<b>Ahh but remember my character doesn't us high-tec equipment, only herbs and other items so who knows, besides Xect says im allowed but only he says if it works or not. <span style='color:purple'> "Well if you boys can bring back parts for a cross bow like launcher then i wouldn't have to lose an arm and a body to inject a fade or onos."</span></b>
Hey I only know what I've been told and seen. Perhaps in all those cases the hive had been awakened somehow. Perhaps the hive didn't need to be dormant. Hell we hardly know anything about the Kharra as it is. The main theory cirulating is that the Kharra are always trying to put up hives and increasing their hold on an area even before a threat is detected. Perhaps certain strains of Kharra have found a way to stay constantly active. Hell we know the Kharra are adapting their strategys. We can see an Onos now in a small infestation scenario. The Kharra will always adapt to the threats we pose and as a result the TSA are slowly loosing ground. Take the Onos, remeber how at the start of the war they could only paralyse one person at a time? Now we have seen them take out whole TSA squads while paralising them all at once. Unless the TSA think of some new superweapon mankind is royally screwed. Currently all we can do is hold them back. But its only a small amount of time till they become immune to our weaponary and tactics or create fleets of organic spacecraft. I'm only here to help so I still take orders from you, if you want a full blown offensive we can go for one, however I'd stongly advise against it." *Gets up again* "We better get going, time is money, or something like that." *Looks around" "Oh yeah this armour is nanite based, its the same as what you have to be honest, nothing else. Rogue Platoon use the same equipment as the basic TSA. Ugh, damn there seems to be a dull ache around my heart, guess I better try and walk it off. Anyone else coming?" *Starts walking down the corridoor albeit with a slight limp.* </span></span>
<span style='color:00FF00'>"Good, because those gashes in your armour looky nasty..."
*Starts walking more slowly to let the other squad members pass me until I am side to side with Venmoch. I pull out my welder and get started on fixing the armour on his torso while we walk*
"Hey Night Shade, what should I do when I get down to his legs? Do you want me to try and cover the hole up or what?"</span>
<b>Yeah I was rereading the past half a dozen pages when I realised that you were still pretty injured (and with no pistol ammo!). Incase anybody missed it, I picked up the welder before we moved out to the first res node, dea dropped it for us</b>
<b>I was under the impression that we were already on the move making our way to nano-sludge control. Regardless...</b>
<span style='color:green'>*proceeds the advance, spreading the distance between him and Boggle to get a more effective cover sweep along the corridor* "If your battle bowls ain't strapped on yet, do it now people." *clicks into his mic twice, the signal for his helmet's voice recognition system to enable, and brings up a minimap of the station* "Looks like it's corridors and junctions until we reach the NSC. We might need your welder to clear some obstructions, Revenge."</span>
<b>Ven you'll have to use a diff form of text, that ones already taken <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
<span style='color:gray'><span style='font-family:Courier'>"Sparks your thinking like its a plant, no form of nanites, drugs, radiation, whatever will do much. If a fade walked up and injected morphine into me would you consider it a threat?. And tell me venmoch how does one with bacterium inside him stay unknown, much less not have your cells absorbed into the walls? Seems to me the only way thats possible is if it didn't consider you a threat and i don't think i have to explain what that means. But hey what do i know, i'm just a shrink that coulden't get a job."</span></span>
<span style='font-family:Times'><span style='color:gray'> *Still Limping along* The bacterium was an infection caused by carelessness on my part. On my first mission I took my armour off for a minute and suddenly I felt three imapcts against my side. It wasn't until about three hours later I found out I'd been parasited. Three times. The worse thing was it wasn't outside the armour. It was inside me. I only realised with the help of a friend... She managed to pull out a scalpel and cut out all three of them. Without anasthetic. They had started to grow onto the surrounding tissue and were according to doctors very close to being permenant. THey got cut out in time, however a small amount of it is still left inside me, as a result every now and again I can get hallucinations, slurred and unreconisable speech from something else. I tell you, that is more scary than the Kharra. It won't overtake me as such and make me work for them but its da*n annoying." *Looks around* "I suppose you want to know why we've never known this? Well when a standard TSA member gets parasited its on his uniform not inside him. And if it does manage to get inside him he has a likelyhood of death of 100% basically if a parasite gets inside you, your screwed. Unless someone gets it out." </span></span>
<span style='color:purple'><b> "Will you guys stop commenting on my work, we might as try something now instead of later, hmmm judeging by how it's going i say it should be done in 4 hours maybe 5 if the cocoon is highly developed."</b></span>
<span style='color:yellow'><b>*keeps moving* "yes, i heard of shodan. wasn't that way back in the 2100's? still, she helped kill that infestation. rather trust an AI then the khraa any day. I remember the AI in Science base 22463 let me win at checkers, when i was a little girl. She was very nice." "ransom, I'm kinda worried. I thought that parasites were permiment. and you still have a peice of one in you..."</b> </span> <b>sorry, we all thought it was assumed we were moving, so when do we get there, or ambushed, or to a weldable, etc.?</b>
