RP: The Fringe [Chapter 3.0] - Strangers in a Strange Land

Cargo Bay

Six Four turned its head just in time to see the bot change its course of direction, which made the doctor do some rapid calculating on its own. Six Four calculated that taking a pop shot at the charging robot would most likely end in disaster, either igniting what was in the cargo containers which could potentially lead to an explosion or worse case scenario it's weapon would get knocked to the side and incinerate the capitan and at least the arm of the astrogator.

Six Four wasn't a fighter, it knew that, was at best decent support in a combat situation. So going with it's primary directive it dropped the ignis and quickly grabbed Sienna's other leg with its other hand and pulled back moth all its might. As it strained underneath the additional gravity it wondered if the force from the bot hitting it would add any additional weight to its pull strength and started running the physics calculations in its head.

Ground Beneath the Ship

Each of Tam's shots struck their respective targets, although only most of them actually stopped them. Sparks flews amid crashing and sizzling sounds as several drones dropped to the ground, dead or temporarily crippled, but more were quickly closing the gap. Shrie was now standing in a circle no more than five feet in diameter that was mostly clear of operational drones, and the clearing was rapidly closing. One drone continued its advance as a bullet ricocheted harmlessly off of its surface, grappler arms spread wide, while the one climbing up her back dug its claws into her clothing and skin for grip.

From his awkward, downward-facing position atop the Fyunnen's shoulders, Oreza lashed out with his cyborg arm at the drone climbing his rescuer like a tree trunk, pummelling it again and again into its metallic body. The drone jerked with each impact, tubelike arms flailing like vipers as they tried to establish a hold on the mechanical fist to no avail. Finally, after a brutal barrage of blows, the drone took a punch in the glowing eye, and instantly its legs went limp, dropping free. Shrie now had a clear jump for the ramp, but she had less than a second to execute it before the nearest drone caught her, and if she missed, it was over.


Starboard Cargo Bay

Appearing to notice the flamethrower in Six Four's hand, and evidently aware of its function, the drone hesitated in its advance, and kicked up its front two legs in a threatening pose. The robot started to sidestep, circling around, assessing the situation for its optimal time to strike. Six Four determined through her quick calculations that she could not exert the proper force necessary to pull both Sienna and Amelia up in such gravity, particularly from her less than optimal position. The more pressing matter was disposing of the immediate threat, or getting the other two Nepleslians back aboard would be moot.

The captain, being used as something of a lifeline, was stretched even more taut as Six Four pulled harder on her leg, and Amelia could see her face starting to turn a little blue from lack of air. Equally concerning, or perhaps more so, was the fact that she could also feel Sienna's grip weakening. As the Freespacer pulled, the tendons in Sienna's neck bulged fiercely as she bared her teeth, wrenched her eyes shut, and poured what strength she had remaining into a single, mighty heave, flexing her biceps as hard as she could to drag the dangling astrogator up. It wasn't enough to get her over the edge, but it was just barely far enough to allow Amelia to grab hold of the deck with her own hands. It wouldn't get her inside, but it was far better than falling to her death, and hoping the fall killed her before the churning sea of drones below tore her apart.

Starboard Cargo Bay

The astrogator couldn't see what was going on inside the ship, but taking into account how bad things seemed to be outside, it was safe to hazard a guess that they were probably just as bad inside. Her heart pounded in her chest and she felt vertigo whenever looking down at the moving mass of metal, despite the relatively low height. Maybe it was more the fear of what would happen if she did fall. Biting her lip, she willed herself to calm down and think.

Taking advantage of the opportunity that the captain had just given to her, Amelia grabbed the edge of the cargo bay with one hand first with with a groan, gripping against the metal tightly. Her arms ached like someone was pouring liquid metal inside then, but still, she held on. Once her hold was firm enough with one hand, she grabbed with the other, giving Sienna a much needed break, and invariably putting herself in danger again.

Starboard Cargo Bay

The instant that Amelia grabbed the lip of the deck, Sienna rolled to the left, twisting her ankle around in Six Four's hand, and suddenly gasped for breath through her respirator as if someone who had just been trying to smother her had suddenly released their grip on her airway. Her vision blurry from partial asphyxiation, she blinked as she wheezed, trying to clear her head enough to assess her surroundings. She spotted the drone behind her, circling Six Four, who had its flamethrower in one hand trained on it, her ankle in the other.

