NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Hope no one minds.. ^.^

IC:

A single, cloaked ship of some sort drifted through lazy, loose orbit around the planet. The ship wasn't big, really, at about thirteen meters long and massing around 25 tons. It didn't give off any sort of signals, but seemed instead set to just 'recieve'.

It measured passing solar energy, and then the reflection of said energy from the planet below. And just like a LIDAR scope, it was able to to form a three-dimensional image of the world. More importantly however, the nose of the craft was pointed straight down, and a sophisticated camera system telescoped to peer in and watch some of the activity.

OOC: Uhm, what planet? Blub, I suggest you read the entire thread from page 1 before you continue.

OOC: Uhm, what planet? Blub, I suggest you read the entire thread from page 1 before you continue.

OOC: Yeah. Because that's WAY easier than just a summary. :rolleyes: From what I understood, this was occuring on a planet with a colony.

OOC: Yeah. Because that's WAY easier than just a summary. :rolleyes: From what I understood, this was occuring on a planet with a colony.

OOC: Mobile colony station in the empty vastness of interstellar space, actually. All you had to do was check Page 1 for the basics. Read the whole thread for details. Besides, I was never that good at summaries.

Nothing like a good ol' fashioned surprise attack to render the Metal Man's shields and half of his weapons useless. In such close quarters, his rockets and bomb throwers were worse than that, even: they slowed him down. He jacked out and shut down the office computer just in time to deflect a shot from an arm so powerful that it would easily have cracked his armor if he hadn't gotten to it in time. As the first one squared off against him, a second one stood right over James, who was trying to keep it away with a projectile weapon.

The Metal Man did the only thing that he could: he pointed every weapon he had at the nearest one and fired them sequentially. The plasma beams had no affect--in fact, they seemed to sink into the creatures, almost nourishing them. The columnized electron beam seemed similarly ineffective--the creature didn't like it, but shrugged it off.

The steam thrower, however, struck home. Nothing like a good shot of high-temperature water in the eyes to wake you up in the morning--and that's what the creature finally got. It roared in pain, clutching its face, and stepped back.

And that was the break that the Metal Man was looking for. In a moment, he got his metal hands on the creature and THREW it back THROUGH (OOC: Hey, NEO! HINT!) the hole in the wall that it had made to come in. It hit a support beam on the way through and landed on its back. With enough of the wall still between it and them, the Metal Man fired a rocket into the improvised crawl space. There was an explosion, followed by an angry roar and a soft thud. Someone had finally found a way to knock one of them down and maybe even out. Then, the Metal Man made his second mistake in five minutes: he turned, pulled the other creature off of Marlo and threw it against the nearest wall, too.

---------------------

OOC: would appreciate it if Neo would show us how these things manipulate their little plasma balls by having the one that TMM just ticked off hit him with one.

The Monas stood up it eyes locked on TMM It clasped its hands together and flashes of light escaped through ( I'm a redneck leave me alone :) ) Its fingers. It let go of the ball of plasma and it shot to wards TMM.


---

The battle suit stood in the courtyard its Gatling gun roaring, Suddenly the Gatling Gun stopped spitting out bullets but it still spun. It took a moment for the battle suit to notice that it had used up all its ammo.

The Monas charged it, It grabbed the first by the arm and slammed it into the ground. It sup on it waist axis and punched another sending it flying. The others charged him all at once and he couldn't defend himself against them all. It fell back as the crashed into him. The battle suit activated its self destruct and exploded in a ball of fire.

---

A single Galactic Intruder Battle ship broke formation with the fleet and came right along side the unknown ship.


"You are breachign a quarenteened area, pull back," It broadcasted to the unknown ship.

The Imperial Commonwealth Whitestar watched as the Neoman ship intercepted the new arrival.

Bridge

"Any idea who these new guys are?"

"None."

"Interesting. Must be new to the FTL community. As I recall, we have collected info, true most of it is second-hand at best, on all current star faring nations."

Lady MacBeth - Hanger

Major Susan Gale waited quietly for the Neoman officer's next question.

The unknown ship continued to drift along, its nose pointed towards the colony. When the message was beamed out, it would absorb a small fraction of the energy, translating the waves into something recognizable.

Onboard the ship, the three crew looked at each other. After a moment, the cloaking dropped. Hanging there in space was a fat-looking craft about fourty feet long, painted a lettuce green color. It seems to be a fightercraft of some sort, since it has dual guns on either side of the nose.

It sent out a message of its own. Mostly chittering and garbbled noises. An automatic translation went with it a half-second in delay, "Greetings! We don't know what you're talking about."

The Mona stood up. Its eyes locked on TMM. It clasped its hands together and flashes of light escaped through its fingers. It let go of the ball of plasma and it shot towards TMM.

And then, faster than he could think, "brace for collision," it hit.

And the new armor worked! It took the brunt of the weapon and spread it out across its entire length. A great arc of energy popped over the entire length of the Metal Man's four-legged form.

He'd missed a spot.

In the retrofit, he had covered the entire surface, and grounded the legs, but...he hadn't thought to insulate the rocket launcher. Internal alarm signals blared as the rockets began, one by one, to fire themselves. All that the Metal Man could do was aim them at the hole in the wall and hope that the whole room didn't collapse under the force of the atmosphere. In the meantime, the housing, which wasn't designed to take that much heat in that short a time, started to melt. It was only a matter of time before one of the rockets detonated inside of it and set off the rest. That wasn't going to be any fun--the flash boiler would go up with it.

He had to get rid of the platform. As the mona stood, the rocket fire transfixing its gaze, the Metal Man detached from the platform and watched as it padded in through the hole in the wall. Already, he could hear rockets scratching as they tried to escape through worn orifices. At first, it didn't notice that the box had stayed behind when the platform had left. That was all the better. In an instant, the Metal Man's maglevs flared, moving him forward and bridging the distance between himself and the creature. In that same instant, two metal arms reached out, grabbed the creature by the shoulders and hefted.

The creature locked hands with the Metal Man--and found that he was tougher than it thought. It wasn't used to having to deal with other things that were as strong as it was. Thus, it was with a surprised look on its face that it found itself deposited in the hole in the wall, and a shield thrown up behind it. But it didn't let go of the metal hands that held it.

Which is why they were severed--blown to bits, actually--when the whole mess from the Metal Man blew up somewhere in the works behind them. Them and the monas in the back wall. The good news was that the tank was almost drained and only caused a steam jet to come through the heating vent.

The threat temporarily ended, the Metal Man turned and extended his last pair of hands. Hovering carefully, he moved over to his newest friend.

"Are you alright, James?" he asked.

----------------------

OOC: OUCH!

And then, faster than he could think, "brace for collision," it hit.

And the new armor worked! It took the brunt of the weapon and spread it out across its entire length. A great arc of energy popped over the entire length of the Metal Man's four-legged form.

He'd missed a spot.

In the retrofit, he had covered the entire surface, and grounded the legs, but...he hadn't thought to insulate the rocket launcher. Internal alarm signals blared as the rockets began, one by one, to fire themselves. All that the Metal Man could do was aim them at the hole in the wall and hope that the whole room didn't collapse under the force of the atmosphere. In the meantime, the housing, which wasn't designed to take that much heat in that short a time, started to melt. It was only a matter of time before one of the rockets detonated inside of it and set off the rest. That wasn't going to be any fun--the flash boiler would go up with it.

He had to get rid of the platform. As the mona stood, the rocket fire transfixing its gaze, the Metal Man detached from the platform and watched as it padded in through the hole in the wall. Already, he could hear rockets scratching as they tried to escape through worn orifices. At first, it didn't notice that the box had stayed behind when the platform had left. That was all the better. In an instant, the Metal Man's maglevs flared, moving him forward and bridging the distance between himself and the creature. In that same instant, two metal arms reached out, grabbed the creature by the shoulders and hefted.

The creature locked hands with the Metal Man--and found that he was tougher than it thought. It wasn't used to having to deal with other things that were as strong as it was. Thus, it was with a surprised look on its face that it found itself deposited in the hole in the wall, and a shield thrown up behind it. But it didn't let go of the metal hands that held it.

Which is why they were severed--blown to bits, actually--when the whole mess from the Metal Man blew up somewhere in the works behind them. Them and the monas in the back wall. The good news was that the tank was almost drained and only caused a steam jet to come through the heating vent.

The threat temporarily ended, the Metal Man turned and extended his last pair of hands. Hovering carefully, he moved over to his newest friend.

"Are you alright, James?" he asked.

----------------------

OOC: OUCH!

James looked up at TMM blood running from his nose "Just a flesh wound," He smiled softly "Are you sure about that whole me turning into one of them?"

---

The explosion had knocked Troy to the ground, he got back up and surveyed the crater... nothing but smoldering corpses and the non assorted metallic parts.

Suddenly threw the smoke a Monas charged him. He didn't have time to take proper aim with the Gauss cannon. He point fired the gun and one of the shells hit the ground close to him and raked his face with shrapnel. He shook it off and landed a round right into the thing belly sending it flying back wards.

Blood started to flow his left spectrum of sight getting a shade of red as blood dripped into his eye.

---

The GI stood idle for a moment "Pull back to 20,000 miles from the colony,"

---

Drake nodded "But that still doesn't answer my original question... You land on someone else's territory, you have man holding a gun to you telling you to get on the ground but you still would have fought with him verbally then getting on the ground and perhaps saving a mans life."

While all this was going on Arisu's team had backed off and reset their weapons to kill.

they each took carefull aim and fired as quickly as they could. Although they were outnumbered they would fight to the death.

James looked up at TMM blood running from his nose "Just a flesh wound," He smiled softly "Are you sure about that whole me turning into one of them?"


"If your heart stays in the right place," the Metal Man replied, "you can never be turned."

But James was right. He needed to be quarantined, and he needed to get the Neoman Transporter therapy, as quickly as possible.

"I know how they do it, James," he said. "I was watching as one of them hit me with a plasma ball point blank. I understand the process--and I know how to stop it."

He also knew why he couldn't get through to the probe. It was the creatures themselves. They were brimming with electrical charge, and it caused interferance to just about any communications channel. Fortunately, his primary antenna was still viable. If he boosted power, with none of them within three meters, he could probably break through the interferance. He fired it up, making sure that James could hear every message he sent.


Lady MacBeth, this is recon team. Can transmit but not receive.
Repeat, can transmit but not recieve. Marlo is hit. Repeat, Marlo is hit.
Request evacuation and preparation of Neoman Transporter Therapy
Program. Will keep you informed. Over.



Arisu! Marlo's been hit! We need medical now! Over.


"Now let's get out of here, James, before we have to deal with more of them!" He reached down, and, with one of his last two hands, pulled Marlo to his feet.

*Snip*
Drake nodded "But that still doesn't answer my original question... You land on someone else's territory, you have man holding a gun to you telling you to get on the ground but you still would have fought with him verbally then getting on the ground and perhaps saving a mans life."

Major Susan replied, "Look at it from our perspective. We had just narrowly escaped our own deaths, crashed in an unknown location in a shuttle that is still relatively intact, had a hostile greeting party. As I'm sure your men must have heard, one of my Lancers commented that the shuttle we had 'arrived' in was probably the most secure location.

"Juding from the encounter at your dropship, I assume you are facing an enemy that uses plasma weaponry. During that encounter, yes, one of your men was wounded, but so was one of mine," she gestured at the Lancer in question, "as you can see, his wound is pretty much already healed. Thermal and kinetic damage, like is done with this breed of plasma weapon, is simple to repair. The medical nanites injected into your wounded man, which last for fourty-eight hours after injection before being absorbed by the body, should, if their programming includes the proper physiology for your species, which, judging from appearances, is Homo sapien sapien, one that is included, he should come out healthier than when he went in. The base human strain is quite easy to repair. I'm not trained in more than the basic medical stuff one in my position will need, but that was enough to give me this info.

"Now, as I was saying before, put yourself in our shoes. Are you telling me you would have just dropped under the same circumstances?"

Of course, also having been trained in when to keep her mouth closed on certain topics, she didn't mention the difference in technologies. Nor did she bring up the fact that her Lancers played a big role in the encounter at the Neoman dropship.

"Now, is that still not clear," she asked rather bluntly, obviously a little put off from her injury and recent experiences as well as not being used to, as a Argosy special ops officer, to have to explain herself to those outside her chain of command, "or do I have to try again?"

Major Susan replied, "Look at it from our perspective. We had just narrowly escaped our own deaths, crashed in an unknown location in a shuttle that is still relatively intact, had a hostile greeting party. As I'm sure your men must have heard, one of my Lancers commented that the shuttle we had 'arrived' in was probably the most secure location.

"Juding from the encounter at your dropship, I assume you are facing an enemy that uses plasma weaponry. During that encounter, yes, one of your men was wounded, but so was one of mine," she gestured at the Lancer in question, "as you can see, his wound is pretty much already healed. Thermal and kinetic damage, like is done with this breed of plasma weapon, is simple to repair. The medical nanites injected into your wounded man, which last for fourty-eight hours after injection before being absorbed by the body, should, if their programming includes the proper physiology for your species, which, judging from appearances, is Homo sapien sapien, one that is included, he should come out healthier than when he went in. The base human strain is quite easy to repair. I'm not trained in more than the basic medical stuff one in my position will need, but that was enough to give me this info.

"Now, as I was saying before, put yourself in our shoes. Are you telling me you would have just dropped under the same circumstances?"

Of course, also having been trained in when to keep her mouth closed on certain topics, she didn't mention the difference in technologies. Nor did she bring up the fact that her Lancers played a big role in the encounter at the Neoman dropship.

"Now, is that still not clear," she asked rather bluntly, obviously a little put off from her injury and recent experiences as well as not being used to, as a Argosy special ops officer, to have to explain herself to those outside her chain of command, "or do I have to try again?"

Drake smirked "True i dont know if i would have gotten to the ground but you are an officer too, you know as well as i do that its our jobs to ask these questions in a first encounter like this,"

He ran his hand threw his jet black hair and smiled "Dont get me wrong but i had to see what your answers were. Know we both know that burecrates from both sides will lie threw their teeth to one another to make there country look stronger but... From your answers i feel confident that Neoman and SeaQuestrian relations can continue."

He looked at the dropship and shook his head "Thank you for saving my mans life,"

---

James screamed out in pain but used his prostetic to power his way off the ground.

Blood started to run from his mouth and he smiled "After this... Im going to a brothel and get laid," He chuckled a little, the shotgun hanging lmply from his hand.

---

Troy stilll had his Guass Caonnon level to the ground. He scanned the area and was confident that there was no more of them.

He waved a hand signal that meant to cease fire. With a smirk he turned to his men and counted. They had lost 3 from plasma fire, He sucked his teeth and walked over to Arisu.

"You guys okay?" He said his eyes still looking out into the court yard.

---

Suddenly a back door to the Airlock opened and two platoons of men wearing full body armor jogged out and lined up infront of one of the dropships.

A stout young man walked up to Drake "Sir, The recon teams been attacked and Lt. Marlo has been wounded."

Drake looked down at the man "Then what are you waiting for? Go and kick some ass soldier!"

"Sir!," The man shouted as he saluted and ran back to his men.

Drake smirked "True i dont know if i would have gotten to the ground but you are an officer too, you know as well as i do that its our jobs to ask these questions in a first encounter like this,"

He ran his hand threw his jet black hair and smiled "Dont get me wrong but i had to see what your answers were. Know we both know that burecrates from both sides will lie threw their teeth to one another to make there country look stronger but... From your answers i feel confident that Neoman and SeaQuestrian relations can continue."

