ic Incursion: Opportunists and Opposition

[Thevshi]

The Aphelion

 

After dodging Memorial's attack, one of the large space pirates brought his huge fist up over his head and tried to bring it down onto the Beleran.  But Memorial was able to glide to the side and out of the attack's path.  That move however put her right in the path of a swing from the other large pirate.  But Memorial was able to bring up her right arm at the last moment, taking the blow on the forearm and partially deflecting it.

 

The Pirate Flagship

 

The Broan remaining on his feet raised up the thick club he was carrying and swung it at Galvanic.  The thick weapon struck the Tempestian on the side, but she was able to brace against the blow, absorbing the damage with little effect.  An arch of electricity lashed back out in response to the strike, dancing up the Broan's arm and causing it to growl in pain, but otherwise seeming to have no other ill effects as well.

[Ecalsneerg]

Galvanic glanced at where the crude weapon had harmlessly grazed off her. Then looked up at the Broan who'd been stupid enough to do it. A small smirk appeared on her face as anger flared in her eyes. She surged up at his neck, driving a powerful blow at his chin, the percussive force of it lifting him off the ground, though the tough alien wasn't even stunned by the powerful hit. Nonetheless, the Tempestian took advantage of his loss of stable footing to use her other hand, grabbing him by the neck.

 

Momentarily, she hung there in thin air, a five foot tall woman lifting a much larger opponent using only one hand. Her golden coat rippled slightly in the air disturbance caused by her force fields. Then, in one surge of movement, Galvanic spun and hurled the massive Broan overhead, aiming towards his companion with a driven, angered look in her eye. Her anger threw off her aim somewhat, so the alien instead flew past, crashing through the wall and landing, unconscious in the wreckage.

[Thevshi]

The Aphelion

 

The pirate that had initially shot at Mechanized earlier, and avoided being knocked over by her ground strike yelled something in an unknown language, pointing over at the human in the power armor.  He then turned towards Memorial, drawing a sword that crackled with energy as he moved forward, swinging it at her.  Memorial glided out of the way, right into the path of the energy sword of the other pirate, which slammed into her side.  She was able to feel the impact damage some of her systems, and she drifted back from him slightly, dazed by the attack.

 

Meanwhile the rest of the pirates climbed back to their feet, and once again release volleys of fire at Mechanized.  As before, about half the shots hit her power armor, the other half missing.  Those that hit deflected harmlessly away.

 

The Pirate Flagship

 

The pirate Corona had left behind in the cargo hold came running up to the door, lifting is blaster up and firing it at the Lor officer once more.  Once again Corona was able to dodge the attack, following that up by avoiding the blaster shot from the last pirate still on his feet in the hallway. 

[Raveled]

Corona hadn't been expecting such a huge explosion, but she couldn't complain about the results. Most of th pirates were down, and then the Tempestian put one of the Broans through a wall and laid him out. There was still one more hulking brute, but the Lor officer was more concerned with the ones who were firing their weapons at her. Correction -- still firing at her, even after she gave them two separate opportunities to surrender! This was seriously getting on her nerves.

Corona ducked under the blaster bolt and closed with the pirate. Her hand closed on the weapon, crushing it into shards before her fist made contact with the pirate's jaw. He went flying and crumpled, out of the fight.

[souffle_girl]

Emily rolled her eyes as the rain of fire harmlessly bouced back on her armor. People like them never, ever knew when to quit.

 

"You've been warned twice now. And in a language you can understand, I think. You asked for this."

 

She brought her force cannon to bear on the closest pirate and shot. Energy beamed through the room for a moment, slamming the guy backwards and sending him to hit the wall behind them.

 

"Was that loud enough, you jackals? Who's next?"

[Thevshi]

The Aphelion

 

Mechanized's blast certainly drew attention from some of the pirates, but perhaps not the intention she had intended.  The two large, hulking pirates looked passed the dazed Memorial toward the armored Terran and then rushed forward toward her with roars of anger.  Both came straight at Mechanized, swinging large fists at her as the drew near.  But the combat program of Emily's armor was already kicking into action as they reached her, and she side stepped the first attack and brought up one arm to block the second.

