Non Aligned States
02-05-2005, 15:01
The thief hurriedly typed out the commands on the console before him. There was no room for error, no second chance for mistakes. Before him, hundreds of lines of command codes scrolled past the view screen, dozens of tracer scrambling programs, logic bombs and probe programs meant to defeat the defenses that lay before him and his goal.
‘Almost there….AHA!’ the figure thought triumphantly, the black field with white text fading away to reveal the complicated array of command functions and a welcome message. Fingers flashed into motion, tapping out the desired commands. His time was limited. Before too long….
A red blip appeared at the bottom of the screen, and he spat out a short curse. The anti-intrusion programs were already onto him. He increased his pace, fingers blurring.
The screen faded, displaying the globe and a series of red blips high above its surface. Selecting one, he activated his contingency programs. He didn’t know if there would be enough time to do what he aimed to accomplish. A second red blip appeared at the bottom.
Again the image changed. Changing from an endless screen of text and menus into a single live feed. His mouth went dry as they drank in the behemoth displayed. A chime rang out before him, informing him that his contingency plan was ready to go. And at the same time, a third red blip appeared.
‘NO!’ his finger stabbed towards the disconnect button, hoping to cut him off from the network before it was…..
The view screen disappeared in a blizzard of static, only moments before it exploded into a shower of glass shrapnel, lacerating his body and killing the thief.
They would find his body less than ten minutes later.
But it was already too late.
******************
BREAKING NEWSFLASH
Carol Linmen, leading anchorwoman to the NAS News Network flashed her signature smile, not a hair out of place as she looked straight at the camera. Today’s news was certainly something you didn’t get normally.
Behind the camera’s one of the film crew silently counted down the seconds with his fingers, pointing at her with a flourish as the camera readiness light went from red to green.
“Good evening people of the Non Aligned States, I’m Carol Linmen speaking from NNN and we interrupt our regular programming to bring you this newsflash. Just earlier today, the NNN received from an anonymous source satellite imagery of what seems to be the Non Aligned States latest procurement.”
The first look (http://www.freepichosting.com/Thumbs/421609644/5/1.jpg)
Upon closer inspection... (http://www.freepichosting.com/Thumbs/421609644/6/1.jpg)
“Sources say that the bunkers displayed here are very similar to those found in the Maxwell Munitions Industries development home in the Camedin state and that this new vehicle appears to have been developed by them.”
She smiled again. “For the express purpose of determining the nature of these vehicles, we have asked our leading arms expert, Donald Cassbin and retired NAS general, Hans Guten for their opinions. Donald?”
The image of the anchorwoman disappeared, replaced by a still of a middle aged reedy thin man. When his voice is transmitted over the channel, it sounds like a breezy whisper. “Thank you Ms Carol. Well, judging from these images, it certainly seems like Maxwell Munitions Industries has finally stepped up on to the plate on the development of a new super heavy tank chassis. Looking at the whole structure, it seems to be that it will probably serve not just as a tank, but a mobile fortress, playing a key role in the battlefield. I can only imagine what kind of power plant running this beast, but I bet it certainly won’t be something small. We’ve seen them do work and fine one at that on the Dominance MBT. Perhaps they hope to go one up and produce the ultimate land fighting machine? Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to be caught on the same battlefield as this monster”
Ms Carol nodded her head, as if in agreement. “Well, thank you for your views Donald. What about you Mr. Guten? What do you think of this machine?”
Again, the camera switches to a still image, showing a severe person with a medium build and a short beard. His voice, when transmitted, is gravelly and deep. “Call me Hans. What your esteemed colleague has stated is true, so far as the application of monster to describe this vehicle. Clearly, it is a weapon of significant potential, but can we really call it a tank or fortress? I do not believe it to be so. I have worked extensively with Maxwell Munitions in the past when reviewing their products and they are a very pragmatic company. Without looking at the specifications, I cannot say with any degree of certainty what it is intended to be, but I do not doubt that it will follow the company policy in highly unorthodox but effective weaponry, in fact…”
There was a faint ‘click’ and the display blanked out. Seated behind the desk, Luther Stembridge, CEO of the company brooded in silence. It was too soon. No one was supposed to find out about it yet. The facilities were now in lockdown mode, with no one getting in or out without extremely stringent checks to ensure that a repeat of the incident would ever occur again. The Project was still in its testing stage, and with the media attention so heavily focused on them, they couldn’t get past that without telling the world what it really was. So it stayed in the secure hangers, with no one allowed in them. Then of course the shareholders would be somewhat upset that their company wasn’t producing record profits again….somewhat being a mild term to describe it.
As far as he knew, there was only one word that fit the current situation.
