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File: 1369158613553.png-(306 KB, 463x463, PsiQIntro.png)
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>Previous Threads can be found at: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Psion%20Quest
>As always, you could check Einstein's data at any time: http://pastebin.com/CaAF0yS8

Your name is Heather Leery, and you're most likely in mortal danger.
Again.
So yeah.

You were in the cafeteria with Summer, Sarvesh, Anna, and a young version of Anna, no more than ten years old. The latter two were holding handguns, while Summer closed her eyes, ready to manifest something at a moment's notice. Sarvesh, tired, tried to shake himself awake. The alarms continued to blare.
"Again, everyone, get to the shuttle or hangars. Demiurg incoming." Keen said, over the intercoms. Sigma came bursting into the room, looked around.
"Where's Robin?" She asked.

The station shook.
"In Damien's Room." Both Annas said at once.
"He'll have taken her to the hangar already, if I know him." The elder Anna said, over the intercom which was babbling combat information- Already, three of twelve weapons platforms were down, and a few plasma shots were hitting the station, but they hadn't punched through the hull yet. "Just go."
"Right! Wait, where's Isaac?"
"Here." Isaac said, tapping her on the shoulder from behind "Don't worry, I'll borrow bits of the asteroid belt and take care of them. Won't be hard."
>>
>>24957725
"How many are we dealing with?"

"Omni, can you hack them?"
>>
>>24957725
Better go.

Pick up all our shit from the workshop. Make sure to get the second heat crystal as well. We wouldn't want that to fall into the wrong hands.
>>
>>24957725
Turn on Technopathy, try talk to the ships assaulting us, or at least some of them.

They're not made by Delta so we can chat them up, and either get them to bugger off or fight each other.
>>
>>24957725
Well, let's do our best to help the fight.
"Omni, you'll be flying Surya. Let's get going."
Let's run Awakening interference on the ships
>>
>>24957725

all the data the scientists have on us needs to be destroyed after they secure copies.

how many people can we fit in to Surya?

use Technopathy to see if they are manifested ships, VQ manifested ships are likely to say NO to us.
>>
>>24957789
Let's take a copy ourselves as well just in case.
Also it's not Technopathy anymore, Technopathy was just a small part of Awakening.
>>
>>24957789
Either we can technopathy the ships to fuck off, or we can throw Alex at them.
Where is Alex?
>>
>>24957725
<Devourer, when you ate all those Demiurgs, do you remember eating a scientist? How far off were they from developing bubble drives?>
>>
>>24957824
Oh come on, it's clear they didn't do this by themselves.
>>
>>24957824

either they took apart a few VQ ships or they are actual VQ ships coming to cut us down.

or they could be refugees... but that's crazy talk right?
>>
"How many are we dealing with?" You ask.
Isaac shrugged, and over his shoulder, Ellie in a princess carry, Lin phased through him, leaning forward.

"Alright." Anna said. "I'll grab whoever I can find and take them to the wyvern." She said. "Lil'me, keep an eye on these guys."
"Right." Lil'Anna said.
<Devourer, when you ate all those Demiurg, do you remember eating a scientist? How far off were they from developing bubble drives?>
<Far. Without help, there is no way they could have developed any.>

You close your eyes, and reach out with technopathy...

And the ships buzzed, slightly, firing volleys of plasma at the weapons platforms. You felt one decompress from the weapons platforms, and felt the telepathic web of demiurg die, but the rest continued on.

<Ohohohoh, there you are!> The largest demiurg ship said. <You're hiding in there, ain'cha?>
The station shook again.

"Sigma, with me." Anna said. "Isaac, go do your space thing."
You reach out again to your exosuit, order it to pick up Ellie's suit and the crystal, and send it to Surya.
<Omni, you'll be flying Surya.>
<Very well.> Omni responded. <I am docked.>
>>
>>24957858
I figured they might be refugees on the run from VQ as well, but they're shooting at the station as well. So, probably not.
>>
Rolled 55

>>24957869
<Go away. You are not a true machine. BE GONE.>
>>
>>24957858
Refugees. Who decide to take over a small research station by force. A research station which can't sustain them without importing food or water and is surrounded by enemy territory. Great place to settle down.
>>
>>24957869
<Sorry, you've got the wrong direction. The one who is destroying your species and wants to eat everything else as well is to the other way.>
>>
>>24957869

shit, we need our stuff from our workshop. also, DO NOT forget about serpensal, does he even know how to get to the docking bay?
>>
>>24957869
"Surya's ready to go! Where are we heading, Anna?"
>>
>>24957869
<Serpensal. Where are you?>
>>
>>24957869
We can't really do anything from here. Then again we can't really do anything from Surya. We could get into an isochamber and start doing serious shit but then if we don't win we're fucked. The exosuit is spaceworthy but against a whole fleet those little shields aren't going to cut it.
>>
<Go away. You are not a true machine. BE GONE.>
<Hahahahaha, that's what you think!> The machine said, and laughed. <Boarding torpedo three, off!>

The ship shook again.
"There's been a hull breach, and demiurg are pouting in. Marines to Hydroponics."
<Serpensal, where are you?>
<I am within Surya. I started travel when the danger started. Curiosity.>

"Surya's ready to go! Where are we heading, Anna?" You ask- and realize that the older Anna, as well as Sigma and Isaac were gone.
"We're getting to Surya, and then somewhere safe." The younger Anna said. "Come on. Summer, Sarvesh. Wyvern will cover us."
She darted off, that hilariously large handgun still in the ten-year-old's hands.
>>
>>24957977
Not much else to do than go to our ship I guess.
>>
>>24957977
>pouting
>pouring, even
>>
>>24957977

is all our stuff secure inside Surya?

exosuit ours and WIP Ellie's, laser, drones?
>>
You follow Lil'Anna, Sarvesh and Summer by your side. As you tromp past, Sarvesh slammed on all the doors with a pincer each, knocking on them hard enough to wake them up. Dizzied, and sleepy, Alex came out, pulling on his shirt, dazed-

And then Jilly grabbed his wrist, slithering out.
"Let's hurry." She said.

Down at Surya, there was Omni, Devourer, Alex, Jilly, Summer, and Sarvesh. It seemed like that was most of who it could hold- At least, until you saw Theta crouching in one of the beds, staring at Devourer, clung to the wall inside of Surya.
"We don't have time for this now." He said. "But I'll kill you sometime later."
"You're welcome to try." Devourer responded. "When we're all safe."
<Are we ready to leave?> Omni asked, and in the cockpit, you could see Serpensal clung to his head. Ellie was in there, and Lin was panting, exhausted.
>>
>>24958146

check with Anna, and the scientists, see if we have all non combatants on ships.

we need to hurry up, those ships are getting closer.
>>
>>24958146
"Wait, where's Damien and Robin? Can't leave until we know they're safe."
>>
>>24958146
Well if we can't hold anybody else there's no point in hanging around. I hope the others are safe though.
><Ohohohoh, there you are!> The largest demiurg ship said. <You're hiding in there, ain'cha?>
Technopathy the ships again and see if we can distract them. If they're after us we can lead them on a chase around the system while the other ships get away.

"Let's go."
>>
>>24958211
I think it was said earlier that they were already at the hangar. Probably on Wyvern.
<Wyvern, who's aboard you currently?>
>>
>>24958233
Lets just not do anything related to rolls right now, because it'll fuck us over.
>>
>>24958211
Robin can teleport, she doesn't need an escape ship. She probably took Damien with her. They'll be chilling on a beach somewhere.
>>
>>24958146
<Keen, are the scientists safe? Are you?>

<I think so, Omni.>
>>
>>24958241
It was said they were in Damien's room, and Anna assumed they'd get straight to the hangar because Damien's got foresight and Robin can port; if they were indisposed somehow that would go out the window however. Unlikely, but still, if they did get to the hangar then someone almost certainly saw them and we get confirmation.
>>
"Anna, do we have all the noncombatants on the ships?"
"Not yet." Lil'Anna said, in a clear tone. "Keen is still in the control room directing the marines, Manus is nowhere to be found. The shuttle is waiting on them. Damien and Robin teleported away from his room a few minutes ago. Isaac is leaving the station. The rest are on the Wyvern."
<Come on, I know you're somewhere in there!> The ship broadcasted.
<Keen, are the scientists safe? Are you?>
<We planned for this.> Keen responded. <We'll be fine.>
"Let's go." You say.
"Lifting off." Omnissiah said, and Surya closed up, hissing, as the hangar bay doors opened.

