2113/Day of Black Sun

Day of Black Sun
Date of Scene:	27 April 2015
Location:	Void - Space-Time Storms
Synopsis:	Master Therion attacks the Black Sun for the Book of Darkness.
Cast of Characters:	2, 320, 353, 381, 401, 558, 565, 673
Tinyplot:	Project C

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Master Therion (565) has posed:
Just as he announced, Therion is here before the Black Sun, demanding that it turn over the 'artifact' within. It's a stalemate! Or... something? It's actually pretty weird. The Black Sun is as normal, complete with armaments, but its 'opponent' is just a man, unarmored and unprotected against the ravages of space, floating some distance from the ship. Somehow, his voice is being broadcast. "Very well. If you are certain."

Beside the silver-haired man is a young girl, perhaps in her mid to late teens, clinging to his arm. She's dark of hair, and staring dully at the ship with an expression that looks like she might sigh at any moment. Thus far, however, Therion has made no move to actually assault the ship with whatever means he is intending to do so with.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    The Black Sun is a very striking presence in space. It's a battlecruiser, so it's faster than a battleship, but slightly less gunned. It's still much bigger than a single man floating in space and threatening it.

    On the bridge of the ship, Flint is sitting in his Captain's Chair with his legs crossed. Multiple people are moving through several different stations as the Captain keeps a lazy look about him and watches the viewscreen as it zooms in and in and in towards the single man floating in space. He looks over to Mister Blade, "Must be touched in the head to be attacking my ship alone."

    "Or very powerful." Mister Blade points out with a smile from the First Mate's station. Flint lets out a grunt and brushes some hair out of his face

    He waves a hand, "All shields up. Guns lock on to his coordinates. Stand by to engage warp. If he so much as twitches wrong before we spool up the engines enough to get out of here, I want him atomized. No one threatens my crew."

    Outside the ship, the many turrets rotate along the outside, trying to move into favorable firing arcs to hit the man standing in front of the ship. There's a crackle and a hum as an energy shield starts to condense around the ship as well. Seems Flint is quite sure about his statements to Therion.

    Back on the bridge, Flint waves a hand, "Open alternate communication channels." There's a loud beep, "Prepare a beacon to our location for any of our friends that might want to come find us. If he is powerful, I want him to see we've got teeth too."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    On one hand, Homura is on friendly terms with Flint, despite the fact he's got a Pure jammed in his chest. On the other, she's as much out to get Master Therion as everyone else is.

    Those turn out not to be conflicting arguments.

    "Extremely powerful," Homura explains, walking in from behind the captain. As usual there's not much of an explanation or cue to her presence and that's basically all you're getting. "The kind of powerful that costs more to fight than his bounty would ever yield. Whatever he tries to do, you should keep your ship out of a direct impact, unless it benefits from your Pure's healing factor too."

    Already transformed, the Puella Magi heads for the edge of the ship to get a better look. It's unlikely she'll stay on it unless Therion and his company board it.

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
While still working on her legs, Hayate has graduated from using the wheelchair to using a walker while moving around the Black Sun. Rein is with her, the quiet silver-haired woman just observing at first. She finally speaks up after staring at him, "He is likely talking about the Tome of the Night Sky, Master. Should we unison and engage, or let the Wolkenritter handle the matter?"

Hayate stares for a long while as well, then shakes her head slowly, "No... we don't want to get too close to him if you or the tome are-" She stops, snapping her head toward Homura and blinking, then nodding to Flint. "I'll send Signum and Vita out to keep him busy if you want. There's not a lot of people who can stand up to the two of them together. Unless... um..."

She pauses to stare for a long long moment.

"... is that girl with him a Magical Girl?"

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    The instant Therion had so much as voiced demand from the Black Sun and its captain and crew, Fate and Bardiche had already taken the liberty of searching possible locations for the ship to be. As soon as the beacon went out, the coordinates were finalizes.

    It's a very specific focus of golden light from nowhere, suddenly spreading out and forming a runic sigil of gold on the floor, before there's a clap of thunder INSIDE the ship. Nothing appears damaged after the sudden and unexpected electrical discharge, but the complexities of a much more pin-point Dimensional Transper spell dumps out two extra faces that the crew might know.

    Fate is already in her Barrier Jacket, black cloak giving one last flutter, gauntlet-clad hand lightly clasping Nanoha's before releasing. The frigid look on Fate's face really says more for her than words would.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer had had a few thoughts about how to deal with the whole space thing. Sure, she could just turn up and fly around; breathing could be handled by magic were it necessary to get assistance in the particular area. Alternatively, she did still have a meteor from Sburb around one of her old offices, but moving that might allow the accursed intern to get back the remains of his car.

    She'd finally decided that turning up as a dragon would somehow make more sense than as an elf, and so when the portal forms to the given coordinates, it's a red dragon that flies through, rather than an irritating bard.

