Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

The combat transport slips out of a gash in reality, the little ship switching to conventional drives.

The interior is cramped, and definitely not designed for comfort. A dozen assorted marines, technicians and a couple of medics shift in their harnesses. Weapons are checked, tools calibrated, briefings reviewed.

The intercom bleeps noisily. "ETA five minutes, people. We've got the Storm in visual range, going to do a quick flyby to check her condition."

Through the portholes in the side of the squat transport, the TCRS Storm comes into view. She's a sleek vessel, around 500m long, graceful curves and large gun turrets at regular intervals.

She's also taken a pounding. Several sections of hull have been blown open, several decks open to space. She also seems to be drifting, no power to the engines - or indeed, anything much, as it looks like all the lights are off.

There is a low muttering amongst the team as the transport completes its pass. The commanding officer, a solid man named Lieutenant Kardr, checks his assault rifle. "All right, boys and girls. You know the drill. We have to work out what happened to the Storm, and get her back in order. Be ready for anything. They had some good men on here, Colonel Zaphron was one of the best. Questions, comments? Make it fast, we'll have hard seal in thirty seconds."

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

The jump was always a pain. On every single trip every single time she reentered normal space her body came to a screeching halt while her mind felt like it was thrown a kilometer or two outside the ship. While it desperately hurried its way home her perception of reality would simply freeze for two or more seconds, just waiting for her soul to reach its home. Then all the sensations she felt would crash into her in an instant, her mind screaming at her to sit back and wait while it sorted through everything and eventually resynchronized with her body. This was probably why she was the only one there not fully locked within their zero-g suit. She learned the hard way that it was best to keep herself in an open environment if the resulting wave of nausea was too much to handle.

When she finally came to she was greeted by the sight of the injured Storm, its apparent carcass listing through space. At this point Maria finally sat straight into the suits open arms. The standard issue silicarbon fibers stretched all around her form, seams sealing themselves until all that was left was a uniform piece of fabric hidden by stronger plates of titanium and tungsten. "Question, sir," she chirped as the internal systems finally came to life and allowed for radio contact. "Any sign of debris from another ship? I doubt the Storm would just sit there and let someone cut into it like some tin can."

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)


Kardr shrugs. The pilot answers instead, listening in on the channel. "It's hard to tell. There's plenty of debris, but it's dead, no energy signatures. Could belong to the Storm or to whatever did this to her. This bucket's sensors aren't good enough to tell more. All right, get ready. Readings say that apart from the decompressed areas, atmosphere's normal. No known poisons or contaminants."

The view of the science vessel has been steadily growing, and now it fills the porthole. The transport drifts slightly, then jolts as its docking port connects with one on the Storm.

The harnesses automatically release, and the half-dozen Confederate troopers are the first up, weapons at the ready as the airlocks seal. The rest of the team are a little slower off the mark, one of the technicians throwing a particle rifle over to Maria from the locker.

The airlock grinds open, and Kardr taps in a command code onto the control panel of the Storm's airlock. This too opens, revealing an ominously dark passageway, lit only by the torches of the team.

"Move out. Watch yourselves, stick together."

The corridor leads to a large junction. The team begins to pass through, heading towards the main elevator shaft to access the bridge, until one of the medics passes her light over a dark corner.

Hidden until then by the shadows is a man. Or was a man. His skin is pale, bleached, and through the tattered remnants of a Confederate uniform are visible metal plates and cybernetics. One arm has been replaced with a massive, hooked object.

He appears dead. Until her scream wakens him, and the many others in the darkness.

The next few minutes are confused and horrifying, full of the shrieking of particle rifles, the wet crunching of flesh being torn apart, the screams of the injured and dying. All Maria hears clearly is Kardr's bellowed order - "Get out! It's a trap!"

She finds herself with one of the soldiers, fleeing from yet more of the horrifying cyborgs. Then, suddenly, the man with her falls, tripped by some kind of grapping hook. He screams for her to go, unloading his weapon at the horde.

When sanity returns, all is quiet. Even the distant pounding of gunfire gone. She stands alone, inside some kind of cargo bay. Through the window set in the side, the combat transport she arrived on is visible drifting, its hull torn apart and the forms of more cyborgs crawling over it.

It seems clear that the ship's crew is dead. It is now haunted by...

Ghosts of the Storm

(Cue freaky music and credit roll )

The cargo bay is largely empty, and there appear to be three entrances. The one she came in through is closed and sealed, the controls fried by some hasty sabotage, and going back out that way is probably suicide.

Of the other two, one is merely closed, and shows some signs of regular use. Going through it would be easy, but if it isn't sealed, it's possible that the Ghosts use it as well.

The third is heavily locked down, and shows some signs of being hammered at. Perhaps it was sealed during whatever happened, and has held the Ghosts off ever since. A little hacking work might get it open... or it might trigger the security systems. Whatever she decides, staying here is probably not a good idea...

Option 1: Use the unsealed door (Combat[Explore])
Option 2: Hack the sealed door (Tech[Tech])

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

That sound... It echoed. It pounded! It kept drilling through her skull! The sound of bone snapping so effortlessly felt like nothing more than a branch breaking before that horrible, blood-curdling scream rang through her ears. Then it stopped, only to be replaced by the horrible thunk of some stabbing into meat, pieces of flesh tearing away bit by bit, ligaments and tendons snapping as something didn't cut but tore through someone's limb, all of it ending when the wet slap of meat pounding against metal could be felt in the very pit of her stomach.

That sound kept playing through her mind as merely sat in that cargo room, the solitude doing nothing to relieve her panicked nerves once she realized she was the only one to make it safety. Slowly it sank in. She was alone. No one would save her. No one could find her. She was stuck in this flying metal death trap with god knows how many cyborgs just waiting to get their hands on her and turn her into nothing more than filet mignon.

