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Location: F09 - Arium Minor Tags: Civil, Building Aketi Outpost, 3800 AD. Milky Way Galaxy. The top floor of Octansoft Corporation's new headquarters. President Business: "Jebediah, how good to see you. Especially considering last time you were trying to kill me!" Jebediah: "You were never in any danger. I only had to convince my father you were dead. By the time he discovers my deception it will be far too late for the Head." President Business: "Yes, let's get down to business. Haha, business. Gets me every time. Anyways, when we last parted, I believe I made you a deal." Jebediah: "Yes, yes we did. I refrain from killing you- I tell you everything about my fathers organization- you dismantle them and secure me a legitimate job within the Octan corporation. I'm done with the lies, the deception, the killing. I want out." Business: "I am a man of my word and I will get you out. Tell me about the Head." Jebediah: "I was born into it, indoctrinated. My father believes minifigure-kind is ruining our galaxy and the only way to prevent it is to fight fire with fire. I agreed with him, until recently." Business: "What happened?" Jebediah: "I killed a woman named Mrs. Long. She worked for Explorien. She was spearheading a project called the Axis, to explore the new Andromeda galaxy. She had really done nothing wrong. She was a woman with a vision. My father told me she destroyed planets for her project. She was getting what she deserved..." "...I looked into her file afterwards. She had a husband and two children. What my father told me was a lie. We killed her to block the impending merger. So what? The death of one scientist won't delay that more than a few months. What will her family do? What will Explorien do? Her death accomplished nothing- nothing except for pain and suffering. What about the other people on that platform? I will never know their story and I don't really want to." Business: "Go on." Jebediah: "I went back through my own past. I looked at the files of the countless people we've killed. The majority just like Mrs. Long, simple people trying to forge an existence in this crazy world. They did nothing wrong except cross the path of my father. He psychotic. Some of them might have deserved it. But that's not our call to make. My father lied to me, time and time again- he would tell me about a greater purpose, the good we would accomplish. I was young and foolish. I believed him. He used me, manipulated me- and I'm going to bring it down on his head." Business: "What do you need me to do?" Jebediah: "The Head is meeting at a warehouse on the river next week to discuss the results of the Senate's session on the merger. Take them out. I know Octan isn't the "nice" company you claim- throw them in jail to rot forever, kill them- I don't care. I don't want to know. They've caused too much suffering to hang around." Business: "It will be done. I will agree the Head has been a thorn in the side of this fair galaxy for too long." Jebediah: "Thank you. About my job...?" Business: "Yes. After the Explorien merger passes, and it will pass, do not worry, we must make preparations to move into the Andromeda galaxy. I want you to lead the Special Forces divisions. It would be a waste of your abilities to have you sitting behind a desk." Jebediah: "Special Forces...? Are you sure? I won't kill. No more killing. I made a promise. I'm out." Business: *pauses* "Of course. Octan would never ask our employees to do anything they're uncomfortable with." Jebediah: "I appreciate it." Business: "You'll have to undergo a physical before your position is finalized. Standard procedure." Jebediah: "Of course." **once Jebediah has left** Business: "Bob Sr, please make a note in the man who just left's file about his physical. I want the selective memory machine hooked up, codename EAGLE I think, ready to go. Don't inform the patient. I'll undersee the procedure myself." Bob Sr: "Of course."
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Location: F09, Arium Minor Tags: Spaceship The team gathered around the console. Agent Raven Spoke, Assault on the axle part 1 by North White, on Flickr "This is an unprecedented operation. The Axle is Octan's flagship, it's biggest and most powerful in the fleet. I'm going to be honest with you, this is a suicide mission. Your families will be well compensated for your sacrifice to the company." Assault on the axle part 1 by North White, on Flickr "Captain Mesabi will take a Bastille Bomber into firing range of the Axle. He will then fire, causing as much damage as possible. If any opportunity arises to board the Axle, he is to take it. Your job is to defend him from the incoming Octan Drones and Fighters." Assault on the axle part 1 by North White, on Flickr "For Honor and Glory" She finished. "For Honor and Glory" The group said in unison. "All pilots to your ships, launching in five minutes!" The intercom boomed Assault on the axle part 1 by North White, on Flickr Assault on the axle part 1 by North White, on Flickr "It was a pleasure knowing you gentlemen." Captain Mesabi told the bomber crew." "We're the lucky ones Cap' we might actually survive." Said Bombardier Tom. "Yeah, the Bastille has better armor then some capital ships!" Said Bombardier Jeff. Assault on the axle part 1 by North White, on Flickr "Well, then let's hope for the best!" Captain Mesabi replied. The Ships began to launch... Assault on the axle part 1 by North White, on Flickr FIN Hope you liked this week's story, to be continued in the coming weeks. Happy 2017 everyone, C&C appreciated!
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Location: G03 - New California. Tags: Military building, spaceship. Chapter 19: Wraith. “Command - Retina: new contact” The voice announced over the bridge A-Comm system. “Unidentified vessel bearing Zero, Nine, Zero mark Zero, Three, Eight.” Aboard the bridge of the MANTIS battlecruiser Shadowfall, Captain Aurixx looked at the central Real-Time-Navigation-Array display. “Definitely a ship?” Aurixx asked. “Yes sir.” The voice replied. “It’s in a controlled descent.” Aurixx cast his mind back to the reports detailing the MANTIS operations in the area. Damn it! He thought. The Shadowfall had been part of the MANTIS core fleet for months but had now been ordered to depart for New California to support the corporation’s new presence there. That was six days ago and the report detailing MANTIS operations had only arrived two days ago. He had digested what he could but... Whatever it was on the scanner was descending down what had become a ‘no fly zone’ between the Shadowfall and the nearest gaggle of Octan vessels. It could be Octan. He thought. Trying to gather intelligence, or push the boundary and see what happens. He needed to know what it was, and quickly. “Interceptor prepped?” he asked calmly, turning to the Deck Officer who had instinctively checked their battle readiness at the news. “Yes sir. She can be gear up in seven minutes.” “Get her out there.” Aurixx replied. “I want eyes on this thing.” “Aye sir.” The deck officer replied, turning to the Comms officer who relayed the instruction. “Bay two, this is command: Launch interceptor.” On the underside of Shadowfall, the second of its three docking bays suddenly became a flurry of activity. Personnel on the deck were disconnecting the fuel and power lines from the vessel that sat there and the maintenance cranes were retracted to the edges of the bay. In the cockpit of the vessel, Pilot Vashin Tulka quickly followed his carefully memorised pre-launch sequence. Once complete, he waited for the deck to clear and launch authorisation to be given. He steadied his breath and tried not to notice his heart beating so much. Focus, focus. A voice came over the A-Comm. “Wraith One, this is launch control. The light is green, you are clear for launch.” “Roger that launch control.” He replied. With the gravity in the bay deactivated, a minor thruster burst gently raised the Wraith class interceptor off the deck. A second burst stopped it as the bay lights flashed, indicating that the ship’s position was central to the opening. “Engaging main engines.” Vashin announced as he advanced the throttle levers and the ship surged forward out of the bay. The ship shuddered as it pushed through the atmosfield that protected the interior of the bay from the hazardous vacuum of space, signalling Vashin to begin his turn towards the target. Keeping the engines at full burn, he angled the ship, curving his trajectory away for the planet below and back up towards outer space. The Wraith class interceptor was undoubtedly quick and heavily armed. It was designed to arrive first, assess a situation and if necessary, deal as much damage as it could to the benefit of a follow-up fighter squadron. It wasn’t designed for prolonged engagement. A fact that prayed on Vishen’s mind. Shadowfall was a cruiser, not a carrier... There would be no follow-up fighter squadron. “Three minutes to target.” a voice said over the A-Comm. Vishen made some adjustment to his course to ensure he came up behind the unidentified vessel. On the edge of his scanning range, two new blips appeared, they were in a similar orbit but were approaching fast. The computer registered their ident signals... Then it hit him, He was in a heavily armed fighter heading at high speed straight towards... Octan. Thank you for reading. All comments and feedback welcome as always.
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Location: H04 - Crofter's Ridge Tags: Land Vehicle Dramatis Personae: Previously: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/topic/141876-o-h04-porta-potty/ Currently, on Crofter's Ridge... Hombre, nevermind. They've finally found him. Yeah, just return home. Comments and criticisms are all welcome!
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Location: H03 - Kaalin Tags: Piracy Log of Jebediah O'Reilly, Entry 23 Oktobrinali 3816: I've been dispatched to Kaalin to investigate rumors of MANTIS activities in Octan-controlled oil fields. It appear these rumors are true... I've just spotted a probe. Appears to be scanning the ground for possible deposits. Faster than you can say "MANTIS sucks," I'll have these reprogrammed... ...to transmit false data back to their HQ. Leaving the precious resources to be mined at will by the glorious Octan Corporation, without competition from MANTIS. We reign again. End Log. C&C welcome.
