- Location
- Texas
Although this confusion is desired on my part as a realistic reaction to present circumstances, I shall see about providing direction. Give me a few hours.
Crossin this here Jordan: A Coalition Soldier Quest
- Thread starter VagrantHero
- Start date
- Horror
-
- Tags
- open voting
What to do? An OOC moment.
- Location
- Texas
Dorete has identified a number of issues regarding survival in an undoubtedly hostile environment, which you must choose how, if at all, you are going to deal with them. Firstly, there are the dead and dying soldiers that came through, and the Medic that refuses to treat the wounded. If the Ranger does not recover, then you and Savage become the highest ranked individuals, and though usually that wouldn't mean much given the separate chains of command, these aren't usual circumstances. Unknown who has more time in service, but it is probably Savage. If you want to try to establish some semblance of order and discipline, there are a few ways to go about it. That is if you want to deal with the social situation at all, as walking away from the conversation is a perfectly viable thing to do. Savage might try to step up, and the other soldiers would basically all do their own thing. It doesn't guarantee that order and discipline breaks down entirely, but in that case, you won't be the person to resolve the situation. You have basically no information on Savage, as he was described as an outlier in your unit that no one knew anything about. You could try to interact with him to come up with a plan.
If the Ranger is successfuly stabilized, then he would have the authority to give orders, and would potentially limit what possible solutions could be pursued, detailed further below. There are a number of pragmatic reasons not to try to save this man. As the QM, I am not going to morally browbeat anyone, so fear not on that front.
Next, there are the survival needs. The SAMAS and the APC all utilize a nuclear reactor for power, so they're covered for a long time. A potential method for dealing with the air and water issues is to find a comet, break off chunks of it and through electrolysis obtain oxygen and hydrogen. More filtered water fixes the drinking issue. Dorete also has the unique synergy of EM Manipulation, which has not been explored, and which she is using to try to shield everyone from exotic radiation. Your suits and the APCs naturally do this anyway, but there is no magnetosphere shielding people from the sun, so she's pulling the slack. Those are the things that can be dealt with easily.
What can't be dealt with easily is the lack of food. There are an unknown number of ration packs inside the APC, which will probably not last for long. Either you or someone else would have to search for them, if they exist at all. However, there are people. Resorting to cannibalism isn't the most appealing option, but if it is one to be taken, it should either be as early as possible so the meat doesn't spoil, or delayed until everyone else is more likely to accept. Selling that to everyone else would be a concern, as cannibalism is typically an abhorrent behavior. Another potential reason to not try to save the Ranger or any of the other critically injured is that they become more meat on the menu. Food could also be rationed to further prolong things.
Dorete and Savage are the only ones capable of any kind of maneuver outside of the APC, and everything Savage can do, Dorete can do better except for speed. She can move more, with more precision, but a SAMAS can move fast. It wasn't made for an environment without atmosphere, but he's a Psi-Tech, so he's adapting well. You have no idea if anything hostile exists in this realm other than the environment. You could ask Savage to keep patrolling outside, or you could try to get a couple of the regulars to man sensors and the turret, or you could do it yourself. Doing it yourself would distract from the final issue. How do you get out of here?
There are a few potential solutions to the problem of getting out of here. One which Acolyte has already mentioned is trying to manifest the ability to open portals. Dimensional Manipulation is not something Dorete is specced into at all, but she is a Master Class Psychic, so her chances of doing so are a little bit better than 0%, and I have made some pretty bullshit rolls before. She could spend her time Meditating on this issue. I'd make background rolls to see if any progress at all is being made, and would provide feedback.
The next possible solution was one I vaguely hinted at, but shall be more direct now. Form a Pact with an Entity. Humans did this all the time when the Rifts came, and though Dorete doesn't know how to do it herself, presumably most of the first Sorcerers didn't know, either. Any dimension or plane that she was sent to must be at least adjacent to Earth, as Earth forms a sort of multiversal crossroads, thus all the alien interest. As such, it stands to reason that something might be paying attention in this realm. The problem becomes one of trying to contact a benefactor. The problems with this route are many and varied, if successful, but all predicated on it being successful to begin with. It would constitute breaking the ban on Coalition citizens learning Sorcery, which though irregularly enforced, would at the very least raise eyebrows if Dorete didn't try to conceal the situation in some way. Dorete would also owe this Entity her life, which isn't a good place to start a healthy working relationship with a prospective supernatural power. As far as how likely this is to succeed, well, it is more likely than the previous potential solution.
