[Iscarioto]

Thanks for the love, chums.

I’ve done a write up in the story, intelligence report bit. Tried to make it sound official but got writers block and so forth. We can edit if you think the numbers or the times or whatever are out? Tried to tie in a couple of stories to it too, and leave room for one new one.

What was mostly fun about it is for the first time, writing from the perspective of a narrator I decided was American, when my browser told me words were spelt incorrectly it wasn’t wrong for a change Z, Mom, Neighborhood , yeah, I got this.

JR and Alex, not sure if I’m comfortable bridging Science and Fantasy thing for Ascension, teleporting ships seems to be a bit Empty Vessely, I dunno. The way I figured it would work was just sheer numbers (and even more so later along the track with the Assimilators), rather than anything else. Plus the speed of which the fleet can move kind of gives the story a bit of time. On that note, there is no reason the ships cannot have boosters on them, with limitations, something to supercharge them to cover say 80km an a couple of seconds, but then they need to land and require refueling immediately afterwards. So they can hover above menacingly all day long if they so choose, but if they are needed urgently they can boost on over and deploy units? And then of course, this boost would have a story element, I’d love to see the pilot of a capital ship throw himself and his ship at a building to try take out one of the heroes.

Wait wait wait, re-read what you said Alex. Maybe? I don’t now if I’m sold on the idea of teleporting them to the ground either, it’s a bit too, Star Trek? I feel like the ruggedness of the initial forces could be highlighted by having hulking metal capsules launched at the ground perhaps, from which the units step out, as well as the capability for the ships to land and deploy. But I’m open to discussion. Sell it to me!

On that note, I like the sound of the two classes of ships, and have tried to work that into my recent post

[Iscarioto]

Status Report from Alpha Phase Supervision Unit 327-B.
Hong Kong: 1300hrs, Day Two of Ground Assault
To: Jonathon Reischek, CAC, Ascension Project.

Commander, please find below the latest reports from the field, in plain English as advised.

5th Battalion, Regiments 1, 3 and 5 – Hong Kong Island: The advance force has captured a foothold on Hong Kong Island. Defenses have been stabilized in:
Admiralty
Wan Chai
Stanley
Victoria Peak
Wan Tsui
Repulse Bay
Chai Wan.
We have also established a foothold at three points on Lantau Island, and have secured Chek Lap Kok International Airport. Alpha Phase Tactical Unit 3A are to desecrate Lantau Island’s Buddha Monument at 1730 hours as ordered.

There remains only one fortification left to secure; unfortunately we lost a unit in Times Square, Causeway Bay. It appears one of our combat platforms, CPL Richard T. Henare – ASC M.11506.EMK, 5th Fleet Battalion, has gone rogue. Platform LCPL Scott E. J. Malcolm – ASC M.15529.DFS, also of 5th Fleet attempted to apprehend the rogue, however Henare’s feed was destroyed in the progress. His whereabouts and status are unknown. Any attempts to recover his beacon have thus far failed, however it is unlikely he would be able to shut it down himself. Units from Wan Chai are currently being diverted to investigate, and LCPL Malcolm has reported to Frigate Undaunted 17G for interrogation and debrief. Interrogation is in process, but recovered audio from CPL Henare’s feed before termination indicates that Squad Leader CPL Thomas F. Townsend ASC O.00955.HLM had been involved in a physical altercation with an unidentified female, to which CPL Henare intervened, resulting in CPL Townsend’s apparent death. A technical error has stalled the process of video retrieval from LCPL Malcolm’s EPL implant, but his testimony and the restored data content should provide further details in the coming hours.
3rd Battalion are moving to retake Causeway Bay as we speak.

Fifth Battalion, 7th Regiment – Kowloon: 7th Regiment have started their assault on Kowloon, but resistance is heavy and our casualties are growing. So far, reported engagements with MT-VS7 users appear to be lower than expected across the campaign, but, as reported previously there seem to be an unusually high concentration in Tsim Sha Tsui. 7th Regiment have sustained the loss of four full squads to two natives who appear to be father and daughter. They are currently entangled in a standoff at the Peninsula Hotel. The father seems to exhibit an alchemistic ability, as units have reported sighting strange manipulations of various materials. The daughter appears to move incredibly fast, which may imply advanced speed, teleportation or time manipulation. Walker Unit 847-L are en-route across Victoria Harbor, but if the pair here hold out against them we may need to look at more severe methods.

