Copernicus One [Chapter 1] - Scavenger Run [FINISHED]

[Ancient Gamer]

"Of course, Sir!", Wionna put her visor mask on, and strapped the fuel tanks to her back. Then she lit the welding torch. Within a short while she had cut through one of the double doors, and Phil eased it down on the ground. There was enough room for Phil, and even Angus in the Stavros, to pass.

***

The Russian made assault rifles were impressive. Night Scopes, 100 bullet magazines and it felt just right in their arms. But the combat armor was another matter. She had given up finding a password, and Rebecca looked at the impressive black armor. It was made to cover the entire body, and Rebecca put on the black trousers first and buckled the black leather belt. The texture of the trousers was coarse, like it had been woven from various thick threads of some ultra-resilient matter. Then she put on the shirt and gloves, followed by the hood. She tightened the hood around the black and dark green mask, with both gas mask and some sort of goggles.

Breathing through the mask wasn't as hard as the gas masks they had on the Copernicus. But what really blew her mind was how the goggles adjusted her vision. Small data streams scrolled on the left side of her vision, while Wionna registered as a red and yellow humanoid blot.

Thermal vision.

Tapping a button on her goggles allowed Rebecca to switch to infrared, then to normal, and then back to thermal vision.

Within a short period of time Phil and Mortimer stood in the room as well, rummaging through the equipment.

***

Katherine logically tried the red button first, and the backpack came off like a 30 kilo stone. She catched its fall and let it gently to the floor.

Suddenly the corridor behind the open double doors went dark, and Katherine heard a low, deep growl somewhere nearby.

***

OOC: The armory holds:
100 Drakonov Assault Suits
100 AK-1047 Assault Rifles w/ 3 x 100 bullet magazines per rifle (7.62mm)
400 Fragmentation Grenades
100 Smoke Grenades

Engine & Machinery Spare Parts
Armored Metal Plates
Tools
Gasoline (10.000 litres)

Remember that the carrying capacity of Mary Sue isn't all that.

***

Frank and Angelica dropped an armored plate beside Wionna as she worked to repair Mary Sue's damaged hull. Suddenly they heard a croak and a groan, and they looked up towards the source of the metallic grinding.

The landing bay doors were closing.

[EchoMirage]

Stupid girl! All caught up in playing dress-up, playing soldier!
"Shut up, I know what I am doing!"
That ... might have come out loud. Hopefully not in the middle of someone's offer to help.
"Sorry."

How come the bay doors were closing, just so? A precaution against forced entry, activated by the damaged door?
Or someone's deliberate action?

She sat down, head in arms, and sent out her senses. Was there someone, deliberately trapping them? Was the facility as abandoned as it seemed? And was there at least one Russian who could translate? Rolled a 28. Yay!

EchoMirage rolls 1d20 and gets 8. Rebecca is forewarned and gets to act.
Rebecca jerked up from the vision with fervent speed.
As said, the Baron would come himself if he knew it was safe.
At the top of her lungs, she yelled: "The mutants are coming!" and stormed back through the door, before a hail of bullets was sure to block her way, ever so briefly before the reason for firing appears...
"Grab your guns!"

[valadaar]

Phil sighed, he sort of expected that _something_ would happen. He sped up getting into the suit - seemed pretty decent. He grabbed double the clips for the rifle, as well as a pair of the frag grenades.

If there was going to be a fight, may as well go big.


"Anyone figure out if these things have radios?"

[Murometz]

"Oh oh"

With little time to try out one of the new toys, Angus cranked his shotgun and palmed his grenades for luck.

"Here comes--something." He stated plainly.


*******

Captain Phil yelled something about the gatling, but there was no time...

"Frank! Fraaaank!!!! Get on the gun!!" Angus screamed then to Mary Sue much more quietly, "Would you be a dear and go into full defense-mode asap? We've been breached baby."

[Gossamer]

Katherine made for the hatch and closed it above her, as she descended the rungs she looked above to see if she could glimpse whatever that thing had been.

