In reply to Gestalt (msg # 73):

Team Space Trek

Neither Darling nor Tyndall are in the cockpit, and thus they are unable to assist.

OOC: Fiernas and Rebecca, red Strength check to overcome the forces against you and reach the controls. You're both pilots so you know what Kayla's instructions meant without a Reason check.

Fiernas struggles against the rotational force of the ship, barely prying himself out of his cockpit chair.  He's unable to reach the controls at first, his hand tantalizing inches from the stick.

"Boys... Help... Me...."

A sound ripples through the cockpit like a giant chalkboard being scratched in two.  Leo and Phillip agonizingly pull themselves forward from where they were lying in the corner, their enhanced claws gouging into the metal of the deck for purchase.  Foam coats their lips, dripping off their teeth.  Leo plants his head against the small of Fiernas's back, pushing him up out of the chair, while Phillip does the same against his thighs, crouching low with the effort.

[Strength (Karma to Red): 22+73: Red Success]

The three of them working in concert, Fiernas makes one last surge toward the controls, pulling the ship up and out of the spin.

"So...we came to shoot the guy in charge, what are you here for?" Billy asks conversationally of the armed soldiers.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 76):

Team Space Trek

Through the virtue of Fiernas's mighty efforts, the wayward shuttle is brought under a semblance of "control" and avoids plunging into certain disintegration.It continues to corkscrew wildly, but at least the vessel is now heading away from the planet's incredibly hard, incredibly hot surface.

Kayla manages to peel herself from her seat, grasping at the second set of controls in an attempt to get Persephone to stop spiraling.

"It's no good," she winces, straining against the controls. "We've taken too much damage. Engines are failing, stabilizers are failing, D's gone silent, and most of our power is being shunted to life support. We probably need to get everyone into their EVA suits and-"

Hello world.

The voice comes not from the console, but from Kayla's bracer.

"D! You're alive! Great, I need you to-"

Error. This unit is not synced to Unit:Dynamis. This unit is not synced to Vessel:Persephone. Connection lost.

Kayla spares a glance at her wrist, then returns her full attention to the ship's controls.

"We'll, uh, we'll take a look at that later," she replies. "I'm a little busy right now."

Unit:Captain, acknowledged. Take your time.

Kayla glances out the viewport, and suddenly the cloud cover breaks to reveal the planet's infamous surface. Enormous lava plains stretch out in all directions, but the bulk of Kayla's attention snaps to the very tall, very dangerous-looking, and very close volcanic mountain looming directly in front of them. Long lances of igneous rock stretch outward in all directions like a stone porcupine, and plumes of toxic gases belch forth from the cavernous caldera.

"Up! UP!" she says, pulling the controls into a sharp angle. Fiernas does the same from the other seat, but the shuttle's reaction time is too sluggish to respond fully. "Not enough," she says, realizing there is nothing more they can do. "We're gonna...oh god...BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

Kayla and Fiernas wrestle the shuttle's controls valiantly, but no amount of skill can force the battered vessel to obey. Their efforts do not go entirely unrewarded, however, as Persephone manages to "land" rather than crash, scraping against the volcano's upper ridge before finally coming to a precarious, lurching stop that tests the limits of everyone's restraints...

OOC: Roll vs Slam required for everyone and everything in the shuttle.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 77):

Gestalt's grunts as his body is hurled against his restraints (vs Slam: 80, yellow, stagger), but they hold fast.

"Gah!" he grunts, then opens one eye to peer around the cockpit. "We...we made it? We're alive?!"

In reply to Gestalt (msg # 78):

Kayla's restraints hold up, as well, and she wipes a bead of sweat from her brow. (vs Slam, 84, stagger).

"Everyone ok?" she says, slowly composing herself from the shake-up. "Get into your EVA suits and seal up, if you can."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:51, Wed 09 Aug 2017.

In reply to Kayla Wallin (msg # 79):

Team Kamikaze


"We're here to nip this Roshak collaboration in the bud," she replies. "We might be able to do both of things we came here for at once."