Swinging her left arm over Amelia's head, she coughed and even as she desperately tried to breathe enough to keep up with her burning lungs, hooked her fingers around a suitable indention in the back of her suit. At the moment, she was unable to provide any real assistance to get her aboard, and it wasn't quite clear just how much assistance she was actually providing in keeping her in place, but the reassuring stability it provided was there, even if it was possibly just psychological. With her right hand, she snatched the pistol from her thigh holster again, and twisted her arm around behind her at the drone, taking several half-blind shots behind her back at the spider-like drone.

Now faced with two threats, the robot skittered erratically backwards in a zig-zag, alternating its "eye" between Sienna and Six Four. Many of the captain's shots bounced off the deck and crates, marked by sparks and leaving pockmarks and scrapes along the metal, but one or two of them struck the drone in glancing impacts, staggering it even more.

The doorway the other two drones were attempting to cut through suddenly whisked open, revealing Tam. Each drone simultaneously shut off their cutting lasers, their job more than halfway completed, and reactively twitched their "eyes" towards but completely surprised by the sudden appearance of the Gartagen, who now had the initiative.

Tam ripped his Gael'Kash free of its sheathe and slashed the blade at each drone before taking off at a sprint towards the woman dangling from the airlock into open air and seemingly held to the ship by nothing but her fingertips.

Starboard Cargo Bay

With two swift, masterful strokes, Tam's sword arced through each of the drones in a whirling figure-eight pattern almost too quick to see if one blinked as if the hulking metal spiders were nothing more than cotton candy. The one on his right was sliced almost cleanly in half, bisected down the middle except for a less than one-inch thick plate of metal that held the two sections together astride a shower of sparks and scattering servos, gears, and microprocessors. It fell to the deck limp, and didn't so much as twitch again. The other had an entire row of its legs severed at the base, and it heavily crashed to the deck with a loud clatter.

Sprinting across the cargo bay, the Gartagen vaulted over a row of crates without dampening his momentum, and landed on both feet just next to Sienna, outside of her firing arc. Wasting no time, he reached down with his left arm, sword still clasped firmly in his right, and grabbed Amelia by the back of her suit, hoisting her effortlessly up and onto the deck.

(Tam autoed with permission from Centurion)

Starboard Cargo Bay

Amelia rolled further into the cargo bay with the last drop of strength that she could muster, but after the effort she just instantly curled up into a ball, her arms crossed in front of her belly as she breathed heavily. It seemed to her that her body had decided to come back at her with all the pain it could muster in punishment for the strain. The feeling was so intense that all she could do was groan as she panted on the floor. The astrogator also noticed that the ship wasn't taking off, and wanted to ask why, but when she tried to do so the only sound that left her lips was a barely audible gasp.

Ground beneath the ship

Shrie gruffed as she felt her body disagreeing with all the effort she was putting it through. Heavy man on her back, gravity, movement and the drones. Shrie tried to ignore it though. She saw the opening and rushed through, hoping to get up onto the ramp. She grabbed Oreza tightly and used her strenght to swing him up onto the ramp, jumping right after him to grab and get them both into the ship. Get off the ground, that was what was important after all.

Cargo Bay

With Sienna and Amelia for the most part on board, Six Four quickly switched back to its combat mode as it trained its sites on the drone that was skittering around its 'person'. With the wary and erratic movement the freespacer had a hard time judging on where to aim, though granted accuracy wasn't the most important thing with the plasma spreader but what it got near was. Taking a chance Six Four leveled its weapon at the robot and tapped the trigger on the whining weapon and shot a quick burst of flame at the intruding robot.

Beneath the Ship

With a heave, Shrie tossed Oreza like a rag doll, much to the first mate's surprise. The big man flailed awkwardly as he flew threw the air in a short arc upward before dropping quickly like a rock, his torso slamming on the edge of the lowered ramp, both of his legs dangling off. After an initial pained grunt, he slid back a few inches before, scrambling frantically to get a grip on something, and before he tumbled back into the churning sea of drones managed to lock the tips of his mechanical fingers into the joint between two decking plates, stopping his fall. Shrie sprang up just as he did, alighting on the ramp just next to him, but with the limited surface area available, came astonishingly close to stumbling off and falling back into the fray. Catching herself on the hydraulic cylinder, she regained her balance, Oreza clawing at the surface and pulling himself back up, but from the red-faced grimace he wore, his broken leg was making the task exceedingly difficult.


