Chapter Six: All Hands on Deck

[Captain Hesperus]

Overcome with a sudden surge of bashfullness, Hercules did not speak or send thoughts to Mack while she was in the polyphonic nexus. He still remembered her unorthodox method of arrival and even less orthodox mode of dress when they'd first met. He felt her pain and endured it, if he could absorb even that moment of pain from her, he would consider it a service to a friend. He had already lost one friend, he was resolved to not make it a habit.
"Rest easy, Lieutenant. And when I get back I'll make you a fine dinner of souvlaki and tzatziki followed by his family's own traditional recipe for karythopita." He spoke up, even as he popped his neck with a slow, grinding motion, "We should get moving before Chessel decides to send even more expendable minions to pester us."
Hercules instructed his Cyclone to return to bike mode and climbed aboard.

 

[Purr]

( Captain Hesperus Tag!)

Spoiler: Instrumental Music to Ride to

"Shapeshifting" by Joe Satriani from his latest album of the same name.

No sooner had the Wild Cards mounted their cycles did a green minimap appear in their Cyclone-provided HUDs. The map was a three-dimensional, easy-to-understand diagram of what was between their location and the gently-blinking waypoint marked "SAM," courtesy of Professor Stein and the Broadsword. The cycles beneath you hummed their pleasant electrical hum until you curled your right wrists forward on the throttle. Then they rose in power and octave as you peeled off down the road! In moments, the Wild Cards were sailing down the construction zone and soon through it. The sophisticated helmet-minimap displayed a distance of half a mile (0.8 km) to go through the Under-highway.

You made your way through the construction zone to find a short wall ahead of you on the left-hand side of the road. Flashing yellow lights and signs in Spanish and English declaring "road ends", "caution", and "detour" sprang up before you. This section was also provided on your minimap - a section of the road on the left side was completely blocked off for 60 feet (18.3 m). The road on the right side was the safe detour with speed limit signs stating 25 mph (40 kph). Depending on your mood, you could take the safe detour or use your Cyclone jump-jets to send you literally flying over the safety signs and construction and onto the other side. It was your choice to make. =)

Spoiler: Shop Talk

Given your characters' technopathic link and P.P. scores, there is no roll required to make the jump. =)

Upon reaching the other side, the flashing construction signs continued facing the other direction, and the road wound up in a wide intersection with a pair of concrete guard stations on opposite corners. The guard stations were empty and the roads went on, smoothly and well-lit, without a single living thing to be seen. Here, you came to a brief pause as strange and heavy sounds ahead began to reach your ears through your "space" helmets. Though the minimap told you to head north, there was before you, a deep, booming sound followed almost immediately by a crash down the road straight east. It repeated itself. It was far away, yet mighty.

"Hmph!" Cera glared. In the polyphonic nexus, she gave mental voice to her irritation. "Using cannons to blast their way into the recovery team! That must be the heavy assault unit The Professor warned us of."

Hercules and Mario, both A.T.A.C. soldiers, knew the sounds of point-blank artillery when they heard it - 105mm rounds if their ears could be trusted in the echoing tunnels that made up the Under-highway. The heavy assault team possessed cannons! Two of them from the sound of things. However, the Wild Card tankers' trained ears also noticed something else.

Spoiler: Shop Talk

The following paragraph of information is coming to you courtesy of your A.T.A.C. squad members! If you guys had played something else, the Wild Cards would be in the dark as to these details. =)

The sounds of the explosions were dulled and followed by sinister crackling sounds. Both Mario and Hercules were certain the cannons were using Plasma rounds - the wrong kind of ammunition to take down physical barriers - when instead Canister rounds or HEAP were preferable. The Plasma rounds would take time to burn what they did not initially destroy, and the sheer amount of smoke caused by the burning alone would act as yet another barrier. If the area was reinforced, it would take them hours to gain entry into another fortified section of the compound.

