5648/Relic Recovery

Relic Recovery
Date of Scene:	21 January 2018
Location:	Maw of Tyrants
Synopsis:	A strange vision haunts Concord personnel sent to recover items from the destroyed Confederate Citadel.
Cast of Characters:	1152, 1103, Tanya Degurechaff, 571, Starbound Flotilla

---

Fuki (1152) has posed:
    It was a simple request this time:  Recover artifacts from outside the former Citadel.   Simple enough.  There's a storm overhead, purple lightning, light rain, thunderclaps on one of the many floating islands around the area close, broken parts, walls, houses... so much debris around to sift through.  But it shouldn't be too much of a problem with this group.

    Upon landing, however, everyone's hit with a strange vision.  Everything's very large and moving fast... warning sirens are going off as whatever you're looking at turns around and you realize you're flying.  A voice is heard and you know it's not your own.   "Okay, girls, everyone, go ahead.   Quickly!   The Citadel is collapsing!" the voice is calm, stoic, but the look upon the other small flying figures of various shapes and models.  "But what about you...?"   comes one of the models.

    "No, just go.  I have to find Master."

    Just as abrupt as the vision started, the vision stops, leaving everyone back where they stepped off...

Theurgus (1103) has posed:
    Theurgus arrives on the transport. "Artifacts from an old fallen fortress, certainly a worthy cau---" the vision hits, and the DCC faulters in her words for a moment, she blinks, shaking her head of the vision as it ends. "This area will be quite difficult to traverse if this occurs often." she summons her Staff to her hand. "Alright, we should spread out and keep in contact..." she looks around, then brings a hand up to cup her chin. "I wonder who they were... they seemed. Small..."

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    "This is a simple retrieval operation," a young girl's voice clarifies over short-range radio, "Do your best to not release untold sealed evil or whatever. And don't /chase/ anything."

    Removing her hand from her throat, the small blonde Imperial Major, Tanya von Degurechaff, turns her eyes to the roiling sky with a frown. Blue eyes, with their faint glow, dart amidst the clouds and the lightning teasing through them. After a moment, she sighs and descends. The weather will be against them.

    She freezes, throwing out her legs to arrest the descent when the vision passes. Her neutral expression has quickly become a stern, narrow-eyed scowl. She's used to being messed with by bizarre metaphysical entities, but that wasn't the usual Being X fare. Turning, her eyes scan over the ruins below one more time. The rifle leaves her shoulder, held comfortably in her hands, a familiar presence.

    "Small is relative. Watch out for holes in reality."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka hops off the transport, brandishing a 416 customized to her specs, like something out of Delta Force's armory. She's quick to take point, sweeping the landing zone just as she finds a vision to greet her. She freezes still, keeping her rifle shouldered and aimed downrange, but she doesn't fire yet. Visions aren't something she's used to, at least in this sense. They're usually more interference based, but the principle is the same generally.

    "I imagine we're gonna get more of that as we advance." is her observation through her helmet's vocoder. "Still gotta get used to being here." She muses under her breath, lowering the HK rifle as she scans at the ruins below.

    She's right. This used to be enemy territory two years ago. Amazing what happens in just that long.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Huh. Time's wonky."
"Floran sssmell old sssmell."
"Temporal warping. Overlaps? Paradox-proofing?"
"This well explains the anomalous readings."
"Aye, has the look of the Hollows we met before."
"Worried. Do you think we might be able to save anyone...?"
"Only if we gather clues. I certainly heard a familiar voice. In the worst of cases, we shall perhaps find something in need of a more proper grave."

    The STARBOUND FLOTILLA are here, in their standard Durasteel equipment! Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components that glow an intense green. Pavo the bird-girl wears a divine-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with yellow runes and inscriptions lighting up on stylishly gleaming golden armor and robes. Albert the monkey-man is wearing elaborate dystopian commando armor reconstructed with a 'rebel spy' aesthetic: A sleeker faceplate, a slimmer form, and a more chaotic design that integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel, and lines of bright white. George (just plain human) wears a futuristic combat EVA hardsuit that glows a gentle red at the flat faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized blue glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator.