The weight of everything was crushing, and she pulled her helmet off to take a few quick breaths that only served to make her even more light headed than she already was. Her legs started to buckle, the room began to spin, and her stomach began to churn until one mighty heave left what little she had eaten sitting in a puddle of bile barely touching her discarded rifle. For a moment she just sat and stared blankly at the mess, small currents forming as the the liquid naturally began to drag itself toward whatever center of gravity this ship held.

For a while she simply watched her vomit pool. Soon enough an unnoticed grate caught her attention, and soon after she watched as a piece of herself found an escape from this horrible meat grinder of a cluster fuck. At least something of her would survive. ...No. She wasn't going to let some military grunt find nothing more than some pile of muck as the only evidence she had been here. If that could get out simply by running down some pipe than Maria could surely get her ass off this ship.

Whatever amount of resolve she was building soon faded to a mere flicker once she took note of her possible exits. There was no way in hell she was returning to that gauntlet of death, and if those bastards were running around this ship than the big door that practically screamed "This way to happy robot death!" was out. Sure, she had a rifle, but fat good it did the people trained to actually use them. All she knew was how the blasted thing worked. That's all she ever knew, and that's why she made her way over toward that sealed door. If she could repair a ship's hyperdrive engine without batting an eye then this little door was not going to stand in her way.


(Hack the sealed door)

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)


Tech (16): 3+11 = 14, Failed
Tech (20): 14+11 = 25, Passed

Take 2 Knowledge damage

Skill sometimes isn't enough, unfortunately.

As she pulls apart the control panel, looking for an interface to link her hacking tools into, Maria trips an alarm, no doubt her attention wandering back to the horrors of the ambush.

In a cold monotone, the computer growls at her, "Warning. Unauthorised access detected to an area under level three lockdown. Cargo bay will be depressurised in thirty seconds unless correct override is entered."

There's nothing like a little pressure to focus the mind. Although the partially armoured suit she wore could vacuum-seal, there was a very real danger of being thrown into space, to float until she died of thirst or starvation...

All thoughts of death swept aside, she made the connections and plugged in a 'skeleton key' code. After a few horrible moments, the computer replied, "Override accepted."

The glowing countdown on the panel shut off, and the door slid open. It jammed partway, the dents pounded in it preventing it from going further, but it was easily wide enough for Maria to slip through.

Unfortunately, there was another problem straight off...

Somehow, she'd ended up in the damaged section of the ship. Another pressure door lies directly ahead, with a glowing 'depressurised' warning next to it. Through the window, torn metal and debris floats.

However, the cargo bay was evidently meant to be loaded from this direction, as there is an airlock. Perhaps, if she were to use this to go outside, she could find another airlock somewhere else to access the ship, while avoiding contact with more Ghosts.

The question was, if she went ahead with the plan, did she trust her zero-gravity skills enough to make a grand leap across the massive chunk torn out of the ship, or did she take the safer option of crawling across the hull?

Option 1: Take a leap (Explore[Tech])
Option 2: Crawl along the hull (Hidden[Combat])

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

"Shit!" That was a stupid move. What was that Maria? A security panel on a military ship may have some sort of tampering countermeasure? Silly girl, that's impossible! Those were the thoughts running through her mind while she she connected her own computer into the ship. As she began rummaging through the host systems at an alarming rate she kept muttering a small mantra that helped her focus on not getting thrown out of the airlock. "Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid," continuing while she worked, her own little countdown when she absentmindedly noticed she managed to utter the word 'stupid' precisely three times per second.

It was by pure coincidence she happened to stumble onto the 'skeleton key' as it was called, and as soon as those doors started to open her stupid countdown turned into a sigh of relief. Nothing jumped out at her through the warped doors, so none of those Ghosts were there. Of course the door jamming was a big pain in the ass. She could still fit through, and after retrieving her gear she did just that.

What greeted her was another door. Great. The 'Depressurized' warning wasn't helping matters, but at least it wasn't locked. Her best bet was to simply work her way around the ship and hope she could find another entry point that was clear of the cyborg menace. Those things must know she was there, and at any second they could pop through that one unsecured door and end her in a second. She did NOT trust herself in any kind of combat situation.

So, how was she going to get around the ship? Well, the obvious choice was to crawl along the hull, but those Ghosts already showed they could crawl around in space as they did through the ship's halls. She did recall that the creatures didn't appear to have any ranged attack, so maybe if she took a leap she'd be able to sail out of their reach. The question was landing. There was only a limited amount of thrust her suit could create, and if she fucked up again... She didn't want to think about it. She still had her rifle. Even if it was a particle rifle and only shot the most minuscule amounts of matter it was still at a high enough velocity to offer some thrust, and she was sure she remembered reading these suits had some kind of magnetic tether she could use to catch onto the hull if she needed. Or was it the officer model? Either way she wasn't going to wait there any longer. Time to open those doors and get crackin'.


(Take a leap)

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)


Explore (16): 4+6 = 10, Failed
Tech (20): 2+11 = 13, Failed

Take 6 Stamina and 7 Knowledge damage (Owch, not having much luck with the tech rolls...)

Getting outside without being thrown away by the blast of depressurisation? Easy. Working out where to go when she got outside? That was hard.

Although there were some open corridors easily visible on the other side of the damaged section, staying in a vacuum was a really bad idea. She'd have to find a proper airlock. She thought she'd seen some further along the ship while the transport was making a flyby...