 

The Pirate Flagship

 

The last Broan pulled himself back up to his feet, as he eyed the smashed out wall and his comrade lying unconscious in the ruble for a brief moment.  He then turned his gaze back at Galvanic as he gripped the large mace he was holding a bit tighter.

[Ecalsneerg]

Galvanic hovered a little up into the air, staring down at the Broan. "Warned you." She quickly surged forward, bringing both legs up to deliver an electrically charged blow at her assailant. The hit connected solidly, but only briefly, as the Tempestian used the impact to launch herself backwards down the hallway to hover a little beside and above the captain. The counterforce snapped the alien backwards, flying to crash into a barely moving heap amidst the wreckage of another wall.

 

"Not achievedoing much here. Need to keep moving. Could force up?" She gestured at the ceiling.

[Thevshi]

The Pirate Flagship

 

One of the pirates knocked over by Corona's cosmic burst agilely kipped itself back onto its feet, a weapon in its hand.  But it choose not to press an attack against the Lor and Tempestian.  Similarly, the pirate standing at the door of the cargo hold held his fire, apparently in awe of how easily the Tempestian dispatched the pair of Broan.

 

But then, from around the corner at one end of the hallway, a new figure came into view.  The figure stood over seven feet tall, with long, gangly arms.  It had grey skin and a long face, with the eyes and nose set up much higher than they were on a Terran or Lor.  The figure wore long green robes, which went all the way to the floor, completely covering its feet.  A yellow sash ran down the left side of the robe's front, where it met a yellow arrow shape followed by a small circle that were attached to the robe.  In one hand the alien held a staff that was just taller than it, with a crooked head in which was set a green gem stone.  A faint green bubble surrounded the figure and its green eyes looked at the two interlopers further up the hallway.

 

"Greetings, I am Waymaker, herald of the great Prince Dovox."  The figure stated. As it spoke, Galvanic heard its words in Tempestian, while for Corona, they were in Lor.  "Dovox will allow you one chance to surrender and join him, before he is forced to crush you beneath his might.  I would advise you accept this generous offer."

 

The Aphelion

 

The two pirates with the melee weapons tried to repeat their prior success against Memorial, the first moving in with a feint, but this time, she did not move as expected, instead reaching out with one hand to push the melee weapon away.  So when the second pirate moved to attack where Memorial was supposed to be, he ended up swinging through empty air.

[Raveled]

Corona considered the Tempestian's suggestion. It seemed like a good strategy, to tear apart the pirate flagship as they approached the bridge. It would disable the pirates one way or another. However, when the man with the staff entered the room she held up one hand, delaying Galvanic. "Your captain is in violation of sovereign territory of the Lor Republic," she said. "If he retreats now, he can keep his ship and his ragged fleet. Otherwise, we'll rip it apart ship by ship." She narrowed her eyes, sizing up the apparent envoy. "If he thinks he can fight the entire Republic with a few raiding vessels, he's sorely mistaken."

[Thevshi]

The Pirate Flagship

"A fair offer, to be sure." Waymaker replied with a small nod of his head. "Unfortunately it is not for me to accept, and I rather doubt Prince Dovox will be willing to either."

With that, the alien stepped to the side of the hallway, as another figure rounded the corner as well. It was another Broan, about as tall as Waymaker, but far more powerfully built. This Broan was dressed in rather ornate armor, and held a large glaive like weapon in one hand. Corona immediately recognized it as Prince Dovox, which the Broan quickly confirmed as well.

"I am Dovox, and you should have accepted my offer of surrender Lor!" The tusked alien cried out. "Instead, you will have to fall before the might of Sovereign!" With that, he gripped his weapon in two hands, aiming its blade at Galvanic as a powerful blast of energy streaked down the hallway to strike the Tempestian dead center.

[horngeek]

Memorial was starting to get... annoyed.  These pirates just would not go down!  Seriously, how much did it take?  Emily had taken one of the pirates down, sure, but other than that...

