<span style='color:green'>[You take a sample and begin analyzing it]</span>
<span style='color:gray'>[Seems they might fire, or they might not. They move to the specified coordinates, but they don't return any signal. You can't make out if they're going to fire or not if you try]</span>
<i>In response to Ceanjia's question, Dea answers: ""we've been experimented on. but we're not hostile. the same things trying to kill you are trying to kill us.""
Ceanjia: "Doesn't work. I'm not trying to figure out why you have alien blood in your veins. Truth be told, I know. What I'm asking is, what makes you so sure I'm wrong? Why should we believe that they would have ANY sort of reason for making your group different than they made the rest of you draug. Why would you be less hostile just because you can look like humans? Humans lie, why wouldn't you?
Just tell me this one thing: if you're not from the draug labs, if you're not draug, where do you come from after all?"</i>
<span style='color:green'>*over radio* *sighs in disgust* "Ceanija, <i>shut up</i>. We'll know for sure in a minute."</span> <!--QuoteBegin--Boggles+the other thread--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Boggles @ the other thread)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"Dea, those four mechs were the only ones she could protect before 343 started re-coding their programs to make them think they were hostile. All the others destroyed themselves, unless she has more somewhere else not even 343 knows about."<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> <span style='color:green'>"Wait...343? Please don't tell me that's another AI." *sighs* "Why, oh why, did I get out of bed this morning?" *shakes his head, then [goes back to analysing that sample]*</span> <b>Oh, and xect, just in case you hadn't noticed Boggles is trying to install a manual override in our tfac's siege targeting unit. Just FYI <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
<span style='color:White'> *Ed listens to Night over the Comms* "Your logic is sound, but give Night a chance and be nice or else we wont back you up before we leave" *Ed looks over at his new comrades* "... And im fairly certian we're Allies, otherwise we would have already have been fed a missile by now."</span>
<b><!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Oh, and xect, just in case you hadn't noticed Boggles is trying to install a manual override in our tfac's siege targeting unit. Just FYI <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I did PM 343, so the message will get through sooner or later</b>
<!--QuoteBegin--Z.X. Bogglesteinsky+Jan 15 2004, 08:07 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Z.X. Bogglesteinsky @ Jan 15 2004, 08:07 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>well in that case, one of us is bound to succeed...</b> <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> <b>In manually breaking open the systems of an automated turret, overriding its controls in order to hit a moving mech with manual coordinates? You might, but it's not easy. Gwahir got the closest so far.</b>
<span style='color:purple'>"Good luck with those seiges man, even if ya get em to hit 3D coordinates it's going to be hard hitting those mechs..." *Wanders around the wreckage of the ship in the hangar* "Too bad we don't have an EMP or something like that." [Drops another couple sets of HA on the ground nearby the TF remotely] {Yelling ot the others} "Use those HA's if you want, we got easily enough resources."</span>
<span style='color:orange'><b>"That's it, I can't stay here any longer, this things not going anywhere." *just as Merc stands up, the transport lurches forward, and not in a good way* "Oh cr@p." *using her Y-Amp subroutine, she [tries to leap up on top of the transport and, once its fallen far enough, leap onto the station platform]</b></span>
<span style='color:gray'>[To assist with targetting, Gwahir attaches his PDA to gain control by relaying info from his helmet's laser range finder and orientation systems to produce the coordinates and begins testing the tracking by moving his head with the laser enabled]</span>
Well that laser has to have some function, and orientation must be accounted for since we can see waypoints on our HUDs.
