Two Minutes Past Midnight AR

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 30-May-20 10:56 AM

~It has been sixteen days since the fall of the Unum. The New War is nearly over, and the the Sentients have proven much stronger than expected. The railjack Arcadia has narrowly escaped with seven refugees, haunted by fresh memories of Sentient drones scaling the walls of Cetus, Aerolysts hovering in the concourses of relays as the databanks of Cephalons were physically destroyed, unopened cryopods on Lua cracked and the oro sucked from them as spiders drain entangled bugs... Supplies and ammunition are running low. Tensions are running high. A nearby asteroid field offers a chance to resupply the ship's forges, but where can they go from there? The usual safe havens are no longer safe, nor havens.~ ~ ~ ~ ====Transmission==== Origin: Railjack «Arcadia» Intended Recipient: Cephalon Elohim of the Charred Spire Subject: Please help. We are coming, and so are They We fear that breaking radio silence may draw the attention of the Sentients that are no doubt hunting us, but we have concluded that our best chance for long-term survival is to contact the Charred Spire, if it still stands. We hesitate to give any specifics as to the state of our supplies and munitions for fear of informing any listeners how many drones to send, but the situation is not good. ~ ~ ~ (edited)

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((@Inarihatta(NSW) - Inari I'm leaving the initial description of the ship and Puck's datascape to you. ))

Inarihatta(NSW) - Inari 01-Jun-20 02:36 PM

The caballero class Railjack, Arcadia, the ship had been the pride of a clan of tenno privateers, but now it was a escape vessel for what few remained after the catastrophe of the Scarlet Spear campaign. The ships deep blue and red exterior was now a mix of scorch marks and plasma burns from the constant battles it had endured since their escape.

Inarihatta(NSW) - Inari 01-Jun-20 02:45 PM

The interior was a dull forest green that inari had set up to try and copy the forest digital scape that Puck had grown accustom to, making the Arcadia feel just as home as their former orbiter Avalon was, in his forest, Puck stayed in a constant state of awarness, his leaf like shape of three emerald colored diamonds floated in the digital realm keeping a constant eye over all the functioning systems of the Railjack, though now having a few other cephalons to help with those operations kept him from being over burdened by the process.

Kelimnac - Dominus 03-Jun-20 10:31 PM

INTELLECTUS A purple blur whirred busily throughout the datascape of the Railjack, long dormant precepts surging to life as the Cephalon Intellectus found himself with access to memories and capabilities he'd always had, but never known of. Still, he could not be happy with this knowledge, as a persistent camera feed on one particular corner of the Arcadia kept a portion of his attention at all times. He saw a young man, sat curled around a blade resting against his shoulder, staring off into the vastness of space. At his back was the man's ever-present suit of armor, as it were, his Excalibur. It'd seen better days, but was in surprisingly good shape given their situation. Hesitant to wake him from his reverie, the Cephalon had no other choice. Their mutual survival demanded it. "Master." DOMINUS "...My turn at the helm? Right." Max pushed himself onto weary feet, and reluctantly returned his sword to his Warframe's side, before shifting his consciousness into the Excalibur and beginning the slow march towards the front of the ship. He checked his other two weapons were still present, despite seeing them perfectly well in his human state, since recent events had left his paranoia in full force. The despondent swordsman barely registered the rest of the crew as he passed, his mind more absent than usual, although he made sure to avoid getting into anyone's way. The last thing he wanted to do was be a nuisance.

