265 replies to this topic

[Pirits]

"Lieutenant Eldritch, Dan, Bill, and Piston, now doesn't seem like the time to be speaking of cakes. Sentium knows we're here correct_ Now is a time of action, who knows what else Crion may have been doing in their spare time_"

The Lieutenant seems incapable of keeping his focus on a single one task, the other three seem nothing more than mercenaries, and I don't think I'd hire them. Nevertheless they are getting to be a bit out of hand by breaking these doors. I know not what lies beyond, but Prosk nor Sentium should know either. The A.I. developers don't know what this facility was used for so they can't tell me anything either...

"Perhaps something to end the madness of the Hawken virus, or something worse lies behind this vault door. The chances are slim that it could be much worse than the virus, but if it is what are we to do then_"

[The_Eldritch_Abomination]

Eldritch frowned at the sight of the L5 Boot, and the pilot's swift counter response to his question. Odd, it seemed, that he would simply just appear like that without warning. Perhaps Prosk had deployed another pilot to keep watch, and to step in when they had reached their goal_

"Anyway, these charges are hot and ready to blow, so I'd recommend we stay some distance away." Eldritch pointed out, as he started to back away.

"Well Dan, you may do the honours." The Royal Guard said, as the gang of 5 did their best to shield their mechs behind the rusting hulks lining the tunnel which were previously cargo trucks.

Dan was just about to detonate the charges, when dust from the ceiling started to fall down, followed by rhythmic pounding originating from the tunnels behind them, and the muffled sound of what was unmistakably, a Sentium battleship.

The enemy reinforcements had arrived.

Edited by The_Eldritch_Abomination, February 23 2013 - 02:11 AM.

[Frouste]

Piston began to stir with more enthusiasm- no, more like blood lust, "LET'S GET IT ON!"
"Pipe down you fuzzy ass," Dan knew there was little he could do to keep Piston from his excitement.  Better to let him be excited and quiet, than to be giving away our position.  Now, how do we escape without getting pounded by that battleship_  Dan's mind began racing fast, and the only guy who would know...  "Hey, new guy, is there a back door that we could use to escape without getting spotted by Sentium's air support_"  Dan's first and foremost mission was to eliminate the scavengers that were scouring the warehouse...  Well, we have bitten off more than we could chew...

Edited by Frouste, February 23 2013 - 02:31 AM.

[Pirits]

"It's highly unlikely that a secret facility would have a 'back door' but it may hold weapons or something else to aid our escape. It would seem likely due to the numbers of unused mechs in the hanger above that this was a weapons or 'ability' testing facility."

Like it matter to Pirits weather they lived or died the constant signal he sent off was recording memories and experiences to be booted into the next body assuming he died. And his ability to switch companies due to his freelance status made him quite the cameleon. I was spying on them was usually a easy excuse to implement, and if they saw through the excuse he escaped without a trace or died and became a myth for fuzz buckets to fear...

"If anyone is willing to butcher their mech and accept a new weapon or augmentation it is highly likely we can escape with our lives and a number of enemy casualties, or he who accepts the new item may explode. Nothing too major, so I'd say seeing as the explosion chance is decreased with more durable mechs. And my mech was built to compensate for 'shortcomings' in weapons, fuel and other general happenings, if we find new technology in there I'd like to think my mech could handle the stresses that come with it. But no, no back door or it may lead further down in altitude, assuming there was a back door..."

[The_Eldritch_Abomination]

The enemy was getting closer.

With no time to waste, and no figurative 'back door', Eldritch wondered what to do. He could try drawing the enemy mech's fire at him, and let his teammates escape before escaping with them- but that thought was quickly shelved. The enemy had a Battleship for fuzzy bunny's sake, what could possibly avoid that_

With their time running out, Callsign Eldritch ordered Dan to blow the charges. "Well, we can't go back, so the only way is to go forwards."

PS: This is my last post for tonight, AUS time.  

[Frouste]

"If we have to fight our way out does this place have an anti-air solution for defense_"  Dan hoped this was the case, "I know it's not really running away, but if we can stand our ground with a few missile silos, we should be able to down the battleship and be able to bolt back to our outpost."

Note: last post for now, I wanna play Hawken!

Edited by Frouste, February 23 2013 - 04:01 AM.

