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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Jun 29, 2015 13:28:29 GMT
"Robots you say," stated Marcel and pondered about the problem. Then he tossed away his cigarette butt with one elegant move and started to act, muttering: "Easy come, easy go. Besides they might leave this rust bucket intact once they discover that nobody is inside. No way we are going to fight our way through all those robots and alert all neighbourhood."
Marcel prepared their stolen car to ride without driver for a while to lure Omnivolts after it. He found a rock, put it to his next seat and used couple of straps to make steering wheel to keep itself more or less steady by fixing it to driver's seat. After that he started the engine and thanked God that they got a car with manual transmission, so he had to adjust the stick and put the rock to the gas pedal. Car started to move slowly forward when Marcel opened the gate and let Omnivolts out to stumble after their now driverless vehicle. Lena and Marcel jumped quickly inside the compound and closed the gate behind them. They were in, robots were out and no bloodshed occurred. At least not yet. And when they need to drive back, The Toad might be that kind and drop them off to their plane if they ask nicely.
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Post by Taffer on Jun 29, 2015 20:07:05 GMT
"Thick razor rain cloud over Lincoln", stated Lady, "South or north?"
"South", replied Taffer, "Course straight on Defiance". Bypassing Lincoln looked beneficial because it was located about 100 miles to the north from the straight line from Boulder to Defiance. But the uneasy feeling that something is not right crept up on him again. Every time he heard of people travelling through the Storm Divide, they always did it either through Oklahoma which was sitting on a Mag-Lev Line, a levitation railroad proposed by E-Rep, or through Lincoln if they were not on good terms with E-Reps. People usually don't take 100 miles detours just for the sake of it, and that means something was preventing them from taking a straight path.
"The speed's decreasing", Lady commented looking at dials.
"It's me", Taffer replied calmly and added seeing Lady's questioning look, "I want to be there in one piece. Lexy, all sensors ahead and down. Scan on all possible wavelengths."
As they proceeded on their new route, the fog became thicker and thicker. The turbulence lightened and even dust particles stopped bombarding the ship's shield, so its constant humming quieted down as well and the breathless silence held in the cockpit for minutes, only to be shattered by Lexy's scream, "Terrain ahead!" The height and distance to the incoming rocks appeared on the screen. Taffer pulled the controls up and increased the power of the antigrav to help the large ship climb over the rocks.
"Lexy, maintain… Lexy?", Taffer quickly turned his head to Lexy avatar's seat and saw her with her hands to her eyes and sobbing in fear.
"Dash, calculate the climbing parameters and send them to Lexy!" Taffer commanded to his EGO. A green line depicting a climbing trajectory appeared on the screen for Taffer to follow and a holographic image of a hooded girl appeared behind Lexy's seat, hugging her and whispering to her ear, "Look! I've calculated, we can make it! But this path is just an estimate and Taffer needs your precision to make it right as you're the one who knows the ship the most!"
"Can we? Yay!", Lexy exclaimed, "I must follow the climbing line with preci-- press-- stick to it? I can do that, just watch!"
The ship stabilized its climbing rate and followed the calculated line precisely, leaving the pilots to keep a close watch on its parameters. Once they almost climbed over a mountain chain, a gust of strong wind attacked the ship but only made it tilt a little to counter it. Once those mountains were left behind, Taffer smiled showed a thumbs up to Lexy and Lady.
"Good job everyone", he complimented the team. "Lexy, update your maps with this new terrain we've just found please. I think we can easily rename Flint Hills to Flint Mountains now. Lady, how do you think, what important thing I forgot to do?" Catching Lady's questioning look again he pointed at the red lever behind the plastic cover. "I forgot to command our team to get to their life pods. Once you remove the cover, the automatic alert signal sounds all over the ship. Once you pull the lever, the life pods are released. We made it this time but in this kind of emergency any factor could mean life or death and we must give our passengers a second chance to survive."
As the fog dissipated, Taffer announced to the team, "We're on our final straight to Defiance. Please get ready to leave the ship and proceed on our mission as soon as we land. Belle, do we have an exact location and layout of our destination so that we could land as close to it as possible?"
