This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
#Snowscape – April 19, 2016
Yan Sun shoots a worried glance Plask's way, but soon finds herself meeting Jessica's gaze with a frown. She hesitates for a moment before standing up and walking over to her. She leaves some distance between them as she sits down, about a meter away along the wall, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. "I'm doing the best I can... I'm terrified, okay?! We're hunted by vorcha! Stuck in here! And then that
thing-.... hijacks me!" Her head falls and she smacks her visor against her knees, allowing it to remain there.
Jessica shakes her head, passing a sidelong glance at Yan Sun but remaining quiet. After an awkward period of silence, she sighs loudly and scoots across the wall, stopping just beside Yan Sun. "Just don't be a fucking idiot." she says bluntly, "If you get yourself killed, I'm going to kill you. Understand? And if you get me killed, I'm going to-... uhh.... kill you twice." She frowns deeply, still quite obviously angry
Jason holds the door in place for a moment, testing to make sure it won't snap back in place. Once he's certain it won't be lopping off any limbs, he tentatively releases his grip on the door and slides his knife back into its sheath. "Alright, let's get moving." he says as he retrieves his Revenant from against the wall and slides through the gap. As soon as he breaches the other side,
With Artullin's help the door opening is widened enough for the turian to pass as well. On the other side is a fairly large room, the space of which is mostly taken up by power conduits and monitoring equipment. Glass windows on the opposite wall looks out into dark water that bubbles. The whole room is lit from above by orange lights. The room is at a surprisingly comfortable temperature. There is a door to the right, locked.
Jason steps further into the room, sweeping his Revenant back and forth as he studies the window. "Must've been another research expedition." he says aloud, "You would think ExoGeni would've known about this... Unless it wasn't 'on the books'." He gives a shake of his head, not particularly interested in what the place was used for, and gestures to the door. "How about seeing if you fare
Yan Sun glances at Jessica and then nods faintly before looking straight ahead. "Yeah, I'll... work on that..." she says, sounding dejected as she studies the open door to the elevator shaft, awaiting news from Jason and Artullin.
Artullin nods and makes towards the door. He reaches it and attempts another bypass this time, omni-tool flaring. "Sometimes I miss the days where you could just slap omni-gel on everything...".
Jason gives a snicker as he backs towards the door, keeping an eye on the room behind them as Artullin works. "We made it to the bottom. It's actually pretty warm down here. Might be worth getting everyone down here." he announces over comms before turning on his heels and following Artullin inside, "Got anything else for us, Yan Sun? General direction? Anything?"
Jason and Artullin might notice a drumming background noise that seems to come from beneath, sounding something like a turbine.
Ilyna frowns. "This place is abandoned, though, so whoever that is... they've either not here anymore or passed away," she says.
The small room has a locked door to the right. It seems to be the only thing of interest aside from the various pipes and wires.
Jason gives a shake of his head as he glances around the room. "Doesn't look like it. I can hear-... something. It sounds like a turbine." He gestures towards the door as he looks to Artullin.
That's possible. What matters right now, though, is that what happened to her, bad as it is, pose no risk to our security.
Ilyna looks towards the elevator doorway. "Maybe Jason and Artullin will find out what happened here... and why."
Jessica looks towards the ground. "It... might be worth mentioning that you believe it's an AI, yes? So they know what they're getting themselves into?"
The door once again obliges and slides open. On the other side is a large, strange room. The air is cold again, although still warmer than the outside, and the lighting is non-existant. There are sounds of water splashing in the dark.
Yan Sun glances at Jessica and nods faintly. She still hesitates for a moment before activating her comms again. "Guys? The... whatever it was, that I connected to. I think it's an AI." She seems like she's going to say something else, but decides to wait for a response first.
Artullin nods to Jason before responding to Yan. "So I was right... illegal research out here," he says. "Then we're going to shut it down."
Jason sighs softly before responding over comms. "An AI...? Why does that not surprise me?" he mutters, giving a shake of his head as he continues to study the room, slowly scanning about, "You're the expert on this sort of shit, what's your recommendation on dealing with it?" he asks.
As their flashlights travel across the room they illuminate a large room that appears to be a diving chamber of sorts. A wide metal walkway runs along the edges of the room, and in the middle is a rectangular pool of water... or rather, an access to the ocean, dark as can be. The water seems to be held in place by a faintly shimmering mass effect field, and the opening is several meters wide and tall. They can just barely make out an
Yan Sun is visibly upset at Artullin's suggestion, and re-activates her comms. "No!" When Jason asks her she continues. "Let me talk to it. Please. I don't think it's hostile."
