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Shepard Quest (Story Only)
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Prologue (Part 01) - Testing, testing, one, two, three
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
-----
[X] Rebecca "Revy" Shepard
[X] You're smart. Really, really, smart. Seriously, you built yourself power armor in a cave. With a box of scraps. (Iron Man)
OK, maybe superpowers are a bit of an exaggeration, but you think you're entitled to that. After all, you're sixteen years old, have just invented something that's going to revolutionize power generation across the galaxy, and you've just built a set of powered armor out of parts you scrounged from farm equipment. You're kind of awesome.
Now, to get to the testing. You pull a camera drone out of hauler you used to carry the Mk1 here, and with a swipe of your omni-tool, the little sphere hums to life, and you start talking to the camera. Have to record everything for posterity after all.
"Right, MK 1 armor test, phase two. Already tested basic locomotion back in the cave, so now I'm going to check flight and weapons systems."
Another command sent from your omni-tool cracks the rear of the suit open, allowing you to climb inside, it's snug, but comfortable enough, the tweaks you made last time paying off. A twitch of your fingers inside your gloves seals the rear and begins the boot sequence.
The VI you installed starts running through the checklist. "Arc Reactor online. Sensors online. Weapons online. All systems nominal." So far, so good.
You take a few steps without issue- no new problems there- before half turning to face the camera.
"OK, first test is omni-blade. Suit, Blade" At the command, the VI obediently flash forges a meter long silicon carbide blade, and you give it a few experimental swings through the air before bringing it down through a log you'd set up for just this purpose. It slices through effortlessly.
"Perfect. Suit, Blade Off." The omni-blade vanishes obediently, but it occurs to you that might be awkward in combat. Maybe replace it with a switch of some sort? That or a mnemonic of some kind. Maybe some sort of Eye tracking software?
That'd have to wait until later. For now, voice control would have to do. Though maybe you should call the VI something other then "Suit"
[]Yes, (Write-in)
[]No, it doesn't matter. It's just a VI. Keep calling it "Suit".
With that decided, you move on to the next phase of the testing.
"2nd test, flamethrower." A few seconds and one impromptu bonfire later, you're happy to call it a success, not that you expected anything else. A child could build a working flamethrower. Hell, you had on two separate occasions. Your mother's wrath after the thing with the shed had been near biblical.
Still, moving on to the fun part, i.e. the part with explosives. The boxy 40mm launcher on your right arm wasn't particularly impressive in and of itself, and the six 40mm grenades loaded into it weren't much better; they were crude ANFO warheads, and you hadn't even bothered with programming them for airbursting.
But that was OK. This was a proof of principle, something to get people's attention so you could get the money and resources to build the Mk II. Finish working out the kinks with the Repulsors, get some better materials, some real funding.
It was going to be epic.
But for now, you have science to do. "3rd test, Grenade Launcher. Bring up the targeting system." A targeting reticle appears on your HUD as a VI projects the trajectory of the round, and you adjust the aim to drop it into a barrel you set up a good forty meters away. You squeeze the trigger and the grenade sails through the air... only to overshoot the barrel by a good three meters.
"Oops." At least the kinetic barriers were working fine. No noticeable drop in shields from the shrapnel. Which well it should- your arc reactor is pumping more power into them then most Tanks can manage.
"Going to call that a partial success. Note to self: adjust targeting system."
Which left you at the real moment of truth- the flight system. The thrusters you had build were a poor stand in for the Repulsors you had originally envisioned, but they should work.
"Ok, first flight test, One hundred and fifty meter jump. In one, two-"
You are cut off as a shuttle screams by over head, followed quickly by another three.
They aren't Alliance shuttles.
Raiders have come to Mindoir. What do you do?
[]Return to the Homestead and make sure Mom is alright, and pick up some spare ammo for the MK 1.
[]Head straight to town. Dad's in there somewhere, as is most of the rest of the colony.
[]Hide
[]Write-in
-----
[X] Rebecca "Revy" Shepard
[X] You're smart. Really, really, smart. Seriously, you built yourself power armor in a cave. With a box of scraps. (Iron Man)
OK, maybe superpowers are a bit of an exaggeration, but you think you're entitled to that. After all, you're sixteen years old, have just invented something that's going to revolutionize power generation across the galaxy, and you've just built a set of powered armor out of parts you scrounged from farm equipment. You're kind of awesome.
Now, to get to the testing. You pull a camera drone out of hauler you used to carry the Mk1 here, and with a swipe of your omni-tool, the little sphere hums to life, and you start talking to the camera. Have to record everything for posterity after all.
"Right, MK 1 armor test, phase two. Already tested basic locomotion back in the cave, so now I'm going to check flight and weapons systems."
Another command sent from your omni-tool cracks the rear of the suit open, allowing you to climb inside, it's snug, but comfortable enough, the tweaks you made last time paying off. A twitch of your fingers inside your gloves seals the rear and begins the boot sequence.
The VI you installed starts running through the checklist. "Arc Reactor online. Sensors online. Weapons online. All systems nominal." So far, so good.
You take a few steps without issue- no new problems there- before half turning to face the camera.
"OK, first test is omni-blade. Suit, Blade" At the command, the VI obediently flash forges a meter long silicon carbide blade, and you give it a few experimental swings through the air before bringing it down through a log you'd set up for just this purpose. It slices through effortlessly.
"Perfect. Suit, Blade Off." The omni-blade vanishes obediently, but it occurs to you that might be awkward in combat. Maybe replace it with a switch of some sort? That or a mnemonic of some kind. Maybe some sort of Eye tracking software?
That'd have to wait until later. For now, voice control would have to do. Though maybe you should call the VI something other then "Suit"
[]Yes, (Write-in)
[]No, it doesn't matter. It's just a VI. Keep calling it "Suit".
With that decided, you move on to the next phase of the testing.
"2nd test, flamethrower." A few seconds and one impromptu bonfire later, you're happy to call it a success, not that you expected anything else. A child could build a working flamethrower. Hell, you had on two separate occasions. Your mother's wrath after the thing with the shed had been near biblical.
Still, moving on to the fun part, i.e. the part with explosives. The boxy 40mm launcher on your right arm wasn't particularly impressive in and of itself, and the six 40mm grenades loaded into it weren't much better; they were crude ANFO warheads, and you hadn't even bothered with programming them for airbursting.
But that was OK. This was a proof of principle, something to get people's attention so you could get the money and resources to build the Mk II. Finish working out the kinks with the Repulsors, get some better materials, some real funding.
It was going to be epic.
But for now, you have science to do. "3rd test, Grenade Launcher. Bring up the targeting system." A targeting reticle appears on your HUD as a VI projects the trajectory of the round, and you adjust the aim to drop it into a barrel you set up a good forty meters away. You squeeze the trigger and the grenade sails through the air... only to overshoot the barrel by a good three meters.
"Oops." At least the kinetic barriers were working fine. No noticeable drop in shields from the shrapnel. Which well it should- your arc reactor is pumping more power into them then most Tanks can manage.
"Going to call that a partial success. Note to self: adjust targeting system."
Which left you at the real moment of truth- the flight system. The thrusters you had build were a poor stand in for the Repulsors you had originally envisioned, but they should work.
"Ok, first flight test, One hundred and fifty meter jump. In one, two-"
You are cut off as a shuttle screams by over head, followed quickly by another three.
They aren't Alliance shuttles.
Raiders have come to Mindoir. What do you do?
[]Return to the Homestead and make sure Mom is alright, and pick up some spare ammo for the MK 1.
[]Head straight to town. Dad's in there somewhere, as is most of the rest of the colony.
[]Write-in
Prologue (Part 02) - Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jog
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
-------
[X] Cortana, voice set to female.
After thinking for a moment, you decide to give the VI a name with a little more personality then "Suit".
"VI, re-designate yourself as "Cortana".
The suit responded mechanically, "Acknowledged. This VI will now respond to the designation, 'Cortana'."
"And set your voice to female while you're at it."
"Understood." The voice shifted appropriately.
Well, that was easy enough.
[X]Return to the Homestead and make sure Mom is alright, and pick up some spare ammo for the MK 1.
After a few moments consideration, you decide to head back to the Homestead first; maybe it's a little selfish, but the spare grenades and flamer fuel for the MK 1 are there, and you're getting the feeling you're going to need all the firepower you can get if this is as bad as you think it is.
A Barked order to Cortana brings up a projected course back home, and leaves you at a moment of truth.
"Ok, let's see how well this this thing flies." You take a running start, bounding forward before leaping as high as your exoskeleton assisted muscles can carry you before kicking on the thrusters. You wobble for half a moment before a minor adjustment to flaps stabilizes you.
You let out a whoop of delight- you're flying, with nothing but the suit between you and the air- before the sound of explosions in the distance brings your attention back to the now.
You can celebrate later, after the alien invasion has been taken care of.
When your home comes into sight, the first thing that strikes you is that it's completely intact. Which probably would have made you feel much better if a small unmarked shuttle wasn't in the process of dropping troops.
"Cortana, give me grenades." The VI complies, and your HUD is once more filled with with a projected trajectory. Mindful of your test earlier, you aim a bit low and pump out three grenades in quick succession. One misses, hitting the Garden shed and blowing it to pieces. The other two fly true and explode against the shuttles barriers.
Not enough. The barriers are weakened, but they are holding, and the shuttle is coming around, bringing a side mounted turret to bear.
So you decide to do something really stupid.
You slam into the Shuttle at almost 100 km/hr, the impact rattling you to your bones even through the Mk 1's gel layer. A shouted, "Cortana, Blade!" brings your Omni-blade into existence as you stab it into the shuttle's canopy. You rip the blade sideways, leaving a gaping rent in the armored cockpit before you shove your right gauntlet into the hole and trigger the flamethrower.
Things get a little confused after that: everything starts spinning madly as the shuttle spins out of control, and you're distantly aware of screams. You jump clear, or at least try to, slamming into the ground and leaving a good sized furrow behind you.
Everything hurts. Your barriers, are holding, if only barely and while they are slowly climbing back up to full strength you're still vulnerable for the moment. The few raiders who were already on the ground are already starting to shoot at you, and they're out of range of both your flamethrower and blade.
Three guys spread out and two grenades is bad odds, but you've already come this far. You launcher spits fire as you pump a grenade at the two most distant raiders; they stumble backwards, but aren't down, but it's too late and you're already charging the third with your Blade drawn. Assault rifles dig into your already drained barriers, draining them to twenty percent, then ten, then five as you rush to close the distance.
You aren't going to make it.
You just have time to process the thought when a seven round burst tears forth out of the upstairs window and drops the guy you're charging like a puppet with the strings cut. Two more bursts follow in short succession, drilling neat holes in the center of mass of the other two before they can recover.
And just like that, it's over.
You fight the urge to sink to your knees. Everything hurts, and while thankfully you don't seem to be bleeding seriously anywhere, you're still regretting not installing a medi-gel injector. Definitely putting that in the MK II. Also, improve the gel layer.
Distantly, it occurs to you that you might be in shock.
"Coming out!" You start at the sound of your Mom's voice.
She walks out the front door wearing an old Alliance-issue hardsuit, worn but still serviceable, her old service rifle held at the ready, not quite pointed at you, but not quite pointed away either.
It occurs to you that she has no idea who you are. And why should she- your helmet hides your face completely, and the suit adds a good forty centimeters to your height.
Before you can figure out what to say, she starts talking. "While I appreciate the help, I'm pretty sure that suit isn't alliance issue, and it's definitely not something the local Militia can afford. Who the Hell are you?"
You blink at that, twice, before you respond, blurting out. "Mom, it's me. It's Revy."
That takes her off guard. The rifle wavers, then points to the ground as incredulity fills her voice. "What the- Revy? How? Where did you get that thing?"
"Uh, I built it. I was out testing it, but then a bunch of shuttles flew by and-"
"I got the idea, Revy." She sighed before continuing. "I suppose I should have expected this sort of thing ever since you built a perpetual motion machine for your science fair project."
You frown at the memory. "It wasn't that impressive. The University of Serrice's is much more efficient."
She smiled at that. "Definitely, Revy. I don't suppose you have any more of an idea what's going on? I can't get anyone on radio- there's jamming everywhere."
"I just saw a bunch of shuttles heading for the city. They looked military and definitely not Alliance."
"Of course they were." She sighed again. "I suppose if I told you to stay here and hide you wouldn't listen?"
You frown at that. "Of course not."
She smiles wanly and echoes you. "Of course not." Another sigh. "You sure you're up for this, Revy? I saw what you did. You've always been brilliant, but how much damage did that armor of yours take just now?"
Huh. That's actually a good question. "Cortana, Status report."
"Running Diagnostic. Please wait.
"Alert: Primary Sensors offline.
"Alert: Thruster 3 has sustained critical damage.
"Alert: Damage detected on flamer nozzle.
"Alert: Minor structural damage detected.
"No other significant damage detected."
Nothing critical, but nothing good either. Secondary sensors would work for the moment. You can shut down Thruster 4 and reroute power from barriers to lower the suit's apparent mass, but that'll make you much more vulnerable while in flight. Not insurmountable as long as you kept to the ground while people were shooting at you. The Flamer nozzle could be a much bigger problem, depending on what, exactly the damage was; it might just lower the effective range, or it might be significant enough to cause a catastrophic failure.
The structural damage...well, as long as you avoided ramming a shuttle again, you'll be fine. Probably. It'd be best to keep your shields up, but you already knew that.
The aircar out front was smashed during the fighting, and it'll take Mom a little bit to get the Bike from out back.
What do you do? (Choose no more then two)
[]Attempt to repair Thruster 3. Having mobility in the coming fight is going to be of utmost importance.
[]Attempt to repair the Flamer Nozzle. You definitely don't want to risk it blowing up on you in the middle of a fight.
[]Run to your makeshift workshop and grab all your spare grenades and Flamer fuel.
[]Attempt to salvage a weapon from the raider's shuttle. The cannon on the side looks fairly self-contained, and you think you might be able to jury rig it to your armor.
-------
[X] Cortana, voice set to female.
After thinking for a moment, you decide to give the VI a name with a little more personality then "Suit".
"VI, re-designate yourself as "Cortana".
The suit responded mechanically, "Acknowledged. This VI will now respond to the designation, 'Cortana'."
"And set your voice to female while you're at it."
"Understood." The voice shifted appropriately.
Well, that was easy enough.
[X]Return to the Homestead and make sure Mom is alright, and pick up some spare ammo for the MK 1.
After a few moments consideration, you decide to head back to the Homestead first; maybe it's a little selfish, but the spare grenades and flamer fuel for the MK 1 are there, and you're getting the feeling you're going to need all the firepower you can get if this is as bad as you think it is.
A Barked order to Cortana brings up a projected course back home, and leaves you at a moment of truth.
"Ok, let's see how well this this thing flies." You take a running start, bounding forward before leaping as high as your exoskeleton assisted muscles can carry you before kicking on the thrusters. You wobble for half a moment before a minor adjustment to flaps stabilizes you.
You let out a whoop of delight- you're flying, with nothing but the suit between you and the air- before the sound of explosions in the distance brings your attention back to the now.
You can celebrate later, after the alien invasion has been taken care of.
When your home comes into sight, the first thing that strikes you is that it's completely intact. Which probably would have made you feel much better if a small unmarked shuttle wasn't in the process of dropping troops.
"Cortana, give me grenades." The VI complies, and your HUD is once more filled with with a projected trajectory. Mindful of your test earlier, you aim a bit low and pump out three grenades in quick succession. One misses, hitting the Garden shed and blowing it to pieces. The other two fly true and explode against the shuttles barriers.
Not enough. The barriers are weakened, but they are holding, and the shuttle is coming around, bringing a side mounted turret to bear.
So you decide to do something really stupid.
You slam into the Shuttle at almost 100 km/hr, the impact rattling you to your bones even through the Mk 1's gel layer. A shouted, "Cortana, Blade!" brings your Omni-blade into existence as you stab it into the shuttle's canopy. You rip the blade sideways, leaving a gaping rent in the armored cockpit before you shove your right gauntlet into the hole and trigger the flamethrower.
Things get a little confused after that: everything starts spinning madly as the shuttle spins out of control, and you're distantly aware of screams. You jump clear, or at least try to, slamming into the ground and leaving a good sized furrow behind you.
Everything hurts. Your barriers, are holding, if only barely and while they are slowly climbing back up to full strength you're still vulnerable for the moment. The few raiders who were already on the ground are already starting to shoot at you, and they're out of range of both your flamethrower and blade.
Three guys spread out and two grenades is bad odds, but you've already come this far. You launcher spits fire as you pump a grenade at the two most distant raiders; they stumble backwards, but aren't down, but it's too late and you're already charging the third with your Blade drawn. Assault rifles dig into your already drained barriers, draining them to twenty percent, then ten, then five as you rush to close the distance.
You aren't going to make it.
You just have time to process the thought when a seven round burst tears forth out of the upstairs window and drops the guy you're charging like a puppet with the strings cut. Two more bursts follow in short succession, drilling neat holes in the center of mass of the other two before they can recover.
And just like that, it's over.
You fight the urge to sink to your knees. Everything hurts, and while thankfully you don't seem to be bleeding seriously anywhere, you're still regretting not installing a medi-gel injector. Definitely putting that in the MK II. Also, improve the gel layer.
Distantly, it occurs to you that you might be in shock.
"Coming out!" You start at the sound of your Mom's voice.
She walks out the front door wearing an old Alliance-issue hardsuit, worn but still serviceable, her old service rifle held at the ready, not quite pointed at you, but not quite pointed away either.
It occurs to you that she has no idea who you are. And why should she- your helmet hides your face completely, and the suit adds a good forty centimeters to your height.
Before you can figure out what to say, she starts talking. "While I appreciate the help, I'm pretty sure that suit isn't alliance issue, and it's definitely not something the local Militia can afford. Who the Hell are you?"
You blink at that, twice, before you respond, blurting out. "Mom, it's me. It's Revy."
That takes her off guard. The rifle wavers, then points to the ground as incredulity fills her voice. "What the- Revy? How? Where did you get that thing?"
"Uh, I built it. I was out testing it, but then a bunch of shuttles flew by and-"
"I got the idea, Revy." She sighed before continuing. "I suppose I should have expected this sort of thing ever since you built a perpetual motion machine for your science fair project."
You frown at the memory. "It wasn't that impressive. The University of Serrice's is much more efficient."
She smiled at that. "Definitely, Revy. I don't suppose you have any more of an idea what's going on? I can't get anyone on radio- there's jamming everywhere."
"I just saw a bunch of shuttles heading for the city. They looked military and definitely not Alliance."
"Of course they were." She sighed again. "I suppose if I told you to stay here and hide you wouldn't listen?"
You frown at that. "Of course not."
She smiles wanly and echoes you. "Of course not." Another sigh. "You sure you're up for this, Revy? I saw what you did. You've always been brilliant, but how much damage did that armor of yours take just now?"
Huh. That's actually a good question. "Cortana, Status report."
"Running Diagnostic. Please wait.
"Alert: Primary Sensors offline.
"Alert: Thruster 3 has sustained critical damage.
"Alert: Damage detected on flamer nozzle.
"Alert: Minor structural damage detected.
"No other significant damage detected."
Nothing critical, but nothing good either. Secondary sensors would work for the moment. You can shut down Thruster 4 and reroute power from barriers to lower the suit's apparent mass, but that'll make you much more vulnerable while in flight. Not insurmountable as long as you kept to the ground while people were shooting at you. The Flamer nozzle could be a much bigger problem, depending on what, exactly the damage was; it might just lower the effective range, or it might be significant enough to cause a catastrophic failure.
The structural damage...well, as long as you avoided ramming a shuttle again, you'll be fine. Probably. It'd be best to keep your shields up, but you already knew that.
The aircar out front was smashed during the fighting, and it'll take Mom a little bit to get the Bike from out back.
What do you do? (Choose no more then two)
[]Attempt to repair Thruster 3. Having mobility in the coming fight is going to be of utmost importance.
[]Attempt to repair the Flamer Nozzle. You definitely don't want to risk it blowing up on you in the middle of a fight.
