Futuristic Forsaken: The Neutral Zone

[joshuadim]

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[turtwigwins]

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[dikdik]

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[hardcore.munchkin]

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[Worthlessplebian]

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[Infab]

1. Search
A simple mining trolley or a handcar would help immensely, and the Repair Bay was supposed to have one in order to get to broken down machinery in the tunnels quickly. You just had to find it. Then, the four of you could simply ride the tracks to your destination, if they weren't damaged by debris from the tunnel ceiling.

Excellent idea. It would shave a some hours off the journey.

You fold the map back up and put it away, before looking to Reyna and the soldiers. "There should be a mining trolley around here somewhere. Help me look for it." you say, before you begin your search through the repair bay.

Reyna speaks up, following after you. "Won't that make noise?" she asks, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, a bit, but we won't have to walk for hours. We can just ride the rails all the way there. Or most of the way, at least." you respond. "Besides, we can defend ourselves if someone comes after us."

You and your three comrades search through the Repair Bay, and eventually locate the mining trolley off to the side. It had some machine oil and grease on it, but it was still perfectly functional. It even had a motor on it, so you could bring one or two cans of gasoline to fuel it. If you ran out, there's still the large lever to move it by hand.
You and the soldiers move it out of the bay, pushing it along a track through one of the garage doors until it arrives at the mine cart track. A simple switch flip near the track allows you to connect it, and push it onto it. Then, you fuel the engine with some gasoline from the shop, before sticking two extra cans on the cart. You all load up, and you start the engine with a few switch flips and the push of a button. It sputters to life, and, using the throttle, you set out on your way.

The cart zips around the spiral, heading upwards into the main tunnel before heading aback south in the direction you had came before. Both the soldiers as well as yourself keep an eye out, while Reyna holds onto the map. She'd be the navigator, while you drive and the soldiers defend.

About twenty or so minutes pass, traveling through the dark tunnels, before you eventually encounter your first hostile. A cluster of five Union miners, roaming the tunnel. Looking for survivors. Two of them have pistols, and of course, take shots at you as you drive towards them. However, the soldiers are prepared. A burst of AK fire takes out two, while semi-auto rifle fire takes out the others. You casually pass them by after the fact, simply glancing down at their bodies as you pass. These were already covered in blood that wasn't their own. Some seemed to have collected trophies as well. Fingers hung from one miner's neck, while another had several ears.

So, they mutilate bodies too?

Yes. They've regressed to a sort of primitive state mentally, with increased aggression. Thanatos finds it entertaining, in the grand scheme of things. I favor intelligence over idiots banging rocks together.

Reyna notices the same thing you do, and makes a disgusted face before returning to the map. "Alright, if we keep going the way we are, we should reach the outer Union tunnels in a little while. Then, we should start seeing markings saying that we're approaching Commonwealth territory. Before we actually cross over, we'll need to turn down a tunnel to the right marked 'AUX-51." That leads to the auxiliary tunnels that go towards the Conglomerate facility."

"Got it." says one of the soldiers in the front. "We'll keep an eye out."

Its not long after that you encounter your next thread. This time, it was what you expected. Imperial patrol, but driven nuts just like those miners. You hear their bulky rifles sound off, firing shots in your direction, followed by the sounds of your guards returning fire. You prepare yourself to do a drive by shot, as you accelerate towards them. As soon as you're near, you release the throttle just long enough to lift your shotgun and fire off a blast at the passing Imperials.

The blast takes the head off one soldier, spattering one of his friends in blood. His friend almost falls over trying to avoid the gunfire. Reyna then takes her own shots, firing a series of three shots at the Imperial. Its enough to pin him down as you speed past on the trolley. Your comrades at the front continue to fire on the Imperials as you speed away, firing over your heads as they prop against the hand pump. Out of a group of eight Imperials, five had been killed. Eventually, however, you lose them as the distance between them grows.

A few more encounters would occur on the way to AUX-51, mostly with roaming miners or a smaller Imperial squad. A notable one was with a Commonwealth synth that had lost both its arms. It was put out of its misery by a well placed semi-auto rifle shot.