    After all, as the saying goes, in space noone can hear you sing, and therefore get appropriate boosts or penalties.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Indeed, Flint Hawke's allies ARE about - perhaps nearer than expected. It doesn't take long at all for one of Rory's beacons to pick up the call and relay it using q-bits.

    Space warps and ripples roughly two hundred kilometers from the Black Sun - and from that ripple a frigate-sized vessel emerges. Long and aerodynamic but by no means a warship, the vessel pings as 'COGNIZANT ODYSSEY' and it's doing nothing whatsoever to hide the fact that its owner wnts to know what the HELL IS GOING ON.

    It lights up on sensors like a fireworks display from the surge of scanning attempts sent in all directions while it fires retrograde to decelerate.

    "... Why is there a man... in SPACE? UNPROTECTED?"

    Rory would shake her head, but she doesn't really have a body right now. Her Synth lies dormant at the ship's body bank.

    Right now, she IS the ship.

    Regardless her avatar is still used for a communication with the Black Sun. If the transmission's accepted... Rory White in a white TRON style suit with blue circuit lines appears. "Cognizant Odyssey responding to your beacon. I came as quickly as I could. What's the emergency?"

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
    Nanoha tumbles out of the gate opened by Fate, also in her Barrier Jacket. Straightening her staff up, the young girl looks about and... well, she doesn't wave at Hayate, this time, or even to Captain Hawke. Homura's presence is an oddity, but one she can deal with. "Ah... what is going on, anyway?"

Master Therion (565) has posed:
More ships appear, and Therion tilts his head when Rory's ship arrives to aid the Black Sun. He speaks, but his voice carries over radio channels as well, warning Rory away. "I would recommend not getting... involved in this matter." Then he does something terrible. Something horrible. Something that will no doubt signal terror and danger to everyone.

Hairflip.

That done, he sighs and shimmers briefly, the space-warping teleport carrying him out from in front of the Black Sun, and suddenly appearing above it. He doesn't try to actually appear inside the ship, for some reason, but he doesn't think he needs to. The athletic, slender man just shoots down from 'above' the ship to slam his fist down into the top, just above the bridge, with a punch that can buckle and tear normal steel with ease. It looks like he's going to attempt to rip open the ship bare-handed to get what he wants.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    "Well, it seems someone has decided to raid the vessel of a humble space enthusiast," Flint says vaguely, standing up from his chair as the others enter his bridge. He looks to Homura and grins to her, "It might~."

    To Nanoha and Fate, Flint gives a nod of his head, "Lasses. Welcome. You've come at quite the time." And then he looks to Hayate, "If they would both be dears and help out." He nods his head to her, "But please do keep yourself safe, lass."

    Flint taps a few keys on a comm panel, saying aloud, "Cognizant Odyssey, Uh... and giant flying dragon... this is Black Sun. Cap'n Flint Hawke, Freelance Space Enthusiast. We appear to be being threatened by a superhuman fo-"

    Lights blink up all over the ship as Therion teleports in close. Crewmembers shout rapidly, "He's through the shields and inside the perimeter." "Engaging environmental seals!" "He's inside our firing arc!"

    Those both outside the ship and inside the bridge can see that as Therion brings a fist against the metallic armor of the ship, it sheers away like so much wet paper against his supernatural punch. It doesn't vent into space, thanks to the internal environmental shielding protecting against that, but it leaves a huge gaping hole.

    In the Bridge, Flint looks up at the hole that just appeared, "Fire all thrusters. Pull us back and away."

    As he gives these orders, he stamps his foot on the ground. There's a supernatural and surreal pulse of energy that seems to emanate from the man and down into the infrastructure of the ship. Black goo, almost like blood, seems to seep out of the torn metal and start trying to close the hole Therion just opened as the many thrusters try to bring the huge ship up to speed.

    Flint Hawke shrugs to Homura, "Okay, so yeah, it can. It's been evolving a bit."'

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Flint's got a lot of friends. That's good. Ups their chances. No way to know by how much, Therion and his accomplice are still largely wildcards. Powerful, but the exact scope of their abilities is kind of hard to take into account right now. By virtue of not really knowing much. But, you know, the guy just punched a spaceship, so that tends to help.

    "That's good. We might need that strength today," Homura answers Flint, before she disappears. No use staying with the captain, there's a madman punching the ship.

    As Therion tears the hull open, and before the black goo kicks in to seal the hole (or perhaps, as Therion tears it open again), he will find the hole not giving him a view of the inside of the ship, so much as a view of about twenty guns, mounted on tripods and various automated firing supports. Machineguns, mostly, at least one rocket launcher. In their center is Homura.

    She flips her hair as the cacophony of gunfire starts.

    "I'm afraid this way in is barred."

