User has no bio, yet..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
General armored 'look', emphasis on the chunky leg armor, and minus the floaty bits:
Actual mecha she is based off of:
A Chibi version of how she would sort of look:
Name: MillAgros-TR-17 Hyouka
Combat Role: Heavy Artillery
Data Center: Bladine - South
Equipment & Gear:
Total Slots: 12
Heavy Particle Beam Bazooka (Handheld)- Slot 1
Heavy Particle Beam Ammo - Slot 3
2X Dual Medium Beam Cannon (Shoulder-mounted) - (Slot 1 each) Total Slot 2
2X Medium Beam Cannon Ammo - (Slot 1 each) Total Slot 2
MetalloCeramic Armor - Slot 2
Beam-Dampener Forcefield - Slot 2
Personality:
Hyouka is an enjoyer of life, who doesn't take her sentience and rights for granted, and is grateful to the champions of the past who secured peace between man and machine. She revels in her human appearance, but recognizes that not all robots had the same human-like upbringing that she had. Hyouka is nurturing and likes to see everyone getting along, desiring that bonds between individuals remain strong in these trying times. Despite behaving in a goofy manner in social settings, Hyouka can be surprisingly intelligent and tactical in combat, preferring to analyze and approach a situation from a safe distance, and surgically annihilating high-priority targets.
Background:
Hyouka's 'parents', who were descended from the MillAgros Company's line of robot tractors, migrated to Bladine to help with the reconstruction efforts, particularly in revitalizing the damaged food infrastructure. Having more than earned their keep, Hyouka's parents invested in creating a child who could be as human-like as possible so that she could enjoy all the benefits of fitting in perfectly with human society. Hyouka went through her early life facing little to no prejudice, and helped alleviate any ill-feelings any of her more ignorant human friends might have had towards robots, thus smoothing over human-robot relations. Though she enjoyed a very peaceful civilian life away from danger, Hyouka, who had always admired the Knightly Orders, felt she could do more by contributing to the war effort. She opted to outfit herself with hardpoints, allowing her to don mechanical armor, not unlike a knight, but more deeply integrated than any human-machine interface could be, and choosing to handle dangerous, high-damage weaponry and to be come a high-priority target herself, so that he human counterparts hopefully wouldn't have to.
The hangar doors opened out into an asteroid field. Hefting her cannon, Hyouka kicked off into space using her big, clunky, armored legs. Though her armor was fully integrated into her cybernetics, becoming less equipment and more an extension of her body, there was still some sluggishness, owing to the sheer weight of the parts. She double checked that her pain receptors had been switched to 'damage receptor' mode, so that any harm she received would register as 'damage' instead of as 'pain', allowing her to register threats without resorting to panicked reflex. She mentally thanked her parents for making her so lifelike and able to experience things as humans did, but for combat, it was easier to just be a machine sometimes. Hyouka noticed a drift in her rotation, and activated her thrusters to correct for the slight deviance. This was a good training exercise to get her used to space maneuvering and inertia of her weapons and armor. Heading deeper into the asteroid field, Hyouka had reached a safe distance from the troop transport. Warming up her cannons, text and diagrams from Hyouka's heads-up display flashed across her eyes, letting her know the status of her equipment and picking out potential targets. The dual beam cannons mounted over her shoulders extended and swiveled around like turrets, pointing at the various asteroids that floated about. Devastating magenta beams flashed out from her shoulders, striking the rocks forcefully, leaving deep, glowing impressions. Now to try the big one. Hyouka lifted the heavy particle beam cannon to her chest and connected its butt to the energy core mounted on her chest. She felt the click as the weapon attached to her, and could feel the energy draining into the gun as it began whirring to life and opening up like the jaws of a wolf. Making sure to point away from the transport, Hyouka let loose a powerful stream of energy that plowed through the asteroids. Hyouka had to fire her thrusters slightly to prevent from being pushed back by the surge of power lighting up space in front of her. A weapon like this might be too dangerous for a human combatant to handle, which was why she had chosen it. Instead of just leaving a molten imprint, the asteroids hit by the particle beam were superheated to the point of rupture. Clouds of searing pebbles and sand flew in all directions, some were stopped when they hit Hyouka's defense field, while others that managed to make it past the energy shield harmlessly impinged off her thick armor. Despite knowing that war was not a game, Hyouka couldn't help but feel somewhat exhilarated at wielding so much destructive power, and couldn't keep a smile from appearing on her face. As her weapons warmed down, Hyouka turned around and headed back towards to transport.