When you reach AUX-51, passing by a few Commonwealth/Union border signs, the soldiers point it out. You slow down, allowing one to hop off the trolley and flick the switch next to the tracks. Once he hops back on, you proceed on. Now it was just a matter of traversing more narrow auxiliary tunnels. Reyna pays careful attention, pointing out where you needed to turn according to the map.

Eventually, however, you arrive at your destination.

As the trolley rolls to a stop, you find yourself looking upwards at an old maintenance lift to the side. A few lights were on, bathing it in a dull white glow, as the yellow painted skeletal mesh and steel frame ascended into the ceiling of the tunnel. It seems only large enough to fit two people at a time, so there would have to be two trips.

You all get off the trolley, and quickly sort out who was going with who. There were two soldiers, so one would ride up with you and the other with Reyna. Filenkov voluteers to ride up with you first.

You step onto the lift with Filenkov, then press the green button on the handrail. The lift shudders for a moment, creaking loudly, before slowly lifting upwards. There wasn't as much rock between the tunnel and the facility above here, so it wouldn't be as long of a trip thankfully.

As you neared the top of the lift, you smell something burning. You glance to Filenkov, who was already pointing his semi-automatic rifle upwards towards the exit. You do the same with your shotgun, preparing yourself in the event that hostiles were still around.

​

As the lift reaches its destination, you find yourself in the maintenance halls at the rear of the facility. However, there's a dull haze. Smoke. Something was indeed burning.

There's also a body on the floor, about three meters from the lift. A man, dressed in khaki pants and a green turtle neck. Blood was pooled beneath him, as he had three bullet holes in his back.

Filenkov moves in first, taking the chance to secure the room before motioning you in. "What the hell happened here? Imperials?" you ask.

"Probably." responds Filenkov, "Keep an eye out. There may be survivors."

You nod, keeping your shotgun shouldered as you hear the lift begin to lower back down. You glance back it for a moment, before you hear Filenkov speak again.

"I'm going to move up. Stay here till they get up here. I'll yell if I find anyone." he says, before moving through towards the narrow metal hallway before you.

You do as you're told, waiting quietly for Reyna and Muszyński to arrive. You note that Muszyński had been thinking the same thing, his AK pointed upwards as you saw them come into view. "Filenkov went on ahead. Told me to wait for you." you state, to which Muszyński responds with a nod. He pushes past you gently, giving you a pat on the shoulder before motioning to follow.

Carefully, you step over the body and proceed on. It seemed like a small war had happened here. Bullet holes, scorch marks from grenade detonations. There were other bodies, mostly members of the Conglomerate's peacekeeping division. Volunteer soldiers from each of the different factions. There bodies of others too. Scientists, investigators, officials from the Conglomerate itself.

Now you knew why they had gone silent. They had been attacked and killed.

You eventually emerge from the back of the facility into the Conglomerate technical areas. Rows of computers, monitoring the state of Lethe, its planet, and the surrounding system. Some were even monitoring the states of the colonies. Some of the screens had been shot up, bullet holes riddling the consoles, while a few of them were outright on fire. More bodies, though mostly of technicians. You soon spot a comms room ahead, off to the side. Perfect.

"Reyna, head in there. Grab what you need. Quickly." you say, motioning to it. Reyna nods rapidly, darting over to the door and heading inside.

You and the soldiers continue to look around, moving through the room and inspecting the bodies. The wounds looked to be from rifle rounds. Likely from typical Imperial weaponry. However, you notice something odd.

There were no shell casings on the floor, save for the ones from Peacekeeper weapons. Very strange.

Who uses a weapon that produces no brass?

Caseless ammunition. Perhaps from one of the more technologically forward-thinking factions?

Muszyński decides to stay put, in the event Reyna needs help, so soon enough you are moving on with Filenkov into the Office area.

The offices were a mess, and mostly on fire. Now you knew where most of the fire was that was creating this haze of smoke. Here would also be where you'd find the first of the bodies of the attackers.

