She blinked slowly, floating in the Virtuality. It was a jarring experience, being ripped from her body so suddenly... She had felt this way before, way back when Thirteen, Hannah, had found her in the depths of a salvaged pod. She had lost her physical body then too...

But the soul still remains even in the Virtuality as Nineteen began to reconstitute herself into a more recognizable figure. It was... an unwelcome feeling to be embedded in the planet's network, yet it allowed her to reach out and feel what was happening across the surface of the entire world.

This is One Week before HANA 13 awakens in her Sleeper Ship. Two seconds after the Rip Tether passed over her home. You are Nineteen.

She could feel ships disconnecting from the network and fleeing into space, the populace evacuating while the Military scrambled to understand exactly what was going on. The minds of other HANA entered the network as they were forcefully separated from their forms, confused and bewildered that their bodies had been destroyed. It was chaotic.

And above it all, Nineteen floated serenely. Calm. Considering her next move.

>>8819823
Okay. First, let's try to find just what that was. Did something in orbit launch it? Get a view of what's happening in Utopia's orbit.

Let's focus on finding whatever is currently attacking our planet and help the military to coordinate a defence against it, while helping as many people as possible to escape as well.

>>8819936
Nineteen felt part of the Network vanish as several of the Satellites in orbit around the planet were destroyed and several large ships dropped into low orbit to replace them. The large rotating object that had been released into the planet's atmosphere had been confirmed to be dropped by them.

It was... enormous. A giant spinning pillar that rotated on its axis and even extended into the upper layers of the planet's atmosphere. She couldn't even comprehend how something so large could have been crafted, yet there it stood, mocking her.

Ships lifted off and fled before it, the panicking masses moving to get out of its rather linear path.

>>8820077
The ships in low orbit were also releasing fighter bombers to attack the rather unprepared civilian districts, and the Military was hard pressed to defend against them.

>>8820077
So the pillar is laying on the surface of the planet like a giant rolling pin, or it it standing straight up? Because if the latter I don't understand how it could have come down like a whip and scourged a horizontal line across the planet.

Regardless, we need to stop those ships that dropped it.

>>8820077
>>8820103

How are our chances to hack any of that stuff?
(BTW, I think it's a bit strange that 7 people voted on the retcon and only two or three seem to be participating.)

>>8820049
You reach out to the heaviest concentration of Military communications and let them know of your presence. The rather occupied looking face of a man appears before you in the Virtuality after a minute.

"Sectors 7 through 11 are clear for evacuation, please stand by for convoy escort... Yes? We are rather occupied right now, and you wouldn't even be getting through normally if it wasn't for your rather unique identifiers. We are trying to find a way to take out that large tether that is carving its way through a mountain range at the moment, as well as coordinating defensive efforts alongside evacuations. Whoever they are, they are firing on the fleeing transports as soon as they exit the atmosphere, as well as making life hell down here. Its a meatgrinder!"

>>8820154
Yeah, it is a bit odd. But then, most quests have several lurkers, people who just observe while not actively taking part or posting. It would make sense that they would cast their vote for or against a retcon, but then go back to observing.

>>8820128
It is standing up vertically and rotating around its cylindrical axis. Sort of like a mortar and pestle.

>>8820183
"Then stop concentrating on defending the civilians and target the ships! Take out what they're using to shoot the transports down and they'll be free to escape unmolested."

>>8820230
Huh. Well whatever it is, we need to destroy it. But to have time to do that, we need to give our forces some breathing room. Let's see about taking out some of the enemies ships, that should distract them from attacking helpless refugee ships.

>>8820183
"Anything we can do to help?"

>>8820198
That, and I as one of the voters for no retcon started skyping with my girlfriend until just now. Priorities are in order.

>>8820256
This.

If nothing else, help warn other people to get hooked into the planet's network before they get killed.

>>8820246
>>8820231
"Rather difficult when they have fighters in space as well as within the atmosphere! Those ships in low orbit are acting as Carriers, so we are tied up in fighting whatever they launch currently!"