Status Readout
Total deployment as at Day Two, 1200hrs
1,280 total Ground Troops
16 Walker Units
7 Capital-Class Battle Cruisers
16 Frigates
A further 8 Capital-Class Cruisers are awaiting confirmation for deployment off the coast of Manila. Intended travel time upon confirmation: 3 hours. Total 1,500 additional troops.

Aside from cases mentioned, we have faced little resistance so far:
Confirmed civilian casualties: 28,667
Confirmed Military and Defense casualties: 3,433
Total Ascension Forces casualties: 47, with two unconfirmed casualties and Grade 3 or higher damages to 188 troops.

We have determined 61 instances of contact with MT-VS7 practitioners.
48 confirmed captured, (40 of which were detained in the hours prior to the invasion transferred to the Overwatch Project.)
6 confirmed kills
7 evaded captivity.
Naturally, these engagements are expected to increase.
Facilities at Overwatch are currently on lock-down due to what I am only told is an anomaly, so any remaining captives are being assessed for malleability or scheduled for execution at respective Defense Barricades.

While the engagement numbers remain low, 46 of the 47 casualties sustained have been at the hands of MT-VS7s. In one instance it is reported a young foreign female eliminated an entire squad single-handedly. Intelligence suggests sheer numbers may be the best solution until Advanced units are ready for deployment, but the humidity is continually interfering with our communications, leading to delays of up to a minute in transmissions, a window of time which presents too great an opportunity for hostiles to pick our units off before help can arrive.

On a brighter note, Beta Phase Advance Class Unit AM12 in Monaco should be ready for deployment in 13 days, totaling 11,035 fully trained and upgraded units. Reports confirm Hong Kong, Kowloon, the New Territories and the Chinese Border are on track to be secured in three days. Project Overshadow will commence immediately following, to hold a state of martial law until Beta Phase arrives, in preparation for Mainland assault. European Research Division has confirmed your request to increase dosage of FF-94 to all Beta Phase units, and to sterilize all male units to ensure dependency. Comm upgrades should allow for swifter transfer of data, which should negate the backup issues we have been facing while encountering MT-VS7s.

Always on the up,
IDT F. M. Davros, Alpha Phase Supervision Unit 327-B

[Iscarioto]

Love that cyborg prs!

So I thought I’d go and try make a middle ground between Vampy and JRs posters, what do you guys think?

I like where you’re coming from Alex but thinking that’d make a good 2nd issue cover, once the gang is united.

[Iscarioto]

Ugh, no way near as proactive as I’d have liked but here is my take on the cruisers

Tried to keep it futuristic while leaving it a little industrial. Still want to tackle a side profile, in which I’ll try to show a link with modern aircraft carriers / freight ships.

The planes are place holders to show scale.

Cruisy
Thu Mar 7 22:56:24 GMT+1300 2013

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angled.

[Iscarioto]

Oh, prs, sorry I see what you mean, I think it auto rotated, will fix

[Iscarioto]

whoops forgot

asd
Thu Mar 7 12:17:28 GMT+1300 2013

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I like the idea of China’s PLA striking back, will research what sort of reserves they keep there, I seem to recall in the change over from British rule HK got to set their own governance rules but China had control over defense but will have a look. At the very least the HKPF sould be fighting back. But so far all the stories have been from the viewpoints of individuals. Will write in a bit in my situation report.

As for support from the outside, I’m going to give a firm no. The way I see it World Police would be quietly chuffed at the idea of China being attacked to secure their place at the top of the food chain without implication. A sub plot could actually involve that implication, where in China assumes that it is indeed the US behind the attack – large military resources, white faces, etc. So there would be a stage where their innocence in the matter would need to be highlighted.

On that note, the undertones of the story are that the world can’t react to it anyway, the corporations which make up Ascension in one form or another bankroll senators and politicians and own the oil industry, so even if they wanted to respond, Ascension are too embroiled in the economy to be stopped or sanctioned against. Politicians can play the right cards and say the right things to make it seem like they care, but really, Ascension own them as well.

We’re talking Bilderberg, Illuminati, NWO type stuff.

Perhaps we may see support from Thai or Indonesian forces, some developing African countries owe China a lot in written off debt, but these are places that could never muster anywhere near the numbers to be able to fight back. That’s why Empty Vessel is so important.

[Iscarioto]

My attempt at the 2nd (?) frame. All this writing has made my HM ability weak.

