Super Smash Quest² - Story - Chapter 51: Spaced Out Technology


Previous

Next

Date: March 16th & 19th, 2009.
Metal Man (GM): The group is at base. Well, partially-completed base. Panzer has been modifying the other body, while Engineer has been building the upper floors. It's still desolate and bare, but new construction is right across the street. Those thugs are working again.
Panzer should be done by now, putting the final touches on a few receivers and voice modifiers so it doesn't sound too much like radio. Also removing a few things. Wiping the memory for one, and a few other non-important things for RT. She wipes her brow and steps back. She sighs and sits down, looking at a few pieces of paper in several different languages.
Digifanatic is not doing much... after all, he hasn't had any specific things to work out since the end of the last mission... buuuut he's a bit paranoid of Deloth.
Metal Man (GM): It is, indeed, a lot of work, especially since, IIRC, it's relatively unusual for a reploid to do major repairs instead of some machine or robot. Still, as far as Panzer knows, it is usable and just needs to be activated.
Deloth is sitting on a rock outside, rubbing his temples and still trying to figure out what those images were coming from. "Nothing should have sent those, and I swear there was nothing or nobody else on the ship..."
Digifanatic: *muttering to himself so Deloth can't hear him, as he walks through a hall.* "Stop messing with my sanity..."
Aribar is sitting somewhere inside of the Stadium while reading his spellbooks.
Digifanatic: *muttering.* "I know you're a good guy and everything, but now is not the time..."
Panzer stretches, moving a lot faster. She pulls a few cables and plugs them into the body and runs diagnostics. "Hmm."
Metal Man (GM): The diagnostics come up normal. There is a single anomaly. One peculiar to... Panzer's original body, which even this one doesn't have. Probably unfixable, it's some strange resonance that occurs in a particularly malformed series of circuits Panzer doesn't have a replacement for.
Digifanatic: *walks up to Aribar.* "Oh, good. Someone who has about as much open time as I do."
Metal Man (GM): The Engineer wipes his brow as he walks over near most of the Questers and begins building... a computer.
Engineer: "I figure you guys should know something."
Digifanatic: "Go for it."
Engineer: "We've found on this planet that, as the different continents have formed, people have found an interchangeable communication system."
Aribar glances up at Digi and then the Engineer.*
Dragoshi: *Is also somewhere in the stadium, leaning against the wall, boredly flipping a coin and catching it.*"Hm?"
Panzer sighs and digs around, most of the chest panels still in pieces. She goes to the area, still plugged in. "This doesn't make sense." She looks at them to see if it's just from old age or something.
Engineer: "So I'm building a terminal, and with it you'll be able to see all the requests for... mercenaries and such. You may not like any of them. But. They'll be there for you to look at."
Digifanatic: "Oh, that's nice. We still need a capable warping system, though."
Engineer: "I don't know how you worked on your last job, but... since you're free, mostly, you can either choose a job or go out on one of your own choosing. The major difference is you don't usually get paid for doing your own dirty work. A warp system, I'm afraid, is impossible. Red Text or whoever himself told me he disabled that."
Rinith: "Great."
Engineer: "Closest thing is warp pipes, but I don't know why they don't already go everywhere."
Deloth stands up, stretches, and heads back into the Stadium, glancing around to see where the others are.
Digifanatic: "Yeah. That might be a problem considering we don't know how big the planet is."
Engineer: "Anyway. I'm off to finish the upper area... you'll like it." He walks off.
Metal Man (GM): The computer boots up and, with a very basic appearance (it's more of a mainframe), shows... some simple LED light words. Missions stream in... too many to just look at.
Aribar: "Warping is still possible in some sense... I can warp to other dimensions and to the group."
Metal Man (GM): It appears would-be users have to type in a search key to find more specific way.
Digifanatic: "True, but like he said, something like the pipes."
Deloth: *walking in.* "Hey, guys, sorry I headed out for a while--what is that?"
Metal Man (GM): Panzer would see... It's just old, mostly. A factory defect. It could be by-passed with a few wires.
Digifanatic: "The computer? Oh, a new mission database, I think."
Metal Man (GM): The computer clicks and starts printing out a roll of paper.
Rinith: =/ "So I'm a mercenary now?"
Panzer shrugs. It might still work. She looks around and finds a few more wires and tries to by pass it. "Odd. I was hand made, how this happened... Hmm."
Computer: 'COMPUTER SYSTEM ON STOP MISSIONS AVAILABLE STOP ENTER SEARCH TERM STOP."
Aribar types in "Quester" just for the heck of it, and then "Metal Man" after those results...
Metal Man (GM): The Computer sits there for a moment.
Deloth: "I had no idea that that many people were in need of our services..."
Digifanatic: "Not necessarily our services."
Computer: 'TWO RESULTS FOUND STOP'
Digifanatic: "Think of it as a planet-wide series of classified ads."
Computer: 'RED TEXT - IDENTIFY UNKNOWN METAL MAN HIDING SOMEWHERE STOP'
Deloth: "Mmm."
Computer: 'CARRINGTON INSTITUTE STOP METALLIC SOLDIER PROGRAM STOP MEN NEEDED STOP'
Deloth rubs his eyes tiredly. "I've been running those images through my head for hours and I can't figure out the link between them."
Digifanatic: "Hang on..."
Aribar: "Huh. Nothing about 'killing Questers' or stopping us. I am surprised... What images, Deloth?"
Digifanatic: "Let's see if we can help." *types in 'DEXES'*
COMPUTER: 'MANY RESULTS FOUND STOP'
Deloth: "The ones I picked up in the ship. The tables and the old Smash Dex."
Digifanatic: "Well, hang on."
Computer: 'KANTO STOP FILL POKEDEX STOP SILPH CO STOP FIND STOLEN POKEDEX MODEL STOP GALACTIC FEDERATION STOP DEXTEROUS MEN NEEDED FOR NEW GUN TESTING STOP' COMPUTER: 'CONTINUE?'
Digifanatic: 'NO'
Dragoshi: .oO(New gun testing, huh?)
COMPUTER 'SEARCH STOPPED STOP'
Digifanatic then tries a different command: 'TABLES'
Deloth yawns. "Seems like a bunch of hoo-hah so far..."
Panzer whistles and steps back, happy with her work. RT could do all the other stuff he wanted. She started to replace all the panels and stuff, sitting back down after she was finished. She wiped some oil off her black suit, staying in that to work so she could move faster. She looked around. "Heavy?"
COMPUTER: 'MANY RESULTS FOUND STOP BOWSER STOP BUILD NEW TABLES FOR CASTLE STOP EGGMAN STOP WEAPON CALIBRATION TABLE WORK NEEDED STOP UNKNOWN BUYER STOP LOST TABLE NEEDS FINDING STOP CONTINUE?'
Digifanatic: 'NO'
COMPUTER: 'SEARCH STOPPED STOP'
Metal Man (GM): The Heavy wanders over to Panzer.
Digifanatic: "So nothing immediately connects the Dexes and the tables on a high-relevance basis."
Heavy: "Yes, mechanical woman?"
Panzer: "Think you could do me a favor and help me back into my armor?"
Heavy: "Sure thing." He would go and hold the armor to help Panzer put it on.
COMPUTER: 'NOTE: JOBS SUBJECT TO CHANGE STOP PLEASE TAKE JOB QUICKLY IF YOU WANT IT STOP'
Deloth: "Can I try typing something?"
Digifanatic: "Please."
Panzer suited back up with his help and dusted off. "Thanks." She turned back to her other body and activated it, stepping back a little. She looked at Heavy. "Want me to go in and make you a sandvich?"
Deloth walks over to the computer and types in 'HOSPITAL'
Heavy: "Free sandwich? Sounds good to me." He would follow Panzer.
Aribar peers over Deloth's shoulder.*
COMPUTER: 'NEW CHICAGO HOSPITAL STOP NEW CYBERNETICS TEST STOP GALACTIC FEDERATION MED POST STOP NEW HOSPITAL STAFF NEEDED STOP'
Panzer walks towards the base and into the kitchen if it's finished and starts to make him a rather monstrous sandvich.
Metal Man (GM): Panzer makes it without trouble.
Computer: 'NO OTHER JOBS FOUND STOP'
Deloth: "Huh."
Digifanatic: "I know you were interested in hitting Continia..."
Panzer hands him the big sandvich. "There you go. Thanks."
Metal Man (GM): We say Panzer created a sandwich. Instead of 'Panzer creates radioactive sandwich that is on fire!?'
Dragoshi: "Personally... I'm curious about the stolen Pokedex model. And the gun testing."
Heavy: "Om nom nom nom nom." He takes a while to eat it all. The noises he makes indicate it tastes good.
Panzer walks back outside to the body and calls RT on the way. "It's ready, and activated."
Dragoshi: .oO(...Mostly the gun testing, though.)
Deloth: "So, Digi, looking forward to a hot date with Natalie?"
Digifanatic: "No, I'm looking forward to choosing a mission, ya freak. Where I.
Deloth: "Aw, am I getting under your skin?"
Digifanatic: "Where I'm from, something like that would be called a scandal. Which is something I really don't want to be involved in."
Red Text: 'Okay.'
Deloth: "Well, YOU'RE no fun."
Rinith: =/
Digifanatic: *sighs.* "I am a fun person, just not in that particular category."
Panzer stands next to it. "Good enough? I'm sure you'll keep modifying it. Other than that, my work is done and we're even."
Digifanatic: "You just keep thinking about when you'll reunite with Alexia and have your wedding and all that cool stuff."
Deloth mumbles something to himself.
Dragoshi: *Decides to read the description of the gun testing job while the lovebirds over there are bickering.* :V
Metal Man (GM): It turns on and flexes a claw.
Schatze: "Yes, this will do just fine."
Panzer sits on a stump and nods. She takes her old rifle off her shoulder and hands it to Schatze.
Metal Man (GM): It looks around. It is approximately like a male version of Panzer. Which speaks like a British Gentleman. As if that wasn't strange enough, it wanders over to Deloth.
Schatze: "I see you want a hospital."
Deloth: "Ghhh!"
Schatze: "And this... horrifically outdated machine can't... understand that."
Deloth turns around. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"
Panzer rolls her eyes a little. She scans the horizon briefly with her sniper rifle. She was looking for the Sniper.
Schatze: *Scratches its forehead, making a scratchy noise.* "My bad. I am controlling this with a joystick."
