SC - Fugitives

[Keira Kelly]

Ava crouched, still as a rock on the mountainside as she waited. It had taken her a good while to get to this position so she would have to expect at least that long or longer before Miranda reached her. As she lay there, she concentrated on sensing as much around her as she could and keeping an 'eye' on the sleeping lookout and his cohorts at the same time. As she waited, she began to notice a slight headache growing stemming from what she had at first believed to be similar to her inhibitor but now she almost felt like it compared closer to a psi-screen. The headache was increasing, slowly though and not too severe but making itself known. She didn't think it was nearly the power of a psi-screen either, something thinner and more stretched out maybe. Still, the idea of staying for any long time in such a field did hold a little concern. Maybe it wasn't really a psi-screen at all, it could be some other device.. or even something natural, but.. who knew.

At one point, Ava felt the sleeper's buddies get up to go and check on him. She was prepared to flash another warning now at Miranda, hoping that her friend was keeping watch on her approach... but the thoughts she was picking up negated the need. They were laughing at the sleeper but didn't bother to wake him, and not having any care to do his job for him either. No.. no.. they were going to raid his stash that he kept in a bag with him, snacks and liquor.. and they surely didn't want him waking up before they could be long gone. Ava smiled to herself under the mask. Have to love that sort of loyalty, she thought sarcastically.

Slowly but surely, she began to be able to sense Miranda. Just a dim presence at first but eventually, the surface thoughts began to become readable again. As Miranda got closer, Ava began to steer her friend with psionic messages so that the doctor could have a more efficient climb, Ava having already completed it. Soon enough, the ghost saw another environment suite crawl over the nearest lip of rock to her level and she sighed in relief. So far, so good. Miranda's comment made Ava cock her head. "It was?" she asked, sort of confused about the joke. Her understanding of humour was still.. a bit underdeveloped to say the least. Plus the climb had been just as difficult.. or easy, as it had appeared, at least to her. She shrugged it off though, having more important matters on her mind.

Ava looked up the trail as Miranda pointed it out, stating that they would be following it. It was indeed very thin in some areas. It was a good thing they hadn't brought a CMC after all, and just because of the lack of stealth. It couldn't have been able to traverse this terrain at all and especially not the thin trail ahead. This was another reason why ghosts had form-fitting, skin-tight skin suits... it let them get into places that most other armoured units could not even imagine attempting. Miranda suggested Ava take the lead and the ghost nodded. "But I will cloak.. just in case.. Even should someone see us.. see you, then... they wouldn't see me. Always best to have some element of surprise." she added as she turned on the cloak, disappearing. At least, at this range, Miranda could easily pinpoint the ghost's presence and position.

The way up from here was indeed much easier going. It was a path rather than climbing over rocks, boulders and small cliffs. It was steep at times but it was a smooth incline. And then it made a sharp right hand turn, becoming a switch back trail as the incline steepened too greatly for a straight path. This was where it severely thinned out. Ava began the ascent, keeping an eye on Miranda, trying to stay very close while at the same time watching ahead and keeping tabs of any minds that got too close. Miranda had been right that the rain was getting heavier, and while it was good in some ways... it was starting to degrade parts of the trail that were muddy soil rather than rock.

At one point in the thin trail, just as Ava stepped, the wet dirt gave way, sending the ghost nearly plunging down three or four meters to the lower part of the switchback. By quick instinct born of a lifetime of training, just as Ava felt the dirt loosen, she spun to face the wall. As she fell, her cloak turned off and psi-blade came on, hissing in fury in the wet, and she jammed the energy blade into secure ground just beyond where it had lost cohesion, catching herself as she dangled over the edge. As she hung there for a moment by one arm, she struggled to assure Miranda that she was fine. She reached up with her other arm, looking for a secure handhold, then managed to find places to plant her feet as she slowly pulled herself up.

Once up, she knelt, pausing to take it all in. Thankfully, her rifle was still hanging off her arm as she had wrapped its strap around it as she usually did, as she had been trained to do. This was the perfect example of why they did this. Right now though, she was glad that Nick was nowhere around. The three to four meter drop probably wouldn't have killed her, especially not with her skin-suit... but she still would have likely sustained some injury at the least and she didn't want him worrying over a close call. 'Careful there..' she sent to Miranda, pointing at the two-foot length of still loose and eroded trail as she stood back up. Staying in range of her friend should any more of the trail decide to give way, she kept close watch until they returned to harder rock footing and then resumed her cloak again for the rest of the approach until they reached what looked like a heavily secured doorway indented into a very small cave-like entrance.

[rivaan]

'That's a good plan.' The doctor nodded with a smile as they were now moving across the small trail. This was truly a very peculiar location. Normal secret bases would be filled to the brim with hidden sensors or scanners, keeping track of everything, however this specific planet and it's ability do jam scanners and other types of sensors even psionics was throwing a huge wrench in that MO. Any sensor here wouldn't be much more effective than a ghost's telepathy, it would be pulled to a halt within a few hundred meters tops. To have proper coverage and grid, they'd have to put so many of them thate even if they are hidden or masked to appear as terrain, it would be obvious, especially in the case of turrets and other sensors of that type. Those were big for a reason.

The storm was worsening however and the trail appeared worse for wear. Apparently those weren't maintained properly, she would have expected at least for the path the guards were supposed to follow to be somewhat reinforced, the near terrible accident that Ava had made it obvious this wasn't the case. Miranda took a deep breath of relief as Ava climbed back into the rail.' Okey.' She replied and very carefully made her way over the soil part of the trail.' The confederacy's worst trait, they often get complacent...' Miranda was rather disappointed, but at the same time concerned.

