RP: The Wayward Out at Sea (Ep.5)

Anbruch

Ana nodded as she picked up TB. She held the lifeless robot in her arms and looked at Tanja. "I don't plan on using the bigger EMPs for on ship. Only the small ones like what TB put out. The massive ones would be for that ship that is attacking us right now." Biting her lip, she paused for a moment. "Much as I want to check on how Nan is doing...I think I will see how the satellite is holding up and see if we can get it out, even with all this chaos going on." She gave Tanja a wave as she headed back to the Cargo Bay.

Cargo Bay

"What do you-" Ana had started to say as she came into the Cargo Bay before she let out a small squeal. She had tripped over some of the cargo that hadn't quite been as secure as they thought and, due to carrying TB, hadn't seen the marbles that were on the floor. A really loud crash resounded as TB fell out of her grasp and skittered along the floor, Ana sprawled on her face after loosing her balance. She lay there, her shoulders moving up and down rapidly. Was she crying? Was she laughing? Perhaps both?

If anyone were to come up to her and find out, they would hear a sound she rarely ever did around anyone...even Quinn. Laughter.

Space

Quinn growled under his breath at the needles that collided with the shields. At least they managed to clear the majority of them and the rest seemed to just fly off into space and Quinn quietly hoped they staid there. Fighting wasn't his thing, not even close, and so the longer this drew on the more irritating he found it. "I don't like any of this, can we get out of here yet?" He sent back to the ship, anxious to get the beacon dropped and get out of dodge before they were all squished like ants. He hadn't really signed up for this sort of a thing. Patching people back together was what he did for a living, patching himself back together was harder than he cared to admit.

Space

Ash yanked on the controls of the shuttle, taking evasive maneuvers to avoid what spikes that she could. As she fired her cannons upon them, so noticed what seemed to be some kind of cloud floating nearby. As if it was...

"Guys...I think we have another problem. What is that cloud? Is that...is that a swarm of those things?"

Space

The Doctor hadn't expected to actually get through the spike volley unharmed. She wasn't sure what part of the strange structure to target. Maybe I can just make a big hole and the ship could fly through it, she thought. "Going to try to make room for the ship to get past that thing. I don't think we should stick around to see what else these Bugs can do." Brigid said to the others.

With that plan in mind, she targeted the "joints" nearby. She opened fire with the plasma submachine gun, attempting to make a big hole in the "net" for the Anbruch.

REAL World

The ride on the flying ants was long, he had to transfer several times, but he did eventually make it to the castle once he deciphered the movement order to all the ants.

The castle was not as large as it seemed from afar though, it was more like a mansion in size and constructed out of amber colored bricks. it was just a matter of getting inside, and the ant he was in fact headed over the wall. He could see the courtyard, which looked to be packed with ants just crammed together, as many as could fit in the space. Something about it gave Nan the feeling that he should not land there. The ant that he was riding though otherwise though and began its descent. If Nan did not want to go down inside he would have to make a jump for the castle, a nearby window that he saw, it was the only thing he could hold on to.

Anbruch - Cargo Bay

Stefan was in the cargo bay, performing some final adjustments when he heard Ana enter, and then proceed to fall. He quickly put down his tools and moved over to her to help her up. "Are you okay? That was a pretty hard fall." He then reached down and picked up TB as well, and handed it to her. "You gotta be careful, even in dangerous situations, you don't want to get injured after all."

Space Battle

Gabi's voice came over the radios in reply to Quinn's words. "The beacon is ready, but if we just drop it this thing might attack it, we don't know. That's why we're fighting. But if I can get a clean shot on the mothership...we can maybe scare them." The secondary guns of the Anbruch continued to volley at the structure, breaking through the rain of needles and hitting at some points while it kept the others covered.

While the Anbruch worked, Bridgid was able to shoot at the intersections and began to widen an opening in the lattice.

"Like that! Follow the redhead and open a hole, I'll blast it!" Shouted the android over the comms

The CloudBugs did not seem too happy about Gabi's enthusiasm or Brigid's quick thinking and retaliated against the situation. The Lattice opened on its own and a 'spear' shot out from the mother ship and raced towards the Anbruch.

Anbruch - Cargo bay

Ana nodded as she was helped up, tears falling down her cheeks even though she wasn't crying. "I am fine. I was just finding it funny that...with all I had been through before coming to this family of mine...I now only have to worry about marbles doing me in!" She cradled TB in her arms as she walked with him back to the beacon. "How is this one doing? Reading the mother beacon well enough?"