[Mackindale]

I crawl from the wrecked remains of my mech into the old factory, now empty. I cough, checking myself for injury. I appear to be ok, only wobbly on my legs from the near death experience, and the acclimation of having driven a bot for the past few weeks. I walk over to one of the older models of mechs and drag over my KE-SABOT from my ruined mech. Having experience with these, I graft it onto the arm and rewire it as best as I can. These things are all standard assembly, so everything fits together great, (like building a PC IRL). I get into the cockpit and rev up the engines. I modify and hack the IFF settings to show me as Prosk. I don't care, I just want some money and to stay alive. My allegiance to a corrupt, insane corporation goes no further than that. I thumb the accelerator and find the elevator shaft from before. I enter it, this time going down, likely to a location close to the thing in the ground I had seen before, where the Prosk loons were gathered. I look around, feeling hopelessly alone, and knowing the only way to get some food and supplies was to meet up with and persuade the Prosk guys to let me join up. Poor Beefsweat...
Looking at the dashboard shows some interesting stuff. Even though this isn't outfitted for military like most bots, it does have some very advanced features not present on most mechs bunnies fly lately.
I descend the tunnel and look around, trying to spot Prosk "comrades".

[SilentJacket]

gears. servos. wires.

<begin log>
Most of the damage done to the internal organs were minimal, so the nanobots were able to fix most of the damage
rebuilding the skeletal structure proved more difficult, I ran out of ceramic and had to use parts from the Hiefram for his skull and upper torso
repairing the limbs proved more difficult, the left hand was completely crushed, and the left leg was hanging by skin and muscle
these parts were rerouted back into the body using nanobots, and mechanical substitutes will have to be grafted on

He won't be able move as fast as he used to, but it's better than no limbs at all, I suppose.

what I wouldn't give for proper shop right now.
<end log>

I sat back admiring my handiwork, between the nanobot's work in accelerating tissue growth, and the synthetic skin over his new limbs, you could hardly tell there was an accident at all. The servos and framework sill had Crion data stamps on them but so long as no one did a deep tissue scan, they won't be detected.

"well, may as well make sure he won't kill me when he wakes up" I think to myself

I take his sidearms and radio, and leave a note beside him, it has been far too long since I talked to another human, but I figured I stuck the right note with my letter

"welcome to my humble abode, there is nothing here for you to see in my home, please leave"

Edited by SilentJacket, February 23 2013 - 07:48 AM.

[SilentJacket]

<log date: unknown>
<Welcome Dr. Seint>
<connection to Crion Laboratories pending>
.
..
..
<ERR: Connection Failed>

<log saved for future connections>
<ERR: Local backlog full, [140] messages pending>

<override to external storage_>

[yes] no

<override accepted>
<you may now begin speaking>

The year is, god I don't know,
this world is dying, and now the products of our mistake stand locked in eternal battle outside my very door.

I Isolated myself from these conflicts, in hope to forget my mistakes and right this wrong, yet here they are

will this planet grant me no peace_

I bet those Pilots outside don't even know where they are standing
The pivot and peak of our society, hidden under miles of stone
I was so foolish back then, believing in a better future for Illial, we were all so Naïve to believe that our machine would solve anything.

So here I lay, with death breathing down my neck
and should this god forsaken world choose to take my life,

well,

I wouldn't blame them.

<end log>
<message stored>

Edited by SilentJacket, February 23 2013 - 10:02 AM.

[Beefsweat]

A galaxy of sounds begins to drip into my auditory world. Everything is dark and I can feel nothing. But I can hear. Oh, how I can hear. I hear the voice of tools - squeaking, grinding, clicking, soldering - I hear the voice of a man, old and gruff and frustrated.

What is he saying_ I keep hearing... laboratory... pilot... Illal...

Another hour of noises and something in me heaves. It heaves where my chest should be. It heaves where my mind should be. Now I am awake, and I feel every part of me. My eyes spring open and are immediately shut by the unwelcoming din of harsh fluorescent lights. I scream. It all hurts. I can feel my body, ripped apart and cobbled back together. It takes me many moments to regain myself. Minutes feel like hours. Finally I am able to stop screaming and roll to my side, revealing a paper scrap and an empty magazine from my emergency pistol. I clench the paper in my hand - finding that my fie motor skills have not yet returned to me - and pull my legs off of the cot. Wires POP and HISS out of my back and arms. I reach back to touch where they met my body, I touch a vertical series of small disc-like objects embedded in my skin.

Oh god.

Edited by Beefsweat, February 23 2013 - 10:46 AM.

[The_Eldritch_Abomination]

"Does it look as if there are any AA silos around_!" Eldritch was trying to persuade his comrades to keep calm, but the edge of impatience was present in his strained voice. "The last time I checked, factories don't usually have AA defense, let alone underground tunnels! Like I said, we have to keep moving forwards!"

The sound of the Sentium mechs were getting ever closer by the second. With no more time to waste, the Guard then overrode control of the charges and then set them off.

