Jade goes into the room with Laz and Roach.  Seeing the CD's, she asks if she can take a look at them, and then she reads the label on each.

Viper rolls to his feet, grinning like a fool. "That was fun! Can I do it again?"

He unlimbers the AK from his back, and speaks to X. "X, orient me. Which way to the stairway where the Marines are holding out? I want to cover their assault path, just in case." Once he has the spot from X, he'll set himself up to cover the hallway to ensure that they Marines can't surprise the group.

A large grin vanishes from Lot's face as he watches the agent fall into the darkness.  The man did not react at all like a man falling to his certain death. Lot tries to shrug it off. Survive or not that agent isnt going to bother them again this day.

Still a little creeped out Lot's hand instinctively reaches for his gun.  He draws and takes a moment to reload and chamber it as he follows Viper down the hall.  In an attempt to shake off the chill running up his spine and lighten the mood Lot mumbles to Viper, "When this mission is over I'm gonna drink 'til I can't piss straight."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:22, Mon 12 July 2004.

Lot and Viper begin to move down the hall.  Everyone suddenly gets a strange feeling like they've been there before...a sense of familiarity.  The deja vu passes in just a moment, but then Viper and Lot find that there is suddenly a wall where there used to be a hallway.

X breaks out over the intercom.  "What the--?"  A pause.  "Guys, the floorplan just changed.  Some walls have just been put up.  And..."  A longer pause.  "This can't be happening."

Roach, Jade and Laz watch the monitor as it still says DOWNLOADING.  It is almost done.

X screams, "Oh $@!*%#&!"  His expletives are cut by static and their incomprehensible gutteral sound.  "Abort!" he yells.  "Abort!"

A new message appears:  DOWNLOAD COMPLETE.

"They're everywhere.  Four coming from the security station.  Three near the northern stairway.  And three just appeared in the room directly south of the upload room, room 129.  They're all Agents!  Get out of there and get to the extraction--"

A pause.  You hear tapping on the keyboard.  "Oh, crap.  The walls block off the extraction point.  They've done this on purpose.  They've trapped you."

Mitose is still just to the south of room 129.  "Mitose, get your ass moving," X says.  "The Agents will be opening the door in six seconds."

X continues, "Okay, this is what we can do.  There is a crawlspace around the pillar below room 512.  You can crawl back there and remove a ventilator grate.  Room 512 is heavily ventilated on all four sides.  You can probably get out through the north."

He pauses.  "I hope."

[Note: Red lines mark new walls.]

As point of logistics, this is where I have everyone:

Roach, Jade, and Lazarus: in room 329
Lot and Viper:  In the walled corner just below 339 and 343.
Mitose:  In the hallway south of 129.

Mitose having just acrobatically leapt to safety, takes a long moment to take stock of himself.  Literally patting himself down and inspecting his hadns to make certain he has all his digits.  He smiles, and moves to see how Lot and Vipoer make out with the oncoming agaent.  He nods as he sees the suited man fall, but something about the way the fellow fell to his doom, talking into a radio with inhuman calm, deeply disturbed him.

"I'm too wounded to take out marines...I watch the hallway with our exit, someone should cover the others...they're uploading data now."
He moves to do as he has said he would, moving carefully and checking that teh passage to teh hardline is clear.

"Ohcrapohcrapohcrap!" Yelps Roach. "Destroy the disks, and c'mon! We have to get out of here! Now!"

"What the..." exclaims Lot and X in unison.  Wasting no time Lot tears down the hall and swings left at the corner towards room 512.  He locates the grate X spoke of and examines it quickly looking for obvious signs of bolts or screws.  If he discovers it will take time to remove he just kicks it in.

Lot looks at the other disk in his hand and the others and shakes his head. "You heard X guys, we have to get out of here." Laz starts his way to the room X told them about.

Jade is too shocked to speak.  She runs after the others and to the crawlspace.

En masse, the party runs toward the small crawlspace.  Lot crawls in first and looks at the grated cover.

