Kid Kinetic and the Space Knights! Issue #2 "Ummm where are we?"

Kid Kinetic rolled his eyes. While it was conceivable that the vapors could bypass his high speed metabolism it remained highly unlikely. The same resistance now applied to Mimic Lad. However, Bioforce remained vulnerable. And these were not terrestrial poisons they were dealing with. Remaining in the lift was too great a risk. Kid Kinetic pointed up at the vents. "I don't know what that stuff seeping in is but we'd better not stick around to find out. Both of you go fluidform and 2D and get out. I will be right behind you." Using the strength granted him by the symbiote, Kid Kinetic took hold of the doors to the turbo lift in an attempt to pry them apart.

OOC Apologies for delay! Work kicked my butt this week (night shifts, ugh) and I have my youngest son staying over so my time is not my own!

Bioforce/Matt glanced at Kid Kinetic. "What?" before his eyes followed where the young hero pointed and his eyes gaped!

Mimic Lad muttered "Once again Ryan you save the day!" as he copied his buddies resistance to poison and gas...

Kid Kinetic turned to the doors of the lift and pushed then tried to pry them apart...

"Dude, I know you're strong but there's no way that..." started Matt

OOC Strength 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 6,4,+0 Total:10 (19) vs
Ov8 + Roll(2d12)+0: 1,1,+0 Total:2 FAILED (3 or less fails on 2D12) Success +6 (to 15)
15 EV vs RV8=7 RAPs. Success.

CRACK! Creeeeaaaaakkkkk! Clank! Creeeeeaaaaaakkkkk!

Something in the door mechanism snapped and crunched. The doors slid steadily apart and the metal of the door - whatever alien material it was - crumpled and bunched like wet cardboard in Ryans' hands!

"duuuuuuuddde" muttered Joe.

Matt gaped. "I knew you were strong but..."

"Go!" urged Ryan.

The trio climbed/hovered through the gap between floors and climbed out onto another level which looked much like the last one. They were in a smooth metal corridor much like the others but a pair of imposing double doors at the end of a 100' corridor had a sign with alien squiggles above it.

"That's different." said Bioforce/Matt. "Guys, I think we hit pay..."

The doors hissed open. Two 'squidhead' aliens stepped into view then aside as two purple hulk aliens pounded past them and started running at the young heroes down the corridor!

OOC You guys are at one end of the corridor and these guys are coming from the other. You can go back into the lift (complete with pumping gas) or move forward to try one of three side wall doors you can see. Or... you can rush forwards, or wait, or attack from a distance if possible, to stop these hulking beasts!

Kid Kinetic did not like these odds but precious seconds were slipping away while they searched for the control room. There would be no ducking into another room. It was time to take a stand.

"Bioforce, you and I will handle the big guys. But don't look at their eyes. Mimic Lad, 2D past them and take out the squids!"

KID KINETIC
HP 150

Dexterity: 9 Strength: 9 Body: 7
Intelligence: 9 Will: 1 Mind: 1/5
Influence: 1 Aura: 1 Spirit: 4/7 Doesn't regenerate (symbiote)

Kid Kinetic raced towards one of the lumbering purple monstrosities whilst Bioforce floated up in his energy form and took aim!

A shadowy form sped along the walls to circumvent the beasts which blocked the corridors. Without a 2D form Mimic Lad would not have been able to bypass them!

OOC Initiative... Roll(4d12)+0:
1,7,9,6

Purple Hulk #1 15 + 1 (16)
Purple Hulk #2 15 + 7 (22)
Kid Kinetic 30 + 9 (39)
Bioforce 16 + 6 (22)

With his astonishing speed Kid Kinetic was the fastest, but could even his incredible Strength make a dent in these... these things???

At long last, it was time to let loose. Kid Kinetic hoped these hulking beasts were as slow as they were strong. He clasped both hands together in a tight ball and swung with all his might!

OOC Devastating Attack on one of the Umber Hulks

KID KINETIC

With his hands bunched and careful not to look into the eyes of these monstrosities, Kid Kinetic swung with all his might at the closest of the beasts!

OOC Dev Attack might be a bit too tricky to hit with but the dice can always throw up a surprise...

Assuming you're all in for the attack (2D on M Arts, 0D on Acrobatics) to give yourself the best chance of hitting...

