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Post by Sandy Bell on Jun 27, 2016 13:43:24 GMT
"We all gain when you stay, and I am happy to work under you...I mean under your command...I mean..." Voldoja saidt o Sandy Bell, almost blushing when he realized that he might have said something inappropriate to his beloved girl. Sandy was still laying nude in bed with her pretty blond head on his shoulder when he spoke, but she rose up on her elbow in response, looking down at him with a big grin, then kissing him before saying, "Guess you knew I was thinking of leaving - can't keep anything from you, not that I want to, but let's not put the cart before the horse. After EMC officer training school, I was told by my immediate commander - always a man - many times that I was up for promotion to Captain, and it took me almost getting myself killed while waving the EMC flag charging up Mt. Tam for me to finally get that commission. But as my mamma used to quote Melanie Hope in her book Get Over It & Get Started: Self Help with a Spine!, 'No glass ceiling was ever shattered by a whiner.' So time will tell if I started a small crack for myself now with Atticus and can break through the glass ceiling to the Protector's command structure later with my actions." Just then Atticus Batman's voice was heard over both their EGOs, ordering, "I know you two are off-duty but I think Volodja may find what is happening on the Bridge very interesting... and Sandy perhaps you could add some insight as well, as it seems to involve something from an Old Earth broadcast. Apparently a creature called a "TELETUBBIE" is floating in front of us and waving a white flag. We are trying to communicate with it, as I speak. However Volodja you are the resident advisor and I could use some advice on this thing, if you are indeed interested." Sandy's grin grew even wider as her adrenaline began to flow and she remarked, "Duty calls," then kissed Volodja once again before jumping up and pulling on her camouflaged trousers, not stopping to put on her undies first. Soon she was fully dressed in her full uniform, and both her and Volodja were rushing down the halls and to the Vigilant's bridge. They entered the bridge just in time to see BJ stomp her armor booted foot with her delicate hands clenched and and her beautiful pale freckled face looking clearly upset. With a pout on her rose petal lips as she swiped an errant strand of blond hair from in front of her narrowed blue diamond yes, BJ demanded in an ardent voice, "Don't you DARE hurt Laa-Laa! Teletubbies are harmless little critters, even though I sure as shooting don't remember them flying none! See, she's flying backwards to keep her distance!" "Scan shows this - Laa-Laa - is definitely a synth, and she is indeed keeping the fifteen mile space between us," Remarked Tasha Yar from her station on the bridge. "Synthetic human, if you please!" Answered BJ beligerently, her arms crossed tightly across her red, white, and blue armor clad bosom. "And that doesn't make her necessarily a hostile enemy!" "Yeppers, that IS a Teletubbie," Interjected Sandy, a grin of amusement on her pretty tanned face as she watched the yellow strange looking biped floating among the clouds in the middle of the Vigilant's view screen, "There were four of them, all in primary colors, that starred in a British children's television series in the late nineteen nineties through two thousand something. All four were excruciatingly cute and equally annoying, speaking nothing but gibberish and running around a green meadow doing incomprehensible things, best seen drunk or on psychedelic drugs."  "They were whimsical!" Defended BJ with a warm smile, "And I used to positively LOVE them when I was four!" Suddenly the view screen in the yellow Teletubbie's stomach flickered on as every view screen on every computer and every vid player in the Vigilant did as well, showing the half masked face of the Castithan female scientist and erstwhile "Creator" of the Synths, Dr. Liza Faru, her long white hair disheveled and the whites of her turquoise eye on the right side of her bony chalk white face clearly showing, as she screamed, her claw like hands raised in distress, "GO AWAY! I ALREADY GAVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANT! I GAVE YOU BELLE STARR - A BETTER BELLE STARR! IT TOOK ME TWO YEARS TO CREATE HER, ONE OF A KIND, WITHOUT ALL THE FLAWS AND BAGGAGE OF THE ORIGINAL! AND YOU HAVE THE OTHER TWO HARLOTS BACK! DON'T TAKE WHAT LITTLE OF MY REVENGE REMAINS AWAY FROM ME! DON'T MAKE ME DESTROY THE WORLD AND MY BEAUTIFUL SYNTH CITY WITH IT! FOR I WILL DO IT, THIS IS NO IDLE THREAT! YOU TOOK MY BELOVED BROTHER FROM ME, AND I HAVE TO TAKE AT LEAST SOMETHING FROM YOU! THAT'S HOW BLOOD REVENGE IS SUPPOSED TO WORK, AND IF YOU FORCE ME TAKE THE WORLD FROM YOU FOR YOUR MURDER OF MY TWIN BROTHER, SO BE IT! BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY THIS IS NO IDLE THREAT! NOW... JUST TURN AROUND AND GO AWAY!" BJ dropped to her knees on the floor next to Kaj in the command chair, her pale hands rose covering her blue diamond eyes as she cried, stammering between the tears, "It's true! It's all true! I'm not me, I'm just a synth, a poor copy of me!" Sandy knelt next to the weeping synthetic girl, putting a comforting arm around the slight shoulders of the synthetic girl that shook with each real sob, not knowing what to say; for what do you say to a person whose whole world was just destroyed. Ironically, Sandy wondered if all of them might end up in the same boat if they kept at their rescue mission.  |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jun 27, 2016 17:05:03 GMT
"Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the working telephone, said once: When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." begun Volodja Uljanov and stepped to the heartbroken synthetic girl who's world was just blown up into thousand pieces: "I think that we should try to gather these pieces of your heart together and use them as a building material for something new. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but one day you will realize that you have a chance to begin a life of your own now. The other Belle had couple of really rough years, but you are free of that burden, so your life is actually easier. Less painful memories for you. And you can find your own way, BJ, if you want. A different one than other Belle Starr had." "Ehem," was said by somebody else and Marcel Lestrange stepped forward from shadows together with his beloved Lena Marr. They came to the bridge uninvited as soon as they heard about Teletubbies but stood discreetly a bit further while Marcel explained Teletubbie phenomena to Lena. He called them Teletampons and Teletubes instead of their original name and managed to make Lena to smile when doing that. But now they both appeared and stood to other side of sobbing girl. Marcel grinned before saying: "I usually stand on different position than...Volodja here. But this time I do not disagree with him. Au contraire! I agree with him completely. Le jeune Demoiselle has a rare opportunity to begin her own adventurous life and I believe that she is wise enough to make a right choice. A brave new world is waiting for you, BJ! A different one than that other Belle Starr would be living in. A better one! You have an opportunity to explore totally different facets of the world if you want to. Less pain, more gain!" Marcel put his hand around Lena's waist. pulled her close and whispered on a way that only Lena could hear: "Under our guidance of course!" The whole scene begun to look somewhat familiar. Even classical. Imagine two figures on someone's shoulders. One, dressed in white robe and having small ring over his head. And the red one with tiny red horns...  |
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Post by Taffer on Jun 27, 2016 20:23:17 GMT
"Taffer there is something urgent happening on the Bridge. I have no idea what, but I have a feeling that I will need you to meet me there immediately!"
