The Virus

[Professor Fenway]

/NEOROMAN BROADCAST TO ALL EMPIRES--//
Processing... CONNECTION SECURE-

Playing message...

Before we state our meaning, lets begin with a short back-story.

Approximately 15 days ago, a massive research station, hereafter referred to as ALPHA, went silent. The station's focus was on genetic experimentation, ranging from a large spectrum of uses. After three days, we contacted the EE and requested Agent Changeling to investigate the matter. We found startling evidence on the continuation of a decommissioned NeoRoman project, Overmind, and a powerful computer virus.

Overmind was an experiment on a form of Mind Control. The original intention was to help socialize the mentally retarded with society in cases where the retardation was not treatable. With success in this venture, it was decided to try it on criminals, in order to help rehabilitate them for society. It met failure at this point. After years with no progress, Command decommissioned the project three years ago, and reassigned the station to genetics.

As evidence revealed by Agent Changeling shows, the project was not only continued, but led to incredible success. Logs showed nearly 99% of organisms could be controlled, with no clear indication as to what makes someone immune. Overmind replaced the minds of the subjects with organic computers. The last logs showed that, shortly before the station went silent, they began testing it on the genetically engineered organisms from before. We believe this is where the Virus came from.

The virus is an incredibly powerful, computer based infection. It has shown the ability to infect nearly any medium, and transfer through any method. It has also displayed alarmingly high levels of sentience. Our data shows it was not made by any NeoRoman Dominion scientist. It appears to have been controlling the subjects controlled using Overmind, and as more controlled organisms were near each other, intelligence increased. This may be due to a small level of telepathy shared between subjects.

Why are we telling you this? Surely, under any other government this would be highly classified. We have two. First, new classification procedures for the government make this an acceptable security risk. And two, the station that was infected was missing several escape pods. We located two, and they were infected with the virus. I believe you can extrapolate the results if one happens to contact a major station.

Now for our purpose. We are inviting, no, needing the brightest researchers from every nation to come to our research base on the arctic planet of Kalii II, Kalii system. We are going to try and develop an antivirus and a method of reversing Overmind. The head researcher Sullivan was captured from ALPHA, and he was being controlled by Overmind. If we can reverse it, we may be able to find out exactly what happened. We also wish to establish a connection between Overmind and the Virus, as well as decode the corrupted data-logs from ALPHA.

NeoRome will provide all required facilities, equipment, security required for this. There is no need to provide a fleet escort for the scientist's protection, but we are allowing personal body-guards if you must. We will also adapt living and working spaces to suit the needs of the researchers there. We do require an application, which is below.

Application:

Name

Species

Age

Gender

Empire of Origin

Role

Prior Experience

Personal Background

Personality

We also have rules for the facility. We will outline them here; (Actual rule meaning is in parentheses)

1.) For security reasons, each empire may only send one (1) researcher. Some projects within this facility are highly secret, and we don't want any leakage of information. (Single person RP, save for me (NeoRome) who owns the facility)

2.) Please remain on the matter at hand. We don't want someone to come here, only to make a nuke out of some scrap metal. Keep it on the topic. (Stay on-topic)

3.) Please do NOT use Overmind to control other subjects. We don't know the limitations of this. This will result in immediate termination of your contract, and, possible termination of you depending on severity (No godmodding)

4.) Do not look into private records. If it's private, you weren't meant to look into it. Will result in contract termination (No omnipotence)

5.) Do not instantly overpower everything. This is not Tim Taylor technology we are running here. Diverting more power will NOT fix it or make it better. (No OPNess)

This is a massive security risk for all empires. Please, send these researchers. It will be for the greater good of all.

//END PLAYBACK

(If you have improvement suggestions, please let me know. Especially for the application)

(Note that me/NeoRome will be playing multiple personas, because they/I are the ones owning the facility and all equipment.)


CURRENT RESEARCHERS-

NeoRome- Lead Researcher Markus, along with other low to medium level researchers required.

