In reply to Apex (msg # 873):

The Incident


The room beyond the glass panel transforms, and a holographic movie begins to play. It begins with a panoramic shot of Saturn, settles onto Titan, and zooms in slowly.

You see an enormous egg-shaped vessel approaching Titan -- not the fortress moon of today, but a sparsely populated (yet heavily militarized) colony mainly supported by orbital ships and stations. The vessel's shiny carapace has a large crack running down one side, and two holes in the hull that are "patched" by blue energy fields.

You see a smaller egg-shaped ship of similar construction leave its mothership and land primly upon the surface of Titan, its inhabitants clearly Roshak as they step outside to greet the Titan contingent of colonists.

You see a younger Apex watching as her superiors lead the welcoming delegation. Before that delegation can quite make it to the Roshak, however, a lancing rainfall of orbital strikes obliterate Titan's envoys. Spears of blue energy materialize in the Roshak's hands, and they charge forward into what quickly becomes a bloodbath.

Braeburn mechs surge forward with surprising speed to defend the base, engaging and overwhelming the two Roshak in a swift but vibrant battle. The pair of aliens are shackled and dragged into an observation facility...much like the one behind the panel of glass before you. In the background, the lander rises under its own power and returns to its mothership, which has begun to pull closer to Titan.

You see the mothership rake the Braeburn fleet with pulses of blue energy, which cause a number of ships to explode. The fleet is dispatched to retaliate, thus Braeburn ships and mechs mass against the mothership itself. The battle is pitched and furious, and is not quickly resolved.

While the naval battle commences, the scene shifts to the Roshak prisoners. A team of scientists -- including a young(er) Rebecca who is decided not afflicted with albinism -- poke and prod at them from a distance with robotic arms. Their studies eventually progress to injections, siphons, blood letting, dissections, and more, as their charges became increasingly despondent and lethargic. The scientists make note of this, and are unable to find a way to invigorate their charges or restore their health. These attempts are made more to attempt to preserve the specimens for future tests than out of any real empathy for their plight.

The scene changes back to the naval battle, as Braeburn ships and mechs hammer away at the cracked and patched portions of the mothership's hull. Eventually one of the patches is breached, and the mothership goes into a death spiral that impacts with the surface of Titan.

You see teams of mechs and troops and scientists -- including Rebecca -- descending upon the crashed ship using specialized vehicles. Some of the Roshak survive, and a terrible battle is joined upon the surface of Titan.

While this war is being waged, Rebecca and many of her fellow scientists are able to penetrate deep within the ruined mothership itself. The going is slow and tortuous, and the ship's security countermeasures are still largely operable. One researcher is disemboweled by an energy lance mid-stride. Another begins cackling maniacally after a burst of flickering lights assails them, and only stops upon being decapitated by an energy blade in the adjoining corridor.

Rebecca and two others her age are sparred these traps, lacking the size or the weight to trigger them, but soon all of the adults accompanying them succumb. What initially seemed an alien vault of knowledge has proven itself to be an alien deathtrap.

The three surviving scientists eventually make it to the center of the ship, where they see a grotesque Roshak with a cracked carapace dragging itself around on its two working limbs. Liquid and gas oozes out of it, and it howls in rage and pain.

This creature notices Rebecca and her allies, a flash of blue light surrounds them. Suddenly, one of Rebecca's companions draws a knife and plunges it deep within the third researcher's abdomen. He gurgles and collapses to his knees, and Rebecca takes off into a sprint as the crazed man turns on her.

She runs headlong toward the injured Roshak, which responds to her approach by slashing at her with an energy weapon. Rebecca stumbles and falls, but her momentum (and the ooze all over the floor) carries her into the cracked carapace and inside the creature itself. When she lands among its innards, she can see the blurry image of her knife-wielding friend being torn in half by the alien's thrashing limbs before her vision goes dark.

The scene shifts back to the battlefield outside. There are many deaths, but the Titan colonists outnumber the surviving crew of the mothership. Braeburn is ultimately victorious.

