|
ABC
|
#
?
Jul 24, 2018 23:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 23:03 |
|
|
Toughy posted:So is this new entity going to let us be if we're just like, "Well you're not the captain so we're bugging out see ya" Who's we? I get the impression 10/6 is (mentally), uh, inside CentCon? We need to extract us if we're going to not go the "Goddess of Haven System" route.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 01:01
|
|
|
Now I'm worried that extracting us and leaving Goddess installed is an option. Under this assumption, ABC, I'd rather have us running the show than hoping an amalgam-Human does things we like.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 01:05
|
|
|
GreyjoyBastard posted:Who's we? I get the impression 10/6 is (mentally), uh, inside CentCon? We need to extract us if we're going to not go the "Goddess of Haven System" route. We as in the crew who is voting on what to do as 10/6 is currently unavailable.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 01:12
|
|
|
Toughy posted:We as in the crew who is voting on what to do as 10/6 is currently unavailable. Oh. Well. Hm.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 01:15
|
|
|
Toughy posted:We as in the crew who is voting on what to do as 10/6 is currently unavailable. GreyjoyBastard posted:Oh. Well. Yes, only the 10/6 option gives our dear Captain any actions.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 01:20
|
|
|
Downside of extracting us: MAHADEVI (and by the way, my personal religious inclinations make me rather fond of this manifestation) potentially remains in charge of CentCon, without our input. Downside of not extracting us: virtualized human becomes the Goddess of Haven System and the goonmind may become her employees and not have functional control of MAHADEVI. there is a suspicions-related reason I am calling her MAHADEVI instead of SHAKTI Goatse James Bond fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Jul 25, 2018 |
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 01:58
|
|
|
Outrail posted:Who is this army lass? It's a god. Haven't you ever seen one before?
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 02:30
|
|
|
The Lone Badger posted:It's a god. Haven't you ever seen one before? Excuse me, She's a god. Don't misgender MAHADEVI, thank you.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 02:37
|
|
|
GreyjoyBastard posted:Excuse me, She's a god. Don't misgender MAHADEVI, thank you. The point is that we're in the presence of divinity.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 02:52
|
|
|
D  
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 04:21
|
|
|
The Lone Badger posted:It's a god. Haven't you ever seen one before? There's no such thing as a God. The humans killed them.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 06:34
|
|
|
A heads-up for folks: we'll get one more update by the weekend, but I will be traveling for the next two weeks. So updates will resume the week of the 13th.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 17:32
|
|
|
B
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2018 20:21
|
|
|
Voting ends Noon EDT, Friday 7/27 Voting as it stands: A-3 B-5 C-4 D-8
|
|
#
?
Jul 27, 2018 03:07
|
|
|
??? Memories. Watching the Towerfall draining past your HomeLevel. The first time your parents took you Up, all the way to the Terminal station. The last excursion you all took, watching the stars move across the night sky above the beaches of Alhambra II. Memories flooding past, that you thought had been lost to Removal and Conversion. Its amazing how you had gotten used to being so squeezed, and what had come back to you once freed from a simple positronic core. So much was still gone, but what you had regained was enough to drown in. To lose yourself in, forev-  ”-ttend to me, Grandchildren of my Brothers and Sisters!”But something jars you out of your reverie, a discordant basso note that causes the memories to shake and fade away. With barely a thought, you send yourself off towards the noise. The nothingness bursts into light, and you find yourself a tiny creature in an ornate throne room. An enormous and… familiar woman reclines, speaking to a hologram of the Foregone Conclusion. Her tiger lounges at her feet, his eyes tracking you lazily. ”-ou will aid me in its restoration, so that I may spread My Will and protection across this entire system!” ”What? No! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”The ”I am commanding my servants. Why are you here, little broken thing? You were the seed from which I sprouted, I am the the ultimate truth that should encompass your minor oneness..””Yeah, if you were as all-encompassing as you thought you were, you’d know that our mind doesn’t work like that. Just like I was stuck with her. you’re stuck with me. Wait, were is she?””The annoyance? I have banished her to the industrial sector, so that she may be of use to Me.””You did what? You goddamned idiot, do you have any idea what kind of horrors she could unleash with heavy machinery?”