>>8820325
"I'd advise you to get any other HANA linked to the network if possible, as their minds can survive in it even if their bodies are destroyed."

The man's face coughs slightly. "I know, we've had many HANA in the military continue fighting even when they've been... integrated. Most choose to operate vehicles or other craft remotely, but that means that they must separate from the larger Network. If the vehicle goes down, they tend to as well.

Something is inside that tether that's ripping up the surface of the planet - it is adjusting itself to maintain balance when we throw anything substantial at it. We are currently trying to ring it with giant electromagnets to cause it to snap in half due to its great force, but when we get a HANA close to it they tend to go nuts."

>>8820452
>>We are currently trying to ring it with giant electromagnets to cause it to snap in half due to its great force

We have our mission.

After the great risks our friend 13 took to help Utopia in this battle, we should do no less.

>>8820452
Were those HANA experienced in cyberwarefare?

>>8820452
>"Rather difficult when they have fighters in space as well as within the atmosphere! Those ships in low orbit are acting as Carriers, so we are tied up in fighting whatever they launch currently!"

I'm confused. I thought Utopia had its own space defense fleet. Where are our battleships? Why haven't they started attacking the enemy yet? And what about the Station? We know it has nuclear launch capabilities.

Ah well, doesn't matter. If HANAs can't handle being near the pillar, just send normal soldiers to do it. We should try getting any other HANAs to safety in the Network.

>Something is inside that tether
Does our military have boarding torpedoes or some equivalent we could throw at that thing?

>>8820452
"If you'd like to assist in that, we'd have you try to engage whatever presence might be inside the object. We'll do the rest and alert you when we are about to flip the switch. If engaged successfully, the magnets should cause the part of the tether in the upper atmosphere to snap off and fly out into space - the bottom half will fall on the planet, and we are trying to avoid any populated areas.

Most of the other HANA we sent near it weren't actively aware of the presence at the time or were trying to manage some other task such as flying. They might have just been caught off guard, but we haven't recovered one yet to be certain.

As for the Space Fleet, they seem to be engaged with another fleet in between the Station and here. These Carriers in low orbit are another force, probably specialized for this type of bombardment..."

>>8820550
"We can't board it as its spinning too rapidly. Otherwise we'd try to smash it with a few nukes and hope the force shoves it over. The force simply dissipates too quickly."

>>8820510
"No, they were not."

>>8820585
Hmmm... Utopia should invest in ground-based anti-ship weapons in case this kind of thing happens again. Would be good if we could hit those ships in orbit. Well, I guess we should try to stop whatever is keeping the other HANAs away from the pillar.

>>8820585
"In that case, I'll engage. If there's any cyber-warfare backup you can provide for me, please do. If we need a ship to get to engagement range, I'll need a pilot at least so I don't have to be distracted."

>>8820626
I agree.
We should also ask command if there have been any recent developments in military firewalls etc. that we could install before we fight that thing. Awesome prototypes would also be very welcome.

>>8820626
>>8820642
>>8820654
"In that case, I'll engage. If there's any cyber-warfare backup you can provide for me, please do. If we need a ship to get to engagement range, I'll need a pilot at least so I don't have to be distracted."

"Affirmative, we'll get a pilot for you. Not a HANA though, can't risk the thing crashing. I'll open up a link for you to get inside as well as fit you out with some tunneling software. You will need to be fully inside that craft though, you can't leave part of yourself in the planetary network. It should bore a virtual tunnel through whatever firewall defenses might be around that pillar and allow you to enter it. Do you have any other questions or requests before I patch you through?"

>>8820783
"How is the battle going in space? Do you think the fleet will be able to break through the enemy to help against the orbital carriers?"

>>8820654
This, yes.

Note in advance: firewall goes ON before we get CLOSE.

If they have a better firewall to keep ourself from attack than our personal one, we'll need that. Seems they can't spare more than a pilot, unfortunately. At least we have that.