She swam back through the cold stagnated water, retrieved her doctor's robe and the belt whom nobody had picked up. As she ascended, she noticed that the silo had been closed down. "Like rats in a cage..." She mumbled to herself and hurried inside the Mary for a quick hot shower and a change of clothes. She fetched her gun and her PDA that she had left behind, strapped on her armor and exited the spacecraft, but not before she said.

"Mary-Sue, can you run a diagnostic on this belt I found?"
-
"What's been going on here? Aside from the obvious I mean." She said when she ran into the others milling around.

"I ran into something, something big." Pending description depending on if I saw something or not.

[Ancient Gamer]

Angus manned the gatling. The turret wasn't as pleasant to sit in when there was gravity, but he knew that Mary Sue's firepower outmatched anything else they got. Fixing his crosshairs on the doorway, Angus kept his trigger finger ready.

"Master. I am worried. I feel trapped", Mary Sue said.

***

Katherine stepped out of the shower. Theodora was there. She handed Katherine her towel. She smiled back at Theodora and dried her hair vigourously. Then she put the towel around her neck. "What is it Theodora?".

Theodora stepped up to Katherine and kissed her. It was deeper, more passionate, than anything Theodora had ever done before.

"If we die today, know that I love you, Kath"

Theodora walked away.

***

Katherine stopped by a console and a camera, and put down the military belt.

"Mary-Sue, can you run a diagnostic on this belt I found?"

"I am on it, Doctor Bradshaw-Brennan", Mary Sue replied.

***

Wionna sweated heavily under her protective mask. Frank shot bolts through the metal platings, and Wionna followed with the torch, fusing the metallic seam shut.

"Right. It couldn't just be an abandoned outpost full of hardware, could it. Noooo. Of course not! Of course we have to be sealed into a tomb. Next thing you know they want me up there, cutting a hole. Oh swell."

***

"Anyone figure if these things have radios?", Phils voice boomed through the assault suit coms, and Mortimer and Rebecca heard him loud and clear. Suddenly Katherine came running and stopped beside Phil by the jammed door, in his newfound black combat gear.

"What's been going on here? Aside from the obvious I mean."

"I ran into something, something big."

OOC: Katherine did not see it

***

Rebecca was very still. Very quiet. Her mind was probing, and she seemed like a doll, frozen in time.

It was an ocean of thoughts, melded into one.

Sneaking. Sneaking. Soon there master.
They cannot see me.
I am close, master. I can see them soon.
I am beneath them, looking from the water, master. What do I do? Do I lead my Kehorta into assault?
LET ME KILL, MASTER! LET ME KILL! CRUSH! GRIND! KILL! KILL!

Hush children. Hush. Careless assault will not win us the day. They are few, but they can hurt us. Wait for the surprise. Wait just a minute longer, and then they die!

Rebecca was rebuffed  by their alien thoughts, their unbridled hatred. She saw through their eyes. Saw a human running on top of a steel grid... Katherine... She saw claws grip steel rungs, make their way out of the water. She looked from the eyes of something perched in the darkness, looking down on humans, welding metal plates together. Then she saw tens upon tens of crawling horror, grey skinned monstrosoties crawling through the submerged tubes, crawling past discarded rocket packs as they made their way to a closed double door.

Then she looked from the eyes of someone tall, with spidery grey hands, its index finger resting on a green button.

"Behold, stranger"

The button was pressed.

***

Rebeccas eyes snapped open as the double doors on the other end of the corridor slid open. s**t! She was inside the armory with Mortimer, and they were both cut off from the Mary Sue. Suddenly a shriek split the air, and myriad grey skinned, crawling creatures poured into the corridor, hissing and shrieking. They had clawed hands under bony white blades that grew from their wrists. Their heads were a mockery of human heads, grey skinned with retracted lips and sickening white gums. They rushed forward, at Phil and Katherine by the doorway. And only three made it into the armory.

Tilting its head back, the first one hissed threateningly. Then the trio charged Rebecca and Mortimer, their wicked blades carving the air as they approached.

