wanted to see if you'd be up for it. I'll decide on it after I speak to all three of you."
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