Filenkov squats near one of them, just near the first row of cubicles outside of the Tech area. "...Custom armor, but its not Imperial. It isn't Commonwealth either, though. Different design than what the mercs are wearing over there." he says, glancing up to you. "I... don't see his weapon. He does have a sidearm on him, though."

Filenkov draws the pistol from its holster on the corpse's thigh. "...What the hell is this?" he mutters, looking the device over. It looks... strange. Sleek and silver, with gentle curves and a rubber grip. There is no ejection port on the weapon, as it doesn't appear to have a slide that moved at all. The compensator on the end seemed to have a piece of strange glass fitted inside it.

"That's a focusing lens." you point out, noticing the glass piece. "...This is a laser weapon. I think." (Mechanical)

Filenkov looks confused. "Where the hell did they get a laser weapon? I thought those were experimental?" he asks, glancing to you.

You simply shrug, before motioning towards him. "Keep it. We can show the bosses when we get back."

As he tucks it away in his gear, you continue to look around. You spot another door to the left side of the offices, across from you, that had been wedged open. There were green lights inside, blinking. You proceed over, poking your head inside, and are surprised at what you find.

There were more computers here, but one was lit up near the door. Plugged into this computer was a white haired, blue eyed synth dressed in a white dress shirt and black slacks. She appeared to be heavily damaged, covered in both blood and blue machine oil. Her clothes were slightly singed, and she had several bullet wounds stretching across her torso. Her leg and left arm had been heavily damaged as well. Machine oil had pooled around her from her wounds. She was beyond repair.

Lying on the floor next to her was a Commonwealth assault rifle. Older make, solid black with ribbed magazines, a solid stock, triangular foregrip, and twenty inch barrel. It was wedged under her good arm, her hand no longer gripping the handle anymore. The bolt had locked back, a fresh magazine lying on the floor. It seemed as though she had perished trying to reload the weapon.

You notice the cable running from the back of her neck, up towards the console she was next to. The screen was blinking green, as words flashed across it. You move into the room, over near the console to examine it.

COGNITIVE DATA UPLOAD PARTIALLY COMPLETE

STATUS: 97% TRANSFERRED

APPROVAL NEEDED TO FINALIZE DATA TRANSFERENCE
​

You then jump a bit, when you hear the synth move. It was really faint at first, but as your attention snaps down to her, you notice her looking up at you with bright blue eyes. She was watching you. However, you then notice her eyes moving between you and the console. As if she were pleading for you to help her with it.

You then realize what she had been doing. Synths were able to upload the data in their brains into new bodies, in the event of heavy damage or malfunction. She was trying to put herself into a new body before her current one failed her. She likely was damaged in the fighting, and crawled here to try and save herself.

She may know what went on here. She could also potentially help you. Reyna probably won't like it, but...


1. Save

You had to finish what she started. You reach over and hit 'Enter' on the console, and watch as the percentage climbs to 100.

2. Leave

There was no way you were going to save a synth, of all things. You back away from the terminal, ignoring the synth's pleading gaze, and turn to leave.

 

[Breadman]

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[asphodelus]

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[Worthlessplebian]

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[turtwigwins]

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[hardcore.munchkin]

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[K0mori]

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[joshuadim]

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[dikdik]

11111111111

 

[Infab]

1. Save
You had to finish what she started. You reach over and hit 'Enter' on the console, and watch as the percentage climbs to 100.

COGNITIVE DATA UPLOAD RESUMING

STATUS: 97.5... 98... 99... 100% TRANSFERRED

...

COGNITIVE DATA UPLOAD COMPLETE
PROCESSING DATA... COMPLETE

BEGINNING RAPID THAWING PROCESS FOR NEW SYNTHETIC UNIT... THAW COMPLETE
PRIMARY SYSTEMS CHECK... COMPLETE
SECONDARY SYSTEMS CHECK... COMPLETE
TERTIARY SYSTEMS CHECK... COMPLETE

BOOTING SYNTHETIC UNIT "COM-COR-007858-002441 MARK II"... COMPLETE

UPLOADING COGNITIVE DATA TO SYNTHETIC UNIT... COMPLETE
CONFIGURING COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS... COMPLETE
BOOTING PERSONALITY MATRIX... COMPLETE

FINAL SYSTEMS CHECK... COMPLETE

PLEASE PREPARE CLOTHING FOR SYNTHETIC UNIT

​

You watch as the words tick across the screen, the console processing all the data that had been fed to it by the synth and uploading it into a newly thawed out synth. Where this new synth was, exactly, you didn't know at the moment. You also didn't know where exactly you'd be getting clothes for it, as you take note of the final message that appears on the screen. Unless they're fine with wearing clothes covered in blood and blue machine oil.

