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>>5657214

SHODAN and Cylia simply stare at eachother in silence for a moment after she climbs up and dusts herself off.
Uh-oh. You can feel it. It's one of those moments.

You're not sure what to call it, but women have this habit of pecking at eachother on occasion.
Surprisingly, SHODAN is more guilty of this than anyone. She almost seems to enjoy bullying Cylia on occasion, although it's always lighthearted.

You're also aware that basically any action you take right now would be considered taking sides.
Since SHODAN is just picking at Cylia, and Cylia is the type who seeks approval and admiration, you figure your best course of action is as follows.

You slap Cylia on the ass, causing her to jump and squeal.

"Nice squat, babe."

After complimenting her, you turn back to the task at hand and act like you didn't notice anything.
SHODAN isn't the type to get jealous at all, and she probably knows what you're thinking, so she won't care.

You can't see Cylia's face through her helmet, but she isn't focused on SHODAN anymore as she's just rubbing her ass and watching you look around.
That's a good outcome, and that's all you can ask for when it comes to women.

When it comes to this elevator shaft, you don't get the outcome you were looking for.
Unfortunately there is no service ladder whatsoever. It's like they don't expect the elevator to go out, ever.

Not only that, but there's no goddamned rope either.
Even if it was greased up, you still could have climbed a steel cable without too much trouble, you think.

It looks like this elevator uses a rail system, with motorized wheels embedded in a track that runs up the length of the shaft.
There's a power cable connected to a third rail in the middle of the shaft, but since power is out to most of the station it doesn't do you much good.

"Shit. Looks like climbing up isn't going to be that easy." You mutter.

"What about these rails?" Cylia suggests. "The grooves are big enough to fit our fingers. It might be a little awkward, but maybe one of us could shimmy our way up and drop some paracord?"

"That might be fine for one or two floors, but what happens when you lose your grip 10 stories up? The gravity might be low, Cyl, but it ain't zero."

"Captain, i have a suggestion." SHODAN offers.

"Let's hear it."

"If i were to wire myself into the elevator's power supply, i could use my capacitor banks to lift the carriage two or three floors at a time."

"Isn't it just going to drop down again once your caps run out?"

"We can engage the emergency brake while i recharge."

That... could also work. But it'd be dangerous, too. If the brake failed you'd just be dead.
But there's another issue besides that.

"How much energy is this gonna take? This building looks to be about 20 stories."

"Considering the mass of the carriage and it's occupants, i expect that this will drain approximately 85% of my remaining energy."

So she'll be exhausted, basically. Unless you can find somewhere to recharge.

>>5658150

>Let's take it slow and climb the rails. If we use all of our paracord we can at least keep from falling to our deaths.
>SHODAN's method is safer, in all honesty. It might exhaust her, but realistically it doesn't matter until she actually runs out of power.
>Technically only one person needs to make it up to the roof, right? If SHODAN free climbs on her own, she should be able to make it up there no problem.
>Write-IN?

>>5658150
>>5658152
TECHNICALLY, if we are just going to hot-wire the elevator anyway, there is no need to send up the entire elevator. In fact, we could probably cut away most of the elevator down to the frames, if not to an individual motorized vehicle/brake assembly.
Three rails; two with motorized wheel assemblies, third rail for power.The brakes could be on either the wheel rails or the power rail. Much less weight to move.
Or we could just take the stairs? (If there are any)

>>5658169
'Hot wiring' the elevator literally just entails cutting the power cable and hooking it into SHODAN's body.
You could try to cut away everything but the elevator roof, but that could cause any number of issues. It'll also take a while.

If you succeed, you'll be riding a sheet of metal (the roof) up the shaft.
There don't seem to be any stairs whatsoever.

>>5658183
... What if we just tie ourselves (with paracord) to one of the motorized wheel assemblies and ride up that way?
It'll be faster to sever one of the wheel assemblies from the rest of the elevator than selectively sawing the elevator in half.

>>5658195
You could try.

Doesn't SHODAN have a mini grav generator, that she can use to manipulate her weight a bit? She could be best fitted to climb the shaft then.

>>5658150
>>Let's take it slow and climb the rails. If we use all of our paracord we can at least keep from falling to our deaths.
I'd rather not risk SHODAN crapping out on us when we need her.

>>5658285
She does.

>>5658195
This

>>5658195
I'll back this

>>5658195
Do this, But have SHODAN enable Her grav generator so going up makes it easier.
We should mae some those suction cups those climbers use to climb the skyscrapers.

>>5658195
This seems like the best option

>>5658150
Amazing OP pic QM very nice.
>>5658195
Seconding this
Hopefully that cord can support two very heavy people and one robust human shaped metal with it's wire attached to it

>>5658195
Voting for the ACME tier idea. Who knows what will happen when we feed energy to that thing... hopefully we won't be janked to hard.

>>5658901
Pulse-width modulation (I don't know if this is what elevators actually use to control their speed). If you've ridden an elevator you'd notice that the motor doesn't just go instantly from 0 to 100.

>>5658195
Worth a shot. Lets try.

>>5658150

"Alright, let's go with SHODAN's idea..." You decide.

"Yeah, i guess that would be the safe option..." Cylia mumbles to herself.

"Only, i don't think we need to bring the whole elevator with us." You add.

"...What?" Cylia asks, confused and slightly worried.

"If we cut off one of the wheel assemblies with our sonicators, we can hook onto it and ride the motor itself up, rather than dragging the whole damned carriage with us."

"That would significantly reduce the weight load." SHODAN nods. "In fact, if i carry each of you one at a time, we may be able to make the trip in one go each."

"That much of a difference?" You wonder.

"Yes. By my estimate, this will reduce the total energy cost to just fifteen percent of my current total."

"Isn't... isn't that a little dangerous? I mean, will it still have brakes? It'll still have brakes, right?"

SHODAN squats down to investigate the wheel assembly before looking back up at Cylia.

"...I am certain i will be able to arrest our momentum, should anything occur."

"That doesn't answer my question, SHODAN. I don't like how you worded that. David, i don't like how she worded that!"

"Come on Cyl. It'll be fine! Don't be such a safety sally and help me get to cutting."

Ignoring her concerns, you pull a sonicator pen out of one of your pouches and start cutting away at the steel around the wheel assembly.
Together with Cylia, it takes about ten minutes to get through everything, including a stubborn hidden bolt that you had trouble reaching due to it being in a blind spot.

It's almost like this thing wasn't designed to be cut apart while inside the shaft.

Regardless, as soon as the assembly is free, you begin cutting open the motor housing itself in order to access the wires inside.
The motor's leads are connected to an external circuit board that quite frankly, just complicates the situation. But at it's core, this thing is just a brushless DC motor.

Once the housing is open, you're able to peel back the leads and using a few strands of wire ripped from the elevator's electrical cables, weld a few new leads onto them which SHODAN can use.

"Looks like these three are connected to the casing. Do you have four leads on that thing?" You ask.

"I do. Please connect them to pins 2, 4, 6 and 9, in that order, Captain."

SHODAN kneels down in front of you and lowers her head, showing you the nape of her neck.
The only part of her body that isn't covered in artificial skin is this bit right here, where her data and power connections are located.

Following her instructions, you hook the wires into the appropriate pinholes on her power plug.
The wires are fortunately solid-core, and you can feel the connectors biting down on them as they're inserted. They shouldn't just fall out that easily.

"Three stators, shouldn't be a problem." You assure her.

SHODAN seems to focus just slightly as she begins doing something.
A moment later the motor clicks, and then slowly begins to move upwards.

>>5659232
It'll be fiiiiine.

>>5659232
>"That doesn't answer my question, SHODAN. I don't like how you worded that. David, i don't like how she worded that!"

*muffled laughing*

>>5659232
Such a scaredy cat

SHEESH cats always land on their legs don't they

>>5659232

She only moves it a few inches up or down before allowing it to come to a rest against the side of the elevator again.

"No issues detected." She declares. "Efficiency is low, but within expected values."

"Good to go, then?" You ask.

"So it would seem, Captain."

With SHODAN's approval, you quickly weld a couple of carabiners to the wheel assembly and hook both yourself and SHODAN onto them, allowing it to carry you upwards without risk of falling.
After giving the cords a few healthy tugs, SHODAN slowly begins to ascend, until you're both hanging from the assembly by nothing but some carabiners and doubled-up paracord.

Finding that nothing gives way, she nods.

"Hold on tight, Captain. We shall begin our ascent now."

"Sure, sure. Just take it nice and slow."

She doesn't take it nice and slow.
In fact, she accelerates at full speed almost the entire way up, and lets your momentum bring you the rest of the way up to the top.

There's a slight jolt as you begin to fall and SHODAN puts some more juice back into the motor to counter your weight.
Looking down, you can't help but sigh at the nearly 20 story drop below you. You always did hate heights.

"...Just letting you know, Cylia's gonna piss her fuckin' pants if you do that with her."

"I cannot recommend that. These suits are sealed." She replies.

"...Yeah."

Swinging your legs, you manage to grab hold of the ledge along the elevator door and pull yourself up.
There's barely enough room to stand, but it's enough that you're able to jam your knife into the door and wedge it open like the one down at the bottom.

Once the door is open, you make a quick glance around the room.
It's not likely that anyone or anything is all the way up here, but you never know.

It seems empty though, so you unfasten your rope and step into the room.

"What floor is this?" You wonder. You were a bit too busy trying not to shit yourself on the way up to count the floors.

"The sixteenth floor, Captain. As you can see, the elevator ends here. We will need to find another way up."

"Alright. How long until you can make the trip again?"

"It should take about five minutes for my capacitors to recharge, Captain. However, given miss Cylia's weight, i believe i could make the trip on battery power if necessary."

"Alright, just take your time. I'll be fine up here on my own for now."

"Very well, Captain."

With that, SHODAN begins sliding her way back down the rail.
You notice she takes her time this time around. Perhaps she's trying to regenerate some of the energy she lost?

In any case, you're alone for the moment.

The floor you've found yourself on appears to be some kind of office.
There are desks with computers and holographic displays everywhere, but not a single person to be found.

It's a bit of a mess, but besides a single broken window, nothing seems out of the ordinary.

>>5660199

>Stay alert and wait for the girls to make their way up here.
>Do a little scouting around while you wait. See if you can find a way up.
>Take this time to reload your mags and check on your guns. That red mist was pretty nasty.
>Write-In?

>>5660201
>Take this time to reload your mags and check on your guns. That red mist was pretty nasty.
I'm certain these windows don't break easily, and even more certain someone didn't just decide to take the short way down. That narrows down the possibilities quite a bit...

