ic Incursion: Red Five

[Vahnyu]

Hronos nodded at Cavalier and Sun Walker's words, although any hint of sarcasm was completely lost on the Mechanodynamis. "I agree with your observations. I should state that upon entering the World Killer, it is my estimate that we would be unlikely to encounter any non hostile entities." He then turned to Geckoman, who was leaning comfortably on his pilot chair. The young looking-by human standards-hero had been playing at coming off as relaxed and a bit mercurial in his attitude, but Hronos couldn't help but wonder if whether this was but a mask, a non-physical one to match the mask that hid most of his facial features. Nevertheless, Geckoman had been serving adequately enough as their pilot so far, and Hronos felt that he could trust the hero to guide them into the wolves' den. "Could you inform us of our Estimated Time of Arrival for the designated point, Geckoman?"

[Thevshi]

"Dark Star will be in position to stop the thing in its tracks once again if needed." Daedalus replied. "But that will not count for much if the reinforcements arrive before any other help can get out here from Earth. As powerful as he is, he will not be able to battle them and hold the World Killer in check. So we need to be sure it does not come to that."

"Stand by for data transfer on the internal systems that you will need to identify once aboard and disable. By my estimates, if we are able to take about twenty five percent of these key systems down, that will begin a chain reaction that will cause the World Killer to destroy itself. Once that chain reaction begins, we will likely not have much more than a couple minutes to get out of there before that happens." Daedalus added.

A few moments later, the Pegasu' systems indicated it was receiving a tight beam data transfer from another Freedom League Pegasus that was now a few hundred miles away.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Ok, so, don't look at the fireball and run like crap. Gotcha," muttered Geckoman. He hammered quickly at some keys to accept the transmission, hitting a touchscreen to his left to bring the sent data up on it. "Anyway, Time Dude. This thing travels fast, so as soon as we get the go signal, we are not going to have much time. Basically, there will be a slight delay, but just assume we're go go go from the second they open this thing up. Hell, assume we're go go go as of now."

He spun in his chair to enlarge the image shown on the screen. "Right. Schematic. See the bits that are coloured more brightly? These are the target sites. We find these, and blow them the hell up. If you've got the kit for it, get a copy of this up in there. I think there's wireless and USB options, very fancy. When they say get out, aim for the ship and aim fast. If you can't get there, get to another Pegasus. If you can survive in vacuum, if you have to, just get outside and get heading spacewards, worst case scenario, you'll have to hang tight until we get you. Now, anyone want to pick what segment of this bit ol' dartboard to aim for first, and if anyone says bullseye, you..." Geckoman shook his fist. "Well, you aim for the triple 20, we want the smart choice, we don't want the obvious choice."

[Brown Dynamite]

"AEGIS procedures when breaching a building are to start from the highest point and work one's way down when possible"  Argonaut responded.  "If we move in such  way so as to prevent being ambushed from both sides.  It may be the prudent option to act in a similar fashion.  Splitting off and rejoining as we take out systems in unison.  There is no need for finesse simply destroy and move on."

It was simple to say.  But, Yves suspected there would be a lot of maiming and screaming along the way.  The Communion had seen fit to provide them with the requisite body count already.  She had no real familiarity with the Communion itself.  Yet, it was hard to avoid the similar parallels from becoming an Omega Drone to Communing.  

The difference being the Communed seemed to have been granted the mercy of death in the process.

[Thevshi]

The group studied the schematics provided by Daedalus as the Pegasus closed the remaining distance to the other Freedom League spacecraft which were holding near a cluster of asteroids.  From there, the group could just make out the massive form of the Communion world killer, a massive spherical battle station that sat among the more distant asteroids like some waiting predator.   

"All ships, standby for Dark Star’s mark."  Came Captain Thunder's voice over the comm system of the Pegasus. 

There were a few tense moments as time seemed almost to stand still.  But then the group saw…something happen out in space around the world killer.  Space itself seemed to bend and fluctuate, some of the larger asteroids that were visible from this distance seemed to splinter and disintegrate.  The world killer was at the center of the disturbance, but seemed unfazed, at least from this distance.

