Scene #5435: MISSION: Binary Star (3)

Owner	Pose
Starbound Flotilla	This game zone appears to be a tremendous, shattered-open planetoid instead of an island in VRMMO Earth. The fractured planetoid drifts far above Earth, something like two thirds of the moon's size at least, and it glitters with a startling array of lights that indicate spots of activity, habitation, or perhaps even space colonization. Segments of the tremendous planetoid seem to offer strange mineral themes, conspicuous organic growth, or even obvious technological artificiality, depending on the nature of the individual fracture. Today, we're here to visit neither a ship like Nostromo not a station like the Spacebar, but a mixture of both: The Swordfish Shipyard is a mid-game mission that grants people access to their basic midgrade Swordfish spacefighters, known for their customizability, flexibility, and extensive upgrade trees, often used by veterans and newbies alike, according to the knowledge that Silica has from her old days trying the game out. The Flotilla have a small cluster of crafts they use to bring people down to the area. The Swordfish Shipyard is somewhere around the mineral fragments. It looks like a cross between a World War 2 naval base and a sort of raygun gothic version of the Kennedy Space Center, or at least that must be what it looks like in instances where players have resolved its problems and repaired it. Right now, though, it looks busted to heck and back. Though that might be contributed to by the fact that a big pirate cruiser of some sort looks to have crashed partway into its midsection. As the group approaches the quest marker for <<ACQUIRE A SPACEFIGHTER>> the objective on their local HUD "unfolds" into a varied series of tasks: * CLEAR THE HANGAR OF PIRATES * CLEAR THE ASSEMBLY AREA OF PIRATES * DISCONNECT THE PIRATE CRAFT FROM MAIN POWER * LOCATE AND RESTORE BACKUP MANUFACTURING DATATAPES Sounds simple enough. The array of spacecraft set into a parked position near the hangar entry, a big steel thing with plenty of odd-looking googie neon signage. Each visitor here is offered some Oxygen Nanoskins to keep themselves breathing and surviving in space for the next twelve hours or so, if they need it, and transport to other areas and entryways of the facility if it's required.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka's currently riding aboard one of the landing craft, loading up her EM-GASH, including micro-missiles on the underslung munitions launcher. She converts the coilgun to sniper mode, increasing output, range, and accuracy in exchange for using more ammo and charge. Still effective to say the least, if quicker to overheat. THe thought of firing from the ship comes to mind, and she motions for the pilot to get the ship flown towards the hangar bay, where she can get a good line of sight to engage the pirates from afar. Once she lines up on one of the pirates, she opens fire with a meaty shot, the rifle kicking against her shoulder. If not for her cybernetic upgrades, this gun would be a -bitch- to handle when it comes to recoil, thanks to upgrades from Zwei.
Iria	Four tasks. Take care of some pirates, then disconnect their ship and get some data. Easy enough, right? If there's one thing that Iria has learned over the years, there's no such thing as a simple task. To her, a 'simple task' is an oxymoron. Every task that she takes on, whether it's hunting a bounty or helping her fellow Watch members do something, or even taking part in a quest in a VRMMO like this, any task given to her is never simple. There's always something new that could be a hazard, whether big or small, and things can change at the drop of a hat. Riding in on another landing craft, Iria's getting her weapons ready with a scowl on her face. Why is she angry? Because when it comes to taking out enemy targets, it helps to get yourself in the right mood. As she finishes readying herself, she stands up and readies herself. She doesn't attempt to attack yet, instead preferring to wait until she's landed so she can aim from a more stable surface.
Septette Arcubielle	The ship that Septette arrives in is possibly the most barebones craft the Flotilla could cobble together for her- and that seems to suit her just fine. It's a blackened craft shaped like a triangular prism, barely twice the size of a refrigerator, with a cockpit that's plainly open to the vacuum of space. It glides through the void on acute triangular wings of energy, superficially resembling those of a butterfly, before dissolving the wings to land with a heavy clunk alongside the Flotilla's other craft. The little robot springs out of the cockpit, landing on her feet with a cheery beep and smoothing out her lavender shawl with both hands. The vacuum of space seems to bother her little, and a cursory examination reveals why: her face is bright and convincingly lifelike, but under that shawl of hers, she's all horrid jagged metal and menacingly skeletal plating. "Looks like we get to kill things again today," she chirps to nobody in particular, sounding distressingly giddy at the prospect. She sets off towards the hangar at a sharpish flounce, trying to stay near the front of the party in the process, despite a lack of obvious weaponry or even armor. "First things first! Let's clear the hangar out."
Corona Arclite	Nice and convenient that they give out basic survival options. Maybe this version wasn't as much of a death game as its predecessors?... That or it'd just be no fun if your victims died from neglect of proper equipment rather than whatever cosmic horrors you stocked up on. At least by now Corona has gotten use to these quest thingies pinging up to tell them what they need to do. "An' keep yer peepers peeled for any of these pirates droppin' more of those 'loader' parts. Minder feller said they're important." All the same she loads and cocks her shotgun to be ready to put boots on the deck once they're in the hanger and Maaka's sniped an opening for them to put down on.
Yuuki Konno	Now finally dressed in her armor and relying on an oxygen nanoskin, Yuuki looks like a proper imp. Or, perhaps to the locals, a Vulcan. Her armor really doesn't suit the local environs but it keeps her from the undue risk of the previous battle against all those neurovore cells. Until she gets outfits more suiting the local environment, she's quite happy to stand out by wearing fancy archaic-style light metal armor. She's also more than happy to be doing this quest, it would seem! She barely touches the ground when walking, and that has little to do with gravity settings or with her ability to fly. She's just bounding along, a huge grin on her face, at the opportunity to combine two of her big loves. Movement and open spaces. She loves flying in Alfheim Online because it lets her indulge both... and the opportunity to fly a personal craft IN SPACE has got to be at least as good as that! That said she's going to try to be one of the first out the door as the attack begins. Pushing and squeezing in if need be. She's not shoving anyone out of the way or anything, not with her arms or elbows, but Yuuki has little grasp of the concept of personal space and has no qualms about snuggling in uncomfortably close to everyone else at the door on the way into the hangar.
Silica	"Ugh... Pirates. I hate the Pirate faction. They're so random in what damage types they use it's impossible to gear against them effectively. Watch for Thermal, Electromagnetic and Kinetic damage." says Silica. "This is a Mid-level area, so the fights will probably be easier than against those Neurovores at the beginning." Silica is actually using her IFO 'skin' instead of the ALO one. She's an alien, vaguely cat-like with slit pupil green eyes, wearing a 50s era scifi space suit. She still has her Dagger at the small of her back, in its ALO sheath. That bit doesn't change. "We'll need to board the crashed pirate ship to disconnect it, unless we get lucky and the power lines are in reachable places on the map. They were always randomly generated."
