<> <> <> <> <> * Amadeus runs ye olde scans on ye olde planetoid. * Lexi decides to take the ship down to land on the planetoid thing where it may be safer. She turns the ship and heads for it... though the turning causes her to swirve a bit in dizziness. * Hestia leaves ye olde scans to ye olde Amadeus, and instead leans back in her seat and breathes out sharply. "And this is why I want better communications tech." * Amadeus doesn't look up from the monitor. "Hm?" * Zeke is a brick that fixes holes! He's currently bricking up top before they land. <> * Kyle looks out the windows. "Man, why the hell would anyone want to check THIS hunk of rock out?" * Hestia glances at the prof. "Because if we can't fix this ourselves, who knows how long before somebody comes looking?" <> * Tomas takes a look out the porthole at the hunk of rock ~Is this really where they sent us?~ * Amadeus sighs a little and says, "That's true." He hits the comm to the others: ~Rock and metal, with a small molten core. No atmosphere at all. We'll need to suit up for exploring.~ <> ~Is there anything interesting about the debris field itself?~ * Hestia sighs, slams her hands palm-down on the chair, and pushes herself out of it. "Might as well look around." She's about the leave when someone knocks at the door! She answers it instead of opening it and immediately shooting the only person on the ship who'd bother to knock! <> <> " "Mind if I watch the scans?" (My patience has already worn thin! I shoot him!) (:() (I help her hide the body.) (Man, you guys are so down on this dude! Maybe he's not evil! Maybe he likes water polo and appletato pie!) (Oh whatever he's evil!) * Hestia shrugs. "You'll have to ask the professor. I was just leaving." Her expression says: If you'll get the hell out of my way, anyway. (Anyhow I do not think anyone on this ship has a high level of employee/employer confidence right now.) <> * Zeke begins to clunk his way to the exit door as well! * Hestia walks by and quite frankly walks right the hell out of the ship unless somebody decides they want to get cute and stop her. <> "So how does all this work?" * Kyle sighs. "I'll get to work assessing the damage. Hopefully I can bracket the hull or *something* to make her jump again." <> (Wait. We hadn't already landed?) (No.) * Amadeus is left with Mr. Jackson. Aw, man. But he goes and starts explaining the scans anyway. (In an off screen kind of way, since I don't want to make it up right now. :D) (While you're explaining, something catches your eye; mind roll.) (No skill bonus.) * Tomas adjusts the suit he already put on and heads toward the exit for when they land. 2d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Amadeus (2d6+8) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 19. (Sorry, my sheet was being slow in loading. Also, I's smarts!) * Zeke, along with Hestia and Tomas apparently, exit out the airlock once the ship is down! Woo spacewalk! <> * Kyle suits up to exit the airlock after the others have already left. * Hestia puts her hand on her hip, standing at the bottom of the ramp. ~ Sorely tempted to say 'yep, still blasted hunk of rock' and consider the job done. ~ * Lexi also suits up and exits the airlock. She then stumbles at the low gravity. "Oh, this is not good." <> * Tomas scans around, ~so, uh, should we take some samples?~ * Kyle heads out and stabalizes Lexi. ~Don't overdo it.~ <> * Amadeus blinks a few times, then pushes his way past Mr. Jackson to the console. "Excuse me for a moment." He tries to home in on where the sign's from. (...is that my 360 making noises like a cricket? ._.) (Hope not. Mine started doing that and I had to send it in when the drive stopped reading discs.) (No. That's the 2000 crickets that we had mailed to you.) (*turns it off* Nope, cricket noise continues.) * Zeke deploys his drones, commenting on comms, ~If you are going to focus on the hull, I can sweep the surface.~ <> * Tomas notices the gash, ~You need any help with repairs, Kyle?~ * Hestia keeps walking away from the ship, slowly. She'd really like to know why they were sent out here. ~ I'm going to look around, myself. ~ ~I don't know, I need to assess it myself.