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Post by OnishiKatzu on Aug 6, 2007 5:40:42 GMT -8
Onishi had stopped trying to recruit a crew days ago. Having slipped off the Lion during its last refueling at New Zion, Onishi took his ship out of drydock and left the city with a handful of fresh but legal recruits and headed towards the bypass line. Once he cleared the EMP field, he went quietly back to the harddrives and removed the IFF beacon and the mission recorder Zion had installed 'custom' in his ship. They didn't need to know what he was doing. He'd play it off as a faulty install if queried.
When he had left the Machinists he had taken refuge in a tunnel that looked for all intents and purposes to have never been touched in years. It took him no time at all to realize he was right. Not only that, but that this 'tunnel was not on copies of the ship's records of the Veris, the ship he was onboard during his time as a Watchman. So his hunch was it was an untouched tunnel line.
As they neared the entrance to the Broadcast side, Onishi returned to the maindeck and called the crew to attention.
"We are here under no ones command but my own and when we are done here I expect none of you to relay this information without my strictest permission to do so. It may not seem to be prudent or wise at the present time, but all things will work to our advantage in the end. Do you understand?" They all nodded in agreement. For a former Machinist to be given command of a Zion craft showed imense trust by the council, and Oni was using that implied trust to its fullest to ensure compliance.
Even among Zion, he was a Machinist bound to control...
Shaking the thought from his head, Onishi looked to his operator and said, "I want holo-mapping of this entire line as we proceed. If there's a cockroach on the ground three meters ahead of you I want to know about it. We'll move as slowly as you need."
"But sir, the machines..."
"...Will be looked for, soldier. I won't let them get you."
"Good, I don't want to go back to the pods."
Oni levelled a gaze at the young recruit. "There is no going back. Reinsertion is a lie. To your station, soldier."
"Yes, sir."
With that, the ship fell silent as everyone began their tasks.
A lifeline. One shining beacon of hope should the worst befall his former brothers. This was all he could hope for...
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avery1
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Post by avery1 on Aug 7, 2007 18:19:49 GMT -8
Good stuff, Oni
< I throw another log on the fire, then sit back down on my easy chair & continue sipping a my now tempid cup of coffee, wondering what will happen next>
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Post by OnishiKatzu on Aug 7, 2007 21:05:48 GMT -8
Day Three:
Onishi sat at the operator's chair eyeballing the latest holo-feed from the sensors. Progress was slow, and several increased patrols on the Mainline had forced him to power down to avoid detection once or twice. A Cyph vessel from the ID almost tagged them once, but the signature of a charged EMP sent them packing, most likely under the assumption of EMP mines they couldn't detect the source of.
Thank The One for EMP not being bothered by silly things like terrain.
A quiet 'ahem' from behind him distracted Oni's train of thought, but not his eyes from the report screen.
"Yes, operative?"
"I was wondering, sir, when are we going to contact Tyndall for our next assignment?"
"Not yet."
"If I may, sir, We're to check in once a week for potential rapid-responce work that may be needed."
"Those are not your current standing orders, operative. At present you need only focus on the task at hand, which is mapping this tunnel. This project could very well be the saviour of our people."
"Then why not tell us what we're doing in this uncharted tunnel?"
Oni was starting to sound impatient. "It is not your task to question me, SCSI, and I will not be second-guessed onboard my own ship."
Then the dreadful word came out of his mouth. "Toas..."
Okay, maybe half the word.
Onishi spun out of the chair, a boot dagger flashing like lightning into his right hand as his left covered SCSI's mouth and drove him back silently to the bulkhead of the ship.
"You call me that, you so much as breathe that word at me and I will end you, soldier. I served them for the BILLIONS of us who will not survive the Truth; the BILLIONS many of our whack-job compatriots seek to free regardless of their own subconscious decision. I still have no compuncture about ending a single soldier's life to preserve our people. Now I'm gonna take my hand off of your mouth and if I hear '...ter' then I will be forced to explain to this crew how you fell on this knife and I felt duty bound to leave you back in the mainline for the sentinels. Do we have an agreeance?"
SCSI nodded and Onishi removed the dagger. "You arrogance has bought you this one bit of information: I intend to use this tunnel to smuggle Machinists and their hovercrafts directly to Deep Core, if I'm right about this tunnel's length.."
"You're a traitor..." SCSI said quietly.
"Only to Zero-one. These will be refugees, not shock troops. Mech operatives who can/will no longer serve our people's destroyer... And their hovercrafts..."