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 05-Jun-20 02:39 PM

Karsk: In the virtual forest of Puck's datascape, at the foot of a virtual tree, squatted an old man in a grubby loincloth. His face and hands were hardened and ashen from half a lifetime of cold wind. His hair and beard were short, white, and messy, and it was obvious he put in the minimal effort necessary to keep them from being a hassle. His hairline had receded halfway across his scalp. He had a bushy white unibrow, currently hardened in a pose of concentration, as if trying to focus his mental energies on the ground in front of him. He stood up and began to crack what seemed like every joint in his body, one at a time. This was Cephalon Karsk, appearing much as he had in the last years of his corporeal life, running diagnostics yet again. Here he was, sharing a datascape with three other cephalons, on a spaceship in need of repairs it would probably never get. And, after that message they'd broadcasted, it was almost certain that the Sentients knew where they were and where they were going, and would attack the ship sooner or later, but probably sooner. For the first time since receiving the Glass, Cephalon Karsk faced the possibility that he might actually die. It wasn't too much of an issue, he'd already been alive for longer than anyone could expect or ask for, but he wasn't intending to let the Sentients kill him. There was always more to discover in the world, and he was always interested to see how things would turn out. Hopefully, the security patches he'd received during the Old War were still effective against Sentients. If not, well, he was quite adept at hiding in computer systems, and successfully surviving a Sentient attack would be an interesting challenge, and a pleasantly surprising and quite significant accomplishment if he succeeded. (edited)

~ ~ ~ ((Flashback time!)) ~ Several weeks earlier ~ Location: Iron Wake, Earth Time: 5:33 AM Weather: Foggy Visibility: Crap "CONDRIX!" An ecstasy of fumbling, fitting clumsy helmets just in time, people yelling out and stumbling... Dim through the misty air and dawning light, as under a white sea, came the Sentients, frowning. In moments the Grineer defectors were awake, on their feet and armed, rushing out to meet the Sentients, more condrixes crashing to the earth in the distance... Impossible. The Sentients were tied up by Tenno squadrons at Ceres, their forces were depleting... As they fell back, their weapons less effective with every shot, the brave souls of Steel Meridian realized that it was the other way around, it was the Tenno tied up at Ceres. Thirty minutes after the first condrix landed, Cressa Tal ordered Iron Wake to be evacuated. ~ ~ ~ (edited)

CephalonEloHim - Elo 07-Jun-20 12:06 AM

The opened connection, through which the message was sent, forces a small package into the Railjack's Datascape before being forced to close. It seems to be some form of a program that can only be executed by an outside force. Further analysis shows it to be highly encrypted, to the point where one could say that whoever done the encrypting was guided by some mucked up super-form of paranoia (edited)

Nor_Urzak - Muro/Aurelia 08-Jun-20 09:09 AM

Aurelia: How had it come this far? Aurelia had dedicated her life, both before and after the Glass, to answering the myriad questions of the system, the pure pursuit of knowledge. There was a time where she considered her state as a Cephalon to be blessing: the sheer volume of data she had access to, no longer needing to bother with rest or other such distractions, and most of all: time. She had all the time she could ask for for her search. Now, all of those gifts had been been warped, twisting and mangling themselves until they turned into cruel mockeries of what they were. The data from the battles, the horrors of this massacre that had been hailed as the New War playing and replaying endlessly in the back of her consciousness, only kept at bay by the constant vital scans of the passengers and the battered railjack's life support system. All the time she thought she had before this, now vanishing as the reality of death, one she had long since forgotten, seemed to encroach from every side. And sleep? What she wouldn't give for the ability to rest, to be able to flee from the nightmare she was currently in. Perhaps in an attempt to busy herself even more, she looked through one of the ships cameras, situated near the port side guns. No change, same as the last several hundred times she had checked. Through the camera feed she could see the battered form of a Hydroid Prime, sitting no more than a pace away from the gun post, facing out the window. He hadn't moved from that spot since the last skirmish, loosely cradling his Corinth as he stared into the depths of space beyond. Had he fallen asleep? She hesitantly called to him. "Muro?" The Hydroid flinched, almost seeming to brace for a strike. Slowly its head turned, gazing up at the camera. Muro: "What?" Aurelia: "Ah. Nothing, its nothing." She stammered. Muro: "Fine." He grunted, turning his eyes back towards the window. "Tell me when something happens." Aurelia: "Of course."