Then she opened her eyes and realized it had not happened yet. She had some seconds to react before this became reality.

OOC: Phil, Katherine, Rebecca and Mortimer have a free round of action, due to their long range weapons.
It is impossible to see exactly how many G'Kraun charge, but it seems to be a looot.

[valadaar]

Phil wasted no time and sprayed the doorway, firing a heavy stream of lead at the charging things....

Firing to hurt as many as possible. Can't remember/find automatic rolls, so here are a bunch of d100 rolls:

24    -location 17  - dmg 6 on d10
25   -location 2   - dmg 7 on d10
86
16  - Location 18  - dmg 7 on d10
39
1

Small guns 30, big guns 20.

[Gossamer]

Katherine lifted her gun and fired as soon as Phil did. "Don't bother trying hitting the heart, these things have two!"



(22:08:33) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d100 and gets 49. (hit)
(22:09:12) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d20 and gets 5. (Body part, head?)
(22:09:40) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d10 and gets 4. (6 Total damage)

[EchoMirage]

"They are also below the grate.... and one's ... inside!"
She stood a piece of solid ground off the grate, and swiveled the muzzle of the rifle upwards, to where she had felt the lone feral mind, and pressed the trigger as the realization that it's been detected dawned upon the mutant.
EchoMirage rolls 1d100 and gets 7. Small guns skill of 60. With full automatic fire, this is a crit.
Not used to automatic fire, she pulled the trigger hard, but her reflexes and steady hand ensured the majority of the projectiles struck home on the surprised G'Kraun.

[Murometz]

As the creatures came, Angus momentarily drifted off---they look like me after a bender he mused to himself--then as the others began firing he tossed a frag as far into the corridor as he could.

(rolled 21 on 100, aaaaand...Murometz rolls 4d6 and gets 6,5,6,6. BAM!)


"Look out for flying bits folks!" He yelled invigorated and raised his shotgun.

[caesar193]

Mortimer considered fleeing in blind panic, but realized it would get them nowhere. Until the others got them an exit, the best way was to shoot until you were out of bullets.

So saying, Mortimer started spraying bullets into the incoming horde. Accuracy did not truly matter when if you missed the first target, a second was behind it to receive your delivery.

No idea how many bullets I get off, so here are a bunch of rolls: (19:52:33) Minion: caesar193 rolls 5d100 and gets 54,7,93,82,28.
My small guns skill is at 40.

[Ancient Gamer]

Arrayed like a firing squad, the spacers fired at the charging G'Kraun. Rebecca's early warning helped coordinate the defense, and Phil and Mortimer's bullets hit the mutants like a lead hellstorm, decimating their front ranks. Then Angus' grenade rolled innocently under the charging fiends and just as Katherine's lone bullet bit into a G'Kraun trying to pick it up, it detonated.

The grenade went off with a fierce blast, and an G'Kraun head flew through the doorway and landed on the steel grid floor several meters behind them. Phil was hit in the mask by white intestines covered in black virulent blood. The infectious goo trickled down his googles, dripping off the tip of the mask.

***

Wionna had just put down the welding torch and bent over the side of the ship to see what was going on, when Rebecca veered into the silo wall and aimed an assault rifle at her. Gasping she did not have time to get into cover, and witnessed Rebecca empty her clip. Wionna wondered whether she was still alive or not when the gutted remains of a grey skinned monstrosity dropped from the silo wall. It had been right by her all the time, just some meters above her. Wionna let out a small screan and ran from the ladies room, locking the doors behind her.

***

Excepting Katherine they were all out of bullets and had to change ammo clips.

The hatch in the steel grid flooring burst open, and a diminutive G'Kraun burst out. Small as a child, it ran hissing towards the exposed party. It was followed by another, then another. Soon a host of dwarflike grey skinned horrors would be pouring out from down below.

