ic Written in the Stars (IC)

[Dr Archeville]

Artificer

 

"<The Stylianos clan shall remember your assistance in this matter, Oramacles,>" Heroditus assured the Atlantean monitor tech, "<and you may count on us to return the favor.>"  He gave the technician a salute, then turned back to watch the feed with the others.

 

"Would he be capable of that?," he asked in response to Patriot's question, then looked to the spacefaring heroes.  "Not just in terms of having the cunning and guile necesary to come up with such a scheme, but the resources to either communicate with mercenary figures native to this world in order to arrange things, or to seed his own agents here without alerting anyone?"  He wanted this new Khan's claims to be sincere, for these space-barbarians to become space-gentlebeings, but he'd also learned that things were not always as they seemed.

 

[Fox]

Gaian Knight

 

"Maybe," Gaian Knight allowed, but he didn't seem too put out by the idea. "You can never really rule anything out, and his name has a lot of weight and history behind it. But I don't find it likely."

 

He shrugged, one hand working his piece of obsidian somewhat more than should be normal - while it still looked like glassy black stone it was deforming like clay. "It sounds like he's going to have his hands full re-forming his father's empire out of pieces that...probably don't agree with him on a lot of things. I'm no master strategist, but I'd bet that's going to demand most of his attention when he isn't running around lovesick." He shook his head. The obsidian had become marble at some point. "Plus, showing up to take over a planet with a long history of, ah, stubbornness is the kind of they they try when they have a solid empire and a whole army, or are just mad and desperate. It doesn't really fit."

[Thevshi]

Velocity

 

Megan watched as the footage of the fight began, glancing over at Ghost with a slight smirk. "Oh, I certainly give him a point or two for being closer to what we might expect of a hero than we were expecting."

 

A short distance away, the technician Patriot was speaking with was running a still of the image of the costumed bomb thrower through the AEGIS database, coming up with a confirmed match. "Yes ma'am, looks like he is… get this, Explodo the Great. Long list of warrants for various acts of arson, and a suspect in a couple dozen others. Mainly in Emerald City or other parts of the West Coast."

 

Justicar Vor'an seemed a bit bothered by Patriot’s comments that implied that the new Star Khan had worked to stage this latest incident (and potentially others). He seemed about to say something when Traveller and Galvanic both spoke up with a general defense of Kinarr's intentions and chose to remain silent.

 

On 2/23/2024 at 9:38 AM, Ecalsneerg said:

Galvanic

"<Velocity, should Paradigm and your Fleur fail to contain him, should we be on standby? I can be planetside within 3 of your Earth minutes, providing I don't push it too hard.>"

 

Megan looked over to Galvanic with a smile. "Oh, we have a teleportation pad four levels down. We can get down to Freedom Hall, and some other locations across the world pretty quickly. Really, the longest delay I have in getting back down to the surface and anywhere in the world is waiting for someone to activate the teleporter and the time it takes to teleport down."

 

As the feed from Predator’s armor continued, the young Star-Khan stepped in to shield the armored hero from yet another attack by Explodo, before flying over and punching the villain out. Predator's feed also showed Fleur de Joie having arrived on the scene and starting to deal with the fire.

 

"Well, looks like that is over." Megan commented, looking at another of the screens. "And looks like Paradigm is almost there as well. Hopefully the young Star-Khan won't try to run off looking for more trouble to get into."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Explodo the Great, really." The Patriot put her hand over the lower part of her face for a moment. "Really sending our best today. Thanks, Marty." Damn, they're really overcompensating, she thought, trying to stay sympathetic as she listened with half an ear to the Praetorians go on and on. They reminded her a little bit of the old ladies from the Giáo Xứ Maria Nữ Vương Việt Nam back in New Orleans, who hadn't been able to stop talking about the beauty of the old country and how crappy America was by comparison. 

 

"Doesn't have to be a bad guy by his own lights to plan something on Earth," she added for Artificer's benefit. "If you hold thirty planets in your hand, what's a little extra trouble on one if it gets you what you want? But it looks like we don't have to worry about that today, thank God." When she caught sight of La Puma Negra with Golden Star, she hmmed but kept her reaction otherwise to herself as they waited for the fight down below to wind down. 

