StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So, I got my first PHALANX posting. I seem to be replacing a... robot? Who is wounded? Idunno. Everybody seems to be worried about the Director and suspicious of the Acting Director, but he seems a good enough bloke. There's some scuttlebutt about other organisations fighting the aliens and, while any help is appreciated - why, in the face of an existential threat, wouldn't everyone be pulling together and pooling our efforts? I mean, I know humans have been killing each other since we evolved, but you'd think an extraterrestrial threat would make us get over our petty differences.

...I just hope everyone at home will be alright. As far as I can tell, there's no coverage over Australia. And that's something else! HOW can we be having budget problems? Why aren't we getting all the money we need? Hell, why do we NEED money? Shouldn't PHALANX pretty much be given carte blanche to grab whatever resources we damn well need, and we'll work it out when we're not in danger of being conquered/enslaved/harvested/whatever?

*sigh* Oh well, at least I have a little while to get to know my squadmates before the first mission. I heard that sometimes the replacements haven't even arrived and the next incursion's happening. Hopefully I'll get assigned a role in my squard that my lack of depth perception won't be so much of a problem... Why was I, of all people, assigned to something this important? Oh well, at least I got one of the last sets of Urban Camo - again with the supplies problem...

Just what the hell was going on on that last mission? Is someone running a different organization that we know nothing about? And what happens when we run into them?

OOC: And if we ever make a base in Australia, the name for that one MUST be Kangaroo Court!

Hawkwings sat in the mess hall again, this time with a metal etching tool. "Yee-uh, those stickers worked pretty well on short notice, but it's time for something a bit more permanent... Haha, it's a tattoo for my gun!"

Meanwhile, on another train of thought: "Those civvies on the last mission were weird, like more than usual. And I didn't know we were outsourcing our research now... Better go talk with Nitram. Still gotta apologize for breaking Cyber-Torben..."

---A few hours later---

Hawkwings knocked on the door to the lab. "Nitram, you there?" The door creaked open slightly, revealing Nitram sitting in front of a whiteboard with... things... written on it. "Um... So I wanted to say sorry for breaking Cyber-Torben..."

So who took my coffee?, what do you mean you switched me to decaf for health reasons?, flying folks into face alien threats is a deciededly unhealthy business, and I don't care about blood pres--=

falls down as someone steps over me holstering a tranq pistol.

*PeZook walks off the transport carrying a guy in one hand - by his collar*

REPORTING ORGANIC INFORMATION SOURCE FOR INTERROGATION BY PHALANX SPECIALISTS. FIELD QUESTIONING INCONCLUSIVE. CIVILIAN MEAT-UNIT WOULD NOT DIVULGE PERSONAL DESIGNATION NOR AFFILIATION DESPITE SEVERE ENCOURAGMENT.

RECOMMEND ADMINISTERING MEDICAL AID BEFORE COMMENCING INTERROGATION.

"Right, Pezook, put him in the medical ward. Once he's healthy again, put him in my office."

"Hey, I bought chips! Who wants some?"

"You didn't so much break him as fried a part that helps regulate his brain." Nitram was considering his whiteboard. "Logic chips are common enough, but plugging in a stock one to our cyborgs doesn't work, it s eems. Gonna need to create new ones." He rubs his head.

Force Lord wrote:"Hey, I bought chips! Who wants some?"

"Oooh chips! Here, gimme some, they're perfect hacking food... "

"Wait I shouldn't have mentioned the whole hacking our own bases files for information should I..."

*whispers something to OmegaChief's ear*

The beaten man was in his office, sitting there in a chair nursing his wounds. On the opposite side was Fax Modem, who poured two glasses of scotch. He gave one to the man.

Once the man drank his glass. Fax Modem started talking.

"So, who are you? Who do you work for? And why are you doing our job?"

CIVILIAN MEAT-UNIT HAS DECLINED ANSWERS TO DIRECT QUESTIONS BEFORE. IT IS LIKELY IT REQUIRES STIMULATIONS OF PAIN RECEPTORS IN ORDER TO SHIFT THE COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS IN OUR FAVOR.

REQUEST PERMISSION TO FETCH POWER TOOLS FROM THE MACHINE SHOP.

"Negative PeZook. Leave the room and don't come back unless I call for you."

AFFIRMATIVE. CARRYING OUT ORDER.

"Sorry about that. So, who do you work for?"

The man answered.
"Phalanx. We're like your group, only professional."

Fax Modem frowned at that, he wasn't expecting that. He quickly hit the privacy mode button on his desk.

1 hour later.

Once Fax Modem got the information he wanted, he escorted the man to the hangar bay.

"barnest2, take this man wherever he wants to go, Authorization Fax Modem Delta Peekaboo ocho twenty."

"Authorization confirmed. Ready for take off... I still have an active ejector seat don't I" the interceptor says, a chuckle pervading his voice.

"Take him where he wants to go...unharmed."

Fax Modem looked at the prisoner.

"Go."

ERRATIC BEHAVIOR DETECTED. CLARIFICATION: DEVIATION FROM STANDARD PRISONER PROCESSING PROCEDURE. FILING REPORT.

REPORT FILED.

RESUMING NORMAL DUTIES.

Fax Modem brings out a remote from his pocket. PeZook's 'upgrades' delete the past two hours of his day due to 'EMOTIONAL IRREGULARITIES'.

FaxModem1 wrote:"Take him where he wants to go...unharmed."

Fax Modem looked at the prisoner.

"Go."

"Understood. You can be so dull sometimes Fax..." Barnest says, before manoeuvring into position to launch. The interceptor shoots into the air and sets off...

"Off-the-shelf tech? Well, looks like we're outpacing the civilian tech out there. No big surprise really."

Looking at the whiteboard again, Hawkwings says to Nitram "Say, what's that on the whiteboard there?"

Now in an empty hangar, Fax Modem sighed, hoping he knew what he was doing and left for his office.

"Things are getting out of hand"

"By a scary pace. Cybernetics is still restoring function to the wounded, not the deceased." He sighed. "Just a record of anomalies. As they flow, perhaps I can find an explanation."

Force Lord wrote:*whispers something to OmegaChief's ear*

"These are edible chips, dang it."

"Yes! For eating, while hacking! And all you said was 'Whisper Whisper Whisper' in a quiet voice into my ear!"

Omega resumes his attempt at cracking into the files on the base to see if there's any hints