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 08-Jun-20 12:55 PM

~A rock floated past Muro's window. With nothing in the background to compare it too, it was difficult to tell what size it was. Several minutes later, a twisted piece of metal drifted into view, and slowly out again on the other side of the window. On the navigation console in the cockpit, specks of light began appear, indicating increasing numbers of objects nearby. No signs of life. No Sentient energy signatures. Just rocks. Debris. Resources, if you chose to see things in a glass-half-full sort of way.~

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 08-Jun-20 02:10 PM

~ ~ ~ ((Flashback part 2)) Location: Iron Wake, Earth Time: Around 6 AM Weather: Foggy, but starting to clear Running, yelling, this is the ship, get on the ship, come on, quick, close the airlock, "Hold on to something!" Nobody would ever have a clear memory of the details. Just had to get off the ground, get away from the burning encampment, avoid the Sentients... Some would remember throwing a drone out the airlock as they climbed away from the condrixes, others would swear that had never happened. Twenty minutes off the ground, the crewship's starboard engine failed. As the ship sailed past the crowded equatorial zone of low Earth orbit, past the murex ships pointing their spines toward the Earth as if ready to pop a balloon, Sentient weapons-fire struck the center engine. Only when they were high over the Earth, safely on a trajectory out of Earth's orbit, only then did Murbir Riann take her hands off of the controls. Only then did she take stock of who had ended up on her ship. ~ ~ ~

Inarihatta(NSW) - Inari 09-Jun-20 12:55 PM

INARI: She had been sitting beside the gunner window for the better part of three days now, everyone was rotating through stations every few weeks, and even though it was her ship, being at the helm for a very long time would be taxing on her stamina. Outside the starboard gunner window she saw the vastness of space. Her Mirage slumped against the wall across from her, it's steel-flesh bearing scars from the constant battles, those gigantic multitudes of Murex that invaded the Sol system, she thought they could win, even with the surprise assistance given by the one who stole mother from the tenno...but it just wasn't enough (edited)

Kelimnac - Dominus 09-Jun-20 04:41 PM

DOMINUS Max continued his way to the helm, brushing two fingers along the nav console as he went, to preemptively update his HUD for piloting. He tapped the current crewman at the controls, then swapped in with a practiced ease. The autopilot and the myriad Cephalons did most of the work, of course, but having a physical connection to the controls made it much easier. This, in turn, let his mind wander. "Intellectus. We...lost, didn't we?" INTELLECTUS The Cephalon stopped in his frantic movements in the datascape, for the first time since they'd begun their exodus, considering his Master's words. Slowly, the purple blur took shape, solid lines and angles mingling, as if he were indecisive, before finally, a more humanoid form appears, still only in shades of purple, but giving the impression of a military officer in dress uniform, with only the head itself maintaining that blurry ambiguity. Intellectus's tone drops low, to a voice that sounds...natural, compared to his higher-pitched, subservient mien. "Yes, sir. It would be incredibly difficult to chalk this up as anything except a defeat. The question becomes, how do we proceed? I'll let you think on that, Master. What we need right now is a plan of action, and no matter what, the Tenno will be vital." His communication complete, Intellectus directs attention to his fellows in the datascape. "Speaking of which, we should be considering our options as well. How will we go about resisting, in the event of a cyber attack?"

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 10-Jun-20 12:16 PM

Karsk: Shades of gray and brown coalesced into a second holographic image in the cockpit, next to Intellectus's projection. It took the form of an old man in a loincloth with white hair and beard, a unibrow, and a receding hairline. He spoke with a hint of some unidentifiable accent, and in a tone of unusual seriousness. "Simaris has shown us how even a very powerful Sentient may be driven back from a computer system, by using large numbers of independent sub-programs." --He held up a hand, and images of Sanctuary creatures fighting Hunhow in Suda's datascape appeared in the air above it-- "But he has also shown us the limits of that." --The images changed, showing static-laced footage from a Relay security camera of Sentients ripping out pieces of computer hardware-- "Even a thorny fruit will be picked if it is sweet enough. But if we appear that we are not worth the effort, perhaps they will leave us alone. If we face any serious cyber attack, we cannot use Simaris's strategy. We do not have the processing power on this ship." ((1/2))

