crux_fleet | EVENT: THE SLEEPERS OF TERABEL Pt. II

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EVENT: THE SLEEPERS OF TERABEL Pt. II

Who: The Sub-Fleet, Pirates
Where: The Domed City of Terabel
When: Afternoon, Majo 11th
Warnings: Space Violence

It takes a certain kind of someone to volunteer to defend a people they don't know, in a city they've never seen. Brave souls or perhaps just lovers of violence. Either way, the shuttles containing both the security forces to fight off the pirates and the science teams land safely, escorted by a few starfighters.

Fortunately, the people of Terabel breathe oxygen. Unfortunately, their entire city is designed for a race with wings. Large doors and open walls don't offer much cover, stairways or ladders are practically non-existent, and elevators just plain don't exist. Thankfully, the Fleet comes prepared for such situations. Everyone, even the Cybertronians, are issued jetpacks to get around comfortably, and grapnel guns for emergency purposes.

When they get a good view of the city, it's clear that the space pirates have already gotten started on their raid. Smoke can be seen cropping up as the looters burn whatever they can't use. From the sounds of things, they're being rather liberal with their explosives. The defenders will have to act quick if they want the Domed City to still resemble a city before the day is done! It's possible that some of the unthawed natives are still alive, but with every second that ticks by, that possibility diminishes.

For the science team, with or without the aid of the natives, their mission is to take stock of the workings of the city to find anything at all that could help with halting the city's solar swan dive.

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Cassie is both of those things. Luckily she's used a jetpack before, as it's not an uncommon upgrade for infantry where she's from.

It looks like the Fleet brought more firepower, in more durable packages. But long experience tells her that wins few battles in the long run, compared to a will to win.

And the pirates have that, in the form of not giving a steaming sierra about civvie casualties.

So. Accuracy is vital. And the best way to maximize accuracy in a mixed force of infantry and mechs, especially in an urban environment...She frowns, broadcasts on the general frequency.

"Abtakha here. Who's got the big guns? Patch into my frequency. I've got targeting gear and will be feeding you telemetry. Follow it to the letter."

Yeah, Deadlock's all about the jetpack they gave him--figures this place that makes burst-into-flame-flavored noodlebots would somehow manage to make a good jetpack. Probably used the bad noodlebot frames as fuel.

The only hitch is, you know, Deadlock's a grounder. Thus he is not only about as aerodynamic as a brick, he has the flying capabilities of a brick on amphetamines. Because the controls are a wee bit....twitchy.

"How the frag do I do that?" Because...Tele-what now?

"Just press the f..." She said, starting to walk him through it as if he were a rookie mechwarrior but remembering he wasn't really a battlemech and thus didn't have clearly marked controls, or even a cockpit to speak of. "...You got some way to share data?" On the fly space tech-support. All part of modern warfare.

CRUMP! A large spire somewhat nearby begins to crumple, as the pirates begin detonating charges within it. It sags heavily, and several winged people plummet out of it, before pulling up and away... well, the intact ones do, anyway. Some of the others don't pull up at all, and continue spiraling down in a rain of the dead.

"Oh foxtrot..." She unsheathes her Stoner-system rifle from its back strap, drops behind the lip of one of those purchases the winged natives use. She takes not all that careful aim and fires off a burst. She wants them to start taking cover before they kill more civvies. And if they hole up she can call in the heavy artillery with the targeting laser, assuming Deadlock ever figures things out on his end.

[Scenario A]

Axl had volunteered for the ground force first thing, rushing off on the task of scouting and reporting pirate movements so that the mini-fleet's ground forces had an idea where the fighting should be. If he found a skirmish or two, it wasn't like he couldn't protect himself. The jetpacks were just icing on the cake, letting him fly higher and longer than he could with his on-board dash and hover systems.

There were other scouts and experienced urban fighters out with the first wave as well, with who knew how many pirates to ambush and otherwise troll...

[Scenario B]

With a bubble of safe space and a front line established, Axl had elected to fall back with the sciency-types and keep on eye on them. No need to have valuable experts and equipment subject to any surprise raids that got by the front line guys... not to mention the fact that being one of the very few human-scale robots around meant he could poke things that might be dangerous for someone squishier.

Pinoko had ended up with the sub-fleet as support and as a way to get internship hours. It of course figured that the first mission would cause things to absolutely go wrong.

