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Post by Taffer on Aug 12, 2016 22:09:56 GMT
"It's good to hear you're on ma right track Atticus," Taffer replied, "And it's indeed a good idea if you set the portal ready for action and connect it to the one on the Vigilant. We have a good team protecting the Riot here as your evacuation point and a radio relay to the Vigilant, so we better stay on guard. At the same time you'll be able to call reinforcements from the stratocarrier right to the point where you are and right at the moment when you need it. So please continue on your way and we'll inform the Vigilant crew to be ready to answer your call. Over."
"Well, there's not much what I could find," Vo said as Atticus finished his communication session, "Except it was indeed Lena who were by the radio when we received the signal from here and not some sort of hoax. The other thing I found is that there's no traces of Marcel's blood anywhere. I doubt he would willfully abandon the plane which was about to crash with Lena on board, so I have to assume he was thrown out of the cockpit right at the moment when the plane hit the first tree tops, but he didn't get any serious injuries during that process. It means if he got lucky and trees softened his fall, he might be alive and even in a good condition too. Shirra have calculated the plane's trajectory while it was falling and pinpointed the location where he could be thrown out of the plane. It shares the same southeast direction, where the tracks lead. I don't know what this could mean, but at least we have one more point to check."
Meanwhile, Taffer went to the cockpit of the Riot expecting to give Lu a new set of orders to communicate with the Vigilant. To his surprise, she wasn't there. Taffer queried her location and found out she was heading to the cargo hold. Lu was about to enter the portal when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder stopping her.
"Where do you think you're going?" She heard Taffer's voice. He sounded surprised, but there were some steely notes in his voice too.
"Going to join the recon team as we planned. What's up?" Lu asked as she tried to think on why her commander was trying to stop her.
"Lu, you are the pilot. Your task is and always was to stay with the Riot and get it into the sky at any moment we need it. I understand you might want to stay with Vo on this mission but…"
"No, no, it makes perfect sense that I stay with the spacecraft," Lu waved his hand showing she's not objecting, "But still I'm pretty sure I remember we decided differently for some reason I found important…"
"You remember wrong Lu," Taffer cut her short, "If you don't believe me you can ask any other team member and they will confirm the plan was like that right from the beginning. Lu, I'm sorry I have to ask you this, but do you feel alright? Did you have a good sleep before you took the piloting? Anything else I might need to know? Remember, we're on the enemy territory and our friends are still missing. So I have to know the conditions each team member. Look, I just want to get you all back home safely in one peace."
"I'm fine Taf, perfectly fine," Lu answered after consulting Klimi, her EGO psyche to make sure she's telling the truth, "Just a little anxious. I thing that episode with the nuclear bomb affected me somewhat deeper than I thought. By the way, do you have a red pencil by chance?" Her last question made Taffer stare at her in surprise.
"In fact, I have one," he answered nevertheless, "Here it is. It's red from one end and blue from the other. But please be careful with it, it's a gift from my Russian friends. Why would you need it buy the way?"
"Well, just thought of some means to calm down my anxiety," Lu answered. "Don't worry, I'll be careful."
"Good. Now please get back to the Riot's radio and call the Vigilant. Tell them the status of the operation and that they should get ready to transfer through the portal to Garilu's location by our command or the command from Garilu. Then set up the radio to work as a constant relay between us and Garilu."
As Lu nodded in confirmation and moved towards the door to the cockpit, Taffer could hear her muttering, "I got black, blue and red. Yellow left." He also didn't like she stared into the woods as she passed by the window right before she disappeared behind the ship's door. It could be just his paranoia kicking in, but he still didn't like it. Deep in his thoughts, he looked over Vo's ATV still stationed in the cargo hold and put a tracking bug under its seat. Just in case.
Meanwhile, Lu found Atika next to communication console and relayed to her what Taffer ordered them to do. She also said, as if only to herself, but Atika could hear her too, "I wonder where I can get a yellow pencil or marker or chalk or something…"
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Aug 13, 2016 10:53:35 GMT
Through the trip Volodja Uljanov sat nose in his data pad, trying to collect as much information about their destination he could, so he could face surprises their island expedition might offerer them well armed. And by well armed he meant knowledge which usually helped him in complicated situations. Two English philosophers - Sir Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes - made the phrase "Scientia potentia est" ("Knowledge is power") popular in certain circles. Volodja was pretty sure that if he EVER bothered to get himself a coat of arms, he would use that phrase as a motto, because he valued knowledge and always tried to have a sip from the spring of wisdom when he had a chance. He also knew that he would not been the first one who would use that phrase to dignify his coat of arms, because the same motto was already use in coat of arms of The School of Oriental and African Studies - a constituent college of the University of London. He knew that, because that knowledge actually mattered something...Why? Because for Volodja, there wasn't such a thing as an useless piece of knowledge. Even if the piece of information didn't had practical outcome right away, it didn't meant that it was unnecessary. At some moment it might become essential. Unlike some people, Volodja actually liked to put the knowledge, he possessed, into a practical use and although he didn't planned creating a colonial empire as Germans in 19th century, he muttered the phrase: "Wissen ist Macht, geographisches Wissen ist Weltmacht" ("Knowledge is power, geographical knowledge is world power") which was used by supporters of German colonial empire. Fortunately Otto von Bismarck - a key figure behind unified Germany and first Chancellor of German Empire wasn't overly ablaze about seizing colonies, so first German expeditions served more geographical and ethnological interests than anything else. Volodja was fine by that result, because he preferred to use his knowledge to help others, not seizing real power and authority. He put away his data pad and said: "I believe that thanks to the isolation which means less outer influence, we have to deal with relatively limited number of plant and animal species, where we go. No large mammals, unless someone dragged them there and messed up the ecological system. Humans tended to do that and usually they screwed up local wildlife pretty bad by breaking natural balance. I believe that we might have lot of fish, birds, insects, ants, plus bats and white flying foxes, also known as fruit bats...White flying fox is endemic species there, by the way. If we have some time afterwards, then I do wish that I brought the calypso with me because sea life is very rich here and I would really like to see a dugong. As the anthropologist Allan Asbjørn Jøn who actually wrote a book, called: "Dugongs and Mermaids, Selkies and Seals" has noted, they are often considered as the inspiration for mermaids, by the way." And he smiled. Volodja finished his little theoretical tour into the local wildlife in more serious manner: "We might also meet with some feral Fiji banded iguana's and salt water crocodiles, living in mangroves, who once appeared as guests stars but settled themselves in slowly, without affecting local ecology too much. But...if there was a major intervention of some kind, then local species might become...a bit different from what they used to be. Just like those mutated specimen, we faced in Alaska. And as usual, there might also be some two legged species, capable of doing more harm than all the local wildlife altogether, so I suggest to be extremely careful. Don't feed animals without permission and remember that our expedition might become not as easy as a walk in aqua park. I do apologize for bothering you with the boring lecture of mine, but you know me - once I begin to talk, it's damn hard to shut me up."
