AZURE Quest 10

>>44987941
Let's watch TV it may be bad for the mind, but good for the soul

>>44987941

Let's explain to kate or Plan to find her lab and maybe start a new life there and find something to save Isha

Before we leave we have to make sure we explain our railroad Idea to Mike and Isha's boyfiend whose name's escapes me now

>>44988137
Seconding. Shouldn't hurt Kate's mood for us all to take a moment to relax after what was going on at the medbay. And we can attempt to sit on Kate's head while we do.

>>44988339
>>44988137

Can we ask the location while sitting on her head watching TV?

ask about the throne and let Kate now we got the throne that will let us dock with her ready as well and can probably try replacing her missing arm later today... which might be a good idea to hide on her since we need to keep a low profile for a bit. What better way then by being someone else's limb?

You spring from Tandi's shoulder, and sidle yourself next to the Throne.

"What is this?" you ask, gently touching one of the contact points. It doesn't have all the usual features you'd gotten used to- with a complete information feedback, or locking your limbs in place, but it's enough that you can interface with the television- and make requests to interface with the server, elsewhere in the base.

"Oh, I made that so that you can have an avatar and stuff." Tandi said. "This is basically your room too, Azure, after all."
"Thank you," You say, and climb inside. You make a request to the server to stream a television show. The automated system accepts your request, so you begin the process to stream something mind-numbing and happy- so you select a western cartoon of some kind, before climbing back out of the throne.

Tandi and Kate settle back into the seats in the room, and begin to watch. The proceedings are a show about magical teenage girls, using the dual powers of friendship and hope to fight off against the end of the world. The three of you watch for a time, after you climb atop Kate's head, relaxing.

Finally, after nearly three episodes of the show, the tension in the room had decreased enough for you to speak.

"Kate..." You say.
"Hm?" She asks, arching her head upwards so she can look at you. It doesn't work, since you move with her scalp, so you find yourself hanging there for a time before she plucks you off and holds you in front of her. You wonder for a moment how to continue.
>Continued!

>>44988763
"Tandi and I have a plan." You say. Your sensors peer directly into Kate's eyes. "A plan that might save Isha's life, and a plan that might help everybody."
"What's this plan?" Kate asks.
"Your Old Power lab might have the biomedical technology needed to save someone's life." You say. "It might also have a generator large enough to support heavy machinery, and enough supplies to begin building."
Kate's eyebrows met.
"Building?"
"Azure and I were discussing creating a city, out there in the wastes." Tandi says. "Build somewhere we all belong."

Kate's eyes dart from your sensors to Tandi, and back again.
In the television, one of the cartoon figures rant about the power inherent in humanity, about their refusal to die no matter what they have to do, no matter the cost.
"... It's not in the wastes." Kate responds, finally. "It's not anywhere near here. It took me almost a year to get to Arcuturus, and that was with a ferry."
"We have the Lifter." Tandi says. "And since this will probably save Isha's life, Abel's going to let us use it."
"Can it get us into south asia?" Kate asks.

Tandi recoils, slightly. "You mean the contaminated parts?"
"Yes." Kate says. "The spores were already moving in when I left. It's probably overrun the lab by now. Enough to be ambulatory. But if you think we can make it there, I'll help." Kate says. "I'm immune, anyway."

Tandi grits her teeth. "I'm not." She says. "So it would have to be just you and Azure, wouldn't it..."
"Unless we stole some powered armor from the ASF." Kate said. "The extra firepower wouldn't hurt either."

>?

>>44988884
"Contanimation? Its also not the only old power lab we know of"

>>44988884
>Tandi in pink power armor

This must happen.

>>44988884

Then It's settled!

We get ATLAS a power armor for Tandi and set on a quest! full of hope and friendship to save humani- I got carried away there

>>44988884
Well I would like to offer my input could someone please tell me what's so bad about the "contaminated parts"... and what are the contaminated parts while you're at it. I'd hate to go in with no or incorrect information putting us into undo risk when this sounds risking enough as it is.

