5360/MISSION: Starwatch (2)

MISSION: Starwatch (2)
Date of Scene:	08 July 2017
Location:	Overwatch Earth <OWE>
Synopsis:	With resources gathered, it's time to ascend to the moon.
Cast of Characters:	Starbound Flotilla, 632, 1111, 1076, Gaonoir, Sombra, Staren, Tanya Degurechaff

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Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Those avenging Watchfolk in Numbani find their opportunity to track the rogue Flotilla. Out on the northwest, open expanse of Nigerian savannah, readings light up. Watchtowers and various monitoring stations used by their agents, cells of undercover observers, and other such sources go wild with the data. The Flotilla's energy signatures just hit radar in a major way!

    It'll be a few minutes before anyone can get out there. By that time, the initial launch prep will have been set. A central underground base of sorts has unfolded, blossoming like some tremendous concrete and steel flower, blast doors opening up at the top, scaffolding and girders extending far up to the heavens... And a heavy central thruster column, pointing out to the heavens can be found. In order to get up there with their new resources, they can't just take off. Their secret base has to load up onto a central SURFACE-TO-ORBIT THRUSTER! The swarm of smaller vehicles, and their larger central shuttle, have all been assembled up on the the body of the thing.

    Extensive girders and scaffolds hold it in place and facilitate the loading. With the ominous noises and energy signals of power systems spinning up, it's likely... They'll be launching soon. Get aboard if you're planning on tracking where they're heading!

    A few craft are notable. One is given a unique purple paint job, and loaded with transmission, computing, and scanning equipment. It's reserved for Sombra. Another is a smaller one, more intensely durable, lacking life support, reserved for Septette. A few others are there as well, but the Flotilla are packed into their one remaining shuttle.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
    It'd be imprudent for Septette to idle at the Starbounders' hidden base for long; her incredibly outsize sensor presence could give away the entire facility to a cursory scan of the area. When the little war-machine is called in, it's either because things are quiet, or because they are about to get very, very loud. So when her comms flicker to life with launch announcements from the Flotilla, she knows that it's going to be a very loud kind of day.

     Arcubielle grabs the crimson-spattered lavender shawl by her door, wraps it around her shoulders on the way out, and twines an Ariadne's Thread between her hands like a garrote before yanking on both ends. It snaps with a satisfying noise like the crack of a whip, releasing the spatial disturbance inside and warping her to the base's teleporter in a column of twisting, glittering white light! From the teleporter pad, she makes a beeline to the launch area; she may only have walked these freshly-fabricated halls once before, but one such as herself does not forget such details.

     Septette's metaphorical claws aren't out at the moment; attired as she is now in her floor-length shawl and clamshell headset, one could mistake her for a human with her youthful face and animated movements. Clanking footfalls herald her arrival at the staging room. "You reproduced the Mayfly for me? You bunch of flatterers," she says with a playful grin before clapping Seft on the shoulder. "I mean, I know it's not exactly a difficult craft to make, but still. I appreciate the gesture."

     And then, striking a slightly more serious tone: "If you wanted me here, that must mean we're already lighting up Numbani's sensors like a fireworks display, no? Do you figure they'll be able to reach us before we're able to take off, Albert? If so, I should really be preparing the perimeter." In the meantime, she stows away a small one-way teleporter beacon inside her ship and syncs an Ariadne's Thread to it- useful if she accidentally spaces herself!

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
     Sneaking into hostile bases was nothing new. Stowing away aboard kludged together giant rockets? That is actually a new one. And since she'd only found out about this a few minutes ago, that kind of ruled out going space suit shopping or ducking back to 616 to borrow more supplies from Beast. Therefore... Time to improvise. Laura weaves her way through the shadows, sprinting silently across open stretches, ducking behind cover and freezing when anyone starts to get too close.
     Finally, standing in the shadow of the booster, she starts making her way up towards the larger ramshackle ship she saw the night of the raid. Spying a maintenance hatch, a quick slice of an adamantium claw removes the lock, and the teen is able to duck inside, dropping the hatch shut behind her, and start worming her way through the cramped space within.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka had come to numbani for reasons. The big reason? He was a paladin. While he may not have been the most capable in most types of situations(being possibly the only elite without some kind of magical powers/enhancements/being the very best in the world at X abilities), he WAS quite good at learning things and, with his schooling now, he's been getting better at machines.

He was also pretty friendly with the machines and people and saw no issues between them, as well as being someone who was, somehow, quite likeable. It made him a good diplomat in fixing situations like this. Or, well, fixing as much as could be.

Then the alarms telling him about the base came up and he did the totally most responsible and adult thing he could possibly do.

He stole a jet bike. Which he DID NOT HAVE A LICENSE FOR! And decided to drive it towards the base to get there as quickly as he could since, well, this was the kind of situation where you didn't really have time to wait for home base to 'okay' things and meh. He fought and helped win a war. He probably had this handled.

(He didn't have this handled. Even a little bit.)

So it was that reason those on the base might notice a lone hoverbike making its way towards the base. On the up side, the fact it was flying meant he had no issues with crashing into things! The whole stopping thing would be fun, though.

Gaonoir has posed:
'A few minutes' is all some people need as soon as the ping on the Flotilla's location goes out over the Watch infonet.

The 'Mach' in his evolution name isn't just for show, as the two jet engine narcelles that serve as a jetpack send Gaonoir rocketing through the sky towards the indicated coordinates. With his Tamer wrapped tightly in his arms as they speed along, a digital tablet type device clutched tightly in Erika's hands to keep a grip on it due to the speed. Funny how flying at extreme speeds never seems to harm the otherwise unprotected people just because they're being carried by someone else. Multiverse works in weird ways.

"These are definately the crafts that departed the previously attacked facility." Erika tapped the screen to zoom the screen in. "Guess we're suppose to run some sort of interference to try and prevent their launch."

"Good enough for me." As he started to slow down Gaonoir shifted Erika onto his shoulders. Then manifested his battle gauntlets, slamming one metallic fist against the palm of the other. "I've always wanted to punch a spaceship!"

Sombra has posed:
    Who hasn't looked up at the evening sky, wishing to see what it's like up there? The stars, the planets... and the moon itself. Today is the day where some dreams come true.

    Septette isn't the only one who's been hanging around the hidden base today, as Talon's master hacker steps into the cockpit of her designated ship for this mission, getting her space suit properly on. Space is perilous after all, and even if the ships do have life support, you never know what might happen. Scripts have been written, and Sombra's made sure to get the ship the Flotilla has prepared for her all ready so she can actually fly it mostly by autopilot. Let's leave the combat to the captains while she focuses on what she does best. That's why she suggested this collaberation to begin with.

    "How did you know that purple's my colour?" she asks the Flotilla captains with no small amount of humour as she sits down in the seat, bringing up additional screens with more data. Better keep an eye on the other ships as well and how they're performing. It was easy enough getting all of the ships synched up to one database for her to work on, all connected to the tech onboard her ship.