Rebecca noticed the water was churning with frenzied mutants. They fought to be first up the steel rungs, some even snapped at her feet, fervently gripping the flooring and trying to bite her with their teeth. The steel flooring held tight, however, and they were unable to even stab her with their wristblades.

Then the vanguard was upon her; two horrid killers slashing horribly with their wristblades while hissing threateningly.

(10:16:57) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 24.
(10:47:40) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 47.
(10:48:49) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d6 and gets 1. + (10:49:07) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d4 and gets 4.
(10:49:00) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d6 and gets 5. + (10:49:12) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d4 and gets 3.
(10:50:21) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d20 and gets 11.
(10:50:25) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d20 and gets 7.

Rebecca is hit in the stomach for 5 damage, then in her left thigh for 8 damage.

The Assault Suit has 8 Armor Points, so all damage is absorbed by the armor. The armor is not torn or detoriorated in any way.


The knives hit Rebecca, but her new dark armor stopped their wristblades short. The momentum of the blades slammed her into the silo wall however.

Looking behind her assailants, Rebecca saw four more charging Phil's firing squad from the rear. They were still some five meters away. Another four stormed up Mary Sue's ramp.

There was a roaring sound, then Mary Sue thrust into the air. One of the boarding G'Krauns slipped and fell off the ramp. Then she rotated violently and the remaining three fell off.

***

"Engaging artificial gravity in all rooms except the Passenger Compartment", Wionna stood up, wondering what Mary Sue was about to do. Then she noticed the G'Kraun swarming up the cargo ramp into the passenger compartment, just as the doors slid shut. She felt herself spin a little and ran up to the cockpit. Looking out of the windows, she looked straight at Rebecca being swarmed by small grey skinned mutant savages.

***

"YOU'RE NOT TOUCHING OUR KATHERINE!", Frank Bradshaw-Brennan yelled as he squeezed the trigger of Mary Sue's gatling gun.

(10:59:04) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 66.
He has a big gun skill of 10.
He empties all 100 rounds into the silo.
His aim is not best, but not so poor as to actually hurt Becky (who is the only one out in the silo.
The rest of the party are just inside the door in the corridor.

Frank misses on the first 56 bullets. Then he hits with half of his bullets.

A hit by an gunship gatling is auto-death for the G'Kraun being hit.

Gunfire spray rule states that of those bullets that hit, half automatically miss due to the spray pattern.

So we have: 22 hits.
Rolling 1d22 to check how many were hit individually. 1 means all 22 bullets hit that one, 22 means a perfect spray, killing 22 G'Kraun.

(11:04:50) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d22 and gets 18. = 18 dead G'Kraun.


Frank shook violently, his excess body fat wobbling to the rhythm of gunfire.

"GET THE @!#$ AWAY FROM MY NIECE, YOU MUTANT @!#$TARDS!", Frank's face was contorted in rage. He was crying, tears running down his cheeks.

The storming G'Kraun fell through the air as the floor shook, then came loose as the bolts holding it up gave in. A stream of fire and lead poured from the gatling, and the G'Kraun were destroyed before Becky's eyes. Then the floor gave in under her feet, just as one of the G'Kraun she was facing was split asunder by a gatling bullet crushing its spine.

OOC: Rebecca has to roll below her Agility to react in a timely fashion and cling to the remains of the floor, or she will fall into the water with the other G'Kraun.

***

Yet more G'Kraun, these wearing worn assault armor like the armor worn by Phil, Rebecca and Mortimer, appeared into view. They halted in the silo on the other side of the corridor. For a split second they just stood there, while the spacer firing squad changed ammo clips. Then they dived out of view. A second later, the double doors were shut, hiding them from view.

[EchoMirage]

EchoMirage rolls 1d20 and gets 16. Becca's agility is 15. Chat-roller hates me and life sucks, but - on the bright side - it will be short.

"I haven't had a swim in a long time" Rebecca thought as she plunged into the cold water. Soviet equipment was great - the structural integrity of their architecture less so. What sort of grid that should hold a spacecraft gives way after a few shots?

