###############

>Atmosphere:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IywCPcSjgqw

The snap of transition marks space, your gleaming obsidian form manifesting from nothingness in an instant. Hazy streamers of white energy trail from your edges as Ivanova pulls double duty, scanning the system while running through the after-jump checklist.

“All systems functional, sir.” She says finally, “Shields up and scans complete. Detecting an encoded signal from in-system. Dual channel, one standard military.”

“The other?” you reply.

She looks over at you briefly before glancing away, “Decryption key not in the database. Playing standard transmission.”

The large holo-display lights up briefly before shifting into the standard non-visual communication display of a voice waveform, telling you visually what you can tell instantly: A computerized voice, standard transmission. “This is the agri-research and production station Regilus-III, located on the moon Korto of planet Hesper. There has been an industrial accident at the landing facility and the area has been deemed extremely hazardous. All supply ships should divert to Hesper Planetary Main Landing Site and afterward discontinue deliveries or pick-ups until further notice.”

After the message finishes you look back to Ivanova, “What does the system look like?”

“Three planets, all rocky. Hesper the only inhabitable one, rather large, eight moons. Korlo is the fourth moon. Databanks say it’s a minor station for hothousing plants and storing advanced fertilizers. Also picking up multiple heat blooms from around it that are comparable in distribution, flux, and level to active ground batteries.” your second replies.

“For an agri-world?” Tynes says dubiously.

Rinn grunts, “Maybe food started getting scarce late in the war or somethin’? Still, strange.”

==Command Staff==
Lieutenant Kateryna Ivanova - Executive Officer
>Second Lieutenant Dray Parson - Intelligence Officer (Cryo)
Second Lieutenant Robert Tynes - Steward
Chun-Fan Dai - Chief Engineer
Third Lieutenant Mardigan “Guns” Rinn - Weapons Officer
Dr. Christof Burr - Physician

==Junior Officers==
Ensign Fie - Communictions Officer
Ensign DuBois - Staff officer
Ensign Tremko - Staff officer
Ensign Rao - Staff officer

==Persons of Note==
>Dr. Eliphim Ketro -- Civilian Scientist (Cryo)

Previous Threads:

1: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15474877/
2: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15527576/
3: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15547424/
4: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15558914/
5: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15581324/
6: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15603188/
7: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15626860/
8: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15671288/
9: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15681393/
10: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15702140/
11: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15725852/
12: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15749179/
13: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15760403/
13-2: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15765549/
14: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15783485/
15: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15807704/
16: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15856771/
17: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15880596/

>Also, when archiving make sure to include the thread number in the title and a "Void Quest" tag.

See if we can crack the secondary encryption and find what else is being transmitted.

Try and break the encrypted signal. Do a full scan of the planets and moons for any life forms.

If our onboard infiltration suite isn't adequate to crack the signal, see if Ivanova has any input.

>>15904524
I'm thinking she knows the decryption key to the signal, seeing as she knows that there's something here other than an agri world.

But she's got that programming that's preventing her from using it.

Let's get a bit closer to Korlo and see if we can get a more detailed scan of the installation.

Ivanova probably knows, but how can we get around her spook hardwire?

Hell yes! It's Arguing Quest time again!

>>15904494
Ivanova likely knows the keys, she's just hard-wired not to tell us. There's something here besides just crops.

We should ask Ivanova if there is any immediate danger to us from the batteries. If not, ask her to do some scans (her working the scanners is convenient) to find out if there is a safe place to land a ground crew to investigate.

She's heading the landing party, of course.

Vedibere, last thread there was a suggestion for an "anonymous suggestion box for the captain's consideration" that would either be a box-for-slips-of-paper or a dataslate that would get passed around the crew for them to voice concerns or suggestions (e.g. "dai is a poopy head" "scientists want a lab"). It would make us, the Captain, more approachable.

>>15904494
>>15904501
>>15904524
Lets get crackin.

Let's divert to the secondary site for now, and see what's there. We can brainstorm with the rest of the officers to see how to get around the signal. I really doubt we want to engage Imperial-level active ground batteries with no shields. Xenos may be a pushover but compared to most Imperial ships we're a scrap heap.

>>15904571
I was thinking if we just act around it. Excuse the rest of the crew from the bridge, then move our consciousness away from there as well for a few minutes. Then maybe we come back and find that the 2nd signal has been mysteriously decrypted?

>>15904589
We do have some shields, they're just very weak.

And I bet we could disable the batteries from distance and be perfectly fine.

But I mean, if we can get access to that facility and keep those batteries active and intact, then this could be a great system to set up shop, as it were. Good defenses, a habitable planet that was an agri world, where we could find food, I'm sure.

If we ever get too full of "loot" again, we can just come here, offload some down onto the planet's surface, and then go back out again.

But yeah, if we can get access without destroying shit, that would be best.

>>15904594
That's suspicious as hell. None of the officers know about Ivanonva's spook shit, and she revealed that in confidence. She may be wired to self-terminate or something if she's revealed.

Concoct something for Ivanova to do so she can respond to the encrypted key if able. Use our ophidian codes to respond to the normal transmission in the mean time, stay out of weapons range of the planet. Maybe take an active scan if it seems safe? If we want to close with the facility stay in the lane for the main landing site on the planet I guess.

Also is the name of the moon Korto or Korlo? You used both once.

>>15904626
I meant that we dismiss all of the officers, including Ivanova, then we go away for a while and come back to find no records of the door being opened and the signal decrypted. Then we just tell everyone we managed to crack it.

>>15904642
I would like to point out that your officers aren't fucking /retarded/ you know.

>>15904626
Doctor Burr is probably has suspicions about what she was/is... but otherwise, yes they don't know about Ivanova's spookiness...

that said, i'm also against doing>>15904594

>>15904626
Yeah, don't act suspiciously to reveal Ivanova. If we're treated as friendlies by the batteries, nothing here is really time-sensitive. She could just go back to her quarters and decode the message there, or whatever she needs to do.

Any ships here? Life signatures? Non-empire constructions? Scans from other ships, etc. (Basically, intelligent life.)

Hm, I want to just say work with what we know first off, which will give us time to work up a way to bluff past the hidden objective here.

However, that transmission and those guns are two things we may need to handle right quick. Ask the bridge crew if they've "ever seen anything like that second transmission", and see if "anyone" might be able to tool around with it some. So long as there is a good enough excuse I doubt anyone will question it over much. At least now.

Input our codes, and see if it kills some of that heat. And by that, I mean to legitimate targets. At least if we're not being fired upon we'll have time to think.

Ok, so:
Scan planets, moons, and immediate space around for any signs of anything.
Send authorization codes to the standard landing strip.
See if we can't decode the secondary signal.

>picking up multiple heat blooms from around it that are comparable in distribution, flux, and level to active ground batteries

Does that mean they are ready to shoot at us?

Is there a way we can get them to NOT shoot at us?

>>15904666
that said, i'm also against doing>>15904594
Agreed.

Let's just go through the motions of decryption. If we dont break it in a day or so Ivanova can take care of it from another location and make it look like our computers broke the encryption eventually.

>>15904654
>I would like to point out that your officers aren't fucking /retarded/ you know.

>Moran espictio
Oh captcha, always telling us what we already know.

>>15904728
I think they're active in so much that they can fire.

I don't think they will unless we try and force our way onto that moon without authorization.

In other words, I think as long as we're just floating around here, we're fine.

Also, it we play this right, we may be able to tell the crew we got some of this info from Parson. Like that it was here, or various codes we seemingly asspull.

It's convient, and would explain why Ivonova would know (she interrogated the xeno, afterall, why not Parson too)

>>15904745
I think we found out this was here from records we received from the xenos.

>>15904582
If there is immediate danger to us from the batteries, ask Ivanova via data terminal (not aloud) if she thinks inputting our codes would stop them from being a danger, or would just make them fire at us.

>>15904757
I meant that the spook base was here too.
Should we even go that route.

There's obviously some sort of secret research station here. If we can get a ground party to disable those batteries, it'd be great. Landing them could be trouble. Perhaps we could hide the shuttle behind another moon and hop over when their orbits overlap?

If we could take the batteries for ourselves, we could add them to our arsenal, or slap together a few drones to carry them into battle. But that's really ramshackle.

The most valuable thing here are the food supplies. If this was an agricultural system, then maybe the plants took over after the empire fell. Could be a whole planet's worth of corn and such down there.

>>15904771
>The most valuable thing here are the food supplies.
We've got enough food for 9 months. We could restock, and let the crew pick up stuff for their still, but the most important thing here is an Intel base.

>>15904745
Something like saying "Ivonova, try that code Parson gave us" could actually work.

>>15904769
There's a moon base with active defensive batteries and two signals, one that is encrypted and another that says there was an accident and that you should avoid going there.

I don't think we'll need much of an excuse to tell our crew that there's something there.

So, did we ever tell the crew why we cryo'd Ketro and Parsons?

Ask Ivanova for input.

We know this is not an agri-world but a super secret research station. We better not try to restock our food even if we find anything edible in this sector.


Also, perhaps more thorough scanning is in order?

If the crew gets suspicious of our actions, tell them we are being cautious. Once any immediate threats have been dealt with, we intend on sending a landing party (to that moon) to investigate... after all, it is likely that after thousands of years the waste is no longer hazardous.

>>15904835
Parsons, I don't think so. Ketro, yes.

>>15904792
9 months isn't very much. We should load as much food as we can manage.

Ivanova directed us here. Ask her if that station would respond to our codes, or if we'll need to go in hot.

>>15904883
>not an agri-world but a super secret research station
It's likely that it is actually both and the agri-world is the cover. That's usually how these things play out.

>>15904813
Parson has been in cry for months now. And before that he was in the brig for just as long. Trying to play off that we got some code from him is asinine. Yeah, we were talking to him, and he gave us this code that somehow managed to work on this top secret installation that we stumbled across weeks after we froze him.

