• Starpath: Scoundrels of the Interstellar Highway - Thread 2
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While overseeing his men, Seth was given notice that TBC was leaving the battlefield. Good, at least something good happened today. The ship's comms were strong enough to send something out while they were still in range. "Yanim, my men are reporting that you're leaving the field. Hopefully, you're fine and well after that. When you're safe get in contact with me. There are some things we need to talk about. And can you do me a small favor? Can you take Orso and whoever is left of his squad? They wont make a mess, I promise." After the message was sent, he left the bridge of the downed ship. He walked the walls, now floors of the corridors with a slight limp untill he reached the larger hangar area. One look at the chaos in there was enough for him. Its been a long day.
"[Captain Vixe, we're concerned about your whereabouts. Please report your position immediately.]" Commander Ryakir's voice was more stern than his words implied. The marine team, battered and demoralized, limped its way back to the Viokhmar, with its captain lost in a haze of uneasy visions of what would happen in the next few minutes. "[We are outside the ship. Open the access ramp,]" she said slowly, wondering if Ryakir's tone implied that he had already spoken with the Commodore. In fact, he had. Stepping into the cargo bay, Kyrskada ripped his helmet off and threw it at the wall-mounted benches where his team would normally sit during a front line deployment. It bounced and rolled off the padded seats and onto a floor covered in various pieces of gear and equipment that hadn't been moved or organized since the ship had been pulled from the Sanghvi border. "Shnka!" he yelled. "[Sergeant, get a hold of yourself!]" Kovar ordered with his strongest voice, and yet he felt dwarfed by Kyrskada's rage. He looked to Vixe for assistance but found none. "[She let them get away!]" Kyrskada snarled. "[Half my team just died out there- Volrik, Yadai, Iyo, Damskada... and she just...]" he gesticulated, speechless at his captain's decisions. "[The [I]fuck[/I] was she even doing following us out there!?]" "[Saving your ass, that's what!]" Kovar yelled, beginning to lose his temper as well. "[You saw how many there were, and the Boomes were right behind you, we did what we had to do!]" "[I meant, what was [U]she[/U] doing out there? She made a hell of a target of herself, and you certainly didn't help at all, either! Was getting caught part of your plan!?]" "[Of course not!]" Kovar replied, disgusted. "[But I do know that once we arrived, no one else got killed, and that was the [I]only[/I] thing that went the way it was supposed to today.]" Kyrskada grabbed the smaller officer and shoved him against the wall. "[The target is still out there, you pompous, self-aggrandizing son of a whore! She just blew up the Tyrta, for fuck's sake, and you're gonna let her walk, satisfied that only half your away team got killed and not the other half? Where is your sense of honor?]" [B]"[That's enough, sergeant!]"[/B] Everyone froze as Commander Ryakir entered the room. "[One more word and you're in the brig, so shut your mouth and behave yourself. And you-]" he said, pointing at Kovar, "[you tell me exactly what happened out there, because I can't trust a damned word [I]she[/I] says, apparently.]" Vixe hung her head as Kovar explained: "[The enemy wasn't exposed to the gas like we thought, sir. They got the drop on us in the snow drift and we ended up in a standoff. They had the captain at gunpoint and so we had to make an informal agreement to stop the fighting. Otherwise, we would have been slaughtered.]" "[Was the captain under duress when she told us you had the enemy in custody?]" Ryakir demanded. Kovar glanced to Kyrskada and saw the bitterness in the soldier's eyes, and knew he wouldn't get away with covering up for the captain. Besides, even if he felt a twang of pity for her, he remembered how cruel she had been before and steeled himself instead. "[No sir. The captain gave that notice of her own volition.]" Ryakir nodded, dutifully. "[Thank you, lieutenant. You may return to your duties on the bridge.]" He turned to Vixe. [Captain, you've been compromised by means of capture and/or extortion,]" he spoke, quoting kanad military code. "The Commodore has given me permission to serve as acting captain of this ship in the event of that exact contingency... and so I am ordering you to return to your quarters and await a more thorough debriefing.]" --- "Let's go, Orso, you and your men are coming with us, Seth's orders" Yanim said, waving the crew and everyone else inside before accessing her comm. "Constantine, Neasha, get us off the ground, hurry now!" Behind the controls once more, Neasha sighed as she slowly increased thrust, tapping into the damaged reactors for power and using the landing engines for something they weren't designed to do. "Just another day at the office," she grumbled to herself. The hangar wobbled a bit before the crew could notice the steady rising of the carrier. Constantine's voice came on over the comms. [quote]Boss, the kanads are watching us launch right now. They're not going to let us go... are they?[/quote] "Doubt it," Yanim replied, an understatement. "Everyone, we need to distract them somehow. Any ideas would be good."
