Scene #7951: Hovercraft Harassment

Owner	Pose
Starbound Flotilla	The Starbound Flotilla have been hard at work on seeding the Vast Marshes with navigation buoys, as well as harvesting swamp-gas fuel-fauna. A heavy hovercraft scoots between the sparse land formations in the area. Pavo helms it, while Seft configures and and deploys a variety of navigation and sensor buoys for automated transit construction. Biteblade deploys and returns, capturing strange fuel-infused pachyderms and returning with them in small spheres. Moonfin's a begrudging navigator, despite his urge to be anywhere else besides a swamp. Albert, of course, remains on the main gun just in case, "relaxing" as much as a man like him can. Between their fuel-harvesting and their navigational concerns, it's likely they're readying this area for some heavy development and deployment. All that navigation is likely to come into effect pretty soon, making it possible to do all sorts of things in neighboring territories.
Staren	After the expedition stopped to round up the potentially-interesting pachyderms, Staren flew her hovercar back to Wonder to drop off the two tag-alongs just here to see who did NOT like what they see and aren't really skilled in or equipped for swamp-hunting. Staren's just about to leave the platform on her way back to meet up with the Captains, her partially-shredded labcoat supplemented with magical robes from a dream-dungeon and a gasmask for protection. That she is now visually similar to a traditional Leyline Walker is not lost on her. As Biteblade drops off one of the fuelephants, she stares. "Woah, what is... how did you do that?! That seems like it could be pretty useful!" She starts constructing a pen to keep the things in, deploying pylons from the matter manipulator, having large stone golems pound them into the bottom of the swamp, and then connecting them with cables to form a fence.
Kale Hearthward	A pattern starts to form. Kale Hearthward hasn't declared out and out war (yet), but this is the third time he's made an incursion into Concord held territory - once personally, and once via sending some over-caffeinated jetpack goons. As with the previous time he made a personal appearance, Kale arrives at speed - taking advantage of his aerial expertise, quick reaction times, and his enhanced senses to find out where Concord operations are taking place, launch a guerilla attack, and then (presumably) leave before reinforcements can arrive. (Well, Cantio just up and told him last time.) Also, per the pattern, Kale makes clear his intentions immediately on contact. "HEY NERDS!" he yells, as he blazes through the air in front of their hovercraft, Breath Weapon Gobo leaving a blade trail in the air in his wake. "I'M HERE TO WRECK YOUR STUFF!" he says, completing the pattern as he banks sharply in the air, getting behind them and launching a strong wind attack - trying to push everyone here into the blade trail!
Starbound Flotilla	The hovercraft has few ways to avoid assault by ruthless wind. Slamming the Flotilla into the blade trail works excellently, almost instantly shearing through delicate electronics below and knocking the captains around on its deck. But Albert is validated. "Bandit, vector six zero, cherubs two! Scramble, scramble, scramble! It's a fast mover, solo wing! Star One, opening fire!" The blade trail tore up the base of the hovercraft, but the main gun sits atop, and has plenty of power to let loose with. Massive capacitors protrude from its body in consecutive mechanical THUDS, the only warning that Kale gets before bolts of energy start to fill the sky, deterring any direct swoop. The rest of the Flotilla are busying themselves with getting their armor and weapons ready, rushing to get everything equipped!
Staren	Kale zooms in. Right, the REASON Staren's building up this zone is because Okeanos is next door. Which means there's a warpgate she wasn't watching yet... Staren looks up. "Ugh, already?" There's a wall of blades. "Uh, you missed?" And then there's wind. Staren activates Fly as the Eagle too late, getting blown in as blades cut into her magical defenses. "Gh!" Emerging from the cloud of blades on the other side, she flies away from it, aiming her good vambrace-cannon (the other still out for repairs) and spraying little 'comets' of Plasma into the sky, hoping to draw Kale's eye as her OTHER hand pulls a micromissile pistol from her hand, firing four pencil-sized projectiles that chase after the birdman and airburst into lances of light with their tiny shaped charges!
Kale Hearthward	Kale startles, and reflexively alters his movement patterns as soon as he hears the THUDs of the capacitors - it turns out to save him. He turns on the z-axis, rising instead of diving, which gets him clear of the initial burst - and then his contingency spells kick in to send the tracking continuous fire off course. Staren's a bit hard to deal with. "I don't..." The pencil-projectiles tear through the sky, missing Kale by inches as he maneuvers around them. "Miss!" The sword is dropped, and Kale uses both hands to start shaping a spell. <J-IC-Scene> Starbound Flotilla \| Albert's voice is cold. "Starbound One on station. You picked the wrong skies, avian. Speed only lasts as long as luck." <J-IC-Scene> Kale Hearthward says, "You really want to bank on how long my luck can hold out?" "And if I'm in the wrong skies..." He casts the spell - which involves throwing it hard down at the ground below. "THEN HOW ABOUT WE CHANGE THEM UP!" A storm doesn't start brewing. It comes into being in full force, skipping the 'starting' step. The swamp is now home to high winds, blowing the water and the natural debris about with equally deadly intensity!