That's a bad lie. It's suspicious and too convenient. It's worse, than bad, it's terrible. If it comes down to lying, then it would be best to say that we managed to crack into it ourselves. We're a fucking EI. We've got brain power the likes of which no one on this ship can comprehend. So I think if we ever want to like about being able to hack into something, or decrypt a message, all we need to say is, "We did it." and it will be just like saying that a wizard did it.

Of course, this all assumes we can get through it anyhow.

>>15904883
The agri world IS and agri world.

The moon is a secret installation.

Vedibere, do you have enough to write with?

>>15904914
I'm not sure why it's the ender of worlds to you, but it's not so unreasonable that we got him to cough up some details about "House holdings". Even dated, it's not like the crew has intimate knowledge of all our doings, we could've been sitting on this for a good while.

>>15904914
>So I think if we ever want to like about being able to hack into something, or decrypt a message, all we need to say is, "We did it." and it will be just like saying that a wizard did it.
Agreed.

Also a better (but not as humorous) course of action than throwing our hands up in the air, and making ghost noises to the effect of "IT IS A MYSTERY WooOOOoooOO!"

Eh.

Why don't we first analyze the coded message and try all of our key to read it?
Perhaps try to crack it too?

>>15904932
It's a terrible lie, man. Get over it. Let's just try and get some other ideas in here.

>>15904946
Mostly to save Vedibere an extra wat do, in the event that it doesn't work.

>>15904954
How so?

bomb the planet, move on. those plants won't be able to harm us with missiles and lasers!

and give ourselves a medal for a job well done. and say we're declaring ourselves the Emperor and all should bow before us.

>>15904975
Because of what I already said. It's too damn suspicious that Parson happened to have an access code or decryption key that gets us into this top secret facility way out here. Even more so when he's so young, the Harbinger being his first assignment. If we come to other obstacles, the crew would want to know whether or not Parson knew something about it, which of course he wouldn't. But if we lied and said that he did, that just keeps piling stuff on, especially when he's still in cryo.

Think of it like this. Imagine you're watching some movie about World War 2 or something. And you've got your platoon there. The guys you've been following the entire movie. It's a mix of seasoned veterans who know all the tricks, and some fresh from boot rookies. Now, how reasonable is it, that when the platoon gets to the secret bunker, that one of the rookies would happen to know the secret code to enter? The rest of the platoon would be suspicious as fuck.

And hell man, if you can't see that, maybe you're autistic or something. I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything, I'm being completely serious.

>>15905015
Was about to give a serious response until I got to >autistic or something

Ah well, at least you gave it a go.
4/10

We should have the Harbinger move to Hesper, and have ground teams checking it over for food supplies, and information left in station logs and left in the personal effects of personnel who were stationed here.
As we do so, leave opportunities for Ivanova to slip away and transmit a 'stand down' signal to the batteries on Regilus-III.
If anyone asks later about it, say we worked on it and got lucky, and cracked the encryption.

>>15904932
>House Holdings

This isn't going to end up being something that can be waived off as belonging to an ancient house. It's obviously either Armada or Intelligence owned. Or previously owned, anyway.

>>15905015
How did he know it? Because he was a traitor! We had ulterior motives for choosing this site to jump to! MWAHAHAHA!!!

But seriously, both of you guys calm down. It makes just as much sense to say a wizard (us) did it. Even if it takes a few days to decrypt.

>>15904914
Gonna have to agree with this guy.


In fact, why do we need some convoluted lie-scheme anyway?
I don't understand it.

We can always approach Ivanova later on, when everybody is dismissed. We don't HAVE to deal with the coded message right now.

Lets just spend entire day scanning the system and looking for anything of value/interest.

>>15905053
I am completely serious man. Don't take every criticism against you as a troll post. That just leads to not being able to improve yourself for lack of seeing your faults.

>>15905067
>In fact, why do we need some convoluted lie-scheme anyway?

EXACTLY. Fuck. We're a fucking enormous computerized brain. There's no need to make a big lie when we can just say we did it, because A) We're the fucking captain of this ship, and B) We've got a fucking computer for a brain.

>>15905067
>Lets just spend entire day scanning the system and looking for anything of value/interest.
Come to think of it, are the defense batteries on the moon the only defenses here?
This system was listed as having active Precursor Sentinels. I would have expected a sphere of defense platforms and the wreckage of thousands of xeno ships that tried to penetrate the security to get at the valuable Precursor ruins.

It's already been an hour and we haven't even gotten a scan done?

If we are sending any teams for whatever reason.
First send drones to determine if the place is safe, only afterwards can we send people

You try your keys on the second signal and, when they have no success, begin to try and decrypt it. A mere minute in, however, and you are already noticing an exponential growth in processing load. Ten seconds later, it has ramped up to nearly unsustainable levels. You stop and pull up the results of your attempt on the main holo-display, “Okay, everyone. Opinions on this?”

Your command staff turns to look, Ensign Fie the first to respond, “Wow, that’s uh... that’s some pretty high level stuff. Advanced encryption, saw some examples in my Academy classes.”

“Do you have any idea how to break it?”

“Break it, sir? I’m not sure that's even theoretically possible, depending on the code.”

“Well, regardless I want all of you to take a look and see if you can come up with anything I can implement just in case, and I will be working on it myself as well. With active defenses there’s clearly something down there, even if it’s just food. Ivanova, scan results?”

“Flora and fauna on Hesper. Korto is completely barren and without atmosphere except for the station, but scans aren’t registering anything below basic surface telemetiry and the energy blooms.”

You nod, simultaneously sending a private message to her terminal; *Is that all, and do you think my codes will allow access to the base? Will trying them cause it to fire on us?*

*It is very well shielded from scans, I can’t tell anything else from the sensors. Also, in my experience generally authorization systems won’t target you simply for attempting to transmit a code. I am sure your codes are high level and likely more than enough to unlock a normal non-critical agri-station that grows food, but I would advise not approaching the base anyway. As a precaution in case they are unexpectedly not viable.*

*Do you think anyone onboard might know the codes if mine fail for some reason? Or a way to decrypt the signal.*

*I can not speak for the knowledge of others, but it might be possible that with such a large number of highly qualified scientists, engineers, and experienced officers that someone would know the proper signal key. As for the base, I am sure as an agricultural facility you would be able to access it. But. I am sure you know from basic security classes the highest-level access keys are compartmentalized and only known by those with the proper authorization. At such places it is likely a physical landing and breaching attempt would be required to gain entry into such a place.*

>>15905219
Alright, so let's continue the scans for any system defenses aside from those active batteries, and check out the agri-station on Hesper. Send drones down first, and if it checks out as safe, then allow the crew to go down and stretch their legs while checking for anything useful (base logs, food besides freeze-dried bean paste, and anything that the scientists might find useful).
That'll also give Ivanova the opportunity to anonymously contribute the encryption key for the Intel base, or for her to send an authorization signal, whichever her implants allows.

>>15905219
Well then fuck it. Blast the defense batteries from range. Precision strikes.

Then send in drones to make sure shit isn't hot. Then let's force our way inside.

>>15905264

What! No! Those batteries represent spare parts!

>>15905219

Ketro would know the codes, I bet.

>>15905264
Those are Ophidian planetary defense batteries, and ones used to protect an Armada Intelligence base, not low-budget security platforms for a backwater colony.
There's no telling if we could safely fire on them or not.

>>15905264
Nope.

Do >>15905263 instead.

Additionally, ask Ivanova if a ground landing on Korto would be advisable. Not immediately, perhaps in a few days.

>>15905282
Why don't you learn to fucking read.

>but I would advise not approaching the base anyway.

>>15905287
Here, let me break it down for you
"I would advise not approaching the base anyway"
>Nah, man, you won't unlock this base.
"someone would know the proper signal key"
>I know the signal key.
"it is likely a physical landing and breaching attempt would be required to gain entry into such a place"
>I'd need physical access to open it, though.

Then, the response:
"ask Ivanova if a ground landing on Korto would be advisable. Not immediately, perhaps in a few days."
>Is it enough to give you some time off so that you can do your Intel thing to open this base so you can land on it and open it?

Gently bump Parsons at the base.


>>15905325
Oh.
You are probably right.

>>15905325
Reads to me like:
>I know the key for the message.
>Your access codes are useless.
>I don't know the access codes.
>You best not try to fly in or else bad shit happens.
>If we can get a team on the ground we can breach it.

>>15905395
So, I guess I'm trying to clarify if a landing party is even a viable option here. Sounds to me that they would get shot before they could even land.

In the meantime, divert to Hesper Planetary Main Landing Site, as instructed.

>>15905219
>>15905395
>>15905325

For shits and giggles, ask Dai if he knows anything.

Could be a way down there if nothing else.

So, do you guys like spaghetti and meat balls?

>>15905584
I like story updates.

We're pretty much set on giving Ivanova some time and exploring the agri-world in the meantime. If possible, keep the planet in between us and the guns.

And probably setting up that suggestion box, people have yet to weigh in on that/

Well I'm going to go give my dog a bath.

>>15905584
Not particularly, I prefer meat chunks, kinda mixed in with the sauce. Without it the texture just seems to off.

>>15905644
Well, I agree to the first part.

There's a consensus on
> give Ivanova time to do her thing
> prepare a landing mission using clearance codes available to us. Test it with drones first as to not endanger vital personell
> get Ivanova on the surface, with drones and one other guy. Give her freetime/liberty to do her thing.
However, for christs sake, please abandon the talk about a suggestionbox - that's as stupid as "BUMP!"

>>15905684
I don't see what's so bad about it.

lalalala

Just do what those two guys summarized, let Ivanova work, give her free space, prepare landing etc etc.

>>15905737
agreed.

Not the most active of threads, eh?

