The Line in the Stars (OOC) [PG/14] - Closed

[Azlan]

PBH, if you are going to call Gaea by Roman name Gaia, then you will have to use the correct name for Xaos which would be Chaos.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

OOPs    Sorry,  My spell check must have correct her name automatically by accident.  I don't remember spelling it that way .. and I didn't recall how to spelling Xaos' name.

BTW My access to the web is intermittent for the next few weeks.  I will have the weekends but my evening are increasingly taken over by overtime.

PBH

[Azlan]

Dragon Age is eating time... fox may be slow to respond.  I'll be writing something Sunday when up in my hotel for my training week.

[Azlan]

The holidays are slowing my posting a bit, I'll have something up tomorrow hopefully.

[SquirrelWizard]

If y'all have me.

Name: Robert Norston
Age: 29
Gender:  Male
Species: Squirrel
Occupation: Electronic/Mechanical Engineer Energy Specialist
Height: 5'4
Weight: 135 lb
Build: Wirey
Fur Color: Orange back coat, white inner coat.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Distinguishing Marks: Laser scar on upper right torso both entrance and exit scars.

Skills:
Basic Pistol and Rifle Training
Basic First Aid
Standard Hacking (specifically oriented at overriding access)
Specialized Explosives training. (He can set charges using premade ordinances, but doesn't have the expertise to disarm, make, or set particularly complicated explosives.)
Advanced Electronics Interfacing
Advanced Energy Manipulation (not spells, but using machinery to manage energy flows)
Can repair electronic/energy systems of most vehicles.
Has a Pilot's license for small shuttle craft. And can manuver other transport type vehicles. (nothing fancy just from point A to point B)

Attire:
Even though Robert is a technically a scientist, he dresses more like a mechanic. He typically is seen wearing a tee shirt, cargo pants, and a tool belt. In a lab environment he tends to wear dress slacks and a polo shirt, though it feels uncomfortable to him.

Noteable Equipment:
CDI "Magic Wand" Pad (essentially a compact computer designed to link up with local machines/interfaces to perform diagnostics or changes settings.) *CDI = Compact Diagnostic Interface
Modified Laser pistol (Designed so that it can utilize all of the power in the pistol's clip in one shot resulting in a devastating short range blast. When used in this manner the pistol becomes extremely hot burning unprotected hands, and the shot produces a brilliant light which to people looking at it is similar to looking at a flare.)
Oracle Diagnostic Goggles (Goggles with a built in hud that utilizes information from sensor equipment, like the CDI Pad, also has a high intensity light filter that blocks out harmful amounts of light)

Weakness:

Robert could be a good leader if he wanted to be, but typically lacks the drive to do so. He is more than happy to let another person lead as long as he can keep tinkering with his equipment along with potentially finding new alien scrap to examine. For the most part, Robert gets along well with authority; but he does have the tendency to speak his mind and has no real patience for bluster, both of which do little to endear him to many commanding officers.

Thanks to his time on the fringes of civilized space, he has a shades of gray mentality, and isn't above bending the law if he feels that it would yield better results; though he does his best to avoid outright breaking the law. Robert's pilot, demolitions, hacking, and combat, training was more "on the job" rather than formal training. He typically defers combat and piloting to those more experienced. As a mechanic with his various companies, he had to learn how to move vehicles around and as such can pilot most transport type vehicles from one point to another; he has no experience with combat in these vehicles though.

In terms of fighting Robert fights dirty, typically by trying to overwhelm his attackers with excessive force early on with the intent to keep his opponent offbalance. More often than not, these fights end up with him trying to escape to a better position (typically back to his company). If he can Robert tries to avoid combat.

Background:

Growing up in Federate territory, Robert attended the Valdorian Institute of Technology. At the age of 23, he graduated majoring in electrical and energy grids. After graduation he found employment on a salvage crew where he was responsible for repairing equipment, and activating salvaged systems for the company. In addition to these duties Robert did research into both energy grid, and electronic grid interface. On a salvage expedion on a remote planet Robert discovered a small chip which had been, at one point, part of an alien device. Though the chip itself wasn't big enough to activate, much less discern any usable information from, Robert did not report the chip's existence to his employers.

After 3 years of service, Robert transfered to another crew based on the far edges of Federated Territory. The crew he signed up with did other jobs in addition to salvaging with some having questionable legality, though never they never did anything outright illegal. During his stay with the company, he kept his ears to the ground regarding alien wrecks, and nudged his employers towards them. Most leads led to dead ends, or similar reminants such as the chip he had found earlier; all the while the ISF was aware of Robert's inquiries, but had little evidence to warrant interaction. When not on the job or actively pursuing alien technology, Robert analyzed the pieces he had and tried to gleen what he could regarding the power systems.

After two years of searching, a lead payed off. One of Robert's contacts told him that a smuggler had seen what looked like debris that had been unearthed during a desert storm on a distant planet. The debris had the same general construction as the other relics Robert had found; thought the smuggler didn't stick around to examine them closely as the planet was located in known pirate territory. Robert convinced the rest of his crew that salvaging the wreck would be profitable even with the danger of pirates.

