Scene #4421: Drifting Debris

Owner	Pose
Kushiko	Well, this is very interesting. Typically Infested ships--on average Corpus ships but sometimes Grineer vessels--tend to be sent in a seemingly random direction to consume, feed and sow chaos amongst the denizens of the Origin System. The fact that the Infested were accidentally or otherwise turning one loose in the Multiverse proper was an entirely different matter. Maybe they wanted to test them? It did not matter to the Lotus; she who had her fingers in every intelligence pie in Origin and had begun expanding to the Multiverse, frowned at the data being shown her by her Cephalon. One the surface there was at least an easy way to render the Infestation inert or just destroy it outright, but the presence of the ship was still troublesome. And yet, here beget opportunity: Elites of the Multiverse, perhaps a few who had helped before might be so inclined to help again, to acclimate them to the threat that never ceased, only slowed. The Infestation that spreads across the Origin System is a techno-organic parasite that attaches itself to natural and synthetic forms, slowly digesting the host subject and transforming it on a molecular level. Organic materials morph into new homogeneous organisms while harder, inorganic materials, like metals, will change structurally into a pseudo-organic substance that holds the characteristics of its previous forms. That is the threat that lies here: a long abandoned Corpus vessel from the Eris system making it's slow, lurching path towards a populated sector. Gravity and physics aren't necessarily working in the finest of ways, so while the enormous vessel is in atmospheric conditions it's far more vulnerable for people to board it. The angular merchantman ship has lost many of those angles: tumescent flesh, grey and corpulent seems to have partially /digested/ the ship, though it's original base structure is still visible in places; notably the engines but even those are obviously under Infested control, the infested growth encasing that region partway. Already the Lotus has begun to ask her Tenno towards operations here, and reconnisance has revealed the following: the reactor and engines could be used to incinerate and break apart the ship from the inside, but the presence of Infested 'Hives' are keeping those sectors of the ship inaccessible by way of strengthening and enhancing the techno-organic growth that's overrun those areas. This information and more will be given to debrief the Elites who may be able to assist, but first is to confirm whom the Lotus may be able to call upon for a squad here. Those arriving would be able to rendezvouz at an outpost equipped with appropriate shuttles of generic multiversal design if they do not have their own methods of flight.
Alexis Maaka	The message didn't take long to reach Alexis Maaka's ears, and the cyborg had already been well acquainted with the Lotus and her operatives. This was a special case, with the Elites having to handle this themselves as they arrive to respond to the thread of Infested. Despite his apprehension, Kaz's flying is steady as always. "Feels wrong never going in with you to these things." He comments. "THen again, I really don't want to." The tech shrugs sheepishly, before he gets the ship into position. "Alright, in you go. All set, boss?" "All set. I'm never going into these ops alone anymore, you know that. Just get ready to pick me up in a few hours, got it?" Maaka's testing a new toy this time, a FLAMETHROWER Faruja had gifted her ages ago. About time she had a use for the thing, especially with these unholy abominations of technology and flesh. She'll be waiting for the others to get here before she inserts, content to wait things out until then.
Fiora Laurent	Fiora has seem some of what the infested do, when they encounter people. Or anything organic, for that matter. Even things like metal can be corrupted by them. So she doesn't hesitate to answer the Lotus' call, borrowing a ride on a Union military transport, that is on its way to assist with evacuating some of the local populace to safer areas. From there, the outpost is a short hop. The Grand Duelist thusly makes her appearance, her sword at the ready, as no doubt what the Lotus has planned is quite dangerous. Destroying the ship would also require an escape plan for anyone left onboard, most likely. The void is rather unforgiving, even to elites. As steely as her sword, the duelist surveys the situation with her dark grey eyes, though with one covered by a sweep of her long bangs.
Gakupo Kamui	Of course Gakupo was going to show up to help. He'd seen the dangers of these 'Infected' things, and really did NOT like the idea of a ship that had been so infested getting loose in the Multiverse! He sent confirmation via other means than the public radio, since he generally finds it to be more a hassle than anything else. Direct messages were faster and a lot easier. So one of those gets sent instead! There is a Vocaloid on the way! Unfortunately, yes, Gakupo is going to have to depend on the shuttle to get to the Infested ship proper, but at least he won't die if he ends up spaced! He arrives at the outpost, and looks for the place where they're gathering for the attack. He's quite colorfully dressed, in his 'default' appearance that looks a little like a 'techno-samurai', with a sword at his side. Looking to those assembled, he offers, "Hello!" Entirely too bright a greeting, perhaps, given the situation. But he also adds, "Sorry this isn't under better circumstances, but it's good to see all of you."
