The Power of One

Time: 18:01, September 19 Location: The Istanbul <Message to All Istanbul Terminals> Istanbul Emergency Systems Broadcast As of 1600 hours, the Istanbul's status has remained "dire." All personnel are ordered to return to their sectors and prepare for an immediate and unwarned hyperdrive jump. As of 1745 hours, Renegade forces have boarded the ship. Personnel are recommended to avoid contact with Renegade forces -- the situation is under control. Remain in your sectors and prepare for hyperdrive jump. <Posted 2853.9.19.3.17.52>

This is it. For real. We're preparing to evacuate the sector. The Acheron is about to go nova, and we don't want to be anywhere near it -- nor do we want to receive any backlash from whatever standing Pfhor forces remain on the planet's surface. All of the boys are either fixing the ship to get us to a FTL-worthy condition, or hiding in the residential sectors. The last of the Pfhor have finally been beaten out of our ship. For now. This leaves you, marine. You and them. The Renegades are attacking through a smaller docking bay port to the north -- you can see the reception room to your right. You need to work your way there and then take down their attack force. It will be a difficult battle, for sure -- they're attacking from all directions in the area. Be alert for more gear, especially in corners and side rooms. Get into the reception hall and receive them. With open firearms.

And beat their collective ass.

terminal 1

unfinished

You did it. All systems are go, and the Renegade attack force has been neutralized. You foiled their final strike. Below us lie the crumbling remains of another empire. It must be nice to know that you have the power to fell civilizations with your own blade.

Unfortunately for command, our casualties in this little battle were immense. Over the last 36 hours, we've suffered about 916 deaths, between defending the Istanbul, attempting to take the Acheron, and any planetside battles between us and the Pfhor or Renegades. We only had 1200 soldiers. Every crew member that survived this attack is being quietly commended for their bravery, with a private ceremony where they receive their little medals.

However, that's about all the publicity that this battle is getting. As far as the civilian population under UESC control, they will never hear a word about the gray incident. As for the deeper mysteries of the Renegade faction, they are only for you, me, and the S'pht'Kr to know. For instance, outside of the 'Kr, only you and I know that the Renegades are not defeated. How could they be? Like the rest of their forsaken kind, they are too far-flung to ever be fully eradicated.

In any event... Though we can move around again, the Istanbul is a wreck. Structural damage, especially in the aft section, is so severe that it's practically unfixable. The jury-rigged hyperdrive will fail us before too long, and again, there's so much damage in that area that the engineers don't think it's repairable. In other words, the Istanbul is scrap. All that work, and yet, we gained so little.

On the other hand... Our universe is never really empty. We'll never reveal all of its secrets; defeat all of its evils; conquer all of its planets. We'll never know every star, never see every house, never discover every climate. There's always new things to find.

And in that vein, you're being reassigned. When the Istanbul is decommissioned, what remains of the crew is mostly being assigned to a couple other brigs. The majority of men seem to be heading toward the Chimera, which is due to attack the Pfhor homeworld sometime within the next few years. Others are being re-grouped and banded together with some other soldiers and attacking the Pfhor stronghold Nor'Korh, on the planet Na'Toth. There's a Pfhor admiral that the UESC wants to take down there, preferably before the invasion of Pfhor Prime.

Not you, though. You're being reassigned to the new research and rescue cruiser, the Desthrega. They're another part of the OESF, and they have some pretty fantastic equipment. Top-of-the-line models of the gear you're carrying now. I'm sure you'll appreciate it. In the mean time... Sleep again.

terminal 2

unfinished

This would be one of two secret terminals on this level. I won't tell you where the other one is, but it should be pretty obvious. I mean, you found this one, so you must be sufficiently alert to find the other one. Anyway. In this terminal, I'm going to divulge the long and not-terribly-interesting history of The Gray Incident. The first level made for The Gray Incident, long before the scenario actually was planned on existing, was "Illegitimate Venus." It was never distributed or anything, and was under some other name for the longest time. I just made it because I was bored -- it took me a couple of days. I kinda liked the design, but I just let it sit on my hard drive for years. That being said, the level stunk, and is no longer a part of the scenario. The oldest currently-existing map is "Desert of Set."

