1589/Spelunking At Jefferson Airport

Spelunking At Jefferson Airport
Date of Scene:	16 February 2015
Location:	Scorched Earth
Synopsis:	Elites contracted by the ReGenesis Corporation descend into a VTOL airport, loot the place and fight robots!
Cast of Characters:	Crys Gattz, Eryl Fairfax, Ayako Hasekawa, 596, 617, 626, Starbound Flotilla

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Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     When the assorted Elites step out of the warpgate, their feet immediately sink about a quarter of an inch into the ground. The wind blows east today and it carries the fine dust and sand that so pervades this world. Immediately, it may begin worming its way into their clothes and lungs.

     They stand upon a hill, choked with dust and sand that overlooks a corpse of a city. What once must have been great skyscrapers, aspiring towards the heavens are now gutted, windows shattered, frames worn away over centuries. Some have already collapsed, the dust partially burying them, others are letting out unsettling groans that echo across the quiet landscape.

     The communiqu� the Elites received to come here asked them to be on the lookout for a column of smoke, and to head towards it. Scanning the horizon, some may notice such a thing, just a short walk away on the side of a much larger hill.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The Flotilla is here. They're in adventuring gear, Moonfin, the fishman, in samurai armor, Biteblade the humanoid plant in steel plating with bone ornaments, Pavo the bird-girl with a pirate-styled segmented-plate sort of thing, Albert the monkey-man wearing some kind of dystopian commando armor, George (just plain human) with a scavenged spacesuit altered into an armor suit, and Seft the robot wearing full-on medieval soldier wear.

    "Remarkable. The artistry of society survives with such dignity when its masters leave." Moonfin says, immediately snapping to activate his OXYGEN NANOSKIN. It has a minor filtration effect letting him avoid the horrible choking.
    "Floran sssee, sssmoke sssignals!" The plant-person seems to not care about the dust, but more about the horrible lack of vegetation and moisture on the air. "Place isss dry. Get to underground, fassst." They begin leading the march. The rest of the Starbound Flotilla follows suit, starting to make the trudging journey off towards the smoke.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Eryl's world! Ayako has been meaning to come help Eryl here sometime, and so getting a message to come here? Definitely something she wanted to do!

    "Err... Huh." Ayako's amber eyes blink and gaze downward. Why? Well, that first footstep ended in something unexpected! "That's some... loose ground." She reaches back and grabs her collapsed broomstick secured in the back of her muffler and in one quick swing, uncollapses it, and starts riding sidesaddle on top of it. In a moment, she floats upwards and shakes her shoe, trying to get the dust and dirt off of it-only to be met with a strong gust of wind that peppers her clothing with dust and sand. "Eep!" Ayako shields herself with her arms and hands. "Well..." She peeks out from her arms, "I can see why Eryl is always so covered in this stuff..."

    Ayako still floats on, once in a while brushing away the dust and sand that tries to get caught on her. She actually manages to keep herself rather pristine, considering how much is blowing around. For a moment, she glances up at the ruined city and sighs softly. Her broomstick floats upwards to get a better view of the ruined city and she just shakes her head. While she's up there, she looks around to see if she can spot that smoke signal mentioned in the message. "Ah. It's over there!" The broomstick reorients itself and begins floating in that direction.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
Boots sink into the mire of dust and sand, and where most girls would proceed to complain...
Chloe von Einzbern doesn't show a lick of care.

Rather than ruin yet another nice and trendy set of clothes, the dusky-skinned child has already appeared in her Servant garb, the tattered red cloak and segmented black armor pieces serving well enough for protection from both assault and elements for her; despite not looking very protective at all.

"Oh huh, it's you guys."

Of course she would recognize the varied members of the flotilla, in their scavenged armors. Her shredded cloaks seem to fit in well enough.

"... Maybe we should start a line of our own, or something. Call it Derelique."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Upon stepping through the gate, one of the first things Kyra does is slip on a pair of thick goggles, protecting her eyes from the dust and sand. The bottom part of her hoodie is pulled upward over her mouth and nose so she doesn't have to end up breathing in the sand as well. For this particular salvage mission, Kyra's come specced for healing and possible demolition work. She wears some hardier gear than usual, opting for lightweight pants and a canvas backpack. The backpack looks like it's pretty heavy, burdened down with materials that Kyra will no doubt need later.

    Eryl did ask for Syndicate help a little while back. Kyra promised she'd give a hand. Today she seems inordinately excited to do so, happily following after Floran and the rest of the starbounders.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz has been with the Union most of her life it was an odd thing to think about but it was a life that kept her busy. Newmen like herself tended to live fast play hard and die young. By human standards but that was a whole other story, she exits the warp gate and could be mistaken for an elf with how long and pointed her ears.

Crys' one violet eye pans the area looking for the smoke. She doe snot like the sounds the old building is giving off and she wonders what caused this thing's fall in the first place..

"Ah there is the signal."

She looks to Kyra and follows after both her and Biteblade as she goes.

"Kyra and I would presume you might be Biteblade?"

She says to the plant person, she's had to deal with cannibal plants before but? Biteblade's people were not mindless so she was ahem going to give Biteblade a chance.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Isss usss!" Biteblade says, turning back to Chloe! "Little white-hair! Floran remembersss you. Floran, once tried fashion desssign. But, fashion isss Hylotl turf. Floran, isss Floran. Fashion riot, one time. No more fashion, for Floran." The plant-person nods firmly.

    Moonfin comments dryly. Can you comment any other way in this weather? "Your idea is a very good one. Unfortunately, fashion is lost on the tree, I advise you do not try." He continues his trudging somberly. "There is dignity to be found in graceful decay. The aesthetic speaks of something whose form is worn but whose soul is not. It is something to respect."

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Being sent to the world currently presided over by ReGenesis sounds like more of a call for utility rather than infiltration or socialization. That means when Zwei deploys, it chooses to use Asche rather than Weiss for the moment, secure in the fact that it can always 'castle' them if it wants later. Asche certainly sinks more than just a quarter inch into the sand with his vastly greater weight than anyone else gathered, but the sand in the air is no problem at all for him, lacking any exterior seams into which it can blow. Everyone else is roughly waist height on him at most, but that shouldn't be much of a problem in an airport of all places.

    "Dignity in the same way as a noble death. There is no senselessness to it, but it encourages one to mourn all the same." is Asche's bass, rumbling, vaguely electronic reply to Moonfin. He vaguely inclines his head towards Biteblade, just to acknowledge the Floran's presence. Enthusiastic waving is more Weiss' schtick. "I am familiar with the members of the Flotilla and Ayako. To the rest of you, I am Zwei, sub-unit: Asche." The strides he takes towards the airport are not only enormous, but strangely fluid for something of his size, having no ponderous weight to them. He stops frequently however, to allow people to catch up.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Floran isss Biteblade!" There's a firm nod to Crys from the plant-person. "Hello piratey elf."

