Sep

Star Wars - Rancor Company

@mattmanganon I did no such thing. I set you against 4 X-Wings as in the NPCs, not Naes wing.

The X-Wings that were destroyed/disabled were simple NPC scrubs. I mean I wouldn't have said "theres four X-Wings to play with" if the TIEs I worked with were yours would I? No, as I wasn't sure if you wanted to collab or not I gave you four NPCs to play with for you to decide on how you were going to go and do as you wish, even though I asked you not to destroy them if that you feel serves the plot your character is undergoing and fits the post you can do so.

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

I'm not terribly happy with the dialogue I did for Jay in that post.

Though what is done, is done.

Absolute Comics: A Brave New World

P A S T

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D R A G O N S C O L L I D E I N A F L A S H

F R A N C E

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^{September 23rd, 1940 - 11:15 PM | Ain Gorge}

Jay couldn’t get used to the feel of the military fatigues. He had argued against them, though he wasn’t exactly in the position to anymore. It had only been a matter of time before he was conscripted one way or another, this way at least he was entering the war on his terms. He had been tasked with trying to hunt down and find other individuals like him to join a special operations task force, his first port of call would obviously be Shazam. The concept of super strength and flight was something that couldn’t really be passed up, as soon enough the entire world would be at each other's throats.

France, was just a long detour. While he knew that Shazam’s trail would start in London, as that was where Jay had last seen him with what was going on in France he had been tasked to do a brief survey of all major rail links. After all with the United States contemplating involvement, the status of French infrastructure was an important thing to know. As France was likely to be the beachhead to any potential counter-attack in Europe. He was currently running along a line that, if his brief study of French railways had him right, would lead him over the Ain Gorge.

Despite the speed at which he tore through the air he heard the train coming as he approached a rail bridge, he also noticed a figure standing in the middle of the rails. Increasing his speed he stopped as he noticed that the man’s fist started… it started to glow yellow.

As the train bore down on the now glowing figure, he showed no signs that he would get out of the way, instead winding up for a punch with his glowing fist. There was an explosion of sound and fire and twisting metal and then the bridge began collapsing. Orson swore to himself as he got caught up in his own blast-wave. It had been too long since he’d used the Iron Fist and apparently he’d more than overdone it.

Orson’s head was spinning even as the bridge fell around him, though he got at least a little bit of grim satisfaction out of the fact that he’d at least completed his mission and made sure that nobody would be using this bridge any time soon. Well, it was a better death than wasting away in an opium den, anyway.

As the bridge exploded and the figure appeared Jay sped towards the bridge, he could see the flames erupting from where the engine of the train had once been. The bridge started to shake and crumble, he jumped from one segment of the bridge to another able to jump on them without losing balance and only staying on each piece of debris long enough to jump on to the next.

Debris fell around him in slow motion, the train it seemed from the wreckage falling around him appeared to have been carrying German arms. He scanned around the debris looking for the individual who had done all this, he’d be a perfect addition to the team he was being asked to form. Assuming he was actually fighting against the German war machine and didn’t just have a death wish, or wasn’t trying to rob the train.

He caught sight of the man among the falling debris, looking oddly serene. He jumped to a nearby bit of debris and into the air, hooking his right arm under the man's shoulders and his left in the back of his knees. Turning around he kicked off and again hopping from one piece of debris to another. Jumping to the top of where the bridge once was he put the man down and turned to face him, tipping his helmet. “You’ve got one hell of a punch.”

To his surprise, Orson was suddenly not dead. Instead he found himself sitting down at the top of the gorge, coughing out what felt like an entire lung’s worth of bridge dust and smoke but otherwise unharmed. A man was standing in front of him and, as impossible as it seemed, Orson was pretty sure he’d been plucked away from the collapsing bridge at high speed. Even more surprising, the man spoke English and wore military fatigues.

“Heh, you have no idea. I’m guessin’ I owe you for pulling my ass out of the fire, soldier boy. Figures Uncle Sam would hafta find out about me eventually. So what’re you doin’ here?” He seemed to remember something after a minute “They makin’ another Freedom’s Five? Some new group of Mystery Men to fight the Huns again?”

