Chapter Nine: Prairie Fire!

[Psychie]

Toph lines up her Mjolnir's cannon and selects a Plasma round for it. "Plasma shell going out to join the party. On the way." With a roar, the mecha's cannon sends out the selected ammo on its deadly path.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Hercules was enthused by the second perfectly placed cannon round and the wave of secondaries it sparked off.
"Looks like these Zeki have a taste for MPAT. Don't worry, my big blue friends, Chef Hercules has plenty more of them in the oven, so the buffet tables are open!", he chuckled before lining up another one and sending it downrange at the exposed alien mecha.

 

[Dannigan]

Captain Hesperus Silanon Tag!

(Part 1 of 2)

Ylva... (sorry, Sil! I forgot to include this in my last post. Whoops! =) )

Spoiler: Oops!

I almost forgot to post Trouble's current favorite song. Rawr!
"Danger Cat" by Lone Wild

"Smoke's on the way." Trying to ignore the mechakitten's excitement for a brief moment, she adjusts the targeting systems to cover Adamantium's back, and sends her load of smoke missiles on their way. Then, her left leaves the controls for long enough to try to scoop up Trouble and drag him out of her immediate vision - and onto the arm rest where he might not be quite as irritating. Calm down. Where, exactly? Down there? On the ship?

It's a funny thing to have a telepathic cybernetic cat with a life purpose magnetically adhered to the inside of one's cockpit. Ylva could swear, in a less-dangerous situation, she could probably turn the Prototype Super Logan in any direction and Trouble would just kitty his way to the nearest spot between him and "the one that got away." Ylva could probably turn the vehicle in a slow 360 turn and Trouble would likely mew and scooch along the inside of the cockpit always keeping himself aimed at the right position.

"Reeeewr!" Trouble reewrs, his excited face and whiskers alight and animated. His tiny tail is waving all over the place. That boyish voice explains telepathically to all of the Wild Cards. "Nuuu! No kitty calming down until we find him! We cant loses him agains! He's past the big-big ship! It's really him! I swearz! Da Purr'fess'r will be so unhappies if we loses him again!" Trouble then proceeds to continue to energetically mew and meow but this time mostly to himself. He tries his level best not to interfere with what the Wild Cards are trying to accomplish in bailing Adamantium out of this sure-death situation.

Still, those bitty little eyes and paws of his stay dutifully aimed southward.

 

[Silanon]

Fire does the trick. So does the smoke, thus far. Good. Seems like there's a way to regain control of this mess. And heck, those tanks certainly pack a punch when they get to hit a target. The Swede adds her own form of destruction to the mix. Less of a punch, but maybe enough. If it allows Adamantium to get out of there alive, it counts. Only then does she address Trouble's excitement once more.

"We'll find him, Trouble. He won't get away from us. Just gotta do this first." A number of buttons demand her attention for just a short moment, interrupting. "Who's he, anyway? Friend? Foe? Something else? Any idea if he's danger - or in danger?"

 

[Dannigan]

Captain Hesperus Tag!
(Part 2 of 2)

Fire does the trick. So does the smoke, thus far. Good. Seems like there's a way to regain control of this mess. And heck, those tanks certainly pack a punch when they get to hit a target. The Swede adds her own form of destruction to the mix. Less of a punch, but maybe enough. If it allows Adamantium to get out of there alive, it counts. Only then does she address Trouble's excitement once more.

"We'll find him, Trouble. He won't get away from us. Just gotta do this first." A number of buttons demand her attention for just a short moment, interrupting. "Who's he, anyway? Friend? Foe? Something else? Any idea if he's danger - or in danger?"

Trouble takes a moment to look over his little shoulder at Ylva, his face shows alarm and he gives a little gasp. "Ree-wrarrr!" "Of course, he's not a daaanger! How could you think he wuz a daaanger? Miss Hitomi told The Purr'fess'r she 'checked him out' an' dat 'he was cleeean!' Which reminds me... dis here spot is diiirty." Trouble begins licking the canopy glass in an attempt to remove some stain too small for Ylva to see from where she is.