He looked at the dropship and shook his head "Thank you for saving my mans life,"

"You're welcome," replied Major Gale, "Oh, and regarding SeaQuestian beaurocrats(sp?), the Emperor has made sure that the government of the Imperial Commonwealth runs smoothly without need of politicians that just manage to argue without getting anything done. Probably why you won't find political parties of any kind."

Suddenly a back door to the Airlock opened and two platoons of men wearing full body armor jogged out and lined up infront of one of the dropships.

A stout young man walked up to Drake "Sir, The recon teams been attacked and Lt. Marlo has been wounded."

Drake looked down at the man "Then what are you waiting for? Go and kick some ass soldier!"

"Sir!," The man shouted as he saluted and ran back to his men.

"Now," inquired Major Susan Gale, "would you mind giving me a head's up on what is going on? Depending on who, or what, the enemy is, I may have to call in specialists."

"I'm fine but one of my teams injured as well. one of those got too close and she was touched by them" Arisu replied as her team makes the injured woman comfortable. she had a second degree plasma burn and moaned.

"i've already tried to call for help but they can't transport us out from here. we need to get Mikiko to the outer ring of the colony"

"I'm fine but one of my teams injured as well. one of those got too close and she was touched by them" Arisu replied as her team makes the injured woman comfortable. she had a second degree plasma burn and moaned.

"i've already tried to call for help but they can't transport us out from here. we need to get Mikiko to the outer ring of the colony"

Drake nodded "We have a recon team in the colony trying to figure out what the hell is going on, but they were attacked and now were sending an extraction team to pull them out."

He looked back at the men and smiled, they had the new Infadia Telum rifles.

---

Troy shook his head "Negative i heard a comm. go out. The calvary is going to be along shortly."

He turned to his men "Medic!," He barked

A young man sprinted the distance and hopped over berm. His uniform stained with the blood of his fellow soldiers. He looked at Troy as he passed "Johns dead," He knelt beside Mikiko and gave her a antibiotic shot and a pain killer, he opened his bag and pulled out a small tube. He put a dab on the tips of his fingers and began to rub them softly on the affected areas.

He pulled out a ring of bandages and began to patch her up.

Mikiko's pain eased and she stopped moaning. Arisu called the rest of her team round and they took up their positions again knowing other attacks were now certain.

Arisu spoke softly to Mikiko in kirisuban and she noddded as she listened lying back and letting the medic continue his work.

Together, the Metal Man and Marlo limped over to the makeshift infirmery within the infirmery. The Metal Man looked different now--he now appeared to be a rectangular box that hovered in the air, with hands that sprouted from a dark patch along its side. He hoped that the people around him would recognise him as a part of the suit he had warn before. Particularly, he didn't want to try to go toe-to-toe with that battle drone.

He had explained the process to James by now. It was really very simple. The creatures had a special kind of muscle tissue. It passed electrical impulses in a manner similar to nerve cells. This gave the creatures incredible strength and amazing quickness in one neat, big package...

...and, if, at just the right time during the process of converting a normal man into one of them, you happened to expose it to the right kind of plasma, it would polarize the muscle fibers, lining them all up like little magnets, and enabling the creature to not only control but to generate Encapsulated Plasma.

The pain during exposure would have to be incredible.

Then, the Metal Man had made a deal with James. If worse came to worst, he offered to expose James to a shot from his own plasma weapons. They could be set up to do the trick, and the Metal Man could tell from the tissue's magnetic resonance when the time was right. In return, James would have to continue to remember who he was and whom he was fighting for, and to forgive them for the pain that they would cause him. If he could do those things, he would become completely immune to the creatures' natural weapons.

Stopping them? Oh, that was "easy." All you had to do to disable the plasma weapon--for about a minute and a half--was hit one of them at point blank range with a bolt of lightning. After that, one would only have to contend with the creatures' super strength and quickness--and the fact that the plasma weapon would be stronger when it came back. Despite the fact that the Metal Man's columnized electron beam had survived the skirmish, the prospects weren't exactly enticing.

A blood-stained medic greeted them as they came through the door. Seeing movement behind him, the Metal Man actually got some use out of his plasma weapons. He aimed them at the bulkhead over the door, and, two shots later, the ceiling came tumbling down.

The Metal Man handed James over to the medic and went looking for Arisu. The scratch had gone deep--James was bleeding internally--but he was alive, and the Metal Man wasn't going to leave him behind as long as there was any of Marlo left in him.

Then, there was the small fact that he had to tell what he had found out to somebody before the entire team got taken out--and hope it would do some good.

As he made his way toward Arisu, he skipped in the air. Just what he didn't need: the plasma blast had affected his maglevs, too.

----------------------
OOC:

If my explanation of things interferes with the story, let me know and I'll edit it accordingly.

Drake nodded "We have a recon team in the colony trying to figure out what the hell is going on, but they were attacked and now were sending an extraction team to pull them out."

He looked back at the men and smiled, they had the new Infadia Telum rifles.

The Major, her limp improving at a visible rate now that she had time to focus on it more, asked, "Well, let me know if there's anything we can do to help. Also, if there's going to be a briefing on the matter after you retrieve your people amd get their reports, I would like to be their to represent the Imperial Commonwealth.

"Also, I don't know if its here already or not, but if a ship comes looking for us, and doesn't have a Shadow black color scheme going for it, but when she does get here, I can see about calling in those possible reinforcements I mentioned. Details in knowing what everyone's up against over their would help me in deciding who to call for back-up."

Drake nodded "If i see any way you can help ill ask you for help, but at this moment i cant forsee haveing any tropp movements inside the colony at this time,"

The Dropship lifted off and shot threw the airlocks sheild. It headed towards the colony

---

The medic hurridly did all he could for James as the Neomans huddled around there leader.

He bandages his chest and stomach and looke a TMM with a grave face. "He needs more then what i can give him,"

James grabbed Troy by the collar "How many?"

Troy looked down at the ground and looked back at James "Four KIA, one with plasma burns-" he tilted his head towards Mikiko.

James nodded and looke at Troys lacerated face "You should get that looked at"

Troy smiled, the shrappnel from his mis judgment had ripped a nice gash above his eyebrow. "You and Mikiko need the medics attention more then i do,"

James nodded and closed his eyes. Troy stood up and walked over to Arisu, he pulled out his canteen and took a sip. He held out his canteen to Arisu and sighed "Hell of a day,"

Arisu returned the sigh and added "its only just started. Mikiko will be fine once we get back to our ship"

she drank a little out of the canteen and returned it.

Arisu returned the sigh and added "its only just started. Mikiko will be fine once we get back to our ship"

she drank a little out of the canteen and returned it.


Troy looked at Mikiko and shook his head "She had a close call," He tilted the canteen over his face and poured the water on his face, washing away the drying blood.

---

The dropship entered the airlock to the colony and passed threw the massive doors, its wing scappign against the bulkhead.

Inside the colony it flew as high as it could which was about half a mile. It was broadcasting a becon that anyone who was listenign would pick up.

---

Troy looked up at the sky the comm. implant in his ear tellign him that help was on the way. He looked at one of the other men "Henry, Flare me," The man opened his backpack and pulled out a flare gun and handed it to Troy. Troy raised the flare gun in the air and pulled the trigger. The brillient violet flare shot up into the air and after a few seconds a tiny dot could be seen comign from the east. As it got closer Troy could see that it was the dropship.

"Load up!," He shouted

"Mikiko's a lot tougher than she looks" Arisu replies "theres been many a time that she's beaten me in unarmed combat and i'm quite good"

With a noticably bumpy motion, the Metal Man hovered over to Arisu and set down next to her.

"We have to talk," he said. "I know what makes those things tick, and I can help develop weapons that will have a greater affect against them."

In the meantime, he watched James bleed. James didn't know it, but the Metal Man had another faustian deal that he could offer. If James came too close to death, the Metal Man could inject his own blood into the man's veins. It had the affect of accellerating the healing process. It also had the side affect of causing temporary insanity.

Not to be discounted, weighing in on the Metal Man's mind was the fact that he had collapsed three bulkheads, destroying the medical computer that he'd been downloading from, to secure the back wall area. They weren't necessarily safe in the rooms they were in. The walls could collapse at any time--or they might not.

--------------------

OOC: Neo's plan here is to have the group go back to the plasma containers and try to make them explode. It would be useful for someone to start the group moving in that direction at about this point in the story.

Drake nodded "If i see any way you can help ill ask you for help, but at this moment i cant forsee haveing any tropp movements inside the colony at this time,"

The Dropship lifted off and shot threw the airlocks sheild. It headed towards the colony

"That's the beauty of it," replied Major Gale, "We don't have to use troops. Those," she gestured at the combat droids that were now in power save mode as nothing in the Neoman was considered a threat to them or the Major and her team, "are a bit more expansive to produce because of a few alterations, but the base model could be sent in bulk. Any ship that comes to collect my team should have a supply of the base model aboard."

With a noticably bumpy motion, the Metal Man hovered over to Arisu and set down next to her.

"We have to talk," he said. "I know what makes those things tick, and I can help develop weapons that will have a greater affect against them."



"I'm listening" Arisu replied and added "what did you have in mind?"

Quickly, the Metal Man related his findings: the aborted retrovirus, the observations he took when hit, the plasma-sensitizing process and, most importantly, the use of electricity to neutralize the plasma weapon. Then, one more thing:

"This thing has 'super soldier program' written all over it. The chief surgeon's unwillingness to develop a therapeutic retrovirus would imply that the people who started this thing can't finish it. If I've guessed right, the surgeon was a wise woman. She prevented the wrong people from getting their hands on something that could do that," the Metal Man said, pointing at the tank that contained the most advanced case, "to people and its antidote.

"If this is deliberate, then there's probably a fail safe of somekind built into the creatures themselves. We only have to find it." And then, it completely dawned on him. Quickly, he checked his readings...and confirmed it! "Of course! They have to be constantly re-exposed to plasma to keep their abiliites! Without it, their muscle fibres naturally de-polarize! They lose their weapons and their strength! We have to shut down those plasma drums! That's where they get their special powers from!"

"just great. our weapons are based on plasma and we've been giving them snacks" Arisu mutters.

"By shutting them down I assume you mean blowing them up so they can't use them"

War oreist Drake nodded as the Major spoke "Interesting... But the fact of the matter still stands, I cannot affrod any troop movements in the colony because the enemy we are faceing is very secluded we dont know how many or where they are. So if we send and amount of Troops in because we could be sending our recon team to there deaths while were fighting a battle."

-----
The dropship came to rest in the court yard, it large bay doors pened and a platoon came out. They had the markings of F.E.A.R members but there physical stature made that fact even more then the insignias.

One of them walked up to TMM, Arisu and Troy and looked at them from behind his double mirrior face plate.

"Sombody really humped the bunk, What is the stiuation?" He said to TMM since when James was injured TMM was really the only one who could give a full report on everything.

War oreist Drake nodded as the Major spoke "Interesting... But the fact of the matter still stands, I cannot affrod any troop movements in the colony because the enemy we are faceing is very secluded we dont know how many or where they are. So if we send and amount of Troops in because we could be sending our recon team to there deaths while were fighting a battle."

"We can send our combat droids in as a diversion to try to draw as many enemy forces from your recon team's position," suggested the Major.

"We can send our combat droids in as a diversion to try to draw as many enemy forces from your recon team's position," suggested the Major.

Drake nodded "Thats a good id--" Dennis limped into the airlock. His shirt was off and he was wearing a large object around his midsection that was filled with a blue liquid.

"Ah Dennis it is good to see you," Drake said with a smile

Dennis looked around the airlock for a moment. "Wheres Andrew?" He said as he looked at Drake with a raised eyebrow.

"KIA," Drake said bluntly

"Oh.... shit." Dennis sighed

Drake nodded "Thats a good id--" Dennis limped into the airlock. His shirt was off and he was wearing a large object around his midsection that was filled with a blue liquid.

"Ah Dennis it is good to see you," Drake said with a smile

Dennis looked around the airlock for a moment. "Wheres Andrew?" He said as he looked at Drake with a raised eyebrow.

"KIA," Drake said bluntly

"Oh.... shit." Dennis sighed

"Also, sir," said the Major, "we don't have much, but we can also provide you with what medical supplies we have left from the shuttle."

Then, when Dennis limped in, she watched and listened. Spotting the blue liquid filled object, an obvious look of curiosity crossed her face

"I take it this Andrews was a friend of yours, correct?" Susan asked Dennis.

The dropship came to rest in the court yard, it large bay doors pened and a platoon came out. They had the markings of F.E.A.R members but there physical stature made that fact even more then the insignias.

One of them walked up to TMM, Arisu and Troy and looked at them from behind his double mirrior face plate.

"Sombody really humped the bunk, What is the stiuation?" He said to TMM since when James was injured TMM was really the only one who could give a full report on everything.

"Woah," said the Metal Man. "Thanks for transporting us out of the medical bay. It's a wonder that you got through all the interferance.

--------------------

OOC: somebody humped the bunk, alright.

--------------------

IC:

"The situation is that we don't have a defense parimeter, we've got two injured, four dead and one destroyed battle drone. We have discovered the nature of our foe, physiological and historical, and he has a glaring weakness: he must be exposed to plasma on a regular basis or he loses his strength and his ability to project plasma. We encountered plasma storage containers on our way to the medical facility. We were about to attempt to neutralize those facilities when you transported us out.

"Marlo and Mikito have been exposed to the Monas pathogen and require immediate transport therapy, and Ariso may have been contaminated when Marlo shared his canteen with her. She should be quarantined and held in observation."

"Woah," said the Metal Man. "Thanks for transporting us out of the medical bay. It's a wonder that you got through all the interferance.

--------------------

OOC: somebody humped the bunk, alright.

--------------------

IC:

"The situation is that we don't have a defense parimeter, we've got two injured, four dead and one destroyed battle drone. We have discovered the nature of our foe, physiological and historical, and he has a glaring weakness: he must be exposed to plasma on a regular basis or he loses his strength and his ability to project plasma. We encountered plasma storage containers on our way to the medical facility. We were about to attempt to neutralize those facilities when you transported us out.

"Marlo and Mikito have been exposed to the Monas pathogen and require immediate transport therapy, and Ariso may have been contaminated when Marlo shared his canteen with her. She should be quarantined and held in observation."


ooc: im not sure where your getting the whole transporting out of the medical bay. They came on a dropshisp that went threw the inner airlock door to the colony... plus Marlo didn;t share his canteen troy did.... but anyway.

IC: The F.E.A.R leader listened to TMM and nodded as he looked back he could see that Lt. Marlo, and Mikiko were being loaded into the dropship.

"So basically its a run and gun from here on in?" The man asked as he pulled the bolt back on his rifle.

As the Lt. talked with TMM, the other F.E.A.R members passed out as much spare ammo as they could even offering the Kirisubans their extra APBRs.

Cpl Troy felt nausious, probebly from the cuts on his face that lead to blood going into his mouth.

---

Dennis nodded and looked down at the contraption that was around his torso. "Its basically a mobile doctor, It injects pain killers, and nano machines into the blood stream to repair my ribs,"

Dennis nodded and looked down at the contraption that was around his torso. "Its basically a mobile doctor, It injects pain killers, and nano machines into the blood stream to repair my ribs,"

"So," she said, "Its similar to the Bacta patches many nations out there use?"