Batman's message pulled Taffer out of his thoughts when he was trying to solve the dilemma of which sniper rifle he should take on their next mission — should it be his old double-shot SS-2 Ranger, or a new charge burst-firing Flesh Harvester. The latter was definitely more powerful especially with a charged shot, but what Taffer didn't like in it was that it was an ammo eater. A few bursts could easily empty even an extended magazine, and sniper rounds were rather heavy to be carried in huge amounts. On the other hand, he already found out that he could partially disconnect the magazine from the rifle, causing it to jam and fire a shorter burst than was intended given the charge level, but without losing the increased muzzle velocity of a charged shot. The downside of it was that unjamming took time and fiddling with the magazine during the shooting could affect his aim too. Now as things started to get hectic on the bridge, he didn't have more time to think, so he took the Flesh Harvester and hurried to the bridge.
"Things are getting hot too soon," he muttered to himself.
As if on que, he heard another message from Atticus while he was running through the spaceship's passages, "Taffer, things have just gotten very weird up here..."Twilight Zone" weird! Do you know what a "TELETUBBY" is? Because according to the Bridge Crew, I am looking at one waving a white flag through the view screen right this moment. So I definitely think you need to see this. I have opened a comm channel and Miss Constantine is trying to make contact now."
The name Atticus just said was slightly familiar to Taffer. He remembered the recording of a kid's TV show was there on a laptop he found in the old EMC bunker which was his home for some time. In fact he even used the show footage to create a couple of cartoons when he learned to work with image and video editing programs also installed on the laptop.
The way Atticus mentioned them was ridiculous though, so Taffer opted to come to the bridge first to see what was happening with his own eyes. There was one thing he could think of. As the Teletubbies was a kid's show, and the only kid on the ship was Lexy the AI, Taffer had to send her a warning.
"Lexy, remember what I told you of dangers of the information that comes from the hidden Network or any other unreliable sources? This show can be dangerous as well no matter how friendly it looks. So whatever it might try to send to you, it should go through the sandbox."
He came to the Bridge just in time to hear the message Liza Faru were sending to the Vigilant. He saw Belle falling on her knees in tears and people standing around her trying to sooth her with kind words. If anyone looked at Taffer at that moment, they could see he was already dressed in his Ark Predator heavy armor suit, which in fact didn't hamper his movement when he was going to walk silently or stick to the shadows. But this time he wasn't hiding as he came up to BJ and lowered on a knee in front of her, with his helmet attached to the back of his suit so she could see his face if she wanted to look at him.
"I don't have much to say at the moment besides of what has been said already," he said, "But I can say for sure I never thought of you being less of a person since I learned that you're not Belle Starr. It doesn't make you worse than her and you can already be proud of yourself for what you have done since we found you. You helped us a lot during the hellbug attack, and more importantly, you helped to save innocent people who got caught in the crossfire. Now there are more people who will need your help. This synth city, as Liza Faru just said, I have a bad feeling about it. Something tells me it's not so beautiful and shiny as she puts it. More of a slavery camp I think. We'll probably have to rescue all those people and find them a better place to live or at least save them from being enslaved if they want to stay in their city. From my side, I'm going to stop this mad woman so that no one else of her creatures would suffer the way she made you to."
He stood up and moved to the command console.
"Lexy, can you set up a training alert please? Something to simulate faulty engines so that we could do some unusual maneuvers. Just set it up and start it by my command."
As Lexy started to work on the task, Taffer addressed the crew, "change the course 90 degrees to the right and keep it tangential towards this creature in the sky. Atika, try to track down the signal which is sending these transmissions to us. Let's see if they are coming from the arkfall we pointed as our destination. Now please set the transmitter on, I'm going to win us some time."
"Ms Faru, I fully understand your frustration and anger, but would you be so kind to clear some confusion for us," he began as Atika reported that the transmission is running, "The only encounter we had with your twin brother, Governor Skarr if I'm not mistaken, was at the beginning of our mission to the Moon when he tried in beating us to seize the contents of the Ark that was stationed at the back side of the Moon. The mission was a failure for both sides as the Ark was destroyed by a third-party group of Thorn Liro fanatics. Much later, senator Cael have won the competition against Skarr and was elected on a position of a Chancellor of Votanis Collective. Next episode we saw was an invasion of synths, during which Governor Skarr was indeed killed but he turned up to be a synth too. So can you please explain when it exactly happened that we, as you imply, killed your twin brother and why you think Belle is personally responsible for that given your blood revenge against her?"
