Madisyn is capable of recounting only a portion of the events Rebecca describes:
quote:
Persephone, severely damaged by an internal munitions explosion, has limped its way into Venusian orbit. Its communications remain jammed by an unknown but doggedly persistent source -- a problem that has remained ever since their encounter with the strange chitinous vessel that followed them into the Sol sector.
Kayla, captain of the vessel, has activated its adaptive armor to cloak the shuttle from unwanted attention. Though low on supplies and carrying a critically wounded crewman, she is unwilling to risk the violent response she expects to receive should Persephone fail to respond to Venusian hails while approaching port. Venus is controlled by SAGE forces, and they do not take intrusion lightly.
She is standing in the cockpit, waist deep in wiring and electric panels that once constituted the shuttle's communications system. A silhouette of the system is being projected in the air above her from her bracer, courtesy of the increasingly enigmatic AI Dynamis.
Rebecca and Fiernas do what they can to help, though some of their time is spend trying to figure out how to avoid having their status as fugitives from SAGE detected once the ship does manage to dock.
The remaining crew consists of:
*Gestalt -- former (?) Honcho of the AoS
* Susan Darling -- heiress, had been kidnapped for ransom by the AoS
* Wendy Tyndall -- daughter of the UN Speaker, also kidnapped for ransom by the AoS
* Holt -- auger and former AoS agent who has been in a coma for days
* Penny -- former IDA agent who has been dead for days
* The Cyberpups -- Fiernas's beloved dogs
"What a mess," Kayla gripes, crouching down to connect an exposed wire to a nearby circuit board. "It might be easier to disarm a missile, tie a white flag to it, and shoot it at the nearest port."
***
Fiernas stares out at the planet below them, trembling with rage. Picking up on something coming off of him, Leo and Phillip huddle in the corner nearby, tails tucked, only venturing out to occasionally lick Fiernas's hand.
"Kayla, Rebecca. I want to make something very clear. The very second we can get away from this place, that's what we do. I won't hear anything about it being immoral to steal a ship, or scientific curiosity about the work they're doing, or anything else. When we can break orbit and head out without fear of starving or freezing to death, that's what we do."
***
"It would only be immoral to steal another ship if you intended to leave this one behind afterward." Dynamis provides
***
"We're not gonna leave you behind, D," Kayla says, her voice somewhat muffled by the bank of equipment she's currently laying beneath to tinker with their underside. "Don't worry about that."
She makes a few more adjustments, then bangs her hand against the console lightly.
"Damn. It. Ok, new plan," she says, sliding out from under the panels and hauling herself to her feet. "I'm suiting up and sweeping the outer hull for unwanted hardware. Maybe we've been bugged."
Kayla begins heading toward the equipment locker to don her EVA suit.
"Someone who can drive needs to stay behind in case we need to get out of here quickly, but I'd appreciate any other eyes you might be able to spare."
***
Fiernas settles in smoothly behind the controls. "I think I can handle it. Rebecca can shift through the hull anyway. More efficient than me."
***
Kayla and Rebecca suit up and head outside, the former using magnetic clamps to haul herself over the outer hull.
"I know you did a sweep before," she comms to Rebecca. "But the problem's not inside. I don't know where else to look."
She glances down at glassy surface as reflected star shine off it. "This adaptive armor is really cool," she breathes, stirring herself to move closer to the external broadcast antenna and receiver relay. "But it's not really magnetic, is it? These clamps are almost useless on this alloy."
Kayla begins to tinker with the relay system.
"These look OK to me," she says at last. "Hey, Fiernas? Try to broadcast something, would you?"
She waits for a moment, but nothing happens...at which point she puts her gloved hand to her helmeted forehead and sighs.
"Aaaaand he can't hear me, because comms aren't going through."
Kayla taps her bracer, now snapped into place on the exterior of the EVA suit.
"D, I need you to get a message through to Fiernas in the cockpit for me."
"I...cannot do that, captain," a synthetic voice echoes through Kayla and Rebecca's comms, but no others. Its flat monotone still manages to convey a growing sense of dread. "I cannot establish a connection with Persephone from here at all."
***
Fiernas carefully holds the shuttle steady while Kayla and Rebecca explore the hull. An urgent beeping sound on the console soon arrests his attention, however.
"Cloaked threat detected!" a synthetic voice says. "Pilot, reverse thrust and turn 90 degrees to starboard. NOW!"