[QUOTE]"Everyone, we need to distract them somehow. Any ideas would be good."[/QUOTE] "Get the Boomes to shoot at it." spoke up Valk from nearby. "That loud fucking crash out there was probably the Boome Marines ship crashing into the ground. Could get your Boome buddies to take pot shots at the Kanad ship as a distraction, if they still have any firepower left. Its either that, or slam that fucker into them." she continued, pointing up to the Cataract. "If you go that route, at least let us get some of our stuff off of it before I rig up some shit to make it able to fly by wire." She held up her holopad. - - - - - - - - - - - - - [QUOTE]Twelve years ago...[/QUOTE] [QUOTE][video=youtube;JUl4kxTfzKE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUl4kxTfzKE[/video][/QUOTE] "Alright, sweetheart. See those wires there? Connect them to those dangling there. Red to red, blue to blue, and so on. Remember not to cross them, unless you want to get shocked like last time." "I know, dad. I remember. It fucking hurt!" "Language." "Sorry, dad." He smirked, patting her head and standing up from where he was crouched next to the massive hovertruck engine sitting on the floor in the middle of the cargo compartment. Music sounded from a holotablet nearby, which he hummed along to as he walked over and picked up the toolbox next to it. He brought it back over to where young Valencia was working, before sitting back down next to her. "You're gonna need this next. Tape up those connections, though, before moving on to the rest of it." he said, drawing out some duct tape and a socket wrench from the large toolbox. Valencia nodded rapidly, finishing up her work with the wires and grabbing the tape. "You're doing good, Val. Soon enough, you'll be able to strip this thing down and rebuild it blindfolded!" he said, with a grin. As he finished the statement, one of the doors at far end of the cargo hold opened with a hiss. "[I]ELYAS! VALENCIA![/I] Where are you?" sounded off a voice, rather concerned. "Over here, Cecilia. You know we've been working on this thing for a few days now. There's really nowhere else on this freighter we could be...well, besides the engine room." he said, looking back towards the woman approaching. "The problem is you disappear without fucking telling me where you're going." said Cecilia, as she stepped over and propped against the table where the holotablet was sitting. She glanced down at it, narrowing her eyes a bit as she read what was playing. "You listen to the weirdest shit, you know that?" "Hey, this stuff helps me work." he said, looking back at her and shrugging. She rolled her eyes, then looked to Valencia. "...how much has she done by herself so far?" "Well, she's built about a third of it solo. She's working on the electrical stuff now. So far, so good." he said, looking over Valencia's work. Valencia looked back at her mother and grinned. "Dad said that soon enough I'll be able to do this blindfolded!" "Damn right you will." said Cecilia, with a smile.
Moloch's thoughts on how he could help distract the Kanads was interrupted by a familiar voice beckoning him on a private channel... belonging to Frosty. "Moloch." spoke Chemosh. "Come to me. Come to my craft." Chemosh landed his starfighter all the way at the end of the hangar, far away from everyone else. Whatever it was he wanted to tell Moloch, he wanted it to be in private. Using his boosters, Moloch made it to the other side in no time, and was greeted by someone else who only looked like Frosty. "Moloch... I suppose this is the third thing I owe you for." [I]"...Mr. Frosty?"[/I] "Yes, but not quite. Though... you know my real name, don't you?" [I]"Chemosh!? [B]Old friend!?[/B]"[/I] "[Risen once again!]" [I]"[I had thought you would never come back!]"[/I] "[Never doubt God's power to perform miracles, Moloch! I've cheated death twice with his blessing!]" For almost three centuries, the leader of the Artisynth had been missing, and their people have fallen into a great depression ever since his disappearance. But now he's returned to the land of the living, and Moloch knew things would only get better for his people now that he was here. He embraced his old friend in a hug. "[I][Old friend, you cannot comprehend how much our people need you! So much needs to be done for us to be able to return home!][/I]" "[Do not worry, friend! All will be as Allah wills it in due time. Though might I ask, does anyone suspect anything of me yet?]" "[I][Absolutely not! No one knows who you really are, and I do hope you plan on keeping it a secret.][/I]" "[Of course I will! This will make matters much more easier...]" And yet, despite this happy moment of two friends reuniting, there was a layer of something much more sinister. For the horrors to be unleashed on any unfortunate victims the Artisynth lay their hands on, for any evil the Children of God were going to commit in any days past this, for the doom that would be coming to Terra and the rest of Sol, would the crew find out in time and be able to prevent any of this? Or would all their plotting and scheming of vengeance go unnoticed?
Iron crossed his arms and sat down on a nearby crate. He nodded towards Yanim. "I could make a few calls. Wouldn't be surprised if some of my colleagues were on Rigel." He shrugged. "We could use them for outside help or to stage a fake bounty delivery. Should keep the Kanads distracted."
Alex wondered what could possible help distract the kanad ship. It was a long shot, but it was worth an ask. Lets see if he can get Moloch's attention first. "Hey, Ra's al Goul! Werent you a mystic?"
[I]"I am not Ra's al Ghul, and I prefer the term 'Grand Wizard'."[/I] replied Moloch over comms.
"Ok, can you magic something to deal with the kanad ship?"
While Moloch may have shrugged off hearing Frosty's voice speak the takbir in order to approach the crew outside, János contemplated on what he had just heard. For the longest, since he returned to his quarters after letting Moloch leave with Frosty on that fateful day, he thought about who the mysteriously gone Chemosh was. Back when he finished his conclusions, he drew upon Frosty. Whilst his evidence was weak at best, there were enough links for it to be a possibility. However, unable to do anything concrete about it, he just settled into slow and methodical regret. Even as he re-re-reviewed the footage of him talking to Moloch that day, he became less and less sure of the "played it stupid" angle he portrayed when showing it to Taylor. But he knew one thing; if he wanted to deal with the issue, he had to go to the root, Frosty, and speak to him about it, especially if he wanted to go down the psychological route. But he seemingly never had the chance - when Frosty returned, he avoided the android out of understandable anger. Even later, when Frosty was thrown in a cell for a short period, a period when János could've taken him in for "interrogation" and talked to him about it, he was bogged down with paper work for once, relating to his time spent with Thommas. And now, it seemed as though the real "Frosty" was out. He grew nervous, wondering whether it was a temporary return or a complete one, and if it was the latter, if it truly was Chemosh. He felt more and more regretful as the minutes passed by, not only because he never got a chance to speak with the poor chap, but also because he never got a chance to apologize to him. Then, he noticed folks returning to the ship. Whilst he hadn't been paying much attention, he did notice one thing - Moloch heading to the end of the hangar. He found that very suspicious, especially as the others were talking about distracting the Kanads or something. He considered the idea of sneaking over to where Moloch headed, but also considered the possible issues that could arise from- "Fuck it," he though to himself, as he began sneaking over in an attempt to see what was going on on the other side. He hid behind boxes, as he tried to see the grand wizard from the distance. He moved closer and closer, trying to identify what the hooded terrorist was doing. Soon, he got close enough to see them and manages to see Moloch from just far away enough... ...to see him hug Frosty. He hid behind his cover, hoping he wasn't seen. He was freaking out right now, and could only think of one thing; "Oh god no."
