RP: 188604 [188604] 16: The Storm

:: Palace ::

Errowyn gave chase after Uso to see her get stabbed right in the gut. What Uso missed with the machinegun, Errowyn got with the Daisy assault energy rifle. Being out of the flying debris and dust of the storm, she could safely use it. She grabbed Uso with her free powered armored hand and picked her up. As small as Uso was, her suit fingers wrapped neatly around Uso's waist. "Pitchforks are not the latest fashion to wear in battle. Specially with the tines sticking out of your back." With a soft underlying humor to the feminine booming voice from the Daisy. Securing the Assault rifle. Errowyn plucked the pitchfork out of Uso belly. "One more inch to the right or left. You would be dead. Not even your Neko body can prevent loss blood pressure to keep your heart pumping." She turned around and marched back to Infirmary, feeling the projectiles ping and thud off her armor.

Those that gave chase were hit by the a high intensity superheated blast of Power Armor flying thrust down the corridor at them, along with what ever debris laying about the corridor. It was one of the quick tricks of cooling off the Armor generated heat build up. Plus discouraging unwanted tag-a-longs. Once back in the infirmary. And secured. "

Palace Med Wing
Ace rolled over groaning. "Ugh what happened? I feel like I was hit by a couple trains." Ace then saw the gapping wound in his chest. "Oh that's the cause. Ok. Next question is why am I alive?"

Palace Interior>

Gut-Stripe's heroic charge was abruptly cut short when something invisible and deadly began to murder the throng of looters from inside the ranks. Stumbling to a halt, the I'ee watched the battle in awe before ducking when buckshot whizzed past her head. Then, almost as soon as it had begun, Uso was gone, leaving a thinned crowd of confused humans, and an awe-struck I'ee.

Though she'd never admit it to anyone, Gut-Stripe almost adored the mysterious, invisible killer, admiring at how swift and efficient it had been. Aspiring to meet the great example set, the I'ee charged out from cover again, ramming headlong into the closest man. Her small stature meant that her tackle ended more like a death hug, holding the struggling, yelling looter still with her free arms to leave room for her rapier to push cleanly into his eye socket.

With a tug, she pulled the blade back out of the limp human's cranium and turned to her next target, only to receive a blast of buckshot in her thorax. Her plate armour dented and crumpled, and she let out a screech of pain, staggering to one side before falling over. The remaining men took the opportunity to leg it, preferring to escape while they were ahead rather than risk death again.

Arccos Quintuple Cuddle Bundle>

While the Ee'ith ambassador remained clinging onto Arccos, the four engineers seemed fascinated by the tall robot, examining it from a safe distance. When it non-chalantly back handed a man into a bloody pile of gore, the engineers began chattering and squeaking with approval to one another. What a deadly, beautiful piece of machinery!

Sammy>

Sammy was glad to be under the protection of Cyrus' men, quickly transferring his desperate, clinging grasp to one of his escorts. "T-thank you, Mister!", he called to Cyrus, shaking violently as he addressed the soldier he was clinging to. "Please take me somewhere safe! I don't like the storm!"

Palace Interior

"Gǒu shǐ yīkuài!" 8-Ball cursed when no one responded to his call. There was no more interference but no one was respondin at all. That meant things must have gone south. Really south. The pilot immediately pressed a button on his com as a precaution as he stood in the middle of the chaos of battle, either unaware or unconcerned with what was going on around him.

The man then proceeded as though nothing of significance was going on around him. And to be honest, why would he? There were locals who, as far as Tiber is knew, were loyal to USO fighting bugs who, as far as Tiberiuss knew, were also loyal to Uso. Mercenaries and professional soldiers were scattered throughout and 8-Ball could've sworn he saw some legitimate sword wielding infantry going crazy. 8-Ball wasn't getting paid enough to even try to figure out what was going on when there was no communication and a giant freaking robot outside.

Fortunately, 8-Ball wasn't the only one with this opinion. Battle lines were beginning to finally form as the pilot walked through the melee casually. All sides seemed to ignore him for the sheer fact that he was ignoring them. 8-Ball had the unique position of being almost completely unknown to all sides and not uniformed. It seemed like everyone was interested in not making their personal agendas that much more difficult by pissing off an unknown wearing no identifiable markings and uncommon, even for uniformed military mercenaries, combat attire.

8-Ball didn't take action because he didn't even know who the sides were. The last thing he wanted to do was kill an innocent unnecessarily. Which is probably why he left that local who shot the chopper instruments left breathing. Heck, he even made sure the man would live before leaving the chopper.

