Sayeeda leaped into the storm, the slashing rain instantly soaking her as she plunged towards the ground, cable paying out through her belt harness. The air exploded in blue prismatic fire as the plasma guns, designed to tear open ships hundreds or thousands of kilometers away tore into the approaching aliens. The rain soaked peninsular below was composed of a series of jagged basalt upthrusts that looked like blackened glass when wet with rain. Below the plasma cannon continued to fire, steam billowing around its white hot barrel as the operator fired it well beyond its tolerance.

The Xenos recoiled slightly as the the plasma guns on the Highlander chewed into them throwing body parts in all directions in steaming blasts of super heated steam. On the edges of the crowd some of the larger mollusk things seemed to crouch down. Sayeeda peered through her HUD trying to determine what the things were doing. On the ground soldiers were yelling and waving frantically at them though even without the storm it would have been impossible to hear what was going on. She glanced at the downed ship, it was three or four times the size of the Highlander but made in a completely different style. Fluted curves swept up in graceful architectural spires and the whole thing was acceented with gold and silver alloys. Here and there vast dents pocked the hull. Her eyes tracked down to the base of the ship. Shattered boulders of black stone lay around like bowling balls. With a sinking feeling she looked back at the larger mollusk things on the neck of the peninsular and her eyes widened.

"Lonney, evasive action!" she shouted and pulled a knife from her belt. The Highlander yawed violently to the side as the AI reacted instantly to her command, whipping her sideways on the tether. One of the mollusk creatures pulled up a stone the size of a car and, in a motion curiously reminiscent of a trebuchet, launched it at the Highlander. Lonney slipped sideways and evaded the first stone which sailed overhead and crashed into the ocean, lifting a massive plume of spray. There was no way for the AI to maneuver violently enough to save the ship while she and Neil were safely attached.

"Get her out of here!" Junebug screamed and cut the tether with her knife. The final jerk of the freighter tossed her hard to the right and she plumeted through the whipping rain. She hit the surf with a smash that drove the wind from her lungs. For long moments she was beneath the surface of the icy waters. She kicked powerfully trying to orient herself and a moment later broke the surface with a gasp. She couldn't see Neil or the Highlander but the overheating plasma cannon glowed like a beacon. Suddenly aware of the maratime look of the aliens she kicked her powerful legs and drove herself towards the shore.

The inlet was shallower than it looked and it only took her a minute or so to make it to the shore. Dragging herself out of the water she checked the read out on her plasma rifle. Everything was in the green so she worked the action and fired a round across the inlet ensuring it was functional. A pair of panicked looking soldiers, dressed in a black and yellow livery of some kind and with ornate looking body armor rushed down towards her. Both of them cluched functional looking slug throwers.

"DOWN!" one of the soldiers screamed and Sayeeda, with the reflexes of a veteran, threw herself to the sand. A rock the size of a cow scythed through the air above her. In a heart beat she was on her feet and running towards the soldiers. Thunder cracked high above.

"Are you alright?! Did your ship get away?" one of the soldiers shouted. Sayeeda ignored the pair until she was safely behind a small rocky outcropping.

"Neil?! Lonney? Still with me?

[@POOHEAD189]