[]Run to your makeshift workshop and grab all your spare grenades and Flamer fuel.
[]Attempt to salvage a weapon from the raider's shuttle. The cannon on the side looks fairly self-contained, and you think you might be able to jury rig it to your armor.
Prologue (Part 03) - Upgrades, Repairs, and Other Things
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
-----------
[X]Run to your makeshift workshop and grab all your spare grenades and Flamer fuel.
The first thing you do as your Mom walks back to grab Dad's old hoverbike is set off in a run for your makeshift workshop, using short bursts from your thrusters to carry yourself there in great leaping bounds. You arrive a bare handful of minutes later, and rapidly begin to grab everything that might be useful. You eject the empty magazine, and reload your grenade launcher with a fresh magazine, and clip two more spares to your belt. After a moment's hesitation you grab two spare bottles of flamer fuel as well; even if you aren't sure using the flamer is safe, you should still be able to use them as improvised grenades in a pinch. Or something.
[Acquired 3x 6-round grenade launcher magazine]
[Acquired 2x Flamer Fuel Tank]
You're about to leave when your eye catches on case of tools sitting in the corner. Thinking back to the crashed shuttle in front of the house, you grab it, and then head on back.
[X]Attempt to salvage a weapon from the raider's shuttle. The cannon on the side looks fairly self-contained, and you think you might be able to jury rig it to your armor.
1d20+5 → [9,5] = (14)
The shuttle is still burning when you return. You can distantly hear your mother cursing from back behind the house- after the incident-which-must-not-be-named, Dad literally buried his hoverbike in the back of the shed. Mom would probably appreciate you helping her, but right now, you have an idea.
The autocannon mounted to the left side of the shuttle is surprisingly intact, for all that it's connected to a twisted and burning hunk of metal. It's clearly an aftermarket addition, crudely but securely welded to the side of the shuttle.
You rip it off. Or rather, you rip off the chunk of the shuttle it's attached to; you don't want to damage it after all. Once you get it clear of the fire, you exit the suit and begin to work.
You don't have a lot of time, and what you're doing is something you had never even really considered when building the MK 1. There's power enough to run it, and you manage to jury rig a firing control, but there's nowhere near enough time to integrate it into the suit's targeting system even if the computer wasn't melting in the wreck that used to be a shuttle. You improvise, scavenging a laser sight off one of the fallen raider's rifles, trying your best to avoid gagging at the smell; hopefully it'll at least let you know where you're aiming.
But it'll have to do. Your Mom's back and is ready to leave. And so you check over your work one last time, climb back into your suit, and take to the air.
The two of you fly in silence, the jamming forestalling any attempt to talk to each other on radio. It's slower going then you would like, the combination of running on two thrusters and bolting a gigantic cannon to the side of your suit doing your aerodynamics no favors. Still, you make good time, crossing the kilometers between you and the colony in scant minutes.
You're maybe a half klick from the outskirts of the colony when you see it, an enormous shuttle lifting off, rapidly rising into the upper stratosphere. Part of you wants to chase after it, but it's far too far away.
Instead, you follow your mom as she speeds ahead, angling towards the shuttles former landing pad for a few moments before suddenly swerving towards something you couldn't see or hear.
She lands on the top of a large prefab, one of the 10 story apartment complexes dating back to the founding of the colony, crawling to the edge of the roof. As you land behind her, it quickly becomes clear what got her attention; below a firefight is raging as a number of men in hardsuits trade fire with men inside a storefront.
You're pretty sure they aren't friendly. There aren't any Batarians in the local Militia, at least.
Somehow they haven't noticed you, apparently all their attention given to the fight in front of them. Your Mother is making hand signals, holding three fingers out, then two, then one.
You step forward, aim your cannon as best you can, and fire.
You miss, of course, but it hardly matters as you walk tracers up the street to the raiders. You're distantly aware of your mother firing beside you, but right now all you can focus on is holding the cannon steady as you walk it's fire through the raiders below. Intermittent return fire pings off your shields, but most of it isn't even close. It hardly matters.
Thirty seconds later, there's nothing left moving in the street below.
As your Mom jogs back to the bike to get to the ground, you take the simplest path and simply step off, flaring thrusters just before you hit the ground.
You wait a few moments before calling out, "Street's clear! It's safe to come out." A few moments later, a figure exits. They aren't exactly what you had expected.
After all, Mindoir doesn't see Turians very often.
He speaks, and it occurs to you rather belatedly that deleting all the non-human language files on your Omni-tool to make room for Cortana when you were developing her might not have been a good idea.
Oops.
He's....you aren't actually sure if that's frowning or not- Turian mouths are weird- but he seems sort of unhappy. You'd be a bit more nervous if you weren't positive that your barriers could weather anything he could conceivably throw at you.
Thankfully, your Mother finally manages to make it down from the roof, and she does have a translator.
You can't follow half the conversation that follows, and after a few minutes, you don't even try, electing to keep watch, scanning back and forth. You're not sure if the raiders called for reinforcements after all.
Eventually your Mother finishes talking, and comes over to relay what she's learned. "We're lucky. Severus over there is a trader, was in orbit when the raiders hit, here to deliver some agricultural equipment. He got his ship shot out from under him, but he managed to get an distress call out before he jumped into an escape pod. So helps coming. Another interesting thing- he says he didn't loose radio until after he entered atmo. I think the Jammer might be on the ground somewhere, probably with the shuttle. If we can take it out we should be able to link up with whatever's left of the Militia and – TANK!"
She dives for the deck, trying to pull you down and failing against your armor's augmented strength. You twist just in time to see a blur miss you by a handful of centimeters, and a Tank bearing down on you, it's Coaxial chipping away at your barriers. Hardly thinking, you shield your Mother from the Tank's fire and bodily throw her through the door, distantly aware that the Turian has already taken cover inside. But that's not your focus- right now you have a Tank bearing down on you, and you're out in the open. You trigger your thrusters to boost yourself up to the roof, all too aware of another near miss from the Tank's main cannon. For the moment you take cover behind an AC unit, but you know it won't protect you for long.
What do you do?
[]Write-In
-------------------
Notes:
Regarding your current situation, you are currently on top of a single story storefront and have limited cover An IFV roughly similar to the Mako (minus the jump jets) is currently in the street to your east, which turns south about ~600m away. Past that there is a refueling station (hydrogen). To the North, there is a park with some light vegetation. There is a ten story apartment building to your south, from which you first attacked the raiders. Retreat is an option, though it would mean leaving your Mother, Severus, and anyone else who might have been holed up in the building to their fates.
-----------
[X]Run to your makeshift workshop and grab all your spare grenades and Flamer fuel.
The first thing you do as your Mom walks back to grab Dad's old hoverbike is set off in a run for your makeshift workshop, using short bursts from your thrusters to carry yourself there in great leaping bounds. You arrive a bare handful of minutes later, and rapidly begin to grab everything that might be useful. You eject the empty magazine, and reload your grenade launcher with a fresh magazine, and clip two more spares to your belt. After a moment's hesitation you grab two spare bottles of flamer fuel as well; even if you aren't sure using the flamer is safe, you should still be able to use them as improvised grenades in a pinch. Or something.
[Acquired 3x 6-round grenade launcher magazine]
[Acquired 2x Flamer Fuel Tank]
You're about to leave when your eye catches on case of tools sitting in the corner. Thinking back to the crashed shuttle in front of the house, you grab it, and then head on back.
[X]Attempt to salvage a weapon from the raider's shuttle. The cannon on the side looks fairly self-contained, and you think you might be able to jury rig it to your armor.
1d20+5 → [9,5] = (14)
The shuttle is still burning when you return. You can distantly hear your mother cursing from back behind the house- after the incident-which-must-not-be-named, Dad literally buried his hoverbike in the back of the shed. Mom would probably appreciate you helping her, but right now, you have an idea.
The autocannon mounted to the left side of the shuttle is surprisingly intact, for all that it's connected to a twisted and burning hunk of metal. It's clearly an aftermarket addition, crudely but securely welded to the side of the shuttle.
You rip it off. Or rather, you rip off the chunk of the shuttle it's attached to; you don't want to damage it after all. Once you get it clear of the fire, you exit the suit and begin to work.
You don't have a lot of time, and what you're doing is something you had never even really considered when building the MK 1. There's power enough to run it, and you manage to jury rig a firing control, but there's nowhere near enough time to integrate it into the suit's targeting system even if the computer wasn't melting in the wreck that used to be a shuttle. You improvise, scavenging a laser sight off one of the fallen raider's rifles, trying your best to avoid gagging at the smell; hopefully it'll at least let you know where you're aiming.
But it'll have to do. Your Mom's back and is ready to leave. And so you check over your work one last time, climb back into your suit, and take to the air.
The two of you fly in silence, the jamming forestalling any attempt to talk to each other on radio. It's slower going then you would like, the combination of running on two thrusters and bolting a gigantic cannon to the side of your suit doing your aerodynamics no favors. Still, you make good time, crossing the kilometers between you and the colony in scant minutes.
You're maybe a half klick from the outskirts of the colony when you see it, an enormous shuttle lifting off, rapidly rising into the upper stratosphere. Part of you wants to chase after it, but it's far too far away.
Instead, you follow your mom as she speeds ahead, angling towards the shuttles former landing pad for a few moments before suddenly swerving towards something you couldn't see or hear.
She lands on the top of a large prefab, one of the 10 story apartment complexes dating back to the founding of the colony, crawling to the edge of the roof. As you land behind her, it quickly becomes clear what got her attention; below a firefight is raging as a number of men in hardsuits trade fire with men inside a storefront.
You're pretty sure they aren't friendly. There aren't any Batarians in the local Militia, at least.
Somehow they haven't noticed you, apparently all their attention given to the fight in front of them. Your Mother is making hand signals, holding three fingers out, then two, then one.
You step forward, aim your cannon as best you can, and fire.
You miss, of course, but it hardly matters as you walk tracers up the street to the raiders. You're distantly aware of your mother firing beside you, but right now all you can focus on is holding the cannon steady as you walk it's fire through the raiders below. Intermittent return fire pings off your shields, but most of it isn't even close. It hardly matters.
Thirty seconds later, there's nothing left moving in the street below.
As your Mom jogs back to the bike to get to the ground, you take the simplest path and simply step off, flaring thrusters just before you hit the ground.
You wait a few moments before calling out, "Street's clear! It's safe to come out." A few moments later, a figure exits. They aren't exactly what you had expected.
After all, Mindoir doesn't see Turians very often.
He speaks, and it occurs to you rather belatedly that deleting all the non-human language files on your Omni-tool to make room for Cortana when you were developing her might not have been a good idea.
Oops.
He's....you aren't actually sure if that's frowning or not- Turian mouths are weird- but he seems sort of unhappy. You'd be a bit more nervous if you weren't positive that your barriers could weather anything he could conceivably throw at you.
Thankfully, your Mother finally manages to make it down from the roof, and she does have a translator.
You can't follow half the conversation that follows, and after a few minutes, you don't even try, electing to keep watch, scanning back and forth. You're not sure if the raiders called for reinforcements after all.
Eventually your Mother finishes talking, and comes over to relay what she's learned. "We're lucky. Severus over there is a trader, was in orbit when the raiders hit, here to deliver some agricultural equipment. He got his ship shot out from under him, but he managed to get an distress call out before he jumped into an escape pod. So helps coming. Another interesting thing- he says he didn't loose radio until after he entered atmo. I think the Jammer might be on the ground somewhere, probably with the shuttle. If we can take it out we should be able to link up with whatever's left of the Militia and – TANK!"
She dives for the deck, trying to pull you down and failing against your armor's augmented strength. You twist just in time to see a blur miss you by a handful of centimeters, and a Tank bearing down on you, it's Coaxial chipping away at your barriers. Hardly thinking, you shield your Mother from the Tank's fire and bodily throw her through the door, distantly aware that the Turian has already taken cover inside. But that's not your focus- right now you have a Tank bearing down on you, and you're out in the open. You trigger your thrusters to boost yourself up to the roof, all too aware of another near miss from the Tank's main cannon. For the moment you take cover behind an AC unit, but you know it won't protect you for long.
What do you do?
[]Write-In
-------------------
Notes:
Regarding your current situation, you are currently on top of a single story storefront and have limited cover An IFV roughly similar to the Mako (minus the jump jets) is currently in the street to your east, which turns south about ~600m away. Past that there is a refueling station (hydrogen). To the North, there is a park with some light vegetation. There is a ten story apartment building to your south, from which you first attacked the raiders. Retreat is an option, though it would mean leaving your Mother, Severus, and anyone else who might have been holed up in the building to their fates.
Prologue (Part 04) - Death from Above
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
----------------------
Death from above
[X] Allow the AC unit to absorb the IFV's next primary-cannon shot, then rush the vehicle while the weapon cycles, attempting to jump on top of it.
[X]-> If successful, commence point-blank autocannon fire until it is disabled. If its hull is too heavy for the cannon, firebomb it with flamer fuel after shield is down.
[X]--> If fail, run for a side street, firing as we move. We're the largest, most aggressive, and most powerful target it has, it should pay attention to us.
You hurriedly throw together a plan in the privacy of your mind- it may not be a good plan, but it's a plan, and you have no time. It's do or die here, and if you can't take this thing out, you and everyone with you will die.
You back away from the AC unit, keeping it between you and the tank. You're not sure how long it'll take the gun on that thing to cycle, but it will take some time, and if you can get it to waste a shot on your cover, then you'll have at least a small window of opportunity-
1d20 → [15] = (15)
The AC unit you had taken care of disintegrates as a heavy slug punches straight through it, missing you by a few meters. You stand stunned for just half a moment as the shrapnel bombards you, taxing your barriers and draining them nearly twenty percent, but then you're moving, punching thrusters and leaping towards the tank, autocannon blazing.
1d20 → [12] = (12)
You scream in defiance, your voice mingling with the staccato voice of your cannon and the frantic chatter of the tank's coaxial mount as you fly towards your target. Your barrier drains away as the coax chews into it, but not quickly enough, and you crash into the kinetic barriers of the tank, straining against them for half a moment before they shatter under your weight. You land poorly, rolling across the top of the tank, giving the machinegunner inside a few more seconds to poor gunfire into your shields. They're down to a little over 50% now, but it doesn't matter as you recover, clambering over the top of the Tank and climbing out of it's firing arc. You find the hatch at the top of the turret, and after a few seconds of steadying yourself as the turret turns wildly below you, trying to throw you off, you steady your aim, and begin to pour fire into the hatch below.
It holds for a second, then two, then three, the ricochets pinging against your barrier, but you can see the armor chip and flake and shatter beneath your withering fire. You stop after about ten seconds, having turned the hatch into Swiss cheese, pull one of your spare flamer fuel canisters from your belt, shove it through the hole and fire a short burst in after it, flaring your thrusters as you do.
Flame flares from the hole you bored through the hatch, but a distant part of you is surprised; there's no fiery explosion, just screams and a gout of flame. You hover momentarily keeping your gun trained on the tank. The flames die down, the screams go silent, and you land, taking a good, long look at what you've done. The tank is still.
They're dead. You won. A quiet voice in the back of your head notes you're becoming alarmingly good at killing people, but you push it to the side- now is not the time for doubt. You can angst later.
You turn back to the storefront. You need to talk with Mom. She said something about a jammer, about coordinating a counter attack. You need to-
The tank explodes behind you. You flinch inside your suit as shrapnel pounds against your barriers, but they've already regenerated from earlier, and are more then sufficient to weather the blast. You resist the urge to turn and look as more pieces ping off your barrier, instead scanning the storefront; thankfully most of the shrapnel seems fairly spent by the time it reached the wall. Your Mom should be safe, hopefully.
You step inside looking for her, but she's not the person who greets you.
It's Deputy Wilson, one of the less outstanding members of Mindoir's Law Enforcement. You have vague memories of him butting heads with Dad a few times over one stupid thing or another, but there's none of the patronizing scorn you've seen in his eyes the few times you've met before.
No, this is a bit more like awe.
"Holy fucking shit. I can't fucking believe it. You- How- Holy shit. Just holy shit."
"Deputy Wilson?"
"Err, Sir? I mean Ma'am? I mean, that's me, uh, and, uh, holy shit, I can't believe you just did that."
"Wilson, why didn't you come earlier. Would have made talking a bit easier."
"Well, none of us had full up hardsuits and the Bird did. I mean, you do kind of look intimidating, Ma'am. The Bird volunteered. Figured he had the best chance out of all of us of getting out if you tried to kill 'em. Uh, not that you would, of course."
"And who's us Wilson? How many people did you have with you?" Mom's voice was level as she walked in, despite the fact that Severus was leaning heavily against her as she helped him with a rather noticeable limp. She helped him settle into a dusty chair, and he said a few incomprehensible words. She stared at him for a moment before nodding, and turning back to Wilson.
"Shepard? I- never mind. We got seven people here. None of us have armor, and all I've got is a pistol and a barrier vest. The bird suggested we keep moving, make it look like there were more of us, and that managed to keep them back for a while. I guess- I guess they were waiting for the Tank. Holy shit. We'd be dead if-"
"Hold it together, Deputy. Are they safe?"
"Uhm. Yeah, they're all in the basement. Should be fine."
"Have you actually checked on them?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Then I suggest you do so. Now." He sputtered for a moment before turning and leaving the room.
Your mother sighed. "Of all the people.... It doesn't matter, I suppose. We do what we can with what we have. And you, Revy.....I saw what you did out there. It was incredibly reckless, crazy, and I don't think I've ever been so proud of you in my life. You did good."
"But we still need to deal with the Jamming station if we can. I'm unsure of leaving these people here, especially with Severus injured- he's stable, and e can shoot, but he's not going to be running any marathons any time soon. Any suggestions?"
[]Leave Wilson, Severus and the other civilians behind and attack the Jammer with your Mother.
[]Leave Wilson, Severus, the other civilians and your mother behind and attack the Jammer by yourself.
[]Leave Severus behind with the Civilians and attack the Jammer with your Mom and Wilson.
[]Sit tight and wait things out. You need to stay and defend the civilians in case more raiders show up.
[]Write-In
----------------------
Death from above
[X] Allow the AC unit to absorb the IFV's next primary-cannon shot, then rush the vehicle while the weapon cycles, attempting to jump on top of it.
[X]-> If successful, commence point-blank autocannon fire until it is disabled. If its hull is too heavy for the cannon, firebomb it with flamer fuel after shield is down.
[X]--> If fail, run for a side street, firing as we move. We're the largest, most aggressive, and most powerful target it has, it should pay attention to us.
You hurriedly throw together a plan in the privacy of your mind- it may not be a good plan, but it's a plan, and you have no time. It's do or die here, and if you can't take this thing out, you and everyone with you will die.
You back away from the AC unit, keeping it between you and the tank. You're not sure how long it'll take the gun on that thing to cycle, but it will take some time, and if you can get it to waste a shot on your cover, then you'll have at least a small window of opportunity-
1d20 → [15] = (15)
The AC unit you had taken care of disintegrates as a heavy slug punches straight through it, missing you by a few meters. You stand stunned for just half a moment as the shrapnel bombards you, taxing your barriers and draining them nearly twenty percent, but then you're moving, punching thrusters and leaping towards the tank, autocannon blazing.
1d20 → [12] = (12)
You scream in defiance, your voice mingling with the staccato voice of your cannon and the frantic chatter of the tank's coaxial mount as you fly towards your target. Your barrier drains away as the coax chews into it, but not quickly enough, and you crash into the kinetic barriers of the tank, straining against them for half a moment before they shatter under your weight. You land poorly, rolling across the top of the tank, giving the machinegunner inside a few more seconds to poor gunfire into your shields. They're down to a little over 50% now, but it doesn't matter as you recover, clambering over the top of the Tank and climbing out of it's firing arc. You find the hatch at the top of the turret, and after a few seconds of steadying yourself as the turret turns wildly below you, trying to throw you off, you steady your aim, and begin to pour fire into the hatch below.