Starboard Cargo Bay

Sienna's gun started to click repeatedly as she emptied the second magazine, just when Six Four released her ankle. Her leg dropped to the deck, and still in a wheezing fit, the captain ejected the empty magazine with her one hand and fumbled around on her belt for her last one with the other, simultaneously struggled to roll over and sit up.

The quick burst of fire erupted, the radiant heat blasting Sienna's skin uncomfortably, and the smell of singed hair hit everyone's nostrils as the fine hairs on her arms and neck curled up. The scampering drone caught the flames full in it's "face," and emitted a high-pitched squeal as it clamored to get away. Nearby crates caught fire as the plasma hit them, their edges and corners smoldering at first in glowing embers, then slowly growing into little dancing tongues of fire that threatened to spread.

Meanwhile, the drone that Tam had cut the legs from jittered and convulsed, then seemed to refocus its efforts and began to laboriously drag itself through the open hatch out of the cargo bay and into the main corridor, orienting itself towards the stern.

Tam saw the drone trying to make a break for it and popped the cylinder out of his revolver and replaced it with a fresh one that was on his armor, snapping it into place and taking an akimbo stance he fired a pair of gauss rounds at the drone. "I'll make sure none of them get into anything vital. I think you three should check and see if your first mate and that giant chick made it back onboard." Tam said as he headed towards the stern of the ship like the drone had been.

The ramp

Shrie reached out and grabbed the cylinder, regaining her balance. She then reached down and grabbed Oreza by his belt and began dragging him up, struggling to get both herself and first officer to safety. The last few minutes of course opened up her stitches again and she felt wetness of blood under her bodysuit. It probably was not too much, but it still was no good. The woman paid no mind to it though, the safety of the first officer came first. She had to get up the ramp and close it off.

Struggling even more, inching up the ramp with the heavy man in her hand she reached the top of the ramp and hit the button. With a hiss, the hydraulic piston started closing the entrance. Shrie let go of Oreza and fell to the ground next to him.

Shrie reached up and pressed the intercom button. "Ramp closed," she said, breathing heavily between the words. Normally, it would not be such a trouble, getting the man inside, but between her wound and higher gravity, this proven to be nasty experience. "Oreza, safe."

Main Corridor - Just inside Loading Ramp

Oreza howled in pain as he was dragged over the edge of the ramp and inside, and there was the faint hint of an audible cracking sound as his fractured knee was broken further by the strain. Teardrops squeezed out of the corners of his wrenched-closed eyes and spittle dribbled from his clenched teeth, but as excruciating as the experience was, he bore through it the best he could.

Shrie's words echoed through the ship as she pushed the intercom's general call button, broadcasting the update to everyone listening.


Main Corridor - A few feet away, outside the Starboard Cargo Bay

Tam bolted out of the hatch, tearing off after the limping, single-minded drone. The robot didn't have the chance to get far, dragging itself along with only half of its legs, and by appearances seemed to recognize that it couldn't outrun the Gartagen. No sooner than Tam rounded the corner, the drone had turned itself around, leaning to the side like some kind of deformed, melting monstrosity, and lashed out violently at him with its forward arms, missing him by inches.


Starboard Cargo Bay

Sienna managed to climb to her feet, dirty, sweating, and visibly exhausted as Shrie's announcement boomed within the metallic bulkheads. Finally managing to clap her last magazine into her pistol and with shaking hands, she brought it up to bear on the scorched and still-staggering spider-bot inside the bay. She was about to fire when the thing lurched to the side and jinked backwards, scuttling to hide inside the crates. Swearing under her breath, she dragged her right eye against her shoulder to wipe away the sweat, and took an unstable, cautious step to the side, trying to spot the intruder again. "Crash...!" she gasped, her voice still raspy and broken. "Crater those bastards and get us the frak outta here!"

~~Computer Core~~

Setting the weapons to continuous fire, and then letting them strafe back and forth, Crash sent the commands for the rear hatches and the loading ramp to seal. Once they started closing It brought the main engines up to full power, but paused for a moment letting a feed back power surge build up. The whole of the ship started to rumble and vibrate with in those few seconds, before It let loose the star like power out the engines exhausts.


The ship jumped forward with the added thrust, leaving in it's wake a large plasma burst that would melt any metal about,and leave a giant glass disk as a permanent reminder the Veil was here once. As the ship climbed Crash stretched out a bit more now, controlling the flight and now feeding more of Itself to the weapons started attempting to pinpoint fire on the few spider-drones that were on the hull, even as they started past the many Mach compression waves.


