Fox

"Uh huh." Eclipse shared a quick glance with Rock before striding over to Cavalier, swinging an arm around his shoulders. "That's one plan," she said, turning his attention toward the tower and gesturing vaguely at the archway, "but I have a counter proposal. See, it goes like this:" The arm came off of his shoulders, one hand none-too-gently smacking him upside the back of the head. "We don't split up any more than we already have, and nobody has to die because nobody's karking running off alone, yeah?" The alien woman turned a glowing, purple-irised eye his way, and at this range its mechanical nature was even less subtle - bits of mechanism and hidden pattern silently turning as she focused on his face. "Suicide plans are for people who plan on dying, kid, or for people who want to send other people to die. You don't strike me as either, and we're sure as hell not on that list ourselves. I've spent too much time surviving to stop now, and I ain't seen a thing yet that can stop Rock when he puts his mind to it. Speaking of which!" She stepped back away, gesturing grandly at the archway. "Rock, old friend. Care to do us the rightful honor of taking point? I would but, y'know, you're bigger."

"Oh, well, that's a good sign," Eclipse suggested, circling one of the supplicants and tapping them on the shoulder with the tip of her tail. "Lesson one, miss: don't worship anything that wants to kill you. Because, y'know, it'll kill you." She sighed, making her way toward - thought not into, for the time being - one of the arches. "Y'know, can't help but feel we're sitting on a gold mine. I think I've seen this before...compu-whatever? It goes for a pretty good price, if you can find someone who wants the stuff. But if it does this....feh." She put a hand to her ear, touching the commlink she was wearing. "Hey, Nae-Dae. Howzit going, miracle worker?"

"Speaking of study, you may as well send us anything you find in case you fail or die," Tiamat mused. It earned her an immediate reproachful look from Gaian Knight, and as much as her tone had been more blunt than unkind, she put her hands up in apologetic defense. "Sorry, but y'know what I meant. The chance is there." He sighed, drawing a hand back through his hair. "...yes, it is. That is definitely not how I would have phrased it, because it isn't a vote of no confidence, but for a threat this large we ought to cover our bases. If you find anything, and if you can send it back, it'll at least give us an edge if the worst happens. Besides, who knows? Extra eyes rarely hurt."

Notice Check (1d20 + 10=12) Not so great! Super-senses for easy reference, if relevant: Super-Senses 7 (Analytical Vision [all], Extended Audio [normal], Extended Vision [normal], Infravision, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision) [7pp] (cyber-eyes, ear implants)

"I don't need big guns. I've got you and Ro---ooaaaww, c'mon," Eclipse complained, looking up at one of the casinos. "That's not-- that place was good," she insisted, gesturing futiley. Her body language didn't quite meet her tone of voice, though - for all her feigned petulance, her glowing eyes were constantly scanning their surroundings and her hand never went more than an inch from an item on her hip that was probably some kind of collapsed blaster. "They had a mixed drink that'd knock you out for a week - well, knock you out for a week, no offense - and these dancers that could do this thing...." She trailed off, looking one of the statues in the face. "Glassed, maybe?" Just as quickly as she'd picked up the petulance, she dropped it again, one pupil subtly rotating as she inspected the body with the sad, critical eye of someone who'd seen too many dead. "Or something new. Gotta say, I'm not a big fan of how this gray stuff is everywhere. Even if it was ash, it shouldn't be coming out of buildings like that. I don't like any of this."

Eclipse had to take a moment to let out a deep breath she hadn't known she was holding, and it took another two moments still for her to make her hands let go of the controls. "Okay. Nobody dead? Injured?" She stood up, tail unspooling from around the base of her chair as she shook the stress and ache out of her limbs. "Good job, if you're conscious to hear it," she offered her crew, with genuine approval and gratitude. "You too, Star Knight." Frowning, she grabbed her sword and cloak off their spots at the back of the room, donning them smoothly as she made her way to the hatch. Her gun, as ever, was already on her person. "I don't like what we saw on the way down, though. If we're stuck here anyway, may as well take a look. Rock, you're with me. Think you can get things going on your own, Nae-Dae? Anything you need for repairs, while we're checking things out?"

