BlessedWrath

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

Sam snapped back to reality as her conscious mind screamed at her to answer the new blips on her radar. She'd been reliving the events leading up to the crash, cycling through alternate strategies that might have ended her up...well, anywhere but here. Justin was talking to someone...

Her gaze panned right and, settling upon some kind of...wolf...thing...she decided it couldn't have been him who had addressed Justin. There had been another voice, but only one other, and female. Her peripheral vision picked up Nora's glasses as they flashed in the sun. It was a pity that had not been the only detail she noticed. Nora's white labcoat, sterile and official, registered as a clear and present danger to Sam, who knew all-too-well what it meant to be under "their" care again.

All at once, her propped-up boot launched her from the tree which had supported her weight. It had been like the trained reaction of a soldier at the sight of a drawn weapon. Sam, wild-eyed and teeth clenched, came to rest in a wide stance and clapped her wrists together, producing a high-pitched whine from her gloves. There was another "doctor" here to see her, but this time she wouldn't be helplessly tied to a metal table when they tried to violate her body.

"Nice try..." she hissed, eyes darting between the wolf and Nora. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, to determine whether Justin would aid or attack as well. "I'm not going back..."

Sam's Gloves Charging

youtube.com/watch?v=EcvberFlRQE

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

Justin seemed nice enough, but then they always did at first. His offer of assistance, though tempting, sent a jolt of adrenaline through her body. Now she knew he had been sent for her.

"Yeah, but..." was the short answer from that annoying little voice in the back of her head; the one that just would not leave her alone. The one that saved her ass countless times. Gut reactions couldn't hold a candle to cold, methodical, ruthless logic. "You need parts and you know it."

"Thanks," she offered weakly. "I...don't really have any other computers, so that one's..." She took her time to pick the right words and intonation; too much emphasis and she'd give away just how badly she needed that laptop. "...important." The descriptor was only barely that; . She'd meant it to come out neutral, but it sounded flat, hollow.

It could have been that she was trying to ignore the three feet of bare steel in her peripheral vision. That would explain it. But the voice came back again, criticizing her for being a terrible liar.

"You've fought before and survived. Besides, she's hungry for the naked tentacle monster, not you. Play your cards right and she'll ignore you."

"The lodge sounds..." her voice cracked when she said "great". It had all the earmarks of a polite dinner guest trying not to gag on an overdone roast. "I should get to work, so I can get all this cleaned up. You wanna lead the way, or what?"

"Not subtle," said the voice. You're impatient. You're gonna make them suspicious."

Sam told the voice to "cram it". Whether they figured it out or not would be wholly irrelevant as soon as her stolen vessel was operational again. That had to happen before they discovered she was a freak, not after. When you have something somebody wants, they try to take it from you. This group would be no different. Time alone would reveal that.

"That's if you can even fix it at all..." This time, the voice of reason had a point.

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

"I guess we're not talking about the obvious fact he's a mutant," Sam commented internally. "Or the fact he must spend a fortune on clothes."

Her eyes shifted between the lot of them, slightly unnerved by the fact there were now plenty of hands to make light work of her recently-acquired freedom. Jaiden had been the obvious threat until now, but that priority had to be rescinded. At least one of the aforementioned "search party" was armed, and no telling whether the others were carrying.

"Although," whispered the voice of reason, once again. "If she's not shy about displaying her weapons, her friends should be just as bold."

She eventually broke the uneasy silence. "Yeah...crashed. Sorry. I'm fine, though. Gimme a minute to fix it up and I'll be out of your way."

It may have been that she was just groggy from the blackout, or just stressed from having escaped from her fourth set of captors, but Sam somehow glossed over the "brat" comment. With this many unknowns in close proximity, her mind settled on more important matters, such as making very damned certain they didn't put her back in her cage. In this instance, Sam thought this so-called "Lodge" would most probably have been some kind of twisted euphemism for yet another facility; prison or otherwise. The thought of more doctors and injections made her shudder. No, that was definitely not happening again. She'd kill first.

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

@Valor, just a minor heads-up with your post: The fire suppression system in Sam's fighter uses a modulating force field to create an artificial vacuum. It's far more effective than foam, so there's no need for a liquid or chemical component. It's a branch of shield technology. The initial pulse would have created enough of a gust to blow out any small fires within range of the crash path, so you're on point with that.

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

Sam did not stir during Jaiden's respite. Respiration appeared normal, or as close to normal as one could guess without medical experience. There did not appear to be any signs of injury, either; at least on the outside. That left only artificially induced unconsciousness or some kind of blackout. One good movie about fighter planes could tell the average Joe that blackouts happen at high speeds; especially if sudden acceleration occurs. It seemed as though the downed alien craft was just about as ideal a candidate for sudden acceleration as anything else, so that leap of logic wasn't difficult to make. Still...without the advice of a medical expert, it was better to err on the side of caution.

