2148/F:NV - Time Served

F:NV - Time Served
Date of Scene:	02 May 2015
Location:	Mojave Wasteland (NewVegas)
Synopsis:	The Fallout crew cracks open Vault 30 to get bits for Veronica, discover yet another horrible Vault-Tec expriment.
Cast of Characters:	32, 38, Eryl Fairfax, 627, Starbound Flotilla

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Courier Six (32) has posed:
    TONIGHT, ON NEW VEGAS ADVENTURES

    Veronica, looking buff and awesome in an armored Vault Suit, stands outside a massive bunker. Voiceover by RON PERLMAN! "It wasn't supposed to be like this."

    A shot of Vault 30's Door, with scattered animal skeletons outside. The door is cracked open, light spilling out the front. "The Vaults were America's hope for the future. A Second Chance 1000 people at a time."

    Inside? The long dead bodies of Vault Dwellers scatter the facility, dull red klaxon lights flashing. "But Vault-Tec and the Enclave never meant to save anyone."

    And in the Overseer's room, a computer screen, still glowing, words burnt into the CRT forever. TERMINATE EXPERIMENT.

    TONIGHT: TIME SERVED

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    TONIGHT! Johnny isn't here for once. Nope, this wasn't his gig, wasn't his call out. Miss Santangelo is flying solo for this one. Besides, the Courier's got issues back home to deal with. And so the call goes out to those who registered for the job. A well hidden cave entrance south east of the NCR prison facility near Goodsprings.

    Inside, Veronica is waiting, clad in a well armored Vault Suit. SHe's... actually still pretty buff out of the Power Armor, accentuated by the rather brutal looking weapon on her arm. It's a massive pneumatic fist with a circular saw blade attached to it. OOoooh.

    In front of her, the massive Door to Vault 30 waits to be breached.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     It took a little bit of begging, but Eryl is here. ReGenesis is still unhappy and unwilling to let him wander off of his route unless it's really important. But ultimately, all it took was mentioning the possibility of the machine they find being useful, if Eryl can learn how it works. Of course, he doesn't plan in stealing it. Original Face is capable of making good estimates if need be.

     And so, here he is! The sand of the desert outside the cave has had its way with him, but he doesn't seem too perturbed by that. Upon seeing Veronica, he bows to her, left hand crossed over his chest diagonally. "Miss Santangelo, I presume? I am Eryl Fairfax, diplomat for the ReGenesis Corporation. I am here to assist you with the investigation of this Vault."

     He stands up straight, and offers her a smile before waiting for the others to arrive.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The STARBOUND FLOTILLA is here! And in their entirely appropriate DURASTEEL gear too. Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components. Pavo the bird-girl wears a pirate-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with bands of energized fabric linking the pieces and powering them. Albert the monkey-man is wearing elaborate dystopian commando armor reconstructed with a 'rebel spy' aesthetic: A sleeker faceplate, a slimmer form, and a more chaotic design that integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel. George (just plain human) wears a set of futuristic EVA-combat and exploration armor in a suit that glows a gentle blue at the faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes.

    They've already got their weapons out. George has his Nuka Whacker (with power-system mods now), Moonfin keeps his power katana, and Albert has out his own power hammer. But, of course, Seft keeps the Pew Pew's grip sticking just out of her Matter Manipulator, Pavo has her looted Laser RCW, and Biteblade has an odd set of knives emitting a strange frosty look. Albert, of course, gets right down to business. "Veronica." He says, in a military tone, nodding firmly. He respects the fist. He also respects a long-term fighter like she clearly is. "Let's begin." Projecting his Matter Manipulator's holodisplay, he's going to start work on the door, following whatever advice Veronica has to offer to help. Unless, you know, there's a more obvious 'push here to just open it' sort of thing.
    George, meanwhile, has something else entirely. "Brought some breaching bombs for you, if you wanna try 'em! Can't imagine they're keeping all the cool loot right inside the door, you know." He says, casually waving some kind of improvised bomb crafted out of rickety-looking air tanks and a mess of shaped charges. He'll be using that if necessary too.

    Seft is the one who goes to greet Eryl. "Cheerful. Mr. Fairfax, a pleasure to work with you again. With luck, there won't be too much need for your negotiating skills, but it's always wonderful to have you around in case there is." She says, in her usual robotic monotones. "Optimistic. Are things still going well in your home world following Operation Apollo?"

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    Although this is not Johnny's mission, Veronica is like a sister to him, he told Noble Six once upon a time, and that's a good enough reason for her. The power armor clad SPARTAN is standing nearby, having arrived a few moments earlier, weapon crates loaded into the back of a Warthog that doesn't have the minigun emplacement, "I brought a few party favors if anyone wants some."

