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

[Ancient Gamer]

Phil was out of balance as he turned around and with all his might jumped over the nearest semi-trailer.

***

Dirk's men cursed and screamed, trying to hit the incredibly fast moving madman! It sounded like thunder when the fifteen slavers fired blindly into the air, trying somehow to hit the brute in his wild flight. The semi was riddled with holes, Captain Marion less so.

OOC: (11:10:05) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 15d100 and gets 99,38,29,33,34,93,27,22,23,56,51​,47,29,40,98.
Their inital hit chance is 45%, reduced by 25 by the simple fact that Phil is flying incredibly fast through the air.

***

He landed at the edge of the semi's roof, but had only about six inches to land on. Phil flailed wildly with his arms, tried desperately to stop, but there was simply not enough space. He toppled over the edge, his speed ensuring a rough landing on the other side.

***

Phil hit the ground with enough force to knock the air out of him, and he laid  there, huffing and grunting.

OOC: Stunned for one round.

In the meantime your friends do their thang... I think

[EchoMirage]

Rebecca was sweating - one thing was to clandestinely befuddle the thoughts of a jaded witless security guard, another was to be confronted with unwashed savages hell-bent on enslaving them or worse. Tattooed muscular leather-clad savages, but that did little to improve the situation.
Their aggression reverberated within her, and became her own; she soaked up the ruthlessness and killer instinct of me who fought for their lives every day, who took lives whenever convenient, fight-or-flight, might makes right...

'Flamethrowers are fun. It's so awesome I am the one who gets to torch things. I love it when they writhe and scream.
"I should give it a test run - to see if it works" the Rebecca-Raider added.
'd**n thing jams all the time; if I got the station I deserve, they'd fix it up nice and shiny. Gotta test it, in case I get to torch a slave later.'
"It's primed, and there's test targets. Hah, stuffed straw men, moved on wires. Of course I can hit them. Watch me go!" the Rebecca-Raider smiled.

The finger began to clench on the release, the hands to sweep the charred nozzle in a wide arc.

[Ancient Gamer]

OOC: Giving each player attention, if I can manage. To get the combat moving.

Rebecca entered the mind of the flamer brigand. He fought feebly against her for a brief second, before his will just crumbled and Rebecca merged with his personality.

OOC:
He has an intellect of 10, Rebecca of 15. Rebecca has a 75% chance to possess him.
(12:30:04) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 67.


***

The raiders ran in a crouch, closing in on the edge of the rooftop. They could see the loot before their eyes, a genuine spaceship, theirs for the taking. Suddenly the biggest of them all stopped moving. He just stood there, dazed and confused. The men paid him little heed, but the Sergeant stopped and patted him on the back.

"We need you, come on. Let us put a light to these bastards!", he said.

Inside the flamer brigand's mind, Rebecca looked through the brigand's eyes, saw what he saw. The one talking to him was handsome. There was no doubt in her mind. Perhaps the most handsome man she had ever seen. He had primed a grenade and turned around to throw it, when the flamethrower went off. Rebecca let the flames spew over the four other brigands on the roof, their screams of terror piercing the night sky.

OOC: There is an 85% chance that the grenade remains on the roof, and a 15% chance that it falls down into the alley. A dice roll of 01-85 works in the party's favor. (12:39:53) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 71.

The flamer brigand danced happily on the roof, and was about to shower himself in liquid flames, when suddenly the grenades of the slaver sergeant went off.

***

Angus and Katherine whirled around as screaming men on fire began falling off the rooftops to their left. Then a series of deafning explosions, and chunks of meat, an arm and a couple of eyes rained down around them.

***

Rebecca reeled back from the mind of the now dead brigand. She had hoped to retreat before he died, but his death was so sudden, she didn't have the chance. Her mind swirled for a couple of seconds, she almost had to throw up, but she fought back the rising panic and focused on the present.

OOC: Rebecca has an intellect of 15. There is a 75% chance that she does not enter a state of shock.
(12:43:26) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 44.

***

The sniper was about to pull the trigger when suddenly the roof of the right hand building caught fire. Then a series of explosions, intense glimpses of light. He fought to regain his senses. This encounter wasn't going according to plan.

[Gossamer]

Reacting to Angus's gaze, Katherine swerved around and seeing the new threat, she fired. But the shot went wide once more, clearly combat was not where she excelled.