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Post by Belle Starr on Jun 30, 2015 1:48:25 GMT
Belle Starr pulled off the pillow case from off the pillow on her bed in her cabin, using it as a make-shift towel to wipe off her pretty freckled face the tears and smeared make-up, before answering Taffer and the team via their EGOs as she walked to the stratocarrier's cockpit, "I have the exact coordinates of the compound's location, and there is a farmer's field not very far from it. As to the layout and it's security measures, our EGO expert made it part of the deal with VBI to keep it a secret, so even Trevor Tyler didn't know what they were. All I can tell you is it a walled compound around a two-story house, and it has a heck of a whopping electric bill every month! I'm coming to you now!"  |
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Post by Lady Christianna on Jun 30, 2015 1:57:40 GMT
Caprice ate another chocolate cookie before she made another move in her game with Volodja, before asking, "Will you be my new daddy Uncle Volodja? My Daddy found a new little girl to love while I was made to sleep, but I'm going to make him pay! They're all going to pay! Except you, because you care about me!  |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jun 30, 2015 4:33:36 GMT
It was Volodja's turn to move and he had to consider it a bit. Then he moved his chocolate cookie on table to the next square and explained: "Caprice. At moment your parents are busy with getting us safely to Defiance and Lexy is essential part of the ship. Without her we all could crash and that probably means the end of every one of use - you, me, your family and rest of our friends, relatives and our crew who trusts us because they left their families behind and joined us here. That's why Giant....I mean Atticus has to have some time with Lexy. To keep us all alive and well. That doesn't mean that he loves you less. He will find you time after our mission is completed and you get another family vacation time. Somehow I believe that you will get it and that time will be sacred and will be used only to be with Lady Christianna and you two.
Planning a revenge is too premature. Don't act too fast, because you might mess things up and lose your next family time and if you are going to make them pay pay then you will never find out what your parents might plan for your next family time and you will never get to know how much they care about you, because it's too late. Actually....you can do your part too for achieving that important goal - your quality time with your parents and brother. You can help your family by NOT arranging a huge chaos. Are you ready for that, Caprice? Can you win yourself like you are winning me at moment? I believe that you can do it. But if you still feel bored then I might have few innocent pranks in my pocket, I could teach you, but you have to promise that you use them only when they can't actually harm anyone."
Caprice nodded eagerly. At least she agreed to learn some new tricks from an old Fool. And while they were playing and Caprice pondered about her next moves and what Volodja had just told her, she also listened Volodja's ideas about arranging some innocent pranks, but only in proper time and proper place. And cookies tasted excellent, by the way.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Jun 30, 2015 10:16:49 GMT
While monitoring the ship and crew's safety from the bridge, I notice that Caprice's lifesigns are being registered in the Mess near Volodja. So I send him an EGO to EGO Message. "Volodja, the sensors show that Caprice is with you, so thank you for watching her for us. If she is being good, I do have a couple of chocolate bars in the kitchen. Just tell them that I said she could have one. There is also some Irathiant fruit juice in the kitchen that has the nutrients I need to keep my energy up. Doctor Orion is certain the twins will have my exact genetics given how Castithan pregnancy works. So he has had Ralph get or make various different juices for me to taste and see how well they work for me. That one works quite well at giving me the required nutrients and tastes good. So offer her some of that too. It tastes very sweet, so I am sure my little darling will love it. And please make sure she knows that her mom and I are looking forward to our next visit with her because we love and miss her and Cosmin. Thank you. Oh and there is a bottle of Irathient brandy in the cabinet that Ralph keeps stocked with my alcohol. Feel free to have some as a thank you since, as I recall, you said you were out of brandy. I have to go now. We will be landing soon, so I need to focus on making sure the area is safe for us to land in."
I glance at my sensors, then look towards Taffer as I say, "Dak! Taffer, the external sensors are showing Omnivolts near a compound just outside of Defiance. Belle hasn't sent me the co-ordinates yet so I can't say if it is where we are headed. However I can tell you the Omnivolts are outside the compound and appear to be trying to get back in it. The Compound also seems to be as lit up as...well... me on a very bad day."
