The LC stopped chewing for a moment, the remark about Angels seemed to effect her, but she shook it off and said  nothing.

  The Commander  took a bit of the   food, and he studied   Mal for a moment,..you want  plugged into Promo?..I don't even know how long Promo is going to be on board..I mean, its effective..but there are countermeasures set...smart or n> it it rips one of those...well..it will just be sent to the foundry for  what parts we can use..now..I don't like folks messing around the insides  of my ship...I'm letting  it go  for  now..see if it fries itself or not...Hemres  will tell me when its gone too far...

  taking  another  bit, and  swallowing, he adds,..this is good, by-the-way...anyway...if i feel that way about my ship..how can you want that thing in your head?..we lose you?..we'll have to test the  captives  with rocks  and needles or something...not that Cindy couldn't  handle testing..its  just not her primary study.

Mal chuckled and said,
"I don't want to merge..
I want to work with Promo..
I want to interact in a virtual environment and test theories.
I want a connection through is all.
Put in fail safes and protocols between.
It sound like some tech from my suit is part of Promo and I'd like to interact.

A social and working version of the Turing test. Promo would find my mind very crowded and I'd be lost in Promo's.. Just a link Commander.

It is good isn't it.
There's a lot of Mandarin Chinese engineers on the frontier.
Food is a big thing out there.
Expensive as hell to get anything fresh, and that's usually from some ship's hydroponics.

Oh got some stuff on making good food fast for you, especially meat. Well sort of.. It's neat stuff but I need a computer link to my lab to call it up.

There's this kind of condensed carbon element we ran across. Tested it out and it will make a more dense form of carbon nano-tubes. Picture the finished product of that bonded to a fighter. Shielded from most radiation and elastic on a quantum scale? That absorbs a lot of impact. I don't know how you'd bond it though..
Some kind of paint maybe?

I want to protect the ship. I just want to be a foster parent to an AI is all. It a good thing to adopt a kid, isn't it? Especially a special child that's different from others?" then he waited for them to digest that while he ate and listened.

When they were done he'd get desert cooling in the freezer out.

”Um... no,” Stoly smiled,  ”This never happens to me.”

Roy had sat back, a bit, when the Commander asked if they'd been sure the group was tracking Shadow.  Truth is, they really weren't.  The evidence was circumstantial...but the fact that they all started moving in the same direction, at the same time--and that coincided, apparently, with Shadow's departure from the stadium--was just a little too much coincidence for him to wave aside.  Something in his gut said it couldn't be coincidence...and he'd survived by listening to his gut.

Prometheus reported in on the identities of their targets, and Roy shook his head slightly.  They were professionals, in the worst sense.  Seeing any of them in the street would be a trial...knowing what he knew, now, he could get himself in trouble for shooting them on sight.  Fortunately, Hermes was shipping out in a few hours, so the odds of that were low...but he hated the thought of leaving the group operating somewhere in his wake.  Stuff like that had a bad way of coming back around to haunt you...

By the time he'd worked through all of that, Mal was in the room and talking, and Roy was willing to sit back and listen.  The news wasn't good, and it increased his uncertainty about how to deal with the Demons.  For all that everyone else seemed to have adopted the 'shoot first and ask questions later' mindset, that just didn't sit well with him.

When Mal offered to make some stir-fry for everyone, Roy raised his hand absent-mindedly, to be counted in, still deep in thought.  By the time Mal came back out, he had a question.  "What is the likelihood that this telepathic ability would be bred into the tanks?  Is it something that's just limited to the Wisps, unique to their specific biological makeup?"  He'd been in situations where he had to shoot first before.  He didn't like it, but if leaving Wisps alive around him meant a greater risk to the rest of the team, he wouldn't hesitate to shoot every last one of them, surrendering or not.

 regardless of what msot of  the High Command thought, Hack wasn't an idiot. he grasped almost all of  what Mal was saying. ..alright Mal? If you can  get  a set up and work with Promo...i can't see turning it  down..but i will have to warn you..My ship comes  first..My people second...that little box out there  isn't either..yet I asked  for an edge  on our  enemies  when i found out what we would be doing..they sent me that...and  oked your transfer....we work from there..Just like any  crewman who comes aboard..you make it  or you don't...but...if it becomes  a danger...if i think...it  becomes a danger..if Hermes..thinks  it becomes a danger..well...I think yu know were I'm going with this...if  we have to drug up captives..I'll have  no worries unplugging  a talking box...