>>5660201
>Stay alert and wait for the girls to make their way up here.

We've split the party. Worst time to get ambushed.

>>5660201
>Take this time to reload your mags and check on your guns. That red mist was pretty nasty.
Inventory management is very important

>>5660201
>Take this time to reload your mags and check on your guns. That red mist was pretty nasty.

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>>5660201
>Take this time to reload your mags and check on your guns. That red mist was pretty nasty.

>>5660465
I miss the OCD buzz in the remake.

>>5660199
>Stay alert and wait for the girls to make their way up here.

>>5660201
>Take this time to reload your mags and check on your guns. That red mist was pretty nasty.

>>5660199
With rewiring, she could probably use the electronic motor + gravity to do some recharging.

generator is just a reversed motor... I mean that's if it's using a permanent magnet inside which I'm betting based on efficiency issues.

Would probably need some transistors to set up a rectifier among other things though...

>>5660570
How do you brake then dumbass

>>5660611
Just use your fingers duh. What are you, stoopid?

>>5660611
Depending on resistance, would affect drop acceleration. Could also utilize passive breaking in conjunction via friction or other forces.

Conservation of energy, energy from the drop made into electricity is "taking away" from the drop energy

>>5660202
I could believe that someone took a shortcut to the ground floor given what's happened on the station, but let's make use of the downtime to check our gear.

>>5660199

It seems like you're alone, but you still feel on edge for some reason.
You sit down in the corner by the elevator, with your back against the wall so that nobody can sneak up on you.

Still keeping half an eye out on your surroundings, you begin reloading your empty mags with spare ammo from your backpack.
While doing so, you can't help but think about that broken window. Looks like some kind of plastic rather than glass, but it's very thick.

Too thick for a common alien to have busted out on their own. You'll have to inspect it once the girls are up here.

For now though, you should probably be inspecting your weapons and gear instead.
That red mist was pretty nasty, whatever it was. You don't want your guns jamming on you right now.

Starting with your 1911, well... it's definitely got a fair bit of rust on it. And there's some of that red residue left over as well, although it seems to have become more brown than red.
Pulling the slide back, you can feel it crunch just a bit. It's not enough to lock up just yet, but it's definitely not a good idea to spend a lot of time in that fog.

You treat it with some light gun oil from your pack and work the slide repeatedly to wear away the rust. It'll have to do for now.

Your rifle is actually worse off.
The AR-15 is great due to it's flexibility, but it needs to be maintained.

The plastic parts seem almost unaffected, as are the aluminum bits, but anything made out of steel is covered in rust spots.
Pulling the bolt back, it almost feels like your rifle is full of fucking sand. You know it's not that much, but that's the problem with tight tolerances.

More oil, and you continue working the bolt back and forth.
It doesn't help as much as you'd like, but you don't think it'll jam up on you just yet. Probably.

Maybe it's about time you designed your own rifle, for use in space combat.

You're the only one with the actual knowledge and experience to make such a thing, so you could probably make a killing selling it to humans headed into space for the first time.
Although, you'd hope that most humans don't have to or want to deal with this kind of shit once they actually get into space.

...

After wiping your cameras and other equipment down with a rag, you're left without much to do.
Maybe that's why, but after sitting there in silence for a minute or so, you swear something feels just slightly off.

You know this feeling.

It's faint. Extremely faint. But you feel a wraith, here inside the station.
No, it's right next to you!

Jumping up, you put up your hands and prepare for a fight, but you can't see anything.
It's there, you're sure of it. But it isn't appearing.

You keep your guard up, watching an empty space in front of you as it slowly moves across the room.

It almost seems to be wandering aimlessly.

>Try to kill it
>Try to avoid it
>Just watch and see what it does
>...If you can grab it, maybe you can toss it out the window?
>Write-In

>>5661200
>Just watch and see what it does
Creepy fucker might expose something.

>>5661200
>Try to kill it
I don't want this fucker spooking Cylia or damaging SHODAN.

>>5661200
>>Just watch and see what it does

>>5661200
>Just watch and see what it does
What is it doing here and can it interact with the ooze stuff?

>>5661200
Let's try to intimidate it.

>>5661200
>Just watch and see what it does
Not all warp entities are hostile. Remember the shop keeper?

>>5661200
>Just watch and see what it does
The station's been suddenly mass-murdered by the space government, it could be a 'normal' ghost.

>>5661200
>Just watch and see what it does

>>5661400
This

>>5661200
Honestly little wild we didn't use rust resistant plasteels for the receiver. I mean, I guess readapting springs/bolt weight/etc would run more math, but there's an AI for that. Plus with light powerful batteries, electromagnetic 'springs' are available minimizing friction/moving parts.

Plus our engagement distances inside stations are probably not going beyond 100 meters in general. Looser tolerances are feasible.

This kind of enviormental hazardous area is fairly rare in space though... that said we should probably be accounting for it in the future. Probably coatings + materials + unconventional mechanics. Light batteries attached to magazines of ball bearings/bullets for auto-coilguns is probably feasible with the tech available and may have better reliability barring EMP styled weapons (and given how most weapons are energy based, we should probably be using EMPs as a non lethal more often)

>>5661441
It's an old print. You'll have to re-make everything in plasteel or carbor eventually.

>>5661450
On that note, I have had a few ideas as to our next rifle design after watching a few scratch build videos.
One thing I definitely want to explore is organic shapes and hyper- ergonomic furniture. Those should be very feasible given that we're not bound to subtractive manufacturing processes anymore.
I also want to see if we can't make a reliable bullpup design with SHODAN's help. A shorter rifle would probably work better for most species as far as I can tell, so I think it's worth pursuing.
Then there's the ammo. I think it'd be worth exploring polymer cased ammo or just going entirely careless, but those both present their own unique design challenges.

>>5661200
>Just watch and see what it does

>>5661200
>>Just watch and see what it does
Also can also talk to it when we've exhausted that option of watching

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>>5661462
If we're going that far, why bother with traditional ammunition or even caseless? Go full gyrojet, bolter, Metal Storm, or chemrail.
With their technology, you could probably go XM25/XM29 with actual self-guiding ammunition that doesn't need manual programming.

Though, half of the above is probably overkill in all but the most dire of situations, and may be best kept in reserve.

>>5661737
My main concern is making our hypothetical rifle
>cheap
>reliable
>accessible
That last one needs some elaboration. I personally want it to be a rifle you could hand to just about any race with little to no issue since we're probably gonna be working with more aliens than humans in the long term.
To that end, I'd also suggest making it SOMEWHAT modular. I don't want to try and make a weapon that attempts to do everything and ends up being complete shit as a result.
Also in regards to being cheap and reliable, I don't think we should be reinventing the wheel per say, but making it the best damn wheel it can be. All those super experimental ammo and feed systems are neat, but in the interest of designing a weapon from the ground up and mass producing it in a reasonable timeframe, it's probably best to stick with what we know to some degree.

>>5661737
I like the enthusiasm, but we don't use most of those for a reason.
Gyrojets are shit up close, bolters... well, admittedly those haven't been tried, but they definitely can't be bolter-sized. The Metal Storm had the issues of needing to be removed from combat to reload be reloaded (due to being an I-dunno-how-many barrel muzzleloader), being bulky, and having immense recoil if fired at full speed.

I'd never heard of the Chemrail 'till now, but that one's a practical idea and has some merit. As well, self-guided ammo is a good idea.

>>5661792
I like this take. Just improve the details and offer modular solutions for different species. Plasteel instead of steel for the reciever and bcg. Maybe a pnumatic telescoping stock for even less recoil. 300blk rounds with suppressor using maybe some kinda areogel like memory foam instead of water on a 12" barrel for maximum hearing protection with minimal hassle. Look into advanced materials for comfy grips and a buttpad. Formulate the most nontoxic cleaners, lubes, and primers possible. Computer Aided Targetting scopes might be feasible so long as they have no wireless capabilities to keep them from getting hacked.

I'm also thinking mobility is an issue we keep having. Magnet boots, grappling guns, and gloves that use tiny suction cups activated by running an electrical current through the material to change its configuration might all help us get around better. That and maybe some kind of compact hovercar, like a scooter version(very Flash Gordon)?

>>5661808
Bolters are just two stage gyrojet grenades. You're actually better off just putting a proper jacket and penetration fuse onto a normal automatic grenade launcher. Honestly, just take any 20mm autocannon and you're already outperforming a bolter. They only work because of a lack of understanding of munitions and payload. The closest analogue of the bolts from a boltgun are APHE rounds you'd only really see in tank combat. Which at the size they are makes them overengineered trash.

The extra explosive filler doesn't really make a difference at large-caliber sizes. A .50 BMG hitting someone in the bicep is going to remove their arm whether it's a fancy incendiary round or a FMJ. The only concern is penetrating armor. Which you'd be better off using a solid penetrator for, because it would still cause freakish cavitation and internal damage.

Therefore I propose we figure out a way to make a truly next-generation recoil absorption system so we can outfit our lads with fully automatic anti-materiel rifles. They just need to be swole enough to carry them.

>>5661855
Or we make them very light and let the recoil absorbing technology do its thing. Its super wierd to imagine, though.

As nice as bolters are, what about a masseffect/ultrakill/eldar style gun where you're shooting tiny scraps or shards. I know their pen isn't as good but in terms of RoF and ammo, those are insane

>>5661808
True, bolter is basically the same as a gyrojet except with an additional explosive charge to get good muzzle velocity. As it is a mini-rocket it will have good characteristics in zero-g and hard vacuum environments, and can be made to be guided or self-guiding. It can have better performance at range than traditional firearms while being lighter weight in both firearm and ammo.

Metal Storm is not necessarily hard to reload; you are essentially firing rounds straight from the magazine (which is also the barrel). You start with a full magazine/barrel, and when it's empty you slap on another magazine/barrel.
Recoil is not a problem if you fire at reasonable speeds (instead of full-send), if you have power armor, or if you are firing self-propelled rounds (maybe with an initial booster charge). It can be lighter weight (for the amount of ammo it's packing) and more flexible in terms of ROF and ammunition type.

>>5661855
>next-generation recoil absorption system
If you don't care for cost, SHODAN has anti-grav generators, and no one said they'd have to point only up and down, nor must to be run continuously. At that point though, you may as well have hovering gun-drones instead of having to carry the weapons (or get into danger) yourself.

Theory-crafting is fun, however I think our biggest problems aren't that our small arms aren't up to snuff, it's everything else.
Where the hell is our drone fleet and our droid army?

>>5661890
They're sitting out in space, along with Gron.
You need to get the station's guns offline before they can close in, or they'll be shredded.