Freedoms Five? Mystery Men? Those guys were real? Jay had been in the military only for around a week and already he was fed up of not being filled in with every little detail. “From what I can gather, something like that. Also…” He tried to phrase this delicately, after all he didn’t want to aggravate the person who just blew up a bridge with a punch. “... I don’t think we do know about you, I actually found you by accident on my way to find someone else.”

Jay tilted his head slightly as he eyed him. “I don’t think I need to tell you how important it is, that people like us use our abilities to try and end the bloodshed sooner rather than later. If you’re willing to expand the level of crazy in your life, well. I guess I’d have an offer for you.”

Orson couldn’t help but start laughing, though it caused him to hack and cough from the bridge dust he’d inhaled earlier all over again. It was crazy. He thought he’d just be helping the French, part of a small effort, but a worthy one. But here he was again, called back into the war at large, asked to be part of a team again through sheer coincidence. Hell, this guy, this green-looking recruit, he was right about needing to end the bloodshed as soon as possible. Wasn’t that why he’d gotten involved in the first place?

“Hell, my life’s been missing that level of craziness lately. I’m in. Name’s Orson, Orson Randall. So, what comes next?”

Jay offered his hand to the man, now identified as Orson. He wasn’t quite expecting the laugh, and wasn’t sure what to do about the coughing so waited to let it pass. “Jay Garrick, I’d give you my rank but the military hasn’t quite decided what to make me yet so-” He just shrugged. “In all honesty, I can give you a run back to France or over to the UK wherever you want, so long as I know where you are. I need to go recruit a man called Shazam as he was who I was initially sent for. The guy can fly and has super strength if you can believe that.”

He paused looking at the man. “That said, I can’t help but think you’ve got a bit more, experience in all of this than I do. So if you have a better idea, lay it on me.”

Orson took Jay’s hand and the help up that came along with it.

Star Wars - Rancor Company

@mattmanganon fixed it so you got four X-Wings to play with, try not to wreck any :L

Star Wars - Rancor Company

@mattmanganon I thought you were in an Interceptor?

I'll edit, I was going by your characters profile picture.

Star Wars - Rancor Company

Currently waiting for @Sundered Echo to post as the Y-Wings before I post again. I'd hate to drop an attack on him without him getting the chance to post.

@mattmanganon

That's why I set four X-Wings to engage your interceptors in protection of the Y-Wings. Echo is getting caught up, but you gotta get past four X-Wings before you get to him.

No Turning Back - Into the Abyss

@Sep, how dare you minimalize the deadly threat of....

...wait for it

THE BUGS OF DOOM!

@Rawk

See people.

At least I keep some mystery to my bad guys.

No Turning Back - Into the Abyss

Plot! Excitement! Subtrefuge! All on the ship, you think @Rawks bugs are the only exciting thing going on? Then you sir, or madame, are wrong!

No Turning Back - Into the Abyss

The first thing that hit her senses, was the sound of running water. Then came the smell. The smell of raw sewage and rotted meat, her breathing increased as she panicked. Forcing her eyes open she realized that she was blindfolded, raising her arms to take the blindfold off there was pain in her wrists then a clang as the binders on her wrists stopped her from moving fully. This wasn't right, what could she remember? She raised her voice "Help!" Last she had known, she was being chosen- no she had been chosen. "Heeeeeeelp!" She went into cryosleep. The doctor... Laurel? Lauren? No.... Loretta Raidne. She had put her into sleep, assured her she wouldn't be woken up until they had found a planet to settle on.

She was told how the process worked. "HEEEEEELP!" Her whole body ached, yet she had been told she'd feel refreshed. Had something went wrong? Though if she had been awoken properly then why was she bound and blindfolded? Why did she hear water? This wasn't the cryo bay. Then she stopped, her breathing heavy. She could feel her heartbeat in her ears, her heart sounding like it was ready to jump out of her chest. There were footsteps approaching, she could hear the water splash up as the person's feet touched down. Soon she realized it was more than one person, as they moved to surround her.

She wanted to scream out, to ask them to help her. Though, what if these were the people that brought her here?

"She's awake." She heard one of them speak, drawing in a Fed accent reminiscent of the old Western movies.

"Then it is time, my brothers." This time it was much more southern, deep and thick. She couldn't place it, maybe somewhere in Africa?