It holds for a second, then two, then three, the ricochets pinging against your barrier, but you can see the armor chip and flake and shatter beneath your withering fire. You stop after about ten seconds, having turned the hatch into Swiss cheese, pull one of your spare flamer fuel canisters from your belt, shove it through the hole and fire a short burst in after it, flaring your thrusters as you do.
Flame flares from the hole you bored through the hatch, but a distant part of you is surprised; there's no fiery explosion, just screams and a gout of flame. You hover momentarily keeping your gun trained on the tank. The flames die down, the screams go silent, and you land, taking a good, long look at what you've done. The tank is still.
They're dead. You won. A quiet voice in the back of your head notes you're becoming alarmingly good at killing people, but you push it to the side- now is not the time for doubt. You can angst later.
You turn back to the storefront. You need to talk with Mom. She said something about a jammer, about coordinating a counter attack. You need to-
The tank explodes behind you. You flinch inside your suit as shrapnel pounds against your barriers, but they've already regenerated from earlier, and are more then sufficient to weather the blast. You resist the urge to turn and look as more pieces ping off your barrier, instead scanning the storefront; thankfully most of the shrapnel seems fairly spent by the time it reached the wall. Your Mom should be safe, hopefully.
You step inside looking for her, but she's not the person who greets you.
It's Deputy Wilson, one of the less outstanding members of Mindoir's Law Enforcement. You have vague memories of him butting heads with Dad a few times over one stupid thing or another, but there's none of the patronizing scorn you've seen in his eyes the few times you've met before.
No, this is a bit more like awe.
"Holy fucking shit. I can't fucking believe it. You- How- Holy shit. Just holy shit."
"Deputy Wilson?"
"Err, Sir? I mean Ma'am? I mean, that's me, uh, and, uh, holy shit, I can't believe you just did that."
"Wilson, why didn't you come earlier. Would have made talking a bit easier."
"Well, none of us had full up hardsuits and the Bird did. I mean, you do kind of look intimidating, Ma'am. The Bird volunteered. Figured he had the best chance out of all of us of getting out if you tried to kill 'em. Uh, not that you would, of course."
"And who's us Wilson? How many people did you have with you?" Mom's voice was level as she walked in, despite the fact that Severus was leaning heavily against her as she helped him with a rather noticeable limp. She helped him settle into a dusty chair, and he said a few incomprehensible words. She stared at him for a moment before nodding, and turning back to Wilson.
"Shepard? I- never mind. We got seven people here. None of us have armor, and all I've got is a pistol and a barrier vest. The bird suggested we keep moving, make it look like there were more of us, and that managed to keep them back for a while. I guess- I guess they were waiting for the Tank. Holy shit. We'd be dead if-"
"Hold it together, Deputy. Are they safe?"
"Uhm. Yeah, they're all in the basement. Should be fine."
"Have you actually checked on them?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Then I suggest you do so. Now." He sputtered for a moment before turning and leaving the room.
Your mother sighed. "Of all the people.... It doesn't matter, I suppose. We do what we can with what we have. And you, Revy.....I saw what you did out there. It was incredibly reckless, crazy, and I don't think I've ever been so proud of you in my life. You did good."
"But we still need to deal with the Jamming station if we can. I'm unsure of leaving these people here, especially with Severus injured- he's stable, and e can shoot, but he's not going to be running any marathons any time soon. Any suggestions?"
[]Leave Wilson, Severus and the other civilians behind and attack the Jammer with your Mother.
[]Leave Wilson, Severus, the other civilians and your mother behind and attack the Jammer by yourself.
[]Leave Severus behind with the Civilians and attack the Jammer with your Mom and Wilson.
[]Sit tight and wait things out. You need to stay and defend the civilians in case more raiders show up.
[]Write-In
Prologue (Part 05) - The Calm Before the Storm
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
------------------
The Calm before the Storm
[X] First thing first, help them relocate. The attackers know were they are, they can't stay here. You all live here, use that superior knowledge of the territory to find a safer spot.
- [X] To speed things up you will carry the turian.
[X] Leave Wilson, Severus and the other civilians behind and attack the Jammer with your Mother.
"Wow" you breath quietly. "That's a lot of people."
It had all started so well. None of the civilians who had taken cover in the basement had been killed, and all had been capable of moving under their own power. Even Wilson had managed to get it together, and your small convoy had made it through the streets quietly and without incident, taking cover in an old storm shelter that had been out of use for years and wasn't on any of the official maps.
Leaving Severus and Wilson behind had been the obvious thing to do. The Turian was injured, and the Deputy was probably in shock. It had made sense.
Looking at what's before you, you can't help but quietly think that maybe you should have brought more people.
It's an irrational thought. Even if every single member of your little procession had been a Marine in full combat gear, you'd have been leery of tackling what you see before you. You'd followed the Jamming to it's source, hoping to find a shuttle or IFV with a transmission tower set up, something you could hit quickly and move on from.
Instead you find yourself smack dab in the middle of invasion fucking central.
The raiders have set up in Grissom Park, a three kilometer stretch of greenery running to the edge of the city. The Center is dominated by an enormous assault shuttle, over fifty meters long and bristling gun pods and rockets. Dozens of Raiders stand around the rear loading ramp, a line of colonists corralled before them by raiders in Hardsuits with rifles. Momentarily you see some one stray from the line, only to be beaten back by savage strikes of an Assault rifle butt.
It's a slave raid.
It really shouldn't be a revelation. Mindoir is a farming colony, with nothing particularly valuable to it's name. There's no resources to loot, or valuables to pillage. Just people. You've been tangentially aware of the horrors of the Terminus, but you never really thought about it much, never thought it could happen here.
Stupid. But now's not the time to dwell on it.
You scan the park again, taking note of everything. Two tanks. An AA blister on the top of the shuttle, auto tracking if the rapidly expanding cloud of feathers that was a flock of birds a few seconds ago is any indication. Dozens of raiders standing guard around the edge, most with some degree of cover, and some with crew served weapons. More are standing around the prisoners.
It's not good, to say the least. Using your cannon against the prisoners almost guarantees collateral damage. There's no clear line of fire around the prisoners, and while Mom did grab a Sniper rifle off one of the dead raiders from earlier, she's not going to be able to pick them all off if they decide to kill the captives.
You need a distraction.
[]There was a refueling station a few blocks back with a Tanker truck. If you override the safeties, you can probably rig it to drive into one of the barricades the slavers have set up. The massive fireball would surely serve as an excellent distraction, and might kill some of the perimeter guards.
[]Rig the Speeder bike to crash into a tank. You're not sure if that'll actually kill the tank, but it will weaken it.
[]Write in
You crouch lower (or as low as you can manage at any rate) as one of the tanks leaves in the direction you came from, presumably to check on the one you recently destroyed. You silently give thanks that you managed to get everyone to a safe location. And you definitely aren't going to complain about having one less tank to worry about.
Still, the attack itself is going to be extraordinarily dicey. What tactics will you use?
[]Go in fast, and keep moving. Your barriers are tough, and as long as you keep moving you can probably avoid heavy weapons fire. And if you're dashing around getting everyone's attention, maybe Mom can evade notice.
[]Rush the Tank. You know you can kill it, and it's by far the most dangerous thing on the battlefield. Take it out first, and then focus on taking out the infantry.
[]Rush the Shuttle. You can't let it take off, and you may be able take control of it's systems. If you do, you may be able to force a surrender with the threat of it's guns.
[]Write-in
And what role will your Mother take?
[]Providing support with her Sniper rifle
Focus fire on?
--[]Heavy Weapons teams
--[]Guards around prisoners
--[]Write-in
[]Attempt to infiltrate the Assault shuttle while you distract everyone
[]Write-in
Notes:
This is a bit more bare bones then I would like, but hopefully it will suffice for setting things up; if you have any questions about the layout, ask. Detailed plans are preferred, as always.
------------------
The Calm before the Storm
[X] First thing first, help them relocate. The attackers know were they are, they can't stay here. You all live here, use that superior knowledge of the territory to find a safer spot.
- [X] To speed things up you will carry the turian.
[X] Leave Wilson, Severus and the other civilians behind and attack the Jammer with your Mother.
"Wow" you breath quietly. "That's a lot of people."
It had all started so well. None of the civilians who had taken cover in the basement had been killed, and all had been capable of moving under their own power. Even Wilson had managed to get it together, and your small convoy had made it through the streets quietly and without incident, taking cover in an old storm shelter that had been out of use for years and wasn't on any of the official maps.
Leaving Severus and Wilson behind had been the obvious thing to do. The Turian was injured, and the Deputy was probably in shock. It had made sense.
Looking at what's before you, you can't help but quietly think that maybe you should have brought more people.
It's an irrational thought. Even if every single member of your little procession had been a Marine in full combat gear, you'd have been leery of tackling what you see before you. You'd followed the Jamming to it's source, hoping to find a shuttle or IFV with a transmission tower set up, something you could hit quickly and move on from.
Instead you find yourself smack dab in the middle of invasion fucking central.
The raiders have set up in Grissom Park, a three kilometer stretch of greenery running to the edge of the city. The Center is dominated by an enormous assault shuttle, over fifty meters long and bristling gun pods and rockets. Dozens of Raiders stand around the rear loading ramp, a line of colonists corralled before them by raiders in Hardsuits with rifles. Momentarily you see some one stray from the line, only to be beaten back by savage strikes of an Assault rifle butt.
It's a slave raid.
It really shouldn't be a revelation. Mindoir is a farming colony, with nothing particularly valuable to it's name. There's no resources to loot, or valuables to pillage. Just people. You've been tangentially aware of the horrors of the Terminus, but you never really thought about it much, never thought it could happen here.
Stupid. But now's not the time to dwell on it.
You scan the park again, taking note of everything. Two tanks. An AA blister on the top of the shuttle, auto tracking if the rapidly expanding cloud of feathers that was a flock of birds a few seconds ago is any indication. Dozens of raiders standing guard around the edge, most with some degree of cover, and some with crew served weapons. More are standing around the prisoners.
It's not good, to say the least. Using your cannon against the prisoners almost guarantees collateral damage. There's no clear line of fire around the prisoners, and while Mom did grab a Sniper rifle off one of the dead raiders from earlier, she's not going to be able to pick them all off if they decide to kill the captives.
You need a distraction.
[]There was a refueling station a few blocks back with a Tanker truck. If you override the safeties, you can probably rig it to drive into one of the barricades the slavers have set up. The massive fireball would surely serve as an excellent distraction, and might kill some of the perimeter guards.
[]Rig the Speeder bike to crash into a tank. You're not sure if that'll actually kill the tank, but it will weaken it.
[]Write in
You crouch lower (or as low as you can manage at any rate) as one of the tanks leaves in the direction you came from, presumably to check on the one you recently destroyed. You silently give thanks that you managed to get everyone to a safe location. And you definitely aren't going to complain about having one less tank to worry about.
Still, the attack itself is going to be extraordinarily dicey. What tactics will you use?
[]Go in fast, and keep moving. Your barriers are tough, and as long as you keep moving you can probably avoid heavy weapons fire. And if you're dashing around getting everyone's attention, maybe Mom can evade notice.
[]Rush the Tank. You know you can kill it, and it's by far the most dangerous thing on the battlefield. Take it out first, and then focus on taking out the infantry.
[]Rush the Shuttle. You can't let it take off, and you may be able take control of it's systems. If you do, you may be able to force a surrender with the threat of it's guns.
[]Write-in
And what role will your Mother take?
[]Providing support with her Sniper rifle
Focus fire on?
--[]Heavy Weapons teams
--[]Guards around prisoners
--[]Write-in
[]Attempt to infiltrate the Assault shuttle while you distract everyone
[]Write-in
Notes:
This is a bit more bare bones then I would like, but hopefully it will suffice for setting things up; if you have any questions about the layout, ask. Detailed plans are preferred, as always.
Prologue (Part 06) - Who Dares...
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
---------------------
Who Dares....
[X]Before you do anything else, download the Batarian language package from your mom's omni-tool. Knowing what the four-eyed bastards are saying might prove useful, and will definitely make things easier you if you need to hack their systems.
[X]Rig the Speeder bike to crash into a tank. You're not sure if that'll actually kill the tank, but it will weaken it.--[X]Attach your spare flamer tanks to the bike. And one full magazine (six) worth of your grenades too, rigged to explode during the crash.
[X]Rush the Shuttle. You can't let it take off, and you may be able take control of it's systems. You may be able to force a surrender if you can take control of it's weapon systems.
[x]Providing support with her Sniper rifle
Focus fire on?
--[x]Heavy Weapons teams
"Revy, this is insane. We're outnumbered something like a hundred to one, they've got several hundred hostages, and we have two people. We've done enough. The best thing we can do is sit tight and help the Alliance when they arrive."
"And what if they don't? Are we going to just sit back and watch them leave? We have to go now, before the other Tank gets back. If I can get inside the shuttle, take over it's systems, lock it down, they won't be able to leave. They'll be stuck here until the Alliance can get here."
"And what happens when they start shooting Hostages, Revy? That suit you're wearing isn't so hot when it comes to precision, and it's been years since I've used a rifle like this. If they start shooting, we won't be able to save them all."
"I know, hopefully they'll be to busy shooting at me-"
"Not filling me with confidence, Revy."
"-and while they do that, you can pick them off. Go after the Heavy Weapons crews first. My barriers can handle the small arms fire. I think. And if I can take control of the shuttle, take off, I can threaten them with it's guns. Force them to surrender."
Your Mom sighs. "To many ifs. You're talking about taking over an alien shuttle with everything labeled in a language you don't even speak. You've never flown anything bigger then an aircar. And even if everything goes perfectly right, they'll still have hostages, Revy. "
"I know. But even if all we can do is force a stand-off, that'll buy the Alliance time to get here. I know it's not a good plan, but it's the only one I have. And unless you have a better suggestion that doesn't involve sitting on out hands, it's what I'm doing."
"Goddamn it, Revy. You're going to go out there no matter what I say, aren't you?
"Yes."
"Of course you are." She sighed again. It seemed to becoming a pattern. "If we live through this, you're grounded."
You blink as your mind processes what she just said."What?"
"For a year. No chasing slavers, no adventures in power armor, no going out, no dates, no anything. You'll stay where your Dad and I can keep an eye on you. And you'll like it."
You stare at her for a moment, incredulous at the absurdity of what she had just said. Moments pass and some part of you can't help but find the absurdity of it hilarious. You start laughing; half a moment later your mother joins in, and the tension is broken.
You set about rigging the bike into an impromptu Missile, strapping one of your flamer tanks and grenade magazine to the front, tweaking the VI to seek a vehicle rather then avoid it. You take a minute to transfer the Batarian language files from Mom's Omni-tool to your own- thankfully she's kept an up to date translation suite on hers despite the years she's spent on Mindoir. Then you set the timer on the bike and head out; neither you nor your mother want to be anywhere nearby when it goes off. It'd make for a pretty poor distraction if it attracted attention to either of you.
You reach your position with a few minutes to spare, and settle in to watch the last few minutes tick down on your HUD's timer. You scan the park in front of you; you don't have a real good view from here, but it's all to easy to imagine the prisoners being "processed" and marched onto the shuttle.
To Hit [1d20 → [20] = (20)] Critical, +5 to Damage
Damage [1d20+5 → [14,5] = (19)]
And then the Bike roars to life, streaks through the air like a missile and slams into the side of the tank. It's a perfect hit, dead center, and the tank's barriers collapse immediately, and your impromptu warhead sprays burning flamer fuel across the top of the tank even as the grenades go off in a terrible parody of firecrackers. You surge forward on thrusters, staying low to avoid the AA gun's fire, and crossover into the park just in time to see the Tank explode.
As distractions go, it's an overwhelming success. The nearest slavers are only just now noticing you, and you've already cut down three of the nearest heavy weapons teams before returning fire starts pelting the area around you.
Rush to Shuttle[1d20 → [14] = (14)]
You keep moving though, zigzagging towards the shuttle, using your thrusters to leap forward in great, leaping bounds even as you make sure to stay under the Shuttle's autogun. You cut down nearly half of the raiders in view and force the rest into cover as you make your madcap dash towards the Shuttle.
Stealth [1d20 → [20] = (20)] Critical, +5 to Attack
Attack [1d20+5 → [6,5] = (11)]
Your Mother is hardly idle as you make your dash, however. On more then one occasion, as your shields begin to falter under heavy fire when single shots lance out and kill the attacker. You've made it almost all the way to the shuttle before the raiders seem to realize there's a Sniper at all, and between the two of you most of the raiders on your side of the shuttle have either fallen or taken cover.
But you don't have time for that now as you reach the shuttle. You can hear shouted threats off to the side as the prisoners to use as human shields, but you ignore them, instead barreling up the loading ramp and into the ship. It's close quarters, and you don't dare use your cannon for fear of hitting something vital. Instead you charge through the shuttle's corridors, Omni-blade flashing anytime anytime someone is so stupid as to get in your way. You beat down doors and rush past holding pens until your feet carry you to the Cockpit. As you rush forward the door opens, a Batarian striding out with an automatic shotgun, pumping rapid fire into your barriers.
You ignore it, surging forward, and, with a single slice of your Omni-blade, neatly remove his head from his shoulders. You walk into the cockpit, hit the switch to seal the bulkhead, crawl out of your armor, and then set about trying to hack the ship.
Take control of Shuttle systems [1d20 → [17] = (17)]
Or rather, you start to, before you realize that whoever you just decapitated didn't actually bother to log out. Convenient.
Very convenient, actually, as you start going through the systems, your omnitool providing a translation as you go. The Batarian you just killed- apparently a Commander Nerak- was apparently pretty high up and had access to everything. More then just the Jammer you had originally come here to shut down, Nerak's console was connected via laser comlinks to both the ship in orbit- apparently a Hensa class Cruiser- and through it the other shuttles, of which apparently three are on the ground.
And most importantly of all, Nerak had the authority to lock down the other shuttles remotely in case they were overrun by slaves.
You hesitate- once you lock the other shuttles down, they're sure to try to lock you out. And in the meantime, you have almost complete access to the cruiser above. It's systems are a bit different from what you're use to, but you could probably manage to cause some serious damage before they locked you out.
What do you do?
[]Attempt to destabilize Reactor containment
[]Attempt to cut all power to Engines and Weapons
[]Attempt to program the autopilot to make a controlled crash on Mindoir.
[]Write-In
And of course there's still the matter of the hundred or so people outside who still want to kill you. And the hundreds of colonists they have as hostages. What do you do about them?
[]Take off and use the Ship's intercom to attempt to make them surrender.
-Plan? [Write-in]
[]Take off, and use the Assault Shuttle's guns to kill all the Pirates.
[]Write-In
Notes:
Not entirely happy with this, the conversation in the beginning in particular, but I've taken long enough to get it out. Not entirely sure about how I did the rolls either, but once I did them I thought it would have been a bit dishonest to change them, even though I'm half convinced the app I used to make the rolls is rigged somehow. Oh well. I wanted to finish up Mindoir anyway so we can move on to other things; next chapter should tie things up, one way or another.
---------------------
Who Dares....
[X]Before you do anything else, download the Batarian language package from your mom's omni-tool. Knowing what the four-eyed bastards are saying might prove useful, and will definitely make things easier you if you need to hack their systems.
[X]Rig the Speeder bike to crash into a tank. You're not sure if that'll actually kill the tank, but it will weaken it.--[X]Attach your spare flamer tanks to the bike. And one full magazine (six) worth of your grenades too, rigged to explode during the crash.
[X]Rush the Shuttle. You can't let it take off, and you may be able take control of it's systems. You may be able to force a surrender if you can take control of it's weapon systems.
[x]Providing support with her Sniper rifle
Focus fire on?
--[x]Heavy Weapons teams
"Revy, this is insane. We're outnumbered something like a hundred to one, they've got several hundred hostages, and we have two people. We've done enough. The best thing we can do is sit tight and help the Alliance when they arrive."
"And what if they don't? Are we going to just sit back and watch them leave? We have to go now, before the other Tank gets back. If I can get inside the shuttle, take over it's systems, lock it down, they won't be able to leave. They'll be stuck here until the Alliance can get here."
"And what happens when they start shooting Hostages, Revy? That suit you're wearing isn't so hot when it comes to precision, and it's been years since I've used a rifle like this. If they start shooting, we won't be able to save them all."