Eventually they reached the entrance, however Miranda didn't head for it right away. She hunkered down some distance from it, finding a few nice rocks to hide behind that were to the side of the trail. She pulled her binoculars and studied the area again. It was not the biggest bulkhead honestly, but it was clearly heavily armored and there was a camera taht seh could stop from this distance. The camera was there to observe the entrance so it didn't see them. There wasn't a guard on the outside of the bulkhead, but chances were there was at least one inside the doorway. This was one of the smaller entrances inside the complex, Miranda knew for sure there were supposed to be at least ONE bigger one somewhere. possibly a hidden surface hangar entrance that allowed for the supplies and the like to be brought. Possibly it was somewhere up higher into the mountain or it was literally on top. This was just one a of the many other smaller entrances that served for patrols, escape routes and were probably easily sealable permanently. It wouldn't be strange if there was a computer control to blast the entrance tunnel, sealing the area as the tunnel caves in.

Miranda didn't speak right now. It was starting to get increasingly darker, especially with the downpour that was happening. Hell even lighting and thunder were starting to happen.' This is concerning, we CANNOT blast our way inside. There's a camera as well... Whatever we try, it has to be stealthy, alerting them to our presence, will be a suicide.' She thought and looked at Ava. Even a ghost couldn't phase through a sealed bulkhead entrance.' You could probably attempt to sneak inside along with the patrol as they return the base and hte entrance is opened. It would be a tight fit however.'

As Miranda was worried ever more with this, suddenly something echoed across the air. The sound of roaring engines could be heard as something big and descended from the heavy clouds. It was hard to see what it was in the increasing darkness and the heavy rain. However It also had a few light projectors that were shining brightly as it moved across the skies in their direction. Miranda laid down on the ground completely as she aimed her binoculars at it. It was an unfamiliar profile for a ship, she didn't recognize the engine confirguration as it flew over them. She got to see a rough outline due the lightning flash, clearly a military design, but unfamiliar...? It was bigger than a wraith and a bit bigger than a standard dropship. It vanished somewhere overhead and it's engines soon stopped as it must have landed.

'There's a hangar somewhere above. We could attempt a breach through there or attempt one here.' She thought for a moment. The only real problem they had was that they couldn't make their way inside without alerting anyone through this doorway. Ava's psi potential was strong though, there was another option.' Well this is a big base... there's no way everybody knows everybody. There must be thousands of people here after all. We could try to ambush one of the patroling soldiers. I could disguise myself as one of them, since we all are wearing full gear outside and helmets. Me wearing their uniform on top of the enviromental suit wouldn't show. If you muddle the guard inside's head a bit when we enter, he wouldn't know the difference. Think you can pull that off?' She asked and looked down the path again. There were a few branches that lead elsewhere possibly to other lookout posts. As long as they got their hands on one of the uniforms and gear, it wouldn't be too hard to pull off a disguise.

[Keira Kelly]

While Miranda hung back from the entrance, Ava moved closer as Miranda sent to her, still cloaked, while allowing her visor to pick up any additional details it could. The camera was an obvious but there didn't appear to be any hidden compartments on the outside as she went up to the door. This door was well sealed and thick. No... wait.. there was a visual glitch in the rock wall to the left side of the door. Whatever it was.. it was GOOD though, her visor computer not even highlighting it like normal. As she had swapped between vision modes though, there was a slight difference than the rock around it in that spot.

Her concentration was pulled away suddenly by a load roar from above as something move towards them through the cloud cover, dropping just below as it got close. A patrol ship perhaps? As Miranda flattened herself against the rock, Ava stayed in the recess where the door was located, remaining cloaked though she checked the time on it. Only a few minutes now until she would have to let it recharge again. Quickly though the ship vanished from their line of view, somewhere higher up on the mountain. When Miranda suggested maybe breaching wherever that ship had gone, Ava shook her head, even if Miranda couldn't see her. 'Here is better.' she answered, mentally indicating the door. 'Up there, who knows how many people will be around. Hangers can be busy places, especially with a ship just coming in...' she explained.

Turning back to the rock wall, she passed her hand over the anomaly and it promptly vanished, revealing a hand scanner. Behind her mask, she smiled. 'Got something here.' she sent, giving only the slightest pauses before continuing as she knew that Miranda couldn't yet approach the door because of the camera. 'Got a hand scanner. Guess so that patrols can get back inside as they need to.' she continued. 'We get someone who is keyed for this, and we are inside.. easy. And don't worry about anyone once we get in.' she assured. 'Hard part will be finding one of these patrols as quickly as we can....' She paused. 'My cloak is about to run out of juice...' she warned as she quickly made her way back to Miranda's hiding spot. And just in time; just as she got out of view of the camera, the cloak dropped away. It would take a few minutes at least to recharge it, but thankfully with some of the newer tech they had acquired recently, what she had now was far superior to her old training gear.

She glanced back in the direction of the door, out of sight for the moment where she was, as she considered. 'That camera is a dome affair, multi-directional view... If I was decloaked under it, I'd be seen.. What if though.. I messed with the hand scanner while cloaked. Someone is bound to be watching the camera there, right? So an alarm might go off inside but they look at the camera feed and.. there is nothing there. Especially with it getting dark out here plus the rain, any hint of cloaking effect would be invisible.' she began to lay out. 'What do they do? Send someone out to check what's up with the scanner?' She gave a small shrug. 'Once someone comes out, I hit them psionically, well.. not hit but... you know, make them decide to come over here, out of sight of the camera and we take them out. You get the gear, we get in.' she explained. 'And we get the hand of whoever they were to let us in...' she added, holding up her arm with the no-off psi-blade. It.. should cauterize so it would make taking the hand a bit less messy, she reasoned. While killing was what she had been moulded for, maiming in this way wasn't. She found it somewhat distasteful... but sometimes it was necessary to do things you didn't like to get the job done.

