"I like the radiation idea the best so far..." Says the Vrusk with a slight shrug of his shoulders indicating he's not really sure if thats right or not.

You can always type a guess in and see if it succeeds or fails...and what the results might be.

"Hurry up!  We need to get this thing going!"
Hammer sits in the escape pod watching others.
He never had any combat training -- maybe he needed some in the future?

"The correct answer is probably death."

"Start typing people!"

With Yag having sprinted back into the corridor, Bartja feels a little more relaxed and willing to guess what the pass-code might be.  Sliding over to the keyboard, he quickly types in G-FORCE.  If that fails, he tries his second favorite, RADIATION.

"If this doesn't work, I'm opening her up with my toolkit" he says in great angst as he tries to crack the security.

"No, no!  Try dust!  Atoms are also everywhere, as is the void.
But it sounds like dust to me.

I didn't see that hint on that screen, sorry about that.

I'm an exobiologist, I know something about these things."

Hammer looks smug, but inside, he has no idea if that's the right answer.
Despite being an astute scientist, he's never been good with riddles.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:13, Wed 25 May 2011.

After Desi takes her shot (this round), if the escape pod doesn't work, she will move over to the other one where Yag went and check on him.

Yag runs across.  The large robot is distracted.  It fires everything it has at Yag.  Unfortunately, Yag is also between the robot and the giant windows looking out on the beauty of space.  The lasers hit the windows, and they begin melting and warbling.  Then the large recoilless rifle is trained on Yag...

Desi fires at the large robot, hitting it in the spot between its neck and head.  It seems to warble slightly, and its recoilless rifle goes off...

Yag is hit.  (66 dmg.)

The recoilless also slams bullets into the window area, and tne weakened glass gives way, sending air flying out into the vacuum of space.

Yag is too close.  He is pulled to the hole in the window, where he luckily grabs on.

Debris in the room begins flying toward the ever increasingly large hole, which is now about 6 feet across.  The large robot stumbles.  (Robot cannot attack next round.  Robot is at a -10 percent to hit.)

And then...to your dismay...Yag is hit by flying debris.  He loses his grip and goes flying out into space.  (Yag is dead.)

The other robots had been coming your way.  There are 12 total.  Each has a 10% chance next round of braving the decompression and being able to reach the escape pod.

Hammer seems to be getting inspiration...

Bartja sits at the console of the escape pod, the stress of the moment becoming too much.  The injuries he carries should have been fatal and he knew he was only alert and active thanks to the pseudo-adrenaline injected into him (Stimdose).  Fortunately the steroids used also speed healing and stop bleeding or he would be dead for certain - almost as certainly dead as Yag now seemed to be.

For a moment, Bartja grieved and grimaced for his fallen comrade - but there wasn't time to properly do so.  He would have to let the rage out later, when everyone else that could be saved had been saved.

Then he noticed Hammer seemingly muttering to himself as the decompression began to swell his ears.  Of course Hammer was yelling, but the rush of wind and pressure change was making it difficult to hear.  It looked and almost sounded like Hammer had a better idea for the password......

"Hit "a", the answer is the letter "a."!!!!!"  Hammer yells,
hopefully louder than the decompression noise.

If Bartja can't hear him, he will yell it at him.
If he still can't get the info across, he will type it.

Hammer does not suffer from the lack of air,
but he realizes he may soon be the only one still alive.
"a!!!!"

Desi watches her shot hit home but too little too late as she sees the recoiless rifle discharge its round and Yagrith is hit by it.  Before she can react any further, she also sees & hears the windoes starting to give way and the air inside the escape pod area start to go out as well as the body of Yagrith.  Her screaming his name out is probably barely audible as the area starts to decompress.  All she can do is hope that someone can break the code and get them out of here before the other robots sent to stop them keep coming towards them.

The letter "a" is pushed.  A screen lights up:


You have successfully answered the first security question.  Congratulations, human.

Here is your second security question:


The screen suddenly fades and you hear General Ashe in your ear.

"I'm alive," he says.  "We've gotten into one of the computers and we see your situation.  The computer is sending you an endless list of riddles to delay you.  We're overriding right now."