Rinith: =/
Schatze: "If you don't want to find it yourself, then you can simply have me, Red Text, find it. I possess a remote controlled body and an eagle eye view of this part of the planet. Of course, you probably don't trust me and therefore worry it is all going to be according to my plan. Which it will be. But it will also help me. If... the computer is really that difficult to use."
Aribar (belatedly) looks up at the Panzer clone... He raises an eyebrow and goes back to reading his books.*
Deloth: "...Considering how bad I am with computers, I might take you up on that offer."
Rinith: "Can I do a search?"
Metal Man (GM): He's about done with the sandwich. He gives Panzer a thumbs up.
Schatze: "Not my computer. Use all you wish, since... it appears to be usable by you."
Aribar: "Deloth, why do you want to find a hospital?"
Metal Man (GM): He pokes it.
Schatze: "Yes. You can use it."
Panzer nods. "Glad you like it. I didn't know, I can't taste well."
Deloth: "I'm still looking for something, Ari."
Computer: 'WAITING FOR INPUT STOP'
Rinith: "Snowy Owl." =/
Metal Man (GM): Rinith says 'Snowy Owl' at the computer. It's a dumb computer. Rinith will need to type it in.
Rinith does so. -.-
Heavy: "Is good sandvich. Now I go back to sentry duty. See you!" He walks off.
COMPUTER: 'NO ENTRIES FOUND STOP'
Aribar: "What is that something, Deloth?"
Panzer goes to find the others.
Deloth: "It's none of your business."
Digifanatic: *he's still in the room he was in before.*
Metal Man (GM): Panzer would see Deloth, Rinith, Aribar, and Schatze all standing around. With Digi nearby.
Digifanatic: .oO(It's a surprise, huh, Del?)
Panzer looks at the computer and laughs.
Schatze: "That computer is at least one century outdated..."
Rinith: *sighs a bit.* "Well then."
Aribar: "..."
Schatze: "If I used that to run my satellite I'd have to wear astronaut gear all the time."
Aribar types 'Locate head' into the computer.*
Panzer is... rolling on the ground laughing.
Digifanatic: *looks at the comp.* "Locate head?!"
COMPUTER: 'HEAD OF TAPE DRIVE STARTS AT MEMORY LOCATION AE STOP'
Deloth: "Might I ask what you were expecting, Ari?"
Aribar frowns, somehow disappointed. "So, what will we do today? Something, Deloth."
Deloth: "Ah."
Panzer gets up. "Want me to try and download some intelligence into it?"
Schatze: "This computer supposedly finds jobs." The black-and-red male Panzer jerkily makes a jesture with his right thumb over his shoulder. "Or you can just have me try to coordinate something based on my information and what you want to do."
Digifanatic: "Oh, boy, two Questers with secrets... This will be a good day."
Dragoshi: *Types in New Gun Testing into the terminal while the others talk amongst themselves.* :V
Schatze: "That thing? It can hardly take the data on an old floppy disk, let alone real intelligence."
Deloth: "Oh, please, Digi, everyone has secrets."
Computer: 'CARRINGTON INSTITUTE: GUN TESTING, MARKSMEN NEEDED.'
Panzer: "Can it find my tank?"
Deloth: "Probably not, Panz."
Schatze: "It can find jobs with 'tank' in the title."
Panzer: "Psht. Who made this?"
Dragoshi: *Reads the description for that job.*
Computer: 'GALACTIC FEDERATION: NEW RECRUITS WITH GOOD GUN SKILLS NEEDED.'
Digifanatic: "Yeah, but looking for a head seems rather interesting if Ari's being kinda cryptic about it."
Aribar: .oO(For shame, Digi.)
Panzer looks at Ari. "You need to find a bathroom?"
Schatze: "It is like the rest of this building... the man in the hard hat."
Digifanatic: "Unless he means a corporate head."
Aribar: "Nope."
Panzer shrugs. "I'll go talk to him." She wanders off to find Engie.
Metal Man (GM): Panzer encounters the Engineer upstairs.
Digifanatic: "Dragoshi, still need it?"
Engineer: "Hiya. How's that new computer doing?"
Panzer: "Archaic. Did you study that chip I gave you?"
Engineer: "Yeah. Had I not, you'd have to stick in punch cards instead of type."
Dragoshi: "Yeah. I still need it."
Panzer: "Wow. You must not work with computers much. Can you make some better parts, and I'll upgrade it?"
Digifanatic: "Alright, go on."
Dragoshi: *Goes to read the job desc for the Carrington Institute one.*
Engineer: "Find me the parts to a better machine and I will."
Panzer: .oO(Never thought I'd see a distant cousin to the ENIAC.) "I'll talk to Moth about it." *She wanders off. She goes back to the others.* "After he studied the chip I gave him, he upgraded the computer. Other wise you'd be feeding it punch cards..."
Metal Man (GM): The computer has no other way to 'select' it.
Digifanatic: "Oh, wow..."
Schatze: "...I guess that is the limitation of that ally, then. So, we will go find a new computer or some replacement? Unless the Questers are good at thinking like computers..."
Dragoshi: *Yeah. Typin' it in.*
Panzer: "Schatze, both of us are glorified walking computers."
Schatze: "Yes, but it would seem you used a lot of material to build this body."
Panzer: "It shouldn't have functioned when you had it in the first place. I'm no mechanic. I'm a sniper. I did what I could."
Metal Man (GM): The job description spools out on a long roll of paper.
Schatze: "I was wondering why ERROR kept streaming into my computer screen..."
Rinith: *type in bird.* =/
Metal Man (GM): Dragoshi's job spool finishes. It says...
Panzer: "Where does this thing, this computer get it's information?"
Metal Man (GM): 'Join Carrington institute and test weapons against an exciting new enemy. Cash! Weapons! It's all yours, if you survive!' There's a large radio antenna on the computer which finds job information.
Deloth: *looking at the spool.* "Always a catch."
Schatze: "It seems to be listening to broadcasts..."
Digifanatic: "Hmm..."
Panzer: "Maybe I can one-up it."
COMPUTER: 'SEVERAL JOBS FOUND STOP MAVERICK HUNTERS: STOP JET FIREBIRD STOP KANTO STOP STUDY BIRD POKEMON STOP MOBIUS STOP STOP ROGUE BIRD MOBIANS STOP'
Panzer once again pulls wires from herself and finds places on the computer to plug into, adapting as needed. She tries to more or less override the computer to take over it's function, receiving the jobs and then transferring information about it based on what she sees to the screen of the computer.
Deloth: "...Uh, Panz, are you sure that's a good idea?"
Metal Man (GM): It's easy. A simple radio transmitter. In fact, Panzer can use her own to do the work. Somewhere, somehow, there's a broadcast across the planet where one can basically send in a query to find mercenary jobs.
Panzer: "Requests?"
Metal Man (GM): Of course, since Panzer is... smarter than a dumb machine she can probably just look through the results yourself and parse for... whatever it is the Questers want.
Schatze: "I figured it was simple, looking at it. It had to be, otherwise that dumb terminal wouldn't be there to begin with..."
Digifanatic: "Okay. Dragoshi, done yet?"
Dragoshi: "Yeah, I'm done."
Schatze: *Prods Deloth.* "Didn't you want a hospital... thing?"
Panzer: "Stop typing. It sends a bunch of useless information to me that bugs me. Just tell me in an intelligent manner exactly what you want."
Dragoshi: *Casually steps back.*
Aribar says nothing and continues reading.
Digifanatic: "Alright." *to Panzer.* "Search for 'Sonic the Hedgehog'."
Deloth: "Hmm? Oh. Yeah."
Panzer searches. "Anything more specific? I'm not like Google you know."
Digifanatic: "I'm curious as to what he and/or his friends have been up to lately."
Panzer refines the searches and relays the information he wants to the screen to be read if it exists.
Digifanatic: "No, I think 'Sonic the Hedgehog' is specific enough."
Metal Man (GM): The screen can be adjusted to make an incredibly primitive green monochrome.
Panzer sighs and prints out the information instead.
Metal Man (GM): Panzer prints it out. It has a list... Eggman wants Sonic destroyed or distracted. Sonic himself has a job request dealing with... Angel Island? Weirder is that Professor Oak wants to see Sonic so as to get his attributes and to determine if he is a pokemon. Carrington Institute wants to study his speed.
Digifanatic: "Wow, a lot of people have put eyes on Sonic lately."
Schatze: "So... just going to search all day, or do you Questers actually go on missions?"
Panzer: "Everything these morons are putting out is basic."
Schatze: "It's weird, because a while ago they were doing everything on their own."
Deloth: "Wait a minute. What does he want with Angel Island?"
Schatze: "Maybe you should decide for them, before they fall into comas..."
Digifanatic: *to Schatze.* "Usually, we've had direct contact from the other parties, and we've had limited ranges of options."
Panzer refines her search again to the Angel Island thing and tries to get more information.
Digifanatic: "Here, suddenly the floodgates open and we have a lot of different paths to take..."
Panzer: "Want me to call them?"
Schatze: "So... given a large number of options... you lose all ability to decide? That silly Engineer."
Metal Man (GM): Refined: Sonic has some... problem... with an 'ancient Echidna conspiracy' He and his friends are currently, apparently, fighting some epic battle against the Echidnas to save the world.
Aribar: "As a team, the Questers must decide what they want to do to help this world."
Metal Man (GM): It has been going on for quite a while, the job is posted a while ago as well.
Digifanatic: *reads that.* "A conspiracy, well... Do you think it's necessary we interfere with this?"
Metal Man (GM): It has been updated to say the battle is ongoing and no hope of more than a stalemate is current status.
Aribar: "Most of these missions appear to be just small-time things. Choose whatever you want wisely."
Panzer: "He might have to handle this on his own. Try to pick something more relevant that might help us at the same time. Something we can all do."
Digifanatic: "Do they even know other continents besides Mobius and its related islands exist? Is Sonic aware of the fact other organizations know who he is?"
Panzer searches for something more specific oriented at a group of people.
Metal Man (GM): The information tap hits bottom, only hinting that it is 'world domination' involving 'ancient relics' and... apparently localized to Angel Island in its entirety. Since news reports and other things Panzer finds here don't mention it except for "Explosions seen on Angel Island."
Schatze: "If you can't decide, I could choose for you. We have similar goals, right?"