    She already gave Johnny a SPARTAN Laser, but she has a little bit of everything else in the back of the truck if anyone wants to dig through it. She herself already has her shotgun equipped, along with two SMGs. Her best options for the close quarters of a Vault, she feels.

    "So any idea what this Vault used to be? Other than the death trap that all the others seem to be. Johnny was telling me about them a while back, seems like a pretty terrible way to go, trapped underground with whatever craziness is inside."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    There's a bit of a smile from Vee as people start to show up. She offers a salute to Albert, grinning at the Apex's taciturn greeting. "Ahoy there, Captain. I don't think we've really worked together much before. At least, you know, not like this."
    She looks down at the tailored Vault Suit and then grins over at Noble in the Spartan armor. She's met the other soldier already. "Hey there! Did that dinner go well? I didn't feel like prying and it's not like Johnny has much in the way of, ah. Hnn." She coughs politely and covers her botch with a look at Eryl.
    To the Negotiator, she holds out her left hand, the one without the deadly weapon on it. "Howdy! Nice to see more more people showing up for this crap. And honestly I don't know what we're going to find inside today."

    She does blink at George's... bomb things. "Uh, we're not gonna need that, really. I've got, well. The key." She shuffles out something from her hip. It's the Pipboy the crew relinquished from Miss Jessica. This she clips on her wrist, the sound of the needles inside sinking into her arm audible in the tunnel. She makes a face. "Ggnnnggh. God these things creep me out."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    She keys at the Pip-Boy, and with a rattling groan and grinding noise, the Vault Door starts to open, light, red light, spilling out of the front of the crack in the door.

    This time... no one is shooting at them.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     Eryl shakes Victoria's offered hand firmly. It feels a little off, far cooler than most hands should be. "I come from a world that was also destroyed. Mutual adversity should breed cooperation."

     He smiles and bows to each of the Flotilla as they come in (a slightly deeper one to George). "Greetings one and all. Thank you for your repeated assistance in my world." When Seft probes for more details, he chuckles and nods. "The power grid has been restored, and settlements all over have electricity for the first time in centuries. Things have improved, thanks to you all." Noble Six he recognized from reports, but this is the first time they've met in person, so Eryl just bows to her too.

     But now, it is time for the mission to begin. Eryl also winces in sympathy at the sound of needles sinking into Veronica's arm, and watches as the great door grinds open, for the first time in who-knows-how long. He's powered his weapon systems up, just in case, but it seems that this is unnecessary.

     But, just in case, he lets out a whistle aimed at the Vault, Original Face measuring how it bounces back in a crude form of echolocation, just in case anyone lies in wait for an ambush.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    ORIGINAL FACE:

    The echolocation can't penetrate too far down into the facility, but from here, it's clear that there's no one alive and moving in at least the first floor chambers of the facility.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert grunts again. "Twice. You ran mission support at Echo Station. You assisted in our second Fiend combat operation." He says, not looking away from the door as it opens. "Starbound squad." He says, grabbing the group's attention all at once, and directing them via a series of well-practiced hand-gestures. Moonfin, Albert, and George are the first at the door, followed by Pavo and Biteblade -- they've drawn a heavy Magnetic Bow -- sweeping their weapons about, while Seft double-wields some kind of sensor suite in one hand and the Pew Pew in the other. It's extremely tactical. Albert has the group in synch today.

    While Seft offers a wireless link between her industrial sensor tool and Veronica's Pip-Boy to prompt for what she might be seeking, George is oddly cavalier about this as he swaggers on near Albert. "Let's see what's behind door number one..." He mutters. "Hello hello, what do we have here... I see red lights. Looks like this place was in a bit of chaos, maybe? Heh, hope whatever it was died." And he's asiding to Noble Six with a jaunty tilt of the head! Presumably there's a grin under the opaque EVA helmet's visor. "Yep, hell of a way to go. You're in some steel tomb and /wham/, your skull's cracked, tough guy. Great stuff! Pretty self-cleaning, you can get the blood outta those floors real easy. Just remember to put wet floor signs down!"
    Seft, meanwhile, quietly comments to Eryl. "Cautious. Good to hear, Mr. Fairfax. I want you to contact us with any further jobs you have. Anything I can do to improve conditions from savagery and regression is something I want to do. The people of your world deserve more."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    The entry chambers to this particular vault... Well, there's no one up here, save for a pair of skeletons wearing blue Vault suits with a red stripe up and down either arm. Both of the skeletons have holes in their foreheads and are missing most of the backs of the skulls. George's aforementioned red blood stains are in fact now very old and very brown.

