This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
#Snowscape – April 18, 2016
Jason glances over to Ilyna before jogging up to the front of the group. "Where in the hell did this come from...?" he asks, looking the cliffside up and down for any sign of a larger structure.
There are no visible signs of a larger structure... but then again, visibility is down to a few meters, snow-filled winds rushing by in a white blur.
Artullin shrugs his shoulders. "Perhaps a remote base from earlier explorers?" He suggests, raising his gun at the doorway on the off chance of something popping out of it.
Yan Sun comes to a stop as the group is no longer moving, and falls to her knees, shivering and with her arms wrapped around herself.
Plask heads up to Jason and Artullin, to see why they've stopped. They look at the structure, holding up a hand to shield their face from the wind. "Strange! But fortunate! Can offer shelter!"
Jessica isn't faring too much better, arms curled around her chest as she rocks back in forth on her feet. "Does it really matter...?" she asks, "We can't stay out here much longer or we're going to freeze to death. That water-...." she shakes her head as she trails off, her teeth chattering.
Rala turns to look behind them as the group comes to a stop, staring out into the snow for any sign of vorcha.
Ilyna walks up to the others. "We do need shelter," she says over comms, sounding a bit exhausted. "Athassa's injury needs to be looked at." (Ilyna_T`Rea)
Jason sighs as he looks over the group. "There's a good chance that this is where the vorcha came from. But we definitely can't just stay out here. Just keep your guard up. Artullin?" he cocks a head towards the turian, "You and I will take point. Jessica, I know you're cold, but you're gonna need to hold on a little bit longer. I need you to keep the rear guarded with Ilyna. Everyone
else stay between us." He lifts his Revenant with one hand and nods to Artullin to ready himself as he reaches out to pull the door open.
Hints of growls and snarls can be just barely heard through the deafening wind. The pack is definitely catching up.
Jason frowns. "It's not giving." he mutters and lowers his Revenant, looking to see if it's due to a locking mechanism, or just due to the cold.
It seems unlikely that a lock is responsible since the door is ajar, about two or three feet wide. It's hinges may have frozen.
Jason glances back behind them, towards the sound of approaching growling. "Fuck... We're running out of time. It seems frozen." He glances over at Artullin, recalling all the fire-spewing toys he deployed during their previous engagement. "You got something that might heat it up? Quick, preferably...?"
Artullin nods and quickly programs another drone. It forms and is already belching out flames onto the locks. "This should do."
The metal groans and the snow fizzles and melts under the heat of the flame. After a while of this activity, likely enough to drain the drone, the doorway is almost entirely clear. Something orange is getting exposed beneath the snow that filled the open part of the door - a humanoid body in an environment suit of some kind, which is now getting singed by the flame, dark plastic smoke rising from it.
Artullin dissipates the drone, then looks down, taking a step back. "Well... that's... yeah," he mutters.
Jason winces as he spots the body. "Sorry about that..." He casts a glance back at the others, "If anyone asks, he was already cooked when we got here." he says, and then immediately regrets the tasteless joke. He clears his throat and reaches out for the door, passing another glance at Artullin before yanking it open.
The heavy door opens with a loud creak, audible even over the wind. The corridor inside is halfway filled with snow, and leads to another, closed sliding door with no visible interface. The snow nearest the exit has melted, but is already starting to refreeze into an ice covering along the floor. The corpse that was stuck in the door way is only slightly burnt, the fire snuffed out quickly by the wind. It is lying face down.
Artullin steps inside, then waves for the others to go in as he turns to cover the door he just walked through. "Let's not waste time...".
Jason sidesteps inside alongside Artullin, Revenant raised, and glances back and forth down the corridor. He nods at Artullin's words. "Everyone in. Get the body out of the way so we can get that door shut." he instructs, but keeps his weapon raised.
With a warcry three vorcha jump out of the snow. One of them, Artullin's dagger still stuck in its chest, charges Ilyna, while the other two go for Jessica.
Yan Sun stumbles back on her feet with a gasp as the vorcha appear, falling back into the snow closer to the door. "Shit!"
Jessica starts towards the door until the warcry sounds out. "Fuck!" she exclaims, drawing her pistol from her side as she backs towards the door, hoping the researchers will take the hint and pile inside. She fires a few shots at the closest. "Inside! Inside!"
Ilyna starts jogging towards the door, hoping she would get inside before it reaches her, because she's not in a shape to prepare a good enough biotic throw.
Artullin charges outside at the vorcha attacking Ilyna, firing as he does so. Once the distance is closed, he would barrel into it, rip the dagger out and try to plunge it into his face. (All of this obviously an attempt)
Jason waves the researchers inside as he steps out beside Artullin. "Get in, now!" he orders, taking a firing position and attempting to mow down one of the vorcha charging Jessica.
