ic Praetorians: The Deadly Dozen

[Thevshi]

GM 

Traveller unleashes a barrage of fire aimed at Sullek and Zadvian, but the two supercriminals prove too quick on their feet, both managing to avoid the attack completely as they rolled away.  However, one of the escaped criminals that had been focused on Cavalier was also caught in the barrage, and though he started to roll away, he was still hit squarely and knocked into unconsciousness. 

Although the Praetorians initial attacks had greatly reduced their numbers, the remaining criminals stood their ground, spreading out some to try to avoid being caught in area attacks, while they began to open fire on the Praetorians. 

Three fired on Mater Vyrdna, two managing to land shots, however, her improved armor easily turned aside both blasts.  Three others fired at Traveller, who managed to avoid all three.  Cavalier had two shooting at him, and while the first missed the Star Knight, the second managed to hit.   

Dragonid also narrowly avoided an attack from one criminal.  The reptilian Praetorian turned his attention toward that individual, sending a jet of flame at the criminal which knocked the alien back and into unconsciousness. 

Santri tried to struggle free from Corona's grip, but the Lor officer was far too strong for the short, stocky alien. 

Rolling back up on his feet, Zadvian focused his gaze up on Traveller, snarling as he started forward, leaping into the air.  The F'terrix easily cleared the distance to the hovering Praetorian, his sharp claws slashing out to rake across her white armor. 

Over toward the right side of the building, Cor continued to run forward, focusing his gaze on Mater Vyrdna, as his eyes began to blow with blue energy.  Suddenly Mater Vyrdna found herself surrounded by glowing, opaque blue energy.  She appeared to be in a narrow passage, which went left or right a short distance to turn back behind her.

[trollthumper]

Cavalier took the small arms fire quite well - mainly because it wasn't another cannon blast. And, in rolling with the blow, it turned him right around to face Sullek. Recalling the briefing, he flew back to keep distance from the violent criminal who was extraordinarily skilled in melee weapons. It seemed like solid tactical reasoning. "Nice steel," he said. "I've seen my share of installations, biomods, the occasional bit of gray matter stapling to promote psychic talents, but somehow, it's the steel that always reminds me of how much things have changed." He raised his blaster. "Still. I bet mine's bigger."

 

He fired off a shot - but between correcting for range and shaking off the last of the small arms fire, the angling was off. The shot went wide and looked like it would miss Sullek. 

 

Why, oh why, can't I ever shoot my mouth off right before I do something impressive? 

[Thevshi]

GM 

Sullek sidestepped just as Cavalier opened fire, so the Star Knight's blast missed the cyborg criminal, blasting a chunk out of the pavement in front of the building. 

At that moment, the roof slip open on the smaller section of the building on the right hand side, reveling to those still high enough in the air a hanger within.  A sleek space vessel a little over one hundred feet long lifted smoothly up into the air on anti-gravity thrusters.   The spacecraft rose until it was about fifty feet higher than the roof of the main building, the stopped, hovering there for the moment.

[Vahnyu]

"Wha-?" Vyrdnaya barely had a time to react, before it was too late and she was surrounded by the force construct. "Aw, you spacetrawling Glomsworm and Ricketbeetle!" she cursed in her native tongue, the tongue civilizations thriving under the rule of the Delaztri Empire had adopted, albeit peppered with local Akarnean dialect. She once more powered up her hand-cannon, ready to rupture the wall in front of her in twain. "You think I'm gonna let a frazzling wall block my way, you're sorely mistaken, you floatboating Quarkspark!" she swore in her impotent rage, as she let loose a blast that produced a few cracks on the force field, but otherwise was unable to create an opening for her to escape. "... Anathemas!"

 

Perhaps a different approach was called for. In Galstandard, she spake "Cavalier? Traveller? Dragonid? I've been... forced out of this fight, and I could really use some help getting back in right now!" She pleaded to her teammates.

[Exaccus]

Moon-moth hesitated for little more than a fraction of a second, when it came to choosing between assisting his friends and fighting his foes he would always in the end choose the same, having only caught a glance of where mater had been before the enemy construct had enclosed her he attempted a random jump, and appeared in the middle of the construct very much alone in what appeared to be a dead end of a labyrinth with no sign of his fellow praetor. "Maters? can you hearing me?" he called out hesitantly as he scanned the only way open to him.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Exaccus

[Thevshi]

GM

After calling out for assistance, Mater Vyrdna heard the sound of Moon-Moth's voice echoing from inside the maze-like force construct. 

Outside the force construct, the battle continue rage on, as Rux appeared behind Corona, slashing at the Lor officer with her plasma blade.  The cyborg's attack racked across Corona's back, cutting into the Lor's armor. 

