The Return to Liten (Game Over)

MagnaofIllusion · Post Post #1150 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:39 pm

Chess wrote:Camn needs to go
HH probably needs to go
Thor needs to go
if it's not over idk who else needs to go. But it should be over at that point.

What happened to Hacker was obv-town? Have you acquiesced that your attempts to steer the lynch away from him have failed?

Chess wrote:I'm raelly good at annoying MoI lol

This is true. You do have a particular skill and flair in Mafia for giving me brain hemmorages with your VI behavior.

Admiral wrote:As for vigging I am taking the night off.

This needs to happen before LYLO so no objections from me.

chesskid3 · Post Post #1151 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:40 pm

Hacker?

uh CES was obvtown dude not hacker

MagnaofIllusion · Post Post #1152 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:48 pm

chesskid3 wrote:Hacker?

uh CES was obvtown dude not hacker

YOUR OWN F'ING ISO DISAGREES WITH YOU -

Chess the King of VIs wrote:Hacker just is, man. I can read his ISO for vibes if you want, but he's town.
Maybe you are town, but at least one of you and camn is scum sooooo

Go sit in the damn corner and ask when you are allowed to come out.

chesskid3 · Post Post #1153 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:49 pm

Hmm. Oops?
Idk either I forgot about townread on hacker or I meant CES up there.
IDK.
Well, there goes my chances of not getting misslynched, eh?
Vig me tonight?

MagnaofIllusion · Post Post #1154 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:51 pm

chesskid3 wrote:Hmm. Oops?
Idk either I forgot about townread on hacker or I meant CES up there.
IDK.
Well, there goes my chances of not getting misslynched, eh?
Vig me tonight?

No you did not mean CES in that quote. That quote was a direct response to Thor asking you why Hacker was Town.

GO SIT IN THE G'D' CORNER.

chesskid3 · Post Post #1155 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:52 pm

K well then I guess I had a townread on Hacker at some point.

*sits in the corner*

AlmasterGM · Post Post #1156 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:03 pm

NOOOO.

CHESSKID. NEEDS. VIGGING.

After that you can stop.

AlmasterGM · Post Post #1157 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:10 pm

Also, the MoI-chesskid interaction seems fake as hell. I'm becoming incredibly convinced that these are a scum pair. MoI especially.

chesskid3 · Post Post #1158 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:11 pm

do scum have daytalk?

chesskid3 · Post Post #1159 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:11 pm

Also pre-end of day
if one of us flips town
what does that do for your read of the other

MagnaofIllusion · Post Post #1160 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:17 pm

AlmasterGM wrote:Also, the MoI-chesskid interaction seems fake as hell. I'm becoming incredibly convinced that these are a scum pair. MoI especially.

You've spent the plenty of time conjecturing that I was scum without a hint of evidence as to why.

Put up or shut up.

chesskid3 · Post Post #1161 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:17 pm

oooooooh you got told

Furry · Post Post #1162 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:52 pm

Camn points are good points

unvote
vote chess

Yes I see when deadline is. I will change my vote late tonight as needed, but this is better.

camn · Post Post #1163 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:14 pm

I would totally pile on chesskid.... But we are out of time I think.

Deadline nolynches are scummy.
Hackerhuck should die, please.

AlmasterGM · Post Post #1164 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:18 pm

THERE IS TIME. GOGOGOGO.

Furry · Post Post #1165 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:19 pm

I am on for 3-4 hours....

We have time

ThAdmiral · Post Post #1166 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:25 pm

Having just finished a game with chess I'm not sure what he is doing is actually a scum tell.

Just sayin'.

camn · Post Post #1167 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:33 pm

I agree... But when you don't put anything real into your posts, then the rest of the town has no way to get a read on you. Which makes you a liability to the town. ESPECIALLY in endgame.

Re: lynching him... We have 3. We need 5.
Plus, Hacker is probably scum. Chesskid can spend tonight thinking about what he did wrong. Or maybe get vigged. Either is fine with me. So ima go to bed.

Thor665 · Post Post #1168 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 8:50 pm

I'm not likely to be on early enough tomorrow to play any sort of last minute wagon games.

Unvote: Whomever
Vote: HackerHuck

Furry · Post Post #1169 (ISO) » Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:07 pm

Think thats a lynch already, but to make sure no shenannigans occur

unvote
vote HH

SaintKerrigan · Post Post #1170 (ISO) » Tue Dec 21, 2010 4:58 am

Final Vote Count Day 4

(5) HackerHuck: camn, MagnaofIllusion, ThAdmiral, chesskid3, Thor665

(2) chesskid3: AlmasterGM, Furry
(1) Furry: Cogito Ergo Sum

Not Voting: HackerHuck

With nine people alive, it takes five votes to lynch.
The deadline is Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. CST.