 

And that last blow had hurt.  It was by sheer luck that she'd managed to parry those two blows- luck, or a half-daze had actually made her more effective, something that rankled.  

 

She frowned.  One last try, if she continued having no luck with these two big guys she'd go after some of the smaller pilots.  

 

Switch power output - activate Lance Systems

 

A glow focused around her right arm as several holographic cylinders appeared.  She pointed her fist at the second big pirate, the one who'd taken the actual swing at her as the energy focused... fired... and did nothing.  "...how tough can you guys get, anyway?"

[souffle_girl]

Emily was starting to feel a little overwhelmed. There were really a lot of pirates, and even if their fire had so far proved ineffective, they were bound to damage her suit sooner or later due to sheer luck. It wasn't a chance she liked taking.

Two pirates armed with melee weapons had rushed in to engage her, and they looked more important than the rest. Maybe if she took them down, the foot soldiers would scatter.

 

She tried to hit one of the two with a punch, but another burst of pirate fire forced her to dodge, causing her punch to miss the target.

 

"There's a real lot of them, Memorial. Any idea?"

Edited November 28, 2014 by souffle_girl

[Thevshi]

The Aphelion

One of the large pirates that had moved over to engage Mechanized gave a snarl as it shook off Memorial's blast. Letting out a growl, it gave a powerful snort, almost like a bull, as it raised both hands above its head and tried to bring them down onto Mechanized. But the armored heroine managed to dodge the double handed blow, even as she ducked under another swing from the other massive pirate.

The momentum of the swing caused the second large pirate to take a few steps past Mechanized, but it quickly pulled itself back to a halt. Spinning back to face the human woman, it growled deeply and prepared to continue the fight.

[Ecalsneerg]

Galvanic crossed her arms across her chest as the blast hit, focusing intently on maintaining her energy field. It hit her in a burst of heat and light, singing her skin and searing a button off the front of her coat. But otherwise, she kept in the air, teeth gritted.

 

"Cautionwarned you." She gradually unfolded her arms, and gestured at Corona. "Captain most generous." She extended both arms towards Dovox, and smirked. "Me? Notsomuch." An explosive wave of electricity burst down her arms, blue spots blazing on her forehead. Lightning arced down past her fingers, dancing between her spread arms as it formed into a scintillating bolt of dancing blue and white sparks. All this happened in the blink of an eye, as a devastating burst of high voltage electricity fired out of Tempestian body towards Prince Dovox.

[Thevshi]

The Aphelion

One of the melee armed pirates facing off with Memorial once again tried to make a feinting attack to put the paragon off balance. But Memorial once again was not fooled, and stepped into the attack instead of away from it, blocking the pirate’s arm and stopping the feint altogether. The result of this was that the second pirate’s attack, timed to be where Memorial was supposed to have been, once again swished through empty air, as the pirate was unable to change direction in time.

The Pirate Flagship

Galvanic's powerful electric blast stuck Sovereign squarely in the chest, sending sparks flying in all directions and causing the Broan to grunt in pain. The force of the blast sent Sovereign sliding backward about ten feet, the Broan's clawed feet creating gouges in the deck as he was forced backward. Focusing his gazed back on Galvanic, the Broan snarled. "You are far more durable than you would seem. This shall be a mighty battle indeed!"

The other pirates moved back, not wanting to interfere now that their leader had engaged. Waymaker stood off to one side, apparently not intending to join the combat either. The alien seemed to focus on something for a moment, then looked back at Sovereign before he spoke, almost reluctantly. "Might Dovox, however grand this battle might be, it may be unwise to continue this conflict at this time. Our sensors have picked up other ships approaching. They match the descriptions of the forces that have been cutting their way through the Grue Unity and attacked Lor-Van."

An alarm sounded in Corona’s armor, as she received a warning from the Nomad. The ship's sensors had also picked up the approaching spacecraft, and the visuals matched the images she had been provided of Communion forces. There were more than a dozen of the small, nimble needle fighters, and two of the larger ships with multiple long spider like arms that gave them the appearance of a splayed ribcage.

