From the "you know you've been playing too much System Shock 2 when..." files:

My current idea for a new character is strongly psi- and melee-based, with a possible background in energy weapons - though standard and heavy weapons are just too useful to resist... Throw this in with the fact that my last character was like a psi/marine hybrid (who wasn't terribly focused because I kept wanting to try cool new stuff), meaning that I now am infatuated with the idea of a psi-powered melee ninja-esque character and have ideas about how to do it, and you get the following. (Yes, this is what I've resorted to so I don't lose my mind with boredom.) Without further ado:


Psionic Cyber-Ninja Thingy


Stealing silently along the corridor, he paid vigilant attention to the sounds about him; they could warn of nearly any danger ahead, from the incessant jabber of a protocol droid or the quiet mutter of the zombie-like mutants to the high-pitched buzz of maturing parasite egg pods. This time, his only warning was the subdued whir of servomotors as a cyborg assassin appeared from a side passageway, sending throwing stars aimed with computed precision at his head. He barely twisted out of the way of the first two, and the third would have embedded itself in his neck if he had not ducked behind a support column. Activating his psionic amplifier, he quietly cast an agility spell, then withdrew a laser rapier and burst from behind the column, crossing twenty feet in half a second. The assassin, stealthily approaching the column from the other side, barely had time to react as the energy blade passed through its torso, slicing it cleanly in two.

He turned, raising the rapier for a second stroke, but above the assassin's electronic squeal he heard the familiar click-whirr of a security turret activating. The attack fluidly converted into a dive for a nearby doorway as the assassin, the wall where he had been standing, and most of the rest of the hallway were perforated with antipersonnel slugs. Swearing quietly, he pulled out the psi amp again, this time causing an exponential increase in his circulating adrenaline levels. He could now, with one incredibly powerful stroke, slice the heavily armored turret into scrap metal as easily as the assassin; if he waited until the thing paused to reload, there was a good chance that he could make his approach and dispatch it before it got another shot off. He might even have enough strength left to withstand the self-destruct explosion that most turrets were wired for in the event of heavy damage.

Suddenly, the clatter of the turret's automatic fire died off, and he prepared to make his assault - then froze. In the vacuum of noise that greeted the turret's reload-and-reacquisition-of-target cycle, an uneven thump-thump could be heard echoing down the hall, growing steadily louder. He hazarded a glance around the corner, withdrawing his head before the turret could take aim, then swore again. While he could still manage to take out the turret, the huge, vaguely-humanoid mutant lumbering down the corridor would now have to be dealt with as well, and his chances of killing both of them before the mutant crushed him - or worse, ate him - were looking slimmer every passing instant. Pushing away suicidal impulses, he quickly but thoroughly considered his options. After a moment of frustrating deliberation, he withdrew the psi amp a last time and, smiling grimly, switched the setting to "Psionic Detonation"...