[IC] Andreemea: New Tomorrows

[Darcs]

"and what are we doing if you dont want to talk?"

Kukcoo had just suppressed a blush when the young Nimin came up to her with the new situation. "Have you seen the executive officer or captain around anywhere?" Thankfully the Nimin girl was low-level security, as much as she hated to admit it, top brass wasn't too fond of fraternizing, she quickly moved herself an appropriate distance from Isaac, and was about to respond to the girl's inquiry, before she seemed to realize something and asked another question. "Or if you don't know where they are, perhaps you could help. You see, ma'am, I believe there's someone suspicious on the ship. I saw him leap away from the window..."

Oh, shit.

Kukcoo's mind shifted into work mode, she began thinking of theories and plans of action, in her stead, Isaac answered the girl "Unless Kuckoo know's of their locations, I guess you have to do with us, I may not be security but I can help with a simple matter as this" He was right. She didn't know the location of officers or captains, and although the situation could escalate, it certainly wasn't dire. So she definitely had cause to act independently. Given what they knew, this wouldn't be another Sector 7 massacre or anything, still, it wouldn't hurt to keep quiet about it, no need causing a riot.

Kukcoo put on a polite smile as she began to speak, "I'm glad you came to me when you did!" She placed a reassuring hand on the Nimin girl's arm as she went on, "This isn't a cause for worry-- we'll just need to quietly slip in, solve the problem, and slip out, easy enough for IGCP's best!" Moving over to the crate Gogo was sleeping on, she knocked twice, waking the grumpy Nymph up with a shot, a snort, and a scowl on her face-- If anyone else had tried waking Gogo up, they'd have been dead in that moment. Without missing a step, Kukcoo moved back to Isaac and the Nimin.

"We're dealing with an amateur here." Kukcoo started gesturing for them to follow her toward the ship, "A skilled one, granted, but an amateur." She stopped at the entrance of the ship and turned to her new 'party,' "They could only possibly be a spy, a thief, or a saboteur--" She began, "My money is on thief. A spy would have tried to blend in with the crowd, and a saboteur wouldn't so greatly risk being caught. Our target isn't working with faction-- if he is, it's a minor one. More likely, he is a privately hired mercenary or working independently. He's skilled to have gotten this far, but only an amateur makes the mistake of being seen-- he may not even be armed." Kukcoo bit her lip as she considered her next step, "Gogo, I want you on perimeter. No one enters or exits this ship-- that's an order." She didn't waste the time to see if any of that registered with her distant cousin before she shifted her gaze to Isaac and the Nimin, "You two; with me."

The three entered the Exeralune.

Upon entry, the three stood in the main corridor of the freshly renewed ship. They didn't really have time to wax poetic about it's beauty however, Kukcoo immediately asked of Isaac, "How soon can you get us the ship's video footage? I want to know where our thief came in and where he is now." While waiting for his answer, she turned to the young Nimin, "And you..." She looked the girl up and down before an impish smile crossed her lips, "I don't know your name yet!"

[Drake Baku]

Isaac

as the 3 walked towards the doors op the ship Isaac said just one thing to Kuckoo.
"Impressive, guess I know the answer to my question"

Once inside he took a small glance around, the thief was seen so he doubted that the thief was somewhere in the main hall they entered so taking in the insides in a quick glance was possible as far as he was concerned.

After M'rayl reacted to the request for introduction Isaac turned to Kuckoo for her question.
"once I find the main computer and can work alone, in seconds, IF the camera's are already running, dont know how long it takes for finding the comp room though, was supposed to get an tour once we were officially allowed inside, but I have my tricks to get around"
From there on Isaac started to walk towards a left corridor as he had noticed he could hide around the corner, walking a bit further to be sure the girls wont notice what he was planning to do and if they did not follow him, at least not for now.
Looking for one of the lights placed in the ceiling he extended his hand towards it as lightning extended from his hand, connecting him with the light and quickly turning to lightning himself as he 'jumped' in the electrical system.
From there on he went back, perhaps he could find the intruder while traveling around in search for the comp room.

As he passed the girls the lights suddenly blinked and slight sparks were visible for a second as he traveled though the light's.

---

Alexis

It took Alexis some time to find a vent he could crawl into, well better said he failed to find one up till now.
He was still roaming the halls, walking again as he figured crawling would be to slow when he calmed a bit, walking in circles actually.
Suddenly however something strange caught his eyes, around the next corridor he noticed some strange lightning effect that seemed to close in.
He wondered what it was, but he know he likely had to run for it in case off.

Soon after he noticed some big doors and jumped into them, looking though the small circular window what it might have been he noticed it was the lights that 'blinked' once.
"ok, strange, faulty lighting?"
As he turned around to check the room he was overjoyed to find himself in the ship's cafeteria and there were already a lot of sandwiches stacked for lunch or something.
As he grabbed a lot of them he heard a voice from the hallway, reason enough to hide in the kitchen.
Once he entered the ship's kitchen he felt himself suddenly lucky to find a big vent.
He opened the vent, though with some difficulty and climbed inside, closing it behind him, just in time as well as he could see a shadow walk towards the kitchen.
He looked behind him to see if he could crawl away, finding a short but small space to crawl around a corner, though after that the vent became to thin to move further.
Sitting barely around the corner in the vent, hoping that even if they checked inside he was deep enough to be hidden he started to eat.

---

Isaac

After a minute or 2 Isaac finally found what he was looking for and jumped out of the electrical net.
"the main computer, its smaller then I though it would"
After having said that he touched the machine and closed his eyes.

Soon after he found himself inside the computer's mainframe, well mentally.
First thing he did was lock the door so they wont find him by chance, it was good that this was a door with no window so he was save now.
Next he started to scan the computers camera system, he decided he wont have to download it, just view it as fast as a computer can view something.
It was lucky that the camera's have been turned on and that it was turned on just a hour ago, limiting the amount of data he had to check.

After about 40 seconds he found what he was looking for and began to scan the ship's wifi communicator system, normally he wont have access to this and if those two would know you need a password to use it, he would have to say he hacked it so he could report quickly and without the intruder hearing him across the ship's audio system.
Once he was connected he started with his message, this was the first time he send out a message while having his brain connected to a computer so he had no idea if this worked or how his voice would come out...
<Isaac here, he was last seen near the ship's mess, the mess seems to either lack camera's or they are turned off so I cant tell if he entered it but I have not seen him on the next section so unless he found an other way out, I guess he entered the mess>
His voice lacked all sounds of being a human and sounded more like a surge of electrical sounds that strangely enough were perfectly clear on what was supposed to be said.

[ImportantNobody]

Ahn shrugged his shoulders at Volray's statement about the alleyways, saying, "While I'm a good judge of character, I can't exactly predict the architectural designs of the Furzai in this case." His tone of voice did nothing to reveal if he was being sarcastic or not with this statement, as he sounded like the same carefree personality as always. "That being said, in all honesty I'm just running in the general direction that I know the Exeralune to be."

"Wha-?!" Arma shouted, bewilderment flooding his facial features, followed quickly by fear. "Didn't you say we shouldn't run without a plan?!"

"I have a plan; Run in the general direction of the Exeralune. And it's working so far. We've even assembled quite a party," Ahn replied as they continued to run, the crystal wall perhaps buying them some time. The sniper he saw didn't appear to have any jetpack, only wearing silver colored armor that likely didn't allow for them to be very light on their feet, but you never know what material it might be made out of without a more in depth scan. "If we arrive we know that we'll have backup if need by an a better way of communicating with the proper authorities. Also-"

He was interrupted by a bright pink light from the sky followed by the sound of a massive explosion. Smoke rose up above the surrounding rooftops, although from their position there was no telling what sort of damage had been done, or how...but they had a good guess when the sky light up more and more, following by additional explosions all around them, probably by luck that they weren't hit as well.

Planetary bombardment with a pherza-type cannon. What was the Furzai navy doing up there?! This IGCP headquarters was still under construction and had yet to develop a fully functioning shield generator, so they knew that they had to be on especially high alert to stop this from happening. Either this attacking ship had some awesome stealth to get away with this or there was a serious oversight in the Furzai forces. Both options were troubling, but perhaps the Exeralune could deal with it where the others had failed.