(13:36:45) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d100 and gets 86. I swear to god, this is my fourth failed roll in a row, I wanna take that @!#$ing chatroller, drag it out in a field and smash it with a baseball bat, the office style. 

[Ancient Gamer]

OOC: Tough luck, Goss!


The sniper flinched as the beautiful woman fired at her, hitting the corrigated plastic wall beside her.

"Oh nee, babypop. U bent niet van plan om me neer te halen.", she said and fired a round, aiming for the Doctor's chest.

OOC:
The rifle is scoped, and she has a 75% chance of hitting Katherine. The rifle does 2d6+4 damage.
(14:25:41) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 46.
(14:25:49) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 2d6 and gets 2,3. +4 for a total of 9 damage. 6 damage is absorbed by Katherine's subskin armor.

***

There was a loud CRACK, and Angus saw Katherine being lifted off her feet. She sailed two meters back and crashed down in the sand and gravel.

***

Everything went black, then she felt an intense pain in her ribs. Katherine coughed blood and felt the outline that the bullet had made in her chest armor. The armor would repair itself, but she needed medical attention. She was gonna survive, she was sure, but she wanted that bullet gone from her system.

[Murometz]

Then he noticed a head bobbing into view from the hole in the warehouse wall, behind Katherine. The gleam of headlights was reflected in a sniper's scope, and he realized that the brigands were inside the warehouse as well, attacking from both ends of the alley.

The same second  he spotted the sniper over Katherine's shoulder, Angus shot him with his .38 without hesitation (Minion: Murometz rolls 1d100 and gets 29.)

[caesar193]

Mortimer picked up a piece of stone amongst the rest of the debris from his crash. It wasn't elegant, but it'd have to do. He didn't want to use his bullets just yet. They had only a limited supply, and who knew when they'd get more ammo?

His spindly little arms shaking from the strain, he lifted up the heavy rock and carefully snuck up to the group of men aiming at Phil. He knew he needed to give his captain a distraction, so he could either come up with or enact his daring plan, but this would require courage. Momentary courage, but still.

Instead of his mind, it was his strength that decided him. Holding the rock proved to much for his arms, and it came down. In the moments he had, he quickly corrected its course to hit the enemy on the head, and then threw himself to the side, pressing himself against the wall, his chameleon skin all ready morphing into the stone-grays.

My sneaking up on them roll: (13:21:42) Minion: caesar193 rolls 1d100 and gets 49.
My hitting them with a rock roll: (13:21:49) Minion: caesar193 rolls 1d100 and gets 1.
My hiding after hitting them roll: (13:21:58) Minion: caesar193 rolls 1d100 and gets 31.
No idea how much damage a rock does, but for distraction, let's hope these guards like investigating mysterious rock-droppers.

[Ancient Gamer]

on a mobile.  keeping it short..  Sweet throw!!!!

The large group of slavers milled around in confusion.  first the huge freak had crushed Dirk, now the attack squad on the roof was wiped out in a fiery conflagration.

They never saw Mort. They never saw Niels go down. When they turned around, he just laid there, a gaping hole in his head.

And panic gripped them.

Within seconds the remaining 14 men that had stormed the alley with Dirk ran away, disappearing into various buildings and alleys.

That still left the sniper and the men trickling through the buildings.

[EchoMirage]

The death of the men on the roof washed over her in a conflagration of agony, and Rebecca held on to the wall behind her and clenched her teeth to avoid screaming. This was not what she expected to find here.
What did you expect, child?
Sanctuary? Truth? Men to retake and free my home?
And here you go, letting the best of them to go up in flames?
"More than him, actually" she steeled herself.

The men above were heading towards excellent firing positions - but also into the sniper's field of vision.
One of the bandits above noticed his allied sniper, just as she laid fire down upon Katherine - and the sniper noticed back.
One small shove in the right spot, distract the mind, to avoid recognition.
'Who is that stranger on the roof? His face is unknown.'
'He is armed, can see me well, in this crow's nest of mine.'
'He threatens me most at this time - and would look most comical, tumbling down from his vantage point, spraying blood like little b*tch he is.'

[Gossamer]

Bleeding and shocked, Katherine scowled and adjusted her sight, now she was more used to the weapon. She squeezed the trigger and shot the sniper. Eye for an Eye. Trembling, she then dragged herself to a position of relative safety.

