971/First Target: Nassel

First Target: Nassel
Date of Scene:	13 November 2014
Location:	Planetary Plains
Synopsis:	The Union and Confederacy investigate a Mariage threat, hunting for the source.
Cast of Characters:	Maya, 96, 177, 320, 381, 401, 558, 578, 597
Tinyplot:	Power Games

---

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
The area that the signal indicated is a pretty small town, one of several. Anyone who does a little research ahead of time will only have a few minutes, but be able to confirm that some of the small communities had been having disappearances recently. This place is largely under the TSAB's radar, but now that they're on alert about the Book of Darkness and Mariage, no doubt they will send a team! Unfortunately it's not likely anyone is close enough right now, at least by appearances. It's a pretty quiet place.

Too quiet, really. The little town is higher tech than a rural village on Earth, thanks to being an official TSAB settlement, but aside from the faint hum of electronics it's a pretty quiet little place. The coordinates bring anyone investigating, by default, out on a small hill overlooking the town, so it's pretty easy to see that it's a main street with a few shops, a public transit station at one end to get to a bigger town, and radiating outward are a few homes. It's probably only a few thousand people at most.

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
"Mistress, are you sure?" Vesta, the curvy catgirl behind Nanoha, frets a little as she appears with the young girl at the coordinates, courtesy of a Dimensional Shift from Fate. Already, Vesta is looking around to see what situation they've landed in, ears twitching in alert wariness.

"We have to stop them, Vesta. Besides! If we do this then maybe we can save Hayate-chan's life, right? I didn't abandon Fate-chan, I won't abandon another girl who needs help," says the little redhead, already in her Barrier Jacket. "Raising Heart?"

<WIDE AREA SEARCH,> the Device chimes, sending several pink globes out to look for Mariage or the young girl they were told to rescue.

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    The crackle and electrical discharge of Fate's lightning-packed Dimensional Transfer begins to fade. The quiet blonde is here too of course, having ferried Nanoha and Vesta and any other Confederates that wanted the lift to the small town. But whereas Vesta is nervous, the more canine redhead with the group is...

    "-feel as though nobody cares if I live or die, so I might as well begin to put some action in my life." o/`
    "Arf."

    "Breakin' the law! Breakin' the law!"

    "... Arf."

    "Breakin' the law! Breakin' th-"

    "We're here. No ramen for a week."

    The headphones are INSTANTLY out of the wolf-woman's ears. "WH- whah!?"

Freya (578) has posed:
Freya arrives on the hillside looking around, she human sized right now, she doesn't want to attact too much attention right now. She looks down at the town. "I wish I had brought bionculars.", she mutter to herself. She wait for everyone else to arrive and hopefully forming some kind of plan. She can't help but giggle a bit at the singing.

Maya has posed:
Maya had got the message over the radio she'd known a bit about the situation but not much. She was hpping to find more and givent his was a problem for eveyrone she'd likely be less twitchy. She's arriving along side Frey and notes to her for a moment

"So here we are a heck of a way to catch back up, isn't it Freya?"

Material-D (597) has posed:
    For once, Yami doesn't need to provide taxi service! She's shown up, though, and the Hayate-alike floats out to land lightly on said hill. "Hmn..." Frown. She's the coldest of the Materials, but she's pretty sure her default solution won't work here. Or rather, it might work, but people will be pretty annoyed about it. Soft-hearted sorts don't like the possibility that nuking the town would kill survivors.

    "We suppose we should look for clues," Yami says with a sigh. "And survivors. If none are found we should level the town, presuming it is infested and The Doctor is correct." She waits for others to move, then takes off to investigate some of the surrounding houses first. "Move quickly, before the Mariage have a chance to withdraw."

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    There's a loud whistling noise followed by a ground-shaking impact and a cloud of dust as something dropped from orbit impacts the ground incredibly hard, leaving a pretty decent, but not gigantic, crater in the ground. As the dust and smoke settles out, there's a drop pod jutting totally vertically from the ground.

    After a suitably dramatic amount of time has passed, the walls of the drop pod fall to the ground, revealing a man standing in the center of the pod. He's currently standing in that stock anime bishounen 'I have a hand under my chin and I'm framing my jaw with my thumb and index finger like a protagonist should be' pose before saying, "'m here, mates and loves."

Caro Ru Lushe (96) has posed:
    Caro will provide transport in for any Union sorts who need it, appearing via dimensional shift herself with Friedrich, in sealed form, just behind her.

    She's at about a 9.0 on her personal grimness meter; she doesn't like Jail in any incarnation, and the idea of one of the numbers that is working for him being here makes her slightly uneasy as well. That 9.0 translates into about a 1.5 out of 10 for the average person, naturally.