You see Rebecca awaken in a medical ward, looking ghostly white and pale. The doctors explain that she ingested quite a bit of alien biomatter and they weren't sure what its effects would be. They run a few tests, and then allow Rebecca to return to work.

Rebecca is summoned to an observation room where the bodies of Roshak killed in the conflict had been stored to perform an experiment. She is told the board of directors would be there. However, Rebecca proves unable to actually enter the room. She pauses outside, and a wave of sheer terror overtakes her. The door opens for her, but she cannot bring herself to step inside.

And a good thing, too. The scene shifts to the observation room, where the bodies of the Roshak suddenly spring to life and begin to murder absolutely everyone. The board of directors are felled like overripe wheat, blood and gore splattered everywhere.

Security forces charge past Rebecca to enter the room, Apex among them. Rebecca remains frozen in place until one of the Roshak charges out of the room toward her. She flees, but is swiftly cornered against a wall. Rebecca screams, but the creature's razor-sharp limb passes directly through her and slices into the wall behind her. The Roshak's head then explodes as one of the security guards shoot it from behind.

Still screaming, Rebecca runs and runs and runs, passing through doors and walls unheeded. The scene changes rapidly now, as Rebecca passes through a multitude of security cameras set at different angles. She eventually reaches a ship and charges through its hull. There is a pause, and then the ship takes off. There is no footage from within the ship.

The scene zooms back out, and you can see the stadium-like Compound being built around the shattered mothership. More egg-shaped vessels are heading toward Titan, and the Braeburn fleet is deployed in its current pattern to repulse them. Apex stands alone in the board room, arms behind her back, staring out of the window.

The screen swirls back to normal, and the projection ends.

"We're not diplomats," Billy replies to Pryor, "Or at least it's more of a side business.  Recent thing, we're learning."

He turns to Cassidy as she turns somewhat more cooperative, "Oh we're not working for the IDA, the black ops whosafudge they were associated with got blown up.  They didn't employ me until well after I left Deimos, and I quit before Pryor even called you.  I'm a consultant.  We want your alloy to finalize a SAGE prototype engine so we can beat aliens to Titan.  They've got a whole possibly IDA fleet and they're kinda trying to declare war on humanity.  It's a really complicated political thing, we could send you a dossier once someone writes it up." he looks at Pryor, "You have people for that, right?"

Before Pryor can answer Billy holds up a hand to Cassidy, preemptively silencing any objection she may have, "Look, why we need the engines isn't important. You work for Mal, right?  She never believes a thing I say anyway. What's important is we need the alloy to make a ship engine that can travel across the solar system in days, instead of months.  Are you telling me ACE has absolutely no interest in that?  Can't we get some kind of tech partnership, joint venture...thing?" he gesticulates vaguely as he makes his most nonspecific business proposition, "You're a mining company, what are you doing with your super secret alloys if not selling them?"

Fiernas spends the screening watching calmly, arms crossed over his chest while they watch the carnage.  Leo and Phillip nap by his feet.  When the presentation ends, he cuts the momentary silence with a single, considering:  "Hm."

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 875):

Team Titan

Kayla is quiet, digesting the scene before them.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 876):

Team Kamikaze

"What we're doing with them isn't really your concern," Cassidy says, though her mind is clearly elsewhere, mulling over the possibilities. "We're not just a mining company -- ACE is also a SHIPPING company. Of course we're interested in developing faster, more reliable engines."

She shakes her head, as if to clear it.

"Are you serious? You can turn weeks into DAYS?"

When Dr. Pryor gives a so-so motion with his hand, Cassidy sighs.

"Well then, yeah...I think we can probably work something out. I'll call back with the details."

With that, the call concludes.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 877):

"Should-should not give-give them the real plans," Viceroy advises. "Dangerous. Unwise."

In reply to Viceroy (msg # 878):

"I have no intention of doing so," Dr. Pryor replies. "We can give them the schematic for a much earlier prototype. It will still be a vast improvement over the military-grade ionic engines most people believe is the pinnacle of modern space travel...but it won't be a 20x improvement like ours will be."

He drums his fingers upon the tabletop.

"The trick will be getting our engine built without them noticing it's different from theirs."

