Outlooking toward the glowy thing as it cameout closer, Smoke's eyes widened in awe and wonder behind the face-plate of her helmet. It was big and beautiful and icehot. 'No! I think it's Baby!' she exclaimed over the suit talkiphones. The Kang waved eagerly up at it. 'How you do! You have freeness now!'

"And that's what makes this job worth it. If I can pay back anything, this is it!" She whips her hat in greeting past the porthole as Baby approaches!

"Be that as it may; but we need to get back. You did well; but you have done your part Traveller. It is now time for the family to do theirs. And for you, to get your people home."

He is talking about UNIT, not him.

Trav kneels to the floor, and opens up her big mind.

<<Elder one. Are you and your child safe yet? I will not leave until you have reached safety.>> She pulls her mask on, as the water starts to fill up. She's checking what's left of the systems, seeing if there's anything left of this cracking corpse of a body-ship that she can use. With her other free hand, out comes a turbo pistol, her thumb switching to wall-be-gone mode, ready to make an exit for her and Sereth.

"I'm getting ready to make us an exit. But I made a promise to make sure that father and child are safe, Sereth.I'm not leaving until everyone is safely away. Josh, honey, what is the status of you and your team? Do you have the transponder signal back to the anomaly and Sweet Boy? Get your ass back there! Evac now, Sereth and I will hold the line while you get away."

OOC: I'm assuming that Sereth and I are on the inside with the base rapidly filling with water, and Smoke, Rayburn's team and Stan on the outside, with Baby swimming up from the bottom, please correct if I am wrong.

"You misunderstand me. Whilst you are still ensuring their safety, that is good. It is however all too easy to get lost in the miracle of life - that is what I am talking about."

The Draconian would wait till the very end - whilst Traveller had work to do, he would not move. He would just ensure that once that work was done, she did not find other excuses to stay back. Him staying back if she did ensured that.

More sonicing as the place is filling up with water. "Are you trying to tell me, old friend, that I have suicidal tendencies and that you're making sure that I meet my responsibilities? I'll have to confess that such self indulgent notions occasionally cross my mind. Not today, however. And I doubt you'd let me, regardless."

She points to a nearby panel. "Sereth, if you can look at that sensor panel and see what those hunters are up to. I'm seeing if we can put those old corpse of a hull to one last use, if those bastards insist on being difficult."

OOC: Well, I thought I said the doors were both open in post #241, but you need not make another roll nor edit what you've posted just to conform to that.  Get yourselves free at your own pace.

OOC: You did say just that. :)


Smoke Alarm shouted to Sereth and Traveller, who outlooked to be loitering in the collapsing fish-tower for some reason, 'Don't have a to-do over who goes last for manners. It makes us all slowpokes! Fire escape, now, all speed!' she urged, wondering why she always had to be the sensible one around here.

Most of the hunter-pack that had been surrounding the station seems to be dispersing, their bioluminescent forms dwindling into the inky depths.  Freeness, it seems, may be more than a little contagious.

Most of them.

"Poppa" emits another jaw-rattling dirge, calling Smoke Alarm and Stanley's attention, and as they look around they see a burning green shape emerging from the blackness.  It's long and sleek; stubby fins protrude from it at seemingly random places; and by some telltales of scale, Stanley thinks it might be close to the size of a tractor-trailer.

As the two travelers get a bearing on it, they see one of the massive appendages of the parent creature sweeping down through the water, but even at the approaching hunter's size, it's more maneuverable than the titanic parent.  Smoke's sharp eyes can spot a bulbous mass at the head of the thing, with a bluish form inside.

She recognizes the crab-faced visage that spoke over the base hollow-gram.

'Pool cleaner!' Smoke Alarm exclaimed, recognising the clab-faced caretaker from the hollow-gram. It was going to attack! And they couldn't run until Trav and Sereth were on their bikes. Smoke jumped up in the seat of her pool-bike, waving her hands through the water, pointing and jeering, shouting and taunting. 'Go away! We don't want any! No ball games! No fly posts! No to-dos! You're a cowardly cutlet! Scaredy cat! Litterbug! Slowpoke! Blue Kangs are best! And you're a cowardly cutlet!' It was a fearsome display designed to frighten away predators. Like cats and dogs and Rezzies. It wasn't quite the same against alien sea captains. Did he even have a talkiphone?


