STING: All that Glitters (IC)

[Fuel?]

"Sleepers are dangerous, Aien. Even those aboard Titan are kept under constant surveillance - I would be glad to run a combat field test, but it is simply too early." The commander stated. "We need to withdraw it from STING and do it quietly. I will deal with Uplink - it's vice director has proven very cooperative and a nearby construction company - Lumos - will be more than happy to take over some of our deliveries."



"We can't, not without causing incident. For better or worse, your current sleeper is too public. Too much in the limelight. If he breaks down, we can blame it on a shoddy uplink job. But we can't move in until then." Mused Aien, knowing full well the information nightmare it would cause. The information nightmare Hughes was certainly well aware off.



"The roaches damn it Hughes, you've been the CO of the sun for longer than I was a barge captain. You know he's too public."



Alexander fell silent, matching the now-recovered portrait of Cash with the copious amounts of STING promotional material. "As of the last ten minutes I didn't know how Cash looked. At some echelon of command people just become blanks with serial numbers, much to my displeasure." He sighed - it was a no win scenario. Extracting Cash now would result in a media meltdown, and that was just a tip of the iceberg in terms of damage. "Can we at least divert the Prototype into reserve duty? Make sure to make it the last thing they'll launch into the field?" That was, of course, assuming the missing cyborg wasn't gliding into action on a shuttle right now.



"As far as my contacts aboard the ship go, there's two combat ready squadrons. A set of marines, generally unaugmented, average training. You know the standard. Nothing special, the good ones generally poached into special forces. One of the ship marines was actually "promoted" to STING. And a STING team. Your sleeper, oversight, Holland's toy and some leage rs and humans."



She paused. "With the team disposition on the ship, there's no way we can pull STING back. We could get some assets in place in their later ops to damage your sleeper and put him out of commission for a while."



Aien hated using operatives for dealing with internal matters, it was so..unclean.



"But I'd rather keep him online. He's got experience. He and oversight might be good influence. As far as I can see his acceptance of his own implants is incredibly low."



The Triumvirate commander nodded, having just received a datapad. "And it's a safe assumption that they're headed towards the Eon facility that just dropped off the grid." He paused, analyzing once more. "It's not that easy. Sleeper augmentation is advanced. Very advanced - in a way, they were designed as a final step of man-machine integration. As such, their augmentation is partially nanomachine-based, just like the Propagators. In a way, have just accidentally deployed a highly dangerous, well-equipped and trained nano-commando into a zone of possible Propagator activity."



"I know, I reviewed some of the stuff for ocersight. Too risky" Quiped Aien.



"Well Oversight is for our trops. Not special agents. Our funds are big, but not yet unlimited. Is there any chance of triggering him?"



"Sleeper memory triggers when they are subjected to pressure. Instincts, self-preservation or desire to complete an objective against odds. It was impossible to replicate the pressure with Subject Thirteen during training sessions." Hughes began looking through the report. "Psychologists state that he fights tension off with humour and large amounts of talking. Let us see if we can reap some benefits from this accident and learn more about this Eon base. In the meantime, we will plot a Relay course to the cluster and have backup on standby - taking out the Exerion and making our presence known would be a disaster, but we can't exactly put trust in STING or any of the empires when it comes to dealing with situations like this."



"If necessary, we might be able to activate some assets. But I am loathe to do just that. It would send bad signals to the entire three. I say we keep an overview and step in if things escalate. Not until then." Aien finished.

[Deunan]

Arne was still sitting inside the shuttle when she felt the air change.The doors cycled and Cash entered. She send him a quick greeting, before realising he probably didn't sense it, so she spoke aloud.
"Better early than late eh?"

"What's so bad about speaking. Sure, radio waves are cool and all, but they just lack..." Cash seemed to drift away for a moment, looking for a word. "...character."

He annoyed her with those words, so she made him aware of it. She cut everything out, but that annoyance. "Character? You mean speaking does that. It's slow, loud, prone to mistakes, and no one can ever say what they really mean. It's a huge mess. WHy do people even want to talk is beyond me. It's not just that. You talk over the wire as well. You don't think. Hardly anyone does." She looked at him.

"Hey, what if I just like the sound of your voice. Without the audio compression and static cleanup protocols." The commando shrugged - in a way he could understand Arne's approach but to just ditch normal talk was to waste a lot.

"It's just I feel I've been surounded by..madmen these past few weeks. People who'd rather play at pantonime than communicate. It's maddening, mental. It makes no sense at all. Why does everyone limit themselves so much. The woman did not even realise she slipped off into the wire, unable to express what she felt in words. She began to masage her temples. It was just as she felt it. Maddening, broken and weird. Why were those born so odd.

[Fuel?]

"I can understand that," Mai said as she entered the room after finishing her briefing with Holland, "Most senior Mechon prefer using the network over verbal methods for that reason. However, the limits of that would probably

Cash laughed out loud - this unit was weirder than the old guys from SWAT but also seemed a lot more fun. "Hell we just get used to talking. More of a common ground for people with vocal chords, helps find the common ground."

"Try being born with a wire." Arne said mutely.

"I think maybe some of the younger Mechon might relate," Mia joked, "I'm not one of them though."

"Plus there's something we, humans, tend to say about whispering behind the other's back." The commando smiled in response. "It's just rude, you know. Not that people don't do it."

"Just broadcast out load. All you have to do is think about it Cash. Want to send to me. Think of me. Want to send it to me and Cyrene, think of us. Or think of the ship to send it to the com systems. Though those probably won't transmit it aheadwithout codes."

"Easy ladies, easy. I used what we referred to as 'talk wireless' back in Uplink to coordinate guard patrols across the building. But that's me trying to put a few dozen meat puppets into their place in a skyscraper." He snickered. "Not casual chatter."

"And I mostly use mine for long distance or private communications," Mai added, "Or to talk to the ship. Exerion never has anything interesting to say, though, unlike the Mechon ships I've been on."

