As he repeated the process, the Guardian absently-mindedly the lapel of his blue work coveralls. The action was a remnant of Zipperman’s, when he got nervous or anticipatory. Overwrites were never errorless, and sometimes fragments of past minds lurked in the shadows. Idly he wondered how much of his mannerisms and thoughts was merely the ghosts of past victims. Other Guardians were known to grow their own clones, or to completely wipe minds before entering them, but he preferred overwrites: quick and unexpected.

Bravo had also been quick, but not entirely unexpected. He had realized they had found out about Penavol, but only with the arrival of their modified cruiser from its “test” jump had he realized they had ferreted out the planet and even the bypass codes to the kill-sats. Thankfully the signal he had piggy-backed from BlackRock should give him enough time, fighting through the Gorgons that made for such serendipitous perimeter guard, as he finished priming the defenses. Right now their unusual robot allies battled through the streets above, trying to get them to the church from where the tabernacle got its name.

Zipperman’s body completed the circuit of the cryo banks, which formed a large circle, coming across the first Templar he had revived mechanically retrieving their gear from the overhead storage compartments. The Guardian always marveled at their movement, their economy of motion that bespoke of lethal efficiency. Their transparent skin and the blue smart-blood that coursed through their synthetic systems giving them the appearance of cadavers being marionetted by an artist. They strapped on the heavy battle armor and checked weapon systems without a word, their skulls profiling though the skin with azure blue eyes focused on their work.

Zipperman’s face broke out into a grin. This was the true purpose of man, to be brought to their highest callings. To be crafted into something greater and yet slaved to the whole. Much like their bodies, the Templars’ minds had been planed smooth of emotions, fears, and doubts. Their entire minds were focused towards their roles as warriors. They didn’t flinch at death, pain, or atrocity, couldn’t be tortured, pled with, or bribed. What they lacked for in imagination they made up for in effectiveness. They were the long hand of the Landers.

And they were going to crush Bravo like a bug.

Reportin

The Spark lends its support in this operation. May our force's bond grow stronger

Astral Flux reporting.

"This is Captain Geist to Scion of Sleipnir, begin clearing out the defense satellites while they are still shut down. Move closer to the planet so they can't use the K-S-F."

After clearing a hole in the satellite perimeter so that they couldn't be shot when the remaining came back online, the cruiser would move into the atmosphere. It'd be too close to the planet for them to risk using the kinetic strike craft, such large munitions moving at lightspeed would destroy the planet. The Sky Marshal would not take kindly to that, and no one would be stupid enough to risk his wrath.

>cheetos and mt.dew ready

[St] Geist]
[Flux] Foolscap
[bM] Ender
[Rr] Wolf
[sR] Grey

[S_04] Hard Code

>Finally got to this mission, so excited!

You have entered a restricted training facility....
Action Phase.

for reference.

rolled 3 = 3

>Move NW 4. Overwatch nade Lob N

Prepare for contact

rolled 2, 3, 2, 8, 5, 5 = 25

>Move 1 NE, 2 N
>Go prone, passive cloak activates

>Sniping M and A to NW, enemy sniper in the center, left over shots hitting whoever was missed or enemies left over that are in sight. Any remaining actions used for overwatch NW

>RUN 1N, 6NE.

>RUN and JUMP towards position specified
>use movement point for jump

>my move count is 4 btw

>Intercepting psionic and psicomm hacking attempts with my first action, moving myself onto the eastern L2 point, and then establishing a one way portal to redirect fire at me towards the central enemies.

rolled 7, 9, 5, 6 = 27

Me and Brosky
We get in close to the Holey man.

Then, we fire to our heart's content. Our mark is for them lovely knights.

Then we dive through and get behind cover of those L2 Pillars. [5 move]

The

1 Enemy destroyed.

Enemy Phase

.....

>>14997267
"Targets appear resistant to damage"

"Unit [S?-01-01] 'Cypher' on standby; awaiting further orders."

....

Be warned; enemy forces are equipped with level 3 paramillitary upgrades.

>>14997510
"Stand by, we'll bring you in if we can."

Action phase; sorry

>>14997666

"Understood, Captain. Calibrating weapons in the meantime."