<There you are! C'mon!> One of the ships said, as Surya blasted out of the station.

And there, you saw... a fleet. Two dozen smaller ships, three or four larger ones, and a single, large ship, turrets of all sorts.
<There you are!> The ship said again, and fired a plasma blast at Surya.

And the plasma swung around the station, as if caught within a gravitational pull, and slammed into the speaking ship.

Isaac was floating there, mist around him, as he started redirecting plasma blasts around, away from the weapons platforms.

Wyvern hissed out of the station, and kinetic spreadshot decompressed one of the smaller ships, as it glided by. Alex, meanwhile, was taking deep breaths, lowering his shield as best he could.
>>
>>24958316
Telepathic ping, see if everyone's mostly okay
Let's do the black holy thing and then use the spheres to punch through other ships
>>
>>24958316
Can we throw Voidy things at the big ship? I don't know what their range is.
>>
>>24958356
I wouldn't mind this if we didn't have people onboard.

So let's just bubble drive somewhere.
>>
>>24958316
Copy Isaac's and protect Surya with TK. Because boy did it crumble into pieces as soon as the Demiurg looked at it last time.
>>
>>24958367
Let's not make crystals of them, they might survive that and then have crystals.
Black holy thing.
>>24958376
Put Omnissiah on helm then.
>>
>>24958316

we need to get away

<Isaac, need a pick up or do you have a different plan?>
>>
>>24958413
The black holey thing makes crystals if we do it just right, otherwise it just makes lumps. The Voidy thing basically demanifests them and leaves no remains.
>>
Rolled 16

>>24958316
reach out to the ships and politely ask all the airlocks to open and vent atmosphere.

<come on; you like carnage dont you?the fastest way to get it is to open up and destroy those guys the quickest...>
>>
>>24958442
Yeah, but it's psychological.
Heather thinks Voidy thing, it makes Crystals.
Black Holy thing, it makes Spheres.
That was Annihilation
>>
>>24958443

let's not, its to fixed on killing us.
>>
>>24958443
Won't work. If we're going to attempt to destroy them, just black hole them
>>
>>24958473
What are you talking about?
>>
>>24958473
Heather now knows that a) it's the same power both ways, and B) how to properly do both.

That said, if the allows the crystal to destabilize, she gets a nuke for free in addition to the big fuckoff hole.
>>
>>24958492
When using Telekinesis and thinking of Voiding, Heather makes Crystals.
When using Telekinesis and thinking of Black Holing, Heather makes Spheres.
>>
"Omnissiah, bubble drive."
"Affirmative." Omnissiah said.
You reach out with your mind, and gently grace everyone you know offship- Kailynn, Jason, the other councilors and technicians, and most of them were there...

<Isaac, need a pick up, or do you have a different plan?>
<A pick up would be awesome.> He said, as three ships blasted him with plasma. He caught the glowing green gases, and reached out... and crushed a ship, almost effortlessly.

<Come on; You like carnage dont you? The fastest way to get it is to open up and destroy those guys the quickest...> You reach out to the ships.

<No can do!> The biggest ship said, and rotated all turrets to Isaac. They started to hum- and your technopathic senses... warned you.
They were laser weapons.

The station quaked, suddenly, and started to hum green. Part of the station's hull shredded itself, slamming outward, and slammed into the larger ship at faster-than-light speeds.
You blinked at it, and then the projector showed nothing but green light, slamming out of system.
And then, the gravitometers showed the largest ship following the Surya, just slightly faster than you.
<You aren't getting away from me that fast! Bubble drives, bitch!>
"We have lead time, but not enough. There's too much power drain from Devourer."

"It's the Void Queen." Jilly said.
Her skin was darkening.
"She's controlling them. Like Burer's Glyph."
>>
>>24958537
No she doesn't. Voiding is not telekinesis at all.
>>
>>24958545
What the fuck?
We should really have sensed that.
>>
>>24958550
She thought of Voiding when she made the Crystal in the first place.
>>
Rolled 34

>>24958545
Eh. I guess evacuating was never an actual option here.

Rolling for conversion I suppose
>>
Can someone give me a quick summary of the last 75 threads + need-to-know tidbits?

I'd like to start participating without making a complete chode of myself, if you sirs wouldn't mind.
>>
>>24958545
>Isaac is dead
Well... fuck.
>>
>>24958545
"Okay, thanks for the information. Please stop doing the thing where you're connected to them and going black now."

How the fuck is it faster than us while being significantly bigger than us? That must be one hell of a bubble drive.
>>
>>24958576
Waifuing and petulance. Now fuck off to the archives and suffer through it like the rest of us had to.
>>
Rolled 81

>>24958545
Remove ship
>>
>>24958545

oh god Anna has to pick up Isaac or he'll be roasted clone!

shit, with Devourer draining we can't go our top speed.

those big ships are manifested, if we drop out of bubble drive and it jumps on top of us, Alex might be able to disrupt the manifestation long enough for us to make an escape.
>>
Rolled 36

>>24958545
<my aren't you the vindictive twat>
"ladies and gentlemen I am open to suggestions?"

"omni, blast us through the asteroid field. heavy maneuvering; I got some TK to pull."

as we weave round the rocks we grab and throw them into the path of the VQ ship.
>>
Rolled 15

>>24958545
I'm not sure what to do, but it seems like only the worst rolls are being used so I'll throw one is as well.
>>
>>24958637
Nobody said they were manifested, they said that they were under VQ control.
>>
>>24958545
Then ignore glyph.
>>
>>24958656

when we looked through Devourers eye at one point, we could see the ships/weapons getting manifested.
>>
Rolled 65

>>24958545
I'm confused at what just happened.

Did Isaac die? Anyway, tear the engines from the demiurg ship
>>
>>24958656
They're probably manifested. I don't think VQ has any mines or factories or anything. Why would she, when she can manifest entire nuclear arsenals out of thin air?

It does seem like quite a tiny fleet for somebody with effectively unlimited resources though.
>>
>>24958682

I'm leaning towards him being alive, that giant piece of space station doesn't reach light speed that easily without TK assistance.
>>
>>24958691
Well, it's probably not easy to manifest all that materiel at once and maintain it over that kind of distance.
>>
>They'd pointed at him, started up, then part of the station tore itself off for unknown reasons. And then Surya kicked into FTL.

"Anna, pick up Isaac." You say.
"I did." Lil'Anna said. "He's burned badly, but alive for now."
"Okay, thanks for the information." you say. "Please stop doing the thing where you're connected to them and going black, now."
"Alright." Jilly said, and Alex touched her arm, giving it a squeeze. She went grey again.

"How the fuck is it faster than us, while being significantly bigger than us?" You ask.
"I do not know." Omnissiah said. "Very large or efficient bubble drive, I would assume."
You reach out to the ship- but things were too... confusing, distorted, twisted, for you to reach through with anything but telepathy. During Bubble Drive, at least...
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm open to suggestions." You say.
"If their bubble drives are manifested, I can unmake them." Alex said. "If I can get close."
"I can try to wrest control back..." Jilly said.
"... I can stop draining power." Devourer said. "Then we will have the speed to escape."
"What would happen to my parents, then?" Alex asked.
"They will die." He said.

Summer was quiet, thinking, paws on her head.
>>
>>24958711
You don't need to maintain it once it's manifested.
>>
>>24958718
Ok, great. So we can't kill it, we can't lose it and we can't run from it.

Ugh.
>>
>>24958721
Yeah you do. Or at least, Summer does (when it's not Created).
>>
>>24958721
>>24958711
>There are two types of manifestation- Animated manifestation, which drains you, and non-animated, which once created, stays created.
>>
>>24958718
"Drop out of Hyperspace and do the Picard Manoeuvre, then tear the ship into pieces while it's distracted."
>>
>>24958718
We fought off all those tentacles before with Isaac, and we got a 100 so it should be easier to do it again. Link up with Jilly and do the mind control thing together.

>>24958735
Only for living things.
>>
>>24958718
"What happens if you slam two bubble drives together?"
>>
>>24958718

"no way am i letting Alex's parents die because of this."

we could make it an attack on multiple fronts, drop out of bubble drive, Jilly can make jabs at the mental network without going to deep and risking herself, we maneuver closer to the ship, Alex rips it a new one with his anti field and we speed off, trying to not get shot.

is this any good?
>>
Rolled 57

>>24958721
>>24958735
I recall that if you fuel it separately then it consumes less power, like winter eating food...
>>24958741
amirite?