(21:00:04) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d100 and gets 39. Whooo! Damage (12:08:48) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d10 and gets 9. (11 total).

[Ancient Gamer]

OOC: Rebecca's chance to implant suggestion: 60%
(13:14:31) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 51.

The sniper trained her sight on the new threat. She was furious that her own would betray her so, she intended to make them pay! She had to adjust her position, and stood up, the target in the crosshairs of her scope.

***

Seeing Katherine go down violently, Angus cursed beneath his breath. He squeezed the trigger without hesitation.

***

Katherine landed hard. As she traced the outline of the entry-wound, she heard Angus fire his gun and grasped for her own in the sand and gravel beside her. She held the gun with both arms and fired.

***

The first bullet went through her thighs, severing tendons and opening a major artery. She knew she was going to die and turned around to kill her murderer. She wasn't sentimental about it. People lived and died in this cruel and ruthless world. She had held the hands of loved ones as the light died in their eyes. She had listened in as cold blooded murderers cried for mommy as their life bled out. She wasn't going to go like that. Her head startet spinning, but she managed to put the the man by the ramp in her crosshairs. He looks like Pieter. Her final thought.

***

Katherine's shot was straight and true, directly to the heart, and the sniper tumbled from her position and fell down into the alley.

***

Rebecca searched the alley and surrounding buildings with her mind, but every single one of their foes were running away, their minds wild with terror. How five single persons could best almost forty of them was a question racing through many of their minds. In other minds she found paranoia, small groups of men running through a labyrinthine maze of warehouse buildings, looking around each corner, dreading to find that hulking superhuman mutant they had ridiculed a few minutes ago.

***

He had turned the tide with a single stone. Mortimer smiled to himself. Unseen, unheard, yet still the victor. Man of the hour, even though recognition as such was unlikely to come.

***

Phil got back on his feet. He had seen his attackers run away in panic and walked around the huge semi. On the ground on the other side of the semi was several men, moaning and complaining, raising their hands defensively as he approached. "Mercy", one managed in guttural english. He looked around. The Mary Sue had powered down and smoke came from one of her engines. Human entrails hung from her left wing, and the smoking remains of four men laid charred on the ground.

The holographic figure turned around and faced him, a menacing scowl on his face.

"You have undone us, mr. Marion, and in the process undone yourselves. Mary Sue...", there was a loud bang, and the holographic device burst into separate pieces.

Katherine Bradshaw-Brennan put her .45 back in it's holster.

OOC:
Damage roll for Angus: (13:12:56) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d10 and gets 9.

[Gossamer]

Seeing her shot connecting and the sniper falling, Katherine fell back, relieved, but hearing the scientist's projected voice raised her again with a cold sweating rictus, she knew what was coming, and so she aimed for the holo-ball and fired one last time.

(15:53:13) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d100 and gets 21. Damage (15:54:54) Minion: Gossamer rolls 1d10 and gets 6. (8 Total)

The holo-globe shattered and Katherine fell back once more, breathing a sigh of relief. She remained prostrate for a few minutes, before she sat up with a grunt. Holding her wound closed, she stood up and hobbled over at the ramp.

"Right... as I was saying, we have much to discuss... I found Wionna in cryo stasis inside the ship. There are five more such containers. I believe everyone we know and love may possibly be inside said containers... It wasn't just us they sold out..."

She looked up and met the eyes of everyone.

"Could someone bloody help me to the med-bay already?!" She barked, barely holding back the tears, suddenly ravaged with emotion.

[EchoMirage]

Cautiously, Rebecca withdrew from the ruin, fresh trails of tears carved into the dust covering her face.
The air was clear, and she swiftly ran over to Catherine, helping her up, holding back a gasp at the would in her chest.

"Catherine, kunt u lopen?
Neem mijn arm, ik zal je helpen."

The doctor seemed almost featherlight as they made their way towards the med-bay, a few steps, yet worry was written into the girl's face as she carried the doctor, daring not to ask the question.

[Gossamer]

Katherine looked up, nonplussed. "What? ...Ensign Manson, are you alright? You're talking gibberish." She did however allow the girl to help her.

[valadaar]

"Mercy?" roared Phil at the terrified men.

"You", he pointed to the one that spoke, "stay! The rest - Go - tell them GO NOW or die. Never come here or die!"  To emphasize his point, Phil picked up their dead leader and threw him full force at the side of the trailer.