So she takes a running leap towards the other side of the gap, her stomach lurching as she leaves the ship's gravity field. Instantly, she knew that she'd messed up - she'd aimed with gravity in mind, and now she was liable to overshoot the ship entirely. Fortunately, this suit does have a magnetic grapple, which she is able to latch onto the hull just as she passes by it. After taking a short break to get her heart and breathing under control, she moves on over the hull, walking very carefully and looking for anything that might be an airlock.

She finds one almost immediately, but it seems to be part of the lockdown - it glows an angry red at her when she ordered it to unlock. No matter what she does, the thing won't open. Despondent, she moves on... only to find that the next airlock along opens happily at her command.

As air and gravity return to her, the airlock cycling, it occurs to her that she has gone up a few decks, and is fairly close to the top. If she can just work out a route, she might be able to get to the bridge and do something. Send out a distress signal, maybe even turn the security systems on these 'ghosts'.

Although she makes sure to pan her rifle's flashlight over every dark corner, there are no unpleasant surprises. It all seems eerily quiet and empty... until there is a whining, crackling sound from ahead. The sound of some kind of laser. And along with it, someone is humming.

That had to be a good sign. After all, the Ghosts didn't seem to scream even when they were shot to bits. Cautiously advancing, she comes to a door, labelled 'sickbay'. The door itself is wedged partly open, and there are no other obvious ways through - the other corridors are blocked by crude barricades.

Sticking to the shadows as she enters, she spots the source of both the laser... and the humming.

Working at a surgical bed is a man, or something like a man. Mechanical tentacles with a wide variety of tools sprout from his back, and the top of his head seems to have been replaced by cybernetics from the eyes up. He wears the tattered uniform of a Confederate Military surgeon, but there's something not quite right. His slightly deranged grin, that obnoxious hum.

One of the tentacles, one with a surgical laser attached, is slowly cutting through the arm of a corpse, just below the elbow, while his hands grasp it.

It suddenly all adds up horribly. The wide array of cybernetic parts scattered around. The deranged look. This bizarre autopsy. This man has been making the Ghosts.

He'd be easy to slip past. Another door is wide open on the other side, and it'd definitely take her closer to the bridge.

Then the body twitches and moans, an arm weakly reaching out to try and fend him off before being restrained. Not only is his 'patient' alive, it looks like one of the marines from her team.

He's not paying attention. She might be able to kill him and rescue the poor woman.

Option 1: Sneak around (Explore)
Option 2: Kill the bastard! (Combat[Tech/Naughty],Hidden)

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

(I generally don't have much luck with luck.)

Walking through the halls, her only companion the low hum of the rifle primed to fire, Maria recounted her recent exploits. First, she simply ripped that panel from the wall with no finesse. Then she took a flying leap and ignored Newton's first law. Thankfully she found that magnetic grapple in time to reel herself back to solid ground, but she should have known there was no gravity outside to pull her back toward the Storm. All her actions were rash, unplanned, ill-conceived. And why?

That question caused her to stop in her tracks. She knew why. She'd just seen a dozen or so people completely torn apart by humans they probably would have called friends. She saw mindless corpses tearing through flesh, a twisted perversion of metal and machine that bore nothing more than animated death. Her mind had nearly cracked in that cargo bay, the only reason she was moving right now was her damn stubborn will to live.

That was her problem. Right now Maria was practically running on impulse. Her instincts were rushing her through decisions, the fear of death putting her body in even more danger than if she had just calmed herself down and thought things through. Well that was it. She needed to drop her fears here and now. There would be plenty of time to deal with post traumatic stress disorder once she was finally safe. Right now she needed to-

A small alarmed flashed across her HUD. In her moment of reflection her suit managed to identify a faint noise coming from her current destination. When amplified Maria thought she recognized the quiet whine of a small cutting laser. With her rifle at the ready she started moving forward again, the slow progress of checking blind corners and hallways gradually bringing her closer to that sound that soon gave way to someone humming. Those things never made a sound, so something living had to be on the ship somewhere, and that somewhere happened to be Sickbay.

Her paths were limited at this point, so Maria quietly stuck her head around the corner to take a peak. She was quite thankful that each plate was insulated and made no discernible noise that could rate higher than a pin drop, but that relief soon turned to confusion when she found the Doctor. That confusion soon turned to mild fear when she realized he wasn't quite himself anymore. The equipment she initially thought had been hanging from the ceiling was actually growing from his back, and as he worked on the remains of some poor soul that grin reminded her of that one kid that loved to torture animals back home.

Fear was quickly turning to dread. She looked around hoping to find something to dispel it only to find pieces of equipment laying around, parts of the ship rebuilt to vaguely resemble the human form. There was no more doubt. This psychopath built all those death traps, and he was working on another as she watched. Maria was quite fine with leaving before the bastard finished, but just before she was prepared to sneak her way to the nearest open door a twitch from the table caught her attention. Dread gave rise to horror as she watched the Doctor's patient ineffectively try to defend herself.

Maria quickly shot back around the corner, her thoughts running a mile a minute as she did her best to hide. She couldn't believe what she saw. No, she didn't want to believe it. That bastard was working on live people. And he loved it. How could she just ignore that?! What did she expect to do, fight? Ha! But...oh God, he was ripping that woman apart! And he'd do the same to her if she was caught! This internal struggle seemed to war on for an eternity, her humanity and compassion clashing against instinct and reason. Fight or flight.