With that decided, Ava got ready to put the plan into motion. Well, after waiting enough time to let her cloak recharge anyways. Once it was ready, it was indeed getting pretty dark out, so she switched to heat vision mode just to be able to see better in the rain and dark. As she moved towards the door, she kept careful check as far as she could for any presences moving in. Nothing. Nobody approaching from either inside or from the jungle side within range. There was a mind on the other side of the door, at some distance though. When she got to the doorway, she passed her hand over the hologram that was hiding the scanner again, seeing the hologram vanish. With one quick glance up at the camera, Ava put her gloved hand on the scanner. No alarms but... she did feel something from the mind within. She began relaying the thought she picked up from the man within directly to Miranda.

The man was annoyed. It rained frequently in this area and that damned acid rain was even worse. While it was only mildly acidic, it wore at man-made parts over time faster than normal and they had an issue with it getting into electronics that were outside, especially the scanners at the doors. This wasn't the first time this week that particular scanner had registered a hit when nothing was there. As Ava began to back up down the trail towards where Miranda was, she kept her mind focused on the man's thoughts. Call maintenance again and they had damned well better fix it this time. Ava frowned. No, that wouldn't do... She didn't want more people down here. She grabbed his mind with hers, gently enough that he didn't notice but enough that she could work with it. You don't want to phone, she sent. They'll be annoyed. Just go out and check the doorway manually. It's easier. You did your job and you don't have to deal with those inept maintenance people so close to the end of your shift, she sent, trying to imitate his own thought pattern. After a moment, she felt him comply.

After a few minutes, the door hissed open, withdrawing horizontally into the rock. Now, she could see it was nearly half a meter thick. Yeah, no way they could have blasted through that. And there was the guard, in full gear. He stepped out through the door, staring down to the side at the still exposed scanner. Ava waited till he was about to turn back before continuing with his mind. Well.. it wouldn't hurt to check a bit of the trail out here, just around that corner that was hidden. Due diligence and all. They couldn't say he wasn't being thorough. Ava, still cloaked, allowed the man to pass her as he moved forwards slowly, a light on his weapon on now so he could see. She waited till he was just at the corner, as he turned it, she kicked him in the back, watching him to sprawling beside Miranda, well out of view of the camera now. Before he could recover, Ava let loose a strong pulse of energy into the man's mind and she watched as any strength or movement left his limbs, his form now lying prone and still.

Ava turned off her cloak, going over to turn off the light on his weapon just in case any patrols began to approach and spotted it. 'There you go.' she sent to Miranda, turning her back to her friend as she watched down the trail and out in the jungle for any patrols. 'By the way, he was just near the end of his shift so.. you might have to do a little role playing at his station when his replacement gets there...' she added. 'I'll make sure they believe what you tell them in case they wonder where he is....' Once Miranda was done stripping the guard of gear and armour, Ava turned to the body. No minds close by but.. this would be bright, she would need to make it quick. Holding up his right arm by the hand, she flicked the psi-blade on just long enough for it to cut cleanly through his wrist. As the rest of the arm dropped back to the ground, the psi-blade ceased and Ava held the disembodied hand out to Miranda. 'Going to need this for the door...' she said. She gestured back towards the door. 'Lead the way... I'll be right behind you, cloaked.' she said.

[rivaan]

Miranda was patiently waiting for Ava to do her thing and scout out the entrance. She was also very pleasantly surprised by the ghost's self initiative in planning out their entrance. This was GOOD! It was very important that Ava was getting better at the whole not a puppet and a tool thing. Now that she was planning and executing her own ideas without an express order from the doctor, Miranda was very proud. In all cases she patiently waited for the plan to be put into action and sure enough the entrance was opened as teh guard from inside came out. He was in full protection gear for this enviroment. It wasn't a suit like theirs, but it was an protective overcoat uniform with a protection mask and a hood and the like. All in all anything she couldn't just toss over her enviromental suit without much issues. And her own mask from the enviromental suit could easily be hidden and replaced with the one he was wearing.

As he was taken out by the ghost and tehn prompty stripped. Miranda sighed and eyerolled at way the ghost was doing it, but kept quiet as hse started to put his gear on top of her own. She hurriedly put on the protective overcoat that was pretty long, reaching basically below the knees. It had long sleeves and all that. IT fit snuggly over her form. She fitted a few of his armored pieces on top of it, mainly the chest piece that was clipped in palce and then pulled over the hood to protect her head before she replaced her mask with his very carefully as to not expose her own skin and face. She tucked her mask inside the clothing, securing it to a buckle around the waist underneath the overcoat. Then she also took his weapon from the ghost. She frowned for a moment as she inspected the weapon. She knew this one, AGR-14 gauss assault rifle.' Old, but gold I suppose.' She thought as she checked the weapon's state, it was set up on safety. Well guess he never expected to fight. These weapons were pretty darn old at this point, but they had quite a few advantages and were as far as she was aware also used by quite a few ghosts depending on the mission. It's kickback was also less than a typical Gauss Needler that she'd use in a CMC or a canister rifle that had limited fire rate. This one was more of a fast firing one.

With her new get up, she didn't look too different from the man, only her overall from was clearly a female one. She was lucky that they didn't seem to be issuing ID badges however. So that was good. Without thinking much she grabbed the hand from Ava and pointed at the edge.' Toss the body down, it wouldn't be noticed soon and unless it's clear weather, it probably won't be noticed somewhere hanging on a rock for a really long time.' She explained as she cracked her neck.' Did your power cell recharge enough? If so let's get this done. We don't want to be out of 'my post' too long.' Miranda smiled underneath the mask and started walking when they were both prepared and ready. She had removed the safety on the rifle just in case. Walking to the hand scanner she put it on the panel and after a tense moment of processing the gate was finally opened, Miranda just tossed the thing down the cliffs as well. Honestly in these storms with limited patrol routes by default because of the terrain, it would be a long time before iether was discovered. Luckily the heavy downpour and the darkness made it hard to quite right check what was going on even on a camera. To the video recording it would appear as if she jsut looked over the cliff for am oment and dropped something. Possibly a piece of trash, not uncommon.