Practice. Don't use words. Think to the person you want to speak to. Ideas, emotions, everything can go over the link. JUst b faster, more efficient. Arne sent both of them. Baby steps. What does that even mean. But baby steps.

"No offense, but I think you need more practice with this method," Mai snickered, "You'll be dealing with people who don't have implants more than those who do."

"Okay, think of it this way - to an average human, any sort of utility augmentation is a source of fun. Resulting in..." A wide grin appeared on the commando's face, and it was far too late to brace for whatever was coming. His image in any virtual reality appeared as a giant, glasses-wearing penis. As they say... 'dicking' around.

"Male genitalia with glasses? I don't think I understand. But good that you are learning."

Mai simply rolled her eyes, but Cyrene decided to act. Forcing her way into the link, she replaced Cash's image with that of a fluffy pink rabbit, still wearing the sunglasses.

"Aren't bowties a symbol for good looks as well? It would help." Added Arne, finding this oddly humurous.

Thank you. Keep your pet AI on a leash or I will reformat it to the point of nonsentience. The rabbit stated with a completely straight face. "So now that the dickery has been completed, let's try not to get distracted." Something caused the fuzzy animal to blur out and vanish into a simple cube.


Cyrene is not a pet and you couldn't erase her without hacking up my brain. I'm not even sure if it's fair to call her an AI anymore since she's more like...wetware. Mai simply shrugged.

"Do what?" Cash asked simply, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Your systems are no fun," Mai/Cyrene said with a chuckle, "Someone's got a black box. I should warn you before you get any ideas; messing with a Mechon's hardware can get rather messy as well. Fry the ship messy."

"Strange you didn't realize that. Hello? Corporate interest, patent, manufacturing rights?" Cash chuckled. "See that's why I insist on using the slow method of communication. It doesn't give people ideas."

"Well my systems aren't designed for hacking other implants either," Mai replied, "They're mostly here for communication with other Mechon and other compatible hardware."

[Akranadas]

Tasitus made his way to the shuttle, his armour had resulted in a significant weight change but due to the augmentations, surgery and the way the armour was designed he still felt as nimble if he wasn't wearing it. However it did make his foot steps somewhat louder than they normally wear, a combination of the weight and the armoured talons covering his feet. He only had limited experience in this armour, mostly on VR training programs but had passed all those with relative easy; but still... armour was never a thing Mandrakians soldiers had worn in the past. The Soldiers of the Collective went to battle with little more than hand held shields, the armour program was adapted from human armour from the last war that the Mandrakian military had purchased from black markets; it was effectively still in the prototype stages and this model wasn't even the most advanced Tasitus had seen; one incorporated something a scientist called 'plasma talons'.

He could hear the chatting of his STING squad mates coming from the inside of the shuttle and made his approach; to his comrades Tasitus must have looked like a walking gunship, wings covered in high grade reinforced armour, his whole body covered with the same type but with interlocking plates, his head enclosed within a full helmet with only the dim light of red showing where he could see from and the final touch was the large missile pods that built into armour underneath his wings.

"Human language is overly complex. Too many words" he interjected before climbing into the shuttle, standing in the main section as the seating wasn't designed for his bulk or tail

[Master Chief]

Jarrett let out a low whistle as Tasitus clambered into the shuttle, the Mandrakian turning from a goofy bird to a walking tank.

"Nice gun, Goro," he said to the Kri'Ranian with a nod, patting him on the bottom of his two right arms as he kept walking, following right behind Tasitus, giving the alien a wide berth to avoid getting slapped in the face with a stray wing or some shit. He was astounded to hear that the ones already inside were still talking all that robot shit, none of which meant any actual sense to him.

"Agreed," Jarrett replied to Tasitus, shaking his head as he took a seat, pointing to Mai, Arne, and Cash. "I don't understand a word of that."

[Mokino]

System 3434234 – Theta Epsilon Research and Development Location Zero

Eve/Winter Holland looked out from her office into the shipyard below. Even after all these years, it still surprised her to see the bustle of activity around their largest construction project yet. Only the skeleton existed so far, but it was still an incredibly impressive sight.

Time had not been kind to the scientist; her implants had resulted in complications over the years, forcing further augmentation to keep her alive. The others hadn’t fared much better, leading to the race – her race - she’d dubbed the Mechon. Under her silver bodysuit was now a body consisting mostly of machinery and electronics, almost at the same level as her pupil Mai/Cyrene.

She was sipping her wine and studying her reflection when Emma entered. “Why’d you choose her of all people to represent us? We should have sent someone more experienced. At the very least we should have sent an awakened Mechon.” Eve/Winter asked, brushing a bit of her silver hair from her eyes.

“It’s because of that inexperience that I chose Xu,” Emma replied, “She still thinks like a soldier and a soldier is what STING needs. She’s adapted so well to being one of us; I’m sure she can handle this. You know I’m very selective when it comes to those I personally train. She’s extremely skilled but also pragmatic and able to improvise as needed. Given where they’re sending her, I believe I have made the correct choice.”

“It doesn’t matter at this point I suppose,” Eve/Winter admitted, “What’s done is done. Let’s see how our youngest member is doing shall we?”


Mindspace

The world around Mai dissolved as soon as she allowed the uplink, leaving her standing in the now-familiar “office” of Eve/Winter Holland. Different from Location Zero, this one simply consisted of a set of white cushioned chairs suspended in a black void. The silver clothed Mechon leader was seated, with her companion Emma in black on her left.

“You…wished to see me?” Mai asked with a slight bow, unsure of why Eve/Winter was resorting to such contact.
“Don’t be so formal,” Eve/Winter said as she patted the seat next to her, “Please have a seat. I just wanted to see how you’re adjusting.”
“So far so good,” Xu said as she sat where Eve/Winter had indicated, “The team seems pretty open to accepting…unusual people like us. I don’t see any major issues, though something tells me the Mandrakian might be one to keep an eye on.”