Vilkas has a very robotic body, lean and tall in structure, made of a black coloured alloy with white details. Her joints are different from the typical humanoid style to maximize mobility. The most human part of her is her face, which is mostly human minus the antenna.
Name: STP3-CHMR Beta IV "VILKAS"
Combat Role: Close Combat - Light
Data Center: Dostrex - North
Equipment & Gear:
♦ Flight Gear - HTI GEAR delta VII Located in her legs, it uses magnetism and turbines to provide a levitation likeability to Vilkas. + SKL GEAR delta III Located in her wrists, these are auxiliary combustion booster facing, typically used to either gain speed in tandem with the use of HTI or to perform quick combat maneuvers.
♦ Armour - Light Alloy Plating Vilka's body is made of a light alloy that focuses as much on resistance as it does on flexibility. While a bludgeoning hit might break a robot to pieces, Vilkas' body is made so it will resist such impacts by dispersing the stress on the metal. The counter-side to this is the vulnerability to bladed weapons and less defence against heat/laser based weapons.
♦ Weapon - LNC "LAELAPS" I A spearhead weapon using the principles of ultra-resonance, using ultrasonic vibration and searing heat to brandish extreme cutting abilities. It is connected to her body by a flexible tail capable of both powering and manoeuvring it with precision.
♦ Weapon - INU-GM BLADE XV Located at the tip of her feet, this is another bladed weapon, unlike the lance, it is powered by micro-lasers refracting off a crystal core, as to generate less impact when used, as it is directly attached to Vilkas' body.
Personality:
In casual conversation, Vilkas comes off as someone with a contained personality, not exactly shy, but instead very soft-spoken and polite, typically only speaking if she feels it is necessary and avoiding showing too much emotion. However, when in battle, she is a much more focused person, not smiling berserk like some other warriors, but showcasing a level of coldness and rage that can be impressive when compared to her typical collected demeanour.
Due to her background, Vilkas has a very soldier-like mindset. She judges herself by her usefulness to others and will rarely confront others unless she is comfortable with them, or extremely angered by their actions. She is not one to have ambitions or plans and often feels herself alienated from most 'commonplace' actions, thinking herself unfit to have things such as hobbies or general human behaviours.
Background:
Not everyone agrees with the order, that is no secret. A particular scientist believed that the order was too soft, she believed robot emancipation just led to softness, and it would be the creation of increasingly more powerful and mindless robots would lead to victory, she nicknamed that end-project Fenrir, a beast capable of swallowing even gods. Of course, it would take a long time to reach such ideal robots, she had to start small, and one of these small projects, a side project, in fact, was VILKAS. A failed project that didn't meet expectations, but was still functional enough for her to keep around, as a sort of 'maid' to her secret lab, often being berated or outright hurt by her 'master'
As Dostrex became more crowded, it was only a matter of time before the order tracked down the scientist and her unethical practices, with no hope of combat victory, she opted to escape, but not before activating the self-destruction of the base and her 'projects', by luck her own device didn't act up, and upon the capture of the base, VILKAS was taken into the custody of the order, where she was reformed and repurposed as one of the robots fighting the swarm
The battlefield stretched in front of Vilkas, multiple targets moving towards her group, in her mind, the warrior mapped the field, analyzing the behavior of each enemy.
"Field map and enemy positions are now being sent over," she told in a cold tone to her squad leader, continuing to overlook the field until her sensors picked a noise. "Enemy detected, switching from data collection to engagement," she added before jumping away from where she was, as two of the brutish enemies pounced her.
With her flexible boosters, she was able to evade enemies, her weapons heating up and preparing for the melee when... it all vanished, the combat simulation over.
