"Special" Theif at Syndicate Outpost.

[Dasneko]

 

This is also meant as a tutorial of sorts on how to tackle this station. Its not perfect since it happened by coincidence but its still a good start for whomever want to give it a go. It also requires a few bugs which is not mentioned in the story because they make no sense. If you are interested in a more "tutorial" type instruction set do tell.

 

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As Ivan White arrived at the Science Department this shift he had a very real goal in mind. He had heard of a certain heavily defended outpost built inside a space-rock in the vicinity of an ancient Russian space station wreckage. According to reports the walls and windows of the outpost was made from incredibly advanced materials and had resisted all attempts at breaching and the entrance was guarded by two very durable and deadly machine-gun turrets. In other words the only way inside was to go room for room while clearing out whatever dangers inside.

 

Accustomed to being told things was impossible from his life in a wheelchair Ivan was fuelled with determination to accomplish that which had rebuffed so many confident and arrogant healthy adventurers. As thoughts of grandeur filled his head he grabbed the nearest fire-extinguisher and flew through the corridors at speeds few on the station would taste while relying on their silly legs. On the way towards the tools storage he found a silver coin and a toolbelt which would prove to be invaluable in the future due to the limitation of his disability.

 

One fire-extinguisher later he arrived at the tools storage and hurriedly deposited his coin in the vending machine. Luck strikes again and no normal two legger had managed to retrieve a coin before him and he got himself a pair of genuine Engineer approved yellow insulated gloves! Donning the gloves and with a toolbox grasped in the other hand he raced back through the station in a cloud of water vapour. Arriving back at the science department Ivan wasted no time getting a seat on-board the research shuttle that transports between the main station and the science outpost.

 

Arriving at the research station and noting that it was of course empty since apparently experienced Xenoarchaeologists is above the payroll of a the orbiting pile of rust that only the clown would have a heart to call a "state of the art space station". Taking in the calm and almost persuaded to sit back with a cup of coffee Ivan rolled through the station collecting supplies and a space suit for his first expeditionary excursion. Dropping the now empty toolbox then donning the mason scanners and with a pickaxe at his belt he left the airlock with his characteristic trail of Fire-extinguisher smoke in search of a reliable way off into space and his destiny.

 

After having dug for what feels like ages he broke through into a man excavated cave. Turning on his PDA lamp Ivan started to explore the decrepit and ruined station. The walls and floors were covered in some black resin and there was human as well as robotic remains littering the outpost. Luckily there was functional Military Space Pod outside the docking arm that seams undamaged which is perfect for his need to explore space after the legendary impregnable fortress outpost. After further searching Ivan came across a black and red space suit which seams to be of much better quality then his current one so while pocketing it as well as taking the energy cell of the space pod to ensure it stays put he begins to head back.

 

While on his way back through his tunnel his eyes were drawn to one side where a wall of reinforced metal was shown through the rock with the help of his mason scanners. Aberrantly in the dace of his monotone digging he had passed by some kind of buried chamber deep inside the rock. Upon digging to it and breaking through the walls with his tools there was a single diamond mining drill inside which appears to be in pristine condition. Baffled why such a thing is inside ancient space rock he threw away his cumbersome pickaxe in favour of a modern wonder.

 

Back in the research department on the main station he had switched out to black and red and otherwise awesome space suit and rolling through the corridors in his wheelchair in style. While thinking of various offensive equipment he would require to ward of the threat of the unknown disaster struck. Arriving at R&D it became obvious that whatever the other scientists were doing it had nothing to do researching. As his dreams of having laser cannons and whatnot for his expedition was melted into a burnt mess that would make the chef proud he entered a frenzy and started throwing everything not bolted down inside the destructive analyser. After a few moment and one or two upturned tables or broken windows gave up on the hopeless quest and simply made a large grenade casing and two buckets to go with.

 

Swinging by Toxin mixing and the Testing lab he assembled a single potassium/water grenade. Cringing at his meagre arsenal he swung back to R&D and picked up a pAI card to have something to whine at. At this point it seams ERT had been called and there was talk about changelings being hunted down and put to the laser pistol. Neither of this concerned Ivan White as he returned to the science outpost and the spacepod that was waiting for him and his wheelchair. Using a GPS he started to explore the depth of space.