The planet was classified as an H class planet with just barely tolerable atmosphere conditions. It was mostly covered in deserts, but there were several species of hardy plant life that could tap into the underground water. Overall it could have been a habitable word, if it wasn't for the planet's location and lack of any real resources. Upon arrival it was evident that the ship was alien in origin, but it was practically gutted. From what he saw, Robert surmised that the craft had entered the planet's atmosphere at a steep angle, and had impacted on the surface at high speed. What was left was a severely burned wreck that, at best, was a mere skeleton of its former self. In addition to this, almost half of the ship was obliterated, either in impact or by other means.

Their presence did not go unnoticed, and one of the local pirate groups sent a ship to investigate, and if possible capture equipment and hostages. Due to the fact that the pirates didn't know what forces they were set up against, and an all out assault would likely damage, if not outright destroy, anything worth retrieving; the pirates inserted an initial group of power armor on the other side of the planet via drop ship, and flew them in at low altitude attempting to keep below radar. The company Robert was with had erected some basic sensor equipment, and had a defensive perimeter with several armed sentries patrolling it. The pirates showed up on radar just as they neared the site, and the initial conflict was short and bloody resulting in the defenders having to fall back to their landing craft or the wreck for cover. Both sides had reached a stalemate, with Robert's company being unable to drive the pirates off, and the pirates unable to capture the company. It was during this hectic fighting that Robert was shot by a laser burning a hole through his environment suit, puncturing his right lung, and exiting out the back, missing his spine. It it wasn't for the immediate intervention by the crew's medic, he would have died there.

Three ISF Warships, and an ISF support vessel arrived in orbit around the planet at this time, presumably following the same tip that Robert did. The sudden arrival of ISF forces halted any plans of the pirates to send their full assault force to the planet's surface, and they beat a hasty retreat when faced with the vastly superior firepower of the ISF Fleet. The company Robert was with identified itself as a legitimate salvage company, and made a deal with the ISF in which the company would remain and help with the salvaging efforts at a reduced salvage award and the use of the ISF's medical facilities. Robert woke up in a medical ward on an ISF ship and found himself being held for questioning regarding his interest in alien technology. Robert explained that he wanted to see if he could reverse engineer the electrical and power systems from the parts he found, but had been hesitant at releasing his findings to the ISF due to the concerns that the ISF would confiscate his research materials. His materials and notes were examined which showed that he had come to similar conclusions as other researchers but with much more fragmented resources. ISF saw Robert as a potential asset, and offered a job to him; which he gladly accepted.

edit: corrected a major typo

[Azlan]

I will have to get back to SquirrelWizard, I need some time to look this over.


Absence reason
Short story: RAID array collapsed and PSU died over holidays.  Encrypted drive failed that included certain backed up files.  Repaired PC, recovered encrypted data, and upgraded to Win7 x64.

Too bad in some respects, as I was having fun using a server as a desktop.

I should be back in action, though work is pretty busy... what with a few server build outs and UPS replacements (old units aren't hot swappable sad).

Things should be picking up tomorrow.

[ShadesFox]

Sorry to hear about your server desktop death.  I have lost many good machines to the PSU wars.

Good to have you back and that things will pick up soon.

[SquirrelWizard]

ugh... hope everything works out.

But yeah, sorry about the huge wall o' text regarding Robert's history, if need be I can provide a quick outline of his history if you want.

[Azlan]

Sorry to hear about your server desktop death.  I have lost many good machines to the PSU wars.

Good to have you back and that things will pick up soon.

Nah, the server is fine... 2 opteron dual-cores, it normally just sits spinning away... serving files.

My game box died, but I got it back up... I just lost some... credential information... that is making it hard to get back into certain things that I have locked down.

Edit: I should have a post up for the RP tomorrow.

As for SW's character, I'm trying to figure out what the IRF is supposed to be.  I seem to get the impression he is an engineer as opposed to a theorist?  His area is Energy Systems?  Like Conversion systems... powerplant/power core and reactor design, maintenance and engineering?

He appears to be military... does he have a rank?  What type of Academic Credential did he earn at the University?

[SquirrelWizard]

yeah... the IRF is like this super cool group of super cool people and totally not me mispelling ISF... 

As for Robert's profession. Yeah he basically deals with how energy is moved from a reactor to the other parts of the ship. That would be with the reactors and wiring throughout the ship. Most of his experience has been with repair and maintenance, with his most recent job with ISF probably nudging him more towards the theoretical field.

Rank wise? Eh, I'm horrible at this so.... TO TEH WIKI!!! Anywho, most of Robert's jobs have been civilian in nature (salvage) but they probably would have a military equivilent ranking system. In his first two jobs he'd probably be an Engineering Duty Officer (actually in his first job he probably worked under an EDO). With his posistion with ISF, I'm not sure if his rank would change.