Arkon Planetary Communications Jammer
Non-colonized Sector 1, UTP Planet Liten, Tynnfred System
December 5th, 2486 SC (Day 4, Month 15 LC)
0317 hours SST (2845 hours LLT3)

"Rook to f2," Joshua said, leaning back into one of the seats on the

Silver Ducky

.

Sara closed her eyes. It had been years since she'd last had the time to play mind chess, and although her bodily aches and pains continued to dwindle away, they were making it difficult for her to focus her mind properly. Still, she managed to envision the board in her mind:

Spoiler: Sara's Mind

This isn't looking good. My kingside is shot to hell, my three-point advantage is negated by two of my pieces being inactive, and that's a nasty attack he's got brewing there. On the other hand, his king's not well protected...and he's hung the b-pawn. If I take the free pawn, whether the checkstorm that's coming, I can drop into the back rank, force the king out, and then I can start activating my pieces.

Are there any flaws...hmm, can't find any. Let's do this!

"Queen takes b7."

Joshua smirked slightly. "Rook to f1, check."

Why is he smirking...

Sara visualized the chessboard again:

Spoiler: Sara's Mind

Well, there's only one way out, so...

"King to g2?" She said hesitantly, then wondered why she'd added the high inflection at the end. "Yeah, king g2."

The smirk began to widen. "Queen to e2, check."

Once again she looked at the mental board:

Spoiler: Sara's Mind

I'm being forced out of my box. This might get ugly...

"King to h3."

"Queen to h5, check."

Spoiler: Sara's Mind

What the fuck? Is he trying to force perpetual check or something? Regardless, my move is forced...

"King to g2."

Joshua shot forward and slapped his knee, his grin approaching the size of the sun. "Rook to g1 and checkmate!" he proclaimed, the statement followed by an emphatic sigh.

...huh?

Spoiler: Sara's Mind

It finally dawned on her. "God

dammit!

How did I not see that coming?"

"Remember that free piece you thought I gave you earlier? Well, it wasn't free! For one knight, I got you to open up your kingside

and

trade away one of the few active pieces you had in play."

Sara nodded dully. "Yeah, I got too greedy and thought I could weather the storm." She stood up and offered her hand to Joshua. "Well played, Joshua, well played."

He rose, took the hand, and shook. "We'll have to try this again when you don't have agonizing pain affecting your thought process."

Sitting in the seat next to Sara's, Furry shook her head. "Damn, I don't know how you folks can keep all that in your head. And my memory's pretty good."

"Oh, really?" Joshua chuckled. "What happened to all those funds that were supposed to go to my research team way back before all this started?"

"I didn't forget about them. I...reallocated them toward the defense fund. Which needed lots of pengrah at that point in time."

"Ah, the toilet paper was really expensive this year, eh?"

Sara's attention once more focused on the sound of crunching snow she'd heard a bit earlier. It was getting closer, but Furry and Joshua still didn't seem to notice it. Taking out her tacvisor, Sara rotated to face the direction the sounds were coming from and clumsily dragged the tacvisor over her eyes one-handed.

"What's going on, Sara?" Furry wanted to know.

"Are we going to be attacked?" Joshua added, the pride from earlier dissipating like chalk dust in a tornado.

"Not sure yet..."

"You sure it was a good idea to play mind chess?" Joshua persisted. "I mean it took a lot of focus--"

"I've been aware of the noise since during the game. I didn't tell you guys because it wasn't close enough for us to do anything about it, and I didn't want you guys to start worrying unnecessarily. Please be quiet for a moment."

Both the colonists fell silent, and Sara looked over the landscape. Suddenly, she saw something near the edge of a nearby plateau, a black streak against the white snow followed by a high-pitched

plink

. She zoomed in on it; it was a rope from a rappel gun. More

plink

s sounded, accompanied by jet black ropes.

"They're back," she told the colonists. "Get the loose stuff back into storage pronto, we'll need to leave in a hurry."

She kept her eyes on the multitude of ropes fastened to the rock near the plateau edge. A quick count revealed something disturbing:

There's only six ropes...

Dylan was the first to ascend the plateau. Chuck was close behind him, and shortly after him, Kestrel. Next up were Pal and Bill, carrying a bulky object between them. Sara raised an eyebrow.