Digifanatic: .oO(Yeah, I do kinda wish we could get a better computer for this...)
Schatze: "Number one... find a new computer. Panzer works fine, but... Or if you want money... Eggman wants his statues back... the rest of them."
Aribar: "Personally, since this mess with Angel Island seems to be a potentially world-wide problem, and there are powerful magical spells there, I say we take this mission."
Schatze: "Or that."
Metal Man (GM): He shrugs, just becoming impatient with having control of a body many times stronger and heavier than his own, but having nothing to do.
Panzer: "Something for the good of us all people. Think. Not something for the good of one or two. Otherwise I would have left for the things related to marksmen."
Schatze: "I have myself a mission." He chuckles. "I will be selfish and say it here... I need focusing components to better discern the nature of that... oddity you encountered previously."
Digifanatic: "You mean the staticy guy?"
Schatze: "It's not a test though. The tests are over. You passed them all, much to my confusion. Yes."
Digifanatic: "I wasn't expecting it to be another test."
Panzer: "Wait. Weren't we going to go to the moon?"
Schatze: "Now... to get this part, you need... another mission... yes. You need to be able to go to the moon."
Rinith: "Panzer, search moon can you?"
Schatze: "I suggest you... get parts for that, rather than begging off Eggman. ...Or asking that machine, since it seems to only cause you to stop thinking."
Panzer: "Talking to me?"
Schatze: "Woe be the Engineer who thought access to more options would give him more time to improve the spaces you occupy talking..."
Panzer: "I'll shut you up. I swear."
Deloth: "It's option paralysis."
Aribar: "... I forgot all about the moon."
Digifanatic: "Hopefully, all this searching will be a short-term obsession."
Panzer: "I have an excuse." *She searches things on the moon.*
Deloth: "A well-known quirk. When given unlimited options, people tend to choose none."
Metal Man (GM): The Moon.
Digifanatic: "Yeah, we do... so we should stop searching for ideas and just pick something."
Metal Man (GM): It brings up 'Carrington Institute: Contact aliens on moon'
Aribar: "Details on that, please."
Panzer pulls up details.
Digifanatic: "Oh, Carrington. We could do that and check out their gun offer."
Metal Man (GM): 'We at the Carrington institute are researching ways to travel into space. If you have something which can fly into space, we will pay you to contact the aliens we have established radio contact with.'
Digifanatic: "Well, we have something that we have flown into space. Maybe not the moon, but space in general."
Metal Man (GM): There is a separate heading.
Dragoshi: *Reads the heading...*
Metal Man (GM): 'Galactic Federation: Develop space-worthy craft using native materials.'
Aribar: "Details on that."
Metal Man (GM): 'This planet is interesting but we require a design which is made of native materials before we can visit en masse, as we will need to build multiple ships.'
Panzer pulls up details as asked.
Metal Man (GM): 'If you have a mostly complete ship we can retrofit it to work. Assuming the design works, your payment is the free retrofit. Note that the Egg Carrier has already been tried and is too bulky. Please bring a manageable ship size.'
Aribar: "Okay, so we have a ship that can get into space, correct?"
Digifanatic: "Huh... what about the smaller ship we've been using? It may be possible. Can we contact them about it beforehand?"
Dragoshi: "That it would."
Aribar: "I suggest we contact the Galatic Federation and show them our ship. We get it up to space-faring specs, then we take on the Carrington Institute's mission while fulfilling Red Text's request."
Rinith: "More space...?"
Digifanatic: "Sounds about right." *that was to Ari.*
Panzer: "Want me to send a reply?"
Aribar: "Are there any opposed to this plan?"
Digifanatic: "I'm not."
Deloth: "Neither am I."
Schatze: "I'm not a Quester, but I approve of the plan."
Aribar: "Yes, Panzer."
Panzer sends a positive reply and queries about a few particulars, such as unspecified conditions and stuff.
Metal Man (GM): More data appears. 'Ship mission: Please note, as owners of the ship, you will be aiding us... prepare for a bumpy ride as we used all our high class materials on the Egg Carrier. Will require some calibration to get into space safely.' 'Alien mission: Mostly, you are to fly to the moon and contact them on our behalf. Report to our HQ for the specific materials we wish to give them.'
Digifanatic: "Okay, so Galactic Federation..."

Digifanatic: "Yeah, let's hit the Galactic Federation."
Dragoshi: *Nods.*
Deloth: "Okay."
Digifanatic: *starts heading for the typical ship, piloting again.*
Panzer unplugs herself and wanders off.
Schatze: *Follows onto the ship.*
Metal Man (GM): The Questers are all on the ship. Taking off now?
Deloth heads out to the ship and sits down, thinking again. "Argh... those images are driving me crazy."
Aribar: *Follow.*
Rinith: "Hmm?"
Digifanatic: "Listen, Deloth... just let them go until you find something else. We probably don't have enough clues yet. We're putting together too much out of too little."
Deloth: "Yeah, but who sent them? That's the part that bugs me."
Panzer calls Morph Moth en-route to the job. "You alive?"
Metal Man (GM): Panzer searches the various frequencies.
Digifanatic: "Ah yes."
X: *Radio.* "Morph Moth is a known Maverick. I blew him up and somebody put him back together. He's probably in the junkyard, hiding."
Panzer: "You're nosy, X. What's his frequency. I need to talk to him."
Metal Man (GM): The ship flies towards the outpost...
X: *Radio.* "If only I knew, then I would have blown him up." *Radio.* "He hides from radio frequencies after the great Maverick losses before recent."
Panzer: "Fuck you." She terminates the link and sighs. "RT, can you scan for him?"
Schatze: "I see the junkyard, but that's the problem. He'd blend in with all those other frequencies in there."
Metal Man (GM): The ship reaches the island outpost.
Digifanatic: *Lands the ship.*
Panzer: "Any way I can reach a secure frequency that he might answer?"
Schatze: "I'm afraid not... limits of technology are nasty here."
Panzer: "I really don't want to use the old call signs..." *She grumbles.* "I'll deal with it later."
Metal Man (GM): There's a bunch of men in silver suits... Metal Men? No... Just GF guards. They stand around.
Digifanatic: *walks out.* "Hello, Federation."
Deloth hops out of the ship. "Hiya."
Panzer walks out after Digi, slinging her rifle.
Dragoshi: *Walks out as well.*
Guard: "Ah, you must be the people who responded. That ship looks about right."
Digifanatic: "Yes, we would. Is there a hangar we can leave it in?"
Panzer gets up close to one of them, the one on the right in fact, narrowing her eyes at him.
Guard: "Hangar... out here?"
Metal Man (GM): Panzer sees it's a human in a metal suit.
Guard: "No, we'll go with this. Here, we'll get the mechanic."
Metal Man (GM): He presses a button and radios for the mechanic.
Digifanatic: "Ah, so be it."
Metal Man (GM): Another similar-looking but slightly older soldier walks out.
Panzer huffs. "Humans." She steps back.
Mechanic: "I see the ship. This is what you want to go into space?"
Digifanatic: "Yeah."
Rinith: ...
Mechanic: "Very well. I will... need your attention. Who is the pilot?"
Digifanatic: "Well, that role is usually split between myself and someone who is currently absent with us. I take it this is a liability form or something that has to be signed?"
Panzer looks around at the other security of the base/locale.
Metal Man (GM): It has a bunch of men with weird laser guns... And an autogun or two.
Mechanic: "Well then. You'll have to go into manual pilot to reach space... ...And it can only hold one space charge per trip. You'll need to recharge after returning."
Panzer lifts her brows and rubs her hands together and starts walking to the door.
Mechanic: "It'll also require repairs from re-entry."
Digifanatic: "Ohhh."
Metal Man (GM): The base itself is just a small ship converted to serve as one. Some men mill around aimlessly.
Rinith: "This... does not sound fun at all."
Digifanatic: "Well, manual pilot is something we can deal with."
Mechanic: "Is that fine? We can attach it all and begin tests."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, that's fine. It's just that it's our only ship like this we've got... So I'm only concerned about how often we'd need to use it in outer space, make those repairs, and how long they'd take."
Panzer looks around. "Pathetic."
Digifanatic: "But for now, let's get it prepped."
Mechanic: "Okay." He flips a hand and they start attaching things.
Metal Man (GM): It's only a matter of moments before they're attached to the ship... and the ship is ready.
Mechanic: "Let us do a test flight. Gather your crew."
Deloth: "Gathered." *gets into the ship.*
Digifanatic: "Sure." *makes sure the others are ready before heading back on.*
Aribar: *Gathered.*
Panzer walks back. "Do you have space suits on board?"
Digifanatic: *of course, taking the pilot seat again.*
Aribar: "... Does magic work through space suits?"
Rinith: *Gets on.*
Panzer sighs and gets on board. "Guess no space suit. Hope it works. Otherwise you guys are fucked. Well. The ones that breathe and are warm-blooded... All of you basically. The only thing that does well in little gravity and below freezing is machines."
Deloth: "Thank you for the encouragement."
Aribar: "... At least for a bit, I could help keep the craft warm and air-filled."
Mechanic: "Space suits, I'm afraid we don't have any spares... this ship has sufficient pressurization with its built-in equipment and our added systems."
Metal Man (GM): He walks to the control panel.
Digifanatic: "That's good."
Dragoshi: *Enters ze ship!*
Mechanic: "Let us begin... first, start the ship and get it into the air like you would normally."
Panzer: "Does it have G-stabilizers for the morons who don't buckle in?"
Dragoshi: *Buckles in, of course.* :V
Rinith doesn't. =/
Deloth: *buckles up for safety.*
Digifanatic: *Yes, he buckles in and then takes the ship off in a safe direction.*
Panzer walks off and secures herself in the cargo bay.
Rinith: *Gets buckled then -.-*
Mechanic: "To an extent."
Metal Man (GM): The ship is in the air. He then points to a new handle.
Mechanic: "Pull the handle, then twist it. That will start the calculations to reach outer space."
Digifanatic: *twists the handle.* *Pulls and twists.* >_<
Metal Man (GM): The ship calculates a course.
Mechanic: "Now, the fun part. You must hold the ship steady manually to make it to space... the computer system is not calibrated to steady THIS ship, and we do not have the precise data. When you are ready, turn off the auto-thrust and take the stick."
