06-05-2016, 05:42 PM
The next day the two of them sat in the patrol car, staring at the sun as it began to rise above the horizon.
“Shall we give yesterday another shot?”
“Yeah.”
The two of them began chatting as Carmelita drove on. Chip had grown up in Coruscant, unsurprisingly, and liked pop and electronic music. Carmelita pulled a CD of some of Dimitri’s better dance music from her omnilium and talked about her own tastes, classical and stringed instruments. Chip pulled up some tracks from the Dataverse of a Camelot orchestra that was popular enough to have their pieces magically recorded.
They were in the middle of a conversation about food, debating the difference between spaghetti and instant noodles, when Chip’s excellent vision caught sight of a compound in the distance. Carmelita span the wheel and they sped towards it.
From on top of a dusty hill, they could see down onto the flat valley that held the compound. Several laser scorched coyote corpses lay scattered around the electric fence, the only sign of life from the depot the slow, jerky movement of the remote lasers at the towers.
“What do you think?” Carmelita asked, passing Chip her Interpol binoculars.
“Looks like an old vehicle depot. Imperial, obviously. Don’t know what’s in those buildings, but there are a lot of them. It looks like there’s an underground bit as well. I’d hazard a guess that this will be the best find we could have made… if we can get inside. Those laser towers are why it hasn’t been used by raiders at all, no doubt they’re automated. Any ideas?”
Carmelita thought carefully. This wasn’t anywhere near the difficulty level the Cooper Gang was used to dealing with, but she’d never been truly involved in the planning stages.
“Can you tell me how the towers are powered? I reckon I could get inside with my cloak, so if you can tell me where to go I could shut them off from the inside. Then you can drive in, I’ll turn them back on and we can go from there.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
With that, they got back in the patrol car, driving down until they could see burn marks in the ground ten metres ahead of them.
“Okay, you’ve got the wheel kid. Stay in contact with the headpieces.”
“Will do. I’ll return to the hill so I can coordinate your movements from there.”
The patrol car flew off behind her, and Carmelita pressed a digit to her collar. The stealth field activated and she strode forward, crossing her fingers that it would fool the laser grid.
---
The gate was shut, but not locked. Bracing herself, Carmelita pushed against the rusted handles and the gate slid open with a cacophonous screeching. It stuck halfway open, but since it was designed for two directional traffic there was easily enough space for the patrol car to pass through later.
Carmelita passed the electric fence and looked around. There was a good thirty metres of open ground between the fence and the first buildings, and with the compound consisting of thirty nine buildings of a few different sizes there was a lot of ground to cover.
She made her way to the corner of the first building before raising a finger to her earpiece. She pressed and the eyepieces came down in front of her eyes.
“Chip, you there?”
++Just a moment, I’m turning on the camera.++
A small image of the compound as seen from Chip’s vantage point appeared in the bottom left of Carmelita’s vision.
++I think these buildings will be the most likely to have a way to turn off the defences long enough for me to get in there.++
Chip’s hand came into view, pointing out a small two-story building near the centre of the compound and a large flat building covered in sand encrusted solar panels.
++You got that?++
“Yes, I’m on my way.”
Carmelita padded through the empty complex, listening out for any unusual noises. After the first three buildings, she reached the solar plant and found the door padlocked shut.
“Chip, what do you think?”
++What do I think of what?++
“Oh, hang on. Ccamera, camera, camera… there.”
++Probably not worth breaking anything, try the control hub first.++
“Will do.”
Carmelita set off deeper into the compound.
“Do you think there’ll be anything worth salvaging in the buildings?”
++Aside from the compound itself? Anything too big or broken to be easily taken away. Standard practice with the Empire is that if it isn’t cost effective, just get rid of it. I’m hoping there might be some military hardware, maybe a hover tank or a walker, but I’d settle for a couple of trucks and a working nutrient synthesiser and moisture condenser.++
“So I read a few historical articles on the Dunes, but how responsible exactly were the Empire for the environmental damage.”
++My parents were geographers, summoned that way. Originally they were tasked with looking for trilithium deposits in the Endless Dunes… though back then it was the Endless Savannah. My parents were old when they had me, but still, the change happened over living memory.++
“So was it the companies or the government?” Carmelita paused and took a brief breather in a cool shadow.