Jason locks his sight on the figure as his light dances over it, his Revenant snapping to it. He doesn't bother to respond to Yan Sun for now, instead slowly starting towards the figure. He goes to make mention of it to Artullin, but it's obvious the turian has already spotted it. "Hey!" he calls out.
There is no response. As the figure is hit directly by the light it can clearly be seen to be a turian wearing a complex and archaic armor design, white with blue stripes. The armor is clearly old, and some parts are even rusted. In its lap is an equally antique rifle.
Artullin advances towards the figure, but lowers his rifle. He sighs quietly and stops just before the corpse. He looks down at the weapon and tries to pry it from his cold, dead hands.
Jason eases up slightly, as the figure doesn't seem to react to their presence. "Just another corpse..." he says, continuing his approach and minding the diving hole, "...Look at that gear. How long has this place been here?"
The rifle is quite clearly nonfunctional, an old turian design, not used in over 200 years. This specific one is heavily modified.
Jessica frowns. "How can we help it? You saw what it did." She shakes her head, lowering her gaze to the ground, "I just want to get out of this place." she finally settles on, her knowledge of AI so incredibly limited that she doesn't particularly have a dog in this fight either way.
Jason furrows his brow, his attention returning to the diving hole. "We found another corpse down here." he reports over comms, "Turian. The gear on him is old. Like, really old." He casts a glance to his teammate, "A couple hundred years old by Artullin's count... It seems pretty obvious that this was another research base, but it must've been here for quite a while. We're gonna keep
searching and try to get everything up and running. Maybe we'll be able to use this place's equipment to get a message back to camp." He glances around once more, "I'd rather not stay here any longer than we have to..."
Yan Sun puts a hand on Jessica's arm with a frown of her own. "Don't you think I do?! It's a miracle we made it away from those vorcha alive! I-... I wouldn't have if it wasn't for you! I'm just trying to focus on the one thing here I actually know something about!"
Jessica glances down at Yan Sun's hand. "Do what you have to, kitty cat. I've heard sto-..." she pauses quickly, glancing around to make sure nobody else is within earshot before continuing, "I've heard stories of the geth..." she whispers, "...I know of the damage that an AI can do. Whatever you do, just be careful..."
Ilyna nods. "At least that means we won't run into whoever sabotaged her suit," she says with a glance to the doorway leading out.
Rala 's gaze wanders around as she listens. "That's... fascinating. What were they doing so far away from colonized space?"
Artullin glances down at the ancient rifle in his hand. He looks around the room for a way to create a makeshift strap as to carry it about.
Yan Sun pulls her hand back with a nod. When she speaks she does so quietly. "It was reckless to maintain the connection... but I think it means well. Really, I do. I'm just... worried Artullin and Jason will scare it."
There is little else in the room aside from some old toolboxes, partially rusted. No more doors can be found.
Athassa chimes in from her seated position. "But to build something like this, in an uncolonized system..."
Rala frowns. "There was no mention of this place in Council records. It must have been an illegal site..."
Ilyna frowns. "I don't think legality would have mattered to them," she says, "given that they have an AI installed here."
Jessica nods slowly, not particularly comfortable with the whole AI situation, but she simply shrugs. "Then... You have to convince them not to..." she says softly, "...Right?"
Jason sighs at the lack of doors. "There's nowhere else to go down here, Yan Sun." he announces over comms. "It's just a couple of empty rooms on the bottom floor."
Artullin hurms and holsters his rifle. He pulls out his predator pistol and motions to the door. "We should head back to the generators. There might be more information there. I saw a few consoles."
Jason gives Artullin a nod and starts back the way they came. "Scratch that. Artullin is going to check on a few consoles we saw outside of the elevator." he announces over comms.
Yan Sun nods as well. "Yeah... hopefully. I-..." she is about to respond to Jason when he speaks up a second time, and she takes a moment to think before speaking up on comms. "See if you can power up more of the base. Maybe-... maybe I should come down..." she sounds rather restless, clearly uneasy letting Artullin handle the situation.
Artullin walks into the room and heads to a console, though he shakes his head as he looks to Jason.
Jason nods in response to Artullin as they reach their destination. "That won't be necessary. We'll get the power running. Maybe then we can start moving everyone down here. At the very least, it's warm. Me and Artullin will move on to the floor above us after we get everything up and runn-..." he pauses as something seems to occur to him, "...If we get the systems online, will that give
Artullin doesn't start tapping away on the console. He sets the antique rifle to the side and holsters his pistol, but awaits Yan's response.