Probably for the better, fewer neckbeards fighting like the pigs they are :)

Keep going Ved, as always I greatly enjoy your writefaggotry!

maybe we can get some shit done today :D

>>15905850
At least its not 200+ shitposts before the first update this time eh?

>>15905850
>>15905911
You guys are gonna jynx it D:

Also scan the system for orbital weapons or the signatures of orbital weapons just in case they are cloaked or some such shit.

>>15905914

>> D:

Get out.

>>15905911
Precisely. For that matter we should probably be careful not to draw too much attention by bumping too high :D
I also have hopes that Ved is writing again :)

Cautionary sage....^^

Vedi, can we talk to someone while we give "people" a chance to work on the code? I kinda want to speak with the civilians so we can get a better idea of how to handle them.

In the mean time, we should make a plan for what to do when we can approach the base, I *think* Ivanova is saying that she doesn't know how to get into the super secret parts of the base without using force of some kind. I would expect the base to have some kind of poison pill to destroy intel before a hostile force could capture it, so forcing a way in would probably result in a waste of a lot of hard work. Also might cause the defenses to start shooting at us, so we might want to plan for that.

VQ isn't something to actively participate in, but rather something to keep running in the background, and refresh periodically.

>>15906000
This is probably a good idea. A bunch of civilians must be upset that they've suddenly been drafted and had their leader put on ice.

Hell, they might be plotting mutiny. Not that you can mutiny against a sapient warship, but still.

>>15906013
The butthurt is at least 40% of the entertainment.

>>15906013
If only the arguers understood that.

Voting for a landing party.

You put aside the question of the mystery base for now, instead setting up an orbit around the main site on Hesper. Initial drone fighter flybys and orbital scans show severe degeneration, the entire facility and surrounding -- you think -- city completely overgrown and nearly indistinguishable from the surroundings. Dotted around the planet are various other facilities, large concrete seed storage bunkers completely overrun with vegetation.

Satisfied, you send down shuttles with drones inside which, after burning a suitable landing zone, explore the surroundings. Decay is rampant, the husks still standing strong but rampant overgrowth having consumed everything. Still, the site seems safe enough and after deploying a perimeter you give the entire crew, including officers, some unmonitored time off groundside.

##############

>Atmosphere:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuv3aQJ7qdI

31 hours after arrival in system you receive an anonymous communique sent from a terminal outside the habitable zone of the ship, apparently on a time delay since there is nobody there sending it when you look. A message. Excellent.

You begin play and immediately a haggard face appears; a man in his apparent fourties, pale and bleeding from eyes, nose, and ears. “This is Doctor Sarij Mhareef,” he breaks off, coughing and hacking up a glob of bloody sputum before continuing, “Project Namtar and Project Scion have become unviable. Test cases for both strains progressed from stages two to three much faster than anticipated, biological containment seals were eaten away between the containment areas. Unanticipated mutation resulted. As a temporary measure we’ve repurposed some of the specimen transport containers into cryopods and begun freez-” There is a tremendous deep booming in the background, overriding his words briefly, “-acting emergency containment protocols. Advise extreme caution, armed force, and full biohazard protocols. Research team’s pods are in the lowest levels. Advise landing on opposite side of moon and approaching by ground, all defenses active.”

He coughs again, this time covering his mouth with a hand and sinking down as blood runs from between his fingers, leaving nothing but a view of the wall and a loud booming before the comm ends.

So, infantry combat has been pretty automated up to this point. What sort of security officers do we have (or soldiers)? What kind of kit exists? A roster with minor details on both would be ideal.

I guess it kind of goes without saying that we shouldn't go down personally, will there be a perspective shift or will they just follow orders?

Also, guess we'll finally be able to do something with a few of those tanks.

Huh, very interesting.
We should probably do as he advises, how he advises.

Have Dr Burr & Ivanova accompanied by drones land on the moon, approach the site and try to gain acces.
Those survivors might be valuable.

However, in face of extreme bio hazard:
Caution is advised....


Polite sage for the sake of not attracting arguers.

>>15906064

Well balls. I hope everyone planetside can be recalled to the ship ASAP.

>>15906141
well, what about bombardment?

if we're careful we'll avoid hitting deep into the facility, and spare our men the problem of locks and other potential problems.

also, do we have the equipment for full bio hazard?

>>15906064
well fuck

>>15906172
Don't forget, that bio hazard may be "alive", even still.
Best we send at least a compliment fo soldiers. I also don't think sending the doctor is a good idea. ANy insight he might have can go through comms, and we'll bring back anything he wants to look at.

He's fleshy and untrained. Sage for stealth quest.

>>15906064
Let us begin putting together the necessary supplies and precautions, then get the command staff together in order to hear their advice on this, specifically we want the civie bioscientists in on this too if we can Rinn and Ivanova seem best prepared to advise on ground actions, Burr and the scientist are probably best prepared to comment on the safety protocols and possible dangers. Maybe hear what people have to say before we make a full plan of action?

>>15906141
Ivanova is special ops, the rest have rudimentary military training.

I see no need for a large military ground-action, Burr as our Doc & Bioguy is the expert on the field, Ivanova is our SpecOps lady. In this case she'll be his life insurance. :)

Of course we will come with them - via drones.

>>15906064
DELICIOUS BIOWEAPONS.

As fun as they could be, we don't need them and can't take the risk of a leak on the ship. We may have to ignore it, or lance it.

Heh, lancing the infection.

>>15906207
If things go pear shaped, we have two members of our command staff too far away from anyone else to be helped, if we go, we go in force.

>>15906224
Could always bump it. Gently, of course. Lest we injure the civvies in there.

>>15906195
You're right.

So the evolved consensus is:

Check viability of opening the site from space via bombardement, have Ivanova & Drones on the ground.
Burr will be our direct advisor :)

>>15906233
>>15906141
>>15906197
> oh look, he's new

Going with drone compliments = going in force.
Our entire crew is what? 30people? No real soldiers any of them.

Drones = our goons, Ivanova is capable of getting through doors & probably the most surviveable asset we have.

>>15906195
Can't we simply send a drone? It should be able to find anything dangerous in the atmosphere.

>>15906236
sounds reasonable, i mean in regards to bombardment i imagine we do have limited destruction weapons. and if we don't just grab a rock from somewhere else. and nudge it

but we can pilot the tanks while using the drones, so let's send one or two down. then prep a shuttle for emergency evac.

wait, ved do we know where the facility is?

wow, done goofed there :P

>>15906278
I at least want a couple of guns behind her to help in case she's simply overwhelmed. Hero units are great, but they get bogged down when they are the only target, and so far drones have been less than ideal. (they also seem harder to repair them humans) I do agree to bring drones, for combat/exploring/or just looting, plus having "us" be there too inside them.
But we need our "militia" down there, if nothing else as a token force.

That's why I want a roster, who's got training in what? How viable are they? What kind of armor/weapons/other kit can we give them for this?

>>15906323
Agreed, better we look silly and give the civvies a start with all that guns in their faces, than to lose Ivonova somehow.

>>15906278
Oh great, you're arrogant. Drones are not capable combat assets, they were never supposed to be used in that role. Bringing our entire complement is probably less useful than bringing our 8 hovertanks with crew. If I may use an analogy? Sending an army of drones is like sending an army of construction workers and teamsters. It isn't an armed force, and it would be a real bitch to decontaminate afterwards. I am also against shooting it from orbit if we actually want to find anything valuable in there. Keep in mind that these are makeshift 65 thousand year old cryopods and our lances obliterate a 10,000 km^2 area.

so i suggest getting everyone together and tell them to be prepared. confine to camp and all that. have them set up a defensive perimeter and talk about the transmission amongst our officers.

>>15906387
Wasn't the contamination on the moon? I think the planet should be safe.

>>15906368
>>15906278
Aw yeah, here comes the arguments.

FIGHT!

Load up some hovertanks! Fuck yeah Hovertanks!

>>15906368
but we should have some type of limited damage bombardment devices. at the very worst we can get some rocks and drop them. not large ones but significant enough to do the job. and since it's on a moon there's no atmosphere to interfere.

then again we can also assume that they would respond to a bombardment. and possibly terminate any useful stuff. perhaps we send in Ivanova and others to attempt a ground entrance peacefully.

bombardment should probably be our last option

>>15906425
You DO know the tanks will be mostly useless inside, right? They'll keep the way out open, but little else.

>>15906425
I'm with this guy, hovertank 4lyfe yo.

Goddamn it, Vedibere.
I have to get up early tomorrow.

Is it true that we're due for a three day marathon here?

you know, i think ved wants us to be more audacious. and move around more. it makes for more interesting story time and writing i think.

so in that spirit blow the ever living hell out of any ground cannons we see, full assault with hovertanks and stuff, and get some surface samples sent to the lab to see what the good doctor can find.

hopefully the virus (if they were working on any) will have evolved to be harmless to humans. either way full bio hazard and all that stuff. seals and POWER ARMOR!

we shall storm the facility, drink beers and fuck ivanova. or one of the other chicks.

>>15906441
DINGDINGDING

We have a winner.

Tanks within the corridors of a research complex are unviable.

The Drones being insufficient is bullshit, they're sturdier and stronger than any human.

After 64k years I wouldn't expect any true resistance inside.


However, the point is moot: If we send one drone to scout ahead we can evaluate the situation and decide then.


Really sad that the arguers have come, I'll be lurking nao :)

>>15906492
Probably. I'm going on a trip to visit a relative Sat but I'll probably have internet access.

>>15906518
Where do you find the time?

Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

>>15906518
you wouldn;t happen to be going to grand rapids Michigan, would you?

>>15906540
Nah.

>>15906536
College is starting again for me next week, so there will be cutbacks in scheduling for the future. But presently I'm still on summer break.

