ic Praetorians: The Deadly Dozen

[Exaccus]

"I head for the ship as well and transmute the reagents required Imperatrix Val-ren." Moth says with a slight bow eager to up his game on this decorum business; proceeding to turn and head to the door, a small spring in his step from the apparent respect of this foreign delegate who had managed to keep his skepticism in check, it was a pleasant thing for a him small as it might have been. stopping to scoop up a bit of discarded sheet metal cutting and with a wiggle of his antenna and a few sparks of amber light makes it flow like water in his finger tips and bundle up into a ball even as its gleaming silver becomes the transparent red of a fist sized uncut ruby.

Figuring Mater would need her space and not wanting to upset Sitara he decides to wait in the door way for his friend, tossing his recently transmuted gem between his hands like a softball stopping only to wave at anyone who happened to be looking his way as he had learned was polite to do.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"Among my people", said Dragonid, "Such criminals would have been thrown to the gladiator pits. If they were not promoted to generals. But then, I am not fond of my people's justice. For many reasons." Not the least of which was his own experiences in those pits, for merely demanding his birthright.

To make his intentions more clear, he added."We can not have these criminals on the loose, though. We will detain them as quickly as possible and hope that they can be imprisoned safely somewhere for the rest of their lives." 

[Mad Scientist]

Hūhunu had remained quiet throughout the briefing, mission recorder steadily capturing audio and images for later playback if required. A non-com in the military before being detached to the Praetorians, a fairly junior member amongst those numbers, the Marine didn't feel a need to ask many questions beyond the briefing report.  Questions and strategies were for officers -- simple tasks and objectives, that was the ticket.

Simple tasks -- it had been discovered that Hūhunu was the best pilot amongst the remaining Praetorians, barring Mater Vyrdna controlling the ship's responses directly, and so it was that the marine closed down the mission recorder and headed for the Devotion.  No doubt the technopath would be going over the ship's functions from engineering, preparing the vessel for flight -- and so to the bridge, to complete the related checks from that end.

The Devotion was a sweet ship, and while gaining the sort of connection with it that Vyrdna shared wasn't desired, it was still a treat to pilot.  And was, while complex enough an endeavour, certainly fell under the heading of 'simple tasks'.

[Raveled]

Aya narrowed her eyes at Vyrdna's suggestion, but managed to hold her tongue. She stood a bit straighter when Commander E'tten made his request. He new position and the charter of ALIENS in general depended a great deal on the cooperation of the Lor's allies. If Paradigm and the Praetorians turned them down, would she go back to OOPS and Terra? The alien accepted her smoothly and without question, though, assigning her a berth on a ship, and the Lor agent breathed a soft sigh. "With your permission, Imperitrix," Aya said, "I should be gettin' some gear from our shuttle. If you can delay your flight until then, please." She left, walking quickly down the corridor back to the shuttle berth and she only took one wrong turn.

The Devotion didn't leave without her. Aya climbed the gangplank with a heavy satchel over her shoulder. She stopped just inside, glancing around at a two thousand-year old interior. "It looks... well-persevered," she said. Despite the age the layout of any spaceship followed the same demands of physics and engineering, and it wasn't long before she found a section with padded chairs. She sat in one and laid the satchel at her feet, then opened the package and started removing the parts of her spacesuit.

[RobRX]

Having asked the only thing he needed to ask, Kharag had remained quiet. Of course he had high hopes for this mission, especially of getting to challenge of one those criminals in single combat and then defeating it. Ever since he had been defeated by the first Praetorian he met, which had led to his species joining the Delaztri empire, Kharag had been more than eager to find alien warriors with unusual abilities and defeat them both for glory's sake and perhaps hoping it would help him get over such humiliating defeat. There were wounds to his pride that had never healed.

Still, he'd assist for this, so he took a seat in the ship.