Actually, that makes us uniquely suited, its far easier to run decontamination when you don't have any organic parts that would react negatively to hillariously toxic shit. You could literally wash down our shell with diethylmercury, arsenic, and DDT without us giving a fuck. Most weaponized things aren't designed to be resistant to it because nobody is dumb enough to use disinfecting agents that would kill the person being disinfected.

>>44989042
>>44989042

mutants! and contaminants that can turn Tandi into one!

We have to get her a power armor because of that, Time to find a one of those and hijack it!

>>44988884
wait Tandi said she came from an old world place as well right, what's wrong with her place? Just see what our options are.

>>44988884
Wait so there's something in Asia that's still spreading? What's to stop it from eventually consuming the world?

"Contamination?" You ask. "I would like to offer my input, but I don't understand..."
"There was a bioweapon, sent out during the Shattering." Tandi says. "Before it, even, back when the war was starting. It's dangerous, but only to living creatures. When it gets thick enough, it begins to use the skeletal remains of animals or trees as a basis to create moving spore carriers." She says. "There's no cure. There's not supposed to be anyone immune to it either, like Kate, but that's Old Power science for you. Only complete environmental protection is good against it, and the carriers instinctively want to breach suits like that."
"I was designed to fight it." Kate says. "Cripple the spore carriers before they could move out, buy time for the lab to produce a rival spore that breaks the contamination down. Slow it down before it could spread too far."
"And it didn't work?" Tandi asks.
"They shut it down when my sister started acting out. Some kind of hormonal unbalance." Kate says. "They just focused on the cure instead... And then they put us down into storage."

"What is to stop this from eventually consuming the world?" You ask.

"It can't cross water." Kate says. "It also dies quickly in dry areas, so most of the wastes and deserts are safe.

"... Then it's settled." You say. "We get ATLAS, a power armor for Tandi, and set out on a quest!" You say. "Though it's also not the only Old Power lab we know of."

At that, you turn to Tandi.
"... The one I know about isn't going to be easy to get to either." Tandi says. She looks away. "I don't know anything about what they were working on... But there's a junktown right on top of it. One of the bad ones. I left when a new bandit group swept in and took over."
"And what's wrong with just killing all of them?" Kate asked.
"The fact that they brought with them an entire shipping crate of war-era weapons and ammunition with them will make that rather difficult." Tandi said.

>?

>>44989163

We better head to Kate's lab, at least we know what they were researching and that there is a good chance to find something to help Isha there.

Now we need to find a power armor.

Can we search for a city terminal and locate one?

>>44989163
Well, before we make the final decision I'd like to ask, how exactly are we supposed to "cure" southern Asia of this contamination? And would it be possible to try and aid Isha before we've cleaned up the Indochina?

>>44989163
hmm, well with Kate's place if it is in the contamination zone then assuming the spores haven't wrecked the place nobody should have looted it... and if we're really lucky if we could get the same immunity to others that Kate has it would turn the spores into a massive threat into one of the best defenses we could ask for. On the other hand though it's going to take a lot of dangerous work just to clear the place out and there's no telling that we could ever cure the contamination which would make sending anyone there risky which would more then likely drive people away

Tandi's place on the other hand would be easier to move into but would be harder to defend and their's no telling what's left of the old war power if people managed to get inside and loot it.

I'm still going to vote Kate's place since it still should at least have medical supplies and truth be told we need those desperately right now.

>>44989292

I don't think we want to cure it just now. We want to get the thing to help Isha and to steal the power source so we can start a new settlement.
If the scientists are still there and working on a cure we can decide when we get there

>>44988884
Don't we have some power armor in the garage? The one we used to hug people to death? Or was that a robot?

>>44989454

ATLAS, our friendly robot

>>44989483
WITH A BOOMING VOICE!

>>44989454
>While the ATLAS is most definitely based off of and built out of a set of power armor, it's been modified into a robot. Most of the delicate machinery is in the internals. You could probably retrofit it back into a proper set of power armor, but it wouldn't be environmentally sound like a proper set. Not to mention that the internals wouldn't have much use once removed.

