The New Vanguard! Frostbite and Lionheart team up #1

Admin wrote:

1) Superspeed powered up, grab the bad guy and fly into space
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OOC:Ah that does make a lot more sense, which is why #1 seems like a no brainer, and go for grab and fly out, will use HP to buy 2 extra dice rolls at 13 HP cost, to make sure that I get this done right. Thanks for baring with me.

Sj

OOC Using Martial Artist to give extra free dice is the way forward, so no HP needed. When I changed the way skills worked I 'nerfed' em in some respects and boosted them dramatically in others. in this case you get an extra FIVE dice to add to your grapple...

Roll(7d10)+0: 7,6,4,5,6,10,5,+0 Total:12 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d10)+0: 6,3,+0 Total: 21 + Dex 23 (46) vs TN 11 + Dex 13 (24). Easy hit.

Lionheart grabs the alien, and despite its tendrils stretching out tears it from the cave and flies out at high speed into the wilds of space!

He knew he was vulnerable to those evil looking claws but hoped that the hard vacuum of space would affect it and finish this fight quickly...

Flinging it once free of the giant space creature he saw it tumble end over end into the darkness. It was immobile, frozen.

Was that it? Done so easy?

Watching the creature turn slowly end over end without even a hairs breadth of movement seemed to suggest so...

=========

Back on the mother ship Frostbite watched on screen as the zoomed in picture showed just what it was Lionheart had been battling against.

It was practically invisible against the ink blackness of space but anything that could pose a threat to Lionheart was too dangerous for the rest of them, him included. It seemed the creature had been nullified.

Phew!

Just then a crew member called out "Sir! Picking up a warp signature of an incoming vessel at the extreme range of our sensors... Oh. It's gone. I'm sure it was there... Our sensors showed something appearing in system..." The flummoxed crew member frantically started checking instruments, aware that they might have misread the readings.

"I... I'm sure I saw something sir. Scanning in that direction, there's... well, nothing now. I would suggest sending a probe..." he started, then looked at the panel again. "But we can't can we?"

That was right. Even so much as a sliver of solid material too far away from the fleet would drag the ships back into the microverse! Frostbite looked at the viewscreen where the space creature was heading towards the planet... and A crew member confirmed it had changed course to orbit rather than enter the atmosphere...

OOC Actions for Lionheart/Frosty and the fleet...? The Alien Symbiote thing is tumbling away into space, seemingly dead...

Admin wrote:OOC Actions for Lionheart/Frosty and the fleet...? The Alien Symbiote thing is tumbling away into space, seemingly dead...[/color]

OOC:
For Lionheart its first imperative that the creature is dead if anything he will give it a telekinetic shove toward the sun, where he hopes it will eventually burn up. Then its to check to make sure it's eggs don't hatch and that if need be they are taken care off. With that in mind its probably going to be to see if there is a possibility to see if we can communicate with this incredible creature and see whom we can get to join us using it as a means of transport to get people to some kind of safety - or us at least. Meanwhile, Lionheart will do his best to communicate this to Frostbite and the fleet.

Secondly, for Frostbite its to see what the fuss about signals appearing and disappearing about, to get them to work on that. Since it seems Lionheart has succeeded in stopping the parasite, then its to attend to the secondary problem of how to make sure the colony here is safe and they the Vanguard can see about using this living space behemoth as a means of actual transport. If it's safe, its probably a good idea to get Wandafar up and look into how they can communicate - if at all with it and or see if they can 'temporarily colonise it' for such a space-born journey.

Sj

With a telekinetic 'nudge' the creature vanished into the darkness and tumbled towards the sun.

It would take days. Weeks even, to get there, but Lionheart got the idea that it was dead. Can it have been so easy?

He turned and sped back to the space leviathan, swooping down the hole/pit in its body and back to the cavern...

The eggs had hatched.

All of them.

There were literally thousands of the creatures moving about, stretching, emerging, exploring their environment... Everywhere he looked, the walls/floor/ceiling seemed to move.

Killing the 'mother' had seemed to trigger the birth of her offspring... now they were awake... and Hungry!

=========

Frostbite looked at the recording of the readings.

Frostbot offered some advice. 'Bear in mind that there may be 'ghost' readings from space radiation. That said, those do indeed look like a vessel has 'jumped in' to the system then initiated some kind of cloaking technology. We should be cautious.'

Steph/Reflex came onto the bridge and over to Frostbite. "We've got shuttles ready and waiting, or we can get Wandafar back on the ship by sending a fighter down. He'll moan about the cramped conditions but what else is new?" She looked at the readings. "Never rains but it pours, eh?" Shaking her head, she laughs "When I got these powers I knew life would be more interesting, but every once in a while I'd like it to be less deadly!"

Those readings weren't confirmed, and at the system edge it would take even a fast ship time to get to the fleet. The space creature was still out there. The shuttles would take a long time to get people off the surface. Every time they did the shields of the mother ship were dropped to let them in, albeit briefly, so a cloaked ship out there could wait for the right moment to strike...

"Sir, transmission from Lionheart. he's disposed of the creature he encountered but going back to check on the eggs in the cave. Once they are accounted for, he's going to try and communicate with the creature again. He also says... Oh. The signal has gone." said the crew member. She frowns. "ALL the signals have gone between the fleet and the shuttles. AND the camp planetside. It's all... it's all gone dark!"

Jammed!

Frostbite looked at the viewscreen. Suddenly having hours to get things sorted out wasn't an option. They may only have minutes!