Sombra	If you're going to do something involving tech, why not bring certified personnel with you? Not that Sombra has a certification besides her reputation as her world's best hacker. And how can a game be much different? Arriving along with the Flotilla is one particular ship, purple and with a signature cavalera symbol on it. For those who know Sombra it should be pretty clear just who's on board the ship. It's small, it's not a ship meant for combat, but it's a ship nonetheless, and a ship that works for the nefarious hacker. Stepping off of the ship as they touch down near the hangar entry, the colourful latina steps out, looking around at the other people gathered with a smirk. "Hola, are we all ready to have some fun?" This certainly might be amusing, right? The offered Oxygen Nanoskin is accepted and applied. After that Sombra pays attention to her hud. "So... first we handle the pirates in two areas, disconnect the power and restore backup... Well, I don't know about you, but I'm all for that last bit. Piece of cake." Sure, she could help clear out pirates, but the others are bound to be more effective than her. "I can focus on finding a good spot for that if the rest of you are happy to fight and disconnect the pirate craft...?" she offers. Then again, there are many new people here and they might not all know her as well. Though she does recognise some people due to their multiversal files...
Staren	Staren still has his own ship. And his own armor, both with the wrong aesthetic for IFO. Still, they can function just fine. He meets up with the others, ready to EVA or beam down. He stares for a moment at Silica. New avatar? Huh.
Tomoe	Tomoe has not come in the form of Eisen today, nope she's come as her 'regular old self'. The very tall Salamander, she was ready to fight. She knew that they had to clean a lot of mobs out so they could take hold of the ships from here. Looking at this place, just made her let out a low whistle. Talk about being seriously retro. "Well this was going to be fun wasn't it not? Her Quest log gave her the details she needed and she was ready to go. She would be looking to to start pirate hunting and summons her naginata known as Mooncutter. "Copy that Silicia sound like it must be a very wild time." she grinend at Silica's IFO skin too. "I'll start cleaing out pirates in general as we need to clean house, right? Can't have people working on tech things while getting jumped."
Kirito	The Oxygen Nanoskin doesn't help Kirito much with flying, but Kirito's pretty used to getting around the old fashioned way. The Black Swordsman is right there with Zekken, breaking into a mad dash with everything he's got for the hunting grounds with Vox Unitas already drawn and ready for the 'slaughter' as it is. Because this quest includes lots of combat, and THAT has his attention far more than the previous investigations do. Kirito LOVES himself a good fight against VRMMO enemies... that hasn't changed even with the stakes becoming real. Really, that's never bothered him ever, has it? "You're not getting them all to yourself!" Sayeth he, challenging Zekken's prowess.
Starbound Flotilla	The interior is packed with various mobs. It's not just pirates on-foot, too; around here, there's heavier foes. The scruffy, dangerous looking men have various styles of spacesuit obfuscating their identities, but tend not to possess that same classic US EVA suit look; some have taken on what look like russian intra-vehicular activity suits, or similar; where the Frontier Science Corps had soft whites in their themes, the pirates have weird crumpled metal. That's to say nothing of the scavenged attachments. Heavy tubing to massive pressure-based guns, heavy heat chemical spray weapons, disorienting jamming equipment that blasts static and junk data at all times, and heavy industrial electromagnetic tools are the tradition of their combat. "Smasher Pirates", "Burner Pirates", "Blaster Pirates", "Jammer Pirates", and similar names mark these mid-level mobs, who are weaker than the Neurovores, but seem more significant in numbers. But these days, things are bigger and badder. Three or so "Crusher Pirates", unfamiliar units for Silica. But their gear is: They're piloting LOADERS! The heavy mecha units are about nine feet tall, and they look held together by duct tape -- one of them actually IS held together by duct tape -- but they pack a mean punch. They're meant to hoist and move chunks of spacefighter, and that's a purpose they're still fulfilling, even if it means wielding a massive Swordfish fighter wing in one hand like a sword. The brutal shots from Maaka can already rip through layers of armor on a few of them, though killshots are hard to secure on such distributed designs, especially when they return fire with heavy rockets against the Flotilla craft. Iria and Corona may find the most success going after a few of those pirates swarming the landing pad and firing into the opening deployment door, since as soon as they touch down, it'll be them making the most line of sight interference. That's far less of an issue if Corona sticks to that shotgun, which should rip through them effectively. Though it's not likely it'll be too thick to begin with; Septette has landed further in, drawing some of them closer, though she gets the angry attention of one of those loaders trying to swipe at her with the rather highly dense spacefighter wing. Yuuki and Kirito's primary issues -- given that between them they have more than the reflexes needed to dodge the heavy shots from the kinetic pressure guns -- is inevitably going to be dealing with the charging men with crackling industrial tools that make up the first wave! They assault with a mix of welding tools and haphazard batons, angrily shouting. It's people like Silica who are the ones who really have to worry about the "gun"fire, blasting things like broken glass and crumpled computer parts out of thick piping like the worst kind of shotgun in the world to attack backlane support. It might be a good idea for Tomoe to help prevent that damage, whether by blocking, or by taking down those pirates, or both! Sombra keeps stealthy for now, and she's got a chance to get past the fighting entirely. She can head towards the ship, the assembly area, or the "computronic command core", whatever that sign is supposed to be meaning. Staren will likely be interested in that as well, though he lacks the same stealth, so one of those Loaders is approaching his ship MENACINGLY!
Septette Arcubielle	Though she doesn't seem to mind Yuuki's pushing and jostling, Septette still carefully preserves some semblance of personal space, subtly twisting and leaning out of her way. It's less out of discomfort, and more out of simple care: there are a lot of sharp edges under that cloak, and it would just be impolite to accidentally poke her ally with one. When Kirito breezes past her as well, she breaks into a sprint to match- not out of competitiveness, but out of a desire to stay on the front lines, no matter where those might be! "Understood, Silica, Sombra. Won't hold it against you if you decide to split off, Skully- just be careful when you're alone. As for the pirates- I'll keep it in mind, but I'm hardened against a wide range of damage types." She glances back across the party with a slightly concerned expression. Hopefully, the same can be said for them. As she nears the hangar, Septette pulls back her shawl and holds up her hands palms-inward, as if she were a surgeon preparing for an operation. Her flesh-tone, bladelike fingers begin to glow red-hot as she activates an elemental enchantment, first dully, then with incandescent splendor as they approach their maximum safe temperature. "Breaching momentarily," she intones in a calm and almost reverent voice- the entrance isn't that far away, but she seems intent on spectacle nonetheless. Her hands sink into the hull with little apparent resistance; the wounded metal bleeds red slag as her sharpened fingers tear and burn through it all the way up to her forearms. Finally, she pulls her arms down through the weakened metal in a sweeping gesture that carves twin vertical gouges in the wall, and kicks solidly between them, punching a person-sized jagged hole in the hangar wall! "Single chokepoint against entrenched sapient enemies is dangerous," the killbot remarks as she steps through the molten breach to the other side, already unfolding her arm-blades when the smoke clears. "This way's safer- pincer." Then she throws back her head and howls- a staticky, distorted, keening noise with some resemblance to a lower-pitched teakettle's whistle. "Let's GO!" That searing glow in her hands rapidly spreads to the curved blades on her forearms as well, and she wades into the fray eagerly just behind the nimble swordsmen. She judges that they can handle the heavy loaders just fine, and concentrates her efforts on the lighter enemies instead: huge, sweeping blows scythe through the advancing horde as she darts in, trying to thin out their numbers as quickly as possible!
