Excerpt 001: Enquiring Minds
Jul. 23rd, 2015 12:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rekindledtitanTYPE: Patrol log
LOCATION: Ishtar Sink, Venus
rekindledtitan ], One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Aran, Samus [onemorebounty ]
ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Samus Aran; Chozo; Ishtar Sink; Hezen Protective; Pelsor; House of Winter; Drevis; Blaze-37; Ishtar Academy
They land in a clearing on the city outskirts with grass under their boots and a heavy overcast above. The breeze that greets them is hot and humid, a little acidic. Around them is a densely-grown treeline, with broad leaves that are near-luminescent shades of green. Their rustle is echoed by the distant wash of waves from beyond the ruins.
Blaze turns to scan the area, hopeful of opposition even though her Ghost already checked the site. The broken towers and city blocks are quiet within the overgrowth. But then it’s not the human ruins which really stand out. To the north a massive volcano takes up much of the sky, belching out a noxious plume of ash and gas. Small wonder that each shift in the breeze makes the scent of the air waver between sulfurous and salty. Over the hills to both south and east loom dark geometric structures. Look at them with anything other than the optical spectrum, and they emit some very peculiar readings.
“At last,” the Exo remarks, feeling a thrill that doesn’t break her readiness. Her head’s turned up to check the skyline as she speaks. Then she's moving for the buildings. “We’re in Guardian territory, more or less. Doesn’t stretch too far yet. Won’t take long to find some trouble.”
LOCATION: Ishtar Sink, Venus
PARTIES: Three [3]. One [1] Ghost-type, [1] Guardian-type, designate Blaze-37, Class Titan [
rekindledtitan ], One [1] Unconfirmed, designate Aran, Samus [onemorebounty ]
ASSOCIATIONS: Multiversal Nexus; Samus Aran; Chozo; Ishtar Sink; Hezen Protective; Pelsor; House of Winter; Drevis; Blaze-37; Ishtar Academy
They land in a clearing on the city outskirts with grass under their boots and a heavy overcast above. The breeze that greets them is hot and humid, a little acidic. Around them is a densely-grown treeline, with broad leaves that are near-luminescent shades of green. Their rustle is echoed by the distant wash of waves from beyond the ruins.
Blaze turns to scan the area, hopeful of opposition even though her Ghost already checked the site. The broken towers and city blocks are quiet within the overgrowth. But then it’s not the human ruins which really stand out. To the north a massive volcano takes up much of the sky, belching out a noxious plume of ash and gas. Small wonder that each shift in the breeze makes the scent of the air waver between sulfurous and salty. Over the hills to both south and east loom dark geometric structures. Look at them with anything other than the optical spectrum, and they emit some very peculiar readings.
“At last,” the Exo remarks, feeling a thrill that doesn’t break her readiness. Her head’s turned up to check the skyline as she speaks. Then she's moving for the buildings. “We’re in Guardian territory, more or less. Doesn’t stretch too far yet. Won’t take long to find some trouble.”
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Date: 2015-10-20 03:38 pm (UTC)In the meantime, the Wolf Samus is dueling loses patience with this maddening and blasphemous foe. He spreads his clawed fists in challenge- and then her grapple line all but plucks the big launcher from his hand, leaving him momentarily off-balance in both senses.
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Date: 2015-10-20 07:07 pm (UTC)If efficiency trumps manners, then let's kill them quickly so they can appreciate it.
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Date: 2015-10-20 11:24 pm (UTC)Blaze might be laughing at that. Or Samus' suggestion. Both! The remaining Fallen see the way the fight is going; still, it's only when their leader falls for the last time that they fall back, briefly at a loss: a few hunker down and teleport out there and then. Blaze abandons them and turns to charge the Vex.
As she does, a high tone resonates through the air, the toll of a strange bell. Something else appears behind the cohort of machines: a cube that shines with a blinding golden light, that bends space and time and reality with its gaze. And it's looking at them, Hunter and Guardian and Fallen alike.