Not waiting for a response, he grabbed the one who spoke and dragged him to the others. "You've got some talking to do.."

If he resists, Phil will attempt to break one of his arms.  If the others don't turn tail, it won't go well for them either.

[Ancient Gamer]

Gaia, The First Week.


Phil's Story

"Mercy?" roared Phil at the terrified men.

"You", he pointed to the one that spoke, "stay! The rest - Go - tell them GO NOW or die. Never come here or die!"  To emphasize his point, Phil picked up their dead leader and threw him full force at the side of the trailer.

Not waiting for a response, he grabbed the one who spoke and dragged him to the others. "You've got some talking to do.."

If he resists, Phil will attempt to break one of his arms.  If the others don't turn tail, it won't go well for them either.

Phil looked down at the former slaver in disgust. The man was in his late forties, with dark rings under his eyes, a pot belly and bowl cut grey, thin hair.

"Noooo... Noooo.. Noooooooo....", the man cried with a whimper. Sobs of terror and blind panic went through the old man's body, but Phil was relentless.

"SPEAK!", Phil roared, but the man whimpered and cried, rivulets of mucus ran from his nose, his eyes were soaked in tears.

His friends had not looked back. Some had shat their pants, some had pissed themselves, all were running like mad.

"Do you think you are a better fighter than me? Is that it? Are you holding me in contempt?", Phil screamed to the crying man, holding his face an inch from the terrorized slaver, raining spit all over his face.

"Fine... Fine... You'll get your wish. You'll get to fight me", Phil said, then he undressed till he was almost nude, just a tanga left on his body, and he started flexing his muscles, breathing heavily.

The slaver was on the ground, convulsing and begging forgiveness. "Nooo... Nooo...", he said, but Phil was busy looking at his own pecks, pleased with how they looked.

"Fine... I will fight with just one hand, coward"

***

The slaver's arms had been broken, one of his knees crushed. Phil had gotten every bit of information out of him after Rebecca suggested that Phil just let him regain his composure.

It seemed that they had been sent by the Baron of Rembrandtplein, a thug controlling the entire Kingdom of Amsterdam from his palace at Rembrandt Square. He had struck a deal with the scientists of Copernicus One, granting them unrestricted access to the Bohr Facility, an advanced research facility of the ancients that the Baron had discovered some years ago, and moved to the old main railway station in town.

Repeated attempts to get information out of the hapless slaver failed, but Phil didn't believe him before Rebecca assured him that he knew nothing else.

***

His bloodlust sated, Phil spent the remaining days of the week of rest helping organize the defense of the Mary Sue and it's surrounding buildings. Angus told him that the location was defensible, but not ideal, and Phil did his utmost to secure the area. He spent his evenings by the bonfire, sharing the remaining food from the Mary Sue and what precious little they found on the raiders. It seemed that he had a calming effect on the new arrivals, their kin and friends from the Copernicus. In particular Berthold Geronius York, the old Janitor of the space station. Berthold was a dimwit and a drunkard, but he had always held Phil in reverence, and listened with intent as Phil recounted his exploits thus far. Berthold sat as quiet as he could, only interrupting Phil's tale for a swig of vodka or two.

[Ancient Gamer]

Angus' Story

"BAM BAM BAM!", Angus leaned the weight of his bulk against the flaked white wall of the corridor, holding his Colt in front of him, pretending to shoot at the shadows.

"I killed you, mother@!#$er! I killed you first!", he said, then he shambled on, till he was in front of her door, then he knocked loudly, like in an urgency.

"What's up?", the buxom young blonde said, freckles on her nose and deep blue eyes.

"Oh, hey Angus. Are you drunk again?"

***

Theodora was pushed against the wall, Angus mounting her from behind. Her curves had always fascinated him, and now that he was the hero of the day, it seemed he fascinated her too. He had caught her playful glimpse when they ate by the bonfire. Wionna had caught it too, and had pulled him inside. She had been in a bad mood for a while, but he had ways of making that go away, and finally she fell asleep, leaving Angus to his own machinations.
Theodora was unsatiable and Angus kept on. He had dreamed about this for so long, finally it was happening.

A knock on the door.

"Angus? You in there? Angus?", the door burst open. Wionna stood there, one of the raiders' Colts in her hands.

