Byte

Discovery: A Broken Galaxy

Post's up.

@Penny Anna's got some suggestions if he's willing to hear them. :P

Discovery: A Broken Galaxy

The Arcadian - 24 September 2190

Dr. Anna Rauss

---

“Medic to engineering. The Chief, he’s-”

Anna had already moved with quiet and annoyed resignation before the alert had even finished, she didn’t need to read much more beyond the words ‘cybernetics’, ‘malfunction’ and ‘seizure’. The lanky woman huffed, heels clicking on the bleak metal plates on the medbay’s floor; Dampener clamps snagged off a rack and injectors shoved into the pockets of her white coat by muscle memory more than thought.

Engineering always meant noise, heat, and someone insisting everything had been fine five minutes ago.

She swore under her breath, dragging a slender palm through her barely kemped hair, insulated gloves wrapped over slender fingers without thinking. “Fucking engies.” She scoffed. The elevator couldn’t fall fast enough, she’d rather get this over with before her initial morning coffee hit timed out.

The deck hit her like a wall of sound and smell. Foam slicked the floor, alarms layered over one another, and the air tasted wrong. Sharp, clean in a way that set her teeth on edge. Oxygen-heavy. Her eyes found the problem almost immediately; exposed cybernetics spitting white-blue arcs, the body of the Chief Engineer caught in violent, electrical spasms.

“Anyone who doesn’t know what a grounding plug is, step back.” She muttered under a tired but alert sniff, ducking low to inspect the situation in the span of half a second. Anna grounded the interface first. The arcs stuttered, then halted as she clamped one on the sparking stump, the other on the bay’s emergency grounding rail.

“Alright,” Her eyes and hands worked quickly, injection next. A low enough dosage to still and wake, not to knock them out cold. “Stay with me Chief, you’re not dying on my shift.” She smirked, the ghost of one. “Paperwork’s a drag.”

Once the current and seizure were under control, she moved in properly. Seal gel over the stump. Her fingers were quick, precise, checking for warped connectors, creeping heat, anything that looked like it wanted to turn this into a second problem.

It didn’t.

She leaned back on her heels once she was satisfied he wasn’t about to light up again, pulling her gloves off with a snap. Internally, she was already sorting the mess into neat little piles. Diagnostics, memory core retrieval, temporary replacements. And the paperwork. God, the paperwork was going to be awful.

But for now? He was stable.

“Someone prop him up, he’s… heavy.” She gestured at the nearby wall, arms crossed as though she was preparing for a sneer and a pointed comment on idiocy and engineering somehow going hand in hand.

Discovery: A Broken Galaxy

@Penny Sorry for the delay, Anna will tend to poor Hobby soon. :P Will finish up my post tonight.

Heroes, Defend the City!

@miharu Welcome! Your character's power looks interesting. Looking forward to writing with you.

Heroes, Defend the City!

Post is up. Just to clarify, Intel isn't trying to boss around. :) If you think your character should do something else rather than follow her advice, you're free to ignore her. It's just her thing.

Heroes, Defend the City!

@Azure Bubbles@Silver Carrot
Annika registered the actions of her fellow heroes with professional indifference; A slim hand gestured at her datapad in vague swipes and flicks to register data and the change in behaviour. The dragon was intently focused on wrangling off steel wire that had tied itself around the membrane.

“Try and maintain grip,” Annika offered the young woman, voice firmer. “Deploying assistance.” She typed a command into her datapad and watched Omar’s feed whirr to face the dragon as its laser activated in short, precise pulses. Not at the dragon itself, but across the steel wire around its wing; not enough to melt it off, but to heat it unevenly. To agitate connective tissue and constrict the dragon’s flight.

She wasn’t sure if the wire was connective, if it felt heat or pressure. “Tell me if you sense discomfort, I will stop.” The offer was mechanical, not concern. Not really.

Ike’s feed flared white as Spotlight’s orb detonated overhead, sensors auto-dimming as exposure values spiked. Annika’s fingers paused for a fraction of a second, then resumed, tagging the timestamp and cross-referencing it with the dragon’s prior tracking behavior.

“High-luminance distraction deployed,” she said calmly. “Monitoring response.”

Omar adjusted position without prompting, drifting laterally to keep the dragon’s head and wings within frame. Annika stepped two paces to her right, boots scraping against broken concrete as she re-established line of sight around the smoke.

Her gaze flicked between feeds. Annika raised her voice again, just enough to carry. “Spotlight,” she called, not looking at him. “If it turns toward you, maintain lateral movement. Do not hold position.”

She paused. “If it does not,” she added, “disengage immediately. You are not the priority target.”

Ike’s camera held steady, recording everything. Head orientation, wing alignment, tail positioning, data flowing in faster than Annika could consciously parse and still somehow stay orderly.

“This is useful,” she said, more to herself than anyone else.

“You,” Annika gestured vaguely to the wired woman, eyes still on the feed. “If it commits to the distraction, you may have a cleaner angle. Watch for tail compensation.”

She shifted her stance, angling away from the dragon’s attempt to fire over the manifested barricade. Shoulders tight but controlled, datapad anchored in both hands. “Don’t bunch up, spread your position. Divide attention.” Annika offered, reaching into a pocket and readying one of her electric trap charges; lobbing it around where the dragon could possibly perch its legs if it couldn’t maintain flight.

Discovery: A Broken Galaxy

@Penny Oh, that sounds neat. Sure!

Discovery: A Broken Galaxy

Going to be honest, having a hard time thinking of something for Anna to do. Will try and get up a post of something tonight. :)

Heroes, Defend the City!

All good @Zapdos, Intel hasn't attacked yet. She was waiting for it to be grounded. Going to be working on a post tonight!

Heroes, Defend the City!

BEHOLD! A post. Sorry for the late reply, been a busy week. :) Intel is on the board, anyway.

@Azure Bubbles I am shocked, haha. :P