    "Massster. Hmmm. Would have headed for noncombatant zonesss? Placesss for human massster? Floran remember voice. Wasss tiny ninja, heard about. Floran gonna try for track." Biteblade says, sniffing as if that will help anything. She activates the many lights on her armor, and begins her search. That odd first-person look... That means she didn't head in the same direction as those other flying shapes. So Biteblade heads in the opposite direction -- the one that the voice that spoke wopuld have turned to, to go instead -- and begins her search. She's looking for something specific: Human residential or emergency shelter zones, meant for mid to high tech humans who might have been found in the Citadel. From what the Flotilla distantly recall of this... That's the most likely path that a shinki with that voice would have taken.

    "Hopeful. I'm going to try to scan for more temporal anomalies... Maybe we can find more visions like that as a clue for something?" Seft says, following along, and bringing up a small hand-scanner! She's going to try to ping a few sonar-pings for weird sciencey anomalies, and see if she can find any other areas that have that odd temporal effect. Where did that come from...

Fuki (1152) has posed:
The layout of the area is rough:  broken parts, walls, houses of course, debris hills, puddles of oil... gas... and other mysterious liquids.   Used batteries, charging cradles.  It's an electric paradise... if it was working at all.    What walls that are standing have marks on them, strange ones... possibly directional indicators in a weird language, but one things certain, they were carved in and not natural.

Another lightning strike hits the ground, blowing up one of the walls and giving the faint smell of ozone nearby obscuring most scents.  Seft's Sonar scan picks up quite a few weird anomalies, and one that is /very/ close to the search party.  Biteblade's own splitting from the group has her heading into a weird direction, a broken sign on the ground that says "res---tal a-ea" is pointing in a place.  Tanya and Maaka gets a strange feeling running up their spine...

And another vision hits.

"Master!?"  there's a scythe in view now, and it's cutting at some walls.  "Maaaaaaster!!  Bang on the walls if you can hear me!" she shouts again, an explosion nearby and a hairpin turn down one corridor.  "Please be there, Master..." comes a worried voice.. then a worried noise.  Then... some loud banging.  Digital readouts in the view, brief but full of information and whatever eyes you are looking through seems to zoom faster towards... something.

And the vision stops.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Hey," Maaka jogs towards Biteblade, trying to ignore that weird feeling. "Mind if I tag along?" The Floran's good at tracking, and Maaka can keep up no problem, before she's interrupted by the vision again.

    That tiny scythe, the voice...

    Maaka blinks, shaking her head. It clicks in her head. "I know this voice. Heard it before." She says over comms. "I think they were looking for someone in residential at the time." She begins to follow where that decrepit sign was pointing, scanning intently as if looking for tiny scratches in the rubble.

Theurgus (1103) has posed:
    Theurgus, for her part, continues into the derelict field, hopping from outcrop to pile to wall segment. Her steps are light, and she's generally heading in the same direction as Maaka and Biteblade, though she's largely at a loss. This is foreign to her, and she has no advanced sensors or senses to guide her.

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    Tanya floats a few meters above the wreckage, skimming the ruin with just her eyes. The sensation up her back feels familiar-- the same sort of feeling she gets when artillery or a sniper views her through a scope. Swinging her feet down, the Major halts her forward movement just in time to be subjected to another hallucination.

    Concern. Searching. Desperation. Feelings that Tanya is aware of, and even capable of imitating, but she can't say for certain she's actually felt them before. As if in thought, her eyes narrow.

    "...Give Thanks for God's miracles," she intones, gold welling in the depths of her eyes, "For through His will the impossible becomes reality." Blue is washed out by bright, radiant gold.

    The girl tenses, drawing her legs up, then 'springs' off empty air. Moving at high speed, Tanya banks in an arc over the ruins of the Residential section, eyes fixated on the more intact structures within the warzone.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade lacks especially keen analytical abilities, but she does have some very substantial skill in both architecture and demolitions, which means that she can easily analyze the environment around here to be able to determine where things used to be arranged, and where they are now. So she begins her work with her Matter Manipulator, flicking switches until it unfolds with a set of powerful mining beams! Using her expertise, she begins scanning and slicing through buildings in the residential zone.

    With her data being confirmed by Maaka and taking the orders from Tanya, she's fairly confident in her efforts to slice through the rubble that seals some of these buildings, or to force the doors where they're jammed, or to otherwise open up this set of structures to find the valuable contents therein. "Floran bessst at deal with buildingsss! Broken or unbuilt! You leave to Floran getting inssside, then you probably find tiny thingsss better than Floran."

