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Andrew_Fireborn
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« on: May 25, 2005, 09:45:14 AM » |
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k, so I'm bored and stuck on this, and could use some feedback on it.
“Well, what else could we be doing, all the stuff the ports need are out in this field. Heck, I thought you’d be glad about the profit margin, Ka.”
“Yess, but there are better thingss we could be doing! We’ve almost run thesse portss dr-”
“Bah, fine! This’ll be the last run.” Andrew exclaimed as he moved his hand from the bottom of the ships status monitor to the intercom, “Alright boys, thanks to Ka you’re all gonna get some shore leave when we get back to port.”
“That iss not what I meant!”
Andrew flicked the intercom off, “Aw, come on Ka, it’ll endear ya a bit to the rest of the guys, and besides, I’ve got business to attend to either way, I was only running these to get my mind off of things, ya know, sort things out... But, soon, I’ve got to pay my debts.”
“You mean...”
“Yeah, that... Still wish there’d been another way... She didn't deserve that, but what’s done is done. The suns still burn, and the ports still buy.
“Now shut the door, you’re killing the Ra-screen.”
“Bah, I’ll stay behind when we reach port, I don’t know what’s going to happen on that trek, but I imagine I’ll find out from safe distance.” Ka turned as he finished the sentence and shut the cockpit’s hatch.
As the door sealed, the star field to the rear of the ship shimmered into existence. The sphere navigation system provided a real-time replication of the space around the ship, impossible for most other set-ups, but impractical for much larger a vessel than the Paradise.
Sheesh, this is rather boring... even the flying’s starting to fail to distract me... What the!
A strange occurrence caught his eye, a nearby asteroid had shown signs of construction, but now nothing...
THERE! There it is again...
He flipped on the com, “Hey, Mike, I want you to ping that asteroid at 4, 9. Seismic, radar, vodoo, full tilt.”
The squeaky response came quickly, “Ah, sure thing boss...” The voice on the other end paused and Andrew awaited the results.
A short time later, the new radar specialist read off his findings, “Well, she appears normal on radar, but the drone I sent over for seismic seems to report differently. There’re a number of anomalies, consistent with subsurface construction.
“Also, the drone’s transmission is slightly garbled, and the video feed shows a structure thirty meters north of it.”
“I see, not what I thought, but interesting...” He flicked the com to ship-wide, “We’re taking a slight detour, I want the marines suited up in five minutes, and ready for a boarding in six.”
He pushed a button as he grabbed the controls, moving the ship closer to the asteroid. He switched over to manual as the ship drew within a hundred meters of the massive planetoid. Easy now... That structure should be aro- s**t! He punched a button, killing the ships shield grid as it came into contact with what appeared to be the structures array. Guess that’s their insurance policy.
The com cracked to life, “What the hell was that Andy?! We’re unshielded!”
“I just killed the grid to prevent a feedback-EMP. I think we’re inside a shield grid, so we should be safe...”
“Well, maybe warn us next time. You know we’re all half in the pods when that klaxon goes off.”
“Sorry, nothing to worry about, for now. We’re alone in the system, and I think we’re inside a wide-cloaking field anyway.” Andrew clicked the com off and surveyed the surroundings; there was a structure where the drone said it would be. The ship coasted slowly over to it, taking it’s time due to the altitude required to stay under the shields.
After some time the hatch came into view in the structure below. Matching speeds with the asteroid, the ship began to latch onto the rock, finally lowering a boarding tube into the docking structure.
The AI loaded up and the image of an lithe, impish figure appeared on the Sphere screen, “Hmm... what are you up to now? Boarding a rock?”
“Oh come on Chaos, you should be able to tell from this distance, there’s something down there, and someone went to an extreme to hide it.”
“I noticed, but I’m not sure you’re aware of the six attempted hacks that came through the boarding tube after we failed to ID ourselves to their system. From the poor attempt, it seems to be an out of date system ... at least thirty years old. I’m also sure you’re reading nil life signs. The Border Patrol always theorized that there was a Rim Pirate strong-hold in this system, but they stopped looking when the pirate activity suddenly ceased.”