Admin wrote:

Killing the 'mother' had seemed to trigger the birth of her offspring... now they were awake... and Hungry!

Suddenly life seemed to have found a way, but not the way that Lionheart had intended. Rather than have one problem he had thousands of them. Could he hope to get the immature creatures out of the behemoth before further terrible damage was done? Was it a lost cause?

He wasn't about to sit by and find out. A creature of this size and beauty deserved better than this and he was not about to passively wring his hands and not attempt to do what he could. His only hope lay in the fact that they were still 'immature' but for how long?

Swooping down he grabbed as many as he could and shot up once near enough intended to throw them into space. These parasites would, could not be allowed to live off this creature. If it were dead that would be different, but not like this, not on his watch. He had the suspicion that grabbing space debris was going to be quite a welcome job, when this was all over.

OOC: Ok I've no idea if this is going to work or if I am patently going to run out of energy/time/resources etc or what but I've no idea what else to do with these wee beasties. My thought was, what if they were in some way linked, could I use my mind powers on them, and that might well be something I try on any that get difficult as I fly them out. IN the meantime I'm just going for grab and see, see if I can't get as many out of the wee beastie below before I start going for more. I also hope to enrol the planet whale's own defences since these are immature parasites, maybe it can help me defend itself.

=========

Admin wrote:
Frostbite looked at the recording of the readings.

Jammed!

Frostbite looked at the viewscreen. Suddenly having hours to get things sorted out wasn't an option. They may only have minutes!

With the fact the Planetary sized space creature now not the threat it once was, Frostbite immediately readied the ship for battle stations. He was taking no chances. He ordered the others to signal by whatever means they could- semaphore if needed, so the other ships new to take evasive action before they were set upon. And meanwhile, get everyone ready for a ship to 'appear' all guns blazing. Jamming communication was clearly a tactic meant to separate the smaller ships and perhaps attempt to pick off the smaller ships before going for the bigger one.

The one issue they didn't know was if there was anyway the ship became visible when and if it used offensive weapons. Frostbite relayed his thought to his AI friend, wondering if there was any way to detect the ship, exhaust fumes, raised heat signatures, or something else. Old Subs went invisible by switching everything off, surely a ship capable of attacking such a large fleet, had to also have massive power that couldn't entirely be hidden entirely?

Frostbite ordered all scanners and eyes to be on the lookout. Space was black, there wasn't much to go on, but any hint might give them away if they felt they had the upper hand. In any case, there was little they could do to dispell the tension, but he hoped that after months of routine survival his people were not lacking in wits to be able to act when and if the moment came.

OOC: Hmm, ok so I'm clutching at straws looking for ways to spot the invisible trusting that a body even invisible still cannot entirely hide itself - it still has mass, energy etc. Meanwhile, it's kind of a waiting game, they get the first shot, but I'm hoping that will still give us time to hit back. Although if I were them I'd take no chances and hit us hard, and there is next to nothing we can do about solving that little problem other than hope the ship can and will be able to manage.

Sj

Lionheart felt like he was fighting a fire with a leaking bucket...

With literally thousands of these ink black creatures moving at speed (albeit slower than he could) and finding nooks and crannies to hide in, he was losing a battle he could never hope to win! In a creature this size... Still, at hyper speed he grabbed handfuls up, two or three in each hand, ignoring their slashing claws and sharp teeth. WOOOSH! Out into space and hurling with super strength towards the sun, then back in, again and again.

'WILL YOU TRUST ME?' boomed a voice in his head!

Lionheart paused. That came from... all around! The Space Creature had found a way to communicate!

=========

Frostbite made every preparation that he could... Then all he could was wait!

The fleet deployed in an outward facing formation ready to strike at whatever should appear. Shuttles ran relay messages between vessels and Frostbot reprogrammed some at a basic level to use morse code via flashing lights. The crew didn't know what the flashes meant but the computers instantly translated for them. That took time but was effective within minutes.

In the meantime Frostbot used the sensors to 'take a picture' of the surrounding space in every way possible and run it through the computers to scan for any difference, no matter how small.

Then came the waiting game...

OOC Next few posts will deal with Lionhearts current troubles...

Admin wrote:Lionheart felt like he was fighting a fire with a leaking bucket...

'WILL YOU TRUST ME?' boomed a voice in his head!

Lionheart paused. That came from... all around! The Space Creature had found a way to communicate!

His danger sense wasn't great in situations like this, too much background 'noise' to determine if this was a good or bad idea. Hesitantly he reached out, "Assuming I'm hearing from you, whom I've been trying to help, then yeah what choice do I have? I'm trying to help, but to be honest I'm no more than a drop in the ocean here..." Lionheart would have to hope the mental images that such a phrase cast forth in his own mind, was enough to convey his meaning, even though the voice probably had no concept of what he meant. Then again, it had found a way to communicate, this despite its terrible situation.

"Do you have a means of ridding yourself of these things...because if you are I'm all ears!" Ugh, he'd have to think about his use of 21st century vernacular some other time.

OOC:OK assuming this is the space whale getting through, I'm good to go with what it suggests. I mean, it's not like Lionheart is able to make much of a difference, otherwise.

Sj

Immediately upon saying 'yes' or a variant thereof, the ground itself, or at least what passes for the ground, starts to grow and reach up, encircling Lionheart and clinging to his body as it makes its way up!

It's not the ground, or Earth at any rate, thinks Lionheart as lightning fast thoughts flash through his mind... And his danger sense isn't going off!

