Singularity: IC, Echoes of the Event Options

[WinterRat1]

06:18:04 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

As Errand cut through the doors with the torch, Mako took the opportunity to regain his breath. He was in reasonable condition, but the swimming and climbing weren't exactly light physical activity either. Even with his spirit's Movement ability speeding their journey, he'd gotten a bit winded.

Scanning the hallway, he continues to follow Errand's lead in silence.

[grendel]

06:22:37 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

As his drones buzzed away, deftly slipping through the open elevator door to scan the hallway, Tron reached out with his electronic ears. Carefully he sifted through the stale air, searching for the telltale whisper that would betray an active wireless network. Echoing emptiness greeted him, even now when his signal could reach deeper into the building he found nothing but dead air, an eerie emptiness in the electromagnetic spectrum. He let the images from his drones flash across his vision, though: empty hallways with the same monochromatic color scheme, plain black lettering on the doors and intersections to name the routes through the maze. No bodies, though. In fact, no sign of life at all.

[Molljner]

06:22:37 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Sneaking down the hall, Tron glances at the drone information.

They should be getting close to the target room. The sooner we get this done with the better.

Tron signals Errand to begin moving down the hall. So far the drones are not finding any resistance.

[Shadow]

06:23:37 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Errand nodded. Standing slightly hunched over, the big ork moved down the hallway. His rifle pressed firmly into his shoulder, barrel pointing where he looked. So far it was clear. He stopped about twenty meters down the hallway, kneeling and listening. He had that feeling he got sometimes. Something wasn't right, or maybe it was just his imagination.

He used his right arm to signal Tron to come forward.

"Where do we go from here?"

[grendel]

06:25:14 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Tron pointed around the corner to the left.

"Left at the corner, down the hall fifteen meters, door should be on the right."

He echoed the images from his drones to all three commlinks, the dragonflies hovering at two meters as they traversed the nearly featureless halls. One of them has found several bodies lying in a heap in a corner, but otherwise the floor appears to be abandoned.

[Shadow]

06:25:14 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Errand noodded, shuffling down the cooridoor. The place seemed supernaturally quiet. The soft rubber on his boots made little noise, but in the eerie stillnes it seemed like a canon in his ears. He flexed his fingers holding the pistol but of the combat rifle. Mentaly he ran down a list of all the weapons he carried and how to use them and what he would do if a threat jumped out at him.

He reached the corner and held out his hand for everyone to stop. Kneeling he briefly stuck his head around the corner to glimps if anything was there.

[Molljner]

06:25:14 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Tron carefully followed Errand down the corridor. Sending one fly-spy to the pile of bodies, he hoped they would not be an issue....20th Century movies not withstanding.

[Shadow]

06:26:10 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor hallway, offshore LA, CFS

With the way presumably clear, Errand shuffled down the cooridor, trying to press himself into the wall. The lab door was up ahead on his right and he didn't want to get killed five meters from it. His weapon never waivered as he rolled up on the door and took a knee.

"Tron, your show omae."

[Molljner]

06:26:10 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor hallway, offshore LA, CFS

Tron nods at Errand. Looking over to Mako, [Hey, can you take an astral peek inside before I cut the door?]

[WinterRat1]

06:26:15 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor hallway, offshore LA, CFS

Mako nods curtly in acknowledgment, and indicates for his teammates to watch his body. Slumping to the floor, he releases his spirit into the astral. Looking around the astral to assess any threats and the immediate surroundings, he waits to ensure there's no potential hostiles before proceeding to peek through the other side of the door.

[grendel]

06:28:37 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor hallway, offshore LA, CFS

Unlike the vibrantly alive manaspace outside the building, the astral terrain inside was something altogether different. Mako stares around at the oddly pale light streaming through the featureless gray walls, marked as it is with seemingly random whorls and jagged lines of black and red. Something has happened here, something that directly affected the substance and structure of the astral plane.

Suppressing a shiver, Mako eases himself through the wall adjacent to the door. It is thicker than he anticipated, but not such that he would risk becoming disoriented. The room inside is dim, full of vague gray shapes that only experience allows him to recognize as extensive lab equipment. There is nothing living in the room, and as far as he can tell, no sign that any unpleasant surprise is waiting for them as they come through the door.

[Molljner]

06:28:37 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor hallway, offshore LA, CFS

While waiting for Mako to return, Tron readies the cutting equipment. All the 'trons in the world won't help when there isn't any power. As he moves toward the door, he signals Errand to stay alert.

Hopefully this won't take too long...

[WinterRat1]

06:28:40 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor hallway, offshore LA, CFS

Returning to his body, Mako comms a message to Errand and Tron, "Something happened here that messed with astral space. Could have been the disaster itself, but my gut says it was whatever happened here before that. For our purposes though, the astral is clear, and there is nothing living we have to worry about. Technological obstacles are another issue, and not my area of expertise."

