>>5617206

"I was thinking, considering the situation, some heavier heavier armor and more firepower would be good."

["You just said you had more to offer than guns and skinsuits, Captain..."]

"Technically not a gun, definitely not a skinsuit. Here, look at this."

The first thing you pull up is a 3D render of the laser turret you 'borrowed' from Silus. It's design was copied, and you improved it somewhat with a few ideas of your own.

"It's a chemical-pumped laser." You explain. "Big enough you'll need two... maybe three average men to carry one, or one man and a hovercart. But the output is similar to that of a ship-mounted weapon."

Next, you pull up it's ammo. Some simple chemical cartridges.

"Originally it wasn't chemical pumped. It was hooked up to this big-ass generator, but that made it a pain to lug around. Instead, it uses these disposable cartridges now."

["So it works similarly to your guns."]

"Pretty much, yeah. But it's got a lot of firepower for what it is. Even has a VI built in for automatic aim correction at long distances."

["How many can you afford us?"]

"Eh, that's the thing. Our weapons fab can make most stuff, but the chemicals in these cartridges are pretty unstable. We have to use the chemical fab for those, so the ammo's limited."

["I see. Not an issue of guns, but of ammunition."]

"Usually is. Ain't it a bitch?"

["I am uncertain of what you mean, but it is indeed unfortunate."]

"Still, they'll come in handy. Use them sparingly. Next is... this."

You pull up a slide showing a side view of some layered material.
It's actually your own second-gen plasteel.

Graphene instead of metal, buckyball diamond nanoparticles, ultra high-density flourocarbon polymer...
Not to brag, but this shit gives duranium a run for it's money, and it's about a million times lighter.

Alright, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but it's still insanely strong, and all made of... technically mundane materials.

["What is this, Captain? I don't understand what i'm looking at."]

"This, my friend, is my own homebrewed plasteel. No, in fact, this is BETTER than plasteel!"

To prove your point, you show him a simulation SHODAN did of your plasteel, which you're calling 'Carbor' (Carbon Armor) due it being almost entirely made of carbon, compared to other materials.
It shows a sheet of each material facing up against a .308 round. The steel plate is penetrated. The ceramo-metallic foam shatters. The federation plasteel takes the shot, but nearly fails...

And against the Carbor, the bullet flattens out and stops nearly dead in it's tracks. Although the sheet vibrates harshly, It barely scratches the surface.

"If we make your boys some basic armor out of this, their survivability should go way up. Personal shields won't do shit to stop some cracked out motherfucker crushing your head into paste."

You display some basic armor based on the look of Sanig's Mk.2 power armor, which can be easily fitted to just about any bipedal species.

>>5617992
E

>>5617992

["That's... insane. How? How did you just pull something like that out of your ass?"]

"Well, i'm cheating, really. The boys back home put a lot of work into discovering shit that i'm just copying, and SHODAN here runs all the simulations to make it work."

"I have spent far too many hours determining the structure of various chemical bonds based on vague descriptions." SHODAN adds.

"She's very good at what she does, and i'm extremely thankful for it."

"You are very welcome, Captain."

"Yep. Compared to that though, figuring out the designs is easy. I can do most of that myself."

"He came up with the layering for his plasteel while intentionally imbibing poison for fun. I made out his intentions from a crude drawing he made on a napkin."

"See? So easy you can do it even while you're drunk. And look, it doesn't delaminate!"

There's a very long moment where Gron simply stares into the camera, backed by the faint droning of both your ships.

["I see."] He responds, moving right along. ["In any case, i see the results, and they are impressive. If your armor helps even one more man survive, then we'll gladly take it."]

"Alright. I don't have it stocked up right now, but it should be done printing by the time we get there. How many sets do you need?"

Gron scratches his chin as he thinks things over, but quickly comes to a decision.

["Ten. We have more crew than that, but not all of them can fight."]

"...You have that many men on that ship? Where did you cram them all?"

["We take turns in cryosleep. Most of the crew isn't active at any given time."]

"Huh. Well, that's one way of doing it, i guess. Anyways, we should hurry up and get going. It's not looking good over there."

["With that, i can agree. Kordunn out."]

With that, Gron cuts the comms and immediately begins preparations for launching.
Not wanting to fall behind, you do the same. You have to pressurize the engines, ramp up the reactor, get permission to launch from the port authority...

And it's on that step that you suddenly have an issue.
When you put in an automated launch request, it's automatically rejected.

You try again, and the same thing happens again.
If you don't get approval, the station's maglocks won't release and you can't take off.

"This is captain Rockefeller to port authority. Why am not not getting perms to launch?"

There's a short pause before the usual guy responds. Krillek, you think his name was. You've talked to him a few times before.

["Uhhhh... shit, man. Says here your ship's been marked."]

"Marked? The fuck do you mean 'marked'?"

["Like, you've probably got a bounty on you or something. I dunno, i'd have to call administration to find out."]

Well fuck.

>Override it, Krillek. I don't have to tell you twice what's gonna happen if you don't.
>Fine, let me put in a call and see what's going on. (Call up Clank, see what he can find)
>Plant some explosives on the maglocks and call it a day.
>Write-In?

>>5618628
>Fine, let me put in a call and see what's going on. (Call up Clank, see what he can find)
Better to know, we can pop this tin can whenever we want

>>5618628
>Override it, Krillek. I don't have to tell you twice what's gonna happen if you don't.
THEY KNOW

>>5618628
>Fine, let me put in a call and see what's going on. (Call up Clank, see what he can find)

>>5618628
>>Fine, let me put in a call and see what's going on. (Call up Clank, see what he can find)

>>5618628
>Plant some explosives on the maglocks and call it a day.

>>5618628
Call Clank first, if there's someone we can buy to get these locks removed he'll know who they are and what their price is. If it's too expensive we can always threaten them.

>>5618628
>Fine, let me put in a call and see what's going on. (Call up Clank, see what he can find)
Planting explosives is too blatant. Maybe sabotage it by cutting power to the maglocks or something, at least then we'd some plausible deniability.

>>5618628
>Fine, let me put in a call and see what's going on. (Call up Clank, see what he can find)
All things considered this is Clank's station. Threatening coppers and blowing shit up shouldn't happen without his approval

>>5618628
>>Fine, let me put in a call and see what's going on.

>>5618628
Fed goons around where they don't belong.
>Fine, let me put in a call and see what's going on. (Call up Clank, see what he can find)
>Set the outside cameras to monitor the surroundings, to make sure no FEDs are nearby.

>>5618689
Ideally we'll have other ships with less heat on them the next time we return to this station. Let's not completely rule explosives out if we can't get this resolved quickly.

>>5618628
>Override it, Krillek. I don't have to tell you twice what's gonna happen if you don't.

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>>5618810

>>5618811
This quest was a blast! what was it called again, I dont remember

>>5618814
White Tower

>>5618628
>Override it, Krillek. I don't have to tell you twice what's gonna happen if you don't.
>Plant some explosives on the maglocks and call it a day.
FUCK FUCK FUCK

>>5618816
Very nice, much thanks anon

Anyway, so the feds finally placed a bounty on the Metal Gear¿? I wonder when did they Id David... and if that is the case, isn't he a SUPER pirate now because he must be worth tons of credits

>>5619338
maybe its not the feds(although i doubt it). probably it was the dude we beat the crap out of the other day while taking over the underworld

>>5618694
+1
Guys, calm down... If there's a fed, we can easily shittalk out way out of it by saying that while going behind some guy we just found some cryopods floating near some magnetic/solar field and we grab them to make some box, and they we're enough that we didn't bother to keep looking for the first guy.

>>5618628

"Alright, let me put in a call and see what's going on."

["Sure."]

Closing the comms with Krillek, you whisper to SHODAN while dialing up Clank.

"Keep an eye on the hull cams. The feds might be onto us."

"On it."

"Clank, you there?"

["Of course, Captain."] He replies, immediately. You can hear Baal arguing with someone in the background.

"Got a problem. I'm grounded. Port authority says my ship's been marked. What can you tell me?"

["Just a moment, Captain. I have a backdoor into the bounty office's servers, this shouldn't take long."]

You wait around thirty seconds in silence, keeping an eye on the ground through your cockpit.
Nothing looks suspicious so far.

["I have found your records, Captain. The latest entry comes from outside of the station, likely from a core world. It says here that you, or rather your ship, have been designated a 'Class X' threat."]

"What the hell does that mean?"

["It means you are an existential threat to all living things, and must be destroyed on sight. All bounty hunters are required by federal law to kill on sight, rather than capture."]

...That's not what you want to hear.

"Does it say why i've been marked like this?"

["No, Captain. In fact, your entire crime record has been left purposefully blank."]

So they don't want anyone knowing about whatever it is in particular that you've done.

["This is unfortunate news, however there is what you might call a 'Silver Lining', Captain."]

"Yeah?" You sigh. "What's that?"

["The designation is for your ship, not for you."]

"That doesn't mean much, Clank. It's not exactly a secret who the Metal Gear belongs to."

["That is true, Captain. But information can be suppressed. Common sense can be overturned. The so called reality of things..."]

You feel the ship lurch slightly as the maglocks release themselves all of a sudden.

["Is easily rewritten."]

"The fuck did you just do?!"

["I swapped the location of docks 23 and 24 in the database. The system now believes you are one dock over."]

Looking at the dock next to you, you see the maglocks turn from blue to red on a ship that's been sitting there since you arrived.

["I would recommend docking in the lower city from now on, Captain. We will see about re-writing your ship's data logs as well, but i will need to speak with the governor about that."]

"Damn, alright?"

["Good luck and good hunting, Captain."

Clank cuts the call, and you immediately receive a call-back from Krillek asking how the hell you did that, which you ignore.
Mostly because you yourself have no idea how the hell Clank just did that.

With nothing stopping you from lifting off now, you fire up the engines and take off, barely clearing the deck before you turn and make your acceleration burn.
The docks do have defensive laser cannons which would in theory fire on a ship making an escape, but... the automated systems think you're clamped down on the deck right now.

It's good having friends in low places, you guess.

>>5619723
RED ALERT RED ALERT FEDS ARE COMING IN FULL FORCE NOW WE NEED TO BRING IN MORE HUMANS FOR COUNTER POWER

>>5619723
So, it's not as bad as I thought. Thankfully we can just repaint the Metal Gear and get some fake registration for it.