Alexis Maaka	Blaster, burner, and jammer pirates. Great. Maaka already knows this is gonna be nasty if she joins in. She fires with pinpoint armory, but she's having trouble with taking these guys out with single shots. "Fuckers are pretty well armored, be careful fighting them." She warns over comms, before rockets cause her shots to go off-target. "Shit, gonna have to hop off." She drops out of the craft, landing on the hangar deck with a tumbleroll. She converts her coilgun to battle rifle mode now, the weapon shortening and adopting more assault rifle proportions as she fires off a grenade round at the throng of pirates, sprinting for cover.
Iria	Meanwhile, once Iria's closer to the ground, it's only then and there that she attempts to attack the pirates. Using the interior of her ship for cover, she opens the door and then waits a moment for a chance to pop out and attack. If there's one thing every good bounty hunter knows, it's that a visible hunter in a firefight is a dead hunter. And Iria's no use to anyone if she's dead. Once she's got the shot, she pops out and opens fire on one of the Blaster Pirates. She fires off a single shot before ducking for cover again, using her swift reflexes to her advantage.
Staren	At least for the hangar, Staren's bringing his giant robot. Time to find out if the game will recognize its weapons, if not recognize it as a ship. "Seriously?!" Staren shouts in disbelief as the wing-wielding loaders approach. "Who brings a sword to a gun fight?!" The mecha turns its gatling railgun on the approaching loaders, releasing salvoes of anti-tank missiles if they contin ue to advance. The REST of this mission may not be easy, but he expects to have an advantage here...
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki isn't so rude as to actually press INTO Septette's body! Well okay, maybe she kind of is. She just doesn't think about that sort of thing, but she's mostly willing to allow the robot girl's cloak to define a boundary she'll nudge but not try to push through. That's only in the struggle to be out the door though. Once in the clear she bounds forth, trying to get the room she needs to do her unique style of battle. She scoffs good-naturedly at Septette's remark. "Only if you allow their line to hold you!" she claims. This would be silly, of course. What with all the melee fighters in the group backed up by the gunners, standing and engaging toe-to-toe with the pirate line of battle is just foolhardy! Yuuki dives in, ducking under the swing of a Smasher Pirate then leaping into the air, her leap bringing her blade into an uppercut slash. From above, she stomps hard on the Smasher's head, using him as a springboard to launch herself into the middle of a group of blasters and burners, forcing them to turn guns on each other if they want to try to take on the whirling wielder of bladed death. It'll leave her somewhat exposed to fire, but at the same time it's a significant protection as she runs amok in the middle of mobs that have to take care where they shoot.
Corona Arclite	There's a lot of pirates as they hit the deck, but for a moment Corona's attention does dart torwards the 'Crusher' pirates. "As Ah was sayin'..." Hey, mobs made of the same thing are most likely to have the parts drop, right? Isn't that how game logic works? "Don't blow them up too mu--" Wait that doesn't matter in games for dropping stuff does it? "--Nevermind!" Right, she's got something else to keep her attention on. "Pirates are just outlaws with worse personal hygiene, after all." Even as she steps forward she raises the shotgun and opens fire. Several times to get good area saturation going. Not so hard to do when she's using the auto-shotgun a certain cyborg mercenary provided her with.
Tomoe	Tomoe is seemingly qiite happy to deal with these things even. With the incomming attck she'll do her thing even if she has the wrong weapon for that. she can take a few hits after all and isn't afraid to take them so someone else doesn't have to. She will indeed take hits though she's not as good as parrying shots with her spear but she camn well can cry to do so. She moves she will attempt ot deflect them but she's more intend to close with the pirates and rapidly cut them down.
Starbound Flotilla	Septette is menaced by LOADERS here! The others will need to handle that! While they may be swiping with those superdense wings, someone else can hopefully take them out. She, meanwhile, is drawing huge amounts of aggro and pulling everyone who comes near her into brutal bisections. She quickly thins down the lower leveled enemies, though, turning them into elegant bursts of voxels and loot drops. If she wants to stay around, she can, but it's likely that there will be fewer loaders and more swarms further in on one of the three paths. Especially the lodged-in pirate craft! It all depends on how she calculates the most efficient use of her time.
Starbound Flotilla	Maaka manages to bomb out a few clusters of Elite or Ace versions of those enemy mobs, discovering a little more of the game's enemy-grading system and getting cover well here. From this position, she could pass through to Assembly easily, but it also lets her flank all around the area to be able to take on the gunmen within, or attack more vulnerable melee foes.
Starbound Flotilla	Iria's gunfire is focusing on blaster pirates, and she's taken cover in a way that's a little less likely to grant her access to the further-in areas, but it means she gets some perfect perspectives on fighting the pirates at range. While she can get the Blaster Pirates without too much trouble, interference starts coming from Jammer Pirates and their jamming broadcast backpacks, who are distorting electronic behavior in the area. It's started with her, but it might start spreading to the others if she doesn't work fast on halting it.
Kirito	Kirito's quick to figure out the firing patterns and reload rates of the pressure guns after a few moments of observing others being shot at, and uses this with all due focus to weave a zigzaggy pattern that's difficult as HELL to get a bead on. Only a few close grazes from those guns shave at his hitpoints. On a few occasions he even manages to deflect chunks of junk the guns send flying with his sword, though with nowhere NEAR the elegance of the beam saber he once employed for this task. Not having a Bullet Line's help makes a HUGE difference there! Kirito brings a sword to a gunfight, Staren. And as he closes in with the pirates... "HROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGHHH!!" The Black Swordsman sets into the familiar rhythm of slash-slash sidestep duck SLASH against everything that isn't an ally while roaring out his battle cry!