Once inside, she took in the interior of the base as the gate closed behind them. They were at a hall. That was all it was, a long somewhat narrow corridor that led way way deeper and ended up in a turn to the right. This was a security feature after all, she knew there were explosives set within the walls. Anyone attempting a breach through here in force, this would be sealed for good, possibly with the invaders inside.' If we are discovered, we shouldn't attempt to escape via one of these entrances. This hallway is a deathtrap.' The doc send to Ava as she took her post and studied the surroundings for cameras. Well there was one, but it appeared to be focused onto the doorway and the guard's position. Another one seemed to be further down the corridor observing the entire thing from way down where the corner was. They had to either hope the change of guards comes very soon or that Ava'd find a good place to hide away when her stealth goes down again soon.

Luckily it wasn't even a couple of mintues when the new shift started to come over. He wasn't wearing his mask however. When he saw someone on the guard post with the mask on and clearly a female figure he was confused. Still Miranda was playing it cool, she was very adept at blending in and making sure to appear like she belonged." Hey, where's that fucker Clint? Wasn't he supposed to be the one on duty today?" The man asked and rubbed his silightly grown rough beard. He had a crew cut and all that.

Miranda looked at him through her mask, slightly turning her head over." He was, however he reported a few too many false possitives with the security by the door. The technicians apparently made a complain to the higher ups about purpously falls alerts, so he was instead sent over to one of hte observation stations to think things over on proper behavior." Miranda replied with serious voice and looked at him." You the next shift?" She asked and knew that Ava was doing her thing. She gave this story on purpose cause it was half truths. The now dead guard was indeed checking out security alert positives. This way this one wouldn't bother too much to ask about or around if the other guy was 'reassigned'. Luckily Ava was getting better at the whole influencing people.

"I told him that he should chill down on the false positives. It happens all the time, all he had to do was check it himself and report that it was just the usual glitch in hte sensor, but noo..." The guardman rolled his eyes and pulled a smoke from underneath his coat, lighting it up." Anyways, yeah I'm the next shift. Guess we will be meeting often from now on." He said with slightly suspicious voice." You new?" He eyed her very serious demeanor and body language. She was even going as far as to keep her mask on when honestly no one was really bothering to do while htey were inside." A rookie?"

"Yes, sir! I was just reassigned to guard duty." Miranda nodded and finally left her stance and started walking down the hall." Keep an eye out, sir. The storm is rather heavy, some lightnings were hitting close to the entrance." She gave a casual warning and continued walking down the corridor, soon reaching the corner and getting over. The man was pleased to be called 'sir'. He was just a regular soldier, but no one hated to be talked with respect. So once more flattery was trumping over pride.

What followed was yet another corridor, but one that led to another bulkhead. And beyond htat bulkhead was the base proper. As a soldier 'offduty' now she'd have to at least leave her survival gear in the changing rooms. All the soldiers were armored all hte time however.' Can your stealth hold till we reach the barracks and the changing rooms?' Miranda asked.' Once there, inside the changing rooms there shouldn't be any cameras at the very least. We should be able to both change into some more fitting uniforms and blend in better.'

[Keira Kelly]

Just as Miranda was finishing donning the dead guard's gear, Ava turned back, paying a bit more attention now to it, especially the weaponry and frowned beneath her mask. 'These aren't Confederates.' she sent, indicating the gun with a thought. Though she had been fairly isolated for her whole life, she knew weaponry. This AGR-14 was old. If this really was a secret and important base, no way the Confederacy would have had equipped the troops set to protect it with guns as old as Ava was.. not when there were better models, namely the C-14, widely in use. The uniforms of these people also weren't Confederate. Who they were though, the ghost didn't know. In any case though, out of date gear likely meant these weren't crack troops or anything. She would still take every precaution, of course since Miranda was with her, but... she was fairly confident that would make the mission that much smoother. She should have realized this before though, from the sniper/observer and the ease with which she had convinced him to take a nap while on duty. She scoffed lightly. 'I think even the pirates at Dead Man's Rock had better weaponry and gear...' she added.

Finally, Miranda took the hand away and ordered Ava to deal with the body. The ghost shouldered her rifle, and grabbed hold of the corpse. With her suit, the dead weight wasn't an issue and she swung it up onto her own shoulders, wanting to keep from leaving any drag marks on the muddy ground. She moved as much a distance to the end of the top level of the trail as she could before she threw the body with all her strength, trying to angle it away from the switchbacks a bit. If it fell away from the trail, there might be a chance that the body would never be discovered, especially if the odd animals of this planet got to it first. She watched the limp form with her heat vision as it slid and bounced down the steep mountainside. Soon it was out of sight and she returned to Miranda. 'It's gone.' she said and then nodded at Miranda's question. 'Power cell is at full power.' she confirmed after double checking it. Since she had killed the guard, she had had the cloak offline so it was all good. She gestured for Miranda to lead the way towards the door, cloaking and following behind the doctor.

As they approached the door, Ava directed Miranda to where the scanner was and, thankfully, the severed hand was accepted. It wouldn't be of use for much longer though... scanners such as that required the proper amount of electrical conductivity and the dead hand would very soon loose that, so it was fine when she saw Miranda throw the hand down the cliff before stepping inside the base. Ava quickly followed before the door closed. Inside now, it took her mask a split second to react to the stark difference in lighting and she quickly turned off the heat vision, but did keep the enchanged vision going. What the computer in her suit was picking up was.. surprising. There were false panels in the walls all along this hallway, some with defensive turrets behind, others.. with who knew what. This hall looked like it could be turned into a slaugter field. She could feel that Miranda thought there were explosives in the walls too, which Ava didn't doubt, but the ghost knew the danger was more than just from those. 'Turrets everywhere too... and some patches of the flooring is odd... a lot of wires beneath..' she added.

