Purr
Kaerri's Man. =)
Heya gang! This post is slightly different than what I'm used to typing up. Instead of your characters rolling on actions this post, I'm instead telling you what's going on as a result of the decisions your characters just made.
There are important descriptions here, showing you where the Wild Cards are, what they are up against, character interaction, and so forth. At one point, I distrust the dice and take over the actions of a PC briefly (who is not really in mortal danger despite the situation), but I hope you'll see and agree with my decision to "auto-pilot" an exciting scene like this.
As always, I hope you enjoy it!
There are important descriptions here, showing you where the Wild Cards are, what they are up against, character interaction, and so forth. At one point, I distrust the dice and take over the actions of a PC briefly (who is not really in mortal danger despite the situation), but I hope you'll see and agree with my decision to "auto-pilot" an exciting scene like this.
As always, I hope you enjoy it!
"Dare" by Stan Bush for the Transformers the Movie Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. This is one hell of a song!
Partial lyrics:
"You can fly if you try leaving the past behind
Heaven only knows what you might find"
Partial lyrics:
"You can fly if you try leaving the past behind
Heaven only knows what you might find"
BUH-WHOOM!
The nuclear bomb-become-cannon-round flew from Mario's Veritech Hover Tank and down the corridor somewhere. In 30 seconds, Fat Man and Little Boy would give of explosions of an entirely different nature.
Wisely, Mario the tanker did not look to see exactly where it went, but "hauled balls" out of there in his VHT's Battloid mode. As he ran, Test Pilot Elinor sidled up alongside his machine as if her white, battered Valkyrie were simply an extension of Mario's own veritech. Elinor's ability to move her gigantic machine with such precision could be seen as both amazing and intimidating for the amount of surgical control she had over the vehicle, especially given she was only a 2nd Lieutenant. Hers was the kind of close-in assistance that brought confidence to whomever she was assisting. Mario got a good glance at Elinor and Cera in the Valkyrie's cockpit. Despite the very real dangers, both females seemed as cool-headed as anyone could ask for.
* * *
For as fast as Mario's VHT was moving, Toph's Ajax was faster. She transformed into jet mode and shot out of the blasted, burning aerospace hangar. Toph's eyes scanned the beautiful Floridian skies. Far off in the distance, she could see the purple horizon turning orange like one vast and majestic painting. Dawn was coming! The Wild Cards had spent the whole night in an alien starship!
Tilting her aircraft 90 degrees starboard, she looked down her wing to see what was below her. She saw the wide, calm expanse that was the Gulf of Mexico! Mario's VHT was going to enter water!
With deafening percussion, the Zeki-Zentraedi starship particle beam cannons continued to pound away at the Florida coastline and Col. Sharp's fleeing tank force. Toph's training and instrumentation told her they were some 10 miles away to the north and receding very rapidly. The Assault Scout was on a southerly trek some 300 miles an hour deeper into the gulf. lt seemed to want to get as much water beneath it as possible.
The wings of her Ajax seemed to embrace the freedom of the skies. And why not? She and the rest of the Wild Cards were about 3 miles up.
Then Toph received yet another surprise, a chilling realization that she immediately realized might be the last of her young life.
"Muppet! Your six!!" Mack shrieked.
An instant later, warning lights and symbols alerting her to incoming hostile weapons locks on her HUD went ballistic! Her helmet was suddenly filled with the sounds of electronic warnings. Lt. Kirin knew she had just made one hell of a rookie mistake...
By flying out of the hangar bay and trying to find their position, Toph had neglected to take defensive action against the one thing that could blast her into atoms - the guns of the Zeki-Zentraedi Assault Scout! One look behind showed her that the Assault Scout was, in size, something between the Zentraedi's smallest fighting star-cruiser, the Salan Scout, and the dreaded Thuverl-Salan destroyer-class starship. In short, the blasted "assault scout" was gargantuan like that of any of the largest terrestrial aircraft made by humanity! Perhaps larger!
The Zentraedi gunners, already alert and firing on Colonel Sharp's tank force, saw one lone Ajax in jet mode fly out of their own hangar. Toph's Ajax was right in front of their eyes and trying to make distance. But, since when was distance a factor for a warship capable of space combat?
Toph had basically shown her aircraft's backside to the Zentraedi; it was a target they could not resist.
Hey lady! I really hope you don't mind me controlling Toph here for a moment. Given her circumstances, it is either she goes all-out-evasive or she gets blown out of the sky. Furthermore, given everyone's recent lack of luck, I really don't want to ask you to roll any dice and chance Toph buying the farm, so this, I hope, is an exciting alternative?
