It's obvious, though, that everyone still present is obviously still interested in doing this. How about we let this rest for a few more days, then I can make a fresh new thread for everyone, and we can continue the story from a different point of view, perhaps? I'm currently thinking, if desired, people can still keep their characters, but we'll skip some time and do a bit of plot.
Basically, we'll just let this RP take a nap, I'll make a new thread, I'll do a "LAST TIME ON NCQ" as an OP for the new thread, we'll do a mediumish timeskip, and during that some stuff will happen as a backdrop. I'm currently thinking one of the corporations will contact SR after the attack, what's left of SR will migrate to a new location on the world stage, and actually have the blessing of a major company. I'll go into more details in the next OP, but that's basically what I'm thinking.
Joe, uncharacteristically, was the first to attack. As the walkers were 'only' comparable to MBT's at best, and the munitions were NC grade, they were all more or less disabled, if technically still operating. The three that still could initiated self-destruct sequences, leaving little data to be analyzed, but a decent amount of scrap each. The 'unknown' NC pilot, Nine, destroyed his tank assailants quickly and efficiently, dodging their shots with extreme skill and causing them to fire on each other, annihilating them. He stuck around and patrolled for remaining enemy infantrymen, found a couple, then executed them.
Blur and PM tried to assist wherever they could, confirming the destruction of those walkers and making sure each units 'prisoner pod' was sound, bringing the lot of them closer towards SR proper so they can be opened, and occupants can be medically checked. Sophia ordered Blur and PM to patrol the area while the towns' militia could begin damage control... and counting casualties.
When the situation 'normalized', as much as it could, people began to notice it was early morning.
SR survived for another day. At least, there's that.
Considering the inactivity of this RP, I'll be executing general order 3bA-081c in the RPGuild's GM handbook, chapter 71, page 8, lines 3-10:
"If the story has not been progressing much for an extended period of time, the GM is allowed to 'jumpstart' progress using one, and only one per incident, 'timewarp', alongside mildly taking control of all player's characters for the required purposes, as long as specific actions are mildly ambiguous to be edited later if requested by the players, and no 'out-of-character' actions are taken (E.G. a very evil character doing good for no personal gain)"
...making shit up is so fun.
Anyway, I'm so sorry about how this is mildly falling apart, but I'm just doing what I think is necessary. As I imply, if you have objections, I'm perfectly content with editing replacements into the post.
The 'tank plan' was futile. After digging it up enough to get inside, its' main turret system was trashed. Sophia, remarking about how this was a retarded idea anyway, assured the SR squad that they'd just scrap the tank and use its' materials to repair and upgrade the SR NC's when all of this was said and done. The squadmembers went back to their NC's, and after some quick and frantic in-combat jury-rigging (after feverishly raiding the NC hangar for parts), the NC's were mostly back in action. At the minimum, they were ready to maneuver again.
"Let Unknown handle the majority, just clean up after him, yeah? I'll get back inside the control room and try to help out from there, rally any militia."
The NC's, coming back to life, could see that the aforementioned militia were starting their efforts themselves; one particular squad, the largest available, were quickly making rounds in the west-most street, finishing off enemy troopers and managing to 'liberate' one of the enemy's walkers from, 'having to follow the orders of the enemy'.
The NC's, with their more advanced sensor systems (even if they were currently cobbled back together), could detect and listen into a transmission, apparently from the leader of the overall enemy forces, away from the fighting. After some static, "-his is shameful... You know what to do, leave none of yourselves alive. Armor, do the same, walkers, retreat.". The remaining enemy infantrymen tried to go down fighting, many of the more injured ones turned their own weapons on themselves, leaving splatters of blood and grey matter over walls and covering shrubberies. The abduction walkers were the first of the armored units to be routed, smashing over smaller housings to make a beeline straight out of the town, the more burdened and damaged ones ejecting their 'prisoner pods' to try and lose weight, the two who had prisoners still aboard followed suit, all of them heading north-west.
The three remaining tanks bumrushed towards Nine's NC, one knocking over small trees that were planted in SR, until he had two coming from behind and one from the front. They all fired their weapons at nearly the same time, a trio of sabot rounds and two anti-armor missiles coming in at an overall Y formation, the missiles coming from behind.
(ooc list of enemies: 30 infantrymen, 3 tanks, 5 quads)
Hey, a status update would be decent, so I'll give one out. Me and Nano have been talking about it, and dividing the players into two teams was a mistake. It won't happen immediately and we'll make it as natural as possible, but the two teams will merge sooner rather then later, and Nanofreak will relinquish his co-GM status.
