Lude 1.3: A Few Questions

Lude 1.3: A Few Questions

Sunday, 7/13/2014

* GMAmy changes topic to 'Illusions of Grandeur 3: Mecha | Session 1.3: A Few Questions | Helicon Base - Friday, Komos 27th, HE 882 | Fridays, 6 pm Pacific | http://sites.google.com/site/iogmecha/ | #iog-ooc'

* GMAmy sets mode: +m

<GMAmy> Colonel Eberhart is going through reports in his office, examining the preliminary simulation data. He seems to be lost deep in thought.

* Doom_Gaze sets mode: +v Victor

* Etir sets mode: +o Victor

* Victor almost walks past the Colonel's door before realizing where he is. He turns back, smoothes out his uniform a little, and knocks twice.

<GMAmy> Eberhart looks up from his papers, closes the folder and turns in his chair to face the door. "Come in."

* GMAmy sets mode: -m

* Victor steps into the room quietly, shuts the door behind him, and salutes.

<Victor> Corporal Dunbar, sir. Do you have a moment?

<GMAmy> [Eberhart] At ease, corporal. Yes, I think I can spare a few moments. I imagine you have some questions...?

<Victor> I do, sir.

<Victor> More of a series of concerns, to be honest.

<GMAmy> [Eberhart] Very well, proceed.

* Victor inhales to try and calm his nerves before starting.

<Victor> Sir, I'm not certain the immersion worked as intended. For me, at least.

<GMAmy> Eberhart raises an eyebrow. "Oh? And why do you feel that is the case?"

<Victor> I knew going in there's be some disorientation when we came back out. And there certainly was some of that, especially with the others.

<Victor> The others kept talking about having flashbacks or... double vision? I'm not sure, but they all had that moment where they couldn't let go of the simulation.

<GMAmy> [Eberhart] And you didn't, I take it?

<Victor> I had that, for a few minutes. But now, when I try to remember the things that happened in the simulation...

<Victor> ...it's like tryin to grab fistfuls of sand. The harder I try to remember the faster it slips away.

<Victor> If you asked to to tell you everything I know about magic... I got nothin'.

<GMAmy> [Eberhart] Hmmm. That's very interesting. I'm told your readouts and our AI reports showed satisfactory progress for you, although you came into the program with very low affinity for using Geodes and used very little "magic" within the simulation. Still, your psychological stability and performance as part of the group was excellent, barring some incidents near the end of the simulation. Full reports will have to wait until the data can be collected and analyzed, but...

<GMAmy> Eberhart shrugs. "If you are concerned about your participation in the program, I'm going to have to ask you to be patient until the results are in. In the meantime, there has been some discussion about the relative strengths of each member of the group during the simulation. Although details about the scenario were lacking, each individual's skills and performance were reported. Our techs have been brainstorming and working on customization ideas for the Makhai, based on this."

<Victor> Yes sir.

<GMAmy> [Eberhart] Perhaps you would like to talk with our tech team about this. I understand you've already met our military liaison, Emiria Ramirez?

<Victor> Yes sir.

<GMAmy> [Eberhart] Did you have any more questions for me at this time, or shall I have you escorted to the mech bay? I understand she should be there around this time of day.

<Victor> No sir, my performance was my major concern.

<GMAmy> [Eberhart] Very well, I'll let you know when I have more information. *He rings a buzzer on the comm unit* Yes, this is Colonel Eberhart. Can I have someone escort Victor to the mech bay to see Chief Ramirez?

<Victor> Thank you, sir.

<GMAmy> It doesn't take long before a female soldier arrives to escort Victor to the mech bay. Eberhart officially dismisses him and returns to his reports.

* Victor quietly follows the solider, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to say anything.

<GMAmy> The mech bay is apparently several levels down. They emerge from the elevator into a large, cavernous room, filled with machines and equipment of all types. Hooked up to cables and secured to the walls are tall, humanoid mechs - the Makhai. The smallest seems to be at least 15 feet tall, and although the designs are different, the all seem to be roughly similar in basic structure. Most are missing outer paneling, and all the joints and wiring are visible as techs work on them, soldering and rewiring and arguing with each other about the details of the job.

* Victor relaxes, feeling a bit more in his element for the first time since exiting the simulation.

<GMAmy> One very familiar-looking woman with braided white hair is reading some schematics and discussing them with a couple of other techs. Victor will notice on the far side of the bay is a very large vehicle of some sort - possibly similar to a cargo plane, although his view of it is obscured by some of the Makhai and the surrounding scaffolding.

* Victor turns to the soldier. "Any new security protocols I should know about before stepping in there?"

<GMAmy> The soldier shakes her head. "Not that I'm aware of. You're technically only security clearance 1, but everyone around here knows you're going to be moved up to a higher level pretty quickly. Honestly, things in the tech department are a bit less formal around here. There's a tight lock on information and technical specs for the Makhai project, but it shouldn't affect you too much.'

<Victor> I'd hope not, otherwise this project's going to be awkward for me.

<Victor> Am I on my own here, or are you going to be my shadow?

<GMAmy> The soldier shakes her head. "Chief Ramirez can handle things; I'm on my way back to my post. Need anything before I leave?"

<Victor> No, I'm good. Thanks for the escort.

* Victor gives a quick salute, and heads towards the Chief.

<GMAmy> Chief Ramirez looks up, then dismisses the other techs with a few words and rolls up her schematics. "Corporal Dunbar! I'd heard the simulation was completed. Good to see you!" She hurries up to him and puts her arm around his shoulder, giving him a hearty pat on the back.

* Victor is about to speak, but suddenly recoils from her with a confused expression. After a moment, he violently shakes his head and tries to act normal.

