Gose

"Etar, we're boarding you onto the ship here." A voice from the command bridge calls out, an officer who very much despised the choice of the upper brass to use a convict for this task. "You know what the consequences of failure are."

"I'd rather not be sent back to a shitty military prison camp." The sole pilot would reply curtly, stepping out onto the hangar bay. The Alsinan ACS Carriers had 4 main hangar decks of 20 space-modified ACS suit per hangar. While quite the small complement compared to normal Alsinan carriers, this is because the ACS carriers are much, much smaller. What would normally be a bustling and busy environment was quiet, desolate, and empty. Only one ACS was available for deployment, and it shows how much a place like this relies on numbers. With only one maintenance team working on one suit, it's an eerie echoey place, the sounds of large drills bouncing down the massive hangar bay.

"Hey, Yaz, how's the progress on it?" the pilot would ask one of his maintenance crew.

"Almost done, now get yer ass outta here and let us finish. You've got places to be, don'tcha, and we've gotta get this hunk of metal up an' runnin'!" he would reply, clearly annoyed.

"Point taken."

Etar would make his way to the docking bay and aboard the formerly-MISE ship, equipped in the finest pilot-armor one could gain from an over-bloated military budget. It was light while not being useless in emergency scenarios, it had oxygen circulation all throughout, and a massive sensor visor all about the Alsinan head. This sort of uniform wasn't uncommon on extra-system spec-ops forces, and this was no exception.

He had listened closely to Elohim's explanation of the situation, though having only heard about MISE in passing as the past economic powerhouse of G-S16. However, once he mentioned the mission at hand, with the IPD data storage facility, he would listen much more closely. This sort of data would be perfect for the techs back home, and should be enough of combat data to keep the government off his back so he could continue working for his freedom.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Sir, but the mission is to bust in, get the data, and get the hell out ASAP?"

    Gose Fawx
    The four Bastonians listened to Elohims words but to the outward eye they seemed distracted. Gosha was tuning his blade. The Hermidian was very concentrated at what seemed to be nothing, engaging in some sort of mental gymnastics. Zion, the Comminator, was particularly interested in the rooms inhebitats. He was the only out of the soldiers to not remove his helmet. A sensory drone unfolded from the back of his suit and scanned every inhabitant in the room with every electromagnetic detection method the GBE possesed. He took special interest in the Vaiaelon, scanning him with the equipment mounted on his helmet which possesed no visor. He did not halt his scans when asking Elohim through telepathy:
    'One request. You must give me every bite of information you have on the vaults defenses, structure, machines and systems.'
    While being a message sent from his mind, the messages audial equivalent was oddly slow and calm. Moreso than any war-burdened SSS unit.

          Gose KrankysFirebrand48

          Bandula grinned wide and leaned against the wall nonchalantly as Elohim gave the rundown of the situation. Something linked to the great future- the very thing the organization she found herself working for had been searching for all this time. Her superiors would love to hear about this. Not only that, but it sounded like it might be an.. interesting endeavour, one faced alongside an odd bunch of people from the galaxy. A Qunit of legendary proportions, a group of cold, unforgiving- but probably well-trained Bastonian soldiers, a bigass spider, and... a pair of slimes?

          Whatever.

          "Hate to say it, but the Stonies have a point," she spoke up. "Whatever you know about the defenses would be nice, though i ain't gonna demand it." The last bit was spoke with an annoyed but not aggressive tone, as she eyed the cold, stoic bastonian, cybernetics in her eyes scanning him over loosely, not gathering much on him other than what she could already see.

          Then, she looked back at Elohim, friendliness once again returning to her demeanor. "So, how we getting there? Am I wrong to assume that parking this giant, beautiful bastard of a ship in orbit is out of the question?"

          At a glance, Bandula seemed like some sort of canid humanoid, clad in armour and weapons and devices, with a cube floating above her shoulder. Beneath that, the scans revealed vast amounts of both cybernetics, and artificial tissues. redundant organs, a half-artificialinternal bone structure like that of a vaiaelon but compressed down and reshaped, and many notable other things. She bore a large implant along her spine that seemed similar in design to some semblance of a qswitch. It was evident that her organic internals must have been made from scratch with advanced genetic control and manipulation. Much like the qunits of the war pact, she was an artificial weapon, not a soldier uplifted with power.

              Gose
              Raasha remained sat on the floor all the while Elohim was speaking, as his attempt to make use of a chair and been uncomfortable and resulted in the destruction of a chair. He let the others ask their questions and heeded the responses, then spoke up from there.
              R: "While I am mildly concerned this wasn't asked sooner, I'll ask all the same. What sort of defensive measures are in place that we will have to actually confront? Will we need to deal with simple ballistic cannons, energy weapons, automata, or something else entirely? Or perhaps even some esoteric weaponry?"