>>5619723
Okay, this seems more like the Grey's freaking because an AI is loose rather than any FED knowing the truth. This is good, we can use this, hell, once refits are finished we can just scrap the old model by building a VI and setting it out to a high traffic area to be blasted.

>>5619757
>We can just scrap the old model by building a VI and setting it out to a high traffic area to be blasted
Don't forget a few spare corpses for good measure! Those Greys gotta be good for something after all.

>>5619760
Very true, it'll serve as a good test to figure out what they are really after.

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>>5619739
Bright orange with a battle flag on the top.

Clank continues to be a badass. At this rate we'll have two friendly stations if we can take Xebric.

>>5619723
I'm gonna go with the Greys on this one, they're all cagey about themselves and tech in the first place, and here we are Frankensteining one of their ships with a stimmed out renegade grandpa, an unshackled AI with thumbs and the fungus amogus. The fact we've been stomping around and bulling the shit out of anyone in the way probably means they've gotten wind of us one way or another and aren't happy about it. I suspect we'll be meeting them real soon. Wouldn't be surprised if they did the legwork in tinkering with the redsang, they're the pros at bioengineering

Clank coming in clutch as usual, we should send him a fruit basket or something

>>5619827
wouldn't be a bad idea to make him a new body like the one shodan has

>>5619864
At the very least, give him some killbots and guns.

>>5619788
+1
fucking hilarious.

>>5619723

On the flight over to Xebric, you inform the crew of what went on while you were away.
Kyla almost takes you out at the knee with her torque wrench, while Sanig seems more interested in knowing how to reprogram the fed killbots.

After catching up, Kyla, Sanig and yourself begin working on the equipment for Gron's crew.

Sanig is dumbstruck by your newest plasteel design.
For all the incredible materials that exist out in space, apparently graphene isn't one of them.

You hadn't really used it up to this point because there wasn't a need for it, but now you want to get the absolute most out of this material, so it's your only option.
Carbon is a little more expensive than iron, nickle, silicon or aluminum when it comes to spacer materials, because a lot of it is used for food, life support and so-on.

It's not really even considered a building material, although diamonds are occasionally used here and there.

It seems almost impossible that no-one would have discovered it by now. All you need is some sticky tape and a piece of graphite, right?
Or maybe people have, but they never looked farther into it. With things like gravity generators and warp drives, there was never a need for extremely strong materials.

These aliens aren't pushing the limits just to get off their rocks. They barely had to try.
That's why you can't find any good metal alloys on the markets either. Even the steel is as basic as it comes.

In any case, using 'Carbor' as the base material, you design a lightweight set of armor that can be quickly worn and removed, while still serving it's purpose.
All the pieces use velcro straps, and they can be worn over their clothing as-is. The helmets cover the whole head and have a nice, thick diamond visor to look through.

The helmets contain radios, heartbeat sensors, subspace tracking beacons, air filters and thermal optics.
You don't have time to sit down and design a perfect helmet for every situation, but these will certainly do the job.

Using the Star-Fall's medical records, you're able to adapt the suits to most of the Gron's crew with ease, simply stretching the armor here or lengthening a belt there...
Some of the crew is simply impossible to work with, however. Like that giant pile of slime, whatever her name was.

Javan also seems to have refused your armor, as she intends to keep with her own ceremonial kit.

But that's fine, everyone else will be well equipped.
Next up you need to deal with the laser turrets, which are somewhat of a pain in the ass.

You were able to shrink the design somewhat by using a water cooling system and radiators with graphene fins, but they're still kind of big and heavy.
The crystals it uses are something weird, too. Yttrium, niobium, all these weird elements... you have no idea what Sanig's talking about, but he seems to know what he's doing.

The big problem is the chemicals used to power the damned thing. They're super unstable, and the only way to make 'em is in the chemical fab.

>>5620782
>Some of the crew is simply impossible to work with, however. Like that giant pile of slime, whatever her name was.
She can still hold onto things by exerting crushing force, right? Just make big shield plates with huge grooves to push and pull on.

Unless she's as weak as her squishy appearance suggests.

>>5620782

You can tell it's bad, because Sanig chooses to wear his armor while handling the capsules.
He's also wearing a tinted visor over his helmet, which is supposed to protect him from the light produced if one of these things goes off in his hands.

The capsules are kept relatively small to prevent a disaster from happening in the case that one goes off, but that also limits the number of shots you get on the turret.
After placing a capsule in the turret, it's pierced by a needle and sucked out into a reaction chamber, where it's agitated into... well, reacting.

That's what produces all the light, which means you don't need to lug around a whole generator to power it.

As the chemical capsules come out of the fab, Sanig stuffs them into their foam packaging.
Those blocks of foam are then placed into aluminum suitcases, each with magnets and a locking mechanism so they can be carried individually or in stacks without dropping them.

Meanwhile, the weapons fab is hard at work forming the majority of the laser's body. Only the crystals have to be printed in the chemical fab and fitted manually.
A brief test confirms the liquid cooling system is working just fine on each of them, and although you'd like to test-fire them, there's no way in hell you can do that inside the ship.

Not with Kyla on your ass, anyways.

It takes three days at full speed to reach Xebric from Thekia station. You'd forgotten just how far out it really was, when even Thekia is considered a station on the rim.
But there just isn't much inbetween here and there, so if you can't make that trip then you simply won't make it off of Xebric.

The Metal Gear and Star Fall have powerful warp drives, but a normal ship might take a week or more to make the trip, if they can even run their warp drive for that long.
You have to wonder how many people tried to escape and couldn't, just because of that.

When you arrive, you drop out of warp around 60 light seconds away, and begin a closer approach using supercruise.

"Looks like we're finally here." You utter into the mic.

["About damned time. What are your sensors picking up, Captain?"] Gron asks, seeming antsy.

"Nothing yet. We'll have to get closer first, but..."

Before leaving, you sent some men to inform the drone fleet. They should be on their way as well, but you don't know when exactly they'll arrive.
If you head in now, the station's automated defenses may or may not activate. You're not sure, honestly. There's a lot of things that could happen.

They might shoot at you because the station is in a complete panic. Or maybe they're busy dealing with the internal threat.
They might shoot at you because you're wanted, or maybe they don't even know about it because their comms are down.
They might shoot at you because Elynderr ordered you KOS, or maybe he's forgotten about you entirely.

You just don't know.

>>5621399

>I'm betting they have bigger issues right now than a couple of troublemakers. Let's head in and see what's going on.
>Hold on... the metal gear was originally a stealth ship, wasn't it? Let us check things out first, then we'll report back.
>Let's just wait on the drone fleet. Whether they fire on us first or not, we're here to take shit over. Better to do it all in one fell swoop.
>Write-In?

>>5621399
>Hold on... the metal gear was originally a stealth ship, wasn't it? Let us check things out first, then we'll report back.
finally the metal gear gets to be used as its supposed to.

>>5621401
>Hold on... the metal gear was originally a stealth ship, wasn't it? Let us check things out first, then we'll report back.

>>5621401
>Hold on... the metal gear was originally a stealth ship, wasn't it? Let us check things out first, then we'll report back.

>>5621401
>>Hold on... the metal gear was originally a stealth ship, wasn't it? Let us check things out first, then we'll report back.

>>5621401
>Hold on... the metal gear was originally a stealth ship, wasn't it? Let us check things out first, then we'll report back.

Roll me 1d100, best of 3.

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>5621800
what timing

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>5621800

Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>5621800

>>5621808
The dice never fails us.

Mmmm sneaking

>What a thrill...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr3suXznFec

>>5621401
>I'm betting they have bigger issues right now than a couple of troublemakers. Let's head in and see what's going on.

Gron has people on that station. We go in.

>>5622003
I'm sure they'll be fine.

>>5621399

"I'll be honest, they might light our asses up the second we're in range. I'm gonna need you guys to hold back while we head in."

["Ahh, yes. Your ship is quite capable of stealth, isn't it? Go then. We have no time to waste here."]

Cutting the connection, you immediately bring up the stealth controls.
You were planning on engaging cold running, but there's a problem. The second you bring up the controls, you see the panel is covered in errors.

"Ah, shit... KYLA! Kyla get in here!"

A moment later, Kyla enters the cockpit and slams her wrench against the door frame in frustration.

"What?! Do you have any idea how busy i am!?" She yells.

"I know, i'm sorry. But we've got an issue. Stealth systems are offline and we're about to need them. Look."

Kyla looks over the errors and sighs.

"It's that damned valve again. Ever since the ship's frame got warped, it just... STICKS!"

Dragging her wrench across the floor, she walks over to your left and starts ripping off wall panels, tossing them to the floor haphazardly.
To your surprise, there's a pipe running right through the wall there, and there seems to be an automated valve right in the middle of it.

Kyla picks up her wrench and grips it in both hands like she's about to hit a baseball.
You lean back to avoid getting hit as she swings her wrench, striking the valve directly and making the pipe ring like a bell.

Through the noise, you hear something click, followed by the sound of a water hammer.

"There. Piece of shit." She grumbles, walking off to fix something else.

You'll have to thank her later for keeping this ship running despite everything you've done to it.
But for now, the error seems to have cleared and you're able to engage the ship's heatsinks. After masking your reactor signature, you start to move in on the station.

Using supercruise at the minimum possible reactor output, it takes you ten minutes to approach from your already relatively close position.
From there, you coast closer and slowly bring your speed down using your forward thrusters, again at low output.

What you see is... not encouraging.

There are the ruined hulls of several ships that appear to have been shot down while attempting to flee, along with some obviously belonging to pirates who tried to raid the place.
But the important point here is that the station's defensive lasers are active and searching for a target, even now.

These aren't some piddly ship-scale lasers either. No, these are station-based lasers. Huge, immensely powerful things that can blow a hole straight through a cruiser in one shot, shields and all.
Fortunately, the Metal-Gear's stealth systems are top-notch. Even as you close your approach, they don't seem to register you at all.

However, Gron's crew won't be able to get close like this. Not with his ship, anyways.
His specialist shields might be able to tank a couple of shots, you're not sure... but that would be it.

>>5623428

>Gron's ship can't make the trip, but yours can. Leave his ship behind and load up all the combat personnel.
>You don't like those things being active. You won't be able to bring your drone fleet in until they're powered down, so maybe an infiltration mission is in order.
>Infiltration is risky. Those lasers are important for station defense, but it's not like you couldn't repair them after the station belongs to you. Go on EVA and plant some explosives.
>Write-In?

