Log:The Property of Duod Dalux

The Property of Duod Dalux 2019/10/01 	 Victory Swarmer Adun Artemis Voyager

1

Artemis has been searching for trouble and/or action since she departed the Metal Mountain of NashCo. She has yet to suspect she is being stalked by a hunter new to the urban jungle. She keeps just below the general rooftop line, looking about to survey the streets below for criminal activity.

Ashildur may not be expecting that her shadow is now airborn, keeping not only below rooftops, but often landing and perching, using corners and walls to remain more inconspicuous. Perhaps this is an adaptation of their previous, rather aborted "hunt" in the training room. Or maybe he simply wants to learn more of these hooman lands and customs, but in the context of more familiar company.

There's a strange, faint hum in the air, coming from above. It's something that sounds distant and seems to be drawing closer. Nobody else seems to be noticing this sound in the noisy city, their senses dulled from the comforts of city life.

Adun may notice more due to the fact that nearly all is unfamiliar, and a possible threat. This keeps keen senses contantly on alert. After landing on a nearby cupola, eyes flit to Artemis before lifting upwards and head turns towards teh sounds.

There's a ripple around the large outline of....something. Suddenly, a searing yellow beam appears from this rippling edge and blasts Artemis in the back. The beam is so wide, she almost disappears as she's sent crashing down into the pavement. She's embedded into a crater of her own making once the beam fades. That humming sound of anti-grav drives grows louder as it positions itself over the smoking Artemis.

Adun's eyes immediately narrow at the bright beam, then widen as they follow its path into and around Artemis. Adun may be confused, and have no idea what hidden spirit has unleashed fiery breath, but he -can- see Artemis and her crater. He dives from his perch for the ground, angling towards the assaulted Ashildur.

Starguard detected something over the city with its sensors before they lost the blip when it flew too long. Victory was sent out to investigate, hearing the sound of a very large laser up ahead and around the corner.

Artemis lies face down in a crater in the middle of the street by the Corporate Tower, her back smoldering. She hasn't got her shield or sword out, having not noticed the threat.

A Starguard hovervan stops nearby, having just arrived from the Alien District. Victory hops out of the side, and slaps the side of the vehicle. "Thanks for the lift. Get clear for now. I'll report back." The driver nods and pulls away, moving to the edge of hte district.

Both Victory and Swarmer hear low level humming. Wade would find it kind of like a different flavor to the sound the hovervan makes, only at a lower pitch...as of something much larger. The pair are able to make out the faint, rippling outline of a large hovering shape that's drifting towards Artemis. It's got to stay above the rooftops to avoid hitting the buildings as it passes over the street.

Victory turns on his shield and runs in the direction of Artemis, trying to cross the distance as quickly as possible.

At full speed, Victory manages to arrive at the crater's edge to see a smoldering Artemis.

Above the level of most buildings, above the threat of antennae and other metal things that stick out to harm unwary pixies, Swarmer enjoys an evenight flight in the cool air. While she is in no way bothered by how chilled the weather might get, it can be pleasant either warm or cool depending on her mood. Tonight she is in the mood for cooler, and it pleases her. Her first sight to give her pause is Artemis herself, in the crater. As the only giant she finds worthy in the whole of the world, this is someone she can recognize at a great distance with ease. She flits downward to provide assistance, halting before she meets with the massive... humming thing as it blocks her path. "Begone!" she orders with the swarmegaphone in hand.

Adun was already diving towards the Ashildur-crater and now slows just enough to land safely. He looks to the vague thing above, then down to Artemis. He grumble-growls loudly at her. The words are unintelligible, but could be to aid in her getting up.

Artemis groans, trying to shake off the stunning blast that took her by surprise. Her fingers dig into the cracked asphalt, which is mostly gravel now as she tries to recover. "Malkuth's beard, what struck me...?"

The ship slows to a hover above Artemis, some 8 meters above the ground. It's almost ovaloid in shape from what can be seen of the fringe. Then suddenly, a rectangle opens in the cloaked field, revealing an interior and two beings in strange armor and holding a few very large weapons. The big one is about eight feet tall and almost as wide, carrying a large blaster that looks more like a chain gun in size. The small, six limbed one is maybe five feet tall, stick-like, carrying a hip blaster and holding a spear-like weapon with a glowing tip that looks hot as plasma.

As the ship's laser cannon charges up, the yellow glow can be seen, revealing the barrel of the weapon on the underside of the ship. Meanwhile, something is broadcast in an alien language in the area...then a different sounding language...then another. It cycles through as it prepares to blast Artemis again.

Swarmer flits around the fringe that she senses of the mass, trying to get into a position of being able to direct the swarm to interfere with it!

Artemis gets blasted and knocked down again before she can even start to get up or get her shield ready. With a growl of pain, she collapses fully again. For a moment, her vision fades and blacks out. There's a loud high pitched ringing in her ears. And then, her closing eyes snap open as she takes a sharp breath to rouse herself.

The flow of insects covers Artemis and the area surrounding her with a mass of insects, and Swarmer tries to convince another legion to do her bidding, only to be met with more arguments from the legion's commanders! "Cease this attack upon the Godflora, Giant!" she presumes it's a giant controlling the whatever it is.