That's what you're doing right now.

>>5661200

Considering that a bunch of people on this station have gotten wiped out as of late, you figure it's entirely possible for this wraith to be a 'normal' person.
Maybe that's why it's presence feels so weak. You don't actually know how wraiths are born or anything, so who can really say?

And with all that in mind, you decide to just keep an eye on it, and see what it does.

Another minute passes with the wraith pacing back and forth, until eventually the girls arrive.
It seems that Cylia forced SHODAN to hold onto her, and you can see her shivering slightly as she steps out of the elevator.

"You good?" You ask, not lowering your hands or taking your eyes off where you feel the wraith's presence.

"Y-Yeah, just... she went a little too quick. What are you doing?" She asks.

"There's a wraith over there. It's faint, but i can sense it."

Cylia looks over there in a panic, quickly moving to step behind you. However, she scans the room and finds nothing.

"Where?! Where is it?!"

"Right in front of me. Like i said, it's really faint. Even i can't see it, so there's no way you'll be able to."

SHODAN watches your eyes, and then casually steps over to where the wraith is, more or less.

"Around here, Captain?" She asks.

You nod in response, and SHODAN begins slowly waving her hand around in the air.
As she does, you can see something faintly, just like a disturbance in the air as her hand passes through it.

"I am indeed detecting a very faint electromagnetic signature, Captain. It even interacts somewhat with my subspace communicator. How interesting."

"...It's just pacing back and forth. I dunno, man. Was it an office worker or something?" You grumble.

No matter how long you wait, nor what SHODAN does to poke at it, the wraith's behavior doesn't seem to change.
Almost like it's stuck in a loop or something, it repeats the same actions over and over and over again.

"What is your intention, Captain?" SHODAN asks, having lost interest in poking at it.

>Kill it.
>Leave it.
>Try and talk to it.
>Write-In?

>>5662183
>Hold a hand out with a drop of our blood
>Try and talk to it.
Lets see if it stabilize like our cube friends.

>>5662183
>Try and talk to it.
We either look stupid for 30 seconds or get a better read of the situation thanks to Casper's testimony.

>>5662183
>Leave it.
Places to be, shit to do.

>>5662183
>Try and talk to it.
Poor soul needs heaven.

>>5662183
>Try and talk to it.
I mean, it isn't being a dick like other Wraiths.

Also support for >>5662197

>>5662183
>>Try and talk to it.

>>5662183
Try and talk to it.

>>5662183
>Droplet
A non-cunt wraith? strange

>>5662197
>>5662257
I'm not sure breaking our suit's seal is a good idea in this station until it's properly purged...

>>5662183
>>Try and talk to it
If this one isn't hostile, may as well see if they've got some intelligence in their head besides attack.
Also, just binged the quest in a week qm, and for a first time this quest is definitely a favorite out of the various sci fi quests I've read, cant wait to see how the story unfolds.

>>5662183
>Try and talk to it
Recite some Bible verses and exorcise this restless spirit in the name of The Lord Our God.

>>5662163
Ah... Uh, I too have suffered a few blows to the head in my time.

>>5662183
>Try and talk to it.
What does he do? Perhaps he would like a spot on our crew? Hey, it'd have no use for money, and it doesn't eat

>>5662183

Cautiously, you take slow steps towards the wraith.
It doesn't seem to react even when you get closer, but you keep your guard up regardless.

Once you're right up next to it, you can... kind of see it's outline. Just a little. It's so faint, it's like he barely exists.

"Hey, you... can you hear me?" You ask.

It doesn't immediately reply. You can see him shaking his head. He's not looking at you.

"Hey, buddy!"

When you place your hand on his shoulder, you can just faintly feel something there. Just the slightest touch, almost enough to say you were imagining it. But it's there.
And now, the wraith looks up at you, broken out of his stupor. His form becomes a little more opaque, but that's not saying much.

"You... what are you still doing here? I told you all to go home. It's not safe to come in with those things popping up on the streets!" He wails.

His voice sounds distant, as if he were shouting to you from the far side of a tunnel.

"What's your name?" You ask.

"Are you one of the new hires? I'm Keeley, your supervisor. Just go home, it's not safe here."

"...Do you not remember what happened to you?"

"What are you talking about? I have to get home, too. After i make sure everyone's gone."

"You didn't make it, man. Look at yourself."

"No. No, that's not right. I have to go home."

The man tries to break free and continue pacing back and forth, but you don't let him.
Instead, you grab him by the arm and force him to face you.

"Keeley, listen to me. I don't know how it happened, but you died. You can't go home anymore."

The wraith starts to breathe heavily. Tears well up in his eyes, and he slowly backs away from you.

"M-My family... my wife, and my son. They're waiting for me. What do you mean i can't go home?"

Looking out the busted window of this high-rise, you can see the blood mist clinging to the ground. The tumorous at it's center. The fires burning here and there in the dim light of the station's backup lamps.
It's probably not any better elsewhere, but it's pretty bad around here. Chances are, if this guy's family lived anywhere nearby they didn't make it off the station.

"...You gotta move on, man. Just let it all go. Your family's waiting for you, so don't keep them waiting."

There's an expression of unspeakable grief etched into Keeley's face, which he quickly covers with his hand.
He looks down at the floor, and you can hear him sobbing faintly as he turns away from you and begins walking away.

As he walks, his already faint presence simply disappears, and his figure along with it.
Several long moments pass in silence before SHODAN speaks.

"Was that wise, Captain? An intelligent wraith could be quite the learning opportunity."

"The dead should be allowed to rest, SHODAN. Maybe someday we'll come across someone with no regrets, but... not him."

"How respectful." A somewhat-familiar voice calls out.

You whip around, shouldering your rifle as you look around the space.

>>5662978
Who could it be?

>>5662978
I hope it's that other ghost we met and not a fucking Freddie who got the drop on us.

>>5662978
Probably the ghost we met with the intel.

>>5663225
Or it could just be Vex in all honesty. Sneaky fuckers have a bad habit of surprising their allies.

>>5663265
yeah What do you think the government will do if it finds out they exist?

>>5661890
My dream for this quest is for us to reinvent the DREAD centrifugal weapon system and use it to mow down fifty people in five seconds

>>5663149
Michael Jackson?

File: michael-jackson-moonwalker.gif (549 KB, 640x640)

549 KB GIF

>>5663518

>>5663525
Hee hee

>>5662978
WHOMST HAS THE BALLS

>>5662978

There's no-one there.
Not that you can see, anyways.

"Calm yourself, lad. I'm not here to fight."

An air vent in the ceiling pops open, and shortly afterwards a green-skinned gas-bag slowly floats down from the ceiling.
Your whole team has your guns trained on him, but you don't open fire just yet.

This guy... he looks familiar somehow.
You're sure you've seen him before, but... is there something wrong with his skin? It's all wrinkled up, discolored and funny looking.

"Grandpa?" Cylia utters, lowering her weapon. "Is that you, Grandpa?"

The old gas-bag's skin changes color, indicating surprise. You can see that certain patches of his skin are no longer capable of doing so.
It looks like he was burned.

Wait. No fuckin' way.

"Holy shit, you're still alive?" You ask, lowering your weapon as well.

SHODAN follows suit, slowly lowering her rifle after seeing the two of you react.

"Just barely." He grumbles. "But to think i'd see the two of you here again. I'd assumed you had left for greener pastures long ago."

"We did, in a sense." You tell him. "I visited you in the hospital shortly after... what happened. I didn't think you were going to make it, but i'm glad you pulled through."

"Ordinarily i shouldn't have. But a lovely young doctor, miss Lyna, worked very hard to keep me going. And i myself was sufficiently motivated to do so."

"Motivation... i assume you already took care of business?" You ask him.

Grandpa Gas-bag pulls a coilgun off his back and holds it in his tentacles.

"They never knew what hit them." He says coldly.

"Good man, i'd have done the same. But... what are you doing here, now? This station is done for."

"My family is gone. My shop burned to the ground. Medical bills cost me all my savings. All i had left was here. The people i knew, the community that i lived in. I couldn't have left if i had wanted to, but i wouldn't have left regardless."

He floats over to the broken window and looks out solemnly onto the the station below.

"I suppose i'm just waiting to die, now. I have nothing left. Nowhere to go. And any day now, i'm sure they'll vent the atmosphere. And that'll be that."

Grandpa gas-bag... the kindly old man who ran a food stall together with his wife.
The place where you and Cylia shared your first meal together. Burned to the ground with his whole family inside, just because he was selling artificial meat.

You had intended to come back for him at some point, but life just sort of got in the way.
Now though, here he is.

>We're taking over the station. We could always use some help.
>Hey, gramps. If you've got nowhere else to go, then why not join us? (Recruit)
>I'm sorry all that happened to you, old man. Good luck out there.
>Write-In?

>>5663775
>We're taking over the station. We could always use some help.
>Hey, gramps. If you've got nowhere else to go, then why not join us? (Recruit)
God I'm so happy grandpa is alive

>>5663775
>Recruit

>>5663775
>We're taking over the station. We could always use some help.
>Hey, gramps. If you've got nowhere else to go, then why not join us? (Recruit)
I wonder if the doctor survived, too.

>>5663775
>We're taking over the station. We could always use some help.
>Write-In?
>ask the whereabouts of dr lyna

recruiting grandpa sounds like a good idea on paper, BUT:
>he's a grandpa
>he's a gasbag
>he has a death wish
that's not good recruit material. he should definitely stick with us through the rest of the mission, safety in numbers and all of that, but he will be crushed by the metal gear's gravity well.
i'd rather have the crazy doc with us, and you know, we actually need a doctor on the metal gear

>>5663935
I think we should give him a restaurant to run if he survives all this. If he has the stomach to go back to that in spite of all the trauma he has suffered about it. A big fancy, real landmark of a place. A castle for his culinary kingdom so to speak. Though he may just want to get it over with and die at this point. But it doesn't quite seem that way.

>>5663775
>Hey, gramps. If you've got nowhere else to go, then why not join us? (Recruit)

>>5663775
>We're taking over the station. We could always use some help.
>Hey, gramps. If you've got nowhere else to go, then why not join us? (Recruit)
We are not leaving him, if he wants to die, that's his buisness, but he can do it when he talks to Cylia instead of acting like nobody is left.
>Ask the whereabouts of dr lyna
Because if she can pull a miracle like this off, then she is damn good. And likely has other survivors.

>>5663775
>Hey, gramps. If you've got nowhere else to go, then why not join us? (Recruit)

>>5663940
If he still wants to die, and we cant convince him otherwise, we might as well let him join the crew and gear him up to help fight Corperate ass hats. One last hurrah before he meets his family.