Space Battle

Adiel seemed to have disappeared for a moment. He sort of had, actually. He'd gone out on his own, steering clear of the battle to observe, looking for some solution to their problem.

So far, he'd found nothing, which irritated the Elysian to no end. But then, he saw the massive spear launched towards the Anbruch, and time seemed to stop. That spear would cause untold damage to the vessel. It was a good thing he wasn't on board like the rest of those fools!

...

...

...Dammit, he still rather enjoyed their company. That, and most of his earthly possessions were on that ship. And, he doubted he could make it all the way back to safe harbor in just a Swordbreaker.

"Ugh..." he sighed and pushed the throttle forward, firing at the shaft of the spear. If that didn't do anything, the Swordbreaker was set on an intercept course. Not a full-on intercept course, per-say. The spear would-hopefully- hit the rear of the craft and allow him a way out.

...There always needed to be a way out.

REAL World

Nan was tired. The normally exuberant teenager had certainly been through a lot though in reality it was probably fairly quick in actual time comparatively. Jumping from one flying ant to the next had just plain worn him out. He had an android body for cripes sake, what was with all this "physical labor". At least he was able to sigh in relief as he crested the castle's wall. That was until he saw the huge amount of company he was about to encounter. Luckily he was in cyberspace, in cyberspace, no one can see you panic, which is what he did. He looked around frantically, first trying to count the ants below him, useless. He tried to yank the ant in a different direction, useless. He even thought of pulling himself out and just giving up, USELESS!

Then he saw it, the window, the ledge, the salvation, just a quick fly away...if he could fly. He had seconds to think and he decided to follow that age old note of wisdom, Never give up, Never surrender! So, he hopped up on to the back of the ant like he was surfing the gnarliest of waves, crouched and sprung from the back towards the ledge, thinking that whoever had come up with that former quote aught to be dragged out in to the street and shot. What a jerk.

He reached out willing his arm to be just a little longer and hoping against hope that he could catch the lip. He knew his defense gauntlet, once attached, would hold him steadfast but it was flying without a net that bothered him at this moment. He thought of all the drones he had yet to build, all the drones he had yet to fly...

REAL World

In a feat not commonly associated with people of Nan's build, he jumped for the ledge and managed to get a secure hold. It took effort but he managed to pull himself up and into a window. Inside he was confronted what was obviously a 'throne' room and a large caterpillar with beetle-like creatures surrounding it. It was obvious to see that this thing was important in some way, and they had not noticed yet noticed Nan.

Anbruch - Cargo Bay

Stefan looked a bit confused at Ana's response, but he did not dig too much into her crying and gave her a pat on the back. "Well if marbles are your problem then you're doing pretty well off." He then made his way back over to the beacon with her. "The signal is strong though, we should be able to launch it with no problems once the battle is over."

Space Battle

Adiel'shots were on target, or rather it just wasn't easy to miss something so large. Each shot collided with the body and damaged it bit by bit, but it did not look like it was going to be enough. The Anbruch realized that as well and had to fire its positron cannon directly at the spear, causing it to shatter into another cloud of material. Everyone's sensors were momentarily overloaded as they tried to process every piece of material that just appeared.

The missile was not, in fact, a missile but sensor chaff, the CloudBugs had adapted their tactics to its opponents, and they were now effectively blind.

"Everyone get clear quick before it fires on you." Gabi's voice came over the radio with no question of the frustration they were experiencing.

Anbruch

Ana sighed a bit, "Yeah. I hope everyone is okay. But sadly, there is nothing else I can do. I'm not a fighter. Not like the others." Her arms wrapped tightly around TB as she stood there, looking a bit forlorn. Though she was becoming more confident in herself, she also knew that there were still some things that she couldn't do.

Space

Brigid saw the spear on the Frame's sensor display. It shot past her before she could react. She would have to hope that the rest of the crew could stop it. Her attention returned to the large enemy ship. If this is the extent of their offensive capabilities, maybe I can hurt that ship enough to get them to go away, she thought. At the least, I might be able to distract them so the Anbruch can get a good shot.

A red light flashed on the Frame's display, informing her that she had lost communication with the ship. There was some sort of interference blocking the signal. She had no choice but to push on. "Right. CloudBugs, time for your shot. I'm afraid I don't have any anesthetic, so this is going to hurt like hell." Brigid said with a smirk.

