Heavy Metal Thunder (21 page)

Navigation.
The ability to make sense of the hidden paths within the
void.
Skilled navigators can use the stars and planets as guides to find
the quickest routes through the solar system. Becoming lost in the void can be
a fate worse than death in battle.

Computers.
Knowledge of the various systems built by humans that store
and retrieve information and guide machines.
Even without this skill you
can still use a computer, as can most humans in the space age. However, this
skill will give you the upper hand in making any program do what you want.

Stealth.
The ability to move about unseen and unheard.
In this era,
Stealth also includes an understanding of how to hide your infantry
armor’s
various electronic, heating, and other apparatuses
prone to remote detection by the enemy.

Pilot Ship: Small.
The ability to pilot the smaller commercial and military
spaceships made by humans.
Includes use of older
pre-Invasion ships as well as the newer, advanced ships.
The controls of
spaceships are very complicated, and without this skill you will be almost
completely clueless about ship functions.

Demolitions.
Knowledge of the ingredients of explosive materials and the
know-how to put a simple bomb together.

Jetpack Skill.
Every Space Infantryman understands the basics of piloting his own jetpack.
This skill will give you greater understanding of jetpack piloting, jetpack
maintenance, and knowledge of the Legion’s more advanced jetpack models.

Weapon Proficiency: Hand-to-Hand.
With the introduction of bulletproof energy shields and jetpack infantry that
can move faster than bullets, close-in combat has become important on the
battlefield. A good infantryman can outmaneuver and kill enemies up close,
pierce the shields of enemy ships, and hack through hulls using the expensive,
energy-producing weapons made by the Black Lance Legion. If you pick this
skill, you will be proficient in the use of
one
type of H-to-H weapon:
Blades
,
which includes knives and swords;
Maces
, which includes heavy blunt
weapons like steel batons and maces; or
Spears
, the long, piercing
weapons of the Legion. Blades are good for slashing flesh and hacking off
limbs, Maces are good for bashing armor and bones, and Spears work well if your
enemy is some distance away, or when used in groups of other spearmen. You may
select proficiency in one of these weapons if you choose this skill, but you may
choose this skill more than once if you desire proficiency in more than one
type of H-to-H weapon.

Weapon Proficiency: Ranged.
Knowledge of the Way of the Gun.
Energy shields are
expensive to make, and are not widely used; plus, to kill from afar is still
the safest path in war. If you choose this skill, you will be proficient in the
use of
one
type of gun:
Rifles
, which includes long-range single
shot rifles and automatic rapid-fire rifles;
Handguns
, which include
small automatic handguns and older revolvers; or
Shotguns
, which are the
heavy bruisers of gun warfare. You may choose this skill more than once if you
desire proficiency in more than one type of ranged weapon. Note that once you
have chosen to fire a gun at the enemy, you must fire at least one bullet, even
if you realize afterwards that you have no hope of hitting the enemy!

First Aid.
The human body is not a perfect engine of warfare; wear and tear, and even
death,
are
inevitable. To stay one step ahead of the
Widowmaker
is paramount to survival. This skill includes
knowledge of healing medicines, drugs that enhance performance, poisons that
impair bodily functions, and knowledge of the application of first aid in
space.

Xenology
.
Little is known of the Invader, but a few of the enemies’ ships and bodies have
been captured and studied extensively by the Black Lance Legion.
Xenology
can give a soldier the upper hand when dealing
with a strange, alien species. Knowledge at this level includes the basic
information that your leaders think may be of use to an Infantryman, but does
not include classified information.

Sixth Sense.
When death can occur anywhere and anytime, a warrior’s mind does anything it
can in order to stay alive. Some soldiers seem to develop a sixth sense that
warns them of danger when their eyes and ears do not. Some tacticians in the
Black Lance Legion believe that intuition is the ability to scan and sort
information on a subconscious level; when in danger, the subconscious warns the
conscious mind via a peculiar sense of fear. While no good Infantryman wants to
live in fear, separating raw fear from that inner voice of warning can help one
tread the fine line between being smart and alive and being a coward.

Stat Mod Skill: Weight Lifting.
If you pick this skill, then you have spent a little time in the gym and take
care of your body. You may
add 1 to your Strength
statistic.
(This skill and all other Stat Mod Skills may only be chosen once.)

Stat Mod Skill: Intensive Study.
You have a college-level proficiency in one or more subjects. You have trained
your mind a little more than most and can have an intelligent discourse on a
few things.
Add 1 to your Intelligence statistic.

Stat Mod Skill: Gymnastics.
You have some understanding of how to leap and fall without hurting yourself,
and how to move quickly without wasting energy.
Add 1 to your Dexterity
statistic.

Stat Mod Skill: Public Speaking.
You don’t feel quite as much fear as others when it comes to making your
thoughts understood by a group.
Add 1 to your Charisma statistic.

Be sure to make a note which 5 skills you choose.
You
must choose all 5 now.
As you rise in levels, you will be able to choose
more skills to add to your repertoire of knowledge.

Somehow, you were separated from your unit. Your
mission to find supplies and a ship with which to escape this station is now
charged with the extra duty of remembering more of your past and what is going
on in the war that rages in your solar system.