After a few seconds Ahn looked at his left wrist, which now had a glowing red dot on it. "Ah, the second part of my plan," he said in a more serious tone, pushing the button, then he spoke up to neither of the two in particular, meaning that he likely activated some sort of a communication device and was talking to a third party. "Yes, this is Captain Ahn Vora of the Exeralune speaking. Am I on? Yes? Well, I request everyone to man their battle stations on the Exeralune and prepare for lift-off. This is not a drill. I have reasonable suspicions that a planetary bombardment is in progress, likely from a single, or small group of enemy ships. I'll be arriving with all due haste, but please be ready by the time I arrive. All non-combat personnel, find your room mentioned in your data packet and wait. That is all."

The blinking light went off.

"Young man one and two, follow me on the ship if you desire and you don't need to worry about proper security clearance. It might be safer there than down-" as he spoke a nearby explosion sent a shower of marble flying across the alleyway in front of them. "here," he finished. Perhaps none of the explosions could get close enough to actually hit them because they were staying clear of the sniper on their trail? If so than this enemy sniper was actually more beneficial to their cause than a threat. If that theory was correct than they might be able to make it to the Exeralune in time and stop whatever it was that was going on.

********************

M'rayl was glad that she was taken seriously and the problem would be dealt with, plus she even got brownie points with the field commander when she put her hand on her arm, likely a sign of respect. Where she came friendly contact was welcome, it only being a bad sign of it's rough/threatening or in...an unusual place to touch for mere acquaintances. This touch didn't appear to be either. She was a bit nervous about being personally on the team to find the possible maniac stalking the ship, but she was with security after all so it was her duty to take such risks.

"My name is M'rayl Lithareon. My apologies for not announcing myself sooner," she said with a slight bow. With that she began to explore the ship, her standard issue IG Series Enforcer pistol at the ready in case things turned ugly. She found herself in the kitchen during her sweep of the area after getting a hint by a strange electrical voice. Setting her sights on a bunch of sandwiches got the saliva in her mouth starting but she had other things to think about at the moment. Or...wait, most of the sandwiches were in tidy order but there were some empty spaces and nearby ones misaligned as if someone had been messing with them. Could...could the stowaway be hungry? She had heard cases of members of poorer races sneaking onto a spaceship whenever the more fortunate races landed in order to get a good meal that would surely be onboard. If that was the case then she couldn't blame them, even if it was illegal. She had sympathy for people like that, even if she disliked breaking laws. If possible she liked to find some way to fix the problem in as pleasant a way of possible for both sides.

"This is security. Is anyone here? Come out and explain yourself, please. If not then people might worry and then people might get hurt," she called out. "I promise that I won't get mad if you have a good reason for being here."

Before anyone could manage a reply, a voice rang out on the speaker of the ship and in the surrounding hanger, taking her off guard. It was the captain and he announced a planetary bombardment of all things. She froze in place at the news to enter battle stations. So soon?! They weren't supposed to fight much at all, but they were now forced into battle on their first day?! She knew that they didn't have much time so spoke up again to try and convince the intruder to reveal himself.

"If we end up fighting then you need to be placed in a safe location. We can deal with all the legal matters of this situation later, but as for now we need to get moving," she stressed to him. She didn't leave the room quite yet, waiting to see if she got a reply.

********************

A cramped bridge colored purple, blue, and silver was flooded with activity as their ship began their bombardment onto the city's surface below. A few of them wore silver body armor while most others were clothed in crisp silver military uniforms made out of stiff and hard looking fibers. The chalky white humanoids were made up of a diverse group both female and male as well as young and old. They had no hair anywhere on them. In place of their head hair was what looked like thorny scales of calcified skin overlapping each other like scale armor, this armor spreading down the back of their necks and upper back. Their two largest thorns were above their thin pointed ears. They had more of their scales on their forearms, extending up to their knuckles. Their nails were hard, thick, and pointy. On top of their spines are a narrow ridge that ended in a small spine near their tailbone, possibly where they lost a tail long ago in their development. Their eyes were purple, yellow, silver, and orange most common.

A well toned purple eyed one grinned, revealing painted black teeth, not uncommon among his people. Based on the extra decoration on his uniform it was clear that he was in charge.

"To think, our humble war party will be the one to claim such a valuable prize," he boasted in a sly sounding voice, his voice speaking in an alien tongue other than Anolo, although he, like most of his people, knew how to speak it if need be. "I was right to assemble you all, my gallant comrades in arms, to take part in this mission. Sneaking by those mangy mutts called the Furzai and other IGCP ships was no easy task even given our advanced stealth systems. Color me impressed."

"You're too kind, my lord," a female replied with a stiff salute before turning back to her work. She was one of the older looking ones, possibly in her 60s. Wisdom shone in her wrinkles and face as her eyes studied the computer screen in front of her.

They had no official military, war parties comprised of self appointed lords who were able to gather together a group of like minded individuals willing to serve them. They could be anyone that they fancied to be their companion, criminals or otherwise, unless it was a criminal to someone else's war party, in which case they'd have to fight over his or her release, often times quite brutally even in their civil wars. Men, women, and children alike grew up in their militaristic culture, and although children were often left out of things, it was not always the case, depending on wither on not the lord in question finds them more of use than a burden to them, in which case they might find themselves offered to join their "merry" little bands as well. War parties lasted for different lengths of time, sometimes indefinitely. This one was comprised of a team from his village specifically for the capture of the Exeralune. It appeared to be paying off so far, as both his ship and land team had successfully infiltrated the enemy. Now to execute the final phase of their plan and they'd return home as one of the most honored war parties. Maybe they'd name a holiday in their favor.

The man smiled again.

[Daglobster]

Shor'Gen looked as if he was going to continue speaking to Damien, but suddenly, he went tense, straightening up as he turned his head to seemingly stare at the wall behind. The orbital strike might have been out of earshot for everybody else, but he picked up the faintest trace of it, not to mention that the vibrations carried through the air and ground were picked up by his hypersensitive chitin and sensory tendrils.

"Something is not right..." Shor'Gen muttered, just before the speakers came online. He listened intently, and didn't hesitate to get moving. Dropping to a more insect-like crawling stance, he crawled rapidly towards the ship, heading up the docking ramp. He wasn't quite sure where the medical deck was, but a quick glance at the ship's layout told him it was on the floor above. He didn't have time to cram his carapace into an elevator filled with rushing ensigns either, which left him with quite the predicament.

He had to get the medical facilities prepped as quickly as possible, so he took the less civilized option. Using his powerful legs, he climbed up one of the hallways until he was crawling upside down on the ceiling, and promptly entered the maintenance tunnels, navigating them until he came out of a wall grate on the second floor, rushing into the medical bay.

[Drake Baku]

Volray

The moment the bombardment started things turned quickly.
"wish I could help you guys with getting to that ship but I can help better if I can get to my fighter and join my crew, if you see a large pillar shaped crystal ship, make contact and mention Volray, that should be enough to gain the Shiira support, even if I fail to get up to the ship"
Just as Volray said those words a new explosion echoed in the streets and debris rained on them, one of which actually cut though a metal dumpster.
"damn, this is one hell of a way to join the....." Suddenly his voice trailed off as he looked at the piece that cut in the dumpster.
The piece was a razorsharp black gem like blade and Volray knew exactly what it was.
"ok... good news, I can help you guys first, cause they blasted my fighter to, well that" he said lightly as he pointed to the piece of his ex-fighters wing.

---

Alexis

At first Alexis decided to stay quite, not realizing they pretty much knew he was in this room.
He wondered if his reasons were even good enough to get out of here with no problems, wanting to see the worlds, get away from his own family, mainly his father, getting on this ship to get some food as he was hungry and had nothing to get around otherwise.
oke, the last one clearly would be a decent reason but even so, chance was they would bring him back home to his father who would likely be furious enough that.... well he did not wanted to think about it actually.