>>15906559
damn, i was going there and would;ve wanted to know if you wanted to meet for a drink.

>>15906584
Nah, heading down south to HOTLANTA or whatever they're calling Atlanta these days.

So... what's the decision peoples?

>>15906631
Send Ivonova down there with some boyz.

Give em a few drones to carry shit.

We'd need to know more about the people and kit to say more.

Hooray! Zombies!

And here I thought you guys actually liked Ivanova. If you must investigate, send drones, but let's not send anyone alive into a probable bioplague that apparently ate research station containment seals. Which, for the feeble of mind, are probably stronger than any suits we have. Also, the concept that armed intervention by land forces might be suggested means that one of the two projects could have been AI, cyborgs, zombies, whatever. Probably not smart to be sending our precious living crew in.

Going down there sounds like a terrible, terrible idea.
Besides, what would we get out of a bioweapons research facility? We could probably get some good parts off of those defense batteries if we could get to them without them self destruction on us for some reason or another but honestly going into a bioweapons research facility that had a catastrophic containment failure in the past seems like a fucking terrible idea. Ask Ivanova what might happen if we just blasted down the fucking door with a hovertank and sent in some scout drones. There's really no reason for us to send her down, no matter how invincible she may be. It sounds like some serious shit went down there.

>>15906958
>>15907007
yawn

>>15907007
>>15906958

It's been nearly 65000 years. Unless the facility has been encased in some kind of stasis field, or deep-frozen, I'd say every kind of pathogen should be long gone.

Sending drones first would be the smart thing, though.

Didn't we get a biologist that we found on that abandoned ship?

Send in drones from the back of the moon. Have them clear the immediate area and get to the main doors. If they can't get in, send down Ivanova via the back of the moon to "blast it open" or whatever it is she does. Wink wink.

Then have it be a systematic sweep by drones, room by room, level by level, killing anything that's hostile (if there is anything alive in there), until it's either all clear or their path is blocked. If there are more locked doors, have Ivanova do her shit again, etc.

Once things are good, send in the biologist or biochemist or chemist or both or whoever it is we got from Ketro's team down there and let's get the whole thing explored.

Lots of naturally occuring diseases can last a fantastically long time without interacting with their environment. Consider what a plague created by the extremely high tech Ophidian Empire might be capable of. It could be a swarm of nanobots for all we know.

>>15907093
As far as we know, nanobots have a limited power cycle that gives them a short life.

As far as disease, I think the best bet would be to blow open the doors and let the top floor "air out" as it were, venting out into space for a bit before sending the drones in, and then after the drones, eventually humans.

>>15906958
We require Ivonova to open the doors.
And operate just about anything else down there.

I'm kind of curious what would have happened if we didn't rust Ivonova back then thinking it was spook training to sway us over (she would be capable of putting on that display for just that purpose), what would our course of action by without that resource, I wonder.

So, we'll be landing a force of drones, with maybe a hovertank or two to help blast open the main doors to the Intel facility, right?
Burr, Ivanova, and the bio scientist to stay well back and let the drones go in first.

From the message, it sounds like they repurposed the specimen transports into cryopods, and possibly froze the research team. Hopefully since this was an Armada Intelligence facility, these scientists will be more tractable than Ketro's science team.

>>15907174
Was that English?

>>15907219
It would be nice to have more humans.

Actually, Vedibere, what's our ship's maximum crew capacity?

I am not convinced of the value of investigating it. It appears to be a bio weapons research facility that succumbed to said research.
IF the bio-agents are still active the risk is incredibly high, but we don't have any information yet about how long such things could survive while dormant.

We may be able to get some medical / research equipment from it, or databases on virus information, but I'm not convinced that will actually do us much good.

If we do want to thoroughly investigate, I think we need Ivanova and a bunch of drones for backup / scouting.
See if we can link up a drone's video feed to her helm, having the ship act as a relay (or directly if possible). Then she could have the drone scout ahead of her, while she and several other drones advance from a safer distance. This is assuming the bio-weapons are no longer an immediate threat, and are actually dead (not just dormant).

>>15907233
We can probably fit a lot of them in there, if necessary. Although that would probably mean we'd have to convert a few storage spaces to makeshift barracks. From what I remember, the Harbinger was designed for a crew of 50.

Now, I've been writing here with the assumption you're sending down a team of humans. Is this wrong? Because that seems to be what you guys agreed to earlier.

>>15907281
Drones first. If they dont burst into flames/get eaten by stuff THEN humans.

>>15907281
Yeah, stick with that.
We just want to send drones around every corner or dark room first now.

>>15907281
Huh?
I thought we agreed to send down drones first, and only have humans go down well after a path has been secured.

>>15907281

are the exo suits we have considered biohazard safe?

or do we lack the right stuff for biohazard containment?

>>15907281
After further discussion we eventually agreed that sending lots of humans inside would be a *BAD IDEA*.
Drones with a small number of human specialists as backup to deal with certain problems. Full power armor and bio protection for the humans.
I'dd reccomend no more humans than Ivanova and the biological specialist.

>>15907281
Drones as a first wave approach, then humans.

>>15907281
Hey Ved!

Only one loud guy said "go in Force LOLOLOL"

Many a people, including me, had recommended initially:

Ivanova + Burr + Drones,

Wich evolved into

Ivanova + BioSpecialist + Drones
(with Burr as our advisor on board), using drones for scouting :)

perhaps we should just go with a good old fashioned away team group

remember: audaciousness

You leave most of the selection and preparation to Ivanova, trusting in her experience. Tynes and some of the engineers see to the hovertanks, ensuring they are operating and marking the controls with easy-to-read lettering explaining what they do.

The next day the team has been prepped and stands ready. Ivanova, Rinn, Erella (the omnibio expert), and of course the drone contingent. In the bay before takeoff Ivanova stands ready in her custom armor, helmet on and metallic voice ringing out commands to the others in powered armor. Sovereign class, top of the line with life support systems and high rated defenses, carrying multipurpose assault arms.

And so it goes. The landing away from the base is uneventful, the small team climbing into the hovertanks and piloting them across the barren terrain. Three hours later the tanks crest the final hill, finally looking down into the base proper.

And are immediately lit up by fifteen stationary defense turrets, broadcasting identification requests.

“Shit.” You’re not sure who it came from, the first curse drowned out by a litany of them as the defenses open fire upon not receiving an authorized signal. Your team clumsily returns fire, the small lances shooting back and forth as Rinn swiftly orders the drone-piloted tanks to rush for any kind of hull-down position closer in, forced to do so by the impervious shield covering the facility.

>>15907355

Combat exosuits would have to be biowar safe. Otherwise they wouldn't be much use.

The exchange of fire lasts a tense twenty minutes. Though several of the tanks were damaged none more than moderate hits. It seems that, fortunately, the defenses were not equipped to handle heavy assault craft of this sort and were intended more as an anti-personnel measure. The contingent glides in, landing softly outside the base’s main doors before Ivanova disembarks to check the access panels.

It’s not long before she finishes, returning to her tank and giving the order to open fire. Even the tank’s main cannons, however, take another hour to breach the enormous main facility door. Eventually, though, the enormous energy blasts punch a superheated hole through the now slagged barrier. Expectedly no jet of air and debris results due to the airlock on the other side. Inside there are four doors, three apparently large cargo portals and one more human-sized entrance. Unexpectedly, the same occurs when Ivanova breaches the second entrance door... apparently the base, or at least this level, was vented to space at one point. Not only that, but as soon as the first drone is sent in you see intense radioactivity readings from every object present, from the small desk in the lobby to the floors, walls, ceiling, and plastic ferns.

On the wall is a layout of the first level, guest quarters, cafeteria, and so forth all marked... as well as one section in the rear of the level marked Restricted Elevators and crossed out in red cross-hatching, and a sweep by the drones confirm that the level is in pristine condition. Whatever happened, you guess, happened in the main area of the facility.

Ivanova contacts you through comms, "Sir, orders?"

>>15907480
Before venturing any deeper, check this area for any computer consoles or files.

Do the radiation readings match standard isotopes used in nuclear weapons, implying that such a device may have been used deeper down? Or are they non military grade rads?

>>15907480
Attempt to access the Restricted Elevators.
The place had a containment breach; perhaps we'll get 'lucky' and an access card or something similar was left upstairs here on this level.

Will the suits be able to handle the level of radiation on this level?

>>15907480
Is it "cross-hatching" or "hatching"?

>>15907542
Does it really matter?

>>15907480

Full biohazard gear, everyone on alert, scout with the drone and follow as the situation dictates.

Our biology expert analyzes everything before anyone touches anything.

Why are dog's lips black?

Search for porn

Do a sweep for any computers or videos or anything left behind up here. Unlikely since it's the first level, but still, we've got a big galactic blank right now and I don't want to miss any clues.

Then, head to the elevators. Pry them open, blast them open, whatever we have to do, and send in the drones to check the area for hostiles, and to scan the environment.

Explore with drones, humans stay in the tanks.
Look for computer terminals or cores.

>>15907531
Very much military grade, and it appears (with your limited sensing ability via drone) that the entire level was bombarded with extremely potent radioactive particles from several devices installed throughout the floor in various places, spaced closely enough to cover every surface completely.

>>15907696
Hrmm. A radioactive purification. Whatever they were doing in, and by the "HATCHING" sign, I'm figuring genetic engineering, it must have been some tough shit.

>>15907696
Well shit, if they've been floating around for 64k+ years and are still this potent, that has got to be some lethal shit. At the time they used it, they unleashed something that could kill ANYTHING directly exposed.

Hopefully it worked on what's further down. And if not, WE'LL SHOOT THAT FUCKER (THOSE FUCKERS) WITH OUR GUNS.

>>15907712
>wat?

Here, an example of four hatching (also known as cross-hatching) patterns cranked out from AutoCAD.