~ * Kyle goes about doing just that! <> * Tomas has a look with kyle! <> 2d6+5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Tomas (2d6+5) and gets a natural 6 for a result of 11. * Amadeus lets out a vague 'huh', then lets Jackson control the console. 2d6+13 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyle (2d6+13) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 17. <> (Well enough to go into space?) (And Jump?) <> * Kyle nods. ~Not too bad, just some welding work and time.~ * Kyle looks around. ~Don't think that'll be too big of a problem.~ * Tomas nods to Kyle, ~If you have this under control, I'll have a look around.~ <> <> (How far is five klicks?) (Half a narble) (=P) (Just over 3 miles.) (A narble is about 10 klicks.) (Klick = Kilometer.) * Amadeus considers for a moment, then goes to suit up and head out with the others. * Amadeus also hits the comms: ~I'm getting life readings about five kilometers out, but they're faint and disappear quickly.~ <> "Find something?" * Zeke replies over comms, ~Which direction?~ * Hestia hasn't wandered too far from the ship; she's actually a handful of yards out when she hears that and turns back. Zeke heads off her question, however! * Lexi moves over in the direction of Amadeus. ~Should we go check it out? It might be something neat.~ * Amadeus nods absently. ~Yes, I think that's worthwhile.~ (What direction, Cham?) <> (Did you just totally blow off the guy?) ~If you wanna help, it could speed stuff up.~ ~South-southwest.~ (No, nodded to him! So now he knows we found something!) (CAN'T TAKE HIM IF HE DOESN'T SUIT UP THOUGH.) (Maybe he doesn't need to dun dun duuuuun) * Hestia walks back towards the ship for a moment, until it's clear she's within some minimum distance, then stops and gets a distant look. After a second or two, she turns around to the SSW and starts walking! * Zeke is starting to sweep that way as well. ~ahh, very well. How can I help?~ * Lexi heads SSW. ~What would live on this piece of shit?~ * Amadeus heads on out with them! Possibly with Mr. Jackson, if he suited up! <> "I think I'll stay here, if that's okay with you." * Amadeus blinks before he heads out, then says, "I see. Call if you need anything - ship communications should patch in to our suits." ~What do you think? I'm welding! Help me hold stuff and get me tools! Materials too.~ * Kyle gets to work fixing the ship up. ~And if you know how to weld, that's even better.~ * Amadeus goes with the others to investigate LIFE! * Tomas runs and grabs some materials and tools for Kyle to use. (I have demolitions, but I presume welding would be mechanics.) <> (Tomas: Yes.) ~Yo prof, you find anything?~ * Kyle looks kinda bored while working. ~Not yet.~ <> * Tomas returns with more tools and materials for Kyle. <> (...I can't find Kyle?) * Hestia ducks down and runs a (gloved) hand through the dust. ~ Something special hit around here, maybe? Never know in all this debris. ~ 2d6+5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Tomas (2d6+5) and gets a natural 10 for a result of 15. * Amadeus looks around at it, then knees for a much closer and better look. * Zeke comms, ~This is... very interesting. It has settled quite well.~ Two of his drones move into the space to investigate themselves. (You might be seeing something else.) <> * Amadeus furrows his brow. ~Silicon.~ <> (... foundering?) * Amadeus traces his fingers through the sand, then pulls some up in a cupped hand. ~This is nearly pure silicon.~ Pause. ~And very rectangular grains, too.~ (Hey Cham. Did I arrive there too?) (I... missed you were moving! My apologies.) (No problem! That's why I mentioned it.) <> * Lexi looks around the area. ~Wicked... What happened here?~ (Cham: Do I need to roll anything for fixing, or is it simple enough I don't need to worry?) <> * Tomas welds and saws and such alongside Kyle. * Zeke replies, ~Very regular silicon.~ (Coo', when I can I'll help investigate, 'cuz this seems interesting.) * Hestia looks in Zeke's direction? Or something. ~ Is that your roundabout way of saying 'artificial'? ~ * Zeke holonods. ~Yes, it is artificial.