5366/MISSION: Starwatch (3)

MISSION: Starwatch (3)
Date of Scene:	10 July 2017
Location:	Overwatch Earth <OWE>
Synopsis:	There are several problems upon arriving on the moon, not only because of disagreements. But because of its current inhabitants.
Cast of Characters:	Starbound Flotilla, 1111, Gaonoir, Sombra, 632, 1076, Staren

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Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    HORIZON ONE LUNAR COLONY

    It displays a beautiful array of radial lights. The bright rings of still-active colonization infrastructure glimmer gently. They've not been maintained, but they were certainly built to last those years ago. But they certainly weren't built for what happens next.

    The Starbound Flotilla's fleet of ships descends dramatically, sweeping low and clean over the lunar surface in search of hangars and other such ports of access. There are few to be found, and none to link to such strange ships. The Concord will have to touch down just outside the base. Gaonoir and Laura will have only a few minutes to escape the ship before they use this chance to cycle power and recalibrate their sensors, meaning they'll need to make a break for the structure on their own, using some of those oxygen nanoskins. Its construction is quite modular, clean, and the image of space-age. Not much to make it decay, not on the moon. Well, the exterior is a bit pockmarked with the little meteor impacts, but something automated must be cleaning those up...

    Albert's voice comes over comms. "Arriving. Power will be cycled to restore scanners. Find our boarders. If you're not going to do that, join up on the rover." The rover? Oh, the heavy vehicle they've crafted out of wrecks and nonsense down in the hangar of the shuttle. The big bus-looking thing looks lunar-worthy and ought to make a bit of a staging area for them in Horizon One! Sombra's been invited to dock her own special purple craft atop it as it rolls out, where she can slip inside or out of it, and work on getting their one remaining teleporter set up. Septette has no need of such things, and she's invited to be their exterior operator for this, to find somewhere they can open up a gate and roll in without dealing too much with the sort of lunar hazard that Laura and Gaonoir may yet encounter.

    They mostly leave Albert and Biteblade behind, briefly, to try to hunt down Laura. She may have to evade the pair with their flamethrowers. Gaonoir and their human too, though they don't know those ones are aboard. Worrying... They'll need to hop off after only minutes, otherwise those flickering lights and sounds of power coming back into systems that Gaonoir damaged will be heralds of heavy scanning equipment tracking them down inside.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney had been alerted to the arrival by the tone of the ship's thrusters changing, and had made her way back to the same access hatch she'd originally entered the ship by. Slapping the button there again, she can hear the hum as her protection is refreshed. Okay... Twelve hours to find a way inside the moon base, and either steal another suit and transport to make it back to earth, or get back in here and take one of the escape pods, which from the manual she'd borrowed, seemed to be almost a ship in its own right, albeit small, relatively short ranged, and extremely spartan. Peering through the porthole in the hatch, grey lunar rock slides by underneath. Okay... Inflatable airlock should be stored /here/...
     Within three minutes, she has a zippered membrane blocking the tunnel behind her, which should prevent the rest of the crawlways from getting vented. As soon as the ship settles on its landing legs, the hatch is opened, pressure equalizing with a brief WHOOSH, and Laura's out and onto the face of the moon. She drops to the ground agonizingly slow, before making a break for the base, bounding between bits of cover.

Gaonoir has posed:
That's convenient. A warning of arrival, and that they're not going to be able to hide much longer, both in one announcement. "Are we gonna have to make a break for it?", Erika murmurs as she peaks out of the corner they'd been stowed away in.

"Likely. Wait here a moment." Gaonoir steps into the shadows of the crate and disappears for a few moments. When he comes back he tosses one of the 02 nanoskins to Erika. "You'll need that for when we get outside."

"... Why can't you just carry me through the shadows like you do when you jump?"

"Because if they get the systems back up, there won't be as many shadows to jump through." Gaonoir turned aside to glance around the crate again. "You don't wanna know what it's like if you get stuck on the other side of my shadow step."

Briefly the girl opens her mouth, but doesn't ask. Or more like decides right now she doesn't want to know. So Erika just gets up, nanoskin ready to deploy in one hand, and digivice in the other. Just in case.

Gaonoir slinks out a few wary steps, then waves to her to follow. They're going to have to navigate quickly to reach a port out, and try not to be noticed. Hopefully they'll be too busy looking for the -other- stowaway(s).

"What about you?", Erika asks as she creeps after him. "You only brough one thing."

"Don't need it. At least not immeadiately." Gaonoir replied without looking back since he was watching out for interference. "My 'breathing' is more a mimicing of biological life than immeadiately necessary for survival."

Sombra has posed:
    he whole trip had been slightly exhausting in itself, and not just because of the stowaways. One of them had been far less of a bother, mostly since Septette saw to it that he behaved himself. And while clever, there was nothing he could do to interrupt the mission. The others? They had wisely kept hidden for now, but things might change when they get to the Horizon Lunar Colony itself. Speaking of which, more people need to arrive here as well. Which is one of the reasons Sombra went here.

    One of the things that the hacker had worked on beforehand was getting various resources from the Concord, including teleportation technology. It's not that perfected in this world yet, but with multiversal resources she's ready to set up some easier way to arrive and depart this place rather than having to spend 48 hours aboard a ship. Even if there's been time for being social and making new friends, as well as drinking.