Another potential solution is to wait. Sounds terrible on the face of it, but if you and these men were thrown through a portal here, then inductive reasoning goes that it is possible it will happen again. In that case, it becomes a matter of trying to spot anomalies through the APCs sensors and your own electroreception, as it has been established that Dorete can detect the strange radiation emitted by Rifts, of which the portal that sent you here was a small and temporary example. If successful, it would just be a matter of getting to that portal before it closed. Likelihood of success? Completely unknown, as you're working off a single data point. Buying as much time as possible would make this a more viable solution.
Another potential solution is to see if anyone here is a secret Sorcerer or has any occult knowledge at all, and try to pool any information together to come up with something. It would require that you establish some kind of rapport with the group, because nobody wants to reveal that they've been breaking a very serious law, but this would be the time to do it. Completely unknown how successful this would be.
Additionally, a reminder that Dorete is currently suffering as much as a -5 (known) penalty to many skills, and is nowhere near peak performance. Important.
Briefly summarizing the aforementioned points:
1. Determine how to handle the social situation, what your objectives are. (Do you even care about what happens to the others? Killing them all is an option).
2. Determine if you are going to try to save the Ranger and the other critically injured and how (force the medic to do it, rely on his sense of duty, try to do it yourself, kill the Ranger, etc).
3. Determine when and how you are going to handle the basic survival needs (depending on how you treat the others, this pretty much crystallizes how interactions are going to go, and will again limit or expand potential solution).
4. Determine what potential solutions you are going to pursue, and how you will go about them.
Hopefully, this proves useful. If this is still insufficient, then I'll bite the bullet and come up with a big beautiful vote with lots and lots of options.
If the Ranger is successfuly stabilized, then he would have the authority to give orders, and would potentially limit what possible solutions could be pursued, detailed further below. There are a number of pragmatic reasons not to try to save this man. As the QM, I am not going to morally browbeat anyone, so fear not on that front.
Next, there are the survival needs. The SAMAS and the APC all utilize a nuclear reactor for power, so they're covered for a long time. A potential method for dealing with the air and water issues is to find a comet, break off chunks of it and through electrolysis obtain oxygen and hydrogen. More filtered water fixes the drinking issue. Dorete also has the unique synergy of EM Manipulation, which has not been explored, and which she is using to try to shield everyone from exotic radiation. Your suits and the APCs naturally do this anyway, but there is no magnetosphere shielding people from the sun, so she's pulling the slack. Those are the things that can be dealt with easily.
What can't be dealt with easily is the lack of food. There are an unknown number of ration packs inside the APC, which will probably not last for long. Either you or someone else would have to search for them, if they exist at all. However, there are people. Resorting to cannibalism isn't the most appealing option, but if it is one to be taken, it should either be as early as possible so the meat doesn't spoil, or delayed until everyone else is more likely to accept. Selling that to everyone else would be a concern, as cannibalism is typically an abhorrent behavior. Another potential reason to not try to save the Ranger or any of the other critically injured is that they become more meat on the menu. Food could also be rationed to further prolong things.
Dorete and Savage are the only ones capable of any kind of maneuver outside of the APC, and everything Savage can do, Dorete can do better except for speed. She can move more, with more precision, but a SAMAS can move fast. It wasn't made for an environment without atmosphere, but he's a Psi-Tech, so he's adapting well. You have no idea if anything hostile exists in this realm other than the environment. You could ask Savage to keep patrolling outside, or you could try to get a couple of the regulars to man sensors and the turret, or you could do it yourself. Doing it yourself would distract from the final issue. How do you get out of here?
There are a few potential solutions to the problem of getting out of here. One which Acolyte has already mentioned is trying to manifest the ability to open portals. Dimensional Manipulation is not something Dorete is specced into at all, but she is a Master Class Psychic, so her chances of doing so are a little bit better than 0%, and I have made some pretty bullshit rolls before. She could spend her time Meditating on this issue. I'd make background rolls to see if any progress at all is being made, and would provide feedback.