Staren has posed:
    Though uneasy about the raid, Staren finds a more comfortable place helping with the construction -- he has his own matter manipulator, and has assembled a squad of golems -- probably made of reinforced concrete or the like -- which resemble large, crudely-formed humanoids about ten feet tall with a camera eye and an antenna sticking out of each of their heads. As go time is approaching, he's suited up again, and is now mostly just waiting to help with the launch. Ironically, while the Flotilla's remaining ship doesn't seem to be in the best condition, now he has a working ship, so he'll just have it enter orbit and teleport him up once they're done here.

    After contacts appear on their sensors, he doesn't realize he's holding his breath as he checks the external cameras... and then sighs. Sokka is here. Dammit.

    Staren calls his golems, wielding crude bars of metal as clubs, and heads to the base entrance to deal with the interlopers.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Septette's shiny metal ear-fin twitches slightly under her headset, dislodging it at a jaunty angle as her superhuman awareness comes to bear. "Someone's coming," she cautions the captains- that was definitely some kind of Suspicious Sound, though she can't quite pinpoint its origin. An instant later, she turns on her heel, shawl rustling dramatically around her metal bones, and sprints towards the perimeter of the base as a trio of small spherical drones materialize around her.

     "High probability that foreign agents are already present; likely more en route. Moving to secure perimeter from potential additional hostiles. Do not delay liftoff for me." They won't be needing this base anymore, so rather than take the long way around, she just smashes through the concrete walls wherever it'll save time!

     Finally, she reaches the exterior of the base just as Sokka draws near. Septette interposes herself between the hoverbike and the base's front door with only a few hundred feet to spare, holding one hand out in the universal sign for 'halt!' If he heeds her greeting, she'll walk up to the bike with a blank expression, arms nonthreateningly by her sides. "Greetings, Citizen. I am a detainment-authorized OR-16 security unit. Are you aware that you are approaching a secure state military facility? License and registration, please."

     All utter lies. But it's worth a shot, right?

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert grunts a heavy grunt over the radio. "By necessity." He says. "We're moving a large volume. Need a large thruster. Lots of power involved. Will appreciate your presence." He says. Seems a little distracted with the launch sequence, that was almost an entire sentence more verbose than Albert usually is! "Get aboard when you can. Launch sequence is minutes remaining." But then, Septette alerts them to approaching interference! "Hmh. Understood. Won't delay liftoff, but--" He makes a rumbly sound. "Prioritize being aboard where possible. Better to have you and one more enemy than not having you."

    Laura shouldn't find it difficult to get into the base, since it's unfolded so much. Heavy crates provide some cover, as do the tall girders and scaffolds. She can probably climb them effectively to get to the main shuttle, considering the girders are plain steel that her adamantium claws can punch through, allowing her functionally infinite climbing ability around Starbound structures. She can get inside, but... There's noises. Sounds of people finishing work within. What are these Flotilla folk still doing? Hmmm... The upper deck is cramped, but if she gets into the middle or lower ones, they should be open. And perhaps more secure for being in when the launch starts...

    Oh hey, there's something near the hatch. A little panel labeled "EMERGENCY OXYGEN NANOSKIN DISPENSER", and below that, "SINGLE USE", then, "12 HOURS VACUUM, 48 HOURS NULL-OXYGEN". It has an enticing button.

Gaonoir has posed:
As they make the final approach towards the launch complex Erika hunchs down on Gaonoir's back, hooking her legs around the struts supporting his jets and digging one hand into his bandolier to hold on, the other still gripping her tablet. "Ready for engagement."

"Then let's knock, shall we?" There's a gleam across his visor as Gaonoir focuses on the main ship preparing to launch. Dark energy arcs around one gauntlet as he clenches it into a fit again, and then dives down towards the Starbound ship. The crackling energy increases as he draws back with that arm, aiming to swing in such a manner that the kinetic energy from his momentum is transferred into the punch. "KNUCKLE CRUSHAAAAAAH!"

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney definitely could use an amergency space suit. Or whatever this is. She presses the button, before trying to arrange herself so that she won't be impaled by something during the boost phase, while trying to coordinate with her allies over her headset. This is clearly going to be interesting. Might as well also look around for some kind of readouts while she's down here. She freezes again as the sound of running feet on deckplates clanks overhead, before resuming her slow forward crawl along the shaft.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka hummed as the woman came out. Oh good, someone to--

Oh. Oh dear. How does this thing stop? "Ack! Err, this? No, this. Shoot, what about--" And boosters engaged and... um. Well. The vessel basically launched forward like a missile at the woman. He flew off it and tumbled.

"Look out!" he yelled, then hit the ground, rolled and... "Ow..." he moaned, laying there for a good long while as the bike slammed forward, slammed into the woman and... the bike lost. He, after a few moments of measuring if today was one of those days he could get up, or just lay there and play dead. Definitely the latter.

Instead, he put his hands down, pushed himself up and wobbled to his feet, saw she was standing and... "Well, this is gonna suck. Okay, listen, girl. I don't want to hurt you and I'm like... sixty-five percent sure I can't hurt you. But trust me. I've been telling people 'This isn't what you're looking for' for years. It's not going to work on me. I know EXACTLY what I'm looking for and, one way or another, I'm getting on that ship. Station. Thing. And honestly, cutie, I think my little dirt nap a second ago is about the most making an ass of myself I wanna make today, so..."

Then he gave her the charming smile. "So how about you just step aside and we skip the whole fight thing? Bike-cause I'd rather skip the fighting someone with powers thing until i have to. Come on. Num-bani has to know about it." .... Yes he was punning at her.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    SLAM.

    There's a powerful impact. Sombra's connection picks up a heavy shielding loss on the main ship! Meanwhile, outside, Gaonoir's impact hits a shield, and then utterly brutalizes it. While that punch seems to stop in mid-air, blocked by an invisible barrier, it's clear this is no damage-less impact; several obvious shield emitters blow out, exploding dramatically with the overload required to block the force, as well as damaging the power systems inside...

    Inside, Laura finds that the moment she presses the button, a quick "fuzzy" sensation passes over her finger, up her arm, and then eventually over her body. Her acute senses will smell a scent that's clearly artificial or recycled oxygen mingling with the air around her. There'll be stations like this scattered near entrances and exits to refresh the nanoskin; she shouldn't find her infiltration too hampered.

    The lights flicker when Gaonoir's attack lands. She can hear the walking sounds nearby shift away in a quick run. Whatever just happened outside, it's drawn attention and power away. What look like some sort of interior scan-lights go down, as power is redirected! Laura is now free to head down into the more open areas, and find a place to evade the G forces. But where is that power being sent to...?