Lin	One of the responders was Karal Rei Lin, who's come loaded for BEAR... in as much as a swordswoman can. IN her case, this oddly means... nothing has really changed apart from an extra layer of chainmail over her vitals. It's to one of the shuttles for her, because... let's face it... Having her trying to fly a spaceship would go very, very badly. "Alright, monsters of the worst kind... should be simple. NASTY but simple!"
Lyner Barsett	Lyner heard the call for assistance. And then he was gone. Arriving on a generic shuttle, armor(what could pass for it) and cape ready, sword at his back, and that stupid smile on his face, there was no doubt; this fool was going to get killed. Wait no, no! He was ready! Ready! But having seen what the vessel looks like, the knight could only balk. "So, yeah....I heard the rundown but...uh..." He rubs the back of his head as he steps in, pointing vaguely...elsewhere. "....What the heck kind of monsters can cause THAT?" He must be referring to the outside of the vessel. Yeah that looked kind of really bad. Kind of.
Kushiko	Ah, that's a familiar Elite in regards to not just Alexis, but Fiora as well and Gakupo Kamui. The Lotus will see to some non-monetary compensations to ensure he recovers safely afterwards given his predeliction for donating should he choose that this time as well. And once everyone is relatively assembled--and thus en route to the ship itself, the Lotus begins to speak to address those both on the ship and those using their own means. Her appearence is simple if mysterious: a masked woman by all accounts, her headgear resembling the sihoulette of a flower, markings and other esoteric designs hinting at higher technology to put it modestly. The projection/vidscreen (depending on one's access) also displays a panel of green-blue light behind her like she were in some sort of command room or terminal point far from here. "Thank you all for coming. Let's get straight to the point. The vessel you are going to board, as you all know is heavily Infested. The plan I have is twofold: you as a group will proceed inside and eliminate any opposition on your way to three Hives and destroy the Hives themselves. Doing this will destabilize the Infestation already encompassing and possessing the ship itself. The second part of the plan is what will allow for you all to evacuate safely: with the Hives destroyed, it will allow for another cell to infiltrate and send the reactor and engines into overdrive, not only incinerating the Infested flesh merged with the ship, but any remaining Infested aboard, destroying it." From here, a few pictures are shown of hives: large grey biomasses emerging from the ground with a visible large and smooth orange mass at the center. Lyner's question is a very good one, after all: something that the Lotus explains a little bit further for people's benefit now that she's become /slightly/ less evasive about giving such information. "The Infestation. A technorganic plague, parasite, and more. A weapon of the Old War that backfired on it's creators. Exact details do not matter save how they spread, and how to stop them and keep them contained." She pauses for just a moment as though considering how much to say. "Infestation of a living natural organism and the transformation of its molecular structure happens much more rapidly than with large synthetic ships or machinery. Infested nanites quickly break down organic tissue and begin to evolve the existing specimen into a new organism with characteristics and functions ideal for survival and self-defense. In many cases, visible traces of the victim's original form are still visible in the new mutated form." A stark and horrifying memorial. Hopefully that answers everyone's questions. Mercifully there's a nice reminder plus information for those who may /not/ have dealt with the Infested before: universally amongst physical aspects, slashing attacks and weapons will do the most damage, and while piercing and crushing impacts can do some damage, not as much as slashing weaponry. Elementally speaking as it is classified, fire is one of the most surefire common ways to deal with Infested, followed by gas and corrosive, though explosive weapons (including some sonic variants that blast with concussive force!) have their chances to shine.
Kushiko	As for where the group is going to be headed once they've assembled and this briefing is carried out, heads up displays and monitors on the shuttle itself paints a reasonable picture: it's an unholy marriage of organic flesh and steel and titanium that leaves the notion at least for one primary, non-Tenno way of getting aboard. On the bright side, it's really easy to insert into the ship because there's a huge chunk of it connected to massive cords of flesh that leaves a platform behind with the upper fore of the decks simply /not there/ and tethered above it. On the down side, see above. More to the point once the group has begun their transit and actually gotten closer to the ship, it becomes far clearer to the exact degree to which the corpulent, cancerous growths of technorganic flesh has consumed and become part of the ship. Very much a living ship, sustaining the previous functions though if this ship were out in space there's no doubt the exterior section the group was arriving at would barely have anything regarding life support. Blessings in disguise, seeing as the only reason to not worry about life support is due to the fact such a thing is /in/ a place where if it's allowed to continue, life itself will have a very difficult time continuing.