>>5663775
>We're taking over the station. We could always use some help.

>>5663775
>Write-In?
Ask for his help with our current mission; delay the choice of employing him on the station or taking him on as a crew member until the mission is done.
We need to know what his capabilities, temperament, and outlook are. In fact, he may need some time (and some action) to figure out what he wants for himself now that everything from his past life is gone.

Just how did he find out what's happening to the station, and that they are going to space it, anyway? It's not something a restaurant owner should know. Did he 'grill' some of the people he's taken out?

>>5664245
so
>We're taking over the station. We could always use some help.
got it

>>5663953
Supporting this

>>5663940
yeah fair enough. just lets leave him out of active duty with us after we take control of the station

>We're taking over the station. We could always use some help.
>Hey, gramps. If you've got nowhere else to go, then why not join us? (Recruit)
the station will need new leaders once taken and while an AI could handle the paperwork the people will need representation and a say in the day to day governing of the station so i say we endorse Grandpa here as our pick for such a role.

>>5663775
>+1
To having him tag along with us for now and offer him a job as a representative , or leader in case the Fedboys will try to "civilise the borderlands" again.

>>5663775

You cross your arms as you look him over.
He, like the rest of his species, is basically a big, floating jellyfish.

It's not exactly something that inspires fear, but you can feel a dangerous aura about him.
The gas-bags aren't exactly a predator species, but they aren't just prey either. And this old man doesn't seem like he'd go down without a fight.

"You don't look like you're waiting to die, old man. If that were all, you wouldn't be holding that coilgun so tightly."

The old gas-bag's greenish skin turns a deep shade of blue.

"Yeah. You're right. I don't want to die." He whispers, turning to you. "But i don't have any reason left to live, either."

"Then why have you been killing those mutants?" You ask, taking a solid guess.

The old man goes silent as he turns back to the window and looks out over the destruction outside.
You wait for him to speak, and eventually he does.

"They aren't vat-grown bio-weapons or anything like that. I recognized them. Some of them, at least. They still smell the same, even in this acrid air."

The old man pulls a wire out from somewhere inside his body, and plugs it into a port on his coilgun's scope.
Looks like he's had some cybernetic enhancements at some point. You wonder if it was before or after the arson.

Regardless, after plugging himself into his coilgun, he grips the rifle-like device with most of his tentacles, using only a few to keep himself upright as he aims.

Looking down at the streets below, you can see a mutant shambling about. Looks like it used to be a Lycan, one of those werewolf-looking motherfuckers.
It's making it's way towards your building, but the moment it stops to sniff the ground, the old man takes his shot.

The force of the recoil pushes the old man back quite some distance, even though a coilgun shouldn't be all that bad compared to something like a railgun.
It's probably because his body barely weighs anything to begin with. His species are the type that literally float through the air on his homeworld.

However, it does no damage to his body, as he uses his tentacles like a spring to dampen the force as much as possible.
That likely reduces the power of the shot as well, but it's effective enough despite all that.

The ball bearing flies through the air at high speed and lodges itself into the mutated Lycan's skull.
It doesn't seem to do anything at first, and the Lycan just looks up and tries to look around for whatever just hit it.

Of course, it doesn't find you all the way up here. There wasn't even any sound of a gunshot for him to follow.
Instead, the Lycan stumbles around for a few more seconds, bleeding profusely from it's wound before falling unconscious.

The old gas-bag sighs as he repositions himself by the window.

"Many of them were my customers, once. There weren't many places on this station where you could buy any sort of animal protein. They enjoyed it, even if it was just a bit of fish." He tells you.

>>5664664
I wonder what a fit old jellyfish man will look like.

>>5664682
He evolves into a gasbag octopus instead of a gasbag jellyfish

>>5664705
I'm now imagining Tentacruel with Squidwards face now....

Damn I don't think he will survive in our 1G enviroment tho...

>>5664832
We could just make him a gravity harness like what Sanig uses.

>>5664836
Yeah... those flimsy appendages and squishy innards will have a hard time. Even though I know that sanig has a bullshit belt, isn't it scary? That a malfunction may turn you into paste in a second?

>>5664847
>>5664836
lets leave him out of the main crew then. the idea >>5663940 has is probably for the best; once we have the station under our control, lets give him a new restaurant in a landmark, maybe at the port where it will be the first things the newcomers will see

>>5664832
Its time for him to get swole like us then.

>>5664706
I was thinkin.. like THIS.

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269 KB JPG

>>5664952
Pic didn't work

>>5664861
I don't think anyone can just fall back into their old life after losing everyone they loved and cared about.

However, here's another idea;
Angry Gasbag's School of Culinary Arts for the Dietarily Gifted

>>5664964
I'll say this much, even with the bare minimum organic crew onboard our career, we're gonna need a pretty decent mess hall.
And you know what a mess hall needs? Cooks.
You picking up what I'm putting down?

>>5664970
Meant to say "carrier", not "career". Fucking autocorrect.

>>5664970
Unless you're going to have him walk around the ship in a bubble of low gravity set aside just for him, you'll probably need a bucket to pick up a gently-seared geriatric once-floating balloon/jellyfish that found itself in several times the gravity it's capable of dealing with.

Also, most ships crews just eat paste. It's a luxury, not something that is essential. It's probably slowly poisoning our crew even with all the meds they are taking to counter-balance what they're eating.
Finish the current issue, and we'll see what he wants, if he survives. I have a feeling he won't be able to leave the tower anyway due to the red fog that is outside.

Maybe we ease off the the high gravity? Set it to .8 G or whatever won't immediately kill him. We just start wearing weighted clothes to make up the difference. We can still train in full or higher gravity set aside in a gym or something.

>>5664964
true, but that's the best we can offer
and the school idea as well. that might entice him better

>>5664664

"So, it's out of mercy then." You reply.

"I suppose. Can't do much else for them at this point."

"Maybe, but this station isn't done for yet. We're taking it over."

The old gas-bag scoffs.

"You and what army, young'n?"

"I have a fleet waiting just outside of the station's sensor range right now. All we have to do is get the station's guns offline."

The old man turns to you.

"...You're serious?"

You nod.

"Where in the nine hells did you get a fleet... no, it doesn't matter. It's a nice idea, but i doubt you can get the guns offline. Even if you did, the federation are well known to be sore losers."

"We know. Once we get into the administration building, these two will split off and defend the station controls while i take out the guns."

The old man's skin turns a shade of pale orange.

"You're a fool if you think you can fight through that place alone. I'm sure they're well armed."

You raise your rifle to emphasize your point.

"So are we. These suits are heavily armored, as well. A few shots from a plasma rifle isn't enough to take me down."

You ignite the hardlight shield on your arm as well.

"It's not like we came unprepared."

The old man seems taken aback by the shield at first, but quickly takes interest.
Poking at it with one of his tentacles, he finds it to be solid... and it also gives him quite a static shock upon touching it.

He looks at your guns, and your armor, and your shields, and his skin turns a deep shade of purple.

"Who the hell are you, anyways? I've never seen one of your kind before or since that day."

"I'm Captain Rockefeller. A human, and a humanitarian of sorts."

"...What?"

"I'm looking out for the little guy." You clarify. "And i could use some help doing it, if you're interested."

You hold out your hand and offer it to him.
The old man lingers for a moment before eventually, his skin reverts to it's natural greenish color.

He wraps his tentacle around your hand with a surprising amount of strength, and you shake it.

"What do we need to do?" He asks.

"The ground is an absolute shithole. We're headed up to the roof to grab a hovercar, then we're making our way up to the administration building."

"...So you really went through that vapor to get here? That stuff will eat right through your flesh." He asks, surprised.

"Doesn't do shit to this armor, but i'd rather not have to fight on the ground regardless. Do you know a way up to the roof?"

"I do." He answers, pointing his tentacle somewhere behind you.

It's literally just a staircase marked as "Parking" in bold letters.

"Well, ain't that nice." You grin.

...

Making your way up the stairs and into the carpark, you continue chatting with the old man.

"So you said your doctor's name was Lyna, correct?" You ask.

"Yes, that's right. Bit of a strange girl. I'm not sure what species she's from either, to be honest, but it seemed like her mind was always elsewhere when she was working on me."

NOOOO DON'T TRUST THE LIZARD PEOPLE

>>5665141
Hell yeah, Grandpa Jelly is here for the madness.

>>5665863
I'm gonna fuck our lizard overlords, anon.

>>5666071
Right in the cloaca

>>5666071
Based, but I still wouldn't trust the mad scientist since it seemed she wanted to experiment on us

>>5665141

"Lizardlike appearance? Humanoid?" You ask.

"Yes, that's her." He replies.

"Eugh. Yeah, i don't trust her. She wanted my DNA."

"...How forward." He mutters after a moment.

"No, not like... actually, come to think of it, yeah, it was like that too. Fuck."

"Well, i'm certain she'll take good care of you in many regards, then."

You glance back at the girls who are walking behind you.
You can feel their glares piercing through their helmets, and yours.

"Fortunately, gramps, i'm already taken. She's not my type anyhow. Too many scales."

"Ah. Well, she's still an excellent doctor. She's been taking care of all sorts of different species in the survivor's camp, even without the assistance of a medical VI."

"Survivor's camp? You mean where Dark Star has set up?"

"Hmph. Yes, those gangsters. Can't say they've given me much trouble, but i'm still not fond of criminal activity. ...Although, they'd been of great help since all this started. Perhaps they're not all bad."

So Lyna's there, in the Dark Star camp, acting as a doctor.
You just hope she's not stealing any organs or 'DNA' samples while she's at it.

Once you make your way up to the second floor of the car park, you hit the jackpot.
There are ten or so personal hovercars sitting around, waiting to be stolen.

They range from clearly old junkers to what appears to be some fancy-ass executive's BMW.
Cylia rubs her palm against the hood of the BMW and whistles.

"Which one should we take? I don't think grandpa's gonna fit in this one." She asks.

"There are some larger industrial vehicles on the top floor." The old gas-bag notifies you.

Indeed there are. It looks like the top floor is being rented out and used for storing industrial trucks of all different sorts.
You could grab something like a box truck up here, or...

"Oh wow, it's a heavy hauler!" Cylia exclaims, looking over what is clearly an 18 wheeler without wheels.

"I used to love watching these things fly through the sky when i was a little girl... it just amazed me that something so big could float, or move so quickly." She continues.

"They are quite unwieldy, however." SHODAN adds.

>Let's see if gramps can fit into one of the smaller cars.
>We'll take the box truck. It's a happy medium.
>...I bet we could ram that 18 wheeler straight through the side of a building if we wanted.
>Write-In?

