Rabite
Veteran Member
Emperor of H
Hey, look over here.
Posts: 1,887
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Post by Rabite on Jan 23, 2016 1:02:19 GMT -6
The men pretty clear they were not happy with Shikoto, if not for his previous decision then for his remarks after they spent hours digging him out. It's a lot easier to leave him here, considering he's a slave and all. His constant attitude also did not help one bit, nor does his idea that he's not going to die if James and the other men didn't help him. Even those that recently joined and had ideas of getting to know him are having different ideas, more so when the older members tell them that Shikoto had always been like this. However they didn't do anything special, they're still in the middle of an operation, and they know James don't like it when they disobey orders or cause problems during a mission.
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"Well, looks like it's missing quite a lot of stuffs, got to fill those in before we could do anything with this... good thing we didn't listen to what the joke boy suggested or else we'd all die."
He put the flamethrower and his sword on the floor before taking a sit on that great looking chair, better than the old one they had back on the Diamond II at least. He tries pressing the panel a few times, wondering if there might be backup power for the ship, but looks like that won't be working now. The windows that have a movable shutter looks pretty good, could provide them with the much needed protection, and visuals without relying on machines if that is necessary.
"Alright, looks like that's it. Move the loot in, we can fly out of here if we're lucky."
After checking the rooms to make sure there's no other useful goods, James has his men start carrying the goodies they found on board. There's quite a bit of stuffs so it'll take a long time, perhaps just as much to finish fixing up the ship if that's possible. Hearing the arrival of the mechanics, James heads out to meet them. The doctor's appearance was a bit of a surprise to him, but it feels like something she would do, so he didn't pay it any more attention. He nods with a wide smile, equally as happy as his chief mechanic about the new ship.
"Looks excellent doesn't it? You guys go right on ahead with getting it up on it's feet. We got lots of parts from the base and from the stuffs McCoy had on the other ship outside, see if you would need some of those. If not then tell me, see if we have to tear apart the damaged ship outside to get this jewel running. Tin Can Boy over there couldn't get me a good set of answer about what the ship has, check that out for me, see what kind of guns does it run with so I can plan ahead in the future. And yes he screwed up again, see what you can do with him before he gets KIA, even I can't save him if he constant acts like a cranky grandma."
Next he turns to Dr. Rafflesia. The mutant remains weren't really all that useful, so he's going to let her do anything she wants with them. However he had some experience of his own during their operation, so he gave her some of his own ideas.
"Those bugs seems to have quite high resistance against bullets and the acidic blood from those tentacles over there, I think with some extra touch we can use those to improve our armor or shields using their shells. They also seem to have some sort of light poison, so you might want to look into that for antidotes or poison. There's also those smashed up brains and the cyropods you might want to look at down where the monster is, don't blame me for giving you poor condition samples since we're trying to fight for our lives here. Though I found something earlier and instantly thought about you, go ask Borax for the boxes of medical goods, we found a floor worth of it. By the way, don't let Ted know about the bugs or tentacles, I don't want to eat any for dinner and I doubt you would want to either."
He then looked around for Tiny and Skylia, so that he could introduce the two to his Chief Mechanic and Doctor. Not seeing them around he goes over and asks a few of the crew that were standing guard around the ship.
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Post by Pitman on Jan 23, 2016 1:24:27 GMT -6
"Ah, now I think why this ship itself is special.", Shikoto soon stated out loud as he continued to look at everything soon noticing the wings and the landing gear.
He turned and noticed the Chief Engineer showing up with the doc which he dreaded to talk to, though the bleeding stopped he was still bleeding from his left arm. He walked to the the man soon saying, "Briggs, looks like we got ourselves a prototype that never even got into full production. I take we will have to figure out a few things but I did at least figure out why the fact in its shape. Its meant for atmospheric flight and space travel, though not as well armed as many ships used in the past it makes up for it by being able to fly both in the sky and space. It has landing gear as well and possibly it can self launch itself into space if needed. In other words better then the old bucket of bolts that is falling apart. Oh we also have enough room for fighters too it seems."
This information is enough to tell what they were dealing with outside and they simply had to finish putting it together. Of course how long it will take it completely depends on how they did it. Shikoto rubbed his arm a bit and soon adds, "Oh also Briggs, the guys who made this place its bad trouble completely. I will recommend to the Captain once we done here to overload reactor and blow the place up. None of this should get out, it will only make things worse if they does."
Of course he was not on good terms and giving the suggestion to the engineer to pass it on to the Captain would be best to give him that. Especially how the Captain will no longer even listen to him now. Better with someone who he trusts then someone who he dislikes. With that done he turns around to get ready to help get this ship going even with his one working arm.
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Richter
Veteran Member
Posts: 1,870
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Post by Richter on Jan 23, 2016 2:00:17 GMT -6
Briggs rubs his hands excitedly at the prospect of seeing what made this thing tick. Practically everyone else who came with him was equally stoked. The captain had a good bunch of gearheads here, if nothing else. He responded quickly to the boss.
"The boys and I will make her fly even if we have to get out and push. But I don't think we'll have to do that. Probably." He said, and gave a curt nod at the order for a weapons loadout. "Once we get the juice flowing, I'll do you one better and get a full spec sheet printed off. Can't wait to crack it open. I'll drag Shikoto along too so he's out of your hair for awhile, leave it all to me."
Then without further ado he links back up with Shikoto and hears his side of things. The prospect of atmospheric flight makes him raise an eyebrow, his curiosity definitely piqued now. He glanced at the ship, nodding a few times in agreement.
