Phenom, you better go home and put on your daddy's shoes, cause this is a man's game

Dhampir · 05-14-2008, 01:25 AM

"Leaving International Space," the sensors said. Thelonius Livingston dropped all transmissions, even the encrypted stream that connected his mind to the Augustine Cassini Confederacy. He was Vanguard of the Confederacy, the furthest of its reach, and trained to deal with the stress of removing himself from the Nova Protocol, the shared consciousness; but he learned to believe that removing his own mind from the void would never cease to feel like instant hypothermia. But the Vanguard was strong enough to exist purely alone, in the moment, and through the holographic monitor he admired the kinetic flames over the invisibility of his liquid cloak, entering the Venusian atmosphere.

The Vanguard's ship, a sharp infiltrator design named the 13th Hand, plummeted to the surface like a spear. The Edicts of the Nova Protocol dictated that he join consciousness with the 13th Hand to achieve enhanced awareness. The ship's artificial construct began appeared in his thoughts, and their intelligences melted together, and in his 'subtle bodies'--the cybernetic implants and post-sapient neural pathways that the ACC developed--he felt the warmth of an engine. This Edict carried risks: joined consciousness meant a Nova Protocol transmission, a lifestream between Livingston and his ship that, though well-encrypted, Venus hostiles might detect.

Livingston knew the risks, yes. But the voices of the Endless was clear: the Nova Protocol must bring vengeance to that well-named House known for collecting enemies, the House of Vendetta, let ill fortune be ever upon its sons. That ancient clanna tieves robbed copies of the Protocol's earliest servers in the Enceladus Burglary, grew rich from the sale to Nova's enemies, and then disappeared even from the Protocol's Empty Hand, the Spiders: but the Endless revealed them, and the 13th Edict demanded that Livingston visit punishment upon the kin of Phenom.

When the 13th Hand was cool of Venus' atmosphere, the terraformations became pronounced: a sheet of pollen spores hung loosely in the air, and thin-stalked mushrooms hundreds of meters tall could bend over backwards in the fierce winds. Below the mushrooms the 13th Hand navigated gently through the suspended network of windmill generators, and the Vanguard slipped into the fair-weathered lowlands. Livingston landed in a tall clump of knotted grain and disembarked from the ship holding only a battle rifle, his steel-white armor gleaming in the daylight that swelled from Venus' bright sand. Thelonius wore a helmet that made his face a featureless mirror.

"Paladin on," he requested, and his consciousness joined with his armor, the artificial intelligence that ordered its mechanisms: his helmet hard-wired into his temples. He could feel with calculator accuracy the exact level of lifestream constituting his expanded consciousness, empowering his post-sapient abilities, but he would waste none of it on active camouflage.

Below the dunes and drifting sand, the Paladin cameras spotted the mansion. Thelonius Livingston released a psychic shout: "The Vanguard of the Augustine Cassini Confederacy is here to deliver punishment unto the fourth generation of this House of Vendetta. No quarter shall be given!"

05-14-2008, 01:25 AM	#1
Dhampir Junior Member Join Date: May 2007 Gender: Posts: 83 Thanks: 3 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	Phenom, you better go home and put on your daddy's shoes, cause this is a man's game "Leaving International Space," the sensors said. Thelonius Livingston dropped all transmissions, even the encrypted stream that connected his mind to the Augustine Cassini Confederacy. He was Vanguard of the Confederacy, the furthest of its reach, and trained to deal with the stress of removing himself from the Nova Protocol, the shared consciousness; but he learned to believe that removing his own mind from the void would never cease to feel like instant hypothermia. But the Vanguard was strong enough to exist purely alone, in the moment, and through the holographic monitor he admired the kinetic flames over the invisibility of his liquid cloak, entering the Venusian atmosphere. The Vanguard's ship, a sharp infiltrator design named the 13th Hand, plummeted to the surface like a spear. The Edicts of the Nova Protocol dictated that he join consciousness with the 13th Hand to achieve enhanced awareness. The ship's artificial construct began appeared in his thoughts, and their intelligences melted together, and in his 'subtle bodies'--the cybernetic implants and post-sapient neural pathways that the ACC developed--he felt the warmth of an engine. This Edict carried risks: joined consciousness meant a Nova Protocol transmission, a lifestream between Livingston and his ship that, though well-encrypted, Venus hostiles might detect. Livingston knew the risks, yes. But the voices of the Endless was clear: the Nova Protocol must bring vengeance to that well-named House known for collecting enemies, the House of Vendetta, let ill fortune be ever upon its sons. That ancient clanna tieves robbed copies of the Protocol's earliest servers in the Enceladus Burglary, grew rich from the sale to Nova's enemies, and then disappeared even from the Protocol's Empty Hand, the Spiders: but the Endless revealed them, and the 13th Edict demanded that Livingston visit punishment upon the kin of Phenom. When the 13th Hand was cool of Venus' atmosphere, the terraformations became pronounced: a sheet of pollen spores hung loosely in the air, and thin-stalked mushrooms hundreds of meters tall could bend over backwards in the fierce winds. Below the mushrooms the 13th Hand navigated gently through the suspended network of windmill generators, and the Vanguard slipped into the fair-weathered lowlands. Livingston landed in a tall clump of knotted grain and disembarked from the ship holding only a battle rifle, his steel-white armor gleaming in the daylight that swelled from Venus' bright sand. Thelonius wore a helmet that made his face a featureless mirror. "Paladin on," he requested, and his consciousness joined with his armor, the artificial intelligence that ordered its mechanisms: his helmet hard-wired into his temples. He could feel with calculator accuracy the exact level of lifestream constituting his expanded consciousness, empowering his post-sapient abilities, but he would waste none of it on active camouflage. Below the dunes and drifting sand, the Paladin cameras spotted the mansion. Thelonius Livingston released a psychic shout: "The Vanguard of the Augustine Cassini Confederacy is here to deliver punishment unto the fourth generation of this House of Vendetta. No quarter shall be given!"