"All vessels, converge on the Communion ship!"

[trollthumper]

Cavalier steeled himself. This was it. The skirmishes on the stranded worlds of the Khanate had been one thing - he'd been scraping by, surviving by the skin of his teeth, but the forces he fought were relatively small, outcroppings of the greater Communion. If he saw something larger than a small unit, he knew when to run the hell away. But now they were plunging into the heart of its forces, taking on its superweapon. The thing he'd seen wipe out a good chunks of the Knights. 

But for the first time in a while, he wasn't alone. And if he was going to go down, he was going to make this thing bleed.

He charged his blaster. "Ready to engage," he said. 

[Vahnyu]

A threat from 2 millenia ago had returned once more to lay waste and devour the entire universe. A fleet of assimilation drones, world-killers, weapons of mass destruction, and hate. And standing in opposition of that threat, a coalition of heroes, soldiers, scientists, gods, demons, bounty hunters, and all manner of malcontents, had been formed, pooling together their resources and strength. A world otherwise divided and misaligned, now standing together against this common threat, fighting a war on multiple fronts. And one of those fronts was to be fought here, now.

Once upon a time, before there even was an Earth, five beings had joined forces against a powerful enemy, one that threatened the universe. Now, one of those beings, Hronos, was once again joining the battle, to help perserve and protect that same universe, and its people. "It is my honour to be fighting alongside heroes and warriors such as yourselves." the Mechanodynamis said. The resourceful Geckoman, the determined Argonaut, the survivor Cavalier, the enlightened Sun Walker, and him. "I am prepared to initiate the operation."

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman blurred into motion, seat swivelling immediately into a forward facing position, fingers methodically and rapidly hammering to and fro across instrumentation and controls. "Confirmed, Captain. Moving in," he said in a calm, even voice. The ship began to accelerate forward faster and faster, a sharp yet smooth and even increase in velocity. "I'd advise you all sit down and strap in, there might be some turbulence as we enter the gravity disturbances."

He began to steer 'upwards', moving towards the 'top' of the sphere. Arbitrary though top and bottom were in space, Argonaut had a sound point. And even if wrong, hey, entering from the top wasn't going to make their chances worse. He was interrupted from his brief reverie by the ship shaking and shuddering. "Ok, we're about to hit gravity wells and debris. So, really... hang on!" 

Geckoman slammed the throttle to the max, clearing out of the gravity well on sheer momentum. He flung the ship side on, spiralling tight through debris and rock. The young superhero did all this seemingly without caring. His expression was neutral, neither panicked not excited. If anything, it looked... bored. The Pegasus contorted and spun and danced through space, not getting close enough to gravity disturbances to be damaged by them, skimming close to shards of metal and glass without ever touching them, looping around small asteroids, charting a course to never be near larger ones. He flew the ship up and up, seemingly out of the plane of battle... and then plummeted in a 'dive', careening towards the Worldkiller in a swift motion, ship twisted to present as small a target as possible. "Stand by for entry, we're approaching," said Geckoman, voice tight and controlled. "Let's rock and roll, people." He somehow managed to coax an extra burst of speed out of the spacecraft, hurling it towards the World Killer.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Ecalsneerg

[Thevshi]

Geckoman's expert piloting easily maneuvered the Pegasus through the gravity distortions and debris caused by Dark Star with little more than a few bumps and shakes as evidence of the hazards.  As the hero brought the spacecraft arching into view of the Communion world killer, he and his companions got their first up close view of the massive weapon, save for Cavalier, who had previously gotten up close and personal with the world killer in orbit around Lor-Van. 

Where at Lor-Van the massive sphere had seemed to possess a seamless metallic surface, until it had opened an iris shaped opening to fire its wormhole creating weapon, the world killer now had rents and breaks in several places.  While the powerful gravimetric forces unleashed by Dark Star had damaged the world killer, it was far from dealt with.  But the damage had created openings which could be used to gain access to the interior. 

"Geckoman," came Daedalus voice over the comm system, "use the opening at Z45B30 as your entry point!  Try to stay in contact as best you can, and good luck!"