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Post by Sandy Bell on Aug 13, 2016 14:45:01 GMT
Sandy Bell grinned listening to her lover, Volodja Uljanov, finish his lecture as she finished cleaning her Piper assault rifle and began on her Wolfhound pistol - for the third time. Before the Pale Wars, she had earned a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, and had even started on her Master's degree until she volunteered to serve in the EMC army against the Votans. Still, Sandy would be the first to admit that most of what he said was far above her head. Volodja reminded her sometimes of a philosophy professor she once had in college whose course she took not because she wanted to but to fulfill a state requirement for the undergraduate degree. In fact, the ONLY reason she took his particular ethics course was that it fit her time requirement for classes in the morning so that she would be able to catch the big waves surfing the afternoon in the ocean near the campus. Despite an initial feeling that what the philosophy professor was saying about ethics had nothing to do with real life in general and her life in particular, as Sandy listened through the semester to his lectures about Plato and St. Thomas Aquinas among others, she gradually realized she was wrong. She would often find herself still thinking about the morning's class discussion, as the professor was firm believer in the Socratic method, in the afternoon while she caught a huge curl. The peace and quiet of the ocean as she surfed was strangely conducive to her pondering of what was right and wrong, brought into context by what she originally thought was a useless class. When she joined the EMC and became an officer, the professor's words would often help guide her on how she treated her men, and how she would deal with the many gray areas of morality created by war - at least until she was put into stasis during the Pale Wars and the EMC was disbanded while she "slept." Sandy often thought back to that professor when Volodja was importing knowledge that others might think useless but which often became useful when push came to shove. However, she would never have thought to take the professor as a lover as she had Volodja, for although in both cases she loved their minds, Volodja was and would be her only true love. That, and the fact that when Sandy was in college the very thought of having sex with the much older professor would have gotten a response of "EWWW! But he's so... old!" Volodja too was older than her, though the age difference was not near as great as the teenage Sandy and the ethics teacher, but she was much more mature now and true love is not stopped by a mere age gap. Sandy flashed her big blue eyes to lock on Volodja's brown ones, stating sincerely, "You should send that info to the others through their EGOs, for they need to be briefed on what dangers they might find on the island. However - and you KNOW I love you Volodja - a brief should be just that, so try to keep it to two-syllable words and ditch the academic references, please. I LOVE them, but it might muddy the waters for the others who need to know." Sandy stopped cleaning her pistol and scratched her blond head as her tanned brow furrowed and a frown crossed her pretty face, whereupon she asked, "And what the hell is a dugong? I know what a dugout is, as I was an avid baseball fan before the Pale Wars, and I once smoked from a bong in college, but a dugong? I haven't a fucking clue!"
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Post by Lady Christianna on Aug 14, 2016 0:28:14 GMT
Lady Christianna's enigmatic smile faded from her young chalk white face and was slowly replaced by a pretty pout. As she sat in the Riot's co-pilot seat next to her husband, Atticus Batman while he concentrated on driving the vehicle through the overgrown jungle, she kept fidgeting around in her seat, first facing straight forward then sideways, even straddling it and looking at the passengers behind her. Lady was bored out of her mind as only a teenager can be, tired of seeing the endless green out the window, tired of watching and not seeing any sign of life on the radar, craving some action - any action at all!
In some ways she wished she was more like her erstwhile friend, Lena Marr, who along with her lover Marcel Lestrange, the Protector's were searching the island for in a search and rescue operation after their plane crashed and Lena sent a distress signal. Lady thought that if Lena was bored, she would just make her own action, either by saying something that would cause upheaval or by doing some shocking action, usually of a sexual nature with Marcel, like giving him a blow job unabashed in front of everybody. Although they were both Castithan women, who were known to be sensual by nature, Lady would never do that - in public anyway - and she was always a lady of few words, wanting to listen and observe rather than be the center of attention as Lena seemed to like.
Lady glanced furtively at Atticus with wide pink eyes, wondering if he sometimes might not prefer her to be more like Lena, but quickly dismissed the thought from her mind. He loved her and she loved him for who they were, period! They didn't have to be exhibitionists to prove that fact, although she did wish they had more time in private to express their love in a more physical way. She had for some time an itch she only wanted him to scratch, and that may too have contributed to her fidgeting in her seat.
"Hela," Thought Lady to herself as she looked out the window and saw yet another palm tree sail by, "Could have stayed home mommying the twins and seen more action!"
As Lady glanced at the radar for what she thought the millionth time and seeing nothing yet again, she spotted her fire nano-equipped Crimefighter shotgun sitting next to her and picked it up, hugging it like an old friend. She loved her shotgun that shot fiery balls of death, bouncing them as it went until they exploded. She was an expert at trajectory, and was even adept at having them bounce around corners to strike adversaries that were out of sight. She even liked the fact that if you shot them straight up into the sky, the timed ammunition would blow up like small fireworks, and she would do so at the Armistice Holiday celebration much to the children's delight and their parents' dismay.