Those cycling words keep going on from the ship, trying to communicate. The thin, stickbug-like alien leaps down towards the swarm, glowing speartip first as it aims at her back. The swarm doesn't look like it's deterring Vadnox. It disappears into the swarm cloud.

Artemis can't even be heard over the buzzing of the swarm. But Adun sees...and he hears.

Adun makes out the incoming point. Glowing or not, he bellows an unintelligible warning and leaps for it... or rather, for the prone-again Artemis. Unfortunately, gravity work for the attacker and against him as he lands in a sprawl a few meters short.

Victory gets a general feel for where Vadnox is...based on movement. And prediction. He moves a couple of meters...and then lashes out with a strong side kick, doing so without being able to see the target at all.

The kick lands solidly in Vadnox's midsection.

Triganon leaps down outside of the warm, his power armor's boots thundering when they hit the pavement. It's face, what can be seen in its large bulbous helmet, is probably what you'd get if you mixed a hippopotamus with a toad. It even sounds that way as it croak-barks out something, turning its gun towards Adun.

More speeches. Finally in English in a robotized voice, "Surrender the criminal. Harboring the criminal will earn you sentencing."

More languages are heard repeating the message. More alien ones. Then...russian?

Swarmer turns the uncooperative legion upon the ship! "You will not besmirch the Godflora with those words, Giant!" she declares angrily, as the bugs get into everything in the engines...

The humming sound accompanying the ship starts to stutter as its impulse grav drives are attacked. It tilts a little to one side, but is still upright at the moment.

Victory shouts, "What is she accused of doing?! You can't just kidnap someone from our planet!"

Vadnox clicks and chitters something after that kick from Victory. Victory can sense the alien is trying to stab Artemis again.

The ship makes a pulsing sound as it detects a question. There is a pause for translation

Victory brings his shield around in a glowing arc, redirecting the weapon away from Artemis. "Not again...that's not happening again."

The plasma-like speartip sparks against Victory's shield. He can feel the heat even through his shield, but it doesn't hurt him.

The ship finally translates a list. "This being is wanted dead or alive by order of the Tribunal. Crimes: Public drunkeness. Destruction of property. Battery. Murder. Vehicle theft. Robbery. Evading Tribunal officers." It's a whole book of offenses.

Triganon looks between Adun, and then the nuisance fairie. It charges up its weapon and starts firing at Swarmer.

Adun doesn't understand a word of the strange babbling by their attackers (unless they should happen to speak Grinmarian, and why would they bother?). Knowing that they are attackers is more than enough, though. He scrambles to his feet darts towards her. He may not be able to see well, but he can hear and smell perfectly fine. If he can't immediately keep the attacker from her, then maybe he can take her from them.

Swarmer closes her fist as a shot flies past her from below, and the Swarm flows more into the engines with the sort of fervor one would expect from a host of angry wasps and roaches and gnats and other insects. "Your accusations against the Godflora will not be tolerated! Prepare to face the reckoning!"

The ship starts to wobble as the bugs eat into wiring and gum up the drives with their endless waves. There's an odd powering down sound as the humming goes silent and that transparent, fringed shape starts to drop...towards everyone on the ground.

The ship drops...

The swarm gets flattened first...then most of the heroes suddenly feel a huge weight crash down on them. Parked cars and the buildings the ship scrapped up prevent them from being completely crushed to death, as well as fast reflexes, but they are currently trapped in various sections by the mass and weight of the ship.

Victory senses the ship dropping at the last second. "Holy..." He raises his shield to take the brunt of the impact and gets knocked flat in the crater.

The aliens get trapped beneath as well. Dust kicks up in the whole block. Buildings are scrapped as the ship now settles on the ground.

The dust kicked up from the cloud makes it hard to breathe, for those who need to before the dust settles. Civilians cleared the area as soon as the first blast hit, abandoning their cars if they had to. A few of those vehicles and been compressed and crushed with the crash of the space ship. The air shimmers as the ship decloaks.

The ship, for those who can see it from the exterior and through the swarm, looks aged and weathered. Its bulbous, not very sleek, organic in shape but definitely made of a strangle orange-brown metal. There are no markings or symbols on the hull. One side of the ship has scraped along the front of the northern building of this east-to-west street, and almost scraped the southern buildings.

For those trapped underneath, the air pockets afforded to them by mostly-crushed vehicles are filled with swarming, buzzing bugs that make it hard to see or hear.

Adun finds himself pinned in a small triangular pocket of space next to a flattened Fjord Fission, debris and bugs blocking his view of the others a few meters away. Victory managed to land/get trapped in the crater that Artemis lays face down in. Theres about two feet of headroom, and the crater expands in a 2 meter radius around Artemis. The two aliens are somewhere unseen beneath the ship. Swarmer is above and just outside the crash zone.

Victory coughs as he breathes in debris. A moment too late, he starts to hold his breath, at least for the moment. That makes it all the more difficult as he tries to push at the ship, seeing if he can budge it. No luck there.

Triganon cannot be seen where he is. The bugs and buzzing subside as they drift out through the small nooks and cranies. Artemis is still and motionless, but breathing.

There's some groan of metal as Victory tries to push free, but the ship doesn't actually budge.

Swarmer releases the Swarm's influence over the area, setting herself down on one of the buildings to catch her breath, taking stock of the situation, preparing for the next step...