[Iscarioto]

I pictured him a little older, but otherwise, decent!

[Iscarioto]

Haha, the writing has been so good so far. I’m working on a status report thing at the moment to post in the story, in-universe, just a read out of what’s happened for the higherups of Ascension. Good way to lay it all out I think so everyone out of universe is on the same page, and to give a view of the wider spectrum, mentioning operations in parts of Kowloon, bits happening at the border, key targets. Might give room for people to have new ideas for indirectly related stories etc, options for going forward and things that can be glossed over. That and mention of the next phases and stuff, as a precursor for stuff that’ll come way way down the track. We’re talking pages of threads away, but still nice to make a mention. Also, might clear up some of the timeline, invasion-wise we are less than 24 hours in, at last read, will fact check and try and frame it properly. That’ll be the last writing i do till we catch up on the imagery, and I think it can act as a 2nd chapter close. Sorry for getting a bit ahead. It’s just fun so far!

Loved your post too JR, really liked how you mentioned a mall. I mean Hong kong has heaps anyway, so it could have been any mall, but the fact you mentioned it and then kept moving had me go “Oh, he’s going to… no wait, ooh that’s interesting.” That and how you acknowledged the timeline, there would be nobody from the group in times square for another 12 hours or so, so good stuff.

Everyone is so intuitive!

[Iscarioto]

Yeah i was thinking the same thing, started doing some coloring for it last night and changed Terrence up a bit, as well as started researching the standard dress for a Saudi business woman, making changes accordingly.

Just trying to work out a pallette really, trying to keep the colours very muted but will see how it comes across. We are going to try have seperate people shade right?

[Iscarioto]

Here’s what I’m thinking walker wise. What do y’all reckon. Too big?

all batteries fire
Wed Mar 6 21:28:55 GMT+1300 2013

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[Iscarioto]

Qian Feng, the Triad. Far from my best work. But alas, needed visual representation, and I had started it, so boom.

Will try and get walkers up next

[Iscarioto]

That is kickass prs! Love the action shot. And very bruce lee haha

Magic work Alex, still like the idea of ripping open the jaw but outside of that the actual design is way better than I could have done

[Iscarioto]

That is a good call. I was planning on focusing on images over the next couple of days.

In saying that though, before we advance the plot any further, I really would like to see another entry from Vampy, perhaps something along the lines of getting him to Times Square, and the same goes for your character JR, edge of my seat with the whole “And then it happened.” Would be nice to gather everyone pretty soon.

That and we haven’t had many opportunities to display powers as yet, I feel like once everyone has converged, the obtaining part of the list in the latest chapter could be good, everyone channeling their skills, for instance, there is at least one unpowered tourist in the group, I’d like someone to write him being petulant and running off, getting ambushed and blowing our cover, and perhaps Shu Ji utilising his kata to take out a squad of troops.

That’s just an idea, I don’t want to play the whole director card. But yeah

Like I say, and as JR suggests, it will be good to get onto images. I’m going to finish that walker, try to nail a slightly unique but not too far off look for Henare, and I want to try my hand at the ships and at the general/ceo of Ascension. Will see what I can get done by the end of the day

[Iscarioto]

This passage was co-authored by myself and Herr D.

As soon as Terrence Anders put away his pad and pen, it became apparent that they group wouldn’t be leaving quite so soon after all. Squabbles had broken out between this survivor and that, with no clear consensus. Should they stay or should they go? So, thinking this as good a time as any, he decided to light up one last cigarette for the road. If those abominations at the street level, or the threat of a wall of ocean drowning them out weren’t going to kill them, second hand smoking probably would. He decided to take his chances. I chill came across his shoulders as he surveyed the room from behind his veil of nicotine. It was getting cold down here. His blood-stained business shirt did little to warm him, physically or mentally. Never the less, he pulled it tighter. He had been trying to make assessments of each of those sharing his experience down here in the blood vessels of Hong Kong city. There was the street urchin who had arrived in the last hour, quite an entrance indeed, he had somehow managed to bring with him a detached arm of one of the soldiers, and his upper torso armour and helmet. How a boy of that size had managed to carry that here, who knows? But, Terrence thought to himself, knowing is half the battle, and if we’re able to analyse what exactly these things are, it could give us an edge. His last smoke had burned to its butt. It was going to be a long night.

