RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 5] - Right By Me

New Remo, Bartley Town

With just enough time to get settled Daniel, pulled himself up into the back of the truck with Kuzman and Reeves. He tipped his hat at the two and said in a thick Delsaurian accent, "G'day mates. Sorry to just pop in on ya like this but I caught wind that there was a runaway train going round. Was in the area doing a bit of a walkabout, figured I could lend a hand." The man looked to be a cross between a mountain man and a bushman. His scaled vest, the teeth on his bush hat, the ease at which he moved with a loaded pack all hinted that this man knew his way around the wilderness.

He sported a traditional hunting rifle slung over his shoulder, a simple pistol at his belt and a really large knife at his hip. He gave a smile as he sat down before either of the men could reply and said, "So, what's the plan then? Who are ya working for?"

New Remo, Bartley Town

For her part Tamamo turned Cayllyn was enjoying her time in the passenger's seat of the GP-ORV, the wind while dulled by the false layer of skin felt nice and the opportunity to simply sight see was one that she was rapidly learning to appreciate. Of course she was fairly certain that most Nepleslians did not spend their time sight seeing in a speeding vehicle as they hurtled toward a rogue train. Double checking the connections on the straps on her weapons the faux Nepleslian woman turned her attention toward the tracks and resisted the urge to rubberneck to try and spot their quarry.

Any moment the vehicle was likely to surge into view, and the state of the requisitioned logistics vehicle would be known to their small band. From there they would have a moment to decide whether they were participating in a high speed chase in the vein of a Funky City shootout, or perhaps a more peaceful transfer of ownership was in order with the ISC Phoenix playing the part of the mild mannered Yamataian repossession agent.

New Remo, Bartley Town

Upon hearing the humorous chirp of her IH-NoN communicator, Calico fetched the dinky thing from her chest webbing in order to review the hologram map that Zeta had sent in better detail, opposite hand still grasping the pistol grip of the mounted PA rifle all the while. This operation called for precision, a certain fine-tuned quality that the tall cyborg knew full well her unmodified brain and eyes were not going to provide...

"This might be a big ask, but can you spot for me, love?" Holding the communicator upsidedown, a free finger tapped the smaller red-haired occupant of the passenger seat lightly on the shoulder. A sullen face regarded the laser weapon laying in her lap. "Hitting the train I could do, but trashing it is not our objective..."

No smiles this time. The question of why Calico hadn't modified her brain yet was one she had heard all to often. She only hoped the thrashing wind, and the din of their off-roader's engine, would make communication just difficult enough to leave such pleasantries until later.

New Remo, Bartley Town

Glancing back at the out of sight but not forgotten third member of their "Party GP-ORV" Tamamo considered the question for a moment biting back her usual fare of sarcastic, quasi-derisive response instead opting for something that better fit a Nepleslian, in this case Cayllyn, "'Course I can point at things for ya to hit. Seems only fair, after all yer not getting to knock in heads like ya'd like eh?" She nodded at Calico's limbs well aware of what they were more inclined toward, though she couldn't personally relate to the desire to have such manually powerful limbs, Tamamo did however appreciate that should they need to open any doors, or crates Calico was the one to ask short of someone fetching a torch.

Hopefully the relatively green woman would have a chance to play to her strengths before the day was out.

"Don't worry, I'm not sure how they're doing it either. The train I mean." He shrugged at Kuzman and waited for the signal to start driving. His attention was interrupted when a frontiersman hopped into the back with him. His mismatched eyes squinted at the stranger as he invited himself on their expedition. "Er Hello...? Mates? Walkabout?" The waifish technician murmured back the greeting in mild confusion. He wasn't exactly expecting a 'local' to hop in the back of the PSG truck with him. Reeves gave the man a little nod of acknowledgement. Reeves glanced nervously from the stranger, then to Kuzman and Carver. He could hear the sounds of luca's bike take off down the ramp. Seconds were ticking he needed to make a snap decision. If he wasted time they might not be able to get into a position to help with the train recovery. "Go ahead Carver." He fanned his right hand in the direction of the highway. If this man wanted to help he wasn't going to chase him off. As long as they didn't get in the way he didn't see any harm in him riding along with them.