OOC: Talk: Smoke makes herself look big and fierce to scare him off, 17:
16:16, Today: Smoke Alarm rolled 17 using 2d6+5 with rolls of 6,6. presence(2) + convince(1) + Brave(2).
I rolled unexpectedly well for that.

"Sereth, we should follow Smoke Alarm's advice. Lets get to the cycles."

He smiled grimly.

"After you."

Not that he actually did expect Traveller to do anything but this time - but if something went wrong; and things went haywire, the Traveller would not be the one trapped.

Though if he'd seen the threat being caused by the survivors of the aliens, his tactics might be different.

Stanley doesn't know if the aliens can hear Smoke, but he is looking for any sign that her attempt at intimidating the enemy is working. If she can buy just a little more time for the others to get out and to the aquabikes, that would be great.

The pool-cleaner and its "pilot" may or may not have heard or understood anything that Smoke Alarm had to say, but judging by the way that the beast jinks and veers in her direction, it certainly noticed her antics, and it may even have recognized her from their talk-talk earlier.

"Hey!  What's the big idea?" Reed says over the comm.  Smoke Alarm can feel the soldier tense on the bike behind her.  "Was this part of your plan too?"

OOC: I feel like intimidation and taunts are all mixed up in Smoke Alarm's head....  You had a good roll; if you want to take a further action that is based on being the focus of this person's attention, take a +2 to it!

'Comeout together-like!' Smoke Alarm yelled at Sereth and Traveller, then outlooked back to the clabby caretaker coming right at her! Even better!

'What plan?' she answered Reed with a mad grin. 'Hang on!' She revved the pool bike engines into a sharp WUB-WUB-WUB, then tootled off at all speed straight toward the oncoming chief clab! Driving manically, she threatened a head-on collision, before veering away and waving back at the pool-cleaner, inciting it to chase her. Mayhaps she couldn't drive it so good, but she felt just like Dev on his sky-bike.


OOC: Yeah, the tactic was never going to suit the circumstances. I was kind of expecting a total failure. I'll take being a distraction. :)

So, playing chicken and leading the bad guy away and back toward Big Daddy. I rolled a 16 for straight Coordination. Speed is 6 with Run For Your Life
15:03, Today: Smoke Alarm rolled 16 using 2d6+5 with rolls of 5,6.  coordination(5) + transport(0).

"Hold on, we are leaving." Stanley says to Lt. Flynn. They have to make use of the distraction Smoke Alarm is causing, so he has decided to speed off in the direction of the portal.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:47, Sat 03 Oct 2015.

The alien swimmer twists and angles to try to intercept Smoke Alarm as she buzzes toward it, with Reed leaning against her to stay on.  As she swerves aside, she notices that the creature that the crab-face is riding in bristles with several long pointy bits, like spikes or lances or spears.  The whole thing is semi-translucent, and she can pick up hints of internal structure like muscles or organs.

Looking back, Smoke Alarm can see that the attacker is swinging around in pursuit.  She's feeling some cross-current now.  It seems like Poppa may be moving and causing some turbulence around them.

OOC: 19:39, Today: The Guardian, for the NPC Crabby Alien, rolled 12 using 2d6+5 with rolls of 3,4.  Coordination(3) + Transport(3).

Stanley checks the inertial tracker on the bike to make sure of his bearing, and kicks the vehicle ahead, with Flynn holding on behind him.  He starts to open up some distance between himself and the ruined base and Poppa.  Baby is turning in a loose circle around the spot where the bikes were parked (and where Sereth's and Trav's are still waiting for their pilots.)

He can see some more of the hunter-creatures dispersed in the ocean around them, but they seem not to be moving to intercept, nor in any common direction at all.

Outlooking back over her shoulder, Smoke Alarm was grimly satisfied to eyespy the chief clab chasing her, away from the others. Now she only had to give them tickstocks to make a fire escape, then lose this cowardly cutlet in the great big pool. The Kang zag-zigged right and left, up and down, then finally threw the pool-bike into a tummy-turning spin, not so much to shake her chaser off but to get him completely lost in the 3D pool. 'Catch me if you can!' she whooped. But overall, she was outgoing up and up like an alleviator, outlooking for the big daddy alivethan. 'D'you play chasey, Reedie?' she asked the UNIT soldier clinging to her for dear life.