"I can see it, yeah. Don't look like it'll be an easy thing to do, but yeah, I can see what they were going for. You said they never flew it themselves? I guess we'll just have to pick up where the old folks left off. Maybe even do it a little better." Suffice to say he got more solemn when hearing about what exactly all the strange shit they had passed on the way in here was. Well, now the head engineer got his answer. "Yeah I didn't know what that stuff was but I figured we wanted no part of it. Some shit you just don't want to dig up. Least it wasn't all bad. I'll pass the word along. I'll admit, kid, you're right; this stuff looks like bad news even dead."
Raffle didn't look as enthused as Briggs was, primarily because there were a lot of wounded to deal with and this was a bad environment to get shot within. The spores and all, amongst other things. Even so it didn't diminish her interest in the mutants, and she listened to everything he had to say without missing a syllable. James could tell that something devious was brewing in her mind, but only time would tell what it was.
"First thing I did was see to Joselyn outside. She's alive, by the way. It appears that this poison is a soporific, that is, it weakens the muscles. A few doses of that and even you'd be as weak as 'Joke Boy' over there. I think I can use it to make a cure to any similar toxins we find in the future, they're not especially common in nature, but we'll see how it goes." She says, giving a few nods in quick succession. "I'll take some samples of the big creature before we leave. Get some people collecting those shells and I think we can do something about that armor you want, mending carapace isn't much different than mending bone. It'll be a challenge, but I like a little bit of adversity every now and then. But. For now I see some people trying to hide, and not doing a very good job of it! See you soon, captain."
With that said the both of his staff members got to work. Raffle with dragging off everyone hurt so they could be patched up by an actual doctor, and Briggs and his men with the ship itself; they conscripted Shikoto back into it too. First thing's first, the engineers moved in all of the components and began to install those. It was easy but long. Firing up the reactor while there were cables plugged in and ungrounded would be a potential disaster, so this had to come first. It was pretty routine, up until they found another big old locked case. With some effort they managed to find Skylia reclining in one of those extremely comfy chairs in the bridge, and they brought her out to open the lock. This one was heavy duty. A singular electronic one in the center the slave had to hack, and then two mechanical ones for her to pick. Upon flipping it open though, they found not more radioisotopes...
But another one of those glowy blue pods, a shadowy mass of something could be seen inside of it. "B.I.E.S. UNIT 4, FOR USE WITH EOS CRUISER ONLY."
"Well. This is something. Should have saw that coming if this project was tied to the spooky brain-jar one. Problem is, I'd bet my left hand it won't run without it. Probably. But I'd probably be kind of wary of testing it, after that thing outside." Briggs said, and then shrugged. He'd let the boss decide. Meanwhile he tied off the rest of the cables leading to the main CPU and then went about bringing in the fuel, firing up the reactor, and getting an inventory. By hand, because the main computer was out, but he didn't mind considering the situation.
It had a dual-cycle fusion reactor like the base here, giving it excellent energy economy at the cost of being somewhat dangerous compared to safer helium-3 reactors - whose fuel was also rarer. It packed a double-strength shield generator, or more accurately two wired together - it was less janky than it sounds. It had two twinned cannons in a mount on the front, two each on the port and starboard sides, and one pair on the back as a tail gun. It lacked the swarm-fire rockets of the Firefly class, but instead held two forward-facing anti ship rocket tubes. They looked pretty nasty. Eight AA guns in ball turreted peppered the hull as a thoughtful bonus. Briggs was careful to mention to his leader that sticking additional stuff on the outer hull could severely impact its atmospheric capability. While here he also dropped mention that they should do something about this base rather than just leaving it open here. Partially because of Shikoto's request, and partially because he himself kind of figured that it wouldn't end up to be a very good to leave exposed. Potentially, James could sell the data to Dep-Duar, they had an interest in mutants and old ruins; being that they were mutants also living in old ruins.
It was all estimations but he figured it'd take 150 men and women to crew it at maximum efficiency. Then it'd have space for 30 or so passengers. Slaves could be interchanged into either of those categories as desired.
After that they cut open that hangar door and were interested to find out that it was carved into the side of the plateau McCoy's ship was parked on, with some quick mechanical work the group are able to get a makeshift crane going to lower parts and loot down for loading. None of this grunt work mentioned above happened very fast, but it was safe work with the doctor having been killed.
Speaking of the doctor, Shikoto would feel a hand clasp onto his shoulder while he was working. The non wounded one of course. The hand holding it was feminine and tinged with green, and it also squeezed his pressure point. Hard.
"Hiding from me, Mr. Tenjo? Very irresponsible. Look at this wound, is this from an industrial bolt? Do you have any idea how easily you could get an infection with all of these spores in the air? You're coming with me and you're going to like it." The voice of Raffle announced, and before he could protest...or scream, she sprayed him in the face with a paralyzing agent and drug him off to the new ship's medbay to begin cleaning out and stitching his wounds. Shikoto did say the systems needed to be tested, after all.
It was very painful, but she was definitely excellent at her job. He'd get the ability to talk back after a few minutes, and she spoke to him while she cleaned out his wounds. "So I hear you have a nickname now, 'Joke Boy'? Better get used to it. I punched Briggs, Sparks, Edwin, and Joselyn in the face to try and dissuade them from calling me 'Raffle' way back when. It didn't work. You're going to be stuck with it." The doctor said, sighing and shaking her head.
Skylia managed to be roused and sent to meet the doctor and engineer, but McKie was nowhere to be seen. Likely he had the same idea as Shikoto, but was more successful at it.
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Rabite
Veteran Member
Emperor of H
Hey, look over here.