              KrankysFirebrand48
              While to the naked eye Raasha appeared as merely an exceptionally large Vaiaelon with an odd pelt, the comminator could see that there was far more beneath that. Every fiber of his being was some inorganic compound, his bones were graphene composite, and his limbs contained hidden blades amidst the flesh. His organs were triple redundant and reduced in size to accommodate what appeared to be an entire cold fusion reactor within his chest, presumably to power the innumerable other implants whose purpose couldn't be identified. Barely a molecule of his physiology was truly natural.

              His brow furrowed and he glanced to shoot the comminator a disapproving glare.

                  Gose
                  Joining the meeting as a completely outsider, Yin and Yang shifts uncomfortably in the suit, especially after that hologram eyed them strangely as if their actual identity has already been uncovered from the get-go, while the discovery of partnering with the foxman/foxmech from the previous esoteric adventure doesn't help keeping their identity as a secret either. They decide to remain mostly mute, be it to keep on the remaining veil to their identity, have their question already asked by the others, or perhaps they know their ability isn't much of an impact to whatever situation that can overwhelm the other participants, thus not wasting more time on their behalf.

                    4 days later

                    Elohim frowned at the Bastonian, dissaprovingly. He then looked at everyone at the table present and began.

                    "Although my reputation precedes me, and some may even see me as ruthless, I will not tolerate the ill manners of invading someone's privacy here. I am sure everyone has secrets they wish to keep, be it in how they are made or what they do. It'll take a measure of trust for us to carry this task out."

                    Elohim raised an eyebrow at the Bastonian's question, however, he softened after others demanded the same but with a much better wording than the bluntness of before.

                    "I will try my best not to expediate the arms race or the galaxy, though I'm sure that replication of their defenses is not an easy feat. We'll see what we can do, if we do come upon technological information of such calibre.
                    As for what we do know..."

                    The hologram zooms out into the view of the system, the space surrounding the planet fills with the projection of a sphere, a million threads run all across the object, tangentiating the planet itself at best.

                    "The outmost layer is a complex system of interdictory and normalisation fields, arranged in randomised patterns that track upon incoming objects detected by several powerful planetside sensory arrays.
                    Passing through it with a fleet or a large ship is impossible, but a small stealth-focused craft can evade well enough to reliably get through. We can buy time by distracting the system with a swarm of decoys, and in the worst scenario we can eject and return manually with individual suits.
                    This outer layer utilizes relativistic kill vehicles launched by innumerable stealthed assets hidden across the system."

                    The view zooms into the planet, greenery covers almost everything apart from a few metallic hideouts protuding from the surface.
                    "We made landfall after thoroughly probing the external defenses. It didn't take long until we were targeted by the ground assets. Compressor beams, they are called in the files, an evolution of the gravitational snap cannon found in the wartime vessels, like the Golden Arrow.
                    We don't know the metrics of its gravitational projection, but from when it targeted us, it seems to emit a self-sustaining vortex capable of sweeping up what it passed through. Its sensors work in pattern detection like almost all MISE systems, blending into the forest and evading its arc of fire or disabling its energy feed should be enough, risking direct confrontation would be perilous."

                    The hologram zooms in more and provides a few shots of a location, a large indent into the side of a hill proves to be a tunnel or some kind of entrance.

                    "This is our objective, scans show a large amount of activity surrounds this area. We have no reason to doubt it wouldn't have access to the IPD instance present there. There, I will request information and hopefully disable defenses.
                    One last note. The defenses seem to work on an aggression level, sending more measures the longer a threat is present, similar to the concept of sufficient response that the MISE used in many weaker links. That is why we will move fast and in a small group, that gives js the best chances.

                      Gose
                      The Comminator facial expression stayed hidden behind the helmet. Gosha glanced at him and engaged in telepathy. As a result the Comminator relucantly retrieved his drone, lifting out his hand to hold it and ceased the scanning. The Hermidian grinned in his direction as if he had made a joke and nudged Gosha's arm. After this brief interaction the Bastonians did very little but listen to Elohims briefing.

                        Gose
                        After most of the intel is shown, the twins know they are severely outclassed by whatever they are going to face if they do continue on with the others, and although they do want to gain something, its not exactly beneficial for themselves to trade their lives for it, especially when Mainframe did give the strict order of return if necessary.
                        After some internal debates, they finally build up enough guts to say things aloud.
                        "Sorry to interrupt, but I don't think we can be of much help in what we are about to do. Of course, in all rules and regulations, we shall not speak to anyone regarding what is in here and will accept any sort of regulatory devices, but regardless we wish to take our leave here."