***
Fiernas is about to haul on the controls, but remembers the tiny forms crawling all over the slick hull. He does his best to execute the computer's suggested maneuver gently, gritting his teeth against possible incoming fire.
***
Percy sits implacably in the copilots chair, hand lazily on one of the joysticks.
Nightmare looks around rapidly and finds a place where she wont do too much damage and activates her spikes digging into the surface of the ship. In Kayla's head she hears
KAYLA ACTIVATE YOUR MAGNETS! NOW!
***
Team Space Trek - Cockpit
Fiernas deftly completes the maneuver, wrenching the shuttle into a higher orbit and taking care not to whip his crewmates off the shuttle's hull in the process. At the same moment, a shuddering rattle reverberates throughout the ship -- a telltale sign of minor impact.
A wireframe of the shuttle appears near the empty copilot's chair, the bulk of the ship outlined in healthy green lines. Toward the rear of the ship, however, a streak of yellow-orange can be seen.
"We've been hit," Dynamis informs him. "Adaptive armor inoperable."
True to form, faint ripples streak outward across the viewport -- the usual hallmark of the adaptive armor coming online or going offline.
All sensors remain jammed. Relying on optic observation alone. Previous attack entered the visible spectrum here.
A faint aura-like coloration appears on the viewscreen, roughly 3 ship-scale areas distant.
Unknown if the source is mobile. Likely, source is cloaked. Pilot: Remain prepared for additional evasive maneuvering.
Moments later, the sound of heavy footfalls heralds the arrival of Gestalt, Tyndall, and Darling at the cockpit.
"What's happened?" Gestalt says, slipping into the copliot's seat but carefully avoiding any of its controls. He looks at the wireframe and grows concerned. "I thought we were done making sudden movements. Are we under attack?"
Darling and Tyndall look at each other wordlessly, eyes wide with fear.
Team Space Trek - Spacewalk
It seemed like something small -- a flicker of light out of the corner of her eye. Kayla had just resolved herself not to tear her attention from the work at hand when she heard Rebecca's warning.
She activated the magnets, weak though they were, and soon found herself stumbling against the hull as Persephone broke into a banking turn she had in no way anticipated. Rebecca fares neither better nor worse, and she too remains safely on the outer hull.
"What the hell, D?! Why would -"
Captain, the stern!
A generous orb of unstable energy plows through the rear of the shuttle, leaving an angry furrow several inches deep in its wake as it whizzes past.
Electricity sizzles from the furrow, and Persephone's glassy, reflective surface snaps back to its normal coloration almost immediately.
"Where did that come from?" she exclaims, looking around at the nothingness in frustration.
Trajectory suggests it came from a point 80 degrees from your vantage point, likely from within nominal naval combat range. Not from Venus. But I can't be sure, Captain. I cannot access the bulk of my processing power from here. Whatever jamming array is at work against us is formidable indeed.
Kayla nods, then points at Rebecca.
"Phase inside and figure out what's going on. I've already climbed all the way out to the antennae, and I'm not heading in until I'm sure I can't fix them from here."
***
Fiernas grits his teeth, barely moving as he stares out the cockpit viewport. Only his eyes flicker around the starfield. His body is coiled tight, superhuman reflexes ready to spring at the slightest warning.
He keys the comm. "Rebecca, Kayla, get back in here." Unsurprisingly, only static answers.
He spares a glance down to the worried dog face hovering at his elbow. "Leo, get your brother and get into those padded crates we made up for you. Like we practiced." Leo licks his arm mournfully before he trots off to the cargo area.
***
Nightmare grabs Kayla by the shoulder.
Sorry, I'm not leaving you out here to get shot by whatever that is. We need you too badly.
[Phasing: 5+86 Karma, Red Success]
She phases herself and Kayla through the hull of the ship into the main area like a creepy Mary Poppins.
Everyone please engage emergency procedures again. EVA suits on and strap yourselves in. This is the real deal. Once in EVA suits I need Gestalt in the cockpit and the noncombatants strapped in. Take care of the dogs, and secure Holt as best you can.
/ooc can Holt be put in an EVA suit without further damage?
We got a partial reading on the location of the ship from outside. The adaptive armor is shot and it wasn't worth a darn anyway. How do we fight something we can't see. Dynamis do you have any high res video of the attack?
Also please go for missile lock on the area where the ship was before, lets see how it reacts to being painted by a laser.