Adun coughs at the dust, then closes mouth and nostrils against the airborne debris. He struggles to orient himself, or, rather, free himself enough to orient himself in the confines betwee ground, smashed metal steed, and formerly flying mountion now atop them.

The dust starts to settle, allowing people to breathe freely. More sounds of metal groans as it settles.

Victory tries one more time to budge the ship, putting all of his strength into it. And if this doesn't work, then it might be time to call in Delta for backup.

Victory thinks to himself as the ship fails to budge. . o O (Why did they land on us? And their friend? Did the engine die? Why?)

Noting the lack of exit from beneath the great thing, Swarmer flits down to examine and begins using the Swarm to extract the rubble to create a hole.

There's some minor scraping at the ground, even with the tough asphalt. They manage to push in about a meter under the ship, but can't get through the metal.

The synthetic lifeform known to Earthlings as Model 9 or SONA was at a computer terminal nearby, researching Earth culture and various things on its list of 'curiosities' when its PDA beeps in its handwoven satchel.

The machine grabs the device and scans it with its large optical unit.

Numerous keywords are highlighted confirming its personal need to be on site- if only to research an off-world threat and how its host species handles such a thing.

It of course has no idea Artemis was the target of the assault but it still strives to arrive as quickly as possible.

The VoyagerSIM sends the Model 9 Prototype down roadways, signalling with its hands as it dodges between cars moving away from the mayhem ahead.

Its feet pound toward the downed ship as soon as it sets its eye on it.

Victory starts breathing again, now that it looks like the debris and insects are less of an issue. He rolls over onto his stomach and crawls over toward Artemis, who he knows is a lot stronger than he is...and tries to wake her up. "Artemis...come on...we need your strength here."

Artemis is out cold. There seems a moment of potential reaction, a twitch of her closed eyes, but then she settles again. Not even a challenge would probably get through to her.

Adun grunts, now that the dust has settled some, as he tugs and twists to free himself, or at least one arm. Managing to finally gain this limited mobility, he stretches to rest two fingers of the hand attached to the arm on the bicep of the pinned opposite arm. He utters a brief prayer or entreaty in his own tongue.

Swarmer begins using the Swarm to start extracting rubble in multiple spots, one legion to hold section aloft and the other to remove.

Small bits of debris are carried away, from tiny pebbles to a few human hand-sized chunks.

Voyager scans the scene, looking for representatives of the alienship & anyone who's responded so far. Naturally it hopes to intercede on the Earthlings behalf & establish a line of communication like any good Exemplar Class Probe should. Or at least like the VoyagerSIM believes leveraging all the information it has on its own purpose- which is next to none besides its base terminal values. Being a droid, it takes a few dozen processing cycles to consider its 'self' before completing its path towards the downed ship.

It begins searching for survivors, chiming negatively when specific scans come up with nothing immediately visible.

As it feels about its spots Swarmer. It chimes cheerfully upon her discover.

"Designation: Pixie-1! This Unit is pleased to see you. This is a curious situation for which I have no precedent in my databases. Should we alert StarGuard of this traffic accident since a spaceship was involved?" It inquires as it scans what the swarm is doing.

It begins assisting, removing handsized peices of rubble since that seems to be what Swarmer is doing. "Do you seek to recover something from within or beneath?" It asks, seeking its answer rapidfire.

The bugs and Voyager uncover a metal booted foot that doesn't look at all human. It's too thick and stubby.

"The Godflora and several others are beneath this wretch-driven thing!" Swarmer informs.

Victory keeps trying to wake Artemis up, by slapping her cheek. "Come on..." He also places a call to Starguard, "Trapped under the ship that crashed in teh intersection. I'm okay for the moment. There's a pocket of air. But if I might need Delta to show up and try to lift this thing with their power armor so we can get out from under it."

Smack! Artemis doesn't even notice it. To what will be her dismay, she is too defeated to lend aid.

The uncovered boot moves a bit.

Adun, now empowered by the Shamans' Gifts, braces his feet beneath him and puts his free hand on the very large, formerly flying and sneaky rock above him. The trapped arm can push, by nature of being already against it. He's had enough of confined caves lately, and there are others hurt and possibly also trapped!

With the groaning and grinding of metal and stone, and a muted bellow from beneath it, the mountain begins to move.

With a metallic groan of protest, the ship begins to lift up off the ground. Some debris rains down. The ship itself doesn't seem that damaged. Triganon is freed near Swarmer and Voyager. Vadnox looks like he's only just regaining consciousness as he rolls onto his side.

Fresh air rushes in where Victory is. The streetlights spill in to allow him to see better.

Artemis is still out cold. There's a black scorchmark-edged hole in the back of her cape, about 3-4 inches long.

The engines start to power up again after dead bugs fall out of their housings. Anti-grav discs begun to hum again, glowing and flickering a bit as the ship starts to hover under its own power. It manages to get some lift, but only rises two additional meters, freeing Adun from having to strain further.

"Your attack upon this city shall not go unnoticed by the guardians who dwell here!" Swarmer shouts through the Swarmegaphone, "Pinning the Godflora as some great oafish brute! This and your accusations will not be tolerated!"

