Multiverse Crisis MUSH - User contributions [en]

Interludes and Examinations (Kushiko)

2016-12-27T20:21:43Z

Aryn:

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2016/12/11
|Location=Origin System
|Synopsis=Not long after events in Anor Londo and in the wake of the Multiverse's realignment, the Tenno and the Lotus must make a particular decision about where to go next...
|Thanks=MCM Plotstaff and beyond.
|Cast of Characters=964
}}
SOME TIME AGO, AFTER LEAVING ANOR LONDO
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"I'm surprised you didn't speak up more."

Such words were given by the child who sat within the Orbiter's Somatic Link. Kushiko shifted slightly in the seat, the smooth curvature of the encapsulation breaking and sliding apart as Valkyr approached her.

"Should I have?"

The Lotus appeared to the right, in that typical perspective of where she herself was hidden away to give Tenno their directives, guidance and more. "I trust you to do what you feel is right. I could do no more than that, my child." It was only the Lotus' tone that kept her from raising proverbial hackles at the notion of being labeled as such. Towards the Lotus, she felt that motherly kinship, though she could scarcely remember her own.

The Lotus pressed on, her words gentle, breaking with the crispness they tended to hold. "... yet you must recognize that you, and she, were both children, yet much more than that. Like you." Kushiko's eyes narrowed slightly, the lilac and orchid light of her eyes pulsing in intensity before she answered, "Maybe, but that's just an excuse. It's why I don't ... like showing who I am to people who can't see me for who I am. Or only one part of me." She struggled with the words for a moment, the Warframe in front of her canting her head slightly. She shifted her perspective--no longer simply looking through her own eyes, but through Transference, through Valkyr.

OOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4iffXdVTYE

"What would any of them really say if they saw me, if they really knew what I am? Juno was one... and I... I want to think some of the others we've seen could see it, and not the child."

Valkyr reached, and in the same moment the Tenno mirrored the motion, placing her hand upon Valkyr's hand. She felt the righteous fury of the berserker within, tempered but never forgetting where they came from--even if the Tenno had lost those memories. Margulis had to sacrifice so much to ensure they could live, could control their powers. But at what cost?

"Let us move on. We have work to do. The system needs us. Our friends... Priscilla, Carna, and many more need us."

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MOMENTS AFTER THE EVENT

"It's... it's /gone/." The disbelief in the Lotus' words was palpable as she spoke, "Tenno, are you alright? Ordis, give me status reports, now!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS NONSENSE--*glrkzzzhnk*--I am very sorry, Lotus, it appears as though /everything has gone to hellznnk--... Excuse me, I am having a great deal of trouble recalibrating. My sensors are *bleeding*--encountering profound differences between what the Multiverse outside our system was and what it is now. There is still a great deal of distance between the Outer Terminus and Sector Zero so the rail network and acceleration gates are still advised but..."

The Lotus, if her face could be seen--if she had a face--would be undoubtedly one of consternation, that much at least reflected as her lips whitened from the pressure as Ordis confirmed for her what her own network of intelligence agents and assets gave her. There was a profound upheaval, and the reams of data even now would take an incalcuably long time to fully analyze and process alone even with Cephalons like her own in Cordylon or Simaris and Suda.

"I... I'm fine, Lotus." Such words were given under great strain at first, eyes squeezed shut--the child of the Void had experienced... /something/, thanks in no small part to the Event. "... I think." She did not speak as she did--normally when she did, she felt and spoke for the segmented parts of her persona--Valkyr, Nova, Mag, Mesa and others--but now, they spoke as one with their Operator. "Something happened out there, felt it through the Void itself. Their Void... /emptied/ out of the superplanet, didn't it?" It was as much a question as it was a statement. She felt the /outpouring/, that would be better described as vomiting.

The Lotus was relived, but they had no time to dawdle. "You are correct. Prepare a Warframe and an Archwing; we need to see precisely what happened. All superfactional frequencies went down but the comm network I have established to communicate beyond Origin is still functional. We're receiving reports. Chaos is spreading. Ready as many other frames as you can for deployment elsewhere. We're going to be busy."

The girl drew in a steady breath, nodding, her consciousness reaching into her primary four frames, each of them arming themselves--though physically they could not /see/ they could look to the Tenno in their respective minds. "Let's go."

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THE DAY AFTER

"Infested are being cordoned to their breeding grounds at Eris, with limited outbreaks at the usual spots like Jupiter. They have not been beyond Origin since that one time." the Lotus transmitted to her Tenno--not just Kushiko, but still. That much was a relief--Kushiko and the Lotus both expected the Infested to try and spread, now that the strange element of the Multiversal Void was no longer present. Space-time storms of before were not as present, but the distortions that remains reminded both of them of how the Moon, Lua, was affected.

"Yes Lotus. The Grineer and Corpus both seem to be in the same positions as they were before, but Cressa Tal of the Meridian mentioned that in this chaos, they've been hitting the Grineer a bit harder and the Grineer haven't been able to respond. She says she may have some work for us soon." The Lotus made a slight noise at this. "Noted. I'll verify the intelligence she's providing. Keep an eye out for the Arbiters, they haven't been pleased with your choices to associate with the Red Veil despite your friendship with the Meridian."

Kushiko simply sighed at this. "Can't make them all happy. If they want to waste their time sending squads after me, then that's their choice, same as mine." The Lotus was silent on this, prompting Kushiko to wonder, "What else, Lotus?"

"I'm being contacted by someone who claims to be representative of yet another new faction. We know of the League and the Paladins, and heard rumors of this 'Watch', but this one calls themselves the Concord. Based on what my intelligence agents have learned, these four seem to be the new groups that have taken the stage of Sector Zero." The glimmering eyes of the Tenno flickered as she stared at the reports on the screen."

"The Paladins as you and I both know do not suit our purposes, adhering to their laws will bind you and I. Nor is our charge solely for the uncovering of the mysteries of the Multiverse, though it would not surprise me if Baro Ki'Teer decided to work with them to some degree." The Lotus' looked aside, prompting the purplehaired Tenno to look up at the screen within the Somatic Link. "The Watch... is close, but not quite. They are more like the Red Veil, and that does not help us do what we need to do. The Concord is being led by Priscilla and Yuuki Kuran."

That particular bit of info made Kushiko's eyes widen slightly. "... Let's talk to them a bit more then... the way they talk you could think they were like the Orokin, but they're not selfish or greedy. They reject what we did not like about either faction swallowing up these worlds and suppressing them like the Grineer did, just for a 'good cause'." She sighed once. "Either way, you're right that we need to work with one of these four... at least for a time."

"That's what I thought as well." the Lotus murmured. "I'll patch in the representative now..."

4917/Operation: Rathuum (2)

2016-12-27T20:18:01Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2016/12/22 |Location=Origin System <WF> |Synopsis=Rathuum Phase 2: in which the group discovers Kela does not take loss easily, and the Grineer are..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/12/22
|Location=Origin System <WF>
|Synopsis=Rathuum Phase 2: in which the group discovers Kela does not take loss easily, and the Grineer are respawning bastards.
|Cast of Characters=964, 765, 774, 7, 984, 691
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' LAST TIME ON DRAGON BALL Z-- No, that's not quite right: LAST TIME, AT RATHUUM... Several Executioners were fought--in fact, seemingly, several Executioners were outright /killed/ thanks to the efforts of the gathered Tenno and Elites in question, with others grievously wounded and forced to recuperate. Accordingly due to their victories, enough Judgement points were earned in order to advance to the next Trial Phase at the node so known as 'Yam'. ... don't ask. In any event for those wishing to obtain transport to the planetside arena it would be fairly easy, and briefings conducted would inform all of those--regardless of 'active' factional allegiances that those things /did not matter/ right now. Getting the captives free was what mattered. Furthermore, a brief summary of those who had been fought went forward, and their generalized 'roles' and what to expect. There was Nok, a Veteran of countless battlefields who employed tried and true techniques and also utilized a powerful drone alongside his Sobek with acid shell mods. Vay Molta, a vicious female clone who could use a jetpack and heavy missile artillery coupled with a double-sided Jat Kittag warhammer. A high speed combatant if there ever was one. Garesh was another one of these /vicious/ kinds of Grineer, a close quarters melee fighter without fear who could teleport and advance on unsuspecting and lightly defended targets while setting mine traps for others. Gorth was definitely the 'tank' if there ever was one: a hulking wall of armor and flesh, asides his customized Ogris rocket launcher his armor possessed emitters that allowed him to completely shuck off any kinds of damage that he could follow in with his axe and shield known as Ack and Brunt. He was supported well by Dok Thul who was the Executioner's combat support medic, who used highly advanced medical drones to support his allies. Executioner Olka Harkonar, a Grineer 'noble' from the Harkonar Production Zone who needed to prove the might of weapons and armor produced there was a sniper with very capable skills at misdirection and the latest in tactical gear. There was rumors of another Executioner who could only be found at this stage, a combatant who could only find the strength to move through the pain that Rathuum provided, armed with twin Hek quadbarrel shotguns and an unquenchable thirst for battle. Harkonar, Gorth and Garesha were among those listed that were /known/ to have perished; but the Grineer are a race that uses rampant, widespread cloning--fact is they WERE a clone race solely bred to be laborers for the Orokin Empire that once flourished centuries ago before the Collapse. The truth however, is far more simpler if on the duplicitous side: the arena both at the Galleon before and in the Sealab the assembled Tenno and Elites will arrive at is part of a simulacrum that allows for any and all measure of combat without the full on permanency of true death. Did mean that if one /did/ 'die' it'd still hurt like hell though. Perhaps accordingly this is why Kushiko who was there before employing the antimatter wielding Nova Prime Warframe was instead present as Valkyr--a far more resilient frame than before. The felinoid-like Gersemi Valkyr was, like many other Warframes, bore no discernable face, occasionally shifting her weight from taloned foot to foot upon the transport that was being used for those who didn't have a nominal way to get to the Sedna planetoid within the Origin System. While now was a great time for those aboard to ask things of the Lotus (who had made the request from Cressa Tal of the Steel Meridian available) or the Tenno known as Kushiko, there were no windows for looking beyond into the starry void outside the ship itself. It was rather well made though, and featured seating for a decent variety of individuals--such was needed for transporting Multiversals. High ceiling too. 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' There was one way to sum this all up. "Wow, a world where both cloned manual labor AND cloning super soldier conspiracies BOTH really happened!" After much nagging, begging and promising to stay out of trouble and out of the actual arena, Gaonoir had relented to letting Erika tag along this time. The organization wanted better documentation of what was going on in the Origin System before deciding if they wanted to invest more of their interest in dealing with the corrupt slavedriving tyranny here. And the young woman was much better at keeping track of such details than Gaonoir was himself. That and Erika didn't need to be -in- the arena to help him. She could view everything he saw and did through her Digivice without being in direct danger, and after the way the odds were stacked last time, Gaonoir wasn't going to object to hedging a few odds of his own. As usual the dark furred Digimon was just lurking at the edges of the pre-battle gathering, letting his Tamer handle the info gathering and question asking while the recap was going on for the new arrivals to the competition. "Hmph. Clones, realistic pain inducing similation, whatever, doesn't matter. I knew those gladiators were too good to let something like death slow them down for long." Erika turned her attention in his direction for a moment. "They're kind of like Digimon in that regard aren't they? I mean, the ones that have a place to respawn as a digiegg." "Not quite the same thing." Gaonoir shrugged his shoulders. "But close enough." 

:'''{{#var:774|Dorian Pavus (774)}} has posed:'''     Dorian had heard about this whole thing due to a report by a member of the Watch. After reading it, he'd gone to find out what was going on. Mind, when he got there, he didn't claim factional allegiance. No sense in blowing the whole organization's cover due to him having a big mouth.     Regardless, this is a briefing he listens to. Acid? Barriers would be needed to discourage it, or at least to offset the melting away of flesh and/or skin. Speedy combatants? Thankfully Dorian has access to a quickening spell, one he made based on Alexius's observations of time magic. But it took a lot out of him, and he couldn't use it very often. A tank would need to be neutralized by taking out the support and then outlasting them. Which would be a dangerous prospect; a medic's protectors tended to descend upon those who looked to take them out. But perhaps a staggered approach could deal with the medic and his protectors, while separating them. Snipers? Finding them would be the hard part, but once found, taking the fight up close and personal.     And so did several more battle scenarios the deal with various combatants that the briefing highlighted run through Dorian's head as he listened to the briefing. Useful tactics came naturally to him, reading opponents and changing his approach as the battlefield conditions changed. Though the lack of a discernable face made dealing with these Warframes incredibly awkward. It's hard to read someone's expression if they don't HAVE one, after all. At least he could generally tell whether they were male or female, though.     Dorian does have a question though, one that the telling of cloning and simulations only seems to make even more apt, in his mind. He'll ask it of the Lotus or the Tenno, whichever chooses to answer. "So, this... 'trial by combat'. If these Grineer can merely 'make another' when these Executioners are killed, or if they're not actually being killed at all, what's to stop those who ordered it from declaring the results invalid and continuing on ''ad infinitum'' until there's finally no one to help? I'm assuming someone has entertained this notion and has a plan?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone got off the Paladin comms after a moment and stepped awya from the gate, she was geared up and ready to go. Clad in stealth armour as she often was with an new weapon handy this time. The small woman is carrying what looked to be like a mini gun on top of the normal weaponry she carrieed for a fight. She seemd ready though she was moe than a bit shocked about what she found out. Kotone didn't look it but to those with an understanding of technolgy even lightly? The cyborg was very likely Military gade and she seemd very focused and intent. To day the normally bouncy and bubbly person most people knew Kotone as was no where to be found.. 

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:''' Given the previous forays into this crazy idea of a trial by combat, Lin is no longer feeling generous or merciful towards the Grineer. The attitudes they've shown deserve no real respect from her.     No mercy.     No consideration.     If anything, their insults have only given her a reason to KEEP AT THIS escapade to humiliate them on top of helping anyone sane enough to break away from this madness do so.     This time she isn't even TRYING to hide her nature. Lin's soul is brilliantly flame, a display of golden-white flame engulfing her body and wafting about in the winds of her emotions. She sits with hands on her knees and sun emblem burning on her forehead, teeth grinding hard.     "My answer to that notion is cutting them down until their way into the arena is blocked by corpses. Or just breaking free and creating a different problem for them to worry about." She answers Dorian heatedly.     "It won't happen. Everything so far's happened according to the tradition we heard. Have some confidence!" 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Yari, largely silent before, finally pipes up after both Erika and Dorian lay out their thoughts n the matter. She's here mostly thanks to a certain Tenno. New factions mean new obligations, and ones she's thus far rather happy with. Much happier than when she was with the Feds. Only the issue of a missing Sanary and Linh keep her from having the equivalent of a fresh start in life. She is fresh from that weird Aesthetician though. Hairdrills and white highlights now dominate her horned head. The kimono is still dark blue with flower patterns though. "I feel sorry for them. Soldiers should get to rest when their duty is done. It's disgusting. This 'trial'. There's no honor or glory in it. Frankly the sooner we kill everyone responsible for it, the better I'll feel." Karal gets a long agreeing nod. This is a plan the ninja can get in on. Otherwise, she lights her pipe and crosses her legs. Nothing to do but wait. Occasionally she checks a kunai for proper sharpness, tossing one up in the air and generally spinning it around in various dexterity tricks. Ninjas as it turns out can be terrible showoffs. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' A light scoffing sound came via Valkyr--those with a sharp eye (or ear really) would note that when the Tenno spoke, it bore no qualities of coming from a mouth, instead projected through some ethereal aspect around her. Feminine and seeming to be young, at least. How young, now that was the part difficult to guess. <"They used to be builders, it's true, but now all they make is war."> was her words towards Erika. Truth be told, Kushiko did not know to what extent. All that was known was that the Grineer themselves took control of cloning tech they couldn't fully understand at the time, and with each generation, the genome of the Grineer became progressively more damaged. The Lotus appears on a video screen--or projection, for those on the transport as Valkyr upturns her hand, "Entertainment is entertainment for Kela de Thaym's audience, regardless of who actually lives or dies. Repeatedly." It's a hint of disgust in her voice in that regard. Dorian's mind for tactics would be something that Kushiko would definitely be appreciating even more if she were a mindreader now--perhaps they'll see that end of one another once they took to the Arena itself. "That is something we've been considering and frankly, we're expecting." the Lotus begins, the masked woman's attentions shifting to the Tevinter mage. Yeah, the facelessness seemed to be something of a running trend here. "Currently according to Cressa Tal, going along that route right now will defeat the purpose and propaganda of what Kela de Thaym set forth: the defeat and execution of either the traitors or their Defenders in Rathuum. If she does elect to go that route and declare either a mistrial or some other method?" This is when Kushiko speaks to finish the Lotus' words, <"Then we will challenge her directly, something even she won't be able to pass up on, and kill her directly."> Assassination on a public stage. Brazen, but likely. Hopefully none here would be /objecting/ to that plan--she doubted it, but some people would probably favor a trial of irony in return given Kela's... personality. In the meantime, Valkyr's head seemed to cant slightly towards Kotone, the eyeless Warframe appearing to focus on her for a moment before shifting to Karal who seemed to have completely foregone any notion of subtlety. Which, truthfully, was fine by her. <"We should be arriving shortly."> the Tenno finishes. <"Be aware, however... in this Phase, it's likely we'll see some conditions affecting the field of battle. Be prepared for anything."> Valkyr gave Yari a slight nod. <"In truth, it's a farce of 'honor', twisted and used for their own benefit. After all, they're going to tip the scales short of outright cheating if they can help it."> On view screens, the ship--or ships, depending--made their way to the underground Sealab that had been repurposed for the arena itself--asides the rocky outcroppings, the heavily secured and reinforced (for combat) Sealab was equal parts natural structure and shaped where needed, smooth surfaces in some places, and manufactured and constructed flooring and structures. A central complex dominated the arena, with side areas sometimes built up, some simply modified. Heavily reinforced alloyed framing existed for clear glass viewing ports if one looked up once they were there. Seemed just right for an arena--open in some places, sure, but confined in others. Lots of potential choke points, but just as many places to be cornered if one didn't stay on the move. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa took a deep breath, Kotone did have the ability to fight but shew was from a world where it wasn't common to use weaponry, to fight and that military or any sor of combat personel were a minorty. Here she is howeve,r and she's angry about what's happened, he's angry about the Grineers leaders for trapping thie entire culture in this etenral cycle of carnage, she's nagry that some who wished to escape the madness are getting a death setance and she's angry that things have fallen apart on this world that hard. She's also afraid, she sees certain types of tech that are in their early stages on her world. She's getting a taste of how things could go wrong on her world with it charging heedlessly into the future and never thinking about if it should only if it could be done. She pushed her emotions back they would just get her killed and given if she fails? There are people who are going to die. She readies her gear with one last check and calls out to the others making ready. "Right, I have some heavy weapons this time, I'll do what I can to give cover fire here on this. The Gun I have here won't hold ammo for long but it should be able to tear into things well enough before them and ... stay alive all of you." 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' Gaonoir makes a knuckle cracking gesture with one gloved paw, then switchs to do the same with the other. "Don't worry, I'm sure by that point we're all going to want to be taking chunks out of whatever wrinkly bitch hide she still has." "Just remember!" Erika flicks her device back to smartphone for a moment, then holds it up over her head. The screen is displaying the snapshot of Kela's twisted expression of rage and disgust at her champions losing the first round. "This!" The girl helpfully if needlessly points at the pic with one finger. "Is the face you eventually want to smash in. All the other faces you have to smash in the meantime are just obstacles to doing so!" Well that's... motivational? If a little on the aggressive side. 

:'''{{#var:774|Dorian Pavus (774)}} has posed:'''     Dorian has noticed Karal Rei Lin burning like a torch and has given the Solar Exalt a wide berth. He's not sure what contact with that fiery aura would do to him, and he's not going to take the chance that whatever it is that Lin as going there has similar effects to lyrium. Lyrium is dangerous, particularly to mages; he at least knows that touching that would kill him, pretty much instantly.     However, Lin's words get a nod. "'Send a tide of bodies' is a valid tactic," he notes. "We have... quite a bit fewer than a 'tide' here to work with. If they do decide to send a wave of clones at us, we'll need to find the source and take it out. In the meantime though, I do have some rather... frighteningly effective abilities to use against large numbers of enemies."     Yari showing off? This gets a smirk from Dorian. He can't help but approve of being showy and flashy, after all. He tends to show off and bring a lot of attention to himself too, both in and out of battle. It's in his nature. But he also agrees with Yari about killing all the people involved with this farce of a trial, "That makes three of us." Indicating Lin, Yari, and himself.     Dorian, on the transport, sees the projection of the Lotus, and nods to her words. "Ah, that almost sounds familiar. I might even get homesick. Tevinter in space." Pause. And then he really thinks about the thought of Tevinter gaining space travel capabilities. "...On second thought, let's not consider that possibility. Dreadful thought, that." He does seem relieved to note that someone else besides him has thought of the possibility that the trial would be 'fudged' so. He looks back to the Tenno with the continuance of the statement from her instead. A nod. "Using her own nature against her -- her pride wouldn't let her refuse, since she'd see it as an opportunity to assert her dominance once and for all," he surmises.     The warning that they're nearing gets a nod. As for 'tipping the scales'? "Oh, I'd be disappointed if she didn't stack the odds in her favor," he notes, referring to Kela. Clearly he's expecting some unfair conditions. "But if they want a show?" He raises his hand and snaps his fingers, sending small green sparks into the air. His eyes narrow, and when he says the next, his voice is just above a whisper, the hiss of a snake.     "...Then they're certainly going to get one."     Once he gets his first look at the 'arena', Dorian's already starting to map out possible trouble spots, both places he could get in trouble, and places he could administer said trouble to enemies -- Fire Wall an escape route and then force enemies into a choke point where a Fire Mine has been set, for one. Oh so many possible ways to cause trouble~.     He also looks at Erika's smartphone. "Ah, there's my target. Thank you." Here he gives a smirk. "I'll remember to plant a good explosion underneath her chair if possible." He sounds like he's at least partially serious. And that smirk! 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Yari gives several nods out. To everyone, pretty much. It's been a while since she's been in a group so fully commited to both honor and using bloody death to make sure it's maintained. The ninja is quiet. Everyone gets a sharp nod and a hiss of approval. She'll let the rest talk for now. She's lost in considering the tactical angle of things when the Tenno brings up those screens and arena layouts. 

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:''' Of those here, Lin's only vaguely familiar with Kotone and Maaka... it's hard to be 'familiar' with the Tenno of the gang. Others... she hasn't met... except... Yari there. She purses her lips once at the Au Ra, but what grudge she did have with her is apparently buried.     "It's not very heartening fighting alongside people I hardly interact with off the battlefield. We'll have to gather later!" Up she gets, still burning like a torch and making a bit of a show of tossing her head to fling her ponytail behind her.     "Better tell me if you have any strategies in mind. Otherwise, I'm just going to hunt down anything in my way!" The Exalt grins rather fearlessly, casting a reassuring look at the others. One that screams 'buck up, it's gonna be alright!' to anyone who might not be so hot on this.     Like Kotone.     "You're looking nervous. Still need help out there?" 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' One day, the elusive Grineer Queens will be found. One day. Perhaps then, they'll be made to answer for their twisted crusade to bring all under the heel of the Grineer Empire. That day, is not this day, however. Still, Erika makes an /excellent/ point regarding Kela de Thaym--all implication says that she's a /heavily/ modified Grineer, even more than the ones here at Rathuum have displayed -- and in this case, /will/ display. Dorian's words affirming what Karal -- and to another extent, Kushiko remarks on, is also quite true, though each round does have a set amount of points to be earned. If that's good for one or the other, no one really is inclined to say. Nonetheless, far and away from here, the Operator allows herself a small smile. [+] Kushiko greatly approves. Familiarity is a bit hard for spacenin. Then again, they /have/ been working together, it's just that the child behind it all was painfully shy at times when she wasn't carrying out some measure of operation. <"Don't separate too much from the others, and keep their own people separated from one another. They're likely to have at least one outrunner in Garesh. Dok Thul and Gorth are likely to be together, and Gorth is going to be a very /hard/ target."> Part of her absently hoped some of the magic the Tevinter mage brought might wreak a little havoc on him, presuming he was kept out of the crosshairs. <"Consider the average Grineer strategy lies in attrition and ambush tactics. Deny them this tactic as best as you're able, if not ambushing them in turn."> Wasn't hard to imagine a smile in Kushiko's voice as she spoke, the energy of the Void faintly pulsing and radiating from the frame. Least it wasn't anything like lyrium. It was technically way worse if she wanted it to be. Regardless, upon their arrival, Kela began speaking upon one of those Rathuum broadcasting projectors, the holoimage bringing up her sneeringly ugly face, "Looks like the /SNAKES/ have brought in some fresh meat! Guess the ones from before couldn't take the heat their buddies could! Executioners, show these Tenno and Elites what RATHUUM really means!" Of course, as she says this, a countdown begins. At another side of the arena the Executioners are ready and waiting--where, of course, is a mystery, but by all signs there's at least one more on their side to the Defenders (Accused) six. Well, they did say they'd be stacking the odds, didn't they? Nonetheless, Kushiko readied herself--brandishing a Grineer-styled shotgun herself, but painted in the dark purple and orchid and black tones her Warframe possessed. That Tenno really liked those colors it seemed. "LET THE RATHUUM /BEGIN/!" 

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:''' Stepping forward with all the spirit of this being HER battlefield instead of the Grineer's, Lin inhales deeply and focuses her spirit. Her divine aura crackles and congeals in one hand, forming into a phantasmal sunfire blade, golden and glorious.     There's a Goddess of War here, and she doesn't take kindly to being called a snake.     Lin slowly shifts her stance, expertly adopting a low stance ready to burst into a sprint or put full leverage into a blindingly-fast slash...     "Come on then, you machine-blooded freaks!" Lin's insults clearly need work, but her spirit definitely doesn't. 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Some time during all of this, Yari's donned a pair of very steampunk-ish mono-goggles. Mostly brass-and-black, as seems to be something of a theme for her own Conquering Empire. Maybe they just have lots of copper deposits back home. It's then that Karal gets an agreeing nod and even a bow. Shiney Exalts are hard on ninja eyes. Still, she gets the sentiment. "I don't have any problems with those here. No...you're all here to stop this. I think we can call ourselves allies. Drinks are on me if we all survive." A subtle glance Karal's way. They might have fought, but she's an ally now, and that's all that matters for Yari. Tactics time! Yari gives a little huff of a sigh. "Coordinated, group ambush tactics, then? Could be a problem. Mmm. Area denial and misdirection will be our best bet. If they have numbers to that degree, we're best going in loud I think." The ninja very visibly shudders in distaste at that. One more to the list of things she doesn't like about this whole affair. Thus, as they make the approach, she's checking both explosive tags and her various poison bombs. She can't afford any duds. Once they're on site, the ninja already has a kunai in hand. The Rathuum begins, and she's charging the nearest Grineer almost recklessly. A quick front-flip, she springs off of one hand and into a spin! A good dozen poison-tainted shuriken lash out towards her target as she aims for every vital area she can get to reasonably. Mercy isn't even a consideration after learning of so much moral degredation going on. And that was /before/ she was informed these guys were simple clones. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa looks to Dorian for a moment she doesn't know him too well but Dorian did get abut the multiverse and she knew at least that he could be relied on not to bail on them she looks and listens to him for a moment. "Quite right there, and I look forward to making her choke on her own pride." She notesw then looks over to Gao, Kushiko and Lin. She then readies herself now and she also looks to Erika for. "You seemed well enough Lin, on the old Union comm, I have no doube in your abilities." Blood sport is just about dead in the country she's from save for a few types and none of them were intended to the death or used live weapons like this. "When you get a look into where your world could end up to, ya it makes one nervous. No time to hold back now." While Kotone has never met the child behind the Warframes directly she had enough of a feel that she trusted her and Lotus. <<Sounds like how a nation on my world used to fight. Got it keep the pressure up ddont' let them pin us down.>> With that Kotone takes the big Minigun off her back and it warms up, the barrel starting to wpin as she moves out slowly looking for the first foe. <<Man if Kela has been born somewhere else she'd have made a hell of a Wresting promoter.>> With that Kotone moves out saying. "Come on you vat head, you want some? Your going to get it." 

:'''{{#var:774|Dorian Pavus (774)}} has posed:'''     Yari's silence is noted, and Dorian doesn't disturb her. He figures she's got several plans in mind too. And speaking of plans? When Karal speaks up about plans, he points at a couple of the screens. "Look here. This area can serve as an effective 'bottleneck'. All we have to do is make sure this area here -- " He points at an area to the side of the screen in question. " -- Is cut off. Herd the lot of them through here, and just past this choke point, an ambush can be set. I could use a Fire Mine in the choke point and distract them from the ambush on the other side. But if that area's not cut off beforehand, the ambush'''ERS''' will become the ambush'''EES''', because the Grineer will be able to loop around behind the ambush point and turn it into one in their favor."     Dorian nods at the suggestion to keep them separated. "Particularly the healer. That one should be a priority target. Making them focus on different targets, doing different things, in different areas should help with that," he further suggests. And at the mention of ambush, he notes, "There's plenty of places for that, but also plenty of areas that can defeat them. Try not to do what they expect you to do."     Arriving in the arena with the others, Dorian draws himself up proudly at the words from Kela. Fresh meat? That was likely. Despite his own outward appearance of confidence... Dorian is very much aware that he's out of his element. Space, aliens, cloning, simulation technology... and all he's got is a staff, his magic, and his wits to help him...     He's not going to show it... but he very definitely is scared.     When he countdown begins, Dorian slings the staff from his back and holds it at the ready. Blue lightning sparks to life between the half-moon shaped points of the staff. And as the call to begin comes...     Dorian vanishes.     Oh not literally. One can follow him if they look for the trail of blue-white mana. Right now he's scoping out the battlefield, and trying to keep as big a distance between himself and the others as possible. Sure it isolates him, but it also forces the Grineer to separate.     He's also trying to make it appear as though he's lacking in the physical attack department. Which, compared to many he is... but he's not the weak little wizard many might think he is. This is a mistake he's sure these guys are only going to make once, so Dorian aims to make it count. 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' As the arena is opened for the competators to enter Erika, much to Gaonoir's annoyance, gives the digi-dog a quick hug. "Go out there and show them they're messing with the wrong outsides. Again." Then lets go and backs out of the way of the entrance, flicking her device to the setting that lets her see essentially through Gaonoir's own senses, as well as track his health and other important details a Tamer needs to be aware of. Gaonoir just hrmphs at the affection, if only to keep his usual gruff demeanor up. Then strides out into the arena with as much slightly overacted swagger as he can manage. Aggrivating opponents into being angry and overconfident had always been an effective tactic for him, so no reason to change it yet. "Well then, ya old banshee, today is your lucky day. Gaonoir clenches his gloved paws, and some unseen breeze briefly flutters the tails of his headband. "This time, I'm not gonna hold back!" He was holding back last time? In a sense, he was. This time, to those that can sense or detect such things, there would be noticable flare of energy around the digimon even as motes of black and purple start congealing around him. "Gaonoir ... PERFECT DIGIVOLUTION." The energy flare spikes as his form is briefly shrouded in the consolidation of energy concealing his form as it is partially digitalized and then restructed into a new, more humanoid one that is revealed as the cascade of energy partially scatters away again. Wireframes form over his hands and forearms, then are filled in by the digital energy to form a pair of massive metal gauntlets that are clenched into fists. Similar structure and reskinning collects at his back, and then two engines lock into place like a jetpack, a purple bomber's scarf unfurling into a flutter behind him. The last bit of wireframe collects around his head, which Gaonoir reachs up to flip down over his wolf-like face, light gleaming across the visor as he flicks metallic fingers across the reflective surface. Then strikes a final pose, one fist held up in front of him, the other arm flexed at his side. ""BLACK MACHGAOGAMON!" 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Can't really blame Karal for taking that particular brand of attitude--after all, Kushiko herself took to the Grineer ships, shipyards and sealabs with those as her own hunting grounds. The large swaths of murder tended to reflect that. Definitely needed to work on her jabs, however, insultwise given that highly advanced cybernetic bodies for combat was a /prestige/ thing as evidenced by some other Grineer that one day, those here might have the dubious honor of 'meeting'. By meeting we mean attempting to kill. <"Loud and proud alright."> Kushiko remarks absently, drawing herself up. And instead of the voice from the aether and ephemeral Void, the voice instead resonates from Valkyr itself--a howling Warcry that heralds a release of Void energy that wreathes the gathered combatants in a lilac layer of energy, one that enhances armor and attack speed. Technically 'melee' only but given the way some weapons and attacks could be utilized? Yeah, might be more useful than appearences would dictate. Yari, on the other hand has found herself not /just/ a target but a questionably /worrisome/ target not long after that Warcry from Valkyr goes out. She meets the field against Dhurnam who, wielding those shotguns of his makes an audible grimace in pain--before suddenly Yari's position and Dhurnam's are swapped--bringing him closer towards the group and leveling his shotguns at the group and opening fire, while Yari? Yari's kind of now being targeted by a sniper while beset by Garesh, the twin-axe wielding fighter gathering energy into those weapons and bringing them down at her from the side! In the meantime, Vay Molta has decided to target Kotone, the gunner's impressive weapon meaning she takes quickly to air as she begins to spin that double-ended Jat Kittag of hers and makes a beeline to try and overtake her position before she has a chance to use that weapon! It's hammer time! (Maybe!) Dorian's words are quite wise in many different ways. Setting specific ambushes in places and waiting is not as good as setting ambushes on the fly--this is why Nok is already deploying his drone and steadily advancing under the explosion of activity after deploying an odd-looking drone that begins flying towards Dorian. Once it's closer, it'll attempt to send out a pulsing beam of electrical energy. Assuming of course, it's given the chance to get that close. Those aren't the only Executioners--for a fleeting moment, the teal colors of Dok Thul could be seen, as he's moving around and staying out of sight as much as possible while the others make themselves loudly known. Gorth, that walking beefwall who's height matches Gaonoir's seems to /like/ the fact that the Digimon isn't holding back and, wreathed in electromagnetic energy from his reactive armor, is suddenly /hurtling/ towards him, shield at the fore to attempt to slam into the Black Machgaogamon that Gaonoir has digivolved into. But he's not the only one launching himself--Valkyr is breaking into a sprint at Dhurnam herself, the shotgun blasts beginning to focus instead on her, but the Tenno has next to /zero/ cares over the twin Heks spitting fire at her, rolling and unleashing her own blade, slashing and cutting at the steadily more berserk Dhurnam--no way to get around it, after all. There's a lot of targets of opportunity here for not just Dorian, but Karal as well--but if anyone had to guess, Yari would need the biggest help, given the way she abruptly just got separated from the others as. Damn that medic for squirreling himself away from being easily focused. 

:'''{{#var:774|Dorian Pavus (774)}} has posed:'''     Assuming the Warcry from Kshiko lasts until Dorian puts his plan into motion, that's still going to be useful to him. Dorian's not above cracking a skull or two with that staff. And it's '''really pointy'''! He's just waiting for the time being, hoping to draw in whatever Executioner decides to engage him in melee. But seeing Nok's drone, he turns his attention there first.     Nok's drone is indeed NOT allowed to get close enough to zap him! Not if Dorian has any say in it, anyway. He raises that staff in the air, spinning it several times. As he does, arcs of blue-purple lightning surround his hands and that staff. When he slams the pointed end onto the ground, a bolt of lightning emits from that staff and straight at the drone!     Better yet, Nok better hope he's not standing too close to that drone himself... because if he is, that lightning will arc right to him too! Not only that, but any Grineer in the area of the drone just might get hit by the arcing lightning, too! That stuff is pretty insistent upon going everywhere! 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' You would think a big wall of cybernetic cloned muscle making a roaring headlong charge into battle would be moderately easy to step aside of... But that really wouldn't be much -fun- now would it? Instead there's the thunderous sound of impact ringing across the arena as Gaonoir meets the charge head-on by slamming his gauntleted fists into the shield. Sparks fly and cybernetic feet dig into the ground, and still Gorth impacts with enough force to push him backwards. At least at first. The whining whirr of engines firing up can be heard as the digimon's jetpack ignites, though instead of taking off like he likely could Gaonoir uses the force to -push back-. Teeth are gritted, but it's into a smirk that shows how sharp and canine like they really are. "Let's see how tough your shell is to crack." Gaonoir jumps back a moment, only to come right back at Gorth. His metal fists glow with dark energy as he throws punches at the shield in rapid succession. "Gaogo RAGE!" The shadowy energy combined with the speed of his furry of fists makes it even harder to tell what of the motion blurrs are actual punches aimed at slamming Gorth and his shield around, or the afterimages caused by the shadow energy to make it difficult what direction the combos are coming from for Gorth to adjust his defenses. There's two things Gaonoir knows about shields. 1: They usually can only cover so much of the user at once. 2: Hit them enough and they still go down eventually. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' It was broadcast death match tirals. It would be the thing of fiction on her orld yet here she is in the middle of it. She watches as the arena gets rolling and the Grineer pile in. She sees he rocket hammer comming right for he rand she opens fire with the minigun. Round after round flies forth at rapid speeed sending shells flying as Kotone tracks the Grineer as she come for her. Kotone's got experiance fighting and her body is made for war after alll and it shows as she shifts the large wepaon and sends rounds up into teh skies as she moves to barely side step the incoming blow on her while never taking her finger off the trigger. She knows this weapon isn't for the full fight but it should give her an edge in hititng hard. "It's not hammer time tonight!" Kotone is also trcking her allies whilr DOrian deals with Nok's drone using lighting and Gao is piling into the batlte to punch it harder and faster she feels confident she can win this. She has to win this... 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Yari may well have chosen her tactics poorly. She's definitely underestimated the beings they're facing as she finds herself suddenly in the middle of a Grineer ambush. Quite literally drawn there. There's this moment of her gaze widening as the realization comes to her. All at once, both loathing and respecting for these enemies of her Tenno ally double. A sniper's bullet goes for her skull, but the ninja manages to pause her motion and do a sideways cartwheel. Her kunai goes up, steel grinding on steel as she deflects the shot barely! It goes flying out of her hand. Her leg kicks down, interrupting one of the axes in time. She then flips off of it, very roughly landing into a slightly awkward roll that puts some small distance between herself and hopefully Garesh' back. Her side now has a long gash, bleeding into her kimono, and she lets out a releaved sigh. Anything closer, or if that second axe had hit, it might have bit into lethal territory. It gives her time to flick a smoke bomb, the big white cloud followed by two more as she tries to make cover for herself. Speeding through the din, she blindly listens for the axe-Grineer, and makes several handseals! Sucking in a breath, the smoke clears as Yari breathes out a massive fireball to try to consume the man all at once! 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Somewhat interestingly (which may pique Dorian's interest later) it seems the Warcry lasts a good amount of time--and as she starts whirling her sword both to parry (yes she can parry shotgun, shutup) and to slash and tear into Dhurnam--impossibly, the Grineer seems to topple over. Well, the top half does, and that kill ensures the buff from Warcry keeps going. An agonized cry comes from Nok as the chain lightning jumps not just from the Carabus drone but to /him/ after racing along to find him, and forces him to try and retreat, though his movements are sluggish thanks to the electrical energy giving him more than a few involuntary--and painful--spasms. Perfect time to try and capitalize on it--or is it? He seems to have an excellent grip on that shotgun of his despite appearences... Tank vs. Tank--nearly as much, Gorth vs. Gaonoir sees that /powerful/ impact--and it's everything the Executioner savors in combat. Both immovable objects /grinding/ against one another at least until the digimon pushes back to launch his counter attack. It mayt not be as he likes however--at first, there's an indication his shielding did get hit, but suddenly his armor is covered by a layer of semi-tranluscent amber energy as the reactive armoring systems are suddenly engaged. Ablating blow after blow, the ones that Gorth has no chance of actively defending simply land and land and land. But it refused to die. A rough laugh rumbles behind the mask, "Let's see how hard you hit the ground! You've got FIRE." Some of the blows /did/ find purchase as the strain on his systems was too much and was forced to expire--but then Gorth is bringing down a hard and heavy axe blow to try and take his head--or off guard, one of the two. Which is probably his plan--hold out long enough as a pair of medical drones zip their way over to Gorth at the behest of Dok Thul. Cheatin' bastard. In the realm of Kotone and Vay Molta's combat, the female Grineer starts /spinning/ that damn double ended Jat Kittag--the barrage of heavy gunner fire doesn't gain full purchase but it does seem to slam into shields and armoring, but she can't stay in that long as the first spin misses. So she pivots, spinning her hammer and igniting the engines on it and her own jetpack to send her careening after the sidestepping Kotone, even as blood and madness light up her face--seems she's keen on the, 'if I'm going down, you're coming with me' school of thought. 

:'''{{#var:774|Dorian Pavus (774)}} has posed:'''     Is Dorian letting Nok get his second wind? It's hard to tell. But as the Grineer Executioner spasms, Dorian once more uses that speedy little zooming move that makes him seem to dissolve into blue-white energies and tries to circle around the Executioner. He's not only trying to escape the wrath of the drone, but trying to reposition himself for a better attack vector.     If he can do this, he'll aim a glyph in the area that the spasming Executioner is standing in. And then, with a thrust of his hand forwards, the area he's aimed the glpyh in explodes in flames from the ground! This is particularly painful, since the flames seek to latch onto anything in their general area, trying to continue to burn after the initial explosion, which was already pretty powerful, has finished.     "Oh do be careful," Dorian calls to Nok, sounding completely and utterly unrepentant. And more than a little smug! "I forgot to tell you, but I might just be a little too hot for you to handle. Rude of me not to warn my dance partner, isn't it?" 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' To the viewing audience, it might look like Gaonoir is just slamming punch after punch against Gorth's extra defenses. But that's just because they can't see the readouts that flash across the electronic sensors in the Digimon's visor from every blow, which is quick to pinpoint on that extra energy layer he's using to weather the impacts. And if he can see it, Erika can see it from her safe observation point back on the transport. < Not the point, > Gaonoir thinks back. < It revealed more of his defenses, though. > Erika wrinkled her nose a little while looking over the digivice's readouts. < Looks like you are wearing it down, but only the defensive energy shield, and not him directly... And you've got incoming! > Ears flick up at the buzzing of approaching drones. Then Gorth stops turtling entirely and throws an axeblow. It slams hard even as Gaonoir uses his gauntlets to shield himself, sparks flying as the blow is still enough to make him stagger backwards. Or he purposely staggered back from it to get some distance, the fading afterimages of his own attack did put Gorth's aim slightly off. Not enough to miss, but enough to make sponging to blow a little easier. Then Gaonoir stands up... and waggles one metal finger in Gorth's direction. "Ah ah ah, I don't think so." He remembers how much of a pain in the tail just one drone Nok had was. This is followed by clenching his fists again, flexes his legs a bit like a runner getting ready, and then with a roar of jet engines launchs back into the fight. But not directly at Gorth and his new friends, though with Gaonoir's speed that might not be obvious until the point that he doesn't actually lash out. Instead he goes in tight circles around Gorth and the drones, a literal black and purple blurr. To the point that his speed starts to form a spinning force of air being pulled away from within the spiral, cyclonic force being combined into a shearing vortex with Gaonoir's shadowy energy. Tenebraaaae Torrrrnadoooo! Truth be told Gaonoir isn't sure if it's going to be enough of a vortex force to lift Gorth off the ground, but it should make it very hard for those ligher drones to stay close to him and be tossed out of the faux twister, if not shredded by it. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Yari's most noble efforts in the realm of the ancient art of 'L'eeroy Jenkins' won her perhaps way too much attention as while the first sniper round seems to have missed, there's... another very slight, very bothersome problem with it. The round from Harkonar starts curving and tracking. It may not actually reach her head, but the bullet may bury itself in her shoulder. Maybe. It would if her ensuing movements didn't make it near impossible (and the bullet's energy running out) as the sniper, from her elevated position on an outcropping begins to track Yari again. Fire on the other hand? Quite nasty for the average Grineer, but Garesh is hardly average--he survived a Tenno assault, after all. Yet pure chance and luck are on Yari's side--the flame blast /immolates/ him, turning him to ash and cinders within moments as the flames consume him and his body crumples like a puppet with it's strings cut. <"Nice one! Stay on your toes!"> the Tenno calls out--wisely put, given the fact that it's not one but--/TWO/?! beams of light coming from that distant point of where Harkonar was--it's easy to find it but now there's two of them! On the flipside of the coin, Dorian finds that despite the seeming old age of the Executioner, he moves /remarkably/ fast, rolling out of the way of it and firing up another Carabus drone that is practically a sacrifice. Not that he wanted it to be that way as the remainder of the explosion washes flames over him. "Thanks for th' warning youngster," Nok grouses a bit. Would've preferred /not/ to lose that drone--but seeing as deploying another was his plan anyays, it keeps him from suffering the lion's share of that pain. And once he's rolled away, frees him to level the Sobek shotgun at the mage, and unloads it--and when we say unload, we mean the twinbarreled shotgun has practically a drum that unloads two blasts every second and simply /saturates/ the direction where the Tevinter mage is standing and then some. Gaonoir has /mostly/ the right idea with what he's doing however--and Erika would find out through her readouts. Whatever armor, whatever /tech/ is in that armor of Gorth's simply does not permit him to be knocked down with ease but he can't do anything in that tornado-like twister of force that begins to send the drones careening at first, then /exploding/ with the force that Gaonoir's shadowy energy permits. On the other hand, Gorth does not particularly /like/ the speeding digimon around him like that, so it's just as those medical drones are exploding and sent spiralling off with a TIE-fighter esqe screech (okay maybe not really, not hard to imagine) he underhand throws a grenade into the Digimon's path--extremely accurate. Whether or not extreme cold will slow him down, however, is another factor altogether. 

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:''' Go after the healer, says Dorian! Well that's fine and dandy except Lin's not surewhich one that is, and the party splits up in all directions despite kushiko's advice otherwise. Which leaves Lin... almost right where the group starte, blinking about irritably at having nothing here to sink her sword into.     So she makes a show of slashing at the air. Slashing so fast that the air whistle-crack-screeches in the wake of her swing, courtesy of sheer speed!     "Hah! What's this? Not a soul come my way? A whole race of warriors? While you're welding metal to your legs and hopping around like monkeys, I'm still waiting for a real enemy to march into this match! At least gang up. Maybe then I'll have to break a sweat!"     This is, of course... SOMEWHAT of a ploy. She doubts she could really take ALL of them at once and hope to win. But if she can piss off half of them to coming her way, and allies used that to their advantage.... 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Vay can make tht weapon move and noe she's spinning like some kind od crazy top. The fire is not doing enough make her think twice about getting in close. Kotone catches on that Vay seems to be of the mind tht she's going to take Kotone down with her and kotone is forced to try and move the heavy weapon to keep it on target. Kotone is going to have to make a call on if she's got to ditch the heavy weapon sooner or later and it may very well be sooner rather than later. hemakes the call she fires off one more long befist of fire and then lets go of the weapon shifting as lighting crackles about her limbs it's like she's an electic eel or something along those lines while she moves to pull one of her smaller arms a pistol and she opens fire with it rapidly trying to play a deadly game of keep away. "You want me? Come on then!" 

:'''{{#var:774|Dorian Pavus (774)}} has posed:'''     Dorian is aware of the sacrifice of the drone to his fire spell. Wheels turn in his head. Nok has probably seen him dodge, not so much block or just plain power through an attack. The shotgun is leveled, and Dorian does not use Fade Step again. No, this time his left arm sweeps to the side, and he casts a Barrier around himself. It's not going to save him from all of the blasts, those the Barrier can't hold back scorching his armor, and tearing through the cloth, biting into the skin underneath it. And to outlast the barrage of fire, he may need to sustain the Barrier to keep it from decaying faster than the cloud of blasts.     Regardless, that's what he does. He keeps up his Barrier, his eyes narrowed on the Grineer Executioner as he... walks through them. Towards Nok. Closer. Just walking. "Shame," he says. "Blowing one's all in one big go. And elder should know better." Yes, he's trying to get in melee range. Because if he does, there's going to be some bell-ringing! As in, he's going to try and knock Nok's gun out of his hand.     That said, he doesn't actually expect that Nok is going to let him get that close. But if he can, no sense in not taking advantage of it, right? 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Sniper bullets that track are something that, even in the Multiverse, Yari hasn't come across. Which might explain why the bullet grazes past her skull. Then arcs right around after her reflexive dodge to bury right into her shoulder. The surprise on her face is utterly naked, and she finds herself stumbling after her fireball. Her only consolation is the incineration of a very powerful Grineer. She relaxes after a moment. And pays for it, as the sniper's shot lashes into a leg. Twice, at that. The only reason both shots didn't take her in the neck is a sideways dodge that's less artistic flip and more desperate bodily fling aside. Those light-bullets are a pain, even for a ninja. Her body, now thoroughly scored between axe and sniper wounds, slides and leaves a bloody trail. The ninja might have found one victory, but she's in bad shape. She can't take too many blows, and she knows it. Which is why there's a plume of smoke followed by Yari rushing out of it at utterly reckless speeds. Bleeding, even stumbling at times, she rushes for where she thinks the sniper's shot came from! A leap, and there's lightning in her hand ready to be brought down upon her sneaky opponent! Not that it would do much if it hit. The lightning and Yari herself is just an illusion. The real Yari hides in the smoke cloud and waits as she spins up a Fuma Shuriken. The relatively massive shuriken is then tossed where she last saw a shot come from with lethal intent, hoping that her clone does it's job. 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' Give the guy props that he can aim that accurate with a grenade between the energy whipping around him and the speed of the Digimon causing it. Then again, the vortex does kind of suck it right into Gaonoir's path anyways, so even if it wasn't precise it still had a good chance of catching him. Evident in the burst of frosty particles, and Gaonoir careen onto his back on the arena floor as the shadow cyclone is spinning down and fades. But the tactic did nuke the drones, which is precisely what he wanted. So it was hardly a failure. A grunt and the jetdog kippups back onto his feet. < Beating through that defense might be the only option. > < Maybe, but don't focus entirely on the direct approach. > And they were both tough, but Erika knew if she kept him focused on his one clear strength it would better the chances. At first Gaonoir grumbles a bit, but then realizes what she's getting at. Hmm. "Great, now my visor is fogged up." Gaonoir mock complains as he grabs an end of his scarf and uses it to wipe frost off his visor. There's a few faint but visible cracks in his bionic flight suit as he shakes the cold off. "I know you guys are suppose to be cold hearted bastards, but that was a bit literal." Then he dashes back towards Gorth, winding back for one of his punches. That is going to just slam into that shield again! And do nothing, as all that hits Gorth's shield is another shadowy afterimage, as Gaonoir uses his speed at the last moment to fake the strike and sidestep around the tankish Grineeer. Moving quickly before he can turn around Gaonoir shoves his arms under Gorth's arms and around his sides, then bends his arms up to clamp his large metal-clad hands against the back of the man's head. Let's see how good his ablative shielding does against less direct injury, as Gaonoir pulls back with his arms and pushes forward with his hands to use the lock-hold to try and bend the man's neck and spine in a very discomforting manner. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' So, Karal's methodology of taunting is something that both works and doesn't work -- sometimes, the words simply don't crossover, but weird Solar Exalt things are enough similar to Tenno Void Magic that her words and gusto finally find purchase. And they find purchase in a perhaps unexpected fashion: Dhurnam, the Executioner first killed makes a beeline for Karal--and throws a flashbang her way that if she /doesn't/ do something about it, is going to make the notion of seeing or hearing properly be something of an awful prospect as he closes in, both Hek shotguns spewing hot lead at the Solar. Well, you wanted someone, now the berserker of the Executioners is back on the field. Vay Molta is not quite having the time she thought she would--and Kela lets them know it, "Oh what is this, get your act together, Executioners, you're not in training anymore!" Molta on the other hand, encounters that blast from Kotone's heavy weapon /hard/, and as she tries to bring the hammer back down, she's interrupted by the pistol shot landing in her side--a sickening sound of blood and ceramic plating sends a planned movement into stumbling forward. Right into Kotone's fist if the operative is so inclined. An utterly exasperated sound comes out of Nok as the Veteran grumbles. "You really might be a youngster if you think that's all I got, but you... heh, you..." The soldier grunts once; Dorian's display is making him reconsider precisely /what/ he's got there, so one good feint deserves another. In this case, the Sobek is knocked aside for a few moments, but that's because he's focusing reactive energy into his armor, the taller Grineer soldier winding up that energy and then /slamming/ his fist into the ground, producing a shockwave of electrical energy, kneeling to the ground in order to deploy that maneuver. If nothing else, Nok wagers it'll make that mage use that trick of his to get away, and maybe give himself enough time to recover his Sobek and reload. Yari definitely learns one thing for certain: this Executioner is a cheating bitch, given the customization given her 'sniper' rifle (it was originally an assault rifle, but customized and taking advantage of the tracking bullets for situations like these.) and other unfortunate techniques she has solely to play keep away. Oddly, one of those shots... does not hurt as much as the other does. This is owing to the fact that the second sniper is an illusion. An exceedingly well-crafted decoy that has the fraction of Harkonar's power. But power is power--enough that getting rid of Harkonar's decoy is a good thing. One sniper disappears. The other remains--only to shatter into dazzling light as the Fuma Shuriken cleaves through it. And then there's that laser light again from a new angle--at the clone Yari herself sent out, before seeming to change angles towards the smoke cloud. Or it would if Yari wasn't being supported by one of her allies--the sniper screaming in surprise as one hand bracing her shoulder as Valkyr appears behind her, /ramming/ her Broken-War blade through her back so hard she lifts her off the ground, and yanking it back out, letting the body collapse beneath her. Given Yari's state of injury, the Tenno sends herself in a spiralling leap towards her defensively. She can sense Yari's location enough to use herself as a proper decoy, syandana flowing elegantly behind, tailflicking once as she rolls to a stop nearby. Garesh is on approach as he too also has respawned, prompting her to go after Garesh. But there's a brief signalling, faceless look: seems the Tenno will create an opening for her to capitalize on for her to use--Garesh throwing his axes in a spiral that has him teleporting on top of Valkyr as she slides past, making the Grineer leave his back to Yari... 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Dok Thul and Gorth are a potentially deadly combination--even without Dok's advanced field medical tech, he still has his Hind rifle to harass and assault others, though he holds his drone back for now--sending it instead to assist Nok and his combat with the Tevinter mage. In response to Gaonoir's words, however, the masked Executioner simply slams his shield with his axe as though to brace himself. Mercifully, the majority of that energy seems to have been expended in tanking what Gaonoir did previously with that energy vortex before he launches himself into the dashing Gaonoir. This melee seems ready to unfold much as the previous one did, but Gaonoir's choice of tactics seems to be on the money: he resists as much as he can, using the bulk of his armor against the tactic before the shadowy Digimon uses it against him. He's brought down to the ground, wrenching and pulling and attempting to roll his bulk onto Gaonoir to crush him beneath it. It doesn't take, however, and soon enough the 'bend' becomes a sickeing *crunch* that blossoms into several more and then a strained cry erupts through the filtered emitter of the armor, and he goes still afterward, his spine, neck, and really his entire back given a chiropracter's nightmare. ...that's one way to do it. 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Yari adds 'Cheating Sniper Jerk' to her ever growing list of Things In The Multiverse She Hates (tm). Largely as another shot runs her shadow clone through, dispersing to mere smoke. Then straight through, much to the ninja's annoyance. But before Yari gets unfortunate holes in herself, the Tenno is there to save her! And yet, there's a threat to the woman as the Grineer respawns! The Au Ra can well see why this death game has gone on so long. To these clones, their lives aren't precious. Thus, the ninja acts quickly. Her breath is ragged, and her strike somewhat sloppy given how injured she is. But Yari is a predator at heart, and she all but smells Garesh's lack of attention. After a swift set of handseals, a lightning-infused kunai races for Garesh's back, and hopefully past it into his heart. That's about when she unleashes the lightning blast. This lizard wants to make sure any other respawn is both painful, and takes a while. She shows no mercy at all. 

:'''{{#var:774|Dorian Pavus (774)}} has posed:'''     "I don't know that I'd go advertising the fact that I could call a thirty year old man a 'youngster'," Dorian points out as the Sobek is knocked aside. "There's 'older and wiser', and then there's 'a relic'." Smug ass! Though perhaps whatever powers-that-be are about tired of his crap too. Because his attention was on the gun, and his intention was to go grab it. Even if he wouldn't be able to use it, it would keep it out of Nok's hands.     However, because his attention is on the gun, it's not on Nok. So when that shockwave of electricity hits, it quite literally lifts Dorian off his feet and throws him back. The mage emits a yelp, at both the surprise of the move and the pain it causes, cut off when he hits the ground again and skids. By some miracle he manages to keep hold of the staff.     Dorian's not slow to rise to his feet, though. He's not foolish enough to think that Nok won't go for that gun as soon as he's able to. It's another quick application of Fade Step to get himself out of the way of any retribution (likely missing getting blasted in half by mere ''millimeters''). And as soon as he can, he... seems to spread his arms, as though inviting Nok to take a shot.     But between those hands, a glyph appears in the sky... and about twelve blasts of lightning, each one the size of a man's fist, fire off in rapid succession, each one homing in on Nok. And possibly that healbot's drone if it gets too close! 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' His opponent is still burly and tough and despite his superior position in the hold Gaonoir has to struggle to maintain it while Gorth fights the pressure being applied. Especially when Gorth tries to use their locked bodies to crush him to the ground, but Gaonoir endures, twisting his own body both to add additional pressure to the spinal hold and so they land on the ground on their sides instead of him pinned under the armored form's bulk. Then there are several visceral crunching sounds, and the Grineer goes limp in his arms. Gaonoir huffs and lets go, letting the body slump off to the ground as he pushes himself off to stand, several more obvious breaks and dents in his body from the struggling. But that doesn't stop him from giving Gorth's body a shove with his foot to roll it entirely on its mangled back, and cocks back one of his arms as it starts to glow with that shadowy energy again. Erika tilts her head a little to one side as she watchs on her digivice. < Gaonoir, what are you doing? He's defeated isn't he? > <Like you said, they're kind of like us Digimon in how they can be regenereated or recloned. But you know how long it can take one of us to recover from extensive injury even with such ability. > < Like when you go back to a digiegg and have to be rehatched, and raised back up to strength. > < Exactly. He may be dead already, but there's a chance that the worse his body is beaten up, the harder and longer recreating him will take. > And with that Gaonoir SLAMS the energized metal fist into Gorth's midsection with all his strength. "KNUCKLE CRUSHER!" Even with armor and such that has got to be a nasty blow to whatever pass for internal organs with these freaks. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Everyone is figghting hard, some are strangers some she only knew in passing but it matters little, to Kotone. they all want the same thing more or less to make Kela choke on her pride and get a pack of Grineer who wanted out of the nightmare of their empire? Out alive. That's what driving her and she smuirks for a moment. There is no snarky reply as Kotone has to dela with Vay or end up getting turned into a flatterend pile of parts. She shifts her as Kotone moves to leap upon her and punching her about as hard as she can. "It's people like you, why I couldn't have a normal life, why my body was ripped apart and now I'm just a Ghost in this shell but you know what? At least I can snad up to thugs like you!" Kotone has had a button or two pressed by this, oh has she ever. 