    Along the walls on either side of the downwards entry into the Vault, there are a pair of posters. YOU ARE UNDER SURVEILLANCE. THE PAROLE BOARD IS WATCHING.

    The way down is unlocked.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji is present. He has a stake in Johnny's progreess. An investment, if you will, one that he wishes to see mature and pay dividends. Many, many dividends.

The Murasame scion looks upon the new Vault with moderate disdain. Another vault, another mission to penetrate one of these enigmatic Vaults. Souji will have to look into the designs for late. They might prove useful for other plans in the future. Veronica's presence and state of affairs comes next: He considers her apparent loadout and presence. "What do you expect to find here?" He asks. He braces for the cacaphonous opening of the Vault, preparing for the usual greeting party.

Nothing comes.

He is quiet as he considers the ramifications. He moves in with Eryl and the Starbounders present, the familiar presence of the motley band of space hobos perhaps slightly reassuring to him in the situation. He kneels next to one of the corpses and only takes a moment to inspect them before he sees an obvious cause of death. "Be cautious. People do not gain holes in their head by accident." He straightens, and moves to carefully look around the area, sweeping his gaze over the debris for more clues as they get in through the entryway.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    SOUJI:
    Veronica bluhs at the state of this place. It is a cute bluh despite the bluhing. "Well I'm here for a hydrostatic vent charger. It' part of a big fancy filtration system for the people back home, and this place is listed in the database as having one."

    She holds up her Pip-Boy to anyone who's looking to show a McGuffin roughly the shape and size of a large coil magnet wrapping around a piece of ductwork.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     Eryl watches as the Flotilla silently and skilfully starts to breech the Vault. It almost makes him feel bad to say, "I just quickly pinged the first floor with echolocation. No one alive here." He looks sheepish about the whole thing, at the very least.

     looking to Seft, he smiles and nods. "There is something in the works. But it requires a fair amount of maintenance all over the continent before we can do it. Once ReGenesis has completed that, the request for aid should go out." He steps into the Vault after the Flotilla, looking around as Original Face analyzes everything.

     Obviously, the first thing that jumps out is the skeletons. He doesn't even need his implants to realize what happened here. "These people were murdered. Clean shots to the head too, indicative of a skilled killer, or killers. Or they were held up first, giving them time to line it up."

     Finally, he spots the stairwell, and the posters on the wall. "Hmm. A parole board? Were the Vaults prisons, Miss Santangelo?"

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    As the door opens Noble Six is ready with her shotgun drawn, only to have it be...Nothing. She frowns behind the helmet. She doesn't know why nothing was there to greet them, she would have expected at least automated defenses. Robots or turrets.

    She falls in with the rest of the group as they begin to move in, looking at the bones on the ground. Someone trying to escape the vault, perhaps? Who knows how long that skeleton has been there. "I wonder why they wouldn't clean up the body. You'd think a place like this would have an incinerator to dispose of the dead."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    NOBLE, ERYL:

    Veronica picks past the corpse and heads for the entrance to the rest of the Vault. "The Vaults were a lot of different things. But the one thing they've all been is mostly awful. There's only... 17ish of these darn things across the country that were worth a damn. The rest were stupid experiments by the government and Vault-Tec."
    She looks down at the bodies though. "But yeah, they had reclaimers to get back the bits of people they could still use."

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji 'ahs' at Veronica's response. It makes perfect sense: These lands have a major problem with being forced to use technology for their establishments that can't be easily replicated or obtained.

Souji grimaces for a moment. It is a terrible situation and he can't even resolve it easily with the... corrosive nature... of this land. They would have to try to design systems specifically to resist it and such an investment has little promise of a positive return even if it WOULD make the land better.

He glances to the Starbounders, however, a speculative hint entering his gaze. Perhaps not so much of an investment after all?

When Noble Six points out that the bodies shouldn't have been left there, Souji simply replies, "Unless whoever was left here had no interest in cleaning up the dead." He continues to push forward, letting Veronica take point but lending his own assistance to trying to check to see if there's anything else they have to deal with.

After all, something doesn't need to be alive to kill you.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Isss clear."
    "Clear, cap'n."
    "Tense. Clear."
    "A skull in pieces / a doorstep execution / the way is not blocked"
    "All clear."

    The Starbounders sound off one by one, though Moonfin lays it on a little thick. Seft initiates her scanning protocols for electrostatic processes keyed for water filtration that may remain active. "Reporting. Scan initiated."
    George is the one who leans down to prod at the bodies. "Huh!" He says, breaking the mood with his upbeat tone. "Execution style! Didn't bother to clean up either, what a bunch of rude dudes. Whatever went down here, looks like," He jabs his Nuka-branded club up at the wall. "It was authoritarian, and," He jabs his club at the skeletons. "It was some kind of organized execution. A purge thing, maybe? Guess they fucked up their parole, huh?" He stands, probably still grinning under that helmet.