Vadnox starts to pick himself (itself?) up. The stickbug-like alien in the space suit leans on its plasma-spear and looks around to figure out what happened. It jogs over to Triganon once it spots the hippo/toad crossbreed looking alien.

"ALERT! Organism detected." The VoyagerSIM announces as it prepares to double down its efforts to recover who or whatever this boot belongs to.

Swarmer's own announcement makes it stop its current efforts- pausing like a statue as it reorients its resources.

The android's various indicator lights start glowing, and turning shades of orange and red as it sets its motorized systems into a supercharged state.

It gives up attempting to move the rubble and instead circles the ship to find a point where it might leverage its strength and the ships position to effect the most change in that position.

It pauses again as Adun begins to shift it from beneath & adjusts its position & lifting angle accordingly to lend its assitance to the effort which is proved futile as the engines come back online and the ship begins hovering on its own.

The Android reanalyzes the situation.

Seeing Triganon & Vadnox freed nearby the android announces, "Greetings! I am Range Technical Systems Model 9 Prototype. Entities meeting Condition: Friends & Condition: Ally also refer to this Unit as SONA, short for Symbionic Optimized Neural(Network) Automaton. ALERT! You've been involved in a traffic accident. Please refrain from moving until emergency personnel can determine your injuries if any." It moves to greet and categorize Vadnox.

"WARNING! This Unit is capable of defending itself and others. Physical violence should be avoided as loss of limb or maiming may occur." Its says, giving a dreadful warning in a sunshiney bright voice.

Victory springs to his feet and turns on his shield again, guarding Artemis's unconscious form, "Sona, this wasn't just an accident. They're bounty hunters or something, looking for Artemis." He then shouts at the aliens and the ship, "You will not be taking her! If you want to extradite her, you will go through the proper authorities!"

Triganon's palms press the pavement and the suit ports there blast with thrust to push the big guy on his feet quickly. He picks up his rail-gun looking weapon and looks around at the odds. The croak-yaps something to Victory. The ship's mechanized voice translates, "We will present the writ of arrest for this fugitive."

Artemis is probably dreaming of great battles as she lies face down in her cozy crater, head turned to the side. There's a fine layer of dust on her armor and clothes. Voyager will notice what the others have. Her shield isn't out, and her sword wasn't even drawn when she went down.

"This Unit will not allow any Condition: Friend or Condition: Ally to be absconded with forcibly or against their will in any way. Entity Artemis is tagged as both." SONA replies cheerfully, turning its red optical sensor towards the aliens. If it could express malice, it would be doing so right now.

It considers its options.

"Designation: Pixie-1 should recover Artemis while Victory and this Unit prevent entities tagged Bounty-Hunter from a successful retrieval." The Android suggests aloud. It does not seem interested in this writ of arrest for it has seen iwth its own eyes that laws can be fallible.

"Very well!" Swarmer declares, sending a legion of the Swarm to pick up and extract Artemis to a less troublesome location judging by number of hostile creatures.

Adun turns to look at the fire-spear holding bug and the stone-skin toad. Eyes narrow at the former as a witnessed attacker with a recognizable weapon. Whatever their other babbling words are, he has not the slightest idea. With a snarl, he lunges for the spear-bug with open hands.

Vadnox is skinnier than one realizes. Adun's whole hand could fit around its waist, but it is faster by far, springing aside effortlessly.

Triganon starts speaking in loud, hostile tones at the attempt.

Swarmer lifts Artemis by way of many bugs, dragging her onto a stretcher thing and moving that away from the scene.

Artemis is lifted away, arm dangling off the side of the bug-made platform.

Victory hears Artemis getting pulled back, and takes note of the bugs doing so. He follows up, tryign to provide a little cover while they retreat with Artemis. . o O (Kinda making it difficult to keep her protected here...)

After the hostile actions from Adun, and Swarmer trying to whisk Artemis away to a life of pixedom, the laser turret underneath the ship starts to turn to follow Artemis. But then it stops halfway through its sweep, making an awful grinding noise. The fall must've damaged it.

Vadnox click-clack-buzzes at Triganon, the two briefly exchanging words. Triganon nods and Vadnox leaps up to sit on his shoulders with all the grace of Jack Skellington. The pair now look like some sort of Mecha-shiva with 6 arms on Triganon's two legs. Triganon, waiting for his partner prior, activates his suit's jets and flies up to the open side door of the ship. Vadnox hits something on the side panel and the door closes. The ship begins rising higher in the air, slowly.

The ship also rotates as it rises.

As the ship rotates, the turret starts to align with Artemis' direction

Voyager thinks at first that the ship is preparing to leave- retreating from its quarry but as it rotates it my reanalyze the situation.

The Android quickly realizes that the ship will soon be outside of its reach in any event, so it leaps towards a large piece of rubble left from the initial crash and lifts it above its head as it overcharges its motorized functions beyond standard tolerances.

"This Unit will attempt to cover Swarmer's departure. But we must prevent this ship from firing its weapon." The Android says cheerfully as it cocks its arms back and hurls it at the ship- hoping to damage somehting critical to stablized flight.

Victory shouts toward Voyager, "Try to target the weapon array on the next shot you take!"

The Android has found the majority of a late-model vehicle with its engine still in tact. It hurls the totalled car with everything it's got.

The ship doesn't look like it's hindered or even rocked by the car, thanks to its mass.