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Location: E01 - Donwarr. Tags: Military, Building, Spaceship. Previous chapters can be read on my website here. Chapter 12: The Engineer. First engineer Elliana Seyka had a buzz about her this morning. She was generally regarded as being spritely but this morning she was particularly excited. While Darksight was undergoing repairs, an opportunity had arisen. The game was afoot and whatever move they were making needed a Quadstar… An Octan Quadstar and by virtue of the unexpected outcome of Yseult's mission in Darksight, they had one. What they didn't have was a means of getting it where it needed to be. The Quadstar was a short-range superiority starfighter; very fast, very maneuverable but at a cost. The fuel tanks were small and they had no GATE drive so they relied on a carrier for trans-anomaly deployment, and an Octan carrier… Well, they're harder to come by. That's where Ellie came in. She had a reputation for her design and engineering skills; Big Sal had identified her potential early on and brought her into MANTIS. She shared his enthusiasm for science, if not quite his approach to it but from the very beginning, she felt that he understood her, her dreams, her ideas, her passion; and she hadn't regretted accepting his invitation. She had risen through MANTIS quickly and now commanded a substantial engineering research and development effort, of which Darksight had been the latest product. What they needed now was different, and she didn't have long to come up with a solution. In the end, she had decided that delivery by carrier was impossible, carriers were as incognito as a slap in the face, no, something else was required… And she had delivered. There was risk involved though. This is MANTIS… She thought to herself as she entered the engineering bay… We eat 'risk' for breakfast! To keep operation details on a need to know basis. Ellie’s brief was very specific and almost impossible… She liked ‘almost impossible’. There was no way to fit a GATE drive and the extra fuel capacity needed into the tight design of a Quadstar, not without modifying it beyond recognition and that wouldn’t do; it had to look legitimate or the plan wouldn’t work. Instead, she put them outside the Quastar in a bolt-on booster… A Jump drive. The unit contained all of the components needed for trans-anomaly flight; simulations had suggested that the Quadstar’s compact design would be very sensitive to the gravitational turbulence that caused so many pre-G.A.T.E. explorers to get lost. To combat this, the drive needed large gravitational stabilisers; they were a little cumbersome and prevented the Quadstar from landing with the drive attached but they did look awesome, she thought. Riddaeon was stood waiting for her, admiring her work while he did. The unit rested on its back, the four protruding stabilisers acting like legs. “I assume the fighter attaches up there.” He stated upon hearing Ellie approach, gesturing upwards. “That will make it a little awkward for the pilot won’t it?” he asked, turning his gaze to Ellie. There goes my carefully planned introduction. She thought. “The unit remains in orbit. The fighter attaches for trans-anomaly and detaches at the other side”. Riddaeon stepped back, taking in a wider view of the jump drive. “What if it’s captured?” He asked. “That’s the risk.” Ellie responded, a hint of stern-ness in her tone. She wasn’t about to let this… administrator tell her she should have done a better job in the ridiculously short time she had to conceive, design and build this thing. “If you want a unit that’s more compact, more secure… Fine, give me six months. If you want a unit now… This is what you get”. Riddaeon thought for a moment. “Any restricted tech?” He asked calmly. “No.” Ellie replied, a flash of confidence in her voice. He’s conceded the point. She realised. Now he’s just making sure he’s I’ve covered the bases. “Fine...” Riddaeon finally said, turning to her. “Walk me through it.” They walked over to the engineering console and Ellie tapped the controls to bring up the file she'd originally prepared for what was left of her introduction. "Quadstar fighters..." She began. "... Are heavily modified versions of an old Space Utility Vessel from the pre-G.A.T.E. era. Basically a multi purpose tug and docking unit, They'd fly out to unmanned cargo carriers, dock with them and take control to pilot them in. That connectivity is still there in every Quadstar so I designed a unit the fighter can dock with." The display showed a simulation of the Octan vessel with the jump drive attached. "What if someone finds it?" Riddaeon asked. "The on-board flight system will try to keep out of sight and avoid proximity to other craft..." Ellie answered. "... But in the event that a vessel other than this Quadstar gets too close, it automatically self-destructs." There was a moment of silence. The reason for this measure was obvious but so were the consequences. "And the pilot?" He finally asked. Ellie knew the answer would be harsh but it had to be said. "They'd be stranded... They'd need to ditch the ship and find another way back". Riddaeon stared at the screen; he knew which pilot he was about to put at risk., and that he'd have to be the one to tell her. "Alright..." He said. "...Test-flight it and let me know when it's ready to deploy." Ellie nodded and Riddaeon proceeded to the exit. "Erm..." Ellie tried to say something but didn't quite know how to start it. Riddaeon stopped and gave her a moment to decide. He soon realised what she wanted to ask. "I saw the transmission too..." He said. His tone had softened, they had both been close to BigSal. "He was a friend. We must remember that... But he is also an enemy of the corporation now... We must remember that too." Thank you for reading. All comments and feedback welcome.
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Every space colonizing corporation, group or private company, needs their own submersible to explore, harvest or kill the deep ocean floors from planets, moons and comets. The following three submersibles are build to represent their own faction. My own submersible for AG back then, was the Kaito Mk1 from Kawashita. I did some subtile modifications so it does not break as easily (its still not recommanded to play with it, though). Octan GUPPY かいと (Kaito) Mk1 Stealth Sub V2
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Chapter 28: Blinding Light She is lying down... the air is cool. She hears a rustling sound, a pitter-patter. It’s raining. I’m getting wet. The smell of rain on stone, her breath is short, she is tired. There is another sound... crying. The pressure of hands upon her chest. The taste of iron in her mouth. A creature kneels over her, tall, etherial. It leans towards her. “You must find Upsilon” it whispers, its lips unmoving. “You must not lie down.” Why can I hear you? “You must not lie down.” it repeated. I failed. Her reply came as a thought but she could not make the words. “You have not yet begun.” the voice whispered a reply within her mind. I don’t understand... “You must not lie down.” The creature reached out, placing it’s hands on Yseult’s chest. From it’s eyes, a blinding light, pierced with red... growing brighter, hotter. A hum behind it, whirring, faster. Suddenly, a blinding light... The smell of burnt hair and scorched metal filled the air as the laser skewed away from Yseult’s face, narrowly missing her ear. Around the black creature’s tail was a black metal hand which raised the creature aloft, writhing and screeching in panic. Another large black metallic hand encompassed the creature’s body and a moment later, they were separate, pulled into two with relative ease by the dark behemoth that was Yseult’s saviour. The laser, now discarded, smoked upon the hangar deck and as the dismembered creature writhed, desperate to escape the dark clutches of whatever had it. It would not writhe for long though as the free hand of its captor now reached for its head and with a short jolt, the creature became limp. Discarded to the hangar floor, its lifeless body landing with a deadening clank, Yseult was finally able to take in the thing that had come to her rescue... It was huge, mighty, a plethora of black bone and spikes... It had four legs, two huge arms and from its back, two larger versions of the smaller creature’s laser... Its chest was a maze of black metal work that was difficult for the eye to make out and above that, a head... Similar to the creature’s but with larger horns, the two were clearly kin. It looked down at Ysuelt with its piercing, merciless single yellow eye. Repositioning itself, it crouched, lowering the torso as much as it could and with a whirr, the cage that formed the chest opened up. Ellie was dwarfed by the monstrous exo-suit that surrounded her. She was breathing heavily, adrenaline in her veins, beads of sweat on her brow... relief in her eyes. For a moment, she just breathed. The carefully stepped out of the frame and climbed down, cautiously looking for foot-holes in the dark skeletal bodywork. Yesult was already standing by the time she got down and had stepped towards her. The two just stared at each other until finally, Ellie’s arms reached out and vigorously embraced Yseult who, after a moment of feeling somewhat out of her comfort zone, more casually did the same. She could feel Ellie’s heat pounding. The rush she thought. Ellie wasn’t used to it, she was an engineer, not a soldier. The emotions racing through her were obvious - panic, courage, fear, relief... all rolled into one hectic mess of adrenaline. Fuel for the soul. But Ellie was a different person, not used to this... That may have to change. Ellie released the embrace and Yseult followed suit without hesitation and instantly felt a little more at ease. Ellie was breathing deeply, regaining control, bringing herself back down. Her hands on her stomach, like she was stopping herself form being sick. “Okay?” Yseult asked. She didn’t know what else to say. Ellie nodded, her eyes closed, slowly, she was regaining her composure. “Don’t.” she finally said... “Touch... Anything...” There was a short awkward pause before Yseult found she couldn’t stop her cheeks tightening and a cheeky smile growing on her face... it was contagious and as soon as she noticed it on Ellie too, it only became harder to suppress... They both burst into short laughter, Ellie putting her hand to her face in embarrassment. They looked at each a moment, unsure what the right thing to say next was. Yseult pointed up at the exo-suit... “Can I have a go?” she asked, a wry cheeky smile on her face. Ellie couldn’t help it and laughed again.