Fiora Laurent	Fiora, or rather.. her world, is no stranger to weapons gone amok. Indeed, rampant war is the reason the League exists, after all. She just nods, as the Lotus gives her expose on the infested, and their goals for the mission. It seems simple enough. Fight to the hives, and destroy them. Which will allow this second squad to detonate the ship's reactors. By then, they'll have gotten off the ship. And whatever's left on it, will be incinerated. No more infested. It seems simple enough. Straightforward, and whatnot. "Very well. Let's not waste time. The longer we dally about, the closer it gets to that populated area." The ride over is uneventful, though the interior of the ship is definitely your typical hellish environment. Fiora draws her sword, and begins to stalk outwards, into the ship itself.
Alexis Maaka	Alexis doesn't take long to get with the others, and she listens to the Lotus' briefing as she keeps her flamer close. "Right, time to set this thing on fire." SHe agrees with Fiora's assessment of things. The presence of oxygen in the void also makes it easy for her to actually put this flamer to use! She is well, well aware of what the Infestation is. SHe's fought them before, and it somehow doesn't surprise her they were a weapon gone amok. Nothing natural could be that foul and infectious, after all. She will go about to setting things on fire as they go, mostly to help clear out the way as she insists on taking point. "Flambe Infested coming right up, how do you lot tend to like your horrible space abominations?" She asks dryly, not expecting an answer as she tries to burn some stretch of Infestation moss before it can touch her boots, or those of the others for that matter.
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo has a built-in radio for communication purposes, so he's likely able to receive visual data. Maybe even in one of those picture-in-picture displays, even. He listens to the plan, nodding. He's planning on waiting for the explanations before he asks a question, but a question he does indeed ask. "What about the second group?" he asks. "Will they be able to get out?" He doesn't like the idea of leaving people behind if it can be helped. And once they get headed up to the ship, his revulsion at the appearance of the thing is apparent. That face he makes is a pretty clear indicator that he is very much not pleased with that. And also more than a little disgusted. Yeah, he's going to be chopping things out of the way of his feet as they land. Ew. Nasty things. Though Alexis, who is on point, may find there's a Vocaloid near her back. He's a parry tank type, believe it or not, with his style being mostly defensive, so he's decent to have as a frontliner.
Lyner Barsett	Lyner listens to this explanation of The Infested, and frowns a little. That sounded kind of familiar. ...Well, not just kind of. More like really familiar. It wasn't 1:1, but it was enough for him to recall the old methods of...certain people. "I see...well!" He crosses his arms and resumes grinning. "Sounds to me like we've got our work cut out for us!" At least he's optimistic. As they get closer to their...destination, Lyner can't help but grimace a little at the sight. It was already worrying before, but seeing it closer was something else entitrely. The job sounds simple enough though. And he has time to spare. They'll move in and get this done. And with that in mind, Lyner steps out, following the others. Surely nothing will go wrong. Right.
Lin	The briefing, delivered by one of the creepiest ladies Lin's ever gazed upon, fills her with a sense of horror. She's able to follow, despite having no knowledge of anything like this on Creation... "Slashing weapons... and fire... then I've got just the thing to give the Infested a miserable time. Let's get started! Take out the Hives and make a break for it."
Kushiko	Gakupo's well-reasoned question is touched upon first: "They will have no issue evacuating from here. They do not plan on sending the engines and reactor into overload until the rest of you are getting out." A slight pause from the Lotus. "They do appreciate your concern and the aid you all are providing to give them a way forward so the Infested doesn't have a chance to shore up their defenses. In the meantime: mmm, delicious biomass. Well now we're just going to have to have a BBQ with all this fire potential around here, aren't we? ... ...naaaah. Well, not anything that can be /eaten/ in any regard; Alexis has after had a decent amount of mission counts in comparison and in this regard she can use that standard flamethrower delivery (well, standard oxygen-based fires--we'll keep her away from the Ignis for now!) to do a fair deal of damage and pretty well almost /always/ send actual Infested organisms that fight back into a panic if they don't outright die. And given her tendency for fire, it's not necessarily a bad thing: the smoothness of the walkway is marred by grey infested flesh melting into the floorpanels, then melting /again/ in some places. Distant howling seems to answer Alexis' choice to start burninating. Ooops. Least one doesn't have to walk over hardened Infested biomass that sometimes serves as walkways and platforms right? There's distant sounds, echoing footfalls. For those of hardened battle instinct, it's no mistake that something's something. Clouds of spores occasionally arc and dance through the air, not necessarily towards the group but it's undoubtedly the atmosphere showing itself. And once they're through the first doorway, those footfalls and quadrupedal noises become evident as to their owners: chargers and runners, misshapen remains of Grineer and Corpus alike milling about restlessly. That is of course, until they seem to sense the presence of others here. The dozen or so Infested turn, and start charging across the wide opened corridor towards the intruders!