Sullek easily dodged Cavalier's attack, the blasts creating small craters in the ground behind the cyborg.  "That is certainly a matter of opinion."  The sword wielder replied as he took a few running steps and leapt into the air.  The arch of his leap was aimed toward a corner of the rooftop of the building, carrying him past the Star Knight.

As he passed, Sullek slashed out with his sword, the blade striking Cavalier's armored torso as the momentum carried Sullek on to the rooftop.

[Raveled]

Corona was too focused on the criminal in her grasp to even notice Rux's portal appearing behind her, until the cyborg's plasma blade cracked across her back. She let out a cry of pain and swung around with Santri in hand; she missed the cyborg, but she bashed the other alien into a wall. She glared at the criminal in her grasp, angrier than she was before. "Tell me how to disable the yacht!" she demanded. She lifted him in the air and slammed him against the ground again. "You're not going to get off this planet, so why let them escape?"

[Thevshi]

Paradigm 

"Catch up when you can my friend."  Paradigm stated to Seresk, as she lifted up into the air, accelerating in the direction of the governor's offices and the continuing battle against the escaped supercriminals.  A sonic boom echoed over the city as the Naram broke the sound barrier, streaking through the sky as she closed on the scene. 

With her enhanced vision, Paradigm was able to take stock of the scene as she approached, but quickly focused on the hovering starship as the primary threat to deal with. 

Hardly slowing, the Praetorian flew over to the top of the starship the villains were trying to use to escape, slamming into it with a *THUD*.  Then she began to push against the vessel with all of her considerable strength, trying to force it back down into the hanger and ground it.

Whomever was piloting the starship reacted quickly, increasing power to the antigravity thrusters as they tried to resist the force being applied against it.  Dust and debris began kicking up around the office building, as for a moment it seemed the starship might win the contest.  But then, slowly at first, the vessel began to drop in altitude, before it started descending quicker, until it slammed back down inside the hanger with a loud *CRASH* that echoed over the city. 

Those gathered around the governor's offices could feel the ground and building shake from the impact as more dust and smoke was kicked up.

[Tiffany Korta]

“I know what you thinking, you thinking that this Praetorian has been sticking back because they have this long unwieldy energy weapon. Only one problem with that though...”

 

With a smile Sitara wielded the power pike around, again changing the setting so the weapon crackled with energy along it length.

 

“This is quite a capable melee weapon as well. Here allow me to demonstrate how it works.”

She spun the weapon around and struck her opponent with the pike causing a wave of energy to cracking around her opponent.

[Thevshi]

GM

Zadvian had been distracted from his fight with Traveller by Paradigm's sudden arrival and grounding of the spacecraft the villains had been planning to try to escape in.  That distraction proved costly, as Traveller quickly landed a hit with her force pike.  The F'terrix snarled in pain, as the shock seized up muscles and nearly stopped him in his tracks.

But then, managing to recover from the attack, Zadvian leapt back at Traveller, who just managed to step aside and avoid a serious wound from his sharp claws.  As it was, the F'terrix still managed to rake his claws along Traveller's side, causing a slight injury to the long lived Praetorian. 

The few remaining "normal" escaped criminals in front of the governor's offices had clearly decided that this fight was far beyond them, as they all turned and began running away from the battle, abandoning their unconscious comrades and the superpowered criminals that were their leaders. 

Dragonid flew closer to where Sullek had landed on a corner of what was left of the roof of the building.  "Your allies are fleeing and your escape route is gone, it would be best to surrender!"  The reptilian Praetorian called out, even as he then sent a jet of flame at the cyborg criminal.  But Sullek, although shocked by the sudden grounding of the spacecraft, was still very much aware of his surroundings, and ducked under the blast, shifting his stance toward Dragonid. 

Over inside the force construct, Mater Vyrdna was not exactly sure what had caused the sudden loud crashing from outside, or the ground below where she hovered to shake.  But whatever her thoughts on the cause, the Praetorian's attention was quickly taken by the appearance of Cor, the hulking alien stepping through the glowing wall as if it was not there. 

Swinging a similarly glowing club of energy, Cor slammed the energy weapon down onto Mater Vyrdna with tremendous force...

[trollthumper]

Damnit. Of course Cavalier had to be upstaged right after he got a good line out. Fortunately, Sullek's blade had glanced off of one of the harder parts of the solidified energy matrix on his chest piece. It had still caught him slightly off his footing, but at least he didn't have another hole to breathe out of. Yeah. Definitely have to work on the next one.

 

Fortunately, he had cause. Sullek had landed on the roof, and it looked like he was still trying to regain his footing. Cavalier redirected energy to his armor -- to the servos in the arms, the energy over the plating, and the boosters in the feet. He surged up, flying straight for Sullek, not wanting to give his position away. He drew his fist back as the criminal finally regained his footing - and just as he seemed to turn around, Cavalier brought his fist up, striking the target in what he just assumed was the diaphragm. 