[QUOTE=kilerabv;51981068]"Ok, can you magic something to deal with the kanad ship?"[/QUOTE] [I]"An [B]entire [/B]ship? Mr. Alex, my abilities stretch far beyond healing, but they are [B]not [/B]limitless! I would need to summon the other ayatollahs if you wish for me to take down an entire vessel. Perhaps, I could simply do something to their bridge crew instead?"[/I] Chemosh stood there confused. "[Abilities, Moloch?]"
"Good thing we need distraction, not destruction."
[I]"Distraction you say? Hmm..." [/I] Moloch glanced at both Chemosh and his Starfighter, and an idea popped in his head. [I]"Yes! I believe I have an idea! [B]Frosty [/B]and I volunteer to distract the enemy's vessel."[/I] Meanwhile, Chemosh gave Moloch quite the stern look. Yuga almost blasted him out of the sky, and he wasn't willing to stick his neck out again if it meant taking on a potentially larger and deadlier ship.
Hariim wakes up from his sense of malaise and looks around at the current situation. He pipes up after being quiet for so long. "If I may... If I can use our current comm array, I may be able to access the enemy ship's systems and make their sensors see some very convincing ghosts. That ought to be enough to make them distracted so we can make our move. If all else fails, I can just do my best to wreak havoc on their systems so that they can't effectively respond to us."
Taylor spoke up when Hariim finished. "Lets do all of them. At the same time. If one fails or a few fails, one of the others is bound to succeed. They'll be screwed up long enough for us to get away." Valk gave a thumbs up next to her. "So we got cannon fire from the Boomes, Moloch doing his spooky mindfuck shit, and Hariim giving their tech a run for their money. Not counting Iron's idea because its stupid." said Valk, cutting Iron a bit of a grin. - - - - - - - - - - - [QUOTE]Twelve years ago...[/QUOTE] [QUOTE][video=youtube;mszCJSB02_8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mszCJSB02_8[/video][/QUOTE] [I]"BEAT HER ASS, BB!"[/I] shouted one of the Hellions in the crowd. [I][B]"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I'M DOING, DUMBASS!?"[/B][/I] was the response from inside the large pit, just a moment before Cecilia charged and speared her opponent. The opponent was another woman, a member of one of the local Blackstar splinter groups. They thought that they could take the pitfighting crown from Cecilia 'BB' Blackwell. They thought [I]really fucking wrong.[/I] As soon as the pair hit the floor, Cecilia climbed atop the woman and proceeded to pummel away. Not too much, though. She wanted the fight to last. She climbed off after about four punches, then allowed the woman to get up. She was already bleeding, her nose busted and pouring blood down her face. Cecilia smirked. She stepped forwards, and tried to land a few punches on Cecilia's head and upper body. They were either deflected or outright dodged before Cecilia's fist connected with her mouth in a surprise snap jab. It was apparent that regular punches and kicks weren't going to do much to Cecilia, so the woman opted for something different. A grapple. She lunged forwards, grabbing Cecilia around the waist. Cecilia attempted to counter, slamming her elbow into the back of the woman. She took the blows, but didn't let go. Something a bit more drastic was needed. She wrapped her arm around the woman's head, and fell backwards. Her head smacked into the floor and she went limp for a few moments. Cecilia climbed to her feet, half expecting to have knocked the woman out. In the crowd above, Elyas and Valencia looked on. Valencia was so excited to see her mother in action, never really having witnessed any of the pitfights she had been in. Her father said that it was for her own good, knowing how attached to her mother she was. But since Cecilia was going to win this with relative ease, then he figured he'd let her. They watched as the woman got back up, trying to shake off the blow she had taken to the head. Valencia grinned wildly. The match continued on, the Blackstar woman becoming desperate to win. The Hellions in the crowd cheered as Cecilia suplexed the Blackstar woman, nearly throwing her across the pit with the move. Eventually, the fight boiled down to the finish. Cecilia straight kicked the woman, knocking her on her ass, before mounting her and beating her senseless with her fists. Soon, it was over. The Blackstar woman had been knocked out cold, and looked as if she had been hit by a truck. Cecilia on the other hand had a few cuts and bruises, but nothing serious. She raised her arm to the sounds of loud Hellion cheers and the boos of Blackstar members. Her daughter above joined in the cheering, while Elyas simply clapped. The pair met the victor outside of the pit area minutes later, Cecilia now wearing a bandaid or two over some of the cuts. "Did ya enjoy the match, Val? I beat her fucking ass, didn't I?" said Cecilia, squatting a little and grinning at her daughter. "She didn't stand a chance!" replied Valencia. "Damn straight. Nobody does when they step in the pit with me!" said Cecilia. Their talk didn't last very long after that, as one of the Blackstar crew marched up to her. "That was all fucking bullshit and you fucking know it! Why the fuck did you take the match!? So you can fucking embarass us Blackstars!?" spat the pirate, inches from Cecilia's face. Cecilia's expression started to twist with anger the more that the man complained. "I bet if you got into a real fight you'd get yo--" was the last thing that the pirate managed to get out of his mouth before Cecilia's fist collided with it. He was sent spining into the ground in front of her, his buddies pausing nearby. Cecilia marched over, and grabbed him by the collar of his armor before punching him yet again. And again. And again. Fifteen times he was struck by the hardest punches that Cecilia could manage. She finally stopped, slinging him down on the floor to gurgle in his own blood, spit, and broken teeth. "Interrupt me again with [B][I]bullshit[/I][/B] like that while I'm talking to my daughter, and [I]I won't stop until your [B]fucking skull is smeared across the god damned ground.[/B][/I]" she spat through her teeth, before cutting a hateful glance to his friends. They reacted with sheer terror, rushing over and grabbing their friend before dragging him off. "You showed him!" exclaimed Valencia behind her. She looked back to Valencia. "If someone tries to fuck with you, you do the same to them. Someone ever tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back. [I]Don't let anyone run over you. Don't let anyone control you. Don't let anyone own you.[/I]"
"Involving the boss is fine and all, but you need to actually relay the plan to him first." Orso spoke up. He motioned to his helmet while looking at Taylor. "You got one of our helmets, you got a direct link to him. Give him a call so he can actually do things."
