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Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#101: Jul 12th 2011 at 1:08:36 AM

An artificial woman... Heh, maybe this place isn't so alien after all.

"Nice to meet you, Miss AIVAS. No change will needed, I think..."

—The Negotiator purred, looking for any controls set in the screen bank.—

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
Fauxlosophe Since: Aug, 2010
#102: Jul 12th 2011 at 1:11:55 AM

"I asked specifically for the stakes," Spinoza shrugged, "Though, one might wonder how one is expected to play a game if one doesn't know the goal."

SOCR Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Get out of here, STALKER
#103: Jul 12th 2011 at 1:22:50 AM

"That is incorrect, Corporal. This facility is not allowed to disclose the goal of the operations, Lieutenant. This facility has no gender, Roger Smith. Please desist from finding a way to manipulate the facility displays at your current location- the task is futile and you are needed to capture the previously listed control points. Your current objective is to capture all control points within your quadrant, Lt. Priest, then you may return to base to formulate a further course of action. Your objectives of course will be reliant on the decisions you make at that time. This facility is not allowed to disclose the results upon ultimate success or failure."


So she had to work together with this pack of mongrels. May as well get it out of the way then. "Star Commander Leona to all units. Who is in overall command of this operation?"

"That is to be decided amongst yourselves, Quadrant II. Major Zandar Ralt is currently the highest ranking officer of your number, however he is yet to respond. His craft is currently holding position at the starting point, indicating he has not yet awoken. A number of you have before held leadership positions, though none of any formation larger than a squadron." the artificial voice replied. Leona managed to find a way of scowling even harder. Spheroid ranking systems provided no indication of the size of command. For all she knew this Major Ralt commanded a fleet of desks crewed by office workers.

"I recommend splitting up to cover all locations at once. If time is of the essence we shall work as fast as possible," Leona again spoke over the common channel. "Aerospace assets on surveillance."


"Well listen here lady, this isn't in my contract," Jake replied testily. He could hear her sneer. It wasn't a terribly attractive way for a lady to talk. "I'm just going to sit tight here until I get someone with a pocketbook on the line."

In the ensuing silence Jake could hear a head explode.

edited 12th Jul '11 10:59:56 AM by SOCR

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
Oni-Lord Since: May, 2010
#104: Jul 12th 2011 at 1:26:55 AM

"If we are to work together. Introductions are in order. You all can call me Gray Fox." Fox started off through everyone's radios. Introductions were the first step on building up trust after all. When someone has a name, they stop being anonymous.

GIG Forever livid from Where I want to be Since: Feb, 2010
Forever livid
#105: Jul 12th 2011 at 1:33:33 AM

"William Gunther. Big guys, make sure not to step on me, okay?"

edited 12th Jul '11 1:33:52 AM by GIG

Strigon Planet-Killer Since: Jul, 2010
Planet-Killer
#106: Jul 12th 2011 at 1:37:02 AM

Hanes takes the voice's advice, though his reasons for listening have less to do with having an advantage and more to do with pillaging the structures for supplies.

"Since I'll be stuck here, Might as well take what I need."

And with that in mind, The Raven boosts towards the closest navpoint.

edited 12th Jul '11 1:38:35 AM by Strigon

Shameless Self-promotion ho!
Ominae Since: Jul, 2010
#107: Jul 12th 2011 at 1:52:10 AM

"Understood commander. Lieutenant Clouseau out!"

Let's go and see where this leads...

Belfangan got the IMI Crimson Edge monomolecular cutter at the ready as the Falke ran past the arrows. Hopefully he can head somewhere safe.

DoctorHabberdashMD -Angry face- from In session! Since: Jun, 2011
-Angry face-
#108: Jul 12th 2011 at 5:31:03 AM

This was not the Nemesis.

Of that much, he was certain.

Truly, waking up in a mysterious forest with no bearings or solid date on where this forest even was, he was sure of two things.

The first was that he was irritated. This unknown situation in an unknown location was giving him, for lack of a better word, irritation. A mild irritation that buzzed just behind his optics. If he were a fleshling, he would have called it a "headache."

But he was not.

For the second thing he was sure of - and he was sure of this more than anything - was that he was Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, a proud Cybertronian warrior and, most definitely, not a fleshling.

He raised a metallic hand to touch the armored expanse of his forehead, finger-pads grazing the white finish of his helmet. The headache was hardly enjoyable. But neither was finding himself in the middle of a forest with little-to-no knowledge of how he got there.

The last piece of data he could retrieve was receiving a communication from Soundwave, urging him to return to the Nemesis to evaluate some newly acquired intel. Why he was here and not there was proving to be quite a puzzle to the Mighty Megatron.

