>>2866188

Sometime before sun up, you wake from the sound of a heavy impact. You scarcely budge: the depth and pattern are easily identified as a moving Knight. You pull yourself from a cloud of forgotten nightmares and dress, moving outside to watch. The Erinyes moved across the staging area, drifting rather close to your barracks in an attempt to shift around the Durga, which was picking its way to the road.

Beside the Durga, you could see a family resemblance, though the Erinyes’s more humanoid upper torso gave it that ultra-modern look. No doubt the design council were proud of the artistic flourish, but for those in the know, the size was a better, if counter-intuitive reminder of supremacy; Second or third generation machines slim down quickly as the engineers decide what can be miniaturized or discarded.

Once the Erinyes cleared the span of the Durga, the pilot disembarked, a man in a bulky oversuit, linked into the machine through ports like Durga, with an ironic lack of grace: you would never have called Durga’s implants sleek without the comparison of this other pilot. He acknowledges your presence, but little more; waiting patiently for Durga to complete her maneuver, disembark her machine and join him under the smaller machine.

A short exchange followed, passing off a dizzying array of codes, keys and configurations. The both of them seem rather blasé about sharing classified information in the open, although you admit you’re surprised you can follow them at their blistering speed. You copy down the relevant ones for your machines, reminding yourself to destroy the notes when you’re done. The man dismisses Durga with a little less decorum than you think was deserved, gesturing in your direction. Durga takes notice of you and approaches. It takes her a surprising amount of time to cross the distance: You may just have misjudged the size of the Erinyes.

“I have the OP codes for your Magds…” She glances down at your notepad, “Oh. You already got them?”

“Just now. Your friend was being a lil’ loud.”

She smirks. “Funny. He is not a friend; they are not happy to be here. Hawke apparently twisted their arm pretty hard. We have the necessary orders and clearances for the sortie now. Are we starting early?”

>Quality Control: You’re not the kind to assume the competence of those you work with. A review of the Erinyes is in order.
>Deploy: If you start now, you can earn enough daylight to reach the edge of the preserve in a day. That will save you a bunch of time and hassle crossing checkpoints
>Function check: You make take the time to test the machine if you move quickly enough. Letting Durga get confident with this model may pay dividends.
>Delay: You’re still multiple hours early: Kicking the team out of bed and pushing into a forced march is not the way to start a long-term operation.
>Write In?

>>2866245
>>Quality Control: You’re not the kind to assume the competence of those you work with. A review of the Erinyes is in order.

>>2866245

Twitter is @FernglasQ. I try to post scheduling there. You can also contact me on the qtg discord.

>>2866245
>>Quality Control: You’re not the kind to assume the competence of those you work with. A review of the Erinyes is in order.

>>2866245
>>Function check: You make take the time to test the machine if you move quickly enough. Letting Durga get confident with this model may pay dividends.

>>2866251
>>2866275

"Rule 0 of new military hardware: It's a lemon until proven otherwise."

>>2866303

>>Function check: You make take the time to test the machine if you move quickly enough. Letting Durga get confident with this model may pay dividends.

Writing.

>>2866325

“Yep. Mount up.”

She looks tremendously excited and makes to don her helmet, only to pause when she realizes you’re not moving.

“Why do I get the sinking feeling I am going to be supremely disappointed in my first ride in this thing.” Her enthusiasm wilts.

“Caught on fast: Paperwork says she’s brand new. It’s not going to be a joyride; we’re starting by pulling tabs and kicking tires. Didn’t they have you shakedown the Durga when you first deployed?”

She doesn’t quite get to a frown before your question furrows her brow. “No, The Knight had a previous pilot. The interface was already calibrated.”

You shrug; It really doesn’t work that way. Any calibrations made by a different pilot are going to be entirely useless. It’s possible the advanced machines could use a more robust system.

“It’s not as bad as you’re thinking, we’re just running down a checklist. We need to run up the reactor and actuators, so you’ll get a bit of speed in. Even some target…ing calibration.” You almost said target practice; You don’t think they make chalk rounds for directed-energy cannons. Hopefully she won’t be too put out by dry fire.

“I guess I have to take your word for it. I will try to be patient.” She dons her helmet. “What’s first?”

“… Collar check?”

“My control harness. We are testing continuity…” The glare from the rising sun on her visor isn’t nearly as harsh as the look she shoots you, “Armistead, this is exactly as bad as I was thinking. It is a waste of our time and I am reserving the right to protest every delay.”

She turns on her heel and embarks the Erinyes on a similar rigid rail elevator as the Durga. You sigh, moving to collect the necessary signals and tools to review the machine. You spend a few minutes handling the receipt paperwork with a blissfully quiet radio.

When you feel you’ve taken enough time to get the message across, but not so much she’ll disembark, you key in the credentials to patch the machine into the local C3, which it successfully connects on the sixth try. She doesn’t seem all that interested in protesting, allowing you to clean up all of her failed comms configurations and move onto the list without complaint.

>>2866649

The machine checks out, barring a few misconfigured relays and a dead strain sensor in the 6 o’clock foot, which was an easy enough fix. You are intrigued to note the integrated nature of many of the systems: Some components were entirely sealed, with service diagrams essentially advising “Good luck” for field repair. Proportionally, the machine was significantly denser than any design you’d seen before, with a few systems so interlinked you could not imagine the process to design, much less assemble such an intricate format.

The takeaway is simple enough: The Erinyes is a tough nut to crack, but once breached has to rely on self-sealing to restore system integrity. You’re not a fan: direct human oversight and maintenance is important for preventative work, and the second line of defense against sabotage. That’s before you have to wonder how much damage could be done if one of the metaforms got wise, breached the hull and hid inside.

Durga, for her part is enjoying the operational testing. Her excitement is tempered differently than before, more amusement than passion. You wonder how much of it comes from the nimbler machine and what of it was “fixed” in her recent update. You decide to shelve it for later: It’s far less frustrating for the both of you if she’s allowed her enthusiasm, especially with the rockier start.

To her merit, whatever they instilled in her is impressive from a training standpoint. She operates the machine without any significant hiccups, only hanging up occasionally on adapting and hybridizing maneuvers and strides. It nags at you, but you’re relatively certain it comes from having little history with the machine: A pentapod stride is always going to look strange to you, and some of the alternative gaits are uncanny.

>>2866652

Lis and Jennings mount up and join you with little fanfare. From their demeanor, you guess that they had some difficulty from the interruption this morning. You take a short break to eat and work with the pair to pack and stow your personals from the barracks, transferring them to the Erinyes’s cargo storage.

And like that, you’re as free as an 8 year contract allows: Sam Armistead and Co., currently between bases, forward all mail to : Not Kyiv. You’re sure you’ll change your mind if you ever get a base posting, but as far as field work goes, it’s going to be refreshing to have a new view.

Which reminds you: Despite your misgivings, your plan of attack seems relatively solid. Actually deploying is somewhat more murky: You’ll need to figure a location to set up when you arrive, at least to secure the specimens and have a rendezvous. The varied terrain gives you some options however.

>Offensive: Hold off on establishing camp until you’ve located your targets. You can stick yourself right up next to them and present a strong front as you perform your duties. Being that close is risky, but virtually solves logistics and perimeter monitoring: As the saying goes, Being surrounded permits you to engage in any direction you please.

>Defensive: Establish base in an uncompromised shelter or settlement. Consider commandeering a functioning town’s industrial or storage sectors. Having local security to watch and guard will help avoid covert threats and maintain a strong signal back to base. Engaging with the local population can complicate things, especially in the case of disaster.

>Evasive: Select a wilderness location a significant distance from confirmed sightings and do your best to obfuscate your position. Long transit times and a lack of support are offset by the sheer simplicity of establishing an observational cordon and defending it from the rare threat that blunders in.

>Mobile: Minimize your footprint and break camp regularly. While a lot of energy is wasted in this strategy, it balances your effectiveness: You can move to engage in the most effective angle, retreat along any vector and simply break contact in case of emergency. Storing specimens in your cargo might be a bad idea in combat however.

