Crossfire

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Turbowraith@Dark Light@PlatinumSkink@Tickout

SAL accepted Maxi's thanks and headed off without another word, remembering that he had to get back to the lab to check in on the new AI.

Grayson kept glaring at Arex, even as Lataniva stared him down and expressed to those present that she intended to do a Rite of Merger.

"You do what ya must lass, but when you're done with him, I'm next"

"What the hell is going on here?" Another voice cut in.

---

Stryker nodded at Joe as the man mulled the offer over.
"You think on it for a bit, and let me know when you decide. I've gotta run"

The captain, intent on heading directly to speak with Renli and Rento, was sidetracked once more by a beep from his datapad, indicating an incoming message to the ship's Long-Range Transponder. With a flick of his hand, he sent the message up to his private terminal, and re-routed the elevator to take him all the way back upstairs.

'This captain bullshit is gettin pretty overtiring awful fast' he thought on the way up. Stepping out of the elevator, Stryker's ears were met almost immediately with a crack of glass and Grayson's voice uttering threats coming from the open door to the med bay. Stryker sighed aloud and redirected himself to the open door.

"What the hell is going on here?" He boomed "You know what? I don't care. Churrox, like it or not, you're part of this crew now, and as of a couple hours ago, our only medic. Fix him up. Lataniva... I don't know what part you've had in this up to now, so you do you"
Truth be told the Dalentian frightened Stryker a little. After seeing her powers, even filtered through the drone's perspective, he knew better than to try and get on this woman's bad side, so he rounded on the last one.

"Grayson, I get it, you're pissed about what Arex did, but neither of us were there. Won't be time until after we stop off at Minos for the pickup, but after that, when we're back out in the expanse, the four of us are gonna sit down and have a rational conversation. Clear?"

He didn't stick around for any retorts, just simply walked on out with a curt nod and headed off for his quarters. He received the contents of the message, filing it away under important enough to bear repeating to the crew. He'd call a meeting after and fill them all in, but now, he had to get below, he'd kept the androids waiting long enough.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

Sorry about my random disappearance guys. Been busy as hell today, plus a little under the weather. I've got an appointment early tomorrow, but after that I'll be back to catch up on what I missed!

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Banana Feel better soon!

@Emnosym How's that application coming along?

@Silver Carrot [And everyone else I'm too lazy/tired to tag you all] If everyone's cool with it, I'd like to jump us ahead to Minos Station after the current interactions are done, so our new players can jump in on the fun. After that quick pit stop, I think we'll just wander through space for a while and interact, (because there's a whole lot of that to be had!) at least until I figure out the logistics of our next assignment. And as always, any ideas for future missions or plotlines, feel free to drop me a PM!

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@BKburke

"Calm down" SAL stated, going explicitly by-the-book "You're in a Mainframe. The other Platforms were destroyed as a result of battle. I was able to salvage what remained of Platform 772. You will experience some residual memories as a result of core flashes during the merging, but I'd like you to remember that you are not 772. Take a moment to process this. When I am able to, you will be transferred into a new form, please stand by and allow the merging process to finish. I will return in a moment."

It was best to let a new AI figure itself out during this moment of infancy. Within the Mainframe, there would be no way for this new program to cause any harm, a few minutes to itself would do wonders for it. SAL had other matters to tend to in the meantime.

He plodded upstairs to the Armory, and after being allowed inside, he found Grayson hard at work, pouring over one of the legs of Amy's armor, parts and tools strewn about the workbench.

"You know you left the door open up here before"
"Hmm" Grayson grunted, not paying attention, absorbed in his work.
"It was an unwise move, given that we can't know for sure if we can trust anyone but each other"
"Mhmm"
"Are you listening to me? ..... Grayson!"
"I heard ya mate, now fuck off! This goddamn servo is mangled enough that if I'm not careful replacing the cog joint, the whole leg is gonna be thrown off rotation"
SAL leaned in to observe Grayson's actions.
"You noticed the right piston was firing irregularly right?"
"What? You're fuckin' kiddin'?"
"I never kid. According to my scan it was 0.321 seconds off of it's pair-mate during a previous scan. Right now it's 0.345. If not adressed it will cause future issues. I've also identified 14 other points that will require attention that you may have missed"
"Fuckin' hell. Throw 'em to the terminal would ya? And hold that pin there"
The duo worked together to finish the task at hand, and a few moments later, both sat back, satisfied with the job they'd done. SAL transferred his observations to the Armory terminal, and Grayson wheeled his chair over to check it out.

