WYRDYSM GAMES

After a short break for tea and biscuits, everyone is ushered back to their seats in the hall. The scientist gives a brief speech, more than once mentioning that the electromagnetic interference may well mean this is a one-way trip unless the away team can find some way of disabling it.

Suddenly, several of the consoles light up green, but almost all light up red. At the same time, a door on the western wall of the hall opens and bright light pours out.

The scientist looks up at the audience.

"Well, it looks like the final selections have been made. Those of you with green consoles, please proceed through the door on my right - (your left) - and take a seat within the lobby. The rest of you are free to remain here to review what data we do have, or return to the departure lounge for your return flights."

The green consoles are as follows;

Lysa Dunter.


Allison Raevis.


Temujin Nivarra.


Ms. Bebop.


Lance Alaris.


and


Blanche Arventus.

Those selected are ushered through into the lobby - a small, clean white room with a dozen seats, one wall is a flat sheet of a transparent material, with another double door set in it. Beyond is a small, smoothly curved and pristine white shuttle, a little smaller than the lobby itself, and mounted between several rails that lead off to the right of the room. A small coffee table has several holo-mags on it, mostly dull scientific stuff. Screens on the wall display various images of Ikori XV. Another scrolling screen above the door to the shuttle displays a countdown timer and a destination; the T.G.S.I. "F.R.V. Newton" - a destroyer-sized field research vessel.

Once everyone is in and sat down, the doors back to the hall slide shut again. A calm female voice addresses all those gathered in the lobby, and a screen near the shuttle doors displays a woman in her early 20's with short, blonde hair and green eyes. She smiles at the gathered audience and begins to talk;

"Welcome to the first stage of Project Aurora. I am the Project Overseer, Moira Ellasay, and I'd like to thank all of you for volunteering for the Project. Once final preparations are complete, you will board the shuttle for the Field Research Vessel 'Newton' and from there be transported under escort to the Ikari system. The 'Newton' will then deploy your shuttle to the surface. Your shuttle will take a few more minutes to warm up and complete the refuelling process, so you have some time to converse between yourselves and ask me any questions regarding the project if you have any."

OOC: Please keep OOC commentary to the OOC thread. Offending posts will be deleted without warning.

_________________
　 ／l、
ﾞ（ﾟ､ ｡ ７
　l、ﾞ ~ヽ
　じしf_, )ノ

"Question here, ma'am. Have there been any further advances towards the discovery of this interference ? HAL is quite confident that a scientific vessel would be equipped with whatever he needs to shut it down.

Second question : would the vessel happen to have warheads of any appreciable kilotonnage ?"

_________________
The preferred outcome of war, is peace. Ironic; huh ? -[citation needed]

Temujin pulls out his datapad and record the following:

Project Aurora:

1. Scientific Expirement

2. Research Vessel Newton

3. Leave Immediatly> URGENT!!!!

Finishing this, he sits down and stares out at the shuttle.

" What was the expirement about?", he asks, casually. Quickly he thinks of all the theories and properties that could possible explain what has happend. The dull ache that accompanies such work comes, and he begins to twitch.

_________________
In difficult ground, press on.
In encircled ground, devise strategems.
In desperate ground, fight.

As Lysa entered the room, she scanned it with interest, taking particular note of it's occupants.

All human. Interesting. Also, there is one more female than male. I would consider that even chances. Just then, another entered the room, clad in matte black from head to toe. I wonder who this could be...

Still curious about the other accepted applicants, and especially about the final person to enter the room, she remembered that she was supposed to sit down. Choosing a spot next to a notably muscular man who appeared to be no more than fourty, she sat down.

Thank god that these comforters are softer than those plastic pieces of garbage earlier. Too bad it won't last for long.

Just as she was turning to ask her neighbor a few questions, a woman in her early twenties appeared on a screen nearby the shuttle doors.

