Field trip!  It's an exciting day for the kids of Steel Canyon School for Special Needs Children.  Today's the day they get to bring their service dogs to the obedience school they came from and learn how dogs are trained.  Everyone is carefully helped onto the bus and greeted by Mr. Cancho, the friendly bus driver.  Soon, the 3rd through 5th graders are singing a travel song on their way to the Rochester Obedience School.

(( Not done setting the scene. ))

Suddenly the sky turns dark and air-raid sirens begin to blare.  Rikti ships fly overhead and begin blasting the super heroes unfortunate enough to be caught in range.  Most are so out of their league that they wind up in the hospital after one shot.  Civilians and criminals alike all run for shelter.  Even zombies know better than to stay outdoors and return to the relative safety of the sewers.

Before the bus driver can find a garage to pull into, a squad of elite Rikti troops teleports onto the road in front of the bus!  The driver knows better than to play chicken with super-powered aliens using a bus full of children and slows to a stop.  The squad techie scans the bus and the leader coms his dropship.  Before long, the squad and the bus are all teleported away!  Horrified onlookers were videoing the abduction, so before long it's all over the news!

Can't decide on bus driver's look.  Pick one:

https://lh3.googleusercontent....7QdG317G1NceDnipLIV4

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/...138_80ccb81b3a_b.jpg

Choosing the former link for bus diver.

A Rikti ship fires a laser at a building Emerald is on and she opens a portal, causing the laser to turn around and go back to the weapon that fired it. She then finds herself surrounded by Rikti who charge into melee with her.

Emerald twirls her hands, gathering kinetic energy and slams her hand into the ground, knocking down all the charging rikti just as they get to her. She uses the brief distraction to teleport to safety, 300 yards away. Emerald coms the Super Group, "Anyone else see that? The rikti have taken to kidnapping special needs school children. We need to get inside one of these ships and find out what's going on!"

  Alloy is too nice to make a 'short busses must be easier to steal' joke, but alas his narration service is not.

  "Days like this are days I'm glad to have poor stealth options rather than no stealth options."

  Meanwhile, Melty shrugs off Rikti psychic powers with the wonders of 100% resistance.

Mits comms back, "Rodger that, Emmy.  I wonder if they'll hold 'em for ransom.  'Give us the antimatter formula or we kick these puppies!' or something.  'Cause all the other times they kidnap someone, it's to get some bit of science to advance their tech.  This is the first I've seen 'em scoop up a whole bus, though.  I wonder who else they're nabbing.  Or if this looks like a job for Statesman."

"He and the others are currently fighting their evil alternate selves in another dimension," Jake informs.

Emerald says, "...thank you for the info, Jake. Then it's up to us."

Eli coms, "I wonder if the aliens can tell the difference between a special needs child and a normal child. I could pose as one of the kidnapped children who was managing escape somehow so as to get caught on purpose and listen in on their plan."

Emerald says, "That's... incredibly brave of you, Eli."

  "Given their telepathic nature, they likely care less about the fact they are children, and more that it is easier to find the mentally handicapped together out in the open at that age."  The Rikti had already long been taking advantage of the homeless, on that note.

"Sure thing!" Jake answers.

He's speechless from Eli's offer, at a loss for what to say.

Mits, on the other hand, is enthused.  She arrives at Steel Canyon and starts blasting random Ritki squads! "That's a great idea, Eli!  They're psychic and high-tech, but not magical.  So there's a good chance a magical tracer spell put on you won't be picked up by their scans.  And maybe you can sneak some portal scrolls in there too and teleport everyone out!"

"I doubt it'll be that easy," Jake grumbles.

Emerald coms, "It did look like the bus was more a convenience than a target, so Alloy has a point... and I agree, Jake; it won't be easy. But portal magic is what I do, so you just leave the escape plan to me. The magical tracer is a wonderful idea, Mittens, and probably best if cast by Gale; she's good at subtle and we don't want Eli to glow with magic. Either way, we need to find out why they are doing this, get to the bottom of it and stop them for good or else it will just be done again. Eli aside, we need an infiltration team. While he's learning their plans, we need to be able to go to places like the ship engines or power supply."

She spots a Rikti about to shoot a bystander and teleports the Rikti up to herself before kinetic-punching him in the belly!

"Jake, since Eli is going to be bait, do you think you can find a way to tap into the Rikti coms if we provide you one of their com units?"

  "Tapping their coms could range from easy to hard, depending on Jake's handling of the subject matter.  Telepathic communications are not prone to encryption, because they most often have privacy in built."

"Thanks for the compliment," Gale coms, "I have a book on this.  I'll get prepping right away."

"Mittens had a good idea!  Horray!"

"I'll do my best," Jake answers, "But more than likely they frequently change their encryption codes for such contingencies.  So even if I succeed, we'll only have a small time window for listening in.

"As for teleportation, I'll be surprised if the kids can simply be teleported out.  I've never heard of a rescue mission working that way."