"I know, hopefully they'll be to busy shooting at me-"
"Not filling me with confidence, Revy."
"-and while they do that, you can pick them off. Go after the Heavy Weapons crews first. My barriers can handle the small arms fire. I think. And if I can take control of the shuttle, take off, I can threaten them with it's guns. Force them to surrender."
Your Mom sighs. "To many ifs. You're talking about taking over an alien shuttle with everything labeled in a language you don't even speak. You've never flown anything bigger then an aircar. And even if everything goes perfectly right, they'll still have hostages, Revy. "
"I know. But even if all we can do is force a stand-off, that'll buy the Alliance time to get here. I know it's not a good plan, but it's the only one I have. And unless you have a better suggestion that doesn't involve sitting on out hands, it's what I'm doing."
"Goddamn it, Revy. You're going to go out there no matter what I say, aren't you?
"Yes."
"Of course you are." She sighed again. It seemed to becoming a pattern. "If we live through this, you're grounded."
You blink as your mind processes what she just said."What?"
"For a year. No chasing slavers, no adventures in power armor, no going out, no dates, no anything. You'll stay where your Dad and I can keep an eye on you. And you'll like it."
You stare at her for a moment, incredulous at the absurdity of what she had just said. Moments pass and some part of you can't help but find the absurdity of it hilarious. You start laughing; half a moment later your mother joins in, and the tension is broken.
You set about rigging the bike into an impromptu Missile, strapping one of your flamer tanks and grenade magazine to the front, tweaking the VI to seek a vehicle rather then avoid it. You take a minute to transfer the Batarian language files from Mom's Omni-tool to your own- thankfully she's kept an up to date translation suite on hers despite the years she's spent on Mindoir. Then you set the timer on the bike and head out; neither you nor your mother want to be anywhere nearby when it goes off. It'd make for a pretty poor distraction if it attracted attention to either of you.
You reach your position with a few minutes to spare, and settle in to watch the last few minutes tick down on your HUD's timer. You scan the park in front of you; you don't have a real good view from here, but it's all to easy to imagine the prisoners being "processed" and marched onto the shuttle.
To Hit [1d20 → [20] = (20)] Critical, +5 to Damage
Damage [1d20+5 → [14,5] = (19)]
And then the Bike roars to life, streaks through the air like a missile and slams into the side of the tank. It's a perfect hit, dead center, and the tank's barriers collapse immediately, and your impromptu warhead sprays burning flamer fuel across the top of the tank even as the grenades go off in a terrible parody of firecrackers. You surge forward on thrusters, staying low to avoid the AA gun's fire, and crossover into the park just in time to see the Tank explode.
As distractions go, it's an overwhelming success. The nearest slavers are only just now noticing you, and you've already cut down three of the nearest heavy weapons teams before returning fire starts pelting the area around you.
Rush to Shuttle[1d20 → [14] = (14)]
You keep moving though, zigzagging towards the shuttle, using your thrusters to leap forward in great, leaping bounds even as you make sure to stay under the Shuttle's autogun. You cut down nearly half of the raiders in view and force the rest into cover as you make your madcap dash towards the Shuttle.
Stealth [1d20 → [20] = (20)] Critical, +5 to Attack
Attack [1d20+5 → [6,5] = (11)]
Your Mother is hardly idle as you make your dash, however. On more then one occasion, as your shields begin to falter under heavy fire when single shots lance out and kill the attacker. You've made it almost all the way to the shuttle before the raiders seem to realize there's a Sniper at all, and between the two of you most of the raiders on your side of the shuttle have either fallen or taken cover.
But you don't have time for that now as you reach the shuttle. You can hear shouted threats off to the side as the prisoners to use as human shields, but you ignore them, instead barreling up the loading ramp and into the ship. It's close quarters, and you don't dare use your cannon for fear of hitting something vital. Instead you charge through the shuttle's corridors, Omni-blade flashing anytime anytime someone is so stupid as to get in your way. You beat down doors and rush past holding pens until your feet carry you to the Cockpit. As you rush forward the door opens, a Batarian striding out with an automatic shotgun, pumping rapid fire into your barriers.
You ignore it, surging forward, and, with a single slice of your Omni-blade, neatly remove his head from his shoulders. You walk into the cockpit, hit the switch to seal the bulkhead, crawl out of your armor, and then set about trying to hack the ship.
Take control of Shuttle systems [1d20 → [17] = (17)]
Or rather, you start to, before you realize that whoever you just decapitated didn't actually bother to log out. Convenient.
Very convenient, actually, as you start going through the systems, your omnitool providing a translation as you go. The Batarian you just killed- apparently a Commander Nerak- was apparently pretty high up and had access to everything. More then just the Jammer you had originally come here to shut down, Nerak's console was connected via laser comlinks to both the ship in orbit- apparently a Hensa class Cruiser- and through it the other shuttles, of which apparently three are on the ground.
And most importantly of all, Nerak had the authority to lock down the other shuttles remotely in case they were overrun by slaves.
You hesitate- once you lock the other shuttles down, they're sure to try to lock you out. And in the meantime, you have almost complete access to the cruiser above. It's systems are a bit different from what you're use to, but you could probably manage to cause some serious damage before they locked you out.
What do you do?
[]Attempt to destabilize Reactor containment
[]Attempt to cut all power to Engines and Weapons
[]Attempt to program the autopilot to make a controlled crash on Mindoir.
[]Write-In
And of course there's still the matter of the hundred or so people outside who still want to kill you. And the hundreds of colonists they have as hostages. What do you do about them?
[]Take off and use the Ship's intercom to attempt to make them surrender.
-Plan? [Write-in]
[]Take off, and use the Assault Shuttle's guns to kill all the Pirates.
[]Write-In
Notes:
Not entirely happy with this, the conversation in the beginning in particular, but I've taken long enough to get it out. Not entirely sure about how I did the rolls either, but once I did them I thought it would have been a bit dishonest to change them, even though I'm half convinced the app I used to make the rolls is rigged somehow. Oh well. I wanted to finish up Mindoir anyway so we can move on to other things; next chapter should tie things up, one way or another.
Prologue (Part 07) - ...Wins?
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
-------------------
….Wins?
Sergeant Taralla Ran'serah was not a happy Batarian.
It was suppose to be a simple job. An easy raid against an almost defenseless colony. Nerak's intel had been perfect, and The Glory of Verush has crushed the single frigate above the planet easily, along with an errant merchantman. The Captain had been irritated at that- taking it as a prize would have been much more profitable- but with an entire world to plunder it hardly managed. Precise kinetic strikes on coordinates Nerak had provided had wiped out the vast majority of what little garrison there was, and the rest had been broken in the opening minutes.
Everything had been going well. A few casualties here and there from hold-outs, but that was to be expected, and they'd already shuttled nearly five hundred new slaves to the Verush.
Then that two-eyed bastard had shown up and started killing everyone.
It had to be some sort of prototype. He'd heard stories about the Armigers, but nothing they had carried that much firepower. Nearly half the raiding company was dead, and everyone else had been forced into cover, either behind the ship or elsewhere.
And now they were inside the ship. Lieutenant Ghella had ordered two in after him, but a sniper had put both down before they had been able to reach the ramp. They still didn't know where that fucker was, and Taralla was not eager to stick his head out to flush him out. Ghella was fiddling with some bit of tech, a drone of some kind. He'd just wish they'd hurry the fuck up and-
The shuttle took off.
They'd been running the Engines hot- stupid not to on a raid like this- but still, it took a moment for Taralla's brain to process the thought. He hit the deck, trying to crawl to cover when the distinctive whine of a autocannon spinning up paralyzed him with fear.
No cover, no way out he was going to die-
Except the gun didn't fire. The shuttle just hovered there, the guns and rockets onboard it gleaming in the fading sun.
Then the speakers crackled to life, and a voice spoke. Digitized, automatic translation, but still unmistakably human and female.
"Good Afternoon. I now have full control of this shuttle and it's weapons systems. The other Landing craft are currently on lockdown, and your Cruiser is dead in the water. You have no way off this planet. Lay down your weapons and surrender and you will be spared. Do not and I will blow you all to hell."
For a moment he considered it, loosened his grip on his rifle. Then Ghella was screaming into the comms. "To hell with that. We have hostages you bitch. You land the fucking shuttle or I start decorating the lawn with their brains. If she shoots kill-" Ghella's head explodes, the sharp crack of a Sniper rifle echoing across the park.
For a moment nobody moved. Then one of the other mercs started shooting into the crowd and everything went to hell. The chatter of Assault rifles filled the air, mingling with the roar of autocannon as Taralla fired at everything, the crowd, the shuttle, the sky, roaring fury and desperation to the sky as tracers flew in every direction.
Then the stream of fire from the shuttle shifted to him, and then there was nothing at all.
***
Fifty six people. That's how many had died after your impromptu hostage negotiations. More then twice as many were injured, including the man you now sat next to in a hospital tent.
Your Father.
You were lucky, you knew. You'd never even seen him in the throng of prisoners, and he'd only been hit once. He'd survive, and though he would be paralyzed from the waist down until he could get surgery, the haggard nurse who'd tended to him had said he should make a full recovery eventually.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't be anytime soon. Mindoir's Hospitals were overflowing with wounded, and while triage centers were already being set up everywhere there was room, it would be some time before the Doctors could get to him. Alliance was swarming everywhere, and more relief personnel were coming in by the hour, but there was only so much they could do.
No one truly knew the total casualties yet- numbers were still coming in from New Haven, and there were reports of a few isolated holdouts in Farpoint. In orbit, the situation was clearer- your VI turned virus had worked to perfection, and managed to completely lock down the ship, isolating the slavers from their captives and burning out every console they could access. The ship had drifted helplessly in space until Marines from the SSV Einstein had breached the hull, managing to rescue the captives without losing a single one. Five hundred and twenty two people rescued, because of what you did. It's a good feeling, and it's gotten you quite a few pats on the back, both literal and metaphorical. Also, a lot of promises to buy you a drink, which is kind of odd.
Still, it doesn't quite wash away the guilt, the feeling that you could have done better.
How do you feel about this?
[]Showing mercy was a mistake. The Batarians were scum, and if I had killed them all immediately, I could have saved dozens of innocent lives.
[]Trying to force a surrender was the right call, but I screwed it up. I need to be faster, stronger, better. Next time, not a single hostage dies.
[]Write-In
You mull over your thoughts long into the night, until sleep finally takes you.
***
You awake with a start to the sight of your Mom's face as she shakes you awake. "You alright, Revy? It's nearly noon. You need to wake up."
You yawn and stretch, noting your Father looks a little better, even if he is still asleep- not surprising as he's still recovering. But Mom looks worried about something, and if not Dad...
"What's wrong, Mom? What happened."
"A lot. Still haven't found all our friends, a lot of them are wounded. Some are probably dead. And then there's this." She hands you a tablet with a video file blown up to full screen. A video of a very familiar scene.
Namely, you killing the Tank. Complete with music and slowmo as you walk away from the tank just before it explodes.
"One of the shops apparently had a security camera that was still working, and someone found it and uploaded it. It's already gone Viral, and people have already figured out who you are. Congratulations, Revy, you're famous."
"Oh." You're not sure what else to say to that.
How do you feel about that?
[]Pleased. Fame is kind of awesome
[]Annoyed. You do not have time for this shit
[]Apathetic. Meh. Who cares?
[]Write-In
"Yeah, "Oh" is right. There are a few reporters who are looking to talk to you. You should be safe in here, but if you go out be ready. Especially if you go out in that." She nods at your armor, powered down in the corner of the tent.
What do you do?
[]Stay in Tent with Dad. You don't want to deal with the press right now.
[]Try to sneak out in plainclothes. Maybe they won't recognize you
[]Go out and meet the reporters head on. Best to deal with this head on.
--Wear Armor [Y/N]
[]You have an armor suit that's capable of flight. Use it. Head back home, see what state the house is in, and check on your lab.
[]Write-In
Notes:
Argh, wanted to do more here, but it's already past midnight and I have work tomorrow, so this will have to do. Experimented a bit in the beginning with an alt view point; not sure if I'll be doing that again. Anyway, hopefully next update will be out quicker then this one was. Feedback is welcome as always.
-------------------
….Wins?
Sergeant Taralla Ran'serah was not a happy Batarian.
It was suppose to be a simple job. An easy raid against an almost defenseless colony. Nerak's intel had been perfect, and The Glory of Verush has crushed the single frigate above the planet easily, along with an errant merchantman. The Captain had been irritated at that- taking it as a prize would have been much more profitable- but with an entire world to plunder it hardly managed. Precise kinetic strikes on coordinates Nerak had provided had wiped out the vast majority of what little garrison there was, and the rest had been broken in the opening minutes.
Everything had been going well. A few casualties here and there from hold-outs, but that was to be expected, and they'd already shuttled nearly five hundred new slaves to the Verush.
Then that two-eyed bastard had shown up and started killing everyone.
It had to be some sort of prototype. He'd heard stories about the Armigers, but nothing they had carried that much firepower. Nearly half the raiding company was dead, and everyone else had been forced into cover, either behind the ship or elsewhere.
And now they were inside the ship. Lieutenant Ghella had ordered two in after him, but a sniper had put both down before they had been able to reach the ramp. They still didn't know where that fucker was, and Taralla was not eager to stick his head out to flush him out. Ghella was fiddling with some bit of tech, a drone of some kind. He'd just wish they'd hurry the fuck up and-
The shuttle took off.
They'd been running the Engines hot- stupid not to on a raid like this- but still, it took a moment for Taralla's brain to process the thought. He hit the deck, trying to crawl to cover when the distinctive whine of a autocannon spinning up paralyzed him with fear.
No cover, no way out he was going to die-
Except the gun didn't fire. The shuttle just hovered there, the guns and rockets onboard it gleaming in the fading sun.
Then the speakers crackled to life, and a voice spoke. Digitized, automatic translation, but still unmistakably human and female.
"Good Afternoon. I now have full control of this shuttle and it's weapons systems. The other Landing craft are currently on lockdown, and your Cruiser is dead in the water. You have no way off this planet. Lay down your weapons and surrender and you will be spared. Do not and I will blow you all to hell."
For a moment he considered it, loosened his grip on his rifle. Then Ghella was screaming into the comms. "To hell with that. We have hostages you bitch. You land the fucking shuttle or I start decorating the lawn with their brains. If she shoots kill-" Ghella's head explodes, the sharp crack of a Sniper rifle echoing across the park.
For a moment nobody moved. Then one of the other mercs started shooting into the crowd and everything went to hell. The chatter of Assault rifles filled the air, mingling with the roar of autocannon as Taralla fired at everything, the crowd, the shuttle, the sky, roaring fury and desperation to the sky as tracers flew in every direction.
Then the stream of fire from the shuttle shifted to him, and then there was nothing at all.
***
Fifty six people. That's how many had died after your impromptu hostage negotiations. More then twice as many were injured, including the man you now sat next to in a hospital tent.
Your Father.
You were lucky, you knew. You'd never even seen him in the throng of prisoners, and he'd only been hit once. He'd survive, and though he would be paralyzed from the waist down until he could get surgery, the haggard nurse who'd tended to him had said he should make a full recovery eventually.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't be anytime soon. Mindoir's Hospitals were overflowing with wounded, and while triage centers were already being set up everywhere there was room, it would be some time before the Doctors could get to him. Alliance was swarming everywhere, and more relief personnel were coming in by the hour, but there was only so much they could do.
No one truly knew the total casualties yet- numbers were still coming in from New Haven, and there were reports of a few isolated holdouts in Farpoint. In orbit, the situation was clearer- your VI turned virus had worked to perfection, and managed to completely lock down the ship, isolating the slavers from their captives and burning out every console they could access. The ship had drifted helplessly in space until Marines from the SSV Einstein had breached the hull, managing to rescue the captives without losing a single one. Five hundred and twenty two people rescued, because of what you did. It's a good feeling, and it's gotten you quite a few pats on the back, both literal and metaphorical. Also, a lot of promises to buy you a drink, which is kind of odd.
Still, it doesn't quite wash away the guilt, the feeling that you could have done better.
How do you feel about this?
[]Showing mercy was a mistake. The Batarians were scum, and if I had killed them all immediately, I could have saved dozens of innocent lives.
[]Trying to force a surrender was the right call, but I screwed it up. I need to be faster, stronger, better. Next time, not a single hostage dies.
[]Write-In
You mull over your thoughts long into the night, until sleep finally takes you.
***
You awake with a start to the sight of your Mom's face as she shakes you awake. "You alright, Revy? It's nearly noon. You need to wake up."
You yawn and stretch, noting your Father looks a little better, even if he is still asleep- not surprising as he's still recovering. But Mom looks worried about something, and if not Dad...
"What's wrong, Mom? What happened."
"A lot. Still haven't found all our friends, a lot of them are wounded. Some are probably dead. And then there's this." She hands you a tablet with a video file blown up to full screen. A video of a very familiar scene.
Namely, you killing the Tank. Complete with music and slowmo as you walk away from the tank just before it explodes.
"One of the shops apparently had a security camera that was still working, and someone found it and uploaded it. It's already gone Viral, and people have already figured out who you are. Congratulations, Revy, you're famous."
"Oh." You're not sure what else to say to that.
How do you feel about that?
[]Pleased. Fame is kind of awesome
[]Annoyed. You do not have time for this shit
[]Apathetic. Meh. Who cares?
[]Write-In
"Yeah, "Oh" is right. There are a few reporters who are looking to talk to you. You should be safe in here, but if you go out be ready. Especially if you go out in that." She nods at your armor, powered down in the corner of the tent.
What do you do?
[]Stay in Tent with Dad. You don't want to deal with the press right now.
[]Try to sneak out in plainclothes. Maybe they won't recognize you
[]Go out and meet the reporters head on. Best to deal with this head on.
--Wear Armor [Y/N]
[]You have an armor suit that's capable of flight. Use it. Head back home, see what state the house is in, and check on your lab.
[]Write-In
Notes:
Argh, wanted to do more here, but it's already past midnight and I have work tomorrow, so this will have to do. Experimented a bit in the beginning with an alt view point; not sure if I'll be doing that again. Anyway, hopefully next update will be out quicker then this one was. Feedback is welcome as always.
Prologue (Part 08) - The Fourth Estate
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
-----------------------
The Fourth Estate
[X]Trying to force a surrender was the right call, but I screwed it up. I need to be faster, stronger, better. Next time, not a single hostage dies.
You won't regret trying to save everyone. Not that. You regret failing, and will do everything in your power to make sure that it never happens again, but you won't regret that you tried to save everyone.
You're not sure if you'll ever find yourself in such a scenario again. But you'll push yourself to your limits regardless. You'll train, you'll learn, and you'll invent, and if ever there comes a time when you have to make that same sort of choice, you will be ready.
[X] Being famous is an opportunity. What the slavers did here was disgusting, and we want public help to stop anything like it from happening again. We know we're not experienced with PR though, so we need to be careful.
[X] Check our suit to make sure nothing will crap out on us, then gear up and head out to meet the press head-on. We'll only give them a few words, only what we're confident of, then head back to check on our lab. Flight is a suitably dramatic means of exit from our first interview, after all.
You sit there for a moment, watching the video, considering the implications. A flash of irritation at the violation of your privacy clashes with a bit of self indulgent pride- you've gotten almost seven million hits in less then 24 hours- before you settle on a single thought.
You can use this.
Fame's not something that you went looking for, but if you have it now why shouldn't you use it? Mindoir's been hit hard. A lot of people hurt, a lot of damage. If you could speak out, help Mindoir get the help it needs, shouldn't you? Don't you have an obligation to?
No, you aren't going to let this opportunity slip through your fingers.
Still, you know your limits. You've no idea how to handle reporters. Best to keep it short and simple, a few questions at most. And after that....well, flying off into the distance would probably make quite the impression, wouldn't it? And you should probably see how the house was doing anyway; that shuttle wasn't going to clean up itself, to say nothing of the repairs you need to make to your armor.