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:''' WHERE did that guy come from out of nowhere?! Lin doesn't have much warning, but she prepares her sword. As if, somehow, she can parry the grenade - despite clearly having an idea that it's a bomb of some sort. IS SHE CRAZY?!     Well. yes. But perhaps she had a way to parry it, because she begins to swing her weapon-- BUT KRAKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!     A weapon that just can't do much against PURE NOISE and LIGHT, two things that catch her utterly unprepared! The warrior yelps and yowls, clappingg both hands over her ears and releasing her sword in so doing. She stumbles backwards, reeling and scrambling to reorient herself through eyes that don't want to open and ears that are still ringing.     That's not good. She looks WIDE open.     And she is. The dual shotguns pelt her hard, scattered projectiles digging into flesh and tearing through clothes. The unmistakable CLANGING of metal repelling metal's heard in those rounds though, but the source is hard to see through the sprays of blood. Lin gurgle-screams through the assault, blown backwards like a ragdoll.     But.     It takes more than that to kill a Solar.     The moment her limp-seeming hand slams the ground the rest of her body reorients. She skids backwards across the ground with fingers curling like claws. A horrifying metallic screech accompanies the sparks those claws rend from the floor.     She screeches to a halt, still temporarily blinded and deafened... but yet...     But yet when more shots come her way she leaps from her crouch to the side and deftly flips and hops about in a closing circle strafe like a predator readying her assault.     The blazing sword remains behind, within easy reach Dhurnam if he wanted to retrieve it. Who knows if that's a good idea, though.     More shots her way and this time Lin ducks insanely low, BENEATH THEM. A few wing her shoulderblades and scrape flesh from her arms, but it doesn't slow her sudden rocketing leap. A single push from her legs and she all but SOARS across the space and whips in for Dhurnam. Under the warrior's guard, past those shotguns.     The wind he disturbs is apparently enough for her to have a good idea where he is and what he's doing. It's not the best, but her sheer experience with combat suffices to make do.     And make do well.     Because she lays in with a ferocious CLAWSTRIKE for the neck and crushing the windpipe with lethal force, as if those fingers were the jaws of some mighty beast. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Vay Molta's Jat Kittag is momentarily dropped--she can sense something in her is off, and the ugly gray steel of her lower face twists into an angry sneer as she brings up her Grakata in a wild arc to try and fire off rounds at Kotone before she has a chance to actually make good on her fury. That weapon too is knocked away after a few punches, though a squeeze of the trigger sends bullets uselessly into the glass viewports above them. It doesn't take many punches of that electrified fist as she leers through one eye, gurgling and coughing up blood--coughing up blood /at/ Kotone before her body shudders and it's cybernetics die alongside her. Even in death, she is delighting in the violence, and maybe somehow intuiting the violence she's roused in Kotone was not violence she was accustomed to. Gaonoir's sentiment is halfway correct--the cloning tech and the like here, along with the Arena's nature of the fact people /feel/ it even if it doesn't retain? Means that the Ultravilence that the Digimon decides to inflict will be a memory burned into the psyche for a while. Especially given the way that the midsection crumples inwards, then the armor completely gives out, burned out by the energized fist that renders Gorth half the man he used to be. Impossibly, however, the Grineer watching at home are CHEERING at this display of violence. Seems they don't care who's getting wrathfully pummeled into the ground, if it's entertaining the way Gaonoir dishes it out, they love it! Something even Kela can't help commenting on despite her irritation about Gorth meeting a rather messy and unfortunate end. "You wall-hugging, clone monkeys, can't get enough, can you?!" Even this gets /more cheering/ still. Never let it be said the average Grineer was super intelligent. On the other end of the proverbial Court of Rathuum, Yari is allowed to recover partway due to the fact Harkonar was taken out--and though she's on the way back, with the Tenno nearby as she is, their attention is there. When she hurtles for Garesh, Valkyr cuts loose a /howl/ of furor that's enough to make one's bones /sing/ as she gives herself to Hysteria, and Garesh is beset on both sides by lizard ninja and space ninja. Especially as the Warframe sports energy claws now, extending from each finger as she and Yari effectively, mercilessly /rip and tear/, the blades of the ninja allowing her to leverage her claws into and literally dismember Garesh into a bloody heap. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Hey now, parrying grenades is /awesome/. The Tenno would approve wholeheartedly--they parry freakin' laser beams themselves to say nothing of some other unique things to parry, and parry /with/. (Fist parry! It can happen.) The pain Karal demonstrates is something the armored and sadistic Dhurnam utterly /revels/ in, laying down even more firepower--he heard the metal on metal, but he's treating the Exalt like a Tenno--overwhelm it-her--with extreme firepower and let the Queens sort it out. Which as much as he doesn't trust her being blown back like a ragdoll as she was, it doesn't necessarily /help/ him the way he was hoping. Before he gets a chance to employ that one trick of his he used on Yari--hell, the Solar Exalt might feel the energies tingling around her to swap places--the heat and momentum and her getting /off the ground/ make actually trying to Switch Teleport a bad idea. He discards the shotguns at the last moment in order to bring up a reserve Brakk shotgun--too little, too late, and even as that clawstrike sunders the Grineer's armor, he's cackling and gurgling madly--never does Dhurnam feel more alive the closer he is to death--planting the barrel of the shotgun to Karal's temple-- ...only for an utterly sickening *crunch* and his finger left on the trigger before his arm simply drops to the ground, body going limp. Through the slits in the faceplate, Karal might be able to spot that sadistic look before the lights utterly leave him. "Ohhhh I could /feel/ that hunger from here, wanting to rip that Contender's throat out with your /teeth/ and not just those claws, you sure you don't have a bit of Grineer in you?" Ah, mockery. Time honored tradition of Kela de Thaym. "Pah," Executioner Nok starts, "I've heard enough of that." Energy pulsates through the air as he rises once more, only to roll himself towards and retrieve the Sobek, ejecting the spent ammo drum from it in order to reload. Yeah, he's showing a few cracks of /annoyance/ and as without the gun, he didn't have much of a chance. But with those glyphs heading in his direction, he manages to pop off a few rounds to blast at him and the glyphs--fruitlessly, mind. The medical drone doesn't get the chance it needed to aid Nok's injuries. That's because even with him trying to roll away from one blast of lightning, he's caught up by the next one, and the one after that and the one after that, and his voice sounds discordant as the purest form of agony rips through him, making his body nearly lock into place as electrocution has waves and waves of coalescing energy waver over him until he drops to his knees, falling forward. The smell of electrocuted flesh hangs heavy in the air for a few seconds before his body completely dissipates--motes and embers of burnt flesh and armor marking his death in the Arena. And he'd come back from that painful death. But it would be too late to avenge that death, nor the death of Dhurnam that follows shortly after his. Kela is /FURIOUS/ as that kill puts the Accused to the point total they needed for this particular phase of it. And as some of the others like Dorian suspected, Kela's words should be no surprise. "WHAT?! I... I am declaring this a Mistrial! Rathuum must be repeated!" Maybe not /right then and there/, and even if there's no direct advancement, there's no loss at least, so the Steel Meridian defectors will live another day. 

:'''{{#var:774|Dorian Pavus (774)}} has posed:'''     Dorian actually feels a little sorry for Nok. And for the others who have been more or less exploded by the Elites. But it is indeed Dorian who gets the last laugh here, even as he knows Nok will either respawn or be cloned, whether he actually died here or not. So he might or might not hear Dorian's, "Good show anyway, old bean!" Waaaaay too familiar a term of address there!     His next statement, however, is not for the ears of others, and is spoken quietly enough that the cheering masses' screams easily cover it up. "...''Kaffas'', that was close..." he breathes. Shotguns against cloth? No contest there. He's just grateful he didn't take a direct shot, or he probably would have died. And he doesn't have any of that fancy-shmancy cloning technology. The thought crosses his mind that if Tevinter could get their hands on that kind of technology...     ...Aaaaaaand he stops that thought right there. That's too horrible to think about.     Anyway. He goes to stand with the others as Kela declares mistrial. He sighs. "I was expecting that. If you'd just like to see more of me, you have only to ask, my dear. No need to set up such elaborate circumstances to draw me back again." He's not sure if she can hear him or not, but if she can? She's probably going to be pissed~. 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' Dorian called that one, now didn't he? Ganoir snorts a bit as he gets back to his feet after punching out the rest of Gorth's guts. "Figures." But all he does is give his scarf a dramatic flick over his shoulder as he turns and walks, at a normal pace instead of the speed he was exploiting earlier. Shrugs a bit to the others, and there's a bit of a smarmy glint in his eyes when he cocks his head just right for it to be seen behind his visor (which has a big crack in it from when Gorth tried to slam him into the ground). "I think she just wants us back because the crowd is enjoying US more then her champs." Sure it was just because of the overkill, but that doesn't change that crowd was cheering for them instead, and he's not above twisting that jab in the opponents' side either. Too bad these weirdos are likely too jacked up to be demoralized by it. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa shuddered inwardly at this it's clear Kotone takes no joy in doing something like this but it had to be done it had to be neded. Even with the nature of the arena known to her? She finds it repugnant to her nature and that is for the best really the eelware powers down for now and Kotone moves to pick up the hammer if it's intact and she'll attempt to put the thing to use, even if it's not properly using it. The fighting comes to it's end and soon that Kela is now screaming and raging she narrows her eyes as Kela calls it a misstrial, she drops the hammer on the ground and looks at the projections narroowing her eyes a bit, she knew this sort of thing was about to come up and Vay oh god, Kotone can't unsee what she saw at all, she'll keep rolling with this, she's got a job to do and the personal intention to do so. 

:'''{{#var:984|Karal Rei Lin (984)}} has posed:''' "Send the ENTIRE ARMY down here--" Lin spits out a few moments after regaining her composure. NEARLY GETTING SHOT again was a bit nerve-wracking... and she's not confident she'd've survived a point-blank shot to the head from something like that... "Send them. C'mon and send them!"     With nothing more than a scowl and disgusted look for Dhurnam's dying expression, she tosses the corpse aside as if he weighed nothing and reaches for her weapon. It LEAPS across the distance and back into her grasp...     "Watch them get torn to pieces...." 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Not long after making sure Yari is well enough to walk, the Warframe appears--or makes her way, one of the two--over to Dorian, the feminine frame giving him a quick once over. At least, that's what it /seems/ like. She may have been worried that the Tevinter mage was feeling out of his element, but seeing a minimal degree of injury was a comfort. <"We think all of us were."> Kushiko projets aloud. <"Though, none of you should think you are the snakes she is referring to."> A faintly wry tone out of the Tenno. <"That would be us."> As to why, she doesn't seem interested in elaborating further, at least, not yet. Besides, the Grineer have loads of insults for them anyways. Towards Karal, she reaches out with a hand, energy claws having long since been dispersed by Hysteria being released. <"You and I should have some time together sometime. Your combat is like ours, in a few ways."> The Tenno surveys the others, looking somewhat relieved the others made it through without suffering a similar 'death' as the Executioners had. A perfect score, but given the call for 'Mistrial', they'll have to do this over again. Some of the retorts fall on deaf ears, but there's a decidedly angry /growl/ over the comms and broadcast before she angrily snaps, "Cut the transmission. Get out of here, ALL OF YOU." And with that, the screens and projections blip out. Well, that's as good a sign to get going as any. <"Shall we?"> 

:'''{{#var:774|Dorian Pavus (774)}} has posed:'''     Kushiko won't have far to walk to go over to Dorian. He's actually heading towards Yari himself, hoping he can coax out some healing magic. He's not very good at it, and probably couldn't actually do this in battle, due to the concentration required. But he's going to try to heal the ninja as much as he can.     Minimal injuries? Sort of. His coat's pretty well ruined, with scorchmarks and punctures in it where the shotgun pellets penetrated despite his barriers. His boots are scratched up too, and the bird-shaped pauldron on his coat is bent. Yes, he's going to be complaining about that later. And he may just send Kela the bill!     But yes. Dorian's also planning to do what he can with the healing for the rest as well. Karal was hit pretty hard, he seems to recall. How did Gaonoir fare, Dorian couldn't see a lot of what else was going on. While he does, he assures Kushiko, "All in one piece still. A bit perforated, but still in one piece." He gives a cocky smile. Can't let the fear show!     He also nods to Kushiko's words of getting out of here. "Yes, I think that's wise, before we overstay our welcome too terribly much." To the group at large he offers, "I'll try to heal you a bit on the way back if you're in need of it." 
}}

Interludes and Examinations (Kushiko)

2016-12-14T20:29:52Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Cutscene Header |Date of Scene=2016/02/11 |Location=Origin System |Synopsis=Not long after events in Anor Londo and in the wake of the Multiverse's realignment, the Tenno an..."

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2016/02/11
|Location=Origin System
|Synopsis=Not long after events in Anor Londo and in the wake of the Multiverse's realignment, the Tenno and the Lotus must make a particular decision about where to go next...
|Thanks=MCM Plotstaff and beyond.
|Cast of Characters=964
}}
SOME TIME AGO, AFTER LEAVING ANOR LONDO
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"I'm surprised you didn't speak up more."

Such words were given by the child who sat within the Orbiter's Somatic Link. Kushiko shifted slightly in the seat, the smooth curvature of the encapsulation breaking and sliding apart as Valkyr approached her.

"Should I have?"

The Lotus appeared to the right, in that typical perspective of where she herself was hidden away to give Tenno their directives, guidance and more. "I trust you to do what you feel is right. I could do no more than that, my child." It was only the Lotus' tone that kept her from raising proverbial hackles at the notion of being labeled as such. Towards the Lotus, she felt that motherly kinship, though she could scarcely remember her own.

The Lotus pressed on, her words gentle, breaking with the crispness they tended to hold. "... yet you must recognize that you, and she, were both children, yet much more than that. Like you." Kushiko's eyes narrowed slightly, the lilac and orchid light of her eyes pulsing in intensity before she answered, "Maybe, but that's just an excuse. It's why I don't ... like showing who I am to people who can't see me for who I am. Or only one part of me." She struggled with the words for a moment, the Warframe in front of her canting her head slightly. She shifted her perspective--no longer simply looking through her own eyes, but through Transference, through Valkyr.

OOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4iffXdVTYE

"What would any of them really say if they saw me, if they really knew what I am? Juno was one... and I... I want to think some of the others we've seen could see it, and not the child."

Valkyr reached, and in the same moment the Tenno mirrored the motion, placing her hand upon Valkyr's hand. She felt the righteous fury of the berserker within, tempered but never forgetting where they came from--even if the Tenno had lost those memories. Margulis had to sacrifice so much to ensure they could live, could control their powers. But at what cost?

"Let us move on. We have work to do. The system needs us. Our friends... Priscilla, Carna, and many more need us."

---------------------------------------------------------------

MOMENTS AFTER THE EVENT

"It's... it's /gone/." The disbelief in the Lotus' words was palpable as she spoke, "Tenno, are you alright? Ordis, give me status reports, now!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS NONSENSE--*glrkzzzhnk*--I am very sorry, Lotus, it appears as though /everything has gone to hellznnk--... Excuse me, I am having a great deal of trouble recalibrating. My sensors are *bleeding*--encountering profound differences between what the Multiverse outside our system was and what it is now. There is still a great deal of distance between the Outer Terminus and Sector Zero so the rail network and acceleration gates are still advised but..."

The Lotus, if her face could be seen--if she had a face--would be undoubtedly one of consternation, that much at least reflected as her lips whitened from the pressure as Ordis confirmed for her what her own network of intelligence agents and assets gave her. There was a profound upheaval, and the reams of data even now would take an incalcuably long time to fully analyze and process alone even with Cephalons like her own in Cordylon or Simaris and Suda.

"I... I'm fine, Lotus." Such words were given under great strain at first, eyes squeezed shut--the child of the Void had experienced... /something/, thanks in no small part to the Event. "... I think." She did not speak as she did--normally when she did, she felt and spoke for the segmented parts of her persona--Valkyr, Nova, Mag, Mesa and others--but now, they spoke as one with their Operator. "Something happened out there, felt it through the Void itself. Their Void... /emptied/ out of the superplanet, didn't it?" It was as much a question as it was a statement. She felt the /outpouring/, that would be better described as vomiting.

The Lotus was relived, but they had no time to dawdle. "You are correct. Prepare a Warframe and an Archwing; we need to see precisely what happened. All superfactional frequencies went down but the comm network I have established to communicate beyond Origin is still functional. We're receiving reports. Chaos is spreading. Ready as many other frames as you can for deployment elsewhere. We're going to be busy."

The girl drew in a steady breath, nodding, her consciousness reaching into her primary four frames, each of them arming themselves--though physically they could not /see/ they could look to the Tenno in their respective minds. "Let's go."

---------------------------------------------------------------

THE DAY AFTER

"Infested are being cordoned to their breeding grounds at Eris, with limited outbreaks at the usual spots like Jupiter. They have not been beyond Origin since that one time." the Lotus transmitted to her Tenno--not just Kushiko, but still. That much was a relief--Kushiko and the Lotus both expected the Infested to try and spread, now that the strange element of the Multiversal Void was no longer present. Space-time storms of before were not as present, but the distortions that remains reminded both of them of how the Moon, Lua, was affected.

"Yes Lotus. The Grineer and Corpus both seem to be in the same positions as they were before, but Cressa Tal of the Meridian mentioned that in this chaos, they've been hitting the Grineer a bit harder and the Grineer haven't been able to respond. She says she may have some work for us soon." The Lotus made a slight noise at this. "Noted. I'll verify the intelligence she's providing. Keep an eye out for the Arbiters, they haven't been pleased with your choices to associate with the Red Veil despite your friendship with the Meridian."

Kushiko simply sighed at this. "Can't make them all happy. If they want to waste their time sending squads after me, then that's their choice, same as mine." The Lotus was silent on this, prompting Kushiko to wonder, "What else, Lotus?"

"I'm being contacted by someone who claims to be representative of yet another new faction. We know of the League and the Paladins, and heard rumors of this 'Watch', but this one calls themselves the Concord. Based on what my intelligence agents have learned, these four seem to be the new groups that have taken the stage of Sector Zero." The glimmering eyes of the Tenno flickered as she stared at the reports on the screen."

"The Paladins as you and I both know do not suit our purposes, adhering to their laws will bind you and I. Nor is our charge solely for the uncovering of the mysteries of the Multiverse, though it would not surprise me if Baro Ki'Teer decided to work with them to some degree." The Lotus' looked aside, prompting the purplehaired Tenno to look up at the screen within the Somatic Link. "The Watch... is close, but not quite. They are more like the Red Veil, and that does not help us do what we need to do. The Concord is being led by Priscilla and Yuuki Kuran."

That particular bit of info made Kushiko's eyes widen slightly. "... Let's talk to them a bit more then... the way they talk you could think they were like the Orokin, but they're not selfish or greedy. They reject what we did not like about either faction swallowing up these worlds and suppressing them like the Grineer did, just for a 'good cause'." She sighed once. "Either way, you're right that we need to work with one of these four... at least for a time."

"That's what I thought as well." the Lotus murmured. "I'll patch in the representative now..."

Sin and Absolution (Kushiko)

2016-11-25T03:40:35Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Cutscene Header |Date of Scene=2016/11/24 |Location=Larunda Relay |Synopsis=The Lady of Sin's offer and the actions that have been ongoing in Lordran compels a degree of int..."

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2016/11/24
|Location=Larunda Relay
|Synopsis=The Lady of Sin's offer and the actions that have been ongoing in Lordran compels a degree of introspection the Tenno did not expect in the ongoing conflict surrounding Priscilla.
|Thanks=Priscilla, for inspiring it.
|Cast of Characters=964
}}
"Are you certain, Tenno?"

Those words from the Lotus echoed in the young girl's head long after meeting Velka in the Cathedral Gallery and the subsequent debrief she had with the Lotus. She wasn't completely certain before, but the more she dwelt on it the more she considered the lady in black's words more favorably.

Nonetheless, she stalked the Larunda Relay, passing through the archways, her optics flicking down the corridors towards the divided groups of Syndicates that oft vied for Tenno support. "Hn..." At the noise from inside the Somatic Link, Ordis' cracked hexahedron blipped onto her visual field, a tentative note in his voice as he spoke. "Operator? Ordis wonders... what are you thinking about?"

Nova's fingers balled into a fist for a moment before relaxing. "Thinking that how some things change, the more they stay the same, Ordis. Or maybe it's that there's always a common thread somewhere." A faint huff, the dark purple tinted Nova Prime mimicking the gesture as she willed it further along. "Wonder if that's a Teshinism." she mused dryly. Ordis' sine wave pulsed briefly as he spoke cautiously at first, "I ... do not know, Operator. There has been much more to consider and deal with since the System became a part of this Multiverse. But the mission, the cycle, they stay the same at their core, do they not?"

In the mist of the Void energy that blanketed her, she allowed herself a small smile. "Yes. They do. Still, I think we would seek word with Teshin, perhaps. Let the Lotus know we will be meditating on this matter for a while. Thank you, Ordis." This made the Cephalon almost stammer for a moment before he recovered, "I-- yes, of course Operator." Without a further word of complaint Ordis closed the communication channel as the doors to the Conclave split open.

"Curious." the deep voice of the Conclave Master echoed. "You do not pass through here as often as I would like, pupil, though you seek it's lessons all the same. And yet another lesson lies before you, does it not?" Kushiko almost paused as Teshin spoke upon her entry into the Conclave--the symbolic snowy mountain and it's steps traversed by many Tenno, though never truly reaching the peak.

Kushiko bit back the immediate urge to snark, her projected voice lifting up towards the old master. "I keep expecting you to disapprove." Such a sentiment was answered in turn by a faint shake of Teshin's masked visage. "Hardly, my pupil. Be it through the Conclave or through those you face beyond Outer Terminus, you continue to better yourself and find the limits of your ability." He pursed his lips slightly. "You wonder about the nature of that world's 'Sin' and 'Absolution' as it relates to you and offering your blade to that world's blind justice."

Snow crunched beneath Kushiko's step as she paused, glancing towards one of the groupings of cairns, the familiar Orokin-Tenno script flowing down the stones, and the phantom of Teshin that slowly conducted a Narta as demonstration. When she did not speak, Teshin continued. "It would be easy to dismiss her words for being one from another place, would it not? Matters of sin, absolution, punishment for those who have strayed from the path of law. But then, easy was never your path, and still it is not. The river that flows here is the same as it is elsewhere." The man adjusted the grip on the sheathed Nikanas at his side. "Consider this, then. The sword. Protect or kill, it chooses not, for it only obeys the will of it's master."

Nova's head turned slightly, energy shimmering as the control surfaces on her back opened, the funnels of light glowing brightly. "The force of law, justice, even if it's denied action." Falling silent, she considered. "We do not like this, Teshin. It is a complex situation, much like--" Teshin cut her off. "Much like your own with the Orokin, with the Sentients and beyond. I can only be a humble guide here, pupil. You must be certain of your path and tread it without hesitation, for it is in hesitation that you will be lost."

Unconsciously within the cradle of her Orbiter, she drew a long breath, Nova's head bobbing once. "Thank you, Teshin. We will consider your words with care." The master's expression didn't change.

"That is all I can ask, pupil. Now go."

Infested Outbreak (Jupiter)

2016-05-31T05:32:40Z

Aryn:

{{TPPage
|Summary=While the Corpus and Grineer along with the Syndicates are known quantities in the Origin System, a foe that both sides contend with is making itself known once more. The Infested. Victims of the Technocyte Virus, a metamorphic virus without cure, living organisms consumed and merged into rabid amalgamations. Resurgent upon Jupiter, it is up to the Tenno and other enterprising Elites to help the Corpus suppress and exterminate them once more.
|Scale=Minor
|Plot_id=-1
|Runner=964
|Contacts=None.
|Theme=Warframe-1
|Audience=Everyone
|Genre=Sci-fi w/grimdark
|Events=The Corpus are reporting a new outbreak of Infested upon Jupiter. The planet, once overrun by victims of the Technocyte Virus has been plagued by intermittent resurgence of Infested that lay dormant and other means that have yet to be determined.

The moon stations of Carme, Metis, Io, Elara and Thebe are currently undergoing extermination sanctions, and incentives are being offered for assistance to the Tenno in purging the current outbreak.

Ships are advised not to enter unless they are aware of the dangers and likelihood of not leaving the system unless they are Tenno-escorted or thoroughly checked down to the nanoparticle for Infested tissue.

It was a hard fought victory, but through the efforts of the Elites and Tenno, the Infestation's source vector, PHORID, was discovered and found, breaking the back of the ongoing Infestation.

Information both major and minor was revealed, such as the nature of the Infestation as a former weapon, as well as it's ability to infect both organic and inorganic in equal measure.

For now, with a few exceptions, the Infestation can be considered suppressed...
|Info=Set to be a 3-4 scene mini-arc introducing the Infested to the 'verse at large.
|State=Finished
}}

4106/Jupiter: Infested Outbreak (P3)

2016-05-22T07:14:24Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2016/05/13 |Location=Origin System <WF> |Synopsis=With less Infested in the way, an attempt can be made to obtain the information necessary to trac..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/05/13
|Location=Origin System <WF>
|Synopsis=With less Infested in the way, an attempt can be made to obtain the information necessary to track down PHORID where it has manifested most recently. Surely it isn't a trap?
|Thanks=Everyone! Been loads of fun. :D
|Cast of Characters=7, 215, 255, 304, 571, 964
|Tinyplot=Infested Outbreak (Jupiter)
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' THE STORY SO FAR-- Reports had come and gone regarding the Infestation, a name applicable to disease and victim, a metamorphic plague without cure. Jupiter, the gas giant which is controlled by the Corpus have sought the aid of Tenno and Elites alike in mobilizing against the Infested, who care little for things like politics in their pursuit of biomass and greater strength. What is known now is that the Infestation does not care about organic or technological, infesting and corrupting technology as well as organic tissue, and much of their combative abilities beyond claws and heavy, close-in attacks tend to involve toxins, electricity and of course, fire. Ironically these are things that can be used against them but in more specific ways. While some Infested have fossilized tissue and carapace from long age, the bulk of the Infested remain very vulnerable to fire and other sources of high heat weaponry, and the notion of cutting them apart, slashing them open is a very valid option. Armor piercing rounds that puncture rather than slash aren't particularly useful here. Curiously, corrosive measures as well as toxic gasses that break down flesh are uniquely effective in their own ways against the Infested, as while they may wield their own toxic measures, Infested are still living beings at the end of the day, and are as vulnerable as such. Furthermore, in the case of today's operation, the group is tasked to recover data that has been stored on systems at the Thebe network of gas processing stations. For reasons related to typical security protocols, much of the data went into lockdown, owing to either power or the simple presence of the Infested. More to the point, the information here is of critical nature, as while the source vector has been determined, the exact location of PHORID must be narrowed down further, and the information here is the last link in that chain. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' PRESENT DAY -- Thebe is two things: one of Jupiter's many moons, and the name of this junction point in the myriad gas processing stations that may as well be cities floating in the planetary atmosphere. Well, three things if you count the mythological nymph of the same name. Regardless of this, Thebe is yet another point where rare gasses are refined from Jupiter below. Though for most who know of the Jupiter of yore might be worried about survival here should be less concerned: considerable technological advancements into these coldly industrial, design-by-committee structures with their own atmospheric controls means that breathing is a non issue. Doesn't really stop that odd yellow-green coloration in the 'sky' so high up here. Cobalt steel and modular aesthetic aside, there's a very large, open docking platform that ships can arrive upon: a cursory Corpus security force of about a dozen assorted crewmen, MOAs and Ospreys are milling about, awaiting the future arrival of others and monitoring the situation further in. A little ways beyond a cargo container appears to be corpulent, cancerous growths of Infested tissue, like a splotch of receding growth that does not seem to quite concern the Corpus given the active threat of Infested deeper inside. The mission here is simple: access specific terminals inside, and upload either the Lotus or link another individual capable of the systems via a carryable datamass with the Tenno or anyone who might choose to volunteer for that task. Speaking of, the Nova Prime Warframe is present already and awaiting the arrival of other Elites presently. A quad barrel-looking shotgun of some measure is cradled in her arms, with what looks like to be a... jet-powered /hammer/? of some Grineer-inspired design on her back, the handle rising up between the control surfaces where cones of energy radiate from the antimatter-wielding Warframe. A hot wind is blowing... 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     It isn't the first time Setsuko has worked with the Corpus. At least they're willing to recognize allies. Once again, she isn't here for the pay, though; she's here because her divine senses led her here, and because of a strange, nagging feeling she'd had yesterday. Just a ghost of an echo, something distant and short. But for some reason, her instinct tells her she should be here. And so she is, stepping off her own dropship and walking past the Corpus present to stand beside the Nova. "The infestation is persistent, isn't it?" 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' ADDITIONAL: Transit means are varied, transport ships provided by the Lotus are sleek and efficient, Corpus one are mass-produced angular, blocky shuttles. The operating procedure is fairly clear though: if you wish to assist, you are here to help kill and draw attention in a wide variety of ways. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka's here, and she's brought her jury rigged mini gun once again for the operation. As backup, she's got a MK X Hell's Teeth Pattern Chainsword, the weapon slung across her shoulder. It's a killer for close-quarters, especially against infested flesh. She also has a sawn-off shotgun as well, just to be sure, but she's leading with Shredder Rounds fired at 1000RPM. "You could say that, Major." She remarks, heading towards the Warframe herself as her helmet folds into place. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' Some bounty hunters work for the pay, but Iria does it for more than just that. It's as long as she knows that she's doing it for a good cause. So her craft arrives rather quickly, and Iria steps out and joins the others. She says nothing to Setsuko or anyone else, just giving a slight nod to acknowledge everyone as she arrives, weapons ready for action at a moment's notice. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa had started to get the idea of how bad news the infestation was, it was something to behold. She's loaded up with incenary rounds, which would be stupidly illegal on her world yet for here? Against monsters like this it was needed. It had taken her a few days to fab all the ammo she'd need but she was ready to go here. She'd also this time brought a old sword with her, in the event she gets up into close combat, thankfully the infested are more savage then skilled, so Kotone's body should be able to somewhat cover for her lack of formal skill with a blade. She connected up to the Lotus network and was aweed againt at the coding of it and just how much information it could handle. It was a rare thing for Kotone to run into something that out die her world in this.. She checked over her weapons and everything else and she'd made sure she had enough data storage for the data they were going to grab. << All right I'm set to go.>> "Hey Iria, Maaka, Setsuko you all set for this? And yes it's more stubborn than the tax man." 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Cutting attacks are effective? That's particularly useful knowledge for Black Arachnia; she depends primarily on her claws for close combat, and the lasers she's equipped with for ranged combat are better suited to trying to cut enemies than to just drill holes through them. Of course, ideally she's not even going to have to fight any of these Infested, but since when does a field mission ever go according to the ideal scenario? Since neither of her modes is capable of independent spaceflight (let alone atmospheric re-entry; she'd at LEAST need a stasis pod for that), Black Arachnia hitches a ride on one of the Lotus-provided shuttles. She can hang onto the ceiling or a bulkhead just as easily as taking up a seat, anyway; she'd actually prefer to arrive in her spider form. Hopefully none of her allies are arachnophobic. Once the shuttle touches down, she wastes no time in exiting the vehicle and approaching her teammates. "So who's focusing on the actual hacking part?" she inquires. "There was a 'datamass' mentioned ..." 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Funny thing about the Tenno. The actual suits, whatever passes for speaking just isn't there. So the voice that comes is a voice born on the wind, on local communicators and the like; masked, fairly androgynous if probably young adult in configuration. Or is it masked? Who knows! "Always is. But that's okay. We're here to get rid of it for as long as we can suppress it. Which, reminds me. We're going to be killing lots of them, granting them mercy, but we're not focus on that. The goal here's the data and the data only," that voice concludes. Nova on the other hand shifts her weight just so, twisting her wrist and checking the quad-barreled Vaykor Hek for a moment as the faceless visage turns towards the others beyond Setsuko. A nod is given to Maaka, remembering her not just from before but from the ship as well. She was interesting in her own way. Knew that she wanted to 'speak' with the Lotus, perhaps even her, Kushiko quietly mused from afar. Iria too, but hey, even if you're doing things for a good cause, it helps to get paid if only to help ensure you can take care of yourself after. Traded material or simple credits, which the Corpus were happy to spend. Or not spend. The Lotus elected to speak now as Kotone and Black Arachnia arrived, a visual of her provided as Nova turned out her hand, an emitter displaying a visual stream of her for the moment: "That is correct. Typically, one of my Tenno will deliver and upload the necessary network protocols linked to hardware that can be modularly installed." Nova cants her head slightly, gesturing to the datamass for Kotone to pick up; it's about the size of a tall computer, but thinner and with a handle on it. "But with at least two of you skilled and capable of working with the systems as I understand it, we may be able to collect more information quicker, reducing how many terminals we need to obtain the information necessary. Therefore, those choices exist: use the datamass to upload me to their systems and keep it safe while I work, or work with me while others keep the terminal and an additional hacker safe. The Infested will respond to the system coming online, after all." 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     There was something curious about the Tenno and her benefactor, Maaka can't deny that much. There was a lot to the Tenno that didn't meet the eye, but that could wait until another, more social time.     It's time for business, and so the cyborg mercenary claps Kotone on the shoulder before she heads up ahead. "I got you, Ko'. I'll keep you covered, just focus on getting the payload where it needs to be." She says calmly, before she motions for Iria and Setsuko to follow her as well. "Us three should be able to keep the Infested at bay long as our tech heads are still alive." 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' "Just say the word," Iria says as she loads a clip into her assault rifle, "And I'll make the Infested regret messing with us!" She smiles an evil smile, almost like that of eagerness and slight arrogance. "Don't you worry about a thing! We're gonna make sure everything goes according to plan!" She does this while attaching a laser sight to her rifle. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     "If one of you chooses to hack," Setsuko says simply, "I will guarantee that none of them reach you." She rests a hand on her sword, her expression serious. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "If you can direct us to the terminals in some semblance of optimal order," Black Arachnia suggests to the Lotus, "I could probably serve best by hurrying ahead and trying to secure the routes to said terminal that we *won't* be using. At the very least I can string enough webbing across hatches and the like to slow the Infested down, maybe even give us some advance warning which way they're coming from. Or should we assume they'll come from every direction that doesn't take significant intelligence to navigate?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "I getcha, we get in we get the data and we get out. Right?" Kotone as she looks over the feed from the Lotus for a moment. "Gotcha." She'll move to pick up the datamass and look it over for a moment letting out a whistle. "Impressive, hardware." She'll make sure all things are hookced up, and she'll get the datamass taking a pistol in her other hand as she gets ready to move out. "I think I can take a crack at one of the terminals if I can get the cover I need." She looks to Maaka smiling happy for the cover she's going to get. "Shall we?" 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' "Remember. Focus on the data. While destroying the Infested here will do some good, it will only be a short term relief and there will be a continuous amount of them surging this area once you've begun." the Lotus offers at final. At the question of ther terminals themselves, the visual interface changes; it uploads for those who have the secondary kit for it, but it's basically a map, with elevation indicators: each terminal marked with a yellow square, with at least two of them indicating that once they've gone further in, there's probably an elevator they need to go up and down on, or some other means of a shaft to pass through. It's more of a 2D topographical presentation than anything. "If you can, by all means," the other voice remarks. "I'll point out a few places where they tend to come from." Would make sense the Tenno knows. "Just have to see the location itself to know for certain. Vents are usually too small except for Mutalist-Ospreys trying to carry in crawlers, the bulk of them will be using the same corridors and passages we would, waiting until we've moved on to start massing and pursuing. We don't want to be bogged down either." She closes her hand with a quick motion and turns towards the facilty itself. "Let's go!" With that utterance, she's moving--more to the point as she breaks into a sprint, she launches herself, energy surging towards her feet that rockets her forward and practically /gliding/ a little bit through the air before rolling across the walkway she lands on. There's some air vents in the next area that are pressurized enough that they can float anyone up over a fairly massive gap which the Tenno simply leaps over the rail barricade to let the air carry her across. For those less inclined to parkour and swing, there's two paths around and over that descend further, though the sight of Infested milling around as the Nova approaches them might put some on edge. Not the Nova Prime, it seems: she fires off a cluster of pellets from her shotgun as she glides over, practically gibbing the Infested chargers; quadrupedal and animalistic which gets a few other chargers annoyed as she lands and rolls to her feet. Yet, even as they begin to, she's lifted her hand up and released a radial /wave/ of lilac-pink energy, lines of light criss-crossing as the band expands around her. A demonstration, perhaps? Those with the sensory equipment identify one certain thing about it: it's antimatter energy, bathing Infested with those particles, causing rippling waves of energy to outline them and slow them down. And we mean, /really/ slow them down: even the ones trying to jump through the air to bound after the newly arrived Warframe can't go through the air as fast. This wave will reach others who are following her, but it will only pass by them like a wind. It really /should/ affect others, surely, but she's exhibiting a selective degree of targeting--impressively so. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' In addition, as the group begins to proceed forwards, there's more fibrous growths and biomass that simply cling to wall, as if calcifying it in some places, and trying to spread their spores and basically terraform and overtake places from the look of it. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka takes off after Nova Prime, following the Warframe loyally while she keeps her minigun's rotary barrels rotating rapidly. Taking a leap at the vent, she uses her suit's boosters to keep her airborne as she glides after Nova.     THe weapon's already spooled up by the time enemies come in sight, and Maaka lets off a burst of 7.8mm rounds downrange in short, controlled bursts. She's got a new custom rig on the weapon, giving it a stabilizing arm-rig that attaches to her suit. It handles recoil just fine, making it much more of a point and shoot weapon than without, good for Maaka to target hostiles as she goes to mowing Infested left and right. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Let's go indeed.     Setsuko lunges into movement alongside Kushiko, taking a long and gliding leap right along with the Tenno before coming down on the other side. She still doesn't dare unleash her cutting energy or her full-sized blade in a facility that will probably see use later; thus, Nova will get all the ranged kills, with Setsuko only drawing her blade and starting to carve through them once she's landed and is within reach. But then, her blade moves fast, striking with swift and powerful hits. Especially when the Molecular Prime wave fires off - slowing them down so much makes them child's play to carve apart, and they detonate rather nicely when struck. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' Running fast is one of Iria's key skills. She takes off alongside the others, her assault rifle clutched tightly in both hands. She could use her sword, but she prefers to use a little automatic gunfire now and then. She only opens fire when she's sure she has the shot, not wanting to risk any collateral damage here. "You picked the wrong elites to mess with!" She yells at the Infested. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Even in spider mode, Black Arachnia can make pretty good time overland - but her proposal of 'going ahead and trying to secure a perimeter' seems to have fallen by the wayside; she's not THAT fast, and the Tenno isn't giving her a chance to take enough of a lead to do anything productive with it. So the Maximal spider just runs, eight legs moving in tandem to maintain a steady clip, keeping pace with the humans. Robot mode could probably keep up more easily, and she makes a mental note of that for the next leg of the trip ... no pun intended, though. On the downside (inasmuch as it counts as a downside), she can't lay down any fire to keep the Infested at bay along the way. Still, that shouldn't REALLY be a problem, the other Elites (plus the Tenno) have plenty of firepower among them. Meanwhile, Black Arachnia is 'mapping' as she goes, and could probably share that data with anyone else who needs it or wants it (and can handle data transmissions). On the upside, though, once the group is inside she can switch to a wall or ceiling, and even start webbing up some ducts just in case any of the little infiltrator-types the Tenno mentioned might come knocking. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa got the mantra of focus on the data, get the data and then get the hel out. WIth the group seemingly making ready to head out she's going to just use her pistol when she gets the odd shot should she need it. She moves head keeping with Maaka and Nova prime as she goes she's going to try to get to the point as quickly as she can. <<It's like someone took humanotu's nightmares and vomited them up>> She keeps moving and will be wise to make sure of any priming the Nova does to do even more damage to the infested. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Others would discover quickly, there's more in the area ahead and then some--then again, with the Molecular Prime wave from Nova slowing them down, it would be heinously easy to kill them, and kill them quickly as Setsuko, Alexis, and Iria are discovering. With each voluminous weaponry impact, there's a concussive explosion that erupts from them, the very bodies imploding and breaking apart. Seems the wave of antimatter serves a second, lovely purpose: eradication down to the very atom, the Infested bodies dissipating, though some of them occasional seem to pop little cubes and other odd geometric shapes; those with matter manipulators and other forms of conversion might find themselves able to recharge and add to their ammo stores this way. Though purely by chance, a nearby Infested finds themselves on the back end of a doubly-timed swing--the blade of Setsuko striking from one angle, and Jat Kittag being swung around as Nova sweeps low, the thrusters on the hammer spinning her around to slam it's side as she hurdles past. With the group killing quickly and efficiently, it is quite literally no time at all and they happen upon the first terminal itself; bullets, and blades earning a nice window of breathing room as the Lotus announces, "You've arrived at the first terminal. Begin the upload, and we'll see what information we can pull from here, Kotone." Towards the Maximal spider, the Warframe turns. The petite frame might have the body language of something more apologetic given the offered plan, but she gestures down one of the other corridors; the pneumatic hiss of a door shuttering in the distance amidst the screeches and shrieks of Infested growing more cacophonic. "You can head that way; we're going to need two terminals one way or another, I'm sure. But be careful going through the vents. They can fit you but it may be tight, and if they can fit you they can fit Infested too." Seems the plan didn't /quite/ fall by the wayside, just that it was more prudent to establish their presence at /one/ before letting the Infested get wind of what the Maximal was planning. Speaking of, let's mind the area the group has arrived in: multileveled, with a catwalk going across at least twenty feet up in the air. Other than the way they came in, there's two other doors that lead to supply and staffing rooms, or simply adjoining areas for utility purposes and the like. Sometimes generators, control rooms, conduits, you name it you can probably suss it's nearby. Add in one last dominating path towards the next terminal after this being a good 150 meters away, and you have the lay of the land at present, with the possible vectors from which they'll be arriving (or in this case, departing) -- though, of note there's additional routes to escape the place other than simply coming back the way they came, depending on the remote piloting abilities of anyone's ship. Either way, with the howls and sound of claws and muted footsteps on industrial paths, there's no escaping that the Infested are already converging towards the group. If Arachnia wants to skitter her way towards the next point to establish some trappings and expediency, now's the time. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa Says "Understood Lotus." Is Kotone's reply as they reach the terminal she'll pull one cable out of her neck and jack it in and also jack on into the datamass to be on the safe side as she gets to work. "Give some cover here I'm going to be a might busy!" SO she's going into the system to seek out the data they need to get and pull the information off as fast as she can do so. Man it's like a last moment backup of something imporant cept for the horrible alien monsters trying to eat them all. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "Sounds like a plan," Black Arachnia says. "I'll cordon it off along the way." The detail about the vents is noted for reference along the way, and Black ARachnia skitters off - trying to get a head start before the main group starts drawing attention by actually accessing the terminal. She's sticking to walls and ceilings by preference - and as she goes, she enables her electro-disruptor, cloaking her presence from sensors and vanishing from sight. There might still be some movement noise, but the Maximal should be a lot harder for ANYTHING to detect, friend or foe. That just leaves the issues of protecting the path so her allies can follow it in relative safety. Zombie hordes are always a problem in any kind of terrain, so Black Arachnia focuses on throwing obstacles into place along the way - sealing off side passages, webbing vents closed where none of her allies will be going through them, maybe rigging a few traps that her allies can trigger so that paths the Infected COULD use can be turned against them. She doesn't have a whole lot of time to work with, so Black Arachnia has to be efficient about her 'sabotage' ... but that doesn't mean she can't enjoy her work to the extent that time allows. If the rest of the party gets the opportunity to see the fruits of her labors, they might be glad the Maximal spider is on their side. Either way, once Black Arachnia gets to the second terminal that the Tenno mentioned, she takes stock of the perimeter, looking for additional points of access that could be closed off - but also identifying some that she *will* leave open, since at least one of them will likely be needed as an exit route, but also so the Infected can be 'channeled' into those routes for easier combat. ... although as she's setting things up, Black Arachnia has another idea, and may be heard snickering softly over the radio when she gets to that point. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' "You want cover?" Iria says as she loads a new clip into her rifle. "You got it!" She double-checks the laser sighting on her rifle before looking to the others. "If anyone else wants to cover me, go ahead. Otherwise, our friend here is going to need me to cover her." She stares down the barrel of her rifle, waiting for any nearby Infested to show up. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     If there's one place where Setsuko shines, it's fighting a force with numerical superiority. She leaps up to the upper level and dives right in among the Infested, and Zanjintou begins to swing and slash without end; with no one around her but enemies, her blade can go in just about any direction and find a foe. And she does a very good job of thinning the herd, so to speak. The Infested fall in droves around her, reducing their numbers in such a way that whatever gets past her is enough that iria can handle it easily, leaving Kotone to focus and Arachnia to prepare ahead. And with her mobility, she can easily move from one horde to the next - which she will do, staying mobile, killing as many as she can. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' At first, things seem pretty well straight forward; when Kotone accesses the system, there's an audible pulsation from the Corpus systems. They're kind of a mess, a temporary scramble/encryption occurred due to the lockdown and the honest fear that the Infested could access them. It was enough of a deterrent, but given the system disarray it's in, obtaining vector data about where the Infested came from will take a minute at least, thanks in part to Kotone assisting the Lotus as she verifies. "I'm in; let's get what data we can from this system so we can move on to the next." Generally, the concept of, 'spending as little time as possible here' seems to be the operating tone. And for good reason. Arachnia moving on ahead reveals more and more of the corpulent, cancerous growths of bio-organic tissue, pulsing amidst swarms of spores and insects drifting throughout. It's nothing that will harm Arachnia, but she'll probably want to make sure she's thoroughly decontaminated later if she has to proceed through them. Even then, those will be by chance. Some of the Infested she observes are starting to get into really /freakish/ forms: it has to be some measure of humanoids made into the quadrupedal chargers; a head bobs out of the underside of one as the presence of active computer systems is driving them to act. It is, at least, funneling them and more to the group. More distressing beyond that is the presence of a MOA. More specifically, a heavily infested MOA that is so twisted by the Infestation that it's hardly the same thing, only the same shape as it heads towards the terminal room the group's at. And it's not the only one monstrosity. Certain familiar shapes would make their presence known: Ancients, powerful Infested that have long since lost their original shape begin to shamble in from the sides: Iria in her case won't like hers as it seems to coruscate with bluish energy; an Ancient Disruptor whereas the one approaching from another side can only be ID'd as a Caustic Ancient Eximus. "Watch it!" Kushiko's voice hisses through the radio; just a hint of a more feminine voice than the typical androgyny of the voicemasking bleeds through. This one simply unleashes an inferno of flames outwards not unlike Molecular Prime from Nova, but at the very least it's nowhere near the terminal: it is however buffing it's fellow Infested with fire, which forces Nova to, buffeted backwards by the wave of fire--to somersault backwards, half-gliding as she surges the room with another wave of antimatter force. While it may slow down the group currently encroaching the room, there's other issues. Namely, eagle eyed observation beyond the immediate, somewhat slowed threat would catch sight of Infested pouring down the corridors from each and every direction. A blast of her shotgun staggering the Ancient Eximus for just a moment, but exploding at least two other Infested around it as she lands. The fight is certainly /on/ that's for sure. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is going to have to thank everyone here later for covering her,. She catches sight of just how good Setsuko is at fighting sarms up close. She's still however focused on getting the data and it was a bit strange. Okay it was hyperly messed up and the Corpus had been smart to lock thing down, to try and keep these horrors from it. It really spoke of how bad these things were, that it made everyone in the origin system? Stop fighting turn around and jointly try to kill the infestation. She moves to get the data s quickly as she can. "Copy that I'm in as well going after what I can get." Then she does keep note of what's going ona round her and to her horror she sees a moa, an infested moa. Even a body of synethics is not safe from becoming a nightmare of twisted flesh. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Aw hell. That's a lot of them.     Some sense of Setsuko's allows the demigod to move on at just the right time; she can feel the flow of the battle, she can sense when the pressure in one area is light enough that another needs her attention more urgently. She's very good at stemming the tide, in short. Unfortunately, her boots hit the deck right in front of the Caustic Ancient just as it unleashes a shockwave of fire, and she's blown right off her feet, her skin seared and scorched in more than one place. No sooner has her back hit the ground, however, than she turns it into a roll and lunges back in. Working through her own pain, setting it aside entirely, so as to dive in and take down that Acient Eximus as quickly as she can. It, and all the Infested around it. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka is quick to catch up with the others, and she fires burst after burst of minigun fire into the horde of Infested. Eventually however, she stops, only because she notices a blip on her HUD indicating low ammo. There goes the chance to keep spraying at these things, time for Maaka to get her hands dirty.     She draws her chainsword, the weapon roaring to life with the press of the throttle, and she charges into combat just in time for the caustic ancient to send forth a wave of flames. "-shit!" She's sent to a knee, staggering to her feet as her armor weathers the assault despite an angry glow of heat radiating off of it, before the cyborg goes back to work. She charges the Ancient and its buddies, cleaving through Infested with her chainsword with savage glee in every swing she takes with the crude implement of righteous killing. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' Meanwhile, Iria is reloading her weapon and trying to take cover while the Infested continue to come in. She pulls back just a little to give herself a little extra space before opening fire again. "There's just no end to these things!" She says with a scowl. "How many more are there?" 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' On the one hand, with the Lotus and Kotone working in tandem, the data acquired is much quicker than expected to boot; after all the less time needed to be spent here, the better for it. Even if the group was working pretty damn well to ensure the many spectacular deaths of the Infested and to keep the amounts at a stead flow instead of a chaotic flow (with Arachnia cordoning and blocking some passages) it would be endless. Indeed, while Arachania was doing a good job of delaying that inevitability, she was given a cognizant angle--intelligencewise--that there would be more and more as time moved on, and they would break through what she did eventually to swarm the group--later, rather than sooner, at least. The Caustic Ancient Eximus is dealt with in rather spectacular fashion, the heavily mutated and evolved figure staggering backwards at first, before the impact and cutting of chainsaw and blade alike, sending what remains of it's bodymass careening down and into a few more of the Infested, the combined efforts between Setsuko and Alexis doing a handy job. However that leaves a dire need to actually establish some breathing room as it were; something that Nova provides. Twin orbs of golden, solid antimatter energy are cast forth by her. The combined efforts of the group: some of the shots being slung by Iria, some of her own shotgun fire are made to basically 'prime' both orbs as she brings them down into the groups. The resultant explosion buffets the group harmlessly (if shockingly violent!), but for the Infested? Their reduction into particulate matter and energy serves as to the result of antimatter 'drops' that seemed to magnify the damage from not just the Elites but the Infested as well. The slaughter is, without a doubt, completely brutal at times. And yet, there's a wrinkle to it. Because as Kotone and the Lotus secure some data, lights, hell the vision of everyone throughout the facility flickers for just an instant. Accompanying that changing in lighting is a reverberating         ROARbloodMUSTANSWERblood HOWLING AND SCRAPING --that seems to practically resonate throughout the facility itself. Those Infested that aren't molecularly primed, massed at times when they aren't being killed seem to be overtaken by a yellowish aura. The Tenno knows what it means. For a few, fleeting seconds, Setsuko would instinctively sense it's meaning as all Infested that /were/ primed? No longer the case. Now, now they came at a much quicker clip, forcing Nova to shift and deal with the Tar-Mutalist MOA that sprinted in amidst the others, leaping and bounding away from Setsuko--it had a REALLY freakish sense of when someone was trying to get in close to kill it, it seemed, discharging a blast from her shotgun to send it into a wall on the far side. The Lotus answers Iria's question as well while the 'frame looks to help convert some ammo with the varied means she has. "Their numbers are presently endless. Because that was a Juggernaut. They are drawn to the death of Infested. Lay low, and it should go away, or amp up the the fight to bring it out." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is able to ge the data working with Lotus? Kotone has only seen one other person who was remotely like this in terms of skill and she feels more than alittle humbled but together they are able to get more.She pauses t the lighting and wait was that a voice? She's chilled by it and wants to get out of here before something else drops in. She'll pull her jacks out quickly. She takes the mass up again, and with her pistol in her off hand she'll get moving and pot shot a few infested as tey go. "Lay low? Got it." With that Kotone's optic cameo kicks in and she'll look to try and find somewhere to avoid attention as they press on or hide. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     That roar stops Setsuko cold. It hits her at the most instinctive level, warns her of a fierce foe, nudges at her warrior's intuition and her divine senses both. If they draw that thing's attention? They're going to ahve a tough fight on their hands. And yet, Lotus seems to think drawing it out is a viable option. With the Tenno there to provide them experience and information... well, the Union could use something like that to take home and examine, properly quarantined.     Plus, some part of Setsuko rallies to the prospect of a strong foe.     So the swordswoman takes her blade in both hands and goes to town. Moving through the facility to meet with Arachnia at the second extraction site, but more importantly, carving her way through the Infested hordes with a /purpose/. Every step brings a slash down, every slash heralds another step forward. Advancing and attacking are one. And on the hallways where she can get away with it, where there's a straight corridor long enough to allow it? She even begins to sling one or two short-lived divine energy cutters. Crescents of blue-white, well-defined and bright, they cut just as sharply as her blade, which means even steel is no obstacle. They only travel a short distance before dissipating entirely; she doesn't dare fire longer-range slashes at all. But they're still dangerous to anything in front of her. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' To a certain extent, Black Arachnia is well out of her depth here. To be sure, sneaking around and enacting various forms of conniving and skulduggery *is* her niche as a Maximal - and she's been enjoying a certain amount of the preparations she's laid around the second terminal on the team's route. But the sudden roar of a Juggernaut catches her by very, VERY ugly surprise, sending her internal systems into full combat alert mode - those which weren't already primed for personally doing battle, at least. She makes one more circuit of the terminal room, checks a couple of tiny devices she'd set up next to certain passages ... and at Setsuko's recommendation, she moves back over to the terminal, uttering a few words. They are not a prayer. "Black Arachnia, *maximize*: assault mode." The transformation into her robot mode is swift and smooth, but rather than assuming her normal configuration, she winds up with a large shield which can close around her torso, shielding the front of her main body and giving her spider-legs - and the laser emitters which they house - full freedom of movement. She runs a thin cable into the terminal's main input output jack, makes sure it'll clear the extra layer of protection ... then closes the shield and begins accessing the terminal, setting up a secondary wireless link with the Tenno who's assisting the team if that'll be necessary. As soon as the Infested start trying to breach the terminal room, she'll be on them with her lasers - although she likely has to start by taking out the infestation-masses which were already quietly residing on the edges of said room ... 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka drips with ichor as she sweeps clean any gore from her chainsword, the weapon leaving a trail of guts as the team begins to head to the next terminal. They're stopped midway by the massive roar of fury from /something/ ahead. A juggernaut, a creature enraged by the slaughter of infested and drawn to any who leave a swath of death behind it.     This thing commands a careful, quiet approach, but in this case, the Tenno's encouraging the opposite of that. THey got this, right?     Maaka hopes so, as she revs her chainsword again and draws the sawed-off in her off-hand, blasting away at distant Infested before closing in to chop away at mutated hordes with her roaring weapon. There's little technique here, Maaka is hardly the elegant asskicker Setsuko is, but she IS just as effective with most weapons. So, she goes to slashing away. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' Upon hearing that roar, Iria is briefly reminded of the pack of mutated gorillas she came upon while doing a bounty hunt in Zimbabwe-1278 fairly recently, but compared to this, she'd rather face the gorillas than whatever's coming. She doesn't like the look of what's coming at her one bit, and to make matters worse, she's out of assault rifle ammo. Or rather, she can't reload in time because that thing is getting closer quickly.     With a swift somersault backwards, Iria gives herself as much space as possible while she swiftly changes from her assault rifle to her chainsword (yeah, she has one too, watch the OVA!) Then she points it forward. "Come and get some!" She yells. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' For what it's worth, two options really do exist: slowing down how quickly one kills is certainly part of it: the group would find by demonstration of the Nova that it's rather handy to simply run and parkour past some Infested. Of course that assumes certain degrees of ninja skill that would distract them from the somewhat slow-ish moving group. Even then, there's enough telegraphing that if one stays clearheaded and focused, they can avoid the occasional swing of a claw or fist. "I'll prime it when it shows up," Kushiko offers. Not that anyone save Setsuko knows it's her voice over the local band, speaking to the others. "It charges and throws spines that you really don't want to get hit by, but with what I do it'll be slowed enough to give you a chance to avoid it." Nova pivots slightly, discharging the last of her shotgun clip into an Infested before reloading, discarding the spent canister in exchange for a fresh one. "If it can't get you that way, it likes to sling toxic tar, bombarding a small are. When it rears up to charge, that's your best opportunity, otherwise... well. There's another option." Not that she favored using it because of the implication. In the meantime, Nova moves relative to Kotone for a moment as the group begins to push forward. More and more Infested begin to fall, though this time they're a bit less clustered up. Another Molecular Prime ensures the group has little trouble, only chance and coincidental catches midswing have any hope of finding purchase on Maaka, Iria or Setsuko. In the case of the Maximal spider, she's... actually had somewhat of a better time than most. Infested that have begun to act in response and accordance with the much larger group occasionally find their bodies cut to ribbons now with the turreting--some of her work has ensured that flying types, specifically the Mutalist Ospreys carrying what /look/ like malformed, armed torsos of Infested are forced to go paths that leave them exposed. Some of the other smaller ones are milling about and fruitlessly attempting to get through the places Black Arachnia has already trapped, completely heedless of the potential danger they may have been in. The need for blood has sortof stymied their greater thought processes there, if only for a few moments. The tension draws itself thick for a moment as the second terminal hack begins; the Lotus will be linked up shortly, as will Kotone once she arrives along with the group. Nova opens a wormhole in some of the straightaway corridors, allowing the group to cross the distances /very/ quickly. But as one particular Ancient falls, it's body crumpling, a new roar is heard. A howling, screaming sound of                 I'VE FOUND YOU --it's sound reverberating and echoing off the wall as the group is treated to the sound of a massive quadrupedal creature from behind, at the least by the way the floors beneath them reverberate. There's maybe all of ten secconds the group has to reach somewhere vaguely open before the Infested beast tears apart one of the many automatic doors in the facility, erupting as it SLAMS into Nova with it's charge, sending her SKIDDING violently across the ground, but the momentum is used to at least help kip herself back up as she slows enough to push from her hands behind her shoulders. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' And that's not all Black Arachnia did. Some of the passages that she seemingly left open? They actually stay open long enough for a bunch of Infested to crowd into them, and it seems like there's nothing to stop them from rushing down the passageway to get at the terminal and the Maximal who's hacking it ... Up until the Maximal's gaze flicks towards the doorway at her end, and smirks. Hatches at both ends of that passageway automatically slide close and seal shut - and in the next instant, conduits which could be rigged to overload within the bulkheads of said passage, turning it into a deathtrap of heat and electricity and maybe plasma as well, depending on how the place is built. Some precisely-placed explosives detonate for good measure, turning the terminal-room end of said corridor into so much twisted wreckage, hopefully impassable even for the Infested. Black Arachnia's smirk remains unabated as she keeps lasering the Infested who manage to get into the chamber with her, splitting her attention between that task and the terminal itself. It's just a simple matter of multitasking ... made simpler by the fact that she has little in the way of a fallback strategy. It's not even a 'tower defense' scenario except for triggering a couple of her other traps - and she couldn't rig EVERY passage that way, for obvious reasons: the team will be coming in one way (and Primus willing they will NOT have a Juggernaut chasing them) and they'll all be leaving another way, and she wanted to leave an option or two for the exit route. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Going through those portals, moving swiftly through the corridors... it's an odd experience for Setsuko. But she adapts swiftly, and her blade never stops lashing out. Not, that is, until a thunderous, furious cry fills the corridor. Though there may be no words, the swordswoman understands it all the same. The ferocity in it is enough to give her pause, her eyes widening - and widening more still when it smashes open a door and bowls their Warframe-wielding ally clean over.     Had she known, she might have stuck to her guns about proceeding cautiously.     But no, it's there now, and they have their course of action. It's gotta die. So Setsuko lunges. Full speed, straight ahead. As she runs, the Nova is treated to a sight she might not have expected; for all Setsuko's caution about damaging their surroundings, she has concluded that killing this thing takes precedence over minimizing damage to the facility. So she holds Zanjintou at her side, and then there's a /snap/-     A /fwoosh/-     The grip and hilt expand, shifting size for a much bigger blade, one that takes shape with a swift rush of blue-white leaving behind gleaming steel-     -and the immense blade of Zanjintou, fully twelve feet long, swings up and over Setsuko as she attempts to simply bring it down full-force on the Juggernaut. Anything in the way - catwalks, floor, support beams, anything above her whatsoever - doesn't so much as slow it down. "HAAAA!" 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' Meanwhile, Iria's finally seen the beast and she's scowling big time. "You wanna ruin things for us? Then I'll show ya what we do to freaks like you!" She attempts to dive in quickly and thrust her sword at the creature. Hopefully this should prove she's not kidding around. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is keeping with the push but she's not taking too many shots given her optical claoking is up but she will take out any primed enemies she can here and there. That should nopefully not got them too much attention but it seems. She jumps through worm holes and is glad Nova is along ot this would be even worse but it seems something has found them somthing else is coming. She snipes another infested but can't help to cringe. That one was intact enough to know they used to be a corpus crewman and she just shudders inwardly. <<We got compamy and it doesn't sound happy." 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka goes through the portal, adapting to the sensation of teleportation and zipping through corridor after corridor. As she hears the beast come closer, she grips her chainsword and shotgun tight before steeling herself mentally for the Juggernaut's arrival.     'Come and get me.' she thinks, just as it arrives to greet the team.     She gapes a bit at Setsuko's full sized sword, before she gets back to focusing on the threat at hand, going wide as she fires off both barrels at the Juggernaut before calmly holstering her shotgun, going solely for melee as she gets in a slash at the beast's side. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Howls of agony and surprise are the kinds of special noises that greet Arachnia in terms of her works; splattered and shorn of their existence, husks staggered and crumpling down to the cobalt steel of ventilation passages and corridors. "So far so good," the Lotus remarks, "Impressive work." Seems she's got herself a sensor feed as well--but given the skill she demonstrates in remote hacking, it should be little surprise to anyone. In fact, going over the data streams going in and out demonstrate, she signals to Kotone as she grants another former Corpus some degree of mercy; there appears to be /just/ enough of a clearence window put forth by what the team's done so far that she can get over to where Arachnia is and finish the hacking job. If she gets there, they won't need to get a third terminal of data. <<"Focus, Kotone. We can get done here sooner if we hurry while the rest of the team deals with the Juggernaut.">> A monster: not twisted flesh but fully and completely evolved is what one can describe the Juggernaut as. While it vaguely resembles a Charger in some degree, it's far more powerfully built, digitgrade legs that end in ways not dissimilar to a rhinocerous of Earth lore. It's plates shift ever so slightly, but beyond the tentacles wavering above, pseudopods loaded with toxins to bombard an area. It howls as if to answer Setsuko's charge at first. That's when the entire facility going at least 200 meters out simply /buckles/ from the epicenter of the impact itself. Electrical outbursts race up and down some parts of the corridor, bulkheads crumpling inward as the voluminous IMPACT resonates throughout the gas refinery, a cacophonic noise of catwalks and flooring giving way under the slice itself. Yet impossibly, two things have happened here: the Juggernaut still stands, though not without pain, not without suffering. The blade bites, but has only slammed the Juggernaut down to an almost flattened position, the corridor sunken downwards from that impact of the blade striking even if Zanjintou did not strike as deeply as Setsuko, nor even Nova would have preferred. However... there's another little weakness that not many seize upon due to the nature of the Juggernaut's predeliction for high speed movement: two of it's tentacles are severed, ichor and blood spraying and gurgling in equal measure as it attempts to push itself upwards to try and launch a torrential barrage of spines in retaliation to how much it HURT thanks to the demigod. The beast is /pissed/ off. But as pissed as it is, as shotgun ammunition makes it catch fire partway, it simply is unilaterally /focused/ on what's brought blood of the Infested forth in such a primal way. But whether or not it's spines succeed in finding purchase in either Setsuko or Maaka, the Juggernaut is suddenly moving a great deal slowly as a new wave of antimatter surges outward. Nova's back in action. With Maaka and Setsuko engaged, she's turned her attention to the few groups heading in, raining down explosive blasts with a combination of her shotgun and antimatter that she wields. The plan is quickly clear: have Setsuko and Maaka wear down or at least blast those tentacles off, and try to finish it off when it rears up while she deals with the Infested that attempt to reinforce. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Just how the Lotus is watching, Black Arachnia honestly doesn't care right now; she doesn't mind having a friendly audience, and she's got bigger things to worry about than how Mission Control is monitoring her performance. Like that Juggernaut the others are trying to deal with. And the fact that it could very well kill them all just by bringing the whole station down on their heads, or something, if the direct combatants don't figure out how to stop it. No pressure, guys. None whatsoever. The Maximal turns some more attention to the progress of the data-grab, a pair of lasers intersecting across the optics of an Infested that's trying to enter the room at the same moment. Even if the beams don't burn through its brain and kill it, the damage to its eyes should make it as much a hazard to other Infested as to Black Arachnia herself. If there's anything the hacker, spy, and saboteur can do to speed up the downloading, she'll try and spare a moment to do so. Otherwise, she keeps on lasering corrupted mutants, and hoping she doesn't get killed by sudden acute architectural failure brought about by a rampaging super-monster. She may have to slow down with the lasers soon, though; she can only cycle their firing capacitors at this rate for so long ... 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' <<Right, right I got to keep focused.>> The Cyborg turns her full attention back onto the job t hand and she's going to as ever have to trust in her friends and comrades here s she works to get the data there's not muc else ot think about she'll get to work even as the others are engaging the infested horror why are there things like this beyond her world? It's making some of the horrors there seem down right mundane in comparison. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Down comes the Zanjintou with all the force Setsuko can muster from sheer arm-strength - and the heavy, brutally powerful Juggernaut takes it. Its hide is tough enough to stop the Zanjintou cold, even if the combined force smashes it down hard enough to buckle the ground. Setsuko has an instant of wide-eyed shock-     -and then spines drive themselves into her body. A couple in the thighs, her arms, her abdomen, one even catches her low in the ribcage. She only just manages to use her sword's bulk to shield her chest and head from something worse. But 'worse' is relative; the hits are enough to stagger her back, dropping her to her knees in dangerously close range. A cough comes up bloody, and with something between worried pain and deep irritation, she reaches up and /pulls/ the spine out of her ribs, tossing it aside.     Then she stands up again, taking Zanjintou in both hands. The pain is bone-deep, but even now she sets it aside, forces herself to focus. She's physically incapable of bringing more force than that in this particular arena, but they have a different window of attack. Those tendrils. Around her the blade of Zanjintou whips, swinging around to pick up speed, and then heaving it in full-strength towards the Juggernaut. She's aiming to hack those tentacles off - and at the same time, carve damage in any other way she can besides. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka grunts in pain as she feels a few spines find purchase within her side. Blood leaks from her suit, and she clutches her injured side with one arm while she backs off, slinging her chainsword again. She takes a deep breath, noticing a punctured lung. Well that's just fan-bloody tastic. Coughing, she tastes copper before her suit automatically applies repair nanites to stem the wound.     She also produces a few incendiary grenades, priming and tossing them at the Juggernaut while she draws her shotgun again, loading it up with some nasty shells; DRAGON'S BREATH rounds to be specific. The double-barrel has a heat-treaded alloy, making it resistant to flame, thus she doesn't hesitate in letting off a blast of flame powered buckshot scorch the Infested behemoth. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The tension is so thick it could be damn well cut with a knife. Or claw. At one end, we have Black Arachnia, Kotone and the Lotus--though in regards to the Lotus hers is more of the remote system linking. Between the three, the data itself is going to be obtained at a rate of expediency normally not afforded. Such is the benefit of dedicated agentry like now. While the datamining is underway, the matter of Infested is growing increasingly high pressure. At the very least the use of those beams to make one of them blind has a wonderful result of the poor thing being almost /confused/ somehow, the Infested charger turning and bounding to slam a runner in another direction, the thing stumbling and flailing to the ground. Well it would be a poor thing if it weren't a twisted amalgamation of metamorphic technorganic plague, we suppose. Less to worry about as the facility seems to stabilize otherwise. And at the other end, we have the Juggernaut vs. those who still aren't a mass of twisted flesh. A good analogy is the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. The sheer imperviousness of the armor is a massive factor going as to why the facility /shook/ the way it did. But now with the group refocused the way they are, it's somewhat easier to sort through what needs to be done. Zanjintou is an excellent tool in this regard. As steadied as the Juggernaut is, the impact of the sword meeting originally plainly trashed enough of the stability beneath it that a combination of that plus the Dragon's Breath round send it skidding backwards under the onslaught. It's on fire now, and as much as it might be doing damage in some degree? It just doesn't /care/. It does, however care when the blade and shotgun shells do damage to those tentacles. More toxic bile spills, blood and ichor spraying the ground beneath it to start to corrode that industrial metal beneath it's feet. It has been bloodied, and the Infested are finally beginning to dwindle, explosions of pink-black antimatter smoke occasionally on the edge of one's senses. And as much pain as it's in, it rears up, because it still has a target: the demigod and the cyborg. But it rises slowly, physical-defyingly sluggish thanks to the antimatter particles it's been bathed in. Yet as it rears up, a new opportunity might be seen because of a floating orb of Antimatter that was being guided around and towards that underbelly. There's just enough time for a pair of someones to maybe /drive it home/ as it slows /just right/... 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka spits against her visor before she holsters the shotgun. Buckshot won't do enough good against that orb coming the Juggernaut's way, so she decides to do something a bit more drastic instead.     She draws out an MGL grenade launcher, loaded with high-explosive rounds. Bracing it against her shoulder, she begins to fire all six rounds into the orb, trying to power it up instinctually with each shot before she swaps to her Kama, firing the 10mm to divert the Juggernaut's attention with a few shots to its side. "OVER HERE, UGLY!" She growls loudly, running like hell to avoid getting pinned down.     And yes, the grenade launcher DOES go bloop with every shot. Hence the nickname. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     It is a name that puzzles Setsuko. But she'll have time to wonder about it later. Right now, there's an enemy presenting a target to them; a weak point to finally finish it. Nova's presented them with a means, and Maaka's unloading enough power into that means to give it a potent kick when it hits. All that remains is to ensure it's delivered.     Setsuko Kaminagi is not one to waste chances. She lunges into motion, unhindered by the lung that's already mending itself or the other spines still stuck in her. But at the same time, the huge blade she's been swinging against the Juggernaut disappears, collapsing back down to the size of a common katana blade. This, she holds horizontal, straight ahead, aiming to drive it right into... the ball of antimatter. She pushes the blade right in, aiming to skewer it on her sword - and then KEEP GOING, charging in at full speed so that she can drive Zanjintou's curved blade, and the antimatter with it, into the beast's underbelly. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' The faster the required data is obtained, the happier Black Arachnia will be - but she'll only really relax when we're safely off the station. (And ideally, watching it blow up in a gratuitously large explosion, taking out every last Infested with it, but that's not her call to make.) Meanwhile, there are still Infested around her terminal room, and even more trying to get in. The spidery Maximal triggers another corridor trap - one which several Infested already made their way in through, as a matter of fact - and finishes off the survivors who'd made it through before the hatches slammed shut. With a lot of luck, the fact that it's happened TWICE is going to start making the Infested hivemind think that maybe going through corridors isn't really such a good idea ... Eh, she can hope. Not like Black Arachnia ever puts much stock in anyone else's higher-order intelligence. Either way, it'd be really nice if the flow of Infested into the second terminal room eases up; her lasers need to cool down and their capacitors need to recharge. Without a break in firing, she'll likely have to go to the CR Chamber upon returning to home base, even if the Infested never lay their smallest appendage upon her. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is hacking away at this point trying to get all the data they can get and it looks like they are going to be hopefully done shortly but this is going to be a very good thing given the infested are still coming. The more of them they are? The smarter the swarm gets, it's quite a hell of a thing to deal with and worse the Juggernaut is here nd Kotone is just trying to focus on her job to get th data and get out of here with everyone else. <<Almost got it...>> 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Have you ever wondered what it was like to see something truly and utterly disintegrated? For a few fleeting moments, Setsuko is privy to a certain feeling: anyone can wield energy and throw it at people, but the way it's wielded by Nova makes it feel like it's very much /alive/, exulting in the power being brandished at it by not just her, but the telltale /bloops/ from the grenade launcher hungrily devouring that kinetic power, the backwash of explosive ordnance somehow directed back towards the Juggernaut. It's a beautiful, cosmic explosion, coruscating sparks lilac coursing and twisting through the air as for a few fleeting moments, everything /feels/ like it's shaking, if only for an instant as the supercharged antimatter finds it's home through Zanjintou's final push. Because for that precious moment, the orb goes from a raw, golden nebulous state to an inverted shade of black and lilac as it, quite frankly, hits critical mass. The energy radiates like a cool wind for Setsuko and Maaka. But for the Juggernaut, for the few remaining Infested in the general vicinity, they're simply /disintegrated/, explosions of antimatter rippling through them, tearing their bodies apart at the molecular level, mist of lilac and black flaring before collapsing inward on itself. Only one piece of the Juggernaut remains, resting on the blunt side of the blade. ITEM(S) OBTAINED: CHITINOUS HUSK, 313 NANO SPORES (from some of the Infested) As much as anyone might want to, complete destruction of the facility is a null-sum game; abandoning this place simply means the Infested get to devour it and make it a twisted part of themselves with enough time. It's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Purging the source of the Infestation is the smarter long term solution, as the remainder is simply killing the Infested that remain. Within the terminal room, the datastreams pouring through begin to reveal key information relative to the earlier datamining: specific details about the spread pattern of the current Infestation Outbreak; more information on Phorid -- it seems to be located on one of the moons of Jupiter from the looks of it. Kotone finally obtains the last bit of knowledge with Arachnia's hacking work. SOURCE VECTOR CONFIRMED: AMALTHEA The moon. Not the robot unicorn made of rainbows. "We've got everything we came for," comes Lotus' voice over the radio. "Head for extraction; I've arranged for a shuttle to get you clear and back to your own ships." The explosion that rocks the world of the Juggernaut behemoth washes past the terminal room, eliciting squeals and hisses of agonized death as the Infested seem to be dying in a shockwave of force. There's enough of a path now for the group to escape through: notable is with what Arachnia did they end up needing to avoid an elevator, but can go up a massive processing chamber, up and past some ramps towards the other side of the facility. It's a familiar sight; were it not for the lack of ships present until the group approaches that it looks to be a docking bay of some kind, open aired that shows the Liset of the Tenno coming in along with the shuttle. Nova occasionally firing off a Molecular Prime as they progress through because other than her Carrier drone popping off mini-shotgun shells off, she has no care for further engagment. Time to get out of here. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Well, the Corpus might not be happy about all the damage, but they can just sit and be glad they got their facility back with minimal loss of life. Especially against that /thing/. For now, though, it's time to be leaving. They'll have some stuff to give to Union R&D, and Setsuko will probably be spending a while in quarantine - it's the first time she's been so deeply wounded, and that infestation virus is nothing to mess around with. Reminded of that, the demigod sets about making a few swift movements, yanking out one spine after another, seemingly unconcerned about the deep gouges bleeding freely.     It becomes clear why, though; by the time they reach the landing pad to board that shuttle, the wounds have ceased bleeding. Her body must have rushed the healing on her lung, too, because she's breathing evenly by that point. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     "Yep. Time to go." Maaka doesn't need much else to take the hint as the data is secured, and she holsters her weapons. Ripping out some of the spines, she grunts in pain before she hobbles along, trying to ignore the gushing blood as her wounds seal up.     "Fucking hell..." She grunts, clutching her side. She might be stuck with in medical for a while as her wounds are treated, especially with that virus.     In any case, she focuses more on getting the hell outta dodge instead of fighting. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Three cheers for 'time to leave'; Black Arachnia disconnects from the terminal once it's confirmed that her work there is done, and she sets off the last of her corridor traps while leaving through one of the un-trapped passages. It's a good thing her electro-disruptor had time to refresh while she was working with the computer (and her lasers), too, because she has a feeling she's gonna need it. Badly. She'll be making the best time she can while mostly avoiding Infested wherever possible. She'd *still* be happier if she knew this place was going to explode, but ... Drat. She should have left some viruses in the computer network, shouldn't she? Something to keep the Infested from making any use of the computers after the group was done with them. Ah well. If the Tenno wanted the computers burned, presumably they had something in place to do that via the datamass. Black Arachnia puts it out of her mind, and skedaddles to the extraction point, killing only as many Infested as she can't avoid. (Which might still be a large number.) 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is digging for data, she keeps digging to get all the information they need and get out finally they seem to have it, it's one of theo ther moons. Amalthea seems to be it and it has nothing to do with the famous Union Elite. Kotone almost dances over the data, the moment they have what they need? She jacks out, pulls her jack out of the system and gets ready to mvoe she does not want to stay here a moment longer than she has to. It's time to bolt and she's going to make fo the evac zone with all due haste. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' For the most part, there's little true concern for the Elites; the brevity of combat ensured that the spore count that they were exposed to was minimal, but when they get away from here, standard and Warframe-fueled decontamination processes will ensue. The Liset actually demonstrates having a secondary 'cargo' compartment that converts into a passenger compartment, something that can be taken advantage of by the few who may not have a direct ship here, before they are all taken to disembark--and reembark--on Union and Lotus-supplied craft.             MISSION SUCCESSFUL 
}}

