Fiernas peers over Xander's shoulder.  "THAT'S the ship you were chasing?  That's the ship that Gestalt met with right before you all showed up on Pragnanz.  And you don't even know who killed it?"

In reply to Xander (msg # 850):

Muse's eyes shoot open.

"Fuck!"

He dashes to the cockpit, shoving anyone in his way aside and barging his way in.

"We need to get out of here now. Both these fleets are going to hell. And they're gonna take us with them."

He looks frantically around at all the consoles.

"Where's the starmap? I saw another gate."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:20, Thu 20 Apr 2017.

When the first AoS ship appears Billy sucks air through his teeth, "Start counting," he advises Faust by way of answer to his question before cutting the mic, "Send him the makeup of the damn fleet, he's either playing stupid and we're screwed anyway or he's gonna need it.  Kayla, get us out from in front of the gate, if anyone notices us we're not gonna survive long.  Dynamis do you still not know where we are?"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:22, Thu 20 Apr 2017.

Fiernas looks at Muse's retreating back, surprised, and follows him into the cockpit.  "Getting away sounds like a good idea to me."  He slides carefully past Billy as he peers out the canopy into the star field. "Another gate?  You're sure?"


He shakes his head slightly, grunting in frustration.  "Something's wrong here..."

When Muse barges in Billy is clearly caught off-guard by his hurry, "What gate? We barely saw the first one.  There are no star maps, Dynamis is lost.  What exactly did you see?  I didn't notice any tendrils grabbing us in purple space, you said that was your last vision.  I think your fortunes could stand for a little translation, Nostradamus."

At Fiernas's entrance Billy doesn't actually object but gives him a disgusted look, "A lot is wrong here, buddy."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:29, Thu 20 Apr 2017.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 855):

"Billy if we stay here, it's twisted metal and burning flesh. There won't be enough of you left to put in a robot."

He takes a moment to compose himself then looks around at his squadmates.

"The gate's a little ways past the wrecked staryacht. It's not the one we came in from. Dynamis, can you get me a visual in that direction?
This message was last edited by the player at 21:32, Thu 20 Apr 2017.

Fiernas glances at Billy with flat eyes.  "You might not be able to trust your employer.  I sympathize."

Transmitting - Standby. IDA fleet, intelligence inbound to you regarding imminent enemy contacts. I suggest you man your battlestations.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:40, Thu 20 Apr 2017.

"We don't even know where here is, if we run again we have no idea where it takes us.  Your visions keep involving us getting attacked and it keeps not happening. We didn't supply this ship for an extended journey with this many bodies onboard, I'm not sending us into god-knows-where just because you saw something you can't make sense of.  How do you even know those visions have your best interest in mind?"  Billy sighs, "Kayla don't do anything desperate until someone opens fire," he turns and leaves the cockpit with all concerns unresolved and heads to his locker.  He pulls out his EVA suit, a crisp white number with bright pink and green detailing in the same colors as the Gunblazers logo embroidered on a patch on one shoulder and printed down the sides of the legs.  The suit itself he mostly ignores, putting on the helmet and power pack and fiddling with the technical bits.

Fiernas only has eyes for the starfield as Billy walks out of the cockpit.  "Captain." His voice is almost a whisper.  "Respecting that I'm only a passenger here.  But if you can get me closer to where Muse says this gate is, I might be able to settle some of your questions."

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 861):

As Billy tees off on Muse Nightmare clenches his hand

We haven't been attacked because we've heeded his warnings!

She hisses.

Hardly empirical evidence but so far seems to have made strategic sense to me as well.  I say we GTFO and hit the other ring.

As Billy leaves she looks around for someone to take over copilot duties.

BILLY WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?!

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 862):

"That's...quite a fleet," Faust says after the information has been transmitted. "We'll be ready for them, though. Excellent intel. Maybe we can finally put an end to the AoS with one deft stroke."

Meanwhile, ships continue to warp in at the jump ring...starfighters first, then freighters. The larger ships won't be far behind.

***

Captain, I have made a discovery. I cannot detect where we are because many of the stars in our field of vision are mirrored. Parsing them has been and continues to be difficult, but I am confident I can do so within the next 10 minutes.