>>5623431
>>You don't like those things being active. You won't be able to bring your drone fleet in until they're powered down, so maybe an infiltration mission is in order.

>>5623431
>You don't like those things being active. You won't be able to bring your drone fleet in until they're powered down, so maybe an infiltration mission is in order.

>>5623431
>You don't like those things being active. You won't be able to bring your drone fleet in until they're powered down, so maybe an infiltration mission is in order.

>>5623431
>You don't like those things being active. You won't be able to bring your drone fleet in until they're powered down, so maybe an infiltration mission is in order.

>>5623431
>You don't like those things being active. You won't be able to bring your drone fleet in until they're powered down, so maybe an infiltration mission is in order.
>Gron stay put, imma do a lil' trolling

>>5623431
>>You don't like those things being active. You won't be able to bring your drone fleet in until they're powered down, so maybe an infiltration mission is in order.

>>5623431
>Gron's ship can't make the trip, but yours can. Leave his ship behind and load up all the combat personnel.

Fastest way to get to Gron's people.

>>5623431
>You don't like those things being active. You won't be able to bring your drone fleet in until they're powered down, so maybe an infiltration mission is in order.

>You don't like those things being active. You won't be able to bring your drone fleet in until they're powered down, so maybe an infiltration mission is in order.

>>5623428

After retracting the ship's telescopes, you turn around and head straight back to the Star-Fall.

"Gron, this is Gunny. Come in."

["Captain. What have you found?"]

"Nothing good. Nevermind us, they're shooting down everything that moves out there. We won't be able to bring in you or the drone ships until the station defenses are offline."

["That poses quite a problem. However, with that ship of yours..."]

"Yeah, i was thinking the same thing. Put together a small team, three or four people. We'll manage to get those guns offline somehow or..."

Before you can finish speaking, you notice a shimmer of light appear behind Gron's back.
You don't know what the hell it is, but it can't be good.

"GRON, BEHIND YOU!"

To his credit, Gron immediately reacts. However, his reaction isn't a violent one.
He turns to look over his shoulder, and simply smiles.

At the same time, that shimmer of light fades away, revealing Vex. The man you and Gron had gone to rescue.

["Captain Rockefeller. If you're looking to perform a stealth mission, i'd be glad to help. As thanks for rescuing me."]

Vex looks down at his captain.

["Assuming my Captain is alright with it, that is."]

Gron chuckles.

["Of course. What else are you good for? And i was planning on sending you along anyways. If that's fine with Captain Rockefeller, here."]

"Active camouflage... can't be natural, like Randy. You ain't naked after all. How'd you do it?"

["I tinker, from time to time."] He replies. ["Tools for my trade can be hard to come by."]

Yeah, bullshit. Bending light isn't that easy...
Or, well, you'd say that if you didn't have warp drives and gravity generators on this very ship.

But that's one thing the Metal Gear is missing. You can hide your heat and reactor signatures, but in the end you're still visible.
Optical camouflage...

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to share that tech with us, would you? It would be great if we could apply it to our ship."

["...That would be... difficult, Captain. It's a traditional technique that's been passed down through my family for over a thousand years. We don't teach it to others."]

Yeah, yeah. Of course he won't.
You sigh and roll your eyes reflexively.

Vex seems apologetic. He still wants to pay you back for saving him.

>Fine, he can come along. But i'm gonna work his ass like a mule.
>Stealth missions can degrade into firefights in an instant. Maybe it'd be better if Javan came along Instead.
>...In reality, infiltration doesn't necessarily mean actual stealth. How do you feel about teaming up with me for this one, Gron?
>Write-In?

>>5624897
>Fine, he can come along. But I'm gonna work his ass like a mule.
>I assume he knows how we do things over here, right? I don't want him shitting his pants if I have to start shooting or throw a few grenades.

>>5624897
>Fine, he can come along. But i'm gonna work his ass like a mule.

>>5624897
>Fine, he can come along. But i'm gonna work his ass like a mule.
>I assume he knows how we do things over here, right? I don't want him shitting his pants if I have to start shooting or throw a few grenades.

at the very least we expect the dude to get out of harms way when shit hits the fan

>>5624897
>Fine, he can come along. But I'm gonna work his ass like a mule.
>I assume he knows how we do things over here, right? I don't want him shitting his pants if I have to start shooting or throw a few grenades.

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>>5624897
>...In reality, infiltration doesn't necessarily mean actual stealth. How do you feel about teaming up with me for this one, Gron?
STEALTH. IS. OPTIONAL

>>5624897
"I was planning on hitting them hard and fast once the team is on the station. If you can hold your own in a gunfight you're welcome to join in, but don't expect to keep a low profile."

>>5624897
>>Fine, he can come along. But i'm gonna work his ass like a mule.

>>5624897
>Fine, he can come along. But i'm gonna work his ass like a mule.

We might figure out his stealth by watching him in action.

>>5624897

"Fine, i'll take you along. But i'm gonna work your ass like a mule, i hope you know that."

["I... am unsure of what you mean, exactly. However, i promise i won't disappoint."]

"Yeah? That reminds me. You're not afraid of a firefight, are you? I don't want you freaking out on us if i have to start lobbing grenades."

["Again, i am unsure of what a 'grenade' is, but no, i am more than capable of firing a phaser. Not all stealth missions go smoothly, after all."]

"Yeah, you're not gonna be firing a phaser. Don't worry, pistols are dead simple, trust me. Even a toddler can use one."

["...What?"]

"Don't worry about it. Hurry up and dock with us, we don't have all day."

As you close the connection, you hear Vex asking Gron whether or not you're right in the head.

Well, that's neither here nor there.

When the airlock door opens, you're already there waiting for him.
As soon as he steps in, you grab his hand a place a pistol in it.

"1911, chambered in 9mm instead of .45. Extended mag, you'll probably need the extra shots. Subsonic ammo, suppressor, holo sight." You explain, pointing to each part of the gun.

Rather than asking questions, Vex seems to be listening intently and paying proper attention.

"Line up the circle in the middle with your target and pull the trigger to kill. Not stun. Not maim. kill." You explain further

Unholstering your own weapon, you show him how to eject, reload, and rack the slide.

"Understood." He affirms confidently.

Well, at least he's a quick learner.

You hand him a belt with extra magazines, a smoke grenade and a flashbang.
Another short explanation of the grenades and their functions and he's up to speed.

Next, you give him his own set of armor... but he refuses the helmet, saying it'll dull his senses.
So instead, you give him a headset similar to what you'll be using. It's basically just a single headphone and microphone hooked up to a subspace communicator.

"Any questions?" You ask him, watching as he straps on his armor and fastens his belt.

"Just one. Where is my target?" He replies.

"SHODAN." You order.

"Yes, Captain."

SHODAN brings up a 3D map of Xebric station, then draws a line from the shipyard to a point somewhere near the middle of the station.

"The gun controls will be near the docks, but their overrides will be in the administration building." She explains. "You will have to find the exact location on your own."

"That's fine." You sigh. "As long as there's somebody in the building, it shouldn't be too hard to get the info we need."

"Agreed." Vex says, adjusting his gloves. "However, i see an issue. The docks are certain to be heavily guarded. How do you intend to get past security without making a fuss?"

>>5625565

>Simple, we don't land our ship there. Ever used an EVA pack before?
>We'll have to create a distraction so we can land for a few moments. I have a solution for that, though. (Use a drone strapped with explosives)
>Let's wprry about stealth AFTER we make it onto the station. We can get past the station's lasers with stealth, then cut down anything at the docks with the autocannon.
>Write-In?

>>5625565
>"Any questions?" You ask him, watching as he straps on his armor and fastens his belt.
>"Just one. Where is my target?" He replies.
God I love working with professionals.
>>5625567
>Simple, we don't land our ship there. Ever used an EVA pack before?

>>5625567
>Simple, we don't land our ship there. Ever used an EVA pack before?

>Simple, we don't land our ship there. Ever used an EVA pack before?

>>5625567
>Simple, we don't land our ship there. Ever used an EVA pack before?

>>5625567
>>Simple, we don't land our ship there. Ever used an EVA pack before?

>>5625567
I dunno maaaan, we are too vulnerable if we get there on EVA.
>EXPLOSIVE SUICIDE DRONES
Yeah that's way safer!!!

>>5625567
>Simple, we don't land our ship there. Ever used an EVA pack before?

Badical

Sorry i missed the update, boys.
As soon as my head hit the pillow i ended up sleeping for ten hours straight.

I'll get them out as soon as i get some food and coffee in me.

>>5625565

"Simple" You answer. "We don't land our ship there. Ever used an EVA pack before?"

"I can't say that i have." He replies. "What does EVA stand for?"

"Extra Vehicular Activity."

"Extra vehicular as in... ah. I see. I suppose space ships are technically a vehicle, aren't they?"

"Bingo."

...

It takes about twenty minutes to get the crew together and get everyone suited up.
Your team consists of Yourself, Cylia, Vex and SHODAN.

Sanig is in charge of the ship while you're away, so he's got his armor on and is waiting in the pilot's seat in case any shit goes down.

Vex gets a short training session in the hallway by turning off the ship's gravity before you head out, and although he's very shaky at first, he quickly gets a handle on things.
He seems much more capable than Javan when it comes to this, but at the same time he's also much more human-shaped.

"Alright, you got your extra C02 bottle?" You ask.

"I do."

"Good, let's go."

Stepping out of the airlock, you begin floating freely out into the depths of space.
However, a single quick spurt of gas begins directing you downwards, and you land feet-first on the surface of the asteroid into which Xebric station is built.

Your magnetic boots activate, allowing you to stick lightly to the rocky iron-nickel surface of the asteroid.
The rest of your team follows suit, filing out of the airlock one by one.

From there, you slowly and carefully make your way along the surface, doing your best only to step on metallic patches in order to keep yourself glued down.
Once you're all far enough away, the Metal Gear quietly lifts off and disappears into the darkness, staying out of view of the station's guns.

"Just following me, boys. We're making our way to the docks like this."

["Aye, Captain."]
["Affirmative."]
["Very well."]

It's slow going, mostly because your boots aren't actually sticking all that well. You have to move slowly so you don't end up floating off.
But you get there eventually.