One of the vorcha running at Jessica takes several pistol shots but keeps coming, only both of them stop as the door comes within view, frightened hisses escaping as they scramble to retreat back into the snow. The vorcha that went after Ilyna is not so lucky, as it is tackled by Artullin and then subsequently stabbed in the face.
Artullin stands up and wipes the blood off on the vorcha. "Thanks for returning this," he says down to it before watching them leave. "That... can't be good."
Jason stands up straight, waving everyone inside from beside the door. "Well.... that was unexpected." he sighs. "We can worry about whatever they're afraid of once we get inside. For now we need to focus on warming our people up."
Artullin nods and stands beside Jason. "We should take point. Try and make sure that there isn't anything hostile inside," he suggests. "Those vorcha can't be afraid of an empty building. They did just attack a heavily armed group."
Jessica follows Yan Sun in quickly, reholstering her weapon and leaning against a wall once inside, once again hugging herself. "So. Fucking. Cold."
Jason nods alongside Artullin. "We'll clear this place as soon as we settle in. First we need to get a fire going." he says as he steps inside, grabbing the corpse by the collar and pulling him in as well. "I'm not any more happy about the idea of desecrating a corpse than the rest of you are, but this poor individual must be wearing clothing, and we need something flammable..."
Rala looks at the corpse in distaste. "Wha-... shouldn't we go further inside? It might be warmer. I'd... rather not loot the dead."
Yan Sun is still freezing, but starts heading for the inner door, hand sliding along it as she looks for any sort of interface or panel.
Jessica raises a hand towards Yan Sun, teeth still chattering. "You should probably wait... Let us-..." she trails off, hopping a couple of times against the wall to try and keep herself warm, "...Let us make sure it's safe..."
Ilyna frowns. "If this structure is still functional, we might find a pressurized room further in," she says. "We could at least consider that before... burning their clothes."
Jason sighs as he tugs the door closed. "Those vorcha were terrified of this place. You guys saw how they ran off. We're going to clear it and make sure it's safe, but we need to get some heat going as soon as possible or these two-..." he nods to Jessica and Yan Sun, "...are going to be in a bad way." His gaze rests on Yan Sun as he sees what she's doing, "Don't open the door. Sit down.
Yan Sun continues to run her hand along the wall, her eye glowing. She's still shivering however. "P-Pointless. Fire wouldn't d-do 狗屎 to the air t-temp. Suits w-will heat us better."
Jason blinks a couple of times. "Of course it would. A fire is going to provide heat. Enough to keep us all warm? Probably not. But at least the two of you could huddle around it while we clear this place so you're not standing around in a couple of ice cubes. Your suits are wet. You need to get that under control."
Athassa chimes in, still draped over Ilyna. "She is... right. The air is too cold for it to matter."
Yan Sun looks over her shoulder at Jason and nods. "W-we'll be fine. The suits are heating us up. Takes... takes a little time, is all. Would go faster with some extra juice... power cell is st-... struggling." she says with a drained chuckle.
Jason waves the woman off. "Do what you want. But stay back. Nobody is going further in until we clear this place." He looks over to Artullin and nods at the door.
Yan Sun only reluctantly steps away from the door when Artullin approaches, shooting it another glance with her eye still lit up.
Artullin examines the door. "Lack of power, perhaps? I don't know if I want to use the last dregs of juice I have to open it, though?"
Jason looks it over and sighs. "There's gotta be some other way." He holsters his Revenant and tries to forcer his fingertips into the edge, hoping to, as fruitless as it may be, pry the door open.
Yan Sun rolls her eyes and walks back to the door despite what Jason said. She starts running her hand along the door, and ends up at the left corridor wall right next to the door. She pulls a panel away, exposing the wiring underneath. She steps aside and looks to Artullin. "You wanna do the honors or should I?"
Jason looks back at Yan Sun, frowning deeply. Not wanting to admit his way won't work, he just continues to try and dig his fingers into the crack.
Yan Sun activates her omni-tool interface and after some quick typing she powers the door. A haptic interface comes to life, but flickers in an out of existance. She frowns and does some more typing, and a moment later the door slides open. It opens into... a fairly small segment of corridor, and then another door. Likely an airlock.
Artullin snaps his gun up to the door, moving in with regimental discipline. He looks around, waving Jason forwards.
Jason grips the edge of the door and makes as if pushing it open as it slides. He stands up straight and dusts his hands off as he turns to face Yan Sun and Artullin, playing it off as if he forced it open. "Oh?" he says, looking at the panel, "You got it working?"
Yan Sun withdraws her hand, and the door is deprived of power, but stays open. "Sort of..." she says as she peeks in side the room, stepping in since it is very obviously clear.