"So," she said, "Its similar to the Bacta patches many nations out there use?"

Dennis shrugged "No not really, This isn't liek a patch its just attached to me," He made a face of pain and touched his sides "With needles embedded into my skin," He smiled softly

Dennis shrugged "No not really, This isn't liek a patch its just attached to me," He made a face of pain and touched his sides "With needles embedded into my skin," He smiled softly

"Ouch," winced Susan, "we use hyposprays that don't break the skin. Old models left bruising and earlier ones even left welts, but the current ones are clean.

"It seems a little complex a device to do something so simple as aide in the healing process. That, and bulky."

One of the Lancers came up to the Major and said, holding a case up, "Ma'am, I thought you might want this for your leg."

"Good idea, Sargent," she replied taking the case.

Finding a place to sit, she rolled her pant leg up, wincing as she jarred the tender flesh.

Looking at it, she said, "Doesn't look like anything's broken. Still, better safe than sorry."

With, she opened the case and wrapped the contents around her injured leg. Looking like nothing more than a cast made from flimsy plastic filled with a dark blue gelitin(sp?), it actually performed a very similar function to the contraption Dennis was hooked up to. Rolling down her pant leg, the Major explained as much.

ooc: I'M not sure where YOU'RE getting the whole transporting out of the medical bay. They came on a DROPSHIP that went THROUGH the inner airlock door to the colony... plus Marlo didn't share his canteen, Troy did.... but anyway.

OOC:

Simple: the group, including TMM, was in the medical bay. Then, the drop ship landed in the courtyard, and the F.E.A.R. leader walked up to TMM right there. There had to be some way for TMM and the others to get from the medical bay to the courtyard before the F.E.A.R. leader could walk up to them. That is a little farfetched--which is why I remarked in my earlier post as I did.

As to Marlo/Troy, that could simply be a mistake on TMM's part. He's not infallible, you know. :) :) :)

IC: The F.E.A.R leader listened to TMM and nodded as he looked back he could see that Lt. Marlo, and Mikiko were being loaded into the dropship.

"So, basically, IT'S a run and gun from here on in?" *t*he man asked as he pulled the bolt back on his rifle.

As the Lt. talked with TMM, the other F.E.A.R members passed out as much spare ammo as they could even offering the Kirisubans their extra APBRs.

Cpl Troy felt nausious, PROBABLY from the cuts on his face that lead to blood going into his mouth.


"I don't know," the Metal Man replied. "If we can keep them contained on this colony, I could probably complete the retrovirus that the Chief Surgeon refused to, and we could try to cure these people. On the other hand, if the Monas pathogen is somehow contageous, then it's a run and gun--but, if they're charged up, projectile weapons will be almost useless. They can surround themselves with plasma fields that vaporize bullets on contact.

"By the way, I could use a good diagnostic. I took a hit from a Monas plasma charge, and it messed my internal systems up pretty good.

"Did we get an enemy body count, Arisu? I got three."

The Metal Man thought about that one. Of the group, it was likely that he was the only one who had a positive kill ratio. If they could communicate through the high-frequency signals that the battle drone had intercepted, then they all now knew that there was something out there that was a danger to them. If they were part human, this would mean that they could be counted on to attempt to neutralize him. Knowing what he did about them, he did not relish the thought of having to go another couple of rounds with them.

OOC:

Simple: the group, including TMM, was in the medical bay. Then, the drop ship landed in the courtyard, and the F.E.A.R. leader walked up to TMM right there. There had to be some way for TMM and the others to get from the medical bay to the courtyard before the F.E.A.R. leader could walk up to them. That is a little farfetched--which is why I remarked in my earlier post as I did.

As to Marlo/Troy, that could simply be a mistake on TMM's part. He's not infallible, you know. :) :) :)



"I don't know," the Metal Man replied. "If we can keep them contained on this colony, I could probably complete the retrovirus that the Chief Surgeon refused to, and we could try to cure these people. On the other hand, if the Monas pathogen is somehow contageous, then it's a run and gun--but, if they're charged up, projectile weapons will be almost useless. They can surround themselves with plasma fields that vaporize bullets on contact.

"By the way, I could use a good diagnostic. I took a hit from a Monas plasma charge, and it messed my internal systems up pretty good.

"Did we get an enemy body count, Arisu? I got three."

The Metal Man thought about that one. Of the group, it was likely that he was the only one who had a positive kill ratio. If they could communicate through the high-frequency signals that the battle drone had intercepted, then they all now knew that there was something out there that was a danger to them. If they were part human, this would mean that they could be counted on to attempt to neutralize him. Knowing what he did about them, he did not relish the thought of having to go another couple of rounds with them.

BUMP

Arisu shook her head and said "I doubt we killed any of them since they seem to like plasma weapons.

I've have to agree with the metal mans assessment as well"

Arisu shook her head and said "I doubt we killed any of them since they seem to like plasma weapons.

I've have to agree with the metal mans assessment as well"

Troy talked with his men before comeing back to the conversation "Well, The battle suit got two when it self destructed... and I got one with a full blast from the guass cannon but i dont know if i killed it..."

The F.E.A.R leader nodded and looked at TMM "What about Bio ethric energy? Will they be able to absord that,"

---

Dennis nodded "True, But our military right now is spending most of its funds on weapons research so we can finally fight the ashen in space," He chuckled a little.

"We are behind the times i guess... but you got to admit, out weapons do make for a pretty light show,"

Dennis nodded "True, But our military right now is spending most of its funds on weapons research so we can finally fight the ashen in space," He chuckled a little.

"We are behind the times i guess... but you got to admit, out weapons do make for a pretty light show,"

"Perhaps a joint project between our nations would be useful," she said, "I may hold only the rank of Major, but other circumstances grant me the ability to represent the Imperial Commonwealth in preliminary talks.

"How does the idea of us helping you with some things, thus allowing you to focus more on these Ashen, sound to you? Or would military help in whiping these Ashen from the skies be more to your liking?

"Also, seeing how we faced the Shivans and emerged victorious in the end after we almost lost everything, I doubt these Ashen would pose much of a serious threat."

Troy talked with his men before coming back to the conversation. "Well, the battle suit got two when it self-destructed...and I got one with a full blast from the guass cannon, but I don't know if I killed it..."

The F.E.A.R leader nodded and looked at TMM "What about Bio ethric energy? Will they be able to absord that?"

Five to four. Not bad. But the recon team had lost the battle drone and the Metal Man's mobile weapons platform. Looks like the losses were about even this time.

Bio ethric energy, though. The team hadn't checked that.

"Analyzing," the Metal Man said, and there was a faint hum as his onboard computer went over the information...and came up empty. "Insufficient data. No way to tell whether the plasma field affects Bio ethrics or not. Neutralize the plasma field with high voltage, however, and it'll fry 'em. A Bio ethric charge in a high-intensity magnetic bubble should be effective."

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Five to four. Not bad. But the recon team had lost the battle drone and the Metal Man's mobile weapons platform. Looks like the losses were about even this time.

Bio ethric energy, though. The team hadn't checked that.

"Analyzing," the Metal Man said, and there was a faint hum as his onboard computer went over the information...and came up empty. "Insufficient data. No way to tell whether the plasma field affects Bio ethrics or not. Neutralize the plasma field with high voltage, however, and it'll fry 'em. A Bio ethric charge in a high-intensity magnetic bubble should be effective."

OOC: flipin jolt >.<

The F.E.A.R Leader nodded "So either way it would probebly do more then bullets or sole plamsa weapons..."

He turned and did a head count. "I can equip everyone here with at least one weapon from the dropship."

---

War preist Drake smiled "I dought you know of the Ashen... These beasts float around in space on giant craft about 300 times bigger then this colony. They have one super weapon that had laid wast to even our mightyest ships in one or 2 hits."

Dennis nodded "A two ton anti-matter bomb didn't even stop them, Every time we face them they are closer and closer to our home world..."

"How fast can you modify your weapons to include the magnetic bubble?" the Metal Man asked. "What does it use for a power source? Is there any way to interface it with my existing weapons systems?

"Is there any way I can get a diagnostic in? I took a hit from their plasma weapon, and I'm not completely sure which of my systems it messed up. Heck--if we're going back into combat, I shouldn't even be in this suit. Why do we have to go back right away?"

Once again, the Metal Man's antigravs bucked. If he hadn't been stationary, he would have sworn that he had just gone over a big

BUMP.

"my team would appreciate these presents" Arisu replied "otherwise we'll have to fight them with swords"

"my team would appreciate these presents" Arisu replied "otherwise we'll have to fight them with swords"

The F.E.A.R leader nodded "Well... Im not quite sure how fast we can do it here, but from what it sounds to me that you all want to go back to the ship."

He thought for a moment "Our bio etheric weapons use the energy from lifeforms namely single celled organisms." Anything other then that you would have to talk to one of our weapon techs...."

The F.E.A.R leader nodded "Well... Im not quite sure how fast we can do it here, but from what it sounds to me that you all want to go back to the ship."

He thought for a moment "Our bio etheric weapons use the energy from lifeforms namely single celled organisms." Anything other then that you would have to talk to one of our weapon techs...."

"It would be preferable if those who were exposed to the pathogen could be kept on Brain Jar with me, after undergoing therapy, and if Brain Jar could be let free," the Metal Man said. "It would make a more effective quarantine. Brain Jar has no working weapons systems to use against us, and the two exposed crewmen don't know how to operate her systems if they wanted to try.

"I can help you modify your weapons while we're in quarantine."

As he finished his sentence, a small spark flew from the underside of his suit. Seeing this, he brought the suit down to the ground, giving his maglevs a much-needed rest.

Arisu nodded and replied "thats a sensible plan"

Arisu nodded and replied "thats a sensible plan"

The F.E.A.R leader nodded "Then lets do it," He turned and began to bark orders.

once everyone was inside the dropship it took off. The F.E.A.R members took off there helmets the leader of them was a handsome young man with a small metal plate over his left cheek bone.

Cpl. Troy was sitting next to Arisu, He felt as though there was a ton of weight on his chest. His breaths were deep and ragged. His stomach felt like it was churning axle grease instead of food. He took off his helmet and rested his head on the head rest.

Sweat beeds began to form around his brow and forehead.

"Are you feeling well, Troy?" the Metal Man asked.

OOC: had a post ready where TMM, after his maglevs gave out, got zapped back into Brain Jar, changed into humanoid "clothing" and set up a MASH unit. If Troy's going to come down with Mona (pun intended), however, that might be getting ahead of the story. So...

My involvement in this thread is going to have to be curtailed. Life intervenes.

bump

"Troy, can you hear me?" the cyborg asked, noting that the man was not responding to his querry.

"Troy, can you hear me?" the cyborg asked, noting that the man was not responding to his querry.

Troy looked at TMM his eyes glazed over "I dont feel so good,"

"Uh ohhhh," the Metal Man said. "If Monas somehow went airborn...

"MEDIC!!!!" he bellowed as loudly as his speech synthesizer would allow. "WE NEED TO QUARANTINE THIS SHIP!

"PILOT, DO NOT COME TO DOCK! WE COULD SPREAD THE CONTAGEON! WE MUST MAKE SURE THAT IT DOES NOT SPREAD TO THE GENERAL POPULATION, NO MATTER WHAT! WE CAN USE THE NEOMAN TRANSPORTERS TO EFFECT A SAFE TRANSFER!"

"Uh ohhhh," the Metal Man said. "If Monas somehow went airborn...

"MEDIC!!!!" he bellowed as loudly as his speech synthesizer would allow. "WE NEED TO QUARANTINE THIS SHIP!

"PILOT, DO NOT COME TO DOCK! WE COULD SPREAD THE CONTAGEON! WE MUST MAKE SURE THAT IT DOES NOT SPREAD TO THE GENERAL POPULATION, NO MATTER WHAT! WE CAN USE THE NEOMAN TRANSPORTERS TO EFFECT A SAFE TRANSFER!"

ooc: actually if the monas plasma weapons can infect humans Cpl Troy would be the longest one exposed to it. Plus Kirisubo had the transporters not Neoma.... Im BSG tech.

Cpl Troy hung his head low, "Sho.... shoot me..." He finally sputtered He looked up at TMM his retinas were black and he grinned evily. He unhooked himself from his seat and lashed out.

The other Neomans jumped on him and brought him to the ground.

"Can we save him!?" One of the men shouted as he jumped into the dog pile

Arisu took her plasma pistol setting it to stun and shot Troy at close range.

She didn't want to kill him but she would if it meant stopping an infection. It was the Kirisuban way...

OOC:

Sorry about the name thing. I'm terrible with names.

IC:

The Metal Man tried to move again. This time, all he got was an electric crackle and a few whisps of smoke.

"Well, none of us can go anywhere except Brain Jar now," the Metal Man said. "Pilot, can we alter course to bring us near Brain Jar?"

No response.

"Pilot?"

Arisu looked round and see the pilot unconcious.

"I'll fly us there" she said pushing the Neoman plot out of the seat and recognizing the basic flight controls. a lot of the buttons and displays didn't mean that much to her just yet but she knew she could fly this crate.

The Metal Man was simply unable to turn to look behind him. The pilot, who had been lieing there, must have been caught by a stray shot.

"Let me know when we get close," the Metal Man replied. "I'm going to have to disengage Brain Jar from Hokkaido remotely. Can you get the communicatons working? We need to coordinate this--especially, we need to coordinate the release of Hokkiado's docking clamp--and let the folks on Lady MacBeth know what we're doing.

"It's too dangerous to use the Kirisoban transporters now. We're going to have to construct one onboard Brain Jar. I don't have one already because the ship is designed to fly in and out of planets' atmospheres. I didn't think there would be any need. I'd ask the Kirisobans for some engineers, but I'm afriad of what might happen to them. I'd also appreciate it if we could get ahold of our Seaquestian friends and see if they can spare a few bioengineers. If the database is right, they have medical nanorobots, and those could prove invaluable--in fact, the Seaquestians may be able to resist the Monas contageon unaided. We need to find out.

"Another thing that we can do is have the Kirisobans beam Troy out and just hold him in the transporter buffer for a few hours, until I can get a proper quarantine set up in Brain Jar. If their transporters are up to it, it would halt the spread of the disease until we could do something about it.

"Are you going to be able to dock this ship, Arisu?"

"I'm sure I could. I can fly anything" Arisu replied "but I wouldn't recommend leaving Troy in a transporter beam for a few hours. It might damage him.

He'll have to stay with us"

"I'm sure I could. I can fly anything" Arisu replied "but I wouldn't recommend leaving Troy in a transporter beam for a few hours. It might damage him.

He'll have to stay with us"

Cpl Troy roared when Arisu shot him, it slowed him down but didn't stop him. The men held him down as the medic gave him a knock out shot.

He settled down and his eyes shut.

"I'm sorry to hear that," the Metal Man replied, "because, until we find out how Miles got infected, we're all under quarantine, and we have to act as if we're all contageous--even me. Do we have communications with either Hokkiado or Lady MacBeth? It is vital that they be made aware of recent events.

"Medic, now that you've sedated Miles, could you see what you can do for our pilot? Though Arisu is talented, I'm sure that our pilot's training with this ship's controls would come in handy.