 

"Hey, you know what? You were right. There's a whole lot of value to melee." 

[Vahnyu]

"Moon-Moth! Glad to hear your vo-" Vyrdnaya said, before being rudely interrupted by Cor, who appeared right in front of her, wielding an energy mace in a manner that suggested that he'd like to have said mace aqcuainted with Vyrdnaya's head in the most violent way possible. It was pure insticts that protected her, raising her metalic wings and using them to cover herself from the attack, but she could still feel the force behind the blow reverbrate through her body. "Ahgh, you bedridden monkfish!" she shouted in Delaztri once again. Prepping her hand cannon, she opened fire at Cor, widening the crack on the forcefield behind him. "Eat Plasma cannon, you wretched villainous scum!"

 

Deciding that staying up close in an enclosed space to such a dangerous foe was ill-advised, she decided that it was time for some tactical retreat. "Moth? Can you hear me? Where are you?" She spoke, hoping that hers and Myothzar's voices would guide each other, as she flew down the winding corridor, only to be met by a dead end. "Crap... Moon-Moth, be careful, we've got a mace-wielding hostile in here!"

[Exaccus]

"Copy Mater." he responds as he raises his left hand in preparation to cast his snaring spell, trusting that the foe would attempt to attack him from a blind spot as he floats down the only open corridor towards the sound of battle knowing all to well that it was best to focus on meeting mater before focusing on the construct and its creator

 

Finding himself facing another dead end he decides to sacrifice preparation for speed and doubles back to take the branch, though to his surprise he comes face to face with Cor and in his haste go bind the villain misspeaks his silvery shackles go wide and harmlessly disappate on the construct behind him.

 

"We has you now!" He says flustered and slightly embarrassed by his knee jerk reaction but determined to say on the offensive even as he begins to tire from casting such powerful spells in succession.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Exaccus

[Thevshi]

GM 

Cavalier's punch caught Sullek solidly in the diaphragm, the force of the punch lifting the cyborg criminal off his feet and sending him flying through the air and through the windows of a nearby building.  By the time Sullek came crashing down inside the other building, the criminal was unconscious.   

Inside the governor's offices, Rux leapt over the struggling Corona and Santri, slashing down at the Lor officer as she passed over.  Once again the plasma blade raked across Corona's back, cutting through her armor.  Another hole in space appeared on the other side of Rux's leap, and the cyborg disappeared through it as it closed right behind her.

[Raveled]

Corona let out a grunt of pain as Rux's blades crashed through her armor again. "You better talk to your friends and get them to surrender," she growled at Santri. She flew up, slamming the convict into the ceiling hard enough to shake plaster onto the ground. "If we keep this up, you're going end up with a sore back and I'm  going to need new armor, so just surrender and make it easier for everyone."

[Thevshi]

Paradigm 

As the smoke and dust began to settle and dissipate around her, Paradigm studied the downed spaceship she was currently hovering above.  Estimating where the bridge would be located, the Praetorian reached down and dug her fingers into the metal of a section of the vessel.  With a surge of strength, she ripped up an entire section of plating, opening up a hole in the side of the spacecraft which exposed the bridge and a nearby hallway. 

Inside the spacecraft, X'madi, Pheydyn and Rux were all visible, the previous two apparently having regained their bearings after Paradigm had forced the ship back down.  As she tossed the large chunk of plating off to a side with a loud *CLANG*, Paradigm focused on the three supercriminals.  "I would advise you to surrender now.  Your running is over."

[Thevshi]

GM 

Pheydyn turned toward Paradigm as she tore off a section of the spacecraft, making it unspaceworthy, even if they were able to get it off the ground again.  A wide smile came to the Futianni's face as he regarded the Praetorian.  "It still remains to be seen whether we will be going back to prison."  He stated as he released blast of psychic energy at Paradigm. 

The blast hit the Naram, a pain like thousands of small needles stabbing into her brain.  But Paradigm had much more willpower than might be expected, and was able to shake off the pyschic attack quickly.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Sitara always enjoy the challenge of combat but sometimes just for a moment she got carried away. Not with the extra flourishes, her ancient armour allowed her to do this, but sometimes she could over think the attack. The attack was a solid blow but she shifted her attack ever so slight, for some reason thinking she could do a better more solid blow. But all she achieved was a less efficient strike that he could easily resist.

 

Still such things happened and she wasn’t going to get upset over a single failure, she’d missed many, many attacks over her centuries of combat material. Well maybe a little swearing in her native tongue, but that was just to be expected.