Voyager begins scanning the area for another suitable object to use as an improvised projectile.

It turns towards Victory. "Command: Acknowledged." It says before continuing its scan. If it feels disappointment that the ship was uneffected by its previous attempt it does not show it.

Victory keeps moving to cover where Artemis is...running over to act as a guard.

Triganon moves to the weapons control console to manually fire as it sees Artemis lined up in the targeting sights. The heroes see the laser charging up before a yellow lance of energy streaks that way.

Victory grunts with exertion as the laser slams into his energy shield, and he skids back a couple of feet in the debris-laden street. He manages to angle it well enough to send the blast back at the ship itself, slamming into the hull.

Victory is breathing heavily as he mutters to himself. "That's not going to work a second time, I bet."

Artemis (and the Swarm) are spared by Victory's effort. The ship is rocked and spins counterclockwise from the impact, the laser off-target again.

Swarmer creates a visual obstruction to prevent the ship from getting a lock on Artemis. A large tarp-like object stretched across the street.

Swarmer continues moving Artemis, finding a hidey spot for her while the ship deals with the tarp.

A tarp manifests, preventing the ship from seeing Victory or Artemis...and vice versa.

Adun glares at the mountain that, while not sitting on them, is breathing fire again! He touches a scar on his upper chest and then takes to the air, flying for the mountain's mouth to close it permanently!

The ship retreats higher, rising up to 12m off the ground in total. the tarp still obscures its view as it rotates again to align.

Vadnox goes next to Triganon and starts using all four arms to help activate some systems and open fire. The turret charges up longer this time, before a thick, two meter wide beam streaks for the tarp where it last things it saw Artemis.

Voyager is for the first time glad to have had its recent, unrequested upgrade. It saves this moment to memory as an iconic moment from its time playing assistant to society at large as it finds a bowled over vehicle.

"This Unit will endeavor to prevent a second time being necessary." The Mechanoid says with its usual candor as it turns to update its current situation.

Seeing the ship charging up another blast already it runs to interceed itself, charging up its personal deflectors enroute- causing two circular arrays to glow over its shoulders.

Voyager strides forward confidently, tossing the car aside which sets off a chain of events that cuases somehting to slide into Voyager's path enroute- causing the mechanoid ot fall flat on its face.

"ERROR!" It announces.

Victory does manage to keep the shield up, thankfully. Otherwise, he'd be unconscious after the blast rips through the tarp and sends him flying. He lands with a thump on the pavement, skidding to a stop.

Artemis and the swarm are rocked by the ship's blast. The swarm is nearly decimated as they and Artemis are blasted, tumbling as Victory sails past.

Artemis rolls to a stop, a little worse for wear.

Victory springs to his feet again, though he looks worse for wear. Being defensive isn't working. There's a need to deal with the immediate threat. He runs toward the ship and brings his arm around in an arc, sending his energy shield toward the ship-mounted laser.

The already damaged turret has its barrel split open, sparks raining down briefly as it's rendered useless.

The blast dissipates...and the shield reforms on Victory's forearm.

Triganon tries firing the weapon again, not realizing the thrown shield severely damaged it, resulting in an explosion...

The ship shoots upwards as it begins smoking and wobbling.

Some windows on the street rattle from the shockwave of the explosion.

Swarmer brings the Swarm to bear to take hold of the now even more unmoving form of Artemis.

Vadnox panics in the ship, its actions unseen...

Voyager rights itself and turns back to the vehicle that caused its previous failure and moves to reacquire it and send it back towards its original target- now much higher.

It lifts the vehicle, steps into a clear enough space and begins spinning it around to use centrifugal force to help cover the distance.

It spins rapidly, causing the car to whine in its steely grip as its frame is warped beyond saving. Suddenly the android releases its grip on car and it goes sailing towards ship's primary propulsion systems. It once again is trying to prevent either it fleeing or staying aloft. Either will do.

The ship spins and wobbles as the hull is dented with a car. The engines whine as they starts to risk losing power again.

Victory notices the lack of official livery on the outside of the ship. His eyes narrow as he shouts at hte ship, "If you're done shooting at us, you can get out here and talk!" He stands where he is, just staring the ship down as if it was a person he could intimidate.

Adun is relieved that the mouth no longer breathes fire and more ..drools it. And now it whine in pain and bleeds strangely while it tries to escape. But Adun won't allow wounded prey to escape, even it happens to be a stealthy flying mountain. Not after its vicious attack. He swoops after it via the Shamans' Gift and grabs hold. He will drag it back to face what it deserves!

This hard, screeching-rock mountain creaks as he squeezes on its exterior. A small patch-job panel drops off.

Some sort of alert noise starts going off a second or two after the panel detaches.

Swarmer moves Artemis further from the epicenter of the action, seeking shelter from potential blasts upon her.

There's alleyways, shops, a car automatic car wash, plenty of places to hide within reach...

Swarmer chooses the water cavern! Automated car wash this day serves as the place to conceal the Godflora.

Between Victory shouting defiantly at the ship, the damage, and having a crazy Grinmarian plastered on its side creating a hull BREACH, the ship tries to stabilize. The siren dies down as it's deactivated. "We will talk," comes out in robotic English on the speakers. It can't fire, and it can't leave orbit in its condition.