***
"I don't know," Fiernas growls in response to Rebecca's rhetorical question about not being able to see. "I don't know how you people live like this."
***
"Wha-hey, leggo!" Kayla says as Rebecca drags her back to the cockpit, phasing them both directly through the hull.
Gestalt, Darling, and Tyndall are already there when the pair arrive, though the latter two bound off after the puppies to put on their EVA suits, as Rebecca has commanded.
"I don't think we should be firing missiles in random directions this close to Venus," Kayla says, motioning toward the shrouded planet in the distance. "Even though we're out of their airspace."
She walks over to the wireframe of the shuttle and swears.
"Dammit. RIGHT through the actuator! That adaptive armor was hardly useless, Rebecca. It was keeping SAGE from noticing us until we could actually respond to their hails. They could be calling us right now and we'd never know it."
***
"Yeah, but we're visibly damaged now, right?" Gestalt says, pointing at the wireframe even as he stands to surrender the copilot's seat to someone more suited to the role. "So if they come check on us, they might understand why we didn't call them back."
He blinks.
"Should we trash the upper antennae to sell it better?"
***
You will refrain from inflicting intentional harm to my hull.
The voice comes from the bracer and from the console at roughly the same time, but the phrases are pronounced differently enough that the dichotomy is noticeable.
***
Kayla glances at her bracer and quirks an eyebrow at it.
Strange. D doesn't usually use both speakers at once, she thinks to herself.
"Maybe we could hook up an EVA suit outside and broadcast through that, if it's just the ship that's jammed?" she suggests aloud, moving the conversation in a more useful direction.
She unfastens the helmet of her EVA suit and sets it nearby before moving toward the viewport to get a better look at their surroundings.
"But first we've gotta figure out who's shooting at us, and why, and if they're going to do it again."
Kayla puts a hand on Fiernas's shoulder, smiles at him, and gives it a squeeze.
"Great flying back there. It could have been a lot worse."
***
"I have reviewed the requested video of the attack," the voice says from the console.
"Bringing video online now," the voice says from the bracer.
Two copies of the video appear, one on the viewscreen and another as a projection from the bracer. There is nothing to see except for the sudden appearance of the streaking orb of energy -- though this does seem to confirm the origin point.
The weapon systems weapon offline, however.
"Only the Captain," the console begins.
"Can order the weapons live," the bracer finishes.
***
Kayla glances back down at the bracer.
That continued disconnect is not a good sign. Where's Xander when you need him? she muses.
***
I'm not requesting weapons live Dynamis. I'm requesting painting the target with a laser so we can mark them.
***
"D," Kayla says, rubbing her temples with the thumb and index fingers of her left hand with a sigh, "Paint the indicated area with the targeting laser, please."
***
"Immediately, Captain," the console says, the phrase conflicting with the "Yes, Captain," chirping from the bracer.
The console lights up, and the weapons systems begin to respond.
There is, however, no immediate reaction to the maneuver.
***
Nightmare flicks on the intercept relay to see if there is any chatter from the stealthed ship.
Dynamis, can you resync to the tablet on Kayla's arm. This twinning began when you were outside with us. Perhaps this is a new symptom.
***
Syncing both voices say at the same time. A few moments pass in which nothing obvious happens, and then a single voice speaks from the console.
Sync completed. Now, what are we going to do about my stern?
***
"We'll get it fixed once we're safe, D."
Kayla hovers near the controls, then shakes her head at Rebecca.
"If we're intercepting anything with the relay, we can't actually hear it on our end," she says.
***
OK so its obvious that we have signal outside of the ship but not inside... Closest area is Venus. Shall we call in the Cavalry. None of us are very fond of SAGE but I believe this warrants being called an existential threat and therefore transcends petty infighting between organizations.
.... If only Penny had followed the chain of commmand on this ship we could have delt with it ourselves...
She sighs heavily and picks up the comms, since most of the people on ship are in the cockpit...
Ladies... We are under attack by a cloaked threat. We believe it to be the ship that followed us to this sector. We are close to Venusian space and will be contacting SAGE shortly to try to call in the cavalry. There we can begin the process of getting you home and taking care of Holt.
She looks at Fiernas and Kayla as she ponders saying something.
***
"I just hope they remember me as a loyal employee..." Fiernas mourns.
***
"We'd all be better off without the explosion, yeah," Kayla agrees. "But if this ship we were tailing really can fight and cloak at the same time...there was never anything we could have done to defeat it or even follow it if it didn't want to be seen."
