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Showing results for tags 'Land Vehicle'.
Found 156 results
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Location: A06 (Guinevere) Tags: Piracy Science Land Vehicle It had been a pretty busy week on Guinevere for Scorpio and Elbow and Pitt, his two assigned SPIT (Special Police in Training). After dispatching the Octan spy, they discovered a few more Octan agents nearby—which with some efficient work from the SPIT quickly became a few less. They may be a bit dim-witted, but the SPIT sure knew their way around an assault blaster. Scorpio was still a bit bummed about that having given his grubs to them. Even more so because today—larvae Friday, course—he had missed lunch, due to an over-long briefing with his superiors. When he got back, the SPIT had seen to it there were no leftovers, except salad. Meh. The brief had been long because Kawashita troops had touched down on the other side of Guinevere a few days previous. The council was deliberating the best course of action, and had orders for Scorpio to not engage in a violent encounter. In the SPITs’ mind, that took all the fun out of it, and Scorpio had to agree. He had decided that even though being a scientist wasn’t bad, he enjoyed these more exciting kinds of missions. Scorpio and the SPIT went to the Kawas’ landing site. Although there weren’t many of them, clearly they had gotten right to work right after landing, as there were several crates already filled with gold. As the M.A.N.T.I.S craft was approaching, Scorpio saw them all stop to watch. He could see that although a few of them were carrying arms, they didn’t seem to be in any hurry to shoot. He imagined they had similar orders from their higher-ups to avoid armed conflict, which was somewhat reassuring. One of the Kawas, clearly their leader, emerged from the back and advanced toward Scorpio. “This is our claim,” he insisted. “You Mantite scum better get on outta here.” “Sorry, M.A.N.T.I.S. already claimed all of Guinevere. So, you’re the ones on our turf.” As he spoke, Scorpio suddenly realized that he had underestimated their numbers, and hoped his hunch about their orders was correct. “Ha!” the Kawa leader laughed. “It doesn’t matter. We have already extracted almost everything here, as you can see—” he motioned towards the crates. “But I’d like to see you try and make us leave, anyway.” “I’ll tell you what,” Scorpio replied. “Let’s make a deal, you and I, to see who leaves this spot, and who can stay.” The Kawa leader laughed again, followed by the rest of his team. “What kind of a deal? You can see, I have more men, more arms, and more gold! And I have my orders. What could you offer me?” “Oh, this is not an offer. This is a challenge. We challenge you to a contest—you win, we will leave you in peace to do whatever you please in this place. We win—” Scorpio paused to look around at all the Kawashita troops, “and you leave forever. Not just this spot—but the planet. You leave Guinevere for good.” “Ha ha! This insect is a joker! I will indulge you, what kind of contest did you have in mind?” “How about a race? Ah never mind, you wouldn’t stand a chance against us. Let’s pick something more fair…” In his mind, Scorpio counted to three. He only got as far as two. “You boast, Mantite! Kawashita engines are the fastest, and our drivers the most skilled! I accept your challenge, if only to teach you humility!” “Very well, then. Your fastest land craft against ours. You pick your racer, and Pitt here,” Scorpio motioned toward the more dim-witted of the SPIT, “will drive for M.A.N.T.I.S.” As Scorpio and the Kawa leader shook hands, Pitt leaned over toward Scorpio and whispered, “I don’t think I can. I’m not that good a driver—not as good as these Kawas, for sure—and I’m starting to feel a little sick. Like I’m going to…” but he never finished his sentence; the words were drowned out by awful wretching noises, and drowned in a pool of sick. “I feel sick, too, sir.” the SPIT leader, Elbow, intuned. Then, looking over at Pitt, said, “but I think I’ll be fine.” “Well good, because I need you to come with me.” “What about me, sir?” Pitt inquired. “You still have to drive,” Scorpio answered. “But don’t worry; it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, just as long as you drive for at least five minutes or so.” “Why doesn’t it matter?” Elbow asked. “Because,” Scorpio began, “while all these fools are cheering on the race, you and I are going to steal them blind and make a quick escape. Don’t worry, Pitt, we’ll pick you up in the ship. Elbow, come and help me set up some telesponders over here.” While the Kawa leader was explaining the course and rules to Pitt and the Kawa driver, Scorpio and Elbow set up the antenna-like devices around the crates of gold. As the start pistol fired, Scorpio summoned the teleporter crate and quickly rerouted it to the telesponders; before the dust had even settled, Scorpio, Elbow, and the gold were all gone. ********* Other weeks I have incorporated the story with the build, but this week the story is really just to build-up the, uh, build. With both teams landing on the same planet, it was fun to think up some way to bring conflict into the mix without any actual conflict. C&C welcome, as always! More pictures under the spoiler: See more on my Flickr page
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Location: A06 - Guinevere Tags: Military, Piracy, Land Vehicle. M.A.N.T.I.S Special Forces log: Myra Dynarski 21 Junali 3815, M.A.N.T.I.S. supply camp on Guinivere. Previous entry I'd been feeling nauseous, so I stopped by one of the supply depots for some meds, only to find a bunch of Octan and Kawashita agents sitting around chatting like they were at a tea party, rather than in the camp of their sworn enemies (or at least business competitors)! I don't think they were even armed - at least they didn't put up a fight. They all escaped in vehicles, and I was unable to keep up. I did manage to steal [Redacted - All M.A.N.T.I.S. operations are 100% legal] liberate their leftover drinks.