~ ~Wonder why he didn't say artificial in the first place.~ <> * Lexi steps back. ~Whoa... ugn... That actually moving? Or is it just me?~ * Zeke's drones all immediately try to get out of the silicon zone. <> * Hestia somehow manages to vocalize a ~ ...! ~ * Kyle vocalizes back! ~...?~ ~Oh fuck us.~ <> ~What's going on over there?~ * Tomas drops a hammer at the expletives, ~What'd you guys find?~ * Zeke replies, ~Active Bug. 'Spider' class.~ * Tomas boggles over the comms. <> * Amadeus scrambles backwards and brings up his blaster pistol. He's shaking a little. ~Oh. Fuck.~ * Hestia is drawing her gun. Because that is what you do when you encounter something that is known for genocide. * Zeke brings up his blaster off his back as well. * Tomas drops the other hammer and puts his feet to asteroid, running toward the others. <> * Zeke's face turns very unhappy as his ground drones all, simultaneously, leap for it after it makes the staticy noises. <> * Lexi appears ready to do something and then stops. ~Uh... What the hell just happened?~ d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyle (d6+8) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 12. * Amadeus looks a little sick, even though the bug was THE ENEMY. ~Right. Bugs. That's the life sign.~ * Zeke replies, not answering Lexi's question, ~Where there is one, there are more.~ <> * Kyle heads in the direction of the group, suddenly looking to the side but shrugging after a moment, and running. The ship looks solid enough to fly again. <> (How many?) <<34.>> * Zeke's drones actually went immediately picking apart the component parts as best they can. Scavenging, if you will. <> ~What's out there, guys?~ (I don't know that I have access to the life signs.) * Hestia turns and looks at Zeke, both hands still gripping her gun in the 'ready to shoot things now' pose. She seems, if nothing else, surprised that someone beat her to the proverbial punch. (Who's on it? Jackson?) * Lexi comms back. ~Well... there was a bug. Now... there is bug stained sand.~ ~The sand is silicon. This might be an entire colony.~ <> * Zeke glances to Hestia and replies, ~Hesitation was unnecessary.~ ~I'm seeing 34 of those little blinking things. What does that even mean?~ * Hestia raises an eyebrow, then glances at the drones. ~ Apparently so. I'm going to have a very long talk with Mr. Charles when we get back to Mars. Perhaps with a chair leg or a broken bottle. ~ She starts to say something else, and is cut off by Jackson, which alarms her. A lot. ~ ...It means we get back to the ship right the fuck now! ~ * Kyle skids to a halt then starts running back to the ship. ~Don't have to tell me twice!~ * Tomas does a quick aboutface and sprints back toward the ship instead. * Zeke replies, ~To keep them from assaulting it, yes, but letting them gather is not wise.~ ~We need to do something if this planet's infested with bugs. We can't let them out into the universe.~ * Hestia is running! And occasionally looking behind her! Zombies are coming to eat her brains! * Amadeus sprints for the ship as well, gun still in his hand and OH MY GOD THEY ARE SO GOING TO DIE. <> ~What the hell do you think we're going to DO?!~ ~FUCK, what is that?~ ~FLY AWAY. Oh, fucking hell.~ ~I don't know blow this thing up?~ ~The bugs!~ <> ~What? Bugs! HERE?!~ * Hestia sounds out of breath. She is! ~ I'll take my chances with the debris field, thanks. ~ * Zeke replies, ~They can function in vacuum. They can pursue.~ * Lexi runs off as fast as she can. She also sends a couple of TK blasts back behind her every once in a while, intended simply to push any pursuers back. ~Yes, we were JUST talking about it!~ ~What if we blow up the rock?~ ~ With what? I left my thermonuclear bullets at HOME. ~ <> ~... You have thermonuclear bullets?~ ~Launch this rock into the star?~ * Amadeus tries to think of a way to deal with the bugs. Fast, super fast, is he on the ship yet? He's tired! * Lexi comms back! ~Well what did you do THAT for? ALWAYS bring those with you!~ She chuckles just slightly but keeps running. ~EMP. EMP is the only thing I can think of. Can you guys make it happen?