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Snow Wonder
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I have a bad feeling so Toal and I go and check the replicators before doing anything. We set the replicators to make the same thing again, and add 1 minor repair nanomachine dose and a serving of lactated ringers to our inventory. We return to the room with all the terminals.
>Look at the terminals.
The terminals have a couple of options. The mechanism that opens the doors in the hallway North of this room can be controlled from here. There's an option for various types of decontamination, and several buttons for calling different types of assistance (security, medical, engineers, and so on).
"Find anything interesting there?" Toal looks over my shoulder.
"I think this room is a security checkpoint." I think it makes sense, based on the options from the terminal. "It controls the doors on the other side." I motion to the shuttered windows. Toal nods.
"That's a lot of terminals for a few options." She looks back at the room. There are three terminals against the wall, facing the windows.
"I don't think you'd need three, even if you had two working security at the same time." I walk to the center terminal and look at it.
The left and right terminals are the same. They have door control, a call function, decontamination control, and control over the window shutters. The center terminal is a bit different. It has an option to override the locks with a security key, and can activate automated security features in the secure hallway.
I look at those a bit closer to see what options it gives me. Two automated turrets can be activated, the floor can be electrified, and toxic gas can be pumped into the hall. A little digging, and I find that I can manually assign a target for the turrets, but the camera feed to the security hall is broken. The only way to detect the target is to deploy the turrets, which will alert anything in the hall.
I'm not sure if the electrified floor or the toxic gas will be helpful. If the toxin is deadly to Toal or I, then we're stuck in here until it disperses. The electrified floor is a similar case, where Toal and I won't be able to step on the electrified segments (without being harmed) until it's deactivated. This is also making the assumption that it neutralizes the things in the hallway. If it's a machine, the electrified floor won't do anything if it's insulated or floats (like those maintenance drones). The toxic gas won't bother a mechanical enemy either, unless it damages electronics in some way, and I doubt that it would.
"The doors can be manually opened if the power is cut." I look up and see Toal standing in the North-East corner of the room. She's looking at a red panel. "A lot of force is required to open the door without power, but it's possible. Must be some kind of fail-safe." I walk over to Toal and look at the panel she found. She picks up a sticky note near it and reads it to me. "Rated for Tozol/Geiger safety." She flips the note over. "Fail safe will keep one in long enough for security to arrive."
"Only one?"
"Probably for if one of us broke out. I don't think we would have the time to get help if the employees were still here."
>Set your dart gun for maximum force.
>Ready your batons.
Toal and I set the dart guns to maximum power. It displays a warning that the force of the dart could be fatal in most cases. Right now, that's good. The dart guns are loaded too; 15 rounds ready to be fired. My shock prod and Toal's stun baton are ready too.
>Ready a grenade.
Not yet. I'll get it prepared when we're ready to open the security door.
>Can you set a trap?
If I read some of that chemistry reference, I could mix some kind of bomb for that purpose. The more I learn, the more I'll be able to make or take apart on my own. Right now, you'll have to give me instructions on how to make a trap.
There's also the issue of not being able to open the security door outside of this room. I could likely set up a delay, or one of us could stay in the room. A trap would be in the same spot this room exits out to, so we would have to leave some way for Toal and I to get out.
>Let's test your knowledge. What are those unlabeled pills?
Small. White. Smooth, mostly. I could probably use one of the labs here to test it so I can make a better guess. Neither Toal nor I are interested in swallowing unidentified pills.
>If all the computers sync to the same server, only one would need to mess up for the time glitch.
That's true. Though if they've learned how to make replicators, who knows what kind of time-frame they can work with. I don't think I'd be able to live that long though.
>This facility was in use 5 years ago.
Yeah, but that doesn't mean it hasn't changed hands either. Multiple generations can use the same house, so why not a lab?
Right now, the enemy in the hall can't detect us properly. Once I open the security door, it will be able to enter the rest of the lab. Since we know that the door can be opened without power, whatever is in the hall may be able to force it open once it knows we're here. Once we open the windows or deploy the turrets, we'll have a limited amount of time before it forces its way though the barrier, unless we open it and let it pass.
I have some ideas.
My first idea is to open the security door and let the target in the hall pass, then strike it from behind once it passes the door.
The second is to deploy the turrets to attack it. That will give us a chance to see what's in the hall without opening the window shutters, but it will also confirm that we're hostile and dangerous.
Third, one of us can open stay in here to open the door, and the other waits somewhere outside, down the hall. When it passes, we can strike from both sides. This does mean that one of us will be trapped behind the target, and we won't be able to support each other if one of us needs direct help.
The fourth idea is that we can try and sneak past, but if the door at the end of the hall is locked, or if more enemies are behind this one, then we're in a really bad spot.
I'm not sure if I missed anything, but if you have a different way to approach this, I'm all ears. If that's a hostile on the other side of the door, we won't be able to do anything else until the fight ends.
So what do we do, and how do we do it? Remember, the thing behind the door seems to have some kind of large, flat surface placed up against the door, so it may have a big shield. Keep that in mind when you think of tactics!
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