>Different Strategy?

>Write in? (Any actions Sam wants to take before leaving. Depending on circumstances, this mission might take a while.)

>>2866657
>Evasive: Select a wilderness location a significant distance from confirmed sightings and do your best to obfuscate your position. Long transit times and a lack of support are offset by the sheer simplicity of establishing an observational cordon and defending it from the rare threat that blunders in.

Y'all like camping?

>Write in? (Any actions Sam wants to take before leaving. Depending on circumstances, this mission might take a while.)
Acquire whatever we'll need to make a wilderness camp more tolerable. (If Evasive is chosen)

>>2866673
Love it, supporting

>>2866673
Supporting this

>>2866673
>>2866697

"Isolated is best. We've got no idea what's out there."

Writing.

>>2866657
forgot to vote
>>2866673
this works

>>2866730

Bad news. I gotta finish the next update in the morning. Good news, Next session is back to the regular Sunday 5 EST time. See you then.

>>2866932
See you tomorrow OP

>>2866657
>Mobile: Minimize your footprint and break camp regularly. While a lot of energy is wasted in this strategy, it balances your effectiveness: You can move to engage in the most effective angle, retreat along any vector and simply break contact in case of emergency. Storing specimens in your cargo might be a bad idea in combat however.

>>2866730
>>2866932

You immediately rule out any structures in the region. Between locals, possible hostiles and your targets, there’s anything and everything to go wrong with securing a place in the thick of it, regardless of any assumptions of allegiance.

Which gives you virtually everywhere else: There’s a lot of wilderness in the Ukraine. That suits your team fine: Despite the Erinyes’s size, finding an appropriate terrain feature to shelter is going to be a matter of persistence, not luck. While you prefer not to drift into the specific thought, it’s also somewhat important to you that you keep isolated from the populace: If anything goes wrong with the targets, you want to be as far from population as possible: Sinai wouldn’t have been nearly as awful if there was any warning or lead to escape from the devastation.

You relay your thoughts to Durga and the rest of the team. Her initial hesitation is mostly evaporated by Jenning’s enthusiastic agreement. You take the care to echo Jenning’s ideas, hopefully allowing Durga to cleanly consider them. She seems to be genuinely convinced however, and you float a few preliminary sites based on proximity and elevations. The safety buffer areas around the plants and industrial zones allows you to simply walk in using the Erinyes’s lower ground pressure. You simply hit a few checkpoints and go cross-country, without having to wait for an ultra-massive Knight to pick its way through.

While it doesn’t make the logistics any easier, it does significantly simplify them: You want it, you carry it. You bounce a message to one of Tennhauser’s people and they pull together a rush of survival gear for you. Nothing fancy, but the kind of simple, inexpensive gear that ends up being mournfully worshiped in the last diary entry of dead woodsmen. You poll the group, and Jennings offers a few suggestions, including some medicine and a rather ludicrous number and variety of socks which failed to elicit any response from your contact. You suppose as long as they’re on the same page, you can trust their advice. The materials are bagged and you have little difficulty slinging them into external racking on your machines. You’re on your way.

>>2873614

The activity of the VC troops declines smoothly as you move north and away from Kiev. It’s a shorter trip than from Lubny, but it’s significantly more convoluted, and you often find yourself tracking across detours and skirting poor roads. As you get close, troop concentrations build up again. The demeanor of these troops differs from the frontline. For lack of a better term, they’re sedate: content to watch their given posts and pray for another boring day. You have little difficulty crossing the checkpoints. You know the moment you’ve reached the operational area by the absolute border: As you cross into the last checkpoint and dismount, the officer in charge scarcely acknowledges your presence: His attention is focused on his perimeter and management thereof. The moment he realizes you actually mean to cross his precious lines is the moment when he actually pays you interest.

He’s a portly fellow, compensating for his lack of hair with the care he lavishes on the remaining accents. Thankfully, his preening visage extends to his management of his station: It takes him little time to collect a local map and a set of overlays to update your intel on the region. Unfortunately, he has little to say on civilian presence and disposition. Traffic in this area is almost exclusively handled on the river, meaning his scouts rarely encounter the locals. As far as they know, there wasn’t any skirmishing in the region for fear of damaging the potentially contaminated structures. Even the Hanguo aren’t stupid enough to poison the territories they covet. Roads and landmarks are mostly the same, with a landslide wiping out an unimportant service road to the south of the largest of the potential sites. That might have potential however: You could use the closed road as a buffer for your camp and get a central, but isolated position to work from.

Action reports are dull. From the few that existed, they were mostly dealing with feral animals. The most recent was dated only a night ago, where a motorized patrol claimed they startled a bear taking shelter under an overpass. Shots fired, scared the shit out of the dismounted soldiers and the beast fled without a trace. It occurred on the north-western edge of their routes, slightly off from a direct path from the north. It’s not in line with Minsk, but it might be a place to look: Even if it really was just an animal, something nearby might have pushed it into contact.

>>2873618

You ask him to recall any strange rumors or superstitions; the kinds of things that might be glossed over in final reports as unprofessional. He shrugs. Everyone on the post thinks the old reactors are creepy, separating any anomalous reports from tall tales would be impossible. Barring the relatively short period they withdrew before the VC stabilized their position on the Belarus/Ukraine border, there hasn’t been any notable incidents, save a RF contact far east that turned out to be an empty “numbers station”; a relic of the pre-Hanguo USSR. Best guess was some salvager broke into it and bolted when powering the generator kicked on the transmitter. He grins at the story, pitying the supposed junker scared shitless by stern Russian barked through decades old speakers. You smile and nod, asking him to point it out. He humors you.

By way of polite warning, he informs you that he has been instructed to pull all of his patrols from the interior and focus exclusively on access control. You have little hope that the lightly armed soldiers would be of much use against threats, but the lack of networked scouting is going to hurt. There’s only so much you can pick up from satellite and recon drones. On the other hand, it’s likely that’s the point: Less data collected means less data leaked. You’re confident you still have the area in hand: A couple thousand square kilometers sounds daunting, but if you were forced to, you could reach any point in the region within a day. Of course, that assumes you’re unopposed.

>>2873623

When you reembark a half hour later, Lis speaks first.

“Nothing from the peanut gallery; I think anyone competent is off doing real work.” She sighs, “At least they’ll stay out of our way.”

“A bit too right there Lis; We’re solo past the gate here. These guys are holding down the fort, probably until we get done.” You start keying in points of interest.

“It makes sense. They stay back and run for help if things go badly, while we do the job without guarding soft targets. What does it look like inside?” Durga looks pensive.

You found it curious that Hawke’s comms hack was preserved over to the Erinyes, but you’re not complaining. You’re 100% certain Durga is going to be a headache out here and you’d like to spare her as much attention as you can.

You relay the jist of your discussion with the post’s officer. When you’ve finished, there’s a tangible air of dissatisfaction.

“What the hell are we going to do with that?” Jennings gives voice to your collective ire.

>Recon: You’ll establish a position near the closed road and start the hunt from there. Staking out the largest target is a good enough bet.
>Signals: You’ll place a site close to the radio tower the officer mentioned. It’s as good of a place as any to start, and the closest thing you can see of potential enemy action.
>Humint: You might be able to contact the squad that encountered the wildlife in the north-west quadrant. Even if it’s just a bear, these people were the closest to the expected vector of the metaforms, and you can use their knowledge to pick a good position to watch from.
>Discard: None of this information is concrete enough to be useful: You’ll pick an optimum site from the entire region and start from scratch. It isn’t a waste of time if your other choices mean starting behind.
>Write in?

>>2873627
>>Humint: You might be able to contact the squad that encountered the wildlife in the north-west quadrant. Even if it’s just a bear, these people were the closest to the expected vector of the metaforms, and you can use their knowledge to pick a good position to watch from.

>>2873627
>Humint: You might be able to contact the squad that encountered the wildlife in the north-west quadrant. Even if it’s just a bear, these people were the closest to the expected vector of the metaforms, and you can use their knowledge to pick a good position to watch from.