But Pinoko didn't know science! She was a nurse! So she was hanging out with the science people to take care of people that got hurt. Hopefully none of these people had diamond skin or four spleens or acid blood or anything. (She had just gotten all of her clothes cleaned after her last shift at the hospital!)

She noticed Axl, and gravitated towards him. "Hi Mr. Axl! You aren't hurt, are you?" Pinoko wasn't sure if Axl had the same kind of stuff as Deadlock did. If anything, Axl might be easier to patch up. (Which reminded Pinoko, she still needed to have a few choice words with Science Captain McEngineer about how robots were treated.)

"Hey, Pinoko," Axl said, almost bouncing a bit in place since the warren that was the city was a pretty fun place to knock about.

"I'm not hurt.. just a few singes I'm gonna need to buff out of my armor later. I'm here to help cover you guys."

"All right. We should go check to see if there's any wounded and if there's anything that we can do for them," Pinoko said. "I'm not that great at research, but I can help with nursing stuff. Pinoko just hopes that the Xenobiology isn't too crazy this time."

There was something to be said for the... unique experience of learning as you go. But she had her nursing kit. She hadn't even been at the fleet that long, and she had already traded out a lot of it for Space Technology.

"Come on. Let's go!"

"That I can do. If we're looking for hurt people, we're probably gonna find a fight~!"

Axl was maybe a little too cheery at the thought.

"You gonna be ok with the jetpack, or do you want a lift?"

Well, Pinoko was tiny enough that he really wouldn't bleed through the pack's power supply that much faster.

"Pinoko can operate my own jetpack, thank you," she said, smiling a little. "Acchonburike! I don't need to be carried everywhere."

To prove her point she pushes a button on the jetpack. And it sends her up. Acchonburike, indeed. That might not have been completely expected.

"Are you coming?" she called down to Axl.

"Just making sure!" Axl said, holding his hands up as Pinoko zoomed upward. He adjusted the straps of his own jetpack-- it had taken some fiddling to get it on over his armor-- and followed.

"Lead the way, boss."

"Awesome! You will be my nurse!" Pinoko declared, as they started looking around.

Nurses having nurses. What is this world coming to? Now Pinoko just had to hope that there weren't any natives with broken wings around. She really didn't know how to set a broken wings. (Hopefully the people of Terabel didn't have hollow wings like birdies.)

Leave it to Pinoko to turn a science mission into a Medical Mission.

"Uh.. okay? I don't know a lot about nursing, though..." Axl said, trailing off as Pinoko followed.. whatever she was following into a tangle of airy towers after casualties.

Well, it was gonna be an educational trip then, anyway.

"Don't worry! I didn't either when I started! You'll learn!" Pinoko called.

Was that a person up there? There was only one way to find out. And hope that she didn't overshoot the target!

"Oh boy..." Axl muttered, trailing off as he followed Pinoko's change of course. Yup, that looked like a person, and certainly smelled like a person who had gotten on the bad end of an energy weapon to Axl as they got closer.

"Light, what a mess," he said, tearing his eyes away from the rather burnt native to scan for any possible danger.

"Oh no," Pinoko murmured. "Sir!" she called, looking at the wreckage. "Are you... well it is clear that you aren't all right... but are you alive? Is anyone alive?"

Her voice might have sounded a little small on that last bit. But she took a breath, trying to calm herself down.

"Pinoko is a nurse!" And oh, did she sound more confident than she felt. "So I can tend anyone who is injured." Please please let that be true.

The burned apparition twitched, though whatever he or she said sounded a lot more like "fwuh" than an actual word. It was still pretty bad-- vivid streaks showed where weapons fire had made a close call, and there was a really big one that had turned most of their new patient's shoulder and chest black-- a direct hit, if Axl could guess. Probably in shock. Hopefully going to make it... though with the city on the way to the sun, that wasn't looking good either.

He didn't stop to check aside from a quick look, more concerned with the large window-doors to the place and making sure to check all possible points of entry for anyone approaching or hiding before he doubled back on Pinoko.

"Nurse Axl! We have an injured person over here! Pinoko needs your help!" she called, trying to calm herself down a little.

"It's all right," she said to the rather charred looking winged person. "We'll get you out. I can try to get you patched up. You can worry about paying Pinoko later," she said. "It looks like you got caught by weapons fire pretty bad. I'm going to have to examine you."

Because there might be more than the superficial stuff, but that had to be treated first.