"Nice to meet you, Arthur. And, well, that's fortunate, after a fashion," Gaian Knight mused, glancing over toward the GBN building. "We were about to head that way ourselves after seeing a calm, normal news broadcast - yes, really - supposedly from there. We were kind of hoping we could get a little more information on this whole mess, either from people there or whatever records were still on hand. And, well, standing around here for much longer isn't likely to do us much good." He gave the surrounding carnage one last look, shivering for a moment before regaining his composure. "...right, well. Shall we?" he asked, gesturing over-grandly in the direction of the tower as if inviting the entire group for a pleasant stroll.

"We need it," Eclipse grimly confirmed. "Nae-Dae's a miracle worker, but there are limits. The strongest bird can't fly without wings....come on, baby. I believe in you." That last bit seemed to be directed at the ship itself, as she tried to direct the sputtering engines into slowing their fall as efficiently as possible with what little she had. "Come on, come on....don't quit on me now, we're too close. Just gotta---aw, aw no. Rock!" She glanced over at him, though only for a moment before her attention was back on the descent vector that was still entirely too fast for her tastes. "Rock, we either lost landing gear or our connection to it - putting her down isn't gonna do us any good if we try to rest our weight on our belly or crush the Star Knight under us. There oughta be some kind of manual release or maintenance panel closer to the hatch at midship; rip the hydraulics, if you've got to, but we need those things down!"

"Seems suicidal," Gaian Knight countered, with a questioning glance Tiamat's way. The expression on her now-human face implied that she agreed. "I'm sure this will all end in fire and city-wide alarms, but let's not rush our way there. If this whole city is basically a massive hive then who knows what kind of response we'd stir up by intentionally causing trouble...not to mention the trouble that'd cause for any innocent people still out there." "If you would like to attempt such a thing," Tiamat added, looming over Frost (and admittedly not so much Gabriel, though it wasn't for lack of trying; at the very least she matched every inch of his height), "then you are welcome to it. We shall build you a charming memorial back on Earth. I did not survive three centuries by rousing the entire guard every time I wished to spy on lesser creatures when I had other options available to me." "...ah, right, then. Our bee friends can at least potentially blend in...or be confusing, which may serve them just as well. But let's save the distraction option for a more opportune time, or as a strategy of last resort. For now, let's make our way to the tower and see what we can find there."

"I'm not sure I envy your task," Gaian Knight admitted to the senior League members, shaking his head. "Don't worry: we'll hold the line. If they even make it this far they won't have the advantage of the surprise arrival of a planet-killer." Tiamat made a thoughtful noise, running her tongue back along her canine teeth. For a moment, entirely too many canine teeth. "Not to mention the usual scumbags," she added. "We can be as careful as we like, but spreading the news even just to those we trust is gonna tip off some of the rest. Might even get some of them on our side if it comes to that, but the rest are gonna try to take advantage of the changing of the guard. Can't let that get out of hand." Gaian Knight grimaced. "Good point. So we hold both lines. We've done worse."