[Thevshi]

GM 

Seeing Cavalier efficiently take out Sullek, Dragonid turned his attention to the rest of the battlefield.  For the moment Traveller seemed to be holding her own against Zadvian (the F'terrix reminding Dragonid of Raark, the senior Praetorian who had been trainer for himself and many of the other Praetorians), so Dragonid turned his attention to the glowing energy construct in which Mater Vyrdna was trapped. 

Flying over, the reptilian Praetorian opened his mouth and let out a powerful jet of flame against the exterior of the construct.  However, even though it was damaged, the glowing blue construct withstood the blast. 

Shaking off the blast from Traveller's power pike, Zadvian snarled at the Praetorian before lunging at her once again with his claws.  But the F'terrix's anger made his attack easy to predict, and the experienced Traveller managed to just step aside to avoid the attack. 

Inside the glowing force construct, Cor turned toward Moon-Moth and strode forward in several quick steps.  The towering alien then swung his glowing energy weapon and struck the Praetorian a solid blow.

[trollthumper]

Cavalier shook his knuckles off. There was a reason he preferred the ranged option, especially since it created less opportunities for someone to wrap their hands around your neck. But damnit, there was something so rewarding about just striking out and laying an idiot out on the ground. After making sure Sullek wasn't faking it like some bad slasher movie villain, he turned to look out on the battlefield. Moon-Moth was caught in a cage match with Cor... metal was raining from the sky as Paradigm went to town on the ship... and Zadvian and The Traveller were trading blows below. The other targets would need to be dealt with in time, but for now... a quick takedown, before the heavy lifting. He descended from the roof, heading at top speed, and struck out at Zadvian, a steel-and-cohesive-energy fist aimed right for his head. 

[Thevshi]

GM 

Cavalier quickly closed the distance with Zadvian, swinging his fist at the F'terrix.  But at the last moment, the furry alien twisted, causing the potentially powerful blow to be merely a glancing one, which Zadvian easily withstood. 

Over at the downed spacecraft, X'madi stepped forward as she and two others faced off with Paradigm.  "I must admit, you have proven much more dangerous than the rumors we picked up about your activities against the Communion suggested."  She stated, a small smile on her face.  But then her look hardened as her lavender eyes glowed with yellow psychic energy.  "But we are not all defeated yet!"

The former Lor mentat then unleashed a powerful telekinetic blast at Paradigm, the shockwave of the attack slamming into the Praetorian and kicking up debris around her.  Paradigm gritted her teeth slightly as the telekinetic force hit her, but held her ground against the onslaught. 

[Vahnyu]

Mater Vyrdna flew back the way she came. She knew she'd meet Cor, but taking him down was the fastest way out of the cage, and with Moon-Moth along, they had the numbers advantage on the fugitive. As she turned around the corner, she saw the Moonborn mothinid Praetorian withstand a blow from the escapee's mace. "Moon-Moth! Are you ok?!" She didn't have time to lose. Now was the time for action. She started concentrating energy on her Mecha Dragon Head Cannon. "Work with me, partner! Keep him occupied while I charge up, then run clear of my blast radius!"

[Exaccus]

Moon-moth wastes no time in firing off a snap shot at cor to keep the villain distracted, the blistering bolt of energy flickering through the air and crashing into the walls behind him with a dull crack, wings buzzing ferociously on his back as he attempts draws the villains attention.

[Thevshi]

GM 

Although Moon-Moth's mystical blast missed Cor's hulking form, the Lanterian Praetorian's attack created an opening that Mater Vyrdna quickly took advantage of.  With Moon-Moth now clear, the other Praetorian was able to open fire on supercriminal, catching him in the powerful blast which hit him hard, causing him to stagger back down to one knee, clearly hurt, if not completely out of the fight. 

But equally important, while Cor was not completely down, he was hurt badly enough that his focus on the psychic energy construct surrounding the trio was disrupted, and the glowing force walls flickered and the faded completely from view.  The two Praetorians could now see how the rest of the fight had developed in the moments since Cor had first trapped Mater. 

But any feelings of victory the two Praetorians might have had was short lived, as a hole opened in space behind Mater Vyrdna, from which Rux leapt out, slashing her plasma sword at the technomorph's back.  The energy beam sliced into Mater's metallic skin, causing her pain, but not seriously injuring her.  But Rux was already gone, leaping through another hole in space, which quickly closed behind her, taking the cyborg criminal out of sight.

[Raveled]

Corona gave a cry and slammed Santri into a wall, dragging him along and digging a furrow in the plaster until she threw him through a door frame. Breathing heavy from the exertion and with plaster dust painting her armor white, she stomped over to Santri and glanced him over. Her armor's HUD popped up brief medical information; content that the criminal was out of commission, Corona turned to consider the rising spacecraft. Before she could pursue the craft, though, she ripped a steel beam out of the wall and quickly wrapped it around Santri's unconscious form.