"Just a minute!" Didn't work to get shot at, after all. Satisfied the coast was clear, he knelt next to Pinoko.

"All right, what do you want me to do? Looks like we're still clear."

"We need to stabilize the patient," Pinoko said, taking a breath and going over basic trauma stuff. "Evaluate for deeper wounds, like internal bleeding and stuff, and treat that first. Then treat the superficial stuff like the burns."

Pinoko took another breath or two.

"You make sure that we're clear, that nothing's coming. No pirates, no bikers, no asteroids or anything. And hand me things if I need you to."

She pulled out her nifty omnicorder then. "Let's see what the damage is."

"Nobody's getting through me. You go it," Axl said, giving her a slightly shaky thumbs up.

At least aside from being pretty crispy, the winged dude looked all right. A little cooked where that direct hit got scored, but otherwise? Maybe Pinoko's omnicorder would tell more, but Axl was betting on what he was seeing being what he got. It was gross enough as it was anyway.

"Okay," Pinoko said. "Sir, I know this hurts. We're going to get you out of here soon, all right?" Pinoko asked, eyeing the omnicorder results.

She would take the "fwuh" that the winged person made as a yes.

"Well, good news and bad news!" Pinoko said brightly. "The good news is that it looks like there's no internal injuries. It looks like the extent of the damage is that burn. The bad news is that the burn is pretty gross," Pinoko said. "It's going to leave a nasty scar, and we need to start treating it right away."

She sighed. Burns weren't that hard. Hopefully he wouldn't need a skin graft. But at least this person didn't have any broken bones. That was a plus.

"Axl, could you please bring me the kit out of my bag?"

Axl obligingly dug around, though he was a little flummoxed about what kit meant until he found one with a cross on it. That still meant medic, right?

"This it?" he said, handing it over. The alien wasn't looking so hot, conscious but clearly out of it.

"Hey, don't worry. She's little but she knows her stuff," he said, trying to sound reassuring.

"That's it!" Pinoko confirmed.

She took the kit, humming faintly under her breath as she started to stabilize the patient. It didn't take long, with all the fancy space tech. He'd have a scar, but aside from that, he'd be fine. Pinoko finished the treatment with some painkiller.

"Take it easy and stay hydrated. You should be all right. Axl, let's get him out of here," Pinoko said.

Axl kept a lookout, especially since it meant he didn't have to watch Pinoko work. Burned up squishies were gross.

"Kay... I got him. Lead on," he said, carefully gathering up their patient once Pinoko gave the all-clear. They'd have to scramble a bit to get him behind the safe line.. but that was what they were there for.

"Let's go," Pinoko said, leading the way back towards the safe line. She could discuss after care with their patient again once she got him safe.

Then, once he was safe, she could go out and look for patients all over again.

She stayed near Axl and the patient as they headed back towards the safe zone. No need for any of them getting blown up or shot before they got clear.

She was new to this world, so of course all of this was coming on too fast. Luckily, the circumstances where she left the last world were just this chaotic, and she'd had enough classes at Balamb to know how to use guns. Fionna was in there, but quick to conserve energy, preferring to take them out with pinpoint accuracy.

Honestly? She MISSED this.

Given his much more abundant ammo, Axl wasn't above spraying an area with fire if need be-- and when he spotted Fionna, he did so in order to pin down a pirate who was trying to sneak up on her position.

"Hi hi~!" Axl called, using dash jets to zoom in and make sure of the would-be sneak.

"Need a hand?"

Dang, she missed one! Well, good that Axl showed up, or that would have been trouble. She was happy enough to see him.

"Yeah, ok! Group effort!"

And what a group. Fionna was an excellent swordfighter, but proved to be just as skilled a markswomen, taking down pirate advancement left and right.

"Teamwork is magic," Axl said with a cackle, moving to stand back-to-back with Fionna to create a nice circle of shooty death. There were an awful lot of pirates.

"Where do you think all these guys came from? The sock drawer?" Axl said-- running his mouth during fights was a bit of a bad habit, oops. "Think we should keep score?"

Why did that phrase sound so familiar to her? She'd think about that later: right now they had dozens of pirates to worry about, and they seemed awfully keen on avenging themselves from Fionna AND Axl.

"The sock...heh, probably!" Fionna ducked as an explosive device soared over their heads. "Not a bad plan!"

She was already charging up her gun. "Let's move!"