 

The first thing that the spacepod literally ran face first into appears to be some kind of derelict space ship in the middle of nowhere. Struggling to push away the space air bags to see what had just appeared before him faster then he could react to he could not hide his excitement. Grandeur and impregnable outposts would have to wait a moment because this space ship looks amazing with its perfect shine and exotic design. Looking inside it appears to be some kind of ancient cargo ship but its impossible to tell from such a quick assessment.

 

Exploring inside with his trusted crowbar and wheelchair he found a room with a nice collection of hard suites as well as other bits and bobs but the real motherload was to be found in the bridge. Upon entering the room and approaching the captains seat a single ancient looking laser pistol laid before him. Ivan could not contain his excitement as he picked it up. Certainly it looks just like those old children toys with its retro look but the feeling and weight cant be mistaken. This is a real piece of arsenal and just what he needed to even stand a chance against what is to come.

 

Collecting the spoils and returning to his spacepod he once more shoot off into the void while navigating with his GPS. A few moment later he ran into the crumbling remains of a space station. While exploring the inside he easily summarised that this was the abandoned Russian station which means his target lies somewhere nearby. After a bit more searching which was filled with laughs at pod filled with clowns that had crashed into a space rock, Ivan White finally reached the point of his destiny.

 

The Outpost itself was a small space rock with some exposed metal walls with windows and a dark cave revealing two automated dual mounted machinegun turrets. Parking at the side of the cave and using his diamond drill to excavate some wiggle room from which he could assess the situation Ivan peeked around the corner to more accurately form a plan to deal with the turrets. What he saw was awe-inspiring and laughable at the same time. While the turrets was fiercely armoured and touted some really scary high calibre machineguns and motion sensors it was mounted on a very simple base. The whole contraption itself was entirely unable to pivot up and down.

 

Laughing like a maniac through his radio Ivan White undid his wheelchair belt and flopped onto the ground. As he crawled towards the turrets they opened up with a hellstorm of angry bullets that filled the cave with bullet holes and flashing lights however Ivan just calmly crawled closer and closer completely safe in the knowledge that they would never hit him. As he reached the door between the two turrets they finally turned on eachother and started to blast fist chunk sized bits of metal from eachother until the final rounds sputtered from the last machinegun which was now laying on the ground behind the stump of a turret.

 

Crawling back to his wheelchair still laughing maniacally Ivan dusted off his spacesuit and inspected the door mechanism. While the walls was masterpieces of engineering in their own right the door in front of him was no better then the junk they use back at NSS Cyberiad which is by no means a compliment. But before tinkering with the door Ivan used his mason scanner and decided it was most likely safest to construct some movable cover due to the shape of the first room. Using reclaimed metal from the decrepit space station where he first found the spacepod he constructed a wallgirder that he could hide inside and if needed push forward as a shield. The door itself was easily opened with a screwdriver, multitool and a crowbar after which it opened and revealed two more machinegun turrets much alike the ones from the entrance.

 

Ivan White could hardly believe his luck and once again started to laugh madly as the wallgirder he was hiding behind sparked up in a light show as it was struck with uncountable numbers of bullets. After bolting the door open and dropping from his wheelchair and once again crawled towards the turrets through the tangled mess he was using as cover. The result was much the same however as the turrets turned on eachother and started firing on the robust walls they ricocheted all over the room. Luckily Ivan was wearing the armoured version of space suites and some flying scrap metal was hardly a credible threat. Afterwords having dealt with the turrets where the hardest part was untangling his wheelchair from what was left of the girders afterwards Ivan started to analyse the next room. Unlike the room he was in now the next room took a sharp turn to the left and ended in a long corridor.

 

It was unlikely to be any immediate danger just behind the door so Ivan felt no anxiety as he worked on the door but the shape of the next room bothered him. Something was clearly different from before.

- "Maybe a challenge?" Ivan said drunk on his earlier success.