You come up to what looks like a cliff face, but you know is in fact a hole bored straight into the side of the asteroid.
Looking down over the side, you see the force field which holds in the station's atmosphere, and the docks which lay just inside of it.

All around you, mounted to the surface and dotted around the entrance, there are gigantic laser weapons sitting idle, waiting for a target.
Normally they sit underneath the surface to protect them from micrometeorite collisions, but they're all above ground now.

"Alright. We need to walk down there if we want to get inside." You tell your team, pointing over the cliff towards the bottom of the entrance.

["Wait, aren't there cameras watching the entrance?"] Cylia asks.

"Yeah. We'll just have to do our best to avoid them."

["Hold on. I can disable the cameras, if you would allow it."] Vex offers.

>>5627740

Yeah, he's got active camo. He could get right up close to them without anyone noticing, most likely.
However, disabling the cameras might draw attention. That could be a good or bad thing, depending on the situation.

>Go ahead and disable them, Vex. We'll be behind you, so signal us as soon as it's down.
>I'd rather not mess with them. If we can sneak past the cameras, they won't even know we're here.
>Here, take these explosives and head to the opposite side. Detonate them on my command and it'll create a distraction while we slip inside.
>Write-In?

>>5627741
Ideally we'd loop the cameras. Ask if Vex is able to do that, perhaps in coordination with SHODAN. If not, perhaps have him slip a bit ahead to get a lay of the land before we proceed with sneaking.

>>5627741
>Go ahead and disable them, Vex. We'll be behind you, so signal us as soon as it's down.

We spend a lot of time making fun of the ayys for being silly and/or incompetent, but this guy seems to know his shit. And if he's part of Gron's crew he can't be too bad. I like that. I want that. Let's see what he can do

>>5627741
>>5627794
Support looping cameras. I'd imagine that since Gron's team has been trying to take over Xebric for such a long time that Vex should have some competence in this sabotage.
Otherwise just disable the cameras and we come reacting accordingly to the situation (guns blazing if David has his way).

>>5627741
this>>5627794
If any FED goon is alive, they will notice the cameras just shutting off

>>5627741
>Go ahead and disable them, Vex. We'll be behind you, so signal us as soon as it's down.

>>5627741

You're about to give him the go-ahead when SHODAN interrupts.

["Captain, if i may?"]

"Go ahead."

["I may be able to loop the camera footage, if i am able to gain physical access to the camera equipment. This would likely avoid notice from any security personnel."]

"Alright. Can you, though?"

["I believe so. The cameras sweep back and forth automatically, but their limited field of view leaves blind spots from time to time."]

"And you don't exactly have an issue with precision timing, do you?"

["Correct. I have already run a few simulations, and determined the path i would need to take in order to avoid their view."]

"Alright, go for it. Sorry Vex."

["There is no need to apologize."] He insists. ["If there is a better solution, it should always be considered."]

"Considered, but not taken?"

["Sometimes the optimal solution is also the most predictable one."]

Well, he ain't wrong.

The rest of the squad watches and waits while SHODAN makes her way down the 'cliff' using her EVA pack.
No way she'd make it from here to there by tiptoeing around, so she gave up on walking entirely and instead flies rapidly, close to the surface.

Once she manages to get behind one of the camera outcroppings, she uses brute strength to rip off it's electrical panel.
From there, she stops moving for several seconds before reporting back. You can't quite see what she's doing from here, but she does reach behind her neck for the data umbilical.

["Looping successful, Captain. The data stream was unencrypted, they'll barely notice a flicker."]

["What pathetic security. I would expect more, even from a backwater station."] Vex comments.

"Xebric is less backwater and more frontier."

["Mmm."]

You continue to watch as SHODAN zips back and forth, occasionally stopping in place, seemingly in the middle of everything as cameras narrowly sweep past.
But apparently she knows what she's doing, because no alarms are raised and she's able to make her way over to them one by one.

It barely takes her a few minutes, given her machine-like speed and precision.

["Looping complete, Captain. It is safe to make your way down."]

"Good work, SHODAN. Let's pick up the pace, shall we?"

Disabling your mag-boots, you lift up off the ground slightly as you step off the edge and give a little spurt of gas to get yourself moving downwards.
SHODAN waits for you to arrive and matches your speed, with the rest of the crew not far behind.

You make your way down, and land on the surface-mounted ring through which one of the station's heavy lasers pokes out into space.
It's right by the entrance, with a matching laser on the opposite side. From here, you can see through the station's entry forcefield and to the docks inside.

They seem practically empty. Thirty or forty docks, but barely three or four ships inside, all of which seem to be damaged or destroyed.

"Shit, man. I guess nobody's getting off this rock that easily now. Makes sense the flow of refugees has slowed."

I hope there's still some uninfected people left.

>>5628967
Well everyone not drugging their tits off... people that may or may not have their insides on the outside by this point

>>5628450

["Captain, we may want to take cover."] SHODAN informs you.

"Why, what are we- HOOOOKAY!"

Turning your head, you look where she's looking and see what is quite clearly a federation drone ship coming in for a landing.
The exact same sort that you defeated and subsequently salvaged.

You immediately shuffle behind the turret to hide yourself, along with the rest of the crew.
Poking just your head out, you watch it float past silently.

It's real easy for shit to sneak up on you in a vacuum. Noted.

You watch the drone ship land, and expect to see killbot file out of it one after another.
Instead though, you watch a group of uniformed men file out, with just a few killbots here and there, acting as guards.

"So the feds are here." You grumble.

["What are we gonna do?"] Cyl asks, sounding worried.

"Nothing, for now. They still don't know we're here. SHODAN, can you get me a better view?"

You allow SHODAN to take your place at the edge of the ring, where she uses her mechanical eyes to zoom in on the feds.
She then displays what she sees on the inside of your visors, picture-in-picture style.

Eight fed boys, three killbots. Probably more in the ship if you had to guess.
They're all from different races. Ones you don't recognize, but clearly all predator species.

Bipedal. Smell, dense and muscular-looking. Not too dissimilar from you.
All except for one. He's from a race you've seen before...

Red skin, four arms. Only, he's twice the size of the ones you've seen and even more muscular. His skin is a much darker shade than the rest, as well.
He's wearing armor over his uniform, and has a huge weapon of some sort strapped to his back.

You watch as Big Red orders the rest of the men around, having them unload crates from the ship and place them in the unloading zone.

Meanwhile, a hovercar arrives with two men inside.
An old-looking alien wearing something akin to a formal suit, and a lanky, bug-like man who seems to be his butler.

The butler steps out first and opens the door for the old man, who seems to walk with a cane.
The old man greets Big Red, offering him a slight bow which quickly gets waved off.

Then they start talking.
You can tell, because Big Red is waving two of his arms around, and pointing back at the crates.

"SHODAN, can you transcribe their conversation?"

["Not from this distance, nor this angle. However, they do appear to be distracted."

>Alright, let's head in while they're distracted. If we move quickly we can avoid being seen, and maybe catch a little bit of what they're saying.
>No, better not to risk it. We'll wait for them to leave, or at least load back up onto the ship before we move.
>Vex? You're up, buddy. Get inside and find out what they're talking about.
>Write-In?

>>5629260
Send Vex in

>>5629260
>>Vex? You're up, buddy. Get inside and find out what they're talking about.
Time for the Rogue to sneak upon them!

>>5629260
>Vex? You're up, buddy. Get inside and find out what they're talking about.

>>5629260
>Vex? You're up, buddy. Get inside and find out what they're talking about.

>>5629260
>>Vex? You're up, buddy. Get inside and find out what they're talking about.

>>5629260
>Vex? You're up, buddy. Get inside and find out what they're talking about.
And be careful to keep in cover, feddy (mercs? Special ops?) might have better-made eyeballs than regular folks.

>>5629260
>>No, better not to risk it. We'll wait for them to leave, or at least load back up onto the ship before we move.

We need to get to Gron's people first. This can wait.

>>5629260
>Vex? You're up, buddy. Get inside and find out what they're talking about.
The substance of this conversation may decide whether we can risk them leaving this station alive or not, and what kind of heat we can expect both in the near and the later term should we take this station by force.

>>5629260

"Vex? Looks like you're up. Get in there and find out what they're talking about."

Without even responding, Vex steps forwards and engages his cloak.
You're just about able to track his shimmer as he makes his way towards the forcefield.

["That's crazy..."] Cylia comments. ["I can't see him at all."]

["He is still fully visible in the ultraviolet spectrum."] SHODAN adds. ["However, both the infrared and visible light spectrum are affected."]

"Neat."

Vex waits a while to ensure nobody sees what he's about to do, and the reason is clear once he starts stepping through the field.
As he does so, not only does he temporarily become visible, but the forcefield also reacts somewhat, creating a ripple in it's surface and quite the obvious glow.

He makes it through however, and makes his way forwards.
Now inside the station's atmosphere, he removes his helmet and sets it aside so that he can, according to him, see more clearly.

So what you get from him is bodycam footage rather than helmet cam. That's alright though, it'll do just fine.

Vex ends up getting much closer than you expected him to. He makes his way around the landing platforms and climbs up the side nearest to where he wants to position himself.
Then he keeps his body between the drone ship's landing gear and as many people as possible, trying to reduce his visibility even further.

Looks like he tries to rely on his cloaking as little as possible, despite how good it is.

Eventually he manages to get up to the landing gear itself, where he takes off his body cam and points it towards the fed boys on the landing platform.

["-nd that was what we told him, of course."] The old alien says.

["Yes, well. Kalimex has a habit of indulging a bit too much when he's not on the job. Kindra Station was a mess because of that. We nearly lost ten entire cases."] Big Red replies.

["How unfortunate. Nevertheless, he would not be employed if he couldn't get the job done. In the end, results are all that matters. Isn't that right, Gunnar?"]

So Big Red's name is Gunnar.

["The elders certainly believe so. That's why we're here."]

["And i'm thankful for that. Those lowlives have given us more trouble than they're worth. Their compound is somewhere in the slums, but he haven't been able to find it just yet."]

["Too many mutants?"]

["Yes, far too many. Phaser rifles don't seem to affect them much, and we don't have enough UV lamps to search every nook and cranny."]

Gunnar raps his knuckles against the weapon on his back. You can see it clearly now, but you still aren't certain what it actually does.