>CALIBRATING guns so when I drop in, I HOPEFULLY have a bonus of some sort.

rolled 6, 2 = 8

>>14997663
>Move NE 3 (not on ledge)
>nade into group North of Ender (first roll)
>Nade into Rifle Man on east riser (other rifle man should be in splash)

Reporting in. Hypertrace on downloaded coordinates initiated and locked. Uploading visual.

>looking at space

rolled 4 = 4

>>14997724

>There was supposed to be a roll there.

rolled 7, 5, 1, 9 = 22

>move 1 northwest
>shoot at snipers to north until both are down
>move 1 nw
>shoot at remaining sniper, then at antiarmor and M
>move 1 South

rolled 6, 3, 5 = 14

>SMoke bomb 2NE
Move 3NE
>BOMB That attack Group
> Broski Melees and Bombs the attack group

>Move 2 N, 2 NW of Grey, then suck the 4 enemies surrounding that hex into space. After that, if possible, move 2 NE and suck those other 2 guys into space, if not, just hold still and block bullets.

rolled 1, 1 = 2

>botting Wolf

>moving 2 north
>Single shot on the A and M to north

rolled 1, 4, 1, 10, 10, 7, 8, 2, 8, 1, 8, 3 = 63

>after Fools move
>MOVE and JUMP as specified on pic
>when on lvl2
. .>if enemy Rs remain, 2xgrenade use RED 1
. .>else use RED 2
>BURST FIRE remaining target in range PRIORITY lowest health
>1st 4 rolls for grenades last 8 for burst

>clarification for burst fire targets

>Prioritize group 1 until all available targets are dead
>remaining shots go to group 2

8 enemies destroyed.

Enemy Phase.

The Guardian occasionally peered at the display in the corner of the room, showing Templars engaging the ODF troops. He had to give them credit, while most people would have turned away and cut their losses, Bravo was a stubborn one. As Zipperman’s body worked at the console, the Guardian found his eyes straying up to the marine captain as he battled through the top levels of the Tabernacle. The man, who according to the rapidly diminishing datapiles, was the instigator for this highly foolish and illegal action again the QOC, IQ, not to mention their very own ODF. Looking at Captain Geist, the Guardian found himself smiling. While they had never met, he felt intimately familiar with the man. After all, he had pulled the Saint from Clytemn’s memories and then used him, as a hammer and a scalpel, as often as he had employed… cruder means.

The console chimed, informing him that the upload was complete. It hadn’t been a large file, just the day’s occurrences and a few gems he had been holding back. The rest had been sent daily through the quantum entanglement molecules as a much needed precaution. While untraceable unlike conventional psi-comm, data transfer was slow, even in these linked chains of entangled pairs. BlackRock wasn’t the only user of this “relegated” technology, nor were they the most proficient. Like usual, the Guardians and the Landers had kept the best to themselves.

> >

>Continued from >>14998299

Zipperman lurched to his feet, the Guardian was almost relieved that he was going to shed this overweight body soon. The console started to radiate rhythmic beeping as it purged the thousands of files in rapid succession, wiping drive after drive in the complex. As soon as that was done, every memory-storing device in the complex would overheat, first fusing into slag, then dripping molten through wiring and housing, making sure there wasn’t even a scrap of data left. Finally the molecules on both sides would detonate in juxtaposed chain reactions, causing few teaspoons of radiation that would quickly get lost in the background.

The Guardian pulled a small black rod from his belt and thumbed it on. A red light pulsed angrily on the shiny black surface of the vicious little brother of the Saint Staff. There was one major downside to using quantum entanglement to transfer data:

You couldn’t transfer flux through it.

Internal wall spaces open. Enemy reinforcements are coming through !

Action Phase.

rolled 6, 3, 2, 9 = 20

>botting Wolf
>Using burst fire x2 on enemies to north

rolled 6, 8 = 14

>>14998399
>Move south west 2
>nades into R's from secret door

rolled 8, 9, 3, 3 = 23

>>14998399

"Moving to engage western hostiles."

>Move NW full, should be 3.
>Burst fire using first gun twice on enemy [R] pair, at a -2 penalty due to distance. First cannon has only one burst remaining before requiring reloads.

rolled 9, 1 = 10

>going prone, cloaking
>shooting at riflemen to nw
>crawling 1 south, staying cloaked

rolled 8, 10, 10, 4 = 32

>RELOAD
>MOVE and JUMP 3 E to lvl2
>BURST FIRE at enemy Rs attacking Wolf
>JUMP 1 SE
>RELOAD

"Everyone, move forward! We need to get past them farther into the facility!"