Hariim nods and pops his neck. Already, he's hooking into his ship's systems and spooling up all the sweet tender electronic mercies he has in store for his foes. After setting up everything he thinks he'll need, Hariim settles into standby for when the plans go into action. This has all taken exactly 2/1000ths of a second in real time. Hariim speaks up: "I am prepared and ready to enact my plan, standing by for the go order."
Iska stood head and shoulders over the Aurikha crew like a statue as chaotic events unfolded around her. Yanim's new comrades didn't seem to know quite what they were doing, and yet they seemed to know exactly how to do it. It was improvisational. [I]Performance art.[/I] One by one, the plans came in and were either approved or rejected with no room for discussion or second guesses. Yanim rejected further involving the Fang, especially after a quick glance in Orso's direction seemed to imply it was in worse condition than the Aurikha was when the latter initially reached the surface. "Even if that ship still has cannons, and power, and men willing to die once the battleship turns their wreck into a crater the moment they prove the antecedents, a few pot shots aren't going to buy us any time, kadaren." Iron's suggestion was too slow; the Orikodzek would fire at any moment, and so they needed a solution which would come within seconds, let alone minutes. Alex, Moloch, and Hariim had better ideas,' and Taylor was obviously correct to suggest that everything should be done at once, to hedge bets. "Yes, yes! Do it all!" Yanim ordered as she did some mental calculations. "Constantine, can we spare 50 megawatts?" She had a plan of her own as well, just in case. [video=youtube;27zOar_iEOA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27zOar_iEOA[/video] [quote]You [I]know[/I] we can't.[/quote] "Fuck if I know... just find it, Constantine!" Yanim demanded, yelling at her comm device before turning to Iska. "I am not asking for much, am I?" she asked rhetorically. "Come on, then, temporary bridge is in here..." she said, leading the khergian over to the Muramasa, giving Iska a good look at the intense battle scarring on the exterior of the vessel. "The last you saw of me, I departed on the Belladonna with Rask, Virin, and Neasha-" "Who-?" Iska managed to ask, but Yanim was talking and moving at a mile a minute, throwing open the now-unpowered door to the bridge. "The serek-" Yanim clarified. Neasha checked over her shoulder as her boss, Iska, and Arkadam entered. Iska wasn't sure if she had even seen a serek on the day Yanim departed, but she didn't have time to ask before Yanim continued on. "Virin died two years ago on Zeruel, we lost the ship, we just killed Rask like 15 minutes ago, and, well, I have so much to tell you about, sekadera and [I]far[/I] too little time!" "ECM systems are online," Neasha said as she turned a switch at her console. "Hit that big-ass toggle near the comm relay-" "Yes, I remember!" Yanim replied in frustration, configuring the Aurikha's systems for transmission. "Hariim, Moloch, on my mark!" An amber light appeared in the otherwise dead-looking console. "Boss, they've got a lock," Neasha warned. "Go, go, go!" --- "[Fire at will!]" Siyada exclaimed. The weapons officer reached for the switch which would launch a full barrage at the fleeing carrier. At the same moment, Hariim was already inside the system. With a thought taking less than a fraction of a second, he executed his code. CH Estimate: 3/5 [B]Actual: 3[/B] Roll Passed. As the weapons officer confirmed the fire order, the system briefly locked up, before warning that lock-on had been lost. "[Negative on that order sir, we lost target.]" "[What!? It's right there-]" Siyada boomed, motioning wildly at the huge carrier which was lazily hefting itself off the ground directly in front of them. "[It's like shooting grytik in a sluice, for fuck's sake...]" i "[I- I'm reading multiple targets, sir,]" the sensory officer stammered out. "[It's got to be ECMs but we have no intrusion flags on the security network-]" "[Just restart the damned console then,]" Siyada ordered, exasperated. He wasn't about to panic when the target was escaping so slowly. He would, however, if the enemy had infiltrated something a bit more intimate than a targeting computer... While the sensory officer stooped to reach the reboot switch under his console, Moloch attempted to confuse them further. CH Estimate: 3/5 [B]Actual: 4[/B] Roll Passed. The main command console, located near the captain's chair, let out a series of warning chimes for various system failures. Siyada, standing near the window, quickly shuffled over to the holoscreen, somewhat more alarmed than he had been before. The chimes came again, each one signifying something seriously amiss with the ship's critical functions. They came in sets of five... [video=youtube;nqLArgCbh70]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqLArgCbh70[/video] As Siyada tried to get a sense of the danger, seemingly out of nowhere, a loud, pumping bass began to echo throughout the bridge, causing the men to simply stop and look at each other, slack-jawed. Their consoles flickered out, lights appearing to malfunction as the [I]music[/I] grew louder and louder, until it was practically unbearable. The cabin lights turned on and off repeatedly, the warning lights, shades of amber, red, and yellow flashed at intervals, leaving the whole bridge a panicked, confused mess. Screams of "vok d'akha!" filled the comms as well as confusing, conflicted descriptions of enemy sabotage or a possible prank were broadcast across all channels, alerting the Viokhmar and several ships in warp that the Orikodzek was basically getting styled upon. --- "They've lost their lock," Neasha said. "If only we had some weapons of our own, this would be a good time to counterattack." Yanim shrugged. "We can't afford to waste the Cataract like that, especially when we might need it as an escape craft if we can't get away. Plus, all the crew's possessions are on it." "I know, I know..." Neasha grumbled. "I wasn't talking about the Cataract specifically anyway-" Neasha was interrupted by an alarm. "Another lock. It's the frigate this time." Yanim groaned. Either the captain she encountered had been relieved of duty, or Yanim had made a mistake by sparing her life. "Constantine, fire on the enemy frigate." [quote]Already on it.[/quote] CH Estimate: 1/2 [B]Actual: 1[/B] Roll Failed. The plasma cannons sputtered to life once more as they filled the air around the Viokhmar, but few landed on target as the SULP crew managed the cannons manually. The enemy, however, had target assist, and planted several shots against one of the six landing engine pods, which exploded. [quote]Pod 3 is down![/quote] "Dammit! I need at least four just to keep us airborne," Neasha complained.