    Pavo squawks out a laugh from the back of the group. "Aye! Welcome, lass. Ye be presumin' right. We're the Starbound Flotilla, and that string bean there's Biteblade, aye." She introduces the rest of the group casually to Crys, each by name.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes quickly and flies back down to join the group once she spots them. "Oh! Hello everyone!" She gives a cheerful smile towards everyone. "Eehh? The Starbound Flotilla, huh? Nice to meet you all." And then manages to curtsey towards everyone while on her broom. "I'm Ayako Hasekawa, a water spirit." And then takes a moment to adjust her witch hat.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Hello! I've met some of your members before in New Vegas." Kyra waves to Biteblade and Pavo. "But I haven't met you in person, Zwei. Nice to see some faces with the names and voices." Her voice, of course, remains a little muffled due to her makeshift mask but she talks loud enough to be heard. "And it's like she says-" Kyra...realizes she has no idea who Crys is meaning she must have a reputation now. SCORE.

    "I'm Kyra Hyral. Hi Ayako! Nice to see you again."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Cheerful. Greetings, Zwei unit." Seft is already looking a little sand-blasted but she's hiking fine all the same. "Cheerful. It is good to have you accompany us in this task. I am aware of your primary objectives in these excursions. Please inform me if I might assist in gathering the relevant data."

    "Tall metal, isss helpful! Nice! Sssmart and cool. Flotilla, owesss, for ship fight that one time." Biteblade's calling back from the front of the group here, or maybe the back when Zwei is too far ahead.
    "They at least haven't abandoned their artistic understanding." Moonfin says, in an approving tone. Then there's Ayako! "A water spirit. I recall your help in that mall. You were quite effective, for the time we spent together. If there are threats to be found today, I expect Albert will be eager to ensure your protection again."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert does another of his usual apelike grunts at Kyra. "I recall you. Your assistance at Vault 18 was invaluable. I will be protecting you and the other healers where I can again, in case of threats inside our objective." He says, in his usual professional military tones. It's not the "you need protection" tone, but the "this is what I can do best" sort of tone. Respectful.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz nods to Floran and grins a little bit.

"Piratey Elf huh? That's a new one."

Being mistaken for an elf is something she's mostly used to but she could be called worse and that didn't happen so no need rock the boat. She looks to Kyra and grins for a moment. She looks to Kyra and says

"I"m Crys Gattz it's good to meet you, I tend to not get on field ops as often as I'd like too much trouble at home as of late and it's good to meet you also Ayako? The fotune telling elemental right?"

Crys doesn't mind having a low rep score it means the feds don't tend to have an idea about her anymore right? Then again it's harder to get jobs again, sigh she's got to start from somewhere again right?

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "That would be much appreciated...Albert, right? I remember you too." Kyra doesn't seem the least bit offended at being "protected." That's just sound party tactics on her world. "Ayako is also a healer, if you weren't already familiar with her.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     The walk, thankfully, is not a terribly treacherous one. The amount of dust and sand underfoot remains roughly constant at all times, and the path is wide enough that a slip will only result in a fall to the ground, not a tumble all the way to the bottom of the hill. Although the miniature debris still blows around them, irritating skin and choking throats when it can.

     Rounding the hill, they locate the source of the smoke! Two figures, standing around a drum can with a fire burning within on a flat section of the hill. Next to them is a truck that looks rather new, with the back covered with canvas. When they approach, one of the figures waves, pointing it's finger as it seems to do a quick headcount. Satisfied that everyone is here, they take a bucket of water, upend it into the fire and give the barrel a rough kick down the hill, sending it rolling and bouncing.

     Getting closer, the group can make out some more details. Both of the figures are male, clad in roughly similar jumpsuits. These ones are different than the hideous silver one Eryl had to wear. They have the appearance of cotton, with differing colours, but similar styles. The one who kicked the barrel is clad in a white one, with purple stripes around the cuffs of the wrists. In addition, his suit has a hood on it that covers his head and a facemask along with gloves. The other is wearing a dusky orange one, with a yellow scale-like pattern on the right shoulder.

     When the Elites stand next to them, the kicker greets them jovially. Up close, they can see that the only exposed skin he shows is around his eyes, which are pink. Coupled with the unnatural paleness of said skin, he seems to have albinism. "Yo! Considering that you don't look like you're starving and that you're coming up to us all friendlylike, you must be the Elites yeah?" The other one, who is a mountain of a man up close, with sandy hair tied into dreads with glass beads and a trimmed beard, elbows the albino. "Proper introductions. It's procedure."

     With a small sigh and a roll of his eyes, the albino salutes the group, with the bearded guy doing the same. Their salute is done with the left hand up to their temple, palm facing outwards. "Sergeant William Davidson, Eden Defence Force." The albio rattles off, "Corporal Philip Troch of the same. Thanks for coming folks."

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Upon reflection, there isn't a single member of the Flotilla that Zwei doesn't like in some fashion. The fact that they stick together as a big motley crew only makes them more endearing. "Greetings Seft. Biteblade. Moonfin. I offer the same to Albert, George, and even Pavo. It is also a pleasure to meet Kyra face to face as well." he says, not even close to being able to look at Kyra at eye level. "She is correct in saying that Ayako is also a healer. It is her specialty." The brightest section of his optical band sweeps across to stare at Crys, as if looking at her from the corner of his eye. "Are not elves traditionally immortal? As far as I am able to ascertain, Crys is . . ." on second thought, let's not vocalize that for everyone to hear. Apparently, the newman is on enough anti aging drugs to be detetactable even to Asche's more military oriented scanners, but it wouldn't do any good to go spreading it around.

    Asche greets Willian and Philip with a wordless, fiery rumble, making no move to salute himself. Zwei is adamant about having no codified superiors. "Is Eden the name of this city, or of some faction that controls it? It is an ironic name regardless." He looks to the drum barrel. They'd wasted a lot of water putting it out, so in retrospect, they couldn't be that hard up for it. "You are correct. This is the Elite detachment. I am Zwei, sub unit: Asche. Please show us to the area of operations."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako smiles happily at Moonfin. "Oh, I remember that! I hope I still can be of help." She waves hello cheerfully to Albert and agrees quickly with Kyra, "Yup, I'm a healer, alright." And then turns towards Crys. "Eh heh... so I'm kind of known for fortune telling... huh? Well... I only do that once in a while when I feel like it." She blushes lightly as she floats on.

    And Ayako blinks her eyes quickly when she notes the water being tossed onto the fire. It takes her a moment to recover, but then she smiles cheerfully. "Hello hello!" She floats down low to the ground and hops off of her broomstick. Almost on maid-like instinct, she grabs her broom upon jumping off and... begins sweeping the ground. It's a habit! Once things get a bit more formal, she curtseys towards the two of them. "Ayako Hasekawa, a water spirit that just so happens to look like a witch at the moment. Thank you for having us." Her head inclines to the side slightly and she smiles a bright, happy smile. "So, what exactly can we do to help?"

    Ayako nods in agreement quickly with Asche. "Yup! Healing, barriers, and... uhh... water." She scratches her cheek with a pointer finger awkwardly. "I'm afraid that's about it, though." Her eyes close and open in a slow blink. "But I still hope I can be of help."

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
It IS them! If anything, Biteblade's chipper explanation of how, as a race, Floran are more suited to violence and rioting over fashion, unlike the Hytlotl, makes Chloe take some mental notes. So it's pretty easy to understand...

Hang out with a Floran if you want to stab someone.