N.C.S.D- FS-164b "Omega"

EE- Hope Kintober

UTA- Jacob Davidson

Cavnin- Kayntor Elbar

Darkstar- Jefferson Mckaron

Novum- Linn Kelly

Strigiforme- Argyyn Yylyieta

TSRFM- Shi'Nakar

Commonwealth- Cambles Korrimann

[Professor Fenway]

Name- Markus Telluride

Species- Human

Age- 36

Gender- Male

Empire of Origin- NeoRome

Role- Head Scientist, Project Lead

Prior Experience- Markus has worked and lead 8 major computer projects in the past, mainly LOCKOUT, a complex security lockout system, CRYPT, an advanced decryption software program, and DIAMOND, an advanced program that utilizes all mining tools on a mining bot, in conjunction with a ship, to effectively mine all ores from an asteroid. He was requisitioned from another system and brought here to work on The Virus.

Personal Background- Markus came from a poor family on one of the continents of NeoRome. Due to their lack of materials, he often took trashed electronics from their neighbors and other people and tinkered with them. He showed remarkable prowess in this, and built a working computer using low-cost materials that is still in use today. He was noticed by Command during a police investigation in the neighborhood, and offered a chance to prove himself in a prestigious computer science university close to the capital. He accepted, and despite his lack of education, showed remarkable determination in his studies. Shortly before he finished this education, his parents died in an industrial accident. This left a severe blow on him, and he consequently did not accept his degree from the university. After a year or so of no situation change, Command offered him a computer project in an isolated system, along with any tools he needs. He accepted, and after success in this venture, was given more projects in the same isolation.

Personality- Markus is isolationist, and prefers solitude from other people. He is also pessimistic, sees the worst in all situations, and generally is not very pleasant to be around. He shows remarkable work ethic, however, and he can get tasks done quickly and effectively. He cannot tolerate laziness or ineptitude in any context, and will go to great lengths to get people exhibiting this removed from his projects.

[Ivan2006]

The Eggman Empire sends one of its highest-level researchers.

Name: Hope Kintobor

Species: Overlander

Age: 42

Gender: Female

Empire of Origin: Eggman Empire

Role: Electronics, computing and robotics specialist

Prior Experience: Member of the freedom fighter "Brain Thrust" elite research group, then former junior researcher of G.U.N at the age of 15 in the Second Robotnik War, Expert hacker in the Eggman Civil War, after Great Reformation member and later leader of the Imperial Research Court, lead developer of the standard AI used in most EE robots to date, now lead electronics expert in Project: MEALSTROM

Personal Background: A niece of Dr. Eggman, she was born during the Great War and later took part in a failed space colonization attempt of the Overland after the war. After the return of the ships, she joined the Freedom Fighters to protect the world from the then-evil Dr. Eggman, who turned out to be her uncle. This didn´t stop her, and after being betrayed by her half-brother Snively Robotnik, she resettled to the United Federation and joined Team Dark, the surpreme elite-fighter team of G.U.N. as a researcher with the age of 15 and was soon given the title of Doctor due to her continuing successes. This makes her the youngest Overlander to ever have achieved academical graduation up to date. After the Eggman Empire officially conquered the entire planet and began stretching out to other worlds, she joined the rebel underground and helped them de-engineer EE technology for their own causes. After the Great Reformation, she was pardoned along all the other "terrorists" and joined the Imperial Research Court, which she soon became the leading scientist of. She was then assigned lead developer of both the advanced and the drone-AI in use today. After finishing this assignment, she went back to leading the Imperial Research Court but soon got reassigned as the electronics-expert of the de-engineering and technology-development project MAELSTROM, which, however, didn´t really output the wanted results yet. She also now has a good relationship with her distant ancestor Ivan Kintobor (he was in stasis for a very long time) who is the SGM of the EE, which is comparable to the President of old-earth US in terms of power.

Personality: Quite stubborn, brave, joyful and refuses to take part in any unethical project. She can get very angry and hates too large ammounts of people around her. She won´t allow anyone to screw around with her devices and machines and often shouts at people who ignore her completely.

