RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 2] Little Problems

[TBonDc]

Ah, but to do that Ozz, we'd 'ave to catch up with the fucker.

His mind raced. They did need to catch up. They needed to stop it and, to top it off, they needed to do it without looking like idiots....in a shortening amount of time. Dammit Ozz....there's a way...just think....failure here is not an option. Suddenly, an idea came, albeit a fledgling of an idea came to him.

Good point. But again, maybe we don't have to catch up, but rather head it off. Do we have any maps of things down here? Perhaps we can find a good spot to stage this. We make our way there. Then get Tweak and perhaps Flower ...somehow....to wrangle that beast towards our location. Yes, its far-fetched...but with Elites coming...we're running out of options here.

His mind race

 

[Della]

Dream pondered. "You're not of much help." She said to Popjoy, very straightforwardly. "You're the only one here who might know of a way to knock it out, and you're practically telling us that you have no idea."
But Dream had one, apparently. Or was improvising something in her mind.
"How strong is its carapace? Does it have any weak or unprotected points? Is its nervous system radically different from that of other living creatures, or can we assume it's vulnerable to the same stuff Nepleslians and Freespacers might be vulnerable to, more or less? And, most importantly... how do we calm down that thing?"

 News flash, boys and girls. The thing has a chitinous carapace, a thick one. It's basically a tank, so you can put away your weapons, unless Nep sidearms have really, really awesome AP capabilities. Which I assume they don't, since we didn't even scratch it.

On the plus side it's herbivorous, so it probably won't eat you.

It was impossible to tell if she was serious or trying to make some desperate attempt at humor.

Keep on following it, I'll keep track of the situation. Just... follow it, don't CHASE it. Don't make it feel threatened or anything that might trigger a flight-or-fight reaction. We want it to calm down, first and foremost. Tweak, stay on that thing, I'll track you and relay your position to the rest of the squad. It probably has no sense of touch through that carapace of his, but if you feel like you're scaring or unsettling him, then you'd probably best drop down and follow him by foot. You should be able to do it.

She glanced sideways, at Serra. "Serra, go to the pneumatic wachamacallit system and bring here... something useful. Stun grenades or whatever the Neps use to bring down people without vaporizing them. piercing rounds, in case things turn bad."

She stopped for a moment thinking. "Can you try and bring here one of those rifles with special syringe-like ammo that can deliver injection chemicals? I've read an article about them once. If we have some on the station, then try and bring in the most high-powered, badass, awesome... well, you got the picture."

I'm calling for additional equipment. Send here below the entry point the fastest runner apart from Tweak, the rest of you... you know what to do. Any requests?"

 

[Liam]

So what exactly were they supposed to do to a living, walking tank? Considering the Shambler's size, its carapace had to be thick to support that much weight. Several inches at least. What could they do to it? Unless electricity worked, or they could trip it, or something.

They were falling behind the Shambler. Slowly, but surely. Tweak's signature on her HUD was counting up the distance, and it didn't help that they were slogging through the whole of the station's shit.

She was so happy for the seals on her suit.

Unconsciously, she was listening to Dream rattle off the tactical information, her mind quickly sorting it. Objective: Calm down the living, breathing, walking, crushing tank. How? Damned if I know.

And fastest? Keziah quickly looked around her at the other marines. Ozz was huge compared to all the rest of them. He might be quick--all that muscle had to wind up around his legs eventually. Cyril looked the least likely to be quick, especially with his missing arm potentially throwing off his balance.

"I don't know who's quicker," Keziah said through the comm, "we haven't exactly had a race yet. But I know I'm fast."

 

[Kevyn]

"So, wha? We supposed to sing it to sleep?" Muttered under his breath, hopping up onto a relatively level length of catwalk. Hell, that might be a good idea for all he knew. Music sooths the savage beast and all that, though it only seemed to piss of his drill instructor.

Cyril shoot his head again, and added his confirmation to Keziah's unspoken assessment. "I'm slower'n fuck in grav."

 

[Cody]

James listened as Dream listed off their objectives and described the Shambler. His mind was racing fast. It wasn't really a matter of getting physical with the beast, it was more of beating it with knowledge. There was obviously no way of hammering it with regular ammunition without killing, so new ways to bring it down must be found.

While James followed Cyril and the others down the pipe, he struck another idea. He spoke over the radio so dream and the others could hear.