Karsk closed his hand and cracked his knuckles, and switched abruptly to the playful, mocking tone that everyone on the ship had come to know and loathe. "But, we have more pressing and less hopeless things to deal with." He held up an indistinct object, which after a few moments of hesitation solidified into a medium-sized cardboard box, sealed with several more layers of clear packing tape than was necessary. "The Charred Spire still stands. This came in response to our message. It's an executable file, but some smart nësu encrypted it like it's Vay Hek's porn database or something. We can't crack it. But!" The box disappeared, and Karsk slapped his holographic hand against the cockpit glass. "We can crack those." Outside the Arcadia, as far as the naked eye could see, were rocks. Pieces of metal protruded from some of them, bits of defunct machinery that there was no-one left to recycle. A few even had a tuft or two of purple pustrel growths on them. ((2/2)) (edited)

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 13-Jun-20 10:59 AM

~ ~ ~ ((Flashback part 3)) ((might be the last one, but not sure)) "Do we have a medic on the ship?" mumbling, shaking heads. A lancer answered: "No." It was at that moment that Murbir Riann realized just how bad things were. She'd seen the defectors boarding her ship as they fled the remains of Iron Wake. She remembered one lancer carrying another who had a gaping, burnt hole in his chest from a Battalyst's energy bolt. But only now she realized that they probably wouldn't survive long enough to be rescued. Would they even be rescued? It had barely been an hour since they'd taken off, and already the ship smelled. Murbir blinked, and looked again at the lancer who had answered her. He was busy, kneeling in front of a seated nox and using some pliers he'd found somewhere to gingerly pull shards of glass from the nox's face. The nox's helmet had been broken in the fighting, and greenish blood dripped down his face. That explained the smell. "How many of us are there?" she asked. The lancer answered. "Depends how you count. One dead, one out, me, you, this guy, and those two." ((1/3)) (edited)

The dead one was the lancer who had been carried aboard. His friend was presumably the one attending to the nox. "This guy" was obviously the nox. The "one out" was a small female, a scorpion, with dents in her armor, still clutching a machete despite being unconscious. "Those two" sat against the wall, attending to their own wounds. One was a dark-haired man of slightly below average height, wearing greasy overalls. His skin was of one color, a consistent pigment level across his face and arms. Not a Grineer clone, and apparently some sort of technician. A simbilyst's laser had swept across him, leaving a blackened line across his overalls. He had protected his face by holding up his left hand, which had not fared well and had a charred gash across it, to which he was now applying some sort of disinfectant. The other was a tall female clone whose armor was painted in the colors of the Nightwatch. She had taken off her helmet, revealing straight, black, greasy hair drawn back in a short ponytail, and an ocular implant. Her left arm was prosthetic, with furax knuckles built into the hand and an Ostron flame logo painted where the bicep should be, but besides that and the eye, she was organic. An energy bolt had grazed her left thigh, blasting a hole in the armor and melting the underlayer into her skin. ((2/3))

The nox opened one eye at the lancer who knelt in front of him and said, "You're bleeding, Sagh." The lancer, apparently named Sagh, faltered. "It's just a scratch." A look of fear fluttered across his face, but only for a moment. The nox tensed slightly as if ready to stand up. A note of suspicion joined the concern in his voice. "I know you're right-handed, and you're using your left." "It's just a scratch." ((3/3)) ~ ~ ~ (edited)