“His people are rather new at operating on a galactic scale,” Emma stated, “But they are also pacifists by nature according to our League contacts. Keep an eye on him if you wish, but a lot of it is probably just culture shock.”
“The one you should be careful of is that fellow who calls himself Cash,” Eve/Winter added, “It seems some of my fellow Harbingers have issues keeping control of their projects…”
“He does seem equipped with quite the security program,” Mai interjected.
“And he should,” Emma replied, “We do not believe the man himself is dangerous but, to be on the safe side, I want you to log any anomalies you notice with either his cybernetics or his behaviour. We want regular reports to the best of your ability, provided they don’t compromise your mission.” Mai simply nodded.

“As for the mission,” Eve/Winter became more serious, “It’s best I tell you what we know of your destination,” There was a sudden bright light in front of Mai’s eyes as a 3 dimensional model of Vajra-3 appeared before her. “As you have been briefed, the Shiva Cluster is an extremely remote area of known space,” the image zoomed out to display the sector as a whole. Severall planets were highlighted. “What isn’t public knowledge is that the region is dotted with Eon research facilities according to the archives found. I have indicated those we know about from the archive. Notice anything odd?”

It took nanoseconds for Mai to pick out the obvious error. “Vajra-3 isn’t in the archive,” she stated.
“Exactly,” Eve/Winter continued, giving a curt nod of approval, “It’s also here; the remotest corner of the sector. As far from any hyperspace network it can be. The archive speaks of many ships travelling to and from the sector, however. Which means, whatever was in development here, was one of the best kept secrets the Eon had.”
“Or it’s a Propagator trap,” Mai interjected.
Emma shook her head. “We had considered that possibility and it’s certainly still on the table, but there are very brief passing mentions in the archive of this system. Even if it’s a trap in its current state, there was indeed something of value on Vajra-3. Something that the Eon wanted to make sure didn’t leak out. It’s worth investigating at any rate which is why your team was sent.”

“On to less formal matters then,” Eve/Winter continued, “How are you holding up Xu? Any problems with your hardware? Your diagnostics reported issues with your AI about three weeks ago. Anything we should know?”
“Oh, that was just me,” Cyrene said as she materialised next to Mai.
Eve seemed genuinely surprised by the newcomer, “You’ve already awakened Mai? Congratulations are in order. It usually takes several months to a year. You’ll do just fine. We’ll be in touch. Keep up the good work; we may have some good news for you soon. In any case, you're truly one of us now.”

Mai closed her eyes for a moment. She was back on the shuttle and only a couple minutes had passed.

[Fuel?]

"That's quite the firepower you're packing, El Pollo Diablo." Cash chuckled, putting on his characteristic sunglasses. "Seems we've got enough to turn anything groundside into a squealing pile of meat."

[atmawpn]

STING frigate Exerion


"... attention all hands, Exerion will be dropping out of warp in 1 minute. Make preparations for transition to normal space. Project Lumos, stand by for deployment."

Around a corner came Professor Dalton, the researcher nearly stumbling and dropping his computer in his hurry to board the shuttle.

"... sorry," he muttered to the team as he made his way to a harness and strapped in. Then he opened a channel to the bridge. "I'm onboard, sir."

"Good. All hands, disengaging warp in 3... 2... 1..."

A flash of light as the frigate dropped from FTL, main thrusters glowing as it manoeuvred into a stable orbit. Then the whirring of magnetics as the cargo bay doors opened, clearing a path for the shuttle to launch.

"Autopilot engaged," the shuttle's computerised voice chirped. "Launch sequence initiated."

A momentary pulse of inertia as the small craft emerged from the frigate's belly, descending rapidly into the planet's atmosphere.

"... they are not responding to hails - even the automatics are dead," Captain Gardna mentioned over the channel. "Orbital scans are not picking up anything - energy signatures, or life signs. Some signs of damage evident, but nothing catastrophic."

"If the Project systems are offline then it must have been a safety shutdown," the researcher spoke up suddenly, a slight frown across his face. "Project Legacy specced for multiple redundancies across many modules and layers - it would've taken much more than that for a damage-induced failure. Which, of course, raises its own questions..."

"... can the doomsaying Doctor - you're in this for your expertise, and not for moral support," came the snappy reply. "Rest of the team, remember your objectives."

A shuddering as the shuttle made its way through the planet's skies, winds buffeting the outer hull and trying to force it off course. Eventually the Eon base came into view, the shuttle veering off towards the side where the Project Legacy base modules had been set up. A screaming of thrusters as the shuttle made planetfall, the airlock springing open and allowing the dry yet Earth-like air to flood the interior.

"Transmitting the base layouts to your nav systems now. Last report had the research teams moving beyond Legacy and into the Eon base itself, apparently to set up additional work stations and whatever science things they were up to. There is also their frigate Truth Seeker, but it should not see much use apart as a source of auxiliary power and other key consumables. Still, I leave it to you to decide what to look into first. In the meantime we will be mapping the planet from orbit - see if we can find anything else of note. Gardna out."

"I think I would want to look at the Legacy systems first," the professor stated as he began heading for the base modules beside the Eon structures. "I... I don't think you all need to come along though. We could cast a wider net by splitting up..."

[Mokino]

"Your safety is our first priority," Mai/Cyrene said, "And I'm not comfortable splitting up until we have some idea what's going on here. Checking out the Legacy base is the easiest way to assess the situation. If they haven't taken refuge inside there should at least be logs giving us an idea to their current location. We might even get lucky and they've got working comms."

She fell silent for a second, adjusting her sensors for wide area scan.

"That's odd," she said aloud, "I'm picking up recent hyperspace activity in the area. A lot of it and in atmosphere as well. No energy traces at all, though. Or lifesigns. I've got a bad feeling about this..."

[Akranadas]

Tasitus remained silent after that, he was letting his armour go through a number of system checks, power ups and self-diagnoses; all these weapon systems will still new to him, as his people for as long as recorded history went, avoided war and conflict with each other, but that ideal had changed after first contact. "He drifted back to memories of the meetings and lessons he had after joining the program.