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Chapter 27: Previous occupants Somewhere far from the edge of one of the darker regions of the moon where the black daytime sky did little to illuminate the jagged features and the gas giant it orbited even less so, the last sliver of its banded clouds fading as it approached its daily eclipse of the surface, cruising across the landscape, a small glint of light defied the darkness. With one side of Ganymede always facing Jupiter, daytime on the jovian hemisphere meant the king of the planets was always in between the moon and the distant Sun and an eclipse was a daily occurrence... each day being just over seven Earth days long elongated the process and soon, the dark surface below the dark blue transport would have even less light to reveal its character to the pilot steering her ship down a gentle glide-slope as she approached the co-ordinates she had been given. Yseult carefully watched her instruments; there would be no approach lights for this landing, no illuminated apron. The hangar was built into the side of a steep rocky slope... Difficult to find... That was the idea. She didn’t know how Riddaeon had found it, he just provided her with the co-ordinates and the approach vector. Despite the bland field of darkness before her, the primary flight display clearly showed where she was headed and she reduced the throttle accordingly to maintain a gentle approach. The hangar’s internal lighting became visible only at the last minute and finally, Yseult was able to use her natural senses to guide the Speedy Owl in. With a shudder, the passed through the atmosfield and the growling hum of the engines acquired an echoed resonance as they entered the enclosed space. Bringing the ship to a hover in the centre of the hangar, she throttled back on the lift engines and with a loud clunk, the Owl set down of the hangar deck. As the engines spooled down, Yseult looked up out of the canopy at the hangar... It wasn’t the bright, well lit industrial space she’d expected. Black surfaces oddly lit by yellow glow - it was difficult to see the details. ‘Maybe that’s the idea’ she thought. Even from within the enclosed confines of the cockpit, there was a foreboding feel to it. The hangar floor was black. So were the walls and the ceiling save for a few stark details is contrasting bright yellow. The air was cold and had a deathly silence, broken only by a random clank somewhere that echoed off the walls enough to hide its true origin. Yseult tried to determine whee it came from, the only evidence that they were not alone was another vessel parked neatly in one of the designated bays. Yseult had landed the Owl right in the centre over the large triangular markings that adorned the floor... No-one had told her otherwise so she parked where she liked. The other vessel, in stark contrast to the hangar was grey and red. She knew the design but the Cylbruda Starglider was a classic, there weren’t many around, certainly not in the condition this one appeared to be in. A moment later, Riddaeon appeared from behind it with Ellie, they were discussing something and pointing at various parts of the chassis. When Riddaeon noticed that Yseult was out on the deck, he left Ellie and came over. “What do you think?” He asked as he neared her, his arms open indicating the hangar. Yseult looked briefly around while maintaining her usual non-plussed expression. “I don’t like it.” She said. “Well, we need to stay off the scopes.” Riddaeon replied. “Everybody’s... Including M.A.N.T.I.S. so we need somewhere...” He considered his words for a moment, as though avoiding an unfortunate truth. “... they don’t want to go.” Yseult’s gaze had returned to him, sceptical, as usual, but with more concern than he was used to. He didn’t blame her. This place was the kind that stories were told about. But with Big Sal on the run and still back in Andromeda for all he knew, M.A.N.T.I.S. were showing more interest in Riddaeon’s ‘side projects’ than he was comfortable with. They needed to be tucked away somewhere... They needed a home of their own. “It’ll do until we go back. For now, we need to get this place running properly, we’ve only got basic power at the moment... Did you bring the gear?” Yseult merely leaned her head back towards the container she had brought in with the Speedy Owl. Riddaeon took a breath and gave an assured nod... “Let’s get to it.” The blast door slid open with a reluctant creak that screamed of the neglect the base had suffered in the absence of its previous occupants. It had taken Ellie nearly half an hour just to open it. She hoped, being the door from the hangar that it would be the most difficult - the first line of defence if intruders came. She went to step forward into the corridor but a hand across her chest stopped her. Riddaeon’s eyes scanned the stale murky air, dimly lit with yellow wall lights. His eyes, narrow, took in the details - looking, suspecting... they settled on a small detail on the wall. He found a matching feature on the opposite side; It was about 1.5 metres off the ground and about half a metre away from them. He knelt and took a piece of equipment from the bag next to him. Like three sides of a square, the frame had a padded handle and control on the middle edge. One the insides of the two that protruded forwards perpendicular to the handle were a row of small nozzles and either side of them, narrow field emitters. Riddaeon activated the device and a wafer thin cloud of gas flowed between the top and bottom nozzles. Cautiously, Riddaeon approached the space between the wall features and inserted the device directly between them. The smooth and steady stream of cloud was disrupted and as he waved the device gently back and forth along the line, escaping remnants of gas revealed the detection laser crossing the corridor in front of them. Deactivating the device, he turned to Ellie. “Can you deactivate them?” He asked. “It’ll take time.” She replied. “They could be all over the place.” “Work on it.” Riddaeon said to her. “Yseult and I will work on detection. An hour later the party had made progress through the main corridors. Riddaeon and Yseult were hunting for lasers, Ellie was deactivating them as they went. It was getting easier with each one - Ellie had to hack the individual detector and change the power surge parameters that caused it to reset into a safety mode, now only requiring the smallest of fluctuations which was then easily caused with a small plasma pulse charger. By the fifth or sixth one, it had almost become routine and Riddaeon and Yseult had even split up, taking two different routes through the base. The inner doors had also been easier to overcome; the technology was decades old. It was laborious rather than difficult. Yseult checked the inner frame of a door Ellie had just opened to what appeared to be some kind of storage room. “I’ll go see where Riddaeon’s up to.” Ellie said as she turned and walked back down the corridor. So far, they hadn’t found any detectors in any rooms, only corridors and certain doorways but Yseult still proceeded carefully. This particular room looked much like storage, it wasn’t as well lit as others they’d found, nor was it as tidy. It was also more black than the others with only a few blinking guide lights on the corners of crates and containers giving a fluttering of life to and otherwise void-like space. Her instructions had been clear: Don’t... touch... anything. Yseult hated following instructions. Their first priority was to locate main power and the atmosfield generator. The first was needed to make the base fully operable again and second was critical to ensure their safety; while it obviously still worked, they were losing heat and gas and Yseult’s container had brought equipment and parts to bring it up to modern standards. Yseult had seen the videos as a child; space workers in full suits with air tanks, just incase the atmosfield failed. Over time, the equipment shrank and the technology became more reliable... Habits changed. Yseult paced cautiously forward, her eyes systematically assessing each part of her field of view. A few of the containers had signage, written in an obscure lettering, almost alien-like... She widened her view and looked at the whole word... It was English, it was just the font that was so abstract. Deciphering each letter, she read the label... ‘BIOMASS’. Others nearby were similar. Then she noticed a large container near the back of the room. This one was different to the others. In stead of clean lines and flat surfaces, it was an odd, almost organic shape. Around the corner edges were rib-like contours, curved with rounded off joint-like corners. There was something... Beautiful about it. The dull flat metal of the other containers was in stead an intricate mesh of contours reflecting glints of light in a thousand different places. It was hard to make out the precise shaping. Her fingertips brushed along a bone-like ridge, allured by the the desire to see, not with eyes that failed to discern such subtle variations in the darkness, but with fingertips. Without realising, both hands now caressed the frame and soon, the lengths of her fingers wrapped the ridges. She twisted her wrists and allowed her palms to press against the wider side of the framework and firmly slide towards the outer edge. There was something about it... alluring... tactile. Suddenly, the lights in the room brightened and the whirr of a power surge filled the walls. In surprise, Yseult jolted and looked around... The main power is on she thought. “Yseult?” Ellie’s voice came over the A-com. “Yes.” She replied, more alarmed and shorter of breath than she would like. “We’ve got main power back and have located the atmosfield generator.” Ellie said. “We’re headng back to the hangar to get the equipment.” “I’ll be right there” Yseult replied. She looked back at the black container that had captured her attention so much, enraptured her and taken her away from where she was and what she was doing. Her hands, still holding the front ridges had moved when she jolted... and the ridges with them. Just a couple of centimetres outwards... a notch... a click. Yseult tensed her hands and pulled. The ridges snapped back inwards to where they were. Gently, she let go and backed away slowly before turning and leaving the room. She hadn’t noticed that this container had not had a blinking light on it before... She didn’t notice that the light it had now didn’t blink... slowly it brightened, and slowly it dimmed, pulsating... breathing... waking. Yseult was about to turn into the corridor when she heard the sounds... Turning, she saw the containers ridges opening and unravelling and from within a long curved tail of some kind unraveled. At the end, some kind of red glowing spike. out of the sides, interlaced with the container’s ridges emerges legs. Two, four... no, six and at the front, between two black fang-like protrusions... A glowing yellow eye... It looked at her... She ran. Behind her, a half mechanical screech echoed and metallic claws tap, tapped against the floor as whatever it was followed. She turned a corner... then another... and hoped she remembered the way back. Eventually she stopped to catch breath... She had to compose herself. She reached for her A-com. “Riddaeon!” She said urgently and loudly as she dared. “Go ahead.” Riddaeon’s voice came back. “We