5368/MISSION: Starwatch (4)

MISSION: Starwatch (4)
Date of Scene:	11 July 2017
Location:	Overwatch Earth <OWE>
Synopsis:	A rumble on the moon, including gorilla warfare.
Cast of Characters:	Starbound Flotilla, 632, 1010, 1076, Gaonoir, 1111, Sombra, Staren, Reaper, 673, Mortimer Balman

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Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    HORIZON ONE LUNAR COLONY

    It displays a beautiful array of radial lights. The bright rings of still-active colonization infrastructure glimmer gently. They've not been maintained, but they were certainly built to last those years ago. But they certainly weren't built for what happened here.

    The Flotilla's small collection of ships -- a few personal, and one central shuttle -- all have come to rest, landing near a large vehicle bay. Elsewhere, a beacon near an observatory signals Watch members to provide backup, giving them the ability to bring in help from space and via teleportations. A heavy rover of Starbound make moves, occasionally, to and from their shuttle, carrying scavenged technology. It's a contrast to the base; its construction is quite modular, clean, and the image of space-age. Not much to make it decay, not on the moon. Well, the exterior is a bit pockmarked with the little meteor impacts, but something automated must be cleaning those up...

    The Watch have a little forward staging area in the form of a nice little security area and observatory that Gaonoir and Erika have managed to take over in a sense. The Concord, meanwhile, have spread out and cannibalized and converted areas of a large vehicle bay in their efforts, adding scrappy fortifications just in case of trouble.

    At the center of it is a cage, formed out of prototype Lucheng-tech-based force-fields, full of a hostile monkey. Stripped of its armor and weapons, the thing expresses impotent, almost bratty rage whenever possible. While heavy medical scanners draw data from its valuable genetic material and physiology, it's actually treated almost, but not quite, rather humanely. Despite that, it seems to be regularly insisting on trying to get violent.

    This is Laura's objective. The local monkeys certainly did understand her, though they, similarly, refused to speak. They, similarly, got a fair bit violent if she approached. But they seemed to have better things to focus on. The apes angrily amassed a screeching strike team, made noises at her until it looked like she was going to lead them to the Concord forward base, and charged after her when she did.

    The Flotilla are busy with loading their rover. So much loot!! The solar panels have nearly fully charged the batteries for the teleporter too, so it can finally probably be used to send things home. It's functional on a side-room off to the edge of the vehicle bay, and it's where Sombra and co. have set up the computer center.

    Very soon, everything will explode. Not quite yet. But shortly.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Septette holds a case of glass vials, each filled with blood, almost reverently in her bladed claws. It goes in the mini-fridge next to the Flotilla's snacks- perfect temperature- while the medical scans and data are retained on a trio of portable storage devices for safekeeping. Chemical and genetic analysis of the blood, in addition to the physiological data, could prove invaluable to biomedical research on other worlds. And just as importantly, the money from their sale will help get the Flotilla back on their feet.

     The gorilla in the cage is still rowdy- that thrashing she gave it hasn't seemed to suppress its spirit at all- and only mildly anemic from the samples. She gives it another quick once-over to satisfy her concerns for its health, then locks the door on her way out. That's one animal she's promised to take care of, squared away. Now for the other one.

     The base's intercom system, long dormant, flares to life with a hiss of static. "Sokka. Do you remember what I said about keeping you safe? Joining a feral gorilla revolt on the Moon certainly isn't very safe. Are you going to let me take you back to Earth? Or am I going to have to finish what we started outside Numbani and detain you?"

     There's a short pause, and then, almost as an afterthought: "And Laura? The gorilla I captured is still alive, in a secure location. Any more that come after me will not be so lucky- we're all out of cages. Let's have a nice chat, shall we? Perhaps we can... see each other through fresh eyes."

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    It's sure a good thing Laura has some friends. Especially friends who have spacewalk capable battle armor that can traverse the lunar surface. He also has brought a -shitton- of barrels with him. Why does he need these? Well, they're pressurized and vac-sealed to avoid being ruined by SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!

    Also they're full of something Laura needs to get the apes to not kill everyone. It is vital he gets them to her.

    So he's bringing them with him, as he arrives to the observatory. "Laura! I brought the stuff with me!" he bellows, announcing his presence with all the subtlety you'd expect from Reinhardt Wilhelm.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka had tried to make his way deeper into the base to try and locate the apes! He... actually was pretty talented at this kind of thing. Infiltrating cities of the enemy nation, running for his life constantly, pretending to be a soldier, trying to avoid soldiers, infiltrating high secuirty prisons. Yeah, he knew how to get around. And he DIDN'T have any fancy powers to let him stop time or anything. He did it the old fashioned way as he made his way through.

His plan? Meet with the monkeys. And try to ascertain just how intelligent they are. If they weren't? Well, he'd made a big mistake. But then, he didn't trust those guys now anyway. Though he suspected Sombra probably hated him now.

Gaonoir has posed:
Technically they're mission was already done. They had achieved their objective of establishing a point their allies would be able to follow the spaced raiders to. But that would be leaving things half-finished. Not to mention the Flotilla and Concord intruding in on this place a bunch of apes were apparently trying to live away from humans, which seems to have twitched something in the back of Gaonoir's mind to make him stick around, standing guard over the observatory-turned-staging ground.

Both Gaonoir and Erika just sort of gawk as Reinhart tromps in with giant sealed barrels. "... I'm not sure I even -want- to know," the digimon finally just mutters, shaking his head.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney hasn't slept, and it's starting to catch up with her. She sort of had on the ship, if you can count that half doze, constantly alert for any sound to indicate her hiding spot had been compromised. Since she'd landed, what with the fighting magic androids, negotiating a working truce, and then making whatever she could to help the apes' cause in a dead end tunnel with a box of scraps... There hadn't actually been time. She's good for about 24 hours at peak before her healing factor can't keep up with the fatigue toxins, and the deadline is fast approaching. This has to end, now.
     At the interruption from Reinhardt's greeting, she sits up, putting one final chestplate crudly welded from exterior hull plating behind, where it's presumably picked up by someone big enough to wear it, she heads for the observatory. It's /technically/ on the way to the CONCORD forward base, and nothing beats going into combat on a full stomach. Her friend should be arriving with said combat rations right now. And so, Laura enters the observatory, followed by a horde of gorillas with armor and melee weapons straight out of Mad Max. Approaching the armored figure, she gives a greatful nod before popping the top on one barrel, giving it a shove across the smooth floor towards the ape forces. "Here you are. To get you ready to fight the bad guys." She tilts her head back again, looking up at the figure towering over her. "Thank you, Wilhelm."

Sombra has posed:
    It's been some rather busy days for the master hacker, which should be showing as she returns from one of her many naps of the day. There are so many things that require her attention, and she looks forward to just getting back to Dorado and /sleep/ when her watchful eye isn't required. For now coffee is what keeps her from falling asleep as she walks into the vehicle bay, past the contained specimen and the teleport room, yawning just slightly as she walks up to the Flotilla captains. "How's the research going?" she asks, all while she brings up several screens for her to peruse. It wasn't a hard task to establish a permanent connection to the computer center, and it will remain as long as she's here on the colony.

    A glance is given towards Septette, and Sombra narrows her eyes as she takes an extra long slurp of coffee. "It wouldn't be hard to isolate them to a part of the colony," she suggests with a shrug. "It's enough space for it, and perhaps we can strand the others there as well. There are more ships than the Flotilla incoming...." A slight grumble leaves her, and she finishes up her coffee. "I suggest we get ready to fight, niños."

Staren has posed:
    The computer center is a place where Staren can get some work done. Sombra's the hacker, getting into locked systems and encrypted files -- but he's the master of automation, searching through logs and such with his support AI, and having it monitor the remaining camera feeds for trouble.