Passing out, I'll see you in the morning.

>Robot brother is free to bot me, or Lost, I know you're there.

>Observing a sun that is about to have a solar flare.

>>14998593
"But first, you are going to want to shield your eyes!"

>4 west
>2 shot that A in the north

rolled 5, 1 = 6

dicinggggg

>Moving to a nice central location on the map, then channeling the observed solar flare into the north half of the map, using the second action to keep things contained enough that it doesn't kill everyone on our side as well.

rolled 6 = 6

>Rolling.

Radiation dete-

Enemy phase....

Lost’s eyelids flickered open. She had the faint feeling that she had done this before—many times before—but her mind swept the thought away with another torpid wave of nothingness. She knew, faintly, that something was very wrong, but it was hard to summon up anxiety or frustration or any emotion at all. Every time she reached out thoughts and feelings fled like sand through fingers. Suddenly a shudder ripped through the base. Lost found herself on the floor, idly tasting blood. Her eyes flickered open again and her head moved with agonizingly slow speed, righting the floor in her vision. Something was very wrong. A cheek muscle twitched in a flinch as her cell door slid open and someone ran noisily inside.

“Lost! Lost get up, we have to get you to safety!” A pause and the footsteps brought the voice closer. “Lost? Lost, get up!” Hand rudely shook her and she recoiled, snuggling further into her sheets. The voice sounded strangely familiar. Was it Geist’s? The shaking got more insistent.

“Lost, we need to go. Now. There’s been a security breech, and… and I’m not sure, half the base just exploded. I don’t know if Zipperman surived, but if he did, he’s coming for us.” Another shake, making her head shake and her long blonde hair thrash about. “And then he’s coming for us. He’s not a man to leave loose ends. He’s going to kill us, Lost.”

>Continued from >>14998975

Lost’s eyes focused and locked onto Richard’s face. Why had she thought it was Geist’s? Groggily she was helped into a sitting position and clarity started to seep through the diffuse drowsiness. Her gaze wandered over to the food tray lying on the ground, empty. “The food…” she said, her voice husky and slurred. “I think he put something in the food.”

She could hear him grunt as he pulled her to her feet, placing her limp arm around his shoulders and hauling her frame to her feet. She tried to move her legs, but she couldn’t get the coordination right, the limbs seeming to move sluggishly and out of sync with her commands. Lurching, the two made it to the open door and stumbled out into the hall.

“We just need to stay hidden for long enough, and hope these people are either friends of yours, or enemies of his.” Richard said, his voice filled with manufactured confidence. He turned left, away from Zipperman’s office, and moved in a clumsy gate due to the knight’s weakness.

Zipperman groaned and got to his feet. The display was down and alarms started to go off in his earpiece. Radiation throughout the area, whole sectors none responsive, what had happened? As he reached out to the open up the door he realized that it was starting to glow red hot. Recoiling he slipped out a side entrance. What greeted him was both amusing and horrify. Amusing in the sense that whatever weapon they had used, they had wiped the plethora of living and on-slab Losts he was about to destroy, as well pretty much everything else in front of him. Behind them there were only a few systems and a dozen or so rooms. One was Richard’s office, and the other was his pet’s cell. A smile reached across Zipperman’s face as he stalked out, the sound of the overworked foam extinguishers at his back.

It was all a damn shame. The Guardian felt a growing anger that all his hard work had suddenly gone up in smoke. The data they had gathered, the records they had made: they would advance the goal by years if not decades. But the real data, the flux, could not be allowed to stay, and couldn’t be sent in the datastream. And that was the true breakthroughs, his true triumph. This anger grew within him as he stalked through the halls. He started to focus it into a cool rage as he pushing open doors to disused rooms, which only grew as he did not find his quarry. Waverly and his “Lost” were not in their rooms, and he his fury took on a hard killer’s sheen as he searched for his last two loose ends.

Action phase.

>>14998949
He was very glad he had covered his eyes. When he finally looked up and did a quick scan of the area, only a couple enemies were left. As they they began to get back on their feet, he glanced down to insure that his cloak was still functioning. Satisfied that he was still hidden, he began checking the others' psicomm readings,

>>14999022

"uh Squad? Grey here. What the fuck just happened?"