>>15907696
Are there still devices present capable of emitting lethal levels of radiation? 64,000 years is a long time in terms of radioactive decay. It may be a good idea to take control of the system if it's still intact should we need to fire it off again.

How long can our people's armor survive the radiation?

>>15907757
OOOOOOOH. Hahhaa. I was expecting some Jurassic Park shit was about to go down. That's why I asked if it said cross hatching, because I was thinking like, Raptors crossed with Gorillas or some shit. That would be terrifying to stumble across under normal circumstances, let alone 64,000 years in the future where mankind is a myth.

>Are there still devices present capable of emitting lethal levels of radiation?
Maybe. Maybe not. You don't really have any way of knowing.

>How long can our people's armor survive the radiation?
Not an issue, you'll be told if dangerous levels present.

>>15907757
I think this is what the guy meant. That the stuff crossing out the words might look like a DNA double helix.

The obvious thing is to interlink with the computersystems and hack them.

> time for another dreamlike sequence!


However, prior to that, we get our people to a safe distance :)

>>15907924
>>15907924
>>15907924


THIS

WHY HAVEN'T WE THOUGHT OF IT?!?!?!

>>15907938
Because there are no serious computers here. They're deeper.

>>15907938
Short Answer: Because the headless arguers have crept into our ranks.

You have my Vote.

Hack it.

>>15907956
:( But everything is linked.
We need not be in the physical proximity of the central core in order to hack it,

Or do we, Ved? :)

I'd very much enjoy another dreamsequence writefaggotry! :)

>>15907938
Because this is the Guest level and unlikely to have a terminal that connects to the central computer?

rolled 5 = 5

>>15907984
>Guest level.
>In a top secret heavily defended Bio-weapon research facility

>>15907984
I was unaware, that every supersecret bioweapons research facility has a guestlevel with non-networked computers. :D :D :D

I'd like to hear from Ved, if computers are networked, then they're most likely networked throughout the entire facility. Command posts etc could possibly be on the top level as to ensure good control from a safe distance off all the stuff going on downstairs.

IF hacking from here is possible, I'd very much like to go for it. :)

Ved, FOI, are you waiting for more details?

>>15908035
This level has a lobby and guest quarters. What else would you call it?

This is the level that has the cafeteria and shit on it. It won't be.

>>15908041
>>15908035
100 points

I say we try to hack it, again. It appears there's only one stupid arguer blabbering against it, as it was above re: how to enter the facility.

I sure hope Ved is writing already... whatever he does, it'll be good.

>>15908104
It's a fucking entry level. It has guest rooms and a cafeteria. It will not have access to high level shit from these computers.

>>15908189
how about this

in the event we can hack from here, we do so.

In the event it is impossible to link up, proceed deeper.

>>15908189
"Guests" in a facility such as this would be synonymous with "someone who knows exactly what goes on here and has clearance for access but does not live here"

>>15908273
>implying that's a reason for security to be lax.

Because it doesn't matter that were are janitors and shit here. It's not like they need to be kept away from computer systems that are linked to high security shit.

>>15908288
You mean the janitors that would also need to have extraordinarily high security clearance? when people make top secret locations they tend to mean it, and that would include the janitors and cooks

>>15908322
Undoubtedly so. But that doesn't mean they'll fuck around with security levels. A janitor at a classified location is still a janitor. There's no way he'd be let anywhere near a high security computer terminal. No way.

>>15908322
I assume Ved is already writing :)

Don't mind the idiots, "guest rooms" in a military base is not for guests, its for higher-ups visiting etc. I remember the guestrooms where I used to serve. Pretty well furnished, really comfi.

I just hope for a dreamhack sequence :)

>>15908368
So all the high security computer terminals they're not allowed near never get cleaned?

The point of security clearances is trust, in the janitors case it's trust they won't try to read the information they aren't supposed to have.

Guys, the janitors are probably drones.

Vedibere still here?

I think I'm going to go play some Crusader Kings.

“A moment, Lieutenant.” and with that you guide a drone over to the main terminal in the lobby. Jacking in, you quickly bypass the security and canvas the information present. A small guest logbook, various names with job descriptions and reasons for staying. Mostly cleared pilots delivering mundane supplies such as foodstuffs, toilet paper, things of that nature it seems. One or two names with “sec verification” tag next to them. A few entries marked as “Administration” instead of a name and without a security code. System traffic logs. All in all both completely mundane and a very small system with all terminals and the core located on this floor.

“It seems whatever it is we’re after is lower in the base. I’ll have the four Ensigns that are holding move up to secure the area before you venture down.” you finally say.

“Affirmative, sir. I’ll have two of them hold position here to secure our exit and venture down with the rest after scouting the area with drones.” she replies, and you signal your agreement.

A short time later the group of five; Lieutenant Ivanova, Lieutenant Rinn, Ensign Tremko, Ensign Rao, and Erella McCormick, stand in front of the restricted elevator. It takes nearly half an hour to bypass the security features -- extremely advanced -- and open the doors for descent and ten more minutes to physically hack the elevator controls. During the process alarms sound throughout the base but without guards to respond they are toothless.

#############

The descent takes five minutes, but the distance is so vast and the facility’s shielding so perfect that you are forced to string drones along the nearly bottomless shaft to act as relays. Even so, your connection at times is fuzzy and cuts out briefly. Just when you begin to fear you’ll need to use all your drones merely to communicate the plunging descent ceases, quickly drawing up and giving a slight ‘ding’ of arrival and rush of heavily irradiated air as the doors open..

Ivanova, Rinn, and Rao fan out, Tremko staying in the elevator with Erella to ensure her safety as the three soldiers secure the immediate area and send out drones to map the level. The results are frustrating but unsurprising. Immediate hostile fire from automated turrets upon exiting, quickly disabled. Long, unadorned hallways with various doors and branching hallways all only marked with numbers for identification and high security locking devices. On the other side of the level two more elevators, both once again requiring access cards or bypassing. And once again, just as before, everything irradiated to an extremely inhospitable degree, including now the air itself.

>>15908552
Start busting down doors, FIREMAN STYLE. We've got people to save. Except there are no people left. OR ARE THERE?

>>15908567
We don't bust down. We gently bump.

Gently Bump
adviceharbringer.jpg
DAT ASS

>>15908582
Start gently bumping down doors until they reveal to us their secrets.

Inform the team that we are beginning to lose drone contact. This mission is to retrieve individuals in cryforeeze at the bottom of the base, but should this prove too hazardous, pull out immediately as losing anyone is completely unacceptable (I hope we told them this BEFORE...)

Computer terminals to access on this level?

Anything behind the doors?

>>15908590
Using the main engine of the harbinger of course.

Use the drones to set up an ad-hoc line of set network to maintain contact with the team.

>>15908692
Shit, I mean line of sight.

Are we in a hurry?

If not, wait for more drones, ship new ones down, establish a better network, search the level, test the computer access there, then proceed downward.

>>15908882
That actually sounds like a pretty damn good idea.

The only drawback I can imagine is if we need to leave in a hurry, it will bog things down.

>>15908882
We should see if we can get access to the computers from this level to get access to the Base's systems so we don't have to send down more drones.

>>15908916
>>15908882
Sounds good. Also, it may be a hell of a long way down but could we rig a data hardline to connect to the surface? There must be equipment around the base we could use for this. It would free up more drones certainly.

>>15909015
This is a great idea. Remember people the bases defenses are built with the fact that there are human guards in mind. Without said guards many of the defenses are useless our functioning at fractions of their capacity. We have all the time in the world we dsont need to be James Bond

Today on Void Quest: Network engineering IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

>Atmosphere:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90gID2mLPZA

You give the order to speed up, eschewing the relatively subtle method of bypass and ordering the doors blown open. Fortunately Ivanova seems to have prediceded the necessity, having brought a large bag of breaching charges. What follows is a long period of exploration punctuated by explosions, revealing the secrets behind the featureless doors. Rec rooms, common areas, restrooms, two cafeterias, and more. Various living quarters, most in disarray -- well, even moreso than they should be after being blown open -- all speaking of a hasty awakening and exodus. Covers thrown back, drawers thrown open and clothes messily pulled free. Trays of stew or salads left partially eaten in the cafeterias and various drinks sitting half-consumed or spilled in haste. Holo-projectors left on with white light filling the air, menus having been displayed for thousands of years. Books left open to whatever page was being read eons past.

Frustrated, you switch to the computer terminals. There are several, each located in one of three security offices on the floor... however, they are completely isolated from the floors above and below, much like the floor prior. Highly compartmentalized, the way of high security facilities. There was no need for guards to know what is going on with the projects downstairs, after all.

You eventually expand your searches to the personal rooms, revealing much about the individuals but precious little about the facility itself. Still, you do find some information. In almost every room hang multiple diplomas, doctorates or advanced doctorates in biology, xenobiology, weaponology, micro-systems, chemistry, genetics, and more. Personal computers with various reports detailing complex and highly technical test or experimentation results along with reports on “Namtar” and “Scion”.

You have Erella look through the various collected data briefly, but the woman quickly shakes her head. “All of this is mostly without context. I can tell that they were doing... something with microorganisms. Looks like modifying them, but without a more complete picture or some kind of overarching status report I won’t be able to say to what end. It’s like if you were to look at a random section of code... you can see that particular bit and what it does, but not the overall picture. If you understand what I’m trying to say.”

“I understand. Do you have anything else?” you ask, hopefully.

An uncertain tone creeps into her voice when she replies, “I don’t know. This level of purge... whatever they were doing here was dangerous, I feel sure. And there’s something off. I can’t put my finger on it yet but....” she trails off.

“Ivanova, Rinn, your thoughts?”

“Dunno, sir. Don’t really see anything weird here ‘cept whatever it was gettin’ loose.” replies Rinn.