    She'll give a glance over to where Yami is, lifting a hand in greeting. "Did you already get a chance to look..?" She'll ask, having been slightly later onto the scene.

Material-S (177) has posed:
    The truce with the Union is proving pretty useful at this point, since Seikou doesn't need to worry about being attacked when she arrives with Fate. "Thank you, Testarossa," she says quietly. She'll answer Caro for Yami, as well. "Ru Lushe. Hello again. We've only just arrived, but I believe I will be helping Takamachi with her area search. We may need your dragon for evacuation of any survivors. I agree with King, we should destroy the town to be sure, whether this is the source or not."

    <WIDE AREA SEARCH,> Luciferion pings, mimicking Raising Heart. Only the little globes are orange.

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
It's... still pretty quiet, at least at first. Flying toward town will show it as a kind of ghost town, even with abandoned cars. There's definitely signs of a struggle, however, and a cluster of cars toward the public transit station. The flashing light atop it signals that the transit is /offline/ at the moment. There's also movement there.

The Area Searches can also confirm: people are clustered at the transit station, and barricaded in. Some very simple wards have been set up, barriers that keep the area search spells from actually getting in. No sign of Mariage, though, not in the streets and not by search spells.

Material-S (177) has posed:
    Seikou announces for the benefit of those who aren't sending out spells, "Civilians appear to be clustered into a protected area at the transit. Or the Mariage might be sealed /in/ there. It's impossible to tell without breaking the barrier. We'll have to investigate in person."

    Seikou lifts off and streaks toward town, without another word. Not that she talks much to begin with.

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
Nanoha frowns, though it looks more pouty. She glances at Arf and Fate and the frown lightens. "I'll go see if the people in the building are friends, okay? Vesta, can you hide me for that long?"

"I think so!" The catgirl mewls, taking a breath.

She smiles to Flint, "Nice to see you again, Captain. I hope everything is working out... and um, let's not go alone, okay? I'm with Vesta, but I'm pretty sure splitting up is bad." She especially looks at Caro, as the girl's presence worries her. She's like, six years old!

Then Nanoha vanishes as Vesta shrouds her presence, and the redhead takes off toward the town and transit station to get a better look.

Freya (578) has posed:
"Oh! Maya!", Freya says smiling at her longtime friend. "Yes, we should have met before at some place a little less eventful..", she sighs a bit. "..Everyone so busy lately."

"Allright then. I guess we have no choice but to check it out.", she start to walk down the hill. "Mabye we not rush..", she doesn't finish her senstense as other fly off towads the transit.. "..never mind.", she start to pick up her pace as she makes her way down the hill.

Material-D (597) has posed:
    "Giant girl," Yami says to Freya. "You will be useful in any evacutations along with dragon kid's dragon. Remain ready for that and stay with at least one other in case of emergency." Yeah, she's ordering around the Union now. Probably loving it, too. "We will accompany Testarossa."

    Yami sticks with Fate for now, but her frown is tight upon her lips. "We do not like this..."

Maya has posed:
Maya says "It's good to see you and it seems to be getting pretty crazy. I think we should at this rate."

Maya pauses looks ahead nodes to her and picks up speed at this pouint she notices the touble that seems looming.

"This does not look good no and hello. I think cooperation would be in all out intrests today."

Caro Ru Lushe (96) has posed:
    Caro - who in fact has recently turned sixteen and would be very sad if Nanoha had actually said anything of that sort - will make a soft noise. "Friedrich's been very good at dealing with them in the past, if we do run into them." She offers. "He can't go all out if they're inside, but it's a backup plan, and of course I'll help evacuate."

    She's willing to play along with being ordered around, at least, and she's somewhat used to Yami.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint really expected more maidens swooning over his dashing entrances when he took his business Multiversal. But he'll settle for happy greetings from small lasses.

    "Greetings, love," He says to Nanoha with a tip of his hat and a cheery smiling long blonde locks flowing behind him as he steps off the fallen drop pod and moves to follow with the rest of the group.

    His hands brush back his coat and he draws out his cutlass, flicking a switch in the hilt as the power blade crackles to life, "Lead the way, ladies. As always, I am at the young lass's beck and call."

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
Flying overhead gets a clearer view, while those approaching from the ground get another view still. Definitely signs of a struggle, with some of the vehicles(which are kinda like cars, but cleaner and more high-tech) crumpled or torn or with shattered windows. A few blood spots here and there, but it doesn't look like a massacre.

Nanoha gets a special treat by investigating the transit. It's barricated physically and mystically, and she can finally see a Mariage drone prowling around the perimeter, as if looking for a way in. It slows and looks up at her, mask gleaming, but does not attack yet. More concerning is the knife that zips past Nanoha, an obvious intentional miss or just very bad aim. The explosion as it hits the wall behind her says it's likely the former. The profile of a white-haired girl in the window stares out, and calls, "TSAB? Friend or foe?"