The next possible solution was one I vaguely hinted at, but shall be more direct now. Form a Pact with an Entity. Humans did this all the time when the Rifts came, and though Dorete doesn't know how to do it herself, presumably most of the first Sorcerers didn't know, either. Any dimension or plane that she was sent to must be at least adjacent to Earth, as Earth forms a sort of multiversal crossroads, thus all the alien interest. As such, it stands to reason that something might be paying attention in this realm. The problem becomes one of trying to contact a benefactor. The problems with this route are many and varied, if successful, but all predicated on it being successful to begin with. It would constitute breaking the ban on Coalition citizens learning Sorcery, which though irregularly enforced, would at the very least raise eyebrows if Dorete didn't try to conceal the situation in some way. Dorete would also owe this Entity her life, which isn't a good place to start a healthy working relationship with a prospective supernatural power. As far as how likely this is to succeed, well, it is more likely than the previous potential solution.
Another potential solution is to wait. Sounds terrible on the face of it, but if you and these men were thrown through a portal here, then inductive reasoning goes that it is possible it will happen again. In that case, it becomes a matter of trying to spot anomalies through the APCs sensors and your own electroreception, as it has been established that Dorete can detect the strange radiation emitted by Rifts, of which the portal that sent you here was a small and temporary example. If successful, it would just be a matter of getting to that portal before it closed. Likelihood of success? Completely unknown, as you're working off a single data point. Buying as much time as possible would make this a more viable solution.
Another potential solution is to see if anyone here is a secret Sorcerer or has any occult knowledge at all, and try to pool any information together to come up with something. It would require that you establish some kind of rapport with the group, because nobody wants to reveal that they've been breaking a very serious law, but this would be the time to do it. Completely unknown how successful this would be.
Additionally, a reminder that Dorete is currently suffering as much as a -5 (known) penalty to many skills, and is nowhere near peak performance. Important.
Briefly summarizing the aforementioned points:
1. Determine how to handle the social situation, what your objectives are. (Do you even care about what happens to the others? Killing them all is an option).
2. Determine if you are going to try to save the Ranger and the other critically injured and how (force the medic to do it, rely on his sense of duty, try to do it yourself, kill the Ranger, etc).
3. Determine when and how you are going to handle the basic survival needs (depending on how you treat the others, this pretty much crystallizes how interactions are going to go, and will again limit or expand potential solution).
4. Determine what potential solutions you are going to pursue, and how you will go about them.
Hopefully, this proves useful. If this is still insufficient, then I'll bite the bullet and come up with a big beautiful vote with lots and lots of options.
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- Location
- Texas
Dorete doesn't know how to break either of the curses.
Psychic powers?? It seems to be magic with a fancy name and what the willworking thing implied we can do whatever we want. Just overwhelm them with our power maybe draw on the nuclear reactor for additional power.
- Location
- Texas
Sure, you could try that. I'll make a roll for it if done.
Cool, so how many actions we can do now.
- Location
- Texas
Limited only by the time you have to do them.
Right, that helps a great deal.
Most urgent would be the decision on the Ranger, followed by survival needs, food wouldn't be a crippling issue for a few days yet, so we could improvise.
So first aid, we got Master grade
The radiation is a big distracting problem, its not going to kill anyone anytime soon, but it makes failure on basically anything else compound. Anything going boom means Dorete is stuck holding up a shield instead of solving new problems.
Escaping this dimension can wait for after we're no longer at risk of dying within the week. If we aren't dying we can also contract a supernatural entity on...less unfavorable terms, in that while we're still stuck up shit creek without a paddle we won't die if we refuse, letting us go shopping for more.
...and I figured out the food problem. It'd need a new ability, but we have the building blocks.
[X] Plan In Order Of Urgency
-[X] The medic is useless for now, you'll fix the issue yourself.
--[X] You have functional first aid training, start with bioelectrical manipulation to slow down the heart rate of the wounded and knock them out with it if necessary to avoid struggling. Check who is bleeding out fastest, and keep the blood in their body with Hydrokinesis while you disintegrate and extract the spikes via Geokinesis. Once this is done you can put a wound sealant on if theres any, or forcibly close the wounds with pinpoint cauterization if not. They'll have to take their chances with infection and organ damage, you can't fix those.
--[X] Whoever has the necessary composure can take over for caring for the wounded from here, or maybe the medic will come to their senses.
