sci-fi Longpoint Station

[Vargo Seldon]

Jorel piloted his ship expertly through space.  He passed through the Clark's Nebula running from some authorities, made a jump to the Thel System.  Cut right through a Shorish Blockade, made a dump.  Jumped out to the Jalien System, and guided his ship to the Corislain satellite.  And he did it all without ever leaving the bathtub.  

That was the thing about integrated cybernetics.  You could pilot your ship like it was an extension of your own body.  A muscle.  You could "see" with the ship's own sensors, fire the weapons as easily as balling a fist.  Unfortunately, these cybernetics did nothing for your brain power, so you had to throw all concentration into piloting, which led to neglecting your actual body.  This, of course, led to extremely long bath times.  Still, as his imposing modified Kraken S-20 drifted towards Longpoint station, he reflected on the advantages of such a system.  He dressed himself, and strode into the lights of the cockpit.  The light revealed him to be a tall, lithe figure.  Bald, with cybernetic tattoos around his head.  These, instead of detracting from his appearance, actually lent his body some measure of authority.  

He sat down at the pilots seat, and at a wordless instruction, the ship drifted in to dock.  He touched no control, and indeed, there was no control to be found anywhere in the cockpit.  Needless to say, his ship had excellent thievery protection.  As soon as his ship docked with the station, and the airlock pressurized, he stood up.  At another wordless command, a wall of metal infolded him, and incased him to become a suit of power armor, iron-man style.  The suit was also keyed to his cybernetics, which made it react like a second set of muscles.  Inhancing and strengthening him, helping him in combat.  He wore this suit always when outside of his ship, as his identity was important to him.  When he donned this suit, he donned the persona of "The Mask".  Feared bounty hunter.  He opened the doors and stepped out, his magnetized boots sticking to the floor.  He walked out, and into the civilian briefing room.  In a mechanized voice, he said "Hello.  I need to get to the surface.  Private business."

@I think I am here.

@Dr. Dapper

[old man moomba]

"Well then, you went into the wrong room." Yera growled, drawing her pistol with one hand and pointing at the fugitive. "Wrong station, too. There's an entire company of Trident security onboard." as she talked, she backed towards a large container leaning against the wall. 

She backed up against it, seeming cornered. Yera grinned. Not matter how many times she did this, it never got old. She slapped her hand against the contianer and it lit up. Then her own power armor deployed. Within a few seconds, the plating locked into place around her body.

"Systems check complete." the suit's deep voice said calmly in her ear, "All systems online." 

Great, call this in and contact station control. Let's dance, masked man. 

Yera stepped forward, holstering her gun. 

"I don't really care why you decided come in here, but you did. And that was a bad decision." she smiled under her helmet.

[little wheel]

K received instructions from the voice. "Walk down the hallway five paces to your right and seven paces behind you. After you do this, continue down  seventeen paces until you find a room occupied by two people in power armor. This is the correct room. Wait until their dispute is ended, then knock. We will be in touch." And with that, the microphone fizzled and melted away. So, K followed the instructions. Five right, seven back, seventeen down the hall.

@Dr. Dapper

[I think I am here.]

8 hours ago, Dr. Dapper said:

Through, if you didn't know that, I'm unsure why you signed up." she smiled earnestly at him.

♪When you know you’re right, (it’s a fire)♪

♪And you’re ready to fight, (You never tire)♪

♪And you’re on your last night, and there’s no bark, only bite, and you show them your might! (You’re a gun for hire!!)♪

Abel smiled in response, leaning back into his seat. “Inspiration, mainly. Can’t make a good song if I’m stuck on Corislain for the rest of my life, you know?” Regardless, he was happy the security here at least looked skilled. And they had a sense of humour, which was more than Abel could say of other authority figures he’d met.

This was all before a man with some sort of armour appeared and demanded to see the surface. Abel stood up, and the security lady did too, opening up another suit of armour. Abel stepped back, feeling a bit safe.

[Nohadon]

Schaz arrived at long point station. Putting his ship into stationary hovering right next to Longpoint.

"Darrion, make sure no one pinches it" He told his on-board AI

"Well... If I like them more than you then I might let them take me for a joy ride. But only if they buy me dinner first!" He called as Schaz engaged his power armour and jumped from the side door. He looked up as he fell to see that Darrion had already cloaked himself.

He used his thrusters to steer himself into the pull of longpoint station, he landed in the docking zone, assessing the other ships. He smiled to himself once he realised his ship was fast enough to outrun most of them, Him & Darrion could deal with the few that would remain on his tail should he need a quick getaway.

He disengaged his power armour and got to the surface. He spotted a guy up there.

"Hey!" He called to Jorel

"You're a hunter, right?"

He ran over to the man.