"...and their EMPs..." SCSI completed the thought.
"Just so. Because you know my aims I may ask you to follow me into some places most others will not go. I also ask that you swear to me on pain of... well swear that no one will discover this secret until I decide they need to."
"On the hand of the One I swear I will follow you, Onishi."
"Good. The time may come sooner than you think when I'll be putting that to the test..."
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Post by OnishiKatzu on Aug 11, 2007 1:44:07 GMT -8
((Edited 'cuz I was suffering major sleep dep that last few lines...))
Day Six:
Onishi looked at the map in satisfaction and smiled. The Bypass was mapped. While normaly a sign of relief, this instead stood as his moment or greatest trial. There was no turning back. Flipping a com switch, Oni said, "SCSI I need you at the operator terminal..."
It took only a minute for SCSI to respond.
"SCSI, you've been kept abreast of the plan for the last three days, and now I'm afraid I'm going to do something you may not agree with... In fact you may resist it."
SCSI shook his head. "I told you I would do what you asked, sir."
"... Then I need you to go disable the EMP warning protocols. Nobody aboard can know if this EMP gets used, so discretion will be our watchword."
"Disable... You're going to blow the EMP while we're still moving?"
"Yes. I and I alone will do it. There's no need to kill innocents to achieve our aims alone. No one else can know what we have planned or about the map, SCSI. And as radical as this sounds, it MUST involve separation from our crew. They must die so that thousands more may live to protect billions. Do you understand?"
"I... I..." SCSI said in a bout of classic dumbfoundedness. Then his demeanor changed. "I understand perfectly, sir."
"Good, go disable the safety protocol. I'll be blowing the EMP once I'm 100% sure we've cleared the bypass line. Make sure noone is aware and prepare an emergency beacon."
"Yes, Sir."
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Post by OnishiKatzu on Aug 13, 2007 22:53:56 GMT -8
Day Ten:
Onishi had taken over the watch from one of the hands just before 0900 and had ordered the ship to Broadcast 'in order to survey the current situation in the simulation.' It was a lie, of course, but they had all bought it. Except, of course, for SCSI.
Now SCSI was searching for a nice place to soft-land and an even better place to fire an active sonar ping to draw a sentinel patrol once the rest of the crew was in the simulation and away from a HL. 'This has to look like an assault; like we HAD to fire the EMP to keep the ship from Zero-One,' Onishi thought to himself. 'Pity I may be called to account for this.'
Soon SCSI had found the location and the team went in. Everyone but Onishi and SCSI, and soon afterwards SCSI dropped an active ping.
Within seconds his fear and his hope were alive "We have contact, sir. 5000 meters and closing."
"I'm charging the EMP..." Onishi put the headset on and waited.
"2500 meters, sir... 1250... 625... 312..."
Onishi dialed the crew. They all answered. Inwardly he wished they hadn't.
"This is the Captain. We have incoming and there's no time to get you to your exits. Regretfully if we power down you will die, and if we blow the EMP with the ship actively broadcasting you will die. This is the hardest decision I have ever had to make as an operative, and I want you all to know you have served humanity with the highest honors I can and will make sure you receive. But I felt you had a right to know. This bypass we mapped will be used to save machinist humans who can no longer stomach the war but find themselves trapped behind enemy lines. This will be a road of hope and life, not a back-door into enemy territory. My regret is that I will not be able to command you along it to save those that may one day be saved."
"Within range sir, and they're mad."
Onishi concluded "Regrettably the EMP will render the hard drives aboard the ship unrecoverable, so the mission recorder will not be able to recover what we have accomplished, but the map will live on, as will your memories. I will keep your souls in my prayers for the rest of my life. May the One and the One Who Will Come guide you into the true Zion..."
With that, 4 bodies dropped like meat sacks in the simulation, and everything went dark inside the hovercraft...
*****
"Mayday, Mayday. This is Captain OnishiKatzu to any friendly Zion craft, over... Mayday, Mayday. We are stranded and require extraction before another sentinel patrol arrives. Mayday, Mayday..." Onishi had programmed a continuous repeater loop into the portable broadcast terminal. Hopefully someone would hear the distress signal...
"I don't agree with this course of action, sir."
"I don't expect you to ever forgive me, SCSI, but the work had to be done."
"And what if I tried..."