>Teleport myself 5 hexes north, teleport Geist north off of the map into the heart of the base, immolate remaining enemy, teleport myself over next to Grey, SCAN radiation for harmful effects.

>>14999048
"Power of the sun, Grey. Now take out that remaining soldier!"

>Get up
>and
>Run north

NORTH !!

" Still a .. " " Still a person to save !

rolled 5, 8 = 13

>>14999061
>After being teleported, find the Guardian, shoot him, and be a hero!

"Here I come, Lost!"

rolled 3, 5, 7, 7 = 22

botting Cypher [S_2-01-01]

>moving towards remaining rifledude
>shooting him, all called shots to the head

Units have reached lab acces- rescue operations commence.

>A moment please, editing.

Richard screamed through gritted teeth, hearing the flesh of his forearm tear. He didn’t dare release his grip on the canonizer rod, the hand of Zipperman sinking talon-like into his own, trying to pry the weapon back into his own grasp. As he flailed the larger man back a step, their eyes met, his own filled with a wide-eyed determination, the monster peering through the beady eyes of the other man, his fixed grin bloodied from where it had sunk into the doctor’s arm.

His eyes gleamed with pure malice. “You ever fuck the bitch, Doc?” His voice was hoarse. In that body he had about as much strength as Richard did, and the strain of their struggle was beginning to show in his heavy breathing. “You ever imagine what it would feel like to grab her throat and just… squeeze? The harder you make this, the more I’ll hurt her before I end her too.”

Richard tried to ignore the man’s taunts, tried to equally ignore the doubts in his own mind. When Zipperman had finally found them, trying to pry off a ventilation cover in the environmental control room, he hadn’t begged or explained or even thought. He had whirled around as he had heard the footsteps and leaped at the man when the door opened, crying for Lost to get up and MOVE! The woman struggled, drugs having overcome her feeble movement, dragging herself across the floor to the open exit.

> >

>Continued from >>14999137

The words Zipperman had said awoken something in him, something that had been growing in himself for the last few weeks. Something that ignored the rational scientific part of his mind that disbelieved this struggle that he was in and why he was fighting it, something that had seen Lost for an innocent purity whose naivety was a strength of purpose as opposed to a character flaw. It was as if she represented those things that were right with the world. Not democracy or low taxes or microwaves, but those moments of perfection and beauty in the faces of the young, open fields of green, of flowers opening in early spring. It was a love. It was, she was, something worth dying for. He fought on.

The head butt broke Richard’s nose and he could taste blood where he bit his lip. Pain surged through his body and his head spun, but somehow he managed to stay upright. Zipperman had spun him around he now he was pinned to the doorframe, the leverage allowing him to start pushing the rod incrementally sideways, towards Richards head. He could feel it moving into position, like the beam of an interceptor swinging towards its target. Fear became a real thing, bubbling up the back of this throat. And through the maelstrom of fear of real permanent flux-shredding death, one thing rang clear. Of all the evils, compromises, and woes he had brought into this world, he was going to set one wonderful, glorious thing free. And all it was going to cost him was his life.

>Geist, take the shot!

rolled 3, 6 = 9

>>14999141
>Already did here!: >>14999073


>But another rolls if needed?

>>14999163

>No, that's good. Response incoming!

Zipperman’s face was a mask of concentration as he brought the weapon with agonizing slowness to the doctor’s head. He hadn’t even noticed as the figure and slipped around the corner, his cloak shifting from glass to black as he pulled away from the corner and lined up the shot. Once second he was about to wipe Waverly’s flux off the face of the planet, and then next he was seeing double as something tried to wrench his flux from his body.

Upon taking the Junior Technician’s armor, the Guardian made sure to put in a few safeguards. The standard Observer black node and anti-psi package was a good start, but there were a few tools out there that went right past the mind and into the heart. Not that pathetic muscle that pushed blood around the body, no the heart of every person, of every thing worth mentioning: flux. The weapon in his hand and the weapon he was now pretty sure had just taken him in the head were just a few of the methods, and the nicer ones at that. And so he had the F-box installed.