    Reviewing the details of the experiments takes his mind off worrying about the friend and heroes they've aggroed. While the attack on Numbani was questionable, this part of the mission shouldn't be. Will they realize that, one day?

    There is actually a useful piece of information to search for: Why Winston can talk and the others can't. If there's some kind of speaking device around they could hook up to the gorillas to check for intelligence, that would make this whole situation more clear for everyone...

    At Sombra's warning of an incoming fight, he sighs.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     "That was my plan, Sombra," Septette replies on her way out the door. "Set up cameras, allow for observation in situ. Could make good money off of a live feed of emergent pseudosapience, no?" That wickedly long, wickedly curved blade swings out of her arm as she heads to the end of the staging area closest to the rest of the base- presumably where any invaders would approach from. "Always ready for a fight. It's in my bones."

     An easy, calm smile spreads across her face as she straightens her red glasses- new eyes always take a bit of getting used to to, and adjustable vision correction's a simple stopgap until she fully acclimates. Her ear-fins quirk upwards in a silent display of joy. Her emotions before a fight are always conflicted: anything that enhances her ability to fight in the future is contextualized as enjoyable, but empathy usually demands a certain degree of sobriety for the pain of her opponents. Not today. These are monsters.

     The antechamber she's in is decorated similarly to the rest of the base, but with a considerable amount of open space and broad glass windows, along with locking doors at either end. Maybe it was a cargo storage area once. Today, it's a boss room. With a bit of time to spare, she arranges the remaining cargo containers in strategic ways to block lines of sight and to favor smaller combatants with narrow chokepoints: a subtle touch, but one that might still inconvenience the gorillas.

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Reinhardt nods, before he produces a thermos. "You may need this." He says, offering it to Laura. He knows she's been here WAY TOO LONG, so it's only fair she get something to help her get energized. It's coffee, STRONG coffee too, intended to keep soldiers awake and alert. May not do much to her metabolism but every bit counts, right?

    "I made sure the containers were sealed, and also easily consumed. Hopefully they know to conserve this stuff, because it isn't easy getting this level of food in such a short level of time."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The strike team of monkeys, with their mix of homemade and human-assisted weaponry, seem quite willing to fight with the Watchfolk here as well -- they really are a bunch of hostile sorts -- and they're seeming like they don't much differentiate between humans. Thankfully, the peanut butter... Doesn't really defuse their generic territorial urges, but it does seem to fill them up and energize them, and they seem mostly to not want to harm the Watch, until they... Well, until they get one of their own back from the Concord.

    Then, they may be trouble, but not until then.

    Sokka gets to meet these monkeys, in the sense that he might get to see them when they head into the Watch staging area. They're given offerings and... Well, unfortunately, seem to not be interested in being grateful, or in assuming the humans are anything but intruders. After hoisting, consuming, and tossing around the barrel, they do another MY TERRITORY sort of series of screeches, slamming their weapons against the ground. But they have a different set of more pressing intruders to focus on, and while their posture of hostility remains constant, they take off angrily.

    Laura can lead them, but they might be able to finish the last of this path on their own. Would it be safe for them to? Sokka, too, can meet them, but they're almost more hostile to him than Laura, simply by virtue of his humanity. They don't seem like they communicate themselves, much, though they seem to be able to comprehend communication. Like trained animals... They seemingly lack a lot of spark of humanity, but they don't lack for comprehension.

    They're climbing around the monkey-sized and Laura-sized vents. This might put them around and flanking Septette's killzone, and she can hear as much, but the vents are far too small for the others in the group. Reinhardt isn't gonna be fitting in there, you know. The Starbound Flotilla, meanwhile, ready up for the attack, equipping their arms and armor. If the Watch want to help the rescue effort, they'd better start engaging quick!

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka spent a bit of time looking around once he met up with the monkeys. Looking for some sign of the spark of intelligence. It didn't need to be human, after all. Monkeys and all. Heck, what a lot of humans consider to be a 'human' trait sometimes didn't exist in cultures.

Perhaps writing, some kind of communication ability. The creation of their own tools, not just broken ones. Repairing structures. Anything to show that they could grasp and learn. That they had that spark that could be nurtured. Sure, they might be violent, but that didn't mean they were lesser creations.

Also, he looks for a map of some sort. He was a tactician at heart. He may not be the best, but he was pivotal in the assault of the fire nation. And he knew their enemies, sort of. For one, they were smart. Attacking them head on would likely lead to defeat. They needed to find a way to draw them out. To try.... gorilla warfare. He'd hum as he worked. Then grinned as he'd try to find some way of cutting off the solar panels from their location. Albeit, only temporarily. Something that could be reversed by... well, coming in person. Slowing them down long enough to stop them from getting aid. At least, getting aid any faster than the paladins could.

Gaonoir has posed:
"Okay, now this is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen." And with some of the weirdness that just comes from Digimon, that's saying something. Gaonoir just... yeah we're just going to leave this as is, as they're crawling off into the vents with Laura it seems. Mmm. He could do that, but then it would leave this front on the low side. "Erika, I think it's time I suited up, so to speak. Maybe get some attention."

"You got it!" Erika picked up her digivice, twirling it in her palm for a moment before holding it up and out and thumbing the main control. "D-PORT, execute! Ultimate evolution!" The divice glows brightly for a moment, only for the surge of energy to turn to shades of violet and black as it engulfs Gaonoir. The digimon floats off the deck as it happens, within the corona of energy his form being reconfigured down to it's digital core, becoming larger and more humanoid with each passing second.

That spike of energy probably pinged a -lot- of the bases working sensors, too.

"Gaonoir, ULTIMATE DIGIVOLE TO...." The darkness seems to consolidate some and pull away from his form, rippling back to compose into a flowing cape that appears infinately dark on the inside. Which allows the now large armored form to clunk back onto the deck. Eyes alight behind the knight-like visor as he crosses his arms, and from the front of each vambrace a trio of energized warclaws extend. "UMBRA GAOGAMON."

Let's do this thing.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Goin' quite well, matey! Data's comin' out fine, oughta be worth a pretty penny to buyers and worth a lot to our labs." Pavo says, grinning wildly. Then comes the call that combat is going on. "Yarrr! Avast! All hands on deck, we've a fight to take!" She calls out, whipping her fellow StarFlots into a war-ready state!

    Staren finds, unusually, that Winston's capable of speech because of the long-term genetic enhancement, since there's some initial records of very genius-level intelligence being expressed vocally. It's possible that he just took to it especially well. Who knows. There's definitely no dependence on any sort of speech device attached to him, at least. If the monkeys have something to say, they're not saying it.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     The movement in the vents certainly doesn't escape her- Septette dispatches a trio of elemental drones into the ducts to make their lives hell from just out of easy reach. Crawling through them is slow work for a humanoid, but the small hovering drones should be able to stay just ahead of the apes, heating the walls of the vents to searing temperatures, peppering them with icicles, or sending painful electrical jolts through the metal walls. It's not enough to seriously injure an Elite, but it might just disrupt the apes' flimsy cohesion...

     Then, without warning, metal hands burst through the wall and grab one of the apes, trying to drag it out into the open through the ragged hole in the vent! The drones inside- despite their likely limited lifespan- fed her just enough data to pinpoint their exact location through the metal, like a dog hunting for moles in the dirt. Assuming she can pull it out into the light, she'll hold one curved blade to its neck, heating her arms to searing temperatures. Maybe the apes will understand the threat to their companion and come out into the open...