"No, no, no Vil. We have already made this clear, you should not engage enemies alone like this." a voice suddenly said, unplugging a cable from the robot's neck. "You need to follow the orders given."
The robot looked up for a moment, though she lacked hormones as she was not biological, one could easily be fooled to think she was in an adrenaline rush. "R...Right. I am sorry, commander, I was just... foolish." the head of battle sometimes made her too aggressive in her thinking, that was a known issue. "May we run another simulation? I am sure my results will be up to the desired level this time..."
"No. You have been doing this for hours, it is time for you to take a break, there are surely other things you want to do, right?"
"Other... things?" she questioned in a low voice, she didn't understand why leisure breaks were nescessary, after all, she couldn't think of a single thing she wanted to do. She was just a combat robot after all...
Visalz has a small build, with short blonde hair that is sometimes styled in short, spiky twintails. In and outside of combat, she usually carries some kind of bag on her. In combat, she carries an armored backpack and has plenty of storage all over her armor for her various pieces of equipment.
Name: W-Salz AKA Visalz or Visa
Combat Role: Support
Data Center: South Dostrex
Equipment & Gear:
Medium -Armored Plating This armor is styled somewhat after human EOD armor. -Robot Repair Kit -Resupply Cache -Cover Printer -Phoenix Pistol + Ammo This magnum pistol is an old model, simply working on the ancient adage of "Big bullet going very fast" for its operation. Visalz upkeeps it religiously and uses it as her sidearm. -Lightweight Assault Munitions These explosive charges can be programmed to be thrown like grenades, placed as tripmines, or set up to be triggered remotely.
Personality: Visalz has a fascination with military equipment, from weapons to armor and yes, even other military robots. Her curiosity and drive to learn about them (in their capabilities, personalities, and how they are physically constructed) sometimes leads to misunderstandings with other robots, but her honest nature tends to clear them up rather quickly. She sees her role as a support-class as a duty to keep the wonderful machines around her working well. She takes to her work with a cheerful attitude, and keeps it even in serious situations.
Background: Having been created and trained on Dostrex, Visalz was familiar with mining equipment, excavation, and upkeep of machines large and small. Her fascination with militaria perhaps began because of her familiarity with industrial equipment. To her, weapons and armor were so much more elegant in design than anything else she had worked on.
She found her way into supporting combat units by proving her abilities as a combat engineer: Capable of both creating and destroying fortifications as well as repairing friendly robots.
Visalz looked through the pair of scouting goggles she had borrowed. Just as the report had said, there was a crate sitting in the Bladine countryside. She made her way towards the solitary
It was said to have been part of a cargo delivery. Of course, something had gone wrong and one crate had gone missing. The crates were too small to have tracking on them, and it was considered low priority, but Visalz made it a pastime to track them down in her spare time.
Officially, she was tasked with disposal and/or recovery of any compromised assets - having an affinity for demolition and equipment handling had given her that job. Unofficially, the armorer and supply corps tended to turn a blind eye to taking "souvenirs" since she was doing parts of their job for them. Though, the time she tried to bring back an artillery emplacement piece by piece, the officer in charge really chewed her out. Visalz stuck to small things since then.
She frowned, looking down at the crate. It must have fallen from a decent height, because it was lodged in the ground. The ground around it had accumulated a large puddle from the week's rain. The water was unfortunate - It probably had managed to seep into the container. That itself wasn't necessarily an issue, but the drop may have damaged them as well. Both at once probably was enough to make the entire thing unsalvageable.
As Visalz pried open the container, her fears were confirmed. It was fairly severely dented from where it had landed, and water had filled it halfway. The contents were a row of service rifles... Were, being the operative word. Many of them were visibly bent or cracked down the receivers.
"What a shame..." Visalz said with a tint of sadness in her voice. Since the ordinance was damaged, it wasn't going to be recovered. Official doctrine was to have it marked to be recycled - or in unsafe areas, destroyed completely. Luckily for the shipment, it could be tagged to be recycled later on. But one of the rifles was relatively unharmed compared to the others.