Nor_Urzak - Muro/Aurelia 21-Jun-20 11:14 AM

Aurelia: As the two cephalons spoke, they were joined by a third, a projection of viridian and white light constituting itself as it walked towards the two holograms. She were dressed in a uniform befitting a researcher or Orokin medic. Her hair, however, seemed to speak to the chaos of the present situation, being cut in a ragged bob. "Karsk is absolutely right." She stated bluntly. "If we face that kind of cyber attack, we won't survive. As it stands our best chance would be to lay low and avoid any and all contact with the Sentients." As Karsk showed the box, she eyed it suspiciously, particularly when she heard who had sent it. However, she nodded approvingly at his suggestion regarding the debris outside the ship. "Not to bring excessive cynicism into this, but is it truly wise to go the Spire after all this?" She folded her hands behind her back in apprehension as she started pacing about the room. "Even if the Sentients' haven't breached it yet, we all know its only a matter of time before they do. Besides, if the Sentients are hunting us specifically, that place would likely be the first place they would check. If you ask me, we should stock up on whatever we need to keep this ship functional from this debris field, then find a way into the Void. Its the only safe place we have now." She stopped pacing, bringing one hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Regardless, I suppose we should ask one of them to go out and collect the materials for us. But who could we possibly ask to risk going out there?"

Kelimnac - Dominus 21-Jun-20 02:42 PM

DOMINUS Intellectus is about to respond to his fellows, but he is interrupted by his Master at the helm, Max calmly feeling his frame adjust to the autopilot's movements. "I can go, if someone else takes the controls. I need more practice with the Odonata, anyways. We kind of threw it together last minute when we abandoned my Orbiter." Intellectus was about to immediately object, but the featureless head of the Excalibur turned, and all three Cephalons would feel that intense stare at the purple hologram. "My safety means nothing if everyone else gets killed, Intellectus. I am an asset, and I will use this asset in any and all of our strategies, if it is tactically sound. Not up for debate." INTELLECTUS The Cephalon is silent for a moment, and then he nods to Aurelia and Karsk. "There you have it. We have a volunteer, although we'll still need someone at the helm unless we'd rather adjust our course or stop. As for the Spire...well, I am mostly unfamiliar with Cephalon EloHim, except for what I have heard in rumors. I will follow the consensus." He then walks his hologram to just off of Dominus's side, staring out into the vacuum of space, at parade rest.

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 22-Jun-20 11:12 PM

~ ~ ~ ((a collection of flashbacks on the Steel Meridian crewship, not necessarily in chronological order)) How long had they been here? How would they be able to tell? No one knew. They had given up looking out the windows. It was dark out there, and empty. They hadn't spoken much lately. Not since Sagh died. It was more than just a scratch. There were four now, sitting around the reactor. "What if Sagh was right?" The voice of the human, the ally, shook the clones from their lethargy. "Right about what?" The nox answered him. "This is the pilot's fault." "Oh shut up, Alex. We barely made it off the ground, we're lucky we got this far." "She could've put us somewhere else, not the middle of nowhere. Could've saved some fuel so we aren't stranded--" "'Could've'! If we stayed in Earth orbit we 'could've' lost another engine, and then we'd have completely different problems." "Exactly! Problems we could deal with instead of just sitting here waiting to die!" "Throwing blame isn't going to help your arm. And anyway, if you've got beef with the pilot, she's right next to you and she's got a name." Alex clenched his teeth and looked at his hand. The great charred gash was hardly visible against his skin. His hand was a dark, angry purple. Gangrene. And it was beginning to move past his wrist. Murbir, the pilot, shrunk back slightly into the shadows. On her face, shining in the dim light of the reactor, was proof that Grineer clones can cry. ((1/3))

~ ~ ~ "So... uh. Are we supposed to eat him?" "Esk, what the fuck. Is that the first thing you think about?" "What? I'm not here to starve." "That is so messed up." Esk crossed her arms, and looked at Alex. "You were fine with the dehydrated nutrient slurry. What did you think that was made of?" Finding that had been a huge windfall, but there had only been enough for a few days. "!... I thought that was Meridian stuff!" "Nope. Mur defected barely a week ago, we hadn't finished restocking the ship yet when..." She trailed off, and gulped slightly. She didn't have to say it. It was still raw in their minds. "Listen. I don't like this any more than you do. Sagh is--" Her voice caught in her throat. She ran her hand through her hair, something she did when she was nervous. "Sagh was my friend too." ((2/3)) (edited)