Yan Sun acivates her comms again. "I... don't know. If you locate the mainframe I could find out... or I could restore the wireless connection. I think I could secure it enough that I-... that that won't happen again."
Jason deactivates comms and looks over at Artullin. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend to know how any of this shit works." he admits with a sigh, "AI, VI, robots, computers-..." he lifts one hand, holding his Revenant in the other as he pantomimes typing, "...It's just not my thing. It's a miracle I haven't managed to strangle myself with these things yet-..." he glances at his arms, "...Or
torn my dick off at the very least. What I'm trying to say is that I'm out of my league here. I don't want her connecting back to that thing, but do you know what you're doing with all of-... this?" he asks, gesturing at the equipment in the room.
Artullin nods to Jason, deciding not to comment on the... dick tearing. "I can handle this," he says with a nod. "I'll figure a way around it."
Jason returns the nod and reactivates comms. "Artullin will handle it. We're not risking your safety, even if it means doing things the hard way." He gestures for Artullin to begin doing his thing, "I'll keep you updated on our situation."
Artullin nods and turns to the console. He begins to try and power up more of the facility, yet at the same time, counter any attempts at an override by the AI, if they occur. He would take his time, slow and deliberate as he works.
Jason just remains off to the side, completely out of his element without anything to shoot. "....Is it working....?"
Yan Sun seems about to respond to Jessica when she hears Jason. She lets out a sigh and then turns her attention back to her without responding to the comms. "They asked a question! That's the only way I could find out!"
Artullin would find himself locked out of the console almost as soon a few systems start powering up. "Imperial-inheritor-untrusted. Transgression-unforgotten. Halt-meddling-or-many-call."
Jessica returns to glaring at Yan Sun, a mixture of concern and frustration on her face, but she finds herself unable to voice it.
Artullin sniffs and calmly starts running counter programs to confuse the AI. False attacks, trojans, jailbreaks. He motions for Jason to get ready. "Keep an eye out."
Jason raises his gun at the console, but instantly shoots Artullin a shrug, as if quickly realizing how ridiculous his reaction was. "Yeah, you got it. You just-... Uhh... Don't halt meddling. Imperial inheritor." He slowly lowers his Revenant and activates his comms, "Your little friend is threatening us." he says, "Doesn't seem to want us reactivating the power here..."
Yan Sun 's gaze flickers away - she looks immensely uncomfortable with Jessica's glaring. She goes quiet until Jason addresses her. She tries to maintain a neutral tone as she speaks, but her upset bleeds through towards the end. "Then don't do that! We need to talk to it. It's probably just trying to defend itself."
Jason cocks an eyebrow, giving a shake of his head. "Well-..." he begins, glancing upward arbitrarily as if hoping to be heard by the great eye in the sky, "...Then I hope it knows that I-... we have no intention of hurti-... damaging it?" He pauses, as if awaiting a response before adding, "I just want to keep my team alive. That's all." His gaze returns to Artullin.
Systems are now powering up all over, although many are failing to do so due to damage over the years. When the counter-programs start the synthesized voice comes in from the console again. "Aggression-unceasing. Horn-sounds-summon-many. Unending-apologies."
Artullin hurms and continues his hacking. "The vorcha are probably coming back," he replies to Jason.
Jason frowns, his gaze darting around. "Horn sounds summon many." he says, "Unending apologies. That's what it said! Horn sounds summon many! I'm not exactly up to speed on Sociopathic Robot Monthly, but that doesn't sound very 'non-hostile' to me! What is it summoning? Can an AI summon?"
Artullin looks to Jason. "Calm down. You're making me nervous," he replies before looking back to the console. He tries to locate any possible surveillance systems or comms systems that he can take advantage of.
Jessica shuts her eyes tightly before standing up. She casts a glance towards Ilyna to make sure she's not looking before extending a hand down towards Yan Sun. "Don't make me regret this, kitty cat!" she orders in a whisper as to not rouse Ilyna, "It sounds like they need you down there. Let's go."
The console has no access to any base systems whatsoever, only power distribution, and that is still locked down by the AI, which is currently countering Artullin's programs.
Artullin hurms again. "Feisty bugger," he comments. He activates his omni-tool and simply goes for the brute force option.