Before the growth reaches his neck he glances about... and sees a dozen or more pillars of this stuff growing at an identical rate throughout the cavern! Despite the fact the ink black aliens are swarming all over they continue to grow... until one, then dozens of aliens start hacking tearing and ripping at the columns!

Then everything goes black as Lionheart is submerged beneath the skin like growth!

He's about to attempt to break free when the stuff falls away... and he's still stood in the cavern, this time amongst around fifteen naked perfect physical copies of himself! Two are instantly swarmed and vanish under a seething mass of darkness, but the rest almost simultaneously collapse to the floor.

He steps forward... and as one the 'clones' take a shuddering breath and come to life! To all intents and purposes they ARE him. Perfect clones... They look about, realisation and life in their eyes. Another film of 'stuff' rises about them from the floor then falls away, a costume like Lionhearts own.

All of this takes place in heartbeats, then all hell breaks loose as each fully powered Lionheart clone leaps into action at super speed! Lionheart himself is taken aback at seeing clones of himself strike at full power against the alien invaders. Is this what it feels like for bad guys, being assaulted by a blur to the senses? Irresistible, unstoppable, untouchable?

Mind powers blast, hands blur, feet kick, bodies spin, and Lionheart joins in. Somehow he knows that all over this space monsters body are thousands more clones, fighting against millions of ink black aliens sprouting from eggs. The battle takes place at speed no human can follow, and despite the sheer numbers of aliens, doesn't last long.

It's not all one way traffic. Some of the aliens form together to make new 'queens' like the one that birthed them, and band together to tear one, then more of Lionhearts clones to pieces. The Space Monster cries out with every death, but fights on. It has been given a new antibody to fight against the invader, and makes full use of it. The tide turns, and heartbeats after being cloned, the battle is over.

Not all of the clones survived, and the ones that did are battered, cut, injured and somewhat dazed.

The alien creatures have gone though. Scoured, eradicated, burnt off and cast into space. Smashed, purged, wiped out of existence. Hopefully for good, certainly for the time being.

Lionheart had joined in but more or less was a spectator to the planet wide battle that took place in seconds at hyper speed. Now one of the clones steps forward.

"You have performed a great service for us. The parasite was boring into us. Our previous antibodies were not powerful enough. Letting us clone your body and mind to use against them was enough to turn the tide. We have altered our trajectory, and seen inside your thoughts. We can and will be of service to you and your friends. We see your distant world in your mind and can take you there, if the way can be found. We will do this, sustain you, take you to places never seen before by human kind, and finally, the spirit willing, to your home world of Earth." said 'Lionheart' even as black ichor dripped from his face and body.

Admin wrote:"You have performed a great service for us. The parasite was boring into us. Our previous antibodies were not powerful enough. Letting us clone your body and mind to use against them was enough to turn the tide. We have altered our trajectory, and seen inside your thoughts. We can and will be of service to you and your friends. We see your distant world in your mind and can take you there if the way can be found. We will do this, sustain you, take you to places never seen before by humankind, and finally, the spirit willing, to your homeworld of Earth." said 'Lionheart' even as black ichor dripped from his face and body.

Even for Lionheart, who'd seen quite a lot to amaze him, this was by any standard beyond what even he'd consider incredible. Silence as even his incredible brain took it in, he struggled with the enormity of what had happened and what had only so nearly been avoided. Then he spoke, but speech seemed hardly necessary, yet it seemed appropriate to dignify this time, with more than just a mental nod.

"I'm honoured, and intrigued. We all want to get back to Earth, our coming to this time and place wasn't without problems and you're being here is fortuitous indeed. I am so glad we were able to help. There is much that still needs to be done, but I thank you for your offer and hope we can make full use of it to our mutual benefit. Now I must find out if my friends are ok, I've been gone some time, and this area space seems quiet, however, I am not entirely convinced."

With the equivalent of a respectful parting, Lionheart leapt up into the air, flying high and hard as he could given the environment of the planet creature, before leaving the atmosphere and heading toward the ships. He tried to make sure that they knew he was coming, but even from this distance, he could see something was amiss. As soon as it seemed safe, he poured on the speed, to cross the distances between himself and the massing fleet.

OOC:Phew that was handy, don't know how else we'd have sorted out a plague of that nature any other way. Such a diverse and huge mass made a fight almost impossible and very impersonal. It's not like the bad guy spouting off some villainous monologue or anything. Anyway, Lionheart will get to the main ship as quick as he can, relaying if poss what has happened, which shouldn't be blocked unless they can scramble Psi? And then find out what it is we're facing in the hidden shadows of space.

Sj

Lionheart sped through space and contacted Frostbite as soon as he was within range.

The pair exchanged greetings and details and Frostbite breathed a sigh of relief. Without the imminent danger of the space creature entering the atmosphere and causing no end of environmental calamity in order to 'burn off' most of its outer layer and the alien parasite that infested it, he could concentrate on other problems.

"Sir!" shouted a crewman on the Bridge. "Incoming!"

Frostbite moved across to the display, flanked by Reflex (Steph). The scanners showed something coming in fast.

"A missile!" breathed Steph.

"We've tried to lock on with counter measures... it's... it's like it doesn't exist! It's registering as some kind of..." the technician struggled to find a description. "Some kind of ... phased missile? It registers as solid, we try to get a lock, then... nothing. It originated from this section of space."