 

When it looked that way, she reached past a technician and tagged a button to signal Fleur de Joie on her League communicator down below. "This is Patriot up in the Lighthouse. Nice work down there; do you need backup?" For all that Fleur - and for that matter Paradigm - were quite a bit more powerful than she was, it never hurt to ask. 

 

[Ecalsneerg]

Galvanic

 

Chlo'zel breathed a sign of relief. Perhaps this fiasco was over. No doubt Paradigm would easily talk the Star Khan down, they'd escort him back to CoVic Station, and hopefully they'd be able to enjoy a period of peace. 

 

On 2/24/2024 at 8:13 PM, Thevshi said:

Velocity

Megan looked over to Galvanic with a smile. "Oh, we have a teleportation pad four levels down. We can get down to Freedom Hall, and some other locations across the world pretty quickly. Really, the longest delay I have in getting back down to the surface and anywhere in the world is waiting for someone to activate the teleporter and the time it takes to teleport down."

 

As the feed from Predator’s armor continued, the young Star-Khan stepped in to shield the armored hero from yet another attack by Explodo, before flying over and punching the villain out. Predator's feed also showed Fleur de Joie having arrived on the scene and starting to deal with the fire.

 

"Well, looks like that is over." Megan commented, looking at another of the screens. "And looks like Paradigm is almost there as well. Hopefully the young Star-Khan won't try to run off looking for more trouble to get into."

Galvanic nodded. "<Yes, it does seem rather more convenient. I do somewhat miss defending one planet. It was so much easier to visit home.>" She paused contemplatively. "<But well, if Paradigm can talk the Khan into going back, perhaps I'll have more time to visit.>"

 

She turned and approached the Justicar, hovering a foot off the floor as she moved, hands still clasped behind her back. "<Vor'an, I trust that in future the Khanate well remember the discretion and professionalism of the Terrans today.>"

[Tiffany Korta]

The Traveller

Sitara wasn't one to just sit back and just let things happen, though obviously, diplomacy had overridden such a thing. Now things had settled down she wanted to make sure, and the locals had helpfully shown her all the necessary communication protocol to piggyback her signal upon. She fired up the suits comms system, adding a holographic as an extra flex and contacted their leader.

 

"Is everything okay down there Amara? Do you want us to come one down yet?"

 

As tempted as she was to visit her old homeworld, protocol was more important in the situation. At least for now. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity

 

Justicar Vor'an meet Chlo'zel's gaze evenly. "I have heard suspicion of Kinarr's actions, although, it is understandable given the past with his father." He responded before looking over towards the various League members "But, I have appreciated the willingness to assist and avoid unnecessary escalation."

 

Patriot's message down to the surface received a brief reply that everything was under control. Sitara sent her own message, which got a quick response from Paradigm.

 

Quote

"Everything is fine Sitara, no need to come down. We will be heading up to the Lighthouse."

 

"Well, seems like everything is under control." Velocity said with a small smile.

 

"Umm, we are detecting a large vessel coming from around the dark side of the Moon." One of the technicians called out.

The speedster looked surprised as she turned toward the staff member. "Did it not register coming from the wormhole?"

"There has been no activity there, it must have entered out system without using the wormhole." The technician responded.

 

Suddenly a large cruiser moved into view through the command center’s view ports. As it did, a smaller vessel that the Praetorians recognized as an assault transport exited the cruiser, heading down toward the surface.

 

"We are receiving a transmission." One of the technicians said, activating a holographic screen.

 

On the screen was a tall, thin figure with grey skin and a long face, whose eyes and nose sat much higher up on their face than those of a human. The figure was dressed in long green robes, a yellow sash running down the left side of the robe. "I am Waymaker, herald of the great Prince Dovox." The figure stated. "Dovox understands that Kinarr Khan, the claimant to the title Star Khan and the throne of the Stellar Khanate is on the surface of your world. He intends to eliminate this pretender. Do not interfere and Dovox will leave your world in peace."

The screen then went black.