The foul, amoebic shaped pirates which used several cybernetic armatures for limbs begin to organize a bit more effectively at this point, raining charged plasma and solid shots at Axl and Fionna in an attempt to keep their heads down.

Axl huffed under his breath during the inevitable dive for cover, wishing that he had any of his copy data handy aside from useless-ass Lumine. He was pretty sure he remembered having an energy shield at one point, and there were definitely a few fire-based 'roids he could think of...

"I think we're gonna need a bigger boom.. they give you anything explosive?"

He peeked out from cover, setting the positions of his foes to memory, and shot blind at a couple of them, trusting to a quick-and-dirty calculation. He didn't bother for the whole bunch-- he didn't think they were that stupid.

Fionna huffed, moving a little lower as the plasma blast glanced very closely near her left cheek. She was trying to keep in mind the things Namur had taught her, but she wasn't exactly backing off just yet, just adjusting her position.

Axl's reminder DID, however, that sometimes all you needed was some power, and a little bit of luck. She had a small mine, and she lowered herself now to where Axl was.

"It's not big, but if we use it right, we can punch a hole, right? I'm gonna launch it toward them and shoot it so it explodes around them, and then you come and start firing! That sound good?"

"Sounds good." He had the heavier battle armor. Made sense.

"I'll go on your count, then, and give you some cover to throw," he said, trying to keep his voice low despite the hail of plasma fire.

Once it looked like Fiona was ready, Axl popped up to spray some more fire into the no-man's-land between their positions, clearing the way for her to throw.

"All right dude! On my mark! One...two...THREE!"

Fionna lost her cover and gave a shot before heaving the small explosive in the air toward them as far as she could, then took aim. She was really happy with how her classes had progressed with firearms: she used to be garbage before. Now, however, the shot went off effortlessly, and exploded around the advancing pirates.

Axl adjusted his fire, making sure Fionna had a clear path but otherwise trying to make sure there wasn't going to be a good line of sight on her without a plasma bolt in it headed for a would-be attacker.

"Nice boom!"

Maybe they could get through the line of pirates now? Axl peeked to check.

The explosive seems to have momentary silenced the pirates, the spalling shrapnel and overpressure of the blast giving them a moment's respite, but it looks more than anything else like they're reloading to shoot some MORE.

Well GOOD. Fionna was far from over. She was already charging up her gun again.

"So that was what, like, ten a piece of each of us, dude? Let's keep going!"

Brave souls or lovers of violence... Or, you're the Doctor and defending strangers was just what you did. Besides, it was a chance to actually go somewhere, instead of being stuck in the Teuberg. It wasn't a bad city by any means, but he needed to be out doing something.

From the looks of the city and the proximity to the blue giant nearby, there wasn't much time. Would there be enough time to evacuate the city, should he and the other scientists fail to find a way to free the city from the gravitational pull of such a massive star.

Normally, he'd wander around and find things on his own, but even the Doctor recognized that there just wasn't time. For now, he was content to approach a native that looked like they knew what they were doing and ask that he and the other scientists be at least pointed in the direction of any sort of central control hub for the city...if there was one.

There are very few natives about, but eventually the doctor finds a chitinous, 6 foot tall humanoid with batlike wings, who speaks to him with a lower jaw that splits in half as it croaks out, "Yes?" It seems quite busy, apparently already attempting to make adjustments to some kind of interface that is attached to the wall of one of the large floating spike-scrapers.

Or, this might be what he's looking for.

The Doctor gives the creature a brief flicker of a smile, knowing there's no time for pleasantries. "I'm the Doctor. Our fleet caught your distress signal, so we're here to help."

He looks over the interface curiously, studying the markings while his hand goes to the sonic screwdriver in his pocket. "I'm quite good at this sort of thing, so just tell me what you need me to do and I'll get right on it. I may even be able to find a way to keep you from falling into that rather large star out there."

Always best to sound calm, even in dire situations. No need to add to the panic.

"Doc-tor. Good." He gestures to a few parts on the interface. "Circuits burned, we're rerouting. Help here and here while I try to restart this."

The creature seems rather unafraid of the being before it, if only because of the exigencies of the situation.

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EVENT: THE SLEEPERS OF TERABEL Pt. II

cybertronians and/or mecha pilots needed

You rang?

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pew pew pew [choose your own adventure, OTA]

[Scenario B]

Re: [Scenario B]

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Scenario A

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FOR SCIENCE! (Open)

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