“Curiouser and curiouser, eh Chaos? Well, suppose we ought to see what’s in this ol’box. And if no one’s home, we could always use a summer house,” Andrew said, smirking at the AI’s form.
“Just be cautious, I’m sure you’ve heard the one about the cat sticking his nose where it ought not be.”
Andy’s smirk broke into a full grin, “Indeed, but, this cat’s got a squad of marines and a rifle that could blow a hole in a foot of steel.”
“I am picking up sporadic movement signs... Its most likely dust... But still...”
“Hmm... Well, we’ll be careful, I expect you’ll take care of our mutual home,” Andrew said as he sealed the door behind himself and punched a nearby button, shutting down the shield warning lights.
He turned on his hard suit’s radio, “You boys ready to go on our little field trip?”
“We even got our permission slips signed teach,” Came the reply, followed by some laughter.
Andy chuckled to himself as he grabbed his rifle out of the locker near the cockpit, and hurried on to the APR. (Assault Prep Room)
The hatch slid into the wall, revealing the marines, suited up and checking their weapons. He laughed, “I thought you boys said you were ready! Straight to bed without dinner for the lot of you when we get back.”
One of the marines with a pair of blue stripes on his shoulder pad spoke up, “But teach, it’s all Houser’s fault, he was slow passing out the lead. But we brought enough to share with anyone we meet.” Sporadic cheers went up, but quieted when Andrew held up his hands.
“Alright, alright, serious time guys. Not sure what all is gonna be in this place, not even sure if the air will be breatha-“
Chaos popped up on the suits’ HUDs, “Well, I can answer that one, it seems their reprocessor systems are still working, although they report quite a bit of dust per cubic meter... So any of you with allergies might want to leave you helmets on”
“Well, that’s one less uncertainty, thanks Chaos.” Andrew continued on, “Now, I’d recommend leaving the helmets on irregardless, including you Private Jones. Now, We’ll split up into two groups of six once though the airlock on the other side. Because we don’t know what caused this place to be abandoned, we’re going with Code Red decontamination procedures.” Groans rose up from the marines. “Yes, I know, standing in the decon for 3 hours isn’t much fun, but you’ll be in there longer if your suit log shows a removal of any portion of your hard suit, including opening the visor...
“Alright, if everyone’s clear, we’re going in. Now, move out!”
The marines opened the floor hatch and began descending the boarding tube. About 3 meters down, the tube left the artificial gravity field of the ship, into a nul-g middle ground, incase the other end was aligned differently.
After a minute the first marine down radioed in, “Migienis here, door seems to be standard airlock, Chris reports that he’s unlocked it for us, and the grav field seems to be aligned in the same direction as the ships.”
“Alright, you have go for entry, I’ll be down right after you guys.” Andy replied as he started down after the marines, listening to the chatter as he descended.
“Turning our suit lights on, it’s pitch in this place. Freezing too...”
“Quit your whining Nikata, Chris says he’s working on it.”
“Sir! We’ve got an elevator shaft between us and the main installation. As soon as your down, the pressurization will commence.”
Andy let himself fall the final two meters through the hatch. He looked around as the airlock seal above closed. “So, Chaos, what’s the status of the installation as far as you can tell?” He asked, hoping the AI had deciphered some of the rock’s more secure systems.
“Nothing so far captain, looks like they just packed up about thirty-four years ago... strange part is that it seems to have been in the middle of a major construction period.”
“How bout a map?”
“Uploading it as we speak, Captain.” Chaos said matter of factly, and a second later a 3d display of the installation’s interior resolved on the HUD.
Andrew whistled at the size of the installation, true it was in basically a planetoid sized rock, but it was a massive construct. The freight elevator they were standing at the apex of descended sixty meters into the core of the asteroid, where most of the facilities seemed to be located, from there two tunnels lead off into a pair of hangers.
“This doesn’t add up though... I doubt even the military could convince the Pirates to move from this piece of work...” Andrew cut off his thoughts as he fell in with the marines, their weapons readied at the elevator door.