BOOM.

Edited by The_Eldritch_Abomination, February 23 2013 - 03:58 PM.

[SilentJacket]

damn Corporation

damn Prosk

damn Sentium

damn whomever just cracked the crypt.

I was just getting prepared to ready the lab's defenses when it happened, the blast and the warning signals from the lab's redundancy sensors. If those brutes get their hands on MY machine...!

No, no, no, no, NO! I yell, as the lab's concealed AAs failed to deploy for the 4th time
I slam my fists on the control panel, when I hear a piercing scream coming from the lab

"NOT NOW!"

I run to the bench where I see my creation trembling and withering in pain
"Your are not done yet!" I yell as I hurriedly began pluging the various nerve clusters and cables back into the hysterical man
"what have you done to me_!" he screams
"I saved your goddamn life is what I did, now shut up!" I exclaim, as I inject sedative into the IV lines
"that should give him enough time to finish healing, but just to be safe..."
I order another 200,000 nanobots to finish the repairs,
"when they are done, they will absorb the sedative and he will leave."

this is all wrong, the pilot must leave, they all must leave, before they find IT.

"they must leave"
this word echoed in my head for a moment, and in a burst of clarity, a plan began to form

I ran back to the destroyed Heifram for the last time, and pulled out the energy matrix from the lower housing, which had been conveniently blasted open.

"these things are a lot smaller than they used to be", I think to myself as I drag the red-brown core into my shop

I pulled off the covers of the mech, hidden in the dim lights of the lab

small, fast, quiet, lethal.

Designs for our organic mech were shut down when it was found that their mechanical counterparts could be built for much cheeper, but at the cost of a revolutionary breakthrough

Since then I had been building and tinkering with this prototype "L4 Boot proto 2.1" was it's official name, I called it the Stalker.
During my time in isolation, I had perfected the camo suite, so that it recharged at the same rate that it consumed energy, and my beauty had one thing that no other mech on this planet had. Commanded by an army of early prototype "Hawken virus" nanobots, this semi-living mech had the ability to regenerate it's parts at merely seconds after loosing them, all while remaining cloaked.

I had thought several times to use this mech to escape, but the EMP blast that forced The Machine into hibernation, also took out every power cell for miles, but now, my creation may breath.

The intruders must leave, for their own good, as well as my own.

The machine is far too delicate to be abused by greedy corporations, not now, not ever.

Edited by SilentJacket, February 23 2013 - 06:16 PM.

[SilentJacket]

<Welcome, Dr.Seint>
<beginning diagnostics>
<Prototype 2.1 advanced combat awareness HUD>
.
..
...
< diagnostics complete, all systems [normal]>
<warning, [non-native] energy source located>
<purge_>

yes [no]

<integration beginning>
<standby>
[Unknown manufacturing stamp]
[Unknown power type]
[fuel source: self-sustaining]
<analysis as acceptable substitute power source [verified]>
<integration complete, analysis yields 215% power generation of previous component>
<warning, unable to send new core data to Crion Laboratories>
<integrating new power signature>
<adjusting cloaking systems>
<core accepted, integration complete>

<beginning component analysis>

<armament>
<warning, armament has not been verified for combat use>
-Modified REV-GL with variable payload
[EMP (0), HE charge (12), Nanobot capsule (20), hacker charge (15)]
-Magnetic Acceleration Cannon
[200 kg tungsten rounds (4)]

<nanobot component regeneration [verified]>
<prototype 2.1 cloaking systems [verified]>
<organic component stability [verified]>

<clear to proceed>

<deploying>
3...
2...
1...

Edited by SilentJacket, February 23 2013 - 06:03 PM.

[Beefsweat]

                                                                                          cold

                                  sedative

                                                                                                                                          silence


My mind is not what it used to be. I can feel that now. I can feel my feet dipping into this grassy tumultuous tributary, the blades between my toes. I can feel my neck crane as I scan the snow-capped mountains. I can feel a hand brush my neck, gently. So softly. A whisper in my ear that I cannot discern. All things are slow now - the water runs at a snail's crawl. The grass and trees bend and wave in the silent wind at fractions of fractions of inches.



are these thoughts

                                  or are they memories_




                                                                             are they even mine anymore_

[Pirits]

Did anyone alive now know what was being tested in this facility_ Crion kept my engineers apart from other groups working on different projects, if they built an A.I. what else could they do with enough time_ If my systems were compatible with them and didn't slow down my processing time I could be unstoppable, surely this is what Crion planned to create some weapon of war that was unyielding in force, speed and precision. As far as I know I'm as close as it comes, then again I could still only 'hive mind' four machines effectively. I can hope...