Once something grabbed your flux, it was hard to get it to let go. There weren’t many systems that could anchor a flux more strongly to a body, and all of them had serious side effect, not enough to warrant use on a Guardian clone. Instead there was the last-ditch effort of the F-box. It was an idea rooted in ancient times of burning the crops you couldn’t take with you as the enemy advanced, of making the land they were fighting to take not worth it. Of making sure you did took or destroyed anything the enemy could use, even your own mind.

Zipperman’s body feel to the floor, a last shuddering breath as the elements in his head boiled his brain, a last sigh to follow the flux as it shredded and dispersed.

Lost looked up as Richard moved out of the doorway, retreating with hands raised. And then a man entered her vision, casting aside his mask and her eyes took in a face that had helped her push back the nightmares, that had kept her going on days she thought she should just break down and cry, that had kept this ring of ice on her finger.

“Geist?”

>blink

>>14999376
>>14999384
Even through the mask, he could smell singed flesh and hair. He wasn't sure if it was his, but his cloak had seen better days. At least it was still functional, he thought. Racing down the halls, he had gotten seperated from the others. While Ender could easily outrun him, Foolscap's teleportation had given him quite a head-start. Up ahead, he could hear the sounds of a struggle. As he got nearer, he could catch the tail end of what was being said.

"...and just… squeeze? The harder you make this, the more I’ll hurt her before I end her too.”

Turning the corner, he spotted the larger one wrestling with the scientist, inching the wepon closer and closer. Leveling the staff at him, he pulled the trigger. Readings showed that nothing had been picked up, the flux had dissipated. it was no concern of his, he would have just erased it himself anyway...
Over on the floor, he saw her. "Lost?" He rushed over to her and gathered her up in his arms, kissing her fiercely. "Are you alright? You're safe now." He wanted nothing more to than just sit there and hold her awhile, but they were running out of time. Seeing Lost struggle to stand as he tried to help her to her feet, he decided just to carry her. "We need to get out of here."

As he lifted Lost up, he began to address the other man that had been fighting as he turned to face the exit, "I don't know who you are, but thank you. I suppose you'll be needing a ride out of here? We kind of need to hurry, I imagine the rest of Blackrock isn't too happy about this."

>>14999804

Lost lay there in Geist’s arms, her face an image angelic beauty as the tension of her cell, of her imprisonment, of her monstrous jailor drifted out of her. Her arms embraced Geist in a weak hug, squeezing him as if to reaffirm that he was really there. She didn’t look up or around as they stepped through the burning wreckage that had been their prison making their way to the other teammates of Bravo in the training room.

Richard glanced around at the soldiers, linking faces to datafiles, and felt a faint shudder of relief and a little bit of heartache. They were free, Lost was free, and she was with the man she loved, dearly and fiercely. They were whispering quietly to each other, with tears and smiles undulating as sobs and barks of laughter came out, grief and relief and precious, precious love overwhelming sense and senses.

Richard stood behind them, watching the faces of the rescue crew in their own smiles and cheers, until something caught hit eye. Lost’s hands, one arm beneath the Saint’s arm and one around his neck, worked carefully and something fell from them, sparkling crystal in the flames. As they made their way up to the entrance and to freedom, Richard paused a moment and crouched down to see that it was.

A small hollow circle of ice lay on a chunk of ceramic tile, already weeping water around the edges. It was Lost’s ring, the one she had make during her imprisonment. Richard stared at it for a moment before getting up. And then he smiled.

She didn’t need it anymore.

>THE END!

> Thanks for everyone who put up with all my roleplaying up to this (especially Geist). I hope you all had as much fun reading and playing all of this as I and OC did writing this.

>OC, thanks for being such a good friend and humoring me all the way through this!

>>14999825

I laughed a little

>looks around

*slow clap*

>>14999825
>I enjoyed it! See you around whenever, I guess?

"Gone ? What the frak do you mean, GONE ? "

The Scion of Sleipnir winked out of sight, and not even the light speed drives of the Blackrock pilots could've caught on.

There was a laugh.
"Well how about that "

" Wish on a shooting star- Something faster than us exists ! "


==========================

> Zerospace Season 01 Concluded
Thanks to 47 souls that served under Bravo Company and to those that died protecting his corner of the galaxy.

You have my thanks.

>>14999890

And thank you as well, it was rather fun, and thanks to my squad-mates as well.

>If anyone wants to talk to me over the hiatus, my AIM is KMC9987

>There Abe, in case you forget!