~ ~EMP, EMP, EMP...~ <> * Hestia glances at the gun in her hands. What a complicated question. <> (I am the dumb) * Zeke replies, ~Sarcasm.~ He then turns around and faces back towards the hoards. ~Are we ready to fly as is?~ (Spec?) ~Wait... the last time something with an EMP-like thing went off we were stranded. Would we even have life-support systems?~ 2d6+10 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Hestia (2d6+10) and gets a natural 11 for a result of 21. 2d6+12 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kyle (2d6+12) and gets a natural 9 for a result of 21. * Zeke's drones set up to flank him. <> (Let me know when they get within a kilometer.) <> ~... Yeah, we can. If we don't mind stranding ourselves by overloading the Mole drive.~ (Oh... please tell Lexi that all she needs to do is put this thing into super-ultra-fast hyper drive. She'll be ALL OVER IT) ~Fuck, well can you fix it if we do?~ ~ I still think slinging this rock into the local star would be just as effective. ~ ~Can we do that?~ <> (Are we still outside of the ship, or nearing it by now?) (Yeah, everyone but Zeke piled in.) ~Do we have a *choice* at this moment?! We gotta EMP these things pronto!~ (Much like I posted, you neared it, and then everyone piled in.) * Hestia shakes her head. ~ The answer is 'maybe'. We'd be stuck here until we either fixed it or someone came to pick us up. There's also the minor fact that if we don't get them ALL in one shot we'll be stuck here without a way to leave surrounded by Bugs. ~ <> ~Do we have to stay on the ground to do it? Or can I take off before these things eat up our ship?~ ~No, we don't.~ * Lexi takes the fuck off, then. ~But we gotta get them ALL.~ Otherwise we're fucked beyond all reason. 2d6+11 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Amadeus (2d6+11) and gets a natural 3 for a result of 14. (What a crappy roll you are! DR) 2d6+11 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Amadeus (2d6+11) and gets a natural 7 for a result of 18. (That's better.) <> ~Well, Mr. Jackson. Welcome to the Weird Piece. How are you enjoying your voyage?~ * Amadeus keeps in his suit and paces around the lounge, thinking and thinking. It's what he does best. * Hestia glances down at Jackson, and looks... unhappy. "Well, if this isn't an act, your complete and utter surprise may have saved your boss a broken leg." (Don't ask me why Lexi gets more snarky when her life is in danger. I honestly don't know.) * Zeke and all his drones leap onto the ship's hull right before the takeoff, because that's important. He comms, ~Do not forget that I am on the hull at the moment.~ ~Fuck, yeah, get in here Zeke.~ * Kyle taps a few keys to open a hatch for Zeke. * Zeke replies, ~We can pick them off at range, if we wish.~ ~Fuck I'm not in the state to make this decision. Do we blow the EMP or not?~ * Tomas doesn't bother stripping his suit off, heading directly to a console to man a gun. ~No... no, we probably don't have to.~ <> "What, you think we *knew*?" ~Keep firing. I'll get the mole ready to do it if we gotta but...~ * Amadeus paces towards the cockpit. ~Bugs weigh... what, 25-35 kilos? They shouldn't be able to get off of that planetoid on their own to chase us.~ ~... *snerk*~ ~The gravity's too heavy. They'd need a ship or something similar.~ * Zeke comms, ~I agree.~ He moves near the hatch, but does not go in, instead standing on it so that he can grab the gun with both hands and wait for them to get within range. ~Do not go far if you wish them to stay in my range.~ * Lexi nods. ~Then I say we blow them the fuck up with big guns. Go for it, boys.