Digifanatic: "Yes, sir." *takes a breath and follows his instructions.*
Deloth: "Don't screw it up, Digi."
Digifanatic: "I will try not to."
Metal Man (GM): The ship suddenly goes faster than the Questers have ever felt it go before. The ship flies uneventfully straight for a while. The system cuts off short of space, but it is a success.
Deloth: "Wow. That is a powerful piece of machinery."
Mechanic: "Good... you know all you need to know... and it worked." He flicks off a switch. "Next time you do this, you will reach space. Let us go back to base and record our findings. Then you may be on your way."
Digifanatic: "Sure." *turns it around and brings it back to the base.*
Deloth: "Huh. That was fast."
Digifanatic: "I don't think they want to do too much the first time around."
Dragoshi: "Yeah."
Metal Man (GM): The ship lands. The Mechanic walks out and takes some scans of the entire ship with his visor.
Rinith: "..." -.-
Panzer eyes the mechanic. "Maverick!"
Deloth hops out of the ship. "Panzer, what the heck is wrong with you?"
Panzer: "He's a Maverick!"
Deloth: "...what? No. He's a mechanic."
Panzer growls. "No. The Mechanic is a Maverick."
Deloth: "Why in the world would you think that?!"
Mechanic: "What's a Maverick? I assure you, I am a Mechanic."
Panzer: "Because he's suspicious."
Deloth: "... ...That is so insanely stupid that it doesn't even deserve a rebuttal."
Panzer rolls her eyes. "Nevermind. I figured them being the GF they'd do something more exciting instead of standing there, scratching their asses."
Digifanatic: "...Wow."
Deloth: "...Panz, he can hear you. He's right there."
Digifanatic: "I'll admit, Panzer, that's a bit of a lame excuse."
Mechanic: "It's okay. Samus pokes us all the time. We've learned to tune that behavior out."
Metal Man (GM): He walks away. No ego, no... care.
Panzer: "See? They're pathetic. I could shoot him right now and they wouldn't do anything." *She grins.* "That's a grand idea."
Digifanatic: "But don't."
Deloth: "..."
Digifanatic stands in front of Panzer.
Panzer: "You're not my boss."
Rinith: -.-
Deloth: *gets back in.* "Let's just go before Panzer starts firing. PUNCH IT!"
Digifanatic: *heads it back to base.* "Thank you, Feds!"
Metal Man (GM): The ship begins flying.
Digifanatic: "You all want to head back to the Stadium for now? Actually, do you think we can go to the Carrington HQ? Just to hear about the alien bits?"
Dragoshi: "Don't see why not."
Deloth: "I vote for Carrington. Saves mileage."
Digifanatic: "Alright. If nobody objects, I'll just head there."
Schatze: "Sounds fine to me." Of course, he doesn't really do much deciding.
Panzer is stuck in the cargo nets.
Digifanatic: *takes the ship to the Carrington HQ.*
Panzer: "Schatzeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Halp." ;-;
Rinith: O.o
Deloth: "...Eh, just leave her."
Metal Man (GM): Cargo nets???
Digifanatic: *Eh, we'll just put the ship in the Stadium. Tends to be the typical plan of action.*
Panzer: "I seriously hate you guys. I'm tangled here!"
Digifanatic: *After landing, he helps try to undo the nets.* "Panzer, the seats aren't comfy enough for you?"
Panzer: "I'll break them if I sit in them." *She is freed.* "Thanks."
Digifanatic: "Oh... I guess I'll say I'm surprised that the cargo nets wind up working better for you than the seats."
Panzer: "I tripped."
Digifanatic: "Oh..." *He gets out of the ship and see what the Engineer's put in on the upper floors, if there's anything cool there to check out.*
Panzer is drunk :3
Deloth gets out. "So when do you think our new home'll be ready?"
Digifanatic: "Anytime now, I'd say."
Deloth: "...I hope it's soon."
Digifanatic: "Well, I think 'anytime now' does qualify as soon."
Deloth: "Eh. I'll just be happy to have a place where we can settle down for a bit."
Digifanatic: "...Okay, Del. Here's my view about Natalie. First of all, any good, competent Quester that doesn't blatantly betray the group qualifies as a friend of mine, regardless of gender. But my goodness, she's like 15 or something and I'll be hitting 30 within a few years. Doesn't it seem a bit awkward?"
Deloth: "Digi. Remember that you are talking to someone who got hit on by a dragon who had the mentality of a 13-year-old at that time."
Digifanatic: "I dunno, maybe your planet views things like that in a different fashion. I don't mind girlfriends or whatnot, just not that young, that's all."
Deloth: "Worked for me just fine. Y'know, just saying."
Digifanatic: "So it is, I suppose. Stadium is gonna look nice."
Deloth: "Yep. Should bring in a bit of revenue, too. That'll be an interesting experience, actually having money in our pockets."
Digifanatic: "That would be nice." *smiles and walks away.* .oO(Joke around with me all you wish, but right now, I'm just looking at the missions.)
Deloth: "Oh, I will." *heads into the Stadium.*
Digifanatic: *flashes a thumbs up, saying to himself.* "He's just messing with your mind, he's just messing with your mind..."
Metal Man (GM): The group is near the now retrofitted, space-worthy ship. Even the bizarre black-and-red copy of Panzer is here; a male reploid that otherwise looks much like her, who is pacing about mindlessly.
Garrick: "...ship looks good."
Kenku walks over to where most of the others are at the moment, his fur somewhat messy. "Morning..." he looks around and blinks "I think I slept a lot longer than I thought I woulda..."
Digifanatic: "Oh yeah..."
Metal Man (GM): Yup, it has some brand new, shiny Galactic Federation upgrades.
Dragoshi: "That it does."
Digifanatic: "Meh, don't worry Kenku, you haven't missed anything drastic yet."
Garrick: "...what can it all do, then?"
Digifanatic: "Well, it'll help us go into space if and when necessary, which may be as soon as our next job or two."
Kenku: "Hmm... cool."
Digifanatic: "So we won't have to worry about borrowing the Egg Carrier."
Garrick: "Alright then. Well, what do we have on tap?"
Digifanatic: "We've found two good ideas courtesy of Carrington."
Aribar mutters a brief greeting to Kenku and the others, but mostly keeps his head buried in a spellbook that he hasn't been able to crack for probably a month now.*
Garrick: "Let's hear them, then."
Digifanatic: "One possibility, help them test some weapons and such. Second, go up to a base on this planet's moon and try to communicate with those from other planets. Both are very intriguing options."
Aribar: "Red Text wants us to do something up on the moon, which I forget the details about, and that odd figure that appeared at the base the other day also told us to meet him on the moon."
Digifanatic: "Yeah..."
Schatze: *Walks over.* "Yes. I need you to fetch some materials from the moon."
Panzer is playing with a few little models she found in the ship.
Kenku: "Hmmm... I would say the second. Extraterrestrial communication may be boring, but its definitely interesting... and I dunno about weapons testing..."
Schatze: "With them, I can get a better fix on the... phantom disturbance."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, it'd be nice for us to get some hold on some artillery, but communication sounds like a better long-term approach. I'm not sure if BLU would be interested in the stuff Carrington is wanting to try out, in terms of guarding the Stadium."
Garrick: "Could we do the weapons testing ON the moon? No real better place for it, barren wasteland with nothing around it. Neither really sounds too difficult."
Digifanatic: "That may be a completely different environment."
Garrick: "Eh, true."
Digifanatic: "Different gravity and such."
Schatze: "Well... you'd have to ask the Carrington Institute people."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, they might not condone it anyway."
Schatze: "Which, if I remember correctly, we are going to once we are ready..." *Boards the ship.*
Dragoshi: *Gets on ze ship.*
Digifanatic: "So yeah, seems to be Carrington no matter which way you look at it. What do you think, Garrick? I vote comms."
Kenku: "Well... if we are the ones doing the testing... I might be more for it... Who's Carrington by the way?"
Digifanatic: "Name of an organization."
Garrick: "Well, let's go to the Carrington Institute. See how many people they need for the testing. We can probably split things up, if it's not too difficult."
Kenku: "Sounds like an idea."
Garrick: "If we really can't, we'll get a full vote."
Digifanatic: "Ah."
Garrick heads onto the ship, then... sitting down in the pilot's seat... he frowns. He checks if the controls are different.
Digifanatic: *heads for the ship, allowing Garrick piloting duties this time around since he's back in the party.*
Metal Man (GM): Dang it, I was going to have Garrick sit on Digi and it was going to be funny. Curse you, teamwork!
Digifanatic: *to Kenku.*"Not sure if there's a guy named Carrington currently running the business or if that's a generations-ago founder that has since died. I think the latter."
Metal Man (GM): There's only one different control. A handle which says 'pull for Space Thrust' That's it.
Garrick: "..."
Metal Man (GM): It's an addition, everything works as normal.
Garrick: "...well... at least it's easy to understand."
Kenku says "I see" as he boards the ship.
Garrick starts that sucker up and heads for the Carrington Institute.
Metal Man (GM): There's an extra sticky next to the control stick pointing out that the pilot can pull the ship out of computer-assisted flight with it. Er, with a switch near it. The ship flies on over, without any problem.
Garrick makes to set down on a landing pad.
Metal Man (GM): Of course, before the ship lands, a radio signal is detected.
???: "Identify yourself, unknown craft. Permission has not been granted for landing yet."
Garrick flips on the radio. *R* "Ah, uh, sorry about that. Been a while since we found a place with actual flight clearance. This is the Quester Ship... uhh..." *holds his hand over the mic.* "What did we name this rig, anyway?"
Panzer: "Breaker 1-9." *goes back to her models.*
Dragoshi: "We haven't named it." >_>
Garrick glances at Panzer... shrugging.
???: "Mercenaries, land in bay 5." A spot about the right size on the landing area lights up. "Permission granted."
Garrick: *R* "Oh. Thank you, flight tower." *He kills the radio then, bringing her into bay five and landing easily. He unstraps, making to get out of the ship and walk on down, glancing around as he does.*
Metal Man (GM): There's some amazing 21st century sliding doors for the base's entrance. A semi-fat man in a tuxedo is awaiting the Questers.
Panzer peeks out of the ship window, watching Garrick.
Schatze: "Hm." *He walks out.* "So many things to look at."
Digifanatic: *walks out.*
Garrick steps up to the man in question, nodding smartly to him.
Kenku follows slowly behind Garrick.