Dex 9 + 2D M Arts + Roll(4d12)+0: 11,11,2,12,+0 Total:22 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 11,11,+0 Total:22 DOUBLE (wow!) plus Roll(2d12)+0: 6,3,+0 Total:53 (62) (Zoinks!) vs
OV6 + 8 Dev Attack + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,12,+0 Total:15 (29) Success + 8
EV9 + 8 (EV17) vs RV11 - Dev Attack 12 (RV-1)=18 RAPs
this Purple monstrosity is DOWN and OUT for 90 minutes (with 30 minutes 'over the top' thanks to that strike!)



POW!!!!

The Purple Hulk flew backwards, bouncing down the corridor and collecting another of it's brethren on the way!

"DUDE!" yelled Matt/Bioforce in his energy form. He levelled his arms and fired!

OOC DEV ATTACK Energy Blast 12 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,4,+0 Total:6 (18) vs
OV6 + 8 Dev Attack + Range 1 + Roll(2d12)+0: 8,1,+0 Total:9 (24) Missed!

His wild blast is rushed and concentrates too much on pure force rather than accuracy... the beam lances into the wall leaving a darkened scar in the metal but the target (Purple Hulk) is unharmed and comes at Bioforce!

OOC AV6 + 2D M Arts + Roll(4d12)+0: 6,2,7,5,+0 Total:13 (19) vs
OV9 + 2D Acrobatics + Roll(4d12)+0: 6,3,4,8,+0 Total:14 (23) Missed!

With a scything swing the creature pounds against the metal corridor wall, shaking the floor under Kid Kinetics' feet!

Luckily Bioforce was agile enough to avoid it!

OOC initiative...Roll(3d12)+0:
8,3,11

Purple Hulk #2 15 + 8 (23)
Kid Kinetic 30 + 3 (33)
Bioforce 16 + 11 (27)

KK is up! Mimic Lad is dealing with the Squidheads... You hope!

Kid Kinetic felt exhilarated after felling the giant purple hulk with one blow. He'd always been stronger than most humans but the symbiote took him to a level of strength he did not think possible. It was intoxicating and he did not want it to end. Kid Kinetic had better be careful with his punches. Beings like this bruiser could take that sort of punishment but a normal person would be seriously injured or even killed if he did not pull his punch.

OOC Ryan would put 2 dice in MA and attempt a Critical Blow

Having dealt the most powerful blow he'd EVER delivered Kid Kinetic followed up with another to the remaining Purple Hulk!

OOC CRIT BLOW
AV9 + 2D M Arts (0D Acro) + Roll(4d12)+0: 5,7,5,7,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 7,2,+0 Total:23 (32) vs
OV6 + Crit Blow 4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,10,+0 Total:12 (22) Success +4
EV9 +4 (EV13) vs RV11 - Crit Blow 6 (RV5)=8 RAPs
The Purple Hulk is on Body 0/8 DOWN AND OUT!

SMECK!

The other Purple Hulk was sent spinning away!

That left...

Bioforce and Kid Kinetic looked down the corridor. Mimic Lad (Joe) in his shadow form had attacked and taken down one of the Squidheads there but the other was pointing at Mimic Lad who was stood, quite solid and immobile, in the corridor.

"Joe!" called out Bioforce. "Get out of the way dude! I can't get a clear shot with you stood there!"

Matt turned to Ryan. "Why's he just stood there? I don't get it! He should whack the squid dude and get back here!"

Ryan/Kid Kinetic watched as Mimic Lad turned slowly and started marching towards the pair of them...

Ryan often questioned Joe's line of thinking and what effect his mimicry power must take on him. In a way, Mimic Lad was both the weakest and most powerful member of the New Knights. He could not do much by himself but became more and more formidable with each powered being in proximity. It was only the possibility of power burnout that kept Mimic Lad from transforming into some sort of god. It was human nature to be a bit jealous of another person's ability. Ryan often wondered what it felt like to read thoughts, see in the dark or shoot energy blasts. Joe didn't need to ask.

"Mimic Lad, get down!" Kid Kinetic barked.

OOC Kid Kinetic will attempt to grapple Mimic Lad.

KID KINETIC

Stepping up, Kid Kinetic leaped at Mimic Lad!

OOC Dex 9 + 1D M Arts (1D Acrobatics) + Roll(3d12)+0: 7,7,5,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 3,5,+0 Total:22 (31) vs
OV9 (Mimic Lad will copy the best of the abilities around him as you'd expect) + Roll(2d12)+0:
11,4,+0 Total:15 (24) Success +4
EV 9 +4 (EV13) vs RV9=4 RAPs
Mimic Lad is on Body 2/6 (assuming you want to inflict damage on your friend)

Despite being super strong Kid Kinetic could feel how heavy and dense his friend was! Some other ability he'd copied? Mimic Lad looked calmly ad Kid Kinetic as his friend held him. Then he strained...