Your path decided, you stand and cross over to your armor to do a systems check. Don't want to fall out of the sky in front of a bunch of reporters. Would be embarrassing. Also, possibly fatal.
"Revy, what are you doing?"
You don't bother to turn as you use your omnitool to go over the suit's vitals. "Getting the suit ready to fly."
"And where, exactly, where you planning on flying to?" She sounded a bit annoyed now.
"Home. Dad's stable, but it'll be a while before he wakes. I thought it would be a good idea to see how bad the damage was, clean up what I could. Maybe make some repairs to the suit."
"You do understand that if you go out like that, you'll be mobbed by reporters."
"I know. I'll answer a few questions, then I'll fly off."
"Really? Showing off, are we?"
You smile at that. "Maybe a little." And suddenly, she's hugging you. "Mom!"
"Have I told you how proud I am of you recently?"
"Yes! You did it a dozen times last night!"
"Well, I am very proud of you. But in all seriousness, Revy, be careful. You say the wrong thing and you'll never get away from it. I won't stop you, but I do want you to promise me you'll think about what you're saying, OK?"
You sigh, exasperated as your Mom lets go. "I'll be fine Mom. I won't do anything stupid, I promise."
***
Ten minutes later, you're regretting that promise. In the short few minutes since you exited the tent, nearly a dozen reporters have surrounded you, and all of them are shouting questions. It's already starting to give you a headache.
Finally you raise a armored hand, and yell "Five Questions!" Then you point at one of the (relatively) quieter reporters towards the back of the crowd. "You first."
That seemed to quiet down the crowd. "Who exactly are you? The Alliance doesn't claim you, and there are videos on the extranet that suggest you're one Rebecca Shepard, but she's only sixteen and-"
You cut him off there. "I am Rebecca Shepard, though I usually go by Revy. And yes, I am sixteen years old. Was born in '54. Next question, you in the blue blouse."
The woman appeared startled for a moment before she collected herself and asked, "Where did you get the Power Armor you're wearing? Is it an Alliance Prototype? How did it fall into the hands of a sixteen year old girl?"
You frown at that, though thankfully, your suit keeps it from showing. "I built it. It's been a project of mine for a few months now. I was out testing it when the raid began."
"Surely you can't expect us to believe-"
You cut her off. "I don't care what you believe. I told you the truth. Next question, man with the orange blazer."
"Ms. Shepard, what is your opinion on the Alliance's defense of the colony?"
You frown at that for a moment, your Mother's warning echoing through your thoughts.
What tact do you take?
[]Critical. You and your Mother were the only thing that saved the colony, and things never should have gotten that bad. Criticize the Alliance as a whole.
[]Conciliatory. The Alliance, failed, badly, but they've been both quick and generous with relief, and Mindoir needs all the help it can get. Parliament definitely needs to improve colonial defenses, but the Men and Women of the Alliance Navy can't be faulted for the screw ups of some admirals and politicians.
[]No Comment.
[]Write-In
"Next question, Woman in the black coat."
"Ms. Shepard, What actions do you believe the Alliance should take against the Hegemony? It's well-known, if rarely proven that the SIU sponsors Batarian "Privateers" and given recent clashes in the Skyllian Verge, it's clear that the Hegemony was involved in this attack. What's your take on the matter?"
What do you say?
[]Invade the Hegemony. Kill all the filthy Xenos!
[]Go to the Council. Negotiating this sort of thing is their entire purpose for existing.
[]No Comment
[]Write-In
"And last question. Man in the blue parka."
"What do you plan on doing next, Ms. Shepard? Do you plan on selling your armor to one of the Defense contractors, or the Alliance directly? Or are you planning on starting your own firm?"
"Right now the only thing I'm planning on is going home. Please step back please."
The crowd retreats a few steps for a moment, and you take the opportunity to trigger your boosters, propelling you far above the now yelling crowd below you.
As you fly towards home, you can't help but mull over the last reporters question. What do you want to do with your work?
[]Sell your designs. Sell the Arc Reactor and the Mk 1- between the demonstration you just made and the footage on the internet, there should be plenty of interested buyers. You'd lose the rights to your designs, but it'd give you a great deal of money immediately. And they'd probably be willing to give you a job if you wanted one. (Gives 30 million credits, sells patents to Hahne-Kedar, and gives you the option to work as a consultant in Hahne-Kedar Shadow Works with a small lab of your own to work in. Shadow Works is on Earth however, and would require relocating.)
[]Go to the Alliance. Cut out the middleman and agree to work directly in support of the Alliance, providing armor and weapons to the Marines and N7s as they hunt down Slavers and Pirates across the frontier. (Relocates to N branch facility on Luna. High security, lowest chance of tech being stolen or reverse engineered. Gives high level security clearance, chance to interact with N7 units, and may be brought on as a consultant for unusual items of interest.)
[]Subsidiary. There are probably quite a few people out there who would be willing to help you start up, for a price of course. (Become a subsidiary of Rosenkov Materials. Your subsidiary will be given 75 million for start up purposes, allowing you to research and production facilities, but Rosenkov will receive 75% of the companies stock in exchange. You will be allowed to buy back up to 5% of the companies stock each year provided you hit their profit targets, and would generally be allowed a good deal of autonomy, though you would be certainly be encouraged to listen to the board of directors "suggestions".)
[]Go it alone. You'll build yourself a company with your own two hands. It might be difficult to find funding and facilities, but you'll find a way to make it work.
--Plan? [Write-in]
-----------------------
The Fourth Estate
[X]Trying to force a surrender was the right call, but I screwed it up. I need to be faster, stronger, better. Next time, not a single hostage dies.
You won't regret trying to save everyone. Not that. You regret failing, and will do everything in your power to make sure that it never happens again, but you won't regret that you tried to save everyone.
You're not sure if you'll ever find yourself in such a scenario again. But you'll push yourself to your limits regardless. You'll train, you'll learn, and you'll invent, and if ever there comes a time when you have to make that same sort of choice, you will be ready.
[X] Being famous is an opportunity. What the slavers did here was disgusting, and we want public help to stop anything like it from happening again. We know we're not experienced with PR though, so we need to be careful.
[X] Check our suit to make sure nothing will crap out on us, then gear up and head out to meet the press head-on. We'll only give them a few words, only what we're confident of, then head back to check on our lab. Flight is a suitably dramatic means of exit from our first interview, after all.
You sit there for a moment, watching the video, considering the implications. A flash of irritation at the violation of your privacy clashes with a bit of self indulgent pride- you've gotten almost seven million hits in less then 24 hours- before you settle on a single thought.
You can use this.
Fame's not something that you went looking for, but if you have it now why shouldn't you use it? Mindoir's been hit hard. A lot of people hurt, a lot of damage. If you could speak out, help Mindoir get the help it needs, shouldn't you? Don't you have an obligation to?
No, you aren't going to let this opportunity slip through your fingers.
Still, you know your limits. You've no idea how to handle reporters. Best to keep it short and simple, a few questions at most. And after that....well, flying off into the distance would probably make quite the impression, wouldn't it? And you should probably see how the house was doing anyway; that shuttle wasn't going to clean up itself, to say nothing of the repairs you need to make to your armor.
Your path decided, you stand and cross over to your armor to do a systems check. Don't want to fall out of the sky in front of a bunch of reporters. Would be embarrassing. Also, possibly fatal.
"Revy, what are you doing?"
You don't bother to turn as you use your omnitool to go over the suit's vitals. "Getting the suit ready to fly."
"And where, exactly, where you planning on flying to?" She sounded a bit annoyed now.
"Home. Dad's stable, but it'll be a while before he wakes. I thought it would be a good idea to see how bad the damage was, clean up what I could. Maybe make some repairs to the suit."
"You do understand that if you go out like that, you'll be mobbed by reporters."
"I know. I'll answer a few questions, then I'll fly off."
"Really? Showing off, are we?"
You smile at that. "Maybe a little." And suddenly, she's hugging you. "Mom!"
"Have I told you how proud I am of you recently?"
"Yes! You did it a dozen times last night!"
"Well, I am very proud of you. But in all seriousness, Revy, be careful. You say the wrong thing and you'll never get away from it. I won't stop you, but I do want you to promise me you'll think about what you're saying, OK?"
You sigh, exasperated as your Mom lets go. "I'll be fine Mom. I won't do anything stupid, I promise."
***
Ten minutes later, you're regretting that promise. In the short few minutes since you exited the tent, nearly a dozen reporters have surrounded you, and all of them are shouting questions. It's already starting to give you a headache.
Finally you raise a armored hand, and yell "Five Questions!" Then you point at one of the (relatively) quieter reporters towards the back of the crowd. "You first."
That seemed to quiet down the crowd. "Who exactly are you? The Alliance doesn't claim you, and there are videos on the extranet that suggest you're one Rebecca Shepard, but she's only sixteen and-"
You cut him off there. "I am Rebecca Shepard, though I usually go by Revy. And yes, I am sixteen years old. Was born in '54. Next question, you in the blue blouse."
The woman appeared startled for a moment before she collected herself and asked, "Where did you get the Power Armor you're wearing? Is it an Alliance Prototype? How did it fall into the hands of a sixteen year old girl?"
You frown at that, though thankfully, your suit keeps it from showing. "I built it. It's been a project of mine for a few months now. I was out testing it when the raid began."
"Surely you can't expect us to believe-"
You cut her off. "I don't care what you believe. I told you the truth. Next question, man with the orange blazer."
"Ms. Shepard, what is your opinion on the Alliance's defense of the colony?"
You frown at that for a moment, your Mother's warning echoing through your thoughts.
What tact do you take?
[]Critical. You and your Mother were the only thing that saved the colony, and things never should have gotten that bad. Criticize the Alliance as a whole.
[]Conciliatory. The Alliance, failed, badly, but they've been both quick and generous with relief, and Mindoir needs all the help it can get. Parliament definitely needs to improve colonial defenses, but the Men and Women of the Alliance Navy can't be faulted for the screw ups of some admirals and politicians.
[]No Comment.
[]Write-In
"Next question, Woman in the black coat."
"Ms. Shepard, What actions do you believe the Alliance should take against the Hegemony? It's well-known, if rarely proven that the SIU sponsors Batarian "Privateers" and given recent clashes in the Skyllian Verge, it's clear that the Hegemony was involved in this attack. What's your take on the matter?"
What do you say?
[]Invade the Hegemony. Kill all the filthy Xenos!
[]Go to the Council. Negotiating this sort of thing is their entire purpose for existing.
[]No Comment
[]Write-In
"And last question. Man in the blue parka."
"What do you plan on doing next, Ms. Shepard? Do you plan on selling your armor to one of the Defense contractors, or the Alliance directly? Or are you planning on starting your own firm?"
"Right now the only thing I'm planning on is going home. Please step back please."
The crowd retreats a few steps for a moment, and you take the opportunity to trigger your boosters, propelling you far above the now yelling crowd below you.
As you fly towards home, you can't help but mull over the last reporters question. What do you want to do with your work?
[]Sell your designs. Sell the Arc Reactor and the Mk 1- between the demonstration you just made and the footage on the internet, there should be plenty of interested buyers. You'd lose the rights to your designs, but it'd give you a great deal of money immediately. And they'd probably be willing to give you a job if you wanted one. (Gives 30 million credits, sells patents to Hahne-Kedar, and gives you the option to work as a consultant in Hahne-Kedar Shadow Works with a small lab of your own to work in. Shadow Works is on Earth however, and would require relocating.)
[]Go to the Alliance. Cut out the middleman and agree to work directly in support of the Alliance, providing armor and weapons to the Marines and N7s as they hunt down Slavers and Pirates across the frontier. (Relocates to N branch facility on Luna. High security, lowest chance of tech being stolen or reverse engineered. Gives high level security clearance, chance to interact with N7 units, and may be brought on as a consultant for unusual items of interest.)
[]Subsidiary. There are probably quite a few people out there who would be willing to help you start up, for a price of course. (Become a subsidiary of Rosenkov Materials. Your subsidiary will be given 75 million for start up purposes, allowing you to research and production facilities, but Rosenkov will receive 75% of the companies stock in exchange. You will be allowed to buy back up to 5% of the companies stock each year provided you hit their profit targets, and would generally be allowed a good deal of autonomy, though you would be certainly be encouraged to listen to the board of directors "suggestions".)
[]Go it alone. You'll build yourself a company with your own two hands. It might be difficult to find funding and facilities, but you'll find a way to make it work.
--Plan? [Write-in]
First Production Run (Part 01) - The Entrepreneurial Spirit
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
-----------------
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
[X]Conciliatory. The Alliance, failed, badly, but they've been both quick and generous with relief, and Mindoir needs all the help it can get. Parliament definitely needs to improve colonial defenses, but the Men and Women of the Alliance Navy can't be faulted for the screw ups of some admirals and politicians.
"Ms. Shepard, what is your opinion on the Alliance's defense of the colony?"
"I think it's hard to dispute that the Alliance failed here, and badly. That said, the Men and Women of the Alliance Navy have been quick to respond, offering us aid and support in the aftermath of the attack. We need better colonial defenses, but I don't think I can fault the Alliance as a whole for the mistakes of some admirals and politicians."
[X]No Comment
"Ms. Shepard, What actions do you believe the Alliance should take against the Hegemony? It's well-known, if rarely proven that the SIU sponsors Batarian "Privateers" and given recent clashes in the Skyllian Verge, it's clear that the Hegemony was involved in this attack. What's your take on the matter?"
"No Comment."
"Ms. Shepard-"
"I said No Comment. Next question."
[X]Go it alone. You'll build yourself a company with your own two hands. It might be difficult to find funding and facilities, but you'll find a way to make it work.
It's been two weeks since the attack, and your plans to start your own company have gone surprisingly well. You've filed the papers, and you are now the Chief Executive Officer and primary shareholder of your new company:
[]Shepard Industries
[]Mindoir Technology
[]Write-in
Both your parents have been supportive, and agreed to "sell" you one of the outlying fields for you to get set up on for a small amount of stock. You originally tried to give them each ten percent, but your Dad talked you down to five each, suggesting that you may need to sell stock to raise money later on.
You've also applied to Mindoir's Office of Business Development for a small business grant; You got a response almost immediately, and received the full 2 million credits surprisingly quickly. It probably shouldn't surprise you given your current reputation on Mindoir, which seems to be somewhere between "Audie Murphy" and "Joan of Arc", but it's still definitely a very nice boost.
You immediately spent 500,000 of the grant to buy some prefabs and move them to the land you had "bought" from your parents, along with sufficient lab equipment and materials to let you begin operations, along with a small prototyping workshop to build whatever you can dream up. Your facilities, such as they are certainly aren't a match for a major research facility, but they're certainly an improvement over what you had before.
Acquired: Personal Lab (+1d100 research/quarter)
Acquired: Prototyping Workshop (10 production/month)
You've spent the last few days setting up equipment and calibrating instruments, but you're finally ready to begin. What do you want to research?
[] Mk 1.5 Armor (200) The raid showed you that your current armor could use a great deal of improvement if you ever want to fight in it again. Using the Hardsuits you recovered from the crashed shuttle, you could easily upgrade it's armor to spec, giving it the durability of a heavy hardsuit when barriers fail, as well as improving the interface, upgrading the omnitool to perform normal functions without exiting the suit, adding modular weapon mounts and generally addressing all the little miscellaneous issues while readying it for production.
[]Wrist mounted mass accelerator. (50) Adding an SMG class mass accelerator to the suit with a wrist mount should be child's play, but it will take a little work.
[]Compact Autocannon (75) The salvaged autocannon you "liberated" from the Batarian shuttle, was big, unwieldy, and very, very effective. A Batarian State Arms MS-12 5mm hypervelocity cannon, it's also something you are completely uninterested in licensing. Which is fine, because you're sure you can do better anyway- integrating it into the suit should give it a much bigger energy budget to play with, as well as making the entire assembly less ungainly in flight.
[]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (100) Having proper Anti-tank weapons would have been enormously useful when you had to fight actual tanks, and putting together a system capable of reliably defeating armor with a single shot should be a very useful force multiplier for future iterations of your armor. You could also build and sell a standalone launcher, should you so desire.
[]Micro-missiles (150) After your failed negotiations during the raid, you resolved to never fail those who have been taken hostage again. This is the best solution you've been able to come up with so far- a large battery of 10mm micro missiles, slaved to a VI and capable of maneuvering and attacking a large number of targets simultaneously with a large degree of precision. Given the size of the projectiles, you might even be able to fit them into a pistol frame, though it would have limited magazine capacity.
[] Repulsors (150) You know you're close, and now that you finally have proper facilities, you're sure you can finally make the breakthrough you need to build repulsors. You're sure they'll be remarkably effective as a dual purpose propulsion/weapon system if you can just figure out how to make them work. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (300) Up scaling the Arc Reactor, should, in theory, confer at least a small improvement in Energy density, allowing you to build a large scale reactor suitable for both civil and military needs.
[]Advanced Materials (150) You have some ideas for advanced alloys that would allow you to provide greater protection with much thinner armor, as well as allowing a much higher speed in the air. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (150) Upgrading your suit's VI to be capable of managing tactical EW needs on the battlefield would give you the ability to intercept and decrypt less advanced communications as well as jam both sensors and comms. It wouldn't be the be-all and end-all of Electronic Warfare, but it would be both useful and pave the way for future research into electronic warfare and more advanced VIs.
[]Basic Black boxing/FRM (100) Setting up your technology such that it cannot be easily reverse engineered is basic common sense, but it will take some work. At this level your defenses are not insurmountable to the most skilled Engineers, but they will pose a difficulty, and make reverse engineering your technology a much more trying endeavor.
You currently have Five (5) research dies, and may allocate them to as many or as few research projects as you see fit. You may also designate One overflow project, in the event that your dies give a number greater then the amount necessary to complete a project.
As an example:
[3] Mk 1.5 Armor (200)
[1] Repulsors (150)
[1*]Advanced Materials (150)
Would give any potential rollover from the Mk 1.5 to the Advanced Materials Project.
With that decided, you shift your attention to other issues, namely, what exactly you're going to deal with your Arc Reactor technology. You know it has the potential to literally change the galaxy, but you're not quite sure the galaxy at large is ready for it.
What do you do?
[]Patent it in both Alliance and Citadel Space. By far the most lucrative option, this would gain you exclusive rights to Arc Reactor technology for the next 20 years, but it would also require you to license it; Citadel law prohibits "sitting" on patents, and if a Citadel appointed board believes a company is incapable or unwilling of meeting demand, they can force the company to license it's technology to a manufacturer who can. The tech would probably leak to the Terminus within a year or two, though they'll undoubtedly lag behind the Alliance and the Citadel in adoption for some time.
[]Patent it in the Alliance. After careful review, you've found that it's possible to file "secret" patents under the Military secrets act of 2158; the patent itself would be classified, and a board of scientists and engineers with high level security clearances would review other patents against it to determine overlaps. You would be required to maintain a security team capable of securing your own facilities at all times. The tech will still likely proliferate eventually, but it may be a year or two before the better intelligence agencies figure it out, and longer for less advanced groups to replicate Arc Reactor technology. (requires hiring 2 or more Security Teams as well as installing Basic Security Measures and Perimeter Sensors.
[]Don't Patent it. You are confident in your Blackboxing abilities, and believe you can prevent the proliferation of Arc Reactor technology for some time. The contracts you take and the amount of effort you put into black boxing technology will effect how long it takes others to reverse engineer your work, as will your security arrangements. And you can of course patent your technology at a later date, though you may run into issues if others attempt to do so first.
With that issue decided, you shift your attention to your inbox. The Alliance is currently running a design competition for powered armor, and is offering a 2 million dollar grant to small companies who wish to compete, as well as a 3 million dollar prize for the winner, with the potential to make far more in future contracts. Accepting the grant and failing to present a prototype at the competition will result in penalties however, as well as likely making the Alliance less inclined to do business with you in the future.
Enter Power armor competition?
[]Yes
[]No
You also notice that you've gotten a response from the local colonial energy department- they're interested in your companies offer to bid on a power plant for the rebuilding efforts, but they will need to see a prototype first before offering money.