Garrick: "Hello, sir. I'm Garrick Fy'arr, leader of the Questers, and... those are the Questers, walking up... we were told you had some work for us."
Carrington: "Yes, as you'll remember, I am Carrington, of this institute. I... see you have a space-capable craft. I will want you to deliver this peace package to the... aliens who live there. We have been talking for long and they have agreed to send us one in return."
Garrick: "...sir?"
Carrington: "I'm sorry I can't pay more but you will get a 200 coin lump sum to divide amongst your people if you succeed. I believe they may reward you as well, considering the difficulties. Yes?"
Garrick: "Sir, we were told there was another job involving some weapons testing. With your permission, I'd like to split the people up and do both the jobs for you."
Panzer finally wanders out.
Garrick: "Unless you believe that more people is better for each individual job, we'd be willing to do both at once or one at a time, whatever is best for you."
Aribar simply stands near Garrick and listens in on the conversation.
Carrington: "...Hmmm." He shakes his head. "One job at a time, I insist. The other job is... in a different place... and we wouldn't want the aliens to be confused. Even if you split up, I want to see how you perform on this mission first."
Digifanatic: "Understood."
Garrick: "Of course, sir. The package, then?"
Aribar then remembers how the Carrington Institute dealt with some mystic artifacts and magic. The half-elf hrms, thinking of something.
Metal Man (GM): He hands a high-tech box to the Questers.
Carrington: "Don't worry, only they can open it, so the danger of temptation is nonexistent."
Digifanatic: "Heh, alright."
Metal Man (GM): The others would see that, from the outside, the institute is fairly boring.
Garrick takes the package, handing it off to Digi. "Is there anything else we should know about this race? Formalities, taboos... something we might do ignorantly to upset them?"
Digifanatic: "Ah, thanks." .oO(Good call on that one.)
Carrington: "No... they are much like you or I. It is... quite strange in the similarities."
Garrick frowns, an idea coming to mind. "Does this... race... have a name?"
Carrington: "Race X... I think it's just a placeholder, myself."
Garrick: "...I see... well, we'll finish this job as quickly and cleanly as possible. We'll return afterward to take on the job with the weapons testing."
Carrington: "Good luck, then."
Metal Man (GM): He waves, then walks back inside.
Aribar: "Sir, I have a question."
Metal Man (GM): He stops.
Carrington: "What is it?"
Aribar: "It is unrelated to this mission, but I wish to use this chance to ask; I believe in our past encounters I have seen your institute research mystic or magical artifacts and spells. When we return, could I browse your library of spellbooks, if you have one, and with your permission borrow them?"
Panzer looks at Ari. "Is that all you're ever interested in?"
Carrington: "What few we have, yes. Now I must be going." He walks inside and vanishes.
Digifanatic: *muttering to Panz.* "It probably is for him..."
Garrick: "...we'll take care of it afterward, Ari. Alright, let's get moving." *He heads back to the ship.*
Digifanatic: *heads backs into the ship with the package.*
Kenku returns to the ship.
Aribar: "I am interested in expanding my knowledge and mastery of magic in this world. Considering my whole life has been spent fighting as a Quester, and I use magic to fight... Yes, it is all I am interested in."
Schatze: *Hops onto the ship.*
Panzer rolls her eyes and walks back to the ship to play with her models.
Aribar thinks about this little revelation for a moment before heading to the ship with the others.*
Garrick takes off, launching into some open area, above the sea if possible... "Alright... so... I give this a yank..."
Garrick reaches for said switch.
Digifanatic: "Yeah, lessee."
Metal Man (GM): Garrick puts his hand on it... it's just one pull away.
Garrick turns the ship upward, plotting a decent point for atmosphere exit, and pulls that sucker.
Digifanatic: "Anyways, it's really nice everybody's strapped in... it helps protect your sanity."
Metal Man (GM): The ship begins to speed up... It isn't moving far enough up though.
Digifanatic: "But yeah, just give the handle a twist, shut off the autopilot..."
Metal Man (GM): The computer guidance system reports it being unable to compensate for the thrust.
Garrick: "...oh."
Garrick powers down the autopilot, then, and gives the handle a twist.
Metal Man (GM): The handle is already activated and cannot be de-activated. The alert goes off... however, now the ship is off course. Garrick must pilot the ship to outer space... Garrick, having not been shown how to do it, and doing it for the first time, and unlike Digi having it set to 'normal' mode since it was assumed Digi would do it... Fails to leave the atmosphere and the thrust runs out. The ship is now falling dangerously towards the ocean. The autopilot is off.
Garrick: "...okay, what the hell?!"
Metal Man (GM): *SMASH* The ship lands in the ocean and... begins to slowly sink.
Kenku: "Crap!"
Digifanatic: "Hang on... may I try to break the surface with this?"
Aribar: "... Please get the ship back up and running." *The mage says this slightly less than calmly; wimpy one-armed elves aren't the best at swimming.*
Garrick tries to get the ship OUT of the damned ocean, starting up the engines again and launching out of the water.
Panzer looks up and sighs. "Don't you know how to fly?"
Metal Man (GM): The ship is now out of the water, but the charge for the out-of-atmosphere thruster has been depleted. Will need to return to base to recharge it.
Garrick flies it back to the base then to recharge the thrusters..
Kenku: "Well... that was an interesting start... Uhhh... Garrick I know you like to pilot this stuff... but maybe you should think about letting someone a little bit more tech saavy..." Kenku says, knowing what may be next.
Garrick lands at the base, turning to address this mechanic. "Fuel the damned thing."
Metal Man (GM): Anyway, the ship is recharged. It can be taken to launch again. There is also a small warning. "Frequent recharging (more than 3 in one day) may cause damage." The Engineer is far away, staring at the computer he made last mission. It continues to beep primitively and spool out data in paper spools.
Garrick: "Fine. Fine. Digi, fly the ship."
Panzer gets out some paper and her pen and starts writing things out.
Garrick gets out of the seat, moving into another seat off to the side, sitting down and staring out a window, growling.
Digifanatic: "Alright..." *keeps calm and takes the pilot seat, handing Garrick the package.*
Metal Man (GM): The ship may now take off... of course, autopilot has been reactivated so it can off the ground without any fuss.
Digifanatic: .oO(Okay... okay...) *takes it off...*
Metal Man (GM): You're now in approx. the same position as Garrick was before. The handle is ready, although a bit warm. The autopilot switch is still on.
Digifanatic shuts off the autopilot, pulls the handle and gives it its twist.
Metal Man (GM): The ship is now making another controlled burn. Digi flies into outer space like it's nothing. Oh dice, you are such cruel things. The group is in outer space. The major problem now is it'll take a little bit to REACH the moon. Since... even with the advancement seen here, it is still slow going.
Panzer looks out the windows to see if she can see the remnants of the Final Weapon.
Metal Man (GM): There are a lot of pieces of debris out here. Not specifically those; it looks like some Death Eggs blew up.
Schatze: "Hm. It is a lot easier to move without the atmosphere mussing up my transmissions."
Aribar: "Did the Galactic Federation mention how long it would take to reach the moon?"
Digifanatic: "No..."
Schatze: "Well, it's a fairly simple calculation. At the rate you're going... and you're going very fast, since your ship possesses relatively decent spaceworthy main thrusters... about 30 minutes."
Deloth: "...It just struck me that we're all awfully calm about a trip to the moon."
Kenku: "Ok." Kenku says and lays back a little in his seat. "Well... we are also not getting shot at Digi."
Digifanatic: "Well, it's a business trip."
Aribar: "Why waste our panic and stress now when we could use it later when we're attacked?"
Deloth: "Well, good point, Ari."
Aribar: *Continues reading his Activate and Panel books.*
Deloth: "So. What do you think we'll find up there?"
Schatze: "I figured you would be up here for a while before you hit the moon. So if you are curious, I will tell you what further I know of this... world... and what is going on with the phantom disturbance."
Kenku decides to burn through the flight time by grabbing a pair of head phones and listening to a few rock tunes for the library.
Panzer gets up with her paperwork and goes to the cargo bay to inspect the space suits, if there are any.
Digifanatic: *Says nothing... he's got nothing to speak about.*
Aribar: "That sounds like a good idea, Red Text."
Metal Man (GM): No space suits. Blah!
Panzer walks back to the others. "Schatze, will there be a base, or something else with atmosphere for them when they land?"
Schatze: "Yes, there is a base. That's what the aliens are all about. They are... remarkably similar. I have seen them much closer from space than Carrington. ..." He looks over the panel as the ship is about half-way to the moon.
Panzer: "Works for me. I'll splay in space by myself. It's been a while."
Schatze: "This planet, this world is a patchwork of places. I do not know what they have in common, but it seems the reports keep coming back that something catastrophic occurred to bring them here. As well as me. The basic end of the Maverick wars. A strange man, destroying an entire world. Your world, destroyed by... something. The phantom image may be connected to all of these. It... is remarkably similar to the signal I detect when more of you Questers appear in this world. And the same waveform I modified to 'correct' instabilities. The moon possesses some secrets of its own. The object I seek is inside the moon, beneath the base."
Panzer: "The Maverick wars might be over, as my generation knew them but that doesn't mean there won't be anymore wars. You know this. There's new enemies. I get broken reports of some sort of new breed all the time. Never can make sense of them though."
Schatze: "Should you choose to go there... retrieve for me this." He sketches... a strange mirror with a bunch of machines hooked up to it.
Deloth: "...What the heck is that?"
Schatze: "Beneath the aliens there was another, unknown group which were catastrophically warped not on top of but INTO the moon itself. I do not know who or what they were, but their powerful machines lay dormant beneath the surface. This one in particular will give me the clarity to see our phantom disturbance."
Digifanatic: "Well, we'll have to ask them if we can help you dig that up."
Schatze: "Of course... it is... dangerous down there... for I have registered multiple active defenses."
Digifanatic: "Ohhh..."
Schatze: "So... just keep that in mind."
Deloth: "Will do. When do we land?"
Digifanatic: "Within the next 10-15, I think."
Schatze: "In 10 minutes."
Metal Man (GM): The moon is visible now... it is quite large.
Panzer: "How advanced are these defenses, and the machinery?"
Metal Man (GM): There is a large metal complex with an even larger glass dome around it.
Digifanatic: "Yeah, that'd be our site."