Abilities: 6+4+10+2+6+4= 32pp Strength: 16 (+3) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 20 (+5) Intelligence: 12 (+1) Wisdom: 16 (+3) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 12+16= 28pp Initiative: +6 Attack: +6 Base/Ranged, +10 Melee, +10 Blast Grapple: +13 Defense: +10 (+8 base, +2 Dodge Focus), +4 Flat-Footed Knockback: -5 Saving Throws: 3+5+6= 14pp Toughness: 10 (+5 Con, +5 Protection) Fortitude: 8 (+5 Con, +3) Reflex: 7 (+2 Dex, +5) Will: 9 (+3 Wis, +6) Skills: 36 ranks = 9pp Concentration 7 (+10) Intimidation 2 (+4) Knowledge (History) 4 (+5) Language 2 (Alar, Galstandard, Starsong [native]) Medicine 7 (+10) Notice 7 (+10) Sense Motive 7 (+10) Feats: 13pp Dodge Focus 2 Environmental Adaptation (Zero-G) Equipment 2 Improved Initiative Melee Focus 4 Move-By Action Power Attack Precise Shot Equipment: 6+4= 10ep Knife (Damage 2 (Feats: Improved Critical, Mighty) [4ep] Ship Communicator (Communication 5 (Radio; Extras: Area [5 miles]; Flaws: Limited [other ship communicators]) + Super-Senses 1 (Communication Link [ship, radio])) [5+1= 6ep] Powers: 35+5+4+16+5+8+6= 79pp Cosmic Array 15 (30pp Array; Feats: Alternate Power 5) [35pp] Base: Damage 7 (Extras: Aura, Duration 2 [sustained]) [28/30] (cosmic aura) AP: Blast 10 (Feats: Accurate 2, Improved Critical 2) [24/30] (cosmic blast) AP: Blast 10 (Extras: Area [General, Burst], Secondary Effect; Flaws: Action [Full]) [30/30] (cosmic burst) AP: Dazzle 10 (All Senses; Extras: Area [General Burst], Flaws: Action [Full], Range [Touch]) [30/30] (cosmic radiance) AP: Healing 9 (Extras: Total; Feats: Persistent) [28/30] (cosmic touch) AP: Flight 4 (to 6, 500mph / 5000 ft/move), Insubstantial 3 (Coherent Energy), Super-Movement 1 (Space Travel 1) [8+15+2= 25/30] Environmental Control 5 (Light, partial, 100') [5pp] Flight 2 (25mph / 250 ft/move) [4pp] Immunity 16 (Aging, All Cosmic Effects, Life Support, Starvation and Thirst) [16pp] (cosmic elemental) Protection 5 [5pp] Super-Senses 8 (Ultravision, Radio, Cosmic Awareness [mental; Accurate, Acute, Extended 2 [1000' increments]]) [8pp] Super-Strength 3 [6pp] DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed touch DC18 Toughness (Staged) Damage Knife touch DC20 Toughness (Staged) Damage Aura touch DC22 Toughness (Staged) Damage Melee+Aura touch DC25 Toughness (Staged) Damage Area Blast 100' DC25 Toughness (Staged) Damage Blast 100' DC25 Toughness (Staged) Damage Dazzle 50' radius DC20 Reflex Dazzled (all senses) DC20 Fortitude (recover) Totals: Abilities (32) + Combat (28) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (9) + Feats (13) + Powers (79) = 175/175pp Cosmic elemental! The original plan for Eclipse was to have her AI graduate to Sidekick, but I couldn't quite get the concept to gel...and then I was messing around in the hero factory program and made what turned into that picture up there. So, sure, brain. Why not. New possible concept for a sidekick at some point. Being me, the sidekick is of course completely over-expensive; 175pp is Sidekick 35. This'd require either a couple of vet awards or a whooooole lot of PP earned, if I can't find satisfying ways to trim her. Bleh. Build-wise, nothing spectacular here. I figure her ultimate origin is a little hazy, but she was planted down on some planet as guardian of what have long since become ruins - she'd be awfully grateful to whoever showed up to free her. Naive and enthusiastically curious, after so much time alone, but don't mistake that for stupidity. She's a mean peace of work in a fight, with a lot of very straightforward ways to mess you up! EDIT: A quick glance at the sheet, much later, and I note that there are some severe math problems here. Don't pay too much attention to the math, folks, and Future Fox: if you come back to this idea, for the love of god, at least clean up the powers section. EDIT MOAR: Fixed some things up. Still 175pp, but maybe I can roll with that?

