[IC] Eternal Galaxy: Shards of Starlight - Part I

[NeoFox]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Hangar Bay M

Terra tensed up a bit as the girl wrapped her arm around Terra's shoulders. "I do have some-" She said as she immediately turned to the man with glasses. She let out a sigh of relief as she walked up to him. She examined him for a second before speaking up.
"I would rather prefer that. If he didn't manage to sneak aboard, then he should be in the logs. Once I find and retrieve him I will gladly give you the reward for your assistance. Now if you can just show me the logs... then I think we will all be happy" She said in a slightly calm sounding tone.

[MyHatismyFriend]

"Contact moving- no use in staying here. Move up and keep an eye on him. Engage if necessary."

Alright. The Operator drew her rifle and uncatched the safety, then dropped slowly to her stomach and inched her way towards the shore.

[Koishi]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

"Impressive. Where could they find one of those Aura crystal things that big anyways?" Mima asked.

---

Helios System
Black Market Hangar

---

"Nice ship." came a voice behind the Reaper as it entered it's ship. The Reaper turned to find Nova in her suit leaning against a wall. "Must have paid quite the pretty penny for it."

"Say something worth my time, or go." The Reaper replied in a monotone voice.

"Right, straight to the point. What i'm simply going to ask is for your help with a bounty I have been downright puzzled with." Nova said simply. "The bounty in question doesn't really have a name, just been called the Tracker."

The Reaper reacted quickly, pinning her to the wall, with a Kunai to her throat. "What DO you know?"

Nova chuckled. "Many things, like how to take apart a bicycle by hand, or juggling." Nova joked, even in the face of death. The Reaper lowered the kunai. "But seriously, not much. You have a bone to pick, I presume?"

"Yes." The Reaper said.

"So....will you help?" Nova asked.

The Reaper stopped pinning her and stood silently for a moment. "Yes. Only if I get the kill. You can keep the bounty."

"Works for me." Nova said. The two shook hands.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Main Observation Deck

"Well then, guess we are both ready" Mara told the officer as she was wlking towards the nearest pod

"See you on the other side partner" the bioroid said preparing for the simulation

[Cucoo5]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Aura Core

Nero was about to answer but then realized, "I...I actually don't really know. Probably took a big chunk of planet or asteroid...but...huh...I'm not really certain where." He turned and led her out and resealed the area. "Ok, so what you think? About things...in general...? Or anything in particular..."

---

Celestora System
Alcyon - Forest of Spirits

"Guns...always with the guns. Why is it always with the guns? Can you people...? Bah..." The man turned to the Operator with his hands in his pockets. "Don't bother with that silly thing. It doesn't work in my reality. So, What's your name?"

---

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Hangar Bay M

The man huffed slightly. "That device really does distort your hearing, doesn't it? Even without it on it seems to have affected you. You should have a medical officer look at that just in case..."
"You really have a way with people...anyway, we can help you find a Hangar Management officer and they can show you the logs." The girl responded. "Here I can show ya where they are normally." She then headed for an area along the back wall with a lift to an observation deck.

---

[NeoFox]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Hangar Bay M

"Yes I should..." Said Terra as she quickly examines her headpiece. "To think one of the newest devices for the New Genesis Hunter Force which is supposed to help with ones senses actually distorts hearing... at least it's in built radar is perfect for tracking, and is good for a communications channel. Luckily though the scientists that developed it said it will distort hearing for the first few months. After that though one's hearing should go back to normal." She said as she turns to the girl. "That would be much appreciated. I'm hoping the man I'm looking for will come back peacefully." Said Terra as she hears a small beeping from her headpiece. As she did she quickly puts it on, and pushes a small button on the side of it.

"Yes?" Terra answered...

"TERRA DID YOU FIND HIM YET!?!?" Yelled a distinct, hyperactive female voice from the other end of the communications channel. With the volume Terra had her headpiece set to she's lucky it didn't rupture her eardrums.

As soon as the person on the other end yelled, Terra quickly covered her ears in pain. "OH DEAR GOD MS. HARUKI!!! Don't ever do that again! I swear I'll go deaf if you keep doing that!" Terra replied. "And no I did not find him yet, though I am very close to locating him. Just give me another hour, and I should have captured him."

"Okay! Oh and sorry for doing that... it's just whenever you don't answer your communicator right away I tend to get worried... no matter! Just be sure to find him soon or you won't get any dessert tonight! We're having strawberry cake with vanilla icing and coated in chocolate chips! Bye now!" Said the woman on the other end of the communication channel.