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Post by Lena Marr on Jun 27, 2016 20:54:56 GMT
Lena Marr squatted behind the synthetic girl, gently massaging the back of her neck as she whispered into her ear, "Don't worry BJ, you'll always have a place in our family, and we'll protect you from the bigots of the world, I promise you." Lena smiled wickedly, proud that her plan was going forward smoothly, for she was certain that with the power of the synthetic super-girl behind her and Marcel's crime cartel, they would be running the Bay Area within a month. When that happened, it wouldn't be long before Marcel and she had their island paradise that she longed for. "Maybe we'll just buy Alcatraz and redecorate," Thought Lena to her EGO psyche, which was Greed at the moment. "Shatkao, let's just put explosives all along the San Andrea's fault and make all of the San Francisco area an island," Answered Greed, echoed in agreement by all her sisters that represented the seven deadly sins as voices in Lena's mind. However, the eighth and most recent voice in Lena's brain, Hope, merely shook her white tresses, and muttered under her virtual breath, "I hope we find a cure for Lena's brain fever before then, or she might think that is a good idea."  No one noticed Lena's machinations, for all eyes were fixed on the Vigilant's view screen as Taffer asked "Ms Faru, I fully understand your frustration and anger, but would you be so kind to clear some confusion for us," he began as Atika reported that the transmission is running, "The only encounter we had with your twin brother, Governor Skarr if I'm not mistaken, was at the beginning of our mission to the Moon when he tried in beating us to seize the contents of the Ark that was stationed at the back side of the Moon. The mission was a failure for both sides as the Ark was destroyed by a third-party group of Thorn Liro fanatics. Much later, senator Cael have won the competition against Skarr and was elected on a position of a Chancellor of Votanis Collective. Next episode we saw was an invasion of synths, during which Governor Skarr was indeed killed but he turned up to be a synth too. So can you please explain when it exactly happened that we, as you imply, killed your twin brother and why you think Belle is personally responsible for that given your blood revenge against her?" "YOU DON'T REMEMBER!?!? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DON'T REMEMBER!" Screamed Dr. Faru stridently as she actually tore bits of her steaming white hair from her scalp in bloody chunks with her talon like hands, "YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH MY BROTHER, ONE OF YOUR FIRST SO-CALLED DO-GOODER MISSIONS AS PROTECTORS? ALL MY BROTHER WAS DOING WAS TRYING TO START ANOTHER PALE WARS WITH THE EARTH REPUBLIC WITH A FEW OLD HUMAN NUCLEAR MISSILES, TO GUARANTEE VOTAN SUPREMACY ON THIS PLANET - BELLE STARR CONVINCED THE THEN VOTAN COLLECTIVE'S DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL SECURITY TO SIDE WITH HER FORCES, AND BELLE'S SISTER DESTROYED ALL MY BROTHER'S BEAUTIFUL MISSILES WITH A WAVE OF HER HAND. SKARR'S PLAN DIDN'T EVEN AFFECT YOUR BELOVED BAY AREA, YET STILL YOU STOPPED IT! YOU KNOW THE TRAITOR - ERIKA WIDOWMAKER, WHICH IS WHY SHE HAD TO SUFFER AS WELL! THAT OTHER TRAITOR, LENA MARR, WAS HIS MOST FAVORITE LIEUTENANT, YET SHE FAILED TO KILL THE FUTURE MISTRESS OF JUDGEMENT, WHO WAS AS BIG A THREAT TO YOUR PLANS AS TO HIS - AND TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY, SHE JOINED YOUR ORGANIZATION! THE MOON MISSION WAS ONLY ONE AMONG THE MANY GRAND PLANS OF MY BROTHER'S THAT YOU THWARTED, WHICH WERE ONLY FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL VOTAN KIND! WHEN THE TRAITOR WIDOWMAKER'S WHELP BECAME CHANCELLOR, PROBABLY BY A RIGGED ELECTION, AND BEGAN ASSASSINATING ALL THE LEADERS OF SKARR'S POLITICAL PARTY, MY POOR BROTHER COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Pink tears began to streak down Dr. Faru's chalk white cheeks from her one turquoise eye and from the one hidden under the half mask, as she told her story in a normal but pained voice, "I had been working a Votanis Collective excavation with only servo-robots of my own design and a skeleton crew of scientists for the last decade at an unusual ark fall in this area, which turned out not to be an ark fall at all but the crash sight of an Omec scout ship over a hundred years ago. Yes, the Omec knew of your planet that far back! With their technology and my own robotic genius, I was able to create generation upon generation of my beloved synthetic persons, each one more advanced than the previous one, culminating with the sixth generation synth-clone of Belle Starr that took two years to complete. Despite our distance apart, my brother and I were emotionally inseparable, always keeping in touch, and after he was defeated by Belle Starr the first time, he sent me some of her genetic material, for she must have been injured during the battle. It wasn't much, but with Omec technology, I was able to re-create her gene structure, removing the destructive Volge genes, and regrow her brain cells to retrieve her memories up to that point. The elements and the gigantic carnivores of the area took the rest of my scientific team one by one, but I found I could more easily replace them with synthetic persons then requisition replacements from the Votanis Collective, so my base grew into a village that grew into a town which grew into a city, and always I kept in touch with my brother, but he sounded more depressed with every communication. Finally I flew down to where he was hiding near Capital City, and he told me of your persecutions of him just before he put a Votan Blaster to his temple and pressed the trigger. After Skarr... died, I replaced him with a synthetic person, for Chancellor Cael could not go unchallenged in his crimes." Anger replaced remorse on her face as her voice rose once again, "BELLE STARR KILLED MY BROTHER AS SURELY IF IT HAD BEEN HER FINGER ON THE TRIGGER AND SHE WILL PAY! I COULDN'T SAVE HIM, JUST AS I COULDN'T SAVE HIM FROM THE INJURY I CAUSED HIS EYE FROM ONE OF MY EARLY EXPERIMENTS AT OUR HOME WHEN I WAS TWELVE AND IT EXPLODED, TAKING HALF MY