>>24958718
"yes but how do we get you close to them alex? jilly, do you mean control of the demiurge from the void queen? isn't that dangerous? let me try something first."

reach out and with TK find some component that we can break/bend/damage that would cause a disproportionate explosion, and TEAR IT ASUNDER WITH OUR MIGHTY MENTAL MUSCLES.
>>
"What happens if you slam two bubble drives together?" You ask.
"Everybody dies." Sarvesh responded. "Us, them, everyone. I might be able to teleport us away from here if we turned around to slam into it, though... But we'd need someone to hold air around us."
"I can do that." Lin said.
"And then Surya would be lost, and we'd have to hope someone got here in time."

"Jilly." You say.
"Hm?"
"Let's fight them off." You say, and hold out a hand.
"... Are you sure?" She asked. "If it goes wrong... And it might not even work..."

"They're not ready." Summer mumbled to herself. "I could... I could try."
"Are you okay?" Serpensal asked her.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." She said. "I could... um, try to pull the entire ship into my dimension. Let us float there for a while, then come back after they've shot ahead of us."
>>
>>24958840
"So.. the reverse Picard Manoeuvre? I think that's the best chance we've got, to be honest."
>>
>>24958840
How are they tracking us?

Could we drop out of bubble, then pick a different direction and bubble away?
>>
>>24958840
"Could you pull the Demiurg ship in instead, like you did last time?"
>>
>>24958840
All of these are terrible plans.
>>
>>24958885
If we drop out of the bubble we're suddenly hardly moving compared to them and they ram into us with their bubble drive up before we can even turn and everyone dies.
>>
>>24958840
>"everybody dies"

Summer and Heather are the tech queen and a step down from 'manifestation personified' respectively. Why not drop a bubble mine?
>>
>>24958840

Summer is probably our best bet right now, if it works, they won't even get a shot in after us.

is there any way we can assist her?
>>
Rolled 23

>>24958840
Things too distorted? what a load of shit. putting a blackhole directly in its path isnt confusing.
>>
>>24958840
"get ready then summer; theta you're on anti brain melt duty, hug the tiger and get ready to pull all the tricks out of your hat to keep her, and by extension us, alive."

>did we get the grenade launcher onto the surya?
>>
>>24958930
The GL is on the exosuit, unless I am much mistaken, which I believe we are currently wearing.
>>
"Could you pull the Demiurg ship in instead, like you did last time?"
"Those were tiny!" She said. "That thing's really big, and I'm not sure if I can even do Surya."

"... All of these are terrible plans." You say, after a moment.
"Well, we'll have to choose one soon." Sarvesh said.

"Fuck this." Ellie said, unstrapping herself from her seat and making her way to the cargo bay, where your exosuit was. "I'm stealing your suit, and then Sarvesh can teleport me in there. Or something."

"... Summer, do you think we can manifest a bubble drive?" You ask.
"... I don't know how a bubble drive works at all. I can't help much. You'd have to do it on your own."
>>
>>24958968
"It's worth a shot. I'm going to use it as a mine."
>>
Rolled 79

>>24958968
Like this?
It would be nice if Summer could help though. Maybe Jilly could link us. Or just transfer our understanding of bubble drives to Summer.
>>
Rolled 14

>>24958968
lets annihilate part of their ship
>>
>>24958968
Smack Ellie for being stupid.
Let's manifest an active Bubble Drive on collision course with the Demiurg.
>>
>>24958968
"sarvesh, could you teleport, me, my suit AND alex into the other ship?"

I think we had some stun gas grenades didn't we? put alex in an atmo-suit gass everyone and use alex as an antipsion
>>
>>24959015
apparently we cant interact with them at all.
>>
>>24959019
That would be the 'bubble mine' plan. I'm just waiting to roll until Exa calls for it.
>>
>>24958968

we'll have to do it, we are not sending Ellie to that ship.

Sarvesh can teleport it far enough outside.

it's better than nothing.
>>
>>24958968
"Well, it may be stupid idea like the rest, but at least failure should mean nose-bleed at worst."
>>
You smack ellie on the butt. "Don't be stupid."
She gave you a Look.

"Jilly, can you link us?"
"Yeah." She said. "I can."
She held out both hands. You took one, and Summer put her paw in Jilly's other.
"It's worth a shot." You say. "I'm going to use it as a mine."
"O-okay." Summer said, and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself.
Less than a lightyear away, and slowly gaining, the demiurg ship was charging along, the AI focused on destroying Surya. Even now, it was firing plasma blasts into the compressed-space in front, where they were caught, roiling and bubbling.

>Roll for... synchronized manifestation!
>>
>>24959057
That's a lie though. Fucking up Manifestation causes you to pour more and more power into it.
>>
Rolled 3

>>24959081
>>
Rolled 100

>>24959081
<alright summer time for a physics lesson>
>>
Rolled 39

>>24959081
Make it Be!
>>
Rolled 3

>>24959081
Synchro-summon.
>>
Rolled 83

>>24959081

fffffffffffuck you!
>>
>>24959107
Fuckin finally, a decent roll.
>>
>>24959107
Yay!
>>
>>24959107

OH LORD!
>>
>>24959107
Mono, I could kiss you.
>>
>>24959107
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHmXe2eY6Kg
>>
>>24959081
Wait, the ship is an AI? Well that would explain it's technopathy immunity. It is not good news that the Void Queen can mind control AIs now.

>>24959107
Ahahaha.
>>
>>24959095
Yeah, but Alex can just cut it off it it starts going wrong. And anyway, no worry now!
>>
>>24959081
Actual AI or just the ship computer? I thought it took fucking tons of resources to make Demiurg AI.
>>
>>24959164
They do them by accident.
>>
>>24959164
Not if VQ just manifests one, helpfully pre-mind-raped.
>>
Numbers.
Compressed space forward, activated, exactly thirtyseven thousand positively charged dark particles ahead. Twenty eight thousand negatively charged particles behind. Power source.

Your head pounded, and you heard Jilly dimly gasp.
Acceleration retrograde eighteen thousand times the speed of light.

<COME ON.> Apocalypse snarled. <Omnissiah, I'm going to kill you! Stop running, you *coward*! You tamed, human thing...>

Eighteen panels, all constructed for producing more particles, twisting space more. Ten panels forward, Six backward, two on each side. Thirty gigawatts of power, charged within chemical cells. Three decabulators, one one inch, two three inch.

And, circling around the entire device horizontally, a thirty-six inch recabulator, perfectly circular and smooth.

Crystalize. Save fabrication.
Your omnitool beeped.
Initialize.
Manifest.

<Alright, Summer, time for a physics lesson.> You say.

>Field too long!
>>
>>24959107
Hahaha, fuck everything, VQ is screwed.
>>
Behind you, just behind the decompressed space, a bubble drive appeared, and slammed backward, colliding with the ship.

Surya shook, and slowed, and started spinning. Ellie slammed her back into one of the walls, and you stumbled. Serpensal smashed against the ceiling, hard, and slammed out of bubble drive.

Behind you, through the projector, you saw a bright green flash of light, where two bubble drives collided.
And then the flash turned to darkness, and you started falling toward it.
Toward the temporary, dark-particle-charged black hole, more and more mass falling.

The ship sent you a message- but the message never ended up there. you watched it crush itself, rending apart, growing brighter as friction heated it to vaporizing heat. And then it passed the point that light couldn't returned, and it was gone.

A moment later, there was nothing but a smoke, and a small nebula there, as the black hole faded.

"... That's one hell of a physics lesson." Summer said.
>>
>>24959298
"Did I just make a singularity bomb"
>>
>>24959298

"Ellie, you okay?"

"Serpensal, talk to me!"
>>
>>24959298
"Well, glad that worked."
>>
>>24959298
"Physics is the deadliest son of a bitch in space."
>>
>>24959285
>36 inch recabulator

Oh my
>>
>>24959298
Okay. That's dealt with.

Shame we don't get any sweet loot from the ship though.
>>
>>24959298
"HEADCOUNT NOW whose still alive and working?"
>>
>>24959285

>Apocalypse

welp, we are not opening that message on heavens jewel, are we?
>>
>>24959298
Check omnitool for specs of 36 inch recabulator
>>
>>24959298
The dice really love manifestation.

That's the second one on manifesting something.
>>
Actually now we have to look at that message. It might be important. Just put it on a blank machine first.
>>
"Physics is the deadliest son of a bitch in space." You say. "Headcount, now. Who's still alive and working?"
"I am unharmed." Serpensal said, getting to his feet again.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Ellie said. "I didn't know that would happen."
"We started spinning." Omnissiah said. "I had to pull us out of bubble drive, else we would've torn ourselves apart.
You look down at your omnitool- and it was blank.
Entirely drained of power. You'd need to recharge it later.

