The Bearded One

Torn Across the Rift

Thanks. I'm sorry for that bit where I wasn't posting. Not only because it was probably quite inconvenient for you, but also because I missed the chance to do some quippy one liners before rushing off to my lone mission.

Torn Across the Rift

The Legion, being an intergalactic peace keeping force, was very focused on adaptability, and they dealt in generalities rather than specifics- while another military might have given training in case of dragon attack, Legion training was a series of puzzle peices that could be put together to form something rather like an anti-dragon strategy.

The specific training modules John was incorporating had long complicated names formed of chains of numbers and letters, but John was thinking affectionately of them as "What to do about big flying things" "tactics for the evacuation of civilians when outgunned" and "So you're being attacked by endangered wildlife".

Basically, it broke down to this- keep in cover when possible, stop the enemy from being interested in the 'civilians' and use behavior conditioning techniques to your advantage.

John kept firing at the dragon, slowing down his shots the farther away it got. Once it got to a comfortable distance he stopped, only lighting the beast up again when it started to move closer. John slowed his pace, then began to walk slowly back towards the ruined castle, keeping sure to keep the dragon in his sights as he went.

Torn Across the Rift

Fine. I'm fine. Kinda wondering where all the other jokers went, but y'know, can't really complain.

Torn Across the Rift

John's just guessing at what he's got left in the tank. Power usage gets erratic at longer distances, and playing with the power settings messes it up even more. That said, without the safeties enabled he has roughly 9 times the shots as he'd have without it... because the safeties use roughly 90% of the power, if you recall.

Anyway... um, how is everyone?

Torn Across the Rift

John ran across around over and between frozen rubble, moving clockwise around the castle. Within moments of leaving Charles and Zesiro he had cracked the palm stunner open, and with a practiced hand and swiftness that belied the frigid air had removed a tiny chip from its slot and closed the weapon tight. Linking his cybernetic with the device, he quickly disabled the safety and began to adjust the power settings.

John, not being stupid, had planned to not shoot the dragon unless it had noticed someone else, preferably only after he had hidden away somewhere; unfortunately for him, the dragon was rather perceptive, and no sooner was John's stunner back online than the dragon had turned its attention to the group.

John raised his weapon, carefully sighted on the dragon's head, and pulled the trigger. In a single instant an invisible beam ionized a stream of air between the weapon and the target and a bolt of lightning surged through the air, delivering 600mA directly to the skull. Enough to kill a man, but to the dragon, it appeared to be little more than a nuisance. John studied the dragon for a brief moment, and then grimly dialed up the voltage. 38 shots left, give or take a dozen.

Odds were good he wouldn't find a lethal frequency before then, but with a flying target he didn't need it. If he could just get a voltage strong enough to get through its skin then that should be enough. Disrupt its flight muscles long enough, and it should drop out of the sky.

Once again, lightning stabbed the sky. 37 left.

Torn Across the Rift

Just one thing- Johns stunner isn't a phaser- it fires lightning, not weird sci-fi energy blasts.

Well, technically, it first uses a multi spectrum scan to gain medical data on the target so it can measure the charge needed to incapacitate it and figure out if it's even a living or conscious target (it won't fire on something that's already unconscious or dead), then it uses a laser in the non visible spectrum to ionize the air and provide a path for the electricity to travel along, and then it sends electricity along the path.

The scan is what takes up like 90% of the power, and is part of the safety mechanism making sure it doesn't kill people. Disabling it allows for more shot, but you have to set the power manually if you do, and it's something that can't be done without some hacking and/or modification of the weapon.

Oh, and btw, I'm back. Noooot sure what I can do exactly besides restate what Eyeris did with John and maybe show some internal dialogue, but yeah!

Torn Across the Rift

I'm still here! I've just been really busy. If I don't get a post up today then just assume that John's gone off to distract the dragon.

Torn Across the Rift

Sorry for the delay! I had some scheduling problems.

@Eyeris John's trying to judge if a shot from Zesiro's gun could pierce the dragon's scales. He's assuming that its body is mostly gas sacks (hydrogen is his guess) to facilitate flight, and he's thinking they might be able to let the air out and ground it. I know he's probably wrong, but that's what he's assuming!

Torn Across the Rift

"Hey, ki- Zesiro- you're not going to... and there he goes." John pauses for just a moment, looking after the ones that ran off towards the castle, then up at the dilapidated, ruined, crumbling, and downright shoddily constructed castle before deciding that he had things he would rather do instead of entering the structure. Judging from the direction he began to run in, one of those things was apparently being eaten and/or roasted alive by a dragon.

As John drew level with Zesiro, he held out a hand. "Stunner" he grunted, trying to do the rather tricky act of zooming in on the dragon with his cybernetic while also not tripping over anyone or falling into a hole. "I'll play decoy. If they managed to bail, you get your people out. Meet you back at the castle."

Torn Across the Rift

I'll have a post up tomorrow. I hope!