The New Vanguard! Frostbite Issue #7 - Cold and Afraid!

Clinging to Frostbite via a tether, Steph pointed at herself, then the shuttle.

He saw her spacesuit ripple, as if being filled out. Of course, she was draining whomever was inside!

That still left Cyborgs, who she couldn't drain...

Frostbite flew alongside the shuttle and caught hold of an antenna, praying it wouldn't break off as it sped past! Steph caught another with her newly boosted strength and the pair of them pulled themselves along the outside of the hull, Steph filling out the spacesuit as she moved. "I've just gotten the pilots. I think." She shouted with helmet close to Frostbites head. Sure enough, the engines stopped thrusting and the shuttle titled slightly.

"Oh." said Steph. "Erm, perhaps not the best move... "

The Shuttle was angled not just to intercept Frostbites' ship, but to collide directly with the bridge! Even from here Frosty guessed the angle would have the shuttle tumbling into his ships bridge and sucking all of his bridge crew out into space!

Just then a hatch hissed open... and a metallic hand grasped the edge, pulling out onto the hull! It was followed by an arm, shoulder, torso and legs of a Cyborg, which clamped magnetically to the hull! It was followed by another... and another!

Frostbite was in a pickle now... if he let go of the hull he'd drift away into space - it was still faster than he was. If he fired his energy blast without proper bracing he'd fire off into the opposite direction, into space... There was no moisture to use his ice powers in vacuum... This might come down to an old fashioned fist fight!

Steph wrapped the tether around a protrusion from the hull and pointed at an advancing Cyborg - she would take one on! That left two for Frostbite!

OOC Where there's air, there'll be moisture Frosty can use to create ice. That means in the shuttle itself. Unless you want to try some fancy maneuver or plan to send the Cyborgs spinning into space, whatever that is. Maybe Frostbot can help, or Frosty turns the hull colder even than vacuum to make it brittle, or just charges in with his fists! Fight!

Admin wrote:OOC Where there's air, there'll be moisture Frosty can use to create ice. That means in the shuttle itself. Unless you want to try some fancy manoeuvre or plan to send the Cyborgs spinning into space, whatever that is. Maybe Frostbot can help, or Frosty turns the hull colder even than vacuum to make it brittle, or just charges in with his fists! Fight!

Well, at least something was going Frostbite's way as he took one look towards the ship tumbling toward his recent ride into this mess. After all, he had guessed correctly Cyborgs where this year's latest security must have. And it looked as the Empire had been on a bulk buy deal.

Well, this wasn't the time for flippancy, moving toward the Cyborgs, they had to be disabled and quickly. From his previous work in space, Frostbite realised that his only advantage was to use these machines strengths against them. Their mag boots meant they would not be easily moved from the ship, but it also tethered them to the spot, which meant they would be slower to react. If he could get to where they might be less able to reach him, then he might be able to get the leverage of the ship behind him and then push them away from the ship, removing the boot clamps. Better still if Frostbot could 'persuade' the boots circuitry to suspend power momentarily then his push would have the desired effect. In any case, he had to act fast.

With a word to Frostbot to clue him in on what he had in mind, Frostbite made ready to muscle in and hopefully not die in the process.

OOC: Ok so if that isn't clear, first get into a better position so as not to slide off the ship. Second with my back up against the ship, get under them or let them loom over me, as I'll be lying down in effect, and then as they get to attack, I push them off, or kick out at their legs when hopefully I'll send them tumbling into space as Frostbot is able to scramble their firmware or whatever behind them mag boots.

After that, it's making sure that Steph is ok, and attempting to board the ship to right it before it makes a wrong turn mess of our own ride into town.

Sj

Frostbot offered another option 'Building on your eye, perhaps I might offer this. Magnetic boots on the hull will exert a measure of force when the cyborg moves. Make the hull brittle enough to shatter!'

Frostbite crouched on the hull, back to an outcropping system. With both hands on the 'floor' Frostbite cooled the hull down... and down... and down! The first Cyborg strode confidently forwards then paused. It had lifted a foot with a number of hull plates still attached to it! Frostbite saw his chance and simply stepped forward with a jarring shove to the chest - not enough to harm but certainly enough to tear the other foot of the cyborg away from the hull! It had an effect like a domino, crashing into another and causing a third to twitch then fire a grapple line to the hull to stop itself from spinning off like the other two, a mass of tangled limbs tumbling through space!

A stray piece of debris put paid to the cyborg as it crashed into its head and shoulders, and it was gone before Frostbite could even see where it had gone!

Frostbite turned to see Steph grappling with the cyborg she'd taken on and winced. She was on it's back, and were it to come unleashed from the hull she'd be dragged into space with it! He moved over, grappling with the outside of the Shuttle hull until he grabbed the arm of the Cyborg, Steph taking the other... and both pulled!

With a Rrrrriiiipppp! The Cyborg became 'armless' and twitched its head in confusion. A kick to its back saw hull plates yanked up on its feet and it span away....