As Miranda settled down into the dead guard's post, Ava took the opportunity to do some scouting around, mostly looking for a place to wait out for the replacement in case her cloak got low. A couple of intersections off, she came across a darkened room. It looked to be a gearing area, a place where units would gear up in a hurry but it looked like it hadn't seen use in a while. Empty locks hung open and there was not one sign of personal gear or clothing that she could see on a quick inspection. Likely whomever was occupying this base now did not have the same numbers as the Confederates had had.. or planned for maybe. Suddenly, she heard footfalls approaching and Ava ducked further into the room, hiding just around a corner, using her psionics to feel the approaching mind. Freshly awake, so still... not one hundred percent focused... Hmph. The replacement. Ava quickly turned off her cloak, knowing she was well out of sight where she was. It was dark in here and no cameras as well; best to let the cloak recharge what it could as she stayed with the replacement's mind as he approached Miranda.

Ava kept sedate as she felt the man confused by the presence of someone other than whom he expected at the guard post. If things got out of hand, she could incapacitate the guy and have Miranda call for a medical emergency or something but.. for now, it was time to see where this went. Ava smiled at sensing Miranda's response. Works, she thought. She could feel this man's amusement at hearing that this 'Clint' had gotten in trouble for complaints about the alarms. He had had them too but he had dealt with them himself and Clint was being a whiny baby sometimes about it. Oh, the conversation turned to who Miranda was now.. Ava concentrated a bit harder now. There had been a group of new recruits brought in a couple weeks ago. This guy thought he had met them all but Ava manipulated his mind into believing that one or two might have slipped his notice.

Finally Miranda approached the gearing room and Ava, flipping the cloak on again, slipped out of the room to follow Miranda once more as they headed deeper into the base. Ava checked her cloak power. Still ninety percent. 'Depends how far...' she answered Miranda's question. 'Got probably at least twenty minutes left with this new power cell. Maybe a bit more.' she estimated. 'Don't know how big this base is.. but I'd assume I can hold out. Just don't dawdle too slowly...' she added with a hint of humour, one of her few attempts at it. She was learning...What she was wondering though was would they actually be able to FIND spare uniforms somewhere? And where would she stash her rifle for that matter.... She wasn't too keen on leaving it somewhere but it would be way too out of place here.

As they moved, she voiced another concern. 'I am starting to get the impression that this base is pretty big on the inside... How are we going to find the barracks and changing areas?' she asked. Even a level ten psionic couldn't just reach into someone's mind and pull out what information they wanted; they could only pick up information that was at the forefront of a person's thoughts at any given moment.. and it wasn't all that likely that they would run across someone thinking about looking for the exact place they wanted to get to.

( Don't know if it will come up or not, or if it will be useful later or not, but the flooring in that one hallway, certain parts of it are fitted with very strong electromagnets beneath it so... if it got invaded, they could turn those on and at least slow if not disable armed intruders.. while either the turrets or explosives finished off the job.)

[rivaan]

Miranda didn't comment to Ava's seeming understimation for the ARG rifle. The more typical weaponry like C-14 rifles was made to mainly work in conjunction with CMC armors. ARG could be taken as downscaled version of the C-14, but it shouldn't be underestimated. For soldiers now wearing CMC, this type of rifle was a perfectly sutiable and versetile weapon. All in all it wasn't a bad thing, though she had to admit this specific one was OLD. Like... really much so, she could see the wear and tear on this one, they weren't replaced in a while.

In any case getting deeper into the base was revealing more and more 'surprises' such as the automated security. They were lucky it wasn't supposed to scan for ghosts by the looks of things. Since hte two of them well enough moved through all the security instalations.' Getting to the barracks is pretty obvious. Military instalations have a lot of maps and labels everywheref or ease of soldiers. Besides this was a research base before military one. The barracks would be close to the entrances, allowing for the marines to easily get to defensive positions. Let's just see where we end. At worst we might have you hide somewhere inside a vent to recharge the batteries.' She smiled.

Within the gearing room, it was rather as expected. The place was a big room with lots of secure lockers for storing weapons and gear. She walked to the locker she recognized from the gear's codes. Quite possible multiple people used the same grear when it came to guarding the doorways on shifts. She looked at the only security footage camera and as she opened the locker, facing away from it she put the rifle into the gear locker and also put off the acid protection gear. She couldn't wear it inside the base. At least she still had the basic military uniform on. Scanning loosely across the lockers, there weren't any uniforms in those, just the protection gear. She then closed the locker and started walking away from the room as normal.' Keep an eye out for people of interest.' Miranda mentioned to Ava as they had finally gotten to the base proper! It was certainly a very big place, there was a huge hall excavated apparently. There were several open levels on terraces around the empty center. She could see people walking around on the lower levels. Some dressed in Confederate uniforms, others in some kind of other uniform. And those in the unfamiliar uniforms appeared to have better quality and well... they were acting distinctly more 'snobbish' Looks and mannerism.

'Wonder who those guys are...' She pondered and decided that that investigation could be left for later. Now she looked about and there were elevators around. Probably leading up and down to other sections of the base. There was a hangar somewhere above as well since htey saw it. Anyways first thing was first they needed to secure Ava's disguise here. Miranda was looking like a regular soldier off duty for the moment, but there weren't any people who weren't wearing some kind of uniform be it military or researcher. In fact she spotted a few researched with long labcoats walking on the lower levels, discussing something very feverishly while looked over by some of those unfamiliar soldiers.

With a calm demeanor she walked about reaching for the elevators next to which was a map. It had the barracks, a few other ammenities facilities, the 'limited access' sections which were likely the research labs. Memorizing it quickly, she stepped through into one of the elevators, heading 2 floors up where the barracks was.' Ava energy status?'

