Contract: Nightstalker
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Bash continued to feel that maddening itch on his neck. He would scratch it, stop horrified, and do his best to ignore it until he found himself itching it yet again. Terrified of his dream coming true he started to experiment with Jerzac Scarlewe's stash. Luckily enough the Lho sticks are enough to keep the maddening itch at bay. Unfortunately, This meant Bash was dipping into the addict's supply past the edges of civilization. While the journey out may not be a problem, the journey back may result in withdrawals for both parties if they aren't careful.
During the outbound journey the Tech Workshop got the dust knocked off. Each #Team High Turnover Rate member decided to turn their pocket change into potentially useful items for Telecore.
Finally after an eternity and a half stuck in each other's company the Kormoran finally found solid ground once again. The crew decided discretion was the better part of valor and performed several orbits while scanning with the Ansible looking for any signs of life. Unfortunately the scans did not reveal anything of value besides the primary base and a some scattered terraforming equipment.
Upon landing at the scientist's colony the crew noticed several things:
A) A very distinct lack of any tracks
B) An entire field of dimples in the sand making the whole surface look like the skin of a golf ball
C) Roquesta (Rocket) Strauss noticed a metal plate half buried in the sand that contains the remnants of a word. The assumption is the Peregrine, the Telecore colony supply ship.
Nervously Jerzac led Bash, Rocket, and Roswell Mogul into the first habitat dome near the landing field. In it various metal crates and barrels filled the majority of the chamber. The air was stale with a faint stale of iron. The crate to the right of the entrance maintained some semblance of order while those to the left were a haphazard pile.
AFter stepping into the chamber to investigate, Professor Muhali's, Roswell's, and Jerzac's pistols flew out of their holsters to attach to the magnetic oozes that slid into view around the containers. Jerzac attempted to immediately retrieve his pistol to no avail. Muhali on the other hand chose to run straight back to the ship. Bash ran to shoot several of the oozes which in turn started pulling grenades from all party members. Once the team noticed the oozes were dissolving gear all bets were off. Bash kept kiting them to not effect his fanc y armor, Rocket kept trying to scrape off the attached ooze, Roswell surpernova'd to burn his off, and Jerzac threw an armed grenade into the magnetic field to detonate the one on Rocket.
Now that the danger was ended in this dome, for now, the crew took the time to investigate and loot the area. The first item of interest found was a MK II temporary repair capsule that allowed Roswell's corroded armor to function at full for a short duration. The other pice found was information. Rocket was able to find and hack into a material management terminal that had the following information:
~8 years ago: Back to the start of the colony there is a log of material receipts then requisitions from the Peregrine to the colony then within the outpost. 6 personnel maintained the database throughout this period.
~24 months ago: the amount of personnel drops to 5
~22 months ago: The amount of personnel drops to 4
~17 months ago: The personnel drops to 2
11 months ago: it drops to 0
In the final two months of activity the requisitions abruptly shifted. It went from regular draw of different technological parts to a constant draw from the reserve stock of UPBs and plate. The loader was also frequently tasked to go out of the base, drastically increasing down time and the amount of required maintenance.
Prior to continuing to the next habitat, everyone spent time loading the seeds from this warehouse onto the Kormoran to sell at a later date.
The next chamber had another exit across the way from the one the crew entered. Two tall machines resided to the right to the right of the current door behind some barriers. They seemed to be in different states of disassembly/repair with wiring strewn about them. On the other hand sat an out of play array of tables. There were scratch marks from where they were dragged in from other rooms. On them are newly fabricated small arms under a layer of dust. Directly across from the team sat an array of fabricators with a large block of wheeled boxes. Finally, while everyone was taking in this room, two smooth ceramic humaoid figures with guns integrated into their forearms stepped out. On sight of Bash their dim pale face glow turned a dark angry red and attacked Bash with a shout of
A̬̤̼̓͡c̺̦̲̯͆̂͞ĉ̶͍͉̯̟͔ö͙̻̻̰̹̮͈̼́̾̾ͪ̀m̧̻̻̣̖ͣͫ͛p̷̤̬̽̽̈́̈́l̸̪̞̮̼̓́i̯̻͚͓̺̊͑ͤ͘c̝̥͙̻ͣ͘ë̶̠̉ͦ̈ͅ
They attacked Bash to the exclusion of all else. One let loose a spray of automatice fire to distract Jerzac, Rocket, and Roswell while the other ran up to stab Bash viciously with it's arm blade.