“T minus ten until your rides here, you’ll have plenty of time to think on the way down.”
“I’m sure I wi-“ Andrew stopped as the door crept open.
Andy nodded and two of the marines approached the elevator cautiously. “What the h**l?! Sir, there’s a body in here, hard suit’s pretty torn up... looks like he’s been here a while...”
Andrew nodded again, “Nikata, go check the body out, see if you can figure out what happened.”
The small form of the unit’s medic hustled into the elevator, her tail perked slightly. Andy couldn’t help but smirk, he’d found himself noticing her more... but, he chalked it up to random fascination.
Journelle reported her thoughts after only a minute of silence, “Well, I’m not sure what killed him, with the age of the corpse I’d need a lab to determine that... but, I’m pretty sure no conventional weapon did this... The suit’s shredded, which rules out any projectile weapons... and vibro and even conventional blades make cleaner cuts than these... I’d have to say that he was mauled to death... but nothing like this has ever been reported before...”
Andrew furrowed his brow, “Hmm... Chaos, you picking anything up, like that movement from before?”
“Negative, I’m not picking up anything.” The small figure on the HUD reported.
“Nikata, you’ve got the degree in xenobiology, do you think whatever it was could still be alive?”
The young medic stood up and looked out the door, “No clue sir, if its still here... it would have had a heck of a long time to starve...”
Andrew nodded, “So, you’re conclusion is that the unknown is deceased. Chaos, you got the lights working yet?”
“Trying to activate some maintenance bots, but I’ve managed to turn on most of the lights between the base of the elevator shaft and the power room, as well as a few smaller rooms, but the majority of the base is unpowered, I don’t know if it’s natural decay or sabotage yet.”
“Alright, update us when you know. We’re headed down. Move the body out of there.” Andrew motioned, and Logan and Wygatt picked the body up, moving it into the corridor. Wygatt knelt set the deceased’s hands together on its chest, and made a gesture as he stood.
As the last marines boarded the elevator car, Chaos spoke up, “It should be about a fifteen minute decent, depending of course, on the floor you want.
“This elevator can access the core of the primary six levels, it looks like floor one contains the majority of the systems needed to run the base... but they’re behind several security doors, which I have been unable to open. The maintenance crawlers are of no use, they’re all offline, probably power loss.
“Two and three appear to be mostly habitation related, sleeping quarters, mess halls, recreation rooms, hygiene rooms...
“Four through six look like storage rooms, and back-up systems, six is only half finished though, it was the construction project I spoke of earlier. Seems like they might have been gearing up their operations from the munitions read-out I’ve decoded.”
“Hmm...” Andrew looked about, If this thing could convince the pirates to move, with that kind of incentive to stay, it must have been one powerful force... he punched the button marked 1 and the elevator started down. If this place has been deserted, then it had better damn well be dead.
The decent was silent, but for the vibrations of the elevator as it descended into the bowels of the asteroid. After a minute he spoke, “Alright, standard search pattern, we’re all going to disembark on the top floor, and squad leaders will pick the areas they’re going to clear, and B squad will run it’s plan by me. Since we can be pretty sure that this first floor will be secure enough for the time being, it will serve as our primary field base.
“After we’re down I’m sending the elevator back up, and some of the Paradise’s maintenance bots will be sent down the tube to assist in searching the base. We’ll secure the rooms we can enter on this level, and then await the arrival of the ‘bots.
“Is that clear people?” He finished.
The marines responded in an assortment of clears and affirmatives, Andrew nodded, “Good,” and the remaining minutes of the ride were spent in hushed anticipation. As the elevators readout approached the final few meters, the occupants took up firing positions, guns trained on the door, waiting for the slightest hint of danger.
The chime of the arrival seemed to echo through the small room, and signaled the opening of the door. Everyone tensed as they receded into the walls, and the room beyond slowly came into view.
Andrew waved two fingers and Hensh and Renjai swung outward with practiced efficiency, covering each others backs. “Clear,” Came the signal from the sniv and Kit’i, and the remainder of the occupants moved out from the confines of the elevator car.