    Albert grunts again. "I am reminded of Apex prisons. If this is at all like them, the executions for infractions are handled by drone or MiniKnog torturer. Be careful of the former." He gives a firm nod to Eryl. "Our objective is going nowhere. And living beings aren't our only worries. Squad, move out." And so they do, heading down, cautiously, checking each corner and making sure not to leave rooms unchecked of loot or enemies. No rush, you know.

    As they do, Moonfin gives a pleasant greeting to Souji. "Hello, Mr. Murasame, a pleasure to work with you once again. We'll do our best to make sure you don't share their fate, or their poor choice of skull arrangement. Not that you need the help."
    "Floran think, thisss not one of good onesss." Biteblade says, a little sardonically. "Jussst good for loot, probably. Not good for find place worth living for human meat people."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    GEORGE:

    Those red stripes... seem familiar somehow.

    ALBERT:
    The vibe isn't too far off, exactly, and is reinforced when past the entrance door, where a nice warm welcoming atrium is usually located, it's instead another guard post, manned by a piar of skeletons wearing the Suits with the same red stripe along their arms. No bullets through the heads this time though. There are some telltale cuts along the side, right where someone would be shivved.

    There's also a set of skeletons with the skulls battered and cracked, but not broken. These men are wearing suits with black and white stripes along the arms.

    The way past this morbid room does in fact open up on a walkway above the Atrium. The Walkway is simply over the top of it though, with glassed in walls so that people can walk around and look down into the facilty. Below... well, it's a site of what was once a blood bath. Skeletons and bodies below, of both what must be guards and prisoners. You're too far to determine causes of death though.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     Eryl pauses to greet Souji with a bow of his head, remembering the young man from that affair at the Gomorrah casino. He also listens close to Veronica's explanation on the nature of the Vaults, a frown creasing his features. "Using desperate people for social experiments..." He doesn't even bother trying to hide the clear distaste in his tone. Though, he does glance at the item Veronica displays, Original Face quickly analyzing it and extrapolating a 3D model in Eryl's head. "If it is in here, we will find it."

     Down the stairs he goes, staying around the middle of the group. Upon seeing the skeletons manning the guard posts, he notices the red stripes again, and Original Face links them with the ones on those above, drawing a conclusion. "These red stripes, I believe, may have been indicative of some kind of position of authority."

     Next, he goes to examine the other skeletons, noting the different stripes and the cracks in the skulls. "Different stripes. Different positions? Hmm." But then, upon seeing the bloodbath in the Atrium, he gasps softly. Even after all this time, scenes that prove the brutality of humans still get to him. "Goodness... some kind of riot, or uprising must have happened."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    There are always people who will rise up when they feel their situation has reached a breaking point." Noble Six says, thinking back to her own time dealing with insurgents, "Who can be sure if they were justified in their actions, though. I am sure whoever was in charge viewed it as treason."

    She puts the shotgun onto her back with a magnetic lock and turns on the night vision capabilities in her VISR, enhancing the area around her, highlighting walls and corners, "Veronica, are we looking for any one particular thing, or general salvage?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Huuuuh. Had a bit of the old Revolution kinda thing going on here!" George says, still upbeat. He seems completely unreactive, though Pavo, Seft, and Moonfin, oddly, isn't, giving the old bloodbath site a wide berth. "Alright, let's see... Red stripe was probably some kind of guard, Eryl's got that right, white and black was probably some kind of prisoner. White and black there look like batonning victims, red looks like they got grey-tided... Wow, someone call the fuckin' janitor, the mortician, and maybe get the QM to order up some febreeze, I am /really/ glad this is environmentally sealed."

    ALRIGHT, FIRST THING'S FIRST. George immediately prowls around for two specific types of target. The first type of target he's prowling for is a higher-ranked WARDEN of some kind. He's been on enough space-stations to gague their usual sort of wear! And that they tend to have ACCESS. He's also looking for a skeleton with a particularly great degree of weapons nearby, which he would regard as his own counterpart in a way. A rabble-rouser. A major bloodbath like the one below usually comes when someone like George bites off more than he can chew and motivates a few unruly sorts to get into a mob by yelling a lot, so he'll be looking downstairs for a prisoner corpse with a lot of gear.