'Speaking of innocents' 8-Ball thought to himself as he came across one of those bugs. This one was lying on the floor, unconcious. He found it strange because a few moments prior there was a group of men fleeing from this area. 'Why run from a fallen enemy?'

Tiberius shook those thoughts from his mind as he knelt down next to the bug thing. His intentions were to check to see if it had a pulse when 8-Ball realized that he didn't even know if he could check for one. It was a giant bug with an exo-skeleton, right? How do you naturally check for a pulse with that?!

Grunting in annoyance, the pilot surveyed the damage to the body. The armor was clearly damaged but the man couldn't tell if there were any serious wounds on the bug. He wasn't a doctor or even a xenobiologist. Hell, he didn't even like bugs. But something about an unconcious damsel in distress, even an alien one, pulled at 8-Ball's heartstrings. He carefully picked up the fallen I'ee after checking his notes for where the infirmary was located, and started walking in its direction.

"What in all of the nine hells is going on here?" 8-Ball cursed over the radio as he tried his com again, hoping to get a response this time. He could hear sporadic chatter finally coming through from Uso, but right as he did, he turned the corner to find a hallway ablaze with fire.

'Oh,' 8-Ball thought to himself. 'That is why they are running.'

The pilot made an immediate about face and took off sprinting from whence he came. He made sure to scream "Fiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrreeeeeee!" As he ran down the hallway at the top of his lungs. He did this so the people around him would be more focused on mortal peril instead of the mysterious guy who just acquired a very large, very unconcious bug-girl, and start asking questions.

FIRE? Why didn't you just ask, 8-Ball?

As 8-Ball ran down the hall trying to keep an I'ee safe, it seemed that his screaming of the word fire both worked and didn't work. A group of men with guns, taking shelter behind the now mud-filled fountain in the courtyard took it as a signal to pop out and fire their weapons at a group of advancing Ragnarok mercenaries. A group of local teenagers who seemed to be in all this just for the love of the pure anarchy took it as a request. Several more torches and flasks of oil were flung into windows on the second floor, adding fuel to the fire. A few more sensibly sprinted away, carrying bags full of everything valuable within the palace and disappearing into the storm.

At this point in time, the entire city-facing wing of the palace was close to fully becoming one giant inferno, and it was spreading along to the rest of the palace.

Arccos' General Apathy:

This was a complicated situation, for damn sure. Arccos reflected. She looked up at Truffleclub and gave a little sigh as the machine rendered a man arseless. A pity... This was all madness. And it was warfare. She figured she could get her people out there to fight, but this was a situation where half the people fighting were the type you wouldn't fight. Besides, Cyrus' men were here and far more capable. The Brigadiers were best off doing what they were already doing: Finding survivors and getting them to shelter at their headquarters. With hope they'd found the I'ee out in the storm.

Arccos could fight here, herself. But she had these I'ee to take care of and protect. Precious wasps. And just as she was getting right to the meat of this scenario: Aries turned up, bleating something about Ace being hurt and playing back his broadcast.

The number of shits Arccos could give about Ace living or dying at this moment was extremely minimal. There was a long list of people she wanted to help at this point. Top of the list were the I'ee. Then came the locals, and Truffleclub; not that Truffleclub truly needed helping. Then the rioters who were doing all this. Ace was down on the list at the same elevation as the enemy soldiers who probably had families to go back to.

She wasn't going to devote more than a minimal effort to save a violently insane escapee who should still be in his cell. So should Aries in fact.

"I don't have time to be thinking about you right now. So no, I did not miss you." Arccos responded mentally to Aries. Her digital voice sounded deafening, and seemed to come from all directions at once within her own network. It was quite clear that this might be a very dangerous place to be for any sort of AI. "Get to Ace, I'll send a doctor."

In meat space, Arccos looked up to the towering mechanical mushroom and held up a servo-assisted gauntlet to take the creature's blood-caked manipulator in her own hand.

"Thank you for the warning Truffleclub. But I need your help. These are my friends, the I'ee." Arccos confirmed the huge construct's query, pushing up the I'ee under her poncho to demonstrate. "But they're being hurt badly by the dust. I need you to take them inside, over there."

Arccos indicated with her head the direction of the 'medical wing' such as it was. The place where Ace, Uso and the others had been gathering. Corgan's men were here, so this was good, but the state of the palace meant there probably wasn't anything to reclaim. She let go of Truffleclub for a moment, taking out her communicator; using it to display some images.