"Well, this is a problem." Velocity said, glancing over to the Praetorians and Vor'an. "Is this Dovox another of the old Star Khan’s kids?"

 

"No." Vor'an responded. "He is a Broan pirate that used the chaos after the Incursion to seize control of some worlds from the Khanate. He has tried to expand upon this since, but has been held in check thanks to the Praetorians, Star Knights and Republic."

 

"Wonderful." The speedster muttered as she opened a channel to Stesha. "Fleur, we have a bit of a problem. There is someone named Dovox who showed up with a big warship parked a short distance away. He is apparently on his way down to try to kill the new Star Khan."

[Exaccus]

"ah beans, this is not good." moon-moth stated matter of factly as he scratched the top of his head, unmoving, unblinking eyes moving as he tilted his head left and right like an owl.

 

"Moth shall begin portal network establishment immediately, please relay co-ordinates to moth and explanations to Passangers." he spoke both to the Terran heroes and his fellow Praetorians.

 

"Maths is astronomical so has a variable of movement and the wormhomes distortion, Time and relative dimensions in space, carry the three, honour the holy ordos...." he mumbled to himself as he pressed his hands together, antenna moving in precise motions in sync with his hands.

 

Maths is hard

[Fox]

Gaian Knight

 

"And that is officially our problem," said Gaian Knight, frowning out at the cruiser. "When we get a moment, we need to find out how that thing snuck up on us - we don't want any more surprises. Until then, though, what are the odds we can pay that ship a visit?"

 

He glanced at the others, gesturing out at the view. "I don't know this Dovox, but if he's going to pick a fight in the heart of Freedom City he's going to have a bad time of it - especially with the likes of Fleur already aware he's coming. Our time's better spent making sure the ship doesn't retaliate by hitting the station or firing something unfortunate toward the planet. Thoughts? Boarding seems straightforward if we have the means to get over there safely, but it's high-risk no matter what."

[Ecalsneerg]

19 hours ago, Fox said:

Gaian Knight

 

"And that is officially our problem," said Gaian Knight, frowning out at the cruiser. "When we get a moment, we need to find out how that thing snuck up on us - we don't want any more surprises. Until then, though, what are the odds we can pay that ship a visit?"

"<Myothizar can teleport us there, or worst case scenario, I am capable of interstellar flight and can engage in void,>" Chlo'zel said tersely, frowning at the holographic screen. "<Dovox is known to us. Not a pleasant customer, we never quite managed to capture him.>"

 

With a crackle of ozone, she flew up another couple of feet, coat swishing beneath her. "<I say we engage now, before they have the opportunity to reach Earth. Paradigm secures the Khan, we show Dovox where his unpleasantness gets him.>" She mashed one tiny fist into another with enough force that the rush of air surged over everyone in the room briefly. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Patriot 

 

The Patriot came close to cursing in Vietnamese, but she knew all the universal translators about made references to Dovox vãi-ng cứt potentially undiplomatic. "Any enviro issues we need to know about?" she asked curtly as she pulled out her largest sidearm and racked the slide, producing a faintly audible charging noise. To the eyes of the Praetorians it looked a bit like a Lor Star Navy officer's personal sidearm, but built by a civilization that couldn't quite handle the miniaturization needed for really top of the line gear. "Or do the greys over there breathe regular air?" She hmmed, considering. "What defenses is he likely to have?" 

[Thevshi]

Velocity

 

Another transmission from Paradigm and Fleur indicated they were moving to an area away from civilians to wait for Dovox to arrive while those on the Lighthouse cut off any support from the cruiser as Gaian Knight had suggested.

 

Vor'an looked over to Patriot as she began asking questions about their likely opponents. "Dovox's forces are an assorted collection of beings from dozens of worlds, many former pirates, although he has had some former Khanate forces come under his banner, particularly in the aftermath of the Incursion. Most are from worlds with standard atmospheres, so the environment inside the cruiser will be hospitable." He began.