FACE, HIS EYE, AND MY PARENT'S LIVES! BUT I CAN AVENGE HIM, AND UNLESS YOU WANT THE EARTH DESTROYED, LEAVE ME TO MY REVENGE! I HAVE NOT KILLED BELLE STARR, BUT SHE WILL LIVE OUT HER LIFE IN A POST-APOCALYPTIC DREAM OF HER OWN MAKING! NOT THE DEATH SENTENCE THAT SHE DESERVES, SINCE I CREATE LIFE, NOT DESTROY IT, BUT A LIFE SENTENCE FOR MY BROTHER'S MURDER! AS TO VO KSHAA, I UNDERSTAND YOUR LOVE FOR THIS BELLE STARR, AS I LOVED MY BROTHER TOO, BUT I HAVE GIVEN YOU A BETTER ONE - ONE BEREFT OF ALL THE GRIEF AND EVIL THAT TAINTED YOUR BELLE AND WHICH NOW CONDEMNS HER TO A JUST LIFE IMPRISONMENT! NOW... ALL OF YOU... JUST GO AWAY, OR THE EARTH'S END WILL BE ON YOUR HEADS!" With that, the screen in the Teletubbie's stomach went blank, as did all those throughout the Vigilant, whereupon it turned and flew away from the Vigilant, just afterwards Atika said, "Got it! The transmission originated about three miles southwest of that strange ark fall." |
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Post by Atticus Batman on Jun 28, 2016 11:04:21 GMT
As the message ended and the teletubbie flew away, I heard Kaj say to BJ. "It does not matter. I like BJ Starr. She is sweet and caring, and seems like she can be funny when she wants to be. So do not let the fact that you know that you are not Belle Starr, destroy the young woman who has been talking to me on the Bridge for the last several minutes. The offer to be your friend and brother still stands. As does the shoulder for you to cry on if you need it."
As I watched the teletubbie fly away, I said, "Dak, THAT woman is ten billion miles beyond insane! And they say I'm crazy!"
Then I said to BJ, "Look you can pity yourself because you aren't Belle if you really want to.....or you can move on and decide for yourself who you want BJ Starr to be, and not let anybody else decide that for you. Believe me, I know a thing or two about re-inventing oneself, so I know what I am talking about there. "
Then I said to the room, "Alright, if we go after Belle, the insane one says the world will be destroyed. However I do know something about revenge as well. Such as, if she makes good on her threat to just destroy the world if we approach her "city", then even Belle and her die just as quickly. So she would not live to be able to get the revenge she feels she deserves. So if revenge on Belle is truly all that she wants, then she would never actually do anything to keep her from getting that revenge and destroying the world, that her and Belle are on, would definitely do so.
However we can definitely trust that she WILL use everything at her disposal to keep us from interfering with that act of revenge. So now is the time for any plans and suggestions, even bizarre or obscure ones, because I say we still go after Belle...and while we are at it, we do what we can to Liberate all the other Synthetic beings that we encounter. Perhaps even that odd yellow Synth-tubbie, since all of you seem to agree that "Teletubbies" are usually friendly, and it was quite obvious that BJ and Sandy feel that means this one should be given a chance as well."
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Post by Sandy Bell on Jun 28, 2016 14:38:54 GMT
Sandy Bell didn't have a clue. All of Dr. Faru's revelations, and Sandy didn't have one single idea how to attack the facility, synth base or city. Sandy couldn't think of a way that they could rescue Belle Starr and not have a great deal of causalities on both sides. She was beginning to think maybe she wasn't command material after all. However, although she didn't have a clue on how to rescue Belle without collateral damage and heavy losses, she did know what she needed to get one: More information. "Atika, now that we have the location of this Synth City, can we pull up some satellite pictures of the area?" Asked Sandy of their resident communications expert. Atika answered with a grin on her red-clay colored face, "Sure can, there is a VBI satellite in the area, and we have the access codes so..." The view screen suddenly showed an aerial view of a small square building in the center of a large area surrounded by a glowing thirty foot tall fence, and with an airfield inside the fence. Next to the center building, there was a somewhat larger building nearby, which was obviously a combination hangar and garage, for they saw a squad of snowmobiles leave it as they watched. "Thanks Atika. If there is a Synth City, it must be underground," Mused Sandy as her blue eyes narrowed in concentration. "Dr. Faru could be making that up, maybe as a bluff to scare us away or as a delusion in her head, but that building doesn't look big enough to even be a factory, so at least part of the complex must be underground. Hey there's some movement just off screen just to the right. Can you shift the camera? Yeah that's it, thanks Ati - WHOA, WHAT THE HELL!"  Suddenly a huge bear-like creature with antlers filled the screen, three stories tall with sharp claws the size of an SUV. A battle erupted between it and the squad of snowmobiles, which shot at the beast some kind of beam weapons that glowed with the same energy as the fence. As they watched, about half of the squad were destroyed by the beast until it finally retreated away from the complex. BJ had finished crying, but remained sitting on the floor next to Kaj hugging her knees with her thin arms, her pale chin resting on them as her beautiful blue diamond eyes had remained staring at the blank view screen, saying in a low tone, "Thanks y'all!" when the others first said to her their words of encouragement, but then lifted her blond head, tilting it as she swiped a blond strand of hair from in front of her blue eyes which grew big when the satellite pictures came on the view screen, whereupon she suggested, "Listen to this plan y'all! I sneak in alone, as who's going to notice another synth in a city of synths, then I find your Belle Starr's sleep pod, release her and take her place in the pod! She makes her way to you, y'all take-off and go home! Dr. Faru will think she still has Belle and won't make everything go boom, and nobody will miss me none for y'all will have your Belle back instead of a poor copy! Easy-peasy!" "Don't be