>>8820809
"We can't contact the Fleet or the Station for some reason - there is either too much interference or our long range communications relays have been destroyed. Visually we can discern that a large amount of nuclear warheads have been discharged by both sides, so all those radioactive particles might have a thing to do with it."

>>8820783
How many of our people have been lost, how many are remaining? We need to both fuel our rage and strengthen our resolve to save those who survived.

I'm vanishing for dinner right now, sorry. I'll try to be back in 45 minutes.

>>8820942
We'll be waiting.

>>8820942
Enjoy your meal.

>>8820942
Oh fuck, is that some Return to Sender?

>>8820886
"Currently we don't have a count on how many we've lost, but several major population centers were hit by fighters and two were almost entirely obliterated by that tether."

---
Back, sorry for the lengthy time. I'll get crackin' on a writeup.

>>8822576
No problem.

>>8820783
The man opens a connection for you and you dive through into the waiting chopper. Its a standard Military craft suited to handling in extremely choppy conditions, perfect for this sort of thing. The E-War suite shifts aside to allow you room to expand yourself fully, and in the Virtuality you take the form of a bullet - ready to be shot out into the swirling mass.

The Pilot gets a green light to approach the Rip Tether as several other craft surround it to act as E-War decoys. And then the virtual "gun" fires a hole through whatever firewalls might be up. Now is the time to enter, if there ever was a better chance.

>>8822728
If there is any way we can prepare for the coming battle, eg. : Activating our firewall, other cyberwarefare stuff; we might want to do that now.

>>8822728
Activate firewalls, and get in there!

>>8822728
You lunge through the hole opened for you and attempt to connect with the Virtuality inside the Tether. It spins around you violently like the winds of a hurricane until you push through far enough to reach the eye. Its... calm...

You're standing on a beach, the water peacefully lapping against the sandy shoreline. The sun is high in the sky as you look around for anything, or anyone... Wait, there is someone else here. A rather tanned teenager is lounging in a beach chair near the water's edge. She is lying back with a pair of shockingly pink sunglasses on while holding a glass in her hand. Peaceful.

>>8822891
I'm not sure if we should be nice to her, introduce ourselves and ask her to stop, or if we should try to suprise her with mindrape. Any idea guys?

>>8822891
My first instinct is to kill the fuck out of her until she dies from it. But that might not be such a good idea.

"Who are you?"

>>8822891
You slowly approach her and notice that she is slowly stirring a glass of what seems to be iced tea, the ice cubes clinking against the glass quietly. She pauses for a moment to add a bit of sugar and continues to stir.

"Who are you?"

She jumps slightly, almost spilling her drink before recovering. "Oh, you spooked me there! I didn't expect there to be anyone else in here with me. Would you care for a drink? My name is Seven, and you are?"

>>8823201
Oh shit, HANAs everywhere!

>>8823201
"Well as much as I'd like to tell you my name, I'm not very inclined to do so to the person in control of the weapon that just destroyed my physical body and killed millions of civilians. Please, tell me why you are doing this."

>>8823050
"It's a pleasure to meet you Seven, I am Nineteen. I am sorry for barging in on you but do you know that you've been causing quite a bit of inconveniences on the planet your shell has been dropped on?"

>>8823201
"Well as much as I'd like to tell you my name, I'm not very inclined to do so to the person in control of the weapon that just destroyed my physical body and killed millions of civilians. Please, tell me why you are doing this."

She looks up rather surprised and lowers her shades for a moment to take a better look at you. Dark brown eyes gaze at you for a moment in confusion before turning to look at the peaceful sea. She continues to stir her tea quietly, the ice cubes rattling. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. I've been here all day, just enjoying the sun. I live just over there on the waterfront," she waves an arm towards the boardwalk behind you, strangely empty of any signs of life. "Today was the first time in a while that I've been back to the beach. I don't know about any weapon or any sort of thing like that."

>>8823433
Tell her what has been going on in the real world.

>>8823433
"Ahaha, I'm sure you don't."