    Still aboard her own craft as the Rover sets out on the lunar surface, Sombra is busy typing away on some programming for the teleporter and also making sure the tech itself is ready. Hmm, yes. This ought to be good. Once she's certain she's got it mostly set up, the latina heads down through the hatch, dangling by her arms before she drops down into the Rover, offering her new friends an amiable grin. "Things are all ready, we just need to make sure the circuits inside have enough power. That might be our biggest plan tonight, as well as making sure none of the inhabitants here cause us any problemas," she informs them, sauntering up to the driver's seat. "Let's hope Alberto and Biteblade finds the little ratas..." It would be oh so satisfying.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     One might think that a tireless, fearless robot would be an ideal patrol guard. In this case, one would be wrong- Septette knows full well that her heavy footfalls and glowing lights are impossible to disguise; if she were to stalk the ship's corridors, any stowaways would easily be able to vacate ahead of her. Instead, she stayed with Sokka for most of the trip, sipping tea, regaling him with stories, and fine-tuning her inner workings for the upcoming mission.

     Finally, the moment she's been preparing for is at hand- the moon base. Septette dispatches her trio of small elemental drones to help flush out anyone who might still be aboard by coordinating with Biteblade and Albert's efforts, giving them just enough mana to run for a few minutes without her. She dons a replacement shawl- the cautious yggdroid always knows where their shawl is- and joins the expeditionary party on the surface.

     Naturally, she shows up sans any protective gear; abrasive moon dust means little to a machine of her design, and ice magic dispels her waste heat more efficiently than any atmosphere could anyway. She adjusts admirably to the strange environment; the billowing wake of her hair and slow-motion flow of her shawl are the only visible reminders that she isn't on Earth. "It's nice to feel light for once, you know? Being underwater is nothing next to this." But before she can examine the rover's weight tolerance, something catches her eye in the distance... "Stowaway spotted," she adds over unsecured radio in a suddenly businesslike tone. "Moving to secure."

     A fraction of a second later, she takes off after Laura with long, bounding strides across the lunar surface, kicking up plumes of white regolith behind her! The lack of purchase afforded by the Moon's low gravity is scarcely a concern; wherever she finds solid purchase, her claws dig in and launch her in another near-horizontal leaping bound. Given Laura's speed and slight head start, Septette may not be able to catch up before she reaches an entrance- but that won't stop her from trying!

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka was walking out, looking around with awe. "Wow... pretty awesome," he mumbled. He'd been in the multiverse long enough to not be TOTALLY blown away. But the place was still pretty cool. He'd even had some nice chats on the way! With Sombra, Staren and Sept. Of course, once they arrived, Sept ran off in pursuit of Laura and his fists clenched. "Don't hurt her!" he yelled.

He was, technically, still not in their way. And willing to help. For now. But if they thought he couldn't make all of this far, far, far worse for them, they were... okay, they were probably right. But he MIGHT be able to cause them problems. Who knew? Probably best they didn't risk it. Probably.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
     On the airless moonscape, sound is no longer helpful, the only sound in Laura's ears her breath and her own heartbeat. She does catch movement out of the corner of her eye as Septette leaves dust and rocks in her wake. The teen peers over her shoulder, gauging the distance between her pursuer and the airlock she was heading for. If it won't cycle in time... This might end up with a fight. And right now, that is something Laura does not want to get into, especially against an android. She needs to warn the base and its inhabitants, though. They're about to have company, and most of it is unfriendly... Kicking up another cloud of dust, she breaks abruptly toward the right, heading for a smaller airlock with several rovers parked nearby. Nobody would build a lunar rover that needs keys, would they? She clearly won't have time for hotwiring, so they'd better not have...

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    This is close as hell. But, oddly Laura works in their favor. Albert is mostly patrolling ventilated zones, not open and shadowed zones. By evading any maintenance tunnels and other such small areas, he can make this progress. By taking the cautious route, he can reach that access point. This means Erika can hop out! She'll be able to escape, and hopefully -- HOPEFULLY -- dart up towards the base! Less so is the success on the full evasion of Biteblade. "Shiny clawsss friieeeeend!" She calls out, coincidentally heading to that port. "Come ooout! Floran want fight again!" She's getting close! She'll be right on their trail when they get out, but there's no guarantee she'll see them specifically.

    Pavo makes a spitting sound. "Don't hurt her. Lass has some magic healin', and a bloodlust I've not seen in a Floran." She remarks on Laura to Sokka. "Doubt it'd be much harm." And then, off goes the rover, trundling out of the base.

    Albert joins them via teleporter, giving a rough nod to Sombra. "Enough power in the rover for several hours of teleporter operation. We'll need access to full lunar base power to maintain the teleport. Among others." They'll need power to effectively steal shit, is what he means.

    "There goes out outer agent." George says, laughing briefly as he sees Septette just BLAST off. "Hey, Sombra, maybe you can help with this one then. See if there's any rover bays to hack into, right? Ought'a give us a way to set up the staging area properly. As for Laura, Horizon offers many openings. Laura might notice a few airlocks to the outside, the sort she might be able to force her way through by messing with emergency mechanisms. They're near the light cover of abandoned rovers and machines left out to decay, far away from the self-maintenance robots on the lunar base itself.

    If Sombra can breach anything like that, it should let the gang out of the rover fairly soon, in the interior. Disembarking is its own can of worms.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     The sudden tack to the right throws her off for a moment- at full speed, Septette builds up a lot of momentum, and reversing it in this gravity isn't easy. She deploys one arm blade and gouges it deep into the lunar rock to skid to a halt before breaking in the new direction, having lost a precious couple of seconds on her quarry! By the time she reaches the airlock, it's already shut and begun to cycle.

     Laura has a precious few seconds of breathing room as the airlock cycles. Then glowing lavender eyes peek through the thick window-slit on the door, and the tortured scream of metal rending metal fills the thin air as knifelike fingers pierce between the heavy door's halves.

     Air howls out of the room as the door is pried open with inhuman strength, and Septette calmly steps through before the airlock slams shut behind her. A quiet hum fills the room as it attempts to re-pressurize. "I see we have a few moments to ourselves," she says in a dissonantly pleasant tone, the air just thick enough to carry her words as an indistinct murmur...