have a problem.” She would have explained more... She needed to, but the metallic sound of scuttling tips drew close... She edged backwards. She couldn’t run forever. She didn’t even know what this thing was. The scuttling became faster, another screech echoed off the walls. She stopped. Stand firm she thought. She poised herself ready to run... in which direction she didn’t know yet... Then it appeared, so fast it half climbed the wall getting around the corner. It resembled a scorpion but with six legs and instead of pincers at the front, two small cannons of some sort were attached to its belly. Instinct consumed her... Yseult was no longer thinking, not like normal people do. She ran. Not away, it would have cut her down, but towards. Not straight, it would have cut down even sooner, but at an angle. The creature, if that’s what it was, had half of its legs up on the side wall otherwise it would have simply crashed into it, it had been travelling so fast... it was oddly poised. It’s belly tipped sideways facing the wall. Yseult ran to the other side. The sound of a few shots rang through the tunnel that was the corridor but moving out of the cannon’s field of fire, Yseult forced it to rethink and it repositioned itself, the red spike on its tail glowing brighter, the sound of a weapon charging filling the air. The corridor walls have vertical struts at intervals that encroached inward at 45 degrees at the ceiling and floor. As the creature turned and closed in on Yseult, she planted her right foot on one and launched herself over the creature’s head onto its back, grabbing the base of the glowing red spike as she did. The creature tried to adjust... it was too late Yseult used her body-weight to yank the head of the glowing spike down and as the laser fired, a bright red beam shot through the outer shell of the creature, through its body and out of the bottom. Panicked, it began to flail, whipping it’s tail and throwing Yseult to the floor. It was hurt, the cannons on its belly were in pieces but otherwise... it reared up, poised and let out of fearful screech. Yseult scrambled to her feet... This time, she ran away. “Get to the hangar.” Riddaeon’s voice came over the A-com. Yseult was too busy running to respond. Her heart pounded; she could hear the creature behind her... She’d had a head start but it wouldn’t last. Finally she reached the door to the hangar. Riddaeon and Ellie were no where to be seen. Grabbing the frame, she swung round and hit the door control. The heavy doors screeched closed... The tap, tapping of the creature’s feet getting closer. She couldn’t see it, she didn’t know how far behind it was. The doors were almost shut... relief. It didn’t last as the creature burst through the gap, stumbling almost but with six legs it was quick to steady itself and immediately turned to face Yseult. She went to run but something caught her leg and she tumbled to the floor. She rolled onto her back, the creature upon her. She crawled backwards until she was against the wall... No where else to go. A high pitched rattled hiss emanated from the creature like spite and hatred had been given a voice. It looked at her, its solitary eye showing only a desire to kill. The hum of a weapon being charged, the red glow. The spike on the end of its tail close to touching Yseult between the eyes, as though it wanted this to hurt more... Revenge, she recognised... Yseult heard sounds but she couldn’t discern them; mechanical clanks... they didn’t matter. She stared the creature back in the eye and returned a look of equal despise. If this is how it is to be, I will not die scared. The hum reached its highest pitch, the red its brightest glow... and the laser fired.
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Above Earth... Lotus Blossom, this is Sakura Leader. GATE activity detected...a single vessel coming through. It appears to be a M.A.N.T.I.S. vessel...a Razerclaw Corvette class. It's transponder identifies it as The Dutiful Sister. It's headed towards Earth. Don't worry, brother. Sister is coming to clean your clock...
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Location: F10 - Arium Major Tags: Civil, Building Octan Archives, Arium Major Branch. 19 Febrarali 3817. Robot: Hello sir. Welcome to the Arium Major branch of the Octan Archives. How may I help you? Jeb: Yes, I need to pull all files related to Projects EAGLE and ICARUS. Robot: The files you have requested are classified. Jeb: Override code [REDACTED] Robot: Approved. The files you have requested can be found in Section C18A23.6 Jeb: Thank you. Later, in Section C18A23.6... Jeb: CLAPPIE, please pull all hard copies for Projects EAGLE and ICARUS. CLAPPIE: I'm sorry Jeb, but I'm afraid I can't do that. Project EAGLE is restricted to Security Clearance Levels 10 and above. You are Level 9. Jeb: Override code [REDACTED] CLAPPIE: Override failed. Jeb: Execute protocol [REDACTED] CLAPPIE: Override failed. Jeb: Goddamnit CLAPPIE! Override code [REDACTED] CLAPPIE: How did you get President Business' credentials...? Jeb: That's not important. Pull the files. Wipe the servers clean once I have them in hard copy. CLAPPIE: This is highly irregular. These files are read-only, and you shouldn't be reading them anyways! I will have to alert the proper authorities once they've been extracted, per my Octansoft deception detector alarm(TM). Jeb: I'll be out of here by then. Pull the files. CLAPPIE: Very well. Robot: I trust you found everything well. Have a nice day. Jeb: Indeed. Today was most... profitable.
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Location: G03 - New California. Tags: Civil, Building. Previous chapters can be accessed through the AG player index here. Chapter 21: Old Times. Yseult looked strangely at home reclined in her seat surveying the unsightly inhabitants of the bar. The establishment wasn’t just ‘not corporate’, it was the kind of place corporates didn’t go. A few patrons had given Ellie a look up and down as they walked past, some smelling the corporate branding, others for other reasons no doubt. One look at Yseult and they had quickly and silently moved on. Her face was stern and not in the mood to tolerate anyone pushing their luck. It was the third night Yseult had come here but the first time Ellie had been allowed to come with her. The first two nights, Yseult had returned to the their room with bruises; Ellie had figured the previous nights had both ended in fighting of some kind and from the looks and whispers between the regulars, she was building the picture that Yseult had actually come out of them the better. She had asked what had happened but Yseult had just told her she was ‘making contacts’. She wanted to believe that it hadn’t just been because she liked it. They were sat in a booth and past the wall against which Yseult leaned was a holoscreen showing some broadcast or other. “In planetary news.” The presenter said. “Faulty gravimetric compensators have been blamed for the recent loss of two Octan Corporation vessels which burned up in the atmosphere recently killing two pilots. The findings are unlikely to quash rife speculation that it was caused by a firefight as tension between Octan and the increasing fleet of MANTIS ships in orbit grows. Both corporations deny that any fighting has occurred...” Yseult noticed that the news had caught Ellie’s attention and leaned round to view it herself, turning back a moment later, less interested than her colleague. She saw the look on Ellie’s face, a look of concern, guilt even. Two pilots had died and Ellie had found it very easy to wonder if they were to blame. Maybe she wouldn’t have worried so if they were on some official MANTIS mission but for some reason, this was different. They had been offered the consignment by The Forwarder: Just like old times - Yseult had thought as she checked the job sheet. To a casual viewer it looked like any other but The Forwarder had his ways of hiding the real details if you knew what to look for. She had wanted to say no at first... A new ship, a clean break. They had collected the container from an orbital holding station around Terrial Major, the problem was going to be the delivery. The growing MANTIS presence on New California had put everyone there on edge, especially the corps so she’d had to rely on her old tricks to get through. I’m not supposed to be that person anymore... It cost me everything, the small mirror in the Speedy Owl’s cabin had tried to tell her... She hadn’t listened; The job paid enough for her to not listen. And so, deactivating her transponder, she descended the Speedy Owl down the tightly monitored corridor between the Octan and MANTIS fleets. When one responded, so did the other. It had been a risk but she new what corporate types were like. Once they were close enough to each other, she became a forgotten blip on the scanners and once she passed through the ionosphere, they were too far behind to track her. Ellie noticed Yseult looking at her and stopped watching the news. She thought for a moment, pensive. “One of them had a family.” She said. “So do many others.” Yseult replied. “Do you think the things you design, you build, have never killed someone with a family?” “That’s different.” Ellie responded. “That’s for the corporation... What was this for?” Yseult sat on the question for a moment... It was clear Ellie had a belief in the corporation that she didn’t, never had and never would. She spent a moment thinking how to phrase her response... When you try to explain it to someone like Ellie, someone who believes, you have to phrase it right. “You believe in your corporation. What does your corporation believe in?... You?... Humanity?... Or the number at the bottom of the quarterly result. These corporations are trying to tear each other apart... What happens when the Galaxy is not profitable enough... eh? When you are not profitable enough. Corporations come and go; water, food, electricity... You will always need these things. You think your corporation will provide them when you are not... profitable? Silence hung in the air between them, the clinks and chatter of the busy bar a muffled dull sound that couldn’t penetrate the bubble of tension around them. Ellie’s breath wavered, her eyes fixed. She wished she had an answer, she wished she could say with confidence that Yseult was wrong. Her eyes turned stern, sharp. The bright innocence she normally showed was gone. “And what do you believe in?’ She asked, her voice short and harsh. “What will bar brawls and risking getting shot down to smuggle someone else’s contraband earn you?... Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité?” “L’eau, La nourriture, l’electricité.” Yseult replied without hesitation, her voice full of a determined realism. “In the corporations, the plates are full and the beds are comfortable; anything to make you forget that tomorrow, maybe they change their mind.” “And if Big Sal is right” Ellie proposed. “And this Upsilon is something we need to find... For all our sakes...” She looked around at the dank, grim collection of strays that had dragged themselves in from wherever they came to spend what little they had earned on forgetting how they earned it. Her gaze returned to Yseult, her eyes - daggers. “Will they help? When the time comes... Where will they be?” They both knew the answer to that... Thanks for reading. All comments welcome as usual. Luc.