" As far as I understand this group is going to chase down the missing train using the highway that runs alongside it, but we'll also have air support... We're from the ISC Phoenix, I'm Reeves, Thats Kuzman, and Carver Here is from the PSG. " He had to nearly shout for his tiny voice to be heard over the sound of engines and wind whipping past them in the truck bed. Reeves directed his gaze toward road, hoping they wouldn't run into many members of the public on the highway.

New Remo, Bartley Town

"T-Thanks darling..." A crooked smile quickly returned, alrough her raspy voice had a slightly offbeat tone, suggesting that more hidden concerns were going unvoiced. "I've never really been one for first impressions, but turnin' some folks into pâté by accident might be a new low even for me!"

Truth was, the minute that Caylln opened her mouth and spoke like a bone-fide roughneck marine, Calico's murder mystery senses went haywire. The short red haired chick was just a little too pretty for the footslogging business... A pilot, maybe, but in the trenches?... Maybe she was from a upper class house, and was on the run from something. Maybe she had crazy surgery to get away from some old murder business. Maybe she was a brain-eating space eel in a zip-locked fleshy container... Maybe they were all eels...

No.

No No No. No rocking the boat. Those things don't exist. Get it together.

Face thoroughly squinted together, Calico tried to just suppress her sudden intense feelings of paranoia by gluing herself to the rifle, and looking down-sights in the general direction of the train tracks. Too many random buildings in the way to really see much just yet.

It was just like any other time she went out alone, in the past. Just needed to mentally become that bloodhound, and focus on the target.

New Remo, Bartley Town
Carver gave Reeves, Kuzman, and the new addition in the back of her truck the thumbs up and hit the gas. Zeta followed suit while Luca was rushing towards the highway, trying to cut the train off as he got onto the highway. For the most part, New Remo's country highways were relatively clear, with only a couple of cars and trucks visible on the road. Zeta, Carver, and Luca were able to follow the highway as the train was catching up in the distance, passing under the bridge the team was arrayed on a moment ago.

Looking to the right, the train in the middle of the highway was chuffing through a dug out portion which split the highway's left and right lanes neatly. For a cutting-edge maglev train, it was incorporating some pretty old-school techniques, since magrail was easy enough to put at an elevated position. Nepleslian 'sensibility' dictated the train had to go amidst other infrastructure, and woe betide someone who wanted to cross from one side of the highway to the other without taking an offramp.

Moments later, the train was at roughly equal speed to the two GP-ORVs and Luca's motorcycle, needles jittering about ninety kilometres an hour, or fifty five miles. Brisk highway speed - and Luca was feeling adventurous as he got into the rightmost lane to get a closer look down into the operator's cabin. Zeta and Carver were inclined to get closer too, cautioning their respective occupants to man the guns or get ready to jump.

"I don't see anyone driving, cabin's empty," Luca pointed out over radio as he dropped speed to examine, "something's definitely fishy..."


A closer look at the train showed a mix of empty passenger carriages, closed off cargo carriages, and open carriages intended for handling timber, which were laden with imported hardwoods and beams of steel. They presented a good avenue to jump on and grab a hold of the train. Luca pointed it out as he veered his bike closer, passing under another bridge and preparing to leap on...

While the team was shooting ahead, Seiren's WINTER spotted an anomaly on the back of the train as it passed him by from his position hidden. Something mechanical of haphazard construction rippling with energy attached to the caboose carriage. As he watched the team get closer to the train and Luca was poising himself to make the leap on, it reacted.

♫ Ecco the Dolphin: Tides of Time - Tubes of Medusa (Metal cover by DusK) ♫

Suddenly the tracks under the train glowed and buzzed with arcs of electricity leaping from underneath and zotting at the highway erratically. Luca backed off and looked at the other GP-ORVs, who were now in the middle lane, giving the train space. "What the hell was that?" He asked, wary of the pulsing lights beneath. He motioned for crew to back off, lest they get zapped as well.

"It might be trying to jump!" Zeta called out over radio. "If someone's on there, they can stop it!"

Carver chimed in, less inclined to taking the sort of risks the Phoenix was: "Are you crazy?"