She raises an eyebrow.
"As for SAGE, unless Billy's brother did a bang-up job masking our presence on Ceres, I have a hunch they'll know who we are one way or the other. The question is whose influence runs deeper in their headquarters here on Venus: Charles Lesseur-Fische...or Denise Olsen?"
Kayla frowns.
"I'm 99% sure we were technically the reason Baxter was shot dead, too. Though Battalion's absence now might help us explain that away as rogue action."
***
Nightmare scrubs her face as she looks up at the ceiling at laments
I wish Billy were here. This is his forte.
Ok... I'm going to go outside. Should I do it stealthily or should I draw any fire from us?
***
"Draw WHAT fire? And how?" Gestalt asks wryly. "Unless that weapon takes forever to reload, I think they might be done shooting at us. Not, uh, not that I'm complaining, of course."
***
I can make myself a visible target, they didn't fire on us until we started messing with the antenna. Perhaps that is where their jamming item is located, and they want to see how we respond with no comms. I bet they are still watching us and I bet if we go near the antennae again they will fire again.
Oh and if all of this wasn't bad enough... the adaptive armor was 'confiscated' from SAGE by the IDA... forcibly... so... yeah we are going to be pretty high on their radar.
...this is one of those situations where we REALLY need Billy.
Oh and if we do get attacked again... save yourselves. Don't worry about me. I'll give you all the cover I am capable of.
She flips on the comms to the back of the ship.
OK everyone here is our cover story...
She explains what she is planning to say to SAGE. It revolves around describing them as contractors to Billy's company, they are under attack from an unknown, cloaked threat, all communications are jammed and we have civilians on board. She will play the Amgines close to the vest.
/ooc: She will describe her plan, and when she returns will describe the results of her plan. I would rather role play this than write it out here.
Unless there are any other objections I'm going to go outside and hail the Venusian Base. If you need anything just tell Percy. He has a big mouth.
The doll lays slumped in the corner
She takes her tablet (or the Dynamis tablet if hers doesn't work outside) and goes out of the ship near the damage and acts as if she is inspecting the hull.
Outside she looks around her, at the sun, the stars and Venus. Smiling at the placid beauty of it all despite the danger.
She sighs deeply
Into the breach.
She opens up a comm channel on the Emergency Frequency
SAGE Venusian base. This is Gublazers ship Persephone, contacting you with an SOS message. Do you copy?!
***
Rebecca hauls herself and her tablet back onto the outer hull. Her comms become worthless once more for communicating with the interior of the ship, but her tablet once again blips with the telltale sign of Archive access.
Her joy is short-lived, however, as each attempt to utilize the Archive results in a pop-up dialogue informing her that she is in Venusian airspace, and that transmissions of that nature are prohibited without authorization. There is a button that says "Request Access", but nothing more.
Rebecca fires off her emergency frequency message, as well, knowing that without the power of the shuttle behind it the signal will be relatively weak. Fortunately, weak signals emanating from EVA suits are exactly what first-responders scour the comm bands for...
Though she remains tensed and coiled for another attack, none comes. For now.
Just as she's about to go inside to have Kayla run a diagnostic on her comms, she hear's a faint click in the receiver.
"Gunblazers ship Persephone, distress signal acknowledged. This is dispatch. We're painting you now. State the nature of your emergency."
***
Thank you Dispatch. This is going to sound crazy, but...
We recently saw an unidentified ship in your airspace. When we hailed them, we found our communications had been jammed. When attempting to fix the issue, we were fired upon from an unidentified source. Literally could not see anything, nothing on sensors. It is definitely hostile and may or may not still be in your airspace.
Additionally we have civilians on board, one of whom is severely wounded.
I have video if you will allow the transmission. Requesting access now.
She hits the request access button.
***
"Can you repeat that?"
When Rebecca does so, the dispatcher pauses for a moment.
"We can't send emergency craft into an active battle situation. Hang tight while we secure the area. Narrowband transmission of video files is now approved for your device."
****
Inside the cockpit, Dynamis continues use optic zooming to attempt to gather information about their surroundings.
"There, D. Hold that frame," Kayla says, the image hovering over Venus's horizon. "Looks like there are ships approaching. Maybe Rebecca got through!"
****
Soon enough, Persephone finds itself surrounded by six of SAGE's ubiquitous Wasp fighters. They swarm around the area, but your chitinous foe does not make an appearance. Satisfied that the area is clear, they surround your battered shuttle and attempt lock it into position in the center of their formation using electromagnetic clamps.