["No worries, Elynderr. We came with much more than just phasers. They'll be driven from their nest before long. And then the mutants can have them."]

Elynderr?! That's that fucker! You might still be chilling on Xebric if he didn't have a hard-on for you!
...Although, that might not have turned out so well, now that you think about it.

Still, he tried to fuck you. He has to die.

Argh!! It's Elynderr!! If only this character weren't featured four threads ago!! I can't remember a single thing about 'em...

>>5630210
He's Xebric station's administrator.

>>5630211
Aah... and he is the one responsible for the metal gear getting the impoundment warrant?

>>5630180
This little puke will die screaming, all of them will.

>>5630180
This guy might have valuable imtel though.

>>5630180

"Oh good, that fucker's still on the station."

["Who is it?"] Cylia asks, not having seen him before.

"That's Elynderr. Xebric's administrator, and a priority target for capture."

["...Should we go in now? There's not that many of them. With these guns, we could probably..."]

"No, not yet. We still have to get those lasers offline before we can do anything." You sigh.

["Seems like a shame to let him get away, Captain. Perhaps Vex should tail him for a while?"] SHODAN suggests.

Yeah, that probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Since Elynderr is still around, you'll have to find and capture him eventually anyways.
However, if he goes now, he won't be around to help out with getting the lasers offline.

But between yourself, Cylia and SHODAN, you can probably handle it regardless.
Maybe. Probably.

Honestly, it depends on what you find out there. Station guards are one thing, but the feds are here too, and then there's the redsang addicts...
But, there's every chance Elynderr might get away from you if you don't keep someone on his ass right now. Who knows? He could be leaving the station after this.

>Have Vex track Elynderr while your team continues on to deal with the lasers
>Keep Vex with you and let Elynderr go for now. You'll try and find him later.
>...SHODAN is just as tough and strong as you are, and she has a powerful sensor suite that would let her track him from afar.
>Write-In?

>>5631194
>Keep Vex with you and let Elynderr go for now. You'll try and find him later.
>Have him help SHODAN sneak aboard the drone ship and rewire the drones working outside, then follow instructions until we set them against the FEDs.

>>5631219
+1 to this

>>5631194
Can Shodan further infiltrate the station's network? There's gotta be at least a few functioning cameras left inside the station, and it's pretty likely he'll stick to the more intact sections where less of them have been destroyed.

>>5631194
>Have Vex track Elynderr while your team continues on to deal with the lasers

>>5631241
Not wirelessly.
People's tablets are one thing, but the station network actually has decent security.
It's possible to gain access to segments of the station's network if you can gain access to a security terminal somewhere, however.

Does either the Metal Gear or Star Fall have interdiction capability? If he's going anywhere it'd be off-station; it'd be extremely suspicious if the station was essentially wiped off all inhabitants but the previous administrator carries on in his duties as if nothing happened.
There's only 1 fed ship now; we could intercept it as soon as it passes the station defenses or interdict it.
Though ultimately, I think he's just a bureaucrat following orders and doesn't actually know a whole lot, certainly no more than the guy he is reporting to now. The most problematic information he holds is likely of our existence.

>>5631194
>Keep Vex with you and let Elynderr go for now. You'll try and find him later.
stick to the plan, people. we can fuck the feds and elynderr later; i mean, they literally have to leave on this ship. we know where he'll be

>>5631753
The metal gear and star-fall both have interdictors.

>>5631194
>>Have Vex track Elynderr while your team continues on to deal with the lasers
That's one less character for QM to bother adding into the action

>>5631194
>Have Vex track Elynderr while your team continues on to deal with the lasers
He seems like he can handle it.

>>5631194

"Vex, can you hear me?"

["Loud and clear."]

"I want you to track the old man. He's a priority target. Don't let him out of your sight, and report his location regularly. If he starts trying to bail the station, let me know."

["Understood."]

Vex immediately jump into action, making his way back down the side of the platform and taking the long way around to avoid being seen.
He ends up on the other side, and makes his way over to Elynderr's hovercar.

Slowly and quietly, he slides open the back door, opposite to everything going on.
The driver in the front seat is busy watching something on his holopad, and doesn't even begin to notice anything.

Vex then places a tracking beacon on the underside of the driver's seat, and then does something else to the seat that Elynderr will be sitting in shortly...
Although you can't see what he's actually done. It looked like he planted something on it, but whatever it was is too small to make out from your helmet projector.

Finally, he slides the back seat down quietly and slips into the trunk of the vehicle like a snake, closing it up behind him.

The driver doesn't even look up until he feels the weight of Elynderr shifting into his seat some minutes later.
From what SHODAN can see, neither him nor the butler seem suspicious, and they drive off without issue.

Moments after they drive off, you receive a map of the station with a glowing dot on it which is making it's way in a straight line over the city.

"This is them?" You ask.

["Affirmative. Mister Vex has placed a tracking beacon on the car, and has a passive beacon on the man himself."] SHODAN confirms.

"What do you mean by passive beacon?"

["It is a small, hair-like transmitter which reacts only to a certain frequency of radio waves. When washed over by the 'ping' it will respond with a sort of 'echo', returning it's location."]

"Sweet, so he'll be able to find him as long as he's close. Alright, let's leave it to Vex and focus on the task at hand."

The task at hand of course, being the Feds in front of you.
They aren't exactly fucking off as quickly as you'd like. And while you do have a spare bottle of oxygen, you'd rather not have to use it.

>Vex has already shown you the way, and these guys aren't that observant. You shouldn't have any issues getting past them.
>Just observe for a while longer. Maybe you can glean what exactly they're doing, or what sort of equipment they have.
>Write-In?

>>5632265
>Vex has already shown you the way, and these guys aren't that observant. You shouldn't have any issues getting past them.

We will learn what equipment they have on a firefight!!! Grenades ON

>>5632265
>Vex has already shown you the way, and these guys aren't that observant. You shouldn't have any issues getting past them.

>>5632265
>>Vex has already shown you the way, and these guys aren't that observant. You shouldn't have any issues getting past them.

>>5632265

Gesturing for your team to follow you, you make your way down the same path Vex did, being careful to watch your ass in case anyone else shows up.
You stick carefully to the trenches between the landing pads, making sure nobody's looking down over the side or anything before moving ahead.

But the fed boys appear to be busy unloading the ship, so you don't have to worry about that.
At the far end, opposite of the station entrance, there's a door. Looks like a maintenance tunnel, although you're not sure where it leads.

"SHODAN, you got a map for this one?"

After a short pause, she replies.

"Unfortunately not, Captain. Maintenance shafts and critical infrastructure are typically not recorded in public databases. However, it must lead somewhere."

Yeah, she's right about that.
Unfortunately this door seems to have some sort of retinal scanner.

But you've seen this kind of door a million times, and you know exactly how it works.
Using a sonicator, you cut through the three locking bolts in under a minute and simply slide the door open.

There's nobody inside, so you make your way in with the others trailing behind.

It's an unusually narrow corridor, so you're taking point with your 1911 rather than your rifle.
There isn't much to sweep. A closet here. An alcove there. You're honestly not sure what this hall is for until you reach a set of stairs, which you climb up as quietly as possible.

At the top of those stairs is an unlocked door, which unfortunately opens automatically as you reach for it.
It makes a hissing sound as it does so. Ever so slight, but more than enough to make you cringe as you draw your hand back.

Using a small mirror on a stick, you angle it to look around the room without sticking your head out.
Turns out, that tunnel led straight to the control room, where ships are processed. This is also where the maglock controls are located.

And there's a single, sleepy-looking man hunched over his desk, watching the fed boys do their work through the glass.
You signal for the girls to stay quiet, and inform them that there's someone inside.

>Silent kill. You don't want him alerting anyone.
>Choke him out and tie him up. Someone will find him eventually, but you'll be long gone.
>Try to sneak past him. He's not paying attention, and he's got his back turned.

>>5633350
>Silent kill. You don't want him alerting anyone.

>Silent kill. You don't want him alerting anyone.

>>5633350
>Choke him out and tie him up. Someone will find him eventually, but you'll be long gone.

>>5633350
>Silent kill. You don't want him alerting anyone.
>Mangle the body after so it looks like mutants got him

>>5633350
Actually, I want to get info, if he is allowed to live this long, he's heard something.
switch>>5633396
to
>Choke him out and tie him up. Check him for anyway to communicate with the outside incase he tries to snitch, then shake him down for info. Leave him tied up but kill him if he poses a problem.

>>5633350
>Choke him out and tie him up. Someone will find him eventually, but you'll be long gone.
We go pacifist until things get loud.

>>5633409
plus we get cylia brownie points for not murdering every problem we have in front of us

>>5633401
Switching to this.

>>5633350
Choke him out.

>>5633350
>>Choke him out and tie him up. Someone will find him eventually, but you'll be long gone.

>>5633350

Before moving forwards, you carefully unlace your boots and remove them.
Now barefoot, you creep silently towards the man on duty until you're right behind him.

Close enough to take a lock of his hair, if he had any.

You wait for him to raise his chin ever so slightly, and then strike.
Your arm wraps around his throat in an instant, and you lock it in place by grabbing your own wrist with your other hand.

Your bicep bulges as you drag the man out of his chair and down onto the floor, out of sight of anyone who might glance over from the landing pad.
The man's air supply is cut off as you clamp down on his throat, and at the same time so is the blood flow to his brain.

The man snorts as he desperately tries to inhale, and slaps at your arms as he tries and fails to pull them off.
It doesn't even take ten seconds for him to pass out, and you drag him along the floor, back into the stairwell.

"Oh my god, is he dead...?" Cylia asks, looking at the unconscious man with concern.

"Nope." You answer." Just unconscious, for now.

Patting the man down, you discover a communicator of some sort on his belt.
Flipping it on momentarily, you can hear chatter from around the station. Security being directed here and there, reports of mutant activity.

It might be useful, so you turn it back off and clip it to your chest.

Besides that, he's got a phaser pistol... useless in the current situation.
An ID badge. Keel, a security officer belonging to the station's local government.

Not a normal dock worker. This guy is somebody on Elynderr's payroll, probably an asshole.
Well, you're about to find out since he's starting to wake up.

"Oh... shit, what happened?" He groans.

As the man starts to come to, he looks up to see the three of you staring down at him.
In a panic, he reaches for his phaser... only to find it gone.