Alexis Maaka	Of course the hellspawn begin to head their way towards the group. Maaka's response? KILL IT WITH FIRE She calmly turns her flamethrower towards the horde that begins to advance down the corridor, and she turns to look at the others. "Wait until I'm done before attacking." She says calmly, before letting out a fierce gout of fire at the Infested dregs sent their way. She might be grinning behind her helmet, especially satisfied with how well this flamethrower burns literally ALL of the things. Once she lets up, then she backs up to let the melee fighters do their thing. "Have fun, kids!"
Fiora Laurent	Fiora isn't about to pass up the chance to cut a swath through some enemies. It's actually been a while, since she's been able to. She dashes forwards, a blur of black and silver, that cleaves through several of them. One of the larger ones ends up with her sword stuck in it. A problem she solves by planting a boot against the creature, and kicking it away. "Hmph." She continues on, a bit further, cutting down a few more, along the way. Mostly stragglers, from that particular wave.
Lyner Barsett	Lyner walks slowly, peering about at all the of the infested biomass melting and such. ...It's a pretty disconcerting sight! But he steels himself and keeps moving forward. All the while, his hand rests on the pod slung behind his waist, one that holds his sword. "...Nice place, huh?" Really? The answer to that question's going to be a bit delayed no doubt, given that there are THINGS charging at them! Lyner doesn't blink. He hits a button on the swordpod, hissing open with a clack as he grabs the handle and pulls the blade free. But he doesn't charge forward. Instead, he stays right where he is and stabs his blade into the ground. Electricity builds up, and then bursts, several lances of lightning arcing across the floor to crash into those charging...whatever they weres. Sheesh. Nice welcome.
Gakupo Kamui	The distant howling in response to Alexis's burnination of all the things gets a wince. Well, someone definitely knows they're there. Or someTHING, either one is just as bad, even if the latter is more likely. And the suddenly, there's the welcome wagon! A bunch of Infested beasties are swarming at them. He's about to leap to the attack but Alexis calls halt, and he nods, waiting for her to immolate as many of the beasties as possible. Once she calls all-clear though, one might hear a rising-in-pitch whine from his throat, as his headphones glow brightly. And then a ripple of sonic energy hums through the air as he launches one at the nearest Infested thing that might have survived the spray of fire.
Lin	Finally, enough talk! Have at these freaky things! "HUUUUUUUURAAAAAH!!!" Lin doesn't draw her sword as the freakish things come charging. Instead... she extends a hand. Golden-orange power swirls and crackles, shimmers... and then bursts out into the shape of a blazing golden weapon that glows like a torch. The curvature and single edge resembles a katana's design, but the blade's clearly made of purest energy... not metal. As she closes in and begins slashing her way through the horde though, it's immediately obvious that it still CUTS like metal...
Kushiko	Howling screams born not just from fire but the rapier blade of the Grand Duelist are the noises that come as answer for their attempts to close in and maul their repsective targets. One of them cut into by Fiora crumples into a heap and and the group is given to the first of many sights that will become familiar. Like a puppet with it's strings cut, a golden shower of lights escape it amidst it's dying howl. Even those set ablaze by flamethrower, collapsing inward seem to release these dying motes. Harmless but it does lend some credence to what the Lotus said about their technorganic aspects. Doubly so with the lances of lighting--and in at least one case, a half-torso of a crawler which had been left behind is convulsing with electricity. Yet more concerning still perhaps for /everyone/ and not just Lyner was that as one of those lances of lighting unfurled, at least two of the bipedal runners /rolled out of the way/ before attempting to charge again. Still, no mistaking that the lightning certainly hurt--and combined with fire and lighting results in an a horrible series of sickening noises as the first set of Infested begin to die oh-so horribly. If things aren't dying intact, they're dying in pieces thanks to efforts such as the ones Karal strikes, or in a somewhat /hilarious/ fashion thanks to Gakupo's sonic energy sending it /flying/, only to nearly richochet bonelessly into the ceiling and land on a railing and disintegrating underfoot. Two things are known at least: the Hive is ahead, evidenced by the increase in biomass going forward as the group progresses forward. The second thing is that this is likely to be a running battle as in the next area there's yet still more of the blue-grey quadrupedal chargers, and some of those mentioned fliers: 'Mutalist' Ospreys. Their flight is more akin to drones than anything else but they seem to be carrying what look like virulently infected torsos. Crawlers. All the same, the room itself wasn't this way normally: deck plating and the like are strewn downwards into a basin-like recess with corridors a little way ahead leading to the rest of the ship, and side sections that dead-end but are somewhat 'clean' areas relatively compared to here. The Hive node is here. It's resonating with a sickly yellow aura which prompts the Lotus to audibly grimace. "The Hive is being protected by a series of tumor nodes; you won't be able to destroy it while those are active. Seek them out to make the Hive vulnerable and be prepared for environmental anomalies once you do. This Hive is connected to the antigravity systems aboard this vessel."