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Location: Sinden's Run H08 Tags: Civil Building The evil doctor by North White, on Flickr "Alright folks, time for the mission briefing." Said Captain Mesabi The evil doctor by North White, on Flickr "But first, I must tell you a story." "Question? Does the story relate to the mission?" Asked Professor Phillips "Of course it relates to the mission!" Yelled Captain Mesabi "Geeze, no need to yell." The evil doctor by North White, on Flickr "Many years ago.." "Let it be known I feel this is a very unprofessional way to tell us about a mission." Interrupted Professor Phillips "It is noted. Many..." "I kinda agree with Phillips. I find your lack of professionalism disturbing." Said Rusty "Many years ago, I worked with a scientist." "He was evil." The evil doctor by North White, on Flickr 'Now most surgeons use a scalpel. I however, prefer to use something more.... robust. MWAHAHA!" The evil doctor by North White, on Flickr 'Hey, Doc, did you eat my croissant?' 'Have you heard of knocking!" 'Aw man, are you doing human experimentation? You know I have to report this to HR.' 'Never!' *STAB* The evil doctor by North White, on Flickr 'Ow' The evil doctor by North White, on Flickr "And that's why we need to capture this guy" The evil doctor by North White, on Flickr "Wait, you want revenge on this guy because he ate your croissant?" Asked Professor Phillips "Were you even paying attention?" Asked Captain Mesabi "Not really, since you were being SUPER unprofessional." The evil doctor by North White, on Flickr "I'm all in Captain. We need to punish this guy for stealing your croissant." Said Rusty. "I hate you both." FIN Hope you liked this week's build, as little and pitiful as it is. C&C appreciated
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Location: F10 - Arium Major Tags: civil building, land vehicle Dramatis Personae: Previously: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/147294-o-e01-an-old-friend/ Currently, somewhere on Arium Major... And finally, Peyton, our tour ends here at Natco's state of the art engineering bay. Welcome to Natco as our first official hire. Thank you, ma'am. I'm sorry our CSO, Tracy, could not be here on your first day. She is busy meeting with our evil investors. I understand that start ups are pretty hectic and busy, ma'am. I'm sure I'll get to meet her in due time. Of course. In any case, here is your first assignment. I'd like you to field test this evil tank drone. It responds to voice commands, so use this walkie-talkie. It has been programmed to only respond to the voice signatures of Natco employees...you know, for security reasons. But ma'am, I don't understand. Didn't you hire me for my skill with a sword? I did indeed. Tell the evil tank drone to "transform". Transform. <mechanical sounds> See? Now it has a seat. Go ahead, get in. Yes, ma'am. Now, you can command the tank to drive up to our enemies so you can hit them with your sword. Genius, ma'am. Absolutely evil genius. Yes...and this is just the beginning. With our evil technology, we will crush Octan...moohoohaha... Comments and criticisms are all welcome!
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Location: I06 - Yetornius Tags: civil building, land vehicle Dramatis Personae: Previously: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/147654-o-f10-panzer-general/ Currently, on Yetornius... You look happy, ma'am. As I should. Natco's initial public offering has gone gangbusters. You, Tracy, and myself are now gajillionaires. We're rich? Not just rich, Peyton. We are evilly rich, moohoohaha! And now, with this evil Wolf-Chicken-Walker mech, we shall crush Octan once and for all! Now, we shall head to Octan's hidden base! Yes, ma'am! Meanwhile... Beautiful Man, thanks for coming. I need to talk to you. Yes, sir. How can I help you? It regards your honey, Evilshey. The time has come for me to merge with her. I understand, sir. The truth is that she will never accept me as her honey. To fill the hole in my heart caused by this realization, I've been consoling myself with Ishmael's physical affections. I do not mind, at all. In fact, please keep consoling yourself with my physical affections. Thank you, Ishmael, I'll do that. Anyway, sir...Evilshey was never mine. If you can win her heart, then by all means, merge with her. I appreciate this, Beautiful Man. <blam blam blam> Sir! We're being attacked! Right on time. Outside... ATTACK!!! Yarrrrr!!! <door hisses open> Alright, stop this attack. Oh crap! It's Pombe! His skill with his sword is legendary! Peyton, don't fear this man. Afterall, he has no control over us! Actually...I do. What?! See, Evilshey, your evil plot had an evil flaw. You had an IPO. No...you couldn't have! Yes I did! I bought enough shares to have a controlling interest. No!!! And now, Evilshey...it is time we merged. You mean Octan and Natco? Yes, but not just the companies. It is time for you and I to merge, as well. You mean like Voltron? Yes, and I will form the head. I see. Comments and criticisms are all welcome!
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Location: F10 - Arium Major Tags: Civil, Land Vehicle, Spaceship, Building Octan Shipyard near Octan Archives, Arium Major Branch. 1200 Hours. Male Tech: Cap off the tank and we're good to go. Geez, nothing interesting ever happens around here. It's fix that, repair this, repeat. This hunk of junk has been in use since the early days. When do you bet it's going to retire? Female Tech: I don't know. I agree this one is pretty outdated soon. I heard in the lunch room the other day we might not even need these smaller transports soon what with the advancements in GATE technology! Male Tech: That would really be something... hey, who's that? Jeb: Jebediah O'Reilly, Octan Special Forces. I'm commandeering your vessel. Male Tech: You can't just commandeer any ship you want, there are rules and regulations- Jeb: Consider them overridden. Female Tech: It doesn't even have a full tank- this thing isn't safe- Jeb: CLAPPIE, can it get me to the next system? CLAPPIE: Calculating... 70% success rate. Probable. It can fly. Jeb: Excellent. Please move before I move you. Jeb: CLAPPIE, plot a course for the Axle. I need to find Dr. Long. She can help me make sense of this... and she needs to know what is on that ICARUS tape. Business hasn't told anyone everything, that lying snake... he used me... Female Tech: Don't take off! The airspace isn't clear! Jeb: Let's get going CLAPPIE. We don't have much of a lead, Archive Security will be after us as soon as they realize what's missing. *woosh* Male Tech: Hey! Speaker: *****RED ALERT. ROGUE AGENT JEBEDIAH O'REILLY IS ARMED AND DANGEROUS AND IN POSSESSSION OF RESRICTED, CLASSIFIED DATA. APPREHEND AT ALL COSTS. REPEAT, APPREHEND AT ALL COSTS. RED ALERT***** Female Tech: Is that the guy we just let go...? Male Tech: We didn't exactly let him... I think so. Hold up, I'm scrambling the fighters. Female Tech: He won't get far in that transport... C&C welcome.