<b>EDIT: Ooh lookie what I just found... Spec Ops armour/weaponry is teh sexy! (Seeing as it just looks slightly different but works exactly the same I don't see anything wrong with Ven adopting it! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> <span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>PS- light marine models and gun models are on the later pages</span></b>
<span style='color:00FF00'>"You guys from the special ops division of the TSA would do well to read the combat manuals from the frontiersmen division... You may have been trained to deal to humans quickly and efficiently, but we're the ones trained to deal with the kharaa. It sounds to me like your commanders have been feeding you some crap to get the most out of you without the least amount of effort. Retraining a soldier to go from fighting humans to fighting aliens would take a big effort, so I suppose I can see why they would have cut corners..."
*Hands over a small data storage device similar to what Khaim threw to Venmoch before* </span><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><a href='http://www.natural-selection.org/manual/' target='_blank'>-Click to view-</a></span><span style='color:00FF00'>
"I hope I'm not destroying years of intense training by doing this... Here's our current field manual, apparently it's out of date... But I'm not so sure I'm gonna believe this stuff about the kharaa having evolved until I see it with my own eyes..."
*Starts speaking softly and slowly, with a slightly worried look on my face*
"The bacterium isn't normally interested in infecting humans because it mistakes us for creatures spawned by the nanites. It assumes that the nanites created us just like bacteria creates skulks, and that we are merely doing the nanite's bidding. Because of that it also then believes that the only real way to rid itself of you is to destroy all the nanites so that no more humans can be created. If your commander is sending you out without sufficient nanite protection... And effectively announcing to the highly sensitive bacterium network that you are away from your "masters"....
*Shudders slightly*
"I can only imagine that you were part of some sick experiment that you were not informed of... Parasites? On their own are basically harmless... Their purpose is to merely stain you, to connect you to the bacterium network so that it can keep tabs on you. The bacteria stain doesn't want to kill you, that is what skulks are for. The bacteria wants to kill the nanites moving all around us instead. However to be parasited with very few nanites nearby... Well you are simply telling the bacterium that you are a free willed individual... You are telling them that you are the real threat, and not the nanites... You are inviting them to attack you instead of the nanites, and I it seems you have paid the price of such foolish orders from you commanders..."</span>
<b>Parasites aren't permanent, you just can't remove them ingame for gameplay reasons. The "parasite" is merely a dart fired from the skulks nasal cavity that releases a small amount of bacteria into you for the sole purpose of "staining" you. The dart itself does nothing, and the nanites are capable of killing bacteria, eventually, so with enough of them you could eventually overpower the bacteria completely.</b>
<span style='color:white'><b>*Getting annoyed* "Hey, listen Venmoch. All due respect to your human vs human murder squads. This is the Ariadne Arm. Out here WE, the frontiersmen, fight THEM, the kharaa. We've been doing so for a looong time now. I don't know where you got that CRAZY idea that they started building hives before the threat existed. I have even LESS idea what caused you to think that a slow and friendly approach would help. I am completely at loss as to who formulated those far out extreme theories. But I can assure you one thing. It's bull-sh*t, all of it. So I suggest YOU, the TSA special ops dude, listen to US, the frontiersmen. We are here, they are there. The spaceship is not large enough for both of us. It's that simple, either they go, or we go. I see no reason why that TSA philosopher dude that told you this stuff would know better what they're like than those of us who've actually been here and seen that stuff</b></span>
<i>You get to a large hallway, with dim lights all over the place. The exhaust vents are plenty, it seems to have been some maintenance shaft. The place is silent though, no ventilation going on now.</i>
<b>If i remember correctly, didnt Terran have to take medication to kill the one he picked up on the W.T. Hell?</b><span style='color:white'> *Ed suddenly has a chill run down his spine.* "... Reminds me of Chem Processing back on the W.T., Where Charlie..." *Ed spins to look at one of the vents.* "You guys here that?!" *Ed, trembeling, takes a few steps foreward, with Wynona at the ready"*</span>
<span style='font-family:Times'><span style='color:gray'> "Hey listen I was a Frontiersman, I was stationed with The TSA Western Guard regiment. We took part in the takeback of spacestation Vega. I know about you doctrine, hell its what I was taught before I joined Rogue Platoon. First thing I know is I'm attacked by a skulk and then end up in some hospital back at home due to the TSA sending back the wounded to be treated at their country of origin. I know in some cases force works I know in others it doesn't, I can force you to do anything, all I've been is assigned to you. I took part in the assault and rescue of the Kensington Research Centre. That infestation didn't cause the explosion that wiped it off the map, Rogue Platoon did. Rogue Platoon isn't spec ops as you believe. We are part of the frontiersmen and proud of it.