Schatze: "They are a part of some pre-existing super-civilization. They are as advanced as anything you or I use."
Panzer: "Awesome."
Metal Man (GM): The radio crackles. An incoming signal.
Digifanatic: "Oh, hang on."
???: "Unknown spacecraft. Identify... identify..."
Digifanatic: "Questers. Sent by Carrington Institute. We have your package."
Dragoshi: *Just lets Digi do the talking.*
X: "We are the X. We are clearing the way for you to enter. Please enter through the top of the dome."
Deloth: "The... X?"
Metal Man (GM): There is an immense hatch open at the top of the dome... some sort of inter-space chamber so it can open without releasing all the oxygen.
Aribar: .oO(Huh. I thought that was just a codename Carrington had for them.)
Deloth blinks. "Yeah, I know, Ari. Weird..."
Digifanatic: "Just take their word..." *steers it for the open hatch.*
Metal Man (GM): The ship slowly reaches it. Upon reaching it, it becomes evident is large enough to accommodate a much larger ship. Once the ship gets close enough... the ship is moved by something other than the controls... some kind of tractor beam.
Digifanatic: *assumes he can leave the ship in autopilot once the tractor picks it up.*
Deloth: "So what ARE the X, anyways?"
Panzer: "They're the variable."
Metal Man (GM): The ship is slowly pulled in, with air filling the atmosphere as the lid shuts. Within a few moments the ship is lowered onto a landing pad... inside the oxygenated atmosphere. It is possible to exit... the dome is weird, especially with the barren moon landscape underneath it.
Deloth steps out, looking around.
Dragoshi: *Exits the ship and looks around as well. whee.*
Digifanatic: *Gets out with the package.*
Kenku walks out of the ship, looking around at the environment around him.
Aribar leaves his spellbooks on the ship and follows the others outside.*
Panzer hops out. Looks for an airlock to outside.
Metal Man (GM): Well, it looks like gray dust and craters. There is a simple metal walkway which leads straight to a large metal building. There is seemingly no airlock to the outside on the dome itself.
Digifanatic: *takes the walkway.*
Kenku walks down the walkway behind Digi.
Dragoshi: *Walks on down the walkway.*
Metal Man (GM): The Questers reach a door, which opens. A strange man wearing goggles and a bag over his head is there. He's only 2.5 feet tall.
???: "You have come to deliver the package to our leader, right?"
Digifanatic: "Correct."
Panzer lifts a brow. "You know you have a bag on your head right?"
???: "What you call one, yes."
Digifanatic: "Would you like me to hand you the package right now, or should I give to the leader myself?"
Aribar furrows his brow as he looks at the little man and wonders if he's seen these creatures before. However, the half elf says nothing and simply stays behind the others.*
???: "No, come this way."
Panzer walks around the alien, looking at the back. "Don't these have a warning on them somewhere?"
Metal Man (GM): He walks up a staircase and through a sliding door.
???: "No, they are... clothes to us."
Digifanatic: *follows.*
Kenku follows slowly behind Digi.
Dragoshi: .oO(Okay, then...) *Moves on along.*
Metal Man (GM): The Questers walk on in. The door opens, to reveal a much larger person, who wears a rounded cap and has a mustache-beard instead of a bag. He has much thicker glasses and looks at you crosseyed... he is vaguely human like, but not much.
Digifanatic: "Hello."
???: "So this is the package we requested. Excellent. If you are in the business of going to the planet, please send this back as well."
Metal Man (GM): He takes out a black box of about the same size.
Digifanatic: "Ah yes, we do plan on returning." *exchanges, taking the black box.*
Aribar: "If I may ask, how did you and the Carrington Institute get in touch with each other?"
Deloth: "So what's in that return package, if I may ask?"
Panzer: "A Beumb."
???: "Some samples of our culture and technology. Just as we requested."
Deloth: "Can I take a look?"
Digifanatic: "Ah."
Metal Man (GM): He opens the Carrington Institute box, taking out data disks and setting them aside. Before then taking out an interesting little key device.
Panzer: "Oooh. A key."
???: "The Carrington Institute package is only openable by them. We agreed to this before we did the exchange."
Deloth: "Huh... okay. Fair enough."
???: "This key was made in response to our requests on how to open something strange we found at the bottom of our base. A design by other aliens who, according to their writings, died there as a result of some curse."
Panzer: "Can I see it?"
???: "As you can tell, the route here is long and arduous. We hope to find ancient space travel technology to better bridge the gap."
Digifanatic: "Something strange you found... is it a device with mirrors?"
???: "No."
Metal Man (GM): He hands the key to Panzer.
Panzer looks at the key and scans it.
???: "It can only be used by us to open that door, so you can 'see' it."
Digifanatic: "Oh. Cause one of our allies told us of a machine that had a mirror or two on it."
Metal Man (GM): It's some crypto-key with strange runes on it.
Panzer: "Ok. I meant the sub-terranian ruins." *runs the runes against known files.*
???: "...Yes. You can see them. There are... dangerous things."
Metal Man (GM): Panzer's data files are incomplete, but Galactic Federation data appears to have similar looking writing. Weird.
Panzer: "What's down there?" *She hands the key back.* "Mavericks? Reaverbots?"
???: "Neither. I guess I should take you there."
Metal Man (GM): The leader gets up and flips a switch, opening a side door. He then begins walking towards there. So far... so good.
Deloth follows the... whatever he is through the side door.
Digifanatic: *cautiously follows.*
Dragoshi: *Casually follows on along.*
Metal Man (GM): He gets to a door.
???: "This door, until now, blocked the way. If I didn't know better, Carrington and you planned for this."
Schatze: "Ah... no. I did."
???: "...Of course, long-silent machine."
Metal Man (GM): He sticks the key open. Er. Sticks it into the door. The round, circular door buzzes. Then lights up blue. It doesn't open.
???: "Well, that's strange."
Panzer pokes it.
Deloth: "...What's wrong?"
Metal Man (GM): The leader feels about the round, blue door, but finds no doorknob.
Dragoshi: "Please stand back."
Digifanatic: *does so.*
???: "It has a field around it, which has no visible door knob... hm?" He stands back.
Dragoshi: "I think I know how to deal with this."
Dragoshi: *Pulls out the Egg Blaster and shoots the door.*
Kenku follows slowly behind the others.
Metal Man (GM): *SHOOMP* The door opens up.
???: "...I see."
Deloth: "...Well. That'll work."
Dragoshi: "Just as I thought."
Deloth steps in.
Dragoshi: *Casually walks on in.*
Digifanatic: *heads in.*
???: "Well. When you are done, I will coordinate with Carrington to see you are paid... if you manage to get our package delivered." He walks back to his throne.
Kenku walks through the door.
Digifanatic: "You make it sound like there's more to it than just head back to our ship and fly it back to Carrington."
Metal Man (GM): This part of the moon is far more interesting.
Aribar: .oO(What difficulties would delivering a package entail?)
Metal Man (GM): There's a relatively long fall to the bottom of a white shaft... the Questers are in a cave.
Digifanatic: "Ohhh, I see."
Deloth: "Alright, lemme go first, just in case."
Deloth steps back, then runs and jumps into the shaft.
Metal Man (GM): Deloth falls... very slowly. Ah, right. The Questers are on the moon.
Schatze: *Follows... falling only a little faster.*
Deloth: "Hey, gravity's not trying to kill me. Awesome."
Digifanatic: *takes a leap down.*
Kenku takes the fall down.
Metal Man (GM): On the way down, an elevator can be seen even further down. Only, it is unpowered. There's a bunch of weird blocks laying around on the ground as if they were scattered there by something. They sit on the ground at chaotic angles. Most of them.
Aribar follows... He doesn't quite like the idea, but he's feeling a little suicidal today.
Dragoshi: *Jumps on down.*
Metal Man (GM): The group lands on the bottom, with the unpowered elevator and blocks just sitting around.
Deloth: "...I wonder what those were for."
Kenku tries to pick up one of the blocks and inspect it.
Metal Man (GM): It's brown, metallic, weird symbols. There's a telltale chunk out of it. It was ripped out of somewhere.
Kenku looks at the ripped section to see if it looking like it has some sort of cabling or connecting point.
Aribar looks for a place on the walls or elevator that would conveniently be missing blocks.
Digifanatic takes a look at his surroundings... how tall is the room he's in now?
Metal Man (GM): Kenku sees no cabling. Aribar looks for the walls and finds nothing. He looks at the elevator and finds a notch in the ground. Digi sees that it is about 30 feet tall.
Kenku: "Huh..." Kenku says as he puts the block down beside him and picks up another before trying to discern how they are alike or different.
Digifanatic: "Hmm." *he takes an honest jump to see just how much difference there is in gravity between both the other planet and this moon.*
Metal Man (GM): The blocks are all alike.
Kenku sighs "So much for there being some sort of pattern to them or something... anyone else have any luck?"
Dragoshi: *Just lets the others do stuff, blaster at the side, just in case any more of those doors pop up.*
Metal Man (GM): Digi leaps up 20 feet, enough to reach the way one came in. The notches are identical to the size of the blocks, from what is seen...
Digifanatic: "Wow... I can jump several times higher here than back on the other planet. That might be helpful. So anybody find anything interesting about the blocks?"
Kenku sees this and quickly says "You guys might want to step out of the shaft."
Digifanatic: *Well, he's been out of the shaft, so... yeah.*
Aribar steps away from the shaft.* *Block A into niche A?*
Kenku tries to shove one in the notch.
Metal Man (GM): It takes just one block. The elevator lights up.
Kenku looks over at the elevator.
Metal Man (GM): It has no real controls, the Questers can just stand on it.
Schatze: "Well, that over with..." He stands on it. It starts going down.
Dragoshi: *Goes to stand on ze elevator.*
Digifanatic: *to the elevator.*
Kenku waits as the elevator descends.
Metal Man (GM): The elevator goes on down with all the currently active people on it, revealing the next room. There's a door ahead, but it's blood red. It's another sandy white room.
Digifanatic: *Checks to make sure there isn't a doorknob on this door.*
Metal Man (GM): Yeah. It's a rounded red glowing door.
Schatze: "Ah, my favorite color."
Kenku decides to knock 3 times.
Digifanatic: .oO(Why, of course.)
Dragoshi: "...hmm."
Metal Man (GM): Nothing happens.