"Won't be able to finish all this off with what we have here, bit of extra scrap to weld over the holes too" Grayson muttered as he took notes for the requisition. He looked up to see SAL standing silently by.
"Any... particular reason for your visit SAL?"
"Just returning tools I used for this repair. Have you seen the medic recently?"
"Maxi? Nah, not since the meetin'. Did ya try med bay?"
"No, I'll check there now on my way back to the lab"
"Hold on mate, I need to pop over there anyway, see if I can kip some surgical tape"

@Dark Light@Tickout

Grayson and SAL exited the Armory and almost immediately ran into Arex. SAL proceeded inside the med bay to drop off Maxi's medical bot, Grayson lingered outside for a moment, sizing up Arex before speaking very carefully.
"You ok mate? Get yourself stitched up, when you're ready, you and I are gonna have to have a few words"

@Turbowraith@Banana

Stryker exited his cabin with a clear list of priorities. First up he headed up to the cockpit to check in on Tibulus. The Funganoid had the place fumigated pretty good, and after Stryker finished coughing, he tapped the pilot on the shoulder to grab his attention.
"Keep an eye on things for a little while longer? I've gotta talk to the newbies, then I'll come back up and relieve you for a bit, we should be arriving at Minos in just a few hours right? I'll be up before it's time to guide her in for docking"

He nodded a quick farewell to Tibulus and moved on about his way. He tracked down the man they'd picked up off the Helsin station for a quick introduction.
"Hey there Joe, we didn't get a chance to properly meet earlier, I'm Stryker, I guess I'm in command of this whole thing we've got going here. The long story short is that the Alliance has us all dead-to-rights for one reason or another. We don't do what they say, we're all gonna be put to death, or worse yet, sent to prison for a long time. And I guess you're wrapped up with us now, but I'll leave that choice to you- we're on our way out into the Deadzone, gonna be docking at Minos Station for a resupply. If you want out, say the word, we'll drop you off there or wherever the hell else it is that you've got to go. I can't guarantee the Alliance won't send someone after you if you leave, this being a top-secret operation and everything, but I can guarantee this, we definitely need someone with your skills to help keep our engines goin', if you decide to stay, maybe I can convince the Alliance to pay you for your time, twice the usual going rate for a mechanic, how's that sound?"

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Azereiah

"Yeah, I'll get in touch shortly. Have to report in to the boss" Stryker let the disdain drip from his words, not hiding the fact that he still sort of hated everything about this job, especially his position as the captain. He headed off on his way, stopping briefly to chat with SAL over a task he needed done. Up in his quarters, Stryker sat at the terminal and established a Long-Range Transmission Channel. He rattled off the facts of the mission as well as an update on their current location, as per the Alliance's mandate. He also included a pair of footnotes mentioning the extra hands that had been brought aboard. Satisfied with the message, Stryker hit send and waited around to monitor it. Long-Range Transmissions were notorious in their potential delivery fail rate. If that happened, Stryker would have to act quick to salvage his nearly 10 minute long message or risk having to record it again. As he waited, he checked in on the ship's trajectory from his datapad. They were about 4 hours out from Minos Station at current speed. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the pilot had some skills, and he deserved a rest after the hell he'd just led them through. He wouldn't bother with ordering Tibulus to increase their speed to reduce the travel time. They were in no rush for the moment.

@Tickout

"I can assist in this matter" SAL said, taking the small medical droid from Maxi "Scanning. Damage incremental. I estimate that repairs will take about 2.5 hours. Find me then"

The robot stomped off. Before the team meeting, SAL noted that Grayson had left the door to the armory open. Wasn't like him to be so absent minded. He filed that information away as a topic of discussion for later, and proceeded inside to secure a selection of tools for the repair. He paused for a moment, noticing Amy's damaged armor on the workbench. A quick ocular scan revealed a handful of issues that Grayson's (mostly) human eyes might miss. Again, he filed the information away for later and headed out, deciding to use the tech lab downstairs as his office for the repair. Stryker stopped him on the stairs and asked if he would deal with retrieving the memory core from the Federation droid. SAL agreed to it and went on his way. Both the Federation droid and the lone remaining Alliance drone had been brought to the tech lab ahead of time.