Pulling the firearm from the crate, she looked it over. It had a flex in the barrel, and the handgaurd was cracked. Both of which were replaceable parts. Visalz cracked a smile. This one was able to be saved.
"HQ. I've found the lost cargo. It's too damaged to recover. Marking for recycling." Visalz cooly reported. Under the surface, however, she was giddy to repair the rifle. She had already salvaged a shortened handguard, and with a smaller barrel replacement it would make a compact carbine... She couldn't help but grin thinking about having a new rifle in her collection. It would be a conversation piece for sure.
"I've set the beacon for recycling. Returning to base." With that, Visalz began her walk back, with a new restoration project held firmly in her arms.
Dubious Wares And Questionable Methods ~@13org (FYR), @Rezod92~
Freyr knocked out one of the Goblins with his dagger and the remaining one was tossed out by an unexpected helper, A Beelzebub by the name of Kira Gigas.
The last Goblin noticed that her fellows have been dealt with and now she was alone with three people, two of whom are more than capable of taking her down. "Uh, oh." A moment passed before the last Goblin then leapt from the wagon, knowing that the battle was already lost. George's carriage was safe. At least, for the moment.
"You have dealt with them, Mister Freyr?" George took a glance behind and spotted Kira. "Oh? Who might you be? Well, thanks for lending help too. Sorry Mister Freyr, looks I will need to split reward. Unless she is part of guild too. Are you part of Freyr's guild?"
Nero went on the defensive when you charged. He blocked your punch with the broad of his blade, shattering the weapon. He narrowly evaded your knee strike but he failed to see your ultimate attack.
The flying kick launched Nero for several feet, his breath knocked out of him. However, in mere moments he was back to his feet again. "Nice shot. I guess that's the final round. I don't think I can take another one of that." He clutched his head in pain with one hand and he was a bit wobbly, but he had survived your attack. "Why don't we have an applause to our monk here?"
At Nero's request, the crowd gave a round of claps for your victory. The duel has concluded.
------
Once the crowd had dispersed and gone, Nero invited you into his farm to have a drink. With a table and two barrel chairs, Nero poured you a cup of fine wine. "So what would you like to talk about? You know, for the reward." He said as he poured himself one. "You can say I have... a front row seat to, pretty much everything."
”Make you look like Neil? Is the treasure medicine or some kind of youth potion?”
"I'm being metaphorical, you dunces!" Forde snapped. "I mean look at your friend over here! He looks like he hadn't worked a day in his life!" He said about Neil.
------
As the party worked in searching for the treasure map, Forde approached them looking panicked and worried. "I've got bad news, friends! There's a patrol coming and I'm pretty sure they're not gonna appreciate our work here." He said.
"Well, what're we gonna do?" Neil asked.
Forde thought for a moment before coming up with a crude but effective plan. "Alright, alright, listen here. I'm gonna take my steed and I'm gonna distract the patrol, maybe lead them to somewhere else. Gonna probably have to provoke them to chase me. But I'm a slippery fellow, they're not gonna catch me easily." He then began heading away to carry out his plan. "Meanwhile, you all just continue finding that map. I'm coming for that tomorrow, okay?"
With that, Forde was gone and the party could continue digging and desecrating the burial site. The Altissima sisters made bringing up the coffins easy while the rest checked inside them for any maps. Neil, however, noticed something odd.
"Guys, why are all these women?" Indeed, all the opened caskets contained women. Some in female clothing, some in male clothing while most had clothing too ragged to be recognized anymore. "They also seem well-preserved. Like, they just died yesterday." Some of the bodies had decayed to mere bones but most of the dug up coffins contained bodies that seemed fresh.
Suddenly, the woman Neil was checking shot her eyes open. Her arms launched forward and grabbed hold of Neil. "Ah! Guys!" Neil cried for help as the woman attempted to pull him closer to her.
The unearthed coffins burst open, its occupants emerging. They were all women with varying degrees of paleness. Zombies. It appeared the party had awakened an entire graveyard of them, some were even clawing out off the ground. They were quickly growing in number and the party was getting surrounded.
