Getting There Is Half The Fun (IC)

[Supercape]

"Look out! That thing's sharp! Run away! Run away!" gabbled Starshots helmet as the sword swung. 

 

"Yes, yes, no, nein!" replied Starshot to the statements and commands his cowardly helm had blurted. 

 

He was not best pleased with his hands stupid comment. His AI companions were more "A" than "I". 

 

"Do you think we would let twenty million credits walk down the streets unprotected?" he asked the pirate. "The reward may be great, but think of the risk you take..." he suggested, before whipping his hand around to smash into the man's face. 

[Thevshi]

Starshot's bionic hand connected solidly with the alien's face, knocking the pirate backward as he spun around from the force of the blow.  The pirate landed in a heap a short distance away, his sword skittering further off.  But it mattered little anyway, as the pirate was not moving, knocked completely unconscious by the powerful hit.

 

The other pirates gathered did not hesitate to go into action.  Two of them aimed their weapons at Starshot, firing blasts of energy at the augmented human.  But Starshot's enhanced reflexes had decades of experience, avoiding dangerous predators and energy weapons both, so he was already slipping to one side as they fired, and both blasts streaked harmlessly by, blasting small pockmarks in the walls of a building behind him.

 

The other two pirates turned their weapons to open fire on Deep Freeze.  She managed to duck under the first shot, which whizzed harmlessly overhead, but the second struck her squarely on the shoulder.  However, Deep Freeze's containment armor was built to be durable, and the blast deflected harmlessly off.

[Heritage]

"God I hate it when I'm right." Ana rubbed the spot on her armor where she'd been hit as she quickly scanned the pack of idiots they currently faced. Thugs like these were often not so different from schoolyard bullies, full of swagger and bravado of long as they held the advantage, but quick to panic and disperse once the tide turned against them. They also were highly dependent on the brains of their smartest members, typically the leaders; a surgical strike to the head of the collective beast left them vulnerable.

The blonde cryokinetic dropped to one knee, raised up her left hand, and attempted to encase Miss Kitty in a prison of ice.

[Thevshi]

For a moment it seemed like Deep Freeze would catch the feline pirate in a icy blast, but at the last moment, the pirate leader leapt to the side, avoiding the blast altogether. The blast continued past, covering the side of a wall in thick ice.

Then the hulking reptilian alien rushed forward, arms outstretched as it tried to grab ahold of Deep Freeze. But the small blonde woman easily rolled out of the hulking alien's path, coming back up to her feet a short distance away.

The feline pirate took a position half behind a vendor's stand a she took aim at Starshot. "You could just save yourselves a lot of hassle and just hand over the satchel." She stated as she fired a well-aimed blaster shot at the augmented human. The blast struck Starshot in the right shoulder, but his heavy jacket bore the brunt of the blast.

Balus continued to grip the satchel tightly, as he backed further away from the fighting.

[Supercape]

Grrr...that hurt...STarshot could smell burnt cloth, and worse, burnt flesh. But time for that later. He wasn't badly hurt, as far as he could tell. 

 

"Lets give em hell, Captain!" implored trigger, his gun. And Starshot needed little encouragement. He whipped the gun around, and jaunted quickly to a nearby stall, running behind it. 

 

"Take cover, Ana!" he yelled at his grease monkey. 

 

"And you, Balus!!" he yelled, a fraction of a second later. 

 

He aimed, and fired, in one fluid short, brain in a battle trance, square at the captain of the pirates...

[Thevshi]

Starshot lived up to his name, as he landed a square hit on the feline pirate captain. But as well placed as the shot was, the feline alien flinched from the blast, but then otherwise seemed unhurt. "Well, you do pack a bit of a sting." She retorted. "But so do we."

At that, four of her men opened fire once again. Two continued to target Starshot, one firing well over the augmented humans head. But the other managed to clip him on his left shoulder.

The other two shifted targets away from Deep Freeze, and firing instead at Balus. One of the shots hit the general's servant, causing him to call out in pain as he ducked down behind another vendor’s booth, gripping his side.

[Heritage]

Damn it, that cat woman was fast! Seeing Balus under fire, Ana quickly ran over to his position and threw up a thick-walled ice shelter with narrow horizontal 'arrow slits' to give the two o f them some cover, while still allowing the cryokinetic a chance to fire back at their assailants.