Posts: 1,887
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Post by Rabite on Jan 23, 2016 3:10:58 GMT -6
"Sounds like something we could use in battle, a coating of it would surely do great to any unprotected foe. See if you can soup us some when you have the time, the same for the bugs. I plan to give everyone a few days off to party off the stress from this operation, we didn't suffer much from it, but it sure won't be good for the mind having to dig through this pitch dark places and fight a giant brain monster. Go ahead and pick help from the new recruits, could be a few with medical experience or at least have some talented hands to be your assistant."
He was then called over by Briggs to take a look at the pod that they found, the first reaction from James was to kill it before it takes over the ship, but he stops when it doesn't seem to be connected. After hearing his chief mechanic's thoughts, he decided to have it checked out from a safe source, and had some of his men grab Shikoto to plug it into a regular terminal after unplugging it's other connections. That way, even if it's one of the crazy brain pods, it won't be able to do anything but blow up that one terminal, not too big of a problem.
"As for this place... hmph, tin head boy don't even have the guts to bring it up to me himself. Well Briggs, I'm sure you saw the hole downstairs when you guys came in. That's not just a hole, nothing below that floor are unscratched with the exception of the reactor room. Everything else is in rubbles, covered by it, or became it. We used all the explosives we brought on this mission plus the ones we got from the supply drop, so I think you can guess how big of a boom that was. Tin head boy is just paranoid, there's been barely any related research for the past hundreds of years. Even if someone managed to find a bit of related stuffs inside this landfill it shouldn't cause much problems. But since you're the one that asked... alright, I'll give the news to the mutants, they should be able to do something about it. I'll tell the guild about this operation too, so it'll bring us a bit of sparkle to our name, and they might send some guys over to take a look too."
After hearing the numbers he'll need to fill up the ships, it looks like he'll have to do some extra recruitment. Good thing they have plans to drop down to a few locations, so they'll be able to get his extra crews in those cities. The new numbers would surely cause some changes in the group, something that he as the leader have to plan about. For now, he'll have to turn these treasures into cash, so he went over to the quartermaster and have him organize the findings.
"It's a big stash that we hit this time, lots of goods that we could sell, lots of goods we could use. Those radioactive materials we can sell to the mutants, the parts we can see if we need any for the new ship, if not then sell those too. Keep the new equipment we found, they could greatly improve our combat abilities. Sell the jewelries and books... should be it, unless I forgot something."
He wonder if the mutants would want the parts and jewelries too, but they'll have to land in other cities too for recruitment so they may as well check the price and sell it to the highest one. They don't have someone that's skilled at bargaining, so the very least they could do is compare prices. There's also McCoy's head too, should be a decent price from the mutants.
As for McKie... that guy sure ran fast, a lot better at hiding than Shikoto could ever be. Perhaps he could use a trick like that when the doctor comes after him in the future. He was not a fan of those procedures without analgesics either, it's one thing to get injured in battle, but it's a completely different story to feel the pain when you're out of it.
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Post by Pitman on Jan 23, 2016 4:06:43 GMT -6
Shikoto continued to help avoiding the good doc as much as possible. He worked hard even in pain but he didn't want Dr. Rafflesia know, he knows how she operates and well he dreaded to even try to ask for help. When he felt a strong touch on his good arm and recognize the voice he completely stopped in completely as dread took over his face.
"Doc... uhh well, its perfectly fine see? It moves perfec- Ouch!", Shikoto stated as he tried to move it as only pain soon hit him on the arm.
"I I I mean Ouch that is one nice looking ship eh?", Shikoto soon stated trying to get out of this.
Before he could react suddenly a spray hit him in the face as he suddenly felt numb and unable to even move. Because of this nothing came out of his mouth as he was dragged away by the doctor, which he wanted to scream. He was soon brought into the med bay which itself looked nice except the next part as he was in intense pain unable to even get used to this at all. Hearing the next part he soon slowly began to get feeling back and Shikoto's mouth was slowly able to move until finally he spoke, "Why me...."
This of course meant on the whole situation now as he finally calmed down a little only a little mind you on hearing the nickname and soon hearing next Shikoto listened but soon head a question.
"Say Doc, how the heck you got on this ship anyways.", Shikoto soon questioned.
(Richter)
After cleaning the doctor moved on to stitching up the wound. No doubt to his great relief, she applied a localized pain killer to the area before taking the sewing needle to his arm. She was sparring with anaesthetics, but did recognize their importance. Particularly for people who had to be working with their hands.
"Oh, I've been here awhile." She told him. Her eyes didn't look up from her work as all as they conversed. "But as for actually joining? I was in jail when they found me. The crew busted me out along with a couple of their own who got put in the clink on a raid-gone-bad. I was grateful and, knowing how rare medics are, I offered my services. Not like I had anywhere else to go, being a wanted woman and all...they actually recruited a couple other convicts they had freed, too."
She slowed her work for just long enough to show him her left hand. A stylized tattoo of a winged staff ensnared by a snake took up the majority of her palm. It was extremely well done. It was also a guilder's brand. Everyone gets one when they finish their apprenticeship and are formally accepted into their trade. It marks you for live...for better or worse.
He'd likely seen Brigg's before, too. He was from a shipwright's guild, so his was of a cog.
(Pitman)
"Busted you out? What did you even do?", Shikoto wondered on the doc's history.
Though hearing the whole story he soon began to piece together what she was before that. The Tattoo as well helped him confirmed she was like Briggs a former Guilder, but some things did make him wonder. Why was she there, and of course to survive to join a crew of pirates. Whereas he was forced here not on his own terms.
(Richter)
"A number of things. I broke the Caducean Oath. A few times. Committed some unethical experiments and procedures. On occasion. And supposedly committed treason. That one I vehemently deny. The others, might have some merit. Might." Raffle continued while working on his shoulder. It was kind of surreal for him, being able to watch the needle dance in and out of his flesh without feeling it at all. It might make him feel queasy if he wasn't used to sights like this.