Eventually, you do hear some noises further into the facility. The sounds of machinery at work, and the hissing of steam. It sounds as thought it was coming from one of the other doors in the office area. You pull back, moving out into the office area once more and towards a set of double doors to your left. A sign above the door read 'Living Quarters'. A section for Conglomerate staff to rest and recuperate during their breaks or time off.

As you step through the double doors, you find that the Living Quarters were just as much of a mess as the rest of the facility. More bodies could be found, riddled with bullet wounds, as you proceed down the halls of the facility. Eventually, however, you hear a voice from further in.

"Did they really have to mess up my garden? What did the plants ever do to them?"

You cock an eyebrow, moving towards where you heard the voice. You eventually hear noises of movement, as you near a room marked 'Lotus'.

Rather than just barge in, you speak first. "Hello? Anyone in there?" you say aloud as you near the door.

"Oh! Just a minute! Getting dressed!" was the response. A female voice.

After a minute, the door slides open. Out steps a woman that looks exactly like the synth you had seen before.

​

"Oh, its you!" she says happily, "Thank you for the assistance! I just... ran out of energy to move anything beyond my eyes back there."

She holds out her hand. "My name is COM-COR-007858-002441, or Lotus. You can call me Lola too, if you'd like! I much prefer that, honestly. Short and sweet."

You cautiously reach out and shake it. "I'm Scott, from the Union colony. There's three others with me. We were sent over to check on those here at the Conglomerate, and retrieve some comms equipment. The Union's equipment is busted."

"Ah! Well, in regards to checking on us..." she says, before motioning down the hall towards the bodies. "...You're a little over an hour and a half late. However, a few of us made it out. They went towards the Commonwealth colony, after we managed to get word to them. I decided to stay behind and distract our attackers while they escaped."

Good. That means the Commonwealth colony's alright.

You look past her, into the room she had emerged from. There was... a cute botanical garden inside, in a small square box off to the side. Lovely flowers, but most had been crushed or shot. Apparently most of her wardrobe consisted of dress shirts and slacks, as she was wearing the same thing as her other body had.

"...Shall we go meet your comrades?" she said, leaning over to get into your line of sight. Blocking your view of her room. She smiles afterwards. "We shouldn't stay here, of course. Fires, rampaging Imperials, and so on..."

She then straightens up, moving past you and down the hall. You watch her for a moment, then follow after. She's a strange synth. Maybe its glitches in the cognitive data? She was on the verge of death, after all, when we found her. As you enter the office area with her a few moments later, Filenkov notices her and snaps his weapon up. You quickly wave at him to lower it.

"She's friendly. She says the ones that survived escaped to the Commonwealth colony. She stuck around to hold off the attackers." you state, to which she gives a singular nod.

"Yes. The 'Men in Black', as my boss referred to them." she says, soon noticing the corpse that Filenkov had found. "...He thinks they may be black ops agents."

Filenkov looked to the body as well. "Black Ops?" he asked, confused. "Why the hell would there be black ops here?"

"We were trying to figure that out before this happened." she stated, motioning to the roaring fire in other parts of the offices. "We think they might be linked to the Gamma-37 incident. Something's down in that unmarked tunnel, and they wanted it buried. Thus, the explosion."

"And all this other shit that's going on?"

"They fucked up, to put it bluntly. This might be the clean-up phase. Cause a mass incident, kill everyone off, and have the Conglomerate declare to the factions that Lethe was lost due to a cascading industrial accident."

