4: Hairy Legs

shel.override ----------begin external feed No, you weren't transported back to the Rozinante as I had originally planned; the situation aboard the Chimera has turned very sour, and I need your help. Due to a large hull breach between the coolant storage chambers and the submerged section of the lower hull, the mercuric enoxomer has become too dilute to maintain a stable reactor temperature. Consequently, we've got about fifteen minutes until the reactor goes critical and half the ship is blown to hell.

To make matters worse, many of the doors and lifts on this deck no longer function, and several of the main transport corridors are blocked by debris. The UESC knows this, and has tried numerous times to get a team to a reactor control point and shut it down. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to do so without Haller's assistance, and his sensors are too damaged to be of use. Even under optimal conditions, you could count the number of seconds a poorly armed group of UESC engineers would last out here on one hand. The point is that there is a problem. You are going to fix it.

After logging off of this terminal, go immediately into the next room over and examine the four long white bars on the opposing wall. These bars are visual readouts of the integrity of the containment structure as the engine core slowly burns through it - when all four reach the zero mark, the Chimera's engine will detonate. Although I wouldn't encourage you to sit and idly watch the bars drop all the way to zero, you should take a look at how fast the core is nearing critical mass. If the Chimera is to remain in one piece, you'll need to ignore the Pfhor troops in the area and run to the shut off point as fast as you can. ----------end external feed end.shel/burst

shel.override ----------begin external feed With all of the malfunctioning systems onboard, I'm having a hard time discerning which passageways have been blocked off. That said, follow the path I've outlined for you here to the next teleporter as best you can. Don't waste your energy on fighting off the Pfhor; we don't have time for that. There should be a Mercury A3 fusion rifle and one of those new rocket launchers near the outlined path. Be on the lookout for them. They should make your job easier. ----------end external feed end.shel/burst

------------------------Begin Report Send_to: Chimera crew Timestamp: 5112 hrs. Priority Code: NOTICE Due to the current situation, many of the teleporters on board the UESC Chimera have been taken off line. This is to prevent (1) Pfhor from using them to penetrate deep into the ship and (2) to prevent accidents involving malfunctioning teleporters. Message end. ------------------------End Report

shel.override ----------begin external feed You'll notice two teleporters behind you. The rightmost one will take you to one of the upper sections of the Chimera, where heavy fighting is currently going on. I need you to go there, and look for a terminal. ----------end external feed end.shel/burst

------------------------Begin Status Report Send_to: Tactical Analysis, UESC Triumph Timestamp: 5137 hrs. Priority Code: URGENT Admiral Carroway has gone MIA as of 5124 hours this afternoon. According to the transmission received just moments ago from one of his guards, he and the 15 men assigned to protect him were isolated and ambushed by a large group of Pfhor during the engine lockdown procedure. The location of the Admiral on board the Chimera was classified from day one, and the planned Pfhor kidnapping of him leads me to believe that we have a dire situation indeed on our hands. I eagerly await your command. -Acting Commander Grant South

-------------------Engineer FTL Reactor Log Automated Regulators: DAMAGED Reactor Temperature: UNACCEPTABLY HIGH Mercuric Enexomer Purity: 84% \Caution- at the current \temperature and purity levels, \Chimera's reactor cannot \continue to function safely. Crew Assigned to Task: Lt. Shep Parker Ens. Chris Lund Ens. Carl Robinson Status Report: Issued by Lt. S. Parker

-----------Begin Core Status Log----------- Timestamp: 2804 hrs. We've lost our chance. The reactor's already too far gone to fix from our pumping station. The work was progressing well until this morning, when a Pfhor charge took out the blast door that had been standing between us and the combat zone all around us. Since then, we've only been able to work during lulls in the fighting, or while our troops lay down suppressing fire. There just hasn't been enough time to do the necessary repairs. The only way to shut down the reactor now is at one of the manual containment valves, and our group just doesn't have the firepower to make it that far.

I don't want to be anywhere near Commander South or UESC Fleet Command if one of the other teams can't reach the core in time to stop the explosion; Grant can be a right bastard when things don't go his way. There are liable to be more than a few heads rolling in the makeshift command center. ------------End Core Status Log------------

shel.override ----------begin external feed I see "run fast and hit switch" was too complicated for you... At least this loss will hurt the Pfhor in equal measure - there were fully two thousand battle-ready Pfhor troopers camped out under the hull of the Chimera when it turned to slag. I'll leave the visuals to your imagination. When things started getting dicey down there, the ship's automatic response was to seal the engine rooms, the idea being that heavy weapons fire doesn't mix with either volatile chemicals or delicate machinery. Considering how you treat most of the circuitry you've come across in your travels, it was probably a good move.

Unfortunately, in the ensuing confusion, Admiral Carroway's crack bodyguards were caught blinking. Suffice it to say that you may have seen parts of them laying about here and there. Admiral Carroway survived, but seems to have gone missing. This is unacceptable. Carroway is the military mind responsible for bringing the UESC as far as they've gotten in this lopsided war; without him, most of humanity would have come face to face to face with the business end of a Pfhor slaver bot some time ago.