Frostbite looked at the pointed finger on the screen. Nothing there. Supposedly. This missile was incoming at faster than light speed and would take only moments before it impacted!

Steph turned to a Crew Member. "All hands!" she ordered. "Brace for impact! Shields... whatever we have... target the missile! Maybe we can nail it before it gets in range."

Frostbite raised an eyebrow. A single missile. Against a multiple capital ship fleet? It would do some damage, for sure, but firing just a single missile seemed odd.

A crew member called out. "Sirs, shuttle aboard. The occupant wants to tell you he is... 'Alive und vell, and what the blinkin flip is goin on, ja?" The crewman frowned. "Whatever that means."

The missile kept incoming.

Just then another crewman called out. "Contact! Another missile... targeting the first one???"

Out in space, still in contact with Frostbite, Lionheart saw in his minds eye what was happening, and looked out into space. Even with his vision, he couldn't make out anything - yet - but it did seem strange that a missile was heading to the fleet, and another aimed at the first...

Admin wrote:Out in space, still in contact with Frostbite, Lionheart saw in his mind's eye what was happening, and looked out into space. Even with his vision, he couldn't make out anything - yet - but it did seem strange that a missile was heading to the fleet, and another aimed at the first...

Given that at one time, Frostbite used a missile for an unconventional mode of transport, it crossed his mind could someone be trying to get to them and the second missile aimed at them trying to prevent their 'escape'! He had no way to tell, and no way to stop things as the missile was coming so fast, it was all going to happen or not.

But react was about all he could do, issuing commands to take whatever defensive actions they could, he also ordered Lionheart to take a look at that area and see if he could flush something out. But he knew in the intervening time, nothing much could happen till this played itself out.

OOC: Wow the mysteries just get more mysterious, not much we can do on this one, I guess at this speed targetting a phasing object moving at such speed...unlikely to hit. Best get Wandafar up to the bridge and let grumpy take a look before things start to spiral out. My other thought is "Phasing" I think in all the time I've been on Darkening Shadows only one character has used something like my power, and never a ship or weapon. Hmm, interesting could this have a deeper significance to Frostbite?

Sj

"Shields up! Defensive lasers ready! Fighter squadron ready to scramble! Damage teams alerted!" shouted a crewmember on the bridge.

Frostbite nodded and looked to the sensor screen to track the incoming missiles as best they could.

There was something familiar about this. Frostbite couldn't shake a feeling of unease as he saw the frantic efforts to track and target the phasing missile. The other missile was faster and non phased, but moving at such speed it was causing all manner of problems for the defensive systems.

Wandafar came onto the bridge. "Vell, vot is going on? usual rubbish, end of ze vorld, ve all going to blow up, etc." he moved alongside Frostbite and looked at the screen. "Hmmm. Can't you do zet? Veird."

he moved over to a console and shooed the technician aside who wasn't sure whether to protest or comply. "Vait until ze range is closer... recalibrate... override ze safeties... und... ve hef... huh." He squinted, watched scrolling text and numbers on a screen, typed some more stuff into the keyboard...

Frostbite raised an eyebrow. Wandafar in the time they'd spent here had taught himself not only the alien language that computers usually translated, but how to program their computers too.

"Zer is a living being inside zet missile." Wandafar announced. Suddenly a beam of light shone down on Frostbite from the ceiling. He started to react but Wandafar held up a hand "Just a second." The light winked off. More numbers scrolled.

"Almost in firing range!" announced a technician.

"Don't fire..." muttered Wandafar. He turned to Frostbite. "Some von is inside zet missile. According to ze scans..."

"It's you!"

Admin wrote:"Almost in firing range!" announced a technician.

"Don't fire..." muttered Wandafar. He turned to Frostbite. "Some von is inside zet missile. According to ze scans..."

"It's you!"

Frostbite was momentarily taken aback, but the thought had already crossed his mind, although not the identity of the passenger. With little time to think and even littler time to act, he barked that they should target the missile that had locked on, and hoped they could stop it, or the other him could phase sufficient to let the missile miss.

They were powerless to act otherwise, in the time given. But if, and it did seem a big if, his 'counterpart' survived there as a hidden ship to be found and a barrel full of questions to be answered. What had they stumbled on here?

Meanwhile, Lionheart closed in on the scene, wondering equally what to make if it...

OOC: Any chance I can TK the pursuing missile off course or something? Otherwise, it's kind of a waiting game, as they are presumably milliseconds away from the potential impact. Well, this is a turn up for the books, that much is certain.

Sj

"TARGET THE TRACKING MISSILE!" shouted Frostbite

Steph looked at the screens over the shoulder of a crewman and shook her head. "The range..." she muttered.

Frostbite stared at the main screen and the graphics on it. If 'he' was to have any chance of survival he'd need a helping hand. He commed Lionheart out in space. "Anything you can do? They are entering extreme range soon."

Lionheart pressed a finger to his ear as he picked the suggestion up then sped off into the void. His telekinesis was effectively line of sight but in reality he could stretch to about 1000 miles. On a planet more than enough. Out here? Woefully short.

He saw the distance lights trail each other and sped towards them. The rear missile was closing, fast! Despite travelling at near light speed he would be too late. It would be all over bar the shouting...

THOOM!

The distant flare of light showed where the missile had gone off. With a heavy heart Lionheart kept heading towards it at his best speed.

==========

Debris was pretty scarce but to one with superhuman senses easy to spot.

