maskormenacelogs | The Mars Mission

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The Mars Mission

THE MARS MISSION

WHO: Those that signed up here
WHERE: Space -> Mars
WHEN: From the 10th until approximately the 26th
WHAT: It's a mission to Mars
WARNINGS: Please put your warnings in thread subject headers

THE JOURNEY TO MARS

The trip to the moons of Mars goes by in a relatively blinding fast 8 days. The views outside the ship are striking, especially for anyone from a terrestrial home universe. Can anything put one’s place in the universe in perspective quite like the void of space? But this isn’t a pleasure cruise. The trip to a (presumably) fully fortified enemy base is time for last minute planning and making peace with the universe, not snapping selfies by the windows.

The ship itself looks like a red rocket straight from a 50’s sci-fi show, and comfortably holds about 25 people. Not all the individuals on the ship are imPorts, however. NASA has sent its own contingent of native scientists along for the mission, and they seem even more nervous than you. The life support system is a little creepy, but as long as you just don’t think too hard about it hopefully you can avoid any existential crises caused by Darth Jadus’ system. The artificial gravity will at least keep your feet on the floor!

The ship itself is unarmed, though it has both shrink rays and freeze guns to protect itself - or find some ingenious uses in the meantime. The stores, for example, have all been shrunk down to miniscule sizes - so if you’re looking for a snack, you better get that shrink ray out and size up your food!

Once the orbit of the moon is behind the ship, imPort powers begin to short-circuit and some imPorts will experience nosebleeds, headaches, or other minor inconveniences as the influence of the porter is left behind. A limited number of nanite boosters have been made and stored on the ship, but use them with care. They’ll return you to tip top shape for 6-12 hours each, allow for nanite healing, as well as give imPorts access to their powers. However, there are a limited number available to the mission. Think carefully when it will be worth treating those minor aches and pains. But on the other hand, who knows when danger may strike on this journey? To the more cautious on the ship, maybe it will be worth it to be in top shape and immune to permanent death during the trip itself, instead of just during arrival to Phobos. Be careful - too many and you may suffer withdrawal symptoms such as inconsistent powers and memory loss.

Despite any potential wariness, however, the trip itself goes smoothly. Well, as smoothly as a bunch of imPorts stuck in a small space for 8 days on the way to certain danger can go. Have fun with that. Potential personality clashes aside, though, no traps or ambushes await the ship. Ready or not, the team finally reaches Mars.

ORBITAL INVESTIGATION

From orbit, the base does not appear terribly impressive. Built into one of the many deep craters on the relatively beaten up Phobos, the base at first appears to be little more than a shack perched on the moon’s surface, with what was clearly the launching pad for the previous missile strike positioned nearby. Based on the amount of materials the team knows were sent to Mars, however, it’s clear the base must be far larger than what initially meets the eye. The entire crater below, and likely even deeper into the moon, must contain concealed areas of the base. Scanning and attempting to map out important areas of the base- as well as figure out just how many people are on it- is likely a high priority for the initial leg of this mission.

Probes, hacking, and scans are among the mundane available options.

Scans will show a large network of underground interconnected tunnels, including a missile silo near to where the launch pad is on the surface. It becomes clear very quickly that there are still nuclear armaments on base, but their command modules are not reachable from outside interference. Hackers will have to go on ground to disable their guidance and command systems. The base doesn’t seem to have a lot in the way of outer defenses, however - they don’t seem to have been expecting guests.

Connected to those underground tunnels, there are also large rooms full of equipment that are probably laboratories of some kind, and there’s definitely a life sign that keeps registering from inside them. Who knows what they’re studying - the computer systems seem to be on a separate network from anything that sends a feed out into space, but there’s definitely a lot of data being generated there. The feeds are encrypted, and even after encryption, are obtuse and difficult to understand. You’re going to have to talk to the scientist to make sense of them.

The probes will find that there are multiple maintenance passages and emergency airlocks that are simple flat panels on the surface of the moon - they may offer a clandestine way down into the lower levels rather than through the main airlock, but it’s unlikely that they have any atmosphere.

For those using power based forms of divination or telepathy, some additional information can be found. Though the scanners have a hard time parsing individual life forms, the telepathically inclined will register eight humans on the station, as well as a host of other moving, semi-sentient beings that are not biological in nature. The likelihood is? Robots. Lots and lots of robots.