The vessel did...something. There was a sucking sound, a faint echo of an alert sounding from the interior of the craft, then a great 'whoosh' accompanied by a rippling effect surrounding the entire vehicle. Jaiden could feel a gust of wind from that direction. It came without warning, like a pulse of high-velocity pressure, and subsided just as quickly. There was an odd silence, during which the buzz of electricity could be faintly heard. The flickering light from inside the ship blinked out of existence, and plumes of smoke curled around the interior of a spheroid region just outside the fighter; almost as if contained within a glass globe. Then, with just as little warning, the buzzing stopped and the smoke dissipated upward, uninhibited.

As the cycle completed, the air pressure on the interior of the craft equalized by violently drawing in air from the surrounding area. It was a microcosm of the aftermath of the atomic bomb, when the winds came rushing back to fill the vacuum left behind by its awesome power. Leaves, branches, rocks...anything within range of the effect was pulled toward it with considerable force. Naturally, it did not last long. The red glow from the instrument panel blinked twice, another alien confirmation sounded, and the light ceased to be.

Sam finally showed signs of coming to, at that point. She furrowed her brow and wrinkled her nose, and her left hand came to rest on her temple. It took a few minutes, but she finally managed to convince her eyes to allow some sunlight. When Jaiden's fearsome form came into focus, she arched a brow and blinked again.

"Either I'm still out," she offered weakly. "Or you assholes finally caught me."

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

Posting tonight. For now, I have to go out with my mate to do some resaling. After leaving my job, I have to get money any way I can, and for now, that means frequent trips to the thrift shops. You really would be surprised at what people throw away. We found an inventory scale for ten bucks and flipped it for $450.

I know (more or less) how to proceed from here. It'll just take me a few hours before I can do it.

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

The Woods of Faiza, Behind the Lodge, 10:48am

Sam struggled through a fitful sleep, treated to visions of alien tormentors and horrific technological constructs chasing her through a carbon fantasy. Copper traces served as roads, connecting skyscrapers built from capacitors, inductors, and the occasional timing circuit. The occasional pulse of arc-blue energy whizzed past at unfathomable speeds. Sam, uncertain, rounded the corner and nearly collided with another of the terrible creatures.

The metallic spider thing reared up on four of its legs and lunged for her, missing by inches as Sam sent herself into a baseball slide. She slipped through its legs and hooked them with her laptop cord, toppling the beast, then took off running. Two more of the creatures flanked her and reached out again, and Sam, as if by instinct, reached out for one of the blue pulses.

Jaiden, first on scene, could have boggled at the force of the impact. The triangular craft left a deep trench at least fifty feet long before finally coming to rest beneath a stately pine. Some of its needles and cones smoldered on the surface of the ship, though by now it felt like very little heat had been retained by its reflective skin. The trench began as just a tiny scrape in the ground, gradually deepening and widening, which indicated an angled descent. Compared with the original angle, the obvious conclusion was that it had somehow attempted to right itself during the crash, but...

The peace of the woods was interrupted twice more; once by the agonizing process of shapeshifting, and again by the screeching of rent metal. Damaged as it was, and perhaps weakened by the heat of re-entry, the door could not withstand Jaiden's enhanced physiology. A brief survey of the interior of the craft yielded the discovery of one female survivor. When she did not respond to the standard greeting-and-by-the-way-are-you-dead that nearly every first-responder rehearses on the way to render aid, he had fallen back on a more proactive approach.

Unfortunately, Jaiden's advanced 'pokey-stick' technology did nothing to stir Sam from her induced sleep. It began to look as though, if he wanted to help her at all, he'd have to get her out of the harness. The mechanism was in no way similar to standard Faizan systems. It looked to be designed for longer, slender fingers; tendrils, perhaps.

That point became increasingly important as the control console to Sam's right flickered on, partly displaying a few status updates. It was badly damaged, but not enough to provide any ambiguity behind the blood-red inverted triangle and the angular symbol of a diamond, topped with three jagged spikes, in its center. As the smell of smoke filled the cabin, it became clear that the two had somewhat less time to vacate than originally thought.

"Kanta." the computer calmly announced. The voice file crackled and skipped, indicating more systemic damage. "Kanta, Gen Im. Gen Jia Ii Cha Tem.

Tem...
Niish...
Orcha...
Sem...
Iija...
Quan...

The sound of ventilation systems spinning up made a compelling argument for vacating the premises. Though the language could not be immediately understood, there was something of a finality and urgency to its friendly warning.

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

I will be joining the discord, yes. If we are greenlighted, then I may post as well tonight.

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

Are we proceeding without another IC post from Tergonaut?

The Lodge Outside of Segaso City (RP is now closed by GM)

I'm on board for a Discord chat for this group. Group chats have been useful to me in roleplays before, so I know what to expect.

Tergonaut, if anything in the way of the downed fighter is not compatible with the story, please let me know so that I can edit my posts. I have tried to keep the technology on the low side; only what is necessary for the intro to work. Also, I'm glad you mentioned the ideas of maybe scrapping the vessel, or even eventually repairing it, because either idea will work very well for the direction I'm intending to take this character.

I just feel sorry for Sam, when she finds out she's got to stay "out in the sticks", miles away from any regular sources for her shop. Speaking of...also, no shop. She's really going to have to step up her scrap game this time. :D