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Post by Belle Starr on Jun 30, 2015 13:44:34 GMT
Belle Starr was surprised when she arrived in the Vigilant's cockpit and they were not landing yet, until Atticus informed her that they she hadn't given the compound's coordinates to the team yet, just told them she had them. A red heat traveled up her swan like neck and into her freckled cheeks as she blushed over her mistake. She hadn't realized how distraught she had been in her cabin after she relived Vo's death over and over again. Belle had been happy over Taffer's homecoming, but as Vo's best friend, he became an unexpected constant reminder that her true love was gone forever. Belle put on a confident and smiling mask, apologizing as he realized her mistake, "Sorry y'all! Guess my mind went on vacation! Here's the coordinates of the compound, and there is that there farmer's field I was telling you about!" With that said, the stratocarrier hovered above the snow covered empty field near the compound before Taffer put it down in a perfect landing. At the same time, Lena had picked the lock to the wooden front door of the scientist's house, still kneeling when a shotgun blast from the inside blew a hand-sized hole just above her head and splintering her pretty white trussed scalp with a loud boom. Anger flashed in Lena's long lashed sky blue eyes, and her pretty chalk white face darkened as she stood up pulling her Quick Blaster yelling with a wicked smile, "Here's Lena!" Then adding with a mutter, "And oh yeah... owwwww!"  |
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Post by Lady Christianna on Jun 30, 2015 13:56:40 GMT
Immediately after the Vigilante landed safely, Lady Christianna sighed, getting up from the co-pilots seat and walking straight to Volodja's quarters. After a quick knock on the door, she entered, immediately spotting her unborn daughter playing cookie checkers with Volodja. Lady smiled enigmatically as she hugged and kissed the small Irathient girl, saying to Volodja, "Thanks Teach," then with a laugh to Caprice, "Tummy time!" Caprice rolled her electric blue eyes at her mother but didn't argue, then curtsied to Volodja saying, "Thanks for the cookies and the talk Uncle Volodja!" Caprice disappeared dramatically in a puff of green smoke that quickly dissipated almost as fast as she fell to sleep in Lady's womb.  |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jun 30, 2015 13:59:59 GMT
"Welcome dear," Volodja managed to say before Caprice disappeared. "Sorry I could not tell what you Dad asked me to but it gives him a chance to do it himself and that might be even better than using a middle man," he muttered. Volodja's babysitting time was over and since they landed already, he could grab his gear and join the rest of the team. He run to his cabin, armed himself and equipped his new stealth armour suit to test it. On his way he smiled encouragingly to Belle, who's blue eyes seemed to be filled with tears not so long ago and said: "What can I do to cheer you up, my dear girl? I guess playing cookie checkers with you, like I did with Caprice, is out of question." He told her that little story about bored Caprice and himself in canteen, using humorous tones and bright colours to describe the battle of cookies and even admitted his loss to her, although he got quite fair share of vanilla cookies to munch. He even offered rest of them to Belle (and used an opportunity to playfully strike her tousled blonde hair) to distract her mind from things which made her sad, hoping that he could make her feel more joyful. He knew that he was not a magician, capable of performing miracles but he could try at least, because it felt appropriate thing to do. Then he jumped out from their ship ahead and landed into a huge snow pile. He went to scout ahead to guarantee safe exit for his team mates. After some struggle with thick layer of snow, Volodja reached to higher ground with lesser snow, crouched and hid himself (his armour was covered with frost thanks to cold weather and that made him less visible), took out his binoculars and started to examine the landscape with ultimate care to spot any sign of known or unknown things, phenomenons or dangers which might wait them in vicinity of their landing spot.  |
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Jun 30, 2015 15:38:12 GMT
"Excellent job with a lock, My Love," encouraged Marcel. "But be careful. I don't want to...lose you when we are standing on a doorstep of success. Mind if I enter first?" Marcel pulled the door open and slide himself quickly inside. No "Welcome" mat was placed to greet visitors but Toad's personal welcome was warm, some may say that even hot, and full of lead, because he pulled another shot out from his shotgun which Marcel successfully avoided by ducking, although splinters from the poor door scratched him a bit. With his next jump he reached to the master of the home sweet home and owner of the dangerous shotgun (which fortunately didn't caused any harm to Lena or Marcel) - the one and only Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov who also was one of the best programmers in VBI but not that good with firearms.
Marcel pulled shotgun out from his weakened hands and hissed like a snake: "Remember me?! Of course you do but that do not give you a right to shoot my girlfriend who needs your help. If you co operate then I may forgive you that attempt to murder my Lena." His eyes were merciless and Pyotr decided to listen what Marcel had to say, so he asked with a bit trembling voice: "W-what can I do for you, Mr.....?"
"Are names so significant?" asked Marcel with his business voice. "I am Marc. Nice to meet you again and so on, so on. Ça va? Actually it does not matter. Must admit that I am glad to hear the voice of reason speaking in you. That gives me hope that we may avoid any kind of violent confrontations in the future. If you are going to keep being reasonable, you may have a long and happy life and so will your girl, if she is still with you. To earn a right to have a future you better listen what I have to say. You see this beautiful girl here. Her name is Lena and she is my girlfriend. Just between us - I am madly in love with Lena and we want something that you can give. A sentient EGO psyche for her. But if you refuse then I do not envy you. Lena can make one's future painful and not very long."