Her emotions were tearing her mind apart until one question broke through the mess. What if Maria was on that table? She imagined being strapped down, bruised and broken but not quite dead, nothing more than a plaything for some deranged man to use in some perverse experiment. He would slowly pick her apart, not even bothering to knock her out as he gradually replaced whatever fit his fancy with cold invasive machines. Her mind would scream in agony, hoping someone would save her while wishing she would just die already. And that was it. Those seconds of turmoil ended in clarity. Her hands no longer trembled. They gripped that rifle, her muscles steadying themselves as she quietly reentered the room and slowly crouched down. She remembered seeing a few soldiers in training use a similar weapon, the barrel supported near the center for support while the stock was placed against their shoulder. She mimicked this as best she could, not quite getting it right but not quite getting it wrong, either. Her position would work as she leveled her sights, one slow and steady breath filling her lungs before she squeezed the trigger.


(Kill the bastard!)

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)


Combat (18): 15+2 = 17, fails
Naughty (20): 20+6 = 26, pass
Tech (20) 12+11 = 23, pass

Take 1 HP damage.

It was a good shot. Oh so good a shot, aimed cleanly at the head. A trained soldier probably wouldn't have done a better shot. Except just as she squeezed the trigger, one of the metal tentacles swept over his head, and the shot only melted it off instead of killing him.

He spins, red glowing eyes spinning in their metal sockets. Then he's on her. It had been hidden by the beds, but below his waist had been replaced by mechanical spider legs, giving him a shocking turn of speed. Her second shot goes wild, and then the rifle is tossed away by a slashing claw. Another snatches her by the throat, pinning her to the wall.

In a harsh, synthesised monotone, he grates out, "What's this? New patient? Needs to be examined. Excellent, minimal damage to frame. Perfect condition. Excellent."

He ignores her struggles, as a cutting laser descends, slashing through her armoured suit and prying it away with a claw, leaving her exposed and shivering in the cold air. Assorted suction cups, drills and unidentifiable probes hover at the ready.

"Must examine the host. Purge any possible impurities prior to alteration."

Claws shoot downwards, cold metal prying her petals apart. At the same time, suction cups latch over her nipples, pulling back, her breasts stretching almost painfully straight out.

A thick drill descends... or at least, something that looks like a drill at first. It glistens wetly, rotating around, then whines as it begins spinning, pressing upwards. Then it abruptly rams home, the spinning, ridged device nudging against her cervix...

(Gonna let it roll for a scene. After all, bit more of an intense situation than previous ones...)

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

The impact almost caused her to faint, the pressure on her neck not helping in the least as Maria struggled to take a breath. Her arms instinctively rose to pull against that claw pinning her against the wall, but that effort was worthless. With her windpipe nearly crushed and her head slightly dazed she couldn't think straight. At least until she began to feel a chill. That sudden sensation shot through her body like an alarm. Her mind immediately snapped to attention, the small warning flashing before her eyes only serving as an annoyance since she could tell there was nothing separating her nearly nude body from the dead ship's very cold environment.

Even with her body shivering in outright protest her eyes were focused on the weird attachments floating from the Doctor's back. The talk of examination caused the blood to rush from her face, but before she could muster the strength to fight back the suction cups quickly attached themselves to her slightly erect nipples and began to pull. Her back immediately arched while a slightly raspy gasp managed to escape her throat, and she nearly lost it right then and there. Her breasts had always been sensitive. Whenever a lover discovered this little fact they would always take one into their mouth, that act alone bringing her to near climax. If they payed the same attention to the other, and they always did, she would enter full nympho mode and give them a ride they would never forget. But even with that suction sending pulses of pure ecstasy that nearly tore her mind apart the fact that it came from some mechanical freak was more than enough to give her libido a cold shower.

The Doctor's inability to control himself and pull her modest little tits past the point of comfort drove whatever pleasure Maria felt farther and farther into pain until tears started to form at the corners of her eyes. It was during that transition that she noticed something had pried her exposed lips apart, and before she try to slam her legs shut she felt something cold and wet nestled at her entrance. The whine of a motor coming to life was all the warning she had before she felt something large slam through her canal. The intruder immediately began rotating as it pushed its way through, the ridges on its growing girth rubbing against every surface as her walls stretched almost obscenely at never having taken anything this large.

But it was that sensation of being filled. She'd never had anything brush against her cervix in her entire life, and it wasn't just sitting there idly. With every twist and turn it was rubbing against every single nerve she had, that constant sensation tormenting her G-spot like nothing she had ever known and forcing powerful jolts that nearly overwhelmed every sensation her body felt at that one moment.

At any other time she probably would have come hard, the strength of it causing her nectar to explode through whatever small gap it could find. But this was not any other time. No matter how many waves of pleasure were rolling through her body they couldn't break past the horror of being raped by some robotic man-spider freak. All she could focus on was being treated like nothing more than a piece of meat being prepared for an experiment that would quite literally tear her apart. With that in mind she struggled to look around the room, her eyes searching for anything she could use to escape. A weapon, some tool, maybe even the Doctor's own laser if she could redirect it before he could react, there had to be something.

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Half-blinded by conflicting sensations, it is unlikely she would have managed to escape - if it had not been for a bit of luck. A loud thump sounded from the table, and the doctor spun his head around, focusing on the marine who was weakly clawing to reach for the carelessly thrown rifle.

There, in the back of his head, is a large junction of conduits and wires, linking his back to the cybernetic top half of his skull. As she fights to remember what she knows of cybernetics, she recalls something important about how not to connect the control circuits with the mechanisms...

With a huge effort, she lunges and yanks out several bulky wires. The doctor screeches mechanically, starting to turn... and then can't, as his mechanical arms are locked, unable to move. Desperately, she pushes a crackling conduit back into the wrong socket.

Electricity screams over the insane cyborg's head, the red eyes exploding in a shower of sparks. Then power dies, the suction dying and the 'drill' coming to a halt.