<!--QuoteBegin--Boggles+that other thread again--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Boggles @ that other thread again)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"343 is the older vesion of 344. When 344 went insane and started trying to kill us all, the Proffessor gave us an old back up of her, 343. She is more interested ion saving the personel rather than the ship."<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> <span style='color:green'>"Oh, this just gets better and better." [still analysing]</span> <!--QuoteBegin--Boggles+again--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Boggles @ again)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->*privately* "the only problem is, Ceanjia is 344. But don't let on that her cover is blown until I've got this tfac rewired."<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> <span style='color:green'>*privately* "And you know this...how?"</span> <b>Bad forum! Quote automatically closes color and doesn't open it again.</b>
<span style='color:orange'><i>"I'm gonna see if they need some help down in the docking bay." *I enter the docking bay and hear Boggles remark about Ceanja being 344* [privately]"You're kidding, we've been working for an AI that gone mental. Sh!t. Who wrote her?"</i></span>
<span style='color:gray'><b>*Moves over to help terran with the communications and knocks his head* " Im every bit as a Engineer and Techie as you are! Not just some general guy who shoots stuff" /grumbles*</b></span>
<i>Draug(Dea): "not shure. we cant really remeber our past, the ones of us experimented on. but we certainly didnt come from the draug labs. we were human before." "heres a question for you. our AI has conferemed you as part of 344. how are you going to disprove it? if you are who 343 says you are, then we'll have to wipe you out before you kill these marines. the only reason I havent already is because you havent hurt them yet."
Other Draug (Boggle)"We know this because there are only 2 AI on this ship. One that came with it and one that we installed."
Ceanjia: "You really do believe in that 343 of yours don't you? Let me tell you a few things. First, you tell me that you do not remember your past, yet you know you were humans before. Tell me one thing, how do you know? Do you have any reason but 343 to believe, despite evidence, that you were humans before?
And really, boggle, what are you talking about? I can count 4 so far, counting only the full-access coded. First there's 343, the A.I. of yours. Once a nice A.I., but somehow changed of late. Second there's 344, always a psychopathic control freak bent on benefitting the ship in her own funny way. Third there's me, a stowaway, created way back by Erin Townsend, and a fourth, just entering the system and right now having trouble with a packet transporter... *is silent for a few seconds* Wait a sec, I know those routines, they look like mine? Who is she anyway?"</i>
<span style='color:purple'>"Like I tried to say earlier, heh, You and Merc have the same creator, who also happens to be Darkness' now dead fiance, thanks to the Kharaa of the W.T. Hell." *Walks up to the cockpit of the ship, looking through the computers for anything usefull* {Yelling to Gwahir} "Hey, Gwahir, do you think you could maybe use one of the ship's external camera's for the seiges? Maybe we can rig 3 helmets and camera's up to use these effectively." *Walks back out of the wreckage over to the TF with Gwahir and Boggle* "Or maybe you could just have it use the Laser for the X and Y coordinates, then use the Z of where you're helmet is, and just use a normal auto calculating rotation... Wouldn't be too hard."</span>
<span style='color:white'> *Over Radio* "Cen, I know Kahraa all too well. Even if these crew have a little kahraa in them, they arent trying to rip me to shreds, put an overly large slug through me, or flip me through the air like a cow from a trebuchet, Im fie with em." *Over Suit Message* <i>Edward_Crab (TEAM): Hold on just a minute before you guys decide to blow up those mechs, Cen is starting to see things our way. oh, and By the way, sxhould we tell these "Hybrids" about impending buem-age?</i>
<["Hey, does anyone here know the access code to the base level engineer status, I have an idea that should help us all out"]> </span>
<b> I suggest we use the <[ ]> Tags when we want to talk between RPs, easier that way </b>
<span style='color:gray'>"That would only really work if I put my head where the blast will be. Right now I'm just testing it for link up, then we'll work on finding a less vulnerable way. But what I was thinking with the helmet is that since we have a unified coordinate system based on the center of our map, the laser gets the range from my position, the orientation system gets the vector and calculates the target coordinates relative to me then it adds in my own position in 3D space and so the target is calculated in the unified coordinate system."</span>
I know you're trying to work on the manual TF upgrade, I'm working on coordinate acquisition not to mention xect said I got closest. We just don't know if it'll fire, perhaps you should work on removing safeties to help ensure that it fires.