Company: She has a small group of robots accompanying her, to be precise: 2 Metal Sonics (for protection), 1 Grounder (for tool transport) and 1 E-120 Phi (as a "walking data bank").

[Prototype]

Name: FS-164b "Omega"

Species: Biomech, research unit

Age: 127

Empire of Origin: N.S.C.D.

Role: multirole, but specialist in mechanical and organic processes, particularly with neural functions

Prior Experience: worked on project Brainshock, which used similar methods to the NeoRome mind control, but was purely a weapon, and had no sentience.

Personal Background: One of the first new Sentient biomechanics created in the N.S.C.D. Has been involved in many research and engineering projects, including project Brainshock. Is the head researcher for the N.S.C.D. And has been ordered to assist with the project by the alpha.

Personality: generally quiet, and not too fond of the body he has been given for the task (FS-164b), so he gets rather grumpy with its limitations (only two arms, only basic visual sensors, no built in dissection lasers and only two jigsaws). Like all N.S.C.D. machines views other robots as inferior, so might not get on with the robots brought by the EE, though Omega has Ben ordered to behave. However once Omega has begun on a job, he will not stop until it is complete.

[Professor Fenway]

Hope Kintober has been granted access to the facility, though the two Metal Sonics have had their ranged weapons disabled through a small electronic chip, data on the Phi will be monitored, and contents of the Grounder will be monitored, all for security reasons to prevent data-theft and loss of personnel. They also cannot accompany Hope into the research and testing chambers, due to the risk posed by the Virus and Overmind. Hope may decline to work on Overmind at her discretion, due to the potentially unethical experiments conducted in order to understand how it works.

Omega has been granted access to the facility. Omega cannot, under any circumstances, work with the Virus, due to the risk of infection of his electronic components. Also, Omega is to be kept separate from any other AI construct, whether NeoRoman, EE, or otherwise, to prevent potentially escalating circumstances, save other N.C.S.D AI's.

[Iv121]

The UTA responded and sent it's best specialist that might shade some light on the situation.

Name: Jacob Davidson

Species: Human

Age: 48

Gender: Male

Origin: United Terran Alliance

Role: Bio-Engineering and Nano-Engineering specialist

Prior Experience: Worked on project Alpha at Aurora Station

Background: Alpha Labs - At a time it was the most secured facility in UTA space. Aurora station was based around an asteroid and served the sole purpose of hosting Project Alpha and Alpha labs. The asteroid contained an alien structure of unknown origin. the mining operation was collecting alien artefacts and transferring them to Alpha Labs. Back at Alpha labs a team if highly skilled scientists examined a new type of nanite present in some alien containers. All went well until one of the containers leaked. At first nothing particular happened but soon began power fluctuations across the station. Finally in one moment the effected people began to show weird syndromes. The nanites took control of their neural system and turned them into mindless mobs. Later research believed they could have been controlled remotely but no one was there to control them. The nanites began to spread across the station infecting hundreds of people. Jacob was one of the few survivors among the research team. The nanites turned out to behave extremely similar to the virus that broke out at ALPHA station. For this reason the UTA sent their most experienced man in the field to assist.

[ I didn't make it up solely for this roleplay, it is actually part of a custom map I was working on for a while called Aurora , fits amazingly well the situation). ]

Personality: Cold headed and dedicated researcher. Nanotechnology fascinates him and he can spend hours trying to solve it's mysteries.

Escort: A squad of dedicated marines tasked with protecting the valuable asset.

[Luna]

Name: Kayntor Elbar (Dream Reader)

Species: Ninjin

Age: 476

Gender: Male

Empire of Origin: Cavnin Nation

Role: Neurologist, Dream reader.

Prior Experience: Neuroscientist at the K-8 research hospital, also has a PHD in neuroscience

Personal Background: Kayntor started out as a biology student in highschool, he was more fascinated on how the creatures acted than other things like physical features or population growth or decline. His studies soon led him to neuroscience, as he had an interest on how the brain works. After he graduated he moved on the work in the K-8 Research hospital, he conducted many tests on criminals, mentally ill, and even average Joes's. His studies also revealed many secrets about dreams and their meaning. Which gave him the nick name Dream Reader.