Maria slowly, painfully levers herself off the frozen tentacles, crawling over to the marine. She's still and barely alive - it's a good question whether she would have had the strength to actually reach the rifle. Her eyes flicker open, and her one remaining hand reaches out feebly, beckoning. She manages a soft whisper of "Thank you...", and then goes limp.

Aware that she is nude, vulnerable and that something quite possibly heard the fight, she strains to listen... and then realises that the door on the other side appears to have an airtight, and thus sound deadening seal. She's safe, for a little time. Scratched, bruised and humiliated, it occurs to her that whatever this place was turned into, it's still a sickbay. There will probably be some medical supplies and stimulants around, and she might be able to scavenge some gear from the cybernetic parts, assuming she can face using the twisted, alien machinery.

(Encampment!)

There are also a few uniforms neatly piled in a corner. Most have been torn or damaged in some way, and are very clearly second hand, but better than going around a ship full of killer cyborgs naked. The armour nanoweaves are likewise damaged, but they'll provide some protection. After reclothing herself and recovering for as long as she dares, Maria thinks back to the schematics of the Storm. Assuming she remembers them correctly, through the other door of the sickbay will lead her towards the bridge, via assorted living quarters and armories.

Retrieving the rifle and checking that it still works, she opens the air-sealed door...

And comes face to face with three Ghosts, their glowing red eyes and alien weapons locking onto her. In a spray of particle fire, she dispatches them before closing it again and looking back - to see more Ghosts advancing through the door she originally entered by. She flees through the second door, sealing it and frying the controls.

Then she nearly has a heart attack as a voice murmurs into her helmet radio. A female voice, one that sounded entirely natural and unsythesised, but one that purrs oddly. "You're doing well, girl. Not far to go. But you're in their heartland now. I can guide you through it to the bridge unharmed... if you trust me..."

She can listen to the voice and follow the directions... but it could be another trap. It might be worth trying to find her own path - but the sudden swarm of Ghosts at the sickbay made it seem very likely that this strange woman is telling the truth about it being the 'heartland'...

Option 1: Follow the voice (Hidden)
Option 2: Turn off the radio (Explore - Long Path (Explore))

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

She coughed and sputtered for a few seconds. The Doctor's death had eased the constriction on her neck, and now that she could breath normally her lungs were making up for every breath she had missed. A few moments later the discomfort of having something stuffed inside your pussy was starting to annoy the woman, so with an effort Maria took hold of any nearby dead and frozen tentacles and used them for leverage as she slowly pulled herself off that drill. Once she was free her muscles gave out. Without a steady supply of oxygen they were feeling quite weak, and that last ditch effort that saved her life had used whatever reserves she had.

With a familiar thud the technician landed on the floor, but immediately her exposed body found the strength to push her up to at least a seated position. That floor was hella cold. A quick scan found the fallen marine a short distance away, and after removing herself from whatever remnants of the zero-g suit remained Maria dragged her body over to the other woman. She...did not look good. Her skin was cold to the touch, pale, almost turning blue and not even twitching in the slightest. Even then the soldier somehow managed to slowly open her eyes, the effort in that alone looking like too much to bear. Maria couldn't even imagine how this woman found the strength to raise her remaining arm.

Then it all ended. What little life the marine held had been sacrificed for two words, and now that the body held nothing more Maria was once again left alone on this dead ship. For a while she just held the dead hand in her own, something inside her unwilling to let go until she heard a small sniffling echoing through the room. Her eyes shot between both doors once she realized that sound was coming from her, but at finding them both still closed she relaxed a bit and wiped away the few tears falling down her face.

If nothing had burst into the room by now then those cyborgs probably didn't know she'd just killed their father. This was good. It gave her time to rummage for supplies, and the first thing she went for was a new set of clothes. She didn't want to freeze to death. There wasn't much, the uniforms she found torn and ripped, possibly the only remains of some crew members. That thought was immediately purged from her mind, and after finding the least damaged set she could find she no longer felt like she would catch her death of cold. For protection she looked to the apparently discarded armors laying about, each one damaged similarly to the clothes but still far more useful than her gutted suit. After that she dug through what few medical supplies remained. For all intents and purposes there wasn't a scratch on her, but a couple painkillers still felt like a wonderful idea. Once she found those she noticed a small bottle of suppressants designed to 'restore normal cognition to patients suffering battle fatigue.' That description didn't make much sense, but after she took a couple of plain looking pills she felt her nerves begin to calm once again. She could finally think clearly. Those pills were a godsend.

After that preparations went smoothly. Even with the small beating it took the rifle appeared as good as new, she managed to jury-rig one of those cybernetic grappling hooks, and she discovered the helmet from her old suit could be wired into the new. With her new tool attached to her left arm in such a way that it wouldn't interfere with normal rifle use Maria grabbed her helmet and put it on. Halfway through she stopped. The helmet was tucked under her left arm as she returned to the dead marine, and her free hand went out to rotate the poor woman's head to her side. Some numbers had been tattooed just behind the marine's ear, and once Maria felt she had them memorized she returned to a pile she had noticed during her earlier search. For a second or two she dug through a number of small objects until her hand emerged carrying a pair of dog tags. Genetic fingerprinting could identify even the smallest of remains, so physical identifiers such as this were nothing more than ancient tradition. Maria never did understand why the military still bothered with things like this, but now she was determined to hold onto these tags no matter what.

Now that she was finally ready to move on Maria cocked her rifle as she prepared to leave sickbay. As soon as she opened the doors she was greeted by three bodies, their cybernetics instantly focusing on the only human left on this ship. A quick burst of fire managed to put the trio down before they could act, but this was obviously not the way to go. With a quick turn she was prepared to head back the way she came only to find the door opening on its own.