4136/Jupiter: Infested Outbreak (Final)

2016-05-22T07:12:06Z

Aryn:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/05/21
|Location=Origin System <WF>
|Synopsis=The final confrontation with the source of the Infested that have been resurgent in Jupiter's orbit.
|Thanks=Literally everyone who came and enjoyed themselves. @_@
|Cast of Characters=7, 255, 304, 428, 456, 571, 964
|Tinyplot=Infested Outbreak (Jupiter)
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:'''             * THE STORY SO FAR * The Infested, a bioweapon of the Orokin Empire has become resurgent from time to time in the Origin System, and in this case they have been highly aggressive in the Jupiter planetary system. With every incident, there is typically a source vector, a reason why the Infested invade; such reasons remain unknown, even if their cause is: the aberration of twisted flesh simply known as PHORID PHORID is a unique case as Infested goes; from what the Lotus and the Corpus have been willing to share, despite its' numerous deaths it always manages to come back due to the ship graveyards beyond Eris, regrowing from larvae whenever it dies. Sadly, the amount of manpower necessary to keep this from happening is astronomical due to from how small of a speck of life Phorid can come back from. Combatwise, the following data is made known to the group in-transit: massive and powerfully agile, PHORID is believed to possess some degree of psychic powers, able to control flung spines with telekinetic force, and a sonic screams that's as much psionic as it is physical. Further intelligence also points to the location being heavily overrun with Infested; Boilers and Brood Mothers are among the numbers of Infested, along with a number of Ancients that have metamorphed from the rapid self-replication and growth provided by other heavy units. Put simply: target rich environment is what people can expect at Amalthea. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:'''             * HERE AND NOW * Space travel is the prime way to actually get here; be it by the transports provided through the Corpus, the Lotus, or Union, the moon's surface is pocketed with the curved, crude Grineer structures. If one didn't know any better, the seeming lack of actvity points to it's abandonment. However, surface scans indicate the spores commonly associated with the Infested, and closing on on the structures leading to the landing docks reveal the presence of that tumorous flesh of the Infested that have begun to scour the industrial surfaces of the installation, as well as the craggy surfaces of parts of the mine that part of the overall structure and stability of the moon. For what it's worth, there's a lot of room for any ship to dock, short of 100+ person battle cruiser. Shuttles, frigates, the whole nine yards can find places to temporarily moor themselves. Such as the Tenno, who's Liset would be seen coming and going, only to drop off such a figure that disappears further inside. Navigational coordinates are made available to everyone who is coming; apparently getting in is very easy, but beyond the rendezvouz point is there for a reason: beyond that point is an incredible amount of hostiles and that is effectively a point of no return. Corridors, elevators, and of course ventillation pipes lead those who have elected to engage in the operation a modestly safe, if incredibly ominous way forward. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' The Rogue Shadow's engines scream as it cuts its way through the space beyond Jupiter's moon. Its ion engines blaze blue, and the starlight glints off its hull. Aside from that reflected light, the ship is almost invisible, its black hull blending with the black backdrop of space behind it. At the controls, Juno Eclipse hunches in her rebel outfit, what looks like a toothpick clenched between her teeth. Her fingers dance over the controls, and her eyes are set grimly forward. Slumped in the co-pilot's seat beside her is the lanky figure of Galen Marek, dressed in greys and blacks, chin cupped in a palm. "This doesn't look too promising," he observes, warily. "Look at that mess." "Yeah. Don't touch it. Once we've landed I'll have PROXY stand by to help me keep tabs on the hull integrity; we'll have our blasters." Galen looks up at the stars bleeding past them, and then sits up when the ship abruptly lurches, dropping out of hyperspace like a rock into a pond. He swings to his feet, turning to the aft of the ship. "I guess this is it." "You'd better get ready," Juno offers. "I'm ready. Tell that to our passengers," he offers, footsteps receding. "Galen." He pauses; looks over one shoulder. "Be careful." With a grunt, he nods, turning and stalking down the corridor to the boarding ramp. Juno reaches up overhead, flicking a switch and announcing into her headset.     %This is Blackout to all Union passengers. We're approaching the boarding area and I'll be bringing the ship down momentarily; get what gear you've got with you, and be ready to disembark.] She looks back, but Galen's already gone, and she shakes her head as she guides the ship in. "I've got a bad feeling about this," she sighs, to the empty cockpit. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     There are still some doubts in a corner of Setsuko's mind about Juno and Galen. She won't be able to simply discard her concerns about their former allegiances; not until she's worked alongside them more, something she's had little opportunity to do. This is a chance to rectify that. A chance to tell that corner of her mind that the decisions of her higher-ups are correct, to see them at work and know they're decent people. So for the time being, she'll trust them.     When Galen reaches the boarding ramp, the demigod is already there, standing with her arms folded. She needs only one piece of equipment, and it's sheathed at her side. "Be ready," she says simply as the ship comes in. "The Infested are not pretty, either to look at or to deal with. Or to contemplate." By the time the ramp lowers, her hand is on Zanjintou's grip, and she leaps out with speed and precision, landing with blade drawn just in case their landing zone is hotter than anticipated. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka's already prepared for combat once Juno gives the announcement. She nods to Galen when he arrives, and stands to her feet. Loading up a magazine's worth of micro-missiles onto her coil gun's underslung launcher, she gives the weapon a firm slap on the bolt-release. "Here we go."     She swiftly disembarks from the ship after they land, her helmet folding into place. Maaka immediately synchs with Kotone's tacnet, as well as that of others if they allow it while she makes her way to the nearest vent opening. "Gonna head out on my own for this one, see if I can recon the zone a bit. Cheers, folks." She salutes over her shoulder, then takes off with gun in hand.     Just as promptly as Setsuko jumps, so does she, leaping into the breach so to speak, whether they're hovering over a pit or just landing in a hangar someplace. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' SO here Kotone was they were hunting Phorid the core of the infestation that was plaguing the Corpus's colonies with. She had also understood they were being very free with information on these things unlike? How they did business otherwise which drove home how /bad/ it is. When a merchan cult is not charging you money and it's not a scam? It's bad, and they understand you can't make money if your /dead/. Kotone was suitd up again and carrying some heavier weaponry with her this time, a heavy minigun that she had no issue carrying form the kooks of it. Juno give the passengers a heads up and she seems to bready to roll now. <<Copy that Blackout I'm ready here.>> She knows she shouldn't linger for long the moment they are able to board the target. She also synchs up with Maaka and starts sharing data. <<You ready for this maaka??>> 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' As long as the Rogue Shadow's hold has room for Black Arachnia, you bet she's aboard. Given the mission description, and the fact that it's following up on the Infestation trouble from the previous deployment, she's definitely interested in helping to close down this incident, whatever it takes. She does not jump to be the first one off the ship when Juno brings them in for a landing; Setsuko and Alexis can jump before the engines power down if they want, but Black Arachnia will wait until the rest of the group is ready, THEN proceed with everyone else. In spider form, of course. Why stand six feet tall (seven or eight in her case, really) and be an obvious target when you can hug the ground like her beast mode does? Let the others be subjected to pot shots. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' The only answer Setsuko gets is a brief sidelong study from the former Sith. His eyes are dark, and what stubble there is of his hair is also dark. He might have an expressive face if it weren't set in a faint scowl. He shakes his head. "I've dealt with unpleasant things before. Vader doesn't really know the meaning of 'restraint.'" He tilts his head, regarding her. He can still appreciate the spirit of the warning, though. Wasn't Juno always ragging him about his social skills? "Thanks, I guess." Sniff. She'd be proud. Maaka is eyed for a moment, before the former Sith grunts. It might be greeting, because he's returning the cyborg's nod of greeting. In they go. Galen takes a running leap from the boarding ramp, unperturbed by the distance between the ship and the ground; landing in a three-point crouch and making a grab for his lightsaber hilts. He doesn't carry anything but those two cylindrical hilts. There's one of them in each hand. He carries them cocked so they're behind him in an unusual reverse grip, and when he thumbs the activation on each hilt, they ignite with a hiss and a hum, painting the wall behind him in vibrant blue light. When he strides forward, it's with confidence, even though his head's still down a bit. "Let's go, people." The Rogue Shadow settles more properly once its passengers have disembarked, and it's only once it's clear the landing area is free of Infested that the engines power down from a deafening scream to a dull hum. Juno sets to work as soon as they're down, hunching over her console and attempting to nose around, digitally, and see if there's still a security mainframe to slice into. If she can grab hold of it, she can at least slice into the cameras and open doors for them... if there's a mainframe left to actually slice into, anyway. It's probably been eaten by alien death fungi, or whatever that stuff actually is. Juno doesn't really want to think about it too hard. It's just going to make her want to take a shower more than she already does. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' A group of four figures appear on one of the abandoned industrial platforms, one of them is dressed in silver trimmed black robes, carries a staff with a shimmering black crystal at the top, instead of a face he wears a featureless flat black mask, with a mane of white hair drooping down to his waist. Nine equally white tails flow out of his back.     The other three figures could very well be golems clad in obscenely heavy articulated armor, each of them of them are eight feet tall, with two of them holding rune clad tower shields, and multi-barreled autocannons, the third holds a large halberd. They swiftly flow into a defensive formation around the man in the robes.     "This place," the man in the robes creaks out with an ancient sounding voice, "Reeks of death." The mask slowly turns to face one of the growths on the ground. "How appropriate."     "Master Keilandus." The golem with the halberd points at the landing craft as the Union team disembarks.     "Well." The black robed man creaks a little sourly, before making a throwaway gesture with his left hand, "Maybe they know what's responsible for this mess." He sighs, and gestures in their direction, "If they don't then they're here to clean it up. Far more reasonable then letting it grow." A gesture with his staff creates a small path through the 'death fungi' with the simple expedient of turning it to dust. "We follow them."     And with that group begins ... not so stealthily ... tromping in the direction of the landing party. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' One might be asking themselves: where is the Tenno? That answer becomes self-evident when others have begun to arrive at the rendezvous point. The slim and almost petite figure of Nova Prime is already there, having dropped through one of the nearby ventillation ducts. The nature of this place's size and structural requirements means that the Grineer basically overengineered it: it might look crude aesthetically speaking but it's built to last. Of course, actually getting there is a rather interesting endeavour. There's clear points where lighting should be installed, along catwalks and corridors, reinforced structures housing cargo containers long since abandoned and packaged in tightly on pallets. But this lighting is only half-working: there's places where it's probably a good idea to be casting a little additional light through other means. Infested flesh, corpulent and tumorous and pulsing in odd little ways line both rock and metal. Swarms of spores dance and arc through the open air at times, but seem to not give a single care to the presence of the Elites so far. There /are/ some networks and systems that can be patched into: more passive than anything, but it's a really excellent indicator as to the amount of numbers that are there. Indeed, this allows those such as Kotone and Juno and Black Arachnia to affirm that there's a sizable number already present here. And by the looks of it, the area adjacent to where Phorid has been located is host to a particularly dense heatmap. It wouldn't be hard to suss that there's some measure of a breeding element going on there. Nova Prime, on the other hand, is waiting for the arrival of the others, but it's the odd sensation that there is something else--coupled with what the Lotus says in a more private way, gives her pause. One of the control rods on her left arm extends slightly, turning once, twice, augmenting her energy production for a moment. Further in, an echoing cry resonates, a cacophony of voices too distant to be any more than a warning cry.     (They are here. More than our wayward flesh. MUCH MORE.) Countless Chargers, Leapers, Runners begin to steer themselves towards another function. The presence, the smell of life, of the Tenno, of the Elites that come to assist. The Boilers who spawn so many more, and have been why there's been an endless tide of Infested flesh, their corpulent boils hatching more pods still.     (Prepare. <They will come to us.> Wear them down.)                 (ASSIMILATE) 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     On seeing the familiar form of Nova Prime, Setsuko offers a simple nod. This particular Tenno is one Setsuko recognizes quite well by now. So she's not hesitant to go on the offensive with the Warframe at her back, launching into a steady sprint. They've got some ground to cover. And the presence of that group that just landed... "That's a mage. Enchanted weapons and armor in the group, too." She's not sure what these newcomers have planned, but it worries her.     They'll have to move fast. Get to the Phorid quickly and get their mission done. And even moving quickly, they'll be clearing the way. It's a difficult situation. Setsuko is just breaking into movement when the cries of the Infested ring out. A grimace finds its way onto her face. "Here they come." She whips Zanjintou around herself in a quick flourish, and then launches into a run; best to get moving and start covering ground, so that they can't mass and attack in one big horde as easily. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone gets hooked up where she's able and is going to prerss onwads sghe'l make use of the mini gun where needed to cut down the infested who get too close but th strnge feelng? The strange noies leave her chilled she doe snot like this and she knows it's going to get worse before it gets better as shepress in with the test of the party. <<Great we really got them riled up. Then again that takes their focus on us and away from other things.>> She does her best to not waste fire as the big gun is mostly for their target they are hunting... 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Random spots of darkness? Hardly a problem for Black Arachnia; her sensors don't depend strictly on visual light, and the darkness hides her nicely when she's in it. As an infiltrator, spy, and saboteur, the shadows are kind of her thing whenever she can use them; if anything, she's probably less than pleased that the darkness is so spotty. Still, she *is* painstakingly avoiding the Infested biomatter; the group's probably already been detected as a matter of course, so she's not wasting time or energy with her electro-disruptor. If she splits off from the others, then she'll try to turn up the stealth, but as long as she's reasonably close to the rest of the team, anything the Infested might do is liable to catch her anyway. The map data that's relayed to her seems quite useful: she's already considering avenues of approach to Phorid. Of course, they have to get past the front door first. Whatever that takes. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Keilandus, the mage in the silver robes, glances up in the direction of Phorrid as it's roar echoes down the hallway, followed by the pitter patter of little feet. Many little feet. Many many little feet. "Well." His ancient voice creaks, "That answers one of my questions." He pauses as a number of the Unionites begin to start runing towards the noise, "Two of my questions."     He gestures again, and the one of the halberd, picks him up and begins running towards the group of battle-eager Unionites, while the two with the shields and autocannons flank the pair. "I mean you no harm here." His old voice creaks and one his tails gestures down the hallway, "Will you accept my aid, or at least-" The featureless black mask looks down the corridor, "-my nonaggression for the time being?" The other tails twich slightly, as he waits for a response.     Kushiko gets a seperate nod, a sort of graceful half bow, from his position on the golem's shoulder. "You smell of... Yes. We will have a job offer for you later, if you're willing."     The other two golems seem to be, posed to move rapidly, quite like they're ready to lunge in front of the mage with their shields if need be. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Fortunately, Galen Marek carries two lightsabers, and they're bright enough to find his way through the facility. The harsh blue light is eerie against the grey and red of the Infestation, but it's definitely possible to see. He has his jaw set as he stalks forward, moving more like a predator than a man, movements liquid-graceful and balanced. His eyes flick to every dark corner or suggestion of movement, one lightsaber held behind him, one held before him to light the way. He wrinkles his nose shut when spores swirl and dance through the air before them, as though reluctant to breathe the stuff. If it's half as malignant as it looks, he probably shouldn't be getting that yuck into his lungs. Nova Prime is given a bit of a look, since Galen hasn't seen a Warframe before, and it's the sort of sizing up that one warrior would offer to another. He's thinking of all the ways this thing could kill him, and he's probably right about it; calculations that he probably did to his fellow Elites, too. They're all formidable. They should all be fine against this Infestation thing... right? Galen's step doesn't falter at the sound of that distant scream. If anything, it quickens a little, both blue lightsabers flicking until they're held behind him at the ready as he glares into the darkness. "Something is coming," he mutters, frowning into the gloom. On the Rogue Shadow, Juno curses under her breath as she tries the shattered remnants of first one security mainframe and then another. It's bad enough that the infrastructure is physically damaged; but this stuff is beyond crude. Even the Empire's most slapped-together systems have more elegance than the Grineer mainframe, and Juno finds herself wrinkling her nose in distaste. "Ugh. Come on, there's got to be something left in here the Infestation hasn't eaten..." Keys click madly as she tries first one thing and hten another, eyes glued to the pilot's console and its instrumentation. She finally manages to get hold of a passive network, and while it's not what she'd hoped for, it's better than nothing. It's enough to see her allies on the ground below, and... "Bingo."     [Alright, I've gotten into a system on the ground. I think I've found where your friend's hiding, or maybe that's some of his friends. Watch your step. There's a huge concentration of those things not too far away from where you're at. Galen, you'd better be ready to clean up.] On the moon, Galen frowns more deeply. "/How/     [cxterm81">Just keep those lightsabers out.] Galen doesn't snipe back at her, frowning a little as he squints at the gloom ahead. "It's too quiet in here," he observes, surly. "Way too quiet." 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     "Let's go get him," Maaka says tersely, before she begins to take off after Galen. The maybeJedi seems like a good enough sort to rely on in a pinch, even if he seems considerably grouchier than most space monks. Hell, maybe he's not a monk after all or something.     The blips on motion trackers get her focused as the blips begin coming very, very close. She hangs behind Setusko only to provide the Major and other close-combatants with cover fire when the horde comes, and she grits her teeth. "Keep it tight. Let 'em come to us." Maaka says cooly, taking a deep breath. Here goes. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' So, on the one hand, the Infested are riled up, or beginning to be riled up. This is bad. On the other hand, it'll be some time yet before they reach the chosen rendezvous point, so the group has some time, so to speak. On the other other hand, who ever thought about giving the Infested a chance to stay alive? Exactly. Nova Prime on yet another hand of the many-splendored hands of the current situation was well-armed; aside the Dragon Nikana worn on one hip, she cradled an elegant-looking Tenno shotgun, the Tigris, in her hands. While she didn't necessarily 'look' at Galen, there was a momentary pause, the exchange of the two warriors brief, yet telling. <<"So long as you are not here to assist the Infested, which we doubt you are, then we have no issue.">> That is the voice of the Lotus, who is seen thanks in part due to a holographic panel emitted from one of the diodes on the surface of Nova Prime's armor. The very notion of a job is something that also sets the Lotus on edge as the golems begin to move forward. <<"You may use the following frequency to continue this conversation further. It is also an operational frequency for this 'job' you speak of.">> Naturally, this encoding is given to the mage in question without much trouble. 'Gloom' is very much the best word for the atmosphere of this abandoned Grineer facility, though much of that is owed to the miasma wafting from some of the Infested growth present on the catwalks and craggy walls. Some of the growth is scattershot and tentacular, looking a lot like webbing and woven in choatic patterns. Just ahead lay a blast door: two terminals on either side of the wide and tall secured door are points of access for engaging it. With much of the group progressing forward, Galen has the right of it. It's too quiet. But this is the only way forward: the two terminals are ones that Juno can see on the network itself, but one of them--the one on the left--is reporting a connection failure but no direct way to fix it: however, it does advise a physical bypass of activating an emergy power system located on the underside of the terminal. At least, that's what Juno might get out of it after deciphering the text and the utterly crude implication of, 'DOOR BROKEN, PRESS BUTTON UNDER TERMINAL A13 FOR BYPASS' and 'GET THAT DAMN ENGINEER TO FIX IT LATER' Also included in the work order is something about writing it in big letters so the majority of the Grineer might actually understand it. There's movement ahead. But it's all beyond that blast door now. Information on the layout of the place suggests that going another way will take too much time, and that the Infested in this direction are ones that are going to be needed to be dealt with because if you went another way, these Infested beyond the blast door would be able to come assist Phorid. Not a pleasent tactical aspect, no. So, who gets to knock first? 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Galen casts half a glance at the gilded form of Nova Prime, and the holoprojection of the Lotus that pops up beside it. He seems disinclined to comment, but the scowl he pulls at her comment suggests he's not even going to dignify that with a response. Does he look like he's in league with that disgusting stuff sprouting from the walls? We didn't think so. One lightsaber twirls in his grip, harsh blue light casting shadows as it spins around. He's obviously good with those weapons to be able to do something like that so casually and with such confidence. It seems to be more a gesture of anticipation than anything else. He's waiting to get into the thick of battle, because that's presumably why Juno asked him to do this. Well, that, and so Juno didn't have to do it herself. She's not really cowardly. She's just pragmatic. Really pragmatic. Yeah. Galen glances back at the party, indirectly, over first one shoulder and then the other. "I'm pretty sure they're back here." One lightsaber goes 'flip' in his hand, blue light flaring. "Looks like this door is the point of no return. Are we ready?" On the Rogue Shadow, Juno grates her teeth as she tries to pick through the hideously inelegant guts of what's left of a Grineer mainframe. These guys weren't very bright, were they? No wonder they got eaten by the Infestation, or whatever it is that happens to them when this stuff sprouts up. She'd guess eaten, from what footage she's seen of it. It looks like it makes horrible amalgamations. She abandons her efforts on the broken terminal, turning her attention to the second one, which is hopefully less damaged and less in need of manual rebooting.     [I'm having some problems with these terminals. Give me a few minutes, and I can get ahold of something more efficient. I'll be able to open those doors for you in a moment, I think.] 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Setsuko's ears, sharp as they are, don't miss the conversation going on behind her. So that mage and his cohorts - or are they summoned servants? - are here to help, or at least not to hinder. Still merits keeping an eye on, but she can accept that for now. So long as the group can keep moving. "There's nothing else here TO focus on," she replies to Kotone as they go. This place has become quite a hive; they're fresh prey. It will make reaching Phorid dangerous. But no one here is the type to be deterred by that, are they? So she continues on, her pace brisk, certain the others will be close behind... at least, until a door bars their way. Here, she can do nothing but stop, a faint frown on her face.     "If all else fails, I can cut through this. But a method that leaves the door intact would probably be better. We might need to close it again." 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Rather than knocking (or using the button under Terminal A13 to bypass it), Black Arachnia turns her attention to the broken and damaged terminal itself. If she can tap into the wired network, she's very inclined to see what she can get access to - or at least, ascertain whether Blackout's got a sufficient handle on the hacking side of things. The spidery Maximal has a certain skepticism when it comes to anyone else's hacking skills, but if the evidence convinces her - and let's admit it, Blackout has a large head start as far as hacking THIS network goes - then she'll let the human female stay focused on that. Black Arachnia has other ways she can contribute to the mission, after all. For that matter, if she likes what she sees of Blackout's work, she might offer the other hacker some party favors to put to use at her own discretion. (And by 'party favors,' she means 'customized virii'. If you couldn't figure that out.) At any rate, Black Arachnia has to start by seeing how hard it is to access the system from a simple data connection .. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone presses into the gloom of this place the infested have wrecked it twisted it and she can see they are at the door now there's two temrinals and she'll hook into them if she's needed. Well if she's needed to she now has her weapon ready, her breathing is tense and dshe's more than a little afriad but it seems Juno has the lock situation well in hand so she'll focus by keeping her weapon ready and powered up. She looks back to Setsuko who is right, and she's not sure what else to say. She makes ready for the right that's likely to come once Blackout gets the door open. <<Forward into the den of the beast...>> 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka grits her teeth. It seems plenty of people are ready to get the door open, so she remains at the ready with her rifle. Approaching one of the panels, she stacks up in awaiting the door to get opened up. "ANy time now..." She mutters, raring for combat at this point.     Tense, she only has her breath to hear as she prepares for the horde to be met with battle. It's not normal to see this little action going on, with Infested around. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Keilandus nods to the holographic image of the Lotus, "We appreciate your trust in this." His tone makes it sound like he's well aware that trust doesn't quite have as much to do with it as mutual interest does. His tails twich before he simply gives them another half bow, before his golems take off after the rest of the group.     As they reach the blast door, his tails twich again and he briefly tenses up, "Put me down number three." He makes a slight gesture of irritation at the door before he glances around the corridor, he gestures to the right button, and the golem clomps it's way over to the pannel. "Well. I see no reason to put both of my defenders at risk. Someone will have to take care of the other one." He glances around at the ground near his feet, before he taps the base of his staff on it in irritation, causing all of the fungal-infested growth to wilt and then dissolve into dust around him in a circle. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Galen stands at the door beside Setsuko, cocking a dark eye toward the bulkhead. There's a fair chance that he might be able to open the door through main strength by using the Force, but that also risks crumpling the door like a tin can. It would also announce to everything in this facility that there are delicious things to eat here, if their mere presence hasn't done that already. One of those lightsabers flips in hand again, painting the fungus-covered wall in blue light and shadow. "I could try to force it open, too, but it's probably going to wreck the door." He shrugs, stepping back and away from it. "Probably better if I don't. I'll just wait. Blackout should have it open in a few minutes... if she says she's going to do something, she'll do it. I trust her." He glances back over his shoulder, sweeping his dark eyes over the assembled Elites, thoughtful for a moment. "We should probably be ready for anything when this door opens, though." Back aboard the ship, Juno is yelling obscenities at the Grineer systems that govern the security measures and the door, trying every way she knows how to try and break into the system. Guile isn't working very well, so she's resorted to brute force, trying to smash her way into the system as inelegantly as possible. It's infuriating not because it's beyond her skill, but because this system is so /stupid/ that it's just /incomprehensible/. How the hell do these people use computer systems? 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Sure enough, with enough kludging of the damned thing--slicing from one end, a physical bypass on the other, and the door itself is actually rendered unlocked. There's... just the tiny scraping of claws and flesh rapidly tapping suddenly. And something else. At the edge of one's senses of the peripherary. The rather large ventillation tubes that are situated a bit higher up are occasionally spasming with, gears grinding to a halt. That can't have been a result of the hack, could it? The light panels on the crude, brownishly painted door switch from yellow, to green. It's incredibly good that the people who are here are ready to go and fight what's beyond this door. And in general, fight period. Because when the door begins to slide open, the howling scream is heard: at least, that's what one part of the brain thinks of it as, a scream. It's more distressing to be cognizant of it as a /voice/ instead.     (Revoke the frailities of the flesh. LET US IN.) That is when Infested from not just the blast doors, but the vents begin to surge inward; though the group is probably a fair deal more focused on the fact they're here at present. Setsuko would /feel/ the surge of violent force, of the song of battle on all sides coalescing into that single knifepoint here. Because the surge of Infested flesh through the blast door is more akin to a literal flood of flesh, corpulent and fibrous, with a good half dozen Ancients standing tall over Chargers and Leapers, the first of which practically stumble over themselves trying to push against it. Crawlers and other Mutalist-Ospreys are coming down through the vents themselves, causing Nova to shift her attention towards the group's backside. Antimatter energy gathers through and is released in a buffeting wave outwards as she fires off a quick shot at a flying Infested Osprey, making it and it's cargo explode. Maggots: small individual Infested spawned from the Brood Mothers in other parts of the complex are skittering from different angles, attempting to take advantage of the surge of Infested utterly converging upon the group from all sides. After all, there's enough massive targets for the Elites to focus their aggression on. Dozens of smaller, baseball-sized things trying to jump and cling onto you, biting and weighing you down is another matter altogether. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     In the instant the door unlocks, tension washes over Setsuko's form. She can feel the battle surging in to meet them. The fiercest part of it is still ahead, but 'fiercest' is relative. This alone is a furious struggle to survive. Setsuko moves into it without hesitating. Or at least, 'moves into it' in a manner of speaking. Her first action is actually to take a step /back/, to shift her position and stance so that she's right beside Kotone.     "Keep moving. Keep shooting. I'll make sure nothing reaches you until we find the Phorid."     And she's true to her word. Anything that approaches will taste divine steel. Setsuko's movements are smooth and instinctive. She's always in just the right spot to meet the next Infested to approach. Always in just the right stance to carve apart the next Charger to come after Kotone or herself. Even the maggots are not overlooked; if anything, her strikes go for them first, refusing to let even a single one pass her notice. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka trusts Setsuko on keeping Kotone safe, and in so doing she begins to charge in through the door. Upon sighting the Infested up ahead, she lets loose with a torrent of mini-missiles, the rockets as thick as a quarter each in diameter, but still packing a nasty punch as they penetrate Infested flesh and detonate inside. "Backblast, clear!" She calls out, before the rockets go off all at once.     She doesn't waste any time to celebrate, as she immediately begins to open fire with magnetically accelerated slugs. Accurate, precise bursts are let loose where Maaka knows the Infested will be crippled, and she keeps her distance to let Galen and Setsuko do their best work without collateral damage. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Well. That certainly is an awful lot of Infested, and the fact that they somehow have a comprehensible voice doesn't make things much better in the Maximal spider's opinion. Normally, she'd handle a situation like this by simply not being in it ... but there's one or two problems with that. First, there's no other feasible way through to the target; second, her allies would probably take exception to Black Arachnia turning tail and running away. "This is why I prefer not to be noticed until I've done my thing ... Black Arachnia, maximize: assault mode!" Black Arachnia transforms, closing the shields over her torso like she did before, and just opens up on the not-remotely-metaphorical-enough wall of Infested, raking her lasers across them horizontally, vertically, diagonally - basically just trying to carve away at the mass's members as efficiently as she can. If they get into her melee range, she'll have to revert to her normal combat configuration and start using her claws as well. On the downside, she CAN'T maintain absolutely continuous fire for very long; her lasers' capacitors don't carry that much charge. On the upside, though, she can provide plenty of windows for her more melee-oriented allies (like Setsuko and Garen) to get in close. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' The Infested scrape and howl on their side of the door, and on the side of the Elites, the former Sith apprentice is ready. He has time enough for one flip of the lightsaber before the blast door starts to grind open. There's no time for thought after that. There's only battle and the song of death, all around. He's in motion in a flash, lunging for the nearest Charger that comes bounding at him, face stretched in a silent snarl as twin blue lightsabers carve a path through the morass of the Infested. He might be roaring in wordless battle-cry, defiant against the tide of Infestation, but it's hard to hear him over the shrieking of his mindless opponents. They have bestial cunning, but it's clear that they no longer have minds or sentience beyond the hive-mind of the whole. That's okay. It just makes his job easier. Aboard the Rogue Shadow, Juno's hands are flicking from one set of controls to the other, occasionally reaching high overhead to flip a toggle. She has no time to enjoy her victory over Grineer computer stupidity; she's too busy tracking the course of the Infested as they surge through the door and into the defenders.     [Galen, watch yourself. Don't get separated from the other Elites. There's too many of them there for you to handle.] "Noted," Galen snarls, lightsabers crossed in front of himself to hold off a particularly adamant Charger. At least it doesn't have a stinking maw full of teeth, but the lack of them does make the situation a little unnerving. "Busy," he adds.     [The best I can advise is to keep moving. My view of the area is spotty; some of that equipment is too damaged to use.] Juno's tone sounds worried. She is, incidentally, extremely happy she's not down there herself. Galen is made for this kind of stuff. She is not. Meanwhile, Galen continues attempting to carve his way through the Infested, doing his best to stay reasonably close to his allies while he does. He has enough presence of mind to heed Juno's advise; she's right about that. There are just too many of these things for him to deal with alone. If he gets separated from the others, he'll be overwhelmed. The idea of succumbing and becoming one of these things gives even Galen Marek the heebie-jeebies. He pushes the thought aside, focusing wholly on his lightsabers and on meteing out death and destruction to these abominations. Thankfully, the harsh blue light is a bright beacon to his allies, and so is the distinctive hum and crackle of a lightsaber in action, so he won't be easy to lose track of. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' The war-golem at the door slams it's tower shield into the floor, the runes of the front flare into life, just as the first leaper slams into it's surface ... and gets blasted back with a flare of fire, which means the situation would be completely fine ... if there were just one of them... Except... there are least five dozen more behind it, and more charging down the hallways after...     And more throw themselves at the shield, several exploding, before the half ton war-golem is literally born over by a group of chargers and an ancient... ...The sounds of it's autocannon firing wildly into the horde pinning it to the ground can be heard for a few long moments, before metal groaning, warping, tearing, and shearing beneath a pile of infested monstrousities is all that remains of number two.     Keilandus growls softly under his breath, before he gestures with both hands and staff at the group approaching from the rear, lancing them with bolts of literal dealth and decay, while number one opens fire with it's autocanon into the pile on what remains of two. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' the Infested terrify Kotone now just from how they work but worse they are now talking to them about infesting them. She's more than scare now she just lays down fire with the mini gun trying to cut dowj as many of the on going horde as she's able to buyt it's good to know she's not alone and with Setsuko's covering fire? She's able to do some very good work to keeo her clear and she's quite thankful for their help and with Maaka and everyone else she's not going to give into her fear and panic she does keep shooting the infested s they come for them. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' There is a word for what happens here: chaos. Yet it's not unhinged, unorganized. The ravenous furor of the Infested is met by the calculated battle fury of the Elites that have made themselves present here today. Divine steel, magnetic slugs and lightsabers alike are reducing parts of the massed /throng/ of Infested to particulate matter. After a few kills scored by the former Sith and demigod, when their respective weapons find purchase, the bodies /detonate/ with antimatter, setting off chain reactions that ripple through the others. However, it's not quite enough. This could be a lot worse if it weren't for the fact that the Infested that had arrived to reinforce and bolster the group that was currently being engaged with weren't being slowed by the wave of energy put out by Nova Prime. It /does/ make it easier to avoid and kill, but there's a lot of killing to be done. The wargolem has drawn an impressive amount of aggression from the Infested; it's as if they sense there's something they could use but they don't even realize it yet. Whether they could or not doesn't matter: the potential is enough to distract a few of the Ancients long enough to find their bodies crumpled under automatic fire and lightsaber heat cauterizing their faceful of tentacles into a sizzling stump. Much like the Maggots that find themselves turned into pure wet detrius by that divine blade, before that blade finds it's home inside a Brood Mother's tentacled side, corpulent flesh exploding in a decidedly painful way. But here's the awesome part of the group's teamwork. Between Galen and Setsuko wading hipdeep into death and destruction, bodies of what were formerly anything betwen Corpus, Grineer, or some other beast of burden, they were keeping the Infested at bay from the range-focused individuals. Those who could pack a lot of power in small packages. Energy is energy, at least to the whimsies of Nova Prime. The petite frame's control rods extend from her hips and arms, revolving once as she gathers antimatter into golden, solid orbs of energy as the group fights. As mage slings his bolts of death and decay, as Kotone's automatic weapons fire cuts loose, with Arachnia's lasers scything, the energy orbs occasionally take up what would find only dead bodies. Four of them collecting energy as the Tenno's Tigris is fired into them directly, twice over, she snaps open the twin-barreled shotgun and reloads. And again, firing into the next two. This kind of thing takes time. Time given and taken with grace as the control rods suddenly flare, and *slam* home inside her limbs. The resultant explosion is placed at enough points that it's augmented by the actions of the Elites and turns loose a resonating, defeaning concussion of force that radiates from each of the points; lilac and black smoke swirls and seems to implode inward before the spherical shockwaves radiate outwards. Now, this kind of thing /should/ be hurting the others. But it doesn't. It does however, carve an absolutely /murderous/ swath of destruction to give the group enough breathing room, and staggering the survivors that remain enough for the group to pick them off with far greater ease. Only a dozen stragglers lumbering barely into view now. "Absolutely right; we need to keep going. This... /was/ designed to bottleneck us. Not enough," the Tenno savagely notes through the local band as sparks of void energy coruscate throughout the vicinity as the bodies of the Infested and the cancerous growths are, without a doubt, /disintegrated/. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka recognizes what Nova is doing here, as she spies the orbs floating in place. "Fire upon those!" She yells to Kotone, before doing exactly that. It's just a mag dump, unloading enough firepower to charge up the orb before Maaka slings the weapon and gets aggressive next.     She draws a nasty shotgun from her matter manipulator, before pressing the muzzle to the nearest infested. Ka-click, BOOM! She pulls the trigge,r before chambering another round and going through Infested like a terror unrealized before now. She uses the solid stock of the weapon as a bludgeon, caving in the head of another unfortunate Infested with a swift butt-stroke, and she brings the creature to the ground, stomping it with all her might as she brings her boot down upon what she assumes is its head.     She's COVERED in blood from all this, and other stuff, and she only keeps going as she blasts and batters herself a path through the horde with aggressive savagery, giving off a satisfied roar as she fires point-blank into a Charger along her way. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' If she transformed back to beast mode, Black Arachnia COULD push ahead - possibly more easily than in her robot mode, and certainly more readily than she can in a combat configuration. On the other hand, if she tried that, she would no longer be helping reduce the Infested population in our immediate path, and let's face it: she really doesn't want to find out what Infested infection would do to her Cybertronian physiology (apart from 'a complete and total lack of anything good,' which she takes for granted). So, she maintains Assault Mode, and apart from the breaks she needs to let her lasers cool down and their capacitors recharge, she continues laying down fire for the others. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Galen Marek might be wading hip-deep into a tide of death and destruction, and if he were less focused, even he'd be disgusted by the proceedings. As it is, he throws his concentration into the battle. Mistakes would be lethal. Teeth bared in a silent snarl, he throws his entire body into his blows, graceful and deadly as he dances among the Infested with lightsabers blazing. He's got pieces of Infested remains on him, and amalgam blood spattered across his Sith training uniform. Juno's going to unleash holy hell at him when he drags this mess back onto the ship, isn't she? After a few minutes, he's finally managed to cut himself a path enough to see where his allies are and what they're doing. Aboard the Rogue Shadow, Juno keeps rapt attention on the pilot's console. She can see through a few of the nearby security cameras, those that haven't been absorbed by the Infestation. They paint an unpleasant picture, one that has her white-knuckling the controls in apprehension. It's always the same when Galen goes out on an operation -- she knows he can take care of himself, but that never stops her from worrying. Never mind that she's a nice person, and she'd be somewhat upset if anything happened to her Elite friends and allies. That's an awful lot of Infested. Tapping at the controls, she shifts her view to another security camera further ahead.     [You'd better hurry forward, all of you. If you let yourself get bogged down there, you'll be overwhelmed. There's more of them further up the corridor.] "Acknowledged!" Galen shouts, lightsabers whirling in reverse-grip and slamming into the charging face of a Charger that gets too close to him. "Let's get moving, everyone!" 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     The horde has been thinned enough to proceed, and Setsuko intends to do just that. "We have our window. We've got to get to Phorid quickly." She's still doing as she promised she would, using her blade and moving swiftly to keep Kotone covered so that the cyborg can move fast without worrying about getting flanked; but now, where she finds the opportunity, she's also darting ahead or to the sides, where she can proactively hit Infested, taking care of them before they become a problem so the others can focus on keeping the path ahead clear. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Keilandus mutters something under his breath, before shielding his face with his left arm, as the huge wave of explosions washes over the infested and the rest of the group. "Damnable..." He lowers his arm as the blast of lens flare ... err ... tide of overly bright explosions ends, then gestures at the hallway behind the group ... and a glowing black wall of anti-life stretches across the hallway. "It won't do much good in the long term I'm afraid..."     He pauses for a moment, glances around at the wreck and ruin for a few moments, watching as the bodies dissolve, before he nods once, and gestures with his staff ... A chill seems to run across the area, and blood red energy gathers at the tip for a few moments, before number three scoops him up and moves over to the ruin that was number two. "...Two. Release. That body is damaged beyond repair." His voice creaks quietly, "We'll get you another later. You've certainly earned it and I'll advise Zathlarne of such personally."     His masked gaze travels the area, before a second chill emanates from the ruined golem, and it's body disintegrates. "Come. One and Three. We have to keep up. One." He points at the front, and the golem opens up with the occasional burst of covering fire, while he himself blasts the occasional lance of energy at whatever may be trying to follow the group. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is still shooting until she gets a reason to move but there seem to be move they are being bottlenecked they have to push ahead however and Kotoine will advance here as she's needed. She sees the orbs as Maaka calls them out and opens fire on the orb as suggested hopetull this will help a good deal. <<Copy that Blackout>> Swarm tactice are coming and she'll move swiftly thanks to Setsuko's help again she'll owe her another one for all this help as they move into the heart of the swarm. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' As the smoke clears, it's pretty clear that the first attempt at waylaying the group with this ambush wasn't as successful as Phorid might have sought for. Yet the death of his fellow flesh does not faze him nearly as much as it should. (Wayward flesh. We are the vessel through which immortality is achieved. Assimilate, -Kushiko-.) The problem with the way those words are said is it's not just Kushiko. There's a bundle of other meanings that could be felt there at the same time. 'Child of the Void' is among them as is the simple meaning of /death/ in the purest of forms. Quirk of the multiverse, but possibly unsettling regardless. How literal could it be felt as? Was it directing its words to the Tenno Operator, or to the Warframe even as the frame unsheathed a blade to slice through the limb of an errant Charger. Keilandus' interaction with the golems gives the Tenno a momentary, thoughtful pause amidst other considerations as the group hustles their way through. Speed is an important factor now. Why give Phorid the chance to amass more forces, though the Infested that they are encountering now are slightly heavier overall. Boilers and Ancients are attempting to work together to keep the Elites from scything their way through. "Come on!" is the Tenno's voice, refusing to dignify what Phorid has said, and focusing instead on supporting the others, releasing waves of antimatter energy that slow arriving foes and simply tearing through alongside others, and keeping Kotone mindfully secure when she can. With the Elites working together as they were, it wasn't long for them to arrive at the cavernous lair that Phorid had chosen. More Ancients, along with Tar-Mutalist MOAs that hisses and spat, readying themselves hurl caustic acid as their mechanic-organic bodies began to move to try and flank the arriving group. Oh yeah. Galen is absolutely, probably going to track a good deal of gore through that isn't utterly heat and energy-blasted before getting back to the Rogue Shadow at this rate. And at the center of it all was the massive, red carapace of the beast known as Phorid. It's limbs and claws scraping and hammering the ground as it simply /screamed/ with psionic, cacophonic furor. With as many of the others that were here, it would /hurt/ but it would not be life threatening. The telekinetically spines that are likely to come next, that's another matter altogether. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Wargolem One slams it's shield down the moment right after the scream begins, and runes flicker to life across it's surface creating a bubble shield about ten feet across ... it doesn't stop all of the incoming psionic blasting, and doesn't really do anything about the incoming soundwaves ... but something is better then nothing. Usually. It doesn't stop Keilandus face visor from cracking, or both golems from wincing briefly as it starts.     The moment the scream stops, the golem charges forward to a spot somewhat behind cover and opens fire with it's autocannon on Phorid. Three sets Keilandus down gently, and brandishes it's halberd, smashing forward and crashing into anything that gets into close range of One or Keilandus.     Keilandus on the other hand, starts gesturing with his staff at the various ways into the room, spreading walls of anti-life across as many of them as he can ... Live reinforcements. Bad. Dead reinforcements. Good. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "Immortality has always been an overrated concept," Black Arachnia replies calmly, followed by a mildly urgent, "Beast mode." She immediately turns back into her spider form - and just in time, as the extra legs (and the liberation from Assault Mode) give her an improved chance to scuttle out of the way of those flying spines. Also, she's not really psychic but the psionic pressure-wave gives her a headache anyway. On the other hand, she's not without her own telekinetic tricks; at least one spine that she wouldn't have been able to dodge winds up 'grabbed' in mid-air and shoved off to the side as she picks her way along the walls, trying to get a better vantage point from which tot murder Phorid. And she does specifically have murder in mind, too. There are two or three ways for her to go about it - get up close at floor level (it's not likely to allow that), drop on it from directly above (that's going to be tricky to arrange), or find a good spot and launch her mandible grapnel (which might catch it by surprise, but is more likely to be countered via telekinesis) ... but her goal is to 'bite' the Phorid, whether directly or via her mandible grapnel, and inject a dose of VERY toxic, VERY corrosive cybervenom. She usually tries to make her venom more debilitating than outright lethal - Elites are notoriously hard to kill, so she usually doesn't try to go that extra mile for Union purposes - but in this case, the mission from the start was 'kill the Phorid,' so she's going to do her best to kill it. And with the psychic assault battering at her normally psi-blind mind, she hopes it hurts badly enough to more than make up for the headache. Given the options and the state of the chamber, Black Arachnia heads up, climbing along the chamber's walls as quickly as she can go, occasionally zigging or zagging in one direction or another - partly to circumnavigate live obstacles, partly to just be an inconsiderately difficult target to aim at. And once she gets to a spot directly above the Phorid? She just plummets, angling her arachnid body so as to - assuming this WORKS - dig her mandibles into the Phorid's head or neck, or something near them. And once her mandibles dig in, her palps follow - and the cybervenom is injected. If Black Arachnia's body is knocked off-course, she'll settle for launching the mandible grapnel - *literally* shooting her mouth off, attached to her main body by a shimmering cable of energon and control signals - and going for the cybervenom injection that way. What she *didn't* do was attach a webline to where she's descending from; it's all gravity at this point, so if she misses the drop completely? She's going to be in for a rough landing, and will be in a lot of danger, *and* somebody else will likely need to kill the Phorid for her even if the impact doesn't disable her. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Killing off the Infested probably doesn't affect the Phorid much. It seems to have enough presence of mind to know that all it needs to do is absorb more. Only complete eradication seems to be enough to stop the Infestation from its steady forward march. Right now, Galen's too busy to contemplate Infested methodology and higher cognitive abilities. It isn't long before they manage to hack and slash their way through the living tide, into the chamber where the Phorid itself lurks. He's covered in Infested gore, and he'll probably be submitting to a lengthy quarrantine and decontamination session later. Unfortunately, so will the ship, and probably Juno, after being exposed to all that nastiness. Yeah, no, she's not gonna like that... Twirling his lightsabers in that idle flip, Galen tightens his grip on them, looking up as the carapaced Phorid screeches. As the Phorid screams, he whips his head to one side, staggering back at the psionic force of that scream. He shakes his head as though to clear it, before stepping forward and whirling the lightsabers again. Raising one arm, he splays his fingers, thumb keeping a grip on the lightsaber haft. In the blink of an eye, a tangled arc of lightning streaks from his fingertips to the Phorid itself, but he doesn't have time to do more than fire that single shot -- he's already dashing to avoid the thrashing limbs and the spines, not to mention the machinations of his own allies. Setsuko's display earns Galen whipping his head around to stare, disbelieving, as her weapon is suddenly orders of magnitude bigger than it was a minute ago. Never mind the ease with which she whips it left and right, bisecting Infested as she goes, even carving the ground itself like a knife through so much butter. Holy hell. That's incredible. But he doesn't have time to stare, because a Charger slams into him from the side, prompting a shout of surprise -- these things are really starting to annoy him -- forcing him to whirl his lightsabers around and jam the lit end of both into the thing's head, or whatever serves for a head. He kicks the lifeless corpse aside and springs back to his feet. Coming up swinging, he kicks off from the ground and lunges for the Phorid itself, firing another blast of lightning as he goes. Aboard the Rogue Shadow, Juno is watching all of this with her jaw knotted, fingers dancing over the controls as she keeps hopping from security camera to security camera for the best vantage point. There's not much she can personally do beyond keeping the ship ready, engines hot; PROXY is keeping an eye on the ship, ensuring that none of the Infestation has a chance to get hold of the hull. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Somehow, despite all her cybernetics, Maaka still hears that psychic scream. It fucks with her neural software briefly, before a forced reboot gets her back up to speed. SHe growls in irritation, having a headache that's gonna be a bitch later, but powers through.     Nothing like a monster actually speaking directly to you to get your attention.     Maaka blasts through the Infested, reaching the wide open mining area. Storing her shotgun, she goes back to the GASH, converting the coilgun to sniper-mode as she adjusts the output for maximum damage, at the cost at ammo per shot and cost of battery power. She leaps into the rafters, finding a good spot to perch from while taking aim at the Phorrid.     Long as this ugly fuck is kept busy by the others, she can do her best to herd it towards them with sniper rifle, and she does, firing repeatedly with accurate shots to keep it pissed off, and intentional misses to keep it moving where she needs Phorrid to be for Setsuko and others.     Of course, she nearly gets pinned to the structure by a spine flung her way. It penetrates through her armor, but she just grits her teeth as she continues to shoot. She'll have to worry about that stab wound later. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     It's a wide space. A space flooded with enemies, and in the heart of it all a large and powerful Infested, the source of this outbreak. The Phorid. And it just used Kushiko's name. The silver-haired swordswoman frowns at that, but before she can say anything - or even think about how to proceed - the monster roars, with a psychic voice powerful enough to stagger even a demigod. She staggers, blue eyes closing for a moment as a hand clutches her head; the scream brings with it a hiss of pain. For sheer brute force, it's worse than a lot of things she's felt.     But the opening of her eyes again comes with a surprising amount of calm, because in this space, she can go all out. Here, for the first time in the Origin System, she has plenty of room to unleash her blade's true form. And Arachnia needed cover.     Setsuko intends to provide it by ensuring there's no Infested to go after her.     The swordswoman leaps up into the air, whipping her blade to one side as she does. In mid-air, there's a snap, a rushing of air, the sound of a thin ribbon of energy giving shape to a much bigger weapon. By the time Setsuko lands in the midst of the Infested horde, Zanjintou is... immense. The blade alone is twelve feet long, twice Setsuko's height. And yet she whips it around her naturally. As if its inertia were meaningless to her. She swings it around herself, and in one mighty sweep, the space around her is clear. One whirl to keep up the momentum, and then she lunges forward into the crowd. It sweeps away all before her, whipping around, coming up and over, once or twice even swinging /into/ the floor and then coming back out at an /upward/ angle. She's careful not to carve up the ground around her /too/ much, but, well...     By now, Kushiko should have a good idea why she's been so hesitant to use it freely in spacecraft. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa hears the talk of immortality? There's a crawling horror in her mind are the victem's minds trapped in this hive mind even when their flesh expires? She doe snot know she does not want to know deep down, she dopes however want to deal with her mini-gun. She will be sending data back to Dr. Shen about this one certainly this is a hell of a stress test for the weapon she thinks. They are able to clear htier way in time to reach the horror ahead s she's going to move fast and let them have it, the huge red horro that is before them is clearly Phorid right? She opens fire trying to burn what ammo remaisn but she's not going to get off scott free all things considerd with all the attacks flying about but it would be so much worse. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' There are some odd mercies to that psychic scream, resonating down to the proverbial bone as it tends to do: it's not as lethal as it could be. It's very much designed to soften up someone for the attacks and assaults of say, those Tar-Mutalist MOAs which have Nova Prime going after them with a /vengeance/. It's like she hates their very existence; that notion gets proven due to her guiding an antimatter drop to collide with and disintegrate their bodies, along with the patches of webbed, caustic acid they had managed to spit out. The spines Phorid manage to get out and send forth telekinetically are about the only ones it manages to get out: Maaka was chosen seemingly at random as she may have found out, but with the present assault of the Elites, a second attempt is unlikely to occur because frankly, it has more close-ranged options it's going to have to explore first. Not that it doesn't want to: Galen's Force Lightning /hurts/, eliciting a ruinous /howl/ from the beast as it staggers backwards for just a few precious moments, attempting to shake off the stun. One might think that, with as much toxic and venomous elements to the Infested, that the idea of a cybervenom or other thing simply would not affect them! It's true that there are some higher orders of Infestation that might look at toxin and gas damage a bit differently. But such adaptations of the flesh leaves them vulnerable to something incredibly unexpected. And that's toxins of others. A warframe known as Saryn may sometime like to have a word with Black Arachnia on poisons and viral methodologies. However, that time is not today. The remaining Wargolems are doing a rather excellent job, when combined with what Kushiko is doing with her Molecular Prime is thinning the pack. Autocannons, halberds, assault rifles and more are ensuring that the fight versus Phorid and his immediate forces--like the Ancient that was attempting to ablate the damage it's fellows and Phorid was was unleashing. Galen is not the only one marveling at that bladework and the sudden change--she had been suspecting something on a larger scale was why Setsuko held back, and damned if that isn't validated; the concept of antiship weaponry in melee form comes to mind. Because aside that sword growing to the size it grows, the Infested she brings it down into are sent flying. And not just flying, but the ones that aren't outright 'heavy' units are effectively the parts of several Infested, some slamming into stalagtites and stalagmites and other rocky outcroppings. This leaves the Phorid completely and utterly under siege: the Force Lightning having a very interesting effect on the creature's physiology when combined with the cybervenom into that technorganic body of Phorid. Where Black Arachnia has sunk her fangs into--and may well be riding bucking bronco for a little while--the venom spreads /hard/ and fast. It's a special kind of horrific sight as flesh seems to burn away with the cybervenom-lightning combo making it somehow spread just a bit faster. A growling kind of noise is strangled, dying on it's oddly multi-headed visage as a greenish layer of corrosive matter /eats/ away at Phorid from the inside. It buckles under the sheer weight of the onslaught provided by these Elites here, body disintegrating from the inside in what would be an absolutely horrific kind of death for anyone else. For Phorid, it is exactly what it deserves. The sheer amount of death and harvestable things would--and is--amazing. From Phorid's husk and the husk of others are the occasional bits of credits, some metallic salvage and alloyed plates that are encapsulated in containers that can be picked up by others, including the Nova. Only the screams and rattling cries of Infested that are dying or recently dead are now in this room. Sensors manned by Juno indicate there's a safe passage now from here to exfiltrate. Misson successful, time to get out of town ASAP. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     As the group begins its retreat, a careful ear might hear Setsuko murmur something while her blade returns to the form of a regular katana; a soft intonation that almost has the air of a prayer, or a ritual mantra. Said to herself, or perhaps her fallen foes, rather than any of her allies.     "There is nothing my Zanjintou cannot cut."     It's a brief moment, and then it's gone, and she's on the move to the dust-off point. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' While riding a flailing victim is terribly uncomfortable when she's only hanging on by her mandibles, once Black Arachnia is able to get a purchase on her prey with a few of her legs, it's much easier to cope with. Granted, her head (or equivalent) still hurts like the dickens, and hanging onto something that's getting shot full of lightning doesn't feel much better ... but other than that, she rides the dying Phorid all the way down to the floor, and the ensuing puddle. "And stay dead," the spider mutters once the Phorid has dissolved away too much for her mandibles to hold where she initially bit it. Then it's a matter of helping to salvage things - metal scraps and alloys and some credits - and heading for the extraction point at the best speed she can handle. She *SERIOUSLY* needs a thorough decontamination, outside and inside. And maybe to repeat the process a couple of times before she parks herself in a CR chamber for good measure. Still ... that was rather satisfying. For all the enemies she's taken the trouble to hate, killing the Phorid was INCREDIBLY satisfying after all the trouble it had given them. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Keilandus smiles behind his mask, as the giant beast goes down eaten from the inside out by a combination of toxins, lightning and ... god only knows what sort of physiological reaction; One fires off a few more bursts of covering fire at any of the infested might still be alive ... which probably just means it rises and puts the autocannon into a rest position.     There's another sensation of cold as Keilandus raises his staff, and lost life energy is once again gathered from the battelfield. "There should be enough here for..." His old voice trails off under his breath for a few moments, before he gives a slightly shaky, but incredibly graceful bow to the group. "We have our own decontamination facilities aboard our ship. Lady Tenno, Kushiko, Lotus. We will contact you after you're all in a more ... hospitable climate."     After a few moments the three of them vanish in the distorting flicker of teleportation. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Once the thing is dead, and the things around the thing are dead, Galen stands with both lightsabers poised to strike, panting. After a few seconds he seesm to realise there's nothing left to attack or be attacked by. Blinking the sweat out of his eyes, he thumbs the deactivator on the lightsabers, which extinguish with a hiss. Galen screws his eyes shut and shakes his head as though to clear it from the last remembered Phorid-scream. Ugh. It's tempting to stick around and see what can be salvaged, but there's ultimately not much here to tempt Galen. Lightsaber crystals and artifacts of the Jedi are what interest him, not dead steel and contaminated tissue. Therefore, it's time to exit stage left; turning, the former Sith apprentice intends to do exactly that, dog-trotting (and occasionally flat-out sprinting) back to the extraction point. From there, the Rogue Shadow will pick up all of the wayward Union-aligned Elites, and whisk them off to whatever serves for a decontamination station, whether coordinates given by the Lotus or to Union facilities. The door to the cargo hold where they're riding whisks shut, and then hisses as though being pressurised.     [Sorry, but you're all contaminated. I'm sealing you into the cargo holds until I can drag you lot into decontamination, and it's not a good idea to risk exposure to me. It won't be too long a trip.] The poor bastards will be sealed and quarrantined in the cargo hold until then, too, Galen included. Yep, she really locked them in there. Galen himself settles cross-legged into a corner, drops his lightsaber hilts into his lap, bows his head, and appears to meditate until they arrive, refusing conversation. Sociable guy, isn't he? 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa doesn't bother to pick up anything that dropped she feares it might bt tainted she says little to nothing over the comm but it's time to pul out and go to get cleaned up now. They need to be decontaminated after a run like that with that? She's fleeing with th entirely of the others for the extraction point. Kotone will not be sleeping well tonight. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' For what it's worth, Kushiko lingers behind a little; especially to make sure Kotone got out safe as well. It's oddly satisfying to be fighting so with others the way she has. She also lingers behind, some of the earlier caution she had with regards to guarding her identity currently evaporating. Keilandus however, is another matter. She heard something interesting; rather, she through her suit's sensors did. She felt that energy, that coldness provided by necromantic energies. Now she knew why she did not feel as uneasy as she did before. They made her think of Nekros. Once that connection was made, it goes without saying that she was decidedly intrigued to put it modestly. But there was no time for that sort of thing. She was herself purged, cleaned of the Infested elements because, well. She herself, through her Warframes /was/ immune. Thus, when she extracted as well, she did so silently and without issue, boarding the Liset and disembarking through another part of the facility. The Infested flesh, over the next several days, would be reported as dying off in /droves/, without a leading influence to guide them, it was nothing for the Corpus and Tenno allies to finish the job in full. For now, the Infested threat was over...             THE END ... FOR NOW. 
}}