Hang out with a Hylotl if you want to look good.

Briefly, she listens to Moonfin.

Hang out with both for best of both worlds.

A snap of fingers seems to clear a very small bubble around her to keep the sand and dust out of her face. It's kind of a capricious expenditure of mana, but she'll last, for now, on the way to the smoke signal and the very proper pair of chaps following procedure.

"Eden, huh." Nevertheless her shoulders lift in a little shrug. "I got bored, so I thought I'd poke along."

Well at least she's honest.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert nods. "I will do what I can to keep both of you safe. I will hope I do not need to in the first place." There is a similar look to Ayako, and another firm apelike grunt. He seems to wordlessly share the offer to help Ayako as well.

    Then, they then seem to arrive! The Floran is the first of the Flotilla to greet them. "Floran isss good hunter. Never starve! Isss here, for job! Alssso, isss here to get out of dusssty dryness. Otherwise, become Mummy Floran. Not fun. Hello! Floran name, isss Biteblade."
    Albert is the next one who goes to meat the two, giving them a swift salute. "Commander Albert Petrov. The Starbound Flotilla will assisty as best we can." He then waits, at attention, scanning for their proper destination, which is to say, the entry to their objective location!
    "Aye, happy to be here. Told there might be plunder to be had! Name's Pavo!" The bird-woman says, eagerly, rubbing her feathered hands together. She seems very ready to get to the plundering part.
    Seft speaks up, beeping briefly. "Professional. Greetings, I am Seft. If I understand the purpose of your organization correctly, I am extremely eager to assist." She talks in a purely robotic monotone.
    George keeps a bit off to the side. He doesn't like military types especially much, for his own personal reasons, and it's better to say nothing than to say rude things.
    "And I am Moonfin." The last one, the fishman, greets the pair. "And I can promise we will not be the sort to report a few breaches in procedure if you two find any of it especially unnecessary. I would much rather be the least burden we can, on you." He bows, briefly, and then stands, ready to be pointed to their proper objective.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz Falls in with the starbound away team. She is making good time on her walk and she replies to Kyra and Ayoko

"I can heal somewhat but it takes a bit to focus."

She notes as they move along finally they make it up to people they were supposed to meet up. Crys gives a bit grin as she look their greeters over.

"That would be us and it's all right Crys Gattz good to meet you Sergeant Davidson, Corporal Troch."



She looks to Zwei and pauses for a moment looking at them really hard for a second then nodding as she trails off she seems to get that Zwei stopped and that's enough.

"Got any on site information for us? Anything you can fill us in on would be of great help in going in somewhere like this."

She does give Zewi a look where she might want to talk to her later.

She then looks to Ayako grininging.

"That and your Riva's roomate and works for Psyber as well. I might not say much but I'm always paying attention."

She smiles Chloe and she looks the young lady over and nods to her wondering what her powers are like in person.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "If you need to actually protect us then we'd probably be fighting someone with a brain. I haven't come across many Random Encounters that know the whole 'kill the healer' tactic." Kyra laughs in a lighthearted manner as they walk along. "Yes, like Ayako I can heal. I've also got 'enhancements' and-" she pauses to grin a little wider, "Demolition."

    Upon meeting their two contacts, the super casual greeting from Troch is immediately endearing to the white mage. To see him suddenly get bullied into militarizing it up moments later brings a small pout to her face but she doesn't really point it out otherwise.

    "Pleased to meet you! I am Kyral Hyral from the Syndicate, happy to help ReGenesis."

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     Once the formalities are done, Philip snaps right back to his lackadaisical self, while William just crosses his arms and sizes up the group critically. "Whew, you're a big guy ain'cha?" the albino says as he looks up at Asche, placing his hand son his hips. "Good thing we decided to go with the plan that we did! Fitting you down an elevator shaft would have been a chore!"

     He seems to grin at Ayako (it's hard to tell under that mask) when she starts sweeping. "Don't bother honey, there's too much. Thanks for coming, if things get hairy it's nice to know we have someone who can keep our insides inside!"

     William actually speaks when Chloe mentions that she only came because she was bored. "This is serious, young lady. For you, this might just be an afternoon out, but for us, this is far more. You had best not remain so lackadaisical when the mission begins." Philip rolls his eyes and does the elbowing this time. "Aw, chill out man, she's just a kid. It's that age where everything is stupid and boring, she don't mean nothing by it."

     He whistles as the Flotilla introduces themselves. "Man, you lot are the most motley of crews I have ever seen. Good to meet all of ya!" He grins and waves at each, including George despite his lack of intro. "You too, mystery man!"

     William nods to Crys, seemingly happy at being addressed via his rank. "Aw, Philip is fiiiine, don't worry about formality with me miss. It's just Mister No-Fun here you need to fret about." William grunts and sighs, shaking his head which makes his dreads sway, beads clinking together.

     "And ReGenesis is lucky to have you helping Kyra! See this William? Two healers! Finally, you can indulge your savage berserker blood without worrying about getting killed! Ain't life grand?" William's only response is to lightly cuff Philip over the head with his mammoth hands.

     Laughing, Philip raises his hands for quiet. "Right-ee-OH! Let's get to why you're all here. The place we be going in is in this hill. It's called Jefferson Airport." Placing his right hand on his left wrist, Philip activates some kind of keyboard, indicated by glowing spots on his suit. Tapping away, a holographic projection appears in the air, emanating from his palm. It depicts a tall, cylindrical structure, with a wide hollow shaft down the middle. Structures are arranged in rings around this shaft in tiers. "Back in The Before Times, VTOL-that is, Vertical Take-Off and Landing-aircrafts were perfected. So that meant that those airports with the long tarmacs were obsolete. We tore 'em down to help with the land crisis and built VTOL airports. This particular one was build inside a depleted mine, and it just so happened to be closed when... whatever happened to our world happened. So! That means its likely still loaded with goodies we could use, but first we gotta get in."

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     He taps away at the keyboard, the display shifting to a holographic monitor. As he types, something starts to emerge from the back of the truck.

     Loaded on a hovering trolley is a long, cylindrical machine. It's silvery, and vaguely reminiscent of a futuristic Gatling gun, with multiple cylinders arranged in a circle. In the middle is a heavy-looking block of steel.

     "Our scans indicate that this area has thin walls, and lines up just right with one of the floors. So, we're gonna bore in with this baby!" William starts handing out thick shades to everyone. "If you intend to watch, put these on," he cautions. Philip is bouncing on his heels with glee at this point, manoeuvring the hovering trolley so that it is high in the air with the machine pointed at the hill. Suddenly, the cylinders all expand out on poles, forming an even wider circle. They begin to emit powerful lasers that burn up the dust and start boring into the rock of the hill. With another tap, they begin to rotate, slow at first, then faster and faster, creating a cylindrical laser that melts through the rock.

     After a minute or so, the lasers are deactivated, and Philip presses one last button. That heavy cube suddenly rushes out at high speeds, extending on a powerful piston! It slams into the circle of rock carved by the lasers, causing it to topple inwards! Sour, must air rushes out of the sizable, dark hole.