    Now? Hwat backround  does your Tech assistant need?

Infantry asked the question first but the Commander outranked.. Dang.... He knew this one.. oh yeah Rank first.

He held up his left hand in a gesture to Infantry and gestured that him to wait a moment.

Then he looked to the Commander and said, "I need someone who understands how to fix and modify all that equipment I'll be using. One that knows the technical language of machines and can speak to R&D for me so that they can gain the greatest advantages from our developments.

No problems with the conditions, I'm setting up more than that on principle," then he turned to Spencer.

Mal said,
"The next breeding cycle after they figure out we're taking 'test subjects'. They're reactive as a species.

The good news is you can use that. When in a fire fight they have patterns, formations, and great strategy. There's no room for decisions, choices, or adaption. They didn't need to develop intuition and they have used bio-tech too long so don't have any instinct but what the females imprint. In one corridor there's Tanks sure to come down you toss and inflate a giant pink rubber rabbit. It will mess them up big time. Once. Only once ever. The next time something is tried they know it, have a strategy, and most likely a counter strategy. Yet they suck at anything intuitive or instinctive. You can make obstacle courses they kill themselves on but never the same one twice," then he got seconds and sat back eating again.

He looked to Stoly and said,
"I get that too..." then he looked to the Commander again.

Mal said,
"I don't like having a chip in my head Demons can blow up. Unless they find out some of us have chips they won't develop anything to deal with it. Just in case they ever do my suit helmet is shielded from pretty much anything that we know of.

I put up with it because it allows for direct access and for me to know what you need. Hopefully before you need it.

My species comes first.
I even let them lock parts of my mind away unless someone had the right clearances.

Do you want dessert?" then he stood up and went to the freezer.

Mal brought out ginger coated candy bananas and apples on two big trays. Then he went about offering them around as he said,
"There's ginger in the candy but it's a delight, especially the bananas. They're cooled just right so they're still warm on the inside.
Won't your try some?" then continued to serve until all who wanted had some.

Then he sat down and munched on a candy coated banana.

  Taking the banana Goodies he looked at it , then at He LC. She tasted it and shrugs, finishing the piece she had.Hack Nodded,  Once  everyone's  done here, I'll work on getting  a Lab Tech for you..I'm thinking you keep Cindy and Jorge  around,they know thier  way around  ...test subjects...

  He pressed the CommButton..is  Beth back yet?  the comm was quiet for  a moment, Hack's  frown and narrowed brows  showed his annoyance,..Um..No sir...she  um...just checked in..won't  be on duty 'till  the morning...

  HAck's  right hand went to his forehead as he rubbed his temples as he flicked  off the Comm,...of  course... he  said  quietly,..there is something to be said  for genentic cleansing....

 as he blew  a breath out through his lips  ,his eyes  settled on Roy and Stoly,..now then...what happened, outside of the fact, that they were leaving   at the same time, and same direction as  Shadow  and Hannah? These folks that Promo dug up? they aren't nice people..I'd  give Shadow a kill order right now if Hannah wasn't with him...the bad thing is,,he wouldn't get them all and we would be short a pilot..a pilot i can trust..so..Talk to me  Sgt...what is your view on this night's work...

Roy accepted a banana, uncertainly.  He'd worked with some odd types, before, but this idea of a doctor who, in one breath, spoke of having his consciousness modified so that he couldn't even remember why he knew what he knew (or, presumably, if he even knew it, until he needed it), and then in the next breath offered candied fruit around like he was hosting a dinner party, just threw him for a loop.  He really wasn't quite sure what to make of it all.

But he was pretty sure that he'd never get Demons to surrender the same way, again.  "You still have that open requisition there?" he asked, as he contemplated the banana.

"I'm thinking some 7.62 HEAP ammo is sounding really good, if we have to pull another boarding action..."  He bit into the banana, unsure at first...his eyebrows went up in surprise, and he shrugged and then consumed the rest of the banana with gusto.