"Protect them from enemies, and look for these people."

First was a mugshot of Ace. Unflattering, his name hovering under his image.

"This is Ace. He is wounded, and needs help, but is also defective like the spiders. If he becomes violent towards you, he should just be euthanized."

The second image took a few seconds to scroll through multiple options for Uso; some of them flattering, some of them not, others seemed to show just irrelevant portions of Uso's anatomy, Arccos seemed to have stored to memory for her later viewing pleasure. She settled on one that looked like it was appropriate for a bounty poster.

"This is Uso. Nekovalkyrja, but not Yamataian. She may have been wounded, but will likely not need help."

She then flipped through a few more, before settling on an image of an I'ee with an LED screen strapped to their face. The picture seemed to have little love hearts and flowers copied and pasted around the wasp's image, like something a teenager would make of their boyfriend in a Yamataian photo booth.

"This is Sammy, I don't know where he is, but if you see him, please protect him."

Arccos put away the communicator, and offered up the I'ee to the giant mushroom's tender embrace. "Please be quick, and stay safe. I need to help protect the others."

There was a lot more wagons, guys:

The first assault on the palace had failed. Those inside had mostly fled before being replaced by the mob, and the storm was past its heaviest hour now, but still able to choke, shred or fry with lightning... The fires were burning but it was time to force them out. The General's men who led the assault were starting to scatter and fall back, while the mob was just getting more chaotic by the moment. If the storm died, then their skyboats would return and make short work of their artillery once again.

Now was the time. These aliens would be given no ground to run to, and their chosen haven would bury them.

Those in what passed as a medical wing of the palace, which was more a waiting room for those wanting to gain access to the Queen's Slave, would feel the entire palace shake around them. The roar of the winds failed to hide the crack of cannonfire, although it made it difficult to tell what direction it came from, heavy balls of iron were still colliding with the side of the palace... They were just trying to burn, crush, and generally destroy the entire building with everyone in it. Their people, the aliens. Everyone.

For now the heavy stone walls stood sturdy: But on shaky sand beneath the foundations, and fire spreading... The Palace was becoming a candle lit at both ends. Burning from one direction, and being pounded into gravel by cannon fire at the other.

Palace Courtyard
While Aries was mad about Accross's decision on what to do with Ace she'd probably do the same thing if she didn't know him as well as she did. "As much as I would like to jump to Ace he might as well already be dead right now the only thing keeping him alive are foreign nano machines in him probably from Uso other than that he'd have flat lined already plus some the systems that would sustain me seem to be damaged so I can't until Ace is seen by a doctor and has a chance to fix the damaged systems so unless there is something else I can jump to that is still somewhat humanoid you are stuck with me. I don't like it too much either I don't think that there is enough space for me in here any ways."

Palace Med Wing
Ace got up "Shit that hurts but we need to move. There is a fire raging on near us and I wouldn't put it past the rebels to blow up the palace." Ace began shambling towards some of the dead strewn about before grabbing a man's shirt and tying it around his gaping wound which had at least slowed down in the bleeding department. I need to get to my gear I have supplies in it to make some repairs so that Aries can jump back to me as well as some basic healing supplies to at least help with the pain and stop the bleeding can you help me get to it?" Ace then picked up an empty rifle and used it as a support making sure to have the barrel face the ground.

:alace Medical Wing::

With the fighting and fire on one side, heavy cannon fire pounding the other side. They had to escape soon. Even if heading out into the storm. At least it was concealment from the cannon spotters. Errowyn looked around the room and grabbed some blankets while holding onto Uso who was squirming to be let loose. She covered Uso up as she looked at Ace. "Cover up. We're leaving. I'm going have to carry you so that we stay together. Soon as I clear the palace and grounds with Uso. I'm signaling Queen Slave for pick -up."

Palace Courtyard (AKA Non-Entertainment Use Sand Pit)

"Uso is... Neko-val-kra?..." A perturbed look, but not exactly one of condemnation either. "Did... Did them conquer us, then... In the bad times?..."

"...This task for us. And are muchly good for, friend, is." An echo of a past conversation, perhaps the large robot's way of saying that nothing had changed between them. They remembered their pact, regardless of any new technicalities. "But, recall, in-addi-qwat facilu-tees to repair no Type Three from death-ing. Is requesting that Ar-cuss careful?..."