You move on, deciding to turn your other expenses- namely, security. The press have been hounding you for some time, and while you've been able to evade them thus far, hiring a security team to keep them and others away would be helpful, as would other security measures.
What do you purchase? (You currently have 1.5 million credits)
[]Basic Security Measures. Installs a number of cameras around the building, isolates research terminals from the extranet and purchases a variety of bug sweeping equipment along with other miscellaneous security measures.
Price: 250K
[]Perimeter Sensors Sets up a series of proximity sensors around the boundaries of your property along with a low power search radar to detect unexpected guests.
Price: 250K(initial), 50K/quarter to maintain
[]Reconnaissance Drones A set of last gen Alliance Recon Drones, these would give you a rapid response unit capable of investigating, and if necessary, terminating, unwanted intruders.
Price: 1 million (initial) 100K/quarter to maintain
[]Hire a security team (Local Law enforcement) With the alliance currently monopolizing colonial security, you maybe able to hire a number of local law enforcement to work for you.
Equipment: Pistols and Kinetic Barrier vests
Price 250K/quarter
-upgrade to Hardsuits and Assault rifles, 500K
Can hire maximum of 2
[]Hire a security team (Mercenaries). A number of "Private Security Contractors" have arrived on Mindoir in the aftermath of the attack, and while they may be less loyal then locals, they're certainly much better armed.
Equipment: Assault Rifles and Hardsuits, some Heavy Weapons
Price: 300K/quarter
Can hire a maximum of 5
-----------------
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
[X]Conciliatory. The Alliance, failed, badly, but they've been both quick and generous with relief, and Mindoir needs all the help it can get. Parliament definitely needs to improve colonial defenses, but the Men and Women of the Alliance Navy can't be faulted for the screw ups of some admirals and politicians.
"Ms. Shepard, what is your opinion on the Alliance's defense of the colony?"
"I think it's hard to dispute that the Alliance failed here, and badly. That said, the Men and Women of the Alliance Navy have been quick to respond, offering us aid and support in the aftermath of the attack. We need better colonial defenses, but I don't think I can fault the Alliance as a whole for the mistakes of some admirals and politicians."
[X]No Comment
"Ms. Shepard, What actions do you believe the Alliance should take against the Hegemony? It's well-known, if rarely proven that the SIU sponsors Batarian "Privateers" and given recent clashes in the Skyllian Verge, it's clear that the Hegemony was involved in this attack. What's your take on the matter?"
"No Comment."
"Ms. Shepard-"
"I said No Comment. Next question."
[X]Go it alone. You'll build yourself a company with your own two hands. It might be difficult to find funding and facilities, but you'll find a way to make it work.
It's been two weeks since the attack, and your plans to start your own company have gone surprisingly well. You've filed the papers, and you are now the Chief Executive Officer and primary shareholder of your new company:
[]Shepard Industries
[]Mindoir Technology
[]Write-in
Both your parents have been supportive, and agreed to "sell" you one of the outlying fields for you to get set up on for a small amount of stock. You originally tried to give them each ten percent, but your Dad talked you down to five each, suggesting that you may need to sell stock to raise money later on.
You've also applied to Mindoir's Office of Business Development for a small business grant; You got a response almost immediately, and received the full 2 million credits surprisingly quickly. It probably shouldn't surprise you given your current reputation on Mindoir, which seems to be somewhere between "Audie Murphy" and "Joan of Arc", but it's still definitely a very nice boost.
You immediately spent 500,000 of the grant to buy some prefabs and move them to the land you had "bought" from your parents, along with sufficient lab equipment and materials to let you begin operations, along with a small prototyping workshop to build whatever you can dream up. Your facilities, such as they are certainly aren't a match for a major research facility, but they're certainly an improvement over what you had before.
Acquired: Personal Lab (+1d100 research/quarter)
Acquired: Prototyping Workshop (10 production/month)
You've spent the last few days setting up equipment and calibrating instruments, but you're finally ready to begin. What do you want to research?
[] Mk 1.5 Armor (200) The raid showed you that your current armor could use a great deal of improvement if you ever want to fight in it again. Using the Hardsuits you recovered from the crashed shuttle, you could easily upgrade it's armor to spec, giving it the durability of a heavy hardsuit when barriers fail, as well as improving the interface, upgrading the omnitool to perform normal functions without exiting the suit, adding modular weapon mounts and generally addressing all the little miscellaneous issues while readying it for production.
[]Wrist mounted mass accelerator. (50) Adding an SMG class mass accelerator to the suit with a wrist mount should be child's play, but it will take a little work.
[]Compact Autocannon (75) The salvaged autocannon you "liberated" from the Batarian shuttle, was big, unwieldy, and very, very effective. A Batarian State Arms MS-12 5mm hypervelocity cannon, it's also something you are completely uninterested in licensing. Which is fine, because you're sure you can do better anyway- integrating it into the suit should give it a much bigger energy budget to play with, as well as making the entire assembly less ungainly in flight.
[]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (100) Having proper Anti-tank weapons would have been enormously useful when you had to fight actual tanks, and putting together a system capable of reliably defeating armor with a single shot should be a very useful force multiplier for future iterations of your armor. You could also build and sell a standalone launcher, should you so desire.
[]Micro-missiles (150) After your failed negotiations during the raid, you resolved to never fail those who have been taken hostage again. This is the best solution you've been able to come up with so far- a large battery of 10mm micro missiles, slaved to a VI and capable of maneuvering and attacking a large number of targets simultaneously with a large degree of precision. Given the size of the projectiles, you might even be able to fit them into a pistol frame, though it would have limited magazine capacity.
[] Repulsors (150) You know you're close, and now that you finally have proper facilities, you're sure you can finally make the breakthrough you need to build repulsors. You're sure they'll be remarkably effective as a dual purpose propulsion/weapon system if you can just figure out how to make them work. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (300) Up scaling the Arc Reactor, should, in theory, confer at least a small improvement in Energy density, allowing you to build a large scale reactor suitable for both civil and military needs.
[]Advanced Materials (150) You have some ideas for advanced alloys that would allow you to provide greater protection with much thinner armor, as well as allowing a much higher speed in the air. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (150) Upgrading your suit's VI to be capable of managing tactical EW needs on the battlefield would give you the ability to intercept and decrypt less advanced communications as well as jam both sensors and comms. It wouldn't be the be-all and end-all of Electronic Warfare, but it would be both useful and pave the way for future research into electronic warfare and more advanced VIs.
[]Basic Black boxing/FRM (100) Setting up your technology such that it cannot be easily reverse engineered is basic common sense, but it will take some work. At this level your defenses are not insurmountable to the most skilled Engineers, but they will pose a difficulty, and make reverse engineering your technology a much more trying endeavor.
You currently have Five (5) research dies, and may allocate them to as many or as few research projects as you see fit. You may also designate One overflow project, in the event that your dies give a number greater then the amount necessary to complete a project.
As an example:
[3] Mk 1.5 Armor (200)
[1] Repulsors (150)
[1*]Advanced Materials (150)
Would give any potential rollover from the Mk 1.5 to the Advanced Materials Project.
With that decided, you shift your attention to other issues, namely, what exactly you're going to deal with your Arc Reactor technology. You know it has the potential to literally change the galaxy, but you're not quite sure the galaxy at large is ready for it.
What do you do?
[]Patent it in both Alliance and Citadel Space. By far the most lucrative option, this would gain you exclusive rights to Arc Reactor technology for the next 20 years, but it would also require you to license it; Citadel law prohibits "sitting" on patents, and if a Citadel appointed board believes a company is incapable or unwilling of meeting demand, they can force the company to license it's technology to a manufacturer who can. The tech would probably leak to the Terminus within a year or two, though they'll undoubtedly lag behind the Alliance and the Citadel in adoption for some time.
[]Patent it in the Alliance. After careful review, you've found that it's possible to file "secret" patents under the Military secrets act of 2158; the patent itself would be classified, and a board of scientists and engineers with high level security clearances would review other patents against it to determine overlaps. You would be required to maintain a security team capable of securing your own facilities at all times. The tech will still likely proliferate eventually, but it may be a year or two before the better intelligence agencies figure it out, and longer for less advanced groups to replicate Arc Reactor technology. (requires hiring 2 or more Security Teams as well as installing Basic Security Measures and Perimeter Sensors.
[]Don't Patent it. You are confident in your Blackboxing abilities, and believe you can prevent the proliferation of Arc Reactor technology for some time. The contracts you take and the amount of effort you put into black boxing technology will effect how long it takes others to reverse engineer your work, as will your security arrangements. And you can of course patent your technology at a later date, though you may run into issues if others attempt to do so first.
With that issue decided, you shift your attention to your inbox. The Alliance is currently running a design competition for powered armor, and is offering a 2 million dollar grant to small companies who wish to compete, as well as a 3 million dollar prize for the winner, with the potential to make far more in future contracts. Accepting the grant and failing to present a prototype at the competition will result in penalties however, as well as likely making the Alliance less inclined to do business with you in the future.
Enter Power armor competition?
[]Yes
[]No
You also notice that you've gotten a response from the local colonial energy department- they're interested in your companies offer to bid on a power plant for the rebuilding efforts, but they will need to see a prototype first before offering money.
You move on, deciding to turn your other expenses- namely, security. The press have been hounding you for some time, and while you've been able to evade them thus far, hiring a security team to keep them and others away would be helpful, as would other security measures.
What do you purchase? (You currently have 1.5 million credits)
[]Basic Security Measures. Installs a number of cameras around the building, isolates research terminals from the extranet and purchases a variety of bug sweeping equipment along with other miscellaneous security measures.
Price: 250K
[]Perimeter Sensors Sets up a series of proximity sensors around the boundaries of your property along with a low power search radar to detect unexpected guests.
Price: 250K(initial), 50K/quarter to maintain
[]Reconnaissance Drones A set of last gen Alliance Recon Drones, these would give you a rapid response unit capable of investigating, and if necessary, terminating, unwanted intruders.
Price: 1 million (initial) 100K/quarter to maintain
[]Hire a security team (Local Law enforcement) With the alliance currently monopolizing colonial security, you maybe able to hire a number of local law enforcement to work for you.
Equipment: Pistols and Kinetic Barrier vests
Price 250K/quarter
-upgrade to Hardsuits and Assault rifles, 500K
Can hire maximum of 2
[]Hire a security team (Mercenaries). A number of "Private Security Contractors" have arrived on Mindoir in the aftermath of the attack, and while they may be less loyal then locals, they're certainly much better armed.
Equipment: Assault Rifles and Hardsuits, some Heavy Weapons
Price: 300K/quarter
Can hire a maximum of 5
First Production Run (Part 02) - Laying the Foundation
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
---------------
Laying the Foundation
[x] Paragon Technologies
You decide to name your new company Paragon Technologies. Maybe it's a little arrogant, and maybe it's a little corny, but you like the sound of it.
[x]Patent it in the Alliance.
After thinking things over for a while, you decide to take advantage of the Military Secrets Act and file a "secret" patent. It should protect you from other human corporations for now, and there's always the option of patenting your Arc Reactor Design in Citadel Space a year or two down the road. Or just investing in FRM.
In either case, the security requirements are your next concern. The Alliance has fairly strict requirements for working on classified technology (which the Arc Reactor now is), and while it's expensive, most of it's stuff you would have invested in anyway, though perhaps not this soon.
Five hundred thousand dollars later, and your fledgling company has both a full host of Basic security measures, and a complete set of perimeter sensors. Right now you don't have to worry about anything other then nosy reporters, but that could change, and it's better to be safe then sorry.
[Acquired Basic Security Measures]
[Acquired Perimeter Sensors]
Finding guards is a bit more complex then just ordering some equipment and having it installed however; it's not something you can just go online and buy.
Actually, that's a lie, as there are a ton of Mercenary bands that can be hired via extranet, but you find yourself dubious of their trustworthiness.
Instead you and your mother go for a walk around Landing, Mindoir's capital.
The cities changed a great deal in the last few weeks as Alliance relief and troops have poured in. The city, like much of the rest of the colony is under defacto martial law, and in the distance, the beginnings of GARDIAN defense towers can be seen rising. There's even talk that Landing and the other two primary settlements may get theater defense barriers.
But that's not what you're looking for today. Instead, you're hitting up bars, talking to Mom's old friends, looking for recruits for your new companies security forces.
Some are dubious, some are interested, and all of them want to buy you and your Mom drinks. It's an awkward thing, being offered a beer by an off duty police officer; you're still underage, after all.
You end having a few anyway. You even sign a few autographs, which is an even stranger experience, though not a bad one. Being the Hero has it's perks.
By the time you're done, you've gathered enough recruits to put together two securtity teams, primarily from former law enforcement officers. They might be lightly armed compared to professional mercenaries, but they're far more adept at dealing with the press, and far more trustworthy. Paying all of them will be expensive, but you have sufficient money to keep them paid for the rest of the year, and you're sure you'll have found some sort of contract before then. Good thing you have the two million from the armor competition; otherwise things might have gotten a bit dicey.
[Acquired Security Team (LEO) x2]
[5] Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (300)
[0*] Mk 1.5 Armor (200)
5d100 → [56,65,67,37,37] = (262)
With Security taken care of, you turn your attention to research, focusing your entire efforts on upscaling your Arc Reactor Design, and re-purposing it for large scale industrial use. You've made excellent progress this quarter, and feel you've almost completed the design- details remain, but the basic framework is there.
And what is there is impressive. It's far smaller then you had originally planned, but that hardly matters. The entire assembly is only about two and half meters in diameter, but if your math is right- and it always is- it should be capable of producing forty Terawatts of power.
That's big. You're not even sure if ground based defenses and barriers exist that can make use of that sort of energy budget. Something to look into, perhaps, once you finish the design and ready it for production.
Outside of work, things have been mostly smooth sailing. Your patent was process and approved, the Alliance seems satisfied with your security measures, and you've been doing a fairly good job of avoiding reporters- your security teams have been really earning their pay in keeping them out of your hair. Giving an interview at some point might be a good idea, but you figure it can wait for the moment.
And then there was the thing at the hospital.
Two months previously
"In other news, the Council has agreed to investigate the Alliance's allegations of Hegemony involvement in the raid on Mindoir, with Alliance Navy set to transfer custody of the pirate cruiser Glory of Verush in an undisclosed system to the members of the STG, who will search the ship for signs of Hegemony involvement. The Batarian Ambassador has gone on the record to call the entire affair a "Farce" and has continued to deny any connection between the Hegemony and the Mindoir Raid."
"In Sports news-" The waiting room's vidscreen clicked off, and you turned around, a complaint on your lips- you wanted to see how the Hackers had done yesterday- but instead blinked in surprise as your Dad. Walked out of the Recovery room.
Walked. With his own two legs.
"Dad!" You ran to him and wrapped him in a hug- it didn't matter if they'd told you he would make a full recovery, seeing him on his feet after so long stuck in a chair is gratifying.
"Easy, Revy, you'll knock me over."
"Are you Ok?"
"I'm fine, Revy. Just a little weak in the knees. Even in this day and age, there's only so much they can do to slow muscle atrophy. A few weeks of rehab and I'll be fine. Won't be pleasant, but I'll deal. Don't worry about-"
"Ms. Shepard?" A nurse called from the doorway. "Ms. Rebecca Shepard? The Doctor will see you now."
"Wait, what?"
Mom didn't even look up from her data slate as she responded. "You need a check up, Revy. You never got one after the attack, and I let you put it off for far too long, so I went ahead and set up an appointment for you."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"Must as slipped my mind. You'll be fine, Revy. It's just a physical. Shouldn't even take an hour."
That, as it turned out, was a lie. It took two hours, with you being fed through what seemed like a half dozen different machines, and none of the doctors would actually tell you what the issue was until the very end, when a somewhat frazzled looking Doctor takes you aside in a small examination room.
"Well, it seems you're a Biotic, Ms. Shepard. It's somewhat unusual for someone to have not been detected at your age, hence the tests, but it appears to be the case. The timing is a bit awkward however; the L2 implants are currently being phased out in favor of the L3s. You'll have to wait about 8 months for the L3 to become available I'm afraid; while you could accept an L2, that's not a course of action I can recommend. The L2s have......side effects, to say the least."
"Still, it's your choice I suppose. Well, you and your parents."
What do you do?
[]Agree to wait 8 months and set up an appointment to get an L3 implanted.
[]Disagree, and argue for getting an L2; you want to be able to kill people with your mind now, damnit.
[]Hold off on getting an implant for now. You need to do some research into this, maybe even see if you can design an implant for yourself.
--------------------
Choose Research:
[] Mk 1.5 Armor (200) The raid showed you that your current armor could use a great deal of improvement if you ever want to fight in it again. Using the Hardsuits you recovered from the crashed shuttle, you could easily upgrade it's armor to spec, giving it the durability of a heavy hardsuit when barriers fail, as well as improving the interface, upgrading the omnitool to perform normal functions without exiting the suit, adding modular weapon mounts and generally addressing all the little miscellaneous issues while readying it for production.
[]Wrist mounted mass accelerator. (50) Adding an SMG class mass accelerator to the suit with a wrist mount should be child's play, but it will take a little work.
[]Compact Autocannon (75) The salvaged autocannon you "liberated" from the Batarian shuttle, was big, unwieldy, and very, very effective. A Batarian State Arms MS-12 5mm hypervelocity cannon, it's also something you are completely uninterested in licensing. Which is fine, because you're sure you can do better anyway- integrating it into the suit should give it a much bigger energy budget to play with, as well as making the entire assembly less ungainly in flight.
[]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (100) Having proper Anti-tank weapons would have been enormously useful when you had to fight actual tanks, and putting together a system capable of reliably defeating armor with a single shot should be a very useful force multiplier for future iterations of your armor. You could also build and sell a standalone launcher, should you so desire.
[]Micro-missiles (150) After your failed negotiations during the raid, you resolved to never fail those who have been taken hostage again. This is the best solution you've been able to come up with so far- a large battery of 10mm micro missiles, slaved to a VI and capable of maneuvering and attacking a large number of targets simultaneously and with a large degree of precision. Given the size of the projectiles, you might even be able to fit them into a pistol frame, though it would have limited magazine capacity.
[] Repulsors (150) You know you're close, and now that you finally have proper facilities, you're sure you can finally make the breakthrough you need to build repulsors. You're sure they'll be remarkably effective as a dual purpose propulsion/weapon system if you can just figure out how to make them work. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (262/300) Up scaling the Arc Reactor, should, in theory, confer at least a small improvement in Energy density, allowing you to build a large scale reactor suitable for both civil and military needs.
[]Advanced Materials (150) You have some ideas for advanced alloys that would allow you to provide greater protection with much thinner armor, as well as allowing a much higher speed in the air. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (150) Upgrading your suit's VI to be capable of managing tactical EW needs on the battlefield would give you the ability to intercept and decrypt less advanced communications as well as jam both sensors and comms. It wouldn't be the be-all and end-all of Electronic Warfare, but it would be both useful and pave the way for future research into electronic warfare and more advanced VIs.
[]Basic Black boxing/FRM (100) Setting up your technology such that it cannot be easily reverse engineered is basic common sense, but it will take some work. At this level your defenses are not insurmountable to the most skilled Engineers, but they will pose a difficulty, and make reverse engineering your technology a much more trying endeavor.
[]Basic Biotechnology (100) Biotechnology has never really been your forte, but with your recent discovery of having biotic potential, you now have a very good reason to look into it. Genetic Engineering, Cybernetics, and Biotic implants all have a wide variety of applications for you to explore, but you'll need a basic grounding in the subject first.
Notes: A tad bare bones, but it should suffice. The biotic thing is kind of out of the blue, but not impossible to justify if you look at the timeline; Biotic Shepard managed to go until 17 before being detected and fitted with an amp.
---------------
Laying the Foundation
[x] Paragon Technologies
You decide to name your new company Paragon Technologies. Maybe it's a little arrogant, and maybe it's a little corny, but you like the sound of it.
[x]Patent it in the Alliance.
After thinking things over for a while, you decide to take advantage of the Military Secrets Act and file a "secret" patent. It should protect you from other human corporations for now, and there's always the option of patenting your Arc Reactor Design in Citadel Space a year or two down the road. Or just investing in FRM.