"What could do that to Mr. Troy's mind so fast? I've never seen anything like this. From loyal soldier to attacker in under five minutes. Wow."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the Metal Man replied, "because, until we find out how Miles got infected, we're all under quarantine, and we have to act as if we're all contageous--even me. Do we have communications with either Hokkiado or Lady MacBeth? It is vital that they be made aware of recent events.

"Medic, now that you've sedated Miles, could you see what you can do for our pilot? Though Arisu is talented, I'm sure that our pilot's training with this ship's controls would come in handy.

"What could do that to Mr. Troy's mind so fast? I've never seen anything like this. From loyal soldier to attacker in under five minutes. Wow."

The medic nodded and pointed to the comm. agianst the wall. "Its pre set to make a general broadcast," he said as he moved to the piolet, he removed the mans face mask and it showed his eyes were open and blood shot. He took a small flashlight and flashed it over his eyes looking for the dialation.

"Brain hemerrage," The medic said

"he needs to be in surgery asap,"

Lt. Marlo was looking at all the action. "When we first came here... Cpl. Troy was attacked by one of them, he took a full plasma round to the chest."

Arisu frowned and said "you can use my comm badge to contact the Hokkaido".

She took the badge of her tunic and gave it to the metal man to make the report to her Captain.

The cyborg reached out one of his two remaining hands and
took the communicator badge. In a moment, he had it activiated.



Metal Man to Hokkiado:

Corporal Troy Miles has gone into secondary-stage Monas.
Until we can figure out what caused this, this vessel is
quarantined. Since I can pilot Brain Jar remotely on
a limited basis, request release of docking clamp, Brain
Jar when this ship is close enough--will specify.
Request Brain Jar be made into quarantine zone/hospital
ship for duration/this incident. Request team of engineers
to help assemble transporter device onboard Brain Jar
for therapy and other medical uses. These may have to
remain aboard due to quarantine. Also request help of
Seaquestian Biomedical Engineers--data at my disposal
indicates that Sequestians posess medical nanorobot
technology.

We have a second medical emergency that vastly complicates
things. Our pilot, Lt. Haiatta,* has suffered a brain hemorrhage.
He requires immediate surgery. Request surgical facility be prepared
aboard Hokkiado and quarantined, and that surgery be
performed there. Request immediate transport and surgery, Lt.
Haiatta.

Would appreciate it if you guys could also transport the people
aboard this ship onto Brain Jar at the appropriate time.
We can park this ship and then depressurize her hull to decontaminate.
You can pick her up then.

Please indicate willingness to accept these requests. Over.



"There. If they'll beam us through, we won't need to dock. That
should take some of the pressure off of you, Arisu.

"Medic, Marlo may have a point. I took a plasma hit during the scrum in
the medical office. Can you examine the contact point? It's on my
upper left quarter--it should be pretty obvious."

"What am I looking for?"

"Anything that would indicate that the plasma weapon can be used to transmit Monas Syndrone."

"With all due respect, sir, I need to monitor Mr. Haiatta."

"Sorry. You're right. We can check it out later."

--------------------

OOC:

* Trivia question #2...let's see how much our sci-fi fans know. Where does this name come from? (Mind you, the spelling is wrong, but...who was Haiatta?) Hint: he was part of a monster hit. :) :) :)

Admiral Saldana listened and sat back in her chairand sighed

To TMM
Confirmed

---

Onbard the dropship...

Suddenly a red light lit up and an alarm klaxon hooted.

"Oh, fuck me..." The co-piolet said He turned to the group "Were being targeted by the Lady Mcbeth."

The cyborg reached out one of his two remaining hands and
took the communicator badge. In a moment, he had it activiated.



Metal Man to Hokkiado:

Corporal Troy Miles has gone into secondary-stage Monas.
Until we can figure out what caused this, this vessel is
quarantined. Since I can pilot Brain Jar remotely on
a limited basis, request release of docking clamp, Brain
Jar when this ship is close enough--will specify.
Request Brain Jar be made into quarantine zone/hospital
ship for duration/this incident. Request team of engineers
to help assemble transporter device onboard Brain Jar
for therapy and other medical uses. These may have to
remain aboard due to quarantine. Also request help of
Seaquestian Biomedical Engineers--data at my disposal
indicates that Sequestians posess medical nanorobot
technology.

We have a second medical emergency that vastly complicates
things. Our pilot, Lt. Haiatta,* has suffered a brain hemorrhage.
He requires immediate surgery. Request surgical facility be prepared
aboard Hokkiado and quarantined, and that surgery be
performed there. Request immediate transport and surgery, Lt.
Haiatta.

Would appreciate it if you guys could also transport the people
aboard this ship onto Brain Jar at the appropriate time.
We can park this ship and then depressurize her hull to decontaminate.
You can pick her up then.

Please indicate willingness to accept these requests. Over.



"There. If they'll beam us through, we won't need to dock. That
should take some of the pressure off of you, Arisu.

"Medic, Marlo may have a point. I took a plasma hit during the scrum in
the medical office. Can you examine the contact point? It's on my
upper left quarter--it should be pretty obvious."

"What am I looking for?"

"Anything that would indicate that the plasma weapon can be used to transmit Monas Syndrone."

"With all due respect, sir, I need to monitor Mr. Haiatta."

"Sorry. You're right. We can check it out later."

--------------------

OOC:

* Trivia question #2...let's see how much our sci-fi fans know. Where does this name come from? (Mind you, the spelling is wrong, but...who was Haiatta?) Hint: he was part of a monster hit. :) :) :)

The Kirisuban Captain leistened carefully and replied on the open comm link " Brain Jar, we could built a transporter on your ship but it would be at least 6 hours work even with a full engineering crew.

We are setting up a containment field in our sick bay so we can recieve your pilot. Take one of the comm badges of my crew and place it to the Lt's chest.

Beaming will commence once my Doctor gives the word"

Six hours? They had no idea. The transporter that this team was going to build was like nothing they'd ever done before. Brain Jar's computer network was just a tad more powerful than its Kirisoban counterparts. Because of this, they were going to be able to tie it into the transporter itself. They would be able to use algorythms stored in the Metal Man's database that would allow them to do things like show a holographic representation of anything in the transporter buffer, detect the genome of anyone in the transporter and alter that genome on-the-fly. It was an extremely dangerous device in the wrong hands. Take the worst, most damaging torture that one could imagine, and compound it by the fact that it could be done in such a way that a person passed it on to his or her children, and you have some idea of what this device could do. That is why the Metal Man had serious misgivings about using it. For some engineers, just knowing that such a thing was possible would be an open challenge to build it--regardless of who ended up using it. But, in the right hands, it could work the kinds of medical miracles that these people needed. The Metal Man estimated that it could hold seven people indeffinately in its transporter buffer, indeffinately postponing the onset of the disease. It could restore damaged genes, recreated missing limbs, repair broken bones, even reverse the aging process. Even a major spinal injury would be a fairly simple thing to fix using this device.

But its construction would have to be more exacting, its components more precise, than anything that any Kirisoban had ever seen, and the software would have to be debugged in a hurry.

Six hours? They were dreaming. It could take days.

And that was something that Troy and Marlo didn't have.

But that wouldn't stop anybody on that ship from trying to help.

The Metal Man looked to the nearest soldier. "Seargent," he said, noticing the man's insignia, "would you please take Arisu's comm badge from me and place it on Mr. Haiatta?"

--------------------------------------

Trivia Answer #2: Haiatta, a member of the Science Patrol, was better known when in the form of the Space Alein who nearly killed him and then graciously lent the man his life, so he could live normally on earth--except when emergencies arose. That, of course, would be Ultra Man. (GOD, what cheap f/x!)

Six hours? They had no idea. The transporter that this team was going to build was like nothing they'd ever done before. Brain Jar's computer network was just a tad more powerful than its Kirisoban counterparts. Because of this, they were going to be able to tie it into the transporter itself. They would be able to use algorythms stored in the Metal Man's database that would allow them to do things like show a holographic representation of anything in the transporter buffer, detect the genome of anyone in the transporter and alter that genome on-the-fly. It was an extremely dangerous device in the wrong hands. Take the worst, most damaging torture that one could imagine, and compound it by the fact that it could be done in such a way that a person passed it on to his or her children, and you have some idea of what this device could do. That is why the Metal Man had serious misgivings about using it. For some engineers, just knowing that such a thing was possible would be an open challenge to build it--regardless of who ended up using it. But, in the right hands, it could work the kinds of medical miracles that these people needed. The Metal Man estimated that it could hold seven people indeffinately in its transporter buffer, indeffinately postponing the onset of the disease. It could restore damaged genes, recreated missing limbs, repair broken bones, even reverse the aging process. Even a major spinal injury would be a fairly simple thing to fix using this device.

But its construction would have to be more exacting, its components more precise, than anything that any Kirisoban had ever seen, and the software would have to be debugged in a hurry.

Six hours? They were dreaming. It could take days.

And that was something that Troy and Marlo didn't have.

But that wouldn't stop anybody on that ship from trying to help.

The Metal Man looked to the nearest soldier. "Seargent," he said, noticing the man's insignia, "would you please take Arisu's comm badge from me and place it on Mr. Haiatta?"

--------------------------------------

Trivia Answer #2: Haiatta, a member of the Science Patrol, was better known when in the form of the Space Alein who nearly killed him and then graciously lent the man his life, so he could live normally on earth--except when emergencies arose. That, of course, would be Ultra Man. (GOD, what cheap f/x!)

The seargent nodded and placed it on the piolet. The nhe went back to Cpl Troy who was unconsious. He put his foot on his chest and took his rifle and pointed at his head.

the Kirisuban doctor's voice came on the comms line and she ordered the transport of the pilot to sickbay comm badge and all.

Where he arrived was already screened off by force fields and was under full quarintine.

Captain Toda replied back using a security officers comm badge "Metal man you'll have an engineering team arriving shortly once we locate all the parts we need to build a transporter platform.

In the meantime we can isolate transporter room 2 and try your earlier suggestion about using the transfer buffer to hold Troy's transporter signal."

Fortunately, his internal transciever had started working again.

"Slight complications, Captain Toda," he said, having recognised the woman's voice from earlier. Then, he explained exactly what he was proposing to build.

"You can understand why I've got to insist that this technology not leave Brain Jar. If you wanted to alter a man so that he had to sit on his face, this would be the perfect thing to do it with." Of course, he made the entire conversation available to those in the ship around him. Even Mulah, the F.E.A.R. leader, heard it.

-------------

OOC: Mulah was Haiatta's boss in the show, too.

-------------

"Arisu, how long before we're close enough to Brain Jar to move in and dock if we have to? For that matter, how long before we're in range of Hokkiado's transporters?"

Arisu replied "we'll be able to reach Brain Jar and the Hokkaido shortly"

Captain Toda replied over the comm line "I'll leave the transporter in your hands then. We can lend you assistance if you need it"

"Mister Mulah, since I find myself once again without a proper communicator, please renew my call to Hokkiado for an engineering team. It's going to take at least three people to help me put together the various sub-assemblies, and another three to put the finishing touches on the software. It's important that the software engineers be the absolute best that they can find. I won't elaborate on what a bug in the system could do to someone in one of those--well, they're not so much transporters as macromolecular editors. Thank you, by the way, for all the work that you've done with me so far. I realize that I have no rank in your military, and that merely addressing my suggestions is a concession on your part."

There was much to be done, and the preparations had to start now. The longer it took to put the macromolecular editors together, the more people were going to go Stage Two--as poor Troy had--or worse.

"Might I also respectfully suggest that Sgt. Edo take his foot off of Troy's chest and move to a safer distance. If Troy were to scratch the Seargent, he, too, may become infected."

------------------

OOC: Edo was another member of the Science Patrol. Wikipedia says that it should've been spelled "Hayata," and that "Edo" should be "Ide," as in "Mitsuhiro Ide." Other sources list him as "Edo," though. Oh well--even a cheap TV show for kids can have its mysteries, I guess.

the call was recieved and 3 Kirisuban engineers beamed over. in addition to their tool kits and the required parts they came armed with swords since it would be a bad idea to discharge plasma weapons inside a ship.

the women were ready to commence building and able to stay as long as it took.

the call was recieved and 3 Kirisuban engineers beamed over. in addition to their tool kits and the required parts they came armed with swords since it would be a bad idea to discharge plasma weapons inside a ship.

the women were ready to commence building and able to stay as long as it took.

Sgt. Edo looked at TMM and smiled "Metal man, i have a great respect for you, but in reality were not in prison and im not your bitch,"

"Stand down seargent," The F.E.A.R leader said quietly, he looked at TMM "These suits have bio, chem, and radiation filters. So i dought any of us are enfected."

"Names Henry by the way," He added his cold blue eyes watching the seargent as he sat back down.

"It's alright, Henry," the Metal Man replied. "Though my concern was for his safety, Stg. Edo was right to point out that it was misplaced. In fact, I hope he will take some relief in the fact that the old lady will stop hovering over him as soon as Hokkiado--"

It materialized as he spoke.

"--beams back the comm badge."

Picking it up, the cyborg again made contact.

"Hokkiado, this is the Metal Man. Ready for transport at your liesure."

In a moment, he had joined the engineering team on Brain Jar, and it didn't take long for them to get busy.

"Thank you for coming, ladies," he said. "I don't need to remind you of the importance of our task, so let's get right to work. I reviewed your credentials while we were en route. They are impressive.

"Fuji, since you're an expert on transstators, you can take the coils and pad assemblies. You'll notice that we're using Bernouli compensators, not present in the original design, to improve reliability and longevity. The difficulty in your task will be to make sure that they don't disintegrate the first time we use them. I feel that you are uniquely qualified for this.

"Loralai, since your field of expertise is ergonomics, please take the control interface. You'll notice that I'm pushing the envelope here with a holographic heads-up display. This is going to be very important to the med teams that use this device.

"Trina, since you're an expert in generators and transmitters, you take the power subsystem. I'm giving you more leeway than any other member of the team here. I don't care how many redundant back-ups you build into this thing, your job is to make sure that it never fails.

"Since I'm stuck here in this suit until more help arrives, I'm going to take the part that I can work on without moving: the software subsystems. I'll need you all to join me after you complete and integrate your subsystems. It is impossible to impress thoroughly enough upon you that we cannot, cannot, cannot suffer a system bug. The stakes are simply too high.

"You may begin when ready. You all have complete access to Brain Jar's information archives. Conduct whatever research you wish, but be careful. Corporal Troy is short on time as it is."

the three women got to work on building their parts of the transporter.

It was a new experience building a transporter pad from scratch but they knew how to do it.

Working together they made a lot of progress very quickly.

The simulation said it would take them six days to finish the job.

They did it in two.

Brain Jar got a little cramped after everyone was beamed aboard, but, in the end, even the soldiers lent a hand in the construction, using their powerful battle suits to move heavy components into place.

The software regression tests went smoothly, if not without a hitch or two. Trina turned out to be a natural linguist, and, as the lion's share of software problems are caused by lack of fluency with the information technology's language, this helped immensely.

And thus it was that, three days later, Corporal Troy Miles was sent to Brain Jar, and held in a transporter buffer while graphic displays of his body, inside nad out, and his genome were shown on an elevated panel a few meters away from the scene. On another panel nearby, the genetic sample that he had given early on in the mission was also shown. It confirmed the worst--that the Corporal's genetic sample was indeed infected. He was already infected by the time he gave that sample.