She struggled against the bindings, though made no oral complaint as footsteps came closer. She felt the person's hand on her face, struggling until the blindfold was removed. She squinted as the light shone brightly into her eyes, at first everything was a blur. Then she noticed she was in some kind of maintenance hallway. Similar to those of many structures she had worked in on Mars. Finally she mustered up the courage to speak.

"Whats going on? Where am I? Who are you people?"

Again the implacable voice spoke up, obviously the leader. He stepped forward, as she focused on him she saw his scarred visage as he stood tall over her. Her attention soon turned to the knife he held in his hand, pressing the tip against her chest. That's when she first noticed that she was barely clothed, if her heart were to beat any faster she had no doubt that it would basically jump onto the knife. "We are the truth-" He raised his knife and pointed it around the circle. "-We know that humanity, we weren't' meant to survive the apocalypse. It was our time, the Gods rained down hell upon us, and what did we do? We ran. Some of us were chosen to flee, an' here we are. We are the ones who'll bring about the en' as it was mean' to be. Then afta? Well y'know it, we be welcomed by th' Gods to sit at dere table."

"You're... you're talking about the Devastators?"

"NO!" He slapped her with his other hand, and she tasted blood. As her head twisted she got a good look at a couple of the other people in the circle. All of them appeared to be missing one or two fingers, were they that clumsy? She felt his tight grip around her face as he twisted her head to face him. One of his eyes was pure white and damaged with most of his face being scarred and burnt. "That are what the unbelievers call them, they don't understand that we were meant to be cleansed for our sins. All of us." He grinned, his teeth yellow and rotten.

"Then what do you want with me? I'm just a tech, I work on terraformers!"

He laughed as he let go of her and turned, pointing the knife right at her. "Glad you asked that. You see-" He turned addressing the room other than her. "I knew, that security was gonna crack down wheneva I took someone from a pod. Originally, I was gonna go for that religious leader they just unfroze. A sign that you can't get away when Gods come knocking at tha door. Y'know? Then I had a dream." He turned back around, pointing the knife at her. "You were there, and I saw you standing in the way of our plans." He chuckled. "The rest, well. It's history."

He walked over to her, placed the blade of the knife against her throat. She was worried to even swallow, holding her breath lest the knife cut her. "What we want? Is your flesh. We feed on you, and we become more like the Gods. We please them so that when we die we can be at their side. You know?"

She needn't have held her breath, as soon as everything went black. The last thing she ever heard was the group chanting, something she didn't quite understand.

---

William sat in his office, he hated Amara being down on the planet more than he felt he had ever hated anything. Well, except maybe her deciding to take a career in the military rather than just the standard service. While he was immensely proud he never liked the idea of her serving in the military, putting herself in the line of fire. That however was probably part of his job as being a father, as only a father could feel both proud and paranoid at the same time. The only thing that could worry him more was if Amara were to get in a long term relationship, but that was for entirely different reasons. Namely the prospect of being a Grandfather. He wasn't that old yet, was he?

He shook himself out of his reverie. On the screen before him were reports of Chizuru Yama-Uchi, from weapon stats to what he knew about the Daedalus project. He had a couple of other people from the Conglomerate on the ship who had implants that had stemmed from the project. The thing that grated him was that she had snuck aboard, not to mention she seemed a little stuck up in assuming that she was the one that would save them all. He wasn't buying it though, from the feed given to him by her security escort on her way to Eden he saw a different side of her. She was still human deep down underneath, and part of him felt sorry for her. Was that stolen from her? Yes she joined the project but, she lost her main tie to humanity to a point where she wasn't quite either a machine or a person.

That said William was determined to use her presence to his advantage, once she proved herself trustworthy he had no doubt she could be of use on away missions. Hell she was basically built into an exoskeleton and atmospheric suit, when hazardous missions came up she'd be the most robust member of his crew to go on them. Maintenance was wasting her, though could she be patient and wait for her time to shine? If she could where would that lead her? She had requested to join the security detachment but did he want her under civilian authority? Especially with forming an actual government, or did he want her under military control where he could keep a closer eye on her? Besides if she did something while under military law that would place him in a position where he could court martial her with relative ease, rather than having legal jargon sprung on him.