  As  Standard ammo, or  just for boarding parties....or just for   the..um..elite  unit?

Roy chuckled softly.  "Well, until we can be totally certain of the loyalties of everyone we're giving ammo to, I think standard ammo should remain standard issue.  If these things can, in fact, alter their genetics to adapt to our tactics, I want something that's gonna require a whole lot of adaptation to survive.  I'd trust Lyri with it...maybe a few others...but I don't know enough about the rest of the crew to say 'give it to everybody.'"

He finished off his banana with one last bite, and answered, his voice slightly muffled by the banana, "I just know that I want it, as an option."

Mal was half into his current banana when he mumble out,
"MMmmeee Woon't Woork...

Sorry won't work at least not for what you want. Demons know things that go boom. Angels used them too. Never got better than a standstill.

You got what you need now.
Trick is figuring out how to use it.
I know what to do.. but not how," he looked to each as he talked. He was gauging reactions and adjusting the language to suit all types.

He said,
"Every infantry, marine, fighter pilot, and crew member has their strengths and weaknesses. They also have their specialties and something they're good at.

What's needed is to compensate for the weaknesses and boost the strength. I know.. Obviously right?

What I'm talking about is the fact that I had to send in every modification I did to my suit. So did every explorer and scientist. You had to mod your suit to your specialty, for the environment, and for defense in alien environments. We were looking at sites for bases and colonies.

Those designs and mods are in your computer banks. How to apply them to each fighter, pilot and so forth is the puzzle. Literally a puzzle. Fit the pieces to the person and the suit or equivalent.

The advantage is the intuition and instinct developed in each squad member. Set up your battle plan, equip your people to improvise within their specialty, and then leave room to maneuver.

Any idea what can effect a person's tactics and intuition?

Do they have gas? Farting burping etc?
Are they tired? Did they have sex?
Was it good sex? How old is the gear? How is the gear mod adjusted? Are they scared? Worried? Excited... or what..?

Each little thing and how they maneuver is something a Demon can't plan for.

That's the what...
Anyone know the how?" then munched some more apples.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:35, Tue 19 Apr 2011.

  Hack  shook his head, Tell the LC how much you want, we'll  se how much we'll get

Roy shrugged.  "I still want a magazine full of HEAP ammo, next time I'm going into Demon territory.  Even if it doesn't kill 'em, if it'll knock them down and make it hard for them to come after us, I'll be satisfied."

He grinned over at Mal, and added, "Like you said, sometimes it's how you apply it.   A little explosive in the middle of the sinus cavity is guaranteed to give just about anyone a bad day, at the very least."

Mal nodded to Roy and said,
"That's the ticket.
You got people who will lay out those rounds in unconventional manner or basically as they can see a need or advantage to?

Then they will help bunches.
It's not 'cause they go boom though.
Excellent thinking!" then he looked to the Commander.

With a questioning smile Mal said,
"Want me to clean up?" then waited for the answer.

Roy mused for a moment..."I wonder if THAT is why they surrendered...used to being fired at, center of mass, and typically only after they'd fired on someone.  Two or three surgical strikes, taking down the more adventurous ones in the group..."

He'd wondered about the sudden change of heart in what they'd all been told were brutally ruthless warriors, and why they'd suddenly surrendered en masse.  New and unfamiliar tactics confusing them...that made sense.

  The Commander shook his head, don't  worry about it. you cooked, I'll clean up. Well gentlemen? Carry on then..we  all have  work to do..


 The LC was already running water  to clean up, shepointed to the lap top, for  Roy to order his  ammo.

Roy stepped over to the laptop, entered 1 case of the stuff...and then paused, and thought a little longer.  He deleted the 1 and put a 4 in its place.  It was, hopefully, more of the stuff than he'd ever end up using...but he reasoned that it was far better to have it and not need it, than vice versa.

"I think I'm going to go have a look at those items Shadow gave me earlier...make sure I don't need anything to go with them, either."  He smiled grimly, and added, "And now that the game is done, I should start checking out the names on that list you gave me, LC."  He snapped off a sharp salute, ready to leave.

Mal looked a little shocked and then said, "Is that Wisp female?