silly, Silly," Protested Lena Marr, a wicked smile on her chalk-white face, "I LIKE my new BGF, and I don't make friends easily, and in the end all, it's all about ME! Just kidding, nobody gets my jokes, but seriously, we don't need another selfless sacrifice when we can just rain down destruction from the Vigilant on the whole complex from space! Those sleep pods are nigh indestructible and is likely in another vault deep underground like mine was, so Belle will more than likely survive, although nobody else probably will. We suffer no casualties, no more crazy woman problem, other than me, then we go home, lickety-slit, and then we go get my cure like Atty-baby promised! Happily ever after ending! Birds sing, small animals frolic, we all dance merrily!" "No, that wouldn't be right!" BJ exclaimed, a pretty pout on her rose petal lips. "I bet there's lot of innocents there - just folk doing their daily chores and minding heir own business! Not right at all to just kill them for being at the wrong place at the wrong time!" "Suit yourself," Lena said nonchalantly with her wicked grim firmly in place on her pretty Castithan face, shrugging her slim shoulders as she added, "Just trying to get the most bang for the buck!" Sandy ignored Lena's plan, as she knew none of the Protectors ever wanted to hurt "innocents" if at all possible, but put forth a plan of her own, "How about we lure that beastie back to the enemy base after we take down the fence, let it be our diversion while we send a small group or two into it to rescue Belle? Or, we could try our luck in finding a sewer to the complex, as we've had pretty good luck with those lately, but looking at the locale, I'm betting they have some high tech way to deal with their refuse." |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jun 28, 2016 18:03:41 GMT
"No need for self sacrifice BJ," said Volodja seriously. "I can't let you to commit a suicide. And suicide it will be, because Faru has probably secured Belle's sarcophagus. Even if you succeed it won't be a solution. I believe that nobody here, including Belle herself doesn't approve this noble idea of yours. Lena's idea about massacre...Her approach would be efficient, I don't deny that, but it also would be a little bit messy and less exciting than personal approach, and allows Faru to...I don't know...evacuate Belle somewhere else while we are carpet bombing the place. I think that Sandy's ideas are most suitable for the occasion. I could suggest to retreat to calm Faru down but she will be suspicious at least, so she will probably sends Laa-Laa to escort us to the border of her kingdom. That means that our drop zone would be way too far from her facility. If we send commandos out so they can reach there moving on the ground, then we must avoid being spotted by monsters and Faru as well. We already witnessed actions of one of the representatives of local fauna not very long ago, so if we have to walk back to her factory, then we have to be fast and invisible. Avoiding Market Garden's poor results would be a hellishly hard task."  He thought a bit and added: "We should arrange a diversion to make Faru to look to the other side, as Sandy suggested, and then we can slip our commandos in unnoticed, while "Vigilant" leaves the area. That must be a small but extremely skilled squad, capable of acting and surviving in extremely hard circumstances. Quality compensates lack in quantity here. We already lost the surprise moment, but that doesn't mean that we are not capable to surprise Faru in her...Wolfschanze anyway, by paying her a little visit as Sandy suggested...So let's stick with her ideas and adjust them according to the situation. If commandos succeed to attract Faru's attention, because I am damn sure that she discovers us sooner or later in her backyard, then we must hold the bridgehead until "Vigilant" has returned, landed and let out rest of our troops to take over the factory with a minimal amount of casualties on BOTH sides, I hope. Also I too hope that the bridge won't be too far this time."  "Nerd, pardon, Volodja has a point. We need to create a diversion," said Marcel Lestrange. "And lure that monster to the city, but not on foot or even on wheels or sledges. This one needs a delicate approach. I suggest a flying bait. Couple of wing suits, couple of experienced pilots who know what they are doing and...voilà! You are used to keep your feet on ground, but some of us have reached into higher spheres of thinking. So how it is going to be? Shall we fly instead of crawling? Rest of you can actually crawl, if you want." |
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Jun 30, 2016 6:03:47 GMT
"No objections? That is the way I like it," concluded Marcel Lestrange. "I think that Pooh Bear asks his precious Honeypot to come along. She is magnificent if it comes to flying with a wing suit. I do hope that she agrees to come to fly with me." "It's a very funny thought that, if Bears were Bees, They'd build their nests at the bottom of trees. And that being so (if the Bees were Bears), We shouldn't have to climb up all these stairs," recited Volodja with a wide grin on his handsome face. Even his eyes were smiling. "What do you mean by this nonsense?" asked Marcel from him. "Well, Pooh Bear," replied Volodja. "At moment you are going to play a bee for that mutated dearbear, so you should know what Winnie the Pooh had to say about that kind of situation. Or should I call you a Pooh Bee now?" "My Pooh Bee can sting in many ways, you know," said Lena Marr, and stabbed Volodja with a glance of her blue eyes. "And some ways, he uses his sting, are really pleasurable if you know what I mean. Of course you don't because you don't get any of my humour." "if you say so, Lena," replied Volodja peacefully. "Just don't let that monster blow your balloon, Winnie!"  |
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Post by Taffer on Jun 30, 2016 7:02:44 GMT