OOC: Is Big Daddy or his flippers/tentacles close enough to try a stunt with?

"Well... I reckon I do now, miss!" comes the answer through Smoke Alarm's helmet.


OOC: I would never deny a PC the opportunity to try something insanely dangerous. :)

'Are you a top-gun shooter too, soldier-boy?' she asked, wondering where she herself was outgoing with this... Yep, that was where. 'Grab my grapple-gun! It's on my belt. Don't lose it!' She waited for Reed to get it and get the knowhow of Dev's grapple-gun. 'Think you can tag the pool-cleaner chasing us? Be ready-steady.'
This message was last edited by the player at 07:10, Mon 05 Oct 2015.

"Miss," says Reed as he checks the grapple, "I could quote you my rifle scores from Quantico, but I'm not so sure they mean all that much at thirty thousand fathoms.  Still.  This feels like the fish story of a lifetime in the making, so I'm game if you are."

A quick look back confirms to Smoke Alarm that he has the gun's strap fixed to his arm, and that he's twisted around toward the pursuer, tracking its approach.

"You just say the word, miss."

'A Blue Kang is always game!' said Blue Kang cheered. 'Now, aim left a bit, hold righty-tighty. When I did this, my arm popped off like a dolly's. Mayhaps hook it to the back like a trolley-pulley. Unlease the cable on my say-so.'

Rising ever higher, Smoke Alarm eyespied the great big tentickle of the big daddy alivethan cresting hugely through the pool, and the vast shadow above, filling her with awe. The tower that swims! 'Ready...' Steering the pool-bike with care, she adjusted the course, just a bit here, just a bit there, a correction every ticktock, apparently intending to miss the great big meaty tentickle. After all, who would dare mess with that? 'Steady...' She levelled her course off, slowing down to draw the pool-cleaner in. 'Now!'

As soon as Reed fired and hooked the pool-cleaner, Smoke Alarm squeezed down hard on the go-faster button, the pool-bike jetted forward with all speed, towing the spiky thing along! Then she quickly dipped the bike downward, straight down, darting under the massive tentickle, as the high-tension cable continued pulling the pool-cleaner, swinging it around in a great circle, aiming not for the tentickle, but where the tentickle was outgoing to be! 'Unlease!'


OOC: Giving Reed an assist, 13.
15:40, Today: Smoke Alarm rolled 13 using 2d6+8 with rolls of 4,1.  coordination(5) + marksman(3).

Speed is 6 with Run For Your Life.

Setting up a wildly dangerous stunt, with a Story Point: 23
15:28, Today: Smoke Alarm rolled 23 using 4d6+5 with rolls of 5,4,4,5. coordination(5) + transport(0) + 2d6.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:44, Mon 05 Oct 2015.

Trav trots to the cycles quickly, powering them up. Sonic and pistol is at the ready, in case the hatch is stuck and she needs to make an exit for her and Sereth.

Reed's shot positions the grapple perfectly for the bike's sudden acceleration to snag the hunter-fish behind one of its stubby fins.  There's a tremendous lurch and a huge spray of bubbles all around Smoke Alarm and Reed as the line goes taut, arresting the bike's motion, and the pair can feel the little craft buck and shudder beneath them.

But the line holds!  And the bike's speed hauls the big creature forward after it.  As Smoke throws the bike into a dive, the line goes slack.  A storm of turbulence from above them makes Smoke look up, and all she can see is the glowing creature vanishing into a huge cloud of froth, careening straight toward Poppa's appendage.

A ripple of impact follows.  It's blunted by the heavy pressure in the water, but Smoke can still feel it as she continues to dive away.

Smoke hears Reed give a funny little laugh.  "Wipeout..." he says.

OOC: Using a whole stack of Strength in addition to the pilot's skill:

22:50, Today: The Guardian, for the NPC Piloted Hunter Leviathan, rolled 19 using 2d6+13 with rolls of 5,1.  Resisting the grapple: Strength(10) + Coordination(3).