That memory brought both a sudden inspiration to Lady's mind and her enigmatic smile back to her pretty alabaster face as she asked cheerfully, "How's about get roof-side and fire Baby? Might be seen by friends! Foes already know for sure! Awesome idea, right?"
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Aug 14, 2016 10:56:00 GMT
Volodja could not resist temptation, so he declared through the EGO link as an experienced herald: "Hear ye! Hear ye! Volodja is here, yeah!" After that introduction he continued in serious and businesslike manner and described local wildlife shortly but colourfully pointing out that most dangerous animals on that island used to be salt water crocodiles, so he suggested to avoid mangrove swamps. When his presentation was over, he added: "That information could be out of date by now, though. Too many time has passed and events occurred. Especially when island is inhabited by experimenting scientist, so it's possible that he altered local species and not in a good way. I also suggest to avoid contact with locals if possible. We don't know how they are going to behave when they see us, so we better avoid even a possibility of having an armed conflict with them. Over and out!" Since Volodja could not hear anyone to respond, he repeated the message couple of times and turned to Sandy, sating: "At moment I don't have any response to my message yet, so I will have to repeat it soon. I can use that break to answer your question about dugongs, Sandy." Volodja pushed dangling lock of hair off his high forehead and begun in teacher like manner, because he didn't wanted to distract Sandy from cleaning her pistol: "The dugong is a medium-sized marine mammal and only one which is strictly herbivorous, so they depend on seagrass, thus they are restricted to the coastal habitats which support seagrass meadows such as bays, mangrove channels, the waters of large inshore islands and inter-reefal waters. They are non aggressive by nature and put a lot effort into parental care. I am not sure how many dugongs are left, because they used to be among endangered species due to illegal hunting, habitat degradation, and fishing-related fatalities even before Pale Wars and Terraforming, but maybe, just maybe, those events actually helped them to survive." Suddenly Volodja smiled boyishly and continued: "I red about dugongs first time when I was a kid. At age of five, when I opened the book by Jules Verne, called "Vingt mille lieues sous les mers: Tour du monde sous-marin." In English it means "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World." You probably have heard about that classic sci-fi novel or even read it. Or at least seen the movie. It's about a submarine and it's captain and the crew, seen through the eyes of French Professor Aronnax who got on board of "Nautilus" by accident along with his servant Conseil and harpooner Ned Land. Old Jules was really ahead of his time by describing a fully operational submarine driven by electric engines and meant for long underwater trips in 1869. Ever since I read that book, I really wanted to see a living dugong and other miracles of the underwater world...Sorry about being carried away. I shall try to repeat my message to others. Back to the business now." Saying that, Volodja resumed his task and kept sending signals as he was a radio operator on board of a sinking ship. Without the "Hear Ye!" part of course...
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Post by Atticus Batman on Aug 14, 2016 12:33:57 GMT
"Well, there's not much what I could find," Vo said as Atticus finished his communication session, "Except it was indeed Lena who were by the radio when we received the signal from here and not some sort of hoax. The other thing I found is that there's no traces of Marcel's blood anywhere. I doubt he would willfully abandon the plane which was about to crash with Lena on board, so I have to assume he was thrown out of the cockpit right at the moment when the plane hit the first tree tops, but he didn't get any serious injuries during that process. It means if he got lucky and trees softened his fall, he might be alive and even in a good condition too. Shirra have calculated the plane's trajectory while it was falling and pinpointed the location where he could be thrown out of the plane. It shares the same southeast direction, where the tracks lead. I don't know what this could mean, but at least we have one more point to check."
I said to the others, "Well it looks like we will have to stop by Shira's calculated coordinates and see what we can find on Marcel. If he isn't there but we can also find his footprints perhaps we can use the direction both sets are heading to better triangulate were we need to be."
So that is what we did. However when we got to the swampy area we once again didn't find who we were looking for, but merely signs that they had been there or more specifically that Marcel Lestrange had been there and didn't like the local swamp life's welcoming party. There were plenty of dead creatures that he had obviously hacked apart and his footprints leading away and they clearly headed roughly the same direction as the giant insect's. So we followed them back out of the swamp and shortly after we left the swamp to the southeast of where we had entered, the tracks definitely met up with and ran roughly parallel with the Insectoid's.
So As we continued following all the tracks I said, "Vo please get the portals ready so we can place them as soon as needed, which could possibly be very soon."
After Vo responded and got up to check them, I glanced at Lady and smiled behind my helm just knowing she was by my side here and always. However I could tell from her frown that either she was bored, or something was bugging her or both. Yet before I could ask her what was wrong, her enigmatic smile was back on her pretty alabaster face as she asked cheerfully, "How's about get roof-side and fire Baby? Might be seen by friends! Foes already know for sure! Awesome idea, right?"
I replied, "Actually I've had a feeling something has been following us for awhile but the radar and our EGOs aren't picking anything up. That means one of three things. Either I am wrong about being followed, which isn't likely. There is something and it is staying just out of sensor range, or it has some sort of natural camouflage or body chemistry that is keeping our sensors from picking it up. So perhaps going top-side is a good idea. Perhaps you can see spot whatever is following us with your own eyes, since it seems to have some way of staying of our electronic radars and also be watchful for our "friends". However for now I suggest only firing Baby into the sky if we are being followed by the local wildlife and only to scare it off as fire and fireballs tend to be a great deterrent. Just do your best NOT to light this whole jungle up around us and please be careful up there." As Lady started to get up, I temporarily activated auto-pilot to keep on course and gently grabbed her arm. Then with my free hand I lifted my helm as I pulled her onto my lap and continued with, "And one more very important thing..." As she opened her mouth to ask what it was, I kissed her passionately, even tongue wrestling with her for a couple seconds and of course getting hard in the process as she always has that affect on me. Then once we broke the kiss and I released her arm to let her up, I said, "I know I probably don't say it enough but I love and need you completely, My Snow Angel. Now please go see what you can see from up there."