When the announcement came he was scared so silly that he almost fell from the vent from its sudden announcement, but what he heard was even worse.
The planet getting bombarded?!?
What kind of mess did he get himself into???

"If we end up fighting then you need to be placed in a safe location. We can deal with all the legal matters of this situation later, but as for now we need to get moving," the female voice spoke to him.
A safe place sounded good, though he wondered if any place like that would even remain in this situation.
He considered to wait till she left, he had a pick on her aura now so he would know if she left or hid, if she left he would just climbed out and try to get away.
But to where? if its true then no place on this planet is safe and this ship would be his best bet, but then he would get captured or he was going to hide here for as long as he could.
The again she knew he was here, that much was clear, going with her was maybe his safest bet in general, it would beat being alone to fend for himself.

Kicking open the vent he jumped out and walked to the white woman he had seen before a few times.
"I can fight as well, if that announcement is true, no place is safe, not the planet, not the ship and you guys will need all the help you can get, deal?"

---

Isaac

After having reported about the whereabouts of the stowaway Isaac stayed in the system for a little longer, downloading some pieces of intel he guessed could be useful, such as a map of the ship, weapon specs and more stuff, ending with opening the doors lock.
It was right after he jumped out the system that the emergency announcement came though the speakers.
Nodding to the report he pretty much walked out the door as he knew Kuckoo was right around the corner.
He walked straight towards her and nodded "whats the plan?"

---

Volray

After they run for a little while Volray suddenly stopped, the red gem on his collar glowed a little and those with very keen hearing might hear some chiming sounds coming from it.
Then as the gem's sound turned quite Volray touched it and then the same type of sound came from himself.
This became a little back and forth for a very short time as right after he responded and the gem started again the light suddenly started to act erratic and the sounds became more chaotic as if whatever was making it was in a panic.
The same could be seen from Volray himself as he tried to get more info between the chaos, something was wrong.
Then from the sky a new explosion appeared, this explosion was something else then the bombardment on the planet and from its location could be from the space dock where the Shiira ship was located.
The blast was huge, powerful enough that you could see it from the planets surface, nearing a Atomic bomb in explosion type.
After the blast some kind of spherical gathering of glitter could be seen if the lighting was correct enough, what with all the bombardments was often enough.
not to much longer and pieces of crystal would start raining down, both pieces of the Shiira ship and pieces that broke of the sphere just outside the atmosphere that just became the planet's new moon.
(is not happening right now)

The gem of Volray's collar stopped fully at the same time as the blast and the sounds stopped all together.
Volray tried to activate it still, his own sounds could barely be heard but it never got a responce...
"no....." was all he could say as he dropped on his knee's staring at the crystal sphere that use to be the core crystal placed in his ship, its explosion meant one thing and one thing only, the ship was damaged and core crystal instability reached a point that it exploded, meaning all his crew members, his close friends stationed on the ship, everyone... was dead.........
The shock was heavy enough that his crystal's tips started to slowly turn into sapphire blue, unless someone would get his(volray's) mind together he would likely become fully blue instead of his natural born yellow.

[Lalliman]

Gunnos’ attempt at conversation was cut short by the captain’s emergency announcement. By the Stone, an orbital bombardment?? If only the Furzai built their bases underground like the Korrvain, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem. He turned away from the armoured figure to see unrest rising among the rest of the crew, some taking this news better than others. He didn’t know who here was field commander or whether the field commanders were even around, but there was no time to find out. Gunnos may only be security personnel, but he knew that a bombardment rarely comes without a follow-up invasion.

Putting on his serious face, he took the hammercannon off his back, grabbed some slugs out of his pocked and started loading it, just in case. Explosions could already vaguely be heard in the background, giving credit to the captain’s warning, and they seemed to be getting closer too. “Aye!” he yelled to get the group’s attention. “I dunno who’s in charge here, but until ye reveal yeself, this is what we’re doin’. These attackers may get here before the cap’ does, and if we all stuff into the ship we’ll be cornered. You bunch,” he said, pointing at the few security members who looked most frightened. “Get inside the ship and make sure the other crew is safe. The rest of us are gonna put up a defensive formation around the ship. Any objections?”

Many of them threw him weird looks at first, as if questioning why they would take orders from a Korrvain, but no one objected. It seems they had indeed been caught without leadership at the moment. Their attackers couldn’t possibly have planned that… could they? The few he’d pointed out scurried inside to secure the entrances, while the others spread out and took cover as best they could behind the stacks of crates dotting the hangar. From then it was just waiting, and hoping that the threat wasn’t as big as he feared.

[Darcs]

Kukcoo had been walking to the ship's cafeteria when the she heard the voice over the intercom, it wasn't electronic like Isaac. Kukcoo's body froze in place as the grave voice-- the Captain-- spoke:

"Yes, this is Captain Ahn Vora of the Exeralune speaking. Am I on? Yes? Well, I request everyone to man their battle stations on the Exeralune and prepare for lift-off. This is not a drill. I have reasonable suspicions that a planetary bombardment is in progress, likely from a single, or small group of enemy ships. I'll be arriving with all due haste, but please be ready by the time I arrive. All non-combat personnel, find your room mentioned in your data packet and wait. That is all."

The adrenaline hit her body hard. Kukcoo abandoned the search for the stowaway; the ship needed to be gone-- and the crew needed to inside. Her gravity boots sparked on, the red gems glowed with life and the boots began pulsating. Then she was levitating. She didn't have time to appreciate the miracle of flight granted by her well worn boots, she propelled herself through the corridors of the Exeralune, zipping through the hallways toward the entrance she had used not 5 minutes prior. Her mind explored possibilities-- Could this ship survive a direct hit? The warehouse certainly couldn't, it'd be a nice buffer, but it would only lessen the damage so much...

Isaac rounded the corner just as she did, and she had to swerve to get her boots to stop their jet propulsion. It was an inappropriate time, but as he walked towards her, she realized his eyes were a bright and intense goldenrod in color. She had just pegged him as human... That could wait though. He nodded toward her, "whats the plan?"

Her voice was calm, "Well--"

“Aye!” That obnoxious voice could only belong to a Korrvain, there was only one here, thankfully, “I dunno who’s in charge here, but until ye reveal yeself, this is what we’re doin’. These attackers may get here before the cap’ does, and if we all stuff into the ship we’ll be cornered. You bunch, get inside the ship and make sure the other crew is safe. The rest of us are gonna put up a defensive formation around the ship..."

Her demeanor became markedly more annoyed. She answered Isaac's question with haste, "I need you to get this ship ready to leave, and keep an eye on radar. When the blasts get too close you get us out of here, the Captain should be here soon, we leave the second he steps on this ship. If you can't do that..." She observed the Korrvain, organizing his defense. Against what? Death rays from space? She turned to Isaac, "...Then you find someone who can, and relay the order from me!" She let out an audible sigh, "... I... need to go handle this." With that, she left Isaac to tend to the technical side of emergency lift-off preparations.

"...Any objections?” was all Kukcoo could hear as made her way down the hallway toward a still open entrance to the ship. Yes, quite a few, actually.

Kukcoo emerged into the warehouse like an asteroid belt murderbeast, "What the hell are you all doing!? You heard Captain's orders! We're preparing for an emergency lift-off, not fighting insurgents!" Her voice boomed through the warehouse, It had the scolding of an angry mother combined with the fear inducing quality of an angry comet wolf. Her small body levitated over an entrance to the ship and she continued, "Everyone. In the Exeralune-- NOW. Or we will be leaving without you."

That last bit got their attention. The various security personnel who had decided to follow the Korrvain's orders made their way into the ship, she'd need to remember to reprimand them all later-- She wanted to reprimand the Korrvain now-- But her desire to get everyone off the planet safely was (however slightly) stronger than her prejudice toward the Korrvain.

[Lalliman]

Barely had he gotten the crew in position, when the Nymph showed to up shatter his plans. The crew members were more inclined to listen to her, unfortunately. Granted, she was a field commander, as he seemed to have picked up, and it’s only natural to want to get into cover from the bombardment. Gunnos wasn’t about to blindly accept her orders though, not when lives were on the line.