Alexis Maaka	Maaka shoulders her flamethrower promptly as she swaps to her Kama pistol, firing double-taps into the head and chest of any beast that comes close to her with hi-ex rounds that will leave ludicrous gibblets strewn across the interior of the ship's walls. At least she is careful enough to not leave her friends in the line of fire, as she joins with the others after drawing a high-frequency vibroblade of sorts to cut through Infested flesh. As they advance, Maaka sheaths both weapons as she products thermite charges from her matter manipulator, priming the first explosive as she goes to search for the nearest tumor node. "Lotus, lead me towards the first tumor." She radios calmly, drawing her pistol once more as she covers her corners with the 10mm.
Gakupo Kamui	Great, fliers. For the time being the group seems to have enough front-line, damage-dealing melee sorts, so Gakupo will turn his attention to those fliers. Sonic energy is a tremendously handy weapon when dealing with this sort of thing. He's not able to rapid-fire those sonic blasts, but he should be reasonably able to keep up with the flying threats. For now he's going to focus on them, to keep them off the others. Upon learning that the Hive is protected, Gakupo moves to cover those who are heading for one of the tumors. Mainly this involves him doing pretty much what he'd been doing before. That is, firing sonic blasts. Though he finds a place where he can fire off those sonic blasts and cover a larger area, since he doesn't know where they all are. If they're not in the same area though, he'll need to move again. As a note, when he fires off a blast, it does rather look like he's screaming. Of course he basically is, given what he's attacking with, but anyway.
Fiora Laurent	Fiora continues, in the meantime, cutting a swath through the ranks of the infested, as she makes her way towards one of the tumors, on her own. These creatures might be mindless, but it's almost as if something's driving them. They swarm like bees or pirhanas do. It's not a gibbering mass. There's.. something. She's not sure what, and right now, she's too occupied for further investigation. It would be hard to, anyway. Their bodies desintigrate, after they're killed, at any rate.
Lin	Slash-step, slash-step twist SLASH! Karal Rei Lin's whole body's transitioned instantly into a murder machine. Every single creature that nears is treated to a series of deadly but artful strikes... beautiful but fierce. It's more than just the flailing of a skilled swordsman, it's truly an art. Though masters of the style would say it needs PLENTY of work. The group soon reaches the pulsing, sickly-looking Hive... causing Lin to recoil back a few steps with disgust written all over her face. "Gravity?" What in the world's gravity? It takes her a moment to remember old conversations and then... Then her face turns comically worried. HOOO BOY. She doesn't like the idea of going floating!
Lyner Barsett	"Hmm." So lightning works. It is an offshoot of heat, so he should hope it works. Nonetheless, that's good to know. He pulls his sword from the deck floor and holds it at his side as he moves forward, bringing up the rear as the others delve deeper into the depths of this...place. He really wasn't sure what to call it. When they arrive at the next area further in, Lyner wows to himself faintly. "Look at this..." He mumbled, noting the increased presence of biomass, as well as the oncoming array of reinforcements. Fun. Tumor nodes, huh? Well, then there was only one thing to do. With Karal, Fiora, and Alexis all going after a node, and Kamui playing ranged support, that left the last to him. He nodded to himself and reached over to his pauldron, drawing the dagger sheathed there. "Alright." Both weapons alight with electricity, and he breaks forward into a run, lashing out with electrified slashes and sweeps of his blades towards the oncoming crawlers, leaping through the air to cleave at any fliers, and continue onward towards one of those tumors.
Kushiko	The group as a whole is moving at a respectable clip for what they're doing: taking down something that, to most of them is unknown in the conditions that need to be fulfilled with the Hives themselves, and for some still it's a far cry from the partially contaminated areas they've fought in before. This being the full demonstration of what happens when the Infestation is allowed to fester and grow. On the other hand, if one isn't too careful, you're going to need an even bigger bath than the standard gunk of post-Infested missions, the way the group is slashing into them. It's still probably good to be cautious. Blood and ichor is definitely the name of the game--be it the high-explosive rounds from Alexis or the Grand Duelist's blade scything through and leaving more than a few bisected by her blade when not turned into charred remains by Alexis. And then you got that Solar Exalt doing her very best imitation of what some of the others might think to be Warframe powers. It's entirely plausible this might get her unwarranted attention. To Fiora's trained eye and senses--she'd be very right--there's an intelligence behind the seeming feral mindset of the Infested. And in Gakupo's case, his ability to throw those ranged sonic blasts is /very/ helpful: ranged is really the best thing to use when dealing with those ranged fliers--ones that aren't firing anything at the group like these are, they simply /explode/ violently, though one or two of them erupt with toxic gas that thanks to their proximity to their compatriots, causes a few of them to turn sickeningly green and release guttural howls of agony. Every little bit counts it seems. As the group hunts and kills, Lyner actually ends up coming upon something briefly--at least before indiscriminate killing /of it/ in that one of those crawlers attempted something that would have been an electric shock before he ended it's existence with his blades. As the tumor nodes are struck, there's an indistinct rumble when they explode, ichor and fluids draining out. And when the last is struck by Lyner, that sickly yellow energy field seems to fade away for the moment. But as vulnerable as it is, a shambling monstrostity finally makes it's way into the room and launches some kind of tentacle at the wildly meleeing Karal, who was perhaps the closest to the Hive itself. Depending on her reaction, the grappling tentacle may hit her with enough force to knock her down and then /drag her away/ from the group and into the Infested spilling out from the side room. On the other hand, her Solar abilities may allow her to at least tank the knockdown. There's hints of tactical planning they're showing: what ones fall seem to impress upon the rest of the group of what they need to do to change their strategy.