Lionheart slowed to the site and started looking around for a clue to what had happened less than 30 seconds before. The rear missile had caught the first and exploded. The first missile? It looked to have been caught at least partially in the blast and so nothing else remai... wait!

A block of ice, floating out here? He zoomed his eyes in. There! In the middle of the block, a dark spot! possibly a human body! It wouldn't last long without oxygen! He swooped in and grasped the ice block, which was as large as a truck. Sure enough, it looked like a human form was in the middle of it!

==========

Steph walked from the lift behind Frostbite and several of the other superhumans, as well as armed crew members towards a hanger bay.

An alarm rang out indicating the outer force field was opened to space, and the group watched as Lionheart entered, then waited for an alarm signalling clear. The inner force field opened and he floated in carrying an ice block which immediately started to glisten as it melted.

Wandafar pushed past the crowd and shouted "Ve need emergency medical stuff! Now!"

Steph walked over to Lionheart. "See anything else out there? A ship?"

He shook his head and she walked away, troubled, to the side to look at the ice block and the figure therein.

At Wandafars behest Frostbite melted the ice and reformed it into a perfect block leaving the damp prone bearded figure on the floor. His white hair laced with grey indicated he was older then Frostbite, as did the lines on his face. The scar running from eye to chin indicated he'd been in a battle for his life at some point, as did the three mechanical fingers on one hand, the false skin having not survived the freezing process that saved his life.

Frostbot spoke up to Frostbite. 'His chest'

Frostbite looked. No dome, like the one on his own chest. What did it mean?

Just then the alarm rang out and a crewman at a console shouted "Sir! Sirs! Incoming missiles! Targeting each capital vessel!"

Admin wrote:Frostbot spoke up to Frostbite. 'His chest'

Frostbite looked. No dome, like the one on his own chest. What did it mean?

Just then the alarm rang out and a crewman at a console shouted "Sir! Sirs! Incoming missiles! Targeting each capital vessel!"

Frostbite barked out orders, as he indicated Steph to come with him, then turning toward Lionheart and Wandafar he said, "Richard I need you out there, in case we can't deflect these missiles, and seeing if we can spot the cloaked ships. Wandafar you and yours best do the best you can for him, under our present circumstances. He may well hold the clue to what is going on and how we can stop ourselves being fish in a barrel."

With that, he turned as Lionheart sped toward the nearest available airlock. He wanted to leave Frostbot to help Wandafar, but until they'd stopped the attack on the ships there was little point, they needed all the resources they could muster. He was determined to fight back or go down doing so. They'd not survived this many months in the cold hard vacuum of space, just to be shooting practice for some uppty aliens!

OOC:Ok since we can't know what my older counterpart knows without reviving him I think this is the best course of action. With the rest of the bridge crew and Steph I think we need to try and pinpoint the craft attacking. Since they were so keen to kill my doppelganger, without a concern, I guess the same goes for our ships. So we look for ways of tracking back, perhaps seeking to follow the trajectory of the oncoming missiles, and sending out a spray of weapons in that area. But first Frostbite and the team will seek to target the oncoming missiles, maybe taking a blanket approach so that the combined forces of the missiles detonated to coincide with the path of the missile might mean that though we can't hit them directly, the combined explosions might throw them off or set them off before reaching us.

Sj

Admin wrote:ooc Will update either later today (unlikely) or tomorrow morning. Been off all week, just not near a laptop! Cheers, Paul

Great

Sj

Wandafar mutters "Who do I look like? Dr blummin Kildare or vot?" as he helped wheel the prone form away.

Steph and Frostbite rushed to the bridge which was lit with red lights. The crew on there were desperately trying to track the incoming missiles. One turned as Frostbite entered the bridge. "Situation?" he growled.

"Sir! We are trying to get a fix, but every computer lock stays for a nano second then... interference. It's like the signal is jammed by the missile itself. If so, it's counter measures are... impressive." admitted the tactical officer, shaking his head.

Reflex/Steph suggested "Scramble the fighters? When they are closer they should have a good chance of targeting those things, but they won't have long. Jarna? Are you still out there?" she asked, stabbing a finger on a comm button.

"Yup, we were gathering ourselves to get back on board as we're on bingo fuel, but what do you have in mind?" replied the squawked comm signal. Even that seemed to be crackling and breaking up.

Frostbite looked at the system overview. Frostbot commented. 'Those missiles are advanced indeed. They must emit some kind of electromagnetic pulse to overwhelm the targeting computers in that way. To do that...' the Computer voice trailed off. Frostbite pushed his artificial companion. 'Unless the technology is so far advanced in front of everything that surrounds us even now, I would suggest that the power required to emit a 'blocking' signal like that would be considerable, and cut deeply into the systems that would provide pure destructive power.'

'And?' Frostbite pushed.

'And... I would surmise these missiles are designed to disable, rather than destroy.' suggested Frostbot.

"Almost into weapons range sir. We can predict their course and blanket it with laser and missile fire." suggested a bridge officer.

"Fighter squadron requests orders sir." said another. "Dock or attempt to intercept the missiles?"

=========

Lionheart waited for the airlock to cycle and took a deep lungful of air, forcefield up to prevent the hard vacuum attacking his body. Once more into the inky blackness of space, escaping the vast shadow of the titanic craft that served as base and home for the Vanguard.

Pressing a finger to his ear, he listened to instructions "some kind of jammi... signal indicates elec... rotate your head... target coming into sight...."

By 'Sight' the officer meant for Lionhearts superhuman ability to zoom in like a telescope. Even so he... Ah! He sped off to the inky blackness of space having caught sight of the tiniest of blue flares heading in from the void.

