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rp_help) wrote in janitorscloset2016-09-10 06:29 pm
rp_help) wrote in janitorscloset2016-09-10 06:29 pm
[Event] Ship Crash on Chorus
I.
The place where Agent Washington faced down the Meta was deep into the Freelancer facility's security systems, deep into the place where its experimental tech had been moved after the Mother of Invention's crash in the snow. But chief among the signals from barely tested equipment was the Meta's own armor, which gave off many types of energy. Temporal waves are, even now, barely understood, and Wash has no idea when he chooses to set off an electromagnetic pulse to obliterate it that the equipment will be set off one final time. The Alpha, Church, joins the Meta's collective of AIs, and instants later the EMP tears through the facility—causing the AIs in the collective not to be deleted, but to be wrenched into a temporal rift, sent aimlessly through the universe.
II.
Like all proprietary technology, Freelancer equipment has a certain energy signature, and years later a ship full of Freelancer equipment falls into its own rift in time and space—an equipment malfunction that caused it to attempt changing course, jumping to hyperspace, and powering down all at once. This led to its crash on the planet Chorus. As far as the signal carrying the AIs is concerned, this happens simultaneously to the Meta's defeat, simply in another wrinkle in the fabric of the universe. Thankfully, the ship's systems are full of equipment that can host AI technology, allowing all of the AIs to arrive safely within its systems. They are all here, or at least they should be, as far as anyone can tell.
III.
Yet as things continue it's apparent there's another set of casualties when it comes to the Chorus nexus event. And it's the method of disposal for Freelancer armor that's responsible. The explosives used to destroy this armor after an agent's death are just as experimental as the rest of Freeelancer's equipment, and the explosion of these charges leads to the same temporal nexus event as the EMP and the crash. These manifest a bit differently, as there are physical bodies involved—the use of the towers on Chorus that led to the ship's crash draws these soldiers bodies as though they are some kind of a magnet, leading to the revival of the recently deceased agents on Chorus.
The place where Agent Washington faced down the Meta was deep into the Freelancer facility's security systems, deep into the place where its experimental tech had been moved after the Mother of Invention's crash in the snow. But chief among the signals from barely tested equipment was the Meta's own armor, which gave off many types of energy. Temporal waves are, even now, barely understood, and Wash has no idea when he chooses to set off an electromagnetic pulse to obliterate it that the equipment will be set off one final time. The Alpha, Church, joins the Meta's collective of AIs, and instants later the EMP tears through the facility—causing the AIs in the collective not to be deleted, but to be wrenched into a temporal rift, sent aimlessly through the universe.
II.
Like all proprietary technology, Freelancer equipment has a certain energy signature, and years later a ship full of Freelancer equipment falls into its own rift in time and space—an equipment malfunction that caused it to attempt changing course, jumping to hyperspace, and powering down all at once. This led to its crash on the planet Chorus. As far as the signal carrying the AIs is concerned, this happens simultaneously to the Meta's defeat, simply in another wrinkle in the fabric of the universe. Thankfully, the ship's systems are full of equipment that can host AI technology, allowing all of the AIs to arrive safely within its systems. They are all here, or at least they should be, as far as anyone can tell.
III.
Yet as things continue it's apparent there's another set of casualties when it comes to the Chorus nexus event. And it's the method of disposal for Freelancer armor that's responsible. The explosives used to destroy this armor after an agent's death are just as experimental as the rest of Freeelancer's equipment, and the explosion of these charges leads to the same temporal nexus event as the EMP and the crash. These manifest a bit differently, as there are physical bodies involved—the use of the towers on Chorus that led to the ship's crash draws these soldiers bodies as though they are some kind of a magnet, leading to the revival of the recently deceased agents on Chorus.
no subject
And then that second detail permeates and York jerks back in a double take, suddenly realizing that there's a void where she keeps reaching, and she claps a hand to the back of her neck. "Delta -- " Her stomach goes cold. Delta's absence is like a hole in the back of her mind. "Where is he?"
no subject
"Same place Pi is."
He doesn't sound as torn up about it as he may once have been, just tired.
He remembers how that feels. After working with an AI for so long, just reaching for that place where they are and finding nothing. Flipping all the neural switches and no lights coming on. Silence. A void. His throat tightens just recalling it, even though he's had a long time to get used to Pi's absence. The wound isn't raw anymore, but it's still there.
What the fuck happened to us? Men and women and machines.
no subject
"Yeah? And where's that?"
She has a feeling she's not going to like the answer, but fuck it.
no subject
He's going to have to be the one that tells York this.
And she's standing there looking at him with her helmet off, and it feels wrong and impersonal and weird to do this with his on because then it's not really face to face, even though he's almost gotten used to thinking of this helmet as his face after so long, so he'll just have to take it off here, just a second, and it fucking sucks and-
"...There was an EMP set off at Freelancer Command."
There it is.
Ohio looks different. Someone smashed him up pretty bad and he still has the marks to prove it, his nose is bent and a scar twists across it. He looks tired. He looks older, much older than the years between then and now should account for.
"I'm sorry."
no subject
She just stares at him for a few long moments, choking on it, and then she runs a hand over her face, tips her head back and mutters, "Son of a bitch."
She kind of wants to throw up, but she just breathes instead, fingers pressed to the back of her neck. She'd like to ask Ohio about a dozen questions -- are you sure, what happened, how do you know, how many -- but she doesn't, just squeezes her eyes shut and breathes through her teeth.
no subject
It's not good for him, but Ohio's been functionally working alone. He hasn't broken sad news to someone he gives a shit about in years.
He doesn't reach out because that just seems weird, he's not sure if that's what he should do here and he sure as hell didn't want anyone touching him after he lost Pi. Instead, he turns a little to let York collect herself. It's a moment to survey their perimeter anyway, which he needs to do because if he were doing things right that would be priority number one.
no subject
York stands there like that for a minute or so, head tipped back, eyes squeezed shut, one hand clamping over the back of her neck like it's -- it's not security, there's no security left there, so she just rubs her gauntleted hands over her face until she feels the feeling come back to her mouth and lets out a breath. She looks pale and white around the lips, but if that's from Delta's loss or just recently being dead or any kind of loss at all, it's not clear, and anyway she shakes her head, reaching up to tug her hair out of the bun it's already falling out of, because fuck it.
"Okay," she breathes, more to steady herself than anything else, and she finally looks back at Ohio, and she looks fucking tired. "Okay. What now?"
no subject
Ohio maglocks it to his suit and starts moving, heading for high ground. Hopefully they'll be able to get a better look at this place.
"Now we figure out where the fuck we are."
He says it with the certainty he's been learning to fake in recent months. He's a survivor of a dead project with a cryptic code name and a scarred face, the people he gets teamed with have certain expectations based on that. It's just easier if he lives up to them.
no subject
"Good plan." For the first time, York takes a real look around, squinting against the sun peeking out from over high cliffs and thick jungle canopy. She's been a lot of places, plenty of different planets, but most of them had at least a whiff of civilization. "Got any leads?"