"Before we come to any conclusions, I'd like to ask. How exactly are we supposed to cure southern asia of this contamination?" You ask.
"... I don't know if they ever figured out how to finish the cure." Kate says. "But they had decades after they put me and Amelia under to figure it out. They obviously couldn't put it into practice..."

"I don't think that's important right now." Tandi says. "If there's no cure, we could still just bathe everything there in disinfectant and use the Lifter to take it somewhere else. We just need the medical supplies and technology. The kind of large-scale generator a place like that would have is amazing, too..."

"Where would we find a set of power armor?" You ask.
"If we had Isha, we could probably use her to find out where we can find an unsecured set." Tandi says.
"Could we ask a city terminal?" You ask.
"Probably not. Unless you can hack into their systems, but we don't have any up to date codes. They've definitely changed it since we captured Amelia."
"There's always an ASF outpost." Kate said. "Crack one open, steal a set."
Tandi rolls her eyes. "That won't work. They've got a ton of guards there."
"Are they guarding against tiny spiders?" Kate asked. "Power armors have external ports. Azure here could slide into one, trick it into thinking there's a person inside, and just plain walk it out."
Tandi frowns. "That sounds ridiculous. Those places are almost as secure as the citadel."
"And yet Azure snuck into the citadel anyway."

>?

>>44989614
We snuck outside the citadel, not into it, and we had a good distraction, unless someone is willing to set a bomb off near the building it will be complicated.

>>44989614
well, I don't doubt I could get ahold of a set or power armor, I'm not so sure I could hide it long enough for whoever is chasing me to give up and then sneak it back here. I mean even with the ARORA I only just barely got away.

>>44989614
Could we program a set of orders into power armor and then move on? Getting out with one suit is hard but if every suit in the armory suddenly made a bid for freedom we might be able to secure at least one of them.

"Well, I don't doubt I could get ahold of a set of power armor. I'm not so sure I could hide it long enough for whoever is chasing me to give up, and then sneak it back here. I mean, even with the Aurora I only just barely got away."
Kate nods, and sighs.
"And I had a good distraction for the Citadel. Unless someone is willing to set a bomb off near the building, it will be complicated."

"Wait." Tandi says. "Wait, wait wait."
"What?" Kate asks.
"You know how the main challenge you had getting away with the aurora was the security bots?" Tandi asks.
"Yes?"
"What if we set up a high end jammer?" Tandi asks. "It might take most of a high end power generator, but we could completely blind the security network."
"Then they'd immediately hone in on the jammer and destroy it." Kate says.
"Unless we put it on the Lifter." Tandi says. "It's got enough generation for a jammer and flight at the same time. The G-forces might be dangerous with tight enough turning radius, but we could keep the Lifter away from anyone."
After a moment of consideration, and a bit of tentative programming, you bring up your own idea.
"Perhaps I could also program a set of orders into each set of power armor." You say. "It may take some time examining the firmware, but-"
"... That's perfect." Tandi says. "We're not only stealing a single set of armor, but we can steal the entire load."

Kate sighs.
"I can drive the lifter with one hand if someone teaches me how." She says. "I don't care about the inertia, I'll be fine. I'm just not the one explaining this plan to Abel."

>?

>>44990041

It solves two of Abels problems, it allows him a way to deal with the wounded and dying from the other group, and it shows our group to be skilled enough at heisting citadel supplies that the other group members might hold our group in high regard. Thats ignoring the fact that they get free power armor and generators for it.

>>44990041
we can tell Abel it's a two part plan. With the citadel seemingly finally coming down on all forms of resistance we could say the first part of the plan is to scramble there forces and cause confusion within the city to divide their attention so they can't focus solely on us while simultaneously arming ourselves incase they try to pull off what they did to the free on us. Then while the citadel is still trying to put it's self back together we can use that to sneak out and try and find that old world Lab. We can also tell Abel that it might not be a bad idea to maybe look for a safe house of sorts incase we need to leave the city for whatever reason. Not sure how well he'd take it but we can wing it if we must.