Meanwhile, those prowling around town with FLINT nearby will get a pretty good indicator of the pirate's luck, as one of the cars crumples aside for a Mariage to pounce toward him! It's a single, unguided Drone, though, easy to dispatch for anyone here. It does result in a stirring around the city as the identical masked figures start to 'awaken' and shuffle out from the various houses. They've been busy, looks like, as there are at least a dozen Mariage visible, and more clearly coming.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint's luck is fickle indeed, and rarely stays in a happy middle. He wildly changes between one of the luckiest men alive and a man that luck has forsaken entirely. A great example of this is when that single drone catches him off guard, tackling into his side hard and knocking the blade from his hand to send it clattering across the ground.

    "Oi, love! Too clingy!" He says as he bowls over with the Mariage attached to him. Immediately, his hand comes up and tries to knock her in the jaw with a deceptively huge amount of force, trying to sever head from body in a clean strike.

Freya (578) has posed:
Freya arrives in the town, just in time to see the Mariage coming out the various houses. "uh-oh!", Freya says. "We got incoming!", she says backing off a bit. She wants to avoid getting into a fight if she can. She normal size would cause too much damage around here!

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
"Wuh... Cinque? The Doctor sent us to find you and see if the Mariage-" Nanoha is confused, at first, because surely the Doctor would have told Conque about her, right? Or maybe not! That's when she realizes what happened, and why the Mariage isn't attacking.

She's still cloaked.

"Vesta!" She shouts, shimmering as she comes into view. This should let Cinque see her, but it also means the Drone can detect her. Vesta takes care of this by leaping down and smashing a fist toward the drone, trying to pounce it and take it by surprise in one quick clean hit.

Caro Ru Lushe (96) has posed:
    Caro will stay ground-bound for the time being, keeping a close eye on Flint - she isn't supremely trusting of him at this point, either. This gives her an excellent view of his being attacked by one of the Mariage, lifting her arm up to be ready to shoot at it if he looks to be in enough trouble that maybe getting shot a little bit would be preferable.

    "Are you alright?" She'll ask, after a moment, as he tries to decapitatingly punch it.

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
Flint plays Rockem Sockem with a Drone, beheading her rather messily. The drone collapses, but now the others are stirring and... actually not going directly for Flint this time. A few controllers are visible, and the whole mass is looking toward...

Maya. Well it looks like Caro can use this chance to help Flint.

Material-S (177) has posed:
    "So they are here," Seikou murmurs. A quick gesture shoots several pulses of flaming energy attacks toward the nearest Mariage, but Seikou is more concerned with the explosion she heard over near Nanoha. The orange-hued aura envelops her again as she blasts off toward the transit station.

    "Call me if you require my aid, but I do not think that necessary immediately," she explains into her radio. Besides, she works better at range.

Material-D (597) has posed:
    Aha! So the Mariage are here! And probably getting ready to attack! What shall Yami do?

    <YERSINEA RAIN>

    As usual, Yami's answer is to 'shower the area with magical bolts raining down on the Mariage nearest to her allies. Sure, she may boss around Caro and Freya and Maya, despite them being Union, but she's going to take care of 'her troops' while she's doing that. "We appear to have found a nest, indeed. We should wrap these up swiftly and determine if their base is nearby."

Maya has posed:
Maya is hoping to notr butt heads on something like this and so far it seems that's going to be the case at this point. She's looking about an then pauses fr a moment . She sees the various Mirage's show up and she's reaching for her rifle now at this point.

"I see them Freya."

She gives a nod to the others and is and Maya's getting looked at oh dear.

"...so you want something?"

Maya brings up her rifle and it powers up with a whine at this point, and rather than fire off a rifle shot the under slung beam launcher fires a freaking laser beam. Which seem to be drawing on power from Maya.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    "Yes, thank you, lass!" Flint says as the head separates from the body, trying to kick the corpse off of himself and push to his feet. He recognizes that girl from the first time they met, "Appreciate the concern, though!"

    He smiles at Caro and says, "Looks like we're in a bit of a rough spot," Once again his hands fall to his side and he draws a pair of heavy blasters, "What'ya say we deal with these bothers and go help those people, yeah, love?"

    He twirls the guns and starts to open fire on the Mariage.

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
As soon as Nanoha drops the veil, the girl pauses. "Takamachi." That dismisses her concerns, and she looks to where the drone is getting slammed into the ground and stills, starting to melt into that black goo that will soon incinerate. "I'm fine! We just have no communications and are running out of food! There are a lot of them, I count twenty-seven. Take care of them and we'll be fine. This isn't their base after all."