---

Planet Mandrakea - Secret Projects Lab

"Tasitus, look at the armour we've created" said the lead Engineer Kerith, she lead Tasitus towards a table with the armour laid out onto of it "The designs are all new, the first fully enclosed armoured suit for our people"

"Kerith, it does look amazing; but why do I even need to wear such a thing, we've gone over a century without such devices" questioned Tasitus as he picked up the helmet "Couldn't we just do without it?"

"Our ancestors weren't stupid Tasitus, this armour will protect you from harm; the galaxy is a dangerous place and enemies of our people will wear similar creations. The Collective was known to have similar devices or so our researchers tell me" Kerith explained as she grabbed one of the gloves "The armour is designed to stop enemy weapons from penetrating your skin and killing you Tasitus, you won't be on Mandrakea where you have nothing by the odd talon to fear"

"Trust me on this" She said, placing a hand on Tasitus' chest "It will protect you"

"How did you come up with such a thing?" Tasitus asked, trying to avoid eye contact with Kerith

She laughed slightly "We obtained a number of human armour types through the galacitc black market, it was simple to reverse engineer their designs and apply it to our own. Humans are such a warlike race that we've been basing majority of our weapon designs from them; our research indicates that they've been fighting wars since they could talk to each other" Kerith explained, "But don't you worry about that, it'll do its job. So... Have you put in your application yet?"

"I've filled it out but as for submitting it; not yet" he laughed

"Well, you should hurry. I've done mine and you know the chances are low... but your bother did she he could right?"

"He did"

----

"I... I don't think you all need to come along though. We could cast a wider net by splitting up..."

Tasitus shook his head to get his focus back onto the mission at hand, he hadn't realised they had landed until he heard the small frail human speaking and the sound of the airlock opening.

"Agreed, Legacy should be our primary objective" Tasitus said as he flicked the lighting on his armour on, dozens of LED lights across his wings suddenly lit up; casting light into the Darkness.

[Deunan]

Arne threw a look at her squadmate and the dudz of a human that accompanied them. She failed to understand how could anyone be as clumsy as him. No motor control at all. Still that wasn't the most worrisome part of the entire thing. By now the team should be setting up a tactical grid and map sharing over the wire. Why was no one doing anything. Not the mechon, not Cash, not the aliens no one.

"Requesting setting up a tactical overview grid. For improved coordination and communication speed and clarity." She adressed to all.

[Fuel?]

"Careful with those spotlights, feathery friend." Cash seemed to avoid the cones of light. "So you christmas tree group will go escort mister professor. I'll check out their ship - crew logs." Synchronizing with visible data. Mapping area. Warning: no satellite uplink detected.

Something was off. The Aug process hung up there for a few seconds, and to Cash's surprise - continued the search instead of closing. Estabilishing relay uplink. No map data found, adding planet to charter queue. The world around him shifted as additional receptors engaged, displaying thermal and EM feeds. As a final step, the system linked to existing grid, transmitting the encrypted information to the rest of the team. Even SWAT used links on Earth, but noone back then used augmentations - with them, it was a lot easier.

After few good seconds of lag, the relay pinged back. Damocles-pattern target painter synchronized. Information: No ships present in planetary orbit. Last uplink - twelve earth days ago ago. The pulse was fast and directed only to him. "Seems there's some active systems in orbit or within the cluster." He tried to manually query it, but the connection timed out - as if the communication device never existed in the first place. The severe lag indicated it wasn't anywhere close, but any systems on the edge were full of surprises like this - pirate bases hidden outside of reach or now-defunct military installations.

"Keep visual to minimum and monitor surroundings at all times. I wouldn't count rogue black ops out of the question." He powered up the rifle and slipped into the shadows, heading towards the landing pad. The ship would answer questions he didn't want to concern the team with - for some reason, a thought circled his mind that the scientists simply did not attempt escape. "Hey Doc." He asked finally. "How do you guys normally work. Shifts? Everyone works at once?"

[Mokino]

Mai sighed. An uplink was a good way to let a potential enemy know you were there.

"I have a partial map of the Eon facility from the team's last monthly report as well as a list of personnel who were working at the time. Sending it now," she advised, "Arne, a tactical grid and map sharing would generate a lot of signal traffic which would be hard to disguise in an area so dead of it like this; it's a very risky maneuver. I'm going to head to the ship with Cash; we're both recon and he may need a tech expert to talk with the ship."

[Yoshi]

"Letting the enemy know your here and not even knowing their whereabouts is foolish human," Rex remarked in regards to Arne's request, the Alien scanning the corridors with both eyes while sweeping his gun about. On the ready for anything that could happen body tense and ready spring to action.

"I will go where the human professor goes in case of an ambush," He spoke again after a few moments as the team worked out whether to split up or stay together.

[Mokino]

"I suggest the rest of you go with the professor," Mai/Cyrene suggested, "We can check out the ruins once we've got a better idea of what happened here and. Rex. I wouldn't complain about Arne's suggestion after Big Bird's lights. He's a bloody walking Christmas tree."

Come on Cash. Let's go. At the very least they'll be a good decoy.

[Master Chief]

"Then let's get to it," Jarrett said, boots touching down on the mottled-gray gravel. He flicked through his list of available camos with his eyes, selecting the Lunar Digital color scheme. Instantly, his armor's outer display rearranged itself, shifting to a similar dark-grey and black scheme with blotches of white and brown. Yeah, that'll do.

"I've got point. The rest of you, stay frosty and diamond up. We're moving." Jarrett began to jog ahead, M-55C pressed to his shoulder, keeping within covering distance of the squad as he kept to the shadows and craggy outcroppings, his eyes and ears alert.

[Yoshi]

"I never said I approved of this....christmas tree lighting you speak of either," The Kri'ranian put simply as he assumed a position to better guard and cover the professor.

[Fuel?]