"It solves two of Abel's problems." You say. "It allows him a way to deal with the wounded and dying Free, and it shows our group is skilled enough at heisting citadel supplies that Free will hold our group in high regard. That is ignoring the fact that they also get free power armor and Old Power technology for it."

"... So what, you're saying we should immediately jump from the heist directly into heading out into the contaminated lands?" Tandi asks.
"We can tell him that it's a two part plan. With the citadel coming down on all forms of resistance, we can say that the first part of the plan is to scramble their forces and cause confusion. At the same time, we can arm ourselves in case they try to pull off what they did to the Free on us."
Kate nods, slowly.
"Then while the citadel is trying to put itself back together, we can sneak out and try to find the Old Power lab." You say.
"It does mean that they will be unable to follow us." Kate responds. "Even if they know where we are heading, they won't have the protection from the contamination that we do."

"We'd just need to handle pickup, won't we?" Tandi asks.
"The raiders can do it." Kate says. "If they're ready and have the ravens, they can carry maybe two each."

That's the moment that it registers- both Tandi and Kate are slowly, but surely, beginning to smile.
"I can talk to Mike." Kate says.
"Well..." Tandi says. "Should we do this as soon as we can? Or should we wait a bit? I mean... It might make things easier if Azure and I built your other arm first, and installed it."
"... I don't know." Kate responds. "I don't particularly have an opinion."

>?

>>44990464
Arm first, having both my help deal with unforeseen interventions.

>>44990464
We don't necessarily have much knowledge in this area, but presumably it'd be less difficult to pilot a lifter with two functioning arms as opposed to one.

>>44990464

Time is a resourse here, the more we wait more people may die without those supplies.

How long will it take to install it?

>>44990464
well if we're going to be Kate's arm then how are we going to steal the power suits?

>>44990936
It just means where with kate for a while being carried round till we figure out how meat bits signalling works, then we make the arm program and Then we can go.

"Time is a resource. The more we wait, the more people may die without those supplies." You say. "Tandi, how long do you suppose it will take to install the arm?"
"It might take an hour or two to install the socket." Tandi says. "It might also take a day or so for Kate to recover."
"I'll be fine." Kate says. "You don't need to wait for it to recover. As long as I'm not losing too much blood, I'll be fine."

Tandi bites her lip. "Are you sure?" She asks.
Katelyn nods. "I'll be fine. I'll survive."
"Alright, then." Tandi says. "We'll throw the idea out to Abel, and plan the operation for tonight."
She looks at the clock. "It's eight hours from midnight. Think you can adapt to a new cybernetic arm in six hours?"
"... I think so." Katelyn says. She looks down to you. "Do you know how long it will take to develop that firmware?"
"I do not know." You say. "Perhaps three hours, at minimum. According to my simulations, at that point, you can consciously control it."
"It will start out pretty clumsy like that for the next few days, until Azure's spent enough time in there to streamline it. When we designed it, we estimated it might take a day or two for the firmware to be as good as your normal limb."

You project your avatar on the screen so that you can nod in agreement.

"The only problem is that if we don't leave immediately, some of the injured might die..." Tandi says, clasping her hands together. "I could probably just stay behind..."
"The people who will die overnight from their wounds will die regardless." Kate says. "No matter how much help they receive."

>?

>>44991196

Ok, we install the arm and plan the raid for tonight, while we work on the arm the others can scout the location and we hit them as soon as we finish the preliminary firmware

>>44991196
I assume its too much to ask that cryo storage technology has advanced to the point where they could be kept in stasis until actual medical care was possible.

With our stored knowledge we'd know that people thought about this in theory and it was used in sci fi but not enough to actually confirm or deny its existence in reality.

>>44991336
>Oh, it has advanced to that point...
>Just not in mainstream tech. Kate mentioned being put in stasis in the Old Power lab.

>>44991373
So its there, but theres absolutely no way we could mimic it without killing everyone affected.