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Spencer's diary, Junali 3815 After an easy ride on Xerillian last week, I've been called back to Dr. Blomkampf's engineering facility on board the OCS 'Your paycheck could depend on this'. I wonder what I'm letting myself in for this time... "Ah! Spencer! I'm glad it's you. I've just been putting the finishing touches to my newest design." "No pointy sticks this time?" "No, but I think you'll like it anyway..." "Wow, she's a beaut Doc. What do you call her?" "The Octan Octonaut! The most advanced Awesomnium prospecting vehicle ever designed, if I do say so myself. And with the 8-legged ambulatory system, she's stable on any terrain. Just try not to leave her in the bottom of a sinkhole this time, eh?" For once, the Doc was as good as his word. The Octonaut handles the rocky plains of Kaalin with ease. It may be a little cramped inside, but the armour's thick enough to withstand a meteorite strike. Drill deployed!
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Spencer's diary, 7 Junali, 3815 After last week's debacle on Hennigan II (the Div9-R walker ended up wrecked in a water-filled sinkhole that it failed to detect) it was a great relief to be relocated to Xerillian. Even if it is a dustball, my first assignment is a milk run - escorting exploration expert Lu Caslaug-Hing back from her 'beach holiday' at the planet's only substantial body of surface water. This OC-117 hovercar is top of the range, the senior management must think highly of Ms Caslaug-Hing. I hear she made some interesting discovery on Hennigan II. The OC-117 is fast and comfortable, and its zero-downdraft hover tech means that it doesn't even kick up much dust. I hope they let me keep it!
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Kawashita Engineer's Log - AC - B08 Greater Direstan Having arrived at the bottom of a range of mountains on Greater Direstan, we found a series of caves. I'm not sure they look like natural formations, but whether they are natural or not, there's plenty of awesomnium veins in them. I'm trying out a prototype mining drill to see how well it works. There's a pulse laser doing the actual cutting, so all the maneuvering of the vehicle is done using displays on the control panels. Don't want to have an accident with one of these things. As pieces of the rock are cut, they drop onto the conveyor belt which carries the material behind the vehicle and into waiting transports where it will be taken away for the awesomnium to be separated from the rest of the rocks. Not the greatest photography. Additional photos in the spoiler tags. Can't see in the photos clearly, but there's a control wheel on both sides of the driving position and the pulse laser can rotate left to right and angle up and down.
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Spencer's Diary, Maian 21, 3815 There's no excitement to match the feeling of being among the first to set foot on a new planet. Hooray for pastures new! Although, around here the pastures seem pretty barren. Still, the orbital scans suggested that this should be a good region to prospect for Awesomnium - that's why I'm here with my trusty drilling rig, Edwina. Hmm, that rocky outcropping looks like a good place to start. Sure enough, a few minutes' drilling reveals an Awesomnium node! Time to try out the portable sample collector and ore analyzer the Octan tech guys fitted Edwina with, and find out what sort of a deposit we're looking at. Looks like I'll be pretty busy for the next few days...