"There will be enough atmospheric interference to hide low-profile transmissions." Cash tuned the system to transmit simplified environmental data. The rock beneath his feet seemed similar to really dense sandstone, forming a grey flat surface that had more in common with barren wastes than terrestial worlds. Still, breathable atmosphere was a good base for terraforming - while the air was thinner than one would expect, it already solved one problem.

To say the sight wasn't impressive would be to offend whoever chose to colonize the world - the flat surface seemed torn by monocrystalline pillars reaching the sky. Brief, regular gusts of wind lifted dust particles from the ground and forced them to swirl around the semitransparent substance, creating a faint glimmer in the moonlight. "Look at this place. Quite the marvel." He broadcasted to the team in awe. "Bet it's a beauty at dusk and dawn."

[Akranadas]

"You should see Mandrakea Cash if you think this is nice looking" Tasitus replied, as he slowly moved forward, his wings outstretched to provide a solid platform of fight infront of them "Whole sections of the planet is nothing more than a thin layer of water on salt crust, making it a massive mirror; it's truly breathtaking to glide across it"

[Deunan]

Arne felt blind. Why were they so adverse to setting up a tactical net and isntead seemed to rely on audio. It was maddening. At least the birdman's display finally gave her an entrance.

Understood Mai Arne told the Mechon, already receiving some of Cash primitive data. The man really needed to learn more. It took her only a moment to buid a transmission model for the team. She eased her mind into it and began working with the data. Sending it out to everyone, each item having an imprint on how she felt about it as well. Was it a threat or not. Was it odd or not, and more. It wasn't anything the rest could easily translate, but the meanings were implicit and automatically taken up.
Hey, at least some of us get to see our first christmas tree. Arne transmitted to the Kri'ranian, the joke obvious.

[Master Chief]

Jarrett crouched against one of the many skyward pillars that dotted the landscape, one knee on the ground, fingers pressed up against his helmet as he used the built-in binoculars to sweep the surroundings. The gesture was unnecessary, of course; the controls were all through facial and head movement. But it felt right, so he did it. He saw little but rolling clouds of dust and the spires; all clear. The very nature of the area made it risky to traverse, though, especially if there were hostile operators in the area.

The preliminary map data Cash had sent was useful, but this new crap flooding in was pure gibberish. It seemed to match up with Cash's map, but there seemed no reason for it; some nearly-illegible annotations seemed to trying to say something, but Jarrett had no idea. He checked his incoming, saw it was Arne. The hell was she doing?

"Yeah, pretty. Should get a postcard. Yo, Princess," Jarrett asked, referring to Arne. "What're you sending? You're spamming me right now."

[Deunan]

Arne cleaned up her transmission to Jarred, removing all non essential data.

"You mean you are not chipped?" The soldier was incredibly suprised. She could somehow maybe understand why a civilian might not be, but a soldier. It was deeply unsettling.

[Akranadas]

Christmas Tree? Tasitus thought to himself, he understood what a tree was but hadn't come across the word Christmas before I'll have to ask one of the human crew when we are back on board the ship
Tasitus was moving slowly behind the one called Dalton, his bulk dwarfing the small frail human "Are all smart humans so... weak looking?" Tasitus asked the doctor as they continued towards the Legacy systems "I mean that in no disrespect of course, but compared to the soldier humans you are boney looking, hardly any.... flesh on your bones"

[atmawpn]

"There are supposed to be shifts technically..." the researcher mentioned to Cash as he was leaving. "But... sometimes we get so engrossed we... well, work all at once yes."

The Mandrakian's query surprised Dalton though.

"That's a common stereotype: though to be fair we science people don't really get out and exercise a lot as compared with the others," Dalton answered as they entered the primary module of Project Legacy, the pitch blackness pierced by the lighting of the avian behind.

A silent and dead air.

"Isn't that the case for, err, your own science people as well?" the researcher asked as he went about fumbling and searching for the primary controls. "Also you might want to keep an eye out for the auxiliary power console, so we can bring the electronics and some lighting online..."

[Akranadas]

"We don't tend to get much smaller than myself, only females would be smaller. We don't have the level of... variety that you humans seem to have in your body types." Tasitus replied, answering Daltons question, he was moving his wings slowly scanning the room with the lights "As for our scientists, I would not know; I have not met many in my life so you could be right. But the one I have, she seemed to be well nourished "

[Master Chief]

"I got nothing in me my mother didn't give me save for fillings," Jarrett replied with a raised eyebrow. She really expect him to be modded? Cash sure, he was probably loaded, and the Mechon was half robot for Chrissakes, of course she would. But him? Psh. "That shit's expensive and the Corps sure as hell won't pay for 'em. Hell, I had to buy my own rifle mods." Not that he particularly wanted any; he didn't want his head or his eyes messed with or any of that weird stuff. Tattoos were enough for him.

Jarrett rose from his crouched position and dashed ahead, darting from cover to cover as he swept the area around the Legacy modules; so far, all clear. Man, this was really starting to bug him. The calm before the storm always messed with the butterflies in his stomach. He'd rather the shooting just start so he could focus on it and get in his zone.

"Path to the module looks good," he reported to the rest, still regularly covering the area. "But keep 'em peeled."

[Mokino]

Seeing the silhouette research team's vessel had given Mai/Cyrene a sense of deja vu mixed with dread and it wasn't until they were halfway to the ship that she understood why; it was an Alliance Shrike class - or at least the civilian model of one - the same vessel type as she'd captained in that fated battle years ago. The Mechon forced thoughts of that day into the back of her mind and continued onwards...

Things didn't get much better as the ship came into her full scanning range. She signaled the rest of the team. Looks like a firefight occured in the frigate's vicinity and someone forced their way aboard the ship. Given the lack of power traces in the vessel my guess is some sort of electromagnetic pulse was used at this facility, though not as recently as the hyperspace signatures. Be on your guard as it may mean they had Propagator activity.