"No no no no no no no," Eclipse insisted, frantically adjusting the assorted switches, knobs, and touch-screen interfaces within reach in the hopes of getting engine power from somewhere. Anywhere. "Come back to me, wings. I haven't lost a ship to planetfall yet and I'm not going to start today. Tell me this is an easy fix, Nae-Dae!" She wasn't even entirely sure comms were still up, but that last bit was directed back toward the engines anyway - too much ship between her and there to make it without aid, but that wasn't going to stop her from shouting. "Horizon's not at atmosphere fighter, she's not built for lift! I can probably depressurize something to give us a push toward a softer landing, but 'soft' is gonna be pretty #### relative at the speed we're going, if there are even soft targets left down there!"

"Five hundred...." Gaian Knight was pale, the stone he'd been fiddling with forgotten as the sheer impact of that set in. "The Communion have something half a thousand Star Knights can't hold back, and they used it at the heart of Lor space? That's...there's no chance they got the whole planet evacuated in time, not even with that sacrifice. A lot more than if they hadn't, but...." "It's bold," Tiamat observed; it would have sounded appreciative, if she hadn't dropped all posturing and pretense. Even her accent had dropped into its rarely-heard, indistinctly-British tone. "The leader of one, the seat of power of another. That's not how you wage war - you turn your enemies against each other, you strike at weaknesses, build...what do you call them now, beachheads? This is the kind of thing you do from a position of absolute power, when you fear nothing."

Eclipse had something to say about the sudden appearance of Khanate ships - it was clipped and Alarian, and seemed to translate into something like "pluck my wings", if "pluck my wings" came with a sidebar full of epithets. Still, she wasn't Captain Eclipse for nothing: no sooner had the flashes shown up on one of her screens than she'd grabbed a pair of floating metal spheres from where they'd been hovering, idle; the devices barely had time to light up with some kind of holographic interface before the ship lurched. The number one error, to hear it from some old flight instructors she'd known, was to fly in space like you'd move on a planet. Space was not an ocean, or a surface - space was vast in all directions, with only the insignificant gravity of local bodies to keep you down. When the Horizon moved, it wasn't anything so pedestrian as aside or ahead or behind; it went up, straight up, like some mighty, unknown force had delivered a kick straight to its underside. "I need you in the engine room, Nae-Dae!" she announced through clenched teeth, tail reaching out to flick another switch. "We need everything we can spare to sub-light. Shut FTL down completely if you've gotta. Rock, be a dear and warm up the main gun for me - whatever power Nae-Dae has left over. They brought a ram to a dogfight."

"...my vote's for slipping in now," Gaian Knight admitted, frowning up at the building. "On the one hand we risk causing trouble, and I'd rather have Fleur at our backs if we do. But the longer we sit around in the open, the more likely we are to get noticed...or attacked, which'll amount to the same thing. Time's of the essence." Tiamat snorted, though not entirely disapprovingly, and was wreathed in fire as she compacted to a more...building-suitable form. "Refreshingly aggressive," she chuckled, though there wasn't much humor in it. "Y'realize that walking into a nest isn't a great way to stay subtle, though." "....yeah, I know. If we do cause trouble, we make sure it stays on us. Worst case, we want attacks on the super-powered invaders, not whatever innocent people are still running or hiding in the area. If this goes bad, and we can't keep the alarm from spreading, we cause a scene."