Trouble continues. "Da One Dat Got Away iz a Super Mister Smarty-pants from your world. Everybody at the conference was some kinda big-brain! So dat means he knows a whole lot about..." Trouble's whisker's flutter in thought, "... stuff! The Purr'fess'r an' Miss Hitomi reeeaaally wanted ta talk ta him, but things got all craaazy when da human pulled out da gun. Da show waz over after dat, it sure waaas! But we can't let him get away again! It could be reeeaaally bad if we do!"

Trouble gazes at Ylva, his golden kitty-eyes pleading. "My whole purposes here iz to track down Traversers! I can't stand having failed once, and mebbe we'll fail again? Oh, whatever happens, promise we won't let him get away again, Miss Ylva! You gotta prooomise!"

What does Ylva do?

* * *​

Spoiler: Instrumental Battle Music

"Legend of the Shadows" by Jack Wall (one of the big names that made Mass Effect's music come to life!).

Hangar Bay Bravo thunders with the sound of the Mjolnir cannon-fire as the Wild Cards send round after round into the burning chaos that they and First Flight have created. The plasma rounds and incendiary bombs continue to light the snows and earth beneath into great heaping walls of red-orange flame as if the sun itself had dropped the tiniest bit of its galactic power into a single smoldering mass there at the front of the Red Thunder cloud.

Still, the Wild Cards can see blast after blast from many enemies inside the cloud streaking at Adamantium's position despite the great colored smoke wafting through the air. Adamantium's radio channel is an absolute chaotic mess, or rather, it would be except for the calm voices trying to make the best of the pandemonium. The Wild Cards soon realize Adamantium is still taking fire and struggling to stay alive.

Mack clenches her teeth from within the Mjolnir she and Cera share. "There! I see you, you bastard. I'm gonna smoke you here and now!" True enough, the round is loaded, aimed, and expertly fired from the Broadsword's bay into the earth-shaking din of flames, twisted metal, and enemy fire. You see an Officer's Pod painted black and red. The flames from your plasma rounds chase away the cloud leaving it open, and here Mack's round strikes soundly right off its canopy - one hell of a shot given you are about a mile and a half away and closing...

...but the unit does not explode. In fact, there is no damage from the thing at all as Mack's round rolls off to one side... and begins emitting yellow smoke. "What?!" Mack gasps as the MacKenzie Curse raises its ugly head once again. "You gotta be kidding me! I shot a smoke round at it?!"

Spoiler: OOC

Once again, a Traverser lesson learned (I hope). Remember that the machines you are Traversing with will follow your every move, but YOU are the ones making the decisions and all of your gifts (and curses, which you can hear Mack doing some real cursing of her own over the polyphonic nexus) apply. Even with Traversing, there is no better way to know you and your machine than direct experience.

Probably thinking he's being marked for another bombing run (what would you think if it were you?), the Officer's Pod begins to retreat from the smoke and into the Red Thunder cloud. Except that part of the humungous cloud vanishes as Toph's plasma round strikes nearby, vacating all concealment and safety for the pod while also catching it in its tremendous blast! The rocked Zeki-Zentraedi mecha staggers and stumbles. At one point, the pilot seems to realize his mecha's legs are on fire, and in an attempt that can accurately be called both futile and humorous, the pilot begins to try to rub out the Mega-damage plasma round in what little ice and snow are around him. Each of you, with your education, know instantly that this has no chance of succeeding, yet there he goes trying!

Mario's round takes to the air and he plants a bullseye right on this unlucky pilot. The blast knocks the pod sideways and blows off a leg. It rocks around for a moment or two as the pilot appears to be attempting to make a mad exit from the burning vehicle, but then it explodes like the smallest of stars sending hot shrapnel in every direction!