[Deunan]

Borner Muttered Arne aloud over the wire, before switching to only Mai. Got it Mai. Any chance you could feed us the map data on where the EMP happened? I assume you've gotten a decent falloff detection.. Still EMP's meant bad things to anyone. Have a suffieciently strong one, and it won't just fry a person's implant, but even an unaugmented brain. Which meant she had to trust her armour more than she wanted to.

The soldier kept advancing with the team, her weapon lifted, constantly scanning the area around her. Bloody borner, let me guess, he thinks I'm acting like a child. She thought. And when she was sure no one was watching, she stuck out her tongue at him.

[Mokino]

I said I suspected one's been set off Mai replied with a hint of annoyance Unfortunately, it was long enough ago that I can't get a trace. These weird hyperspace signatures are messing with my sensors a bit as well.

Knowing entering the breached airlock would be a bad idea, she hoisted herself up onto the hull by her grapples and headed towards the stern. If the civilian model model was close enough to a shrike there would be a cargo/shuttle hatch closer towards the stern.

[Akranadas]

"What does that action mean?" Question Tasitus as he stared at Arne, his eyes had picked up the tongue poking ever if she tried to hide it "The one where you stuck out that muscle from your mouth? Is that a form of Human affection and courtship?"

Tasitus still moved slowly within the center of the group, Dalton still in front of him; this allowed Tasitus to protect him more easily as he was well within range of his shield device and primary armour.

"Implants have their advantages Jarrett; I would not be able to communicate with you if they were not installed within me"

[atmawpn]

Vajra-3, Project Legacy Research Module


"... no good," Dalton muttered after locating the auxiliary power console and fiddling with the controls. "It looks like the power cells are nearly drained. There won't be much time to work with: maybe a few minutes at best..."

The researcher continued to twist a few levers and flick a few switches. Then as the final control slid into place there was a weak hum as power began flowing once more. One by one the emergency lights in the module flickered on, a few screens coming online as the electronics began booting up.

At the connector linking the module to the interior of the Eon base: still an inky black and beyond.

"... not enough power to kickstart the Eon systems it seems..." Dalton mentioned as he moved to one of the functioning screens and began tapping away, plugging in a datadrive to see what he could retrieve. "... accessing the main databanks. Not sure if the power cells will last long enough to complete the download. Unless..."


-----


Vajra-3, Truth Seeker


Cash and Mai entered the frigate from the cargo hatch, finding themselves a section away from Engineering and where the primary reactor containment was housed. What greeted them was more of the same: the darkness of a starship in complete shutdown. As they examined a dead console near an open bulkhead door they noticed gouge marks in the metal: scarring not from weapons fire, but some sharp claw-like object.

And then their communicators crackled to life once more.

"... Professor Dalton here. The auxiliary power cells in the module are nearly out. There won't be enough uptime to complete any meaningful data transfer. The Truth Seeker should still be connected to the module systems however - so if you could somehow bring the frigate's reactor back online we might be able to restore continuous power to both the module and the Eon base..."

[Deunan]

LaterArne sent to the mandrakian. She swallowed an energy food pellet and continued forward.

Tacitus, what do you feel the lack of power?

[Akranadas]

Poor construction to allow Batteries to run dry, there should be secondary and tertiary power systems in place in the case of such an event, or at the very least replacement power sources Tasitus replied to Arne over the communication link, he was getting restless; he still wasn't use to the armour, it pressed down on his feathers and made him feel trapped but he was assured the nanomachines floating inside his blood stream would prevent a panic attack that often crippled Mandrakians when the feeling of being smothered came up. It was something he had to just get used to he remembered the scientists telling him and that eventually he would learn to accept the armour and be less frightened of putting it on.
We use Geothermal and wind power on our homeworld, the power never goes out unless the connection is severed, but again we build in redundancies to prevent total power failure; this system seems amateur for a high grade research base.

[Deunan]

"Dalton, Tasictus brought up a good point. How likely is it for the system batteries to be so drained. For the backups and mains to be gone? Could something be draining them?"

Arne felt so slow. She just wanted to make a burst transmission to the scientist, a tiny burst, as fast as she could think. And not process every word meaning and sentence before sending it off. And then having to vocalise it. It was so broken.

[Fuel?]

Truth seeker

Something appears to have torn the bulkhead apart. Too big or deep to be a Krayak. Cash examined the bulkhead and readjusted his visual suite, scanning for thermal and EM sources within the ship. Tell that egghead to cease using voice and broadcast mindlink only. If something is inside, he just alerted it to our presence. He felt odd - familiar tension from his times as a counter-terrorist mixed with a strange feeling of control.

There had to be a way - darkness wasn't an obstacle, not to him or a vast majority of the team. Lighting could nullify their own advantage of moving undetected. Mai, see if you can jury-rig a small power source to give doc some extra time. Close quarters combat was a bad idea, but just in case Cash chambered a lead round - while not exactly famous for penetration, hardly anything matched its stopping power.

[Akranadas]

"An Installation of this size must have backup systems Dalton" Tasitus interjected "Any colony would prepare for such power failures when they were establishing the place"

Tasitus looked around the room, taking in as much of the surroundings as he could; focusing primarily on the bits of Technology that littered the room they were currently confined to. Unknown to his colleagues, the neural device implanted within his skull was taking snap shots of the various technologies and processing a break down of the devices, storing them all within and storage device implanted into his back.

"Perhaps we could get a map of this location Dalton, that should aid us in finding secondary power sources"

[Mokino]

Fire. The ship was burning now. Alliance warheads had torn through several bulkheads, exposing sections to vacuum. She tried to get up. No use. Her legs simply wouldn’t listen….

Mai did her best to push the memories to the back of her mind as her sensors did their work. It would be far easier if the ship’s auxiliary systems were running but whatever had taken the power offline had been thorough enough to break the backups.

She sent a transmission to the other team I agree with Mr Cash’s sentiments; non-verbal transmission between teams only. We have found evidence of non-human hostiles aboard the Truth Seeker. Whatever it is or was, it’s got strength greater than a krayak and claws sharp enough to carve Alliance steel. Stay on your toes. Working on getting power up.