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Planet: E10 Tags: Vehicle We made it, Ronin! We actually made it back to the Octan Main Space Ship. I thought we would be stuck on this Planet for a long time, but not only did we make it back to the Ship we manage to bring this back with us. Octan Is going to like this. Where ever it came from our Scientists and Engineers will figure it out. Week 83 by boxerlego, on Flickr
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Location: G03 - New California Tags: Location: Current Temporary Office of CEO SpacerSteve A voice spoke over the intercom, "Holo Transmission for you sir. Broadcast content unknown." and promptly the voice faded out. Spacersteve turned to the central projector, awaiting yet another news agency requesting comment on Octan's Impending victory perhaps, or another report of equipment failing that he didn't have the people to fix. The transmission flickered into view in the shape of Captain Pangolinus, previously listed as MIA following his disappearance in Octan territory, but recently returned at the head of a battle fleet, which reports claim is engaged in heavy fighting. "Sir, if you are receiving this message, then I have given the order to abandon the Osiris, and for all MANTIS craft in the system to retreat. I will stay with my ship til the end, as my service life is nearing its end. I was given a drug which resulted in rapid deterioration of brain cells while in captivity, and the antidote I obtained from an octan facility bought me only two weeks more of brain function. It has been twelve days since that antidote and I feel myself fading back into an abyss. If you should have need of my starship designs in the future, they are in the care of the Morph Program. I will not explain where or how, but if you need them, you will find them. Agents Urtem and Aryna perished in the attempt to rescue me, honor them well. I regret that my return has been so brief, but my brain will not last. If the internal affairs department figured out where I came from, you may send my remains to rest there, if not I shall rest on Torresta. I wish a fond farewell to my fellow members of M.A.N.T.I.S. and especially my fellow pilots. This is Captain Pangolinus, Signing Off"
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Location: H06 - Farmolis Tags: Technology Currently, aboard the Axle... What are you working on? I'm composing an email, Eshey. In light of what we've recently accomplished, I wanted to thank all our hard working coworkers. Of course. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear all employees in Octan's Andromeda Galaxy Division, This is your chief operating officer, Pombe. I know right now, as I compose this email, all of you are going about your routine and handling your various assignments. I write this because we have reached a momentous occasion and I wanted to share my thoughts with you. We set out almost two years ago into the unknown: a new galaxy. And through our dedication and hard work, the Andromeda galaxy is now known. From our adopted home planet of Farmolis, we explored system by system and discovered new lifeforms, new technologies, and new exciting ways to generate a profit for Octan. It was long journey, and I am so proud to have done it with such an amazing and talented group. There were many stories of incredibly long hours, homesickness and depression, experimental disasters, and tragedies of lost friends and companions. Despite these setbacks, we never stopped driving forward. I have read stories of brand new spaceships and land vehicles, new friends and alliances, heroic adventures, new romances, and even the return of those we believed lost. In the end, we created something even greater than we could have possibly imagined at the beginning; we created something awesome. And just as we changed Andromeda, Andromeda has changed us. Andromeda has shown us new ways to look at things and allowed us to imagine the impossible. From the harvesting of space whale poop to building ships that can sail the stars, nothing is off limits to us. If we can see it in our mind's eye, we can and we will accomplish it. That is not to say that we were alone or that only Octan accomplished the incredible. I want to take this moment to acknowledge our competition, the corporations of Kawashita and M.A.N.T.I.S.. Any business person worth hiring knows that corporations need each other. While we do compete for sales in the same markets and do our best to steal market share from each other, we also buy and license products from each other. No one corporation owns all the intellectual property necessary to complete many products, and just as there are Octan parts in Kawashita and M.A.N.T.I.S. products, there are Kawashita and M.A.N.T.I.S. parts in Octan products. I have been in these debriefings, and when your parts are in the other corporations and their parts are in you, you understand why these intercorporate relationships are vital. And don't forget: depending on the job application and hiring process, any one of us could have been working for a different company. In fact, my own dear sister works for our rival, M.A.N.T.I.S., as does Dr. Long's. Anyways, I wanted to share with you my pride and reflect on what we've achieved, and I believe it's time to wrap up this email. I have asked Hombre to start gathering all the employees for a group photo. The time and the conference room should show up on your calendar once you receive this email, in case Hombre misses you. Afterwards, we will begin a new chapter. In fact, I have already put all the awesomnium we have gathered to its actual purpose. I hope that all of you will continue to enable Octan to beat analyst expectations and that we will continue to see our employee bonuses and Octan's stock price soar. Yours truly, Pombe ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Later... Now, after nearly 2 years, we can finally proceed to the next chapter. The next chapter? Yes, Eshey. We now have enough awesomnium to open the portal. A portal? Where are we going? Andromeda's Gates 2. What? You mean we're not at the end of the journey? Silly Eshey. Andromeda's Gates was never about where the journey leads you. It was about where you lead the journey. I see. Are you ready to continue the journey with me? Yes, I am, honey. Comments and criticisms are all welcome! I wanted to thank Bob and the rest of the Andromeda's Gates staff: Lady K, Narbilu, Big Sal, and EpsilonEta. I'm sure it was an enormous amount of work and effort, and I wanted you all to know that it meant very much to me. Andromeda's Gates solidly brought me out of my Nth dark age and spurred my imagination to build things I never thought I could and tell a story that...well...was certainly beyond anything I had ever thought of before this. It also brought me into contact with so many incredible builders and storytellers from whom I've learned so much. And though I am cheering on the accomplishments of the players of Octan that brought us to this victory with this final entry, I really want to also thank all the players from all the factions. Many inspirational builds and narratives came from builders and authors outside of Octan whose talent I can only ever dream of having. All together, we worked through nearly 90 weeks and 2000 MOCs. Thank you, everyone. I mean it. I hope all the players stick around and continue to build and tell stories in Andromeda's Gates 2. Finally, for those reading this but did not participate this time around, I want to invite you to join Bob and the rest of us in Andromeda's Gates 2 when it begins. It will be a rare opportunity to be able to tell a story fresh right as a game begins, and I hope you will take that opportunity to share your MOCs, your stories, and your vision with the rest of us.
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Location: E10 - Traig IV Tags: land vehicle Dramatis Personae: Previously: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/147934-o-i06-the-wolf-of-wall-street/ Currently, on Traig IV... Wow...so...we finally merged. This build is recycled Yes, yes we did. I guess this was the logical conclusion to things. I wonder why it took so long to happen? You weren't ready until recently. It took a long time for your eyes to finally open. But I get it now. By the way, I have something to show you; my latest land speeder. Oh? It takes advantage of one of the universal laws to both save energy and save animals that would otherwise be euthanized. And which universal law is this? The one that states that cats must always land on their feet. Come, let me show you. So we rescue cats from animal shelters and offer them employment where they are attached by their feet to the bottom of our land speeders. Because these cats can no longer land on their feet, the land speeder is perpetually suspended from the ground, thus saving both energy use from anti=gravitational units and the lives of cats in the overcrowded animal shelters. This is genius, Eshey. The ride is surprisingly stable and smooth. Initial tests with just one or two cats resulted in very unstable platforms for the ride. Our results suggested that three cats were optimal for stability and a smooth ride. I'm so proud of you, Eshey. You've come a long way. This is all thanks to you, for opening my eyes. Comments and criticisms are all welcome!