The entire night had passed before the decision came for them to move. Terrence had found little sleep, few else did, but he filled this time trying to actually talk to the others in the group. No more sitting in the corner alone, feeling glum. Thinking of the girl he left behind. Time to be social. His effort proved reasonably fruitful. Everyone had something to offer, and everyone seemed to be trustworthy, even the Triad. What’s more, nearly all of the survivors seemed to exhibit some form of special talent, like this was the official Party Trick Convention of 2013. They each dealt with this in their own way. He was still trying to come to terms with his own. Whatever the case, he felt comfortable, considering the circumstances.

No more cigarettes, Terrence habitually twirled his pen between his fingers, as his attention turned that one woman, sitting across from him, who he just couldn’t sum up. The one named ‘Gina.’ As if she knew his thoughts, he noticed the mysterious woman was staring right back at him.
“I need your help” she spoke suddenly, with perfect diction and controlled words, like she had been planning for this conversation her whole life. “I am making-a list. Someone here will die, soon, if you don’t prevent it. I can’t do it alone.”
“A list?” He breathed. “I don’t, I don’t understand?”
As if her very actions were whispers, she removed a small diary from her pocket, along a flashlight, which she then ignited, replacing the blue ballpoint pen in his hand with it. “Please, hold the light for me.”
The Triad spoke next. “Ting, deng yixia. Wo xiang ta bu hao de yisi. (Wait a minute, I don’t think she’s quite all there.)”
Terrence, realising the native Cantonese speaker was probably about as good at mandarin as he was, pieced together a response. “Mei guanxi, wo yao ting yi ting. (Give her a minute, I want to hear what she says.)” He took the light from her hands, doing his best to hold it steady above the paper as she wrote. Minutes passed, and his ‘smokers shake’ made the beam increasingly unsteady. “Who’s going to die?” he asked, wearily.
“Most of us. This has to be done quickly and right.” She tore the page out and passed it quickly to Terrence. “Wait one moment,” she uttered as she pulled a well-worn and cracked digital watch off of her arm, fiddling with the alarm settings. “When this beeps, be on the left side of the tunnel.” She placed it on his wrist. “Please lead us that way, to the Causeway Bay Station.”
“What happens in,” he paused to look at the dimly illuminated LCD display, “17 minutes?”
“And thirty-one seconds.”
He nods. “Yeah.”
“Those of us who are unhurt and alive will be on the left side of the tunnel.”
“Sounds legit.” It didn’t sound legitimate to him at all, but pushing logic aside, somehow he felt like he could trust her, like he needed to trust her. “Okay, but you lead,” he insisted as he raised the little torch to shine the way.

The tunnel-dwellers decided safety in numbers was the way to go. Not without squabbles, a consensus was reached, and they were off on their way. Nobody had taken a proper head count, a task which Terrence reminded himself he should probably get to. The rumbles above reverberated along the walls of the tunnel, bringing dust and usually small debris down with them.

Five minutes had passed when a large blast above the surface brought several large fragments of the ceiling down, blocking their path back. They were lucky, they knew. If they had not have left when they did, they would have been sealed in. The Triad whispered of a Rat colony back in Wan Chai, which no doubt would have been all over them given the commotion. Perhaps this mysterious woman knew what she was on about. Terrence glanced down at the watch. It had been seventeen minutes. Panic struck, how had he forgotten to pay closer attention? A moment before the beep, Gina casually stepped to the left, covering her nose and mouth.
“Get to the left!” Terrence yelled, throwing himself against the damp tunnel wall. A single section of the tunnel ceiling thundered to the ground, centimeters from the group. In all it was less than a quarter ton, containing no other debris except for dust. The woman paused, momentarily before continuing on.
“Rats are coming behind us.” She warned, increasing her pace. The group was dismayed, but followed suit. They each knew that this was not the first indescribable thing to happen since this ordeal began, and likely not the last.
“Well,” Terrence thought, “guess there’s nowhere to go but forward.” He noticed the small urchin boy had not brought the armour with him. A pity, but one to be pondered over later. Terrence sped to a jog to reach the mysterious seer. “Um, Gina, right?”
She nodded.
“How is it you know these things?”
“What things?”
“It’s like you knew that the tunnel would collapse, you knew about the rats, I mean, the Tri..”
“You know the tunnel collapsed,” she interjected, giving him a quizzical look.
“Huh? Well yeah, I mean, it’s happened now.”
“Uh huh.”
Terrence looked back at the group, bemused. The one in the inmates fatigues, Shu Ji was his name, gave him a shrug, before waving at him to keep trying. “But how did you know before it happened?”
“Know what?” She replied whimsically.
“That the tunnel would collapse!”
She suddenly looked alarmed, and spun around to investigate. “The tunnel’s going to collapse? It’s not time for that yet.”
“No, the tunnel’s not going to..” He raised his eyebrows. “Wait, what, you mean it will later?”
She nods, and returns to walking. ”We’re behind schedule,” she whispers, increasing her pace.