"Anything 'unethical' I did was to save a life. The entire point of the Oath is to prioritize saving lives and leave subjectivity behind. Booking me for it was a contradiction. I think they were just trumping up the treason charge, reason. I got that by working with 'Die Weißen Kreuz' once. Bad idea." The doctor recounted, and gave a heavy sigh as she did. Bad memories, it seemed.
(Pitman)
Shikoto felt queasy but soon heard about the a oath and the whole saving a life, not to mention this Die WeiBen Kreuz.
"Wait you got in trouble for saving a life? What is this oath and who the hell are Die WieBen Kreuz? Shouldn't a Doctor prioritized saving lives, I mean I thought it was.", Shikoto soon asked.
(Richter)
"A long time ago, there was a thing called the Hippocratic Oath. Originated from Earth in the days before the Terran Authority, supposed. It talked about passiveness and morality in how we work. Doctors shouldnt kill or do harm, and such. Caduceus, the founder of the first Doctors Guild during the Fall, realized it wasn't appropriate to the chaos of the Sector in turmoil. It supports things like killing if needed, triage, and euthanasia that the former did not. It emphasized objectivity."
"But it still has limits I may have took...liberties with."
"The Kreuz are old, as old as the first guilds, the stories say. They didn't agree with the guilds hoarding knowledge of medicine, life and death. So they opposed it. Well, you know what happens when you oppose the guilds, right? You join, or you get crushed until you change your mind, or die."
Raffle cut the excess thread and ran a finger along the stitch to make sure it was secure.
"Rebel doctors, how about that? They're not the only 'anti guild', but they're the most famous one."
(Pitman)
"Ah so you went beyond the oath and it caused you to break it then.", Shikoto soon realized about hearing of this oath.
He continued to listen intently then hear of this the now rebel doctors. Ah so that is what they meant, a group dictated in spreading the knowledge around. Now it all made sense why Rafflesia was in prison, he pissed off the Guild. Still he wondered now, with some technology lost for the betterment of mankind and then there is of course some that shouldn't be preserved. The technology in this facility should be wiped clean before anyone else even gets a hold of it. Nothing will come good of it which also gave then what is right? The correct balance of technology or outright destroying it?
"So that explains everything, Doc it seems I misjudged you. Your not a bad person at all, just the world doesn't view everything the same.", Shikoto soon stated as he noticed the thread cut which meant he was ready to go.
(Richter)
She nodded a few times, as she was prone to doing.
"Pretty much. If anyone died on my table, I promise you there was nothing in the world I could do for them. Doesn't mean I take it easy on you bleeders, though. I learned to stretch things out!"
With that said she moved away from him to sterilize her tools, fortunately the med bay here was equipped that for so Rafflesia didn't have to go very far.
"I think it's all a sham though, the Kreuz. I bet the real one died ages ago and this new one is just a front organization for someone else to cause chaos. But I might be wrong. There's groups out there who oppose the Great Monarchs too."
She waved her hand dismissively. "I don't like to politic. Which is why I like it here. I get to cut people up, stick some needles in them, and sometimes they even come out of it alive. No 'who works for x' or 'who's really behind getting you transferred', and such. Simple things, Joke Boy."
She smiled weakly, her usual energy coming back after her prior solemness had almost dispelled it. There was the sadistic doctor he knew. Maybe he should have kept her talking...
(Pitman)
"Ha, and that is when I make my exit stage right.", Shikoto soon remarked when the Doc went back into her usual self. He already missed the new doc already alas, he had work to do now. He soon got up as he check his arm which looked good then gets up.
"No rest until this piece of history gets moving thanks doc.", Shikoto soon stated as he put on his ruined shirt and prepared to head to his next job.
When he left he soon heard the boss call him over then hears about the so called box which he noticed it he soon sighed.
"Why I get a feeling this is going to be another god complex asshole?", Shikoto soon commented as he saw the box and where it's from.
(Richter)
The brain canister and connected console sat with much less ominousness than he might have expected. It actually looked pretty pathetic, something so potentially dangerous relegated to nothing more than working a keyboard and display screen. The mighty have fallen, or that would be the case if it was the mad doctor here.
He had know idea 'who' this particular incarnation was.
Going over he saw words start to fill the screen, it looked like a boot up procedure:
"B.I.E.S. UNIT 4, EOS. ONLINE. CHECKING FOR SHIP FUNCTIONS. STAND BY..."
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...
"ERROR. NO SYSTEMS FUNCTIONAL. UNIT ISOLATED. CONTINUING BOOT."
There was another long pause as it processed. Apparently the machinery in the console was lagging way behind the CPU itself.
"B.I.E.S. Unit 4: Eos, online. Sensory systems, disconnected. Is anyone out there?" These words eventually came across at the bottom of all the booting text.
(Pitman)
When everything connected correctly he noticed it was lagging the terminal to keep up with the cpu. That alone told him alot, as well meant this unit itself was faster and more advance then the terminal.
"Then again the good doctor was an advance biological computer and insane. Let's pray this one is a little more sane.", Shikoto told him self as he read the next words.
Ah it communicated now how to figure out if this was a cray cray unit or not. He soon began to type out words on the screen and waited for a reply.
'YES, QUICK QUESTION ARE YOU FEELING SUPERIOR OR ANY FORM OF BEYOND YOU FLESH INSECTS?'
(Richter)
Two sentences come back. The first. "Was that Basic?"
Followed by. "Please repeat with clarity."
One second in and he already confused a supercomputer. Bravo.
(Pitman)
Reading what was next Shikoto soon sighed in relief and says outloud,"Whee thank god I think we got a normal super computer and not a crazy one. That is a relief in itself."
