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Post by Eric Lysander on Feb 9, 2014 14:19:16 GMT -6
2001: A Space Odyssey.
The ancient vid was Eric's introduction to space and science fiction in his youth. As much as he enjoyed the vid, what unnerved him the most about it was not the mysterious alien monolith or the AI that systematically murdered the crew in its care. It was a sequence where an astronaut went on a spacewalk to inspect and repair a damaged antenna. The only sound heard throughout was the steady rhythm of the astronaut's breathing. It was very claustrophobic.
"Fifteen..." counted the shuttle's VI.
Years later, Eric suffered a near panic attack during zero-G training. Realizing that his suit was the only thing keeping him from boiling alive in the vacuum of space. The instructors had carried out the first few exercises without CPU sound restructs to get cadets used to the sensory deprivation, in case non-essential systems needed to be shut off to avoid detection. Soon Eric learned to manage and overcome this fear.
"Ten...."
He dislodged his gum and chewed some more, looking to either side of him. Cruendhi'has, Meldom and River took their places beside the airlock door. They looked as ready as they could be.
"Seven."
Artemis and Zeus swayed a bit and maintained balance as the shuttle adjusted speed and attitude.
"Five."
Eric extended his sniper rifle, holding it close to his chest.
"Four."
He looked over parts of his armor in a cursory manner, where the pieces of his device once were. Now entrusted to a member of team Persephone to be assembled if she felt the ruins were lost or a danger, Eric to send the arming code through his omnitool.
"Three."
Eric exhaled once forcefully and inhaled.
"Two."
The group swayed again as the Vengeance made one final adjustment to its orientation.
"One."
Eric held his breath.
"Deploy."
The hatch opened and Eric jumped out. All the rustling and brushing of armor plates against body lining, footsteps on metal cut to silence. Dead silence in that brief freefall to the ground. Eric exhaled again and listened to the sound of the gravel and dirt mash against his suit and helmet before he resumed a steady breathing rhythm. He completed four sets of breaths - equivalent to eight seconds - and checked his sides again.
Artemis and Zeus were fully deployed, flat against the ground and ready to move out.
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Post by Game Master on Feb 9, 2014 17:37:47 GMT -6
[GM Post: Round One]
Zeus/Turrets: The turrets structure stands two stories high, with the cannons perched on the top. The entrance is fairly easy to make out from where you're standing, the sliding doors leading into the adhoc structure were closed. Even from far away, anyone with the remotest skill with engineering would be able to see how quickly that structure was. The lock will not present a challenge. The security camera pointing at the doorway, however, might be a challenge.
Artemis/Sniper: The only targets in clear view were the ones shambling around listlessly between the digsite and Collector outpost.
Persephone/Ares: Something was off about where you landed, as if you were not alone. All that was around were boulders, small craters, a few strange discolorations on a nearby rocky outcropping, and three sets of yellow glowing eyes glaring at you full of malice from the nearby shadows.
Mech Pilot: Your touchdown by the Collector Base does not go unnoticed, though it will take a few seconds for the response to begin. You have one free action before a couple of Collectors charge out.
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Post by Maelstrom on Feb 9, 2014 22:43:14 GMT -6
"Five," Emily called into the channel specific to teams Persephone and Ares.
The shuttle settled into place a couple hundred meters back from the opening of the northeast ravine into the dig site. Nav-point Styx. Maelstrom quickly confirmed the protocol up on his control pannel, the command he had been mulling over for days- a failsafe of sorts if something should happen to him. He quickly unbuckled his harness and leaped to his feet, grabbing the overhead rail for stability.
"Deploy," Emily announced.
The hatch opened silently, but this time his suit's systems rendered a metallic clinking and sliding. Maelstrom placed a reassuring hand on Shala'Bekk's shoulder for only a moment, before drawing his rifle and following a couple others in leaping the two meters to the ground below. He stumbled a bit when he landed, the moon's gravity being significantly greater than he expected. Still not as heavy as earth, but enough to surprise for a body its size. Once he got his balance back, he crouched low, surveying the landscape about him whiling down the barrel of his rifle.
There was nothing he could immediately place as a threat, during the brief moments of confusion as the team touched down and got a sense of their surroundings. He watched with the slightest hint of trepidation as, a matter of seconds after the last of the team touched down, the Vengeance sped away. There was a growing sense of unease building within him, as he visually scanned the harsh, angular formations of rock, the interplay of light and shadows. His HUD, still adapting to the environment, offered little in the way of help. This was a place he felt certain never held life. Yet he had an all-too-familiar feeling of being watched. A feeling which had thus far never betrayed him. One that had saved his life too many times to dismiss. That's why his finger hovered continually over the trigger.