I have another idea. Don't role your eyes before you hear it Serra, I know you will. We need to find out how it sense it's surroundings and get something to overload it brain. If it uses eyes like us, then we need white phosphorous flashbangs; if it uses sound we can use scalar grenades etc... Tranquilizers won't work because that thing has a fuckin' 6 inch exoskeleton.

 

[Liam]

"Unless we get a big enough needle," Keziah said, grinning. "But that'll only disorient it, we'll still need to capture it, somehow. Especially if we're not gonna just leave it in the pipes. I don't know about you, but I've never heard of anyone fainting from a big flash in front of them."

Well, she was right about Cyril at least. It made sense if he had spent a lot of time in shipyards that under gravity he'd be slow. Because of her arm, she hadn't felt the need to do any real strength training--not that she was weak, just not as strong as she could be--and she figured all that time spent on the track might finally be coming to use.

The suit's weight was pretty well distributed. She shrugged her shoulders against it, started taking bigger, deeper strides, testing it. It'd move pretty well if she had to run really, really fast. Now I wish I had gotten those new muscles in my legs. Would make this a breeze.

 

[TBonDc]

Ozz chuckled over comm as he ran, "Hey, I'm pretty quick and I can carry a load, but I'm all natural. If you ask me, I say you're our best bet."

Ultimately, he knew he was slower. He might be able to run a bit faster due to muscle, but in the end, he had limits, very unenhanced limits. Even now, he could feel the fatigue build in his muscles and the wind leave his lungs.

With a slightly deeper breath he finshed, "You go this time, when we're done here and Dream gets me that drink, we'll race to know who's faster for sure!"

 

[MissingNo]

Every suggestion set off cross-referencing in Tweak's mind, trying to match the object of the suggestion with what she could do from where she was. The idea of tripping the Shambler up seemed the most immediately possible, and set off a series of ideas in Tweak's head.

The normal hemosynth tentacles were no good; hemosynth blood quickly lost its ability to hold together the further away it got from her body, topping out around three feet before it became useless for anything but holding her onto something. However, she could create other objects via hemosynthing that had better tensile strength...

Rope? No, normal fibers would be too weak. Line? Mmm...closer. Nylon line or ropes were stronger than normal rope, but still a bit weak, not to mention light enough to make them tricky to control. Then Tweak noticed an option that was labeled as being specific to her.

Hemosynthed metallics.

(Or maybe there were others with that ability? She wasn't sure, but that wasn't the time to think about it.)

Still holding on to the Shambler's leg, the 'spacer neko closed her eyes and ran through her plan briefly before putting it into action. It might not work, but it shouldn't make the situation much worse if I fail, she thought.

"I have an idea. Request permission to try to trip it."

 

[Della]

Dream's answer came almost immediately.

And what when he gets up? You trip him again?... well, nevermind. I'm not down there, so you might have a better grasp of the situation than I do. Do whatever you think might work. Plan B is Keziah: we're calling for additional equipment. Come here, we'll throw it down to you. You'll need it if Tweak's plan doesn't work.

She turned to Serra. "Serra, bring here stuff."

 

[Cora]

Serra was at the Inter-tubes system, trying her damnest to order a couple of stun grenades or that tranquilizer gun Dream wanted, but the ordering menu was filled with utterly inane and useless garbage that wasn't even remotely useful.

"I can't find either thing on this, Dream." She said with an annoyed grumble and a solid punch to the control panel.

Kess stepped forward and gave the two a furrowed brow. "That's because we aren't allowed anything beyond our normal equipment. Finding a flashbang or stun grenade just by chance isn't going to happen." Mimi nodded in agreement to Kess and her explanation. "Miss Cassefin requires all advanced equipment approved by herself before use."

"You shouldn't need one!" Purina interrupted, her face growing into an excited smile. "You all have a very good idea! This specimen is known as the Muck Shamble because of its awkward gait movement patterns. Even for a quadruped, the positioning of the joints in context to the body cause its footwork to be somewhat unsteady," she explained quickly, her expression brightening with each passing moment. "It is very difficult for the Shambler to return itself into an upright position when knocked over on its side!"

 

[TBonDc]

After hearing Purina's words over comm, Ozz began to really understand his original idea. It was awkward and big. Tripping it up, would be the best idea. He just didn't like Tweak going at it alone. Any risk of life without backup worried him.

"Tweak -- give a heads up when you're about to act. We're double timing it to your location, please be careful. Seems like we have a plan folks, and not a second too soon. "

Then to those in earshot, "Seems like we have to pick up the pace, lets go!"