Gaonoir has posed:
There, a way off the ship. Gaonoir grabs Erika to keep her from straying off, barely giving her a chance to activate the nanoskin before making a break for the hatchs.

.. Crap, the ship is not nearly as close to the base as he was hoping. No one seems to know they are here, but they're also going to be out in the open. There's nothing on the surface of the moon to really cast shadows, the other reason he didn't want to try and carry Erika through them.

Can't talk for the moment, so he sticks to just hauling the girl after him, and keeping their distance from the rover. Got to go on foot. Can't digivolve to carry Erika, the increase in size would make them too noticable, not to mention the energy spike the happens when he does so.

At least with no sound due to no atmosphere Erika can't give them away by squeeing at bouncing through the low gravity instead of running. Though she's still making the expression of delight to go with doing so, sound or no sound.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney pries open the panel, and with a quick bit of hotwiring, is able to convince the outer doors to open. Another glance over her shoulder as the hatch grinds open reveals that Septette isn't the only one on her tail. Ducking inside, the doors almost grind shut and seal, but almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, neither of which are practical on the moon. She faces Septette in the small space, her own claws slipping out, ready to counter that arm blade. And then there's a thud as Biteblade's excited face is pressed against the window. Great. Juuuuuust great. "I am here to protect the inhabitants of this station, and to keep Sombra and Reaper from completing their plan, which will likely cause other people to get hurt if finished. I do not want to fight you, and if you try to stop me, I will. You said on the radio that you want to preserve innocent lives. Will you?" She glares up at Septette, eyes still hidden behind her mask, but the intent is obvious.

Sombra has posed:
    As Sokka follows her into the Rover, the hacker does glance at the young man with an arched eyebrow. "If she does anything that warrants us making sure she doesn't interrupt our plans..." Does she need say anything more? It appears that she's pretty calm and doesn't regard Sokka as much of a threat. "When you get older you will understand that adults will do what needs to be done, niño," she adds, reaching out to tap a delicate finger to his nose. "Boop!"

    For now she turns her attention to Albert and George. "We only need to use the rover's power for a short while. Leaving the teleporter open for too long isn't necessary either way, just to bring in reinforcements." But for now it appears they will need her assistance with another matter first. Turning her head to glance over her shoulder, Sombra narrows her eyes before turning around, leaning forward over George's shoulder. "Hmm. There's one over there," she informs him. "Take us close to there, and I will get a connection going!"

    With that she turns and heads back to the hatch, easily getting up there with a limber jump, pulling herself up. From there it's a short trip to the cockpit of her ship, and she sits down as the terminal around her lights up once more, screens popping up. All it takes is a few clicks of a virtual keyboard here and there...

    Hatches open near the front of the ship, with thick cables with magnets on them shooting out, attaching to the wall of the lunar base. It might be easy to tell that's going on when certain wires in them glow slightly purple... and soon enough a nearby air hatch opens up, large enough for the rover to get through.

    "Entrar, the base is waiting for us!" her voice can be heard over the intercom next.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka stared at Sombra. Then, after a moment, his eyes widened. And he burst into laughter. He covered his mouth and full on laughed. He shook his head and... well, obviously there was SOME joke out there. "Wow, Sombra. You could say you're really... Ty-ed down to all this, huh?" he said before snickering.

There was a joke there but it was doubtful anyone got it.

And then comes the preparations. He frowns and keeps himself near the back. He's not sure how he'd stop them if things got out of control but... well, he could figure it out. Probably. Maybe.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     "There are no civilians on this station," Septette replies in honeyed tones, her voice gaining a terrestrial crispness as the room repressurizes. She gives a slight nod and a smile to Biteblade, as if to signal "I've got this one". "I gladly invite to you to explore it with us, to confirm my account. No human has set foot on in this place for decades. I understand if you still wish to oppose us in this endeavor, but doing so would be a gesture of petty revenge- not an act of heroism."

     Her curved arm-blade stays deployed, but doesn't heat up- there's no need to antagonize Laura right now. Instead, she gestures to the door behind the mutant. "Go on- open it up. See if anyone answers you. Anyone at all." Septette's expression seems perfectly warm and sincere... but surely an advanced machine could feign even that, no?

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The interior is elegant. It's space-age. It's precise and modular, manufactured to last the rigors of radiation, meteors, and other such shenanigans. It is not designed to last through the problem of a Floran pressing their face up against the windows and making faces, shouting something incomprehensible through the vacuum. But it doesn't need to be. It's okay with that.

    Laura won't be disturbed in here, in what looks like some kind of hydroponics segment of the station. Tall banks of plants that slot in and out of floors and walls still keep the interior full of oxygen, or would. A few emergency shutters slam closed to keep the depressurization from reaching farther than it already has, but the light's low enough to show that that power isn't the station's full solar harvest. It's on backup, to be sure.

    Sombra brings the crew into what looks like a tall and mechanically complex vehicle bay, not just for rovers but for a variety of other potential craft too. The wide range of tools scattered and the hefty crane up in the air show that this is where vehicles were assembled and maintained. A rover at the corner lies in only slight disrepair. Heavy cords and wiring lay out, disassembled segments of the base itself. The interior is... Surprisingly spacious. It's like the elegant atriums of museums or corporations. Small interior structures dot the wide walkways and balconies. The whole thing bristles with a wonderful array of residential requisite facilities, on flickery partial power. Occasionally, a small machine might skim over the ground, or a quick drone might zip through, signs that the base is keeping itself in good repair.

    The Flotilla, sans Biteblade, disembark. Albert grunts a thank-you sort of noise to Sombra. They're, at least, not keeping too close an eye on Sokka, if he has any sorts of ideas on how to handle the situation. Of course, this isn't the only area. Signage points towards labs, hydroponics, oxygen generation, observatories, specimens...