You sensed it was time to continue and so you did, taking the turn toward your waypoint and leaving the intersection far behind. About 810 feet (250 m) later, along a stretch of orange and gray roadway some 410 feet (125 m) long you came to the source of the waypoint on your right - a tall, square-shaped hypercarbon (Mega-damage) section of a wall that barely stood out from the rest of the Under-highway. You could have driven right past this section a dozen times and not once thought of it.

After a short amount of visual inspection, each of you began to see seams and edges in the reinforced concrete where none should be. Then it became clear - there appeared to be a huge secret door here some 25 feet (7.7 m) high and 25 feet (7.7 m) wide. There was something that looked like a nondescript breaker box about a person's chest-height to the right of the door-section. A thick padlock (bulletproof, you were sure) secured the panel that concealed the box.

What do the Wild Cards do?

 

[Sherwood]

Mario slows down and once more shifts his Cyclone into its battle armor mode as he comes to a stop at the hidden doorway. He gives the others a grin. "I am thinking that it was a good thing that we are going in this way. Those big guns could probably swat one of us down in no time. Now, lets see if I can use mundane gear and skills to hack my way through this lock without having to risk Traversing in the middle of a bunch of hostile Cores." Using the blade on his Cyclone, he very carefully cuts the lock open to reveal the mechanism inside.

Using both his Basic Electronics and Computer Repair skills, Mario will try to see if he can't hotwire the door to open it up without destroying the mechanism. If it is clear that he lacks the skill to do so, he'll try another way.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Hercules dismounted his bike and walked over to the door, his weapon held at the ready.
"We need to move swiftly, but cautiously. We've made too much noise already, but I can only hope the clamor in the other tunnel is enough to mask all that. But we can't be sure. I'll establish a perimeter back the way we came, just in case anyone comes looking."
So saying, the Greek man walked back and turned his Cyclone to face back the way they'd just come from, set himself up alongside it, weapon raised and ready.

 

[Purr]

( Captain Hesperus Tag! You're "it"! =) )

Spoiler: Sherwood

Computer Repair does not apply as the electronic device is not damaged, nor is Mario attempting to sabotage the device. Basic Electronics fits the bill. I am rolling my percentile dice against Mario's Basic Electronic skill of 70% minus the -20% to hack (50%) and...

... they rolled 68%. Mrph.

Mario unsheathed the plasma-augmented blade and sliced the oversized padlock neatly. He quickly gained access to the box and upon opening, he immediately discovered writing on the inside of the panel in magic marker upon a pad that seemed designed just for that purpose. It was all in Spanish. As Mario was not literate with that language, it read like this to him.

Spoiler: The note

"Juanita,

blah blah blah blah blah blah

blah blah blah blah

blah blah,
Pedro"

Mario went to work on the electrical panel, a well-organized gathering of wires and connections, every one of them was even labeled (in Spanish), but in the end the task of opening the door eluded Mario's skills in Basic Electronics.

Back at his perimeter, Hercules brought out the Thundercracker and held it at the ready. There was something confidence-inspiring on holding the two-handed heavy weapon. This thing looked as if it was meant to blast apart anything it was aimed at. But nothing came down his direction to garner such action.

Cera did not speak but sent her reply to Hercules and the team via their mental link. "I will guard in the other direction," was all she said though she gave the impression she had understood all that was said. Cera went into action, transforming her Cyclone into Battloid and doing as Hercules had but opposite his position. Her rifle at her shoulder, she took what cover there was (a pillar that divided the four lanes of traffic; there was a similar pillar on Hercules's side which could be used for the same purpose). There, Cera watched with a readiness toward battle that only one created for it could have. She found herself aching for an enemy to rear its head. But none came.

What do the Wild Cards do?

 

[Sherwood]

Mario steps back, shaking his head. "I don't have the tools or the skill to be able to open this up without risking Traversing it. Can anyone speak Spanish? Or know how to bypass an electronic lock? Otherwise, one of us will have to risk going into the Blue World and convince the Core to open the door."