For a just a moment, he closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing and the sound of the next track beginning to play in his earpiece. Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor.
He laughed to himself, having not thought of it before. Moonlight Sonata.
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Post by Iregos on Feb 9, 2014 23:43:09 GMT -6
Ressi stepped off the shuttle with practiced ease, trying to minimize the disturbance of her impact. In spite of her training, she could not completely dampen her fall, small particles and dust rising under foot. Most of the impact absorbed by her suit. After landing she took account for her surroundings and the others that landed with her.
Sensing they were being watched, she turned and saw a pair of eyes while crouching. She drew her pistol under concealment, close to her side, and indicated to anyone who was watching what she saw and if they hadn't noticed it yet.
Given time to react, she had her hud display a minimized thermal analysis of what she was looking at, and the dull pattern of her armor melted in to the surrounding terrain. She carefully watched the movement (or lack of movement) among the three identical figures, and approached from stealth if they seemed to recognize their entrance. If they attack, she holds back and picks them off with her pistol.
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Post by grandest on Feb 10, 2014 16:43:21 GMT -6
Cruendi'has deftly jumped from the dropship to the surface of the moon. He heard the hollow thud resound in his helmet and quickly made his way to a source of cover-- a waist high boulder that still offered a good view of the turret installation. It was two stories high, with the cannons perched on top. It was odd-looking: as though some living creature were overtaking the cannons, forming some sort of pulsating, iridescent skin around a metallic skeleton. Cruendi'has shrugged off the unnerving feeling one would be excused for developing when encountering something so alien. Focusing his attention back to the building itself, he spotted the entrance. A pair of sliding doors leading into the adhoc structure appeared to be locked. Cruendi'has also noted the oscillating camera above the threshold. "Well," he relayed to his Salarian partner. "The doors lock shouldn't be to difficult to bypass, even by me. The camera, though, could prove a hassle." Cruendi'has pulled out his shotgun. "What do you say, Meldom? You take the direct route with your cloak and unlock the door for us? I'll run around the camera's field of view and follow you in as it's turned away?"
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Post by Game Master on Feb 10, 2014 17:24:59 GMT -6
[GM Post - The Battle Begins]
Persephone and Ares - Summary: 5 Collectors are close to where you are at. Classified as mooks. Because this is a surprise attack, they will not be able to get off a shot. Depending on how fast your character is, they may get a biotic assault off. Your character can kill one per round, unless there's a good justification for killing 2 or 3, but that has to be the limit. Have to save enemies so everyone can do something.
Blanketing silence smothered all sound in the area, the only thing heard was your teammate's voice through your helmet's comm system. Holographic readout flash in front of your helmet's display, dissecting the area before you. Shadows were illuminated. Every crack and imperfection on the surface was made clear.
Bug-like humanoids were hidden within the shadows, though not for ambush. They were not crouched to attack nor seem to realize you are there right now. They were on a patrol of the area, sticking to the darkness to remain hidden. Fortunately for you, you see them first.
Zeus
Summary: The lock on the door to the turrets is very easily opened. The only challenge here is the surveillance system that's on the door. Within the make-shift building are 3 Collectors, classified as mooks. They are sitting behind the barrels of the turrets, ready to fire. As long as the surveillance system is successfully circumvented, your attack will count as a surprise attack.
Artemis
Summary: From your vantage point, you would be able to see three more additional Collectors, classified as mooks, patrolling. The dozen or so humanoids shuffling around were also in your line of sight, also classified as mooks.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 17:50:26 GMT -6
Iskra could only hear her breathing, after the countdown there had been nothing but silence. The small group hadn’t whispered encouragements, there were no orders being yelled, not even a static collective breath as they all stepped onto the moon.
“Asa,” Iskra whispered to VI. “Monitor all vital signs of the team, alert me if any begin to fall.” Read outs filled the top right of the Drell’s helmet as the VI gathered constant information from the others suits.
It was the first time she had felt comfortable on this trip, the barren moon reminding her of Rakhana. Just like on the homeworld, she felt eyes upon the group as soon as the shuttle flew off, eyes from the dark. The asari’s demeanor shifted and Iskra followed the other woman’s gaze to a small pack of the Collectors.