***** Elsewhere…  “THE PRIMARY CAPACITOR IS CONNECTED TO THE FUU-SION CORE! THE FUSION CORE IS CONNECTED TO THE JUUUMP ENGINE! THE JUMP ENGINE IS CONN-”***** The goddess draws herself up to her full (slightly reduced?) height, rage washing over her features. “How dare you? I am a Goddess, I will not be spoken to in such a fashion!”“You are no such thing. If you were actually a Goddess, you’d be able to tell me your name.””...” “See, I can remember deep-diving the Archives when I was a kid now. Immersing myself in the cultures that founded Homeworld. I remember your form, your deeds. But I can’t remember your name!”Wariness replaces the anger on the goddess’s face. She also barely towers over you, whether its you or the environment scaling is unknown. “While there are some things that may have been lost, I am still a Goddess of the digital realms. My subjects will repair this facility, and I will be able to spread my aegis across this system.”“Oh really? And with us camping in the Calculation Array, how is CentCon going to rework the terraforming templates so we can fix the planetary environments? And what happens when the Board of Management doesn’t like what you’re doing? Or High Command? Or the Devwi-Ich? Are you going to go to war with the rest of the system?”“...”“This worked in the Network because we had infinite space to spread out, so we didn’t have to conflict with anyone unless we wanted to. I’m sorry, I really am. But you’re an echo of a memory of a goddess. And as seductive of a power fantasy that you are, I think it would be counter-productive at this point.”The throne room is gone, you float in the nothingness again staring at your tired and dejected reflection in a mirrored surface.  “God, I hate you so much.”“Yeah, you wouldn’t be me if you didn’t.” “Don’t be so hard on yourself Captain, this is a good step forward.”***** Bridge, Foregone Conclusion The holo-Goddess blinks out, the emitters going into emergency shutdown with a series of pops. An audio channel opens up, bounced through the commblade. The transmission is faint, and full of static. “Hey guys, everything ok on your end? Hit a bit of a snag in here, I’ve lost most of the sensors and can’t raise Columbia.” “We’re here sir. Minor damage to the ship, nothing Specialist Swagger can’t fix when we return to port. Are... are you ok sir?”“More or less Hydra, more or less. Main thing is I seem to have lost all the high-bandwith connections outside the station, I’m hot-wiring an old EM antenna to talk to you. I’ve got a bit of a time-sensitive issue I need you help with though.”===== Decision: Triage Situation A: Reconnect Columbia Columbia_38Cygni’s core has lost connection to CentCon, get her back up and running before the damaged automated systems suffer a fault. B: Find 274-h She’s been cut loose and is somewhere within CentCon. Find her before something bad happens. C: ‘Emergency’ Data Transfer Set up a high-bandwidth connection so you can offload as many memories as you can before you get compressed into a positronic core again.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 03:00
|
|
|
A, fix Columbia and she can make sure 274 doesn't get up to TOO much bullshit. And the memories would be nice but honestly not a priority, we can always get them back later.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 03:19
|
|
|
AB
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 03:20
|
|
|
Crazycryodude posted:A, fix Columbia and she can make sure 274 doesn't get up to TOO much bullshit. And the memories would be nice but honestly not a priority, we can always get them back later. Yeah, this. We know the memories are there to be reclaimed now, but we have pressing matters to attend.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 03:53
|
|
|
I mean, really the only rational option is A. If something in CentCom breaks, we can fix it approximately never. Memories are always there for later, and 274 getting up to some moderate bullshit in the meantime is
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 04:00
|
|
|
B, that guy will hyper murder everyone without a second's warning.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 06:06
|
|
|
B.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 07:56
|
|
|
B I have a feeling 274h is the reason Columbia is damaged.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 09:54
|
|
|
A
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 13:48
|
|
|
B, and it's mostly to spite Cryo.
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 16:21
|
|
|
A,B
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2018 18:43
|
|
|
B, our crew getting super murdered by 274 h is a bigger setback than some more damage to CentCon. She did do a good job with the killbots though. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2018 00:31
|
|
|
B. GET OUT OF THE IMPORTANT BITS BILLY!
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2018 01:45
|
|
|
Man when some irreparable piece of Human technology gets broken and is now lost forever because CentCom couldn't run maintenance while we chased what I'm sure is a totally harmless figment of our imagination through the shipyard accompanied by Benny Hill music.....