++Both. They were silenced when I was three for compiling a report on exact impacts of various decisions.++
“Prison?”
++Death. They got put up on trumped up charges and sentenced to the firing squad. Someone really didn’t want their name on those documents.++
Carmelita winced at the acerbic note of the last sentence, but her reply was cut off when she found the central office. She climbed the exterior staircase and tried the door. When it was locked, she pulled a lockpick out of her omnilium and began picking away.
++Why do you know how to pick locks?++
“Aside from my husband getting bored one afternoon? Actually, I learned in the academy. Escapology is a must if you might be taken prisoner without backup. That made for one mess of a hostage simulation when it was my turn to be the dummy, let me tell you.”
++Huh.++
The latch clicked and Carmelita opened the door to a room filled with computers and with the corner to corner windows completely covered with blinds. She pulled a string and the desert light flooded in.
“Well?”
++Oh my… I’d knew that they had started implementing slaved AIs, but to leave them behind?++
“Hardware to chunky to take out the door?”
++More likely it got on the supervisor’s nerves. Poor thing must have gone half mad stuck here. Anyway, there should be some circuit breakers in the box on your right. If you flick them all, it’ll cut the defence matrix while I drive in. Wait until I say, the AI will wake up and I’d like to be there when it starts asking questions.++
“Okay, mi amiga.”
There was the sound of the patrol car in the background of the audio feed. Carmelita waited five minutes, staring out at the rooftops.
++Now.++
She flicked the circuit breakers. Behind her there was the sound of a fan suddenly whirring as long dormant computer systems started whirring to life. The sound of the patrol car coming to a stop outside and Chip running up the steps came to Carmelita’s ears and she turned off her cloak and the earpieces.
The three-eyed girl burst through the door and jumped into a swivel chair, spinning over to the monitors that lay covered in dust. She wiped a furry arm across the screens, staring at the numbers and images that were flickering past.
“Oh. It’s going to take about a day for the poor thing to reboot.”
Carmelita looked at the screen, then at the equipment around the office.
“I’ll take your word for it. Should I turn the circuit breakers back on?”
“Yes, just keep away from the fence.”
Carmelita nodded and, after returning power to the dense grid, headed out to explore the compound more.
“Shall we give yesterday another shot?”
“Yeah.”
The two of them began chatting as Carmelita drove on. Chip had grown up in Coruscant, unsurprisingly, and liked pop and electronic music. Carmelita pulled a CD of some of Dimitri’s better dance music from her omnilium and talked about her own tastes, classical and stringed instruments. Chip pulled up some tracks from the Dataverse of a Camelot orchestra that was popular enough to have their pieces magically recorded.
They were in the middle of a conversation about food, debating the difference between spaghetti and instant noodles, when Chip’s excellent vision caught sight of a compound in the distance. Carmelita span the wheel and they sped towards it.
From on top of a dusty hill, they could see down onto the flat valley that held the compound. Several laser scorched coyote corpses lay scattered around the electric fence, the only sign of life from the depot the slow, jerky movement of the remote lasers at the towers.
“What do you think?” Carmelita asked, passing Chip her Interpol binoculars.
“Looks like an old vehicle depot. Imperial, obviously. Don’t know what’s in those buildings, but there are a lot of them. It looks like there’s an underground bit as well. I’d hazard a guess that this will be the best find we could have made… if we can get inside. Those laser towers are why it hasn’t been used by raiders at all, no doubt they’re automated. Any ideas?”
Carmelita thought carefully. This wasn’t anywhere near the difficulty level the Cooper Gang was used to dealing with, but she’d never been truly involved in the planning stages.
“Can you tell me how the towers are powered? I reckon I could get inside with my cloak, so if you can tell me where to go I could shut them off from the inside. Then you can drive in, I’ll turn them back on and we can go from there.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
With that, they got back in the patrol car, driving down until they could see burn marks in the ground ten metres ahead of them.
“Okay, you’ve got the wheel kid. Stay in contact with the headpieces.”
“Will do. I’ll return to the hill so I can coordinate your movements from there.”
The patrol car flew off behind her, and Carmelita pressed a digit to her collar. The stealth field activated and she strode forward, crossing her fingers that it would fool the laser grid.