Sombra	Septette earns a low chuckle, and Sombra reaches out to boop her on the nose in a friendly manner. "They won't even know I'm there, amiga." With that she offers the people a fingerwaggle, all while the thermoptic camouflage takes effect. With a translocator left aboard the Estelita, then it's safe to get headed in. Under the cover of being invisible Sombra rushes in, keeping out of the line of fire and trusting the others to keep these things distracted! If the intel from Silica is correct, then a shot from those could effectively take her out and leave her with only her gun and parkour skills. And Sombra knows she won't be much useful without her tech fully functional... not to mention who knows what effects it could have on her if it went haywire? Her eyes dart to and fro, watching the fight as well as looking out for any areas of interest. Let's head to the computronic command core for now, that seems more promising. If she can hack in there, then this ought to be less painful. On the way there the hacker does attempt to take the least risky way, even willing to use her parkour skills to get on top of items, sliding over and under things in her way. It's all about speed and safety here now!
Silica	Silica draws her Dagger... this isn't a place she can use her Pets. They're Suffocate before being able to do anything. So she steps up beside Kirito and Yuuki, lighting the blade of her Dagger as the first wave comes in. "Be careful of those Loader suits. If they're anything like the Player versions, they're quicker than they look. But these aren't Game Mobs..." she warns, then gathers herself to spring under a sweeping strike from one of the melee mobs, ducking between his legs and slashing across the knee joint, before turning and jamming the blade into the backpack, where she knows a weakspot should exist.
Alexis Maaka	Alexis takes COVER behind convienently waist high barriers. "Sombra, on me!" She calls out, before she uses cover to reach the enemy's flank. She primes and tosses a smoke grenade to mask her movements, before she pops out behind a piece of large rubble, opening up on melee fighting pirates with her rifle, the weapon kicking against her shoulder as she lets off a few bursts to cut down the punchier pirates.
Starbound Flotilla	The loader menacing Septette is shot back by Staren, blasting it half to pieces in bursts of elegant volxels dramatically, though soon he finds that Jammer Pirates are starting to turn their attention to the Star Hawk, flooding it with streams and streams of junk data to obfuscate its targeting unless it's done manually! This seemingly is meant to give the encroaching loader targeting him enough time to really get a solid swipe in with that heavy wing! But it's still down to two of three!
Iria	Iria quickly begins to move out, and then begins to notice that her communications becoming garbled. She wonders what's going on until she notices one of the Jammer Pirates, and she sneers with sarcasm and frustration. "I'll teach you to mess with us like that!" She says as she draws her pistol and fires a few shots in their direction, hoping at least to get them to scramble. At the same time, Iria's moving around the hangar, attempting to survey it while watching out for further possible threats.
Starbound Flotilla	Yuuki leaps stylishly off of a pirate amid his screaming death and bursting into voxels. Dramatically she makes her way to the back line, and her blender of digital death strikes at a vulnerable point among the remaining blasters, who Septette and Iria have cleared out the chaff from and are now down to the Elites and Aces, neither of which still seem much of a threat. The gear she's yanking off of their drops is all Scavenged-type, which focuses very heavily on melee armor. She's practically building up enough for a proper Scrapper Princess sort of aesthetic at this stage. And heading for the backlane means that the swarms can't stop her if she heads for the ship, or for the assembly area. There's not too many Blasters left after that blender!
Septette Arcubielle	Septette's defensive tactics are exceptionally strange: she can't move as quickly as some of the faster warriors here, but her uncanny analytical abilities and near-zero reaction time ensure that even her slower movements are in precisely the right place at the right time to deflect and parry the pirate mob's attacks. The primary flaw of her technique is that if she doesn't understand how an enemy behaves, she may not be able to respond in time- and that flaw is neatly demonstrated by another Loader that suddenly aggros on her! The super-dense wingblade comes down towards her, not so fast that she can't see it descending in excruciating detail, but too quickly for her to neatly deflect. She manages to direct it away from her head, but it still strikes her in the shoulder with all the force the loader can muster, drawing a spray of black hydraulic fluid and a shriek of metal grinding against metal. The most efficient thing to do here, if her only goal were to finish the mission quickly, would be to disengage and plunge deeper into the ship for more hordes to kill. But in truth, she has other agendas to weigh: not wishing to display her full range of capabilities to the motley crowd of Elites arrayed here, and simultaneously wanting to impress her competence upon them. Going on a solo rampage towards the pirate ship's core would be the optimal course of action, but she's going to do a bit of grandstanding first! Septette forcefully tears the wing out of her shoulder, then sinks her claws deep into the Loader's forearm. Her feet dig into the floor for purchase, and she yanks on its arm, trying to pull the bipedal mech off-balance towards her! When the cockpit teeters forward in reach, she'll lunge into it, aiming to impale its pilot through the armor with her arm-blade before finally disengaging from the fight.
Starbound Flotilla	Corona takes out a fair number of the first wave, and gives a lot of breathing room to the other melee fighters. Heavy clearing on the landing pad keeps the StarFlot ships from getting ripped up by all those industrial tools! It also gives her lots of drops from those, tons of heavy industrial stuff. But then, when breathing room is finally achieved, the melee fighters rush through and draw attention. "Hey, foxie?" George calls out from the cockpit where Corona is defending. "Wanna head to the ship, or to assembly? Both of those sound like good scrapmaster turf for you. Looks like there might be enough breathing room..."
Starbound Flotilla	With Corona clearing the way, and the other melee fighters drawing off more attention, Tomoe can leap into the battle! And draw her own attention! With that big spear, the enemies start piling up on her as they try to find opportunities to flank around her weapon, unfamiliar as they are with the older tactics. Their attacks in melee are meant to deal with people who are doing the digital equivalent of laser tag, not something more melee-focused, and so she can even find a lot of her own resilience and rolling with the punches translates well to all this, though she has to contend with the fact that her share of aggro has gotten steadily more "refined" into higher DPS by the waveclearing effects of some of her allies. Some aggro-management techniques might be good to employ!
Starbound Flotilla	Kirito manages to keep the attention of the first-wave melee enemies off Yuuki with dramatic blendering, and since she drew the Blaster attention off him, he doesn't have to do TOO MUCH deflection and such. He should be able to take them out as Yuuki takes her own foes out, and his style manages to outdo melee enemies in a primarily firearms-oriented game pretty handily, since their melee programming isn't too well-done. Man, though, with a lack of bullet line AND a lack of eyes to follow, this is actually fairly tougher than normal! Maybe if he scans for other body language, something related to the suits, he might find something a little more applicable to his troubles... There's got to be something there. But if it is, it's going to be based on those big goofy atompunk suits.
Starbound Flotilla	Sombra is able to surge through into the "computronics" area. Her invisibility seems to work perfectly, in fact, but only as long as she stays out of range of those Jammer Pirates! They have some clear ranges of jamming, but if she gets near them during their pathing and patrols, her stealth might be shot! It shouldn't be too tough to get to the control core through all that though, and if she can, she'll find something rather like the computing station at the Spacebar, just several times bigger. Around this area, there's a number of different old-style reel-to-reel magnetic datatapes that she'll need to grab to restore old functionality to the core, but both during and after that, she can access it, and perhaps things like the shipyard's security system as she does!