4136/Jupiter: Infested Outbreak (Final)

2016-05-22T07:11:04Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2016/05/21 |Location=Origin System <WF> |Synopsis=The final confrontation with the source of the Infested that have been resurgent in Jupiter's orb..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/05/21
|Location=Origin System <WF>
|Synopsis=The final confrontation with the source of the Infested that have been resurgent in Jupiter's orbit.
|Thanks=Literally everyone who came and enjoyed themselves. @_@
|Cast of Characters=7, 255, 304, 428, 456, 571, 964
|Tinyplot=Jupiter: Infested Outbreak
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:'''             * THE STORY SO FAR * The Infested, a bioweapon of the Orokin Empire has become resurgent from time to time in the Origin System, and in this case they have been highly aggressive in the Jupiter planetary system. With every incident, there is typically a source vector, a reason why the Infested invade; such reasons remain unknown, even if their cause is: the aberration of twisted flesh simply known as PHORID PHORID is a unique case as Infested goes; from what the Lotus and the Corpus have been willing to share, despite its' numerous deaths it always manages to come back due to the ship graveyards beyond Eris, regrowing from larvae whenever it dies. Sadly, the amount of manpower necessary to keep this from happening is astronomical due to from how small of a speck of life Phorid can come back from. Combatwise, the following data is made known to the group in-transit: massive and powerfully agile, PHORID is believed to possess some degree of psychic powers, able to control flung spines with telekinetic force, and a sonic screams that's as much psionic as it is physical. Further intelligence also points to the location being heavily overrun with Infested; Boilers and Brood Mothers are among the numbers of Infested, along with a number of Ancients that have metamorphed from the rapid self-replication and growth provided by other heavy units. Put simply: target rich environment is what people can expect at Amalthea. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:'''             * HERE AND NOW * Space travel is the prime way to actually get here; be it by the transports provided through the Corpus, the Lotus, or Union, the moon's surface is pocketed with the curved, crude Grineer structures. If one didn't know any better, the seeming lack of actvity points to it's abandonment. However, surface scans indicate the spores commonly associated with the Infested, and closing on on the structures leading to the landing docks reveal the presence of that tumorous flesh of the Infested that have begun to scour the industrial surfaces of the installation, as well as the craggy surfaces of parts of the mine that part of the overall structure and stability of the moon. For what it's worth, there's a lot of room for any ship to dock, short of 100+ person battle cruiser. Shuttles, frigates, the whole nine yards can find places to temporarily moor themselves. Such as the Tenno, who's Liset would be seen coming and going, only to drop off such a figure that disappears further inside. Navigational coordinates are made available to everyone who is coming; apparently getting in is very easy, but beyond the rendezvouz point is there for a reason: beyond that point is an incredible amount of hostiles and that is effectively a point of no return. Corridors, elevators, and of course ventillation pipes lead those who have elected to engage in the operation a modestly safe, if incredibly ominous way forward. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' The Rogue Shadow's engines scream as it cuts its way through the space beyond Jupiter's moon. Its ion engines blaze blue, and the starlight glints off its hull. Aside from that reflected light, the ship is almost invisible, its black hull blending with the black backdrop of space behind it. At the controls, Juno Eclipse hunches in her rebel outfit, what looks like a toothpick clenched between her teeth. Her fingers dance over the controls, and her eyes are set grimly forward. Slumped in the co-pilot's seat beside her is the lanky figure of Galen Marek, dressed in greys and blacks, chin cupped in a palm. "This doesn't look too promising," he observes, warily. "Look at that mess." "Yeah. Don't touch it. Once we've landed I'll have PROXY stand by to help me keep tabs on the hull integrity; we'll have our blasters." Galen looks up at the stars bleeding past them, and then sits up when the ship abruptly lurches, dropping out of hyperspace like a rock into a pond. He swings to his feet, turning to the aft of the ship. "I guess this is it." "You'd better get ready," Juno offers. "I'm ready. Tell that to our passengers," he offers, footsteps receding. "Galen." He pauses; looks over one shoulder. "Be careful." With a grunt, he nods, turning and stalking down the corridor to the boarding ramp. Juno reaches up overhead, flicking a switch and announcing into her headset.     %This is Blackout to all Union passengers. We're approaching the boarding area and I'll be bringing the ship down momentarily; get what gear you've got with you, and be ready to disembark.] She looks back, but Galen's already gone, and she shakes her head as she guides the ship in. "I've got a bad feeling about this," she sighs, to the empty cockpit. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     There are still some doubts in a corner of Setsuko's mind about Juno and Galen. She won't be able to simply discard her concerns about their former allegiances; not until she's worked alongside them more, something she's had little opportunity to do. This is a chance to rectify that. A chance to tell that corner of her mind that the decisions of her higher-ups are correct, to see them at work and know they're decent people. So for the time being, she'll trust them.     When Galen reaches the boarding ramp, the demigod is already there, standing with her arms folded. She needs only one piece of equipment, and it's sheathed at her side. "Be ready," she says simply as the ship comes in. "The Infested are not pretty, either to look at or to deal with. Or to contemplate." By the time the ramp lowers, her hand is on Zanjintou's grip, and she leaps out with speed and precision, landing with blade drawn just in case their landing zone is hotter than anticipated. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka's already prepared for combat once Juno gives the announcement. She nods to Galen when he arrives, and stands to her feet. Loading up a magazine's worth of micro-missiles onto her coil gun's underslung launcher, she gives the weapon a firm slap on the bolt-release. "Here we go."     She swiftly disembarks from the ship after they land, her helmet folding into place. Maaka immediately synchs with Kotone's tacnet, as well as that of others if they allow it while she makes her way to the nearest vent opening. "Gonna head out on my own for this one, see if I can recon the zone a bit. Cheers, folks." She salutes over her shoulder, then takes off with gun in hand.     Just as promptly as Setsuko jumps, so does she, leaping into the breach so to speak, whether they're hovering over a pit or just landing in a hangar someplace. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' SO here Kotone was they were hunting Phorid the core of the infestation that was plaguing the Corpus's colonies with. She had also understood they were being very free with information on these things unlike? How they did business otherwise which drove home how /bad/ it is. When a merchan cult is not charging you money and it's not a scam? It's bad, and they understand you can't make money if your /dead/. Kotone was suitd up again and carrying some heavier weaponry with her this time, a heavy minigun that she had no issue carrying form the kooks of it. Juno give the passengers a heads up and she seems to bready to roll now. <<Copy that Blackout I'm ready here.>> She knows she shouldn't linger for long the moment they are able to board the target. She also synchs up with Maaka and starts sharing data. <<You ready for this maaka??>> 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' As long as the Rogue Shadow's hold has room for Black Arachnia, you bet she's aboard. Given the mission description, and the fact that it's following up on the Infestation trouble from the previous deployment, she's definitely interested in helping to close down this incident, whatever it takes. She does not jump to be the first one off the ship when Juno brings them in for a landing; Setsuko and Alexis can jump before the engines power down if they want, but Black Arachnia will wait until the rest of the group is ready, THEN proceed with everyone else. In spider form, of course. Why stand six feet tall (seven or eight in her case, really) and be an obvious target when you can hug the ground like her beast mode does? Let the others be subjected to pot shots. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' The only answer Setsuko gets is a brief sidelong study from the former Sith. His eyes are dark, and what stubble there is of his hair is also dark. He might have an expressive face if it weren't set in a faint scowl. He shakes his head. "I've dealt with unpleasant things before. Vader doesn't really know the meaning of 'restraint.'" He tilts his head, regarding her. He can still appreciate the spirit of the warning, though. Wasn't Juno always ragging him about his social skills? "Thanks, I guess." Sniff. She'd be proud. Maaka is eyed for a moment, before the former Sith grunts. It might be greeting, because he's returning the cyborg's nod of greeting. In they go. Galen takes a running leap from the boarding ramp, unperturbed by the distance between the ship and the ground; landing in a three-point crouch and making a grab for his lightsaber hilts. He doesn't carry anything but those two cylindrical hilts. There's one of them in each hand. He carries them cocked so they're behind him in an unusual reverse grip, and when he thumbs the activation on each hilt, they ignite with a hiss and a hum, painting the wall behind him in vibrant blue light. When he strides forward, it's with confidence, even though his head's still down a bit. "Let's go, people." The Rogue Shadow settles more properly once its passengers have disembarked, and it's only once it's clear the landing area is free of Infested that the engines power down from a deafening scream to a dull hum. Juno sets to work as soon as they're down, hunching over her console and attempting to nose around, digitally, and see if there's still a security mainframe to slice into. If she can grab hold of it, she can at least slice into the cameras and open doors for them... if there's a mainframe left to actually slice into, anyway. It's probably been eaten by alien death fungi, or whatever that stuff actually is. Juno doesn't really want to think about it too hard. It's just going to make her want to take a shower more than she already does. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' A group of four figures appear on one of the abandoned industrial platforms, one of them is dressed in silver trimmed black robes, carries a staff with a shimmering black crystal at the top, instead of a face he wears a featureless flat black mask, with a mane of white hair drooping down to his waist. Nine equally white tails flow out of his back.     The other three figures could very well be golems clad in obscenely heavy articulated armor, each of them of them are eight feet tall, with two of them holding rune clad tower shields, and multi-barreled autocannons, the third holds a large halberd. They swiftly flow into a defensive formation around the man in the robes.     "This place," the man in the robes creaks out with an ancient sounding voice, "Reeks of death." The mask slowly turns to face one of the growths on the ground. "How appropriate."     "Master Keilandus." The golem with the halberd points at the landing craft as the Union team disembarks.     "Well." The black robed man creaks a little sourly, before making a throwaway gesture with his left hand, "Maybe they know what's responsible for this mess." He sighs, and gestures in their direction, "If they don't then they're here to clean it up. Far more reasonable then letting it grow." A gesture with his staff creates a small path through the 'death fungi' with the simple expedient of turning it to dust. "We follow them."     And with that group begins ... not so stealthily ... tromping in the direction of the landing party. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' One might be asking themselves: where is the Tenno? That answer becomes self-evident when others have begun to arrive at the rendezvous point. The slim and almost petite figure of Nova Prime is already there, having dropped through one of the nearby ventillation ducts. The nature of this place's size and structural requirements means that the Grineer basically overengineered it: it might look crude aesthetically speaking but it's built to last. Of course, actually getting there is a rather interesting endeavour. There's clear points where lighting should be installed, along catwalks and corridors, reinforced structures housing cargo containers long since abandoned and packaged in tightly on pallets. But this lighting is only half-working: there's places where it's probably a good idea to be casting a little additional light through other means. Infested flesh, corpulent and tumorous and pulsing in odd little ways line both rock and metal. Swarms of spores dance and arc through the open air at times, but seem to not give a single care to the presence of the Elites so far. There /are/ some networks and systems that can be patched into: more passive than anything, but it's a really excellent indicator as to the amount of numbers that are there. Indeed, this allows those such as Kotone and Juno and Black Arachnia to affirm that there's a sizable number already present here. And by the looks of it, the area adjacent to where Phorid has been located is host to a particularly dense heatmap. It wouldn't be hard to suss that there's some measure of a breeding element going on there. Nova Prime, on the other hand, is waiting for the arrival of the others, but it's the odd sensation that there is something else--coupled with what the Lotus says in a more private way, gives her pause. One of the control rods on her left arm extends slightly, turning once, twice, augmenting her energy production for a moment. Further in, an echoing cry resonates, a cacophony of voices too distant to be any more than a warning cry.     (They are here. More than our wayward flesh. MUCH MORE.) Countless Chargers, Leapers, Runners begin to steer themselves towards another function. The presence, the smell of life, of the Tenno, of the Elites that come to assist. The Boilers who spawn so many more, and have been why there's been an endless tide of Infested flesh, their corpulent boils hatching more pods still.     (Prepare. <They will come to us.> Wear them down.)                 (ASSIMILATE) 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     On seeing the familiar form of Nova Prime, Setsuko offers a simple nod. This particular Tenno is one Setsuko recognizes quite well by now. So she's not hesitant to go on the offensive with the Warframe at her back, launching into a steady sprint. They've got some ground to cover. And the presence of that group that just landed... "That's a mage. Enchanted weapons and armor in the group, too." She's not sure what these newcomers have planned, but it worries her.     They'll have to move fast. Get to the Phorid quickly and get their mission done. And even moving quickly, they'll be clearing the way. It's a difficult situation. Setsuko is just breaking into movement when the cries of the Infested ring out. A grimace finds its way onto her face. "Here they come." She whips Zanjintou around herself in a quick flourish, and then launches into a run; best to get moving and start covering ground, so that they can't mass and attack in one big horde as easily. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone gets hooked up where she's able and is going to prerss onwads sghe'l make use of the mini gun where needed to cut down the infested who get too close but th strnge feelng? The strange noies leave her chilled she doe snot like this and she knows it's going to get worse before it gets better as shepress in with the test of the party. <<Great we really got them riled up. Then again that takes their focus on us and away from other things.>> She does her best to not waste fire as the big gun is mostly for their target they are hunting... 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Random spots of darkness? Hardly a problem for Black Arachnia; her sensors don't depend strictly on visual light, and the darkness hides her nicely when she's in it. As an infiltrator, spy, and saboteur, the shadows are kind of her thing whenever she can use them; if anything, she's probably less than pleased that the darkness is so spotty. Still, she *is* painstakingly avoiding the Infested biomatter; the group's probably already been detected as a matter of course, so she's not wasting time or energy with her electro-disruptor. If she splits off from the others, then she'll try to turn up the stealth, but as long as she's reasonably close to the rest of the team, anything the Infested might do is liable to catch her anyway. The map data that's relayed to her seems quite useful: she's already considering avenues of approach to Phorid. Of course, they have to get past the front door first. Whatever that takes. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Keilandus, the mage in the silver robes, glances up in the direction of Phorrid as it's roar echoes down the hallway, followed by the pitter patter of little feet. Many little feet. Many many little feet. "Well." His ancient voice creaks, "That answers one of my questions." He pauses as a number of the Unionites begin to start runing towards the noise, "Two of my questions."     He gestures again, and the one of the halberd, picks him up and begins running towards the group of battle-eager Unionites, while the two with the shields and autocannons flank the pair. "I mean you no harm here." His old voice creaks and one his tails gestures down the hallway, "Will you accept my aid, or at least-" The featureless black mask looks down the corridor, "-my nonaggression for the time being?" The other tails twich slightly, as he waits for a response.     Kushiko gets a seperate nod, a sort of graceful half bow, from his position on the golem's shoulder. "You smell of... Yes. We will have a job offer for you later, if you're willing."     The other two golems seem to be, posed to move rapidly, quite like they're ready to lunge in front of the mage with their shields if need be. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Fortunately, Galen Marek carries two lightsabers, and they're bright enough to find his way through the facility. The harsh blue light is eerie against the grey and red of the Infestation, but it's definitely possible to see. He has his jaw set as he stalks forward, moving more like a predator than a man, movements liquid-graceful and balanced. His eyes flick to every dark corner or suggestion of movement, one lightsaber held behind him, one held before him to light the way. He wrinkles his nose shut when spores swirl and dance through the air before them, as though reluctant to breathe the stuff. If it's half as malignant as it looks, he probably shouldn't be getting that yuck into his lungs. Nova Prime is given a bit of a look, since Galen hasn't seen a Warframe before, and it's the sort of sizing up that one warrior would offer to another. He's thinking of all the ways this thing could kill him, and he's probably right about it; calculations that he probably did to his fellow Elites, too. They're all formidable. They should all be fine against this Infestation thing... right? Galen's step doesn't falter at the sound of that distant scream. If anything, it quickens a little, both blue lightsabers flicking until they're held behind him at the ready as he glares into the darkness. "Something is coming," he mutters, frowning into the gloom. On the Rogue Shadow, Juno curses under her breath as she tries the shattered remnants of first one security mainframe and then another. It's bad enough that the infrastructure is physically damaged; but this stuff is beyond crude. Even the Empire's most slapped-together systems have more elegance than the Grineer mainframe, and Juno finds herself wrinkling her nose in distaste. "Ugh. Come on, there's got to be something left in here the Infestation hasn't eaten..." Keys click madly as she tries first one thing and hten another, eyes glued to the pilot's console and its instrumentation. She finally manages to get hold of a passive network, and while it's not what she'd hoped for, it's better than nothing. It's enough to see her allies on the ground below, and... "Bingo."     [Alright, I've gotten into a system on the ground. I think I've found where your friend's hiding, or maybe that's some of his friends. Watch your step. There's a huge concentration of those things not too far away from where you're at. Galen, you'd better be ready to clean up.] On the moon, Galen frowns more deeply. "/How/     [cxterm81">Just keep those lightsabers out.] Galen doesn't snipe back at her, frowning a little as he squints at the gloom ahead. "It's too quiet in here," he observes, surly. "Way too quiet." 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     "Let's go get him," Maaka says tersely, before she begins to take off after Galen. The maybeJedi seems like a good enough sort to rely on in a pinch, even if he seems considerably grouchier than most space monks. Hell, maybe he's not a monk after all or something.     The blips on motion trackers get her focused as the blips begin coming very, very close. She hangs behind Setusko only to provide the Major and other close-combatants with cover fire when the horde comes, and she grits her teeth. "Keep it tight. Let 'em come to us." Maaka says cooly, taking a deep breath. Here goes. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' So, on the one hand, the Infested are riled up, or beginning to be riled up. This is bad. On the other hand, it'll be some time yet before they reach the chosen rendezvous point, so the group has some time, so to speak. On the other other hand, who ever thought about giving the Infested a chance to stay alive? Exactly. Nova Prime on yet another hand of the many-splendored hands of the current situation was well-armed; aside the Dragon Nikana worn on one hip, she cradled an elegant-looking Tenno shotgun, the Tigris, in her hands. While she didn't necessarily 'look' at Galen, there was a momentary pause, the exchange of the two warriors brief, yet telling. <<"So long as you are not here to assist the Infested, which we doubt you are, then we have no issue.">> That is the voice of the Lotus, who is seen thanks in part due to a holographic panel emitted from one of the diodes on the surface of Nova Prime's armor. The very notion of a job is something that also sets the Lotus on edge as the golems begin to move forward. <<"You may use the following frequency to continue this conversation further. It is also an operational frequency for this 'job' you speak of.">> Naturally, this encoding is given to the mage in question without much trouble. 'Gloom' is very much the best word for the atmosphere of this abandoned Grineer facility, though much of that is owed to the miasma wafting from some of the Infested growth present on the catwalks and craggy walls. Some of the growth is scattershot and tentacular, looking a lot like webbing and woven in choatic patterns. Just ahead lay a blast door: two terminals on either side of the wide and tall secured door are points of access for engaging it. With much of the group progressing forward, Galen has the right of it. It's too quiet. But this is the only way forward: the two terminals are ones that Juno can see on the network itself, but one of them--the one on the left--is reporting a connection failure but no direct way to fix it: however, it does advise a physical bypass of activating an emergy power system located on the underside of the terminal. At least, that's what Juno might get out of it after deciphering the text and the utterly crude implication of, 'DOOR BROKEN, PRESS BUTTON UNDER TERMINAL A13 FOR BYPASS' and 'GET THAT DAMN ENGINEER TO FIX IT LATER' Also included in the work order is something about writing it in big letters so the majority of the Grineer might actually understand it. There's movement ahead. But it's all beyond that blast door now. Information on the layout of the place suggests that going another way will take too much time, and that the Infested in this direction are ones that are going to be needed to be dealt with because if you went another way, these Infested beyond the blast door would be able to come assist Phorid. Not a pleasent tactical aspect, no. So, who gets to knock first? 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Galen casts half a glance at the gilded form of Nova Prime, and the holoprojection of the Lotus that pops up beside it. He seems disinclined to comment, but the scowl he pulls at her comment suggests he's not even going to dignify that with a response. Does he look like he's in league with that disgusting stuff sprouting from the walls? We didn't think so. One lightsaber twirls in his grip, harsh blue light casting shadows as it spins around. He's obviously good with those weapons to be able to do something like that so casually and with such confidence. It seems to be more a gesture of anticipation than anything else. He's waiting to get into the thick of battle, because that's presumably why Juno asked him to do this. Well, that, and so Juno didn't have to do it herself. She's not really cowardly. She's just pragmatic. Really pragmatic. Yeah. Galen glances back at the party, indirectly, over first one shoulder and then the other. "I'm pretty sure they're back here." One lightsaber goes 'flip' in his hand, blue light flaring. "Looks like this door is the point of no return. Are we ready?" On the Rogue Shadow, Juno grates her teeth as she tries to pick through the hideously inelegant guts of what's left of a Grineer mainframe. These guys weren't very bright, were they? No wonder they got eaten by the Infestation, or whatever it is that happens to them when this stuff sprouts up. She'd guess eaten, from what footage she's seen of it. It looks like it makes horrible amalgamations. She abandons her efforts on the broken terminal, turning her attention to the second one, which is hopefully less damaged and less in need of manual rebooting.     [I'm having some problems with these terminals. Give me a few minutes, and I can get ahold of something more efficient. I'll be able to open those doors for you in a moment, I think.] 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Setsuko's ears, sharp as they are, don't miss the conversation going on behind her. So that mage and his cohorts - or are they summoned servants? - are here to help, or at least not to hinder. Still merits keeping an eye on, but she can accept that for now. So long as the group can keep moving. "There's nothing else here TO focus on," she replies to Kotone as they go. This place has become quite a hive; they're fresh prey. It will make reaching Phorid dangerous. But no one here is the type to be deterred by that, are they? So she continues on, her pace brisk, certain the others will be close behind... at least, until a door bars their way. Here, she can do nothing but stop, a faint frown on her face.     "If all else fails, I can cut through this. But a method that leaves the door intact would probably be better. We might need to close it again." 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Rather than knocking (or using the button under Terminal A13 to bypass it), Black Arachnia turns her attention to the broken and damaged terminal itself. If she can tap into the wired network, she's very inclined to see what she can get access to - or at least, ascertain whether Blackout's got a sufficient handle on the hacking side of things. The spidery Maximal has a certain skepticism when it comes to anyone else's hacking skills, but if the evidence convinces her - and let's admit it, Blackout has a large head start as far as hacking THIS network goes - then she'll let the human female stay focused on that. Black Arachnia has other ways she can contribute to the mission, after all. For that matter, if she likes what she sees of Blackout's work, she might offer the other hacker some party favors to put to use at her own discretion. (And by 'party favors,' she means 'customized virii'. If you couldn't figure that out.) At any rate, Black Arachnia has to start by seeing how hard it is to access the system from a simple data connection .. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone presses into the gloom of this place the infested have wrecked it twisted it and she can see they are at the door now there's two temrinals and she'll hook into them if she's needed. Well if she's needed to she now has her weapon ready, her breathing is tense and dshe's more than a little afriad but it seems Juno has the lock situation well in hand so she'll focus by keeping her weapon ready and powered up. She looks back to Setsuko who is right, and she's not sure what else to say. She makes ready for the right that's likely to come once Blackout gets the door open. <<Forward into the den of the beast...>> 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka grits her teeth. It seems plenty of people are ready to get the door open, so she remains at the ready with her rifle. Approaching one of the panels, she stacks up in awaiting the door to get opened up. "ANy time now..." She mutters, raring for combat at this point.     Tense, she only has her breath to hear as she prepares for the horde to be met with battle. It's not normal to see this little action going on, with Infested around. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Keilandus nods to the holographic image of the Lotus, "We appreciate your trust in this." His tone makes it sound like he's well aware that trust doesn't quite have as much to do with it as mutual interest does. His tails twich before he simply gives them another half bow, before his golems take off after the rest of the group.     As they reach the blast door, his tails twich again and he briefly tenses up, "Put me down number three." He makes a slight gesture of irritation at the door before he glances around the corridor, he gestures to the right button, and the golem clomps it's way over to the pannel. "Well. I see no reason to put both of my defenders at risk. Someone will have to take care of the other one." He glances around at the ground near his feet, before he taps the base of his staff on it in irritation, causing all of the fungal-infested growth to wilt and then dissolve into dust around him in a circle. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Galen stands at the door beside Setsuko, cocking a dark eye toward the bulkhead. There's a fair chance that he might be able to open the door through main strength by using the Force, but that also risks crumpling the door like a tin can. It would also announce to everything in this facility that there are delicious things to eat here, if their mere presence hasn't done that already. One of those lightsabers flips in hand again, painting the fungus-covered wall in blue light and shadow. "I could try to force it open, too, but it's probably going to wreck the door." He shrugs, stepping back and away from it. "Probably better if I don't. I'll just wait. Blackout should have it open in a few minutes... if she says she's going to do something, she'll do it. I trust her." He glances back over his shoulder, sweeping his dark eyes over the assembled Elites, thoughtful for a moment. "We should probably be ready for anything when this door opens, though." Back aboard the ship, Juno is yelling obscenities at the Grineer systems that govern the security measures and the door, trying every way she knows how to try and break into the system. Guile isn't working very well, so she's resorted to brute force, trying to smash her way into the system as inelegantly as possible. It's infuriating not because it's beyond her skill, but because this system is so /stupid/ that it's just /incomprehensible/. How the hell do these people use computer systems? 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Sure enough, with enough kludging of the damned thing--slicing from one end, a physical bypass on the other, and the door itself is actually rendered unlocked. There's... just the tiny scraping of claws and flesh rapidly tapping suddenly. And something else. At the edge of one's senses of the peripherary. The rather large ventillation tubes that are situated a bit higher up are occasionally spasming with, gears grinding to a halt. That can't have been a result of the hack, could it? The light panels on the crude, brownishly painted door switch from yellow, to green. It's incredibly good that the people who are here are ready to go and fight what's beyond this door. And in general, fight period. Because when the door begins to slide open, the howling scream is heard: at least, that's what one part of the brain thinks of it as, a scream. It's more distressing to be cognizant of it as a /voice/ instead.     (Revoke the frailities of the flesh. LET US IN.) That is when Infested from not just the blast doors, but the vents begin to surge inward; though the group is probably a fair deal more focused on the fact they're here at present. Setsuko would /feel/ the surge of violent force, of the song of battle on all sides coalescing into that single knifepoint here. Because the surge of Infested flesh through the blast door is more akin to a literal flood of flesh, corpulent and fibrous, with a good half dozen Ancients standing tall over Chargers and Leapers, the first of which practically stumble over themselves trying to push against it. Crawlers and other Mutalist-Ospreys are coming down through the vents themselves, causing Nova to shift her attention towards the group's backside. Antimatter energy gathers through and is released in a buffeting wave outwards as she fires off a quick shot at a flying Infested Osprey, making it and it's cargo explode. Maggots: small individual Infested spawned from the Brood Mothers in other parts of the complex are skittering from different angles, attempting to take advantage of the surge of Infested utterly converging upon the group from all sides. After all, there's enough massive targets for the Elites to focus their aggression on. Dozens of smaller, baseball-sized things trying to jump and cling onto you, biting and weighing you down is another matter altogether. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     In the instant the door unlocks, tension washes over Setsuko's form. She can feel the battle surging in to meet them. The fiercest part of it is still ahead, but 'fiercest' is relative. This alone is a furious struggle to survive. Setsuko moves into it without hesitating. Or at least, 'moves into it' in a manner of speaking. Her first action is actually to take a step /back/, to shift her position and stance so that she's right beside Kotone.     "Keep moving. Keep shooting. I'll make sure nothing reaches you until we find the Phorid."     And she's true to her word. Anything that approaches will taste divine steel. Setsuko's movements are smooth and instinctive. She's always in just the right spot to meet the next Infested to approach. Always in just the right stance to carve apart the next Charger to come after Kotone or herself. Even the maggots are not overlooked; if anything, her strikes go for them first, refusing to let even a single one pass her notice. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka trusts Setsuko on keeping Kotone safe, and in so doing she begins to charge in through the door. Upon sighting the Infested up ahead, she lets loose with a torrent of mini-missiles, the rockets as thick as a quarter each in diameter, but still packing a nasty punch as they penetrate Infested flesh and detonate inside. "Backblast, clear!" She calls out, before the rockets go off all at once.     She doesn't waste any time to celebrate, as she immediately begins to open fire with magnetically accelerated slugs. Accurate, precise bursts are let loose where Maaka knows the Infested will be crippled, and she keeps her distance to let Galen and Setsuko do their best work without collateral damage. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Well. That certainly is an awful lot of Infested, and the fact that they somehow have a comprehensible voice doesn't make things much better in the Maximal spider's opinion. Normally, she'd handle a situation like this by simply not being in it ... but there's one or two problems with that. First, there's no other feasible way through to the target; second, her allies would probably take exception to Black Arachnia turning tail and running away. "This is why I prefer not to be noticed until I've done my thing ... Black Arachnia, maximize: assault mode!" Black Arachnia transforms, closing the shields over her torso like she did before, and just opens up on the not-remotely-metaphorical-enough wall of Infested, raking her lasers across them horizontally, vertically, diagonally - basically just trying to carve away at the mass's members as efficiently as she can. If they get into her melee range, she'll have to revert to her normal combat configuration and start using her claws as well. On the downside, she CAN'T maintain absolutely continuous fire for very long; her lasers' capacitors don't carry that much charge. On the upside, though, she can provide plenty of windows for her more melee-oriented allies (like Setsuko and Garen) to get in close. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' The Infested scrape and howl on their side of the door, and on the side of the Elites, the former Sith apprentice is ready. He has time enough for one flip of the lightsaber before the blast door starts to grind open. There's no time for thought after that. There's only battle and the song of death, all around. He's in motion in a flash, lunging for the nearest Charger that comes bounding at him, face stretched in a silent snarl as twin blue lightsabers carve a path through the morass of the Infested. He might be roaring in wordless battle-cry, defiant against the tide of Infestation, but it's hard to hear him over the shrieking of his mindless opponents. They have bestial cunning, but it's clear that they no longer have minds or sentience beyond the hive-mind of the whole. That's okay. It just makes his job easier. Aboard the Rogue Shadow, Juno's hands are flicking from one set of controls to the other, occasionally reaching high overhead to flip a toggle. She has no time to enjoy her victory over Grineer computer stupidity; she's too busy tracking the course of the Infested as they surge through the door and into the defenders.     [Galen, watch yourself. Don't get separated from the other Elites. There's too many of them there for you to handle.] "Noted," Galen snarls, lightsabers crossed in front of himself to hold off a particularly adamant Charger. At least it doesn't have a stinking maw full of teeth, but the lack of them does make the situation a little unnerving. "Busy," he adds.     [The best I can advise is to keep moving. My view of the area is spotty; some of that equipment is too damaged to use.] Juno's tone sounds worried. She is, incidentally, extremely happy she's not down there herself. Galen is made for this kind of stuff. She is not. Meanwhile, Galen continues attempting to carve his way through the Infested, doing his best to stay reasonably close to his allies while he does. He has enough presence of mind to heed Juno's advise; she's right about that. There are just too many of these things for him to deal with alone. If he gets separated from the others, he'll be overwhelmed. The idea of succumbing and becoming one of these things gives even Galen Marek the heebie-jeebies. He pushes the thought aside, focusing wholly on his lightsabers and on meteing out death and destruction to these abominations. Thankfully, the harsh blue light is a bright beacon to his allies, and so is the distinctive hum and crackle of a lightsaber in action, so he won't be easy to lose track of. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' The war-golem at the door slams it's tower shield into the floor, the runes of the front flare into life, just as the first leaper slams into it's surface ... and gets blasted back with a flare of fire, which means the situation would be completely fine ... if there were just one of them... Except... there are least five dozen more behind it, and more charging down the hallways after...     And more throw themselves at the shield, several exploding, before the half ton war-golem is literally born over by a group of chargers and an ancient... ...The sounds of it's autocannon firing wildly into the horde pinning it to the ground can be heard for a few long moments, before metal groaning, warping, tearing, and shearing beneath a pile of infested monstrousities is all that remains of number two.     Keilandus growls softly under his breath, before he gestures with both hands and staff at the group approaching from the rear, lancing them with bolts of literal dealth and decay, while number one opens fire with it's autocanon into the pile on what remains of two. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' the Infested terrify Kotone now just from how they work but worse they are now talking to them about infesting them. She's more than scare now she just lays down fire with the mini gun trying to cut dowj as many of the on going horde as she's able to buyt it's good to know she's not alone and with Setsuko's covering fire? She's able to do some very good work to keeo her clear and she's quite thankful for their help and with Maaka and everyone else she's not going to give into her fear and panic she does keep shooting the infested s they come for them. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' There is a word for what happens here: chaos. Yet it's not unhinged, unorganized. The ravenous furor of the Infested is met by the calculated battle fury of the Elites that have made themselves present here today. Divine steel, magnetic slugs and lightsabers alike are reducing parts of the massed /throng/ of Infested to particulate matter. After a few kills scored by the former Sith and demigod, when their respective weapons find purchase, the bodies /detonate/ with antimatter, setting off chain reactions that ripple through the others. However, it's not quite enough. This could be a lot worse if it weren't for the fact that the Infested that had arrived to reinforce and bolster the group that was currently being engaged with weren't being slowed by the wave of energy put out by Nova Prime. It /does/ make it easier to avoid and kill, but there's a lot of killing to be done. The wargolem has drawn an impressive amount of aggression from the Infested; it's as if they sense there's something they could use but they don't even realize it yet. Whether they could or not doesn't matter: the potential is enough to distract a few of the Ancients long enough to find their bodies crumpled under automatic fire and lightsaber heat cauterizing their faceful of tentacles into a sizzling stump. Much like the Maggots that find themselves turned into pure wet detrius by that divine blade, before that blade finds it's home inside a Brood Mother's tentacled side, corpulent flesh exploding in a decidedly painful way. But here's the awesome part of the group's teamwork. Between Galen and Setsuko wading hipdeep into death and destruction, bodies of what were formerly anything betwen Corpus, Grineer, or some other beast of burden, they were keeping the Infested at bay from the range-focused individuals. Those who could pack a lot of power in small packages. Energy is energy, at least to the whimsies of Nova Prime. The petite frame's control rods extend from her hips and arms, revolving once as she gathers antimatter into golden, solid orbs of energy as the group fights. As mage slings his bolts of death and decay, as Kotone's automatic weapons fire cuts loose, with Arachnia's lasers scything, the energy orbs occasionally take up what would find only dead bodies. Four of them collecting energy as the Tenno's Tigris is fired into them directly, twice over, she snaps open the twin-barreled shotgun and reloads. And again, firing into the next two. This kind of thing takes time. Time given and taken with grace as the control rods suddenly flare, and *slam* home inside her limbs. The resultant explosion is placed at enough points that it's augmented by the actions of the Elites and turns loose a resonating, defeaning concussion of force that radiates from each of the points; lilac and black smoke swirls and seems to implode inward before the spherical shockwaves radiate outwards. Now, this kind of thing /should/ be hurting the others. But it doesn't. It does however, carve an absolutely /murderous/ swath of destruction to give the group enough breathing room, and staggering the survivors that remain enough for the group to pick them off with far greater ease. Only a dozen stragglers lumbering barely into view now. "Absolutely right; we need to keep going. This... /was/ designed to bottleneck us. Not enough," the Tenno savagely notes through the local band as sparks of void energy coruscate throughout the vicinity as the bodies of the Infested and the cancerous growths are, without a doubt, /disintegrated/. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka recognizes what Nova is doing here, as she spies the orbs floating in place. "Fire upon those!" She yells to Kotone, before doing exactly that. It's just a mag dump, unloading enough firepower to charge up the orb before Maaka slings the weapon and gets aggressive next.     She draws a nasty shotgun from her matter manipulator, before pressing the muzzle to the nearest infested. Ka-click, BOOM! She pulls the trigge,r before chambering another round and going through Infested like a terror unrealized before now. She uses the solid stock of the weapon as a bludgeon, caving in the head of another unfortunate Infested with a swift butt-stroke, and she brings the creature to the ground, stomping it with all her might as she brings her boot down upon what she assumes is its head.     She's COVERED in blood from all this, and other stuff, and she only keeps going as she blasts and batters herself a path through the horde with aggressive savagery, giving off a satisfied roar as she fires point-blank into a Charger along her way. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' If she transformed back to beast mode, Black Arachnia COULD push ahead - possibly more easily than in her robot mode, and certainly more readily than she can in a combat configuration. On the other hand, if she tried that, she would no longer be helping reduce the Infested population in our immediate path, and let's face it: she really doesn't want to find out what Infested infection would do to her Cybertronian physiology (apart from 'a complete and total lack of anything good,' which she takes for granted). So, she maintains Assault Mode, and apart from the breaks she needs to let her lasers cool down and their capacitors recharge, she continues laying down fire for the others. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Galen Marek might be wading hip-deep into a tide of death and destruction, and if he were less focused, even he'd be disgusted by the proceedings. As it is, he throws his concentration into the battle. Mistakes would be lethal. Teeth bared in a silent snarl, he throws his entire body into his blows, graceful and deadly as he dances among the Infested with lightsabers blazing. He's got pieces of Infested remains on him, and amalgam blood spattered across his Sith training uniform. Juno's going to unleash holy hell at him when he drags this mess back onto the ship, isn't she? After a few minutes, he's finally managed to cut himself a path enough to see where his allies are and what they're doing. Aboard the Rogue Shadow, Juno keeps rapt attention on the pilot's console. She can see through a few of the nearby security cameras, those that haven't been absorbed by the Infestation. They paint an unpleasant picture, one that has her white-knuckling the controls in apprehension. It's always the same when Galen goes out on an operation -- she knows he can take care of himself, but that never stops her from worrying. Never mind that she's a nice person, and she'd be somewhat upset if anything happened to her Elite friends and allies. That's an awful lot of Infested. Tapping at the controls, she shifts her view to another security camera further ahead.     [You'd better hurry forward, all of you. If you let yourself get bogged down there, you'll be overwhelmed. There's more of them further up the corridor.] "Acknowledged!" Galen shouts, lightsabers whirling in reverse-grip and slamming into the charging face of a Charger that gets too close to him. "Let's get moving, everyone!" 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     The horde has been thinned enough to proceed, and Setsuko intends to do just that. "We have our window. We've got to get to Phorid quickly." She's still doing as she promised she would, using her blade and moving swiftly to keep Kotone covered so that the cyborg can move fast without worrying about getting flanked; but now, where she finds the opportunity, she's also darting ahead or to the sides, where she can proactively hit Infested, taking care of them before they become a problem so the others can focus on keeping the path ahead clear. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Keilandus mutters something under his breath, before shielding his face with his left arm, as the huge wave of explosions washes over the infested and the rest of the group. "Damnable..." He lowers his arm as the blast of lens flare ... err ... tide of overly bright explosions ends, then gestures at the hallway behind the group ... and a glowing black wall of anti-life stretches across the hallway. "It won't do much good in the long term I'm afraid..."     He pauses for a moment, glances around at the wreck and ruin for a few moments, watching as the bodies dissolve, before he nods once, and gestures with his staff ... A chill seems to run across the area, and blood red energy gathers at the tip for a few moments, before number three scoops him up and moves over to the ruin that was number two. "...Two. Release. That body is damaged beyond repair." His voice creaks quietly, "We'll get you another later. You've certainly earned it and I'll advise Zathlarne of such personally."     His masked gaze travels the area, before a second chill emanates from the ruined golem, and it's body disintegrates. "Come. One and Three. We have to keep up. One." He points at the front, and the golem opens up with the occasional burst of covering fire, while he himself blasts the occasional lance of energy at whatever may be trying to follow the group. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is still shooting until she gets a reason to move but there seem to be move they are being bottlenecked they have to push ahead however and Kotoine will advance here as she's needed. She sees the orbs as Maaka calls them out and opens fire on the orb as suggested hopetull this will help a good deal. <<Copy that Blackout>> Swarm tactice are coming and she'll move swiftly thanks to Setsuko's help again she'll owe her another one for all this help as they move into the heart of the swarm. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' As the smoke clears, it's pretty clear that the first attempt at waylaying the group with this ambush wasn't as successful as Phorid might have sought for. Yet the death of his fellow flesh does not faze him nearly as much as it should. (Wayward flesh. We are the vessel through which immortality is achieved. Assimilate, -Kushiko-.) The problem with the way those words are said is it's not just Kushiko. There's a bundle of other meanings that could be felt there at the same time. 'Child of the Void' is among them as is the simple meaning of /death/ in the purest of forms. Quirk of the multiverse, but possibly unsettling regardless. How literal could it be felt as? Was it directing its words to the Tenno Operator, or to the Warframe even as the frame unsheathed a blade to slice through the limb of an errant Charger. Keilandus' interaction with the golems gives the Tenno a momentary, thoughtful pause amidst other considerations as the group hustles their way through. Speed is an important factor now. Why give Phorid the chance to amass more forces, though the Infested that they are encountering now are slightly heavier overall. Boilers and Ancients are attempting to work together to keep the Elites from scything their way through. "Come on!" is the Tenno's voice, refusing to dignify what Phorid has said, and focusing instead on supporting the others, releasing waves of antimatter energy that slow arriving foes and simply tearing through alongside others, and keeping Kotone mindfully secure when she can. With the Elites working together as they were, it wasn't long for them to arrive at the cavernous lair that Phorid had chosen. More Ancients, along with Tar-Mutalist MOAs that hisses and spat, readying themselves hurl caustic acid as their mechanic-organic bodies began to move to try and flank the arriving group. Oh yeah. Galen is absolutely, probably going to track a good deal of gore through that isn't utterly heat and energy-blasted before getting back to the Rogue Shadow at this rate. And at the center of it all was the massive, red carapace of the beast known as Phorid. It's limbs and claws scraping and hammering the ground as it simply /screamed/ with psionic, cacophonic furor. With as many of the others that were here, it would /hurt/ but it would not be life threatening. The telekinetically spines that are likely to come next, that's another matter altogether. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Wargolem One slams it's shield down the moment right after the scream begins, and runes flicker to life across it's surface creating a bubble shield about ten feet across ... it doesn't stop all of the incoming psionic blasting, and doesn't really do anything about the incoming soundwaves ... but something is better then nothing. Usually. It doesn't stop Keilandus face visor from cracking, or both golems from wincing briefly as it starts.     The moment the scream stops, the golem charges forward to a spot somewhat behind cover and opens fire with it's autocannon on Phorid. Three sets Keilandus down gently, and brandishes it's halberd, smashing forward and crashing into anything that gets into close range of One or Keilandus.     Keilandus on the other hand, starts gesturing with his staff at the various ways into the room, spreading walls of anti-life across as many of them as he can ... Live reinforcements. Bad. Dead reinforcements. Good. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "Immortality has always been an overrated concept," Black Arachnia replies calmly, followed by a mildly urgent, "Beast mode." She immediately turns back into her spider form - and just in time, as the extra legs (and the liberation from Assault Mode) give her an improved chance to scuttle out of the way of those flying spines. Also, she's not really psychic but the psionic pressure-wave gives her a headache anyway. On the other hand, she's not without her own telekinetic tricks; at least one spine that she wouldn't have been able to dodge winds up 'grabbed' in mid-air and shoved off to the side as she picks her way along the walls, trying to get a better vantage point from which tot murder Phorid. And she does specifically have murder in mind, too. There are two or three ways for her to go about it - get up close at floor level (it's not likely to allow that), drop on it from directly above (that's going to be tricky to arrange), or find a good spot and launch her mandible grapnel (which might catch it by surprise, but is more likely to be countered via telekinesis) ... but her goal is to 'bite' the Phorid, whether directly or via her mandible grapnel, and inject a dose of VERY toxic, VERY corrosive cybervenom. She usually tries to make her venom more debilitating than outright lethal - Elites are notoriously hard to kill, so she usually doesn't try to go that extra mile for Union purposes - but in this case, the mission from the start was 'kill the Phorid,' so she's going to do her best to kill it. And with the psychic assault battering at her normally psi-blind mind, she hopes it hurts badly enough to more than make up for the headache. Given the options and the state of the chamber, Black Arachnia heads up, climbing along the chamber's walls as quickly as she can go, occasionally zigging or zagging in one direction or another - partly to circumnavigate live obstacles, partly to just be an inconsiderately difficult target to aim at. And once she gets to a spot directly above the Phorid? She just plummets, angling her arachnid body so as to - assuming this WORKS - dig her mandibles into the Phorid's head or neck, or something near them. And once her mandibles dig in, her palps follow - and the cybervenom is injected. If Black Arachnia's body is knocked off-course, she'll settle for launching the mandible grapnel - *literally* shooting her mouth off, attached to her main body by a shimmering cable of energon and control signals - and going for the cybervenom injection that way. What she *didn't* do was attach a webline to where she's descending from; it's all gravity at this point, so if she misses the drop completely? She's going to be in for a rough landing, and will be in a lot of danger, *and* somebody else will likely need to kill the Phorid for her even if the impact doesn't disable her. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Killing off the Infested probably doesn't affect the Phorid much. It seems to have enough presence of mind to know that all it needs to do is absorb more. Only complete eradication seems to be enough to stop the Infestation from its steady forward march. Right now, Galen's too busy to contemplate Infested methodology and higher cognitive abilities. It isn't long before they manage to hack and slash their way through the living tide, into the chamber where the Phorid itself lurks. He's covered in Infested gore, and he'll probably be submitting to a lengthy quarrantine and decontamination session later. Unfortunately, so will the ship, and probably Juno, after being exposed to all that nastiness. Yeah, no, she's not gonna like that... Twirling his lightsabers in that idle flip, Galen tightens his grip on them, looking up as the carapaced Phorid screeches. As the Phorid screams, he whips his head to one side, staggering back at the psionic force of that scream. He shakes his head as though to clear it, before stepping forward and whirling the lightsabers again. Raising one arm, he splays his fingers, thumb keeping a grip on the lightsaber haft. In the blink of an eye, a tangled arc of lightning streaks from his fingertips to the Phorid itself, but he doesn't have time to do more than fire that single shot -- he's already dashing to avoid the thrashing limbs and the spines, not to mention the machinations of his own allies. Setsuko's display earns Galen whipping his head around to stare, disbelieving, as her weapon is suddenly orders of magnitude bigger than it was a minute ago. Never mind the ease with which she whips it left and right, bisecting Infested as she goes, even carving the ground itself like a knife through so much butter. Holy hell. That's incredible. But he doesn't have time to stare, because a Charger slams into him from the side, prompting a shout of surprise -- these things are really starting to annoy him -- forcing him to whirl his lightsabers around and jam the lit end of both into the thing's head, or whatever serves for a head. He kicks the lifeless corpse aside and springs back to his feet. Coming up swinging, he kicks off from the ground and lunges for the Phorid itself, firing another blast of lightning as he goes. Aboard the Rogue Shadow, Juno is watching all of this with her jaw knotted, fingers dancing over the controls as she keeps hopping from security camera to security camera for the best vantage point. There's not much she can personally do beyond keeping the ship ready, engines hot; PROXY is keeping an eye on the ship, ensuring that none of the Infestation has a chance to get hold of the hull. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Somehow, despite all her cybernetics, Maaka still hears that psychic scream. It fucks with her neural software briefly, before a forced reboot gets her back up to speed. SHe growls in irritation, having a headache that's gonna be a bitch later, but powers through.     Nothing like a monster actually speaking directly to you to get your attention.     Maaka blasts through the Infested, reaching the wide open mining area. Storing her shotgun, she goes back to the GASH, converting the coilgun to sniper-mode as she adjusts the output for maximum damage, at the cost at ammo per shot and cost of battery power. She leaps into the rafters, finding a good spot to perch from while taking aim at the Phorrid.     Long as this ugly fuck is kept busy by the others, she can do her best to herd it towards them with sniper rifle, and she does, firing repeatedly with accurate shots to keep it pissed off, and intentional misses to keep it moving where she needs Phorrid to be for Setsuko and others.     Of course, she nearly gets pinned to the structure by a spine flung her way. It penetrates through her armor, but she just grits her teeth as she continues to shoot. She'll have to worry about that stab wound later. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     It's a wide space. A space flooded with enemies, and in the heart of it all a large and powerful Infested, the source of this outbreak. The Phorid. And it just used Kushiko's name. The silver-haired swordswoman frowns at that, but before she can say anything - or even think about how to proceed - the monster roars, with a psychic voice powerful enough to stagger even a demigod. She staggers, blue eyes closing for a moment as a hand clutches her head; the scream brings with it a hiss of pain. For sheer brute force, it's worse than a lot of things she's felt.     But the opening of her eyes again comes with a surprising amount of calm, because in this space, she can go all out. Here, for the first time in the Origin System, she has plenty of room to unleash her blade's true form. And Arachnia needed cover.     Setsuko intends to provide it by ensuring there's no Infested to go after her.     The swordswoman leaps up into the air, whipping her blade to one side as she does. In mid-air, there's a snap, a rushing of air, the sound of a thin ribbon of energy giving shape to a much bigger weapon. By the time Setsuko lands in the midst of the Infested horde, Zanjintou is... immense. The blade alone is twelve feet long, twice Setsuko's height. And yet she whips it around her naturally. As if its inertia were meaningless to her. She swings it around herself, and in one mighty sweep, the space around her is clear. One whirl to keep up the momentum, and then she lunges forward into the crowd. It sweeps away all before her, whipping around, coming up and over, once or twice even swinging /into/ the floor and then coming back out at an /upward/ angle. She's careful not to carve up the ground around her /too/ much, but, well...     By now, Kushiko should have a good idea why she's been so hesitant to use it freely in spacecraft. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa hears the talk of immortality? There's a crawling horror in her mind are the victem's minds trapped in this hive mind even when their flesh expires? She doe snot know she does not want to know deep down, she dopes however want to deal with her mini-gun. She will be sending data back to Dr. Shen about this one certainly this is a hell of a stress test for the weapon she thinks. They are able to clear htier way in time to reach the horror ahead s she's going to move fast and let them have it, the huge red horro that is before them is clearly Phorid right? She opens fire trying to burn what ammo remaisn but she's not going to get off scott free all things considerd with all the attacks flying about but it would be so much worse. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' There are some odd mercies to that psychic scream, resonating down to the proverbial bone as it tends to do: it's not as lethal as it could be. It's very much designed to soften up someone for the attacks and assaults of say, those Tar-Mutalist MOAs which have Nova Prime going after them with a /vengeance/. It's like she hates their very existence; that notion gets proven due to her guiding an antimatter drop to collide with and disintegrate their bodies, along with the patches of webbed, caustic acid they had managed to spit out. The spines Phorid manage to get out and send forth telekinetically are about the only ones it manages to get out: Maaka was chosen seemingly at random as she may have found out, but with the present assault of the Elites, a second attempt is unlikely to occur because frankly, it has more close-ranged options it's going to have to explore first. Not that it doesn't want to: Galen's Force Lightning /hurts/, eliciting a ruinous /howl/ from the beast as it staggers backwards for just a few precious moments, attempting to shake off the stun. One might think that, with as much toxic and venomous elements to the Infested, that the idea of a cybervenom or other thing simply would not affect them! It's true that there are some higher orders of Infestation that might look at toxin and gas damage a bit differently. But such adaptations of the flesh leaves them vulnerable to something incredibly unexpected. And that's toxins of others. A warframe known as Saryn may sometime like to have a word with Black Arachnia on poisons and viral methodologies. However, that time is not today. The remaining Wargolems are doing a rather excellent job, when combined with what Kushiko is doing with her Molecular Prime is thinning the pack. Autocannons, halberds, assault rifles and more are ensuring that the fight versus Phorid and his immediate forces--like the Ancient that was attempting to ablate the damage it's fellows and Phorid was was unleashing. Galen is not the only one marveling at that bladework and the sudden change--she had been suspecting something on a larger scale was why Setsuko held back, and damned if that isn't validated; the concept of antiship weaponry in melee form comes to mind. Because aside that sword growing to the size it grows, the Infested she brings it down into are sent flying. And not just flying, but the ones that aren't outright 'heavy' units are effectively the parts of several Infested, some slamming into stalagtites and stalagmites and other rocky outcroppings. This leaves the Phorid completely and utterly under siege: the Force Lightning having a very interesting effect on the creature's physiology when combined with the cybervenom into that technorganic body of Phorid. Where Black Arachnia has sunk her fangs into--and may well be riding bucking bronco for a little while--the venom spreads /hard/ and fast. It's a special kind of horrific sight as flesh seems to burn away with the cybervenom-lightning combo making it somehow spread just a bit faster. A growling kind of noise is strangled, dying on it's oddly multi-headed visage as a greenish layer of corrosive matter /eats/ away at Phorid from the inside. It buckles under the sheer weight of the onslaught provided by these Elites here, body disintegrating from the inside in what would be an absolutely horrific kind of death for anyone else. For Phorid, it is exactly what it deserves. The sheer amount of death and harvestable things would--and is--amazing. From Phorid's husk and the husk of others are the occasional bits of credits, some metallic salvage and alloyed plates that are encapsulated in containers that can be picked up by others, including the Nova. Only the screams and rattling cries of Infested that are dying or recently dead are now in this room. Sensors manned by Juno indicate there's a safe passage now from here to exfiltrate. Misson successful, time to get out of town ASAP. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     As the group begins its retreat, a careful ear might hear Setsuko murmur something while her blade returns to the form of a regular katana; a soft intonation that almost has the air of a prayer, or a ritual mantra. Said to herself, or perhaps her fallen foes, rather than any of her allies.     "There is nothing my Zanjintou cannot cut."     It's a brief moment, and then it's gone, and she's on the move to the dust-off point. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' While riding a flailing victim is terribly uncomfortable when she's only hanging on by her mandibles, once Black Arachnia is able to get a purchase on her prey with a few of her legs, it's much easier to cope with. Granted, her head (or equivalent) still hurts like the dickens, and hanging onto something that's getting shot full of lightning doesn't feel much better ... but other than that, she rides the dying Phorid all the way down to the floor, and the ensuing puddle. "And stay dead," the spider mutters once the Phorid has dissolved away too much for her mandibles to hold where she initially bit it. Then it's a matter of helping to salvage things - metal scraps and alloys and some credits - and heading for the extraction point at the best speed she can handle. She *SERIOUSLY* needs a thorough decontamination, outside and inside. And maybe to repeat the process a couple of times before she parks herself in a CR chamber for good measure. Still ... that was rather satisfying. For all the enemies she's taken the trouble to hate, killing the Phorid was INCREDIBLY satisfying after all the trouble it had given them. 

:'''{{#var:456|Zathlarne (456)}} has posed:''' Keilandus smiles behind his mask, as the giant beast goes down eaten from the inside out by a combination of toxins, lightning and ... god only knows what sort of physiological reaction; One fires off a few more bursts of covering fire at any of the infested might still be alive ... which probably just means it rises and puts the autocannon into a rest position.     There's another sensation of cold as Keilandus raises his staff, and lost life energy is once again gathered from the battelfield. "There should be enough here for..." His old voice trails off under his breath for a few moments, before he gives a slightly shaky, but incredibly graceful bow to the group. "We have our own decontamination facilities aboard our ship. Lady Tenno, Kushiko, Lotus. We will contact you after you're all in a more ... hospitable climate."     After a few moments the three of them vanish in the distorting flicker of teleportation. 