"You couldn't. I'm faster and stronger than you, not to mention a good three years older. In the Matrix those things don't matter, but out here..." Onishi gestured around, "They'd amount to an ass-whopping you would not soon forget."
SCSI, however, had other plans. He jumped at Oni, knocking him over and loosing Oni's own boot knife from its sheath. With a fluid motion, SCSI stabbed downward at Oni's throat and missed as Oni rolled to the left, bringing his knee into SCSI's ribs. SCSI fell back and stood up.
"You made a strong opening, trooper. Now finish it and go back a hero..." With that Onishi stood up as well.
"Traitor!" Roared SCSI as he again launched himself at Onishi. Oni sidestepped and allowed SCSI to pass harmlessly by, until about SCSI's back wrist.
Onishi wrapped his hand around and twisted, altering SCSI's movement and bending him in half. Onishi let out a ferocious kick that connected solidly with SCSI's face, and then continued the twist, causing SCSI to flip over, hit the ground, and drop the knife.
As SCSI raised his head, he caught Onishi's steel-toed boot to the face and blood flew everywhere. Oni went over to the knife. "One last chance to be the hero, SCSI. Or... One last chance to submit with your life, but I think you've already made your play in your head..." Onishi threw the dagger away behind him, where neither of them could get to it.
SCSI charged, ducking past Onishi's fists and wrapping around his 'captain's' waist, his lead leg planting behind Onishi's knee. SCSI was attempting to ground him out.
Onishi dropped and rolled backward, so that he initiated the trip before SCSI was ready to do so. It was playing into SCSI's move, but it broke his timing, which was the point of Oni's early initiation. Oni fell fast, but SCSI fell faster than he cared to and Onishi used it to roll him over SCSI.
SCSI threw his thumbs into Onishi's eyes, and Oni countered by a knee to the groin and fists applied forcefully under the sternum. After that didn't work as quickly as he hoped, Onishi resorted to the only tactic he knew would work. He locked his hands around SCSI's slender throat and applied pressure.
It took a couple of minutes before the tell-tale 'snap' and the gurgling told Onishi that SCSI had died, and so he rocked back off of the body and onto the ground, staring at his hands and contemplating what he had done as sweeper lights could barely be seen down the line they were in...
A hovercraft was approaching.
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Post by Admin on Aug 14, 2007 16:32:27 GMT -8
((nice work))
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avery1
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Post by avery1 on Aug 14, 2007 17:49:41 GMT -8
well written. Are you a professional writer? surprisingly too well crafted.
OBSERVATIONS: - I ain't gonna hang too near Onishi -- for fear my neck gets rung. - I motion we install self destruct Oni's hovercraft should he tamper with EMP safty mechanisms, EMP activations, IFF Beacons, mission recorders, the black box & a dozen other devices Onishi is sure to remove to go dark - Dang if ya wanted to blow up a hovercraft I'd have just let you... taking out 5 new recruits makes me worry a bit (he'll if we can channel that destructive energy into quality PVP I'd settle to take some collateral damage).
ave out
oh by the way... zion has issued a seek & apprehend order for Onishi, that was outta my control. I did get it reduced to apprehend, rather than shoot on sight.
now ave out.
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Post by OnishiKatzu on Aug 14, 2007 22:32:53 GMT -8
1) I'm not a professional writer. This is just part of the Oni storyline I wanted to make sure got told correctly.
2) Onishi's primary loadout atm is Infil/hacker, but I spent the vast majority of my time as pure MA. He's no stranger to breaking people in a warzone or if it means his life, though now adays he's trying to avoid what of it he can. Basicly he's only focusing on 'essential' killings now...
3) Onishi is no novice to covert "warfare," and everything you just mentioned had best be standard aboard our own SpecWar crafts or else we're doing ourselves a HUGE disservice.
4) The only tampering Onishi did was to disable the IFF beacon and the 'backup' black box (which was installed partly because the council still doesn't 100% trust Onishi, and with as sterling a service record as Oni had for 0-1, who can blame them?) The EMP 'proximity' alarm was disabled but ultimately was unneccessary as he was able to coax them all into the matrix to brainkill them there. Every other recording device - every other harddrive on this ship up to and including the back box - has been wiped by the EMP. Sucks, but all Zion has to go on in an investigation is 4 brain-dead operatives, the one Oni will refer to as a traitor in their midst, and a dead and data-wiped hovercraft surrounded by EMPed Sentinels...