<i>Dea: "343 has been ABSOLUTELY reliable so far. not to mention that we saw a bit of what was done to us. we looked pritty frelling human at that point."
Ceanjia: "Saw? How? 343 showed you? Really, besides from her word, how can you know you can control it? What makes you think that supernatural strength and endurance beyond anything humans could ever dream of was the only change they made? Why do you think that they, the same "they" who created the bloodthirsty draug attempting to slaughter every human they see, would create you, the strongest of them, the ones that are able to survive a dead-on rocket hit, fly across the corridor, slam into the wall and still be perfectly fine? What makes you think they'd give you a peacefull mind, how can you be so sure that your mind is all that's in there, that you were always like this?</i>
<span style='color:purple'>*Narrows eyes at Gwahir* "Thats basicly what I was suggesting... It'll work the same though. And having only 1 coordinate piece comming from the headset and not the laser would only make it so it hit on the same vertical level as your head, that way the blast wouldn't be knocking holes in walls and things... It would be hitting the target at head level too, wouldn't work in elevators etc though." *Looks around the dock a bit and stretches legs* {Over public communications} <["Anyway guys and gals, lets get moving and disable those damn sentry turrets outside the ship, then set some charges and get the hell outa here... First however, someone run back over to communications and try and call that damn bomber off, otherwise he's guna get fried by the turrets, and if we bring them offline before he gets here, he'll just bomb us into oblivion, so it's a lose-lose situation unless we call him off."]></span>
-edited in- How is it that I always end up posting right after xect, lol...
<span style='color:red'><span style='font-family:courier'> *rubs head* "Ah right, of course! Forgive me, Spin!" *recieves the text message* <i>Private Terran (TEAM): I don't know. I want to see this out a bit more. We've met for only a bit already. Besides, we probably shouldn't waste this space station. A disaster of this magnitude needs to be defused so that we've got bodies, documents, and all that jazz to send back to Command. This could be revolutionary...somehow."</i> *turns away from the buildings and is then disturbed by the latest message* "Ehh...great. Now we've got psy ops. Listen, I think we're gonna need to work together for a little. If we don't get rid of the Kharaa soon, they are going to run blitzkreig operations while we've got AIs getting into p*ssing contests. Not to mention the Draug. We need a decision, and we need it now. World isn't gonna wait for us." </span></span>
<span style='color:orange'><i>"Ceanja, when were you created? Erin was working on an AI back in Toowoomba before she left, but that could've been Mercura."</i> <b>"Dark, please tell me you've still got your PDA hooked up to an access port."</b> <i>"Merc?! Okay, hang on." *plugs PDA into a port on the docking bay public terminal* "Merc, can you get onto the docking bay public terminal?"</i> <b>"Well, I should be able to get there soon, right now I'm hanging onto the edge of the station platform by one hand, I'm using the other to talk to you with my portable I/O Node. I'll be there in about three minutes, provided the data streams aren't too cloged"</b> <i>"Didn't they have those guarded?"</i> <b>"I'll have to resort to plan Rambo."</b> <i>"Run in guns blazing?"</i> <b>"Yup. See ya soon." *puts away portable node and flips up onto the platform, raising her blaster in one hand and her disc in the other and runs off towards the data streams*</b></span>
<b>Oi! Xect! No results on that analysis yet?</b> <span style='color:green'>[over public radio] <["You know, this might sound like a whacky idea, but why not get our two friendly AIs off then nuke the rest of the computer system? This ship's gotta have a computer core somewhere."]> "Hey, how's that radio coming?" [Analysing, analysing, yadda yadda yadda]</span>
Shade - you are having problems with the samples, the blood is already old, and you're trying to purify the sample so that you can get to analyze it. It's hard to say if you'll be able to get a reliable result out of it, depends on the state of the cells. Right now, you're trying to dissolve a piece of the sample to a state where you can test it for bacterium.
The pilot calls in again: "Oh crap, they're not responding. THIS IS FRONTIERSMAN BOMBER, REPORT IN IF YOU'RE IN THERE. You have 5 minutes, please don't tell me you've been wiped out too."