    Because any prisoner corpse with a lot of gear should already have a full kit of whatever might be necessary to get to sensitive areas. George doesn't even know what's necessary, all Vaults are different. But he does know that someone like him, here, in this Vault, would know, and would amass those tools. Albert grunts. "George. You know how to handle this. Search and acquire. We will move on." And so they do. On past the walkway, keeping their eyes away from the corpses. George will seek a way downstairs, as well as doing the searching noted above. Albert, for his part, moves the group on, trying to focus on pushing further into the facility to locate and scout any threats.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George calls up to Eryl, "Oh man, yeah! Prison experiments were a big thing. People really obsess over this old thing we had back on my planet, they called it the Stanford Prison Experiment. Man, this might not even be /real criminals/, and sure isn't if this is more than a generation old." He says. "/Super/ unethical! Like, wow! We are talking psychological trauma, that's some science for you."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft helpfully makes sure Veronica doesn't need to repeat too much. Her MATTER MANIPULATOR spins up, holoprojecting the image Veronica offered of the machine wrapped around a water pipe, and sending it to Noble Six's HUD as well, if she accepts wireless connections. "Reporting. Our objective is the hydrostatic vent charger, an apparatus designed for water filtration. I am currently scanning for electrical power used in filtration of water at rest. Please seek out any sources of large-scale water movement."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    ERYL, NOBLE, ALBERT:

    Veronica makes a disgusted noise in the back of her throat at the scene downstairs, which can be reached at the end of the walkway and turning right, towards a sign marked: "GENERAL POPULATION"
    The arrow and walkway to the left is marked "SECURED AREAS" and "OVERSEER"
    Down in the Atrium, it's clear that most of these people were shot. More areas up above show walkways overlooking the atrium with little to no access from below. Except for the fact that someone built a rickety looing 'ladder' staircase with a bed, a dresser and a very sturdy floor lamp.
    Most of the men in here... have been shot. From above. That's readily apparent to the Original Face. More tellign is the pattern of small arms fire impact points on the floor. Someone swept the facilty, and caught a number of these men unawares if the corpses at lunch tables are any indication.

    Veronica sighs and nods at Seft. "If this place is built like any of the others, it'll be downstairs in a storage room or currently hooked up to the Vault's systems. We just wnat the spare though, it'll have less wear and tear, hopefully."

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
"Of course, Moonfin." Souji nods in return, his voice pleasantly businesslike. "I trust you will all perform admirably." Unlike many other times he says it, his tone is actually genuine here. The Flotilla have proven to be highly dependable, efficient assets. Souji appreciates this.

Eryl's analysis draws another nod. "We will have some work to do in order to decipher the nature of the uprising here, and seek out our objective." He doesn't know Eryl as well as the others present, but he and Noble carry themselves with sompetence and assurance.

The heir considers George's analysis and nods. If he has any particular opinion on the obviously oppressive situation that went down here, he's not sharing it. Instead, he comes to the same conclusion as the others. "In a place like this, water purification is going to be a major environmental system and will probably be locked behind security barriers. We will need to determine the barriers and navigate them. Perhaps there are ID cards we can gain."

Souji sticks with George, not wanting to leave the man alone. Two is better than one.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     Eryl recovers from his revulsions, with a little bit of help with his implants. No longer looking slightly green in the gills, he nods at George. "Ah yes, I found books in my world that discussed something similar." The fact that his world HAD something similar makes him shake his head and sigh.

     Original Face spots the signs of bullets, both wounds and the impacts missed shots had on the floor. All of which indicated they were mowed down from above. "Judging by the apparent trajectory of gunfire, I suspect that, for the most part, those in command were up here when the riot broke out. As such, limiting our search for keys to the upper floors would likely be ideal."

     To that end, Eryl begins to make his way towards the area labelled 'Secured Areas.' "I will search here! If I require assistance, I will call over the radio."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Storage." Albert says, grunting. "You don't let prisoners into storage. Secured areas." He hefts his hammer more, gripping it tighter. "Our squad will head that way." He gets the group in their proper formation again as he hefts his hammer up a little more aggressively, and moves on.

    George examines closely, the general-population area. "Purge, definitely. Looks like they were mass-terminating prisoners. Wow! That's a shitty surprise." He pokes at a bullet hole with his powered Nuka whacker. "Means they definitely didn't fuck up their parole individually. Wasn't an uprising, definitely a failed purge." He moves on, seeking out security -- they'd have been 'shock troopers' for the frontlines if they're down here -- but also anyone who had kept to the corners facing up, or similar. No purge is done without justification. These people must have been getting insubordinate. That means the most cautious, insubordinate ones would have been careful. They would have been like George. Let's find a corpse near cover with their back to the corners here, people who have something to hide and guard against, and loot those too.