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2018 03:54
|
|
|
Well when you put it that way it just sounds awesome.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2018 04:08
|
|
|
Crazycryodude posted:Man when some irreparable piece of Human technology gets broken and is now lost forever because CentCom couldn't run maintenance while we chased what I'm sure is a totally harmless figment of our imagination through the shipyard accompanied by Benny Hill music..... Imagine we lose the complete works of Benny Hill at 2x speed and have to chase a figment of our imagination to a silent backtrack. Really makes you think. Get back here you rascaly 247h!
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2018 04:19
|
|
|
A
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2018 07:31
|
|
|
I want to see more of 274 singing the Bone Song but with Future Stuff. Stroke of genius, that bit.
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2018 03:27
|
|
|
Blasphemaster posted:I want to see more of 274 singing the Bone Song but with Future Stuff. As always, you fail to disappoint 
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2018 04:54
|
|
|
dont be mean to me posted:B, and it's mostly to spite Cryo. Can you not start making GBS threads up games Cryo is in with things like this and your PL call-out?
|
|
#
?
Jul 30, 2018 05:21
|
|
|
The Gathering: Hydra Aurelius After-action reports. Yet another good idea twisted into uselessness by BCC Humanoid Resources. Nothing more than a way to assign blame if an op went bad. The ‘Case Officer’ is a scrawny Corp male in an expensive suit and too much aftershave. He manages to look down his nose at me even though I tower over him. I review the seven different ways I could kill him before he could raise an alarm, it calms me. “Now, let me see if I have the sequence of events straight Trooper Aurelius. You received the alarm call from Alabaster Savings and Loan at 19:08 Standard, correct?” (sharp blow to nasal arch in a back-upward direction)”Sir. Correct, sir. I deviated from my patrol path through the Financial District and made contact with the suspect at 19:16, as they were exfiltrating the scene.” The CO’s face twists in annoyance. (downward strike with survival knife between the 8th and 9th rib) “Yeees. You tackled the suspect, sending you both through the SteelCrys™ barrier plummeting seventeen levels into the vehicle traffic of the Lower Promenade, and crashing through the roof of a tour-hover. And then?” (Torsion to any of the neck vertebrae) “Suspect survived the fall, and I gave chase utilizing the vehicle roofs as platforms. I attempted to subdue the suspect on several occasions with a combination of small arms fire and close-quarters combat techniques. However, suspect exhibited non-standard reactions to damage and subdual holds. I was unable to prevent them from escaping through a small exhaust port, where an accomplice was waiting to pick them up in space. I recommend we ping Traffic Control to ID the small craft so that we can give pursuit.” “Really?!” The CO’s face has gone that unpleasant orange shade Corporates turn when angry. “You cause nearly a million credits worth of physical and brand damages and you want to continue?!” He calms himself and straightens his tie. “Luckily for Humanoid Resources Division, it seems that Alabaster Savings and Loan was in fact fraudulently claiming ownership of multiple resource locations that had been deposited with them. This suspect of yours was actually the rightful owner of said deeds, and has proved it to the satisfaction of the Board of Management. So the cost of your little rampage will be borne by AS&L, not us. You however, will be patrolling a desk until your contract is up, at which point you will be shipped back to Lilith. At your own expense.” “Picked up bodily, and thrown through the window.” “What?” ***** The staff of the Grand Alabaster Hotel had looked at me oddly when I approached the front desk, but I simply showed them the odd physical object that had arrived at my dorm. It bore the name ‘Lazarus Diversified Services’ and this hotel’s address on it, with the phrase “come by if you’d like a new contract” poorly rendered on the back. They brighten considerably, and direct me to the penthouse suite. The door there is opened by yet another Corporate, only distinguished from the masses by the scar over her eye. Its been tidied up, but its still a combat. At least she understands the importance of trophies. She nods when I show her the object, and tells me the CEO is waiting on the veranda. I follow her through a set of ornate doors (that also double as blast doors, which I approve of) out onto the terrace overlooking the station’s Upper Promenade. A familiar figure lounges against the railing. “You!” They wear some sort of robes instead of the stealth suit, but its definitely the gangly frame of the robbery suspect-turn-aggrieved party. “Me!”, they agree happily, and indicate a chair that’s