Log:Journey to Ajurpan Si, Part 2

2019/12/16 	 Spirit Sinmore Starlight Sentinel Artemis Quiet

1

The heroes have volunteered to accompany and transport Artemis to the distant Moon of Ajurpan Si, where she had spent time and befriended Bethran and his small village. Spirit and Starlight helped carry a spaceworthy vessel with the other heroes to make the 6+ hour journey. Upon arriving, the heroes notice the Vykar mothership in orbit, with transport vessels traveling to and from the moon's surface.

Finding the village, they are met with Ajurin resistance fighters. Artemis mistakes one for Bethran, only to find out it is his son, Ganivere. Bethran had died two years prior helping fight against the invading Vykar.

Having detected the heroes' arrival, a fighter ship has arrived to root out the rebels and the heroes, and the battle has begun. While the heroes fight the fighter ship, Artemis has stayed in the village to block any stray fire from harming the Ajurin, and Starlight has flown up to throw rocks at the Mothership to get its attention. A threat was issued by Spirit...

Quiet's initial potshot at the ship's weapon mount was not as effective as she'd hoped. Seeing that Sinmore is well on her way to opening up this flying C-Ration to get at the goodies inside, she can't fault the logic. She switches her gravitics over, boosting herself up for a leap upward and onto the enemy ship in Sinmore's vicinity. An energy blade snaps into existence from her forearm, just in case they need an additional can-opener.

Quiet lands on the craft near Sinmore, giving Sinmore a quick half-salute with her free hand before looking to her detempering of the hull via handwarming.

So, Sapphire was watching folks deploy, and she was keeping herself on hand as a strategic reserve. But things are engaged now. So she decides to get a bit closer while maintaining her reserve status. So she armors up and heads out of the airlock while preparing for a defensive role.

Sinmore looks to Quiet, nods her head, and then returns to sustaining the enormous venting of heat into the subsurface of the hull plating. As she pours heat and fire into the space she's already melted, Sinmore may be sinking her arms in ever deeper.

Part of the hull turns into slag, going molten and dripping down into the interior. There's some deep sounding shouts within.

Over the radio bands, those with radio hearing can detect a message from the Vykar Mothership, translated into a mechanized sounding version of Spirit's voice and accent, picked up by their translation software: <>

Griffin arcs around to the Vykar Attack Vessel's primary weapons array to help insure its unable to press the attack too hard.

Easy enough for Griffin when its laser blasters- he flies right in front of the barrels and then attempts to grab on- if successful he flip upside down and try to rip the array from the ship itself.

Metal wrenches around the turret supports. Metal bends. It's held in place and can't rotate at the moment, pointed off-target.

The turret held by Griffin fires off into the distance, hitting nothing. The damaged ship starts to strafe and turn, beginning to fly away while the other turret fires at Spirit.

As the ship begins to move, and weapons train on Spirit, Sapphire twists in mid-air and holds out her hand. As she does so, a giant blue hand appears beside Spirit. Holding a solid ping pong paddle. It is translucent, but Sapphire swings it in an expert arc, batting away the incoming blast while rolling her neck and preparing to keep deflecting.

In orbit far away from the battle on the ground, the Vykar Mothership has been attacked by a scattering of dust that rippled across its shields and extreme speeds. One of the main megacannons targets Starlight, locking on. It charges up before sending a 12m wide beam at Starlight.

The energy blast goes straight through Starlight's energy form.

"Oop. Time to get cover," intones Sinmore as she feels the fighter craft lurch into proper maneuvering motion. She sinks forward and drops into hole with a sinuous motion, landing in a crouch while fire and heat continues to boil off of her body. Languidly, Sinmore stands up straight in an attempt to intimidate anyone in the hallway.

Three Vykar suddenly look towards Sinmore. Two towards the front of the ship, one behind her and towards the back. They're dressed in armored, helmless suits, though there are helms in the recessed storage along the sides. They hesitate in surprise at her entry.

The Vykar are...big'uns. Seven foot tall, broad, with long, thick lims. Their scaled skin is green, and their faces are angular, flat, with no nose, spiny brow ridges and chins, and pointed, long ears. They're teeth are pointed and sharp.

Quiet would've preferred Sinmore had waited just a moment. A flashbang in the interior during breaching before clearing is general practice... just not when a teammate is already inside. So, Plan B. She drops down the hole after, aiming for the fore side of the craft of Sinmore, if possible. Her blade stays up and she adds an energy shield on the other forearm. Better than the rifle for close quarters.

One Vykar is gutted and sent flying back towards the wall next to the door to the cockpit. He slides down, green ichor oozing out rapidly as it goes still.

Spirit remains still and hovering while Sapphire protects him, and he reaches out with a hand toward the approaching craft...and starts to draw off power from its engines. The energy pulls toward him in white wisps of energy.

The ships engines and interior lights begin to flicker from the power drain.

The two Vykar inside the fighter ship quickly drop to their knees and plant their hands on the deck, clawed fingers spread and heads down.