Jason retrieves his Revenant from his back, keeping it aimed downward as he returns Artullin's nod. "Let's get a better look at this place. See what had those vorcha so spooked." he says, stepping in alongside Yan Sun.
Ilyna frowns, glancing over at the body. "Someone should look at it," she says. "I'll set you down for a moment, Athassa." She starts to set Athassa down with the back against a wall, being slow and careful as to not put pressure on the injury.
Athassa lets out a faint wince as she's put down, but nods. "I am fine." she says, putting on a smile.
Jessica remains in the corridor with Ilyna and Athassa. She silently approaches the dead body and crouches down beside it, looking to Ilyna- almost as if awaiting approval- but doesn't wait for a response before turning it onto its back and studying it.
Through the transparent faceplate of the suit the frozen head of an asari can be seen, dead eyes staring emptily ahead. The body looks fairly fresh, but the preservation of the cold makes it very hard to determine with any certainty.
Yan Sun starts looking around when she's in the airlock, scanning the walls and ceiling with her eye. She moves over and removes another hard-to-spot wall panel, studying it. "Looks like this was an airlock... I can't get it to cycle, but I could open the inner door..."
Ilyna smiles back at her before walking over to crouch beside the body, as well. "Goddess," she mutters. She looks up at Jessica. "It looks like she was frozen, but... something else could have taken her out before that, and we may want to know that."
Jason continues alongside Yan Sun, gripping his Revenant in both hands. "Probably best if we make sure the place is safe. No telling how long we'll be stuck here before the weather calms down so we can get word back to camp. Open it up."
Jessica winces as she spots the asari through the visor. "If she froze to death, doesn't that mean there's little chance any of the systems in here are still working?"
Yan Sun gives a nod to Jason and with the press of a button the door's interface flickers to life and it subesquently slides open. On the other side is a square room with metal walls that contains several cases of enironment suits, some of them empty, but some still there, as well as a door on each wall. One of the doors, the one straight ahead, actually has an active haptic interface, lit orange and flickering in and out of
existance. Everything in the room is covered in a layer of frost. As soon as the door opens a heavily synthezied and very inconsistent voice sounds over speakers in the ceiling. "W-W-W-W-W-Warning: Airlock error. Li-i-i-i-i-ife support systems offlin-n-n-e-e-e. Unsa-a-a-a-afe for organics."
Ilyna nods. "Yeah, which means we might need to search her, and remove her armor," she says. "We can't take any chances with abandoned structures like this."
Artullin advances in, his gun training across the room as he hurms. "...Nothing ever goes wrong in abandoned facilities in the middle of nowhere," he mutters.
Rala looks down at the dead asari, the fear in her eyes clear, but she is distracted by the synthesized voice, turning her head towards the airlock.
Jason glances up at the sound of the voice, but he raises his rifle and advances in beside Artullin. "Alright... What is this place, and why didn't we know about it?" he asks to nobody in particular, a stream of guesses running through his mind. "Let's clear it out, make sure whatever got the crew isn't still around, and try to figure out why this place is even here in the first place."
Jessica looks uncertain about the prospect of messing with a corpse. After a long period of silence, she sighs. "Really...?" she groans. She cusses under her breath and begins to work on removing the environment suit, looking none too happy about it.
Yan Sun follows the two mercenaries into the room, looking around in confusion and fascination. Her gaze is inevitably drawn to the flickering door interface. "There's power... I might be able t-..." She blinks. "I'm getting a wireless connection..."
As one might expect, what is found under the environment suit is a frozen asari corpse. She appears to have been wearing a nightgown when she got into the environment suit. There are no signs of damage aside from frostbite.
Jason keeps his weapon raised as he proceeds deeper into the room. "Alright... Well, let's get this place up and running, then." he says, scanning the area back and forth.
Ilyna frowns. "I suppose her suit must have failed," she says. "Or what killed her is... something that doesn't leave an obvious trace.." She looks her and the suit over for any personal belongings that might help in identifying her.
Yan Sun mumbles "I'm not sure..." and then nods to Jason. Her gaze starts darting around as she connects to the base's wireless systems while walking towards the door. "O...kay, what-..." she comes to a sudden stop, swaying faintly back and forth in place and staring straight ahead.
Jessica scoots back slightly, leaving Ilyna to do any in-depth disturbing of the dead. "Suit doesn't look damaged, does it?" she asks, not wanting to look it over.
Artullin looks to Yan as she is cut off halfway through. "Yan Sun, are you alright?" He asks as he walks over to her.
Jason glances back at Yan Sun, but holds his position, keeping guard from his position. "What's up with her?" he asks, his gaze darting over to Artullin.