Kid Kinetic, boosted as he was, was super strong! Stronger than he'd ever been but ...

OOC Mimic 12 + Roll(2d12)+0: 9,1,+0 Total:10 (22) vs
Ov9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,1,+0 Total:4 (13) Success + 4
Ev12 + 4 (Ev16) vs RV9=7 RAPs
Success, Str mimicked to 9 APs

AV12 (Str + Den Increase) + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,12,+0 Total:22 (34) vs
OV9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 12,12,+0 Total:24 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 3,2,+0 Total:29 (38) Failed!

Despite being stronger (!) than Kid Kinetic Mimic Lad was unable to break the hold his friend had him or, nor could he reverse it to inflict harm on Kid Kinetic... How long could that last though?

Matt (Bioforce) flew high up in the corridor and took aim at the aliens. "You better let our friend go from ... uhhh..."

OOC Control 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 11,6,+0 Total:17 (26) vs
OV5 + Roll(2d12)+0: 4,8,+0 Total:12 (17) Success + 4
EV9 +4 (EV13) vs RV6=7RAPs. Bioforce is mind controlled!

Suddenly Kid Kinetic knew he was in trouble! Bioforce had gone quiet, Mimic Lad was struggling in his grasp and soon he'd end up fighting BOTH his friends! How could he hope to prevail?

OOC: Kid Kinetic would not have wanted to inflict damage.


Kid Kinetic grimaced. "Wonderful. Our 3 to 1 advantage just flipped to 1 to 3."

Ryan was normally easy going but these guys were really starting to get on his nerves.

Tim, hope you can hear me. One of them has mind controlled the others.

Kid Kinetic knew he could not defeat all three opponents. He assumed that if he knocked out the squid head it would break the mental hold on his former teammates. It was a big if.

Kid Kinetic stopped grappling with Mimic Lad, rushed forward and attempted to deliver a haymaker on the purple squid.

OOC : How many HP can I spend?

"Time to say goodnight, pal!"

OOC: KK will spend 30 HP to get 2 extra dice and will pull his punch if there is a wall or obstacle behind the mind flayer.

His movements a blur, Kid Kinetic zipped up to the 'squid head' and left Mimic lad grasping air!

OOC Pulling Punch AV9 + 2D M Arts + 2D HP Dice. Rolls 3 +9 +12 +5 +12 +10=24 DOUBLE plus 2d12 = 1 +10=35 (44) vs
OV5 roll 12 +9=21 (26) Success +6
EV9 + 6 (EV15) vs RV5 +2 Pull Punch (RV7)=8 RAPs. The 'Squid head' is DOWN and OUT!

With a super speedy punch delivered the alien with the 'squid head' gets walloped with a cracking right hand that drops him!

Instantly Joe and Matt reeled, dropping to their knees!

"Dude..." said Matt.

"Yeah, like, I need to shower my brain." muttered Joe. "That thing TOTALLY took us over, directing movements, everything."

Matt staggered up and helped Joe. The pair of them stumbled over to where Ryan was and Matt spoke up. "Bro, you totally kick ass! You're getting my vote to be team leader!"

Joe hissed "Guys!"

The trio had access to the control room now. It was... circular, sort of. At some point the jungle outside had leaked in to one corner as moss had taken over, scraped away occasionally. Everything was darkened touch screen and it would need some serious figuring out to guess what it did!

Joe (Mimic Lad) moved a hand near a panel and it came to life with glowing alien symbols. "It's like that ancient Tv show Star Trek. you know the one with the android dude with the yellow eyes and the counsellor with the really big..."

"Hey guys!" said Matt, interrupting at an opportune moment. He'd waved his hand over a panel as he walked around the large control room and muttered "Do ya think this is, y'know, some kind of bridge? Like this thing could fly and get us off this rock?"

"What stopped them from getting off before?" asked Matt. "If they could go at any time, wouldn't they?"

"Lack of power?" suggested Joe.

"Power, like... whoa... like they are using Rachel and anyone else they get their tentacles on to power this thing? We really need to unplug her! One of these panels... and one of the controls on them... should do something, right?"