He broke away from his cover with the others, ran towards the entrance, but stopped right before Kukcoo, looking up at her. Dammit, the one person shorter than me has rocket boots. “Crazy Nymph!” he yelled upward, letting the anger show in his face and voice. “Ye think the ship will fare better against these bombs?? This ain’t a military vessel, and the shields are still offline. It offers fleeting protection and crowds us t’gether like target practice. If the enemy does come down, a few grenades will be the end of us!”

Gunnos had barely finished his sentence when a shard of crystal as big as a man crashed into the hangar’s roof, piercing halfway through the metal ceiling before getting stuck there. “Hmm, an unexpected circumstance.” He mumbled softly to himself, before turning back to the Nymph. “Fine, I’ll follow ye, just cause I have no choice. But if the attackers show up before the cap does, I’m blamin’ you for what happens next.”

[ImportantNobody]

A golden skinned, blonde haired Nihn with a long slender tail and a well toned muscular body was hurriedly making his way through the streets, helping passerbyers into more safe locations if they were unable to move quickly enough on their own. Although this delayed him in reaching the Exeralune, as he heard the order on his communication device, there was no way he was going to run past innocent people who needed his help.

"This is Executive Officer Randa Neeus reporting in," he said into his device, which transmitted to other crewmembers on the ship, including the captain, other officers, and certain security personnel. "I'm on my way but am providing some much needed assistance for the populace. If I don't arrive by the time you're ready to go, leave me here and I'll find my own way to rendezvous with you. Over and out."

He put his device away in order to focus once again on his current duty.

"There's a basement in that building. Hurry!" He shouted, directing a Furzai couple who seemed scared out of their wits, causing them to just stand there shivering in the middle of the street as the bombardment drew closer and closer. This seemed to snap them into their senses long enough for them to make a mad dash through the doors and vanish out of sight, hopefully to safety.

Good. It looked like everyone in this area managed to reach a relatively safe location...no wait, some girl was moving his way now from around the corner, passing up a few possible safe havens along the way. What was she thinking?! Well, a disaster situation that came out of nowhere would tend to limit the ability for untrained individuals to think properly and she was just a kid, so maybe she lost her family and was searching for any adult that she could find to help her out. Whatever the reason, he had to act quickly or else this street may be obliterated at any second, taking both him and her with it. As he got closer to her he could see more of the details, revealing that she was of a race he had never seen before. White skin and bald, with what looked like natural plate armor in place of hair. Her left eye was silver and the right was gold. She appeared to be around 13 if she followed the normal growth of humanoid kids. She looked adorable and helpless in her little black dress, in desperate need of someone like him to assist her, if her expression was to be believed.

"Hurry, let's go back the way you came! There's a safe house just that-a-way, so if you lost your family in the chaos then you can always look for them after you're all safe," he explained, moving closer in order to aid her.

"Thank you so much," she said rushing up and hugging him tightly.

"Alright, let's get going-" he began to say, but he felt a sudden sharp pain in his back erupt through his back, something tearing through his DefenseWeave military jacket. Debris from an explosion?! The girl took a step back, smiling as she held onto a bloodied dagger.

"Mission complete," she said to something hidden within her dress.

"Wha-" he thought, his vision becoming blurry as he fell to his knees. "A...kid..." he slumped to the ground, fatally wounded. Melee weapons were able to cut through DefenseWeave easier than bullets, so what better way to kill a high ranking and defended individual than with a sneak attack from a child? She confirmed her kill before rushing down the street in search for her next victim, in no worry of the bombardment due to being in on it from the beginning.

She got a call before she could find anyone else of note.

"Maa Yu, it appears like the crewmembers of the Exeralune are almost all at the hanger sooner than expected, and the ones who aren't are being dealt with accordingly. Your work here is done. Good job."

Although slightly disappointed, she did manage to take out someone of incredibly high rank, so that would have to be good enough for her. She gave her affirmative and changed course to leave the battlefield. Although she, like a lot of her race, were trained from birth for combat and could carry her own in battle well enough despite her young age, she was best at subterfuge so there wasn't as much point in her joining the actual combat as of right now. That would have to wait.

********************

(Meanwhile, while all this was going on)

The squad clad in silver made their way through the streets, gunning down anyone foolish enough to be out in the open still and get in their way. They almost made it to the hanger now, finding a Gurran leaning against the building's wall, smoking a humungous cigar, apparently on his break, only now instead of it being relaxing he was standing in surprise at the scene taking place before him. His military uniform designated him as the security chief. What luck to catch him like this out in the open. He could have been trouble later on, especially upon seeing the massive weaponry that was slung over his back. In a fair fight he could have torn through their armor like butter and been a real challenge. They didn't give him a fair fight.

While he was distracted, one of them fired a single shot of a long range assault rifle, piercing him right in the forehead and killing him instantly. The cigar fell out of his gapping mouth as he collapse to the ground with a thud.

"That puts me in the lead," the man who fired that shot remarked with a fierce grin, although that was not seen underneath his helmet.

"What?! Come on, that doesn't count," another one complained as they made their way up to the doors. "Besides, we haven't even had a chance to start yet."

"You just got to be quicker to the punch, that's all."
The doors opened and a bunch of surprised people turned to look at the heavily armed group enter the facility.

"Nice day we're having, ain't it?" The leader exclaimed in the Anolo language as he raised his machinegun and began firing. These security forces were weak and didn't stand much of a chance even if not taken by complete surprise, leaving the battle over within a minute, the invaders the only ones left standing when the dust cleared. Hopefully the security team working for the Exeralune were better or else they might get bored to death by the time this mission was complete. As for now his 6 year old child could literally have done the job for him. Knowing that they might have heard the shots and were preparing, however, they couldn't idle around for much longer so rushed further into the building to the area outside of the Exeralune, seeing the ship and it's crew for the first time.

They were acting like purtulan with their heads cut off, a lot of the engineers, technicians, and other crew members apparently on board but the security forces seemed to be split between also going on board or standing around to greet the invaders head on. Only around 10 of them remained right now, leaving then outnumbered 2 to 1. Heh. This would be a slaughter after all. Not only were the security personnel worse armed, they were also outnumbered and disorganized.

"You villain! Stop!" A chaehtinn named Reeker shouted in a robotic voice that served as his translator. He fired his machinegun wildly at them, charging forward at top speed. He was quick and thin, making him a difficult target to hit, but he was out in the open and drew the attention of the entire squad. A hail of bullets reduced his body to green mush before he managed to do any serious damage to their armor, most of the shots missing and a few glancing off them.

The other crewmembers learned their lesson and found things to hide behind, attacking more as a team. This forced the attackers to react accordingly, slowing down their progress for the first time. However, as for now they still held the advantage and would slowly push their way closer and closer to the ship.

********************

Arma wanted to keep going, but there was a major slowdown as their other companion fell to his knees in anguish. He didn't know what was going on all of a sudden but it looked bad. Still, they couldn't afford to stop like this or else be huge targets.

"Go on ahead. The hanger is just past this alleyway. I'll be a little while longer," Ahn said to Arma, probably noticing how antsy he was looking. Arma nodded his head shakily in agreement and continued forward.

Ahn knelt down tenderly next to the kneeling man, placing a hand lightly on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, but in order to help stop any more from suffering through the feelings that you are experiencing now, we must stand up tall and press onward, using every ounce of courage that we have to combat this threat, making their brave sacrifices not be in vain."

The enemy sniper made his way around the corner, halting in surprise to see that his foes were stopped in a crouching position in the middle of the alleyway. When the shock wore off in about a second he began to take aim at the pair, only to be stopped as Ahn scooped up a jagged piece of fallen crystal in his free hand and flung it forward, the crystal sailing through the air for a brief moment before jousting into his shoulder and forcing him to drop his hold on the sniper rifle as he let out a surprised yelp. Ahn continued to only wait patiently, keeping his eyes on his new companion to make sure that he was still alright. He'd carry him to safety if he had to, but it would be much easier of he would begin to walk again on his own initiative.