>>2873627
>>Signals: You’ll place a site close to the radio tower the officer mentioned. It’s as good of a place as any to start, and the closest thing you can see of potential enemy action.

>>2873685
>>2874241

>Humint

>>2874274

>Signals

Vote closes in 15

>>2875083

>"The MK I Eyeball is the only sensor ever devised that can find what you weren't looking for. Might as well give the squad a visit and get it from the horse's mouth."

Writing.

>>2875175

“We’re asking the wrong people. No one out here has enough zoom to notice the little things.” You absentmindedly drum your fingers on your headset. “If any of these events were related, we’re late to take advantage of them.”

“So who do we ask then?” Durga pages through the roster. “There was a patrol in the northern-most quadrant, but they are still active. It would be frustrating playing tag trying to catch up to them.”

“Next best thing; the team that got spooked last night; I’d put money they’re still pulled for at least today.”

“… I see them; one was relieved for a fracture, but the rest are on standby. Should I ask the commander to send them our way?”

“If you pull ‘em officially, they’re just gonna to read off their report letter by letter. “ Jennings pops the hatch on his Magd and dismounts. “Send me their 20, I’ll drag a handful of em back before you know it.”

“Drag?” Durga seems concerned by the subtext.

“Not literally Durga; give him a lil’ credit.” You locate their place on the roster, “Block 3, probably end of the row. Don’t make any promises you can’t keep.”

True to his word, Jennings returns less than twenty minutes later with a few fresh enlisted in tow, apparently rather friendly. He calls you down and swears up and down that the strangest thing happened to these poor fellows the night before. You nod slowly and let Jennings prod the younger soldiers into spinning their tale.

While significantly more heroic in the face of true monstrosity (in their own version), most of the material is the same. A description of burns on the animal catches your notice however. When you ask them to elaborate, they say their squad lead had it scrubbed from the report to save a decontamination cycle: Their monitors were clean and the last thing they wanted last night was an ice-cold shower.

Your question breaks Jennings’ momentum however and makes the green troops uneasy discussing their breach of protocol. The best he can do from there is spin out to discussing their “punishing” route, which gives you some idea of the worse areas: You mentally cross out a site where the soil has eroded to expose waste casks, though it might be useful bait. From there, it’s entirely a question of parking the Erinyes between a few sites. You thank the soldiers for the conversation and Jennings sends them off.

>>2876299

“They didn’t even look at your patch before you opened your dumb mouth.” Jennings sighs. “Is that gonna be enough?”

“Better than we started with. If the wildlife is getting injured, either something’s breaching containments or driving them off with a weapon. Hopefully they stuck together, and we can scoop them all up in the same net.”

“You’re pretty gung-ho about this. I thought you’d be more worried after getting BBQ’ed last time.”

“It barely hurts at this point, I’ll give Durga her due on that one. Besides, if she’s right, only the crawlers will be hot.”

“I see what you mean: If they’re close enough to burn ya, you’ll have other things on the mind.”

“More or less. Mount up, we’re going.”

You pass along word through the C3 and Durga gives the order to open the perimeter fencing. For a long minute and a half, the men on post work to shift barriers and open access points, which led to the comical image of a couple dozen meters of destructive force waiting on spike strips and chain link to be cleared from her way.

You’re rather certain that Durga could step over the entire cordon with a little effort or walk through it without batting an eyelash. Is she humoring them for the sake of decorum? Or is the perimeter an unbroken boundary from her perspective?

A moment longer, the last of the guards clears the road and she moves. You follow behind like ducklings, heavily armed ducklings…

Your travel through the interior was surprisingly uneventful. Despite the age and appearance of the roads, they remained in surprisingly decent structural condition. In some places, the material was even sturdy enough to survive your passage without leaving obvious tracks.

It was more disheartening than anything: The light machines could easily avoid tracking, and even something as large as a Locust might be able to slink around. The overgrown trees would give traces for larger machines, but the small combat forms in the dossier would have little difficulty weaving through.

Nearing your selected site, a rhythmic sonic signature turns out to be a piece of sheet metal buckling in the wind: You’re going to have to get used to the amount of flimsy scrap in the region: scrapping was a profitable profession with the inexpensive energy in the region. Of course, there was little effort to clean up after the reactors shut down.

>>2876305

“There is no way this started a few nights ago. I can barely pick anything up for radiation.” You can see Durga slew the pylon on the Erinyes’ head, holding its angle for a moment before aligning to a new vector.

“Absolutely nothing on the filters. We’re breathing clean.” Jennings chimes in.

“That is expected, the contaminated ground is only going to be inside the complex boundaries.” She frowns, “If we were coming in here blind, I would not know where to start… Ah. There.” She designates a point that aligns with your POI for the exposed nuclear casks. “Activity there. Nothing abnormal, but at least the sensors are functioning.”

“That puts our site a half click out. How are we on daylight?” You try to pull a weather report but are stymied by the slow uplink. It shouldn’t be this bad by proximity, but nevertheless, it sucks.

“Tight. A few hours. If we’re gonna have any sort of perimeter, we need to hustle.” Jennings moves forward with Lis, but Durga remains planted.

“No reaction but there, where the contents should still be secure... It does not follow… Sam, can we investigate? It might just be corroded, but then we should see more in the environment. I do not like it.” She furrows her brow.

“We don’t have anything to check it out with until we unpack. The best we can do is put a layer of Shell over while we set up.” You reply. The site wouldn’t take long to seal, but the added transit would kill your timetable.

“Hell no. I’m not going out there alone. We can check it out in the morning.” Lis very deliberately closes the gap to line up with Jennings.

>Base Camp: Home plate is your first priority. If there’s anything to be concerned about out there, it’s still second priority to making sure there’s an “out there” and barriers between.
>Investigate: For being starved for clues, this one’s dropped right into your lap. Unpack the bare minimum to examine the site and go. You’ll be setting up in the dark, but at least you’ll know you aren’t setting up next to a threat.
>Secure the site: Take a detour as a team to put a layer of shell over the exposed casks. If there’s anything leaking, that’ll stop it till you can get back to it. You’ll be working into twilight, but at least you can make use of the sun until it goes down.
>Delegate: Convince Lis to handle the work alone while you set up. A complete camp and a buffer from the contaminants are worth taking the risk of splitting up.
>Write in

Serious apologies for the poor showing tonight. I believe I’ve nailed down the writing mistakes that are causing the low volume, but I’m not going to make any claims until I see if I can produce results.. Next session is Tuesday 9/11 at 5 EST.

>>2876309
>>Base Camp: Home plate is your first priority. If there’s anything to be concerned about out there, it’s still second priority to making sure there’s an “out there” and barriers between.

>>2876309
>>Investigate: For being starved for clues, this one’s dropped right into your lap. Unpack the bare minimum to examine the site and go. You’ll be setting up in the dark, but at least you’ll know you aren’t setting up next to a threat.
Last thing we need is trouble right next to our new home. And this can't the the first time we've had to set up in the dark.

>>2876309
>>Investigate: For being starved for clues, this one’s dropped right into your lap. Unpack the bare minimum to examine the site and go. You’ll be setting up in the dark, but at least you’ll know you aren’t setting up next to a threat.

>>2876340
>>2876754

>Investigate

>>2876325

>Base Camp

Vote Closes in 15

>>2879840

>"Durga's the expert and the commanding officer out here; If she's not sure, I'm not sure. We'll pack out and survey the site."

Writing

>>2879883

ROLL: 1d100 best of 3
Bonus: N/A; You have no idea.

It is better to be lucky than good, but even better to be both.

Rolled 19 (1d100)

>>2879908
rollin'

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>2879908

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>2879908

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>2879908

>>2879883

“You aren’t going alone. We’re taking a detour.” You hold your bearing, moving past the Erinyes.

“You sure Sam? We’re gonna be pitching tents in the dark.” Jennings tacks back, already resigned to your decision.

“Going with my gut here. We’re going to be jumping at shadows tonight regardless, I’d like to be sure they’re only shadows.”

Lis groans “I swear you’re doing this on purpose. Another late night on a hunch?”