The Zombies shambled after the party. Neil had broken free of his Zombie and yelled. "Guys! Get to the church! We can hole up there!" Another Zombie had unfortunately pounced on him from behind, already kissing his neck in desperate affection. "Ack!"
The cell the scientist was in was closed so you couldn't take him yet. I've written as if you still asked him the questions and contacted Captain Cura.
An opportunity presented itself! Camille managed to get a good hit in with a swing of her minigun. The pirate champion blocked but it was a weak guard. He was stunned for a moment and you did your move, leaping up to crush him with your massive beam cannon.
The champion recovered enough to narrowly evade your bold attack but Camille used the distraction for one mighty, unavoidable swing of her minigun. But the pirate made no attempt to evade, instead he slashed at Camille's weapon and sliced it into two. Her minigun had been used to block the champion's attacks enough to wear off its integrity until it was no longer able to withstand another. Camille lost her balance and crashed into the ground.
With no one else opposing him, the pirate ace turned to finish you off with one clean swing of his blade. Your weapon was too heavy to fight him in melee combat so you were good as dead. Except that the blade's swing was blocked by another, a sword that glowed with power and belonged to Hospitaller Gordian. You saw his wound just had a couple of bandages on it and he was still back in action, protecting you with his own sword.
The champion hopped back to increase distance and he and the Hospitaller appeared to go for a showdown. But then the former leapt away, one huge jump away from you and Gordian. The Knights had repelled the attackers, the surviving raiders running for the hills and abandoning their wounded fellows to be finished off. The pirate ace probably knew that, realizing he would be surrounded soon and opting to retreat alongside his fellow raiders. The battle was won.
"Miss Hyouka, are you alright?" Gordian asked, clutching his wound in lingering pain and making it weird he was the one asking that question.
You saw Camille gather her broken minigun. She stared at her sliced weapon with a sad sigh.
"You better start speaking now while you have the chance."
The scientist behind the reinforced glass looked up. "Who...?" He quickly pressed up to the glass in a frenzied panic. "Whatever you do! Don't break the glass! This is the only place that's safe! They can't break through the glass!" He yelled at you. "I've jammed this cell's controls so they can't open it through the control room. So please, don't break the glass!"
He turned away from you and began pacing around the cell. "We fused... we fused Swarm specimens and humans together. Hybrids. We would use the Swarm against itself." He muttered to himself but still within earshot. "But... we didn't know. We couldn't have known. That they would establish contact with... with... whatever's controlling The Swarm. What have we done? What have we done? What have we done?"
"Captain Cura? Can you listen? We have a situation! I found holding cells for Swarm aliens, the issue is, they were empty, I fear a breakout is taking place at this very moment. I found one live scientist and I am trying to get more information from him, but the situation in the room... it was..."
"What?! Damn it." Cura took a moment to organize her thoughts and form a plan. "Okay, here's what we'll do. We've taken out the lab's defenses so I'll be doing a sweep through this facility to find and destroy all signs of Swarm presence. Meanwhile, you take that scientist and go to the main entrance. You know, that hangar part of the lab we blew open. I'm calling for extraction to take you and the scientist to the base. We need him safe and sound as soon as poss--" The comms was suddenly cut off.
"Vilkas-san!" The ninja robot opened. "I'm at the command center and I'm seeing cameras showing Captain Cura and her forces being attacked by alien creatures. They're Swarm most likely. I'm... they're everywhere. They've killed all the scientists and they're all heading to the hangar." Jin regained her composure with a declaration. "I'm going to help Captain Cura. Jin out."
"The specimens are probably trying to take the vehicles in the hangar to escape." The scientist said, having heard the conversation. "The escape vehicles are probably already taken by them. That's why the rest are going for the hangar." He chuckled and sobbed at the same time. "Smart buggers, aren't they? They waited for the entire lab to focus all its defenses on repelling you guys before breaking out. We never saw it coming."