Swarmer sets to waking the Godflora with the help of sprinkling water that smells of rum.

Victory takes a deep breath and strides toward the ship, where the aliens will likely come out. He's not in a combat stance, but he doesn't turn off his shield, either.

Artemis is carried into the automated car wash by the Swaaaarrrrmmmm. There's no cars since people fled/drove away due to the fight. As she's placed under the water and wax dispensers, she is yet to even rouse. But she does smell lovely, and some of the dirt and dust are washed away.

The ship tries a controlled landing over the street and parking lot, moving slowly. The side hatch opens and Vadnox and Triganon step up with six hands in the air. Their weapons are not on them.

When the flying mountain appears lamed or tamed, Adun releases it, but flies alongside to be sure it doesn't try anything funny. Once he's convinced of that, he looks for the injured Ashildur. When she isn't immediately visible, he scents the air seeking where she might have moved/been moved to.

Victory sees the aliens don't have weapons on them, so he touches a button on his bracer, and shuts off his shield. He glances back to where Artemis was, and doesn't see where she went. Hopefully Swarmer has her someplace safe enough. He walks forward to greet the two aliens, "Let's see that writ. Or warrant. Whatever it is."

The chaos of the fight and the swarm make it difficult to track Artemis' scent.

The VoyagerSIM emulates Victory's posture and moves to back him up, striding almost as confidently as before. It powers down its overclocked or supercharged systems, sending its lights into white and blue hues. It looks much more friendly like this.

"These entities claimed to be Bounty Hunters. For what would they possibly have warrant for capturing Artemis?" The Android inquires aloud.

"Perhaps you seek another. This Artemis espouses a rhetoric of justice & goodwill." It says to the aliens matter-of-factly.

Victory shakes his head, "They didn't say they were bounty hunters, if I remember right. That was my assumption. We'll see."

They didn't announce who or what they were. But Triganon's translator turns on with a push button and his croaky voice says, "Bounty, yes."

Vadnox steps off to the side, returning later with a plastic looking piece of paper with optics enlaid to show scrolling text and updates in some foreign language. He holds it out for Victory to take, his other hands up in the air.

Victory speaks several languages, but they're all terrestrial. He looks to Voyager, "Can you make out the words on that?" He smiles slightly to the two aliens, "I'm going to need a translation. And one as accurate as possible."

Voyager scans the text. "Unfortunately I have not seen such a language- nor does this Unit possess the RTS Language Package. I fear that even if it did- it too would be restricted to Earth-based langauges." It replies to Victory cheerfully.

Adun sniffs and searches. When nose fails to catch her trail, he places a hand on his chest for a moment and then attempts to use sound. "Ashildur! Safe! Come! Out! No more hide!"

Victory slowly pulls out his PDA, "This isn't a weapon. I'm just transmitting a picture to someone who might be able to give you a solid answer." Assuming the aliens let him, he takes a photo and then sends it to Starguard to see if he can get a translation.

Vadnox clicks and r-r-r's a bit and steps in to look at what Victory is pointing to. It traces with one of its three fingers over the lines. There's a picture of Artemis, animated. It's not a lineup photo, though. She has some strange high tech collar on her, and looks serious. Angry, even. Shouting challenges in the soundless animation, no doubt. "List of crimes, here," it starts, and rereads the long list of crimes. "Reward for capture, alive or dead. Body must be presented for bounty," it continues.

The aliens allow Victory to take pictures.

While waiting for a translation from Starguard, Victory says to the aliens, "Who exactly is it that authorized her capture? That's unclear to me. Where did she supposedly commit these crimes?"

The Android watches all this carefully, looking for a way to dissolve the aliens' claim on his friend.

Vadnox makes some chirping clicks. "Is property of Duod Dalux. Escaped with cohort." It taps the smart-paper and the data shifts to show a grayish-skinned male with nose-ridges, wearing a similar collar. "Tribunal of Thran approve his claim. Evidence provided."

Victory raises a brow as he hears the name of Duod Dalux. "You're doing hte bidding of a slaver? The guy who runs the arena?"

Triganon huffs at the use of the word slaver. "Not slaver. Such insult! Respected owner of the Respendent Flotilla: Aluvius' Grace, he is."

A response comes from the comms to Victory. "Uhhh, no results found for that language, Sir."

Victory laughs. "You just said Artemis was his property. That's slavery." He says into the radio, "Thanks. Worth a shot."

Triganon is probably frowning as his face twists, but his mouth already turns downward as is. "Legal in our system. She is to be returned."

"This Unit will not allow you to enslave any organism on this world." The Model 9 says, immediately flipping its indicators red as it redlines itself in preparation of more trouble.

Artemis is getting coated in spray foaming wax and cleansers, and is positively soaked as the car wash runs. Miss Sleeping Beauty shows no signs of this improving her wakefulness.

Victory smirks, "But not legal here. We'll pass your request on to the authorities here. If they approve it, you can come back. Until then, you're going to have to go back to orbit." And Wade is quite sure it will NEVER be approved. Quite sure.

"If any life is to have meaning, then they all must have meaning." It adds as it steps around to the other side of the aliens, putting them between it and Wade.