You might just have got their breeding Queen if it is. They'd do anything to protect or keep her safe it that's the case. It would also mean that we have a female that had all bunches of bio-tech info in her body. That's would be one hell of a prize.." he looked to the LC then the Commander.

Roy shrugged.  "I wouldn't know...I've never had anything to do with them, prior to this assignment.  That would explain why the Tanks accepted the order to surrender, though..."

Mal went over to where a vid screen was and said,
"I need to see any video from when the Wisp was captured along with any from the surrender...

Please?

It's important!" the looked back to the screen hoping he'd get what he asked for.

Roy blinked a couple of times in surprise.  "Video?  I don't even know if we were shooting any.  I had my hands full with shooting Demons, there was no time to film them."  He glanced over at Hack.

"Sir?  Did we have anyone shooting vid during the boarding action?  Or did we manage to lift security feeds from the Demon ship after we captured it?"

  Hack shook his head,..Your Group..the Main boarding  party,,,we didn't  take  any Vids..should have...I was just worried  about  trying to disable the engines  and getting  the crew back...now...our..er...fine  Major had Vids..mostly with him and  his Sgt posing  with  the Captured  Officer...as  far as I know? And i will be  the first to admit, i don't  know much...would  we  be able to tell a female right off..and since they were using human and Sanri females  for tests in thier Birthing lab..I would have to say no...But?  I could be wrong...

 The LC frowned as she opened another window on her laptop, leaving the order sheet up,..Commander? Turn on the Vid...this is interesting...to say the least...

  The Commander went over to the  Vid screen used  for  watching  entertainment, he surf through channels  Until the LC told him to stop and she Pointed..there was a Human reorter standing out side   the Main Med-Center at the Uppers, a male voice said,..and  you are sure of this Becky?

  The Woman Nodded, in the backround  people walked back and forth some mugging  for the Vids, but she  continued,"...yes Steve...it was  confirmed  about an Hour  ago...The star Defensive Back  for  Olympus  2 is  dead...now the  Med-techs we talked to  said his injuries were bad enough  to keep him off the Docks  for a month or so...but cannot understand why he died...though they said, there  is no foul play involved..there are Olympus  and ESN security forces doing tests on the room and looking for anything out of sorts...we will be hearing  more of this, I am sure...

  The camara  switched back to a man in the studio, That  was  Becky Owe on site at the Olympus Uppers Main Med-center...now...a story coming up about a  child reunited  with her family in the Lowers........ a commercial came on showing what to do if you had problems getting aircardust off your  clothes.....

Mal turned to the Commander and said, "Can we get in on that?
My suit can be made up to look like a security outfit. Send Roy in there when you go talk to them as one of your security team.

Heck it's even true from a certain perspective. I'll just leave the sensors on in stealth. You can get your own full investigation."

The lieutenant ran the news report by himself again. The DB for Olympus 2 was dead. Very interesting. Perhaps there was, though he hesitated to make such a pun, foul play? While the medical technicians had reported otherwise, they were far from reliable. The AI wondered for .2 seconds if he would be allowed to testify in court. Then he focused, and had a moment of insight. Mentally contacting the hospital security, he began downloading the security footage from the past two days, and sifting through the piles of data for a match. Nothing on cameras 1-10. Nothing on cameras 11-20. But what was that on camera 23? Prometheus watched two men he recognized walk down the corridor. The two men which had accosted Shadow before. The one he had pushed off the landing. They seemed to be heading for the DB's room.

The AI mentally cursed. The camera in front of Grueless' room was down. All he had after that was the pair walking to the lobby and out the front door. He checked the time stamps. They would have been there extremely soon after having attempted to kidnap Shadow and Killian.

He needed to inform the Commander.

Sir. I have cross referenced Roy Spencer's pictures with the hospital security footage. The two men who Shadow encountered were at the hospital shortly thereafter. While the camera covering the front of the Defensive Back's room was down, I have footage of them heading in his direction. As well as footage of them heading away from his room out the front door. They may have been involved in the Defensive Back's death.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:16, Tue 19 Apr 2011.

 Clicking in answer to Promo's finds,...very  interesting...well...see if what you can fid on Gruless' backround...where was he before  being transfers here..I mean..he was a dock worker...