-[X] Look for an asteroid to use as a base camp, and burrow an airtight, radiation tight hollow into it so you don't need to rely on your shielding to avoid radiation damage to the whole group. It'd also provide a buffer against smaller collision.
--[X] Harvest a comet after this, use electrolysis to provide water and replenish air supply
-[X] Once that's done and nobody's dying in the immediate future, harvest carbon, oxygen and hydrogen from the air and any biological waste matter, electrolytically breaking the molecules up to base elements if necessary, and then manually synthesize glucose via emulating the photosynthesis reaction to assemble the necessary carbohydrate chains.
--[X] With that nobody would starve(nutrient deficiency won't be a problem for months yet), and if you can find the makings of salt on the asteroid or any comets you also have a saline solution for the wounded even if you must drip feed them.
-[X] After basic survival needs are met, start surveying the area in greater detail.
Thank god we have eidetic memory, theres so much useful shit in basic science textbooks even if nobody remembers them after passing the exams.
Most urgent would be the decision on the Ranger, followed by survival needs, food wouldn't be a crippling issue for a few days yet, so we could improvise.
So first aid, we got Master grade
The radiation is a big distracting problem, its not going to kill anyone anytime soon, but it makes failure on basically anything else compound. Anything going boom means Dorete is stuck holding up a shield instead of solving new problems.
Escaping this dimension can wait for after we're no longer at risk of dying within the week. If we aren't dying we can also contract a supernatural entity on...less unfavorable terms, in that while we're still stuck up shit creek without a paddle we won't die if we refuse, letting us go shopping for more.
...and I figured out the food problem. It'd need a new ability, but we have the building blocks.
[X] Plan In Order Of Urgency
-[X] The medic is useless for now, you'll fix the issue yourself.
--[X] You have functional first aid training, start with bioelectrical manipulation to slow down the heart rate of the wounded and knock them out with it if necessary to avoid struggling. Check who is bleeding out fastest, and keep the blood in their body with Hydrokinesis while you disintegrate and extract the spikes via Geokinesis. Once this is done you can put a wound sealant on if theres any, or forcibly close the wounds with pinpoint cauterization if not. They'll have to take their chances with infection and organ damage, you can't fix those.
--[X] Whoever has the necessary composure can take over for caring for the wounded from here, or maybe the medic will come to their senses.
-[X] Look for an asteroid to use as a base camp, and burrow an airtight, radiation tight hollow into it so you don't need to rely on your shielding to avoid radiation damage to the whole group. It'd also provide a buffer against smaller collision.
--[X] Harvest a comet after this, use electrolysis to provide water and replenish air supply
-[X] Once that's done and nobody's dying in the immediate future, harvest carbon, oxygen and hydrogen from the air and any biological waste matter, electrolytically breaking the molecules up to base elements if necessary, and then manually synthesize glucose via emulating the photosynthesis reaction to assemble the necessary carbohydrate chains.
--[X] With that nobody would starve(nutrient deficiency won't be a problem for months yet), and if you can find the makings of salt on the asteroid or any comets you also have a saline solution for the wounded even if you must drip feed them.
-[X] After basic survival needs are met, start surveying the area in greater detail.
Thank god we have eidetic memory, theres so much useful shit in basic science textbooks even if nobody remembers them after passing the exams.
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[X] Do the astoriod thing to get air and water.
-[X] Using the additional power from the nuclear power try to break the curse using your overwhelming power and focus.
-[X] Then if you succeed, try and learn how to open portals, maybe use the nuclear reactor to substitute for the energy from a rift or a lay line, also see if you can use the exotic radiation to fuel your stuff.
-[X] Using the additional power from the nuclear power try to break the curse using your overwhelming power and focus.
-[X] Then if you succeed, try and learn how to open portals, maybe use the nuclear reactor to substitute for the energy from a rift or a lay line, also see if you can use the exotic radiation to fuel your stuff.
- Location
- Texas
Eidetic memory is legitimately helping out a lot, it bumps her skills up much higher than they should be given the lack of experience or specialization. Your plan is 100% viable.
- Location
- Texas
Much riskier and pretty much absolves yourself from social matters, which while fine means you're going for the hail mary play and trusting the others to handle their own business.
Yes, they are veteran soldiers. They should be able to handle this.