Truffleclub glanced at their own arm only after Arccos had noticed the wet chunks of gore hanging from it, and briefly examined it as one might a particularly stubborn stain. Which was apparently exactly what they were thinking, as a strange little four-nozzled hose then popped out of their left-hip container, and knocked it all free with an extremely short, focused burst of sanitation chemicals.

Freespacer war automata were covered in guns. Despite certain conveniences in their design, that was not what the towering orange-white mushroom was designed for.

"Small creatures come with?" A query spoken with a soft electronic baritone. They bowed their sizeable head downwards even further, regarding the I'ee creatures with multiple inquisitive red eyes, but too primitive in programming to really make heads or tails of their alien anatomy, despite best intentions. Their forearms were probably big enough to hold two each, regardless. "I am... I am help for I'ee?..."

One last quirk; Even through they had evidently forgotten about it entirely, the junker chassis currently hardwired to Truffleclub's back was still pinging out a limited networking signal. Nothing as fancy as polysentience mindware, but Arccos could easily use it to communicate by digital radio signal, and thus stay in contact from now on.

Truffles and Wasps>

"Um, is it safe, Miss?", the female ambassador nervously asked Arccos as the towering automaton leant downward to inspect the five I'ee. The wasp engineers seemed far from intimidated, squeaking and reaching out to touch Truffleclub's head like excited children eager to pet an animal. With a little squeak, the Ee'ith gave Truffleclub a timid wave, though she didn't look quite as eager to leave Arccos' side.

Gut-Stripe>

The armoured I'ee proved quite heavy for 8-ball to carry, her metal plate armour clanking as he ran down the burning, chaotic corridors of the palace. She was not entirely unconscious, letting out a low hiss, her rapier arm raising to make a lazy jab at 8-Ball's face.

Palace Med Wing
Ace grabbed various articles off of dead bodies to cover himself. "These guys don't need these anymore anyways. Hopefully you guys didn't pilfer the stuff from my locker on the ship."
After Ace was covered he turned to Errowyn. "Well lets go if I fall behind leave me means I'm probably dead no use dragging dead weight right."

Palace Courtyard (Thunderdome)

Corgan made sure Sammy had gotten to safety before running towards the main entrance behind Cyrus. The body of the prince hanging out the window floored him. He didn't quite make it to the entrance before the second wave of civilians charged in. A bullet hit him in the back, and although he had on body armor it hurt like hell. He dropped to his knees and cursed. "This fucking planet is pissing me off!" The half ID-SOL growled, climbing to his feet.

He turned to face the advancing crowd of people with the rest of the men. "Okay, you little shits! You tried to kill Uso, I don't care. You tried to kill Arccos and you pissed me off. You tried to kill the space wasps, you made me furious. Your biggest mistake? Killing that boy!" At this point, he didn't care if the enemies were women and children. They crossed the line and they had to pay. He charged towards the crowd with his shotgun aimed at the crowd.

"Come on, Ragnarok let's turn this mob back!" He called out as he opened fire on the crowd, targeting the leaders of the mob specifically. Men, women, children, he stopped caring. When he was out of ammo he slung his shotgun over his shoulder and started swinging. A teenage kid with a pitchfork charged him, trying to stab him in the chest. He caught the pitchfork in his right hand effortlessly and pulled it from the kid, spinning it around and jabbing the spikes into the boy's throat.

Corgan started having flashbacks to Nepleslian gang fights from when he was younger. This was a bar brawl in comparison. He wouldn't stop until everyone in his path was either unconscious, dead or retreating. Rational thought had left the building the moment adrenaline started pumping through his veins. His fight or flight instinct kicked in and he sure as hell wasn't going to flee.

Palace, fire wing >

Uso dropped her sub machine gun and picked up the pitchfork as Errowyn put the blanket over her. Uso would then pinch the blanket closed around her waist, and use a bit of blood to form a staple and keep it closed.... quickly tearing holes for her arms....

She looked longingly over at the people running away.... it seemed they had the advantage. It would be so much more fun to stay and kill the lot of them... but Errowyn was right. The only way for them to lose this fight was by getting overconfident. They had an exit in the form of the Queen's revenge and it would be stupid to stay and fight inside of the trap that the locals had setup.

Uso would let out a low groan, then toss the pitch fork at one of the looters, impaling him through the neck and letting the body fall to the ground as she picked up her datapad again,

“Alright everyone,” She said, using the all hands channel, “We're going to set the Queen's Slave down just outside the palace, crank up the shield, and get everyone out of here...