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade seems to pursue Gaonoir, and yet... Not quite? He makes a break for it, but it shouldn't be... Tooooo hard to get away. Mostly because Biteblade seems to be making a beeline for Laura's own reported position, rather than focusing on Gaonoir. It seems the little Wolverinelet has effectively distracted the Starbound Flotilla from their further pursuie! Thank goodness. Biteblade may be bounding over the lunar surface, but at least it's not with the intent of pouncing on Gaonoir and stabbing him to death -- which he could deal with and prevent -- while alerting her allies -- which would be a little more inconveniencing.

    His exterior view lets him see small signs of movement in the wide windows of the moonbase. It's not that the colony is fully populated, per se, but rather, the colony still may have something living inside it, even after all this time. Something moves, somewhere, towards... Hydroponics, it looks like? A blur in one window, a blur in the next, looking like dark fur maybe.

Gaonoir has posed:
Movement in the windows. They may have more to worry about than just the Flotilla and their allies. But we'll deal with those as we need to. No one is directly chasing them (thanks unintentionally to Laura) so for now, getting inside is the primary concern.

Gaonoir hop-drags Erika to the nearest access point he can find to get inside. There's no where to really hide for long out here, so they're going to have to find a way inside even if it may tip off someone they're here.

Hopefully those forms in the windows just keep on moving.

Sombra has posed:
    Shortly after the Flotilla captains and Sokka have gotten off of the rover Sombra herself follows, looking around at the vehicle bay with a satisfied smile on her face. "We did it, amigos. We're here... now...! Let's get started on getting an overview of this place while I set up the teleporter, huh? Alberto, Pavo, can either of you check the power supplies? Sokka, come and help me carry the equipment I showed you earlier." That way she can keep an eye on him while the others work on their own tasks.

    It's easy enough to get the teleporter pads out of the ship, and soon enough Sombra heads into of of the smaller nearby rooms after hacking the door open. A former storage room, perhaps? It's easy to note that Sombra looks rather busy as she begins tearing into some panels on the wall, hacking into the circuits before she begins connecting them to the teleport pad that she brought. "This ought to work well as a teleportation room. Nobody gets in or out without me saying so, so we can have a close eye on this to make sure nobody gets into Concord headquarters," she explains as she works.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Almost as if on cue, Septette's words somehow manage to fatalistically summon an encounter. For some reason, the emergency shutter on that exterior airlock shuts abruptly, as if someone here just intelligently shut it from the inside to prevent more atmosphere loss. Which finally gives her the chance to smell the atmosphere itself.

    No human. Only traces of something. Beast? Somehow? It's... Ape? That's the moment that properly heralds what comes next: An abrupt and aggressive AMBUSH! One of the freshly-unsealed vents pops open and a frazzled, unsteady-looking monkey comes out of it. Fit, athletic, powerful, and wearing what looks like a sort of makeshift armor made out of rover plates, the monkey wields what looks like a hastily-assembled stunprod of some sort, crafted out of tools, a power-cell, and wiring. With several gutteral primate screeches, it waves the prod at the two. There's a visible attempt to assess things in the span of a couple seconds, a moment of furtive tactical glances and eyeing.

    Septette's larger. But Laura is more human. It attacks Laura with an angry, crackling swing of the prod first, then a punch against Septette--! But it sees her "omnic" nature, and seemingly takes a different, far more tactical approach, trying to shoulder-check one of those limbs with the extended claws JUST so, to force her own extended blades somewhere close to her own body. It has far more strength than a gorilla its size ought to have! And clearly demonstrates some tactical thinking.

    Of course, it assumes this is a normal human, and a normal omnic. Neither of these assumptions are accurate. Both will be shortly proven wrong. But not before the ape tries to backstep into a potential retreat position too. Hit and run?! With not even one moment of negotiation.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney grits her teeth a bit, not turning away just yet. "Not all civilians are human. And as soon as the rest of the team sees me, it's back to the creative death again." She gestures to the window, where the teeth gnashing is presumably continuing. As the cycle finally finishes, she steps out into the hydroponics bay beyond The air smells a bit stale, but it's still breathable... And there's a certain scent in the air, that she can't /quite/ place. Vaguely familiar, too... And then a sudden sound of runnign feet gives Laura just enough time to retract her claws and try to lean back and dodge. The sparking head of the device tags her on the side, the teen staggering and floating backwards in the low gravity before holding up her empty hands. "I am a friend! I do not want to hurt you! There are other people here who want to take things from your home!" Hopefully it speaks English....

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Obvious bewilderment crosses Septette's face, followed swiftly by annoyance. Was Sombra simply mistaken, or had she lied? Something to sort out for later. For now, there's a squishy who needs protecting. Two seconds are more than enough time for her to assess the ape's body language (hostile), equipment (shoddy), and likely tactics (immediate aggression). Before it can even finish the swing of the stunprod, Septette interposes herself between Laura and the beast, barely failing to intercept the blow but slicing the weapon itself after it connects.

     The incoming punch is predictable as well, foreshadowed by the tensing of the ape's shoulders fractions of a second before the blow. There's no easy solution here- dodge and potentially leave Laura to take the attack; move her arms and take the hit on the chin; or try to match it with her own strength with unpredictable results. She opts for a more passive approach, locking up her limbs and taking the blow head-on. One arm lurches backwards, claws raking along her own face- minimal effect. Even a yggdroid's own weapons struggle to break its armor, but the sheer force does stagger her for long enough that the ape can disengage.

     "I don't think they care what your intentions are," she mutters under her 'breath'. "Leave the diplomacy to me, perhaps. Even as a war machine, I seem to have more tact."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Gaonoir and Erika have managed to get in, and thank goodness. They're a fair bit from the hydroponics labs, which means they can see all those shuttered doors and hear a bit of chaos, but there's not any immediate need to prod at them. Maybe they could go meet up with Laura, but maybe they could also... Go ahead and not do that.