Just realized we could probably cook up a full protein synthesis rig(we got everything we need, a vacuum, telekinesis, and molecular precision to construct basic amino acids and thus protein) but I don't think we're going to stick around that long, just enough that everyone calms their tits and we can work on getting out of here by riskier means if the area scans return nothing.
Heck, we got everything we need to make an unassisted orbital reentry without anyone getting hurt if we find a breathable atmosphere.
- Location
- Texas
Dorete has the technical know-how, and Science has advanced about a hundred years, +- 40, so by all means, any technological solutions may be proposed.
[X] Plan In Order Of Urgency
- Location
- Texas
Inserted tally
ThatGuyWithIdeas
Treize died for our sins
- Location
- Romania
[X] Plan In Order Of Urgency
- Location
- Tarn-Vedra
[X] Plan In Order Of Urgency
- Location
- Texas
This week has been interesting. Couldn't access home since yesterday, among other little crises. Looks like it has been resolved for now though. Y'all haven't been forgotten, hope to get this up today.
The Siege of Monterrey, 1.5
- Location
- Texas
[X] Plan In Order Of Urgency
-[X] The medic is useless for now, you'll fix the issue yourself.
--[X] You have functional first aid training, start with bioelectrical manipulation to slow down the heart rate of the wounded and knock them out with it if necessary to avoid struggling. Check who is bleeding out fastest, and keep the blood in their body with Hydrokinesis while you disintegrate and extract the spikes via Geokinesis. Once this is done you can put a wound sealant on if theres any, or forcibly close the wounds with pinpoint cauterization if not. They'll have to take their chances with infection and organ damage, you can't fix those.
--[X] Whoever has the necessary composure can take over for caring for the wounded from here, or maybe the medic will come to their senses.
-[X] Look for an asteroid to use as a base camp, and burrow an airtight, radiation tight hollow into it so you don't need to rely on your shielding to avoid radiation damage to the whole group. It'd also provide a buffer against smaller collision.
--[X] Harvest a comet after this, use electrolysis to provide water and replenish air supply
-[X] Once that's done and nobody's dying in the immediate future, harvest carbon, oxygen and hydrogen from the air and any biological waste matter, electrolytically breaking the molecules up to base elements if necessary, and then manually synthesize glucose via emulating the photosynthesis reaction to assemble the necessary carbohydrate chains.
--[X] With that nobody would starve(nutrient deficiency won't be a problem for months yet), and if you can find the makings of salt on the asteroid or any comets you also have a saline solution for the wounded even if you must drip feed them.
-[X] After basic survival needs are met, start surveying the area in greater detail.
-[X] The medic is useless for now, you'll fix the issue yourself.
--[X] You have functional first aid training, start with bioelectrical manipulation to slow down the heart rate of the wounded and knock them out with it if necessary to avoid struggling. Check who is bleeding out fastest, and keep the blood in their body with Hydrokinesis while you disintegrate and extract the spikes via Geokinesis. Once this is done you can put a wound sealant on if theres any, or forcibly close the wounds with pinpoint cauterization if not. They'll have to take their chances with infection and organ damage, you can't fix those.
--[X] Whoever has the necessary composure can take over for caring for the wounded from here, or maybe the medic will come to their senses.
-[X] Look for an asteroid to use as a base camp, and burrow an airtight, radiation tight hollow into it so you don't need to rely on your shielding to avoid radiation damage to the whole group. It'd also provide a buffer against smaller collision.
--[X] Harvest a comet after this, use electrolysis to provide water and replenish air supply
-[X] Once that's done and nobody's dying in the immediate future, harvest carbon, oxygen and hydrogen from the air and any biological waste matter, electrolytically breaking the molecules up to base elements if necessary, and then manually synthesize glucose via emulating the photosynthesis reaction to assemble the necessary carbohydrate chains.
--[X] With that nobody would starve(nutrient deficiency won't be a problem for months yet), and if you can find the makings of salt on the asteroid or any comets you also have a saline solution for the wounded even if you must drip feed them.
-[X] After basic survival needs are met, start surveying the area in greater detail.
Her thoughts were slow, plans formed with difficulty. She wouldn't waste energy trying to convince the useless medic to do his duty, not now. Maybe he'd change his mind later, maybe not. Irrelevant either way, as he wasn't essential. She did not want to be the one to try to treat the wounded, not in her condition, but as father always reminded her, needs must. One step at a time.