Alexis Maaka	Alexis doesn't waste time in tracking down the nearest tumor with Lotus's help guiding her path. As she cuts down the odd Infested with well placed shots of hi-ex rounds, before she begins to plant the charges. She begins to set the explosive to detonate after five seconds, and the cyborg hauls ass before she's caught in the flaming explosion. She proceeds to track down Karal, firing a shot at one of the creatures trying to unleash tentacles upon her. No tentacles for you, sir! "We need to leave, really soon!" she says over the chaos as she gets in close quarters.
Fiora Laurent	Hanging around isn't wise, at this point. Fiora realizes that, and moves to meet up with the others, to attack the hive, now that it's vulnerable. Considering the numbers she ran into, it'll be likely something they'll need to work together to destroy. Swords, guns, and whatever else, sweeping aside the tide of the infested. Temporarily, anyway. There must be thousands more on a ship this size. Fiora does her part, however, to ensure they're able to reach the hive.
Gakupo Kamui	With the Infested's adapting to the things that are killing them, it's likely that, as funny as it is for these beasties to be blowing up their own numbers, his sonic blasts are probably going to cease being effective in short order. Whether that's because they're leading and making sure he can only hit one of them before leaving himself open to counter, because they're dodging better, or the attacks just plain become less effective against them, he's sure they're going to start hurting the Infested less. Which means one thing. Get this done FAST. While it would be faster if Gakupo went after the Hive with everyone else, his abilities ARE better as a defensive bulwark. So as the Infested come spilling out of the side-room, he darts that way, intent on thinning the numbers coming in as much as he can. His style being what it is though, he's relying less on his own offensive power (which isn't very high, honestly) and more on redirecting the attacks of the Infested back at their foes. Swat a claw swung at him into a neighboring Infested, smack one of the spitting Infested so it will turn and disgorge its payload onto one of its own allies, reach up to one of those carrying a Crawler so it drops the thing on another Infested... that sort of thing. Always with his sword of course, and as he does so, he moves as though he's dacing. It's a dangerous dance though, and he's not going to come out of this without damage. Not with as close of confines as he's in with these beasties. But he's trying to minimize the damage by not ever staying still. With him thinning the numbers at what he hopes is a major point of ingress however, hopefully it'll lighten the load on those attacking the Hive, so the damage will be worth it.
Lin	"AUghfg!" GIANT TENTACLES coming at her's not something Lin can so easily deal with. Her burning blade carves through one after another but EVENTUALLY she's bowled backwards. Lin tumbles with an IMPROBABLE amount of grace, back to her feet... but by then the tentacle's gotten around her legs and DRAGGING HER OFF! "GYYAAAAHH!!" She only panics for a few seconds though. A wave of purest will and Solar Essence floods into her burning blade. She whips around and DRIVES IT STRAIGHT INTO THE TENTACLE, teeth grit and face dripping with frantic perspiration. For these few seconds it emanates tremendous heat, enough to actually instantly melt a hole through the floor beneath as well...
Lyner Barsett	Oh boy. Lyner does his part and dispenses with a tumor, as well as those crawlers that nearly leapt at him. "These things...are actually moving with some kind of thought behind their actions...aren't they?" He mumbled aloud to no one particular. He had no conclusive proof, but it was a nagging feeling. Especially once that big guy comes shambling out and attack Karal once the shield around the hive is broken. "Oh crap-" He mutters, turning and making a dash back into the central area to help out. And all the while, he lets loose with lightning charged slashes, clearing out the masses, and jumping aside here and ther when an infested decided to try and get too close to hit. Can't take them /all/ down now. He's not that dumb. Better take care of the source instead! Once he arrives though, it looks like the Solar Exalt already has her situation handled, so, while she deals with the tentacle attempting to wrangle her, Lyner runs past and ahead, leaping into the air before coming down onto the Ancient with a dual bladed overhead slash. "Let's see how this works!"
