In reply to Silvermasque (msg # 16):

"Tolkeen, in their good graces will be providing us with transports and drivers to evacuate all of the prisoners. We will rendezvous with them along the way."

In reply to Jack (msg # 19):

"You should remain in human form for as long as possible."

Jack couldn't help but let out a small sigh but then nodded and smiled. "Small. Or human. Got it." He walked away before he started chuckling, thinking back to his favorite form of a cute little bunny rabbit.

Max barely looks up when he senses the mage approach. "Spot's taken. Catch a ride on one of the transports." He puts his boot on the panel opposite him to block the ramp into his hovercraft.

Max didn't know this guy, but something about him said he was bad news.

The platoon sets out again, leaving Disharmony behind as she has been reassigned to Fort Juyong Outpost's air defense.

The transports are picked up just East of Juyong, and the group begins their journey toward the prison camp. Nuitari spreads the group out and ensures "The 3rd is positioned out front, about 300 feet ahead of Nuitari's hover skiff. Mephisto's and Max's hover vehicles are behind, followed by Silvermasque, about 500 feet behind in the rear. The group is traveling about 60 mph. Borius is flying above the group, about 600 feet.


Hover Skiff # 1 :

Nuitari
Na Wa and baby Trex
Dutch and Kreeghor Bloodhound
Thasha


Hover Skiff # 2 :

Mephisto
Jack
Sir Aries
Lotus and Gryphon


Max's Hovercraft :

Max
Heinrich

Silvermasque - on foot
The 3rd - Speedster Hovercycle
Boris - personal bionic jets
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:47, Mon 24 Feb 2014.

"This trip will take us just over 3 hours to reach Camp Purity. The Coalition has pulled most of its' forces back from the area. Victory is within our grasp, but we cannot hold back now. They must be purged from our territory, and shown that the Kingdom of Tolkeen is not one that will fade away into history. We stood our ground, and defeated them. But the battle is not over. These prisons still remain, but probably not for long... We have very little intel on the camp, and will have to gather information ourselves when we draw close. Until then, keep an eye out for any sign of the enemy..."
This message was last updated by the GM at 22:15, Tue 25 Feb 2014.

Heinrich nodded to no one in particular, "Understood, yes sir."

Max gets Heinrich and his gear loaded into the back of his hovercraft. The workbench has been folded up, and the tools have been secured in their compartments and drawers. His bulky Flying Titan knockoff occupies one corner, hanging from a servo crane on the ceiling.

Max points Heinrich to the chair next to him at the front. He taps the console. "You know how to operate mapping software?"

While guiding the Wilderness Crusader into a position at the rear of the convoy, Max pulls off his leather jacket and settles in for the trip.

When its time, The 3rd gets on his Speedster and lifts off. He takes his station 300 or so feet in front of one of the hover skifts. HIs mouth is dry as he scans the landscape below for Dead boys, then the skies for CS flyers.

Why do we have to be out in front?
What?
You heard me, why do we have to out in front all vulnerable and stuff?
Where would you rather be?
On or in one of those skiffs would be nice.
Antonio, do you pay any attention when we get shot at?
No, should I?
Well, if you did you'd know that your average Dead Boy is gunna shoot the big targets first. I think they are trained that way.
So... you're saying we're safer out here?
Yep.
Carry on then.

Jack stayed in human form and boarded one of the Hover Skiffs 'dutifully'. The Mystic Knight grinned at Lotus, one of his favorite peoples, though she was quiet and aloof most of the time anymore. He listened to the small briefing-speech from Nuitari and nodded.

Afterwards, to those on the skiff with him he chuckled and exclaimed. "Prison break! Never done one of those before. Should be fun!"

He took up position on one side of the skiff. He had the TW Force Cannon set on his back. In his hands and braced on the rail of the skiff, he had the C-40R Coalition SAMAS rail gun in his hands as he watched for trouble.

Na-Wa did his best to ensure Silonar would behave after getting on the hover skiff. But the creature attempted to bite some of the others on board. To discipline the dinosaur Na-Wa smacked it when the flat side of Whon-Ecke who did not appreciate being treated in such a manner.

 The parting is, if not exactly sweet at least emotional, 'Masque offering the other 'borg a raised hand and a warm "До скорой встречи.", to which the downright alarming oriental replies with a brief embrace and the use of vibro-claw-tipped fingers to etch a small kanji 'property of' tag upon his shoulder-plate, just out of the easy reach of his arms.