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Post by Atika Constantine on Aug 14, 2016 13:13:03 GMT
Meanwhile, Lu found Atika next to communication console and relayed to her what Taffer ordered them to do. She also said, as if only to herself, but Atika could hear her too, "I wonder where I can get a yellow pencil or marker or chalk or something…"
Although Atika was sure Lu wasn't really paying attention to her, she cheerfully responded in her Mongolian accent with, "Saw some yellow tracer paint in the cargo hold earlier if that helps. Anyway I better contact the Vigilant now as ordered."
Just then her EGO notified her of an extremely garbled message on the team channel that was apparently being interfered with by the odd electromagnetic currents that lingered in the sky. However her EGO was certain that it had Volodja Uljanov's EGO signature. So with that knowledge she contacted the Vigilant.
She said, "This is Little Sister. Come in Sky Giant"
Less than a minute later she heard Kaj's booming voice saying, "This is Sky Giant. What is it Little Sister?"
She informed him of what she was told about the operation's status and having Sandy's and Volo's teams ready up and standby at the portal to await Commander Taffer's or Commander Batman's orders to step through. Then she said, "One more thing Kaj. We picked up a very garbled message on our Ego team channel that was registered to Mr. Volo. Could you please tell us what it was?"
Kaj said, "Just give me a second and I will have him do so."
Kaj then contacted Volo and Sandy who were waiting with their commando teams in the Vigilant's main cargo bay and filled them in on their orders, then said calmly to Volodja, "Volo the Riot got a very garbled EGO message from you. Apparently the elecotromagnetic energies in the sky are severely interfering with it. So they have asked me to have you repeat the message over our long range communication channels. I am patching you into a channel with the Riot right now."
After Volo agreed, Kaj did just that so Volo could repeat his message to them and Atika made sure to send the message to Taffer's comms, as well as contacting the Garilu with the information that she was about to receive.
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Post by Lady Christianna on Aug 14, 2016 15:23:11 GMT
After the teenager and Atticus kissed passionately, Lady Christianna smiled enigmatically but with a gleam of joy in her big pink eyes, "Love you too. Always and forever," Then she became insubstantial and floated upwards grasping her Crimefighter shotgun through the roof of the Riot to reach it's top, consciously compensating for the movement of her body moving upwards as the Riot continued going forward. Still, when she emerged she found herself at the rear of the riot rather than in the front which was where she rose from vehicles's cockpit. With one chalk white hand on her weapon, she reached out with the other to latch on to the edge of vehicle's roof as she increased her density to normal so that her weight would help her remain on the roof. Ever since Lady first discovered she had received density altering powers from her unfortunate encounter with a singularity bomb, she had wondered why she didn't just leave her clothes behind when she became ghost-like, and soon realized that it must have been some subconscious sense of modesty that made her extend her powers to cover her clothes as well as her body. She further realized that, with some practice and more concentration, she could extend her powers to cover things she held close to her body, like her weapon in her hands and its ammunition in the cartridge pouches on her belt. Lady wasn't sure that it would work on anything larger then her shotgun, but had been experimenting with bigger objects when they received the call to yet another mission. As Lady settled laying down on the roof of the riot, she checked her EGO's radar that there was no other living things in their immediate vicinity other than the crew of the Riot. She could not hear any wildlife either, and thought that in a jungle, that in itself was strange, for there is always life in a thriving forested area. Furthermore, from her vantage point on top of the Riot, she was sure she saw several somethings moving in the underbrush trailing behind them. She pulled from her pocket an old fashioned spyglass that she had bought in the open bazaar in Defiance, opening it and looking to where she saw movement behind them. What she saw made her pink eyes grow wide, for she saw a half dozen creatures behind them that were a mixture of shark and salt water crocodile. As she pocketed her spyglass and readied her Crimefighter shotgun for action, Lady remembered that there was a similar monster in Florida created by the Votan terra-forming gone awry during the Pale Wars, and which had been encountered by Vo Kshaa and her mentor Belle Starr there. Belle had described the creature to her, and that monster was a mixture of a shark and alligator, but about the size of a city bus. These creatures were similar, with a shark-like tail and head filled with row after row of razor sharp teeth and the reptilian body and legs like crocodilians, but these were much smaller, about one and half times the size of a man, with a sleeker body and thinner snout. Furthermore and perhaps most important since they were being chased, their legs were longer and they seemed to Lady to be incredibly fast for their size. Lady remembered that Belle had told her that the Sharkgator was invisible to her EGO radar, and suspected it might have limited cloaking abilities, so she wondered if these Sharkadiles might have similar powers as well as maybe some type of blurring ability too. Informing her team mates of what she saw, Lady shot several shots from her Crimefighter shotgun at the approaching creatures, but the following sharkadiles easily avoided the bouncing fiery projectiles. Suddenly a cold chill went up Lady's spine as she remembered a scene from an old pre-Pale Wars movie. Every Saturday night, her ark hunter clan used to show such movies at the Iron Demon's ranch where they were quartered. One night they showed a movie about a rich man who had decided to grow dinosaurs from their blood's DNA taken by ancient mosquitoes who were in turn captured in amber in order to build a theme park, whatever that might be. She thought the movie absurd, because who would want to bring back an extinct terror from the past when there were so many real terrors like hellbugs, Grid, and Volge. However, what suddenly brought the movie to mind was the pack maneuvers of a dinosaur called a raptor in the movie, where several of the pack would make themselves be known in one direction where another would approach unobserved from the side, grabbing their prey. Lady thought the sharkadiles following were a little too obvious so she quickly glanced from side to side just in time to see a sharkadile launch itself at her with it's powerful tail, catching her in its razor sharp teeth as it leaped over the Riot to its other side, taking her with it as it went. Lady instinctively went intangible as she felt the pressure of the sharkadile's powerful jaws closing to bite her body in two. As she rolled away and it turned to face her, it's toothy maw open to seize her again, Lady leveled her Crimefighter shooting it's fiery projectiles point blank into its mouth, which then blew up in its throat separating it's head from it's body. She had to become substantial to pull the shot gun's trigger, so the momentum of her roll took her to the bottom of a muddy ditch. Reacting to the pain in her midsection, she reached down to feel a sticky wetness there that she knew wasn't mud, and which was confirmed by the pink blood on her chalk white hand when she raised it to her wide pink eyes. "Uhhh... half dozen or more sharkadiles headed your way," Lady reported to Atticus and her team mates through their team EGO channel as she grimaced, finding she couldn't concentrate enough to go insubstantial again because of the pain from the creature's bite, so added as she clenched her teeth, "Ohhh... not on the roof, powers on the fritz, could use some help."
