Vanguard Roll Call!

Vanguard Roll Call!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Issue 13: Chapter 2: In the Shadow of the Star Giant!

Lightning Strike
Time: Unknown.
Atlantic Ocean. 18,300 feet below sea level.
Time until Tsunami Machine Activation: Unknown


The electric avenger swam into action! Just as he reached the periphery of the hammerhead swarm, something strange happened! The sharks all suddenly departed! It was as if a switch had been thrown in all their brains at once. They dispersed, rising to a depth level more natural to their species. They ignored the high-voltage vigilante as he made his way through them.

Strike approached the awesome Star Giant. It undulated and quivered, mollusk-like, as it propelled itself forward through the water. As Strike drew near he saw technology layered upon the thing, as thick as the coral and barnacles that encrusted the giant’s skin. It was some kind of hellish aquatic cyborg!

Some of the technology was recognizably human. Some was not! The latter employed some form of non-Euclidean geometry and physics that turned Strike’s stomach, disturbing him as a scientist and, on a more primordial level, as a human being (Imagine the Death Star broken up, redesigned by M.C. Escher and fused into a gigantic Lovecraftian, insane mollusk creature).

Its scale was hard to take in. Strike saw windows, ports, and doors within the human-ish constructions as he swam within the thing’s terrible shadow. He also felt a palpable sense of psychic dread!

Strike could detect man-made electricity in the areas of technology that seemed human and he swam toward them. Looking for an electrical entry, he stumbled across an airlock portal.
Able to control electronics even in “human” form, Strike commanded the airlock to open for him. He also detected a security system on the airlock, which he ordered to ignore his entrance.
Thus, Lightning Strike made his way into the terrible Star Giant.
(OOC: Sorry, Turning yourself into electricity while underwater is an adventure in and of itself. This way, you board safely as a human.)

Once the airlock cycled and filled with air, Lightning Strike transformed himself into living electricity and safely entered the construct’s computer system! He found it to be quite limited. The majority of the technology was not powered by electricity!

From within the hyper-advanced circuitry’s cyberspace, Lightning Strike can detect several computer systems:
· Navigation
· Weapons
· Communication
· Life Support
· Airlocks
· Security
· Data Storage
The technology was a futuristic wonder of engineering, reminiscent of the Doomsday Robot! There was nothing immediately apparent on the Tsunami Machine.

Within the Star Giant’s cyberspace, Strike set out to signal the other heroes, and then he saw them on the external security cameras!
They were swimming toward the Star Giant right now!

OOC: Actions?

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Lightning Strike:

Lightning Strike stifles a smirk (even in electrical form) as he spies the rest of the heroes on their way. "I seem to have underestimated my compatriots slightly. Let's see if I can't give them a smooth trip in."

As it seems likely that he has been detected and no doubt the others as well, Lightning Strike focuses on the weapon systems first, seeking to disable them as quickly as possible. While he is in the system, he looks for tell-tale signs that may provide a source for this monstrous creation. Electronics have a signature, chipmakers have certain methods of creating their chips, boards, etc. and he may be able to trace the development of this thing back to its source, whether it is from this world or some other. Any unidentifiable technology, i.e. Alien, Strike will try to make a mental note to look at it later if possible. The scientific advances alone boggle the mind.

OOC: He will be looking for the weapon systems that he can recognize, i.e. type 1. He will be looking for repeated patterns in type 2 technology to see if he can detect how things might work.