"Oh yeah, I'm in for that," Billy replies with a double thumbs-up, "This the only front you're doing it on?  Faust, guy in charge, said Braeburn and the IDA were both in on it together."

Abraxas rises to a standing position, still-healing joints whirring and sparking. The pools of darkness follow, rising into the air like wisps of smoke, or a cloud of gnats.

We're operational, he confirms. Though we're still about 10 minutes from being back at 100%

Wrestling with the controls, Fiernas only half-deals with his crash restraints.  When the impact hits, he is thrown against the belts and very nearly comes out of his chair.  The only thing that keeps him in place is several hundred pounds of metal-bound dog as Leo and Phillip lurch over him protectively.  In the end, his bell is slightly rung, but he remains safely in the pilot's seat.

[Fiernas Slam?: 87 - Yellow - Stagger]

Phillip grapples with the chair himself, holding on with jaws and claws, rocked by the movement but not really worse for wear.

[Phillip Slam?: 84 - Yellow - Stagger]

Leo, on the other hand, is not nearly as secure.  On top of the furball, he has less protection from the jostling, and he bounces off the forward viewscreen when shuttle hits dirt, then ricochets through the open cockpit door.  A bass yelping echoes down the twisted corridor.

[Leo Slam?: 69 - Green- Slammed 1 Area]

OOC: Not sure what kind of damage (if any) this does to him.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 83):

"I'm not holding this hallway for 10 minutes, even for a giant robot," Beck says, though she looks appreciatively at the mech. "You're battle-ready?"

"'Capable of movement despite heavy damage,' was ready enough for its last battle," Billy says, the sarcasm palpable.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 85):

Nightmare grunts at the impact.  You see her begin to phase but she seems to visibly compose herself and pulses back into reality.

As soon as the ship comes to a stop she appears in the back area.

[Resist slam: Yellow success, Staggered]

As soon as she catches her breath she suddenly appears in the back of the shuttle.

Damage report!  Is everyone ok.

/ooc: everyone should hopefully be in an EVA suit.  I did request it earlie
This message was last edited by the player at 12:48, Thu 10 Aug 2017.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 86):

Team Space Trek

A quick roll call reveals that everyone is shaken up, but unharmed (even the pooch). Hissing sounds can be heard as everyone activates their EVA suits and clamps down on their helmets -- all further communications will take place over comms.

"The bad news is that we crash-landed," Kayla begins. "But the good news is that we did it on top of a mountain. That will help with the pressure out there -- those clouds push down with so much force it would be like being thousands of feet underwater on the surface."

She puts a hand on Fiernas's shoulder.

"Really glad you were strong enough to pull us out of that descent, even if we did ultimately crash. We did the best we could."

After ensuring that everyone survived the crash -- even Holt -- Kayla returns to the cockpit to get a good look at the ship's battered wireframe. It's mostly reddish-orange at this point, with a few blips of green and yellow thrown in for good measure.

"Ok," she says at last. "This might be beyond my ability to repair. I'm going to check out the reactor and the engines. Would one of you step outside and call for help?"

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 87):

"Good enough for me. Let's go."

In reply to Verona Beck (msg # 88):

Team Kamikaze

Beck and her soldiers lead the way through the hallways, with Billy and Xander (ostensibly) clanking along behind them. Pockets of resistance show themselves from time to time, but everyone seems to be caught up in their own personal crossfire.

SAGE soldiers pour into the ship's hallways as you pass by from colorfully shimmering holes in the walls -- these holes look a bit like a hula hoop filled with bubble solution. Faust's soldiers become fewer and further between, and eventually you see none at all.

Abraxas manages to fully heal itself during the trip, peeling strips of metal from the walls and floors somehow as it passes by as though possessed with a strange, metal-decaying aura.

Soon enough, your group has lumbered its way to the Bridge Level. The emergency lights here are offline, replaced by standard lighting. There are no klaxons here, nor smoke nor fire. This level, at least, appears untouched by combat.

Beck rattles her weapon and grins.

"Finally. Prepare to breach!"