In either case, the security requirements are your next concern. The Alliance has fairly strict requirements for working on classified technology (which the Arc Reactor now is), and while it's expensive, most of it's stuff you would have invested in anyway, though perhaps not this soon.
Five hundred thousand dollars later, and your fledgling company has both a full host of Basic security measures, and a complete set of perimeter sensors. Right now you don't have to worry about anything other then nosy reporters, but that could change, and it's better to be safe then sorry.
[Acquired Basic Security Measures]
[Acquired Perimeter Sensors]
Finding guards is a bit more complex then just ordering some equipment and having it installed however; it's not something you can just go online and buy.
Actually, that's a lie, as there are a ton of Mercenary bands that can be hired via extranet, but you find yourself dubious of their trustworthiness.
Instead you and your mother go for a walk around Landing, Mindoir's capital.
The cities changed a great deal in the last few weeks as Alliance relief and troops have poured in. The city, like much of the rest of the colony is under defacto martial law, and in the distance, the beginnings of GARDIAN defense towers can be seen rising. There's even talk that Landing and the other two primary settlements may get theater defense barriers.
But that's not what you're looking for today. Instead, you're hitting up bars, talking to Mom's old friends, looking for recruits for your new companies security forces.
Some are dubious, some are interested, and all of them want to buy you and your Mom drinks. It's an awkward thing, being offered a beer by an off duty police officer; you're still underage, after all.
You end having a few anyway. You even sign a few autographs, which is an even stranger experience, though not a bad one. Being the Hero has it's perks.
By the time you're done, you've gathered enough recruits to put together two securtity teams, primarily from former law enforcement officers. They might be lightly armed compared to professional mercenaries, but they're far more adept at dealing with the press, and far more trustworthy. Paying all of them will be expensive, but you have sufficient money to keep them paid for the rest of the year, and you're sure you'll have found some sort of contract before then. Good thing you have the two million from the armor competition; otherwise things might have gotten a bit dicey.
[Acquired Security Team (LEO) x2]
[5] Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (300)
[0*] Mk 1.5 Armor (200)
5d100 → [56,65,67,37,37] = (262)
With Security taken care of, you turn your attention to research, focusing your entire efforts on upscaling your Arc Reactor Design, and re-purposing it for large scale industrial use. You've made excellent progress this quarter, and feel you've almost completed the design- details remain, but the basic framework is there.
And what is there is impressive. It's far smaller then you had originally planned, but that hardly matters. The entire assembly is only about two and half meters in diameter, but if your math is right- and it always is- it should be capable of producing forty Terawatts of power.
That's big. You're not even sure if ground based defenses and barriers exist that can make use of that sort of energy budget. Something to look into, perhaps, once you finish the design and ready it for production.
Outside of work, things have been mostly smooth sailing. Your patent was process and approved, the Alliance seems satisfied with your security measures, and you've been doing a fairly good job of avoiding reporters- your security teams have been really earning their pay in keeping them out of your hair. Giving an interview at some point might be a good idea, but you figure it can wait for the moment.
And then there was the thing at the hospital.
Two months previously
"In other news, the Council has agreed to investigate the Alliance's allegations of Hegemony involvement in the raid on Mindoir, with Alliance Navy set to transfer custody of the pirate cruiser Glory of Verush in an undisclosed system to the members of the STG, who will search the ship for signs of Hegemony involvement. The Batarian Ambassador has gone on the record to call the entire affair a "Farce" and has continued to deny any connection between the Hegemony and the Mindoir Raid."
"In Sports news-" The waiting room's vidscreen clicked off, and you turned around, a complaint on your lips- you wanted to see how the Hackers had done yesterday- but instead blinked in surprise as your Dad. Walked out of the Recovery room.
Walked. With his own two legs.
"Dad!" You ran to him and wrapped him in a hug- it didn't matter if they'd told you he would make a full recovery, seeing him on his feet after so long stuck in a chair is gratifying.
"Easy, Revy, you'll knock me over."
"Are you Ok?"
"I'm fine, Revy. Just a little weak in the knees. Even in this day and age, there's only so much they can do to slow muscle atrophy. A few weeks of rehab and I'll be fine. Won't be pleasant, but I'll deal. Don't worry about-"
"Ms. Shepard?" A nurse called from the doorway. "Ms. Rebecca Shepard? The Doctor will see you now."
"Wait, what?"
Mom didn't even look up from her data slate as she responded. "You need a check up, Revy. You never got one after the attack, and I let you put it off for far too long, so I went ahead and set up an appointment for you."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"Must as slipped my mind. You'll be fine, Revy. It's just a physical. Shouldn't even take an hour."
That, as it turned out, was a lie. It took two hours, with you being fed through what seemed like a half dozen different machines, and none of the doctors would actually tell you what the issue was until the very end, when a somewhat frazzled looking Doctor takes you aside in a small examination room.
"Well, it seems you're a Biotic, Ms. Shepard. It's somewhat unusual for someone to have not been detected at your age, hence the tests, but it appears to be the case. The timing is a bit awkward however; the L2 implants are currently being phased out in favor of the L3s. You'll have to wait about 8 months for the L3 to become available I'm afraid; while you could accept an L2, that's not a course of action I can recommend. The L2s have......side effects, to say the least."
"Still, it's your choice I suppose. Well, you and your parents."
What do you do?
[]Agree to wait 8 months and set up an appointment to get an L3 implanted.
[]Disagree, and argue for getting an L2; you want to be able to kill people with your mind now, damnit.
[]Hold off on getting an implant for now. You need to do some research into this, maybe even see if you can design an implant for yourself.
--------------------
Choose Research:
[] Mk 1.5 Armor (200) The raid showed you that your current armor could use a great deal of improvement if you ever want to fight in it again. Using the Hardsuits you recovered from the crashed shuttle, you could easily upgrade it's armor to spec, giving it the durability of a heavy hardsuit when barriers fail, as well as improving the interface, upgrading the omnitool to perform normal functions without exiting the suit, adding modular weapon mounts and generally addressing all the little miscellaneous issues while readying it for production.
[]Wrist mounted mass accelerator. (50) Adding an SMG class mass accelerator to the suit with a wrist mount should be child's play, but it will take a little work.
[]Compact Autocannon (75) The salvaged autocannon you "liberated" from the Batarian shuttle, was big, unwieldy, and very, very effective. A Batarian State Arms MS-12 5mm hypervelocity cannon, it's also something you are completely uninterested in licensing. Which is fine, because you're sure you can do better anyway- integrating it into the suit should give it a much bigger energy budget to play with, as well as making the entire assembly less ungainly in flight.
[]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (100) Having proper Anti-tank weapons would have been enormously useful when you had to fight actual tanks, and putting together a system capable of reliably defeating armor with a single shot should be a very useful force multiplier for future iterations of your armor. You could also build and sell a standalone launcher, should you so desire.
[]Micro-missiles (150) After your failed negotiations during the raid, you resolved to never fail those who have been taken hostage again. This is the best solution you've been able to come up with so far- a large battery of 10mm micro missiles, slaved to a VI and capable of maneuvering and attacking a large number of targets simultaneously and with a large degree of precision. Given the size of the projectiles, you might even be able to fit them into a pistol frame, though it would have limited magazine capacity.
[] Repulsors (150) You know you're close, and now that you finally have proper facilities, you're sure you can finally make the breakthrough you need to build repulsors. You're sure they'll be remarkably effective as a dual purpose propulsion/weapon system if you can just figure out how to make them work. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (262/300) Up scaling the Arc Reactor, should, in theory, confer at least a small improvement in Energy density, allowing you to build a large scale reactor suitable for both civil and military needs.
[]Advanced Materials (150) You have some ideas for advanced alloys that would allow you to provide greater protection with much thinner armor, as well as allowing a much higher speed in the air. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (150) Upgrading your suit's VI to be capable of managing tactical EW needs on the battlefield would give you the ability to intercept and decrypt less advanced communications as well as jam both sensors and comms. It wouldn't be the be-all and end-all of Electronic Warfare, but it would be both useful and pave the way for future research into electronic warfare and more advanced VIs.
[]Basic Black boxing/FRM (100) Setting up your technology such that it cannot be easily reverse engineered is basic common sense, but it will take some work. At this level your defenses are not insurmountable to the most skilled Engineers, but they will pose a difficulty, and make reverse engineering your technology a much more trying endeavor.
[]Basic Biotechnology (100) Biotechnology has never really been your forte, but with your recent discovery of having biotic potential, you now have a very good reason to look into it. Genetic Engineering, Cybernetics, and Biotic implants all have a wide variety of applications for you to explore, but you'll need a basic grounding in the subject first.
Notes: A tad bare bones, but it should suffice. The biotic thing is kind of out of the blue, but not impossible to justify if you look at the timeline; Biotic Shepard managed to go until 17 before being detected and fitted with an amp.
First Production Run (Part 03) - A Warm Light for All Mankind
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
----------------
A Warm Light for All Mankind
[X]Hold off on getting an implant for now. You need to do some research into this, maybe even see if you can design an implant for yourself.
After you spend some time thinking about it, you elect to hold off on getting an implant, be it either a L2 or L3 until you can spend sometime researching the matter. The Doctor is somewhat dubious at your declarations that you'll design an implant for yourself; apparently he finds it hard to believe you can do a better job then the Alliance's Scientists have managed in the last 7 years.
Oh well, no skin off your nose. You do manage to get him to point you in the direction of some papers on L2s; apparently there have been several studies on the issues with L2s over the last few years, and no matter how dubious he is of your ambitions, he has no issues with telling you how many problems the L2 has.
Still your foray into biotics research will have to wait for the moment; you have other projects that need your attention right now.
[X] 2 dice, Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (262/300)
[X] 3 dice Mk 1.5 Armor
[X] Blackboxing/FRM (Overflow option.)
5d100 → [52,56,100,35,1] = (244)
Bonus roll for critical success
1d100 → [68] = (68)
Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (300/300)
Research Complete!
Mk 1.5 Armor (200/200)
Research Complete!
Blackboxing/FRM (73/100)
Completing your ISAR design is a somewhat bittersweet experience- you've checked all the variables, done all the necessary tests, only to run into a rather embarrassing issue.
You don't have the materials. And what's worse, you don't have enough money to buy the materials. The ISAR's phenomenal power production is not without cost, and between this project and your newest armor, you've completely exhausted the materials you bough with the lab and the salvage you recovered from the raid. What's more, with the components and materials you need, you're pretty sure that even everything altogether wouldn't have been nearly enough.
Still, you're nothing if not flexible, and still managed to cobble together a prototype ISAR with what you had. It's not as efficient as you would like- it's footprint is the same as what you had intended for the full scale model- but it works, and with the ability to produce 150 Gigawatts of power you can still probably sell it to the colony. Or perhaps show it to the Alliance in hopes of negotiating a contract to build the full scale model.
Decisions, decisions.
[]Sell the Prototype to the Colony as is. You've heard Eldfell-Ashland is negotiating with the Alliance to build a 50 GW Fusion plant, and your prototype is more then capable of matching that.
[]Open negotiations with the Alliance with regards to building a full scale ISAR.
[]Buy a building in Landing and set up your own power company. You won't make money as quickly, but you will have complete control of the technology and a constant source of revenue.
[]Do nothing for now.
[]Write-in
Fortunately, the Mk 1.5 has gone much better- you've completed the design, and managed to build the first model before running out of material. It's distinct improvement over the Mk 1, with proper armor, vastly improved usability and eight modular weapon mounts. And while most of those mounts are empty for the moment, you still have a good six months to remedy that.
You suppose you should come up with a name for it. Calling it the 1.5 is all fine and well for development purposes, but if you're going to try to sell it, you probably need to call it something a bit catchier.
What do you call it?
[]Aegis
[]Centurion
[]Defender
[]Destroyer
[]Write In
Overall, very good progress, setbacks with the ISAR aside. Your FRM isn't quite done, but even there you've made excellent progress for something that was never more then a tertiary priority.
Yes, good progress all around. Hopefully the next quarter will be as productive as well.
Choose Research:
[]Wrist mounted mass accelerator. (50) Adding an SMG class mass accelerator to the suit with a wrist mount should be child's play, but it will take a little work.
[]Compact Autocannon (75) The salvaged autocannon you "liberated" from the Batarian shuttle, was big, unwieldy, and very, very effective. A Batarian State Arms MS-12 5mm hypervelocity cannon, it's also something you are completely uninterested in licensing. Which is fine, because you're sure you can do better anyway- integrating it into the suit should give it a much bigger energy budget to play with, as well as making the entire assembly less ungainly in flight.
[]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (100) Having proper Anti-tank weapons would have been enormously useful when you had to fight actual tanks, and putting together a system capable of reliably defeating armor with a single shot should be a very useful force multiplier for future iterations of your armor. You could also build and sell a standalone launcher, should you so desire.
[]Micro-missiles (150) After your failed negotiations during the raid, you resolved to never fail those who have been taken hostage again. This is the best solution you've been able to come up with so far- a large battery of 10mm micro missiles, slaved to a VI and capable of maneuvering and attacking a large number of targets simultaneously and with a large degree of precision. Given the size of the projectiles, you might even be able to fit them into a pistol frame, though it would have limited magazine capacity.
[] Repulsors (150) You know you're close, and now that you finally have proper facilities, you're sure you can finally make the breakthrough you need to build repulsors. You're sure they'll be remarkably effective as a dual purpose propulsion/weapon system if you can just figure out how to make them work. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Directed Energy Weapons (200) With the potential power production of the ISAR within reach, many traditional dictums regarding energy weapons come into question. Investigating Basic DEWs will allow you to build GARDIAN class lasers, as well as lay the foundation for both very large and very small laser weapons and other DEWs.
[]Advanced Materials (150) You have some ideas for advanced alloys that would allow you to provide greater protection with much thinner armor, as well as allowing a much higher speed in the air. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (150) Upgrading your suit's VI to be capable of managing tactical EW needs on the battlefield would give you the ability to intercept and decrypt less advanced communications as well as jam both sensors and comms. It wouldn't be the be-all and end-all of Electronic Warfare, but it would be both useful and pave the way for future research into electronic warfare and more advanced VIs.
[]Basic Black boxing/FRM (100) Setting up your technology such that it cannot be easily reverse engineered is basic common sense, but it will take some work. At this level your defenses are not insurmountable to the most skilled Engineers, but they will pose a difficulty, and make reverse engineering your technology a much more trying endeavor.
[]Basic Biotechnology (100) Biotechnology has never really been your forte, but with your recent discovery of having biotic potential, you now have a very good reason to look into it. Genetic Engineering, Cybernetics, and Biotic implants all have a wide variety of applications for you to explore, but you'll need a basic grounding in the subject first.
In the interest of making votes easier to count, please cast votes for research plans using this format:
[X]Basic Black boxing/FRM (2)
[X]Micro-missiles (1)*
[X]Compact Autocannon (2)
----------------
A Warm Light for All Mankind
[X]Hold off on getting an implant for now. You need to do some research into this, maybe even see if you can design an implant for yourself.
After you spend some time thinking about it, you elect to hold off on getting an implant, be it either a L2 or L3 until you can spend sometime researching the matter. The Doctor is somewhat dubious at your declarations that you'll design an implant for yourself; apparently he finds it hard to believe you can do a better job then the Alliance's Scientists have managed in the last 7 years.
Oh well, no skin off your nose. You do manage to get him to point you in the direction of some papers on L2s; apparently there have been several studies on the issues with L2s over the last few years, and no matter how dubious he is of your ambitions, he has no issues with telling you how many problems the L2 has.
Still your foray into biotics research will have to wait for the moment; you have other projects that need your attention right now.
[X] 2 dice, Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (262/300)
[X] 3 dice Mk 1.5 Armor
[X] Blackboxing/FRM (Overflow option.)
5d100 → [52,56,100,35,1] = (244)
Bonus roll for critical success
1d100 → [68] = (68)
Industrial Scale Arc Reactor (300/300)
Research Complete!
Mk 1.5 Armor (200/200)
Research Complete!
Blackboxing/FRM (73/100)
Completing your ISAR design is a somewhat bittersweet experience- you've checked all the variables, done all the necessary tests, only to run into a rather embarrassing issue.
You don't have the materials. And what's worse, you don't have enough money to buy the materials. The ISAR's phenomenal power production is not without cost, and between this project and your newest armor, you've completely exhausted the materials you bough with the lab and the salvage you recovered from the raid. What's more, with the components and materials you need, you're pretty sure that even everything altogether wouldn't have been nearly enough.
Still, you're nothing if not flexible, and still managed to cobble together a prototype ISAR with what you had. It's not as efficient as you would like- it's footprint is the same as what you had intended for the full scale model- but it works, and with the ability to produce 150 Gigawatts of power you can still probably sell it to the colony. Or perhaps show it to the Alliance in hopes of negotiating a contract to build the full scale model.
Decisions, decisions.
[]Sell the Prototype to the Colony as is. You've heard Eldfell-Ashland is negotiating with the Alliance to build a 50 GW Fusion plant, and your prototype is more then capable of matching that.
[]Open negotiations with the Alliance with regards to building a full scale ISAR.
[]Buy a building in Landing and set up your own power company. You won't make money as quickly, but you will have complete control of the technology and a constant source of revenue.
[]Do nothing for now.
[]Write-in
Fortunately, the Mk 1.5 has gone much better- you've completed the design, and managed to build the first model before running out of material. It's distinct improvement over the Mk 1, with proper armor, vastly improved usability and eight modular weapon mounts. And while most of those mounts are empty for the moment, you still have a good six months to remedy that.
You suppose you should come up with a name for it. Calling it the 1.5 is all fine and well for development purposes, but if you're going to try to sell it, you probably need to call it something a bit catchier.
What do you call it?
[]Aegis
[]Centurion
[]Defender
[]Destroyer
[]Write In
Overall, very good progress, setbacks with the ISAR aside. Your FRM isn't quite done, but even there you've made excellent progress for something that was never more then a tertiary priority.
Yes, good progress all around. Hopefully the next quarter will be as productive as well.
Choose Research:
[]Wrist mounted mass accelerator. (50) Adding an SMG class mass accelerator to the suit with a wrist mount should be child's play, but it will take a little work.
[]Compact Autocannon (75) The salvaged autocannon you "liberated" from the Batarian shuttle, was big, unwieldy, and very, very effective. A Batarian State Arms MS-12 5mm hypervelocity cannon, it's also something you are completely uninterested in licensing. Which is fine, because you're sure you can do better anyway- integrating it into the suit should give it a much bigger energy budget to play with, as well as making the entire assembly less ungainly in flight.
[]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (100) Having proper Anti-tank weapons would have been enormously useful when you had to fight actual tanks, and putting together a system capable of reliably defeating armor with a single shot should be a very useful force multiplier for future iterations of your armor. You could also build and sell a standalone launcher, should you so desire.
[]Micro-missiles (150) After your failed negotiations during the raid, you resolved to never fail those who have been taken hostage again. This is the best solution you've been able to come up with so far- a large battery of 10mm micro missiles, slaved to a VI and capable of maneuvering and attacking a large number of targets simultaneously and with a large degree of precision. Given the size of the projectiles, you might even be able to fit them into a pistol frame, though it would have limited magazine capacity.
[] Repulsors (150) You know you're close, and now that you finally have proper facilities, you're sure you can finally make the breakthrough you need to build repulsors. You're sure they'll be remarkably effective as a dual purpose propulsion/weapon system if you can just figure out how to make them work. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Directed Energy Weapons (200) With the potential power production of the ISAR within reach, many traditional dictums regarding energy weapons come into question. Investigating Basic DEWs will allow you to build GARDIAN class lasers, as well as lay the foundation for both very large and very small laser weapons and other DEWs.
[]Advanced Materials (150) You have some ideas for advanced alloys that would allow you to provide greater protection with much thinner armor, as well as allowing a much higher speed in the air. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (150) Upgrading your suit's VI to be capable of managing tactical EW needs on the battlefield would give you the ability to intercept and decrypt less advanced communications as well as jam both sensors and comms. It wouldn't be the be-all and end-all of Electronic Warfare, but it would be both useful and pave the way for future research into electronic warfare and more advanced VIs.
