(( He has a psychic connection. Unfortunately the reception is terrible. ))

Prays to Flying Spaghetti Monster "Dearest Flying Spaghetti Monster, please give me the patience to deal with this imbecile. He knows not what he does. In thee I pray Amen." Eats biscuit and attempts to help foreigner with cleanup. Throws the poor imbecile a bone and gives him a smile

Dinosawer wrote:(( How is iss-hhhhh supposed to speak to Francis when he's floating in a vacuum? ))

((

´kö do not speak by vibrations of air from the lungs through vocal cords (as they don't breath and have no lungs)
They agitate and vibrate small hairs present on their body. In presence of an atmosphere, this generates pressure waves like normal sound. Because the tip of the air contains ferrous ions, this generates also an electromagnetic wave that induce very small current in other metallic elements.
Those currents are very small, and for example not detectable by the human skin (so the current generated in the metal of the space suit is fully safe and not dangerous). But with an appropriate amplifier, this current can be interpreted.
Coincidentally, appropriate amplifier are built in most of the communicator systems. So the effect is that anybody at close distance (say about shouting distance) will hear what Issssss'hh says via their communicator in absence of air.

))

(( update? ))

((Yus. Discussing stuff in IRC with Cha0zz atm, will update very soon.))

(( Not joining IRC today, but woohoo ))

((Took a bit - got distracted with mumble. ))
Turn 24
Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds til next pulsar sweep
Squad 1: BFett, Dr. Cha0zz, Karthus

Dr. Cha0zz You reboot your ship's system, trying to get to work on whatever's broken. At the moment, you're pretty sure you're at least in a safe spot - Francis over there didn't manage to get himself killed, and he was practically begging for it. Even right at this moment, he's leaping for something above you - it looks like... a horn? What the hell?

You put your head in your hands in a moment, trying to figure out what you did to deserve being thrust into a band of imbeciles like this. This line of thinking soon merges into, "What have I got 'neath my cockpitses?" and various other vague book references. Unfortunately, you don't remember what's underneath your cockpit at all.

On the plus side, it looks like the reboot worked. You set about trying to start another diagnostic program - and this time, it works - and perfectly. The list is short and concise:

- PSI Unit: Damaged
Starboard mid electrical cabling: Damaged; Searching for workaround
Workaround found for mid electrical cabling; Rerouted through Coolant System Auxiliary power supply
Starboard robotic arm power supply: WARNING! Damage possible; check before use
Midsection electromagnetic clamp nonresponsive; disabling power supply


BFett You scan the room cautiously - and thoroughly - for other turrets, but don't find any. It's odd that these turrets are so poorly protected; it's almost as if the aliens that built these structures expected to be able to defend them personally... and yet, nobody's coming.

Feeling grim, you start work on another hack near the door. This one is a little faster, and actually successful. Unfortunately, you're not quite sure what you want to do with it, and so the hack just sits there.

Karthus BFett requests something of you. "Karthus, if you have a moment, please see if you can safely dismount the plasma turret from the wall. If you can't, then just cut it down using your lasgun."

You nod, walking over to the turretlet, strapping your lasgun behind your back. It's a little high, though - at least a full meter above your head. On the plus side, gravity here is rather light. With a light spring, you jump up to the turret and grab on to keep from falling.

After looking at it for a bit, you're fairly sure you can see how to take it down - trouble is, you're not quite sure what to take it down with. Prying at it carefully with your fingers, you're able to get it most of the way down, but some of the latches seem to have fused shut when you were firing at it... and they're definitely not coming loose from finger power alone.

Letting yourself down from the ceiling, you take out your lasgun and take careful aim... and saw across the base. You've gotten it most of the way down, but it seems to be stuck on something somewhere. You might be able to rip it down now, if you're strong enough.


Squad 3: Foreigner, Kai'isha

Foreigner You climb back into your cockpit and close the canopy, telling Kai'isha to do the same, and very carefully release the back of her ship - she's floating free now.