With that, Ozz dug deep and quickened his pace to his maxium attempting to get to Tweak as soon as possible.

 

[Della]

Dream glared angrily at Popjoy's screen. "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID SO EARLIER!!" She growled.

What the heck? Were the leaders of this station all paragons of inefficiency such as Cassefin Montreal and Purina Popjoy?

Also, what was the point of the damned intertube wachamacallit system if the only one who could use it was Real?

"I hate hierarchical systems." She muttered.

So apparently the thing is fast but too heavy to stand back up. Tweak, try and trip the thing to the side. Rest of the squad, do like Ozz said. If you can keep it down enough for Flower to arrive, then we're done: the droid's strong enough to help you keep the thing pinned down for good, even to help haul it back out.

 

[MissingNo]

Acknowledged. Preparing now, and I'll give a signal when I'm ready.

Two pointed shapes pressed against her suit just over the shoulder blades, then neatly sliced through to reveal her shoulder hemosynth ports. The blood-formed tentacles quickly darted toward Tweak's outstretched hand, weaving themselves together into an half-inch-thick cord. As the cord grew longer, the tentacles receded a little, revealing a steel cable forming inside the blood.

Tweak kept her eyes closed. The process was quickly becoming draining...maybe this wasn't such a good idea? But she continued. The cable grew to about ten feet, fifteen, finally reaching twenty feet in length, making a neatly-done coil in her hand. "That should do it," she whispered to herself, and formed a steel cuff that she hoped was large enough to clamp snugly onto the Shambler's leg at the end of the cable and the same cuff at the start of it.

Alright, I'm going to try getting a line around its front leg and its back leg. It should fall forward, and from there I can hobble it further. Starting now.

The 'spacer neko slid to one side, keeping a grip on the limb she was riding on. Once she was underneath it, Tweak's shoulder tentacles took one end of the line and prepared to cast it once she got the timing of the creature's gait down.

The cuff flew toward one of the Shambler's legs, the front one that was on the same side as Tweak, with the line aimed to capture it when the leg was closest to her and attach the cuff around the lower third of the last section, above where the leg met the ground.

Once the first cuff connected and was firmly attached (however many tries that took), Tweak was going to lower herself a little, hang from her perch by her tentacles, and aim the second cuff at the rear leg opposite her. She had measured the distance between the legs and figured how long the line needed to be to reach both, while at the same time making it short enough to hobble the creature when it tried to walk. Once the Shambler was sufficiently slowed, she would drop to the ground and tighten the line manually until the creature couldn't walk at all.

 

[Liam]

No running.

At least back towards the Armory. Tweak was going to take care of the Shambler all by herself. A bit of jealousy weaved into Keziah's mood, but she stamped it out as she started half-running, half-leaping, through the sludge and the ruined catwalks. Her balance was good, so she wasn't likely to fall as she tramped down the pipes towards the 'Spacer.

"Don't want her to have all the fun!" she said, suppressing an ecstatic laugh. It felt like there was no danger at all--they were only racing to Tweak, in Keziah's mind, to watch.

But... where did she get a line strong enough to trip the Shambler?

 

[MoonMan]

Purina looked a little miffed at Dream's outburst. After all, Purina was trying to be as much help as she could in her flustered state. "W-w-what does my position on this station have to do with anything?! That has nothing to do with this!"

Mimi interjected, however, on both of their behalves. "Miss Dream, you must not upset Miss Popjoy any further! We must focus on our task, before more people are hurt."

---

Down below, the pipeline before Tweak and the Shambler turned into an abrupt corner, which lead immediately into a closed-off section of the pipeway, labeled with yellow-and-black striped bars exclaiming immediate danger above a mass of machinery on the lower sections of the wall. The Shambler, of course, did not understand the meaning of the warning colors...but did understand the concept of a wall.

The Muck Shambler immediately began to slow down, skidding harshly against the moist bottom of the pipe as it attempted to turn around. It came to a standstill for but a moment, before bursting back the way it came...towards the approaching security members.

 

[Della]

Meanwhile, Flower was stomping heavily his way towards Tweak's position. It was built for versatility, resilience and strength, not for speed or maneuverability... especially not in gravity.