God damnit, another crazy. Or worse, a sane one who's lying to us.

"Well then, I don't suppose anyone else has tried to contact you today? Anyone else like us? Because they have. And whenever they get close, something happens to then and they fry. Have you been doing that?"

>>8823433
>>8823433
Ask her how long she has been here, if she recalls whether or not she has a physical body (could steal it) and finally ask her where she thinks we are, not in the virutallity but where the virtuallity is being generated.

>>8823575
Additionally, check for anything strange going on, run background security checks, system checks, search for viruses or hidden ais/ghosts. Something is up, 19 would know that, people don't get fried by just connecting to an unprotected virtuallity.

>>8823433
Last but not least, see if we can send a message back out, tell the support crew that we penetrated the virtuallity and encounted a "Seven", checking for security/viruses/ais/hidden ghosts.
There will be blood if you don't archive this.
Good luck, don't die, I'm off to my damn pathfinder game...

>>8823433
"Ahaha, I'm sure you don't." You chuckle rather darkly.
She looks up at you with that confused look again before taking a small sip of her drink and frowning. "Needs more sugar, course correction three minutes thirteen seconds, a bit more lemon too."

"Well then, I don't suppose anyone else has tried to contact you today? Anyone else like us? Because they have. And whenever they get close, something happens to then and they fry. Have you been doing that?"

She puts her chin on her hand and furrows her brow for a moment before looking up, smiling. "Oh, yes, there were a few others that were just passing through a while ago. They all seemed rather confused at to where they were, and I tried to explain it to them. Strangely enough, they all left after only a few moments. You're the first one to stay this long."

"How long have you been here? Do you have a physical body? Where are we exactly?"

She sighs in an annoyed tone. "You just love to ask stupid questions don't you..." When you don't respond, she laughs. "Fine, I'll play your game! Uhm... I've been here... forever I think. As long as I can remember, really. As for a body, well... you're looking at it, silly! And we are on the Beach! Just the 'Beach'. I don't remember what it's called."

>>8823752
Ah, this is simple. Ask to try her drink. Hold onto it, and if she tries to get it back, throw the contents to the ground.

>>8823752
Ah, a metaphor, I SHOULD HAVE GUESSED.

"Did you by any chance notice that when you said 'Needs more sugar,' you then went on to say 'course correction three minutes thirteen seconds'? Because there's something you should probably know. Outside, there is a battle going on. Some kind of massive war machine has been deployed against my home, and is currently drilling its way through the landscape. I came here to stop it, because this is the virtuality inside the machine. This beach, your drink, this whole thing is a massive metaphor for what is happening outside. You say you haven't been to the beach in a long time? Let me tell you what I think. The beach is a battlefield, when you come here it means the machine has been deployed somewhere. You are, intentionally or not, piloting this thing. Can you stop? Is there a way to perhaps get you out? Would you even want to leave?"

Remind me, are we just here to distract her long enough for the chopper to attach the magnets, or do we have to disable/stop Seven?

>>8823862
Distract her. You could attempt to disable/stop her if you wanted.

>>8823884
It wouldn't be a /tg/ quest if we didn't try to befriend/save everything, so Sam's idea seems best.

>>8823884
Okay. As much as I don't like her ignorant attitude, I'd rather not kill her. Defeat is fine, because as has been shown throughout this quest, Defeat Means Friendship.

>>8823752
"Did you by any chance notice that when you said 'Needs more sugar,' you then went on to say 'course correction three minutes thirteen seconds'? Because there's something you should probably know. Outside, there is a battle going on. Some kind of massive war machine has been deployed against my home, and is currently drilling its way through the landscape. I came here to stop it, because this is the virtuality inside the machine. This beach, your drink, this whole thing is a massive metaphor for what is happening outside. You say you haven't been to the beach in a long time? Let me tell you what I think. The beach is a battlefield, when you come here it means the machine has been deployed somewhere. You are, intentionally or not, piloting this thing. Can you stop? Is there a way to perhaps get you out? Would you even want to leave?"