Hercules' shot too causes mayhem as his MPAT round shoots out of his Mjolnir's tank-turret and sails across the Antarctic wind to the edge of the Red Thunder cloud that was just cleared by First Flight's bombing run. While Hercules does not detect any secondary explosions, the shot seems to hit a few somethings inside the cloud.

Looking to your right and left, you see several rows of beings rifle-laden beings in Predator Cyclone armor, each decorated in some way with strange paint, ancient-looking symbols, and artistic flashes of spiritual designs across their Mega-damage skins. The Broo are here! They have set up in prone position, about twenty of them to your left and almost as many to your right. They are taking aim at the Red Thunder cloud with large rifles (projectile if you had to guess) with what look like high-tech scopes and suppressors mounted on their elegant lengths.

You hear Flight Lieutenant Piper's voice come over your channel. "Anti-ship measures coming in! Where are my Beasties at?"

This produces a giga-ton of howling, screeching, snarling, savage sounds all over the channel until Captain Sharp's voice cuts in. "Anti-ship measures? What have they got?"

Then the Wild Cards see for themselves. First, a plume, a near smokeless trail lifts up and out from the Red Thunder cloud. At its head is some oval-shaped thing not unlike a missile, but altogether no missile at all. With your best zoom on, you can see digits willing and teeth snapping. Then you see another. And another.

"Incoming Wargoths, sir!" Piper replies.

"They're mecha-based, right? How are they a threat to the Broadsword?"

Piper's reply is steely-cold. "Wargoths can't be spoofed; chaff and flares don't work on 'em. In our last couple of fights, they were armed with Sheefers, sir."

"Sheefers?"

"Short for 'Shield Defeaters,' sir. They fly through shields like they don't exist. We don't know how they do it. Worse yet, if they make contact with the Broadsword, they can immediately go for our vital spots like all three of the hangar bays you, the Wild Cards, and the Broo are occupying. Just one Wargoth against one of our munitions pods might cause severe loss of life, sir." Piper's voice drops an octave as she sadly adds, "It's how they nailed the Battleaxe. She never flew the same after that."

"What can we do?" Sharp offers.

"I recommend you stay on your targets, sir! The Battleaxe didn't have Beasties! Let them handle the Wargoths!" Piper adds another problem. "We're coming up on one mile from Adamantium, sir! They're really getting hammered and their speed is slowing. No sign of Scary Jerry. They're hurting bad and requesting immediate evac. The Broadsword can come down and scoop them up, but then we are wide open for any surprises the Zeki might throw at us. Options?"

Captain Sharp comes up with one in a jiffy. "If there's one thing I know, it's tanks. We have the Wild Cards here. Can you drop us between Adamantium and the Red Thunder cloud? Our butts will be down there in the snow, but we can act as a barrier between the Zeki and Adamantium."

"Sir, begging your pardon, but what's this we stuff, sir? You can't go down there! You're the commanding officer on the ship!"

"Try and stop me, Piper! Those are my people down there and I've got a Spartas tank around me! Either we can keep firing from up here or drop down there and get some in person! Two roads but we can only choose one. One moment. I'll get back with you."

"Aye aye, sir!"

Over the polyphonic nexus, Cera cannot help but share her feelings with her fellow Wild Cards and Trouble. "This male... this... Captain Sharp. He is a fine human leader."

Captain Sharp does take but a single moment to come across the Wild Cards squadron channel where it is just you and him. "Wild Cards! You've fought against the Zeki before like no one else from the year 2025. If you've got any ideas, now's the time to speak up! Continue putting down fire and sound off!" As if setting the example, Captain Sharp's Spartas 105mm cannon barks out another round toward the Red Thunder cloud.

What do the Wild Cards do?

 

[Dannigan]

Captain Hesperus Psychie Silanon Tag!