~ She tries to keep the ship within range and angle of the bugs. * Hestia crosses her arms over her chest. "I think you're not exactly on the level with us on the average, no." Everyone else seems to be enjoying crisis intervention day! So she's going to pump the chicken for info. <> * Tomas is zeroing in on any targets he can find and taking shots. * Zeke starts firing as soon as he can as well. (Cham, if they get within 100m of Lexi they're getting pushed. Just let me know? =P) <> "You get paid for hazard work, right?" <> (Ditto if they get within that range with me. :D) (How's this alternate weapon of ours work?) (You shoot. Stuff dies.) * Hestia does not look happy at that statement. "Not nearly enough. What exactly were we SUPPOSED to find out here, Mr. Jackson?" * Amadeus starts paying attention to Tia and Jackson now that he mostly solved the problem with SCIENCE and others are solving it with GUNS. (I think Tia was a mobster loan shark in another life) (Or maybe in this one.) <> (I am going to fit him for cement shoes.) * Zeke comms, ~These Bugs are not particularly effective combatants. Perhaps disoriented.~ ~They were probably just as surprised to see us as we were to see them.~ (They let us escape. Vader snuck a homing device into Jackson's sack of rocks.) * Tomas keeps taking pot shots at the bugs, ~Were they lying in ambush for us?~ <> "This planet was nearly impossible to find in the debris ring. Some remnant or maybe moon of the planet that caused the ring in the first place. We thought, if we got here first, we'd find something interesting." ~It is unlikely.~ For given values of 'interesting' I'd call that a success. No shit. * Amadeus flops onto a chair. Science is spent. "I thought they were all dead! The Europa Team killed them, didn't they?!" * Kyle types on his display. (HA. HA. HA.) (EVer heard of 'Bug resurgence'?) (It is the best feeling in the world when almost everyone in-game thinks that is true and everyone out of character knows it is the biggest damn lie) (Why don't you enlighten him, Zeke. ;P) ~How are our life signs looking, A-Man?~ ~Uh... let me see.~ (He's not using comms.) * Amadeus stumbles off into the map room and runs the scanners. <<0. They're all either dead or doing whatever hid them in the first place.>> * Hestia looks at Jackson as if he's stupid, since they were just attacked by 'extinct' Bugs. "Maybe they had a soft spot for these?" ~I'm not reading anything, Lexi. Chances are whatever's left buried itself.~ ~Right then. How about we hold fire for a couple minutes and see if it happens it. If it does shoot until it doesn't again.~ (See if it happens again* rather) ~I'll continue running scans in the meantime.~~ ~We really should do something. We can't be sure we got all of them.~ <> ~We can't do anything ourselves, but we can report this planetoid when we return... perhaps get some better equipped chainjumpers to sling it into the sun, as you suggested.~ ~What the hell CAN we do? We don't have the firepower to handle this.~ ~I mean, we can plink away, but destroying a planetoid is, well... the prof can tell ya how much that'd take.~ (How many did we get, approximaely?) * Hestia looks up at the ceiling. ~ How do you plan to sling a small planetoid into a star? ~ Then she glances at Amadeus. "Prof, tell me something... I don't know a whole lot about Bugs, but is one forming out of all that sand... normal?" (Tia in the map room, too?) <> ~True. We need to get back and report this as soon as we can then, so better equipped people can come out here and take care of it.~ <> * Kyle DID open a hatch for Zeke. (He was shooting from the doorway) * Amadeus blinks slowly at Tia before going back to watching the monitor. "I... er, well, bugs aren't my area of expertise, but... I'd never heard of that before, no." (Having crawled back from the hull.) * Zeke replies, ~Twenty seven destroyed. How many total?~ ~Mr. Jackson reported 34, I believe.~ ~So seven left.~ ~Does that include us ?~ ~That's um... a good question.~ * Hestia slumps down on the couch. "Ugh. I'd love to be out there helping, but..." She waves her gun around absently. "This is a nice piece of work but it's not going to do jack in space." "You guys are doing really well with the ship and equipment you've got." (~Yeah, imagine if we got something GOOD.~) * Hestia glances at him, saying in a dry tone, "Yes. Imagine what we'd be capable of with a real ship." * Zeke replies, ~I would prefer to retrieve the silicon-plus, and not leave them to become more active.~ (Sorry, this lemon has given us enough trouble to justify that remark!!!!) <> "I'll see what I can do about that." * Tomas considers, ~Preston would go nuts over this much Si+~ ~ANYONE would.