She recalled all her training and everything she knew about first aid and medicine that would be relevant in this situation. The memories came to her, with difficulty. Major Hemorrhaging, Airway, Respirations, Circulations, Head Injuries, Minor Hemorrhaging, Hypothermia and Shock, taught to all recruits via the mnemonic known as MARCH. There was some disagreement over which was truly more important to check first between instructors, but the general consensus was that severe bloodloss would kill before asphyxiation would with the general exception of blood chokes, hence the mnemonic's order. EM pulses gave her feedback on the Ranger's biological systems and internals. The lower spike had gone through his intestines, a gut wound was bad and would make longer term recovery difficult but at least it missed the major organs. The middle spike went through just above the Ranger's diaphragm, puncturing the left lung and fracturing a rib. The final spike was much higher and inches from his heart. Significant build up of air pressure outside of the right lung, traumatic pneumothorax. She knew that slowing his heart rate down could be dangerous of itself, but the bleeding had to stop.
Dorete floated to the APC floor beside the Ranger, her hands resting over him. Though unnecessary, the physical action helped focus her mind, away from the bickering that had started up between the medic and the other soldiers. The spikes were preventing too much external hemorrhaging, but the internals were a mess. She regulated his cellular electricity, slowing his heart rate and encouraging cells to heal, while her hydrokinesis prevented further blood loss as she disintegrated the metal spikes. She relieved the air build up inside his thoracic cavity, cleared the blood from his mouth and throat, and carefully cauterized the wounds he'd sustained. Carefully, she laid him into a recovery position on his left side and removed his helmet to prevent shock. Temperature was fine, blood flow fine. He'd be in severe pain and dearly need some anti-microbials and painkillers, which she'd ask for or find as soon as she looked at the others. She didn't know if he'd recover or not, especially in the long term as he would need to fast due to the gut wound combined with the injuries he'd already sustained, but Rangers were tough men, and she'd accelerate his healing as much as she could. He was lucky his spine, heart or kidney weren't hit as is. She'd come back to him, see if they had any gauze or wound sealants. The APC should have one, but should often didn't equal truth in her experience, as the medic's behavior attested.
The medic was watching her as she worked, expression inscrutable behind his helmet. She looked up at him. He didn't move.
She moved on to the next casualty, who'd sustained multiple strange gunshot wounds to the right leg above and below the knee that were impossibly already suffering from the spread of necrotic tissue. She excised the devitalized flesh via electrokinesis and cauterized again and again, but it kept spreading each time, until finally she resorted to shearing the leg off at the hip with his own armor in a last attempt to stop it. Long seconds passed without more supernatural bullshit occurring, until she finally pronounced this attempt a success. She put him in a recovery position and moved on.
The next casualty was dead by no discernible cause. She tried to revive him for a minute with no success, helmet discarded. She moved on. One of the soldiers, not the medic, stepped in to keep trying. Good man.
The same was true of the next casualty. She moved on, concerned. A different soldier continued resuscitation attempts.
The same was true again. Damn it all! She shouldn't have wasted time, she wasn't thinking. She rushed to the last casualty.
The final casualty had also received multiple gunshot wounds, ammunition matching that utilized by the C-12. She recalled the strange spell the Crypt Knight she dueled had used. This was the man who'd been struck by his own bullets. The wounds were shallow, but the worst one had penetrated the axillary artery, he'd lost consciousness due to blood loss and was already experiencing shock. She doubted she'd be able to do much for him, his heart rate was already critically low. Still, she removed the bullets and carefully cauterized his wounds. Surprisingly, the useless medic brought her a first aid kit, filled with anti-microbials, iodine, gauze, and other supplies. She looked up at the medic. He didn't move. She took it. The other soldiers had already treated their own wounds, with apparent competence, in the time she had spent. She spoke to the other men who were aiding her. "Remove their armor, bandage their injuries, get them some anti-microbials."
In all, two of the Rangers were dead and one was critically injured. Of the regulars, two had minor bruising from where they'd sustained fire in the initial skirmish, one had been shot in the arm, two were critically injured, and three were dead, leaving the medic and three other men in fine condition, physically at least. She had done what she could. "Private Daberman," she addressed the medic. "Can I trust you to look after these men?" He faced away as he replied. "Sure." She looked to the two others who'd helped, Privates Reynauld and Beauregard. They'd taken their own helmets off to help. Beauregard nodded, looking slightly past her. Good enough. Helmet back on and sealed. She checked her HUD for any system irregularities; all seemed within acceptable parameters.