>>44991403
>Unless you flew out there right this moment and broke into the lab to steal all the tech.
>That's really the question behind the last few posts. You could leave now, or prep for the heist, or give Kate an arm and do the heist at midnight. Or a fourth plan that you guys can make up right now.

>>44991441
well of course we want to prep, I'm just on the fence about the arm because I'm not sure how long kate will really be out of it or how long it's going to take before her new are becomes reliable.

>>44991441

How long will it take to reach the lab with the lifter? can't we install the arm during the trip?

If so we can do the heist now as Kate will only be responsible for picking us up and she can do it with one arm, and by the time we reach the contamined lands she will have both

>>44991196
>Do the heist today.
>Build the arm during the preparation for >the heist.
>Do the heist.
>Leave with Kate and the Arm
>Implement the arm on the way

How does that sound?

Are we SURE we can't just steal replacement parts off of other people for the injured? That'd simplify everything drastically.

>>44991915

supporting this so we can gooooo

>>44991915
sure why not, if it works that is

"Very well." You say, finally. "We will install the arm and plan the raid for tonight. While we work on the arm, the others can scout the location for the heist. We will hit them as soon as I finish the preliminary firmware."

Tandi nods. "Sounds like a plan."
"It's as good as any." Kate concurs.

"I'll set up for the procedure, and set the Dalhbot to start production of the arm." Tandi says. "We'll begin right now. As for you, Azure, do you think you can convince Abel to let us go?"

"Well, I have one more question." You say. "How long will it take to reach the lab with the lifter?"
"Based on its maximum speeds, if we're limited by maximum human G-force tolerance for accleration and deceleration..." Tandi tilts her head, doing calculations in her head. "Three hours. Maybe four."
"What?!" Kate asked, turning to meet her. "Only four hours? But it took me a year to get here."
"The lifter is some of the most advanced anti-gravity hardware that exists." Tandi says. "I wouldn't be surprised if this thing could make trips to space, or stop bullets with nothing more than AG."

"... Change of plans, in that case." You say. "We will install the arm and plan the raid for as soon as possible." You say. "Then Katelyn and I will practice with the arm while in transit."

"... Alright." Tandi says. "That's a plan." She says. "I'll start immediately. Kate, c'mon. We're gonna get you fitted for a new arm. Well, a new arm and also some other bits and bobs."
"Alright." Kate says, getting to her feet.

"Oh! And Azure, when you make your way around, it might be smarter to use your security bot. That way, if any of the Free see you, they'll just think you're subverted instead of an AI."

"Very well." You say, and start pushing pillows aside to search for it.

Some time later, you come across Abel, sitting in Isha's room. Isha and the medical equipment had been moved there from the medbay.
Abel looks up to eye your security bot's shell.
"Yes?" Abel asks.

Now you get to explain.
>?

>>44991915
There should be a "do the operation on Kate" before we leave.

>>44992081
"I have a plan to save everyone. Interested?"

>>44992081
...I may have a plan to help Isha, throw the citadel into chaos, gain the respect of the free, arm ourselves, and MAYBE set up a second base outside of the city if we ever need to run. Would you like to hear it?

>>44992184

It's really long so if can just say yes and lend me the Lifter and the Raiders in 2 or 3 hours that would be great!

>>44992081
"It has become too dangerous in Arcturus, security is cracking down hard on resistance and we have many wounded. Mother, Kate and I have devised a plan but we need your approval. If we're going to save the wounded we need to act quickly, I do not want any more of my friends to get hurt."
>outline plan, etc...

Remind me again, how are the power armors gonna save the wounded again?

>>44992417

They are hermetically seales, so Mom can use one to avoid the contaminants on the research lab we are going to search for medical suplies

>>44992417
We need at least one to keep Tandi save from infestation when we go get the medical supplies, might as well take more of them while we're there.

>>44992516
>>44992490
Oh right. Thanks anons!

>>44992490
>>44992516
>Admittedly, you could theoretically do it without Tandi, but she knows a lot more than you or Kate does about tech. You can only barely keep up with her by using a supercomputer as a brain extension. A supercomputer you won't be able to bring with you. Her intuition about how things work is scary.