    If there's not much though, George is going to head on back up. But specifically, he'll head on back up through that ladder. If his local counterpart, the most traitorous fellow among the prisoners, didn't die, he'd have had an objective, and headed this way. George is trusting in the fact that there will always be one person just like him in every situation like that, and the best way to go is to follow their footsteps.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    'SECURED' AREAS:
    The path up and into the more secured regions of the facility will show a trail of prisoner corpses. First shot. Then one or two guards along with beaten prisoners. Then more guards, clubbed to death.

    There's a whirring sound up ahead though. Old, ancient machinery still active and moving. Sounds like sentry emplacements, and that would match the bullet spray and corpses in front of a hallway marked 'Overseer'.
    Another hallway leads towards 'Secured Maintenance'.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    GEN POP:
    Veronica... is with Souji and George. The young lady's been quietly looking for more intact corpses and bodies, frisking them for gear and even carefully peeling a few out of their suits if the leather and lycra were still fully intact. These she's piling up near the exit back upwards. "The lady at Vault 21 pays top dollar for suits. They're her biggest seller, so... she's not really picky about where they come from."

    George hasn't found his counterpart just yet. All of the people in the corners of the common room have been either gunned down more forcefully than the rest or 'not there'. A hopeful sign?
    Up on the catwalks, the breach point from below shows a few bodies at the base and then up at the top, access to what appears to be another side of the Secured areas and Guard Habitation.

    The guards were apparently either shivved in place up here or shoved over the edge.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    ALL:
    The farther people get from the center of the action, the more weapons start showing up, as if people close tothe action were actively scavenging weapons and then trying to get deeper into the secured regions.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji nods, silently agreeing with George as he does his analysis of the situation. "One can only imagine would would have led to such a purge. Mass rebellion is not the simplest thing to incite, even in such a small scale."

He continues to cover George, letting him focus on the looting and scavenging while he watches for possible threats. Eryl still said that there were no life forms, but that doesn't mean he is going to relax. He doesn't stop Veronica from taking the suits. It's not like these dead people are going to be using them anymore.

This place stinks of death.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert looks very solemnly at the hallway. "A massacre. This was a battle of attrition. Manpower against weapons. A tactic of the desperate rebel. You can't fuel this sort of battle without majority hatred." He practically spits the word, insisting on stepping onto one of the guard skulls with one hefty boot. "But it was people. Not drones, not machines. They were like the MiniKnog. Brutal and violent to the end." He examines the hall ahead. "Drones were reserved for defense. I don't have the armor to ensure all of my squad survive a rush. And the MiniKnog would load sentries with dozens of bullets for every prisoner. We focus on the alternate route."

    'Secured Maintenance' time, it seems. He's going to head for that, having his squad dart accross the hallway for the Overseer's room if necessary to get to it, and see just how 'secured' it is. Ideally, breaching and looting shortly.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George grins under his helmet, whispering softly under his breath. "Alright you bastard, where did you wind up? You didn't head for Overseers or secured storage... Maybe you had a grudge. Or maybe you needed access, maybe you needed tools... C'mon, I know you knew what you were doing." He follows along, through the corpses, towards Guard Habitation, looting weapons as he goes. Those can sell. He also gives a kick or two to a shivved guard corpse, disguised as clumsy walking. He does aside to Veronica though, "Huh! Kind of a fashion sorta thing? Well hey! Get the bloodstains outta these things, it'll be great stuff! Real stylish, great for accessorizing. Should'a seen the way people used to accessorize when I lived in something like this." He'll be looting some of those jumpsuits, definitely.

    Finished whispering under his breath, he gives a jaunty laugh to Souji. "Right you are, bossman! Way I see it, this sort of thing's pretty damning. Either they got a bunch of really whiny babies for prisoners, or they /seriously/ fucked up the humane treatment kind of stuff. Zero percent approval is hard to hit if you're not a powertripping dick. Let's see how far they got, huh?"

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    There's the automated defenses. Noble Six figured they would have something like that in here somewhere. She presses herself up against the wall where the whirring is coming from and unhooks her shotgun from her back.

    "I'm going to move in and take out the turret. I should be able to weather the attack long enough to get within range." She racks a shell into the shotgun, and then turns and rushes down the hallway. She's already looking for the turret, though she expects it'll find her first.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    Inside the GUARD QUARTERS, the scene is more in line with what George may be looking for. Gun lockers bashed in and weapons looted. Dead guards and prisoners. And something very telling on a monitor at a communal break room. A monitoring station built into the rest area so that guards can jointly keep an eye on the place.