Realizing this, he sighs out in frustration and lays there, cringing silently.

"Keel. You work for Elynderr?" You ask him.

Refusing to respond, he looks away from you and closes his eyes.
So you jam your thumb into his ribs, which makes him jolt from the pain.

"Don't be a hero, dumbass. Whatever you know isn't worth your life."

"...Fine." He agrees.

"You work for him?"

"Yeah... i do."

"So you know what's going on here? With the mutants? What they're doing to the people on this station?"

"...I know it's being cleared out. I don't know how and i don't want to know, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. You're so full of shit. Don't pretend you haven't seen what's going on."

Keel remains silent, but you can see the guilt in his eyes.
He knows exactly what they've been doing on this station.

>Tie him up good, and leave him at the bottom of the stairwell. It'll take a while for anyone to find him.
>Interrogate him, see what he knows. (Write in your questions)
>Write-In?

>>5634160
>Interrogate him, see what he knows.
What triggered the FEDs into purging this station? How long have you been helping the contaminated Redsang get onto the station? How many survivors are still on board? Given the setup your boss has going on, am I right to assume the station will be made to self destruct after whatever the guys at the dock finish loading?

>>5634160
>Interrogate him, see what he knows.
>step on his hand or leg and add pressure until it breaks or he talks

>>5634178
That's not a question, anon.

>>5634182
ah true. im supporting >>5634174

>>5634174
+1

>>5634174
+1

>>5634160
>>Interrogate him, see what he knows. (Write in your questions)

Every piece of information is another finger you get to keep buddy boy.

When did this whole incident start in earnest? What were your orders? Are they going to destroy the station? If so, when? Are there any high value targets? What's the best way to disable the station defenses? How do you feel about shooting down civilians trying to flee the station?

>>5634174

"Alright shitstain, i'm gonna ask you some questions. Whether you answer me truthfully or not determines how many of your fingers you get to keep. Understood?"

Keel's face goes pale, but he nods in understanding.

"First question. Who ordered the purge and why?"

"...I don't know who ordered it. Could have been Elynderr, could have been the council... but i can guess why." He tells you. "The station wasn't turning a profit anymore."

You gesture for him to continue.

"...Xebric was a major supplier of rare metals, raw ore in bulk... but all the major asteroids have been tapped. Nothing but common elements out here anymore.
There's still plenty of rare metals around, but given the price of fuel... it's too far out from the galactic core to be profitable anymore."

"And that ore was the only reason this station was built so far out to begin with, am i right?" You question.

"I guess? I don't know man, i wasn't here when they built it."

"Alright. Second question, how long have these redsang shipments been coming in? How long did it take for people to start turning?"

"Two years, i guess? Maybe a little longer? Some of the higher ups had been saying things since a while back, but nobody wanted to talk about it..."

"How many survivors left on the station? Civilians, bounty hunters, merchants."

"No clue. Most have been captured and sold, and the rest fled. Anyone left on the station at this point is basically begging to die. There are those pirates, though..."

"What pirates?"

"It's this big group, 'Dark Star' they call themselves. They got wiped out a while back but ended up coming back even stronger, and they've been causing nothing but trouble ever since.
Now they're holed up somewhere in the slums. We can't get to them and they can't get to us, so i don't know what in the eight hells they're doing. Starving, probably?"

Same thing Elynderr said. Somewhere in the slums.
You'll have to make contact with them at some point, they might be able to help out if you give them some gear.

"Alright. And what's the plan once this station is depopulated? What are they going to do with it?" You ask.

"They're gonna space it."

"...What?"

"Space it. They're going to vent the atmosphere, make the whole place uninhabitable so pirates don't come in and claim it."

...Yeah, that'd do it. From what you know, specialized ships are used to haul in massive amounts of liquefied atmosphere during a station's construction.
It's such a pain in the ass to haul it back and forth that it makes more sense to just vent it rather than trying to bring it somewhere else.

And the inside of an asteroid station can be pretty huge, so there's no chance some group of pirates is gonna be able to re-pressurize the place once it's done.
In the first place, they'd need to get the power back on, which means running generators and consuming a shit-ton of antimatter fuel.

It's just not possible. Once a station is spaced, it stays spaced.

>>5634650
Motherfuckers....

>>5634650
The stakes just got higher.

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>>5634650
>It's just not possible. Once a station is spaced, it stays spaced.
Awwww we're cutting it fucking CLOSE

>>5634650
Well shiiiit... so they will simply obliterate anything that's inconvenient. There are no human rights

>>5634930
>There are no human rights
We on jungle rules out here brother.

>>5634950
>Jungle Rules
>Vs the talking Ape
Oh these poor bastards have no idea how fucked they are.

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Did you know that if you suck at drawing, like myself, you can just slap a bunch of filters and graphics on your drawing?
Results may vary.

>>5635331
Damn, nice!
Thanks, anon.

>>5635334
Thanks. I was looking at the OP image and thought "I made that a while ago, and I can do a little bit better than photobashing now..." and eventually it just spiraled into making a collage of some old scraps I had saved.
I have no idea if it even catches the eye in the catalogue any better.

>>5635338
Well, we can find out.
It kinda gives me x-files vibes.

>>5635343
>It kinda gives me x-files vibes.
Given all the conspiracies, myths, and legends we've been tackling lately, I'd say that's very fitting.

So I forget, did we already decide on a name for the carrier?
I know it's far from being finished, but we might as well get some good ideas going in the meantime.

>>5635415
The Alabama(or whatever david's home state is)

>>5635421
Not a bad default option, but I have too much time on my hands so you get the excess drippings of my autism in the form of a list of potential names for the carrier.
>Equal and Opposite
>King's Gambit
>General Lee
>Epistle of Strife
>Crimson Tide
>Alone in the Dark
>Many Like It
>Earnest Toil
>Hearts and Minds
>Enkidu
>To Spite the Face
>Justified
>Brown Bomber
>The Real Deal
>Have Mercy
>Ye of Little Faith
>Idle Hands
>Common Virtue
>Currency of Lives
>Best Laid Plans
>Known But To God
>Sic Semper
>Big Stick
>Will Travel
>Close Encounters
>Phoenix II
>Beckett

>>5635442
Eminent Domain is my fave BB name

>>5634650

"Motherfuckers. Whose station do they think this is?" You growl.

Grabbing Keel by the collar of his shirt, you lift him up off the ground and get face to face with him.

"How much longer?" You demand.

"Guh... civvies are already gone... maybe two or three more weeks? Depends oh how much stock they can find..."

So when they're done looting the place.
But there's nothing stopping them from turning off the barrier right now.

You let Keel go, and his back slams into the ground, winding him slightly.

Flipping him over, you plant your foot on his back and wrench his arm around behind him.
After slapping a cuff on one wrist, you grab his other arm and make sure it's cuffed as well.

Then you use a length of paracord to wrap up both his arms and legs before tying them together and removing the handcuffs.
He's clearly uncomfortable and unhappy during all this, but doesn't protest or try to fight it. Seems like he wants to keep his fingers.

Once he's all tied up, you grab him by his ropes and carry him down the stairs like a piece of luggage, tossing him down the last few so that he lands at the bottom of the stairwell.
Back at the top, you huddle with the girls to discuss things.

"So, you heard the situation." You tell them.

"Yes. There is nothing preventing them from spacing the station, should their situation become unfavorable." SHODAN replies.

"Right. So now, not only do we need to get the guns offline, we need to make sure they can't space the place when we do it." You sigh.

"Our target remains the same, Captain. The controls for both the guns and entrance would both be in the administrative building."

"Yeah, but now we're missing Vex. If we split up any further, one of us is gonna be on our own." You note.

"Maybe... maybe we should find the other Dark Star guys first?" Cylia suggests. "They could help us out."

"Yeah, maybe. But then we'd have to get to them first, and get them out. That means fighting through a bunch of redsang mutants.
"Captain. In a worst case scenario, this body is expendable. I am capable of undertaking missions which entail an undue risk without any significant losses."

"I know that, SHODAN. But i still don't like the idea. Just because you won't die, doesn't mean you should let yourself get killed."

"...I am certain you understand the absurdity of your own statement just now, Captain."

>Alright, let's try and bring the Dark Star boys into this. They might be in trouble anyways.
>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. SHODAN, you go with Cylia. I'll take the guns out myself and you two will guard the station controls.
>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. I'll go with Cylia and guard the station controls. SHODAN will have to take out the guns on her own.
>Write-In?

>>5635471
>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. I'll go with Cylia and guard the station controls. SHODAN will have to take out the guns on her own.
shodan is a big girl, she's more than capable of doing this on her own. plus we can rebuild her if shit hits the fan

>>5635471
>>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. I'll go with Cylia and guard the station controls. SHODAN will have to take out the guns on her own.

>>5635442
>no seahorse
>no fat momma
>no violent daycare
>no wedding crasher

>>5635464
I'm partial to "The Big One".

>>5635471
>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. SHODAN, you go with Cylia. I'll take the guns out myself and you two will guard the station controls.
Getting Gron's boys in is absolutely vital. I can't in good conscience leave that to anyone else.

>>5635471
If we take control of the guns, the onus is on them to either retake or disable the guns if they to get off this station. Also, it may be possible to take control of the funds without their knowledge (until it starts firing in them at least).
Also, surely this station has safeguards against hull beaches? There must be automatic bulkheads that will close in the event of a hull breach or a fire?
If they are intending to space and abandon the station, then the cargo they are currently unloading can only be one thing. If we can limit said cargo to one area instead of being dispersed throughout the station, it might make them unable to space the station unless they break containment on the antimatter or try to poke holes with their ship.
What's the status of the FTL comms on this station anyway? We need to make sure they can't get a message out.
In either case, here are my thoughts;
>take control of the admin building
>disable FTL comms (if it's still up)
>disable or take control of guns
>activate emergency bulkheads and isolated the hanger
>bring in the test of our combined crew, disable or destroy the fed ship and its crew
>have part of the crew evacuate the Dark Star personnel to admin building
>wait for our drone ships to arrive to begin cleanup of the station
The Dark Star personnel have survived against mutants and station security for this long, they should manage another hour or two. We'll be the ones dealing with the feds anyway as we're about to draw all their attention with the assault on the admin building

>>5635471
>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. SHODAN, you go with Cylia. I'll take the guns out myself and you two will guard the station controls.

