Galvanized

[Vinyl]

The briefing alert was not unexpected, having been counting the seconds to its appearance. She slung the gun over her shoulder and quickly exited the ring, sliding through the weightless corridors, only passing one other person. The crewman was a specialist technician, Halman Aarrow, headed in directly the opposite direction. Cecilie continued onwards, arriving at the briefing room. Upon her entrance, she gave a quick greeting to Agatha.

[Professor Fenway]

OOC: There are no other crewmen, Vinyl. Alpha (you all is it) is it. Why do you think the skills are so varied, I.E Vanidan can repair anything, Lavria can farm?

Vanidan glanced up as Arnold entered the bridge. "Briefing," he said. "Should be starting right about now." He turned back to the monitor which showed the briefing room.


Hallix entered the briefing room shortly after, the small black box attached to his belt and carrying a much bigger box under his arm. It looked to be a weapon case for high explosives. He reached the end of the room and stuck the larger box behind the chair and the smaller box on the table, which stuck to it with the powers of magnetism. He attached himself to the chair and waited for a bit. Almost everyone was here; Vanidan he knew was in the bridge, but he didn't see Arnold. A quick check on his smartphone confirmed that he was in the bridge. The room fell silent as he waited.

"This is it," he started. The great roiling clouds of Jupiter were illuminated in the window behind him. "We're one day away from Europa insertion. I think it's time you know everything I do, protocol be damned." As he said this, he opened the small box. He took out a folded piece of paper and unfolded it before clipping it to the table with a magnet. He pushed it away from him. "We'll start from the beginning, five hundred years ago. Galileo. Upon his observations of Jupiter, he described a great flash of light on the planet. Shortly after, the Great Red Spot formed. The spot holds what we know as the Monolith, a gargantuan tower nearly stretching out into space. We have detected no activity whatsoever from the Monolith. Our concern is what we call the Scar."

He took out several pictures, which clearly showed Europa, and the massive gash on its surface. "We believe the Scar formed when the Monolith crash landed on Europa before taking off again and crashing on Jupiter. We have detected an extreme amount of activity on the scar. This," he pointed to one picture, "was taken by the Voyager probe in 1979. Nothing there." He pointed to a different one. "This picture was taken one year ago. The entire site has been industrialized, built over." He took out another picture; an infrared map. "This scan was taken by a probe just 3 months ago, sent ahead of us. Under the ice is a series of massive heat signatures. Networks and tunnels of signatures. Based on all the data we received, NASA created a very detailed map of all extraterrestrial sites and constructions."

He took out the USB drive and inserted it into a port on the side of the table. The computer automatically loaded the file and displayed it on the table's central monitor. A 3-dimensional grid of the planet. Past the crust, it was filled with structures, rooms, tunnels. It all connected to the Scar.

"The entire moon has been built in. The Scar is just a small portion of the bigger fish. The tip of the iceberg, so to speak."

[Vinyl]

OOC: There are no other crewmen, Vinyl. Alpha (you all is it) is it. Why do you think the skills are so varied, I.E Vanidan can repair anything, Lavria can farm?

IDK, but who will tend to the wellbeing of Kamikaze if the entire team is deployed?

[Professor Fenway]

Ship isn't designed to engage in combat while the team is deployed, and it can handle itself relatively well with AI routines and all, just not efficiently.

[cats]

In a mostly secure corner of the briefing room, Reid removed his helmet and yawned. He'd last slept about twenty-eight hours ago, and then in the null gravity of the armory. He spoke in a slow, hollow tone, "So, something crashed into Europa half a millennium ago, hollowed it out, and completely developed it." He began to drift from his corner and quickly grabbed something to steady himself. "We're less than a dozen with a few bombs up against the unknown force of an entire heavenly body. Not the worst odds but still a little risky. What exactly is the plan? Do we even know who... what the enemy is?"

[Error]

"And for that matter, are we sure they're an enemy? They built up Europa, yeah, but if industrialization is an act of war Terra is just as guilty. Have they actually proven themselves hostile?" interjected Ash, raising and eyebrow from her inverted vantage point on the ceiling.

[Professor Fenway]

"I thought you might ask that," Hallix said. "We've been monitoring the Scar for years. And when the site was developed, our satellites were shot down. Every satellite that has passed over the Scar has been shot down within hours. That's 5 in total."