"@!#$ YOU, ANGUS!", she screamed and lifted her gun. Theodora the buxom blonde was shot in the throat and went gurgling down, blood pumping from between her fingers.

Angus reeled naked into a corner.

"@!#$ YOU VERY MUCH, ANGUS!", Wionna screamed. She pulled the trigger, and everything went black.

***

"Oooooh, yes Angus. YES!", Theodora moaned with pleasure.

Angus bolted upright, panic in his eyes. He had had one of his premonitions, seen his own demise. Theodora was a beauty, no doubt about it, but in a few seconds Wionna was gonna come bursting in and kill them both, so he grabbed his clothes and jumped naked through the window, landing silenty on the ground.

"No time to explain, luv!", he said, then ran off.

***

"Angus? You in there? Angus?", the door burst open. Wionna stood there, one of the raiders' Colts in her hands.

"Oh... I am so sorry, Theodora. I just... I... I'll leave now. Sorry for the intrusion", and with that Wionna left.

***

Angus walked the perimeter while he inspected their defences.

"If they approach from the east, northeast or southeast, we got those areas covered by the gattling"
He pointed his finger while explaining, Captain Phil listening eagerly.

"The problem is here, the south, south-west corner of the warehouse. The view from the roof ain't all that, considering the many blind spots. Between the ancient cars and buses stacked over there, and the subterrenean tunnel between the warehouse and that building over there, we've got too many approaches to guard. We simply ain't got enough men, Captain"

"So, you saying the buildings are defensible, but we should move camp as soon as possible?", the giant captain asked.

"Yeah, Cap. Thats about it. If someone attacks us from this direction... Well, not even our motion sensors are able to pick up someone attacking from the tunnels."

***

He sat alone, illuminated by the light of Mary Sue's computer screens. He had managed to disable the communications device early on, in case the scientists would try to order her to do something stupid. But restoring their control of her seemed to be more difficult.

"Access restricted, operation illegal", her voice was husky, almost sensual as  ever.

Angus cursed.

***

"Access restricted, systems unavailable by order of the council of Scientists and the Master of the Observatory"

The guardsman knocked his cup of coffee off the table in frustration and walked out. He had just wasted 18 hours and would have to either learn some new tricks, or come up with another idea.

[Ancient Gamer]

Rebecca Manson's Story

The dogs were standing in a circle, Rebecca and the Alpha in the middle. Rebecca and the alpha circled each other, snarling and growling, trying to look menacing.

http://soundbible.com/1476-Dog-Growl-Then-Bark.html

Her mind was soaking it all in, and she had felt the pack of dogs in her mind, merged with them, and now she was one of them, here to challenge the abusive alpha.

Poor Grey had become old, and just a few hours ago Rip, the alpha, had banished her. Rebecca had felt her despair and isolation as the limp old doberman halted alone and forlorn through the ruins, without her pack for the first time in her life.

Rip opened his mouth, revealed razor sharp teeth.

Rebecca opened her mouth in a similar snarl, standing on all four, murder in her eyes.

Then Rip lunged at her, going for the insane human's throat.

Rebecca dodged Rip, then wrapped both her hands around the alpha's neck. The alpha snarled and bit repeatedly into the air, his canine jaws would rip into anything, his bloodshot eyes wild with berserk rage.

From a distance she heard Grey whimpering, hiding under an old car from a horrible monstrosity as it passed by, she was mad with fear.

She felt Rip soften between her arms as she snapped his neck. The pack began howling, and bowed their heads to Rebecca, their new pack alpha.

The dogs knew what she wanted, felt her presence within them, and they ran off to rescue Grey.

OOC: (15:04:29) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d100 and gets 23.

***

Wionna lay crying into her bedroll, her body shaking with each sob. She cried for hours and hours, despairing, fearing Angus was slipping away. Was Angus having an affair with Theodora? She didn't know. She had barged into her room, certain he was there, madness and cocain in her blood, ready to kill. But Theodora was alone, naked, brushing her hair, and Wionna had made a complete fool out of herself. She couldn't even look Theodora in the eyes now.
But still this @!#$ing jealousy!

***

Rebecca squatted by Wionna's side, her head tilted in the fashion of a curious cat. She had felt the waves of anguish from far away and had left Grey and the pack to their own, telling them to hunt and to protect Grey. Then she had ran on all four to Wionna's side.