Among these various voices, there is one notable signal that these powers are able to pick up on among the normal hum of human minds. If focused on, some additional details from this specific mind can be picked up. For diviners, images of needles, gas masks, gloved hands, and bright flashes of red and black can be picked up. To telepaths, the mind is a chaotic jumble- put not a passive one. A telepath that leaves their mind open too long will find erratic thoughts pushed towards their own mind, like a SOS signal desperate to be picked up by anything capable of receiving it. If focused on by any kind of tracking power, it can be determined the source is deep within the base.

MOD NOTE: To allow for planning and IC discusion, the post will be limited to the journey there/orbital investigation for the week. On 9/17 investigating the base/the journey home will be posted. Please address all mod questions HERE and continue to plot among yourselves HERE. It will also help us a great deal to write up more interesting exploration prompts if character teams summarize HERE what they will be specifically investigating on the base- if you are unsure, please feel free to ask questions first!

THE FINAL ASSAULT

GETTING IN

After contact is made, and the Aegis team sends back its findings, permission is given to go ahead and engage the Phobos base. There are two main options for attempted entry. First, the main airlocks are the obvious entry and exit points out of the base. Four airlock bays are connected to the same entrance hall and storage facility, and are - quite predictably - absolutely full of robotic security. This is where the bulk of the on-base security systems have been focused, ready and waiting for any imPort that attempts to board the station. The robots are armed with everything from flame throwers to ion cannons, so watch your step, imPorts!

However, there is the second way in. Scattered around on the surface are small open vents - the only remaining outward sign of the maintenance shafts used to build the station into the rock of Phobos. A twisting maze of tight corridors, these are relatively unprotected - however they have no atmosphere, and you’ll still have to find a place to blast into the base. But, it means you might buy some time against the security systems, as well as penetrate deeper into the base before they realise you’ve breached the security.

Characters can go in either way, or use both in seperate groups. A main assault on the airlock doors will trigger security, but it will also focus their attacks on that group while another sneaks into the airlocks. They have no idea just how many imPorts came on this trip, after all. On the other hand, everyone could just sneak in, but that will leave the OTO more focused to go after characters once the base has been penetrated.Splitting up groups will about half the number of robots that must be fought by the stealth group once they enter the base. Either way, it’s going to be quite a fight in unknown territory.

But at the end of the day, you are all imPorts. Robots and humans, especially on such a remote base deprived of backup, don’t really stand a chance of total victory. And someone notices that. Shortly after the first waves of defences are repelled, an alarm begins to blare through the base: the self-destruct sequence has begun. You have thirty minutes until the base explodes. A dedicated hacker with someone guarding them while they work can delay the explosion another half hour, giving the party one hour to get what they came for. After that, a base with nukes in it is going to blow.

INSIDE THE BASE

Once inside the base, it becomes clear quickly that there is very little gravity - Phobos is a small enough moon that it generates only about 0.06% of Earth’s gravitational pull. Unlike the ship you came on, there’s no artificial gravity. It will quickly become clear that you may need to rethink how to navigate the space you’re in.

Consoles scattered throughout the base can be hacked to give a complete layout of rooms and systems. These plans reveal the base is arranged in a stacked series of six levels. While the number of people varies on each level, security cameras and wall mounted laser guns can are a common decorating theme. Make sure to take those out before looking too far!

The top level is reserved for the airlocks, as well as some storage for incoming / outgoing supplies and samples, with the heavy security outlined above.

The second level down (accessible via intermediate airlocks) is the command deck. All communication systems can be found here, as well as consoles that access the life support and power systems for the entire station. A handful of actual OTO human agents can be found scattered around this level. Some are hooked to their stations, preventing them from floating too far from their work. All of them have firearms. The robots that roam around this area seem to be mostly maintenance in function, keeping the computers running at optimal level. They are still heavily armored, though, designed to be able to survive on the surfaces of a moon regularly pelted with asteroids, and those welding torches and claws can cause some damage to human flesh. (Those determined to hack into the command consoles should comment HERE to receive information.)

The third level is apparently mostly living quarters, as well as kitchens and exercise equipment. Unless this level is entered first, the floor is empty with all hands having been called to duty following the base being breached. If it is entered first, two sleeping OTO agents can be surprised in their bunk beds.