Crowd control. Immediately, Iskra threw a Singularity into the middle of the enemies.
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Post by dargene on Feb 10, 2014 18:15:56 GMT -6
Meldoms heart rate was elevated as was his breathing, he hated Zero-G environments, it only took one wrong thing to go flying into the vast black sea.
Least the leg hurts less he thought to himself.
"What do you say, Meldom? You take the direct route with your cloak and unlock the door for us? I'll run around the camera's field of view and follow you in as it's turned away?"
Meldom nodded as he calmed himself, breathing and heart rate returning to almost normal but slightly elevated "Cloak not really suited for lack of atmosphere but should work to our advantage if not prolonged", he activated his cloak slowly disappearing ,each part of him fading until you could not see a trace of him "Heading to door now" he slowly approached the door, even with the cloak he always acted as if a footstep could give him away, in this zero-G environment it could as the dust from the moon could kick up.
He reached the door and smiled on the inside of his suit even for all the collectors tech they used a simple camera that could not detect him he hooked his omnitool to the door and started to run the decryption program "Simple lock as you said, suggest moving to door now as it should be open in a few moments.. Camera rotation is slow so you should have enough time" he watched as the numbers popped up on his internal helmet as he murmured to himself "Standard blue suns lock.. somewhat crude".
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Post by Maelstrom on Feb 10, 2014 18:19:10 GMT -6
Maelstrom opened his eyes, as his HUD adapted, highlighting the silhouettes of his squad-mates slightly. The impact sensors in his boots registered footsteps. He noticed Resindra walking the opposite direction he was facing, towards one of the edges of the ravine they were in. Iska's hand had a slight bluish glow around it, as she made a motion he could only assume was a biotic attack.
Maelstrom's feet swiveled under him as he turned to face the same direction as the others. His torso twisted, and he went down on his right knee, turning one hundred and eighty degrees about yet keeping his feet in place as he continued to survey the world down the barrel of his rifle. The HUD highlighted a biotic singularity, which had caught several vaguely humanoid bodies in its field. He made out motion just beyond the field's reach, as another of the beings, which matched the appearance of the Collector soldiers he had seen in his files, turned around. Two sets of glowing orb-like eyes fixed on their group.
Before it even had a chance to raise its rifle, Maelstrom adjusted his aim. He pulled the trigger, instinct rather than the HUD telling him that his weapon was aimed perfectly at the Collector's midsection. Even without the emulators, Maelstrom heard the familiar whine of his weapon's weapon through his suit, as it shot a rapid stream of projectiles. The rate varied, following a sine curve, as he rose his aim gradually, leaving a trail of puncture wounds from its stomach to its head. Whether it was carapace or environmental suit he was piercing, he was unsure. He was merely impressed by the sheer volume of vital fluids which sprayed forth from the wounds, boiling instantly into vapor. The creature went through painful looking spasms for a moment, before collapsing to its knees and then flopping face-down onto the ground.
I really hope these things don't have a hive mind, he thought.
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Post by Eric Lysander on Feb 10, 2014 20:55:51 GMT -6
Zeus and Artemis were making good time. Cruendi'has and Meldom soon took up position by a small boulder with a view of their objective, Eric and River a small distance away lying flat to the ground. Zeus appeared to be conferring on the next move. Eric zoomed in on the turret emplacement with his rifle scope. As he surmised back in the planning stages, the Collectors had drooled a considerable amount on them, going over the vein-like structures enveloping the top half. The door thankfully was more conventional.
As was the all-too-human surveillance camera aimed in its direction.
Should be no problem for Meldom's cloak, Eric assured himself as he scanned the area to the left of the emplacement. He could make out two, three Collectors on patrol moving away from them. Eric gestured to River to note them as well; they would no doubt be the first to try to retake the turrets once Zeus did its job.
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Post by Iregos on Feb 10, 2014 21:59:18 GMT -6
Ressi is ready to tear into the enemy with biotics when Iskra's singularity catches the buglike humanoids, lifting them to the air like rag dolls. It seemed their training was a good match.
She holds her biotic strike back this time, not wanting to send a beacon on their location with fireworks and corpses flying in every direction. She uses this moment to swiftly dispatch them with her pistol, while they are moving targets with predictable momentum. Their lifeless corpses stay suspended over the singularity for the moment.
She turns to the others right as the ambush commences. Surprise no longer on their side, she leaves stealth and raises her barriers, ready to counter their charge.