***

Ashley, Wionna's childhood friend. The one that one day had been fetched by the guards and the scientists, was suddenly in the room with her.
"Ashley?", Wionna stuttered.

"Don't mind stupid boys, Wionna. We don't need them!", Ashley said, twirling playfully with her long, brown hair.

And Wionna fell asleep, playfully talking with Ashley about the old days, about stupid boys and scary scientists.

***

Rebecca had attuned to humans again, and sat on a window sill, dangling her feet.

There was so much to Gaia. So many voices.

She sent a thought to Grey, and got a thought back.

Gratitude.

[Ancient Gamer]

Katherine's Story

Rebecca and Angus had Katherine's arms around their shoulders as they hurried her to into the Mary Sue.

"Help me to the cargo bay", she whispered. Angus and Rebecca protested, urging her to lie down on her bunk bed, but she urged them on, and finally they stood before the six metallic coffins in the cargo room.

"That one!", she said, and they helped her over. She swiped her ID over the coffin, a later a synthesized voice replied.

"Doctor Katherine Bradshaw-Brennan, acknowledged. Access granted"

"Order: Suspend stasis, revive subject", Katherine barked with authority, in spite of her pain.

***

Angus looked on as the strange metallic coffin hissed and cracked, then his eyes went open as the lid slid to the side.

Inside was a buxom young blonde, totally nude, her chest heaving as she resumed breathing for the first time in two days. He recognized her: Theodora Sax, the second doctor on the Copernicus. She was a doctor in training, Katherine's protégé.

What is it about the Copernicus, and their ridiculously good looking doctors, he thought.

***

Theodora was perplexed at her situation. She had been in her office when gas hissed from the air conditioning system. Now she was here... On earth...
She quickly donned a doctor's coat she found in Katherine's locker.

"Get her on her bed!", she instructed, then she got to work.

***

"Thank you, Theodora!", Katherine managed to say before the morphine kicked in.

No. Thank YOU, Angus thought as he studied Theodora go to work. All notions of romance disappeared quickly, however, as Theodora began the removal procedure on Katherine.

Rebecca and Angus left the room shortly thereafter.

***

 Katherine undressed, packing her doctor's robe and personal belongings between some rocks. This place was amazing, and she stood there, naked, for a few seconds before she dived into the water.

She had discovered the dike not more than four hundred meters from the crash site, while out looking for supplies. What scared her was that the water was at a higher level outside the dike, than inside. Still, she was fascinated by the ocean she saw. Fascinated even more by the buildings sticking out of the water. Church towers, corrigated plastic warehouses and malls, an office building of steel and glass, most of the glass now crushed.

She swam in the sea, gliding past seaweed and the cars and old bicycles of the ancients. Behind her ears she felt precious oxygen being created by her gills, a mutation that had surfaced at the age of six. All those years in the space station she had to moisturize them, now she was in her element.

***

She squeezed her body through an old, partially collapsed doorway, more than twenty meters under the surface. She had recognized the sign on the building. This had once been a hospital, and she knew what she was looking for.

***

Theodora gasped as Katherine came back. The Doctor had been gone for an entire day, and her bandages were soaking wet.
"Quit staring, woman. My subskin armor has sealed the wound. Repaired itself. I am fine", Katherine barked. Theodora looked another way. She was used the the doctor's biting comments, no point in annoying her further.

Katherine was content with her discovery. Three nanite syringes, a pill box with 19 pills of Amphetazine, a subscription amphetamine, which could come in nicely if they had to  stay awake and alert for days at end without sleeping. She had also discovered an old implant, safely preserved within its anti-static plastic bag. It was a combat implant, military issue. Probably at the hospital when the great war raged, about to be implanted in one of the persons in there, now a skeleton, when the dikes burst and the hospital was buried under an ocean of water.

***

"We love you so much, Kathy doll!"

Uncle Frank and Aunty Angelica stood nearby, holding each other as Katherine inspected her gifts with obvious surprise and joy.

"Uncle... Aunty... This is too much!", she said, holding the piece of chest and abdomen armor up high.

"We don't ever want to see our Kathy doll hurt ever again!", they said in unison.

"Uncle Frank has been working on it ever since you got us out of that stasis. That's why I insisted on taking your measures, honey!"

The elderly couple positively beamed as Kathy tried out the chestplate. She was the daughter of Frank's little brother, Jimmy, or James as he was really called, and they were so proud of her.