Moments later the pair were inside the shuttle, a pair of superhuman arms making light work of a hatch and inner hatch. By now all on board were unconscious thanks to Steph's vampire power and the pair could relax for the moment. Cyborgs were the core of the Empires' muscle, the cloned troops and trained officers provided little opposition to superhumans. Even so, they felt very much like fish out of water!

Frostbot chimed in 'I can interface with the Shuttles systems and send it on a collision course with its mothership, transmitting the correct codes for them to open the docking bay, if you wish. Unless you have other plans for it...'

Steph sagged into a seat, a sigh of relief on her face. "My strength won't last long. I think so long as we can sort out the Cyborgs I can drain most of the ship eventually and we could... 'take' that if you want? That's if it's not blasted into fragments from all those battling spaceships first..."

Tempting! From a supply ship to a ... what, Corsair, Destroyer type of mid size ship? It would take time though, and the longer this battle went on the more likely that weak supply ship Frostbite called his own would be battered and suffer perhaps fatal damage!

Admin wrote:Tempting! From a supply ship to a ... what, Corsair, Destroyer type of mid-size ship? It would take time though, and the longer this battle went on the more likely that weak supply ship Frostbite called his own would be battered and suffer perhaps fatal damage!

"We need to be careful, if we move up the food chain to bigger ships someone is bound to notice, despite the chaos. I think we need to cut this crew off at the head, get the biggest ship first, no point trying to beat the bully's mates, we've got to get the bully. And this ship is the best way to do it."

OOC:So we head for the biggest ship of the fleet and try and get aboard, no point wasting time trying to do this any other way!

Sj

The battle was increasingly more one sided.

The Empire ships were coordinated, more powerful, with better shields, weapons and crews. They were slower though, and the smaller ships danced about, valiantly fighting a losing battle!

Frostbot spoke up 'The Shuttle has a number of access codes implanted. I suggest moving through the battle and debris to close with the largest Empire ship and trying to gain access by transmitting the codes. Of course, a single stray shot will see us blasted into atoms...'

"Power's wearing off Boss." grumbled Steph. Already the spacesuit was loosening around her as she slowly changed from a powerful athletic build to her average normal form.

Frostbite looked out and saw a number of smoking points on his supply ships' hull where stray shots had taken their toll. He also noted the Corsair was sending messages to the Shuttle to try and find out why it had not yet accomplished its mission!

He could:

1) Ignore the messages and make best speed for the heart of the battle
2) try to bluff his way out of trouble and convince the Corsair they'd been hit and suffered major damage, and that a repair ship near the Flagship would best be suited to help them
3) Board the Corsair and use that to punch through the battle to the Empire fleets heart
4) Something else!

Admin wrote:He could:

1) Ignore the messages and make best speed for the heart of the battle
2) try to bluff his way out of trouble and convince the Corsair they'd been hit and suffered major damage, and that a repair ship near the Flagship would best be suited to help them
3) Board the Corsair and use that to punch through the battle to the Empire fleets heart
4) Something else!

"Ok time for something either very dumb or tactically brilliant..."

OOC: Ok can we get the ship to transmit that its navigations has been locked out and so they are trying to reboot or some such, but meanwhile to get out of the way as they are accelerating toward the fleet - their last heading before lock-out, and cannot course correct? I am thinking that if we can use the ship to get closer to the biggest ship that way we can see if we can get through ourselves. Possibly to sweeten the deal, I'll also have a backup plan that the cyborgs have retrieved an attacker that hit the ship, and they are intending to bring it to the Flagship, because they have some idea of the strategic importance of the being, i.e. Steph! And that this was the reason the ship was heading for the fleet before they suffered a major malfunction. Therefore the flagship is the best ship for them to get to, in case there are any more of these beings about etc.

Sj

Frostbot transmitted the information that Frostbite requested he/it do so.

A crackling and distorted reply fuzzed on screen, and Frostbite saw a broken up image of a Commander on the bridge of an embattled ship! Sparks sprayed out from off screen causing the Commander to duck, and smoke wafted over the scene before the image winked off then crackled back into life again. It seemed the Empire ships weren't quite having things their own way!

"...best speed towards the nearest Empire ship and transmit code QXT632F..." the screen went blank, then crackled into life again! Looking out of the window Frosty saw it had been hit with a missile of some kind and flames were billowing from a hole in it's side!

'The code is not complete' stated Frostbot 'By three letters. I have requested a repeat but with all the debris, damage and jamming going on, transmission is nigh impossible!'

It was chaos outside! A spinning, fire wreathed pirate/merchant vessel screamed by before bursting into a billowing fireball, whilst another pair of larger pirate vessels harried a burning Empire ship, only for the tables to be turned when another Corsair class vessel of the Empire dropped in behind and smashed one of the pirate ships to bits with some well placed laser fire, causing the other to break off and flee.

Despite taking some hits themselves, it was clear that the battle was leaning hard in the direction of the Empire and would be over soon with the Pirates/Merchants deciding to run rather than lose their ships. In truth they were outgunned even if they outnumbered the larger Empire ships!

Frostbot transmitted the code to the nearest Empire vessel, a smaller but faster destroyer type vessel that launched salvo after salvo of missiles from racks on its hull. They responded with a request to re-transmit.