:'''{{#var:428|Juno Eclipse (428)}} has posed:''' Once the thing is dead, and the things around the thing are dead, Galen stands with both lightsabers poised to strike, panting. After a few seconds he seesm to realise there's nothing left to attack or be attacked by. Blinking the sweat out of his eyes, he thumbs the deactivator on the lightsabers, which extinguish with a hiss. Galen screws his eyes shut and shakes his head as though to clear it from the last remembered Phorid-scream. Ugh. It's tempting to stick around and see what can be salvaged, but there's ultimately not much here to tempt Galen. Lightsaber crystals and artifacts of the Jedi are what interest him, not dead steel and contaminated tissue. Therefore, it's time to exit stage left; turning, the former Sith apprentice intends to do exactly that, dog-trotting (and occasionally flat-out sprinting) back to the extraction point. From there, the Rogue Shadow will pick up all of the wayward Union-aligned Elites, and whisk them off to whatever serves for a decontamination station, whether coordinates given by the Lotus or to Union facilities. The door to the cargo hold where they're riding whisks shut, and then hisses as though being pressurised.     [Sorry, but you're all contaminated. I'm sealing you into the cargo holds until I can drag you lot into decontamination, and it's not a good idea to risk exposure to me. It won't be too long a trip.] The poor bastards will be sealed and quarrantined in the cargo hold until then, too, Galen included. Yep, she really locked them in there. Galen himself settles cross-legged into a corner, drops his lightsaber hilts into his lap, bows his head, and appears to meditate until they arrive, refusing conversation. Sociable guy, isn't he? 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa doesn't bother to pick up anything that dropped she feares it might bt tainted she says little to nothing over the comm but it's time to pul out and go to get cleaned up now. They need to be decontaminated after a run like that with that? She's fleeing with th entirely of the others for the extraction point. Kotone will not be sleeping well tonight. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' For what it's worth, Kushiko lingers behind a little; especially to make sure Kotone got out safe as well. It's oddly satisfying to be fighting so with others the way she has. She also lingers behind, some of the earlier caution she had with regards to guarding her identity currently evaporating. Keilandus however, is another matter. She heard something interesting; rather, she through her suit's sensors did. She felt that energy, that coldness provided by necromantic energies. Now she knew why she did not feel as uneasy as she did before. They made her think of Nekros. Once that connection was made, it goes without saying that she was decidedly intrigued to put it modestly. But there was no time for that sort of thing. She was herself purged, cleaned of the Infested elements because, well. She herself, through her Warframes /was/ immune. Thus, when she extracted as well, she did so silently and without issue, boarding the Liset and disembarking through another part of the facility. The Infested flesh, over the next several days, would be reported as dying off in /droves/, without a leading influence to guide them, it was nothing for the Corpus and Tenno allies to finish the job in full. For now, the Infested threat was over...             THE END ... FOR NOW. 
}}

4069/Jupiter: Infested Outbreak (P2)

2016-05-03T07:25:04Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2016/05/02 |Location=Origin System <WF> |Synopsis=While a source vector has been identified for the Infestation on Jupiter, getting more informatio..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/05/02
|Location=Origin System <WF>
|Synopsis=While a source vector has been identified for the Infestation on Jupiter, getting more information to track down it's location is a problem that only wiping out more Infested can help deal with.
|Cast of Characters=451, 571, 686, 906, 964
|Tinyplot=Infested Outbreak (Jupiter)
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' THE STORY SO FAR: Stories and reports had come and gone regarding the Infestation, a name applicable to disease and victim, a metamorphic plague without cure. Jupiter, the gas giant which is controlled by the Corpus have sought the aid of Tenno and Elites alike in mobilizing against the Infested, who care little for things like politics in their pursuit of biomass and greater strength. What is known now is that the Infestation does not care about organic or technological, infesting and corrupting technology as well as organic tissue, and much of their combative abilities beyond claws and heavy, close-in attacks tend to involve toxins, electricity and of course, fire. Ironically these are things that can be used against them but in more specific ways. While some Infested have fossilized tissue and carapace from long age, the bulk of the Infested remain very vulnerable to fire and other sources of high heat weaponry, and the notion of cutting them apart, slashing them open is a very valid option. Armor piercing rounds that puncture rather than slash aren't particularly useful here. Curiously, corrosive measures as well as toxic gasses that break down flesh are uniquely effective in their own ways against the Infested, as while they may wield their own toxic measures, Infested are still living beings at the end of the day, and are as vulnerable as such. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' THE HERE AND NOW: Io is the name given to a station that may well be a city of interlinked gas harvesting and refinement stations that uses the namesake of one of Jupiter's moons. Because of this, it has a much stronger, natural atmosphere, and quite frankly is absolutely massive. Varying points exist where other groups may be fighting the Infested, and security protocols have effectively cordoned off parts of the subsections. It is a place of hard work that borders on soulless at times, industrial steel and hard angles dominate the structures. The aesthetic is modular, and it shows. For those who are going to be arriving, there are two methods: one might be of course by any means one can self-provide, and another is via Union transports that would arrive with Corpus shuttles after ensuring protocols to prevent contamination and spread are made aware of to the Elites arriving. As to the Tenno... who knows? 

:'''{{#var:451|Karian Icefang (451)}} has posed:'''     With the runnings of the tyranid-like Infected, it was only a matter of time before the Space Marines of the Imperium of Man got involved. So, with that in mind, the Space Wolves deployed. All armed with their bolters and chainswords, save for Karian. He wielded his claymore, The Wolf's Fang, and his pistol tightly. "Remember brothers...Hellfire rounds, and your blades. If these are like tyranids, expect hordes...lots of hordes." He advices, as the thunderhawk lands around where the Corpus and Union transports had set up an LZ. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Briefed about the situation, Maaka's brought the biggest gun she can practically use for this one. A mini gun acquired from William's world is her main weapon today, rigged up with several modifications that have given it a makeshift chainsaw styled grip for handheld usage. It'd be absolutely comical to look at if she wasn't strong enough to actually make it practical, not to mention power it with a makeshift power-pack on her armor's back.     It's been loaded up with 'shredder rounds', high caliber 7.5x20mm rounds, that are given high velocity ammunition with hollow point tips. The rounds also have a micro-detonator that provides an acidic compound to each round upon impact. You use this on people, you'll turn them into paint.     God bless Izuanagi munitions, they certainly know how to take what the Sino-Coalition's built in defiance of human rights, and improve to be practical.     She's arrived thanks to her own ship, and is currently waiting for others to join her before she actually crosses the threshold into battle against these assimilating nightmares of flesh and steel. 

:'''{{#var:686|Gakupo Kamui (686)}} has posed:''' Gakupo had been hoping that, with his technological nature, that he would be relatively safe from the Infestation. But no, it was not to be. He'd still volunteered, though, and he wasn't about to back down. Not after giving his word. It would have been a stain on his honor if he had. As is, his arsenal is rather limited to slashing and sound. But slashing had already been told as an effective means, and sound was a vibration-- even if it didn't actually hurt these things, it would probably keep them away. And he's pretty fast. He should be all right. He hopes. But then again, even if he does fall, better him than a innocent person. Gakupo arrives via Union transport, as he doesn't have a ship of his own. His sword isn't drawn as he disembarks, but he does have his left hand on the sheath. Meaning he is ready to draw the blade at a moment's notice. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Did someone say 'fire'? Yang can do fire! She's there in the Union transport too, and leaps out once it's landed, deploying her gauntlets and scanning the area before grouping up with the others. "Hey, yo." she offers, waving happily as her boots clank along the deck plating. "So, space zombies huh?" 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' A ship appears: spadelike and melting into the visual spectrum is a somewhat familiar ship to Alexis Maaka at least: the Liset. Thrusters fire, stabilizing the ship as it brings itself around, a cylinder underneath spinning around, revealing a slight, feminine figure who simply jumps down to land on the roof, curling into a ball and rolling around until she lands on her feet in a short squat, standing upright afterward. First blush would paint the Nova Prime Warframe as some sort of suited or armored individual from head to toe. No sense of a face as it comes to anything that looks like eyes. Lilac pink energy lights up at various points on the sleek looking frame, with twinned coils of that same colored energy radiate upon her back below the shoulder, as well as her head. Control surfaces and casings seem to flex slightly for the antimatter energy she controls, ensuring that others will not suffer the ill effect. The manpower being provided by Karian meant that the Corpus only needed to provide their proxies, MOAs and Osprey units that allowed them to divert their people to other places, and also not risk further Infestation. Because of this, and perhaps beccause of the fact the LZ had been sanitized there is little issue arriving safely. Some of the systems are not powered due to the Infested presence, and the area itself is a tower for ventilation and atmospheric stability nearby. Jumping down from the roof provides a very wide and large ventillation system that is still funneling air upwards, cushioning those who might drop down that way, or otherwise rappel down. The alternative is series of ramps down on the inside around the massive ventillation chamber. With the Tenno joined, the Lotus speaks up on local band: for those who have the visual interfacing equipment they may even see an insert for her as she addresses Yang. "Not necessarily. The Infested are very much alive and while individuals are feral, as a whole they can work together to take down their prey with cunning and intellect. Multiple bio-signatures are confirmed. Proceed when ready; leave none standing." With the Lotus giving her orders, she glances aside at those who have disembarked or about to be; Alexis' ship she recognized, and she also offers Gakupo a nod of acknowledgement, seemingly towards the synthetic's choice of weapon and sheath as she produced what /had/ to be some kind of flamethrower. One might only realize the Grineer-inspired piece of repurposed tech was a flamethrower owing to the ignited wick of flame at it's tip. 

:'''{{#var:451|Karian Icefang (451)}} has posed:'''     Karian looks over, and smiles softly. He recognized Kamui, even if he wasn't familiar with the Wolf Lord. As he hears the Lotus speak, Karian grimmaces under his wolf skull helm. "Just like Tyranids..." He says. He motions for some of his men to secure the area and set up heavy bolters. He also changes for the hellfire rounds, potent 75 caliber rounds that set their target aflame. "Time to push forward." 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     "Target rich environment, copy that." Maaka nods as the Lotus explains the situation, grinning to Nova Prime and other Elites as they shuffle in. "Let's do this. Karian, mind if I borrow some of your guys on this one?" She asks the WOlflord with that grin lingering, whistling sharply to his battle brothers and waving them over.     She'll begin to take point, covering her corners with the Minigun as she begins the hunt for Infested, keeping her eyes on her suit's motion tracker and thermal imaging for incoming hostiles. "Check the vents, people. These fuckers can come outta anywhere for all we know..." 

:'''{{#var:686|Gakupo Kamui (686)}} has posed:''' Gakupo offers a nod to Karian as well. He's aware there was another iteration of himself, and that other iteration was familiar with Karian. And the Vocaloid is not unaware of how awkward it must be for the Wolf Lord. He also snickers slightly at Yang's observation of 'space zombies'. "Actually I've been wondering that, too," he adds. "It sounds like a lot of those stories about a virus, or a fungus setting up in a dead body and animating it." But he quiets to listen to the... well, Nova Prime does look like a suited person. But somehow... not. She moves too naturally for it to be armor, not like someone's shifting around inside it, but like the frame itself is alive. He does have a visual component to his radio, if one is transmitted. The information he receives on that part makes him blink, but he doesn't question it. Instead he listens to Lotus's instructions, and gives a nod. "So if it attacks us, kill it?" he inquires. "I can do that." When it's time to move out, he draws his sword and makes directly for the jump. He's trying to stay out in front; since he has a defensive style, he can hopefully provide a mobile bulwark for allies. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The Lotus offers further explanation by way of the local band radio, even if it seems all enigmatic with regards to her masked visage. "Your initial instincts are not far off. Organic matter is consumed and repurposed by the Infested, but the explicit classification of 'zombie' or undead shades are not accurate either. There are parallels that can be drawn between the two notions, however." She pauses slightly, before continuing. "It would be more akin to a hivemind, a communal intelligence driven by the need to assimilate, replicate, and consume. Infested that are killed stay that way, but their methods of replication and regaining organic matter means they can reconstitute from a larval stage if not fully eradicated." Talk about a troubling concept. "Worse still, their ability to adapt, evolve, and mutate means that what we know may not be complete at any time, but this adapatation process takes time." As the group talks amongst one another and begins to proceed downward: growths like an angry rash, pods of living biomatter too hideous to give proper words to would be seen on walls and columns and parts of the ramp. The Nova Prime ignites her flamethrower, scorching away some of it casually, but the distant sound of howls and screams of Infested are more concerning. Down the chute and down the ramps they go: egress from the landing zone brings the group into the complex properly. Milling about down one corridor is about a half dozen Infested. Quadrupedal chargers, twisted amalgamations of victims next to what look like vaguely humanoid victims standing upright. Swarms of insects flitting about wildly around them. One might catch sight of some of the Corpus suits and should they actually /see/ some of the Runners up close, they'd recognize some of their empty suits being ones that some Infested wore. At least, what wasn't already being reshaped. Looks like the group has a temporary advantage to rush this group, but after this, there won't be any more freebies. 

:'''{{#var:451|Karian Icefang (451)}} has posed:'''     "Aye, Lotus. Tyranids of my world are the exact same thing. We share common enemies." Karian says. He see's the suits and then the runners. He looks to the others, before doing what he does best...diving right into combat.     Meanwhile, Ull, Rolf, and Bryn all stick close to Maaka, one going as far as to offer up his bolter and chainsword to the girl. "Even so, Tyranids are nasty creatures..But we can take them. Still, be wary for ambushes from all angles." Ull said, making it clear he was close to becoming a Grey Hunter. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka grins and pats her mini gun, "I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm good for now." She does accept the Chainsword, slinging that oversized eyesore of a sword-plus-lumbertool of a weapon on her back with a magnetic device affixing it in place. It might come in handy later.     "Bryn, with me. Ull, Rolf, cover the sides, one shot one kill. Won't do you much good if you run outta ammo while they're swarming us."     She approaches the chute, leaping down fearlessly as she sees a fuckload of Infested ahead of them. "Targets spotted, open fire!" She points the Infested out to her allies, before she raises her minigun and lets loose with a short burst of shredder ammo, the rotary barrel weapon giving a loud BRRRRT with its frightfully high rate of fire. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang has gravitated to the middle of the group. Seems she's learned a bit from previous engagements that just rushing on in without a plan is a Bad Idea. Especially with how nasty this Infestation sounds. "Worst than the Grimm in a lot of ways... Grimm just want to kill you." she muses softly to herself.     She checks her ammo rack, and cycles in the new shells she made. Double Fire, not so much explosions as bursts of pure flame with each punch. Kinetic force won't help much, and attacking from range isn't her strong suit.     As Maaka takes it on herself to open engagement, the teen steps up beside her and brings her fists up defensively. "Take your time aiming, I'll roast anything that gets too close." she says, glancing to the red-head with a cocky smirk. 

:'''{{#var:686|Gakupo Kamui (686)}} has posed:''' "I see," Gakupo responds, regarding the Infested. That makes sense. He doesn't know anything about the Tyranids from Karian's world, but they did seem to share similar traits, yes. Maaka's call of warning draws his gaze up. He pauses only long enough to not get hit by Maaka's burst of fire. Realizing those insects may be part of the infestation method, and not wanting to give any of them the chance to alight on him, he turns his attention to them first. He begins trying to kill or disperse the insects with sonic attacks. The orange parts of his headset glow brightly; the sound leaves his mouth as a round, bright white burst of vibration. He's not exactly trying NOT to hit the Infested with them, just his priority is in killing the bugs. Should a blast go wide and nail an Infested in the head or something? So be it! The sound blasts will hit with physical trauma, much like a punch, but with an added high frequency vibration component. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Systematic extermination: something that the Space Wolves know well enough to handle, and their discipline alongside the occasional blasts of plasma energy from Railgun MOAs ensures that going forward, nothing Infested alive is going to make their way to ambush the group. Hopefully. Now, the troubling thing that gets discovered first off, is that the Infested are Not Stupid. Yang's inclination to stay towards the middle of the group and prepare for trouble is rewarded as more Runners come out, and instead of getting taken out by minigun fire, they /roll/, strafing out of the line of firepower directed their way. Too bad it's in perfect position to be hammered by Yang's fists. A squelching shriek erupts from one of the Chargers as Karian takes it apart with the Wolf Fang with damn near practiced ease. They might not yet be Tyranids, but the simple fact is they die just as wonderfully as they would when met with the appropriate kind of physical prowess. That blade is going to feast on Infested today. The synthetic Vocaloid's efforts are well-timed. The swarms can mass around unsuspecting Elites, biting and stining and probably doing a number on people if allowed to persist, but the waves of sonic force are well timed and well placed. One of the Infested that was trying to self-detonate is actually staggered backwards, exploding harmlessly away from Karian at the same time amidst their dispersal. For those who progress down the corridor, the group would come upon what was, for lack of a better term, a locker and storage room. More equipment and the like, this was definitely where Corpus came to change into and out of gear appropriate for working the gas harvesting platforms. What is the Warframe doing all this time, one might be wondering? It becomes rather clear. Because of the expertise the group is showing themselves in the disposition of, the fleetfooted Nova Prime simply /runs/ down the corridor. Not into the field of fire, no. No, she's taken to hurling herself, limbs held close to her body as she spirals, a burst of speed launching her gracefully through the air, and basically wall-running further down to meet the next waves of Infested. And as she did, she unleashed a wave of energy from her body: Void-controlled antimatter that radiated with a white-hot lilac band of light outwards. The Infested that were charging suddenly slowed down terribly, bathed in the antimatter wave of particles. Yang and Alexis would recognize this for what it was: that odd Molecular Prime ability of hers. If Karian and Gakupo had any measure of detection abilities, they would recognize immediately that yes, it was antimatter but it was wielded in such a way that it would not harm the others even if they crossed over into it. Even with the series of concussive explosions leaving lilac and black clouds of smoke in the wake of the disintegration from the introduction of the flamethrower to the Infested, reducing the horrors to nothing in it's wake. More Infested were on approach, but the action by Nova Prime set up what could be described as a kill box: the Infested that began to pour into the room were also slowed, suggesting that the wave of energy that expanded through the area did not care about things like solid surfaces. About a dozen are coming from the west, and anyone close enough and arriving in the locker room would see the adjacent area is a vast storage and utility zone, elevated rails for transportation of material throughout the facilities. 

:'''{{#var:451|Karian Icefang (451)}} has posed:'''     Karian turns as he see's the flames, as well as one of the Infested detonate. He commits that particular form to memory, opting to shoot those if he see's them. But for the moment, the Wolf's Fang flashes, Adamantium blade gleaming in the light. "Come on, bugs! Show me your fury!" He roars, stealing a line from another marine.     Ull and his friends lock and load, taking careful shots at the Infested. Although Rolf seemed a bit more....reckless. "Rolf! Control your urges! This is not the time to let the beast loose." 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     And that's what she was expecting. That Runner rolls out of the firing line and is about to get into the ranged fighters faces. Unfortunately, Yang is right there, ducking down and racking the slide of her right gauntlet. "I HOPE YOU'RE HUNGRY!" she crows, before uncoiling like a tightened spring, her fist meeting whatever passes for a chin on this monstrosity, and simultaneously erupting with a cone of plasma flame from the concealed barrel of the 'shotgun' part of her ShotGauntlets. She throws herself upwards, doing a half twirl, before bringing her left fist down onto the Runner's back, hopefully both scorching it with the second gout of flame, /and/ slamming it into the ground. "Woo hoo! Get dunked on!" 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka's already got the kill count going so far, totaling in twenty-nine out of two-hundred and twelve kills thus far. She grins as she lets off another burst of acid-tinged fire towards a nearby Runner, before she sees Yang taking it out. "Nice catch!" She says, narrowly avoiding a friendly fire incident as she lets her finger off the trigger just in time.     More Chargers arrive, and Maaka directs the Space Wolves to follow her as they take the fight to them, herself laying down suppressing fire so they can engage them up close, take them apart with their chainswords and brute strength as she shreds anything still living, minding the SPace Wolves while they do their work. "Jesus H Christ, and I thought the Tyranids were a pain in the neck to cut down!" 

:'''{{#var:686|Gakupo Kamui (686)}} has posed:''' Being loudmouthed has its virtues! In this case, bugs get dispersed and a kamikaze Infested explodes away from an ally. Not bad! But there are more coming in, so the Vocaloid can't afford to take a rest yet. He does have a moment, though, and he pauses to watch Nova Prime do her thing. He blinks. "Whoa..." That is really pretty. And dangerous, too, from the looks of it. Mind you, he doesn't have really involved sensors. But it's enough to be able to see that whatever it is the Warframe is doing, it's not going to hurt THEM, only the Infested. Which is good. He can take a moment to admire the effect of the attack, both what it does to the enemies and the visual aesthetic of it. Quite artsy! But there's only time enough to admire the effect for a moment or two. Because there are more Infested, and Gakupo doesn't want to waste the slowing effect. So as he advances, he'll try to attack any Infested that he can find. He tries to keep moving; he doesn't want to get grabbed. The blade he's using even has a sonic component-- as it swings, irregular ridges etched into the metal's surface catches the wind, setting the blade to quite literally ringing. Though oddly, it sounds like... a flute? He has something else to admire soon enough-- Yang's acrobatic move gets a smile. "Nice!" he calls out, with a nod and a bright smile in her direction. He'd have offered a thumbsup, but he's got his hands full at the moment. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' One could argue this may well be the time to let the beast out, given the Infested. Especially as Yang practically /pulps/ the damned Infested that was momentarily crafty enough to pivot, roll, and dodge only to find it's chosen targets being backed up by the blonde bombshell pulling one hell of a number on it. It's a special kind of strangled noise, discordant as the smell of burnt flesh quickly rises, before what remains of it's body collapses inward, a crunchy sound preceding it's own disintegration. As the group progresses, they arrive in a section of the facility that, frankly, is overrun. While the Infested closest are reacting, turning and howling and screeching, claws scraping the ground as they bound and lumber towards the group, others are somewhat listless. The comparison to a living, communal organism may be more accurate than most, as they react in a way that suggests they are quite the hivemind, reacting like an entire living organism, a wave of activity surging in response. At first, the group is having little to no issue with actually dealing with the Infested: the combined Elite force is pretty strong, but further augmented by the Tenno's knowledge and use of her volatile antimatter reduces the slowed wave of Infested to nothing. The Space Wolves, the cyborg, the Vocaloid, the Warframe, the bombshell, all of them working in tandem to reduce the numbers. Kamui's sword singing through the air gives the Warframe a momentary pause, as if curious about the thing before she's moving back to letting her flames gut the Infested. Simply put: they're /exploding/ as contact with minigun fire, sword and heavy weapons by the group set off a wonderful little chain reaction of death. But there's more Infested on the way. Breaking up the Infested Chargers and Runners are the occasional Crawler, almost hiding amidst the swarm of Infested in order take advantage of the throngs of other Infested and /spit/ explosive toxic tissue at the group. They do pick their targets at random: Alexis and Yang both get spat at by two of these Crawlers, which can be dodged or deflected if they've got quick enough reactions. More troubling still are ones that stand taller and misshapen. A greenish pulse of energy escapes them: the Ancient Healers by anyone's guess, and there's a half dozen distributed among the wave of Infested that's surging up ramps and across walkways to meet the group head on. Yellowed mandible tentacles for a 'face', and such an utter mass of muscle, flesh and sinew that shambles from time to time, and others? Well, the closest one CHARGES Karian outright, the towering figure intent on bringing one of its tentaclearms down hard on the Marine. There can exist a choke point, but it may be more trouble than it's worth as Mutalist Ospreys are on approach--too distant to be dealt with but they're bringing electrified Crawlers into the mix. The phrase, 'Target rich environment' is putting it lightly as the Nova simply throws herself into the slaughter, arcing up into the air and actually... /floating/, gliding for a few precious moments to spew flames from her Ignis flamethrower down and away from the group in order to take on one of the Ancient-bolstered groups. 

:'''{{#var:451|Karian Icefang (451)}} has posed:'''     A quick look lets Karian know he was going to take a hit, and what a hit it was. He was sent skidding back, but the old warrior refuses to fall. He turns and runs at the Ancient Healer, firing his bolt pistol into the infested near the healer, hellfire rounds boring and igniting. But the healer would find that blade aimed for it.     Meanwhile, the trio with Maaka hold their ground, cutting down all infested that dare get close. Ull works to maintain the group, and keep the young Rolf in his mental facilities, lest he become wulf-bitten. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     "-Fuck!"     Maaka takes cover from the Crawlers, the beasts somehow using projectile attacks to keep her and Yang pinned. The toxic spit is enough to give her pause, but she takes cover behind a nearby obstacle while she slings her minigun.     The cyborg draws her 6mm PDW in one hand, the other taking out her borrowed Chainsword as the weapon roars to life, the engine purring when she isn't giving the weapon a loud buzz for drawing attention. Firing armor-piercing rounds, she wades into combat, nibbling leaping into a nearby throng to chop up with practiced swings of her chainsword, and fires upon the Crawler with her machine pistol while using its buddies for cover.     Despite the chainsword's size, Maaka is strong and well trained enough to use it admirably, the weapon roaring as it slashes at Infested tissue with a vicious hunger for blood. She might actually be coming around to the idea of these things, getting to use it in this situation. 

:'''{{#var:686|Gakupo Kamui (686)}} has posed:''' The numbers seem to be being whittled down fairly well. Gakupo's confident his power supply will last. Mind, if he notices the Warframe's scrutiny of the singing sword, he doesn't comment. There isn't time, there are more enemies on the way. He is noticing the ranged attackers; in fact, he narrowly misses being hit by some of that poisonous tissue, and only missed because he bats it out of the way with his sword a split second before it would have impacted with the side of his face. He's about to start on those Crawlers, to reduce the threat to the rest of his allies... but then there's the things picking them up and spraying nasty-looking clouds around themselves. Of course Gakupo then switches tactics. First he starts aiming for the 'arms' of the Opsreys (if that is indeed what they are, the things are so misshapen it's hard to tell what body parts are what). With those disabled, hopefully they won't be able to carry those spitty things. Then he aims those sonic blasts into any clouds produced, using the impact and vibration to try and disperse the poisonous nimbus. Finally, with all vectors of attack (hopefully) disabled, he'll try to close in and slice at the infested Ospreys to cut them apart before they can start producing those poisons again. Melee fighters versus things that can toxify the air around them again! 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     This many enemies has Yang's blood starting to get up. This has the effect of slowing the world down for her, just a little bit. So those spitting monsters get her attention quicker than might be expected. Red eyes land on the one to spit at her, and with a shift of weight, she cartwheels aside, gets her feet onto a guard rail, and leaps forward, over the Runners and Chargers.     She seems to hang in the air for a long moment, right fist cocked back as she eyes the ground beneath her, and the mass of flesh and metal. The moment passes, and the bombshell lives up to her name, by dropping straight down atop the Crawler that spat at her. Her fist strikes first, and a wave of plasma flame radiates out in a circle around her, much akin to the 'Quake' attack she used against Grineer targets before.. but without the kinetic aspect. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Something that Yang nor Karian would not miss, nor would any one else using fire: on occasion where those high caliber bolter shells ignited and set the Infested on fire, the effect was pronounced. They howled in agony and pain, their ability to respond effectively /extremely/ diminished. Had the Tenno a particular tool for the job, she would have brought it. At least, we think she's a she. Given the androgynous voicemasking, it could be some alien for which gender was a fluid, amusing concept. The first Ancient Healer falls, a guttural sound of pain as it topples over backwards. Not because it's knocked back, but because the damned thing was bisected from about midway down, limbs flopping uselessly as Karian buys himself some breathing room. Nearby Infested are staggered enough to be dealt with in short order. A combination of cover and return fire keeps Alexis from suffering the worst of the lot; toxic and acid mist explodes, corroding into a packing container and mercifully not actually detonating anything or doing truly bothersome harm. A screech of pain from the Crawler as it twitches and spasms from the impacts of the machine pistol before it dies in short order. If there's one benefit about the crawlers, the half-bodied nature of being a torso only makes them incredibly fragile and slow. Something that Yang capitalizes in grand fashion as she catapults herself into one of the throngs of Infested. That one Crawler that she focused all her ire on? Yeah... that one isn't so much pulped as /eradicated/, discombulated and frankly /misted/ before Yang's attention to the other Infested saw them torn apart with gouts of blood and viscera that quickly became cauterized by the blazing Huntress. Kamui's instincts serve him /incredibly/ well for multiple reasons: he's right in one that the Mutalist Ospreys have little arms that could be targeted, and were in fact a weak point in the overall design of Ospreys that carried over to the infested version. The arms are so weak to the blasts of sound that the Vocaloid subjects them to that they nearly break apart right then and there. Their attempt to deploy their toxin clouds over the fighters while they're engaged is further stymied by the stylish android, the cloud of toxic mist spreading harmlessly against other Infested. Shame they can't actually do harm to themselves like that. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' "Nice one!" comes that same voice--not the Lotus, but someone else. The Warframe's occupant? "Keep it up, all of you!" the same voice encourages. "If any of you have time, pour it onto the orbs you're about to see!" The Infested seem inordinately /pissed/ at the Warframe. Sure, everyone is using some measure of firepower and the like, causing pain. But any sharp eyes in the group might notice that while they /all/ want to consume and infested, the mere presence of the Warframe seems to offend them in some primal way. It's enough that, as Nova Prime drops down, she has to move quickly. Another quick release of that radial band of energy, blossoming out. Many of the Ancients and Infested have been felled, but there's a massive /surge/ of adversaries oncoming. Boilers: huge, corpulent Infested riddled with pulsating boils, which launches a few /pods/ that have to be some kind of spawning more Infested. That explains why the number of Infested to kill have been going up. Rising as a tide from the opposite end of the enormous cargo and storage junction that the group is in, the rest of the Infested are apparently /arrived/. There has to be a hundred of them. Toxic spores and spines being launched, clouds of swarming spores and insects that are even occluding the exact count of how many there are. From this, Nova has landed by the group. She summons four golden globes of volatile antimatter and guides them now with her hands. She guides them in such a way that as the group returns fire, they can soak indirect damage as much as direct harm--Yang would know precisely what those orbs are for, at least. 

:'''{{#var:451|Karian Icefang (451)}} has posed:'''     Karian smirks as he takes out the Ancient healer. "That it?! That your best?!!?!" He calls out. He was either trying to draw attention, or trying to enrage his infested foe. Seeing the orb, the wolf lord unloaded all the rounds in his pistol. He would then aim a nasty cleave for some more infested, and if he could get the angle right, smash into the orb.     Ull, Rolf, and Byrn let loose their own battle-cry, a deep, primal sounding howl to counter the screams of the infested. They too unloaded into the closest orb with their guns, while fending off any of the wannabe tyranids with chainswords. Of course, each got their fare share of injuries and scars, but they were more concerned for Maaka's safety. One thing amongst the wolves was certain. They would make sure that if the infested did have a hivemind, it would know sheer terror comes from the sound of a wolf's Howl. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka isn't telepathic, but she does recognize the Space Wolves' intent. "i'm fine, keep fighting and cut these things down!" SHe orders, her Chainsword slashing at a nearby Charger to split off more than a few limbs, maybe bifurcate it with a followup slash.     When she sees the band of energy, she takes priority on eliminating boilers, firing upon one with a long burst of PDW fire before she reloads the weapon, going back to melee as she slashes and hacks with her chainsword. 

:'''{{#var:686|Gakupo Kamui (686)}} has posed:''' Suddenly the source of all their problems seems to be revealed. That huge... massive... disgusting... SOMETHING spitting out those spawning pods. Gakupo first tries to target the pods, either with sound or melee attacks, but all he can hope to do until their source is eliminated is slightly decrease the numbers of those pods. There's just so many of them. And you know what totally DOESN'T help his ability to concentrate? Being fired on. Toxic spores, spines, bugs-- these things are making it very difficult for him to concentrate on those pods. He uses his sound blasts to disperse the bugs and spores where he can. But this generally leaves him open to attack by the spines. In fact, just after dispersing one cloud of bugs, a handful of spines find their way into his back. He stumbles, the force of the spines' impact bearing him forward. "D-dammit..." he hisses. Switching to melee, Gakupo begins dashing at the things throwing spines. But he can only fill one role at a time, and while he does one, the need for the other increases. And then suddenly there are orbs. The Warframe has summoned them. Gakupo takes advantage of their presence, using them as cover to duck behind when necessary. But he doesn't actually attack the orbs, because he doesn't really know what they're for, aside from soaking up damage. But when he sees others attacking them? He follows suit. Though he ducks behind one orb and follows it, targeting it with a sustained sonic blast! 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The answer to 'THAT'S IT?!' was seen just as soon as Karian bellowed it. Fear? Fear cannot be allowed to grip the Infested. Not when they hunger for the flesh and bodies beyond. There are targets and they must be dealt with. They know it. They know the fury that they face. They want it. They want it for their /own/. But as much as they want it for their own, they cannot quite overcome the Howl staggering them. Some of the Infested stop dead in their tracks. Paralyzed for a few fleeting moments, because a few fleeting moments is all that is necessary. The firepower provided by Yang and Alexis Maaka as they entrench themselves with the others, with sometimes Yang going into the fray like nothing other capitalizes on this. Another Ancient goes down, buckling forwards and it's body caving in on itself as the mutagenic mass begins to tear itself apart under the trauma delivered. Gakupo's focus shift doesn't go unnoticed, nor does it lack for effort. Melee proves to be the most expeditious way of eliminating several of the nearby Infested Crawlers--indeed, those orbs are not just absorbing friendly fire, but the fire given by the Infested as well! He buys more time and room to breathe from the onslaught collectively with the others. With the Vocaloid taking up one role, he finds that the Warframe moves to fill his role: she switches from that flamethrower with not the best overall range to a set of compact guns that she uses to scatter apart the Mutalist Ospreys from a distance to keep their ability to harass the Vocaloid and the others are a minimum. The Warframe ejects the clips from the AkSomati before reloading and switching back to the Ignis once she's satisfied and to focus on what she's doing. The four orbs of golden, solid energy are woven in and out of combat. The PDW from Alexis, the bolters and firepower hewn out of the Space Wolves, and even her own complimentary fire Nova Prime takes up the firing line with the others. The Ignis flamethrower bathes offending Infested that the others do not directly handle while supercharging the orbs of Antimatter being guided towards the oncoming horde. Suddenly, each of them go black and purple instead, as they encapsulate the combined force of power, of energy being focused on them both directly and indirectly by the combined Elite presence. The Infested whom are overcome by the wave of antimatter energy. That's when she brings the orbs down into the horde. It's a beautiful, cosmic explosion, shards and sparks of energy erupting as everything /feels/ like it's shaking, if only for an instant as even though the supercharged orbs of antimatter doesn't necessarily /hurt/ the Elites, they can feel everything they put into them. The waves of sonic force. The heat of the flame. The militaristic power of the minigun. The horde of Infested /buckle/ with the violet, violent power of the Elites thrown against them. The ones that don't simply /explode/ are flung backwards, breaking apart midflight as the pods and Infested /disintegrate/--which is very good, because can you imagine the cleanup? Yeah, don't think on that too much. 

:'''{{#var:686|Gakupo Kamui (686)}} has posed:''' Old habits die hard. That's true for anyone. Including Gakupo, it seems! It tends to be reflexive that, when an explosion happens, one turns away from it. And so the beginning of the explosion sees Gakupo raising his free arm and turning his head, to shield his eyes from the blast, even if it's not visibly hurting him. Oh, he feels that energy. Not just his own but everyone else's too. Is there enough force to make his hair and clothes flutter, if it isn't hurting them? That's liable to look pretty dynamic, even if he's covering his face. He doesn't want to short out his visual, after all! Once the explosion fades, he peeks over his arm. "...Is that all of them?" he asks, still marking movement in his visual scanning that didn't belong to his allies. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka lets another mag dump from her PDW as she holsters it, prying her chainsword loose. She gives the weapon a few swings before switching off the motor, and she offers it back to the Space Wolf who lent it to her. "Good weapon. Take care of her, and she'll take care of you." She says, before she goes back to her mini gun.     Not much to say other than /fuck/ was that explosion something to behold. She lets off a short, split-second burst at a few of the Infested, before she's satisfied to know they're not going to get back up. After dismissing the weapon to her inventory, she produces some thermite charges, dragging over pieces of Infested to pile together as she tosses a few of the charges to Kamui, the Wolves, and Yang. "Set these up on a pile, we should do something to dispose of these bodies before they knit together or something." She points out, nodding to Nova Prime upon noting the Warframe's flamer. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Indeed, for a few short, fleeting moments, there's enough explosive /force/ that despite it not actually bringing about harm to the gathered group, that it is felt. Black clouds of smoke flashing for an instant of a moment as many of the bodies are simply /gone/ once the explosions clear. "They won't. Dead is dead with the Infested. Destroy the bodies and let's get out of here." comes that voice from before. The Operator of that Nova Prime Warframe, it has to be. The lithe figure gestures with a hand. Some of the bodies from before seem to accelerate in terms of their decomposure. The Tenno's power? Who knows. One way or another, there's little reason to linger here very long. Without nearby Infested to sustain them the spores aren't lasting very long, air filtration systems beginning to purge the local area. The Nova Prime Warframe gives a faint nod to Gakupo as she unleashes a torrent of flame upon some of the bodies that /hadn't/ begun to disintegrate, ensuring the process accelerated all the more faster for it. The last of the spore and swarm clouds--probably what triggered some of Kamui's visual scanning a little--appear to be dispersing on their own thanks to the utter ruin brought down upon them. The Lotus would speak now. "I'm detecting no more Infested signatures in your area. Head to extraction, the Corpus can finish cleanup from here." 
}}

4037/Jupiter: Infested Outbreak (P1)

2016-04-28T22:53:21Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2016/04/22 |Location=Void - Deep Void (North) |Synopsis=The first encounter with the Infested also demonstrates how severe of a threat they are tha..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/04/22
|Location=Void - Deep Void (North)
|Synopsis=The first encounter with the Infested also demonstrates how severe of a threat they are that old hostilities are put aside in a bid to draw attention off other operatives in order to escape.
|Cast of Characters=7, 255, 824, 942, 964, 967
|Tinyplot=Infested Outbreak (Jupiter)
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' ELSEWHERE-- Normal circumstances tend to dictate that for the Corpus at least, the Tenno tend to be a threat to them when they appear. That case is not quite what's happening here today. Jupiter, or at least it's stations in orbit, have been under siege in a sense; an outbreak of Infested, farflung space-launched swarms that took root, then multiplying over and over again, in equal measure consuming and replicating and generating technorganic tissue in horrifying amounts and speed. Those Corpus and humans that weren't infested outright found themselves killed and consumed to become the horrific amalgamations they were now.         CONSUME. REPLICATE. ASSIMILATE. When outposts stopped issuing regular earning reports and status updates, standard investigation protocol revealed the presence of the Infested, and extermination protocol was initiated. Intelligence operatives of the Lotus became aware before the Corpus did, ensuring a rapid response, as it was only a rapid response that could even hope to stem the endless tide. Unfortunately, in such incidences, there are those who sometimes are left behind. Operatives and soldiers, Corpus and Tenno-aligned alike find themselves in places they really shouldn't be. It was a mercy that they hadn't been sensed or felt by the Infested, but it was only a matter of time in the darkened, emergency-lit corridors of the orbital station. There was a way out, but they would need a large distraction. Something that the Corpus and the Lotus now sought the aid of Tenno and inquisitive Elite alike to undertake. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' NOW--... What /were/ the Infested? Requests for information had been /fairly/ forthcoming for what it was worth, but some of the information was guarded reasonably well and for good reason: people who experiment with them have a tendency to follow the adage about attempting to consume an energy field bigger than one's head. More to the point: the infested in varying degrees were former humans, Corpus, Grineer and other beings that no one /really/ has any idea what they are. The 'Infestation' as it's put describes both a disease and its victims -- a metamorphic affliction without cure. Living organisms are consumed and merged into rabid amalgamations. Individuals are violent and animalistic yet the larger whole exhibits signs of coordination, with multiple swarms converging on ships and colonies. Historical records are unclear about whether or not there was an uncontrolled outbreak before the collapse of the Orokin Empire. Behaviors are further varied and broken down--Chargers, quadrupedal abominations that hunt in packs sound like they're what happen to animals, but details are vague about that. Runners and Leapers sound like they're former Corpus crewmen. Crawlers seem to be a catchall term for Infestation that took root in bodies that were not necessarily whole when they started. As far as combatting them, the following is known with absolute certainty: fire. Lots, and LOTS of fire is the preferred method for dealing with them. Anything that deals high heat damage, such as lasers and the like also do a dual-effect element of cutting and slashing: dismembering the Infested and tearing them apart is a well-established factor by the Tenno as well. And due to their organic nature, it goes to show that while cold doesn't affect them as much, corrosive and toxic gasses to degenerate the flesh and melt it altogether is a viable option. This leads us to those who have elected to answer the request for assistance. Transit means are varied, transport ships provided by the Lotus are sleek and efficient, Corpus one are mass-produced angular, blocky shuttles. The operating procedure is fairly clear though: if you wish to assist, you are here to help kill and draw attention in a wide variety of ways. Because there are hundreds, if not thousands of Infested here, and completely excising the problem will be difficult while there are still people here trapped here and needing just enough of a diversion to get out safely. Furthermore, while it is understood that the Elites probably have a stronger ability to resist their flesh being infected by the Technocyte Virus (or Plague, the terms feel interchangable) it's still recommended to not let them get too close, and to bring any measures that ensure air purification as well, though life support to ensure no airborne elements are going to impact sustained operations are going to be available. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Setsuko Kaminagi has not yet met either the Corpus or the Infested. Her personal experience with the denizens of Kushiko's solar system is relegated to the Grineer, of whom she does not have a shining opinion, and the Tenno, whom she is... more respectful of, but also perhaps a bit more wary.     But even without having met either in person, she can feel the conflict from a long ways away on her dropship. She can feel that /hunger/, the fierce violence of the predator clashing with the desperate struggle of the prey. She knows that coming here was the right choice, even if it was only on a curious whim regarding 'a space station named Amalthea'. Her blade is needed here. She won't question the providence.     And indeed, it seems that her blade, in specific, will be useful, according to the Tenno's info. So as soon as her dropship is close, she opens the hold, leaps out, and hurtles towards the nearest point on the station that she can tear open and climb in.     Minutes later, a ventilation grate buckles and drops to the ground under a combat boot. Her way open, Setsuko drops down to the ground, one hand on her blade, and uses the other to send out a coordination ping. The Tenno, Union forces, Unaffiliated, anyone who needs to know she's there. 

:'''{{#var:942|Kazuko Kawakami (942)}} has posed:''' Under normal circumstances, having a high schooler on a space station overrun by a swarm of crazed monsters probably isn't the best idea. Kazuko is no regular student, however, as the naginata strapped to her back is any indication. She's probably talked the ear off of the Corpus pilot that was unfortunate enough to actually get her as a passenger, but at least she had been asking relevant questions regarding the Infested's weaknesses and what to watch out for.      As for whether she's retained any of it... That's harder to gauge at a glance. Either way, at least she's taken some of that information to heart, having dressed in a spare Corpus crewman uniform! It's even bright yellow, but where's her sniper rifle? Hell, where's her GUNS?      Kazuko needs no guns! It's probably safer for everyone involved that way, really. The opened helmet and the odd choice of weaponry are probably the only clues that this Corpus Sniper is anything but. And if that's not enough?      The loud kiai followed by the clanking of a broken door being kicked open not far from Setsuko's position would probably announce her presence easily enough. 

:'''{{#var:824|Fiora Laurent (824)}} has posed:'''     Fiora decided it would, perhaps, be best to accompany Setsuko. She's had dealings with the Tenno before, and given her reputation, has no problem going along with whatever plan she might formulate. Thus, she comes along, with some borrowed equipment, that should keep the disease well enough out of her system for the time that she's here. The helmet, sleek battle armor, are of mixed design. While nothing like the Warframes the Tenno use, it's enough that Fiora shouldn't have issues related to the hostile environment. She drops in after Setsuko, sword drawn, and ready for.. well. Whatever these infested might be. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' In the here and now, there is room for observation. What is known about the station and complex network of Amalthea (the moon, not the robot unicorn) is the following: the Tenno is going to already be there--it is known that, for some reason beyond anything to do with Elites, that the Warframes are immune to the infestation. The station itself, at least the part that the Elites will be arriving to is under lockdown. There are going to be datafeeds available on these ships for people to perform remote observation and command and control, typically due to the Lotus herself because there's going to be a need for additional life support because frankly, the presence of the Infested means normal life support won't be, how shall we say, consistent. Problematically enough, people might notice the lighting is basically crap; emergency lights are here and there, but it's dark. And there's a buzzing, sometimes hissing sound, and a chilling silence in the immediate vicinity of where the people are dropping in at. Valkyr on the other hand, upon the arrival of Setsuko and Fiora through another grate, merely cants her head slightly. She's armed with a long, katana-esqe blade, a flower-like hilt that melds itself into the blade that disappears into the sheathe. A quad-chamber looking shotgun on her back. (Eagle eyes might think it resembles Grineer tech) If she had a sidearm, it's hidden, the feline-like frame merely waiting. Silently, next to the terminal. Some of the Corpus who came here to fight along were moving in as well--there were grates, sure, but there were other points of entry, corridors and the like, and this particular high-ceilinged room was a utility station room; lockers for people's gear, etc. When Kazuko makes her.. entry known, one of the blue-suited Corpus seems to snarl a few things off in coarse language. He's pointing to the fact that the door could've been opened with a blinking-green thing and that it's entirely plausible the door-busting was not necessary. Damnit Wanko. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' The locals had been mostly forth comming about the infested, the level of horror of these things was not shown in what they did but because everyone put everything else aside to /stop/ the outbreak. That alone spoke loudly of how serious this whole situation was. Kotone wasn't sure what to bring weapon which were loaded with incernary rounds, hell she'd even brought a hastily fabbed sword, she didn't want to have only a knife for backup if she ran out of ammo. She'd brough as much as her matter maniplator could carry and she's even carrying a weapon one might not expect someone her size to have an XCOM Mek issue mini gun, and she carries it without a single bit of trouble She beamed in and was ready as she ever was going to be here. She knew some of the people coming, and she was as ready as she could be. <<COpy that I am on site now.>> She'll link into any loccal friendly networks and share what data she can hopefully she shouldn't be in too much trouble right? 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' X decides to take one of the offered transports. The data packet has him sickened. Disgusted. HORRIFIED. Letting this Infestation go means more might fall victim to it, that it might spread.     And as much as he hates fighting anything - living or robotic - one thing's pretty sure, if these data packets can be trusted.     The Infested aren't people anymore.     "Why do I keep plunging at situations like this?!" He argues with himself. Well, in this case it's pretty clear.     There might be survivors. Who definitely aren't getting out of this without help. Can he abandon them, in good conscience?     No, not even a bit.     Now that they're on final approach, X begins a final systems check. And everything's pretty green.     With clinks and clanks, docking is achieved, gangplanks are lowered, and the whole business. X steps out into what will be a battlezone, expression full of anxiety and worry... "This is worse than I thought..." 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Setsuko meets Valkyr's eyes... or at least, looks where Valkyr's eyes should be. The tilt of its head is responded to with a simple nod, before blue eyes briefly look over that katana-like sword. Interesting.     But they have a job to do. The silver-haired woman turns her head to look at Kazuko and Fiora briefly, confirming their health and status; then she turns to set off. They've got a job to do. And she's not worried about her health or wellbeing, but she doesn't want to subject others here - X and Kazuko in particular - to the hell she can sense this place is, any more than they have to be.     Though X was talking to himself, he gets a response from Setsuko. "Because you have a good heart." 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Kotone linking into networks would discover such a thing wasn't a bad idea; most of it was under lockdown it seemed, and the juncture point it's basically wearing the equivalent of, IF YOU ACTIVATE/OVERRIDE THIS, THE INFESTED WILL KNOW YOU'RE HERE' in so many words on the Corpus systems. X, at the very least might discover that actually dealing with things here was a far better option than the average compared to before once he's been entangled in before. There was one other individual that came in, though that was.. not the typical one. A distant little *WOOF!*, nice and guttural could be heard leading to a black and almost orchid-furred horse--well, maybe not that big. But the Kubrow that arrived was pretty damn big, it's eats long and almost batlike like it's snot reaching up to the tips of Valkyr when she stood fully upright. And it's not like Valkyr's very short either. Data synchronization happens without much trouble whatsoever. The Lotus it seems, has very extensive systems that, later recollection will have /reams/ of data for review because she's also hooked into the systems not unlike Kotone but on a much.. /vast/ scale. A map of the place is made known to those with any kind of HUD or AR rigging as well because there'll be waypoints marked for that regard. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Speaking of actually getting underway, once Valkyr is confident of those here: Elite and Corpus alike, she turns to the terminal she's next to, situated not too far from a square, automatic door that's currently lit with red lighting indicating the lockdown status. AS her fingers finish gliding over the terminal, Kotone who might be hooked into the system, watches as the lockdown protocol goes down and the alarms blare in a distant fashion. When those alarms go off, the silence of the station gives away to a cacophony of feral roars from so many directions at once as the doors open. They know you're here now. The utility area opens up into a wide series of catwalks and other supply-oriented structures from the look of it. There's swarms of yellowish-amber insects that are flying about, this is distressing enough as the sound of quadrupedal feet could be heard, even as Valkyr heads forth. Valkyr seems to be completely uncaring, or maybe just doesn't seem to be bothered by the growths already showing up on a nearby column. Living, infested flesh, corpulent and wavering lightly as the darkened area is given to some light due to her suit's lighting casting beams forward. IT's not pitch black, but.. Those who aren't moving forward immediately would have a sense of the infested flesh nearby being akin to them trying to almost terraform or consume what they can't in that inorganic mass, the fleshy pockets and pods resembling some twisted form of spongy, underwater calcification. A single charger is why the Valkyr sprinted forward quickly. Before the Dragon Nikana sinks into it, slicing it in half down the middle with a damn near elegant motion and flourish of blade, Setsuko would catch sight of what.. looks like a Grineer lancer's helmeted head sticking out of it's underside, before others might get closer. There's three paths in varying directions--to the west, on maps, an icon has shown up, accompanied by the Lotus giving a missive about continuing life support. "A steady stream of toxic spores is being released into the area. Hold on, emergency life support is inbound; you should also look for personal life support modules left behind." Right now, there's no issue with breathing, but it's probably a good idea to not dawdle overmuch. Especially when it appears to be a dozen Infested: runners, chargers and leapers alike, coming from each of those three directions as the Corpus MOAs head towards the east end, firing their lasers at those funneling through that side. 

:'''{{#var:942|Kazuko Kawakami (942)}} has posed:''' Although Kazuko can't quite understand the Corpus in blue (or just isn't trying this time), the tone is enough to get her to stick her tongue out at him in response. "My way's cooler." She mutters before slipping the helmet closed.      She really was listening! At least to the warnings earlier, anyway. Regrouping with the rest of the group isn't too hard, at least, and X gets a familiar grin and a wave. Granted, he might only see the latter what with the toaster covering her face, but the gesture's still there!      "Miss Kaminagi's right. We just gotta make sure everyone that's still here gets out safe, and it'll all be worth it!" She's still holding onto hope for that, isn't she? At least the martial artist is prepared for a fight physically, as she draws that naginata and takes position with Setsuko and Fiora as the apparent close-range fighters today.      And then there's the Kubrow. Although the helmet keeps her face blocked, it's probably not too hard to tell what Kazuko's thinking as she practically bounds over to it with an excited noise escaping her. "Ohh! Hi, doggy. We'll get you outta here, don't worry." She boasts, smacking her chest once before looking up at the roars echoing around them.      It's time to start cutting. And cut she does, going from AW LOOKIT THE GIANT PUPPY to a trained fighter in the span of seconds as she twirls that naginata around rapidly, slashing at the Infested coming from the north that are foolish enough to get close to the hyperactive teenager with the sword on a stick. Her moves are certainly faster than they are graceful, and it doesn't take long for a yellow aura to surround her weapon, augmenting her attacks! 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa sees the network and the warning she'll keep linked but she's not going to mess with anything else she doens't want to well set it off unless she has to. She is also making note, to get an idea. She gets the scale of Lotus skill and the hardware she has, she's quite impressed and there's improved level of respect for the mysterious woman. However she's now ready as she's ever going to be as she checks her ammo one last time. <<This is seriously bad mojo though the Corpus are at least showing? They get they can't make money if they are all dead or worse than dead.>> She does watch wiht intres taking a momen to learn more about the local systems it might be useful later. Fort now they know they are here and she makes ready as she moves forward. She looks at the alien flesh on the walls and shudders. Part of her is very glad for a very rare moment, that she's no longer flesh for the most part. Next time she's bringing the synthmorph tht Rory made her that much is vertain. She'll move on ahead. "X with me." 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' A better question, X will ask himself in the future, is, 'why do these things keep happening?!' Because that's a much better question with even less of a clear answer.     His AR HUD comes alive with data that his systems have no problem interpreting. Maps and waypoints swirl and blink within his digital mind.     A mighty clank resounds through the sealed chamber as X slams a fist into an opposing palm, trying to steel himself up for the horrors to come.     He's GOT to get in there. Got to stop the INfested before they spread elsewhere! Got to rescue people before they're murdered.... or suffer fates WORSE than death!     A quivery look's cast Setsuko and Kazuko's way just briefly. X has little fighting spirit and his thoughts are definitely clouded... but he's here to help.     "Be careful out there! I have no idea what's happening past these doors."     A similar look's given to the Warframes that show up. With how inexpressive they are... he only peeks their way to see WHAT they're doing more than how they're doing.     Well what they find is pretty gross, even to a robot's standards - and X doesn't really suffer nausea. He doesn't, but this makes him almost do so anyways. Mechanical eyes go wide with very living fright and worry at the twisted columns of flesh and their strange texture!     "And we'd all be better off not knowing... no choice now!"     Immediately detecting the problems, he rushes over to the crossroads and takes a position there. North, it seems? He's not sure if he likes Kotone calling the shots for him, but he likes the idea of letting her go off on her lonesome even less. So he steers her way and levels the X-Buster at the charging creatures and FLOODS THE CORRIDOR with shot after shot of hot, noisy plasma!     "They also look worse than I expected! What ARE these things?!" 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     That thunderous roar of a collective beast awakening - it's the kind of sound that sets the hair on the back of your neck on end. It's the noise that tells even those with no supernatural senses, that violence is coming. Fury is coming. War is coming.     Anyone who happens to be looking at Setsuko's eyes when the cry goes out, will get to see them shine a faint, glimmering blue for a moment or two.     The room beyond is, for lack of a better word, hideous. The sight of a place of hard work, of industrial, purposeful steel taken over by an aggressive, hostile cancer of biomatter is unsettling even to someone like Setsuko. But she does not- will not- cannot stop. Not ever. It is her way to keep moving forward no matter what lies in her path. When the Tenno moves, the demigod is right alongside her. Just as fast, five steps behind, moving in complement. She gets to see that Dragon Nikana flash out, her gaze appreciative; shifting to quiet distaste when she realizes that used to be a Grineer.     The other Infested won't wait for her to take in such a thing, however, so she simply takes it in within the space of a heartbeat, accepts it, and moves on. Valkyr will find her just as mobile as any fellow Warframe; perhaps moreso in some ways. It enables her to leap from one spot to the next, providing cover, carving apart a Leaper here, a Crawler there. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' As Kazuko goes off into the north direction, she is accompanied by the good doggy. Surely the doggy is here to get out of here, right? No, that 'dog' is a Kubrow, trained and genetically enhanced companion to Kushiko both while she's in and outside of her Warframe. Because as that sword on a stick is used to relieve a Runner of it's limbs, the Kubrow rears back, and leaps at a charger, teeth tearing into as she tackles the Infested, toothy maw ripping off an arm with almost careless ease, a squeal of feral pain erupting from the charger as it crumples into a heap. Kazuko and the Kubrow are doing an excellent job, with maybe just a few stragglers coming their way, one of the runners--a volatile one, attempting to get close enough to explode violently all over the suited Kazuko, while a pair of chargers try to swing one of their mutated limbs at her as a distraction, but that is cut short by X's oncoming plasma fire burning through flesh, staggering the volatile runner that hunches over preemptively, only to melt under the hot plasma without that explosive release. Towards the west is a good plan for the interim once some of the first waves of Infested are dealt with--that way lies the life support capsule that was being matter-transported in by the Lotus' systems, something that others who are monitoring, such as Kotone, would notice is, while somewhat time based, at the same time can get it into a location currently not immediately swarmed with Infested. There's an absolutely murderous series of actions at the behest of both Setsuko and the Valkyr working in concert. At times, it's the swing of the Dragon Nikana, a brand of iaijutsu having Valkyr flow like water as she cleaves, sometimes striking right as Setsuko does, ending the existence of the a few of the Infested instanteously. There's an odd kind of little syncup the others might notice between the two; no wasted series of movements, every action has a purpose as the two weave and carve a line through the chokepoint of the Infested in the westerly direction. From the east, the group is rapidly approaching the center-focused X and Kotone, however, but it shouldn't be too much trouble, even as they roar and howl at the pair, a pack of Chargers attempting to leap at Kotone unless she and X react quickly! Beyond the north lies a supply room from the look of it and where some of the Infested might have come from; otherwise it's a dead end. The east also goes on a little ways but it seems some Infested are still funneling from there, a mauled MOA losing it's leg as they attempt to waylay the Infested that broke their their line. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' X reacts quickly alright. Creatures fall and the halls are filled with probably awful stenches... but he's not going to drop his guard when he has full help from navigators and every advantage he could wish for. When MORE CREATURES - these fierce Chargers - come barreling from the east corridor? He grits his teeth and switches targets, firing bolts their way. However it won't be enough to stop them, he doesn't have enough TIME. So as they approach...     He also switches weapon modes.     Golden light cascades down his Titanium-X casing, changing it from a pleasant blue to a wild yellow theme with some greys. The X-Buster seals over, reshapes and whirls into a gauntlet-like mechanism.     "I won't let you through!" His response...     Is to charge straight at them. "Ember Celica!"     What follows? For at least ONE of the chargers... is probably going to be a very bad time. X swings that gauntlet with some surprising martial arts manuevers, each blow accompanied by a piston-like HAMMERING of incredible extra force applied, the unmistkable sound of a shotgun firing driving all that energy into the blows.     That... will hurt. Even if X finds himself slammed into a wall from underestimating these things, that's prooooobably gonna hurt a lot. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is going top put her mini gun to urse the moment I can. "I don't know, but if there's anything left of who they used to be this ia a mercy kill now as much as I hate to say it" Kotone's weapons warms up and she just starts hosing the corridor with rounds which hopefully wull set these things on fire. It's kinda odd seeing a small woman like Kotone use such a huge weapon. She doesn't let up either as she doe sthe best she can with it. She also keeps an eye on the network even as she's laying down fire. "Did they get all this biomass from the crew?! Or did it come from somewhere else?!" She prays its the ltter if not? What in god's name? Wait that's silly God has nothing to do with this nightmare at all. <<Thanks X!>> Shes' very glad X is on point but then X charges on in and just lets lose an crazy amoutn of force, she'll check her fire and she inend sto fire the weapon till she's out of ammo. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Setsuko needs no advice or familiarity to fall into sync with Valkyr; it comes naturally to her, fighting in such a way to complement those she stands alongside. Her style is not dissimilar to what the Tenno would know as the 'Decisive Judgement' style, but it is a bit less wild, for lack of a better term. Less wild spinning, more methodical strikes. Simultaneously fast and ferocious, swung to carve apart Infested with a single strike. She is, in this instance, simply following the Warframe's lead, trusting its Tenno operator to lead the flow of battle for at least the two of them.     Unlike a Warframe, however, Setsuko has no shields. So any blow, even a glancing one, draws blood. For an ordinary person, this would be of deep concern. But as the two of them push on, the earliest nicks and glancing cuts quickly cease to bleed, far sooner than they would for an ordinary human. A half-divine immune system, strong enough to close her wounds as the battle goes on. No wonder she shows little concern for being affected by the Infested plague. 