[]Basic Black boxing/FRM (100) Setting up your technology such that it cannot be easily reverse engineered is basic common sense, but it will take some work. At this level your defenses are not insurmountable to the most skilled Engineers, but they will pose a difficulty, and make reverse engineering your technology a much more trying endeavor.
[]Basic Biotechnology (100) Biotechnology has never really been your forte, but with your recent discovery of having biotic potential, you now have a very good reason to look into it. Genetic Engineering, Cybernetics, and Biotic implants all have a wide variety of applications for you to explore, but you'll need a basic grounding in the subject first.
In the interest of making votes easier to count, please cast votes for research plans using this format:
[X]Basic Black boxing/FRM (2)
[X]Micro-missiles (1)*
[X]Compact Autocannon (2)
First Production Run (Part 04) - Minor Technical Difficulties
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
---------------------
Minor Technical Difficulties
[X]Buy a building in Landing and set up your own power company. You won't make money as quickly, but you will have complete control of the technology and a constant source of revenue.
Starting up power station is, it turns out, not a trivial endeavor.
Buying a damaged industrial park on the west side of Landing, fixing damage from the Raid, hiring security to protect the plant, technicians to keep things running, administrative personnel to keep everything running smoothly. You've gone back and forth between Landing and the homestead more times in these last few months then you have in the previous ten efforts, and have literally spent millions of dollars setting things up.
It's hard to say which was the bigger headache, the tech or the security arrangements, but you've managed to make things work. Your black boxing tech still isn't where you want it despite your best efforts, so you ended up compromising and just running both surveillance and instrument feeds to your workshop in order to let you both keep an eye on things and assist in any troubleshooting. It's not ideal, but other then a few overly nosy employees who were escorted out by security, nothing has gone wrong. The Media has figured out you've got some sort of new reactor design, but that was largely inevitable, and given the sum total of their knowledge is "It's a Big Black Box" you aren't too terribly worried.
Still maybe you should talk to them. Give an interview maybe?
[]No, hold off until after the competition, and do a media blitz then.
[]Hold a brief Press conference to discuss your foray into the Energy sector, but make no comments on your armor or your actions during the raid.
[]Find a sympathetic reporter and sit down with them to discuss everything, ranging from your entry to the armor competition to your power company.
[]Write-in
But still, it's finally all starting to pay off. Despite a few close calls with funding, you've made back all the money and a little extra besides- you've made about 250K in profit this quarter, and will make far more in the future. You estimate next quarter you should make at least two million in profit, even after all the expenses of paying employees and taking care of maintenance. And that number should only go up- many of Landing's households are still running on Alliance provided Fuel Cells after the power station got taken out by the raid, and and the Alliance isn't going to keep flying in fuel forever, especially now that a local venture is capable of handling the power needs.
And once those GARDIAN towers come online... well, someone is going to have to power them, now aren't they?
[X]Legionary. Because this is the first, basic model, but better will be coming...
After some thought, you have elected to name your newest armor suit the Legionary. You've even made some brochures for use in the future.
[X]Basic Black boxing/FRM (2)
[X]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (2)
[X]Compact Autocannon (1)
[X]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (0)*
5d100 → [5,9,35,51,53] = (153)
Research Progress:
Blackboxing/FRM (87/100)
Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (86/100)
Compact Autocannon (53/75)
Sadly, your research has not gone so well. You hit a brick wall with FRM, and, after one particularly long night, lost your temper and threw the computer you were working on at the wall.
In retrospect, not your brightest idea; you barely managed to recover any of the data, and what should have been easily finished is probably going to take another few weeks to finish. It's irritating, to say the least.
Your other projects have gone somewhat better, but you haven't been able to make a breakthrough in either; while both are close to completion, neither is quite done. In the case of the rocket launcher, it's an issue of complexity; designing a small rocket capable of reliably defeating heavy armored vehicles is difficult, and while you're pretty sure you've found the solution in miniaturizing the effects of disruptor torpedoes with a multistage warhead. The autocannon, on the other hand, is merely a question of not budgeting enough time, and you've made fairly good progress despite that.
Research Plan:
[]Wrist mounted mass accelerator. (50) Adding an SMG class mass accelerator to the suit with a wrist mount should be child's play, but it will take a little work.
[]Compact Autocannon (53/75) The salvaged autocannon you "liberated" from the Batarian shuttle, was big, unwieldy, and very, very effective. A Batarian State Arms MS-12 5mm hypervelocity cannon, it's also something you are completely uninterested in licensing. Which is fine, because you're sure you can do better anyway- integrating it into the suit should give it a much bigger energy budget to play with, as well as making the entire assembly less ungainly in flight.
[]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (86/100) Having proper Anti-tank weapons would have been enormously useful when you had to fight actual tanks, and putting together a system capable of reliably defeating armor with a single shot should be a very useful force multiplier for future iterations of your armor. You could also build and sell a standalone launcher, should you so desire.
[]Micro-missiles (150) After your failed negotiations during the raid, you resolved to never fail those who have been taken hostage again. This is the best solution you've been able to come up with so far- a large battery of 10mm micro missiles, slaved to a VI and capable of maneuvering and attacking a large number of targets simultaneously and with a large degree of precision. Given the size of the projectiles, you might even be able to fit them into a pistol frame, though it would have limited magazine capacity.
[] Repulsors (150) You know you're close, and now that you finally have proper facilities, you're sure you can finally make the breakthrough you need to build repulsors. You're sure they'll be remarkably effective as a dual purpose propulsion/weapon system if you can just figure out how to make them work. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Directed Energy Weapons (200) With the potential power production of the ISAR within reach, many traditional dictums regarding energy weapons come into question. Investigating Basic DEWs will allow you to build GARDIAN class lasers, as well as lay the foundation for both very large and very small laser weapons and other DEWs.
[]Advanced Materials (150) You have some ideas for advanced alloys that would allow you to provide greater protection with much thinner armor, as well as allowing a much higher speed in the air. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (150) Upgrading your suit's VI to be capable of managing tactical EW needs on the battlefield would give you the ability to intercept and decrypt less advanced communications as well as jam both sensors and comms. It wouldn't be the be-all and end-all of Electronic Warfare, but it would be both useful and pave the way for future research into electronic warfare and more advanced VIs.
[]Basic Black boxing/FRM (87/100) Setting up your technology such that it cannot be easily reverse engineered is basic common sense, but it will take some work. At this level your defenses are not insurmountable to the most skilled Engineers, but they will pose a difficulty, and make reverse engineering your technology a much more trying endeavor.
[]Basic Biotechnology (100) Biotechnology has never really been your forte, but with your recent discovery of having biotic potential, you now have a very good reason to look into it. Genetic Engineering, Cybernetics, and Biotic implants all have a wide variety of applications for you to explore, but you'll need a basic grounding in the subject first.
---------------------
Minor Technical Difficulties
[X]Buy a building in Landing and set up your own power company. You won't make money as quickly, but you will have complete control of the technology and a constant source of revenue.
Starting up power station is, it turns out, not a trivial endeavor.
Buying a damaged industrial park on the west side of Landing, fixing damage from the Raid, hiring security to protect the plant, technicians to keep things running, administrative personnel to keep everything running smoothly. You've gone back and forth between Landing and the homestead more times in these last few months then you have in the previous ten efforts, and have literally spent millions of dollars setting things up.
It's hard to say which was the bigger headache, the tech or the security arrangements, but you've managed to make things work. Your black boxing tech still isn't where you want it despite your best efforts, so you ended up compromising and just running both surveillance and instrument feeds to your workshop in order to let you both keep an eye on things and assist in any troubleshooting. It's not ideal, but other then a few overly nosy employees who were escorted out by security, nothing has gone wrong. The Media has figured out you've got some sort of new reactor design, but that was largely inevitable, and given the sum total of their knowledge is "It's a Big Black Box" you aren't too terribly worried.
Still maybe you should talk to them. Give an interview maybe?
[]No, hold off until after the competition, and do a media blitz then.
[]Hold a brief Press conference to discuss your foray into the Energy sector, but make no comments on your armor or your actions during the raid.
[]Find a sympathetic reporter and sit down with them to discuss everything, ranging from your entry to the armor competition to your power company.
[]Write-in
But still, it's finally all starting to pay off. Despite a few close calls with funding, you've made back all the money and a little extra besides- you've made about 250K in profit this quarter, and will make far more in the future. You estimate next quarter you should make at least two million in profit, even after all the expenses of paying employees and taking care of maintenance. And that number should only go up- many of Landing's households are still running on Alliance provided Fuel Cells after the power station got taken out by the raid, and and the Alliance isn't going to keep flying in fuel forever, especially now that a local venture is capable of handling the power needs.
And once those GARDIAN towers come online... well, someone is going to have to power them, now aren't they?
[X]Legionary. Because this is the first, basic model, but better will be coming...
After some thought, you have elected to name your newest armor suit the Legionary. You've even made some brochures for use in the future.
[X]Basic Black boxing/FRM (2)
[X]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (2)
[X]Compact Autocannon (1)
[X]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (0)*
5d100 → [5,9,35,51,53] = (153)
Research Progress:
Blackboxing/FRM (87/100)
Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (86/100)
Compact Autocannon (53/75)
Sadly, your research has not gone so well. You hit a brick wall with FRM, and, after one particularly long night, lost your temper and threw the computer you were working on at the wall.
In retrospect, not your brightest idea; you barely managed to recover any of the data, and what should have been easily finished is probably going to take another few weeks to finish. It's irritating, to say the least.
Your other projects have gone somewhat better, but you haven't been able to make a breakthrough in either; while both are close to completion, neither is quite done. In the case of the rocket launcher, it's an issue of complexity; designing a small rocket capable of reliably defeating heavy armored vehicles is difficult, and while you're pretty sure you've found the solution in miniaturizing the effects of disruptor torpedoes with a multistage warhead. The autocannon, on the other hand, is merely a question of not budgeting enough time, and you've made fairly good progress despite that.
Research Plan:
[]Wrist mounted mass accelerator. (50) Adding an SMG class mass accelerator to the suit with a wrist mount should be child's play, but it will take a little work.
[]Compact Autocannon (53/75) The salvaged autocannon you "liberated" from the Batarian shuttle, was big, unwieldy, and very, very effective. A Batarian State Arms MS-12 5mm hypervelocity cannon, it's also something you are completely uninterested in licensing. Which is fine, because you're sure you can do better anyway- integrating it into the suit should give it a much bigger energy budget to play with, as well as making the entire assembly less ungainly in flight.
[]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (86/100) Having proper Anti-tank weapons would have been enormously useful when you had to fight actual tanks, and putting together a system capable of reliably defeating armor with a single shot should be a very useful force multiplier for future iterations of your armor. You could also build and sell a standalone launcher, should you so desire.
[]Micro-missiles (150) After your failed negotiations during the raid, you resolved to never fail those who have been taken hostage again. This is the best solution you've been able to come up with so far- a large battery of 10mm micro missiles, slaved to a VI and capable of maneuvering and attacking a large number of targets simultaneously and with a large degree of precision. Given the size of the projectiles, you might even be able to fit them into a pistol frame, though it would have limited magazine capacity.
[] Repulsors (150) You know you're close, and now that you finally have proper facilities, you're sure you can finally make the breakthrough you need to build repulsors. You're sure they'll be remarkably effective as a dual purpose propulsion/weapon system if you can just figure out how to make them work. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Directed Energy Weapons (200) With the potential power production of the ISAR within reach, many traditional dictums regarding energy weapons come into question. Investigating Basic DEWs will allow you to build GARDIAN class lasers, as well as lay the foundation for both very large and very small laser weapons and other DEWs.
[]Advanced Materials (150) You have some ideas for advanced alloys that would allow you to provide greater protection with much thinner armor, as well as allowing a much higher speed in the air. (prerequisite to Mk 2 Armor)
[]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (150) Upgrading your suit's VI to be capable of managing tactical EW needs on the battlefield would give you the ability to intercept and decrypt less advanced communications as well as jam both sensors and comms. It wouldn't be the be-all and end-all of Electronic Warfare, but it would be both useful and pave the way for future research into electronic warfare and more advanced VIs.
[]Basic Black boxing/FRM (87/100) Setting up your technology such that it cannot be easily reverse engineered is basic common sense, but it will take some work. At this level your defenses are not insurmountable to the most skilled Engineers, but they will pose a difficulty, and make reverse engineering your technology a much more trying endeavor.
[]Basic Biotechnology (100) Biotechnology has never really been your forte, but with your recent discovery of having biotic potential, you now have a very good reason to look into it. Genetic Engineering, Cybernetics, and Biotic implants all have a wide variety of applications for you to explore, but you'll need a basic grounding in the subject first.
First Production Run (Part 05) - Preparation, the Key to Success
TriviaFreak
Time of reluctance.
Originally by Auks, on SB.
------------------
Preparation, the key to success
[X]No, hold off until after the competition, and do a media blitz then.
You decide to hold off on talking to the media for the moment. After all, you are very busy at the moment, and have no shortage of things to do before the competition.
Which is not to say that all your time is spent on work and research. Your seventeenth birthday comes and goes, passing almost unnoticed until your parents drag you out of your lab and take you to your favorite restaurant. It's a quiet celebration, but a pleasant one- the food is good, as is the time with your family. The gifts aren't bad, though the truth of the matter is that you can afford most anything you want at this point. Still, it's a nice gesture.
Then there's the memorial. It's a somber affair, the first anniversary of the Raid on Mindoir. With almost four hundred people dead, it's the most brutal attack on humanity since the First Contact War, and the memorial is swarming with both mourners and reporters. You attended the ceremony, and watched as the Governor lit an eternal flame to mark the the first anniversary of the attacks. You were invited to say a few words as well, but declined. You had no desire to contend with the press just yet, and the memorial was suppose to be about the fallen, not you. Which might sound a little arrogant, but given past experience, was probably accurate. Some of the reporters were disturbingly eager to score an interview with you.
[X]Compact Autocannon (53/75)(2 dice)
[X]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (86/100)(2 dice)
[X]Basic Black boxing/FRM (87/100) (1 dice)
[X]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (*)
5d100 → [90,78,80,41,13] = (302)
Compact Autocannon (75/75)
Research Complete!
Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (100/100)
Research Complete!
Basic Black boxing/FRM (100/100)
Research Complete!
Basic Electronic Warfare VI (253/150)
Research Complete!
You completed your autocannon research, and managed to put together a small but incredibly potent weapon that can be mounted on both the forearm and shoulder hard points of you Legionary armor, as well as putting together a larger rifle variant that can be held by the armor like a traditional rifle. It's fully integrated into the targeting system of the suit, and despite it's small size it's easily half again as powerful as the Batarian cannon you salvaged, thanks in large part to it's generous power budget. A very good weapon all around.
What do you call it?
[]Write-in
The Rocket launcher was more complicated, but you still managed to finish it surprisingly quickly. It's an incredibly complicated munition, using a three stage warhead to bypass shields and defeat armor, before the most powerful HE warhead you could squeeze onto the rocket detonates. You haven't been able to test it against actual tanks, for obvious reasons, but you are fairly confident of it's ability to defeat any current generation armored vehicle out there with a single shot.
What do you call it?
[]Write-in
You also finally managed to complete your black boxing tech, much to your relief. You've taken the time to apply it to all of your tech, including your reactor in Landing, which helps you sleep a little better. You'll certainly feel much better about leaving it unattended when you fly to Earth for the competition.
You even managed to find some time to design an Electronic Warfare VI, and add both it and full spectrum jammer to the Legionary. It should give you the ability to jam both comms and sensors in a large area, as well as tap into comms without excessively heavy encryption. Should be very useful, to say the least.
You're rather pleased with the results of your research this quarter- not only did you finish everything, you finished early, with a full month to spare, giving you time to produce quite a few examples to bring with you to the competition. And thanks to your budding power business, you have sufficient funds to build quite a few suits. You might even be able to sell a few of them at the competition itself.
You have 10 production units and 3.1 million credits. What do you build?
Legionary armored suit 250,000 Credits, 1.2 Production
Autocannon 40,000 Credits .2 Production
Rocket Launcher w/3 rockets 85,000 .3 Production
Disposable single shot rocket launcher 35,000 Credits, .2 Production
20mm Grenade Launcher 10,000 Credits .1 Production
Flamer 5,000 Credits .1 Production
Omni-tool/Omni-Blade 10,000 Credits .1 Production
------------------
Preparation, the key to success
[X]No, hold off until after the competition, and do a media blitz then.
You decide to hold off on talking to the media for the moment. After all, you are very busy at the moment, and have no shortage of things to do before the competition.
Which is not to say that all your time is spent on work and research. Your seventeenth birthday comes and goes, passing almost unnoticed until your parents drag you out of your lab and take you to your favorite restaurant. It's a quiet celebration, but a pleasant one- the food is good, as is the time with your family. The gifts aren't bad, though the truth of the matter is that you can afford most anything you want at this point. Still, it's a nice gesture.
Then there's the memorial. It's a somber affair, the first anniversary of the Raid on Mindoir. With almost four hundred people dead, it's the most brutal attack on humanity since the First Contact War, and the memorial is swarming with both mourners and reporters. You attended the ceremony, and watched as the Governor lit an eternal flame to mark the the first anniversary of the attacks. You were invited to say a few words as well, but declined. You had no desire to contend with the press just yet, and the memorial was suppose to be about the fallen, not you. Which might sound a little arrogant, but given past experience, was probably accurate. Some of the reporters were disturbingly eager to score an interview with you.
[X]Compact Autocannon (53/75)(2 dice)
[X]Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (86/100)(2 dice)
[X]Basic Black boxing/FRM (87/100) (1 dice)
[X]Basic Electronic Warfare VI (*)
5d100 → [90,78,80,41,13] = (302)
Compact Autocannon (75/75)
Research Complete!
Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher (100/100)
Research Complete!
Basic Black boxing/FRM (100/100)
Research Complete!
Basic Electronic Warfare VI (253/150)
Research Complete!
You completed your autocannon research, and managed to put together a small but incredibly potent weapon that can be mounted on both the forearm and shoulder hard points of you Legionary armor, as well as putting together a larger rifle variant that can be held by the armor like a traditional rifle. It's fully integrated into the targeting system of the suit, and despite it's small size it's easily half again as powerful as the Batarian cannon you salvaged, thanks in large part to it's generous power budget. A very good weapon all around.
What do you call it?
[]Write-in
The Rocket launcher was more complicated, but you still managed to finish it surprisingly quickly. It's an incredibly complicated munition, using a three stage warhead to bypass shields and defeat armor, before the most powerful HE warhead you could squeeze onto the rocket detonates. You haven't been able to test it against actual tanks, for obvious reasons, but you are fairly confident of it's ability to defeat any current generation armored vehicle out there with a single shot.
What do you call it?
[]Write-in
You also finally managed to complete your black boxing tech, much to your relief. You've taken the time to apply it to all of your tech, including your reactor in Landing, which helps you sleep a little better. You'll certainly feel much better about leaving it unattended when you fly to Earth for the competition.
You even managed to find some time to design an Electronic Warfare VI, and add both it and full spectrum jammer to the Legionary. It should give you the ability to jam both comms and sensors in a large area, as well as tap into comms without excessively heavy encryption. Should be very useful, to say the least.
You're rather pleased with the results of your research this quarter- not only did you finish everything, you finished early, with a full month to spare, giving you time to produce quite a few examples to bring with you to the competition. And thanks to your budding power business, you have sufficient funds to build quite a few suits. You might even be able to sell a few of them at the competition itself.
You have 10 production units and 3.1 million credits. What do you build?
Legionary armored suit 250,000 Credits, 1.2 Production
Autocannon 40,000 Credits .2 Production
Rocket Launcher w/3 rockets 85,000 .3 Production
Disposable single shot rocket launcher 35,000 Credits, .2 Production
20mm Grenade Launcher 10,000 Credits .1 Production
Flamer 5,000 Credits .1 Production
Omni-tool/Omni-Blade 10,000 Credits .1 Production