A moment later Maria was bursting into the unexplored hallway, her left arm rearing back as she left the room only to smash into the control panel nearby. Her new grappling hook was used as a small battering ram, and even though Maria didn't have the brute physical strength crush that panel she did manage to leave a large enough dent that security protocols took over and sealed sickbay from the rest of the ship. The sounds of annoyed Ghosts egged her on as she made a mad dash toward where she thought was the bridge.

You're doing well, girl. Not far to go.

Click to expand...

The voice that greeted her brought her to a stop at the next intersection, her rifle following her gaze as she searched for whoever was speaking. When she realized it was a radio transmission she went back to dashing through the corridors.

But you're in their heartland now. I can guide you through it to the bridge unharmed... if you trust me...

Click to expand...

Once again Maria came to a stop. That offer was tempting. Very tempting. Far too tempting. "Thanks, but anyone left alive on this ship is either me or working for the cyborgs. Sorry." The transmission was cut soon after, and after a brief pause she decided to turn left. Her dash turned into a light jog once she felt she had enough of a jump on her pursuers. Now that she had a chance to relax she wondered if she should have taken that mysterious voice's offer, but if that lady could contact others than she would have answered the hails the transport ship had made. Maria was going to reach the bridge on her own without letting the Ghost Queen lead her into a trap.


(Turn off the radio)

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)


(There are a few gruelling tests coming up, when I was building Ghosts, it only seemed fair to stick an encampment there. Also, nuffin' wrong with wordy ^^)

Explore (18): 7+6 = 13, failed (5 stamina damage)
Explore (18): 12+6 = 18, passed

"Your choice," the voice replies before the channel is cut, sounding slightly put out.

The journey through the network of passageways is immensely stressful. Several times she has to sneak past rooms filled with the cyborgs. A couple of times she is spotted, and has to flee and hide, praying that they don't find her - which mercifully, they never do. Progress is slow, painfully slow, and not helped by dead ends.

Finally, she comes out onto the other side, discovering a set of stairs going up a couple of decks. Praying she has her bearings right, she finds exactly what she's after: the tall pressure door that leads to the bridge.

Then she is forced to duck into cover, as a pair of Ghosts stomp past. They don't spot her, but the message is clear: this place isn't safe.

To make matters worse, the bridge is locked down. Hopefully that means that there aren't any Ghosts there, but she'll have to hack through the door codes. That'll take time. Time she might not have.

Nervously she slips into the corridor, sealing the hatch to the stairs behind her and destroying the controls. Then she advances to the bridge.

If she can't get inside, it's over. There's no other way off the ship, and the likelihood of escaping this area unscathed is slim. She has to get through that door, no matter what.

She could just try and hack through it, and hope that it doesn't take so long that Ghosts start coming. Perhaps she could try and do something with the grapple to try and fool the Ghosts into thinking she was one of them, though that would probably only buy her a minute or two.

But there's also a knot of anger, that rears its head and suggests, rather sweetly, that enough was enough. No more touchy-feely, sneaky-sneaky crap. If there are Ghosts in this section, she should go and shoot every one of the bastards. Then she'd have all the time she needed to get this door open...

Option 1: Hack the door as fast as possible (Tech[Combat])
Option 2: Go cyborg hunting (Combat)

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

The exploration was annoying, tedious, downright...shit, hide. Maria's little trek toward the bridge was plagued by large lengths of dead ends and nothing separated by intense moments of anxiety whenever she happened to come across a group of cyborgs either patrolling the corridors or waiting within a nearby room. A couple of times they managed to spot her while she tried to sneak by, the ensuing chase taxing her body time and time again until she realized that there were a number of maintenance hatches that were quite easy to open and hide behind. During one of those moments in question she stopped to ponder just why she'd have easy access. Security lockdown should have kept those hatches sealed, but then again the ship itself was damaged, and if this was the result of some firefight then damage control would need to be able to access key critical systems in case they were damaged.

With that explanation making some sense, and with her latest pursuers dashing off to search through nearby rooms Maria thought it best to scurry out of hiding and hurry on her way. Pressing ever onward and having to backtrack more often than she liked she finally found her ticket to salvation. Just beyond those sealed doors lay the bridge and all its wonderful communications equipment. The sudden clunk of metal striking metal meant some sentries were about to pay her a visit, and this had her scrambling haphazardly into the nearest open door. She immediately slammed against the other side of the extremely small room, and it was only until she managed to press herself fully against the shelves sticking into her back that the door finally decided to close. As the slow steps of the machines came closer the girl could feel a few objects behind her prone form shifting due to her hasty entry, and in this cramped space she couldn't get her rifle ready without tripping the door's sensor.

The few seconds it took for those two things to walk by felt like days at the rate the girl's heart was beating, but eventually those cyborgs passed and Maria could calm down before she had a heart attack. This space was too cramped for her liking, and dropping all sense of stealth she quickly dashed out and trained her weapon down both ends of the corridor. With nothing to greet her she turned back to her hiding place and found an assortment of cleaning materials which meant she just hid in the janitor's broom closet. Smooth.

Whatever, she managed to make it this far, and she just had to get past the door upstairs. She hurried forward, entering the doorway undisturbed, and immediately greeted by another door that was far more secured. Apparently fate was willing to test her once more, and if this was the way it was going to play then she needed every bit of an advantage she could get. Using her newly honed locking technique she brought her arm back and slammed the grappling hook into the control panel, the familiar dent initiating a security lockdown and sealing the doorway behind her. To her surprise a blast shield dropped as well, the giant lock in its center turning until she heard the low thud of heavy metal locking into place. This would definitely buy her some time.