On the first floor above the previous one, another person got into the elevator. It was a researcher. Younger one, younger than Miranda, probably closer to Ava's age. He was very flustered, breathing heavily and carrying some rather heavy bags. He tossed a look at Miranda and noted the floor they were heading for, sighing. He'd have to go down another 6 floors to get back to the labs. How could those bastards be so heartless? He was working here for over a year now, and now those guys waltz in out of nowhere, starting to call teh shots and act like the bosses. They weren't even Confederate! Why were the nobles here accomodating those douches! He was very confused, but was afraid of dying if he voiced concerns, so he just did whatever told for now.

Miranda got off the Barracks' level as the young researcher pressed some buttons on the control for the elevator, inputting a security code and then swiping a card at the terminal.' So that's how they get acces to the labs via elevators.' She then spotted the female restrooms door nearby and headed for it. Sure enough she couldn't spot or detect any cameras here. This was a decent place to recharge the suit for a little bit.

[Keira Kelly]

As they moved deeper into the base, Ava could begin to sense more and more minds from within, though her range was still most definitely limited.. but with it getting late and from snippets she was picking up, many of the base personnel who were no longer on duty were heading or in mess halls now getting dinner and thus were grouping up in closer proximity. Well, that might let them move around a bit more easy as long as they avoided the dinner rush, sticking to areas away from mess halls. She relayed this bit of information to Miranda.

Ava was surprised to hear about military installations having maps though. The secured areas of the Academy had had no posted maps up.. at least the areas Ava had been familiar with anyways, and having never been out into normal military bases.. or anywhere else, it surprised her. She could understand in a normal base but.. this was a secure, secret place, just like the Academy had been. Only authorized personnel were allowed to know about it let along enter at the Academy, so she assumed so here too. Authorized personnel should learn the layout right off the bat as far as she was concerned, not even considering that other people weren't like her, like ghosts... trained to be basically eidetic, having nearly a photographic memory. Ghosts needed to see a map perhaps once during briefings and be able to recall it exactly during the mission, so it was hard for her to understand that other people did not work like that usually.

It seemed like a security risk to post maps but she shrugged. In the end, it made her and Miranda's mission easier. Their mistake. The second point Miranda made though actually made sense to Ava. 'Makes sense. Keep the guards able to swarm entry points, the rest of the personnel in the back. Well, hopefully that means its very close.' she sent back. She mentally grumbled at the thought of having to hide in a vent... again. Thus was the life of a ghost though: having to do anything to survive and carry out a mission, be it murder innocents, cut off body parts, destroy minds, or even hide in unpleasant places just for the sake of a mission not going bad. She had learned long, long ago not to complain about anything. At least, not out loud.

The quip about recharging in a vent though reminded Ava to check on her power status though. She had had a bit more than ninety percent coming out of the previous gearing room in which she'd hid earlier... Seventy-eight now... Still good for a bit. Soon, they reached another gearing room, this one was most definitely one that was in use unlike the last one. This one, the lights were on and there was a camera within. She scowled at it from beneath her cloaked mask. Well, no attempts to recharge in here. During all the journey here, she had kept close to walls and now, she kept the same, staying right in the doorway, pressed tight against the frame just to reduce the chances of anyone noticing the slight ripple in the air that was a telltale of a cloaking field... though one would have to be familiar with it AND be looking for it to notice, but Ava didn't want to take any chances. At Miranda, order, she began to watch out of the room, feeling the minds of the people she could see walking nearby.

For the first time, she really noticed a number of Confederate uniforms. Those, she was more than familiar with. Emotions that she wasn't used to began to well up inside her as memories of her previous life rose from where she had walled them off. These people weren't the ghost trainers though, she reminded herself. Still, it was a reminder. It was only in the last few months before Ava had escaped that Lieutenant Calan had ceased to wear a similar Confederate uniform and had instead donned the Dominion one once they had taken over. So much pain in her life had been at the hands of one wearing that Confederate uniform. She took a deep breath to centre herself and forced herself to continue scanning.

There was some other sort of uniform present here too, one that she didn't know. Odd. These ones acted like those of rank, superior to the Confederates. She drew Miranda's attention to those. 'Don't know the uniform but they seem to think they are in charge.' she pointed out. She reached into the mind when Miranda wondered who they were, trying to sense.. anything. Disciplined minds, definitely military... but they weren't thinking 'oh this is who I am'! Yeah, that was no help. She did relay the feel of the minds though to Miranda. So many people here though... Ava blinked hard as she continued trying to scan with her mind, only then realizing this constant pressure of whatever it was that was limiting her psionics was beginning to give her a headache deep behind her eyes.

Glad to be able to start moving again, she followed Miranda out of the gearing room and over to an elevator where there was a map on the wall. Security risk, she thought to herself again. Ah well. She studied it for a long moment, committing all of it to memory and then following Miranda once the elevator arrived. On the ride up, Miranda asked for her energy status. 'Sixty one percent' she answered back. 'Eighteen minutes at most...' Almost halfway depleted. Suddenly the elevator stopped, the doors opened and someone got on. Ava froze. In this close of a proximity, any large movements on her part would be felt simply by the change in air flows. Thankfully, for the moment, the young researcher's back was to her... but the bags he carried were rather large and Ava had to be careful he didn't bump her with one of them. It was going to be a trick to get out past him though...

Wait.. what was that? Nobles? The Confederacy had been ruled by houses of nobles, yes... could some have escaped the fall of Tarsonis and had retreated here to carry on with a small core of Confederates? She'd have expected the forces here to be better equipped if so... And who were these 'douchbags'? The other uniforms they had seen on before, obviously but.. UED? She suddenly picked up the acronym from the man's mind but had no clue what the heck it stood for. These remnants of the Confederacy were working with something called the UED? 'You pick that up?' she asked Miranda, whom she assumed was monitoring her own mind through this. 'Confederate Nobles? Working with the UED?' she repeated, just in case.