 

[Kaerri]

"Not 'one' of us," Elinor reminded him. "Two at least." But even as she spoke, she was stepping up to the lock herself, her engineer's eyes studying the wiring. Someone had clearly spent the extra effort to organize things, which she appreciated -- it was always a pain to work on wiring that looked like a bowl of spaghetti.

Spoiler: OOC

Elinor would like to use her Electrical Engineering skill to see if she can figure out how to open the door.

 

[Purr]

Spoiler: Shop Talk

So! Being that Kaerri and I are married, when she and I are home at the same time, I ask her to make her character's rolls herself with me watching. Elinor's Electrical Engineer skill is 77% minus the -20% penalty made for a 57% chance. She rolled my yellow d10s. The first (tens place) rolled a 5! That's when we paused knowing that the second dice would make it or break it! It rolled a 0 for 50%. Elinor's attempt is successful!).

Elinor examined the panel. It was, in a way, like a crossword puzzle with solutions waiting to be discovered. That the wires were tidy and labeled was a plus, for even though the labeling was in Spanish, a woman with Elinor's education and knowledge could figure out what each one meant without having to know Spanish. Indeed, the labeling was a convenience - unnecessary to find her solutions. In the end, the rewiring and creating of a bypass turned out to be quite the challenge, but one she was up to the task for. The panel was meant to open to security badges and Elinor figured out how to take the badge-reader out of the equation, thus allowing for the opening of the huge secret door without a badge.

The secret door slid silently into a housing in the wall; even the door's movements were clandestine in nature. Opening it revealed pitch-black portal some 25 feet (7.7 m) high and 25 feet (7.7 m) wide. With the assistance of your Cyclones' lights, you could see a corridor that extended as far as the eye could see, some 250 feet (77 m) of solid concrete with a black walkway. There was a great deal of debris haphazardly strewn all over the walkway. Upon closer inspection, it was dozens of boxes of non-perishable foodstuffs and bottled sodas all of which were labelled in Spanish. This would make for difficult riding for motorcycles (unless you wanted to plow through it all and get God-knows-what all over your Cyclones) but it made for easy movement in Battloid.

On the other side of the secret door, another panel peeked out. This one was simple. Though labelled in Spanish, it was also color-coded. It appeared to operate the secret door from the inside.

What do the Wild Cards do now?

 

[Kaerri]

"Thank you," Elinor said quietly, patting the panel. She inspected the interior. "Looks like we get to walk for a bit, 'til we're through here," she advised her team, switching her own Cyclone to Battloid form. Then she paused to take a closer look. Was there any coffee in here?

 

[Purr]

Using only the lights of your Cyclones, Elinor searched among the small tornado of consumables. There, she came across a single package.

Spoiler: The package

One package of "Silencer Smooth" coffee from the Black Rifle Coffee Company.
Yes, from these crazy wackos... =)
"EPIC BATTLE: THE LAST CUP OF COFFEE (FT CORRIDOR DIGITAL)" by Black Rifle Coffee Company (veteran-owned and partially veteran-operated).

 

[Purr]

( Captain Hesperus Tag!)

Your characters, if they drink coffee or if the types to rummage through the remains of the internet, would likely know of this brand of coffee. It is excellent quality stuff despite the silly, crazy people who make it. =)

 

[Psychie]

Toph gives Elinor a thumbs-up as the door opens. "Outstanding work. Lets see what we can see." She waits for the all clear before heading past the first secret door, looking about for any cameras or other surveillance gear that will detect where they are.

 

[Purr]

Unlike the majority of the Under-highway, Toph did not see any evidence of surveillance hardware in the darkness of the tunnel.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

With the door now open, Hercules donned his Cyclone and collapsed in behind his teammates, weapon at the ready.
”Do we close the door up behind us, or leave it open? If it’s closed, there‘s little chance of us being outflanked ., but if it’s closed it’ll be a barrier to a rapid exfil.”