The door with the Agents opens.  You hear footsteps, but the small crawlspace is too crowded.

Lot finds that the screws are loose and stripped.  He rips off the cover and squeezes into the small room.  It is a room with some sort of generator humming and an air conditioning conduit across the ceiling.  It is small and crowded with machinery.  There are similar gratings on each wall, but each is about six feet off the ground.  Lot may be able to climb up on the machinery and get a better perspective.

The Agents appear to be coming north up the hallway.

Lot scans the room and considers climbing on top of the generator briefly.  He grimaces at the thought of climbing around on strange generators as he brushes the dust from the crawlspace off his hands.  Avoiding the generator and giving it what he considers a wide berth in such a confined area, Lot skirts the edge of the room and climbs across the clutter towards the north wall.  He keeps his eyes open for a suitable structure on which he can stand in order to reach the grate.

Hoping the agents will pass, Jade looks for the closest adjacent room to slip into quietly and hide.

Viper steps up beside Lot and makes a step from his hands, silently offering the other an alternative to standing on the machinery.

Laz was clearly frightend, like Jade he starts looking around for a hiding space but deciding to stick in the room with the crawl space.

Roach makes another step with his hands, offering to help Lot.

Jade slips into room 409, where Lot and Roach jacked in.  The others are squeezing into the very tiny space, a tangle of arms and legs.  The Agents move north toward the computer room (329).

X says, "Looks like they still think you're in the computer room.  Get out now.  As soon as they interface with Zero-One, they'll pinpoint you."

Viper holds out his hands and helps Lot step up.  The grating, like the other one, is very old.  However, Lot will have to punch it out, which may create some noise and attract attention.

When there is space, Jade moves in with the others.

Laz makes sure he helps Jade up; making himself the last one to get up into the crawlspace.

Lot waits for the others to enter the room before smashing in the grate.  Once the way is clear he takes a peek at what awaits them within the shaft.  If it is just the way into the hall north of them he will hoist himself through head first and attempt to roll with the fall using acrobatics.

[PLEASE NOTE:  As you saw, RPOL had a massive hardware crash but is now up at a new server.  My last post unfortunately did not make it.  If your last post does not appear, please reenter it.  I am recreating the Friday post as close as possible.]

Lot peeks through the grate, sees nothing, and smashes it.  It clangs to the floor, opening up a space wide enough to crawl out.

Jade safely moves back in with the others as the Agents move past, and Laz waits for last.

X says, "Looks like those agents will discover you're missing in just a few seconds.  The other agents from the north and security room are making their way--"

Locke interrupts him.  "They're back!"

"Oh, %$#%*&@!" X says, his curses drowned in sounds and chaos from the ship.  "Where did they come from?  I see ten, twenty..."  He pauses.  "Make that fifty-six sentinels bearing down on us.  They're coming in fast.  God, how I hate calamari.  Looks like a scout is--"

Hammer's voice breaks him off.  "It's attaching to the hull!"

"Get out of there fast!" X tells you.

"We have to use the EMP,"  Locke says.  "If we don't, everyone will die.  Get yourselves to that hardline now!  Everyone jack out.  That's an order."

"It's penetrating the hull plating," Hammer says.

"Get to your stations," Locke orders the others in the ship, his voice fading to the back.  "Do it now!"

"Okay, guys, the agents are bearing down on you.  Get to that phone.  I see three moving--"

The line suddenly goes dead.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:57, Sun 18 July 2004.

Lot's pulse races as he wonders what will kill him first, the agents or the sentinels.  Without wasting the time to look first Lot throws himself through the open space pistol in hand and prepares to deal with whatever awaits him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:44, Tue 20 July 2004.

Jade scrambles after the others, her guns ready to roar to life if the Agents round the corner.

Viper stays where he is, giving everyone a hand up before pulling himself through the grate. "Go, go, move!" he hisses at the others.

Roach scrambles through the gate, very near panicing right now. Could he make it to the phone?