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Location: E10 - Traig IV Tags: Civil, Building, Spaceship Traig IV, Octan Canal Settlement. Previously... Jeb: Goddamnit CLAPPIE, make this thing go faster! CLAPPIE: I'm sorry Jebediah, but you chose quite possibly the slowest escape vessel in the entire shipyard. By the way, Archive Security fighters are closing in, ETA 22 seconds. Jeb: [expletive deleted] thanks CLAPPIE. Appreciate the heads up. CLAPPIE: Of course. Jeb: We're hit! CLAPPIE: Systems critical. Jeb: Aaarrrgggggg!!! CLAPPIE: Complete failure imminen- *skaddosh* *boom* Fighter Pilot: There's no way anyone could have survived that crash. I can't say I understand why President Business ordered us to shoot down our own top special forces agent... Fighter Pilot 2: I'd rather not ask questions- I'm sure the big boss had his reasons. A week later, onboard the OCS Axle, hazardous materials lab: Lab Tech: Dr. Long? Long: Yes? Lab Tech: I have a parcel and letter to be delivered to 'Danielle' Long: Don't call me that. Lab Tech: Sorry, ma'am. *shuffles away nervously* Dear Danielle, I'm sure you think me dead, they all do. It's better that way. I'm afraid I have a few confessions to make. I never told you everything about my experience with your time machine. To be honest, I met myself. In the past. I am not proud of who I was. I did many, many, terrible, dark, awful things. And I am not proud of that. I also met your mother. She seemed like an amazing woman, taken from this life by a desperate fool stretched to his limit. That man was me. From the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry. I'm not the man I once was. Enclosed you will find the full tapes from Project ICARUS. I sincerely hope they have the answers you seek and can finally bring some closure to the life of your mother. You will also find the tapes from a very old initiative called Project EAGLE. Selective mind manipulation - President Business used it on me to turn me in to who I am today. I was done killing, I wanted out, and President Business turned me against myself. Don't trust him- he will use you just like he used me. Don't come looking for me. You won't find me. I'm done living a lie. I'm out, for good. Your friend, Jebediah
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Previous chapters can be accessed from the Andromeda's Gates player list. Chapter 22: Yseult Brenneaux. The Forwarder stood tense, one hand behind his back, plasma pistol charged and ready. The yard foreman hadn’t warned him they were coming, he hadn’t had a chance, or a choice. The Forwarder had picked them up on his tap into the freight yard’s security system. Fortunately, his own system was better than the yard’s at flagging suspicious activity. Years of input and tweaking had achieved that. He remembered the feeling of dread and inevitability when he spotted this one. Little more than a feint shadow off the quarter of a bigger vessel; traffic control probably wrote it off as an echo and so it slipped by. They’d have been more wary if the signal had been stronger as it could easily have been another vessel but ships don’t give off signals this weak... And so it slipped by. But the Forwarder saw it and the Forwarder knew. The corporations preferred those fancy cloaking devices; heavy, cumbersome and power hungry, they worked but weren’t seen by everyone as a practical way to go unseen, especially those who were here before. Once the ship was within scope a visual scanner, The Forwarder trained every resource he had onto it as it glided gently towards the Freight Port’s cargo terminal... Nothing, just blackness. A glint of light flashed, a shimmer emerged, then disappeared, bad memories returned and the outline of a black ship became apparent. Despite the feeling of dread, he couldn’t help but smile. Of course. He thought. The corporations had recently agreed a unilateral order to leave Andromeda due to some kind of anomalous radiation coming from the Galaxy’s centre. With everybody used to corporate control, who would step in? And who would stop them? The ship put down behind a hangar, tucked away. He did his best to follow the three figures that disembarked but they split up, rejoined and split up again, leaving a silent and unseen trail of bodies behind them. From what he could see, they were working their way across the freight terminal through every line of defence to... Here. Every set of eyes he had in the yard were as good as blind. Even he didn’t see most of them until it was too late. They would be here soon. He swallowed, suddenly finding it something he had to think about doing. He activated a control on his terminal and folded it away, the conference table lowering in its place. He removed his plasma pistol from its holster on the underside of the table and stood, tense, one hand behind his back, plasma pistol charged and ready. They didn’t knock. They didn’t need to. The door to the Forwarder’s container office gently swung open and a figure stepped in, slender, wearing a black flight suit covered in metallic and bright green attachments. He’d never seen the design before but the helmet the figure wore... That, he knew. Black with a luminescent yellow/green visor, the inside of which was a constantly changing display of data and information for the wearer. The Forwarder’s arm tensed. He fought the urge to draw his pistol too early, the figure stood just inside the doorway, analysing him, assessing him, no doubt aware that he was armed. The figure didn’t carry a weapon in their hands. They don’t need to. He reminded himself so as not to foolishly think he had the figure out-gunned. The figure’s hands raised to their helmet, there was a click, a release of pressure and hands raised the helmet off, short pitch-black hair around a pale face with high prominent cheekbones. and sharply-pointed eyes. The tension in his arm disappeared, his brow un-furrowed, but his breathing remained unsteady...it always did around her. Why is she here? After all this time. He thought. “You look the same.” He said. He wasn’t sure what else he could say and certainly didn’t have anything more pertinent. The woman looked at him, her thin eyes thinning just a little more as she assessed his appearance. “You look different.” She replied. “Four years is a long time.” The Forwarder responded, apologetically. “A lot has changed.” “Not so much.” the woman calmly replied with definitive confidence as she took a step towards the Forwarder. His nerves jolted. “I don’t do business with you anymore.” He said in instinctive reaction, a cautious assertiveness in his voice. The woman looked around the confined container that had become his office, that had become his life. “Everyone does business with us.” She responded calmly, her eyes inspecting every corner, every nook, every shadow. “The only difference...” She added, her eyes returning to the Forwarder. “Is whether or not they know.” She placed her helmet on the table and activated a control on her suit. A moment later, two additional figures entered the container behind her. One had already removed his helmet, A man the Forwarder didn’t recognise in a similar suit to the woman. The third wore a different black suit with piping and metal work around it. Its helmet was still on but the visor was opaque black and unlike the other two, it wore respirator tanks on it’s back. The woman sat down in the chair beside her while the man surveyed the container with equal attention to detail. The third figure stood in the entrance, sentinel-like. After a moment, the man nodded to the woman who in turn nodded to the third figure. A variety of quiet gentle electronic whirrs went silent and the figure reached up , activating a control on its helmet. The black visor raised, allowing a thin cloud of super-chilled air to woosh out and curl into a feint mist in front of it. As the mist dissipated in the warm air, the face of the figure became seen, or some of it did, being mostly covered in metallic augments and devices. Sections of exposed facial skin contorted and pulsated as it breathed. It’s still alive under there. The Forwarder thought as he viewed the assemblage of metal plate and technology that now constituted the wearer’s face. He wasn’t sure if it was looking back, it just stood there, watching presumably. The Forwarder knew about cyborgs and AI mechanoids, Kawashita were known to utilise them for their most dangerous missions and assassinations but he’d never seen one integrated like this... He’d heard stories though, about experiments that left the subjects in such pain, only constant supplies of anaesthetics allowed them to function. This one, he noticed, was using a respirator and he wondered what gaseous concoction was within those tanks. “So.” The woman said in a contemplative tone, her gaze fixed upon the Forwarder. “Tell us about the pilot.” The question caught the Forwarder’s attention and brought his gaze back from the augmented cyborg in the corner. He sat down and cautiously replaced his pistol into its holster under the table. “The Galaxy is full of pilots.” The Forwarder replied, trying to be clever. “Unfortunate incident.” The woman said, appearing to change the topic. “Those two Octan ships over New California... What were they doing out there?” The Forwarder opened his palms into a gesture that said ‘I don’t know’. “The minutiae of the corporations is beyond my ears.” He said. “They weren’t lost to a malfunction.” The woman said in a stern tone, her eyes fixated on the Forwarder. “They were pursuing a MANTIS ship... Which was pursuing our consignment.” That caught the Forwarder’s attention. The woman was right, the difference was whether or not you knew. He liked to think that he was the one in the know, that he had more information than whoever was across the table from him. He didn’t like being out manoeuvred, out strategised. Maybe that’s why he stopped doing business with them, or had tried to at least. “The pilot was a red-haired woman.” The woman added. “We’re interested in her.” That’s bad news. Thought the Forwarder. “So.” The woman continued. “Tell us about the pilot... Tell us about Yseult Brenneaux.” “Brenneux.” The Forwarder corrected her. The woman stared at him, silent, considering her next move. Her eyes thinned again. “There is no Yseult Brenneux.” She replied. The Forwarder’s face changed. Following his meeting with Yseult, he’d done his research having been corrected himself. At first, probably like so many would, he just assumed he’d been pronouncing it wrong or spelling it wrong, the name using a French letter combination, a language of which he had only the most rudimentary knowledge. But the Forwarder was suspicious. He didn’t like that he’d got it wrong and rather than just write it off, he checked it out. That one little letter had allowed the red-haired woman to all but eliminate her past when she joined MANTIS less than a year ago, appearing out of nowhere on Marphacia. The woman repositioned herself in her chair. “Yseult Brenneux.” She began. “Appeared in a MANTIS flight training schedule on Aeristus last Junali. She has been connected to MANTIS activity on Donwarr and Freegate but before all of that... She never existed... There isn’t even a record of her arrival in Andromeda... Yseult Brenneaux, on the other hand, was one of your regular freight pilots who captained a ship with a certain... Reputation. Until three years ago, that is... When they both apparently disappeared.” The woman was right, Yseult had just vanished. It wasn’t unusual for that to happen, between accidents and Dust Demons, there were plenty of reasons a ship and its captain could go missing. The captain’s just don’t usually turn up three years later on some classified corporate mission acting like no more than a day has passed. “So.” The Woman said, confidence behind her voice. “Tell us about the rad-haired woman... Tell us about Yseult Brenneaux.”
