Chapter 3: Branch 1 - Staying Behind

Otsdarva - We have to figure out what's inside this terminal. Something tells me that leaving this alone will bite us in the ass.
ACE - I hope your decision is the proper one. Plug me in so I can expedite the process.

The two agreed upon staying at the terminal. Otsdarva's gut instinct gave him a sense that a terminal located within this very room held something important. Too important not to ignore. Just as they were about to get engrossed in the extraction process, something was feeling off. A whispered whirr of machinery was heard on the very wall where the custodian racks were.

O - Uhh... ACE?
A - I won't be able to assist you in this state. I'm doing a full on heuristics scan to scrub for any crumb of intel that may prove useful.
O - Yeah... tell that to our sleeping beauties by the wall!

Otsdarva turned his attention to the clambering, disfigured W-Series androids that were waking up from their seemingly long slumber. A glint of red peaked through their slotted eyes, as if they found a target in their sights.

A - Oh no. Judging from the timing, they may see us as intruders. You need to buy me time!
O - I-I'll think of something...

ENTERING SCENARIO MODE

The two androids are slowly closing the distance. One splits to the terminal where ACE is. The other has its attention towards Otsdarva.

Pending Action Phase - Two Turns

[Observe - In the area, there is a small amount of furniture, power tools, and custodial equipment (far on the wall - will take an extra turn to reach for. Android heading toward terminal is in the path]

[Inventory - 9mm Pistol - Won't pierce their armor, but can cause some damage if shot in softer areas. Has 7 rounds in the magazine.]

[Wait - The shambling robotic corpses move oddly. Chances are they might fall over due to their deteriorated state.]

Decide:

Distract the android heading towards the terminal and ACE.
Rush towards the android heading for you.

Option 1:

You attempt to get its attention any which way you can. Shouting at it and insulting it doesn't seem effective. Perhaps hitting it will do

[Throw items nearby (smaller items receive a bonus via rank. Larger items, a penalty.)
Use pistol (7 shots remaining - Current rank has no special skills (i.e. Precise Aim) and a slight penalty. -1)
Lunge towards the Android (very risky maneuver. Melee skill ranking has a penalty -2.)

Option 2:

You set your sights on the one that is gunning for you. It is moving slowly, but behind that vacant look on its face, you feel that it is sizing you up on the encounter. How will you approach?

[Throw items nearby (smaller items receive a bonus via rank. Larger items, a penalty.)
Use pistol (7 shots remaining - Current rank has no special skills (i.e. Precise Aim) and a slight penalty. -1)
Lunge towards the Android (very risky maneuver. Melee skill ranking has a penalty -2.)
Lure it towards the other android. (This will likely trigger a special scenario upon success and failure. However, the results will vary on either or.)

Great Success

Both androids are fighting each other, buying enough time for ACE to extract the necessary information to eject himself and be taken away by Otsdarva.

Success

Both androids have been dispatched one-by-one. Despite some damage to the terminal, a sufficient amount of information was obtained.

Failure 1: Androids destroyed ACE and or the terminal.

Failure 2: Android(s) beat Otsdarva to death.

Otsdarva - Whew, that was a close one. I have a feeling that if they were in prime condition, this would've been much more difficult.
ACE - Agreed. More importantly, we got to figure out what happened in the area wit the explosion.
O - Geez, can we at least rest a bit? I know I need some exercise, but this was a bit much. And besides, you probably have access to the base's cameras too.
A - Unfortunately, that's cordoned off to a security server. And even more so... the signal blacked out there too. Putting it simply...
O - We have no alert or surveillance until it gets fixed. Great... So, what did we pull from the terminal?
A - It all seems to be in some cryptic wording, but logical matching points towards a schematic of some sorts. It'll take some time to piece things together, but it seems directly linked to the Palisade.
O- Maybe it's something simple like acquiring combat data.
A- Might be... considering there are locks not even I can break or repurpose.
O - Hmm? There's a challenge that not even an A.I. with a pedigree above quantum computers can't overcome?~~
A - Oh shut up. In any case, we got some work cut out for us. So let's do our best here.
O - Gotcha.