Laer (353) has posed:
    The dragon will send a message through proper channels, but waits to otherwise speak until she gets closer, moving towards the ship that is under attack. She is a little bit nervous about this, because Laer's gone a long way in the multiverse by typically not fighting, but it's really the best way to handle this one from what she'd seen.

    She'll land on the hull near where Therion is ripping into it, digging claws in to hold on. "Pardon, but I can't help but notice you threatening my friends, associates, and enemies here. Do you mind stopping that?"

    Therion HAD met Laer before, so he might recognize her voice, but she's being polite for the moment. Sometimes being a giant dragon really carries the intimidation aspect on its own.

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
Hayate does smile at Nanoha and Fate a little, and she most definitely has no idea who the dragon is. Nope, not at all! She settles into her seat as the man vanishes though, and the shudder of impact has her going into fully professional mode, the child suddenly super serious and gripping the arms of her seat. "Right! SIGNUM! VITA! Deploy!"

The shout is pretty unneeded, since she can do this telepathically, but the important part is that from either side of the ship, the two Wolkenritter eject and shoot upward. The tiny Vita lands on one side, where Homura is engaging Therion, and shouts out aggressively, "HEY! Nobody punches our house like that! Graf Eisen!" Her hammer clacks loudly as it expands into a brutal-looking head, rockets deploying on the back. An instant later she's blasting forward in a streak of red, already swinging the rocket-boosted hammer in a spinning arc toward the mage.

Signum lands a greater distance away, her sword already out. She doesn't move to attack though... the knight is staring, watching carefully to analyze how Therion takes the assault of both guns and hammer.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    THAT reception stuns Rory into temporary silence. HOW is she receivnig a sourceless radio transmission from this guy in the middle of space?

    That's shocking enough that out of pure fear and panic the ship seems completely non-responsive to the reply.

    Some of that is questioning what exactly a Freelance Space Enthusiast is...

    She's never heard of such a profession!

    After a good fifteen seconds though, her first response is broadcast widely to hopefully be heard by Therion.

    "Ask yourself if you would take such advice were it your own ally being assaulted?"

    At the same time she sends a tight-beam broadcast frequency to the Black Sun using Flotilla encryption. "There's little I can do in a fight. The Odyssey has few weapons. But I will find some way to help, even if it is only providing medical after the fact. Will try a few strategies though!"

    A port on the ship opens, disgorging a small multi-armed drone of some shiny black make. It looks vaguely like a spider and fires its tiny thrusters just enough to send it clanging into the Black Sun's hull - gently.

    Then it scurries along, waiting to follow after Theion.

    For the moment? It's simply observing and hitting him with every sensor in the book.

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
    "The dragon is a friend of ours," Nanoha explains quickly. "Maybe she can help." The young mage looks at Fate, then, and makes a break for the nearest exit, using flight to boost her speed there. Unlike the Wolkenritter and cheaty mccheaterson Homura, she wasn't able to immediately get to an airlock. Her Barrier Jacket will provide some protection, but she's going to need to get to an exit swiftly and go out the long ways.

    "Fate..." she calls out. "Let's back them up." Surely the Wolkenritter alone can handle ONE MAN, right? Though that shuddering of the ship was... impressive. It makes her wonder if maybe fighting him directly isn't a good idea. "I think I'll provide cover fire."

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    He just flipped his hair.

    The significance of this is not lost on Fate Testarossa, eyes narrowing as she watches everything from the bridge. But the sudden impact of his fist slamming the ship sets the blonde into motion.

    "Nanoha. I'll go help the Wolkenritter repel him-." It looks like Nanoha has the same idea, though, earning an affirmative nod. With a clank of boots she's sprinting off the Bridge and headed for the nearest airlock. Flinging herself out the Black Sun with speeds that would be dangerous for most mages, like a crack of thunder, with a flare of gold like lightning, she's there, coming in on Therion opposite from Vita in a sudden pincer as Bardiche snaps open with a HSSSS.

    [SCYTHE MODE]

Master Therion (565) has posed:
Therion is incredibly powerful, even in his human form without any addition. That's why the sensors, and magical senses, will pick up a massive energy spike from within him when he encounters Homura once the hull is breached. "Eh?"

Thing is, Homura is also pretty strong, and that is a LOT of guns. Add to that Vita incoming and... well. The barrier that springs to life is strong, and the bullets hammer into it hard enough to drive Therion back away from the hole. A moment later and Graf Eisen slams into it, shattering the barrier already sporting numerous cracks from Homura's assault, sending Therion hurtling off the ship. Well, that was easy, wasn't it? With Fate on rapid approach and Nanoha coming in, he's probably not going to last long.

Except that the girl is there, gently catching him in mid-space. A glowing purple circle appears as Fate comes toward him, and a massive metal hand emerges, holding itself out to block her approach and SWAT at her powerfully. The rest of the arm emerges, revealing the massive, fifty-meter construct of adamant and steel, warping into existence behind him.