She then looks over to the room where her other body lay. "I'll be right back." she says, before walking over and through the door. About a minute later, she returns. In her hands was her assault rifle from before. The fresh magazine you had seen was now shoved into the receiver, and she had a few more magazines that she tucked into her waistband.

"Now, I believe your friend was looking for communications equipment?" she soon asks, looking to you.

You nod, and she motions for the two of you to follow. The three of you move back into the technical area, where Muszyński and Reyna were now wrapping things up. They had got the equipment, and were now securing it for transport.

Both look up to you with your new guest, and you quickly explain. "This is Lola. She's a Conglomerate synth." you state.

Reyna wanted to say something near immediately, but you make a gesture with your hand across the neck a few times. Lola almost chuckles, noticing you. "...Don't worry, I know a lot of people don't like synths. I just live with it." she remarks, before looking to the equipment. "Ah, good. You have what you need. Now, if we're going to move that out of here, I suggest the tram. It's the fastest route, and from when I last checked, hasn't been damaged."

"We also have a mining trolley in the tunnel below. Its how we got here." says Muszyński.

"You drove through the tunnels to get here? Ballsy." she responds, looking to you. "Well, that's an option too. Up to you, however. I'll follow your lead."

Filenkov looks to her. "You're not staying?"

She smiles. "I don't have a reason to stay anymore. Everyone either got out, or..." she says, before pointing to the bodies nearby. "...I'll mourn my friends when we're finally safe from all this."

--- --- --- --- ---

Ally Acquired!



Lola
Conglomerate Synth Peacekeeper/Investigator
Survival Skillset, Advanced Weapons Knowledge​

1. Tram

You decide to take the route Lola suggests. "Tram it is. We'll grab the comms equipment. Keep an eye out for us, Filenkov." you say, before motioning for Lola, Reyna, and Muszyński to help. You had to carry the gear through the offices, through the entrance, and out to the tram terminal.

2. Mining Trolley

"I'd rather go out the way we came in." you say, glancing to Lola. "Let's get this stuff moved. We can take turns going down the lift with the gear. Be careful with it."

 

[joshuadim]

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[turtwigwins]

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[Breadman]

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[Worthlessplebian]

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[hardcore.munchkin]

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[K0mori]

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[Infab]

1. Tram
You decide to take the route Lola suggests. "Tram it is. We'll grab the comms equipment. Keep an eye out for us, Filenkov." you say, before motioning for Lola, Reyna, and Muszyński to help. You had to carry the gear through the offices, through the entrance, and out to the tram terminal.

Filenkov gave a thumbs up. "Got it. I'll scout out the front lobby and the tram terminal." he said, motioning towards the exit with his rifle before departing.

You then get to work gathering up the communications equipment. Its all rather bulky stuff, really, but that was the thing with computers. Some computers even took up whole rooms. This was just the portable stuff. Lola seemed to pick what she had selected up with ease, lifting it with almost one hand by the strap that Reyna and Muszyński had secured around it. Of course, she was a synth. Synths were twice as strong as humans, usually. Certain combat models were even stronger, able to carry heavy weaponry and armored plating for combat or other equipment for specialized roles.

"I'll lead the way. Do watch your step." says Lola, before strolling through the Tech room. You, Reyna, and Muszyński follow after, taking your time with the heavy equipment as you move through the facility.

The fires in the office area were tricky to navigate, Lola weaving a maze-like path through the cubicles for you to follow. Beyond the office lay the security sector where most of the Peacekeepers resided. Of course, most of the Peacekeeper bodies where there. Riddled with bullet holes, scorch marks, and shrapnel from what appeared to be fragmentation grenades. The lobby had a few bodies, some Peacekeepers and some in casual clothing. The vending machines were busted, having been shot and raided. What stood out most was the vault door that was used to secure the facility from the tram side, requiring you to go through a security checkpoint and the guard to open the door via a security terminal.

It had been blown inward with something highly explosive. Once you and the others pass through the destroyed door, you find out what had done it. A used missile launcher had been tossed to the side. Shoulder fired, high velocity. Single use, but that single use packed one hell of a punch.

"Huh. I figured they would have used plastic explosives. They went the brute force way, I guess." mutters Lola, eyeing the launcher as she passes it.