Crion had a great plan going then messed it up somehow, I can only hope the best and brightest ones lived and are picking up the sub-signal I'm having my mech send out over private intercoms, also if my parents give me a new command it was this signal that would pick it up.

I have to hope there are more projects leaders out there that will see my use and grant me their knowledge and perhaps some of their spoils of thought and work then and only then can I beco-*BOOM*

I have to listen to this Prosk officer for the time being even though he's messing this facility up with high explosives, this 'team' shall be my tool for the time being and in the best scenario I kill all that stand in my way that aren't EX-Crion and get the data from this location, at worst i get no data and have to come back here another day assuming they don't destroy the data, but Crion was good about having almost off-location data stores for the ground-shattering research, even though I hate digging...

"Lieutenant Eldritch who would you have go in first_"

(Edit: I like where this is going, and I have high hopes for it.)

Edited by Pirits, February 23 2013 - 06:37 PM.

[The_Eldritch_Abomination]

"Lieutenant Eldritch, who would have take point_" Asked the unknown Infiltrator, as it stood there innocently, like a pet dog running to his master.

"Right, you take point first and then scout the area. Once the coast is clear, you tell us to move in."  The pilot replied briskly.

As the L5 Boot cloaked and moved into the facility past the blown out doors, Eldritch could see that it was some sort of antechamber. At the end, was a set of smaller, though still sufficiently large for a C mech to move through, double doors. The Boot simply Ran through it like a knife through butter.

The Royal Guard then took the time to contemplate what would happen next, should they find anything interesting or useful down here. What would they do with it_ Of course, the team would suggest first to give it to Prosk, but after seeing the cold, calculating nature of the mega corp and the potential for great destruction, the lieutenant was now unsure of what to do next.

But what worried him even more was the arrival of this new teammate, the L5 Boot. Like he thought earlier, he could of been another Prosk agent sent to oversee the mission, but his demeanor was what really irked him. Instead of having a viable personality, like Piston's brutish tendencies  Dan's, thought intuitive nature and Bill's persona of simply following on with whatever his comrades said, the newcomer didn't have any defining traits that would of set him apart from the group. He was quite blankly- blank, almost mechanical in nature.

For a moment, he pondered the possibilities. Was this a Sentium infiltrator, sent to silence the group_ Or was he some agent of the now defunct mega corp Crion_ he had heard rumors that they had managed to create fully- functional, sentient Artificial Intelligence-

Ridiculous. Stay focused. Eldritch thought to himself.   And hurry the hell up. he thought, as the sound of the Sentium mechs grew ever closer.

Edited by The_Eldritch_Abomination, February 23 2013 - 07:33 PM.

[SilentJacket]

<Warning>
<Breach of the outer Crypt has been detected>
<standby for drone deployment>
.
..
...
<Identified (1) commander-class Sentium Battleship>
<Identified (16) Sentium combat shells>
<Identified (4) Prosk combat shells>
<Identified (1) [DATA EXPUNGED]>
<Identified (1) prototype combat shell>

<AAs primed>
<Warning, AA silos jammed>
<standby>
.
..
...
<AAs Deployed>
<Drones Deployed>
<ERR: Unable to send report to Crion Command>
​<technician request has been sent>

Edited by SilentJacket, February 23 2013 - 07:18 PM.

[The_Eldritch_Abomination]

[5 MINUTES LATER]

The team was getting worried. The Boot had been gone for several minutes. What had happened to it_ And when were those Sentium-

The gang were interrupted by the sight of Sentium mechs at the other end of the tunnel, 2 Rocketeers, 4 Bruisers and  3 Scouts- they had been discovered!

"FUZZY BUNNY! get going now!" Eldritch yelled as he covered his teammates as they all stomped into the anti-chamber. The Sentium mechs fired several salvos of Hellfires missiles, rockets and a hail of bullets and Flak shrapnel at the gang. Several bullets glanced off the Cupcake as Callsign Eldritch crossed into the antechamber, himself and his team firing against the incoming marauders.

As the missiles drew closer to them, and the Cupcake's HUD displayed the dreaded INCOMING message, Eldritch felt an emotion that he had not experienced for years- terror. His mech could sure as hell take a crapload of a beating and still be perfectly functional, but against this merciless barrage, he wouldn't have too much of a chance.  Was this really how things were going to end-

However, by a twist of fate, sheer luck or some omnipotent force, the barrage slammed into some shimmering blue wall that had 'snapped' into place at the seemingly last moment. The Sentium mechs boosted closer, and then stopped,a s if their pilots were unsure what to do. They tried slamming into the wall, and instead crashed into it instead of passing through.