>>5666377
>We'll take the box truck. It's a happy medium.
The 18 wheeler would get too much attention. Who knows, maybe some mutants can fly? Besides, we won't really need the carrying capacity of the big truck. We will help with evacuation of the camp after removing federal forces, anyway.

>>5666377
>"Fortunately, gramps, i'm already taken. She's not my type anyhow. Too many scales."
david, you're a terrible liar

>We'll take the box truck. It's a happy medium.

>>5666377
>We'll take the box truck. It's a happy medium.
Based David, fuck scales.

>>5666452
>Based David, fuck scales.
yes. all day, every day

>...I bet we could ram that 18 wheeler straight through the side of a building if we wanted.
The American way

>>5666377
>Let's take the Box Truck and the High End Car.

>>5666381
>Besides, we won't really need the carrying capacity of the big truck.
If we want to be able to get our allies into position fast, we might.
>>5666377
>...I bet we could ram that 18 wheeler straight through the side of a building if we wanted.

>>5666377
>>...I bet we could ram that 18 wheeler straight through the side of a building if we wanted.
Come on guys, we gotta take the big rigs.

>>5666377
>TAKE THE BIGGEST, LARGEST AND HEAVIEST VEHICLE

>>5666377
>>...I bet we could ram that 18 wheeler straight through the side of a building if we wanted.

>>5666377
>>...I bet we could ram that 18 wheeler straight through the side of a building if we wanted.
We can use the space-HAM radio

>>5666377
>...I bet we could ram that 18 wheeler straight through the side of a building if we wanted.

The "18 Wheeler" also makes for a large target, no?

>>5666944
Yeah, sure, but as we've seen, the Feddies probably don't have anything on hand that can take out a semi in a single shot.

>>5666377
>...I bet we could ram that 18 wheeler straight through the side of a building if we wanted.
I mean... We don't HAVE to be in the 18 wheeler when it goes through the side of the building, right? Can something be hacked or hooked up to accomplish this?

>>5667007
we can always jam a space brick into the space pedal of the space 18 wheeler and bail right before it crashes

>>5666377
>>...I bet we could ram that 18 wheeler straight through the side of a building if we wanted.

>>5666377

The choice was always obvious.

SHODAN attempts to break into the big rig's computers and get it started properly, but after ten minutes you figure it isn't going anywhere.
You start by ripping the control panel out of the dashboard and throwing it out the window.

Another ten minutes of ripping shit out of the engine bay and lots hotwiring later, and the "Heavy Hauler" roars to life, perhaps a bit too much.
With most of it's control systems missing, it starts to take off on it's own until pull on a length of wire leading from the dash and into the engine bay, allowing you to adjust the throttle from inside the cab.

The engine settles back down and gently drifts back down to the surface while at idle.

"I do not understand how you managed to do that." SHODAN states flatly.

"Easy, i've been working on cars my whole life." You reply.

"This is not a car, Captain. Nor should it be possible to hotwire. There are countless security and safety systems in place that-"

You point to the pile of electronics you physically ripped out of the heavy hauler and tossed aside.

"Yes, i understand that. But having done so, this machine shouldn't function at all-"

You cut SHODAN off by 'revving' the engine. In reality, this hauler seems to be using some kind of jet engine, along with an artificial gravity cancelling device similar to what Sanig uses on the ship.

"But..."

You rev the engines again, causing the hauler to momentarily lift up, and shake when it touches the ground again.
SHODAN, who is sitting in the passenger seat, simply looks away from you and sighs.

"Very well, Captain." Is her only reply.

Leaning out the window, you yell to everyone else who has been patiently waiting for you to finish.

"Load 'er up, boys! Let's get these big wheels turning!"

"Hovercars don't have wheels, David!" Cylia yells back.

"Shut up and get in!"

Cylia walks round to the passenger side of the cab looking to get in, but SHODAN refuses to budge. She sits there, resting her elbow on the door, and her chin on her fist as she turns to look at her through the closed window.

"Shotgun." She declares.

Cylia looks confused. She hops up onto the step and can clearly see that there's enough room for all three of you, if SHODAN would just scooch over.
So she knocks on the window.

"Let me in!" She yells through the glass.

"Come on, SHODAN. Play nice." You whisper.

SHODAN rolls her eyes and shifts over, but makes sure get close enough to you that Cylia can't squeeze inbetween.

"What, don't want to ride in the back with the jellyfish?" You ask her.

"I mean, i don't even know if it's safe." Cylia responds, climbing up into the cab. "If he falls, he can float down without dying, at least..."

After a few moments, Grandpa Gas-Bag bangs on the front of the container, confirming he's ready to move.
Taking hold of the flight stick, you slowly lift up into the air until you've made good distance from the rooftop then yank on a second wire leading into the engine bay.

Will David have to pull and push at wires to move the thing? That's annoying... does this thing even have pedals

>>5667184
No, just a couple things needed a little manual stimulation.

>>5667186
nice

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>>5667186
If this truck actually survives the mission, I vote we tow it back to Thekia and turn it into a proper big rig.
You never know when you might need a big ass truck after all.

>>5667257
or we get a proper military big rig. jury rigging shit is a terrible idea on the long term and the metal gear is testament to that

>>5667265
There's a difference between jury rigging and proper retrofitting.
There's also the cost of production to consider for each vehicle, so I think retrofitting sturdy civilian vehicles would probably be best in the short term.
When we've got ourselves established properly, then we can start making EVERYTHING from scratch.

>>5667269
>When we've got ourselves established properly, then we can start making EVERYTHING from scratch.
hmmmm.....to be fair, we DO have a nanofab. i think we could order the guys working it to make us a proper military big rig

>>5667265
I agree, as current things are it's way better if we simply take a truck from earth and slap space-tech into it, rather than making a fickle affront to God, which is what the Metal Gear is

>>5667392
yeah, you know shit's dire when a different AI needs 15+ irl minutes to pilot the metal gear

>>5667186
Nothing like some good old fashioned percussive maintenance.

>>5667282
>Operative station of the federation for the quadrant, an idle day like any other.
>suddenly an hostile ping on the instruments.
>a massive ship, it appears too irresponsably close crushing a warship against it's impenetrable armor
>space trucking by deep purple plays from every hacked speaker in the solar system.
>from the launch bays a trail of jury rigged assault space trucks disgorge like a herd of rampaging bisons trampling the panicked federation ships.
>the whole ass station gets rammed into a death spiral into the star.
The federation won't know what the fuck hit them.

>>5667680
Just Ram It.

>>5667179

You feel the engines shift out of hover mode as you begin accelerating forwards.
Unfortunately, ripping out the majority of the hauler's electronics means no automated controls. You're stuck flying this thing manually.

That's fine though, as you have some simulator experience, and at this point plenty of practical experience from flying the Metal Gear.
The girls are pushed back in their seats as you hit the throttle and make a rolling turn back towards the center of the station.

"Hey, be careful!" Cylia chides. "Grandpa's in the back, you know! You can't just bang him around like that!"

"I didn't bang anybody around. Didn't you feel how smooth that was? This baby controls like a dream."

You slap the dashboard as your ears are treated to the sound of the wires poking out of the air conditioner rattling around inside the vents.

"It's unfortunate that you had to remove the radio. This would be a perfect opportunity to listen to my mix tape." SHODAN jokes. Or so you thought. But you can see her silently mouthing the lyrics to something as she bobs her head.

...

It doesn't take long for you to make it through cancer-ville and back to where you started. It's so much goddamned easier than making your way across the ground, you can't help but feel satisfied.
Of course, you're still on the lookout for any sort of flying mutant, but species with functional wings aren't very common for whatever reason, so you doubt it'll be an issue.

You quickly fly over all the damaged industrial buildings and mutants below, clearly pissing off quite a few of them with your presence.
But it doesn't matter, because you have a flying truck.

And just like that, you make it to the tower building from where you were in less than two minutes.
Up close you can see that it's actually pretty huge, probably one of the larger constructed buildings on the entire station.

Lots of steel and glass, and even a somewhat fancy-looking design.
Most of the buildings on the station are either carved out of meteoric rock, poured from concrete or assembled from girders and metal plates.

Very brutalist and utilitarian. But not this place.

What's interesting though is that the tower continues up beyond this level of the asteroid, and up to a higher floor.
Xebric is quite large, and you know there are several 'chambers' where material had been mined out previously, and that each ward is contained in one of those pockets, but this one isn't actually on the maps.

However, it's clearly visible. There's a wide gap in the ceiling around the tower, plenty large enough for delivery trucks to make their way through, and you can see buildings up there.
As you make your way up in a spiral, you slowly get a better view of things. All the buildings on this hidden floor appear quite spacious, aesthetically pleasing and well-built. Some of them you might even call opulent.

"Hey look, found the merchant's quarters." You joke, elbowing SHODAN in the side

>>5667875
Space jews and their lavish lifestyle sicken me.

>>5667875
>not on the maps, hidden floor. Opulent buildings.
So the thing everyone knows about and they choose to pretend it isn't there

>>5668027
Doublethink in the minds of defeated people for whom hope is to painful to give a chance.

>>5667186
Nothing like a lewd looted truck roadtrip with the girls on our way to Earth.

>>5667875
I smell a target rich environment. What happens if we collapse the leeches into the brimey meat water below?

>>5668288
I don't think there are ANY of those remaining on the station

>>5668375
Of course not. They always allow themselves the privilege of leaving first. Politicians will no more ride the stock market to the bottom than an arsonist will stay in a burning house.
You might find hapless looters that found themselves trapped, however.

>>5668376
Said looters might have goals aligned near enough to ours to make good allies, perhaps?

>>5668380
Looters aren't the type of people that made for good, reliable allies. Not in the long term, at least.

>>5668380
doubtful. to everyone but us, the station is dead and its a matter of time before the atmosphere gets vented, so following that mindset, they will do anything to get the hell out of here, murder included. not that they will be able to harm us, but its something to keep in mind.

>>5667875
Gas all the space jews!

>>5668461
Why? We can literally toss them in hell....though just for safety I want them dead. Can't risk a Jew run Hell.

>>5667875

The jokes don't last however.

As you climb up in a spiral, your truck is suddenly blasted by a laser that causes a flash of light and smoke in front of you, followed by a crashing sound and what you recognize as the hood flying off.
The smoke clearly quickly as you continue moving forwards, and you spot what look like several small laser turrets mounted around the outer ring of the entrance to the upper level.

Several more lasers appear as the stone face of the asteroid slides back to reveal them along the rim.

