Wastelands, Bunker C-17 [IC]

[Boog]

"Now now, lets not worry the poor vulpine," Dr. Nick ran his laugh program again, "Jo's probably capable of keeping in mind every variable that'll come up; useful quality in a leader. Although I agree with one part of what Spork says; all the programming in the world can't replace some of the creative leaps an organic mind is capable of. Mebbe designate Caden or Arnage as back up leaders; they probably have the most experience in this sort of thing, and could take over if Jo's out of her depth."
Not my place, but I have a job to do. Few are okay with machines in anything greater than an advisory role; we'd have clashes in the chain of command in days, and armed people in that state of mind are a plague in and of themselves...

[ITOS]

"I don't think anyone of us has extensive experience in commanding, Caden." Johanna said. She had looked through everyones profiles (except Terra's which she naturally did not have) for former leaders but had not found anything.

Terra seemed to know most about how to act in this environment but choosing her would be risky and Johanna didn't notice any natural leaders in the group. Caden could very well be the best for the job even if he didn't seem to like the idea.

[bill]

"I can't command worth crap, so don't be looking at me."
Arnage sank back into his seat and mused about nothing in particular.
"If you need someone to talk, though, that's another story. Call me when something interesting happens."
Arnage went to sleep.

[Azlan]

Caden sighed and sat down, this was not as simple as he thought it was.

"Perhaps... if I perform the necessary intuition, lead combat situations, and act as spokesperson... Johanna can administrate and offer the more logical approaches.  We can operate as a team."   

[ITOS]

"Those would probably be the only situations we will need a person taking charge. In other situations we can make decisions together." Johanna said.

"First decision should be how we are going to tackle this building." SatCom Aerial Six was now much closer. Arnage's nap wouldn't last long.

[Malakin]

"Im sure common sense will see us through, we should approach as stealthily as possible, then check for signs of activity.
The chances are that either the building has been looted and is now useless or the base has some sort of protection that will have prevented looting and will stop our attempts at entry.  Basic observation will clarify the situation.
Untill then forming any detailed plans would be unwise."

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Do we know how we can get in yet? I've got my gear with me if the codes we have don't work...Or the door is locked" Eph produced a few electonic devices and a pair of lockpicks and a toolkit.

[ITOS]

Johanna arrived at the building before the rest and began nosing around the walls with her sensors, looking for both organic and electronic life.

"The building appears to have been EMPed. All electronic locks are probably broken, at least near the outside. All the doors leading to the important areas are too heavy to force open. We need to find an alternative way to get to the core parts."

[bill]

Arnage looked over the building and piped up.
"Want to get a look at the roof? These big installations usually have some form of a roof access, say, a helicopter pad or fire escape. Usually less secure than the main entrances."

[Azlan]

Caden was happy to have his mind off of the responsibility situation, "You should keep an eye out for anyone living, and monitor radiation or other electromagnetic anomalies.  As Arnage has said, look for roof access as well as side emergency exits.  Emergency exits are usually non-powered in case of cascade power failure, but conventional security should still be in place.  The main problem will be that they are exit only, but some work is to be expected."

[Arcalane]

The aerial (a fifty or sixty foot tall construct) is set within a "low-walled" (by Fahlberg standards) compound, the fifteen-foot tall walls made out of a strange dark grey material that looks like concrete from a distance but is surprisingly smooth to the touch, the main gates sealed shut and unwilling to open. There are a few extremely faint signs of life within the compound - probably just insects that survived, either with sensors or sight, although Jo's sensors tell her that the personnel door in one of the towers at the main gate runs off a seperate powersource and still functions, though it is locked, the keypad next to it awaiting the correct 7-digit access code. Her sensors also tell her that the reactor is operational due to the very low energy output it's giving off, though this isn't enough to bring the antennae array online proper.

The array itself appears to be a tall sandy-coloured pyramid-like spire, with multiple hatches and panels folded up or away to prevent access to the sensitive electronics - likely part of the Fahlberg's extensive safety measures. Fortunately, Jo has a floorplan of the facility in her memory - it's a fairly standard SatCom communications array, albeit slightly larger due to it being one of the six main arrays. The main building and reactor building are for all intents and purposes identical to those of smaller counterpart facilities. Maps show locations of important objects such as the reactor controls and the main computer, databanks and so on.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Eph walks up to the door and examines the keypad. "Looks functional guys...I'll have a go at it." She says as she kneels next to the door and opens her tool kit.