 Come the roll-out, he bounds along in a comfortable fashion as tail-end charley, toting one hell of a large backpack that looks suspiciously jet-shaped to those inclined to give it a once-over and armed with his usual mix of onboard hardware and a couple of hefty grenade rifles, loaded and ready to provide indirect fire support and generalised suppression in the event of an ambush. It probably goes without saying that even when his leaps extend to match the speed of the convoy, they're rarely predictable or in a direct line, his instincts automatically doing their best to make him as hard a target as possible.

Heinrich shook his head, "Since being brought to this world by whatever brought me here... I've only learned a very few skills. I can pilot a hovercycle... that's about the only useful skill I have outside my mind powers."

Max re-evaluates Heinrich for a few seconds before putting his attention back on the hover skiff in front of him. "Someone mentioned you were a psychic. That could come in handy. Stick around these Ley Lines when you can..." Max motions to a couple of stable ley lines overlaid on the electronic map projecting on the console. "... they do something to psychics. Give you a boost. You'll feel it."

After letting that sink in, he tries to make conversation, "So not a local, huh? What's your world?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:56, Mon 03 Mar 2014.

Heinrich nodded, "I feel them. It worked similarly on my world... just a different feel. I have learned of psychics from your world who can speak to machines... I would love to be able to do that. My world, it's called Palladia. We don't have these machines. Or the weapons and armor you all have. It's more... primitive I guess you could say. Swords, wizards, dragons and the like. A far simpler place."

"I met a guy who could do that with machines. Bunch of us were up against some Coalition armour, and buddy stopped a fifteen ton robot dead in its tracks just by thinkin' about it." Max throws a grin at his passenger. "Scary stuff to be on the wrong end of. If you could pull that off, you'd be worth a million to the war effort."

He pauses a moment to navigate around some debris, following the lead of the hover skiff in front. "I bet you can do it. Some psychics say their powers just come to them out of thin air, but I watched this young cyber-knight teach himself to pick up on peoples' feelings in less than three weeks. Elik would go from person to person in the camp and hold his hand out like this," Max makes magicky gestures, "and squeeze his eyes shut and tell them what kind of mood they were in. It was annoying as hell, but you gotta give him credit. After a few weeks he was bang-on every damn time. Thing is, he only did it 'cause wanted to tell if this girl liked him. Funny stuff."

After a moment, Max's expression goes flat, and he changes the subject. "I see you got yourself some good gear. I don't mind showing you around some other tech if you're stickin' around. A lot of people use this stuff, but don't know how to get the most out've it." Deciding a little show-and-tell might be more useful, he adds, "Go grab the black case from under the work bench." He tosses a small key into Heinrich's lap. Under the folded-down workbench is locked drawer almost six feet long and just six inches tall.

Max couldn't figure out why he was so chatty with this guy. He figured Heinrich was one of the few people he'd met since the war started that wasn't one kind of asshole or another. He shrugged mentally and kept driving.

Heinrich listened, Cyber-Knight... interesting. "What is a cyber-knight? I suppose if he could, I could learn to work machines. I doubt I could in time to be useful for this mission though. Can we practice when we have down time? Oh... did the girl like him?" Heinrich asked genuinely interested in the person from the story. Heinrich drags the box back up toward Max, "Thank you for helping me, other than some basic training in orders, code words and that sort... I haven't made any friends."

Heinrich's last word catches Max off guard, and he chuckles. Making friends felt like something he used to do.

Splitting his attention between the road and the cluttered composite map floating above the console, he takes a stab at explaining cyber-knights to someone who's never heard of them before.

"Cyber-knights are a good bunch. They have a lot of philosophies about honour, justice, good will, and that sort of thing.

Some of them get pretty into the 'hero' look and wear capes, polish their armour to a shine, talk fancy, or call themselves 'Sir' this or 'Lord' that.. I guess it's so people know who they are. When you boil it down, they're just a bunch of people that got fed up with all the suffering and pain and decided to do something about it.

A lot of them have psychic powers like you, and all of them can make a weapon out of thin air. Looks like a glowing axe or sword. I guess that's part of the 'knight' name too.

Anyway, you'll see them here and there helping folks out. Some of them even signed on to fight for Tolkeen, like Sir Aries."

Taking his eyes off the road for a minute, Max motions to the long, black case on the floor. "Go ahead and open it." Inside the case, nestled in molded foam, is an impressive rifle painted flat black. "Don't touch it, but have a close look."