     "Everyone take a torch, and a mask if you want one, and get in there!" Philip says, eyes shining at what he just did. William has retrieved boxes of flashlights and masks from the truck and hands them out as people start to enter.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    To give them credit, the technology on display is a little more impressive than Zwei would have assumed by the post apocalyptic scene going on. Of course, he hasn't actually met ReGenesis or its diplomat, and Philip and William are sort of dodging the question as to what Eden is, so it can be forgiven that mistake. Asche moves to the head of the group, needing neither a mask to filter air, nor a flashlight to see in the dark, meaning he can skip the supply line entirely. Crouching slightly through the hole bored in the hillside, he steps into the dark interior, and then immediately deploys a pair of marble sized drones from his shoulder mount, zooming off into the recesses of the facility to provide realtime tactical mapping. He's going by other wavelengths than visible light, so someone waving around a flashlight won't interfere.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes slowly and then glances downwards. "Eep." She suddenly stops sweeping. "I didn't even know I was doing that!" She giggles brightly and shakes her head. "But yes. Here's hoping it doesn't get too hairy." She stops sweeping and simply holds the broom in her hands as she listens.

    "Goodies are always good!" Ayako cheerfully takes the thick shades and puts them on. They clash horribly with her witch outfit. Tomoyo would be aghast! Still, she watches the lasers bore into the rock and the heavy cube get pistoned into the carved hole. "Oh oh, very nice!" She claps her hands together cheerfully as she takes off the shades and gives them back to the two.

    Ayako takes a flashlight and a mask, but doesn't put them on. She tucks them both away into her muffler and then gestures outwards quickly with her hands. Faintly cold bluish flames wink into existance around her, floating in the air and providing her illumination. Of course, she keeps towards the back of the group once they enter!

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    The more specific mission briefing, finally presented, does keep Kyra's attention. Though given the goggles she currently wears, it's hard to tell that she's actually making eye contact with Philip as he explains the place they would be salvaging today. The concept of airports with runways is a little alien to Kyra-maybe some hobbyist had aircraft that were propelled in that fashion but airships formed the majority of air travel on Galianda. VTOLs were normal.

    Kyra stares at the elaborate-looking laser drill and immediately reaches for a set of shades so she can watch it in action. "...a mask optimized for this environment? I'll definitely take one." Kyra speaks up, accepting both the flashlight and mask. She pulls down the hood of her hoodie for a moment so she can fix the mask onto her.

    As she walks along with the flashlight, she scoots a little closer to Asche. "Psst." she makes a quiet noise. "I hope you don't mind me asking but...what's the name of your species?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Several of the Starbounders accept their shades. The human just introduces himself quickly, with a faux-friendly smile, with "George!" To explain his name. "Good t'meetya." Instead of taking off his helmet, he just shuts the solar shield on it, to protect his vision, while Seft doesn't even have organic eyes that could be damaged! They stand patiently, glasses or no, examining the digging process quietly.

    When it's all done, Pavo whistles quietly, impressed. "Avast, that be one hell of a pickaxe ye got there, mateys." The group steps forward, grabbing masks where relevant, and flashlights all around. "Pristine salvage, ye might as well have gold. Let's get plunderin'!"

    Albert wordlessly moves immediately to the side of Ayako. There's a few quick motions he makes at Seft, who seems to refeuse them until he makes them much more firmly, and the robotic knight-girl moves to Kyra's side, and Zwei's by proxy. Just in case, both draw their weapons from their Matter Manipulators, a heavy battle-axe for Seft and a heavy hammer for Albert. Meanwhile, Biteblade acts a vanguard, not yet drawing weapons as they advance near the fore of the group alongside Pavo. George and Moonfin are keeping to the midsection, cautious and careful.

    Attempting to work in tandem with Zwei's tactical mapping, Seft begins her own scans using a suite of advanced sensors, checking for energy signatures, movement, or other detectable unusual matter. Biteblade isn't bothered by the sour air, and sniffsat it, checking for interesting scent trails. The rest cautiously keep walking, careful and ready. Let's see what's down this hole...

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz nods "Very well Philip, I just didn't wish to cause offence to either of you."

Her worlds military was twitchy about the oddest things. She thinks for a moment and grins a bit.

"Healers tend to keep dungeon crews alive."

She listens about the before times and she nods a bit.

"VTOL tech is often a game changer to be sure."

She now gets into a more serious mode of operation as she moves to take the mask putting it on, the rorche is also picked up, yet a small strnge hovering creature appears near her shoulder and start giving off light.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     The edges of the hole are still glowing red hot from the lasers! But thankfully, the rock was indeed thin, so all it takes is a single big step to get over it. The masks filter the air, blocking the pervasive stench of must and rot. With the aid of torchlight, everyone can see that they are inside a storage room of some kind of gift shop! The lasers have ignited a couple of cardboard boxes, which seem to contain soft toys, snow globes and trinkets. The rock circle has crushed the wall separating this room from the main body of the shop, annihilating the counter and allowing a clear shot at the shuttered entrance, which also has a large hole in it from the bore.

     "Help yourself to any of this crap. ReGenesis don't need no postcards!" Philip says jovially as he follows everyone inside. He and William are wearing ballistic vests from the truck, as well as sleek helmets with transparent, face-covering visors. Their faces are visible thanks to internal lights. Each carries some kind of firearm. William is packing an enormous rifle with metal rings around the barrel. Philip is packing a small rifle, which is heavy with attachments such as a flashlight and a Masterkey under slung shotgun.

     Zwei's drones would get an advance screening on what everyone sees once they progress through the shutter. The inside of the airport looks kind of like a trendy mall arranged in tiered circles around a vast shaft. What looks like thick, durable glass separates the floors from the shaft, with one section bearing a charred, melted circle from the laser. "Awright! See, aircraft would ascend up through this shaft and through a hole in the roof. But the hole was closed up, so that's why this place isn't choked with sand." Philip explains as he emits another projection and checks it.

     "Oooooookey-dokey. Our mission right now is just to make this place safe. That means ensuring that security won't kill us while we scavenge. The main security room is... all the way down on the tarmac. We got quite a trip ahead of us folks. If we're lucky, the security broke or shut itself down at some point. If not... a-anyway! Remember, you guys get a bonus for preserving those things, so try not to bust 'em up yeah? Stairs are this way!"

     William takes point while Philip sticks with him, consulting blueprints of the airport.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes slowly and then moves swiftly to douse the flames burning the cardboard boxes with some water from her hands. "Whew... Can't just leave a fire to spread." The last thing they need is security being alerted from a fire alarm! Although she might have done it to save the soft toys. That might be it, since she stuffs a few plushies into her muffler. What? She likes this sort of thing!

    Ayako nods slowly as she keeps up with the group. Not the time to browse the remains of the mall!

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Asche turns his head towards Kyra at the strange question, his optics flickering briefly. "This is a designer body which I am currently inhabiting. It is not natural, nor does it have any bearing on my species. We are simply referred to as the Collective. If you were specific to the letter of the term 'species', we are divided into the subraces Licht and Armiger, of which I am the second. Think of it in the same way that your world subdivides Humes based on biology corresponding to nationality." Yes Zwei knows that much from immersing itself in Galianda for a short while, though undercover as a local.