[Drake Baku]

Isaac

After getting an order from Kuckoo Isaac went back to the computer room and locked himself in once more.
His first action once he had connected himself was to lock the door and follow up with finding and starting the engine programming, what took him some time to do both.
Still he succeeded to do so in time to check the ship's surveillance at the entrance and overhear some dwarven guy talk to kuckoo about the ship's shields.
He quickly looked for those programs and activated that and checked up on the conversation once more just in time to hear him speak about how he is blaming her for what is going to happen next, feeling he missed something possibly important, still he did what was needed and liked the look on the guy's face seeing the shields magically came alive once he spoke about it.
"Like this?" the electric sounds from the speakers near them seemed to say, he could not resist the joke before reporting to Kuckoo, still unaware about how odd his voice is over the speakers.
"ma'am, I started the engines and the shields, once the cap enters we are clear to lift off, mind if I see how to hack the turret systems and temporally modify the programming to fire on all that enter the hanger and are not counted in the Exa crew files, at least till someone can man the things themself?, can also see if I can simply hack the controls from here and fire on all seemingly hostiles, both have a little danger to them though"
He did not mention the dangers as he guessed she would already be able to realize each downside, the auto programming could be great to take down all possible hostiles but can also take down bystanders and civilians that are running for their live while hacking the systems and controlling them himself have the possibility of acting too slow (though as long as he hacked these with his mind that wont be that much of a danger) but he might not be able to know who is a civilian and who is a enemy acting like a civilian...

---

Volray

Though Ahn's words were being taken in by his brain, they failed to get into his consciousness at this point.
It was not till the sniper yelped that he looked somewhere else that the orb in the sky.
The moment his eyes fell on the now wounded man something snapped inside him, he knew this man was part of the group that was behind this attack, that this attack is the cause that the Pillar got destroyed, that this man was part of the group that killed all his friends on that were on the Pillar, this man was his enemy!
A rage he had never felt before took hold and snapped his mind back together, leaving only the tips of all his crystals sapphire blue.
Suddenly he got launched as a small ramp of crystal shaped from the ground under him, a thin long sword shaped in his hand and slashed off the hand that was trying to reach back for his rifle while he landed to the side of the man.
A small spin kicked the man backwards as a new ramp launched Volray forwards again, his sword stabbed between the guy's longs and pinned him to a wall as the sword broke off.
the soldier was lucky that the sword miraculously missed all vital organs, but he would likely bleed out to death if left like this.
Volray calmed down after this and walked towards the man, ripping his helmet off and looked him right in his gold and silver eyes "This wont be you death" was all he said to the man before grabbing him by this throat and pulling him off the wall and the sword.
The man screamed as the sword slashed deeper into his body before he was tripped and slammed facedown on the ground.
Volray first grabbed both his hands, pulled them together and created black quartz handcuffs that covered his entire lower arms and hands, then he put his hand on the sword wound on the guy;s back.
The man screamed again as crystal matter was forced in the wound to stop the bleeding, though he wont live long with crystals in his body he would live for a few weeks, long enough to get interrogated.
Afterwards Volray pulled the man back on his feet and linked the man's neck by a collar to his own hand in order to guide the man, but first he looked the guy in his eyes once more.
"2 choices, walk on your own or I make you walk, and believe me, you want the first choice"
The man could`tell that Volray was dead serious and not bluffing, as that though his training he knew that if he cant take his own live, being cuffed the way he is, he could only do what his captures wanted him to do and wait for a moment to try and escape, getting wounded now would only destroy his chanced of escaping, if that failed he should hope he get killed during interrogating, he believed to be able to stand all interrogations without talking, so an death during would be his best bet to escape if all else fails.

Volray walked to Ahn and nodded "hope your ship has a prison" he said as he walked past the cap.

[Daglobster]

As fighting erupted outside the ship, Shor'Gen couldn't help but to contemplate what he was going to do in this situation. As a medical crewmember, he was technically a non-combatant, but he couldn't just sit idly by as crewmembers and security forces were engaging the enemy outside. Taking his Yog'Lonian Mist Projector out of one of his luggage containers, he grasped the vaguely rifle shaped mess of tubes and casing in his lower arms and headed back towards the boarding ramp, this time taking the elevator. Once he arrived, he quickly dropped down low and scuttle down the ramp, a couple of stray bullets hitting his carapace at shallow angles and bouncing off as he moved to take cover.

First, he'd use his hearing vision to see the position of his enemies, and then, he'd pop out, releasing the pressure on his mist projecter. From his weapon (which made no noise, just the subtle hiss or pressurized gas being released), came a roiling cloud of greenish, semi-translucent gas. It traveled forwards on a flamethrower-esque trajectory, and Shor'Gen would sweep the area ahead with it.

The gas was made up of a caustic compound that would melt and disassemble any organic matter it came into contact with.

[ImportantNobody]

M'rayl was startled when the vent was suddenly kicked out, but the intruder turned out to not seem too dangerous, or he could at least listen to reason, unless he was trying to trick her. Assuming the best of people, she lowered her gun, although kept it in her hand just in case she needed it for him or some other attacker.

"We'll see what the captain of this ship thinks, as it's his ship you trespassed one, but I have no problem with it," she answered. "Follow me and we can report back to the lady who put me on this little assignment. I'm sure she'd love to meet you," M'rayl said with a smile, implying that she might be kidding around a bit with that last statement.

Glancing behind her to see if he was following, she began to make her way out to the entryway of the ship, only to be surprised by the sound of combat taking place inside the hanger. She perked up on high alert, peaking around the corner to see the woman she was looking for and many more people who she wasn't, clad in silver armor. Some Exeralune crewmembers rushed pashed her into the ship although others still fought, trying to keep the enemy at bay.

"We have a problem," she shouted behind her to Alexis.

*********************

Ahn was glad that Volray didn't end up killing the wounded man. There was hope within him if he was able to hold back on his revenge.

Without wasting any more time he rushed off to at last reach his destination. When he arrived it became apparent that things took a turn for the worse when he noticed his security chief laying dead outside with a single bullet wound in the head. Heading into the building revealed even more bodies and the sound of gunfire near the Exeralune. Arma was crouching nervously besides the door, intently watching the events unfolding within the next room over that held the ship.

"That's your ship, right?" Arma questioned, pointing to it. "And those silver guys are not going to be happy about letting us on."

"Hmm..." Ahn groaned, pondering their next move. There was no way that they could burst through so many and live to tell the tale. "We take things easy, observing for-"

He was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching the building, followed soon by additional silver armored people storming the building from behind them.

"We go all out. Fire!" He ordered Arma, who held his Selvan made pistol at the ready. He did as commanded, which he would have done so anyways due to wanting to take action just as much as Ahn if he wanted to save his own skin. Getting caught between the two groups would be a death sentence even more than their current situation already had been.

The shoot hit it's mark due to the guy facing the other way and crouched motionless behind cover. He let out a cry as he collapsed writhing on the ground, a large burning hole in his back armor. Most of the group spun their heads around to face him, but before they could take any other actions Arma got off another shot, this time striking a forehead and killing him instantly. Five of the group near the Exeralune began shooting towards Arma, the captain, and Volray, which was soon joined by the reinforcements, pinning them down for the time being.

"Can you get us some more cover, please?" He said non-sarcastically to Volray as he narrowly dodged a bullet that whizzed past his helmet. They might very well have to rely on their crewmates to get them out of this one.

Meanwhile, the group fighting the crewmembers of the stumbled backwards out of range as a giant monster began to shoot some weird gas at them. Three of them focused their attention on him now, frightened to see such a thing here.

********************

A stubby looking bug-type alien named Meidei and a Japanese girl with long black hair named Asuka rushed out of the ship's entryway almost in conjunction, Meidei wielding two straight vibroswords and Asuka a katana made out of a unique material stronger than steel. They looked at each other and then at the enemy forces. Both boasted incredible talent at close range confrontations but they needed to get into position first before their talents could be put to good use.