Iron stepped forward next to Neasha and nodded towards the console. "I might hate ships but shooting sure is somethin' I'm good at." He looked at the Serek. "Think you can patch me into the gunnery screen?"
Standing near Moloch, Chemosh could faintly hear a funky beat emanating from underneath his hood. It was quite catchy. "Moloch, what's the song name?" he asked. But Moloch had something more important to say. [I]"It is done. What next?"[/I] asked Moloch over comms.
Hariim groans and pulls in more of the processing power from the Carrier and the Cataract. He hooks his mind into every little scrap of a processor he can connect to without disrupting operations on his own ships and tries to step up his attacks on his original target. In addition, he starts to dig into the frigate that just popped one of the pods on the carrier. He focuses on their power systems, tries to throw them out of whack by directly tampering with every networked control and override he can get access to. Also, he sets some daemons out to deploy worms and some particularly malignant programs to set upon the frigate's comms systems with the goal of spreading more dysfunction out to the enemy force. Hariim will see this carrier get out of dodge or die with his brains fried before he surrenders! ------------------------------------------------ Bucky, in the mean time, dons the best magnetic boots she can get and calls up some drones via her wireless connection to the carrier's maintenance systems. She tasks them to fix the busted pod and goes out to help them after absorbing the tools she needs into her fluid SmarkSkin. She uses her mag boots to stay on, and shapeshifts herself into something of an unsettling blob that clings to every tangible thing that can help her stay on the ship. The magboots work sort of like the pseudopod of an amoeba, providing a primary gripping and movement tool. She moves in the most efficient way possible to the damaged pod and sets about trying to coax it back to proper function. This android is nothing if not absolutely determined!
[I]Back on Gibel[/I] After the meeting with the mercenary leaders, Nathaniel and Mordecai had secluded themselves to a private chat on the mansion's balcony. From the balcony was one of the few vistas on this planet that didn't fill you with dread. "So," began Nathaniel, "Which horseman am I to be?" "Heh. Eager to know your place, eh? What were they? War, Conquest, Pestilence and Death? That seems to be the most popular version these days. At least among the Creed. " Mordecai took a second to examine his new disciple. "I'd say you fit War." "Really?" Nathaniel asked rather curiously. "Recent actions have set us on the path to war, and your career speaks for itself. You yourself may deny it, but I have reviewed footage from your suit's memory core, so I know your works and how skilled you are. When I saw you fight, you seem to carry this courage, this bravado on the field which often inspires your men to follow you even into the deepest pits of hell. And despite the savagery of it all, you still maintain this sense of honor as you fight. You're like a Spartan of older times, following the teachings of Ares. Should I go on, or did you get the idea?" "That's quite enough, Executor. I perfectly understand your reasoning." "Good. Now, I want you to enjoy the rest of this evening and relax. When Archangel returns, I'll summon you personally and we may begin the next phase." Nathaniel's curiosity peaked for the moment. "Next phase, sir?" "The Archive you retrieved has revealed some rather... interesting things. Though might I say that Argos had no idea just what they possessed. They're like children all alone by themselves in the captain's seat of the galaxy's largest warship. They wouldn't know what to do with it beyond pressing all the shiny buttons which would inevitably purge half the galaxy in atomic fire. Still, there is a third one out there somewhere. Nobody knows where it is, but whoever currently has it can't possibly see past their own short mindedness to see just what it could do. Not just humanity, but everyone in this forsaken galaxy. " Mordecai took a swig from the drink he was holding up until now. His voice lost any reassuring sence of hope, and replaced it with bitterness and cynicism. "Bah! Shortsighted cretins! Never forget this, Nathaniel, they're everywhere you look! Even in places such as the highest offices of Sol, the UGC, and even our allies! That's why Sol will crumble beneath the thousands of marching feet of the Creed's numerous crusaders! That's why this 'galactic community' will tear itself into pieces! It's why our allies follow us despite seeing with both eyes wide open that the path we have set for them is paved with nothing but violence and suffering!" Another swig. The tone of his voice switched from sorrow to exitement. "But hope remains, still. What we are forging together here is merely the beginning of something truly awe-inspiring. I've seen it, you know. It's shown itself to me. I have seen the heaven that we will build from nothing with our own strength, our own ability, our own vigilance! I have seen the golden key that will open it's gates, and it rests in our hands! I have seen the shining paradise on the hill that we will make for our people, it's streets of gold and it's rivers as clear as the finest crystal!... But, we have to get to it first, don't we Nathaniel? To reach out to the heavens above, we must stand upon the mountains of the bodies of those shortsighted cretins just so our fingers could barely even touch it. I have seen our Eden, my boy, and it's name is Starvis" Nathaniel stood in silence for a few seconds taking it all in. He finally spoke. "Just point me in the right direction, sir." Mordecai smilled after hearing the answer. There was little doubt left. Their cause was just. The Southern quadrant will burn in the fires of war.