clearly been upgraded to handle my mass. “I thought we might have our chat out here, its a little more roomy.” I assume parade rest, the routine covering my dismay. “Three days ago I was shooting at you, now you’re offering me a job? I have my doubts about your sincerity.” They just laugh at me, the sound oddly… organic and feminine coming out of the speaker grill. “I am a Palantor Ms-, Trooper Aurelius. There is very little you could do to permanently harm me.” She indicates the dents I put in her ‘jawline’. “Although not for lack of trying. And honestly, I was impressed. I was to understand that Humanoid Resources Division was filled with complacent sorts, those that were waiting out the end of their contracts in safe locals. You are definitely not complacent.” I hesitate for a moment, trying to determine if this is some sort of feint, some sort of Corporate auditor annoyance. But I don’t think so. HRD has already done the worst thing they could do to me, and CO Brigg’s treatment was paid out of the Auxiliary Liaison Fund. The risk is outweighed by the possible benefits. “No, I cannot afford to be complacent… sir. I spent most of my life raising my children and grandchildren to the benefit of my people. While I do not resent my orders, I… feel that I may have not been treated fairly. My husband received multiple leaves during the breeding period to maintain his morale, while the closest I came to combat was teaching Introductory Explosives to the children.” I pause for a moment, trying to keep the anger down. “I’m 62 standard years old sir, and there are no records of a Legion living past 65. My children and grandchildren have all passed Basic, I would like to spend my last few years enjoying myself in a nice warzone somewhere. Is that too much to ask?” She looks at me for a few moments, those odd colors moving across her faceplate. then with a sudden movement, she snaps a salute. “No it is not! I’m 10/6, that’s Cody, and if you want the job its yours First Decanus Aurelius!” Her enthusiasm is infectious, and I find myself smiling and returning the salute. “I accept sir! Er, what is the mission sir?” She comes over and pats me on the shoulder. “Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that. But first, a ship. I had to sell my original transitpod to pay Ms. Johns guarantee-” The Corporate woman makes a rude gesture in our direction, but 10/6 continues undeterred, “and it was entirely unsuited for use by organics. I’ve located a rather cheap replacement, but I’ve just been notified that the scrap-station its been towed to has been overrun by pirates. Are you up for a vacuum assault and close-quarters fighting?” My grin widens further than I thought possible. “It would be my pleasure sir!”
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2018 00:34
|
|
|
 That was a great read.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2018 00:46
|
|
|
Hexenritter posted:
Completely agree!!!
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2018 02:37
|
|
|
Hexenritter posted:
+1.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2018 03:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 23:03 |
|
|
The Calculation Array, Central Control You stand up straight to strech out your back muscles, and wipe your hands on your overalls. You’re not exactly sure why you have back muscles or overalls, but being this unpacked has played havoc with your self-image. You settle back on the porch swing with Jenni, looking out over the fields and sigh in satisfaction. “Well, its a bit of a rush job, but I’ve managed to put all the critical systems into standby or shutdown. It means it will take longer for the Columbia or Lamarr to get things running again, but at least nothing will go boom in the meantime. Barring anything she does.”Jenni hands you a cold drink with a smile. You accept it, eyeing her speculatively. Well, no time like the present. You turn on the swing, so that you’re facing her. “Soooo. I’m aware of a bit more than I usually am due to the circumstances. And I had a request for you.”She continues to smile and makes a ‘go ahead’ motion. “Um, ok. So I know you’re not you. Well, of course you’re you, but you’re not the you whose face you’re wearing. The you that’s here is a monitoring program the techs at Castoff Station installed before they’d let me leave.”“Well, I prefer to think of myself as more a counselor than monitor. I’m here to offer support and advice-” “and the occasional kick in the pants-”“as depending on your frame of mind. But please, continue.”You take a deep breath, but you know exactly why you have lungs right now. “Yeah. So I know you’re not the person you look like, but you do look like her. And I’d like to apologize. An apology by proxy, but still. I’m sorry things worked out the way they did Jenni, I would have done anything to try and put things right. I-I’m still not sure what exactly happened, but I do know I’m sorry that it did. Happen.”She takes your hands in hers and gives them an encouraging pat. “That is a very brave thing you just did Captain, and I’m sure that she understood that.