                        • Gose replied to this.

                            Gose

                            "Hmm... Good to know.." mused Bandula. She ran over the information in her mind for a few moments, having memorized it with internal biocomputers. Her fingers ran through her hair for a moment, then she peered back to Elohim and spoke.

                            "Would it be possible to split our forces into two, even smaller groups at a good distance? The smaller the group, less chances of getting detected, right? If needed, we can make one group significantly smaller, stealthier, better chance of getting through even if the main one has to turn back and leave."

                            She waited a moment to catch a breath, then: "Another thing. Even if splitting doesnt work, would it be possible to bring along some sort of disguise mechanism? Some sort of devices to hide us from visual and thermal sensors, better our chances even more. Just spitballing, here, probing the possibilities," she said promptly, her tail swishing behind her as she waited for an answer.

                                8 days later

                                Gose

                                The Alsinan pilot was mostly silent, taking in the information Elohim spoke. Dangerous mission, perilous landing...most of the filler was filtered out through his head. Being in a rotting prison for 4 years made it essential to learn what someone was saying, especially the important words and the bullshit.

                                "Deep intel you got. So, when're we launching?" He would say, trying to hide his worry that he might not make it home. Of course he'd rather die than be thrown back in the prison, though.

                                Damn, these defense's are gonna be a bitch to break... Etar would think to himself. These kinda defenses are gonna kill someone...I wonder what kinda shit they have in there, though, which'd require this kinda stuff...

                                A surge of pain would go through his body, coming from the nervous system adapters all over his person, a shock from the adapters recalibrating. Such technology needed test subjects, but it didn't stop the pain from hurting all the same.

                                • Fawx replied to this.

                                    Gose Brank
                                    Satisfied with his answer, Raasha simply nodded and took a back seat to the rest of the conversation. He took note of some private telepathy occurring between the Bastonians, but did not pry any further than that. He would be better than them. He spoke up when Bandula brought up her suggestions of stealth.

                                    R: "I believe one of my sisters makes use of some technique to shield her image from would-be observers, though I do not know the specifics. I can contact her and request the Qswitch algorithms needed, however we have not spoken in quite some time... there is no guarantee she would comply."

                                    Andromeda
                                    Even though he did an excellent job hiding it physically, the pain did impact Etar's emotional state momentarily, altering his psychic presence enough for Raasha to notice. He turned his attention to the arachnid, whose visor opened a new text box. It read:

                                    "You appear to be in pain, for which your implants are to blame. I can assist, if you wish."

                                            Fawx

                                            Etar was skeptical of the Viaelaon. How did he know? It wasn't easy to know when someone's in pain, especially Etar, who barely flinched from his outer visage. Clearly, this fox-person knew more than he let on.

                                            "How you figure that out? You right, and I ain't opposed, but how'd ya figure out? Ya got some psychic powers or somethin'?" He said, laughing a little by the end.

                                            • Fawx replied to this.
                                                18 days later

                                                Fawx

                                                Bandula nodded. "If you can get ahold of her, that would be a start at least. If that doesnt work, I may be able to source something from the Seekers. I have a similar sort of device; gravitic cloaking; but its only strong enough to cover one person for a few moments. Maybe they would have something more powerful, though I've not heard any talks of it before." she replied promptly.

                                                    Brank Fawx
                                                    Gosha noted their conversation and added ’Unless they have FTL sensors pointed at the ground I can remain undetected momentarily and bypass physical barriers. Two of mates here are capable of gravitic cloaking momentarily. If you tuned your device…’ he gestured at Bandula.
                                                    ’We could hide a whole squad from the EM spectrum,’ said the Hermidian, ’but have you considered gravimetric detection? I know from experience, them MISE detection suites are cutting edge.’

                                                          Bandula nodded in response. "Yeah, itll have to be our best bet, if big guy here-" she gestured to Raasha- "cant get ahold of his sister. Hate to admit it but seeker qtech isnt anywhere near up to par with its vaiaelon equivalent."

                                                          • Fawx replied to this.
                                                            4 days later

                                                            Brank KrankysFirebrand48
                                                            R: "I am well aware of MISE's gravimetric mastery. If the systems in play here are at all comparable to those under my charge back at The Embassy, then they are at least partially reliant on sensor fusion. Considering this, even if we remain unshielded from gravimetric detection, we may be able to spoof the systems into believing it a hardware error, given the lack of return on other sensor types. This would not last forever, and eventually it would begin firing on gravimetric readings, so we would have to be quick."