[B]Kanadys[/B] There was a chime at the door. Ryvik barely turned his head, he knew that there would be no one visiting at this hour, no one to find him at his new abode aside from the SS. Since his suspension began, he had only begun to put his life together; there were funds in his credit account, but not enough to buy anything lavish. A simple single-bedroom apartment downtown was more than enough. He had no furniture. He called out: "[Just open it,]" and the door unlocked and slid aside, revealing the officers dressed in plainclothes- stooges from the first bureau. "[Lieutenant,]" one of them said with a humble nod of his head. Ryvik stared up at him from the floor, his head resting on his wadded up jacket. Beneath his frozen lips, he smiled a hidden smile; they had addressed him as if he were still in uniform- a good sign. "[Am I not suspended?]" he asked immediately. "[That is correct,]" the other officer replied. "[By order of the Vizier you've been reinstated on your previous assignment. We've been sent to retrieve you. We have a car outside.]" The two of them watched and waited as the lieutenant slowly rose from the stone tile floor and cracked his joints. He looked more calm and ready than they would have imagined, as if he knew he would be called back to the SS quickly. His stance was already predatory and his eyes were sharp and unforgiving. He scooped a small duffel off the ground. It contained his uniform, neatly folded. "[I'm driving,]" Ryvik said. "[In that case, sir, you're awaited at the port,]" the lesser officer said, nervously removing a key fob from his pocket and handing it to his GKVR superior. "[General Vorokar will meet you aboard the [I]Perikal[/I]. That's all I know.]" --- [B]Prospera[/B] Word was out. The Bloody Fox and her whole gang were on Rigel and the Black Fleet was already running them down. Ever since the gruesome slaughter of Zhesid and his fellow agents, the remaining kanads- those fleet soldiers and SS agents employed on the glittering casino planet, were terrified. The Death Vigil was tightening its grip every day, and their mission, whatever it had been, seemed to be lost in the shuffle of changing names and offices. There would be no recovering the smuggling operations which made Prospera such an appealing target for infiltration, so what was the point of staying? They were willing to respond to any call which would get them closer to home, even if it meant a stop at Rigel along the way... And as they passed by holoscreens blaring news of their empire's growing defeats against the sanghvi threat, they tried to think happy thoughts. Thoughts of family and friends, of familiarity. Weariness from a generational war only one decade prior was beginning to surface on the faces of raw recruits whose parents had perished in the fighting, or loved brothers and sisters... Thoughts of a sudden and brilliant counterattack which would consume the paper tiger the UGC had openly mocked just weeks prior... Thoughts of safety from the ever present human criminal cartels which seemed to infest every planet outside the kanad domain... It was so simple and so easy for "Damya" to reprise her role, slipping in with the crowd on the landing platform with her bag in hand. Once aboard the [I]Kaksyna,[/I] she flashed her old badge, made new and accurate once more by details snatched from a murdered officer's ID smartcard... Damya, dead for two years, and yet still appearing in the crew manifests of transport ships all throughout the batakya. None approached her in her dark uniform aside from other officers of the GKVR, and they believed her when she said she was a part of Zhesid's shattered cell. After all, she seemed to know a lot about him... Her similarity in appearance to the fugitive Terika was notable, and yet, it had been the same way for the [I]real[/I] Damya. Of course the disguise was perfectly appropriate. She had another name. Her superiors had given her the codename Beta, which she embraced, sometimes signing her name with a devilish flourish: ß. They paid her well, but that wasn't why she sought out company with the Vigil. No, it was about killing. She enjoyed doing it, and Mordecai, despite his flaws, was willing to pay her to go and have fun with her hobby, so long as it happened to line up with his goals (and it did, for the moment.) While the Collective wasted time, lives, and energy on running down Terika on Rigel, it was blissfully unaware of her presence within their own ship. She couldn't wait to meet her sorry excuse for a facsimile. She and her kadaren were at the top of ß's list. --- [B]Rigel[/B] Arkadam jumped a bit as Iron appeared behind him in the Muramasa bridge's doorway. "Do the gunnery controls even work in here?" he asked as he looked over the blown-out consoles which had once been used for the purpose. Yanim shook her head. "The plasma cannons are operated manually and independently," she quickly answered. "But we can... we can wire..." she paused a moment, suddenly going pale and nearly falling down. Arkadam caught her instead, terrified on her behalf. "What's wrong?" he blurted, causing Neasha to check over her shoulder and see the captain sinking into a seizure. "Oh gods!" Neasha exclaimed, "not right now... Get- get her antitoxin injector, she should have it on her!" Arkadam followed her directions and soon realized that Yanim was clutching the injector, which was hidden on the other side of her suit jacket. Without waiting for further instruction, he reached in and grabbed it, uncapped the needle, and injected its contents into her. As her breathing returned to normal, her eyes and hands were shaking rapidly. "What the hell was that!?" Arkadam screamed. Yanim raised her hand to Iron before flicking her hand in the direction of the navigation console. There, the ship's design, as well as some stand-ins for the batakya enemies, had been uploaded into the holographic space, with the weapons placements highlighted for Iron's convenience. He would have to issue his orders strategically rather than pulling the trigger himself. "What was that!?" Arkadam demanded even louder. ((Battle rolls will happen in the morning. Anyone else who wants to get involved is welcome to do so.))