    Here looks interesting, though. They've gotten in somewhere near an observation area. Not just of earth! An observation area for the whole base. Not only can Erika and Gaonoir go check out Earth, they could also access a lot of security cameras from here if they wanted to. Very useful! Especially to see Laura busy in an engagement with Septette and a monkey, as well as a few moments-before-camera-deactivation images of apes in hallways. There's a number of maps here too, a variety of structures laid out. Notable is a downed beacon transmission system that looks relatively easy to, uh, just plug back in, since the camera's view looks like it was just unplugged. Not only might that help them get some backup for their followup efforts, it might give them options for further ways to turn the situation in their factor.

    They don't really need to go there, of course. They have full run of the colony's segment here... As long as they don't run into any more of those apes.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka hummed when he walked in. Welp, looks like stuff was getting -fun-. Or boring. Of course... "Huh." He looked at a weird, green slime on the ground. "This... looks fresh." Before getting some on his fingers and eating it. And then shuddering. "Ughhhh..."

He shook his head before standing up. He did move to help sombra, at least.Then the radio went off and he blinked. Then... "Welp, looks like the smash and grab won't work. There's... something here. And we can't just steal from them. That was part of the rules. I hope you're good at negotiation, Sombra."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    It works well enough as a transit room, yep! Sombra has effectively gotten the situation under control in terms of setting up this room as the Talon and Starbound Flotilla's own staging area. But, power? Maybe not enough. There has to be some kind of power system further into the building to keep it fully powered, if Sombra can track it down and get it running. Right now, it's very useful as a reception point, if someone intends to get here, but transporting large amounts of tech offsite, less so.

    It's hard to get access to the reactor from here. If Sombra takes a path further into the ring, and up, it's likely she could bypass the solar power systems and set up something fully active, though it's likely the batteries will take a while to fill back up either way. This place was and still is on backup power when it comes to the heavy-duty tasks like charging vehicles, which these power conduits are meant for.

Staren has posed:
    Staren also arrives by teleporter, stepping out of the rover after the others. His armor doubles as a spacesuit, so dealing with depressurized sections of the station won't be an issue. It takes him a moment to adjust to the gravity, though.

    He looks at the slime Sokka found. "Hmmmmm. Yeah, I wouldn't touch that with your bare hands, let alone eat it." he makes a face.

    "What if it can't talk, or isn't intelligent enough to negotiate? What if it is just an animal, albeit an enhanced one?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Rrrrrh! Rrrraaaaaahhhhh!!" The monkey seems intelligent, but... Perhaps 'human' is a bit too much. At the very least, it doesn't seem to respond vocally, or show any signs that it heard anything from Laura but noises. "Hoooh! Hoooohhh hooooaaaahh!!" It slams its prod against the ground several times, eliciting violent sparks, meant to make a territorial display. It's practically just incohrent "GET OUT THE AIRLOCK" screaming. It... Actually might have understood Laura in some way, since it isn't attacking, but it seems a bit too simple to communicate in return.

    Laura can get a rough bearing on where it considers escape to, based on its uncertain movements. Wherever the other monkeys are, they're on a certain path in the ventilation system clockwise on the ring. So she can know where to go if she needs to find the others. For now, though, she has to deal with the fact that the monkey is still clearly quite hostile, and if she doesn't just go back out the airlock -- inviable due to both Biteblade and the fact that the shutter is actually closed -- she'll find herself assaulted anew. Violent, angry swings and thrusts. The monkey attacks now, and... Somehow, it seems to have re-assessed things; it flanks around Laura, trying to use her as a shield against Septette?!

    And continue to batter at her. Batter batter batter. It falsely thinks that now Septette and Laura are some kind of ally. And fully intends to exploit that for murderous purposes.

Gaonoir has posed:
Playing it cautious seems to have put luck in their favor.

Erika opens her mouth, but then pauses, mouth still open, as she looks at Gaonoir. He sighs and rolls his eyes, but then relents. "Yes, now you can."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Space computers! On the moon!" In true nerd fashion she squeals with delight, and then does a few fistpumps. "Take that, fake Apollo landing the moon is a hologram conspirators!"

Gaonoir... just continues to stare at her flatly. "Can you -do- anything with them?"

"Whu--" Erika stops in mid-celebration, causing her to fall over awkwardly after losing her balance. Then quickly jump back up and smooth her clothes out. "Oh.. Oh! Of course!" If she's going to be a big geek we may as well put her geekery to use. She strolls over to the terminals, hmming as she looks at the security feeds, then the maps. "Aha!" Cue a dramatic finger thrust and point towards one of the maps. "There! A transmission center." Hair whips behind her as she turns quickly to point at one of the screens with the other hand. "That beacon can be hooked back up to send a signal to our allies. Or whatever other authorities of this world that can pick it up."

"Hmph." Gaonoir turns his bowed head to the side for a moment, if only so she can't see him directly smirking. "Guess you are useful to have along sometimes. Stay here and guide me. I'll go plug the beacon back in."

"Right!" Erika turns back to the console as Gaonoir darts out, setting her digivice on top of it. A tap at the controls brings up it's own display, allowing her to see things through Gaonoir's POV, while still keeping an eye on the security feeds that are still active and warn him of any danger.

Gaonoir is already hurrying down the hallways. Without having to drag Erika along directly, he can use his smaller size and dark coloration to a better advantage for cover while still moving quickly.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     "GET DOWN," Septette roars- then leaps up and over Laura, fracturing the metal floor under her claws. She spins 180 degrees to kick off the ceiling a fraction of a second later, hitting the floor behind the ape with a near-deafening impact. Her body twists midair to loop her arms around its neck, and her hands coruscate with electricity as she tries to pull it away from Laura and electrocute the beast into submission!