Fuki (1152) has posed:
Something might catch Theurgus' eye.  It's a pink thing in tattered Japanese styled clothes with a formerly beautiful necklace, tarnished and missing something in its set.  Upon notice, Theurgus, herself, would be hit by a vision solo.

"Thanks," a name would come out but it seems to be garbled.  In the vision, it's a full figured body looking at a mirror, not like the same floating vision as before.  She's styled in a kimono of sorts with an obi that has six red and white orbs upon it and a button in the center.  Each look labeled with numbers.  "I look good, don't I?" the voice still sounds the same, though!

A male enters the vision through the mirror.  A feminine looking face with medium length brown hair and those same red and white orbs dot his belt.  "Mmhmm."  he reaches in to give the person in the mirror a kiss.  "We should get training soon, your..." the name is scrambled vocally again... "otherwise, she won't last in any Gym Battles."

And just like that, Theurgus' vision stops.
----------
Both Biteblade and Maaka end up at a building, it looks /mostly/ intact... if you discount the fact that everything above the first story looks like it could come down at any moment.  Something in there, though, pings off Biteblade and Maaka's sensors.  A faint... very faint pulse of power... and a vision erupts in their mind.

An older gentleman has a smile on his face, it's featureless, though aside from the smile and that same female voice is heard.  "Master..." it sounds somber, upset.  "Master, the Citadel is collapsing, we have to go.  The other Shinki left already, I guided them out.. but I don't want to leave you."  There's a notepad in the male's hand, a bunch of scribbles are upon it.   He picks up a pen and jots something down.
-Go.-
"Go?  Master, you..."
-Go...  I'll be fine.  You need to protect those girls.-
"No.  I am not leaving you.  I am NOT failing you again!  I failed that one time... I don't want to do it again, I will die right here with you before I leave you alone."
The name on the sheet is garbled again.  -go, or I will not paint you again.  I know how you like being painted.-

The vision cuts out once more.
------

Tanya's air superiority in this matter spots some weird things around... a giant pile of bones, a few smaller piles of bones.  And a vision.

A strange cat-like thing with giant whiskers that pulse with electricity is in view.  "Okay.  Now, we practiced this.  Sit."  the creature sits.  "Good."  The figure's hand points in the direction of a training dummy.  "Thundara!"  the creature follows the hand, and with a low growl a bolt of lightning erupts from its whiskers and destroys the dummy.  "Good good!  I knew you could do it.  Now, shall we try Blizzara or Fira?"  there's a general happiness in the figure's voice, and... you could almost feel a smile from it.

Before the vision stops.

------
Seft and the rest of the Flotilla that isn't Biteblade... the scanners go a bit bonkers as they walk around, with Seft tripping over something hard and heavy.  A cradle of sorts.  Small, like it could fit and action figure, but full of electronics... and another vision for the collective (Minus Biteblade) Flotilla.

A male's voice this time, "Another to add to the collection." he starts, looking at a computer screen.  The same featureless face is shown as sounds from a keyboard being typed upon echo through the screne-lit room.  The view shifts slightly to see a cable from the computer approaching the figure you're looking through.  The voice, however, speaks again, "You're going to be the best girl in the collection, so much so that I'm activating you."

Four taps of keys and then a click.  "Your name... is..." the vision abruptly cuts out here...

Theurgus (1103) has posed:
    Theurgus watches the vision, then kneels down beside the broken exoframe. She places her fingers against it, a frown furrowing her brow. She relates her findings, then leaves a marker beacon on the unit, before moving on. She continues moving through the debris pile, using her staff to check stability before moving forward.

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    Considering her age, one might expect certain things from the White Silver. When white catches her eye against the rubble, Tanya banks towards it, gliding to a stop above the remains. She stares down at the collection of bone before her. An animal, for certain. Cat-like. When the vision hits, she closes her eyes for its duration.

    A cherished pet. Or perhaps a combat mount. But no less a companion. Those golden eyes open again, staring down at the remains. After a moment, she lifts her fingers to her throat, depressing her communicator: "I've found a deceased animal. Continuing aerial recon."

    When faced with literally a dead kitten, Tanya von Degurechaff's lack of empathy becomes glaringly apparent. If just for a moment. The others respond with offers of 'proper burial', to which she sees no reason to object to. Not for 'respect', but simply because it's the sanitary thing to do.