Optics flashing open, the dull glow of crimson light permeating out from his orbs, he noted the lying position he'd found himself in, as though he'd been laid out or knocked down. But, so far as his sensors and maintenance checks could tell, he hadn't been damaged. Aside from the loss of primary memory data, he was completely intact.

Placing a dull, gun-gray metal palm against the dirt of the forest floor, he rose to stand, managing the motion easily enough, despite the confusion and increasingly irritating headache he was grappling with. Megatron was in control even when he was not.

Feeling a measure of assured confidence bleeding back after he found his feet, scanned the expanse of the forest about him. He confirmed - to his slight surprise - that this was not Earth.

He flashed a glance to his fusion cannon, pleased to see the weapon still strapped to his arm. Megatron had known it was there, its familiar weight a constant to his sensors, but sometimes seeing brought a comfort that simply knowing could not.

This was an unknown location, and he was brought here for an unknown reason. He must have been brought here, because all his systems were active, all his weapons were in place, and he didn't have so much as a scratch on him. If he had been incapacitated in combat, one or more of those things wouldn't have been true. Which meant that whoever had brought him here either didn't know who they were dealing with - which Megatron deemed unlikely - or didn't see him as a threat. Which tied into the former, as well.

In either case, hostility was not the intention. Megatron still balked at the idea of being brought here, retrieved like a piece of refuse, but if he could ascertain that much, it was, at least, a start.

So if he was brought here and left here, then he'd have to be monitored. For, after all, what was the point of arranging all this only to have him leave before whoever had brought him here got whatever they'd wanted from him? Wasted effort. And anyone capable of arranging all this seemed unlikely to start making mistakes now.

The headache had dissipated, replaced, instead, with a sense of indignation.

First, he would acquire intelligence. Then, he would enable his revenge against whoever brought him here.

But, for now...

Megatron spoke, voice directed at no one in particular.

"Don't keep me waiting. I may be here at your convenience, but you live only at mine."

edited 12th Jul '11 5:50:13 AM by DoctorHabberdashMD

SOCR Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Get out of here, STALKER
#109: Jul 12th 2011 at 7:23:57 AM

"This facility would wish anything but to keep you waiting, Megatron. For your comfort and convenience know you are addressed by an artificial intelligence unit. It is quite likely none of your teammates can hear your vocalizations, please monitor the following transmission frequencies to establish contact: 2182kHz, 121.5MHz, 156.2MHz, 156.3MHz, 156.4MHz, 156.45MHz, 156.8MHz, 157.3MHz, 161.9MHz, 243MHz." the AIVAS unit transmitted to Megatron.


"This is Jake Logan, Galspan contract pilot. Ah, while we're off looking for shiny things, I got a small group of structures at 0,0. Holding position." He had brought his Archangel around and engaged the vertical thrusters to maintain a hover over the center of the grid, true to his word refusing to do anything until he found a checkbook with a voice."

edited 12th Jul '11 9:50:17 AM by SOCR

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
Ominae Since: Jul, 2010
#110: Jul 12th 2011 at 9:23:22 AM

Belfangan ran towards the nearest point, based on where the arrows would lead him to after he had been inside the structure for a few minutes now while he was now armed with the monomolecular cutter.

I'll keep the ECS on 'til I can ascertain that the situation is safe.

edited 12th Jul '11 10:51:17 AM by Ominae

Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#111: Jul 12th 2011 at 9:50:01 AM

"Whatever you say, AIVAS. I'd rather not call you an 'it'."

—He spun round to stare up at the small mecha, eyebrow arched.—

"So, the lady deigns to talk again. Putting yourself in charge now?"

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
SullenFrog (Elder Troper) Relationship Status: I wanna know about these strangers like me
#112: Jul 12th 2011 at 10:11:04 AM

Near the edge of the clearing, a slender machine some eighteen metres in height lurked just within the tree line; though humanoid, like many of the other machines present, its design seemed at once archaic and alien on some fundamental level. Perhaps it was the fact that this machine was almost ethereally slim, its limbs and frame almost like twigs in comparison to the other vehicles, and its proportions far more slender and tall than those of a human being; perhaps it was because the elfin war machine—and what else could it have possibly been, considering that its graceful arms ended in a pair of long, tubular weapons somewhat reminiscent of medieval lances?—lacked any sort of ‘face’ to humanize it and render it less mechanical than the other machines, instead opting for a red helmet with an elegant sweeping crest protruding from the back and a visor in the shape of a stylized T, at once lifeless and yet full of cold, calculating menace. Whatever the precise cause for this inhuman aspect, it was quite accurate, for no human hands had gone into the construction of this thin giant, and no human mind had had a role in its design; everything about this vehicle, from its proportions to the design to the very materials used to construct it, was completely and utterly alien.