The hall was well lit, despite their movement stirring up the thick layer of dust on the floor, the elevator sat on the corner of an intersection. Andrew stepped out and surveyed the surroundings. “Three man squads, each direction. Journelle, Altman, with me. Miginis, Houser, with Hensh. Resha, Asha, with Jones. Renjai, Irania, with Grendel. Move out!” Andy barked out the orders, and started down the corridor directly in front of the elevator, Nikata and Roger falling in behind him.
The small group worked their way down the corridor, finding every door locked. Thirty meters in, and still no opening, Altman paused and kneeled. “Sir, take a look at this,” He motioned at a badly mangled ventilation grate. Andrew crouched across from him, “Sheesh... Either of you think this could have been our enigma’s handiwork?”
Nikata spoke up, “Well, it’s possible... I mean it did tear through a hardsuit... Still, I don’t know of anything that could do this...”
“We’ll just hope its dead,” Andrew said as he stood, pausing for a second. “But, glue bomb it anyway.”
Altman nodded, reaching into his waist pack. He pulled out a small, orange-sized ball. Pulling the safety out, he stuck it to the back of the duct, and the group moved on. After a minute the bomb went off, not in an explosion, but in a swelling of dark green sealant, filling the vent, some even oozing into the hall.
After a short time the hall ended, with only a heavily secured door on the right hand wall. Altman spoke up, “Pretty sturdy door... what’cha think is behind it?”
Andrew pulled up the map, “Hmm... it says it’s the emergency control center and system redundancy room. Chaos, have you managed to crack this door?”
“Hmm? I’m working on it, several layers of encryption and other security measures... It’ll take me another minute,” the AI responded.
“Alright, we’ll hold position; notify us when you’re finished.” Andrew turned and watched the corridor they had come from.
Nikata paced slightly, examining every corner of their waiting place. Altman mirrored Andrew on the other side of the hall. The silence was deafening, Andrew almost wished something would happen, just so that the silence would be broken. He heard the young medic stop pacing and he looked over his shoulder at her. She was looking around and turning up the external receivers on her suit. “Nikata, what’s wrong?”
She looked at him, appearing on edge, “I... I thought I heard something, like a small animal movi- There, that! Tell me you heard that!”
Andy looked over at Altman, who shook his head. He reached up to his helmet and turned the volume up. There was a definite scratching noise, like claws being drug across metal. Andrew spoke calmly into the headset, “I hear it Journelle... Chaos, we have audio contact, what are the sensors saying?”
“Hmm? Indeed, there is a small movement contact, also showing up n the bio-scanners... Strange... Ah! There, the door’s open... Whatever this thing is, it seems to be in the main facility’s air system. The rooms on the other side of this door are entirely isolated from the rest of the base, a fitting field base.”
Andrew tested the door, it didn’t budge. Chaos resumed, “The new key code is 3421... you’ll need to enter it manually...”
Fireborn smirked, “Coulda used that before I made a fool of myself.”
“Indeed, but-” Chaos was cut off by a ceiling grate crashing down. A nearly deafening noise to the two kitarans, both of whom quickly turned their suits’ volume down as they aimed at the hole in the roof, but nothing came through the new opening.
After a minute Altman began to circle around the opening, “What the he** was that?”
Andrew switched his radio over to the full deployment’s frequency, “Attention people, we have possible contact wi- shi-” He opened fire on the blur that leapt from the gap, “Altman, stop moving, there!”
The creature came into view on the marine’s back, its claws had already done significant damage to the suit. Its head was boney, framed with collar of four spikes, leading into an emaciated looking body covered with porcupine-like spikes. Its four limbs ending in bony plates tipped with sharp claws that were dug into Altman’s armor. A long lithe tail swung behind it, tipped with a wicked looking stinger. It looked at the two marines as they lined up their shots. Its eyes glowed as it whipped its stinger into Altman’s back. Journelle gasped and Andrew took the shot, but it deflected off the creature’s boney plates. “What the...” Andy muttered.