Kushiko	Speed is of the essence here: make no mistake about it. Fiora and Gakupo's respective abilities to recognize this in that regard is what also turns out to be quite helpful. Fiora's blade is remarkably /adept/ at making sure the Hive is ruptured quickly along with the efforts of the others. Gakupo's own defensive bulwark, and generally pissing off the Infested who would rather consume /the others/ not each other by redireting their attacks and simply buying time is pretty important. The tide is turning; there's something ominous aboard the ship that has the killing intent of the Infested almost divided now. How curious. Some things are to be expected. The violent response of the not-Infested that was here was expected. To the Infested here, Lyner, Karal, everyone smelled and felt like something they could use. Human. Not. Definitely not the usual Corpus or Grineer they tried. Karal felt similar to what their wayward flesh was. Not that they expressed this. Not that they could, not without one voice to speak for them. Only one voice DID speak and that was CONSUME for them. The real thing that was not expected was the sheer violent reaction by Karal and Lyner in combined fashion. Most times the body actually needs to /land/ on the ground before it breaks apart. The fire from the tentacle being /cut/ starts traveling up it's body, sending it flailing in a panic just in time for Lyner's blade to come crashing down upon it. It just does /not/ have a chance against the sheer, reactionary overkill provided. And thanks to the hi-explosive charges Alexis set to make the Hive vulnerable, it does not take long for concerted efforts to make the Hive's biomass bulge and explode with damage done. And in an instant, the effect is felt: lowered gravity, destabilized throughout the entire ship itself. The group can still run and move but anytime they jump or leap they'll float slightly before landing again. On the other hand, the destabilized gravity means they could /probably/ launch themselves through the air in rather useful ways. Little unnerving, perhaps. One thing to note might be that, once the Infested Tumors are down, the Hive node itself just /dies/ horribly with little effort. Probably why there is as many Infested Tumors tucked away in places and the Infested try to defend those almost more than the Hive biomass itself. It's strangely calm--the total efforts by the group have bought them momentary breathing room, even amidst the wet, gurgling noises and disintegration of the various bodies thanks to their respective weapons and skill. No rest for the wicked, however: with the attempted reinforcements out of the way, the way forward into the next part of the ship is clear. A corridor that branches into two paths--albeit one deadending--but the other leads into what /should/ be a cargo storage area by some information available.
Alexis Maaka	While Lin might be apprehensive about the idea of zee-gee combat, Maaka's much more accustomed to the idea. Her suit keeps her locked in place at the right times, unlocking when she needs to get going and move while firing on the run. She takes shallow leaps, using her boosters to give a little extra thrust as she fires behind her, swapping magazines between jumps. She heads to the cargo bay, leading the path and cutting down anybody in their way before she swaps back to her flamethrower. THIS will do a lot better until the tank runs out of fuel, but she's invested in high capacity for that reason alone.
Gakupo Kamui	The sudden destabilizing of gravity takes Gakupo off-guard, and to avoid a nasty claw (or whatever sorts of appendages these things attack with!) to the face, he's forced to turtle up, briefly. Though as he realizes his movement's freed up, he takes that opportunity to use the new mobility. He's pretty good at jumping anyway, and now with the decreased gravity, he leaps back to rejoin the rest of the group. There's plenty of time for him to pull off an acrobatic little flip-and-turn around before he hits the ground now. It also means that, as he heads down the corridor with the others, that he can just bounce off the walls down the corridor! Well, sort of. They're not totally floating yet. Though if the next Hive is also hooked into the artificial gravity too, that's likely to change. In the meantime though, he's going to use the increased movement to Matrix his way through this place! But yes. He will head to the second Hive with the rest of the group. And if there are any Infested in the path he's going to try and cut them up! That's actually part of the reason he's quite literally bouncing off the walls: moving faster means more velocity, and more velocity means attacks hurt more!
Fiora Laurent	Fiora doesn't seem to mind the reduction in gravity, as she's able to stride, lunge, and attack from several more angles. If nothing else, it gives her an advantage. She's able to charge down the corridor at breakneck speed, cutting down a few more of the infested as she goes.
Lyner Barsett	No rest for the weary indeed. Lyner lands after that assist, and once the other matters are taken care of, it's time to move forward. "Okay. Let's get this done." He states, stepping forward with the others. It's a bit odd, having the gravity reduced around them, but it's not bad enough to throw the knight off his game. He's been at this for years. Adapt and keep moving, else you'll be left behind! He makes his way into the alleged cargo area, blade held ready for anything that might be waiting for them within....