Filenkov is just ahead, standing on the terminal and looking about. "Its all clear." he calls out, waving a hand around him.

The large clear tube behind him was open, the tram waiting inside for passengers. The tube itself was vacuum sealed, containing no air whatsoever, but this segment at the terminal had been sealed off from the rest of the tube for the time being. Once everyone boarded, it would seal and the air would be sucked out of the segment before it reconnected to the rest of the tube system.

You and the rest begin to load the equipment onto the tram one by one, placing it in the rear of the car so that the rest of you would have room to sit while the tram was in motion. As you look around the car, everyone begins to find their seats.

"Alright, on to the Union colony. Let's hope the Imperials or the Men in Black haven't left any nasty surprises for us." states Lola, as she moved to the front of the car. She taps away on a keyboard, punching in a destination for the tram's computer system, while you take a seat behind her next to Reyna. You notice Reyna eyeing Lola quite hard, which almost makes you chuckle.

Soon enough, the tube begins to seal. Your car's door seals first, then the large door of the tube itself swings down. Pulling inward and locking in place. You next hear a loud hiss, as the air is sucked out of the tube segment you were occupying.

Please remain seated during the duration of the trip. Thank you.

Then, the car began to move. Slowly at first, before quickly picking up speed and darting down the tube. There were windows in the side and roof of the car, allowing you to get a good view of the surroundings outside as most of the tube itself was see-through. Lethe's bright gray surface flew by, covered in large rocks and dunes. You notice that what Alisa and Vicente had said was true, as the communications dishes had been blown to hell. All that was left was a smoldering wreckage in the distance, just to the northwest.

Above, floating in orbit near Lethe, you could see the dark sillouete of the orbital station. The lights were out, from the looks of it. Was anyone home? It was usually lit up, abuzz with traffic from other sectors of the Neutral Zone as well as from the faction worlds outside. Now it was just deathly quiet and dark.

​

At least, for a few moments.

Suddenly, there's a bright flash near the midsection of the structure. Then, more flashes followed by a massive explosion that engulfed the entire orbital station. Everyone save for Lola looks on in shock. "...Fuck, there goes the orbital station." she mutters.

Debris rockets to the surface of Lethe, slamming into the ground at high speed all over the area. Some even smashes into the colonies themselves, creating small detonations from the impact. Then, the large chunks of the station begin to fall towards Lethe, just as you disappear into the underground portion of the tube near the Union colony.

"Oh, we're just fucked, aren't we?" says Reyna.

"No, but things just became a lot more difficult." stated Lola, glancing back to the two of you.

- + - END OF CHAPTER ONE - + -


​

 

[Infab]

- + - CHAPTER TWO: A SIGNAL IN THE NOISE - + -



​

Three days prior...

---
December 24th, Year 734 of Galactic Era 4
Lethe, Hades, Aidoneus System, The Neutral Zone
Lethe's Surface
Surface Level Communications Station 'Songbird'
---


The massive communications dishes shifted slowly, turning and aligning themselves with the orbital station above. Most of them, anyway. Others were pointed towards the planet itself, or off into space. The dishes had been through their monthly cleaning, maintenance crews from the Conglomerate making sure that dust from the surface was thoroughly cleaned from the dishes as well as the smaller instruments around their base. The dust seemed to interfere with broadcasts, resulting in garbled transmissions or transmissions not going out at all. Sometimes, it even interfered with incoming transmissions.

"Careful now. Even a few degrees off, and we're going to sending transmissions to some random ship out in the black instead of the station."

The grizzled voice crackled through Kenneth's headset, forcing him to roll his eyes. He had done this dozens of times. This was a pretty regular thing, and near impossible to fuck up, given the PDA's they were given to plug into the dishes' systems.

"Rick, this isn't some manual job. The tech does it for us." responded Kenneth, lifting the PDA up slightly and wiggling it around in his hand so that the elder technician could see from where he was standing. "Its been that way for the past two years."

"I don't trust that corpo crap." was the response. "Computers can fuck up. Its why these things still have manual cranks on them."