A wave of the hand near a panel lit it up and showed alien symbols. Each alien symbol did something but without a key or some way of understanding the language it was mostly all guesswork!

All the while the machines on this thing drained Rachel - and everyone else captured over the years - of mental energy to store and send this ship (eventually) back into space!

Ryan could not believe for a moment Matt would vote for him over Ian. Not that it mattered. They were only his former teammates. He had a new team.

"Mimic Lad, try and probe this guy's mind then use his telepathy to access the controls. Might be a good idea to link up with Mentallica. He is still the smartest guy I know. If anyone can decipher this strange alphabet it is him."

Mimic Lad considered then spoke up "Good idea dude."

He closed his eyes, concentrating, then spoke quietly. "Tim... it's Joe. We're in the alien ship thing and battled our way to the bridge. Tim? Can you hear me?"

"Darn. Out of range I guess. The deeper we got in this thing the longer the range becomes and Tim has got like, 200 yards I guess in him." admitted Joe. "I can mimic his power from here but I can't mimic it any better than what he has."

Matt pondered "I bet one of your alien buddies could pilot this thing. The loudmouth in red."

Cutthroat.

"He seems like an A-Hole but pretty cool. Plus he winds Ian up the wrong way. Can't be all bad!" Bioforce laughs.

"So... what are out options?" asked Joe. "We press stuff at random and hope we don't blow up? Or we find Rachel, somehow and get outta dodge before more Squidheads show up? I can try to dig around in that dudes' head but..." He looked doubtful. "Brain stuff is their gig and I'm like, pretending at it. Plus it's Alien brains. I mean, how does that even work? Do they think in Alien? How close would that be to English?"

"In the movies they all think in English." shrugged Matt.

"Yeah, I don't see anyone yelling 'Action' round here." said Joe. "I think we've had enough of that so far. Ryan, you're the one punching above his weight here dude. Make the call."

Matt crossed his arms, considering. "Yeah, I'm good with that. Whatever you call it, we'll do."

Kid Kinetic shook his head. "Finding Rachel won't be enough. We can't free her without first shutting down the cocoons. She'll die."

Kid Kinetic studied the panel. "It might not be a just a matter of finding the right buttons. The squid heads mental powers might be something that evolved naturally in them. They may have incorporated into their technology. Maybe it will respond to telepathic commands? "

"We need to get back to the others. There'll be more Squids and Purple weird giants with those crazy eyes coming along soon." said Matt/Bioforce.

"Must be some way outta here." muttered Joe/Mimic Lad. "Some escape pod or something."

"Those alien buddies of yours will know how to shut this thing down and free Rachel." suggested Matt. "Even if we can... I dunno, get a message to the others and tell them to head here from the outside. I bet Ian can transmute the metal into like, air or something. Dude has a stick up his ass but that power of his is like, crazy powerful."

Just then one of the panels on the console started to blink...

Joe spotted it and moved over. "What is that? Something bad?" The symbol was a kind of squiggle and some dots but could mean anything...

OOC you have a round before the 'could mean anything' means something!

Kid Kinetic tuned out the others and his thoughts became quicksilver. The blinking symbol seemed frozen in time:

. o O (Press it! -I should press it?- No.-Your last reckless decision almost killed Joe!- Don't press it?-No. Rachel is still stuck in there. She's here because of you -But she and the Knights tried to capture me. They suck! -No. They love you and were worried.-What am I going to do when this is over?- Worry about that later-Ask Cutthroat what the symbol means?- Not sure there is enough time.- Not sure he would know- We could all die here and no one would know-Never give up!- Have Joe probe the alien for the meaning?-Yes!)

"Mimic Lad, reach inside and find out what that symbol means. Now! "

Mimic Lad looked doubtful... but time was running out and someone had to do something!

"Ok! It's... when I copy someones' powers I'm not like, an expert. I mean, Tim can read minds and he does it all the time and... hey! That's so cool! Imagine being able to hit on girls and knowing what they like and..." he said.

"Dude! That's creepy, and like, wrong on so many levels!" spluttered Matt.

"You're only jealous!" laughed Joe.

"Just... find out what that thing does. We need to save Rachel and get out here before more aliens turn up!"

"Right! Right... Ummm. Ok. Here goes." said Joe. He gave a worried glance at Ryan and Matt then kneeled next to the squidhead, putting his hands on the aliens' skull and trying not to pull a face.