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Post by Taffer on Jun 30, 2015 19:25:04 GMT
As Belle pinpointed their destination location, Taffer immediately thought, "That should be simple. Just hover the ship with its cargo bay open over the building and let Vo on his ATV…" then he had to remind himself there's no Vo on his ATV and never will be. He felt sadness was overwhelming him again and had to make an effort to get back to thinking on their infiltration plan.
When the ship had landed and the team was finishing their preparations to exit it, Taffer used ships' sensors to scan the terrain and combined them with the info Atticus had just provided him.
"Omnivolts seem to be stuck in a loop between a goal to find a path to their patrol route and a directive to not damage the property", he said to the group through his EGO, "They seem to be guarding the place so they shouldn't be attacking people outside but will certainly attack when we try to infiltrate. Given the traces around the facility and those Omnivolts' position, someone's already fooled them and got inside uninvited".
Then he saw Volodja struggling in a pile of snow and thought they need some means of transportation. He looked through the camera at the cargo bay, but saw only usual ATVs which would probably be useless or more of a hindrance in the deep snow.
"Damn it, Vo would definitely have an idea and even implemented it by now", Taffer was about to be hit by his grief again, but remembering Vo made a sudden idea appear in his head. He remembered Vo had made enhancements to some runners before their space flight so that they could slide over the moon dust. Their bodies should definitely work as good snowshoes as well.
"Lexy, do we have any our moon-runners left?" he asked the holographic image of the castithan girl who had just unstrapped but were still sitting on the corner of the seat dangling her feet.
"Chris had dis-- ass-- oh! removed all their moon things uncle Vo had set on them. Only one here, the one my daddy Simaro was travelling the Moon on!" Lexy replied and added with a plead, "I asked Chris to leave it be! You won't break it will you? Pleeeease!"
"I won't. We just happen to need it again to make our mission done. Could you show me where it is?" Saying that, Taffer had just thought that it was another Vo's great idea he had never thanked him for.
"Here it is!" Lexy waved his hand. The camera showed the door between cargo bays opening and a lunar runner appeared behind it, sitting between the legs of a mech. "Aren't they a nice couple?"
"Wait, had you Daiden's mech hidden there as well? You little sneaky spaceship!"
"Hey hey is it a good thing? Hey, I'm not that little! Unless you want me to grow into an orbital station, but then I'll become incredibly fat and will just hang around the Earth and won't fly through space! And that's not fun!" the girl pouted staring at Taffer.
"It's a good thing when I say it. And it was just a figure of speech I frequently use when I see someone do something smart", Taffer smiled. Then he addressed the team "We have a lunar runner which I think could run over the snow and which could use to distract those Omnivolts. And we have a mech which can lift you all over the wall with ease." Then he added as he thought he was being too insistent "Hey, that was just a suggestion. Atticus, you're the lead, so final say is yours."
Having said that, he left to the cargo bay to power up the mech and the runner. On his way he remembered he had never seen Erika since they took off.
"Dash, check up on Erika please. I've sent a landing announcement to everyone and haven't heard anything from her."
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Post by Erika Widowmaker on Jun 30, 2015 20:56:49 GMT
Erika Widowmaker was dreaming of another mission to rescue another scientist, the Indogene Eren Nidel, from 99ers to reunite her with her love Rosa Martinez. It wasn't that her standard EGO AI wasn't trying hard enough, but that Erika was so enmeshed into reliving the rescue that she was determined to finish, which she did just as Dash arrived to retrieve her. Erika thanked Dash, then quickly donned the very armor and equipment she wore then before leaving the ship.  |
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Post by Atticus Batman on Jun 30, 2015 21:35:58 GMT
After listening to Taffer's suggestions, I look at Lexy. "Lexy which Mech is onboard? I know it isn't mine, as I have that in pieces back at base being upgraded."
Lexy shows the video and says, "Daddy's mechman! No hurt it pleases wiff cherries on tops!"
I say, "Lexy, if we hurt it, then I will fix it up or replace it for you. However we do need to borrow it."
Then I get on comms. "Taffer, good idea. I suggest Lady in the Mech. As I recall that mech is set up like the pilot's stations here on the Vigilant so Lady would be a great mechdriver, and will not need a quick rundown of it's systems unless she requests it, although Sandy should be able to help Lady out there without a problem. Our MechPilot will put Volodja and myself over first, to handle any issues that welcome us. After we decide insertion is clear, we will scout ahead as the others follow. Whoever is on the Atv will meet up with Lady and the Mech as soon as they can. So they can cover our backs and join us as soon as possible. Chris will stay on board so Lexy and he can stay ready for lift off, just incase we need to do a quick board and evac for some reason. Taffer I do not know who the best Atv driver is between you, Belle and Erika so that is your call. I am heading to the Cargo Bay to check the mech while you check the Atv."