Mara felt sick. The only thing that kept her from actually being sick was, to her bitter gratitude, the same thing that made her capable of analyzing what was happening in the data feed in the first place - her fear response was fundamentally broken, and she knew it, and she knew that it was probably the only reason she hadn't done more than stand and watch in horror as the...planet-killer...fired down toward the surface. The home-grown program she'd made for analyzing energy patterns was complaining that it couldn't do much with the data at hand and unknown variables; she dismissed it. It wouldn't help. "It's...you can't build them on that scale," she weakly insisted, though her brain already was...assuming near-infinite resources. Or close enough to infinite for rational minds. "It's insane. You just can't. Or don't. Some kind of energy lance, probably not a technical term, whatever...directed energy weapon. But it's too much. Overkill. Secondary purpose? I...." She ran a hand back through her hair, drawing a breath. "....I need data. Going to see what I can get on my end, too. Need to know what happened after; data feed cuts off at the important part. Damage pattern, active radiation dispersal - kills organic targets before or after shattering crust? - fragmentation size, remains of back half of planet vs. unstable toroid....?" She waved a hand, already drawing something on her paper. "Don't now how helpful I'll be, never...worked at that scale, but I'll try. Send anything you have. Go make your calls. I need...time. And bad ideas."

Eclipse sat up in her seat as the planet came into view, leaning forward to inspect the image on her main screen. "That's...Echo, please tell me my eyes need adjusting or something." "Afraid not, ma'am," her AI replied, blinking into existence as a glowing circle on a flat, black background, symbol pulsing as he talked. "I confess I don't know quite how it's been done, but the scope of the change is...significant." "...okay." Eclipse reached out to flip a few switches, her ship dimming as power was routed way from unnecessary lighting and support functions, the engine idly filling secondary batteries and capacitors for some of the Horizon's nastier surprises. Not battle-ready, not quite...but carefully battle-conscious. "....yeah, okay. I'm thinking Rock might have been right, here. This isn't very funny."

Mara flinched like she'd been slapped, too off-guard to be prepared for the bluntness of the assertion...but she couldn't say it was wrong. That was probably what still hurt the most. "...yes, okay," she conceded. A quick thought to the computer sent a pattern of data back up the line - senseless noise to a phone network, but a private connection protocol to something as evolved as whatever Miss Americana was likely calling from. She swept a long section of her workbench clean, the scraping of metal and circuits audible even over the speakers, and grabbed a nearby stack of over-sized draft papers to plop down in the cleared space. "Give me whatever you have. All of it; said Star Knights, plural. News to me - not too surprising in retrospect - but one we know is...durable. Tearing through that and still cracking a planet is...an engineering problem. Eliminates easiest solutions. Need details to rule out others. Audio, visual, distortion, interference, anything."

Mara bit her lip for a moment, peering down into the guts of her...whatever it was...to get a fiddly bit of wire into place. "Nnnno," she answered, brain catching the last piece first. "Should I? Sounds aggressively religious. Kind of name a cult gives thems---what do you mean 'no Lor-Van there anymore'?" She glanced up at the screen, for all that there wasn't a video feed, mad science momentarily forgotten. "Can't just blow up a planet," she insisted, though her brain immediately put the lie to it. asteroid slingshot from deep space - magnetic field to redirect and accelerate basically a railgun on much larger scale cooling actually harder in space thermal conductivity of near-vacuum poor - energy lance from near orbit - power requirements enormous - energy cascade to planet core? - requires in-depth knowledge of core compos--- She shook her head. no "Energy requirements for reasonable planet-killer solutions are unreasonable," she corrected, a bit of concern creeping into her voice. "Not overly familiar with space civilizations. Got into League databases once, though - briefly. Homeworld for a major player, yes? Bold target. Don't like it, if it's true. ....not that I don't appreciate the knowledge, but why call me?"

Gaian Knight and Tiamat were next up, appearing one after the other on the platform - the latter looking considerably more weary than the former, yawning widely as she shuffled her way toward the scent of coffee beans and caffeine. The former, for his part, looked far more rested but no less uncomfortable - anyone who'd ever seen him on the Lighthouse recognized the heavier weight in his coat, the hand idly playing with a rock in one pocket. The geokinetic hero was never one to not answer the call, and was no less willing to help out however he was needed, but he'd never made it a secret that he didn't like being off-planet - a planet, any planet, really. He'd described the sensation as being cut off, once: like having to leave most of your body behind when you went on a trip, barely able to see it in the distance but leaving it too far to move or touch. He never quite got used to it. When Tiamat showed up with two coffee mugs, he politely waved her off (not that she seemed to mind; tired as she looked, one imagined she could happily drink both, though she made at least a token effort to offer one to Fleur by waving it vaguely in her direction). "Well. Guess I didn't expect good news, getting a call like this, but from the faces in here I'm betting it's worse than I thought."