 

"Dovox is a Boron, and has many of them in his service as well. They are large, stronger and tougher than Lor or other similar humanoids. He is likely to have at his disposal a wide range of weaponry, from Khanate and other sources that he has managed to steal from. That is a Marauder class cruiser, a somewhat older Khanate vessel, but formidable. The hanger space runs along almost the entire length of the starboard side. If they are assembling reinforcements, that is where they will be gathering to board other assault transports."

"That sounds like a nice open place to start out." Velocity said as with a smirk. She then glanced over to Gaian Knight and gave him a small smile. "Don't worry, I promise this time I won't set off any sonic booms around the reactor and cause it to overload and detonate, like I did on that Communion ship."

[Dr Archeville]

Artificer

 

Heroditus had been quiet, his attention been drawn to one of the Praetorians.  The young Atlantean could see mystical forces, and he'd been fascinated by the extraterrestrial magics of Moon-Moth.  So many differences, and yet several fascinating similarities.

 

Eventually the voices of te other assembled heroes broke through.  "I could, ah," he shook his head, "that is, I should be able to help secure the hangars, fuse the openings shut, if their materials are not too dissimilar to what could be found on Earth.  Oh, or, if I can get access to their atmospheric systems, I may be able to transmute their brething gases into an anaesthetic, put them all to sleep!"

 

[RocketLord]

GHOST

 

Aaaand there it was, the other shoe dropping, right after everything seemed to be fine and dandy with the Star Khan and everything. 

 

"Nice ideas, kid," he responds to Artificer. He is starting to feel kind of responsible for him, especially if they're bringing him over there, and even if they were both given a tour, Casper was the one that had brought him along in the first place. "But the rest of us'll be there too, and you got no idea how their bodies might react to that anaesthetic, if at all."

 

"Sooner we get there the better, right?" he asks no one there in particular, before looking at Gaian Knight and Velocity. "Let's get over there and make friends with the Star Khan."

[Tiffany Korta]

The Traveller

Sitara was quiet for a few moments as her fingers played across the keyboard, and then she looked up to the others.

 

"I've synced our comms systems so we should be able to communicate without problem, I've also jammed them comms hopefully it will give us some time before they figure out what's going on!"

 

As she spoke her armour began to deploy intricately carved bone white armour cogs moving and shifting as the armour covered her skin.

 

"Moon-Moth, take over those that can't operate in space, those of us that can we'll attack directly and provide a distraction. Try and disable the power and weapons if you can." a blank faceplate finally deployed, and she took the two power weapons spinning them around dramatically

 

"Unless anyone has other ideas obviously?"

[Exaccus]

"Portal calculations complete." moth announced, holding the spinning construct of twisted space between his hands.

 

"Myothizar is familiar with most modern standardized ship layouts, starboard hanger is optimal point for both blunting the offense and penetrating the defenses of this vessel, though it is also the best place for the enemy to bring their numbers to bear against a boarding action most effectively." he reasoned

 

Nodding to travelers request "Lanternians is slow and clumsy fliers, moth will be more effective in the belly of the beast."

 

with that he looses his spell causing space to fold back like a kaleidoscopic iris, layers of time and distance fishtailing and folding along vectors of relativity and waves of gravity.

 

"let us be swift as the stellar winds of lantern and sweep them away."

[Thevshi]

Velocity

 

"Fast? No problem." Velocity replied to Moon-Moth with a grin. When the Lanterian completed his spell she became a yellow blur as she took off with a *CRACK* as she quickly broke the sound barrier.

 

Appearing in the vast hanger the speedster found it filled with dozens of smaller starships, from several of the large assault transports like the one they had seen depart earlier, to dozens of fighters. There were also hundreds of aliens of various species scattered about, pilots, crew members and large groups of armed troops that appeared to be assembling around the transports.

 

The speedster became a zig-zagging blur of yellow as she began moving about the area around her arrival point. As she went she launched supersonic punches at the armed aliens in the area, each with an audible *CRACK* that seemed simultaneous.

In just a few seconds the League speedster had covered an area larger than a football field around where she had started, leaving dozens of alien troopers scattered about the area unconscious. She even had encountered ten seven-foot-tall reptilian aliens with large tusks that she figured must be some of the Borons the Justicar and Praetorians had been talking about. Only one of the large aliens had managed to withstand her attack, the other nine also knocked out as she continued speeding through the hanger.