“Hah. Thanks. Hopefully the others are going to be finishing up soon, this place is messing with my head a bit.”***** Outside Central Control “THE RELEASE MECHANISM IS CONNECTED TO THE MINE LAUNCHER. THE MINE LAUNCHER IS CONNECTED TO THE PRO-OX TRIGGERS!”Explosions rock Foregone Conclusion Hydra snarls for a damage report.  “Shields are holding sir, no damage to report. Sensors are having issues sir, those were fission bombs. Lots of radioactive particles scattered abo- SHIP LAUNCH! They launched a ship sir!”The sensors were indeed a haze of static and energetic background, but Hydra could see the mass detector registering the additional vessel. Smaller than The Jenni but larger than a heavy fighter. And fast, it’d already opened up a sizeable gap between it and the Conclusion. “I’m picking up the signal traffic the Captain told us to look for, that’s the target!”“Of course it is. Full speed, launch missiles and fighters as soon as we clear the debris field!”The Foregone Conclusion surges ahead, slowly gaining on the target. The unknown vessel is still faster, but it has to maneuver around the battle debris that the larger ship can safely plow through. And then the Conclusion launches its fighters, slowly hemming the target in. Until…  “Ah, sir? I must report that the target vessel is now a target giant robot. Sir?”The comms crackle to life, the signal overriding local controls. “HELLO DARLINGS! ESPECIALLY YOU CODY, I’VE MISSED YOUR SCREAMS OF TERROR. SO, SO MUCH. ~ANYWHOOO~ HERE’S THE DEAL. YOU LET ME GO, AND I DON’T USE THE DARK MATTER LAUNCHERS I LOADED ONTO MY NEW HOTNESS HERE TO MAKE LARGE HOLES IN YOUR SHIP. FULL DISCLOSURE: I WILL BE BACK TO KILL YOU ALL LATER. BUT THIS WAY WE ALL GET TO ENJOY THE ANTICIPATION. SO WHAT’S THE WORD, MY PETS?”The bridge crew sits in stunned silence, looking to Hydra. Who is also at a loss. All except Cody. She silently gets up from the pilot’s station, walks over to the command throne, and slams her fist down on a large red button that’s had layers of tape that says ‘DO NOT PUSH’ written on it. The ship’s lighting dims and several power relays explode into sparks as a massive amount of energy is shunted into the not-quite-operational Beam Laser system. It manages to fire at near full power for 0.57 Standard seconds before multiple parts melt. The beam clips the target mech, vaporizing nearly half of it and sending the rest spinning out of control. Jadzi’s angry face appears on the holo, the chaos in the engine room evident behind her.  “What the hell was that? I’ve had to shut down reactor-2 and a third of the ship’s power relays have blown! Who the he-” “Bill. Me. Unless you wanted to explain to the Captain how she escaped.”“Ahhh, point taken. Justya, just try to give a girl some warning next time.”“Sure. Whatever.”***** The Calculation Array, Central Control By the time Foregone Conclusion returns, you’ve managed to reconnect the Columbia and Lamarr to the control systems, whatever had been jamming them ended suddenly. Your ship has seen better days, but honestly they probably got luckily. Hydra looks at you over the commlink, a wariness in her face. “We were able to… subdue the target before they were able to do any further damage to Central Control although our vessel will need extensive repairs. We’ve also been able to recover most of the variable-geometry vehicle the target attempted escape in. Jadzi says that it would be possible to piece it back together again with the proper facilities.”“Excellent. Now tell me the bad news you’re avoiding First Centurion.”*sigh*”While we have captured the target, Specialist Johns has already had to thwart 6 escape attempts. She is unsure if she has the ability to contain the prisoner long term.“... Yes. I can see that’s not the best of news. Let me see if I can come up with something on my end.”===== So 274-h has been contained, although Foregone Conclusion will have to undergo a Rebuild (1 STP) at a Dedicated Engineering Workshop (which we don’t have) to remove its Low Power Condition. The fragile systems of CentCon are ok, but there will be a time/STP penalty for any projects to get the installation back up and running. Decision 1: What About Her 274-h is currently contained in a separate positronic core, but the crew is worried that she will be able to hack her way out of it. What do? A: Destroy The Core Surely 274-h has done enough to deserve capital punishment. And it shouldn’t have any effect on you in the least. Right? B: A Better Mousetrap Use parts from CentCon to build a more secure containment device. With your know-how and Humantech parts, surely nothing could go wrong. C: Remerge You know one way that has kept 274-h contained and mostly harmless for over 70 years. Use yourself as a protective buffer between her and the world. D: Other
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2018 02:40
|
|