Yan Sun 's eyes widen as she hears Jason speak. She grabs the offered hand and gets to her feet, quickly blurting out "I won't." before rushing over to the elevator and starting to climb down as her eye lights up. She stops by the second floor door and starts to run a bypass, but is interrupted as she slips on the icy rungs of the ladder, falling down with a loud clank - fortunately the fall is small. "Ugh..."
Jessica stops at the elevator, giving a glance back to make sure they haven't been spotted. She winces as Yan Sun takes her dive and hurries to scuttle down the ladder. "You fool!" she whispers, "Now is not the time to be all stupid and cute. Get the fucking door open and do what you have to do!" she says, unholstering her pistol.
Jason raises his Revenant and aims it at the elevator. "We've got noise down here, anyone seeing anything?" he asks over comms.
Yan Sun scrambles back onto her feat with a groan and climbs up. She continues with the bypass and the door slides open to a dimly lit, but empty corridor. She climbs inside, glowing eye darting around. "Summon many... summon many... 米田共."
Artullin looks to Jason. "No reply...". It doesn't take him long to put two and two together. "You think it's Yan Sun?" He keeps his pistol trained on the lift.
Jessica steps inside beside Yan Sun, pistol aimed down. She activates her headlamp and begins looking around. "Lead the way, kitty cat." she says, wincing at the comms chatter.
Jason groans loudly. "Oh for fuck's sake!" he shouts before activating comms, "Yan Sun. Is that you? Don't fuck with me right now, I gave you an order! We have no idea how dangerous this place is!"
Yan Sun nods and heads for the door straight ahead, ignoring the ones on the side. It unlocks as she approaches. On the other side is a room with several large stacks of computing hardware and assorted cooling and power conduits. A single terminal sits in the middle. She activates her comms as she approaches it. "It thinks we're hostile! I think it's contacting the geth!" she access the terminal and starts typing frantically.
Artullin holsters his pistol and draws his rifle instead. "I'm going after her," he says. "I'm not getting much from that console." He starts advancing towards the lift again.
Jason falls into line beside Artullin, giving a loud groan as he hears Yan Sun. "Geth? It's contacting geth? Fuck. You have to stop that transmission. Me and Artullin are on our way."
Jessica continues along with Yan Sun, casting glances back down the hall. "I told her to go. It sounded like things were going bad and we needed to do something. I'm with her. We're fine." She gives Yan Sun a sidelong glance, not particularly happy with the trouble she's getting into. "You can shout at me when we don't have geth breathing down our necks."
Yan Sun keeps typing, her eye darting around at the same time. "I'm working on stopping it! Just hold on!"
Artullin squeezes through the gap and looks upwards, sighing irritably. "Damn it... this place needs to be glassed," he grumbles. "If the geth arrive, we need to move the researchers down here and seal it off. We can turn the entrance into a kill zone."
Jason gives a shake of his head, quickly squeezing through behind Artullin and holstering his Revenant. He positions himself beneath the hatch and interlocks the fingers on his hand, offering the turian a makeshift step to climb up. "We can't do that. If the geth arrive, there's no telling whether or not they'll be able to find our camp-... or worse, our ship! That transmission needs to
Artullin holsters his weapon and uses the step up to scramble back on top of the elevator. He lays down against the metal and reaches down to pull Jason up. "Yeah, you're right," he admits. "But we're not going anywhere without transport," he says with a grunt as he, presumably, lifts Jason up onto the top of the elevator.
Jessica remains by Yan Sun, looking back the way they came. "Work. Faster." she says through clenched teeth. "I'm supposed to be the one getting you in trouble. Not the other way around."
Jason reaches up and grabs Artullin's hand, using it to pull himself high enough to grasp the edges of the hatch climb the rest of the way out. And-..." he grunts as he climbs to his feet, "...we're not getting transport without communication gear. But if this place can get a message out to the geth then it can sure-as-hell get a message back to our camp."
Yan Sun nods repeateadly as she continues. "It's fine, it's fine, I-..." she cuts off mid-sentence and steps away from the terminal. Her eye is darting around like crazy, but it remains blue. "I convinced it to stop the transmission, but there's no telling if it got through before it was shut down..." she sounds distracted as she speaks, clearly still interacting in some way.
Jason gives Artullin a nod and climbs up through the doorway before unholstering his weapon once more. "Yan Sun." he begins over comms, "Is there any chance you can hijack the communication equipment here and get a message out to our basecamp?"
Yan Sun speaks slowly, still using her ocular interface. "Maybe. Check the... mainframe." She walks slowly towards one of the data banks behind the console, kneeling down at a hatch and sliding it open. Her gaze focuses on whatever is inside.