Curiously, Eldritch moved to the shimmering wall. As a test, he moved his Submachine Cannon to touch the 'wall' and was met with resistance, as unyielding as solid rock.

Eldritch pondered upon the ramifications of this act. Why hadn't this 'shield' activated when they had blown the ever loving fuzzy bunny out of the door_ Or when they were about to be killed by the Sentium salvo_

He then proceeded to fire at the Sentium invaders. Oddly enough, his own projectiles managed to pass the barrier. A wall of Submachine Cannon rounds smacked a Scout right in the Cockpit, and a grenade sailed squarely into a Rocketeer. having decided that they had met their match, the Sentium mechs hightailed it out of there.  

Alright, Crion were definitely up to something BIG. Why else would they put up all these defenses_ Eldritch wondered, as the gang moved away from the cold glares of the Sentium pilots, through the smashed in doors of the antechamber and into unknown dangers ahead.

And what had happened to the Infiltrator_

Edited by The_Eldritch_Abomination, March 04 2013 - 09:44 PM.

[Pirits]

Perfect, having me take point. I get the first look at this stuff the first room wasn't much but the second room... The few uncovered builds looked off almost as if they were made out of bits and pieces of 'trees' and 'flowers' I've only ever seen pictures of those, ha, what a joke metal is the best tool of war, correct_ Now here comes the fun part, I have to get out of my machine hide it and link up with a data outlet.

*A sigh is heard over the intercom as Pirits thought of what he had to do.*

It's the only thing I can do get the data, crash the system with a virus, and take out as many as I can before I have my data transferred to the next body. But it was my body that was the problem, I'm shaped like a human but I'm shiny like silver and coated in various data hookup nodes, both input and output. Son of a kitten! I'll also have to unhook from my mech, that will take another three seconds but in that time I can unhook non-vital movement command nodes and pick a spot to shut this down at.

"These mechs look like a bit of a joke to me sir, like someone cut down a few trees and carved them into various 'mech like' structures. I think this facility may be a decoy..." Pirits said over his radio to the Prosk units.

A Crion blip on the long-range scanners..._ Time to send an encrypted message to him that the older Crion encryption codes could easily break, but on a frequency neither Prosk nor Sentium scan on regular occasion...

Frequency found, now for the message, I'll hope he can pick this up with those out of date scanners everyone else has...

This is Pirits AKA AI-13 I'm requesting back-up ASAP. Four Prosk units are near my location and multiple Sentium units are inbound, requesting assistance.

And end the message. Now that cupcake has about a 10-14% chance that it's been modified for radar scanning perspicuous and the three lesser units have about a 3-7% chance cumulative. The out-dated Crion unit has a 0-40%* chance. *:Insufficient data found. The Sentium battleship has a 75-82.04% chance. The Sentium forces are my biggest problem at the moment. Either way I can chance my machines signal indicator if i get away.

Time to set my plan in motion.

[FIVE MINUETS LATER]

Data recovered, gunshots, and the system has been put on lock with my insane password. Time to hop back into my mech and check that radar...

Prosk forces are doing better than expected.

"Lieutenant this facility is a joke, data on 'organic' machines was found and little more other than data on weapons they were compatible with. Some of which don't even exists, this facility seems to be more of a buffer or dead facility. Either way we've wasted time here..." Ha, time as long as there is metal and radio signals I can live. "...time is a very valuable substance we have little of"

Calculate EOC trajectory: one puck per hellfire secondary equipped mech: fire.

A few EOC pucks fly past Elritch each hitting the Bruisers in the cockpit as well as a Rocketeer, the sixth missed it's mark and hit the second Rocketeer's hellfire arm.

"I missed..." Pirits says with an open com before the pucks go off.

Edited by Pirits, February 23 2013 - 07:41 PM.

[SilentJacket]

<system analysis>
maintenance systems [online]
comm systems [offline]
shield systems [online]
drone security [online]
AA silo [online]

<enemy battleship has been engaged, predicting destruction in [040] minutes>
<drones deployed>
<enemy contact in [002] minutes>

<unknown combat shell AI has been analysed>
<warning, unknown combat chassis hostility detected>
<Class [1] "plant" mechs have been damaged>
<assumed enemy, markers have been updated>

<Class [2] "wolf" drone deployment has been authorized>
<Class [2] drones deployed>
<Sentium battleship shields have failed>
<new projected destruction in [008] minutes>

Edited by SilentJacket, February 23 2013 - 07:52 PM.