[Raveled]

Corona looked over the sights coming in from the shuttle and she felt her stomach sink. They were already engaged with the pirates, fighting on their very flagship! And now, here were the creatures that were overrunning the galaxy. There was only one solution that she saw, and it didn't make her very happy. She minimized the shuttle feed to a smaller window in her vision. "Listen, I don't like this idea anymore than you do, but I think we should hold off on fighting each other. If we don't see off the Communion fleet, none of us are gonna get out of here with our skins."

Edited November 29, 2014 by Raveled

[Thevshi]

The Pirate Flagship

Sovereign gripped his glaive tightly, his gaze flicking between Galvanic and Corona, his powerful jaw clinched as he seemed torn between his desire to continue fighting and the news of the approaching Communion forces. While he seemed to be considering his options and Corona's recommendation that they join forces to drive off the Communion, Waymaker spoke up once more. "Great Dovox, there is wisdom in the Lor officer's words. The Communion forces are rapidly closing, it is pointless to waste energy fighting amongst ourselves when a great threat presents itself."

"But I can make quick work of them and then rally my forces to face the Communion." Sovereign replied, still not taking any other action.

"Perhaps, but perhaps not." Waymaker stated simply. "The longer you take fighting these possible allies, the more chance the Communion will arrive and smash your forces. Even if you eventually overcome them, you could suffer great losses that could otherwise be prevented by making this temporary alliance."

Sovereign let out a small snort, but then relaxed his stance slightly, lowering his glaive and placing the haft on the ground. "Very well, a truce. I shall call off my forces and together we shall face this Communion!"

[Raveled]

Corona nodded slowly, feeling the knot in her stomach ease a bit. "Now, tell yer men on the Aphelion to put down their guns, and we'll all go and see off the Communion." Before we see you off, she didn't say. It wouldn't help this impromptu alliance to point out just how angry they all still were at each other. "You've gotta get yer men to stand down," she said to Dovox. "Otherwise we're gonna be turning our guns on the Communion while we still have our knives at each other's throats!" She paused, considering her words. "That metaphor got away from me, but I'm still right!"

[Thevshi]

The Pirate Flagship

Sovereign's eyes narrowed slightly at Corona as the Lor officer insisted that the Broan have his men on the merchant vessel stand down. "I stated I would have my men stand down Lor, and by that I meant all my men." He replied, irritation in his voice. "If you are going to try to change the conditions of our truce, then perhaps we should just settle out differences first!"

"Great Dovox, the mutual enemy is approaching, if you both cannot set aside your current aggression, it may well overwhelm us all." Maymaker stated in an even tone. "At the very least you need to give the order to stand down."

Sovereign tensed a moment, before giving a small nod. "Yes, we do have a common enemy." He replied, as he raised his left forearm guard up, activating the communication system built into his armor. "All forces, this is Prince Dovox. Cease the assault on the Aphelion and any engagement with the Lor forces that have responded. A new threat is inbound, we will be working with the Lor forces to engage these Communion." He stated in Galstandard.

The large Broan then looked back over at Corona. "There, I have given the order. I expect you to give the same to your allies on the Aphelion, as you confirm that I have given it to my boarding parties there."

[Raveled]

Corona trusted the pirate 'prince' about as far as she could throw his flagship, but she still connected with the Nomad's comms systems. "Mechanized, Memorial, lay of tha pirates. We're gonna be workin' with them for a lil' while." She paused, not wanting to broadcast this on an open channel, but the heroes deserved to know what they were facing. "Communion ships are comin' in after us. We're gonna be fightin' them off alongside the pirates. Meet me back on tha Nomad." She nodded to Dovox. "We're going to be takin' tha fight to tha Communion. If'n you want to sit back here and take pot-shots, that's your choice. Otherwise, we're gonna do what we just did in here, to them." The Lor turned on her heel, nodding to Galvanic to follow her and making her way to the hole the had already ripped in the hull.