SHODAN throws herself across Cylia's lap, using the butt of her rifle to break out the passenger window, from which she leans out and begins firing back at the turrets.
You won't be able to make a decent shot with your pistol from this distance, one handed, while flying, without looking... so you decide to focus on evasion instead.

"At least they're pulsed!" You yell, yanking the flight stick to the side and narrowly dodging another blast of laser light.

SHODAN's aim is shockingly good at this distance, despite her awkward firing position and the moving vehicle. It doesn't take her long to zero in on her target, and a short while later you see one of the laser turrets explode.

"Nice one, SHODAN!" You yell, glancing over at her.

SHODAN's ass is in Cylia's face, who looks almost as uncomfortable as she is afraid.
It's all Cylia can do to hold onto SHODAN's legs and help stabilize her. Or at least, you think that's what she's doing.

Having been distracted for a moment, you're grazed by another pulsed laser shot that flashes the paint on the side of the truck to plasma, cracks your windshield and briefly causes the outer layer of your left arm's armor to smoke.
Fortunately, graphene and plastic make for an excellent ablative armor, so you don't even feel it. That said, it probably wouldn't be good if you got hit head-on by one of those beams.

"Whoo!" You yelp, making a hard turn. That was a little too close for comfort.

>Keep evading like this. Most of the turrets are out of range, so if you stay here and SHODAN takes out a few, there'll be a dead zone where you can slip in and out.
>This truck probably can't take a whole lot of shots like that, especially not to the engine bay. Hit the afterburners and head straight up.
>Call it off, you'll just have to land at the base of the tower and make your way up through there.

>>5668947
>Keep evading like this. Most of the turrets are out of range, so if you stay here and SHODAN takes out a few, there'll be a dead zone where you can slip in and out.

>>5668947
>>Keep evading like this. Most of the turrets are out of range, so if you stay here and SHODAN takes out a few, there'll be a dead zone where you can slip in and out.
Much as I hate to say it, the truck is expendable. If it gets torn up while getting us from A to B, so be it.

>>5668947
>Call it off, you'll just have to land at the base of the tower and make your way up through there.

Let them think they got us.

>>5668947
>Keep evading like this. Most of the turrets are out of range, so if you stay here and SHODAN takes out a few, there'll be a dead zone where you can slip in and out.

>>5668947
>Keep evading like this. Most of the turrets are out of range, so if you stay here and SHODAN takes out a few, there'll be a dead zone where you can slip in and out.

>>5668968
Everything on this station is expendable. I doubt those who managed to survive and are brave/stupid enough to return and continue living here will care about a bit more property damage than what's already occurred.

>>5668947
>>Call it off, you'll just have to land at the base of the tower and make your way up through there.
I am way more inclined to avoid a how-many-meters? fall into the ground after the truck gets busted
>>5668971
I am confident this is an unmanned system that got turned on permanently after the riches escaped

>>5668947
>>This truck probably can't take a whole lot of shots like that, especially not to the engine bay. Hit the afterburners and head straight up.

Apparently i straight up forgot to update after getting caught up in some shit, sorry about that.
I don't know if i'll have time to update after i wake up, but i'll definitely get two out tomorrow.

>>5669614
That's cool dude, do your thing

>>5668947

It's a little dangerous, but you decide to stay the course.
As long as SHODAN can take out a couple more of those turrets, you should have a dead zone where it's possible to slip in and out of the upper layer.

You're really hoping these are automated turrets, and nobody's been alerted to your presence... but unfortunately you also know better.
A security system like this is mostly likely meant to keep out the unmentionables. There's no way it wouldn't trigger alarms somewhere if it's activated.

You just have to hope that nobody is manning that particular station.

And so you keep on evading, winding this big-ass truck around as much as possible to at least avoid a direct shot... which you do, for the most part.
Several more grazing shots land against the cab, which is where they seem to be aiming, but you also see through your side-view mirror that one lands flat against the cargo container you're hauling.

It blasts a large hole straight through the container somewhere in the middle, creating a flash of light and sparks as the sheet aluminum vaporizes.
You hope grandpa's alright back there. If he has any sense he'll have held onto something at either end by now.

But SHODAN's aim is immaculate, and she manages to take out another laser turret in return.
Those explosions can only be what you assume is the capacitors venting after being punctured.

Non-explosive batteries and capacitors do exist, but they aren't ideal for the energy levels required by a high-powered laser weapon, if you want to keep the size down.

Of course, you went the complete opposite direction and made lasers that run directly on small injections of explosive chemicals, not dissimilar from how antimatter bottles work.
Doing all this engineering work has really given you some insight on such things. All stuff to think about when you're building the carrier.

"David! Focus, please! I know that look! You're thinking about something else!" Cylia yells.

"Sorry, sorry!" You yell back.

It's fine though, really. Situations like this take you by surprise on occasion, but that only lasts for a few moments before you get up to speed.

SHODAN finishes firing one mag from her AR and ejects it, then grabs a mag of black-tips off Cylia's waist and starts using those instead.
This time, the damage done racks up much more quickly. You're forced to evade three or four more laser shots, unfortunately taking one somewhat head on...

But in that time, SHODAN destroys two more turrets.

The pressure is off almost immediately after that, and after she destroys one more turret you circle round for a bit until you realize no more shots are coming at you.
The outside of your truck is left a smouldering, half-melted mess, but no serious damage has been done... you think.

Still, you're quite high up right now, so you decide it would be a good time to get your ass up there before the engines cut out on you.

Everybody thank SHODAN for saving our asses during this flight.

>>5670102
Shodan is getting super repairs after this.

>>5670102
We need to make her a nice hot oil bath

>>5669792

As expected this turns out to be a prudent move, because you start to have engine trouble not long afterwards.
Looking over the dash down into the engine bay, you don't notice anything particularly obviously wrong besides some charred plastic, but even that isn't too terribly severe.

Spacer machines just aren't designed for durability, and that's something you've gotta live with. Well, assuming it doesn't kill you.

The thrusters quickly start sputtering and losing power.
It's hard to tell since you don't have any guages to judge by, but considering the trail of black smoke behind you, you'd say the engine's not getting enough oxygen.

Unfortunately all of the engine's parts are meant to be computer controlled, and as such you have no real control over the fuel mixture from the cabin.
All you can do is give it more and more gas until finally you make it up over the ridge and land near the edge.

By that point you have to give it nearly full throttle just to keep moving, and not long afterwards you lose all power as the engine cuts out.

When the cloud of black smoke finally clears, you see something incredible.
You appear to have landed in quite a nice neighborhood, something that almost resembles a park of some sort.

Not only are the streets bordered with beautiful blue grass, but there are live plants and even trees growing here and there.
The streets are cobbled rather than paved, and clearly meant exclusively for foot traffic as there is no place whatsoever for vehicles to park.

Everything is extremely well lit, unlike below where the streets are sparsely lit by electric lamps here and there.
And the buildings are all immaculately built and kept. You're certain it must be a veneer, but the faces of the buildings are made of fine stone similar to granite or marble rather than ugly meteoric rock or concrete.

Your cab door is a bit stuck, having been melted slightly by the laser fire, but you manage to pop it open forcefully as you step out onto the patch of alien grass where you'd landed.
You shoulder your rifle as you look around, somewhat awestruck by the fact that all this was up here all along, but still keeping focused enough to look for any incoming threats.

There don't appear to be any. In fact, the whole place seems just as abandoned as the lower levels.
So you move around to the back of the hauler and yell up into the hole that had been blasted into the side of it's cargo container.

"Gramps, you alive back there?" You yell.

"Somehow." He answers back, sounding shaken.

Hopping up into the container, you find that the old man has suctioned himself to the very back of the container using all of his tentacles.
The whole inside of the container is covered in a smattering of vaporized aluminum, including the old man to a degree, but he appears none the worse for wear.

"We made it up, just barely. There was uh... there was anti-air." You explain.

"Was." SHODAN adds. "You're welcome, Captain."

>>5670191
THANK YOU SHODAN

>>5670191
Say THANK YOU SHODAN for healthy computers and fast internet.

>>5670191
Thank you Shodan.

>>5670191
THANK YOU SHODAN

>>5670191
Thank you SHODAN!

>>5670191
THANK YOU SHODAN

>>5670191
THANK YOU SHODAN

>>5670191
THANK YOU SHODAN

>>5670191
THANK YOU SHODAN

Nah.

>>5670191
THANK YOU SHODAN

>>5670191
THANK YOU SHODAN

>>5670191
THANK YOU SHODAN

File: 0047097e0bc654dd9f0c92162(...).jpg (543 KB, 768x1024)

543 KB JPG

>>5670191

You want to tussle her hair, but she's got that helmet on... so after jumping back down from the container you settle for pulling her into your chest and giving her a big hug.

"Yes, thank you very much, SHODAN. That was some excellent shooting."

"Of course, Captain." She says, sounding muffled as her head is still pressed into you.

Cylia sighs as she walks around.

"I'd tell you two to get a room, but..." She mutters.

"You're right, sorry. Let's get back to business." You say, clearing your throat and letting SHODAN go.

The old man turns a shade of light yellow as he crawls out of the container as well.

"Got yourself a girlfriend, eh? Good for you, son. I don't know much about bipeds, but even i can tell she's a looker."

Mmm. Yeah, the girls definitely have their curves accentuated by their suits.
The armor isn't super heavy or anything, so all the right parts really shine through. There are even parts where the skinsuit underneath is visible.

You shake your head to clear it up and move around to the front of the truck.

"Thanks, Grandpa... ah, jeez. You need a name, don't you? I can't just keep calling you a gas-bag."

Stepping up onto the bumper, you look down into the engine bay.
It's not a normal engine. Reminds you mostly of a jet turbine, but it's designed to use some kind of extremely stable extruded solid fuel.

There are a couple of lines which have come loose, which may have been part of the problem. But you doubt it was the main issue, otherwise you would have lost all power immediately.

"You don't have to give me a name, son. Just "grandpa" is fine." He argues.

You find a puddle of white shit dripping out of the fuel nozzle. That can only be the 'solid' fuel, and looking at this design, it seems like it uses the heat of the combustion chamber to vaporize it.
A quick test of the ignition coil shows that it's fine, and several globs of half-melted fuel are pushed out of the tube by the pressure build-up.

"Well, i guess that would be fine normally, but you're not the only old coot i've gotta work with." You argue back.

Looking around a bit more, you're confused as to what the issue was at first, until you look at the grille of the truck.
It took a solid hit, and while it doesn't immediately look damaged, you can see that the air intake has been fused open.