So that's what we've been talking about. In any case, yeah, sorry for my inactivity, I'll make a post.
Captain Foulke, the leader of the "NHC-GSAT03", but just the "NHC team" for short, was the first to answer, being the type to already formulate a basic plan while he was getting info. "I say we go for the A.I. housing. If it's pirates or some other force that want to capture the station for their own purposes, they'll probably set up killboxes for Power and Lifesupport, since that's the most logical one aside from A.I. core. If we can communicate, or just datamine, the management A.I. we'll get a good idea for all the other systems anyway, since if its' operational it'll likely have access, and if it isn't, it'll probably have semi-recent logs, at least. 'Course, sweetheart, you already said that... In any case, I'd say my team of clankers and meatbags should make way for the others and be at the forefront."
Newton, right behind (and towering over) Foulke, continued that train of thought. His synthetic voice was hard on the ears on purpose, but easily understandable. "I agree with Foulke. As per our standard, we're always armed to survive hell freezing over. It'd minimize total casualties, as our lot always gets an F-minus in 'Ease of dying'.". Foulke mildly changed the subject, "While we have the free time, actually, I hope the Dawnlight Spirit has the proper protocols in place so, if needed, my mechanical soldiers can upload their consciousnesses? In case their bodies are destroyed, of course. I'd like to minimize 'actual casualties' for everyone involved.". Afterwards, he went back on track. "In any case, yes, I say we go for the A.I. core first to make everything else easier. Alternatively, we could split the taskforces in two, but.. well, that always ends bad in my experience."
Newton gave his opinion on that, "If we do split up the gang, the secondary teams' objective should be to investigate RO 21's disappearance. I, personally, would not mind leading that taskforce."
While the two proper leaders of the NHC team present voiced their opinions on the relevant matters, their engineering specialist, Holtz, was in the doorway trying not to be too noticeable. His helmet was still on, and its' lighted-eyes were deactivated, as they usually were in his case. They worked perfectly fine when they were 'dark' and sucked up power, if minimal... he thought it was retarded that was even possible. Of course, in riot teams, anything that made them look more intimidating was useful, which he noted. As it seemed his presence wasn't going to be called on, he went outside of the briefing area and headed for hanger 03, looking short and meek, as he preferred to look.
He found his (only) buddy in the force, Stealth operative Keneth, and plopped down next to him, both sitting on a crate while watching the dumb muscle of the forces do the hard work. Keneth started their conversation, sounding bored and tired. A yawn, then, "Hey, Max, how's it goin'? What do you think it's gonna turn out to be? Space ghosts?" "Nah... demons. They tried to do teleporters, then demons." "Oh, yeah, ghosts aren't a thing, but demons totally are, huh?" "Well, yeah." "Rrright. Foulke done anything weird yet?" "No. Newtons' trying to make everyone bleed out of their ears, though." "So, the usual?" "Yeah."
"Y'know, Holtz, I thought you'd dig doing stuff on a big ass proper station like this. Nearly as good as walking on a solid planet, is it not?" "Well... it still feels cramped." "True. 'course, this isn't the station, dumbass." "...oh." "You never fall for my bait 'less somethings' on your mind, what is it? Is it just weird seeing all these fuck'n aliens and shit?" "Yeah." "Well, don't sweat it. They're just aliens and shit, if they do shit, we shoot shit. Simple as that, right?" "Yeah... right."
The Neo-Hominid Commonwealth are a 'people' of human/humanoid descendants who have decided to leave the rest of the galaxy alone for the most part, and live in the asteroid-rich eastern outskirts of the galaxy, simply not content to live on most planets anymore. A few years ago, they have developed A.I. and brain-uploading technologies, and a surprisingly large portion of their population are now computerized consciousnesses living in a partition of 'GalNetSpace'. While they were very isolated for a good few centuries, they decided to at least check up on how the rest of the galactic community was doing and re-joined the galactic senate.
In addition, many of the Computerized Consciousnesses (as they're commonly known in NHC) joined various programs with the onset of their A.I. development, and many "Comp-Cons", such as their current political leader, desire to prove that cybernetic or fully robotic individuals deserve equal rights as 'normals' all over the galaxy. On the tech side of things, the development of A.I. has spawned many technological breakthroughs in just a few months, and now they're quite advanced. However, it appeared to be a 'growth spurt' of development, and currently their rate of advancement has stabilized to a more standard pace.
For the record, the NHC has access to (for example), crystal-based computer data storage, Cheap and portable FTL communications, rail and coil based weapon systems, fusion, (prototype) antimatter based explosives, and very-high-durability, low-weight alloys. Thus, compared to the standard GalSen trooper, an NHC 'Combat Platform' never forgets, can think at the speed of light, only needs replacement parts to be maintained, and can stay in enemy territory for very long periods of time, while being difficult to fully kill. In addition, just because you killed the body, it doesn't mean you killed the sentience.