As soon as they reached the barracks level, Miranda exited the elevator normally but for Ava, it wasn't quite so simple. She concentrated on the man's mind, urging him to check to make sure he had all the bags... When his head turned away, she slipped past him, as quickly and quietly as she could. As she did though, her passage moved the air, causing him to look around, but by that time, she was out of the elevator car and around the corner of the wall. She could feel him wondering what that odd breeze had been for a second before resuming his other trails of worries. Ava took a deep breath, glad to be out of the elevator now. She checked her energy again. Forty-six... Fourteen minutes.

As if Miranda had been reading the ghost's mind.. which, well.. she had, the doctor directed them towards some restrooms. Getting close, Ava could feel that it was currently empty. As Miranda held the door open for a second longer than necessary, Ava slipped inside to find a room with a number of stalls with doors... and no cameras. Perfect. She choose the one at the very end, going inside and locking the door and proceeded to sit up on the back of the toilet before turning off her cloak. That way, should someone come in, they would not see feet beneath the door, though she probably would cloak if someone did anyways. Let them assume there was something wrong with particular stall and that it had been locked with no one inside for that reason. She sighed in some relief at seeing the power numbers on her HUD start to scroll more quickly back up. 'Five minutes and the cell will be recharged.' she sent to Miranda. This new cell had a pretty good ratio, thirty minutes of cloak to five of recharging. Much better than her original training suit's which had been barely ten minutes of cloak to five.. or sometimes more minutes of recharge. Yes, she was definitely glad she had gotten an upgrade.

In fact, it was slightly under five minutes when the desirable one hundred percent flashed on her visor HUD. She smiled. 'Good to go, Miranda.' she sent.

( Im assuming that the 'douchbags' are UED. If Im wrong I can change it but.. pretty sure thats where you were going with it? Getting us into the Brood War? lol )

[rivaan]

Once inside the safety from cameras inside the restrooms, Miranda walked up to one of the sinks and washed her face a bit, feeling just a tad refreshed form the cool water as they waited for the generators of Ava's suit to restore the energy isnide the batteries again. Miranda was thinking about the things they heard of while they were coming here. To be fair they had more than enough on this base to actually deal with it. All they really needed ot do was feed the information to let's say Umoja and the whole mountain would be a crater... Staying inside this instalation for longer than needed was honestly pointless danger without reason, but Miranda was curious about the experiments conducted here, what's more now there was a new piece to the puzzle. This UED people they heard about earlier.

It wasn't hard to figure out to whom those was referring, it must be those people with the different uniforms and clearly better gear than the confederate at current. However Miranda herself had spotted a few things while they were walking around earlier, not everyone was wearing older gear among the confederate. That led her to believe that she had realized a very important detail and the reason for the seeming problem in the fact a super secret high class facility was using older tech.' They don't have enough gear to equip themselves properly... or at least all of their soldiers.' Miranda mentioned to Ava as they were waiting.' Considering the Dominion put a lot of money on capturing Confederate forces, it's very dangerous to attempt to buy high class gear and the Confederacy doesn't have the manufacturing lines it did nor the resources as it did in the past. Thus they are gearing up their soldiers with whatever htey have at hand as replacement. They can probably manufacture some gear locally here, surely there's a factory somewhere in this complex, but it's unlikely it can actually supply great numbers of anything without big supply line of resources, which they cannot get without exposing this place.'

'I have no idea who these UED people are however. The attack on Megnsk on Umoja was suspicious, since it was weird that considering the Confederate state HERE in one of hteir former best faclities is so dire, they can actually break into Umoja and attempt the assassination, maybe the UED that we heard about are connected. We will need to find some more before we leave however.' Miranda smiled as Ava was ready to get going again.' There's only one issue however, I cannot use my datapad to break into the system, it's actually very well protected and if I do attempt it, it will be captured rigth away, it's not a perfect cracking system and it's honestly an older software considering it's field by now.' Her datapad was equipped with the automated cracking and hacking software Mengsk had given her back in the day to deal with locked lesser systems, this wasn't one of those systems. She could dare attempt it on the Database they stole from Mengsk and slowly crack it open and they didn't have the probable years to crack this one.

"Then let's get going. I'd like us to leave this place in a few hours tops...' Miranda explained as she headed out of hte restrooms. Following the data from the maps ,here were the barracks, they could get some info here. Searching through and about, she eventually found where the man she replaced was supposed to live at. It was a small room, didn't have much, but it would do for the next time they would need to hide away to recharge Ava's energy. However she did find his computer terminal, it wasn't locked so she started to study it. There wasn't much on it, a few messages, some lewd enertainment downloaded from the web, probably against regulations. The messages were of interest since it was a chat with other people from the base. Possibly collegues or friends. It spoke that the dead man was someone who had asked to be reassigned away from the labs because he couldn't sleep anymroe. What's more there were other messages and one of them explained how he wasn't trusting those "United Earth Directorate" people. He was certain they were actually following him around.

'... Earth?' Miranda finally thought after her mind had blanked out for a good while.' Here?' She almost couldn't believe it, but... If she knew one thing was that back on Earth, things weren't peachy. Aside prisoners, many others WERE FORCED to leave with the prisoner ships just because they weren't comfortable for the Earth Government.