…. Oh, and who has Gut-Stripe?...” Uso was cut off as she watched 8-Ball run by, shotgun fire ripping through the hallway followed by actual flame style fire... “Nevermind....”

Uso would turn off the all hands channel, she didn't have time to respond to everything Errowyn said, tapping her shoulder twice and the pointing towards the exit before giving chase to 8-Ball

“GUT STRIPE DON'T STAB HIM HE'S ONE OF MINE!”

Palace:

Cyrus nodded back at Sammy as Wyvern 3 quickly escorted him out of the storm. After he killed the initial group the Ragna commanders all reported in. "Sir! Welcome to the show." Leon added as he moved to Cyrus's side.

Cyrus grimaced and nodded to Wyvern 2. "Go and support Beta, they need a heavy." He said as he continued walking, his hostile armor's eye showing a brilliant crimson. "Captain, what the hell is going on?" Cyrus asked

"Sir, the enemy attacked us as the storm began setting in. They used cannons, make shift shotguns, and some of our own weaponry. We have sustained several casualties. Mostly among Epsilon. They newbies were torn apart..." The Captain added somberly.

"Head in the game Captain, they haven't achieved permanent. I bet they are waking aboard the Iceberg now. Right now we have bigger fish to fry. Get Epsilon's commander on the horn and have them begin fighting this fire." He ordered, looking up. He stopped when he saw the young prince dead and hanging from the window. Cyrus was shock for several seconds, but that shock quickly was channeled into rage. He opened a Ragnarock wide channel.

"ALL RAGNAROK FORCES LISTEN UP!" He yelled into his comms. "These people have come in and slaughtered innocent civilians. They have killed our brothers and sisters. This is not only an act of war, but an act of murder. A crime which we all know the punishment for. Death. ENOUGH DICKING AROUND! MY ORDERS ARE TO SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!" He ordered, his voice rising with anger till he was screaming into his comm unit. He then charged into the mobs.

A rallying cry went up through the Ragnarock Soldiers. A call to war. All the soldiers NCO's began yelling. "We are Ragnarock!" To which the men replied. "We are the bringers of war!" They replied. A new energy surged through the troops. They now fought like veterans. Tearing through all enemy combatants standing in there way.

Cyrus found Corgan as he killed the kid with the pitch fork. The child's father charged at Corgan from behind and Cyrus gunned him down. Cyrus walked over and kicked the man with his boot, to make sure he had killed him. Once he was satisfied he turned to the ID-SOL. "Corgan, with me. We are taking the great hall. We will begin our push from there." He said as he began gunning down the next approaching mob, his heavy revolvers spitting out flames and delivering death.

Maybe I should go with you:

"Uso had nothing to do with the bad times. Don't worry about her... Be careful about the other one though." Arccos explained. She only faintly remembered that Errowyn was a thing, as she'd actually spent most of her time pretending that one didn't exist. They hadn't spoken, but Arccos avoided anything that stank of the Star Army...

Seeing the call to violence, and the reveal of a warcry that Arccos probably should have known about... The 'spacer helped up the more eager of the I'ee she'd rescued to Truffleclub, and held the one who seemed more reluctant to her chest. She could manage one better than all five.

"On second thought, I'll just lead the way. We should stick together from now on, Truffleclub." Arccos said over the din of battle up to the great mushroom. Whatever was brewing, she wasn't sure she wanted part of it. She didn't bring war, she was just meant to do the thing with the computers so others could do the war thing. And there was no computers on this planet to work with.

She did her best to just ignore Aries' presence in her own network for now. As long as the AI wasn't interfering it wouldn't be a bother.

"This way." Arccos waved for Truffleclub to follow, moving at a reasonable speed but pinging her location through the broken Junker so that the huge machine could follow. Holding the I'ee ambassador in one arm, and drawing her stun baton with the other, she dove through the crowd. Gunfire and debris bounding off her armor, as she simply responded with an electrical jab to stun anyone in arm's length.

Soon enough, Arccos burst in through a window in what passed as a medical wing... Truffleclub would probably have to make their own entry.

"I have five wasps, a giant friendly robot, an AI, a heart full of love, and a powerful need to not be here right now." Arccos announced herself to Uso's gathered group. Perfect deadpan, completely serious.

We Have Become:

With Ragnarok rallying to Cyrus and Corgan, along with the professional soldiers armed with specialised weaponry falling back the fighting starts to take on a far more grim tone. With the sudden push towards the great hall, there's a change in attitude of the mob. Focused attention in one direction, rather than simple aimless fighting showed that the people Ragnarok was pushing against were stuck between a rock and a hard place. And both of those things were shooting at them.