Just then Frostbite looked on the scanner. A medium sized Pirate vessel - about the same size as the destroyer - was closing in on Frostbites' shuttle, doubtless trying to claim a prize or at least a kill! If he didn't do something quick then his shuttle would be blown to smithereens, and possibly him with it!

Admin wrote:They responded with a request to re-transmit.

Just then Frostbite looked on the scanner. A medium sized Pirate vessel - about the same size as the destroyer - was closing in on Frostbites' shuttle, doubtless trying to claim a prize or at least a kill! If he didn't do something quick then his shuttle would be blown to smithereens, and possibly him with it!

"Frostbot lay out fire to divert that pirate away from us, do not attempt to do real damage but just play with the sensors, and tell our 'friends' in front that we are already taking damage and our coms are barely working...owing to this they keep cutting out, dropping the code."

Frostbite hoped that the ruse would work, clearly they were an Empire ship, but damaged and in the heat of battle one had to hope that things could be turned. If they didn't get aboard a larger ship and start wrecking havoc, they'd pretty much have nothing left to salvage.

OOC:Ok so hoping that this goes through, otherwise I got nothing else to suggest - trying to get aboard the larger ships is proving difficult and given the distances involved nigh on impossible to fly solo between, so this is it. Unless I am missing some other opportunity. I want to get to the big ships and start to see if we can't get the empire forces to turn or others they get burned. But can't do that from aboard a glorified rowing boat, need a destroyer or something to start getting attention.

Sj

The shuttle bucked and twisted as stray shots tagged it, causing Steph to cry out in alarm - she was, without a source of strength, a normal human woman after all!

Frostbot responded with the shuttles' limited weaponry. 'Even if successfully striking that much larger vessel, our weapons cannot do much more than score their hulls it seems'.

Just then a damaged Empire destroyer rumbled across Frostbites' view and provided a shield of sorts whilst returning fire against the Pirate vessel!

"...docking bay open... as long as we can..." crackled the radio.

Frostbot added 'Firing boosters!'

The Shuttle shot forwards and darted towards the open bay of the destroyer, crashing into the walls, sliding across the floor and piling into the far wall as the Destroyers gravity field took hold of the shuttle but apparently applied TOO much gravity!

The airlock started to hiss closed and the bay started to fill with air! Even then pipes hissed with punctured skins and gas pumped out.

"YOU IN THE SHUTTLE!" bellowed a voice over the tannoy. "GET OUT OF THERE, FAST!! WE HAVE TAKEN SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE AND NEED TO SEAL OFF THIS ENTIRE BAY OR WE MIGHT LOSE THE SHIP!"

Frostbite glanced through the window at the two technicians looking at the shuttle through a window. Frostbot piped up 'Sensors on the shuttle indicate that the docking bay is barely holding sufficient atmosphere to breathe in. It seems they are trying to keep you alive, but were indeed correct about the damage the ship has suffered!'

Steph took a deep breath. "Seems churlish to start draining them when they've saved our hides, but I'm guessing we're past the chatting stage?"

As she finished speaking the Destroyer - and the shuttle inside - lurched to the side as it took a terrific hit!

Admin wrote:Steph took a deep breath. "Seems churlish to start draining them when they've saved our hides, but I'm guessing we're past the chatting stage?"

As she finished speaking the Destroyer - and the shuttle inside - lurched to the side as it took a terrific hit!

Frostbite knew what she meant and he was aware that time was against them. This war was going to go one way, but any resistance they had to form had to survive this incursion if they were going to have a hope of facing the forces arrayed against them.

"Frostbot, we're are getting off and need to get to the bridge. Keep us informed we want to know if they send in those Cyborgs before they get ontop of us. Ok, let's do this...Drain who you can as we go."

OOC: Ok we don't take out the crew and if they are sensible enough to get themselves out of the closing chamber, then I'll grab them forcefully and get them out with us. Meanwhile, we're about making our way to where we can effectively let Frostbot do his thing. If along the way he can deactivate collars that would be good too.

Sj

'Interfacing with the ships computers' said Frostbot as Frostbite stepped out of the back of the shuttle to stand near a console.

"That's better." breathed Steph as she flexed and filled out the spacesuit somewhat better. Frostbite turned, but saw the last of the slumped technicians sliding off their console through the window of the observation bay.

"What?" she shrugged. "They were going to slow us down."

The pair walked across the docking bay towards the exit which cycled at their approach. With superhuman strength it was easy to walk against the leak of air/suction from the damaged docking bay, and the door swished shut behind.

'Cyborgs have been dispatched to this location. A dozen, from the looks of it. They are treating it as if they have been boarded. Technicians are being armed with hand lasers, but their technical specification suggests at best you will suffer minor discomfort from them, given your metahuman constitution. Reflex will be similarly resistant.' said Frostbot in Frostys head.

As if to demonstrate a small group of technicians ran round the corner, levelled weapons, and opened fire!

Most shots missed. Those that struck warmed the skin where they landed, prompting confusion from the crew before they experienced the power of Reflex and dropped to the floor without a sound. "Tasty!" she grinned, a slightly feral look to her bulkier, muscled form.