    "Ye skydog, I've about the patience for one hit, and ONLY ONE!" Comes a frustrated and pained voice from within. Pavo, the pirate, has likely had a console explode violently in her face, and while Gaonoir can't see the burns on her arms, he can hear the venom on her breath. "No quarter if you bring canons at me ship again, BACK OFF." Several turrets draw power from the damaged power systems, shutting down interior security while amping up heavy laser-bolt guns, and fire a rapid series of anti-fighter fire at Gaonoir!

    "Interference is immediate. Bypassing launch tests. Starting sequence." The thrusters at the base of the main rocket begin firing up. It'll be a while before they're launching, but... Should get ready to get aboard, or to fly, if you're going to pursue!

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     In the moments before impact, Septette carefully assesses the mass of the hoverbike, its likely contents and construction, and the presumed intentions of its rider. Civilian model; lightweight to reduce energy consumption. Not a terribly impressive top speed. Any cosmetic damage sustained will likely be worth the intimidation factor against potential enemy combatants. Under her cloak, armored plates subtly shift and angle to deflect the force of the impact, and she turns her body slightly to the side as if in a fencing stance. Then she waits for hundreds of milliseconds, motionless and expressionless.

     Crunch.

     The bike warps itself on impact with her unyielding frame; fuel cells rupture, spilling liquid fire across her cloak and the ground behind her in a flaming red brushstroke; in seconds, her cloak burns off, revealing the tan robotic skeleton underneath. She stares at him, flames licking impotently at her 'bones', for what feels like several seconds before finally dignifying his puns with a reply.

     "That obvious, hm? Or are you just a clever kid?" Her voice slips into a more emotive tone, though it's still clearly synthetic. "I was hoping to get you to turn around without any... issues. I still hope to. However, I value the contents of that facility more highly than I value not harming you. Do I make myself perfectly clear, child?" As if to emphasize her ominous tone, a three-foot-long curved blade unfolds from her lower arm and begins to glow red-hot.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney ...huh. That's definitely new. Smells like canned air though, so that's good enough. When no footsteps are audible nearby, she pops the floor tile, quickly climbing out and fastening it back in place, before surveying the area around her. Got to start somewhere... That door. Ducking inside reveals some kind of crew dorms, a row of lockers along one wall along with a lot of bunks, and various bits of personal kit scattered around. Pulling off her mask, she tucks it safely away in a pocket before rummaging through one of said lockers for disguise materials.
     A few minutes later, someone exits the aft dorms, a girl clad in an anonymous gray jumpsuit, hair pulled back in a messy pony tail, a tool belt slung around her waist. She'd even found a clipboard. She proceeds down the corridor, clearly doing some important pre-launch checklist... Time to find a computer terminal.

Sombra has posed:
    The moment Septette alerts them to the fact that there are unbidden guests here, Sombra frowns and turns her attention to one of the screens, the one that has thumbnails of the security feeds on it. Quickly she increases some of the images, narrowing her eyes as she gets a quick overview. "Mierda."

    It was obvious they would be noticed sooner or later, but this quickly? How utterly annoying. As she's typing she isn't ready for the heavy impact, and she's jarred in her seat with a pained grunt. Oh drats... she has no time to go out and help with the issue for now it appears, if the main ship doesn't have a shield, then the mission is lost.

    So Sombra's forced to remain inside the ship for now, typing away as she works on relocating energy to prevent overload and more systems being injured.

    The sequence is starting, let's hope everybody can get back and ready to leave this planet behind for now.

    "Rerouting power... shields are stabilising," Sombra alerts her allies over the radio even as she works to make sure to get everything set back. Sure, with some emitters being blown they are at a disadvantage, but with some reprogramming, then the shield should be functional. It will require her to keep an eye on it however to make sure the power doesn't surge too much during their flight, but an improvised solution is better than none!

    "Ten more seconds, and things will be set...!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren doesn't relish fighting Gaonoir either. But seeing him ready to punch the ship... He pulls an oversized pistol out of his bag and hurries outside, ready to fire a warning shot... but too late. The ship's already been hit and the fight's starting. He hesitates as he tries to decide how best to not actually kill Gaonoir or the rider. He's not sure how much damage they can take. Bullet wounds he can probably fix himself... but the digimon has also drawn the ire of Pavo, who's not going to hold back. But then what about the human, can she take much punishment if he misses a shot and Gaonoir dodges wrong?

    After much hesitation, he settles on swapping to his submachinegun and setting the ammo to behave like hollow-point bullets, and the smartaim system to not fire if it predicts the shot will hit Erika.

    Staren sends controlled bursts of fire Gaonoir's way. Time to find out if bullets work on Digimon!

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka sighed and... "Well... I guess we have to do this the hard way, huh?" And then drew his own sword. He charged at her, swinging a few times. Then pulled back, circled about, readied his sword as if he was about to stab... then... threw the boomerang. Seriously? What did he think that would--

The moment it likely bounced off her head(and probably flew back towards him), he was suddenly running TOWARDS the launch pad. Wait, when had he circled around to the opposite side of-- THAT LITTLE PUNK!

"Sorry, cutie-pie, but I've really gotta get to stopping this thing before things get worse. You know how it is!" Of course, when she tried to, inevitably, stop him, she'd discover sokka was not the best fighter. What he was, though, was someone who could make you MISERABLE fighting him. He wasn't above using cheap tricks. Dirt in the eye, stomping on a toe, sliding under the legs, anything and everything to get past her.

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    'Stand by in case you are needed' was the order. An order Tanya had fully intended to follow on the pretense that standby jobs generally never result in anything. As a small blonde girl enters the airspace over the hidden facility, though, she rolls her eyes upward in thought. -How did it once again lead to this?- Glowing blue eyes swing back downward, and she leans into a gentle, banking turn, circling lazily. Her gaze fixates on the largest threat, the digimon currently engaged with the shuttles. While she unshoulders her rifle with one hand, the other pinches the communicator hidden by the collar of her battle suit.

    "Pixie 01 is in the area. Standby."

    Swinging her feet down, Tanya brings herself to a halt. The rifle is raised and she lines up the iron sights almost boredly, shifting only slightly to track the biggest, most threatening air target harassing the spacecraft preparing to launch.

    "Holy Father," she mutters as she stabilizes her weapon, "Give me the strength to purify the minds and hearts of those who stand against us. Give me the power to share with them Your untainted, shining vision." Her eye snaps wide, the iris flashing from blue to gold, and she squeezes off a single round into the empty air where she predicts Gaonoir to be by the time the bullet arrives.

    On impact, the shot should explode.

    Tanya's not just taking pot-shots, though. She's intent more on drawing the Digimon away from what she's presuming to be delicate spacecraft. Nevermind the explosion.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Sombra brings some shielding back online, leaving it a flickering barrier of sorts. Now it's visible, and clearly damaged, but at least it's working again. Thank goodness for tech!