    Floating up, Tanya begins circling the building that Biteblade and Maaka are investigating, checking through windows while maintaining a respectful distance from the unstable structure.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Don't bring down on head... Hmm. Yeah, Floran can do that." Biteblade mutters, poking and prodding at the structure. She... Gently winces a bit. The small figure being forced away reminds her of something that she doesn't often think about, and it actually sets her into a more somber mood. Following Tanya's directions, she focuses on reinforcing the structure to maximize its stability, swapping her mining lasers out for a set of construction beams that reinforce the structure with fancy space-age polymers, and repair what can be repaired wherever loads need bearing. She's going to try to get it in working order.

    The rest of the Flotilla experience an odd event, one that is unique to them. The vision... Something from the master? No, this is still the small figure's memories, and is definitely something about her master. Yet this must have been a long time ago... If he's speaking. Biteblade's report of her own vision meant he was likely mute. How long ago would this have been? "Worried. ...That must have been from before he was unable to speak. as I recall. Trying to locate and rescue him while he was not able to call out... Her emotions must have been a terrible storm."

"Hmph. Major Degurechaff has chosen a primary objective. Let's focus on it."
"Aye, and a pure coldness from her, wasn't it?"
"Almost reminds me of the fuzzball himself, but kinda moreso."
"Don't say such things so soon after the Concord has embraced us."
"Agreeing. We should... Be more polite. Right."

    The rest of the Flotilla head to the structure and work on both reinforcing it and making it available for Maaka to enter. It ought to be safe enough by the time she's ready to breach!

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka is about to begin climbing, but she halts as it's mentioned the place will crumble at any moment. She nods to Biteblade, holding position as she watches the Floran add load bearing structures to hold the place up. Handy, and all courtesy of a real matter manipulator, not the bargain bin kind that Zwei built. (Then again Maaka's is pretty useful in its own right.)

    She experiences the vision Biteblade does, and she frowns.

    It's all too hard to bear these memories. Unlike Tanya, Maaka CAN feel these emotions, discipline nonwithstanding. She takes a breath, before she begins her ascent to follow the Floran up the building, using her suit's magna-grips and the grapple gun to make her way up.

Theurgus (1103) has posed:
    Theurgus continues to move, having to slowboat it on foot since she doesn't want to waste a relay just so she can fly around a limited area. The DCC makes best possible speed to catch up with the group. Seems they're all converging on a specific building, so that's where the bulk of the search party should be, right?

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade, having finally properly gotten this all reinforced and such from all angles, finally does breach with Maaka from one of the upper floors. That just means slicing a gap in there, as well as getting the gap linked up with a quick-constructed prefab scaffold that others could use to get up there. "Floran thinksss, ready and can go in now... Mmmh. Gonna be weird."

    "Resolved. I've gotten the charging cradle hooked up to a generator!" Seft calls out, and it's true! She's got a little medieval-looking mini-furnace that seems to be generating power, which she's set up in the rubble, deployed from her Matter Manipulator. She's got the charging cradle hooked up and apparently ready to receive... Something, if the others find what may match it.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka catches up to Biteblade, and she covers the Floran when she gets set up. "Copy that." She nods, "Get a cutter ready. Just in case, we don't know what's gonna be ahead of us." the cyborg suggests.

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    When Biteblade makes a way to the second story, Tanya ascends on the outside. A broken window is selected, and she uses the butt of her rifle to knock some debris loose before she floats through it and in to meet the rest of the search party.

    "The source of whatever is going on may be close. Keep your eyes open for anything out of place." ... "More out of place than usual."

Fuki (1152) has posed:
The Flotilla's work upon stabilizing the building is working.  It still looks like it might fall but the probability that it will... is nil now thanks to all those super space age materials and the like reinforcing it.  Which is good as just before the last bits of it are reinforced, a chunk of it falls off, crashing harmlessly to the ground and away from the group.  There's a spike, however, in the temporal scanner that soon dies down... just as rapid burst of lightning strikes around the building.

Though, once everyone's within range of the building...  they can see the char, the burns... the utter devastation inside.