Xander grins slyly. I think that between all of us, we should be able to manage it.

“Don’t give them the schematics until after we’re done.  It’s still experimental, what you give them is, as far as they know, the final design and what we build is a prototype.  I don’t think she’s an engineer.”

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 875):

As the spears materialize you hear an eep and a gasp from next to you, Kayla's hand is crushed in a tighter and tighter grip, growing from there, to uncomfortable to painful.  As the younger her appears onscreen the pressure on Kayla's hand releases instantaneously as her defenses spring up and she phases through the contact.

You can see the resemblence between the person on the screen and the one in the chair, but the younger version was hard and cold as the steel dissecting tables that she worked at.  Nightmare calls out to pause the illusion and she walks through the table up to the screen, cocking her head to the side.  Mouth slightly open her hand moving in a gesture you've come to associate with deep thought.

You can tell the girl in the video has very little in common with the young woman you have come to know.  While Nightmare is not particularly warm and fuzzy she has her moments, she also has a sense of humor, compassion and a personality.  Rebecca Taylor has none of these things.

Nightmare reaches up towards the screen half imploring.  You see her head drop as the gesture subtly turns into one of farewell.  She picks her head up, turns her back to the screen and calmly sits back down at her chair.  Leo puts his large head in her lap.  While her posture is guarded and her spine steel straight she is visibly relaxed compared to what she was before.  She watches the team infiltrating the ship with detached interest as an

She halts the simulation again when it shows her awakening on the cot, she seems particularly distraught by the look of confusion on the face of the girl in the video.  She gets her breating under control, there is no complete breakdown like last time but the trails of tears down her face match those on the screen.

Thats not how it happened... this didn't happen.  There was the ship.  Everyone was dead... I was dead...

She composes herself just in time for her to shriek in terror when the Roshak comes back to life and kills all in the room causing Phillip to lift his head from her lap.  She pulls her knees up to her chest in the chair, the vision of a frightened little girl breathing heavily, and sobbing.

Apex, how well did we know each other?

She asks out of context.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 882):

"We...knew of each other," Apex replies. "But we weren't close. You kept to your research, and I had other duties to attend to."

In reply to Apex (msg # 883):

She nods at this.

This is a lot to take in... What role would I assume tomorrow?  What project would I be placed on?  And what kind of authority will I be given?

"Whatever they need from you," Fiernas answers her brusquely.

He stands, facing Apex.  His ever-shifting gaze flicks back and forth from her face to the screen.  "Ma'am, you'll have to forgive us.  This is some pretty crazy shit.  I didn't realize just how vicious those Roshak fuckers are.  I think I speak for our entire group when I say that anything we can do to help, we're on board.  We can't let people be butchered by those things."

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 885):

Apex nods approvingly at Fiernas.

"Thank you. Such conviction is what gives us the strength to carry on in face of even the worst atrocities. Perhaps one day soon, we will again know peace. For now, we must be content to be the bulwark against which the Roshak tide will crash."

She then turns toward Rebecca.

"In the morning, if you're ready, you'll be escorted to your lab. Introduced to your fellow researchers. They'll fill you in on what they're working on, and together you can decide where your talents might find the best fit. I know they have questions for you. Why, your insight alone could open doors of knowledge that are currently sealed."

Apex flashes a sad smile.

"It's a hard thing to watch, I know. But it's the only way to understand what we're up against. And it's important to justify the lengths at which we're willing to go to ensure the Roshak never make it further into our solar system than Titan. Can you imagine a Roshak mothership performing an orbital bombardment of Earth?"

She shakes her head grimly.

"Not while we stand."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:37, Fri 01 Dec 2017.

In reply to Apex (msg # 886):

"What did you do with it?"

Kayla's voice sounds abnormally loud in the quiet that follows Apex's pronouncement.

"The mothership, I mean. You build this whole complex around it, right? And it's been...years, judging by how much Rebecca has grown since then."

She looks over at Apex.

"What have you learned that might help us?"