Terra sighed as she closed off the communication channel. "To think she took out over 30 men on her own... Now as we were saying... mind if you help me find a Hangar Management Officer. I wish to get back to my captain's ship before dinner... Her strawberry cake is absolutely divine if you ask me." Terra said as she waited for a response.

[MyHatismyFriend]

It made for an interesting situation- the Operator, still invisible, semi-submerged in the water and lying on her stomach facing some nonchalant local perhaps who could somehow see through her camouflage. She eyed the man through the sights as she got up cautiously. Deactivating the TOJINBO's stealth array, she took one hand off the forward grip and gestured to the identification number attached to her right shoulder.

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Combat Simulation 1

John heard all of the recruits around him panicking over the enemy's overwhelming firepower. While they were tense, John was calm, as if this was where he belonged.

"We'll be fine. Just do what I say and we'll be back home before you know it.", John calmly said to the recruits.

After speaking, John walked over to one of the windows in the back of the room and peeked outside to get a better view of the enemy. As John peeked out an armored soldier as there to greet him with a hail of Aura bullets. John could have dodged them, but they were negligible to his armor's systems. Right as the soldier fired at John, John pulled out his M6D Magnum Pistol and laid down three armor piercing, high-explosive rounds at the soldier's head. Compared to a Sanghelli's energy shield, the soldier's was very weak. The first two bullets slammed against the soldier's energy shield, exploding on contact and destroying his shields, leaving a clear path for the final bullet. The final bullet tore through the soldier's helmet, his skull, then exploded, sending shrapnel reeling throughout its target and killing the soldier instantly. As their comrade died, the two soldiers behind the dead soldier opened fire. John still did not move, his shields would easily be able to hold out. Just as he did with the previous soldier, John fired three shots for each hostile; two to take down their shields, and one to finish the job. The soldiers fell to the ground, dead from the lethal force of a single exploding bullet. Just before John thought the coast was clear, the window to his left-rear flank shattered as more Aura rounds whizzed through the air, slamming into John's shields. In that single instant, John spun around to face his assailant and fired three more shots; two for the soldier's shields, and one in the head. The soldier reeled back from the force of the bullet and fell to the ground dead. This caused the two soldiers closest to him to fall back to the safety of the tanks, where they would not get shot. As soon as the soldier was dead, John quickly checked his shields as he removed the empty clip and replaced it with a new one.

< 66.67% >

John saw that the shield gauge on the top of his HUD was two thirds full. It wasn't serious damage, but he knew that it meant he couldn't be reckless. After quickly assessing the damage, John then returned to his original task; looking out the window to perform a threat assessment of the enemy. John could see that there were three tanks to the northeast, as well as seven hostiles clustered around the tanks, possibly to prevent the tanks from being hijacked. After getting a visual on the enemy's northeast force, John then looked to his radar to assess the battlefield he couldn't see. From what John could see, there were five hostiles to the immediate south of the building, five hostiles and two tanks to the west of the building, and fourteen hostiles and one tank to the northwest. John had already killed four of their soldiers, which meant that they had 31 hostiles and six tanks remaining.

"Stay away from the windows. There's soldiers nearby.", John calmly said to the recruits as he moved away from the windows.

John then thought about the ideas the recruits around him were sharing. They were right about the tanks. They could possibly stand up to the infantry, but if they couldn't take down the tanks, then the enemy would have the advantage. John could easily rush the tanks, but he would then be an easy target for the snipers. He could try to pick them off, but their shields would protect them from single shots from his Magnum, which left John with one idea. It was crazy, and if Cortana were here, she would tell him so, and even call him crazy for even considering it. Of course, John had a knack for actually pulling off these crazy plans of his. John fully developed a well thought-out plan within a single second, and as soon as it was complete, he shared it with the group as his shields fully regenerated.

"I got an idea how to take out those snipers, as well as us finishing this fight with minimal to no casualties.", John calmly said.

"There's a tower to the northwest. That's where the snipers are at. What I'm going to do is make a dash for the tower, picking off enemies as I run, and climb it. According to my radar, if I climb the east side of the tower, I'll only have to worry about two hostiles. The hostiles in the northeast are too far away for them to accurately hit me. I will get shot at by tanks, but I'll manage. I don't think they would shoot at the tower and destroy their tactical advantage until after I kill their snipers."

"To halt my advance up the tower, they will resort to sending in their footsoldiers from the northeast. That is where you guys com in. as they approach me, you guys open fire from the north facing window, and hit their left flank. They will be forced to either carry out their mission and prevent their loss, or protect themselves and lose their pivotal advantage."