-Mood Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HudC71bmlg -

"Master." the male's head looks down.  There's a smile upon his face.
-To the end with me?  I knew you were special from the moment I purchased you.- is written.
There's a nodding motion, the figure looks around.  There's a sleeping mermaid figure resting on a cradle and a human-looking figure with a familiar necklace standing up against a wall.  "I cannot leave, it's my duty to protect you." she whispers.
Explosions rock the building, the male reaches out to clutch the figure and tug her close.  -I can't let you watch this.-
The figure looks down as her chest starts opening, showing a flashing, three colored disk inside.  "M...master?"  the hand reaches for it, "No, Master, don't... please, let me stay awake with you!"
He shakes his head, there's a smile and one last written.  -Be well, do good, and know, I always loved my little assassin.-

The vision abruptly switches over to the male's view, the featureless face showing off the front of a black dressed girl, chest open and that visible triple colored disk.  There's a pained look upon the figure's face, she's shaking her head and struggling before the disk is removed... she reaches out ... then slumps over.   He shakes his head and moves over towards the table, moving the Mermaid body away and setting the young girl's body on top of the cradle.  The disk is then set on a piece of paper right in the middle of a heart and it's taped on.

The male's voice is heard.  "Do good, my little Shinki.  My Fuki."

And soon, the vision cuts out after the door bursts open and flames overtake the room.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaak blinks. She has the vision again. She sees everything on fire, and the loss of a master is felt. Maaka seizes up suddenly, just as the door is broken and fire is everywhere like a backdraft. The cyborg's vitals skyrocket briefly in distress, before she regains control of herself. "-NO!" Panting, she grabs onto the wall, leaning on it as she shakes herself to reality.

    Her HUD switches back on and the cyborg pops her neck. "I'm okay. I just...another vision, I guess."

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    The Major's eyes close again. A vision, probably more accurately thought of as a lingering memory, of a goodbye. From her position she can recognize it as a sad, emotional parting. But it doesn't...affect her in the way it probably should. Tanya certainly doesn't have the tear-filled emotional response most would likely have from seeing such a desperate, forced farewell. Almost a betrayal, from a certain perspective.

    Golden eyes open as the memory fades, swinging towards the doorway-- now off its hinges, the fire long since burned out. Floating, the small girl rests a hand on Maaka's shoulder, and the serious expression on her face gives the outward appearance of someone who's seen something grim but isn't letting it control her emotions. The truth is a bit...deeper than that.

    "Take a minute," she advises, "Breathe." Head lifting, she glances across the Starbounders and Theurgus, "That goes for all of you. That was pretty intense. Take time to process it." The same advice she tends to share with soldiers in shellshock.

Theurgus (1103) has posed:
    Theurgus reacts to the vision, the sudden rush of flame on pure reflex. Her arms come up, and a hemisphere of hexagonal blue panels appear in front of her, braced against the coming heat and concussive force. But it never comes. Her eyes open after a moment, her processor running at 100%, blue eyes like pinpricks as she looks around at the devastation.

    Something grips her then, and she moves into the building with a fervent purpose. She recognized the body against the wall... the chip must be here somewhere. She starts to dig, pulling debris up with her bare hands, a furious energy possessing her.

    "She is here somewhere. I know it... we must find her."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
Betrayal.
Loss.
Banishment.
Inadequacy.
Rejection.
Death.

    The Flotilla each experience a different pang of sympathy and distress as the vision washes over all six like a wave, and they each find themselves grappling with it in their own ways. George is immediately getting out a cigarette, Moonfin wanders to one side and takes a posture that almost seems like a standing meditation, Biteblade strides forward and immediately begins to dig right into the ruined structure with Theurgus to see if she can find the body with Theurgus looking for the CMS, Pavo begins to fidget and pace in an imperious but undirected way, Seft emits soft static and flickers her eye-visor, and Albert grunts in a painful, militaristic way and focuses on handling construction for an exit.

    Most of them don't speak, though they make a sort of a numbly affirming noise to Tanya, some of them seemingly agreeing to her order. Even George has no sass on an order like that!

Fuki (1152) has posed:
    There doesn't seem to be a threat of new visions for now, with Biteblade and Theurgus settling to dig through the ruined building, there's a broken chair, one that seems all too familiar and a small little hologram vid that, when unearthed, shows the entire 'family'. A bunch of small figures around, floating. Two upon a male's shoulder, one white, one black and a large whiskered cat. The figures will look all too familiar for those who saw the vision. Aside from the noise of digging and construction, it seems to fall silent.