In reply to Kayla Wallin (msg # 887):

"Research is ongoing," Apex replies. "The mothership was badly damaged in the crash, obviously, but beyond that it also uses materials and energy sources that are unfamiliar to us. We still don't even know where it got its power, or whether it had a central computer, for example. We did discover a wealth of knowledge about the Roshak's biology and chemistry, though. And we learn a little more every day."

She cocks her head to one side.

"You're a scientist?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:33, Fri 01 Dec 2017.

In reply to Apex (msg # 888):

"I dabble," Kayla says, before shaking her head. "But no. I wouldn't call myself a scientist."

In reply to Kayla Wallin (msg # 889):

"That's what I thought," Apex says, nodding slightly. "You've got the look of a soldier about you. Both of you do," she adds, nodding toward Fiernas. "I assure you, we can find a place to put your talents to work here on Titan. Not just for Braeburn, but for the good of the human race."

In reply to Apex (msg # 890):

Team Kamikaze

Cassidy calls back about an hour later, and informs you that they are willing to sell you a half-ton of the material in exchange for a working prototype demonstrating the engine's capabilities and a schematic that was used to build said prototype. They also want to send an engineer to help build the prototype from the schematic, with guidance from Dr. Pryor.

This is done in an expedited fashion (barring objections), with ACE ultimately being given the schematics to an engine capable of outstripping modern engines by a factor of 5.

"The best part is that the Ionic Overdrive Mark IV was the last prototype we built using those same principles and processes. We started over with the Plasma Drive Mark I afterward," Dr. Pryor confides to you. "That means they shouldn't be able to use this as a springboard into a true plasma drive...though we will have to redesign our Wasps once the Mark IV leaks onto the Archive. A small price to pay for this..."

He motions toward the 1-meter cube of material that had just been delivered to the Factory floor.

"Ok, Viceroy. The real schematics are-"

"-useless. But I have fix-fixed them."

Viceroy projects a 3D image of an engine that looks very little like the one that exploded during your previous escape from Mars and landed you in The Controller's clutches.

"I have had time to think-think about it. Will work-work better now."

He bounds from one foot to the other excitedly.

"Only have enough material to build-build 1 engine. Hard to move-move afterward. Where should we install-install it?"

Xander pulls Billy aside.

So, we need a ship. We could buy one from ACE, borrow one from SAGE, or try to procure our own somehow. We could try to salvage the Winze or the Mastodon. What do you think?

"The Winze was that debris field we pulled Kayla out of, and the Mastodon is, at best, somewhere in the asteroid belt. Do we really have time for a salvage run that far off-course?  I'd rather hitch a ride with SAGE. We're clearly not ACE's favorite people at the moment and I don't like dealing with people who actively revile me unless I have the upper hand.  And we don't."

"I actually am a scientist," Fiernas corrects Apex.  "Zoology.  Behavioral psychology.  Field work, mostly, but I know my way around a lab.  Put me in front of a dissection table with a Roshak on it and I might be able to find something useful."

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 894):

Team Titan

"I wasn't aware that behavioral psychologists spent much time in dissection labs," Apex replies. "But certainly, if the qualifications are there and the opportunity presents itself, all hands are welcome."

She glances at the others.

"Do you have any other questions about what you've seen? I know, it's a lot to take in."

Team Kamikaze

"The cored husk of the Mastodon is not exactly nearby, but sure, we could in theory arrange to have it towed here. Problem is, I'm not confident we have enough material to build a capital-size plasma drive," Dr. Pryor says. "The alloy is for the casing -- it needs to surround the whole engine to keep it from shaking itself and the hull apart. I think something between a heavy cruiser and a freighter is probably the best we'll be able to do."

He frowns.

"Of course, a smaller vessel would be more maneuverable and be able to take more advantage of that speed..."

"...How much advantage?" Billy asks when Pryor suggests a ship that could go even faster, "Actually, wait, we don't have a ship handy, and unless you want to front the bill I'd rather not try to negotiate a ship out of ACE right now on top of everything, so what exactly do you even have to volunteer for a field test?"

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 896):

"We have a variety of transports and freighters aboard. I should think any of them would do. Do you want to look them over?"