Look I'll make it simple do you want my help or not? Because I can tell you there is a butt-load of Kharra down there....." </span></span>
<b>As for the parasite, it made it into Ransom and because Rogue Platoon are unable to use Nanites he can't clear it up by himself. At least thats the way I see it.</b>
<span style='color:purple'><b> *He cuts open the cocoon to reveal a caterpillar like bug inside, he takes a sample of it's blood and puts it into a pastel, he takes a small sample of the brew and puts it into the pastel, it fizzes before growing smaller leaving a small spec left. He thinks for a minute before going into his lunchbox and pulling out a Robison Fruitshoot TM and drinks some of it before putting the cap back on and putting it away. He picks up head set and speaks into it.* "So Ven you took your armour off and this Skelk,Skalk, Skulk whatever it is parasited you three times and you got shipped home ?" *He switched the frequency to all the others.* "Does anyone believe this ? If you want i could whip something up that'll relax his mind, will and reflexes so we could trick him into spillign the beans, if he has any to spill." </b></span>
<span style='font-family:Courier'><span style='color:green'>"Ay-men Xect. Revenge, patch his armour right up. I'll detach the leg plates when I want to check the wound." *moves out into the center of the hall, covering the vents* "As far as I'm concerned, as long as you're shooting them and not us, it's all good." *quietly, over comm channel* "I'm already carrying sodium pentothal, but if you've got something better, shoot."</span></span>
<span style='color:gray'><span style='font-family:Courier'> *looks at sparks sidways as if waiting for him to pull out a giant caldrun and and grow a hairy wart on his nose*
*to everyone but ven* "lets just lock him in a crate and kick him through the airlock"</span></span>
<b>lol sparks lets not get TO carried away with the herbs, potions, and insects. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> </b>
<span style='color:00FF00'>"I don't know Venmoch... It's like all your intel is almost all completely correct, but just a little off in some places... Hives laying dormant... The way the bacterium thinks and its effect on people... I do know one thing for sure... One of us was lied somewhere along the line..."
*Thinks for a few moments...*
"But then again, all that tactical doctrine stuff is going out the window with all these supposed new kharaa behaviours that aren't making all that much sense... I guess neither of really know for sure what's going on with these newest infections... It's actually.... Kinda scary..."
*I Hear Sparks, Night Shade and Paper joking on the squad-only line, and almost laugh, quickly clearing my throat and and looking down towards Venmoch's legs, trying avoid arousing Venmoch's curiousity*
"Ah-hem, hey can you hold up for a second Ransom, I'm just gonna finish up on your legs here and I'll be done. The rest of you guys, no need to wait up cos this'll only take a few seconds"</span>
<b>BTW Ven, just a quick note, imagine this is your second game of NS after 2.0 came out and you haven't read any of the change logs yet. All this squad knows about how the kharaa have changed is that in the first RP these guys saw an onos at 2 hives, that fades weren't spamming acid, and that lerks were spamming spores before 3 hives too, and this was the first squad to come across these differences. You may have seen more of these differences while you were here, but ALL you know about NS 2.0 is what your character personally saw or heard over the voice comms during this mission before we arrived, and I'm guessing it would have surprised the hell out of you like it did with this squad in the first RP.
We haven't read the marine changelog either for that matter...