Along the way, they had performed the first Transporter Surgery in both Neoman and Kirisoban history. Hayatta's surgery had not been performed in time. His brain was horribly damaged--but, in the macromolecular editor, this was remedied. He woke up a few hours after the "transporter surgery," none the worse for the wear. They were still checking him out, but it appeared that he even remembered everything up until the stray bolt from the plasma weapon caught him. From what the Metal Man was hearing, it had just about popped the eyes out of the head of the chief surgeon aboard Lady MacBeth.

This was bringing up other complications. The engineers had sufficient expertise to replicate the technology--everything but the software, anyway. After viewing the medical miracles that it had worked, others would be sure to tempt them to do so. It was the Metal Man's chief fear that, through such a process, the people who created The Monas Contageon would get their vile hands on a tool that would allow them to alter their people's genomes without need of an intermediary retrovirus--and that would allow them to create a new virus at whim. In such undisciplined hands, the danger of such a device was all but immeasurable.

And that was only if they limited this technology to medical uses.

Which brought the Metal Man back to Troy.

It was ironic, but the technology's first actual use was the one that pointed out its limitations. Troy had no uncontaminated genetic sample. Even after they removed the actual contageon from his body, they still had to deal with his altered genome--and they had no way of knowing exactly what it was before the contageon struck. Certainly, they could edit the DNA to make Troy a textbook human again, but, the question remained, would that human still be Troy? Would he have the same habits, the same tendencies? Would he be the same tough warrior who had swaggered onto the colony, bent on avenging his brother's loss, or would he be a different man? Would he have to retrain himself entirely because of the changes to him that could not be undone?

For the same reason, the Seaquestian nanorobots were nearly useless. They had one redeeming value, however. After restoring Troy's DNA, as best they could, the medics decided to leave his actual body unchanged and let it heal itself. The nanorobots would be a great boon to this, if they could be adjusted to restore the body to the new DNA instead of restoring the DNA to the new body.

They were still working on that little hiccup.

When the device had found and removed the contageon from those members of the party who had been infected, things got a little easier. James and Mikito were still under observation, but the rest had pretty much returned to duty. They would be continuing their efforts to disinfect the colony while The Metal Man stayed with the medical teams that had come aboard Brain Jar to help make use of the "miracle machine." Fortunately, it seemed that anyone who used the thing came away with the same fear of its darker potential that the Metal Man had.

So, in the middle of the third day, before finally turning in for some much-needed sleep, the Metal Man decided to once again don his most human-like suit, go to the sanctuary at the center of Brain Jar, light a candle, and, after a short meditation, pray for the bodies and souls of the people in the recon team, and for James and Mikito, and especially for Troy.

The Kirisuban engineers slumped down into a corner after pulling triple shifts each for the 3 days of the build.

By now they had discarded their tunics and were working in their red vests and uniform trousers.

They rested their heads on each others shoulders getting some well earned sleep...

OOC: Im unsure as to one thing, is Troy still in containment that is holding him asleep?

IC: The Neomans helped in every way they could, but alas they were not as technologically advanced as TMM or even the Kirisubans. The one thing they could do however was send weapons, a lot of weapons to TMM for retrofitting. They also sent a group of engineers to watch TMMs retrofittign and to copy it.

OOC @ Neoma: no. Troy's in a macromolecular editor buffer aboard Brain Jar. It is debatable whether or not he actually exists while in this state. They're discussing how they're going to alter his genome to try to turn him back into a human being again. Just altering his genetic make-up, however, won't change what's happened to his body. Change his genes and he'll return to "normal" naturally, but he won't start out that way. Would appreciate it if someone else would RP this discussion.

--------------

IC:

It was another two days later. They were still arguing over what to do with Troy. The Metal Man felt that he would have been furious if he knew how long they were taking just to make up their minds. Still, the Metal Man had rested, and meditated, and prayed, and his mind would not be going over the deep end--today.

Which was why he was able to address an assemblage of the engineering teams--about twenty people--in a conference room in Brain Jar's inner hull. It had taken them a while to get data transfer devices that were compatible with both the Neoman and Kirisoban information technology, but, with the Kirisoban Engineering Team still aboard, it was a relatively small matter to ensure that their talents did not go to waste.

So there he stood, at a podium, looking once again like an obese, middle-aged man, dressed in a navy blue shirt and pants, and holding what looked like a pointer in his left hand. It never ceased to amaze him how conferences that seemed so dry and boring could be so vitally important.

He watched the Neomans carefully. Some of them would be in over their head. He would have to take them aside after the speech and make sure that they understood everything.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming," he began. "I realize that this is a tense situation. Some of you even have extended family aboard the colony ship, and I'm sure that we're all interested in what we can do to help them--and to prevent their fate, and Cpl. Troy's, from befalling us all."

He picked up a rifle-sized ray gun that was sitting atop the podium. "This is the Mark I Encapsulated Bio-Ethric Projector. The soldiers call it an 'Eb.' As I'm sure you know, it's made from a Kirisoban Plasma Cannon with a few little extras. I've distributed literature that details the retrofitting process. I'm going to demonstrate it once for you here today."

There were some groans from the back row.

"I'm not going to force you people to go through the process yourselves. I know that I promised you a shipment of twenty of them when the demonstration was finished. Well, I took the liberty of knocking them off with the MacMole. They were actually ready this morning."

With that, the Metal Man reached back and pressed a small button on the pointer. Twenty guns appeared on the floor behind him, neatly stacked.

"Now," he said, returning his glance to the engineers--and to Henry Mulah, who had asked to attend so that he might see if his troops could retrofit their own weapons, "the new parts for this job are..."

OOC @ Neoma: no. Troy's in a macromolecular editor buffer aboard Brain Jar. It is debatable whether or not he actually exists while in this state. They're discussing how they're going to alter his genome to try to turn him back into a human being again. Just altering his genetic make-up, however, won't change what's happened to his body. Change his genes and he'll return to "normal" naturally, but he won't start out that way. Would appreciate it if someone else would RP this discussion.

--------------

IC:

It was another two days later. They were still arguing over what to do with Troy. The Metal Man felt that he would have been furious if he knew how long they were taking just to make up their minds. Still, the Metal Man had rested, and meditated, and prayed, and his mind would not be going over the deep end--today.

Which was why he was able to address an assemblage of the engineering teams--about twenty people--in a conference room in Brain Jar's inner hull. It had taken them a while to get data transfer devices that were compatible with both the Neoman and Kirisoban information technology, but, with the Kirisoban Engineering Team still aboard, it was a relatively small matter to ensure that their talents did not go to waste.

So there he stood, at a podium, looking once again like an obese, middle-aged man, dressed in a navy blue shirt and pants, and holding what looked like a pointer in his left hand. It never ceased to amaze him how conferences that seemed so dry and boring could be so vitally important.

He watched the Neomans carefully. Some of them would be in over their head. He would have to take them aside after the speech and make sure that they understood everything.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming," he began. "I realize that this is a tense situation. Some of you even have extended family aboard the colony ship, and I'm sure that we're all interested in what we can do to help them--and to prevent their fate, and Cpl. Troy's, from befalling us all."

He picked up a rifle-sized ray gun that was sitting atop the podium. "This is the Mark I Encapsulated Bio-Ethric Projector. The soldiers call it an 'Eb.' As I'm sure you know, it's made from a Kirisoban Plasma Cannon with a few little extras. I've distributed literature that details the retrofitting process. I'm going to demonstrate it once for you here today."

There were some groans from the back row.

"I'm not going to force you people to go through the process yourselves. I know that I promised you a shipment of twenty of them when the demonstration was finished. Well, I took the liberty of knocking them off with the MacMole. They were actually ready this morning."

With that, the Metal Man reached back and pressed a small button on the pointer. Twenty guns appeared on the floor behind him, neatly stacked.

"Now," he said, returning his glance to the engineers--and to Henry Mulah, who had asked to attend so that he might see if his troops could retrofit their own weapons, "the new parts for this job are..."

ooc: ...wow :P

IC:

After the conference a younger man walked up to TMM, he was intimidated by TMM. It was noticeable even threw his ruse.

"Excuse me sir, Admiral Saldana has requested a meeting between you and Captain Mariko Toda,"

ooc: ...wow :P

IC:

After the conference a younger man walked up to TMM, he was intimidated by TMM. It was noticeable even threw his ruse.

"Excuse me sir, Admiral Saldana has requested a meeting between you and Captain Mariko Toda,"

OOC: Ain't it amazing what a guy will do in the wee hours of the morning. (Sorry about the boring post. I was tired.)

IC:

The Metal Man turned to his newest arrival. "Certainly," he replied, a gentle, friendly smile playing across his lips as he set down his pointer, "and would it be too much to ask your name?" It was a small detail, but the cyborg had not found this young man's picture on the guest itinerary. Though he would never dream of turning down a request from someone of Admiral Saldana's stature, he had to make sure that the request was ligitimate.

Whoever he was, he was in top physical condition, and, though he was careful, he moved with an easy grace that bespoke training in either martial arts or dance. Still, the Metal Man felt safe enough. Henry was standing only a few feet away. James had joined him, and the commando was explaining the finer points of his new weapon to his comrade in arms.

Captain Toda was already there on the Admirals ship as the Hokkaido orbited the colony.

So far her crew had got of lightly and the Neoman in their sickbay would live to fight another day.

The door opened before her. In stepped the Metal Man, dressed now in the flowing robe of a Civilian Adjunct to the Neoman Military, arms folded in front of him.

"Captain Toda," he said, bowing deeply in deference to her high rank. "It is good to meet you individually. How can I help you?"

the Kirisuban commander returned the bow and replied "Admiral Saldana asked for my prescence. How's the transporter procedure coming on?"

"It is everything that I hoped, and less," the cyborg replied. "It would seem that our friend Miles Troy is doomed to spend an eternity in its buffers while doctors and bureaucrats argue the minutae of the human genome and how to properly alter his.

"It appears that my worst fears are doomed to be realized, however. The members of your engineering team have assured me that it is not nearly as advanced as I had led them to believe, and that Kirisobu already has sufficient technology to create one of their own.

"Use it with care. Never forget that the design that saved your lives came from a torture chamber."

"It is everything that I hoped, and less," the cyborg replied. "It would seem that our friend Miles Troy is doomed to spend an eternity in its buffers while doctors and bureaucrats argue the minutae of the human genome and how to properly alter his.

"It appears that my worst fears are doomed to be realized, however. The members of your engineering team have assured me that it is not nearly as advanced as I had led them to believe, and that Kirisobu already has sufficient technology to create one of their own.

"Use it with care. Never forget that the design that saved your lives came from a torture chamber."

Admiral Saldana walked into the room and grave a breif smile to TMM and Capiton Toda.

She sighed and motioned to the seats please sit... we have much to discuse."

Captain Toda took a seat and waited. This was the admirals meeting and her agenda..

The Metal Man bowed low again as the Admiral walked into the room. It was a surprise to see one of such high rank enter into conversation with those whom many would regard as peons--such as himself. It was refreshing to note that the Admiral was willing to forgo appearances.

He found a seat. His head became slightly cloudy for a moment as he sat, but he blinked and it cleared. He hoped that it was not the beginning of another of his bouts of insanity. It had been a long time. He was overdue.

The Metal Man bowed low again as the Admiral walked into the room. It was a surprise to see one of such high rank enter into conversation with those whom many would regard as peons--such as himself. It was refreshing to note that the Admiral was willing to forgo appearances.

He found a seat. His head became slightly cloudy for a moment as he sat, but he blinked and it cleared. He hoped that it was not the beginning of another of his bouts of insanity. It had been a long time. He was overdue.

Admirl Saldana sat down and sighed "Well... there are a couple of things i want to get sorted out,"

"First i want to start with Cpl. Miles, It seems that we may have found a uncaontaminated blood sample to reconstruced his DNA,"

"Good," the Metal Man replied. "If the sample is viable, we could restore his DNA within minutes. We would have to allow his body to restore itself naturally, however, and his behavior may be a bit erratic in the meantime."

Captain Toda nodded and said "Cpl Miles could recover on my ship. We can also treat him and keep him under secure observation"

Captain Toda nodded and said "Cpl Miles could recover on my ship. We can also treat him and keep him under secure observation"

Admrial Saldana nodded "And which brings me to my next subject of disscussion..."

She took in a breath "My government has ordered me to capture on of these... Monas, A order i do not plan to follow. It seems that our fears were correct, my government is involved in this and i wouldn't dout if they were sending someone right now to make sure that i follow my orders..."

The Metal Man shook his head gently and blinked his eyes.

"Regretable," he said, "but also an opportunity. The masters would, of course, have safeguards against this, but such a person could be traced back to those who sent him." As I promised Miles I'd do, he thought to himself.

"You said that this brought up a question," he continued. "What would that be?"

Mariko listened carefully as she sat.

She knew full well the dangers of the infection getting of the colony under any circumstances.

After a moment, in which he briefly shook his head both left and right, the Metal Man continued.

"I concur with you that it would be too dangerous to attempt to contain one of those creatures, even in a Neoman transporter buffer. You can't get within twenty meters of one of them without being at risk from the plasma weapon, and we've confirmed that it spreads the contageon to those whom it does not kill." I'm the only one who's survived that, and that's because I'm in an enclosed tank inside of this body suit. I vowed long ago never to subject anyone else to...the torture of Species One Cybernation.

So what was the Admiral's question going to be? How to fake capturing a Monas? How to find an infiltrator, if there was one? Best course of action?

Disposition of the robotic probe that they had left behind in the colony?

If an infiltrator were even to discover the existence of the technology that the Neomans and he himself were making available to the Kirisobans, things would get difficult to predict. If he discovered the Metal Man, they might try to kidnap him. One could never tell. Technically, he was still a fugitive from a murder conviction--though the error of the conviction could be easily demonstrated in court.

As these thought percolated through his mind, the Metal Man noticed that he was not paying adequate attention. His time was starting to run out. He needed to get back to Brain Jar before he lost his mind completely.

After a moment, in which he briefly shook his head both left and right, the Metal Man continued.

"I concur with you that it would be too dangerous to attempt to contain one of those creatures, even in a Neoman transporter buffer. You can't get within twenty meters of one of them without being at risk from the plasma weapon, and we've confirmed that it spreads the contageon to those whom it does not kill." I'm the only one who's survived that, and that's because I'm in an enclosed tank inside of this body suit. I vowed long ago never to subject anyone else to...the torture of Species One Cybernation.

So what was the Admiral's question going to be? How to fake capturing a Monas? How to find an infiltrator, if there was one? Best course of action?

Disposition of the robotic probe that they had left behind in the colony?

If an infiltrator were even to discover the existence of the technology that the Neomans and he himself were making available to the Kirisobans, things would get difficult to predict. If he discovered the Metal Man, they might try to kidnap him. One could never tell. Technically, he was still a fugitive from a murder conviction--though the error of the conviction could be easily demonstrated in court.

As these thought percolated through his mind, the Metal Man noticed that he was not paying adequate attention. His time was starting to run out. He needed to get back to Brain Jar before he lost his mind completely.

"The question is... do we, A: wait and see if we can change the mind of the person comeing... or B; we destroy the colony before he gets here" Admiral Saldana sat back and waited for there thoughts.

"if you're going to destroy the colony you have to ensure that the research there is also destroyed and none of the Monas get off there.

If only one gets off this can start all over again" Mariko offered.

"Or, do we c) find this person, use him to track down the others, capture them all and bring the full force of the law to bear against them?" the Metal Man interjected.