The Nutcracker? What the hell happened?

After Pal and Bill rose Jezzy. The six Meggidos hastily detached their rappel guns and began sprinting toward the

Silver Ducky

.

Sara pushed the tacvisor onto her forehead. A quick glance-over informed her that all the equipment currently on the flycraft was stored away. Both Furry and Joshua were already strapped into their seats. She gave them a quick nod and continued to watch the progress of her Meggidos.

"What the hell happened out there?" Sara shouted as the Meggidos came up to the

Silver Ducky

. "Where's Black Cat? Why isn't that Nutcracker planted at the jammer?"

"Long story, Sara!" Jezzy hollered back. "Short version is Black Cat's an Arkon and we got unexpected assistance from the

Deborah

's marines! But we gotta scram,

now

! Detonation in a few minutes!"

That didn't really explain much.

"All right, move it, then!"

Sara hustled to a vacant seat on the right, second from the front, adjacent to Furry. It was still a challenge to manipulate the straps with one hand, but this time the process seemed a shade faster. One by one Meggidos ascended the ladder, deposited their packs into the rear storage container, and found themselves a seat. There was a slight slowdown as the Nutcracker was handed up from the ground and put away, but even with that caveat, all personnel were on board in less than a Liten minute.

"Wait!" Sara yelled as Pal dashed for the pilot's chair. "Make sure the storage container's sealed properly!"

Groaning, Pal doubled back and rapidly checked the locks. "We're good!" he reported as he sprinted for the pilot's chair once more.

"How much time do we have?" Sara asked.

Jezzy, seated across and two left of Sara, checked her wristcom. "Just over seventy-five Liten seconds. Less than one minute SST."

"Punch it, Pal!" Sara ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!"

The

Silver Ducky

lifted off the ground, and with a quick twist shot off the edge of the mountainside. As they screamed across the Liten sky, it didn't take long for Sara to realize that they were falling at an alarming rate...

"Is something wrong, Pal?" She screamed. "We're falling like a lead brick!"

"I know! I'm going almost full lateral, it'll get us away from the explosion faster!"

"You're mad!" Joshua cried. "You'll never be able to pull up again at these velocities!"

"Oh, yeah? Just watch--"

A suddenly flash of white. A loud, deep-throated rumble. Sara glanced back and up as a formidable cloud mushroomed into the sky. Massive chunks of rock barreled down, spreading out through the air before they left hefty craters in whatever surface they happened to crash upon. Fortunately, none of the rocks appeared close enough to be a threat to the

Silver Ducky

, and the shockwave appeared to have passed above them.

Was it really that easy?

"All right, Pal, we're clear!" Chuck shouted. "Pull up!"

"I'm trying!" Pal yelled. "She's not even slowing down! Oh, fuckin' hell!"

A sinking feeling overcame Sara's mind.

Dammit, of course it can't be that easy...

"I told you!" Joshua insisted. "I told you we were falling way too fast to pull up!"

"Well, thank you very much, Shitsmart McGenious," Pal growled. "You got any

helpful

suggestions, motherfucker?"

"Beyond pointing those jets straight down and keeping them at--"

"What if we're, like, less than fifteen seconds away from smashing into a mountain?"

Joshua was silent for a moment. "Try to land as vertical as possible, and brace for impact."

"Oh, fuck no...fuck no, man! No way we'll survive this, man, no way!"

From her position, Sara couldn't see the ground coming up at them; she could see towers of rock rising around them on either side.

Oh god, just don't let us land on one of those...

"Five seconds!" Pal yelled. "It was a pleasure serving with--"

"No, dammit!" Sara screeched. "We've survived this far, and we'll--"

A furious jolt, and suddenly they were skidding down a sharp incline. Shrieks and grates provided the musical accompaniment to this latest disaster piece. Without warning they were airborne again, barreling straight for a sheer rock wall. Violently they slammed into the wall, slightly askew of headfirst, and then they fell. Twirling to the ground, like a badly-crafted paper airplane. The darkened night sky swirled with the dark shapes of rock, refusing Sara a clear vision on what was happening.

Another harsh pop, and Sara's seat shot away from the

Silver Ducky

and into the air, tumbling madly. Sara was aware of the motion, but could not respond to it. Indeed, she could even bring herself to close her eyes to the dark blurs around her.

A virulent slam to the back of her head, and the motley darks became true black...

HackerHuck, Marsha "Black Cat" Thompson,

Arkon Roleblocker

, was killed in action on Day 4.