“I like sleep, but I’m a lil’ partial to waking up afterwards. Go grab crate 2 and 7 from the boot: Monitors and masks. Even if we’re lucky, we’re still sticking our faces in ancient Russian reactor garbage, and I’d prefer if no one starts glowing in the dark.” You queue the relevant storage and pass it along to Durga. “No mad science tonight alright Durga? We check if the site is safe, get an idea what’s going on, grab a can of anything weird and get back.”

“I will promise nothing. If we find our target is present in the site...”

“It’s never that easy, and if it is, it’ll keep till morning. Come on. Just stay buttoned up and we’ll handle the grunt work.”

“… Fine”

You collect a scanning rig from the stored gear, along with a protective oversuit that you tuck behind the cockpit seat. You hope you can handle everything from safely inside the 01 Magd, but you wouldn’t be surprised at all if some UI oversight forces you to disembark and manually adjust the system. The suit is simply insurance against the delightful possibility of getting stuck in the hot zone. You don’t want to be sitting there waiting to be towed out, least of all nearby these sorts of threats. Having less of a signature still means having a signature, and you’d prefer not to discover how tantalizing your reactor is to the machines.

Durga does not disembark to collect equipment. You chose to believe it’s a tacit decision to defer to you, but from what Hawke said, it’s very possible she simply doesn’t need the protection. You unload the remainder of your gear under a few tarps: The added distance is inconvenient, but you intended to use an offset storage for the samples in the first place, so it’s not really that much of a bother. It’s intriguing to watch the Erinyes in motion as you unpack: You can visibly see the machine perk up as the excess weight is offloaded. It’s reassuring to know that she’ll be able to keep up in a crisis, even if it means pitching the gear.

>>2880280

Once she’s been offloaded, Durga leads your team along the route towards the POI. What should have been a kilometer or so feels far more like another hike from the perimeter with all the terrain, and when you reach the edge of the sparse trees, the sun is far closer to the horizon than you’d hoped. You strike up your mounted lights to little effect: There’s not enough contrast to the approaching twilight.

“There they are. 11’o clock. What a mess.”

Jennings designates the hillside you have on your map, but instead of the eroded landfill, the storage site is spread wide open, concrete casks scattered like pop cans.

You calibrate the scanner and are greeted by a cacophony of warnings. You cross your fingers and reset the device. This time, the only warning it presents is a signal mismatch, which clears on its own; simply complaining about being booted in an active hazard. Thankfully, the numbers are appropriately low: You could disembark easily if you needed to. The signal that Durga picked up originates here, but the magnitude is significantly different. You wonder if it originates from some mobile target, slowly meandering through the region.

“Casks are cracked. Something or someone shattered them. Are the local kids that crazy?” Lis circuits the site, examining some of the fragmented casings. “Wait. Spoke too soon. They’ve got the same damage; Like a press or sheer opened each one up.”

“Stay back, something about this doesn’t seem right.” Even as you say it, you approach the nearest cask and examine it. The structure is impressive, heavier duty than most buildings, but it’s still cleanly ruptured, with nearly perfect lines.”

“Hey Sam, don’t these look a bit like they’ve frozen out? Like a beer you forgot in the freezer?” Jenning looks up from his subject and examines a nearby undamaged cask. “It’s only the messy ones too: Anything with a single label hasn’t been touched.

“Durga, any ideas?” You scan the perimeter

“The clean ones are likely reconditioned or new fuel. Only the dirty mixes? They will have traces of other things, perfect for our small drones.”

“I don’t think that’s it Durga; This one’s dirty, but it’s not putting out any rads. Wait, there it is… It’s all lower energy.” You feel a prickle along your spine. “It’s sorted.”

“What do you mean? They indexed them when they went into the ground?” Durga pans her sensors over the site.

“No, something’s cracking these open and picking the good stuff out. Jennings, don’t touch anything.” You tweak your sensors, drifting into the thermal spectrum and filtering out the ambient. Your jaw drops.

“There’s a bunch of IR here. These things are toasty.” Jennings carefully sidesteps, examining the concrete barrel.

Durga lights up. “That is probably our runaway fission bots. Load one on-“

You cut in. “Shut down Jennings, we’re standing in a nest! Go cold now!”

File: 10.jpg (267 KB, 1200x848)

267 KB JPG

>>2880297

No sooner than you give the instruction, a section of the torn up soil roils with a dozen or more insectoid frames shifting through the dirt. In the fading light, you can’t get a good look at them, but it’s not like you need to check their ID.

As far as you can tell, they’ve collected some design tips from some of the wrecked earth movers in the region, but a few include a very impractical looking array of pile-bunkers, far too close together to be effective against anything larger than they are. They’re significantly smoother and more streamlined than the original design however, giving them a very naturalist look.

You’re not in an admiring mood. They make a beeline for Jennings, who to his credit flicks his lights and vents. You can see the haze wafting from his machine where he’s boosted the coolant feed.

“They ain’t stopping. Sam?!?”

>Ghost: Durga said they’re reactive and watch heat: Have Jennings stay still and let them go about their business. He’s got the heavy armor in the first place, even if it goes bad, you can clear them off and make a break for it.
>Tip-toe: Order Jennings to slowly retreat. The added load might make him more visible, but it’s better than just hoping they don’t hurt him.
>Decoy: Crack one of the other casks with weapon’s fire. If they’re moving on a potential threat to a food source, they’re going to act on a real one. You’ll figure out where to go from there as soon as they’re not right on top of Jennings.
>Engage: Time for plan B: Put the full force of your weapons onto the incoming threats. You should tear them up like tissue paper… This time…
>Write In?

>>2880302
>Ghost: Durga said they’re reactive and watch heat: Have Jennings stay still and let them go about their business. He’s got the heavy armor in the first place, even if it goes bad, you can clear them off and make a break for it.

>>2880302
>>Ghost: Durga said they’re reactive and watch heat: Have Jennings stay still and let them go about their business. He’s got the heavy armor in the first place, even if it goes bad, you can clear them off and make a break for it.

>>2880350
>>Ghost: Durga said they’re reactive and watch heat: Have Jennings stay still and let them go about their business. He’s got the heavy armor in the first place, even if it goes bad, you can clear them off and make a break for it.

>>2880350
>>2880372
>>2880383

>"They're not going to stop. They're going to grab their loot and leave. Try not to look too shiny."

Writing

>>2880302
Good decision. We need to be careful to not only not get mulched, but also not teach them how to be more effective.

>>2880302

You outline a formation in the C3 and send it off. You can virtually hear Lis bite her lip, but she moves directly out from the site, removing herself from the IR signatures you’ve designated and doubling back to your position. You and Durga remain positioned orthogonally to the bot’s line of travel, giving you a firing angle.
As for Jennings…

“I swear if you’re fragging me, I’ll haunt your shit.” He remains perfectly still. “Durga? Second opinion?”

“Stay still 02. These are learning machines, they are easy to… manipulate. These ones care about heat and fuel: offer them neither.” Durga aligns her projector at the group, explicitly stowing her plasmoid gun with the gravitas of an alcoholic offered a beer.

The swarm’s charge breaks a few meters before Jennings, the individual machines scattering. Despite the shift, they still move as a school, with reactions and decisions waving through the group like ripples on a pond. One of them leaps upwards seemingly on a lark, landing on one of Jenning’s angled plates. The impact unsteadies him, but the added weight from the armor prevents him from needing to shift to catch himself. The offending bot jumps down with the same lack of commitment, at least until it locates the waste cask.

The machine examines the cylinder with what could be imagined to be a critical eye before it begins digging. The remaining bots assist, with the piledriver machines chipping at the outside of the cask. They’ve got a method to it as far as you can tell, taking off the ceramic outer layer systematically, but leaving the internal metal plating intact. The husked cask is born across nearly all of the bots backs, balanced, then secured by clawed clamps, two other prepared casks were collected in a similar fashion, giving you the opportunity to get a rough headcount nearing thirty.