[Brown Dynamite]

"Excellent.  If you had hit that last spike at the speed we were flying it would have pierced through the Pegasus and surely concaved your skull.  Now let us avoid death a multitude more."  Argonaut responded.  The lack of emotion given as she made the decalation made it hard to judge clearly what sort of tone she was intending.  Though the casual manner in which she made a risk assessment of Geckoman's possible impeding death in the cold dark abyss of space leaned to the fact that she was aiming for some level of comforting.

Not a great level of comfort clearly.  At least not from someone whose helmet had a skull like design.  The freed Omegadrone braced herself in the seat she had taken.  Awaiting whatever crazed maneuver the armpit tracking maniac was about to pull off in reaching the opening.  Because, in the brief interim she had known him, Argonaut was without a doubt one hundred percent positive turbulence would not even begin to describe the sort of ride he would provide.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Copied! Over and out, big D," said Geckoman smoothly, pivoting the ship down to skim feet away from the curvature of the World Killer, speeding towards the co-ordinates. "Ok, children, arm your weapons, and get ready to punch in some skulls, because I am landing this baby." He was standing now, feet glued to the floor and he wrested the controls hither and thither. 

A small bleep came from the control panel, and instantaneously, before it had time to fully register with anyone, he turned the ship upwards, and through a gravitational-induced rent in the World Killer. "Watch how I soar," whispered Geckoman as the ship burst through, tension slackening briefly from his shoulders before returning as he braced himself for whatever was inside. And for landing without hitting internal walls.

[Thevshi]

With incredible precision, Geckoman guided the Pegasus into the rent in the hull of the World Killer.  The damaged section of the sphere took them past several layers of hardened Computonium, until the spacecraft entered a large space that easily could have fit half of Freedom City.  The "ground" was a few thousand feet below, though it was a bit difficult to make out, as there was a bit of haze in the air, almost like fog or mist.  A number of thick columns rose up though out the chamber, each several city blocks thick, but they were sufficiently spaced out that maneuvering around them took little in the way of effort.   

The assembled group inside the Pegasus had only a few moments to try and take in the chamber, before the Pegasus' sensors alerted them to approaching objects.  Out of the mists below, over a dozen small figures were rising up toward the spacecraft.  Communion antibodies of some species with wings, flying up to engage the interlopers...

[Vahnyu]

"You have performed admirably in delivering us inside the ruptured Word Killer, Geckoman." Hronos congratulated the pilot, upon hearing the alarms of the Pegasus. "Now we must create a path throughout the approaching hostile entities that will lead us to the vulnerable and operation critical areas of the World Killer." Taking flight, the azure-chrome sentinel of time headed towards the exit of the spaceship, in order to take point. "Considering that statement, I will be the first one to engage the enemies, in order to, as your Earthling saying goes, put a stop on their tracks!" If Hronos had the capacity of making grimaces with his head, he would no doubt be grinning right now. After many years of spending his time around terrans, their linguistic intricasies appeared to be finally breaching the language barrier with him.

Getting himself in a good position, Hronos assessed his surroundings, and then opened up his chest, revealing the Essense of Time. This wondrous sentient spark of chronal energy, which served as the nexus for the flow of time itself, radiated in the familiar purple-hued colors, as it started pulsating faster and faster. Finally, a large purple-colored ball of chronal energy exploded outwards of Hronos' chest, covering a wide area around him. Almost half of the Antibodies that had been summoned to intercept the heroes were caught unawares, their functionability slowing to a crawl until suddenly stopping.

[Ecalsneerg]

"I'm not done yet, Metal Man," said Geckoman through gritted teeth. He wrested the controls, banking the ship to one side hard, attempting to sweep the ship away from the approaching antibodies. "We need to land this damned thing first." He peered through the mist, looking for somewhere to land. It was like some horrible, monotone city in here. "Get the Communion off our backs, guys."

He veered the Pegasus downwards, still banking sharply away from the antibodies. He was confident in his passengers' ability to handle them, but given this thing had to get them back home safe again, he didn't want to take any chances. Good as he was, Geckoman couldn't fly a breached hull into space without suffocating.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Ecalsneerg

[Thevshi]

GM 

As Geckoman banked the Pegasus away from the approaching antibodies, six broke off from their loose formation and tried to follow the spacecraft.  But between Geckoman's expert piloting, and the speed of the Pegasus, they began to fall behind, as the ship curved around several of the massive columns and descended down into the fog and mist.   