"Don't worry, big guy; I've got you covered!" She poked her head out around the ice wall and yelled at Starshot. "Boss, get your ass over here! I made us some cover! "

Edited December 9, 2014 by Heritage

[Thevshi]

No sooner had Ana put up her wall of ice, than the large reptilian pirate moved forward, swinging a powerful fist at the wall with tremendous force. *WHAM* The entire wall shook as a large section was blasted out by the pirate's punch, showering Ana and Balus in powder and small chunks of ice. Sections along the edges of the wall broke off as well. The wall was still in place, but badly damaged, not affording the full cover it was intended to provide.

The feline pirate captain once again took aim at Statshot, crouching low as she fired a blast at the augmented human. But this time she was a bit too focused on trying to avoid the next shot, and her blast flew well over Starshot’'s head.

[Supercape]

Too many...

The firefight was messy. They were outnumbered and outgunned, and the pirates were no two credit street thugs. These guys could shoot, and kill.

"Give me all you have! " he shouted at trigger, kicking the gun into action. If he, and his gun, could pour enough plasma into the barrel, it would...

The air lit up like the breath of a dragon, or the rage of a storm god. It was barely enough for trigger to contain...

[Thevshi]

Plasma erupted from Trigger's barrel, filling the air out in front of Starshot in a cone that was aimed at the pirate captain and three of her men. The feline pirate tried to avoid the roaring plasma, but was unable to get out of the path of the blast, and was knocked off her feet and to the ground.  Although she still clung to consciousness, her fur was badly singed and she was dazed.

 

One of the other pirates almost leapt clear of the plasma, but was caught on the side, knocked off his feet as he fell to the ground unconscious.  His two comrades too the blast full force, getting knocked back almost a dozen feet, where they lay on the ground, clearly out of the fight.  The blast of plasma also caused a fair bit of property damage, a section of wall on the opposite end of the street pot-marked and burning, the vendor stand Silver had taken cover behind blasted to bits and aflame. 

 

The last pirate that had been shooting at Starshot who was still on his feet took a look at the chaos unleashed by the human's weapon.  "Captain!"  He cried out GalStandard before glancing over at the large reptilian pirate trying to smash Deep Freeze's ice wall.  "Let's get out of here!"  He shouted, as he ran over and helped Silver to her feet, then half guiding, half pulling her toward a sidestreet.

[Heritage]

Ana grimaced as the big pirate drove his fist clear through her ice wall; this was not good! But then Oskar did something insane and wonderful with his gun, and the entire area was lit up with the warm fuzzy glow of a massive plasma discharge. As bit of ice and debris rained down on her, the young cryokinetic found the courage to poke her head through her wall and address the huge reptile on the other side, grinning with dark humor.

"You know, now might be a good time to run." And then she blew him an arctic kiss at point blank range.

[Thevshi]

Deep Freeze's icy blast struck the large reptilian pirate squarely in the face and upper torso. It had tried to bring up its arms against the icy assault, but that did little to stop the effect. A thin layer of ice formed along its upper body and arms, as the pirate staggered backward, hurt and dazed from the cold.

Further down the street, the feline pirate captain was still dazed from Starshot's attack, only able to stay on her feet with the support of the pirate that was trying to move them away from the battle. For the moment, it certainly appeared as if the pirates were giving up the battle.

[Supercape]

"Not so fast, pussycat!" yelled Starshot in German, before returning to Galactic Standard. 

 

"I want a word with you, lady! I don't like getting shot at. And you shouldn't like shooting at me - as you can see, we can shoot back harder! Give up and tell me who sent you, and I won't singe your hair off!"

 

He took again once again with trigger. 

 

"Ow ow ow! I hurt all over! That stunt really fries my circuits, captain!" complained the AI. 

 

"Plasma Web!" he ordered the gun, activating the underbarrel. With a squeeze of the trigger, the web, a nanofibre cartridge coated in ignited plasma, flew from his gun and expanded mid air, heading right to the feline pirate. 