[Thevshi]

Paradigm gave Aya a small nod as the Lor asked for a chance to go and retrieve her gear from the shuttle that had brought her and the commander.  "Of course, we will not be leaving until everyone is aboard."  As other Praetorians began to make their way toward the Devotion, the Naram focused her attention on finishing assigning the mission team.  When she was finished, the inclusion of Aya made for a team of fourteen.  Turning to Elite, Paradigm said her farewell, before she turned and started toward the spacecraft herself.

Commander E'tten accompanied her, handing over the datacard with all the information the Lor had available on the escaped prisoners and the lost ship.  "Thank you commander.  With a bit of luck, it will not be long before we return with these prisoners once again in custody." 

"I do hope you are blessed with such luck Imperatirx."  The commander replied.  "And do be careful, these are dangerous individuals." 

"Of that I have little doubt.  But my fellow Praetorians and I have faced their like before, we will be ready for them."  With that, Paradigm turned and boarded the Devotion, making her way up to the bridge.  Taking the command chair in the center of the room, Paradigm activated a holodisplay screen with a small console on one of the chair’s arms.  The holodisplay hung in the air off to one side of the chair.  Satisfied that everyone on the mission team was now aboard, Paradigm looked forward once more.  "Huhunu, if all the preflight checks have been completed, let us get underway."

Edited May 28, 2015 by Thevshi

[Mad Scientist]

"Aye, Captain," the marine replied in automatic, mostly unconscious, and most likely entirely missed mockery of Navy traditions.  There was generally a long-standing divide between those who transported troops into battle and those troops themselves, no matter what the species or military organization.  The fact that Hūhunu was one of the better trained pilots and certainly the one with the best reaction times was an irony not lost on the soldier in question.

Hūhunu may be a Praetorian now, but one never really did stop being a marine, no matter what path life ended up taking.

The four primary fingers of each hand worked the flight controls, the two delicate auxiliary fingers folded carefully away into the palm ridges to keep them safely out of the way.  Devotion was a sweet vessel, and responded promptly, almost eagerly, to flight instructions that eased them slowly out of dock.  Slow for now, but soon she could stretch her legs and run, crossing the stars as they went in hunt of these most dangerous escape criminals.

"Devotion away," Hūhunu reported as they cleared their docking point and emerged into open space.  "Bringing the main engines online, preparing for thrust.  Do we have destination coordinates for the nav computer?" the marine inquired.  They could get underway via spatial drive for now, of course, but in order to get anywhere anytime soon, they were going to need to transit to irrational space.

[Tiffany Korta]

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the Lor to answer her questions accurately, it was just that you tended to find out what was important to know just after it happened to you. Beside like most she had all the information recorded to her suits systems for her to study later.

Instead she left for the ship as soon as it was polite to do so and began to do as full a system check as the time they had before launch arrived. And even then it was never enough time, as soon as the craft was safely in the air she opened the comm’s to Hūhunu.

“No really flyboy it’s fine to take off without checking with you engineer! Noting down here that could explode or anything.” her tone suggested she was gently mocking the alien and wasn’t that upset with his actions. Well not completely.

[Mad Scientist]

Given that the Ipukaran wasn't used to having an engineer to check with -- marine piloting training focused on troop transports and small fighters, where the engineers remained back on station -- it wasn't entirely a surprise that no confirmation call to engineering had been made.

"Glad to hear it," Hūhunu replied, keying the comm.  "Be sure to let us know if something is about to explode, if you would be so kind?"  The marine was still getting used to the fact that there was, effectively, no familiar rank structure amongst the Praetorians.  Certainly, there were matters of seniority and leadership, but it was rare that one of the others could be pointed at and know immediately whether or not they would follow orders or if theirs were to be followed.

So, while difficult, Hūhunu was attempting to treat the other Praetorians as if they were fellow marines of equal rank, squad mates.  This lead to a certain degree of ribbing and shot-taking, but the others didn't seem to mind to any great degree.

There were exceptions, of course -- such a tactic wasn't about to be attempted with Kharag....