Although visibility was not the greatest, the fog was somewhat spares.  Geckoman could see "floor" of the chamber stretched out below them now.   There were any number of places to land the Pegasus, the question was where might be the best choice to give them easy access to other sections of the massive vessel. 

Meanwhile, two of the antibodies that had not been frozen by Hronos attack flew towards the Mechanodyname.  Both lashed out with wicked claws, scoring hits on Hronos which cut into his metal exterior...

[Brown Dynamite]

Argonaut moved to comply with their crazed pilot's request.  Flying out of the craft she extended her power pike and calmly set her sights on the nearby Antibodies.  Its flight path predictable.  All but sealing its fate as a bolt of red and black energy flew out from the blast blade.  The stench of entropy filling the air around her.

"Mindless drones."  Argonaut stared coldly from behind her.  The only relief she could offer the former organic beings, assuming they were all partly organic at one point, was a quick death.   Ready to descend further into the World Killer, she knew what to be done.  They would be architects of destruction.  After seeing the numbers of the welcoming force alone, a realization quickly hit.  "Someone should guard the ship."

Though she may have made the suggestion.  The freed Omegadrone did not once consider offering to take the position.

[trollthumper]

"On it," said Cavalier. He planted himself firmly on the ship, adjusting the gravity clamps on his armored boots to reduce the changes of going flying off. He raised his blaster and charged it, waiting for the Antibodies to close in. He still wasn't entirely sure who had coined the term; he'd been calling them so many worse things, but something that implied an all-devouring, antiseptic force fit all too well. He just had to wait... wait for the others, who were rushing into the fray, to get clear. Wait for someone to make it through. Wait...

There. Pushing past, charging forward, heading right for the Pegasus. Three of them, clustered closely together. It was almost too easy... but he didn't really have the time to assess the threat. He just opened fire, streaks of light soaring through the void, striking the targets right in the head and chest. He could at least take pride in clean hits. 

[Vahnyu]

Though one of the Antibodies pierced his leg, Hronos wasn't particularly bothered by the attack - or the pain, for that matter. Hiding back the Essense of Time inside his chest, the Mechanodynamis stretched his arms in random directions, and they both vanished each in a purple-coloured ring of chronal energy. Not a moment later, multiple such rings appeared around the Antibodies attacking him, and an arm identical to his own arms emerged from inside every ring. Working in chaotic unison, the arms grabbed, punched, and clawed at the Antibodies at once, with great finesse and precision, and coupled with brutal application of force. This torrent of attacks reduced the Communion drones to nothing more than scrap metal and exploding fuses. Now, there was only one Antibody left from this initial wave. No doubt more would follow, Hronos reasoned, so he did not see much point in staying too far behind the Pegasus.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Ah, just how I like to enter a fancy venue. Blow open the walls, rush in, and beat the hell out of the greeters," mused Geckoman, tilting the Pegasus's nose downwards to enter a swooping descent. He started bringing the ship perilously closer and closer to the great huge stacks, not wanting to get blindsided when he was trying to land, or wanting to have the craft out and exposed as much as was possible.

"I'll be bringing us into land in just a moment, so if you could strap yourselves in, listen to the stewardesses, and just... sorry, we forgot to put out those little bags of peanuts. Return trip, eh? That way we can have double the bags of little peanuts." He brought the ship in slower and slower as they approached the ground, curving around the side of one of the huge pillars. He lowered the ship down, close to the centre of its side. Hopefully this'd keep it quite well hidden. It was off the main 'avenues', and the pillars on either side would hopefully block Antibodies from finding it unless they got close. Unless they had advanced sensors, or could feel it in the metal of the ship, or, or, or... Well, there was only so much he could do.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Geckoman managed to get the Pegasus down onto the "ground" without any incident.  He had spotted other groups of antibodies taking to the air, but they had not been able to follow him before he had put the spacecraft down. 