A familiary voice calls out from the fire. Friendly arms wrap around her, dragging her across the hot steel of the deck. Her body is covered in burns, but she feels nothing….

She grabbed the Engineering hatch with both hands, servos straining as she shoved the portal aside. The main reactor appeared intact though the smell of ozone permeated the air. Unlike the ones in the hallway, the consoles here appeared relatively intact.

“You may want to turn around,” she whispered to Cash, “Most humans find this part a bit squeamish for some reason I don’t get.” She rolled up her clothing to expose the small of her back, retrieving some interface cables from behind a panel. It took only seconds before the Mechon was speaking to the engineering systems directly.

She switched to Cash only I’m trying to get only the auxiliary online. I agree that lighting up the main reactor could be a bad idea but whatever attacked here may have damaged the backups from what my scans are telling me…no response from auxiliary. I’ll try bringing up the main reactor on minimum output. This is going to be a hard boot, though, so I’m not going to have complete control over what it brings up.

A thud as the escape pod is jettisoned; Mai and the XO the only occupants. The XO is dressing her captain’s wounds using the pod’s kit. Mai feels like the fire is still coursing through her now. Her brain's telling her to scream out but her body isn't listening...

[Master Chief]

"I'm sure implants are swell, but that don't change the fact that I can't afford 'em," Jarrett explained as he hung around the entrance to the module, waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. He entered first, clearing the way for the professor as he made his way to the auxiliary power. He glanced around as Dalton worked, watching as he worked with the systems connected to the Eon tech. He knew what he was doing, from the looks of it, which helped set Jarrett at ease. He paced around the room, periodically checking the hallways outside.

[atmawpn]

Project Legacy research module


"Technically speaking the auxiliaries shouldn't have been drained at all - they were all using quantum capacitor tech," came Dalton's reply to both Tasitus and Arne. "Even at maximum draw they should have at least lasted well into the next month..."

The researcher removed a panel beneath the console, shining a small beam into the circuitry and wiring within. "... no signs of major physical damage either..."


-----


Truth Seeker, Main Engineering


Mai made the connection and worked, causing a few clicks to sound within the machinery. Then a growing hum as the frigate's core came back online, a few consoles around the containment shielding flickering weakly and displaying the boot sequence.

Cold boot initiated.

Reactor limit set at ten percent. Initiating fusion chamber reaction...

And then black to white as the lights began flickering everywhere, a few of them sparking and blowing from surges in the system. A few hisses as life support ventilation resumed operations.

On Cash's scanners appeared movement, and a large disembodied EM signature. Nearly a full meter taller than a Krayak. Whatever it was it had been obscured by the reactor shielding previously.

An utterly alien and mournful wail echoed through the section as something moved amid the flickering of light and shadow, a massive serrated claw darting out towards Mai, easily the size of her torso.


-----


Project Legacy research module


Hisses and pops as the main lights flickered on, fighting the darkness and sending pulses of photons down the eerie hallways that led into the Eon base. In the distance the echo of multiple wails and hard object against metal wall. Echoes that seemed to be coming closer at a running pace.

The researcher dropped his penlight, the device clattering to the floor as he broke out in a cold sweat and stepped back in terror, towards the safety of the team.


-----


STING frigate Exerion, Low observation orbit over Vajra-3


"... looks like they've flipped the switch sir," a bridge officer reported. "Sensors are picking up energy signatures and..."

Then the stark screaming of the emergency klaxons as something tripped the frigate's automated sensor grid.

"... proximity alert - something from behind the moon, must've been hiding in its shadow..." the officer's eyes widened when he saw the readings. "Energy spikes!"

Captain Gardna had already barked the order. "Evasive manoeuvres!"

[Master Chief]

"Wha-" Jarrett turned at the sound of the small flashlight hitting the floor, stepping forward into the hallway behind the professor to figure out what was wrong. His unasked question was answered by the cacophony of screeching metal and inhuman cries racing towards them through the quickly vanishing dark.

"Oh. Oh, shit," he cursed, racing forward and pushing the professor behind him with his free arm, the pair now backing up towards the rest of the team, his carbine pointed down the hallway.

"Look sharp, we got incoming!"

[Akranadas]

"Let us see what terrors the universe hides" Tasitus whispered to himself in Mandrakian "For I am the predator of Mandrakea and they shall fear my claw"

It was a line from an ancient battle song, sung by the Mandrakian warriors of old, Tasitus studied up on the old soldiers and their war tales before venturing forth with STING. He could see the professor clambering for safety, but he was clumsy and was tripping over himself trying to put distance between himself and the noise.

"Come here professor" Tasitus said, latching onto his coat and hoisting him up onto his back and into the spot between his wings, to keep him not only out of harms way, but out of the way of the weapons "You'll be safe there, they'll have to kill me to get to you"

Tasitus' weapon systems began to come online, the various components on his armour began to tick and whine as they came to life.

[Fuel?]

"EM Charge, EM Charge!" Cash shouted both through the line and normal voice. Hopefully, Mai would deliver and hit the creature with something unpleasant. At the same time, he quickly took aim with his rifle - not at the approaching beast itself, lead rounds would be useless against a disembodied signature. The entire room flashed in odd colours when his eyes fully linked with the Gemini and time seemed to slow down as he focused on the blade.

There was only one good thing about big things trying to kill you - they were damn easy to hit. Soon a loud boom of the lead round breaking the barrier of sound rang in the corridor. Something in his mind was certain about what he was doing - rechambering an EM discharge round into the rifle instead of running out of the ship. A Suspended Lead round could stop a charging Krayak and if you landed your shot well, rip an arm off. Effects when used on humans explained why it was banned prior to Damocles War.

Before he even realized, he was backing off, pointing at the creatures' feet with an EM Charge chambered. Seconds were left until the barrel cycle could be initiated again.

[Deunan]

burst round burst round. Arne mesaged to the rest. Firing of small clean clean rounds at the attacker. She felt Cash respond on the public channel, but there was nothing she could do tlfor the two from here.