Ivanova shakes her head, “I do not know, sir. There is something that is not right, though. Not the turrets, alarms, or radiation either. But I agree that there’s something making me uneasy, something strange. If I manage to pin it down I will let you know immediately. Shall we use the elevators and descend further?”

>>15909061
NNOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT LET THEM GO DOWN ANY FARTHER!!!! THEY WILL BECOME INFECTED WITH ZOMBIE/MUTANT/DEMON PLAGUE!!!!!!

>I need to take my crazy pills excuse me.

>>15909061
"I'm unsure. It's possible that we could find something of use down there, but the risks are beginning to rise in the face of unknown rewards. I'm contemplating pulling you out and hitting the site from orbit."

"Yes, but proceed with extreme caution."

>>15904452
Also, to all the people saying "lol no time constraints" there's always the constraint of weariness. It has been hours, it will take hours to ship more drones in by landing them outside the anti-ship weaponry and moving them in manually overland. Unless you want your crew to come back up to the ship to sleep or sleep down there there is a soft time limit.

Send drones attached to hardlines. WE CANNOT lose any humans, especially not Ivanova.

SUDDENLY, SCI-FI HORROR

Let's go deeper, with our fingers on our triggers. Do we have enough drones for another drop? I want to be around when shit hits the fan. Well, the next floor probably won't be as far.

withdraw, and regroup. every one goes up until we can get access to the computers.

ah screw it, CHARGE YOU PIG FUCKERS destroy any doors in our way, send reenforcements. i'll be damned if we don;t get this right.

also, unfreeze Ketro. he might know about this. make it clear that if he helps us, we'll give him control over a scientific expedition to recover everything possible. as well as (in the future) when we have a base of operations he can command that.

>>15909061
"Lieutnant, it's not like we needed actual personell on the ground up to this point. After all, applying breaching charges and running into biohazard-zones is something I'd rather have drones doing.

You are to leave the necessary equipment and vacate the facility. For now, move to the entrance and shelter down in the tanks while I ship in more drones and open the lower levels."

Set up a secure base on the surface, and ship in more drone/food. We do have all the time in the world.

>Inb4 lol everything stops working, TPK

>>15909098
Have our human team come back for some rest. Ship down some more drones and begin setting up an extended network for us to use to explore without putting them in danger. Assuming the drone's have internal weapons that could possibly use to blast open doors and the like? If they do, then let's have a network of drones going down and exploring while our people rest, and only sending them if we reach a real limit or an obstacle only a person can handle.

See if we can disable the anti ship turrets, then bring the crew back up to the ship, decontaminate the fuck out of them then continue exploring with drones.

We pause for a second, ordering new Drones with necessary equipment to be shipped down as Ivanova and her team ascend to the entrance.

"Lieutnant, on second thought, I want you and the team to rest. Get a couple of hours of speed, it'll take time for the new drones to arrive."

>Send people into unknown bioweapon disaster
>Pull them out halfway through still not knowing what happened
>"Hey guys, what could possibly go wrong?"
>Five hours later everyone is dead from a horrible disease they bring back on their armor and we don't know how to combat.

>>15909133
>>15909135

They're soldiers. They can sleep in the tanks, get some hours of rest there. Shipping them back to the harbinger, and in case of necessity back down to the moon, would be unnecessary imho.

>>15909151
Thats why we set them up on the surface of the rock away from the base and use drones to get the cure for TEH EVOL VIRUS!!!!!!

>SUDDENLY, SCI-FI HORROR

Gogdamnit.

How about this: we rig open the elevators, send drones down, and if we are to lose contact with the drones, recall the elevators, and get the readings from the drones to decide if we should proceed any further.

Also, there's another issue: we're here to retrieve the humans that have been stored in Cryo in the lower levels. If the radiation keeps getting worse and worse, that means that whatever was stored in cryo is probably green and glowing by now. We should ask for Erella's (and probably Burr's) opinion on whether there would be anything left to save or not.

>>15909168
I guess that depends on what kind of shielding any kind of units might have.

>>15909168
good point, though I reckon there's a chance of
a) the cryo tubes themselves are radiationshielded
b) the vault they're stored in is radiationshielded
c) the team rigged up a forcefield to protect them from radiation, expecting it to come as part of standard procedure during cleanup.


At any rate, the people who went into cryo worked down there, they knew what was going to happen. They wouldn't have bothered, if they had known there was no way for them to survive.

Thus, I am pretty sure that they're still alive. :)

>>15909204
You can't feel sure about anything in this quest, man.

>>15909192
We don't even know if that's possible or not.

We're not here to get bioweapons. We're here to retrieve humans. If there are no humans left to retrieve, this entire thing is not worth it. We won't know if there's anything left until we go down to the bottom levels, but we CAN do a reasonable risk/reward assessment. If the level of reward drops (i.e. anything we retrieve will be heavily irradiated) it might be a good idea to lower the level of risk we are taking (i.e. pull back the human team)

>>15909230
Absolutely, 100% agree with you. If things begin to be too dangerous, we pull out.

For now, the radiation levels seem fine for us to continue with. We don't know if they'll rise the deeper we go, or what.

For now, I suggest the humans retreat, drones advance until we hit a road block.

Hey Vedibere, do you still get enjoyment out of running this?

>>15909244
Don't pull back just yet. Get the elevators working first, and then send drones down, and then decide if we should pull back or not.

>>15909264
Yeah, that sounds good.

>>15909250
Yeah. Why would I do it if I didn't?

>>15909292
I'm a pretty need anon and was just making sure.

so ACTIONS:

1 activate elevators
2 send a drone or few to ascertain the situation down there
3 send down Ivanova and co if it's all clear/it's just some turrets that can be easily dealt with
4 see if we can find out more about who was here, and ask dai about the names to see if they're familiar

Let's get the elevator working, pull our guys out, send in the drones, and then, FIND SOME FROZEN HUMANS.

>>15909315
Let's go find some humans.

Wow, voidquest is still running, and most arguing has ebbed away

Is vedi writing?

Yup

>>15909412
I sure hope so :)

Vedi, if you want more to work with: basically, we send the drones in, get them back, if the situation is "safe" we'll keep going down, if not we'll pull back and do more drone exploration to see if it's worth going back there with people again.

Or we might decide not to keep going down, who knows.

Maybe instead of a full party we could just send down a single drone with a camera and remote instructions so it can operate outside our control? Then have it return after 15 minutes of recording.

If wifi is so shit, why not use longass cables?

>>15909519
This ties into my next comment:

You fully realize that these elevators are descending kilometers down into the moon, right? And there are various shielding devices and materials to prevent scanning lining said shafts as well as protecting the floors themselves?

Having the drones transmit up and down these long ass shafts is the problem. For the same reason running a cable down the bitch is not exactly a viable option, you don't have kilometers of high quality transmission cables because why the fuck would you need them?

>>15909549

perhaps what we should do:

tell ivanova she and whoever she wants to take down there is authorized to do whatever is necessary (as long as lives are not wasted) to secure the VIP's. she would have free reign, as i imagine she doesn;t want us breathing down her neck with this. she can decide herself if going further is unreasonable.

then we can send the drones to explore the rest of the compound. get some stuff, and send a party to find some food. the hell we;re gonna keep eating this bean paste crap

Considering that whatever the spookybad is took out an entire research base from the height of the empire, i'd still prefer the additional time cost of doing everything possible with another couple shuttle-loads of drones to the possibility of losing a parcel of our most useful dudes.

(Also, vedi, my paranoia begins to suspect that you were introducing Tynes so his potential death to said spookybad has more impact)

>>15909549
Do
>>15909459
This.

Have a drone go down with some navigation algorithms (don't bump into walls, stay 4 feet above ground level, etc.) and a recording device. Record for 15 minutes and then it'll come back up following the map it developed. This technology is present today, so our drones should have no problem.

Then we can watch the tape.

Hey, look: a hole where horribly dangerous bioweapons were being developed (and escaped) that's so far underground to be out of contact. I know! let's send our most valuable resource down there! Yeah, not biting, Vedi. There's only one way to be sure in this situation.

>>15909610
what if there's turrets like the last few floors? then we get a shot up drone. plus we can't just keep using the drones as relays. eventually we'll have to trust our people to do this shit themselves. they;re damn competent officers, and ivanova is our xo. she wasn;t just chosen to keep an eye on us, but also to productive advice and act as our "get it done" person.

Do we have enough drones to reinforce our connection down to the current level, and form another connection of the same length down the other elevators?

>Atmosphere:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAHil2h1obI

“Not yet. First I want you to open the elevators then I’ll send down drones. The course of action will be decided from there.”

Your second nods and quickly goes to work, making her way to the far end of the floor and bypassing the locks and controls to both of the lifts. The following descent finally begins to truly tax your drones’ transmission and reception abilities static a constant companion and greyouts becoming more frequent. Still the relaying on both holds and they reach their destinations almost simultaneously.

The results are not pretty, though hardly unexpected. The elevator to the right opens to reveal an irradiated hellhole, nearly overloading the drone’s sensors. A sign with the words “Lab Level” hangs in the middle of a circular foyer, a column in the center holding directoinal arrows and lab numbers to direct people. Slumped beside the elevator is a man’s corpse; jagged streaks are clawed down its eyeless face and red blood having run from all orifaces to pool beneath it, its bloodstained fingers curled and scraps of flesh and blood beneath the nails and mouth open in a silent scream. Farther along the corridor you see another, this time a woman, collapsed on its back in much the same condition. A circuit of the level, or partial circuit that is, reveals only that it is enormous. Hundreds of labs both large and small, more living quarters, and entire hallways areas sealed with massive blast doors and still-flashing red warning lights. And scattered throughout the entire structure are more of the corpses. Dozens of them at least, their faces ripped to shreds and eyes clawed out by their own hands -- often contorted and screaming even in death.

The other elevator does not herald much better.