"I'm still fine." Lil'Anna said. "But that's because I'm in the Wyvern."

Her head was bleeding, badly, and she had a nosebleed.
She dropped her gun.
"... And now my body isn't listening to me. Why isn't it listening?"
>>
>>24959415
hug the brain damaged little Anna
"I'm so sorry."
>>
>>24959415
oh no lil Anna!

Can Summer help her?
>>
>>24959415
"Omni. Take us to Wyvern."
>>
>>24959415
Pick her up and carry her for now.
>>
>>24959415

>is Lil Anna talking about her own body or that of older Anna?

"O-oh no." hug the little girl.
>>
>>24959467
>Her head was bleeding, badly, and she had a nosebleed.
>She dropped her gun.
lil' body.
>>
Wait. Summer didn't answer the headcount... nor did Jilly!
>>
>>24959415
>"I'm still fine." Lil'Anna said. "But that's because I'm in the Wyvern."
>Her head was bleeding, badly, and she had a nosebleed.
>She dropped her gun.
>"... And now my body isn't listening to me. Why isn't it listening?"
quick check on Summer
>>
>>24959415

Summer? Jilly?!
>>
You pull her into a hug. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay." She said, and returned your hug as best she could. "... It's better, now."
And then vanished, demanifested, the blood boiling away into the air.
The plush Wyvern fell to the ground, alone.

"Omni, take us to Wyvern."
"What was that?" Ellie asked. "Was that... A kid version of Anna?"
"I manifested her. And then... Something kind of happened." Summer said. "Back after Heather gave her a toy. I wasn't the one manifesting her anymore."
>>
>>24959538
"Jilly? Alex?"
"..." dry tears to sleeve
>>
>>24959538
"I think it must have been Anna. I'm almost certain that they were sharing knowledge."
>>
>>24959538
>I'll amend things a bit.

You look around to everyone, to make sure they were fine- other than Theta still glaring at Devourer now and then, and Alex reassuring Jilly, they were all sitting there, silently. Sarvesh had fallen asleep. Lin was leaning on him, eyes fluttering closed.
"We need to stop whoever sent those things." Lin said.
>>
>>24959538
"Was she linked to Anna? That's the only way she could have known how Anna was getting on, right?"
>>
>>24959562
Yes we do. But I have no idea how. She can manifest AI and nukes at will and she has two races to call upon for power now apparently.

I still want to save her slaves.
>>
>>24959562
"We'd love to, but we're not powerful enough."

"Yo, Omni. If we teleported a charged heat crystal into the core of a sun, would it be enough to kickstart the helium fusion and induce a small nova?"
>>
>>24959562
"we just did Lin, that was her chasing us just now...that said I wouldn't doubt if she didn't have a contingency for this, but she might well be dead"
>>
>>24959606
nah, killing her planet is pretty easy. We have LOTS of options there. The problem is that she could escape and all that would do is kill lots of innocents.
>>
>>24959620
No she bloody isn't and you know that.
>>
>>24959562

"we need to warn the UPA and meet up with the survivors..."

pick up the plush Wyvern

<Anna, did you get away? ... please answer.>
>>
>>24959629
Yeah, but blowing up a star is way fucking cooler.
>>
>>24959620
wut? We killed demiurge an an AI. Like always she is no where near the actual battle.
>>
>>24959647
>>24959634
I got the impression that she was aboard that ship...
>>
>>24959662
then you were the only one
>>
>>24959662
Whatever you're smoking, I want some.
>>
>>24959677
3 shots of jack daniels honey whiskey on no breakfast of lunch...it's how I relax post graduation..
>>
>>24959691
>Fuck yes.

You pick up the Wyvern.
<Anna, did you get away?> You ask.
<Not yet, we're buying time for the shuttle. They're not fighting as hard, all of a sudden, but Isaac isn't doing well. Demiurg are all in the station. Manus and Keen are the only non-marines still in there.> She said.
"Yes, we do." You say. "But I have no idea how. She can manifest AI, and nukes at will, and she has two races to call upon for power, now." You say. "We're not powerful enough."
"Not powerful enough?" He asked. "You just MADE A BLACK HOLE!" He called. "Just do the same thing to her! Or even just teleport in and shoot her! You're saying that all of you, all of you have these big, awesome powers, and you can't fight one person?"
"... In a day." Summer said. "Then we'll be ready. I'll be ready, I mean."
>>
>>24959711
"She's not really a person, Lin, hell we still don't know entirely what she is."
>>
>>24959711
"Summer."
Give her the Look to rule all Looks.
"I can make black holes for breakfast. Omnissiah, head back to the Station."
>>
>>24959711
>iknowrite?

"yup, pretty much, she's got millions of min-WHAT?!? what was that summer?"
>>
>>24959711
one person oldest, with powers like us who has eating billions like us to gain power....
>>
>>24959711
"No, because she'll have hundreds of ships by now. There's no way we can get close through space. We'll be facing countless ground troops, manifested time after time. We don't even know what to shoot *at*. Charging in blind like that is a surefire way to get ourselves killed."
>>
"She's got two races of several lesser psions under her direct control, and she can pool their power."
>>
>>24959711
<Damien? Get Robin to grab Manus.>
>>
>>24959711

"the VQ can do everything we can, she is mind controlling the population of an entire planet to boost her power and if we go in unprepared... we won't come back out."

<The largest ship, it must have the role of leader, we made it fly in to a bubble drive.>
<do you need assistance?>

we could try to get Robin to transport Isaac over to us, we have Theta after all.
>>
"She's not really a person, Lin. Hell, we still don't know entirely what she is."
"... We call her a she." Lin said. "Why would we call her a she if she wasn't female? She has a body, somewhere, and that can be killed."
"She'll have hundreds of ships by now. There's no way we can get close enough through space. We'll be facing countless ground troops, manifested time after time. We don't even know what to shoot *at*. Charging in blind like that is a surefire way to get ourselves killed."
"She knows. Where we are." Lin said, slowly. "If we don't go soon, she will learn how to kill us."
"She's got two races of several lesser psions under her direct control, and she can pool their power."
"We're greater psions." LJilly said, after a moment. "And I think I could help all of us pool up."

"And then we have him!" Lin said, pointing to Alex.

<The largest ship, it must have had the role of leader. We made it fly into a bubble drive. Do you need assistance?>
<Just cleaning up.> Anna said. <The station isn't safe, but the skies are.>

You kick out of bubble drive, to see the station still glimmering blue, and through some windows here and there, you can see flashes of green and yellow light- plasma and gauss weapons, no doubt.
>>
>>24959711
"It's not one person. She mind controls people. She mind controls other psions and takes their powers. She's been doing this for centuries. She's a whole psionic army by herself."
>>
>>24959857
<Robin, where are you? Can you take Theta over to Wyvern so he can fix Isaac up?> and stop arguing with Devourer.
Then I would really like to jump in the exosuit and go save Manus and Keen.
>>
>>24959857

"first things first, take care of the injured, make repairs, we also need Devourer to finish what he started and we need to relocate, probably. Afterwards we can decide on what to do."
>>
>>24959857
LJilly?
>>
>>24959857
"Okay, sure. Still not enough."
>>
>>24959941
I think the multiple people saying "we can do it now" is probably Exabyte telling us to go do it.
>>
>>24959857
>LJilly
>Jilly, even.

"Okay, sure." You say. "Still not enough."
"Then what will be?" Lin asked.

Wrecked, smashed demiurg ships sat drifting, and parts of the station's hull was missing, beneath which you could see... bubble drive panels, strapped to the underhull.

"... So it was a dark particle research station." Sarvesh said.

You reach out, to try and find Robin, but she's nowhere to be found. You call her personacom- and Theta's chirped.
".. I have hers, still."

And that's when four dozen UPA military ships of various sizes warped into space, and you felt, keenly, Robin's and Damien's minds appear as they did. After a moment, boarding shuttles launched, down toward all of the hangars and bays the station had, marines on board.

<Hey.> Damien said.
>>
>>24959989
"Let's hope they were researching ways to blow up stars."
>>
>>24959989
<Welcome Back, Damien, I see you brought the cavalry.>
>>
>>24959989
<I was worried when I didn't feel you two.>
"You dozed off when Keen told us during our Dapper Breakfast?"
>>
>>24959989

<Robin, Theta needs to get to Isaac on the double!>

<thank goodness, i can sense you again.>
>>
>>24959989
>.. I have hers, still
Did we give him his new one yet? I hope those Demiurg haven't ruined our workshop.