    There's also one of those old CRT Greenscale monitors RobCo liked so much, flickering dully against a wall. Flashing on the monitor are the words:

    TERMINATE EXPERIMENT
    CONDITIONS FAILURE

    The guard slumped over the terminal with his head caved in the back still has an ID tag clipped to his jumpsuit.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     Eryl walks along the hallway, curling his lip at those who lay at his feet. "How terrible..." he mutters, taking a bit more care than Albert, stepping over each body he can't get by with a muttered apology.

     He freezes at the sound of whirring, nodding at Albert's assessment. "Alternate path it is then." He sticks with the Flotilla member as they head down 'Secured Maintenance.'

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    OVERSEERS CORRIDOR:

    These sentry emplacements were clearly meant for lightly armed and unarmored foes. Not something that the guards or prisoners would have been able to rush, but certainly not something that will stop Noble, or probably even Veronica if she had been here in her armor. A few shots from that massive shotgun will pulverise the important parts in either gun, and... and at the end of the hallway and around a corner is the half open door to the Overseer's office.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    MAINTENANCE REGIONS:
    This area of the Vault is less damaged and less cluttered with corpses. It has however, had most of the good stuff stripped from shelves aready, thanks to somebody who managed to open the doors and then break the automated shutters. The first closet region is a warehouse of foodstuffs, the perishable stuff in coolers long left open, frosted over and useless. There's plenty of non-perishable stuff on the shelves though if you're that desperate.

    The second is more promising. Tool Storage. This place has been ransacked for makeshift weapons, so it might take some work to find the part you're looking for.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji follows along, nodding to George as he gives his own overview of what went down. "Another possibility is that there could be pure incompetence at work. Malice may have nothing to do with it. I would find that even more disappointing, however." If you're going to go full oppressotron, do it /right/.

Souji looks over the guard room with a narrow gaze as he takes in what happened, approaching the computer. A primitive design compared to what he's used to dealing with in Galianda, but not something he can't deal with. He taps at the keyboard, attempting to see if he can get more information than what's showing here. George will get the ID card of course. "This confirms much of what we theorized." He says. "Let's see if we can get more information."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    After blasting apart the sentry guns, Noble Six locks her shotgun back down and then moves to the Overseer's door. It's mostly open already so it should be a simple matter to pry it the rest of the way open.

    Plus while she's doing that she'll have plenty of time to let her shields recharge while she's getting those doors open. She doesn't think what Veronica is looking for is in the Overseer's office, but that's where the central power hub of this vault (Political power, not power power) would be.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     Eryl examines the formerly shuttered storage sections as he and Albert pass them, rubbing his chin. His eyes flick over towards the frosted food and the looted tools. The lack of bodies in this section is another hint at what happened. "At some point, either prisoners got in here and made makeshift weapons. Or the guards had to improvise due to a lack of bullets."

     He begins to look around, bringing up the 3D model of the hydrostatic vent charger in his mind again. "Although, the part we are looking for would make a poor weapon, so it could still be in here." He quickly rattles off a description, in case Albert forgot, and begins picking over the tool shelves!

Courier Six (32) has posed:
EMAILS RECIEVED

SEPTEMBER 22, 2080: FROM Overseer Warden Harris TO ALL STAFF

Still no word from humans on the outside. Automated messages still arriving from SWPB staff: experiment still ongoing. Prisoner population still 844. Con on con deaths remain low. increase impetus?


OCTOBER 15, 2081: FROM Overseer Warden Harris TO ALL STAFF

First contact with outside made advised stay in facility radiation levels too high. Prisoner population at 837, still too high. Rations being cut. Agent provacatuer? No word from governor.


OCTOBER 23, 2082 FROM WARDEN TO ALL STAFF PRIORITY ONE

EXPERIMENT FAILURE. Still no riots, prison population remains stable. Efforts to induce self management of population control have failed. Pacification to be scheduled immediately. We're getting out of this hole.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George snags the ID card, of course. He's immediately aat work on scanning the codes and sending them back to the others. Albert gets them, and will be relaying them wirelessly to Noble Six, who's probably dealing more with the need for actual access codes than George is, at the moment.

    He also gets a solid look at the screen. "Don't wanna say I told you, bossman, but I told you." He says, with a friendly, almost teasing tone. Of course, deep inside, this is grabbing and throttling a vast host of psychological issues and deep-seated resentments, bringing his insanity to a full boil, but as always, George is a completely closed book.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    WARDEN OVERSEERS OFFICE:

    Inside the doors to the Overseer's office, it's an entirely different scene. There is no carnage, no overblown over the top looting and wreckage. Nothing so impersonal as all that. What is here is extremely personal.

    The room is nearly pristine, computers flashing and whirring lowly, systems waiting for commands, orders to be recieved. The secret passageway under the overseer's desk has been opened, leading down to who knows where.