Pulling out a screwdriver and a bypass circuit Eph begins to open the Keypads face. Tinkering for a bit she looks up at the others and smiles. "Almost there." She clips the bypass cirtuit inside and attaches her electonic lockpic.

[Arcalane]

The numbers whizz on the display as the electronic lockpick does it's thing... it makes a resounding buzz as the first attempt fails.

Take two. Rigged up again, the numbers fly by as the lockpick works it's magic... and once again fails.

Third time lucky? Third time lucky indeed. Just as it looks like the door is about to stay shut, the lockpick beeps softly, then there's a soft hiss and the door slides open.

The room beyond is fairly small, squareish and about 10 feet from wall to wall, with a shutdown console on the eastern wall (assuming one faces north whilst entering the room) and a large map of the area and a bookshelf (with very few books) on the opposite wall. In the center of the room is a small table, with a few chairs around it. The chairs are askew, and there are some torn-open and empty wrappers left on the desk, plus some old and rather foul looking mugs of coffee. There's another door on the far side, it seems to be shut as well, but there's a simple switch on the inside to open it with.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Putting her kit away Ephrael stood up and waved the others towards the now open door. "There we go folks!"

[ITOS]

If it was that easy to get in Johanna wondered why none had taken everything in the room already. She rolled up to the console, with any luck it was connected to a network but since it was off she couldn't remotely access the console.

"Could anyone plug me into this?" She asked. She couldn't use her own powersource to start all of the facility's computers but it would allow her to power up some of the memorybanks.

[Azlan]

Caden, having retrieved his gear, shouldered his rifle and drew the plasma pistol.  He carefully approached the door on the far wall, he stepped carefully looking for trip wires or any other small annoying traps. 

upon reaching the door he paused to listen for any response beyond, if clear he carefully listens at it, but does not open it.

[Malakin]

Spork follows the others inside and helps Johanna plug in.

[Arcalane]

The room is utterly devoid of traps, unsurprisingly. There's nothing beyond the door except thin air, so no noise.

Jo plugs into the console. It makes an unhappy grinding noise as the old fans whirr to life after a hefty rest period. The machine boots up and the speakers turn on as an automated voice greets those in the room, coming from the speakers.

"Startup sequence complete... Welcome to SatCom Aerial Six Gate Control... Please state your name and authorization code."

[Azlan]

Caden regarded the console and then Jo, "I hope you have some type of cracking program or legitimate access.  I doubt this thing is on a grid I have any access rights to."

[ITOS]

Johanna stopped sending power to the console's processor, giving the defensive programs no room to operate. It was just a question of picking apart the programs for the keys she needed. After finding what she thought was a programmer entrance Johanna began sending power to the processor again.

"Startup sequence complete... Welcome to SatCom Aerial Six Gate Control..." The automated voice said again before Johanna used the programmer entrance to get past.

[Boog]

Dr. Nick knocked the heel of his right hand against the side of his head to clear up the remmnants of the bluescreen that had kept him from following the others immediatly. However, follow he did; dangerous things were more likely to happen in there than out here, and he'd have to be there to help ASAP. Terra was apparantly guarding the truck.

[Arcalane]

"...confirming authorization..."

The computer paused, whirring quietly.

"...authorization confirmed."

The screen flashes up the command interface, most of it dedicated to controlling the gate and defensive structures around the perimeter. Each is summed up simply;

Gate Status: Powered, Closed
Defenses Status: Unpowered, Retracted
Aerial Status: Unpowered, Retracted

The compound seems to be defended in the standard manner - a number of defensive turrets disguised as towers in the walls. It would seem they are incapable of aiming inside the compound and there are no turrets within the courtyard.

Memory databank access seems rather limited from here... basic query and playback access, but no download capability.

[ITOS]

"I'm in. Sort of... " Johanna said. "Does anyone want to ask the computer anything?"

Query: Latest log entry.

[Somber]

Terra followed behind the pack, sqatting in the dust as she looked at the aireal.  Something just didn't feel good about this.  "This place hasn't been touched.  The gate hasn't been broken down.  Eph's the first one to touch the lock."  The rat swayed her tail stump in the dirt before she looked over at Johanna.  She seemed a little occupied.  "Log records are a good start.  Find out if the record of the last person who left this place was authorized to be here, and how long ago that was."  She grabbed a handful of dirt, letting it trickle through her fingers as she watched the wind carry it away.

"I'm not convinced this place was fried in the first place."  she said as she walked over to Caden.  "No char from shorted out electrics on the sides of the tower.  No black marks from sparks.  Hell, this place probably has its own environmental processors.  The walls are intact.  The turrets haven't been blasted.  The only reason I could see some one powering this place down would be to avoid detection, but in that case why aren't they still here?"