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Post by Vo Kshaa on Aug 14, 2016 21:25:23 GMT
It wasn't too hard for Vo to set up the portal, especially with Shirra's help, although he met one difficulty in the process. In order to start the synchronization process, the portal must be fully unfolded onto its stationary position. But on the other hand, a fully unfolded portal device wouldn't pass the rover's manhole and there wasn't much sense in activating it inside the rover as it would make it overcrowded very fast. Postponing the synchronization process was a not desired decision as it could eat precious seconds during the battle and Vo knew for sure how to use this downside of the portal against its owner as he did it several times at arkfalls where he was fast enough to jump at the portal and destroy it and its operator in two consecutive shots of his shotgun before it completed its synchronization and started spitting out Dark Matter reinforcement troops. This time Shirra had the idea how to remedy this downside as she found a way to bypass the internal "portal unfolded" signal so that he could start the synchronization with its counterpart on the Vigilant before he unfolded it. The one more thing Vo had to do as a precautionary measure was to flip an emergency switch which prevented the actual use of the portal as he didn't know what would happen if someone tried to port through a still folded device and he didn't want to learn it through experimenting on his team mates. Just as the synchronization completed, he received an emergency message from Lady, "Ohhh... not on the roof, powers on the fritz, could use some help." Without any second thought, he turned on his Blur and rushed up onto the roof, pulling the portal with him. Just a moment later, he unfolded it, making it stick to the rover's roof and flipped the emergency blocking switch back to "on" position. As the portal was already synchronized, he sent a quick message to Atticus "Portal ready, going to help Lady" and then using the remaining seconds of duration of his Blur he jumped off the rover and ran to the place where Lady's EGO signal was located, readying his Breacher shotgun as he did. With a first double shot one of the creatures was blown up to pieces right in the middle of the jump it tried to perform to reach Lady's head, but then Vo switched to his Blaster pistol as Shirra reported that Lady was wounded. With his now free left hand he reached her abdomen as Shirra immediately sent her nanites carrying painkillers and additional energy charges to help MOM heal the wound. At the same time, he looked around to target any other creature that might try another attack. "Portal is active and Atticus is coming right behind me," Vo said to Lady as he sent a quick burst from his pistol to one of the creatures, "We need to hold on for just a few more seconds."
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Post by Atticus Batman on Aug 15, 2016 11:18:57 GMT
While Vo was doing his engineering thing with one of the portals I received a message from Lady, "Uhhh... half dozen or more sharkadiles headed your way," Lady reported to her team mates and me through our team EGO channel as she grimaced, finding she couldn't concentrate enough to go insubstantial again because of the pain from the creature's bite, so added as she clenched her teeth, "Ohhh... not on the roof, powers on the fritz, could use some help."
Without any second thought, Vo turned on his Blur and rushed up onto the roof, pulling the portal with him. Just a moment later, he unfolded it, making it stick to the rover's roof and flipped the emergency blocking switch back to "on" position.
As the portal was already synchronized, he sent a quick message to Atticus "Portal ready, going to help Lady" and then using the remaining seconds of duration of his Blur he jumped off the rover and ran to the place where Lady's EGO signal was located, readying his Breacher shotgun as he did.
As I quickly pivoted the Rover around, I sent Taffer's team a quick comm message in a hurried tone. "One Portal active. Roughly two klicks from where we register a Compound. Have an emergency situation with team and sharkadiles. Could use a little backup, but portal is on the roof so prepare for a possible drop and ready to fire immediately. Just wait a minute or so to send a team through. Will take about that long for me to get the Garilu into a defensive position near them but may need to send Lady through it to the Vigilant for emergency medical as well. So also get a med team ready!"
Within seconds of ending the message, I had the Garilu maneuvered around and activated the defensive counter-measures set to target only the sharkadiles. With it blasting any approaching sharkadiles, I quickly got it up beside Vo and Lady's position. Then I quickly grabbed my shotgun and ran to the back hatch dropping it open near Lady and Vo. As it opened I was already charging my gun. So as soon as it was open enough for me to get a shot I took it. Fortunately for Vo and Lady that shot completely obliterated the head of a sharkadile that was in the process of leaping at them. I also had the small emergency turrets that were mounted to the ceiling just inside the Garilu (in case of an intruder breaking in) activated, set to target only the sharkadiles, and pointed out of the same doorway that I was standing in to help me provide Vo and Lady with some extra cover fire of their immediate area.
Then as I and the Garilu provided the much needed defensive cover fire, I shouted to Vo, "Vo get Lady inside, I have you covered! I notified Taffer that we have an emergency situation and could use backup. So hopefully they got the message and help is on the way. We just have to do our best to hold on until backup arrives. So the best bet is to fire from the protective cover of the Garilu's hatches until then."
While I shouted to them and Vo and Lady responded, I continued firing as I hastily moved down to the bottom of the ramp to make sure Vo was able to get Lady up and into the Garilu, without any sharkadiles stopping them.
Meanwhile on the Riot, Atika had received the comm message but Atticus ended it before she could respond or even confirm that she got it. So she immediately contacted Taffer. "Commander Taffer I need you in here immediately! We just got an emergency call from the Garilu that sounded very urgent! They're asking for a little commando backup and to have a medical team aboard the Vigilant on alert, butt are about two klicks from the compound they are heading toward! Having my EGO transfer a copy of the message to you now! I already notified the Vigilant to get a med team readied and to get a commando team ready to go through the portal and into a hot zone as soon as you give the authorization. They are just awaiting your orders!"