Then, you finish up the unfinished business of threatening Goatman to leave you alone. "To the creature who calls himself Goatman - if you do anything funny, I'll kill you. There will be no further warnings." Hopefully that'll do the trick.


Kai'isha Bowing your head, you pray audibly into the comm system. "Dearest Flying Spaghetti Monster, please give me the patience to deal with this imbecile. He knows not what he does. In thee I pray, Amen." You can't help but smirking a little, hoping that Foreigner got the message loud and clear. You don't see how he could've missed it.

You take off your helmet, pick up a biscuit and munch on it. It's fairly good - a bit cold, but buttery - you can tell it would've been a very good biscuit back when it was warm. It's still quite edible now, in fact.

"Lass, close the canopy and prepare for flight," Foreigner advises you. "We are leaving." Apparently the cleanup is already done. You follow his order, though, closing up your cockpit and making sure everything is sealed. You feel your ship shake slightly; you're pretty sure Foreigner just finally released you - the robotic arm probably isn't holding on anymore. You're free to leave.



Squad 4: Dinosawer, Goatman, Francis (with isssss'hh), Squidhead

Dinosawer Carefully, you follow Squidhead into the base, walking beside him. You're looking around for threats - it's a little difficult to see any in the dark, but the headlight on your helmet helps tremendously.

After you're through the door, you detach your tether and tie it on to a sharp spike protruding through the wall, from where the door had ripped free. It looks sturdy enough - you should be able to get back to your ship without any trouble.




Goatman You continue the hack! It must not fail! Vengeance shall be yours.

...or shall it be? Actually, Foreigner seems to have turned his security systems back on. After you start the hack, he very quickly locks you out. His adaptive firewall is getting stronger... it's a little too strong for you to deal with right now.

Squidhead You put your weapon back up and take your PDA out again, scanning for other concealed turrets. There don't seem to be any more - at least not in the main hallway. "Dino, was that a suicide attempt?" you ask, glaring at him through his helmet's visor. "You know I can't help you if you're blocking my line of sight. They have plasma autocannons in the walls! Luckily, I was too fast for it, but things might have gone differently."

Carefully, slowly, you advance into the base of the turret, looking around. A long hallway stretches into the interior - a purple light glows faintly from far within, just beyond a T-junction at the end of the hallway, about 25 meters away from where you are. There are doors on either side of the hallway, and the entire place looks exceedingly sturdy. There are also what look like active button panels next to each of the two doors, highly similar to the one that ate your finger earlier.

It's actually very difficult for you to navigate in here - the thruster pack doesn't work so well under gravity, and you're barely managing to limp along with what tentacles you have left. Hopefully you won't have to do any dodging around - you could wind up seriously injuring yourself.

"If you see anything on your scanner that needs shooting, Squidhead, just say the word!" Dinosawer says from beside you. He has his weapon at the ready - going into a turret like this, two at a time, is probably a very good idea.

Francis You hear isssss'hh faintly - "Euhh, Francis? Now that you seem to be back, would you mind throwing me in the direction of the horn? I can get it, just need a little push...." You ignore him, though, heading for the horn yourself. Your head is still pounding, though, with a headache so terrible it's difficult to think. You just barely manage to grab hold of the horn, widening your eyes in an attempt to keep from passing out again. Being more careful, you stick it in your backpack... looks like it's time to see what's in the base, right?


isssss'hh You're still spinning gracefully next to the door - it seemed to taste bad, so you're avoiding grabbing it, at least for now. You ask Francis to throw you over to the horn, but he seems to have other ideas.

In stark contrast to your graceful spinning, Francis is flailing about, trying to grab his horn as he flies a little too quickly up at the ceiling - he manages it, but just barely.

"Francis, give me a taste too!" you call out. "This door didn't sit too well with my stomach - perhaps that brass would help me get back to normal!"