A moment later, you hear a voice overhead:

"Override accepted.  Preparing to launch pod.  Please press the gr..."

The voice cuts out.

The general cuts in again.  "Push the button!  It's going to lock me out soon.  Hurry and..."

His voice also cuts out.

The giant robot is positioning itself to fire into the cabin of the escape pod.  It will fire next round.  The air is also whooshing out.  Luckily, the other smaller robots are being thrown off balance by the decompression.

Looking down, in addition to the keyboard, you see several buttons:

A red button
A blue button
A gray button
A green button
A black button

Green or Gray, that was what Bartja thought he started to hear before it cut out.  Gray didn't make any sense and Green always seemed to mean "Go".

Taking a chance before the big robot fired, Bartja reached out and pressed the Green button....

OOC: I'm thinking the Green button makes sense myself.  Gray would be our luck though...

Actually, I will roll randomly...  :)

"Send it now or we're all gunna die real soon!"

"Hurry! Its about to fire!" Yelled the doctor as he prayed the doors to the pod will close.

S'Krllk mumbles something about meeting someone and dignity, then expresses his disgust at the idea as he rolls up like a woodlouse to await the inevitable.

The green button is pushed...

OOC: Sorry, guys, the roll came up gray.

After you push the green button, a voice comes over the intercom.  "You have indicated the escape pod doors must be held open for further boarding.  Holding..."

The giant robot rounds the corner, guns blazing.  The inside of the escape pod erupts with the fire as recoiless rounds fire into the room along with blasts from a laser rifle.

OOC: Okay, this time you got lucky.

Apparently, between the damage done to the giant robot and the whooshing of air in decompression, something has messed up the robot's recoilless rifle.  It explodes in the robot's face.  (78 dmg--critical miss)  No one inside is hurt, and the recoilless is disabled.  The laser misses you as everyone ducks.

One of the smaller robots appears in the entryway.  It has some kind of weapon in its hand that it will fire next round.

OOC: You can now post for next round.  Someone might want to try the other button.

Not green, gray!  Bartja pushes the gray button with vehemence as he recovers from dodging the laser.  He also ducks the sight of the new threat as well as he can....

Desiraye brings the business end of her laser rifle up on to the armed robots chest and fires a single 10-SEU shot into it trying to buy them another few seconds to get the escape pod into space and away from here.  "GRAY, NOW!!!"

Beam Weapons: 6
DEX: 30
Laser Rifle 30/50 (Beltpack)

Laser Pistol: 12/20

"You're terminated!"  Hammer shouts, shooting.   Looks around, "What?  I saw it on an old recording."

If a shot presents itself Professor Kri'lik will also fire his laser pistol out of the pod door at one of the approaching robots, but only if he can do so safely without shooting one of his companions.

Beam weapons 45% + aim 5 SEU

Desi and Kri'lik fire at the robot entering the door, both hitting it.  Hammer's shot goes wide.

Bartja pushes the gray button.

A voice on the intercom states:


"Emergency evacuation intitiated.  Closing doors.  Please remove all objects from the doorway."

Desi and Kri'lik had disabled the small robot in the doorway, and Desi kicks it, sending it flying out into the quickly decompressing chamber beyond.

The door closes, locking you all inside.

The intercom voice says:

"Evacuation beginning.  Please fasten safety restraints.  Ejection in 10...9...8...7..."


You hear pounding against the door as blasts from beyond hit it, lasers and other things.  Air begins pouring into the escape pod, counteracting the decompression effects.

You get strapped in quickly.

"2...1..."

The escape pod takes off with a whoosh.  The coordinates are preset to Starstation Aurora.  The trip is long and uneventful, but you can't help wondering about General Ashe and Shinsa and the efforts to take back the Pegasus.

The escape pod lands safely in the Aurora, and you are greeted by military personnel from UPF, who are aware of the situation on the Pegasus.  You are again put through a decontamination procedure, and several hours later, you are cleared.

By that time, the fate of the Pegasus is known.  General Ashe and Shinsa were able to take control of the bridge with the help of some others.  The Matrix infection was put down, but the Pegasus will have to orbit the station without docking until the all clear is given.