    Oddly, Asche actually stops as he steps into the gift shop, using a few moments to take the sights in. Something about the abandoned center for tourist knicknacks has some kind of gravity of interest lost on everyone else. He snuffs out the burning edge of one of the carboard boxes, going so far as to lift a stuffed animal out of it to examine, before gently placing it back down. He then moves ahead with Seft, Albert and Biteblade, popping open the wristguard on his right arm to produce a pair of stubby barrels, deciding against using bulkier weapons in the enclosed space. Rather than trying to navigate the stairs on foot, he simply jumps from staircase to staircase, exerting no visible effort to do so and flexing not at all as he lands, as if simply walking off the front step of a house.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz will crap a few of the loots the post card and other thing don't seem to beother he and they vanish in burst of lifht as she mvoes to pack a few more bits of loot before she moves on. She loved having photon trap after all, she doesn't waste much more time as the press head.

"So take control of any still functional systems and clear out anything else that's living in here? Right so try to disable and not out right destroy? Got it."

So no use for her chainsawed today she muses.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The Floran stops checking for scents and checks for trinkets, stealing several tiny VTOL model kits even while the fires are being doused. "Floran takesss, buildsss, paintsss." They say with a firm voice. "Will be fun." They put them away, into the Matter Manipulator on their belt, and then catch up.

    Albert grunts briefly. "I have a great deal of experience in computer sciences. The Zwei unit is also extremely capable." George heads over to the edge of the balconies surrounding the central shaft and pulls out a grappling hook gun from his Matter Manipulator, but Albert does another, harsher apelike grunt and shoves it down. "To swift a descent will set off every defense here." He says, firmly. And then they consider the briefing they were given.

    Seft, the robot, swaps her focus from her SENSORS to her WIRELESS, checking for any remaining active wireless signals that would be appropriate for automated security machines. The rest of the group, for now, works on following along with to the stairs.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    It seemed that Kyra asking questions was the state of things, even when faced with reactions like the ones se gets from Zwei, indicating that she herself is mistaken over the purpose of their visit. Further misunderstandings ensue,. specifically involving Zwei.

    "....oooh, so you're like Kotone and you can swipe bodies at will." She believes him when he says that he made his own custom body to work with. "Oh, my bad, so you could be whatever species you want. It just looks a lot different from anything I've seen before. Eheheh.." Falling quiet she drifts away from him as he speaks, paying more attention to the environs-especially since now it looks like a small abandoned mall.

    "I'll strive to not explode any of the security system components but I cannot make any promises if one of those...whatevers it might be targets me."

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     And so the party advances, moving down the stairs! The stairs are always right next to the next flight down thankfully. However, as they go, Philip will check the blueprints for the stores on that floor and read them out, asking if anyone would like to loot any of them. Turns out that this airport has it all! Technology, book stores, game stores, clothing stores... should anyone actually want to do some looting, Philip will guide them to the store, blow off the locks on the shutter and let them have at it before proceeding. As for Seft, scanning does indeed find a wireless security network! However, the signal is weak up here, but gets stronger as they go down.

     As they go, Philip rambles away to pass the time. "So uh! Someone here asked about Eden right? Sorry, got a little excited about getting to use that laser bore. This place ain't Eden, can't remember what it was called either. Eden is our home base, way east of here. ReGenesis got their start there when the founder stumbled across a bunker full to burst with Before Time tech. Decided to set up a safe place, then try to bring the world back, yannowhatI'msayin'? Real altruistic stuff right there! That was, uh... 247 years ago?" He looks to William, who nods.

     Eventually, they reach the two floors just before the tarmac! There are no stores here, only boarding gates through which people would board their planes before it taxied under the shaft. As they go, a small flying drone with high-definition optics detaches from the wall and zooms over! It begins to talk in a cheerful, slightly tinny tone. "Greetings! Welcome to Jefferson Airport! This facility has been in lockdown for 245591 days! Please, clearly vocalize the override code to unlock all systems." Philip pauses, and starts frantically tapping at his wrist. "Uh... shitshitshit..." The robot cheerfully beeps once more! "Error! 'Uh... shitshitshit' is not a valid override code! Please, give the override in 30 seconds or we will deploy security!"

     Oh no! How will the Elites respond to this?!

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Funnily enough, Ayako isn't really the type to loot. Nevermind the plushies in her muffler. Those are different! She was rescuing them from the fire! She does curiously watch anyone else that wants to loot, though.

    "Eehh? Really? That sounds-Oh!" Ayako smiles brightly as she listens to Philip. "I get it! ReGenesis and Eden. To bring the world back. Eh heh." She giggles softly.

    She stays with the group and gazes around as they go deeper and deeper. Her eyes blink quickly when a small flying done detaches from the wall and goes over to them. "Ah. Hello! Um... override code...?" Ayako just stares blankly for a moment... and then quickly hides behind the group and jumps back onto her broomstick to be ready to evade-float!

Zwei (596) has posed:
    "Somewhat similar." Asche intones to Kyra on the way down, thumping heavily with each landing. "Kotone is at a state bordering true transhumanism. She still has a physical brain that is plugged into each body in term, which still carries her genetic material. I have nothing like that. Our species never had natural bodies. To put it simply, we are ghosts who possess whatever is convenient. Technology allows us to build exactly the things we need to exist and interact in material dimensions." Predictably, Zwei isn't really interested in taking anything in any of the stores. Just the chance to look around inside of them is enough, strangely attracted to the abandoned livelihoods of humans as it is.

    The drone however, is worth dealing with. To make a proper job of it, Asche castles in Weiss, causing the smaller Armiger to simply pop into existence without so much as a cool energy flash. Still dressed in her casual clothes, the information specialist walks to the forefront, waving cheerily at the drone. She immediately accesses the drone's memory through its wireless connection to the alarm, reading its executables for the voice recognition software rather than trying to hack it. "Hi there!" she states, placing her arm behind her back. "Override cooooode . . ." as soon as she has it, she'll say it.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz keeps a move on ad at this point she summons a pait of what seems to be a pistol of some sort in one hand and a saber in the other. Well the hilt of a saber and it's a fairly fancy one too from how it's designed.

"So someone got lucky and was able to start the world on it's way to recovery? That's ... inspiring someone else might have become a despot."

She notes as they move onwards and she whistles at the amount of time tha't spast.

"Jefferson? Wait ... Isn't that an American location?"

She's been in the multivese a long time and has had a lot of experiance with earth. She pauses at the override code oh hell she's not very good.

"Fuck ya Amercia?"

She says hopefully please let what she's learned from Rick be right she's also gesturing for the Sarge and his companion to get behind her as well at this point. She looks at Zwei hopefully maybe she can try something?

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert knows, to some degree, what Zwei is capable of, having gone over how they extracted the data out of the server before. "You there! Machine!" With an aggressive stance suddenly taken, he launches into a series of shouted commands meant to put most traditional systems into a debug mode. He's rapidly cycling through commands for all sorts of automated defense systems he's familiar with, intended to be used mostly by programmers or maintenance staff to halt a local process and force a partial restart to the system in a maintenance mode with a memory dump already available. Ideally, something that'll let Zwei capitalize on this, if the data Weiss is looking for isn't stored here.