Starbound Flotilla	Silica goes for the air supplies on her foes, causing a lot of suit failure deaths! She finds it effective on the melee foes, keeping the melee aces and elites from closing back in on her allies, but she actually finds it far, far more effective on the Jammer Pirates, whose delicate electronic packs mean that when she stabs them, they don't just die, but also overload in big stuns that cascade through their allies around them, setting up convenient stuns for the last few enemies! This should clear out the last few enough that Silica can find a path elsewhere, to one of the other three objectives.
Starbound Flotilla	Maaka chooses to stay, and that'll mean the hangar gets cleared out all the faster. By flanking, she can send these spacemen into a bit more of a panic, effectively bypassing a lot of the HP limitations. At this point, the only things remaining after her spree of flank-firing that aren't going to get mopped up are the loader enemies, who are already getting worked through by those with more anti-vehicle inclinations. From here, Maaka can push through to one of the other three areas, especially heading to back up Sombra and give her some breathing room while she does her work.
Corona Arclite	The auto-shotty finally emits the click click of empty. There may be breathing room but Corona doesn't want to waste it on weapon reloading, stowing it back in her inventory. An ear swivels in George's direction. "Assembly sounds like t'place to find the sorta stuff we're lookin' for," Corona replies with a smirk. Instead of the shotgun she pulls a pair of clockwork revolvers from her belts, giving them a fanciful twirl. "A little room is all Ah need..." And with that, she's off like a flash. The wreckage in the hanger gives her plenty to work with, leaping onto and running across even oddly angled surfaces to make her way in the direction of the assembly area, as nimbly as one would expect of a wily fox to be.
Sombra	That's the reason why Sombra decided to head out of her way to not go near the pirates or the fighting. She's more likely to get caught up in the action there, and those Jammer pirates seem to be quite an annoyance for somebody like her. Sorry Maaka, but heading to you wouldn't be wise right now. It's a good thing she's nimble and quick, so she's able to take some detours to avoid the Jammer pirates and their interference. Making it to her destination, Sombra steps into the computronic command core, her stealth falling away as she rushes up to the computing station. "Now we're talking..." Okay, time to use this ancient tech. Magnetic tapes, just like the AI they were fixing. Let's get this started! Quickly Sombra gets to work. It does take a little longer than she would have liked as she's not that used to old systems like this, but after a few short minutes the station comes to life, casting a light upon Sombra's satisfied smirk as she raises her hand, purple lines extending from her fingers as she hacks into the system. "Now the fun begins." Let's access the security system for one and give her allies an easier time, for one. That might also buy her some time, even if Maaka is coming to help her out and watch her back.
Staren	"Rrrgh!" Staren grunts as the targeting goes off. How is game data messing with his actual machine? More questions. Staren takes to manual control, but now the loader's on him. Cutting a gash into armor with a wing like it came from the wing of a japanese fighter in World Of Planes Online. Staren jumps to controlling it as if it were his own body, trying to push the loader away with its hand before dumping railgun rounds into it. <"Guys, somehow those jammers are able to mess with my targeting!">
Starbound Flotilla	Those Jammer Pirates in the hangar that are out of reach of Silica or Maaka's flanking meet an end at Iria's hands before they can spread out more damage to the others here, aside from some brief efforts attempting to mess with Staren's machine. And now trying to survey the hangar... She'll find something odd! She may want to call in that the game's HUD is reporting a NEUROVORE TRACE in one of the cargo sections of the hangar, where the capital ship materials seem like they're supposed to be located. She'll need the help of someone investigating in the assembly area to figure out what was missing and has that trace, but she can at least upload the NEUROVORE TRACE to the party to let them do what they will with it.
Alexis Maaka	Alexis drops a spent magazine, reloading as she takes note of the loaders. She begins to head her way toward the assembly area, nimbly leaping across debris and rubble while tossing grenades at the loaders in passing. She'll let the heavy hitters deal with the bigger loaders, while she follows Corona toward the assembly area.
Tomoe	Tomoe is draing more attention and that's how she likes it. The enmies are piling up as she makes use of her weapons' reach but they are smart enog to mov to flank her. She sees they are not made to deal with melee lke this nad she's going to make use of that. "Come on you want some of this?! I'd bail on this if I were you!" Well sometimers NPCs are smart if they are smart enough to flee she might just let them. However she'll alsobe spamming taunts when she can. The aid from her allies in general and Corona? Tomoe really is getting into it pretty hard.
Yuuki Konno	As Yuuki cleans up her remaining allotment of scrappers she bounces about, utterly full of energy and enthusiasm. She probably couldn't stand still even if she wanted to. Once the remaining pirates are cleared out though, she takes a moment to breathe and check the loot table. She squeals in soft delight when she sees the drops she gets. Guns don't interest her nearly so much as the armor suits, which she immediately assumes are a form of light 'scrap metal' plate. She loves her normal armor, but it's not got the right sort of bonuses for this zone. Wearing armor from this zone - and it looks like she should be able to assemble a reasonably full set - would be only to her advantage. She only sorts it into her inventory for now. Later, back at a bar or hangar, she'll look for suitable dyes or paints or whatever to turn her new gear into a fashionably cute gearset. Because why be practical when you can be practical AND cute? Her loot stashed away, Yuuki considers where to go. The ship! Oh yes, the pirate ship! "Yaaaaar!" she cries, advancing at the bounce.
Starbound Flotilla	The lives of pirates are nasty, brutish, and short. Septette's blades make them so much more of all three. As one loader goes down near her from Staren's gunfire, the other soon goes down when its cockpit is pierced straight through, causing the whole loader to burst. And if she wanted bragging rights, here they are! She gets a BONUS DROP from the loader for finishing its pilot in melee without harming most of its parts, receiving an especially large number of loader parts from that miniboss drop that she can help distribute to the rest of the group to finish the <<BRING THE MINER THE LOADER PARTS>> quest!
Septette Arcubielle	With the loader dealt with and its drops secured, Septette finally breaks off and sprints towards the crashed pirate ship embedded in the facility, following hot on Yuuki's heels! "Hey! Hold up for me a bit, kiddo," she calls out in a cheerful tone. "These old bones aren't as quick as they used to be..." With her grandstanding over, it's time to get serious: any time she catches a glimpse of a pirate roaming those hallways, she breaks from her path to mete out a swift and precise death, assuming the more agile fencer doesn't snap it up first. This isn't just advance scouting, after all: she's scouring the corridors on behalf of anyone squishier who might follow along later, a task she prosecutes with unnerving zeal. Even so, her ruthless efficiency lets her make decent time towards the downed ship, assuming that there aren't any particularly dense pockets of resistance along the way...