---
The gate was shut, but not locked. Bracing herself, Carmelita pushed against the rusted handles and the gate slid open with a cacophonous screeching. It stuck halfway open, but since it was designed for two directional traffic there was easily enough space for the patrol car to pass through later.
Carmelita passed the electric fence and looked around. There was a good thirty metres of open ground between the fence and the first buildings, and with the compound consisting of thirty nine buildings of a few different sizes there was a lot of ground to cover.
She made her way to the corner of the first building before raising a finger to her earpiece. She pressed and the eyepieces came down in front of her eyes.
“Chip, you there?”
++Just a moment, I’m turning on the camera.++
A small image of the compound as seen from Chip’s vantage point appeared in the bottom left of Carmelita’s vision.
++I think these buildings will be the most likely to have a way to turn off the defences long enough for me to get in there.++
Chip’s hand came into view, pointing out a small two-story building near the centre of the compound and a large flat building covered in sand encrusted solar panels.
++You got that?++
“Yes, I’m on my way.”
Carmelita padded through the empty complex, listening out for any unusual noises. After the first three buildings, she reached the solar plant and found the door padlocked shut.
“Chip, what do you think?”
++What do I think of what?++
“Oh, hang on. Ccamera, camera, camera… there.”
++Probably not worth breaking anything, try the control hub first.++
“Will do.”
Carmelita set off deeper into the compound.
“Do you think there’ll be anything worth salvaging in the buildings?”
++Aside from the compound itself? Anything too big or broken to be easily taken away. Standard practice with the Empire is that if it isn’t cost effective, just get rid of it. I’m hoping there might be some military hardware, maybe a hover tank or a walker, but I’d settle for a couple of trucks and a working nutrient synthesiser and moisture condenser.++
“So I read a few historical articles on the Dunes, but how responsible exactly were the Empire for the environmental damage.”
++My parents were geographers, summoned that way. Originally they were tasked with looking for trilithium deposits in the Endless Dunes… though back then it was the Endless Savannah. My parents were old when they had me, but still, the change happened over living memory.++
“So was it the companies or the government?” Carmelita paused and took a brief breather in a cool shadow.
++Both. They were silenced when I was three for compiling a report on exact impacts of various decisions.++
“Prison?”
++Death. They got put up on trumped up charges and sentenced to the firing squad. Someone really didn’t want their name on those documents.++
Carmelita winced at the acerbic note of the last sentence, but her reply was cut off when she found the central office. She climbed the exterior staircase and tried the door. When it was locked, she pulled a lockpick out of her omnilium and began picking away.
++Why do you know how to pick locks?++
“Aside from my husband getting bored one afternoon? Actually, I learned in the academy. Escapology is a must if you might be taken prisoner without backup. That made for one mess of a hostage simulation when it was my turn to be the dummy, let me tell you.”
++Huh.++
The latch clicked and Carmelita opened the door to a room filled with computers and with the corner to corner windows completely covered with blinds. She pulled a string and the desert light flooded in.
“Well?”
++Oh my… I’d knew that they had started implementing slaved AIs, but to leave them behind?++
“Hardware to chunky to take out the door?”
++More likely it got on the supervisor’s nerves. Poor thing must have gone half mad stuck here. Anyway, there should be some circuit breakers in the box on your right. If you flick them all, it’ll cut the defence matrix while I drive in. Wait until I say, the AI will wake up and I’d like to be there when it starts asking questions.++
“Okay, mi amiga.”
There was the sound of the patrol car in the background of the audio feed. Carmelita waited five minutes, staring out at the rooftops.
++Now.++
She flicked the circuit breakers. Behind her there was the sound of a fan suddenly whirring as long dormant computer systems started whirring to life. The sound of the patrol car coming to a stop outside and Chip running up the steps came to Carmelita’s ears and she turned off her cloak and the earpieces.
The three-eyed girl burst through the door and jumped into a swivel chair, spinning over to the monitors that lay covered in dust. She wiped a furry arm across the screens, staring at the numbers and images that were flickering past.
“Oh. It’s going to take about a day for the poor thing to reboot.”
Carmelita looked at the screen, then at the equipment around the office.
“I’ll take your word for it. Should I turn the circuit breakers back on?”
“Yes, just keep away from the fence.”
Carmelita nodded and, after returning power to the dense grid, headed out to explore the compound more.