[horngeek]

Memorial growled in frustration, turning her attention to the sword-wielding pirates who were going after her.  "That is ENOUGH!"

 

As her voice raised into a shout, she grabbed hold of one of the pair, energy diverting back into her strength enhancers as she picked him up... and threw him into the closest wall, hard enough to leave a dent.  

 

Certainly hard enough to knock the pirate out, as she continued.  "We are wasting time here, there are bigger threats that could be coming-"

 

She snapped her head towards the loudspeakers as Corona spoke, before she sighed.  "Right now."

 

After quickly translating Corona's message for Mechanized, Memorial sighed.  "All right.  We'll meet you there.  Good luck.  We'll need it."

 

She took a deep breath, then set down on the deck, before starting to walk to the nearest airlock.

[Thevshi]

The Aphelion

The melee weapon armed pirate that Memorial had thrown into the wall slumped onto the deck unconscious. The two large pirates still in melee combat with memorial snorted and snarled, both drawing back their large fists to continue their assault on the human woman in the power armor.

Just then then insectoid alien that had spoken with Memorial earlier yelled something out in a language neither Memorial nor Mechanized understood, holding out one empty hand with the palm open. The two large pirates seemed to hesitate, still focused on Mechanized, and then the insectoid alien yelled out once more, and they lowered their fists, taking a few steps back from Mechanized.

<"It would seem *click* we are allies *click* for the moment."> The insectoid alien stated to Memorial in his heavily accented Lor.

The Pirate Flagship

Sovereign snarled slightly, then turned towards the still conscious pirates nearby and began barking orders in an unknown language. Waymaker gave a small bow to both Galvanic and Corona, before turning to walk away, back toward the direction he and Sovereign had both come from.

[Thevshi]

Out in the void of space, the three pirate interceptors that had been circling around the Aphelion and the Nomad broke off from their stations and turned out toward the new threat that was rapidly approaching. Far off through the darkness of space, a dozen small vessels were streaking forward, faint starlight glinting off their smooth surfaces as they went.

The other pirate ships began turning, redirecting their attention from the Aphelion, and maneuvering to face the new threat. Large mounted weapons, unused against the merchant vessel, became active, aiming out towards the approaching Communion ships.

Aboard the Aphelion

Two pairs of pirates moved to collect their unconscious comrades while the insectoid alien that seemed in charge of this boarding party stayed focused on Memorial. <"A second boarding party *click* had secured engineer *click* we will return control *click* to the pilots *click* but will you be *click* able to keep vessel *click* secure if Communion board?">

[souffle_girl]

Emily glared in disgust at the pirates standing down as she listened to Memorial's translation.

 

"I'm glad to see these guys' leaders have more sense than they do. They can see when they can't win a fight... And would happily turn tails and run as the rats they are. They'd deserve we brought the Aphelion to safety and left them to see for themselves what the Communion is about."

 

She smiled at Memorial.

 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to do it. I'm being nice... This time. But are we really leaving them just like this?"

 

"So, same drill as before? We blast our way into one of the large ships and board it? And what's this Communion like, by the way? Corona has been quite sparing in information and... I didn't feel really comfortable to ask you with how they destroyed your home and everything."

[Ecalsneerg]

Galvanic glowered after the aliens. She so did not want to work with those people. Especially their leader, especially after he'd tried to shoot her. And clearly had no idea she'd withstand the shot until after he fired it.

 

"I'll hinderstall them," she said, briefly keeping stride with the captain. "Do what you have to. Going to engage." She turned into lightning once more, displacing ozone as she rocketed out of the corridor, through the cargo hold and soared out into space, trailing sparks and flashes of light. The Communion had killed worlds, and someone had to stop them. Nobody was going to die today if she could help it.

 

She blurred past the smaller fighter craft, already painfully aware of the inhospitable environment she was in. She couldn't risk unshielding until it was absolutely necessary. Galvanic drew to a sudden stop, form wavering slightly, near the two larger ships. Alright. Game time.