[Crossroads]

As the team makes their way to the bridge Billy is fairly calm, especially in the absence of enemy fire aimed specifically at them.  He observes tye SAGE boarding method with fascination and grills Beck and her team for how SAGE found out about the fleet and the Roshak, and further details of the mission, whether or not any answers seem forthcoming.  Once they finally reach the bridge and the breach is called for, Billy taps the side of his helmet, activating its targetting HUD and holds his right wrist in the opposite hand as if posing with an imaginary gun, "God damn this feels professional," he remarks.

It's a refreshing change of pace, Xander agrees wryly. Abraxas' railgun begins to hum faintly as the capacitors build a ready charge. Alright. Let's do this.

Idly he wonders where SAGE got their portal tech.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:54, Thu 10 Aug 2017.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 66):

On it.

Dispatch... this is Gunblazers ship Persephone again.  I'm having what you might... mildly... call a bad day.  Do you read me?

Nightmare says following Kayla out.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 92):

Team Space Trek

Rebecca follows Kayla out of the cockpit, but will need to exit the ship itself to broadcast to Dispatch. Whatever's jamming Persephone is apparently still in effect.

Fiernas is nowhere to be found in the cockpit, having sprung out of his chair to tend to Leo out in the corridor.  He's relieved to see that the hound is unhurt, and marvels for the thousandth time at how tough Leo and his brother are.  Leo lovingly licks Fiernas's face. "Yeah... Yeah, boy.  It's ok."

Satisfied with the kids' safety, he heads into the cockpit.  "I had a good teacher," he replies to Kayla, then sits down to check atmospheric readouts on the screen. "Sulfur's a little higher than I'd like it to be, but mostly CO2, so that's all fine.  Temperature 130, ok.  Bar is fine..."  He turns to the dogs, who sit expectantly, enormous tails slowly wagging.  "Ok, you can go outside.  You two can breathe and you won't burn or be crushed.  But hey... Leo, look at me.  No eating the snow.  It might taste good, but it's metal, not water.  I know you've eaten metal before, but this is bismuth, and it might gunk up your insides.  Ok?"

The dogs seem to agree, and Fiernas goes about the business of preparing his equipment, slinging guns and other gear all over his body, the dogs already in their mylar-thin radiation suits.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 94):

I'm going outside to call dispatch again.

She leaves the ship and connects her radio

This is Gunblazers ship Persephone to Dispatch.  We have survived and are safe for the moment but we are having what I think fairly falls under the categorization of crappy day.  Can you lock in on my suit's location?

She activates the sensors in her EVA suit including Baxter's eye and scans her surroundings.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 95):

Team Space Trek

Rebecca's summons is receives no immediate response, and her scanner reveals the topography one might expect on Venus -- a vast dessert-like swathe of rolling lava plains and highland, cracked and shattered by thermodynamics and heavy pressure. The surrounding light is quite dim and somewhat hazy from the cloud cover, though being on a mountain keeps you above some of the thickest layers and allows more sunlight through than you'd get on the surface itself.

There is nothing to detect with Baxter's Eye, though you're pleased to see it still functions when called upon. A minor victory.

"Persephone," a new voice -- certainly not Dispatch -- clips over Rebecca's comms. "What are you doing on Ishtar Terra? That area is strictly off-limits."

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 96):

She makes an incredulous face for the benefit of the mountains and deserts.

Uhhhh... Crashing mostly.  Yeah.  Dispatch sent us a rescue team to pull us from space and research a strange cloaked vessel.  This ship has some strange features on it and it appears that your rescue squad lost their hold on us.  We were able to survive the landing in mostly one piece.  That being said we are far from safe and sound, I have civilians and injured on the ship and requesting immediate evacuation and triage. 

She adds with sincerity

We apologize for everything going pear shaped on this mission. 

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 97):

Team Space Trek

"Stay in your ship. Do not move. We will be there soon."

The comms go silent, leaving Rebecca to contemplate whether to actually return to the ship, or to join Fiernas and his pups in what is sure to be an exploratory romp.