Also, the Ariadne Guardpost is the central base where we hang out inbetween missions, we are currently on a large cruiser miles away from the guardpost.</b>
<span style='color:red'><span style='font-family:courier'> *hears Ed's remark* *shoulders weapon and scans area constantly* "Oh yea, reminds me of the machine shop where we found those crack grinders on. And we got ambushed in there by a nice pack of skulks. Lovely memories to be sure. I had my first flesh welding in there, courtesy of Boggle and his hyper active will to weld me <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->." *turns head slightly at Ransom, yet I still stare down my iron sights through the cornor of my eye* "Say, why don't you take those lovely medicines I had to take. No better than having to take something for killing tapeworms, warts, and all that good stuff. Everything tastes just like the stuff for the rest of the day and suddenly explosive diarreaha is worse than the Kharra." </span></span>
<b>Ah, quite the memory on your part Headcrab <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
<span style='color:green'>*continues the advance* "Quiet, all of you. This is a very bad place to get caught in an ambush." *wipes his cheek on the shoulderplate of his uniform, his face and ears slick with sweat from the temperature increase and the stagnant air* <span style='font-family:Impact'>What I wouldn't give for a nice, air-conditioned heavy armor suit right about now...</span></span> <span style='color:green'>"Alright, listen up. Three of you on the sides, check the vents as we walk by. Use your flashlights and watch your biorelay sensors. We're not gonna leave one vent unchecked. These kharaa have definitely evolved, and I'm willing to bet they learned some new skills in the time they were on this ship. Let's get through this one fast and clean." *switches mic frequencies* "Comm, I have a bad feeling about this. What do you see?"</span>
<i><span style='font-family:Optima'><span style='color:orange'>*edges over, pointing gun and flashlight at one vent.* "I don't see anything except for what looks like strands of something, probably cobwebs. This place can't have been very clean. You guys seeing anything?"</span></span></i>
<span style='color:purple'>*Finishes backing through the door and into the room, making sure nothing comes up behind * "Hold on a second, going to close this door and lock it, hopefully the khaara won't be able to get behind us, and It'll only take a second or two to unlock on our way back." *Jams a few buttons on the door control, smiling to himself as the hydrolics shut the door and lock it.* "All done there, now we just gota watch those vents... I don't suppose you could weld those closed could you revenge?"</span>
<span style='color:gray'><u>*hears the vent comment* "Wait a sec..... those vents..... don't they have an electronic system to shut it? Like, when there is a problem in the air or anything? Let me see......" *stumbles upon a crate and looks inside vent* [finds a couple of wires, and starts to play around with them. The vent closes, almost getting my hand]</u></span>
<b>Dunno if what I just said made any sense, but any case..... That's why I have the thingy for xect to approve my actions <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
<span style='color:yellow'><b>*points to where the khraa would come from, if they were going to come.* *covers* "hey, sweet. maybe we can close off this deathtrap before it gets us killed" "hey, ven. your the one that blew up Kensington? Thanks. because of you our insurance covered the station."</b> </span>
<span style='color:gray'><span style='font-family:Times'> "That wasn't my call, I was only following orders. In fact that order came from much higher up namely it was beyond our control. But da*n that was the fastest I think I've had to run ever." *looks around* "We should try and look out for sensory chambers... I got attacked by a skulk and blacked out on my last mission with the TSA just after we got the CC online. Next thing I know, I'm back in a hospital at home being asked by some guy called Borzov if I'd like to join. Naturally I said yes. Then on the first mission I got this dang infection. Wasn't too good however the unit don't mind, but then again we have a lot of wierd people in Rogue Platoon. </span></span>
<span style='color:orange'>*I explain what I found about Erin to the AI program, whose name is now found to be Mercura, while following the others* "...and that's it. I have no idea who that guy was." <b>"I never met any of the crew on the W.T. Hell so I don't have a clue either."</b> *hears Dea suggest uploading Mercura into the ships computer grid* "That's pretty risky Dea, the ICPs, Intrusion Countermeasure Programs, might attack her, thinking that she's a virus." <b>"Oh come on, those Incompetent, Confused Programs wouldn't last three microcycles against me."</b></span> <b>I got the idea for most of that from a Tron 2.0 demo.</b> <span style='color:orange'><b>"I'm not getting any life signs other than you guys, but then again I've only got the crappy sensors on this damn PDA to go by!"</b> "Would you rather be attacked constantly by ICPs? Let's just stop this. Hey Dea, I heard somewhere that one of your fathers' companies was working on a laser that would digitise a person or object into the computer. Know anything about that?"</span>