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Suddenly, THINGS HAPPEN! Reinhardt grabs his hammer, moving to throw up his shield, moving to guard Erika once he notices the girl's unarmed for the most part. "Stay behind me, my dear." He says politely enough, keeping her safe while Gaonoir readies for BATTLE. "Oh boy, this won't end well.." He mutters, as the gorilla grow aggressive. He should've expected this, he's watched enough nature docs to know that gorillas tend to be very territorial. Why the scientists couldn't have used bonobos is beyond his guess.

    He doesn't press the attack, instead opting to stay ready while he motions to the barrels. "If you could, it might help if we roll the barrels over to the apes while we still can!" he suggests to Erika and Laura, Sokka too.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney accepts the thermos, sipping greatfully. Indeed, the caffeine itself don't do too much, but the thought helps. And it tastes better than survival rations, or scrounged food from the vending machines. She can feel the warmth radiating out from her stomach. "I would imagine they will be able to. And if this goes well... we will be able to drop off more food for them in the future." And then... Welp. It looks like the assault is starting whether they are ready or not. "Wilhelm, they are going after CONCORD. If I do not help them, they will be slaughtered. This fight was inevitable, but I can give them the best chance. I can draw fire." She gives a quick apologetic shrug to Reinhardt, before darting into the vent as well, taking a slightly different path to get ahead of the strike force. If she can get in first, cause a distraction.... The apes will be slower to close to melee range than her, and the armor's decent, but it won't hold up under concentrated fire or heavy weapons.
     Scrambling up a vertical shaft, the mutant teen heads for a vent high in the rafters of the choke point. It's a bit riskier to do drop attacks in lunar gravity, but if you get a good push off.... And push off she does, launching herself down toward Septette, claws out and teeth gritted in a snarl. She aims for the yggdroid's neck, hoping for the same kind of disabling strike that her foe had tried to use on her...

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Sokka finds plenty of tools. Discarded weapons and such, even some haphazard armor. Some maps are made, giving him directions throughout the colony, but there's little to indicate the monkeys have anything but rote memorization of the layout. The only real coherent image he finds is one drawn a long, long time ago... Plotting out an orbital arc off the moon, to Earth.

    The maps still give him access to the solar farms. If he heads there, he should be able to draw them out. Cutting the power isn't too terribly difficult, given how tenuously it was connected in the first place. There's a lot of side-passages, plenty of space-age tools and equipment and such, all around for him to try to take on Sombra with... And yet, maybe Sombra is more likely to use them?

    Septette seems to slow the apes, though their genetically enhanced forms are intensely resistant to environmental hazards so it doesn't injure them too much. They're less resistant to the grab. Roaring and screaming, the smaller monkey swings its heavy hammer, trying to slam it against Septette in a panic over the blade to its neck. They're... They're NOT very calm at ALL.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Laura's attack couldn't have come at a worse time for Septette: the angry gorilla in her arms is like holding a tiger by the tail! In a split second, she calculates a viable plan of action: kicking off the floor, Septette turns upside-down while still grappling the angry gorilla and attempts to parry Laura's falling strike with her talon-like feet! The adamantium claws seem to be roughly an even match for whatever arcane supermaterials comprise her tan armored plates, but those plates can't cover everything- Laura's partially-deflected attack finds purchase on the hydraulic tubing and wiring of Septette's left leg, shredding it!

     For a handful of milliseconds, the two meet in midair- and Septette takes advantage of the momentary proximity to deploy a concealed blade on her right leg, trying to stab Laura in the chest with repeated lighting-quick kicks as they pass by one another. Before Septette can hit the ceiling, however, she electrifies the gorilla into submission as the smell of burned fur and flesh fills the room, and violently flings it upwards to shift her own momentum into a rapid fall!

     She hits the ground hard about a dozen paces from Laura, cracking the floor with the force of her impact, and straightens up with fire in her eyes. "Should've let me break your spine back there," Septette says with a manic grin. "Would've saved us both the trouble now."

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Reinhardt notices the apes aren't attacking them specifically, but after some brief determination, he begins to head for the main vehicle bay. There, the ape held by the Flotilla is being kept. "I suggest you let the ape go peacefully, unless you wish for violence!" He bellows, charging onto the scene with hammer in hand.

    He doesn't immediately attack, instead moving to secure the captured ape. He really hopes the poor guy doesn't start blindly assaulting whoever is nearest once he's freed.

Sombra has posed:
    It's easy enough to tell that there are something in the vents, all right. Even if she can't tell which ones they are coming through. Never mind. All it takes is a flick of a wrist, and Sombra brings up another monitor that she interacts with, changing some settings in the ventilation system.

    Whoever's in the shafts will notice that suddenly things get closed off... all while the air starts to get sucked out. Better hurry out while you still can!

    "I'm cleaning out the vents now," she informs her allies via radio, all while she readies her submachine gun. "Gabe? Don't go too overboard, ok?" With that she shimmers, and then she's gone as her thermoptic camouflage kicks in. As for who her target is... why not go for the more vulnerable ones first and get them out of the way?

    One moment Sokka is alone as he makes his way towards the power center, the area being quiet compared to the rest of the colony. But shortly after however, the sound of a weapon being readied can be heard behind him. "Poor little chico... I think you're lost." Sombra's voice sounds a bit taunting as her camouflage falls away, her submachine gun pointed at the back of Sokka's head.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney feels a small amount of satisfaction as her strike lands home, blobs of hydraulic fluid arcing through the air in the low grav. Sparks fly as blades clash and parry, the teen rolling with the blows from Septette's foot claws, taking advantages of the low gravity to push the pair apart again. If anything, the low grav should make this fight slightly easier, as she can push and carom off almost anything in the room, redirecting herself to attack from new angles. "They are an endangered species. They did not ask to be like this, and I will not let them be exploited." It turns out that with the day to readjust, Laura is actually pretty good at low grav gymnastics. Wall, crate stack, ceiling. One hand wraps around a bare truss of the ceiling supports, while another slashes at a light fixture, neatly severing it from its cable in a shower of sparks. Grabbing the cable by its still insulated end, she launches herself forward again, trailing the length of cable, sparking end outstretched.

Gaonoir has posed:
"I think it's time we got on with this."

Erika has some amount of safety staying to the rear, so Gaonoir decides to use his own abilities to take this on the offensive.

To which is to say, he uses his big claws to charge towards the vehicle bay and, rather than go for the doors, tear his way right through a wall to get inside. Collateral damage is not something he typically worries about, and it shows all too well as he goes for a bit of demolition to try and catch the enemy in the other room off their guard from the side. "KNOCK KNOCK!"

Maybe Reinhart can get a grab in while Gaonoir is making a very big instigation of himself.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka didn't even hesitate. The moment he heard the weapon being clicked, he ducked and moved to the right. Why? Cause lots of people have instincts to go to the left. He'd been snuck up on before, attacked, and he knew how to try to AVOID being slaughtered for it.

In a single motion his blade was out, a single low strike to try and drive her back. His eyes were already examining the room, flickering in and measuring everything in an instant. He pushed in suddenly, darting towards her from her right.

Why? Because the quickest way to get out of his way would be to step back to the left. Right towards an exposed, broken pipe jutting out behind her, to trip her over.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Low-grav attack vectors are terribly predictable: one moves in a nearly straight line from where one takes off, until hitting another surface. When Laura makes her lunge with the sparking cable, Septette is waiting for her, blades outstretched. She seems almost dismissive of the high-voltage attack, using her longer blades to try to savage Laura's body with precise strikes along her limbs and torso before the cable can reach.

     When it does connect- she makes little effort to block or dodge- electricity sparks and leaps visibly between her exterior plates, and a bit of blue smoke rises from her joints as her eyes flicker. Then she yanks on the end of the cable, trying to pull Laura in to grappling range with her unnatural strength! "Child, you do not know my measure. If you did, you would save us time and slit your own throat."