His gut was telling him not to advance, but other members on the team could make the leap if the felt brave. There was a reprieve in the arcs of electricity, and an opportunity to go for it. Steam was billowing from under the dugout, and groaning metal could be heard as the nose of the train was starting to lift. Seeing that his train was about to leave, Luca fired his Grapple Stunner's piton at the side of the first cargo carriage from the front. The others still had even ground on the open transportation carriages.

Daniel enjoyed the brisk drive after the train. He had one hand on the truck side and another on his bush hat. He constantly hun over the side watching how the train was moving and rocking.

He overheard the call from Zeta, of course he had no idea who it was but it seemed connected to their current adventure. Seeing the opportunity that presebted itself and, well, for the sheer thrill of it, Daniel stood in the truck bed. He kept a firm grip on his hat and pulled out his Delsaurian hunting knife and yelled to his trucks occupants, "Right, I'm off. Let them know would ya?"

With that he put one foot on the bed lip and used it as a spring board to send him up, out and over towards the train. A loud whoop would follow. He gripped his knife, trusting that the Durandium edge would embed itself strongly and the molecular knit would hold fast.

While it was a completely crazy action, to Daniel it was no more dangerous then his past in equally dangerous terrain. Rock climbing at his birthplace, swinging from those trees on the jungle planet he stayed on. Or that time he was casually kayaking a river to find it included an unmapped waterfall. This was the type of survival he sought on a regular basis, only this happened to be a moving train.

New Remo, Bartley Town

All the mental planning and stress-induced miniature breakdowns seemed to burn out to no avail, as Zeta’s vehicle pulled more or less directly alongside the train, sprawling highway rumbling continuously below them. Calico only looked up from her holo-mapping device at the very last minute, then quickly realized her mistake in terms of the map’s real-world scale. The problem wasn’t so much if she could hit the target, it was what exactly she was supposed to shoot…

It wasn’t like blowing out the tires of a big-rig tractor-trailer. Hitting the track, or one of the suspending electromagnets, could be catastrophic.

Third option. Cramming the IH-NoN back into its pouch, the woman’s lengthy blonde mane whipped backwards like a rippling wave of fire whilst she stood completely upright inside of the GP-ORV’s comparatively cramped truck bed. Perhaps they were not the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to planning ahead, but Calico could judge how far her recurved legs could leap from a standing start, just out of pure muscle memory. They were vaguely in the area of the empty carriage…

“Zeta, ma’am. Please brace.” A quick snappy response. The random crawling arcs of electricity had suddenly stopped for just a pace, and she knew this might be her only chance. “I’m going for it.”

The back suspension of the GP-ORV jerked upwards as it suddenly found itself near two hundred kilograms lighter. Calico soared.

Impact. The corrugated surface gave plenty of grip for her angular steenplast treads, but the intense reverberations still shook her bones right down to the teeth.

Left arm blade struck out with a flick of the wrist. If this train was going to be doing any barrel rolls, the only option would be to jab straight downwards and hope the serrations held her in place…

"Monoceros here. I'm on." A tense radio callout. Ambush could come at any second. "Anyone else?"

New Remo, Bartley Town

Had she not determined that it would have been rude, Tamamo might have kicked her feet up on the dash of the GP-ORV, and while the others showed some excitement at the present circumstances the small not-a-Nepleslian remained comfortably nestled into the passenger side seat. As information was passed between their group and the development with the train itself seemed to come to life in an electrifying display, there was still a curious calmness and willingness to sit back and watch for the moment. This was highlighted in full when Calico's cybernetic frame lept from the back of their vehicle leaving Zeta and herself to bounce along the highway as the vehicle settled on its lightened suspension.

Curiously there also seemed to be a Nepleslian that she didn't recognize from either the Phoenix's current crew, or from the PSG judging by their garb. What such a man was doing mixed in with them was strange, though it was a simple enough matter to flag the mystery individual on the IH-NON network and let Luca, or someone else decide what to do about the third party. All in all she had a feeling it was a better choice than hitting the man with a stunning shot and letting him fall from the train, which while safer was something that she was fairly certain didn't mesh with the moral values that the rest of the group held.