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Post by Lady Christianna on Aug 15, 2016 12:17:10 GMT
A kiss can mean many things... and sometimes not mean what some may think! ***** Sandy Bell had just finished cleaning her Wolfhound pistol when she got the message to have her squad ready for action at a moment's notice. She sighed, glancing at her lover Volodja Uljanov working intently over his data-pad, stood up holstering her pistol and grabbing her Piper Assault rifle, then leaning down to give him a quick peck on the cheek and a muttered, "Love you," before hurrying out of the room. It was only when she was halfway to the cargo room where her security squad was assembling when she realized with a start how half-hearted her kiss had been. She hadn't meant it to be, but she had been pre-occupied thinking about her new squad she was leading and the mission ahead of her that she had gone through the motions without really thinking - or feeling - about how that might affect Volodja, for he was a sensitive soul. Sandy cursed herself for not considering him, for she truly did love him, but she always seemed to be torn between her love for him and her strong sense of duty and responsibility, never seeming to be able to find a balance between the two. Sandy sent a message to Volodja through their private EGO communication channel, "Sorry for that lackluster kiss! You know I really DO love you right? Forgive me?" Not able to wait for a response, Sandy entered the cargo bay where her squad was already present, but had time before briefing them to have a regret every soldier has who hadn't given a proper farewell to their loved ones before going into combat, "I hope that's not my final good-bye." ***** As Lena Marr and Marcel LeStrange rushed through the labyrinth that was the doctor's home, Lust suddenly took over the cockpit of both Lena's EGO and libido when Lena spotted an empty closet and pulled Marcel into it with her, kissing him voraciously as she did. As she quickly shrugged off her only clothing, a lab coat, from her shoulders and began unbuckling his pants, love was the farthest thing from her mind, although she really did love him as much someone with her sensibilities and history could. "Hardly the time and place Honeypot," Stated Marcel, although his tone held no trace of complaint or recrimination. Lena smiled wickedly replying, "That's what makes it so much fun Pooh Bear," then dropped to her knees, where she began kissing Marcel somewhat lower than she had the minute before. ***** Still wincing in pain from the sharkadile's bite, Lady Christianna held on to Vo Kshaa with one small chalk white hand while shooting a suppressing fire with her Crimefighter shotgun with the other, until they both were in the relative safety of the Garilu. As the ramp door closed, her vision became blurred and her mind fuzzy as the painkillers her EGO pumped into her took affect supplemented by those from Vo's EGO as well. "S'okay. Only flesh wound. Can still fight," Mumbled Lady, her formerly white tunic now pink from her blood, then dropping her Crimefighter, she turned suddenly and standing on her tiptoes gave the lanky Irathient holding her a long and passionate kiss, saying in a low whisper before growing insubstantial and falling unconscious through his arms and onto the Garilu's deck with a resounding thud, "Thanks for the save. Love you Atticus." Unfortunately for Lady, the Irathiant she kissed was not her husband, Atticus Batman, who had arrived on the scene just in time to see her kiss Vo.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Aug 15, 2016 13:11:10 GMT
As soon as Vo had gotten Lady up and into the Garilu, I slowly backed into it, as I kept firing at the attacking reptiles. After I finished shutting and securing the rear hatch and double-checking the shield's status, I turned and walked towards Lady to check on her before I took up a defensive position at one of the hatches. However it was definitely an understatement to say that I did NOT like what I saw as I did get near Lady and Vo.
"S'okay. Only flesh wound. Can still fight," Mumbled Lady, her formerly white tunic now pink from her blood, then dropping her Crimefighter, she turned suddenly and standing on her tiptoes gave the lanky Irathient holding her a long and passionate kiss, saying in a low whisper before growing insubstantial and falling unconscious through his arms and onto the Riot's deck with a resounding thud, "Thanks for the save. Love you Atticus."
Unfortunately for Lady, the Irathiant she kissed was not her husband, Atticus Batman, who had arrived on the scene just in time to see her kiss Vo.
Also unfortunately for Vo, I did not hear what Lady had whispered before she slumped to the ground and that became VERY apparent to him in only seconds. You see, as Lady fell to the ground after the long and passionate kiss, my eyes flashed white-hot and I raised my shotgun directly at Vo's head as I started to charge it. Fortunately for him the voices in my head; belonging to my EGO, my Grid symbiote, and even my "alter-ego"; managed to get me to change my focus to Lady's unconscious body at the very last second. So as I changed my focus to helping her, my gun's aim was altered and when I fired, it hit a chair instead of flesh.
Seeing through my (already) anger blurred eyes that Lady was on the ground unconscious and badly bleeding I snapped at him very angrily, "K'SHAA!! BELLE DAKING FORGETTING HER LOVE FOR YOU DOES NOT DAKING GIVE YOU THE DAKING RIGHT TO KISS MY WIFE LIKE THAT!!! SO WE WILL DAKING DISCUSS THAT DAKING KISS LATER!!! BUT FIRST I AM GOING TO GET LADY SUBSTANTIAL AND THROUGH THE DAKING PORTAL TO THE VIGILANT!!!!! NOW GET YOUR DAKING ASS TO ONE OF THOSE DAKING HATCHES AND BE DAKING USEFUL OR YOU WILL BE DAKING THROWN OUT DAKING THERE TO HANDLE THE DAKING SHARKADILES BAREHANDED AND ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!"
Then turning my back to Vo and ignoring him, I knelt by Lady, dropping my gun on the floor by her side. As I removed my armored gauntlets I started channeling my electrical powers and absorbing some energy from the Garilu to help strengthen my channeling. Then holding my now glowing hands over Lady's body I started focusing on channeling the energies into her body. Once she was again substantial, I quickly grabbed a first-aid kit and bandaged her.