Reaper has posed:
It begins with a whisper of sound. A vibration that shudders through the vents as Sombra begins to close them off, sweeping down like ash from the vents. Slowly falling, pulling itself together as it hits the ground and rises into the shape of a man. A man - with SHOTGUNS. He pauses to work a crick out of his neck, a low hiss escaping his mask as he begins to stride forward - and then to run, his heavy boots thumping as he comes out of a side corridor. Looking to cut off the approaching apes as heroes run forward by -flanking the hell out of them-. The explosive, shattering boom of his weapons heard echoing down the hallways and doorways.

"Holding the corridor." He states, growling into his comm. "Make this quick - if you want any of them still alive at the end of this. Stupid monkies."

He'll take a few shots, then suddenly ghost through them only to reform. He's taking it 'easy' as suggested by Sombra - But there's only so much threat you can accomplish with shotguns before someone loses an eye. Or a hand. Or center mass. The monkies death wasn't -necessary-, but it would be very, very satisfying.

Rory White (673) has posed:
Space ripples and shears, blinding light heralding the emergence of a new vessel. A LARGE FRIGATE that could house perhaps sixty people blurs into existence. The ship, ID broadcasted as 'Cognizant Odyssey', would be of clear Starbound Flotilla engineering... if anyone was familiar with it anymore. Its IFF codes are affiliated with the Paladins, but also several neutral and highly-reputable scientific associations - first of which is the ARGONAUTS.

    The ship wastes little time engaging in a retrograde burn and slowing down into geostationary orbit above the facility...

    Shortly thereafter its entire brigade of sensory gear goes hot and *PINGS* the facility with active scans across the spectrum.

    Staren's muse receives a request to link up with Tacnet information. The ship's Flotilla-tech teleporter surges with energy and deploys five six-legged crawler-bots of some sort - each man-sized - which approach the colony's domes and hunt for airlocks.

    If there is any kind of wifi network accessible from orbit, it's also being probed with repeated levels of aggression as necessary, culminating in downright hacking if necessary to establish credentials...

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    REINHARDT makes his way to the bay! Pavo is the one who leaps atop a half-assembled rover, brandishing her flintlock. "AVAST!" She calls out. "Ye think we're gonna give up our score so easy?! I'll blow ye down before ye take another step towards that ape, scurvy DOG!" She fires, launching a grappling hook up and beginning a dramatic, swashbuckling swing at Reinhardt, trying to make the movement punishing!

    Meanwhile, Moonfin tries to be the one to intercept directly. Walking elegantly between Reinhardt and the cage, he leaves one hand on his blade. But when Reinhardt gets into range, Moonfin draws that blade. "Fourth Sea Hylotl Style: Reef's Barrier." He calls, performing a defensive, slowing series of jabs with a suddenly-drawn katana. The other Starbounders are busy trying to fire shock-rounds into the intruding monkeys!

    Suddenly, Gaonoir slams through one of the vehicle bay walls. It's at a height high enough that Pavo is knocked out of the air, slamming her into the ground, and also knocking a lot of rubble onto George and Albert from above, cutting off their reinforcements against the monkeys. "SCURVY SKY-DOOOOOOG!" Pavo calls out, ANGRILY, while being knocked aside.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney leaves more blood trailing through the air behind her, Septette's blades opening more gashes in her skin. She may not be as strong as her enemy, but she can still move faster. Taking the extra impulse from that yank on the cable, she attempts to twist around and aim another blow at the leg opposite the one she'd damaged earlier. "I tried that once. It did not work." Her toe claws punch through the floor plates, anchoring her in place for extra leverage as she tries to immobilize.

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    PIRATE BIRDS! SAMURAI FISH! OH NO!

    Reinhardt is assailed by space raiders, and he tries to to block that sword swipe with his hammer's shaft. "AVAST YOURSELF!" Yep, he's kind of working on autopilot for banter today. He makes a move to knock Pavo away with the shaft of his hammer, pommel striking out like a buttstroke with a rifle. He's also got Moonfin engaging him, which leads Reinhardt to throw his shield up to defend against Pavo and MOonfin both.

Staren has posed:
    Staren runs through the base with Sombra, until she disappears to check out the vents. "I'm continuing on to rendezvous with the others. Be careful." he says to the air, before moving on. He just protested splitting up, but if she wants to take that approach, she's more stealthy alone.

    Gaonoir can probably hear his footfalls as he approaches. "Where'd YOU come from?!" He raises the beam cannons to fire, then thinks better of it -- blowing holes INTO the vehicle bay would be bad.

    Gaonoir solves that problem by tearing through the wall anyway. And there's Pavo! Aww. Staren would really rather be fighting alongside Biteblade. Not that Pavo's less competent, just less pleasant.

    Rory gets a negative response, followed by: SERIOUSLY?!

    Staren runs to the hole. Pavo and Moonfin are both here. Staren doesn't know much about Reinhardt, but is guessing that Reinhardt doesn't know much about Moonfin either. That fight will probably work out fine for them.

    Staren opens fire with the beam cannons, trying to catch Gaonoir in the crossfire where he'll have to dodge beams AND bullets.

    After a few moments, Staren does start transmitting the files he has on the scientists' experiments to Rory. That should tell her what she needs to know.

Sombra has posed:
    As Sokka moves Sombra instantly takes a step backwards, submachine gun still pointed at Sokka. Even as he drives her backwards with the blade she is light on her feet. And sadly it appears that she's aware of the broken pipe behind her as she jumps backwards and disappears from sight. "Huh, not bad," she acknowledges. Then there's the request from Septette, making her frown. An interruption during this fight... but it can't be helped. Perhaps Sokka hears it, the sound of something digital going on somewhere, echoing through the room. It does give him a moment to gather his wits at least. Where did she go? He doesn't have to wonder for long before she appears again, to his right as she fires upon him. Better think fast!

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Rather than continue attempting to grapple her opponent, Septette turns abruptly away from Laura- the swipes at her leg gouge the hydraulics on her calf- and launches herself towards the far wall, despite the fact that her legs should clearly be mechanically inoperable already. That doesn't seem right... but there's not enough time to ponder it. The drones she'd sent to clear out the vents re-materialize in a triangle around Laura, orbiting and peppering her with small gouts of fire, electrical zaps, and condensed shards of ice for long enough to hopefully distract her from Septette' break-away.

     But even if they do manage to distract, Laura's attention would swiftly be drawn back to the little war machine: a thunderous crash echoes through the room, and spiderwebbing cracks spread across the enormous, foot-thick glass window behind the yggdroid. Septette stares at Laura with a look of cold satisfaction for a moment before she pulls her blade out of the glass, giving the final impetus: the window gives way, glass shards and precious air sucked out into the howling void.

     The last thing that's audible before all air leaves the room is a resounding click as all the doors lock- Sombra's work. Then Septette tears across the floor back towards Laura, blades extended for an impaling strike against the teen's chest! It seems like she's not content to let the hard vacuum do all the work.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Rory won't have any trouble getting in and examining things. That's not the problem. There's plenty to examine, it's just all chaotic, and a lot of it is bad. What's really bad is the fact that, where their entry crosses paths with the vehicle bay, they'll be running right into Reaper, and he's already driving angry, spear and hammer and other such weapon-wielding monkeys back, with tons of shotguns! It's a dangerous situation. They're getting access a fair bit, but if Sombra can identify and locate those drones, Reaper is right in the right spot to take them on and take them out. Thankfully, though, he's at least buying breathing room for the Flotilla against the monkeys...

Gaonoir has posed:
"Aaaw, the little birdy remembers me." His voice may be darker and deeper in tone in this form, but it's still clear enough to be Gaonoir's, especially with the snarky edge to it.