[Ancient Gamer]

Mortimer's Story

He had all his belongings in a sailor's bag. Everything. The bag was in his left hand, but for a bystander, it would look as though it just laid there, discarded. Mortimer had merged with his surroundings, his body changing colors to imitate whatever he crawled over as he moved on all four towards the Scania semitrailer.

He slithered like a gecko through the window. Put his bag back in the cabin. He turned the key, pressed the pedal. The truck started moving.

***

The red Scania was parked in an alley, and the windows of the driver's cabin were steamed up, the air inside smelling like rotten eggs. His fingers let go of the fully interactive porn magazine, and he fell asleep.

***

They called her Fat Bertha. She hated the nickname, almost as much as she hated the tavern and the people within it. She didn't feel sorry about burning it down, nor did she feel sorry about shooting those running out of it in blind panic.

Yet that meant she needed to move on, and Fat Bertha had spotted that red semitrailer earlier.

She stopped her horse, Mr. James the Rocket, with a tug of the reins, and climbed down from her carriage. Climbing down was always hard, as a matter of fact moving was hard in general. It had been that way these last two years, and she thought she should get more exercise, but with your belly hanging down to your thighs, working out is hard.

She carefully climbed the cabin, looked inside. Nothing there, just some high tech magazine full of animated men and women. She opened the door and began climbing inside. This was her lucky day!

***

Mortimer awoke when a mountain of a woman placed a hand on his chest. She was climbing into the truck, but her rear had gotten stuck in the doorway so she was cursing, her filthy, greasy grey hair dangling over in his face.

Without thinking, Mortimer grabbed the Stanley knife he had seen on the floor, and he slit her throat, warm, thick blood gushing out, spraying onto his face with warm squirts of crimson.

***

This was building number forty. All the others had been looted, so he had no real hopes of finding anything in here either. He walked through the once fancy architect designed home, up the stairs and along a balcony of glass and steel. Outside a swimming pool. Once filled with clear blue water, now filled with rotten leaves and mud.

It was more luck than anything else. Mortimer noticed a crack in the wall, entered a hidden room. It was a panic room, really hard to notice, but the owner had forgotten to lock it properly.

Inside a comfortable chair. In that chair: a skeleton. In his hands: a shotgun. There was a hole through his skull, and Mortimer could imagine the desperation he had felt after the great war, with everything gone, blasted away.

Mortimer studied the shotgun, but it was too old, too rusted, so he walked over to the cabinets in the safe room.

The surveillance equipment was ruined too, the outside cameras smashed, the electronics inside long dead. But in the cabinets he found canned food and sterile water in large amounts, and Mortimer brought it down to the Scania and put it all in the back of the cabin. Then he returned to the panic room and brought the rest he found within; vacuum packed dark chocolate, a gold rolex wrist watch and a couple of still working walkie talkies.

He found a pile of ancient paper cash, and brought it along, more for the sake of amusement than anything else.

***

The dikes were extensive, built in a grid pattern, and Mortimer scouted them all, drive for miles and miles, noticing their layout, identified their weakness.
The bad news was that a couple of dynamite sticks, and their current location would be under 4 meters of water. The good news was that relocating just a couple of kilometers would settle them safely inside the next sector, safe behind two dikes instead of just one.

***

When he arrived at their base camp, or "the Earth Shelter" as their revived friends called it, he was greeted by the reclusive Moa Lejongren, the off-base engineer once responsible of maintaining the outermost facilities on the Copernicus. It had been an isolated job, and Moa was not used to people. She liked Mortimer though, his reclusive behavior something she could relate to, and together they carried the supplies from the panic room into camp

 ***

"There really isn't much between here and the city", Mortimer said.

"A couple of raider bands, some undescribable horrors that disappeared into the shadows as I drove past. I encountered some filthy locals, but they really weren't all that friendly"

And the conversation carried on into the night, everyone toasting Mortimer and his excellent discovery.

[Ancient Gamer]

A week had gone by, and Katherine's wound had gotten better. The wound was still a bit sore, but not debilitating in any way. Her aunt and uncle were lavishing her with affection, and even her assistant seemed unusually cheerful.

ooc:  (14:43:22) Minion: Ancient_Gamer rolls 1d3 and gets 2. 2 hit points recovered from natural healing.

Angus, in the exoskeleton, and Phil, using his bare fists, had torn down the building covering the tunnel entrace, and then moved the cars denying shelter to any would-be attackers.