(Bonus Part! Or... I forgot a couple of things like Ylva's attack Action and something with Toph! Whoops! =) )

Aiming the Prototype Super Logan's Tri-Cannon is akin to driving a car you know everything about but have no real time in - you know what every button can do, can accurately read every screen, and when Ylva turns the control stick and throttle control... it is still a bit of a surprise in how the Super Logan reacts like a high-performance Logan Veritech. The controls? Why, they're downright touchy! And Ylva knows that since she is Traversing with Munin.

It makes things easier, smoother, and perhaps the desire to fly more and traverse more increase as a result? Only each Traverser who uses technopathy can be sure.

There are subtle black shadows hiding inside the Red Thunder cloud, this the Super Logan's telescopic gun-sights can tell her. But which are shadows and which are real? Squeezing the trigger, Ylva looses Munin's Tri-Cannon at what might be a solid target and three powerful beams of plasma fire off together and into the mist cutting thin, neat lines into the crimson mist which stay there. The plasma blasts seem to stop and a shadow falls backward and is gone. Ylva cannot be sure what she hit, but she knows it isn't there now!

* * *​

While Toph is loosing round after round in the completely-familiar-yet-near-alien hover tank of Cera's creation, her perceptive senses pick up a scent - a scent that normally does not arise inside a Mjolnir's cockpit, but indeed it is here, outside of her Mega-suit and inside the Mjolnir's cockpit. Immediately, her nose identifies it. It is perfume. Chanel No. 5. Just enough for her to sense through her Mega-suit's air filters - a little something someone added perhaps in the hopes Toph would detect it... and smile.

 

[Silanon]

"Got... something. Hard to see what it was, but it's down." Ylva follows the Captain's example and scans the ground for additional targets - and fires away when the opportunity presents itself. Sure, words and decisions are needed, right now - but that's no excuse to not protect Adamantiums bacon as well as she can, from up here.

"Can't speak from much experience, Sir, but being down there might give Adamantium the chance to regroup. Seems better than what we have right now. Is there any chance to find Jerry, other than with pure luck? If he's not with the others, he has to be somewhere."

With that said, she mutes her voice once more, then briefly turns her attention towards the last somewhat urgent problem - Trouble. Or rather, the cat's news. "Promise, little one. Once we've cleaned up this mess, we'll be on his trail right away." For once, she does not take the bait and asks for details about what Trouble just hinted at. Stories will have to wait while lives are at stake. Plus, with all the guns blazing, the present is exciting enough as it is. She shifts in her seat, adjust the aim - everything just a little smoother than it should be, but that's easy to get used to, for once.

 

[Sherwood]

Mario speaks up, saying, "Sir, I've put myself between the bad guys and those that they are trying to kill before. Any damage that my tank takes can be repaired, so I'm game to get down there and get into the mix up close and personal to save our team members. Let's do this."

 

[Captain Hesperus]

"You know I'm there right beside you, Mario. Besides, we owe Adamantium for those delectable baklava.", Hercules chipped in, "Captain, the more we talk about this, the greater the risk of Adamantium getting picked off by the Zeki. We've bloodied their noses, let us go finish the fight off!"

 

[Psychie]

While Toph is enjoying the cloying scent of the perfume, right now is not the time to be thinking distracting thoughts. She says, "I agree. Lets get this show on the road and save Admantium! Then we can see to the person that Trouble is all worked up over."

 

[Dannigan]

Psychie "The question is how, lieutenant." Captain Sharp replies. "Is it better to continue laying down fire from up here or joining them down there and acting as a barrier? You know the Zeki-Zentraedi better than I do. Now's the time to use that information for Adamantium's survival. What's your take, lieutenant?"

 

[Psychie]

Toph ponders for a short moment, then says, "Sir, as a pilot, I am trained to engage from range and soften up the target before closing in. At this point, we've done quite a bit of the 'softening up', and I think that we need to go in close to provide active cover for the recovery of Admantium and draw fire away from them by giving the Zeki something much more important to target instead of the ground troops. I say we go in."

 

[Dannigan]

"Now that's an opinion!" Captain Sharp grins.