=========

"This is it." muttered Steph as she turned from peeping around a corner.

Progress had been swift. The crew hadn't wanted to talk, instead rushing headlong with weapons unsuited to dealing with superhumans! Some had resorted to crowbars, others flailing with fists. Every attempt to speak to them was rebuffed with silence.

'They have probably been compelled to stop us or die.' remarked Frostbot. 'They are acting as if on instinct. Or through fear.'

The cyborgs protecting the main entrance to the sealed bridge were another matter though.

Four of them, heavily armoured even more so than those that had attacked the shuttle. They were ready for a fight, with long barrelled guns and heavy metal weapons attached to arms and body. One even had a rocket launcher attached to its shoulder.

Behind them, marking their way were sprawled technicians and crewmembers. Some had been frozen, most had been drained and explained Reflexs' fully powered state. "I'm ready for a fight." said Steph sounding doubtful even though she'd tried for determined. "Say the word boss." It was a 30m long 10' x 10' corridor with extra thick panels and shielding. Clearly the bridge crew considered their protection of the paramount importance on Empire ships.

Admin wrote:Behind them, marking their way were sprawled technicians and crewmembers. Some had been frozen, most had been drained and explained Reflexs' fully powered state. "I'm ready for a fight." said Steph sounding doubtful even though she'd tried for determined. "Say the word boss." It was a 30m long 10' x 10' corridor with extra thick panels and shielding. Clearly the bridge crew considered their protection of the paramount importance on Empire ships.

Frostbite spoke quickly of his plan. "The best way we can attack these guys, armed as they are is divide and conquer. So if you give the word and draw them toward you, don't let them tag you. I'll phase through the wall see if I can pop out behind them, we can then try and take them out as swiftly as possible."

As he said this Frostbite had a look of disgust on his face. These creatures born out of some factory vat or not were being treated with a callous inhumanity that belied belief. Whoever stood behind these forces was more like some inhuman cyborg themselves than being truly human. And Frostbite had, had enough.

OOC:Ok so if Reflex pops out and ducks for cover, to draw their fire, I'll try and slip through the corridor conduits and get behind them. Whilst Frostbite is doing so he'll ask Frostbot to run interference, no good the cyborgs learning of our planned surprise till it too late. And then the idea is to freeze all their vital parts so they cannot fight back and we can slip on around them. Deactivation can come later, assume dice to be used as needed - I'm happy to let you make that tactical call.

Sj

OOC Apologies for the delay, but by now you'll know my adventures in real life have tested my sanity and strength of will recently!

If you can plot a path through the various rooms either to the left or the right that will affect what Frostbite has to go through before he can pop out behind the Cyborgs. Up or down are not options as within a few feet he'd be in space...

Steph popped her head around the corner and immediately yanked it back as a hail of laser fire punched past, but interestingly enough it made little to no mark on the walls!

"Some kind of sonics? Stun blast? Makes sense as punching holes in the hull is usually a bad idea, but its hard to predict what that sort of thing will do to your body. Not to mention your eardrums and your teeth! I'll try my best to keep them busy, but don't take too long!"

OOC GM Notes... to add

Admin wrote:

[color=#0099ff]OOC Apologies for the delay, but by now you'll know my adventures in real life have tested my sanity and strength of will recently!

OOC: Oh yeah I understand...

Frostbite sighed, he knew that the aliens involved were not trying to be suicidal and that to their masters they were nothing more than fodder. More could be grown like these things were some sort of cattle, or crops to be harvested and utilized without a second thought. Such hideously uncaring attitude spoke to minds more damaged and desperate hence the despotic way they pushed their troops.

A moment's consideration and Frostbite and after a quick explanation to Reflex, Frostbite asked Frostbot, "I'm going to try and get [J27] could you try and give them something else to worry about whilst I ran into the open?"

Frostbite realised that running forward even in his intangible form was a risk, but his intangibility had never been his strongest suit and in this alien ship/space he had to wonder if it wasn't going to cause him more problems. The fewer walls he had to penetrate the better.

OOC: Right take on Frostbites intangible form to try and mitigate the sonic attack, run straight for the wall and hope I phase through rather than bounce off and give the cyborgs chance to catch me. Meanwhile, if Frostbot can distract, disrupt them in some way or throw their aim off that would be good.

Sj

OOC Frostbite boosts his Dispersal (intangibility)...

Roll(2d10)+0: 7,2,+0 Total:9 + Adrenaline Surge 15 (24) vs TN11 + Dispersal 5 (16). +4 EV (19) vs RV5=14RAPs. Dispersal jumps from 5 to 15!

Frostbite comfortably sprints across the corridor even as energy blasts ring out... Steph bellows a war cry and starts to run towards them, zig zagging and drawing fire!

One of the Cyborgs draws a bead on Frosty and takes a shot...

OOC Sonic Beam 12 + Roll(2d10)+0: 10,7,+0 Total:17 (29) vs TN 11 + OV9 (20). Hit, +4 EV (16) vs RV 26. No damage!

The sonic bream passes through Frostbite as he in turn passes through the wall into a large darkened room that appeared to be full of servers. That presented an opportunity! Frostbot confirmed 'It will take some time, but I believe I can crack into their systems and disable not only their controls and interface with the cyborgs. It will not be easy nor quick however...'

