2.2 That is not my kind of cougar
Well site B is close, at least you won’t have to carry parts back to the base for gods know how long. Not to mention avoiding crawling around in sewers or whatever they built underground at site A. “A valid point, we will assign you to site B then. If site B does contain intact structures, the team will no doubt need your expertise if they will want to open one.”- says Fuchs. “Just remember not to anger Osterhagen, he can be a bit extreme at times. I wish you luck Herr Kiriazis, my team will leave an hour before yours. So it will be quite some time before we meet again.”
You have no duties until tomorrow, therefore you decide to pick up your new laspistol and see if the technicians are on a break. After all, you need to climb up on the “Riese Schachmeister” chess ladder ranking. It is a most prestigious chess ranking, even if there are only 23 people on it.
“Just a moment,” the soldier managing the armory’s stockpile says, “yes I see the Oberführer’s authorization in the system. One Thule AG Phoenix 3 laspistol.” After a moment the soldier hands you your new weapon. “It is a fine weapon just a bit heavy, the fusion reactor triad powering it allows for some sustained fire. Not as good as a proper lasrifle, but I have seen people using it to cut thin steel. You can easily destroy unarmored cars with it let alone kill people.” – he adds.
Eventually you arrive at the technician’s quarters. Konrad and Gustav barely noticed you entered the room, and they have already started boasting about their recent victories. “I told him exactly how I would win in 3 moves and he still couldn’t stop me!” – says Gustav, obviously proud of his skillful victory. “You won one match, but lost the previous five. At this rate you’ll fall out of the top ten.” – Konrad replies with a smug grin on his face. You decide to play a match with Gustav and chat a bit.
“ So you are part of Osterhagen’s team? I’ll tell you one thing, that man is driven.” – says Konrad.
“Driven? More like obsessed, ever since he got kicked off the project he is desperately trying to prove he can still be useful.” – Gustav cuts in. What did he do wrong? “Nobody knows exactly.” - Gustav explains. “Don’t tell it to anyone, but shortly before he got reassigned, we had to transit a few suspicious containers back to the Thule AG HQ in the homeparallel. I took a closer look at one of them when nobody was looking, it was filled with coffins. He screwed up bad and got some of the best minds in the Reich killed if you ask me. If he wasn’t as good of a physicist and Himmler’s protégé.” Gustav pauses for a brief moment. “They would have no doubt just reassigned him to penguin research in New Swabia.”
It is morning, the expedition team gathers near the main gate of the complex. It is the first time you were allowed to see the surface. The base is carefully hidden under a giant camouflage net, no doubt to prevent orbital or aerial recon from discovering it. You see nothing but trees outside of the base, this has to be εα-3, no other similar parallel is as close to the Reich’s homeparallel. If it was an inhabited parallel, then the natives would have no doubt looted the ruins of anything valuable. Or they would at least try to prevent the Ahnenerbe from doing so. Unless they were very primitive.
It appears that the others have already gathered in place. “Good I see that everyone is here, even the Atlantean.”- Osterhagen says, with a small amount of suspicion noticeable in his voice. “In case somebody has forgotten, I am Sturmbannführer Osterhagen. I will say this only once, as the leader of this expedition I expect absolute obedience. Anything less equals treason.” – he adds, in a serious somewhat threatening tone. Maybe going with Fuchs wasn’t a bad idea? It is too late to worry about “what ifs” now. When Osterhagen gave the order you head out into the forest with the rest of the team.
The trek is long, in the late afternoon you arrive at the site. Structures covered by vegetation appear before your eyes, some bear signs of degradation or damage. Some however are still intact, their metal doors no doubt sealed for centuries. “I wonder if the first Egyptologists felt the same way when they discovered long lost ancient tombs.” – says Gunther, the quantumtronics specialist in your team. ”You better find something more useful than mummies inside of those structures. Or our fearless leader will execute you on the spot!” – jokes Jürgen, the other mechanical engineer on your team. Fortunately for him, Osterhagen did not hear that joke.