Therion wipes his chin, where a trickle of blood has appeared. He frowns, and regards Laer dully. "No, I think I will need to teach them a lesson. Hm. It has been a long while since I needed Liber Legis..." A thin smile curls his lips, and he murmurs, "Interesting. Perhaps this will be a good distraction as well."

The abdomen of the giant Deus Machina opens up, drawing Therion and Etheldreda, the girl, within. The great machine spreads its arms, from which a strange series of ripples emerge... hard to see, the tiny projectiles tear through spacetime as a series of micro-sized black holes are launched toward the gathering foes.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint seems to be in a serious Captain mode as he meanders the bridge of his ship, shouting orders at people, "Reinforce shields now that he's outside the perimeter. Mark the dragon and all friendly forces on our positionals and prepare to fire around them."

    He looks over his shoulder to Hayate, "Has Chikade taught you how to set the navigation systems yet?" He pauses, "If so, lay in a course for the nearest gate out of here in case we need to retreat." Flint snarls a bit, looking back towards the main screen, "I will be damned if some pretty boy is going to be takin' my crew and breaking my ship."

    Of course, shortly after he gives these commands, the entire ship is rocked by micro blackholes slamming against its shields, "SIR! The projectiles are destabilizing shield allignments! Some are getting through."

    The ship shakes under the repeated impacts of the ammunition, portions of the hull warping and exploding as they're struck by the gravitational attacks. Flint's Pure is working to remotely repair them, that same black blood seeping out of the 'wounds' in the ship to try to seal and repair them shut like scabs. But there's still damage all over and it was a nasty opening volley.

    "Lock all guns. Open fire with the full array."

    Outside the ship, guns on rails rotate around the ship, searching for a firing vector and them stopping. After a couple of seconds, there's a volley of laser-fire towards the Deus Machina. Only the guns with unimpeded angles are firing, though. So most of the fire comes in on arcs to avoid hitting Flint's allies.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Oh. Oh that's a big robot.

    She is going to need something a bit bigger, now. Homura frowns. She vanishes from the inside of the ship, outside instead, with pink-purple-ish wings of light on her back. Magic can shield her from the harshness of space, at least hopefully long enough to fight. That robot is a more immediate threat than the lack of oxygen and radiation, to be honest.

    Also those are black holes, fuck.

    The Puella Magi attempts to navigate through the incoming attacks, but it only takes a graze from attacks of this kind to do damage. Her wings become distorted, her clothes tear-- well, god knows what a black hole does to your insides. Better not considered too closely.

    She uses the Black Sun's cannon fire as cover, following after the shots and staying close to them. A few larger missiles are going to join the cannonfire, but Homura's not sure how much it'll take to dent that thing. There's something she's wanted to try on Therion, but right now it's off the table unless she can reach the cockpit.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "...." Rory would probably be gaping. It's hard to be expressive when you're a spaceship and lack a face.

    But the Cognizant Odyssey is equipped with some of the best sensors available to Transhumanity. And computers.

    The two together do a marvelous job of analyzing every bit of what just happened.

    "Magic is.. CHEATING." Rory declares, here complaint aimed at nobody in particular but broadcast nonetheless.

    The drone manages to dodge due to nothing being aimed at it specifically. Dodging a singularity isn't easy because you can't see them directly, so it accomplishes this by simply jetting AWAY from the actual target.

    If nothing else this encounter is providing excellent readings to be horrified at from all involved sides. Using reverse thrust the Odyssey decides to put some distance between itself and the mecha that's appeared...

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
Hayate squints at the monitor. "... what is that? Is that a Deus Machina?" She pales a little, but shakes it off as soon as Flint starts talking. "Ah... yes, Captain!" She spins about and pulls up the console, starting to type in commands.

Meanwhile, up above, Vita blinks a few times, before realizing that something is happening. "Wha- AUGH!" She dives to the side, at the last minute, but the black hole that shears through her sleeve manages to catch some flesh, tearing it away from bone and leaving her stumbling aside, clutching her now-bleeding arm.

Signum, of course, draws up her sword and stares at the incoming particles. Defying logic, she brings the blade down in a violent slash, cleaving into one of the black holes cleaning and splitting it in two, letting it pass on either side of her. This makes no sense, but it happens, even if the passage tears numerous cuts across her face and shoulders in the process from the tidal forces suddenly /very confused/ by this fact.

"A Deus Machina... it appears so." She floats up away from the ship, lifting up her sword and intoning in her solemn voice: "Hastur cf' ayak' vulgtmm vugtlagln vulgtmm... Ai! Ai! Hastuuuuuur-! LORD BYAKHEE"

With a roar of a dimensional gate opening, she vanishes into the chestpiece of the summoned, agile and angular mecha that appears around her. A massive rifle appears in the mecha's hands, and the winged construct streaks upward to start blasting pulses of energy at the Liber Legis.