The fourth level is where things start to get weird.
Several laboratories make up the entirety of the fourth level, each one with a different series of experiments being perfected. Many are what you might expect to see in any NASA lab- indeed, some of these are likely being run on the moon of Earth by legitimate companies at this very moment. Growing plants in low gravity, cell culture dishes being exposed to cosmic rays, a room for giving full physical evaluations to crew members. There’s also a robot repair room, a couple of offline bots stacked around waiting for maintenance. But someone with a keen scientific eye will notice not all these experiments would pass ethics board review back on Earth. One lab in particular is worrisome. It’s not just cultures are cells being exposed to the radiation in space. In various containers are small animals, ranging from invertebrate squid to rodents to...well, it’s hard to tell what it used to be. Something with a long tail. Many of the, clearly no longer alive, creatures have massive tumors growing all over their bodies. One mouse looks as though its skull exploded. Hacking into the computers in the room will reveal a massive genetic engineering experiment has been taking place. The exact end goal will take some decoding to determine, but there is a line in one of the more recent entries that may cause instant concern: SUCCESS. SUBJECT MOVED TO PHASE II.

The fifth level is where the experiments that involve screaming are conducted. The general floor plan is close to what would be expected in a hospital ward. A lone hallway with 5 rooms branching off the left side, with an observation desk directly across. The hallway itself is covered at both ends by high intensity laser guns, as well as one particularly large robot that takes way, way too much firepower to go down. With the desk a multitude of screens waiting for a password to be accessed. If hacked, the security for each door down the hallway can be accessed, along with security cameras into the rooms.Three of the rooms are totally empty- strange, considering they were still tightly locked down. The fourth room appears to have been, until very recently, occupied by something. There are claw marks on the walls, blood on the floor, and the light above has been smashed out, but no other signs of life. It’s the final room that is occupied. The source of the feelings of screaming and pain can be traced to this individual, curled up in the corner and continuing to project wave after wave of psychic distress. The gender is difficult to determine, but one this is clear: they are wearing the same OTO uniform as everyone else on the station.

The sixth level is the power generation system - nuclear powered. The reactor room is huge, and large neon yellow signs reading ‘WARNING: RADIATION’ plaster across the entrances. The console can be hacked, but any attempt to enter the reactor itself is met with automatic safeguards. These can be overcome, but fair warning - these doors were never meant to be opened. And whoever opens them is going to be hit pretty hard by a massive dose of radiation. However, through those doors is also where the airlocks to the missile silo can be found, although the silo itself runs parallel to the facility nearly up to the surface. The only other room on this level is a large walk-in freezer, that if opened, will reveal it has been used as a makeshift morgue. There are three bodies within. Strangely, this floor doesn’t seem to have any securit--

Wait -

Is that a giant spider robot??

Fight the good fight, imPorts, whatever floor you’re exploring. And do it quickly. You don’t want to still be in orbit when the base blows.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Spending eight days aboard a spaceship is like coming home for Jacob. This is a life he was used to back in his own universe: living, working, and fighting in space, preparing for a dangerous mission, breathing recycled air with a thin shell between his body and vaccuum. Despite the danger and mystery of the task before them, being on the way at last is something of a relief to him, and not just because they finally have a chance to deal with the nuclear menace.

He's busy during the trip, and can be found exercising where he can find room to lie down and do some crunches, doing maintenance by triple-checking and testing the ship's systems and his own gear, and checking in on the crew to see how everyone is doing. It's not all work, though. During down time, Jacob indulges in a little stargazing out the ship's windows, taking in the familiar skies of the Solar System from a new perspective, or even gathering the crew for a cramped, impromptu movie night on one of the command console's many screens- although 2001: A Space Odyssey may not have been the best choice, considering that movie's astronaut body count. Jacob also tries to tough out the nanite sickness as much as he can, conserving his booster injections for the main event, and sometimes has to lie down in the infirmary when the headaches and power disruptions threaten to overwhelm him.

Why bother? This is a recon mission.

[Not that Niko's complaining, but. He's finding it a bit WTF that someone is doing crunches of all things. Still, his shoulders hunch a little. The last thing he wants to think about (but has had to) is this not being a recon mission.] Unless you expect things to go wrong?

The Journey There

Commander Jacob Taylor | OTA

no subject

no subject

Kanan | OTA

no subject

no subject

Jonathan Walsh | OTA

Quatre Winner | OTA

Nikolai | OTA

Darth Jadus | OTA

Kaneki | OTA

Orbital Investigations

Dooku and Luke

Dooku and Galla

Jonathan and Quatre