When the doors slide back it reveals a grand marble-floored foyer, columns of blood-red stone rising in a ring in a ring around the room to support the ceiling. In the center is a podium, proudly displaying the seal of Imperial Intelligence, the silver twin-headed serpent coiling through golden spiral arms of the galaxy, embossed an obsidian background. On the base its motto in ancient English, “Through knowledge, power. Through power, victory.”

Three main hallways split off from the foyer, the one to the right marked Offices, the center Oversight, and the third Restricted. Though the radiation levels are comparable to the floor above rather than the labs you are quick to find a sad replay of the prior search. Near the end of the Restricted corridor you see a man’s corpse tumbled face down, crimson streaks down the sides of his head from his ears like the others and clawed hands sporting ripped flesh once again. You advance along the corridor once more and after descending an incline and making several turns past open blast-doors and disabled autoturrets, motion detectors, DNA and retinal scanners, and a host of other devices you find your drone self at a dead end corridor... with a lone elevator set into the end wall.

Well, looks like we know what elevator to take.

>>15909767
>>15909773
"Okay, No one is going down there. Period."

Oh joy, some kind of organism that drove them to tear at their own flesh for the destruction that was coursing through their bodies....doesn't bode very well...

>>15909786
Everything down there is thousands of years dead and our troops are in hermetically sealed suits of powered armor.

We'll just need to do a real good decontamination of the power armor before removing it.

would the radiation down there affect the power suits and ivanova's equipment? sensors and suits are different things...

either way, send a probe down there, and send one to the offices to see if we can find things out. also find a way to get that radiation out. don;t actually do that yet, but find a way (probably by hacking and finding the air filtration systems).

How are the bodies still intact after all this time?

64,000 years and there's still flesh and blood around? That should've decayed to nothingness by now, even from just the bacteria inside the bodies. Vacuum doesn't kill those. And radiation would also cause the bodies to degrade rapidly.

Clearly these people saw something that could not be unseen. Lets have the crew take the second elevator.

>>15909783

Indeed; second elevator. I don't know if we'll find anything about the fall of the empire in here, but it's well worth a shot. This chaos might have been related to the greater chaos.

And unless the drones can hang on, I think we're going to have to start risking some of our people.

>>15909839
It's a biological lab, there was probably next to no bacteria outside of the people's own guts, and the radiation probably killed that.

>>15909823
The radiation in the labs is approaching ludicrous levels, but the suits can handle it. The readings on the panels behind the blast doors on the lab level show levels even higher, though. Enough to begin liquifying low grade unisteel and would begin damaging the suits with long term exposure.

>>15909872
That is some serious radiation. Not even nuclear bombs produce that much.

Whatever did this had to be a dedicated radioactivity generator or something.

Do we can any kind of scrubbing devices? Lead bricks?

That aside, I think we'll have to leave those rooms alone.

Question.

It's been 65000 years.

How the fuck has this area remained radioactive that long?

>>15909973
There were radiation emitters all over the place. They're probably set to keep the place hot until a relief team comes and turns them off.

Nobody is going down the first elevator. Nope.

The second? Only to open the next elevator.

Keep all civilians out, though. Ivanova can probably handle the scene, but I don't want to send too many people down there. Tell Ivanova what we saw, and that we don't want non-military personnel going down any more levels. Let her decide who to take, but we want her to open the next elevator, if possible.

send them down one level, and have them look around. and send the drone down another floor (if we can). see what's down there. if it seems safe, see if we can shut down the emitters and vent the radiation. tell our people to be on high alert. and warn them of the scene ahead of time.

If the lab's getting bombarded that heavily, anything of interest we might have found in there is likely dead.

To the intelligence rooms! Dig through their info! Read papers, insert plugs into dataports!

>>15910067
>insert plugs into dataports!
gently, though.

ok, so we can agree on this?

1 send people down a floor and search the offices and labs for useful stuff
2 look for a way to shut down the emitters and vent the radiation. do not do this until we confirm it's clear down on that level.
3 warn everyone about the scene down there. tell them it isn't pretty and they might want to prepare themselves

>>15910107
I think we shouldn't go into the lab floor at all for the moment. let's check out what's in the end of the hallway on elevator#2.

Also, this thing reminds me of a level in Timesplitters Future perfect. Specifically, this part: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-24i3VRAZGo&feature=BFa&list=PL08AD42633C935D3C&index=19&
amp;t=220

>>15910107
>2 look for a way to shut down the emitters and vent the radiation. do not do this until we confirm it's clear down on that level.

Let's wait to do that until the suits start telling us the levels are dangerous. The containment protocols included them for a reason and it's best not to fuck with it unless we have to.

Oh hey, it's Void Quest!
Also, having just watched Event Horizon for the first time recently, I am legitimately concerned!

BTW, if all of the biologicals are feeling something is wrong, then they must be either sensing a malevolent metaphysical presence, or THEY ARE ALREADY INFECTED.

Those are the only possibilities.

>wat do?
We are now deep enough. Time to plug into the main computer systems!

Well, not going to touch lab, that is for sure.

Were does it seem that the scientists were headed? Pretty sure that is directiin for the cryos.

Administration offices sound promising.

>>15910246
Jesus Christ I'm tired. I meant Oversight.

>>15910215
Say, if any humans are in cryo, won't they be infected?

>Atmosphere:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJMrrzjELlY

Ar your go-ahead Ivanova prepares to descend into the second of the elevators. After assigning the two Ensigns to stay and guard the level she, Rinn, and Erella descend into the depths once more. As they move to the bottom you brief them on your findings, their questions brief and tactically minded. No excessive emotion, just doing their job. Good.

As the lift slows to a halt and the pleasant ‘ding’ rings out once more Rinn and Ivanova lift their weapons, scanning the area briefly before signaling Erella to follow. They move down the corridor to the restricted area, eventually reaching the corpse and stopping.

Erella crouches down, examining the corpse, her light voice dictating the inspection procedure; “Male, apparent age roughly thirty. Signs of augmentation and gene therapy. Blood emanating from ears, fingers and nails abraided.” She slips off the armored gauntlets, leaving the more flexible sealed underarmor, and retrieves the medical toolkit she brought with her before rolling the body over. The face is a ghastly sight, lips curled back and mouth open in a shriek along with the now-normal damage. “Face marked by lacerations; likely self-inflicted, fingernails. Beginning test incision on anterior jugular.” She lifts the scalpel and lightly cuts into the dead man, Lt. Rinn quickly turning his back.

A small stream of blood runs down from the small cut and she freezes, “What? That’s...” she pokes at it with the scalpel and then swivels her hand to the man’s face, reaching over and brushing her thumb along one of the facial rips. Immediately her other hand darts down, picking up a handheld med scanner and sweeps the body. You see the results in real time, but they’re normal. No heart rate, no bloodflow, no functioning organs, extremely hot due to the radioactivity. The man is very, very dead.

“It doesn’t make sense.” Erella states, puzzled. “I’m missing someh--” she cuts off abruptly, shooting to her feet. “Captain Stahr?”

“Yes?” you answer, curious and more than a little alert.

“Are all the bodies in this condition?”

“Well, yes... so far every body I have found is both a corpse and irradiated.” you reply, puzzled.

“I don’t just mean dead or irradiated. Is their blood all still red?”

“I...” you begin, fishing through your logs, “Yes. That’s odd.”

Rinn turns back, “What? But they’re dead!”

“That’s not all, look.” Erella continues, holding up her hand and rubbing her index finger and thumb together.

“I’m not seeing anything.”

“It’s liquid. Liquid blood. It hasn’t congealed or lost oxygenation. The cells aren’t dead.” she bends over, wiping her hand on the corpse’s clothes before slipping on her armored gauntlet and pointing out the streaks down its ears and the small pool beneath it. “See? All of it’s the same! Even the parts not in the body.”

“Xуй!” Ivanova spits, sweeping her gun up to point at the body and the whine of capacitors charging filling the air, “That is what it was! The food and drink in the cafeteria! The drinks are still liquid, even though there is air and it is hot from the radiation. The stew is still moist too.”

“Tha’ hell?” Rinn says, mystified, also with his gun raised now. “What does it mean?”

Erella shakes her head, “I have no idea, but it must be related to whatever they were doing here. The project files would be stored in the administrative section, the research logs and reports would likely be in the scientist’s offices. Or we could go down -- the facilities I have been in previously usually store the main core in the deepest part of the facility near the reactor -- and hope to find someone alive to wake up and ask.”

“What are your orders, sir?” Ivanova asks.

>>15910282
GOD DAMN, PUT YOUR ARMOR GLOVE BACK ON

>>15910285
Step one, if we have multiple drones, box in our organics so they can't get jumped.
Step two, attempt to burn corpses.
Step three, run back to a safe location.
Step four, analyze your own bodies for any change.

>>15910285
Check administrative/oversight first. Try to find somewhere we can link in, even with this weak of a signal.

When Erella get's back, her suit and armor is going to be seriously decontaminated and she'll be held in quarantine for a few days. Don't tell her that until she gets back though.

>>15910285
GODDAMIT ERELLA YOU ARE A BIOLOGIST WHY THE FUCK DID YOU RAKW OFF YOUR GLOVES.
FUCK.

WAit wait....
>She slips off the armored gauntlets, leaving the more flexible sealed underarmor,
>sealed underarmor

Do you think that's enough?

>>15910288
It's not like she took the power armor off, at least how I'm reading it. It looks like she just took off the exterior super-armored part to use her surgery junk.

i vote that we begin panicking immediately.

>>15910304

Agreed. Throw a wall of unisteel between our people and any potential scum-sucking aggressors. Get our folks the FUCK out of there, now.

and YET AGAIN I find myself wishing we could find us a contingent of Imperial marines.

>>15910334
That is the one thing we NEVER do. We are goddamned soldiers, and we are going to fucking act like it.