The water was swarming with wounded and confused mutants, and the girl used all her wits just to gasp for a bit of air prior to the dive.
The sudden embrace of the foaming ice-cold pit left her no less bedazzled than the misshapen things that fell alongside her; where was up and where was down? The water shook as the detonation reverberated through the murky waves; barely discernible shapes flitted and twitched hence and forth.
EchoMirage rolls 1d100 and gets 83. Rebecca dislikes the disgusting water, and whatever she might have wanted to try fails. Yay.
"Luckily, they won;t be able to tell me from one of theirs in this mess..."

[Ancient Gamer]

Cursing Russian architecture, she fell for what seemed an eternity. Her arms feebly grapsed for something to cling to, yet failed her.

Rebecca hit the water flailing her arms frantically. She tried to swim, but a falling G'Kraun slammed into her neck, sending her spiraling into the depths.

Thus I die, she thought.

***

"I feel that one of them is dying. I can taste her desperation, and the hunger of my children nearby", the overmind stated.

"Yet at what cost, mutant? Not guarding the old silos was a critical failure of this plan of yours", a female voice replied.

The overmind growled, but wisely kept his tongue.

Closing his eyes, he sent out his thoughts to his G'Kraun horde.

Come to me, children. Forget your hunger, come back to me, here down in the depths. Abandon the silo. Except Kithrasi. You stay, at the appointed location. Stay and teach these humans a lesson in mortality

***

The mutant G'Kraun swam like fiends from the abyss. It was a dark inferno, as ink clouds of black blood spread throughout the churning water, and insane with hunger the living G'Kraun feasted upon their dead.

Rebecca studied from the bottom of the silo. She witnessed as a particularly hungry mutant smelled blood, and bit deep into intestines floating in the water. Little did it know, that the intestines belonged to itself. Rebecca chuckled amused.

Then she realized. She was not dead. She was at the bottom of the silo, yet somehow she was breathing. How? Oh... The Assault Suit. It wasn't just a gas mask. It was also a rebreather, filtering oxygen from the water.

OOC: Rebecca has several choices. She can make a survival roll, and swim through the water and climb up using pieces of the destroyed floor that lean/ hang down the walls. Or she can use telepathy and contact one of her friends.
(16:52:12) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 23. (Luck roll for Rebecca)

[valadaar]

While reloading, Phil turned to the frothing water where Rebecca had been standing, and apparently waging her own little war.

"Hold on, " he hollered loudly over the comm as he looked about the armory for rope or loose cables.


survival roll, if applicable - (12:44:59) Minion: valadaar rolls 1d100 and gets 28.  Senses is 32, so if that works...

[EchoMirage]

Slowly, she scampered - first along the ground, then along the wall, up from the darkness, along the fringe of the foaming kettle of mutants. Do not draw attention, do not draw attention, do not.
I am not here. I am somebody else's problem. Not yours. A piece of rubble, not tasty. I am not the meat you are looking for.
In well-measured slow motions, she slunk up along the wall, and then, winding like a serpent, she crawled up above the free-for-all in the waters along the remains of the flooring.
EchoMirage rolls 1d100 and gets 7.

Hanging on to grooves and cracks in the wall, she slowly made her way up, not looking back, and spoke dispassionately into the comm.
"Captain, I... do not like it too much amongst the mutants below. Could you please throw me a rope - if you don't mind having me back?"

[valadaar]

"Right!" Phil snatched a spool of steel wire. Might be hard to grab, but better than nothing.  He quickly threw a knot into the end of the line - his strength helped here and threw the weighted end into the frothing waters.

Hopefully he'd catch a Rebecca instead of the other things..

"Its coming down, heads up.."

[Gossamer]

Seeing the door close, the doc was ready to go after them when she was distracted by Rebecca falling, however there wasn't much Katherine could do about it. She ran instead to the armory to don a suit of her own and ready an assault rifle, then she ran back out to make sure Rebecca got up alright.