Then they noticed a rock man, otherwise known as a teloran, standing nearby, his bulky body perfect for withstanding attacks. Hmm...that might be just what they need to get them in close. Walking cover was always a help...

[Darcs]

FUCK.

"ma'am, I started the engines and the shields, once the cap enters we are clear to lift off, mind if I see how to hack the turret systems and temporally modify the programming to fire on all that enter the hanger and are not counted in the Exa crew files, at least till someone can man the things themself?, can also see if I can simply hack the controls from here and fire on all seemingly hostiles, both have a little danger to them though"

DOUBLE FUCK.

"Sure...!" She shouted in the general direction of the electronic voice she assumed to be Isaac. Kukcoo, not owning a gun herself, was using a generic, surplus enforcer in the firefight. She crouched and peered out of the entryway of the ship, she lined up a shot against the torso of what appeared to be a humanoid in silver armor reloading, he didn't notice her.

*blam*

Another one down. "Actually Isaac," She took a potshot, no dice. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Gogo firing wildly as she ran with a crazed expression, she was shot to hell but she didn't seem to notice. Or maybe she just didn't care. Kukcoo fired a shot at a silver man aiming for her-- missing, but getting him to duck behind cover. "Just send the announcement that we need the gunners to get to their stations-- like now. I'm not comfortable trying out the auto-turrets without the orders..." She lined up another shot, more carefully.

*blam*

He didn't fall down-- but his gun did, broken most likely, another silver man fell back. "Our orders are still to be ready for emergency take-off," A silver man rushed forward. Bad mistake. Three shoots took him down. Kukcoo tossed the empty pistol aside and picked up another surplus enforcer, "I'd like to have all these bastards dead, but once cap and the rest of security get in here, we're gone ASAP." The shots pinged the Exeralune door uncomfortable close to her head, she fell back to the hallway for a second, "The gunners need to clear whatever path they can for the crew to make it on here, all safe and sound..."

*blam**blam*

Two shoots at the mook who had fired at her. "Thanks Isaac, over for now." Two shots was all it took and the silver figure slumped behind the crate, a figure next to him fired at her, the shot ricocheting off the ship. The were doing pretty good all things considered. Still, a part of her was angry-- she had let personal bias get in the way of the proper course of action. The damned Korrvain had been right-- she knew it, he knew it, and he knew she knew it. She took several shots at a silver head as it ducked behind a crate, she fell back. He wasn't entirely right-- having all of security would've just clogged the warehouse and made them a shooting gallery-- as well as making a speedy get-a-way when the Captain finally DID show up damn near impossible.

Where WAS that guy, anyway?

Still, he was right-- they should have organized a defense, a small one, able to retreat hastily, but still, a defense. All in all though, they could have been doing worse, only one recorded death-- a human fell after being shot in the back as he ran toward the ship-- two recorded deaths, at least 8 on the other side, and more incapacitated. She calmly lined up the sights of her surplus pistol with the human's murderer, and watched as the shot tore through the silver armor like tissue. 9 deaths on the other side. Kukcoo ducked back into the ship for cover.

"We have a problem,"

Kukcoo heard the familiar Nimin voice and turned with a warm smile, "M'rayl!" she maintained that smile as she turned to the blue-skinned stranger, "And I assume you're our stowaway?" She walked the two toward the entrance, "Well," she picked up another surplus enforcer and handed it to the Glaizart, "I have a way you can earn your keep," She pointed her own low quality pistol at a crate and fired uselessly at the silver men behind it, "We need to cover anyone on our side trying to get into this ship."

*blam*

[Lalliman]

This is bad, Gunnos thought. The defence force was divided between fighting and hiding, and the attackers were coming in well-armed and in large numbers. At least the shield was up now thanks to the strange electronic voice (what was that anyways?), yet the door remained unshielded, so the attackers might end up entering and slaughtering the rest of the crew if they weren’t stopped. Right as Gunnos feared he’d have to charge in alone, which he would if left no other choice, Shor’gen came crawling out to join the battle, followed by two women and a large rock man.

A gift from Chahara Vee, he thought as he advanced together with them to join the few crewmembers who’d stayed in position despite Kukcoo’s command. He charged for the nearest available cover, which happened to have an attacker taking cover on the other side. Just as the attacker rose to fire, Gunnos was there with his weapon at the ready. “Surprise motherfucker,” he said as he blew the man off his feet with a blast from his shotgun. Behind him, the Teloran was lumbering forward as bullets struck sparks against his rocky body, with the two women taking cover behind him. A couple yards to his right, an Inorr with an obscenely large gun blasted right through a small stack of crates to blow the attacker behind it to pieces with a single shot, while to his left a very large human was boldly punching one of the attackers in the face.

Maybe there was hope after all. Meanwhile, more conflict seemed to be erupting on the far end of the hangar. That better be the captain, he thought, but he couldn’t get a good enough look without risking being hit. Emboldened by their reinforcements, however, some of the silverclad were advancing. Gunnos popped up from cover and took a shot at the legs of the nearest one, causing him to fall prone with a clabang. He finished the downed attacker off with another shot before drawing back into cover and loading new slugs into his gun. Despite all their casualties, there were still enough of them in sight to overwhelm the crew if given the chance. More fire power may be needed if they were to give the captain a chance at safe arrival.

[Drake Baku]

Isaac

As commanded my Kuckoo Isaac went into the full ship type program of the intercom system.
<All gunners take position, I repeat all gunners have to take their position, Objective is to clear a path for all fighting crew members and civilians in order for them to get on board>
After having said that Isaac hacked his mind into one of the gun's thinking that until the gunners took place he would give some support, at least it was easy to see who the enemy was.
Tapping in the gun's visual feed He took aim and started to fire at a ground of silver clad soldiers on the far side of the hangar, he was not trained to know where he should aim for path clearing nor did he trusted himself enough to aim at enemy's in close enough area's of allies fearing he might make some friendly fire, so this group was his best bet at clearing out enemy numbers, plus it was a pretty big group so any casualty would aid in the combat in general.

---

Alexis

As Alexis was given the gun he looked at the weapon.
It was actually the first time he even seen a fire-arm as the main Glaizart projectile weapons were Glaizart military class archery type weapons with aura enhancements, who pretty much worked just as well as a firearm and at times even better due to special traits added to the shots, only a select few ever had a real firearm type weapon such as snipers, but it was so rare...
Alexis had no clue on how to use this type of weapon and shrugged giving it back to the woman.
"I will earn my keep, but on my own way"
After having said that the young man ran out on the battle field while drawing Katirana.
He hid behind some crates and closed his eyes.
He knew he was being stupid as he only had a good control of his aura sense ability, but that was kinda it, he had limited grasp of his aura abilities, cursing that he was born with the rarest of themes and with it the hardest one to learn and master and he had no idea what Katirana was actually capable of, still he felt bold and brave and well, that was pretty much it.
He noticed that behind the crate on his other side there was a man that seemed to be busy with something.
Not thinking that it could be a bad guy he jumped over the crate as he slashed with his sword, cutting the man's head in two.
The man who hardly had the time to realize the sudden attack had no time to move his head as his face slapped on his chest and the back of his head against the crate, both still attached to the neck.
Alexis stood there for a few seconds, it was his first kill and while that was slowly sinking in he could hardly believe how clean the cut was.
His eyes were getting pulled to the blood smeared on the tip of the blade before getting pulled back to reality as a shoot hit the blade and got deflected to the ceiling.
quickly he got behind some crates and started to think about what else he could do, he could easily feel who si where, though he cant feel who is on what side being so unfamiliar with all these people.

---

Volray

"sure" Volray quickly replied when the masked man asked for more cover.
Quickly he put his hands on the ground and created a small scale bunker around the 3, it had a few openings to fire guns from, soon it was followed by a staircase as the roof was the exit.
After this Volray tried to blindly rise a second wall at the hangar's entrance hoping to close it and prevent more unwelcome visitors.
"hope this helps, want out, use the stairs"
After that Volray run up the stairs himself and jumped into the fray while creating a new sword in his hands.
His barrier device took most of the blows and it was good luck that due to the opposition on all sides the enemy was too distracted to focus on just one single individual, giving his barrier device some chances to recharge.
As he used more ramps to launch himself Volray kept on slashing at enemy's, trying to do his part in thinning the herd.