"Welcome to the first stage of Project Aurora. I am the Project Overseer, Moira Ellasay, and I'd like to thank all of you for volunteering for the Project. Once final preparations are complete, you will board the shuttle for the Field Research Vessel 'Newton' and from there be transported under escort to the Ikari system. The 'Newton' will then deploy your shuttle to the surface. Your shuttle will take a few more minutes to warm up and complete the refuelling process, so you have some time to converse between yourselves and ask me any questions regarding the project if you have any."

Lysa opened her mouth to speak, but a woman's voice a few chairs down beat her to it. It took her a few moments to realize that the source of the questions was the black suited person from before.

"Question here, ma'am. Have there been any further advances towards the discovery of this interference? HAL is quite confident that a scientific vessel would be equipped with whatever he needs to shut it down.

Second question... would the vessel happen to have warheads of any appreciable kilotonnage?"

Lysa took a moment to consider the situation before tuning into the Overseer's answer. From the corner of the room, a quiet voice mumbled something that sounded like a question. Lysa didn't hear it, too deep in thought about the Project and what it will mean.

Who is HAL? Why is the other male twitching so much? Why does this male next to me have no pupils? Oh well, I guess it will take me a while to fully get to know my team members on this expedition.

_________________
Warcraft III (U.S. East) -~-~- [( Aequinox / DACI-Equinox / Equinox]4[Lyfe )]
XBox 360 LIVE (Mostly CoD:WaW) -~-~- [( EquinoxXenom )]

"What ? Alright, fine, however you want it.

HAL would like me to announce that he is the AI in my suit. I am not speaking to myself, nor am I fowarding questions from an unseen and imaginary entity. He would also like to announce to any availible bachellorettes in the room that he - what is this ?! No way am I reading that.

...

No you shut up. I downloaded you to this suit and I can delete you from it as well ..."

_________________
The preferred outcome of war, is peace. Ironic; huh ? -[citation needed]

Lance glanced around at everyone. Too many damn girls. He thought. This is going to turn into a bloody prinny fest....

He just whipped out his pulse-pistol and checked the power core. The output was fine.

"Atrum, anything we can modify for better efficiency?" Lance murmured

"Turn it into a bomb! A bomb! A bomb!" ATRUM chimed in.

"Be serious. I want to get as many shots out of this thing as possible."

"Connect the Emitter matrix directly to the power core. Use the silver wires in your toolkit to improve conductivity. Smooth the firing chamber... Reprogram the Emitter to fire thinner, longer bolts for more pentration." ATRUM narrated.

"Eh? And I thought we already seriously mutilated this poor thing. 'sides, won't that overload the Emitter?" Lance asked

"It is perfectly within safety parameters. At worst, you can use it as a bomb when it over-loads." ATRUM answered

Lance just sat down and pulled out a small pen-like cutting instrument, a bunch of spare parts, and a thin piece of wire.

Then he just opened the pistol up and began his work. Didn't cross his mind to socialize anyway. He only came to protect any pansys that were coming... And to pay back what he owed to humanity.

"A question, Ma'am. Can we shoot the drop-site with a beam cannon shot JUST to be safe?"

Moira rolls her eyes at the suggestions of firepower. "Unfortunately no, and the interference prevents systems from getting a lock on the co-ordinates, nevermind that it's far too small a target to 'blindfire'. All of the probes we tried to send down to the surface have shorted out above ground level no matter the location, angle of approach, probe size, technological level or shielding."

"The 'good' news is that according to recordings from later probes, several probes have made it down to the surface intact apart from electrical malfunctions, meaning that there's nothing dangerous and no defensive systems of note."

"Your first set of goals is pretty simple; survive the landing, survey the immediate area around the base, then try and find at least one of the probes that landed within the compound. Assuming their black boxes are still functional they should give you some insight into the cause of the malfunction."

Moira pauses to take a drink from a glass of water.

"As for 'experiment' I'm not quite sure I follow, Mr. Nivarra. Perhaps you are mistaken?"

_________________
　 ／l、
ﾞ（ﾟ､ ｡ ７
　l、ﾞ ~ヽ
　じしf_, )ノ

"No defensives". Lance snorted "Pirates wouldn't give a rat's *** about a probe. They'd just hide and hope we pass them over, thinking its' a patrol... And good ol Collins told me not to bring a darn gun... thank god I brought a pistol."