While the soldiers had fallen back, the anarchy and riots had started. And the soldiers who had left and fallen back were making sure that the rioters stayed inside. When Ragnarok breached the great hall: A pack of random rioters, arsonists and looters went in two directions at first. They either tried to rush the alien invaders, or they tried to leave through every window that could be broken out.

Neither of those attempts worked.

Those fighting the aliens with superior training, weapons and armor were cut down in large numbers. Those trying to flee found themselves burnt alive in the inferno, crushed by the collapsing palace, or leaping from windows into the bayonets of waiting soldiers who were keeping them inside by force.

A great press of bodies was pushed back to the rear of the great hall where some months prior the last King had taken his own life. Unable to flee, unable to fight back, Ragnarok swept from one end of the hall to another. Guns spitting round after round into a terrified throng. By the time the mercenaries had done as Cyrus had ordered them to do, the hall was littered with dozens if not hundreds of shattered bodies. The floors caked with a sticky red-brown layer of blood and sand. Old, young, man, woman. Dead.

The roar of a true riot fell quiet. Just whimpers of pain and the crackle of fire now. All cut into definitive moments by distant cannon cracks like the faint hammer of distant thunder, all washed out by the roar of the wind outside. This day the alien invaders had made themselves clear: Neither the naiveté of youth, beauty of body, majesty of lineage, or purity of purpose would do anything to stop them should your death be their whim.

The palace was retaken, but the remaining ferocity of the storm, and the soldiers outside made it near impossible to get the needed equipment to stop the fires set. A combination of those flames and the bombardment had made the entire palace start to shake and crack. And the putting down of the riot had left Ragnarok nearly depleted of ammunition.

The invaders would not be able to hide in here long. And without being resupplied from Uso's ship, they would not have the supplies to fight the soldiers outside.

Sand Pit -> Med Wing

The five tracked internal cameras of Truffleclub's forward visage all chose an individual wasp and contemplated it, evidently not really sure how to react, but bearing memories of something a little similar long in the past. That, or perhaps it was just another thing that they were supposed to look like they knew how to handle.

Couldn't understand the bug-friend's noises, through. Maybe worth asking for a language software package of some kind? Now probably not the best time.

Two I'ee engineers on the shoulders, one on the left hand, and one on top of their integrated cargo box on the left hip. Right hand was left free to grip their axe, but apparently the inertia engines were a no-go if they wanted to avoid harming their passengers. Lots of squeaking noises. Heavy streaks of gunfire erupting very close, that the automata did not want to identify the source of.

Following Arccos was not too hard despite all of the panic and chaos. The pointed end of a long harvesting scythe struck their left knee, evidently hoping to achieve some kind of hooking motion, but mild steel was never going to do much more than bend the heavy boron wire mesh beneath the massive robot's glossy orange exterior. Perhaps Truffleclub would have stopped and fought with them another time, but right now it was best to just ignore them and drag the zealous peasant off of his feet.

The large flat 'shield' of their head was too busy looking for the source of that gunfire, seamlessly spinning around 360 upon their neck joint. The source of actual threats to their exterior, and to their perched organic cargo, those were the priority.

A slightly more clustered mob, each with some kind of mining masks and pickaxes of various degrees of quality. One of them had a bolt-action rifle, apparently looted from a downed soldier, but was struggling to figure out how to fit a new round into the receiver.

Making a long and tremendously slow overhead arc, the rust-colored colossus planted their axe into the stone tiles at the group's center... Cleaving through the slabs themselves like dry crackers, but actually moving slow enough as to make the attack serve as more of a harsh warning than a real killing blow.

"YOU NO FRIEND. YOU NOT BEING HERE." Words, reverberating. The shock alone had been enough to knock two of them over, and the others just gave up and ran into the smoldering wing of the palace almost immediately. Who knows, with those masks, they might have even made their way through without dying somehow.

Back to following Arccos. The crowds seemed to be thinning out as less raggity men with better guns showed up, but Truffleclub wasn't about to stand around and find out who's side they were on. They looked like capitalists.

The giant didn't so much smash through the window behind the sheriff, as much as stick the right elbow outwards and wade through it, as if the collection of boulders that vaguely resembled a ship's wall was just a natural formation of planet-bits. At least they chose to go for the vague window area as well, missing the support beams.

Get wasps, follow Arccos, put them in hospital area. That was mission. Mission is done.