“Damn”
OOC: Please don't RP the late thief as one of yours. As far as information leaks goes, the only thing that got out was the two images and the facility is now in lockdown mode. Nothing goes in and nothing goes out.
‘Almost there….AHA!’ the figure thought triumphantly, the black field with white text fading away to reveal the complicated array of command functions and a welcome message. Fingers flashed into motion, tapping out the desired commands. His time was limited. Before too long….
A red blip appeared at the bottom of the screen, and he spat out a short curse. The anti-intrusion programs were already onto him. He increased his pace, fingers blurring.
The screen faded, displaying the globe and a series of red blips high above its surface. Selecting one, he activated his contingency programs. He didn’t know if there would be enough time to do what he aimed to accomplish. A second red blip appeared at the bottom.
Again the image changed. Changing from an endless screen of text and menus into a single live feed. His mouth went dry as they drank in the behemoth displayed. A chime rang out before him, informing him that his contingency plan was ready to go. And at the same time, a third red blip appeared.
‘NO!’ his finger stabbed towards the disconnect button, hoping to cut him off from the network before it was…..
The view screen disappeared in a blizzard of static, only moments before it exploded into a shower of glass shrapnel, lacerating his body and killing the thief.
They would find his body less than ten minutes later.
But it was already too late.
******************
BREAKING NEWSFLASH
Carol Linmen, leading anchorwoman to the NAS News Network flashed her signature smile, not a hair out of place as she looked straight at the camera. Today’s news was certainly something you didn’t get normally.
Behind the camera’s one of the film crew silently counted down the seconds with his fingers, pointing at her with a flourish as the camera readiness light went from red to green.
“Good evening people of the Non Aligned States, I’m Carol Linmen speaking from NNN and we interrupt our regular programming to bring you this newsflash. Just earlier today, the NNN received from an anonymous source satellite imagery of what seems to be the Non Aligned States latest procurement.”
The first look (http://www.freepichosting.com/Thumbs/421609644/5/1.jpg)
Upon closer inspection... (http://www.freepichosting.com/Thumbs/421609644/6/1.jpg)
“Sources say that the bunkers displayed here are very similar to those found in the Maxwell Munitions Industries development home in the Camedin state and that this new vehicle appears to have been developed by them.”
She smiled again. “For the express purpose of determining the nature of these vehicles, we have asked our leading arms expert, Donald Cassbin and retired NAS general, Hans Guten for their opinions. Donald?”
The image of the anchorwoman disappeared, replaced by a still of a middle aged reedy thin man. When his voice is transmitted over the channel, it sounds like a breezy whisper. “Thank you Ms Carol. Well, judging from these images, it certainly seems like Maxwell Munitions Industries has finally stepped up on to the plate on the development of a new super heavy tank chassis. Looking at the whole structure, it seems to be that it will probably serve not just as a tank, but a mobile fortress, playing a key role in the battlefield. I can only imagine what kind of power plant running this beast, but I bet it certainly won’t be something small. We’ve seen them do work and fine one at that on the Dominance MBT. Perhaps they hope to go one up and produce the ultimate land fighting machine? Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to be caught on the same battlefield as this monster”
Ms Carol nodded her head, as if in agreement. “Well, thank you for your views Donald. What about you Mr. Guten? What do you think of this machine?”
Again, the camera switches to a still image, showing a severe person with a medium build and a short beard. His voice, when transmitted, is gravelly and deep. “Call me Hans. What your esteemed colleague has stated is true, so far as the application of monster to describe this vehicle. Clearly, it is a weapon of significant potential, but can we really call it a tank or fortress? I do not believe it to be so. I have worked extensively with Maxwell Munitions in the past when reviewing their products and they are a very pragmatic company. Without looking at the specifications, I cannot say with any degree of certainty what it is intended to be, but I do not doubt that it will follow the company policy in highly unorthodox but effective weaponry, in fact…”
There was a faint ‘click’ and the display blanked out. Seated behind the desk, Luther Stembridge, CEO of the company brooded in silence. It was too soon. No one was supposed to find out about it yet. The facilities were now in lockdown mode, with no one getting in or out without extremely stringent checks to ensure that a repeat of the incident would ever occur again. The Project was still in its testing stage, and with the media attention so heavily focused on them, they couldn’t get past that without telling the world what it really was. So it stayed in the secure hangers, with no one allowed in them. Then of course the shareholders would be somewhat upset that their company wasn’t producing record profits again….somewhat being a mild term to describe it.
As far as he knew, there was only one word that fit the current situation.
“Damn”
OOC: Please don't RP the late thief as one of yours. As far as information leaks goes, the only thing that got out was the two images and the facility is now in lockdown mode. Nothing goes in and nothing goes out.