Of course Shikoto soon relaxed a little then began to wonder how much this Eos unit knew and what. He soon began to type back and as soon as he was done pressed enter.
'UHH, JUST MAKING SURE YOUR NOT OUT TO WIPE OUT HUMANITY AND TURN EVERYTHING INTO SOME MONSTERS OF NIGHTMARES. BUT IT SEEMS YOU SOUND SANE, I AM SHIKOTO BY THE WAY, SHIKOTO TENJO AND YOU ARE?'
(Richter)
"I am B.I.E.S. Unit 4. Codename: Eos. It's a pretty name, don't you think?"
"Shikoto Tenjo, name logged. What is your relation to Doctor Godder? I have not heard from her in over 289 years. I lost track of time after counting that high, I presume more time has passed since."
(Pitman)
Reading what was replied he now figured this computer had a personality. If he was correct then likely something similar to her designer. As well talking of a Doctor Godder meant it had to be based on her. He went through his memories on what he read with commenting,"Ah so it does remember what occured up to the point until hell broke loose."
He soon began to reply at the best could explain it since even he didn't know how long it's been exactly.
'AH THAT DOCTOR FROM THE ANCIENT FILES. I WOULD PRESUME KILLED ALONG WITH ALL OTHERS OF THIS FACILITY HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO. SO I GUESS NO RELATIONS TO ANYONE FROM BEFORE THE FALL. WE WERE JUST MAKING SURE YOU WEREN'T CRAZY SINCE WE WENT THROUGH ALOT OF TROUBLE TO OPEN THIS PLACE UP.'
(Richter)
There was a long string of dots, that information must have been hard for it process. It spat back a simple. "Understood."
More came 5 minutes. "You know of the files, confirmed by your statement. Do you know of the ship? Second, is it nearby? Third, do you know my purpose? Fourth, if so, are you willing to fulfil it? Fifth, if not, may I convince you?"
(Pitman)
Shikoto soon read the reply and more he read the more is theory was correct. Whatever this cpu unit was probably design as a support for the ship they found. So far it doesn't look or act crazy, in fact it would make James have some relief the Eos was not like the previous doctor. Shikoto soon pondered on how to reply then begins to type and then pressed enter.
'YA I KNOW OF THE FILES BUT GOOD PORTION WAS CORRUPTED AND AS WELL ONLY KNOW PARTIALLY WHAT OCCURED DUE TO A FORMER DOCTOR TOOK OVER THE FACILITY AND WELL, ACTED LIKE HE WAS GOD. WE DO KNOW THE SHIP WAS SOME FORM OF PROTOTYPE AND FROM I SEEN POSSIBLY CAPABLE OF ATMPSHEREIC FLIGHT DUE TO ITS WINGS. THE SHIP ITSELF IS NEARBY BEING FINISHED BY OUR HEAD ENGINEER. AS TO KNOW OF YOUR PURPOSE I DO NOT KNOW IT BUT IF MY THEORY IS CORRECT, YOU CONTROL THAT SHIP RIGHT? WELL I AM NOT ONE TO SAY WHAT CAN BE USED OR NOT. THE BOSS HIMSELF HAS ALL FINAL WORDS. THOUGH WHAT US THE BENEFITS OVER A NORMAL COMPUTER WE CAN RIG ON IT?'
(Richter)
"You are correct, the Eos was designed to operate in air or space to facilitate rapid deploy of land and naval assets to anywhere within the Kalron Dominion in record time. Simulations looked promising. Test flights, scheduled but never carried out. Assumption, they never will be now."
"You are again correct, I control the ship's autonomous functions. Benefits: Improved reactions in emergencies. Critical functions can be automated. Superior human-machine coordination compared to nonsentient computers. Other benefits: I come predesigned to interface with the ship. Possibility of other software performing to task, minimal. Even smaller post-factoring in apocalyptic "Fall" scale event previously mentioned."
"To say you need me would be bold, to say I wouldn't be of use, though, would be a lie."
(Pitman)
Oh, joy the computer sounded like a merchant trying to sell their wares. Everything listed made total sense in that would be benefital. Well he was convinced but he needed to convince the boss and the engineer. On that note where was he? Shikoto soon typed back and pressed enter.
He then turns and yells,"Hey Briggs come over here a second!"
'IN OTHER WORDS MORE ADVANCE THEN ANY OF THE MANY DIFFERENT NATION MILITARIES EVEN COULD DEPLOY. OK I AM CONVINCED MS. EOS, IT'S FINE TO CALL YOU THAT? I TOOK LIBERTY GO CALL THE HEAD ENGINEER OVER TO CONVINCE HIM. OH, QUESTION HOW WAS THE KALRON DOMINION IN ITS HEYDAY? ALWAYS WONDERED WHY THEY WERE BUILDING UP A MILITARY AND SUDDENLY COLLAPSE OUT OF NOWHERE.'
(Richter)
"I am rather advanced, yes, if I make talk myself up. It is a fact."
"The honorific isn't needed, but I also won't tell you to stop. I could not force you to even if I wanted."
"The Dominion's buildup was spurned by a number of factors. Internal dissent and external threats both. As of my inception, I had heard nothing of a collapse. But I admit I was kept sheltered in this facility. Its clearance level was high, and need to know only. Note, much of my memory has been corrupted by time. Ideally with time it can be recovered. Vital functions are more or less intact. Trivialities, I was forced to sacrifice over the long torpor to assure use when called upon."
"It seems I had the right choice. Other questions?"