    Of course, there's a high probability that everything here has decayed to the point where they won't be able to defuse the automated defenses, either in whole or in part. So this is mostly meant to try and buy Seft enough time to get a fix on whatever wireless frequencies the drone is using. She speaks up briefly, in a quick monotone. "Observing. The machine has high-definition optics. They are valuable. In the event of necessity of violence, the use of equipment that may disable but not destroy is recommended." As if on cue, Biteblade is already reaching to grasp a pair of SHOCK KNIVES in their Matter Manipulator; if things go south, and they likely will, the plant-person will be looking to pounce on the valuable thing and jab the shock knives in to try to quickly overload JUST the power system.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Do you mean a literal ghost or an approximation of the concept because of similar characteristics of your race? Because if you are literal undead I might have trouble healing you with my magic. There may be another solution but it would cut down on awkwardness and cast spells.

    Knowing that checking now has a point to Kyra makes her relax suddenly. She felt less like a super nosy passenger and more like someone who legit cared about her fellow Syndicate members. Or at least cared about whether or nto she could heal them during a fight.

    As they move on further, on the second floor, Kyra actually strays away from the group to invetigate one of the storefronts. Old merchandise...was any of it still any good, she wondered? Unwilling to take herself out of visual range of the group, Kyra does pause to investigate, leaving the others to handle the sudden security robot encounter.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo, of course, is not involved in the ongoing events. Instead, she's currently off in the midst of the stores, stealing copious amounts of... Well, just about everything she can jam into her MATTER MANIPULATOR, which is practically vacuuming up both ADVANCED ELECTRONICS (circuitboards and various parts are better than gold in a post-apocalyptic wasteland) and any MEDICAL MATERIALS (similarly critical) from internal drugstores or similar to sell at profitable markup to ReGenesis. She won't be present here for a while, busy as she is with getting the Flotilla's share of loot.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     The little drone regards everyone as they answer! "The fact that not everyone present is aware of the code is making my personal heuristics decide that you are all highly suspicious! Please give the code promptly!" it cheerfully tells the group. As Weiss starts trying to hack into it, it seems that that is its last straw! A siren goes off, as its voice starts to emanate from speakers all over the airport! This unfortunately, means that everyone else's attempts are drowned out.

     "Intruder alert at the boarding gates! Dispatch all available nonlethal security drones!" The drone itself is silenced by the sudden shock from Biteblade's shock knives, but the voice over the intercom continues.

     Suddenly, sections of the floor start to rise up all over, revealing pods! These pods contain grey robots! Their entire lower half consists of spherical wheels. Their upper half has a hemispherical optic upon the top, granting 360 degree vision. They also seem to have two weapon systems in arms that extend from the body. One arm ends in metallic prongs that crackle with electricity as they power up, while the other consists of some kind of bazooka. These pods also rise up on the upper floors, where Kyra and Pavo have remained.

     The robots start to emerge from their pods as Philip starts to panic. William though, he remains cool-headed and starts to bark orders. "We make for the security booth! We can shut down the alert there!" He starts to lead the way, rushing towards the stairs that lead directly down to the tarmac! Lining up a shot on a drone in the way, his rifle fires a powerful shot at its wheel, shattering it! "These are common-as-muck drones, bust 'em up all you want!" Philip shouts over his shoulder at the Elites.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Oh dammit. Probably should have been a little more stealthy than that. When people start talking about "the before times", Zwei kind of assumes a much more primitive standard of computing technology. Weiss frowns slightly before stepping behind Asche, who doesn't even have to make an effort to shield her with his bulk. Rather than attempting to rush through the drones, he pops the wristguard on his other arm as well, independantly aiming them at the drones closest to each side, before opening up immediately.

    The output of his compact multiweapons is set to a (relatively) low powered laser, rapidly pulsing between high and low frequencies to blast superheated holes through the casing of whatever he lines them up with, simply sweeping back and forth with both arms to mow down anything in the vicinity while keeping up a steady forward stride. He mostly focuses on thoroughly reducing the ones directly in the way into molten slag rather than feeling the need to try and take out every single drone around, assuming that the others are capable of taking care of themselves while he forges ahead.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    "What? Me? I'm not suspicious at all!" Ayako smiles an awkward smile as she peeks out from behind the group at the little drone. As she sits on her floating broomstick. Nope! Not suspicious at a-Uh oh. Siren! She looks up at the announcement coming from the intercom. "Uhh... well."

    And then sections of the floor start to rise up! "Whoa! From below?!" Ayako quickly floats up and tries to keep someone between the drones and her! The electricity doesn't really alarm her, it's the other arm with some kind of bazooka thing that worries her. After a moment, she quickly floats after William and Philip. While she has few worries that everyone else can handle non-lethal drones, she's not so sure about those two and goes after them.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz has some ways to deal with the bean bags after all she's got the phone shield in her gauntly so it's time to parry while she can she does have some idea sot disable she can control ice and maybe she can lock them down as they start coming in she moves in towards them. However at the notice to not hold back she nods she does however send a burst of ice into the ranks, then she charges on in after the drones with out a single word. Her DB sabre snap hisses to live with a pale blue energy blade and she'll soon hopefully leap upon the drones in close combat with sword and pistol hopefully she can serve as a division to others.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Floran takesss shouty prey. Isss Floran's now." Biteblade says, grabbing up the disabled observation/interface drone and shoving it into its Matter Manipulator. High-def optics and personal heuristics might fetch a good price! Or it might be cute to reprogram as a pet, who knows.

    "Ah, I see our troubles have begun." Moonfin says. "The ghosts of an ancient world awake, to play out a purpose as if in ritual." He grabs the hilt of a katana from his Matter Manipulator, where it's sheathed. "Third Sea Hylotl Style: Exodus Carved Through Waves." The blade flashes out as the Hylotl rushes forward, intending to carve a path through the machines. The first thing he cuts through -- one of the drones' shock arms -- is immediately grabbed out of the air by George, who begins to attempt to use the dismembered limb to mercilessly beat the foes alongside Moonfin. Seft and Albert are still at their positions, with Ayako and Kyra. Albert's barking out orders to the group, and information to the others, based on Seft's analysis of the wireless signals, to call formations and suchlike.

    And then SUDDENLY, PAVO. "Avast, ye overgrown Glitch!" She calls out, to Asche, leaping a great height into the air and firing her grappling hook at his... Hand. "Flail me, me hearty! Yar har har har har!" She will skid expertly along the ground, leap with perfect timing, reel in or pull out as necessary, and swing with high precision using her one-handed cutlass, if Asche goes along with this plan to turn Pavo into an Avian Flail. Meanwhile, Biteblade is still keeping those Shock Knives crackling, and follows Crys, meaning to work in perfect tandem with her and cover her, often moving back-to-back.

    Albert, for his part, intends to intercept any beanbag shots fired at Ayako with his armored body, and will smash any drones that approach her with his huge hammer. Seft does much the same for Kyra, but since she has ranged damage abilities, lets her have a bit of distance, only closing in if a drone gets too close, working to give her a clear space.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    That'll teach her to try to loot?

    Kyra isn't entirely oblivious to the world around her as she picks through a storefront looking for interesting souvenirs to take. Old clothing and the like has no use to ReGen, right? So if she did find something along those lines, taking it off their hands would be a favor. However...