@BKburke

In the tech lab, SAL established a list of priority. The memory core had a direct tie to the mission, so that came first. He set Maxi's medi-bot aside and settled in by a workbench along the rear wall, where both mangled military droids sat. Retrieving the core was a simple enough task, locating it was a much more immediate concern. SAL was unfamiliar with the makeup of most Federation tech, and having no prior experience with these Hunter class weapons, had no idea where to start.

He started by plugging the droid into the Mainframe, a computer drive that was unconnected to the rest of the ship's systems, for interacting with AI elements and the like. The Droid has been (forcibly) placed in a low-power state, but within the Mainframe, it's mind was abuzz with activity. An idea hit SAL. He used the systems within the Mainframe to simply copy all the data contained within this droid's head to a blank data-disc. He'd sort through it later and flag anything listed within the directory as belonging to the memory core. Easy as Pi.

Though not directly related to the mission, SAL felt a strange sense of obligation to check in on the Alliance Drone. He felt a sense of kinship to the robot, despite it being technically just a tool of the Alliance. He plugged it into the Mainframe and attempted to communicate. Never one to get emotional, SAL was... surprised to say the least when he interpreted and translated the ultralight communication dialogue AP-772 was transmitting. In English, the drone would have been saying this simple sentence over and over:

"Please help me"

That was quite sad. SAL honestly felt (his closest approximation) to sadness. In that moment, he resolved to do something quite drastic. It was an uncommon practice, but many programmers felt that by combining a pair of corrupt AI programs with a base model, like what the Mainframe provided, the corruptions would cancel each other other out to form a new, cohesive AI unit. It was this very process he was about to attempt by taking what remained of 772 and merging it into the Federation Droid. He patched in some basic AI routines to help bridge the two, and began to repair Maxi's bot as he waited to see if the melding would take. In the back of his head, SAL began to run some calculations on the best possible result of this experiment, and devised a blueprint of a new body for this AI program, one that would use parts of both the Alliance and Federation robots. A fighting machine that would far surpass either entities pitiful military bots... if Stryker approved of it he supposed. The timer he'd been keeping reached zero, and SAL connected himself back to the Mainframe to attempt a contact with the merged AI.

"Hello?" He transmitted "Can you hear me?"

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Dark Light Just cleared out the inactives (Belov the Russian Medic and Saul, the Arson/Cook). We've got one more inactive that I'm gonna be taking care of when

Spoiler

We hit port at the Deadzone station. He'll be reassigned to another ship and never be heard from again, unless by some miracle Sombrero comes back

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Emnosym Yeah of course!

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

Thanks everyone!

Post took a little longer than anticipated, but I feel all in all that our first mission was a fine success, so let's raise a glass to us, and prepare for even more crazy shit from here on out!

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@PlatinumSkink@Dark Light

Grayson struggled to keep up with Lataniva, she was much quicker than him and made it to their destination a minute or so before him. At the mention of Hunters, Grayson had lagged behind a little to recalibrate the MARS rifle into a mode he rarely used- the Heavy Rifle. In this function, the barrel lengthened and the bore size increased, to allow for the firing of .50 caliber F.M.A.P. rounds. They were extremely powerful, but the sheer recoil of firing a single shot of it was like being kicked by a mule. Despite hardly ever using it, Grayson always came prepared, and loaded in a box magazine of 5 rounds, that was all he had, and hoped it was all he'd need.

He came up on Arex and Lataniva's location and pushed his way to the front, taking a stand against the approaching Hunter Droid.
"Got ya covered gang, fall back to the hangar!" He sighted up on the droid, braced the rifle against his already injured shoulder, and grit his teeth, preparing for the kickback.

BANG*chik*BANG

The first round had blown a hole clear through the blue orb that made up it's head. When that hadn't slowed its approach, Grayson aimed lower, and blew out the ball joint connecting the upper and lower part of its left leg. The droid toppled over, but still it tried to attack them, crawling it's way across the floor to them.

"Let's go guys!" Grayson shouted as the team retreated. His comms chirped twice, incoming message on the general channel.
"-yson? Do you read?" SAL stated
"I hear ya rustbucket, what is it?"
"We are awaiting you in the hangar. We just deployed Shuttle 1 back to the ship, you must hurry. The fuse we set is much shorter than anticipated, we only have 5 minutes to get to a minimum safe distance before the station erupts"
"We'll be there, don't ya fuckin' dare take off on us!"