Edited May 23, 2015 by Mad Scientist

[Exaccus]

Once the devotion was in motion Myothizar set himself to work, conjuring first a silvery mortar and pestle first to crush his recently remade ruby into fine powder to which is quickly added various other powers and viscous fluids, transmuted from the ration packs the Lanternian had taken to using as transmutation material, that the pestle-turned-spoon quickly folded into the mass centred in the middle of the mortar-turned bowl, all the while his tongue sticking out in concentration as he gets the ratios to the right levels.

after one or two tense moments in which he feared his work spoiled and wasted he, seemingly happy with the base he begins to gesture over it, fingers wiggling and curling into gestures and antenna flicking and swishing above as he bats, guiding and shaping the ethereal energies as they're drawn into his ruby red mass of paste.

Finally satisfied that the mix was of the right consistency and correct thaumaturgical charge he sets his large stationary eyes on his volunteer, Sitara, the mass rising from the bowl even as it and the spoon discorporate, levitated in the grasp of his telekinesis he lines it up with her face and with a few gentle gestures moulds it into the pasterns required to insulate her mind and safely project psychic interference. "pleasing to hold breathing and still." he says as the thin ribbons of red levitate slowly towards her. curving to the coutures of her head even as they approach.

[Raveled]

Corona stayed quiet and watched the Praetorians work. It reinforced, in her mind, how much of an outsider she was. Everyone had a job, everyone had a position, everyone was making themselves useful... except for her. All she had to do was sit there and watch these aliens move around each other and work. She was acutely aware of her uselessness, and even as she slipped the different components of her armor on she searched for some way to engage the Praetorians.

So when Moon Moth mixed his magic and started floating it through the air, she focused on that. "That's impressive TK," she said, nodding at the pigments suspended in the air. "Is this a kinda warpaint?"

[Vahnyu]

With the assistance of Sitara, Vyrdnaya finished the diagnostics swiftly and efficiently. The two Praetorians worked expertly together, ensuring that the Devotion was ready to undertake this voyage, when Tamahine perfomred the lift-off, and he and Sitara bantered. "Affirmative, Hūhunu. Let me run the checklist for you to confirm. Cooling systems are fully operational, and engine temperatures are at acceptable levels. Faizon fueltanks are full. Phasmatic shield generators are online. Plasma converters currently at 98.799 % capacity. Quantum torpedoes fully loaded. Artificial gravity generator set at 3.5Gs. Life Support systems check. Communication Systems emitting properly. Hyperdrive engine is active and stable. All indicators are green. You are clear to proceed, Hūhunu."

Making such a detailed status report was a luxury unlikely to be available in the heat of combat, so it payed to perform one whenever the chance arose. Still, Vyrdnaya was glad that Traveller and Hūhunu were displaying some good, if spontaneous, rapport. Gods know, she needed the levity, herself. That's why, and though she was a bit more serious in her tone than the two, she did not exhibit any anger or frustration when talking to Hūhunu.

Edited May 27, 2015 by Vahnyu

[Exaccus]

"Thankings you, Friend." Moon moth chirps as he turns his head to set one of his stationary eyes upon the lor attache "Indeed, it is based upon a minor ward mothers put upon reccently metamorphosed lanternians; to keep away nightmares of the cocoon's isolation and sensory deprivation" he explains even as he layers the war-paint onto Sitara's face with the focus of an artist putting the finishing touches on a sculpture "This is rather more powerfuls version with darker places at its source." he intones softly as he gently telekineticly impacts the mask into Sitara's pours, a sensation not unlike being poked repeatedly across the area of the design "A blood-soaked rebellion against an Depraved sister-race of psionics, its why we use ruby, any form of gemstone would work."

finally satisfied that the mask will not run or worse yet, fall off when it stops being supported he gradually lowers his hands and his mane fluffs visibly with delight that his ordeal is over and successful before settling down again and gesturing in Lanternian even as he speaks in galstandard "Your cause is just, your will of steel, your power very, very real; May this mask keep those who would subvert your mind at bay so you may see the dawn of another day." he sighs softly and after a few seconds of introspection speaks out  "Speakings of my home makes me sad." he confesses seemingly out of the blue to both corona and Sitara "But I do not, nor will i ever has the monopoly on grieving." he says softly as he examines his Chitinous fingers like they're the most interesting things his violet eyes have ever laid upon before angling his head to look at as many people present in the seating area as possible, Corona included. 

