There was a dull flicker on the monitor as the message was brought to light on the machine, what was supposed to be a simple document injecting code into the system it executed upon, looking for something. To 99.99% of those out there who viewed it, it was simply a brief glitch and a corrupted file: machine-code which would only run on extremely specific hardware.
But for those who met the conditions...
The screen would flicker a dull rainbow of passive colors as it calibrated, text gradually scrolling either side in various layers like the motions of a jittering Nepleslian Jumping spider as the decision cycles in its tiny mind ticked and rolled like clockwork.
After quite a time, the screen slowly faded to white and then to black again before orange text would scroll across, the message displayed in motion, the audio file backing it decrypted as text etched down the display...
//Decryption starts...
//Movie file follows...
//Mission Briefing.jdd
It was a low gruff voice, throat tight as it spoke in heavy lulled hush, bashed and ground out by audio-encryption, the result leaving a hazy wishy-washy static against the voice as it gave word.
"Your target is to disable the SS Maras, currently escorted by the Lorath Trishka in an attack convoy. The convoy is moving through our territory. Combined, the Trishka, Maras, armor and bomber wings are a force to be reckoned with since the Trishka's heavier weapons and carrier functions compliment the Maras' high mobility through the battle-space and its ability to lay down decisive fire very quickly. This is our problem, not yours.
Once you are in position, we will separate the attack-group and isolate the Maras. That's where you come in: You will have a window of approximately 100 seconds whereby high-energy aetheric systems won't be usable by the enemy so you need to act and get up close and rip her propulsion asunder."
There was a pause of hesitation in the voice, breath rasping over the recording device. A brief clatter of keys and the boot-noise of some ancient machine counting it's RAM checksum and then another jumble of keypress followed before he continued, reading the results before he would speak.
"From what we can tell, Maras is a special-ops gunship. The first of a new breed. She sacrifices armor for mobility. If you can remove the mobility advantage by destroying the propulsive systems, it should be quite easy to disable the main gun and prevent the crew from escaping.
We must have it... We cannot allow the technological gap to grow any wider.
Ahead of time, you will be delivered a bleeding-edge powered armor while in transit and the means to customize it for your mission with help from our engineers. We will also procure any additional munitions that you require regardless of legality through our connections and the price will be deducted from your final reward."
Assuming you commit, the deposit is 25,000 KS and an additional 50,000 KS if the mission is successful, regardless of capture.
Above all, this mission is a show of force. The reward for this will be based on your performance.
Heh... We've encoded this message under an OSC cypher using some very effective neural encryption algorithms typically used by the FreeSpacers. Time and hardware sensitive... Clever little things, aren't they?
By the time the Lorath have this decrypted, the mission will be long over so do not fret. We will communicate further ergo the same means... If you are interested in the job, contact us ergo the provided frequency.
We'll be waiting."
Message Ends.
OOC notes:
Any interested bounty hunters, guns for hire or members of the Opportunist Social Club out there?
We're hiring two and they'll be working together on this OP.
It's an open invitation.
The idea isn't to destroy the Maras. You're to sneak up and catch it with its pants down and let the Occhestian do the rest.
But for those who met the conditions...
The screen would flicker a dull rainbow of passive colors as it calibrated, text gradually scrolling either side in various layers like the motions of a jittering Nepleslian Jumping spider as the decision cycles in its tiny mind ticked and rolled like clockwork.
After quite a time, the screen slowly faded to white and then to black again before orange text would scroll across, the message displayed in motion, the audio file backing it decrypted as text etched down the display...
//Decryption starts...