Not really sure what else to do, I'll help haul her up if she gets the wire thingie, and/or maybe ready a shot if something to shoot at pops up. (18:40:46) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d100 and gets 37.

[EchoMirage]

Given the offered thread, Rebecca was able to scamper up swiftly.
"Thank you, Phil. I knew you wouldn't leave me behind as mutant-chow."

She turned around to the pit - or rather, watery grave. "They are leaving... I think their leader is calling them back. We might have to face something similar to the lone beast we met at the camp, again. This time though, in full power and with its lackeys in attendance."
Rebecca sighed, then continued: "And we can expect them to pester us along the way, looking for a sign of weakness."

Sitting down again, she surveyed the surroundings and sent her senses out again. Were the beasts indeed leaving, or just around the next corner, waiting for an ambush?
Do not get caught so easily anymore.
Dumping a Fate point into TP to upgrade to lvl 3, and scanning the surroundings for baddies.

[Ancient Gamer]

Rebecca sent her senses out. She felt the consciousness of the hive-mind, and it rebuffed her. There were so many, and under the guidance of this overmind they were strong. But their attention was focused elsewhere, and Rebecca once again felt it as it talked.

"Who comes?", she heard the words from the overmind through the ears of a lesser G'Kraun slave standing nearby. She did not risk detection from the Overmind, so she perched there for a very short while, and soon her vision blurred, and she saw through the eyes of the G'Kraun.

(21:24:58) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 42. Rebecca successfully possessed a G'Kraun without alerting the hive mind

There stood a creature, much like the Prophet she fought just half a day earlier, but in so many ways different.

It's skin was dark grey, darker than any other G'Kraun she had seen this last half day. And it wore a Russian general's coat, though the left arm of the coat was torn off. It even had a gunbelt around it's waist. From that belt she noticed two machine pistols. She was talking to someone, and Rebecca made the lesser G'Kraun turn its head.

There stood a wonder. A 250 centimeter tall humanoid robot of some sort, with a shiny red colored surface. Then Rebecca realized it wasn't a robot. It was the powered armor they were looking for.

"Forgive me, Ekaterina, I do not know. A small fightercraft landed beside the gates of silo 3 a minute ago, but I do not know to whom it belongs"

Not risking more, Rebecca withdrew from the slave mutant.

[EchoMirage]

A few seconds of adrenaline - and suddenly, a deathly silence reigned in the silo again, interrupted but by the droning of the Mary Sue.
Rebecca made a step to lean against Katherine for support, to sheathe herself in the doctor's aura of confidence - and then realized that her armor was dripping with rather distasteful fluids.
"I... should take a shower... without undressing."

Heading off to do so, she turned around once more:
"One of the computers was displaying a camera feed - before it was turned off, I don't know how. As said, there is a leader, dressed up in a mockery of Russian attire - and the power armor is here as well, sadly inhabited by an accomplice of his... A Catharina, he called her."
Rebecca wasn't a good liar, but she hoped this seemed plausible enough, that none would question - technically, all she had said was true, too. Ah, here come the red ears, thank you helmet for hiding them.

"But we have a Katherine of our own, so it's fair, I'd say."
She scurried off then.
If this goes on, you will be eloquent one day.

"Mary-Sue, please start a decontamination cycle."
The foam washed over the armor, followed by a UV shower, hot air...

So much to do - but in five minutes. Not now.

[Ancient Gamer]

Rebecca noticed claw marks on the ramp, from the G'Kraun Mary Sue had forcefully ejected. As she came aboard, she was sterilized, the black blood and strips of meat and veins spiraling down into the drain.

***

"Doctor Bradshaw-Brennan, the analysis of your military belt is complete. I believe I have identified it from some footage from the Great War of the Ancients", Mary Sue's voice sounded on the internal comms of the Assault Suits.

***

Frank and Angelica came puffy faced down the ramp. It was obvious they had been crying.

"Kathy Doll...", Frank said, then stared from Phil, to Katherine, to Mortimer.

