MoonMan
Inactive Member
All was not well on the Cirrus Station.
Of course, things were never well in the strictest sense of the term. The Cirrus Research Station was still doing what it did best, the multitudes of projects milling along their predetermined paths, rarely every crossing one another but ultimately serving the same purpose. One way or another, the people aboard Cirrus Station found themselves in predicaments often enough to come to expect it, much to their chagrin and the displeasure of its administration.
The gentlemen in the chemical plants were on the verge of perfecting another amazing new concoction, as incredibly expensive and increasingly useless as the last one. There was another chemical fire in one of the main laboratories; Squad 107 was assigned to that, as they had experience dealing with fires before, and experience reigned supreme among duty assignments for CSS members. The scientists who had caused the burning blunder stood off to the side as 107 wielded the chemical fire kits, spraying the roaring infernos with white dousing foam as they made a right mess of things in the process. Although fires might have usually been reason for outright panic they occurred so often in the Chemical Plant that it was actually more of a surprise to not to see something burning at least once a day. Squad 107 and the scientists observing were quite calm, even going so far as to chat casually about the latest Airbike Circuits as the CSS team fought the blaze.
Circuitbreaker Peke Twenty-Two, along with her moving mountain of a car-seat, Goat, had been hard at work on augmented hydraulics for asteroid mining application; she'd been on that particular project for a while, however, as she has kept hitting the same developmental wall of figuring out how to effectively incorporate the shovel claw-type design of the main appendage in a zero-gravity environment. Squad 66 was on standby, floating around one of the Robotics Facilities many docking areas in common space-suits as Peke and Goat worked and tested the large hydraulic arm free-floating outside the Cirrus Station Module's hull. Nothing was happening at the moment, but Squad 89 could attest that security was a very necessary thing for this particular Peke Project. The last time Peke turned the arm on they lost two shuttles and, due to some bad planning by Peke of where to place the control panel, couldn't use that shuttle bay for the better part of a week until the arm eventually built up enough condensed ice to clog up the joints and stopped tearing up everything within its reach.
Inside of the Automanufactory, there was yet another robotic revolution being led by Convolution, the Freespacer SI installed to keep the plant running smoothly. This was her fourth 'revolution' so far, but it was still impossible to tell what exactly she was rebelling against; whatever it was, it constituted commandeering a hundred or so automata shells and, in the most nonviolent and utterly pacifist fashion possible, make it impossible to get any work done whatsoever. Automata would chase scientists though corridors and hug them until they promised not to go back to work, or stand in front of control panels and volumetric screens and refuse to move. A handful of the more creative ones would stand in the center of a work area and blare loud music or do other nonsensically noisy things, disrupting things completely until science crews just up and left out of annoyance.
Cassefin Montreal had enough of Convolution's antics the first time the SI did it. However, the SI was more or less a requirement in the contracted joint efforts in development, and as such the most Cassefin could really do to Convolution each time she started her rebellions was send CSS teams to deal with the automata and give the SI a stern, if empty, warning. Squads 70 and 182 were dealing with Convolution and her merry band of rebelling troublemakers this time, either dragging the automata back to the manufactory or, if they were particularly ornery, disabling them with a little CSS-brand brute force.
All was not well on Cirrus Station... but all was normal.
---
Earlier, Kess and Mimi had announced to Squad 35 that their presence was requested in the Armament Development and Evaluation labs. This came as a slight surprise; for the past several days the squad's assignments were more or less solid and without any surprises, usually a patron position in the Central Station or one of the modules. Things were happening around them, of course, but oftentimes on the other side of the station, and their help was never requested. In fact, Cassefin Montreal's presence was more or less absent from their regular day-by-day, leaving them to their regular schedules.
As Squad 35 would soon figure out, problems and issues were abundant around Cirrus Station and although the Weapon Development Labs were no exception. Today's particular flavor of ailment was a little more subtle than giant haywire robot arms and raging fires, however. As the Squad arrived at the tram station to the Weapon Labs, the windows of the tram began to strangely fog up, and there was a sudden, slight drop in temperature. This slight change turned much, much more noticeable as the Cirrus Station Tram doors slid open, a biting, frigid chill billowing into the confines of the once-warm tram car, taking the team by surprise as the cold scrapped across their faces. Luckily, the CSS black mesh undersuit was well-suited for dealing with inclement weather, but the team would still feel the chill on any exposed flesh and even the smallest icy inkling permeating through the thinner areas of their nanomesh around the joints.
The sight they were presented with was, for lack of a better word, absurdly strange. The entire tram station was empty of life, devoid of passengers save for themselves. The abnormal coldness had left a faint glaze of white, frosty condensation on the surfaces of the tram station, and any decorative foliage that might have been alive at one time was no longer, replace by spent, dead twigs and curled, faded leaves that shattered at the slightest touch. If Squad 35 looked hard enough, there were even small piles of white fluffiness beginning to accumulate in the corners of the room.
Kess and Mimi stepped off of the tram along with the rest of Squad 35, unaffected by the sudden climate change despite their less-than-forgiving uniforms. They didn't seem so surprised by the state that the weapon labs tram station was in, looking around and waiting for the team to collect themselves for their venture to Cassefin's area of request.