Dragoshi: *Pulls out his Bread, walks up to the door, and slams the weaponized food into the door.*
Metal Man (GM): Nothing happens.
Schatze: "It appears to be less sensitive than the other door."
Digifanatic: "I wonder if this door acts oddly with other colors..." *Icy Kick.*
Metal Man (GM): The ice literally bounces off the door. That's closer, but not it either.
Dragoshi: "Okay..." *Puts the bread away and blasts it with a single Fire Ele... After Digi icy kicks it.* :x
Metal Man (GM): The fire explodes against the door. It turns blue.
Dragoshi: *Dragoshi then shoots the door with his blaster. :V*
Kenku: "Interesting... some ice attack it..."
Digifanatic: "Now we try ice or water." *Goes for it again.*
Metal Man (GM): The door opens. It reveals... a long, wide pit, with a deep abyss below. On the other side is a platform and a door.
Digifanatic: *Tries to get a feel for the size of the room.*
Metal Man (GM): It's about 20 feet wide and 50 feet long.
Dragoshi: *Tries to figure out the size of the gap.*
Metal Man (GM): Room itself is 10 feet tall. Digi would bonk his head if he did a full jump.
Kenku looks around to see if there is some sort of switch or something on the wall.
Metal Man (GM): Nothing on the wall. The floor is dirt. Not solid.
Digifanatic: "Alright, then."
Kenku picks up some of the dirt and casts it across the pit just in case.
Metal Man (GM): Kenku hurls dirt around and finds some weird sensors in the floor.
Panzer looks around, on the walls or whatever.
Digifanatic: *repeats Kenku's action, looking for more sensors and such.*
Kenku mutters "Huh" and makes a single step forward.
Metal Man (GM): Walls are bare. Floor has sensors... Sensors appear to be dormant for the moment.
Digifanatic: *looks at the sensors themselves...*
Metal Man (GM): They're weird little things which seem to bend when people step on them. Like, pressure sensors. But they don't seem very sensitive...
Digifanatic: "I have an idea. I'll be right back." *takes the elevator back to the floor above him and takes as many blocks as he can safely hold--if it's one, so be it.*
Metal Man (GM): Any Quester can hold five of them.
Panzer jumps on them to see if she can break them.
Metal Man (GM): Besides that a Quester might drop one. Panzer stomps on one. One of the sensors lights up.
Digifanatic comes back down and places one block on each of five sensors.
Metal Man (GM): Oddly, it seems to be about right. The force of a human doesn't seem to work. Digi sticks the blocks on the others. The blocks also activate them.
Panzer: "Reploid weight." She walks all around, stomping. "No wonder. The earlier reploids were about five or more tons..."
Metal Man (GM): They all activate and some kind of railing appears out of the ceiling. He's standing on the side. One can climb across the gap. And, since this is the moon...
Panzer looks at Schatze. "You're no help."
Metal Man (GM): Climbing the monkey-bar way is actually quite easy.
Digifanatic: *goes for it then.*
Schatze: "Well, I don't want to careen off in the wrong direction. Radio signals don't work well down here."
Panzer: "I'll carry you around if it gets too weak to move. Just let me know."
Schatze: "I will tell you when that happens. For now... I can move as long as it doesn't involve something that could miss and smash a person instead of a sensor."
Metal Man (GM): He goes to climb across with Digi. The railing supports the weight well.
Kenku follows the two across.
Digifanatic: "Puzzles are quite interesting when you're on a good day."
Metal Man (GM): The other door across is yellow. Er. The door blocking the way ahead.
Dragoshi: *Climbs across the railing... wheeeee.*
Panzer goes over last.
Digifanatic: "Yellow... earth, maybe... light?"
Dragoshi: "Hmm..."
Panzer: "Or just caution."
Digifanatic: "Well, the last door was based off elements."
Kenku: "Id say light... green is probably earth."
Schatze: "This field is much stronger than that other one."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, or brown. Red was for fire and then blue for ice, at the very least." *fires a Light Ray at it, cause why not?*
Metal Man (GM): It bounces off harmlessly.
Digifanatic: *And misses!*
Panzer inspects the door closer.
Metal Man (GM): It has a very powerful force field. Similar sensors to what Digi found in the floor are just underneath the field.
Panzer gives it a kick out of curiosity.
Metal Man (GM): The Questers have apparently been going through a series of security checkpoints. *BONK* A sensor partially lights up, then fades.
Schatze: "That must be a tough door..."
Panzer: "Schatze, if you will join me?"
Digifanatic: "Wait a minute."
Schatze: "As long as no one gets too close to me." *Walks over.*
Panzer backs up. "I've been wanting to kick a door down for ages..."
Digifanatic: "Just keep putting force on the door."
Panzer: "Oh let me run into it once."
Digifanatic: "Don't kick it, but just leave your foot on it. Alright, fine."
Dragoshi: "Go for it."
Panzer takes off, leaps and crashes into the door with her side.
Metal Man (GM): Panzer crashes into it. Schatze then smashes it as well. The door nearly lights up all the way... it needs more force.
Digifanatic leans into the door.
Panzer: "At the same time, get back here with me?"
Schatze: "Yes. Perhaps with him." He points to Digi. "As long as he is careful..."
Panzer: "If this doesn't work with our combined weights then we'll have to push all together, and maybe a crash at the same time..."
Dragoshi: *Decides to help with the bread... once they do their thing...*
Digifanatic: *backs up and is ready to slam into the door when necessary.*
Schatze: *Moves with others.*
Panzer: "Just stay to the side." She backs off again, lifting up her suppressors a little to better raise her pressure per square inch. She then waits on them. "Ready? 1... 2... 3!" She takes off for the door, running faster, then leaps to hit it again.
Digifanatic: *runs into the door to the side, trying to lean into it as he hits.*
Schatze: *He mimics it in a less precise movement, but it's fine... this close to the surface.*
Metal Man (GM): All three of the Questers hit it. The field dies and the door opens.
Digifanatic: "Okay, you win!"
Panzer: "Nothing like bashing into a door."
Dragoshi: *Puts the bread away, seeing as he wasn't needed. Eh.*
Panzer walks in and looks about.
Kenku watches the three of them hit the door and it open. He casually walks in behind them.
Metal Man (GM): The next room is a bit strange. It's a mechanical room. A beheaded, sparking statue stands slumped to the side.
Dragoshi: *Walks into the next room, keeping his blaster at the ready...*
Metal Man (GM): Its head lays on the floor, burning.
Panzer scans it. "Apparently this could be a great discovery for my kind..."
Digifanatic: "Okay, hang on..." *looks at the base of the statue.*
Panzer stays in the door way and looks for traps.
Kenku looks at the head is to see how charred it looks.
Metal Man (GM): Pretty bad. Panzer detects the room WAS trapped, but someone blew them up.
Panzer walks in and to the statue, inspecting and scanning it.
Metal Man (GM): In fact, the Questers see that in the center where something stood is now a ripped up place. The statue is of some pseudo-organic mechanical material. It is highly advanced. And also very dead.
Digifanatic: *Tries to determine the shape of the base.*
Panzer bases it against her own exo-material. "Android?"
Metal Man (GM): The base was a square.
Digifanatic: *Alright.*
Metal Man (GM): It's definitely not the same... weirder. And... based on a different material.
Digifanatic: *Checks if the room contain more loose impediments.*
Metal Man (GM): Closer to that of a carbon nanotube, some real complex stuff.
Panzer takes a sample for later. "Possibly silicon based, not carbon, I guess."
Metal Man (GM): The room has a loose part in the wall. There's a large chunk of statue stuck into it.
Panzer puts out the fire on the head and digs around in it, sitting to look for anything she can use.
Metal Man (GM): It is completely solid, and that whatever components drive it are so small as to be invisible to the naked eye.
Digifanatic: *tries to take the chunk out.*
Panzer starts slicing away a little piece from inside that isn't too charred and pockets it.
Metal Man (GM): Digi barely nudges it out and see someone blew a hole in the wall and walked down here... which is actually underneath the base and filled with pipes. Panzer pockets a piece of it.
Panzer looks around the rest of the room.
Metal Man (GM): Ancient runes on the walls everywhere.
Digifanatic: *Checks what part of the statue it is.*
Metal Man (GM): It's a chunk out of the side of the statue.
Panzer takes shots of them, getting as many as she can to form up a data base. "Schatze, you studying these?"
Digifanatic tries to put it back into the statue--can it fit in without adhesive?
Schatze: "Yes, the Galactic Federation appear to call them 'Chozo', I am radioing them about these..."
Panzer: "Meh."
Schatze: "..." He stares. "I had forgotten. There were supposed to be defenses here. Someone got in here just before we did."
Panzer: "Something like that. But who?" She looks around for signs of a fight or something.
Digifanatic: "Wonder if they found that device yet."
Metal Man (GM): The statue has the signs of a fight. Laser burns everywhere.
Panzer inspects the laser burns for composition.
Metal Man (GM): That's funny. The laser is extremely high tech. It burned almost all the matter away. It seems to be... futuristic.
Digifanatic: *Checks if the piece of the statue fit back in to where it was.*
Metal Man (GM): The hole in the wall the probable invaders left though is still open. Yes.
Digifanatic: *tries to do the same thing with the head.*
Metal Man (GM): Minus... a lot of pieces.
Panzer hmms. "Weird. I don't want to meet the thing that shoots this. It'll melt me." She looks for a way out.
Metal Man (GM): It got lasered to bits.
Kenku looks at how thick the wall is.
Metal Man (GM): There's the way that the Questers came or the hole in the wall. The wall is about a foot thick. Digi puts the pieces together... they sit there.
Panzer tries to squirrel through the hole. XD
Metal Man (GM): The hole is plenty wide.
Dragoshi: *Walks through the hole.* >_>
Metal Man (GM): There's a pathway through here which leads back into the upper area, weird.
Panzer: "Boring." She starts up the path.
Kenku follows Panzer up the path.
Digifanatic: "Wait, wait..."
Panzer: "What Digi?"
Digifanatic: "You sure you don't want to continue on?"
Panzer: "There's no other way to go but back."
Metal Man (GM): Panzer walks... and find a docking platform. There is, in fact, a ship docked here, the door open.
Digifanatic: *follows them.*
Panzer unslings her rifle and takes a concealed position.