To this end the not-a-Nepleslian that was Cayllyn decided that it was best to keep herself cozy in the passenger's seat and would deal with whatever development, exciting or benign, that came about in the next few moments.

Kuzman waved a greeting to the newcomer. Outside of the man's name (Kuzman was finally getting a hang of genders for the most part), he had no idea what was being said. None of the words being used were in his handy dictionary. However, it seemed that Nuk'Dukam understood enough to make fun of the man in the ear piece he had fashioned for more private conversations between him and his former frame. He held on tightly as the truck bounced and shimmied on the road as it hit the seams in the road. This was definitely not how he imagined his life would be, but hey, the ISC Phoenix crew seemed to keep life interesting. And for him, that was always a plus.

Seiren, being blessed with the only flying machine of the lot, took his time to accelerate and fly in close to the the caboose and the mysterious machine, taking the time to analyze it at a relatively safe distance should it decide to get all. . . zappy.

"Hey uh, Luca? There's a thing here. It's doing a thing on the back of the train! I'm gonna figure out whether it's better to explode it or shut it down."

New Remo, Highway West of Bartley Town
Daniel's knife sunk into the lumber and gave him a decent handhold, while his boots caught the carriage beneath him. He could feel the rumbling of the train beneath him disappearing as more of it rose off of the track. Soon to join him and landing on the empty cargo tray to his left was the bulk of Calico. Her landing sent a jolt through the bushman's boots via the coupling.

"I'm on! I'm on!" Luca yelled over radio, looking down at the diminishing track and the highway. He was stuck to the side of the cabin like a pancake was stuck to a ceiling from an overzealous flip. Except the ceiling was lurching further and further into the sky, leaving Zeta and Carver bewildered as they slowed down to watch the train and its fare evading passengers go higher and higher. Soon, the whole train was now off the tracks, flying like a metal wyrm.

Some concern rose in Zeta as it dawned on her that the train was probably very heavy. "Uh, Boss? Guys?" She asked over radio sheepishly as she realised that her suggestion to get on might've been a step forward and a train station back the other way. "How will you get down if the train doesn't?" And moreover, how would Reeves, Tamamo, and Kuzman get on now?
Luca had to think about that for a moment, looking down at the ground and blinking at the two PSG trucks following along on the highway. "Very carefully." He responded before glancing over to Calico and the new arrival. "Really seeing the scenic route here...!" he mumbled before kicking his ass into gear and getting his next step on.

As he clung to the side of the cabin, he pointed over the length of the train. "Alright, you over there-" he was referring to Daniel as the wind rushed past him, pointing towards the back as he held on with the Grapple stunner, "climb along and see what's on the back of this train! Calico, head my way and we'll meet in the middle!"

Confident that whatever he'd said wasn't ripped to bits by the rushing wind, he looked at the nearest window and punched it open with his other hand, then slipped into the cabin. After watching his legs flail and kick before falling inside, Luca made a callout: "Empty in here, but the dashboard's going crazy..."

Calico was immediately presented with the doors to a cargo container, contents within unknown, but staying stuck to the moving train as it plateaued its altitude and a feeling of weightlessness overcame those aboard for a brief moment. Daniel meanwhile was faced with a cargo container to scale - hopefully the bound I-bars of metal he hand to clamber over would give him the height he needed - but with such windy conditions, being blown away was a possibility. Perhaps Seiren could catch him if the worst came to pass? With no easy way around for both Calico and Daniel, strong grips through experience or mechanical advantage were absolutely necessary.

Down on the ground, Carver looked glanced in the rear view mirror at Kuzman, and lacking any real introduction or cue for her and Reeves, the best she could do for them was keep the speed up as she followed the train, swearing loudly. The Iroma definitely knew those words since they were among the first in his dictionary.

Reeves', Kuzman's, and Tamamo's IH-NoNs bleeped. A picture of the train's controls had been taken by Luca. Based on the reports given by PSG, it looked like a commercial grade console with pedals, levers, windscreen wipers, a horn, and brakes. All in all, a good console for a good train. However, without seeing how the dials were moving, he couldn't see how they were fluctuating, or if they were fixed into position by whatever mechanical interference was taking place to make a maglev train jump. A couple more pictures came through, with the dials jumping into different positions and other lights turned on erratically.