=========

"Sir! Telemetry isn't accurate, but we *think* the missiles *might* have originated from this sector." said a bridge officer, standing over a console as the operators hands danced over the keyboard, trying desperately to find out the origin of the missiles.

Frostbite strode over. There was nothing there, and the 'sector' was an area of hundreds of thousands of cubic miles. he could send Lionheart out there, or have his friend help to divert those missiles...

Admin wrote:"Sir! Telemetry isn't accurate, but we *think* the missiles *might* have originated from this sector." said a bridge officer, standing over a console as the operator's hands danced over the keyboard, trying desperately to find out the origin of the missiles.

Frostbite strode over. There was nothing there, and the 'sector' was an area of hundreds of thousands of cubic miles. he could send Lionheart out there, or have his friend help to divert those missiles...

Lionheart together with the others needed to be deployed here, first of all, thought Frostbite as he countered the differing scenarios in his head. If the missiles were meant to disable, someone wanted them alive...for now. So they had to make sure that it was more difficult for them to be taken, force their attacker to take countermeasures that one could only hope would play to their advantage.

"Lionheart you and the others do what you can to stop the missiles for now. Until we get a lock on their source, it would work against us to have you fly off at this point, my friend. Everyone else countermeasures as best you can and tell all ships to brace for impact. We're not going to get out of his unscathed."

Lionheart, meanwhile, understood the burden placed on Frostbite's shoulders. It was a chance either way, and he didn't like the odds of him finding the source of these missiles any more than he liked the idea of trying to deflect or stop the incoming attack. But that was centring on the ships, the source was a needle in a much bigger haystack. Frostbites call was sound, given the circumstances. Once again, they seemed to be in way over their heads, with 'a wing and a prayer' trying to work something out on the fly. At least this was pretty much the norm for them.

OOC:Lionheart together with the others will seek to deflect or deter whatever missiles they can. Whilst the rest of the ships continue to take counter measures. I think as well, that any further telemetry we can get on the source would be worth trying.

Sj

Jarna called out over the comms "Signals are haywire even at this distance... We skrrrzzzz..."

Frostbite looked over at the bridge officers console and frowned. Frostbot confirmed. The missiles were practically 'null' zones in space where signals, communication and even power was cancelled out. Not only that, but each one was generating a sphere around it that doubled with every passing moment!

Something occurred to Frostbite. If the missiles turned EVERYTHING off... all those in the fighters attempting to stop them would be adrift in space! If they got closer to the ships...

Suddenly another crewman barked "Sir! We can't get confirmation, but each missile seems to have... split... again, and again..."

Uh oh.

=========

Lionheart sped past the fighters and towards the nearest of the bright white dots coming towards the fleet.

The chatter in his ear ceased abruptly and he felt a strange sensation about him. His powers still functioned thankfully, otherwise he'd be dead!

Closing in... there! The dots had multiplied. What the ... they were splitting, sending tiny missiles outwards in a cloud towards the fleet!

His danger sense started going off. Did that mean if he got any closer he'd be in danger, or was he in danger right now...?

Weird.

OOC Roll(2d10)+0: 7,7,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d10)+0: 3,1,+0 Total: 18

Lionheart whirled.


Something moved at speed from the darkness of space, clad all in black and riding on something that looked like skis! It wasn't alone. Others sped out of the darkness, and one was heading straight for Lionheart!

OOC His danger sense says these newcomers are the main threat to Lionheart right now...

==========

Jarna sped through the darkness.

"Come on... just need a few more seconds for a lock... f... oh."

Her fighter suddenly went dark around her... her intended target sped past her through the darkness towards the capital ships! She screamed through her comms only to realise they were as dead as the rest of the spacecraft and there was worse than that - her life support was limited to what air there was in the suit! Minutes at best! She glanced up and around... the rest of her squadron, some dozen or so ships were adrift in space too!

==========

The Capital ships opened fire creating a crisscrossing blanket of lasers in space!

One incoming missile exploded, then another...

Suddenly the lasers from the nearest capital ship went silent, and the lights started winking off on one side of the ship, creeping towards the other...

==========

Frostbite watched as the sister vessel started going dark. Electromagnetic energy on a scale that would engulf whole Earth cities was 'turning off' the power to his fleet!

Frostbot suggested 'Run, immediately, using the planet as cover!'

A crewman turned "Sir! Our support vessel just went dark! No... anything! Our scans caught a glimpse of their power readings and their core has gone dark! Power, light, gravity, life support... shields... they are helpless!"

Just then an alarm blared. A crewman put a finger to an ear. Then he turned "Sir... security just reported in. Wandafar and the medical staff in sickbay are unconscious... and the man we retrieved from the missile... the 'older you' is gone...I've alerted security and running scans... What the! Temperature drop on deck 37! Security! Respond! RESPOND!" he turned and was speechless...

Steph snarled "I'm going down there! Frostbite, we need to do something!"

OOC Summary...

Lionheart is in space facing incoming EMP missiles AND dark clad space skaters... The fighter squadrons are going dark and running out of air...

One of the huge capital ships has been rendered inert and devoid of power...

Seemingly, older Frostbite has woken from his coma and attacked Wandafar and is making his way through the ship!

Incoming missiles will be affecting the remaining Capital Ships in minutes!

Admin wrote:OOC Summary...

Lionheart is in space facing incoming EMP missiles AND dark clad space skaters... The fighter squadrons are going dark and running out of air...