***

Billy heads down to the equipment locker and fiddles with his EVA suit, Rebecca hot on his heels.

***

Muse rushes into the cockpit, pointing at an empty packet of space urgently. Dynamis highlights it and zooms in -- it looks like dark, featureless pocket of space, no different than any other.

***

"I'm getting us closer," Kayla decides, activating the controls to nudge the ship further away from the jump ring AoS is currently spawning at en masse. "If it IS a jump ring, it might be our only exit..."

She looks over her shoulder at Fiernas.

"How close do you need to be?"

"No good answer to that," Fiernas grinds.  "Depends how many footprints there are."  For the moment, he keeps his eyes on the destroyed yacht in front of them.

Billy curses from underneath his helmet, though not apparently about anything in particular.

After a profuse string of frustrated profanity Billy eventually takes his helmet off and blinks a couple of times, "Mirrored?  Faust's fleet!  Dynamis show the mirrored stars as you parse.  Kayla, those are ships, don't hit anything!"

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 865):

You know you look ridiculous like that right?

She says flatly as he puts the helmet on.

What do you mean they are ships? 

She flashes up to the front of the ship to look at Dynamis' parsing.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 866):

Dynamis begins to highlight certain stairs in the viewport in different colors, showing the mirroring effect. It is slow-going and not many have yet been highlighted -- certainly not enough to see the outlines of any ships that this tactic might eventually reveal.

Kayla stays away from anything even partially highlighted, however, and continues to make for the blank patch of space Muse indicated, just beyond the remains of the Hubris.

Fiernas grows quiet and serious, trembling slightly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:15, Fri 21 Apr 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 867):

Penny looks at the wreckage of Hubris from the screen Xander is holding in front of her.

"Yeah, I...guess it probably is," she concedes. "But how...I don't understand how the Alliance's ships are just appearing like that."

Almost on cue, another ship materializes.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:17, Fri 21 Apr 2017.

"The stealth armor is highly reflective, remember?  Faust is screwing us and I still don't even know if it's on purpose.  Why does he have a cloaked fleet?!" Billy shelves his helmet and looks down at Rebecca, "Find out what Xander's doing.  Holt, Durst!' " he calls out to the two male rescuees and walks over to them, "Look, shit's hitting the fan outside.  I dunno how this ends but I'd like to be prepared for whatever we're in for.  Our ship has a scanner that can detect super powers.  You both came up positive.  What do you do?  Short version."

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 869):

Nightmare hunts down Xander (I assume he is easy enough to find) without attracting his attention she returns to Billy.

He appears to be speaking with Penny, she is no longer bound.  Shall I have him report to the cockpit?

A brief pause...

Should I gear up?      She asks indicating her EVA suit.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 869):

Holt and Durst look at each, then back at Billy.

"I know exactly where to hit someone to make it really count," Holt says after a moment.

Durst cracks his knuckles and shrugs.

"Short version? I can make bombs outta nothing."

Billy grins at the two answers but pauses and points at Durst, "Out of nothing, or out of things that aren't bombs?" he tries to clarify.  After getting an answer ge looks down at Rebecca, "No longer- gaaah why now?  Go find out if she's at least being helpful.  Supervise, just," he lets out an exasperated sigh and waves Rebecca back where she came from.  "I'll let you know if anything gets worse," he nods to the other two and returns to the cockpit. "Are we dead yet?" he addresses the room.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 872):

Durst makes a magician-style gesture with his hands.

"Outta thin air."

***

"Not yet," Kayla replies. "But judging from how Faust's ships are turning, I don't think that will stay true during the firefight we're about to be part of."

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 872):

I AM!  She responds cherrily as she walks over to Phillp.

She looks at the big shaggy wolf

She bounces back over near Xander and waits for the dog to wander over.  She occupies herself scratching the dog and eavesdropping on Xander.

Billy looks between Kayla and Fiernas, "Can we confirm a second gate yet? Let's not to be a part of the firefight."

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 875):

Kayla continues to draw the shuttle nearer to its intended destination. Finally, she points out a vague outline.

"That's it!" she says excitedly. "Are we diving in?"