Iria	After doing a little careful flanking, Iria finds herself taking out those Jammer Pirates. She then takes a moment to take a look at things, only to do a double-take as she spots something that seems familiar and suspicious. Looking closer, she realizes it's a trace of a NEUROVORE?! Iria gasps a little before remembering she's playing a game with others and decides to alert her teammates. "I got a Neurovore trace here. I'm uploading it now." She proceeds to do so. "Looks like there was something left here, but it's been moved."
Starbound Flotilla	The assembly area is wide, and full of parts that ought to be moving but sure as heck aren't. Huge robotic arms. Massive conveyor belts. All of it dark, but not necessarily so. Corona and Maaka will find that they need to clear out this area mostly in tighter quarters between the heavy manufacturing stations, but by using some of their own electricity -- whether that be from an engineer's kit or from their own cybernetics -- they can jumpstart the equipment here, not just to turn those robot arms on and put them under Sombra's control, but also to start production on bonus Swordfish parts.
Starbound Flotilla	Thankfully for Staren, the jammers menacing him get taken out by a combination of Iria and Silica's efforts, clearing out his problems handily. That means the loader swiping at him, which he managed to shred down to half HP with his manual railgun fire and stunned by close-range human-like motion, can be handily done execution style. He might not get the bonus from pure-cockpit kill, but he's still getting a lot of loader parts off those other two kills. Exactly what Corona was looking for!
Alexis Maaka	Alexis covers Corona's blind spots as they reach the assembly area. "Gotta turn on the power. You want that?" She asks, while she looks for the nearest junction box. She's not too keen on risking damage from hooking herself up to this stuff, but hopefully she has something in her inventory that can act as jumper cables. She switches to night-vision, mostly thanks to how goddamn dark this place is.
Silica	Silica sweeps through the pirates, they're simple opponents when you know their patterns. She makes her way slowly towards the ship, turning to fall into step beside Yuuki as she passes. "We need to either rip out the cables, or disable the ships power core... the cables can be tricky, the core is heavily guarded by the Captain and his guards." she relates to the Imp.
Staren	Something prompts Staren's instincts as the loader tumbles through the vacuum. Staren draws his beam sword and skewers the loader! Then he turns it off, and flies over to a door, exiting the Star Hawk to enter the station. The mecha flies to safety on autopilot, while Staren heads towards the computer room.
Kirito	Predicting an opponent who lacks eyes has never been something Kirito's fond of! But all monsters have tells, even if it's not strictly by design. He only needs to discern what telltales to watch for, right?! It's probably a good idea to do that, because in-between slashing the pirate forces to bits he's pelted by a hail of several piles of junk! They nearly bowl the Spriggan over! He spins around to catch a welding torch on his blade and riposte. And it's about then that he realizes the pressure guns release telltale vapor bursts when they're ready to fire! With this information, the Black Swordsman does something a bit WEIRD... and DUCKS with excellent timing. A pressure gun hurls glass and metal chunks just overhead... into the melee-ist he's tussling with!
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki grins cheerfully at Silica, appreciating having the wiser (and yes older!) girl along with. "If we can get the cables quickly, then we can get out before they find us." she offers. "And if we take a while, then they'll come looking for us and we fight the same! So... I don't mind either way. If you think you know what to do with the cables, I'll guard your back!" Yuuki offers. And if they do take a while and get attacked, well, maybe they can get backup from someone getting clear of their own zone.
Starbound Flotilla	With Yuuki and Tomoe (and soon Kirito) all working together with this, Tomoe will soon found she's cleared out almost the entire hangar! Now, it's just a matter of finishing the rest. Sombra's the one lacking cover, or so George calls out from the nearby cockpit. "Hey! I think Skully might need some cover at Computronics! If you don't have anywhere else you'd rather go, give that a shot?" He gives an approving thumbs-up about her work here so far.
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite tsks a bit. "Always sad to see a factory not doin' its thing," she replies as she holsters her weapons and goes for tools instead. "Make sure nuttin' sneaks up on us." Night vision? She's got that naturally along with her superior hearing, she's only pulling on her goggles for the sake of work safety. Then sets to work on the nearest junction box and pries it open. Then plugs her analyzer into it, to find where the current is actually cut off at in the system. The more machinery they can get up and running with the least work, the faster they can get this up and running again.
Starbound Flotilla	Yuuki, Silica, and Septette make their way out to that ship. The environment goes directly from worn down to absolutely wrecked. This is the kind of ship you just crash rather than land because it's so busted that it literally can't get any worse. It's very likely that there's literally so many redundant systems that the cruiser could actually split into five distinct pieces that would each be spaceworthy. Wait, no this IS five different ships welded together! Jesus christ. Well, tearing through on Silica's advice to go straight for the power core shouldn't be too difficult. It's marked on the HUD, and with Septette being able to tear through the interior hull, Yuuki being able to take out the guards with lightning speed, and Silica being able to provide directions, this tremendous trio shouldn't have trouble terminating the core's function. They do in fact make it to the core... But that captain does show up! A local miniboss with a heavily beefed up loader targets them as soon as they step foot on the ship. The entire surface of the machine is covered in spinning saws, constant streams of flame, and other similar suchlike; it's the Mad Max meets monster truck equivalent of a personal mecha-suit, and he just charges blindly taking up entire hallways as they try to make their way to the core.
Starbound Flotilla	The upload finishes. Iria's completed her task and a bonus side-mission for the hangar, meaning she can head where she likes, or stay to keep the hangar clear. Once Corona and Maaka manage to get that stuff in the assembly area working, she'll be able to run a comparison against the Neurovore trace to find what was taken, and possibly even where!
Silica	Silica's eyes go wide as the Captain comes into view... and is piloting a Mad Max'd Loader. "That's new THAT WAS NOT IN THE GAME!" she squeaks, grabbing Yuuki and trying to shove Septette over into a side passage as the Loader comes stomping down the hall. "We can't fight in the hallways, we need space. This way!" she says. She can't 'remember' the layout, because it's randomly generated each time, but she leads in the general direction of the Core. "We can fight him in the Core room, there's space in there to get around him." she adds.
Starbound Flotilla	Sombra will find many security systems refuse to work. There isn't enough power! The pirate ship is draining it a lot. BUT, she CAN set up plenty of pending security protocols, such that the moment that ship disconnects, her protocols will go into effect and will begin attacking and clearing the remaining pirates, giving them plenty to work with. For now, she can get a few turrets and airlock lockdowns set up to give an advantage to the assembly area, but she'll need further backup at her own area, since the computronics (what an absurd word) are drawing so much energy she can't get the local turrets working! Luckily, that's Staren and Tomoe incoming to handle that. The computer's on, which is starting to draw pirate attention. Armored men with guns and jammers are making their way in, so Sombra will want to find a way to hide or hold them off herself first, but she'll only need a moment or two before they come to help!