>>5635471
>>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. I'll go with Cylia and guard the station controls. SHODAN will have to take out the guns on her own.

>>5635471
>>Alright, let's try and bring the Dark Star boys into this. They might be in trouble anyways.

>>5635471
>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. SHODAN, you go with Cylia. I'll take the guns out myself and you two will guard the station controls.

>>5635421
>>5635442
How about one of these?
The IRS
Atrocity Fountain
Terminal Diplomacy
She’s One of Ours, Sir
Looks Abandoned
Suspicious Activity
International Incident
Probably Swamp Gas
Weather Balloon
False Alarm
Planetary Lobotomy
Apocalypse Soon
Freudian Nightmare
Pointy Stick
Going in Dry
A Strongly Worded Letter

>>5635471
>>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. SHODAN, you go with Cylia. I'll take the guns out myself and you two will guard the station controls.

>>5635471
>Alright, let's try and bring the Dark Star boys into this. They might be in trouble anyways.

We need infantry to hold the position of these controls.

>>5635471
>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. I'll go with Cylia and guard the station controls. SHODAN will have to take out the guns on her own.
>>5635442
>>5635464
>>5635522
How about "The American Dream"?

>>5635701
>How about "The American Dream"?
>the ship is basically going to be used to assault other fed controlled stations and squash any pirates we see along the way. or intimidate anyone we don't like. or basically do any space war crime we can get away with.
better go with "The Manifest Destiny" then

>>5635747
The Tea Party. Because fuck this space gubment

>>5635471
>>>Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. SHODAN, you go with Cylia. I'll take the guns out myself and you two will guard the station controls.
This is way funnier, mostly because only has to write David POV which means one less character to write into the update

And guys, the ship has to feature botched latin, since david is from gringoland after all.
>ONUS PROBANDI

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>Frank Exchange of Views
>Ethics Gradient
>Of Course I Still Love You

>>5636137
Ethics Gradient is surprisingly hilarious.

How about
>Independence

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>>5636137
Considering what we're making Battlestar Galactica might not be a bad name. Although maybe that would fit better with a battleship class.

>>5636422
Liberty could also work

>>5635442
>General Lee
Only if it's painted in kind. There's also
>Ultima Ratio Regum
>Ultra Vires
>GUN

>>5635471

After thinking on it for a moment, you decide that dealing with this situation now is better than the alternative.
If you get the guns down and the station secured, your killbots and Gron's crew will be able to find and secure the other Dark Star members without issue.

So right now, all you need to worry about is getting to the administration building, near the center of the asteroid.

"We're going in alone. It's a little risky, but what's worse is having the station destroyed just to spite us."

"If you insist, Captain." SHODAN replies. "We will simply make do with what we have."

"Yeah..." Cylia chuckles nervously.

"Once we get to the admin building, we'll have to split up. SHODAN, you go with Cylia. I'll take the guns out myself and you two will guard the station controls." You instruct.

"How are we supposed to get there, though?" Cylia asks.

"There are a few options." SHODAN explains, showing a 3D map of the station. "One, we use the streets. Although that will mean fighting through mutants, we are unlikely to encounter others."

"Yeah, i don't think that's a great idea..." Cylia grumbles.

"Two, we find our way into the dead space between levels." She continues.

"What do you mean by dead space?" You ask.

"Simply put, they are hollow space between each level of the station. Although they contain critical infrastructure such as power lines and sewage pipes, they remain mostly empty."

"So what are the downsides?"

"Few hiding places, and the station's staff are likely working out of there. There are few entrances and exits, so it's easily defensible. We would likely need to force our way inside."

"Breaking through a heavily guarded barricade doesn't sound like the best option either, if i'm being honest." You sigh.

"Then, there is one more option." She offers. "Sabotage."

"...What are we sabotaging?"

"The station's main gravity generator. It's not far from here, and if destroyed it would allow for free 3D movement via our EVA packs. However, air resistance would still pose a problem."

"You mean we'd run out of gas eventually."

"Correct, Captain. After that, movement will be much more difficult. However, the mutant threat will be significantly lessened."

"And what's to stop them from spacing the station if we do that?"

"That's the next thing. We need to make it look like an accident." She explains.

"Alright, i'm listening."

"..."

"Well?"

"I am uncertain." She admits. "There are many variables at play, here. Many uncertainties. Too complex a plan may come unraveled before it can be implemented."

"So you're saying to just wing it?"

"Essentially, Captain."

Yeah, that's three not great options.
Come on, Gunny. Think for a minute. All you've gotta do is get over there. How hard could it be?

>Use the streets. A little fighting never killed anyone.
>Find an entrance to the dead space and force your way in.
>Blow up the gravity generator and hope for the best.
>Write-In?

>>5636837
>Use the streets. A little fighting never killed anyone.
its also a good moment to see what the mutants can actually do

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>>5636837
>Blow up the gravity generator and hope for the best.
This is assuming SHODAN and Kyla have the know-how and capability to restore the gravity generator later. Sabotage ahoy!

Does David and Vex have the warp-communicator devices? When the mutants start flying, shit is gonna get real.

>>5635655
>>5635415
Seconding False Alarm

>>5636876
Yes, your whole crew has subspace communicators. They aren't hard to make.

>>5636837
>>Use the streets. A little fighting never killed anyone.

Rip and Tear has rarely failed us.

>>5636837
>Use the streets. A little fighting never killed anyone. But make sure there are no security cameras on the path.
>We can rig the Gravity Generator to blow after we secure Admin and destroy the main guns.

>Use the streets. A little fighting never killed anyone.

>>5636837

You mull things over for a moment, rubbing your temples as you feel a migraine coming on.
And then your brain shuts off entirely, because you reach the obvious conclusion in a situation like this.

Keep it simple, stupid.

Breaking into a fortified position? Blowing up the gravity generator?
What the fuck, man. There's no need for all that.

"We're taking the streets. If we have to kill a few mutants then so be it. It's not like we're fucking unarmed." You order.

Taking your rifle to hand, you crouch down so that you're below the level of the glass in the control room and make your way to the side door.
The girls follow right behind you, and take position on either side of the door.

Fortunately you're on the correct side of the door this time, so you're able to simply open it without an eye scan, fingerprint, passcode or anything else.
The door slides open, and the three of you file through, being careful of anyone or anything that might be outside.

There's nothing, so you make your way around the backside of the building before you're spotted.

From there, it's a stretch of open land leading to an electrified dividing fence, on the other side of which is the rest of the station.
You're supposed to go through the main gate when you come through the port, but the gate is right out in the open, in full view of everyone.

So instead, you use your sonicator to cut a hole out of the chainlink, big enough to fit through.
There's an electrical arc as you kick the cut-out section of fencing loose, which makes a bit of a flash... but you don't think anyone saw.

Ducking through the hole in the fence, you make your way out into the street.
These are streets mainly meant for walking rather than driving, so they're somewhat narrow and lack any markings.

Besides an unusual amount of trash and the occasional bloodstain, you don't see any people or even mutants here.
You guess it's been cleared out, since they still need to use the docks to transport people and cargo off the station.

And in fact, it seems like not only has it been cleared out, but they've fortified the place as well.

As you look down the streets which weave between each multi-story building, you can see a blue glow stretching up three or for stories on each of them.
When SHODAN zooms in to get a closer look at them, you see that they appear to be portable force-fields of some sort.

"What the hell, what are these?" You grumble.

"Exactly what they look like, Captain. Barriers. Often used to close off roads during construction, divide areas and restrict the movement of unruly mobs." SHODAN explains.

"Well can we shut them down?"

"Easily. They are run by antimatter generators, so simply removing the micro-bottle will remove the forcefield. However, leaving it that way may not be ideal."

Yeah, not only would that mean the docks aren't secure, it would also mean them eventually finding out there's an enemy running around.

>Fuck it, let's just yoink the bottle and go. We can put it to use later if we need to.
>Let's try and get around it instead. If we head into one of these buildings, i bet we can get up to the roof.
>Cylia, do you think you can just parkour your way over the barrier after we pass through? I want to keep it active.
>Write-In?

>>5637150
>Write-In?
>SHODAN, can you grab and jump us to the top of the building?
the gravity should be low enough and SHODAN's skeleton is overnegineered enough that it should be possible

>>5637156
SHODAN is stronger than you, but not that much stronger.
You'd be better off jumping on your own, which is an option.

Or you could take the stairs.

>>5637150
>Cylia, do you think you can just parkour your way over the barrier after we pass through? I want to keep it active.

>>5637161
ah, fine, changing to
>Cylia, do you think you can just parkour your way over the barrier after we pass through? I want to keep it active.

>>5637151
>Cylia, do you think you can just parkour your way over the barrier after we pass through? I want to keep it active.

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>>5637151
>PARKOUR

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>>5637151
>parkour

>>5637151
>Fuck it, let's just yoink the bottle and go. We can put it to use later if we need to.
Antimatter bottles are the real currency in this world. He who holds the power literally holds the power.

>>5637151
>Cylia, do you think you can just parkour your way over the barrier after we pass through? I want to keep it active.

Low profile.

>>5637151
>Cylia, do you think you can just parkour your way over the barrier after we pass through? I want to keep it active.

We should place a remote charge to disrupt it if shit goes sideways and we need to get out. Assuming we have some.

>>5637150

As you approach the wall of light, you see what SHODAN was talking about.
The "portable generator" powering it is portable in the sense that it fits on a hovercart, but it can't be lifted by one or two people.

There's a thick umbilical cable running from the generator to the frame of the barrier, which is also covered by the shield itself.
It looks like it could be disconnected with some effort, but the easier method is just removing the antimatter bottle.

Looking at the generator, it's controls seem to be largely analog, just on or off. There's nothing complicated about it, at least externally.
You pull the ejection handle, and the generator shuts off before automatically ejecting the nearly-spent antimatter bottle.

Fortunately you don't need to grab it with your hands, as it's glowing yellow-hot. That'd probably burn even through your gloves.

"Alright, we're gonna head through. Cyl, i want you to re-engage the barrier and jump over. Can you do that for us?"

"Sure, no problem." Cylia replies, giving you a thumbs up.

Doing just that, you walk across with SHODAN and Cylia puts the barrier back up.
She then makes a vertical leap, the station's low gravity allowing her powerful legs to launch her more than high enough to reach the second floor balcony of a building above her.