"So BFett and Karthus, what can you tell us about the inside of these things?"

(( mumble?
Also, can we have a super simple mappy thing of the turrets cause I'm having trouble imagining the layout of them... ))

Try to get to isssss'hh, put him in pocket again.

"Hey, does anyone know how to use this crowbar thing? I heard it was good for opening doors but it seems to have developed a fault. Maybe it's out of tune."

I probe the hacked system looking for anything useful. I look for ways to shut the power to the turret off and try to remember how most alien cultures set up their computer systems. If I find a way to shut the turret off I act on it. If I find a way to disable or neutralize other anti-personal turrets I act on it also.

"Not much at the moment other than the first door you see in the hallway should be the control room door. There's a turret in the top of the door frame that you won't see till you enter the room. In the center of the structure there are purple crystals which may be used to focus laser energy to the plasma turret. I'm not sure if you heard Cha0zz talk about those. Um, that's about it. I've currently started a probe for other turrets in the area. Stand by for more information as I find it."

Karthus carefully fires across the base again at a different angle and ensures that all of the latches have been severed. He then tries to remove the turret from the ceiling by gently tugging on the turret. All the time making sure that his body is not in the way of the turret's barrel.



((I'm on mumble Dino. I can give you the info if you hop on IRC.))

Perform exit procedure and exit my ship, (take my backpack and weapons with me) walk over the starboard robotic arm power supply and check what its state is. Meanwhile take a good look around my ship for other visual damage and observe the whole hangar for things that I haven't seen yet.
After that I look into my backpack too see what made the shattering sound a while earlier.

Ok, idi.. guys I'm at the alien base, any progress on the turrets?

Oh and Dinosawer, I'm sorry, it looks like I was mistaken... YOU ARE AN IDIOT! WHY WOULD YOU JUMP IN FRONT OF A GUN, EVEN THE SQUID THAT SMASHED HIS SHIP IS NOT THAT STUPID!

BFett wrote:stuff

"Thanks BFett!"

(( I didn't even really know what mumble was - and I don't think I can explain to me parents why I'm "calling" people on the internet ))

Cha0zz wrote: Oh and Dinosawer, I'm sorry, it looks like I was mistaken... YOU ARE AN IDIOT! WHY WOULD YOU JUMP IN FRONT OF A GUN, EVEN THE SQUID THAT SMASHED HIS SHIP IS NOT THAT STUPID![/i]

"Not seeing a turret that was undeployed and hidden in a wall is not the same as jumping in front of a gun, Doc. I don't have scanners for eyes and only 2 hands, you know?
Oh, and what was that noise coming from you over the comms while you were landing, by the way?"
(( ))

Dinosawer wrote:

Cha0zz wrote: Oh and Dinosawer, I'm sorry, it looks like I was mistaken... YOU ARE AN IDIOT! WHY WOULD YOU JUMP IN FRONT OF A GUN, EVEN THE SQUID THAT SMASHED HIS SHIP IS NOT THAT STUPID![/i]

"Not seeing a turret that was undeployed and hidden in a wall is not the same as jumping in front of a gun, Doc. I don't have scanners for eyes and only 2 hands, you know?
Oh, and what was that noise coming from you over the comms while you were landing, by the way?"
(( ))

Some idiot distracted me with his loud music, it's hard to concentrate on landing without a nice piece of classical music? But I guess you bunch of morons are just not civilized enough to understand such a great pieces of work.

And if that's the case, you better learn your pet squid how to communicate properly, next thing he's going to shout that someone who offers him a cup of tea is going to poison him.... Fukcing bunch of idiots.

"It's not because I went to pilot academy that I don't know my Wagner, Doc. Although I must admit I only have the brain capacity to listen at one piece at the same time.
Anyhow, I thought of bringing a repair kit and my "pet squid" is a very competent mechanic, so if need be he can patch you up later - if he feels like it."