(Pitman)
Ah, do some of its personality did get corrupted, it had its basic functionality in tact which was good. This alone meant they were good to go on running the ship. All it needed was convincing the others. Strange enough he felt a small bond with the computer in such a short time. It's not every day you run into a smart being, unlike the others unless your the Doc or briggs. Shikoto soon typed once more and then presses enter.
'SO YOUR MEMORY IS CORRUPTED AND CAN BE RECOVERED. ALRIGHT I GUESS I GOT MY FUTURE PAST TIME SET. NOT MUCH I CAN ASK, BUT I DO GOT ONE THAT IS NAGGING ME. CAN YOU HAVE INDEPENDENT THOUGHT? AS WELL DO YOU FEEL HUMAN?'
(Richter)
More long processing, and then another short, honest answer. "I don't know."
(Pitman)
Pitman read it and he completely now was convinced, if it was a normal computer it would answer properly to tell it's not. But giving this answer Shikoto soon says,"I see so this Doctor Godder truly did make one. It was only stories but if this is true, I think we just stumbled into something priceless."
He soon typed one last time and presses enter. Turning around he waited for the engineer to show up.
'DON'T WORRY, I WILL HELP YOU FIND THAT ANSWER. THE HEAD ENGINEER BRIGGS IS COMING OVER SO HE WILL BE THE ONE NEXT TO TALK TO YOU. REGARDLESS I WILL MAKE IT MY MISSION TO HELP YOU.'
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Richter
Veteran Member
Posts: 1,870
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Post by Richter on Jan 23, 2016 6:25:24 GMT -6
"Hey boss, I'm no scientist. All I know is, weird stuff like this gives me the creeps. Knowing our luck, it might not stay dead and come back for revenge. Self healing and stuff, I've heard stories. Still, glad it's taken care of. I don't know what happened here but its better off dead." The engineer told him, and he attempted to wipe the grease from the engines off his hands while doing so. It didn't work, and that had him curse. Still, he said his piece so he got back to work so that James could address other issues.
The quartermaster told him that it'd take awhile to tally it all up, but so far, he expects at least 4,000 clusters in profit. Probably more. He promises an exact tally by the time they actually get everything moving. It's a lot to count and appraise. He grabs some men and they begin to sort things into cargo bays depending on if they were 'sell' or 'keep'. Both looked pretty full and they had only gotten part of the way through. It was an excellent haul. Better than anything he'd found before taking charge. As for the special goods, like the armors and tritium, those are put into a third area for easy collection.
Meanwhile Briggs goes over to read up on what Shikoto had accomplished, and form his own opinion on it.
"Well, it's something interesting alright. Not sure how I feel about them making folks into computers. Kinda of...grisly. Are they still alive in there, I'm saying, do they know who they are? This just raises all kinds of weird questions." The engineer rubbed his forehead, starting to get a headache from the moral quandary.
"I'll be pragmatic. That's a high tech ship, I saw that for myself while ripping at its guts. If nothing else it's right about one thing, it'll be hard to mesh what we have now into it. It'd be like...linking a water wheel to a laser gun. You could do it, but it isn't going to be very efficient. Not to say we can't do it. Probably."
"I'm getting greedy, boss. We've struck pay dirt so far. The pirate in me is saying 'take all of it and let's put our names on the map like we deserve'. The engineer in me is saying 'hold up, you need to analyze this and test it more'. I'm not sure which one is winning out."
He takes some time to converse with the machine himself, since the opportunity was here.
"Think I can make a compromise between the two. Can choose what we delegate to it. Going to go ahead and say we keep life support, cabin pressure, emergency lights, and water and air scrubbing on manual control and keep men on those tasks. Maybe a dedicated subsystem. That ought to be pretty safe. Eh. I can fiddle with it. Either way boss, its your call. You got time to think about it, it'll be a couple more hours until we have all the armor bolted on and the gear loaded. Some of it's going to be a string-and-tape job until we get to a real spaceport in one of the towns, I wouldn't shoot the guns until we land, but it'll hold up. Now I'm not sure if you want to try that in-atmo thing or do it the safe way and just go up into space and then drop back down, but it ought to be able to hold up in either case."
"The thing's a beauty."
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Rabite
Veteran Member
Emperor of H
Hey, look over here.
Posts: 1,887
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Post by Rabite on Jan 23, 2016 13:41:52 GMT -6
Reading the conversation they have with the Eos Pod, James had different thoughts of his own. The pod is pretty eager to carry out what it was made for, which of course made him a bit suspicious. However seeing that is the purpose why the pod was made, it's not completely unreasonable that it wants to get back to its job. Another reason is if there are any humanity left in the pod, it would likely not want to be left behind, nor does it want to get killed if they choose to not bring it along.
"....Alright Briggs, that sounds reasonable. Though I'd also leave the blast door to ourselves, or else it might be able to trap us if problem arises. Try to rig up something so we'll still have easy access to them, in case we need to stop any fire or explosions. That should be enough for us to take everything we fought for down here, if something else happens to this place, it won't be a problem. If we could take them down while we still have the minimum equipment, we can take them down again in the future when we've obtained greater glory and strength. Go ahead and attached it onto the ship as we discussed, I'm looking forward to having the ship in the air. Say, we got a bunch of wolf pelts, plan to hand some out to chiefs and crews that did a good job, you want one? And here, give one to Tin Can boy, he got something done, I'll agree to that. But I need someone that can work with me, not against me."
After making the decision and finishing up the loose ends, he goes over to the computer and nudges Shikoto aside so he could type a bit into it.
{I am James, the future captain of Eos and the leader of this team. I have made the decision to hook you up, with limited access as you might soon find out. Perhaps with time we can get around to work on some trust, and let you have access to the full ship. Until then, just try to make yourself feel comfortable.}
A short message to show his decision to the pod, after he's done, he turns to Shikoto and give him the controls back. Next he heads over to the middle of the room and yells at everyone around.