<b>Paper i'm not walking with you guys i'm back at base. <span style='color:purple'> "Hey Xect do you want me to build anything while i'm here ? My brew is almost done you see so i'm jus toffering my services before i catch up with the others." *Speaks into his head set.* "Does anyone know how to make a cross bow? the syrignes won't fit into my gun and i don't feel like walking up to a fade and injecting it personnally."</span></b>
<span style='color:blue'>"I remember when i was young, me and some friends would a flexible piece wood with string to fashion a crude bow. im sure with the technical expertise and the tools we have we could make a pretty decent cross bow. The only problem would be finding the right pieces of metal. We would need a strong and rigid one for the cross piece and a strong but flexible piece for the bow. We would also need to find some sting or some high tensil wire for the string on the bow. Then we would need to put a firing mechnism on to it, then we would need to form some darts that flew straight and attach the syringe to it. It could be done, but whether the kharaa would give us enough time and space to build enough to be effective is another matter entirely. As for now, if you see any bits that could be useful, pick them up."</span>
<b>I'm back at base too <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
Comments
<span style='color:purple'>
"Well if you boys can bring back parts for a cross bow like launcher then i wouldn't have to lose an arm and a body to inject a fade or onos."</span></b>
Hey I only know what I've been told and seen. Perhaps in all those cases the hive had been awakened somehow. Perhaps the hive didn't need to be dormant. Hell we hardly know anything about the Kharra as it is. The main theory cirulating is that the Kharra are always trying to put up hives and increasing their hold on an area even before a threat is detected. Perhaps certain strains of Kharra have found a way to stay constantly active. Hell we know the Kharra are adapting their strategys. We can see an Onos now in a small infestation scenario. The Kharra will always adapt to the threats we pose and as a result the TSA are slowly loosing ground. Take the Onos, remeber how at the start of the war they could only paralyse one person at a time? Now we have seen them take out whole TSA squads while paralising them all at once. Unless the TSA think of some new superweapon mankind is royally screwed. Currently all we can do is hold them back. But its only a small amount of time till they become immune to our weaponary and tactics or create fleets of organic spacecraft. I'm only here to help so I still take orders from you, if you want a full blown offensive we can go for one, however I'd stongly advise against it."
*Gets up again*
"We better get going, time is money, or something like that."
*Looks around"
"Oh yeah this armour is nanite based, its the same as what you have to be honest, nothing else. Rogue Platoon use the same equipment as the basic TSA. Ugh, damn there seems to be a dull ache around my heart, guess I better try and walk it off. Anyone else coming?"
*Starts walking down the corridoor albeit with a slight limp.*
</span></span>
*Starts walking more slowly to let the other squad members pass me until I am side to side with Venmoch. I pull out my welder and get started on fixing the armour on his torso while we walk*
"Hey Night Shade, what should I do when I get down to his legs? Do you want me to try and cover the hole up or what?"</span>
<b>Yeah I was rereading the past half a dozen pages when I realised that you were still pretty injured (and with no pistol ammo!). Incase anybody missed it, I picked up the welder before we moved out to the first res node, dea dropped it for us</b>
<span style='color:green'>*proceeds the advance, spreading the distance between him and Boggle to get a more effective cover sweep along the corridor*
"If your battle bowls ain't strapped on yet, do it now people."
*clicks into his mic twice, the signal for his helmet's voice recognition system to enable, and brings up a minimap of the station*
"Looks like it's corridors and junctions until we reach the NSC. We might need your welder to clear some obstructions, Revenge."</span>
<span style='color:gray'><span style='font-family:Courier'>"Sparks your thinking like its a plant, no form of nanites, drugs, radiation, whatever will do much. If a fade walked up and injected morphine into me would you consider it a threat?. And tell me venmoch how does one with bacterium inside him stay unknown, much less not have your cells absorbed into the walls? Seems to me the only way thats possible is if it didn't consider you a threat and i don't think i have to explain what that means. But hey what do i know, i'm just a shrink that coulden't get a job."</span></span>
<span style='font-family:Times'><span style='color:gray'>
*Still Limping along*
The bacterium was an infection caused by carelessness on my part. On my first mission I took my armour off for a minute and suddenly I felt three imapcts against my side. It wasn't until about three hours later I found out I'd been parasited. Three times. The worse thing was it wasn't outside the armour. It was inside me. I only realised with the help of a friend... She managed to pull out a scalpel and cut out all three of them. Without anasthetic. They had started to grow onto the surrounding tissue and were according to doctors very close to being permenant. THey got cut out in time, however a small amount of it is still left inside me, as a result every now and again I can get hallucinations, slurred and unreconisable speech from something else. I tell you, that is more scary than the Kharra. It won't overtake me as such and make me work for them but its da*n annoying."