In the corridor outside Frostbite could hear sustained blasts of sonic high pitched beams. Reflex was fast and tough but those beams packed a punch! If Frostbite was going to do something, he'd have to make it quick! He noted that the temperature was controlled in this room, cooled to below zero to keep the computers cool. Not a problem for Frosty of course. Somewhere outside the ship an explosion went off, rocking the entire vessel suggesting it was a big one!

OOC He can set Frostbot to work on the servers, smash a few up or simply move on, through the walls and towards the bridge if you need to. Bear in mind I will compute the attacks on Reflex every round that you act. This first round, two attacked her:

Roll(2d10)+0: 7,8,+0 Total:15 + Sonic Beam 12 (27) vs TN11 + OV9 (20) +3 EV (15) vs RV 14= 1 damage

Roll(2d10)+0: 6,4,+0 Total:10 + Sonic Beam 12 (22) vs TN11 + OV9 (20) +1 EV (13) vs RV 14= no damage

For her part Reflex ran up to the first of the Cyborgs and swung a punch...

Roll(2d10)+0: 3,1,+0 Total:4 (ouch!) + Dex 9 (13) vs TN11 + Dex 8 (19) = Miss!

Admin wrote:[color=#0099ff]OOC He can set Frostbot to work on the servers, smash a few up or simply move on, through the walls and towards the bridge if you need to. Bear in mind I will compute the attacks on Reflex every round that you act. This first round, two attacked her

Frostbite needed Frostbot to take control, having the ship in their command might be the beginning of turning this thing around before they were all so much scrap metal lying about the place. Mentally he gave the command and touching the computer felt the sudden emptiness that Frostbots absence left in him. Moving ahead he had to stop the cyborgs before they could get to Reflex. Steph was fast but equally depleted fast as well. So coming out of the forward bulkhead, well behind where he estimated the Cyborgs to be, Frostbite leapt out to attack from behind, dividing and hopefully conquering as he let forth with a blast of sub-zero cold.

OOC:[i]Sorry been away a few days, just got back to reply. So I think we'll pour it on asap to try and take these guys down and find a way to get onto the bridge before our grand plan to save this ship and turn the battle is in tatters. Cold Energy blast on two of the Cyborgs, multi-attack, aimed at trying to take them out before they nobble Reflex.

Sj

OOC Apologies from me as well - today is the first time I've had chance to sit down with a laptop without being nattered! Been to cast my vote (for what it's worth) and chores to do but got just enough time all being well to update Frosty and the Lion.

Frostbite set his electronic companion to task, and wondered if at any point he would find out how their relationship came about.

Moving through the walls (OOC Roll(2d10)+0: 10,5,+0 Total:15 Success) and along the wall to where he figured the cyborgs were, he popped out beside one and glanced back down the corridor. Two of the cyborgs were holding the limp form of Steph up, blood streaming from her ears. Of course, her power was finite and drained quickly. Against a crowd of opponents she could drain and stay powered up. Against these she was limited to what she'd stored up, and it seemed only a little had been needed to leak off to weaken her sufficiently so that the Cyborgs could stun her!

He turned to one beside him who was bringing a huge breeze block sized first to bear!

OOC Frostbite spends 13HP to buy two bonus dice leaving him on :

FROSTBITE HP 28

Roll(4d10)+0: 2,10,6,4,+0 Total:16

Not a great roll, but hopefully enough!

Roll 16 + Energy Blast 14 (30) vs TN 11 + Multi Attack +2 + OV8 (21) Hit on both, +4 Effect. 18EV vs RV 13 + Multi Attack +2 (15) = 3 Damage apiece

Frostbite blasts the cyborg next to him and one down the hallway, getting the attention of both (OOC two cyborgs on 6/9 Body)

To really wallop these guys you'd be as well going for a CRITICAL BLOW (harder to hit) or DEVASTATING ATTACK (very very hard to hit!). However, in both cases you'll need a decent roll I would say, probably a double. That 16 *might* have hit, or might not. Looking at the maths you would have hit by 1 point. So a roll of 16 or more is needed if you want to do a devastating attack or a comfortable strike with a critical blow.

With that in mind, and bearing in mind our schedules, I will run the next round of the battle assuming you go for a CRITICAL BLOW.

The wounded Cyborgs turned on Frostbite, one delivering a punch and the other a sonic blast!

OOC Cyborg next to Frosty increases Density (Dex now 4, STR now 13, RV13) and takes a wild, clumsy, heavy swing!

Roll(2d10)+0: 10,2,+0 Total:12 + Dex 4 (16) vs TN 11 + OV 9 (20) MISS

Cyborg energy blast 12 Sonic Beam plus Roll(2d10)+0: 2,4,+0 Total:6 (18) vs TN11 + OV9 (20) MISS

Frostbite was as agile as any human out there, including Olympic athletes and his reflexes bordered on superhuman! He ducked aside and rolled forward a few feet as the Sonic Blast passed overhead!