"Either that. Or they DEMPed the area. Or their sensors only detect organics." ATRUM butted in.

Atrum looked around. Nobody here would be able to fight well, probably.

This might as well be a damn stupid commando mission if it involved fighting of any sort. He thought.

He hoped he didn't have to play nanny.

HAL's characteristic red text seemed to hover between my eyes. As a touch of humanity, he allowed it to appear letter by letter, as though typed.

Could've used a cruise Missile or two. Ah well. If we're going to be spending the next indefinite amount of time with these people, I'd suggest you gather a little intel. Y'never know what could come in handy.

"Couldn't have said it better myself. Open the COM."

My voice sounds cramped within the helmet; and as it is a closed system the only way for it to escape is through a microphone-speaker pairing located, rather conveniently, where on my helmet my voice should be coming from.

"I've been told you all are experts in your chosen field, be it military, scientific or otherwise. This probably comes as no surprise to you, but we will, in all likelyhood, be spending a fair amount of time with each other over the next while."

Oooh. How inspirational. I'm saving this for Sunday night with the guys ...

"Oh shush you. Er, anyways. Hello. Glad to have met you all. Deactivate COM.

I sat down. Seems like they spaired no expense on the seats in here.

A pause.

That Lysa woman is staring at you.

"What ? Who's-"

'Cracked their database while they weren't looking.

"Ah. See if you can't dig up any more on this motley little crew of ours. I'll go interrogate her the traditional way."

No guns.

"Pssh, I don't need guns to be scary. Activate COM."

_________________
The preferred outcome of war, is peace. Ironic; huh ? -[citation needed]

"Somebody's hacking your file." ATRUM transmitted.

"Oh really." Lance murmured, still twiddling with the Pulse Pistol.

"Yes, really. Permission to do something nasty to him, hehehe?"

"What?"

"Firecracker boom."

"Oh, screw you, do what you want...You're breaking my concentration."

"That girl over there is hacking your profile. You might want to keep a watch on her."

Lance dropped the pistol, and glared at Bepop. Screw this, he thought. Better of letting them know I'm a bloody murderer and all. Maybe they'll stay away. He facepalmed, then grabbed the pistol and tools and continued his work.

The woman in the black suit rose, breaking Lysa's reverie.

"I've been told you all are experts in your chosen field, be it military, scientific or otherwise. This probably comes as no surprise to you, but we will, in all likelyhood, be spending a fair amount of time with each other over the next while. Er, anyways. Hello. Glad to have met you all."

Lysa laughed to herself. The only obvious outwards appearence of her laugh was a small shaking of her body, and a quiet expulsion of breath. Grinning, she looked around to see everybody's reactions.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the man next to her glaring at the other woman. He also appeared to be quietly talking to himself.

God, I hope it's not another AI. One is plenty.

The rest of the crew seemed very thoughtful. Turning to the first woman who had introduced herself, she searched her brain, trying to remember the woman's name.

Go***mn, I'm too tired right now. Socializing can wait.

"Excuse me, uh, miss, any chance I can get to work on prepping the shuttle? I assume I am going to be the pilot."

That'll give me some time to kick back and check on the rest of my equipment. Maybe I can even splice into the database and bring up anything on the planet. Heck, anything on my crew for that matter. She almost laughed again at her own use of 'my' crew. No, not my crew. We're all equals here, as far as anybody should be concerned.

Lysa got up before the woman could respond, and stretched her legs and back. She made a point of quickly checking her chronometer, sighing, before taking out her blaster and rechecking the power pack. She holstered it and looked back up at the woman.[/i]

_________________
Warcraft III (U.S. East) -~-~- [( Aequinox / DACI-Equinox / Equinox]4[Lyfe )]
XBox 360 LIVE (Mostly CoD:WaW) -~-~- [( EquinoxXenom )]

Allison looked over the group with a practiced eye, examining them in several categories - the results of her extensive cross-training.