 

But Velocity did not stop once she had all but cleared the immediate area around the arrival point, but quickly ran a loop around the entire hanger, quickly taking a look at all the forces present in the area they were going to have to deal with.

[RocketLord]

GHOST

 

Everything folds around them, changing, shifting and then... they're at the space ship. In the hangar, with aliens all around, and Velocity is already getting to work, making her way through them.

 

"That was weird, right? That whole space fold thing?" Casper asks no one in particular, while he looks around. 

 

A ship this big needs a power source. If they can disable that, then they can disable the ship. Or at least weaken it. Honestly, he has no idea, but it might work. The joys of x-ray goggles, and... there it is. And it should be within reach. If he can get to it, he can try to take it down, but some backup would be nice.

 

"Hey, Patriot?" They joined the League around the same time, and she does seem like the type that'd like this kind of job. "Wanna help me take out their power source?" 

 

He is grinning widely behind his mask, which is almost visible despite it hiding his face. He holds a hand out, and once she takes it, they are gone, a chaotic surge of light blue energy rushing through the space ship before they reappear in the reactor room, as close to it as he can get, depending on how many people he could see in the room, Ghost does his best to put them in the best position for Patriot to do some damage.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

As soon as the group of heroes transporting over to the hanger arrived, Ghost and Patriot disappeared as he teleported them further into the vessel. A moment later, the pair appeared in the large engineering space toward the aft of the cruiser, near the massive power core that powered the vessel. Their sudden appearance taking the various technicians and engineers by surprise.

 

In the hanger, several of the forces gathered began to act. Further into the hanger, a pair of aliens dressed in black jumpsuits moved to where they were able to see Velocity as she did her circle around the hanger. One of the aliens unleased a mental blast on the speedster, causing her to stumble slightly from the pain, but she kept going, as the other alien’s telekinetic blast passed harmlessly behind her.

 

Over where the other heroes were gathered, another telepathic alien delivered a similar mental blast to Moon-Moth, while a telekinetic blast tore a gouge in the deck near Gaian Knight.

 

A short distance away, a Justicar stepped out of several of the gathered alien troops, focusing on Justicar Vor'an among the other heroes. "Ah, the whelp's pet Justicar." He called out, leveling his power pike at Vor'an and firing a blast of energy at him. However, the blast missed the intended target, flying back to blast a trooper further into the hanger off his feet.

 

A larger, seven foot tall reptilian alien with red scales and tusks came rushing toward Artificer, drawing a large sword as he went. The Boran swung the sword down at the Atlantean when Vor'an stepped in front of the attack, blocking it with his left forearm, causing the large blade to deflect away and tear a gouge in the deck.

 

Further into the hanger, another Boran leveled a large blaster at Velocity, firing as she sped by and managing to hit her. Again the speedster momentarily stumbled, but kept going as she shook off the blast.

 

Two seven and a half foot tall mechs moved up near the Boran and opened fire after Velocity with their large arm mounted blasters. Both blasts when wide, once smashing into a parked fighter, the other hitting the inner wall of the hanger and blasting a hole in it.

 

Over towards the center of the hanger, another of the mechs moved into the open and leveled its blaster at Gaian Kight and fired a blast that struck him.

[Fox]

Gaian Knight

 

The Gaian Knight slid back a solid foot, but otherwise looked more disappointed than hurt - he looked, really, like the immediate resort to violence hurt more than taking a mech-scaled blast to the chest did. "Someday," he complained, "we're going to show up and meet someone who wants to have a nice calm chat over tea."

 

Not that it didn't hurt, but he was made of metaphorical stone, not metaphorical iron. He'd had worse.

 

"But alright," he said, sweeping his arms out. "School of hard knocks it is." His little shard of marble grew and grew and grew, shattering and multiplying into a great loosely-organized serpent that crashed and thrashed its way across the battlefield, stone-fanged maw howling silent defiance.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Gaian Knight's stone serpent began with the Boran that had tried to attack Artificer, slamming into the large alien and pushing it back several feet. But somehow the Boran withstood the attack.