Personality: Very out going and excited for even the smallest of things, Kayntor is willing to carryout most tasks. He is always in a good mood and always tries to look on the positive side, but when he is in a bad mood, he will lock himself away from others, he also has a bad habit of lying which usually does not come up that often.

[Professor Fenway]

Jacob Davidson is granted access to the facility, but no more than three (3) marines may enter along with him. We already have a sizable dedicated security force, and we can assure that no harm will come to him. The marines must also submit their weaponry for security checks, to make sure they comply with security standards. If they do not, they will be instead issued standard NeoRoman Gauss Rifles. The marines do not have access to the actual research labs and chambers, and cannot enter these rooms along with Jacob.

Kayntor Elbar is granted access to the facility. Accommodations will be made for his living quarters in order to provide for his needs.

We have also sent out a map of the facility to all researchers. You will find this here.

Level 3 Access Required

Spoiler:

Authorization Accepted

[Iv121]

Shame - standard marine squad includes 8 soldiers all with different specializations that are important for the whole squad ... The UTA sends their perfect service records to NeoRoman command. The marines are under orders to protect the scientist until arrival to the station. Details will be given on site. A UTT Yasur escorted by a wing of Scythes will arrive there shortly. The transport contains research materials as well as some interesting data ...

[Professor Fenway]

We have reviewed their records, and have decided they all may come. However, when not protecting Jacob, they will be rotated through standard NeoRoman security details, such as Guard Duty or the oversight of lab tests.

[Ivan2006]

Hope enters the station.
First thing she does upon exiting the shuttle is shouting for a member of NeoRome personell.
"Hello?! Any NeoRome folks around who can show me where I can unload my equipment?"

[Crash Override]

Name: Jefferson Mckaren

Species : Human

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Empire of Origin: Darkstar Corp.

Role: Metafisics,mecatronics,geneticist and enginner.

Prior Experience: Main scientist of the Darkstar corp.,he created all the stealth systems and most of the weapons utilized in the Darkstar corp. like the Long range hadron cannon and the Ultra-violet class of laser weapons.Also,created minor things like the project "Simbiont"
and the project "Trinity"

Personal Background: ==CLASSIFIED==

Personality: Generally sarcastic and sinical,like the teamwork and abuse of the jokes to give a little moral to the team. Always in good mood but a little closed.

"Everyone say that is impossible until someone do it" - Jefferson Mckaren,Darkstar Researcher

[Vinyl]

Upon noticing this message, and realizing the potential threat it may pose, Novum Paradagima hopes that their top science officer may be of use in the effort.

Personnel File 90282-S-NPONI

Spoiler:

Name: Dr. Linn Kelly

Species: Human (Includes Standard Minor Optical And Neural Implants)

Age: 39

Gender: Female

Empire of Origin: Novum Paradigma

Role: General/Multi-Role

Prior Experience: Discovered Insectoid Slipspace Drive, developed G-84K - C2-72 personnel weaponry, designed the U96C - U203C models, lead of NPONI Sector 1-2.

Personal Background: [CLASSIFIED, LEVEL 93A SEC CLEARANCE REQUIRED]

Personality: Highly focused. Can concentrate well, even while under fire. Above average IQ of 168. Impatient.

[Iv121]

The radars of Kalii II Orbital picked up an incoming jump signature "This is Kalii II Orbital, we have gunnery locked on you, transmit your IFF codes and identify yourselves !" "This is UTT Denus inbound for Kalii II planetary base for refuel and transfer of personnel to the base. Transmitting IFF now " "IFF received, status confirmed, welcome to this frozen wasteland ...". The UTT Denus began to decent to the base. The large hangar doors opened and the Denus entered the dock.