:'''{{#var:942|Kazuko Kawakami (942)}} has posed:''' The main problem with fighting with a melee weapon against monsters you'd normally want to stay away from is getting close to said monsters in order to actually do anything. Kazuko's keeping a good, steady pace with her swings, going a bit wide-eyed beneath her helmet at the Kubrow as she tears apart one of the Chargers. It's both an amazing and startling sight, what with the cute doggy actually being a dangerous beast all on her own!      Surely Kazuko's not getting any ideas from this.      As the pair of chargers swing at her, she backs up quickly to let their swings go wide, but instead of staying back to avoid the volatile runner? She charges back in to stab at the chargers, and the explosive goop nails her right in the everything. Although she lets out a startled yelp at that blast, it's more out of surprise than actual pain: The suit and the helmet have taken the brunt of the damage. She's still wincing a bit, however, from the infected spray getting on her arms and one of her legs.      Naturally, she's more worried about the Kubrow. "Let's get back to the others!" Kazuko calls out to her impromptu partner in the hallway, trying to goad her into her going westward while thrusting and slashing at the stragglers still coming by. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' On the one hand, they're doing an excellent job of taking down the waves of Infested that have been coming their way. The only problem is, that lingering here might not necessarily be a good idea. IT's true that the meter monitoring life support stability, due to fallen capsules found and beyond is keeping it somewhere between 80 and 95 percent (and sometimes all the way to maximized!) but being a diversion means making lots of proverbial noise. Which is good, in the way of X bringing fire to the fore, some of the Infested just DO NOT react well at all, being set on fire and the sickening smell of flesh might make it's way to people's olfactory senses before fading out. When Kotone adds her potent firepower to the mix, the rounds tear into and slash apart Infested with dizzying efficency from range, which is an excellent complementary angle to keeping the Infested at bay and drawing even more to them. That was the point, after all! Kazuko does get the right idea in her case, as much as nearby chargers and walkers attempt to get in edgewise on her, the combination of her attacks plus the Kubrow in support along with further coverfire from the others ensures she's able to at least begin withdrawing, though at first the Kubrow's being a delightful murdermachine in pouncing and tearing into Infested flesh with wanton abandon before turning about to head towards the others. Which there are still some Infested coming down that way, but the lion's share of that wave was largely dealt with. A straggler, in this case. Before, the infested seen so far could be guessed at for their hosts. Humanoid bodies repurposed in a variety of ways. Hell most seem to be Corpus crewmen, but the elements are still somewhat guessable after they've been killed. That changes when ... /something/ lumbers it's way out of one of those industrial corridors as Kazuko turns about. It's strange. A tentacle-like 'mouth' and face as it seems to groan, a wave of greenish energy released from it in order to shore up the straggling Infested as they chase down towards Kazuko before it throws out a long limb, a tentacle in order to try and grab and yank Kazuko back where she was fleeing from! It's when it does this that anyone might be able to focus more attention on this Infested: it's /large/, taller and heavier than most, any sense of the original being is simply /gone/. Perhaps simply it is an infested host so old, so mutated and twisted that it's not able to be recognized anymore other than a simple term: 'Ancient'. Some of the chargers heading to try and intercept any incoming aid for Kazuko if she were so unlucky, or just hound after her otherwise. Now, the question Kotone posits is answered by the Lotus over comms as well; she and the Lotus would both be seeing and showing that the group that was trapped is finally able to move as the lion's share of the Infested are inbound. A much larger number, from the look of it. "Both the crew here and elsewhere. Infested are capable of generating and reproducing with only time being a factor." 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' On the other side of the coin, it seems the Infested coming from the North, while they might be tapering down, isn't the only place the Ancients are beginning to come from; a trio of them are amidst the swarming mass of bodies and Infested facing down the Warframe and the Demigod to the West. It's at this point that Valkyr foregoes her sword, though this is within reason. She too, while she had shields, some of the Infested struck. For a few, precious instants, there were no shields, and there could be blood that flied away from the Valkyr's body that Setsuko and perhaps other keen observers might see. But when even a little bit of blood was shed, she *howls*. Not once, but twice. The first time bathes Setsuko in the energy from her Warcry, ensuring that she'll be hurt just a little bit less, making that regenerative capability even more useful. The second? Her weapon is sheathed behind her as she erupts with a cacophonous energy that wreathes her body, ending in five long energy claws upon her fingertips. Setsuko would know, in an instant, something.. /wronged/ this Valkyr. Or maybe some ancestral wound was drawn from like a well, that power answered with it. Berserk fury somehow controled as she launched herself into the air, only to land and slide forward, slicing through the initial throng of Infested alongside Setsuko, but now her movements were so rapidfire she may as well be a humanoid buzzsaw. Of course, this would be needed as she threw a hand up into another tentacle being thrown forward by an Infested, parrying it and giving Setsuko a brief aside lookas though to indicate who needed to die quickly. But it wasn't just the 'frame's movements no.. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Kazuko's attacker is the first thing Setsuko notices, even as far apart as they are. But even she can't cross that distance in an instant, and by the time she got there, either the situation would be resolved or it would be too late. So instead she keeps her focus on what is right before her, around her. If the younger Kawakami sister calls for aid, she'll go.     That leaves her at ground zero to receive the enhancing power of the Void... and, to witness Valkyr unleashing its bottled fury. "...gods," she murmurs quietly to herself, before taking a step and shifting to one side, planning to come in at the horde of Infested from an angle- when her movement is arrested by one of those tentacles snagging her around the bicep. "Gh-!"     It drags her for a good two meters or so before the dragging suddenly... stops. Setsuko never leaves her feet. They slide, until they don't. She plants herself. She reaches up, grabs hold of the tentacle. And then she pulls, with all her utterly inhuman strength. "HAAAAAA-!"     Did you know an Ancient can fly? Well apparently they can.     As the warrior woman yanks her towering prey towards her, she lunges forward herself, lashing out with Zanjintou in a slash that will cleave neatly through it at an angle. 

:'''{{#var:942|Kazuko Kawakami (942)}} has posed:''' "Good doggy! Okay, let's get outta here." Kazuko lingers a bit longer to cover the Kubrow's escape before turning to leave that north side, missing the sight of that Ancient just at the wrong moment. Unfortunately for her, the scent of the infectedand burning flesh keep her from even noticing the creature's presence until it's too late. She's caught completely flat footed as the tentacle catches her around the waist, blinking a few times and yelping in surprise when she gets pulled right back into the mass of Infected!      "Gyah! What... Stupid thing! Leggo of me!" Even as she dragged back, she's not going to go down without a fight! Kazuko starts slashing around with her naginata to try and ward off some of the Infected moving in around her, although getting a good vantage point is difficult while fighting from the ground with that sort of weapon. Between the disadvantageous positioning, the tentacle keeping her from actually moving freely, and her Corpus uniform barely existing over her school uniform, things aren't looking good for the martial artist! 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa get the idea it might be a bad idea to deal with infested that are here but in the back of her mind she wonders. Do they just consume the dead and make more? No time to think about that she's laying down fire but she does think for a moment they may not want to stya in the same place for too long they need to keep with everyone else. She oes however get an answer there's more are coming. <<So they just infect to speed things up? Got it Lotus!>> %R She's going to be staring to keep with X and track the pings on her allies which are on the mapp. <<X we don't want to get cut off from everyone else we might want ot try to link up with the rest soon as we get a chance. As soon as the Lotus says we're done we're getting the hell out of here>> 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Void energy begins to just... /roil/ off Valkyr in waves. Every kill in close melee range as she throws it ensures that Setsuko herself is kept ensconed in it, like a transluscent shell that ablates an attacker with it's armor enhancement; even if she doesn't necessarily /have/ much armor officially, she sure does now. There's a moment where Valkyr twists about in concern first, before the sight of that flying Ancient sends the first one flying. She leaps herself, not so much to attack that Ancient before it gets cleaved through by Zanjintou, but to effectively leapfrog over one of the halves as it is sent in a bloody, flying heap in order to land on the remaining Ancient that's facing the pair. And landing on it, whatever face it might have is reduced to /pulp/ thanks to her rapidly GUTTING IT with a series of quick thrusts before rolling off of it in order to rake her claws through a Runner that had the misfortune of being too close once that Ancient was down. Setsuko would catch sight of a column of white, about four feet in height that phases in. <<Life support is now available, should you need it.>> TIME REMAINING: 4:43 Life Support: 83% So far so good at least. There's been some life support units that have been dropped from time to time, Corpus units utilizing them to ensure they're going to have proper environmental stability for the remainder of the time they need to be here. Indeed, such things are reflected on the HUDs of others--Kotone's among them. It's a pretty useful thing to have all this data, and it does indicate there's an overall source. Something called.. Phorid? Regardless, there's Infested to kill, and while the lion's share is taking pressure off the group that's making their way to extraction deeper on in the facility, that means there's more waves oncoming. Another pair of Ancients towers over two dozen-odd Infested Chargers and Runners and now /crawlers/ coming over. They're releasing bolts of electricity now, one of them zapping straight into Valkyr who seems to not even be dissuaded. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' The thump-whump of something BIG moving nearby's just distracting to make X blink and pause for a crucial second, just enough to take a blow to his gut from the freakish creatures. The blow stagers X, knocking him back into a wall. But he flips away from it in a hurry... only slightly damaged. Whilst airborne he flips around and unleashes a torrent of buster shots meant to suppress and hopefully destroy, buying Kotone time to use her own weapons better.     "Definitely can't go wandering off on our own! These things are..."     CUE THE REAL MONSTER.     X whirls about in place to face what follows...     If he wasn't a robot with the ability to process an amazing amiount of input very quickly, X would miss the Valkyr's berserk frenzy.     Part of him wishes he had.     VICIOUS!     And what skill it must take. "They'd give Zero a run for his money alright." He murmurs to himself, not sure he believes what he just saw.     For now, he focuses on laying down even more suppressing fire with the X-Buster. It seems to be quite effective on these things, startlingly enough! 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Setsuko might notice, just on the hinge of her senses that.. whatever Valkyr is, despite the terrifying, Void-infused strength she's brandishing, they're after /her/, almost on an instinctual level first before trying to go after the Demigod and the others here. Hey, Kotone, you remember the Ospreys, right? You probably do, which is why the shape of a few fliers coming down from the air vents might be a little bit unnerving; they resemble the Ospreys but they are carrying a volatile crawler since it can't quite move, and is seeking to bring the toxin-releasing torso closer to the group of X and Kotone than either might enjoy! And Kazuko. Poor, poor Kazuko. We may honor her memory one day, but that day is not this day. She manages to not get dragged back as further as she could be in order to be pounded mercilessly by the Ancient at close range. But then there's the mass of Infested, but the naginata severing the tentacle of the Infested in bloody, messy ways means it topples over. And then there's a howl. That Kubrow, the name of Kiras just launches herself into the Ancient as it topples over. It's a precious reprieve as the animal seems incredibly more durable than before, the dog nimbly jumping up and around as her naginata clears enough of the Infested away that, once there is just enough room to move, she doubles back, bringing her head under so that she might be trying to get her head underneath the Corpus-suit wearing Kazuko in order to help lift her up and onto her feet before helping fight their way back to the others. Good doggy! X in the meantime is finding his X-Buster is doing a very, very good job of things so far--sometimes staggering, sometimes just making flesh hiss and melt as they're flash-burned and crippled, clouds of insects and other nasty things escaping their bodies as they crumple and melt away, bone and sinew in equal measure making them practically husk themselves. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is making use of every trick her body has, it's can certainly help her as heck of a lot. Stil she pauses and notices something else on there. She notices the source and tags the Phorid data afor later. For now however there's still shooting and her weapon's starting to overheat at this point and now comes the shocking? That could be an issue for her but she's going to dance back and keep with X for a moment. "I got data something Ided Phorid it's source." She gets moving now and keeps with X but her ammo counter is ticking down. She recalls the drones, at first were the Corpus sending back up? Then to her horror she stares. "Dear god! X! They infested those drones! Those were part of this stations drone compliment! Wait that means...they could infect us!" She tries to bring her big weapon about but the toxins hit her as she tries to open fire on the horrible monsters and there's fears. Her synthetic nature will not keep her ... safe now. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     A bolt of electricity catches Setsuko square in the chest. "Ghah!" It's enough for her to stagger back several steps, even through the protection of Valkyr's warcry, and it takes her a second to recover herself after that. But when she does, she lifts her sword up, looking between her Tenno fighting companion and the horde of Infested moving in.     She had planned to avoid using her divine energies entirely if she could help it, but this merits a more forceful response than her katana alone can offer.     They'll have to be short-range projectiles. She can't have them cleaving through the decks until they slice right through a bulkhead. Two should be enough to kill most of the big group, and the rest... the rest they can handle. So Setsuko Kaminagi takes one step forward. Her eyes seem, for an instant, to flash with azure light again. And then she brings her blade around, in a pair of fast swipes - one horizontal, one diagonal.     The master of the Valkyr might be forgiven for thinking for a half-second she'd been joined by an Excalibur. Because the projectiles fired off, bright and compressed arcs of sky-blue light, could almost have come from an Exalted Blade. But they are wider, more coherent, more compressed, and rather than passing through and causing damage through the power of the void, they simply cut, as sharply and as cleanly as Setsuko's blade itself. Through Infested flesh, through the steel of handrail, floors and walls. She only puts in enough power for them to travel a short way forward. And even that should be enough to mow down a good number of the creatures. 

:'''{{#var:942|Kazuko Kawakami (942)}} has posed:''' Kazuko's a tenacious, if not particularly clever fighter as she keeps thrashing about, trying to break free from that Ancient's hold with whatever means necessary. It's a good thing she gets that lucky cut in when she does and that Kiras comes in, because she very well could have bitten that same tentacle a few seconds later!      That probably wouldn't have gone well for anyone.      Getting helped back to her feet by the Kubrow, the high schooler gives the warbeast an appreciative pat on the head before charging back into the fray, working with her to get back to their comrades! She's even swinging around her weapon more deftly now, as if she had found her second wind or...      Or she might just be taking things a little more seriously now that she's almost been torn to shreds by space monsters. That's something she can talk to a therapist about later, maybe. But for now?      "We're coming, everyone! There's... Way too many of these things!" Kazuko announces their presence as she slices through another Charger and batters away one of the flying mutated drones, checking on Kiras every now and then just to make sure she's still there. "Phorid...? What's that?" That close shave with the Ancient isn't enough to force Kazuko into hiding from the front lines, at least, as she pours more ki into her slashes to try and cleave through as much Infected muck as possible. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' "That thought occured to me just now." X affirms, agreeing with Kotone's assessment. The robot yells the next moment as a few more Infested burst from air ducts. On pure reflex he leaps back and skids in further retreat, but maintains his balance quite well to unload shot after shot from his braced arm cannon! Yes, bracing it by using his other hand to absorb some of the recoil. Odd that an energy weapon would have recoil, but that's just physics in action!     NOW X decides to switch approaches. His Buster's inner barrel whirls and reconstructs itself with a slightly different lens, waves of light cascading again down his body with a new color scheme of crimson and black.     THIS time when he fires at the creatures a thick, pulsing BEAM. And this thing BURNS HARD. Things just tend to fall to pieces in its wake. Far more violent than the X-Buster. On the other hand...     X is watching his Weapon Energy for the Phaser Beam deplete in quite a hurry... 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' One might finally arrange themselves to the fact that the Infested flesh, the growths, cancerous on the industrial floors and walls and just the haze of it permeating the local area atmosphere proves that.. the Infested must consume, must find any and all ways to grow stronger. Even when they consume the flesh of their fellows, the collective strength of the Infested grow. So repurposing machines such as the Ospreys into Mutalist Ospreys. It's probably a lucky thing for Kotone's sense of fear that they aren't seeing any Mutalist MOAs, are they? ... probably nothing like that present, no. Ammunition sometimes drops, cubes that could be, upon touch, be used by anyone with any sort of Matter recombination tech like the Warframes have could repurpose the charges later at some point. Might be good for study at some point for Kotone and others. X could definintely regain some X-Buster energy for what it's worth after some analysis and-or touching them. The Mutalist Ospreys rather violently explode, and while they drop a cloud of virulent toxin clouds, they're at least not directly atop the cyborg and the Reploid as they could have been. There's a momentary pause from Valkyr, the Tenno guiding the Warframe shifts. Its' not Void energy, it's not quite the same as Exalted Blade, but it does lend to her why she suspected things about Setsuko. And why, perhaps Setsuko might be someone that will seek a proper introduction for the Operator's benefit. She pivots however, launching herself rather speedily as Setsuko breaks the back of the swarm that's been oncoming, letting her clawtips flay and strike in an almost majestic fashion, ensuring that what few remain, do not remain very long. Even then, she's already doubling back after the activation of the Life Support equipment, helping to purge some of the toxic mist that had begun to coalesce in the local vicinity. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The absolute total and combined efforts of the group, spearheaded by Setsuko and Valkyr has created something that resembles breathing room. To the north, there are no more Infested coming, but to the east and west there is a new, oncoming wave of Infested, roaring and screeching violently as they pad their way down the supply center corridors. Yet it will be enough time to wait and brace themselves now. TIME REMAINING: 2:13 Life Support Integrity: 93% At some point, that life support system integrity had dropped down to about 60 percent--mainly thanks to the mutalist ospreys--before becoming resurgent once more. X's rapidly depleted firepower does earn Kazuko a rather sizable reprieve--the Ancients on the east and north side that were once there are collapsed in on themselves after they topple over backwards. The sheer firepower is necessary--some of them flinch before the full brunt of slashing naginata's and thick pulsing beams skewer them in a wonderful cacophony of violence. The Corpus are sticking close now to Kazuko and Kotone and X as though to ensure they don't have any issues; a shielding Osprey brings about some shielding force--it won't do much versus toxins, but it'll at least help allay some further harm from direct slashing and maulings if one is too close to the Infested. As the timer ticks down, there's one final collective roar. From the east and west they come. A perfect little pincer maneuver. A half dozen Ancients sprinkled on either side, volatile runners and a pack of chargers on either side are converging on this chosen point of a stand. Time for one last blast of power: dealing with this group will buy enough time at last for the trapped operatives and civilians to get out safely. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa does take a moment to recover a few of ammo packs, she'll take them to Rory to poke with a stick and see how that goes. She'll keep shottong however when the infested pop back in she has to pause at times tp keep the weapon form overheating. She however hears the creature coming the Ancients come right for them and she attempts to bring her gun about, there's a wind up time. She lays down fire but she's going to make her self a target for their horrible dirty tricks. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     In her own way, Setsuko is at home. She is amidst enemies, with an ally fighting beside her, and more nearby. She keeps a shred of attention on the flow of battle, prepared to move off and lend support to the others if need be, but most of her focus is on the here, the now, the enemies before them. Enemies who have sensed their threat and responded in kind. A horde of Ancients, exploding Runners and angry Chargers. All of them moving straight in.     All of them in a perfect array before her.     There's enough horizontal room - barely. She'll end up cutting into the corrodor wall to her right. Can't be helped. There shouldn't be anything critical on the other side of it. The swordswoman gives her blade a quick, sharp shake to flick the fluids off of it, then returns it to its sheath and takes another couple steps forward. Out in front, out where she'll be the prime target of the oncoming Infested. Her hand rests around the grip of Zanjintou, tightening, and her stance lowers, deepens. It's a ready stance. She has gone from 'something reminiscent of Decisive Judgement' to 'something a distant echo of Tranquil Cleave'. Utter stillness. Utter calm. Patience, waiting for the perfect moment.     They are a hair too far away when she draws.     Even with her reach, the closest enemies to Setsuko are at least a foot beyond her blade. Or at least, they appear to be. But as Zanjintou clears its sheath, there is a snap-CLACK. In her grip, the handle of the blade lengthens. The crossguard extends outward in opposite directions. As soon as the blade clears the sheath, a shimmer of blue-white begins to rapidly pass over it. The shimmer leaves behind more steel, broader, straighter, replacing the human-sized katana with a flat broad blade that is much, much larger.     The iaijutsu technique lends the blade speed, and as a result, the immense sword that takes shape in the blink of an eye is swung far faster than would normally be possible. By the time Setsuko finishes her swing, the massive true form of Zanjintou is complete, its blade twice as long as she is tall, visible for the blink of an eye before half its length embeds in the wall directly to the demigod's right.     The arc it describes is not enough to carve all of the approaching Infested apart. But a significant portion are not going to survive a quick-draw slash of that sheer size.     "CHESUTO!" 

:'''{{#var:942|Kazuko Kawakami (942)}} has posed:''' Kazuko appears to be getting more used to fighting with the ranged combatants around, keeping her stance even lower than before to give them more space to fire past her even as she continues slicing apart the Infested. Adrenaline is doing quite a bit to keep her in the fight instead of just collapsing on the spot, and the constant threat of maiming or death certainly helps to keep her from complaining too much. Still, the fatigue is becoming more evident, and her helmet has all but fallen off at this point from all the errant strikes and bodily explosions from those Volatile Runners.      And yet, that yellow aura surrounding Kazuko's body just keeps growing more intense. That exchange between Setsuko and Kushiko is getting the martial artist fired up for one last push, and she's not ready to look like a chump with Kotone, X, and the Corpus soldiers around!      "Alright... I'll put everything I got into this, too!" Clapping her hands together as she grips the center of her naginata, she begins spinning the weapon rapidly in front of her, the yellow aura blurring its movements and making it look almost like a solid mass rather than the weapon it really is. Her target: The eastern wave.      "Kawakami Style: Daisharin! She waits until the Infested are practically upon her before surging forward suddenly, using her naginata something like a ki-infused lawnmower as she tries to carve a path to an Ancient. Once she's close enough, her grip shifts, and she spins the entire weapon around her before taking a massive swing at said Ancient, aiming to cleave right through it and any Infested still standing nearby! 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' "Almost out of time. Hurry up!" With so many forces rushing in X's worry continues to increase. Exponentially. What if this goes wrong? What then?!     And will nobody spare a thought for the poor people who've fallen victim to this? No, there's time to mourn later... "...have to keep focused!"     He does indeed investigate the cubes. Finding them to be a compatible source of energy he grasps them and absorbs them into the X-Buster, refilling his reserve capacitors. Phaser Beam and Ember Celica have been bought a bit more use! "These are great! Just wish I knew what they--"     *ROAR*     "-are?!"     X's worried face grows fierce even as he trembles with anxiety over this final wave.     But the robot steels himself and readies Phaser Beam, raking it over the hordes in-between all the other violence while his eyes are half-squinted shut from the building HORROR over this plague's insidivious nature.     "This better be the LAST of them!" 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Do you want to see complete and total obliteration of a target rich environment? Good, because you're bearing witness to that with the efforts of the Elites here. It's a little disturbing, one might think in retrospect. Other than a few modest hiccups and damage incurred by the Elites, the Infested have been falling like paper. More to the point, at the unleashing of Setsuko's power in the way she does, there's an unmistakable shudder in the station they're at. One can ascribe it easily to her, but it might be something else entirely. This station is probably going to be need of repair and refabrication of certain components. What with the absolute /perfect/ measure of cutting that Setsuko's technique provides. It would be a hell of a thing for certain people to compare notes, even if they aren't quite aware of it in full just yet. There's a wet series of howling noises as they are cut short, bodies beginning to disintegrate /only/ after the most perfect cut has split some of these Infested down the middle. Frankly, Valkyr weaves her way /out/ of the way and for good reason it seems, upon retrospect, letting Hysteria bleed out of herself and pulling out her Vaykor Hek shotgun, and using it to take down what Infested remain down the west corridor. Kazuko is also doing a damn fine job, despite her assumption she should being doing bad. Given it's an entirely new kind of swarming opponent, she's acquainting herself well, especially working with the other ranged combatants. She utterly /decimates/ a good dozen Infested on her way to making the Ancient topple over in spectacular fashion. No more tentacling her, that's for sure! It is in fact why Kotone herself isn't subjected to any more dirty tricks, that with Kazuko laying down melee prowess, there's no way they can get further into the huge supply room nexus. Supported by X's use of judicious fire by Kotone's own request, as Phaser Beam and Ember Celica shots ensuring that what Infested remain, do not remain any longer. In the aftermath, one might doubletake. But only a hint of spores remain, even some of the infested pockets of tissue were utterly scorched from existence. At first.. there's a deadly calm. But.. ..nothing is coming? Have they bought the time they needed? 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' --ELSEWHERE... Inwardly, and at such a far off distance, (technically) Kushiko was grinning a bit. Yeah, she was definitely, beyond anything liking what she had begun to see. From the time aboard that Grineer derelict, she had begun to suspect. Others seemed to need to talk--of all the people, Setsuko seemed to make her feel like she was fighting alongside another Tenno, recognizing elements of stances in her that she herself at times used with her own Dragon Nikana, and more. Hell, Kazuko was doing much the same, even if she hadn't had quite the same experiences with her as she had with Setsuko so far. And maybe hadn't shredded her clothes that one time. Kotone was providing to be an excellent supporting agent, someone who would not fight the same way as she, but she and X were proving themselves capable allies. TIME REMAINING: 0:00 Life Support Integrity: 93% <<"Our operatives and civilians have managed to escape safely. There are no more individuals that the Infested can reach. They will be debriefed and measures taken to ensure they do not inadvertently spread any of the infestation.">> The Lotus is cut off, however. Because there is a roar like none other. At first it seems like just one, but it's the collective furor of ALL THE INFESTED on the station. <<".. extremely high count Infested biosignatures inbound. Disengage now, get to extraction!">> The information comes as they arrive. Ancients by the dozens, oversized chargers and crawlers, all of them resonating with energy as they take advantage of the brandishment of such firepower by everyone so far. The blood drew them in, you see. All of them before, were much weaker. There is a classification for certain enemies in the universe where the Tenno come from: 'Eximus'. Simply fleeing will not do as they converge from damn near every direction. And their presence can be felt immediately, as among these include Parasitic Eximus--a closing Charger is wreathed in this unique energy wave that is beginning to rapidly drain the energy of anyone nearby--including the Warframe and anyone who might use said energy to power abilities and more. Least it won't harm them directly save making abilities harder to use once they drain energy. The further problems are the Ancients and even 'lesser' Infested that are Eximus; it's honestly better to figure out who isn't an Eximus than not. Fields of fiery energy, electric fields overlapping one another to reduce the effectiveness of eletrical, fire, and any toxin attacks and even draining health. /Anyone/ with sensors can tell that the waves coming from East and West--and now North again.. are not something anyone should even think about dealing with. And fleeing is going to be painful as they pick up the pace and charge the group. Everything was a feint. That's the only explanation. Sure, let the others go. But why not partake of delicious flesh that's presented itself here? 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' You know how a situation goes from almost acceptable to downright horrifying? This is one of them. Valkyr, no, Kushiko can feel the energy being drained from her even as they approach. The energy in her body, she had purposefully released the hold Hysteria had her with. Yet still, there was hope: the way they came in. Extraction was very clearly marked as Valkyr brought herself towards the center where the group had begun to regroup at. And in face of the oncoming horde like this, there was only one solution she felt was useful. She lacked Nova; she could not release waves of Antimatter in order to slow them down long enough. As the Eximus Infested approach, feet padding the cobalt blue industrial alloyed flooring, Valkyr suddenly goes limp. Void energy gathers in a storm as a figure emerges from it. It's difficult to tell at first because whatever it is is glimmering, glowing with almost golden light, but more of the light and energy is that lilac-pink energy that the others have seen so far on the Valkyr Warframe. The figure is drawn like through a sieve of some sort, a distortion as ... he, she, it? Whatever is is manifesting just above and behind Valkyr. But even then, it's moving. Floating forward, coiled around, knees drawn up as she's turned around at first, rotating itself around as he gathers some measure of energy that is very much /alive/, somehow, while being outside the scope of reality at once. And then there's the howl. An abslolutely voluminous WAIL of fury as the Tenno's power is made manifest, the figure unfolding her body, arms at either side as her body goes rigid with the focus necessary to release all that Void energy. Waves. Waves of cascading energy washes over the group, but it does not harm them. It blossoms in a short distance, then with every passing second, another wider arc after wider arc, crashing into the group and beyond. It doese not destroy them but it does the next best thing: it grabs them. It suspends them almost in a shadowy halo of purple-white energy. Wind and force of energy can be felt in every direction around her, buffeting Infested back and rendering them suspended in the air. There may be a few she might have missed solely due to how far out they are. And then that wailing cry echoes once more as the figure folds back into the frame itself, becoming upright as it does and quickly turning towards the exit, as everyone /should/ be doing. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     The station shudders, and Setsuko grimaces faintly. She's a touch concerned that was her fault. The deep slash she's made in the wall might have hit an important powerline or... something. It's hard to tell. But at least she's cleared out a good number of them. It looks like they have a moment's respite. She uses that moment, returning her sword to its smaller katana form and re-sheathing it; the sudden and deadly calm would needle at her even if she didn't have the divine senses to know that they weren't done fighting yet.     The deafening roar of the entire Infested force only confirms it. The calm is over - the storm comes.     Zanjintou is clear of its sheath in an instant. They have the order to extract, but the Infested bar the way, and they are much stronger than those the group has fought so far. With power clawing at Setsuko's very body; her divinity stands strong, but her physical stamina can't hold up forever against that, even with her regeneration. This fight is going to be... brutal.     But without warning, Valkyr goes limp. And for a moment, Setsuko glimpses what her instincts tell her is Truth. She can't help the quiet shiver that passes through her. So that's the nature of a Tenno.     Even that display, though, can't tear her out of this fight - or rather, this onslaught. It's an opening. An opportunity to go. "MOVE!" Setsuko raises her voice enough to lend emphasis to it, and then she takes her own advice, running at inhuman speeds towards their exit. 

:'''{{#var:942|Kazuko Kawakami (942)}} has posed:''' Once things quiet down, Kazuko rests the bottom of her naginata on the ground to use for support, panting heavily from that last round of wild swinging and excessive spinning. She doesn't have much time to catch her breath, however, as the eerie silence followed by the deafening roars surrounding them cause the martial artist to actually flinch and even cover one of her ears painfully.      Damn these overly sensitive hearing bits.      "Even more...? This really better be the last of them...!" Despite bringing that weapon back up as if she's ready to fight once more, it's quite apparent that Kazuko's not in any condition to keep fighting. Between her injuries, the toxins wreaking havoc inside her, and the overall lack of energy? Even another wave of non-Eximus infested like before would be a huge threat to her, never mind these super-powered ones coming from who knows where. She takes up a defensive stance next to Setsuko, preparing for the worst when...      Strangely enough, she's not the first one to fall even with her energy being drained from her body. No, it's... Valkyr? Except there's a floating screaming ghost next to her forcing the Infested back and... Kazuko's not quite sure what to make of that, actually. She doesn't need to be told twice to run, however, nodding at Setsuko before breaking into a run and waving at her comrades to keep up, Elite and Corpusalike. "R-right! Come on, everyone! Come on, doggy! We're almost home free!" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is there now lowering her weapon and banishing it into the storage unit of her matter maniplautor and she takes deep breath to calm her self as she moves to fall in with the others. IT's time to run, oh god it's time to run and she can haul tail about as good as the Tenno though with a bit less grace. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' One really doesn't have to tell anyone twice; that Kubrow was quickly sprinting along Valkyr because somehow, someway that loyal companion needs to be aboard the ships when they leave. No time to talk, no time for anything but /get the hell out of dodge/. The Void Pulse ensures they manage to get out, all of the surviving Corpus, and even a wee little Osprey manages to get it's way out.         MISSION SUCCESS. 
}}

Infested Outbreak (Jupiter)

2016-04-11T23:56:33Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{TPPage |Summary=While the Corpus and Grineer along with the Syndicates are known quantities in the Origin System, a foe that both sides contend with is making itself known o..."

{{TPPage
|Summary=While the Corpus and Grineer along with the Syndicates are known quantities in the Origin System, a foe that both sides contend with is making itself known once more. The Infested. Victims of the Technocyte Virus, a metamorphic virus without cure, living organisms consumed and merged into rabid amalgamations. Resurgent upon Jupiter, it is up to the Tenno and other enterprising Elites to help the Corpus suppress and exterminate them once more.
|Scale=Minor
|Plot_id=-1
|Runner=964
|Contacts=None.
|Theme=Warframe-1
|Audience=Everyone
|Genre=Sci-fi w/grimdark
|Events=The Corpus are reporting a new outbreak of Infested upon Jupiter. The planet, once overrun by victims of the Technocyte Virus has been plagued by intermittent resurgence of Infested that lay dormant and other means that have yet to be determined.

The moon stations of Carme, Metis, Io, Elara and Thebe are currently undergoing extermination sanctions, and incentives are being offered for assistance to the Tenno in purging the current outbreak.

Ships are advised not to enter unless they are aware of the dangers and likelihood of not leaving the system unless they are Tenno-escorted or thoroughly checked down to the nanoparticle for Infested tissue.
|Info=Set to be a 3-4 scene mini-arc introducing the Infested to the 'verse at large.
|State=Current
}}

Corpus: Intelligence Files (Kushiko)

2016-04-09T08:08:55Z

Aryn:

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2016/04/07
|Location=Corpus Server Files
|Synopsis=Analysis and compilation of Intelligence files obtained from Corpus systems, cross-referenced with the files obtained from a Grineer system and unified with additional information from the Lotus.
|Cast of Characters=964, 7, 571
}}

--Excerpts from files from raided Corpus ships to be disseminated and distributed both officially and unofficially; additional holes filled courtesy of the Lotus--
The Corpus stand as the one major universal power besides the Grineer in the Origin System (OOC: Warframe universe), and are far more technologically advanced than the Grineer, but their tech is behind the Tenno, which Tenno technology (as the Corpus see it) is just a step under Orokin technology. To this end, they pursue the Tenno and their Warframe technology almost as much if not more than the Grineer, who see them as a tool for their empire.

They employ attrition methods, preferring almost exclusively ranged methods, supplementing their low direct manpower with proxies, the MOA walkers of a wide variety, and their Ospreys.

MOAs are bipedal turrets carrying either rapidly firing auto-lasers or high-power railguns. Rather than taking cover, which would be impractical given the in-line mounting of their weapons, these screeching killers will simply close the distance, continuously laying out a barrage of fire whilst letting their shields take the brunt of the beating. Fortunately, their personal defense shielding is relatively fragile, as is their physical frame.

Ospreys, on the other hand, are flying proxies that serve primarily as a support role. They can lay mines, or launch shield-draining leeches. They can even hover over groups of Corpus crew and MOAs, protecting them all with a layer of rapidly regenerating shielding that can double the effectiveness of Corpus shields.

The Corpus are one of the most prolific creators and sellers of weapons in the Origin System, selling an absolutely staggering amount of weaponry and munitions to /every/ faction in the universe; the Grineer, the Syndicates such as the Steel Meridian, but also the Perrin Sequence, the New Loka, the Arbiters of Hexis and more.

Whereas Tenno weapons trend towards the ritualized and symbolic and Grineer weapons are simple and industrial, the Corpus combine economy and market variety. Their weapons range from simple stun rods and energy assault rifles, to self defense weapons based on ancient designs and modern energy machine guns. The Corpus often design many exotic weapons to cater to a niche market or role: creative research and development teams have created miniature swarm missile launchers, chaining arc weapons, and even a portable laser cannon.

The Corpus manufacture many power tools and some of them, beam lasers or mining and blasting cutters, found their way into the Corpus arsenal, perhaps by their manufacturers, or perhaps by rebels and other factions. As a whole, Corpus weapons tend to be compact in appearance, with a proliferation of right angles, lamination, small components and a general disregard for the operator's ergonomics. This points to a design process that is largely, if not fully automated, putting the emphasis on making a weapon that is economic to create, and operates perfectly instead of comfortably.

Beyond this, there are names and important individuals for whom the activities are monitored almost rigorously; Alad V is among these, who originally served as head of Grineer Relations and reported directly to the Board of Directors. This position was antagonistic to not only the Grineer, but the Tenno, and he has a storied involvement including the dissection of Warframes and beyond.

There are also files on something called the 'Zanuka Project' which was related to this dangerous pursuit of his but exact details other than the use of scavenged and captured Warframes--and quite possibly their occupants--are left to a rather dark imagination. It's also said he's also obsessed with biological weaponry in such a way with regards to something only referred to as the 'Technocyte Virus'. The exact details of what he's done is not in these files, but whatever it is, it's /very/ major, and very dangerous.

Another important set of names are Darvo Bek and Frohd Bek; Darvo is considered an ally of the Tenno and former member of the Corpus, though such separation was not taken kindly, but the Tenno's protection and an unwillingness to directly antagonize the Tenno has led Frohd Beck, the Chairman on the Corpus Board of the Directors to not pursue the matter any further. Darvo is rumored to have set up shop at one of the Tenno Relay stations, but exact data is classified.

Besides these individuals, another name surfaces; that of Nef Anyo, a Corpus aristocrat at direct odds with Alad V over his methodology in a more direct way as opposed to Frohd's distaste. Known for his grandoise persona, Nef claims to be a prophet of the Void, though this can be seen as mere 'branding' by some, though it's hand in hand with the reverence given to Old War and Orokin technology, through which the Void contains both, as Nef Anyo may believe in the Void working through the Tenno at times. Ultimately, Nef Anyo is motivated by his greed, be it scamming the Origin System at large or removing any threat to his position in the Board.

The Void itself is not necessarily a place that one would actually want to /stay/, overlong. Void energy is not clearly defined, save for it exists in a subdimensional space as part of general FTL travel. Where the Tenno go and interact with, they leave an energy residue that while not harmful, is a highly malleable, chaotic element that might as well be a spiritual force as seen by the Corpus, the way it's referred to in part by at least the likes of Nef Anyo, and the general worship of the old Orokin Empire.

This sort of information is in line with information recovered from the Grineer in recent weeks. Some information may be out of date, but one thing may well be certain: one is only scratching the surface, and the considerable reams of data to be analyzed and understood does not yet paint the full picture.

Corpus: Intelligence Files (Kushiko)

2016-04-09T08:08:10Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Cutscene Header |Date of Scene=2016/04/07 |Location=Corpus Server Files |Synopsis=Analysis and compilation of Intelligence files obtained from Corpus systems, cross-referenc..."

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2016/04/07
|Location=Corpus Server Files
|Synopsis=Analysis and compilation of Intelligence files obtained from Corpus systems, cross-referenced with the files obtained from a Grineer system and unified with additional information from the Lotus.
|Cast of Characters=964, 7, 571
}}

--Excerpts from files from raided Corpus ships to be disseminated and distributed both officially and unofficially; additional holes filled courtesy of the Lotus--

The Corpus stand as the one major universal power besides the Grineer in the Origin System (OOC: Warframe universe), and are far more technologically advanced than the Grineer, but their tech is behind the Tenno, which Tenno technology (as the Corpus see it) is just a step under Orokin technology. To this end, they pursue the Tenno and their Warframe technology almost as much if not more than the Grineer, who see them as a tool for their empire.

They employ attrition methods, preferring almost exclusively ranged methods, supplementing their low direct manpower with proxies, the MOA walkers of a wide variety, and their Ospreys.

MOAs are bipedal turrets carrying either rapidly firing auto-lasers or high-power railguns. Rather than taking cover, which would be impractical given the in-line mounting of their weapons, these screeching killers will simply close the distance, continuously laying out a barrage of fire whilst letting their shields take the brunt of the beating. Fortunately, their personal defense shielding is relatively fragile, as is their physical frame.

Ospreys, on the other hand, are flying proxies that serve primarily as a support role. They can lay mines, or launch shield-draining leeches. They can even hover over groups of Corpus crew and MOAs, protecting them all with a layer of rapidly regenerating shielding that can double the effectiveness of Corpus shields.

The Corpus are one of the most prolific creators and sellers of weapons in the Origin System, selling an absolutely staggering amount of weaponry and munitions to /every/ faction in the universe; the Grineer, the Syndicates such as the Steel Meridian, but also the Perrin Sequence, the New Loka, the Arbiters of Hexis and more.

Whereas Tenno weapons trend towards the ritualized and symbolic and Grineer weapons are simple and industrial, the Corpus combine economy and market variety. Their weapons range from simple stun rods and energy assault rifles, to self defense weapons based on ancient designs and modern energy machine guns. The Corpus often design many exotic weapons to cater to a niche market or role: creative research and development teams have created miniature swarm missile launchers, chaining arc weapons, and even a portable laser cannon.

The Corpus manufacture many power tools and some of them, beam lasers or mining and blasting cutters, found their way into the Corpus arsenal, perhaps by their manufacturers, or perhaps by rebels and other factions. As a whole, Corpus weapons tend to be compact in appearance, with a proliferation of right angles, lamination, small components and a general disregard for the operator's ergonomics. This points to a design process that is largely, if not fully automated, putting the emphasis on making a weapon that is economic to create, and operates perfectly instead of comfortably.

Beyond this, there are names and important individuals for whom the activities are monitored almost rigorously; Alad V is among these, who originally served as head of Grineer Relations and reported directly to the Board of Directors. This position was antagonistic to not only the Grineer, but the Tenno, and he has a storied involvement including the dissection of Warframes and beyond.

There are also files on something called the 'Zanuka Project' which was related to this dangerous pursuit of his but exact details other than the use of scavenged and captured Warframes--and quite possibly their occupants--are left to a rather dark imagination. It's also said he's also obsessed with biological weaponry in such a way with regards to something only referred to as the 'Technocyte Virus'. The exact details of what he's done is not in these files, but whatever it is, it's /very/ major, and very dangerous.

Another important set of names are Darvo Bek and Frohd Bek; Darvo is considered an ally of the Tenno and former member of the Corpus, though such separation was not taken kindly, but the Tenno's protection and an unwillingness to directly antagonize the Tenno has led Frohd Beck, the Chairman on the Corpus Board of the Directors to not pursue the matter any further. Darvo is rumored to have set up shop at one of the Tenno Relay stations, but exact data is classified.

Besides these individuals, another name surfaces; that of Nef Anyo, a Corpus aristocrat at direct odds with Alad V over his methodology in a more direct way as opposed to Frohd's distaste. Known for his grandoise persona, Nef claims to be a prophet of the Void, though this can be seen as mere 'branding' by some, though it's hand in hand with the reverence given to Old War and Orokin technology, through which the Void contains both, as Nef Anyo may believe in the Void working through the Tenno at times. Ultimately, Nef Anyo is motivated by his greed, be it scamming the Origin System at large or removing any threat to his position in the Board.

The Void itself is not necessarily a place that one would actually want to /stay/, overlong. Void energy is not clearly defined, save for it exists in a subdimensional space as part of general FTL travel. Where the Tenno go and interact with, they leave an energy residue that while not harmful, is a highly malleable, chaotic element that might as well be a spiritual force as seen by the Corpus, the way it's referred to in part by at least the likes of Nef Anyo, and the general worship of the old Orokin Empire.

This sort of information is in line with information recovered from the Grineer in recent weeks. Some information may be out of date, but one thing may well be certain: one is only scratching the surface, and the considerable reams of data to be analyzed and understood does not yet paint the full picture.

Wind of Destruction (Kushiko)

2016-04-09T08:01:36Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Cutscene Header |Date of Scene=2016/04/06 |Location=Void Tower |Synopsis=Reflections and meditations amidst the solitude of battle. |Cast of Characters=964 }} There were man..."

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2016/04/06
|Location=Void Tower
|Synopsis=Reflections and meditations amidst the solitude of battle.
|Cast of Characters=964
}}
There were many reasons to be within the place Kushiko's Warframe was. Sometimes, it was a matter of defense, other times to eliminate those too foolish to have reached there. This time was one that involved obtaining supplies, to see what Orokin caches could be accessed while the bulk of the tower's forces were focused solely on her.

It was a mercy, for most. To no longer be slave to the Neural Sentry that had repurposed them. But for her, it served another purpose. To hone skills, to test oneself against the foes that became increasingly stronger as time passed. The rage, the power of Valkyr's Hysteria enveloped her like a warm blanket, energy claws long and extended from her fingertips.

Occasionally the Lotus remarked, watching her progress, and feeling a certain sense of pride and warning her of when the life support systems that were halted from the onset of the mission to the Void. It was unfortunate that the few supplies that were obtained were not particularly what Kushiko initially sought, but she gave herself to the task without question.

Energy trailed after the sleek, feline-like Warframe's claws. All the firepower in the world didn't matter to her here. She slid, whirling like a buzzsaw and erupting upwards, twisting her claws through the alloyed armor of the heavy Grineer gunner that had been made part of the Tower's defenses. They held no feelings, no emotion.

So they felt nothing but the automated sensation as the claws tore long bloody furrows through the center of their body. From foe to foe, she moved as a wind of destruction, fighting in a long forgotten place to fulfill her duty to the Lotus. One she fulfilled gladly, Void energy causing the bodies to give way as if she were never there.

Once she was alerted that they had found what they needed, she, and the other Tenno vanished without a trace from that place, as was their way.

After all, there had been reports. A member of the Steel Meridian had been captured amidst the chaos of the revelations of the Multiverse. Caught in the crossfire and confusion of it all.

Perhaps others might be interested in assisting, and more could be learned of these Elites.

3991/Corpus: Rescue Operation

2016-04-09T07:55:33Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2016/04/07 |Location=Void - Deep Void (North) |Synopsis=A rescue mission aboard a Corpus ship; new intelligence and the existence of other factions..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/04/07
|Location=Void - Deep Void (North)
|Synopsis=A rescue mission aboard a Corpus ship; new intelligence and the existence of other factions brought to bear.
|Cast of Characters=7, 215, 571, 953, 964
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' So, sometimes, operations go wrong, no matter what one does to prevent such a thing. In this case, it was unexpected for members of one of the Corpus sub-companies and groups to be conducting their own reconnisance not unlike a few members of the Syndicate were; in this case the Steel Meridian and their allies. Multiversal investigation and the like were a focus of many groups hailing from the Origin System presently, and the Corpus were especially fond of the options to sell to damn near anyone and anything that might be availed. Given their utter lack of care for the innocents that might suffer for this, it wasn't a stretch for them to come across the Steel Meridian, just not so soon. As a result, operations were presently abandoned, and one of Steel Meridian's number was presently being escorted away on a long, Corpus cruiser for possible rendition, but more likely some interrogation along the way to see what he -- or she -- knew aboutt the Multiverse and Corpus operations in that sector. The ship, while not necessarily like anything in the 'verse, certainly bore some similarties to merchant and trade vessels, though on a size category of near dreadnaught size, though a category under that, perhaps. For those who would be opting in to actually come and assist a Tenno, they might notice that stowed away on a frequency were IFF and other signal-masking pieces of information to ensure the ability to board the ship without being noticed. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' In addition, there may be a point on the ship that's already been breached; airlock security is notably absent and no other security measures have been triggered on the ship itself. Seems the Tenno may have already arrived, the Liset having since cloaked itself once more. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     The Crimson Specter arrives like a predator on the prowl, unnoticed by the Corpus vessel thanks to the IFF and other jamming technology provided for this operation. As far as the Corpus think, this is just a random hitchhiker wanting to conserve fuel, barely worth the effort of shaking it off for a little bit, or making brief mercantile deals with the crew before flying away.     In reality, Maaka's currently flown the team in to get the prisoner out. Kaz has a 6mm pistol holstered while he idly hacks a panel. "Uhhh, okay, I should be able to buy us a few minutes, maybe ten tops before the Corpus notice something's up. If I gotta back off, I'll try and make my way to the airlock in time when you guys get your prisoner. No promises though." He seems nervous, hoping to god nobody is on the other side when the airlock opens up.     Maaka herself however has a shotgun loaded up, waiting for the door to open casually. "Don't worry, we'll be fine. Do what you gotta do, mate."     "Right, boss..."     Once the airlock opens, Maaka is quick to take point and guide the others in, shotgun raised as she sweeps the immediate area alertly. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa had picked up a signal which had caught her intrest, it was from the same system that the mysterious Lotus and her Tenno allies were from so she'd taken note of it. The STeel Meridian with what little she could dig up on them? Seemed to be worth aiding so here he was he was not the only one arriving in the Origin System though from beyond it. She noticed there was omething odd which was masking her ship from the traget vessel and was thankful for it. It allowed her small craft to dock and for Kotone to get aboard before she was spotted by anything. Kotone has taken a light loadout and has opted as she often does for stealth she's already making ready to cloak as she links up with Alexis Maaka. <<So here we go again, hu Alexis>> 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' Despite having her own personal craft, Iria is tagging along with Alexis Maaka, although she's not too thrilled about it. She personally prefers to be on her own, but somehow she was convinced to go along with her. Biting the bullet and accepting, Iria reluctantly went along with her. She mostly kept to herself until they arrived, at which point Iria quickly got out and surveyed the general area.     Once they were in position to open the airlock, Iria drew her assault rifle and aimed it at the airlock. "Anyone behind there is gonna be leaving in pieces!" She says with a narrowed eye. Once the airlock is opened, Iria moves in behind Maaka, acting as a rear flank cover. 

:'''{{#var:953|Kutsuuko Shiratori (953)}} has posed:'''     Stealth. Space. Merchants. Yes. These are all things Kutsuuko is an expert at. Absolutely. Okay obviously not, but a rescue of a key member of a rare, humanitarian war refuge syndicate is something worth looking into. She's ostensibly not exactly well equipped for space, but a compact, 2075 era re-breather mask is ready as part of her gear belt if necessary, and her biology should really do the rest, default human as she looks. Shiro is staying behind for this one. The last thing she needs is having the little one sucked out a breach in the hull somewhere and impossible to recover.     She's last out the ship, boots clicking onto the deck plating, decoupling her God Arc from its transport housing and slinging it over her shoulder in its 'compact' form. The weapon is still enormous even then, not exactly something that could fit in an air vent, but she seems to be handling it without it slowing her down at all. Her red eyes briefly go to her armoured bracelet, checking the local, fairly limited minimap. Without advanced recon or external support, it's pretty much limited to sonar mapping, a motion tracker and thermal imaging over a short distance. "Are you really planning to sneak around this entire ship? It's enormous. If we go too slow then they'll probably get wherever they're going before we reach the hostage." Yes, she's using that word instead of prisoner of war. "We look for the nearest console and download a map, pray that the contractor knows where the cells are, or we book it." She engages the local radio with her earbud, steadily walking ahead with her eyes on her readout. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The nice thing about the airlock, and the utter lack of security being tripped in this case, is that the boarding of the ship goes largely unnoticed. No Corpus proxies, no suited merchantmen in any regard. The ship itself is.. /sleek/, to put it mildly. As a contrast to the curves of a Grineer vessel that Maaka and Yamakawa would have experienced prior, there's a lot of angles and straight edges, and a certain degree of cobalt blue dominating the colors. Not painted so much as highly finished surfaces and an side effect of their manufacturing process. The other nice thing about the location that the Tenno picked out, is that it'll make getting to the prisoner hold somewhat more straightforward. Somewhat. Gravity and other life support systems are pretty safe and sound. But as Iria, Alexis, Kotone and Kutsuuko all arrive, they are greeted by a grate loosening slightly ahead, and dropping with a faint clatter. And a figure drops down. Very familiar to Alexis and Kotone--though for Kotone it's entirely different reasons as she begins to rise from her nearly noiseless landing. Gold highlights amidst a blacksuited, feminine body and a single, pink-orchid optic in the center as she turns to confirm the others now here. Mag Prime; though perhaps more simply referred to as 'Mag' seems to be the Warframe that the Tenno has elected to utilize here. Energy swirls faintly within the domed helmet, yet not a single word, scarcely a sound is uttered as she handles what looks to be a Grineer-like grenade launcher, complemented by a long, sheathed sword at her side. Some darker orchid colors curve along parts of the suit itself. She lifts a hand; a hardlight display of the local mapping area unfolds within an instant, this data being provisioned to the others in short order. Some enemies are marked on the map with red arrows, giving some sense of where they're currently facing in the vicinity, but it doesn't go much further than 30-40 meters out from where she is now. There's an indicator icon for the direction they need to be headed; the exact location can be narrowed down shortly, one suspects, with either access to Corpus computer systems in the next room, or more.. intimate measures. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     <Just like always, sis.> Maaka messages back with Kotone.     As she and Iria lead the group on in, Maaka tenses up when she sees a grate getting kicked down, shotgun raised, before the Tenno leap in from the vents. Huh. If she were doing this alone, she'd have done the exact same thing, to be honest.     "Nice entrance." She greets the Warframe, before she synchs with Mag Prime for intel. Local mapping, HUD updates, everything is provided for what Maaka and company need to know, which is good enough for her.     She follows the AR directional marks, hoping it'll give the team a quick route towards the holding cells.     Stacking up against the room entrance, she produces some sapper grenades intended to take out enemy electronics, nodding. "Someone get the door, and stand back. These are gonna make everyone's tech glitchy for a few seconds if you're too close to the blast." She warns. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' Keeping her assault rifle trained forwards, Iria finds herself glad she doesn't have an itchy trigger finger the moment the grate is kicked down. She simply stares down the scope (she put it on herself) and waits to see what's coming. When she sees it's only the Tenno, Iria smirks a little. "Hi there," She says. "Glad you could join the party."     Iria lets Maaka lead on, continuing to act as covering fire support while they do so. It's not until they reach the door that Iria offers to take the door. "I'll get it, just give me the signal! And don't worry, I should be OK!" 

:'''{{#var:953|Kutsuuko Shiratori (953)}} has posed:'''     Kutsuuko seems more quietly astonished to see an air vent grate aboard a spaceship than what actually drops out of it, at least for a second. Alright, she's never been on one, but she had subconsciously imagined they'd have something more 'futuristic' than that. It takes a moment of faint squinting for her to decide whether the figure in front of her is some kind of android or bio-bot or a human in a weird suit, before deciding that it's probably the latter if it doesn't have integrated weapons.     "Hey there. Are you the contractor?" she asks. "Didn't really expect you to be aboard as well. I guess this isn't viable as a solo job huh?" Trying to make conversation with a Tenno can really only go one way, but she has yet to figure that out yet. Seeing the holography, she briefly turns to her armed implant to key the new data into her own map, greatly improving its resolution and accuracy, before seeing Maaka and Iria running off already. "Wait, you- ah, whatever, if you're fine with frying the computer then go ahead. It's not like I could have hacked it anyways." She presses up against the opposite side of the frame, unhooking a stun grenade from her belt, popping the pin with her thumb and holding down the lever, visibly counting to three with her fingers and then punching the door control, lobbing the grenade into the room along with Alexis' before rounding the corner and going straight in. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa pauses at the grate and has her weapon trained up but she's seen something like this before. The moment she catches the form of what's dropping in the weapon goes down. She looks the figure over for a moment nodding to Mag Prime. "We meet again." She smiles faintly recalling Mag's help. She also accepts the tatical data from her as well. <<Good you seem more chipper today but I'm dragging you out clubbing soon. You need to have some fun in your life sis.>> R She looks over the data all the while as she maps and data as she got. She wants to learn more but raiding data right now might put the VIP they are here to spring at risk. So she simply cloaks and gets ready to move out. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' A slight inclination of Mag Prime's head as she turns towards the others as they begin their own foray into the Corpus ship proper. To Kutsuuko, it's not necessarily a motion of rudeness, just vague acknowledgement through that utterly taciturn shell. The square door ahead will open with a faint pneumatic hiss and lead into a high-ceiling corridor that splits into two different directions, but it's easy to suss which should be gone into first; one way is locked down hard, indicated by red lights, and the lack of the map penetrating further, with the other way far more straightforward. But in this vicinty are a trio of wandering robots, a pair of two-legged walkers known as MOAs, and a sentry Osprey, a flying proxy. It's a helpless shrug from Mag Prime as she regards Kutsuuko and the way both Iria and Alexis hustled forward towards that door, though not quite triggering the automatic opening. Alexis posited a question that needed to be answered, and in this, she would answer not with words, but actions as she ran for the door, opening it and sprinting ahead of Iria and Alexis alike, coming to a halt. She lifted a hand. And.. the more peculiar sensation rises. Void energy harnessed to control electromagnetism in a way that is more akin to someone reaching their hand through it, wearing it like a gloves. Wearing it like a glove as the shields of the twin MOAs as they screech in surprise and were /just/ about to open fire on the Warframe with robotic chirps and squeals, and that electromagnetic power simply sapped the shields, polarizing it and causing the trio of robots to explode. Realistically, the magnetic power that would show up on anyone's senses or sensors should not be that well controlled. Just being near it /should/ make one's cybernetics twitch a little, like the hair on the back one's neck stand up, or worse. Yet it didn't. It was felt, yet without discomfort. More are up ahead, but their attention -- and distance -- is a twofold element to keep them from noticing just yet, but it's a perfect opening for Kutsuuko, Alexis and Aria to move up and ambush the next group up ahead. A group, that is, of what looks to be a heavily suited Corpus Crewman, being followed by two MOA proxies, and a shielding Osprey, it's bluish tethers of energy boosting their shields for the time being. Another Osprey, orange-tinted is also flying nearby, a minelayer that hasn't quite been given to drop it's orb of energy that would be problematic if it stayed alive long enough to start dropping those on people. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' And, what appear to be local cameras that /were/ scanning for possible intruders to block out areas and eventually sound alarms, could be seen as exploding. This.. Warframe definitely has some control to her power that's may be unnerving. A few terminals are also in the area that could be utilized for pulling generalized data about the Corpus from as well, either after or before dealing with the next Corpus group ahead on the way towards where the Prison Complex /should/ be. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Once the doors open, Maaka tosses the sapper grenades, intended to take out security terminals and futz with the proxies. She only pauses as she feels Mag's powers for a moment, like her teeth are tingling slightly. That's a weird, but harmless sensation, so she goes on along when Kutsuuko tosses her stun grenade.     On second thought, when the God Eater brings it up, Maaka pockets her grenade and opts to just fire a few shotgun blasts at the Crewman first. Buckshot tends to hit hard enough in her experience, plus the shells she uses tend to shred through heavy fabrics as well. Not so good with armor, but this guy looks like he's using his shields for protection.     "Take out the drone!" she points to the orange Osprey directly, to elaborate. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' As soon as the door opens, Iria's looking down the scope of her rifle, and while the sapper grenades do cause a slight ringing in Iria's ears briefly, there's little else done to her really. Even her armor, which looks like it's cybernetic, is unfazed. She is about to open fire on the crewman when Maaka yells out to get the drone instead.     "You got it!" Iria replies without dropping her gaze. She opens fire quickly, firing off several bursts of semi-automatic gunfire at the drone. "Yeaaaaaaaaaah!" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa gets the Tenno don't talk much if at all but they sill were pretty good to communiate with. Kotone sees the grones and ideas start to get into her head, however that will need to wait. She does however check for wireless signals to see if the MOA's and htier kin are remote or taking orders on thier own. She also take note of Kutsuuko as she arrives. She does take notice of Kutsuko for the moment she's a new person and Kotone is more than a little curious. Kotone will attempt to however get to the terminals as they move there might be data on the pirosn and she'll take what she can get on the way. She does however take a pot shot at the Osprey as she makes for a terminal with her SMG. 