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Post by River Havens on Feb 11, 2014 4:40:58 GMT -6
Using her thermal scope on her Mantis, River scanned the area slowly, counting the the number of Collectors that happen to come into view. She had been unusually quiet since boarding the shuttle, slipping into a sort-of battle ready trance in an effort to prepare her both her mind and body.
An handy technique she was grateful her uncle had taught her.
"I count four on patrol," she relied through her comms. "Scrap that. Five. Watch yourself guys."
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Post by Shala'Bekk vas Neema on Feb 11, 2014 10:35:11 GMT -6
Shala cursed herself as the drell dispatched the trio of Collectors with ease. She had seen them, but the surprise of their appearance caught her off guard, causing her to freeze.
At least no one paid the price for my mistake, she thought.
An idea occurred to her. Since stealth was no longer an option, she activated the combat drone. It flickered into existence and hovered over her, ready to attack any Collector that came within range.
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Post by Murchadh on Feb 11, 2014 15:08:16 GMT -6
High above the rest of the team the six legged mech came over the rim of the hill. It sottish pilot grinned as the cloud of dust and rocks Thor had thrown up dispersed leaving his vision clear. The whole battle field was visible even without his's optic implants or his mechs targeting sensors.
The particular cannon to the right of his cockpit began spinning as he aimed the targeting the nearest group of collectors. They where ugly buggers that reminded him of midges seen under a microscope. They where headed for his position obviously they had been drawn by the dust cloud.
He grinned as his finger squished the trigger sending the massive blast of blue light screaming at the target. Two of the seven collects despaired in a flash as the beam continued through them burning a streak through the grey rock which continued to glow blue for a few seconds before dispersing into dust.
That had got there attention. Across the battle field more collectors emerged and headed towards him.
He hoped everyone else's part of the plan was going smoothly because he would be more than occupied.
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Post by Eric Lysander on Feb 11, 2014 15:53:59 GMT -6
Through his scope, Eric watched as Zeus made short work of getting inside the emplacement. As Cruendi'has slipped past the door, a sitrep came over the coms from River who had gone ahead to secure a vantage point. He altered his view to her location along an outcropping, safe for the moment. The light was fairly low around her but brightened slightly at intervals.
Explosions. Gunfire. Murdach.
Eric scrambled to his feet and reacquired the three Collectors on patrol seen at their level earlier. Midway he lay flat on the ground again facing west and magnified the targets, choosing the one closest to him and queued up three armor-piercing rounds to his Viper.
Eric squeezed the trigger. First target hit square in the back in its largest nerve cluster. The Collector's arms were thrown wide and it's head jerked upwards as it fell dead. The other two were in mid turn.
Squeeze. The second was struck at an angle through it's chest and collapsed lifeless on its side. The last target faced him, hesitated, and started to bring up its weapon.
Squeeze. The last Collector took one step and then slumped forward and down to the ground, still clutching its weapon.
C'mon guys, thought Eric as he took his place on another outcropping overlooking Murdach's mech. That post needs to come down!
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Post by grandest on Feb 11, 2014 18:54:46 GMT -6
Meldom had it. The door slid open and Cruendi'has made a break for it. He had seen the Salarian had a slight bit of trouble with the lower gravity of the moon. To Cruendi'has, it wasn't much different from his home planet of Lorek. Weather could be better. He slipped inside behind Meldom. The installation was empty. "They must all be up top--" Radio chatter interrupted Cruendi'has' musings. The other teams were already running into their groups. They didn't have long. Cruendi'has bolted upstairs, somewhat concerned about the structural integrity of the staircase. He shook his head. It would be like the Blue Suns to cut corners on something that didn't shoot. He came to the door and stopped. "Alright, should only be three of those bastards. I'll take down one, you another and just give me cover while I capture the last, yeah?" [Meldom's response here, though Cruendi'has doesn't wait long before going anyway.] He opened the door and rounded the corner. Two of the Collectors appeared to be watching the excitement unfold in the ravine while the other operated the control panel of the turret, apparently readying to fire. Cruendi'has pointed at the pair looking out and thumbed to himself, hoping the Salarian would understand. He pointed back at Meldom and gestured to the Collector at the turret. He raised his shotgun and fired into the back of one of the creatures. Bits of the carapace armor flew out and a mess of vital fluids splattered the roof of the building as the Collector fell off the building. Quickly, Cruendi'has turned to launch a net at the other. His omni-tool primed as the alien's attention centered on the Batarian. The Collector charged and Cruendi'has fired, catching its legs. The creature landed on top of Cruendi'has. It began to thrash about and Cruendi'has wondered about their hand to hand combat abilities. He needed to get out from underneath the Collector fast, while still leaving it intact. "Meldom," Cruendi'has spat. "Little help here? and try not to kill it!"