"I will kill the snipers, which will eliminate their asset. By this point, they will no longer see the point in keeping the tower, and rather than letting it fall into our hands, they will use the closest tank in the southwest to blow it up. I will be inside and destroy some of the support beams, so that when they shoot the tower, it will fall right on top of one of the footsoldiers and allow me a straight shot for the tank. As soon as I take that tank, the western front will be forced to fight me from their rear and you guys from their front. Seeing how one man was able to take out a chunk of their forces, they will consider me the biggest threat. This will allow the snipers above to take out the soldiers in the western front."

"When this happens, the hostiles to the south will try and shoot the snipers. This is where you come in. You guys will use the south window to shoot the soldiers while they are distracted. Your combined firepower will destroy their shielding almost instantly if you keep focused on two targets at a time. They will be forced to protect themselves from you guys, allowing our south sniper to kill them from above."

"This will stir up enough of a panic for them to try and mobilize the soldiers in the north building. They will take the quickest and safest possible route. Of course, they won't know about Joe and the other soldier in the building with them, and they will be an easy target for them."

"The other two tanks will most likely blow my tank up, which means that I will be forced to evacuate. Of course, they won't expect a single soldier to have the ability to lift a tank, so they will be shocked to see me using it as a shield as I walk towards them. This will scare them and they will focus more attention on me, leaving themselves wide open for you guys to pick off their gunners and shields. As soon as I get close enough, I will destroy the two remaining tanks."

"Throughout this entire fiasco, the tanks in the northeast will try and stop me. They would not try to blow up this building because they would not want to destroy the terminal. If they do try to destroy the walls, then I want you guys to take cover. Speaking of taking cover, I want four people to guard the south and southeast window, two for each window. If they toss a grenade in, toss it back. If you can't, then your shields will hold."

"Their influence in the west will be no more, there would be no more soldiers protecting the tanks in the northeast, the troops in the south will be killed, and it will give Joe and the others a perfect distraction, allowing them to massacre the enemy in the northern building. That would finally leave us with the three remaining tanks, which our combined forces could easily neutralize."

"You may have doubts about my plan and my ability to predict their movements, but their obvious training makes them predictable to me. They might slightly deviate from my plan and predictions, but they will still react accordingly., John said to the group.

"Does everyone understand?", John asked.








Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Main Observation Deck

After all the business was over and done with for the simulation's preparations, Cortana thanked the officer and walked over to one of the pods. After opening it up, Cortana then laid down inside of it, closed the pod, closed her eyes, and relaxed herself as the simulation began...




Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana opened her eyes and noticed that she was sitting on a wooden bench. Right next to her was Mara.

"So, shall we begin?", Cortana playfully asked Mara as she stood up and looked around the house they were in.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation


Mara got up too and looked around "Well, the first things you should know about your senses are the ones of your skin" she said going to the kitchen

The bioroid took opened the fridge and took the ice putting them on the nearest table. Then she went for the stove and ignited the burner putting a kettle with water on it. Finally she took a knife and put it on the table near the ice cubes

"Your skin will feel almost anything it touches, but the three most natural ones are hot, cold and pain." the white haired pointed out showing each of the tools to start with

Let´s start with the hot, as the temperature raises, your body will start swating to release its natural steam, but as it goes hotter, the skin will get burned to a certain degree, you can start by feeling the space close to the water Mara explained taking the kettle and pouring the now hot water on a mug

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana was actually a little excited to start. So far, she had felt the sensations of her feet against the ground as she walked, the taste and texture of an apple, the refreshing feeling of drinking water, the feeling of air entering and exiting her lungs, and the feeling of clothing against her own skin. These were all things a normal person would consider mundane and would take for granted, but to her, each sensation was a wonder in itself, a new, exciting discovery. Even feeling the thumping of her heart beating in her chest brought wonder and excitement to her. These new discoveries would most certainly be no different.

Cortana did as Mara instructed and walked towards the scalding hot water in the mug beside Mara. She could see the steam emanating from the water, slowly rising out of the mug, then dissipating in the air. After observing the water, Cortana placed her hand into the steam, triggering a completely new experience for her. Cortana felt the warmth of the steam as it flowed around her hand and into the air, where it finally disappeared. As the seconds ticked by, Cortana could feel the warm moisture the steam left behind as it brushed past her hand. The feeling of having warm moisture collect on one's hand would have been uncomfortable to a normal person, but Cortana had the opposite reaction. Cortana relished the feeling, savoring the sensation against her skin.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation


Mara stood there examining Cortana´s reactions to the scalding water, it was obvious that the AI was in amazement with it and Mara understood why about it.