Lin	In comes Lyner, TO THE RESCUE! With the tentacle's grip loosening Lin flips backwards and over -- Oh that was TERRIBLE timing. "Waaaaa--aaaaaa--aaaaaahhhh!!!" The Solar goes floating and flailing. It's a full five seconds before she touches down again and the strange sensation of being lighter has her stepping about slowly and awkwardly, struggling to get her balance. STruggling to maintain traction and footing. "What in the world is THIS... how do you fight without good footing?!"
Kushiko	On the bright side, the Infested being focused in two places at once makes progressing down to the cargo bay pretty quick and efficient despite gravitic destabilizing going on. Hell, the Tenno on the other side of the coin are having a good ol' time (not that they'd ever admit it) but a curious thing has happened. Be it by chance or otherwise, the presence of the Elites in such wonderfully violent fashion has sent ripples down towards the cargo bay. To the point that, the tumors that /were/ there protecting it seemed to be already failing, and the Hive itself is vulnerable. This is highly out of the ordinary: it would be absolute child's play for anyone here to simply destroy it as the Infested seem to be withdrawing... or maybe they /are/ that thinned out. Gakupo and Fiora may well notice this first due to their tactical minds on the matter, followed by the others fairly quickly. Was this whole thing a ruse? Troubling. Even before the Hive itself is addressed, the Lotus has words: "You are all doing well--but brace yourselves. The second group has also run across a Hive as well and are dealing with it as well. I'm going to redirect you to another breach point on this ship to evacuate; it seems the damage you all did to the first Hive has caused a great deal more damage to the Infested biomass here than anticipated." The Lotus then makes a slight noise. "The Tenno aboard the ship are going to collect some data and set the ship to blow as soon as you're all away safe. I will explain more once you're evacuated safely, but I need to analyze what's happened here." Seems the best move is going to be to smash that Hive biomass and get going. There's a breach going towards the base of the cargo bay here, and distantly the shuttle from earlier is approaching.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka cocks an eyebrow at the retreating Infested. "You cannot be serious." She murmurs under her breath, troubled even if her helmet is hiding her face right now. "Let's get moving while we can, come on!" She calls to the others, producing a single shot grenade launcher and incendiary rounds to blow open the biomass. She takes off through the opening she makes, leading the others while she reloads the launcher quickly, covering her corners while she goes towards the cargo bay base.
Gakupo Kamui	It's really strange... there aren't that many Infested protecting a Hive? That seems odd. He's not going to question providence, though. At the moment it just means they can get out of here quicker. Something's bothering him about all this... but at the moment he's not able to devote much thought to it. There's that remaining Hive, after all. He's grateful the Tenno managed to catch the third, too If there ARE any Infested around, he'll deal with those while the others are smashing the Hive. If not? He can vary the strength of his sonic attacks; earlier he'd been tending towards greater firing speed over greater power. Here though, he can probably afford to amp it up a bit. So it is that he will unleash full-power sonic attacks on the Hive from a distance, until the thing explodes.
Kushiko	While not explicitly a trap, there was enough going on here that the ship was clearly undermanned--such as the Infested /can/ be undermanned at least. It doesn't take much physical damage from the group to open not just a path but a way to get out--the shuttle ferrying Lyner, Fiora, Alexis, Gakupo and Karal all to safety. But as the Hive implodes, there's an unmistakable feel as /something/ just happened. The reason the Hives were so necessary to become destroyed was known before, but /now/ it's even more obvious. Severing the powerful symbiotic linkages the Hives had with the ship's systems, there's no way to protect it from what comes next. Grey, corpulent flesh begins to heat up as a pair of vessels disembark from the other side of the Infested Corpus ship. Like a fuse being lit, energy cycles, doubling back, increasing amounts of heat coruscating outwards, radiating from within the ship to the outside. Not hard to imagine even without the ship sensors of the vessels those aboard can witness. The earlier flamethrower pales in comparison to what the overloading of the reactor and engine room does. White hot plasma envelops and consumes, using the flesh of the Infested's own biomass to eat it away from the inside, to completely immolate it--and with every potential trace of the Infested being incinerated from the inside out, the ship itself begins to collapse inward. The raw heat of it all begins to lead into several explosions as the ship reveals itself to what it could be without the Infested: a husk. It is a husk that begins to plummet at a horribe rate, but it doesn't get far enough before it erupts into a conflagaration, resembling a great deal like an Infested that was killed on the ship just earlier, just at a far, /far/ greater scale. Somewhere, a pyromaniac is in love. But for now, the mission can be considered a rounded success, but there's no doubt this isn't the last of things regarding the Infested. They're on the move, but to what end? TO BE CONTINUED...