"How're these harsh times treating yous, my brethren, in your loss?"

Edited May 27, 2015 by Exaccus

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Dragonid stashed his jetpack and other gear securely, then slumped in his seat and waited for the Devotion to depart. He did not know enough about the technology to help in the preparations, or to plot a course or to pilot the ship.

Until they reached their destination, all he could do was study the intelligence. He repeatedly returned to the data on the Mekirris. The cyborgs brought back memories from lifetimes ago of such horrible cyborgs. These were less crude, but the conversions must have been no less horrific.

"With so many of them with such varied skills, it is difficult to plan any sort of tactics. If we find too many of them in one place it could well be bloody chaos." he said, quietly.

[Thevshi]

Paradigm had been busy finishing her own checks when Huhunu had embarked the Devotion, without first checking with engineering to be sure everything was ready.  Sitara was quick to point out the mistake to the Ipukaran, in a good natured sort of way, so Paradigm did not feel any need to comment herself.   

Besides, she thought, we are all still getting used to the changes in no longer being part of an empire.  Two thousand years ago, there would have been Delaztri Naval personnel operating the Devotion, the very sort of task Vyrdnaya had been performing when she had seemingly sacrificed her life during the empire’s final battle with the Communion.  Now, the Praetorians themselves were having to fill all the functions in operating their spacecraft.  And while most of the surviving members had at least some basic familiarity with the ship systems, it still was not a familiar practice. 

When Huhunu asked for a heading, the young Naram focused herself back on the present, pulling up the system information provided by Commander E'tten on her holomonitor.  "For the time being, setting course for the Dreeda system will suffice."  She replied.  "It will get us going in the right direction and will be easy enough to make adjustments as we decide how we want to approach trying to track the Sar-lan."

[Mad Scientist]

"Thank-you, Engineering," Tamahine replied dryly.  Snarky sophants -- well, a readiness report after the fact was better than one not at all.  Mental note -- make sure to check in first next time, to avoid any more such situations.

Feeding power to the Faizon drive, Tamahine started the vessel smoothly accelerating away from the Praetorian headquarters.  They would need to put some distance between themselves and any significant mass before engaging the hyperdrive, so there was time to call up the equations to the Dreeda system from the navigation computer.  Inertial dampeners in play, there wasn't even any sensation of movement within the ship itself, but they were shortly moving at a rate of 3.84x10⁸ metres per second -- which was to say, barely crawling at in-system speeds, let along interstellar.

"All hands, be preparing for irrational space," the marine announced over the comms, feeding the relevant calculations back into the nav computer.  "Hyperdrive ready on your mark, Captain."  If they were going to make a point of protocols, especially with a 'guest' on the ship...well, protocols it was, then.

[trollthumper]

Cavalier was once more silent. He was used to dealing with motley crews - they didn't get more motley than the people he'd spent years with on the Starforger, and you didn't typically last long in the Star Knights if you couldn't get used to people with different ways. Or anatomies. Or planes of existence. But in a situation like this, even he was off his footing. He hadn't been sent in blind - he was given a dossier on the Praetorians and their activities, after all. But there was a difference between reading words on paper and seeing the real thing in the flesh. They were... every word he could think of was inadvertently insulting. "Relics." "Artifacts." He wanted to say "legends," but that almost made them too mythic. They were here, the memory of an empire that had fought the Communion... and had been sealed in amber after their moment in victory, to emerge and find their home long since crumbled to dust. He could only imagine what they had felt when they were shoved into this fresh hell... but he also knew he didn't want to be the asshole to ask how they were feeling. 

