[To the walkabout folks!]

[thezerothlaw]

[Daneel is polite and gentlemanly as ever, of course, but this is a very pressing matter and it shows.]

We seem to be caught in some sort of siege. As we don't know how long we will be here, I would highly recommend taking inventory of what food, water, and other supplies we may have. From there, we may be able to formulate a plan.

Comments

[neverfeltthatway]

I've had very basic training with rifles, blades, knives, and unarmed combat. But... I'm not very good with any of those. For the most part, I'm used to fighting with two blades using a very specialized piece of equipment, my three dimensional maneuvering gear.

Someone else from my world showed up last unarmed liminal space, though, and he's better with it than I am, so I gave it to him.

[brokers]

Are these weapons we've been equipped with similar enough to the blades you're accustomed to for you to wield them in a similar fashion? I do not fight with bladed weapons at all, so you are welcome to mine if you'd prefer to use two.

[neverfeltthatway]

Thanks, but... they're not too similar, really. And I'm not really good with blades on the ground, or against someone my size - it's not really what I trained for.

[brokers]

[There's a small huff of amusement.]

While this entire situation suits my experience all too well.

Once we have weathered this storm, it might be worthwhile to see to it that everyone is given a basic level of instruction in some of the more common weapons we have at hand.

[neverfeltthatway]

What weapons do you usually use, if not blades?

And that's a good idea. I guess it wasn't a priority for me because I never thought about having to give my 3dmg away.

...There's never enough time, is there?

[brokers]

Personal firearms, though it is my preference to use my biotics in combat.

I was referring, however, to the experience of being trapped in a long-abandoned facility by a hostile force, with little immediate hope of backup.

[neverfeltthatway]

What do you have in the way of firearms? And what are... biotics?

Ah. That... does sound a little reminiscent of our situation, yes.

[brokers]

A heavy pistol, and a machine pistol. They will be effective against any armor or shielding devised by people operating at this level of technology.

As for biotics, the term refers to the ability to generate mass effect fields that allow me to manipulate kinetic forces within a contained area.

[neverfeltthatway]

Mass effect fields? [Everything else, he understood, but he's never heard of a mass effect field before. Then again, before becoming a Traveler, he'd never heard of electricity before.]

[brokers]

It is, in essence, exactly what it sounds like.

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin's quiet for a long moment, trying to figure that one out.]

...I'm not sure I understand.

[Armin is very bright. Unfortunately, his schooling ended at age 10, when the wall fell - and even that was schooling from a poor city in a nearly medieval society. At present, he simply doesn't have the background to pick this up without help.]

[brokers]

[There's a pause before Liara answers - she's not a trained educator, in training or in temperament.]

It is...a distortion of the matter content of a localized area. Lowering it allows me to move the objects within the field - draw them close, hurl them away, levitate them. Raising it allows me to make a space impermeable to movement. There are other effects, but those are the basics.

[neverfeltthatway]

Oh. All right. [He still doesn't really understand what it is or how it works - but there are other pressing matters, and he has a workable description of what it can do. Plus, he gets the idea this won't be taught very easily.] I'd like to learn more about it sometime, if you wouldn't mind.

[brokers]

We could try. I am afraid I'm not a teacher, and it's been quite some time since I learned the basics myself.

[neverfeltthatway]

That's all right - whatever you can teach me would be appreciated. There so much I still need to learn - in the world I come from, electricity hasn't even been discovered yet.