I then send Lady an EGO to EGO message. "Love you and the twins, Snow Angel. And let Caprice know that we are looking forward to spending time with them later, and I have a chocolate bar set aside just for her, and one for Cosmin if he wants it during our next family time and they are good. Being bad is my job, not theirs. See you in a few minutes in the cargo Bay. I will make sure the Mech is ready for you, hope you don't mind watching my butt from the Mech. Besides I love knowing that you are watching my ass. Sorry the Mech isn't red, but if you like piloting it, then we can get you your own red one later."
Then I send Erika and EGO to EGO message. "Erika if you are not capable of going with us, then stay on board and go see Doctor Orion, and Haele. I WILL bring the expert to you, if needed, and don't worry I am capable of doing so without harming a person when I put my fractured mind to it! So I will bring him, in the condition that I find him in. I promise and I don't do so often as you know."
When I get in the Cargo Bay, Taffer is doing a quick check on the atv and has the mech powered up for me to check. I hop into it's cockpit and look around. "All systems are a go. However the gatling gun is not responding so the mech is down one gun. IT does however look like Chris hooked one of the chargeblades I made to it. So it has a working rifle and a blade. Doing a quick environmental optimization....and done." I then look behind and under the mech. "Lexy open the bay doors." Ai-Lexy says, "Alright Scary Atticus big doors is opens...now!"
I put the mech into a slow walk mode and once I am out of the bay and just to the side of it, I do a quick thruster burst, and clear the engines of forgotten moon dust buildup. Then I take the Mech back inside the bay and put it in a kneeling position, so Lady will be able to climb in it more easily. Then I jump out and wheel a rolling ladder to it for Lady to use. Next I do a check of my weapons while Taffer and I wait for the others. "Taffer how is the atv?"
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Post by Lady Christianna on Jun 30, 2015 22:16:27 GMT
Lady Christianna smiled enigmatically saying wryly, "Don't have to ask twice," as she hurried the the cargo bay to get strapped into the Mech and to familiarize herself with the controls, as Sandy added reassuringly, "I actually trained on a more primitive version of your Mech during officer's training school in the Pale Wars, so between the two of us we'll be just fine!" Erika smiled wanely, answered Atticus' via her EGO, "I appreciate your brotherly concern Atticus, but I am fine and will do my part. Don't worry so, I am soldier and will do my duty." Belle Starr looked at Erika Widowmaker and was immediately worried, for she had never seen Erika look so - old! Erika was in her mid-forties, but always moved like a woman half her age, but now operated like one in her eighties, as if each step took a great effort and was fueled by sheer willpower. Belle knew also that Erika had a great deal of pride, which would be hurt if she were left behind or treated as an invalid. "Taffer, you take the ATV," Said Belle, "Erika and I will follow you from the rear, bringing the dream machine with us and acting as y'all's backup!"  |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jul 1, 2015 4:25:18 GMT
"Well, well," muttered Volodja observing Pyotr's assumed location and surrounding landscape through his binoculars. "The coast seems to be clear to proceed without any sudden surprises. Except those Omnivolts but we are familiar with them and their behaviour. Although I don't like that piece of information about that old Dodge Durango which seems to be untouched. Scavenging abandoned cars is a must after apocalypse and yet this car is intact. Even if it's Pyotr's car then what the heck it's in snow instead of being parked in garage or at least in yard? Let us assume that Pyotr has a visitor but that won't explain weird location of the Dodge. And those Omnivolts are surrounding walls like bunch of hungry zombies from an old Romero film.
Let's examine those tracks....Strange...It's either very incompetent driver or...or....no one was behind the steering wheel at all. Can't put that assumption aside because I have seen lot of different distracting methods and using a driverless car is not very unusual one but it's still a creative approach I must admit. Let us assume that someone used that car to lure Omnivolts away from the house and get inside safely, because I can see prints of their little metal feet in courtyard as well. Nice plan but it leaves visitor's departure uncovered. Or not, because Pyotr must have a car for his needs. Nobody can survive and supply oneself too long without a vehicle."
Volodja didn't liked what he spotted at all. If his conclusions were correct then they will face a party with unknown nature and intentions. Old Romans would say "Festina lente" ("make haste slowly") in situations like this one and they were probably right. That's why Volodja decided in favour of really careful approach and informed his team mates about his findings and assumptions.
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