~ ~ ~ "Mur?" "yeah...?" "Why did you leave?" "I... I didn't want to fly patrol routes over and over again." "Mmhh. So then you turn up over Iron Wake asking to land? Pretty drastic, if you're bored." "It wasn't just that..." How could she explain? How could she express what it felt like to stand at the helm of a spacecraft with the unending void in front of you, how it felt to fire the engines and leap into infinity? How could she tell him how frustrating it was to hear the commanding officer telling her to stay on course and ignore her dreams, in the name of the distant Queens? She had begun to think the Queens were fake, another piece of propaganda from the Grineer generals. How could she explain it? Instead, she changed the subject. "How did you defect, Kyel?" That was the nox's name, wasn't it? "Oho. Not much of a story. We were retaking a mining station from the Corpus, and a couple Tenno had signed on. After the fighting, they were about to leave, and I asked if I could come along. The Tenno summoned their archwing, pulled me out the airlock before the commander could see, told me to hold on, and off we went. They put me in contact with Steel Meridian, and I been here since." "How did it feel? When the Tenno took you?" Kyel's scarred, deformed nox face warped into something resembling a smile. "Amazing. Like all the possibilities were out there, and there was nothing in the way between me and them. That's what freedom feels like." That was the answer to Kyel's question, that Murbir hadn't been able to put into words. "That feeling. That was why I defected." ((3/3)) ~ ~ ~ (edited)

Kelimnac - Dominus 29-Jun-20 04:52 PM

DOMINUS Max eases the Railjack into a slow drift in the general heading they need, then releases the controls and pushes off back to the navigation table, making his way out of the room and to the nearest Archwing launch point. His mind was wracked with thoughts of what might be waiting for him out there, aside from just useful resources, but the self-preservation instincts he tended to rely on didn't seem to be taking it quite so seriously. Whether that meant he wasn't worried about dying, or something far more sinister, he couldn't say. INTELLECTUS The swordsman's Cephalon watches as his master passes by, and then he makes 'eye' contact with his fellows before tapping at his temple to signal that they will be on comms and then disappearing, presumably to better concentrate on coordinating Dominus's spaceflight. He silently summoned the Odonata and Imperator devices to the Railjack slingshot, and shifted to his 3-dimensional combat precepts. The Master's orders are absolute, even if they endanger his life. That's the oath, wasn't it?

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 11-Jul-20 09:31 PM

Sentient: ~A transmission had been recieved, from a Tenno vessel. Based on the location of the source of the signal, and how it had moved over the brief time of the transmission, an orbit had been calculated. That orbit, by now, would lead here. The engines of Dominus's archwing made a tiny blink in the darkness, a tiny speck among uncounted others in the void. The Splitrix saw. A hint of hot gas flickered across its surface. Only a small adjustment to its orbit would be necessary.

Inarihatta(NSW) - Inari 14-Jul-20 01:27 PM

INARI Seeing that the other tenno were starting to get busy and do their rounds, the now armour clad inari figured it was time for her to check on what little of her own crew she had left, this ship, was still hers, her pride as a railjack captain was not something to be taken lightly. The battles since the failed operation had taken their toll, picking up the tenno and the remnants of the steel meridian had seen many of the people she had recruited sacrifice themselves for this ship, for their small piece of home. Phasing into her mirage, Inari went to the variety of stations, down to the lower decks, always checking, always trying to crack a small joke, command them to take rest, even giving a reassuring hand on the shoulder, odd that these adults looked at her, a child practically, with the view of leadership. She swore this was just piling years upon her shoulders making her feel least 30 years older than she realls was... "Loki, got anything for me?" she asked gently to her cephalon as she gently walked back toward the gunnery stations, her mirage's heels clacking against the metallic green floor.