Code:
Start: call SystemParametersInfoA,SPI_GETWORKAREA,0,offset ScreenRect,0
call SystemParametersInfoA,SPI_GETWORKAREA,0,offset WindowRect,0
sub WindowRect.r_right,5
call SystemParametersInfoA,SPI_SETWORKAREA,0,offset WindowRect,SPIF_SENDCHANGE
xor edx,edx
mov eax,ScreenRect.r_bottom
mov ebx,20
div ebx
dec eax
mov MaxVert,eax
call GetModuleHandleA,0
mov hInstance,eax
mov wc.wce_cbSize,SIZE WNDCLASSEX
mov wc.wce_style,CS_HREDRAW or CS_VREDRAW or CS_DBLCLKS
mov wc.wce_lpfnWndProc,offset WndProc
mov wc.wce_cbClsExtra,NULL
mov wc.wce_cbWndExtra,0
push hInstance
pop wc.wce_hInstance
mov wc.wce_hbrBackground,COLOR_BACKGROUND
mov wc.wce_lpszMenuName,NULL
mov wc.wce_lpszClassName,offset ClassName
call LoadIconA,hInstance,1000
mov wc.wce_hIcon,eax
mov wc.wce_hIconSm,0
call LoadCursorA,NULL,IDC_ARROW
mov wc.wce_hCursor,eax
call RegisterClassExA,offset wc
mov wc.wce_cbSize,SIZE WNDCLASSEX
mov wc.wce_style,CS_HREDRAW or CS_VREDRAW
mov wc.wce_lpfnWndProc,offset PropDlgProc
mov wc.wce_cbClsExtra,NULL
mov wc.wce_cbWndExtra,0
push hInstance
pop wc.wce_hInstance
mov wc.wce_hbrBackground,COLOR_BACKGROUND
mov wc.wce_lpszMenuName,NULL
mov wc.wce_lpszClassName,offset PropClass
mov wc.wce_hIcon,0
mov wc.wce_hIconSm,0
call LoadCursorA,NULL,IDC_ARROW
mov wc.wce_hCursor,eax
call RegisterClassExA,offset wc
mov wc.wce_cbSize,SIZE WNDCLASSEX
mov wc.wce_style,CS_HREDRAW or CS_VREDRAW
mov wc.wce_lpfnWndProc,offset AboutProc
mov wc.wce_cbClsExtra,NULL
mov wc.wce_cbWndExtra,0
push hInstance
pop wc.wce_hInstance
mov wc.wce_hbrBackground,COLOR_BACKGROUND
mov wc.wce_lpszMenuName,NULL
mov wc.wce_lpszClassName,offset AboutClass
mov wc.wce_hIcon,0
mov wc.wce_hIconSm,0
call LoadCursorA,NULL,IDC_ARROW
mov wc.wce_hCursor,eax
call RegisterClassExA,offset wc
mov eax,ScreenRect.r_right
sub eax,5
mov ebx,WS_EX_ACCEPTFILES or WS_EX_TOPMOST or WS_EX_WINDOWEDGE or WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW
call CreateWindowExA,ebx,offset ClassName,offset WndName,WS_POPUP or WS_BORDER,eax,0,WndSize,ScreenRect.r_bottom,0,0,hInstance,0
mov hBar,eax
call UpdateWindow,hBar
WaitMessage: call GetMessageA,offset msg,0,0,0
cmp eax,1
jnz StopPrg
call IsDialogMessage,hBar,offset msg
cmp eax,TRUE
jz WaitMessage
call TranslateMessage,offset msg
call DispatchMessageA,offset msg
jmp WaitMessage
StopPrg:
call ExitProcess,0
End Start//Movie file follows...
//Mission Briefing.jdd
It was a low gruff voice, throat tight as it spoke in heavy lulled hush, bashed and ground out by audio-encryption, the result leaving a hazy wishy-washy static against the voice as it gave word.
"Your target is to disable the SS Maras, currently escorted by the Lorath Trishka in an attack convoy. The convoy is moving through our territory. Combined, the Trishka, Maras, armor and bomber wings are a force to be reckoned with since the Trishka's heavier weapons and carrier functions compliment the Maras' high mobility through the battle-space and its ability to lay down decisive fire very quickly. This is our problem, not yours.
Once you are in position, we will separate the attack-group and isolate the Maras. That's where you come in: You will have a window of approximately 100 seconds whereby high-energy aetheric systems won't be usable by the enemy so you need to act and get up close and rip her propulsion asunder."
There was a pause of hesitation in the voice, breath rasping over the recording device. A brief clatter of keys and the boot-noise of some ancient machine counting it's RAM checksum and then another jumble of keypress followed before he continued, reading the results before he would speak.
"From what we can tell, Maras is a special-ops gunship. The first of a new breed. She sacrifices armor for mobility. If you can remove the mobility advantage by destroying the propulsive systems, it should be quite easy to disable the main gun and prevent the crew from escaping.
We must have it... We cannot allow the technological gap to grow any wider.
Ahead of time, you will be delivered a bleeding-edge powered armor while in transit and the means to customize it for your mission with help from our engineers. We will also procure any additional munitions that you require regardless of legality through our connections and the price will be deducted from your final reward."
Assuming you commit, the deposit is 25,000 KS and an additional 50,000 KS if the mission is successful, regardless of capture.
Above all, this mission is a show of force. The reward for this will be based on your performance.
Heh... We've encoded this message under an OSC cypher using some very effective neural encryption algorithms typically used by the FreeSpacers. Time and hardware sensitive... Clever little things, aren't they?
By the time the Lorath have this decrypted, the mission will be long over so do not fret. We will communicate further ergo the same means... If you are interested in the job, contact us ergo the provided frequency.
We'll be waiting."
Message Ends.
OOC notes:
Any interested bounty hunters, guns for hire or members of the Opportunist Social Club out there?
We're hiring two and they'll be working together on this OP.
It's an open invitation.
The idea isn't to destroy the Maras. You're to sneak up and catch it with its pants down and let the Occhestian do the rest.