Pavo is sent sprawling from her swing, her crewmates scattered by the debris from his entrance. Whereas the dark armored form steps over some of the debris like it was nothing. "I've fought through entire legions of the Demon Lords' armies, what hope do you misfits have?" His stride has little trouble closing in on Pavo, the last step to be lifting his armored foot over her. He doesn't really care about the apes so much as his original mission to catch and punish these bandits from space for their raiding.

But before he can bring his foot down several energy blast slam into him from behind, causing just enough stagger that his foot comes down a few to the side of Pavo to catch himself from falling. There's a pause, and then he turns his helmeted head just enough to glare one golden eye at Staren. "You should mind your own business, kid." Then turns a bit farther, aiming one arm in Staren's direction. Shadowy energy briefly forms in his clenched hand, which upon opening surges towards Staren like a laser made somehow of darkness. Considering lasers are normally things of light. It's just the easier way to explain it.

Erika peeks her head through the hole in the wall Gaonoir made, but ducks right back out when there's screaming angry birds and shots flying all around. This is the part of the digimon adventure she really isn't all that fond of!

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney grits her teeth against the pain as her body spasms from the arcs of electricity and spikes of ice embedding themselves. One jet of fire catches her hair which had been trailing behind her, and there is a flare of light as the fire spreads. Laura has just enough time to see the cracks start to spread and kick herself down, embedding all six claws in the floor, before the atmosphere departs and takes the fire with it, along with most of Laura's hair, only a couple shaggy inches remaining.
     Laura exhales as it goes, emptying her lungs so they don't burst. All sound is gone, the only noises the pounding of her heart, the rush of blood through her body, and the scrape as she pulls her claws free and charges herself, bounding forward for a final, hopefully decapitating strike. It turns out that getting stabbed twice in the chest makes a grinding noise that would probably cause an ordinary person to lose their lunch. That's both lungs gone, not that they're any use right now anyway. At least she can take Xeptette with her...

Staren has posed:
    "Oh." Staren says, upon recognizing the voice. Huh, so that guy can shapeshift. "I AM minding my own--" he starts to reply, and then a dark laser hits his forcefield. Briefly visible, the amber sphere can be seen to 'heat up', turning whiter, with a bit 'shattering' into quickly-fading sparkles of energy around where it was hit before going invisible again.

    Staren decides to go all-in, at least as far as he can without blowing up a good chunk of the room: he holds his arms out, and six tiny missiles the size of markers shoot into the room, aiming to spread around Gaonoir at a distance of a few feet before exploding -- it seems rather than the typical explosion, these produce short-lived lances of thin superheated metal that can punch through a tank!

    Staren takes cover behind the wall after firing. He hopes that worked or at least teaches him something about Gaonoir's defenses, he can't fire six at once again.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade and Seft now far less overwhelmed by the dangerous threat of monkeys! "SEFT!" Moonfin shouts as one of his allies goes down, first slammed out of the air by Gaonoir's entry, and then slammed further back by the shaft of that hammer! With a wet crack, she slams into the ground, disabled for now. Mash E to revive! Moonfin himself isn't harmed, at least, but he can't get around that shield!

    "Alert. Incoming!" Seft and Biteblade arrive! With a rush of melee strikes, the pair come in. Seft in her knight armor with heavy battleaxe strikes, Biteblade with quick, darting dagger-stabbings. They're trying to flank around the shield in a triangular pattern, to make sure Reinhardt can't defend against both at once... But his offensive abilities just might take down that fragile situation easily.

    "Ahhhhh fuck fuck fuuuuuck." George calls out, too dazed to engage in a full offensive, but still capable of helping! Pavo is so damaged right now, Gaonoir might kill her! He slides into place, diving for Pavo as Staren gives a distraction. "Hop up, let's gooooo!" He calls out, trying to hoist her onto her feet, administering stims! Trying to get her outta there!

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka did think fast. The moment she appeared, he was already diving down. "You're pretty fast and light on your feet," he said before flinging the boomerang. Really? In a narrow hallway? How could it-- HOW DID IT ACTUALLY COME BACK?! Either way, he was fast. A narrow area, he ran at her but, rather than running straight at her like a sane person, he started leaping and jumping off the walls, making his way quickly by bouncing around in erratic movements to throw off her aim and...

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough to really outrun bullets. Moments before he'd be close enough to actually launch an attack, a bullet lodged into his shoulder. He gave a grunt of pain, but still took a swing with his other arm.

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Reinhardt notices MORE people attacking him. This is PERFECT, less attention on the apes. Means he can do what he was put on this earth to do in the first place; DRAW AGGRO AND TANK IT ALL.

    He is built like a goddamn train, and he holds his ground even as the shield falters. "Hahaha! Is this the best you can do? BRING IT ON, I LIVE FOR THIS!" He bellows, shoving his shield at towards Seft while he swats at Biteblade, moving slow and steady while he tries to keep from being kept in one place at a time, still protecting himself.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     The adamantine blades rip deeply into the tubing and wiring of Septette's neck, even as she cranes her head back to avoid some of the attack; black fluid is ripped from the shredded hydraulics and pulled into the void in floating globules. Only when Laura's blades hit her 'spinal cord' do they meet any real resistance: the thaumatech supermaterials of her deepest skeleton seem almost infinitely resilient.

     But even if the armor is impenetrable, what lies beneath can still be harmed: after a fraction of second of scraping, the blades slip through a chink in the artificial vertebrae, severing the thick cables underneath. Septette's eyes immediately gutter and fall dark, her body locking in its current position like a statue as servomotors seize up and hydraulics bleed dry. She stands motionless, like a statue.

     In the sensory darkness of mechanical failure, Septette's mind simmers silently, carefully considering her options: revealing magical operating modes after electronic 'death' is never a good thing; the less people know just how durable she is, the less likely they are to make sure she's really dead in the future. But the alternative is leaving Laura here to die in hard vacuum.

     It's a careful calculation that takes several seconds to resolve, weighing her future potential to catch people off-guard with the puppeteer system against Laura's potential safety. Finally, she reaches the decision to reboot in magical operating mode and reveal herself. It's not proper to allow Laura to risk dying here, even if she is... misguided.

     Several seconds after Septette first fell still and silent, she roars back to life. The red core in her chest is glowing with a worryingly intense light, but her eyes remain cold and dead. Against basic principles of mechanics, her limbs are suffused with an animating force again, and she steps back to tear her blades free of Laura's torso! The drones sputter and deactivate as all of the yggdroid's magical power is channeled into staying standing, and she sinks back into a fighting stance, mouthing: "Come at me."

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     From the nearest available gate, a battered and beaten up old Gelgoog M-class Zeon mecha flies out at a pretty good clip. Inside of the Gelgoog is Mortimer Balman, who is transmitting his IFF to all parties in local space. As Mortimer had broadcast over the broadband, it is unarmed. But then again it's /really/ heavily armored, and it appears to have traded weapons for additional thruster power, so someone might consider it a ramming or smashing threat.

     Granted, that would require Mort to be a combat pilot, which he very much is /not/, so hopefully nobody shoots at him and forces him to get into this fight.

     The over-armored mech appears to be flying for Laura Kinney's position, while bright LEDs across the mecha's pauldrons, legs, and head all flash intermittently in morse code for 'NON-COMBATANT, PLEASE DO NOT FIRE UPON.'

Sombra has posed:
    There are enough warning protocols in place in case somebody else tries to take over the system. Even as she fires upon Sokka, the hacker frowns. Hopefully the safety protocols she put in place will be enough... any unauthorised access is met with a stream of data, with everything from useless data meant to overload the attempted connection. If that doesn't work, the second stage is put into place. A virus that attempts to erase data from the connecting server.