Sinmore would normally crack her knuckles as she looms over the pair of Vykar. Instead, the fire giantess reaches up and rams her hands into the ceiling so that she can continue pouring heat and fire into the ship's interior spaces. MELT ALL THE THINGS!

The hull starts raining large drips of molten metal down around Sinmore as the hole widens even further.

Griffin is well aware of how loose this weapon has become. He also knows you have to rip it to win- so he gives it another tug.

As he charges his super-human musculature sparks of energy travel up and down his body.

He sticks to the plan despite knowing he could probably sever something vital inside with it in its current state of disrepair- but he also suspects that the locals are loosing the war due to the disparity in their levels of technology. So- he plans to leave them a perfectly good example of Vykar weapons technology.

Starlight stays in energy form while considering her next option.

Metal born of stars millions of light years distant shears under the forces Griffin exerts on it. Welds fracture & bolts snap as his feet sink into the fuselage of the fighter craft.

Soon the array drops, snagged only by the wiring harness to the control computer.

Griffin yanks it once more and it all comes loose before he looks down and drops it to the ground after he confirms no one is going to be squashed by it.

Quiet looks to the man down and the ones who very much look to be surrendering. Quiet steps past them, eyeing them warily with blade still ready, to make her way to the cockpit. There she'll see about landing this thing. Preferably before Sinmore melts it into complete slag, with them still it in. If she wants to make space s'mores after that? Q has no problems.

Two more Vykar sit in the cockpit. One is facing ahead, hands on a pair of driving sticks. The other is facing the weapons systems interface on the right, where one of the targeting holoscreens has turned to scrolling lines over the last thing from the turret's feed. The gunner turns its head to notice Quiet first.

Quiet redraws her rifle and points the now-growing-to-very-large-diamter bore at the pair. She can only hope that the gesture is universal enough to encourage them to consider their next actions carefully.

The Vykar gunner puts up his hands, and screeches something to the pilot. The pilot looks over its shoulder, and lifts its hands off the controls. "Tarish sku ka?"

The Vykar fighter ship drifts in the direction it was pointed, not firing.

The Vykar Mothership powers up another blast, but it just goes through Starlight again...

Starlight heads back down to the moon's surface. Her bluff clearly failed and she's not going start throwing real rocks and kill who knows how many of the aliens.

Spirit says over the comms, << What's the situation on board the ship? >>

Griffin replies to Spirt. <<"Ship is down, Commander. Well in hand. Soldiers on board packed it in near as I can tell- waiting for confirmation."

He floats along side the ship before arcing above it- confirming visually with what he's sensing with his energy powers.

"Can I stop melting the ship?" calls Sinmore to Quiet.

Spirit nods. << Let's get that ship landed before we have some casualties. >>

Quiet keeps eyes on the pilot and gunner as she steps back out to offer Sinmore a thumb up. She then drops her weapon on those in the cockpit long enough to point it at the one bleeding out. The barrel condenses down before she zots him with a NURRS round. It should at least stop him from oozing all over the deck. She then leans back into the cockpit to point at the pilot's controls and them point firmly downward.

Some signals just translate. The pilot nods, and the Vykar ship lands in the field beyond the small village.

Sinmore stops pumping heat and fire into the interior spaces. The fire giantess rumbles and steps up, cracking her knuckles as she looks at the Vykar arrayed before her.

The two conscious Vykar in the hold lower closer to the deck as Sinmore cracks her knuckles.

Starlight annouces, "Well I didn't achieve anything up by the mothership, except to get fired on. What's the situation here?"

The Vykar that was bleeding out is stitched up by the nanites in the NURRS round. He's no longer at risk of dying, but it'll have a scar to tell the hatchlings about someday.

Spirit waves to Starlight, "The attack ship was...detained. A couple of people went aboard. I have the frequency they were using, and I can communicate with the mother ship. The only question is...what to say now."

The Vykar fighter ship powers down as the pilot turns off the engines, then rotates in its seat to face Quiet.

Quiet steps back into a corner of the cockpit to clear the entryway, then motions for the pilot and gunner to utilize said recently-vacated means of egress. They can rejoin their crewmates and enjoy tales of the spacelanes, get drunk, or whatever the like. So long as it's not potentially flying around to shoot at her team.

Artemis is still in the village, shield out and sword ready. She smiles as the fighters hip is taken out. Some of the Ajurin in hiding start to open the doors to their homes and look to see what happened. Then there is cheering from the Ajurin.

Sinmore stands guard over all of the Vykar aboard the former fighter craft. Hopefully the vaguely reptilian-looking aliens like the additional heat that comes with being within 8m of her large frame.

The pilot and gunner rejoin their crew, hands held palm up to show they're empty. They leave their fallen behind, eyeing Sinmore and Quiet cautiously as they join in the supplication gesture of the others.