Captain Cura ordered you to secure the scientist and your tail could easily break open the reinforced glass. However, if you bring him then you will probably be slowed and therefore, miss all the action that was happening. On the other hand, the scientist said the aliens could not break the glass so you could leave him to fetch later. But the scientist also admired the aliens' enhanced intelligence, can they really not break the glass?
"If they're not responding, they're definitely in trouble! I'll get the suits, you keep an eye on them. Dia! The ones inside aren't saying anything. We're probably going to need the suits just in case."
"Copy that. I'll get the suits ready." Dia responded over the comms.
"SWARM ALIENS!" Dia yelled over the comms. "Get back in the ship now!"
But Dross was next to the buggy and you saw an alien take advantage of the surprise when it managed to hack off one of Dross' arms with just one swing of its claws. The combat robot did not wince and retaliated, a blade of pure plasma emerged from the palm of her remaining hand and struck down the alien with a diagonal slash. Two more aliens faced her down and it was doubtful that she was going to survive this engagement. She was a robot though, she can take the loss.
"Go! Leave me!" Dross did her best in fighting two of the aliens with just one arm. A claw managed to rend her torso, exposing inner machinery and circuitry, but she held up. "Don't let them get the craft!"
You see two more aliens emerge from the buggy, making a beeline towards you and the VTOL. They were quick with their feet but you also saw them jittering. As if they were continuously being stung by pain. "Visalz! Get in!"
Dubious Wares And Questionable Methods ~@13org (FYR)~
"I would like to avoid any needless bloodshed. Please leave us."
The Goblins yelled back at your threat, your warning arrows not deterring them at all. They called you a 'meanie' and 'rude'. Light expletives, nothing truly demeaning. Such was the innocence of these child-like monsters.
"Gya!" The Goblin driver lost the reins to their wagon, the ropes having been cut by your well-placed arrow. But the loss of control did not exactly go in your favor, the Goblins' wagon swerved and crashed into your carriage. Fortunately, George had skill in driving and managed to keep the wagon from tumbling over, its trip uninterrupted. The hard crash, however, threw you off balance and forced your attention away from the Goblin raiders.
The Goblins' wagon was as good as down but the crash sent a few of them over to your wagon. About four of them were now on top of the cargo and had recovered. "There! Get him before he uses his stupid bow!" Before you could react, all four of them piled on you. Their petite forms belied their awesome strength. Forcing them off you was pointless, they were much stronger in physique.
"Hey you! Get the driver!" One of the Goblins on you ordered.
"Ah, okay!" The Goblin holding your left arm down got up, not knowing she had just freed that limb. Clearly, smarts were not their forte.
It had been a long while since you had been invited to the formation of a guild by someone named Bartholomew Barker. You were supposed to go much, much earlier but matters on your side took a huge amount of time to deal with. You even almost forgot about the invitation. But all that was done now, you were ready to go to this guild.
You took off from Boreal Port, not bothering with a local commotion on the remote parts of the town, and to the location of Bart's guild. Your smooth flight was interrupted when you saw a crashed wagon on the road with several crying Goblins by it. Further up, you see a speeding wagon also with Goblins having a tussle with what appeared to be a man with the ears of a rabbit and another, older man who drove the wagon.
The Goblins were probably raiding the carriage, trying to steal its cargo. It looked like you were getting a quest pretty early.
"Camille! Pull yourself together. Can you fight? If you can, fight! If you can't...get Gordian to the medics. But whatever you do, don't do nothing!"
Your beam cannons laid waste to the raiders, giving much needed breathing room for the outnumbered Knights. You even took out a few of their war trucks, destroying what passengers they had. You were racking up the body count in this battle but these were robots, their deaths right now may only be temporary. Meanwhile, shots thrown your way were deflected by your forcefield and it was still holding up for now.
Initiates had come to assist the severely wounded Gordian but you see several pirates break through the Knights' line and went directly at the vulnerable Hospitaller. To fire your cannons this close to friendlies would be dangerous but fortunately, Camille had stepped up and mowed down the incoming pirates with her minigun weapon. She moved to join the Knights in returning fire at the raiders.