However, for obvious reasons, the still-flesh soldiers do still need to worry about getting shot at. People are supposed to die when they are killed, after all.
Rule 10: also ur a fgt
Name: NHC Galactic Senate Assistant Taskforce #03 Origins: They stem from the Neo-Hominid Collective, a society of humans (and humanoids) who have recently experienced a singularity. Colors: The NHC-GSAT03 use a combination of blue and white, alongside red and olive drab. Total Size: 14, with eight 'fleshies', and six 'Comp-Cons', two of which are brain-uploaded humans. Notable Traditions/Cultural info: The people of the NHC are still struggling themselves with all of the recent tech and sociological development, and many of its' members are stressed out for non-military reasons. Specialization: Very difficult to kill.
Appearance:
Skill: With the advent of brain-uploading, the opposite is also possible, meaning that soldiers can learn all the skills required in a very short time. This means that they're quite skilled, if they have little 'actual' experience.
Numbers: 5, Jenkins, Romeo, Sasha, Nagase, and Larry.
Equipment: They have a standard NHC 'Ship-use Rifle 1.36', a rail-gun based weapon with an emphasis on accuracy, and ease-of-control while firing, alongside a similarly specialized pistol. They also have small 'Astro-packs' to allow some maneuverability in zero-G environments. Finally, their well-armored suit is made out of very durable scaled ceramic circles, Adamantium plates, and an improved Kevlar-like polymer. It also has some strength-assistance, so the wearer is tired out less easily, and in emergencies can inject certain drugs, such as strength enhancers and rejuvenants.
Description: Jenkins, Romeo, Sasha, Nagase, and Larry are pulled from various areas in the NHC, including anti-terrorism organizations, anti-riot police, and Planetary Defense Unit personnel.
Appearance:
Skill: Being fully computerized, the Battle-Platforms of NHC-GSAT03 can 'download' even more information, and, even though they also aren't too 'real experienced', they can simply think a lot faster and more focused; It definitely counts for something.
Numbers: 4, Arkli, Donovan, Janwall, and Ingrid.
Equipment: For weapons, the Battle-platforms of NHC-GSAT03 are quite well-armed, with heavier variations of the 1.36 Ship-Use Rifle, called the 1.37M Ship-Use LMG. Each bullet of the 1.37M is larger, and is fired at a somewhat quicker pace. Fortunately, they still have superb accuracy, and the tough killer-robots carrying them have little to worry about on the recoil side. They also have the same pistol as their human counterparts, modified to be stowed inside both of their arms in case the 1.37M is overheated (which is a rare occurrence) or otherwise inoperable. Their bodies are made out of a strong mesh of muscle-like fibers, Adamantium plating 40% thicker then their human counterparts, the same proportion of Kevlar-like padding, and well-armored Hydraulic systems providing 'quick-twitch' force in their legs and arms. They may not gib you or anything, but you definitely don't want to get punched by these guys, or kicked, for that matter. While they have special anti-hacking software installed and are very difficult to connect to in the first place, hacking is still a possibility, however slight. Of course, the people in these things are going to be very mad at whoever's trying to hack them, and will try to counter-attack personally. Finally, they have the same astro-pack as the standard grunts.
Description: The standard 'Spacecraft-use Sentience Battle-Platform 4.22' of the NHC is 6 and a half feet tall, very difficult to kill, and can break open bulkheads with its' bare hands, even if it may take a while for the larger ones. As the 'normal' people of the NHC are still getting used to their metallic counterparts, infighting is a possibility if things go wrong. Finally, the bodies are somewhat modular, and have plenty of extra storage space. If needed, in the event one of their members are 'killed', they can 'hop' to another of the bodies, and they can use what's left of its' body for spare parts, or on-site modifications.
Important Character Info: Total: 5, 3 human, 2 robot characters.
Appearance: Foulke wears the standard soldiers' uniform underneath his armor, and is a dashing young specimen with duller red hair and a certain look in his eye, ready for anything the world throws at him. His Officer's Suit helmet has additional 'eyes' and an antenna to distinguish him when he's ordering around his grunts.