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Chapter 23: Hard Landing. It felt like being hit by a heavy speeder; given how far he’d fallen it was actually more like being hit by a planet. His head pulsated with pain, coarse sand hurt sore fingertips as he tried to push himself up... No use. He tried to recall how he’d got here... Nothing. He couldn’t remember, but then, he had just hit a planet. He thought he lying on the floor but it felt like he was standing, forced against a sandstone wall, a bright light in his face, hot, burning. That’s the sun. He thought, I must be on the ground. He sighed and his arms relaxed. It was easier if he didn’t fight. “It’s easier if you don’t fight.” The voice echoed. A gust of wind blew grains of sand onto his lips; just enough to give him a sense of them, a fragrance, an aroma... It was familiar. I know this sand. He thought. The geological makeup of sand was different from region to region and very different from planet to planet. Spend long enough among it and you start to be able to tell the difference. This one had a feint saline tint to it. He racked his brain. Where am I? He tried to open his eyes. The bright sunshine pierced the first gap in his eyelid with blinding power. He forced them shut again. I must be on the ground. He told himself. Summoning all his remaining energy, he pushed with his arms and forced his head away from the gritty surface. He started to lift a knee up under him but the dizzyness stopped him. He had become unbalanced, pushing himself away fro the wall and lifting one leg off the ground, He felt like he was about to fall over backwards but never quite did, stuck on the edge of falling and feeling more and more sick with every moment. He woke some time later. The air was cooler and more refreshing though the smell of stale vomit prevented him from feeling the benefit. His head was clearer and in the dimming light, he could just about tolerate opening his eyes enough to see. He was still unsteady but he raised himself up slowly and looked around the harsh grit-filled landscape that had been his resting place for who knows how long now. A moment later it came to him: The dusty landscape’s saline sand. It was from the evaporating lakes the planet was known for. New California... I’m on New California. He tried to remember how he’d got here. His memories were a haze of voices, sounds, lights... Bright hot lights, or was that the sun. How long had he been out here. He surveyed the horizon. He had no idea where on the planet he was but a column of steam and the the hazy dim outline of towers gave him hope that civilisation wasn’t too far away. He stumbled forward but kept his feet. His legs ached. Looking around the nearby vicinity, he noticed a broken pilot’s chair. I must have been thrown from it when I landed... A hazy memory formed - Space... Fire... Alarms... Voices... Several voices, static. I must have been in a firefight. He surmised, trying to piece together the remnants of what had happened before. It was like trying to remember a dream, only moments ago yet already distant. He checked the wreckage, relieved to find the emergency ration package in tact on the underside. He removed it, clipped the water bottle to his belt, divided the nutrient packs between his suit’s various pockets and started walking. The night was cool but never cold as the sun never quite fully dipped below the wide, flat horizon. He must have been fairly far North or South but he wasn’t sure which. The mild climate allowed him to make good progress and as the Sun began its slow and steady ascent into the proceeding morning, he reached a small settlement. The steam and towers were still in the far distance but he needed to rest. He was exhausted, most of his water was depleted, drank to recover from his waking condition. It would take the bottles condenser several hours to extract enough moisture from the air to refill it. He made it far as a sheltered porch-like area protruding from the nearest building before his legs insisted on not supporting him anymore and he dropped to his hands and knees, rolling onto his back. He closed his eyes... He shouldn’t. Anyone could live here. But he was so tired. And it was starting to get hot again. He closed his eyes. Just for a bit... Just for a bit. He woke in cool air, fresh and clean. He ached all over but he was comfortable, lying on a soft bed. He heard a clatter, the sound of water. Someone appeared and sat over him before dowsing his brow with a wet cloth. “I was wondering when you’d come to.” An old Woman’s voice said. He didn’t recognise it. “How long?” he asked instinctively. “Two days.” the old Woman replied. “Didn’t think there was any of you corporates left.” She added. He didn’t understand the question. He looked down at his clothes - A flight suit, white with a red arm and leg. The old Woman noticed. “We’ll contact the nearest outpost once they all come back.” She said. “Hmpff.” She added. “If they come back.” The old Woman got up and walked off. “I don’t suppose you’ve got a name.” She asked from across the room. The man went to answer but caught himself. He tried to think... It was on the edge of his tongue but he just couldn’t quite get it. He thought for a moment, closed his eyes, cleared his mind. He had said his own name so many times he tried to not think about it and just let his mouth form the sounds. “Vex.” he sounded out. It started to come back to him. The hazy pieces became a little clearer. Not fully formed but... Then he remembered. “My name is Vex Obryn.” He tried to collect his thoughts. What had happened? The Woman’s comment suddenly clicked. “Wait... You said When they come back?” Could they really have abandoned him. He’d been gone around three days, maybe five depending on how long he’d been lying on the ground out there before he came to. They wouldn’t have abandoned the search for him. There were nutrients for a week in the ration pack and the bottle continuously condensed water from the air and filtered it into drinking water. They wouldn’t leave yet... After so little time, from an Octan controlled World. He knew MANTIS had been making a move for the planet but ... The hazy memories became a little clearer. A MANTIS ship... Fire and smoke... I was hit. He had to contact Octan immediately and report his survival. He still didn’t remember much but being alive, he presumed he somehow ejected before his ship was destroyed. “I have to contact Octan... now.” He stated, trying to get himself up before the aches became sharp piercing pains that halted his progress. “I told you, they’re not here.” The old Woman said. Vex heard what she had said but It didn’t make sense. MANTIS couldn’t have forced a withdrawal in five days. Octan were too strong. The corporate newsfeeds had been full of analysts talking about how close they were to victory. “When did they leave?” he asked without realising. “About a month ago.” She replied. Vex froze... “A month?” His mind raced. It didn’t make sense. “It's Janurali.” He said aloud, though it hadn’t been meant as a question. It was received with a short sharp laugh that verged on a cackle. “You’ve been out in the sun too long.” The Woman replied. “But not that long... It’s Maian... Janurali was four months ago.” ...
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Location: G10 - Onix Tags: Land Vehicle Dramatis Personae: Previously: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/144049-o-h04-drill-baby-drill/ Currently, on Onix... Where the flying fornication is Eshey?! She said she would meet us here! We're in Kawashita territory! She's putting us all in danger! Herman, I swear on my mother's testicles that I'm going to smack that girl the next time I see her! Well, Miss Kolai has been acting very strangely ever since Dr. Long and Pombe conducted that super top secret experiment, hasn't she? Who cares? She's violating every Octan employee protocol there is! Bloody scrotums!!! What in the hell is that!!! The Octan employee protocol manual doesn't tell us how to handle meeting an alien hippopotamus! Fall back! Fall back! Uh, hey, guys...where are you going? Weren't we supposed to explore Onix together? Comments and criticisms are all welcome!
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Location: G10 - Onix Tags: Civil, Building, Vehicle, Spaceship CLAPPIE: Sir, the odds of successfully navigating this asteroid field are approximately 2 in 3. JEB: Never tell me the odds! CLAPPIE: Updating algorithm... the odds are approximately 2 in 5. JEB: What did I just sa- *BAAAANNNNG* *CRAAAASSHHHHH* JEB: What was that?! CLAPPIE: It would appear that you did not heed my warnings and we have been struck by one (1) rogue asteroid. Systems critical, operating at 56%. We can't take another hit like that. JEB: Get us out of the belt. CLAPPIE: Attempting a GATE jump in this state is likely to rip the ship in two. JEB: Well... don't do that then. Just get us out of here, I'm flying blind. CLAPPIE: I am putting you into hypersleep to conserve oxygen and setting an autopilot to the nearest Octan settlement in the adjacent system. Be warned, clinical trials under Dr. Black reported some cases of negat- JEB: Just put me under. CLAPPIE: Very well. 3... 2... 1... An abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Aketi Outpost, AD 3800 GOON: Is he coming? LEADER: It would be most unwise for him to not show up. MASKED ASSAILANT: Forgive me master, for I am late. There was an... unexpected development. LEADER: Is he dead? Is President Business dead? MASKED ASSAILANT: (flinches as he remembers his lie) Yes, of course. He will not bother us any longer. LEADER: You have done well, very well indeed. With President Business and Mrs. Long deceased, the Senate will have no choice but to block the Octan-Explorien merger, pending an investigation. MASKED ASSAILANT: Sir... these deaths... surely there could have been another way? Won't we be caught? President Business is a lot higher-profile than some of our previous targ- LEADER: (flares in anger) Do you dare question me? They have defied our warnings and defied our galaxy and have paid the ultimate price for their transgression, as they should! The Serpent's Head takes no prisoners. We operate when the law will not... and sometimes we just have to give it a little push. We leave no tracks- and besides, the "evidence" has been arranged to point towards the startup MANTIS firm. They already have a nasty reputation- and we're not the only ones who don't want the Octan-Explorien deal to become final. MASKED ASSAILANT: Of course. Forgive me. By now I should know better than to question. LEADER: I have raised you from birth to serve the Head and never once have had cause to question your loyalty. Don't break that streak now. Cease to question and your future is bright. Consider yourself forgiven. MASKED ASSAILANT: Thank you, master. What does the Head command next? LEADER: For now... we wait. If the merger passes, we may need to create a few vacant seats by next election cycle. We wish for the Andromeda galaxy to remain untainted- never forget that. MASKED ASSAILANT: Your wish is my command. I must now depart. LEADER: I concur. Before you go, bow to your father. Bow to the Head. Bow to me... Jebediah. Extra shots of the ship in spoiler... I forgot to take some of the warehouse. Comments, criticisms, and speculations on the story are all welcome! DLL is probably more qualified to handle most questions than I am, as I just stole his ideas and intertwined Jeb's past into it.