Laer (353) has posed:
    A lot of the dragon's spells won't work either in space or while she's in this form. There are still ones that are functional, though, and it turns out that it's a lot easier to get around with line of sight in space than it is in places with things like 'the ground'.

    She'll lose a scale or two to a black hole before she manages to slip through the dimension door that happened to be right there, coming out the other side somewhere in the general area of behind the robot.

    She's not going to bother with the whole breathing fire thing, though, coming in and trying to take advantage of the surprise of her new standing spot to get in with claws. "No more giant robots! Can't you at least have the courtesy to have them hideously ill-prepared for the environment, like Doctor West?"

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
    <ROUND SHIELD,> Raising Heart pings, throwing up a spinning disc of power that shimmers before Nanoha's hand. The black hole fired at her impacts it, and with a large blast of pink power, it explodes in fragments of barrier. When the sight clears, she's cradling an injured hand, the bracer on her Barrier Jacket broken and crumbling away. "Wha... what was that?!?"

    She doesn't wait to start with small attacks. "FATE! Be careful!" Whipping the Device around, it splits at the head and begins charging, the loud clatter of a cartridge load already sliding into place. Power collects with a faint, musical humming, and she starts laying down some cover fire with the big guns already.

    <DIVINE BUSTER.>
    <DIVINE BUSTER.>
    <DIVINE BUSTER>

    Yeah she's laying down massive blasts of pink energy, firing off the pillars as fast as she can toward the Liber Legis.

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    Closing in for a vicious stroke, Fate reels Bardiche back, readying to cut Therion down when she's interrupted.

    The sudden emergence of a giant metal hand in her path is going to halt the tiny blonde, scarlet eyes widening in a brief instant of surprise before she's smacked aside with bone-shattering force. If not for the protective nature of her Barrier Jacket, she would be a pulped mess, but she rolls with the immense blow, and as a result is only left sprawled out on the Black Sun's plating in a stunned haze for a long moment, as LORD BYAKHEE is called to the fore by the Wolkenritter, watching dizzily with half-lidded eyes.

    "Ungh... Bardiche."

    Wiping blood from the corner of her lips, she manages to pick herself back up though, leaning on Bardiche for support. Armor doesn't matter then. Another hit like that will probably paste her.

    [YES SIR.]

    The Device's revolver loader spins furiously, before spitting three cartridges with explosive for<span class=" bold_fg_y bg_n ++ e.

    chy">[SONIC FORM]</span>

    The girl's dark Barrier Jacket begins dropping armor, plates falling apart, streamlining and ripping down to the minimal essentials of armor, as her scythe changes next, hissing and reconfiguring to a massive sword of golden light..

    [ZANBER FORM!]

    Well she'll be more careful NOW, a golden circle of light forming in front of her before she thrusts Bardiche through it, to unleash a pillar of golden electrical light alongside Nanoha's heavy fire.

    [PHOTON SMASHER]

Master Therion (565) has posed:
Incoming fire blasts at the Liber Legis, and it soon proves to have some kind of shield of its own, which starts tanking the Black Sun's cannons. Except that it's getting a lot more than the starship's cannons, isn't it? The shields are glowing hot already, and they're met with even more blasts of power soon enough.

Laughter sounds out over the ether, and he clicks on to mock the attempts. "Such incredible power in one place! This Multiverse truly is a blessing in disguise! It seems Claudius was not lying... the Lord Byakhee itself is here!"

A glow of green appears around one of the Deus Machina's arms, and the wings flex at its back. As the Lord Byakhee begins blasting it with the rifle, the shield is starting to crack. Except the Liber Legis suddenly blurs, closing the distance in an instant. "ABRA HADABRA!"

A single punch, executed at lightspeed, aims at the Byakhee's shoulder. It's just a jab, but with the force of reality-bending speed. Rory is certainly going to have some data to collect here! She'll also note that the brief blip did result in some energy shifting within. The Liber Legis appears to have infinite energy to draw upon, but it can't use it all at the same time. That brief flicker in the shields wasn't something the current barrage could exploit, but it was THERE.

Yet even with the shields at full power, a barrage from the Black Sun, followed by the blasts from Signum, take their toll. They allow the Divine Buster to shatter the barrier, slamming into the armor hard enough to stagger the robot. Two more blast into it, melting and shearing plating, sending it wobbling backward-

To where Fate's Zanber slice cleaves into its elbow, slicing the injured Deus Machina's lower arm off, even as it's still cooling from the physics-defying strike that it attempted at the Lord Byakhee. It's in a perfect position for a giant red dragon to grapple at the plating, tearing it away with claws and rending open the lighter frame beneath, before a wing attempts to swat the beast away. This one isn't moving at lightspeed, it's just metal.