<span style='color:gray'>*Hearing the call over the radio, Gwahir responds* "We're still here, but the station's external is covered in very accurate defensive weapons. We don't think it's safe to approach." "Khaim, I really don't see how that'll work."</span>
Khaim, you've got me puzzled in real life, first off we need all angles available, second what you're saying gives no information as to how it gets range data.
* = marine T = target
<!--c1--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1--> * \ \ \ T <!--c2--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--ec2--> 3 units at such an angle left and such an elevation and your own location and height is known.
Nvm then Gwahir, I wasn't explaining what I meant very well anyway. On that note, I may be MIA for a couple days, going to be out of town this weekend.
<i>(boggle):"You know, you are right. We can't trust anybody. Not you, not these mechs, not any of these frontiersmen, not this 4th AI you keep talking about, not 344, not even 343. But at least 343 hasn't tried to kill us yet, so that says something, and I believe I speak for all of us when I say that until we see a reason not to trust her, we will trust only her. Besides, if we are the advanced form of draug, why is everybody trying to kill us, including our distant relatives, the kharaa and our less advandes cousins, the draug? And what happens if we do turn out to be draug? What then? You gonna try to kill us too?"
Ceanjia: "Well, think about it. You have seen what those Draug can do. Now try thinking about another thing. They are so afraid of you that they attack you merely to avoid being crushed themselves when you come for them. What am I supposed to do, help you get out there? You don't trust me at all, you call me a liar, associating me with a digital psycopath. What am I supposed to do, beg you for forgiveness and help you go into human space?"
Ceanjia (over marine comm): "Ok, this is it. I can't wait for this any longer, every second they grow stronger, every moment has the next batch of prototypes growing in the labs, every minute means another hive for the Kharaa growing on the other floors. Whatever you do, it seems that bomber is very close now. You might want to get to the communications station, tell him that the pickup site is the 4th docking bay on floor 13, clone the research data and get the hell out of here. I found a hole in the network, should be able to get you through to the data from the communications station so you can download the data from there, but you won't have long. Just be carefull that you don't end up spreading the third evolution, the first one to combine human technology and alien bacterium, into space."
Night Shade - things aren't looking good. It seems the bacterium are more or less unaffected by the death of the creature, while the human blood is not. So right now, there's sparse bits of human blood in the samples, but everything else is completely eaten up by the bacterium. Right now, it seems impossible to determine the original structure of the blood.</i>
<span style='color:green'>"Sh.t." *packs away equipment* "These chunks of Draug are too old to get a sample out of. There are traces of human blood in there, but the kharaa bacterium seems to be consuming whatever there was of the human bits. I can't get any undecayed tissue or blood." *heads out of the hangar, back to the group near communications* "Well, this puts us back at square one - two AIs having a p.ssing contest, Draug we have no hope of beating, and a TSA bomber getting ready to turn us all into radioactive space dust." *over marine private comms* <i>"For once, Ceanija is talking a little sense. These guys aren't human. I can't confirm that they are indeed Draug, but they aren't human. For once I agree with the AI, let's grab the data and Merc and get out."</i> *shuts Ceanija out of the conversation* <i>"But the AI stays here."</i></span>
<span style='color:white'> [Ed uses the access code given to him by Spin and tries to reactivate the console. If sucessful, he tries firing up the Radio.]
"Frontiersman Bomber, This is [Insert squad name here]! Automated Defenses are hot! Maintain distance until further notice." [then, If base level engineer access is enabeled, Ed checks the power distrbution for the area, specifically the power ratings on the breakers for the high-level (Automated defenses, AI core, security lockouts...) systems and access points to the power grid.]
</span>
*Edited due to accidental submission before completed*
Comments
<span style='color:gray'>[Seems they might fire, or they might not. They move to the specified coordinates, but they don't return any signal. You can't make out if they're going to fire or not if you try]</span>
<i>In response to Ceanjia's question, Dea answers: ""we've been experimented on. but we're not hostile. the same things trying to kill you are trying to kill us.""