Iron simply nodded and walked up to the console. Using the controls at his disposal he began marking key components and sections of the enemy vessel which he acknowledged to be high-value targets. The first targets were the engines and rear exhausts, as well as any other open or lightly-armored areas on the belly of the ship.
The Aurikha and the Viokhmar were side by side at the moment Iron assumed responsibility over the carrier's fire teams. All was well in Constantine's eyes, as he had been too busy trying to find spare power from the reactors to direct the melora himself, and so they had previously been firing at will. While the bounty hunter placed his orders, Hariim worked to give the team whatever advantage he could muster, but as he taxed himself further, he began to weaken, and the best technicians aboard the Orikodzek, now trailing by a large distance as its bridge began to emerge from Moloch's illusion, were now seeking ways to overcome the Aurikha's best hacker. Victory would be achieved on the outcome of the following maneuvers. [video=youtube;A1op1XOi6V0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1op1XOi6V0&index=10[/video] Hariim: CH Estimate: 4/7 [B]Actual: 4[/B] Roll Passed. The load was heavy. He could feel the threats mounting against his assault, but Hariim had been preparing a lifetime for an attack like this one. With the Orikodzek already compromised, he expanded his sabotage to a total system lockdown, kicking operators across the ship out of control of vital systems, venting toxic oxygen into the halls, overheating reactors and forcing maneuvering engines to malfunction. Despite his best efforts, however, he couldn't simply detonate the warheads still stored within the battleship, as they were [I]slightly[/I] too sophisticated for such a subversion. Siyada felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He had been so close; all he had to do was swing and he'd have been a hero, but every facet of his ship had been infected by diseased code at exactly the wrong time. Setting down in his chair, the blaring warnings were now real. Everything that could have gone wrong, was, and as the carrier approached the horizon outside his window, he felt genuine fear for the sake of the Viokhmar. For his own role, he had nothing to do now but direct the efforts to regain control of the craft, as his "best technicians" had more important things to think about than a counterattack. The battle, for him, was over. Siyada: [I]Action Invalidated.[/I] Meanwhile, Commander Ryakir audibly gasped on the bridge of the Viokhmar. First, he had been tasked with running the frigate himself in place of Captain Vixe, a duty which was daunting, but one he accepted readily. But now the commodore was leaving him to fight the enemy [I]alone?[/I] His comm officer explained plainly that the Orikodzek was suffering from the effects of a massive cyber attack and that Siyada had instructed the young commander to pull away from the fight if his own vessel was compromised. Specifically, Siyada referred to the enemy as having a cyber-[I]weapon[/I], unaware that everything he had seen had been the work of just two men. Ryakir shook his head. The enemy was on its last legs and if he could drive the Aurikha back to the ground, he knew he could safely pull away and still claim valiance in this precarious situation. The Viokhmar achieved target lock once more and fired on the carrier. Ryakir: CH Estimate: 4/5 x 2(Malevolence) = 1 Roll Passed. Another engine pod was blasted away, slowing the carrier further as it began to list to the side. The crew inside the Aurikha could feel the sickly sensation of freefall amidst desperate skyward pushes from the landing engines. Neasha pounded her fist against the Muramasa's consoles. "I can't lose any more!" she yelled. "Do something!" She wasn't aware that Bucky had exited the ship and was now sliding down the underside, toward the gravely-wounded engines. She had arrived at the destroyed third pod just as another exploded nearby, and set to work, but the extent of the damage meant that she was battling the laws of physics to make them work again... Bucky: CH Estimate: 2/5 [B]Actual: {1, 3, 1}[/B] Roll Failed. It was too much work and not enough time, even for an especially-gifted engineer like her. She continued to seek a solution, but the Aurikha's salvation would need to come from somewhere else. Meanwhile, Hariim [I]had[/I] already done something- he had completely lowered the Viokhmar's shields, all while misleading the enemy into thinking that nothing had yet occurred. Iron executed the fire order from the Aurikha's plasma cannons, all focused on the Viokhmar's maneuvering engines. Iron: CH Estimate: 3/5 [B]Actual: 4[/B] Roll Passed. The cannons shredded the underside of the Viokhmar completely unopposed! A series of loud "pops" rang out, the sound of tens of thousands of volts discharging into the air in the form of lightning as the repulsor surfaces ruptured, and the kanad frigate nosed down [I]hard.[/I] The two ships were now on equal footing at the very bitter end. But the Aurikha had now exhausted its methods of attack, leaving the crew to simply wait and see whether they could get their next attack away in time to prevent losing a final, crucial engine pod. Inside the Muramasa's bridge, Yanim didn't answer Arkadam, and neither did Neasha. Her eyes were locked on the navigation console, where Iron was now standing, but Arkadam could see that she was looking past it, or rather, that she was averting her eyes from his completely. She shook, not a tremor, but a sob. She knew something that she wouldn't speak of, or couldn't find the words to say, and so he simply did his best to cradle her. All the fury and chaos in the world couldn't distract him, but he ached to know what she knew, no matter how much it would hurt.