    Meanwhile, far at the base, exhaust begins to pour from the thrusters. Time to get ready to be on it! In a few seconds, this whole exchange -- fight and all -- is going to be taking to the skies. First vertically, and then horizontally. There's plenty of scaffolding and cranes and girders and suchlike to use to access various segments of the core central rocket, or the vehicles aboard, but Sokka had better get onto it soon! Almost as a response to his radio callout, the exhaust blast spreads over the flat ground surrounding the base, a sort of shockwave and wind-storm on the way in.

    Meanwhile, inside, Laura finds the vessel mostly empty. A few Concord hirelings have given her room to blend in, grunts with little ability and even littler threat. It looks like most of the interior is gravitationally stabilized in some way that'll make it resist surface-to-orbit G-forces. As she heads through, there's an odd terminal she finds, with what looks like blank blue human, shoulders-up, somewhere near what looks like a scanning equipment station. Laura's keen senses of smell and hearing won't pick up any signs of life near it, but there's a scent like some unusual kind of oil.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     The sword strikes are parried almost lazily by Septette's arm-blade and metal claws, each turned aside with the calculated minimum of effort required to avoid material damage. But by the time the boomerang is thrown at her head, her mind is already racing again: significant damage reports from the main ship. Flotilla outmatched in the hangar? Hard to say. Can't leave this intruder 'unsupervised' here. So the best thing to do here is...

     To give him what he wants. Let him into the hangar. That way, she can contribute to the ongoing fight there while also reining him in. At the same instant she reaches that conclusion, the boomerang collides with her temple, breaking her headset and bending one ear-fin at an unfortunate angle. She takes what appears to be a retaliatory swipe at him with the heavy arm-blade... but it deliberately goes wide, embedding in the ground behind him and intentionally steering him towards the hangar!

     When he makes a break for it, Septette takes off in a predatory loping sprint behind, occasionally firing bolts of elemental magic that force him to take the shortest path towards the launch pad in order to dodge them. No matter how quickly or slowly he moves, she always seems to be right behind him, almost on his heels- the better to spur him on! "Have at you, scoundrel! Get back here!" Best to play into his roguish impulses for now- not getting caught is second nature to someone like Sokka, right?

Gaonoir has posed:
Energy sparks fly from the impact of charged fist against defense shield, sending arcs sizzling along the surface before it starts to flicker with the power fluxation and he pulls back. Just in time for an irrate voice and defense turrets to come to life. "Yep, we definately got their attention." He pulls up and fires his thrusters, taking evasive maneuvers to zip and zing around the laser bolts being fired after him.

And then another volley of fire comes zinging in from the side. "Whuh!" Gaonoir grunts as it pings on the edge of his vision, and twists towards to intercept, holding up both metal-clad arms in front of himself to shield both himself and Tamer. The hollowpoints don't quite penetrate entirely, but there's an obvious string of hit-flash as the bullets rattle against the bionic limbs. Followed by a bigger shot thanks to Tanya that hits with enough force and blast to knock him backwards in the air a bit before his engines restabilize him.

Some smoke sizzles from the hits as Gaonoir lowers them, though he glances over his shoulder first. "Okay back there?"

Erika tucks the tablet into her satchel, and then adjusts her glasses with her now free hand. "A little shaken, but still hanging on."

"Good, this is gonna get a bit wild." There's a pause as he turns his attention back to the launch site. "Sorry kids, but we're just doing our job here. Folks aren't happy with your friends for breaking and taking their stuff.... But as the crazy lady said no cannons..."

There's a pause as Gaonoir flexes his arms, body arcing back a bit as he almost looks like he's sucking in a huge breath like a certain fairy tale wolf is famous for doing.

"DARK MACH VORTEX!]"

And the 'exhale' as he howls sends a spinning vortex of darkness infused wind towards the ground, the cyclone of shadow energy aimed to expand towards Staren and Tanya. So they succeeded in getting his attention off the spaceship, at least for the time being.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney wipes a hand across her forehead, conveniently adding to the grease stains she'd picked up in the crawlspace, before rummaging in a pocket until she comes out with a thumb drive, which she plugs into one of the collection of jacks underneath the display. "Hey, Computer guy? My boss wants me to back up the navigational and mission data again. Something about 'triple redundancy', not like I give a fuck, but it keeps him off my back, y'know?" Gone is the all business teenage vigilante ex-assassin, now there's only some girl who's clearly on her first cruise and a bit in over her head. "He keeps asking about the chick in purple, too. I think it's some kind of sick obseession."

Sombra has posed:
    With things stabilising Sombra lets out a sigh of relief. "Shields up and running again, I'll be watching them." A glance towards the countdown timer, and she narrows her eyes. Better buckle up. Once they're out of orbit then she can actually move about again. And hopefully deal with the intruders on her own too. If they are sneaking around, then she might be able to sneak up on them. Better spend these seconds before launch to get things properly set up so she can access the terminal from her graft. Just as long as she runs some proxy programs and preset scripts, then she can still keep an eye on most things going on. Sombra types away, eyes glancing from her holoscreen to the ship's monitors.

    "Septette, can you get back on board? I can help deal with your new friend. For now we need you to get on board!" With Tanya there to assist they might get an opening too before the timer's done.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka frowned, okay, something was up. She did not just say... I mean, sure, it was something HE might say, but something was so up. That or she was a dork. A bigger dork than him. Was that possible? Not likely. Welp, she was big, clunky, metal. Which hopefully meant... she was less agile than him.

Likely? No. He was NEVER that lucky. In fact, he suspected she was more agile than him. So of course he decided to start running, leaping, jumping and moving about the equipment as he tried to make his way towards the ship and up into it, trying to keep the big, heavy equipment between him and the other girl.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Oh, again? This is the fifth and two thirds time, apparently." The AI says. "You're very repetitive, for humans. Most can only do something twice before they get bored." Sombra gets to detect the access as data begins getting copied over. It starts with only the first few details of the objective, though, the bare outline. It looks like... The moon! Somewhere on the moon. By then, though, Sombra will be set up... And she'll be able to identify that infiltrator! Someone doing an unauthorized copy!

    But just because there was no traditional life there doesn't mean Laura doesn't suddenly find out that there was someone else there! Oh god!! It's one of the Starbound Flotilla. Seft, specifically! The robotic noblewoman didn't have any organic scents. "Assuring. I believe our backer is covering that. The 'chick in purple'?" She tilts her head, the big blue eyes flickering like she was blinking. "Recalling. I have tried to avoid her myself. Her methods are... Distastefully violent towards innocents." And then, she says something a little heavy, though she doesn't realize it. "Curious. What is your superior's interest in Sombra?" No, she's not mistaken. The connection is absolute, and it goes all the way back.

    The Starbounders are definitely backed by Sombra. If Sombra herself is quick -- and she's definitely quick as a thought, with those grafts -- Laura might find a digital interruption, all of a sudden.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Sokka's suspicions about Septette's agility are swiftly confirmed: as soon as she hears the warning about launch time, she takes a running leap past him, skidding to a halt on the launch platform and turning to face him. Strangely, she doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get in any of the spaceships! "So, kiddo. Pick a tin can, and I'll get in behind you. Then we'll have a few minutes all to ourselves. Maybe have some tea, talk things out. Sound fair to you?"