Ceanjia: "Doesn't work. I'm not trying to figure out why you have alien blood in your veins. Truth be told, I know. What I'm asking is, what makes you so sure I'm wrong? Why should we believe that they would have ANY sort of reason for making your group different than they made the rest of you draug. Why would you be less hostile just because you can look like humans? Humans lie, why wouldn't you?
Just tell me this one thing: if you're not from the draug labs, if you're not draug, where do you come from after all?"</i>
<!--QuoteBegin--Boggles+the other thread--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Boggles @ the other thread)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"Dea, those four mechs were the only ones she could protect before 343 started re-coding their programs to make them think they were hostile. All the others destroyed themselves, unless she has more somewhere else not even 343 knows about."<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<span style='color:green'>"Wait...343? Please don't tell me that's another AI."
*sighs* "Why, oh why, did I get out of bed this morning?"
*shakes his head, then [goes back to analysing that sample]*</span>
<b>Oh, and xect, just in case you hadn't noticed Boggles is trying to install a manual override in our tfac's siege targeting unit. Just FYI <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
"Your logic is sound, but give Night a chance and be nice or else we wont back you up before we leave"
*Ed looks over at his new comrades*
"... And im fairly certian we're Allies, otherwise we would have already have been fed a missile by now."</span>
I did PM 343, so the message will get through sooner or later</b>
<b>In manually breaking open the systems of an automated turret, overriding its controls in order to hit a moving mech with manual coordinates? You might, but it's not easy. Gwahir got the closest so far.</b>
*Wanders around the wreckage of the ship in the hangar*
"Too bad we don't have an EMP or something like that."
[Drops another couple sets of HA on the ground nearby the TF remotely]
{Yelling ot the others} "Use those HA's if you want, we got easily enough resources."</span>
*just as Merc stands up, the transport lurches forward, and not in a good way*
"Oh cr@p."
*using her Y-Amp subroutine, she [tries to leap up on top of the transport and, once its fallen far enough, leap onto the station platform]</b></span>
Well that laser has to have some function, and orientation must be accounted for since we can see waypoints on our HUDs.
<span style='color:green'>"Oh, this just gets better and better."
[still analysing]</span>
<!--QuoteBegin--Boggles+again--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Boggles @ again)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->*privately*
"the only problem is, Ceanjia is 344. But don't let on that her cover is blown until I've got this tfac rewired."<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<span style='color:green'>*privately* "And you know this...how?"</span>
<b>Bad forum! Quote automatically closes color and doesn't open it again.</b>
*I enter the docking bay and hear Boggles remark about Ceanja being 344*
[privately]"You're kidding, we've been working for an AI that gone mental. Sh!t. Who wrote her?"</i></span>
"heres a question for you. our AI has conferemed you as part of 344. how are you going to disprove it? if you are who 343 says you are, then we'll have to wipe you out before you kill these marines. the only reason I havent already is because you havent hurt them yet."
Other Draug (Boggle)"We know this because there are only 2 AI on this ship. One that came with it and one that we installed."
Ceanjia: "You really do believe in that 343 of yours don't you? Let me tell you a few things. First, you tell me that you do not remember your past, yet you know you were humans before. Tell me one thing, how do you know? Do you have any reason but 343 to believe, despite evidence, that you were humans before?
And really, boggle, what are you talking about? I can count 4 so far, counting only the full-access coded. First there's 343, the A.I. of yours. Once a nice A.I., but somehow changed of late. Second there's 344, always a psychopathic control freak bent on benefitting the ship in her own funny way. Third there's me, a stowaway, created way back by Erin Townsend, and a fourth, just entering the system and right now having trouble with a packet transporter...