[Thevshi]

Starshot's aim was true once again, as the plasma net flew straight at Silver, expanding as it neared the feline pirate. But despite her half-conscious condition, the pirate captain still retained something of her feline luck, managing to twist just right as the web tried to wrap itself around her, somehow avoiding being trapped altogether.

The pirate that had been helping Silver continued pulling her along, moving as quickly as he could when half weighed down by the feline pirate. The pair disappeared down a side street, moving out of view as they continued away from the now all but completed battle.

Most of the fires along the path of Starshot's plasma burst had died out, but a few still burned as a weakened section of wall collapsed on one of the buildings.

[Heritage]

Seeing the big pirate knocked back, Ana jumped through the huge hole he knocked in her ice wall and planted her left index finger square in the middle of his forehead.

"You need to leave now; go run and help your captain, or I swear I will turn your brains into frozen yogurt." She froze a small section of skin in drive the point home; hopefully her Ice powers could overcome her small size in the scary department.

[Supercape]

Starshot pulled up Trigger. 

 

"Damnation to the hells! I had her! I had her! " screamed Trigger, a frustration only slightly more than Starshot himself, who swore under gritted teeth. Mask tracked her, its X ray vision and HUD locked on to her departing form. 

 

He steadied and instict to follow her. 

 

"Another day cat girl!" he shouted at his adversary, his voice distorted from speaking through Mask. 

 

"Balus, Ana! We need to get to the Xeno, now! Get the hell away from this planet and hyperspace out of here! Nothing can catch the Xeno..."

 

nothing I know of...

 

"Cat girl is for another day. Right now...move!" he commanded, like the old German Captain of old...

[Thevshi]

There was one problem with Ana’s plan of trying to put her finger up to the forehead of the massive reptilian pirate, namely that even on her tiptoes, the best she could do was reach up to its massive barrel chest. So the threat lost a bit of its impact, even as the alien shook off the daze from her last attack.

The pirate let out a deep growl, as it swung a massive backhand at the small engineer. But Ana was still quick on her feet, dodging the attack with ease. The pirate then turned and lumbered off after its retreating captain and crewmate, disappearing around the corner.

Balus needed no encouragement to make a haste retreat, and soon the three were rushing through the streets, making their way back to the Xeno, Ana guiding their way back.

[Supercape]

"Look out! Him! No...no her!!!! She's going to shoot us! No...no look at HIM!!!"

 

Mask gave a shrieking tinny accompaniment to their retreat, petrified that any passer by would be holding a concealed Voorik Disintegrator stick, or a Microwave K-Grenade. It was distracting and irritating, but Starshot had to concede, right now, that kind of vigilance was not misplaced. He made Mask scan everything he could. 

 

"Fingers, get her started!" he told his hand, which promptly detatched from his stump. Taking it in his other hand, he hurled his cybernetic hand ahead of them, on to the Xeno...

[Heritage]

Ana ran with her arm thrust forward, her eyes darting back and forth between the winding street and the holographic navigational display; if someone was slow to get out of her way, she fired off a frosty warning shot to get their asses moving a little faster. Yelling at the top of her lungs also seemed to help.

"Move! MOVE! Get out of the way, you frickin' morons! Move it or lose it!"

[Thevshi]

Oskar's cybernetic hand rocketed forward, quickly outdistancing the trio as they rushed down the festively lit streets of the city. Beings were quick to get out of the groups way, given Oskar's visibly drawn weapon. There was no sign of any pursuit by the pirates, or any authorities either.

By the time they reached the hanger, the Xeno was already powered up and ready for takeoff. All three were breathing heavily, and Balus has begun lagging a bit behind, with Ana making sure he did not get left behind. There was still no sign of any pursuit.

[Heritage]

Gasping for breath, Ana practically dragged Ballus the last few meters back to the Xeno; with sime effort, she managed to open the main hatchway, where she sagged in the doorway. The moist, temperate air was like hot daggers in her lungs, until she finally remembered to initiate a full seal on her suit, the collapsable helmet unfolding from between the shoulders like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. The cryokinetic sucked in the sweet dry arctic air and immediately felt a thousand times better.

"Alright, people, let's...let's go." The suit's external speakers amplified and distorted every breath. She staggered inside, her hand slidding along the familiar bulkhead wall as she slowly made her way back to engineering.

Edited February 13, 2015 by Heritage