From about June to August of 2004, I made the six levels that comprised the "Dark Star Demo" which I released to Fileball. It was the first thing I ever distributed. In this demo, if you haven't played it (many haven't), were the levels "Desert of Set" all the way up to "Bob Has Bitch Tits," though many of the levels were named differently, the scenario used Infinity shapes, the plot was entirely different, and the last level didn't have any terminals at all. It was gross. From there, interest sort of dragged. Dark Star was slated to be 24 levels -- 8 sets of 3 -- and would focus much less on the Renegades than The Gray Incident did. Particularly, one key subplot was a civil war in the UESC, where you'd have one group of Bobs fighting another group of Bobs. Sounded like a bad idea to me, after a while.

Interest waned further, and progress stopped almost entirely during the 2004-05 school year. I did finish the level "An Address Unknown" during that time, after playing through the Doom WAD "Scythe" and being heavily inspired by a couple levels halfway through. Large segments of Return to Sender are straight out of either Scythe or EVIL. I made an advertisement at this point, saying that the final game would be released in August '05 and have 12 levels, half the length of the original guess. At this point, it was still an Infinity scenario, much like Gemini Station or Nor'Korh. I also tried to draft Goran Svensson into helping me with some levels, but he was never particularly interested.

Though I never did finish The Gray Incident in the summer of 2005, a lot of progress was made, which consolidated the scenario into what it is today. I changed the name from Dark Star to The Gray Incident, got an expanded texture set from Simon, which then looked much more like Infinity, and the EMP Cannon. I also did lots of work on the monster color palettes, which allowed me to have the "elite" (yellow and blue) monsters that I have now. Due to a familial disaster, from September 2005 to July 2006, I was unable to access the Macintosh on which all of TGI was made, so progress came to a grinding halt for that period. Which kinda sucked, because at that point, I had a lot of wind in my sails, which I promptly lost.

Summer of 2006 rolled around, and I was determined to finish TGI. My level goal was fixed. During the off-season where I couldn't reach my computer, the goal was 17 main levels, and 3 secret levels, summing up to a round 20. After I began, though, I realized that, once September 2006 rolled around, I would pretty much never be able to map again -- going to college, and I really can't bring the Mac with me. That, plus a waning interest in mapping altogether, and I decided to just round it out at 17. At this time, it was decided that TGI would be a prequel of sorts to Portal of Sigma. Consequently, Simon "Sigma-ized" the TGI texturesets, giving you the textures you have now and the detail of Sigma, though without all of the vivid colors. He also suddenly offered to provide several more guns for the scenario, bringing the arsenal up to what you have now.

I also decided to attempt a form of "viral advertising" for TGI during summer '06, by posting on the Pfhorums (a Marathon-related message board) as "Karuma" and posting cryptic messages similar to the style that True Karuma used, and ending many posts with some of her typical final words. The final message, which was a teaser for the scenario, ended with the burning tower awaits. Anyway. from there, we are led to here. Now you have The Gray Incident, and I have happily washed my hands of it. Now. Get back to killing. The Gray Incident secret terminal 6/7

terminal 3

unfinished

In this terminal, I give thanks to the people that helped me make The Gray Incident. Without you, I never would have finished it.

Steve Levinson: the "Dark Star Demo" which I submitted to Fileball in August 2004 was the first thing I actually put into distribution, and was my first venture into the community, despite many years previous of mapping and playing the game. When I released it, you sent me an email with a mix of praise and intrigue, and a bit of criticism. It helped me get the motivation to try my hand at other things, and also enter the community a bit more. Though I wish I always bore the same attitude toward beginning mappers' constructions, you did a favor for me that was really great. Goran Svensson: thanks for poo-pooing all over every map I made, and backing out of making the secret level. Your mapping style never really jived (jove?) with mine at all, in any form, so maybe it's a good thing you had so little input despite your offers for help. Nevertheless, you are a talented mapper and it's kind of sad to see you go off to do other things.