You find a
First Aid Kit (bulk 3)
behind the
bar. It can be used
twice
, and heals
3 Blood
with each use.

To exit the bar on the other side and continue
deeper into the station, turn to section
541
.

If you are using a
Mace
, you can bash this
thing by turning to section
210
.

If you are using a
Blade
, invite these
monsters to a razor party by turning to section
201
.

If you are using a
Spear
, run them through by
turning to section
496
.

The manager raises the rifle and points it at you,
his tear-streaked face purple with rage. You stare at him for a moment, body
still but heart thundering like mad. Then you flex your left fist, punch your
jetpack control switch, and rocket forward and around in a high-speed loop.

You crane your head about to look at the window. You
see the window
spiderweb
as the manager fires his
rifle. The manager’s body flies forward, drawn out by the suck of the void. He
careens through the heavy window and it shatters, shredding his body into a
thousand glistening pieces that freeze in the shape of an unreal monster, a
beast of icy red coils and shards of crystalline blood, an image of the thing
this man kept inside his heart.

A small, malicious being like him could never touch
a survivor like you. You gain
1 XP
for the use of your Skill and
2 XP
for outliving the manager. You see dozens of deconstructors file into the open
hall doorway. You turn about and leave them to their work.

Turn to section
259
.

The two lead dogs are nearly upon you, snapping
their jaws insanely.

If you have a
Spear
, turn to section
291
.

If you do not have this weapon, turn to section
578
.

The manager raises his rifle and points it at you.
He hates you, hates your strength of will and ability to survive and, overcome
by that hatred,
is
willing to kill you so that no one
can escape the ghost station.

You stare into his eyes. The gun wavers in his
hands. As he puts the rifle into his own mouth you realize that maybe there can
be no hatred without love, and so it makes sense when he blows his brains out
and floats back into the darkness. Maybe the crazy bastard loved you enough to
sacrifice
himself
. Or maybe he was just trying to
psych you out by tricking you into watching a man spray brain-chunks out the
back of his own skull.

The deconstructors file into the open hall doorway.
You turn about and leave them to their work.

You gain
1 XP
for the use of your Stat and
2
XP
for outliving the lovelorn manager. Perhaps he will be reading notes
evaluating your performance in the Big Corporate Meeting of the Beyond.

Turn to section
259
.

Your awareness seems to fragment as the sense of
impending doom grows and feeds back into you, replacing the blood in your heart
with pure darkness. Slowly you reach behind yourself, grasp your black helm,
and pull it down over your head.

Zelda sees your motion, says, “What’s wrong?” just
as you close the dark visor over your face with a loud clunk. She approaches
and you can just barely hear her. Concern grows in her features, then fear. You
see that she is screaming at you but you cannot answer. Her chest rises and
falls as she takes in huge panic breaths, and you stand before her dumb and
immobile.

The unthinkable happens. One window of the ship
shatters and blows outward, you see boxes and gear fly free, Zelda rises into
the air and slams into a wall, you are tossed but grasp some metal hinge. A
large box slams into the opening, sealing the vacuum off, but before you come
to a rest on the ground you see the metal just in front of your face explode
inward as something from the outside pierces it, then the vacuum sucks against
the ship again.
Chaos before you, limbs flailing, objects
crashing against one another.

As you haul yourself towards an exit, two more holes
are blasted into the side of the ship and you know that a sniper is attacking
from a hideout on one of the asteroids. As the vacuum churns within the
Narrenschiff
you clamber into a small
depressurization chamber, lock the door behind you, then kick open the exit
door. Darkness lies before you and you blast your jets on full throttle. All is
silent, but the kick of the jet behind you is a roar of freedom in your blood,
a freedom from all ties as you leave behind the fantasy world of soft things
and enter into the dance of death with which you have become familiar.

A sniper in the service of the Invaders waits for
you on one of the asteroids. Now, finally, you will face the true enemy. And
one of you will die.

You gain
1 XP
for the use of your skill. Turn
to section
247
.

The deconstructors tear up the hallway, rising to
engulf you both. The guard shoots downward at one machine, cursing wildly as
his bullets ricochet off the spinning drills. You yank the implosion grenade
from your belt, straining to hang on to it. You find a latch on the device,
then
pull it outward. The device hums in your hands. You
release it and it streams down the hallway,
then
disappears in the maw of a deconstructor. There is a sharp crack, a flash, and
the behemoth lurches backward, drills flying free from its ruined body. It
slides backwards into the vacuum, then crashes into the hallway below, sending
up sparks and pieces of itself.

The guard fires at the other until his gun clicks
empty. He tosses it down into the last deconstructor,
then
tears the string of grenades from his chest. He yanks the pins from all of them
and drops the entire bundle, which streaks downward and disappears into the
other beast’s mouth. A series of explosions rocks the machine’s innards and it
too slides backwards, crashes into the other deconstructor, and very nearly
seals the breached hallway. You and the guard topple to the
gravitized
wall, now the floor again, and stumble away from the battleground, panting and
shaking.

You gain
3 XP
for successfully destroying the
giant deconstructor. Be sure to erase the
Implosion
Grenade
from
your inventory,
then
turn to section
126
.