Matt B Blogging

004. An Assault on the Sensors

"Man, this is a lot of stuff!" Mongoose exclaims, as she untangles her self and drifts back towards the centre of the room.

Weapons like swords and long knives adorn the wall behind plexiglass. A wide variety of guns, some with plaques, as well as some ornate formal uniform, all on display.

The suite has two bedrooms off the main lounge, and an office nook with a desk and terminal.

Floating by the terminal, Mongoose sees the chair is magnetically attached to the deck, so she 'sits', hooking her legs around chair legs to keep from floating away as she boots it up, trying to find any kind of itinerary of possessions - like a list of assets for insurance, or cargo manifest when they first came on board?

[Gather Information - wits - weakhit]

Finds a good list of assets, transfers it to her computer - via a thumbdrive - but sees the majority of family possessions are in a container in the cargo bay - the other side of the ship!

She checks her bulky forearm computer again - a green moulded plastic housing a dark convex screen with green text, clicks down a mode button for atmosphere readings. Life support is good - air breathable, temperature, 15 degrees C, not too bad. She takes off her helmet, leaves it by the desk, and extracts several tubes from another belt pouch and a brief tear of a seal they thoomph into safety-orange-coloured cube shaped containers, 1.5m a side, 6 of them.

It's awkward going, but Mongoose pries the plexiglass off the displays and starts loading the containers. Once she has everything important - she assumes / hopes furniture and haberdashery is not important - she fastens the cubes together in train of ungainliness, and does a long trek back to airlock.

[Anything happen on the way there? Oracle: no]

She leaves that bundle by the airlock, everything except Astrid, now lashed closer, like a backpack, and thinks - computer core next? Or find the cargo bay? From her orbit she knows there's cargo doors on the Port side, but Operations in past Engineering. The Computer Core was her first Vow, and hopefully less awkward than carting all this shit around.

[Explore a waypoint - weak hit]

Another trip back to engineering, Mongoose wants to fix Astrid! Another look around. She finds a garage, with bays for bots. Most of them are filled. One combat bot is missing. Also, there's one ominous looking slot for an assault bot - much bigger guns than the bot she destroyed earlier. Another terminal reveals that the computer core is an AI! Way above her pay-grade. It's dormant - locked away in a faraday cage

She tries to fix Astrid, again, with the proper machinery.

[repair - strong hit!]

Astrid is fixed! Mongoose whoops in excitement! These new parts have Astrid in better condition that ever!

[level up Astrid]

Heartened, and feeling more confident, despite a potential assault bot out there, Mongoose grab's Astrid's handle, draws her pistol, and heads towards Operations

[Expedition - shadow - weak hit]

[Mark Progress: Find Operations, where the Computer Core would be found :3 boxes]

Mongoose heads quietly, lights out, through the emergency lit halls. The blue pastel walls of engineering give way to pristine white of medical. She glances through the glass doors of emergency, planning to scoot on by, but she sees something, strange...

Corpses - under shrouds. Curious, but very very apprehensive, she opens the door. It's freezing in there. As she and Astrid pass the threshold, the door closes. The corpses are naked, great chest incisions - containers nearby - contain organs, slides for microscopes, and shockingly, embryos. Horrified, Mongoose backpedals out of the room, well shook! Can't even begin to imagine what occurred here - corpses were like her - Spacers. Some with grub tattoos, some with other clan markings.

-2 spirit

Contemplating not even returning to Wayfinder - did Wayfinder know about this? Mongoose's shrewd enough to know that she's seen stuff she wasn't meant to. That she's in more danger than ever.

With diminished spirits, Mongoose leaves Medical, continuing on to Operations, as quietly as possible...

[Expedition, miss!]

Still running through what this mission even means anymore, she doesn't notice the silent sentinel of the assault bot until it opens fire! Mongoose scrambles desperately, "Astrid! Reverse course! Max speed!"

[react under fire - strong hit!]

Astrid's sudden change of direction - Mongoose nearly loses her grip as her body is whipped around, Astrid struggling to maintain course as Mongoose's feet hit the ceiling, and she briefly runs along it until Astrid whips around the corner.

Back at the Medical bay of horror, Mongoose quickly enters the cold morgue, looking for something to use!