     Then she flexes her bladelike fingers ominously and rolls her neck. "Or. Orrrr. You can back off, and not be stuck in a small, confined space with me from here 'til high orbit. I guess it's your choice." A short pause. "I suggest we go with the larger ship? It's got the best snacks, plus actual life support." She emulates a wink, turning one of her lavender eyes off and back on again.

Staren has posed:
    Staren sees the big good wolf huff and puff, and starts running out of the way, but this attack is too big to dodge! He takes a defensive stance reflexively, covering his face with his arms, and the forcefield flickers into visibility, the breath stripping the outermost layer off, tiny pieces of field turning into sparks and blowing away. It's not as effective as a hail of bullets, but magic(?) still messes it up.

    Thanks to the thought interface, he can talk to Sokka on the radio at the same time without taking the time to actually say all the words.

    He hesitates again, considering options. He makes up his mind more quickly this time though, raising the gun to fire... and then instead, the beam cannons on his armor fire! They're a lot more damaging than bullets if they hit, a lot of concentrated heat and energy!

    And then he starts running for the ship. Maybe he'll be able to get on in case someone does chase them up, maybe not.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka stared at the woman. He was going to fight her, obviously. That was the only way. He--

Sheathed his sword and shrugged. "Well, if you wanna talk it out, fine. I'll trust you. You seem the trust worthy sort. You know. Aside from the blades of death and all." He almost said something else, but stopped himself. He looked her up and down. Planning to fight her? Nope. "The big ship sounds good. But please, I'm a gentleman. Ladies first," he said with a wink. "Besides, I'm curious if you look as good from the back as you do from the front," he teased. Yeah, and he was going to be in a confined space with her up into orbit. How in the WORLD was he not dead yet? Something he was sure Antlers asked almost daily.

He would go in first if she insisted, otherwise he'd follow her in. Just a little tense.

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    Given the distance she's keeping herself at, at least from the initial shot, a shadow tornado is not immediately a concern for Tanya's personal well-being. She leans away from it, ducking away from floating stationary to moving sidelong with enough momentum to counteract the darkness-infused wind. No, the real concern is what threat that kind of sudden weather might pose to the spacecraft she's supposed to be protecting.

    Tanya has no real investment in the Flotilla or their ships. But failing a mission looks bad on the service record.

    At least she got the Digimon's attention. The bolt on Tanya's Mauser 98K is worked, ejecting a spent cartridge while she plans her next move. She has to draw him away from the spaceships. Or drive him out of the area... Golden eyes skim the surroundings, and the Digimon itself, for options. And she zeros in on one. A hand goes to her collar once more, "Staren. I have a plan."

    Banking as she skirts the tornado's influence, Tanya pours magic into the chambered bullet. Finding an opportunity, she twists in midair and draws a bead, then squeezes the round off. This time, her shot isn't aimed at simply getting Gaonoir's attention. No, this time Tanya's opted for a high-precision round instead of an explosive one, aimed at the girl riding on the digimon's back.

    That looks important.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    PLATFORMING TIME.

    Sokka hops on crates and scaffolds and heavy beams. This gives him loading access to the LAUNCH PLATFORM just near the BIG SHUTTLE, where Laura secretly is too! He only needs to survive the initial launch... Right? Then he can escape and do something weird. Unless he wants to survive some serious G-force on the exterior of the vessel!

    Actually, you know what, that is probably something Sokka could do.

    Septette's access codes are totally working fine, which means one of the exterior doors opens to allow Sokka access inside according to Septette's invitation, of course. Inside, no Starbound Flotilla members are yet found, but they may be soon... A dangerous situation to be sure! It's a den of enemies. Sokka may conspicuously notice something useful: One of those emergency oxygen nanoskin dispensers is right next to the entrance, a panel with an enticingly big red button that will charge Sokka's body with a "survive in space for hours" field if he pushes it on his way in. It's a tactical option that the clever guy may yet be able to use to turn the situation around.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Gaonoir's attention is off the ship! Thank goodness, because if they had that ruthless skydog's attention on them during launch, it'd be lethal. The powerful offensive force the digimon has is beyond the ability of their hull to handle, certainly. The engines are now at full power, blasting exhaust. In a few seconds, they begin to rise. Slowly, at first, but then disturbingly fast. It's enough time for Staren, Sokka, and Septette (triple-S rating!) to get aboard, but little else. The flying combatants won't have too much trouble keeping up, fortunately or unfortunately for the Flotilla.

    But either way, this fight's taking to the air! It rises dramatically, far up and then soon horizontally. The multitude of smaller ships -- some occupied, some... Distinctly not occupied -- rattle along, presenting options for those who need to escape, but soon that'll mean the dramatic trek over the surface of the rocket as it ascends to orbit!

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Amiably shrugging her shoulders, Septette opens the hatch. "I see your traditions are different from ours. Where I am from," she replies with a hint of dry wit, "children go before their elders. Hop on in." If he accepts the invitation to come inside, she'll shut the hatch and escort him to a utilitarian table, swiftly setting up some water to boil on a high-tech nano-stove and grabbing some teacups from a cupboard. The cups rattle dangerously as the battle continues raging outside, but she doesn't seem to mind.

     "We're en route to another adventure," she explains, seeming to be in no particular hurry and not paying much attention to whatever antics Sokka might be getting up to. "This one won't involve hurting innocent people, I promise. It's to do with salvaging materials from an abandoned moon base. You can accompany us if you wish- see what methods we employ- or we can use the teleporters to return you to a neutral location after we reach orbit. Your call."

     Her allies outside don't seem to need the help. Better to keep an eye on this scoundrel, and keep him from doing too much damage unsupervised. He might even prove to be an asset in the upcoming mission, if he's so inclined...

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka did tap the button. Of course he tapped the button. He was sokka. There could have been a plate of grease by the door and he'd have licked it. "Cool," he 'd say. Once seated, of course, he hummed and well, she wasn't trying to KILL him. That was a perk. "So... how about we start off from the beginning. You said what you did was for a reason. Fine then, what was the reason?" he asked, staring up at her.

He was wary, but he knew he was at a disadvantage, so he didn't... ah, who was he kidding. He was always at a disadvantage. It was what made it -fun-. Gosh he wished it wasn't so -fun-. Like. ALL the time. Either way... He did sip the tea.

"Start telling me the why. Then we can go to the other one, okay? I mean, sure. Salvaging abandoned materials is all well and good. Unless it leads to attacking more civilians. Then we've got an issue."

Sombra has posed:
    As she waits for the countdown to finish Sombra blinks, turning her head slightly to the side, purple eyes narrowing. Somebody is accessing the system? Well, let's do something about that. An arrogant smirk crosses her lips, and she begins tracing the signal. Just where are they copying the data from...?