The creature hissed and took off down the corridor, leaving only a collapsing marine and a dust cloud in its wake.
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Items of note:
CHAOS[/u]: Central Hardwired Automated Operating System: The Ashen Paradise employs a smart system, which was upgraded by the ships long time tinkerer, Joseph ‘spider’ Renolds, into a fully fledged AI. Due to forethought by Mr. Renolds, Chaos, or Chris to the marines, has several loyalty parameters coded into it’s ROM-storage. With it’s heightened capabilities, Chaos easily out strips most non-AI ship-board systems.
Despite the coded precautions, almost all of the ships systems have independent manual over-rides, and Chaos has no control at all over the room containing its core and manual kill-switch.
Sphere Radar[/u]: In this set-up, the pilot sits in a chair surrounded by a holographic composite image of the space around the ship. The system analyzes video and radar input to generate the view. It does have a slight blind spot, as large as 15 meters thick in some areas. This is why the pilot’s station usually has a few standard flat screen systems as a reference. It is a rather rare system, being both pricey and incompatible with larger ships than the average cruiser, because the larger the ship, the larger the blind spots. As well as the fact that flat screen systems can display virtually the same information in a more compact display area.
Andrew chose this system for the Paradise mostly because of aesthetics, but it has proven to be useful in several situations, most of which would be impossible without the system’s accurate depiction of the distance between the ship and another object.
Glue Bombs[/u]: A small blue colored grenade, it is usually used to seal doors, vents, or other breaches that are no longer needed. The grenade has a built in timer that allows the users to get a safe distance away.
When ‘detonated’ the grenade releases an ultra-compacted foam material that rapidly expands to an average volume of one cubic meter. After a short amount of time, the foam hardens and gains quite a bit of tensile strength.
A solvent exists, which can eat through the glue in a short amount of time. As such, the grenade is often used as a non-lethal utility, hence its capability to be set to a contact ‘detonation.’
The foam is also often used as a mid-hull to make a quick patch to light to moderate damage to the hull.
The Marines[/u]: Sometime after the events of C:BtG Andrew sprung for a larger crew. Holding with the precedent, half the marines double as active crew, the other half are cross-trained in the basic functions of the jobs filled by the first half. This brings the crew of the Paradise up to eighteen beings, one AI, and thirty-four Renolds modified independent maintance bots.
Ashen Paradise Roster
-(Older crew); N-(Newer Crew); AI-(CHAOS system)
-Andrew Fireborn: Captain/Pilot/Marine Captain: Kitaran Male
-Ka Brightscale: Book keeper: Sniv Male
-Joseph Renolds: Mechanic/Unlicensed Upgrader: Derivian Male
-Resha Fangmaw: Marine/Support Crew: Sniv Male
-Asha Clawbreaker: Marine/Support Crew: Sniv Female
-Hensh Strongtail: Marine/Support Crew: Sniv Male
N-Nikata Journelle: Medical Officer/Marine: Kitaran Female
N-Richard Migenis: Marine/Support Crew: Derivian Male
N-Andrew Houser: Radar Specialist/Marine: Derivian Male
N-Mike Jones: Marine/Support Crew: Derivian Male
N-Jeffery Logan: Explosives/Fire Containment/Marine: Derivian Male
N-Dillian Wygatt: Marine/Support Crew: Derivian Male
N-Renjai Liyo: Armory Keeper/Marine: Kitaran Female
N-Roger Altman: Marine/Support Crew: Derivian Male
N-Jen Irania: Cook/Marine: Derivian Female
N-Randal Grendle: Marine/Support Crew: Zallun Male
N-Jarana Minyo Fanthyir: Weaponry Control/Marine: Kitaran Male
N-Kresshar Mauldef: Marine/Support Crew: Zallun Female
AI- Chaos/Chris: AOS: Cyberlogical entity, avatar is male
* Derivians are basically humans, Kitarans are feline huminoids, Zalluns are massive four armed creatures, and Sniv are reptilian creatures.
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