The other two Cyborgs started dragging Steph down the corridor and around the corner. No! He had other issues though, and turned to blast the two Cyborgs!

OOC As before, assuming you go for a CRITICAL BLOW.

Energy Blast 14 + Roll(2d10)+0: 1,10,+0 Total:11 (25) vs TN11 + OV8 + Multi Attack +2 + Critical Blow +4 (25) HIT, no bonus to effect. However Critical blow applies -6 to the RV of the pair! RV13 + Multi Attack +2 -6 from Critical Blow (9). 5 damage apiece to the Cyborgs. They are both on 1 BODY!

You have a choice. These two Cyborgs are on the edge of being dropped BUT the other two are dragging Steph away and getting closer to the lift! If you attack these two next round the other two will be away in the lift with Steph!

Admin wrote:You have a choice. These two Cyborgs are on the edge of being dropped BUT the other two are dragging Steph away and getting closer to the lift! If you attack these two next round the other two will be away in the lift with Steph![/i][/color]

Frostbite was aware of the way the two closest Cyborgs had both seen better days given his attack on them, he was once again surprised by their resilience. But that wasn't anything he could do about now. Now he had a more pressing issue, having only recently rescued Steph, he couldn't chance what they'd do with her now she had fallen into the clutches of the cyborgs. Besides all that, she was so plucky, despite the loss of her power still she had faced down the cyborgs. Frostbite wasn't yet fully aware of just how fast that power drained away. But right now that was all a mute point, he needed her safe and that was what he had to ensure happened before the Cyborgs could escape with her.

Moving as quickly he changed into his fluid form, a form he was still getting used to. It wasn't so much that it was unpleasant but more that his whole perception was shifted it was like looking through water, only clearer. Still time for speculation later, time for action now.

OOC: Ok move to fluid form and get to these guys asap, then come upon them and increase density and mass to get them and keep them between me and their comrades behind. See if I can't take these guys down or slow them before they make a successful escape with Steph. However my priority is to rescue Steph and try to ensure she suffers no further damage.

Sj

Frostbite sped around the corner in his semi solid form and saw the lift close with the Cyborgs gripping the still struggling Steph in their arms!

Even as his watched one placed a taser like device against her head and lit it up like a Christmas tree! Frostbite gasped but ran on, only to see that Reflex was bloodied but not beaten!

Even as he watched he saw her renew her struggles, and when she saw Frostbite slide through the small gap in the doors she grinned and hissed "These idiots have done me a favour! There must be humanoid crew somewhere because I'm getting stronger!"

Frostbite didn't answer but increased his density to slow himself slightly but with the added benefit becoming tougher, and considered his options but settled for putting his hand next to the Cyborgs' head and unleashing a frosty blast!

OOC Still your best attack. Going for Critical Blow. Roll(2d10)+0: 4,4,+0 Total:8 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d10)+0: 4,4,+0 Total:16 (??? Online dice roller random generator???) DOUBLE plus Roll(2d10)+0: 10,6,+0 Total:32. Cracking roll! +14 AV (46) vs TN11 + OV6 + Crit Blow +4 (21) = +25 Hit with +7 Effect. 14EV + 7 (21) vs RV 13 - 6 (crit Blow) (7) = 14 damage. Boom!

Frostbite wasn't messing around and blasted the cyborg to spin and crash into the back wall of the elevator! Steph meanwhile had increased his speed and strength, landing blow after blow on the slower Cyborg. Frostbite delivered the coup de grace from behind as Steph grinned ruefully. "I could have taken him boss, but you're the boss! Thanks!"

Frostbite turned back to the lift controls. Activating them as best he could figure out, he made it go back to the floor they were on. "Boss, if you can hold those other two off, I think I can drain ALL of the bridge crew if I can get close enough! Should make things easier"

Admin wrote:Frostbite wasn't messing around and blasted the cyborg to spin and crash into the back wall of the elevator! Steph meanwhile had increased his speed and strength, landing blow after blow on the slower Cyborg. Frostbite delivered the coup de grace from behind as Steph grinned ruefully. "I could have taken him boss, but you're the boss! Thanks!"

Frostbite turned back to the lift controls. Activating them as best he could figure out, he made it go back to the floor they were on. "Boss, if you can hold those other two off, I think I can drain ALL of the bridge crew if I can get close enough! Should make things easier"

OOC:Ugh, so much going on right now and indeed for the next week...hence the delay.

"I like you're thinking, take out as we like to call it.  Let's give it a shot!"

Frostbite got ready and as soon as the doors opened made to attack the Cyborgs still in his superior super dense state, hoping to make this quick and easier.  

OOC:Ok let's go for this seeking to take them both out if I can get 'good rolls'  . Anyway, keep them otherwise preoccupied so Reflex can get behind them and up close and personal to the bridge to take the crew.

Sj

Frostbite knew he had the cyborgs on the ropes, but the final coup de grace was still needing to be applied!

OOC Energy Blast 14 plus Roll(2d10)+0: 2,5,+0 Total: 21 vs TN 11 +OV6 + Crit Blow 4 (21). Hit, no extra. 14 EV vs RV13 less -6 from Crit Blow = 7 damage.