>>15910282
>Lt. Rinn quickly turning his back.

Is our weapons guy...squeemish?

Anyway, what say we collect some samples and send the fleshbags back up? A drone can read as well as a person.

I bet they were working on some kind of an immortality serum, the powerful radiation is likely to keep it in check, barely. If we turn off that shit, well, the whatever it is, is going to activate again

Also, I don't think we really need to worry about physical attack. The danger here is likely microbial or smaller. Oh, and the radiation of course.

>>15910366
Have you ever even heard of containment? This biological weapon ATE THROUGH THE VATS IT WAS IN. Errbody is gonna die.

Solution, play it safe. Keep everything in a contained space. In the even we're unable to figure out the severity of the problem we should chuck the team in a shuttle and keep them outside of the Harbinger for a suitable amount of time to monitor for possible infection.

No goddamn space zombies on our ship.

>>15910412
> This biological weapon ATE THROUGH THE VATS IT WAS IN. Errbody is gonna die.
Welp, time to follow Cataclysm protocols and flood the infected decks with engine plasma.

>>15910406

It's either that or...


For some reason, I'm thinking of the thing, as in, the movie, the thing. Not sure why, just yet.

>>15910366
>collect some samples
Hell no.

Do this
>>15910305

Also, use drones to watch the bodies.

>>15910406
Sounds... like it makes sense.

I don't want space zombies, guys.

Soooo....?

Eh
I doubt we will run into space monsters

lets just go find some humans

>>15910498

"Proceed with caution, Lt."

Evac immediately, decontaminate everything, nuke the site from orbit.

>>15910498

I'm really tempted to say pull 'em out, and forget the site.

If we DO end up letting them go on, kick a warning up to the guys that got left at the other levels as a posted guard to be alert.

>>15910525
>omg risk ohnoooooooo

fucking cowards. Have Kat continue as planned, if the corpes start moving, burn them through.

>>15910525
That's rash. I still think that caution is the better virtue however. It's possible that this research is linked to the downfall of the empire or even a piece of fascinating research that we could potentially perfect (now that we know that it's not the best thing to let them mix). We need to press on, we've either exposed Kat and the team to the biowep or we're now more alert to the danger. Best be finding out what the fuck went on here.

>>15910560
Find me a way to replace the crew and I'll be willing to put them at rick, and not a moment before.

>>15910585
>>15910560
>>15910517
>>15910509

>Fifth'd.

>cancel viamici

Also, I vote we cancel all viamici operations immediately.

>>15910634
Cowards!

We haven't seen any overtly hostile undead and we're the goddamn ophidian military, what are zombies going to do, scratch through our heavy power armor?

Besides if the biological weapon[s] were going to infect our away team it's too late now anyway.

>>15910674
Yep. press onwards with due caution. Send a drone in through the next elevator first.

Also, what ever happened to trying to find a terminal to jack into?

You people are idiots. Whatever is down there better well be worth it.

>>15910696

I'd rather be an idiot than a pussy-ass coward who's af-f-f-fwaid something might bruise his pwecious imaginary peoples.

not to mention---this is Loootenant Kryushyanuts we're talking about...in power-armor! she will single-handedly implode this base while we're getting coffee! Chill out.

Hey Vedibere, You still there?

I think the clusterfuck has come to a reasonable decision. Thanks for your patience with this quest btw, it is the best thing on /tg/ imho.

You rule.

>>15910775

ha! of course it's reasonable. It's the only game in town! We either explore Ravenhol-er, the "agricultural base", or we go back to the ship, suck down some delicious bean paste and bump Parson with our fist...gently, of course.

>>15910775
Yeah, still here. Tiring out, slowing my writing down. Probably going to be the last update for the night.

>>15910789
Well, we could be doing something else like making a hydroponic garden in our cargo bays or arguing about xeno policies, but scifi horror is ok too.

>>15910797
I actually like the idea of putting hydroponics in our ship. Cuts down on our relial of terrestial food sources.

>>15910794
goddamn, you are a trooper, bro. Thanks for being dedicated.

>>15910797
Oh, god, xeno-studies. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I could get behind the hydroponics, though!

>>15910821
Yeah, it is something we should consider doing, but we should roll that all into the "other stuff to do before leaving this system"

>>15910831
What's wrong with military grade freeze-dried reconstituted bean paste?

>>15910867

Hey, I am a loyal son of the Ophidian Empire. I never implied we would grow anything in the hydroponics lab but beans! Beans we would render into paste-form prior to consumption.

>>15910867
Everything, with the exception of "military grade"

That said, "military grade booze" sounds hardcore.

>>15910885
Sounds like it could rot an engine block.

Also, we should probably figure out where all the people went from the planet.

That's another thing that still hasn't made sense. The agri-world wasn't glassed, so where did all the everyone go?

“You’ll be proceeding downward.” you reply, and Ivanova nods.

“You heard him, let’s go. Eyes sharp, weapons ready.”

“Yes, sir!” Rinn replies, keeping his gun trained on the corpse as the trio moves forward, flanked by your final trio of drones in a protective formation. Before long the group (minus one drone for relay purposes) arrives at the elevator door. Ivanova cracks it open and bypasses the security once again -- another half hour -- and you maneuver the two remaining drones into position. One going down, one staying up to replay to it.

The elevator begins its descent, plunging downward at amazing speed; before long the signal disintigrates entirely, fading to static. All you can do now is rely on automatic scanning procedures and hope it returns.

###############

Fifteen minutes later the elevator hums to life once more, drawing up from the depths. At Ivanova’s word Rinn joins her in training his weapon on the doors -- just in case -- and they lie in wait. But not for long. The soft ‘ding’ of arrival rings out in the hall and the doors slide back, the drone hovering pristine in the middle for a moment before linking back up with your core.

What you find in the recording is a much, much smaller level with the same amount of radiation as the office level above it. Large databanks with enormous proccessing ability. Multiple sealed vaults with unknown treasures. A central chamber holding two dozen cryopods -- the images within both wonderful and terrible. A man and woman flash-frozen in an instant, he still holding her arms in a struggle as she attempts to rip her own bleeding eyes out. Several people with their hands bound and faces marred already, twisting in the throes of agony while screaming. A few unharmed, frozen with looks of terror on their faces. And even a few frozen corpses, the pods functioning but the occupants dead nonetheless. But still, humans. Lastly, the reactor. A singularity reactor to be specific, sitting in the middle of the room and powering the entire base.

>That’s it for me tonight.
>Will (hopefully) be running the next one at 18:00 Fri (tomorrow).
>Might be an hour or two late, can’t say for positive.

>>15910885
Captain, I've found parsons posting on an anonymous image board, bury his cryo-pod in lead before his infection spreads!

>>15910907
>>15910908
Creeeeepy shit, boss. Man, I wanna know what's hidden in those databases. See you later!

>>15910895
>>15910885

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JP-8

Archived don't forget to vote.

>the images within both wonderful and terrible. A man and woman flash-frozen in an instant, he still holding her arms in a struggle as she attempts to rip her own bleeding eyes out. Several people with their hands bound and faces marred already, twisting in the throes of agony while screaming. A few unharmed, frozen with looks of terror on their faces. And even a few frozen corpses, the pods functioning but the occupants dead nonetheless.

Well, shit. We are not going to thaw them in our ship that's for sure.
But still, we need to get them out to the surface, find or construct some isolated room where we could get them out of there and see how they are doing. But first, we will need to evacuate the planet, for all we know, the virus can spread at alarming rates and will infect the whole place in the span of the day.

We will start with the most healthy looking person, after we thaw him/her out, we will question and determine once and for all what the fuck happened here and what they were working on. Depending on his answers we will free others and the less healthy looking ones.

>Large databanks with enormous proccessing ability. Multiple sealed vaults with unknown treasures.
Gonna have to see what we will find in those databanks.... would be nice if we can loot them and add to our own processing powers.
The vaults need searching too.

>A singularity reactor to be specific, sitting in the middle of the room and powering the entire base.
Could we do something with this one? Call Dai and ask for input, perhaps he will have some ideas.
Also would be nice to loot it but I doubt we could fit it into the elevator.

>>15911340
>singularity reactor
advice_harbinger.jpeg
>loot it

>>15910908
>Gonna sleep, wat do next time?
Well...
>Large databanks with enormous proccessing ability.
Plug in. This is first, as it takes least time. Look for the last logs in the system first to get an idea of what happened, then look for info on the project. Most likely there will be direct references we can search for.

>Multiple sealed vaults with unknown treasures.
Tell Ivanova to investigate the nearest one, see if they can be hacked or blasted open without losing what's inside. Also ask what sort of things would be stored in such containers.

>A central chamber holding two dozen cryopods
Oh that's cool-
>Dead, dead, dead and very dead.
>Oh wait.
>A few unharmed, frozen with looks of terror on their faces.
Have Erella investigate the pods to check condition of occupants with Rinn watching her back.
Also have Erella check the pod computers to see what the time difference was between each pod being activated. If it was only a span of just a few minutes then we should consider the live ones compromised.

>>15912451
>Plug in. This is first, as it takes least time. Look for the last logs in the system first to get an idea of what happened, then look for info on the project. Most likely there will be direct references we can search for.

We better use a drone as a firewall like we did before. Who knows what kind of defences there are here..... in fact we should only do it when pull the crew out.

>>15910908
We should have Erella try to access the computers in Administration to see what was being working on. Have drones provide a secure perimeter.

Check the timestamps on the cryopods; if the unharmed ones were frozen only moments before the infected ones, then they have to be considered infected as well.

If we're going to attempt to directly access the main computers, we should have everyone evacuate the facility first, just in case we're unsuccessful and it cause the singularity reactor to eat the base.

>>15912660
Second.

I don't want the self destruct to kill off anyone important.