With her back covered for now she immediately jumped to the top of the stairs and took a look at the obstacle she now faced. This door was...it definitely wasn't going to move by brute strength. She needed to hack her way through, but before she ripped that panel off she paused. The cyborgs had to be monitoring communication channels, and even if they didn't some kind of alarm would sound letting the entire ship know there was intruder just outside the bridge. Even before that a patrol may now be noticing the previously open doorway was sealed. There was very little doubt Maria would be staring down the barrel of her rifle as a wall of machines came rushing to tear her apart. Part of her wanted to sit and wait, to tear through as many machines as she could before going down in a blaze of glory. But that was stupid. Even with the stairs giving her a natural advantage she'd still be facing overwhelming numbers. If she really wanted to get into the bridge her best bet was to crack the computer open and force it to give her clearance. If she couldn't get that done in time then she'd have her last stand against the Ghosts once they finally broke through that bulkhead.

As she ripped into the panel and began connecting her equipment one thought brought a wry smile to her face. At least she didn't have to worry about getting thrown into space.


(Hack the door as fast as possible)

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)


(Damn you and your insanely high Tech It's going to bite you in the ass now, though...)

Tech (18, miniboss): 8+11 = 19, passed

She's in luck. Although the sealed door behind her is soon pounded upon, and the steady stomping of cyborg feet comes closer, she manages to stay cool, and isolates the correct code sequence. With a whirring sound, the doors to the bridge open.

It's a grand place, as is befitting on an exploration ship. Massive consoles of equipment line the room, with a raised section looking out through the porthole containing the command area.

To her enormous relief, there are no Ghosts within - and indeed, it seems mostly intact and untouched, in contrast to the damaged feel of the rest of the ship. Lights glow and panels bleep quietly to themselves, although the main lights are out, as they are on the rest of the ship.

There is a figure sat in the captain's chair. She slowly raises the rifle as the chair rotates, and lights snap on. The figure is a tall, solid man just on the end of middle age, many scars lining his face. She recognises the face from the briefings. None other than Colonel Zaphron, commanding officer of the ship. The most decorated officer in the sector, hero of many a battle.

"You made it, I see." He steeples his fingers, looking down at her. "Excellent. I was worried that none of the rescue team would survive. The Altered are rather thorough killers. Luck has been on your side, though, it would seem."

He smiles thinly. "Says something about the state of the Confederate military these days that a freelance tech-head survives what took out crack shock troops. But really, bravo." He claps a few times. "You're exactly what I need. You've passed the test. You haven't been through the academy, of course, but I can give you a field rank. How does Sergeant sound? But come come, no time to waste. Storm needs to be brought back online and taken somewhere safe while we perfect the Alteration process."

The hero of the sector, it seems... is quite, quite mad. He has no obvious cybernetics beyond the metal hand that he has had for years, but the man has apparently masterminded the entire operation.

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)


"Careful, Maria, don't rush through this. You've only got a dozen killer robots waiting to rip you in two, but if you make a mistake like last time you'll only give them more time to open that door. Focuuus..." At first she only heard two sets of feet approaching, most likely belonging to the pair of sentries she snuck be earlier, but another soon joined them, then another, the growing number pounding on that door starting to sound like a jackhammer. She didn't dare look back to see what progress they were making. The moment she saw the large dent causing the shield to buckle around the edges she probably would have lost it and screwed up like she had in the cargo bay. Just ignore the harbingers of death.

"There!" Victory in her grasp, she yanks the cables from her computer out as the door opens and rushes inside. As the door closes behind her she can here the strain of metal being torn in two, and once she is sure the Ghosts can't see her she darts to the left, her body hugging the wall as she turns the flashlight on her rifle off, ready to blast anything that dares follow. One, two, three, she waits for seconds, the only sound greeting her coming from the still active consoles she begins to survey. She heard nothing of the cyborgs, no rush, no pound, not even the slightest step. It sounded like they just froze once she made it to her goal.

Even in this poor light Maria is quite surprised to see the bridge untouched. Before she had a chance to search for the comm station the faint silhouette of something sitting in the Captain's chair catches her attention. When the chair starts moving her natural instinct was to shoot whatever was there before it had a chance to jump at her. Her rifle swiveled with her body, but before she could hit the weapon's light to see just what she was about to frag the room simply came alive. The sudden flood of light blinded her for a moment while her eyes adjusted, but it wasn't long before the Colonel made his grand appearance. The compliment made him look like a jerk, but the talk of repairing the Storm while refining the Alteration process made her heart skip. He practically admitted that he was behind all the horror she had to go through.

This all seemed a little too surreal. The man was probably one of if not THE greatest hero she could ever meet, and now he was twisting humanity into some kind of freak show? Something just didn't seem right. "Why do you need my help? Can't those...things...Altered, correct? Can't they do menial labor? And why do you need to hide? Are you planning on attacking the Confederacy?" She already knew the answers to these questions, but if she got him talking maybe he'd reveal a little more about his plan. He was willing to recruit her, and if the Altered were as mindless as they seemed then he was willing to keep her intact. He probably needed her tech-head expertise, and that was something rare to be found in the military's ranks.

"Hey, wait a tick." During this time she hadn't lowered her weapon, but when this question popped into her head she couldn't help but aim it at the floor and genuinely ask. "You weren't that voice that offered to bring me to the bridge, were you?" She'd leave the question at that. How he answered would reveal what she wanted to know.

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)


Zaphron smiles. "My dear girl, such limited imagination you have. I'm doing this for the Confederacy. They just won't understand yet. Hence - the hiding!"