Iron nodded, satisfied with the effects of the cannon salvo. "This is why I love shooting." When nobody responded he glanced at Yanim and Arkadam. "Let's make this count." The bounty hunter turned his head towards the console. "Second salvo, targets marked." Iron marked the bridge of the enemy vessel as well as the ammo storage for the ship weapons.
[I]"Is someone going to give me orders?"[/I] demanded Moloch over comms.
[QUOTE][I]"Is someone going to give me orders?"[/I][/QUOTE] Taylor spoke up. "Yeah, do everything you can to screw with that frigate. If they take out any more of our engine pods, we're fucked." she responded through comms. She then switched to Hariim. "Switch your efforts to the enemy frigate. Quickly."
[QUOTE=Infab;52033746]Taylor spoke up. "Yeah, do everything you can to screw with that frigate. If they take out any more of our engine pods, we're fucked." she responded through comms. She then switched to Hariim. "Switch your efforts to the enemy frigate. Quickly."[/QUOTE] Hariim sends a simple text blurb back, just one letter, all he can spare under the weight of his efforts. [QUOTE]"k."[/QUOTE] The the battleship incapacitated, Hariim turns his [I]full[/I] attention on the Viokhmar. In particular, he focuses on all its sensor and thruster control systems. Hariim wants to blind the Viokhmar and throw it off-balance in its wounded state. If the crew of that ship has any sense of self preservation they'd turn their full attention to righting their ship without fail. --------------------------- Bucky curses colorfully, finally finding a problem she can't fix. She simply strips what she can from the unfixable engine pod, subsumes it into the mass of her body for safe keeping, and hurries over to the freshly-damaged engine pod. She hopes that her tools, collection of spare parts, and engineering savvy will be enough to effect some sort of repair on the wounded machinery.
The rave of the early 2000s can be a truly nauseating thing, and if at lest one of the bridge crew of the Orikodzek somehow are able to keep their last meal in their stomachs after the impromptu and sensory overloading technodisco, then it's only because they were getting down with it while everyone else was literally getting down. But why should they be the only ones to have all the fun? Moloch took a deep breath and tried gathering the the pilot of the Viokhmar in his thoughts. Perhaps then, they could 'get down' with it as well.
As Hariim buckled down to take on the frigate, it was already clear that its crew had heeded Commodore Siyada's advice and was now disabling any and all devices aboard the craft which were nonessential to the battle. This limited Hariim's influence to the critical systems as opposed to those tertiary elements which often offered the best sort of back door access. It also freed up additional power to boost the shields and ECM devices, which the crew of the Viokhmar had obviously realized they needed by this point. All of this meant that Hariim's job would be more difficult than if he had caught them by surprise. Hariim: CH Estimate: 3/7 [B]Actual: 1[/B] Roll Failed. All at once, Hariim collapsed in agonizing pain as he had massively overexerted his augmented mind. The frigate had successfully stymied enough of his access attempts that the hacker's brain implant simply overheated. As a result of this failure, the Viokhmar successfully righted itself, raised its shields, and prepared to fire on the Aurikha. Ryakir: CH Estimate: 4/5 x 2(Malevolence) = 1 Roll Passed. Another engine pod was blown off the carrier, causing a distressing shift felt by all the crew within: the Aurikha was beginning to fall from the sky. Neasha burst into profanity, her extreme piloting skills unable to compete with the laws of physics. They needed a savior, and the only person able to play that role was Bucky. Having moved to another destroyed pod, she gathered up what components she could salvage and began work frantically trying to recover functionality before the low-flying ship crashed hard into the frozen wastes. Bucky: CH Estimate: 3/7 Actual: [B]{6, 4, 4}[/B] Roll Passed. The crew, once again, owed its lives to Bucky's frantic yet brilliant engineering work. The blown out engine was soon thrusting at near-full power, rescuing the Aurikha from its demise at the last moment. Now, another window had opened for an attack, and Iron was at the ready. Iron: CH Estimate: 1/3 [B]Actual: 3[/B] Roll Passed. Commander Ryakir was issuing orders as quickly as he could think, struggling to remember simulations from command school that were similar to his current situation. He had uncovered his enemy's trickery and had gravely wounded the huge vessel yet again, despite his frigate's small guns. Despite the blows the Viokhmar had taken, Ryakir was confident that the battle was still winnable. He was beginning to believe in himself. He turned to the navigator to request an update on the ships' headings when an alarm chime sounded on the bridge, the last sensation he would ever experience. He, Kovar, and the rest of the team were annihilated in a plasma driven flash which decapitated the Viokhmar crew and destroyed the ship's bridge, all while leaving the rest of the ship mostly intact. [B]Enemies Eliminated.[/B] A moment later, an unknown voice crackled through on the comm: [quote]We are making an emergency landing and are prepared to surrender.[/quote] Arkadam was unconcerned with the offer and wondered who would answer on behalf of TBC. To his surprise Yanim had already begun to rise again, and, in a voice she clearly forced to sound more steady than reality would suggest, answered: "Negative. We are in no position to take prisoners. You are free to leave." [quote]...Uh, we... insist. We would rather surrender to your crew than to the, uh, [I]locals[/I].[/quote] "Not our problem," Yanim forced herself to say before clinching up and crying out in pain. Neasha breathed a sigh of relief as the Aurikha steamed away, issuing commendations out over the comms while Arkadam and Iska stood by in total bewilderment at Yanim and Neasha's behavior. Meanwhile, Moloch failed to get a track on the Viokhmar's captain as the acting captain had ceased to exist. Moloch: [I]Action Invalidated.[/I] The battle was finally over.
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