Through the belly hatch she went, once again sealing the air within the vehicle with a thought. With sharp eyes, she searched for what she needed against the bright orange backdrop of a nebula. There was plenty of dust around, she could feel the micro-impacts against the telekinetic barrier around her, but for her discerning gaze, more promising objects were picked out from the rest. Impossible to know how large it was without anything to measure it against, but there was what seemed like an asteroid belt way off in the distance. Too far to know exactly how far. If she died out there because it was further than it looked, or she hit something going multiple kilometers a second faster relative to her own delicate sensibilities, or got ganked by Guests unexpectedly, well, it wasn't like they had much of a chance of making it out of this anyway. With a new direction in mind, Dorete accelerated herself through the void, the APC diminishing until even her eyes could no longer detect them. Out here, alone in the void, the emptiness lent itself to pondering the vast distances and scales that defied easy reckoning. Only her HUD distracted her, beeping occasionally, notifying her of whatever problems it had deigned to recognize. No atmosphere detected, oxygen supply decreasing, she'd figured that out a while ago, thank you.
Now that the initial panic and response had subsided, the beauty of it all was becoming readily apparent. The same backdrop, ever present, a pervasive orange glow everywhere she looked, brighter or dimmer in some places, but never shifting. And it was perhaps the wrong time to get taken in by the beauty of the universe because the asteroids were getting larger quicker than she'd like. Still impossible to know how large exactly. They could be a few hundred feet in diameter, they could be dwarf planets for all she knew. No, she could track their magnetic field when she got close enough. If they were dwarf planets, they have a weak one she could detect from a fair distance out. If they were smaller, though, then she'd better start slowing down now. But which direction were they headed relative to her? Probably left unless the asteroid belt is in a reverse orbit. Left it is then.
She applied force to convert her forward momentum, trying to guess and match whatever the relative velocity of the asteroids in front of her were. Finally, she got close enough to determine that they ranged anywhere from 20 meters in diameter to more than 400 meters, with some outliers. Irregular surfaces and dark shadows were fairly ominous, but no more ominous than not being able to see the APC from here. Difficult to even guess what the distance was without a point of reference. But she had asteroids now! Easy enough. Any objects that even seemed like they might impact her, she redirected with minimal effort, away from her, until a particularly promising roughly spherical hunk of space rock came her way. Mostly iron, some other elements. Maybe 300 meters in diameter. 20 minutes and some change later, and space home was acquired. Unfortunately, she was down 3 quarters of an oxygen tank. Not so unfortunately, she'd already found hunks of dihydrogen monoxide floating around, and collected around 2 tons worth of it to bring back. Not like it would go anywhere, chilling in the vacuum. Just to be safe, she converted a small chunk of it to refill her oxygen tank, her dynamokinetic capabilities rendering what would otherwise be an impossible task with the current lack of equipment a relatively straightforward chore. Run a positive and negative current through the chunk of ice, pressurize the oxygen, heat it into a vapor, and force the gas into the tank without letting go of anything. With that, the oxygen supply would be good to go for a long while. She could fill up any spare oxygen containers on the APC, show the grunts what they should probably remember from grade school science textbooks, and now she wouldn't be the fulcrum for as many points of failure should anything unfortunate befall her. Excellent. She could even point Savage towards the asteroid belt, he'd be able to collect whatever space junk was around himself.
The return journey was significantly longer, trying to move what must be actual tons of material, but without the time wasted decelerating due to not knowing the scale and velocity of the rocks she was moving towards, she just waited until she would overshoot the APC otherwise before decelerating. She'd have to set up a filter of some kind for the water to be safe, but that would be simple enough. Really, the key thing was to avoid doing things herself. The more things that relied on a single person to accomplish, the worse it would be when that critical person failed for whatever reason. This applied to pretty much everything in the military, not just personnel, hence why so many things, ideally, were redundant, despite the inefficiencies this brought to the Armed Forces as a combatant force. She'd read that before the Coming of the Rifts, the U.S. Army often had squads of eight or fewer personnel, a number that had shocked her at the time. How any fighting force could expect to maintain combat capability when suffering casualties with such low numbers naturally brought into question the assumptions of her time.