@Vargo Seldon

[Vargo Seldon]

12 hours ago, Dr. Dapper said:

"Well then, you went into the wrong room." Yera growled, drawing her pistol with one hand and pointing at the fugitive. "Wrong station, too. There's an entire company of Trident security onboard." as she talked, she backed towards a large container leaning against the wall. 

She backed up against it, seeming cornered. Yera grinned. Not matter how many times she did this, it never got old. She slapped her hand against the contianer and it lit up. Then her own power armor deployed. Within a few seconds, the plating locked into place around her body.

"Systems check complete." the suit's deep voice said calmly in her ear, "All systems online." 

Great, call this in and contact station control. Let's dance, masked man. 

Yera stepped forward, holstering her gun. 

"I don't really care why you decided come in here, but you did. And that was a bad decision." she smiled under her helmet.

Jorel's emotionless masked eyes calmly watched as the woman pointed a blaster at him and backed up.  Inside the suit, he was a bit terrified.  His suit could only take one hit before being compromised, and the woman's looked bulky enough to take two or three.  He had but one advantage, and that was his cybernetics.  If his inhanced strength and speed was enough to take him out of the way of the woman's shot, then he could use hand to hand to cripple her suit.  His suit always modulated his voice so it always sounded calm and emotionless, but inside the suit his voice trembled just a bit.  "I mean no harm, all I want is to hunt down this––" he was cut off by another man in a bulky suit.  The man said, "Hey!  You're a hunter right?" And ran over to him.  Inside the suit Jorel smiled.  Another bounty hunter.  This man would be sympathetic.  And if he wasn't, well, Jorel had fought through worse.  He had his power pistol in his hand inside his suit, and was ready to deploy it to the outside.

@Dr. Dapper

@Nohadon

 

[old man moomba]

Yera looked at the new guy, then back at the masked man. The new guy moved with the bulky slowness of a non-cyber. Power armor increased one's strength no matter what, but without cybernetics, the suit could slow one down. It had to react to your motions, and there was a small delay as it did so. You sacrificed speed for brute force. 

If one was integrated, however, the suit could connect directly to one's central nervous system, and move with the body, increasing not only strength, but speed and agility. 

The masked man moved with the grace that only came with much training. Integration did not imimediately make one a master at using armor. The most important factor was training. Yera herself had practicly lived in her armor for close to a year. 

She continued standing, looking relaxed, like a tiger preparing to strike.

[I think I am here.]

Abel stood behind the security woman, watching the triple standoff like it was some Western. And he was the innocent bystander.

“Uh, lady,” he whispered to the security woman. “I can distract them, if you want. You know, make an opening or whatever.” He had an idea.

[+Ark1002]

Quote

Yo, Doc. Add the GeneCore worldbuilding.

@Dr. Dapper

[Vargo Seldon]

Jorel thought they would stand there forever if someone didn't make a move.  It might as well be him.  Put them on his terms.  He calmly put up his hands and said, "I mean no harm.  I just need access to Corislain.  Unrestricted access.  I'm hunting down a dangerous criminal on behalf of the Jalien Government."  He had his pistol underneath his armor to start firing immediately.  

@Dr. Dapper

@Nohadon

 

@I think I am here.

[old man moomba]

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Jalien has no central government. Corislain doesn't either. What kind of rock do you live under, masked man? Are you from one of the mining colonies?" she chuckled, covertly reaching back and grabbing the civilian's arm.

What kind of distraction do you mean? she sent to him through her cybernetics.

[I think I am here.]

5 hours ago, Dr. Dapper said:

What kind of distraction do you mean? she sent to him through her cybernetics.

♪And then there were four,♪

♪in the dark corridor,♪

♪And then a bullet came free,♪

♪And dare I say, there were three♪

“Holy, oh, sh—”

Abel shut himself up. She could talk in his mind. He didn’t can notice how the new song playing fit this situation perfectly.

I can blast my music at full volume, he said. That can work, right? Woah, this is exciting.

Edited March 29, 2019 by I think I am here.

[Vargo Seldon]

On 3/28/2019 at 10:58 PM, Dr. Dapper said:

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Jalien has no central government. Corislain doesn't either. What kind of rock do you live under, masked man? Are you from one of the mining colonies?" she chuckled, covertly reaching back and grabbing the civilian's arm.

What kind of distraction do you mean? she sent to him through her cybernetics.

Jorel scratched his head, and he almost look surprised under his mask.  "There isn't?  I could've sworn... those swindlers!  They said this card would let me get anywhere and see anyone!"  He threw a gold inlaid white card onto the deck.  "Do you realize that I went across half the system trying to find this fugitive.  I caught only hints, only whispers of this man.  But nothing came of it.  Nothing!  I thought Corislain is where I would finally corner him."  He put a palm to his forehead, but then a thought seemed to occur to him.  "I still need to get down there.  My ship needs supplies, I need food and a job."