So, instead, he decided he'd learn through observation. He looked at the war paint Moon Moth had whipped up, and popped back his helmet. "Interesting," he said. "Been a while since I saw magic used in the field." He took a whiff, taking in the scents. "I don't really have a head for the arcane stuff, but it's good to see someone does." 

Edited June 2, 2015 by trollthumper

[Raveled]

Corona was taken back by the forward, frank question from the Praetorian. She spluttered for a moment, unable to think of a response. "It's keepin' me busy," she said finally. "Th' Communion's been pushed back t'a its holes, and now there's this job in front'a me." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Right now I just want t' focus on the job in front'a me."

She sat up straighter when the Star Knight sat down near the group, orienting herself to the new arrival. "You think this is magic?" She eyed the floating ink distrustfully. "You really think this'll help?"

[Thevshi]

"Just Paradigm is fine Huhunu."  Amara stated as the Ipukarea reported they were ready to engage the Devotion's hyperdrive.  "We are no longer a part of an Empire, with its hierarchies and protocols.  We only have each other, and while I may be Imperatrix, it is only because I was elected such by the group." 

Pausing a moment, the young Naram then added.  "Alright, let us get underway to find these criminals and put them back where they belong."

One the hyderdrive was engaged, Paradigm remained on the bridge for a short while longer, insuring that everything was running smoothly before she activated the ship wide comm. system on the arm of her chair.  "Traveller, Moon Moth, Cavalier and Officer K'zan, please join me in the upper level conference room." 

Switching off the comm., she then spoke to the Praetorians gathered on the bridge.  "Time to begin discussing how we should begin our search."  She said as she stood and made her way off the bridge and toward the conference room that sat at the back of the upper deck of the Devotion.

[Mad Scientist]

Hūhunu struggled with a few responses, at least one of which just as inappropriately followed aforementioned outdated hierarchies and protocols.  The marine was just that -- a military creature, who was used to interacting with people on a military footing.  Not to mention that military or no, a ship required a captain -- it just did.

"...yes, Paradigm," were the words that finally came, narrowly edging out 'Imperatrix'.

Once the Preatorians were called to assemble, it was a simple matter to transfer the navigational controls to automatic -- there wasn't any piloting to do, per se, in irrational space, the plotted course needing to be followed until reaching the programmed destination.

Swivelling the pilot's chair, Hūhunu rose and followed Paradigm to the conference room.  A good plan was always desirable when going up against such uncertain odds....

[trollthumper]

"I'm not entirely sure it's magic," Cavalier said to Corona. "I've seen a bit of magic, so I've got an idea of what the gestures and ingredients look like... roughly. If it is magic, I'm sure it'll help. It it's a religious ceremony or some sort of team-building exercise... can't hurt. I mean, unless there's ergot or something in this ink."

Cavalier would have to wait to see what it felt like to have the paint slathered upon his face, though, as he was called to head up to the conference room. He took his place, standing at attention as the conference began. "All right," he asked, "I know we've got a number of people with aerial support, so it might help to have the benefit of elevation when the crap hits the fan. Of course, that depends on if we can isolate the targets somewhere where we have open skies..." 

[Exaccus]

Moon-Moth gives what passes for a mirthful grin as his compatriots speculate on what he might be doing. "That depends entirely on what you think magic is my friends, On lantern it is a discipline learned from decades of study and practise...to the great minds of old Delzatri it was a primitive method of focusing our latent power over subspace and higher dimensions, which would otherwise run rampant and I am told on many other worlds it is trickery practised by entertainers or charlatans; Often ruining my reputation millennia ahead of my birth, let alone arrival." he says rather evenly "Regardless, what I am doing is very much the reality; I regretting I only had time to make one batch, though next the time, I will gladly ensure one of you get to experience my work yourselfs if you should so desires."