He sighed and with a wave of his hand all the data was gone, now on his screen was the data on Aria Summers. He watched the recording as she left her pod, she was an unknown entity. While he knew everything about Kevin Ford, and his record. He was someone he trusted, as he exhumed an air of trust. Aria was much more of an unknown entity, put on his ship as some Earthers felt it would save them from fire and brimstone or some spiritualistic nonsense she had a following as what he could only believe to call a cult. He couldn't act on it as well, religious freedom was accepted throughout all human nations so long as it didn't bring anyone to harm. So for now, he just had to wait and observe. "Noah-" Before he could finish his command the avatar of the A.I. appeared.

"Admiral, there is a matter that requires your attention. The away team is under attack."

William stood up straight away. "Sound general quarters to all fighter pilots, tell the Commander I want a full SITREP by the time I reach the command centre."

"Aye Sir."

Star Wars - Rancor Company

Nae twisted the yoke as he hit the repulsors, throwing the craft 'up', while there was no real up or down in space like most pilots he picked a point and used it as his reference. At this moment in time he was using the Majestic as his reference point,w ith it being the biggest object nearby. He twisted as the green blaster bolts from a TIE fighter came streaking through them, he watched his scanner for it turning to pursue but obviously it had other ideas in heading toward the keep. That wasn't however his mission as he stuck close to the bombers as they made a beeline for the cruiser.

[YOU HAVE FIGHTERS COMING UP ON YOU, PERHAPS YOU SHOULD SHOOT AT THEM] As the beep came through indicating a transmission from his astromech Nae turned his attention to it, and then on the scanners. The astromech was right, and if the attack pattern was anything to go by Naes assumption would be that it they were meaking a run for the bombers. He clicked his comm onto his squadrons command frequency.

"Second flight, break right and take out those fighters. How copy?"

"Solid copy."

"Execute." There was a mic click before four of his X-Wings turned to attack the trailing TIEs. "Chuckles, set deflectors to double front." Just as he said the command large red bolts of energy came streaking towards them from the cruiser they were currently approaching.

[WHAT ABOUT THE REAR DEFLECTORS WHERE THE TIES ARE?]

"The TIEs aren't the ones shooting at us, just do as I tell you." He twisted as he thumbed the trigger for three seconds, sending a strafing shot at the cruiser. In the long run it wouldn't do much but anything he could do to soften it up for the bombers would help.

[THREE TIES COMING IN AT MARK 8]

As soon as he got the transmission he broke hard right, there was a slight delay from Lightning-5 but without so much as a word his wing turned towards the incoming TIEs. It was a game of chicken between the two groups, and he knew for a fact that with shielding he would win. "4-5 break off and loop round." Space combat was all about anticipation, as two of his X-Wings broke right in order to loop around the enemy fighters the TIEs flew past them, before he could turn to face them they were already on his tail. It was all about anticipation, the shields taking a light spray, causing the ship to shake.

[PERHAPS I SHOULD REROUTE POWER TO THE REAR DEFLECTORS SINCE THE TIES ARE SHOOTING AT US?]

"Negative Chuckles."

[YOU REALIZE THE SHIELDS AT LOW POWER CAN'T TAKE-] In the middle of the transmission the two X-Wings that had broken off before swung behind the TIEs, two proton torpedoes later and one TIE lay incapacitated with two destroyed. [NEVER MIND]

If the battle kept up like this for much longer, they'd have cleared the Imperial forces out of the area in no time. Then something hit him, not literally but an idea just came to him. It was obvious that the Governor wasn't going to leave by shuttle craft from the main hangar, given that was where the main fighting was going on. The hangar to the port side was inaccessible due to the fact that the Keep blocked it, and the one on the starboard side was open and it had been reported by Mynock squadron that it was empty. That meant that if he wanted off the Majestic he was going to need to launch from some form of frieghter or crusier, and the fact that no ships had moved in to dock yet meant that something was already docked.

He clicked his comm to relay a message to the Keep. "Lightning Lead to the Keep, be advised I believe that the Governor may seek to flee using a ship docked in the lower hangar bay of the target vessel." There was a brief second of static before the acknowledgement came through, if they played their cards right they may get two ships out of a mission meant to gain one.