The piledriver bots however are still free, and take there sweet time examining Jennings’ Magd. One of them takes some experimental strikes on the uparmored façade, causing the plate’s guard to chip along the edge. For a few nerve-wracking moments, they examine the removed piece and the superficial cosmetic damage they’ve done. The bots play with the piece, tapping, scoring and tossing it around.

For whatever reason it does not pass muster and they discard it. One of the machines “returns” the chip to 02’s general location, leaving it in the dirt before following their companions and moving to dig open the entrance of the collapsed tunnel to admit their prizes. They retreat with little but a backward glance, rapidly moving through the ground beyond the range of your sensors. Even when you know what to look for, you can scarcely track them more than 4 meters before they disappear into the background noise.

>>2880751

Except for one: For a moment, you believe it to be a rearguard or scout but the bot staggers in circles, clearly deaf to whatever signal coordinated the others. You remain stationary with the rest of your team, but no trick seems to be forthcoming. From all appearances, the machine seems identical to the others in both configuration and markings. It ignores Jennings, stumbling towards you and Durga. Your warning system flickers weakly from whatever sensors the machine uses, panning across your machine with a similar level of incompetence to its locomotion. At some point, it stumbles, falling to the ground. It continues to fix you with its instruments until its power ebbs going dark. Its gaze does not shift, and you have to throw off humanizing it: It looked hungry.

There is a short beat, and Jennings breaks into wild laughter.

He takes a moment to compose himself, pulling back up his systems.“Whoo… Sam; I think that one was calling our bullshit…” He swallows hard, betraying his latent stress. “Are they all supposed to be comedians?”

“I’m willing to settle for “died of fright”. It’s intact, can we use this one?” Lis shifts up to examine the bot.

“No.” Durga’s answer is inappropriately forceful.

“Why the hell not? This one volunteered. We pick him up and slag the rest.” Jennings

“It cannot volunteer. It was sent, or it was malfunctioning.” She softens her tone. “Sorry Jennings, you will be bait for a little longer.”

“Ooh. I don’t like it one bit. Leave the humor to Sam.”

>Withdraw: Cross this off on the map and move back to set up camp. As long as you’re not on top of it, it’s no more dangerous than any other unsecured locale. You might still have a glimmer of light at this point.
>Seal: Take the time to ruin this exit with Shell compound. If you can get away with doing it without upsetting the bots, it’ll secure this site against ambushing at least.
>Retrieve: Even if Durga is right about the unit not being useful as a specimen, you can still take it back to examine it to help plan future operations.
>Map: Examine the site to determine the underground route: You might be able to determine if they’re local or if they’re based in another facility.

I'm going to call it tonight since my energy is diving, but I think the new method is at least keeping the block at bay. I'll see if I can push this back up to my old update count. Next session is Thursday the 13th, 5 EST

>>2880762
>>Retrieve: Even if Durga is right about the unit not being useful as a specimen, you can still take it back to examine it to help plan future operations.
Assuming Durga gives us an ok about trackers, it should give us an idea of their current state of being.
>Map: Examine the site to determine the underground route: You might be able to determine if they’re local or if they’re based in another facility.
This is a good lead, we ought to make the most of it. I'm afraid of giving the bots ideas if we try and Seal.

Thanks for running.

>>2880774
>>2880762
I'll second this. Gotta make sure it isn't a beacon for the others or have it study us and relay it back to it's brethren though if possible.

>>2880762
>>2880774
Has my support

>>2880774
>>2880785
>>2880823

>Retrieve
>Map

Vote closes in 15

>>2884670

>"Now, I know I said don't touch anything... but..."

Writing.

>>2884780

“Lis, drop a sheet of Shell on the thing and secure it on Jenning’s machine. Durga, I want you to come with me. Get clear of this border as soon as possible.” You draw in an area for the IR signals across the C3 and pick your way towards the other side of it, giving the collapsed access point a wide berth: The last thing you want is to fall in.

“Sam. The bot is unacceptable; we cannot deliver that as a specimen.” Durga tries to keep her voice level, but it’s clear she has less than professional concerns about the machine.

“We’re not delivering the little guy; We’re going to see what makes it tick. Any chance it’s going to phone home?”

“Well, no. The design lacks long range communications, but…”

“So we bind it up and take it apart at leisure. It’s mostly the same machine as far as I can tell, and if it’s not, we’ll put it out in a field and see if the 30 is enough to disable them. Does that cover everything?”

Jennings keys in, “I’ve got something: If she thinks it’s wonky, why am I the one carrying it?”

“You volunteered.” You deadpan.

Jennings has no response. Lis sets to work packaging the bot for transport. You and Durga reach the counterpoint to the initial IR signals.

You designate the point. “Can you get that projector aimed at the ground?”


“Not directly under the Knight, but sure… What am I doing?”

“Put a minimum force out and tweak interception depth. We’re looking for the tunnel, You should see a lil’ dip when you reach the ceiling and a spike when you hit the floor”

“Neat trick, when did you figure that one out?” She begins to scan the surface, the grass above rippling with the force.

“I had an inkling you might be able to pull something like this with a focused enough emitter when some IRH smartass tried to intercept my skin off. If you keep the field constant, you’d get a power fluctuation.” You rub under your goggles, it’s nearly healed. “Like a penetrating sonar, only a few hundred times more wasteful.”

“Not getting anything.” She frowns.

“Try a deeper convergence?”

“No, it works, there is nothing here. Fifteen meters down, it opens, but it never closes up.” She pans the arm across the site. “It is nearly vertical, very small area”

“A mineshaft? Or a sinkhole? Any angle? Something to point a direction?” You reference your map.

“It does not seem to go anywhere but down. Maybe a silo? ”

“Not likely. Mark it anyways, we can look it over tomorrow if anyone feels like spelunking…”

“On a list of things to do before I die, cave rat is pretty damn low or, more likely, top of the list.” Lis chimes in, “Jennings has his pet secured; let’s get back. We need to get the dynamos hooked up before we run out of light, otherwise it’s going to be a serious shitshow.”

“We’re done here. Let’s go.” You can see the last glimmer of light taunt you from between the trees.

>>2885682

The tarps were a wise decision. It began to drizzle as if on cue the moment you had the power hooked up. Nothing you hadn’t worked through before however, you availed yourself of your protective suit as a fancy raincoat, keeping the worst of it out of your jumpsuit. Setup was mostly rote: You’ve assembled prefabs like this since boot, light would have been optional at this point, though you bust your knuckles a few times on some of the tighter fastening points.

You leave containment for the morning however; There’s way too much finicky seals to clean, dry and test for this evening. Your trophy of coincidence will spend the night under a tarp with a jerrycan or two balanced on top: A remarkably effective motion alarm.

To your surprise, Durga disembarks and makes a good effort to assist. Regardless of her sickly appearance, she has no difficulty pulling her weight when you can direct her to an appropriate task. She keeps a wide berth around the inactive bot however and makes a conscious effort to keep it in sight. Not really all unlike yourself when you think about it, you’re both preoccupied, just with different subjects.

Lis and Jennings have no such baggage and make far more progress on the inner cordon. It’s a simple enough affair, driving thin probes into the earth to detect vibration below and proximity above. In theater, you’d typically have a machine do this, but it’s perfectly serviceable with a sledge. Packed this tightly, it will work to detect the ground impact of moving armor or nearby infantry. You’d need to fly to avoid it.

You wouldn’t put it past someone though: You’ve heard of VC lifers using small R/C drones to shuttle smokes across the perimeters. Proof of concept is more than enough to maintain your paranoia.

You put the finishing touches on the bunk and step inside. It’s nearly identical to your previous domicile, small common room drifting off to a set of cabins and a small bathroom. Concessions are made for the longer duration, but it’s nothing unexpected. You’ll take one of the three cabins and…

Three.

>Watch Rotation: While not strictly necessary with the cordon up, a watch schedule improves security and neatly resolves the logistical problem.
>Assemble Lab: Putting up the second structure isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility tonight. Throw out a hammock and it’ll be bearable. Won’t be a bad idea to keep an eye on the objectives too.
>Share: Lis doesn’t really need a separate bunk. Perhaps a bit awkward, but at least everyone’s got a bed.
>Common: There’s a sofa, which is still in your top 10%. What it lacks in comfort it makes up in with surveillance: You trust Durga, but caution can’t hurt.
>Write in?