Caro Ru Lushe (96) has posed:
    "Ah. Right!" Caro replies. Fortunately, she's got others here to support; she'd rather not have to take on a horde of Mariage by herself. Or even just with Fried, who flies upwards in his smaller form, shooting a miniature blast of fire towards one of the drones.

    Pink lasers will shoot out of the wings near Caro's wrist, meanwhile, trying to strike at as many of the attackers as she can. There's not a ton of force behind any of them, but they may be able to deal with some of the weaker drones, and at least sting the others.

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
Some Mariage fights are more difficult than others. Twenty-seven is a lot of Mariage, but most are drones and with this group, it's not going to be much of a problem. Caro's lasers are already staggering a few, the ones that Maya hasn't dropped with some well-placed shots. They're definitely heading for her today, like swarming bees. Fortunately there's not many of them, and their inattentiveness to the others lets people like Yami and Flint blast apart several drones before the controllers wise up and have the rest scrambling for cover. The corpses start to combust, starting several fires across the street, but in all six have already been taken down by the combined arms, plus another from Vesta.

Material-S (177) has posed:
    Seikou stops right next to Nanoha, then looks at her. Looks at Cinque. Looks at the fighting going on further down the street. Looks at Nanoha. Looks at Conque.

    To Cinque, "Are all the survivors gathered here? Are there any left in the city?"

Freya (578) has posed:
"Nice shot Maya!", Freya says. "or should that be shots??", She says. she just says out of the way letting the other take care of the Mariage with there well placed shots.

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
Cinque stares at Seikou. "Yes, they're all in here, why?"

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint, while not a trained fighter, is a natural scrapper. He excels in fights he shouldn't win and confrontations which are unfavorable to him, as weird as that sounds. So as the Mariage pull back and head towards cover, Flint takes off in a run.

    He's trying to move around and flank, get into a position where he can get shots aimed at the Controller Mariage and try to take them out. Aim for the commanders and the ground troops get scattered, he's learned this after the innumerable number of times the law has come after him.

Maya has posed:
Maya gets off seveal good shots at this point she ees the otehrs are putting out wquite a bit of output she pauses as the things just start t burst into planes. She notices the flames whihc could make htings worse.

"It's not over just yet!"

Maya nopw turns her attention to the remaining one and keeps on the move at this point.

"Damn they burn when they go down?!"

She switches tactics to pull a card and channels blue energy from her body into it. Soon she starts assaulting the remaining enemy with massive high pressure bursts of water.

Material-D (597) has posed:
    Oh, they can let things go? Easy enough! Yami notes how they're going after Maya... and also notes how Maya is blasting them with magic. This all makes sense to her. She also sees how she can use it to her advantage, lifting a hand in the air and gathering power. Magic crackles above her hand, and a pulsing black sphere begins to grow as she states her aria calmly.

    "In an ancient land, sink to the darkness. Diabolic Emission."

    <DIABOLIC EMISSION,> her staff chimes at the end.

    A roaring blast of magic thunders down to the ground, but unlike what everyone might expect, it doesn't actually tear up the city too much. Mariage, however, are going to feel the full force of that gravity-like blast as if under tidal effects.

Caro Ru Lushe (96) has posed:
    Caro will shoot a glance over towards Maya. "Aah. Yes." She considers adding that that had been in the report on the topic, but it would be rude to do so, so she'll just stick to directing Friedrich towards any nearby Mariage, wanting to get him to take care of any so...

    Oh. Or Yami could do something like that. Caro will start paying more attention to her momentary allies, just to make certain they don't go too far..

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
Well, it looks like the investigation is done. This isn't the base! And no civilians in the city! The water blasts from Maya stagger the drones backward, and they flail about uselessly thanks to Flint taking down the nearest Controller, the gun-armed Mariage looking startled for a moment before crumpling and dissolving like the others.

Then Yami blasts everything with a gravity spell, tearing the others apart and leaving it raining black gunk that starts to burn. It's like hot asphalt!

Cinque scowls, muttering, "Showoff..." But she starts yelling that it's safe to come out right after that, so looks like she is okay with this.

Maya has posed:
Maya may have missed something in the repors there's a steady stream of information to digest after all, she'll be certainly double checking things after this and it's not lost on her they seem to be focusing on her she cathcs that and the drones staggar backwards. She wathes them fall and she moves to put out the remaining fire but they were looking at her.

Freya (578) has posed:
Freya ewws at the falling gunk. "I that all done with", she sighs.. "..I wasn't much help at all.."

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint looks quite pleased with himself as he manages to gun down a Controller. And then quite grossed out as chunks of black, tar-ish goop rains down. He makes a grossed-out face as he tries to protect his lovely blonde hair from having any of that fall onto it and tangle it up.

    He sighs again, "Really. I enjoy helping you lot. I do." He wiggles his finger at the black gunk, "I just wish it was less this and more buxom wenches."