As for his degree? I want to say a BS in Astronautical Engineering and a MS in Engineering, specifically Astronautical Engineering. Again most of this is taken from wikipedia, so its accuracy may be suspect.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Oh Goddess Another Engineer,

He is another glutton of punishment  Pray for him...

PBH

[techmaster-glitch]

Alexis nodded in acknowledgment of Aaron's launch authorization, "flight ceiling aye."  The younger vixen turned to her console and sent the launch orders directly to the pilot ready room, "Scales, scramble for launch.  Patrol on station with weapons hot.  I repeat, weapons hot.  Maintain flight ceiling restrictions to 762 meters until further notice." 

Torson responded over the comm, "roger that, Scales launching."

With measured precision, the four fighters that made up three-fourths of the Crusading Scales launched and formed up for their patrol.

Oh, I was going to take this as my cue to jump back in... but this may work out better. Can you keep my characters going without me? If so, I'm okay with that.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Out of interest, how does 4 = 3/4 ? I make that 5 1/3rd being the total number, and I'm at a loss to see how you can have a third of a ship, and still be active and useful...

Or is this a case of rounding, and it's merely to make it sound good? ;-]

[SquirrelWizard]

I dont think they like to talk about Moe and Gimpy...

[ShadesFox]

Out of interest, how does 4 = 3/4 ? I make that 5 1/3rd being the total number, and I'm at a loss to see how you can have a third of a ship, and still be active and useful...

Or is this a case of rounding, and it's merely to make it sound good? ;-]

Could be an A-10.  You can fly around 1/3rd of an A-10 and it is still a lethal plane...

[SquirrelWizard]

*nudge*

Just wondering, is there anything more you need in regards to Robert's profile?

[Azlan]

I will have a post up for this hopefully Monday.  SquirrelWizard, whom I shall now shorten to SW, should be ready for some postings as soon as I release his character from stasis.

[ShadesFox]

A little confused here.  Azlan's post has Richard outside watching as the three enter Matron, PBH has Nova taking Richard with her.  Unsure how to proceed with this discontinuity.

Edit: Now that I think about it, I'll go ahead and post with Richard missing.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

«Re: The Line in the Stars (IC) [PG/14]
Reply #1303 on: February 04, 2010, 02:43:30 PM »  
---------------------------
On the Ramp,

Nova had stopped at the bottom of the ramp, and waiting for Loki and Ixiah.  When Marissa grabs Nova, she blinks at the light and see Matron's old hull.  She's surprised at the condition of Matron.  The old video data doesn't do her justice.  She turns and look at Richard and Marissa.  Taking in the armor and weapons, Nova frowns at Mariassa's weapons.  

"It will be alright. but I must go on" says Nova.  The cat-girl doesn't move though, and waits for the Major.  Unless Loki continues, she'll wait for Aaron.  

SEE, I was disobeying you (Just waiting..But Loki is Gung Ho,  So see you inside )  PBH

[Azlan]

From the ramp and then into Matron

Nova's hand also appears on Marissa's rifle and on Richard's hand.  Looking at both Romulus and Marissa, the catgirl looks to be awake and in command of herself. 

Why does this say Romulus?

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Well, because I am an idiot   I mixed up Richard and Romy...

me fixed

PBH

[Azlan]

There will be a bit of a delay getting the next bit up, stay tuned.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

If Loki will dance, I can post my next half.

PBH

[ShadesFox]

You know, with the way you put that I now have this image in my head of a wild west sequence, with someone shooting at Loki's feet, "Dance you technicolor varmint!  Dance!"

[Azlan]

Just an update:  I haven't forgotten about the RP, but I am partially stuck on PBH because of a pre-arranged scene.  I will try and post a continuation for other players later today. 

Thanks for the patience.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Sorry Sorry    I have been busy......

At work, My BF is in a stew
My PC had a few.    (it is HD has kick the re-boot)
My GF has the flu,
and Now, I got it tooo....

I posted something.... Please yell at me if I'm wrong and I will fix it up as the week goes on.  I just have a hell of a time with long post on this Forum..

PBH

[Azlan]

That seems okay... a little odd.  Not sure I wanted to turn this into a musical

[Prof B Hunnydew]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHZqxecCukg -- Music Video

Awwww  And  I have a song and everything....

But really I like this song...yet the rainbow dance post seems to have too many saber sequences.   I will have to rewrite it without change too much...
I lost my orginial post for this and trying to rewrite from memory.
PBH

[Azlan]

Posting a link to a lost thread: Tech information:

Tech thread

[Lisky]

Time to call you out, Lushin, Knight IS in command, he's a higher rank in the same chain of command and therefore in command, the other soldiers, should they be properly trained, WILL follow the orders of their commanding officer... I'm going to wait for Azlan's ruling on this... but i find the fact that you're assuming the roles of the team-mates a bit one sided, given the whole chain of command thing.