Before long, they found themselves at Exit A of the Causeway Bay station. Terrence remembered this exit lead to one of the larger, more bustling malls on Hong Kong Island. It was where he’d found himself on his first day here, four years prior. “No time to dwell on the past now,” he thought to himself. As they crept slowly up the unpowered escalator to avoid detection, the horrors of the outside world became a reality.
“Big mall, big morgue,” whispered one of the American tourists. This was not inaccurate. Bodies lined the promenade, littered around in an almost orderly fashion, as if they were being used to spell out macabre messages to the warship hovering miles above. Being temporarily in the open worked as a filter for the group’s perceptions; getting to cover took priority, forcing them to think objectively, and disregard the bloodshed before their eyes. They tried not to notice the innocent casualties which littered the atrium, but in doing so they too did not register the unusual amount of dead soldiers scattered between them.
“We need to stay out of sight,” Shu Ji insisted, directing the followers to dart one by one up the second escalator into the mall itself.
Second to last to make the run, Terrence noticed that the urchin boy was now wearing the helmet, several sizes to big. Strange, how had he not noticed him carrying it?

Any hesitations on entering a closed off mall proved unnecessary. This once bustling shopping metropolis was a ghost town.
Without a word, the mysterious woman lead them upwards to the ninth floor. Without giving a specific reason, as they passed the Giga-sports store she stopped. “We are here.” She turned to gaze at Terrence. “Terrence has a list of my instructions. You must remain here and follow them precisely. Questions rose from the group.
“It is the only way you will survive. I must go, but I will return.”
“Maybe I should come with you, it’s not smart to go out there alone,” Shu Ji suggested.
“If you follow me now, you will die.” And with that, she spun on her heels and disappeared out the door.
Terrence removed the scrap of paper from his pocket. It read:

“Take all 18k gold and all silver from jewellery counter next door. You’ll find more around neck of the dead woman caught in the elevator between the 2nd and 3rd floor.
In the basement food court you will find some vegetable oil.
Next, go to level two and find:
One large aluminium pot
Wax paper
A tablecloth
Several potholders
On level three:
One case of masking tape from office supply
The Tiffany chandelier off ceiling of design store
Ladders, dustpans, hammers, tongs, and other tools can be found in a maintenance closet beside the restrooms on this floor.
Next, you will need to melt the jewellery in the aluminium pot. Don’t melt the pot. The Triad will supply the fire.
Lay out the wax paper. Crumble the broken colored glass from chandelier into the molten metal.
Remove clusters of metal-coated glass with the tongs and place on wax paper. About the size of a grape.
The paper and the floor will char, and the pot will scratch. This is okay.
Wave smoke into vents. AC is not working. That is okay.
Make balls of masking tape. Fist-sized. Wait until after dusk.
Go to roof. Point the Westernmost satellite dish due east. Stick tape balls all over surface of the dish. Use tongs and pliers to stick cooled balls of metal and glass to tape balls. Coat the antenna on the dish with vegetable oil.
Go to level 5 immediately upon completion. None must linger on any floor above.”

“Well, who’s keen for a little shopping?” Terrence joked.

From an electronics store a floor above, Rick Henare watched with his one good eye. His one human eye. Dried blood and the ooze of cooled solder coated the right of his face, where the ‘aug’ used to be, from where they used to see. He should have been in incredible pain, but he’d learned how to tune out, how to suppress. Somalia, yes, that was when he’d realised the pain suppressants were not only for physical anguish. But he no longer needed them, he didn’t need anything from Ascension. Not anymore. His new arms and his new legs still seemed to function, and his tracer beacon was safely soaking in the deep fryer at the KFC two blocks away. The stolen trench-coat from Zara a few floors down was merely for the aesthetic. He would be incognito, for now.

Those whom he watched were clearly organised. They could be a threat, perhaps more so than the squads being sent after him. Those that lay jumbled ten floors below. Perhaps an introduction was in order.

[Author]

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