Night 4 has begun. Due to the Christmas holiday the night deadline will be extended to Sunday, December 26th, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. CST. Have a wonderful, glitch-free holiday, everyone!

P.S. In the event that I won't be able to add flavor in relatively soon, I'll make one large post that has the missing flavor in it.

SaintKerrigan · Post Post #1171 (ISO) » Sat Dec 25, 2010 7:05 pm

Southwestern Istor Forest
Colonized Sector 1, UTP Planet Liten, Tynnfred System
December 2nd, 2486 SC (Day 1, Month 15 LC)
1147 hours SST (1031 hours LLT1)

Sara had never seen so many trees in her life. Born and raised on the mining world of Pittsburgh, the topography she knew growing up was barren rock, lava rivers, and volcanoes with a penchant for erupting every other day. It wasn't easy, being a miner's child, especially when one's specialty was brain rather than brawn. The only way to survive was to be perfect, and all her life that was Sara's primary objective in life: sheer perfection.

Do well enough, and they won't be able to ignore you...

She continued to walk through the forest, alongside Scout Jackson. Seventeen Liten-hours of combing through this sea of trees, and no indication that the colonists had even been there.

Every minute we lose is one more minute the Arkons gain to find them...

Jackson stopped and held up his palm. "Wait."

Sara froze. "What is it?"

Jackson pointed up at a tree to their right. "That tree branch. It's been broken."

Looking at the indicated branch, it didn't take Sara long to see what Jackson meant. There were only two branches sticking out from it, and both had been bent backward to form the shape of an arrow. "A sign?"

"Perhaps. We might as well check it out, it's not like we've got any other leads."

"Agreed." Sara tapped her wristcom and brought it under her lips. "Margaret, this is Sara."

"I read you, Sara, go ahead."

"Scout Jackson and I have come upon a potential lead. We're going to check it out."

"Copy. Let's hope this goes somewhere, because we've got zilch on the rest of the board. Margaret out."

SaintKerrigan · Post Post #1172 (ISO) » Sun Dec 26, 2010 6:46 pm

So I really wanted to have all the flavor caught up before dawn as a Christmas present, but my schedule didn't treat me kindly (read: mod enjoyed the R&R overly much), so I didn't get all of it done. I'm going to go ahead and post what I do have completed, so it's less of a block read once I finish the catch-up.

Also, I've decided to post each flavor piece in its own post instead of all of them altogether, due to site issues with large, meaty posts (at least for me). I'll spoiler them, though.

Here goes (these are posted in the order which I would have posted them had I been up to date on flavor).

Spoiler: Opening Scene 6

SBF

Deborah

Hypertunnel Transit (Medici to Tynnfred)
November 30th, 2486 Space Calendar
0755 hours SST

Sara sat at the end of one of the long tables in the

Deborah

's mess hall, staring idly at her half-emptied tray of spaghetti and popcorn shrimp, with a glass of blue Voojoo on the side. She knew that accepting the invitation to the Special Operations Branch would mean more difficult assignments, but invading an Arkon-controlled planet to search for a nanoscopic needle in a macroscopic haystack--it was the perfect definition of "suicide mission". And here she was, with her inexperience in covert operations, expected to flawlessly take command should something happen to Margaret.

What if I can't do it? What if...what if I fail?

Someone set a tray on the table, across from her. Looking up, Sara saw Zanado, one of the SOBs, sit down, staring at her with dark brown eyes.

"You look lost in thought," he remarked. "Nervous about the upcoming mission?"

"A bit," Sara admitted, "but I've got it under control."

Zanado nodded. "That's good. If you don't, survival of the fittest will pare you away soon enough."

That was a bit...cold.

"You're with the Church of Darwin, right?" she inquired.

"Only as far as government regulation go." He took his fork and played with his buttered garlic mashed potatoes. "It's a common misnomer that Darwinism is a religion, really. The government only makes us classify ourselves within that tired framework because we lack enough incontrovertible evidence that our findings are true."

"Isn't that what a religion is, though? A collection of beliefs?"

"No, you misunderstand me. Science accurately predicts what happened; we just have to go find the proof. Alas, but the nature of macroscopic spaces precludes easy and rapid discovery of the evidence. It's only a matter of time, fortunately."

"But it's been, what, four or five hundred years. Surely--"

"If this is the standard by which you measure credibility, then we are hardly the only ones to fall short of your preconceptions of validity. Take the religion of our fellow comrade, Wesley. His god has had millennia to convince humanity that he exists, and yet where is he? And don't even get me started on Islam or Hinduism--"

Someone cleared their throat next to Sara, and she turned and looked up. One of the

Deborah

's marines stared back at her. "You're the second for the SOBs, right?" the marine inquired.