@Azereiah@Banana

"Not a bad idea android" Stryker said, he wheeled into the comms channel and issued an alert for the team still on the station.
"If it's within your power, incapacitate and capture one of the Federation droids. We can scuttle its memory core for any passwords or back channels into the Federation Central Database. Don't risk your lives for it though"
He closed the comms and turned back to his console, ready to assist Tibulus with any last minute adjustments.
"Shuttle 1 coming in now" he stated for no other reason than to settle his own nerves "Cargo bay clear, lowering the ramp"

@Xandrya@Tickout@Turbowraith@Rultaos@mackielars@BKburke

More Hunter Droids had arrived in the hangar, bringing their total number to 9. This was problematic, SAL thought as he returned fire. Most of the team had gone on ahead on the first shuttle. Like a simple organic, SAL had elected to remain behind and wait for his "friend". Sure he had an ulterior motive for survival at the forefront of his mind, but leaving Grayson behind would create a paradox that reduced his long-term percentage of survival to near zero.

The 2 surviving drones had fallen, 116 had shattered to bits by the superior firepower and melee capabilities of the Hunter Droids. 772 was similarly damaged, though it still had some power flowing, twitching at SAL's feet with half a head and very few limbs. The Hunter Droids were closing in, relentless in their quest to extinguish the remaining lives. SAL wheeled out of cover and returned fire, the explosive rounds of his shotgun were quite devastating at close range, but even with the damage he could inflict on any that closed the distance, they were still outnumbered and outgunned.

More gunshots joined the cacophony of the hangar bay. Grayson and the others had arrived. Between the combined firepower of the two groups, they were able to cut a path through the line of Hunter Droids. One droid had it's arm severed by one of Grayson's heavy rounds, and it was close enough for SAL to grab. With a few quick slashes from his wrist-mounted laser blade, the Droid fell in a manner that SAl felt to be sufficiently incapacitated. Grayson's team had made it over to them and the others were loading into the shuttle. SAL grabbed the Hunter, and, for no particular reason other than perhaps pity, also snatched up the remains of 772 and bolted for the shuttle. He saw Grayson looking at him strangely, his eyes going back and forth between SAL and 772.

"I believe we can salvage this drone" he stated simply as the shuttle took off.

Aboard the Revenant, Stryker got word that the other shuttle had arrived and gave the order to fall back to the edge of the system. The ship hung around until the timer hit zero, and the station went up in a brilliant blaze of red, blue, yellow and white. The explosion was instantaneous. One flash of light before it was swallowed up by the emptiness of space. As if on cue, a pair of ships came onto the radar, blinking into existence via hyperjump tech that the Revenant wasn't equipped with. Making sure they were spotted and (unsuccessfully) hailed. Stryker told Tibulus to flip the engines to full burn and set a course for Minos Station, way out in the Deadzone. The captain walked back through the upper deck to his quarters, stone faced and ignoring any cheers or hellos offered to him. They had done it, against all odds and at great cost of life, they had completed their first mission as a team. Back in the safety his room, Stryker breathed a sigh of relief and allowed himself a quick chuckle before letting the emotion of the moment overcome him. Apparently, Dawson had stashed a bottle of Stryker's favorite rum in the desk drawer, he had discovered it during their trip, now felt like a good time to break it out.

He gathered the crew down in the Common Area, and distributed glasses.
"Here I am again, giving a speech like some kind of goddamn leader, but I just felt I needed to say this. You all did a fine job out there. Never had much experience with teams, but you all just set a good standard going forward. It wasn't perfect, we lost a couple of our own but all in all I'd say this was a good start to our little squad" He raised his glass "A toast for the fallen, for the innocent lives wiped out by our actions, and to our future endeavors, cheers" He threw the drink back and slammed the glass down on the table.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Azereiah@PlatinumSkink@Xandrya@Tickout@Dark Light@Turbowraith@BKburke@Banana
It's my birthday today, so what say we celebrate with a big kaboom? I'll get a post up in a little bit to end off the mission properly.

@Rultaos@mackielars sorry you guys didn't get to chime in, I know how busy you guys are and everything, but we had to get things moving. I'm sure we'll come up with a way to recap or repurpose anything major you had left to say.

@Zardoric@Silver Carrot Sorry about the delay, you guys can prep some introductory posts if you want. If I forget to mention it in my IC post, we'll be picking you both up on Minos Station in the Deadzone