As you can feel it, the vapour and the space around it have a higher temperature level than the average, in a hot day your body will feel rather thicker, mostly in your fingers. It is a natural feeling, but careful, too much heat will cause the beginnings of burning" she explained

Then the bioroid took an ice cube and gave it to Cortana "Now here you got the opposite of heat. The cold temperature makes your body shiver since it must compensate the lack of warmth around it, the so called goosebumps will appear as a reaction but they aren´t serious. Oddly though having too much cold contact will burn you too."

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Seeing the newest experience being handed to her, Cortana puller her hand away from the steam and grabbed the ice cube Mara handed to her. In that single instant, Cortana felt the biting cold coming from the ice cube. It was a truly strange sensation, especially since the biting cold of the cube began to gradually grow until it stung. The feeling was uncomfortable, but Cortana continued to hold it. Even though it was now somewhat unpleasant, Cortana kept the ice cube in her hand, almost as if she was memorizing the sensation.

"I can see why people don't really like the cold. It feels...", Cortana remarked, trailing off at the end.

The truth was, Cortana couldn't really describe what she was feeling. She knew every word in the dictionary for every language devised by man, but had never learned to associate the words with the senses of touch.

"...Biting? Stinging?", Cortana finally said, taking the words in literary writings used to describe what she was feeling now.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation


Mara nodded to Cortana´s responses and answered "There are many words for it and those are really good feelings that the cold can do, it can be stinging if it goes to extreme levels, but it can be pleasant if it is in a calm level"

The white haired then took the knife "Now the last one of the most common feelings from the skin is pain. This feeling im sure you understand is umpleasant but you must understand that our bodies sooner or later will feel pain, it is a common thing" she said prikling her palm calmly

At first the bioroid flinched as the tool pierced her skin, some silverish liquid slipped out "This is our blood, we have an usual quantity of five litters of blood on our system and we need it to be at best level. Pain can vary from many types, it can be a constant pressure caused by a pounding injurie, a higher sensitivity caused by burns, an itching caused by an allergic reaction and so on with many types of pain like raw exposure caused by a cut like the one in my hand." she explained showing the small injury on her palm to the AI

"If you want to, we can test your pain with something more drastic as a weapon or something related"

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana was a little hesitant to explore pain, but she wanted to know what it felt like now, rather than face it later when her life would possibly be on the line.

"I think I'll start off with something small before moving on to getting shot, burned, and stabbed.", Cortana said to Mara in a joking tone as she approached the knife drawer.

Taking another kitchen knife from the drawer, Cortana slowly pressed her finger on the tip of the blade, slowly putting more and more pressure behind the knife until it finally broke the skin. A stinging sensation shot through Cortana's finger as the blade pierced the skin, drawing a small droplet of her silvery, mercury-like blood. Cortana quickly pulled her finger away from the tip of the knife as the pain registered in her brain, and lightly shook her hand.

"I didn't think it would hurt that badly.", Cortana remarked as she frowned at the droplet of artificial blood on the tip of her finger.

It was only a minor injury, but it still stung. Cortana heard many accounts of people in physical and mental pain, but she had never felt such a thing. She never could have comprehended that pain felt like this. It made her feel sorry for everyone that had to go through much worse than what she just felt, especially John. She knew that he was covered in scars from previous wounds much larger than the tiny little prick on her fingertip. She could only imagine what it must have been like to suffer the same injuries as her partner. A look of slight concern spread across Cortana's face as she began to think about not only the possible pain of John's previous injuries, but the pain of all the injuries she had heard about. Yes, pain was an evolutionary adaptation to deter a specimen from damaging itself, but she didn't know it was this... potent.

[bookdragon2000]

Sol Inceneron
Inopia - Temple of the Lost

Nhiome trudged forward and slowed as he neared the pedestal. He laid Dalia down, then after shrugging the stiffness out of his shoulders, stepped forward to examine the carving. I can't tell anything from this...and what is this orb? How is it giving off light...it should have been abandoned for thousands of years, this must be some form of aura energy to last this long. Maybe it could be used to power my ship?Nhiome reached forward uncertainly, then paused with his fingers an inch away from the surface of the orb. For some reason, he was feeling uneasy. He shook his head, then reached forward and picked up the orb to examine it.