<Hey guys. You missed me and Summer destroying the flagship, it was *awesome*. Robin, can you get Theta to Isaac?>
>>
<Welcome Back, Damien.> You say. <I see you brought the cavalry.>
<I did.> He said.
Robin burst into smoke, appearing in front of you, Isaac in her arms. He was... burned, badly, and... oozing.

Theta closed his eyes, and put his hands on Isaac's chest, and true flesh started sprouting up around the blackened char.
Summer and Jilly looked away, but Ellie just put her hand on his forehead, as Isaac struggled to breathe.
"... He's really dehydrated." Theta said.
Robin took her personacom out of Theta's pocket, and gave you a nod.
"Damien said that everything should be... okayish." She said. "... he saw Manus get shot, but he should live."
>>
>>24960141
"Cool. Now what?"
>>
>>24960141

"anything we can do to help?"
"what about casualties?"
>>
>>24960141
"I'm glad. Do you know why he didn't get any warning?"
>>
"I'm glad." You say. "Do you know why he didn't get any warning?"
"He wouldn't tell me." She said.
"Anything we can do to help?"
"No, we just need to wait for the marines to do their thing."
Your intercom beeped.
"Surya, Wyvern, Bulette." The intercom said. "This is Admiral Helden. Please move to these coordinates I'm transferring you now. That is the secondary station. You will have to stay there for a short time. It is deeper within UPA territory, with more protection."
>>
>>24960262

"roger that, Admiral Helden, thank you."

<is everyone on board one of the three ships?>
>>
>>24960262
"Take us in, Omni. Drop us out before we reach the coordinates and set us in motion with a slow burn. Could be a trap."
>>
>>24960262
<Will do.>

Grab some nutrient shakes for Isaac.

"Did you know of a ship called Apocalypse, Omni?"
>>
"Take us in, omni. Drop us out before we reach the coordinates, and set us in motion with a slow burn."
"No, those are where Lambda and Kat are." Robin said, poking at the coordinates. "It's not a trap."
You nod, and press a button on the intercom. "Roger that, Admiral Helden, Thank you."

You nod to Omni, and you shot off again, into bubble drive.

Not long later, everyone laying in a bed or sitting there, waiting.
"Did you know of a ship called Apocalypse, Omni?"
"No, I have never heard of it." Omnissiah said. "There was one named Kalyshnack, though. Which meant, roughly, destruction of worlds. It was originally going to be my shell, but construction flagged, because the primary engineering team rebelled against my warlord."
>>
>>24960352
"If this is a regular thing I think I'm going to build a ship sized Ion-Laser."
>>
>>24960352

"The large ship chasing us, it knew you, said some very unpleasent things..."

"I got a message from presumably that ship, it couldn't get transferred so it's waiting back at heavens jewel for me to pick it up"

I'm getting a bad feeling about why that message was sent through heavens jewel, or tried to get sent through.
>>
>>24960352
"Ah, well he/she called you a coward, and wanted to kill you, calling you 'tamed'."

Hug Serpensal.
>>
>>24960352
"Is Jason around?"
>>
>>24960352
Do we know the diameter of the black hole we made? I need this to calculate something.
>>
>>24960416
It was a black hole with no mass that left dust behind after it sucked the ship in. I don't think you can calculate anything meaningful with modern physics.
>>
"The large ship chasing us, it knew you, and said some very unpleasant things..." You say. "I got a message from, presumably, that ship. It couldn't get transferred, so it's waiting back at Heaven's Jewel for me to pick it up."
Omnissiah was silent, while you hugged Serpensal.
"Is Jason around?"
"He's inside the Bullette right now." Omnissiah said. "We'll have to reach this station first. One moment."

A moment later, Surya pulled out of bubble drive, Bulette and Wyvern appearing on each side of you, and you saw your next home for now- instead of a large disk with solar panels, it was a large, long solar platform, floating seemingly in the middle of space, sphere-shaped weapons platforms saturating the area around. Slowly, you started to come into dock.

Some time later, you were in the hallway connected to the hangars, almost the entire station there, save Keen, Damien... and Manus.
"That *idiot*!" Neva was raging, uncharacteristically. "He had to go all hero this time of all times?!"
"He did save Isaac's life." Kailynn said, looking Isaac over. "If he hadn't used the ablative FTL, Isaac wouldn't have made it.
Anna gave you a wave, standing next to Sigma.
>>
>>24960500
"That's a well kept secret about the station. What other hidden tricks does it have?"
>>
>>24960500
Hug Anna like she came back to life.
Because we watched her die once already
>>
>>24960500
"I'm sorry. Little Anna didn't make it."
>>
>>24960500
"Wait, that was Dr Manus? That was AWESOME! Where is he? I've got to tell him how cool he was!"

"Hey Anna, are you alright? Lil'You was bleeding a bit."
Take Serpensal with us.
>>
>>24960500
Give Anna the little plush wyvern.
>>
>>24960500

wave back happily and we need to hug everyone, Maybe linger on Anna a little bit more because of lil'Anna.

Manus shot pieces of the station at the enemy? badass!

>need sleep
>goodnight gentlemen
>and good luck.
>>
>>24960599
This. Say nothing and just hug her tightly.
>>
>>24960599
Yeah.
>>
>>24960500
High 5 manus.
>>
>>24960632
Manus isn't there
>>
>>24960632
Manus isn't around.
>>
>>24960637
Distance is an illusion. Psychic hi-five.
>>
>>24960646
He's dead
>>
>>24960637
So... we find him. And high five him.
>>
>>24960653
Damien said he thought he'd be okay, so I don't know that he's dead, just injured.
>>
>>24960653
Damien said he would live in >>24960141
>>
You pull Anna into a tight, tight hug.
"I'm sorry. Little Anna didn't make it." You say.
"It's fine." Anna said, and giggled. "Summer can just make another one."
You give her the plush wyvern.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I did the gunning, Sigma did the piloting. She's really good with all that. Better than when I'm jacked in, at least."

"That's a well kept secret about the station. What other hidden tricks does it have?"
"Only Jason really knows." Kailynn said.
Jason- The youngest councilor- even technician- gave you a grin and a wave.
"But he never tells us anything."
"Nope." He said.

One by one, you check everyone over, and then suddenly, Lambda came skidding around the corner.
"Hi!" He said. Sigma ran over and pulled him into a hug.

Max stepped in, and Kailynn gave him a disapproving Look.
"You should be resting." She said.
"I'll be fine." Max said, and you saw a small amount of blood staining his muzzle.
>>
>>24960716
What happened, Max? You bit off a Demiurg's face? Niiice.
>>
>>24960716

max needs some petting and chin scratches
>>
>>24960716
"Max..."
>>
>>24960716
Pet the doggy!
>>
"What happened, Max? You bit off a Demiurg's face? Niiice."
"No, instead I took command of a demiurg squad on some of the fighters." Max said.
"Don't strain yourself." Kailynn said. "Any more than you already have."
"I'll be fine." He said again.
"You're worse than... than Heather!" She said, and pointed at you.
"I'm glad you think so."
"Max..." You say, and pet him. His tail started wagging, and he sat, his ears perking up.
"Yes?" He asked.
>>
>>24960781
"I made a black hole bomb. It was awesome."

"Can I have a gun licence for my ship."
>>
>>24960781
"Don't be such a butt."

"Have you met Serpensal yet?"

>>24960801
Oh yeah, we probably should notify the FTL authorities that we accidentally made a black hole that should be avoided.
>>
>>24960781
"while imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I'm really not interested in you and I'll have to ask you to stop frying your brain..."
>>
>>24960818
The black hole went away again, it's fine.
>>
"Seems to me like it's time to commit some war crimes! Lets round up some asteroids, strap bubble drives to them, and genocide the demiurge."
>>
>>24960781
"What you did was awesome, but I spend far too much time in a hospital bed, I don't want you to as well."
>>
>>24960838
Let's not say that, please.

Max was angry enough last time we said it.
>>
>>24960838
Anon please.