:'''{{#var:953|Kutsuuko Shiratori (953)}} has posed:'''     ". . . not much of a talker are you?" Kutsuuko says, pausing briefly after. "Actually, does that suit not have an external speaker? I mean if it's not your fault then I won't complain." Oh well, there's not much time for that anyways. The door opens, she goes through the motions to chuck the grenade, and then Mag jumps right in the way, forcing her to hold her arm back with her fist still tightly around the priming lever, about to curse before she sees the bizarre looking emu-esque robots outright explode. The only thing she has that could be deemed 'cybernetic' is the armlet around her right wrist, but that's not implanted into her skin with metal. For all she knows, that was pretty much magic.     Instead, she opts for tossing the grenade around the corner, bouncing once at the crewman's feet before going off, the flashbang style explosion bright enough to cause permanent eye damage, thankfully done before anyone else charges in. "I told you we weren't going to be sneaking around!" she yells over the following sound of gunfire; a foregone conclusion anyways with the noise of those MOAs exploding just a moment before. She separates the grip of her God Arc to its full length, a dull, reverberating growl more like a hungry animal than a power source sounding from within it, and in the ensuing instant, the entire, engine-block sized machine flowers out and bursts into a flurry of rapidly shifting components, moving too quickly and too independently to be joined with locks, hinges or cylinders.     The split second storm of metal slams back together into its heavy assault cannon configuration, slung underarm and supported with both hands, still looking like it weighs a metric ton. Her thumb flies on the ammo selector, and then the revolving barrel roars with crackling violet-blue light, spitting out a thunderous stream of projectiles that look to be some sort of heavily ionized plasma, the line of fire 'walked' across the flanking drones and the crewman between them and detonating multiple times on top of each in showers of molten vapour and hard, electrical radiation. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Judicious use of shotguns are not a bad idea; the heavy impact tends to make shields disappear rather quickly when it comes to their polarities and the like. Then again, that might make sense, given the distributive force of shotguns versus puncturing force otherwise. It also has the lovely bonus of making the Corpus crewman stagger backwards from it, and as luck has it, out of the way of some more vicious attacks coming in that vicinity. Electricity sparks and sputters from the impacts of Iria's assault rifle upon the minelayer Osprey, and it just /shatters/, it's pod-like wings splitting off and a squeal of shutdown following it's loss of primary systems--to say nothing of the holes penetrating it's body. With the Sapper grenades working to further shortcircuit and prevent proper response times, it's going to be not unlike shooting fish in a barrel, as they were, even as the Corpus attempt to respond. Especially with the utilization of the fist and Kutsuuko's own grenade tossing. Grenades are rather nice, after all. 'Stealth' is relative insofar as killing everyone as quickly as possible and not ever giving them a chance to actually sound an alarm. Such is the way of the group primarily tasking themselves here. Amidst the firepower being lain down by Kutsuuko and Iria and even Kotone's pot shot, the majority of the small patrol are taken out. Mag herself, on the other hand, has broken into a quick sprint, sliding and then using the momentum to spiral through the air at a blistering velocity in order to close the distance to the Crewman that Alexis tagged; he was nearly caught in the crossfire of body and machine dismembering and explosions, before she picks up the heavysuited Corpus crewman and tosses him towards Alexis, his body skidding across the alloyed floor through the doorway. With that gesture, she turns to the room itself; a rather /massive/ area that's filled with cargo containers, railways and transfer points, and walkways leading downwards. Bolts of blue plasma could be seen being fired off from across the stadium-sized room, provoking Mag Prime herself to suddenly leap upwards towards the rail system for cargo containers to seek a higher angle. Some of the shots being fired seem to follow her, which help reveal their sources. No, Mag is.. not very much of a speaker, at least not directly in combat. Between acts of combat, certainly, but she seems to drop into a layer of focus that's a clear change from chatter earlier. Thanks to her movements, it becomes clear that there's a mixture of more Corpus in the room, but not many more. Scattered MOA proxies and Ospreys, attempting to keep themselves spread out unlike the unfortunate group that was juuuust a bit too close to one another. One of those data terminals is criminally unguarded, and with the focus on the arriving Elites and the Tenno, Kotone and anyone else will have no issue pulling data from the terminal once one is able to hack it. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' There's more Ospreys coming. Fortunately, Iria has plenty of ammunition. She ducks behind another container nearby to avoid possible attacks, before popping out to attack again. She'll leave the interrogations to Alexis, and will handle fighting herself. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa sees KJutsuuko is heavily armed and that's enough for Kotone really. She also seems to know what she's doing and is insanely strong given her personal weapon is moved without much trouble. Kotone is able to thankfully take down one of the drones. THe short fight is over and she moves to get to the terminal and start to break in, she pulls a jack out of her /neck/ and plugs it in as she goes to work trying to crack it and pull what data she can from it. <<I'm getting into their systems now, I'll see what I can pull from here.>> 

:'''{{#var:953|Kutsuuko Shiratori (953)}} has posed:'''     It only takes a minute to figure out who over the radio knows anything about data terminals. All Kutsuuko ever accesses back at Fenrir is the NORN database, so alien software is hardly her specialty. Breaking up and distracting enemies for teammates to work, however, is. Still in gun mode, she leaps up on the nearest stack of crates, taking two of them at a time, then braces the barrel of her weapon over the peak, flipping her eyepiece down and sliding the ammo selector over.     There doesn't seem to be any physical exchange of parts. No changing cylinders, swapping mags, or rearranging feeds. All that happens is when she next depresses the trigger, a trail of cerulean light flashes from the muzzle of her God Arc; fast enough that it has to be some kind of laser, but breaking the air into white mist rather than hot steam. She picks her shots one after the other, sniping Corpus from an adjacent corner, working with speed over shot priority, blasting a continuous chain of targets with weaponized cooling laser pulses; the kind used to reduce particle chambers to near absolute zero in more scientific pursuits. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Welp, Maaka's getting a present. As the crewman gets tossed towards her, Maaka braces for impact before catching the flung crewman like a huge package. The poor man will be slammed against the bulkhead with a dull thud, and Maaka draws a prog-knife from her sheath as she nudges the vibrating blade dangerously close to what she thinks are oxygen tubes.     Shink! The oxygen tube is severed with a deft motion from the vibro-knife, and Maaka tosses the Crewman aside before drawing her sidearm and finishing the job with a double-tap.     With that done she continues on her way before she taking cover behind a storage container, tossing out a frag grenade at the thickest concentration of Corpus thugs. Then she racks a fresh shell in her shotgun, taking aim at one of the Ospreys. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The Crewman at first would look dumbfounded if it weren't for the fact he were wearing that boxy helmet and that thin blue visor. Even then, he's still got enough of a confused demeanor that his voice responds with an annoyed kind of stacatto dialect, though this gets translated, "Working for the Betrayers? Kh, you're one of those Multiverse people, aren't you?" Still, he's highly disinterested in actually /dying/ like his companion over there, not that he gets much of a chance to provide intel! Not with that untimely demise he suffers. Nor is he needed; the information Kotone brings up is multifaceted--aspects of MOAs and Ospreys, and with further analysis one could get a better idea of how to deal with them in general. But the more pressing information provided is a direct path to the Prison Complex. It's not too far from here, from the looks of the updated data, HUD and mapping information displaying a yellow marker. Iria would catch some stray plasma shots in her area, but thanks to the distance and travel time, they're pretty easy to avoid at least, and a crackle of electricity bleeds from one of them as her shots bring that one down. Kutsuuko on the other hand produces very /fun/ results insofar as an unfortunate Crewman who managed to peek out near his container at his the right time for Kutsuuko, but the wrong time for him. His weapon is gone because the movement, instead of the shot catching him mid-chest, disintegrates the limb and weapon entirely, the body staggering back and collapsing with a sickening little thud and strangled, almost guttural noise as the rest of his body seems to flash freeze. Seems like the abuse of cold and-or magnetic attacks with regards to their shields has rather interesting results. Which leads to Mag herself, for the ones that Kutsuuko's God Arc, Alexis' grenades, or Iria's gunfire don't handle, are shattered by her Shield Polarization, precious shield energy torn away as she drops back down from the high ceiling of the room in order to bifurcate a MOA drone with her long blade, a snapclick following as she slides it back into it's sheathe. With the information marked on the map, she'll wait long enough for the others to catch up to the doorway she's standing at before breaking into a run as the Lotus speaks to the urgency of their task once more on the radio. Time to get moving and get to the Complex, and keep others from getting in their way. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Well, interrogation would've been unnecessary anyways. At least the end didn't come slowly. Maaka is merciful for a killer, after all. Not that she'll lose sleep over it, the mission IS get the prisoner out and kill anybody in the way after all. Just another contract.     Kotone gets the information the team needs anyways, and Maaka synchs with her friend's tacnet briefly to get a good rundown of the files while she spies Iria getting tagged. "-shit!" Now the Corpus done did it. Blasting another drone, Maaka leaps over cover and sprints to Iria's position to cover the huntress.     "Here," She hands Iria a med-hypo of some sort, before firing upon the MOAs next. "It'll fix the damage and numb the pain, just jam it in there and the nannies'll do the rest." She says over gunfire. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' Iria is grazed by one of the plasma bolts, which stings quite a bit and singes her armor. "Owwww!" She cries out, ducking for cover. She grits her teeth, wishing she had something with her to dull the pain or something, when Alexis arrives and hands her a med-hypo. Jamming it into her arm, Iria feels the sensation of healing going through her body. "I dunno what you did, but I appreciate it!" Iria says with a slight smirk. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa pulls up all the data she can and then jacks out of the system, she'll go over the rest of the data later for now shtye got to push ahead. She tries to not think about the crewman but given whose these guys are holding she's not going to lose much sleep over it. She also makes sure to get the map updated as sh pushes on ahead. <<Lotus I got the fix on the cell block, we're heading there now.>> 

:'''{{#var:953|Kutsuuko Shiratori (953)}} has posed:'''     Kutsuuko files that one for good. Part of being a God Eater is experimenting to learn your enemy's weaknesses and then tactically, and brutally, exploiting them. As long as the energy shields keep reacting so violently to drastic, sub-zero temperatures, she'll keep using it, firing over and over again on . . . cyborgs? Humanoid aliens? They don't really seem human enough to be /human/ to her. It's a little uncanny valley.     When she hears the alert indicating Kotone is finished with the group's key task, she fires two more shots as she backs off the top of the pile, jumps the rest of the way down, and then her heels spark over the floor as she pivots a full 180 and launches off towards the door. She arrives at roughly the same time as the others, slowing when she hears Iria voicing that she's been hit, but picking back up as she sees Alexis hand over the syringe. Not her business to be vetting other people's meds. Instead, she dives in after Mag, memorizing the waypoint rather than looking directly at it, and swinging her gun behind her.     The God Arc explodes into a split second roar of clattering metal, underlaid with something strange and fluid, and clamps back into place with the majority of its components working as the guard casing of an utterly massive sword, the six foot long, single edged, slightly curved blade trailing behind her, glowing as if just taken out of a forge before reaching critical temperature. When the Lotus says to book it, does she ever book it. She doesn't need to hear about an execution protocol twice. The God Eater sprints half a dozen steps forward, and then accelerates all at once, crumpling the deck plates beneath her feet as she blasts forward as a black and gold streak, chased by a twisting ribbon of molten blade-light. Anything in the way is going to be cut down, straight and simple. Even if she has to find the prisoner on her own, that has to be better than letting a hostage be killed in cold blood. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The Corpus are, at least for the most part, humanoid. What they actually are is a somewhat more long lived version of them. They might be seen as awfully close to the Orokin, from which many problems stemmed from. One helmet is knocked off from the impact of bursts of firepower from the combined efforts of the group would demonstrate a vaguely humanish face, but there's an esoteric element to them that decries their exact aspect of humanity. Transcended? Maybe.. Either way, that can be filed away from later; some of the intel from Kotone does indicate some notion of very, /very/ long lives. Mag Prime shifts her weight a little bit, Kushiko guiding her frame in order to to double back to check on Kotone and ensure she's escorted safely. She sensed there was some trepidation about being here and this combat situation in general. But Kotone is on the way, as are Iria and Alexis in equal measure. As soon as she confirms that, she pivots, and starts sprinting herself, her syadana flowing behind her. She launches herself through the air as they cross into next section, rolling and sometimes slicing through the air with a whirl of her own Dragon Nikana--an 'unfortunate' Osprey didn't even have the chance to unfold for combat as it disintegrates after being sliced into parts. As one progresses through the ship, one gets the distinct impression that this ship is incredibly multifunctional. Air vents become a plausible thing, as while one would suspect such things nominally wouldn't exist, the sheer size and scale of the ship is one that can be practically lived on for extremely long periods. There's an incredible wealth of space as the group crosses a long catwalk--one that has scattered enemies, but none that can't be dealt with due to the firepower boasted by the group. It's once one actually arrives at the wide, rectangular door; a terminal is nearby that handles the door security to which the Mag moves to first to hack the security as well. While she may not have the datajack, her fingers are moving across the touch screen as she penetrates the system and unlocks the door. The Lotus comes across the radio: "You have arrived at the holding area. Remember, be careful, if the wardens detect you they will surely initiate the execution sequence." The door would open shortly afterwards. It's.. empty, seemingly, but absolutely massive. There's vent and side areas, different paths to reach the holding cells within the complex itself. On radars and other sensors, people would be able to pick up on the Wardens as they patrol with their long rifles, but there's only about three, so one can choose to deal with them, or wait for one of them to pass by the covered area leading to the holding cell. Cameras are present there, guarding the terminal that needs to be accessed to unlock the holding cell area. ... seems simple enough, right? 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone raises a mental eyebrow at the possible life span of the corpus this would be data to give to Rory lter but for now she presses on trying to not think about things and keep with the rrest of the pack as it were nd hs'e keeping her self hidden as she can, also trying to dodge the Corpus cameras as well not knowing just how /good/ they are. She doesn't wish to find out the hard way. Kotone is also taking notes on just what the Tenno can do in close combat and it's on par with or superior to what she's head about some cyborgs on her world, It's a lot to take in but oince they reach the room she hears Lotus over th comm. <<Right so sneak past the Wardens and get the VIP out I get it.>> 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     "I want one of those swords..." Maaka muses as she spies Mag going sword-happy with her Nikana. That thing is definitely a work of art. Oh wait, she /does/ have a sword like that. But that can come later, for now stealth is the order of things.     Upon smashing a vent open, Maaka begins to crawl her way through the passages until she spies a Warden on her sensors. /Perfect/.     She draws her 10mm Kama pistol, suppressed and given high-impact rounds as she waits for the Warden to come by the vent she ends up at. Won't be long before she gets a bite. 

:'''{{#var:215|Iria (215)}} has posed:''' Iria looks to the others. "Go, do what you have to! I'll cover the rear flank!" She says as she loads another clip into her rifle. "I'll see that this mission is completed successfully!" 

:'''{{#var:953|Kutsuuko Shiratori (953)}} has posed:'''     'Sneaking past' the wardens with Kutsuuko's enormous sword doesn't exactly seem viable. Alexis seems on board with dropping them though, so that's fine by her. She doesn't have her Silenzio module attached, and Sforzando is far too loud, and so she unhooks one of the three sets of remote mines she has stored at the small of her back. Priming the device with a couple of clicks, she flips it overhand and tosses it like a frisbee, skating to the ground below, hitting the deck in a remote corner, and then silently going off. It's a short lived jamming mine, meant to disrupt the non-visual senses of Aragami, but it should work perfectly well for cutting off cameras too, at least for a couple of minutes. Trusting Maaka to take the other two, she vaults over the railing, drops onto one of the wardens, and brings 2500 pounds of Oracle-edged sword down on his head. At least /that/ doesn't have a muzzle report. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' IT's entirely plausible she may want that sword a little bit more. Nikanas, as they are known, are a breed of katana reclaimed by the Tenno. A flowing crossguard that more resembled a flower depending on the angle, the curved handle. The sheathe that seemed to almost have a trigger guard as it was held. Mag Prime went up and over. Practically wall running before bounding, sending herself almost gliding towards a catwalk. While there was the possibility of avoiding some of the guards, she didn't necessarily want to leave it to chance. So from roughly a three story drop, the Warframe descended behind the Warden that crossed in front of the most obvious (there were subareas that could be used to get around, as Alexis had positioned herself in) way to breach the holding cell area. She dropped slightly--altering her weight juuuuust enough to slow herself down. When she landed, she was noiseless as she drew the Nikana out, turning as she did. Resting the blunt side momentarily across her forearm, hand placed on the pommel, and her other hand on the handle, closer to the crossguard. And then she turned and moved, one smooth, elegant motion that brought the blade, diagonally through the Corpus Warden. There might have been a noise. But all there is is a stagger as pain wants to register, arms momentarily flailing forward in confused desperation before he toppels backward. The blade already in it's sheathe with a scarcely audible click and the smooth purr of the blade slid back in. Stealth is indeed relative, after all. The sensor jamming element Kutsuuko decided to employ works just about damn near perfectly. She had the right idea, and she might catch sign of what the Warframe was doing, leaving the proverbial door wide open for Kotone to access the systems to open the doors. The second Warden to fall falls just as hard as the first, with a deliciously (depending on your personality) wet crunch that couldn't dream of reaching the ears of the remaining Warden in time. He has no chance to raise any sortof defense or alarm as he crumples to the ground in such a mess that he's been rendered. Currently, the cameras are disabled. Some of them permanently, most of them disrupted in enough of a way that a window of opportunity. Once Mag or Kotone accesses the doors, it's all over except for hacking the security on the door hosting the Steel Meridian prisoner. Perfect timing for that last Warden to be in the perfect line of sight, the back and side of his head becoming exposed after he turns.. it's now or never with that Warden. And with Iria on covering duty, there's a strong feeling that it won't take long to extract back to the ships at least. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka takes the chance, kicking the vent open and raising the pistol downrange. She's a dead shot especially at this range when it comes to point shooting, and she fires off two rounds at the Warden's head with her Kama. The pistol kicks in her grip, but only gently so despite the beefy cartridge.     She'll finish the job by drawing her other weapon, a Hyoltl made katana, from her Matter Manipulator, scabbard and all. As she clips the scabbard to her belt, Maaka draws the sword in hand, and she lunges for the Warden to cut him in two with a swift stroke. With materials as the Hyoltl at their disposal, the sword should slash through armor and flesh just fine. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is now moving as best she can keeping cloaked and sthanks to Kutsuuko's work? Kotone is ble to sneak in and get to where she needs to be, to start popping the doorts. She'll do so a quicly as she can she know they don't have time and thankfully the Camera are off line for the moment. Hopefully they can get this Steel Meridian prisoner anbd get them the hell out of here she jacked in now and working as quickly as she can. She knows they to not have much time. <<I'm popping things as fast as I can.>> 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' That is decidedly one way to do it. It keeps the alarms from actually going off, and finishes things off in a wonderfully fatal fashion--he has literally no chance to initiate the normal execution protocol, tumbling to one side. And with the other Wardens unable to do much more than.. well, rot? Yeah, the cyborg has next to no difficulty finishing the job before he might try to make some desperate attempt to sound an alarm. With an sickening gurgle, his death ensures that the group can take their time. Not that they would. After all, once Kotone has breached security, the Mag Prime joins her. Most of the cells are empty, but it's the 3rd one, opened by Kotone that reveals the prisoner. A female Grineer, looking relieved, but questioning. "Thanks for the rescue--wait. You're not.. Tenno?" That is both a statement and question as she looks from Kotone over to the Mag Prime. The Lotus remarks over local radio. <"We'll explain later. Now we need to get them to safety. Escort her back to extraction and we'll take care of the rest."> "If you got a sidearm handy, I can keep up with the rest of you while we get going." The extraction point is marked on the radar. Mag Prime will hand over her Vaykor Marelok, barring anyone else handing off a weapon. There's a route around where they came through to bypass some of the Corpus forces coming their way through the path they more or less blasted through at this point. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     OKay, good. Wardens dead, prisoner secured. As she sheaths her sword, Maaka is quick to reach for a handgun in her inventory, but Mag Prime handles that for her. Good enough, she isn't sure if a nine millimeter would do much good against energy shields.     "I'd say stick close, but I guess you already know your way in combat just fine." She says wryly, before clapping the Grineer on the shoulder. "Let's go, don't got time for talking at the moment."     With that, she draws her shotgun once more and begins to advance out of the holding cell area. 

:'''{{#var:953|Kutsuuko Shiratori (953)}} has posed:'''     Well, that's not exactly who Kutsuuko had expected to find. The hostage looks . . . weird. Well, nobody looks normal here to begin with anyways. Might be a disease, or just lots of battle wear and tear, and some obvious cybernetics to deal with it. She reaches for the standard issue sidearm at her belt that she carries only as an officer, having no real need for it in the field, but then lets her hand fall away once she sees the sheer size of that bizarre, bulbous 'handgun'. It's probably a lot less useful than that.     With the hostage secured, there's a lot less blazing ahead to do. Since the Tenno doesn't seem to want to give, or be capable of giving, orders, she instructs the Steel Meridian member to stick directly behind her. Coming under fire at any point will demonstrate why, since she has her God Arc's shield configuration primed for deployment at a moment's notice, allowing a pretty sizable bulwark against fire within a full frontal arc, while still being able to shoot back from around it. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Orders are an interesting thing. Because the Lotus is the one that tends to deliver those orders to the Tenno, and by that extension, the others. Or at least advisement. since some of the others do not necessarily owe anything to the Lotus the same way the Tenno do. Hers is the path of discipline, honor, and duty to another. But that sort of mystery will not be unraveled here, not when the primary focus was to get them moving. She raised her hand again--energy coalescing and releasing once more in a polarization of shields that extended beyond the room itself, shattering the few Corpus shielded units that were almost on top of the room itself. Even then, there seems to be little question of what to do in terms of keeping close to either the Tenno or any number of the Elites. The Warframe's silence has been deafening, and perhaps telling, all told, but she takes a particular guardianship to ensure the Elites, Iria, Alexis, Kutsuuko and Kotone, get through and get to the extraction point safely. Because with the sheer range on that Shield Polarization of hers, some of the cameras that would threaten to raise laser bars just /disintegrate/ given their own shielded, technological nature. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is shocked to see a Grineer it shows on her face, however she seems thankful tobe out and she's not yelling for them to die. So she's going to accept there's some answere which might just be simple there some Grineer who are not xenophobic. She looks to them for a moment and she moves to passe the Grineer a side arm, it would be considered old as hell looking akin to something predating the Orikin but it's clearly still a pistol and it's solid slug. She keeps moving however they need to get the hell out of here nd she's doing her best to cover the former jailbird. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The member of the Steel Meridian catches that look; she's not wearing an eyepatch, and has very basic cyberwear that keeps her alive, due to the Corpus removing the rest from her. That can be replaced, at least. "Heh, ran into other Grineer, yeah?" She shakes her head a little. "Can't blame that look. We're different, and maybe you'll get a chance to see soon." To the Mag, she adds, "I'll pass along what you've done for us as well. Maybe your friends here might want to help soon." The Prime Warframe gives a slight nod as they progress through the rest of the ship and finally arrive back at the ship itself. The Warframe stepping onto a platform that houses a humanoid-shaped recess for her landing craft, and for the Steel Meridian member? She gives Kutsuuko, Alexis, Iria and Kotone each a firm grip of a handshake before another craft--etched with Lotus heraldry, before disembarking with her. And that, as they say, is a good mission success. The Corpus can only recover and bemoan the loss of their bargaining chip now. 
}}

3931/Grineer Derelict

2016-04-04T16:31:49Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2016/03/22 |Location=Void - Debris Field |Synopsis=Grineer! Warframe! Violence! All this and more at the introduction of Warframe to the Multiverse..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/03/22
|Location=Void - Debris Field
|Synopsis=Grineer! Warframe! Violence! All this and more at the introduction of Warframe to the Multiverse.
|Cast of Characters=7, 255, 385, 571, 672, 906, 964, 967
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The Void--at least here in the Multiverse, is a rather different affair than the one universe from which the ship broadcasting it's scattered signal is originating from. Here, it's a far more palatable to traverse, so long as you have the means for it, or to outright bypass it via teleportation and the like. The Grineer galleon--in this case, a galleon being one of the ship classes--may be seen for why due to it's ship sihoulette. Upon either side and pointing downward (relatively) are a spread of extensions, possibly for propulsion and navigation but certainly not weapons. It's a fairly /massive/ ship, and what weapon ports there are are largely forward facing: actual weapons are likely in the form of the ships it can carry, evidenced by what seem to be docking bays in the rear and sides. Simply put, it is a heavy troop transport and closer inspection and scans indicate other weapons and options available. Curiously, there are no shields, even for environmental reasons, heavy armor almost crudely lacquered upon every inch of the ship's exterior; a darkly olive, military green dominates the color. Red is also a color--particular iconography emblazoned declaring the ship a vessel of the Grineer Empire could be seen on the side of the vessel as well; otherwise, the lighting of the ship--for what lights still remain, as some seem to be flickering--ias a harsh yellow-orange tint. There are some vessels nearby, scouts and the like, but none have drawn too terribly close to the ship itself. Radio chatter is a mess--some might be interested in the reward the Grineer are offering for information on where their ship landed. Others, for salvaging operations. Those who would scan the vessel would find that in some ways, there's a lot of sensor damping material due to the raw thickness of the alloyed and ferrite armoring of the ship. More curiously still, there's a very, /very/ faint degree of energy residue. Unseen, but it's quite possibly being a reason why no one is interested in being first aboard the ship itself. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     "Wow," Says Alexis, looking out at the ship as her own vessel comes into close contact. "What an eyesore." She's got the ship on approach, circling the Galleon until she can determine some sort of docking bay to enter through. Kaz is present, currently trying to get a lock on signals while determining whether or not the ship is actively defended or not. Given the fact it's not doing anything right now, indicates it could be a derelict.     he Spectre picks up energy signatures alright, but neither Kaz nor Alexis can determine what exactly they are. It's strange, really, all the more reason for them to investigate further.     She'll go in via the docking bay, loading up as her STALKER suit begins to seal out external hazards and hooks to an oxygen cell on her back. Upon landing, she enters the bay with her GASH coilgun at the ready, scanning for hostiles. 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' There's a flash of the sort that, in a thicker atmosphere, would normally be associated with lightning and thunder - but instead, the Mike-maru-go drops out of its version of warp drive, reappearing in realspace at a near-halt. Yuna takes a few seconds to get her bearings (with Elner's help, as usual), then puts her cruiser into forward motion again, approaching the galleon at a sedate pace. "Elner, any open landing bays we can dock in or something? Anything our size?" she asks the robo-faerie, then reaches for the communication panel, opening all frequencies. "This is Yuna Kagurazaka, Union ally, calling unidentified vessel; if you can hear me, please respond with your name and the name of your ship." She sets that transmission to repeat at intervals, then looks over her shoulder, towards the main cabin. "Looking for a docking bay or something so we don't have to spacewalk across. You ever been out in the empty Void before?" she asks her human passenger. Yang's not the only occupant of the cabin; Erina, Jiina, and Marina are all along for the ride, since Yuna has no idea what to expect. And if there are docking bays Yuna can steer her cruiser into, once Elner picks out something suitable, Yuna flies in to dock/land/whatever. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     The Union has a lot of resources to bring to bear, when a small and fast insertion into hostile territory is needed. Most of their dropships are rated for travel in the Void; a necessity, given what Elites get into. It's one of those dropships that comes hurtling through the 'picket line' of varying other ships, some daredevil pilot willing to just blaze on by at full speed. As soon as it's by, it cuts all thrust, starting to coast; then maneuvering jets turn it sideways, and the side hatch opens up.     A single woman leaps out, taking on the momentum of the vehicle, while the pilot himself re-engages controls and dashes off in a different direction.     The silver-haired swordswoman doesn't have maneuvering tools, but she might as well; as soon as she's close to the ship, she banks around, skimming along its side. She's both searching for an entry point, and reaching out with her senses - feeling for what battle happened here, what might still be, and what might be soon to come.     When she spots Yuna's ship, however, the demigod swings up and around, flying on an intercept course so as to meet up with the Mikemaru-go. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone had had a bit of a rough week, bungling things hard with Kyra without meaning to. An incident on X's world were she was lablere property and nearly /sold off/, thankfully X had come to understand she wasn't full out machine. She was glad to be out of that. She picked up the call for help and was coming to check it out with her passenger on board. "Slipbolt will stay with the ship while we go in X, I'm already suited up for trouble, I'll deploy drones and get you a tac feed from them, damn would you look ar that ship? It looks mean, also our sensors are getting nothing we're going to be going in blind X." Kotone heads for the teleporter pad and makes ready to beam aboard she's not going to dock her ship with this, oh that's just asking for trouble. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     "Never been higher than an Airship before." replies the blonde brawler. "It's really pretty out here... but nothing we've ever built on Remnant can get much higher than about a mile... Dust Engines lose efficiency really quickly the higher they go."     She's strapped in, but is craning her neck to peer out of any viewports at the stars, and the ship they're approaching. She probably looks like a big kid. 

:'''{{#var:672|Starbound Flotilla (672)}} has posed:''' "Hooo nelly, these guys got a human-style design." "Without the same anarchic flaws." "Please try not to antagonize George. Regardless, this is..." "Meant to be scary lookin', aye. And look at these pansies, scared of a little energy." "Dry. We might be irradiated, Pavo." "Risssk, bah!! Floran think, we can handle. Radiation nanossskin, sssuck it up."     The STARBOUND FLOTILLA is here! The SFS Vehemence is an ultramodern white craft, a heavy weapons platform that leads the other five. Just behind it, the SFS Abdication -- a miniature house-sized castle-looking spaceship with a large sensor array -- and the SFS Kaleidoscope -- four other ships welded together, lashed with vines, and given a heavy railgun -- slip into the available space as well, and beyond them, the trio of the SFS Rapacity, a pyramid-styled craft bristling with strange red gems, the SFS Mendacity, a modern, chunky durasteel industrial craft, and the SFS Connoisseur, a light blue fish-styled sleek spacecraft.     All six converge on the vessel's docks; while the Vehemence attempts to hack and the Connoisseur attempts to more naturally prompt to hail, the Mendacity will unfold high-intensity hull-cutting materials to just slice open the docks. Whatever method works -- if any does -- they're definitely not going to prevent the others from following them, so hopefully there will be an entry point soon. They intend to dock and disembark within without too much caution, if they can... To the swift go the prizes! Caution is for poor people. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' An S.O.S. from space is hardly what X expected to encounter today. But when life gives you lemons... learn to juggle?     R E A D Y     X wouldn't normally be able to reach such a remote location in a timely fashion. But he's aboard Kotone's ship, looking out the viewports with a grim expression on his rather human-like face.     "I've never seen anything like it!" And it's definitely of a make he can't even begin to extrapolate. "How many people could be aboard a ship this big?! ... And to not get anything back from hails... I don't see ANYTHING that would have stopped it..."     He makes a dash for the teleporter with Kotone, already worrying about the implications.     So it looks like... teleporting to the docking bays, or something?     "Are you really sure about this, Kotone! I have a bad feeling about this ship. Your ship's a much safer place to be!" Well yeah. Of course he's volunteering to go it alone and encouraging her to leave it to him...     It's a robot's job to handle the dangerous places, after all.     But seeing all of the other people coming...     Might be a moot point, trying to push that angle. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Unfortunately for those such as Yuna who may be hoping against all hope that there may be some sort of response of those aboard insofar as anything--be they drones or otherwise--there is simply no response. Only an automated signal, which now that people are actually close to it? Seems to be clouded with interference; signal noise due to some strange energy. It'd highly sporadic, like whatever might be causing it was fading. Further still, the language itself, in terms of written form is highly coarse yet direct to the point. The implication is clear that whatever occupants initiated the signal wanted it to be found by other Grineer, and to kill /anything/ that isn't Grineer aboard. Alexis, on the other hand might find that she has little to no issue approaching the ship; nor would any others for that matter. There's other points of entry on the ship, not the docking bays but not really good for anyone except infiltrators to maybe progress aboard. Anyone searching for it would discover along one part of the ship, one of the ports for ventilation between the hulls was breached, though sealed afterwards. Those of the Flotilla might just notice these options as well. There are some systems that may require hacking if they wish to be used--the one Alexis used was already hacked, for instance, perhaps without her necessarily realizing. Surely she wasn't just let in. Surely not. Airlocks exist in multiple points for ready access both under and on the side of the vessel itself--it would be childs play for most to breach these systems once inter-system understanding is achieved. Either way, outside the systems that are already breached, those that aren't are under a combat-based lockdown by some of the occasional excerpts of (ALERT) and the like. Either way, it would be of little true issue for those to actually get on board once there. The problem really, is what's on board? Setsuko is going to find.. certain interesting feelings the moment her feet touch the ship itself. The noises that would greet the others once they're actually aboard are.. well. The hull straining. Creaking, even. Engines are not wholly online. Gravity and life support systems are functioning at full strength, however. In the docking bay itself, there's a small number of craft that could be seen from the getgo. Some in the middle of repair, some in along a conveyor system above and to the sides for launching of the aforementioned support craft. There's an unmistakable notion for some that, this ship is not for atmospheric flight, by the number of ship and landing craft here. Surely someone should come to greet the arriving Elites. .. yet no one came. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     <Hey, Alex?> R    <Yeah, I know. Freaky how easily we just got in. Someone's been here before us.>     <No shit. Pirates?>     Alexis scours the docks first, searching for hostiles with her rifle ready. <Dunno, not many signs of combat yet...this is creeping me out.>     She begins to exit the docking bay, rifle raised as she stacks up against a door, or something looking like a door. 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' With the lack of any response from the ship, Yuna shuts the hail back down after a few moments, but keeps one channel open - mostly so Jiina and the others can hear what's going on. Yuna also tasks Elner with trying to analyze the 'jamming' energy, attempting to pinpoint its source and to quantify its properties ... but Elner will have to do that on the go. Once the cruiser is docked, Yuna heads out to meet up with Alexis and the others. Elner is sticking with her, of course, and Yuna's already manifested the Matrix Divider, just in case. "These 'Grineer' are probably really xenophobic," is Yuna's cursory speculation upon reading (or having Elner translate) the ship's automated message. She sounds, and looks, distinctly uneasy. "I wonder if they drew the fury of whoever wiped out the crew ... Where do we want to head to? Bridge, engineering ... somewhere else?" 

:'''{{#var:672|Starbound Flotilla (672)}} has posed:''' "Breach is go." "Hmph. Take caution." "Aye, ye lug, don't ye hold a worry." "Insisting. Please be alert for survivors in need of help." "Ahhh... From the offensively inelegant design, I suspect this is something we will not find."     The various Starbound captains find their way into the docks. and make their landing, deploying in their standard Durasteel equipment! Moonfin, the fishman, is in elaborate full-body durasteel armor that looks like a powered cross between a diving suit and a samurai's armor, glowing cyan at the faceplate. Biteblade, the humanoid plant, is in durasteel plating with elaborately carved wood and bone ornaments over glowing powered components that glow an intense green. Pavo the bird-girl wears a pirate-aesthetic set of mesoamerican-style armor, with yellow bands of energized fabric linking the pieces and powering them. Albert the monkey-man is wearing elaborate dystopian commando armor reconstructed with a 'rebel spy' aesthetic: A sleeker faceplate, a slimmer form, and a more chaotic design that integrates thin, resilient plates of durasteel, and lines of bright white. George (just plain human) wears a set of futuristic EVA-combat and exploration armor in a suit that glows a gentle red at the faceplate. Seft, the robotic Flotilla member, is wearing full-on medieval knight armor with a soft energized blue glow below the plates on her body, and especially around the eyes. Each has a heavy industrial-yellow two-pronged plasma-cutter-like tool strapped to their side, a Matter Manipulator.     Moonfin and Biteblade take point; the former has a durasteel power katana drawn, while the latter holds an advanced railgun-styled bow. They head out of the docking bay, Biteblade listening keenly for any signs of noise aside from the hull creaking. The first thing to do is follow signs of importance. Heavy power cables, anywhere that looks like it recently had foot traffic, and of course, Seft pulls out a heavy industrial sensor unit. Maybe they can get a better bearing of where important energy signatures are from the inside rather than the outside, so she sweeps for it. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Setsuko swings on board right behind Yuna, smoothly going from flight to walking without skipping a beat. "Bridge would be the first place to go for investigation," she says to Yuna. Already, she stands with her left hand holding her scabbard steady, right hand on the grip of her blade, ready to draw. "And I concur with that assessment. This battle was... bloody. If we run into any of the ship's crew, be prepared for a fight." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "Thousnads It was called a troop ship, right? So a whole lot of people would be on board if it was hauling soldiers, X We should be on ourg uard about this. It could be nothing but a ship full of well armed, well trained fighters ending up like this? I don't like it." Kotone's weating her form fitting stealth gear rather than heavy armor. If she gets in a heavy fight here it's going to badly for her. She's also got several small drones with her that take off to start mapping things the moment they can get in. She opens up a tactical net to those like Makka and X who can take it. <<All right moving out I'm going to try to find a good terminal b ut we should head for a major point like the bridge or engineering.>> 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     "I'll follow your lead." replies Yang, as she deploys her gauntlets, just in case. "Smells like death in here... can't you smell it too? That acrid stench in hanging in the air." The normally happy-go-lucky attitude is gone, this is serious time and Yang's got her game face on. "You stay back at long range and pick anything off at a distance, let me take the front line."     Yang /does/ attempt to access one of the computer terminals, that isn't showing the ALERT lockdown, tapping on buttons and going through menus. She's no hacker, but maybe she can find something of use. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' X came here to hunt for survivors who'd need help. But prospects are starting to look less and less hopeful. But at the very least... now he wants ANSWERS for where thousands of people could have gone. He's just not able to let this one sit now that he knows about it.     So he materialies on the hangar's floor - or emerges from one of the Starbound ships through a group teleporter. Whatever works. Either way, he's taking the lead for Kotone.     X takes a short time to take in the sights of the docking bay, paying attention to how... QUIET it was. For a ship this big? Quiet? Quiet doesn't seem... right.     "..."     Lips pressed together thinly and a troubled look on his face, X starts tromping his way for whatever accessway leads further in. "Agreed. The bridge is our best bet!" But while he walks... his right hand glows and blazes, the hand vanishing in favor of his weapon.     All the while, behind what looks like ordinary green eyes, advanced optics and scanners are taking measurements of everything he sees, mapping tools load... and links telemetry with Kotone and Maaka.     Of course, this means he also has a GREAT opportunity to see the Core Fleet in action and various others. This just gets him looking even MORE troubled.     He hopes all these people know how to handle themselves. They LOOK like they do... 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' There's a certain contrary element; Setsuko, being whom she is, would know something horrifying happened here--though horrifying is relative. A battle was held here. It lasted a good /damn/ long time. Those arriving at the docking bays, as they investigate would find armor: heavy powered suits that are almost crude at first blush, but closer examination reveals a startling effiency to how well they could protect someone. Such armor systems are good for many features--including life support. Those who are particularly inquisitive about these alloyed and ferrite-enhanced armors might see that it's almost designed, universally, for one shape. No variation when it comes to one model of armor, though some armored suits are clearly heavier duty, but the internals are startlingly the same with a startling degree of modularity. Repair flexibility, perhaps? In any event, following signs of foot traffic and power cabling will lead those looking towards a door. And in proceeding past the seemingly empty docking bay, the circular door that would split open sparks, slightly. Not so much the door itself, but a broken bar atop it's threshhold. Cursory examination reveals it to be a security sensor bar. And a single throwing star in it. Three-pointed, but any measure of examination of it would indicate that.. it's /not/ made of typical material. There are still some security and computer systems active; at so many points for ready access it seems, there's a terminal stretching out from the decks depending on which part of the ship one is in. These terminals are good for checking ship maps, and also basic information from the looks of it, should anyone approach them, as well as indicators for other terminals that are the primary systems. Though when they approach them, the following may be noted of the text: a unique set of barcode letters with dot-matrix-styled 'cuts' made along their left edges to various depths. Translation isn't terribly difficult though multiversal translation effects carry it so far. Some things are simply lost in the translation owing to a lack of the same letters existing in other common languages. More troubling may be for those who aren't looking for terminals--some of the cabling and other conduits leading to those--would be the first signs of battle. Bloody battle, as it happens. Near one of those terminals is a body that has been bifurcated. More and more bodies could be discovered turning a corner along one massive corridor that splits into varied sections. In some of those sections are large, circular lockers, but some of these details pale as the scenes of battle simply unfold. still wielding a crude-looking, but efficient blade glowing with heat. Crude, ballistic weapons that would be undoubtedly highly effective. There's at least two bodies pinned to a wall, bent forward at an obscene degree owing to long bolts having not only punctured their body armor, and them, and carried them to another wall. One of the bodies begins to fleck with a strange energy, almost a soft pink in color. That energy residue from before? That's a source of it right there. The energy residue that was detected is pervasive. It might be almost described as a scent in terms of how it would appear on sensors, and be felt otherwise; is it a ghost? There's a particularly odd, extradimensional flavor to the energy itself. It's already beginning to fade here.. ... oddly, many of those dead Grineer, the ones that don't have faceplates obscuring their twisted visages of anger.. are almost completely identical.. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Aleixs agrees with the major, and after linking up with peoples' tactical nets, she advances with Yang taking the lead. She swaps her coilgun for a ten gauge shotgun acquired from an Imperium vessel, the intimidating pump-action weapon giving a hearty cock while she heads down the hall.     She raises a brow at the dead Grineer littering the place, giving a thin-lipped grimace behind her mask. "Goddamn, whoever hit this knew their shit." She says, kicking aside half a Grineer foot soldier, pausing only to interface with the nearest data terminal she can find, in order to figure out what went down here. She notes several of the fallen Grineer, as well as their weapons. These were purpose built for combat, reliable but ugly as sin, even the soldiers seem like they were grown in vats someplace, and hooked up to combat cybernetics to fill gaps in their bodies.     She kneels down, searching for spent casings, discarded magazines, and other signs of whoever did this in their wake. Sometimes, she draws a knife, digging through entry wounds to extract projectiles if possible. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa didn't like this at all as she started to move out, she seems to be on edge thogh and has an laser rifle rather than an SMG. Also she's carrying several strange alien looking grenades, and seem to be taking her time as she moves. She does tkae note to check out the armor however she thought they were junk. Then she got a llook at them she let out a low whistle. Thee things were pretty high end but it was odd they were all standarize like gear made for certain modles of cyborg bodies back home. She however is more keen to get into the computer systems which she does. She doesn't jack in directly but she's clearly looking to try to work them she'll attempt to get non secure information first and maybe a ship map before she tries for antything else major. She halts in more than a bit of shock as she looks t the body. It looks only slightly worse than what happned to her so long ago. <God in heaven they were slaughtered...> 5R She's going to work the terminal now and worse they all seem to have the same face. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     As the group proceeds, Setsuko moves to the fore, alongside Moonfin and Biteblade both. She doesn't draw her blade as Moonfin has, but she keeps at the ready, and keeps all her senses - both natural-but-superhuman and outright supernatural - as sharp as she can. She silent and steady in how she proceeds, and her scrutiny on the surroundings is as sharp as her blade. She notes the thrown shuriken with a faint frown, and the casualties of battle with a dispassionate glance. Her sense was accurate, then. Bloody battle here.     Only the faint glimmer of the one body causes the tall woman to tense, and that only for a moment. There's a split second where she's ready to draw steel on the corpse, before she restrains herself and relaxes. "...I don't know what that is. But it feels... odd. Disjointed somehow. Be cautious." 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' Yuna is happy to let other people take point - Yang and Maaka in particular; Yang specializes in close combat and Maaka is more or less willing to take point for dealing with security traps - but she's still looking around at things, even though she'd much rather not look at any of the dead bodies. She kind of has to, though. As long as the bodies stay dead and don't suddenly start moving again, it should be fine ... right? She's more interested in the ship itself, and those messages; while Elner is already multitasking between scanning for that energy and maintaining a data crosslink with Maaka, X, Kotone, and whomever else, Yuna also asks the robo-faerie to try and help translate the written messages. As it is, though, Yuna's attention does shift more and more towards the dead bodies ... partly for two reasons. First, of course, is when Elner confirms that the energy coming from a couple of the bodies matches the 'jamming' from earlier. Second is the peculiar similarity that so many of the dead Grineer share. "Are these all clones?" Yuna wonders, her voice hushed but probably still carrying to her allies. "And if this is the same energy that was interfering with transmissions ..." Yuna trails off, swallowing hard, and looks a couple of shades paler. Could *ghosts* have been jamming the signal? Is that actually possible? Apparently ghosts scare her more than genuinely dead corpses, though. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     "Bingo!" Yang chirps happily, opening her Scroll and copying an image file to it, before forwarding it to the others. "Got ourselves a map! This should make things quicker."     She then falls in beside Maaka, keeping her arms raised in a sort-of boxers stance as she creeps forward, eyes scanning for movement. The energy on that body gets her attention, and she calls a hold with a raised fist, before approaching cautiously. She's hoping her Aura can protect her from any harmful effects, as she reaches towards the corpse to see if it has anything unique about it. 

:'''{{#var:672|Starbound Flotilla (672)}} has posed:''' "Clones." "Disturbed. They were butchered..." "Bifurcation. We find ourselves sharing the company of those of the blade." "Aye. Perhaps a pirate. Would be no surprise." "Well, sure as hell was a surprise to these guys." "You guysss, gonna eat that?" ... "Nnnno? Okay, Floran eat then."     Biteblade is a cannibal and gains significant combat advantage from consuming freshly killed flesh. As a result, she partakes, in a capacity which will not be described for the sake of taste. Meanwhile, Moonfin moves on. "Ahh, you have recovered a map. Excellent. The warrior who spoke first of it suggested well. We should find a path to the bridge." He links in on the network that the others are on, perusing the map itself. Unless there's any other marked locations on it that are of note, he -- and the other Starbound captains -- are going to leave the corpse investigations to those at work on them, and advance the squad off towards the bridge. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' The more X sees of this place the less happy he gets. He does show good sense when rounding bends though. After getting the door with the NINJASTAR'd sensor bar open he's careful to glance around it before just walking out into the corridor. Robot sure knows his tactics!     But this just gets him emerging into a horror scene... of a sort that he hasn't seen ANYTHING like before. "Ahh!!"     In a fit of shock X just charges headlong until he reaches the bodies... which he then kneels down to examine more closely. "This looks like... a beam saber wound?" That these aliens all have similar features is lost on him - the significance of it at least - but for now the sight of all these bodies - even if they aren't human - has a sickening feeling building in his core.     THEN there's the matter of the energy. He hops back and away from the flickering, buster raised warily! ... But it turns out to be nothing more than just some flickering residue. "Grrr... who or what did this?! Whatever they are, they leave this weird energy behind. My sensors can't tell what it is."     Since there's a deal of blood around, X turns his high-resolution sensor suite - otherwise known as his eyes - towards the blood stains. Looking for foot prints and the like. Something that might tell him WHAT was manuevering against these people. Or at least which direction they appear to be going in. And he's also checking the feeds from other people across the tac-link. having a computer in your head - well, kinda being one - is pretty useful.     But then wooo, someone finds a map!     "Great. All we need to do is find the nearest security station then! ... If this species uses those." 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Examining the bodies is not a bad idea at all! The wounds are myriad and varied, make no mistake. The body that Alexis in her case, happens to pick is one that was absolutely riddled with them; their puncture of armor seems to be augmented by a corrosive enhancement which mercifully by now won't be too dangerous to Alexis. Her systems will likely ping her to this factor, however.. but maybe more oddly, the shots seemed to come from almost above? Sure, the corridors and everything like that are spacious, but, that spacious? One of them begins to dissolve, a reactive dissolution renders one of the spent bullets into that same, purple-pink haze as before. Yang and Kotone alike would be able to discover a map without much trouble--there's different portions to sift through, given the multiple decks of the ship itself. Occasionally there might be a little indicator pointing in glaring red against the yellow about parts of the ship that were breached and basically serving as nav beacons for soldiers to go and investigate. By the look of it, there wasn't anyone to actually /do/ this sort of thing. Still, this information is not terribly well secure and can be downloaded with ease and distributed. Mercifully, Yang's actual examination of a different body doesn't seem to register any possible /harm/, at least not directly. The one body she looks at seems have had an astonishingly clean cut to it. Setsuko would catch the sight of one body seeming to almost crumple inward on itself, before fading away altogether. Another body indicates something.. /animal/ tore into it. Clawmarks, and a bite that seemingly tore open the alloyed armor plating as there's signs of an utterly futile struggle against some beast. It's entirely plausible that Biteblade may have been beaten to the punch in regards to the consumption of cloned flesh. X's own discovery seems to be adding to the menagerie of what sort of attackers laid siege to the Grineer here. One weapon looks like it was a straight cut, one resembles the cauterized flesh of a high heat or energy based weapon--though in one particular case of claws? .. unmistakably energy based claws as while a beast tore into one, something.. /bigger/ did that job. The exact depiction which will be spared the rest of the group. But melee isn't the only element to it. Despite ones with missing limbs, there's others that simply have their heads blow off. Corrosive, armor-piercing rounds: some discovered rounds are basically 4" bolts that defy conventions of ballistic arms. They're clearly effective, however. The scene being painted indicates.. surely it has to be multiple attackers. The energy residue once fully examined, studied.. gives a faint trail. One. Sometimes two. Sometimes three. Never more than four. Those who progress beyond checking the bodies would begin to pick up on this. Distinct, yet inconclusive phantoms. Security footage would verify this, once they are investigated. And for those beginning to make their way towards the bridge would find more bodies, make no mistake. But.. curiously they would find an odd, white tower. No more than four feet, it's releasing some degree of atmospheric conditioning--or it was. By now it's inert and true life support had returned. Those reviewing the systems might find that for a period during the conflict, life support was shut OFF in order to stop them. .. but it didn't. Was this device why? 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang looks over the body... a clean cut, straight through armour, bone and tissue... She's seen damage like this before on her own world, but not to /people/. Grimm, sure, their innards are a morass of red matter with no distinct form or function, bifucating them is still fatal due to structural destabilisation... but this...     "Maybe this universe has Huntsmen too..." she remarks to herself, before turning her eyes towards the next chamber. She spots that tower, and glances back. "Alexis, cover me... I'm moving up ahead... I think I can see something in the next chamber." she calls back, before standing and moving foward. She's keeping her gauntlets raised defensively, making sure she's got her ranged shells in place.     When Setsuko says she's joining, the Huntress in training breathes a little easier. It's good to have backup, after all. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     PING indeed, as Alexis notices a lot of corrosive elements in the body she inspects. This guy got jacked up old-style, with acidic rounds no less... "Holy shit, I want whatever shot this guy..." she mutters, before she tries to pry the Grineer's armor open, dig around in whatever's underneath as she wedges her fingers in a gap made by gunfire, and pries with all her strength.     She winds up giving up on this, tossing the corpse aside in favor of another, bisected body to inspect the wounds inflicted. It's disturbing to look at this stuff, even for a seasoned mercenary like herself, and she's jarred from her thoughts as she stands up with her shotgun.     "I got your back." She says to Yang, nodding as she follows the huntress towards whatever it is she and Setsuko noticed. The lack of life-support systems and deactivated atmospheric conditioning seems odd to the cyborg. Perhaps they attempted to choke out the intruders? Not a lot of good that did them, evidently.     She stands back up, shotgun in hands, and she begins to link up with the other warrior women. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Sensing some of Yang's unease, Setsuko removes her hand from Zanjintou's grip for just a moment; long enough to rest it on the blonde's shoulder, giving her a brief but encouraging squeeze. A lifelong soldier, Setsuko has seen things like this before, but she knows quite well that others here haven't. And this is pretty brutal, all things considered.     But it's only for that moment. In a place like this, she's all business otherwise. Yang has her gauntlets up, Maaka has her shotgun ready, and Setsuko has her sword ready to draw, her eyes and ears pushed to their limit - with a heaping helping of 'using her battlesense to prepare for danger' besides. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is content with what she finds, given this is an unknown military ship? She does not want to press things too much with the system unless she has to. Who knows what sort of nasty defences they have in here. She'll start to go over the map quite rapidly while she hands it out to the rest of the Flotilla and the other people here. With the info aquired she's going to try to make for the bridge. She keeps on her guard and deploys several of her own recon drones to scout ahead of things here. She makes note of the tower and eyes it, it doesn't seem to match the tech of the ship quite right. Still she doesn't wiat too long and she's honestly trying to not look at the bodies, also at this point she engages her optic cameo as she preses on ahead. 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' The longer Yuna tries to figure out what's going on with the bodies and the energy, the less comfortable she is on the ship. But the group has come this far, and Yuna doesn't want to leave while the others are continuing the investigation. Besides, there's no telling what they might find ... Elner pauses next to one of the Grineer corpses, leaning just a little bit closer. ".... Antimatter?" "Eh?!" *That* got Yuna's attention. "Where are you detecting - wait, inside their bodies? That should ...." She trails off, swallowing again. "Is that what the energy's coming from?" "No, but it tallies with the way the bodies are disintegrating," the robo-faerie says. "Like it was meant to destroy their remains and/or equipment." Yuna just sighs, gripping the Matrix Divider tighter, and quickens her pace to catch up with the others. She's out of her depth, there's nobody left to save, and this ship gets more freaky with each discovery. "Elner, switch from normal life-sign scans to motion tracking, if there's anything moving that isn't us, I want to know about it as soon as you detect it. Even if you're not *sure*, tell me - tell us." 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' Truth be told, this place is terrifying. X is scared. All these soldiers were just WIPED OUT. By three to five individuals it seems. This is one heck of a group here...     If they encounter these infiltrators, SOMEONE's going to get killed. Very strong chance.     Which means... it would be better to call for backup maybe. Try to convince the otehrs to leave, maybe... and continue this mission himself for their safety!     Yeah, fat chance of convincing people of THAT, he decides, after glancing around at everyone's determined faces.     Yeah he's terrified.     But at this point he can't just leave. The others here could need help soon. Especially if these infiltrators yet remain.     But he's also getting worried at this point. While Elner might be switching to motion tracking, X has no such sensors. So he must simply stay alert and keep looking around.     Except after deducing some of the damage patterns.. he's keeping one optic towards the ceilings at all times. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Yang would be among the first to discover the remains of the life-support granting unit that helped the attackers when the defenders attempted to shut them out. It's expended, lights dimmed to near nothing. Setsuko would also catch sight of some locked storage containers, others simply broken open. Curious little shaped objects are lying in disarray--closer examination by anyone would be not unlike ammunition clips and other material. The chamber slopes downward at first--there's supply crates like nothing else, heavily wrapped and entirely immobile. Upon full entry into the chamber and entry into that chamber, it's revealed to be what it is. An absolutely /MASSIVE/ weaponry room. A mass accelerator would be the official name for it, as the chamber and room is built around it. Ramps downward go fore and aft of the ship at their bottoms, and around and underneath the staggeringly enormous barrels of the cannon. Inactive though it is, there's no mistaking it's designed to take on heavy targets with terrifying ballistic promise. Though the bridge is not too terribly far now, more and more bodies could be discovered. Added to the list of methods of death appear to be a group that had.. somehow been crushed from the inside. Residual magnetic force detected internally. Again, much of this is beginning to fade. Setsuko would sense the deeper that they got, the more that Grineer had been killed. Underneath the cannon lies multiple computer systems, some for the weapon, and others still--as the map indicates--this terminal is one of those to access more information. Perhaps here one might get some idea of what exactly happened, or more about the Grineer themselves. Databanks are useful and all! Occasionally some of the terminals that have been progressed past may be glowing, pulsing from the still running alert. The signal is still being broadcast, for all the seeming good it'll do. Motion detection doesn't seem to pick up anything just /yet/--beyond what seems to be some conveyor systems nearby for the shipborne artillery. Those who decide to access the terminal and begin to hacking will uncover some key information--confirmation that alarms were deliberately triggered by then-unknown force, later identified: WARFRAM (warframe), automatic shunt to disabling atmospheric stability. All forces engaged. Want to know more? 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is now on the bridge having passed likely even more carnage on the way. She's seen killing but like this? She's seen types of weaponry that not even the most wacked out dicatorship on her world would touch. This leaves her witrh an uneasy feeling as they finaly make it to the bridge. She'll move to jack in and start to get data, she does however have a dummy barrier equipped to give her some addtional protection. She's going to attempt to find more information on what happend with this warframe. She'll check for logs, video feeds, anything. << I'm in the system now but damn they sent /every soldier on the ship after this warframe thing.> 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Maaka approaches the bridge, slinging her shotgun as she wanders towards a terminal. The battle here seems well over, but honestly that gun is something that Alexis doesn't feel comfortable leaving around in the open like this.     Grunt. "I dunno about you guys, but I don't feel keen on letting someone get ahold of this ship. That cannon would be a mess of trouble in the wrong hands." She suggests, before she pokes at the terminal idly.     She will look to see if there's a way to plot courses, or just nab whatever's in the databanks themselves regarding these Grineer, a fat file will be excellent studying material when this is over. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang spots others heading to the bridge, and instead, heads downward toward the nearby terminal to access it and browse the database. She does keep an eye over her shoulder at the warning from Setsuko. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     The feel of oncoming battle has been growing for some time, a sliver in the back of Setsuko's mind... though, one that a part of her anticipates, rather than dreads. With everyone else gathering intel from the area around the mass accelerator cannon, the demigod has gone completely still, standing in the middle of the room. X gets a brief glance; mixed feelings there, but feelings that boil down to 'kind-hearted but painfully naive'. The glance is only brief, though. She is as still as a statue because the entirety of her being is now practically singing with the close approach of battle.     Those with keen eyes can certainly see it - tension in her, from head to toe, like a coiled spring. There is even, very briefly, a faint blue shimmer around the edges of her figure. When she says battle is coming soon, she isn't kidding. 

:'''{{#var:672|Starbound Flotilla (672)}} has posed:''' "Pickin' up a whole lot of trail and not a lot of blazing." "There is incoming trouble. The tide rises." "Let 'em come. More prize to take." "Find the unknown element first. No ambush." "Worried. Is there some way to track where they may be in the immediate sense?" "Huh... Floran think, Floran underssstand after all thisss."     So, cameras don't catch them well. They destroy sensors. And now the Flotilla folks are on a countdown to catch up with this raider. So, Biteblade uses what little opportunity she has. Clearly they can't use the ship's own internal systems to get a reliable read on where the target is, but the native crewmen in combat with them CAN. And... The entire hull is creaky. Creaky and groaning. It transmits a lot of stress and vibration through its body. So Biteblade uses a very tribal way of tracking: She briefly lays down and puts her keen ear to the floor. Heavy grineer footsteps will be louder and more urgent when the target is nearby, and the target will have more unusual footsteps. Is anything transmitting through the body of the craft to give them a direction? 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' On the one hand, any bit of information might be useful, and as much as Yuna is hating this star galleon, she *is* kind of tempted to ask Elner to dig in the computers for more details. On the other hand, there are plenty of other parts of the ship that need investigating - such as the bridge - and there are other members of the investigation team who could pull data from the computers and analyze it as they go. Imn between the two is the fact that the bridge - as far as Yuna or Elner can confirm - remains close at hand, along with a new voice coming in on the radio frequency they've been using; Yuna can only presume that Ford Graham is also from the Multiverse, not from whichever world the ship Unified from. At any rate, making for the bridge sounds like a great idea, and Yuna quickens her pace to head that way with the others. Elner is still scanning for signs of life not accounted for by the investigators' team, of course, as well as saving copies of any data forwarded to it over the data-sharing link. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' HOW exactly Setsuko is able to warn the group of oncoming battle, X doesn't know. But she sounds certain enough of it that he's not about to question it in the field.     He's got a feeling she's right.     The newly-activated android grimaces. He's been in a few fights, but the level of sheer BRUTALITY on display here has him uneasy. He's fought NOTHING on this level before...     And there are people around he's gotta watch out for.     "If you have some way to teleport out now Kotone... take it!" He insists upon making his way over to her. Since she's working on all that hacking, he takes a position at her back, free hand gripping his (for the moment, lowered) X-Buster.     "Whatever the infiltrators are, they're fond of ambushes." 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' So, people wanted to know more, did they? Know more they shall. There's reams of typical database information here about the Grineer--classifications of units, and mention of their leaders, the twin Queens, the SISTERS. Other than an absolute obedience to them there's little more. Occasionally a name with rank seems to appear. Councilor Vay Hek--a blistering diatribe from him is blasting one of the officers aboard the ship to ensure the vessel's supplies aren't raided by the Warframes. Confirmation of earlier suspicions are also found about the Grineer themselves; to a man, they are clones, products of ancient, barely-remembered technology from centuries past, the result of which that Grineer bodies are in a constant state of degeneration. By the look of medical and engineering reports, however while they can't fix the clones from the outset, the fact that these defects are as mass-produced as their technology, they have a practiced ease by which to deal with it. This has allowed for the rapid standardization of techno-augmetic adaptation between generations. Indeed, it could be argued that the Grineer are better at fixing broken bodies than they are at making ones that function to begin with. Their homeworld is a ruined, uninhabitable Earth. They are a people acting on an ultimate xenophobia, fueled by hereditary madness, and a burning hate of anything and anyone not like themselves. One of their primary goals seems to be dealing with the Tenno--one of those comments from Vay Hek was a promise of throwing 'their beloved Lotus' into the sun. Yeah, these are not very nice people, are they? But amidst data there is security footage. Much of it is damaged at times, but a picture begins to emerge. Sleek, feminine figures. Eyeless. But carrying weapons of a wide variety of fashion. The Floran's method of tracking would bear /some/ degree of fruit. There are very, /very/ faint vibrations that could be felt in another part of the ship. Or is it a mere echo? There's little telling for sure--somewhere, above. Even ignoring the distance between then, there is a sense that.. /something/ is taking pains to conceal it's presence; was it here before, or did it just arrive again? More data to be decoded; some of it needs to be analyzed later. Battle data and the like. Didn't some of those bodies have arrows sticking out of them? High tech arrows, no doubt but.. one of the more distressing elements comes into play at last. Crew count is listed at somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,141. Automated drone complement appears to bring that number higher, from the looks of it. Now, with Elner and others able to properly access the system sensors are able to confirm the grim reality--no crew left alive. Sensor data also indicates the supply stores were raided in the midst of the fighting itself, the Tenno, or Warframes, or whatever they were, fighting as a distraction for a lone operative to raid the ship before departing. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is taking the data download and going over it even s she saves it. She gets an idea about the Grineer. She also wonders about the name but she'll worry about it later. For the moment she's seen what the warframes can do, she's also aware that it's a bad idea to be here when the Grineer get here to claim the ship. She thinks it's about time to go really she'll go oaver the rest of the data over. She's also cloaking again, like hell she's going to be exposed when kill bots of one sort or another come. Be the clones or something far worse. <<X I'm sorry I brought you into this.>> She's also rapidly sharing the highlight reel on the data she got, that the clones who made this ship are Xenophobic as heck and it would be beswt they lilely get out of here, or be ready for a fight. 

:'''{{#var:571|Alexis Maaka (571)}} has posed:'''     Alexis gets the transmission just as terabytes of data have been uploaded into her head. There's a lot of information rushing into her head at once, but she immediately makes it so that the data's been compressed and downsized into a neat little package.     Kaz will get himself a nice little datafile shortly, while Alexis remains behind to defend the ship while it overloads. She checks her shotgun before giving it a firm pump. "Okay, let's get set up, people! I'll get us set up before they reach us."     She'll produce some land mines as she begins to head off, searching for choke points to rig up with explosives. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' So, things have changed; rather rapidly, insofar as the incident upon the Grineer ship. One thing certainly became obvious -- it's crew, and a decent amount of supplies and salvage were relieved in no short order. A menagerie of varying wounds, from arrows to bullet to blade and claw in a dizzying amount of fashions. Limbs and the like were often separated by a goodly amount of degree. And more than a few bodies simply pinned to bulkheads. Biteblade had an excellent feast, this is certain, cloned flesh or not. But as much as data had been pulled from the system, more time would be needed to analyze it later; the navigational maps of those aboard the ship still were pinged with two primary elements -- one, the reactor and ship engine room, which with the map already downloaded would make progression there remarkably quick, as well as a point of exit other than the docking bay should it prove necessary. Yet still, a third element was present as well. Purple-blue symbols on the map indicating these.. Warframe, these Tenno, were en route. For those of the Flotilla, a select number of places where resource caches were to be discovered were pinpointed. Of the Warframe themselves, those who might be tracking in alternative ways, such as the Floran might be able to pick up on if one is still focused on such things. Even then, it's.. terribly faint, with the exception of something that has to be quadrupedal; regardless, whatever /that/ one is is moving with a swiftness all it's own accord. Finally, there was the matter of the paths, the rounded corridors of the warship itself. From closed to more sprawling open areas. There were places that could be booby-trapped, but with the exception of a few supply rooms that deadended, there were multiple paths everywhere; multiple levels within some chambers. One certainty: there was truly no uniform deck configuration to this ship, owing to the preference for modularity and repairable elements rather than static angles. Reports were coming in; Grineer were boarding the ship. The sheer size meant that initially as the group proceeded back to to the engine and reactor room, that they wouldn't quite yet encounter them unless they dawdled. Starboard side, from the sound of it to answer one question posed by where they were coming from. And it was a /lot/ of them, from that sound. But there were still things that could be done. Salvage could be acquired by a roving band while the reactor sabotage was performed--least in theory. On individuals HUDs and other sensory data, another ping showed the arrival, indicated by that same symbol. The ship groaned a little bit. The Grineer marines were boarding. The focus would be at the engine and reactor rooms for those with a keen sense of battle. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang isn't a planner, a thinker. She's a woman of action, and so while others set traps, the blonde brawler gets herself ready. She'll hang back at a crossroads toward the engine room, one of the major connection paths, and fight to hold off the incoming Grineer.     "I'll hold 'em off and buy you guys some time. Get that reactor wired as fast as you can then get out." she calls to the others as she stops and turns to face the incoming Grineer. She won't stop them here, no way, and there's other ways around, but by the Shattered Moon, she'll give those that are foolish enough to face her reason to fear the Burning Gold. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Setsuko is swift. Were she on her own, she could probably cross the ship in an unfairly short amount of time. But she has allies here. Comrades in arms. The choice of going ahead and leaving them behind is pretty much out of the question. So she restrains herself to human speeds, keeping pace with the group and staying out near the lead. Much as before, Zanjintou remains in its sheath, and her hand remains on its grip, prepared to draw at any moment. "I'm no technician myself. Yuna, can Elner set the core to overload? The three of us should be more than enough to delay them until it's ready." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' So here they were, Kotone was with the rest of the group, in a charnal house. All of the dead being part of a very xenophobic species of clone. Things just kept getting worse honestly as something else is here. A Warframe that did /it/ four of them had cleaned out the ship. She was more than unedge the Grineer were boarding the ship. She's already cloaked and has her laser riflr ready, she checks the hudd showing there are more contacts getting on. "So we got a choice here fight an unknown enemy or bail, I'm thinking we should bail here, of we cam" Shes not about to bail on the party and leave them behind. She really does not like this at all. 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' Confirmation that the Grineer ship is being boarded (by Grineer forces) quickens Yuna's pace considerably; the best way to keep this ship from being used as an anti-planetary WMD really does lie there, and Yuna is happy to leave the fighting to her comrades. Still, Elner's already planned for backup, and the remainder of the Matrix of Light has been alerted, just in case they need to fight to protect the Mike-maru-go. Or rather, in case Erina and Marina need to do though. As far as the little robo-faerie is concerned, Jiina is needed elsewhere ... namely, in engineering. Elner teleports Jiina as close to engineering as the ship's architecture will allow, but that only gets her so far ahead of the Grineer. Yuna just makes the best time she can to engineering from where she was beforehand, Elner keeping pace next to her. "Okay, Elner, start scanning and translating; see if the Lotus can give us any pointers, too. We want to freeze out the reactors, not make them explode, right?" 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' Talk about being entirely stuck in a very unlikeable position. X is frozen in place while a sea of activity rushes around him. People storming off to stall the Grineer, to sabotage the reactor... there is discussion of simply fleeing! But...     All the ships are back through halls of Grineer. An enemy that he doesn't wish to fight. There are people here that he needs to protect too!     So where should he be?     Sure it takes him a while... but eventually makes his decision. <<Our best route of escape is back the way we came. We have no choice but to fight. There's no other route to our ships!>>     X HATES the decision he's just come to. It's all over his face as he makes a mad charge over to Junction Sixteen, robot boots going CLANK CLANK CLANK with every steep until he comes to a halt near Yang Xiao Long. The blue robot's frowning something fiercely but his honest eyes shine with concern.     "Not alone you won't, miss!" Concern, but also plenty of spirit. X extends his hand for a fist-bump with Yang!     It's a weird gesture, but trust Zero to have filled X in about them! 