Unfortunately, the Metal Man had been forced to admit even to himself that option d) saving these people, was out of the question. Even though they had the technology to reverse the genetic contamination, they had no way of holding one of these things while the process slowly and painfully reversed itself. The horrible truth was that the group, between them, lacked the resources for the most humane alternative.

"Or, do we c) find this person, use him to track down the others, capture them all and bring the full force of the law to bear against them?" the Metal Man interjected.

Unfortunately, the Metal Man had been forced to admit even to himself that option d) saving these people, was out of the question. Even though they had the technology to reverse the genetic contamination, they had no way of holding one of these things while the process slowly and painfully reversed itself. The horrible truth was that the group, between them, lacked the resources for the most humane alternative.

Admiral Saldana shook her head "That would be unwise... If we did that a lot of people would wake up with their throats slit."

"And if we don't, a lot of people may wake up one day and find that their DNA had been mutilated while they slept."

"And if we don't, a lot of people may wake up one day and find that their DNA had been mutilated while they slept."

Admiral Saldana nodded "That is a possiblility...,"

As she finished a worm hole opened about 300 miles from the colony, a sleek black vessel came out, its side markings showing everyone is was Neoman.

Brain Jar's sensors detected the vessel, and relayed the information to her master.

"Well, we don't have long to decide upon a course of action," the cyborg said. "A neoman ship has just appeared off the starboard bow."

---------------------------------------

OOC:

Couldn't resist using "starboard bow." Hope everyone gets the reference. :) :) :)

Brain Jar's sensors detected the vessel, and relayed the information to her master.

"Well, we don't have long to decide upon a course of action," the cyborg said. "A neoman ship has just appeared off the starboard bow."

---------------------------------------

OOC:

Couldn't resist using "starboard bow." Hope everyone gets the reference. :) :) :)


Admiral Saldana raised an eyebrow "That was quick... Doesn't suprisse me thought probebly sent him before the gave me my orders, guess they thoguht we might try something..."

Mariko tapped her comm badge and spoke quietly in Kirisuban to her second officer.

With the Neomans in a state of civil war she wanted to be prepared for anything in case this was a rebel ship.

she ordered a quiet yellow alert and got back to the meeting.

"Well," the Metal Man continued, "we can begin by concentrating on what we agree about: the disposition of our dear Cpl. Troy." And then, his face changed. "To...capture...," he said. "Ohhhh, I've been so foolish! Why do they need to capture a monas when they have Troy on Brain Jar and all they need to do is incubate him?" He held out his left hand. The fingers moved downward as a single unit, stretching the skin where the last knuckle had been. The skin split, and a small antenna extended through the hole.

"Brain Jar, this is the Metal Man. Go to emergency security lockdown. No one but I gets in or out until I countermand this order. Operation code Archemedes."

He turned back to the Admiral.

"You have to destroy the colony," he said, rising to his feet. "You would have to do this regardless of what your friends decide. The monas are far too dangerous to let go. Given time, they'll evolve into a full-blown consumptor.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my ship--before I lose my mind, I've got a soul to save. We're out of time with Cpl. Troy. Right now, he's technically a Monas. If your friends catch wind of that, we'll never get him back. We have to heal him immediately. Please accept my humblest and deepest apologies, Admiral, for my failure to return him to you. There is simply no time for that.

"You can do two things to help the process. First, place the information from Cpl. Troy's blood sample in a place where anyone who logs onto your medical computers can read it. As this is not an uncommon practice, you will have credible deniability when we take it and use it to save Mr. Troy. Second, place Fuji-chan and Troy-san in a foreign exchange educational program, a six month assignment, under my auspices. This will remove them from the chain of command, making it difficult if not impossible for your friends to punish them after what we are about to undertake. With your permission, I'm going to go straight back to Brain Jar and revive Mr. Troy as quickly as possible. All of this, of course, is subject to your permission, Admiral." Again, the Metal Man bowed low, indicating his respect for his host.

----------------------------

OOC: TMM would like a shot at "curing" Mr. Troy. Either way, he's about to lose his lucidity, and will have to retire to Brain Jar to recover it. During that time, Brain Jar's AI will be able to act in his stead--but it takes up so much of the ship's computer resources that it can't run at the same time as the Medical Transporter. Hopefully, these moves will be sufficient to prevent the godmodding that I fear I am getting too close to doing.

Please have Admiral Toda render a decision as to whether or not TMM will get to help his friend Miles to break free of his condition.

Captain Toda sopke up.

"I'll release my first officer to your care" Mariko replied "and she's ready to make sacrifices if they are needed. Its our way and I don't want to see this infection getting off the colony.

Even my ship and crew are expendable if it comes to the worst"

Captain Toda sopke up.

"I'll release my first officer to your care" Mariko replied "and she's ready to make sacrifices if they are needed. Its our way and I don't want to see this infection getting off the colony.

Even my ship and crew are expendable if it comes to the worst"

"Thank you, Admiral," the Metal Man said, executing another low, humble bow, "and thank you, Captain Toda. You're sincerity is more than I deserve. Working together, we can ensure that it never will."

Four hours later, the Metal Man was standing in a chamber located a short distance away from the Macromolecular Editor. In front of him stood the now-altered body of Corporal Troy. He had been in the chamber for over three hours now, and the anesthetic that they had used on him in the shuttle had long since worn off. They had opted to do things the hard way--to adjust Troy's DNA but not make any changes to his physical body. This would allow his healing process to make him completely whole again--but it would come at a price. Troy would have to endure the ravages of Monas Syndrone until his body cleaned him up.

Troy's eyes still glowed with an evil light. He had paced the chamber almost since he woke up, bashing the walls when he thought they might give. Finally, he had started beating on the doorway so savagely that Fuji had needed to use force fields to repel him. It was at this point when the Metal Man had made the surprise request to be allowed to speak with the creature that Troy had become. It was not the sort of thing that one ignored--it was his ship.

"Hello," the Metal Man said. "Remember me?"

The beast just bellowed and swung a hammer fist straight at the Metal Man, and into the shield. The resulting shock just seemed to further enrage it, and it swung the other fist into the shield as well.

"So...you want a piece of me, eh?" the Metal Man said. "Let's give it to you, then. Fuji, lower the shield."

"I hope you know what you're doing," a voice came over the intercom.

The shield dropped.

Instantly, Troy flung himself at his newfound quarry. A left was caught as quickly as it was thrown, as was a right. A right leg kick encountered a raised shin, and then a ducking sweep found only air as the Metal Man jumped clear of the leg before it could find its targets.

"Those are Neoman combat moves," the Metal Man said, taking a step back. "You're in there somewhere, Miles, aren't you?"

The creature stared at the Metal Man for a moment.

"Let...it...go," it said. And it was strange, because it spoke the words in Old Gothic, a tongue that Miles Troy was barely familiar with.

"But that is why I am here," the Metal Man countered, also in Old Gothic. "I will let Troy go just as soon as you do."

Troy bellowed, a scream of pure rage coming forth from his lips. He sprung again, grabbing the Metal Man's outstretched hands and forcing him back against the wall behind him. At last, growling, the creature stared the Metal Man dead in the eye, a vicious, horrid look coming over it as it gritted its teeth.

The Metal Man looked back with such intensity that it was hard to believe that his body was just a mechanical add-on. Through gritted teeth of his own, he spoke. "Come on, Miles, fight it! You know me! We pulled each other out of that office, remember? We're--."

"You!" it said. "You...killed us! NO ONE kills us...and survives!" It pulled its arm back for the beginning of another flurry.

"Then what about what you did to Miles' brother?" the Metal Man asked. The arm hung there in the air. "Are you going to let them get away with such arrogant hypocrissy, Miles? You saw it with your own eyes!"

"Miles'...brother...arrrrrrrghhhhhhhh!" the creature's arm slammed into the wall behind the Metal Man. Eyes still aglow, it turned away and stepped to the center of the room.

It bellowed. It roared. It screamed out the rage and frustration of the hunter and the hunted all in a single moment. It smashed the floor with its fists, cracking the floor tiles. And then, it looked up again, and its eyes, just for a moment, went out.

"You," Troy said. "You never gave up. You've been here for me all along. For all that's holy, Metal Man, I've never--ohh, not this again."

His eyes lit up again, and he rose--slowly and calculatingly--to his feet.

"Come back to me, Miles," the Metal Man said. "You know you can beat 'em. You've got too much work to do to let 'em stop you now!"

It growled again, and balled its fists at its side. "You cannot be converted," it said. "Death to...death...to--."

Its eyes went out again, and Troy collapsed to the floor. Rather than an enraged growl, though, the next sounds that came from his throat were those of a man with an empty stomach who was trying to empty its contents. After the third heave, Troy whimpered, a sound that was at once downtrodden and yet so fierce that a weak-willed man would have run.

Instead, Miles found a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You're a strong warrior, Miles," the Metal Man said. "I knew that your will would break their hold on you."

"Ohhh," Troy replied, "that's wonderful. Just be ready to shoot me again if they get ahold of me." He rolled over on his back and raised his arm to his forehead. "I can still feel them a little. They're furious. Ah. You think you can help me over to the bunk on the far wall?"

The Metal Man smiled and took his friend's hand in his own. Together, they made their way.

-----------------------------------------

Another hour found Troy resting peacefully for a change, and the Metal Man in his Meditation Chamber at the heart of Brain Jar, a lit candle in front of him and Fuji by his side.

"But I don't understand," Fuji said. "You seemed just fine a few minutes ago."

"I'm not," the Metal Man countered, staring into the flame. "Think of it as the price of immortality. The same blood that keeps me from dieing also wrecks my brain from time to time. When that happens, I need time to heal. In the meantime, Brain Jar's AI can speak for me. It uses so much of the computer's resources that it and the Medical Transporter cannot run simultaneously, but it can--," he paused and shook his head, "--be helpful.

"Computer," he said, "re-activate the AI."

In a moment, a voice came through the intercom. "Would you like me to clear the room, boss?" it asked.

"No," the Metal Man replied, "Fuji-chan is welcome to meditate in this chamber at any time. All that I ask is that she continue the...memory exercises that I have prescribed for her. I am, after all, her educator now."

"Got it," the AI replied. "How much longer do you think you'll be with us, boss?"

The Metal Man did not reply. Instead, he just sat there, staring at the simple flame before him.

"Thank you, Admiral," the Metal Man said, executing another low, humble bow, "and thank you, Captain Toda. You're sincerity is more than I deserve. Working together, we can ensure that it never will."

Four hours later, the Metal Man was standing in a chamber located a short distance away from the Macromolecular Editor. In front of him stood the now-altered body of Corporal Troy. He had been in the chamber for over three hours now, and the anesthetic that they had used on him in the shuttle had long since worn off. They had opted to do things the hard way--to adjust Troy's DNA but not make any changes to his physical body. This would allow his healing process to make him completely whole again--but it would come at a price. Troy would have to endure the ravages of Monas Syndrone until his body cleaned him up.

Troy's eyes still glowed with an evil light. He had paced the chamber almost since he woke up, bashing the walls when he thought they might give. Finally, he had started beating on the doorway so savagely that Fuji had needed to use force fields to repel him. It was at this point when the Metal Man had made the surprise request to be allowed to speak with the creature that Troy had become. It was not the sort of thing that one ignored--it was his ship.

"Hello," the Metal Man said. "Remember me?"

The beast just bellowed and swung a hammer fist straight at the Metal Man, and into the shield. The resulting shock just seemed to further enrage it, and it swung the other fist into the shield as well.

"So...you want a piece of me, eh?" the Metal Man said. "Let's give it to you, then. Fuji, lower the shield."

"I hope you know what you're doing," a voice came over the intercom.

The shield dropped.

Instantly, Troy flung himself at his newfound quarry. A left was caught as quickly as it was thrown, as was a right. A right leg kick encountered a raised shin, and then a ducking sweep found only air as the Metal Man jumped clear of the leg before it could find its targets.

"Those are Neoman combat moves," the Metal Man said, taking a step back. "You're in there somewhere, Miles, aren't you?"

The creature stared at the Metal Man for a moment.

"Let...it...go," it said. And it was strange, because it spoke the words in Old Gothic, a tongue that Miles Troy was barely familiar with.

"But that is why I am here," the Metal Man countered, also in Old Gothic. "I will let Troy go just as soon as you do."

Troy bellowed, a scream of pure rage coming forth from his lips. He sprung again, grabbing the Metal Man's outstretched hands and forcing him back against the wall behind him. At last, growling, the creature stared the Metal Man dead in the eye, a vicious, horrid look coming over it as it gritted its teeth.

The Metal Man looked back with such intensity that it was hard to believe that his body was just a mechanical add-on. Through gritted teeth of his own, he spoke. "Come on, Miles, fight it! You know me! We pulled each other out of that office, remember? We're--."

"You!" it said. "You...killed us! NO ONE kills us...and survives!" It pulled its arm back for the beginning of another flurry.

"Then what about what you did to Miles' brother?" the Metal Man asked. The arm hung there in the air. "Are you going to let them get away with such arrogant hypocrissy, Miles? You saw it with your own eyes!"

"Miles'...brother...arrrrrrrghhhhhhhh!" the creature's arm slammed into the wall behind the Metal Man. Eyes still aglow, it turned away and stepped to the center of the room.

It bellowed. It roared. It screamed out the rage and frustration of the hunter and the hunted all in a single moment. It smashed the floor with its fists, cracking the floor tiles. And then, it looked up again, and its eyes, just for a moment, went out.

"You," Troy said. "You never gave up. You've been here for me all along. For all that's holy, Metal Man, I've never--ohh, not this again."

His eyes lit up again, and he rose--slowly and calculatingly--to his feet.

"Come back to me, Miles," the Metal Man said. "You know you can beat 'em. You've got too much work to do to let 'em stop you now!"

It growled again, and balled its fists at its side. "You cannot be converted," it said. "Death to...death...to--."

Its eyes went out again, and Troy collapsed to the floor. Rather than an enraged growl, though, the next sounds that came from his throat were those of a man with an empty stomach who was trying to empty its contents. After the third heave, Troy whimpered, a sound that was at once downtrodden and yet so fierce that a weak-willed man would have run.

Instead, Miles found a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You're a strong warrior, Miles," the Metal Man said. "I knew that your will would break their hold on you."

"Ohhh," Troy replied, "that's wonderful. Just be ready to shoot me again if they get ahold of me." He rolled over on his back and raised his arm to his forehead. "I can still feel them a little. They're furious. Ah. You think you can help me over to the bunk on the far wall?"

The Metal Man smiled and took his friend's hand in his own. Together, they made their way.

-----------------------------------------

Another hour found Troy resting peacefully for a change, and the Metal Man in his Meditation Chamber at the heart of Brain Jar, a lit candle in front of him and Fuji by his side.

"But I don't understand," Fuji said. "You seemed just fine a few minutes ago."

"I'm not," the Metal Man countered, staring into the flame. "Think of it as the price of immortality. The same blood that keeps me from dieing also wrecks my brain from time to time. When that happens, I need time to heal. In the meantime, Brain Jar's AI can speak for me. It uses so much of the computer's resources that it and the Medical Transporter cannot run simultaneously, but it can--," he paused and shook his head, "--be helpful.

"Computer," he said, "re-activate the AI."

In a moment, a voice came through the intercom. "Would you like me to clear the room, boss?" it asked.