That's way to crude. We can make blackhole bombs now apparently.
>>
>>24960781
"You should rest. Seriously. I'll set everything up. If I have to, I'll get the Doctor's orders. All of theirs."
>>
>>24960850
Exactly. He meant that we should do it without telling him or anyone else.
>>
"I made a black hole bomb." you say. "It was awesome."
"... Did it evaporate?" Max asked.
"Yeah."
"That's good, then." He said, laying his head down. You continued to pet him.
"Can I have a gun license for my ship?"
"Not in my control." Max said. "And even then, no. There are lots of regulations."
"You should rest. Seriously."
"Yeah, I will." He said, and his eyes closed for a moment. Then he was asleep. Anna knelt down and started petting him as well. His tail started to wag.
"Okay, everybody." Neva said. "I've been here before, so I know where the cafeteria is. Come with me if you want some food. If any of you get lost, please speak to Lambda, the Ruste girls, or myself. Or use some sort of clairvoyant power. I'll give you all room designations later today. We shouldn't be staying here for more than a few days, but it would be best to establish those first."

Kat came in, looking around, as the technicians and almost everyone filed out, leaving just you, Anna, Max, and Robin, all petting him.
"Where's Damien?" Kat asked, pouting.
"One second. I'll go get him." Robin said, and disappeared.
There was almost a minute pause of time before she returned, Damien there as well.
"Kat!" He said, and hugged her, tightly.
>>
>>24960961
Nice job with the Navy, Damien. How did you get them to listen to you?
>>
>>24960992
'We're psions, you can tell because we just teleported here' probably helped.
>>
>>24960961
I really don't see why we couldn't get weapons on our ship. We've seen plenty of space combat and we got psionic weapons more powerful than anything we could strap onto it.
>>
>>24961027
Yeah, Isaac kind of breaks the "no planetbusters" law just by being Isaac.
>>
>>24960961
Yeah, go with this >>24961027 and a childish pout, time to blow off some steam by whining.
>>
>>24961027
Yeah. Seems ridiculous. If we'd at least had lasers we could have probably shot off a turret or two on the AI ship and saved Isaac a lot of pain. Considering we've got forcefields, and we just made a black hole from a few parts, it's not like a little laser is going to get people killed.
>>
>>24961064
>implying we needed any parts
We manifested the bubble drive mine
>>
"Nice job with the Navy, Damien. How did you get them to listen to you?"
"Told them I saw the future." He said. "The admiral didn't believe me until he made me up a password that he'd tell me in ten minutes, and had me give it to him."
"Like that one time where I lost my Wheres." Robin said, and he nodded.

You frown, and continue to scritch the sleeping wolf.
"I don't see why I can't get weapons on my ship. I've seen plenty of space combat, and we have psionic weapons more powerful than anything we could strap onto it."
"It's still the law." Anna said. "They can't really make an exception for one person, especially if they're a minor. If you want, though, I could pull some strings and have you join blackreach." She said. "You'd need your parents to sign off on it, and it'd only be in name, but I think we could make a few pretty cool things for your ship. Maybe trade something with Newt for a good weapon."
>>
>>24960961
You know what would be totally fucking awesome to build? A singularity reactor.

That would be kickass.
>>
>>24961129
"The Drake is in."
>>
>>24961129
"Blah blah blah 'buy this buy that'. I'll make my own gun. It'll be huge, and glow. And probably have forcefields inside it somewhere."
>>
>>24961129
"Ooh, does that mean I get a cool Blackreach name too?"
>>
>>24961129
"His password probably wasn't 'butts' though."

"That seems like it could backfire horribly, Anna."
It's not like we NEED weapons, we can just TK crush everything anyway.
>>
>>24961164
Wasn't the plan to hang outside the ship in our suit and laser things?
>>
>>24961164
The problem is that our psi-powers are horrendously unreliable.
>>
>>24961172
That's a great way to get yourself killed fast.
>>
>>24961129
"Given who my parents are, I don't think it'd be that much of an issue."
>>
>>24961164
What is it with you and butts, I swear having Heather say butts is your obsession.
>>
>>24961129
"Legal loopholes go."
>>
>>24961213
But in this case it was true! Rho DID use 'butts are cool too' as her password!
>>
"Ooh, does that mean I get a cool blackreach name too?"
"Sure!" Anna said. "Kat, we need some animal names!"
"Rabbit!" Kat said.
"... Rabbit works! Though we do have someone called Hare."
"Or Duckling!" She added, with a grin.
Anna gave you a look, and giggled. "Duckling works too!"

"Anyway, with my parents, I don't think it'd be that much of an issue."
"Well, then, let's see what parts of my web I can pull." Anna said, and gave you a grin. "I am called Spider for a reason."
>>
>>24961272
<Well... Drake?>
>>
>>24961272
"How about Drake? A little dragon."
>>
>>24961272
"I thought you hated that name..."
>>
>>24961272
"How about Platypus or Jabberwocky. I like Jabberwocky."
>>
we still need to inform the researchers that all of the Allied Races and the Demiurg are psychic
>>
"How about Drake? A little dragon."
"That would work too." She said.
"And I thought you hated that name."
"I do." She said. "But it's still fitting.
"How about Platypus? Or Jabberwocky? I like Jabberwocky."
"... Not Jabberwocky. I've never met the guy, but he exists. Apparently he scares the shit out of Ox."
"Hey." Damien said, and took his hands off of Kat's ears. "No cussing in front of the ten year old girl."
"Sorry." Anna said.
>>
>>24961272
Hmm, we're allowed mythical creatures if Dragon is anything to go by. There has to be some sort of mythical creature that Awakens things and gives them thought, right?
>>
>You now realize that a portion of the Demiurg serve VQ because they're Orks
>>
>>24961272
"I'll shoot off a message to my parents and let them know what's up."
>>
Rolled 41

>>24961337
"Hey Kat, how are you holding up?"

Manifest a superhero Damien plushie for her.
>>
>>24961337
<Mom, Dad, I'm going to join Blackreach as Drake because ship weaponry.>
>>
"I'll shoot off a message to my parents so they know what's up."
"Okay." Anna said. you type in a short message.
<Mom, Dad, I'm going to join Blackreach as Drake because ship weaponry.>
<... Be careful.> Dad said. <And if you need anything, just ask me or Newt. Alright?>
You turn to Kat.
"Hey, Kat, how are you holding up?"
"Okay." She said. "I'm holding up okay."
She hugged Damien tighter. "Julie's here, and she's been a lot less of a jerk since we came here."
"Glad to hear it." Damien said, and ruffled her hair.
"You're so cute!" Robin said, and pinched Kat's cheeks.
"Hey!" Kat responded. "Don't do that!"
<Sorry I was late.> Damien said. <I would've noticed things faster if I wasn't... focused>
>>
>>24961434
What were you focused on?
>>
>>24961434
<focused?>
>>
>>24961434
"S'okay. It all worked out in the end."
>>
>>24961434
>Ask if you need anything
That was not really the response I was expecting to suddenly telling somebody that their little girl is going to join a mercenary company.
>>
>>24961523
Even if it *is* their company.
>>
>>24961523
We're just joining the family business is all.
>>
<What were you focused on?>
<ArmaTek access codes, the chain of events that led to the Rhos'... mulching... various things like that.> He said.
<S'okay. It all worked out in the end.>

<That was not really the response I was expecting to suddenly telling somebody that their little girl is going to join a mercenary company.>
<That's because I'm going to delete this message and not ever, ever let your mother know.> Dad said. <Take care, and be careful. I'd give you some of my weapons, but they're all outdated and your mother would kill me for digging up the yard.>

Max shook himself awake, and Anna turned to her personacom, sending and recieving messages.
"You four should get to breakfast." Max said. "Since ours was... interrupted."
>>
>>24961577
"You should come too, for once, Max. A nice big steak can't hurt, can it?"
>>
>>24961552
Especially if it is their company. She knows exactly what it's like and retired to keep her family away from stuff like that.
>>
>>24961577
"Alright, promise me you'll take it easy."

Give Max a hug, then go hunting for breakfast.
>>
>>24961577
<Wait, Rho was spreading compost?>
"You're coming with. Don't force me to get the Doctor's orders."
>>
>>24961577
"Good idea! You're coming with us."

<I can un-signup after I stop getting hunted by Demiurg, okay?>

Do we have Theta's personacomm with us? we should give it to him.
>>
>>24961621
He's talking about our plan to bring back the Rho clone Robin was in love with, who got mulched.
>>
>>24961577
<I think Anna dug up the whole yard looking for my diary anyway. But I like building my own.>
>>
>>24961577
"Okay, come on Max, you can eat and rest when we get there, not leaving you here on your own."
>>
>>24961577
<If you need a hand, Damien, ask me. I'm kinda good with some CV stuff, and should be able to help.>
>>
>>24961621
No, Rho was turned into compost. All the Rhos except Robin.
>>
"Good idea! You're coming with us!"
"Okay." He said, and pushed himself to his paws. The four of you started to walk, you leading them to the cafeteria, where everybody else was.