    "Gotcha."

    The room Seft and Laura are in suddenly go dark, only security lights remaining on inside. Sure, the Flotilla might have tried resetting everything after her first intrusion into their system, but this? This is child's play. SAIL is digital afterall, and what better way to handle this than to make use of the ship itself?

    Purple lines spread out across the ships even as the rocket takes to the skies, and Sombra rests her hands on the terminal as she leans back in her seat, wincing against the force of the take off. Once it all stabilises however, the hacker isn't slow to get out of her seat, readying her submachine gun as she marches out of the cockpit of her own personal ship and heads to the connecting areas.

    In the area where Seft and Laura are there is some light however as Seft's visor lights up... a purple glow offers some light, as Laura can see what might be a familiar looking skull shining up the room. "Amiga, go back to your duties. And I'll handle this," Sombra's voice can be heard over the intercom. Sure, Laura might have been able to copy some data, but with the power turning off in this area, she hasn't gotten all of it. That ought to do for now. The doors around the room slam shut one by one, closing up the area. All save for one

     Some rooms away an airlock opens... and then all the doors between that area and the place where Laura and Seft are, though the door is closer to Laura. So she will feel the pull of the airlock much more.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Septette glances out the window with a look of mild concern, then shakes her head. They'll be fine out there. They're always fine, aren't they? They'd tell her if they're not fine. Finally, she seats herself at the reinforced bench and begins steeping the tea. "Name is Septette Arcubielle- apologies for not introducing myself honestly earlier... My moral system is very simple in its precepts. An action is good if that action produces good results. Theft may be 'immoral', but if I have to steal a loaf of bread from a store to feed a starving family, I will do it, because it's a lesser harm to the store than it is a benefit to the family. Does that make sense? It doesn't matter what society or the law consider wrong; only the impact of the action on other people."

     "So," she says, drumming her fingers on the table with a slight bit of anxiety, "participating in a raid on a legitimate civilian facility was illegal and, by the common definition, immoral. However, I determined that I could reliably nonlethally subdue the guards; not accompanying the Flotilla on their mission, or even attempting to stop them, would have resulted in more likely civilian deaths than aiding them. That is how I concluded that my personal actions were the best actions given the scenario." An explosion outside rocks the shuttle. Septette still seems outwardly unconcerned.

     "As for why I considered the mission itself to be moral: we stole only proprietary information, and caused only repairable injuries. The only loss of life came from a rogue, uninvited agent who took unforeseen advantage of the chaos." She pours the tea into each of their cups, and adds what looks like some powdered sweetener to both cups before taking a small sip from her own.

     "Meanwhile, the Flotilla badly needed to sell that information in order to acquire materials and resources to restore them to fighting shape. The Flotilla Captains are valued allies of my world, and along with myself, represent virtually its only Elite defense. So we caused some temporary damage to one facility in order to help bolster the security of an entire world. Even if you do not consider that a fair trade, my participation in the mission itself was unimpeachable. It saved lives." She sets down her teacup and stares at Sokka, smiling warmly. "Does that make sense?"

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney freezes for a second when Seft's voice rings out. Shit! She must've missed the sound of the approaching android under the roar of the engines. Welp time to improvize even more." Adjusting the goggles on her forehead, she turns to the newcomer. "Yeah, I saw a video of what that owl mask guy did at the hangar. Pretty fucked up." As for the second bit... "Fuck if I know. Maybe he's got a crush on her and wants to ask her out. I don't get paid enough to ask too many questions, and the last time I told him I wouldn't do one of his errands he made me go declog the waste reprocessors. Without gloves." A shiver and wince is all that needs to be said about THAT process. And then the lights go out. Laura immediately snatches the drive, shoving it back into her pocket. Shit. She's been made. With the flick of one foot, a toe claws slides out, a quick kick and twist of the foot popping the tile cleanly off. WHile there's still air to carry her voice, leaning against the gale, Laura speaks. "Nothing personal. Sombra has caused my friends and I trouble before, and I intend to stop her. I must go now." She starts to duck down into the crawlspace again, using the underfloor structure to brace against the wind. Her argument isn't with Seft, so hopefully she'll let Laura go...

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir tries to direct his shadow vortext in a path that would pose the most potential threat rather than the most actual destruction. It seems to work, as both of his attackers scattered in different directions, though neither is immeadiately breaking off their attack either.

He has to cut off fueling the cyclone and let the attack wind down in order to maneuver away from Staren's fire. Simple enough. But as he goes up Staren and Tanya end up in almost opposite directions, given the later a clear look at the girl hanging onto his back. Clearly she's been paying attention to the short scuffle, if he's noticed how he moves to shield his passenger more than himself.

The shot doesn't go unnoticed though. It pings on Gaonoir's tactical scanners almost as soon as the round leaves the gun. Reflexes honed by experience and experimentation alike kick in and the digimon whirls around, getting Erika out of the line of fire while swinging one of his gauntlets into the path of the shot. The bullet clangs off the metallic limb, arcing over his shoulder as it ricochettes off, just missing the young Tamer as it whizzes past.

And right into one of his engine narcells.

It doesn't need to explode after that. Just hitting the thruster is enough to make it sputter and start trailing smoke. "Shit! Hang on!", he manages to yowl out as the unbalanced thrust sends him spiraling out of control and down towards the launch site again.

"REDUNDANT!" Erika shouts back, considering she's already clinging on as best she can.

But as they drop down the ships are taking off, and for a few moments of calculating things seem to slow from the Digimon's point of view. Then he twists out of the way, seeming to dissolve into a ball of black and purple energy(?) as he disappears behind one of the smaller rattling ships. The burst of energy could easily be mistaken as some sort of explosion.

In reality though it's the extra energy being shed as Gaonoir devolves to his Champion stage. As soon as his form is stabilizing the ends of his scarf lash out to grab onto the ship he was falling past like dual grappling lines and yank him to it, Erika still clinging to his back for dear life. Hopefully he can use his big claws to pry open a hatch for them to get in before these ships reach orbit.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka stared at her and picked up his tea. He swirled it around a few moments before, slowly, taking a sip. Finally... "So. This flotilla is the defense of your world, you guys needed the resources. Couldn't ask, had to steal them. Makes sense, i mean, kinda hard to ask to fix a space ship and all that." He took another sip then...

"You know what? I believe you. On top of that, I'll help you," he said with a smile. "Stars know I've had to do a few reckless things in the past and, besides, a bit of theft isn't so bad. To be honest, I was more upset about the wounded than the stolen stuff." He took another sip of his tea. "Though, that brings up the whole... you know. The reject from hot topic with the shotguns. What was his deal? He killed more than a few people. And he's one of yours, right? You do realize even if I don't object to the rest of what you're doing, i do need to deal with him. Correct?"