Adun calls again for Ashildur, though still hears no response. This is worrisome, as he's been unable to locate her scent trail. Now that he can understand others' words as well as speak them, some of the now-intelligible words from the hunters catch his attention. And his ire." With a growl, he turns to step briskly and directly towards the bug and the toad. "No hooman custom! Here follow hooman custom! Or leave!" Arms gesture for punctuation and glares at the two, adding a grunt after the second option to state his own preference.

In the car wash of safety, Swarmer takes on the form of Maybri to attend to Artemis directly, loosening her armor for ease of recovery, producing another tarp-like thing to make soothing patter sounds as the sprinkling water rains upon it, providing a gentle song near her ear.

Triganon and Vadnox confer to each other at Wade's claims. He seems to be agreeable. And Artemis has vanished. They looks back. Vadnox says, "We will comply, but reward is ours when authorities agree. Deliver her body to us when they approve. Easier to deliver dead."

Victory adds, "If you try again to skirt around the system...by sneaking to the planet and trying to grab her again...then you'll be lucky if you get to leave at all. Am I clear?"

The aliens look antsy when Adun threatens them, but they have no weapons on them. "Understood," Vadnox answers victory quickly as his guard Grinmarian yells at them.

Artemis is made more comfortable by Maybri. Her armor stripped, she still has her form-fitting futuristic darn clothing underneath. Her drenched hair clings to the sides of her face. Removing the pauldrons also remove the cape to reveal the tear and large, cauterized wound in her back.

Triganon adds, "We go now?" It eyes Adun and Victory with its bulging eyes.

Victory nods slowly. "Yes, but we'll need a way to contact you when the decision is made."

Adun doesn't know the hooman customs as well as hoomans, obviously. He's angered, regardless. So it's perfectly his place to glare menacingly at the two until Victory makes a determination.

The VoyagerSIM does much the same, motionlessly staring at the alien bounty hunters with its single large sensor, its body illuminated in shades of reds and oranges.

Vadnox also eyes the maiming robot, not wanting to lose any limbs. It pulls out a tiny disc-like item with a central blue gem and holds it out to Victory. "Press and speak. We will receive."

Victory nods and takes the device, glancing at it briefly. "Alright. Yes, you may go. We might also need to talk to you about hte damage you did here, too. But we'll be in touch about that as well."

Vadnox chitters angrily. "You cause ship to crash. You pay -our- damages."

Victory snorts. "I figured that was your poor piloting. I couldn't see what caused you to crash."

"This Unit found vehicle in street upon arrival." The Android says before chiming helpfully.

"You jam our drives. We talk. Later," Vadnox agrees, as there is negotiating to be done. But not with big angry beasts or killer robots.

Victory will be letting Commander Perrault likely deal with any kind of negotiations of the sort. "Sure. Can you get your ship into orbit now? Or do you need repairs?"

Maybri slides a wet towel beneath Artemis over the cauterized wound, letting the water seep in and keeping the air from flowing over it freely. Armor pieces are set aside into a neat pile. Maybri's understanding of how to deal with injuries is somewhat limited. There is a pleasant humming sound from her, in a lengthy song, a forehead kiss, the sorts of things one might believe would work from legends regarding a comatose lover.

"This Unit can assist in repairing your vehicle- though it should be first noted that this will be the only time I will lend you such assistance. The next time you return to Earth without an Earth-Authority acceptable warrant you will find out that GodFlora: Artemis is protected by Condition: Friends." The Android says as its indicators switch to its friendlier hues once again.

"Will be slow, but we can go there. Need to patch hull before leaving orbit. Fast work," Triganon says. "Signal us for talks later." the two step back in the ship, preparing to close the hatch door. Vadnox eyes Voyager. "We will repair for ourselves," they say to the maimbot. Or what they think is a maimbot.

Victory nods to the aliens. "I'll leave you to it." He steps back and reports back to Starguard what the status is. The commander and director will have to make a determination what the decision will be, but Wade is still very sure what they will decide.

The hatch door closes and the ship starts to slowly lift off. It drifts out towards the ocean to initiate repairs so it can return to orbit.

Victory watches the ship leave...and then goes to look for Artemis. Hopefully Swarmer didn't drag her too far away.

After some searching in the direction the Swarm went, Victory finally tracks Artemis down to the car wash with some of Adun's tracking skills.

Victory pokes his head into the car wash. "Swarmer. Artemis. Are you here?" He heads further in, ducking as needed.

Maybri kneels at Artemis's side, garbed in a simple, minimalist, leafy two-piece, stroking her head. Her head turns, a hand raises. "Here," she says.

Artemis is comfortably sprawled and cradled by Maybri, but also soaked to the bone. Her armor, cape, and gear have been removed and lie scattered nearby. Unfortunately, Maybri's earlier kiss is no replacement for medical treatment.

The Android follows Victory and Adun towards Swarmer & Artemis.

"Greetings Maybri. We were looking for Artemis and Designation: Pixie-1. This Unit is glad you found one of them." The Android says having no idea they found both.

Victory nods. "We need to get her to the hospital's meta wing, I think. I'll call it in." He makes a quick call for an ambulance, indicating the location where Artemis is for htem.

"Ah, if they think they'll be rid of me before she wakes, that won't go well for them," Maybri promises. "I'll not get in the way, but I'll not leave her."