Then I sent a hasty and obviously manic message to Taffer on the Riot. "I am sending Lady through the daking portal to the Vigilant's daking medical team! However if you want DAKING Vo, THE HAGISI, to survive this, then you better DAKING send HIM some DAKING backup immediately because I DAKING CAN NOT AND WILL NOT DAKING GUARANTEE HIS DAKING SURVIVAL AT THE DAKING MOMENT!!!"
Next, I gently and very lovingly (for I didn't blame her, but Vo for the kiss) picked her up and blurred to the roof of the Garilu where I made sure to activate the portal's multi-directional protocols so I could return to it. Then I quickly took her through the portal. As I mutely handed her off to the medical team I barely noticed anyone or anything around me through my anger and hurt. Then still without saying anything, I turned and stepped back through the portal.
Not only was my anger still firmly in control as I stepped through the portal and back onto the Garilu's roof, but by the time I had re-entered the Garilu it had grown to the verge of me letting my rage have complete control. Then when I spotted Vo firing out of a sniper's hatch as ordered my inner rage settled firmly in and I surrendered myself to it, as I thought about how I may lose Lady to death and the last person to kiss her wasn't me, but a man that I had foolishly accepted into my life as a friend, DESPITE the knowledge I have had from childhood that most friends would ALWAYS betray you and take what you hold most dear in your retched life. So I quickly and tumultuously un-holstered my EXL pistol. Then I over-charged and aimed it at the back of Vo's head now just inches from me, (ignoring my EGO'S pleas not to, and even ordering her to switch to sleep mode but keep over-charge active) as I cocked and readied it for me to pull the trigger and disintegrate the traitor's head.
However unbeknownst to me, as my EGO psyche, Dinara activated over-charge and right before switching herself to standby; knowing her responsibilities weren't only to keep me save from others, but also to keep me and others safe from me if I ever surrendered to my inner rage; did what she felt she must do to protect both Vo and me from myself by sending Vo a quick and extremely short but hopefully life-saving warning, "Mr. Vo! Roll and dodge Atty NOW!!!" Then she immediately switched to sleep mode as ordered, before I had a chance to realize what she had done; not that I would have with how far I had already surrendered into my rage.
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Aug 15, 2016 19:56:28 GMT
"I know," replied Volodja through the EGO link, when he heard Sandy's voice. "And I won't wash that cheek for...how much time it's going to take you to repeat the kiss? I am even willing to turn other cheek when needed. Love you." Then he turned to the small group of men at his disposal and told them:
"Gentlemen! I sort of promised to stay out of the trouble during this little rescue mission, so I am going to...try at least. And you are going to help me in that. Allow me to remind that we are professionals, not a bunch of drunken tourists on a safari tour. That means moving quietly and avoid drawing any attention if possible. We are going to shoot only in when it's absolutely unavoidable, but then we will make every shot count. And those other orders, you have probably heard tens of times. But that won't stop me from repeating them. Repeating is the mother of knowledge, gentlemen...except if you manage to step on a rake.
I will annoy you some more by reminding that we are guests on this island. Uninvited, but still guests, and we don't even know amount of hostility we may be facing, so we better not be ones who cause the ravaging riot. We are going to be nice and quiet as group of mice in a pantry.
One more thing! Before we set our foot to this island, I will ask you to pounce as scouts used to do before reconnaissance missions to be sure that we won't jingle or jangle, clink or clank, ding or tang. What are you waiting for, gentlemen? Exercise is about to begin...NOW!" After some serious pouncing, laughing and removing some clinking and clanking objects from men, they were ready to start their part of the mission and move into the cargo hold...
_________
Lena Marr and Marcel Lestrange enjoyed different kind of pouncing in the closet in Doctor Euthanasius's island manor. After reaching the the peak of their...ahem....activity and resting on each other's arms, they could here some noises, so they kept quiet and listened footsteps and voices of walkers.
"Let me ask again, Doris. Just to be sure that I understood correctly," said the proud owner of the closet which offered such pleasurable moments for Lena and Marcel. "Are you telling me that Frenchman and his girl were gone when you reached to the guest room with your tray? You better tell me that everything, including trespassers and escaped house guests, are just a bad a bad dream! It's a rhetorical sentence, so don't bother to answer!" As it tends to be a some sort of a norm, Euthanasius and Doris stopped to talk right in front of the closet where Lena and Marcel hid themselves...
After a brief moment of silence Euthanasius went on, speaking with gentle voice: "Dear Doris. If I wouldn't be sure about you being...challenged, I would assume that you are doing everything you do on purpose, to force me into an early grave. Since we both know that you don't have enough...mental powers for that, I must say that everything is my fault. I should have hired that midget, called Fidgit, as my man servant and a supportive member of my staff when I had a chance to keep an eye on you. Now it's too late. He is gone. Requiescant in pace, Fidgit. But I am also an optimist, so...Let's try to save what we can and visit our little vivarium. I believe that trespassers deserve to see my beautiful flying friends in action. First something to keep trespassers busy and then...Come with me, Doris. I prefer to keep you under my gaze...Not because I am overwhelmingly enjoying what I see but to keep you away from hammering another nail into my coffin, I am pretty sure that if I leave you on your won, you will do it somehow." Steps begun again and when they finally faded, Lena and Marcel stuck their heads out of the heated closet to look around...
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Post by Vo Kshaa on Aug 16, 2016 22:25:37 GMT
"Painkillers went fine, but energy channeling failed," Shirra reported as Vo was carrying Lady towards the rover, "Her form keeps changing, I just can't synchronize! It seems she can only accept it from Atticus, we better bring her to him fast!"
Vo helped Lady into the rover, closed its door and was about to call Atticus when Lady did the unexpected. She turned suddenly and standing on her tiptoes gave the lanky Irathient holding her a long and passionate kiss. The first thing Vo was going to do was to push her away and tell her she was mistaken, but the very moment Lady's lips touched his ones, Shirra shouted in his head, "I got the sync! Channeling the energy, please stay connected!"