"That's a JA-11, same as yours, but with a custom grip, stock, and balancing, a Northern Gun scope and laser sight, and a Waltic trigger. I can push effective fire with that laser at nearly a mile. It's a decent rifle without the mods, but most people go for something with a higher wattage laser because that's all they know." Heinrich would recognize the body and unique barrel configuration from his own rifle, but the rest of the weapon was strikingly different.

"So this is what I mean about technology. You have to see the potential in it and never stop making improvements. Don't settle for 'good enough'."

Max turns to Heinrich with an amused look on his face. "Huh. Come to think of it, that's pretty much what the cyber-knights are all about. Seeing the potential good in everything and everyone, and trying to make things better." He turns his attention back to driving and adds quietly to himself, "Maybe the philosophy stuff isn't totally over my head after all."

Heinrich nodded along, "I can, as well, will a weapon into existence. It's a very powerful ability on my world. Here too I would imagine. The cyber knights seem decent then, seeking renown can lead to issues though. In the wrong people." Heinrich looked over the rifle, "Very nice work, the modifications are similar to using a psychic power in an unexpected way. Versatility is key to survival. And you seem keen enough to pick up philosophy. It's all perception anyway. How YOU see the ideas in front of you, at least to me. But I do think every man needs a code of some sort to live by, to embrace."

"Think so?" Max says doubtfully, looking at the convoy ahead of them. He was going to make a comment that half those fighters were just in it for the paycheck, but he wasn't in a position to judge. He changed the subject instead.

"So you can make a psi-sword. Impressive. The cyber-knights say it takes a pure heart to do it, if you believe that kind of thing.

What other tricks do you have up your sleeve? Could be good to know when the shit hits the fan."

Heinrich nodded, "I can, it's a powerful tool for sure. The pure heart thing I cannot vouch for though. Tricks... hmmm." Heinrich paused, grinning, pondering, "Let's see.. I am a competent field doctor, I can start and control fire, create force fields, send out what amounts to a mental bolt of energy similar to a rifle, create illusions, bond with another persons mind, there are many things. Telekinesis, moving things with my mind, perhaps my favorite power."

OOC I just listed a few of his more useful powers, I can PM you his list as he'd share it if you'd like. That way we can formulate battle plans and kill all the bad guys lol

The group soon comes across the battlefield that everyone has been talking about. There are bodies as far as the eye can see in all directions. Hundreds of thousands of bodies...

Fires still burn, and crows, and ghouls still feed on dead flesh....

Within minutes it becomes apparent Tolkeen either lied about it's losses, or 3rd Platoon has found the one area where there as as many fallen warriors of Tolkeen as there are of The Coalition.

There is a smell, most of Pluto has become used to by now... the smell of death. It is thick in the air.

The way is forward, through, and over the bodies...

As the hover skiff approaches the bodies, Na-Wa (riding on is Silonar, aptly named Silonar) has to go through another round of Silonar misbehaving, in this case the dinosour wants to climb out of the hover skiff and feast on the dead bodies.

Looking at Nuitari Na-Wa asks a question. "Can Na-Wa and Silonar get out and walk? Silonar looks hungry and sees lot of food."

Mephisto tries to peak over the railings of the hover skiff, from his position piloting the vehicle. He chimes in on the radio after Na-Wa's comment  "I too would enjoy the opportunity to go for a stroll... Might be able to find a few things of interest out here..."

As the back end of the convoy emerges onto the battlefield, Max lets the conversation fade. He'd figured the Lieutenant's report of the war had been sugar coated, and this confirmed it. He looks at Heinrich for a moment, and wonders if he's seen death on this scale before.

Flipping some of the external cameras to thermal imaging, he puts their display outputs in front of Heinrich. "Keep an eye on those cameras. Let me know if anything stands out. I don't think anyone will mess with a convoy this size, but these scavengers are unpredictable." The thermal vision would turn the corpses into a smeared blue field and let Heinrich focus on something else.

He raised he Wilderness Crusader to twenty feet above the ground in case there were any mines or traps hiding among the corpses. His own displays were still in full colour, and he scanned the area for movement and camouflage. He hoped the convoy wouldn't make an unnecessary stop, but it was up to the mission leader.

In reply to Na - Wa (msg # 43):

"I'm not sure it will be a good idea to allow your pet to eat our fallen friends. And if anyone is watching... is not good to be seen eating the bodies of the enemy either... unless you want to tempt them to eat your body as well one day..."