Monkey King unstrapped himself and stood up, glancing over to Geckoman.  "I will remain with the Pegasus to guard it against any of these Communion while you and the others depart to carryout the mission." 

Up in the sky, the last remaining antibody of the initial group to have responded to the Pegasus' appearance swooped in toward Cavalier.  The antibody's clawed hands grabbed toward the Star Knight, but Cavalier's armor proved able to withstand the antibody's attack, and the claws left little more than scratches on the exterior of the bright green armor. 

Although he had eliminated all the antibodies he initially had engaged, Hronos could see more groups taking to the air to pursue the invaders.  Argonaut and Cavalier could see more approaching as well.

[Brown Dynamite]

Argonaut twisted her pike to point at the Antibody whom had tried to attack Cavalier.  Firing a bolt of entropic energy quickly and easily.  Her shot hit the Antibody square in its back..  A smoky odor waffed in the air afterwards.  The mechanical creature did not even register a moment's acknowledgement afterwards.

"It is still alive."  Argonaut called out.  Pointing out the obvious.  Then came the backup.  They had charged into the ant's nest.  It wouldn't be long before the worker ants did their job.  Hronos would do well to regroup.  

It was a strange situation.  Being the invading force to stop an invading force aboard a doomsday weapon.  I think there was a planet that fell this way.  Filled with crustaceans maybe?  They screeched loudly.

[trollthumper]

This should have been far too familiar to Cavalier. He was used to his armor getting scratched, gouged, and rent by Antibodies. The first time it had happened, he'd almost feared that the infective process that had claimed Khanate and Lor ships alike would make its way into him; fortunately, the energy fields that kept Star Knight armor together must have had some disjunction protocol in place to make sure nanotech didn't overtake the metal. That is, as long as the host was still alive, which was why he always tried to put some distance between those claws and himself. But right now, after everything he had seen... he felt the strong and urgent need to get visceral. 

"I." He forced energy from the blaster into his armor, increasing its strength and fortitude. "Have had it." He grabbed the Antibody around the head. "With you goddamn cybernetic puppets and your egotistical ****nugget of a master." He drove his fist into the Antibody's face repeatedly, mailed fist driving into augmented corpse. 

[Ecalsneerg]

Geckoman leapt out of the chair, rushing out of the Pegasus and into the Communion ship. He looked around him, seeing his comrades fighting. The antibodies not yet upon them, still up in the air, where he couldn't reach them. He stood, tilting his head back, sniffing gently. If he couldn't get up close and personal with the ones fighting him, he could try and identify any incoming.

"Keep them from stabbing me, I'm going to try and find if anyone else is coming in," he said, sniffing more and more rapidly. He wasn't getting much, just dead metal, burning metal... really, a lot of metal in various states of disrepair and violence.

[Vahnyu]

Right on cue, Communion reinforcements arrived, and seeing the Pegasus navigating further away, he recalled the alternate hands he had conjured, and took flight towards the spaceship. Inside him, the Essense of Time spun wildly, and his body was enveloped by a glittering purple-hued life, causing him to leave an after-image, as the Mechanodynamis sped towards the Pegasus and the others, who were leaving the ship one by one. In the blink of an eye, Hronos arrived close to Argonaut and Cavalier. "The enemy reinforcements are arriving at an accelerating rate. I propose that we further retreat to a tighter space, so that we will be able to repel them effortlessly." He said to them.

[Thevshi]

GM 

More of the winged antibodies came flying up at the heroes still in the air, screeching their high pitched electrical sound as they did.  Pairs came at each of the heroes, their long sharp claws flashing in the dim light.  Both of the antibodies that attacked Hronos managed to connect with the Mechanodynamis, slashing at his metal form.  Both Argonaut and Cavalier managed to avoid one of the attacks aimed at them, but neither had their luck continue against the second, both receiving solid hits to their armor. 

Then, over the communicators of each of the gathered heroes came Daedalus' voice.  "This is Daedalus to all Earth heroes, if you have found a section that is a large open space with several massive columns, you need to undermine the supports of as many of those columns as you can.  Collapsing them inward will start the chain reaction we are wanting to achive."