    Time goes on and on. Most of the room is uncovered... a charred computer with a broken and blackened cradle. Frayed wires... and two charred small bodies are found, the bodies seem to be at least in one piece, if blackened all to hell. Albert's construction of an exit is soon made and the dim light of the surface can be seen. Pavo's pacing and Moonfin's Meditation... George's cig and Seft's stoicism seem to keep everything, at least temporally normal.

    On the roof, there's a shimmer, and a burst of lightning lightens up the area... and the multi colored disk, as small as it is, can be seen from Tanya's aerial location... before it falls into the building and whacks Maaka on the head like a penny dropping from three stories up.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    THUNK!

    Maaka's knocked right out of her funk by that disk. "OW!" She whirls around, reaching for her sidearm, before she lowers the Springfield .45 as she looks confused, her expression somehow readable despite a full facemask. "...What in the hell?" She kneels down, picking up the disk as she inspects it. "Hey, guys? I think we found our chip." She radios, catching up to the others as she enters the charred room. "Looks like not much worth to scavenge here." She muses, before looking for that cradle from the vision.

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    As the room is excavated, Tanya circles to inspect the interior. Her eyes wash from that deific gold to the more ordinary blue glow as she cycles back, then ducks outside to inspect the exterior once more. It's up here that the colors catch the corner of her eye, and she zeros in on something she hadn't noticed before. A small chip with faintly glowing red, blue, and green sectors.

    As she approaches, she recgonizes it from the memory. And then, likely from the activity in lower levels, it falls before she can get to it. Thus, if one were to look up at the chip's source, they'd see those glowing blue eyes peering down.

    But at least it was collected. Tanya leans back, then floats upward while reaching for the radio at her throat: "We have what we need. Collect anything else of interest and get out. The storm isn't going to wait."

Fuki (1152) has posed:
    As if on cue... The storm looks to pick up. Thunder and lightning strike rapidly as /something/ in the clouds starts to approach the group... it's an angry roar too.

Theurgus (1103) has posed:
    Theurgus, unable to find the object of her fixation herself, yields the search and breaks off to head back to the landing site. The roar doesn't hurt in spurring her onward, hopping between broken debris and over mounds of detritus.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade grabs up the first of the small bodies, and the others take the next: Moonfin is the one who scoops up the mermaid approvingly, while the remainder of the Flotilla work on carrying the human-size bosdy, though Seft stops to grab the cradle she recovered from before. The others have found most of this, but the Flotilla will be the ones conveniently lugging it out just behind the rest of the group as they make their escape from the temporal storm!

    They'll be making sure to get this all assembled somewhere soon, later. They have just a hunch that they may be able to get this particular individual to align properly with the Confederacy... But only after they give her some time. They intend to be properly gentle with the re-initializing, giving her some time and some peaceful space to wake up all on her own. You know, assuming they can mad-dash their way out of the area and back towards their beam-up zone.

Fuki (1152) has posed:
    Making it to the ship with bodies, CMS and charging cradle in tow, the storm looks to back off finally. But the silence from the 'dead' parts speaks volumes. The CMS blinks vaguely, ominously. But otherwise, everything looks charred, or partially damaged. The Cradle, however, seems perfectly fine.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka hoofs it to the ship, handing Theurgus the chip. She holsters her weapons, removing her helmet as she looks out at the remains one last time. "Let's just get off this rock before that storm comes." She says, anxious to extract.

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    With the various artifacts collected and various members retreating, Tanya drops altitude and floats backwards at the rear, ensuring no one is left behind-- and more importantly, that none of the cargo is lost. Though it'd probably reflect poorly on her if one of these agents were lost, given the hazardous surroundings, she could probably get away with it if needed.

    Though with Maaka and Theurgus already on the ship, and the collection of alien Starbounders almost there, it looks like an 'acceptable losses' form won't be necessary.

    At the side of the vessel, Tanya slots her rifle over her shoulder, then assists with loading on equipment before ducking in herself.