"No," the Metal Man replied, "Fuji-chan is welcome to meditate in this chamber at any time. All that I ask is that she continue the...memory exercises that I have prescribed for her. I am, after all, her educator now."

"Got it," the AI replied. "How much longer do you think you'll be with us, boss?"

The Metal Man did not reply. Instead, he just sat there, staring at the simple flame before him.

Troy sat on the bed his arms behind his head. His eyes locked on the ceiling. Inside him he felt the pull of the monas on his soul. Even though it was diminished he could still hear its echoed voice of the walls.

"No matter what you think i will never leave you," It was Troys voice but distorted in an odd way.

"They cant save you human, you know that they wont be able to hold me at bay forever,"

"Demon... Sooner or later I'm going to strangle the life from you," Troy finally said

In time human, you will taste her flesh, you'll hear her screams as you rip away at her flesh The Demon said

Troy didn't respond to the Demon, he looked at his hand. It was boney, and the finger nails were long almost claw like.

"I don't want this," He finally said before breaking down again into tears. The Demon inside him cackling madly at his sorrow only fueling the emotions inside him.

What Troy didn't realize was that when the Demon spoke, the words were coming threw his mouth.

Ensign Mari Fuji had popped into the room to check on Troy.

She was the closest thing the engineering team had to a medic and she just looked into check he was alright.

"How's he doing," came a voice over the intercom.

"I don't know yet," Fuji replied. "How's your alter ego?"

"Sitting comfortably in the meditation chamber," the AI's voice replied. "He could be there a while. I wish Miles was strong enough to watch over him. He's almost completely helpless when he's like this."

"Can't you use his body suits the same way he can?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, no. I can move them around, but not nearly as well as he can. When he's active, he can spend six or seven hours a day practicing movements. I've never had the patience for that."

"You should start."

Ensign Fuji went to the meditation chamber and sat down cross legged.

She cleared her mind and thought of a scene from her new homeworld, Neo-Kirisubo.

She thought about waves striking against a rocky coastline and she was the rock that was resisting the pressure of the waves.

The water would wear the rock down eventually over a few centuries but for now she would hold...

Tryo was still laying on the bed, the Demon had quieted and he had his thought to himself. He thought about what he was expected to do.

Suddenly his mind broke, like a sledge hammer going threw a plate glass window. He felt himself slip into the darkness as the demon took over once again.

He threw his legs over the bed and let out a ragged breath. He looked up at the force feild, studying it in fact.

He stood up and prepared himself, He charges the feild and bassed his shoulder into it. Rebounding from the shock he gathered him self again for another charge. Again and again he rammed into the force feild until his shoulder began to bleed.

"Release me!" He shouted into the corridor "Release me or i swear you will all die!,"

Across from Fuji, the Metal Man began to speak. His mouth moved, and the words came forth, but the rest of his body remained still.

"I WANNNT you!" he growled. "I WANNNT YOU!"

Then, he laughed a horrible, evil laugh. "Come for me, then," he said, his voice fairly normal.

He laughed again, this time, his voice growling as he did--and the laugh was bitten off and turned into a scream of dire pain.

"No more!" he whimpered. "No more! No more!"

And then, his face went back to its former blankness, and he resumed his motionless stare at the half-burned candle in front of him.

Ensign Fuji was so deep in her meditation that she hadn't noticed what had happened.

As the imaginary waves kept striking she kept her breathing low and soft.

Back in Cpl. Troy's chamber, things were hardly so placid.

"Fight it, Miles!" the AI's voice chimed out. "You know you can beat it! You already did!"

But the voice wasn't the same as its creator. The Metal Man had been THERE, and he had risked the loss of his lucidity for his friend, the man who had shared an important moment with him, one in which the cyborg and the human had helped each other, shouldering a common burdon together. The AI simply had not done these things. It didn't really know Troy the way that its maker did.

-----------------------

The Metal Man started to say, softly, "Bring on your armada. Bring on your armada. Bring on your armada."

One would almost think that it was merely his insane ramblings, unless one realized that, in his chamber, Troy had begun to chant the same chant.

-----------------------

OOC:

TMM was actually forshadowing the Procurator's journey into the colony. :) :) :) He won't remember any of it. (: (: (: He also won't be going along for the ride. If Miles is scheduled to go in, he can be moved off of Brain Jar as soon as he's healthy enough. I have no idea what the intention is.

He isn't going to wake up for a while. The folks on the Neoman shuttle had best get to their business. The AI will do the best it can. Please TG me if TMM needs to wake up for a moment and settle Troy down, or just plain to let me know what you want to happen with him. I was hoping to have him kick the Demon and help protect TMM and Brain Jar from whatever is out there. The Procurator should, after all, not only be furious, but also more than a little greedy--he should want Brain Jar and maybe TMM, too, for himself. TMM has tried to maneuver Fuji and Troy into position, and Toda has added her First Officer, between them while he's out of it. Will it be enough?

Behind a burnt-out candle in the Meditation Chamber, the Metal Man opened his eyes. It was the first time in a day that he had moved. He reached in front of him, picked up the candle holder in his left hand, and stood up. He made his way to the replicator on the right side of the door that was directly in front of him. In a moment, he had another candle. He moved his right arm so that the forarm pointed at the candle. The knuckles on the hand bent downward--something no human arm could do--and, from inside, a blade sliced a small hole in his hand. A small metal object appeared under the blade, and quickly began to glow. In another moment, the candle was lit, and the blade and the plasma torch had receded back into the hand. He returned to his place on the floor, stopping briefly at the data console to the left of the door on his way back.

When Fuji came out of her trance, she found a lesson plan on the data console. It was a series of mnemonics that she could use to give herself an iditic memory, and to be able to draw inferences from any memory that she had.

The lessons had begun.

----------------------------------------

It took some time for the one-man shuttle to make it to Brain Jar's docking port, but, when it got there, Toda's first officer wasted no time in coming aboard.

----------------------------------------

OOC: I searched the thread and found no mention of the First Officer's name. The closest I could find was Arisu, who is listed as the Hokkiado's EXECUTIVE Officer. Can someone please give me some details on this character? Did I miss something?

ooc : sorry, me bad!

Her full name and title is Commander Arisu Nakadai, Captain Toda's science officer and 1st officer.

ic:

Commander Nakadai disembarked onto Brain Jar ready for anything.

###

Ensign Fuji read the information on the data console and got started on her lesson straight away.

It was a beleaguered cyborg who, four hours later, stood before what was left of Corporal Troy. The shoulder was a bloody mess, and he still bellowed and screamed as if he had lost his mind. The Metal Man knew better, however. He had merely acquired a different one.

"Well," demanded the AI.

The Metal Man turned to look back at the data concole by the door. "What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Bring him back," the AI demanded. "He's killing himself."

"You," the demon growled.

Like a man who hadn't slept in a week, the Metal Man turned back toward Miles. And then, his entire demeanor changed. "STAND AT ATTENTION WHEN I ENTER THE ROOM, AND SALUTE YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER!" he yelled.

Miles Troy was one of the best men in his regiment. The moment he heard the voice of a Commanding Officer, he snapped to attention--and the demon snapped out of his mind.

"Welcome back, Mister Troy," the Metal Man said. A lesser man would have laughed at the demon for the ease with which it had been vanquished, but the Metal Man showed--felt--no such disrespect. It would, he knew, learn from the encounter. He was glad, however, to have his new friend back, and he smiled for the Corporal. "I hope you'll stay with us long enough to get that shoulder looked after. And I'm not lieing about being your Commanding Officer, either. You're in my care for the time being."

And, the next thing he knew, Miles was sitting on his bunk, a fresh bandage on his shoulder.

"How long have I been gone?" he asked.

"About an hour," Miles replied.

"I should get back to my chamber," he said. "Remember: use your military training to break its hold on you. You're one of the best, Mister Troy. It can't take that away from you."

"Arisu's here, by the way," Miles said.

The Metal Man did not reply. He merely stood, unblinking, on the other side of the force field.

It wasn't long afterward that the AI powered up one of the travel suits and used it to drag the Metal Man back to his chamber. It knew that forcing him out of his meditation would prolong the process, but it couldn't help it. Miles had needed him.

It was a beleaguered cyborg who, four hours later, stood before what was left of Corporal Troy. The shoulder was a bloody mess, and he still bellowed and screamed as if he had lost his mind. The Metal Man knew better, however. He had merely acquired a different one.

"Well," demanded the AI.

The Metal Man turned to look back at the data concole by the door. "What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Bring him back," the AI demanded. "He's killing himself."

"You," the demon growled.

Like a man who hadn't slept in a week, the Metal Man turned back toward Miles. And then, his entire demeanor changed. "STAND AT ATTENTION WHEN I ENTER THE ROOM, AND SALUTE YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER!" he yelled.

Miles Troy was one of the best men in his regiment. The moment he heard the voice of a Commanding Officer, he snapped to attention--and the demon snapped out of his mind.

"Welcome back, Mister Troy," the Metal Man said. A lesser man would have laughed at the demon for the ease with which it had been vanquished, but the Metal Man showed--felt--no such disrespect. It would, he knew, learn from the encounter. He was glad, however, to have his new friend back, and he smiled for the Corporal. "I hope you'll stay with us long enough to get that shoulder looked after. And I'm not lieing about being your Commanding Officer, either. You're in my care for the time being."

And, the next thing he knew, Miles was sitting on his bunk, a fresh bandage on his shoulder.

"How long have I been gone?" he asked.

"About an hour," Miles replied.

"I should get back to my chamber," he said. "Remember: use your military training to break its hold on you. You're one of the best, Mister Troy. It can't take that away from you."

"Arisu's here, by the way," Miles said.

The Metal Man did not reply. He merely stood, unblinking, on the other side of the force field.

It wasn't long afterward that the AI powered up one of the travel suits and used it to drag the Metal Man back to his chamber. It knew that forcing him out of his meditation would prolong the process, but it couldn't help it. Miles had needed him.

Troy sat on the bed, his eyes were glazed over. His thoughts drifted to the back of his mind once more as he fought the demon inside him. He looked up at the force feild agian and the blood stains on the floor.

"Why me?" He asked himself.

He stood up and walked to the force feild.

"Is anyone out there?" He asked not being able to see to the sides of his cell.

Arisu followed the voice and found Troy. She was wearing a long sword instead of a pistol because their weapons had no effect on their enemy and a sword couldn't blow a hole in the side of the ship.

That was why all Kirisuban personel knew how to use bladed weapons.

"I'm here" Arisu replied as she entered.

Arisu followed the voice and found Troy. She was wearing a long sword instead of a pistol because their weapons had no effect on their enemy and a sword couldn't blow a hole in the side of the ship.

That was why all Kirisuban personel knew how to use bladed weapons.

"I'm here" Arisu replied as she entered.

Troy smiled softly at her "Hows everything going out there?," he asked as he sat down on the bed.

"so far its quiet" Arisu replied.

"you just need to get better without having to worry about things" she added.

"so far its quiet" Arisu replied.

"you just need to get better without having to worry about things" she added.

Troy chuckled "I know," He looked up at her and smiled "Kinda missed you,"

"Same here" Arisu replied adding "I'll be on the Brain Jar from now on since Captain Toda wants me here to help the Metal Man out"

"He wants both your help," the AI interjected. "As you may or may not know, Brain Jar has a fairly powerful plasma cannon that she uses as her main defensive weapon--or would, if it was working properly. We need to get it fixed, and we need better security aboard her, especially if our latest Neoman visitor is what we think he--or she--is. There seems to be a task for each of you in that. Please keep up with your studies, though, Fuji. From what I've seen of the boss, the memory skills he's having you learn are just the foundation of something much, much grander. Mister Troy, your friend Arisu is here, and I'd like you to coordinate the establishment of the new security features with her, if that's alright with you."

Back in his chamber, the Metal Man blinked. The candle before him had gone out again.

As he replaced it, he once again laid in a new set of lessons for Fuji. This set dealt with Interpersonal Management Skills--everything from how to clarify and confirm a decision to how to complement someone for a job well done. This was an important part of Organizational Behavior that others seldom bothered to teach.

From the crew roster, he noted that Arisu had arrived. He would have to assess her skill levels when he had the time.

He walked back to the center of the chamber, lit the new candle, sat down, and was once again lost.

Arisu smiled slightly and said to Troy "It looks we've a gun to fix and plasma weapons are a Kirisuban speciality. We should have a look at it"

She hit her comm badge and called her engineering team. They were still under her command and she would need their expertise to get the cannon running.

In the meantime she could make a start herself until they arrived..

OOC: The Metal Man will not be going back aboard the colony with the Procurator. Please advance this part of the story line without him.

.........Glib
impromptu
scriptorum
......setup

Arisu and her engineers were pushing ahead as they worked on the Brain Jar's plasma cannon.

It wasn't as powerful as her ships weapons but still packed quite a punch.

OOC:

Just so we're clear on this, I never intended for Brain Jar's guns to get fixed in this sim. If somebody else wants to fix 'em, I won't argue about it, it's fine with me. It's just that, with the main gun out, there's that much less temptation for me to get involved in the kind of shooting match that...I don't want to get involved in... :) :) :) ...or for me to use my imagination if I do. :) :) :)

This is all just busy work while we're waiting for the Procurator and Admiral Toda to do their little dance and for the Procurator to go into the colony, AFAICT.

I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone, but this is getting a tad on the dry side.

Bump.

A sleek dropship exited the Procurators ship and glided towards Brain jar.

This Is procurator Doug Sarsin, Requesting premission to land.

ooc:...

Panic ensued in the smaller spacecraft as the drop ship's request was affirmed. Engineers and drones flitted about, picking up small obects that had been left lieing about.

"What does he want with us?" the AI sputtered. "The monas are all on the colony. Shouldn't he be having it out with Admiral Toda? Miles, Arisu, any ideas?"

"Actually its the Neoman Admiral he should be seeing rather than Captain Toda" Arisu replied as her team kept working on the cannon.

"I suppose you could ask him why he wants to call over" she added helpfully

"Ohhh, just a moment," the AI sputtered. It could have sworn that Arisu was enjoying watching The Grand Computer make factual mistakes. "It's...Admiral Saldana. Don't see why I should have to remember the name of every soldier I've never even met! Humpf!"

--------------

OOC:

If you're going to get technical, I could always point out that the drop ship should have been asking permission to dock, not land. Brain Jar is too small to land in, and doesn't have a hanger. But who's counting? :p

--------------

IC:

The garbage was picked up, and the valuables had been tied down so that they could not be stolen. The flashiest suit that the AI could find, which looked like a small battle drone (OOC: think robocop), had been dressed in a resplendant purple-blue-gold tunic (OOC: think burger king) and black slacks and moved into the docking bay, so that the Grand Procurator would have some company when he strode through. Soon, the moment arrived, and, the air pressure equalized, the hatch slid open.

"I hope the guy who made that suit knew what he was doing," the AI said. "Oops. That was me." It watched Arisu's face, hoping that its joke would get even a hint of a smile.

Arisu smiled and said to the AI "you'll knock him dead but I could show you a kimono and hakama that would be even more impressive".

She was in her normal red and black skirt uniform with the tall boots. A long sword was in her belt sash as normal.

Arisu smiled and said to the AI "you'll knock him dead but I could show you a kimono and hakama that would be even more impressive".

She was in her normal red and black skirt uniform with the tall boots. A long sword was in her belt sash as normal.

The Dropship came thrw the airlock, It landed and the cargo door opened and a group of men filled out. They were clad in black power armor.