One of the Cyborgs goes down and the other staggers towards Frostbite even as Reflex races past it and puts her hand up against the door! "Keep it busy boss!" she hollers.

Just then the Cyborg walks past a panel on the wall and staggers. Was that... a blue spark jumping from the panel? All of a sudden it sagged forward, standing but seemingly powered down. Then it raised its head, looked about and clapped eyes on Frostbite. "Ah ha! Back in a physical form at last, except this one seems to somewhat damaged as you'd expect. I have spoken to a number of the computers but need access to the bridge. To that end I took charge of this Cyborg. Formidable thing, though not a match for your superhuman powers."

"Frostbot?" asked Frostbite.

"Who else?" he turned and tottered towards the door where Reflex was pressed up against it. She looked alarmed and shouted "Bossss!" when the Cyborg approached her! Frostbite jogged up but the cyborg strolled up to stand alongside her and extended an arm to connect to a panel by the door. "Reinforcements have been summoned. We need access to the bridge. Now."

"Wait!" shouted Reflex I need to...

SWISH!

the door hissed open and Frostbot strolled in, and over the prone forms of around twenty bridge crew who looked like they'd been whacked over the head with a lump of wood, all out for the count! Refled turned to Frostbite and gestured as in 'What the heck?' before muttering "Just about finished by the time that thing opened the door. Can someone tell me what's going on?"

Instead Frostbite walked onto the bridge and looked at the screen to see the unfolding space battle outside. It was clear the Empire - of which vessel he Reflex and Frostbot now stood on the bridge of - had better and bigger ships and despite the plucky spirit shown by the merchants, pirates, smugglers and neutral space travellers had shown in defending their homes, the battle was about to draw to a close. This ship was one of the medium sized ships, positioned at the back of the Empire fleet which, though damaged in places, was closing in on the rebel fleet. It would deliver a crushing blow if something didn't happen!

Reflex turned "What can we do?" she exclaimed. "They are going to kill those ships and everyone on board!"

Frostbite was no expert when it came to spaceships. He relied on Frostbot for that, who in the Cyborgs frame was currently plugged into a bridge console. "I have activated a number of blast doors confining security forces to certain parts of the ship. That includes a number of War Cyborgs. However, for the moment the ship is ours, though its most powerful weapons are locked out. We can however choose to use the ship itself as a weapon should you so choose, by ramming a larger vessel from behind and setting our engines to full thrust. The ensuing explosion would cripple most of the Empire ships and turn the tide of the battle."

"What about us? I don't want to die!" shouted Reflex.

Frostbot shrugged. "There is a chance you will survive. The question you have to ask is, do you want to survive... or win?"

Admin wrote:"What about us? I don't want to die!" shouted Reflex.

Frostbot shrugged. "There is a chance you will survive. The question you have to ask is, do you want to survive... or win?"

"Don't worry Steph, we've all seen too much death recently. I'd like to avoid it myself, been there done that." Turning back to Frostbot, Frostbite said, "What other ships are aboard, lifeboats or whatever their called? can we get off this ship if we ram one of the others? I was kind of hoping for some sort of coup de grace, rather than let's wipe them all out! Any chance we can stop this fight and have both sides with us would be a win, win situation that I think we're really looking for."

OOC: Shooting for the moon here, but we came into this fight hoping to gain allies, not see half of them wiped out. If we're going to turn the empire inside out we need something to start that engine running and gaining momentum, or else this will stall before it gets much further. We need to turn the tide of this battle without it becoming a hollow victory. If we cannot rescue the Empire ships whilst stopping the fight, these forces will be only more severely depleted and beaten at the next conflict. Clearly, numbers alone aren't doing it.

Sj

Frostbot, in the form of a Cyborg, heard his host speak, then seemed to have a moment in thought. Moving over to Frostbite he gently tapped him on the shoulder and the Cyborg sagged away, clattering to the floor.

'Only back in my host can I access the full range of intelligence and powers available to me. Kindly place a palm on the panel to your right. No, the smaller one, near the Captains' chair. That will access the deeper level of security and schematics I need to see. Yes. Accessing.' said Frostbot inside Frostbites head.

Steph sagged into a seat , nudging the limp form of a bridge officer aside with her foot. "This is beyond us Frostbite! A few months ago I was someone scared to death of hurting others because of powers I can't control, then you guys found me and the training started. Things were a little rocky but we were beginning to be a team. Now here we are in another universe, fighting for our lives against a galactic empire that wants to clone billions of troops and grow them to appear in our universe and take over! You couldn't make it up!"

Frostbot interjected inside Frostbites' head. 'An option. It will require physically accessing each vessel that we want to affect, but it is this. The Bridge crew are not clones, and therefore placed at a higher value and importance than the rest of the crew. It is a crude form of Caste system that has mostly been eradicated on Earth but still alive and well in the Empire. The morals of such an arrangement are not in our interests to debate, but the practicalities are. This bridge section can be jettisoned as a lifeboat, and the rest of the ship can still function IF the self destruct sequence can be overridden. Once that is successful, it will require a matter of around a day or two to reroute commands and computer systems through another location on the ship. It will not be as aesthetically pleasing than the bridge, but will serve the same purpose. Therefore the clone crews will be saved and the humanoid Empire officers will be fired off to their distant mustering points via the lifeboat. All that needs to be done is physically access the ships for the bridge ejection to take place, then deactivate the self destruct.'