Somehow Rebecca had befriended some dogs, creatures they had only read about in e-bulletins and seen in old movies. The pack of strays sometimes approached the bonfire, clustering around Rebecca. Especially an old, grey and limp dog showed her affection, often laying her head in Rebecca's lap. At other times the pack seemed to be guarding the perimeter, circling the buildings around the U shaped alley.

Then, on the last night of the week supplies ran dry. Mortimer returned with the truck. Before Phil could mangle him, he brought out the loot: Several weeks worth of supplies in vacuum packed bags and cans. Tossing Phil a box of canned italian pasta and meatballs, Mortimer turned the mood from tense to joyous.

***

"So, they are holed up near the old Honeywell cluster bomb facility, eh?", the elderly man said while raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, sir! They have dug in and have some pretty sophisticated equipment"

The elder wore black combat armor and paced slowly in a semi-circle around the messenger who had arrived but a minute ago.

"These freaks defied their masters. Defied me. Somehow a handful of these nutcases from outer space took out two squads of my men, without suffering any significant losses. This irks me, eh, soldier"

The soldier stood absolutely still. The Baron's temper was infamous, and he was not going to do anything to upset him.

"Well. What are you waiting for? Run along! And inform Captain van Drunen that I require his presence!"

The soldier left the room in a hurry.

[caesar193]

Mortimer Lucrum basked in the praise for a little while before coming to his senses. Such could not last, and with the use of his chameleon skin, slunk away from the group.

He had previously found a nice, quiet spot of his own. A place to think. A place to look. It was in a nearby building, on the roof. He sat on the lip of the building, and leaned back against a handy chunk of stone. He looked at the moon. They had not had one, back at Copernicus One, and Mortimer was still not used to the white orb. He pondered it, that great mystery in the sky, though not too hard. Sometimes, discovering a thing's secrets destroyed the thing itself.

That was one thing he shared with the moon.

He gave it a nod, one liar and loner to another, and sat there, deep in thought on a variety of sources, with the moon bathing him in its light.

I'll return to my allocated sleeping area when Mort gets tired, or if someone decides to intrude upon my soliloquy.

[valadaar]

Phil made a great show of opening the can without a tool and enjoyed the spagettie. 

Truth was he was getting restless, and even he was beginning to think it foolhardy to let his enemies choose their own time.

"Did you manage to get Mary Sue to listen to us yet? I miss her."

In truth, even Phil had tried to talk some sense into the ship, trying everything his limited brain-power could imagine.  He even broke down sobbing a bit, "I cry when I'm angry!" but if he got through to her she was keeping it to herself. 

"We need to move out soon. I'm sure of it."

[Gossamer]

Katherine turned the dial on the microscope, in her sights were a slice of meat, taken from the corpses of the raiders. She was in the process of comparing known diseases to the bacterial, viral, parasytic and nano flora of this new yet so old world.

"Mary-Sue, begin analysis of sample four eight ceti, please."

A pair of soft arms wrapped around her stomach and hugged her tight. After a quick look, the doc said. "Theo, this is hardly the time or the place. Make yourself useful and double check these readings. There's still a risk however small that we did not in fact survive first contact depending on the severity of local disease strains. We need to examine the crew closely for any divergent behavior and possible symptoms. If neccesary inoculations must be researched and administered, so less playie more workie."

[Murometz]

"Did you manage to get Mary Sue to listen to us yet? I miss her."

"No" Angus answered Captain Phil glumly. "18 hours wasted and still no Mary Sue." The guardsman was morose, frustrated at his inability to get her under control. "I'm going to try one more time, Cap" he said evenly, as he watched Phil devour his spaghetti and meatball can.

"We need to move out soon. I'm sure of it."

"Yes we do, Cap. We're just asking for trouble sitting here. Can't defend every angle and approach."

He got up then, and walked back to Mary Sue's computer screens, doing his best to avoid the "two women" in his life. Truth be told, he was sick of the drama.

He stared and sighed. It had been 3 whole days now minus the alcohol and cocaine. Angus was going to quit cold-turkey if it killed him.

He cracked his fingers and tried again to coax Mary Sue into being his newest girlfriend.

(ooc: Will boost up comp. skills (I can't find where you mention that i can raise skill % and try again) and give it one more try with Ol' Mary Sue.)