"Uh, Angus, which one is Katherine? I only recognize Phil, since he can't bloody well hide anywhere given his hulking size"

Having been pointed at Katherine by Angus, they almost hugged Mortimer, when Katherine's voice sounded from the other suit.

***

Wionna retrieved the welding torch from the water with steel wire and a hanger. OOC: It fell into the water when the Mary Sue performed evasive maneuvers After having sterilized it, she took put it on her back and resumed repairing the Mary Sue.

"Guys, if you can give me 7 hours, I can fix the hull of Mary Sue", she said on the comms.

***

"That only leaves the bay doors, and the Powered Suit, if we want that", Aunt Angelica said in her shaky elderly lady voice as she and Frank went back and forth to the armory, moving select equipment into the cargo bay of Mary Sue.

OOC: The Equipment will be listed in Mary Sue's manifest after some hours have passed in-game. The Manifest can be reached by clicking on the link in my signature.

***

The G'Kraun that had been sent to the surface never detected her. With a quick flick of her wrist, the Katana sent both heads flying and she ran quickly to where her sensors had detected them emerge.

A hidden back-entry-door.

Ah. The back door. How convenient.

She stretched in earth atmosphere for the first time in a very, very long while. Then she opened the door, and snuck down the stairs.

***

Berthold crawled slowly up the destroyed floor, his fingers bleeding and his leg hurting like hell. Finally he reached the edge. No one seemed to notice him, so he casually strolled aboard the Mary Sue, as if he had never left her.

[Gossamer]

If Katherine found it strange that the commander of the enemies shared a likeness in name wasn't clear, the helmet covered all expression and she offered no comment.

Katherine removed her helmet and congratulated Frank. After some quick reassurances to both him and her aunt that everything was fine she went back to med-bay. Theo was there, Katherine managed an awkward smile then she turned her gaze to the ceiling as she often did when addressing Mary-Sue.

"Good, what did the scans show? And furthermore how long can we stay air-borne like this? Is it possible to anchor you to the walls?"

[valadaar]

"Well, that was..... something.  "   Phil too took the time to decontaminate. No need to muck up these new fancy duds.

To Winnona : "Yeah, get her fixed. "

"Can we get Mary sue patched into the base's systems so she could open the doors herself? Maybe some sort of radio?"

He was not quite sure which of the crew could run with this idea of his.

To Rebecca "You saw the armor? How big was it? Did it have a lot of guns and stuff?"

[Ancient Gamer]

"Good, what did the scans show? And furthermore how long can we stay air-borne like this? Is it possible to anchor you to the walls?"

"I am equipped with two miniaturized nuclear reactors, Doctor Bradshaw-Brennan. I can hover like this for a very long time. Even though the mists I am creating by boiling the water below may not be the most beneficial in the long run, given the level of contamination down there. I also believe that the ventilation is not sufficient to keep the temperature down, and in the long run you might all be roasted alive. As for the scans, it may seem odd, but I believe you have acquired a Holtzmann belt. It was an Austrian design, and only used in the final days of the war, in the battle of Neo-Vienna. The fact that you found it here suggest that either someone from that fight made it back to this facility in the Urals, or that this place has been inhabited since then. Perhaps it is not that long ago, that the G'Kraun overran this facility?"

Mary Sue paused for a bit, then chuckled over the comms.

"Yes, yes, I know you are anxious to learn WHAT it actually is. The Holtzmann belts were designed to generate a yellow semi-translucent energy shield that blocks fire from plasma and laser weaponry. As it is, it got a reputation for malfunction during early product testing. How the belts fared in actual combat I do not know, as I miss data from the end events. My footage only show a brigade of marching soldiers wearing these"

"Can we get Mary sue patched into the base's systems so she could open the doors herself? Maybe some sort of radio?"

"Captain Phil, Sir! Since there is no wifi here, I believe we must connect to the mainframes through some sort of cable, or perhaps plug a wifi card into the mainframe. I found some suitable cables in the armory, or storage area, Sir!", Wionna reported in over the comms.