Adun eyes the sodden still sonorous Ashildr and rapidly approaches. The woman tending her gets a glance of some recognition before he proceeds to check Artemis for injuries that can be tended to, now that she is cleaned.

Victory sighs at Maybri, "If you impede them from getting her medical treatment, it won't go well for you, either."

Victory steps outside, and notices a Delta squad landing in the intersection where the ship crashed. He waves them down. "Over here!" The sergeant makes a boosted jump and lands outside of the car wash.

Victory says to the sergeant. "Artemis is down and needs medical attention." The female sergeant nods, "Yes, sir. We got your report while we were enroute. The men are sorry we missed the dustup." She then adds with a chuckle, "And the opportunity to save your butt from being trapped under a ship. Sir."

Victory smirks, "Yeah, yeah. Go assist with cleanup, and direct the ambulance over here when it arrives, Baker." The sergeant nods, "Yes, sir. On it." She heads back toward the intersection...and Wade steps back inside the car wash to go take a look at Artemis's situation.

"I've made her comfortable, did what I could, but...she's not responding," Maybri says. "Her attackers, they were allowed to leave I can safely presume."

Adun does not need to lick any wounds, as they already look clean enough from the cave rain. The wound/burn on her back looks the worst and so he covers it to avoid insects or infection and speed healing. Normally, this would be with clean mud and leaves. In this cave, though, its whatever he can reach: clumps of grim, pebbles, sodden Rokhet Bugger skins, and watere else might be clawed out of the sump in a car wash.

Victory says to Maybri, "'Leave safely'? Yes. Effectively kicked into orbit." He says to Adun, "Mind if I take a look at her wounds?"

Victory kneels next to Artemis...and goes about trying to diagnose what he's seeing...and then treat the wounds as best he can.

"Your technique is very interesting, Adun." Voyager says as he overlooks the alien's work on Artemis. "Here medical science advisses we avoid most of that- though humans are orders of magnitude more fraile than Artemis." It says.

Maybri works to clear away the covering Adun has gathered to 'treat' Artemis, conjuring fresher water via spray pump. "Ah, that's not to help!" she says. "It was fine already, let it be!"

The Model 9's iris closes a bit to deal with the spray of water misting it but it otherwsie watches the biological lifeforms do their thing with interest.

Victory says, "At least she's not bleeding. I suspect the blast to the back damaged some vitals, though. She might need surgery. If she was human, she certainly would. The meta wing will be able to get a better idea." He listens to her breathing, "I think the follow up blasts knocked her out, though. Likely concussion."

"Does Artemis have a next of kin? Perhaps we should notify her emergency contacts?" The Model 9 Prototype suggests.

Adun only knows basic treatments, and that is for his own people, much less hooman or Ashildur. He creeps back slightly, but continues to watch over Maybri's and other's shoulders. At the question, he grumbles. "Adun no know Ashildur tribe."

Victory says to Voyager, "I suspect any relatives of hers are a long way from here. A long way. The closest person is probably Nohrbor."

"This Unit will endeavor to find this Nohrbor." THe Model 9 Prototype says. "Does anyone have his or her social media user names?" It inquires, not knowing that such things are beneath the GodFlora.

"She's not one to play with those trifles," Maybri informs. "A large glowing sign would serve to better inform."

Victory chuckles. "No idea. Sorry." The ambulance rolls up outside, and a couple of EMTs come into the car wash with a stretcher.

Maybri becomes Swarmer, and Swarmer hovers with the stretcher, unwilling to venture far from it.

Artemis is relatively easy to load up, especially without all that armor in the way. She drips as they hoist her onto the stretcher.

The Android watches Artemis being taken off. "This Unit will follow and do followup research on this 'Nohrbor', in hopes of finding lost kin. I have discovered the local library system and it has been of great use. I have found that they allow the borrowing of more than periodicals and ebooks." It says, reaching back and tapping on its satchel gently as if it had something that might lend a hand inside.

It then moves towards Artemis' armor so he can take it with him to wherever StarGuard is taking her.

Victory says to the EMTs, "Please have the doctors contact Starguard after she's seen to. Please." He then goes about picking up the discarded pieces of armor, gathering things up.

Adun is not as small as Swarmer, but follows all the same, watching her be loaded up. After a moment of thought, he notes to all, "No find Ashildr tribe and need... Adun stand as Ashildr tribe."

The EMTs nod. Being locals, they're quite familiar with the well known Wade Lockwood. "The hospital will give them a call. We'll note that as the emergency contact number, since...well," shrugs one of the EMTs. It explains itself, really.

Victory nods. "You can give them my number as an emergency contact." He gives his number to them before they leave.

Voyager see's Victory going for the armor too. It suspects it might be easier for him to show up in StarGuard HQ with armor and weapons than it, so it pauses and prepares to follow the ambulance as closely as possible.

The EMTs take the number down and start taking Artemis to the ambulance. One tries to get a needle inserted for prepping an IV. The needle bends.

Victory smiles slightly. "Meta wing. They can deal with it. Just be gentle getting her there."

The EMTs nod and load her up before closing the doors. The sirens activate and it starts driving off once they're secured and ready.

The Android begins jogging along behind the ambulance and will continue keeping pace as best it can until they arrive at the meta-wing.

Victory will have to visit her later. After all, there's the aftermath to deal with. And reports to file.