ic Blind Man's Bluff (IC)

[Thevshi]

GM

 

After stepping over Rock's attempt to slam into it, the Hunter mecha turned back toward the massive hero, a plasma blade extending from its main weapon arm as it stepped back toward Rock. As it approached, the Hunter swung its arm down, the plasma blade cutting into Rock’s stoney hide.

 

A bit further off, the crew of the Khanate dropship managed to drag the unconscious form of Justicar Gor'an onboard the transport.

 

To the south of the town, the group of Khanate troopers dropped off by the dropship continued to move steadily toward the center of town, firing as they approached. A hail of blaster fire erupted around Eclipse, as ten of the troopers zeroed in on her. Bit of stone were blasted off the fountain she had taken cover behind, but even with some of the troopers trying to set up shots for a few of the others, Eclipse managed to remain behind cover and avoid any incoming fire. The troopers seemed to have wised up some, as they were spread out such that she would likely only be able to catch a couple in any wide area shot.

 

The other group of Khanate troops continued moving toward the house where the Thuarian delegation and their bodyguards had taken cover, returning fire on the bodyguards who had been shooting out the widows and doorway. Two of the Thuarian’s went down, though how badly they were injured was difficult to tell as they fell out of view.

Then the Thuarian's returned fire, hitting five of the Khanate troopers. One of those hit went down, apparently out of the fight. Another fell to the ground as well, but seemed ready to get back up, while several others were hit, two had the blast graze their armor, not injuring them, while another had a minor wound and continued moving forward.

[Fox]

Eclipse

 

Talisyn had some choice words when she watched two of the guards go down - not kind words, but choice words. More than a few of them.

 

She broke cover, cloak and hair alike billowing as she shot toward the troopers with only her own (admittedly boosted) speed and reaction time to save her from any return fire. Which, if that wasn't enough, she could hopefully heal back from. "I'm going to be so hungry after this," she muttered, snapping off a bolt of energy at one of the troopers to get their attention - and then louder, "You've learned spacing! Let's teach you to aim!"

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Hovering in the air, Star Khan looked about the battlefield for a moment. The Hunter he had been engaged with was back up, but some distance behind the one currently engaged in melee with the rocky mercenary that had delt with Gor'an. Eclipse was engaging the troops approaching from the south, and to the northwest, the dropship had just loaded the unconscious Gor'an aboard.

 

Deciding the Hunter could wait for the moment, Star Khan turned slightly toward the dropship bringing both hands up as he fired a powerful blast of energy at the vessel. The blast struck the dropship, causing further damage to it, but still failing to cripple it. A scowl came over the young Khan's face as the dropship's engines began powering up to liftoff…

[Gizmo]

The superheated energy weapon sunk into the part of Rock’s shoulder that would have been shaped by a clavicle in a being with a conventional skeleton, immediately liquifying stone and turning moss into acrid smoke. The mercenary glanced at the seemingly grievous wound from the corners of his eyes and let out a gravelly scoff. Rearing back he let loose a haymaker toward the articulated joints of the Hunter’s nearest leg… and nearly tripped over his own feet as he was snagged by the plasma blade still lodged in his shoulder.

 

Flailing to regain his balance, he jerked his arm to try to free himself but with the blade embedded several centimetres into already cooling stone he found himself jerking about in an awkward tug of war.

 

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The Hunter engaged with Rock continued to struggle with the hulking mercenary, pulling its plasma blade free from the rocky giant. Swinging it around once more, the mecha struck Rock again with the superheated weapon.

The other Hunter, with no easy means of injuring the young Star Khan turned back toward the town and started forward in the direction of the intensifying firefight that had begun around the central plaze.

Meanwhile, the Khanate dropship lifted back up into the air, the unconscious Justicar now aboard. Turning away from the town, the dropship began flying back towards the hills to the north of the town.

 

In the town, Eclipse easily dodge four energy blasts aimed her direction as several of the Kanate troops closed with her. They were still maintaining their spacing to avoid making themselves easy targets. The other group of troopers continued to fire at the Thuarian guards that were defending the building the leaders were hiding in. A couple of Thuarians went down, likely out of the fight, but at the same time, several of the Khanate troops fell to the ground as well….