OOC Mind Probe 7 + Crit Blow + 2d12+0 6,11+0 = 17 (24) vs
OV0 (unconscious) + Crit Blow 4 + 2d12+0 8,1+0 = 9 (13) Success +5
EV7 +5 (EV12) vs RV10 - Crit Blow 6 (RV4)=8 RAPs

"I... see...." muttered Mimic Lad, eyes glazed over. "They are... moving about... I can't... can't understand what they are doing..."

"Reminds me of every girl I ever met." muttered Matt.

"...I think... maybe they crash landed on this planet and the Squidheads have been trying to get the energy to power the ship to get off. It's powered mentally but needs like, loads of Squidheads. Most died in the crash... there are... there's loads of skeletons on one of the levels. Hundreds of them died! They've been capturing and enslaving ever since..."

Matt muttered "Dude! We need to release Rachel!"

"Right! Right... Rachel. Where is she. THERE! There... I ... yes... On the console. When you wave a hand over it the whole thing lights up. There's a kind of triangle with two squiggles and a wavy line. Pressing that twice ... I... I can't be sure. That might turn it on, or off. To connect someone new it needs to be turned off and the power gets cut..."

All of a sudden there was a thudding feeling going through the deck!

"When the power gets cut... a field goes down and... it's some kind of like, radiation thing. If the field stays down too long, this whole thing will blow!" muttered Mimic Lad. "I can see it in this dudes' head!"

Matt turns to Ryan. The thudding sounded closer.  "More of those things on their way! Has to be! What do we do? We can't fight them all off!"

Kid Kinetic thought hard and fast. He could push the button and lower the field but did not remember where the holding tanks were. He was not sure even his superspeed would allow him to find Shadowhawk before the ship exploded killing everyone on board.

"Then we won't fight them. This situation is a lose lose for everyone. As repulsive as it may sound, we will have to bargain with these guys."

Kid Kinetic held his finger over the button.

"If things go sideways or you feel them in your brain, I will press it and smash the panel. When that happens use your 2D and fluid form to escape. I'll do my best to find Rachel and get her out before ka-boom."

The thudding continued, getting louder...

Bioforce, Mimic Lad and Kid Kinetic waited, ready to fight, ready to bargain... ready to flee.

They looked at the door, waiting...

Then suddenly a hatch dropped from the ceiling with a CLANG!

All three whirled and prepared to fire/attack...

Until Cutthroat appeared with his head upside down and looking around. "Ah! THERE you are! You'd been a while, we lost contact, that guy with the ass up his stick was shouting a lot...."

He suddenly cried out, vanished from view and Depthcharge - the source of the thudding - popped his head out... then the rest of him as he fell head first into the metal floor of the bridge with a CLANG! He got up, dusted himself off and glanced at the body shaped dent he'd left. "It was my idea. To be truthful I got bored of waiting for you so we came to look around this thing and find some other way in. We have a way out." he said, alien head grinning.

Cutthroat appeared again, feet first but with straps and a burden on his back... it was Tim! Mentallica looked a little uncomfortable but safe enough strapped to Cutthroats' back facing out. "Hi guys! We nearly had a civil war out there! I said I was going to look for you after we lost contact and your alien buddies said they'd come along. Managed to catch trace of your thoughts momentarily and used that to gauge which way to go. Trace? That way. No trace? Back track or a new direction."

He looked about. Then vanished from sight as Cutthroat turned around. "Hey, where's the lady you came to get?"

Kid Kinetic exhaled deeply. "Cutthroat, thank God! We took on two of the squid heads and their bodyguards. They are out cold but still dangerous. One of the squid heads gained control of Mimic Lad and Bioforce and nearly overpowered me."

Kid Kinetic waved and acknowledged Depthcharge and Mentallica.

"Anyway, I am glad you three are here. Shadowhawk is still their prisoner. We don't know how to free her or the other prisoners from those cocoon without killing them."

Kid Kinetic motioned to the control panel and the blinking light. "Something is definitely happening but we cannot figure out how to work the controls. The panel is labeled with some sort of..I dunno..intergalactic alphabet or something. We were hoping Mentallica could figure it out."

KID KINETIC with Bioforce, Mimic Lad, Cutthroat, DepthCharge and Mentallica

"You did good kid. REAL good." admitted Cutthroat. "Illithids aren't they?" he asked with a look to DepthCharge who nodded with a shudder.

"One of the few things I can't take on. Brain zap. I hate them." snarled the blue skinned giant.

Cutthroat turned to the panel. "This may take a few moments to figure out."