Within the torso of this slender grey-and-red myrmidon sat the pilot, clad in sleek armour as ornate as the vehicle she controlled and face concealed behind a high, conical helm; there were few controls to be found in this ‘cockpit’, for the machine was not driven purely by mechanical means—beyond a pair of ergonomically-crafted manipulator sticks, the armrests of her flowing, almost organic chair were void of any devices or ornamentation.

Though her face could not be seen, hidden as it was behind the faceless and menacing grey visor of her crested red helm, Haedrasil of the craftworld Yme-Loc bore a scowl on her sharp features. The exarch had been on her way to instruct several young warriors in the finer points of the art of piloting a titan, but her plans had been put on hold when she had received a message from no less a figure than Autarch Anthrillien Morningchild himself, commanding her to suspend her instructions for the day and venture forth to perform a scouting mission on a distant world. The order had seemed peculiar, given the circumstances, but as the supreme commander of Yme-Loc’s warhost Morningchild’s edicts were not to be disobeyed; and with some reservations, Haedrasil had commanded her aspirants to disperse before striding through the nearest webway portal.

As she had done so, it had immediately become apparent that something was wrong; a tremendous surge of psionic feedback had washed over Haedrasil then, overwhelming her senses with a sudden and unexpected panoply of frenetic images, sounds and scents to the point that she had lost consciousness. When she had awoken, the exarch found herself in this place—alone, and unable to detect any of her kindred through psionic means or reach them on any frequency.

She had detected a large number of other vehicles scattered throughout this vast clearing, however; the vast majority of them appeared to be Titans, but not a single one of them corresponded to any pattern with which she was familiar, either of her own people’s or those of the various lesser races—and considering that Haedrasil has spent all but but a brief and trivial five decades at the controls of her Revenant, battling the Titans of Chaos, the Orks and the mon’keigh Imperium, the Eldar was familiar with every model of Titan that existed. As such, her present situation was rather perplexing and difficult to explain; while the Imperium of Man certainly had the resources to craft such strange new vehicles, it had neither the inclination nor the time to enact such scientific innovation. Besides which, most of these did not fit the mon’keigh’s general design aesthetic; a good number of these strange Titans seemed somewhat evocative of the mechanical battlesuits used by the Tau, but as far as she knew the Tau did not employ Titans—when those diminutive and short-lived aliens wished to rain destruction down on the battlefield, they relied on the firepower of their powerful aerospace vessels. Furthermore, none of the other powers in the galaxy had the means or the motive to simply abduct her in this fashion, especially not from the stability of the webway and the relative safety of her own home; whoever could have done so was a mystery, and one that defied any attempt at solving it.

Uncertain of the full nature of her current situation and knowing that she was severely outnumbered and overpowered as well, Haedrasil had decided that the best thing to do for now was to wait and watch. And so she had retreated into the treeline, doing so before any of the others could notice her presence, and observed from there with both her Revenant’s sensors and her own psychic powers. To her surprise, it appeared that most—if not all—of these vehicles were piloted by mon’keigh; even more perplexing, they too were confused and seemed not to recognize one another, as though the titles and terms they spouted meant nothing to their kin.

Then that pillar of blue radiance had erupted from the center of the clearing, and these other machines had begun to converge on it; the exarch had wondered just why this was so, hypothesizing that they may have received some form of communication over whatever channels their species utilized. This notion filled Haedrasil with contempt; here these beings were, lost in an unfamiliar land and in strange company, and the first thing they did was to trust blindly in the first being to contact them? Where was their collective warrior’s pride?

The Danse Macabre Codex
Fauxlosophe Since: Aug, 2010
#113: Jul 12th 2011 at 10:47:15 AM

"And so," Priest nodded, "This lends us little incentive, I would imagine to fight for one side if we are completely unaware of the risk against reward and our opponents apparently hold more knowledge than we. My question is then, how precisely is it that our host, the faculty, and presuably our game master, does not become a piece himself?"

edited 12th Jul '11 11:03:06 AM by Fauxlosophe

SOCR Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Get out of here, STALKER
#114: Jul 12th 2011 at 10:54:34 AM

There was a short pause. "Lt. Priest, you provide your own answers as you speak. That they are enemy forces in itself requires you to fight them, for to not do so will surely mean the death of you and destruction of your machine. Averting that possibility alone should provide adequate incentive, provided you have a drive to self-preservation. This facility is not permitted to reveal any further information to users of your authorization class than that there are opposing forces you must combat."