@Dr. Dapper

@I think I am here.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Vargo Seldon

[old man moomba]

5 minutes ago, Vargo Seldon said:

Jorel scratched his head, and he almost look surprised under his mask.  "There isn't?  I could've sworn... those swindlers!  They said this card would let me get anywhere and see anyone!"  He threw a gold inlaid white card onto the deck.  "Do you realize that I went across half of the galaxy trying to find this fugitive.  I caught only hints, only whispers of this man.  But nothing came of it.  Nothing!  I thought Corislain is where I would finally corner him."  He put a palm to his forehead, but then a thought seemed to occur to him.  "I still need to get down there.  My ship needs supplies, I need food and a job."

@Dr. Dapper

@I think I am here.

It was obvious this guy was crazy. He somehow thought that he had come from out of system, from halfway across the galaxy. Did he think he had some kind of FTL drive?

"What the hell is wrong with you? No one's come from out of the system since Corislain was built!" 

[Vargo Seldon]

1 minute ago, Dr. Dapper said:

It was obvious this guy was crazy. He somehow thought that he had come from out of system, from halfway across the galaxy. Did he think he had some kind of FTL drive?

"What the hell is wrong with you? No one's come from out of the system since Corislain was built!" 

Quote

I seriously need to realize what's going on with this world.  What is going on with this world anyway?  Shouldn't there be some way of jumping long distances?

 

[old man moomba]

Just now, Vargo Seldon said:

 

Quote

No. 

The world is mostly hard sci-fi. No reactionless drives (that will affect the story at least), no faster-than-light travel and no artificial gravity onboard small spacecraft.

 

[Vargo Seldon]

7 minutes ago, Dr. Dapper said:

 

Quote

Well I've been going about this wrong.  I edited it to say "system" instead of "Galaxy"

 

Edited March 30, 2019 by Vargo Seldon

[little wheel]

K got bored and, upon noticing it was now simply a verbal squabble, quietly opened the door.

[+Invocation]

5 hours ago, JacobClaessen said:

K got bored and, upon noticing it was now simply a verbal squabble, quietly opened the door.

As the door opens, a furious clacking noise becomes apparent, echoing down the hall as a heavily tattooed and facially scarred man comes sprinting down the hall, waving a stick in front of him, producing the clacking noise every time it hits the ground. "Am I late for the meeting?" he rasps.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Invocation

[Vargo Seldon]

Jorel sighed.  The ignorance ruse almost never paid off.  He would have to battle his way to the surface.  Even though they were letting a normal civilian down with no trouble.  "I ask again.  I just want to get the the surface of Corislain through the normal channels.  No trouble."  Two men came through the doors to the briefing room, one heavily scarred.  They don't want to get tangled in this, Jorel thought, This man is too dangerous to be allowed to run free on the most populated rock in the system.

@Dr. Dapper

Edited April 2, 2019 by Vargo Seldon

[I think I am here.]

“Um, right now the meeting is a shootout,” Abel called to the man, who seemed - wow, he was scarred. And those cybernetic tattooed - Abel had a little himself, at the very tips of his fingers, but with this man they were everywhere. He could have been an. Cyborg for all Abel knew.

And the other man who’d entered, Abel had no idea who he was.

“Hey, maybe you two can help me convince these three to not kill each other?” He said, still leaning out from behind the security lady.

@Invocation

@JacobClaessen

[+Invocation]

9 hours ago, I think I am here. said:

“Hey, maybe you two can help me convince these three to not kill each other?” He said, still leaning out from behind the security lady.

"Nah. That wouldn't be nearly as fun. I'll just wait for the fireworks to end."

[I think I am here.]

58 minutes ago, Invocation said:

"Nah. That wouldn't be nearly as fun. I'll just wait for the fireworks to end."

“Ok, Mr. Tattoo,” Abel said, turning back to the security woman. “What do you say?”

@Dr. Dapper

[old man moomba]

"Oh, about the standoff?" Yera asked, "Well," she held up five fingers "Five seconds till it's over."

she dropped a finger, "Four, 

Three,

Two,

One," 

Her hand curled into a fist, and a group of Trident security officers burst in, brandishing rifles

"Game over," she said, motioning to the two armored men, who the officers surrounded. Yera smile widened, "I'd read you your rights, but you don't have any. At least the masked man doesn't. You're under corporate arrest, for stealing and damaging Trident property." 

[I think I am here.]

7 minutes ago, Dr. Dapper said:

“Game over," she said, motioning to the two armored men, who the officers surrounded. Yera smile widened, "I'd read you your rights, but you don't have any. At least the masked man doesn't. You're under corporate arrest, for stealing and damaging Trident property." 

Abel sighed in relief as the officers came in. “Oh, thank Corislain for that,” he said, slowly moving into more direct view.

“I really thought we were going to die.”