He had to down tune the power of the weapons so that if It did miss it wouldn't punch through the hull, killing everyone aboard. So Crash aimed and fired, aimed and fired. Each time It felt itself stretch and bind up. The computer core chambers started smelling of burnt wires and overheated plastic cases. Much longer Crash was going to over heat. A small, oh so very small, text file small, portion of It's processor made a note that if It survived this, It was going to rig up a liquid cooling system to be used when attached to the ship.


With the first couple of shots raking dangerously close to the hull screamed out of the turrets, five drones were caught off guard and blasted to pieces, leaving only scraps of metal pinned underneath the ship by the rivets their previous owners had fired. In a quarter of a second, the remaining drones realized what was happening, and with a quick rotation of their bodies, their legs folded flat against the hull, and the drones appeared to hug even tighter downwards. Another volley managed to clip another two, and the first exploded in a spectacular fireball, leaving a comet trail of rubble in the ship's wake. The other received a glancing blow with just enough force to break it free of its mounting, sending it tumbling away and caught by the friction of the passing air ripping it away as if it were attached to a parachute. After that, however, the remaining ones managed to squash themselves down flat enough to dip just below the weapons' firing arcs. There was one near the bow that could still possibly be hit, but landing a shot at that angle ran a significant risk of damaging the hull to the point of rendering the ship unable to leave the atmosphere. Crash could detect six in total on the hull still remaining.


The ship was leveling out into a stable exit path. it would take them to a high orbit, that if nobody touched anything, would hold them in the void for at least a week. Crash opened the intercom again and spoke in a fake digital voice. "Would the Captain and the Astrogator Please come to the cockpit, situation is developing needed your attentions. I repeat..." Crash repeated the message two more times. Even as It spoke, Crash was still swinging the turrets around to threaten the drones on the exterior of the hull.

The new spiderbot's chassis started beeping along with three warning lights light up, flashing up the spectrum to a dark, scary red. Crash knew what they meant, and started quickly to make sure the crew will continue on. First it put up a volumetric screen in the cockpit with the locations of the remaining drones, then on a second screen, a flight path the ship was on, was drawn out. finally it sent a message to both Amelia's and Sienna's communicators.

The last thing Crash did under its own accord was to disengage from the ship's wire harness, take three steps along one of the bedding web's lines, before the last loud beep sounded and a feminine voice chimed up, "Over heat imminent, powering down..."

With that, Crash's grip on the bedding web and he slammed to the deck with a thud that would easily echo though the main parts of the ship.

Main Corridor - Ventral Loading Ramp

Breathe in, breathe out. Control the body, suppress the pain, suppress the fatigue. Shrie felt the ship starting to move, she grabbed a handrail and pulled herself up to her feet. Breathe in, breathe out. The tall woman looked down on Oreza.

"Sir, you okay?" The woman asked a stupid question. She realised it and looked at his leg, but waited for his reply.

Oreza chomped down on his teeth harder as he struggled to prop himself against the wall, steadying himself as the ship started to rock and buffet, blasting through the thick atmosphere outside. He managed a pained nod to Shrie, and waved her ahead with his mechanical hand. "Fine, I'm fine," he snapped. "Just go. Don't worry about me."

"I am sorry," Shrie replied. "Your leg. My mistake, made it worse."

The first mate's eyes opened, a look of dire urgency on his bearded face. "No time for apologies!" he barked. "Go! Help the others! I'll tend to my leg once we're safe!"

"Sorry," Shrie replied again with a panicked look in her eyes. The fyunnen was about to go, but then she turned back, her eyes set on Oreza's holster. "You gun. Can I borrow it?"

The ship lurched with a roll to one side, tossing the pair into the bulkhead momentarily, and once he steadied himself, Oreza snatched the pistol from his holster and spun it handle-first, shoving it at the Lorath with another wince, and without question.

Shrie did not bother answering, she grabbed the weapon and turned to leave. On the go, she checked the weapons chamber and put the safety. Zen Arms .45. She knew the weapon, it was favourite of nepleslian bandits and pirates. Eight round, it would have to do. Shrie was glad, she did not have to shoot on anything living. Shooting a robot though? That was no problem for her.