    Sections of the floor fall away to reveal the drones. Kyra doesn't hesitate at first, immediately taking out one of her guns-in this case, it's the Galianda handgun-but once she aims at one of the drones, she hesitates. Was this one supposed to be intact? But soon enough, they're established as 'common' drones so destroying them shouldn't be a problem since they weren't interested in salvaging these whole. With Seft around, Kyra will gladly use her as cover between her and the drones, making quick work of them from a distance with rapidly fired shots from her weapons. Her aim is good and she works swiftly enough that Seft might not get too much of a chance to engage them directly before Kyra picks them off.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     Pushing through, the party becomes a dervish of destruction! Asche's high-powered lasers do short work of the robots before them, severing them from their wheels! They just lay on the ground pathetically after that. The melee-oriented Flortilla crew, along with Crys, soon find that the drones are not exactly well-armoured, nor do they have much of a survival instinct. They just advance, try to jab with their stun guns and are brought low by blade or blow! Crys's ice blast freezes a couple of drones to the spot, their wheels spinning pathetically. Philip and William fall in line with Kyra, forming a firing line to keep back the drones that follow after the group. William's rifle just blows holes right through the drones, while Philip sprays in their general direction.

     Soon, they stand on the tarmac. From here, they can see twelve wide corridors going out like spokes on a wheel. The voice crackles over the intercom once more. "Intruders have reached the tarmac! Lethal force authorized! Stand down at once!" Now, two sections of the tarmac are rising up too... much bigger sections than the ones that let out the drones. And contained in the pods that emerge...

     They're almost like bigger versions of the nonlethal drones. Rather than a single spherical wheel, they have treads of them in rows of four. Their bodies are much bigger and more heavily armoured. And they do not come with something as weaksauce as beanbag bazookas and stun guns. Each arm consists of a long barrel with rings around them, similar to William's rifle. Swivelling to face the crew, they start to move towards them, those guns firing heavy shots at high speeds!

     "This way! RUN RUN RUN!" Philip yells, making a break down the 10 o'clock corridor! William goes after him, firing at the heavier drones, his own rifle merely denting their bulky forms.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes quickly and smiles at Albert. "Thank you!" She floats over to the tarmac and then blinks her eyes quickly as looks up at the voice over the intercom. "Uhh..." The words 'lethal force' are mouthed after she hears them. Oh! Here come more!

    Eep. And they definitely look much better armed than the non-lethal ones! "I can't stand down! I'm floating!" She sticks her tongue out playfully. Ayako's brush suddenly spews water as she quickly flies after the pair, but it also happens to leave a line of water so that anyone who's behind too much could tell which corridor they're going to. No sense getting anyone lost!

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Wow, no wonder you guys don't want to collect these things in tact." Kyra remarks to Philip and William as their little group more or less spanks the nonlethal drones. That's the closest she'll get to a 'too damn easy' comment today, being savvy enough to know that making such comments usually invokes a new level of disaster during a raid.

    The second level of the security system is triggered and, expecting more deadlier drones to follow, Kyra stows her gun and starts to channel her magic. As she does so, the sinking feeling that something is very, very wrong starts to fill her, twisting in her gut. Taking this as a sign, she immediately stops and changes her course of action, reaching for a very golden rifle strapped across her back. She takes the gun in both hands but does not point it at the newer drones, opting to RUN!

    "I take it we want to leave these guys in tact, right?" she calls out, chasing after Philip.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz has to wonder about these drones but their employers were clear these ones are common enough they have working examples of them as it is. Still there might be parts salvage and she keeps going. She calls out to the thing talking to them.

"We're a recovery unit this airport has been down for centuries!"

She calls out as they now see other drones come in she doesn't seem afraid she's got experiancve with insane machine dronrs and she looking to move at high speed but she's actually going to try to close.

She says nothing else as she's intending to unlessh an explpsive wave of flash fleezing hopefully it can disable these things or at least hold them in place but she's not gointg to be able to rely on her photone field and barrier forever! Still this is what she does best.

"This is just like Ragol's mines, back home! All the drones there went virual from an alien infestation!"

Zwei (596) has posed:
    It's an unorthodox tactic -- certainly one Zwei wouldn't actually think of -- but it sees no reason not to humour the bird woman. Asche retracts the weapon in one of his wrists, grabbing hold of the grappling line in that hand, clenching his fist around it, and then reeling it in a tight, ludicrously fast swing around his side, bringing Pavo along at such a speed that a swing from her sword should pretty much tear anything in its way apart. Rather than swinging wide circles like a flail, he casts forward and pulls back the line in short, elliptical orbits, maximizing the amount of time she stays out of reach of the shock prods.

    The amusement doesn't last terribly long however. Once both Armigers wander out onto the tarmac below, it becomes extremely obvious that doing the same thing would be far too risky to Pavo's life against the more heavyweight military hardware. Weiss strolls along behind the cover of Asche, all but showing off as the combat model stands directly between the military drones and anyone behind him. His form of shielding is far more advanced that that used by typical Arma; so advanced that it's extremely difficult to tell he has any at all. Whenever a slug comes within a few meters of him, the slightest amount of force is applied to it sideways, causing it to fly just past him and explode into the asphalt a ways back, making a narrow sort of safezone directly behind him. He'll stay as long as needed to shield other people across the journey, presenting as wide of a stance as possible until everyone is safely on the other side.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    When they get onto the tarmac, Pavo ceases her incredibly high-speed shenanigans, mostly by shifting to a set of other high-speed shenanigans. Cutting the line on their grappling hook gun, they go speeding off towards that corridor. By "skipping" herself over the ground, she can become impossibly hard to track for an anti-personnel system to track! Meanwhile Albert is relieved of his duties, and can shift tactics. He puts his hammer away and draws his rocket launcher, a light and mobile sort of weapon that lets him fire off several shots at the massive robots on the tarmac. One of the shots from the larger drones tears into his armor, though, causing his chestpiece to explode from the sheer force of the impact and forcing him off his feet.

    Biteblade grabs him up onto his feet and the two are booking as hard as they can. Meanwhile, Seft is trying to do something else; she begins projecting high volumes of TERRAIN into walls between the group and the larger entities on the tarmac, trying to cover Kyra especially. Moonfin and George are more than a little outclassed; they are just chaotically running as best they can. The group in whole, led by the skidding, rapidly skipping Pavo, is heading for that corridor, trying to get to the booth!

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     It's a long run down the wide corridor, designed to accommodate the wide wingspans of commercial aircrafts. It suddenly widens into a vast cavern, filled with parked aircraft, still in good condition. "If we make it out of this, we found one hell of a motherlode!" Philip says, his voice a mix of jubilation and pants-filling terror.

     The large drones follow after, along with the smaller ones who have traversed the stairs! They seem to have gotten smarter now that the larger drones are active, ignoring Ashel who they can't really hurt, and go right after the others! The big ones track how their shots are being deflected by Ashel's shields and begin to focus on him! They adjust their barrels to fire right at his centre of mass, while their fronts open up to reveal rows of rockets! They are propelled electromagnetically, afterburners engaging in midair! Some go right for Ashel while others divert around them, flying at everyone behind him!