One of the huge capital ships has been rendered inert and devoid of power...

Seemingly, older Frostbite has woken from his coma and attacked Wandafar and is making his way through the ship!

Incoming missiles will be affecting the remaining Capital Ships in minutes!

Frostbite was well for want of a better word frozen by the overwhelming needs before him. But he needed to act, and quickly he steeled himself to do so knowing that no decision or plan in combat was necessarily bad unless he wasn't prepared to be flexible with what happened next. Moving on the fly, adapting as he went was the only way to go. The other ships and the other crew would act independently as best they could. He couldn't attend to every need and with coms and power going offline - he knew that risking Frostbot into the ship or indeed trying to communicate was going to be troublesome.

It seemed that the ships only broke cover with the advent of the old Frostbite coming to them, then all hell had broken loose. Finding him would be hard, but if it was truly him, he'd either hide or take the bridge. Staying where he was, wasn't going to win any prizes, but if the power came on this is where he could direct things from. Without power and super speed like Lionheart trying to get around the ship the size of a small city was pointless, he just could not fly fast enough.

What he could do was try to affect some sort of defence, as the skaters were likely trying to recapture his older self and who knows, him if they find out he is onboard as well.

Meanwhile, Lionheart went after one of the skaters, he'd get answers somehow. Moving in on one, he intended to mind blast now and ask questions later hoping somehow to get some sort of grip on a suddenly changing situation.

OOC: OK so if you wanted to overwhelm me, congratulations I'm overwhelmed and unsure as to what to do. But assuming that doing nothing is the only worst plan one can take in an RPG, although Frostbite's see what I can do from the bridge is close to sitting tight and doing nothing as one can get - I think his limitations make wandering around randomly trying to do something as a bit pointless. So it's up to Lionheart to try and grab one of these guys and find out what on earth is going on. He wants to try and take them down, not knock them out to the middle of next year. So he'll try to bring them low and go from there! Phew hasn't been this difficult a choice for some time, but once again Paul you've proved that when it comes to helping me to feel like I am in a critical juncture - you turn the notch up to 11 ;-)

Sj

Lionheart sped through the void targeting the near invisible shape speeding through the darkness.

If not for a flare from the 'skis' he'd not be able to see them at all without concentrating hard, even with his superhuman speed! They moved almost as fast as he did, and made for the ships of the fleet. Their speed was incredible! faster in a straight line that Lionheart on his best day, he felt sure of it, but he was closer to the fleet and had a head start, and therefore could head one off.

OOC Roll(2d10)+0: 7,10,+0 Total:17 + Dex 14 (31) vs TN11 + Dex 16 (27) -4 (surprise) +4EV. Str 13 + 4 (17) vs Str 9= 8 RAPs

Lionheart is using Power Reserve 13 + Flight 14 (27APs, only a couple short of lightspeed) to keep up with this guy. However, he grabs a leg as it passes and swings it round, reducing the speed to something manageable!

With the Skier moving past at what seemed like bullet speed even to Lionheart he knew he only had one chance to catch this particular skier! Even so he snagged an ankle and spun the Skier about, keeping a firm grip! Having struck by surprise he felt his strength was also superior and despite noticing the reflexes of this creature were... in a word, incredible ... he diverted his energy to Superspeed and took a swing at the enemy!

OOC He wins initiative, power reserve to Superspeed, then with 23 Superspeed swapping for dex, attacks with martial artist and going for a critical blow to put the guy down, with a hand still attached to an ankle!

Roll(7d10)+0: 10,2,7,10,1,9,4,+0 Total:20 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d10)+0: 2,10,+0 Total:32 + 23 (55) vs TN11 + Dex 16 (27) + 4 (Crit Blow). +7 EV + Str 13 (20) vs RV 12 - 6 (Crit Blow)= 14 Damage! POW!

The enemy absorbs 3 points leaving them on one Body but they are STUNNED and cannot take a dice action this round.

VOID SKATER
Dex 16 Str 9 Body 1/12
HP 24


He felt the form going limp in his hands. Down, but certainly not out and they'd have some tricks up their sleeve! He glanced about. Lionheart saw the faint dots in the darkness speeding towards the ships of the fleet. Nothing he could do about that probably - he wasn't fast enough to catch them before they got there. He did have one, albeit momentarily before they shuck off the blow he'd dealt. He would either have to whack the target again or try something else. He could also head back to the ship. Communications were still down. This being, whatever it was, either had an ability to emit an EMP or equipment that could do it on a scale not experienced on Earth!

OOC Lionheart is up. He has initiative. A tender tap should put this guy down for the count. Well, by tender I mean a critical blow. They are almost as tough as Lionheart is strong which means he needs a little extra zing in his punch to break their defences properly seeing as they can absorb a whack with Hero Points... Unless you want to try something else.

=========

With the systems suddenly flickering and going dark on the bridge, Frostbite knew what was about to happen.

He wondered if the Electromagnetic dampening effect would remove Frostbot from his consciousness too...

"Security to skrrrzzz.. Under attack! Single assailant, looks like Fros... skrrrzzzz..." squawked a message from the security chiefs console. Steph called on the radio only a moment behind "I'm on the deck Old Frosty was last reported on... It's... it's like a winter wonderland! Icicles, frost, snow even... Brrrrr! I see footprints! I've alerted the others! they are on their way to skrrrrzzzzz....."

The lights on the bridge went dark!