It was more of a torture than a pleasure for Vo to feel Lady's lips still kissing him. He knew he was doing something awfully wrong, but at the moment it seemed to be the only way to stabilize her condition before Atticus could do his magic. When Lady became insubstantial again and fell to the ground, Vo heard a much louder sound than what a falling body could produce as it was a gunshot sound from Batman's fully charged shotgun as the shot from it hit the chair nearby. Vo listened to what Atticus had to say, knowing he definitely deserved it and probably more, but satisfied that Batman's anger was directed at him and not Lady. He did as Atticus ordered, still in silence as he knew it was the most important thing to do to cover his Commander's retreat with wounded Lady in his arms and probable arrival of reinforcements who would need at least a few seconds to assess the situation around them.
"Vo, may I suggest we get out of here?" Shirra asked as Vo was shooting more sharkadiles from the hatch Atticus pointed him to. "Knowing Atticus, I doubt this entire situation will end well for us."
"Of course you may but I will decline," Vo thought back, "He said we'll talk, it means we'll talk. I have to explain it to him to ensure Lady won't be blamed for it."
Vo expected his EGO to continue arguing with him as he knew she was dedicated to protecting his well-being even when it was secondary for her host, but instead he suddenly heard Dinara's voice, "Mr. Vo! Roll and dodge Atty NOW!!!" Without hesitation he did just that, rolling away from the hatch, aided with Blur Shirra immediately turned on for him. Quickly summing up the situation, Vo opened a floor hatch and fell through it, smashing another unfortunate sharkadile's head with his sonic strike activated.
"Hate to say I told you, but… Calculating the optimal way the hell out of here," Shirra said in his head, her voice being surprisingly calm.
"We're not going Shirra," Vo said stubbornly, "His rage is growing, we'll have to channel it away somehow. If we don't, his next target will be Lady or someone else from the strike team. We can't let this happen."
"Calculating the time we will last against the Harbinger of Death," Shirra continued with the same intonation, "I doubt I will be mistaken if I say that this calculation will take longer that its result."
"You forgot to add an extended Blur duration assisted by the power stim," Vo replied as he applied on to his neck, "And don't you dare mark him as an enemy target."
Shirra sighed silently, preparing to heal her host from multiple heavy injuries he was definitely going to receive, if they made it out alive at all. Meanwhile, Vo rushed back to the place he had last seen Atticus.
"Someone promised we'd have a talk," Vo said as he blurred close to Batman, shortening the distance so that it would be uncomfortable for him to use his pistol so that he'd switch to melee instead. A sudden thought hit his mind that if Lady remembered what happened in the rover, she might blame herself for that and if that happened, she might not want to get better from her wounds or even stay alive at all. It already happened once on their Moon mission, so the threat was pretty much real. Now he had to pass this message through Atticus's skull and make him understand it before it was too late.
"Can you playback Lady's words for him?" Vo asked his EGO as he dodged the swing of Batman's hand.
"Technically I can, but Dinara's not responding," Shirra replied, "It looks like he turned her off."
Vo dodged another blow as his EGO counted seconds left of his prolonged Blur ability. He didn't try to hit Atticus, but merely dodged his attacks, trying to say something when his face was close.
"You can have your way with me if you want." "But it will only make Lady upset." "Remember what happened on the Moon? Of course you do." "Lady blamed herself for what happened and didn't want to live." "It may happen again this time." "Although she's not guilty in anything, she thought she was kissing YOU." "And it was the only way I could keep her stable before you came." "I have the proof if you care to turn your EGO back on and see it." "Lady has to hear she's not to blame for this and she has to hear it from you." "When she wakes up, she'll need your love, not your rage, to stay alive" "So quit this stupid fight and gather some kind words for your wife when she needs them the most!"
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Post by Sandy Bell on Aug 16, 2016 22:26:30 GMT
When Sandy Bell got the call to arms, she charged through the Dark Matter portal to the Garilu's roof with her Piper assault rifle at the ready, ordering her squad before she did, "When we go through take a defensive perimeter around the portal, and make yourself as small a target as possible as we have no idea what we are walking into!" Sandy wasn't sure what she was expecting, but what she saw sure wasn't it. Reptilian sharkadiles were propelling themselves with their flexible tails towards the Garilu's roof from all directions. However, even though that was startling, it was not the most shocking thing she saw as she crawled from the portal to an open hatch in the Garilu's roof, firing her Piper assault rifle at a sharkadile that sailed over her head as she went. The surprising sight that monopolized Sandy's attention was down below her in the belly of the Garilu. Sandy saw her commander, Atticus Batman, pointing an overcharged pistol at an obviously surprised Vo Kshaa who had been sniping at the crockadiles from a window slit in the Garilu's wall. After her EGO confirmed that neither was a doppelganger, Sandy quickly thought through her options. She could try to reason with Atticus, but he looked really mad, and would probably blow out Vo's brain before she finished her first argument. She could shoot Atticus, perhaps saving Vo's life, but also probably just making Atticus more mad, so much that he might kill both Vo and herself, or if she got really lucky, maybe killing Atticus before he killed her. Where Sandy crawled to the open hatch, she could see from her high vantage point that the fight was anything but over. Sandy did NOT want see any of them dead, because she considered them both her friends, so she chose the only option she could see left - she leaped at Attticus, tackling him, letting her weight and her momentum knock him down, but also unfortunately through a floor hatch in the Garilu that had been left open and onto the swampy ground outside. Sandy rolled as she fell, firing point blank at a sharkadile after an easy meal, but not finding one in Sandy, as she yelled while the Piper's rad-nanos ate away the reptile's head, "Commander Batman, sir! I don't know what you're thinking, but Vo is our friend, which he has proven time and again! Whatever you think you saw that makes you think he isn't is either a mistake or a misconception, and I'd bet a year's salary on that! Whatever it is, we can straighten it out later, as we have a damn rescue mission to complete and I left a security squad on top of the Garilu probably wondering what the fuck is going on!" In the back of her mind however, a second thought emerged that Sandy quickly dismissed for the moment, that of, "We need to make a damn organizational policy about closing hatches after we are finished using them!"
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