On the upside, this places him very close to both Vita and Homura, with his shields down. On the downside? The damage and exposed plating of the robot is glowing, and with tiny fragments uncrumpling and a brilliant, sickly glow, the damaged plating begins to regenerate, and a skeletal strut begins to grow from the severed stump of the arm.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    By now Rory's unleashed a half-dozen drones to take up positions from all angles across the battlefield. By combining visual data and the readings she'll have quite something to stare at later.

    And even if she can't help in the battle without getting herself eviscerated... what she CAN do is take all of this data and analyze it.

    Maybe there is some weakness in the horrific mecha. The only question is...

    "WHAT is a Yog-Sothoth? Rolan, run a check?" Of course her Muse does just that, but that's going to take about thirty seconds to rifle through some VERY old texts in the database.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    A flicker in the shields. That could be useful, yes. Though in the meantime, Homura is busy enough avoiding getting hit. That punch looked nasty, and she'd rather not test her ability to withstand the Liber Legis' firepower. She can return fire just fine, but taking hits was never her forte.

    Targetting the cockpit... it's dirty, generally doesn't work. But Homura's all about being efficient and driving messages home in as little blows as possible. While the others hold Therion's attention more directly, she intends to line up a single shot.

    She continues moving with the Black Sun's assaults, as much as is possible. Rockets and missiles fly past her, probably not enough to harm the robot severely, but certainly enough to strain its shields, and that's what she's looking to do. A pitch black handgun appears in her hand, marked by a red diamond on the grip.

    The Puella Magi flickers, and appears as close to the Deus Machina as she can-- meters, feet, inches, depends on how distracted everyone else makes the pilot, and how down the shields are. The further, the worse her likelyhood to pierce the plating significantly.

    But she tries anyway, emptying the handgun's clips towards the cockpit. It's not just a 9mm; it's alchemized with a Regisword. The Romanov's End is an end-game tier pistol, and it has a deceptive amount of punch, especially if she can nail the same spot a lot. More importantly for her interest, it's a royalty-slaying weapon. Is Therion royalty, or even the robot's power source? Only one way to find out.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    Flint watches with a hard stare as the people fight out in space against the monstrously powerful Deus Machina. Red eyes narrow and he adjusts his hat, keeping careful watch on it as it slowly seems to buckle under the massive unslaught of incoming attacks. He bites his lip in an uncharacteristic display of nervousness, folding his hands behind his back as he calmly listens to information flow around him.

    "Its shields are holding strong against our blasts."
    "Modulating laser frequencies to try to disrupt. The other attacks are weakening its defenses."
    "They've fallen! Direct hit! Repeat direct hit."
    "Oh no, it's regenerating."
    "All holes in the A through C decks have been repaired. Decks D and E are still leaking, but those are cargo areas and we have no perishables."

    "Fire the railgun."

    Flint gives this command sternly, looking serious as he does so. Several crewmembers nod and run around, trying to configure and adjust settings on the ship. It was a new toy Flint had grafted to his ship, something far too large that it shouldn't be able to fire.

    A massive swiveling weapons station rotates around and unfolds from the underside of the ship. It comes out of a modular area and starts to extend. After a few moments of charge time, the entire ship rumbles and buckles as it fires a MASSIVE slug of metal at the Liber Legis, moving at about four percent of the speed of light.

    Immediately after the shot, damage control warnings start getting called out.

    "C deck is on Fire! J deck is on fire! F, G, and H decks have massive structural damage. One more like that and we might blow the ship apart, sir."

    Flint shuts his eyes and starts to think about his ship. As he does so, the most damaged parts come to mind. And then the fires begin to peter around. The hull of the ship begins to bend as if pried by hands and close itself.

    He'd make sure his ship survived.

    "Status reports."

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
At least the ship isn't under attack again... but that punch looked pretty awful. Still, Hayate looks a little panicked. "Signum..." She shakes her head and her fingers fly across the keys. "Captain, I'm having trouble plotting a course! Chikade's helping from the helm, but um... it appears that we're getting a lot of gravitational disturbance from the Deus Machina. We'll have to adjust for it." She stumbles over the words a little... she's learning, but she's only nine, and being a math wiz can't help her vocabulary and general childishness.

She's doing her best, though.

Meanwhile, in space, Signum staggers back from the blow that crumples the Byakhee's shoulder, causing the rifle to tumble away and the wing to go limp. An explosion rocks the shoulder as the more fragile Deus Machina is sheared apart at the side by the impact, and only its natural maneuverability allows it to right itself. A clawed hand lashes out, but it goes wide without any intervention from Therion.

<GIGANT FORM>

Vita is one-handed right now, the other dripping blood and laying limp at her side. She hasn't stopped though, and her eyes are wide with utter rage. "HYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" As she swings the hammer in her off hand, it blasts an extra boost from the rocket at the back, as the head doubles and redoubles in size, to a massive cylinder. She's timed it, despite her rage, to slam into the opposite side of Therion from the ship... sandwiching the giant mech between her hammer and the rail gun's shot, leaving the stomach area for Homura.