Just when you finish setting up your tent you hear somebody yelling. “Scheisse! Ein Puma!” Sounds like Gunther encountered some of the famous local wildlife you heard so much about. You rush in to help him. The large feline pounces on Gunther biting him in the neck. Blood starts gushing out of the wound and Gunther falls unconscious to the ground. Jürgen also rushed in to help him, it appears he caught the cougar’s attention. You doubt the young Ahnenerbe engineer will be able to handle the predator by himself. Luckily for him, you are the only person other than Osterhagen that brought a gun with himself. And the Sturmbannführer isn’t around to help it seems.
The overgrown cat charges towards Jürgen. You fire a well-aimed pulse at the creature, the powerful beam rapidly heats up the air in its path creating a familiar firing sound. The beast growls from the pain as its flesh starts burning, at least it stopped charging. You finish it off with another pulse, this time fired at its head. Osterhagen arrives at the scene. “What is going on here?” - he asks clearly infuriated. Jürgen tries to help the still bleeding Gunther while you explain what happened.
Osterhagen gazes upon the severely injured Gunther. “Clearly he was unworthy of joining our prestigious organization. Completely helpless against an overgrown cat! A true Aryan would just kill the beast with his knife. At least you Atlantean,” Osterhagen looks in your direction, “can handle yourself.”
“We need to help him!” – Jürgen shouts, clearly angered by his comrade bleeding to death. “Only somebody with at least basic knowledge of surgery could help him, not to mention the proper medical tools. We lack both.” - Osterhagen coldly explains. “He is dead, even if he is still breathing. Go dig him a grave, he will need it in a minute or two.” – he adds. Jürgen stands in shock above the dying comrade. “I said go, that is an order!” – Osterhagen yells. Jürgen obeys his command.
During the next day your team manages to find a few interesting thing, despite lacking a team member. One is a still intact machine, Osterhagen claims, that according to a structural scan, it is similar to what they need for the project. The device is most likely controlled by what appears to be a computer terminal, unfortunately your quantumtronic expert has recently died so nobody knows exactly how the terminal may work. It was found inside one of the hermetically sealed buildings. You had to use the laser cutter to open its door, it nearly drained half of the fusion fuel your expedition had
There are two large structures around that also look promising, opening just one of them will use nearly all of the fusion fuel you have left. One appears to be an administration building of some kind judging by its size, and what the rooms layout scans show you. It also still has visible markings on its walls, indicating some sort of importance of the structure. The other could have been something akin to a police department, scans show it had a few reinforced and shielded chambers, prison cells most likely.
However Osterhagen seems to have another idea. “This device takes priority, you will use the cutter’s reactor to power and activate it.” – he says. “Sir it is doable, but wasn’t our primary objective to retrieve any devices we find? The device needs to be delivered to a proper lab, where our experts will study it in detail first. On-site activation sounds unwise, especially when we do not know how the terminal controls it. ” – Jürgen tells him. “We will improvise if necessary. The machine cannot be retrieved without taking it apart, we risk damaging critical components. Connect the machine and terminal to the reactor. That is an order!” – Osterhagen shouts at Jürgen , he is clearly annoyed by his proposal.
You find this lack of respect for proper procedures troubling. However Osterhagen may have a point. Furthermore Jürgen is acting a bit clumsy, he is no doubt still in shock from yesterday’s cougar encounter. Perhaps substituting him may be a good idea. Although you were supposed to scan other buildings in the area in search of easily accessible chambers. Also you need to decide which building is most likely to hold valuable tech. While another team may finish the job later during another expedition, it would be best if you discovered something valuable yourself. That would no doubt please your superiors and Ajax.
Concerning the device Osterhagen is interested in. You will…
A)…connect the device to the reactor yourself. You are more experienced than Jürgen and thus a lot more qualified for the job.
B)…let Jürgen do it while you will search the area for structures that won’t require a laser cutter to open.
C)…try to convince Osterhagen that it would be unwise to activate the device.
D)…stop Osterhagen from activating the device. Using extreme measures if necessary.
Which of the two buildings will you try to open with the laser cutter and explore?
1) The “administration” building. Perhaps there are data terminals or documents inside.
2) The “security” building. Maybe there will be weapons inside.
Vote now.
Crap, yet again another update longer than planned. I cannot into shorter updates.