Ȳ̢̻̦̳͚͂̆o̼͈̞͗̈ͩ̚͡ư̙̫̬̞̭̂́̑ ͉͎̻̗͋̿́h͚̰͎̉́ͣ͗̀ȃ̻̣̻͖͔̬́ͅṿ̵͔̥͔͓̬͍̿͆̓ͅeͬ͏͇̹͚̯̣ ̸̮͖͙̜̘̙̞͒̑h͋̅ͩ̚͏̤̣̞̰͎̙̼̼a̱̜̯͚͍͇̿̐̀ṟ̢͎̤͎̑̈͒m̨͇͙̻ͩ̄̌̔e̫͉̓̑͜d̮͉̳̤͇͈̥̉͛̿͝ ̤̙̖̼̮̭͕̤̂̂͞Ţ̺͕̖̪̜̼ͩ̅ͤḧ̾͏̻͍͈͍͔ḙ̲̭͎̘̠́̇͆͢ ̷̙̣̖͂V̛̹̮̖̗̱̯͐̏͗ē̛̼͇͛͋̋i̺̭̥͙̖̬ͥͤ͢ͅl̲͇̦̘͖̗͗̀
Jerzac attempted to stick one into place and Roswell attempted to irradiate them to no avail while Rocket just barely failed to hack into the second. While she was briefly connected she understood these things to be Meridath Trooper Drones. They continued to team up against Bash causing serious damage. Bash chucked a grenade that was barely enough to take out the one that was in his face.
Y̨͔̣͎̥̘ͪ̾̇ȏ̶͍̜̲̦ͮ̆̅u͑ͤ͏̣̺͈ ̵̭̮̖̤͇͚ͧͦ̚h̶̥ͪ̿̋͌ͅḁ̟̟̱̭̬̺͙̓͝v͈̦͙ͪͤ̀e̷͎͚̣̗͍͇͈͛͛̒ ̵̘̝̖ͣȇ̤͇͖̠͉̊͌ͩ́ͅn̷̳̩̯̑ͅḑ̱̱̠͈̟̥̬̻̔̓͂a̸̮̣̥̫̠͗n̸̦̦̲̬͉̹̩̳͒̅ͨ̀g̨̮͈̼̎ͦ̃e͓̻͎̹̹̟͓̭̔̌͡r̡̘͖͖͓̐̍̊e̓̅ͯ̓͏̫͕͚̬̩̲̱ḑ̬͍͉͖̫̥̦̘̿ͬͪ ̩͓͖̝̺̳ͬ̓ͫ͒́Ǎ̸̜̥̈́L̢̼̯̟̰̱̺͔͊̆̅͋L̡̹̙̤̯͓̖̚
At this point Bash is incredibly hurt so he performs a "tactical movement to he rear." Once there he attempted to use a higher tier on his Prototype Rail Rifle to finish the fight in their favor. Instead the rail rifle bananad in the manner of a long lost Earth children's cartoon involving a rabbit and an unintelligent hunter. The resulting detonation knocked Bash unconscious and severely injured Jerzac. Though Jerzac did his best to end the wounded trooper drone, it had enough to run up to the unconscious Bash and attempt to perforate new orifices in his chest. Rocket was able to finish the robot in time to save Bash's life.
Once again there is a computer that Rocket was able to hack. In it you find reference to a manufacturing order for a generator for a "Matrix Test Chamber" started ~28 months ago.
~18 months ago there is an order to produce panels for an exterior defense wall.
~12 months ago: Full stop on all other work. All production capacity must switch to weapons production.
After acquiring this information everyone retreated to the ship to lick their wounds.