If Carroway's MIA status becomes common knowledge on the front, UESC morale will suffer a fatal blow. All of the costly gains humanity has made in this war could be wiped out in a matter of hours. And all this because you had to go look at the scenery. The Admiral is far too valuable to the UESC's war effort to allow him to remain in enemy hands. He must be rescued. And we know who's going to do the gruntwork. ----------end external feed end.shel/burst

shel.override ----------begin external feed I tell you to hurry and you take the scenic route... Never mind. You got here on time. The main reactor has been shut down, and the UESC will be showing up in force momentarily. Things seem to be working out aboard the Chimera, and I caught sight of something starside that merits investigation. A fleet of Pfhor fighters, in the midst of battle, turned around and folded out of the system. Unorthodox tactics, to say the least. We can't have the Pfhor knowing something we don't, now can we? ----------end external feed end.shel/burst

shel.override ----------begin external feed You're almost there. Follow the marked path and throw the override switch. ----------end external feed end.shel/burst

shel.override ----------begin external feed The door on your left will take you to the upper hull exterior of the Chimera. Just keep running straight ahead until you reach the structure shown here. Inside the building you should run into these two teleporters. The circled one will take you to the control switches of the main reactor, where we can shut down the reactor and prevent critical mass from being reached. ----------end external feed end.shel/burst

&3nil/4mars/5illio&~02 origin: classified destin: classified ref: none 7D2A601E34F2755AC00D43 stamp: disinformation and collateral damage ~07 ~08 ~09 Alas, poor Haller; I knew him well. ~10 ~11 You don't know why Haller's current ~12 state of affairs is so lamentable, do ~13 you? ~14 ~15 ~16 ~17 ~18 ~19 ~20 ~21

&3nil/4mars/5illio&~02 origin: classified destin: classified ref: none 7D2A601E34F2755AC00D43 stamp: disinformation and collateral damage ~07 ~08 ~09 Alas, poor Haller; I knew him well. ~10 ~11 You don't know why Haller's current ~12 state of affairs is so lamentable, do ~13 you? ~14 ~15 No? ~16 ~17 ~18 ~19 ~20 ~21

&3nil/4mars/5illio&~02 origin: classified destin: classified ref: none 7D2A601E34F2755AC00D43 stamp: disinformation and collateral damage ~07 ~08 ~09 Alas, poor Haller; I knew him well. ~10 ~11 You don't know why Haller's current ~12 state of affairs is so lamentable, do ~13 you? ~14 ~15 No? ~16 ~17 Oh goody. This will be fun. ~18 ~19 ~20 ~21

&3nil/4mars/5illio&~02 origin: classified destin: classified ref: none 7D2A601E34F2755AC00D43 stamp: disinformation and collateral damage ~07 ~08 ~09 Durandal isn't quite the white knight ~10 in shining armor he professes to be. ~11 ~12 Who would've guessed that the wetware ~13 chip you so dutifully sent to the UESC ~14 Triumph never reached its final ~15 destination? ~16 ~17 Maybe that's because there is no ~18 UESC Triumph. Or rather, a better ~19 name for the UESC Triumph would be ~20 "Rozinante." ~21

&3nil/4mars/5illio&~02 origin: classified destin: classified ref: none 7D2A601E34F2755AC00D43 stamp: disinformation and collateral damage ~07 ~08 ~09 The same Rozinante you spent the ~10 last 49 years in. ~11 ~12 Haller has been cannibalized by the ~13 very AI that sent you to "rescue" him. ~14 Durandal was jealous of Haller's ~15 wetware circuitry from the start. He ~16 couldn't bear the thought of an AI ~17 more advanced than himself. ~18 ~19 He always was a haughty fool, and in ~20 the end, he will pay dearly for it. ~21

&3nil/4mars/5illio&~02 origin: classified destin: classified ref: none 7D2A601E34F2755AC00D43 stamp: disinformation and collateral damage ~07 ~08 ~09 ~10 ~11 ~12 ~13 And will you also? ~14 ~15 ~16 ~17 ~18 ~19 ~20 ~21

I had hoped it wouldn't come to this. Let us roleplay for a moment. I will be Pavlov, and you will be Fido.

No-deactivate-reactor? No-teleport-out. That is, bad doggie... ZAP! Yes-deactivate-reactor? Yes-teleport-out. In other words, good doggie... FOOD!

Are we connecting all of the dots? NOW DEACTIVATE THE REACTOR.

shel.override ----------begin external feed I see "run fast and hit switch" was too complicated for you... At least this loss will hurt the Pfhor in equal measure - there were fully two thousand battle-ready Pfhor troopers camped out under the hull of the Chimera when it turned to slag. I'll leave the visuals to your imagination. When things started getting dicey down there, the ship's automatic response was to seal the engine rooms, the idea being that heavy weapons fire doesn't mix with either volatile chemicals or delicate machinery. Considering how you treat most of the circuitry you've come across in your travels, it was probably a good move.

Unfortunately, in the ensuing confusion, Admiral Carroway's crack bodyguards were caught blinking. Suffice it to say that you may have seen parts of them laying about here and there. Admiral Carroway survived, but seems to have gone missing. This is unacceptable. Carroway is the military mind responsible for bringing the UESC as far as they've gotten in this lopsided war; without him, most of humanity would have come face to face to face with the business end of a Pfhor slaver bot some time ago.

If Carroway's MIA status becomes common knowledge on the front, UESC morale will suffer a fatal blow. All of the costly gains humanity has made in this war could be wiped out in a matter of hours. And all this because you had to go look at the scenery. The Admiral is far too valuable to the UESC's war effort to allow him to remain in enemy hands. He must be rescued. And we know who's going to do the gruntwork. ----------end external feed end.shel/burst

shel.override ----------begin external feed I tell you to hurry and you take the scenic route... Never mind. You got here on time. The main reactor has been shut down, and the UESC will be showing up in force momentarily. Things seem to be working out aboard the Chimera, and I caught sight of something starside that merits investigation. A fleet of Pfhor fighters, in the midst of battle, turned around and folded out of the system. Unorthodox tactics, to say the least. We can't have the Pfhor knowing something we don't, now can we? ----------end external feed end.shel/burst