*Looks around*
"I suppose you want to know why we've never known this? Well when a standard TSA member gets parasited its on his uniform not inside him. And if it does manage to get inside him he has a likelyhood of death of 100% basically if a parasite gets inside you, your screwed. Unless someone gets it out."
</span></span>
*moves toward the waypoint, trying to keep an eye behind as a rear guard.*</span>
"Will you guys stop commenting on my work, we might as try something now instead of later, hmmm judeging by how it's going i say it should be done in 4 hours maybe 5 if the cocoon is highly developed."</b></span>
"yes, i heard of shodan. wasn't that way back in the 2100's? still, she helped kill that infestation. rather trust an AI then the khraa any day. I remember the AI in Science base 22463 let me win at checkers, when i was a little girl. She was very nice."
"ransom, I'm kinda worried. I thought that parasites were permiment. and you still have a peice of one in you..."</b> </span>
<b>sorry, we all thought it was assumed we were moving, so when do we get there, or ambushed, or to a weldable, etc.?</b>
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>PS- light marine models and gun models are on the later pages</span></b>
<span style='color:00FF00'>"You guys from the special ops division of the TSA would do well to read the combat manuals from the frontiersmen division... You may have been trained to deal to humans quickly and efficiently, but we're the ones trained to deal with the kharaa. It sounds to me like your commanders have been feeding you some crap to get the most out of you without the least amount of effort. Retraining a soldier to go from fighting humans to fighting aliens would take a big effort, so I suppose I can see why they would have cut corners..."
*Hands over a small data storage device similar to what Khaim threw to Venmoch before*
</span><span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'><a href='http://www.natural-selection.org/manual/' target='_blank'>-Click to view-</a></span><span style='color:00FF00'>
"I hope I'm not destroying years of intense training by doing this... Here's our current field manual, apparently it's out of date... But I'm not so sure I'm gonna believe this stuff about the kharaa having evolved until I see it with my own eyes..."
*Starts speaking softly and slowly, with a slightly worried look on my face*
"The bacterium isn't normally interested in infecting humans because it mistakes us for creatures spawned by the nanites. It assumes that the nanites created us just like bacteria creates skulks, and that we are merely doing the nanite's bidding. Because of that it also then believes that the only real way to rid itself of you is to destroy all the nanites so that no more humans can be created. If your commander is sending you out without sufficient nanite protection... And effectively announcing to the highly sensitive bacterium network that you are away from your "masters"....
*Shudders slightly*
"I can only imagine that you were part of some sick experiment that you were not informed of... Parasites? On their own are basically harmless... Their purpose is to merely stain you, to connect you to the bacterium network so that it can keep tabs on you. The bacteria stain doesn't want to kill you, that is what skulks are for. The bacteria wants to kill the nanites moving all around us instead. However to be parasited with very few nanites nearby... Well you are simply telling the bacterium that you are a free willed individual... You are telling them that you are the real threat, and not the nanites... You are inviting them to attack you instead of the nanites, and I it seems you have paid the price of such foolish orders from you commanders..."</span>
<b>Parasites aren't permanent, you just can't remove them ingame for gameplay reasons. The "parasite" is merely a dart fired from the skulks nasal cavity that releases a small amount of bacteria into you for the sole purpose of "staining" you. The dart itself does nothing, and the nanites are capable of killing bacteria, eventually, so with enough of them you could eventually overpower the bacteria completely.</b>
"Hey, listen Venmoch. All due respect to your human vs human murder squads. This is the Ariadne Arm. Out here WE, the frontiersmen, fight THEM, the kharaa. We've been doing so for a looong time now. I don't know where you got that CRAZY idea that they started building hives before the threat existed. I have even LESS idea what caused you to think that a slow and friendly approach would help. I am completely at loss as to who formulated those far out extreme theories. But I can assure you one thing. It's bull-sh*t, all of it. So I suggest YOU, the TSA special ops dude, listen to US, the frontiersmen. We are here, they are there. The spaceship is not large enough for both of us. It's that simple, either they go, or we go. I see no reason why that TSA philosopher dude that told you this stuff would know better what they're like than those of us who've actually been here and seen that stuff</b></span>
<i>You get to a large hallway, with dim lights all over the place. The exhaust vents are plenty, it seems to have been some maintenance shaft. The place is silent though, no ventilation going on now.</i>
"... Reminds me of Chem Processing back on the W.T., Where Charlie..."