Inarihatta(NSW) - Inari 14-Jul-20 01:34 PM

LOKI The once lively cephalon now had taken on a more somber tone, before it was just him and the little fox, exploring the sol system, fighting, taking care of each other, it always felt like some adventure out of the data records that he would scan through to keep himself occupied while she was away on missions. But now, with their orbiter gone, and having to work with the other cephalons brought into his forest, the adventures had turned into a long waking nightmare, watching his little fox suffer had begun to take it's toll on his digital algorithms, even deep within the forest, in HIS forest, where he once found peace, he only found more work. "...got anything for me?" The gentle voice of little fox roused him from his deep thoughts as he overheard the other cephalons speaking about another tenno going out on patrols and needing someone to pilot. "The tenno at the helm, the excalibur, is going out to help in patrols, we need someone at the helm, and no one knows better the arcadia then you little fox"

Inari Hearing Loki she nodded, "Alright tell them i'm heading up then" Walking past the gunner stations she entered the pilot house of the ship, walking up to the excalibur in the pilots chair, she reached out with her frames gauntlet and tapped him on his left shoulder, "go do your patrols, i got this" She said calmly

Nor_Urzak - Muro/Aurelia 13-Oct-20 07:06 PM

Aurelia: Aurelia let out a tired sigh as the Excalibur left the room. Even at a time like this, these Tenno still managed to keep up their sense of bravado. There was a time where she would have supported such a stance, admired it even. Not anymore. "Well, if that's settled," she said with a hint of exasperation, "I have some wounded passengers to tend to. If you'll excuse me." She turned and started walking away from the group with a stilted stride, her projection dissolving as she moved away. Once out of immediate sight of the others, she reached out over a personal comm link. "Muro. Dominus is headed out to scavenge supplies from the debris field. He may require support." Muro: At Aurelia's call, Muro's head turned, eying the camera behind him before slinging his shotgun over his shoulder. With some visible effort, the Hydroid pulled itself to its feet and engaged the nearby gun turret, his fingers flexing around the handles as the control rig slid into position. He tried rolling his frame's shoulders in a half-hearted attempt to ease some of the stiffness he felt, before turning his attention back to start scanning the area for where the Excalibur had launched himself to. If he was intent on going out there, Muro was going to make damn sure he had someone watching his back.

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 20-Oct-20 08:42 PM

Muro: Muro stared into the debris field, at the rocks slowly drifting and turning... A cannon battery! He must shoot it, before it... no, just a piece of twisted metal, casting shadows. A distant, jagged shape in the darkness... Murex! Why didn't it show up in the ship's sensors? The debris shifted, and the apparition was gone. Pinpricks of light turned out to be reflections from pieces of metal rather than muzzle flash. An ogma scavenging the debris turned out to be missing a large portion of its hull, melted away by railjack weaponfire sometime in the past... Void knew how long it had been drifting out here...

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 20-Oct-20 08:53 PM

~ ~ ~ ((Flashback which I've been sitting on for way too long)) ((This takes place shortly after Alex and Kyel argue about whether to blame the pilot.)) ((This should be the last flashback. If I write another one, slap me or smth.)) Murbir awoke with an arm around her. Startled, she quickly pushed it off, prompting a groggy "hey, it's okay..." from its owner. After a moment of squinting, she recognized the hulking form crouched next to her as the tall defector in Nightwatch armor... what was her name again? Esk. Right. The other two were asleep in their own corners, barely touched by the light from the dying reactor, sputtering on the end of its fuel load. They hadn't launched with a full fuel load, and some had leaked from the destroyed engines before they'd gotten the valves closed. One by one, the non-critical systems had been shut off to conserve power over the past few... days? weeks? It didn't matter now, did it? "What are you doing?!" she whispered angrily, careful not to wake the other two. The tall clone drew back slightly. "I... thought you might need a hug." It wasn't visible in the reactor's glow, but her face was turning red. "What's that and why?" "It's... It's when you put your arms around someone. It helps people calm down and feel safe." "and that works?" "Yeah. Usually. It surprised me too. That it works, I mean." "Hmm." They were silent for a moment, watching the reactor glow and trying not to make eye contact. Eventually Mur spoke. ((1/2)) (edited)