Jason continues down the hall, glancing at the doors as they pass, but his sights are set on the open door at the end of the hall, assuming that's where they went off to. "Maybe. Okay, that's not a no. Get on it." he says over comms. "And let me go on record as saying I'm extremely fucking pissed at both of you."
Jessica winces at Jason's words, but steps into the doorway as she hears the approaching footsteps. "We're in here." she shouts, as to not get shot the moment she appears.
Artullin looks to Jason for a brief moment before heading to a nearby terminal, accessing the mainframe less he is stopped. He has, of course, holstered his weapon.
Jason lowers his rifle as he spots Jessica, glaring pointedly at her through his visor. He slows his pace and steps inside. "You two fucks could've gotten yourselves killed!" he says, brow furrowed. After a deep sigh, he looks to Yan Sun, "Were you able to stop the transmission?"
The base mainframe has access over all base systems, although most of them are offline. The communications array is intact and accessible. The mainframe also has access to the base's surveillance systems. Oddly enough a specific log dated 1925 CE is flagged as 'In need of review'.
Artullin hurms and starts to access the communications array. "Wolfe, come have a look at this," he says as he continues his work.
Yan Sun carefully slides a metallic brick covered in pulsing blue conduits of light out of the hatch. She removes a pair of omni-gel canisters from a storage compartment in her suit and places the component there instead. She turns her head to look at Jason, her eye no longer glowing. She furrows her eyebrows, gaze falling a bit. "Some of it got out. It's hard to say if the geth will recieve it or not."
Jessica stares Jason down. "Orrrr we just saved your fucking life. How about a little gratitude? Didn't seem like you two were getting anything done." She scoffs and returns to Yan Sun's side, glaring at him over her shoulder for a moment.
Jason blinks a couple times at being told off. He stammers a few times before furrowing his brow, "We were doing fine!" he finally says, "We had it all under control!" He opens his mouth to continue, but decides against it as Artullin gets his attention. He returns the glare as he stomps over to Artullin. "What is it?" he asks as he looks over the screen.
Artullin taps the screen at the log, doing his work in a separate window. "A log. It might shed some light on the situation," he says.
Jason follows his finger, giving a nod. "Okay... Well, let's see it." he says, holstering his weapon and placing his hands on his hips.
Yan Sun stands up after securing the brick. She leans closer to Jessica and whispers. "Thank you...".
Jessica rolls her eyes as a slight smirk tugs at her lips. She quickly pushes it away and gestures around the room. "Just... shut up and fix this situation." she says, her smirk replaced with a frown.
The log video is a recording of a room so far unseen to the team, but it is marked 'Living Quarters - Level 2'. Several asari are lying in rest, a few up and chatting with each other. There is a sudden blare of an alarm sounds, and the base VI announces that they are under attack. Panic spreads throughout the room as some of the asari move to get dressed, while others run out of the room. The commotion continues for about a minute
before a heavily armored turian - the same one found dead on Level 3 - bursts into the room, methodically gunning down the asari with brutal precision before moving on through the room. On the back of the armor is emblazoned the logo of the Special Tactics and Reconaissance group.
Jason winces as he watches the video. "Shit... So that's what happened to this place." he mutters softly. "They didn't stand a chance." He shakes his head disapprovingly, "Regardless of what they were doing, that just isn't right..."
Artullin glances to Jason. He remains silent, turning back to his work. "Communications should be up back to the research base in a few moments."
Some manual compensation would need to be done to account for the storm's interference since the AI is no longer adjusting the comms, but provided Artullin can manage that communications with the research base should be restored.
Artullin can indeed managed that. He adjusts the signal, tries to clear it up the best he can, then nods to Jason.
Jason nods slowly, still focused on the screen. "Get a message out ASAP. Let them know where we are and that we need a lift and juice for our suits. Also, give them a heads up about the geth. It's probably worth trying to contact the ship, too. I'm not sure if the camp's equipment will be able to in this weather. Make sure they're on high alert."
Jessica looks towards the pair a few times, but has no idea what they're talking about anyway, so she keeps to herself.
Artullin taps at the interface before transmitting a message to the camp and, hopefully, the ship to. "This is Artullin, broadcasting on an emergency frequency. We were attacked by hostile vorcha and have lost the Mako. We have wounded and are in need of a supply drop. Suit's are running low on power. Been warned, possible geth force inbound. I say again, possible geth force inbound. This message repeats." He then loops the message. "