"Blah blah blah," Taffer said under his breath after an image of Dr. Faru's face disappeared. "Typical 'everyone against me', typical 'everyone's guilty except me', pretty harmless type… until they find a weapon of mass destruction or a doomsday device. I could think of bringing Wolfram here who could talk her out of her doom and gloom thoughts but the point is she's already holding her finger on a trigger and she has Belle in her hands to torture and she knows we know her location and she monitors her airspace. It means we don't have time to go back and forth and if we get close to her facility on the Vigilant, she may trigger that missile or what deadly thing she has in her closet." His line of thoughts was interrupted by BJ, who suggested to go to the facility alone and replace Belle with herself, and next time by Lena who suggested a typical Plan C which was to kill everyone. In fact, it wasn't only him who got distracted by those suggestions because his EGO was broadcasting all talks that were happening on the Bridge to all team members. After Volodja and Marcel voiced their propositions, a holographic image of Vo Kshaa appeared where Dr. Faru's face was not long ago.  "BJ, I probably was cold-hearted to you", he began as he removed his Ark Infiltrator helmet so that she could see his face, "But I did it so that you wouldn't have any false hopes towards me as there's only one Belle in this Universe who I truly love. But no matter how I want my Belle back, I'm not going to sacrifice your life or anyone else's from our family. That's not how we work and that's not what Belle would approve. You of all people can definitely feel it. Please trust our team. They have a good track record of completing the impossible. From my side I can report that we still have those runners on board which was adapted to run on the moon dust in vacuum. Snow and cold air will be just a cakewalk for them." Suddenly he was pushed away from the camera's view and Lu's excited face appeared in front of the team instead. "Ketchikan creek!" she shouted, "Ketchikan creek and Ketchikan lakes!" She took a deep breath and continued more calmly, "I've just asked Lexy to perform a deep scan of the surface. There are large pools of water all over this place. They all resemble rivers and lakes which existed here before the Terraforming. Same as in Canada, they are buried deep under, but unlike Canada, they are buried under thick layer of ice, not hard crystalline. Believe me I've tested it myself one day. I've put a transmitter at the underground source of the Yukon River and then I located its signal in the Ocean near the coast of Alaska! It took more than a month, but the thing definitely traveled all the way under the surface following the old Yukon! We have a lot of life pods here which can be easily modified so that they can go under water. Seriously, I did exactly that just before I met my brother! We can reach their city without anyone noticing us!" "Lu please calm down," Taffer said sternly. "I know you're willing to help but your plan lacks consistency. First, where's Yukon and where's Ketchikan. Even if we detect a lot of water underground, it doesn't mean those rivers and lakes are still interconnected. They can be partially frozen to the point you can't reach from one to another. Second, even if we could all the way under water, then how would we reach the facility if the water doesn't come to the surface? Regardless of if it's located on the ground or under, it's still covered with ice we'd have to break through. So unless there's a convenient drilling machine which someone like 99'ers can gladly lend us or we have a detailed plan of their underground tunnels which clearly indicate they are connected to bodies of water I'd rather stick with more consistent plans. Given what others suggested, we can do the following. Marcel and Lena take those wing suits and bring the Beast to the facility, taking down the defense grid. BJ takes one of our modified ATVs and pretends she's trying to go on with her own plan she have just suggested. Vo takes another ATV and follows her closely as if trying to talk her out of it. I'm sorry Vo, I remember you asked not to be put in the same team with BJ, but it will be the only way your infiltration will look believably harmless to Dr. Faru so that she wouldn't trigger her doomsday device. Your main task will be to locate other points of entrance we can follow, but the main part will be to find a way to disarm or at least disable that missile for some time so it can't be triggered until our main forces arrive. I and Volodya will follow on foot. It will take us some time, but this way we will attract less attention. We'll stay outside to maintain communication between the infiltration team and the Vigilant in case they wouldn't be able to send long-range messages, provide support in case they need to escape, make another distraction if needed or send an S.O.S if things go south one way or another. This way, it's only natural for Sandy to take the command of the main strike team which will be ready to attack once we give the signal, following those bits of information we'll manage to find. Sounds good?"  |
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Post by Atticus Batman on Jun 30, 2016 10:56:17 GMT
"This way, it's only natural for Sandy to take the command of the main strike team which will be ready to attack once we give the signal, following those bits of information we'll manage to find. Sounds good?" Taffer said.
I snapped, "Well it all sound like a decent daking plan Taffer. Except what the dak about me?...On Second thought if we agree on your plan then it works. After all, if Sandy is leading the strike team then I am not required to stay with the team, if I feel my "talents" will be needed elsewhere. So Sandy will indeed lead the strike team with me accompanying the strike team with the option for me to disappear and turn up to take out the opposition from elsewhere like I am known to do in battle. So Sandy; with Taffer, Vo, and Volo all busy elsewhere in this plan and Kaj commanding the Vigilant; it looks like your best choices in a Second, if or when I separate from the main strike team, will be either Lu or Lady. I would suggest Lady as she has proven MORE THAN capable of Command responsibilities! However the call is yours and theirs; since I have no idea if Lady is even planning to join the team on the rescue mission, thanks to that "TELETUBBY'S" appearance stopping me from spending any time with her!"