Laer (353) has posed:
    Laer is swatted away after managing to land some damage with the claws, leaving her reeling for a moment and reminding her why she normally doesn't do the melee thing. She'll twist back around, flapping her wings in a clumsy sort of flight that seems to completely ignore that flying via wings in space shouldn't work, opening her mouth and spitting out a ball of fire. This, also, shouldn't really work due to the lack of oxygen.

    Magic: It's just like cheating at a physics exam.

    Laer's going to have a problem right after that, though; namely, the dragon spell will start to wear off, a hazard of transforming pre-arrival, and in a few moments she's going to be floating out there as a much squishier target.

Takamachi Nanoha (381) has posed:
    Well at least Nanoha wasn't attacked this time. Her hand is injured, but she can still hold Raising Heart. Too bad she doesn't have enough power and time to risk her ultimate attack. What she does have is something that is unique to her, though. The wings on her ankle flutter a few times, then she shoots up at a different angle, letting the others start to hammer the Deus Machina. She watches the battle for a long moment, calculating when she'll have an opening... and holding out her Device.

    Softly, the girl begins to sing.

    It's a quiet tune, something about lights and cleansing. Lots of magical power has been shed here already, and thus there's plenty to draw from. She doesn't have enough time to actually use a Starlight Breaker, but the swirl of energies collect swiftly into a gleaming sphere atop her Device, and Raising Heart pings a moment later.

    <STARLIGHT BUSTER>

    "SHOOOOT!" The girl calls out, swinging the tip down and aiming it at the Liber Legis's head. She's trying to blind the sensors.

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    Even after all the damage done to it, the mecha is REBUILDING itself?

    Scarlet eyes widen significantly in shock- perhaps even a small measure of horror, as the sight sends a small splinter of panic embedding in Fate's heart. The pilot is laughing and this nearly indestructible THING is still intent on looting the black sun. Hurting her friends. There's a long moment of hesitance before the Black Sun eats the damaging recoil from its own rail cannon shot.

    They say when an object moves fast enough, all other objects, to its perspective, seem to be at a standstill. To Fate Testarossa, time seems to slow down to that of a slow mollasses crawl...

    To everyone else, the girl has instantly become little more than a flickering blur of gold and black. Fast enough to leave a red trail of friction heat on the starship's outer plating as she blitzes over it. A leap and propelling burst of bone-shattering speed and she lands with a tiny -clink- on something ELSE.

    "Hhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

    Boots skid for purchase as she charges down the length of the railgun slug, intending to ride it and its immense sonic speeds as she reels her collossal blade to strike...

    Back at the Testarossa family house in the Citadel, Arf executes the proper button combination in Deadly Battel XX, the tiny puppy girl proceeding to cut her opponent down with a sword. "Yes! CHEEEESTUOAHMoemura (talk) 02:41, 9 May 2015 (CDT)! Wahoo, I just killed you, Vesta!"

    Meanwhile back here, Fate simply throws herself at the Liber Legis with all the force of the rail-cannon shot added to the wide arching HEAVE of Bardiche with intent to cleave clean through the Deus Machina.

Master Therion (565) has posed:
Dragonfire washes over Liber Legis. Inside the cockpit, Etheldreda looks up. "Master. That..."
Therion mns, interrupting. "Yes. The shields are quite challenged by this group, aren't they?" He sighs, as monitors flicker red around him and warnings start to bleep about the shields getting overloaded. "We had best stop that."

The roiling flame is blasted over the Deus Machina for only a moment, plating glowing red hot, before the regenerating arm forms a fist. It lacks plating, but it's already somewhat functional... and it lashes out with its palm. "Dragonfire will not stop me. Hyperborea Zero-Drive!" Instantly, the flames... freeze. Literally freeze solid, before splintering and guttering out.

Yet the Dragon-Bard's flame was enough of a threat to use that attack, and in doing so the shields were lowered for an instant. A very, very important instant. In that moment, Vita's hammer smashes into the injured shoulder, shattering plate and causing the structure to crack and buckle.

The shields are going down utterly now, and thus Therion is wide open for that rail gun shot! Without thinking about it, he lifts his hand to block it, holding it out casually and letting it flicker with that strange warping power. The rail gun slug slams into the palm of his hand and is stopped dead, though it causes cracks and buckling to be seen in the arm, and steam vents from the joints all over. That damaged his only good arm, leaving it usable but obviously weakened, perhaps unfit for punching. This is a good thing, isn't it?

It is, because that's when the Starlight Buster slams into his head, staggering him backward as optics shatter and he's momentarily blinded, the Deus Machina losing sight until it can regenerate its sensors.

All of this leaves it wide open for two attacks.

Fate's startling ride ends with the abrupt halt of the slug, but her sword does not. The Zanber blade arcs down and cleaves through the damaged shoulder, tearing the damaged arm shear from the Deus Machina. Liber Legis is leaking alchemical silver now, and the regeneration is working overtime to try to restore the limb.