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    The bullet didn't hit what Tanya was aiming for, but it seemed to have an effect similar to what she was hoping to achieve-- as the digimon appears to explode and disappear. Lowering her rifle, the miniature Major skims over the launching shuttles with her bare eyes. Only once she's certain Gaonoir isn't going to come flying out on a tear of revenge does she lower her rifle, ejecting the spent cartridge with a practiced motion and then slinging it up over her shoulder.

    Power gathers from around her, centering on her flight unit's boot, and Tanya begins to ascend. Rapidly accelerating, she matches the ascending shuttles, moving in a slow circle around them as they rise towards space.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Septette leans in a little bit, her eyes glowing brightly with something that could be read as mischievous mirth. "Yeah, I know who you're talking about. Gabe. 'Reaper'. Owlface McSmokey." She takes another slow sip of tea before setting it back down with dramatic relish. "I don't know what his deal is. He's not one of ours; we didn't invite him. He 'helped' us, but to be honest... if you want to ice him, I'll help you. Just make sure you know what you're getting into when you do, got it?"

     "As for the wounded..." She leans back on the bench, lips twisted in a remorseful frown. "Yeah, some people got hurt pretty badly. I wish I'd had time for more careful take-downs, or even stealth; injuries like those tend to traumatize a person. However, this world has high-quality prostheses as medical standard, and I investigated the security company's contracts beforehand; they cover all medical treatment and leave for injuries sustained while on the job. That doesn't make up for the pain they felt, but it does help me rest a little easier."

     She stands up, pats Sokka on the shoulder once, and then hesitates. "Hey, kiddo. You never gave me your name, did you? If we're buddies now, I feel like I ought to know how to call you."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft isn't nearly as stabilization-capable as Laura is, so the gust of wind that rushes out as the airlocks blast open actually knocks her off her feet. "Terrified. Augh!" She calls out, in a perfect monotone. Laura has her toe-talons, which let her stabilize and get into the vents quickly. Dammit! Seft tries to struggle to her feet and get that battleaxe out... Albeit with a palpable sense of robotic reluctance, as if she's going through the motions.

    "Uncertain. Wait, stop...!" She calls out, then makes a soft series of tense, stressed noises. Sombra has driven her off, and presumably more information will be locked down, but... Laura may have enough to get her Watch allies to the objective. And where is it? It seems... Once she has a chance to review the data, she'll find they're headed for one particular place.

    Lucheng Interstellar Horizon One, the Horizon Lunar Colony.

    Gaonoir finds himself slamming into the ship. It'll take some climbing, but he can pry one of those doors open. It comes off hard, whipping back in the wind, so thank goodness there's an interior airlock. It's the main Starbound shuttle, too! This means that all of the infiltrators are now well and truly aboard, meaning they're all on their way. With the ascent being so rapid, the sensors are too scrambled to trace him. He'll need to get to a hiding place, and fast...

    A directory on the inner airlock looks like he could make it to the cargo area, the sort of place nobody would think to look. That'll mean getting past the weapon manning area he's almost broken into... Where Pavo, the angry bird-girl, is looking badly burned. It seems like this is where the power really overloaded when he punched the shuttle! She looks PISSED AS HELL. If Gaonoir wants to keep his presence a secret, it'll mean solving one last problem of figuring out how to make sure she doesn't notice him.

    Meanwhile, Laura finds her way into the vents again. She can hear traces of Albert's voice, the heavy gorilla's russian accent muttering a few things. Something about "flamethrower" and "burn her out". She'll also need to find a secretive spot to stay hidden! She could meet up in the cargo area, but she could also try to hide in more mechanically complex areas like the engine and such. She just needs to evade Sombra's dangerous, wandering eyes...

Staren has posed:
    Staren makes it inside the ship scarce seconds before takeoff! He looks for a chair to strap into before, as thrusters rumble below him, he remembers the Flotilla has artificial gravity. So, that's a relief. At least he'll have a smooth ride up.

    Now he has time to process that Septette and Sokka are... sitting down to tea. "Well, alright, this works." He puts away his SMG and approaches. "So we're actually talking? Wow, I didn't think anyone would listen. I'm sorry for underestimating you, Sokka."

    He looks between them, listening to Septette speak. "Sokka, this is Septette Arcubielle, of the extended Flotilla, the organization that preceded Daedalus, though with much more mercenary goals. Septette, this is Sokka, of the Daedalus Initiative, our organization to explore the multiverse, gather information that can protect people, and help the refugees displaced by the Multiverse's reshaping. ...You've been gone awhile, Septette. It's good to see you again."

    He smiles at her, then looks between them hopefully. "So... I hope we can all be friends?"

    In the rush to get inside, worrying about the launch, and seeing Septette and Sokka having tea, he's completely forgotten about Gaonoir. But there's no way anyone would /actually/ grab onto the side of a rocket as it's taking off, right? That's absurd!

Sombra has posed:
    Stalking the hallway, Sombra runs her hand along the wall as she watches the screen that floats in front of her. Great, she's getting into the vents. Time to close them off and try to lead Laura somewhere else. The vent shafts open and close, airing out certain areas. Seft doesn't have to worry, because the doors close to prevent her from being dragged out.

    "At least it scared her off and away from her new ally. "Seft," Sombra's voice begins, "return to your duties. Sorry for the scare there. You okay, amiga?"

    As Albert speaks he too will get a signal from Sombra. "If you want to burn her out, I can open and close the vents accordingly..." she offers. Heck, she might like him more than she thought she would. "Keep a right down your current corridor, she should be heading in that direction. Escucha..." Listen for her. It's too bad there are no cameras in the vents themselves.

    Bringing up more screens, Sombra tries to get an overview of the entire situation and where everybody are, as well as the stowaways who think they can just join a moon trip uninvited!

Gaonoir has posed:
Not being able to fly in this form is made up for with having large claws, both on his paws and on his scarf that serves as an extra pair of limbs. It gives Gaonoir enough leverage to walk the hull much like a certain superhero walked up walls in the 60s, pull off the airlock hatch, and drop inside just as Tanya is making her pass amongst the shuttles.

As they tumble in Gaonoir devolves again, hitting the inside deck in his base stage. That despite being smaller is still strong enough to catch Erika before she hits the floor. She starts to make a 'squee' face but Gaonoir quickly puts a gloved paw over her mouth. Shakes his head a little, then bobs in the direction of the angry bird-pirate not far from where they broke in. He's trying to not gag on the smell of burned feathers assaulting his nose as it is.

Once he's sure she's going to be quiet Gaonoir carries her off into the corridor. With the power out in places from his overloading the shields hopefully there will be enough shadowy spots form him to slink through with his shadowplay and keep them from being spotted.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka nodded, before putting the tea down. He glanced over to her. "They call me... Sokka." Dun du dun. "But some call me Wang Fire. Or Yang Earth. I go by many names," he said with a smile. "Fine. I tell you what. I'll help you gus, somewhat. As a representative of the paladins. Make sure you guys don't kill anyone or cause any huge troubles But..." He trailed off for a moment, then... "If you guys go and start trying to kill people, I will stop you. You seem nice for now, and thats good. Trust me. I understand having to hurt people when you don't want to. Having to fight when you don't want to. And stealing when you don't have any other chance."