Sara nodded. "I am."

"Good. Please go muzzle your dogs before they cause an...incident."

The marine pointed at the other end of the mess hall. Looking in that direction, Sara saw Pal, Psycho, Kestrel, and Black Cat at a table with six marines. Suddenly, Pal slammed the table and yelled,

"And what the fuck do you know about dangerous, huh? They don't even

expect

us to come back alive when we go out on a mission, that's how bad our missions are..."

Quietly Sara ambled toward the cluster of people. Her mind raced like a particle of light through space.

This is a chance to show what you've got, Sara. Don't screw this up. You've handled worse situations, you'll get through this one.

By the time she reached the table of arguing people, she felt confident--or so she told herself.

"Can it, all of you!" she barked.

They ignored her and continued their diatribes.

"I said can it!" she yelled, and everyone stopped, turning to stare at her.

"You sons of bitches have quite the ego, don't you?" one of the male marines said to her. His namebadge read "Willard".

"It's not ego if you've earned it!" Pal retorted.

Sara held up her hand. "Calm down. What's going on here?"

"Those assholes think it's easy being a Meggido," Kestrel replied.

"So we, of course, had to set the record straight," Pal added.

Psycho nodded in agreement.

"I wasn't involved in any of this," Black Cat said. She picked up her vibration knife, the blade specked with bits of some kind of sticky juice--peach, if Sara interpreted the pits on Black Cat's plate correctly. "If you don't mind, Judith and I are going to retire before this becomes a shitfight," she added.

One of the other marines laughed. "They even let crazies like you in? Why don't you talk to my dick instead? It's just as lifeless, and much more enter--"

"Fuck off!" Pal yelled, leaping across the table and tackling the marine. "You wanna know how tough we are?" He slugged the marine in the face.

"Stop it!" Sara hollered, but Pal ignored her, walloping the marine incessantly.

"Get off of him, you bastard!" Willard shouted, seizing Pal by the shoulders and yanking him backwards, slamming his head on the floor. "You don't fuck with the marines and get away with it!"

"Just watch us!" Psycho proclaimed, jumping across the table onto Willard. A brawl quickly formed, in spite of Sara's vehement protests. Blood began dotting the floor of the mess hall, as well as the uniform of the combatants.

Sara stood outside of the melee, her mind frozen in indecision.

There's too many for me to break up on my own, but I can't let them continue like this...

Suddenly, one of the marines began screaming widly with pain, falling to the floor and writhing around. In seconds the other nine combatants followed suit. Sara stared at the scene, unsure of what was going on...

"What the hell is this?" Margaret yelled.

Looking in her direction, Sara saw the major standing a few tables away, with a laser pistol in hand.

Of course...the stun ray...

She fingered her own laser pistol.

How did I forget about that...

"Sara, what happened, here?" Margaret demanded to know.

Sara briefly explained the situation to her. Margaret nodded and input something onto her wristcom.

"Security, this is Major Sedarski. I've got ten people in the mess hall that need to be brought to the brig. Four SOBs, six marines. The SOBs get four hours; you can do as you see fit with your people."

She lowered her wrist and holstered her pistol. "Let's go, Sara. We need to go over the battle plans."

Sara nodded and followed Margaret out of the mess hall.

You failed, Sara. You can't afford to fail...

SaintKerrigan · Post Post #1173 (ISO) » Sun Dec 26, 2010 6:47 pm

Spoiler: Vote Count 4.1

Mt. Ivanova
Non-colonized Sector 1, UTP Planet Liten, Tynnfred System
December 5th, 2486 SC (Day 4, Month 15 LC)
0212 hours SST (2621 hours LLT3)

Jezzy trudged across the snow-crested rock, eyes focused on her scouts, Black Cat and Chuck, fifty meters ahead of her and the main group. They were barely visible in their combat uniforms, now colored to more closely match the bleak, monochromatic color palette of Mt. Ivanova. To her left, seven meters away, Mt. Ivanova continued to reach for the jet-black, star-studded sky; to her right, only about fifteen meters distant, lay the cliff edge, and below that, naught but air for at least a kilometer. The top of the Arkon jammer, a thick collection of needle-like spires, was just visible above the walls of rock on the left...