5) But as it stands only a handful of operatives know what Onishi was doing while he had gone dark, and many of them would not be inclined to help Zion in prosecuting Oni by betraying information about the Bypass as it was mapped for them should they need an escape route later in the War.
6) Oni grieves the loss of all 5 of his crewmen and probably will until the day he dies, but sees their deaths as a necessary requirement to safeguard the information regarding the Bypass' location, length, and ease of passage.
7) I figure at the very least they'll want to know why I HAD to trigger the EMP and why I ended up strangling my own man. But I also ended it with the sweeper lights from a Hovercraft nearing my location. My guess was a Pride ship who caught the distres call...
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avery1
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Post by avery1 on Aug 15, 2007 12:26:27 GMT -8
hmmmm.
I'm presently taking a wait & see on these covert actions.
I'll create a diversion on the zion forces seeking Onishi -- that'll give you space to make you're next moves Oni.
I have limited say on the Zion council, but use this untraced cell phone to keep me abreast of your actions -- or reports herein as you disseminate them.
ave
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Post by OnishiKatzu on Aug 16, 2007 10:37:11 GMT -8
((Actually Oni's done with what he needed to do, he's just awaiting pickup... Except I cancelled my account.))
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avery1
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Post by avery1 on Aug 16, 2007 17:55:31 GMT -8
hmmm.
seems like there's more to tell. I mean "a hovercraft was approaching" when you left off.
Ok, so my report said:
"Zion Captain Klunk picked up Onishi. Klunk was not buying that bs story ... THE LIES... how & why 4 bodies were dead.
Evidene & pieces of a zion hovercraft where strewn all over the ground (body parts too but let's not get too creepy now shall we). Three days of interegation rendered very little valuable information, the quantity of mis-information seems to put on suspect various versions... inventations.
Ahem next status report read, Onishi was forced to be released but will be on 24X7 survailence for clues as to goals & motivies in "the tunnel incident case#zdoc79382901." A bright recruit by the name of Upchuck (male, lvl28 spy specialist) was assigned the early moments after his release. Nothing unusual for the next 3 days, 20 hours. and then...
"Onishi was last spotted talking again to his old cohorts & as Upchuck moved in for better vid capture survailence he was attacked, badly beaten & lost all digital tracking and the last 8 hours of the most tell-tale activies."
Well, that's quite disturbing. Why did some moron assign a novice lvl28 spy to watch Onishi... I'll have to re-assign this case to someone more trustworthy, perhaps an inside job.
Captain Avery1... mutters Onishi where are you... what have you done... Certain confidants have been dispached to seek clues of what this all means.
Should I report this to the supreme Zion Counsel, hmmm, seems politically there is something amiss... an insider at work.
I shut down & stroll to the bedroom. My Jerry Springer last thought.
... (but first I should drink at least to a well written 10% of the story & dream of royalty payments on what may become a top seller)
... again I can't believe he's off... where are you Onishi... and... hmm... I wonder if I simply ask him to TEAM UP WITH ME ON THIS THREAD (ahem, hint, hint) if we go 70/30 on royalties will he return... no? 60/40 a tad more fair -- I'm such an insider & rank over youth right?, naah... why risk his ire... 50/50 will be my offer.
ave
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avery1
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Post by avery1 on Sept 27, 2007 16:48:14 GMT -8
no more plot? (shoot, who's in charge of the creativity dept?)
After eating a hearty dinner & dessert, I might need a Bypass operation to avoid heart attack...
ave
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Post by OnishiKatzu on Jan 14, 2008 11:38:05 GMT -8
((FYI Oni is back, but a mech. Here's part of his resurfacing story. The rest can be found in the RP thread (Club Ringer) of mxowatchmen.com under the title "Always check your clips"))
Oni sat at the Shinjuku EC hardline, the Jade Moons no longer troubling him anymore. Looking at his shoes, he suddenly had flashes of the bypass line... of the ship he took from Zion mere moments after getting a crew recruited... of blowing the EMP with a crew of 4 Zion recruits in the simulation... and of breaking a man's neck with his own hands to preserve a secret that not even he remembered fully anymore.
'Why can't I get these inhibitors out of my head' he thought, staring as the countless bluepills passed him by. 'They look so happy, or at least not so sad. Would it be better never to have dreamed at all?' He had no idea, and only wondered what else could go wrong.
"Operative Onishi?" Came a voice behind him. "I am Norad of the Zion HvCFT Roundabout. I'm here to bring you in..."
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