[Fox]

Eclipse

 

The troopers having the presence of mind to spread out made it harder for Talisyn to catch them all in one go - but it also spread out their fire, which was a small blessing. Entirely too many years of being shot at let her map it out in her head, lines of fire and how they lagged when she changed direction, that one on the left that couldn't quite place her torso under her cloak....

 

The moment she had a window she paused, letting bolts of sizzling energy pass by her as she snapped a series of shots off at a trio of soldiers who hadn't been able to spread quite as much as they should have. "No good on the aiming lessons, then. Any of you any good at math?" she called out, twisting around behind some cover while her blaster made angry heat-venting noises; she doubted the cover would hold up to much fire, but she only needed seconds. Hopefully. She had a heat sink somewhere.... "You're losing numbers a lot faster than we are!"

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Several Khanate troops go down under Eclipse's fire. But those still gathered around the plaza do not seem fully willing to surrender or retreat.

Out to the north of the town, Star Khan regarded the Hunter that was headed towards the plaza a moment before glancing to where the transport was withdrawing with the unconscious Justicar aboard. After a momentary hesitation, the young Khan flew off after the transport.

As he drew near, he aimed one gauntlet at one of the wings of the aircraft, the one that was trailing a bit of smoke. A powerful beam of energy lanced out and tore the already damaged wing off the transport. With the heavy damage, the vessel started to drop from the sky towards the rocky ground below…

[Gizmo]

Off balance, Rock took the walking tank's renewed attack badly, the plasma blade slipping between the uneven edges between stacked stones and sending a grimy grey piece the size of a dinner plate flying from his side. The loosened shale skipped off of the dusty plain for a few bounces, breaking apart into gravel.

 

The recesses below Rock's brow narrowed. "...ro-CCK," he spat with a sharp crack that indicated he was now taking the conflict more seriously. The faint pinpricks of his 'eyes' glowed brighter, the brighter still, turning incandescent as he threw his arms back like a sapient with a respiratory system inhaling deeply. The core a superheated magma inside him erupted from his mouth in a gushing torrent that a more semantically inclined individual would have noted converted it into lava. All Rock concerned himself with as he panned his head from side to side was turning the ground beneath the Hunter mech's feet into an inferno.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Rock managed to catch both of the Hunter mechs in the lava blast, the one closest to him being knocked off its feet and badly damaged by the hot liquid that hardened around parts of it, rending it inoperable. The more distant mecha took a solid hit as well, being knocked to the ground and sustaining further damage. But it did not seem to be fully out of commission just yet.

 

In the town, the Khanate forces caught of glimpse of what was transpiring to the north of the town, with the drop ship being shot down and the two mecha they were counting on for support taking hits from the burst of lava from Rock. It was then that half the troopers dropped their weapons and held up their hands in surrender. The other half turned and began to run, heading back towards the south edge of town.

[Fox]

Eclipse

 

"Good call," said the good Captain. She seemed to mean it - even giving the running ones a quick nod of approval before she turned to look at the ones who'd surrendered, blaster hissing away extra heat in her hand. "I don't really carry a whole team's worth of cuffs, so you if you like your odds here better than with your friends - and I would, not for nothing - maybe walk really carefully toward the building you were shooting at. Don't get clever."

 

With that, she spun on a heel to run back toward her crewmate...or at least until she had a solid line of sight on the last hunter, blaster up and protesting loudly as she sent a hail of bolts north. It took both hands to brace the thing - she did sometimes so regret not carrying a full rifle - but whatever got the job done before that mech either got up or the upstarts pulled some new threat out of nowhere....

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The troopers that had surrendered in place hesitated a moment before following Eclipse’s orders, moving over toward the building and the remaining Thuarian guards that cautiously exited the building with their weapons aimed at the troopers. Soon, they had secured the Khanate forces there as Eclipse turned her attention to the last remaining threat in the area, a badly damaged Khanate Hunter mech.

 

Unleashing a hail of fire on the mecha, Eclipse scored several solid hits, blasting additional pot marks into the mecha’s armor. It staggered back a step before stopping, the pilot seeming to weigh his options. Then the arms of the mecha lowered, its main weapon arm pointing down towards the ground as the pilot opened the access hatch and began to climb out, holding out her hands in surrender as she did so.