However, looking closer at the pictures he took, the recipients would notice a darker shape in the footwell, embedded in the underside of the dashboard. Something about the way the wires were dangling looked as though it didn't belong there, which Luca didn't seem to have noticed.

Seiren's chasing analysis of the large, X-shaped device embedded on the back showed that it was generating the lift necessary through some form of mass or gravity manipulation to lift the train off the track, but he couldn't see how it was controlled, or a clear lead on the signal thanks to the trail of unshielded electronic interference flooding in the train's wake. Moreover, looking at the train from underneath or from above, he couldn't see any other untoward modifications. Perhaps it was being fed through the train's cables?

"I found the thing that's making the train fly, Luca! Once it's back on the tracks, I'm going to cut it off from the rest of the train with my applicator, and then you can. . . operate the train? Do you even know how to run a train?"

Seiren's Winter danced upwards, the tall machine fluttering high above the train - even higher than it was going, and accelerated just enough to keep pace with the joint between the caboose and the next to last compartment.

Bartley Town West Highway, Levitating Train

“Yee-sir, mister Luca!” The buffeting wind was now accompanied by a weird three-dimensional coiling sensation, making it difficult for Calico to retain her balance without keeping one hand on the deck. It was like a roller-coaster that was constantly changing its mind about reaching the peak of a slope, dragging her heavy feet upwards and away from the deck in short bursts, by sheer inertia. At least her BEWM survived the trip, evidently still slung around her chest. “Be right there!”

A quick look backwards was made towards the strange mercenary-looking sort clinging to the side of the lumber pile, regardless. Out of the corner of her eye, she half-expected it to be an enemy sneaking up on her, but fortunately Luca had already acknowledged the man. “Golly, are you new too?...“

Wasn’t exactly the time to be standing around and talking. It occurred to her to help the man, but the dexterous chap seemed to have things under control.

Crawling forward. Her bladed forearm made for a pretty aerodynamic walking stick at least. Wind shear was like swimming through maple syrup otherwise.

External reinforcement on the doors of the container didn’t look particularly thick at first glance, so she just aimed at the blank space next to the handle, where a bolt would probably be. A hunched sidelong kick was directed outwards instantaneously, memory metal spring projecting out a resounding shockwave of noise and vibrations.

Was it even locked? Too late now.

Reeves braced himself against the wall of the truck bed when they sped up to catch the train. "Okay..." Reeves said in response to Zeta's proclamation that she intended on jumping. He was debating on whether or not he and the rest of the group should try to follow. Just in case he did decide to, He pulled his set of magnetizing grapple gloves on just in case he had worked up some proper courage. Leaping from a speeding vehicle and onto a speeding train using a pair of gloves he usually used in lower gravity was not his idea of smart behaviour. He wasn't like Daniel. He couldn't just leap blindly.

"OH my..." Reeves murmured softly when the snakelike vehicle began to rise up from its tracks and fly free. Getting aboard with his little gloves seemed more unlikely than ever.

His thoughts about jumping on the train were interrupted by a sharp beep at his hip. His gloved hands pressed a few buttons on his IH-NoN to make the forwarded picture of the train's helm to his cybernetic eye's input stream. He hummed softly as he inspected each photo. He closed his organic eye to better focus on the photos. He compared the photos with what he already knew of such vehicle consuls, which unfortunately was not a lot. Terrestrial vehicles were not his forte. "Luca, can you sent me another photo of the foot plate. I'm looking for a serial number or identifier. It doesn't look like its standard to the train."

He opened his eye to check on his surroundings. How was he supposed to get to that consul to help Luca in a more hands on sense. "If you could drop the train lower somehow, or maybe send a coil of rope our way we could join you. Kuzman could you climb back into the truck bed with me? We need to get up there. "

The Train

Daniel held tight as the rushing train seemed to move higher off the ground. The arrival of the walking tank gave him a double take but the man down the line seem to know who it was and that was ok with Daniel. At the yelled instructions from Luca Daniel waved back in acknowledgement and looked towards the rear of the train.