They stood in paraline lines infront of the cargo ramp and a young man probebly only 17 walked down the ramp. He was wearing a long purple robe with the coordist cross on the chest.

He nodded at Troy and Arisu, then his eyes fell upon the AI. He stood there for a moment inspecting him before walking up and offering his hand.

"You must be the metal man," He said his voive soft but strangely firm.

"Ummmmm...I speak for him...right now," the AI said. "Ummmm...I've got to ask that any powered or projectile weapons be checked at the door...please. I mean, I'm not armed, so I'd appreciate it if you gentlemen wouldn't be, either."

On a console on the main bridge, words flashed across a screen.

Oh Lord! Did I really just tell them that I don't have any guns on me?!?!? I'm COOKED!

Back in the docking bay, the drone reached out and very carefully shook the Procurator's hand.

OK. NOW what do I do?

-----------------------------

OOC: The AI is a geek. It's not very comfortable interacting with people (this especially includes giving orders), and it's very easily intimidated (the guys in the power armor have it in a tizzy). And it's an AWFUL negotiator, in case you haven't already noticed.

"Ummmmm...I speak for him...right now," the AI said. "Ummmm...I've got to ask that any powered or projectile weapons be checked at the door...please. I mean, I'm not armed, so I'd appreciate it if you gentlemen wouldn't be, either."

On a console on the main bridge, words flashed across a screen.

Oh Lord! Did I really just tell them that I don't have any guns on me?!?!? I'm COOKED!

Back in the docking bay, the drone reached out and very carefully shook the Procurator's hand.

OK. NOW what do I do?

-----------------------------

OOC: The AI is a geek. It's not very comfortable interacting with people (this especially includes giving orders), and it's very easily intimidated (the guys in the power armor have it in a tizzy). And it's an AWFUL negotiator, in case you haven't already noticed.

The procurator raised an eyebrow and looked at his men and nodded. They went to the cargo door and began to place all there weapons on the hatch. Once all the weapons were put away the procurator reached into his cloak and pulled out a long sword, and two pistols.

"So, You are not TMM. Then who are you?" His voice seemed flat and un emotional but in his eyes there was a hint a un satisfaction.

---

Troy cursed under his breath and reached into his pockets, he pulled out some gloves to cover up his slighly deformed hands.

He looked at Arisu and smiled softly. "Better safe then sorry," He said with a slight smile. When he turned back he went white, one of the Procurators men were walking up to them.

"Corporal Troy miles," It said with a rasp "Why are you on this ship?" It asked.

"Ummm... I," He shot a glance at Arisu for support.

"I'm Brain Jar," the AI answered. "The Metal Man is in convalescance at the moment, and, while he's under the weather, I speak for him."

Troy cursed under his breath and reached into his pockets. He pulled out some gloves to cover up his slighly deformed hands.

He looked at Arisu and smiled softly. "Better safe than sorry," he said with a slight smile. When he turned back, he went white. One of the Procurator's men was walking up to them.

"Corporal Troy miles," he said with a rasp, "why are you on this ship?"

"Ummm... I." He shot a glance at Arisu for support.

:p :p :p

EEK!!!!!!! said the console.

"He's still under quarantine," the AI responded. "Recovering from Monas Syndrone. You can talk to him as long as that window," the drone pointed to the pane of transparent aluminum that separated Troy from Arisu and the others, "is between you."

Arisu had been about to field the question and instead she bowed kirisuban style and introduced herself to the Procurator.

"Commander Arisu Nakadai, Kirisuban Exploration Fleet" she said politely

ooc: Im a hillbilly leave me alone :P

Ic.

The Procurator turned around and looked at Troy. "So he is infected... interesting."

---

"Seargent Dan stillins, Demon hunter," the big man said

"No," corrected the AI. "The infection was eliminated, as was any genetic contamination that it had caused. He is merely suffering residual affects of genetic tampering. His body should be back to normal in another week or two.

"We sent you guys a briefing on all this. I can get you another copy if you need it now."

----------------

OOC: I wouldn't be bothering you if I didn't think you were worthy of it.

"No," corrected the AI. "The infection was eliminated, as was any genetic contamination that it had caused. He is merely suffering residual affects of genetic tampering. His body should be back to normal in another week or two.

"We sent you guys a briefing on all this. I can get you another copy if you need it now."

----------------

OOC: I wouldn't be bothering you if I didn't think you were worthy of it.

ooc: I feel special now :D

The procurator shook his head "That will not be neccisary, i have more... important things that require my attention,"

He folded her arms and sighed "Does TMM know why ihave been sent here?,"

"Our information is that you are to procure from the colony ship a live subject with Stage-III Monas Syndrone. As Mr. Miles never made it out of Stage-II, he is unsuitable for that purpose," the AI said.

The horror! said the console. Those people!

But we can't help him with those orders. We've got too much to do over here.

Why would he be contacting us about THAT? He can raid the colony without our help!

Oh no! I hope he's not trying to kidnap the Boss!

I HATE uncertainty!

Arisu stood beside the window separating Miles from the Procurator.

Her Captain had made it clear that the infection was never to leave the colony whatever the price that needed to be paid.

So if a Neoman ship was going to try and get a monas that would be a disaster.

She was ready to take action one way or another.

Arisu stood beside the window separating Miles from the Procurator.

Her Captain had made it clear that the infection was never to leave the colony whatever the price that needed to be paid.

So if a Neoman ship was going to try and get a monas that would be a disaster.

She was ready to take action one way or another.


The procurator nodded "That is true but..." He looked at Miles "He may still prove useful to us,"

---

Troy frowned when he heard his name used in that manner. He looked at Arisu and smiled "The more and more i see the agents of my government, I wonder if I'm fighting for the good guys," he said with a whisper.

Arisu was getting slightly alarmed at this state of affairs but didn't let it show.

She gave Miles a comforting smile after hearing what he had to say and turned to the Procurator.

"Procurator, I don't think its a good idea for this infection to get of the colony. I'm a scentist so I understand this issue well. I was also on the colony but didn't get infected.

However I seen what the colonists turned into and I wouldn't want to wish that on anybody"

Arisu was getting slightly alarmed at this state of affairs but didn't let it show.

She gave Miles a comforting smile after hearing what he had to say and turned to the Procurator.

"Procurator, I don't think its a good idea for this infection to get of the colony. I'm a scentist so I understand this issue well. I was also on the colony but didn't get infected.

However I seen what the colonists turned into and I wouldn't want to wish that on anybody"

The Procurator smiled "And as a scientist, I would expect you to understand the data we could get from these creatures. Besides, I've done this before, not with a monas of course but I would have to say that these things are well within my men and Is capabilities," he said confedently

"Mister Troy was confident, too," replied the AI, "but that's not really relevant, is it? If you want to go onto that colony and get your men dead, there's really nothing that we can do to stop you, now, is there?

"You want tactical? We'll give you tactical. They're between three and seven times as strong as a man, bigger, faster and can project plasma from their bodies at will. The plasma can punch a hole clean through a man's skull, and, for those unlucky enough to survive a direct hit, it carries an infecting agent, so anyone hit will end up becoming one of them. Oh, and did anybody neglect to mention that they have a group consciousness that takes over the minds of the infected?

"We have a weapon that we think will work on them, a retrofitted Neoman plasma weapon. It's not tested. We have a hybrid Neoman armor that we think can take a hit or two and keep its wearer safe. It's not good for prolonged combat. We have no way of neutralizing their command/control/communications. We don't know how it works. There's your tatcital.

"You want supplies? Tell us what you need and we'll make it for you as fast as we can. The Metal Man is a decent engineer, and the Neoman team are geniuses. We're at your disposal.

"If you want the Metal Man to go with you, I'm sorry, but I can't give you that. Right now, he's almost in a coma, and I don't know when he's going to wake up.

"Is there anything that I missed?"

Well, said the console, at least we're talking in terms I'm familiar with now! For a moment there, I thought it might have been possible that I would have to defend myself! Good thing they're not talking about taking me over. I could get hurt.

.....Butter
.....up
.....my
rump!

There! THAT aughtta get somebody's attention! :) :) :)

"Mister Troy was confident, too," replied the AI, "but that's not really relevant, is it? If you want to go onto that colony and get your men dead, there's really nothing that we can do to stop you, now, is there?

"You want tactical? We'll give you tactical. They're between three and seven times as strong as a man, bigger, faster and can project plasma from their bodies at will. The plasma can punch a hole clean through a man's skull, and, for those unlucky enough to survive a direct hit, it carries an infecting agent, so anyone hit will end up becoming one of them. Oh, and did anybody neglect to mention that they have a group consciousness that takes over the minds of the infected?

"We have a weapon that we think will work on them, a retrofitted Neoman plasma weapon. It's not tested. We have a hybrid Neoman armor that we think can take a hit or two and keep its wearer safe. It's not good for prolonged combat. We have no way of neutralizing their command/control/communications. We don't know how it works. There's your tatcital.

"You want supplies? Tell us what you need and we'll make it for you as fast as we can. The Metal Man is a decent engineer, and the Neoman team are geniuses. We're at your disposal.

"If you want the Metal Man to go with you, I'm sorry, but I can't give you that. Right now, he's almost in a coma, and I don't know when he's going to wake up.

"Is there anything that I missed?"

Well, said the console, at least we're talking in terms I'm familiar with now! For a moment there, I thought it might have been possible that I would have to defend myself! Good thing they're not talking about taking me over. I could get hurt.

The procurator smiled, and began to laugh. "Well, my friend you have a lot to learn about Neomans." He motioned for one of the soldiers to come closer."

"This man is wearing the Mark 8 power armor," He said

"It is constructed with overlapping ceramic and titanium alloy plates. So I'm more confident that my men can preform there duty and capture a monas..."

Arisu having pointed out the dangers already to the Procurator was content to slip away and report this to her Captain.

She hit her comm badge and spoke in Kirisuban to her Captain keeping her up to date.

"I already told you that I'm not going to try to stop you," said the AI. "But I'm just going to give you the friendly warning. Upgrade your power armor with the new hybrid material. It's been proven to work better than the stuff that Troy was wearing when he originally reconoitered the station. Use the new guns. They're the only thing that has a chance of working and not making them even stronger. This might sound funny, but the thing I want most is for you and your men to come back alive."

"I already told you that I'm not going to try to stop you," said the AI. "But I'm just going to give you the friendly warning. Upgrade your power armor with the new hybrid material. It's been proven to work better than the stuff that Troy was wearing when he originally reconoitered the station. Use the new guns. They're the only thing that has a chance of working and not making them even stronger. This might sound funny, but the thing I want most is for you and your men to come back alive."


The procurator nodded "That is honorable of you," "We will need extra samples of this new material so we can replicate it and make the proper adjustments,"

"Certainly," the AI said. "Have a man come with me."

Before long, they were in the workshop, looking over the Box--or, what was left of it after the battle.

"Here's a replacement plate," it told the guard. The drone handed a piece of armor over. "Don't touch the Box. It took a plasma hit. The biofilters say it's safe, but I don't want to take any chances. As you can see, the point of impact was on a part of the suit that was lost in battle. The armor works because it carries the charge and spreads its energy basically over the entire surface. Because of this, you've got to insulate the next layer down to prevent the charge from damaging electrical or other equipment."

It did not say that a failure to do this completely had caused the previous suit to explode in the middle of a combat situation, and that the Box was all that was left of a much larger unit. It was not necessary.

Its work finished, it led the guard back to the entourage.

"Certainly," the AI said. "Have a man come with me."

Before long, they were in the workshop, looking over the Box--or, what was left of it after the battle.

"Here's a replacement plate," it told the guard. The drone handed a piece of armor over. "Don't touch the Box. It took a plasma hit. The biofilters say it's safe, but I don't want to take any chances. As you can see, the point of impact was on a part of the suit that was lost in battle. The armor works because it carries the charge and spreads its energy basically over the entire surface. Because of this, you've got to insulate the next layer down to prevent the charge from damaging electrical or other equipment."

It did not say that a failure to do this completely had caused the previous suit to explode in the middle of a combat situation, and that the Box was all that was left of a much larger unit. It was not necessary.

Its work finished, it led the guard back to the entourage.

The soldier nodded at the procurator who returned the nod. "Thank you," He said "We will be in touch," He said as he turned and began to walk to the shuttle.

He glanced at Troy, and gave him a stern look as he walked off.

In a surprisingly human gesture, the big, clunky drone put its black rubber hands on the wall and rested its forehead there for a moment after the Procurator and his entourage had left.

"I'm so glad that's over," it said.

It turned to Arisu. "How'd I do, ma?" it asked.

Arisu knew what was going on and replied "You handled that really well but I'd rather not have them going to the colony. We'll probally have them keeping Troy company if they get back".

Arisu meant what she said. She didn't think the new team would have much off a chance and she knew how much damage could be done if the infection got off the station.

Arisu knew what was going on and replied "You handled that really well but I'd rather not have them going to the colony. We'll probally have them keeping Troy company if they get back".

Arisu meant what she said. She didn't think the new team would have much off a chance and she knew how much damage could be done if the infection got off the station.

"I wish there was something anybody could do," the AI said. "You can't convince a man like that. He's going to have to find out the hard way. And, worse yet, we can't use the biomolecular editor until after the boss wakes up. The computer can't run it and me at the same time."

-------------------------

OOC: there's a suggestion here somewhere. :) :) :)

bump!

"in that case they'll have to stay on the colony until he wakes up" Arisu replied.

"I hope Admiral Saldana can talk sense into them and stop them going over" she added.

"in that case they'll have to stay on the colony until he wakes up" Arisu replied.

"I hope Admiral Saldana can talk sense into them and stop them going over" she added.

In the Meditation Chamber, the Metal Man blinked. As if snapping into position, his limbs jerked. He shook his head briefly and lowered it into his hands.

The fugue was ending. He could feel it. It would take a while before it was fully over, but he was now starting to get stonger instead of weaker.

Hands shaking, he rose to his feet. Slowly, he walked over to the shelf and found another candle. There were only three left. As he turned back to the center of the room, he noticed that there was something new on the data screen. Looking, he could see that it was a lesson plan of somekind.

He had guests. He would have to welcome them when he grew strong enough.

He wondered what had happened to Miles since he had been...away.

He sat down again, and, placing the candle in its center, lit it. Steepling his fingers, he resumed his meditation. Soon, the shaking in his hands stopped. He was gone again.

The drop ship lifted off the ground slowly and exited the airlock.

Troy sighed and looked at Arisu. "I hope so too, There walking into somethign they are not prepared for."

The drop ship lifted off the ground slowly and exited the airlock.

Troy sighed and looked at Arisu. "I hope so too, There walking into somethign they are not prepared for."

"This is a sad situation all around," said the AI. "Those were normal, hard-working people before that weapons project run amok got ahold of them. They had dreams of a better life in a far-away land. Now, they're beyond our ability to help them. All we can do is put them out of their misery before they extend this to include us."

And just think, the console said, that idiot procurator is actually trying to take this madness a step farther! That poor, naive child! I wonder how many are going to have to die--or worse--before he can grow up.

OOC:

You know, with the snow coming down outside my window, I just can't help
but think of that old christmass classic, Frosty the Snowman:

Bump-it-y bump-bump bump-it-y bump-bump
Look at Fros-ty go!
Bump-it-y bump-bump bump-it-y bump-bump
O-ver the hills of snow!