She activated her Frame's thrusters, accelerating towards the starboard side of the large "ship". Her guns blazed when she was close enough, targeting anything that looked like a weakness in the structure.

REAL World

Nan simply nodded at the scene before him thinking, "Yup, of course. Of course there has to be a throne room fille with beetles and a caterpillar boss. I mean, why wouldn't there be?" To sum up, Nan had gotten through the initial attacking pirhanas, the hive firewall, a mean ass defensive hornet, an Ant pathway packet system and now this. If he never again saw a bug he would actually be ok with that. The beetles before him were obviously a shield for the boss. They are there to protect from all sorts of threat and to them, that was Nan.

The caterpillar itself was an odd choice for a virtual translation seeing as it could mean all sorts of things. Like, was it to represent that it was an early evolution of a larger program ala caterpillar to butterfly? Or was it to mean that it was a longer segmented code that could adapt when faced? Or something beyond even Nan's thinking?

Ultimately Nan was tired of the threat of violence. He honestly wished he could communicate with this program and work something out. He had no knowledge of the world outside and how things were going but he could only imagine things were still escalating and that saddened him. Perhaps now that he had fully managed to make it this far, past the many obstacles placed before him, he had his opportunity. Language was not going to work and so he had to communicate like this thing before him. Bugs and buggy language. It was a long shot and he could very well get trouble here but he had decided, no more violence unless provoked.

There were man different signs of peace out in the world, even in the animal kingdoms. He figured he would try as many as he could think of and started weaving. He created a white banner that flapped gently from a pole on his back, he spread his arms and fingers to show he was unarmed and even bowed a little to allow them to know he was not a threat. He slowly walked forward but was smart enough to create a small bubble as a last ditch defense, just in case.

REAL World

The bugs turned their attention to Nan when he made himself known. They looked at each other and then Nan would realize he could not 'hear' anything from them, whatever they were doing to communicate, his computers did not register it.

While he was pondering that however, a beetle rushed him, and slammed it's horn against his bubble, throwing Nan back some. It looked like the creature was going to charge again, but suddenly it just disappeared.

The feeling of panic could be felt in the air, but it was surreal, the things before him did not move as if panicking, they simply held their positions as if frozen in time.

Anbruch - Cargo Bay

"We all have our different battles, there's plenty that wouldn't have gotten done without you around." Stefan smiled softly and then moved over to the beacon "Like this thing here, or whatever the captain needed help with. You're strong, and you've got heart, everything else will come in time."

Space Battle

Brigid slipped past the lattice with the opportunity she got. On the other side, she had a clear view towards the 'ship' and opened fire.

There was no retaliation at first, and the constant firing opened up a hole in the side of the ship, where Brigid could see a cluster of CloudBugs inside, they had a particular sheen and luster to them. However now that they were exposed, the ship began to fire back, a scattershot of pellets was propelled in the direction of Brigid. The creatures seemed to be panicked, missing the precision or tricks of their earlier attacks and resorting to volume once again.

Anbruch - Cargo Bay

Ana smiled shyly at the compliment. She had been told she was strong before, from her mother. And over the past few months with the crew, she had seen her own strength start to grow more and more. But hearing it from someone not on the crew...or at least only temporarily part of the crew...helped her to realize it that much more.

"Thanks. I know I have a lot to overcome still...but time and being with the right people have helped." She chewed on her lip as she looked towards the path towards the bridge. "Speaking of which...I should check to see how my friends are doing. I'll return to help get the beacon launched once everything is clear." She waved to him with one hand as she made her way out, still carrying TB.

Bridge

Ana made her way towards the bridge, tucking TB in the crook of an arm. She glanced around, her eyes taking in all of the various images of the ongoing battles on the screens. "Oh gods above and below...what have we gotten ourselves into?" The previous statement was said aloud, though quietly. In a slightly louder voice, she looked for either Tanja, Gabi, or even Nan, if he had made it back yet. Seeing him still staring off into space, so to speak, she made her way over to her brother and placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. She wasn't trying to disturb him, but she needed the contact as she spoke to him alone, "Nan. I don't know if you can hear me...but if you need help...I am here." She then sat next to him and waited. Either for him to respond or, if Gabi or Tanja needed her...she would help them as well.