>>44992617
See, this is exactly why we need her there, and as protected as we can manage.

"I may have a plan to help Isha, throw the city into chaos, gain the respect of the Free, arm ourselves, and save the wounded."
"... This already sounds promising." He says.
"It's a really long plan, so if you can just say yes, lend me the Lifter and the Raiders in approximately two or three hours, that would be great."
Abel just raises an eyebrow.
"I'd prefer to know the plan before I sign off on it." He says.

"Well, I'm not certain if you're aware of this, but Katelyn is from a particular Old Power research laboratory..." You say.

You outline your entire plan- including the portion about constructing a jammer on the Lifter and stealing an entire ASF outpost of power armor- and Abel's expression goes more and more blank as you continue. The only thing you leave out of your explanation is the possibility of a second base- you wouldn't want him to immediately reject the idea out of hand.

"And then we will return with the technology required." You say.
Abel just stares.
"So your plan is to punch the entire ASF in the nose, break out of the city, fly into one of the most dangerous zones on the planet, break into a biomedical lab which is probably contaminated, and use whatever you find there on the wounded."
"Yes." You say. "That is rather accurate."
>Continued!

>>44992906
Thankfully, we can't get infected due to lacking any of the requisite biological components (We arguably fit enough of the requirements to be considered alive) to pick up a plague, and can be purged pretty effectively of contaminents with extreme radiation if need be. In addition Kate is also immune but it'd still be good to get her some sort of armor against contamination, to speed up the decon process.

>>44993038
"... Perhaps it's fortunate that Isha isn't conscious." Abel says. "Or she would convince me that this is too risky."
Then he nods. "I'm on board. If you can convince Mike, that's two out of three."
"No." A weak voice says. Isha's eyes open, and they're bloodshot- and very slightly yellow. "This doesn't sound like the cleverest plan, but it's better than just sitting and waiting. We have done too much of that."

Isha mumbles something, and then her eyes flick open again.
"I am on board as well." She says. "It might be selfish, but go for it, Azure."
"There is one more thing I would like to discuss." You say. "If the ASF located the Free's hiding point, and are cracking down on resistance movements, it may be a good idea to use some of the other technology to build an installation in the wastes- simply as a place that serves as a retreat, in case they find our Initiative's hideouts."

"... It's a good idea." Abel says. "Put that down as a second priority. Bring everything you find here, once you're sure none of it is contaminated. We can find a place to use as an installation later."
"Understood." You say.

You turn your security bot to leave.
"Wait." Abel says. You stop moving, and turn around. Isha's eyes are closed again.
"Thanks." Abel says.

"You are welcome." You respond, and head toward the barracks, to report to Mike
While on the way, you actually find Mike in the halls, next to a figure you've never seen before. He has a bandanna around his neck, and he's goggling at you.
"You guys just let those things run around in here?" The new figure asks.
"Oh, don't worry. That one's subverted." Mike says. "We have a cell hidden in another base. They're the ones remote piloting all sorts of high tech robots and stuff."
"Reeeaally." The new figure says.
"Yep. One of them are probably piloting this guy right now. The cell's named Azure. Heya, Azure. What's going on?"
>?

>>44993081
Change our voice to male and copy someone he knows speaking manerisms.

Then tell him we have a plan to discuss with him.

>>44993081

We have a new operation to siscuss Mike. I already spoke with Abel and Isha. can you follow me?

>>44993081
>>44993119
This.

Also nothing much just planning. need to run it by you, already ran it by the others.

>>44993081
we're currently trying to figure out how to treat the sudden swell of injured but so far we might as well be beating our heads against wall for all the good it's doing. Speaking of which, if you're not busy could I bounce a few ideas off you when you got a minute. As fun as it is having a flying webcam I'd liked to grab something to eat and pass out before my ass becomes glued to this chair.

>>44993081
Whatever we do, let's not discuss anything in front of the other guy. Mike clearly doesn't trust him enough to talk about us, so we definitely don't want to drop any hints about an op.