Suddenly, both Black Cat and Chuck froze and smoothly flattened themselves on the ground. Jezzy halted at once, and held her right hand up in a fist, signaling the other Megiddos to wait. Minutes ticked by, and neither Black Cat nor Chuck moved from their prone position. Silence rested heavily on the group, engulfing their bodies in a sea of water that no one dared disturb.

After a period that felt like hours, Black Cat slowly rose and began jogging lightly back towards Jezzy. It didn't take her long to arrive, and she'd hardly broken a sweat.

"We've located the jammer grounds, about half a kilometer beyond Chuck's positon and down some stepped plateaus," Black Cat reported. "But something strange is going on, Lieutenant."

"What?" Jezzy asked. "I'd be surprised if they weren't battle-ready, what with the explosion and--"

"No, it's not that at all. They're already engaged in combat with another party."

Once again, silence reigned supreme.

"Another party?" Dylan echoed. "You mean those fuckers are fighting with each other?"

Black Cat shrugged. "I don't know. Whatever's going on is happening on the other side of the jammer."

"I wonder if it's got anything to do with that rumble we heard earlier," Bill suggested.

"It doesn't matter," Jezzy said firmly. "This gives us a tactical advantage, and we need to exploit it. We're upping the pace to double-time. Black Cat, you and Chuck continue to scout ahead for us. When you get close enough, find sniping positions and cover the rest of us as we breach the jammer, as per the plan."

"With the Arkons being otherwise distracted, is the plan changing at all?" Kestrel inquired.

"Negative."

"Roger that. Just checking."

"Any more questions?" There were none. "Black Cat, get back to Chuck, and the rest of us will wait on the two of you."

Jezzy watched and waited as Black Cat made her way back to Chuck's position. The two scouts took out rappel guns, shot the grip through the snow and into the rock, and disappeared from sight.

"That's going to take awhile," Pal groaned.

"Zip it!" Jezzy hissed. "Everyone move out, double time!"

SaintKerrigan · Post Post #1174 (ISO) » Sun Dec 26, 2010 6:48 pm

Spoiler: Vote Count 4.2

Two hundred meters from the Arkon Planetary Communications Jammer
Non-colonized Sector 1, UTP Planet Liten, Tynnfred System
December 5th, 2486 SC (Day 4, Month 15 LC)
0226 hours SST (2647 hours LLT3)

Chuck knelt behind a waist-high rock and peered around it. Ahead of him, the jammer; from the ground level, it appeared much taller than it had from the air. The occupied section of the jammer only appeared to be a few stories tall, with much of the height coming from spindly, slightly-curled, black-green spires. A single catwalk lined each of the four levels that Chuck could readily discern, with a few guards patrolling each catwalk. There also appeared to be small, unmanned turret-bubbles, one on the third floor and one on the fourth floor of each of the visible corners of the heptagonal structure.

Glancing over in Black Cat's direction, Chuck observed that she'd found a good rock as well, about twenty meters from his, and had taken position behind it. She now glanced at him.

"One turret on each corner," Chuck mouthed. "Wait for my shot, eliminate visible turrets left side, then eliminate guards."

Black Cat mouthed the order back to him, ensuring that she hadn't misunderstood. Chuck nodded, and she nodded back and vanished back behind her rock. Chuck carefully adjusted his laser rifle to the highest intensity, which gave him six shots with the current battery.

He lowered his tacvisor over his eyes and took aim at the rightmost turret on the fourth floor. The tacvisor calculated where his shot would hit and placed a small red dot on the calculated location. Satisfied with his aim, Chuck waited a few moments to make sure Black Cat had time to calibrate her aim.

Then he pulled the trigger.

A violet beam of light sliced clear through the turret-bubble, melting it beyond all usability. Chuck quickly aimed at the turret directly below and took it out as well, while distant hissing noises told him that Black Cat had begun her own operation.

With the two rightmost turrets down, Chuck focused in on the two middle turrets, and within ten seconds those were down as well. Ducking behind the rock for a moment, Chuck changed the amplitude on his laser rifle, lowering it to just above the reported level for Arkon battle armor. Once he finished with that, he popped out around the other side of the rock he'd been firing from and began picking off the Arkon guards with yellow-green laser streaks, apparently unable to locate his and Black Cat's sniping position. Black Cat joined the sniping fray, and less than thirty Liten seconds later every outside guard was dead.

Chuck quickly made sure that there no other Arkon threats outside; he then raised his hand and made a beckoning motion, knowing that Jezzy was watching him.

An explosion sounded from inside the jammer. "What's going on in there?" Chuck muttered to himself as his eyes traipsed across the jammer...