Starboard Cargo Bay

The hot jet of plasma was enough to sput Amelia on. Although she couldn't feel it due to her suit's insulation, she could see the effects from it on the room and how a thin trail of smoke drifted away from the surface of her suit. Rolling onto all fours and then slowly getting up, she heard the ship's intercom through her helmet, feeling better than before but still moving sluggishly. That respite only lasted a couple more seconds, until the text message started to roll down on the HUD of her helmet; her eyes widened with surprise upon seeing it, and tensed before moving faster.

Once again, the astrogator started to move, pumping one leg after another as she tried to run in the double gravity to reach the cockpit. She eventually left the cargo bay, moving past the Gartagen and the drone that he was currently engaged in, giving them both the widest berth that the corridor allowed.

Tam grabbed his sword once more and slashed at the bot, he didn't want to have a gauss drive round bouncing around the corridor as the woman in the environment suit went running past him.

Starboard Cargo Bay

The chillingly emotionless summons to the cockpit reverberating through the quaking cargo bay, Sienna reached out to catch herself against one of the smoldering crates as she was tossed the other way by the ship's erratic motions. Her head smashed against the one next to it, eliciting a startled, pained grunt of surprise as her vision went blurry again, but she refused to let it hurt. She didn't have time to be hurt. Blinking hard a few times, she pointed in the general direction where the drone had slipped between the crates to hide. "Find where that thing went," she shouted over the noise to Six Four. "Flush it out and kill it, then get these goddamn fires out before they spread!" With that, she staggered off on Amelia's heels in the best hobbled sprint she could muster out of herself in her strung-out condition.


Main Corridor - Outside the Starboard Cargo Bay

Sienna burst out of the cargo bay just behind where Tam was attacking the fleeing drone, right as Shrie came lumbering up. "Fire in the cargo bay!" she shouted. "Another drone, too! One'a y'all get in there and help Six Four deal with it!" The captain didn't wait for a reply, just bowled past the Lorath, heading for the cockpit as fast as she could manage.

Tam's sword slashed downwards just as the crippled robot jerked again, and the sword whiffed past it, missing it by the breadth of a hair as it clanked hard into the metal decking. As the sword landed, one of the drone's tube-arms whipped out after it, wrapping firmly around where the handle and the blade met, and squeezing with superhuman force, holding it fast in place. Another whirring sound came from beneath the robot as it hefted itself up by the sword, and a bright red flash filled the corridor. A deadly-looking crimson cutting beam blasted out from underneath its dome, sending sparks and tiny globules of molten decking flying every which way as it struggled awkwardly to point the beam at its assailant.


Cockpit

Amelia entered first, finding the cockpit awash in warning lights and flashing symbols, the scene made that much more harrowing by the fact that the flight control couches ahead of her were conspicuously empty. Alarms were blaring from every direction, and just outside the canopy glass thick clouds were blasting past at astonishing speeds as the ship rocketed through the atmosphere, buffeting the ship. Sienna stumbled in just behind her, grabbing a fistful of the back of the astrogator's suit and very nearly shoving her forward into her seat. "Get up there," she insisted urgently, pushing forward to the pilot's couch. "I ain't gonna die today."

Main Corridor - Outside the Starboard Cargo Bay

Tam smiled slightly and swung his other arm down to point the barrel of his gauss revolver directly at the top surface of the drone. He'd slowly and carefully pull the trigger back, intending to fire one round which would hopefully destroy the drone and not ricochet around.

Cockpit

Amelia spared a moment to glare venomously at Sienna from behind the helmet's visor once she was pushed. She slowly exhaled from inside the pressurized helmet and, with all the calmness in the world, buckled up and waited as her station started to boot up, the holographic display suddenly coming to life in front of her. What the sensors and displays told and showed her did not brighten her day in the least; there were still people inside the cargo bay despite the situation. The fire would've been easily dealt with by simply venting the atmosphere from the room once they left the atmosphere, but she couldn't do that with people still inside the room. Making that assessment only took her a fraction of a second.

The astrogator worked quickly on her station, brushing the volumetric display of the cargo bay away and bringing up others from other areas of the ship. Slowly but surely, she felt her attention growing more and more narrow at the displays in front of her as she focused on the task, this was something she knew and loved to do, and the very thought of that already calmed the astrogator and gave her focus, breath and heartbeat slowing. Hands moved quickly from one display to another as Amelia shut down some of the sound alarms that were blaring and rerouted the power from the non-essential systems. "Rerouting power to engines and shields, closing all airlocks" she said matter-of-factly, watching the screens.