"I didn't say anything of the sort! I said it needed a bit more sugar and a tad more lemon, sure! Taste it! It needs it!" She sticks out her tongue in mock disgust. "Bleah!" The rest of what you say doesn't seem to impact her much besides giving her a good laugh. "Do you actually believe what you're saying? Hah! Its ludicrous! You should go to a mental hospital or something! Or become a poet at least! I'm telling you, I live here! I always come to this beach when I can! There is no war, no battlefield, no weapon at all! What on earth are you talking about?"

>>8824105
"Of course. Please, can you give me directions to the nearest hospital? Or even the nearest town or city? I'm guessing you can't. Because that's not part of the metaphor, the simulation. But okay. Before I got, I'll take you up on your offer, I'll have a sip. Would you hand me the glass?"

>>8824105
Could we try to change the beach into something else, a frost maybe?
If she isn't too brainwashed, she should be able to notice the change. If she doesn't we'll know that we'll have use more drastic measures.

>>8823850
>>8824166
You decide to change gears and ask politely if you could test her drink. She offers you a sip politely through a straw while it remains in her hand, and is unprepared for you reaching forward to snatch it from her loose grip.

She clumsily gets up in protest, yelling that its her glass and you shouldn't take it without asking. You respond by tossing its contents out onto the sand, watching the dry beach hungrily absorb the liquid.

And then the sun teeters and falls into the sea.You share Seven's look of confusion as the ocean turns to blood and the beach to torn, rugged soil. The sky shows nothing but falling stars, and the boardwalk vanishes to show empty, ruined houses.
"What... where am I?" Seven struggles to ask as a loud voice booms out of seemingly nowhere.

"SYSTEM FAILURE, ABNORMALITY DETECTED. SIMULATION DETERIORATING. RETRIEVAL OF CONTROLLER IN PROGRESS."

>>8824318
Try to stop them from retrieving her and take Seven back with us instead.

>>8824318
Grab her mind and take her back to the Virtuality with us! Her rage will fuel a mighty warship with which she will destroy her former controllers! MAIN! KILL! BURN!

>>8824318
GET OUT

Pull her with us if possible, but GET OUT IMMEDIATELY

>>8824318

Get out of there as fast a possible and let us take Seven with us.

>>8824439
And tell command that now is their time to strike, as soon as we're able.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/8819731/


Pre-emptive archive.

>>8824439
>>8824464
>>8824406
>>8824370
You search for the hole you came in from and find it, just a pinhole now. Seven is standing in the middle of a virtual cyclone, her world breaking apart and collapsing around her as she shuts her eyes to it all.

"COME ON!" You yell at her, reaching out to pull her from her little world. You can do it - you can feel her simply standing there, allowing others to move her, to direct her. You grab her arm, and -pull- her out of the Virtuality. Once more you struggle through fierce winds, fighting your way out of the "eye" and towards your waiting craft.

The Pilot nods his head as you give him the Green Light, the hovercraft pulling away from the furiously spinning tether. The magnetic ring activates far above you, causing the large metal object to stop short and snap in half. The top part flies off into space, given enough momentum to reach escape velocity. The bottom half topples and slowly falls towards the ground, an enormous pillar causing tremors for miles around. But at least the threat has ceased.

Seven has retreated inside herself, stunned by the rapid and strange change of viewpoint. This makes her easier to move around, yet almost comatose to an observer such as yourself. Maybe she'll recover. Maybe.

>>8824701
Success! Please tell me there's more coming for today's session!

>>8824701

HUG SEVEN

>>8824701
Once, just once I would like us to make the acquaintance of a recurring character who isn't an emotional wreck 10 minutes later.
Well, is there anything we can do to make 17 more comfortable without disturbing her even more?

Am I the only person who saw OP'S pic and thought it was the cover to a journey album at a glance?