As the fight went on, Volray found a moment to breathe and take a quick look around. An Asian-looking human female wielding a katana caught his eye. The young woman was too busy fighting a silver-clad swordsman to notice another one approaching her from behind. Volray launched himself to intercept and strike down the attacker, just as the woman finished off the one in front of her. Their eyes met as they both slashed through their target, the woman eyeing him suspiciously to see if he was friend or foe.

Volray smiled at her briefly, before she suddenly swung her sword at him, which he narrowly ducked under to find that she’d taken down a silver soldier who was about to attack his blind spot.
"Thanks," he said with a smile.
"You’re welcome," was the reply she gave him.
Quickly, Volray stood up and grabbed her by her waist with his off hand, pulling her down as he slashed at another goon who’d just emerged behind her. Once the threat was taken down, he let her go and she quickly rolled over and rose to her feet, while Volray swiftly launched himself over her head to attack the next soldier in range.

As more knife-carrying goons approached from all sides, Volray and Asuka found themselves instinctively grabbing each other’s off hands and spinning around with their blades outward, cutting down several of the silver-clad in a sort of blade-dance, before ending their swirl back-to-back.
"So, what’s your name?"
"You asking now?"
"Why not, if I get killed now I can’t ask later"
"Asuka, you? "
"Volray"
After this small exchange the two went at it again, fighting in unison as if they’d been doing so for years.

---

Alexis

As Alexis sat behind the crate his eyes suddenly opened again.
Right after he looked for the woman who gave him his gun, took a second to watch 2 people do some kind of sword dance what looked pretty epic as far as he thinks, then he went to look again and once he found her he screamed
"A LOT OF REINFORCEMENT KEEPS RUSHING IN FROM SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OUR SIGHT AND A SHIP WITH A LOT OF THEM JUST LANDED BEHIND THAT SPOT, I THINK ITS A DROP SHIP!!!"

[CitrusArms]

An explosion woke her.

I... hope that wasn't my alarm. Well, she was alert now. It didn't sound like it came from her bedroom. More like... the window. She sat up from the couch she had fallen asleep at, watching Kung-Fu flicks, and rose to cross to the window. She pushed the drapes aside and gasped at what she saw. The building across the street... She steps away from the window before running to get the things she needs and go. Luckily, she had packed the night before, too. She makes sure to grab a crystal tied securely with a special cable, using special knots. She grabs a backpack of clothes and things, and slips on hard light skate projectors over her shoes as she hops out the door.

She races to the parking garage and gets her vehicle started just in time. It disengages from the hangar structure and floats out as Terra gets situated in the driver's seat. She's busy setting her communications equipment to emergency frequencies and known military frequencies. She's late... she may be missing orders. She needs to-

"- of the Exeralune speaking. Am I on? Yes?"

Blah blah blah. Okay, so someone was-

"...battle stations... not a drill..."

The woman slumped forward to head her head against the piloting wheel, but her attention was quickly brought back to her objective as another bombardment round hit her apartment. Her destination was set to go and she floored it. The little craft zipped down the pre-mapped flight routes, though... She looked up at the sky just in time to see something coming. She engages a protocol override and jerks the feel clear of another shot.

Who drives legally anyway?

She flew through holes in buildings that didn't used to be there and other such things, making a beeline for the hangar. Then something exploded above her, as she was coming up on the base. And then something winged her, sending her craft into a wild spin. She made preparations and ejected before crashing, throwing her through the air. The parachute in her seat deploys and softens her momentum before she hits the ground. Her hard light skates flickered to life and the buckle on her seat was undone, and she dropped away from the speeding seat as it neared the ground. She drops on a slope in a careful crouch, picking up speed before she hurtled into the hangar.

Since then, she's been working hard on board the ship, trying to ignore the chaos outside as she tends to communications equipment. Ignore the fact her car was totalled while she was blatantly ignoring driving regulations. Ignore the fact all her belongings were destroyed. Ignore the fact that the city is being attacked. She had to work right now.

And she had to do some repairs to the exterior antenna, too. Looks like something hit when it busted through the ceiling. She was doing that when the first shots were fired. Repairs were finished in a hurry before she ducked inside a nearby maintenance hatch, scrambling to the corridor below. It was the same hatch she had used to get up there in the first place. She found herself leaned up against a wall, clutching her Aevan Imprinted Crystal. The one thing she couldn't replace... it was a very important gift.

She moved to get up but found herself flinching. She'd... been shot. Winged in the shoulder. "Gotta get to medbay." She leans herself up against a wall and tries to hold her shoulder as still as possible. "... Where was medbay?" Well... she wasn't going to find it by standing around here. First thing to do was to leave the maintenance cooridors. She had to wonder who she'd run into, stumbling out of a maintenance corridor with a gunshot. Hopefully she'd run into someone.

[Daglobster]

Shor'Gen watched as the three silver-clad aliens who stood in the open to fire at him were engulfed by the gas. At first, came the usual reactions. They held their breath, thinking it was poisonous, only to be proved wrong as the flesh started sloughing off of their arms and their bones started turning to goop. Within seconds, those three aliens had been reduced to suits of silver armor sitting in puddles of quivering genetic material.

Shor'Gen himself was not unscathed from the encounter, as a couple shots hit the edge of his carapace along with a few that landed dead center. Bits were blown off of the outer protective layer, and most of the shots that his his center embedded themselves into the carapace with crunching noises. Only one round made it past the carapace, going directly through the Yug'Lonian equivalent of the shoulder.

"Gunnos, I cannot stay out here, I'm wounded." Came his voice, serene as ever with no hints of pain. "I must retreat to the medbay, but I will try to return. Please, try to send any wounded to me." He continued, and scuttled back up the ramp, a couple more bullets ricocheting off of his rear carapace and getting stuck in the outer layer.

Crawling through the ship's corridors, he rounded a corner to find himself face to face with a wounded woman, a gunshot wound in her shoulder. "You're wounded. Please come with me, I'm the Lead Physician." he said in a slightly urgent tone, motioning towards the elevator before he entered it.

[Darcs]

Things were... going.

Kukcoo was an optimist, something of one, at least, and as she peeked from the door inside the Exeralune to fire off a couple rounds, her optimistic assessment of the battle wasn't horribly inspiring-- stalemate. That was bluntly where they were. The silver clad mystery attackers weren't particularly well trained, they were aggressive and eager, but they weren't zealous. Cannon fodder, almost. Kukcoo could count on one hand the casualties of the barely organized crew of the Exeralune had suffered, and even those weren't confirmed, their aggressors meanwhile, almost seemed to want to take a bullet. Kukcoo furrowed her brow as she fired off another few bullets.

What are you after?

She discarded another surplus enforcer and moved to pick up another. It had to be the ship they were after, they were focusing too much power on it. Why send the 'b' team to take the ship then? These guys, their flash armor, their tactics... was it attrition, or distraction? Both? Something else? They didn't have any organization behind their assault besides 'ATTACK.' Kuckoo rolled to the other side of the Exeralune entrance and aimed her blaster at someone... who appeared new? They were getting reinforcements? To continue their slow push toward the ship? Why? Certainly, they didn't have the strength to rush the line, the turret could tear them all down, approaching from the sides of the ship would just funnel them into our own fire, and give them no cover... Still, they weren't trying anything new...

Whomever was behind the assault wanted the ship, or something on it, Kukcoo deduced. They had to have. There were plenty of opportunities to destroy the ship-- now being one of them-- they had decided to attack with an orbital assault after all, but they didn't destroy the ship, they attacked in a way that would absolutely decimate it's crew. Kukcoo emptied another surplus enforcer gunning down a silver man attempting to push the line, when she moved to get another, she noticed the blue stowaway, who called himself Alexis, rushing toward her.