She looked over at Dr. Nick.  "Any hostile biologicals in the air, doc?"

[Boog]

There was a tinny inhaling noise as Dr. Nick checked.
"Gimme a couple minutes. Lessee now..."

[Paladin Sheppard]

Ephrael packed her things away and steped into the room. "Has anyone checked this door?" She said as she walked over to it, her hand over the switch to open it.

[Arcalane]

The console whirrs momentarily, then the screen flickers and an audio playback begins.

"This thing recording? Ah, good, it is." The sound of the anti-aircraft missile launchers firing can be heard in the background. "This is Sgt. Mackenzie making a final report before the EMP bomber gets here. The array's shut down and the outer plate should absorb most of the shockwave but we can't close the reactor shield in time and that's definitely going to go down when the bomb hits. The bastards seem to have some kind of anti-missile lasers on their craft - no idea where they got them from and--" There is a loud explosion followed by the sound of some kind of aircraft falling from the sky and crashing some distance away. "--...okay so maybe it's not impossible to bypass the defense. Anyway, the main aerial array is closed up and safe, but the reactor will need time to warm up if anyone decides to turn it on. The secondary generator, well under the grounds here, quite inaccessible I might add, provides power to the turrets and gate. Naturally we've set up the turret retractors, secondary generator and gate controls to fake a shutdown when the main reactor goes offline so if anyone finds this place and needs shelter then they can power up the defenses and use them. The turrets can be configured and reactivated from the Control Center. This building only has Sublevel Gate Control - the Control Center can override it if necessary."

The report pauses and the voice stops. Another voice calls something out in Fahlberger.

"What?! It's an hour ahead of schedule?! Crap! It's almost on top of us, let's get out of here! Sgt. Mackenzie out!"

The recording stops. "Message ends" states the console.

--

Nick finds nothing hazardous in the air, unsurprisingly.

--

As Ephrael touches the door switch, it slides open, revealing the empty courtyard. It's fairly spacious and big enough for it to take a minute or two to cross from the gatehouse to the opposite Control Center building when moving at a decent jog. The main array is on the left, tall and imposing, with the reactor further behind it, settled between the Control Center and the Array in the North-West corner of the compound. The road emerges from under the gate once more and splits in two - westward toward the array, and continues north as well, sinking down into the ground and under the Control Center through a gated entrance to some kind of vehicle bay.

[Somber]

She listened soberly to the recording.  "They must have gotten hit by something precise.  Maybe the Enterians were planning on occupying this place.  Last EMP site I saw was a real mess.  Char from shorts, even electrical discharges.  A real electronic system killer."  She squinted at the monitor.  "The fact that the recording survived in a miracle in an of itself... unless Fahlbergers pride them selves on making every system hardened."

She cracked her knuckles.  "Good news with an intact facility like this is that hopefully they'll have parts in inventory.  There is nothing sweeter than salvage in a box.  If not we'll have to find the recycling and food stores.  That's our objective after all."

Folding her arms behind her head she thought a bit.  "Johanna, Eph, and Caden should make sure the reactor is safe, check the system, and the defenses.  If this place really is fully operational then we'll have to talk to mac and let our superiors decide if we scavenge here or not.  A place like this is like a mountain of gold for salvage.  Just remember not to turn everything on if you can avoid is.  Last thing we need is some protectorate sensor to get a ping off this place.  Nick and I should find the stores and the inventory and see what we can find in terms of edible food and potable water for the bunker.

She looked over at Caden, and arched a brow, "Unless you have a better idea?"

[Azlan]

Caden nodded, "that sounds fine, check the QM and Mess tech storage, that will have the largest concentration of military issue rations.  Anything requiring cold storage or not sealed for long term shelf life will be highly suspect.  Someone will need to bring the vehicle around, Jo would be so kind as to open the gates?" 

Caden turned to fully regard Jo, "I'd like to get things running off of the secondary generator, unless a threat analysis can be run that determines it would be safe to startup the main.  Unless anyone has anything else, let's do this thing."

[ITOS]

"I can open the gate from here but to reroute power and check the main generator would be easiest to do from engineering." Johanna said and sent another query.

Query: Status of main severs?

"And be careful with the main servers. These installations usually have AIs and we don't want to wake up one that is in a bad mood." She added and began looking for some wireless network so she could follow the others who probably wanted to move on now.