~ ~That's a ton of Si+.~ ~ ...and the source of it doesn't BOTHER you at all? ~ (Is Jackson on our comms?) (I've been assuming you're trimming him out of most of it.) * Amadeus just keeps staring at the monitor. Scans, scans, scans. <> ~I'm not sure where I implied that bugs don't bother me.~ (Do we have any way to extract the Si+ Apart from going down there and picking it up ourselves?) (Nope.) (Just let Zeke go grab it. He apparnetly likes this stuff.) ~Still no sign of life? Well do you guys want to go back down and try to retrieve the silicon?~ ~Either that or head back and hand this problem slash goldmine over to somebody else.~ ~What's our 'compaion' think about it?~ * Zeke comms, ~I am in favor of taking care of the Bugs here and now.~ ~I'm not sure how we'd take care of all of them, short of EMP.~ ~Well the lifesigns read 34 right?~ <> ~I have a short range, directed EMP device, if one of you eggheads can come up with a way to increase its range.~ ~Hey, guys. What if there were some... outside of scanning range? Beneath the crust?~ * Zeke replies, ~We can only tell by returning.~ ~ I like a good fight as much as the next guy, but this isn't a job for chain jumpers. I signed on to explore, not to be a soldier. ~ ~I'm with Tia on this.~ * Hestia puts her hands up palms out, shrugging. ~ Let ATC send in the big guns and scour the place with fire. It's not our job! ~ (I love how she doesn't suggest Calhoun or Dunno. "What are you going to do, vanderhoosen? UNCERTAINTY them to death?") (Ha ha.) ~Yeah, let's get outta here.~ (You know... between Lexi and Kyle we can lift 2 tons of Si+ mentally in one go. Just saying =P) (But Getting out of here is a good move) (Hey.) (That's BEFORE I augment your powers) (If you want to go gunning for it, I am not going to stop you.) (But I don't wanna risk it.) <> "Are you all discussing what to do next?" ~I hate to leave the bugs here without handling them. It's too bad we can't just drop an EMP and leave before it blows.~ ~ Too bad there's no convenient superflare in *this* system. If they're under the crust it wouldn't help anyway. ~ * Zeke's drones swarm in near him, in the airlock, as he says, ~I still recommend an assault, now that they have awakened, but it is too unknown to manage on my own.~ (*hits the airlock release and sends Zeke into hard vacuum* Have fun in the shooting gallery, Max Headroom.) ~Are we sure we didn't get them all?~ * Hestia turns her head in the direction of the hold/airlock, even though she can see neither it nor Zeke from here. ~Almost positive, but I also don't want to get us killed before we can even report this.~ ~ I don't think this is news Preston's going to actually be happy about. ~ ~How quickly do you think they can spread? Will they have time to get better equipped soldiers out here?~ * Zeke replies, ~It is unknown.~ ~Is there anything we could do for a temporary quarantine?~ * Lexi frowns. ~I don't want to leave them here if it's dangerous.~ ~Given they couldn't get off the *planet*, it'd take them a while to get them off, don'tya think?~ * Hestia looks at the ceiling again. ~ And why did that one form out of the sand, anyway? ~ ~Alright. Let's hurry back then.~ * Lexi starts to turn the ship around. ~Everyone ready to head home?~ ~Let's move.~ ~The faster the better. People with real firepower need to take care of this.~ * Zeke pauses a moment, then closes the airlock around him. * Lexi nods. ~Wave bye-bye to our new friends.~ And she shoots off towards Mars. <> (we're going to end up in the mirror universe, I just know it.) Looking forward to your fourth jump, J? * Hestia stays in the lounge, rather than the map room, for once! She rubs her temples a little bit. "Ugh... this job is killing my sense of adventure. Danger can be fun, but there's a *line*." * Zeke tromps into the lounge, holoface emotionless. "I'm feeling thankful that I stay on Mars most of the time, actually." * Hestia espies this entry, and waves. When you're unhappy, take it out on everyone else. "Cheer up, Berserker. You can play some TSM shoot-em-ups back on Mars to slake your blood thirst." ("WOULD YOU LIKE SOME MAKING FUCK, BERSERKER" "... did he just say 'making fuck?'") (I have promised, thanks to a running joke, to do a Shatner-style spoken word version of that and record it.) (You know.... I had the same thought.) (Not the shatner thing) (This will be epic) (Cham's comment) <> * Zeke replies to Hestia with, "There are certain things that are not negotiable, Hestia." 