The second is from Homura, who thought up something very clever. He doesn't really count as a royal, and neither does the Liber Legis, but they're close enough for some effect of the Regisword Pistol to tear into the weakened plating with some effectiveness. It's still superheated and malleable from Laer's dragonfire, too, making the bullets puncture more easily through the alchemical material. Most of them are stopped, but it's easy to tell that they either nearly punctured the cockpit... or possibly did.

Certainly there's an immediate effect. "ENOUGH!" Therion shouts. The regeneration is still going, but his wings stretch out and flare up with power... then ease. "You have fought well enough to be... interesting. I retract my demand."

As suddenly as it was there, the Liber Legis is gone. Another quantum fluctuation is picked up with that burst of energy, the Deus Machina altering probability so that the chance of it suddenly being in another place approaches 1.

Flint Hawke (320) has posed:
    "Right. Keep trying, we'll keep up our ships and hope you can get it working," Despite being nine years old, Chikade and Hayate were probably better at math than MOST of the people on Flint's ship. For as professional as the bridge crew were acting, this was the BEST on the ship and the uneducated ones were elsewhere and doing grunt work. So he was pretty patient when she had trouble.

    Flint opens his eyes and watches the attacks converge. Part of his attention is spent on doing minute repairs to his ship remotely via his Pure's conceptual resonance, finding damaged areas or snuffing out fires where he can. The other part of his attention is kept directly on the battle. In moments like these, Flint steers more towards a serious Captain than the fanciful whimsy most see from him in person.

    "It's withdrawn, sir. Not picking it up on sensors," says a crew member.

    Flint nods his head, "Keep sensors active and shields up. I want to know if we find it."

    "Yes sir."

    "Open comms," Flint says, moving to the Captain's seat. As he sits down, he says, "To all those in range, thank you for your help. The Black Sun appreciates your help in our continued ventures into space tourism."

    He still grips the arms of his chair nervously. Elsewhere on the bridge, Mister Blade (picture in Desc, by the way), puts a hand on Hayate's shoulder, "Are you alright, young miss? Would you like to be escorted back to your quarters to rest after the excitement?"

Yagami Hayate (558) has posed:
Hayate collapses back. "Unh... interference is gone and route is locked in, Captain." She trembles a little bit, but the hand on her shoulder, and Rein's hand on her arm, calm her enough to get her to breathe deep. "Ah... that might be best. I guess I still have a long way to go before I'm fully recovered, huh?"

Vita and Signum are limping back into the ship, but not before Signum pauses and dismisses the Lord Byakhee for now. Though battered, the Wolkenritter can fly in and retrieve Laer. She'll radio on ahead, "I'm bringing the former dragon in for medical attention, Captain. She did help out."

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "... really? Some kind of horror being from outside reality?" Is rory's response to what Rolan finally comes up with. "... is that really a power source..." She's not at all pleased with the ease with which something that large was able to just TELEPORT away. "... Magic is just... trouble." Grumpy today, yes. Very grumpy.

    "Good work repelling that assailant, everyone!" She broadcasts locally, voice cheerful and friendly. "If anyone's in need of medical treatment or emergency repairs I'll do my best to provide. ... WHAT was that person after?"

Laer (353) has posed:
    The bard can respect a good 'screw y'all I'm out', and she's not going to try to interfere with that. Partly because she's busy trying to make her own portally exit before she has issues breathing from other spells expiring, and partly because it's a courtesy she'd like to be extended down the line in similar circumstances.

    Now that she's back down to elf-sized, she's going to make a set of wild gestures, trying to get that portal out. It's rough going without sounds working quite right, and she'll rather appreciate the pickup from Signum. Some medical attention before heading home would be appreciated.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Whatever the hell that attack was, Homura'll be over there, happy she wasn't in its line of fire. Though once Therion retreats, it feels kind of hollow. It's a victory, technically? They found out he has a giant robot, and it's powered by Yog-Sothoth, has shields, shoots black holes, disrupts spacetime. Just... a matter of writing that down somewhere and doing homework, now.

    Yeah this won't be a breeze.

    The Puella Magi makes her way back to the ship, to resurface by Flint and give a sigh. Looks like those black holes took a toll. Over comms, she answers Rory: "An artifact of power. A book, i believe he said?"

Testarossa Fate (401) has posed:
    Even IF Therion has decided he's had enough, the horrifying fact of the matter is that it seems to be still on HIS terms. Despite the intense amounts of adrenaline pumping through her veins, heart hammers in her chest as she lands herself back atop the Black Sun. Bardiche snaps back into axe form, twin prongs gusting an intense amount of steam. But the device clatters. A quiet, rattling clink of metal repeatedly rattling against metal as Fate holds him in both hands, panting.