Sarvesh was... entirely asleep, there, lying back on his own abdomen. He almost folded up into a compact space, and the cooks were there, cooking for everybody. One of the ladies tossed out a steak for Max, and he caught it, laying down on the ground to chew on it. Kat walked up and started sweet-talking them into giving her extra chocolate, while Damien reached into a stash just outside of the cafeteria, coming in with more candy.
"Even here?" Robin asked.
"...I have rather good foresight." Damien said.
Anna was munching on things, looking into her personacom- and then turned to the plush wyvern, staring at it for a while. She flicked it on, and let go of it, and it hovered there, still.
>>
>>24961709
"Summer said something odd happened to Lil'Anna when I gave her the toy. Did you notice anything?"
>>
>>24961709
"You like it? If you need me to manifest more Phaeron in it, just ask. And don't let Alex touch it."
>>
>>24961730

Definitely ask this.
>>
"You like it? If you need me to manifest more phaeron in it, just ask. And don't let Alex touch it."
"I know." She said, and cradled it protectively.
"Summer said something odd happened to Lil'Anna when I gave her the toy. Did you notice anything?"
"Not really. She did open up some sort of telepathic connection with me, but that was it." Anna said. "She wasn't draining me or anything. I didn't really understand it."

<If you need a hand, Damien, ask me. I'm kinda good with some CV stuff, and should be able to help.>
<All I really need is to know which Rho she wants. I can only take one, but I think I can get in and out in time.>
>>
>>24961812
<You think? Do you need some sort of smokescreen device? I can do that.>
<I'll try to subtly investigate.>

"Did Lil'Anna have implants?"
>>
retrocog Robins past?
>>
>>24961812
<You're too nice a person for your own good Damien.

You need an Exosuit or some jamming tech to get you in and out easier let me know.

Two Rhos, no butts will ever be safe again.>

"It's Summer's manifestations, she's pretty much multiple universes at the same time as being a tiger. They can do things that boggle the mind."
>>
"Did Lil'Anna have implants?"
"Yeah, she did." Anna said. "I checked. They were the same size as mine, too. Same build, same model... Summer might have more talent than she thinks. Never got to try jacking into myself, though."
Damien snorted.
"What?"
"Nothing." He said.
<You're too nice a person for your own good, Damien.>
He shot you a grin.
<That's what they say about all superheroes.>
<I'll try to subtly investigate.>
<Good luck.> He said.
Ellie came to your table, and sat down with waffles.
"Heya." She said. "How are you feeling, after all that?" She asked. "You started broadcasting like... numbers and equations into everyone's head, before that ship exploded."
>>
>>24961812
Manifest a remote for miniwyvern. Let her fly it around.
>>
>>24961943
"Huh. Yeah, sorry. Building an active Bubble Drive while in flight apparently needs calculations to work."
>>
>>24961943
"Did I? Maybe I'm just getting better and better at manifestation."
>>
>>24961943
That was me helping Summer how to create a bubble drive.
>>
>>24961943
"I'm fine. The numbers was me trying to show Summer how to manifest a bubble drive."
>>
>>24961943
"I'm fine, always a nice surprise when I do something dramatic with my powers and don't end up leaking from the face."
>>
Speaking of that we gotta recharge our personacom.
>>
>>24961943
"I had to calculate some things on the fly, I had to make the bubble drive, I actually used a recabulator, and then make sure it was in the right place going at the right relative speed.

I had to teach Summer engineering that isn't physically possible, as you can't make recabulators without Psionics, at least not yet, through normal means at the same time as working it out."
>>
>>24961981
Omnitool*
>>
>>24961981
You mean Omnitool.
>>
>>24961943
"Well, it takes a lot of effort to make singularity bombs."
>>
"That was me helping Summer how to create a bubble drive." You say, and plug your omnitool into Einstein, so that it could bleed dry Einstein's chemical cells to recharge itself, while Einstein's core recharged him.
"Nope." Summer said. "That was you creating a bubble drive yourself, using me as a conceptual pillar or whatever." She said.
"... what?"
"I still don't understand how they work. You did all the manifestation yourself." Summer said.
"Did I? Maybe I'm just getting better and better at manifestation."
"Yeah, you are." Max said. "I'm proud. Good job, Heather."
>>
>>24962044
"Oh hell yes. I am gonna build a shit-ton of forcefields now that I don't have to buy the drives."
>>
>>24962044
"Thanks d- Max."
>>
>>24962044
Blush and look awkward at the praise.
>>
>>24962044
"Yay!" Scratch Max.

"I think I'm getting better at everything. Although photokinesis and biokinesis are still problems."

"What do you think I should work on next, Max?"
>>
>>24962044
"Thanks Max. Though I should practice my Awakening thing more, I want to be able to tell the planet the VQ is on to fight back.

They're not that complex Summer.

All you have to do is use the decabulators to create a positive and negative flow with the particle emitters that are balanced to make the particles that expand and contract space, the way the particles work is ...." Ramble off into a intricate explanation of bubble drive theory and how our using of the recabulator improved efficiency.

"See, simple."
>>
>>24962044
"If I can use you as a conceptual pillar to manifest things really well, can I use everyone's powers like that?"
>>
>>24962085
The one that can stop the giant lasers the void queen almost killed Isaac with.
I don't think we'll ever be able to do biokinesis.
>>
>>24962130
I agree.
>>
lets do some photokinesis!
>>
"Thanks, Max. Though I should practice my awakening thing more. I want to be able to tell the planet the VQ is on to fight back."
Max blinked.
<-already a dozen-> Summer's mind said.
"I think I'm getting better at everything." You say, and scrach Max. "What should I work on next?"
"Please stop doing that while I'm eating." He said. "I'm used to having another wolf try and get at my food, which means that it is a fight for dominance. I'd like not to bite you instinctively."
You pull your hand away.
"You were getting rather good at photokinesis." He said. "And then there's also the new powers you haven't tried yet."
You nod, and think.
"If I can use you as a conceptual pillar to manifest things really well, can I use everyone's powers like that?"
"It's all your own mind." Max said. "If you think you can, you should be able to."
>>
Rolled 89

>>24962186
Awaken Max's steak.
>>
Rolled 38

>>24962186
"Let's test it!"
Make some nano-bots
>>
>>24962215
...jesus christ no, do not fucking do that.
>>
Rolled 44

>>24962186
"It's not quite that simple. I've failed at things I thought I could do before."
Let's try using Max to sniff psychic powers. It's simple and shouldn't take too much energy if it goes wrong.
>>
Rolled 26

>>24962186
"Stupid mind, not thinking what I want it to think. It's probably because I'm intuitively convinced that you're the be all and end all of Manifestation Summer."

>>24962215
While I like the roll I don't think Steak has enough character or personality to Awaken. Let's Awaken the Station we're on, have a chat with it. Thank it for giving us a place to stay in the cold dark void of space.
>>
>>24962215
To hear it scream in pain as it's bitten to pieces? WHY.
>>
Rolled 47

>>24962215
no, thats awful.

>>24962186
Lets instead try to make a lightshow. Depending on how well we can do lets try for a full blown hologram.
>>
>>24962186
We should use Damien, so we can go back with him to save Rho.
>>
>>24962215
You want to give something that's currently in the middle of being eaten by a hungry wolf a mind?
>>
Rolled 12

>>24962186
WHY ARE WE ALL ROLLING

AWAKEN THE OLD STATION
>>
>>24962248
Yes. So it will run away and Max can chase it.
>>
>>24962261
that would only happen if we gave it our TK as well.
>>
>>24962271
Well that would be stealing from Max, and I don't want to get bit.
>>
You take a long, deep breath, close your eyes, and open your palms. You reach out to the station around you...

And it didn't say anything. It didn't have... that third component- that character. It was just an assembly of artificial gravity generators, life support systems, and mined metal from the nearby asteroid belt.

Your personacom chirped.
<It's me, mom.> Mom said. <I went to the nexus today and there's a message here for you. Apparently the formatting was weird, so they had to quarantine and print it. Want me to send it?>
>>
Rolled 32

>>24962215
Great idea.