 

It was then that the armored form of the young Star Khan flew back into view, carrying the unconscious form of Justicar Gor'an with him. The armored figure flew over to the central plaza where Eclipse was standing, able to keep an eye both on the surrendering Khanate soldiers and the mecha pilot.

 

As he landed in the plaza, the young Star Khan dropped the unconscious Justicar to the ground, generally in front of the Thuarian leaders and Ambassador Laar, who had emerged from the building which still had smoking blast marks along the exterior.

 

"Esteemed representatives of the people of Thuarus, I apologize that the Khanate failed to recall Gor'an sooner. As I announced upon my arrival, the Stellar Khanate no longer lays claim to Thuarus and will recognize its independent sovereignty." Kinarr Khan stated with a small nod of his head to the Thuarians. "I hope that we can soon begin talks to establish formal diplomatic relations and trade agreements, with the assistance of the honorable Lor ambassador of course." The young Khan continued, looking to Laar as he spoke.

 

The experienced Lor diplomate had managed to regain his composure since the initial appearance of the new Star Khan and the attack by Gor'an's forces, so he once again had a neutral and detached expression on his face. "Illustrious Star Khan, I thank you for assisting in protecting the Thuarian delegation and capturing Gor'an." The Lor diplomate began. "But, I am sure you can understand if the people of Thuarus might view your offer for diplomatic and trade relations with some skepticism."

 

Kinarr gave Laar a small smile. "I do understand the concern ambassador. If they prefer, the people of Thuarus could opt to join in the peace and trade agreements one of my ambassadors is currently negotiating on CoVic Station with Imperator Th'emme and representatives from the Republic and Coalition worlds."

[Fox]

Eclipse

 

"Strength in numbers and all," mused Talisyn, though her focus wasn't directly on the Star Khan and the ambassador - that last chained blast had made an unhappy weapon even unhappier, and one of its inner bits was doing its level best to melt its way into being an outer bit. There was a mildly concerning tk-tk-tk-tk noise as the segments of her spine-like metal tail extended out, the end snapping open into a crude claw that could hold the thing without burning. "You could make some new friends there; even if y'don't trust the Khanate, trade agreements with anyone else would make it harder for another Gor'an to set up shop unnoticed."

 

She shrugged, tail mimicking the motion like a third arm. "We could probably give you a lift, even, unless my partner has some objections; we're headed back that way once we're done here."

[Gizmo]

“Rock,” Rock agreed amiably, kicking his left foot in the air as he ambled back into the midst of the discussions, trying to dislodge a glob of molten ore from his heel like wet toilet paper.

 

He offered a stoney hand to his captain to relieve her tail of the overheating weapon while looking between the Khan, ambassador and locals. “Rock…?” he asked Talisyn in as soft a gravely whisper as he was capable, wondering whether or not he should take the polite negotiations at face value.

[Fox]

Eclipse

 

Talisyn just shrugged again, carefully dropping her poor blaster into more heat-proof hands. "If it's just a show, 's a good one," she murmured back. She left her tail extended, flexing it behind her like a stiff muscle. "If it's bad faith or things go bad, they at least have more time to deal with it, and I bet they build some better defenses after today. Let's maybe swing back here later, see how it's gone? We can have Nae-Dae stock up on rocket launchers in case they bring any more of those dropships. She'll love it."

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Laar looked over towards Eclipse as she spoke up about the potential benefit for Thuarus if it made connections with the Coalition. "That is very true Captain. With Gor'an now in custody, perhaps a delegation traveling to CoVic Station is in order." He then turned back towards the young Kinarr Khan. "I thank you again Star Khan for your assistance, if the Republic does formalize a peace agreement with the Stellar Khanate, I expect that will go a long way to making independent worlds such as Thuarus more willing to enter into similar agreements."

 

The young Khan gave a nod to the Lor ambassador. "I know it is not easy to move past decacycles of oppression by my father. I hope with time I can earn the trust of those that were once forcefully brought into the Khanate."

 

He then turned toward Eclipse and Rock, giving them a nod as well. "As things appear under control here now, I will be on my way. There is still much to do." With that, the young Star Khan activated his armor's flight systems and took off into the air once more, quickly climbing until he was soon out of sight.