Spirit doesn't get any immediate suggestions for what to send, so he goes with his gut, sending a message to the mother ship. << Vykar Conglomerate. I advise you to stay out of our way. Sending another ship in our direction will have the same exact result. >>

Quiet checks that Sinmore is good with the babysitting, before stowing her weapon. A few taps on the controls on her right forearm, and her holos project a parrot on her right shoulder. With an eyepatch. It even squawks. "Avast ye! Avast ye!"

There's a bit of a gap for the response before there's a return message. << What do you space pirates want in exchange for our crew and ship? >>

Spirit responds back, << We're not pirates. But we also don't appreciate being attacked. They'll be free to go...in a bit. >>

<> The captain's voice is translated in Spirit's voice, though the cadence is all wrong.

Sinmore shoots a thumbs up to Quiet. The fire giantess folds her arms across the chestplate of her Muspel Mail, scowling at the Vykar while she waits for something to happen.

Spirit flies over to where the ship has landed. "The mothership would like confirmation that their people are alive." He then sends a radio message, << Confirming their status. As for 'invading your territory', we dont' know the Vykar Conglomerate. We're from the Milky Way Galaxy. And in regards to attacking your mother ship, a show of force was warranted. That was merely a message. That wasn't an attack. Yet. >>

Sinmore looks up through the hole in the "ceiling" of the ship and waves.

"Hi, Commander!"

<> the Captain responds. The comms grow quiet for a moment. <>

Griffin is sure to swoop down and grab the fighter's severed weapon- he grabs it gingerly by the base, hoping that this might help the rebels repel these foreign invaders. Then the Super Soldier returns to his position over head of the 'acquired' military vehicle.

Griffin listens in on the conversation held bewteen he and the alien invaders.

He nods with an impressed look - though he usually is quite impressed with how the Commander deals with this type of thing. He would have likely taken a different tact altogether- but that's exactly what makes Spirit's gambit so impressive.

Griffin laughs when they don't believe in the Milky Way- though if he didn't know Indira who is from a galaxy away and other metahumans who can cross the gulf personally he'd be doubtful of anyone making that journey too.

Quiet follows Sinmore's wave and offers a salute to Spirit, while her eye-patched parrot adds, "Aye, Captain!" No reason not to mix a little fun with business. She does launch herself back to the outside of the hull once Spirit's done and out of the way. The ship's landed and isn't going anywhere at the moment, so why miss all the scenery?

Spirit sends one more message, << You watched us arrive in system. You should have been able to detect that two of us were flying...in space. And towing a module. If you didn't realize that...check you sensor records. And then tell me again how we're these pirates you think we are. >>

The Captain takes some time to think about it. <>

Spirit responds, << We are here to fulfill a promise made 30 plus years ago. And I am what one would call a Human. >> Technically not really true any more, but close enough for government work....which thus just happens to actually be.

The Vykar prisoners in the ship are still bowed and on all fours, not aring to look at their captors in the eyes.

Looking Sinmore in the eyes may be particularly difficult. You know, what with her eyes being made of flames and Talia standing nearly twice the Vykar's height.

Spirit furrows a brow, "Not sure if I can do this, but I'll try." He heads to take a look at the prisoners...and then transmit a picture of what he's seeing to the mothership, so they can confirm their crews' status."

<> The captain must've received the broadcast. <>

Griffin flies the weapon back to Artemis and holds the line with her while he relays what he's 'overhearing' on the radioband to her. "Sounds like someone remembers you well." He adds at the end.

He sets the weapon down gingerly and points it skyward- then he leans on it casually while he waits.

The Ajurins approach the weapon cautiously and begin examining it. It's about as big as they are.

Artemis chuckles at the weapon. "I see you have collected a trophy weapon."

Spirit grins when he realizes that the picture was sent. "Sweet." He sends, << We will be returning to the Milky Way, yes. When our business here is completed. >>

<> The Captain agrees.

"Its not for me. Its for them." Griffin says, waving his hand towards the Ajurins. "It'll be a hard fight if we can't figure out a way to balance the scales a bit. Then maybe they can protect themselves well enough to not have to worry about these vultures." He waves the other hand up in the sky towards the Mothership which can't be seen but they're all aware of.

Spirit comes back out of the smaller ship and lands near the others. "The mothership is going to keep its distance for the time being."

Artemis studies the weapon and nods. "Perhaps so. These Vykar do not belong on this world."

Quiet listens in on the comm traffic. Lucky for her, she can do it with risking saying something aloud that would be inadvertently transmitted. While the news is good news, she can't help but point out what she believes to be cold hard fact.

Well, she doesn't, herself. She's not quite ready to give up the parrot, yet.

"Arr! They only be hiding because we kicked their arses! They'll be back to pillaging the moment we sail away! Arr!"

Ganivere steps over to the others, followed by the other armed Ajurins. "They will continue to steal from our lands and use our people in the mines. Will they stop?"

"I can't imagine they will unless you give them good reason to." Griffin answers earnestly. "They know they have tech you guys can't match. SO they do what they want. Your rebellion doesn't cost them enough to stop the engine they're running." He says, wondering if it would be possible to make the Arjuins too wiley an opponent to oppress.