Starbound Flotilla	Maaka will have some pirates to hold off while Corona gets to work. It's a bit tough to handle their incredibly varied tactics solo, but when their patrols hit this zone, it means she'll have all the aggro and at the very least Corona can get a fix on the optimal junction box. It looks like the damage is only in the drain, meaning that once the ship isn disengaged from the power systems, it all should boot up. But if she wants to get some running soon ASAP, there's a junction box nearby she can kickstart with some electricity and get it cascading through some of the rest. Once she does, Sombra's security systems will kick in. That'll mean all those big fancy robot arms with laser welders and such will start lashing and beating pirates to death in the assembly room, and the turrets at certain areas will light up foes violently with lots of laser fire.
Starbound Flotilla	Staren and Tomoe head to help out Sombra, and what they wind up finding is the backside of a very significant push towards the computing core. They're automatically flanked behind what looks like a rush of angry pirates heading towards increasingly computing-centric areas. With Tomoe's short-range tanking and Staren's long-range power, they can absolutely put a huge dent in the push, crushing its momentum and helping ensure that Sombra only has to deal with something like twenty seconds of having to get assaulted by these pirates.
Starbound Flotilla	Here is what Kirito has now found, now that he notices this factor of gameplay: Every time a projectile weapon is about to be fired in this game, a small amount of the particle effects begin to render, and after that point, enemies do not change which direction they're shooting. They lock onto one trajectory -- whatever it may be -- and then, once the particle effects are rendering, they commit to it. By making sure to in some way change direction between the initial "prefire" section and the final launch of the projectiles, Kirito can be out of the way, but unfortunately, that window is distressingly short, the sort of thing that only his incredible reflexes can exploit! It's likely to be far more useful for him -- and for others -- in the context of the upcoming space combat.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka dives behind cover, "You got it!" She calls to Corona, before trading fire with the pirates. She fires in short, controlled bursts, when she doesn't simply fire grenades at the throng to soften them up and whittle their HP down. The protocols Sombra whipped up sure help speed this up, when the turrets and factory arms do their thing. "About time! Remind me to thank Sombra later!"
Septette Arcubielle	Septette seriously considers testing her mettle (and her metal) against the pirate captain's loader in confined spaces... but thinks better of it. Even if, in her overconfident mind, it'd likely be a resounding victory, she's not going to risk sustaining unnecessary damage in the process! So instead, she follows Silica's directions to the core. With a terrain advantage, taking out that bucket of bolts should be even easier! "Holy hell. If ever there were an apt use of the term 'flaming garbage'..." Once they reach the core, though, she immediately turns on her heel and roars a boisterous challenge to the pursuing captain while flinging her cloak aside dramatically! "Let me show you what a REAL war-machine looks like, salvage jockey!" Her right arm unfolds into a hideously complex instrument of bladed murder, mechanically intricate as an heirloom astrolabe, and the claws on her left hand seem to lengthen and glitter- or is that just a trick of the light?
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki flees with Silica - or more likely, is hauled off by the arm by her. "Wait what? Is this a boss fight?!" she demands, but keeps up with the former cait sith. Once they get to a suitable spot, Yuuki makes use of her wall-running to soar to a high position. Taking on the human is the best way to fight the loader? Well, that's fine with her! Arming herself with her magnetic coil sword, she prepares to spring down on the loader as it (hopefully) charges beneath her. If she can wreck the pirate pilot's day, maybe it'll even crash into the core! Or maybe they'll just have to chop it down the old-fashioned way!
Sombra	This is bad... Sombra frowns as she notices the insufficient energy levels for setting up the security systems. The hacker looks over the systems some more, then sets up a protocol to be run once enough power can be spared. For now though it's important that she doesn't remain here when she can't get the local security up to par. The fact that the pirates will know that she's here is bad enough, and well... it's not like she can rely on thermoptic camouflage. So the hacker lets the systems do their thing, all while Calavera skulls run across the screens. Rushing off, Sombra draws her submachine gun and rushes behind cover, pulling up against the wall as she waits, listening... If she's lucky she can draw them close... and she can use her EMP far enough from the systems that they won't be affected. If the EMP doesn't work, then perhaps she can spray them with bullets. Let's hope her reinforcements will be here soon enough!
Tomoe	Tomoe says "Note bad Zekken and Kirito." She doesn't have time to say more but she's also a bit beat up and sees that Sombra is in need of some help. With George basically being a raid caller, she's already moving to intercept on Sombra's behalf. She's already broken into a run to get there as soon as possible. It's a goo thing her avatar is superhumanly fast. Hopefully she'll be able to get Sombra some protection, or at at the very least a good distraction. She has fully put herself at risk to cover for her. She'll also be doing her best to get as much as she's ending up taking a lot more pirates to the face in all likely hood and she's got no time to change over what weapons she's using in a fight like this.
Silica	Silica wallruns up the other side. She's only wearing her IFO skin, she's still a Cait Sith underneath it! "Try and lure him into a charge into the core. If we can make him wreck it that'll make our job easier." she says, watching the two do their impromptu 'Synergy Attack'. She holds and waits to see what happens, then moves over to the Core itself. Should the other two not succeed, she'll need to rip out the Core Components herself.
Corona Arclite	"Got somethin'." Corona disconnects the device, and hops up onto one of the machines to get a better view of the assembly area to match the layout to her scans of the power grid. There's the juncture box... Of course, that's when pirates start showing up. Does she go for the juncture, or does she help Maaka defend the chamber. Why not both? From her perch on the machinery Corona jumps, landing on one of the assembly arms and grinding down it, then off the edge to grab some convenient hoist chains and swing off of them. This place is full of machinery and she's right at home, hopscotching her away across while letting the environment give her some protection from the pirates.r Eventually it lands her near the auxillery box. "No time to be neat 'bout this..." Corona unslings her namesake breaker, clenching the lever on the handle to start charging up it's pulsarium core, until it's got visible sparks and krackle hissing around the hammer's head. Then shoves it into the box, discharging the built up current into the wiring network and give it an energy boost. Hopefully enough machinery will start up to get the pirates before they get closer to her!