*is silent for a few seconds*
Wait a sec, I know those routines, they look like mine? Who is she anyway?"</i>
*Walks up to the cockpit of the ship, looking through the computers for anything usefull*
{Yelling to Gwahir} "Hey, Gwahir, do you think you could maybe use one of the ship's external camera's for the seiges? Maybe we can rig 3 helmets and camera's up to use these effectively."
*Walks back out of the wreckage over to the TF with Gwahir and Boggle*
"Or maybe you could just have it use the Laser for the X and Y coordinates, then use the Z of where you're helmet is, and just use a normal auto calculating rotation... Wouldn't be too hard."</span>
"Cen, I know Kahraa all too well. Even if these crew have a little kahraa in them, they arent trying to rip me to shreds, put an overly large slug through me, or flip me through the air like a cow from a trebuchet, Im fie with em."
*Over Suit Message*
<i>Edward_Crab (TEAM): Hold on just a minute before you guys decide to blow up those mechs, Cen is starting to see things our way. oh, and By the way, sxhould we tell these "Hybrids" about impending buem-age?</i>
<["Hey, does anyone here know the access code to the base level engineer status, I have an idea that should help us all out"]>
</span>
<b> I suggest we use the <[ ]> Tags when we want to talk between RPs, easier that way </b>
I know you're trying to work on the manual TF upgrade, I'm working on coordinate acquisition not to mention xect said I got closest. We just don't know if it'll fire, perhaps you should work on removing safeties to help ensure that it fires.
Ceanjia: "Saw? How? 343 showed you? Really, besides from her word, how can you know you can control it? What makes you think that supernatural strength and endurance beyond anything humans could ever dream of was the only change they made? Why do you think that they, the same "they" who created the bloodthirsty draug attempting to slaughter every human they see, would create you, the strongest of them, the ones that are able to survive a dead-on rocket hit, fly across the corridor, slam into the wall and still be perfectly fine? What makes you think they'd give you a peacefull mind, how can you be so sure that your mind is all that's in there, that you were always like this?</i>
"Thats basicly what I was suggesting... It'll work the same though. And having only 1 coordinate piece comming from the headset and not the laser would only make it so it hit on the same vertical level as your head, that way the blast wouldn't be knocking holes in walls and things... It would be hitting the target at head level too, wouldn't work in elevators etc though."
*Looks around the dock a bit and stretches legs*
{Over public communications} <["Anyway guys and gals, lets get moving and disable those damn sentry turrets outside the ship, then set some charges and get the hell outa here... First however, someone run back over to communications and try and call that damn bomber off, otherwise he's guna get fried by the turrets, and if we bring them offline before he gets here, he'll just bomb us into oblivion, so it's a lose-lose situation unless we call him off."]></span>
-edited in- How is it that I always end up posting right after xect, lol...
*rubs head*
"Ah right, of course! Forgive me, Spin!"
*recieves the text message*
<i>Private Terran (TEAM): I don't know. I want to see this out a bit more. We've met for only a bit already. Besides, we probably shouldn't waste this space station. A disaster of this magnitude needs to be defused so that we've got bodies, documents, and all that jazz to send back to Command. This could be revolutionary...somehow."</i>
*turns away from the buildings and is then disturbed by the latest message*
"Ehh...great. Now we've got psy ops. Listen, I think we're gonna need to work together for a little. If we don't get rid of the Kharaa soon, they are going to run blitzkreig operations while we've got AIs getting into p*ssing contests. Not to mention the Draug. We need a decision, and we need it now. World isn't gonna wait for us."
</span></span>
<b>"Dark, please tell me you've still got your PDA hooked up to an access port."</b>
<i>"Merc?! Okay, hang on."
*plugs PDA into a port on the docking bay public terminal*
"Merc, can you get onto the docking bay public terminal?"</i>
<b>"Well, I should be able to get there soon, right now I'm hanging onto the edge of the station platform by one hand, I'm using the other to talk to you with my portable I/O Node. I'll be there in about three minutes, provided the data streams aren't too cloged"</b>
<i>"Didn't they have those guarded?"</i>
<b>"I'll have to resort to plan Rambo."</b>
<i>"Run in guns blazing?"</i>
<b>"Yup. See ya soon."