"A LOT OF REINFORCEMENT KEEPS RUSHING IN FROM SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OUR SIGHT AND A SHIP WITH A LOT OF THEM JUST LANDED BEHIND THAT SPOT, I THINK ITS A DROP SHIP!!!"

So they were getting reinforcements.

Despite the pinging of bullets around them, and the harsh noise of gunfire, Kukcoo put on a polite smile and used her boots to get her to a height where she could comfortably place her hand on the blue boy's shoulder. "Hey," her voice almost eerily still given their surroundings, "We'll be fine. Nothing to panic about!" She tilted her head with a concerned look on her face, "Are you okay, though?"

While waiting for an answer, Kukcoo went to the nearest intercom and banged twice against the wall of the ship, "Isaac!" the influx of injured security painting her face slightly concerned, "It's me! New plan, turn the shields on and get this ship out of here!!!" She paused, deciding how to proceed, before continuing, "Keep it hovering around the warehouse! I want both turrets to be able to give us full support-- If you hurry you might be able to get the..." She gave a dry chuckle, preemptively, at her own pun, "You might be able to get the DROP on the DROP SHIP, out back! They aren't expecting this, and using the ship against ground troops should put us at an advantage-- but if you detect anything weird on radar you do what you think is best..." Her took on a distinctly sarcastic tone, "Isaac," She cracked a smile, "I'm assuming you can do all this with... whatever computer magic you know, but you know, if you can't feel free to give the pilot and gunners the order that it's safe for them to... oh, y'know..." She paused for comedic effect, "...actually do their jobs!" Grinning, she rolled her eyes and continued speaking into the intercom, "Anyway, over and out."

"I'll need you to cover my six." She said to Alexis, Kukcoo had begun walking toward the entrance of the ship and assumed the boy would follow. Instead of using the ramp, she took advantage of the function of her boots and glided to the nearest crate, the one her cousin Gogo was using for cover.

"Kook!!!" Gogo spat blood as she spoke, "Wat brens u dowwwnnnn to tha nitty-gritty!?" The trollish Korrvain Nymph smiled a wild, bloody and manic grin, she had lost several teeth, and her right eye was going to need to be replaced. Again.

Kukcoo spoke in her calm voice between controlled shots, more suppressing fire than anything, "I ordered," *blam* "the ship," *blam* "to take off."

"VWHOAAW!!!!" Gogo slurred and she fired off, she had an automatic weapon, most likely looted from their opposition, in contrast to Kukcoo, Gogo's shots were wild and unaimed. "U cannd du tha...?!?!"

*blam*"Probably not," *blam* "but I did it anyway." *click* For the first time in the battle, Kukcoo reloaded her gun instead of just getting a new one, and she searched her bag for ammo she looked at her cousin in concern, "You know, maybe you should sit the rest of this one out, Go. Get to the medbay while you still can?"

"WAAAT????" Gogo struggled as she climbed on top of the crate, gun in mouth, "Eye A'VENT felt tis gud in YEAAARRS!" She slowly raised the gun and had her left arm shot to hell, as she knelt down to pick up her gun bullets whizzed past her head, blood poured out of the fresh wounds on her left arm. Faster this time, she wildly fired with the gun held solely in her left hand-- the force knocking her back behind the crate, she hit the ground hard and laid on her back, "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!" she sighed, "Ahm ALIVE!"

Kukcoo could only exchange a concerned look with Alexis before continuing her methodical attack on the silver men.

[Lalliman]

With some of the more capable soldiers being fielded, the tides seemed to be turning in their favour. As Gunnos popped up to take a potshot at an approaching attacker, he spotted crystalline structures going up in the distance while the stone man and his two sword-carrying companions engaged the invaders in melee combat. He made a mental note to investigate who made those crystals and how, but that was a matter for later. Just before the entrance of the hangar was closed off by the rising wall of crystal, he spied additional reinforcements coming in from above, just as someone behind him was loudly observing.

With the enemy force cut in two for the time being, this was the time to move. Gunnos bolted from cover and charged, as fast as his short legs would allow, towards a nearby invader who was currently firing at someone else. The man noticed him at the last second, but couldn’t redirect his fire before being body-slammed off his feet. Gunnos brought his hammercannon down upon the downed man’s chest with a painful crunch, finishing him off just as another noticed him and took aim. He managed to pull out his bloodied axe and duck back into cover barely in time, taking a single bullet to the shoulder as he did. Thanks to his MediumWeave clothing, it was more like a very painful punch than a bullet wound, but still something to be avoided.

Luckily, the attacker was gunned down by a series of pherza shots from lord-knows-where before he could continue pursuit. When Gunnos peeked up again, he saw the bloodied form of a man he’d thought dead crawling across the ground. The man had several bullet wounds in his back and had lost a lot of blood, but was still moving regardless. Grabbing the opportunity now that few enemies were nearby, Gunnos bolted from cover to cover until he reached the man’s position, where he hurriedly kneeled down next to him. “Bud, can ye hear me? I can get ye out of here!” he said as he frantically pulled the man’s arm over his shoulder in order to drag him to safety.

“Thank you, sir,” The man panted as he used his remaining strength and Gunnos’ support to rise halfway to his feet. “I feared I was done for… Didn’t dare transform, lest I worsen the wounds.” Unsure what he meant by that, Gunnos simply did his best to support the man’s weight as they scrambled in the direction of the ship. “There’s more outside. We can’t fight them all. They sound better armed too,” the man continued. When Gunnos looked back to his face, his previously normal ears had been replaced by the huge pointy ones of a bat. Whatever he is, he's right. We need to get out of this trap.

When he’d almost made his way back to the ship, he saw that the Nymph he’d clashed with earlier had advanced into the combat zone, with her badly injured relative by her side. The thought of letting them hang briefly entered his mind, but no, he couldn’t let prejudice affect his actions. At the Exeralune’s entrance, he spotted a female Nihn wearing the uniform of medical personnel, hiding behind cover of the doorframe. “Nurse!” he shouted to get her attention. “Get ‘im off me and to the medbay, there’s others need me help!” Frightened but dedicated to do her job, she popped out from cover to take Iron off his hands and help him into the ship.

As soon as his hands were free, Gunnos bolted back towards Kukcoo and Gogo. He came to a stop beside Gogo, who sounded like she was having a great time despite looking like a fresh corpse. “Just keep shootin’,” he said gruffly to Kukcoo as he briefly made eye contact with her, halfway expecting her to make another angry rant upon seeing him. He then picked Gogo up by her waist and threw her little body over his shoulder like a bag of flour, before running back to the entrance of the ship. “Haay, lemme guh, ahm FIIIIIINE!” she protested loudly and feebly pounded her little fists on his back, but Gunnos ignored it and ran into the ship, joining the nurse on her way to the medbay. He could only hope Shor’gen was capable of tending to them in his own wounded state. The last thing he heard before reaching the entrance to the medbay was a sort of crash sound coming from outside, almost like the sound of an explosive weapon being used against a wall of crystal…

[CitrusArms]

Terra couldn't help but stop and watch the lobster-like alien approach, and then pass her and go to the elevator nearby. She had to stop herself from thinking about seafood, though her injury did that for her with no effort, reminding her to pay attention, as well. Ah, he's the Lead Physician, she'd better go with him. Those would be the best... claws to put herself in right now. She entered the elevator after the ccrrreeeaaature and leaned her good shoulder up against the wall, facing the door. "Aaahg... What a day to be late to work..." She looked and smiled at the Physician.

Wait a minute.

She looked him over again. This thing's the Lead Physician? W-well... someone hired him, so... she'd just have to trust the judgement of captain. She sighed, moving her hand from her wound to the crystal hanging around her neck. It rests in her open palm as she gazes at it for a moment, before she clutches it close against her chest. It was all she had left. Her apartment and her car... besides the clothing and necessities she brought in her bag. She lets it down, after a moment, and stands in silence before she looks to the physician. "So, uh..." She had a number of questions, but none she really wanted to ask. "Can we... tell who's attacking us?"