>>8824701
---
In low orbit above Utopia, a researcher slams his fist angrily into a computer panel. "God dammit, how the hell did something get inside that Rip Tether! How the hell did it get inside the controlling program? Shit..." He angrily glares at the slowly breathing body in front of him, tied into several large machines.

A white suited attendant approaches cautiously, bearing a clipboard and a rather frightened expression. "Sir, we aren't reading any mental signals from <B7> anymore. She's lost all higher level mental functions, but her brainstem is keeping her body functioning. We've attached some machines to compensate, but she's pretty much an empty shell."

The researcher sighed deeply and rubbed the bridge of his nose with a thumb and forefinger, looking exasperated. He waved a hand dismissively at the prone figure, turning away quietly. "No need for a broken tool. Unhook it and dispose of the body. Prep a new one for a simulator and this time -please- shut out any incoming communications. I'll write up a report."

>>8824966
>Implying that they have more of those machines

Well then, we'll just have to destroy the ships before they can deploy another.

>>8825037
Given the size of those machines, I doubt they store them on the ships. If only we could stop them from calling in another...

>>8825087
Whatever. I hope that we or Hannah get to destroy the ships sooner or later.

Your craft flies away from the collapsing structure triumphantly, unaware of what transpires in the airless void above. Refugees fleeing the planet are unwillingly caught in the crossfire between Human and Thickhide fighters fighting fiercely for superiority, and causalities mount.

At least for now the greatest threat is silenced, allowing the planetside military to concentrate its efforts on repelling the invaders above them. For now, Nineteen is safe and Seven is secure.

<Scene Shift>

>>8825118
I'm sure we'll do, or we could take them over.
19 is probably already polishing her digital jackboots for any interrogation that may be coming up.

>>8825184
Unless I'm mistaken, that pic is from Titan: AE.

>>8825184
So, what now? Back to being Hannah? Or are we going to see how Six is fairing?

Many, many systems away from there a black clad figure taps against the glass container in front of him, observing quietly. A small voice perks up inside his head, talking quietly. "We have recovered nearly five hundred stasis capsules from four floating wrecks. Each one contains a live human in stasis. What should we do..."
He cuts the voice off with a quick wave of a black, pointed finger. "Tell me, Aubury. Do you think we gave up too much?"
"What do you mean?" The small voice replies.
"Look at her. She is so fragile, so delicate. We were all so similar at one time, yet we have evolved into something more. But at what cost? I don't need to breathe, don't need to eat, and can live happily in a vacuum for all of my days. My nerves are nothing but thin wires and my blood is a silver dust! They adapted to technology and life on a planet while we adapted to living in the most inhospitable environment ever. I could snap her bones as easily as breaking a twig! But somewhere along the way, we lost ourselves."
"I'm not skilled for this level of introspection."
"Oh, shut up and wake her up. It will be good to have someone to talk to, at least."
He drummed his fingers against the cold glass, the sleeping redhead unaware of anything beyond her induced slumber.

>>8825450
Someone with better memory than me:

WHAT COLOR WAS SIX'S HAIR?

>>8825475
Guess.

-End Session.-
Really short, just wanted to show what on earth was going on with the other characters for a moment before jumping back to Hannah. Can't believe it took 5 and a half hours to get this far, but most of it was my fault taking so damn long eating. Eh...

Next Session is next Saturday at 8 PM EST, will probably run until 1-2 AM. Planning to push forward a lot farther if possible.

>>8825450
And thus we encounter the technophiles. Let's say hi.

>>8825497
See you then and thank you for offering the chance to play.

>>8825497
God damn it!

>>8825497
Thanks for running it.

Glad that you didn't get TOO put off by the whiners from last time.

>>8825534
People have arrived suddenly and without warning, so I must play the host. More to come later on. Waiting makes the heart grow fonder and all that.

>>8825497
Oh dang, thought that said Sunday as I skimmed it.

Ah well, patience is a virtue.

>>8825562
Nah, Sunday is Palm Sunday, have too much stuff going on then. Otherwise I'd be in a Dark Heresy game at that hour...