8-Ball's Shoulder>
Dazed as she was, Gut-Stripe still recognised the voice of Uso yelling at her. The combination of volume and its tone made the I'ee more receptive to the order, ceasing her struggles and instead clinging lazily onto 8-Ball.

Magic Mushroom Ride>

The four engineers; two from Ithit, two from Ithee, were delighted at their vantage points atop the towering automaton. Each clung snugly onto their designated place, observing the whirring servos and shifting joints in fascination, all the while holding an excited, squeaking dialogue with one another. The danger around them barely seemed to register, only jolted out of their conversation whenever Truffleclub had to ward off rowdy locals or, in this case, push through a wall via the window.

As for the Ee'ith ambassador, she seemed quite content at being snuggled against Arccos' chest, squeaking softly throughout the journey. "Thank you, Miss!", she called out gratefully as they arrived safely in the medical wing, hopping down onto her feet and giving her tall, lanky saviour a big hug.
The engineers were all chattering with delight at Truffleclub's own, thunderous entrance, hopping down to the floor and talking to one another rapidly; presumably already discussing the possibility of building their own giant, mushroom robot.

8-Ball was huffing, but not badly, as he sprinted with the up-armored I'ee on his shoulder. He was reliving his days behind enemy lines when he carried fallen Soldiers off the battlefield as they ran to the nearest casualty collection point. He didn't have power armor either and thanked the Creator that he got his gene mods before ever joining the navy.

The man's flashback was interrupted by a half-hearted attack from the apparently not unconscious I'ee slung over his shoulder. His head deftly dodge the attack as he proclaimed. "Whoa little lady!" His voice was slightly strained but not near to being winded. "You're alright, I'm getting you outta here."

That was when Uso came over the radio declaring that the Queen's Slave would be landing soon for all to board. It seemed like a good idea, considering the palace was on fire and there were who knows how many people killing each other at the moment. 8-Ball was about to say something over the radio when he heard Uso shouting, in person, 'Don't stab him!'. That caused the mercenary to take note of his 'damsel in distress' being inches away from slicing his juggler but stopping at the last second, thanks to Uso's order.

"Phew," 8-Ball sighed in relief as he stopped running and turned to the neko chasing him down. "Your most magnificent space empress!" He mused as he eyed her up and down. "Your fashion sense has taken an...interesting turn." He gently rolled the I'ee off of his shoulder into a cradled position in his arms. "Are you okay to stand on your own?" After waiting for the bug-girl's response, 8-Ball turned back to Uso. "Mind filling me in on what in the nine hells is going on here? And what can I do to help?"

:: Palace ::

Errowyn stepping out into the heavy dust laiden air and with winds and smoke billow around them. Once clear of the building, She shot two rocket flares up into the sky. Hoping that they would be able to clear the dying storm raging about them.

The rockets flares jetted up into the sky clearing the tops of the roiling sand and dust storm below before exploding into brilliant magnesium blue and the other red.

:: Queen's Slave ::

Daniel flew in a lazy circle in the calm air above the storm covered city. Spotting the first flare explode in blue. He smiled. Then frowned when the red flare burst into action. Pick-up in a hot LZ. he shook his head and sighed as he prepped the ship for the decent into a hot LZ. It wasn't the first time and knowing with his lot in life. It whont be the last.

:: Palace ::

Errowyn began counter-cannon battery operation. Locating the source of the cannons battery. Then the math to trace the ballistic back to the source. With the dust storm it would be near impossible, but possible. She watch the impact of of a cannon ball to see which way the main force of the spatter debris go. Then back track from there. Seeing that Uso and Ace were semi-secure for the moment. She jumped off into the storm, soon disappearing into dust to lay waste to cannons.

:: Queen's Slave -> Palace ::

Daniels came swooping in, usung the wind to help with the forward momentum as he dove back into the storm for the hot Landing Zone pick up at the palace. He adjusted the shields for the old fashion ballistic style of cannonball fire. He laughed and yodels as his hands flew across the controls between levers, dials, toggle switches and push buttons. He had Ivory take the co-pilot seat and to take up some of the slack.

The Queen's Slave hovered over the back garden area and settled down in gusting clouds of dust. Once clear, he dropped the ramp to the most lower back cargo hold to the Queen's Slave to allow people, I'ee, whom ever to get aboard.

Ivory flicked open the 'All Hands Frequency' and blasted over the airwaves that the Queen's Slave was ready for evacuation. Back garden near the infirmary. "Attention, Queen's Slave is in the rear of the palace, near the infirmary." She recorded the message as she gave it and then set it up to repeat a few times then pause and then repeat again.