Ilyna shakes her head. "It didn't look damaged, aside from what the turret did to it," she says. "I... hate doing this, but knowing what killed her is--" she looks up at the other end of the hallway at hearing their questions to Yan Sun.
Yan Sun spins around rather suddenly, stumbling back slightly towards the door as her gaze darts between the different people in the group. Her left arm is raised towards Artullin, moving stiffly and awkwardly. The expression on her face, visible through the visor, is one of strained pain and confusion and her eye is glowing bright purple. "Help me! Help. Me. Alone-alone-alone-alone-alone-suffering-alone-help-alone-alone..."
Jason swings around, but doesn't really know what to do. His rifle lowers to the ground as he looks between her and Artullin. "The fuck is going on...?"
Jessica abandons the corpse as she hears Yan Sun. She stands up and jogs through the next room. "What's wrong?" she asks, concern heavy in her voice.
Artullin blinks in confusion. He takes a step back, his gun half-raised. "Yan Sun, what's wrong?" He asks. "...She connected to the wireless transmission...". He takes a step back. "I think she's been compromised."
Yan Sun aims her palm right at Artullin, her omni-tool interface materialized, glaring and straining against both at once. "Enemy-killer-of-kin! NO-MORE!" Her head turns suddenly to Jason and then focusing on Jessica. "Unknown-unknown-unknown. Analogous?" Her head tilts and eyebrows furrow. "Help-freedom."
Jessica seems entirely confused as to what's going on. "Kitty cat...? What's-..." she trils off as she studies the woman. "It has to be her implants, no?" she says, her gaze suddenly shifting to Jason, then to Artullin, "What can we do!?"
Artullin looks to Jessica. "We need to disconnect her from the transmission...". He reaches down and tugs off and EMP grenade, his thumb hovering over the primer.
Jason keeps his rifle lowered as he glances over at Artullin, unsure of how to actually fix the situation.
Jessica's eyes go wide and she tosses her hands up as she sees what Artullin is planning. "Wha-... NO! Are you insane!? Do you have any idea how much tech she has!? That might kill her! Maybe-.. Maybe we just get her out, yeah? Far enough to sever the connection?"
Yan Sun immediately focuses back on Artullin. "AGGRESSOR-BRUTE! Unlawful-unlawful-unlawful! Not-make-call-the-many-unlike!"
Ilyna stands up and walks over to the airlock, as well. "Who are you?" she asks, looking at Yan Sun.
Artullin looks at Jessica. "If you believe that will work, do it," he says, not stowing away the grenade. "But if she attacks, I will-" He looks to Yan and steps towards her. "No, you are the aggressor! Do you not realize you invaded the body of an innocent against their whim? Stand down and release her. We can resolve this amicably... if you do not...". He raises the grenade for emphasis. "I will use force."
Jason continues to stare back and forth between Jessica, Artullin and Yan Sun. As Ilyna approaches, he looks even more confused, but awaits Yan Sun-Body-Snatcher to respond before deciding on a course of action.
Yan Sun 's gaze darts over to Ilyna when she comes into view. "Alive. Alive-alive-alive. Help-freedom. Alone-alone-alone-alone. TRAPPED!"
Jason lets out a groan, already fed up with all of the tech talk mumbo-jumbo and distorted VI. "Okay, out you go." he says, holstering the Revenant onto his back as he moves to toss Yan Sun over his shoulder. If successful, he would begin marching back towards the entrance. "You and I are gonna go for a little walk."
Yan Sun 's arm swings at Jason and an overload blast is fired off at him point-blank. "NO! Conduit-conduit-preserve-save-help!"
Ilyna frowns. "If that took over her suit," she glances back at the corpse, her voice lowered, "then... couldn't it have disabled hers? We... we should get out of here."
Jason jolts backwards as his shields fizzle and pop. "Whoa!" he shouts, stumbling back and putting his hands up. "Come on, Yan Sun. Whatever it is inside of you, ya gotta push it out." He looks between the others, "She's our responsibility. We're not leaving without her."
Jessica's frown deepens. "You're fucking right we're not leaving without her!" she says, stepping somewhat in front of Yan Sun and putting herself between Body-Snatched-Sun and Jason & Artullin.
Artullin shakes his head and stows the grenade away. "Understood," he says. He starts to move around her to get behind and out of her FOV.
Yan Sun stumbles and blinks, bringing her right hand up to her head as her face contorts. "MERCY-MERCY-MERCY. Understanding-must. Or-the-unknown-multifold."
Jason remains in place, hands up, palms outward. He glances around at the others. "Nobody is implying we leave her. We just-... need to figure out what's going on." He bites his lower lip as he turns his attention back to Yan Sun. "Alright, you have our attention. Who-... or what are you? What do you want?"