:'''{{#var:672|Starbound Flotilla (672)}} has posed:'''     Pavo ditches the group, in the sense that the Starbound captains arrange to defend the area and draw attention while she goes to scavenge the caches. "Sorry, kiddo, looks like we're not 'boutta ditch." "You can attempt an emergency teleportation from here, if you like, but I understand the experience is... Troubling. I would advise you either fight your way around the conflict, or stay and participate." "Troubled. I am uncertain of this purpose, but if these Grineer are as it has been said they are, perhaps it is acceptable..." "Don't focus on that. The punching one is giving us time. Deploy defenses."     The Starbounders spread out. Biteblade dives into side-halls, using her enhanced speed and strength to move into flanking positions. Moonfin, Seft, Albert, and George all begin deploying defenses. Barricades, turrets, firearm emplacements. Tremendous cutting hazards, electrical hazards. Blocked-up hallways filled with horribly thick and resistant metallic alloy. While Yang holds them off, the Starbounders intend to FORTIFY the reactor against any breaching! Not unlike Alexis Maaka, here! 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' On the one hand, it would take a little bit for some of the Grineer forces to actually get there properly; the sheer size of the vessel meant that from where they were boarding--even if the docking bay would be somehow clear, Yang and X may not have many to deal with at first. It's a trickle of soldiers; masked Lancers with their Grakata rifles and a Shield Lancer holding his heavy riot shield as a vanguard. They're taking cover and moving in very traditional military fashion. More specific, what look to be melee units; Butchers and Powerfists are attempting to use the coverfire being lain down by the rifle-toting Lancers to approach their targets, even ducking around bulkheads to keep themselves out of sight long enough to effect an ambush. At least, that's the running theory so far, as the Lancers begin to open fire--shots richocheting off bulkheads but more than a few aimed as true as they can be. It's not too dissimilar for Setsuko; though she has some more heavier units on her way than most. Do the Grineer detect something? It's difficult to say for certain: particularly when it comese to slightly heavier armor of flamethrower-wielding units begin their own approach. Leaner-looking feminine units are situating themselves as a half-dozen or so close the distance. The feminine one at a distance is wielding a sniper rifle, bringing it up to fire as other Grineer units open fire with their assault rifles! The size of the junction makes it plausible for these guys to be coming from nearly every direction, it seems, yet it's not too terribly difficult to obtain cover on both sides, as it were. Almost everyone is seeing an additional unit type that is a bit.. odd, next to these: misshapen spheres of sorts, rolling units that weave in around as they are just a bit faster than their bipedal counterparts. Though in the case of Setsuko, she very well may pick up on something else coming. Savage furor--not necessarily at her--but approaching all the same. The members of the Starbound Flotilla and Alexis Maaka's maneuvers indicate one thing to the Grineer; they're going to have /trouble/ like nothing else to get through there. There's yells of pain as some of the explosive mines that were set by Alexis on her way through just eliminate a couple of hostile pings outright. The scanning systems tell a pretty quick story outright; the rooms that are pretty well deadending into the coolant systems are twofold and differently designed. There are security systems in the sense to prevent their exploitation as well as prevent damage in the case of an accident. Yuna would arrive at a t-shaped junction; to either side are powered energy conduits oscillating; damaging these would cut power to the rather powerful energy wall denying access to the coolant systems themselves. It's a rather impressive redundnacy in design; attempting to breach or bypass directly through the shields would incur heavy electrical damage and drain one of energy. As to the very prospect of evacuation, the pulsing green icon on the map indicates an extraction point. And from this, a single figure descends from a ventillation shaft; wreathed in gold lining amidst black and blue-purple colorations. The soft fabric of a syadana rustles behind her; oscillating colors behind a single cyclopian diode upon Mag Prime's head as she regards Kotone. As if to offer her (and by extension, Alexis) the option to withdraw for her own safety. Wielding a similarly plated rifle, she gestures to some of the metallic alloys that the Starbounders have placed; electromagnetic force ensures that the fortification has just all that much more strength to it. Yet not a single word, other than the pulsation of magnetic energy from her fingertips, nor a sound either. The Lotus comes across the channel, "She will guide you, if you need it. There are paths out of here that the Grineer cannot use, and will do so for Alexis momentarily." Furthermore, those odd little energy signatures are showing up once again if anyone's still running scanners. Most notably 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Furthermore, those odd little energy signatures are showing up once again if anyone's still running scanners. Most notably with the Mag Prime's expenditure of energy in order to magnetize some of the fortifications together. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang looks to X, then grins and touches her right fist to his outstretched one. Her gaunlet racking its slide before she gets into position. "Nice to have the backup, lets give 'em hell." she says, fists up in a boxers defense stance.     The Grineer come around the corner, and their rifles light up.     Yang grits her teeth, and crosses her arms in front of her, bullets glancing off her gauntlets, and mushrooming against her Aura, leaving little gashes along exposed skin which close quickly after they're made. "I /hate/ ranged fighters." she growls softly, drawing her right arm back, and firing an explosive bolt down the hallway. On impact that bolt explodes like a grenade, which should give enough of a smoke screen for the brawler to advance, jinking side to side to throw off the aim of the Lancers.     The Butchers and Powerfists are coming in close, and the brawler grins a bit, shifting her stance and ducking under a slash of a big blade, before driving her fist into the Butcher's midsection. "Bang." her strike punctuated by a shotgun blast of kinetic force. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "Ya the ship's too scrambled to beam us out, we don't have much of a choice do we?" She notes to the Flotilla she knows they are right there's no way out of this but she does not like this t all. She'll keep moving to head and not leave her firends behind at all. She's looking at the units coming in, she's going to go info war support for the most part and attempt to get into their comm systems to see if she can pick up anything of use. She might not get anywhere but who knows. She keeps moving and trying to keep out of the gight as she moves to keep with the Flotilla. and then something drops in on her, she stares, it's seeing through her stelath and ther's a momebnt of panic until Lotus comes on the comm. "... All right then... lead the way I don't have much of a choice do I?" She'll follow but she's clearly on edge, she also shuts the optic cameo off to save it's power for when it's needed. 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' 'Bypass the system by any means you see fit,' says the Lotus. Yuna looks at the energy conduits, then hefts the Matrix Divider. "All right ..." She eyes the conduits briefly, wondering how much energy's going to run loose when they're breached, but she has to trust the Light Suit to protect her sufficiently. Then she starts shooting the conduits, trying to blast them when the fluctuations are at lower ebb. The blasts from her weapon are concussive energy bolts; their Holy/Light element probably won't be an issue here. Elner's ready to pop a force field in front of Yuna in the event that the conduits explode more violently than expected, though. And if taking out the conduits on one side of the junction isn't enough, Yuna then repeats the process on the other side. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Cover? What is this 'cover' of which you speak?     Faced with enemies, Setsuko makes a number of snap decisions in the blink of an eye. The use of Zanjintou's full form anywhere on this ship is too dangerous to consider, even in such a wide-open space. She could carve through something important. For a similar reason, the use of her divine power for 'cutting arcs' is probably a bad idea. Launching projectiles that could carve through steel easily, has some big risks.     No, she'll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Close to melee range, carve them up. Use their numbers against them. Provide such a hazard that they have no choice but to focus their efforts on her instead of pressing Yang and X. Which means, first and foremost, priorities. The ranged units pose the greatest danger. The sniper in particular. Following that, the ones with the flamethrowers. She's not sure what the rolling units are capable of that their peers aren't, but they need to be watched. So the demigod resolves to destroy their ranged marksmanship first, but also thin the close-range herd a bit in the process.     All of the decisionmaking happens in a fraction of a second. By the time the first sniper shot fires, she's already moving. It clips across her left shoulder, a deep gash that sprays blood behind the demigod but doesn't slow her. She launches with speed more appropriate to a highway car going fast enough to earn a ticket, barreling straight towards the nearest flamethrower trooper - only to suddenly stop in front of him, drop low, and draw her blade. The quickdraw is incredibly fast, the arc perfect, aimed to carve right through his chest. In the same motion, however, she reaches out with her left hand to /grab/ his armor, and bodily throw him. Straight towards one of the snipers.     But the sudden storm of movement doesn't stop there. Suddenly, Setsuko leaps, what looks to be a high and soaring arc... and one where it would be easy for a sniper to take her out. But before she even reaches the top of that arc, she suddenly changes direction. Flight is a handy thing like that. It lets her stop a jump in mid-air, and re-direct straight towards another sniper. 

:'''{{#var:672|Starbound Flotilla (672)}} has posed:'''     And then, Biteblade lunges into the conflict. Dashing madly, through the side-halls, she surges ahead of where the Starbounders halt the Grineer advance. While Pavo's scavenging around for the caches, Biteblade goes to work. Her own work is not that unlike the local Tenno, oddly; her magnetic induction bow, her twin daggers, and her vicious melee brutality and hunter-killer tactics are meant to sew chaos and discord among the Grineer, brutalizing the squad leaders and dashing away before a full response can be done.     The SPEED of it, though! Her semi-powered armor works in perfect tandem with her body's tremendously overcharged death-powered biology, meaning she's leaving huge wakes of wind behind her, firing arrows that blast the air from whole hallways or pierce bulkheads. She works well with Setsuko here; her high-energy cannibalism results in a tremendous healing factor that lets her compete a little with the war god for kills, and the energy boost for speed. She lets Setsuko focus on the snipers; Biteblade focuses on the short-range fighters and their short-range fighting, and the leaders!     Meanwhile, guns are drawn from the Matter Manipulators of the remaining four Starbounders. They take positions and intend to blast apart anything about to break through the group's heavy hitters. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' WHUNK! Because fistbumps between gauntlets and robots is heavy stuff! But is there a little jolt when they touch? Heh. maybe.     X's hopeful smile fades immediately when the Grineer fill the corridors! "If we can just keep them busy and avoid lethal force I'd appreciate it! ... But don't put yourself at risk!" Even if they're omniaggressive clones, these Grineer are living things and he's not supposed to be here fighting them!     He's got to TRY and avoid bloodshed.     At first X is content to use the wall junction for cover, ducking around it when the shots come in... and then slipping out of cover when the enemies stop shooting! He lays down suppressing fire of his own! Bolts of plasma spew forth from his X buster at a fairly rapid pace... but they're aimed pretty badly. Or... rather... they're deliberately aimed to miss. He's aiming at the floor, at walls, towards feet. Where he can get away with it he risks shots for weapons!     Grineer armor's probably enough to tank his humble buster though - at least, uncharged. A few shopts.     he hopes.     "ghhh--!!" But then he spots there's melee units closing in. And he answers the only way he can.     Rushing out and breaking cover with a stunning diagonal cartwheel-like FLIp that takes him to the opposite wall of the hallway! The instant his legs make contact he acts in that split moment before gravity takes over to pepper the hallway with more wild shots... then SPRINGS OFF the wall, moving forwards and up to stay a respectable height above the ground. HOW the robot's able to seemingly just bounce from wall to wall isn't too clear. But ricochet shots manage to hit him even as he seems quite capable at evading a good deal of the normal ones. heavy slugs puncture X's lightweight Titanium-X skin and wreck sensitive innards, drawing sparks and weird fluids before auto-repair systems staunch them.     But he's not going down just from a few shots. Instead...     "Let us through! We're not here to fight you!" He leaps up to the ceiling right above some of the closing melee-ists!     Helping gravity take its toll, X SPRINGS downwards and flips about, bringing considerable strength into a heel-dropkick of sorts to one of the soldier's shoulders! The moment his other foot's on the ground he spins about and ducks towards another, brings his fist under and upwards with dire purpose for the heaviest plating he can find on the Grineer's armor. And on contact?!     His fist blazes with light, X-Buster machinery now resembling a weird cuff or gauntlet around his fist. It pistons with the strike, transmitting one hell of a KABOOM shockwave into the blow     The wave of light flows all across X from the fist until it's covered his whole body. Where he was blue and light blue, he's now bright yellow and brown.     YOU GOT     EMBER CELICA     Oh, so that's what the jolt during the fistbump was for. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' Frightful honesty time: sometimes the best way to deal with a problem, especially the Grineer, is straight on. "ATTAF!" is one such battlecry from these Grineer, their voices having a slight vocal resonance due to their commsystems, guttural and sharp. "Ket klem!" is another excited cry as more Grineer begin to pour into the area. One of those Butchers that Yang picks up on is rather.. unfortunate. The armor he wore is light for the purposes of running up on a target. Not only is he blown back off his feet with a pained scream dying on his feet, but one is pretty sure he's missing a misshapen chunk of his body as he practically ragdolls in another direction. The movement Yang took is enough to keep one from actually hitting her. The Powerfist, on the other hand, stops short in order to leap up into the air and come down, slamming his fist and sending a shockwave of force back outwards--it might do some good versus that smokescreen that came up as a Roller unit passes by and around, weaving to launch itself up at Yang's midsection, blunted spikes expanding outward to try and stagger her. So that's what /those/ do. One of them barks, "Tre gos tu kowah!" (Let's go to cover!) Not that it helps them very much, given the way Biteblade is moving through their lines. Some turn and attempt to engage her, while others are simply cutdown in the process of readjusting where they're at. X's cover fire, as beneficial as it is to Yang, is also allowing for Biteblade to score some particularly vicious blows. Sadly, much of X's pleadings are answered by the rapidfire shots from their assault rifles. Setsuko's response is something that in equal parts terrifies and galvanizes the Grineer, as while she may not realize it, the Demigod very much reminds the Grineer of something that tends to happen to them with some frequency. Clones and all have certain memories sometimes. It's a surprised voice that is cut into a low, gurgling hiss as the flamethrower-wielding soldier is carved and spat out by Setsuko. The first sniper cries out as she's barreled over--the impact not necessarily killing her until she's slammed into a nearby wall by the momentum itself. Upon approach towards the next sniper has the female Grineer taking a step backwards and attempting to steady her aim. Give her credit; she's got some cajones. It doesn't necessarily /help/ though as a sound draws her attention--coming almost blindingly fast out from the corridor is a howling kind of growl preceding a purple-black.. /beast/ leaping atop it, knocking her down as it bites into an outstretched limb. Some of the flamethrowers have turned about and indeed, begun to focus on Setsuko in the interim. Some of the Roller units are banking and splitting up as well. Biteblade seems to be drawing upon this initial thought as well from some of the Grineer--a few scattered cries and the like question 'warfram?' and the like, especially given the utilization of bow and blade in equal measure like that. Marines are scattered by the winds themselves at times as the Floran moves through as they do--another Ballista sniper simply cries out helplessly before being separated from the mortal coil. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' There's no shortage of ranged units, one might be sad to say. As some soldiers are cut down, more are seen approaching further down. Or coming around. The few that aren't directly engaged find themselves on the wrong end of the guns by the remainder of the Starbounders. Pavo herself is finding a wide assortment of scavengable material; some is alloy plating and ferrite, but also what appear to be ampules of explosive chemicals. Safe to handle, from a passing glance. One thing that's pretty nice to discover; the systems here are straightforward enough that with the destruction of the conduit elements, the power supplying the protective shields that deny access to the coolant systems flickers and dies, not unlike the yellowish energy barrier that resembles a screen of noise, one might say. A single terminal rests nearby, pulsing with green light. Seems that did the trick; a cover is unlocked and one can reach for a handle of a cylinder to twist, and loosen up. Doing so will shut down the rest of the system in this area and begin putting the system into stasis, due to a lack of cooling systems currently. Interestingly enough that, when Yuna reaches the Reactor Room again once she's done with the first, two things are of note: one is the primary fuel cell itself seems to have been automatically ejected due to emergency systems. The second is that the coolant cell from the other room has been deposited there next to it. What the...? Another Grineer unit approaching from a briefly uncovered portion of the junction starts to make their way over, but a figure hurtles towards them--from the ceiling? That one elicits angry noises at first: "WARFRAM SPOTTED!" but it's already too late. She lifts her hand, and the figure's.. armor? Whatever it is unhinged as she releases a wave of that pinkish-purple energy from earlier. As some of them begin to shoot, their very movements, no, even the weapons themselves slow as the energy expands in a wave. As she lands, she lifts her Soma Prime rifle, and with a few shots, starts a chain reaction of explosions that results in pained and terrified sounds as the dozen or so Grineer around her are simply erased from existence, shadows of their bodies falling into nothingness around her from the explosions. This one was not the only one, however; something /primal/ has arrived. Specifically, Valkyr; she--as best as anyone can tell, it's a she--sends a body flying from the direction some of the grineer are coming from with the sharp report of a shotgun blast that's answered by several more; shotgun wielding Grineer beginning to advance on the Elites as well--but after the sharp shatter of her shields, she howled. It was a feminine voice. A voice that raged against an ancestral wound in primacy--even those who are not of flesh and blood could /feel it/. Energy wreathed her, a convocation of lilac-pink energy sparks and trails that radiated from her form--her forearms bore four sets of three energy spines each, floating just above the limbs from in angled placements parallel to one another. Solid energy extended from each of, and through her fingertips as she hunched over from her cry, before she leapt at a Grineer Lancer, caring not of how many shots she was being peppered with before shoving her claws, rapid-fire into it's chest. The battle is joined. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The Mag Prime on the other hand, after ensuring that Alexis and Kotone wish to exfiltrate, leads them both. She utilizes a Latron Prime, and the few soldiers that /are/ encountered are either shot down outright or lifted up, their bodies magnetized and /crushed/ inwardly. It's not much of a pretty sight, make no mistake. And the whole time, there is silence, once throwing her Glaive to rebound around a corner and clear a path--however temporary--to the docking bay for Kotone and Alexis to depart by. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     Coming down towards the sniper, Setsuko shifts her course again to one side when the Grineer woman reacts with impressive calm. She's expecting to have to duck a sniper shot, but that need is obviated by a beast of some sort slamming into the sniper. The swordswoman halts her blade, knowing instinctively that this is not an enemy. Instead, she turns, and faces down the approaching flamethrower units. They present a hazard, but one she knows how she'll counter.     Setsuko's biggest advantage here remains her speed. But it's not her only one. The use of her divine power to create ranged cutting waves may be out, but she can still put it towards less dangerous (and, admittedly less deadly) uses. As the first of the Grineer approaches, she curls her hand into a fist, blue light shimmering into view around it, only to suddenly throw a punch as soon as the first wave of flame is unleashed. It's a concussive blast, a brief but forceful burst of blue designed to push that flame back in its owner's face. Immediately, she's forward again, repeating her previous performance with a downward cut through the flamethrower troop's chest - and then grabbing him much as she did the first.     But he's not a projectile this time; he's a shield. A human(oid) shield, to allow her to close in on the others armed with lethal flames. She's not defenseless against the Rollers, either; one manages a gash in passing along her back, but only one. After that, Zanjintou lashes out every time they come near, and unlike with the Grineer she's currently holding up as a defense against fire, these she simply aims to carve clean in half. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     "KYUH!" Yang just sent that guy to orbit... but the combined blast from the Powerfist, and the leaping attack from that Roller send her stumbling backwards into the bulkhead. She's cut up pretty bad, the wounds sealing slower now, while a trickle of blood seeps from the corner of her mouth.     She pushes back straight, eyes closed and head hung, as if she's about to collapse... but instead, she takes a single step forwards, and dents the metal floor under her foot, buckling support beams and making the entire SHIP shake. "You've just gone and PISSED ME OFF!" she yells, eyes flying open to reveal burning red coals where the lilac hues once were.     The same motion causes her to explode, a wave of kinetic force and flames expanding around her as her hair begins to glow radiantly, flames licking from within the golden tresses. Those eyes focus onto that Powerfist that did the shockwave punch, and with a motion that causes the entire corridor to buckle outwards from the airpressure, she's from where she landed, right up in his face, roaring soundlessly as she uppercuts him with an explosive punch powerful enough to pulverize a spaceframe bulkhead.     She rides the momentum up, flips upside down to 'land' on the ceiling, before arching and pushing off down the hallway into the midst of the oncoming Grineer.     She ratchets her right arm back, and on hitting the middle of the formation, SLAMS her fist down into the floor, tearing up the metal and sending shrapnel flying around her in all directions. 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' Yuna lets the Matrix Divider disappear once again, and with Elner's confirmation, she opens the cover, twists the handle, and with maybe a little more work, she extricates the cylinder - "*Heavy!* Yuna groans as she's suddenly supporting its full weight. Fortunately, the Matrix Divider boosts her own strength enough that she won't put her back out from it ... but Jiina reaches Yuna at this point, and the two of them have minimal trouble carrying the cylinder between them. And it looks like somebody already got the other coolant cell into position? Well, they DID hear that they'd have some allies on the ship - but it's good to see proof of that first-hand. "You sure you didn't pick up on who did this, Elner?" Yuna wonders as she and Jiina are maneuvering their cylinder into position and hooking it up as necessary. "There's enough shielding in the bulkheads to interfere with my precision scanners," the robo-faerie remarks. "At any rate, let's not waste any unnecessary time." Yuna nods, and starts looking among the control consoles while calling in to the Lotus for further instructions - and letting her allies know things are ready to freeze the reactor. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa was one to avoid a fight if she could, should she see it being pointless. Still she wasn't about to bail on her allies if she could she can hear the Grineer now. Oh this is going to get bad but the Tenneo is leading her out? Right She's got a way out she's not bailing, she knows they need more firepower and the ships are undermanned fight? She is carrying some sort of energy weapon at the least and is packing few gifts from Dr. Shen if it comes to it.. % DShe takes the hand of the Mag Prime and is going to get lifted up. Kotone will use her laser rifle to give what support she can but she keeps moving and trying to not think too hard on the Mag's powers. 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' Okay, so insert the cylinder into the reactor - Yuna thought she'd done that ... She checks again, though, and after a moment (and some closer attention by Elner), she and Jiina get the cylinder slotted into the right place where the fuel cell used to be. Jiina focuses on getting the connections properly arranged as Yuna goes back to the control panel, looking for the prompts and having Elner help parse them out ... Yuna admittedly wants to get the process started, but she doesn't want to kick it into full 'freeze the reactor' before her allies are *aware* that the clock has started and they have a clear evacuation route, however they're leaving the ship by. And she's not entirely sure how many commands she can enter before that happens - it may only take one button for all she can make out. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' With his pleas answered only by LOTS OF BULLETS, X ends up pelted pretty heavily. All he can do is throw his limbs up to protect his vital systems. So his arms and legs take a beating, armor shredded and internals again sparking and spewing glops of some oily substance. But he lands in a backward skid... just in time to see Yang not only get her ass kicked, but come back with force he can hardly conceive coming from a human!     X's eyes are REALLY darned wide now.     But one thing's certain.     He's not going to get ANYWHERE by holding back.     "So we're doing this the hard way after all."     In his vision, targeting reticles form and spiral inwards, locking onto different body parts of the Grineer soldiers as well as weapons.     The yellowish shade fades and he's quickly back to looking a few shades of blue.     Hardly because he intends to lighten up though.     Grimly, X raises his buster. Motes of light gather the whole while. It takes only a second before -- BWOOOOOSH!!     A bolt of roiling plasma, several times more impressive than those little shots from before, storms its way down the hallway for an offending rifle - and the arm holding it, really.     No sooner is the shot let loose than X charges another and another. It's precise and brutal - he's going for weapon arms and failing that, knees and whatever can manage to disable enemies instead of just beat them back!     Still not aiming for REAL vitals, but this would be very fatal against anything less than CYBORG CLONES in POWER ARMOR or whatever they're wearing! 

:'''{{#var:672|Starbound Flotilla (672)}} has posed:'''     Biteblade continues to devour her way through the groups. The rest of the Starbounders aren't needing to handle any stragglers breaking through, especially with Valkyr suddenly iving in. Valkyr, for Biteblade, represents probably the most favored of the Warframes that could be involved, given how Floran-like her combat style is. In such a frenzy -- even with Biteblade's astounding clarity of mind -- she finds herself gravitating towards the site of the cries, and her combat brings her over. She's peppered with bullet wounds rapidly healing over, draining her energy. Looks like she won't last too much longer at this rate of combat, with so many foes, being used to one-on-one hunting far more.     The Starbounders are working on getting things set up for the extraction of all the warframes here. They know where to go, so setting up some proper time-saving things to cover the escape will be necessary here! Plus, you know, getting that to help out Biteblade who would otherwise possibly be left behind. Pavo rejoins Kotone shortly, her Matter Manipulator seeming stuffed with materials. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' There's a particular kind of growling huff that comes from the quadrupedal thing before it rips the Ballista's arm off, making a happy little sound otherwise as it expires. Definitely doglike, but there's enough little iterations--like the feet, for instance--that it's not entirely a dog as she sprints for one of the Rollers; too late to stop one from coming into contact with Setsuko, slamming into one with it's forepaws to give Setsuko some additional relief. After all, with the Scorch units (The flamethrower guys) and a new wave of Lancers approaching and peppering the area with firepower, one of which is flailing in agony as the flames are backwashed against it, setting him on fire--at least for a moment. Talk about being hoisted by your own petard, eh? The flames don't last long for him. Unfortunately, neither does he, though that heavy armor is good for deflecting the flames spewed by the other Scorches. Yang certainly does a hell of a job as it comes to evoking the notions of a berserker, soaking in damage in order to amplify one's rage and the like. Comparable indeed to the ball of rage that Valkyr nearby has become. The corridor on the other hand, may not survive, to say nothing of the Powerfist and remaining Butchers--the sheer force of it all making more than a few of the remaining Lancers get knocked the hell back and some dying outright to the explosive forces at work, from shrapnel and beyond as parts of the ship in that immediate section buckle and peel like a canopener. The Powerfist's remains are fused somewhere in there. Probably. Suddenly, however, there are a dozen or so Grineer units that appear to have some sort of frigid, cool aura beneath their feet. The source can be traced to one heavier-armored unit than most; an Eximus. The importance of this is highlighted suddenly by a map-ping tagging it--courtesy of one of the Warframes it seems under the tag: 'ARCTIC LANCER EXIMUS': in this case, he's already deployed a shell of ice around him. Drawing too close /will/ slow one down, and any ice powers will not be nearly as effectively here. The two Warframes do not deliberately draw attention to themselves, and that seems to be accomplished quite well; the Hysteria that Valkyr has wreathed herself in besides, the two are working to catch what units that the others do not with startling, measured efficiency. The pink-purple energy of antimatter is constantly cycled around Nova Prime; she elects to stay in places and move where the others can handle it; indeed at the Arctic Lancer Eximus, one of them suddenly appears after the end of an energy.. /tether/ of some kind appears, depositing her through a Wormhole as she fires off another Molecular Prime. The wave of antimatter-infused energy cascades through bulkheads and beyond, slowing not just the movements their reactions. The energy wave doesn't even have time to fully expand before she leaps into the air, throwing open a doorway and disappearing to another part of the Junction to check the side paths. It does leave the Valkyr Warframe amidst Yang and X, however briefly as it were. X's shots are things that remind the Grineer of one of their foes, the Corpus, though they can at least suss that the Reploid is not one of the many constructs and proxies the Corpus have made. The fact that they don't necessarily go down or die doesn't stop them from firing back, some of them staggered and unable to immediately respond. This.. is where the Valkyr 'frame steps up. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' At the sight of one of them staggered, she reaches with a hand, pulling one back down and before it even has a chance to react, she's rolled atop it onto one knee and shoves an energy claw through it's head before rising back up again, sweeping a nearby Grineer off his feet by slicing apart one of it's legs, sending it tumbling end over end with a misery-laden cry as it croaks. With Nova's energy heading out, and Biteblade's own approach, she howls once more--a Warcry to be specific. The energy bathes Yang and Biteblade in equal measure, and suddenly they might find themselves striking a LOT more faster, to say nothing of the gaussy energy providing a second skin of armor. It's a single, unvoiced gesture for Biteblade to caution as she indicates the Eximus and it's troops as she sprints, tail flowing behind her as waves of energy trail from her run towards the Eximus in question. Mercifully, Yuna's work isn't being interrupted by what might typically interrupt a Tenno group working here. Though they have their own ways of erecting barriers, the Flotilla's bulwark and fortification have ensured Yuna has no genuine issue at all. A clickhiss is heard as the coolant cylinder is put into position as it is readied for the system restart and flood; the coolant and fuel coil look similar except for color--a yellowish red for the fuel, and the ice blue of the coolant itself. Once she starts the system, four cylinders on cardinal points surrounding the Reactor will be flooded with ice white fluid, displaying the rather prominent changeover. There are still Grineer pouring in, but thanks in part to the Flotilla's members, to Kotone and the additional frame, once the sequence is begun it'll be relatively quick. The buffer zone being created is rather sizable. Mag Prime herself working closely and carefully; there's definitely a guardianship of a persona as contrast to the other two seen so far. There's increasing pressure--they've definitely picked up on what's going on. A Bombard; a rocket launching wielding soldier is spotted amidst the Eximus-based group heading towards Setsuko and the other, an explosion impacting next to a bulkhead by Setsuko herself. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang isn't stationary, no. Even while the shrapnel is being thrown around from her strike, she's up and running in its wake, barreling into the middle of the Grineer like a glowing golden pinball, bouncing from one to another to another in a blurr of motion and flame.     She doesn't give any thought to defense, to dodging return fire. Her one focus is destroying as many of them as she can. They can't shoot if they're dead, right? She's taking more and more damage, and eventually, her Aura fails with a flickering flash of orange-yellow.     The next strike she takes, sends her wheeling and skidding back down the corridor, coughing out a gob of blood onto the ruined deck. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     If the environment were less fragile - or at the very least, if causing damage to it were less of a potential issue - Setsuko might deal with the Eximus herself. But she's limited to close-quarters for the moment. She can't safely get close. She'll have to trust someone else to hit the source of that icy aura, unless something drastic happens that forces her to handle it. Instead, she turns towards the rocket trooper. The first blast going off behind her, she reacts to smoothly, tumbling forward in a practiced roll that takes her out of the danger zone. When the second rocket comes in, she reacts on autopilot, Zanjintou snapping up and /through/ the projectile, carving it apart before it can detonate. But the third...     Well, by now it's probably hot enough that just grabbing it will sear her hand. But the demigod is fully willing to bite back that pain, because it will allow her to reach out with impossible speed, precision and reaction times, and /grab/ the rocket mid-flight. She doesn't hold onto it very long. Just long enough to spin herself around and hurl it right back at its source. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone takes note of Pavos' return and she seems to be making ready in the evrnt she needs to fight, Kotone is clealry on edge though she's not looted a single thing today she's more concerned about gtting out o here with the dat and she looks to the warframes and does her best to help get it going. The Warframes seem to know what they are doing and seem very used to group work as she helps alng here. "I'm trying to get into their comms but I ain't got nothing, not used to their systems set up I'm afraid." The cyborg knows to the Mag, while she contiunes to work and keep watch as it's needed. 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' Time to pull the switch ... or in this case, push the button. With Elner double-checking translation of the on-screen prompts, Yuna enters the command to inject the coolant; she lingers just long enough to confirm that the process has begun and that the timer has begun counting down. And then she, Elner, and Jiina start heading for the extraction point. Once they're far enough away - out of the shielded-bulkheads area of engineering - Elner will teleport back to the Mike-maru-go and prepare for immediate takeoff; if Yuna and the others need to use the Lotus's evac point, Elner will just pick them up elsewhere as needed. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' For what it's worth, Yang manages a hell of a job. However, armor coming in a bit too late only delays the inevitable. Nova Prime, one of the other frames of a slightly more fragile (relatively) disposition catches the visual, the ping on systems. She immediately hurtles, sprinting, leaping and twisting her body in such a way that energy catapults herself forward. At the apex of this, she opens a square, dimensional doorway--a line of eneregy appearing at it's exit point. The bodies of so many Grineer strewn about her, Nova Prime lands next to Yang--too late to catch her properly, but not too late to stop her momentum with a flip, and opening up a wormhole back towards the extraction path. Smooth synthetic material grabs onto the arm as she holsters her weapon in order to make her way to the engine room, and from there, continue carrying and whisking her back to extraction. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' There is so darned much to take in here that X is pretty overwhelmed. Even for an advanced machine like him, this is WAY too much to process.     So much carnage out of ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE. All born of a mission he figured might be going out to rescue some people who need help.     Yeah, he's ignoring the next Grineer SOS, That's certain.     But having the Valkyr swoop in and finih off soldiers he was trying to spare is rankling and sickening to say the least. The robot rather audibly balks, making protesting noises for a brief moment...     But he's drawned out by Yang's bloodied coughing.     Yeah. Honestly... humans take higher priority than these freakish, merciless aliens.     "That's fighting too recklessly!" He decides Yang neds cover and thus, leaps her way to provide some cover. Largely in the form of wildly laying down shots at anything that might be eying her while shufflin her around some crates. Or a corner. Or something. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang's world is a blurry haze. She's scratched up, bloodied and beaten. She can hear X's voice, and doesn't resist being pushed into cover... but then Nova comes along and whisks her away from the front, lilac eyes swimming as her consciousness teeters. She does start moving towards the evac site, moving slowly and leaning against the wall a lot. She's in pretty bad shape. 

:'''{{#var:672|Starbound Flotilla (672)}} has posed:'''     Biteblade will be able to go on a little more, it seems. The WARCRY means that while she may be physically slowing down, her chronology is speeding up! The energy SURGES through her, and she tears her way in towards the Eximus with the Valkyr! Sliding in behind her, she rushes in for a series of swift strikes with her accelerated POWER DAGGERS, tossing the pair at the Eximus, and then swiftly retrieving them from the body, hull, or shielding they get embedded into, to cover the Valkyr... And then swiftly disengages! She was there to give some cover to the Valkyr, not finish it off.     Yeah, it's time to head out. The others are too! The Starbounders set up a final wave of turrets and and a series of inconvenient barricades, and make their break for it. Yuna's pushed the button. The six spacecraft of the STARBOUND FLOTILLA are automatically breaking away from the dangerous docking bay, swinging around, and heading towards the evac site. Those who have no way of evacuating on their own will likely be given the chance to BEAM UP onto the teleport-capable ships. 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' The button is pressed. It's time to go, and even before Yuna and Elner and the others start funneling out, one can see ice beginning to grow, to cake across the metal surfaces of it. Oh, when it goes.. it is going to /go/. Mercifully, actually extracting is remarkably easy. Any Grineer that are still alive are more intent on getting to the Reactor room to stop it. Not that they can, at the rate the group has worked. The potential fragility of this ship works so much against it's favor. If people weren't still on it that couldn't survive a proper vacuum, there'd be less an issue (hell, even the Warframes have their ways, not that they're known yet) and people getting worn down is.. problematic to put it plainly. Biteblade and Yang in particular are two individuals the frames seem drawn towards protecting, with Nova working to ensure she arrives under the care of the Flotilla members, Kotone and Mag within moments. Without a second more, she nods once at Kotone and the others before heading back. The wormholes she creates will last a while, but be only one way. Mag Prime on the other hand, moves over, and unfolds a golden-flaired disc; it begins to exude rejuvenating waves of energy. A temporary stopgap, but it'll help stabilize a little bit more. For Kotone's benefit, what she /does/ manage to get on their comms, however little, well. They're pissed. It seems it was a good idea to do what they did here, and with Kotone and the others ensuring the way out is secure, it helps for what happens once the reactor goes. But that takes time. Time that seems to stretch out, bothersomely enough. Setsuko's herculean efforts are worthy of a tank to be certain--might be easily confused for Tenno herself if it weren't what she actually /looked like/. A cry of agony escapes one of the Grineer as the rocket is sent back, staggering the thing backwards as it--and a few more Grineer--start to fall under the rapidfire shots of another frame. Mesa; the gunslinger, drops in to support the remaining forces on the ground. Ventillation shafts are rather nice that way. X's covering fire is part of why this option is able to work, one might notice after the fact. They're more focused on their combined firepower and trying to document a little bit of it while trying to put X down as much as Setsuko that they don't even notice. Twin longbarreled guns that seem more part of the frame's hands than actually separate pieces sling hot lead like there's no tomorrow. The blindfolded-looking frame slings shot after shot; so much that it pieces and eventually breaks down the Eximus' ice barrier. Perfect timing for Biteblade and Valkyr to sprint forward and not unlike a pair of buzzsaws, carve a path through nearly a dozen Grineer around the Eximus; sliding and spinning and then ending in an uppercut that tears four furrows through armor and flesh, toppling the Eximus with frightening fury. Shortly after, the ice slowing them down simply flakes off their bodies. A slight nod from the figure before she turns and makes her way towards the evacuation point. Among the ships arriving is a curious one; a spade shape profile uncloaks nearby, attaching itself to the ship not too far from the docking bay itself. The Liset, it identifies itself as the void mask fades, leaving faint echoes of the optical-based stealth on those systems still present. Nova Prime reappears, sprinting out through one of the side corridors and making a quick gesture for some of the others--X, Setsuko, Biteblade, Valkyr and Mesa among them--to book it. She opens a Wormhole in the other direction and with the paths established, it would be pretty instantaneous to get around and over to extraction. Which.. is needed. Because as the Reactor goes, it's effect is profound. Containers, systems for environmental controls BLANKET the entire ship in ice. Spillage from liquid-bearing containers practically flash freeze half the ship within seconds, then more as time progresses. There's hazards, but they're relatively easy to avoid to get out. 

:'''{{#var:255|Setsuko Kaminagi (255)}} has posed:'''     As soon as 'the time left to full overload' is less than 'the time it would take the Grineer to stop the overload', Setsuko is gone. "All personnel, fall back. We're in retreat!" And much as before, she's not leaving her comrades-in-arms behind. She will stay on the absolute back end of the retreating group, acting as a tank to ensure that the Grineer are unable to hit them in the back while they're retreating through the wormhole. Only once everyone else has retreated does she herself dive in. 

:'''{{#var:385|Yuna Kagurazaka (385)}} has posed:''' The sight of the engine room *already* starting to freeze over is enough to make sure Yuna hurries. She's sorely tempted to switch into Powered Form and use its hoverthrusters to speed along her way - but she doesn't want to plow into a bulkhead, or an ally, or the like; ergo, she stays in the basic Light Suit, trusting Jiina to watch her back and to support her if there's anything to fight their way through. The Mike-maru-go, seemingly devoid of humanoid life signs, takes off from the Grineer ship's docking bay, maneuvering to form up with the Liset. Yuna can transfer over to her ship from the Tenno(?) vessel later - getting out definitely takes priority. 

:'''{{#var:967|X (967)}} has posed:''' By this point, with Yang rescued - however haphaardly- X is at his limit. It's time to get OUT of here and just... try and forget this ever happerned. unless he can come up with some kind of useful conclusions. He's not so damaged that self-repair won't have it taken care of by the next day or two...     Coming pretty close to it there though! He can only duck behind cover so much while still laying down suppression fire of his own!     When a path's finally carved - as much as he wants to protest it - he bolts for one of the ships in the hangar, but keeps a sharp eye on the others to make sure EVERYONE is getting out of here. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa will go over what she does get on the Grineer's network later but the basics are clear they are very angry. Oh so very angry angry and so heavily armed. She's leeping up with the group as they go, she also does notice the worm holes are something new but she leaps throug, trying to keep her bearing as they keep moving, she'll make sure to thank the Tenno when they get out of here. Yes she's thinking wen she's confident they can get out of this mess with these mysterious space ninja. "Pavo lets keep moving so you can get out with the loot you have and the rest of us!" 

:'''{{#var:964|Kushiko (964)}} has posed:''' It's pretty well beyond time to get going, yes. The Liset on the other hand is not very much a traditional landing craft; it will serve the purposes of getting someone transferred over at least, as the way it takes the frames aboard is.. odd. A humanoid-shaped recess that is like a cylinder, revolving around, depositing the frame on the inside. Thankfully there is a nice little secondary crew alotment, though it's clear that the Tenno do not pilot these. With Setsuko the last one through along with X, everyone is safe and secure and aboard their respective ships. Job well done. LOOT ACQUIRED: Credits, Ferrite (x2200), Alloy Plates (1000), Detonite Ampules (12) and Control Module (1) The Grineer ship simply drifts, at this point; all things of use, and the Grineer interest in it, having evaporated in the climax of the conflict. It'll be abandoned after this. Well done. 
}}

Kushiko

2016-03-30T01:38:37Z

Aryn:

{{CharacterNew
|NameOnMUSH=Kushiko
|Color=#8B4789
|Char_id=964
|Img=http://i.imgur.com/mU1zSFG.png?1
|FullName=Kushiko
|Gender=Female
|Species=Tenno (Modified Human)
|Theme=Warframe-1
|Chartype=OC
|Active=Active
|Function=Tenno Operative
|Faction=Syndicate
|Rank=6-Recruit
|Ranktype=Syndicate
|Quote=My Warframe is the hand, and I am the will.
|PAge=Adult?
|AAge=Unknown
|Aging=No
|Height=Variable
|Weight=Variable
|Hair=Unknown
|Eyes=Unknown
|Voice=Kushiko: 'The Falcon' preset; Lotus: Rebecca Ford
|Song=Keith Power - This Is What You Are; Blue Stahli - The Devil
|Profile=An enigmatic being known as a Tenno, Kushiko wields Void energy to control the powerful technorganic suits known as Warframes, utilizing a wide assortment of supernatural abilities. Such abilities are augmented further by her close quarter and ranged combat skills and arsenal. Rumors and dangerous secrets abound; Tenno themselves do not occupy those Warframes, only silence given amidst the casual ease with which she kills those who stand in her way. Bereft of memories and sworn to the Lotus, Kushiko fights to keep groups like the Grineer and Corpus from gaining too much power over one another in order to maintain the balance. Now that she is in the Multiverse, the mission to safeguard the innocent with discipline and honor has become all the more paramount, even if it is not a world she can truly live in. Regardless of the future however, certain ideals remain: loyalty and honor in all things.
|Powers=VOID ENERGY: Highly malleable and adaptable, energy of the Void is largely anathema to most forms of life, and cannot be controlled easily. This energy is the fuel for her ability to control Warframes through the Somatic Link. Her body does not age, nor sustenance, in the usual way because of this. At it's most specific, the focus of her mind brings down terrible destructive energy when using a surrogate Warframe, as demonstrated by her Void Pulse.

TRANSFERENCE: Utilizing the Somatic Link, Kushiko is capable of focusing and transferring her consciousness into the Warframe itself. This allows her to focus her Void powers in a wide variety of ways, and the mere act of Transference itself keeps her power focused in such a way her powers do not spiral out of control. The way her power is focused depends on the Warframe, and in this regard, each frame is considered to be a surrogate body and extension of herself. Her senses are also enhanced, as she views and sees not just through the Warframe itself, but also just outside the body, allowing for a supernatural precision with the guidance of her Warframe. (See Warframes Asset and related info)

VOID PULSE: When in combat long enough, enough Void energy channeled into her Warframe over time allows her to focus, using the Warframe as a conduit to channel her spiritual projection through. This projection can release multiple waves of energy that can suspend and incapacitate foes for a short time. During this power release, her frame is rendered inert while she is in such a transcendent state, but is invulnerable to non-aurics, and much harder to hurt, though this release of power is not consistent, requiring time and effort to attain the necessary focus.
|Skills=THE WAYS OF OLD: Kushiko is a scion of transcendent skill in the art of martial combat, skilled in the use of all weapons, from guns to bow to blade and explosive and beyond. From the most ancient to the most modern concepts, she possesses an instinctive familiarity with all manner of weaponry that can be wielded. With a blade or focused on melee, she is capable of parrying and deflecting a wide variety of attacks, be they bullets, energy or explosions. Such knowledge complements her practiced and learned knowledge of the myriad ways of how to kill, destroy, or otherwise eliminate a target or objective to end a fight as quickly as possible. Even for weapons or body types she has not encountered, her instinctive mastery of the art of killing means it will not take her long to overcome gaps in knowledge to adapt to a changing situation. (Weapons included but not limited to +info Kushiko/Equipment)

COMBAT AGILITY: Further augmenting her impressive combat skills is her impressive combat agility. Any and all Warframes are highly capable of overcoming physical obstacles and issues of height utilizing the terrain itself in varying ways including parkour. While some frames are slower or faster than others, she can easily run across, cling to and utilize any walled surface in order to get where she might need. She can move quickly through inhospitable terrain through her leaping abilities, channeling void energy through her frame to allow greater feats of mobility. In midair, she is able to alter her frame's weight with energy to jump multiple times or alter her direction in a split second. She can also effectively airglide, allowing her to aim herself more readily for a short time while airborne from a powerful jump.

STEALTH: Regardless of the Warframe in use, all Tenno are trained in the art of stealth, and Kushiko is no different. A skilled infiltrator, Kushiko is capable of getting into a variety of locations regardless of environment without being seen, though combat is often a necessary instrument in the end, which serves her well on assassination details. (Consent applies.)

HACKING: While not a savant by any means, as part of her training Kushiko is skilled in the use of devices and her own ability to bypass a wide variety of electronic locks and other systems to extract data caches and open secured areas. Furthermore, linking systems remotely with her Liset landing craft is possible to provide additional hacking support to more dedicated technical specialists as well as the Lotus for information recovery. However more specialized Elite systems can be beyond her capability to overcome security in a timely fashion, and dedicated specialists can lock her out. (Consent required for attempts on PC systems; physical location also required)
|Assets=WARFRAMES: The focus and instruments for Kushiko's Void-derived power, Warframes are specially-made technorganic humanoid battle frames designed to enhance and focus a Tenno's power and combat skills. The frame serves as a surrogate body, protected with regenerating shields, granting enhanced mobility, and empowered with an array of supernatural abilities depending on the Warframe in question, as each frame focuses the Tenno's power in different ways. Kushiko can control up to four Warframes though she prefers one at a time; currently she utilizes one or more of the four frames: Valkyr, Nova Prime, and Mag Prime, and Mesa. (+info Kushiko/Warframes)

ORBITER: Serving both as a base of operations and home, Kushiko's Orbiter is a highly sophisticated craft that transports Kushiko across space and beyond to get her where she needs to be. By shifting outside normal space into the Void, the Orbiter is capable of avoiding detection from a wide variety of methods to keep Kushiko's body safe. At the heart of the Orbiter lies the Somatic Link, which helps keep Kushiko alive by directing the Void energy in her body for Transference. In addition, her Arsenal is stored here, unused weapons and frames kept in an energy-based stasis, keeping safe and maintaining all weaponry, sentinels, and Warframes not in use. The Foundry is a fabrication station capable of building a vast variety of objects using recovered materials from combat, from weapons to additional Warframes, including their subcomponents necessary to fabricate. The Nutrio Incubator allows for the breeding and DNA detoxification of current or additional Kubrow, and can place them in stasis if necessary. (+info Kushiko/Equipment)

LANDING CRAFT: Housed aboard the Orbiter, the Liset is a landing craft that can deploy one or multiple Warframes to a destination. Capable of stealth via sensor-obfuscation, the Liset is utilized to infiltrate a wide variety of conditions, including deep space, planetary atmospheres, and even through the ocean depths. A tractor beam attached to the ship allows for the hauling of heavy cargo, and auxiliary space aboard the ship allows for additional, if limited passengers.

ARCHWING: For conditions in space or sea that the Liset cannot deliver a Warframe to, the Archwing system is employed. With weaponry and secondary systems to offer a combat capable option against non-land foes, it provides for a way to directly fight in these conditions. Stealth, overwhelming firepower and balance are the chief options that can be utilized, allowing for a variety of roles should the need arise. The Archwing's weapons and systems require an open area to be used properly.
|NPCs=LOTUS: The Lotus is directly responsible for overseeing the missions that a Tenno such as Kushiko may or may not take, offering advice and notice regarding a changing mission situation. She also gathers intelligence on behalf of the Tenno, serving as a contact for those who seek the Tenno's aid, not to mention operating systems remotely once Kushiko has breached a system for her. She can provide life support systems through matter transport, but they cannot be activated by her.

ORDIS: The artificial intelligence aboard the Orbiter, and by extension the Liset, Ordis is a Cephalon, a synthetic life form projected with light and logic, but possessing hints of enough sentient quality that presents a concrete personality. Extremely loyal to the Operator, the Tenno, Ordis manages many of the systems aboard the Orbiter and Liset alike. Grineer salvage operations before his recover have caused damage to his memory banks as well as causing a slightly murderous slant. He also really hates Kubrow, but tolerates it for the Tenno.

KUBROW: After the fall of the Orokin, these former pets were left to fend for themselves. Only the most vicious survived, evolving into deadly pack hunters that now pervade Earth's dense forests. With a fair amount of effort and genetic alterations, these canine-like animals are bred as a loyal, domesticated companion for the Tenno. Ikaruga, a Raksa breed of Kubrow is a highly loyal and protective companion residing aboard the Orbiter, and is scarcely seen outside of the company of Kushiko. Due to their genetic modifications, they are riddled with degenerative DNA that must be repaired intermittently.
|Disadvantages=POWERED BY A FORSAKEN CHILD: Incredible power comes at an incredible cost. The inability to control her powers caused a great deal of harm in the past, and it is something that haunts her, not to mention knowing that her existence is being a living weapon. What was done to make her what she is she will never fully remember, but their results remain. What she does remember has warped her psyche irreversibly: only the Tenno honor code keeps her remotely sane and focused, for in the end she is still a child. A child who can never truly grow up nor leave the confines of her Orbiter, something that can serve as a disadvantage emotionally.

LOTUS: As a child, as Tenno, she is sworn to the Lotus. While she may look out for her, if the Lotus feels that a threat to her wellbeing is grave enough, she will order Kushiko to withdraw, to which Kushiko's almost guaranteed compliance may endanger the lives of allies or the mission itself.

AT ANY COST: Killing comes to Kushiko the same way most people see breathing. The wholesale slaughter of hundreds if not more is something that is of little bother to her. While some indiscriminate murder might be necessary, Kushiko kills with a practiced ease without hesitation or remorse. This may bring her into conflict with those who might be seeking a peaceful solution, and in order to further her goals, she will often take a job for what is the most benefit to her.

TRANSFERENCE LINK: Anything felt by the Warframe is in turn, felt by Kushiko herself. This is in part what put the Tenno to sleep so long ago: the cryostasis of the Warframe itself also brought about the same in the user, unable to break the link. Outright incapacitation of her current frame can result in her losing the frame altogether, requiring a lengthy rebuild process if not worse. Furthermore the masking of the link signal is not foolproof: it can be discovered or even interfered with, leaving her or her Warframes vulnerable if the link is broken or worse, traced. While difficult, it is not impossible to find a way to the source and into the Void where the Orbiter is held with Kushiko defenseless. Should a Warframe be completely lost, a week is needed to rebuild and restore it to its original state.

ENVIRONMENTAL: While powerful, Warframes are vulnerable to extreme conditions. Atmospheric conditions need to be relatively stable, and it is possible to force her to evacuate if there is no way of establishing life support to the Warframe if it is cut off or purposefully disrupted. Extreme cold saps her shields, and the vacuum of space or deep pressure will drain the shields and inflict further damage if forced to stay in it overlong. Powerful electromagnetic attacks can scramble her visuals as well, which effectively interferes with the Transference itself.
}}

Kushiko

2016-03-30T01:28:24Z

Aryn: Created page with "{{CharacterNew |NameOnMUSH=Kushiko |Color=#8B4789 |Char_id=964 |FullName=Kushiko |Gender=Female |Species=Tenno (Modified Human) |Theme=Warframe-1 |Chartype=OC |Active=Active |..."

{{CharacterNew
|NameOnMUSH=Kushiko
|Color=#8B4789
|Char_id=964
|FullName=Kushiko
|Gender=Female
|Species=Tenno (Modified Human)
|Theme=Warframe-1
|Chartype=OC
|Active=Active
|Function=Tenno Operative
|Faction=Syndicate
|Rank=6-Recruit
|Ranktype=Syndicate
|Quote=My Warframe is the hand, and I am the will.
|PAge=Adult?
|AAge=Unknown
|Aging=No
|Height=Variable
|Weight=Variable
|Hair=Unknown
|Eyes=Unknown
|Voice=Kushiko: 'The Falcon' preset; Lotus: Rebecca Ford
|Song=Keith Power - This Is What You Are; Blue Stahli - The Devil
|Profile=An enigmatic being known as a Tenno, Kushiko wields Void energy to control the powerful technorganic suits known as Warframes, utilizing a wide assortment of supernatural abilities. Such abilities are augmented further by her close quarter and ranged combat skills and arsenal. Rumors and dangerous secrets abound; Tenno themselves do not occupy those Warframes, only silence given amidst the casual ease with which she kills those who stand in her way. Bereft of memories and sworn to the Lotus, Kushiko fights to keep groups like the Grineer and Corpus from gaining too much power over one another in order to maintain the balance. Now that she is in the Multiverse, the mission to safeguard the innocent with discipline and honor has become all the more paramount, even if it is not a world she can truly live in. Regardless of the future however, certain ideals remain: loyalty and honor in all things.
|Powers=VOID ENERGY: Highly malleable and adaptable, energy of the Void is largely anathema to most forms of life, and cannot be controlled easily. This energy is the fuel for her ability to control Warframes through the Somatic Link. Her body does not age, nor sustenance, in the usual way because of this. At it's most specific, the focus of her mind brings down terrible destructive energy when using a surrogate Warframe, as demonstrated by her Void Pulse.

TRANSFERENCE: Utilizing the Somatic Link, Kushiko is capable of focusing and transferring her consciousness into the Warframe itself. This allows her to focus her Void powers in a wide variety of ways, and the mere act of Transference itself keeps her power focused in such a way her powers do not spiral out of control. The way her power is focused depends on the Warframe, and in this regard, each frame is considered to be a surrogate body and extension of herself. Her senses are also enhanced, as she views and sees not just through the Warframe itself, but also just outside the body, allowing for a supernatural precision with the guidance of her Warframe. (See Warframes Asset and related info)

VOID PULSE: When in combat long enough, enough Void energy channeled into her Warframe over time allows her to focus, using the Warframe as a conduit to channel her spiritual projection through. This projection can release multiple waves of energy that can suspend and incapacitate foes for a short time. During this power release, her frame is rendered inert while she is in such a transcendent state, but is invulnerable to non-aurics, and much harder to hurt, though this release of power is not consistent, requiring time and effort to attain the necessary focus.
|Skills=THE WAYS OF OLD: Kushiko is a scion of transcendent skill in the art of martial combat, skilled in the use of all weapons, from guns to bow to blade and explosive and beyond. From the most ancient to the most modern concepts, she possesses an instinctive familiarity with all manner of weaponry that can be wielded. With a blade or focused on melee, she is capable of parrying and deflecting a wide variety of attacks, be they bullets, energy or explosions. Such knowledge complements her practiced and learned knowledge of the myriad ways of how to kill, destroy, or otherwise eliminate a target or objective to end a fight as quickly as possible. Even for weapons or body types she has not encountered, her instinctive mastery of the art of killing means it will not take her long to overcome gaps in knowledge to adapt to a changing situation. (Weapons included but not limited to +info Kushiko/Equipment)

COMBAT AGILITY: Further augmenting her impressive combat skills is her impressive combat agility. Any and all Warframes are highly capable of overcoming physical obstacles and issues of height utilizing the terrain itself in varying ways including parkour. While some frames are slower or faster than others, she can easily run across, cling to and utilize any walled surface in order to get where she might need. She can move quickly through inhospitable terrain through her leaping abilities, channeling void energy through her frame to allow greater feats of mobility. In midair, she is able to alter her frame's weight with energy to jump multiple times or alter her direction in a split second. She can also effectively airglide, allowing her to aim herself more readily for a short time while airborne from a powerful jump.

STEALTH: Regardless of the Warframe in use, all Tenno are trained in the art of stealth, and Kushiko is no different. A skilled infiltrator, Kushiko is capable of getting into a variety of locations regardless of environment without being seen, though combat is often a necessary instrument in the end, which serves her well on assassination details. (Consent applies.)

HACKING: While not a savant by any means, as part of her training Kushiko is skilled in the use of devices and her own ability to bypass a wide variety of electronic locks and other systems to extract data caches and open secured areas. Furthermore, linking systems remotely with her Liset landing craft is possible to provide additional hacking support to more dedicated technical specialists as well as the Lotus for information recovery. However more specialized Elite systems can be beyond her capability to overcome security in a timely fashion, and dedicated specialists can lock her out. (Consent required for attempts on PC systems; physical location also required)
|Assets=WARFRAMES: The focus and instruments for Kushiko's Void-derived power, Warframes are specially-made technorganic humanoid battle frames designed to enhance and focus a Tenno's power and combat skills. The frame serves as a surrogate body, protected with regenerating shields, granting enhanced mobility, and empowered with an array of supernatural abilities depending on the Warframe in question, as each frame focuses the Tenno's power in different ways. Kushiko can control up to four Warframes though she prefers one at a time; currently she utilizes one or more of the four frames: Valkyr, Nova Prime, and Mag Prime, and Mesa. (+info Kushiko/Warframes)

ORBITER: Serving both as a base of operations and home, Kushiko's Orbiter is a highly sophisticated craft that transports Kushiko across space and beyond to get her where she needs to be. By shifting outside normal space into the Void, the Orbiter is capable of avoiding detection from a wide variety of methods to keep Kushiko's body safe. At the heart of the Orbiter lies the Somatic Link, which helps keep Kushiko alive by directing the Void energy in her body for Transference. In addition, her Arsenal is stored here, unused weapons and frames kept in an energy-based stasis, keeping safe and maintaining all weaponry, sentinels, and Warframes not in use. The Foundry is a fabrication station capable of building a vast variety of objects using recovered materials from combat, from weapons to additional Warframes, including their subcomponents necessary to fabricate. The Nutrio Incubator allows for the breeding and DNA detoxification of current or additional Kubrow, and can place them in stasis if necessary. (+info Kushiko/Equipment)

LANDING CRAFT: Housed aboard the Orbiter, the Liset is a landing craft that can deploy one or multiple Warframes to a destination. Capable of stealth via sensor-obfuscation, the Liset is utilized to infiltrate a wide variety of conditions, including deep space, planetary atmospheres, and even through the ocean depths. A tractor beam attached to the ship allows for the hauling of heavy cargo, and auxiliary space aboard the ship allows for additional, if limited passengers.

ARCHWING: For conditions in space or sea that the Liset cannot deliver a Warframe to, the Archwing system is employed. With weaponry and secondary systems to offer a combat capable option against non-land foes, it provides for a way to directly fight in these conditions. Stealth, overwhelming firepower and balance are the chief options that can be utilized, allowing for a variety of roles should the need arise. The Archwing's weapons and systems require an open area to be used properly.
|NPCs=LOTUS: The Lotus is directly responsible for overseeing the missions that a Tenno such as Kushiko may or may not take, offering advice and notice regarding a changing mission situation. She also gathers intelligence on behalf of the Tenno, serving as a contact for those who seek the Tenno's aid, not to mention operating systems remotely once Kushiko has breached a system for her. She can provide life support systems through matter transport, but they cannot be activated by her.

ORDIS: The artificial intelligence aboard the Orbiter, and by extension the Liset, Ordis is a Cephalon, a synthetic life form projected with light and logic, but possessing hints of enough sentient quality that presents a concrete personality. Extremely loyal to the Operator, the Tenno, Ordis manages many of the systems aboard the Orbiter and Liset alike. Grineer salvage operations before his recover have caused damage to his memory banks as well as causing a slightly murderous slant. He also really hates Kubrow, but tolerates it for the Tenno.

KUBROW: After the fall of the Orokin, these former pets were left to fend for themselves. Only the most vicious survived, evolving into deadly pack hunters that now pervade Earth's dense forests. With a fair amount of effort and genetic alterations, these canine-like animals are bred as a loyal, domesticated companion for the Tenno. Ikaruga, a Raksa breed of Kubrow is a highly loyal and protective companion residing aboard the Orbiter, and is scarcely seen outside of the company of Kushiko. Due to their genetic modifications, they are riddled with degenerative DNA that must be repaired intermittently.
|Disadvantages=POWERED BY A FORSAKEN CHILD: Incredible power comes at an incredible cost. The inability to control her powers caused a great deal of harm in the past, and it is something that haunts her, not to mention knowing that her existence is being a living weapon. What was done to make her what she is she will never fully remember, but their results remain. What she does remember has warped her psyche irreversibly: only the Tenno honor code keeps her remotely sane and focused, for in the end she is still a child. A child who can never truly grow up nor leave the confines of her Orbiter, something that can serve as a disadvantage emotionally.

LOTUS: As a child, as Tenno, she is sworn to the Lotus. While she may look out for her, if the Lotus feels that a threat to her wellbeing is grave enough, she will order Kushiko to withdraw, to which Kushiko's almost guaranteed compliance may endanger the lives of allies or the mission itself.

AT ANY COST: Killing comes to Kushiko the same way most people see breathing. The wholesale slaughter of hundreds if not more is something that is of little bother to her. While some indiscriminate murder might be necessary, Kushiko kills with a practiced ease without hesitation or remorse. This may bring her into conflict with those who might be seeking a peaceful solution, and in order to further her goals, she will often take a job for what is the most benefit to her.

TRANSFERENCE LINK: Anything felt by the Warframe is in turn, felt by Kushiko herself. This is in part what put the Tenno to sleep so long ago: the cryostasis of the Warframe itself also brought about the same in the user, unable to break the link. Outright incapacitation of her current frame can result in her losing the frame altogether, requiring a lengthy rebuild process if not worse. Furthermore the masking of the link signal is not foolproof: it can be discovered or even interfered with, leaving her or her Warframes vulnerable if the link is broken or worse, traced. While difficult, it is not impossible to find a way to the source and into the Void where the Orbiter is held with Kushiko defenseless. Should a Warframe be completely lost, a week is needed to rebuild and restore it to its original state.

ENVIRONMENTAL: While powerful, Warframes are vulnerable to extreme conditions. Atmospheric conditions need to be relatively stable, and it is possible to force her to evacuate if there is no way of establishing life support to the Warframe if it is cut off or purposefully disrupted. Extreme cold saps her shields, and the vacuum of space or deep pressure will drain the shields and inflict further damage if forced to stay in it overlong. Powerful electromagnetic attacks can scramble her visuals as well, which effectively interferes with the Transference itself.
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