"We have a new operation to discuss, Mike." You say, throwing quite a bit of radio static into your voice- as well as making it male. "I have already spoken with Abel and Isha. I need to run the plan by you before we can put it into motion."
"Sure thing. Is the line secure?" Mike asks.
"It is always secure." You respond. "Now, let's hurry. As fun as it is having a flying webcam, I'd like some time to eat and pass out before my ass becomes glued to this chair."

The new figure frowns.
"You guys are already planning a new op? Right after the last disaster?"
"Don't worry, Gabe. I'll take care of this." Mike says. "Just keep going down that hall and hang a right. That'll lead you to the wreck room."

The new figure from Free leaves, and Mike leads you into a nearby room. He seals it, locking the door, and then makes his way over to a quiet corner. "Let's speak quietly, just in case. That guy was part of Free, and we're not giving them full permissions on the base. Abel said not to reveal your existence, other than that cover story. You're to stick to it."
You bob your shell in an approximation of a nod.
"Now what's this about a plan?"
"The plan is rather simple." You say. "And by simple, I mean very complex with multiple points of failure."
"Wonderful." Mike says. "Any good news?"
"You get power armor at the end of it."
"Sold." Mike responds, and you immediately begin to explain.
>Continued!

>>44993470
"Somewhat less Sold." Mike says. "But it'll have to do."
You, Tandi, Kate, and the raiders are all collected, in one of the large subway tunnels that the Initiative uses Hovering, and shuddering in the air uncomfortably beneath Kate, the Lifter buzzes. It's barely expanded at this point, each of the sliding plates that make up the lifter compressed, due to it's lack of need to carry anything. Instead, a large antenna is sitting behind Katelyn, strapped into place.

Kate is looking a bit under the weather, with bandages around her stump, and another bandage along her spine, where the Throne machinery attaches. She's unable to wear a proper shirt because of it, drawing many of the raiders' eyes, but she's only staring forward, into the setting sun.

"Alright." Mike says. "What we'll be doing is waiting for a signal from Azure. The moment the signal goes out, Kate's gonna head out and start circling the city, jamming their entire network." He says. "Got it?"
The murmurs from the raiders urge him to continue.
"Once the jamming hits on, it's our job to go out there and start scanning the city around the eastern quad." He says. "Don't get seen, don't get hit. When you see a set of power armor, check it, first thing first- if it's carrying a weapon, that means it's manned. Stay away from those. If it's completely unarmed, then your job is to scoop it up. Pick it up, take it to the nearest stash, and then get vanished."
"Yes sir!" The raiders call.
"One last thing." He says. "There are enough suits in the outpost we're gonna hit for all of you, and then some. You are more important than the armor. The raven is more important than the armor. In short, don't be a dumbass."
"Yes sir!" Most of them call, with one raising a hand and mentioning something about how 'he can't help who he is'.

"Are you ready?" Mike asks you.
"Yes." You say.
"Good." He says. "Good luck."
"Thank you." You say- and meander out of the tunnel.
>Continued!

The selected ASF outpost is one of the larger ones, in the eastmost quadrant of the city. It's a low building- only a single story, with barred windows on each window. It looks like it used to be a police station, back before the Shattering.

Your security bot buzzes around the outpost, staying out of sight when possible, and acting as if you were just another bot when it's not.

Two guards are standing in front of the outpost, leaning and talking to one another, while one more is standing at the back entrance, looking at a phone. Security bots are circling, almost like sharks circling their prey. Now and then, one security bot leaves, while another arrives from elsewhere, no doubt for maintenance and resupply. You notice that the bars are far enough apart from one another that your spider shell can fit between them- but that the building is surrounded in open space- too open to easily slip into or out of an alleyway. Though there is a sewer grate near the sidewalk adjacent to the building...

>?

>>44993839
enter through the sewer and sneak inside?