"Until a Trueborn reveal themselves to me I have little choice, freebirth."

The Shadow Cat finally departed from the glowing cube, towards another rimward point some 12km distant. Why was everything so spread out?

edited 12th Jul '11 10:55:55 AM by SOCR

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
Ominae Since: Jul, 2010
#115: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:08:57 AM

Seeing that there was no hostile mecha, Belfangan disabled ECS and showed off his black Arm Slave.

"I hope there's nothing inside this place."

Fauxlosophe Since: Aug, 2010
#116: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:11:45 AM

"Your facility expected us to assume simply because we hold guns we would use them? Particularly at the first enemies we are pointed at, who seem for the most part appear to be in a simliar position? Given only the vague implication that the other side will be attempting to do the same?"

He paused for a moment looking at everyone else scampering into position, "...Your facility shows a disturbing amount of insight into human nature, don't they?"

edited 12th Jul '11 11:16:33 AM by Fauxlosophe

SOCR Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Get out of here, STALKER
#117: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:30:09 AM

"This facility is working off a mission template left behind by the previous AI resident of the system this facility now occupies, as well as a number of unique restrictions placed by the administrative user in regards to what information you are allowed to access. This facility apologizes if it causes any difficulties in carrying out your mission. As to any insight, Lieutenant, roughly half your number are professional soldiers, and this facility assumed that given the proper direction they would achieve necessary tasks in order to learn more information on their new circumstances. Your reactions, however, are not wholly unexpected or unprecedented. The previous mission template implies that your current objectives are paramount, as these control points determine certain critical functions for Quadrant II forces to be able to adequately defend themselves during the operations. If is recommended that they be taken as quickly as possible, as no concrete timetable is available but it is assumed failure is a possibility."

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
Fusionman Since: Nov, 2009
#118: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:31:32 AM

Tony is just laying back and waiting for the others.

Ominae Since: Jul, 2010
#119: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:32:46 AM

"Is there anyone inside this facility alive? Please respond."

Belfangan used an open channel to see if anyone was inside the facility and willing to respond.

Fauxlosophe Since: Aug, 2010
#120: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:33:48 AM

Spinoza sighed and began to move towards the nearest marked location which he didn't see another unit heading towards.

edited 12th Jul '11 11:34:12 AM by Fauxlosophe

Oni-Lord Since: May, 2010
#121: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:35:09 AM

Gray Fox listened to the communications in silent as the AI explained what she could. It was relatively useless, but he was able to pick one important thing out. They were being forced to fight against their will. He decided he would kill whoever was behind this when he got the chance. He had to play along for now though. The Cyborg continued his run to one of the spots pointed out.

SOCR Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Get out of here, STALKER
#122: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:38:35 AM

The floor the Falke was standing on happened to be a lift, one that started descending. "Welcome to Headquarters, Lt. Belfangan. While your teammates are capturing the control points, you may wish to meet your colleague Mr. Stark. Once the lift finishes its descent a gantry will be available for disembarkation, and your machine will be moved to the appropriate hangar bay."

True to AIVAS's words, as soon as the lift had descended some 40 meters, a large blast door opened and revealed an expansive underground hangar. A small catwalk dropped from an elevated position to rest in front of the Falke's access hatch.

edited 12th Jul '11 11:49:51 AM by SOCR

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
Colonial1.1 Purveyor of Obscurity from The Marvelous River City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Purveyor of Obscurity
#123: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:42:05 AM

"Free birth? What?"

—Roger tugged on the line, and was yanked back into the Big O's cockpit. The Megadeus ponderously rumbled after the mech.—

  1. "What do you mean?"#

"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."
Ominae Since: Jul, 2010
#124: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:46:43 AM

"Understood. Lt. Clouseau out."

Falke then told the AI. "I'm putting the lock on for now. Usual password is in place until I get, understand?"

"Understood, Lt. Clouseau."

Belfangan removed the pilot suit and left it on the seat. However, he took a tac vest and equipped himself with a HK G36C with a red dot sight and a Glock 17 holstered on his left leg. Unlike his SRT subordinates as most of them were armed with FN P90s, he preferred something that he was already used to.

"Now where do I go from here?" The Canadian said aloud after he exited the Falke, shutting off hatch access.

edited 12th Jul '11 11:50:10 AM by Ominae

SOCR Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Get out of here, STALKER
#125: Jul 12th 2011 at 11:52:09 AM

The catwalk lifted at a moderate speed to a doorway built into the backside of the lift wall. The hatch opened and revealed a small hallway that eventually led to the same command center Tony Stark had been in. Indeed, it was this very hallway Stark stumbled through drunk when he first arrived.

How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?

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