Starbound Flotilla	The hovercraft is slammed about, heavy armor battered and bent. The Captains, finally in their armor and gear, are saved from some of the pain, but only some. "Son of a bitch! God dammit, Bert, get this fucker off of us! Just launch already!" "Star Six, shut it! Finish scrambling!" When a heavy chunk of terrain slams into the gun, he ditches it, heading into a cabin below. It looks like the small arms fire from two or three of the captains is all that comes next... until it's revealed what this "scramble" process was. The deck remains functional, and that's why, after some of those crates are shoved aside, it's open and wide enough for a small vehicle -- about the size of a large motorcycle or a very small economy car -- to rush out and perform a VTOL-assisted takeoff. Shaped like a small jet, wrought in pure gunmetal gray, Albert's tiny fighter craft rushes through the storm, intent on contending with Kale directly. "Star One launched, clear. Keep up the pressure from the ground. I'll clip the avian's wings. Target locked, knives eight." He rushes in, launching a single hefty missile with impeccable maneuvering power, ready to unleash a dangerous kinetic airburst, followed by close-range dogfighting maneuvers with the mounted gun!
Staren	Why does it have to be this way? Constantly pushed to fight... Staren feels strained. Is she just weak...? She takes aim at Kale, but then the storm whips up, smacking her into nascent infrastructure, "Ow!" and beginning to tear up that which wasn't anchored enough. The pachyderms' pen incomplete, some start making a break for it. Slowly. The construction golems are too heavy to blow over, but loose metal smacks into them, cracking them. Knight steps out of the gate just before the storm starts, briefly removing his hood to shout something only to get splashed and blown right back through the gate. As luck goes, that seems about right for him. Staren is eventually tossed free of the storm. Drones take flight from her bag and the gate, surrounding the storm and peeking in with sensors to help Staren pinpoint Kale. "Why! Why do you have to do this! Why do we have to be enemies when there's so much other bad stuff in the Multiverse!" She pulls a submachinegun from her bag and loads a magazine with a red stripe on it, emptying it in Kale's direction, a spray of super-hard metal shells accelerated to hypervelocity by rocket fuel! Hopefully that can pierce the storm...
Kale Hearthward	Hah! As long as that crew are stuck on the ground, Kale has this fight in the bag. ... Oh, wait, they have a VTOL. "Do you really think you can-" says the space Kale was previously occupying before the airburst fires, knocking him down. "Ugh - do you really-" he manages to get out on the way down, looking up at Staren. He twists around as he falls, trying to reorient himself, and it's to Albert's credit that he does indeed hit the dirt, albeit very briefly, before he's able to get flying in the right direction again. "Do you really need me to get into why I'm here wrecking your shit!" he yells as he tries to weave through Staren's barrage, with mixed success. He casts again, and the storm intensifies. Kale himself doesn't seem to be having any trouble navigating it, but everyone else is having to deal with the dual threat of the sword-wielding avian as well as the ongoing mini-hurricane...
Starbound Flotilla	Albert suffers a slam from the wind, overloading several systems, a short moment before the blades land in the hull. A harsh roll should deal with Kale's melee maneuvers long enough for him to pop chaff. Specifically, heated material designed to draw away missiles, instead blasted directly at Kale's face as a preface for another maneuver. He performs a complex, rising maneuver designed to pull around fast and keep Kale from staying above him, blasting him with that mounted gun. Flight holds steady enough, despite some capacitors overloading. Moonfin and Seft have rushed to Staren's side, one with blade and one with shield, trying to give her some cover. They're having to abandon the hovercraft... "Focused. This one might be too much for us, but we'll get you out if you need it, Staren!" She says, trying to give her something to hide behind with the tower shield.