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Post by Lena Marr on Jun 30, 2016 11:03:44 GMT
"I LOVE flying," Remarked Lena Marr with a wicked grin, but then put a chalk white forefinger to the corner of her lush lips as she rolled her unblinking sky-blue eyes, signifying she was in thought, "Even though the last time I flew I got shot down, captured, and was crucified to a tree; however the flight was great, it was the landing that sucked goose eggs!" Ignoring Lena as she usually did, Sandy Bell interjected, "I appreciate your vote of confidence, Taffer sir, but it really should be Commander Batman who leads us in the main assault! He is the Protector's commander, with much more experience and abilities than I have, so it wouldn't be right that I led the team when he is available, although I'll be happy to follow his lead, and even be his second, if he'll have me." Suddenly BJ exclaimed, "Holy crap on a stick!" As Lady Christianna rose like a ghost, and looking transparent like one too, through the floor next to her, as BJ, a startled look on her beautiful freckled face, clutched her hands to her chest as if she was going to have a heart attack, which was highly unlikely that she could have being a synthetic person; still she remarked, "Lady, please wear a cowbell or something so we know when y'all are coming!" "Sorry, Answered Lady, although there was no expression to signify regret on her alabaster face, just the enigmatic smile she always wore and a sparkle of bemusement in her pink eyes, as she added in a deadpan voice, "Could go in ghost-like, find Belle." As everybody started to talk at once, BJ used the opportunity to sneak off the bridge, heading off towards the nearest outside hatch. She was pretty sure she could survive a fall from the ship's exit to the tundra below the Vigilant, or maybe find a parachute or one of those flight suits they had mentioned. Then she could follow her plan, releasing the "real" Belle and keeping the "real" people from suffering any harm. "After all," BJ muttered out loud to herself, "What's the loss of a robot when real lives are at stake?" "And WHERE do you think you are going young lady? Do you have a hall pass? I think not!" BJ heard from in back of her.  BJ turned suddenly, seeing Lena Marr leaning casually against the hallway wall, her chalk white arms crossed as her wicked smile grew like a Cheshire cat's, then BJ sputtered, "It-It's better this way! As long as Vo sees me, it pains him, and that's not right at all! Better I follow my plan, rescue his sleeping beauty, and take her place in the pod so no one has to be reminded of the poor robot girl with the hero's face! I read the real Belle Starr's record, and even skimmed the book about her, although that sounded like a lot of hooey - still, where ever I go, there she'll be!" "There are less extreme ways to change one's identity then suicide," Remarked Lena, "No pun intended, but have you thought of plastic surgery?" BJ laughed melodiously, before saying, "Problem is, I LIKE this face! I've had it all my life!" It was Lena's turn to laugh, but then she reached over and took BJ's arm, leading her back to the Vigilant's conference room, saying adamantly, "You got a friend in me. We'll figure this out together, WITHOUT any overly dramatic self-sacrifices! Anyway, we got more important concerns at the moment, like... we just can NOT call that huge creature a 'dearbear'! For such a smart man, Volo has not one iota of imagination! Hmm, maybe a Dare, or a Beer... no, those words have been taken!" Having her mindset forcibly taken off of herself by Lena's irascibility, BJ pleasantly laughed again, suggesting, "Maybe a Drizzily, or a Bag! Nope, those are taken too! What are we going to call that critter?" As Lena opened the door and led BJ back into the conference room where the discussion was still raging, she said as a matter-of-fact, "We'll figure that out too, BGF - together!" |
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Post by Atticus Batman on Jun 30, 2016 11:45:25 GMT
I listened to all of the girls.Then somewhat tensely I responded, while trying to keep the worry from being heard in my tone, as I said, "Lady you do have a point. However if I am understanding correctly and you plan on trying to rescue Belle by yourself, then the problem with that is once you find Belle, you don't have any idea how to free her. There is also the fact that you and Belle would probably have to fight your way out and Belle would not be up to doing so and would be unarmored and weaponless, not to mention that you would be way too outnumbered for it to work. So I am against it, and to steal something Vo just said: 'I'm not going to sacrifice your life or anyone else's from our family. That's not how we work and that's not what Belle would approve.'
However you are right that your abilities will be of use to the infiltration team. So you could join Taffer and Volo, that way if they need you to go ahead as their scout and report back to them of what to expect, then you can do so. That would also make the odds better as that would put three battle-experienced infiltrators on the infiltration team instead of just two and they would have a very sneaky scout to help them stay ahead of the enemy.
So Sandy, if Lady does indeed go with Taffer and Volo, then it looks like you will indeed be my Second as you have definitely proven capable. However that also means that if you lose contact with me, you are to take command of the strike team and trust that I know what I am doing."
Then I look around the room as I continue with, "There is just one problem though...........It looks like a couple of impatient women chose to start without us. So Vo, I suppose that is your cue to get going and catch up with BJ before she does what Belle...or I would do, and sacrifices herself needlessly, and Marcel you will need to relocate Lena as well."
Just then Lena opened the door and led BJ back into the conference room where the discussion was still raging, as she said as a matter-of-fact, We'll figure that out too, BGF - together!"
So I said, "Glad to see you both back. Now can we please come up with a plan WITHOUT somebody sneaking off BEFORE we are done for once, and can somebody FINALLY tell me what the daking acronym BGF daking means, since Lady merely giggles and says 'You must figure it out for yourself.', when I ask her?!"
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jun 30, 2016 12:05:30 GMT
"That abbreviation should stand for Best Girl Friend, I assume" said Volodja. "Unless Lena refers to Big Friendly Giant, as children would say. Or Big Fu...Freaking Gun, as gamers would say. But I doubt that Lena meant that. And I also doubt that she means children book "The BFG" by Roald Dahl which refers to the giant. Or..."
"Will you be so kind and shut the fuck up," said Marcel. "I am about to do something heroic for a full price and you give me a headache with your boring, not to mention unnecessary and unneeded, lecture about meanings of BFG! Instead of breaking my concentration, I suggest you to shove that BFG up your ass and ask someone to pull the trigger. Maybe that will keep your big mouth shut."