First, the military aspect, as dictated by the threat scale. The man two seats over was obviously a military man. He was large, muscled, looked like he had seen combat, and was fiddling with his pistol. From his body language, it looked like he was having a conversation, but Allison heard nothing.

That guy is probably going to be the coolest out of everyone if there's combat. Maybe he has a sort of internal computer system that he's referencing while he's fiddling with that gun.

The others ranked rather far below the armored assaultman, and there wasn't too much of note. Allison figured that if it came to shooting, she would stick close to the large man, give him support fire, and follow whatever directions it gave. It seemed to be the safest option, if it came to fighting.

Psychologically, Allison couldn't figure out much yet. She was sure that she would be able to "figure them out" as they worked together more, but for now, there wasn't too much information.

Except for the fact that there's quite a few armored people here, and all that obsession over their personal weapons...

Mentally, she had already classified the group members into easy archetypes that she could remember quickly. The big man, obviously, was the assaultman. The woman next to her, who had just stood up, was the pilot. The one on the other side of her, Allison couldn't quite tell what she used to do, for now she was the rogue. The twitchy scientist type, fairly easily fell into the role of the techie. The alien-looking one, with strange skin and hair, fit the role of the mystery quite well. That left herself, who seemed to be both the doctor and the talker for this group.

Done with her preliminary overview, Allison caught the attention of the briefing lady and asked "Has all our requested equipment been readied for us on the Newton? And how long will our transit to the Ikari system be?"

Wait - wait a second.

"Now why is that ? I can't hack their brains from a distance; see, people have this thing called speech ..."

Someone's attempting a back hack. Stand by.

The visor's projection flickered - then shut off. Instead of a warm touch that separates suit from skin, a cold developed. The air tasted stale.

It clicked. "Damnit ! You get back here to run the suit or I swear on my-"

Command read, COM activated.

"deathbead I'll kil-". My arm was frozen in mid-air, pointing an accusing finger at some unknown and unseen entity.

"Excuse me for a moment, I need to ... read that magazine. "

With a thump, the exchanger pumped gallons of system gels back in to motion, brining heat back to the suit - as well as fresh air.

Heh heh, got that hacker good. Aparently firewalls aren't built like they used to b-

"The 'hell was that ?! I can't breath uncirculated air forever, y'know."

Hmm ? 'Guess the program didn't intiate properly.

"Damn right it didn't ! R&D sent you here for a reason, and assassinating me isn't it !"

Though lacking a voice of his own, HAL emulated an awkward silence with stunning ability.

"Whatever. That happens again and I'm remote operating. How's the hacker ?"

Taken care of. Are you sure you don't want to talk abo-

"Get me anything you have on pirate activity in the destination's sector."

Aye.

_________________
The preferred outcome of war, is peace. Ironic; huh ? -[citation needed]

"Alright. Whoever that is. STOP IT. I don't want us killing each other just 'cause our AIs are having a hack frenzy." Lance shouted across the room. "You can bloody perfectly easily access our dossiers in the shuttle instead of having to hack us, yknow."


"Aww, maan! I WAS kinda looking forward to you fighting again."

"Shut up before I disable you."

Lance adjusted the final controls on the Pulse Pistol before finally closing it and vaccuming all the air out. Ah well. He thought. More bang for my buck in case shit happens...

Temujin watched, seeing everyone getting nervous. He felt down his leg, grasping the comforting weight of his pistol. He then turned up, staring at the others in the room. He knew what they thought of him. And while he did know a lot, more than a lot, he could easily handle himself if shooting started. You had too if you went through basic.

" Yes, expirement. I'm sorry if I assumed wrong, but with the mention of a Research vessel, and then the planet, and failure, I assume that you know more than you are telling us. Or at least someone does. And you don't like it. You could just have easily sent a military vessel to investigate, but no, you are sending a full research vessel, and THIS!.", Temujin said, gesturing around him.

" Looking far can be good, but looking close can get you more.", he finished, sitting down again. His twitching had subsided, but he wore the expression of someone presented with a child he could not even begin to understand the simplest of concepts.

_________________
In difficult ground, press on.
In encircled ground, devise strategems.
In desperate ground, fight.