[Molljner]

06:28:50 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor hallway, offshore LA, CFS

With that information, Tron then begins to cut a 1 meter by 1 meter hole in the door.

We must move faster!

[grendel]

06:33:04 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

It takes longer than Tron would like to cut through the reinforced door, a full four minutes before the one meter square panel drops away into the interior of the lab. Errand scans the room revealed by the portal through his gun sights, eyes alert for any sign of drone or other automated security response. The lab, however, appears to be just as dead and deserted as the rest of the building. The long tables, festooned with unnamable apparatus and gear, stand silent, while the many computer workstations lining the walls are powered down and dark. Multiple heavy storage vaults line the back of the room, and Errand and Tron can both see that there are at least two, perhaps three other doors leading out from the main front lab.

[Molljner]

06:33:07 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS


Tron immediately sends three of the four drones into the lab. He follows the drones through the hole in the door. The important thing is to get the drek fast and get out. Tron nods to Errand to cover the doors, and signals to Mako to help with the search.

[grendel]

06:36:40 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

The soft whirr from the drones' engines is the only sound that fills the lab, and even that is lost in the warren of machinery and instrumentation. The ranks of silent monitors and workstations appear alien and ominous in the flickering light from the trio's flashlights. Tron quickly realizes that the main servers they're searching for are not in the primary lab, but must be behind one of the three doors leading out of the room. Two of the doors are located adjacent to one another in the rear wall, while the other stands apart on the western side.

[Shadow]

06:37:40 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

Errand nodded to Tron and Mako, pointing at the far two doors closed together. He then dropped his ruck and took out his smaller torch. First he tried the door with his left hand, rifle slung down and pistol in his right hand pointed at the door.

[grendel]

06:38:32 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

The door is unlocked, but it requires Errand to exert almost his full force against the powerless hinges before the heavy panel swings open. Again, the door is thicker than expected, and as Errand shines his light inside he understands why: it's the outer door of a small airlock that leads into the room beyond. Through the thick plexiglas of the airlock, he can see half a dozen clear plastic cylinders, about a meter in diameter and two meters tall. They're filled with some kind of clear liquid and have some kind of electronic machinery attached at their bases. All but one are empty. Floating in the last cylinder appears to be a large dog or possibly a wolf. But no wolf that Errand has ever seen has legs thick with augmented musculature and overlapping plates of hard, chitinous armor on its flanks.

[Shadow]

06:39:32 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

"Mako, check this thing out, is it alive? Don't break the plane of the door, I don't want to trigger anything nasty." Errand looked around the room as best he could without entering it, that wolf looked nasty enough to give him pause. While Mako checked out the critter, Errand looked around or anything that could be mission related.

[Molljner]

06:39:32 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

While Errand is focused on the critter, Tron moves to the other doors and checks to see if there open.

Hopefully, these will have the data we're looking for.

[grendel]

06:41:12 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

Mako moved to the doorway, opening up his Astral vision as Errand stood back to allow him access to the room. A cold chill runs down his spine at what he sees. The animal is clearly dead, floating lifelessly in its preservative suspension. But the experiments that it was subjected to during its life have left a lasting impression on it and the surrounding Astral space. So much so that it's almost painful for Mako to look at it. He turns away from the door, shivering.

"No," he says hoarsely, "it's dead."

"Bingo!" calls Tron from the next door down. The open door reveals a small room, barely four meters on a side, within which rests a bank of rack mounted servers. On the left side of the rack is a series of optical mass storage drives, each still with their disk array inserted.

[Shadow]

06:43:08 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

"Outstanding," Errand exclaimed. Holstering his weapon he ran to his ruck and quickly removed the water tight canvas bags, tossing them to Tron to fill up with the hard drives. Omce the hacker had the bags, Errand poked his head back into the hallway for a quick glance to make sure nothing nasty was waiting for them.

"Ok, here's the plan," he said out loud.

"Were gonna use the stealth lines to repel down the shaft to the water. Before we get in we will signal the ship for pick up, then haul ass to the storm drain. Its gonna be light soon, the good news is visibility will be better, the bad news, visibility will be better. Tron, you go down the shaft first with the data, then Mako, and I will pull the six. Same order for the drain, whatever happens, the data has to get back to H.Q. Questions?"

[Molljner]

06:43:08 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS
Tron immediately pulls the drives and gets them ready for transport.

First as bait...nice Errand...

[grendel]

06:46:08 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

Before yanking the drives loose from their bays, Tron slips behind the server rack, checking to see if Ares left some kind of booby trap, or a killswitch that would erase data from the drives if they were pulled without the proper security key. Seeing none, he unzips the waterproof duffle bag he's carrying and begins stacking the drives inside. Mako glanced inside the small room once to watch, before moving across the lab to the opposite side of the door as Errand. Tron joins them a minute later, the bag slung across his back. He nods once in response to the plan before heading out the door. The two dragonflies quest ahead, clearing the hallway back to the elevator. Mako follows several steps behind, while Errand brings up the rear.