Frostbite spoke internally to Frostbot 'Are you there?' he asked.

Silence...

Admin wrote:Lionheart v void skater.

OOC Lionheart is up. He has initiative. A tender tap should put this guy down for the count. Well, by tender I mean a critical blow. They are almost as tough as Lionheart is strong which means he needs a little extra zing in his punch to break their defences properly seeing as they can absorb a whack with Hero Points... Unless you want to try something else.[/i][/color]

Lionheart didn't hold back, there seemed little point if this went the way it seemed to be going hanging onto one of these guys might be the only way they could find out who, what and the why of the attack. It was evident this was not a fight that seemed like it was going to go there way.

OOC: Ok so go for a knockout, putting this guy on ice until we can get to question him. I guess then that in order of priority Lionheart ought to take him to the main ship, and start to lend a hand finding the guy who started all this Frostbite snr!

Admin wrote:Frostbite

Frostbite spoke internally to Frostbot 'Are you there?' he asked.

Silence...

It was suddenly so strange for his constant companion, the one who knew what he was thinking, who shared so much with him to suddenly be 'off-line' it made him wonder how that worked given that as far as he knew he wasn't cybernetic. But then it occurred to him, at the speed in which one thinks of these things, maybe there was more to him than even he knew. When had he even stopped to consider what he was, and who it was that was with him?

However, now wasn't the time for this kind of dialogue, his options were fast becoming null and void. Apart from the crew, there was no way he could communicate directly with anyone on a dead ship.

"Ok what are our options, can we reignite the engines and fire her up again? What oxygen do we have left before the ship crew suffocate?"

What had been an attack now was fast becoming a mission to survive - this was like the historic ship Titanic sinking fast and trying to save as many as one could only with no lifeboats and a fast depleting list of possible options. The ships that had saved them, might now doom them!

OOC: Ok so Frostbite can survive for an indeterminate amount of time, not so much the crew. They can get to oxygen, but not to the planet or to safety. We've no way to communicate except in a limited fashion or by "line of sight", so the next thing to figure out is what does a ship's captain do when his ship is going down and he has no possible way to save everyone? Can we fire up the engines and get them restarted? I know that an EMP pulse stops electronics, but the way the movies show its more a disruptive thing, that a quick reboot sorts out. But in this case, it might have deep fried everything so no reboot is possible, in which case its a case of trying to evacuate everyone and then working out how to get them to planetside. With no way to find out where my doppelganger is, the best Frostbite can do is let Steph follow that one up for now and get things moving toward a rescue opp. However, I imagine things aren't going to go that way as these Void Skaters are going to get aboard and tear the place apart looking for Frosty snr, just have to hope they don't mistake our Frostbite for him, or we are even in deeper trouble ;-)

Sj

Still held to the Void Skaters ankle, Lionheart delivered a shocking backhand then uppercut to deliver the coup de grace to his foe...

OOC Roll(7d10)+0: 9,9,1,4,7,7,8,+0 Total:18 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d10)+0: 5,1,+0 Total: 24 That will do it.

With a hand still on the ankle Lionheart turned and sped towards the flagship, larger than the others, which floated in orbit. It was tricky to see but he felt sure more Void Skaters were out there, circling the fleet and causing mayhem with the electromagnetic damping effect they seemed to have set off.

=========

With the bridge dark, Frostbites thermal vision showed different shades of heat and revealed the crew stumbling about, bashing into things and falling over each other in the pitch darkness!

He asked his question and got an answer from one of the bridge crew, who acted as Engineering go between. "I... sir, this shouldn't be happening! We have redundant systems that kick in should the ship suffer from power loss. This is... I have a pocket torch and that's not even working. It's like the ship is in a 'bubble' of anti-energy. One things for sure... in a few hours our orbit will decay and we'll all be crashing on the planet unless we do something!"

Great! Another problem to deal with.

Suddenly there was a loud BANG!!!

Frostbite looked about. It sounded like something had struck the ship somewhere near where the bridge was. It was a huge vessel, and to target the bridge indicated knowledge of the vessel or... or they were after something... or someone... specific!

Suddenly the bridge lift door juddered open. Frostbite saw several heat signatures, but he recognised them as Impulse (Fred Garrick, he can make time stop/seems to move ultra fast), Firebrand (Sarah Barrington, Flame powers, very limited flight (12mph!)) and Rebuff (Michael Adwari, can move objects to/from him and weak telekinesis/flight).

"Boss!" shouted Impulse. "We made it guys! This is the bridge!"

Frostbite walked over to look down the lift shaft as he helped his team out.

Firebrand immolated a hand, lighting up the bridge and giving some relief to the crew who were in various poses of disarray on their consoles or the floor. They gathered themselves and looked to Frostbite for orders.

BANG!!!

Rebuff looked up, and around. "Something is trying to get in..."

BANNNNNGGGGGG!!!!

"Something GOT in!" shouted Impulse. The noise sounded like metal rending and things being smashed aside.

Suddenly a thumping sound on the ceiling got their attention, and the ceiling, despite being reinforced alloy, started to buckle inwards!

=========

Lionheart approached the flagship. He saw another blur and it seemed the Void Skaters were constantly circling the fleet.

One of the ships many docking bays loomed. The lights were off and he knew the forcefield preventing the atmosphere venting into space would be down. He'd have to find a manual airlock and hope he could seal it behind him... That would take time. He hoped his friends had enough of it left for him to help them!

OOC Whatever is smashing into the bridge will be there next round. You're up!