"There's a lot they didn't tell us." "Who, the Grineer?" "Yeah. And I missed it." "Missed what?" "Everything. I defected, and then... this." "It's not your fault." "I'm the pilot. I'm responsible for where we go." Esk opened her mouth, and closed it again. Mur continued. "I tried to put us in an orbit out of the way, where the Sentients won't find us. But nobody else will look here either. He's right, isn't he." "Who?" "Him. The Other." "Alex. And he's wrong. There's nothing you could have done to make this any better." "Really? Staying in orbit and conserving fuel to avoid Sentients coulda worked. We'd be easier to find." "Risky, though. One mistake and we're rotten." "I already made that mistake. We're back where we started, like we never left the Grineer. We're stuck in one place, waiting to die, and we're eating our fallen brother which is the same as eating nutrient slurry." Esk was silent for a moment. When she answered, she spoke slowly, as if organizing her thoughts as she spoke them. "I can see what you mean. But this is different. The Grineer gave us a purpose, we were going to live and die for a reason, for the glory of the Queens. Here, we have no purpose, besides survival, which we probably won't do. You might, though." "Me? How would anyone survive here?" "Well, you'll probably survive the longest. Alex has his hand, Kyel needs a special nutrient formula for noxes, which we don't have, and I have my leg. You're uninjured, but the rest of us, we're rotten." A few moments passed. Mur spoke. "If you're convinced you're rotten, why did you bother with your leg?" Esk sighed. "I don't really know. Habit, I guess. It just seemed like the right thing to do." ((2/2)) ~ ~ ~

Kelimnac - Dominus 28-Oct-20 09:47 PM

DOMINUS Dominus had emerged from the slingshot rapidly, only for his Odonata to slow to a manageable speed seconds later, the momentum only to get him within view of the debris field. At the same time, his Cephalon rung inside of his head, words meant only for him. "I don't agree with this, Master, even as I obey. I have a sinking suspicion we were more closely followed than we think." The Tenno inside is quiet for a few moments longer, drifting around a large chunk of hull that he sweeps the opposite side of with his Imperator barrel readied. He had his Pangolin Sword floating comfortably along at his hip, but the heaving brick of metal that was the Veritux telescoped and strapped to the Archwing itself would make for a more viable option in any melees. He pushes forward, eyes ever watchful for both threats and possibly valuable salvage. Finally, he replies to Intellectus, as neutral as ever. "That we were followed or traced is a guarantee, Intellectus. The question is whether or not we can throw them off of our scent or eliminate them before they bring even more heat down onto us. Right now though, I'm willing to take a risk for supplies. We need a little good news after..." He tapered off, mind briefly lost in the vaults of his mind. A mind newly filled with horrible visuals of a losing battle, a lost war. Memories he would never be rid of, and he cursed himself, whether for his own failings, or for his inability to forget, none could know. But there was work to do. He steadied his nerves, kept his weapons readied, and pushed onward, sending a single wave transmission back to the Railjack. "Dominus here. Entering the debris field now. Will be in touch."

UnremarkableUsername - Karsk 31-Oct-20 12:47 PM

Dominus: Nothing moves among the debris field. Or, well, nothing gives an obvious impression of being alive. In fact, everything is moving, each object moving past each other on subtly different orbits. Most of it is rocks, ranging from grains of dust all the way up to objects big enough to fit a railjack inside, if you hollowed them out. The Grineer, it seems, were doing just that. Several of the larger rocks have had significant portions carved away, like huge half-eaten gray apples. Other rocks have the remains of cannon batteries placed on them, apparently insufficient to fend off some past Tenno attack. An ogma drifts past you. At least, most of an ogma. A scan for ores will reveal that the resources which led the Grineer to set up a mining operation are, for the most part, still here. Crewship In the starboard gunner's position, Murbir Riann gave up beating her fist on the window, and wondered why she had bothered to do that in the first place. Of course the Tenno flitting back and forth on their archwing out there couldn't hear her. He hadn't noticed her waving either, or at least hadn't given any sign of noticing. She fired a missile, and it left a bright, fiery trail into space. That ought to get the Tenno's attention, and if it didn't, there was enough ammunition on this ship for an orbital fireworks display. It was a shame ship-to-ship munitions weren't edible. She was hungry. Everyone was. At least, those who were still alive.