Your best guess is that it wasn't getting too little air, but too much. That cooled down the combustion chamber until the fuel was no longer vaporizing properly, and then started to pour out of the tube as a liquid, directly into the combustion chamber.
After removing the grille, a few solid whacks with the butt of your rifle breaks the laser-welded metal fins loose, and you work them back and forth until they're able to be controlled using the throttle.

"I see... well, if you must. But i have no suggestions for such a thing. I've never even thought about it." Gramps tells you.

>>5670191
Thank you SHoDAN

>>5670754
¿¡Wait like that!? SHEEEEeeeesh

>>5670754
>The Gas Bags don't have a naming convention.
Alright let's go with Globo

>>5670754
>Globo then?
>Hug Cylia for being a good sport

>>5670754
Why dont we call gas grandpa Gran, or Grand? Grant? Similar enough to grandpa or gramps, but distinct enough.

File: Overlord.jpg (39 KB, 496x496)

39 KB JPG

>>5671136
Gramps is Sanig, Grandpa is Grandpa

Am I the only one imagining him as a a less spiky tentacled version of a zerg Overlord?

>>5670754

"Neither do i, really." You admit. "I'm afraid i don't know much about you just yet... so 'Gramps' will have to do for now."

Sitting back down in the cab with a heavy sigh, you turn over the engine.
It sputters for a second before clearing up and coming right back to life. The black exhaust smoke clears up as well, and everything seems good.

"Everyone hop in the back!" You yell. "I'm gonna move this thing somewhere a little more inconspicuous!"

Following your orders, they hop up into the container through the hole blasted in the side.
You test the throttle a bit before lifting up just a few feet off the ground. From there, you follow the roads until you find a space big enough to hide the hauler in.

That ends up being behind what is essentially a mansion.

You park the truck by the pool, since there's a large, flat, paved area around there, which is also surrounded by high hedges for privacy.
You're sure the top of the truck sticks out past the hedges somewhat, but it's better than nothing.

You give the truck's console a few pats before hopping back out again.

"...So what is this place?" Cylia asks, looking around in confusion.

"It's a mansion." You answer. "Some rich bastard lived up here."

"Wait... you mean this is a HOUSE?!" She yells.

"Yep. Complete with gaudy swimming pool."

Looking around, you don't see a good spot down here to get a good vantage point, so you start making your way to the back entrance of the mansion.

"That's so much water! What's the point?!" She continues, following closely behind you.

"It's in the name, Cyl. It's for swimming in."

"I can't even imagine using that much water for such a thing. In space it's expensive to haul around, and back on Katshee it was rare due to the planet-wide drought..."

You're about to kick open the mansion doors when you stop and look back at her.

"Wait, does that mean you don't know how to swim?" You ask.

"Of course i don't! Do i look like an aquatic species to you?"

"Yeah, we're gonna have to fix that." You growl, kicking open what are surprisingly actual wooden doors.

Almost immediately, alarms start blaring.
Two robots come rushing down the stairs towards you. They're vaguely humanoid, with skinny bodies and limbs.

Rather than legs they seem to locomote using magnetic coupling to a large ball underneath them. They don't appear to have weapons.

>Rip them apart.
>They're unarmed, let's see what they do first.
>Leave them to SHODAN and Cylia, you want to do something about that alarm first.
>Write-In?

Whoops, dropped my trip.

>>5671235
>Leave them to SHODAN and Cylia, you want to do something about that alarm first.

Wait till they get a load of Earth.

>>5671235
>Leave them to SHODAN and Cylia, you want to do something about that alarm first.
>>5671259
>"W-Whaddya mean 70 percent of your home planet's surface is oceans!?"
>"What's so weird about that?"
>"I just-I mean...you don't smell like a fish is all!"

>>5671235
>Rip them apart.
>Write-In?
Get SHODAN to get on the alarms, and Cylia to back us up, or at least watch our back. Pretty sure SHODAN is better at working with software than David.

>>5671235
>>Leave them to SHODAN and Cylia, you want to do something about that alarm first.

>>5671235
>>5671259
>>5671270

Changing to support Shodan getting on the alarm while we deal with the robots.

>>5671235
>Leave them to SHODAN and Cylia, you want to do something about that alarm first.

>>5671269
>"Where are your scales?" or "What's the deal with your skin then?" because amphibious.
>Ask SHODAN to turn off the alarm while David teaches Cylia a little bowling

>>5671235
>>Leave them to SHODAN and Cylia, you want to do something about that alarm first.

>>5671235
>Inform the robots that you are Emergency Services Personnel, and that interference with your duties would constitute an illegal act.
They're all but guaranteed to be programmed not to interfere with emergency services. We can lie here.

>>5671235

"SHODAN, Cylia, handle that! Quietly!" You yell.

The girls immediately rush past you, while you turn back to look for the alarm panel.
You hear the sound of a hardlight shield igniting, and the sound of metal being torn apart as you look over the panel by the door.

It's a biometric scanner type, you're not going to be able to reset it with a couple of buttons or anything.

"Well, this can only call for one thing." You say to yourself.

Punching a hole in the wall, you rip out the wooden boards around the alarm panel and expose the wiring inside the wall.
After yanking out some conduit, you cut it loose from an electrical socket with your knife, throwing some significant sparks in the process.

Repeating the same thing with the conduit leading to the alarm panel, you strip the wires back and short the mains directly to the low-voltage alarm circuit.
There's a loud, staccato popping sound as smoke and sparks fly from every alarm panel in the mansion. And at the same time, all the lights go out as well.

You're left in silence and relative darkness, with the only light coming in being from other areas of the house and the artificial sunlamps in the yard.

It didn't take you long to kill the alarm, but it didn't take the girls long to deal with the robots, either.
One lays smoking and sparking at Cylia's feet, while another has been literally torn limb from limb. In fact, SHODAN's still holding one of it's arms.

"The hell did you do to that one?" You ask Cylia.

"Nothing, really... i was going to smack it with my shield, but as soon as it made contact the shield went down and this thing fried itself."

Kicking at the fried robot's body, you turn it over and shine your light on it.
It's totally melted around where the body and ball were facing eachother. Looks like all the energy went into there.

"...Wireless energy transfer, maybe? Must have absorbed all the energy from the shield and fried it to hell." You guess.

As you're thinking about that, the machine SHODAN tore apart briefly comes back to life and starts speaking.

"Intruder detected. Please vacate the premises. Authorities will be notified." It says in an extremely robotic-sounding voice. These are clearly VI driven.

SHODAN simply stomps on the thing's head, driving her duranium heel straight down into it's skull and destroying it instantly.
She then scrapes it off her heel as if she had stepped in shit.

"Well, that went about how i expected." You mutter. "Come on, let's head up to the balcony."

Making your way up a set of stairs you find yourself on the second floor. From there, there's a second, spiral staircase leading up to the third.
You're pretty sure they were both meant to be escalators, but since the power's out... well, it is what it is.

On your way up, you note that the whole place is totally empty.
No furniture, no decorations, nothing. Whoever lived here took all his shit with him when he left.

SHODAN is fucking racist

>>5671179
No....I thought the same thing
>>5672056
Shodan is based.
>>5672130
Homo

>>5672056
Damn, wish there was a bitch still here we could turn into a fine mist, then use said mist to paint our ships.

>>5672056
>scrapes it off her heel as if she had stepped in shit
Fuken kek

>>5672056

You can guess roughly where the balcony should be based on what you saw while flying over here, but you still end up having to open several doors before you find the room connecting to it.

"This place is friggin' huge." You complain.

"Yeah, no kidding. What did they use all this space for?" Cylia wonders.

"Nothing." You explain. "Half the time huge places like this are pretty empty, aside from some overpriced art and furniture nobody uses. They live in one or two rooms, and the rest is for show."

"...Why?" She asks, sounding confused.

"To show off how big their dick is when they invite their rich 'friends' over. The size of the house has to match the size of their ego."

Pushing open the huge wood and glass-paneled doors, you step out onto the balcony and hop up onto the marble railing so you can get a look out into the distance.

"Careful, David... we're on the third floor, here." Cylia warns.

Ignoring her, you pull a monocular out of one of your pockets and start scanning around, particularly in the area where you first landed.
Almost immediately, you can spot what you were worried about. There are station guards wandering around the area, looking for traces of you.

Fortunately, no matter where else you look, the streets appear empty, and the guards don't seem to be on particularly high alert.

"Looks like they know something came up here. Or tried to, at least."

Cylia hops up onto the railing with you, and you hand her the monocular so she can look as well.

"You don't think they know what's going on, do you...?" She asks, worried.

"Probably not. We've kept quiet up to this point, so if anything they'd probably assume it was dark star trying to escape the lower city or something. Probably."

"Well..." She sighs, lowering the monocular. "What now? What do you want to do?"

"Still gotta head for the administration building. It's up here somewhere, we just have to find it."

>We'll take the truck. As long as we stay near the surface we can speed up our search significantly.
>We're gonna need that truck to get back down to the lower city. We'll just have to search on foot.
>...I bet those station guards know where the admin building is. If we capture one, i can get the information out of him.
>Write-In?

>>5672698
>We'll take the truck. As long as we stay near the surface we can speed up our search significantly.

>>5672698
>...I bet those station guards know where the admin building is. If we capture one, i can get the information out of him.

>>5672698
>...I bet those station guards know where the admin building is. If we capture one, i can get the information out of him.

>>5672698
>...I bet those station guards know where the admin building is. If we capture one, i can get the information out of him.
>Write-In?
Subdue then refill them on what happened.

>>5672698
>>...I bet those station guards know where the admin building is. If we capture one, i can get the information out of him.
>>Blackpill the guards on what is going on
>>5672798
Why not choosing the ultra violence option?

>>5672698
>We'll take the truck. As long as we stay near the surface we can speed up our search significantly.

>>5672698

Taking the monocular back from Cylia, you continue watching the station guards perform their search.
You watch as quite a large and powerfully built fellow arrives on the scene in something resembling a military truck.

"...And i bet one of those bastards knows exactly where we need to go." You tell Cylia. "We just need to capture one."

Whatever's in the bed of that truck, it looks like a set of some kind of metal shipping containers. However, to your surprise, one of the containers actually begins to stand up on two legs.
There are three more for a total of four, and one by one they each stand up, seeming to transform slightly from being tightly packed for transport to a more active state. Their joins extend out and weapons bays open up on their bodies.

After they finish unpacking themselves, they hop down out of the truck bed and begin patrolling the area, taking long, robotic steps that seem to indicate these too are VI controlled.

"...But it doesn't look like they're going to make it easy for us." You add.