Pulling herself up, she stand on the edge of the balcony and hops up another floor.
But that's when you notice trouble coming your way.

From the direction of the port, you see two men making their way over to the generator. They must be here to change out the bottle.
They're busy talking to eachother at the moment, but it won't be long before they notice you.

Cylia's not in a great spot for this, either. It's probably best if she just hides. You tell her as much over the radio in order to avoid shouting.

>Just run for it. You're on the opposite side of the barrier, they probably aren't going to bother chasing you.
>Try to bust down the front door of one of these apartments and hide inside. They'll might hear the noise, but they won't see you unless they check it out.
>Stay next to the barrier and wave for 'help'. Distract them as much as possible while Cylia ambushes them from above.
>Write-In?

>>5638407
>Just run for it. You're on the opposite side of the barrier, they probably aren't going to bother chasing you.
This are not the FED feds, just regular aliens. They are instructed to keep the barriers running and their smooth brains aren't creative

>>5638407
>Write-In?
>have shodan hack/lockpick open one of the apartment doors

>>5638407
>have shodan hack/lockpick open one of the apartment doors
Good write in

>>5638407
>Have shodan hack/lockpick open one of the apartment doors

>>5638407
>>Stay next to the barrier and wave for 'help'. Distract them as much as possible while Cylia ambushes them from above.

>>5638407
>>5638417
Support write in economy

Sorry boys, but i'm currently coughing up blood and mucus.
I tried to sit down and write, but it feels like my head is going to explode.

I'm so tired. I just want to sleep.

>>5639454
Well that doesn't sound great. Don't die, boss. Take a seat.

>>5639454
That sounds bad, you should probably see a doctor.
Also, check if you have a fever.

>>5639454
The curse is merciless man be safe.

>>5639454
Remember to hydrate and don't worry about us. We aren't going anywhere.

>>5639454
shit man, hydrate and eat/sleep when you can. Listen to your body if you start feeling like you need to visit the ER.
Wishing you the best

>>5639454
Best to get better and think of us only after you are doing good

>>5639454
Don't die on us big man, drink some juice and get well soon.

>>5638407

Moving quickly, you pull SHODAN with you up one of the apartment stoops, but find that it's locked.
Most likely, all of them are. They're all networked after all, and you're pretty sure station police have access to them.

"SHODAN, can you get this door open?"

In response, SHODAN rears back her fist to break the lock, only for you to stop her.

"Quietly!" You whisper. "The lock! Hack the damned lock!"

SHODAN glances over at the station guards walking your way, and judges that there may still be enough time to get away with it.
Pulling the data umbilical out of the back of her neck, she plugs it into the smart lock's data port. A few seconds pass, and it beeps a little jingle at you as it's display turns green.

SHODAN quickly unlocks the door and pulls you inside by the arm before shutting it behind you.

"Are we all clear?" You ask Cylia over the radio.

["You're clear... they don't seem to have noticed."] Cylia whispers.

Cylia grabs her bodycam and points it down over the balcony ledge, allowing you to see what they're doing just below her.
As expected, they're there to replace the nearly-depleted antimatter bottle.

Once they're done chatting, one man checks the opposite side of the barrier to ensure it's clear, and then the other ejects the bottle.
He winces from the heat as it ejects, and uses a pair of tongs to pull it out and place it inside an insulated carrying case.

That same carrying case was also holding the replacement bottle, which is then inserted into the machine, re-activating it.

["That's a brand new grain of antimatter..."] Cylia whispers. ["It would make a pretty big bomb if we took it."]

"We're trying to keep the station intact this time, Cyl."

["Things don't always go to plan though. Isn't that what you told us?"]

"Nevertheless, we're leaving it. The longer we stay hidden, the easier this is gonna be for us. Just stay hidden there until they leave."

["Alright."]

Unfortunately the two men take their time talking some more after their 'work' is done. Some mundane bullshit about a new show on space cable.
Either way, they're lingering around for a bit longer, so you're stuck here for a minute.

...Man, these apartments kind of suck.
Everything is just stainless steel and aluminum for the most part.

Even the floors are just metal tile. You'd settle for wood grain vinyl.

Sitting down on the couch with a sigh, you find it uniquely uncomfortable in that it somehow manages to be both too large and too small at the same time.
This is some of that furniture that was designed to fit as many different races as possible. It sucks ass.

As you try your best to lean back and relax for a moment on the oversized seat cushion, you could swear you hear a slight noise coming from one of the other rooms.

"...SHODAN, did you hear that?"

"...Yes. A slight noise, barely audible above background. Is it worth investigating?"

>>5640043

>Nah, the guards haven't fucked off yet. If there's something in there, you don't want it making any noise.
>Yeah, let's check it out. Those bozos outside are barely doing their job anyways, you doubt they'd care even if you started ripping the place apart.
>Write-In?

Also just an update, i'm not doing so hot right now.
I don't know if i'll be able to update tomorrow. If i don't start getting better by then, i may end up checking myself into a hospital.

>>5640045
Take care of yourself man praying for you.

>>5640045
Get some of the adult pedialyte stuff and rest.

>>5640045
>Keep an eye on the direction the noise came from, and have Cylia keep lookout from her side, then wait to investigate after the goons leave.

>>5640045
>Write-In?
>SHODAN, can you activate your full spectrum eyes and see if they're looking at us? last thing we want is them making noises by trying to ambush us

damn boss, take care

>>5640045
Dont you dare put this quest above your own health. Take a break if you have to

>>5640045
Yeah, you made it pretty obvious you weren't in good health. As a former blood-cougher myself, you should take it easy if you're coughing blood. Board's pretty slow, the quest will still be here when you get back.

>>5640045
>>Write-In?
>>Cumputer, scan. Zoom in and enhance all that

>>5640045
>>Yeah, let's check it out. Those bozos outside are barely doing their job anyways, you doubt they'd care even if you started ripping the place apart.

>>5640045
>>Yeah, let's check it out. Those bozos outside are barely doing their job anyways, you doubt they'd care even if you started ripping the place apart.

>>5640045
Will the CDC glowies be stacking up at your front porch again? lol

Take care boss

>>5640856
Probably not. I'm doing my best to get better.
I'll probably have an update out today.

>>5640045

Getting up off the couch, you get your rifle ready and form up on the door together with SHODAN.
Throwing the door open, you find a closet full of half-eaten clothes... and some kind of small animal.

I looks like a purple, semi-translucent ball of jello, and it's got a pair of pants sticking out of it's mouth, which it appears to be chewing on.
It has few distinguishing features, except for a stony-looking ball and a few non-distinct blobs that might be organs, which are floating around inside of it.

This is... probably just someone's pet, you're guessing.
You sigh out as you relax, swinging your rifle back around to your side.

"...Any idea what that thing is?" You ask.

After a moment, SHODAN replies.

"Orblet. A type of semi-intelligent slime mold, often kept as a pet due to it's tendency to eat dust, hair and trash." She responds, sounding almost like a pokedex. You're pretty sure that was on purpose.

"Is it dangerous?"

"Not at all, Captain."

"Huh."

You poke at the little critter, and note that it's surface feels kinda like the skin on a bowl of jello. Only a bit tougher.
In response to your prodding, it trills quietly.

"...Can you eat it?"

"Records show that Orblets often contain lethal doses of toxins due to regularly eating trash, which causes it to build up in their bodies. Although safe to touch, ingestion is not recommended.*

Huh. These things might make a good pet for Gildur. Could help keep the ship clean, too.
Kinda like having a cat on an old sailing ship. Keeps it clean.

But, you'll have to come back to that later.

["Captain, they're leaving. I'm coming over now."] Cylia informs you.

You get to watch from her perspective on your helmet's HUD as she hops up to the fourth floor balcony, then jumps across to the building on the other side of the barrier.
From there, she climbs down two more stories and makes the final jump from quite high up, landing in a roll to break her fall.

Opening the apartment door, you take a quick look around and don't see anything else coming.
Now back together, you begin making your way down the street again, headed towards the center of the station.

>Roll me 1d10
>First three only

Rolled 9 (1d10)

>>5640960
Sneaky beaky like

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>5640960

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>5640960

>>5640960
For a moment I thought those were 1d100 and i shat my pants. Well no I didn't I am phoneposting in the bathroom

>>5641055
That is just about the best time to shit yourself

>>5641071
.....what the fuck happened?

>>5641081
Shit happened.

>>5641071
I can't think of a better time, really.

>>5641142
When you need to fill the flinging bucket for the enemies besieging your settlement.

>>5640974
Nice.

Sorry, i woke up very late.
Working on the update now.

>>5640960

You find yourself at a crossroads. Four paths, and three of them have a big damned problem.
Every road except the one you're on has at least one mutant stumbling around in the midst of it.

The road directly ahead would be ideal as it leads further into the station, but there's something that looks like an overgrown crustacean blocking the path.
It bumps into a hovercar sitting in the street, and immediately becomes furious. You watch as it smashes the car with it's claw, crushing the cab inwards before clamping down on it and ripping chunks out like they were cardboard.

The whole thing is reduced to scrap metal in minutes, which promptly bursts into flames as the electronics short circuit.

Meanwhile, the side streets aren't much better.
The left street sports a pack of overgrown werewolf-looking motherfuckers, who are currently in the middle of disemboweling a mutant of some other race.

"Oh god... are they eating it's liver?" Cylia asks, seeming like she wants to vomit.

And the right street, well, you don't know what the hell that thing is. It sports the same blotchy reddish skin as the other mutants, but... from what you can tell, it looks like a gigantic fucking tumor is overtaking that street, and the buildings around it.
The only upside that you can see there, is that you can't see anything moving over there, so maybe you won't have to fight at all if you go that way. Hopefully.

"Shit, which way do we go?"

"Forwards is the shortest path, Captain." SHODAN points out.

You watch as the shrimp-monster foams at the mouth and smashes a hole in the side of a concrete building.

"Yeah, i bet." You mutter.

You're pretty well stocked right now. You've got guns, grenades, armor... enough ammo to last a while.
But there's only so much you can carry on foot. Your supplies won't last you forever, so you need to make them count.

With that in mind... Which way do you go?

>Straight. (Shrimp Man)
>Left. (Werewolves)
>Right. (Tumor Town)

>>5641965
Left.