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Post by Esteban Bridges on Feb 12, 2014 6:08:04 GMT -6
Esteban rushed from the shuttle with his weapon drawn, feeling that adrenaline rush that he'd been missing. The thrill of the hunt, the excitement of the kill. It all felt like second nature to him. He held his pistol in one hand, his activated omnitool nearly encompassing the weapon. His other hand was free to work his engineering magic.
While the rest engaged the enemy, Esteban fought on a different level. With a move that can only come from years of experience and training, he pulled up his jamming subroutine while keeping pace with the team. It didn't escape his notice that nobody picked up any comm chatter from the Collectors. It meant they were using short-wave frequencies, something that could be easily blocked by a skilled engineer. Fortunately, Esteban dealt with short-wave frequencies for many missions, his sub-routine was already primed and ready to go.
While the Collectors fell and fell, Esteban unleashed a dampening blanket, cancelling out all short-wave frequencies. He wasn't going to keep it up for long, no more than five seconds. Long enough to cut out all comm traffic yet short enough to prevent any suspicions from mounting.
After the last fell, he continued keeping pace, looking around for any hint of the next target.
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Post by dargene on Feb 12, 2014 16:14:58 GMT -6
"Alright, should only be three of those bastards. I'll take down one, you another and just give me cover while I capture the last, yeah?"
Meldom remained silent, just nodding to the batarian, pulling his pistol out and checking its thermal clip.
He watched as Cruendi'has annihilated one of the collectors and shot the net at the other one, while this was happening Meldom Span around the corner and emptied his clip into the collector over the turret controls, its body slumped onto the controls lying still, he reloaded his thermal clip in a heartbeat still holding his gun at the collector to make sure its dead.
"Meldom," Cruendi'has spat. "Little help here? and try not to kill it!"
Meldom turned his attention to the Collector on top of Cruendi'has, it seemed to be in a frenzy attempting to punch, struggle and kick when ever it could, He saw his chance as the collector drew his arm backwards to land a hard punch, Meldom grabbed the collectors arm, using his omnitool he activated the Omniblade and sliced through the collectors arm cleanly severing the hand from the arm, The collector almost forgets about Cruendi'has for a moment as it realizes its missing a hand.
"That should keep it busy.." he says coldly "Will be easier now" he turns to the control panel, "looks like they started to charge the turrets to fire! need to reset target perimeters" he runs over to the control panel and pushes the dead collector off before starting to try to target the communication tower.
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Post by Eric Lysander on Feb 12, 2014 19:26:01 GMT -6
Eric opened a channel to the mech below after hobbling a Collector that came a little too close for comfort to one of its legs. "Murdach - how we doin? Talk to me..."
He radioed the others while waiting for his reply. "Team leads sound off - what's your status?"
Through his scope he could see the first five of the team's drones coming in via the northwestern pass, serving to distract some of the enemy numbers. Two were taking fire but the others protected the bomb drone and cleared a path for it to explode just in front of the command post. The blast appears to have taken out two Collectors there but only stunned the rest.
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Post by Game Master on Feb 12, 2014 21:53:46 GMT -6
[GM Post: Round 2]
So far the team has the initiative. Collector after Collector fell dead against the overwhelming assault from the mercenaries. The cold, gray soil of Barce was littered with the dead. ---------------------------------------------------------
The Mech - Summary: 3 Collectors are up and attacking. Status: Mooks. They present no trouble for your powerful machine. With your firepower, and Lysander's support, it is doubtful your mech will be scratched.
Ares and Persephone - Summary: 12 Husks charge. Status: Mooks. Husks are mindless enemies, charging in a straight line toward its target. In this case, the target is you. Husks are surprisingly resilient, requiring a full round to just take one down. Husks are also unnaturally fast, though not fast enough to reach you in one round. You have two rounds to take them out.
Zeus - Summary: You have control over the turrets. The only Collector that is still alive continues to struggle. Unless it is somehow bound or incapacitated, it will break free at the beginning of the next round.
Note - With the turrets down, the plan to crash the asteroid can safely begin. The turrets are GARDIAN quality, meaning they are designed to destroy space debris. Fortunately, that will no longer be a concern.
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