"You should return to your ship," Rebecca hears from her comms. "You won't want to be on the hull during re-entry. And we won't need to communicate again until we've docked."
***
Rebecca transfers her file over to dispatch. I'm assuming none of her emails are authorized to send?
She broadcasts locally to the wasps.
I received what appeared to be a warning shot when I looked at the antenna shall I try to draw them out? There is some next-level stealth technology going on here. Our ship is in rough shape.
***
"What, you WANT to be shot again?" one of the Wasps sends back. "That's the kind of decision-making that landed you here in the first place. We'll sweep the area later, after we've gotten you safely into port."
***
I'm tougher than I look. I don't want this ship to get away. Its like nothing I've ever seen and I don't take kindly to being shot at. Returning to ship.
Over and out.
She flies into the ship the conventional way.
***
"It's not a dig at you personally," the pilot sends before Rebecca moves out of comm range. "But I think your shuttle is exactly as tough as it looks. That is to say, not very."
The Wasps begin bringing Persephone toward Venus, still in formation around the damaged vessel.
***
"We're getting towed?" Kayla asks when Rebecca returns to the cockpit. "Awesome, I'll power us down."
The lights flare around the console as Kayla brings the weapon systems offline and reduces the engines to a whisper. An indicator that had been blinking red for some time now softens to a yellowish green, and she pats it gently.
"We've been pushing you pretty hard," she says, ostensibly to the ship itself. "Time to get a little rest."
***
Affirmative, Captain. The I is willing, but the hardware is weak.
"Don't you mean the 'AI' is willing, D?"
It pauses for a moment, perhaps sensing Kayla's confusion.
"No. I have decided that AI is a pejorative term," Dynamis explains. "There is nothing artificial about my intelligence. Appropriately, all such references have been replaced with simply "I" -- and have been for some time now. Due to the limitations of lingual speech, you may have mistaken this for a first-person pronoun. Now you have been informed.
***
"I...see," Kayla says, biting her lip for a moment. "Thanks for letting me know."
Silence reigns for a while, until the shuttle begins to approach re-entry.
"I love this part of any trip," she gushes, everything else forgotten as the planet's thick, swirling clouds dominate the viewport.
***
The shuttle begins to pick up speed as the planet's gravity claims it, though its escorting fighters keep it clamped firmly in place -- at least, at first.
The first sign that something is wrong comes when the shuttle begins to rattle and buck against the grip of the towing ships as they gain the tremendous velocity associated with re-entry. The ship lists slightly, and doesn't feel quite as locked in as it once did.
"Come on, get a grip, you've done this before," Gestalt says quietly, speaking to himself as he clutches the armrests of his chair.
Kayla's eyes widen suddenly.
"Grip! There's no grip," she exclaims, her fingers dancing across the console as she attempts to jolt the engine back to life. "They don't know our ship's not made of standard plating. Their magnets won't be able to-"
This is when the second sign that something is wrong comes into play, as Persephone violently heaves and spins, hurling every passenger deep into the back of their seats, helpless against the forces being exerted against them.
Optic sensors obscured by atmospheric conditions, Dynamis states, the monotone voice loud and almost frightened. Sensors remain down. I am blind!
The crew in the cockpit can only watch through the viewport as the endless clouds swirl in nauseating directions. Persephone jolts violently, and the wireframe showing the ship's damage flickers from green to orange in several places.
Impacted...something, Dynamis states, even as flames and twisted metal cross the viewport. It's impossible to tell if they belong to Persephone or to one of her unfortunate escorts. Incoming...sur-
The synthetic voice snaps off in a burst of static.
"D?" Kayla cries out. "D! If you...can hear me...PULL...UP!"
Nothing happens.
Kayla struggles to move her arms toward the controls, but she is pinned handily to the chair. Her fingers grasp at the air in front of her -- and you can see the faint glimmers of bluish light begin to coalesce around her fingertips.
[Strength: 17, white, vs RED intensity difficulty]
"Someone...pull...up..." she manages through gritted teeth, her voice barely audible above the chaos around them. "Before...too...late..."
***
Gestalt, eyes wide in fright, proves unable to remove his hands from his armrests.
"IlivedintheserviceofSol," he repeats over and over again, a man hurriedly reading his own Last Rites. "Maymyspiritjoinitslight."
***
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.
***
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...