>>2885687
>>Watch Rotation: While not strictly necessary with the cordon up, a watch schedule improves security and neatly resolves the logistical problem.

>>2885687
>Three.
Did we only bring three? seems like an oversight.

>Watch Rotation: While not strictly necessary with the cordon up, a watch schedule improves security and neatly resolves the logistical problem.
I'm not really worried about the bots yet, but they make me uneasy.

>>2885701
>>Watch Rotation: While not strictly necessary with the cordon up, a watch schedule improves security and neatly resolves the logistical problem.

>>2885730

You would think it's an oversight considering you geared for this. The standard barrack is a three bunk design.

On the other hand, Durga didn't complain, and she was associated in the planning.

The thought is more relevant than the action.

>>2885749
I guess if the prefab only houses three, it'd be easy for the fact that we're four to slip by. I guess we'll just have to hot bunk with the watch rotation.

>>2885701
>>2885730
>>2885742

>"Well, someone's gotta keep an eye out"

Nap went much longer than expected. I'll take care of this in the morning.

Writing... Soon(tm)

>>2886099

Not dead, just slow. Next session on Sunday the 16th. 5 EST

>>2886099

You curse inwardly. There’s no way you got this far and didn’t bother thinking about a headcount. You guess theoretically you might have left Durga out of the housing based on her private quarters, but that doesn’t change the fact that this got past literally everyone involved… including Durga?

Rather, including Hawke. You are utterly unable to conceive of such a detail escaping your superior’s shadow. An intentional trip up then? What would be the point when you’re hundreds of kilometers distant? Utterly absurd.

You rein in your thoughts: A solution is the immediate concern. You immediately discount moving outside of the barracks: With the threat profile involved, separating is strictly unacceptable: As clumsy as their weaponry is, getting caught out and surrounded is likely a gruesome demise… You make a mental note that you should probably run a small arms drill tomorrow to knock the rust off of your skills and firearms alike.

Lis and Jennings enter together, soaked to the bone. You outline the issue, winging a tentative watch rotation, putting yourself on first. They have little complaint: Jennings especially decides that the extra security would be appreciated.

“Keep an eye out for Durga. She wanted to put some stakes out by the lab depot, so I gave her the rundown and sent her out with a bundle and a light. Shouldn’t be more than a hundred meters, so I keyed them on the same channel.” Lis yawns, “That’s correct right?”

“Yeah, we’re a lil’ tight to make zoning worth it. I’ll watch for her.” You give her a wave and she returns it, slipping into her chosen bunk.

>>2892166

You step out into the rainy night, letting your eyes get used to the dim landmark lighting built into the prefab. When you’re confident with your night vision, you take a circuit around the camp, getting a feel for your territory for the next hours. With the darkness truncating your view, this could be anywhere on half the planet, and it would be virtually identical, identified solely by its contents and layout. When you’re confident enough that you have it held in your mind’s eye, you return to the barracks, pulling up a weapons crate and sitting by the entrance.

The specific crate you sit atop contains a set of PDW’s, intended for carry for Magd and Knight pilots. The weapons are a high velocity needler, throwing hardened projectiles by the dozen to give pilots a fighting chance against even power armored infantry. Of course, in practice, they spend their entire lifespan four to a crate (You chuckle to yourself; the hotdog problem is alive and well). Anything heavy enough to force a pilot out of their machine has nothing to fear from such a weapon. You don’t know a single pilot that carries them: favoring a more reasonable sidearm and using the purpose-built pouch at the small of the back to carry tools and parts: 3 kilos of relays, patches and spares goes a lot further than 3 kilos of impotent defiance stamped in steel.

Amusingly, these metaforms are likely the closest thing to a proper target for the damn things. Punching a bunch of tiny holes in these guys is probably among the best ways to deter the little bastards. The light, fast and small projectile is harmless against serious armor, and surprisingly ineffective at actually killing someone. Even if the things got inspired, you could easily tank the fire in your Magd, and you’ve got a pretty decent chance of patching up if you catch a lucky shot, even in your jumpsuit. It’s amusing that the solution looking for a problem has finally found a niche.

Of course, the problem stares you in the face quite literally: By choice, you’ve set yourself across from the Shelled bot. You’d much rather get some distance from it, but it’s simply a waste of time to set up a separate tarp. Its vertically spaced optics glimmer faintly catching the dimmest hint of light and scattering it in the compound lens. The coating seems to pull the warm colors out of the reflections, playing back blues at odds with your impression of the active machines. Then again, your image of them is colored by your Magd’s sensors: They could really have been most colors picked up on IR, and most likely don’t bother delivering much in visible light.

>>2892170

A flash of lightning puts the camp into stark relief for a moment. The dull gem-like eyes are for a moment dazzling in the light, a brilliant, snowy blue-

A familiar mesmerizing appeal holds your gaze.

“We (You) are dyed in these colors.”
“We (You) welcome another voice.”
“We (You) will listen to the mute.”
“We (You) will speak to the deaf?”

The clack of metal interrupts you. You’ve racked the bolt of one of the PDW’s and leveled it at the bot. Thunder rumbles from the horizon, close and loud. You pause and wipe your face with your sleeve, putting more rain onto it than you could have ever sopped up. The machine remains dark and limp, all the less imposing at the end of a barrel. You move your trigger finger from the side of the gun and engage the safety. Pins and needles crawl down your spine, spreading heat in contrast to the thin slick of rain that’s infiltrated through your collar. It’s curiously invigorating.

Looks like your firearms drills are still ingrained. You move to stretch, only to realize there’s no tension to relieve, no breath held. Your head is clear: You saw the light flare in the bot’s eyes and reacted somewhat harshly. It was not a graceful reflex, but survival and elegance are not always entwined. Were it to reactivate, you’re certain you wouldn’t have had much more time to disable it.

The mantra isn’t much of a mystery either. It’s a memory: pieces out of order of old hymns that your mother liked, sung in a choir. You hadn’t heard them since you were 13. It is almost painfully vivid; you couldn’t care less for the service, but you linger on the snapshot of your family whole and happy. Not quite whole actually, but not in a bad way; Miriam’s patience with the slow melody ends at some point and she slips away. You exchange a silent nod with your father and follow to keep her out of trouble.

>>2892174

It’s fickle for such a sweet memory to pop up in the middle of the night. Perhaps prompted by adrenaline? Or perhaps not: You don’t feel any crash or jitters you’d expect. It makes some sense, since it feels like the thought came before the action. You turn back to your makeshift seat, mulling over returning the weapon to its pair of partners.

Pair. Two. One in hand, Three total. Three. An extra magazine sits along the empty slot for the 4th weapon, highlighting the discrepancy.

It’s been nearly thirty minutes. God dammit Durga.

>Patience: You wouldn’t go out there unarmed either. The fact you haven’t heard any gunfire means she hasn’t done anything particularly stupid right? Sit tight.
>Trace: Take a path towards the second drop. If she got far enough to put down the sensor spikes, you’ll scarcely exit the cordon. Even if she’s fine, you can escort her back and keep her out of trouble.
>Comms: If she had the foresight to take a weapon, she might have had the foresight to carry a mobile set. Conditions aren’t great, but neither is running through a thunderstorm at night.
>Alarm: Wake the team and search in force. If there’s hostiles, you’ll hit them hard. Won’t be winning any awards if she’s just waiting for the rain to slow though.
>Write in?

>>2892176
>Patience: You wouldn’t go out there unarmed either. The fact you haven’t heard any gunfire means she hasn’t done anything particularly stupid right? Sit tight.

>>2892176
>>Trace: Take a path towards the second drop. If she got far enough to put down the sensor spikes, you’ll scarcely exit the cordon. Even if she’s fine, you can escort her back and keep her out of trouble.
Durga's the most important member of the team, we should really make sure she's not been eaten by grues.