When her cell phone had gone off, Mara had dismissed the call with a distracted wave of the hand, silencing the presumed telemarketer's ringing and making a mental note to do nasty things to their infrastructure when she had the chance. When one of her online phone services went off, the coincidence prompted a raised eyebrow and a momentary glance away from the device on her workbench. Still, though, it was silenced; the prevalence of digital calling services didn't put the probabilities of two calls outside the realm of possibility. When an old cell phone on one of the far benches went off, suddenly it had her attention. That phone had been almost completely locked down, operating on some (at the time) sophisticated filters and a whitelist. It had been a necessary precaution: it was the phone she'd used before she'd made her suit, in her gauntlets-and-visor days. Precious few people had that number. Lights danced behind her eyes as she redirected the call to her warehouse computer, its large, central screen lighting up in response. "If you are a telemarketer, you are about to lose your database," she warned, turning her attention back to her work. "Otherwise, you have reached Dragonfly. Very tired, kind of busy, remind me to give you updated phone number later. Speak."

"Looking pretty good on my end, Knight. You have any idea what they cashed in to get us out here?" Talisyn Alar sat at the navigation bridge of her ship: a scant few seats and some well-maintained consoles emerging from the walls, comfortable and unassuming - a lot like the rest of the ship, really. With her feet propped up on another chair and her tail idly flicking back and forth in a gesture of impatience, one would almost think she wasn't taking the trip seriously...though with every available screen and projection playing out the radio and video feeds the Horizon was passively picking up as it went, she wasn't quite as idle as she looked. "They called in so many debts through so many people I think they owe me now," she continued, sounding more than a little pleased. "I'm really hoping I get to live long enough to collect. Unless you meant how space is looking from in here, in which case probably about the same as you - recent events are still all over the news but that's about it, unless my intrepid crew has seen something."

APPROVED

APPROVED!

General Fixed a couple broken tags and a typo or two for you. Nothing vital there. Fluff A little confused by this part of the physical description: "Almost androgynous, though clearly androgynous," As this sets her apart from other species (and individuals!), and probably plays into how characters react to her, it's probably good to clarify! Combat Feats factor into base grapple (so long as they aren't granted by non-permanent powers); with a base melee attack bonus of +10 and a base Str bonus of +5, Bliss' base grapple is +15, not +11. Likewise, you're selling the full grapple bonus here short - bonuses when using powers you've Limited can get a little hairy, but so long as you are using those tendrils to do your grappling, your total bonus would be +10 (melee bonus) +10 (str bonus) +2 (additional limbs) +4 (elongation) +2 (super-strength) = +28. It goes down a bit if you don't use both tendrils, though, so watch for that when you use Improved Grapple. With a non-powered Toughness of +5, base Knockback would be -2, not -3. Saves With +2 Wis and 4pp spent, Bliss' Will save would be +6, not +7. Powers As a trivial math note, a 38pp container is rank 7.6, not 7.8. Which ends up being a little beside the point, as you're only spending 19pp in there (see below!). You're overpaying for the limbs themselves. Additional Limbs is a 1pp/rank power, but you're paying 2pp/rank; Super-Strength is a 2pp/rank power, but with a flaw and two power feats, two ranks would cost you 4pp, not 5pp. While the pp cost is correct, you ought to have Enhanced Feats 5 there, not Enhanced Feats 4. Totals Due to the Powers note (above), you actually have 3 unspent points here that you can allocate to other things.