Staren	Of course she knows why they're fighting. But this continual exposure to such aggression wears on her. Being seen this way, feeling hated hurts. EVERYONE has to deal with that, though, it's not an excuse! Maybe she's just tired from fighting two days back to back, and rough swamp exploration. She really wishes she could just have a relaxing moment with Phony today. That warm presense, that kind face... And then Staren frowns, as such thoughts just lead to remembering Ishirou implying she's just Phony's lapdog. The ramjet ammo seemed like it did something, at least. She ejects the empty mag and pulls another from her bag while replying, annoyed, "That's not what I mea--agh!" and then storm widens and intensifies, slamming her into construction and down onto a platform, the magazine thrown from her hand to slide along the metal and drop into the swamp with a sad little gloop as Staren tumbles after it, bouncing off a construction golem's legs and going off the edge into a pylon before dropping into the swamp. Magical defenses repeatedly bashed through by Kale's attacks, already the few plates in the armor are cracked and warped, and the magic robes are torn from catching on things as she was blown this way and that. And now she's covered in disgusting swamp water. The gas mask means she's not breathing poison, and enchantments on the robes help resist its affects, but she's still covered in muddy icky water and mud and slime and clothing soaked with same and it is unpleasant and miserable. She struggles to the surface, climbing a pylon, and wipes swamp ick from her goggles to try and see Kale and the Captains. She feels horrible, but even objectively she can see that she's not in a good state to continue this fight. She'll be worn down and hurt more far more than Kale. Why are they so much better at constant fighting?! She flies back to the platform by the gate, and looks back. The Captains are going to be hurt... but that will happen whether she leaves or not at this point. It still makes her feel rotten, to abandon them, tactically wise choice or not. And then Seft and of all people, Moonfin are by her side. She quickly huddles behind the tower shield as they back towards and through the gate. "Thanks... thank you, both of you." Their concern actually makes her feel a fair bit better, and she smiles sadly behind the gasmask. "Sorry I dragged you into this and didn't do well enough... I'll try to do better next time."
Kale Hearthward	The guns tear at Kale. He dodges, as best as he can, but he can't dodge every one of them - and his outfit stains with his own blood. On the plus side, he's sufficiently distracted that Staren can get clear without any issues. <J-IC-Scene> Starbound Flotilla \| Albert says, "Always enough space. Never enough time to build it up faster. We're on a time limit. You want to get more out of this than you can alone." <J-IC-Scene> Starbound Flotilla \| Albert says, "That's what 'conquering' means." "You think... I'm here to conquer Secundus?" He grins. He's not sure if that's what Albert means, but... "... Maybe that's a pretty good idea!" He renews his offensive - going to not just harass Albert now, but actively try to land on his craft and crack the cockpit open with his sword!
Starbound Flotilla	Albert pulls into a painfully brutal aileron roll that tries to dislodge Kale. Slam, slam, SLAM! "Bandit's on me. Can't lose him. Breaking, breaking." No dice. "Grrrh... avian...!" Eventually, the canopy is shattered so thoroughly that Albert can't see. He has to pop it open and breach the cockpit, and Kale's blade slams through essential systems therein. The armored Apex, already showing signs of serious injuries from the brutal g-force s that this fight has put him through, rushes out, trying to get out ahead of this. He's lost his aircraft, but he has one maneuver he can try. He slams his foot towards the blade, trying to lodge it deeper in. "You're starting a feud you won't win forever, bird. I'll put you back in your own aerial graveyard next time." His voice seethes with anger. And then, rather than contend with him in hand-to-hand, Albert kicks the throttle to max, grabs the ejection seat firmly with one hand and mounts with the other foot, and slams the eject. It's unlikely that Kale will still be stuck on the craft when it slams into the ground some distance away, but it'll get Albert enough space to eject, descend, and then pull back to Staren's holdings in the area. And unfortunately, that leaves much of this expedition to navigate the Marsh wrecked... so much unclaimed fuel, now!
Kale Hearthward	Kale tugs on the blade for a moment, but then simply lets it go. "You're letting a feud continue you can't possibly sustain!" he calls as he kicks back off into the air, leaving the sword behind. He doesn't pursue. He does go and start wrecking all of the things he can find here, though, starting with those monitoring buoys, before going to retreat himself before reinforcements can arrive. And so the conflict of the first Secundus expedition escalates...
Staren	On the other side of the gate, Knight has parked some jeep-type deal (learn to drive, why not, not like there's traffic they'll hit) and she is now making 'ick, blech' noises as she wipes swampwater off her face and tries to get it out of her hair. The smart environment suit reshaped to fit automatically, but the armored breastplate didn't -- she pulls it off with a grunt and drops it to the ground. She looks up at Staren et. al as they come through. She smirks, "Are ya winnin', daught--" but as Staren pulls her mask off and gives her a look, she stops and rubs the back of her head awkwardly. "Sorry. I was just joking..." And then she makes a face at the way wet swampy hair is squidging against her head. "Looks like we both need a hot shower." Fortunately the tower has plenty of bathrooms. "You'll... feel better?" She adds, trying to sound encouraging. Staren sighs and slumps a bit. "Yeah. Yeah..." then she lifts her head again. "...What did you come back here for, anyway?" Staren asks. "Oh, I was just gonna ask when we're gonna check someplace else out." At least there's a vehicle ready to take them all back to the Tower and the main gate.