Your writing is great, Fernglas. Really enjoying this quest.

>>2892176
>>Trace: Take a path towards the second drop. If she got far enough to put down the sensor spikes, you’ll scarcely exit the cordon. Even if she’s fine, you can escort her back and keep her out of trouble.

>>2892176
>Comms: If she had the foresight to take a weapon, she might have had the foresight to carry a mobile set. Conditions aren’t great, but neither is running through a thunderstorm at night.

>>2892176
>>Comms: If she had the foresight to take a weapon, she might have had the foresight to carry a mobile set. Conditions aren’t great, but neither is running through a thunderstorm at night.

You might throw a tweet if you're starting up again.

>>2892255
>>2892373
>Trace

>>2893132
>>2893147
>Comms

>>2892219
>Patience

Vote closes at 530.

>>2892176
>Trace: Take a path towards the second drop. If she got far enough to put down the sensor spikes, you’ll scarcely exit the cordon. Even if she’s fine, you can escort her back and keep her out of trouble.

>>2893741
>>2892373
>>2892255

>"Start with her route. It's the only decent hint you've got."

Writing.

>>2893874

You pull your inspection light and pan across the camp, hoping against hope to see the glimmer of a pilot’s harness or the fluorescence of a visibility strap. No such luck; the woods are dark, with only the signals of proximity sensors reflecting, giving the impression of a lethargic crowd swinging half-dead glowsticks. You scramble through the pile of supplies until you come up with one of the perimeter interfaces, which is silent: The wind and rain put up a caution on false negatives from the disruption, but there’s been no action since Durga slipped under the wire.

You trigger a refresh and a few new pylons join the network. It doesn’t assure you at all. A decent number of them are throwing errors, and they aren’t smart enough individually to distinguish between improper configuration, damage, or simply being uprooted. They don’t detect motion however, suggesting they’ve been stored… or discarded. The few that are nominal report nothing abnormal. At least that suggests there wasn’t a strike on the supply drop. You check the sensor and align to the lab site, aligned with the row of your machines, opposite of the Erinyes which still towered over the camp, despite the ravine you used to hide its some of its vertical silhouette .

Without any disturbance to zero in on, you, and any other Magds would be blundering through the woods half blind and all deaf. The IR sensors would help assuming she’s upright and unimpaired, but chasing thermals out here has a serious chance to backfire. You could signal out, but that only helps if she’s got a mobile set on and operational, and in the meantime it means kicking out signals. Of course, it’s all overkill if she’s just twisted her ankle between the sites, and the commotion defeats the purpose of locating out here in the first place. A graceful solution does not readily present itself.

Or are you simply overthinking it? The carbine feels light in your hands. The perimeter, while interrupted, covers your back in both directions for anything larger than a human. You glance back at the inert metaform, parsing a sense of déjà vu that’s just a little too specific. Uncanny is the word. Is it as simple as following her out?

Your guts says yes; but you assure yourself that if the husks of inert combat drones starts giving you tactical advice, you’ll get yourself evaluated. At least you haven’t named the thing.

You pull the mobile set from your Magd, leaving a note for when Jennings wakes for his watch to check in with you. The lapse isn’t ideal, but it’s not like you’re slacking off: To be completely honest, you weren’t going to catch anything before the sensors if you were watching from inside the cordon anyways. You tramp into the night, the maligned PDW slung under your arm.

>>2895406

Despite the slick mud and occasional fallen branch, you reach the lab supplies without incident. Durga is not present under the rainfly.

Shit, there went the two convenient options. At least you haven’t been ambushed yet.

You pull your light to search for signs of Durga’s passage. The depot is untouched, only disrupted where you collected gear to investigate the waste site. You pan the flashlight to the perimeter, searching for the markers. You find the neat row of them on the far edge, all but one spaced exactly at the proper distance and spacing. When you reach the end of the row, you can see the remaining bundle, left open on the ground a dozen meters distant. Your foot catches as you approach it, and you barely catch yourself on a sapling. You immediately amend that however from the tugging of jagged metal on your gloves.: It’s the remains of a sensor spike, the electronics crushed, and shaft buckled in whatever force that drove it 2/3rds of the way into the ground. You cast your flashlight across your glove to examine for damage and see dark splotches. You flex your hand and discover that for better or worse, it isn’t your blood draining off the polymer. You examine the remains of the stake, but the rain makes it guesswork between the damage and whatever sealants used to assemble these rods.

You collect one of the undamaged rods and hold it steady, syncing with the remote. The malfunction clears and it disgorges its records. Its whine about your imperfect grip is overcome by an urgent notice, triangulating a “light” (Not comforting: light vehicle.) impact at your 10 o’clock. The notice is from ten minutes ago, but you’re not spoiled for directions. You consider taking the time to erect the sensor when you hear the distant sound of metal screeching. You can barely make out the angry chirp of its tilt alarm as you leave it behind at reckless speed.

>>2895410

[Anthesteria – Trolley Combat]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpn7nipy4T4

You weave through the trees with little concern for your safety, converting every stagger and misstep into more forward momentum. You catch your breath against a fallen tree and still yourself through sheer will to catch the sound of the action, this time the dull thud of an impact on wood. It’s not nearly as close as you wanted it to be. You draw again on a speed born of desperation, with only enough caution to ensure your weapon is still close. You quite literally skid into a gully, landing in an inch or so of water. You can hear the sounds of close combat, with an ominous lack of gunfire as you charge down the creek.

You hop down a foot or so fall, this time knee deep. A canted rock or plate below the surface takes your legs out from under you and you splash into the water. You come up sputtering only to be driven down again by a heavy impact. You reflexively strike out hard behind you, trading a bruised arm for cracking your skull against the rocky bank. With your other arm, you come across tossing the offending party. Somewhere in this mess, your light goes out.

When you break the surface again, you locate the assailant. It’s a smaller machine, closer in size to a dog, but of similar design philosophy to the others. A set of manipulators not unlike your Magd’s scrabble to right its oversized semi-tracked legs. You right yourself almost as quickly as it does, and it faces you, motor whining as a single blue optic spins violently into focus.

Beyond, you can see a tall shade approaching, fixing you with pinpricks of cyan as it hefts a long object. It’s flanked a set glowing mono-eyes, skidding up behind. The small machine slews to your flank, facing the shadow. It arches its whole body, creaking with a sound like a rusted suspension under load. Your gun finally comes to hand.

>Disrupt: You’re half-blind here. Hold your fire and throw your weight into something to buy time to actually see what you’re doing.
>Evade: Kick out to get clear. Scramble out a light source from your gear; There’s a flare in one of these front pouches. You hope it’s not expired.
>Fire: Tap the mag, safety catch, acquire, assess, aim, execute. Repeat. If they strike you and break something, you’re going to die here.
>Speak: If anyone here is listening, you might be able to buy a moment to catch up.
>Write in(?)

>>2895431
>>Evade: Kick out to get clear. Scramble out a light source from your gear; There’s a flare in one of these front pouches. You hope it’s not expired.
minisize weapon contact; if they start learning our weapons, we're going to have a bad time.

>>2895431
>Evade: Kick out to get clear. Scramble out a light source from your gear; There’s a flare in one of these front pouches. You hope it’s not expired.

Not enough in the mag to take all these enemies. Time to run.

>>2895431
>>Fire: Tap the mag, safety catch, acquire, assess, aim, execute. Repeat. If they strike you and break something, you’re going to die here.
Hope someone comes to investigate, or we're pretty screwed.

>>2895520
we grabbed a radio; once we're out of immediate danger we should see if we can raise anyone.


Also, wasn't the point of having a far away base to prevent this exact thing from happening? We're going to have to consider displacing, assuming we survive.

>>2895478
>>2895485
>"Anywhere but here!"

>>2895520
>Fire

ROLL: 1d100, Best of 3
BONUS; Where does Sam move to maximize defense?

Rolled 10 (1d100)

>>2895553
Scared to roll, but here we go.

Rolled 50 (1d100)

>>2895553
>BONUS
Ok, so we're laying down in a shallow creek. Anywhere with some cover would be better. Most importantly, get out of the water and onto any solid ground as fast as possible.