Following the terrans and lor, which now he saw them side by side seemed almost identical to him save perhaps for a few small traits here and there he takes his place at the conference, floating and sitting in Indian style mid-air, a good few feet off the ground he turns his rather ponderous intellect to the task of ensuring these evidently dangerous deviants did not escape. "hungers long suppressed and denied tend to rage when unbound, one of them won't be able to help themselves I'd be wagering." moth reasons "If we can find reports of characteristic indulgences we might be able to figure out a general area for our hunt; Hopefully they will be planet side, there vessel will be of up-most importance to their continued freedom and evasion of pursuers, so somewhere with a shipyard or dry dock that can maintain and modify Lor vessels of that class, I assume being government star ships civilian facilities will be lacking the required authorizations if not equipment to perform such duties, I imagine a former mentat would have knowledge of such facilities, either abandoned or far enough away from things that news of her dishonourable discharge have not reached them or have fallen into disorder and chaos if not outright revolt with the tragic loss of Lor-Van."

[Mad Scientist]

"Or piracy," Hūhunu offered, following up on the moth's line of speculation.  "With all of the chaos of battle with the Communion, it is possible that someone falsified reports of a station being destroyed and took it for their own use."  The suggestion, while unlikely, certainly wasn't impossible, and would provide a great boon to those who wished to live outside the rules and regulations of civilization.

"If we can acquire a list of stations that were destroyed in the conflict, it might prove beneficial to investigate the actual facts in the matter."  The little marine didn't know if the suggestion would pan out, but being a contributing member of the team rather than a mere order-taker was something Hūhunu had been striving for in recent cycles.

And if nothing did come of it -- well, then, at least the attempt was made.

[Thevshi]

As the group gathered in the conference room at the back of the upper deck, Paradigm listened as several offered options on tactics for fighting their opponents and tracking them down were offered.  "It certainly does seem advisable to try to use every advantage we can in facing them."  The Naram offered in response to Cavalier's suggesting of having as many of the Praetorians airborne as possible.  "I cannot promise we will have much opportunity to choose our battlefield, but any potential tactics that we may wish to consider are certainly welcome." 

As the discussion turned to the first task of actually finding this group, Paradigm listened to a few of the suggestions and then responded.  "I would suspect that if the Lor had any reports of criminal activity that could be attributed to any of the escapees would have been included in the information provided us.  Although, it could be that in the wake of the war against the Communion, such reports could have been overlooked.  Perhaps Officer K'zan can obtain such reports for us to review?"  The young Narma stated, looked over at Corona. 

She then looked over to Huhunu as the marine offered another suggestion for trying to hunt down the criminals.  "I am afraid that such an investigation may be far too time consuming.  Do not forget, the front line against the Communion stretched hundreds of parsecs within the Republic.  The information we have been provided gives us the most logical starting point for our investigation, a believed sighting of the Sar-lan in a system near the edge of the Republic, and an area currently in a long-range communications blackout.  At the very least, we should start our investigation to ensure the colony and two mining facilities in that region are safe."

[Raveled]

Corona followed the Star Knight to the conference room, taking up another anchor position; between herself, Paradigm, and the Star Knight, they formed an isosceles triangle. She stood quietly, listening to the discussion taking place, noting that Paradigm allowed each of the Praetorians speak up. Evidently this was an egalitarian organization, even if some of the members acted like there was a more structured hierarchy.

"It's hard to say what we'll find before we get there," she opined. "Plannin' to hit them as one won't help much if they've already skedaddled. But they haven't shown up anywhere else -- and by and large, these aren't subtle people. Even Pheyden and X'madi," she added "are more likely to try and grab control of a planet with their mental powers than they are to lay low and let th' heat die down. I expect that as soon as we get close, we'll start to see signs of them." She paused for a moment. "Of course, our first mission should be to help any survivors."