Theurgus (1103) has posed:
    Theurgus accepts the chip, cradling it carefully in the palm of her hand. "We'll get you functioning again." she says to the pulsing chip. "I promise." she looks at it carefully, the pulsing is probably not a Good Thing. "Do you think we can provide it with power? I'm not sure, but the internal power supply may be running low."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft's charged up the cradle with a bit of juice from the mobile generator. That means she can set it down and let it function properly. Biteblade's gotten the body, so she settles it into the cradle, and works to make sure all the fiddly little electronic bits are working... Even if Fuki's body itself is a bit damaged in the overall integrity, the crucial electronics working are at least something she can handle, she hopes.

    And then, still aboard the ship and flying away, they stand aside and give Theurgus the space to try to re-insert the core... In hopes that this will work. Hopefully, they think, this should work well enough...

Fuki (1152) has posed:
    With everything in place, the main body on the cradle and, with a loud creak and slow movement, the chest opens for the core. Upon insertion, the pulsing lights start to pulsate faster and faster until its solid... and the chest closes around it. There's a few moments where the body doesn't seem to do anything... too far gone, too burned? Biteblade's little fiddling soon sparks something up... and those eyes open.

    Fuki's head looks around, eyeing Tanya, Maaka, the entire Starbound Flotilla... then to Theurgus. "Running self diagnostics... systems at fifteen percent. Battery at two percent. Structural integrity at four percent. Movement servos offline. Flight unit offline. Slipway access disabled temporarily to save battery." the voice should be eerily familiar. "Lieutenant Fuki... reporting."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Maaka sees the body of FUki come to life, and it's like a ghost coming back to find her. "Welcome back to the land of the living. We're charging you back up as we speak." She says, observing the shinki. "We'll get you fixed up, don't worry."

Tanya Degurechaff has posed:
    "Major von Degurechaff," Tanya responds to the introduction almost out of habit. At the back of the ship, she stows her rifle, then collects her cap. The ponytail is suitably tamed while she puts it on, before turning to the tiny robot, "And you've had a rather rough year." Lifting a hand, she props it on her hip, the brim of her cap casting her eyes in shadow, save the blue glow of her magic, "Welcome back to consciousness."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Pheeew. Well, we know nothing's broken too bad."
"Welcome back from the brink of oblivion, Miss Fuki."
"Hihi! Very lucky tiny robot! Greatessst Floran here to sssave you!"
"Aye, ye have quite a bit of luck, lass. I remember that voice of yers."
"Hopeful. Please don't move too much, your charging should be ongoing..."
"Lieutenant Fuki. Good. Captain Albert Petrov of the Starbound Flotilla."
"Assuring. Miss Fuki, you're safe for now. We're going to get to a less dangerous zone and get you acclimated to the way things are in the multiverse right now, but later. Is there anything I can get for you while we're on the way?"

    Yep, the Flotilla intend to give her some space, but not before making sure she feels alright. Even Albert knows to give someone basic assurance and then the time and materials they need.

Theurgus (1103) has posed:
    Theurgus kneels in front of the cradle. The blue eyes of the DCC watch the Shinki. "Minimal function, but function regardless. We will fix you." she then looks around at the others. "Judging from the others that know you better, we should bring you up to speed on current situations... but that can come later, once your body is repaired and your battery recharged." She nods a little. "I am Theurgus."

Fuki (1152) has posed:
    "Brink of oblivion?" Fuki blinks a bit, looking at the Starbound Flotilla. "Wait, where's Master? Master?" she looks around rapidly before giving up, looking to Maaka, "I remember you. I tried to kill you." said as non chalantly.. and she sighs, nodding some. "Alright. Fill me in, I've been ... offline for a while." she sighs a bit, leaning back. She looks towards Tanya, "Major. You must have done well in the Confederacy. I look forward to working under you."

    She looks to Theurgus, "Thank you, Theurgus. I look forward to working with you... if you're part of the Confederacy."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Eh." Maaka shrugs just as non-chalant. "There's no Fed anymore, we're the Concord now. It's been two years." She says, trying to make it gentle for Fuki. There's a LOT of stuff to bring the Shinki up to speed. "The Multiverse had...a bit of an explosion, I guess. The Citadel and Nojrun Station were both destroyed in the process, we've been picking up the pieces for some time now."

Theurgus (1103) has posed:
    "We are all part of a group known as the Concord. There is no Confederacy as far as I am aware." replies Theurgus. "We extracted you from some ruins." she looks to Maaka, shifting away a little bit to let the cyborg explain better.