He frowns at her last question. "Offered to guide you...? No, I know of no such communication. Unless... CARNASSUS!"

There is a barely audible thump from behind Maria, and the voice from the radio purrs, "You called?"

Carnassus is not Altered. She isn't even human. Thick muscles, skin like hardened leather, large fangs and beady red eyes all jump out from the bipedal form - although the arms are long enough to mean that she could probably run on all fours. Thick claws extend from her fingers, and odd, bony ridges lie along the back of her arms and shoulderblades.

Her long, prehensile tongue flicks out, tasting the air snake-like, her eyes fixed on Maria. On closer inspection, Carnassus is wearing some kind of dull metal armour, but it's little more than a bikini - and the weird proportions make it hard to tell what might be underneath.

"I was really hurt when you wouldn't trust me, little girl..." she purrs, leaning back against the wall. "But I'm glad you made it here."

Zaphron clears his throat in annoyance. "You've been in contact with this tech?"

"Her name, Zaphron, is Maria Caidella. Honestly. You're trying to recruit someone and you don't even learn their name."

Again that long tongue flicks out, the monster grinning.

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Help? Oh boy, this guy was sicker than she thought. There was something to be said about cybernetic augmentation, but to completely strip someone down and turn them into a killing machine...

CARNASSUS!

Click to expand...

She could barely hear it, the landing sounded like nothing more than a stack of papers hitting the deck, but with her back already so close to the wall and the thing landing BEHIND her Maria could feel the deck shifting under her feet as something huge just popped out of nowhere. Whatever it was had not only invaded her personal bubble, it crushed it under its mighty haunches and turned that bubble into nothing more than a fine mist. Maria felt more exposed than she ever did in her entire life.

Then it spoke. She immediately recognized the voice. Her body itched to just spin in place and thrust her rifle into who or whatever was there, but with it standing so close she couldn't even turn without the creature behind her noticing.

I was really hurt when you wouldn't trust me, little girl... But I'm glad you made it here.

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It was only when Maria was directly addressed that she dared turn her head. "M-my apologies, I just couldn't risk it being a trap." Holy Hell, Carnassus was BIG. Maria couldn't even begin to wonder what species Carnassus belonged, but for some reason she started thinking about the ancient dinosaurs of Earth. The eyes, the muscles, those ridges, the human began to wonder if this creature was a predator, and that possibility scared the living daylights out of her. Even with her bleach white face hidden behind the helmet Carnassus could probably smell the woman's fear let alone hear it in her voice.

Thankfully the incredibly large female decided to relax against the wall. No doubt she was the strongest thing in the room, and it was only when she showed she held no fear that Maria took a few tentative steps away, every inch gained putting her mind more at ease and letting her heart catch up. The mad Colonel didn't seem at all flustered, so they were obviously allies if not partners in this mad experiment. And Maria somehow stumbled into this mess.

Her name, Zaphron, is Maria Caidella. Honestly. You're trying to recruit someone and you don't even learn their name.

Click to expand...

Holy shit, that did not help. Not only was this alien incredibly large and most obviously powerful, but it understood human technology and actually bothered to learn more about the pipsqueak running around the ship. Carnassus was clearly intelligent and probably the more cunning of the two, and at that moment Maria felt like she was shit outta luck. All she could manage to do was weakly raise her left hand and point it at Zaphron, every other muscle in her body tensing to run should the big creature make even the slightest step in her direction. "Why are you helping that guy?"

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

Carnassus just giggles. "That's a good question."

She sniffs, the sound animal and threatening, clearly taking in Maria's fear and relishing it. "But one I don't much feel like answering. You're a fool, Zaphron. She's got no intention of joining you. I can't say I think much of your recruitment ideas. You should've taken the Storm away from here earlier, it's already cost us."

Zaphron frowns, and then sighs. "I suppose you're right. Very well. Take care of her." The chair rotated to once again look through the porthole, dismissing the pair. There is a faint crackle, and a force field snaps on around the command section.

The towering alien smirks. "For someone supposedly a war hero, he doesn't have much stomach for the blood and guts. That's the trouble with you humans. So separate from reality. You sit in your grand starships and think that everything's clean, when the dirt is the fun bit."

She slowly flexes her claws, then stretches. The ridges shoot up to form razor-edged blades, curving down and backwards on her back and arms. Then she flicks her tongue out again. "Anything else to say? Because it's playtime now..."

Defeat Carnassus (Combat[Naughty])
Disable the force field (Tech)

Re: Ghosts of the Storm (Termite)

"Oh hell, I'm fucked." She didn't think her fear could run any deeper than this, but watching a predator go from scary oversized beast to walking arsenal of pain sent her to place she never knew. Her mind could only focus on survival, the scared inner rabbit taking hold and multiplying that fear until she felt her arm straighten on its own. Her entire fist curled as hard as it could, and this struck the trigger to the grappling hook. The hook itself shot in some unknown direction, her mind slowly catching up to the fact that she was now connecting to an overhang on the exact opposite end of the room. A moment later her fist opened, and the moment after that she was quite literally flying from one end of the bridge to the other hopefully faster than Carnassus could follow.

She didn't know how or why, but there was some absurd sense of clarity in this fight for survival. Her heart was still pumping a mile a minute, and a voice in the back of her mind kept screaming "You're gonna die!" every single second, but the internal prey instinct wanted nothing more than to live. To do that it would use every opening, every tool, every weapon it had at its disposal to put down the thing that was going to eat her. This is what caused her to steady her rifle during her escape. This is what forced her to fire as she flew. This is what kept her conscious when she ran out of slack, her body colliding against the bulkhead yet still focused enough to fire and hope she could at least clip the creature before it caught its meal.