He waved to DepthCharge who seemed as accomplished as he was at spacefaring vehicles and the pair of them spoke together in a low force comparing what they knew about the craft.

Tim (Mentallica) came over. "Glad you guys are ok!" he said as Joe/Mimic Lad patted him on the shoulder in greeting.

"Ian (Transmutor) is having kittens out there." explained Tim. "When your alien buddies said they were coming in to find you and I said I'd go along with them he started threatening, zapping things, going crazy really! Sam (Mystralla) stepped in to block him before something bad happened and told us to go whilst she calmed him down."

"It's not his fault but I think this is kinda too much for him. I mean, we're school kids, right? And here we are in the middle of nowhere... deep space... with alien mercenary buddies helping us and being chased by the people who are chasing them... Father is gonna be sooooo pissed."

"I'm loving it!" he laughed.

Joe smiled and turned to the aliens at the console. "Yo! You figured it out yet!"

"Give us time kid. It ain't like driving a car." muttered Cutthroat. "Get this stuff wrong and you could bounce too close to a supernova and that'd end ya trip real quick!" he added. He turned to DepthCharge and leaned in "I learned that one from an old film about Space Battles."

Matt/Bioforce called over from the door. "I hear more thudding. There'll be more of those 'Illithid' things and their Purple Buddies along! I think though..." he looked at Ryan "I think we got this."

"Hey!" called out Cutthroat. "Got it! This whole ship..." he started as the others came over. "Is kinda trashed. Whatever made it crash THEN the crash itself pretty much meant that it won't fly again. BUT... they figured out a way to turn their 'food' source into power. Your friend is hooked up into the power as are loads... dozens... maybe hundreds... of sentient beings from various places. The Illithids are bad. Like slavers. I mean, we do bad stuff but never like that."

DepthCharge shrugged "I see it more as liberating the rich from their wealth and spreadin' it around."

"To yourself?" asked Joe.

DepthCharge winked an alien eye at Joe and Cutthroat continued.

"First..." he selected a few controls, frowned, then DepthCharge leaned in and pointed. "Yeah. Thanks." muttered Cutthroat.

Another door, thick this time, slid down to help thicken the bridge doors. "Blast doors. They won't get through so easy." He turned to Ryan.

"Here's the thing." said Cutthroat.

"Your lady friend and all those others are hooked into the machine. These ***holes have booby trapped this whole place! If the current drops below a certain level the reactor will go into meltdown!" said Cutthroat. "Or maybe... maybe they don't know about that, but the damage to this stuff suggests we can only free so many and the rest have to stay. if we free more well... We got a short time before the whole thing goes up." He looked at DepthCharge.

DepthCharge shrugged. "Standard Antarean Grade IV reactors go up like their equivalent to a nuclear bomb. This one? Don't know. Maybe more, maybe less, but it will get messy."

Cutthroat shrugged. "I can free your friend from here. Found her. The only human. Your buddy in the chair can guide her out to here. The rest of them? Maybe a few but some already got out so like we're looking at a handful. The other thing is..."

DepthCharge muttered "Here it comes."

"Those Illithids are bad hombres as you say. If they get together and combine their power they can overcome ANY mental defence. Even mine. My species is really tough to overcome compared to a normal human but these things... frankly I'm amazed you got this far. Didn't know you had it in ya kid."

Joe/Mimic Lad turned to Ryan. "Free Rachel and go?" he asked.

"One more thing. Better this time." added Cutthroat.

"Marionette (OOC The alien partial synthetic who can morph and adapt existing vehicles to make them space worthy and possibly more besides) said she can make use of some of the stuff on this ship to repair your trashed Valkyrie." said Cutthroat.

"So we uh, ripped a few panels open to get here and made sure important stuff was exposed." said DepthCharge.

"And as a result of taking stuff, we might have...ummm." muttered Cutthroat "Damaged or exposed a few things which is limiting our options. Long version made short - this thing is gonna blow at some point anyway. Hopefully Marionette has what she needs otherwise this is going to be a short rescue!"

"Leave some prisoners behind to die while others live? But? But..that's not fair."

This had to be the worst call ever. Ryan had not fully grasped the severity of the problem at hand until now. Worse, he was suddenly missing Ian's steady leadership.

"Wait. Precisely how do these reactors work? Like, how much "current" do they need to prevent a meltdown? We have Bioforce, Mimic Lad and uh..Moth Lady (really need to learn her name) who can generate bio energy."