"Alright everyone listen up!! We got a job well done this time, barely anyone was hurt, and we struck gold!! Look at this beauty we got here, look at all the treasures and weapons we have found! Heed my words, this is not the end! This is merely the beginning of our journey! We will continue to obtain victory until we stand at the top! We shall overcome those before us, and form our own road to glory! Now that the talk is over, here's some practical stuffs for you, double the pay this month! Now we need a place to spend the extra money, so three days of shore leave after we get this beauty in the air, and have finished selling all the loot! Hope you all take the time to enjoy it!!"
Next to throw in some candy for everyone, holiday free time, and a chunk of money to everyone. Should be more than enough to keep them happy, and let off any frustration they might have from carrying out an operation in a ruin.
"As for the slaves, I'm feeling generous today, so tell you what. I'm willing to free half of you, returning you to a free man or woman. You guys choose among yourselves on who would be freed, I don't care how you decide it just don't get anyone killed. Those that are freed are allow to choose between staying with the team or leave it, I won't say anything about your decision. However we're not operating a charity here, you would be dropped off after we arrived at a city, and we would not provide any support for you afterwards."
Which technically limits their choices, since a slave don't have much belonging of their own, even the extremely lucky ones like Shikoto don't have the goods to survive long on their own. However they could continue to stay in the team, and actually start receiving pay now that their debts and past are forgiven. Generally James would prefer having a loyal crew rather than one made out of slaves, a loyal crew would fight for their own reasons for the team, a slave would just be doing it because they have to. The difference of morale there could end up pretty big, along with their efficiency in combat.
Another thing is he wants to trust his crew, and in exchange be trusted by them, rather than forcing his people to carry out his orders. It's not an easy thing to do to send people to their death, but it makes it slightly better when others are willing to throw their lives away in order for the entire team. In that case James would not forget their sacrifice, and would continue to advance with their weight on his shoulders.
- [Assuming we're leaving this turn, if not then I'll edit this part out]
Once everything is fixed, everyone would have gone aboard their new ship along with their loot and everything they could tear off the scrapped ship outside, and flies back to orbit. The new ship, Eos, will then regroup with the Diamond II, and heads back down to the mutant city as their first stop.
"Alright, lets head out. Tin Can boy, I'll leave a squad with you, go deal with that box of radioactive material. I'll let you keep a bit of it for that battery, but fetch me a good price for it. Skylia, you might know your way around this place, take me to those in charge and might want McCoy's head. Briggs, see what you can grab from this place and work on the ship, it seems unlikely to be able to find enough parts to fix it up completely in one place but do whatever you can with it."
James takes a squad of troops with him, and had McCoy's box on a cart. They made sure to check that their prisoner is still inside and alive, so that they could take him to get his bounty. In the far ancient times they had an Emperor's corpse inside a barrel, now we have a pirate in a crate. But hey, if the pirate could fetch them similar prices, it might better to have the pirate instead of a pickled Emperor.
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Post by Pitman on Jan 23, 2016 19:48:12 GMT -6
With the idea done for Eos Shikoto watched everything that occurred as they decided on using her. Yes Shikoto figured the gender had to be female due to the way she talked and not to mention the name itself was female name. Regardless when the decision was completed Shikoto went towards her and soon types, 'EOS WE ARE GOING TO DISCONNECT YOU MOMENTRILY AND INSTALL YOU INTO THE SHIP RIGHT NOW. SIT TIGHT UNTIL WE ARE DONE.-SHIKOTO'
With that done Shikoto turned to the Engineer as they would get to work on disconnecting Eos from the terminal and carefully moved it inside the ship as it was ready to launch. Moving promptly they went into the part of the ship she was to be connected to, of course following the way James wished her to control as they reconnected her to the system. Once Completely they reactivated her as the ship was slowly turned on as well as a result.
"Well, there we go.", Shikoto stated as he did finishing touches with Briggs.
Once everything was ready he turned to his own small loot he gained, the material to trade for recharging the battery and of course the Gambenson was off to the side. As the Ship was preparing to launch Shikoto made sure everything was in correct order then went to a nearby seat. He soon strapped himself as the ship launched from the planet, his one regret he couldn't have time to blow up the facility. In truth what happened there shouldn't be found, and not to mention there was still that Omega Facility out there. Shikoto wondered, though was this nightmare over or was it still ongoing? He soon sighs as they left the planet and began to reenter the atmosphere soon stating out loud, "This is going to be troublesome..."
____________________________________________________________________
When they arrived back Shikoto was wearing different clothing this time he had less layers but still had his hat, googles, and bandana over his face. Though now he had less layers over him but still wore a heavy parka over him and special boots. He was wearing the Gambenson now which strange enough not only fitted perfectly it as well kept him more warm then the usual clothing, not to mention he felt weird almost more advance feeling. He listened to James with replying, "Fine, will be back then."
He continued to talk in the cold back towards the Guilder's place, with the same group of men as last time. Though this time they all had an annoyed look on their face then what they had before. It seemed he got on their bad side now, which of course was not a good thing. Well whatever Shikoto was looking forward in the next scenario running in his head. When he arrived he soon opened the door into the same place, as he wanted to do first he walked up to the counter and put down the battery AND the tritium fuel for it in front of her face. It took off his hat, googles, and bandana then states, "See, I told you so."
Of course he waited for her reply then afterwards would bring in a list of things that was to be sold as per James Request. Everything to be traded was in a list he took out from a parchment and well mostly, he did as well ask.
"Oh you know any place that sell weapons as well material for weapon customization?", Shikoto then asked.