Of course, things were never well in the strictest sense of the term. The Cirrus Research Station was still doing what it did best, the multitudes of projects milling along their predetermined paths, rarely every crossing one another but ultimately serving the same purpose. One way or another, the people aboard Cirrus Station found themselves in predicaments often enough to come to expect it, much to their chagrin and the displeasure of its administration.
The gentlemen in the chemical plants were on the verge of perfecting another amazing new concoction, as incredibly expensive and increasingly useless as the last one. There was another chemical fire in one of the main laboratories; Squad 107 was assigned to that, as they had experience dealing with fires before, and experience reigned supreme among duty assignments for CSS members. The scientists who had caused the burning blunder stood off to the side as 107 wielded the chemical fire kits, spraying the roaring infernos with white dousing foam as they made a right mess of things in the process. Although fires might have usually been reason for outright panic they occurred so often in the Chemical Plant that it was actually more of a surprise to not to see something burning at least once a day. Squad 107 and the scientists observing were quite calm, even going so far as to chat casually about the latest Airbike Circuits as the CSS team fought the blaze.
Circuitbreaker Peke Twenty-Two, along with her moving mountain of a car-seat, Goat, had been hard at work on augmented hydraulics for asteroid mining application; she'd been on that particular project for a while, however, as she has kept hitting the same developmental wall of figuring out how to effectively incorporate the shovel claw-type design of the main appendage in a zero-gravity environment. Squad 66 was on standby, floating around one of the Robotics Facilities many docking areas in common space-suits as Peke and Goat worked and tested the large hydraulic arm free-floating outside the Cirrus Station Module's hull. Nothing was happening at the moment, but Squad 89 could attest that security was a very necessary thing for this particular Peke Project. The last time Peke turned the arm on they lost two shuttles and, due to some bad planning by Peke of where to place the control panel, couldn't use that shuttle bay for the better part of a week until the arm eventually built up enough condensed ice to clog up the joints and stopped tearing up everything within its reach.
Inside of the Automanufactory, there was yet another robotic revolution being led by Convolution, the Freespacer SI installed to keep the plant running smoothly. This was her fourth 'revolution' so far, but it was still impossible to tell what exactly she was rebelling against; whatever it was, it constituted commandeering a hundred or so automata shells and, in the most nonviolent and utterly pacifist fashion possible, make it impossible to get any work done whatsoever. Automata would chase scientists though corridors and hug them until they promised not to go back to work, or stand in front of control panels and volumetric screens and refuse to move. A handful of the more creative ones would stand in the center of a work area and blare loud music or do other nonsensically noisy things, disrupting things completely until science crews just up and left out of annoyance.
Cassefin Montreal had enough of Convolution's antics the first time the SI did it. However, the SI was more or less a requirement in the contracted joint efforts in development, and as such the most Cassefin could really do to Convolution each time she started her rebellions was send CSS teams to deal with the automata and give the SI a stern, if empty, warning. Squads 70 and 182 were dealing with Convolution and her merry band of rebelling troublemakers this time, either dragging the automata back to the manufactory or, if they were particularly ornery, disabling them with a little CSS-brand brute force.
All was not well on Cirrus Station... but all was normal.
---
Earlier, Kess and Mimi had announced to Squad 35 that their presence was requested in the Armament Development and Evaluation labs. This came as a slight surprise; for the past several days the squad's assignments were more or less solid and without any surprises, usually a patron position in the Central Station or one of the modules. Things were happening around them, of course, but oftentimes on the other side of the station, and their help was never requested. In fact, Cassefin Montreal's presence was more or less absent from their regular day-by-day, leaving them to their regular schedules.
As Squad 35 would soon figure out, problems and issues were abundant around Cirrus Station and although the Weapon Development Labs were no exception. Today's particular flavor of ailment was a little more subtle than giant haywire robot arms and raging fires, however. As the Squad arrived at the tram station to the Weapon Labs, the windows of the tram began to strangely fog up, and there was a sudden, slight drop in temperature. This slight change turned much, much more noticeable as the Cirrus Station Tram doors slid open, a biting, frigid chill billowing into the confines of the once-warm tram car, taking the team by surprise as the cold scrapped across their faces. Luckily, the CSS black mesh undersuit was well-suited for dealing with inclement weather, but the team would still feel the chill on any exposed flesh and even the smallest icy inkling permeating through the thinner areas of their nanomesh around the joints.
The sight they were presented with was, for lack of a better word, absurdly strange. The entire tram station was empty of life, devoid of passengers save for themselves. The abnormal coldness had left a faint glaze of white, frosty condensation on the surfaces of the tram station, and any decorative foliage that might have been alive at one time was no longer, replace by spent, dead twigs and curled, faded leaves that shattered at the slightest touch. If Squad 35 looked hard enough, there were even small piles of white fluffiness beginning to accumulate in the corners of the room.
Kess and Mimi stepped off of the tram along with the rest of Squad 35, unaffected by the sudden climate change despite their less-than-forgiving uniforms. They didn't seem so surprised by the state that the weapon labs tram station was in, looking around and waiting for the team to collect themselves for their venture to Cassefin's area of request.