     Each time it struggles against her electrifying vice-grip, she'll tighten her hold on its throat and knee it in the back, sending a clear message: there's only one way out of this, and that's to succumb to unconsciousness. Through the entire violent display, she holds cold and unwavering eye contact with Laura, as if to dare her to interfere.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney reaches into one pocket of her suit, rerieving a pack of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Who knows where the Flotilla had got them, but now Laura had them. they were supposed to be emergency food, but could equally as well be a peace offering.. "Here! For you!" Ripping open the wrapper, she tosses the candy in the general direction of the ape as she does her best to remain interposed between the two. If Septette can't hit it, it can't hit her and provoke another attack.
     And then everything goes to hell anyway. Laura pops her claws and leaps at Septette's back, adamantium glittering in the sunlight through the window. "YOU ARE NOT HELPING."

Sombra has posed:
    If Sokka wants to kill himself by eating weird stuff, then so be it.

    While Sombra is aware that Sokka is on the radio, she doesn't seem to care too much, not until he speaks to her. "Hmm? Oh, I am. Though I'll leave the monkey business to the others, the sooner we get the teleporter up and running the sooner we can get help to deal with the situation," she explains. "Now lend me a hand with finding the power system, hmm? We're all set up here, now we just need to get some power to the room here. This place has been abandoned for decades ever since the experiments here killed most of the scientists."

    Of course she only explains this to Sokka /now/.

    Aarmed with her submachine gun, Sombra begins making her way further into the base, quiet as she looks around. If the others are busy with one gorilla, then that means that there might be others lurking about. All the time she keeps an eye on a holovid screen with a map of the base, looking at the blueprints. "Hmmm. The power center should be further down here. We need to get this place powered up by the sun..." So it might be a short time until the teleporter will be fully effective. "Though we /could/ use the rover as well for a brief teleportation if we need backup against those apes. Let's focus on getting this set up, hmm?" she asides to Sokka, then turns down a doorway into an area with terminals and large circuit boards. "I need you to keep an eye on these screens," she explains to Sokka, all while she heads further in. "Tell me if they go below 30 percent, will you? Or if they go above 75 percent. I have to make sure I don't affect those levels too much while I reroute the power and get the power storages charged up. It should take a while to get them all back up, but... it's doable." With that Sombra sets her submachine gun down next to her on the terminal, all while she rests one hand on the terminal itself, her other hand bringing up several large screens in front of her, all while purple lines and hexagons shine eerily on the machinery about the room.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Gaonoir is going to have to sneak about just a little bit still. The base is... Bleak. Well-cleaned, well-maintained, sure. Occasionally, a voice rings out. When Gaonoir passes by a little snack area, the voice calls, "Would you like something to eat?" When he passes through some open spaces, its flickery sounds call, "A quarantine is in effect for this area." Other such sounds can be easily heard as they make their way, and occasionally, an ape -- wearing strange armor, sometimes, or occasionally holding a prod, but rarely without something violent-looking -- will wander in to see what was up.

    But between these incidents? Gaonoir can just easily slip by. And he can bypass a lot of those with Erika's help, as long as she keeps in contact and forewarns him of where the gorillas are coming from. It's not like he couldn't take one in a fight, because he totally could and walk away without a scratch, but it sure would be loud and stressful and inconveniencing to their plans.

    He makes it to the beacon. He ought to be able to plug it in now. The big dish can be aimed -- by Erika, back in her room with all the fancy computers and such -- towards any Watch facilities they need, hopefully to allow someone, ANYONE with teleportation or rocketry gear in the Watch to ID a nearby warpgate and get here. Easy. And subtle, too! The monkeys won't know their isolationism has been broken.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The monkey looks confused. The peanut butter is definitely, for sure, appealing on a deep and intense level. There's even a moment, however brief, of hesitation. But it doesn't last long, and the attack continues. That is, until Septette steps in, stunning it, grabbing it, and tasing it until it's knocked out! As it struggles, it tries to claw towards that vent it came out of, the one heading clockwise, back to its friends... Primate screeches echo through the hallways, until they suddenly fall silent and the monkey slumps into unconsciousness in Septette's grip. Was it trying to call for help?

    Biteblade finally manages to get inside, hotwiring Laura's hotwire after repairing the airlock. "Floran isss here now!" She calls out! "Shiny clawsss friend! We fight now!!" She draws her daggers aggressively, with a wide smile on her face. Uh oh. Yet... Maybe all isn't lost? Laura might have a chance to bring some ape backup if she heads through the vents, since it demonstrated sort of understanding language before...

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Those glinting claws rake along Septette's back, finding little purchase: the armor comprising the 'vertebrae' of her spine seems near-unbreakable, but the sharp edges slice through some important-looking exposed wires and hydraulics nonetheless! A viscous black fluid oozes from her spine, but the little war machine shows no reaction until she lays the ape down on the floor, out cold. When she straightens back up, her eyes are eerily cool and lifeless.

     She lunges at Laura, claws extended and outstretched towards the teen's face in blind ferocity- or so it appears. As soon as enough time has passed for human reaction times to begin responding to the first incoming attack, Septette abruptly aborts the movement, digging her sharp heels into the steel floor and twisting her entire upper body around in a flash to redirect her fearsome momentum!

     The blade on her right arm deploys as she wrenches her frame into a spinning movement, bringing all two tons of her body to bear in a strike that aims the blunt reverse edge of the blade at the back of Laura's neck. It isn't intended to do permanent harm- given the mutant's abilities, it probably can't- but if it lands, it just might paralyze her for a few crucial minutes. If that connects, she'll follow through with an impaling strike to the abdomen with her left hand- just enough to give that healing factor something to chew on!