    As well as their connection... that's easy enough to catch. With a press of a buttton the signal is transmitted to her allies. "Giving you the locations...!" Now use that information well while she's busy! If she had been there herself she could have taken care of them with an EMP charge, but as she's busy with Sokka... that makes it rather difficult.

    It's easy enough to dodge the thrown boomerang, and Sokka isn't the only one who uses the environment to their advantage. Not only is Sombra light on her feet, she's able to kick off the floor and walls to evade the swings of his floor. Though she can't help but grin as she manages to hit Sokka with some of the fire. Gloating, she leans back to evade a swing of his sword. "Is that the best you can do? Hah, I've seen be-- AUGH!"

    That's the moment boomerang returns, hitting Sombra right in the back of the head, causing her to stumble forwards as she grabs at her head.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    With only two attackers, Reinhardt can easily hold them off, and when he does a heavy SHIELD BASH against Seft, it slams her back. She makes a screaming sort of buzz sound, and slams into the interior of the Starbound Flotilla's own rover, sparks flying out of her body like blood and segments of armor cracked open. "Metal friend!" Biteblade calls out! "Seft!" Moonfin shouts. Both strike with renewed vigor, even as the shield decays...

    But like this, Reinhardt can orient himself to keep his back to the monkey's cage. There's a control-panel there! If he can start up and maintain the powering-down sequence, he might be able to get that monkey free...!

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    It remains to be said, Reinhardt doesn't take pleasure in this. Which is why he's not pressing the assault unless provoked. He notices how Biteblade and Moonfin are -clearly- enraged by this, and he just shrugs apologetically before he begins to back away, towards the cage. Just a bit closer...c'mon. He thrusts his hammer, this time intending to get Biteblade to back off when the Floran draws blood with a lucky strike, cutting deep through armor plating. This is gonna be a bitch to deal with when EVA-ing later...

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka was bleeding, but managed to catch the boomerang in his wounded arm, cringing as the wound ached. It wasn't a very serious wound, the bullet went through and just grazed the bone. Still bloody hurt. Of course, since boomerang came back, he had been expecting that. She probably expected the sword to come. Which it did! Except it was a distraction. When he swung it, he jammed it into the wall and used it as a leverage to increase his moment and speed. He'd let the sword go, trying to slam into her and knock away the gun when in close and then drive his knee into her stomach.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Mortimer doesn't have a hard time finding his target. Laura's position seems to be between the Watch and Concord staging grounds, or at an antechamber of the Concord one. There's a visible hull breach, one of those heavily reinforced windows has been blown out... He can see Septette and Laura, still going at it in there despite Laura's exposure to hard vacuum!

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney allows herself a moment of happiness as she sees the light in Septette's eyes go out, pulling her claws free of the droid's neck and stumbling backwards, pulling herself off the blades, the grating sound filling her ears again as more blood emerges, the wounds also starting to freeze. By now she's starting to show the signs of vacuum exposure, a full body bruise, eyes bloodshot, and her coordination's suffering. Just have to... Get air. Thought she saw some oxygen tanks over..." And then the bright red glow forms, and Laura's fight is no longer over. She doesn't even take time to bother interpreting the message, leaping forward again, mouth open in a voiceless scream as she lets loose a flurry of strikes, each one coming a little slower than the last.

Gaonoir has posed:
George has a free shot at getting Pavo out of immeadiate harm's way thanks to Staren launching more attacks to keep Gaonoir's attention on him. The Digimon turns fully towards the armored scientist, crossing his arms in front of himself with the overly large shield-like vambraces in a defensive stance.

Honestly he was expecting your typical explosions, so when the missiles instead burst into armor-piercing darts it briefly catchs him off-guard. Enough to get a growl of frustration as the heated darts dig through his armor, which is also essentially part of his body. Because, again, Digimon are weird like that. There's thin but visible fractures radiating out from where the impacts hit, but whatever that armor is made of it is definately tough.

Golden eyes narrow. "So be it." The cloak flutters about behind him briefly, only to surge as if life of its own to wrap around Gaonoir and disappear down into mote and nothingness.

Only to rise up behind Staren as if stepping out of the armor's own shadow. Followed by a thrusting strike with the warclaws on his arm. "MIDNIGHT STALKER!" Though he is aiming more to strike just the armor and not the presumably fleshy human(ish) boy inside.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Reinhardt gets to that cage! If he mashes that shutdown, it'll just be a few seconds, capturing that point alone...! "PETROV!" Moonfin calls in another ally! From above, an angry monkey, but one far unlike the others. "RRRRRAAAAH!" Swinging that massive hammer, Albert comes down, trying to attack from above by using one of the upper decks! If Reinhardt's defenses can hold out even just a little bit longer, he can prevent this intercepting agent from restoring the fading forcefield cage...

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Septette's movements are considerably less precise now, too- contrasting her earlier inhuman precision, her movements now are jerky and wild, like a deeply rabid animal or a clumsy marionette. Each movement carries the same degree of excessive force, making it difficult for her limbs to move fluidly. Even so, she knows her limitations, and works around them as well as could be expected: most of Laura's strikes are driven aside by her parrying strikes, though one mistimed block results in Septette's forearm being skewered, claws piercing between the armor plates.

     As Laura's assault loses momentum, Septette appears to wind up for a would-be dismembering stroke- but before her meager accuracy can be tested, Mort's approach registers on her sensors. Instead of aiming to chop off Laura's arm as originally intended, the yggdroid tries to grab her by the wrist and chuck her directly out the open window- into easy recovery range for Mort. That's one way to take her out of the fight...

Sombra has posed:
    The strike to the back of her head does give Sokka a window to strike, with the hacker reeling even as she lets out a string of angry curses in Spanish. Though she's relatively quick to glance up... just in time to see Sokka advance once more, knocking her off her feet as he slams into her. Despite her holding on as best as she can onto her gun it's not enough, the sub machine gun sliding across the floor as Sokka drives his knee into her stomach.

    A pained sound leaves her just as the air is knocked out of her lungs, and the hacker heaves as she stumbles backwards. "Que afortunado..." she wheezes, purple eyes watching him intently. "But your luck is about to run out." A smirk crosses her lips... and then suddenly she's gone as her translocator kicks in, leaving Sokka alone in the room. Next, the doors slam shut. After that... the gravity turns off.

    In a nearby hallway Sombra appears, moving a hand to her abdomen as she winces slightly. Damnit, that could have gone better...

Staren has posed:
    The HEAT missiles worked! Nice! And it seems Gaonoir's decided it's time to leave...

    Or not. Staren's armor has sensors that check behind it, so he's not oblivious to the figure rising behind him. He glances back and moves to run, and Gaonoir discovers something interesting: From this close, the forcefield can't get in the way. The claws dig into the armor. They can't just pierce it, but... perhaps if Gaonoir held Staren in place and pushed hard, he could skewer him. Staren notices this, the face behind the visor showing an 'Aw, shit' expression. He backs away, wings appearing and allowing him to float to a smooth landing on the rubble below. He starts to raise the beam cannons, but hesitates. Gaonoir was clearly not trying to kill him, and that's appreciated... But before he can work out how to appropriately respond, Rory makes her announcement. He lowers his arm. "You heard her. We don't need to fight."

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Reinhardt notices ALBERT OUT OF NOWHERE, the space-ape dropping upon him like a bomb made of hammers. He braces for the blow, Albert landing on him with a loud CLANG! He and Albert wrestle for a bit, Knight vs SPACE APE, as they draw near to the cage controls.

    "RRRRR!!!" He has to admit, Albert's strong as hell, to a point he can't deny respecting the guy. "You and your allies...you have unity, I admire that!" he comments, before wrestling and grappling before picking up Albert, swinging him -dangerously- close to the cage controls. Or some kind of control panel in reach, could it be connected to the cage?