<Victor> Sorry! I wasn't expecting... Great Space this is weird.

<GMAmy> She steps back, clearly perplexed. "What's up? I'd heard that some weird crap was going on up there, but they said you were doing fine so far."

<Victor> OK, let me explain. I don't remember everything clearly from the simulation, but I do remember you. I think.

<Victor> We met you and you helped us. You were called the... something and... bad things...?

<GMAmy> [Emiria] Ooooh, am I famous? *She grins for a second, but quickly drops it and becomes serious.* I heard there was some mix-up with Dr. Griffin. Seems someone loaded the personnel file in the sim, and some members of the GDF became characters - so I guess I'm one of 'em, huh? Dare I ask what sort of character I was?

* Victor sighs in exasperation, "There goes another memory. How I supposed to be useful if I can't remember anything?"

<GMAmy> She chuckles humorlessly. "Having trouble remembering details, I see. That's okay. But let me know if anything I do or say bothers you, okay? Dr. Griffin will want to know. As for how to be useful..." She gestures to some nearby equipment. "Grab a hardhat and I'll give you the tour. I've been having some ideas!"

<Victor> Yeah, I could use some normalcy after all that.

* Victor reaches over to a sidewall, grabs a hardhat and slaps it onto his head.

<Victor> Lead on, Chief!

<GMAmy> Emiria gestures to the mechs as they begin their circuit around the room. "You'll notice that they all look more or less the same, although the size varies a bit. The specific tech and weaponry for each will be customized to the pilot, based on their final report from the sim and their preliminary Geode training reports, once we have them. We've been given some info gathered during the sim, however, and we've managed to brainstorm some ideas. Pretty soon, once we get final approval, we'll be able to make the necessary modifications.

<GMAmy> [Emiria] We've got something special in mind for you. I understand you've got minimal psychokinetic abilties, right? But of course you're a tech and mechanical whiz.

<Victor> "Minimal psychokinetic abilities". There's something for my resume.

<GMAmy> She grins. "Better than me. Anyway, seems this could actually come in handy. You may not be able to do much magic, but you've seen how it works in the sim, right? You've worked with the others and you've seen them use it. You have some kind of idea what to expect. They're going to need tech backup in the field." They weave their way around the mechs and scaffolding, and she stops in front of the large vehicle in the back. "Here you go - the Skyranger. We're still working on fully outfitting it with the necessary equipment, and there's some mechanical work still to be done, but she's gonna be yours by the looks of it."

<Victor> (The Skyranger might be described as a cargo plane in the same way a brick would be described as a spear. It's wide main body, blunt nose, short wings and massive engines suggests a machine that flies more by way of brute force than aerodynamics. The additional VTOL engines in the wings further suggests brute force over finesse.)

<Victor> (Attached to the wings are a series of hardpoints, clearly intended for weaponry or something similar. The inclusion of tracked landing gear over standard wheels, attached to heavy-duty hydraulics, hints at the massive weight of the vessel.)

* Victor stares at the Skyranger for a while.

* Victor looks at Emiria.

* Victor looks at the Skyranger again.

<Victor> This thing... flies?

<GMAmy> [Emiria] In theory. She's designed for function rather than form. Defense is more important than speed, since she's for transport, repairs, and resupplying, rather than actual combat. Still, she should be able to take a few hits while in the field.

<GMAmy> [Emiria] We still have a lot of modifications to make. In fact, any suggestions or input you have for us would be appreciated. We're expecting you to provide support fire and battlefield repairs, and any other ideas you have.

* Victor turns to Emiria again and stares at her in alarm. "In theory? No one's checked?"

<GMAmy> She chuckles. "I'm exaggerating. It's done okay in test flights, it just moves really slowly and it's a bit awkward. But it can carry huge loads."

* Victor relaxes.

<Victor> It's... bigger than I was expecting. But I guess scaling up a transport for mechs requires that.

<Victor> I don't think I'm going to be sneaking up on anyone with this beast.

<GMAmy> [Emiria] Sadly, no. But this is experimental new technology, and if the Makhai have problems in the field, we're going to need the systems and equipment to evacuate and repair them. After all, the plan is that you'll eventually be going on missions all over Hemera.

<Victor> Actually, there's something I wanted to ask you about the mechs. Are they still using the standardized VC-45 control rig? They were when I went in.

<GMAmy> [Emiria] Same basic rig, but with a few modifications. We discovered the base specs were causing jerky movement, so we had to customize it a bit.

<Victor> Hm. I wanted a chance to look at the changes made to Mr. Albien's rig, since the footpedals would probably have to be replaced with an alternative. I tried to access internal design records but I haven't been cleared yet. Any chance you can grant me a peek?

<GMAmy> [Emiria] Sure, let's head up to my office and I'll let you see the specs. Actually, we have something special in mind for him. Dr. Cedric Albien has been working with us on incorporating neural linkup exoskeleton technology - cutting edge stuff. Ultimately we're hoping we can expand it to improve performance for all the Makhai, but for now it's designed to allow Trune Albien's mech to be operated partially via neural signals.

<Victor> Neural linkup, nice.

<GMAmy> Emiria beckons to Victor, and begins heading across the area to some stairs, leading up to an office separated from the larger room by reinforced glass.

* Victor follows, genuinely interested now.

<GMAmy> Emiria's private office is off the main office, filled with filing cabinets and a haphazard array of schematics and blueprints. There is clearly enough here to keep Victor occupied all afternoon. The technical jargon flies furiously as the two techies discuss the plans for the Skyranger and the Makhai.

<GMAmy> == Lude End ==