*puts away portable node and flips up onto the platform, raising her blaster in one hand and her disc in the other and runs off towards the data streams*</b></span>
<span style='color:green'>[over public radio] <["You know, this might sound like a whacky idea, but why not get our two friendly AIs off then nuke the rest of the computer system? This ship's gotta have a computer core somewhere."]>
"Hey, how's that radio coming?"
[Analysing, analysing, yadda yadda yadda]</span>
Shade - you are having problems with the samples, the blood is already old, and you're trying to purify the sample so that you can get to analyze it. It's hard to say if you'll be able to get a reliable result out of it, depends on the state of the cells. Right now, you're trying to dissolve a piece of the sample to a state where you can test it for bacterium.
The pilot calls in again: "Oh crap, they're not responding. THIS IS FRONTIERSMAN BOMBER, REPORT IN IF YOU'RE IN THERE. You have 5 minutes, please don't tell me you've been wiped out too."
{mumbles}"dammit, not another one"</i>
"We're still here, but the station's external is covered in very accurate defensive weapons. We don't think it's safe to approach."
"Khaim, I really don't see how that'll work."</span>
Khaim, you've got me puzzled in real life, first off we need all angles available, second what you're saying gives no information as to how it gets range data.
* = marine
T = target
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*
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\
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T
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3 units at such an angle left and such an elevation and your own location and height is known.
*gives him the acess code*
"Hope that helps, if you cant gain acess, ill try hacking it for you."[/B]</span>
Ceanjia: "Well, think about it. You have seen what those Draug can do. Now try thinking about another thing. They are so afraid of you that they attack you merely to avoid being crushed themselves when you come for them. What am I supposed to do, help you get out there? You don't trust me at all, you call me a liar, associating me with a digital psycopath. What am I supposed to do, beg you for forgiveness and help you go into human space?"
Ceanjia (over marine comm): "Ok, this is it. I can't wait for this any longer, every second they grow stronger, every moment has the next batch of prototypes growing in the labs, every minute means another hive for the Kharaa growing on the other floors. Whatever you do, it seems that bomber is very close now. You might want to get to the communications station, tell him that the pickup site is the 4th docking bay on floor 13, clone the research data and get the hell out of here. I found a hole in the network, should be able to get you through to the data from the communications station so you can download the data from there, but you won't have long. Just be carefull that you don't end up spreading the third evolution, the first one to combine human technology and alien bacterium, into space."
Night Shade - things aren't looking good. It seems the bacterium are more or less unaffected by the death of the creature, while the human blood is not. So right now, there's sparse bits of human blood in the samples, but everything else is completely eaten up by the bacterium. Right now, it seems impossible to determine the original structure of the blood.</i>
*packs away equipment*
"These chunks of Draug are too old to get a sample out of. There are traces of human blood in there, but the kharaa bacterium seems to be consuming whatever there was of the human bits. I can't get any undecayed tissue or blood."
*heads out of the hangar, back to the group near communications*
"Well, this puts us back at square one - two AIs having a p.ssing contest, Draug we have no hope of beating, and a TSA bomber getting ready to turn us all into radioactive space dust."
*over marine private comms*
<i>"For once, Ceanija is talking a little sense. These guys aren't human. I can't confirm that they are indeed Draug, but they aren't human. For once I agree with the AI, let's grab the data and Merc and get out."</i>
*shuts Ceanija out of the conversation*
<i>"But the AI stays here."</i></span>
"Frontiersman Bomber, This is [Insert squad name here]! Automated Defenses are hot! Maintain distance until further notice."
[then, If base level engineer access is enabeled, Ed checks the power distrbution for the area, specifically the power ratings on the breakers for the high-level (Automated defenses, AI core, security lockouts...) systems and access points to the power grid.]
</span>
*Edited due to accidental submission before completed*