Back then, a fighting force from a first world country that lost 50%, let alone 85%, of their fighting force would often be considered combat ineffective and require reorganization. Nowadays, that was just the standard, with how bloody the wars had become. Even a squad size of 13 was pushing it, but the Chiefs of Staff insisted that numbers higher than that became too much to manage at the squad level. Then again, there were a few of them that said that issuing every infantryman a combat exoskeleton was a waste of material, especially considering the differing demands of the cavalry scouts from the special forces and so forth. The fact that some of those idiots thought that autonomous man-shaped drones, "skelebots," would be the way to go despite the fact that their enemies regularly jammed and disrupted all forms of electronic communications and advanced computing showed how much sense they had. Hell, they were probably the same idiots that thought that taking away the Marine Corps' heavy armor and assault craft would somehow make them more effective at going face first into enemy strong points. Indeed, probably the same people that thought hovertanks with multiple main guns of different calibers that were completely incapable of stopping quickly or maneuvering from point to point without difficulty or aiming higher than a 50 degree angle were sound and useful pieces of kit for the armed forces. The casualties being sustained now were despite, not because of, the heavy, relative to the 21st century, infantry armor that every soldier was trained with and issued, and the sooner the short-sighted military theorists recognized that, then the sooner they might start winning wars for a change. She didn't want to imagine what combat would do to men with nothing but a open face helmet and wool uniforms, like was fought in the century before that. Back to the squad sizes, it was a debate, to be sure, and likely to be changed as often as the military changed uniforms, but she'd like to look at the stats and figures again when she got back home, talk with her father a bit to see how things differed from his experience. Maybe they could brainstorm some kind of ideal number and loadout to deal with the largest variety of combat environments as possible. No, that was the kind of thinking that lead to stagnant forces unable to adapt to the environments they fought in, and-
Ah, she'd spaced out again. She blamed the exhaustion. Not the time.
She warped the many bits of scrap metal and material into a lash for the ice, securing it to the APC's turret, before entering through the belly hatch again. Beauregard greeted her, blue eyes staring somewhere to the left of her. "Made it back, I see. We were wondering where you'd've gone off to, yes we were. Daberman shouldn't be givin us no more trouble, we locked him in that compartment over there." The compartment in question sighed. "We'll let him out in a bit, he needed a time out to think about what he'd done. Yessir."
"Where are the others?" She inquired. She saw the wounded and dead still in the main compartment, along with the man whose arm was broken and Savage's unmanned SAMAS. Could have checked herself, but she was tired. Beauregard sat up from where he was leaning against the back of the vehicle, fiddling with the Maxi-Ion like he was some kind of gunslinger.
"Reynauld's up front with Henderson and Dalmida, a right clique they are. Savage is fiddling with the turret, dragged Obermeyer with him. This here is Donnie," "McDonald," Donnie, the man with the broken arm, dryly interjected, "as I was saying, Donnie, him and I are watchin over the wounded." She sympathized with Donni- McDonald. "What were you doin? Didn't find any space horses, did ya? Maybe they could take us back." Amusing.
"I'll be digging all of us a burrow to shield us from the radiation inside the asteroid I just dragged over here. I've also basically fixed our oxygen and water supply for the immediate present," she drawled, "With a couple of ideas for the food supply as well. Save me some rations."
"Well, well. Well." Eloquent. A long pause. "That's good. To hear Daberman say it, we died the moment we were born. Nice to hear something nice for a change." Nice indeed. She considered.
Voting time.
[] Continue plan with no adjustments.
[] Adjust.
--[] Write-in.
AN: I passed out writing this last night. Feel a bit bad taking so long, so I'm just getting this out at a convenient pause. Also, Day Dreamer finally got a chance to shine.
[X] Continue plan with no adjustments.
- Location
- Texas
RIP update. Much like Rockeye's Industrialization Quest, which I'd like to shoutout now for anyone who hasn't heard of it because it is quality, I lost what I wrote. Instead, I'm going to post an Informational thingy I was planning on finishing afterwards, will have that up in a bit. I was just thinking, man, I should put this inside my proper word document I have set up, and I copied it, deleted the original write up from the forum here, but didn't actually paste it. Here we are one automatic computer restart later. Unlucky, lol.