 

[Sherwood]

Mario pipes up with, "Human nature is to avoid locked barriers, so if we were to shut the door behind us, it might buy us some extra time as we head in. Just a thought."

 

[Purr]

Spoiler: Note to PCs

Kaerri has elected to close the secret door behind the Wild Cards before you proceed further into the unknown.

As the great door quietly sheathed shut behind you, the illumination provided by the Under-highway went with it. In but a few moments, you were all covered in a darkness blacker than night. Your Cyclones' lights (or other provided optical methods of your choice) provided you the means not to fall flat on your armored faces as you clanked through the messy corridor. The sounds of your Cyclones moving along in Battloid were odd, for no Army of Southern Cross members had technology of this level at their disposal. To stride about in a miniature transformable mecha was a leap so far into Earth's future as to be the stuff of science fiction. And yet you were in it!

Cautiously making your way along, you came across no other haphazardly-left provisions along your path. Even without Shirley Mack leading your squad, you moved together like an experienced squad. Cera, to her credit, prowled like the warriors she had been cast from - confident, but not complacent; ready, but not tense. Her rifle and her eyes moved as one as she took care not to bump her Cyclone into walls or any piping.

You had moved straight ahead about 600 feet (about 180 m) through the darkness when you finally saw the long-barreled guns aimed at you. You realized then you were in a long corridor with no appreciable cover with only 4 wall and ceiling-mounted silent sentry guns for company (1 in each wall, 2 on the 25-foot-tall ceiling). They were aiming in your general direction, but they had not moved and had certainly not fired. Upon casual inspection, you noticed their electrical displays were inactive. Dark. If they had opened up, there would have been nowhere to go but forward or back.

A very short distance away was another door of the same size you had entered. Alongside it, another panel similar to the one that Elinor had used to close you inside this tunnel complex. But before you could touch it, the great door silently slid open as if in welcome. Beyond it, were a quintet of familiar figures. Sam and Samantha units!

These waved immediately to you! One had its hand on a panel outside and with the additional light beyond the door, you noticed a small array of microphones set up behind the sentry guns. The Sams had heard you coming.

This was the Broadsword's trapped Recovery Team.

The Sam units were unlike any you had seen before in that they were downright filthy. All of the suits were painted a dark charcoal gray with dull white. Each was stained with green grass tracks, dirt marks, fluid markings, and more except in the places where it mattered like their helms, feet, and forearm units. Each held strange, futuristic tools you did not recognize. But nowhere upon them did you see any guns. Not even a pistol. These Sam units were similar to those you were used to seeing these past few days, but... they appeared older somehow. Aged. Undamaged, but with the sure evidence of Time's all-touching hands upon them. You felt the sensation of never having before met them. But they were not alone.

Magnetically slinking along the walls and around you were equally-dirty mechanical oddities you had not seen before. The Sams seemed to be directing them.

Spoiler: Oddities

(Image credit: Pinterest.com)

All of the Sams and Samanthas turned toward you. Together, they lifted their hands in silent salute to you. Then they parted and made way for you to enter Outpost #5's hangar bay...

...and there you beheld a sight no Army of Southern Cross soldier had ever seen!

Spoiler

Note the yellow loader on the bottom-left of the screen is probably about the size of a Tomahawk Destroid (roughly 40 feet/13.3 m tall). There is no way this vessel could fit on the Broadsword; it is too large.


(Image credit: Deviantart.com)

It dominated the Chessel Corporation hangar bay with its size alone. Like the Recovery Unit Samanthas and their dark ponytails, this vessel was also futuristic but far from new. It was dirty, appeared undamaged, and seemed perfectly functional. It was altogether humongous and clearly built to carry and sail across the very stars. But it was, at least from your angle of sight, without picture-based or numerical identifiers of any kind. It appeared weaponless, yet those three engines appeared quite capable of speeds beyond those of mecha pilots like yourselves.