    Over in the corner of the room, there are two people. The one in the very fanciest uniform here in the Vault lies against a wall, ancient blood spattered all over the place. He's been stabbed, too many times to count, in the back, in the front, all over. Everywhere. Someone cut this man to ribbons.

    Next to him, in a prisoner's clothes, is someone very tooled up. A small automatic pistol lays on the floor next to his hand, a hole in the top of his head an obvious exit wound. He's got crowbars, an assault rifle, an extremely bloody K-Bar knife, and like 4 security cards clipped to his prisoner's jumpsuit. There's also a wide, ragged hole in the torso of his jumpsuit.

    Click click click go the computers.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert grunts at Eryl. "Not enough guns for every prisoner." He says. "Less guards than prisoners. Until this was done, anyway." He gets access codes wirelessly, but just relays them, for now, to someone with more relevant needs. He focuses, now, on what needs doing. He has a team of five expert engineers in a variety of fields, and as such, they immediately begin scouring along with Eryl. There's also just, you know, general salvage to look into. That sounds very valuable!

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
"You were in fact correct. It seems that they reaped the consequences of their actions, however." Souji replies, as the CRT reflects off his glasses. His expression is impassive as he sees this tiny slice of the horror induced by the designers of the Vaults. There is no need to share his own opinion on the progress of the experiment with George. That would be most unwise.

He glances over to George, and then back to the screen. "This place is terrible." He says, stepping away from the screen. "Let us complete our work here and leave."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    WAREHOUSE: If you need it, they've got it. Well, if you're willing to look for it. There are bits to run at least another Vault-ish if you take the time to haul everything out of here. The Hydrostatic Vent Charger is in a bin marked "WATER CHIP PARTS" and taped up in red duct tape as marking. Someone has scribbled 'this will fail at some point' on the side.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
    Now that they have the access codes, Noble Six slides up to the computer and goes to work. She really needs to get an AI to do this for her but for now she supposes she can do it the old fashioned way. Putting in the access codes should get her everything she needs to at least get into the computer proper and get any intel.

    A look over at the bodies tells the story, at least she can guess at it. The fancy uniform is the warden, the man who put the prisoners through whatever hell was going on here. Somebody finally got in and gave him the business end of a lot of weapons, but was too wounded to continue and wanted to go out on his own terms. At least, that's the best she can infer.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    WAREHOUSE:
    Veronica comes tromping up the stars and hallway behind Albert and Eryl and the crew, smiling softly, and carefully starting to 'scoop up' stuff along with the others. "Thanks guys, I... Well, I could have managed all of this on my own, but... Ugh. I'd have walked out of here and gotten Johnny and he's busy lately, so." She carefully adjusts the headwrap over her hair, and starts helping to move gear around for the Starbounders to carefully scoop up without busting.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     Eryl eventually does get to the bin of water chips, wondering who on Earth would ever need so many? It would be better to spread them out across multiple Vaults, for improved redundancy. What if one Vault only got one? Then someone would have to go out into the wastes to find another!

     Ah, but he finds the missing part and extracts it. "One hydrostatic vent charger obtained," he says to Albert, before repeating the same over the radio. Although, he also nabs a few water chips for himself. BUT FOR WHAT PURPOSE?

     When Veronica arrives, he hands over the part with a smile. "Going thought places like this is never easy when you are alone. Even a little bit of emotional support, in the form of a team can make it easier to deal with." He talks with the air of a man who has experience with such things.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George winds up swaggering into the warehouse area just in time to interrupt Albert as the monkey man was just about to say something insightful. "Hah! Wouldn't be real science if they made horrible robots or mutants that live for hundreds of years the only awful shit in these vaults. Damn, though, what a bunch of jerks. Eryl's right, plus, better to have us assholes around in case of a real emergency, right?" His friendly tones and words make it not at all obvious how stressed he is.

    Albert is similarly stressed and similarly concealing it. He gives a sort of terse nod and grunt to Eryl. "Good. We'll collect the rest of the materials that have any use." He says, making another series of gestures to the remaining group and they immediately set about looting all the tools, the food, and the other assorted materials that are spectacularly useful in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, just sucking it all up into their Matter Manipulators.

    George, meanwhile, will be heading off to pay some respects to his predecessor, eventually.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    VAULT 30:

    POPULATION: 50 GUARDS, 900 PRISONERS, 1 WARDEN

    HYPOTHESIS: Destabilizing mental stability of prisoners will induce increased prisoner on prisoner violence, reducing prison populations.

    OBSERVATIONS: Unexpected End of the World scenario induced great prisoner unity, did not result in mortality rates.

    DETERMINATION: End of experiment called for.

    RESULTS: LESS THAN OPTIMAL