Jarred's and the scientists voices didn't help in making out the enemy. She only knew it was big and fast. Still not fast enough to give her issues.

She kept firing in good discipline.

[Mokino]

The mechon’s head snapped to attention as her sensors picked up the nearby signature. She lashed out with her left arm, extending the blade and charging it in one fluid motion. Electrified metal hit flesh; the burning smell hitting Mai’s nose. A smell too familiar…

Burning bodies and fried electronics…the remains of the pod crashing to what was left of Earth…I remember seeing them…the people shambling like the undead of fiction…sheep to an invisible call all around me…they can’t see me…FOCUS MAI

The command from Cyrene snapped Mai back to reality as her blade continued to dig deeper into the creature’s flesh. [i]Cash, my sensors aren’t lying…this thing has a hyperspace signature. It's got a significant energy source; watch out for energy discharges.[i] She sounded an emergency alert to the rest of the team:

Hostiles are possible capable of energy weapon fire...and possibly hyperspace travel sans ship. I suggest an immediate evacuation.

[Akranadas]

Tasitus lowered his Raptor Electrical Dart Rifle as the weapon cracked to life, the weapon linked into his optical sights inside of his helmet giving him a target. He pulled the trigger of the weapon and felt the recoil as a Dart was released from the barrel, as it exited the stablizing fins deployed on the 20 cm dart allowing it to fly through the air at a consistent accuracy. The dart slammed into the creature, the razor sharp point piercing through the skin and deployed the spikes before emitting an large electrical pulse.

Tasitius found himself getting excited by all this, the battle was exhilarating; from the rush of firing his weapon, the cries of the enemy and to the smell of weapon fire all of it was intoxicating. It was as if long dormant predatory instincts were suddenly coming to life after a lifetime of sleeping, it was a wonderful feeling.

"Who knew battle would feel like this" Tasitus said to himself in Mandrakian "It is intoxicating, I feel the rush, the lust and hunger. All as the ancient databanks said"

[Deunan]

Where's the lizardman? Arne commed. She could account for every teammember in the firefight. But the lizard was silent on both integration and vocal.

[atmawpn]

Vajra-3, Truth Seeker


A crash as lead smashed into carapace, the giant claw breaking off into shards that flew past Mai. As the parts soared she sensed the material fading into nothingness - like it were being sucked back through the veil into Hyperspace.

A shriek as the electrified blade dug into the creature's armor, currents arcing madly around it. It seemed insectoid, yet mechanical in the way its resilient carapace glinted in the light and dark. Another inhuman scream as it leapt back, a massive spear-like tail lashing forth, glowing and exploding in a light show as it pulsed a blast of high-energy plasma at Cash...

... but the energy attack merely phased through the operative, it too fading to nothingness. Another shriek as the creature leapt at Mai again - only for claw and fang to phase through solids as it simply... faded away, hyperspatial energies crackling in its wake.


-----


Vajra-3, Project Legacy Research Module


Screams in the distance as the team opened fire, thunder rolling through the corridors as high-velocity rounds impacted shell and claw. There was a mote of light and then a pulse as one of the things fired a plasma bolt. But its aim was shoddy, the blast crashing into the ceiling above the team instead, causing debris and shattered metal to rain down on them.

Light everywhere as Vajra-3's primary star shone into the ruined corridor.

And then they came into view: giant insectoid monstrosities with only unfeeling rage in their gemstone eyes. Howling as they bore down on the STING team. The rolling thunder had gone - the firepower from their weapons phasing through the fading entities as they too charged straight through the formation.

Then nothing but an echoing cry as they faded from view behind the squad. The professor a quivering mess huddled in a frozen ball.

[Deunan]

That was fun Commented Arne over the air, her body running on a perfectly maintained concoction of adrenaline and endorphins. Any more buggers around?

She didn't have to ask how the rest of the team was, she knew they were unharmed.

[Akranadas]

"Ah! Where did they go, the feel battle is amazing, my heart is beat faster than ever. More!" Tasitus said in Mandrakian as he put down his weapon "Sorry, I did not realise I was transmitting in my own language. Were those simple VR programs or actual beings? No blood, no fluid no nothing"

Tasitus grabbed the frail human from off of his back and placed him roughly onto the ground. "It appears safe now"

[Mokino]

Mai started to work as soon the creature faded, not bothering to make any comments out loud. First thing was to repair her protective skin. She pulled out a spray can from a hidden compartment and sprayed the contents over any tears in the rubber-like material, the black sealing foam rendering the repairs invisible in seconds.

That finished, she reached out into the Truth Seeker’s systems; system diagrams of the appeared before her eyes in the space surrounding the mechon. Most systems weren’t working, prevent a full interface.
“Looks like my guess was right,” she said aloud for Cash’s benefit, “Those things are capable of hyperspace travel. Before the sensors fried they picked up what seemed several Eon gate jumps.”

She fell silent again, diverting her full attention to coaxing information from the frigate.
This facility was used for the processing of hyperquartz and supposedly contained a fair-sized cache of the stuff. There’s an old requisition for a fair-sized biohazard container that was sent shortly before things went dark.

"... they say they've found the controls for the Hyperquartz production lines, or what appears to be. Truth Seeker will need to divert all reactor power to kickstart the Eon systems. They seem pretty excited about it, going on and on about how this could mean Eon-type gate building." An unfamiliar voice came from one of the nearby consoles.

“That’s all I can find,” Mai said, sounding very disappointed, “There’s not much working on this tub after all. In a pinch I could possibly get her airborne after a few repairs but most of the automatics are fried. Even a mechon would find moving her difficult. ”
On that note, I have lost contact with Exerion she broadcasted to the entire team Whatever those creatures were, it can be surmised they also attacked our vessel.

Another crash as yet another vessel fell amidst the chaos of the city, plasma streams from its engines incinerating many of the reactionless people immediately.....they didn't even scream...