He glanced to Staren. "You know, you could have tried asking. I do have resources that might have helped. I'm going to instead assume this was just a 'Oh crud we need to act now, no time to be smart about it!' thing. And I'll help. If for no other reason than to try to make sure you guys don't cause any more destruction."

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Given her anatomy, a handshake would probably be unwelcome here, so Septette just nods politely towards Sokka and Staren instead. "Pleased to make your acquaintance then, Sokka. I have no objections towards your acting as a 'moral compass' here- after all, that is essentially why I joined these endeavors as well, albeit with slightly different moral axioms. I wasn't aware that any other organizations had risen from the ashes of the old extended Flotilla- I have been largely absent from Multiversal affairs since a few months before they dissolved. I may have to look into this 'Daedalus Initiative'!"

     "I wouldn't be too impressed with him, Staren," she replies with a hint of snark in her tone. "He did succumb to reasonable debate, but only after hitting me in the face with a boomerang. ... It's good to see you too, though. I hope you didn't think that I was gone for good! It wouldn't do to worry my friends in such a fashion." She pours a third cup of tea and pushes it towards her old friend, wearing that familiar warm smile of hers. "Care for some refreshments? It sounds like you put in some real work out there."

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney ducks down into the vents, still breathing as her nanoskin apparently still works. Okay, time to lose the disguise, it's slowing her down. She wriggles her way out of the jumpsuit, toolbelt, and goggles, leaving them behind again as she pulls her mask back on. Okay. First thing's first, cut off any pursuit. Whoever had built this ship had helpfully labeled and color coded all the pipes, so if we combine Oxygen *shrnkhssssss* with Hydrogen *shrunkhssssssFWOOSH* A quick lunge forward combined with a very durable outfit protects her from any serious damage, the jet of flame emerging from the two gas pipes hopefully delaying any pursuit, who'll have to go shut those valves off. better go to Engineering. Plenty more things to sabotage if nessecary, and that was probably where the escape pods were too... An emergency shutter closes in front of her, but a few quick slashes with one hand's claws let her continue on.

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    With her enhanced ceiling of eighteen thousand meters creeping up, Tanya exchanges some words through the radio set. Even in this thinning atmosphere, the proximity of the microphone to her throat is plenty to get her words through, and to hear them through her earpiece. And an agreement is made.

    The tiny blonde promptly banks out of her holding pattern and into one of the hatches helpfully opened to receive her. And only after the hatch closes and cycles does she let out her breath in a misty cloud. Reaching up, she pushes her goggles up onto her forehead with a 'Hwah' sort of noise.

    She checks her grenades, then boards the ship proper through the inner hatch, not bothering to discard any of her equipment.

Staren has posed:
    Staren looks to Sokka like he wants to answer, then decides he'll get to it in a moment. Septette gets a brief blank stare. He knows she couldn't have been aware, that's why he told her just now. He smiles briefly as she reciprocates that it's good to see him, but his expression becomes more neutral and distant at the comment about wondering if she was gone for good. "I've seen a lot of people come and go." he says, matter-of-factly, then smiles at the tea. "Sure!"

    His visor retracts as he lifts the cup to his lips. If it's not too hot, he gulps down most of the cup before setting it down and pulling up a chair.

    "This is a Concord operation. The Core Fleet have decided to join, and thought they needed to prove themselves by stealing us resources. They sometimes have a poor choice in targets, and I'm not happy with attacking Numbani, though I am told that the information we've stolen will serve the greater good, I'm not caught up on the details of this world. I came along because the Flotilla -- the core fleet I mean, well the rest too, but I mean -- anyway, I came along because they've helped me a lot, if not in heroics than in obtaining resources that allow me to /support/ the whole hero thing."

    He watches the two as he speaks. "I expect Septette came for the same reason, because she is not a Concord member."

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka nodded. "To be fair, you drew the weapon first. And you took a jet bike to the face without flinching. I doubt my boomerang did any seriously damage. And yeah, have some tea, Staren."

He then glanced out to the window and frowned. The moon. Its been a loooong time. Why does the moon keep coming up in his travels?

He sighed and leaned backi. "This is gonna be fun. So, there's another girl on the ship. Seems she might be having some issues now. Maybe if you guys told her this, she'd be less trying to fight you guys. And hey, you know. It's really not that bad when you just take a few seconds to explain it. Most people are smart, they can understand the need to do things a little... differently than the law may say is right."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Sombra effectively contains Laura. Laura effectively breaks containments. Fire is fought with fire, and Albert can't get his flamethrower through he, uh, flames involved. Sokka is given space, and passage; he'll not have a tough time securing his place in the Starbound Flotilla's craft, because there's little opposition.

    Meanwhile, the power outages caused by Gaonoir's tremendous power-knockout punch give him an easy passage. Here to cargo, it should be a straight shot, albeit an inconsistent one, as lights and cameras flicker on and off. Some of the lighting is emergency power, but being made of like five different ships welded together means it's inconsistent.

    Laura should be able to tear through to an effective hiding space, if she selects one. Gaonoir's exploitation of his hiding space is trning out well, letting him settle into an un-monitored corner. And Sokka can find a place at residential, where he's given a wide berth in case he manages some terrible scheme.

    Tanya gets that hatch open, thank goodness for it. Albert's there, waiting for her, operating the airlock and shutting it dramatically behind her. "Captain Degurechaff." He says, going through a quick Apex Resistance salute. "Welcome aboard. Medical and maintenance are this way." He offers to guide her aboard.

    Sombra soon manages to restore security coverage, making sure the infiltrators can't actively sabotage things during the trip to the moon. But once they're there... For now, the main thruster detaches and the swarm of spaceships arrange on their path... up to the MOON. Up to HORIZON LUNAR COLONY!

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    "Major," Tanya corrects, but immediately moves on from it. The salute is returned out of habit, however, and she settles in following the Apex with quick, mismatched steps.

Gaonoir has posed:
Upon finding a dark corner behind some storage that's out of immeadiate view Gaonoir finally sets Erika down, and hunkers down next to her. "Keep your voice down," he whispers coarsely, unintentionally almost sounding like a growl.

Erika nods a little, and gropes her satchel a bit before finding the pocket she wants and pull out a few protein bars. They're going to be hiding for a bit so it's a good time for Gaonoir to munch down some quick energy so they're ready to move again later.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney settles down in what appears to be a fairly disused section of maintenance crawlspace, given the thick layer of dust that was here when she arrived, after a few detours along the way to snag some rations. She had some of her own, but better to scavenge and save hers in case of emergencies. Mmmmm. Synthmeat burger. ...sauce actually isn't half bad. Putting the steaming pouch of calories back down, she takes the time to start going over her information. Intelligence is half the battle, after all...