                                                            "Again, all of this is assuming the systems are analogous to those of The Embassy, which is not guaranteed, hence why I pondered aloud whether I should pursue this information at all... And on the topic of Seeker quantum tech, personally I find it a miracle you were able to reverse engineer it as well as you did, the lagging nature is to be expected."

                                                            Andromeda
                                                            Raasha chuckled lightly as the Alsinian made a fool of himself out loud.
                                                            "There is little need to vocalise your questions audibly; pitch them clearly in your mind and I will see them all the same."

                                                            His mouth didn't move again after that, but Etar still heard his words clear as day, they even sounded like they were coming from his general direction despite being entirely within Etar's head.
                                                            "Don't worry, I never look deeper than surface level thoughts without reason. I won't be combing through your life story. To answer your question, one could certainly say I have some psionic aptitude, yes."
                                                            He heard a chuckle then, once again as clear as any vocalisation.
                                                            "To reiterate, with your permission, I could perhaps take a look at the software of your implants in an effort to reduce those uncomfortable jabs of pain."

                                                                    Fawx
                                                                    'If we need to move fast could you qswitch us to a different location? If not I can contract space. We will be able to pass through high security areas in meer moments.' Gosha said as he turned his attention to the Comminator that he appeared to not even know the name of. 'My squadmate here should also be able to disable some detection systems, assuming he has the information...' The Comminator did not turn his head. Was he lost in though or negligient?. '...unless they're hydraulics.' Gosha continued as his two other squadmates grinned at him.

                                                                        Fawx

                                                                        Having your thoughts examined by a complete stranger was strange at best, but it was very appealing to make these damn implants stop hurting so bad. It was a near certainty that the eggheads made it that way on purpose, to keep the prisoner aware that if ever he went AWOL, they could detonate the implants and cut his mission short.

                                                                        "I wouldn't be opposed," he thought, very inexperienced with this new form of communication, "be careful you don't set them off, though."

                                                                        "On a different note," he would muse in his head, vaguely indicating the Viaelon, "I'm pretty sure you've been able to see the thoughts in my head about the equipment I've got for this mission. The ACS. Bulky pieces of shit, they are, fast as a bullet though. I'm pretty sure the cannibalized a couple corvettes for the armament on em, and they're what I have these implants for."

                                                                        There was a short pause in his thinking as he began to picture the inside of the cockpit of that, and wondering.

                                                                        "I hope the defenses this vault has won't be that hard to crack. I'm not stupid enough to assume they won't, but I hope they won't."

                                                                        All these were in his mind, directed vaguely at the fox-like being who was engaging in conversation with him. Half out of an attempt to get any conversation with a non-inmate or military brass as possible, half trying to lay out his thoughts for himself.

                                                                        • Fawx replied to this.
                                                                            5 days later

                                                                            Dumb Elohim nods in agreement.

                                                                            "I will force nobody to participate, but you will be withheld here until our departure, we can't risk the possibility of you moving contacts against us. Please, if you were to move onto the holding bay and await us there nevertheless, perhaps you will change your mind, too."

                                                                            Elohim gestures towards the door to the room, it smoothly slides open and reveals the corridor, you are beckoned to exit.

                                                                            Brank

                                                                            "That is a possibility, but I have good reason to believe that the system would differentiate me from everyone else, seeing as I am one of the few still recognised as a citizen. However, if this secondary group would be willing to endure the risk of a higher level of response, a two-pronged attack might prove effective in splitting the attention of the local defenses. I'd rather not risk the few people we have, but I trust you would be a reliable lead for such a force, Bandula."

                                                                            Fawx Brank KrankysFirebrand48

                                                                            "Indeed, any resources in stealthing would be very useful for us, but we shouldn't rely on them solely. Agility is also in our best interest, the compressor is located atop the node and overlooks a large area which will placade our landing nearby, the quicker we can cut our way to the node itself bringing the least attention to us the greater chance we have to arrive there in one piece."

                                                                            "If there are no more considerations to be had, we should move to gearing up and going out to the Vault. If you have need of any equipment from me, I'd be happy to oblige, after all, this mission is a risky one."

                                                                                        8 days later

                                                                                        Gose

                                                                                        "Hmpf. Yeah, I get what you mean. Speed, stealth, and you- our only real advantages here," she said mostly to herself.

                                                                                        She started looking around- it seems she didn't have much more to add here.

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