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>2895553
>BONUS; Where does Sam move to maximize defense?

Well not to the front or back because we got hostiles on both those ends. Go in a direction where there aren't enemies.

>>2895557
>>2895564
>>2895566

Best: 57

Oof

Writing.

>>2895569

Router issues are going to delay the next update. Going to have to wait for tomorrow/next thread to see what 57 gets you.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

>>2895569

You stop slipping in the muck and gain solid footing. You lever yourself to your feet, water cascading off your body. Finally having your feet under you stabilizes you in more ways than the physical, giving you a moment to plan your next move. You scuff your foot a quarter turn along the stones to keep your balance and appraise your opponents equally, digging in your vest for light. You come up with a metal flare: Hopefully the igniter isn’t old. As you pop the cap, the blue-eyed shade lunges at you, shouting.

Three things happen almost simultaneously: The flare ignites, throwing out a plume of bright red light, putting the entire scene into sharp relief. Durga twists the metal rod in her hand under you, throwing you aside bodily and causing you to drop the flare. Finally, with the cracking of stone and a sound very much like the ping of a railgun, the small bot throws itself into the air, intercepting the flare in midair and striking Durga’s. The flare disintegrates on contact, scattering a plume of flaming metal powder over the creek. Durga’s makeshift staff outright shatters, fragments scattering in all directions with a screech. The speeding machine holds momentum, ramming her left shoulder with enough force to lift her from the ground. The sound is indescribable. She twists as she comes down, crumpling into the water. You land hard a split second later, dazed and winded.

The airborne bot comes down a few meters distant tumbling. Its partners ignore it, making a beeline towards Durga’s submerged form. You lack the breath to stand but struggle to pull your weapon from under you, fueled by fury rather than air. For agonizing seconds, it catches on the stones, your clothes and wraps in its own sling. You bring it up in time to hear Durga gasp for breath, the two machines lifting her from the water with tooling intended for cargo. She writhes in their grip, a combination of rage and pain as they transfer her gingerly to the bank. They release her with surprising gentleness for what amount to free-range forklifts, quickly retreating from her arm span.

With a frustrated yell, Durga takes a river stone from the ground and tries to throw it at the machines. With the angle and her supine position, the rock strikes with little more force than the rain. She whimpers from the pain and exertion. The bots watch silently from just outside her reach, the third machine crawling up to join their formation.

>>2898583

With her assailant’s approach, your legs finally respond, allowing you to scrabble to your feet. The moment you get enough height to be confident you’ll miss Durga, the bots react like spooked roaches, rocketing into reverse and scattering. You draw a bead on one of their glowing faceplates, only to lose it as it shifts, leaving you with only the faint twinkle of the scattered flare. You shift forward to cover your downed companion, but nothing but the tap of rain and the whistling of the wind comes from darkness.

You break from your aim at the sound of a crack: Durga has pulled a chem light and is cumbersomely attempting to shake it to life with just her good arm. You approach quickly and kneel on her left.

“Get this.” She presses the chemlight into your chest the moment you’re close. Her voice is hoarse, but still strong.

You shake the light up, giving the riverbank a surreal green pallor. The blood shows up black against the damaged suit, stuck rather close to the impact. The open wound is small giving little hint to the damage underneath: More of a ruptured bruise over the break than anything else. There is a separation between the shoulder and arm that suggest it may be out of socket; that is if the socket is even whole.

“The forms react to heat. Not your finest moment Sam.” She pauses to catch her breath, grimacing. “Not mine either. hardcase, left armpit.”

You fumble with the elastic strap, pulling a thin hardcase. She pops it open roughly, scattering a set of identical, squat ampules you’re pretty sure are pain blockers.

“I got spooked. Sorry, I distracted you and they ambushed-“

“No, I ambushed them,” She bites her lip, probing the edge of the wound. “That was the counter attack.”

“Wait. You knew they were out there?” You pull out your radio and cue the SOS. Jennings might not be awake yet, but he’s going to be in a moment. “Aren’t they meant to be reactive?”

She pulls the cap from one of the syringes with her teeth, pressing the short needle into the top of her shoulder. There’s a pop as the pressure drives the medication in, though you aren’t sure it isn’t the crack of the cover in her teeth.

She spits it out with a nauseated expression. “No. These are not the ones we were sent for… Older line. Smart and experienced.” She averts her eyes, “Much more dangerous; They should not be here… or anywhere.”

>>2898591

With her worrying comment, you scan the boundaries of your vision. The riverbank is clear but you feel exposed in the light.

“They are not coming back. They are scattering…” she looks up at your scowl and shakes her head, “They are not that kind of dangerous Sam. Those are just drones. They only had the one trick. I fell for it too, otherwise I would still have my gun.” You realize she’s still wearing the sling with the mangled remains of the mounting hardware.

“We need to stop them before they report back…” You furrow your brow, “Shit, I can’t just leave you here.”

“Leave them, the old line is not structured that way. They keep their own counsel.” She tests the pain blocker and hisses. “They look similar, but they are just parasitizing the Minsk metaforms, they are not networked. It is why I told you to leave the one that collapsed at the waste site. It is just parts, no ID, no access.”

Your radio chimes at you, Jennings with a burst message saying he was on the way. You relay the message to Durga.

“Good. I cannot trust I can get back on foot at this point. Help me up. We need to salvage something from this mess.” She tests her shoulder again and pulls the arm aside with worrying nonchalance, catching it in the remains of her weapon’s sling.

“Not a chance in hell. We’re sitting tight until Jennings gets here. You almost lost an arm blocking for me.” You lay a hand on her good shoulder, forestalling any attempts at rising on her own.

Her eyes narrow as she looks down at your hand, tightening the glowing disks that provide the only contrast with the green chemlight. “Lift me Armistead, I did not come out here for fresh air, and certainly not to body block for my alleged guard. This is still wholly salvageable if you follow instruction.”

The words sting, colored with shades of Hawke’s tone. Blood, black in the light still oozes down her side, draining into wispy rivulets where the rain carries it.

>Stand Firm: She’s a wreck, and if she puts the responsibility on you, you’re going to guard her from taking any more damage. She shouldn’t have gone off alone in the first place.
>Bargain: She gets her crutch only if she explains what her goals are out here. Otherwise she can crawl.
>Acquiesce: Reckless or not, she’s your superior. You’ll do as you are told until Jennings arrives.
>Trick: Once she’s over your shoulder, you’ll be able to direct her as you see fit. Set an earlier rendezvous with Jennings and get her back to base.
>Write in?

Next thread is Tuesday the 18th, 5 EST I'll post it early to pick up votes if the thread dies early.

>>2898596
>Acquiesce: Reckless or not, she’s your superior. You’ll do as you are told until Jennings arrives.

>>2898596
>the blue-eyed shade lunges at you, shouting.
what?
>Durga twists the metal rod
oh
>“The forms react to heat.
whoops. wasn't even thinking about that.
>lder line. Smart and experienced.” She averts her eyes, “Much more dangerous; They should not be here… or anywhere.”
that's not good. we were already expecting the young line to be a pain.
>“Leave them, the old line is not structured that way. They keep their own counsel.”
small favors, at least.


>>Bargain: She gets her crutch only if she explains what her goals are out here. Otherwise she can crawl.
Please tell us what you want to do so we can ascertain how reasonable it is.

>>2898601
>Acquiesce

>>2898645
>Bargain

Vote closes at 6 EST

>>2900128

I'll remember it someday, I swear!

>>2900132
I'll switch to Bargain so we don't need a roll off.

>>2900128
If I'm not too late, I'll throw in for
>Bargain
as well

>>2900206
>>2900159
>>2898645

>"Instructions? Nah. Answers. If I'm carrying, you're talking."

Writing. See you next thread!

>>2900230
Can you drop a post here when you post the new thread?

>>2900311
There is a good chance this thread will fall off before he finishes writing and posts the new thread.

Your best bet is to keep this open in a tab while you wait.
https://twitter.com/FernglasQ?lang=en