[Keira Kelly]

The fact that the Confederates on this base didn't have enough gear made sense to Ava. Of course, being now outlaws to the current regime, they would have only access to black markets to stock up, and she figured that many of the soldiers here likely weren't stationed here at the fall of the Terran Confederacy but were likely led by die-hard superiors fleeing from the Dominion's grasp. That proper gear and supplies were neglected during such a flight only made sense now that she thought about it. What surprised her though was Miranda's thought that there was a factory facility here somewhere manufacturing gear and weapons. She hadn't even considered that, but then again, the ghost had little knowledge about where gear and items came from. A ghost was about raining destruction, not creating the means to do so. Her knowledge even about what a factory was was the vague concept of materials going in and being turned into something else either through automation or manpower.. or both. The details were something that had never really needed to cross her mind. She did check down a potential objective though in her mind of the factory, it having huge potential for sabotage if needed.

Ava shook her head, even though she was cloaked. 'I learned about all the factions in this sector, current and old... at least the ones that could be military threats... I've definitely never heard of these UED either. You'd think if they were from around here, well.. with how pretty and arrogant they are, I doubt they are some hidden faction in the sector.' she replied. 'They ARE human though... as far as their minds feel not to mention appearance of course. By the looks of the uniforms there is no way they are either a child faction of either the Confederates or the Dominion.... Might be pretty enough for Umoja but.. still doesn't quite fit their style either.' she added. 'Who or where else is there?' she questioned, not really asking Miranda but more so throwing the thought out there that these UED might not be from the Koprulu Sector at all.

Ava huffed behind her mask once as a thought came to her. 'We need info on them? If your datapad won't work, that means the only other way is the old fashioned way...' she said hesitantly. It wasn't that she was squeamish about it or any morality issues but.. it might be dangerous in a working base this size. 'Shouldn't be too hard to find some unused corner of this place, find someone who won't be missed and.. we question them somewhere where they won't be heard...' she suggested. Ghosts, in addition to killing... or perhaps even more so than killing, were about getting information, one way or another. When Miranda suggested they keep more low key, that she had another idea, Ava interrupted. 'Searching that guard's stuff might net us some stuff.. maybe, but if it doesn't work.. keep my idea in mind...' she added. 'Also, I doubt he would have access to info about the experiments here. If we got the right scientist, I could make him spill his guts about everything going on here.'

With that, she followed Miranda to the dead guard's quarters. By this point, her cloak was, while not direly so, in want of a recharge period again, so once they went inside, Ava switched the cloak off, sinking down to her knees within the small room as Miranda began to search for information. What most people who knew of ghosts often forgot was the mental strain that it took to operate the cloaking field. It was the ghost's own psionics interacting with her skin suit that allowed the invisibility and.. over this much time with only very short rest periods, it was a strain on her own energy reserves, not just the power cell. She wasn't utterly exhausted or anything.. but she could feel the strain already.

As she knelt there with her head hanging, resting, Miranda's sudden thought brought Ava's head up. 'Earth?' she repeated in confusion. She felt the connection in her friend's mind. The UED was from Earth. Of course, she knew what Earth was: the birthplace of humanity and all.. but little more than that. 'What would Earth want with the Korpulu Sector?' she asked. 'And more, what would the Korpulu Sector want from Earth?' she added in confusion.

[rivaan]

Miranda, not taking her eyes off the computer screen, was about as confused as Ava for a brief moment, before the surprise of it all wore off and her mind shifted gear, to start thinking once more. She was a smart woman, otherwise she wouldn't have been where she was, nor survived there for all those years without being found out and killed.' Earth isn't a good place. It wasn't when our ancestors were forced to leave and it likely isn't one now either since by the naming sense it seems it hasn't changed much.' Miranda explained to Ava.' It isn't considered needed Ghost Knowledge, so I doubt you were actually told this aside a few very basic things. Very long time ago, on Earth a power rose that took control of the humanity's home. It had very... specific... idealogy. Anyone that wasn't considered 'PURE' or wasn't convinient for that regime was executed. Millions were purged. ' Miranda was explaining what she was taught back in the day. She had gotten a very good education after all.

'Our ancestors, the ones who arrived in this Sector were prisoners who instead of the execution were send in cryogenic ships for experimental purposes likely.' She was thinking franctically. Earth... here wasn't a good thing.' If they've arrived it means they want something and that something likely is the sector. As if the protoss and the zerg fighting at our own turf wasn't enough. We were sent here by them and the people sent were the people they didn't want over at their place. This was a penal colony... now it's likely they've come back to take control of it. Wouldn't be the first time this has happened in humanity's history. There are a lot of resources here, there is manpower also. Manpower they could use to bleed the sector dry of it's resources to send back to Earth for it's prosperity? What's more I'd imagine if they are here, they know of the zerg, so it could be their attempt to contain them here.'

'Okey, change of plans.' Miranda turned around and looked at Ava. She pulled her gun form underneath the clothing to confirm the safety was off and it was loaded.' We aren't leaving here without some GOOD intel, need to know more about this UED situation, at least get some info on who runs the thing. We will have to locate the source of information which is likely a higher ranking officer of some kind, preferrably one of the UED peopl...' Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden blaring of sirens across the halls as a very mechanical voice started echoing through the intercoms.

"All base personel prepare Emergency Capital Ship Arrival. This is not a drill. Code Red has been declared. All essential security personal is to reply to their stations effective immediately. All engineer crews are to report to duty at hangars 4 and 6, prepare for emergency repairs. I repeat this is not a drill." The mechanical voice repeated the warning a few more times before the entire base as if started to tremble. The vibrations were transfered through the entire structure of the base, she felt the tremors through her feet and it echoed inside her body. It wasn't pleasant, but Miranda knew this sensation very well. This was the feeling when a massive ship was slowly moving to position above a structure. The tremors were caused by the massive engines that moved the ship. Once it got into position and resumed hovering it would get better. Though ideally they would attempt to land the ship. Admittedly a near impossible feat in this specific location.

"..." Miranda made an unpleasant frown. That's all they needed, a bloody Battlecruiser just hanging about somewhere close above this complex.' Let's find us an official. Wordy one..., but first... You rest here a little bit more. I know it's draining, meanwhile I will go scout around the living quarters area.'