GM IC:
Volana struck one of the first blows for humanity, swinging her blade in a broad, powerful arc to bite deeply into metallic skin. It was timed perfectly, exploiting the mechanoid’s unrelenting charge to land a devastating blow before it could muster a defense. It shone in the alien sun, gleaming as it struck true and stopped almost immediately. Its edge bit, notching the machine’s side at the waist with a groove that could not be ignored. But still it stopped. It rocked from the impact, swaying to the right even as its clawed feet dug into the sandy soil again. Far from the decisive strike that she had sought, even if she had not dared hope for it, Volana found herself well within the reach of her foe’s oversized arms. And it was aware.
A massive hand closed around the Aurora’s shoulder, easily encircling it with its fingers with a grip as inexorable as gravity. Green optics bored into the Cytherean Orbital, its attention completely locked on the intruder within its grasp. And slowly it began to squeeze with oppressive force, armor creaking ominously under its fingers. A menacing, subsonic vibration reverberated through the contact into Volana’s own cockpit. Its other hand raised, the beast shifting its weight in preparation when a volley of 50mm rounds slammed into its flank. The series of dents didn’t seem to do substantially more to damage it, but they proved more revealing; beneath their gleaming surface was a more matte, darker material. Its head whipped around at the new threat, perhaps reassessing while it continued to squeeze the Aurora’s shoulder. The same sickly golden light warmed the spines on its back, casting its surface in poisonous hues before a continuous, coherent beam lanced out tracking and attempting to interdict the Casket.
The other Bandit was having a rougher time. Without the prospect of a danger-close strike to worry about Kon had been free to unleash a firestorm, and the alien mechanoid was at its heart. The pellets didn’t seem to have much effect at first, but the thunderous hail raining down on it forced it to raise its right arm and hunker down, weathering the storm that was steadily abrading its finish. And then Zakarin and Holden’s fire joined the mix, hammering the hostil with sustained, armor piercing munitions. It rocked with the impacts, dents and better yet craters beginning to appear in its armor. But still it stood.
Starstrike’s missile struck, and the machine screeched again with a sound like an angry earthquake, tectonic plates grinding against each other with primal force. Their foe had taken their mettle, it seemed, and decided how to act. Starstrike had broken off to escort the shuttle, sparing it for the moment from the alien’s wrath; but when the spines on its back glowed the beam targeted its other aggressors. Kon was first. The beam shot through the plume of smoke and debris towards the source of its firestorm, then without waiting to assess swept down and out like an immense blade of energy, cutting through the space it expected Oydsseus to be and then lancing towards Ajax before ceasing.
Then it detected another comer, and its focus shifted in an instant.
It roared again, this time focusing its fury directly on the Gypsy Soul and swiping its raised claws at the charging Orbital.
Artemie was struck dumb, just for a moment, at what seemed to be the culmination of her life’s pursuit. The discovery of alien life.
And then it all went south.
”Starlight,” She hollered, hands flying across Voyager’s controls. ”Take control of the Aegis, you’re gonna be faster on the defense if they take a shot at us.”
”Arty, I’m not programmed for assistance in combat situ-”
”You’re programmed for the interception of obstacles to our flight plan. Well, one of those beams is definitely an obstacle so help me out.”
Silence reigned, as though the computer were thinking it over.
”Makes sense. G-Aegis nominal, and on standby. You could have said please.”
The Lunite snorted a little and put her foot down, rocketing the large Orbital towards the fray.
<<Aurora, I’ve got lock for a real big shock if you can break free. It’s gonna be real close if you can’t.>>
Far above the Pandora’s bridge crew worked their sensors, trying to localize the strange transmission around them and monitor the battle below. From the captain’s chair their CO drew a deep breath, and fixed a look on his executive.
“Bring us to full power on the reactors. And run a continuous plot on the hostiles. If it comes to it I want a solution for an orbital strike. Have the COO get another team launched, I want an escort ready when Explorer One breaks atmosphere.”
The vast ship, hanging stationary in its orbit and emitting minimal energy, suddenly bloomed on any sensor that cared to look as its reactor came online from standby. The interference on their comms reached a fever pitch, completely locking the system down with static, as a second team readied in the hangar.
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