The battle raged, both sides incurring casualties, but you and the Knights were slowly but surely beating the pirates. Until a small green robot with a red cape emerged into the air and landed in the Knights' formation. With just a single blade, he slashed and cut and stabbed through the humans. He was taking down an alarming amount of Knights, none of whom could land a solid hit on him. He was just that good of a fighter, a champion among the pirates.
Spotting you, the green pirate leaped to slash at you but he was knocked away by Camille's minigun. The green pirate quickly recovered and closed the distance. Camille realized she was not getting the opportunity to fire and wielded her weapon in melee. The two robots clashed but it was clear who had the upper hand. Camille was receiving wounds, the cuts and slashes exposing her alloy and circuitry.
The Knights were busy dealing with the pirates, leaving you to find a way to help Camille.
"Holding cells, as I expected, they had to be doing something really nefarious to justify hiding like this. I will be going towards the holding if you don't mind, I feel I am better suited to deal with whatever is there considering my equipment. Please take care on your way to the command center."
"Very well, Vilkas-san. Good hunting."
------
You make your way to the holding cells of this illegal facility. A big automatic door parted to let you in the area, and you were greeted with a surprise. The area was huge and divided into two: The ground floor and the catwalk modules above. The cells themselves were average-sized rooms with reinforced glass but one block of the place was a row of large tubes that probably housed a specimen. A circular room was located at the upper end of the area filled with computers, likely the control room.
But the surprise was, there was nothing in any of the cells nor in the tubes, save for scratch marks and a bit of blood. The cells' glass covers were open and the tubes shattered. The emptiness was eerie and you feel that something had gone horribly wrong. As you explored, you soon find a closed cell in the catwalks above. Inside was a person with spiky brown hair and fair skin with a pair of glasses to hide his eyes. He wore a simple lab coat and he was in the corner cowering.
"What have we done? What have we done? What have we done? What have we done? What have we done?" The scientist repeated like a mantra.
You were in Dostrex, hanging around in one of its military bases checking out all sorts of equipment and hardware when a distress signal was received. It was apparently from an escape pod that was stranded in the middle of nowhere, and 'nowhere' in Dostrex meant volcanic wasteland. However, there was no ship orbiting Dostrex that was in danger. So where did the escape pod come from? It was an ominous signal that still needed to be answered.
Dia piloted the small VTOL aircraft and the party went off, entering the desolate landscapes of Dostrex. There was nothing of note on the way, just the usual rocks, lava and volcanoes. Sometimes there was a river of magma or a pit of bubbling molten rock but other than that, there was nothing else in this planet. At least, that was how it should be. You knew that criminals sometimes make hideouts in this planet.
The aircraft soon arrived at the escape pod's coordinates. Except that it was not an escape pod, it was a white, enclosed buggy vehicle with wheels built to traverse Dostrex's rocky terrain. It was fortunate that the vehicle was stranded in a stable area of ground so there was no rush to rescue those inside. The VTOL was also allowed to touchdown which Dia did, a few meters from the vehicle.
"I'm staying here just in case we need to take off quickly." Dia said. "If there are humans inside, tell me if they're injured and if they don't have protection against the heat, I've prepared a couple of thermal suits here. Just come get them if they need it." The Support robot briefed you and Dross.
You and Dross deployed and the scorching temperatures of the planet quickly hit you. Being a robot, your mechanical body can withstand the heat. At least for a while, staying in these temperatures would soon fry your circuitry and other smaller parts in hours. Fortunately, the area was stable so the heat was not that bad. Relatively, it was still pretty bad.
"I'm seeing several figures inside the buggy. Heat signatures too so they're human." Dross told you as the two of you made your way to the stranded vehicle. "They look cramped in there though." The combat robot reached the vehicle and began knocking. "Hey, we're here. Come to rescue you. You folks in there have any suits for the heat?" There was no response, oddly. Not verbally, nor in the comms. "Hmm, weird. Anyway, we're gonna have to assume the worst that they don't have protection against the heat. Do you wanna head back and get them or should I?"
You get a feeling this decision was going to be important.
User has no bio, yet..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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