Looking up at the ceiling beyond it, the massive freighter was clearly trapped inside of the hangar bay. The huge reinforced blast doors above it were shut. There was no other way out.

One of the Samantha units, tall and slightly battered, made "her" way over to you. There, she bowed, displaying her respect of you in a very Japanese fashion. She turned to her wrist housing. It opened without her touching it. There, a number of high-tech tools lay embedded, ready for use. With her free hand, she reached inside the compartment and pulled forth a thin blue coiled cable some 10 feet (3 m) long. With a click, she inserted into a headjack located on the lower front of her helmet while her wrist housing resealed itself. She presented the other end of the cable to the Wild Cards while indicating via pantomime to insert the other end into the headjack in your Cyclone's own helm.

What do the Wild Cards do?

Image credit: Reddit.com

STATUS

Location: Veracruz, Mexico. Chessel Corporation Outpost #5
Instrumental Mood Music (click to play): Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Enterprise Clears Moorings by James Horner

 

[Purr]

(Forgot to tag Captain Hesperus again. =) )

 

[Sherwood]

Mario steps forward with a wave as he checks out the massive ship. "Impressive. It looks big enough to get all the Sams and Samanthas out of here, if we can open the hatch and fly the sonofagun out of here. Oh, we're the rescue squad, just in case you couldn't tell." He sees that one of the armored suits with what appears to be an audio cord designed to plug into the helmets of the team. Nodding, he takes the cord and plugs it into the jack on his helmet.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Hercules whistled in appreciation of the massive freighter.
"Well, this was unexpected.", he spoke up, hefting his primary weapon into the comfortable position across his shoulder, "If we're wanting to recover this, we'll need to get through those doors."
He indicated the massive blastdoors overhead.
"Hey, Sam, any idea about how to open them?", he called out to one of the closer Sam droids.

 

[Kaerri]

Spoiler: Elinor Hall ("Bruce Leeane")

Elinor's character sheet
Action Points: 4/6
Bonus action point: 1

Spoiler: Current mission details

1. Travel to the port city of Veracruz to Chessel Corporation's machining base. About two miles from the base, there is a heavily-armed outpost ("Outpost 5") with a single large reinforced door.
2. Blow your way into the outpost. Expect opposition from the base's automated defenses in the form of drone aircraft and anti-aircraft guns. The outpost's reinforced door should take around 40 total short-range missiles to destroy. This will gain you access to the underground highway the outpost protects. Once in, opposition from the outpost should cease.
3. Park your aircraft just beyond the destroyed door to the outpost. Professor Stein will stay with the mecha and act as your intelligence officer while you are in the base via the polyphonic nexus. Albert has tangled with Chessel Corporation before and can help you. Hitomi will be feeding him information from the Broadsword's bridge via Captain Piper.
4. Detach your Rifleman Cyclones from the aeronautical veritechs and Traverse with them. The Sams loaded your Cyclone-based armament with the Cyclones. Hitomi says, your traversing with the Cyclones means losing your link with the veritechs, so expect that.
5. Use the Cyclones to drive your way through the outpost's underground highway until you reach the Broadsword's Recovery Team in the main base. And, troops, it's a big, big base. The team is trapped inside of the main section. Your Cyclones are fitted with the means to track down the team via their distress beacons.
6. Once you reach them, find a way to open the main door from the inside to free the team.
7. Escort the team to your veritechs, then once in your veritechs, provide escort the Recovery Team to the Broadsword waiting in the Gulf of Mexico.

Using only the lights of your Cyclones, Elinor searched among the small tornado of consumables. There, she came across a single package.

Mario pipes up with, "Human nature is to avoid locked barriers, so if we were to shut the door behind us, it might buy us some extra time as we head in. Just a thought."

Elinor grinned and securely stowed the BRCC package on her person. Secondary mission accomplished! Then she shut the secret door they'd entered by, nodding at Mario and adding, "I'd as soon make it look like no one came this way myself."