2d6+11 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lexi (2d6+11) and gets 13, a CRITICAL SUCCESS!!! "I love the smell of a crit in the morning." (...why you hate me?) (Anyone want to lend her a DR?) * Hestia grins, because she can be a bitch sometimes. "Emotions! Maybe you're not a robot after all." (Can we?) (Well... the bugs didn't kill us... That's the good news!) (I'll allow it, you had a bad day) (It allowed for us to live until I crashed us into the sun!) * Zeke's holoface tilts, then smiles. "I did recognize your sarcasm. Perhaps Kyle is the robot." (I don't want to reroll, I didn't spend any CP!) (Take my DR, Lexi.) 2d6+11 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Lexi (2d6+11) and gets a natural 4 for a result of 15. (Oh god, it's a giant game of Martian) (Slightly better) (Well, that should be enough to make it.) (Zeke was almost joking!) * Hestia snorts. "Nobody who reacts that... glandularly to Alexis 'Hotpants' Calhoun is a robot." <> "Well? How'd it go?" (Why not 'nopants' Calhoun?) You might wanna sit down. (She wears pants, most of the time) ~Well... I have good news for you, Preston." <> "Do I need my scotch, or my heart nanopills?" "The bugs we found didn't kill us!" <> "What...? BUGS?!" * Lexi nods. "Yep. There was a bunch of them. I think you need to get Mr. J a new pair of pants." "Good lord, and you all survived?" ( THE BUGS WE FOUND DIDN'T KILL US! YAAAAAY! *Kermit arms*) Yes. * Zeke replies, flatly, "Yes. It would be best for other forces to respond immediately." * Hestia waves a hand. "Yes yes, guns guns kiss kiss bang bang." * Amadeus nods in agreement. "Get someone on it, Preston." Yeah, see we were thinking of trying to kill them all on our own... but then we realized that we have shit for weaponry. <> "Of course, we'll have to notify the major corporations immediately and form a joint strike force. I'm glad you all survived." Survived what? The Bugs or the Amazing Mr. Cardboard Mole Ship? <> "The bugs, of course. What's wrong with the ship?" What ISN'T wrong with the ship? Hull breach. I don't know if I *WANT* to fly in this thing again. ("All we did was drive it into an asteroid belt.") (Yet we have convinced ourselves this is Preston's fault!!!) It was fine, until it started raining rocks on us. (Well. Did it do any structural damage?) (Or just penetrate the hull?) (Right through the hull. No structural damage though.) <> "Huh. The ruin disk must have been denser than we thought... I'm sorry about that." <> "Well, I'll see what I can do. Put in some requisitions, do some legwork. You want a whole new ship?" * Hestia squints at 'ruin', but not even she is that paranoid. "I don't care what it is as long as it's just a little more... durable." And maybe has EMP protection. and an EMP. Or at least bigger guns. EMP protection and the ability to create an EMP field would both be very useful, yes. <> "Like I said, I'll see what I can do." <> "No samples on this one, I take it?" Also, Preston... You owe us all a very stiff drink... or Twelve. * Lexi shrugs. "Also I think, Mr. J got some rocks." * Hestia jerks a thumb at Jackson. "He has some rocks." "Well, Ms. Calhoun, that I'm sure I can manage. Just drop Mr. Jackson off at the Hitching Post and he'll find his own way back from there. Don't forget to register and name the satellite at GalReg." What the hell do we call it? Buggy Rock? Let's... not refer to the Bugs in the official name, thank you. We could call it.... Silitoid? I mean seriously the two things of note are bugs and Silicon plus. (Oh oh oh! Silicon Landing!) (Hahaha.) Silicon plus is there 'cuz of the bugs, though. (Or Silicon Alley! =P) It's also surrounded by a massive debris field.