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka followed sombra, listening as she talked. Then... His hand reached out to grab hers and yank her back. "No," he said firmly, glaring into her eyes. "Like it or not, something else has claim to this facility and it's not us. If you think I'm going to just stand by while you take what you want and work to draw in all your allies, then you really know nothing about me. Like it or not, Sombra, this isn't the kind of place you can just do whatever you want. We're making contact now. -Before- you try to take the place over. Understand?" he aske,d before leaning in.

"And no. It's not open to negotiations." Oh sokka was gonna dieeeee.

Gaonoir has posed:
"Y'know, I could swear I'd seen a cartoon once about space monkeys." But she must not let herself get distracted! "Don't go left, that's a snack nook, likely to be occupied." Erika shifts a bit to look at a different screen. "You'll have to loop around the long way but it should take you between the wandering patrols."

Followed by a giggle she can't quite stifle. "This is almost like playing a video game. ALL YOUR BASE BELONG TO US!"

Gaonoir rolls his eyes, but the directions are appreciated. Good thing the two of them can communicate directly via his link to the digivice. He can smell simian and hear them walking, but only when they're close by, so it's good thing Erika is there to give some early warning. He's able to evade most of the patrols thanks to it, though one gets a little too close and he's forced to climb up and suspend himself between the overhead supports, waiting for the simian to pass. Then drop down and scurry in the other direction to get into the beacon's room.

Fortunately plugging it back in isn't too difficult, and once it's up and running Erika can give him a frequency to input and send the signal for allies to track down.

Staren has posed:
    "So that's what happened. I wonder, were they just reckless, or were the results so unexpected they couldn't have prepared for them?"

    And now they're sitting down at computers. Sounds good. Staren starts poking about for logs -- recent ones, or any other ongoing changes to the file system, whether automatic security cameras or something done by inhabitants... Assuming he can get access, anyway. If not, he starts poking at the hardware, trying to isolate a terminal and get an idea of how they're constructed. It's something to do while waiting for Sombra to finish her task or for another problem to come along, anyway.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney may be slower than Septette, but she's still improbably fast. Septette's used to human times, not mutants. Laura is able to tuck her head in just enough to keep the blow from striking squarely, although it does carom off her neck and the back of her skull. /Ow/. And then she's suddenly impaled, which hurts even more. And there goes one of her lungs. And then Biteblade shows up. Laura's pissed, but she can clearly see that she's not going to win a two on one fight. She aims a punching stab at Septette's eyes, before diving backward and wrenching the blade free of her gut, likely doing more damage on the way out. Biteblade gets another glare from behind the lenses of her mask, before she disappears into the same vent the gorilla came from, a trail of blood behind her.

Sombra has posed:
    With her hand grabbed while she's working, Sombra can't help but look mildly annoyed as he yanks her back, giving him a half-glare. "Niño," she begins, her tone firm, "this place was abandoned by the people who own it. Legally the experiments have no claim to this place. Or are you going to say that the people who stole this place have a right to it? The way they continue they're only going to end up starving up here." Her glance turns to Staren before she yanks her arm free against Sokka's thumb. "I would say it's rather reckless doing experiments on creatures that are physically able of overpowering you, no?"

    As for why they're doing this? "There are lots of things here that have been abandoned... why not let the Flotilla use that to rebuild their fleet? Nobody will miss it anyway." Here the latina hacker shrugs. "Or would you want them to steal from somewhere else...?"

    With that said she turns her head back to her holoscreens and resumes working, clearly not up for negotiation either.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka shook his head. "Doesn't work that way. Yes, they took this place. But they were brought here and experimented on. They took it over and the people who made them gave up on it. They may end up being their own nation now. And I -Won't- stand by while you lay claim to something you have no claim to. The flotilla can trade for what they need. Like anyone else. I'm warning you, Sombra."

And then his sword was in his hand and... driven down, the tip just above the computer. Oh dear. "Either we're allies here... or we're enemies. Make your choice," he warned. He then glanced towards Staren. "The same goes for you. I'm not letting you just take what you want these people just because they're experiments."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The Flotilla people are still busy bringing gear out of their rover, but some attention is still split. Moonfin and Pavo are busy checking in with Septette and following up on that knocked-out monkey. Albert is the one who speaks up most though. "No." He grunts, to Sokka. "They are... Hhhh... Animals. They are victims of a crime that twisted them. But a nation built on victims twisted into violent enhancement is not a nation."

    His eyes SHINE with a sudden sort of rage. "Their blood could cure the disease my race have had for a hundred years. Their unused technology could bring my Flotilla back to life. I don't care about the politics. Don't interfere." His anger issues have surged BADLY, and instantly sabotaged any chance of coming to an understanding with the Paladin when he hefts a heavy assault rifle of some sort.

    Sokka is surrounded by options, though. There's multiple exits from the teleporter room. The vehicle bay is full of mechanical parts, suspended or potentially capable of activation. There is, even, that airlock back in the main room... If he can reach another. All SORTS of options all over the place, for his creative mind to work with on an escape.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Staren finds one particular thing on the cameras. Many of the airlocks here seem to have been heavily modified by the monkeys. Using various tools, remote signaling devices, and other suchlike, they've set them up to be remotely operated at various ad-hoc stations throughout their territory. It gives them an advantage in taking out humans... And may potentially be the way they killed the humans here before, according to the last log, where one of the doctors tersely requests that everyone come help inspect one of the airlocks.

    Speaking of logs, plenty here. Lots of logs discussing how the apes grew increasingly restless, and eventually had to be confined. Lots about their genetic enhancement, which must be why the Flotilla are so eager to get a specimen. A few acts of theft. And then, presumably, came the overwhelmingly murderous violence. There's no signs here that they were treated too terribly inhumanely, nor that most ever achieved human-level cognition, while the doctors were around and alive at least. That would be unclear, a bit, if it weren't for the fact that only one is described as being more human-like in intelligence.