 

However, the stone serpent continued through the hanger, growing in size as it did, sweeping aside scores of alien troops as it went. The Justicar that had tried to attack Vor'an looked up at the serpent as it reared up at him, any shock on his face hidden behind the faceless mask of his helmet. Then the serpent crashed down into him, knocking him back dozens of feet to lie unconscious on the deck.

 

Several other Boran were knocked aside by the serpent, as were two of the aliens in black bodysuits that had used mental and telekinetic attacks. Only one other Boran managed to withstand the attacks, as did the Hunter mech that had shot Gaian Knight, although it had suffered some damage.

 

As the stone serpent passed, the other Boran that had managed to withstand its assault rushed forward toward Gaian Knight, swinging its large axe at the League member. The clumsy attack was easily sidestepped as the Boran smashed its axe into the deck of the hanger with a loud CLANG.

[Ecalsneerg]

Galvanic

 

As the rest of the assembled heroes teleported to the incoming ship, Chlo'zel and Sitara decamped to the hangar, where the blast doors swiftly unfurled, revealing the infinite dark void of space, the planet below visible beneath them. The oxygen was kept in the room by a force shield covering the entire opening. Hopefully it was calibrated properly for her doing this...

 

Glancing to Sitara, she lifted off the floor. "Step outside?" she asked in Galstandard before she flew forward through the force field in a stream of blue sparks and a crack of ozone, arms forward and coat trailing behind her as she shot into the void, growing faster and faster, her veins so charged with lightning that she couldn't feel the cold of space. She rapidly approached Dovox's ship, a quickly growing blue speck growing brighter and brighter through the bridge's viewscreens.

 

She streaked around the prow of the ship in a tight loop before coming up atop it once more, heels drawing long rents as she came to a clumsy halt under one of the ship's main cannons. Dwarfed by the enormous metal barrel, she looked up at it as lightning coruscated across her face, melting the forming ice crystals as they formed on Chlo'zel's face. 

 

Drawing back she leapt up at it, accelerating the gun. It shook in its housing, several components warping and bending. Settling back down atop the ship's hull, the barrel flopped askew, the ship-mounted gun rendered utterly useless.

Edited March 6 by Ecalsneerg

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Back in the hanger of the cruiser, Justicar Vor'an brought his left hand back to grip his power pike after deflecting an attack away from Artificer. The end of the pike glowed with energy as Vor'an slashed it at the slightly taller Boran, the blow striking solidly on the large figure’s armored torso.

However, as with the rock attack from Gaian Knight, the Boran managed to withstand the Justicar's attack, only stepping backwards with one foot to steady itself as it brought its large sword back up to continue the fight.

[Exaccus]

Moon-moth eyes watched the battle unfold in their eerie unblinking nature, his vastly intelligent and utterly alien mind turning the situation over in his head.

 

he was barely aware of the telepathic assault launched against him, it had blunted on his hardened will, shattering like glass thrown against stone.

 

"Poor choice of opponent." he said calmly to the telepath that had picked him out as with a flick of his wrist he sent one of the assault craft parked in the hanger careening over towards his partner telepath that had attacked the swift terran.

 

rather than wasting his energies on this one it would be more gainful to support velocipede so they could work unhindered at thinning the herd.

 

"Moth is the Fluffiest Praetorian!" he bellowed, his boastful battlecry filled with unyielding willpower "you are as sand before me! Coarse! Rough! Everywhere!"

[Thevshi]

GM

 

The heavy fighter used as a impromptu projectile by Moon-Moth struck the telepathic Hound that had targeted Velocity, sending the being sprawling to the deck unconscious. The spacecraft also tumbled toward the nearby telekinetic Hound, who was just able to roll to one side and was only clipped by the projectile, seemingly unharmed.

 

The makeshift missile knocked aside dozens of troopers, clipping one of the Hunters for seemingly little effect before finally striking a second Hunter, casing it to stumble slightly, but otherwise remain on its feet. When it finally came to a halt, there was a wide path of unconscious troopers left in its wake.