:: Cannon Hunt ::

Errowyn moved with speed through the howling winds and dust through what was left the city. She was amazed at how these locals had used wagons to camouflage their cannons, ammo and powder. Soon she could hear their dull but sharp report when the cannons fired making it easy to zero in on them.

She loomed out of the dust and smashed into the first wagon/cannon crew, laying waste to it, then rendering it useless. Then burned the powder. Before moving on and disappearing into dust heading for the next cannon.

Fire, Palace wing>

The outside of the palace would start to clear, the Queen's Slave's shields overpowering the storm in the area and making a sandstorm-free path between the burning, gaping, hole in the palace, and the open loading bay in the back of the ship.

Arccos was here now... and Uso would flatly ask,

“When did we get a giant robot?”

Uso at least had a few moments to consider it. IT certainly looked spacer... then again it could be some sort of I'ee giant combining robot-thing consider just how many of the space-wasps were riding on it.

Uso would then turn on the all-hands channel, as well as just yelling at anyone nearby,

“ANYONE WITHOUT POWER ARMOR OR A SHIELD GET IN THE SHIP! THAT INCLUDES THE I'EE”

Uso would then continue at a more reasonable volume, mostly for 8-ball's sake.

“Locals sprung a trap, and are causing problems. First thing you do when you're in a trap is get out of the trap.... so we're leaving Cyrus and his locals to mop this up while everyone else gets to safety. Have them do the risky stuff, no need for the rest of us to stick around and see if the locals have something else planned.”



Palace Exterior>

The next cannon crew would barely get a chance to see Errowyn coming, the power armored woman landing infront of them... but before they could react, a large ball of monofiliment wire from the spacer ship came tumbling towards them... dragging heavy electronics behind it... the Filaments slicing one of the soldiers in half before slamming into Errowyn's armor... luckily they were not strong enough to cut her, but they did end up entangling her, getting swept along with the wind and dragging the power armored soldier with them as if she was caught in a net!

Hugs, hugs for everyone:

As everything sort of fell apart and everyone got to a reasonably safe place in the palace, Arccos dealt with things as they came. The I'ee ambassador was given a careful servo-assisted hug in return, she even nuzzled the faceplate of her armor's helmet against the bug's head. She really liked those I'ee, apparently. And then Uso declared that all those in armor would be staying... Ugh. Wonderful.

"We don't have a giant robot. The giant robot is Truffleclub." Arccos declared, following 'spacer logic that Truffle was a strong independent mushroom behemoth who shouldn't take guff from anyone. "Survivor of the White Lament. Doctor and engineer. I've been working with them to keep the junkers under control, and make sure the damaged reactors don't spew fallout over half the continent."

Moving quickly, Arccos darted into the ship's cargo bay. Nabbing a few things from her own corner where she kept her stuff, and momentarily jacking a cable into Corgan's armor that he'd left behind in the ship for their diplomatic jaunt earlier. Commands were input as Arccos removed the helmet from Corgan's suit, filled a nearby bag with some extra ammunition for the man, dumped the bag inside and sealed the helmet back in place. The suit unhooked itself from the rack as Arccos initiated tele-operations.

The suit ran off into the palace to deliver Corgan his stuff, as Arccos herself walked over to Uso and 8-ball.

"You can help mop up. You're our new pilot right?" The 'spacer addressed 8-ball, apparently having read his file "Cyrus' old Impulse is in the cargo bay, if you want to help on the ground. If not, try and park the ship between the Lament, and the city with full shields up. I don't think anything they have can breach the ship's shields. It'll block most of the dangerous debris flying around... And Uso?"

Arccos placed one hand gently on Uso's shoulder, her other hand raising the Empress' chin so the two could lock eyes through Arccos' visor. The Freespacer's eyes full of... Passion. Whether passionate hatred, or passionate affection was very hard to determine

"As I face mortal peril while you flee, please. Please take a shower. I can't help but notice you're wearing nearly nothing at all, and I am getting major sympathy pains from you, because... Oh my god, the sand. I... I just can't have that mental image in my mind and concentrate on doing stuff I gotta do."

Over in the great hall:

Corgan would find his suit of power armor sprinting through the shaky halls of the palace towards him. Coming to a halt, and skidding slightly in the blood and sand on the floors, it opens up to reveal fresh ammunition for him packed in a bag which should hold his other armor.