Age: 28
Rank: Squad-Captain, Title: Lady-Killer
Equipment: He has all the standard grunt equipment, but with certain improvements across the board. His SUR-1.36 is equipped with longer rails for improved damage potential, his 1.36P, the same, alongside two more rounds in the magazine, and he has the 7.21O Space-Use Infantry Suit, the standard, but equipped with additional sensors (alongside a wider variety), additional armor on the joints, and 2 emergency use 'Spiker' grenades, special gizmos that fire out many small flechettes in 2 seconds, uplinked to his helmet's HUD so he can designate where they should focus, such as hostile targets.
Personality: Foulke is a reasonably friendly, calm guy off-the-job who loves the opposite sex, but on duty he turns (somewhat) more serious, and has a pretty clean, successful service record in his 6 years of service. He eventually wants to get higher-up on the totem pole, but with more and more 'super-computer' style A.I.'s looking for that same position, he's pretty worried about his goals. He's a pretty smart guy, and the biggest reason he decided to sign up for helping out GalSen was that it would look even better on his record.
In essence, when you need someone to do something, he's one of the first people you should go to. Although, his biggest weaknesses are greed, lust, and jealousy.
Bio: Born to flesh-and-blood parents on an urban-sprawl of a moon, he decided he'd join the military and make a difference in the galaxy at the age of 16, and had his sights on being the biggest military cheese in the known universe since. He was quite successful in his higher-level education, and was a somewhat of a "Drill Sergeants' pet" when training to be an officer, as he was very obedient and nearly knew what they were gonna say before they said it.
Appearance: Newton inhabits an 'Officer-type Space-use Battle-Platform 4.22O', an improved model with thicker still armor and padding around vital areas, and more space-efficient motor systems, allowing more processors and weapon-related free space to be available. He has five sensor eyes, and two shoulder-antenna.
Age: 34
Rank: Lieutenant Captain
Equipment: As aforementioned, the 4.22O model of Battle-Platform has more space efficient (But more expensive) motor systems installed, and additional armor, allowing for more free internal space to be filled up with processors and weapon-related systems, like additional ammunition, throwables, miscellaneous items, and longer rails for the 4.22's internally-mounted arm pistols, giving them more punch. In addition, his 1.37M is the officers' variant, giving it an additional barrel for even faster firing, and twice the amount of rails, each also 10% longer. This, obviously, gives each bullet a huge increase in accuracy, even more fire-rate (as they exit the barrel faster), and power. However, for obvious reasons, it chews through ammo at a severe pace, and overheating is an actual possibility, unlike with the standard model. It's more of a 'Turn this thing into swiss cheese immediately' weapon then a 'suppress these targets for the other guys to kill' one. In addition, his left arm's pistol has been uniquely replaced with a large-gauge rail-gun, able to fire 'Spiker' grenades (Which he has three available), or 2 sensor units for recon purposes. Finally, he has three additional 'eyes', making five in a pentagon formation, and two shoulder-mounted antenna.
Personality: Newton is a constantly annoyed fellow who keeps on getting into trouble, and is very headstrong, which has turned his ambitions to be a general into a nearly impossible dream. He secretly loathes his superiors, and waits for the day they die so he can replace them. He isn't at the point where he'd fire the shot himself though... yet. Of course, while he seems to be an angry bull of a bloke, that doesn't necessarily mean he's a complete idiot, which he isn't.
Bio: Born with a unique bone-shattering condition, he was confined into a wheelchair for most of his 'fleshed' life, and was always lumped in with other 'useless' individuals. In his teenage years, in a rage (And after managing to get into his parents' liquor cabinet) he angered and saddened one of his very few friends to the point she attempted suicide, which is one of the things he regrets from those years. Deciding to turn his life the other way (if only a little), he was one of the first people to sign up for his brain to be put into a robotic shell, and a few months later, for his mind to be turned into bits and pieces of code. He eventually wanted to get into the military and miraculously passed, although some say he only got in due to bribes.
Appearance: Holtz is a somewhat sloppy chap who barely meets the minimum height requirement for the squishy side of the NHC footsoldiers, and every uniform he's been issued (Such as his current one) has been either one size too small, or one size too large. It's currently the latter.
Age: 30
Rank: Specialist, Engineer.
Equipment: wearing the 7.21E Space-Use Infantry Suit, or the 'Engie-suit', his suits' left arm is covered with a variety of tools, such as cutting laser, an explosive gel sprayer, a construction foam sprayer, an emergency CQC diamond-tipped piston, and many other implements. His suit also has more stowage space compared to the average soldiers', which he uses to store one 'Spiker' grenade, spare SUR-1.36 and SUR-1.37 parts, and components for a modular sentry-gun which can be mounted with either a SUR-1.36 or a larger cutting laser, for when his arm-mounted one can't do the job.