Complex robots like these are all but entirely banned in most places, due to a fear of AI (or rather VI) uprising. Apparently something that has happened more than once in the past.
Not simple things like vending machines or roombas, but things that mimic intelligent life. Bipedal, even quadruped robots with any sort of intelligence... the sort you'd expect to be managing a burger joint considering the level of technology here.

There are limits placed on just about every computer chip out there to prevent it from performing too well, and every publicly published VI program goes through all sorts of checks to ensure the VI has been thoroughly shackled.

So as far as robots in public go, you've never seen a single one. Even in private, in the dark corners of the underworld, there aren't any.
You haven't seen any outside of the Federation's killbots, or Clank. And Clank is ancient. You aren't even sure where the hell he came from, so he's definitely an exception.

Regardless, as soon as you get up here to the merchant's quarters, you encounter two personal robotic servants, and now these things.
Rules for thee and not for me, you suppose.

Corruption is no shock to you wherever you happen to see it, but it still pisses you off no matter how many times it happens.

You sigh and hop down off the railing, heading back into the mansion for now.
You'll need to decide how you want to go about this.

>It'll be easier to get in and out if you go alone.
>Take the girls and get overwatch from grandpa gasbag. You might need the backup.
>It would be so much easier to snatch one of these fuckers if you had Vex. He should be up here too, somewhere.
>Write-In?

>>5673385
>Take the girls and get overwatch from grandpa gasbag. You might need the backup.

>>5673385
>Take the girls and get overwatch from grandpa gasbag. You might need the backup.

>>5673385
>>Take the girls and get overwatch from grandpa gasbag. You might need the backup.

>>5673385
>>It would be so much easier to snatch one of these fuckers if you had Vex. He should be up here too, somewhere.
I forgot about Vex... but I agree, we must check up on him. It's been hours after all. And we have a bullshit-tier comms system

>>5673385

You're certain Vex must be up here somewhere, still tailing Elynderr.
Wherever Elynderr went, it must be up here, because it's probably the only safe place left on the station besides the docks.

You consider calling in to check up on him, but it hasn't been that long since you split up and you don't want to compromise him.
He has a transmitter in his suit, so you're certain he could get a broadcast out if anything happened to him. It would also send you an emergency ping if his life signs started to fail.

No, it would be best to leave him to his work.
Vex might have an easier time of this, but it's not like you're helpless.

"SHODAN, Cyl, on me." You order. "Gramps, post up on the balcony and provide overwatch. Let us know if something's coming our way, got it?"

The old man turns a shade of light blue.

"How am i supposed to..." He starts, until you pull a spare transmitter out of your pack and hand it to him.

"This is the microphone, that's the earpiece. Use this button to transmit, and we'll all receive it."

He looks down at the bundle of wires and little plastic box dangling from his tentacles, and then back up at you.

"I don't have ears and i don't speak verbally." He tells you.

"Don't worry, it's translator-chip compatible." You assure him.

"I uh... alright. I'll figure it out." He says, wrapping the wires up into a bundle.

After taking a moment to check the girls' equipment, you head back downstairs and out through the front doors of the mansion this time, which you were fortunately able to unlock from the inside.
The front lawn of this place is immaculate, with well cared for plants and a perfectly tended lawn, lots of expensive-looking decorations and even a pair of water fountains on either side of the driveway.

It's also completely empty.

Makes sense, if the owner had any cars they were probably expensive, so he took them when he left.
Looks like you'll just have to hoof it, but that's fine. Makes it easier to stay hidden, and you don't have far to go since you know exactly where you're going anyways.

You keep a reasonable pace and approach the target location within about ten minutes, at which point you need to start being more careful.
A sudden call from gramps affirms that fact for you.

["H-Hello? Is this thing working?"] He calls out.

"Yes, we can hear you. What's happening?" You ask, transmitting back.

["One of those machines is headed your way. It'll turn the corner onto the same street as you before long."]

"Is it alone?"

["Yes, it seems to be."]

"Alright, thanks for the heads up."

Well, now you have a choice to make.
The robot is alone, so you could probably take it out pretty easily... but that would also draw attention one way or another.

It looks too big and heavily armored to take down without making some noise, and who knows if it'll ring any alarm bells.
Your other option is to hide somewhere, and wait for it to pass. Hopefully it's too stupid to actually find you.

>>5674022

>Find somewhere to hide, quick. You think you can hear it coming.
>Hunker down and open fire as soon as it turns the corner, then leg it.
>...You might be able to make use of this. Take the robot down, then set a trap for the responders.
>Write-In?

>>5673385
>Take the girls and get overwatch from grandpa gasbag. You might need the backup.
>It would be so much easier to snatch one of these fuckers if you had Vex. He should be up here too, somewhere.

Wondering about Vex too, he's a pro but it's quiet

>>5674023
>...You might be able to make use of this. Take the robot down, then set a trap for the responders

>>5674023
>...You might be able to make use of this. Take the robot down, then set a trap for the responders.

>>5674023
>hide

>>5674023
>>...You might be able to make use of this. Take the robot down, then set a trap for the responders.

>>5674023
>>Find somewhere to hide, quick. You think you can hear it coming.

>>5674022
>Find somewhere to hide, quick. You think you can hear it coming.
Lay low. If we let it get near but we remain unnoticed, then the squishy bits of this problem will follow. That's when we snatch those

>>5674023
>Find somewhere to hide, quick. You think you can hear it coming.
If they guessed why we're up here, this place will be swarmed by everyone they have within moments.

>>5674022

You hesitate for a moment as you consider using the commotion taking this robot down would cause to lay a trap, but only for a moment.

"Quick, hide!" You command, ushering the girls towards one of the buildings nearby.

This area in particular is lined with shops, so you end up taking refuge in a clothing store.
Unfortunately, almost all the clothes have been removed, with only empty racks and mannequins remaining.

So you're forced to hunker down behind the cashier's counter towards the front of the store.

You leave a small camera sitting on the counter so that you look over without exposing yourself.
The camera projects it's image to your helmet HUDs, and you watch as the machine comes trundling by.

You can see that it's surface is covered in cameras, each one moving independently like a chameleon's eyeball.
It's definitely searching for you. It leans down to look in dumpsters and through shop windows, including the one you're currently hiding in.

"Nobody move. Nobody make a sound." You whisper as it approaches.

The ground shakes slightly with every footstep. It's not all that huge, but it must weigh as much as a car at least.
It leans down to look in the window and practically stares straight into the camera with several of it's eyes.

But then it does something different. It doesn't just move on like before, and instead a small antenna pops out of it's surface and begins rotating around.

Wait, could it be?

You quickly send a signal for the camera to disable itself.
The feed cuts as the camera turns off, and any signal it might have been transmitting along with it.

You also motion for SHODAN to cut any extraneous feeds she may have coming or going from her body, and hope that she understood your meaning.
This robot shouldn't be able to detect her subspace data link, so she can still control her body, but it's entirely possible that it's also sniffing out any sort of radio signal that seems out of the ordinary.

Your grip on your rifle tightens as you hear the shop's display glass shatter and the machine slowly walk forwards.
Without the camera active you can't see what it's doing, but you can see it's shadow on the ground beside you. It's looking around for something.

If it comes any further into the store, you won't be able to sneak past it. Not with as many eyes as it has.

...But fortunately, that doesn't happen.
The robot slowly turns around and walks back out of the store, crushing broken glass underfoot as it continues it's search.

You and Cylia both let out a sigh of relief after it leaves.

"It's bigger than it looked from a distance..." She whispers.

"Yeah. It's heavily armed, too." You add.

After waiting a while for the robot to make some distance, you call out to Gramps back at the mansion.

"Gramps, it's David. Are we safe to move?"

It takes a minute for him to respond. You can hear him fiddling with the transmitter once he finally does.

"Yes, i believe so. It's gone down another street now."

>>5675104
Now that we got a GOOD look on its capabilities we can THINK on what to do and how to exploit what it does. Since it's VI, we can lure it with repeating radio and trap it on a tight alley, or see if it calls for back up in distress, or if it engages by itself or retreats. What about thermal cameras or vibration sensors? There are many ways move forward and acquire data.

How about we throw a mannequin to see how it fires? How fast is its gallop? So many things...

>>5675104
I have a feeling these things are full of suprises. Still, we need that intel, one way or another.

>>5675481
I would rather avoid them if possible, for sure the glowies using them have some robust failsafes on these killbots so if we bag the guy in control we can shut them down easy, or make them fake their patrol.
If really needed perhaps shodan can hack one of the alarm vi in one of the villas to attract the patrols.

>>5675104

After peeking over the counter and seeing that it's clear, you grab the camera and peek outside, trying to step over the shards of broken glass as much as possible.
The metal frames that were holding the glass in place are simply bent outwards, and the building itself is somewhat damaged as well. It looks like the machine simply forced it's way inside.

Well, something that size probably has a lot of strength. It wouldn't be shocking if it could knock walls down just by running into them.

Poking your head out through the shattered shopfront, you carefully check that the coast is in fact clear before heading back out onto the street.
Ushering the girls out, you quickly make your way forwards again, cutting between two buildings and jumping a stone block fence behind a strip of stores into a residential neighborhood.

You find yourself in the back yard of a large house, in something like a cul-de-sac.
It leads out onto the main street, but is fairly closed off and private besides.

"Gramps, how much farther to the entrance? I feel like we're close."

Again, there's a short pause before he's able to respond. It's quicker this time, though.

["Two streets over. But there are men patrolling the area."]

"How many? What do their numbers look like?"

["...Maybe fifteen or twenty in total. Groups of two or four, except at the landing site. There's five there."]

They aren't playing this stupid. Nobody's alone.

Assuming they think you're the local Dark Star group, they must have really given them hell at some point.
You rarely see station security behaving like this, or really doing much at all besides sitting on their asses and taking bribes.

It makes you wonder if these guys are actually station security, or some kind of special forces branch.
Maybe they were just the ones who guarded the merchant's quarters up here, who knows.

In any case, it seems like you're going to have a hard time getting just one man split off from the rest.
Fortunately you have backup.

You can just about see a pair of guards walking up the street through the front yard's privacy hedge.
It might be possible to get the jump on them if you're quick, quiet and careful.

>Get closer and see if you make out what they're saying
>Use noise to distract them, then get the jump on them.
>Have one of the girls jump some fences so you can catch them in a pincer when they start walking back.
>Write-In?

>>5676041
>>Write-In?
Walk in and act like a robot returning to pull security.

>>5676041
Assuming we don't get lucky and one of them wanders off for a piss/smoke break, let's go with a pincer attack. Also, can any of us recognize the species of any of the guards? Are these typical xenos pushovers or something a bit more substantial?