Moving across the wood was fairly easy due to his knife and the texture of the wood. He stopped in front of the steel beams cocking his head this way and that. He also took a moment to look over the side of the train at the magrail setup. None of the options available were particularly appealing for crossing.

Not seeing a great option he chose to sray low and use the beams to his advantage. No different from shimmying along a frighteningly sheer cliff face, he flattened himself to the side of the stack of beams. He lodged his feet within any crack he could find, sometimes painfully so, and grasped whatever handhold he could find. Not the fastest means but Daniel felt it was the safest.

Kuzman nodded at Reeves and climbed into the back with him. "I can jump. I have my blades," responded Kuzman in his broken speech. He continued "Give me the rope. I jump." While not exactly the same, Kuzman had done something similar before though he and object he was jumping towards definitely were not moving this fast. Actually, they weren't moving at all. But hey, what's the worst that could happen?

Kuzman patted himself down to make sure everything was secured and waited for a rope to attach to his waist or perhaps a harness if there was one laying in the back of the truck. He tested his blades, the blue first and then the black to ensure working order and gave Reeves another slight nod and reached out with his right hand.

On his other hand, the Nuk'Dukam "watch" was screaming at him in Iroma. Something about life and death and while if he succeeded it would be really damn cool. Yet Nuk'Dukam didn't want to get smashed to bits against a train. Kuzman, of course, ignored him.

New Remo, Highway between Bartley Town and Marcellus Retreat
From the cabin of the train, a window was busted open, sending twinkling glass into the air. Shortly afterwards, the hook from the Grapple Stunner was lowered down to Reeves - seemingly frozen against the wind and the motion of the train, using some form of gravity manipulation in the body of the hook.

The hook provided a firm enough handhold, and touching it seemed safe enough. Luca peered out of the side window down at the two, waving with his other hand. He sent a message to Tamamo: "Want to come aboard next?"

The situation appeared to be under control on the train, but the thought was appreciated.

Calico's cybernetics-assisted kick against the back of the cargo door ended up bending the metal and fraying the door open. Inside, Calico could see boxes labelled with weights and lot numbers, and a layer of mineral dust was blown into her face. It tasted like nerimium metals. Valuable cargo - heavy too.

The train was slowly starting to get lower, grudgingly obeying gravity at last, Daniel felt a brief sensation of weightlessness as he scaled the I-beams, grasping his way from one side to the other, face to face with the back of a cargo container.

Behind the container, Daniel could see a pink-ish glow coming from the interior of the caboose. Whatever Seiren had pointed out from behind seemed to go further than initially thought.

Luca heard Seiren's call to cut the caboose, but he fretted. "Can we let the train make landfall on the tracks first?" He asked in mock falsetto to carry his voice over the noise, "I don't want the thing keeping this in the air to go missing, or this could get messy ... messier!"

New Remo, Highway between Bartley Town and Marcellus Retreat

It was with mild amusement of all things, that Tamamo watched the train rise up into the air. The mag-lev was becoming mag-flight it seemed. Why anyone would want a flying train was beyond her for the moment, the entire vehicle was rather absurd in its impracticality. The ping of the IH-NoN was a brief distraction from the spectacle of the flying train, presenting a mass of unfamiliar human interface hardware none of which she recognized. Thankfully it seemed that Reeves had a handle on the situation of sorts, which took the burden of discerning the purpose of what she was looking at out of her hands, at least temporarily.

Seated comfortably in the GP-ORV, Tamamo considered the invitation to come aboard the train, and after a moment responded, "I'll remain road side with Zeta for now Captain. Might be worth having an extra pair of eyes... And worst come to worst I can link up with Seiren to get me into the air."

Satisfied with her answer for the moment, Tamamo turned her attention to her surroundings, deciding that the flying train had more than enough personnel watching it, and instead looked to see if anyone else was paying special attention to the awkwardly behaving vehicle, apart from the gawkers that is... As much as the train was lifting into the air, there had to be a ground presence... Or was it rendezvousing with a ship? Leaning back Tamamo reformed her eyes activating their innate magnification at first only a 5x zoom to sweep the sky. If she didn't spot anything of note she'd repeat it with 10x, 15x, and 20x, just to be certain. After all it would be unfortunate for the them to run into a pirate's warship up there or something.