Personality: Holtz is a quiet, laid-back and somewhat passive fellow who always loves to tinker with things, and hates talking to people. He never really felt at home in any crowd or clique, and he feels more emotions for his gun then his fellow man. He isn't completely heartless though, while he only has one friend (Keneth), he respects him very much. When his duty in the corps is over, he wants to go back to his plot to rule the computer industry of the NHC.
Bio: Actually born on the same moon as Foulke, he was orphaned at a young age and grew up with a large, extended foster family, where he was also the black-sheep. He wasn't picked on, but they actually forgot a few birthdays of his, which he's still very bitter about. He payed for himself for the first few years by clawing his way up through the computer-tech ladder, and if he didn't quit to join the military for the rush (and 'the bitches'), he'd probably be one of the chairmen of a big-shot computer company by now.
Appearance: Using the 4.22W model, or Weapons Specialist Battle-Platform, he has a bulkier body type with the same space-saving type of motor system that the Officer version uses.
Age: 31
Rank: Specialist, Heavy Armaments
Equipment: Stanton uses a severely modified 1.37M, re-christened the 2.33W. Changed to be held 'like a chainsaw' instead of the standard shoulder-grip, and featuring a gun-mounted shield, its a very useful tool in close quarters, considering it also has a bayonet, and has a sensor array linked to Stantons' HUD. It has access to many different ammo types, and with its' variable settings, can be used in different ways. For example, it can mount canisters of plasma instead of small physical bullets, so it can operate as a flamethrower. In addition, if puncturing large amounts of holes in the stations' hull isn't an issue, it can fire shotgun shells too. As aforementioned, his Weapons-Specialist body is a bulkier variation of the standard with additional internal space through a similar trick as the Officer variant, except with more focus on storing ammo. He also carries extra ammo for the rest of the squad.
Personality: Even using hardware that can think faster then a brain ever could, he simply doesn't use it all that much. He's always been a bit dim, but he's a friendly fellow at heart, and loves his 'Bros'. He's also very good with kids, surprisingly. Although it really interferes with his job (For obvious reasons), he's somewhat geeked out by actual blood, which the others take in stride for the most part.
History: Alongside his brother Keneth, they grew up on a nice primarily agricultural world, on their parents' farm, but they tired of that life and moved to an industrial city on the same planet. They lived in peace for the next four years working at a factory, but Stanton got involved in an industrial accident, and was forced to be 'Computerized' to stay alive, which put Keneth deep into debt. While it was alien, Stanton was determined to work hard in 'cyberspace' to help out his brother's financial situation (Which he put him into), until eventually deciding he'd go back into the real world, in the military. Keneth, hearing of this, decided to join up too, to make sure his brother wasn't alone out there, and they've been at it ever since.
Appearance: Keneth is a somewhat shorter fellow who's usually hard to see, as he's nearly always sneaking around or hiding behind someone else, usually his older brother. He has blonde hair and brown eyes.
Age: 27
Rank: Specialist, Infiltration.
Equipment: His combat uniform, the 7.21I Space-Use Infiltration Suit, is thinner and less armored then the standard model, with tiny holographic projectors all around its' exterior. With extra padding to soundproof, and 360 degrees of high-quality, zoomable sight, he's gonna be pretty hard to see, and he'll definitely see you first. His rifle and pistol, the I variants of each, are modified to use absolutely zero propellant instead of the (already very small) amounts of the standard model. To help maintain the same amount of muzzle velocity, they have an additional barrel each and more powerful capacitors. While they still make a noise, its' much less noticeable, and muzzle flash is zero. Finally, he has a small mono-molecular blade specialized in CQC, the design, in trials, has been shown to be able to cut through most armored enemies in one, to two swipes in the same area.
Personality: Somewhat shy and dodgey, he's a decent fellow overall who always sticks to his principles and personal code of honor, even if it is a bit lax as a stealth specialist. While he isn't very good at conversation, he feels a great rush when he's stalking enemies, or feels as if he's being hunted himself. He knows that isn't normal at all, nor healthy, but he's not going to deal with it any time soon. Due to mutual understanding (at least on some levels), he's pretty good friends with Holtz.
Bio: Alongside his brother Stanton, they grew up on a nice primarily agricultural world, on their parents' farm, but they tired of that life and moved to an industrial city on the same planet. They lived in peace for the next four years working at a factory, but Stanton got involved in an industrial accident, and was forced to be 'Computerized' to stay alive, which put Keneth deep into debt. Keneth, his own minimal social life failing, and feeling as if he's never going to be able to pay off his debts, looked for a different meaning in life instead of toiling at some workshop. When Stanton told him he was going into the military, he decided to follow suit. He found this to his liking.