The greeting party was already waiting at the dock. "Doctor Jacob Davidson we assume ?" asked the guard "Yes, help us out with the cargo". The back door of the Denus opened revealing crates of various sizes. The workers quickly began to unload the boxes. In the same time sergeant Harper left the ship. "Watch it ! They are fregile !" shouted Jacob at the workers "What's in there anyway ?" asked the guard "Oh you don't want to break this, it killed hundreds of people already ..." the guard who was about to open the box quickly backed off from it "al .. alright you can go in" "thank you" said Jacob and they went into the base "It was actually my wine supply" he whispered to the sergeant "It wasn't a complete lie - Alcohol kills hundreds of people every year ..." "So this is where we're stationed sir ? " "You better asked the local security chief about where you're stationed, I'm planning to be stationed at the lab.". The guard at the door stopped them "We need to scan you on your way in, you will need to submit your weapons". Sergeant Harper gave his ML-7 to the guard, the other squad members did so too. "You all should report to the security chief at once " said the guard and opened the door.

[Professor Fenway]

Jefferson Mckaren has been granted access to the facility.

Dr. Linn Kelly has been granted access as well. However, due to the lack of a personal background, you will have to submit to a personality test, in order to identify any possible risky behaviors.

//Back to topic//

An officer looks up as a woman steps out of a shuttle and shouts something. He motions for the two guards to follow him and walks up to the shuttle.

"Did you need something?" The officer asks.

"Just where to unload possessions." Hope replies. The officer pulls out a small holo-pad. He inputs some command, and the device scans Hope with a small laser.

"Hope Kintober of the Eggman Empire, correct?"

"That is correct." The officer nods.

"We will handle your possessions." He pulls out another holo-pad and hands it to Hope. "Markus, the lead researcher, is expecting you. A map of the facility is enclosed, along with your access codes for the facility, room assignment, and so on. The device should be activated by the code you selected en-route to the facility."

"How do I know someone else can't use it?"

"Voice print analysis. It will respond to your voice, and yours only. We will send out all status reports, schedules, and the like on this holo-pad, so keep it close." At this point, a man walked up to the officer. He motioned to the shuttle and the man entered, shortly returning with Hope's possessions on several hovering robots. The officer nodded and then looked back at hope. "Now your file says you have a small escort. May we see them?" Hope nodded.

A few seconds later, four robotic constructs exited the shuttle and moved by Hope.

//ELSEWHERE//

The security chief looked up as the scan completed. "You are clear for entry," he said, and he opened the airlock door. Jacob stepped out, where the rest of his squad was waiting. Before long, a panel in the wall opened, revealing the weapons carried by the squad. They grabbed their respective weapons and formed up in a line. From down the hall, another person was approaching, accompanied by two guards. He stopped a short distance away from the group.

"Doctor Jacob Davidson?" The man asked.

"That's me," Jacobs said.

"Markus Telluride, head researcher. It's good to see you." He pulled something out of his pocked and handed it to Jacob. "It's a holo-pad, standard issue for all research personnel here. Assignments, schedules, news, just about everything will be sent to you on this. It includes a map of the facility and all sorts of useful organization programs, as well as your access codes for the facility."

"What of its security?"

"Voice-print. It will activate to your voice, and only yours. It will be activated by the code you selected while en-route to the facility. The whole thing is also encrypted to an extent where only we could decode it should the need arise." Jacob nodded.

"And what are the current plans?"

"After the security check, of course, your possessions will be in your assigned quarters, which is noted on your map. I would suggest you go there and arrange them as you desire." Markus then looked at the squad. "Ah, I almost forgot. As you know, only three members of the squad can accompany you at any time. Have you chosen which will stay?"

"Yes." Three of the squad moved to Jacob.

"Excellent. For the rest of you, Lieutenant Ash here will show you to the guards barracks for your security assignments." One of the guards next to Markus stepped forward. Jacob motioned to the squad, and 5 of them followed Ash down the hall to the security Barracks. "They are always within easy reach, in case you wish to switch whom accompanies you. In the meantime, I have work to attend to. When every researcher arrives, I will notify you when the orientation meeting starts." Markus walked off.