"Shooting down satellites doesn't imply hostility," Ash said.

"They've explicitly refused all communication attempts. And, we believe they were responsible for multiple attacks on Earth." He took out another photo from the small box, which was now nearly empty. "This photo was taken by one satellite shortly before it was shot down." He clipped it to the table; it showed a drone-like machine, silvery grey and angular. He spun the chair around to the large box behind him. He pressed several keys on the box's lock, entering in a 10 digit code before it beeped and the locks clicked open. He lifted the lid, waited until the white fog covering the interior dissipated, and reached in.

When he turned around, he was holding the scorched remains of a machine, silvery-grey and relatively angular, or at least, where it had parts left. There were multiple bullet holes adorning the skeleton and what looked like a laser projector attached to the underside. Hallix set it down on the table, where it connected to the magnetic surface. "This was recovered from an Antarctic Research Station by a special operations team. The station was found completely destroyed." The resemblance to the drone in the picture was striking.

[Archduke Daynel, PhD]

Amelia spoke up.
"Well, I think this is pretty decent proof that extraterrestial life exists. And since Hollywood was right about aliens wishing us harm, maybe it's time we go Michael Bay on them. My opinion is that we drop a few nukes on the Scar and then go down to investigate."

[Luna]

"No Michael Bay would make up some stupid reason as to why we need to sacrifice some object that could accelerate human technological advances and then drop at least fifty nuclear bombs. Then have them survive and bring in some deus ex machina device to clean them up. And then..."

"Sasha we get the point," Hallix interrupted her rant.

[Professor Fenway]

Hallix continued. "Command believes we are perfectly capable of destroying the entire colony, given that they have utilized terrestrial technology in every attack against us."

Vanidan watched silently and then turned his head to the console besides him as a light blinked on. Something on sensors. A second later, the console began beeping and lit up with warnings. He pushed Arnold and his confused look aside and began typing commands. A live video feed of the object displayed on the main monitor; a silvery-grey smudge tracking towards them.

It let off a flash of light and another smudge disconnected from the main body. The console started beeping faster. He buckled himself to the seat, deactivated the control lock, and hit a large red button prominent on the console, activating the alarm. The ship shuddered as the RCS system came online and they ring began slowing down. "Enemy contact, 4 o'clock, incoming missile!" He yelled into the intercom. "Taking evasive action! Point defense coming online!" He grasped the control stick and pushed the ship to port to face the oncoming ship.

[Error]

Training took over; Ash grabbed a nearby handhold tightly, barking, "All hands brace!"

[Solar112]

Arnold, being overconfident, did not lower himself to holding on to petty handholds, and as a result he was flung across the room as the ship took evasive actions. Arnold piped up while flying across the room. "Surely they're just hiding their true capabilities so once we attack we're wiped out instantly."

[Professor Fenway]

Vanidan carefully adjusted the ship's position to account for the missile's vector. He waited, watched the distance indicator, and then engaged the upward RCS system.

The missile streaked towards the ship and made contact with the RCS stream coming from a port. It flew off course, tumbling in space, before detonating several meters away from the hull. The ship shuddered very slightly from the shock-wave. Vanidan keyed the intercom again. "Missile evaded," he said. "Contact still approaching, point defense is online. Battle stations!" Hallix let go of the table and pushed off into the hallway.

"Stations, you know the drill!" he yelled back into the room. "Ash, fighter launch!" He reached the upper deck hatch and flew through it, headed towards the bridge.

[Error]

Ash pulled herself onto the upper deck, sailing in the bridge door to the fighter-control station. Muttering, she strapped in and went through an accelerated startup procedure.

"Vanidan, halt rotation when possible for fighter launch. I can't undock this bird with you spinning around the sky."

"Holding rotation. Make it fast." the other pilot responded. Ash slapped the launch button, and the ship vibrated as the fighter soared free.

"Fighter away, going evasive." Vanidan cooly commented, resuming his jinking as Ash danced the fighter around on an intercept course for the incoming.

[Professor Fenway]

Vanidan began a the laser weapon's charging cycle as Ash sped towards the contact. The computer alerted him of the target's weapon lock status; it began beeping faster, and Vanidan put on a brief burst of RCS to the left to throw off the aim. Hallix soon entered after him and quickly placed himself in the chair for the weapon controls.

60 seconds to firing the lasers.