Dragoshi: *Keeps his blaster ready and does the same as Panzer, because, well... it's better to be prepared. >_>*
Metal Man (GM): The ship is a rounded silver thing with a large TC logo on it. The Questers hear talking inside the ship.
Digifanatic: *hides with the others, whispering.* "TC, TC..." *w* "Wish I could remember that acronym."
Metal Man (GM): Eventually, the talking becomes closer.
???: "Let's get out of here."
???2: "Yeah, those vagrants might be here."
???: "Commencing launch sequence..."
Metal Man (GM): The door begins to close on the ship.
Kenku: "Vagrants?" Kenku looks to the others talking in half whisper..."What should we do... let them go? Attack?"
Panzer: "Let them go."
Digifanatic: *w* "We don't even know who they are or why they may be against us. Just let them go, as she said."
Kenku nods and watches for them to take off.
Metal Man (GM): The door closes. The ship glows and then... vanishes.
Schatze: "...What the?"
Dragoshi: "...what is it?"
Schatze: "Well, they... vanished. Yet all teleporting is disabled in this realm."
Dragoshi: "...Huh."
Schatze: "They left the realm entirely..."
Panzer: "Mmhm."
Schatze: "...And if these images I got are correct, they just took off with what I wanted to find here."
Panzer walks out and looks around.
Schatze: "Curse you speed of light! Too slow to show me in time."
Digifanatic: "Don't worry, we still have the package, let's just head back to our ship."
Dragoshi: *Proceeds to get up and take a look around as well.*
Metal Man (GM): Digi thinks to go back to the ship, but persistence does pay off.
Panzer tries again as well. -.-
Metal Man (GM): Digging around Panzer finds something buried. It is... Something with the TC logo on it. It is a note of some kind, which was tossed aside. Something is written on it but it's folded up.
Digifanatic: *unfolds.*
Metal Man (GM): 'Memorandum-- Members Ael and Pandora: We have detected increased movement in unauthorized world 82C. They are moving to find unknown aberrant being 32. We cannot find this being either, for he is using localized cloaking techniques. Warp in and steal the device to find the being for us. We must neutralize this being. He is a danger to our entire operation. -Lyx'
Digifanatic: "Folks, we got some keywords and possible allies."
Panzer: "Or we walked into a vendetta that is none of our business."
Schatze: "???" *Stares at it.* "I think we just found something very strange."
Digifanatic: "Yeah. Back to the ship?"
Schatze: "Either way, I will be finding these people next time they appear. I would very much want to know what they want. Yes, I would think so..." There's a doorway up these people unintentionally revealed with their warp here.
Panzer starts heading back.
Dragoshi: *Goes to the doorway.* >_>
Digifanatic: *back to the ship.*
Metal Man (GM): All continues to be normal. The Questers on their way to the ship. They suddenly hear alarms going off. The alien alarms.
Panzer lifts a brow.
Panzer looks around.
Metal Man (GM): There's something above... A giant space ship is trying to break in!
Panzer: "Our buddies might be back?" She looks up.
Metal Man (GM): *BAM.* The glass dome shudders.
Panzer: "Yep. Someone move the ship... In fact, might want to load up before you suffocate."
Schatze: "Yes... you get in the ship, I detect... Space Pirates?"
Metal Man (GM): *BLAM.* The dome begins to crack. The air begins to seem... thin... The ship is open, you can run aboard.
Panzer: "Not our quarrel. Get them into the ship, now."
Kenku: "Uhh... I think we better follow Panzer's advice" and runs into the ship.
Panzer starts throwing people into the ship. XD
Digifanatic: *heads right into the ship, giving Dragoshi the package.*
Metal Man (GM): The Questers get onto the ship, more or less.
Panzer: "Schatze, you know those guys?"
Kenku looks for a weapons panel.
Schatze: "They're the enemy of the Galactic Federation."
Digifanatic: *back to the pilot's seat no ifs ands or buts.*
Schatze: "They routinely attack all space-based places."
Panzer: "I see. Don't shoot inside the dome. You'll crash it onto the ship. Get out of here, now Digi."
Schatze: "They only leave me alone because they detected my planetary death ray." *Gets aboard.*
Panzer hops on board last.
Digifanatic: *takes the ship off and prepares the space travel procedures again.*
Metal Man (GM): The ship can be launched now. The defenses of this alien base are meek to repel them; the dome shatters and all the oxygen vanishes.
Panzer: "I wanted to play in the vacuum... Oh well. I'll come back soon."
Metal Man (GM): There's a pretty simple weapons setup, one chair for weapons separate from the pilot's seat. Twin laser turrets and rockets, which don't work in outer space.
Dragoshi: *Into ze sheep!*
Panzer: "Let's go while they're distracted, Digi... Waiting on you."
Metal Man (GM): The glass disintegrates. It's a good time to leave.
Digifanatic gives the handle another good series of motions, pull and twist...
Metal Man (GM): That isn't needed to escape the pull of the moon, actually.
Kenku hops into the the weapons seat.
Metal Man (GM): Still, the Quester ship gets away... very fast.
Digifanatic: *autopilot off and give it the gas.*
Metal Man (GM): As Digi takes manual and guns it as fast as he can. Digi makes it clear as the Pirates and aliens begin exchanging fire.
Schatze: "I don't understand... why those events were so closely timed. I hadn't seen a single pirate until we left! Not to mention that weird incident with the warping ship... I guess all we can do is go and collect our money and figure out what happened. Well... your money." He shakes his head. "I don't need money."
Digifanatic: "And neither does Panz."
Kenku nods.
Panzer: "TC might be working with the pirates. It's hard to get blamed for something that is stolen when you're not caught and there's little evidence of you being there. For example, destroying the place after you get what you want."
Digifanatic: "Heh."
Dragoshi: "Yep..."
Schatze: "Yes, indeed. We shall have to figure that out... I'm scanning for references to these people."
Panzer: "Get something worked up on these runes, too if you can."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, I'm considering the letter myself."
Schatze: "Yes, I shall. After all... this is the first time someone else has upstaged one of my plans... using the same sort of logic." He seems vaguely worried.
Panzer: "Oh get over it."
Metal Man (GM): The ship eventually lands at Carrington Institute.
Schatze: "It just makes me think... the danger has not been fully averted. One danger has become replaced by another." *shrugs.* "Oh well."
Panzer: "Whiny."
Dragoshi: "I wouldn't be surprised either way."
Metal Man (GM): The ship is landed. The ship is where it was before.
Kenku steps out, making sure Digi has the return package.
Metal Man (GM): Due to the Questers'... interesting strategy... They just avoided all the fights.
Dragoshi: *Gets on out. Wheeee.*
Metal Man (GM): @_@ Carrington walks out, a bit... confused.
Dragoshi: *Will give the package to Carrington, then. When he pops up, of course.*
Carrington: "Well, I just had the strangest transmission. You arrived and, as planned, obtained the box."
Digifanatic: "Oh, do tell. We saw strange things ourselves."
Panzer: "What now, fatass?"
Carrington: "Then Space Pirates attacked and you flew away."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, we noticed the acronym TC. Any idea?"
Panzer: "So they're trying to frame us for something that was convenient?"
Carrington: "I... really should have asked you to defend them, for I am unsure exactly how well they can do against such a well-developed thievery organization. No, no, you aren't to blame. I just feel stupid for not asking you to defend them. A... loophole in my logic." He shrugs. "Well, I can take their package and hand you the 200 coins. I'll make sure to be more specific next time... you're more clever than I thought."
Dragoshi: "Oh... Eh. We prolly' wouldn't have stood a chance against 'em, anyway. Unless we managed to board their vessel somehow."
Panzer: "Our ship might not have stood a chance, and should we have had to abandon it, the crew might have died."
Dragoshi: "That too."
Digifanatic: "Yeah. Had no better option than to book it."
Panzer: "We'll have to get some space suits ordered and tested before I feel comfortable fighting in space."
Carrington: "Hm..." He is vaguely impressed. "I'll take that into account should you wish to take my next mission... which will be to remove those Space Pirates... Hm, yes. We shall get to work on space suits then."
Dragoshi: "That would be wonderful."
Metal Man (GM): He hands the Questers the 200 coins and then motions for the 'X' box. Ha ha. 'X' box.
Dragoshi: *Takes the 200 and gives 65 to Kenku and Digi.*
Panzer: "Outfit it to their specifications. Minus two. Schatze and I don't need them."
Dragoshi: *Thus, leaving Dragoshi with 70.*
Carrington: "Will do... since you are much more reliable than most contractors."
Panzer: "We try to uphold our obligations."
Carrington: "Perhaps we should look into selling some of our goods to you... as well. I know your... elf person... also wanted to have some spellbooks."
Digifanatic: "Yeah, I think he's dozing off or something."
Dragoshi: "Yep."
Carrington: "Come back and we can discuss the plan to remove the Space Pirates. Good work, and... good luck."
Panzer walks back to the ship.
Dragoshi: *there for the most part.
Metal Man (GM): He waves and then walks inside.
Digifanatic: "Alright, thanks."
Dragoshi: "No prob."
Digifanatic: *Okay, so yeah, presuming they cut to HQ now... he's definitely curious. Interesting phrases on the letter, and so on? He's gonna check out Engie's computer for this, see if other people have posted information.*
Metal Man (GM): Digi would find none of them. They're pretty secretive. Apparently.
Digifanatic: *mutters.* "Wow..."
Panzer scans around.
Metal Man (GM): Base is secure. The BLU people seem good at keeping it that way.
Digifanatic: .oO(You know, something's telling me I just have to try this...)
Metal Man (GM): I mean they're busy guarding the base while the Engie slooowly finishes building the Stadium. It'll be finished soon.
Panzer looks for the sniper.
Digifanatic chuckles a bit, even grinning as he takes a look at the typewriter. .oO(Why not?) *text.* 'DIGITAL WORLD'
COMPUTER: 'RESULTS... DIGITAL WORLD FOUND INSIDE COMPUTER SYSTEMS ON MAVERICK CONTINENT STOP'
Digifanatic: "Hello!"
COMPUTER: 'VIRUS BUSTING IN CONTINIA STOP BUILD A DIGITAL WORLD WITH NETWORKED COMPUTERS AND EGGMAN STOP END OF RESULTS STOP'
Digifanatic: *quietly.* "This could be an interesting side project." .oO(Yeah, I need a break for now, but I'll have to look into that business on Maverick and Continia sometime.)

Previous

Next