Kenneth chuckled, before glancing back down to the large PDA in his hands. The readings seemed to be correct, with a strong signal coming in from the orbital station above. "Alright. That's the Commonwealth dishes all aligned. Now, on to the Union dishes."

Another voice crackled through the headset. A female one. "Can we just call it a day? The Union and Imperials can send their own out here." she said.

Kenneth glanced over to his left towards the woman, whom had folded her arms as best she could in her protective space suit.

"Do you want to cause an incident? They're all on edge already with the shit in the mines." he responded, "Besides, Brit, we know how to work this stuff. They don't."

The woman visibly shrugged. "Still think they should do it. Its their dishes." she stated, before looking around. "What do you think, Leon? Should we fuck off and get some beers?"

There was a few moments of silence, which made the woman look around more. "...Leon? You still out here?" she said, unfolding her arms and walking around.

"Maybe he went back to the airlock. You know how he is about sticking around on the surface too long." stated Kenneth, looking back down at his PDA as he moved towards the Union dishes nearby.

"The rover is still here."

This made Kenneth glance up and around. Sure enough, she was right. The rover was still parked just where they had left it, and Leon was nowhere to be found. He stopped walking, and began to look around himself. "Leon? You still out here, buddy?"

More silence.

A minute later, Kenneth went to speak again. However, a loud pop interrupted him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brittney go down. She fell face first into the dirt, her suit hissing as oxygen was being visibly released through a hole which had been punched into the side of her suit's helmet. Two more pops followed, Kenneth snapping around quickly to see Rick fall into the dirt as well.

Then, a soft voice came through the headset. Leon's voice. He sounded rattled, breathing heavily.

"...I-I'm sorry about this, Kenny. The d-dishes have to be destroyed. No one c-can know."

"L-Leon? Why are you doing this?"

"T-They told me to. They... T-They said that w-we can't wake them up... W-We're not supposed t-to be here."

"Leon, who's 'they'? Talk to me, buddy."

"...I've a-already said t-too much."

There was an audible click a moment later, transmitted through Leon's mic and into Kenneth's headset. A moment later, several massive blasts engulfed the area. Consuming both the dishes as well as Kenneth.

​

Now...

---
December 28th, Year 734 of Galactic Era 4
Your Mind
---


Most of the remainder of the day, after your arrival back at the Union colony, was spent on damage control. The debris from the orbital station's destruction had rained down onto Lethe's surface, striking several parts of the colony and causing significant damage. There was relatively little loss of life, but it had left parts of the colony on lockdown. A good quarter of the living quarters area was vented of its oxygen by a chunk of the station, forcing its occupants to be evacuated and made to live in the market district of the colony.

You had assisted in dealing with some of the damage, helping to seal off affected areas and sometimes helping to mend the damage itself. Meanwhile, Reyna and Lola had helped to set up the radio equipment so that the Union would have some form of communications with the Commonwealth colony. Once the day was over, you retired to a room you had been granted to rest. Shuteye couldn't come fast enough, after the day you've had.

However, as soon as you drift off to sleep, you find yourself sitting on the same chair you had been while you were unconcious before. Surrounded by an all black space, and sitting across from the female jester known as Hypnos.

"Finally, we're together again." she states with a smile, "...At least, in your head."

She shifts in her seat, before eventually standing. As she moves, the bells on her outfit gently jingle. "So! You've managed to not only find working radio equipment, but you've also recruited a synth! That's something I didn't expect, especially with Reyna around." she says, as she walks over towards you. "Sadly, the orbital station was destroyed... A fairly large setback. You couldn't stop it anyway, so that's not your fault."

She stops before you, bending over to look you in the face. "Let's walk, shall we?" she says, smiling again and offering her hand to you.


1. Walk

You reach up and gently take her hand. You stand up, Hypnos gently giving you a tug to assist, and soon the two of you walk away from your chairs into the black.

2. Refuse

You fold your arms, giving Hypnos a look. You'd much rather remain here, avoiding whatever shenanigans they have planned.

 

[hardcore.munchkin]

1

 

[K0mori]

1