She sees a gas cylinder! Perfect! She pushes it towards the glass doors as she ducks behind the solid metal operating table.

[Gain ground - shadow (ambush) strong hit!]
[Mark Progress: Overcome the assault bot :1 boxes]

As the bot stops at the door - it must be tracking heat signatures! - the gas cylinder bonks against the glass, and that's when Mongoose shouts and fires several wild rounds towards the cylinder - and hits!

The explosion shatters glass, sends corpses and specimens ricocheting off the walls and Mongoose head over heels to the far wall, where she lands gracefully on her feet, and pushes down to behind a cabinet, temporarily deafened. She sees the assault droid righting itself, the explosion has exposed some internals, but the guns still look functional.

Regretting her choice of ambush site, as a dead face passes inches in front of hers, she fires off some shots at the bot, hoping for a lucky hit.

[Strike, edge strong hit!]

Every shot, a hit! Not sure if it's the adrenaline, or the intense horror of it all, but her shots are true.

[Mark Progress: Overcome the assault bot :3 boxes]

In zero G the shots knock the bot off course, but once it gets those guns pointed her way, she's not sure how things will go then. Swallowing her revulsion, she starts grabbing corpses, and sending them towards the bot, trying to confuse sensors with a target rich environment.

[Gain ground - wits - miss]

The corpses are little more that bugs on a windshield as the guns start spitting bolts of plasma at Mongoose - the corpses are shredded and hot dead meat, entrails. Mongoose feels the panic rising in her soul

-1 spirit

There's the doorway to the wards to her left, she grabs Astrid, "down that corridor! Fast!" she screams hysterically

[React under fire - escape - miss - using momentum - weak hit]

She makes it to the door, and wondering how to get it open blaster shots shatter the glass and she feels a punch in her shoulder that spins her down this new glass filled hallway

-1 health

Flying down the corridor with Astrid, left hand on Astrid's handle, right hand sights down her pistol, between her dangling feet as the assault bot enters the doorway

[Clash - strong hit!]
[Mark Progress: Overcome the assault bot :5 boxes]

Each shot it true - sparking internal components - maybe it doesn't correct itself as quick as before, but it does, and it's still coming.

"In there!" - Astrid veers down the indicated side corridor, and Mongoose lands on the wall in a crouch, aiming again and screaming as she fires wildly around the corner at the bot.

[Strike - miss!]

Each shot is a miss, but the return fire shreds the white corner of the corridor, spattering Mongoose with molten plastic

[-1 health]
[Clash - weak hit]

Rubbing her face, and backing up, she aims again and shoots, tagging the bot, but another volley grazes her leg and she cries in pain

[Mark Progress: Overcome the assault bot :6 boxes]

"Astrid, escape!" she yells, as Astrid ragdolls her around corners, trying to get some distance and break line of sight

[react under fire - edge - weak hit]

Astrid is slowing - prolonged manoeuvring thrusters is depleting her tanks -1 supply

But Mongoose does have some distance, and mere seconds to plan. She pulls out her welding torch, turns it up to max, and throws it towards where the bot should appear - hoping the heat will overwhelm its sensors

[react under fire - wits - strong hit!]

The bot turns the corner just as the torch arrives, and it's guns train on it - and Mongoose runs! Or pings off walls, floors, ceilings, pinballing down the corridor - if she can get some space, she can think!

[Gain ground, edge - weak hit]

The torch gouges through one of the bots four guns before it sputters out, and the bot works to regain the target...

[Mark Progress: Overcome the assault bot :7 boxes]

This corridor leads to the pharmacy, nothing to produce heat here. So. Fuck it. She lies on the ground, trying to make the smallest target possible, ready to finish this by shooting and shooting until it or she are gone.

[Progress Roll: Overcome the assault bot :Strong Hit = 7 vs 1 | 2]
[Mark Progress: Save bond with Wayfinder by recovering her family 
(Vayan) belongs :3 boxes]
[Mark Progress: Recover the Computer Core from The Drift Runner :6 boxes]

But the first hit explodes something inside, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th up to the 9th just make her feel better as she roars in triumph and fear, the assault bot tumbling down the hall, trailing cooling bits of metal and sparking.