Sincerely,
Your friendly Neighborhood Dannigan =)
Sincerely,
Your friendly Neighborhood Dannigan =)
Suddenly, all around the Meltrandi-blooded woman, night became day! A pillar of white light illuminated the sky directly above her cockpit some 50 yards wide and miles long! It took one staggering moment for Toph to understand - that blast was a ship-to-ship cannon - aimed at her! The blast nearly blinded her with its radiance while its force shook her ship as if it were a child's toy. Lava-red laser bolts zipped past as Toph's fighter pilot instincts and training immediately kicked in. Adrenaline, for what seemed the twentieth time that day, flooded her system and time seemed to slow down a little as she made every second count!
Her HUD virtually screamed at her with the "MSL LOCK x 3". She had not three missiles, but three separate volleys chasing her! Punching her chaff and flares, she had no choice but to invert her aircraft, dive towards the Gulf of Mexico, and punch the throttle as fast as it would go! Climbing would have made her an easier target and cutting left or right gave the guns more time on her. With missiles turning to destroy her and with gravity shoving hard against her chest from the G-forces, Toph turned her stick and rocketed toward the deep blue gulf below her.
* * *
The one good thing about Toph's troubles is that she, alone, had successfully drawn all of the enemy fire that might have come at her teammates!
Mario and Elinor exited the Zeki-Zentraedi warship in a downward fashion from get-go. As Elinor's Valkyrie hugged Mario's battloid on the right, Shirley's pristine Red Baroness quickly maneuvered in from Mario's left. While the three of them fell, Shirley latched on to Mario's VHT in a hug that mirrored Elinor's own. Mario, in the meantime, was about as helpless as one could imagine. His life was very much in his teammates' hands now. With Guardian wings tucked in and gravity doing what it did best, Elinor heard and felt Shirley do her level best to replace her fear and worry over Toph into confidence and open-mindedness over Iris's Polyphonic Nexus.
"Leanne, you're the test pilot here; you know my bird better than I do. How much gas do I give her and when?"
I have rolled 3 dice for Elinor's Basic Math, Aerospace Engineer, and Mecha Engineering. I'm happy to tell you Elinor "made the grade" on all three rolls! =)
Elinor did the math. Math was critical. She relayed to Mack what she needed from her over the Polyphonic Nexus instead of the radio. What a difference that made! As Elinor described the situation from her point of view mentally instead of verbally, Mack seemed to precisely understand what was required of her without much guesswork. Whether Iris was guiding this process was unclear at best. All Elinor knew is when she told Mack to alter her Valkyrie's output, position, and course, Mack responded nigh-instantly and accurately. To communicate thus was a test pilot's dream.
As a fully-qualified T.A.S.C.-trained Engineer in multiple fields, Traverser Hall was perhaps uniquely trained and talented for these kind of mind-boggling challenges, especially given the incredibly short time to prepare. Elinor reasoned she needed Mack to give her 50% thrust now with gradually 10% more every 5 seconds until they reached 80% full thrust. They didn't want 100% thrust because it was important to get distance from the soon-to-explode Zeki-Zentraedi warship above them. That would come later or Mario would need one hell of a snorkel.
The delicateness of the operation was downright surgical. If either pilot gave too much or too little, they chanced tipping Mario in his tank over, and if the tank tipped just one, it was all over. He would fall straight into the Gulf of Mexico. There was no chance at a do-over. They had to get this right the first time or possibly lose the pilot-compartmentless VHT and Cpl. Zuko along with it.
The science followed and Elinor's brain had what it took to make the right conclusions. The Veritech Hover Tank alone weighed, dry, nearly as much as both Valkyries combined. The thrust-to-weight ratio of a single healthy Valkyrie was enough to slow the descent of the VHT, but to have two facing each other like this, they might have the ability to hover with him. But Elinor had to be the pilot and Mack would have to follow Elinor's every move. Over a radio, this would be crazy-difficult.
Their thruster-legs flaring with all they had under the command of two excellent pilots, the scene looked like some kind of attempt at a World's Record.
Meanwhile, falling alongside them at only about 200 yards distance away was "Spaceman Sam" and MechaKitten in the Super Tomahawk. The heavily-modified destroid was in supine position with all of its thrusters flaring brightly in the dawn sky. Elinor, and Mario if he were so inclined, could appreciate the piloting skills of their silent compatriot, for the entire destroid was as horizontal and properly level as anyone could ask.
But then they saw something attached to the Super Tomahawk waving at them. It was Iris! Not wanting to interrupt the conversation between Bruce Leanne and Mack, the green-eyed giant insectoid waved one pincer as she hung onto to the Super Tomahawk's shouder, her feelers blowing mightily in the air.
* * *
That was about the time the Zeki-Zentraedi Assault Scout above them exploded!
From the video game, Crysis. While I am certain each of you can imagine a nuclear detonation (or two simultaneous devices detonating), I figure why not enjoy the sights and sounds from a video game's point of view? =)
This is the final scene in Chapter Four: High Stakes! Each of the Wild Cards has reached 5th level!
I'll see you soon in Chapter Six: A Show of Hands!
I'll see you soon in Chapter Six: A Show of Hands!