Frostbite looked out at the screen, at one of the Empire flagships that dwarfed the ship he was on.

'Start with that one. It is so large that there will be a number of access points where I can download schematics and form the best path to get to where we need to be. It will be guarded, but I cannot help you with that part. Get past the guards, use your superhuman strength to activate the lock clamps that would normally require a team of War Cyborgs, and I shall deactivate the self destruct sequence. Hopefully. There are 19 Trillion possible combinations to work though. It may need a few minutes to get through them all, which is tricky when you only have one minute before being annihilated.' said Frostbot.

Once more the sentient program had offered another option that Frostbite wasn't aware of, but it was fraught with danger, as usual.

"Well, what's the plan boss? We cam to free the Cloned Crew but smashing this ship into another and killing everyone for miles around doesn't sound like saving to me. I'm up for a fight though. Let's just get on those ships and pound heads until we're done."

She looked out at the space battle taking place, the criss crossing lasers and missiles exploding, ships tumbling away with flames billowing and others desperately fighting for their existence.

"With that lot, and the size of them, should only take a few years." she muttered.

Admin wrote:'Start with that one. It is so large that there will be a number of access points where I can download schematics and form the best path to get to where we need to be. It will be guarded, but I cannot help you with that part. Get past the guards, use your superhuman strength to activate the lock clamps that would normally require a team of War Cyborgs, and I shall deactivate the self destruct sequence. Hopefully. There are 19 Trillion possible combinations to work though. It may need a few minutes to get through them all, which is tricky when you only have one minute before being annihilated.' said Frostbot.

Once more the sentient program had offered another option that Frostbite wasn't aware of, but it was fraught with danger, as usual.

"Hmm yes, when it comes to what we seemed to be dragged into you certainly would struggle to explain it. I tried to just compartmentalise it all, for a man like me, once fighting the Germans with the Allies, all wars seem so wasteful and pointless. However, without the chance of doing right, evil would consume all, and that cannot be allowed to happen. If we do not hold the line here, these 'men' will only have a staging post to muster and invasion into our own world. Look what they did to the mansion, there is no limit to their design, because they've got nearly unlimited resources. We however have no such help, not unless we can pull the rug from underneath them. Sadly no one said this would be easy, this opperation doesn't come with an instruction manual. But rest assured Steph, you've done brilliantly, kept you head and grown in this time. Let fortune yet favour the bold, at least lets go down trying."

With a nod to Frostbot, Frostbite set in motion the plan he had suggested. Getting the officers away and the crew onboard, was the first step in trying to turn this behomoth around. Then would come the opportunity to start to gain resources, it was always slow getting a movement going. Like turning an oil tanker, Frostbite imagined, but once the turn was made, it was made.

Sj

The space for thousands of miles was scattered with debris. Parts of broken vessels, life pods, burning hulks tumbling through space and disabled vessels barely limping under their own power, defenceless and near death.

The common theme was that the Empire were winning. Bigger, more powerful ships, more coordinated and more of them. The battle was almost over, but pockets of fierce resistance ensured it would continue until such time that enough Empire vessels could be brought to bear on the final resistance.

And so it was that Frostbite and Reflex were able to fire off half a dozen lifepods and using several of them as missiles whilst emitting a distress beacon. Several smashed against the hull of the vessel Frostbite targeted, but the next two were caught by tractor beams and dragged into holds where hatches opened momentarily to draw them in.

There, the crew expected officers from Empire vessels, as indicated by the ID signals of those on board - supplied by Frostbot. Instead Reflex emerged and drained the consciousness and life energy of those technicians that were in the way. Frostbite completed the process by placing a hand on a control panel and introducing his own form of virus into the system.

'Alarms have been silenced and a message has been sent in order to allay fears of any mindful technicians. In addition I have registered a number of collisions on the outside of the vessel with resultant system failures. All part of the service.' said Frostbot with a certain level of smugness.

A door swished open and Reflex turned from the act of draining another technician. "The door?" Frostbite waved her on, having been given the heads up by Frostbot that the way ahead would be made clear.

=========

15 Minutes later the pair climbed into a narrow access panel.

Frostbite turned into his slushy form to navigate the narrow tubes and walkways. The going was slow but thanks to Frostbot the way was made clear.

"I'm amazed that you know your way round these things" whispered Reflex. Steph watched as a patrol passed underneath them through a ventilation grill.

Just then Frostbot gave an alarming call inside Frostbites' mind! 'There is a restricted area on this vessel! I tried to probe it and it registered my interest as a hostile presence! Whatever is in that room is of the highest clearest level! If you take over this vessel that may present a clear danger to your rulership of this vessel and to your mission!'

Steph turned as Frostbite paused. His sentient program gave him two clear paths. Follow the slow sure way to the bridge or head off to this nearby restricted section with the highest of top secret clearance.What could possibly be in there that prompted Frostbots' alarm call?