>>44993839
So guys, potential plans:

We could report random nearby activity as suspicious to drag bots away and use the opportunity to slip through, and possibly daisy chain them to keep the bots running on wild chase while we sneak in from above.

We could brute force it and try to get the security bots to register the guards as armed hostiles, but that'd probably fail.

We could wild card it and use the sewer grate to varying success, or we could attempt to conventionally sneak across the grounds.

So guys, as for our cover story. A group of smart technicians got together, noticing all the remote surveillance and drone tech in society, and realized just how much potential there was to exploit it. With a single flash drive you can bypass 90% of cybersecurity measures intended to stop someone from hijacking a system and insert your own code and programs into a system, allowing you to effectively do just about anything you wanted to on it this has been done in real life to sabotage nuclear reactors in Iran. The hard part was the interpretation of the firmware and adapting the virus to all the new incompatable OS software that has been pushed out over the years by competing government agencies. (Different security drone models and mechs have comedically different software setups). Thankfully, with the help of a certain criminal group, a prototype adaptive program was recovered that enabled this cell to adapt the virus and control software on the fly, effectively allowing them to hack any remote controlled drone or subsystem with near zero risk. As long as the signals are kept secure we can't get caught.

This system brings in enough of the truth to be verifiable while avoiding the SCARY AI concept by putting an alleged human group in the front of it. It also justifies why we are allied with this group, because they stole us the golden goose.

You gently set down your securitybot amidst a pile of garbage, and climb out of it, quickly scuttling through the alleyway until you find a sewer grate. With barely any hesitation, you slide through it, into the sewers proper, and you immediately spring from wall to wall, using your AG-equipped legs to resist the slickness of the sewer walls until you reach the other end. Just by the time you begin to cling to the roof next to the grate, a few exploratory security bots descend into the sewers, doing a once over of the dark and dingy area.

You sidle up through the grate near the outpost, peeking up and out. The moment a bot leaves, and before a new one arrives, you leap up and out, landing onto the windowsill.

Peering in, you can see two figures sitting down at a desk in front of a console. Both ASF guards are drinking coffee, and one has some very unauthorized videos showing on his display. They both seem rather interested in the video- enough that you climb in through the bars and skitter over and then under one of the consoles.

From there, you squirrel through the hallways, until you finally find the doorway into the basement- where the power armor is kept. The keypad is simple to pry open, and even simpler to hack with the contact points in your shell's legs. Once you're done, the door slides open with a hiss.

Inside... You find two dozen sets of power armor, shining and clean.

Time to begin.

>End of session!
>My twitter is @FutureExabyte and that's where I'll give you guys information on when I'll be starting threads, or when I'll update my webnovel and stuff.
>And I also hang out in the IRC channel #Exabyte on the Rizon server. Feel free to come by and babble about things. Sometimes we play RPGs.
>I'll hang out for a while to answer questions, give you guys character or tech information, if you want it, etc.

>>44994565
oh this is going to be fun, thanks for running exabyte

>>44994337
>That's basically what the AZURE CELL is supposed to be, according to what Mike and Abel told the Free.
>The only questionable part is how the hell you'd keep the signals secure. Arcturus has a big grip on the entire network, meaning that unauthorized signals get investigated.
>Unless this Azure Cell had some kind of quantum Old Power communication technology, that is...

>>44994565
Thanks for running.

>>44994680
thanks for running m8

>>44994680
Alternatively theres the good old fashioned TOR network method, if it has software that transmits from one point to another you can run an onion network with it. It wouldn't be too difficult to hack a large amount of billboards, security cameras, drones, computers, phones, cars, refrigerators, air conditioning systems, or other mundane electronics and have them randomly transmit your signal between them. It'd take an obscene amount of effort to figure out where it came from as you'd have to individually trace the signal from every hacked system to the next one, and if you take too long that data would get wiped and replaced with a completely new chain, of which you'd have no idea what step of it you were, if any.

The government got around this by finding vulnerabilities in the software itself that they can use to bypass all of those steps and just figure out who send the first message, but if its closed source software that the government couldn't get a copy of it'd be harder. At least in theory.