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka was getting ready to try and put her into a lock when she disappears and then... "Damn it!" He punched the wall and then flew back against the wall. "Ow!" Well, okay, not his best moment. He growled and kicked off, grabbing his sword and yanking it out. There was no way he'd be able to catch her now, especially with her cheats. He looked to his map. Fine. Extraction. This... was a loss. Sometimes you lost. He cringed and made his way towards the door space sworrrrrrd tearing it apart in moments before he'd start running towards the exit, applying pressure as he went.

Rory White (673) has posed:
One of Rory's drones is headed for Sokka, to deliver a vacsuit, a nanobandage for wounds, and AGGRESSIVE GUIDANCE out of the facility and into range of her ship's teleporter.

    Another is positioning itself elsewhere, looking to be ready to retrieve Laura if Mortimer doesn't accomplish this first.

    The Odyssey helpfully tightbeams a set of recommended landing zones and carefully calculated angles of approach and thruster configurations to the clunky-looking machine. Rory probably does not trust Charr's piloting skills... or that machine. One or the other. Possibly both.

    One other drone's are attempting to stealthily avoid confrontations. They do this by CLINGING TO THE CEILING and scuttling along, looking for hatches that lead to networking gear for an interface.

    Rory intends to fully subvert the facility and gain root-level access to its systems now that she's gained basic access to its amenities...

    The remaining two? Still staying out of the current conflict, but they lurk as close to the biggest pack of gorillas as they possibly can, clearly ready to enact some sort of plan...

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney continues to fight despite her increasing sluggishness, teeth bared, eyes blazing even as they're starting to ice over. Her higher brain functions are gone now, only the animal instincts remaining. Taking advantage of her firmly embedded claws, she even /bites/ at Septette's arm, teeth grinding uselessly at armor plate. The toss doesn't quite go as planned, Laura not being entirely willing to let go, one last burst of strength hanging on before she slips into blackness. This turns what might have been a clean toss into a ragged tumble, Laura flying towards the window, a trail of blood mist behind her. This is going to be a difficult catch...

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     The Gelgoog begins firing RCS rockets to slow down, steadily coming over to where it's been directed, all while Mortimer twitchily fingers the joysticks that control the movements of the mecha's arms and fingers. People are getting pretty goddamn crazy out here. There's no telling if they'll actually LET him perform his little humanitarian aid mission or not.

     Sweat slowly pouring down his forehead, Mortimer begins moving following the instructions that are being relayed across his VR screens. The mecha is almost fully automated, but there are still fine control tasks that they can't do which he must. "Steady now.. Easy.." A red targeting reticle appears as Laura's body flies out into the void. Target acquired. "There you are.. Hang on kiddo, I'll get outta this.."

     The colossal hand of the Gelgoog, with a touch far more delicate than one would expect from such mechanisms, gently scoops the little mutant up and guides her toward the chest. A secondary cavity above Mortimer's cockpit opens up and deposits Laura inside, closing as fast as it opened.

     Once she is inside, the cabin /rapidly/ repressurizes her to environmental norms and drops her down into Mort's cockpit, which has tilted itself on a gyroscope so he can catch and render first aid. The first thing Laura will probably wake up to is the old fire-badger-man forcing a catheter attached to an oxygen machine down her throat and a needle full of artificial blood plasma into one of her veins.

     "Computer, set artificial lung to 850 BPS, begin immediate barotrauma countermeasures. Begin assessing cardiovascular pressure and soft tissue degredation. Ready morphine autoinjector and pentoxifylline catheter." He is aware that Laura has some degree of regeneration ability, but he isn't sure how fast it is.. And even if it's super fast, ebullisms are something Mortimer is /well/ prepared for as a simple matter of survival.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert slams and strikes and swings and generally engages Reinhardt in a dramatic grapple using his powerful Apex physiology and his tremendous powered armor. No match for Reinhardt in size or strength, or even hammer skill, but he's still, for a brief moment, a dramatic mirror. And then, suddenly, Reinhardt's edge comes through! With a dramatic swing, Albert is the one he slams into the control panel, letting the monkey's own access codes effectively do the dirty work of capturing Point B for him. As soon as that cage goes down, the monkey within swings free! George launches a grappling hook, trying to chase it down, but it's likely that with the antechamber so sealed off, and him unable to get through the vents, he won't be able to catch up. As Albert bounces off the control panel, tumbling away, it looks for a moment like Moonfin and Biteblade are going to attack...

    Both grow suddenly pale, and dive to the side. Pavo has noticed what Reinhardt did. "I'LL BLOW YE DOWN FOR THIS WRONG, YE TRUMPED-UP STEROID-SPITTIN' GOAT." She calls, enraged. "DIE!" She's picked up some kind of massive rotary railgun-cannon from the top of the Flotilla's rover. Leaping into the air with a DISTURBING degree of remaining agility for someone slinging a massive heavy weapon under both arms, she begins rapid-firing solid tungsten-alloy slugs, intending to close the distance with Reinhardt and beat him to death with the gun amid her rapid leaps. He's taken out two of the six, but one of the recovered Starbounders seems to have stimed herself out and been enraged by his release of that monkey!

    The monkey, meanwhile... Has escaped. Back to its allies, who are trying to retreat from Reaper now, screaming primate hostility at him. There goes the Concord test subject. They'll have to make due with the meager data they can pull from its blood...

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    SUCCESS! Reinhardt can't help but grin with glee behind his mask as the ape is freed. "RUN, GO BE WITH YOUR BROTHERS!" He bellows, before Pavo gets a MASSIVE cannon out, and he takes a round to the chest. He's sent flying, landing with the impact of a humvee before he's bludgeoned over and over and over with the cannon. Ow ow ow ow ow owowowowowowowow. On one hand the ape is free, on the other, THIS FUCKIN' HURTS.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     A broad, manic grin spreads across Septette's face as Laura finally careens off into the void and Mortimer scoops her up. There couldn't be a better resolution here... well, maybe there could have been if the little robot had taken less damage beforehand. But still- nobody dies, and perhaps Laura has been taught a healthy amount of respect for her elders. ... One can hope, anyway.

     Septette takes a bow towards Mortimer's mecha, giving him a friendly wave before departing. Then she walks, or perhaps shuffles, back towards the center of the base.

     Knifelike fingers shove themselves through the door to the central staging area before unceremoniously shredding the metal with a truly unnecessary amount of force. Septette staggers through, looking like some kind of zombie machine with her eyes dead and black hydraulic fluid dripping down her twitching, sparking body; she surveys the ongoing brawl with dying optics. "I think," she rasps in a hollow voice, "you should go, Reinhardt. Your side is outnumbered eight to two. I wouldn't enjoy gutting you like a fish."

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
     Sadly, Mort's medical treatment probably isn't going to be as effective as he'd like it to be. The first sign of this would probably be the flow of air from the breathing tube immediately hissing out of the twin holes in her chest. Both lungs, perforated. There's also a decent amount of blood leaking out. However, once the oxygenated substitute reaches her cells, they start doing their thing. There's another sudden spray of blood as her heart starts beating again, although the gaping wounds in her chest it's leaking through are knitting together. And when it hits her brain....
     Laura gasps, jerking upright, claws extended, lashing out instinctively because, to the best of her memory, she was in a fight to.... Hang on. This isn't a warehouse with no air. This is a warm cockpit. And there's something down her throat, and something in her arm, and her claws are.... She looks up, eyes meeting Mort's, before her claws slip back into her flesh. "I.... I did not want us to meet like this. I am sorry, I thought you were...." She's still pretty badly hurt, various gashes still open, but the bleeding seems to be slowing, and the bruises aren't /quite/ as bad. She blinks a few times, before breaking eye contact and looking down at her lap

Gaonoir has posed:
The armored boy draws back. Part of the Flotilla have withdrawn. As are part of their own forces, with someone trying to guide Sokka out and another going after Laura. A grumbling growl comes out of the Dark Beast Knight as he continues to glare in Staren's direction for a moment.