*Ed spins to look at one of the vents.*
"You guys here that?!"
*Ed, trembeling, takes a few steps foreward, with Wynona at the ready"*</span>
"Hey listen I was a Frontiersman, I was stationed with The TSA Western Guard regiment. We took part in the takeback of spacestation Vega. I know about you doctrine, hell its what I was taught before I joined Rogue Platoon. First thing I know is I'm attacked by a skulk and then end up in some hospital back at home due to the TSA sending back the wounded to be treated at their country of origin. I know in some cases force works I know in others it doesn't, I can force you to do anything, all I've been is assigned to you. I took part in the assault and rescue of the Kensington Research Centre. That infestation didn't cause the explosion that wiped it off the map, Rogue Platoon did. Rogue Platoon isn't spec ops as you believe. We are part of the frontiersmen and proud of it.
Look I'll make it simple do you want my help or not? Because I can tell you there is a butt-load of Kharra down there....."
</span></span>
<b>As for the parasite, it made it into Ransom and because Rogue Platoon are unable to use Nanites he can't clear it up by himself. At least thats the way I see it.</b>
*He cuts open the cocoon to reveal a caterpillar like bug inside, he takes a sample of it's blood and puts it into a pastel, he takes a small sample of the brew and puts it into the pastel, it fizzes before growing smaller leaving a small spec left. He thinks for a minute before going into his lunchbox and pulling out a Robison Fruitshoot TM and drinks some of it before putting the cap back on and putting it away. He picks up head set and speaks into it.*
"So Ven you took your armour off and this Skelk,Skalk, Skulk whatever it is parasited you three times and you got shipped home ?"
*He switched the frequency to all the others.*
"Does anyone believe this ? If you want i could whip something up that'll relax his mind, will and reflexes so we could trick him into spillign the beans, if he has any to spill."
</b></span>
*moves out into the center of the hall, covering the vents*
"As far as I'm concerned, as long as you're shooting them and not us, it's all good."
*quietly, over comm channel* "I'm already carrying sodium pentothal, but if you've got something better, shoot."</span></span>
*looks at sparks sidways as if waiting for him to pull out a giant caldrun and and grow a hairy wart on his nose*
*to everyone but ven*
"lets just lock him in a crate and kick him through the airlock"</span></span>
<b>lol sparks lets not get TO carried away with the herbs, potions, and insects. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> </b>
*Thinks for a few moments...*
"But then again, all that tactical doctrine stuff is going out the window with all these supposed new kharaa behaviours that aren't making all that much sense... I guess neither of really know for sure what's going on with these newest infections... It's actually.... Kinda scary..."
*I Hear Sparks, Night Shade and Paper joking on the squad-only line, and almost laugh, quickly clearing my throat and and looking down towards Venmoch's legs, trying avoid arousing Venmoch's curiousity*
"Ah-hem, hey can you hold up for a second Ransom, I'm just gonna finish up on your legs here and I'll be done. The rest of you guys, no need to wait up cos this'll only take a few seconds"</span>
<b>BTW Ven, just a quick note, imagine this is your second game of NS after 2.0 came out and you haven't read any of the change logs yet. All this squad knows about how the kharaa have changed is that in the first RP these guys saw an onos at 2 hives, that fades weren't spamming acid, and that lerks were spamming spores before 3 hives too, and this was the first squad to come across these differences. You may have seen more of these differences while you were here, but ALL you know about NS 2.0 is what your character personally saw or heard over the voice comms during this mission before we arrived, and I'm guessing it would have surprised the hell out of you like it did with this squad in the first RP.
We haven't read the marine changelog either for that matter...