Space Battle

After rocketing through the center of the battle and disappearing into the distance again, Adiel was silently thankful that he hadn't had to sacrifice himself like an idiot. Pulling the fighter around in a sharp bank, he charged in once more, coming at the enemy ship from the opposite side of Brigid. Seeing her strategy, he grinned smugly and followed suit, attacking the other side of the vessel with missiles and cannons alike. When the enemy was on its heels, it was the perfect time to strike with everything you had.

REAL world (or just fantasy)

Nan was startled and pensive at first, the beetle had done no real damage but it certainly showed that Nan made the wrong call in that case. He was quickly thinking defensively and was about to flee to regroup when the offending beetle disappeared and the others froze. In response, for a moment, Nan too froze, uncertain. He shuffled aroun to see if the beetles seemed to care anymore to his presence.

It was quickly determined that this was an opportunity that Nan could not overlook. Obviously something was happening outside the cyberverse and this prompted Nan to action. He moved quickly in amongst and between the gathered guardians to close in on the caterpillar. If he could isolate the code and stop that signal he may just win this day and in a poetic way if he could help it. He had to build a wall, cut off the source so he began giving the caterpillar a familiar end to its life cycle, a fine code coccoon.

Wrapping and trapping the insect, not allowing it to find the holes in his program. He had to be sure it was tight and without fault otherwise it coud easily worm its way out. He stepped back and admired his handiwork, ready to reinforce if this thing seemed to snap out of the fog it seemed to be in,

Space

Ash maneuvered away from the cloudbug ship, her sensors scrambled for the moment due to the chaff. She pulled up into a holding pattern around the Anbruch, starting to realize the folly of flying the shuttle in a combat situation instead of one of the fighers or the armor frames. Still, Ash was going to do what she could to protect the Anbruch and her crew.

Ash waited for an opening, firing at the cloudbugs as they swarmed around the ship and when they tried to attack either Adiel or Brigid.

REAL World

The beetles did not move as Nana shuffled around the room. Even when he approached the queen they were still stationary. It was not until he actually began to play with the code were any attempts at resistance made.

The queen occupied herself with attempts to stop Nan's code, but still looked highly distracted. The beetles were slower to respond, but they came to charge in and slam against Nana, but his protective firewall created a barrier that stopped the assault. It did not look like the barrier would last for long, but he had to choose, between committing to the attempted override or getting out.

Anbruch - Bridge

On the bridge, both Gabi and Tanja were seated along with Nan, but neither one looked to be happy.

Tanja, however, noticed Ana and smirked. "Ana, take a seat, I'm going to need you to work the engineering console. I want you to focus 90% of the shields' power to the front. Leave the weapons and impulse power fully operational however."

There was a moment of silence for Gabi before they turned to look at the captain. "You can't be serious."

"I am." Spoke Tanja. "We're going to force our way through the lattice and then blast this all to bits, prepare the main canon for rapid fire Gabi."

Space Battle

With Brigid's constant assault, the mother ship began to back up, but it kept the constant hail of attacks going. It seemed to have realized its bad situation and tried to change it. While it did that Ash was able to fire on the hole in the lattice and keep it open a little longer before she had to focus on keeping the Anbruch safe.

With this Adiel was able to slip by the lattice as well and begin to attack the larger mass, which seemed to be losing pieces with every attack.

"We're going to finish this, everyone keep it busy a little longer, we're going to charge in and blast it." Tanja's voice rang out over the coms, it had been a while since she had spoken to the crew in the battle.

Bridge

Ana blinked a bit when Tanja told them of her plan. She nodded and went over to the console, setting the still broken TB down as she worked the controls to boost the shields. She made sure that the weapons were the only ones at full power. Everywhere else, there was minimal power required, or none at all if the area could take it while unoccupied. "Alright, Cap'n. I'm giving her all she's got..."

REAL Space

Nan knew things were heating up and the jostling he was recieving was a clear indicator. This was the turning point and his two options both held merit. On one hand, he could disconnect and that would be that, no further information gained, or he could carry on and see if he can outwit sentient coding. As a person Nan has always been overly enthusiastic and unerringly optimistic which has certainly gotten him in trouble more times than he can count. It was also these attributes however that made him such a capable computer expert, he did not give up.

He doubled down, it was time to end this and so he concentrated and kept as his task. weaving and coding, coding and weaving. The beetles harrassment grew the more time went on and he gritted his teeth, he would not fail. His family was out there right now risking their lives and for all he knew he could save them here and now. His sisters counted on him, his brothers counted on him, heck the ship was counting on him too and frankly, he loved the attention. He would do this and he just had a little more to go...