"Oh. A French Taunter!" said Volodja. "I think I can give you a lecture about French taunting too. But since one video speaks more than thousand words, which you probably won't bother to hear anyway, I let Sophie to send you an educational video indeed. Watch and learn from masters, Marcel."
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Post by Sandy Bell on Jun 30, 2016 15:47:11 GMT
Sandy Bell watched the verbal swordplay between Marcel Lestrange and her beloved Volodja Uljanov with a wide smile on her pretty tanned face, until she couldn't hold back the laughter anymore, nor the urge to join in, saying, "I remembered BGF stands for Black Guerrilla Family, a prison and street collective started by George L. Jackson and W.L. Nolan in 1966 while incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison. Inspired by Marcus Garvey, the Black Guerrilla Family was characterized as an ideologically based African-American revolutionary organization composed of prisoners. It was founded with the stated goals of eradicating racism, maintaining dignity in prison, and overthrowing the United States government. Seems to me that meaning fits Lena and Marcel best, because sooner of later, I see them in Vegas Prison." "Gee, Randy-Sandy," Retorted Lena Marr, her unblinking sky blue eyes flashing cold as she reached unconsciously to her bra where her switchblade was secreted, "When I see you, I think of BGF as being short for 'Bad Girl Feelings' - the feelings of guilt you have after a night of drunken debauchery, which can be brought on by doing or saying something stupid, blacking out, or over-indulging, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, all things I'm sure you do regularly and which I'm positively certain you must feel everyday after having such boring sex with old man Volodja - or is it Volodja the Volcano, who only erupts every hundred years or so?" Sandy's grin turned down into a frown, her hand instinctively reaching for the Wolfhound pistol holstered at her side, as she stood up, leaning forwards towards Lena so much that her small nose was not more than a few inches from Lena's chalk white one, saying through gritted teeth, "You take that back! Volodja is a great lover - kind and gentle and always making sure I orgasm before he does; something I'm sure you wouldn't understand being a fucking third rate hooker in an S & M relationship who sure as hell - "  Suddenly BJ had interposed her red, white, and blue armored body between the two women who stood with clenched fists staring daggers at each other while a crimson blush went up BJ's swan-like neck and into her freckled cheeks as she said emphatically, "Hey, enough you two! We're forgetting why we all are here! Belle Starr needs our help, and she needs all of us working together if we are going to rescue her and protect the innocent citizens of Synth City!" Sandy shook her blond tresses, mad at herself more than Lena for allowing Lena to get under her skin, but when it came to Volodja, she was like a mother lion protecting her cubs; still she knew her behavior was inappropriate under the circumstance, so apologized as she sat back down next to Volodja, grasping his hand tightly with her own, "Yeah... yeah, you're right BJ. Sorry... this is neither the time nor the place for such bickering," Then her blue eyes flashed to Taffer and Atticus Batman, saying with sincerity, "My apologies sirs, for that was definitely behavior unbecoming an officer." Lena just threw up her alabaster hands, remarking with her wicked smile in place, "Just when you were getting interesting Blondie! Well, whatever - truce until after we find Ms. Belle Starr, dead or alive." Lena then turned her back on both Sandy and Volodja, kissing Marcel passionately and voraciously, lifting one leg as she leaned into the kiss so that her knee was raised massaging his inner leg near his crotch as they kissed and making it obvious to the public that she was not sparing the tongue. BJ merely sashayed over to where Kaj sat, leaning over to his ear and asking with a quizzical look on her beautiful freckled face, asking in all sincerity, "What's an S & M relationship?" |
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Post by Atticus Batman on Jul 1, 2016 10:01:14 GMT
Sandy shook her blond tresses, mad at herself more than Lena for allowing Lena to get under her skin, but when it came to Volodja, she was like a mother lion protecting her cubs; still she knew her behavior was inappropriate under the circumstance, so apologized as she sat back down next to Volodja, grasping his hand tightly with her own, "Yeah... yeah, you're right BJ. Sorry... this is neither the time nor the place for such bickering," Then her blue eyes flashed to Taffer and Atticus Batman, saying with sincerity, "My apologies sirs, for that was definitely behavior unbecoming an officer."
I said calmly, "Sandy, your disagreement with and feelings toward Lena don't bother me. Just try not to let it interfere with our current mission or your responsibilities. Besides I am always fighting my own daking rage, as if you don't know that already. So your mild anger isn't an issue for me. However thanks to Sandy's and Lena's little "disagreement", it appears that we now know that BGF can also stand for Bitchy Girl Fight. So I still am not sure what way Lady and Lena meant it but that can wait." Just then my helmet's eye lenses started to glow a dark blue, as I continued with, "However FIRST we NEED to focus on Saving Belle and helping innocents, like BJ pointed out!" Then just as quickly as it showed itself, I once again managed to suppress my inherent rage.
Lena just threw up her alabaster hands, remarking with her wicked smile in place, "Just when you were getting interesting Blondie! Well, whatever - truce until after we find Ms. Belle Starr, dead or alive."
Lena then turned her back on both Sandy and Volodja, kissing Marcel passionately and voraciously, lifting one leg as she leaned into the kiss so that her knee was raised massaging his inner leg near his crotch as they kissed and making it obvious to the public that she was not sparing the tongue.
BJ merely sashayed over to where Kaj sat, leaning over to his ear and asking with a quizzical look on her beautiful freckled face, asking in all sincerity, "What's an S & M relationship?"
Kaj said quietly back, "I am not completely sure BJ, but I think it has something to do with either sadomasochism, or Slave and Master. However if you want to, then we can look it up or ask Sandy what she meant later, so we actually know what it means incase it comes up again."
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