* * *​

You had moved straight ahead about 600 feet (about 180 m) through the darkness when you finally saw the long-barreled guns aimed at you. You realized then you were in a long corridor with no appreciable cover with only 4 wall and ceiling-mounted silent sentry guns for company (1 in each wall, 2 on the 25-foot-tall ceiling). They were aiming in your general direction, but they had not moved and had certainly not fired. Upon casual inspection, you noticed their electrical displays were inactive. Dark. If they had opened up, there would have been nowhere to go but forward or back.

One had its hand on a panel outside and with the additional light beyond the door, you noticed a small array of microphones set up behind the sentry guns. The Sams had heard you coming.

Well, the Professor had mentioned automated defenses. I guess the Sams took over the guns as well as the microphones?

These Sam units were similar to those you were used to seeing these past few days, but... they appeared older somehow. Aged. Undamaged, but with the sure evidence of Time's all-touching hands upon them. You felt the sensation of never having before met them.

"Professor, Colonel, anyone else listening in, we've reached the Sam team," Elinor advised over the Nexus. "They, uh, look like they've been here a while though. And no one mentioned the ship I'm guessing they came in. We gonna recover that too?" She didn't say so, but Elinor figured if the answer to her question was "no," they'd have to destroy it to keep it out of enemy hands, and that would be a shame. She looked it over with her engineer's eyes, studying what she could see from a polite distance and trying to account for the accumulated grime, while keeping half her attention on Mario as he accepted the offered cable. At Hercules' question, her gaze shifted up to the big doors and she inspected those too, then looked back down to see what the answer might be.

 

[Psychie]

Toph looks around the room at the massive ship and the heavy doors that are currently shut. "I am sure that we can Traverse the door and open it up, assuming that we have to. There may be other less risky ways to get everyone out of here." She turns to the Sams and Samanthas and tries to do a quick head count to see if they are all accounted for.

 

[Purr]

Mario steps forward with a wave as he checks out the massive ship. "Impressive. It looks big enough to get all the Sams and Samanthas out of here, if we can open the hatch and fly the sonofagun out of here. Oh, we're the rescue squad, just in case you couldn't tell." He sees that one of the armored suits with what appears to be an audio cord designed to plug into the helmets of the team. Nodding, he takes the cord and plugs it into the jack on his helmet.

The black-haired Samantha unit fed the cord that connected to her to Mario. When Mario plugged his end of the cable into his Cyclone, a series of rapid blue symbols immediately appeared on the bottom-left of his Cyclone's helmet. Rectangles appeared, empty but filling quickly. Numbers joined them. 25%. 50%. In the span of two heartbeats, those number hit 100% at the precise moment the rectangular meters filled. The symbols vanished. Then the dirty Samantha unit looked to the other Wild Cards in their Cyclones. The process repeated in all of your Cyclones.

Once this completed, a Sam unit covered in the black and brown of work that stains stepped forward and bowed again. The other units repeated this motion. They all rose together and Samantha took "her" cord back from Mario and returned it into her forearm housing. In the bottom-left of each Wild Card's helmet, a small square box appeared blinked a few times with the words SAM-AUDIO ACTIVE. The Sam unit waved to you. A man's voice came over each of your helmet speakers. The voice sounded pleased, eager, warm, and sophisticated. The voice spoke English with a distinct Japanese accent.

"Welcome, Wild Cards!" it said. "We are Recovery Team Esper assigned to Recovery Ship Esper under the SCL-107 Broadsword." Each of you heard the voice of a gentleman.

But one of you heard much, much more than that.

Spoiler: Psychie

As the Sam unit spoke, Toph heard the voice of her father.

It was unmistakable. The Sam unit was speaking with the voice of Hiroshi Kirin over the Cyclone's audio channel. The voice used possessed the positivity and warmth he displayed toward all living creatures when he was alive. It was so lifelike as to be the real thing. Toph could almost believe he was standing near her.

The voice spoke again.