Damn! Did the Shambler just turn around? Tweak, try and slow it down! Rest of the squad, stand your ground and reorganize: the thing's coming your way. When it does, rejoin with Tweak and try to stop it. Flower will be with you and try to overpower it. If things get ugly, he can try and pin it to the ground with his rivets. They'd cause very minor wounds to such a big thing, but what the heck, we use those things to nail additional armor shards on starships, I've yet to see something deflect a point-blank round from a Junker's bolt driver. (short pause) I hope there'll be no need to, however. I'd hate to piss off the thing even more.

Meanwhile, in real space...

Dream totally ignored Popjoy's whining. "It's harder to trip than we expected." she muttered. "We must find a way to knock it out for good."

 

[Anonymous]

The first cuff attached after two attempts, and Tweak was able to attach the second cuff on the first attempt since by now she was used to the movement of the Shambler.

You might want to keep what you are a secret. Not many people like your kind.

That particular note, from a journal page she had skimmed earlier, suddenly stuck out. And, somehow (pre-programmed knowledge) she knew that no one else had tentacles that were made of their blood.

Hm. She'd deal with that when the Shambler was down. Speaking of that...

The second cuff connected and the cable snapped taut, keeping the two legs from moving any further away from each other (something normally necessary for walking) and at least slowing the creature down, if it didn't stop it completely. Tweak dropped down from where she was, her tentacles dissolving back into the hemosynth ports and repairing the slits in her uniform as they retracted. She dashed forward and grabbed the cable just in front of the rear leg, then gave it a sharp pull that would try to yank the Shambler's front leg out from under it. Meanwhile, she twisted the cable, shortening the length between the two legs and drawing them closer together in preparation for a wrapping it around the rear leg in a makeshift-hogtie once it was down completely.

 

[MoonMan]

Tweak underestimated the strength of the Muck Shambler in its rushed frenzy. The woven line only held for but a moment, jerking slightly and growing taut, causing the creature to shiver with surprise before snapping soundly and harshly. The sudden tension of the line jerked Tweak in its direction, and depending on how good her grip was, put her in a good position to be thrown to the side along with the rest of the makeshift cables.

 

[TBonDc]

Tweak, report in...progress?

It was a bit of time since Tweak said she was going to act. The was a huge monster and Tweak was...well.... Ozz realized he didn't know a lot about Tweak at this moment other than she always seem to be able to assess things quickly and act quicker. Regardless, now wasn't the time to ponder the world of intersquad friendships. It was the time to wonder where she was.

While he pondered, he had a deep sick feeling inside that something wasn't right. Something either went wrong or they were in trouble....or both. He learned a long time ago instincts was a great tool that shouldn't be ignored.

Tweak...do you copy? Tweak....whats going on? Give an update, we are heading to your last position. Tweak...come in!

With barely a pause to wait to hear if Tweak came in, Ozz got on the comm again.

Ma'am, can we get an update on Tweak and the Shambler's location?

 

[MissingNo]

The cable that she had been looping loosely in her hand snapped tight as the Shambler tried to continue walking. Line tension escalated, quickly removing the slack Tweak had tried to create. Tweak felt the cable begin to lose cohesion as weak points appeared throughout it, but what finally gave was was where the cable connected to the rear cuff (those points being the weakest areas on the woven steel line).

Added to that, without something to anchor her, Tweak was a ninety-one-pound weight connected to a creature that could bust through three-foot walls of crusted sludge and crumple metal walkways like a child destroying a paper chain, making her amount to little more than a dust bunny. Being able to lift tons did the neko no good when she couldn't find something to brace against, and she found herself yanked off her feet and flung through the air. She somehow managed to snag a handhold on the front leg as she passed under it, and scrambled around until she was seated on it. The cuffs were still on the creature's legs, but right now only the front one had a line connected to it, with the severed end still in Tweak's hand.

As if failing as spectacularly as that wasn't enough, Ozz's voice called over the radio. That itself wasn't anything bad. What quickly became annoying was his repeated attempts to get her attention without allowing her time to reply. Looking around and searching her brain for any other ideas, Tweak keyed her radio, opening a channel to Ozz.

I heard you the first time, Ozz. I was in the middle of something, and it's quite difficult to concentrate on wrangling something that can snap steel cable without you yelling in my ear! If I don't reply right away, then I'm _probably_ busy!

She then opened the channel to the entire squad.

...As for where I am, I'm now on the front leg of the Shambler. As for where the Shambler is, you guys might want to start running the other direction. We'll be catching up to you any second now.