Sombra has posed:
    The moment Sokka has a sword in hand, Sombra... simply sighs. "And here I thought we were getting along so well," she laments.

    The moment he glances towards Staren however... Sombra disappears from sight all of a sudden.

    The very next moment Sokka might feel something cold press up underneath his chin as well as a click, all while a faint sound can be heard as Sombra can be seen again, though right now she's behind Sokka. "I suggest you lay down your sword, niño..." Her tone of voice is calm, still sweet. "If it were up to me, I'd let you take the gorillas somewhere of your choosing. But no, I have to give /them/ what they want here too, that's how a deal works, no?" Her other hand reaches up to take the sword from his hand, all while she glances over at Albert as he voices his opinion of the situation. Her tone of voice lowers to whisper into Sokka's ear. "I might not have the anger issues that Alberto has, but I warn you... get in my way, and I will let him have you. Now... are you going to be a good boy and behave, or will we have a problema here...?"

    It's all up to you, Sokka.

Staren has posed:
    Staren looks at Sokka to respond, slightly annoyed but not seriously believing they'll have a problem, until Albert points a gun at his friend. Morg /damn/it.

    He holds up a hand, trying to gesture to Albert that he's found critical information. He sighs and looks to Sokka... who now has a gun pointed at him. Morg DAMNit! He tries to talk Sokka down. "Sokka... Look. You're right in principle, but according to these logs, most of the apes never developed intelligence. Only one. There's only one person here, /if/ they're still alive... We'll talk to them, see what we can do for them. Either way, us fixing up the station gives them a better chance at long life than if we'd never come here. Otherwise they'd eventually suffocate and die. And we're only taking stuff they weren't making use of anyway. This doesn't have to get violent. Not between us, anyway." He looks between Sokka and Albert.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Laura's gouging strike against Septette's eyes penetrates deeply enough to skewer the optics, but before it can push any deeper, she brings up her free hand, shoves her fingers between the tines, and pushes Laura's fist back. Then the mutant's gone... and Septette is left staring at her bloodied hand with whatever esoteric senses she has remaining, and replaying the last few milliseconds of vision in her mind, over and over again. Eyes can be replaced... but that data may be priceless.

     The dodge indicates that Laura has enhanced reaction time- normal human reflexes simply would not be able to process information and respond that quickly. Using careful analysis of Laura's movements and reactions, Septette may be able to work out what range her reaction time lies within. But more valuable still is what happened during the few seconds when her claw was embedded in the mutant's abdomen.

     Or, to be more accurate, what didn't.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka blinked, wait, she can telepor... no, she went invisible. He glanced to the rifle, then hummed. "You know, that's a really cool trick, you know?" Gun to his head, his mind is already crafting. He sighs none the less. "I guess you have me at an impasse. Three on one, not really that good of odds. Especially considering at least two of you, knowing my luck all three of you have powers. You win. Besides, Staren makes a good point." And the sword is lowered and...

He moves to the left suddenly, the hilt of his sword moving to where he'd expect Sombra's solar plexis to be. Just a quick, brunt strike to likely stun her and hopefully disable her for a moment.

At which point he keeps running, heading towards the door(likely trying to avoid assault rifle fire), hopefully leaving them behind.

Hey, Sokka is an impulsive guy and likes to go with his gut. In this case, his gut says what they're doing is wrong. As he goes, he looks for wires, cords, things connected to doors and the like, his sword slashing through. If nothing else, he wants to cut off some of their control from that room, maybe seal a door behind himself before he'd try to go into one of the hopefully maintenance hallways and attempt to make contact with the things here.

This was not going to end well.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    There's signs of passage in the vent. Signs of travel. Light wear and tear, smeared signs... Looks like Laura's on the right way. She should be able to follow this, get to those apes, make some kind of appeal... She might not be thought of as a leader, but if she can yell enough that one of their own has been kidnapped, something ought to happen.

    Meanwhile, Sokka slashes one of the exposed wires, and thank goodness it turned out to be one of the critical ones. Though it doesn't close the door to the room, it DOES cut power to one of the emergency atmospheric sealing doors, which loses power and subsequently slips into its lower-power position, letting it shut. This gives Sokka some time. Though not a lot. Sombra will be able to hack it open easily by cycling power, but it'll be JUUUUST enough time for Sokka to escape!

    Further into the base, presumably. To rally, get himself together, and call in help, perhaps? Or maybe to ready himself for fighting as well. Time will tell. Until then, he needs to avoid those monkeys!

Staren has posed:
    "Damn it, Sokka!" Staren shouts as Sokka just HAS to make a Heroic Stand. or a Heroic Run, anyway. He gives chase, and when Sokka starts slicing cables shouts, "Oh COME ON! Those might be--" DOORSLAM "--important." He looks at the door panel, considers, and returns to the computer to start making backups of the logs.

Sombra has posed:
    A soft chuckle leaves the hacker, and she nods. "It's what I do, amigo... I'm a shadow, after all."

    Perhaps she should have expected it, but it appears that Sokka manages to take the woman by surprise as he drives the hilt of his sword against her chest, her eyes going wide as the air is knocked out of her. Her grip loosens enough for him to pull himself free while she gasps and stumbles. It won't slow her down for long, but it's long enough for Sokka to slash wires and through things that operate the doors.

    A look of annoyance settles on Sombra's face as she manages to draw air back into her lungs, and she rushes after Sokka and Staren as quickly as she can, grumbling while doing so. "Pudrete en el infierno...!" It's just as well as Staren returns to the logs, and Sombra looks at him briefly. "Get the solar panels up and running, and I'll deal with our runaway," she orders while reaching a hand out to the panel next to the door... and within seconds it opens.

    "Septette's guest has worn out his welcome by interfering with the Flotilla's interests," she informs the others through their comlink. Let's get some doors open and closed here. But will it be enough before Sokka manages to evade further into the base?