Also, the Ariadne Guardpost is the central base where we hang out inbetween missions, we are currently on a large cruiser miles away from the guardpost.</b>
*hears Ed's remark*
*shoulders weapon and scans area constantly*
"Oh yea, reminds me of the machine shop where we found those crack grinders on. And we got ambushed in there by a nice pack of skulks. Lovely memories to be sure. I had my first flesh welding in there, courtesy of Boggle and his hyper active will to weld me <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->."
*turns head slightly at Ransom, yet I still stare down my iron sights through the cornor of my eye*
"Say, why don't you take those lovely medicines I had to take. No better than having to take something for killing tapeworms, warts, and all that good stuff. Everything tastes just like the stuff for the rest of the day and suddenly explosive diarreaha is worse than the Kharra."
</span></span>
<b>Ah, quite the memory on your part Headcrab <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
"Quiet, all of you. This is a very bad place to get caught in an ambush."
*wipes his cheek on the shoulderplate of his uniform, his face and ears slick with sweat from the temperature increase and the stagnant air*
<span style='font-family:Impact'>What I wouldn't give for a nice, air-conditioned heavy armor suit right about now...</span></span>
<span style='color:green'>"Alright, listen up. Three of you on the sides, check the vents as we walk by. Use your flashlights and watch your biorelay sensors. We're not gonna leave one vent unchecked. These kharaa have definitely evolved, and I'm willing to bet they learned some new skills in the time they were on this ship. Let's get through this one fast and clean."
*switches mic frequencies*
"Comm, I have a bad feeling about this. What do you see?"</span>
"I don't see anything except for what looks like strands of something, probably cobwebs. This place can't have been very clean. You guys seeing anything?"</span></span></i>
"Hold on a second, going to close this door and lock it, hopefully the khaara won't be able to get behind us, and It'll only take a second or two to unlock on our way back."
*Jams a few buttons on the door control, smiling to himself as the hydrolics shut the door and lock it.*
"All done there, now we just gota watch those vents... I don't suppose you could weld those closed could you revenge?"</span>
"Sounds like a good idea, but I'd need a boost... Xect, what do you think?"</span>
"Wait a sec..... those vents..... don't they have an electronic system to shut it? Like, when there is a problem in the air or anything? Let me see......"
*stumbles upon a crate and looks inside vent*
[finds a couple of wires, and starts to play around with them. The vent closes, almost getting my hand]</u></span>
<b>Dunno if what I just said made any sense, but any case..... That's why I have the thingy for xect to approve my actions <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--></b>
*covers*
"hey, sweet. maybe we can close off this deathtrap before it gets us killed"
"hey, ven. your the one that blew up Kensington? Thanks. because of you our insurance covered the station."</b> </span>
"That wasn't my call, I was only following orders. In fact that order came from much higher up namely it was beyond our control. But da*n that was the fastest I think I've had to run ever."
*looks around*
"We should try and look out for sensory chambers... I got attacked by a skulk and blacked out on my last mission with the TSA just after we got the CC online. Next thing I know, I'm back in a hospital at home being asked by some guy called Borzov if I'd like to join. Naturally I said yes. Then on the first mission I got this dang infection. Wasn't too good however the unit don't mind, but then again we have a lot of wierd people in Rogue Platoon.
</span></span>
"...and that's it. I have no idea who that guy was."
<b>"I never met any of the crew on the W.T. Hell so I don't have a clue either."</b>
*hears Dea suggest uploading Mercura into the ships computer grid*
"That's pretty risky Dea, the ICPs, Intrusion Countermeasure Programs, might attack her, thinking that she's a virus."
<b>"Oh come on, those Incompetent, Confused Programs wouldn't last three microcycles against me."</b></span>
<b>I got the idea for most of that from a Tron 2.0 demo.</b>
<span style='color:orange'><b>"I'm not getting any life signs other than you guys, but then again I've only got the crappy sensors on this damn PDA to go by!"</b>
"Would you rather be attacked constantly by ICPs? Let's just stop this. Hey Dea, I heard somewhere that one of your fathers' companies was working on a laser that would digitise a person or object into the computer. Know anything about that?"</span>
<span style='color:purple'>
"Hey Xect do you want me to build anything while i'm here ? My brew is almost done you see so i'm jus toffering my services before i catch up with the others."
*Speaks into his head set.*
"Does anyone know how to make a cross bow? the syrignes won't fit into my gun and i don't feel like walking up to a fade and injecting it personnally."</span></b>