"You're right!  But may as well try!"

Just as abruptly as it started, the Rikti attack ends and the streets quickly return to normal.

Emerald says, "The ships are retreating. We need to track them!"

Eli coms, "Already on it. I flew a bug up to each of their ships. It'll help us track them for now, but it won't take long before they notice there are tracers on their ships."

Emerald says, "Great job, Eli!"

Katy is heard over the com, "Mayday! I was in the middle of battling a rikti, and had my hand in his suit's wiring when he teleported back aboard his ship! Now I'm surrounded and trying to fight my way to someplace safe!"

Emerald says, "...shoot. We gotta get to those ships and inside them fast."

  "We could try to teleport her back out as the first option, but if that's blocked we may need to do something elaborate with leftover rikti bombs."

Katy is inside an instance, so teleporting her out isn't an option until she makes it out an exit.  Or someone enters the ship to use recall friend.  Or she could time travel to Oboros, return to her home point, or use a supergroup base teleport...  probably.  Maybe.  But she'd have to not be in combat to try any of those.  On the bright side, at least her com got through.

Mits coms, "I like the bomb idea!"

Mits gets started rigging one "safely."

"The trick'll be figuring out which of those ships has Katy on it.  And then even when we blow a hole in it, we'll need someone to draw it's fire for the rest of the group to get close enough to board.  Hang in there, Katy!"

Jake pipes in, "May not be as hard as you think in this day of tiny microphones."

Assuming they're available to the SG mainframe, he'll forward the tracer's signal location that is picking up the sound of super-powered racoon combat inside its assigned ship.

Mits works fast when it comes to kabooms.  "One elaborate Rikti bomb 'door knocker' set to detonate on remote trigger ready for teleport!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:08, Thu 20 Oct 2016.

Eli says, "Got it, Jake, thanks! Now I know which ship has Katy, but that still leaves figuring out where the other kidnapees were taken." He immediately sends the coordinates to Mittens, since she was already done setting up a Rikti bomb.

Emerald says, "On it!" She heads for the ship Eli gave directions to while invisible, draws a few arcane sigils on the side of the ship, and then teleports away. Emerald enjoys free-falling for a little while she comms, "Gale, any luck on how you're going to get magical tracers on the rest of the ships?"

Suddenly, the little fox pops into existence next to Mittens. She grins and wiggles her fingers in a wave at Mittens before placing a hand on the Rikti bomb and concentrating.

Katy, meanwhile, can be heard panting over the comms, "...man... I love my power... Well, everyone, I survived the welcoming party and found a hiding spot. My danger is no longer immediate."

Shelly squeaks, "So are we forming two different teams?"

Eli answers, "For all we know, the Rikti have already scattered the kidnapped across all their ships by now. We won't know how many rescue teams are needed until we figure out which ship has them. But my spy flies are buying time for when Gale puts magic tracers on them. Which will buy time for us to infiltrate later."

Katy comms, "So I'll be scouting the ship I'm in to see if they are here. And don't worry, I'll be careful."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Sun 20 Nov 2016.

  "We're probably going to need some of the more patient sorts on civilian rescue."  Bystanders run around in random zigzags enough as it is, so... Special needs students are not going to make for a smooth rescue.

  "Reminder that Rikti drones generally penetrate stealth and invisibility tricks.  So trying to just run past too many things could end up rather messy once you have to stop."

"Sure thing," Jake answers.

Emmy finds that Mits had placed a comical remote detonator on the Ritki bomb that's got magical sigils on it that resemble a kitty face sticking its tongue out.  Emmy is able to poof the bomb to the target.  KABOOM!  A huge explosion in the shape of a Mitten punches a hole in the side of the ship!

"Patient type?" Mits echoes, "Guess that means Mittens will be on Katy team.  Way to go Katy!  We're on our way to you!"

(Those going to Katy ship will have to do so without relying on Recall Friend.)

"I have them ready, but getting them there undetected will be a challenge," Gale answers, "I'll need a sharp shooter who can hit a distant moving target... or someone what can cloak a tiny portal and open it with pinpoint accuracy and timing."

Emerald gives Mittens a huge grin and a giggle. "I admire your idea of how a bomb should look, Mittens. On that note, while I'd love to join you on rescuing Katy, I'm going to stick with helping the others figure out where the children wound up."

Katy comms, "Thanks, Alloy... but I don't have any invisibility tricks, so I'll sneak the old fashioned way: Avoiding being in line of sight."

Angel comms, "A thought for the ship Katy is on: If we can hit it hard enough, maybe we can get a hold of the control room and track where the other ships went with their own technology. And Gale: If you are looking for sharp-shooting, I'll be happy to do it. Gadget Gun's a good choice too, so if you're looking for triangulating, I think we make a good team on that."

Miranda comms, "And if you need pinpoint precision on opening a cloaked portal, I'm probably it."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:12, Thu 16 Mar 2017.