However as he bolted the door open and took a look around the corner his eyes suddenly darkened.

 

At the other side of the long corridor was another turret. It was just one of them this time and it was of the same design where it could not aim downwards but unlike the earlier machinegun turrets this one did not mount a dinky metal spewing pea shooter but a 40mm grenade launcher. Turning this corner even on the ground could be deadly and there was not another turret to allow them to kill eachother. With a grim expression Ivan started to dig in his backpack after his potassium grenade and laser pistol. It was at this point where is trusted pAI named S.A.A turned itself into a drone and crawled out of his pocket and onto the floor.

 

Turning to face Ivan it was the most courageous gaze that Ivan had ever seen which took him by complete surprise since this was a defenceless and harmless pAI. Without as much as a word S.A.A then turned and walked confidently around the corner. There was a beep from the turret and suddenly all hell broke lose in the room next doors with shrapnel and flames spewing out from the open doorway. As the explosions became more and more distant Ivan suddenly heard an electronic laughing voice in his headset as the pAI informed him that it got the turret distracted.

 

Walking dumbfounded into the room Ivan saw the pAI standing next to the side of the turrent while being showered in fire and shrapnel as the turret fired into the wall next to it ineffectively. As he snapped to he raised his laser pistol and emptied the battery into the side of the grenade turret until it was nothing more then a melted stump on the ground. Walking up to his pAI Ivan could not help but pour out admiration for the courageous bundle of circuits.

 

The room itself was nothing special however it had two doors to chose from. Both doors lead to larger rooms which appears to be the end of the outpost complex. Walking up to the right door and erecting his defensive wallgirder Ivan started to wonder what this outpost was meant for and what the purpose was of all these expensive turrets. His question was answered upon crowbarring up the door itself which revealed a wall mounted machinegun which predictably filled the air with flashes and the smoke of gunfire but there was also someone else in the room.

 

The room itself was by the look of things a teleportation room and inside was two Syndicate commandos armed to the teeth and wearing intimidating red spacesuits. S.A.A instantly darted inside the room fuelled by its curiosity however as one of the commandos approached his shield Ivan pulled back determined to have at least a full lenght of wallgirder between him and the syndicate commando. As the commando started to struggle and pull on the wallgirder the Machinegun turret laid into his back with a sickening sound of breaking bones and flying metal pieces. The Commando quickly went down under the insane gunfire and Ivan instantly made the choice of pulling the commando out of the room and started to strangle it while pulling off the air tubes, internals, helmet and everything else he could get his hands on.

 

In a shock Ivan backed off at the sight of the human inside. Or a better way of saying it would be to say what used to be human. Inside what was a pristine space suit a moment ago was an ancient skeleton which seams to have been dead for a very long time. Recoiling at the sight Ivan backed off and swallowed nervously. What had he just fought? What was this station? He did not know but he knew he had to get inside the room again and quickly.

 

As he crowbarred and bolted the doors open he saw the last Syndicate commando standing over his pAI's broken body. As the Syndicate commando turned its head to face him Ivan felt a deep blood lust to avenge his beloved friend. Screaming he pushed his Wallgirder shield into the room and started to struggle with the Commando over control of the shield as the Machinegun turret tore everything in the room into junk metal.

 

After a long struggle the second Syndicate commando laid motionless on the ground with Ivan. He then went over to his pAI and tenderly stroke its mangled head one last time before looking over the room. There used to be two footlockers in this room but what was left could no longer be accurately be identified. A mixture of guns, medical supplies and ammunition was spread across the ground during the battle with the last Commando. Ivan took care of collecting everything as well as the commando and dragged them out of the room in a collection outside.

 

The last room contained another wall mounted machinegun turret as well as two footlockers containing a pistol, ammo, clothes and a few do-dads as well as some beer and a delicious looking syndicake. Blocking both doorways with wallgirders Ivan tiredly got back into his wheelchair to expect the bounty of his adventures and contemplating on his losses.

 

Commemorative picture:

 

Later picture when I remembered to open the lockers (and got robotic legs)