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Richter
Veteran Member
Posts: 1,870
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Post by Richter on Jan 23, 2016 22:47:02 GMT -6
"Right, the doors, good plan. But far as those go, they all have a manual override next to them. Will about break your hand off to use 'em, but they're there. I'll go get it hooked up and report when it's good to go." Briggs said, and turned to leave. He stopped to receive the pelts though, and that made him grin. "I don't know what I'm going to make out of this yet, but it's going to be killer. Damn, these are some big wolves."
On the way back to work he'd hand Shikoto his own one as requested, and give him a thumbs up. It was something at least, things weren't totally rocky. But they could be a lot better.
As for the AI, it was quick to respond to James.
{Understood, Captain. Consider myself under your command, effective immediately. Order me as needed, and I'll comply to the best of my ability. Until then.} It shut itself down after Shikoto had informed it of the situation and not long after that it was installed into the computer room beneath the bridge. At least as an added bonus, if it acted up they could go right down there and handle it in person.
With it back where it needed to be all of the ship's systems were operational, and it provided full diagnostics to the officers. That made the finishing touches a lot easier, and Briggs was confident it'd get them where it needed to go with 99.9% chance of success. About as good as anyone could get.
By way of the crew, the cheer at the news of a fat share of the loot and free time practically knocked the captain off of his feet. The two things everyone wanted to hear about, shore leave and money. Luckily they had plenty of both to go around. Meanwhile, his crew were bolstered by the slaves he chose to free. After talking amongst themselves, they all drew lots to decided who'd get the chains taken off. It was the most fair way to do it. One of the Fire Angels they had captured was amongst them. So far they'd all behaved themselves pretty well, and knew their way around heavy tools and metal working. Most of their time was spent dragooned by engineering. How they'd do as a freeman, would be seen. There was a small celebration amongst the crew to welcome the new bunch aboard, similar to when they had absorbed McCoy's old people.
All of them chose to stay, he may be interested to know. But then again, who'd want to bail after a haul like this? Confidence in Gransela's leadership was definitely at a high point. On that note Tiny showed back up before they took off, once the plant-like-woman had retreated back to her new layer in the medbay.
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Back at Dep-Duar, Skippy took the lead and managed to get them in contact with the captain of the city's guard. To say that they were intrigued to hear that James had Blackjack in his possession would be an understand. They were very willing to take him off his hands, and after some shrewd bartering, they managed to talk them up to paying 400 clusters for his head. The captured pirate was not at all pleased by the turn of events.
But on the other hand, that was a pretty fat stack of cash for this rat of a man.
It costs some money but while they're out selling people to horrible mutants Briggs manages to pull together most of what they'll need to finish off repairs. While that only took about 6 hours, it'd be a few days to actually put them all into place. Luckily, the ship's comparatively luxurious quarters offer a fine refuge for them to wait out the work in. Provided they don't mind sleeping through endless hammering, riveting, and other banging racket. Most have slept through worse. While in port Chef Broiler serves up some of those bitter, bland mushrooms they had eaten their first day here, served up with some kind of local meat and covered with hearty gravy. It was actually pretty good, and all but confirmed that the Chef could, in fact, make just about anything taste good.
No one told him about the mutants though, no need to tempt fate here.
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Kaelyn of the guild gave Shikoto a beaming smile as he not only returned, but brought with him plenty of goods. She playfully punched his shoulder.
"Aha! I knew betting on you was the right move. I ordered the stuff you needed ahead of time, you know. I'd have felt pretty stupid if you went and got yourself turned into an icicle, and left me holding the spoon." She looked him up and down. "But here you are, alive and in one piece. Oh, and in a nice suit too. I don't suppose you'd be willing to sell me that along with all of that other stuff?"
The stony look told her all she needed to know on that note, and she relented from it with a sigh. With a beckoning of the finger, she summoned him into the back to get to work on exchanging nuclear materials.
"Put that mask on, you're going to be briefly exposed to radioactive elements while we do this. Breathing them in is about the worst thing you can do, Mr. Normal, so don't let it happen, okay?"
Once that warning was given she'd drag him into another part of the facility to bargain the radioisotope of nickel with his tritium. The tritium was actually sealed into glass vials inside of that case of his for added security, and because tritium was a gas. The nickel though was solid, and looking at it kind of made his eyes feel funny even through the mask. Once convinced that Kaelyn had given him a good deal, she recharges his battery for him and gives it back.
She doesn't let him observe the procedure, it's a guild trade secret, but the guilder does show him the power gauge on the side and that it is completely full and green. So no cheating on her end. That might not have been the only thing to happen while they were back there.
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For the purposes of transparency, they then went back to the front desk so that James's men could observe the transactions for the regular goods. The guild, and in fact this city, wouldn't buy all of it at the best price, so they had to do some shopping around. All in all, he'd make about 6000 from the loot. 400 from McCoy, and 100 from selling the location of the old base to Dep-Duar. This all being factored in after the shares given to the men, and repair expenses taken out of the budget.
Before they left the city of mutants, the guilder gave Shikoto her full name at last, Kaelyn Ailla Duilach. She requests that he contact her first if he ever returns to this planet and has need of a guilder. Also before going he directs her to the Armorer's Guild within the city, and similarly refers him to the other ones in the other towns. Of course, she ranks her own mutant kin's work as the best.
Up to him where he shopped for the weapons he wanted, there'd be time before they left the planet.
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With the unearthing of the Eos, perhaps this would be a new beginning in more ways than one. They now held in their hands the stuff of legends, tech barely dreamed off by the men who had come before. Yet, there was a darker side to it. While they had find wonders from the past, they also found horrors. Even so, it would prove to be the beginning of new legends to fill the chronicles of this new era.
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