"Your allies trespassed upon their home. Their 'intelligence' is irrelivant. They have a right to being, how do you humans say, pissed off about it." The cloak ripples again, though this time it's just with a mudane swirling motion as Gaonoir turns. "But beyond that, it doesn't matter to me. My mission was only to drive off the invaders."

Attention briefly shifts to the side as Pavo goes into a screaming rage with a giant gun and continues to attack his own ally. "Speaking of..."

This time it's not a literal teleport. It's just a blurring like shadows as Gaonoir moves a lot faster than his armored form might seem to be capable of. He can't intervein in time to stop Pavo from firing off a few shots, but he can do the next best thing as he seems to materialize out of shadows right next to Pavo.

"DIVIDE. BY. ZERO!"

A powerful slash with his warclaws comes down, shining with disruptive digital energy. The arc is aimed at cleaving the rotary cannon apart rather than the alien bird woman.

By that's just as likely to make the weapon explode or something similar, even as Gaonoir comes to a stop in typical 'slice through the enemy finisher' fashion. "Now get out of here." He doesn't bother actually looking back though.

It took a hell of a lot of restraint to only cut the weapon, trust me.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     A man Mortimer's size, there's a LOT to slash and stab at. Fortunately, Mortimer is well used to such behavior! Hell, what's one or two more scars, really? Boiling hot blood flows from a fresh stab along his abdomen, but rapidly cools once it's past his body. Laura might find that it's unusually painful to pull her claws back in, as they're retaining /tremendous/ amounts of heat.

     Mort's fur flattens and the muscles tense up, stopping the flow of blood while he wraps some gauze around the new perforations. "Don't worry about it kid. I've had worse. Now hold still and let me clean you up, you're a bloody mess." Fresh gauze and rags are pulled out of kits that are just /littered/ around the cockpit. The Gelgoog slowly drifts away from the station while Mortimer patiently begins cleaning Laura up. "You heal quickly. Good. Computer! Monitor life signs, belay previous orders. Move to 2.5 kilometers from the station and hold position." The machinery beeps and clicks, a soft feminine voice with an accent oddly similar to Mortimer's confirms his orders- <Affirmative. Moving at half speed to designated coordinates. Registering new personnel into system, monitoring. Additional medical supply is available for treatment of newly identified injuries.> "I would like 10ccs of morphine please. 20 for the kid." <Acknowledged.>

     A small syringe drops down, which Mort immediately shoves into his neck. "Ahh.. Yeah, that's the stuff.." A secondary syringe is waiting to be administered to Laura. "If you don't want it, I won't make you take it. Would probably take the edge off, though."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo tries to bring the heavy rotary cannon down again for another heavy-weapon-sized pistol whip. The effect is that she swings with a few pieces of metal left in her grip, while the gun itself falls apart around Reinhardt. The look she gives Gaonoir is just OUTRAGEOUSLY angry, pure rage. "YOU." She declares, drawing her sword, shaking with anger.

    Moonfin steps in. "The dragonslayer is just as vulnerable. Take the teleporter to the surface if you wish. This-- This is not sustainable. The monkeys are now fully capable of evading us, unlikely to be captured again." He says that with an element of bitter distaste. "We will finish our promised task of restoring the facility to self-sustaining order, if we remain. Do you truly wish us driven out?"

    Pavo looks like she's going to come at Gaonoir anyway, but then Seft of all people seems to have recovered. Her armor is battered, but she's still remaining mostly functional after her recovery time. She practically shoulder-checks Pavo back, interposing herself and halting further attacks. She looks back to Gaonoir, and says, "Uneasy. You will have opportunities to strike back against us. Please-- Please-- Please--" Bzzt. "Please, Just for now, we need to stay a short while more." Her eyes flicker to a tense and narrowed expression, looking at Pavo angrily, before she turns back. "Bitter. Consider the point made that this method is unsustainably punishing for further operations." She seems to be the one opposed to this whole business from the start. And probably the most honest, from her knightly and noble stylings.

Laura Kinney (1111) has posed:
Laura Kinney flexes her fingers after her claws retract. Yep, those are blisters on her knuckles. And things aren't exactly peachy inside her forearms either. But she's had worse. "I am fine. You do not need to-" She's cut off by the conversation with the computer, waiting for it to end before resuming. "You do not need to waste your supplies on me. I will get better, and any drug doses would have to be massive. Right now... I am hungry." her hand slides up her right arm, picking at the tape holding the plasma IV in.

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Reinhardt is about to get it, after all these years, and he welcomes a worthy end just before Pavo's gun falls apart. He glares at Pavo, "Go ahead." mutters the knight, before suddenly Moonfin and Seft step in. Reinhardt's still got a grip on his hammer, and he uses the weapon as a crutch as he tries to get onto his feet, unsteadily forcing himself to stand with some difficulty. He's definitely going to need to lie down for a while, after he gets home. Ow.


    "Thank you." He manages to Gaonoir, before he just...watches the Flotilla crew. He doesn't pursue them, no point in doing that in his condition, nor would he wish to anyways. They're beat up, he's beat up, let's just go home and lick our wounds.

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir just continues to glare at the various Starbounders as they try to reason and/or hold back their enraged crewmate. Or maybe he's glaring internally at himself, as the hunter he was made to be is arguing with the dark hero he's tried to become. As easily as he could possibly cut them all down...

And at the same time sympathizes. He knows how it feels to have your world lost and torn apart. The struggle to survive in whatever way you've found yourself in.

"GAONOIR!" Erika has finally stepped into the bay proper now that there is less attacks flying around at random. "You've punished them enough for what they did at Numbani. Let them be."

".... Hmph." Cloak flutters as he turns again, and reachs over to help stabilize Reinhardt with one arm. Though even for him its some effort since that armor is heavy. "Fine. I'll let them off." Pause. "This time."

He scoops Erika up with the other arm and starts to march off.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    With Reinhardt and Gaonoir (plus one) leaving, the Starbounders all collectively let a breath out, exhaling. Except Pavo, who looks positively furious. Biteblade goes to help Albert up, Moonfin goes to find George and begin their obligatory restoration efforts, and Seft...

    "Alarmed. Septette!!" She practically cries out in a fuzzy, buzzing monotone. "Terrified. Oh goodness. Septette, are you okay? How immediate is need for repairs? Can I assist in any way?" She practically demands Septette lie down and await some immediate first-aid-style repairs, constantly making anxious buzzing noises.

    The monkeys have retreated. No matter how much Biteblade tries to hunt them down, they seem one step ahead. Doesn't matter too much. They'll get back on their feet more gradually, if they have to. There's time. They've done enough, for now.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     "I'll live," she reassures Seft, managing to ever-so-carefully pat the Glitch on the head even in her clumsy and enervated state. "Condition is serious, but not deteriorating. Let's get things cleaned up around here before putting me on the table, alright?" She glances over at Reinhardt, making sure the old soldier will make it out alright- even gives him directions to the closer telepad near the back of the staging area, should he be willing to use it.

     It's been a very long day. Even without the ability to experience pain or fatigue, Septette feels worn down... but it's an accomplished kind of exhausted. The Flotilla and their allies control the base now. There will be time to gather their strength again.

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Reinhardt nods to Septette as he, Gaonoir, and Erika go toward the telepods. "Thank you. A pity we could not meet under better circumstances." He comments in passing, before he and his comrades head for the telepad, zapping away to NOT in space.