Staren	"Holy shit you're fast..." Staren mutters as Tomoe rushes on ahead. He struggles to keep up with bursts of flight. When they come into sight of the pirates, he attacks immediately with the beam cannons to start drawing them away from Sombra. If they peel off and there's time before Tomoe reaches them, he might fire a plasma minimissile into their midst, but once Tomoe engages he stays back, picking pirates off with three-pulse bursts from his laser rifle. <"If it triggered a monster attack, you must've found something good, Sombra!">
Starbound Flotilla	And here comes the captain. Angry and shouting, burning and buzzing, the huge man's huge machine slams through the core room's main entry doorjamb of sorts, wrecking the frame of its blast door as he goes right for Septette. Then down comes Yuuki, stabbing straight through the cameras in the top of the mechasuit and smashes up the screens inside the cockpit, leaving it stuck on a blind course, and leaving her sort of "steering" it with the "joystick" at the top. With only a few last-minute course-corrections, she'll be able to force it right into the core... Well, assuming Septette is able to evade that last blind charge! Once he impacts the core though, his mecha will surge with lightning, explode into voxels, and deliver a rush of high-grade Loader Part drops for all three as the ship's lights flicker, dim, and give out; gravity shuts off in short order, and the ship itself begins to drift away from the main shipyard, beginning to break apart as internal structural damage tears apart the five ships that were welded together to make this one cruiser.
Silica	Gravity offline, Silica grabs onto an outcrop, and starts to float back through the hallways. "We need to get back inside the shipyard." she says to the other two, heading back down the hallway, going from handhold to handhold.
Starbound Flotilla	The EMPs can definitely work. The big spacemen are stunned and dazed as their own radio and HUD equipment goes on the fritz, stumbling and firing in random directions. You know what the good thing is about this Raygun Gothic reel-to-reel computing stuff? One of them accidentally shoots straight through a computer bank and the computer just keeps working. These things are /made of fucking Nintendium/! It buys her a sparse extra ten seconds from when they'd normally have found her. A moment after they recover, in comes Tomoe, stabbing them into stylish bursts of voxels! Seconds before that, Staren had begun exploiting the super-compressed environment to overheat the spacemen, cooking entire hallways of forces using his plasma missiles and leaving Tomoe space enough to follow up with powerful rushes of melee violence! And when Tomoe reaches the room and clears it of foes too, that's about when the power goes back on, and the turrets, glimmering with purple light, activate, cleaning up the rest handily!
Septette Arcubielle	Yuuki's improvised control of the captain's Loader is deeply impressive, but Septette isn't taking any chances here- he might be able to wrest back control of the vehicle, and if he does, they're stuck with a tricky-looking bossfight! So instead, she does the sensible thing, and coats the ground behind in a slick layer of ice, while staring the mecha down cold. It slams into her like a ton of bricks, and only her own deceptive density keeps her from being launched head over heels! She wrestles with the larger machine, trying to get a deep handhold on its chassis under the smoldering flames and whirring saws; black hydraulic fluid bleeds from her in distressingly huge gouts as the saws find purchase too, slamming into her inner workings! Septette slides backwards across the ice, putting on a show of being forced back towards the core... Then, at the last moment, she digs her talons into the metal floor, sinks to one knee, and flips the Loader directly over her shoulder in an imitation of a Judo throw! It impacts the core, exploding into a shower of voxels and parts, and finishing their mission in style. She looks to Silica and Yuuki as if she's about to say something congratulatory... then collapses from her kneeling position into the expanding pool of her own hydraulic liquid, looking grievously damaged. 'Looking' is the operative term. A moment later, she picks herself up off the ground, all smiles and glowing eyes, still dripping black 'blood' from a half-dozen gaping wounds. "Amazing teamwork, you two," she says in a cheery voice that's just a tad more distorted than normal. She strides towards the exit, despite looking like she shouldn't be mechanically operable at all- in fact, some of those injuries look outright inimical to motion. "I think now's our cue to ditch, isn't it?"
Kirito	That tiniest of windows is all Kirito needs to narrowly dive between shots. The plasma bolts zip past, sometimes shaving pixels off an arm or a leg. One narrowly grazes his cheek... But he keeps his cool, and draws DARK REPULSOR. The crystallite, polished blade gleams brilliantly as he ducks down and activates a thrusting Sword skill---- WHOOOOOOOOSH!! Emerald light carries him forward and just past his opponent, the 'line' drawn between them razor thin and a deadly slash that occured faster than the eye could see! "It's manageable. JUST BARELY. It's manageable....!!" But boy is he starting to sweat heavily at trying it. Unfamiliar enemies, unpracticed tricks, he's on full focus here!
Sombra	It's not a new thing that Sombra manages to strike gold when it comes to finding the right info or tech. And when the pirates file in and get close enough, Sombra crouches down... and leaps up, unleashing the EMP as she throws her arms out. "Apagando las luces!" It creates an opening, and there's fortune that the system is made of tough material as it keeps on working. Let's see how sturdy these pirates are when she unleashes a round of bullets on them! Anything to buy herself some seconds until Tomoe rushes in. And there we go, the power returning, and Sombra grins as she pops open a screen, looking over the progress of the security system. "Finally~"
Tomoe	Tomoe Watches as the enemies burst into Voxels, but in the back of her mind she wonders how sapient cardginal made them? She pushes it out of her mind as she contiuunes to clear it doesn't take too long and it seems she's managed to help buy sombra the time she needed and she now looks about for a mmentto make sure, that no foes are left standing. She looks to Sombraas she arrives. "Sorry about the delay, you all right Sombra?!"
Starbound Flotilla	Corona reactivates the systems here, lighting them up dramatically and with a huge rush of electricity, causing the assembly area to sort of self-cleanse as Sombra's security protocols rush through the machines! It spreads violently in a rush of purple light all throughout, and as the power restores, Sombra's own defenses in her area light up as well, and some in the hangar! Kirito finds his recent discovery works quite well, at least up until the automated turrets finally clear out the enemy just right next to him. And with that, it seems like this section of the quest is complete! With the bulk of the pirates cleared, and the shipyard restored to working order, George puts out a call over the radio. "Alright chums, good work! We've got all this set up, from the sound of it. I'll bring in the rest of the Flotilla, and we'll get this place producing. Stop by the Spacebar again sometime soon, we can maybe finish up that Loader thing too, and get you all kitted out with some good stuff for handling space troubles!" "For once, I don't have to mop up blood! I love this stupid world and its stupid rules."
Starbound Flotilla	By analyzing Iria's recovered NEUROVORE TRACE and comparing it against Corona's RESTORED ASSEMBLY RECORDS, it looks like it's hinting that a Neurovore presence was here recently! It's taken a set of CAPITAL SHIP THRUSTERS, though the group now has an energy signature and trace profile that should enable them to track them if they so desire.
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite rests the Corona Breaker hammer on the deck and leans on it. "Copy that, George. Gonna hang out down here for a bit. Kinda curious to see how these fancy fangled 'game' machines actually build stuff." She's already gone from fight to engineering nerd mode.