     The rockets impact against them, slowing them down and denting their armour, but not much else. The moved terrain and ice don't even slow them down, their treads just shifting to roll right over them without slowing them down. But finally, they group reaches a human-sized corridor, which Philip leads them into. Taking a left, they arrive... at a heavily shuttered door with 'Security Booth' written on a plague on the wall beside it.

     "Hold them off!" Philip yells as he takes a portable blowtorch from his vest and gets to work on the shutter! The smaller drones are advancing into the corridor while the big ones shoot at the walls, trying to break them down!

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako glances back as Albert takes a hit and his chestplate explodes. She winces and slows her broom down just a bit. Her hands cup together in front of herself and fill with a purplish water. "Healing Water!" And said water is swiftly flung at Albert to heal him. He did take quite a hit-enough to knock him off his feet, after all!

    Her eyes blink quickly at the human-sized corridor. Can Asche fit in? Weiss might have to 'castle' to enter! Not only that, those big drones are targetting Asche a lot! If they have to switch... if the timing is bad... Ayako shakes her head once and then gestures towards Asche! "Bullet Maelstrom!" And water suddenly swirls about Asche to help reroute and deflect projectiles aimed at him!

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Thanks to Seft's very interesting "projection" technique that reminds her a little bit of Toph's Earthbending, Kyra's able to retreat with William and Phillip entirely unscathed. She's right alongside their escorts, coming upon their potential bounty of lots and lots of aircraft just as soon as they do. "Ah, yes!"

    Kyra takes up position near those two, remaining far in the back so she has a good view of every person here, knowing she'll be able to hit who she needs to with healing when she wants it. She doesn't try hitting the security drones themselves, her current ordinance (save for the high explosives, which could get messy and unadvisable in an underground facility) too small to make much of an impact against the drones. "HEY AYAKO! Focus on your water magic! I've got these guys!" she calls out to the water spirit, following up with a shot from the shiny gun aimed at Albert. It produces a blue and white laser that despite looking like a laser has the exact opposite effect of healing people shot with it.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz is abel to do some good but on sojme point she starts to follow the others for the booth, she hopes their two companions from this world better understanding of their world's old tech? Would be able to get this system under control. She hears the focus of water magtic and notes

"Need ice?"

Well maybe not it semes Kyra's got a plan in mind to get them under control at this point she's now laying down fire from her pistol with the odd shockwave of ice.

"We'll get you what time we can!"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    A human-sized corridor! Yes! "Okay, guys!" George calls out. "I'm gonna entomb us. But only a /little/ bit! Nobody panic!" Pavo gets there first, and skimmed right into a wall on that left turn. But she's back on her feet immediately and right over to those two ReGenesis agents! Meanwhile, George heads to the entrance, setting up a BARRICADE of ship-hull steel, projected out of his Matter Manipulator, that will... not hold up to sustained fire from the large drones, but will buy them a moment, once the group's all inside.

    Pavo, meanwhile, draws her MATTER MANIPULATOR over near the ReGenesis pair. "Avast! Ye not the only lubbers here with a saw sharp enough to cut!" She points the futuretech at the door, projecting a harsh blue beam meant to cut and dig through the shutter lock mechanisms. Albert is swiftly healed by a combination of both water and healguns; the gaping lacerations and blistering burns are swiftly dealt with, leaving him merely tired, and so he can go over to help Pavo too! This will make three cutting tools all at work.

    Biteblade takes a position at the wall, rapidly firing EXPLOSIVE ARROWS from a large compound bow they draw out of their Matter Manipulator, through holes punched by the fire of the larger drones. Moonfin, George, and Seft now work at the bottleneck, waiting for the barricades to break, and trying to violently smash and slice any drones who breach them with their katana, baton, and battle-axe.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    For the first time in two months, Asche finally gets to show off. It's pretty rare that he runs into technological opposition more advanced than iron and gunpowder, and thus equally rare that his combat functions are properly showed off. Taking up the front of the corridor, he expands his personal interception field up to a six meter radius, increasing the amount of power needed to run quantum calculation over the wider area, but allowing incoming fire to be deflected at a wider angle.

    Aiming for the center of mass is an improvement over otherwise, but a marginal one. The slugs coming at him now divert course far more blatantly as the shielding system devotes greater amounts of energy to throwing them further off course to compensate, suddenly taking 15 degree angles as they pass the invisible threshold of Asche's absolute territory. The barrage of rockets is met with both pauldrons extending slightly from their settings, opening up the drone docks and point defense batteries, which immediately begin picking missiles out of the air with precision barrages of gamma laser fire. Settled in like this, he is a defensive fortress, built to withstand attacks from the heaviest of enemy offensives.

    With Ayako's bullet maelstrom deflecting the explosions of rockets detonating nearby and the Starbound Crew rapidly filling up the door behind him, Asche takes advantage of the water barrier's outward acceleration trait by rezzing a pair of submachine guns from his personal arsenal, sized up for his massive hands, and made of the same sleek, carbon black angles pulsing with luminous red lines where the bolt should be. He opens up on each heavy mechanical individually, filling the corridor with the steady strobe of high intensity muzzle flash as he dumps more of his reactor's output through them, filling the air with a veritable torrent of anti-armour raiser fire. In a danger close situation, the projectiles are tuned to simulate kinetics 1:1, acting as bullets of theoretically infinite hardness and inertia for as long as they have the energy to sustain penetration.

    While Asche fights off the larger enemies, Weiss seems to have acquired her personal rifle, using it one handed to snap off shots similar to Asche's, though lesser in power, at the small drones as they appear. Her other hand is dedicated to the task of using its multiweapon to fire a high intensity laser into the opposite side of the shutter Phillip is working on, steadily burning through it in alternation with his blowtorch to double the cutting speed.

Eryl Fairfax has posed:
     The little drones may be fragile, but their true worth starts to become apparent in this situation. Namely, their quantity has a quality of their own. As the crew sets up a final stand, they rush towards them, uncaring of any injuries they take. They roll over the damaged forms of their peers, jabbing with prods and firing beanbags! Some are frozen by Crys, others are slashed, beaten and bashed by Moonfin, George and Seft, many are gunned down by Weiss, there's always more to replace them.

     The bigger drones meanwhile, engage with Ashel! They begin to realize that his shields seem inpenetrable, so they start trying to use them to their advantage, aiming their shots so his shield curves them at their allies and at the wall! But then he breaks out the heavy weaponry, and it's clear that they are not equipped to deal with this kind of thing. Their armour is torn from them, wheels are shattered. One of them loses a gun, the other loses optics, but they press on!

     But finally, with everyone's help. Philip has the shutter open! Slamming his shoulder against the hole, he charges in and rushes to the security console. Pounding at the keys, he cancels the alert, and everyone outside notices the difference. All the remaining drones immediately stop the attack and start to retreat, back to their pods to recharge.

     "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" can be heard from Philip from the booth, and even William is cracking a smile. The albino rushes out and gives everyone a hi-five. "We did it! We survived and we did it! OOOOOOHHHHH MAN!" He pumps his fist and dances a little jig. "You guys were amazing, oh man with the ice and the swords and shit! Can't thank you enough!"