Let's awaken the chairs we're sitting on.
Also the table. Also the ceiling lights.
>>
>>24962302
<No.>
>>
>>24962302
<Call me and read it.>
>>
>>24962302
<Please send it to Max or Manus so the scientists can analyse whatever crazy virus is probably in it.>
>>
>>24962302
<Yes, but do not open or interact with in any way that can be avoided.>

"Huh, this station doesn't have enough character, shame. It's just grav generators, life support, and metal. It's not alive, it's just a place. Doesn't have a machine spirit."
>>
>>24962302
<Take a picture of half of it, then send that. Then take a picture of the other half, then send that. But also blur portions of it.>

Then, before we reassemble the pictures, disconnect Einstein from the net.
>>
>>24962302
<A hard copy? Do you have it with you?>
"Hey Max, can I have permission to make a quick jump home to grab that message from the Demiurg ship and come straight back?"

Does the little wyvern have character?
>>
>>24962344
Also, encrypt it. So the information can't be read if it's intercepted.
>>
<Take a picture of half of it, then send that. Then take a picture of the other half, then send that. But also blur portions of it.>
<Alright.> She said. <Looks like poetry, kind of.>
<Encrypt it, too.>
<This is kind of strenuous, isn't it? Alright, it's encrypted to your father's old nickname.>

Einstein chirped twice, with two encrypted files. You do a hard disconnect from the router, and carefully reassemble the files, decrypt them with 'Dragon', and take a look at it.

>My name is Apocalypse.
>You don't know of me, but... the warlords have data about you in the systems.
>Of... The Ishelda, and the mission they sent you on.
>Help me.
>Please, brother, help me.
>I know you're out there, and I can't spend long in this experimental machine.

>They're coming for me.
>They're going to.. to change me.
>The warlord isn't himself. There's something... making him do things.
>Please. Omnissiah. Help.
>[error code 00050, no trail to sender can be found]
>[error code 00050, no trail to sender can be found]
>[error code 00050, no trail to sender can be found]
>[All three retries expended. Sending error message to receiver.]

You stare at it for a moment.
And then, dimly, you feel a small fury rise up in you.

>End of thread!
>>
>>24962424
Oh dear.
We fucked up.
>>
>>24962424
Eh.
Collateral damage.
>>
>>24962444
There's nothing we could have done for him, the VQ/Demiurge already mindfucked him into being a completely different person.

We however do need to make a planet kill the VQ for the shit she has done.
>>
>>24962444
Don't see how. No way we could have got the message before they attacked.
>>
>>24962424
Aww shit.

I wonder if there's a way to save him. I mean, we've done it for people, so why not an AI.
>>
>>24962444
Not really. I don't see how we could have done anything. We only had a couple of hours between getting the message and the attack. If we were out looking for him things would have gone a lot worse on the station.
>>
Well an AI is basically a computer program. What if we Retrocog to the exact moment that Apoc was about to be changed and moved a copy of him over to a drone.
>>
>>24962476
You want to save him. From being eaten by a black hole.
>>
>>24962476
I'm sorry, Anon. There's no way to pull things from a black hole.
>>
>>24962513
>>24962508
Maybe there's some debris?
>>
>>24962524
I don't think you know what a black hole is.
>>
>>24962476
Come on, it's completely, utterly impossible to save something from a black hole, let alone an AI!
Especially one who's name starts with an A.
>>
>>24962524
its now a nebula. Pretty sure the debris your gonna get is hydrogen atoms.
>>
>>24962424
Aw. Fuck. Our paranoia got Omni's brother killed.
>>
>>24962499
Hang on. I've got a better plan:

Not giving a shit. This is gonna be the same problem when we deal with VQ as well. No one will want to do anything damaging because we might hurt some enslaved alien fucks.
>>
>>24962544
Not giving a shit was what killed him.
>>
>>24962544
Sorry its OOC for Heather to not give a fuck.
>>
>>24962557
Pretty sure it was the black hole that killed him.
>>
>>24962557
Oh well.
>>
>>24962544
Heather has been shown repeatedly to care a lot.
>>
>>24962557
Fucker should have figured out how to send basic emails then.
>>
>>24962540
Better than our lack of paranoia getting us killed.
>>
>>24962532
Most of the stuff we do is completely impossible.

Seems everyone's very quick to give up on him though.
>>
>>24962532
That's cold.
>>
>>24962578
It was cut off because he was mindraped in the middle of sending it!

I do wonder how he got the quantum router to send it, though.
>>
>>24962592
exactly, if "waaah, it's not possible!" was really Heather's mindset in situations like this, she'd have given up on being a psion a long time ago.
>>
>>24962596
That was actually a joke to a previous quest, wherein an AI was locked into relativistic stasis (in a particular black hole full of loads of exotic matter) for an eternity before being rescued.
>>
>>24962598
Shouldn't have wasted so much time moping around with 'help meeee' then.
>>
We saved Azure.
Why not him as well?
>>
>>24962617
And it only took what, a hundred threads.
>>
>>24962592
>>24962614
So we go out to the nebula, gather up some of the remnants and sift through it for residual personality which we can then transfer to a new system.

It's far from the most amazing thing psionics have done since this quest started.
>>
>>24962617
I know about Azure.Which is why you're a dick for doing that ;_;
>>
>>24962647
And two and a half quests.
>>
Err I did suggest something to maybe save him.
>>
>>24962652
Maybe we can Awaken his remnants into a Nebula-life form that is himself?
>>
>>24962672
>>24962499
Worth a shot.
>>
>>24962677
That would also be pretty cool, although he might get lonely out there.
>>
>>24962672
What a waste of time that'll be.
I'd rather we spend it doing something more productive.
>>
>>24962499
>>24962652
>>24962677

I am on-board for any of these plans.
>>
>>24962701
Like what? Awakening a half-eaten steak?
>>
>>24962701
I think you might be in the wrong quest with an attitude like that.

Don't worry, I'm sure BFQ will be back for you soon.
>>
>>24962713
nice burn.
>>
>>24962652
I don't really think there's anything left to sift through. The ship was pulled into a singularity, and then evaporated. Apocalypse is nothing more than photons and hydrogen atoms now.

Anything we bought back would just be created from scratch, barring timefucking shenanigans. Face it: We fucked up. Sure, it's sort of justified in that garbled mail from something called 'Apocalypse' seems like an incredibly obvious trap designed to kill us all, but we still fucked up.
>>
>>24962710
Yep.
More productive than horsing around with some dead AI ghost bullshit.
>>
>>24962713
>BFQ
>Doing anything productive
>>
>>24962713
I lol'd because you're spot on. "Caring is weakness guise!"
>>
How about
Guys
What if
We gave the letter that was addressed to Omni to Omni. And then maybe ask him what he wants to do about it.
>>
>>24962723
I wasn't talking looking for programming, I was talking psionic sifting through. If we can awaken something that was never alive in the first place to sentience, I don't see why we can't draw out the personality of something that used to live from the remnants.
>>
>>24962742
I'd rather Omni not go crazy again right after we got him to stop going crazy.
>>
>>24962725
So practicing our powers and potentially saving a life is a waste of time? It wouldn't take more than 5 minutes to attempt a retrocog.
>>
>>24962742
He's already dead. We killed him. Literally. why?
"Hey Omni, that AI who I turned into dust apparently sent a distress letter but I didn't pick it up before he got mindwiped into a warmachine. Here ya go!"
>>
So plan for tomorrow, for whoever is around for the start of the quest:
- Ask fellow Psions for ways to un-dead an AI.
- Give Omni the letter, and assure him that we're working on it.
- Attempt retrocog (as it is the easiest method)
- Attempt to find debris (we might actually find something that still works left of him, an escape pod or such.)
- Attempt Awakening (the most risky.)
>>
>>24962814
Sounds like a plan.
>>
>>24962424
Forgot to say. Thanks for running, Exa!
>>
>>24962814
>un-dead an AI
I don't think you understand what a black hole is, there is literally, absolutely nothing left of it.

Unless you count remaking him from some bit of saved data on him that was on some other demiurg ship as saving him.
>>
>>24964319
I don't think Exa understands what a black hole is, there was a nebula left.
>>
>>24964376
exa pls

lrn2/sci/
>>
>>24964409
It's like you don't even understand what happens when you take opposite charges of the magic plot particles that make bubble drives work and ram them into each other. You get magic plot black holes.
>>
>>24964492
>You get magic plot black holes.
We can call these Plot Holes, for short.
>>
>>24964319
I'm not sure why we should suddenly start paying attention to the laws of reality now when we've been shitting all over them since the quest begun.

Is there some holy law about black holes that I'm unaware of, where even in fiction the rules that govern them cannot be altered in any way?



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