Matthew Clagg: your interest in The Gray Incident was a real lifesaver for me. In 2005, I didn't really have anyone who I could bounce ideas off of, except for you, and your input in what I had done was tremendously helpful, especially your tolerance for my bumbling idiocy at times. And, of course, the artwork you drew -- for the terminals and the chapter screens -- is fantastic. The very human-looking input really... I dunno, but I love it, so thanks a bazillion. Simon Dupuis: especially during 2006, your aid and assistance in the graphical side of TGI was remarkable. I, for one, have absolutely no skill in texture-making (or any kind of art) whatsoever, so your original suggestion of using your old texture addition -- and then your more recent Sigma-ization, which looks awesome -- and the new guns really were what changed TGI from an Infinity scenario to a true "conversion." I probably could have stopped harassing you a long time ago so you could work more on Sigma, but oh well. I just wish I had made more content for your scenario.

Steve Campbell: for hosting hl.forerunners.org, without which I never would have met Simon, Goran, or Ori. Forrest C: for showing me how a project leader should not act in the management, promotion, and discussion of said leader's project. Cursed Team, Rubicon Team, Sigma Team, and Nardo Team: careful (and not so careful) eyes will detect some borrowed elements from all four of these teams' respective scenarios. It's no secret that Evil, Rubicon, and Tempus gave me some inspiration (and some definite "don't do this" things) for my own scenario. Why did I do it? I dunno, but at times, I wouldn't have done anything if it weren't for your creations. At the same time, I wanted the action and gameplay to be specifically different from all of these scenarios, so I guess I owe you another thanks for helping me make a scenario that was specifically not yours. I think that's how it works, anyway.

Jon Irons: without your equipment, TGI would have been delayed even more. I owe you one! Jon Irons, Darren Watts, Gregory Smith, and many others: the netpack "Red Spectrum" is just as important to me as The Gray Incident, and when I was bored with TGI, I would work on RS some more. If it weren't for the input, extensive testing, and suggestions made on the net levels, my solo mapping would have stagnated. For example, there's no doubt that the level "One Cannot Simply Walk Into Mordor" was inspired by the level "Molten Core" in RS, and were it not for your suggestions and so forth in earlier versions of RS that did not contain Molten Core... well, you get the idea. Anyway, the end result is that Red Spectrum is, if not the very best, then damn near the best map pack that one can have for netplay, and the "Must-Have" status on Fileball stroked my ego very nicely. Thanks, guys! "the Battle Cat": without you there would be no Fileball, and thus, nowhere to put the Dark Star Demo. Thanks, yo!

"Appleswitch": though it wouldn't be entirely bad, without you there'd be no Pfhorums, and without the Pfhorums, there wouldn't be any place for a hive of amateur mappers to post ridiculous scenario ideas like "Marathon Doog." In other words, thanks for creating a place where I learned where NOT to go with advertising and creation of my scenario. The fact that I went there anyway is a testament to my idiocy. Anyone who's beta tested for me: I know it sucks, playing a buggy and incomplete level, so thanks for your perseverence. In my opinion, testers never really get the credit they deserve -- especially when the consequences of insufficient testing are released (not naming any names, though it starts with an E), so I owe you guys a thousand thanks. My ego: without you, I wouldn't be nearly as awesome as I am.

Simon Dupuis again: for the sweet title page music, "Resurrection in Space." Sums up the game quite nicely: something soft to begin with, then something chaotic and clearly synthesized. :P Jon Irons again: for the web space, irons.treellama.org, where you've so very nicely hosted pages of mine at my mercy.

And though it pains me to be so irritatingly cheesy, thank you for playing my scenario. It's always great to know that someone out there (hopefully) enjoyed two years of work. Now, finish the damn game so we can all go home. The Gray Incident secret terminal 7/7

16: The Power of One

terminal 0

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