"Hey, Sam, any idea about how to open them?", he called out to one of the closer Sam droids.

"Greetings, Sergeant Papadopolis! Please accept our appreciation at your timely arrival!" Noting that Toph, prior to the start of this communication seemed to be counting heads, the Sam unit added, "Lieutenant Kirin, all of our 45 units are whole and accounted for."

The Sam unit pointed upwards to the reinforced hangar door. "Our mission to recover resources here is complete. However, we are unable to depart as we lack the means to open the hangar bay doors. Attempts to override the software have failed. We do not possess the means to destroy the door as we lack armament. Nor do we seem to have the time required to cut through the door before the Chessel Corporation heavy assault team breaks down that door," the Sam unit pointed toward a huge circular blast door some 30 feet high and wide. The Sams and Samanthas with their heavy loaders had taken every large metal box in the hangar and placed it against that door. You noticed about half a dozen of those units were busy welding the boxes to each other and to the door.

Cera glared at the door with Ura-Meltrandi suspicion. "Sam, the door is quiet. Did the heavy assault unit leave?"

"Auxiliary Specialist Cera, we believe some portion of their unit has fallen back to reload their cannons. We await your recommendations." The Sams and Samantha units along with their heavy loader units all turned toward you. They did not move. They seemed to await your reply as one.

* * *​

"Professor, Colonel, anyone else listening in, we've reached the Sam team," Elinor advised over the Nexus. "They, uh, look like they've been here a while though. And no one mentioned the ship I'm guessing they came in. We gonna recover that too?"

Professor Stein came over the polyphonic nexus. His mental voice sounded confused and hurried. "What's that, Elinor? You've found the recovery team, have you? Excellent work! Captain Piper called away Hiram and the others. It's just your team, the cat, and Hitomi in here with me and I cannot promise Hitomi has her transceiver on. Now what is all this about a... ship?"

 

[Psychie]

It takes all of her willpower not to break into tears at the sound of her father's voice coming from the speaker. For a long moment, she struggles to maintain her calm before she trusts herself not to completely break down. After a few deep breaths, she sends out, "Professor, the Sams and Samanthas are apparently a part of another vessel called the Esper, under the Broadsword. It is too big to fit in the landing bay of the Broadsword unless there is some keen trick to the ships that we haven't seen yet. Perhaps they can dock to one another? I don't know. But at the moment, it is trapped inside a hangar bay with a massive closed door keeping it from taking off. The Sams say that they are not able to bypass the programming on the door, so it looks like the only way to get it out of here is to try to Traverse the door. Is there any suggestions that you can offer up to make it safer for us to do so, since we are in the heart of Chessel Corporation's base and surrounded by hostile Cores?"

 

[Purr]

Professor Stein seemed completely unaware of Toph's surprise and following herculean leap to self control. "The Esper? Muppet, I cannot say I've heard of it. Then again, and you can call me suspicious, but I am gathering the notion that our dear Sam is not telling us everything that is going on. But that is for another time. Right now, I recommend you ready yourself to use your technopathic powers as that was one of the major reasons I suspect Captain Piper requested your help instead of unfreezing her own."

There was a brief pause as he collected his thoughts, then the continued. "I recommend all of you look around this hangar of yours for anything unusual using all means and resources you have. Collect your data then go from there. Remember, it appears time is on your side." As he said this, Toph's ears picked up the sounds of the Esper crew continuing to weld heavy items to the door the Chessel Corporation had earlier tried to blow down. There was a lot of mass and metal between that blockade and you and the Esper's dirty-yellow loading robots were bringing more.

"As for me, if you attempt to contact me and get no response, try Hitomi. I expect I shall be... occupied with other Traverser-related dangers. Good luck to you all!"

What do the Wild Cards do?

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Hercules looked from the Sam he'd questioned up to the doors.
"Show me what you believe to be the door control system."
He had a good mind to be persuasive and he really wanted to see what this strange ship would do once airborne.