The Ghost is briefly perplexed by the readings, and then cries out in terror: //
The light behind the Vex! Destroy it now!//no subject
Date: 2015-10-21 12:17 am (UTC)*Samus has an arm-cannon and a borrowed... spam-bomber? It probably has a better name, but that's not what's important. Two guns: no waiting. She charges at the cube, unloading as much fire as she can send downrange on the way.*
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Date: 2015-10-21 02:13 am (UTC)Spurred on by the Ghost's fear, Blaze throws a grenade ahead of their charge. It doesn't do much to the mystery cube, but it softens and blinds the Vex line, helping them punch through to their primary target. A big minotaur comes teleporting from the side to try and break their charge- and yet the damage is already done. The cube flares bright and disintegrates under the combined fire of two heavy guns and a couple of fusion blasts.
//Huh. Kinda anticlimactic. What was it?// The remaining Vex are no big deal, Blaze thinks. Even the Fallen, if they remain, have left off attacking.
The Ghost's panic is not receding. //
Ontological weaponry! More are coming! You have to destroy them quickly or they'll write us out of existence!////...Oh.//
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Date: 2015-10-21 02:31 am (UTC)*Shards. When the Vex get riled up, they fight like Chozo. Samus launches a grapple at the nearest one--she needs to siphon off a recharge now. An overcharge, if she can get it.*
Blaze, Ghost, find a terminal. I'll pop cubes as they come, we need to drop this place as soon as we can.
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Date: 2015-10-21 05:03 pm (UTC)The goblin Samus grabs doesn't have the all-you-can-drain option of a sniper model - one big gulp of energy and it's dead. There are three or four in range, but she'll only have seconds to work.
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Date: 2015-10-21 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-21 11:28 pm (UTC)While she's got some breathing space, Blaze leaves her rifle aside and pulls the loaded rocket launcher from her back. Regular Vex can wait; they're the least of the threats here. So long as Samus doesn't cross her line of fire, she can probably take out the more visible of the two oracles. Or the guard Vex teleporting in around it, either would be worth the ammunition now.
//
This connection will work! Give me a few more minutes: I can get this!//no subject
Date: 2015-10-22 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-22 01:39 am (UTC)The constructs seem relatively fragile for all the power they wield. Knowing this, the Vex are escalating their attempts - the tones chime twice again. One oracle appears atop the highest of the Vex structures. The other... is at the far end of the big platform, near the way the intruders entered. It's right behind the bulk and the shield of the big hydra that just materialized.
Although the Vex have made a mistake Samus might laugh at. That hydra's looking solely at the oracle-slayers in front of it. Not the top of the wall behind it, which ripples ever-so-slightly with the tell of a cloak...
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Date: 2015-10-22 02:15 am (UTC)Blaze, do whatever you do for luck, and focus fire on the high cube.
*She, too, will be firing on the cube atop the tallest structure--even at her fastest, the wave beam is faster. She only hopes its electrical field can slow down or disrupt whatever strangeness the oracles use as their own weapon. She's going to desperately hope that the enemy of her enemy can be useful just once.*
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Date: 2015-10-22 03:07 pm (UTC)Blaze isn't about to refuse. She's sliding the last two rockets she's got into the tubes and snapping the launcher closed. A charging goblin gets all the arc energy she has in her fist, disintegrating under the blow.
//What about the other?// she asks, as she locks sights and releases the missile. The oracle wavers under the assaulting beam, then shatters as the rocket streaks in for the kill. //We have to get at it-//
Even in the moment she asks, however, the blade descends. The cloaked Wolf drops onto the oracle, sinking twin swords into the Vex construct and discharging all their power into it. The oracle flares even brighter for a split second. Then it dies, leaving only its assassin standing there revealed. The serpentine overmind above it begins to turn. The Wolf, quick-witted, swords abandoned, dives beneath its floating tail and rolls between two lesser Vex in its bid to escape.
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Date: 2015-10-23 01:41 am (UTC)*She knows that not-killing an enemy is an alien idea to Blaze, but Samus hopes her ally will take consolation in the thought that he'll probably die in the colony drop, if not sooner, unless he manages to teleport out.*
Spheres and cubes. I don't suppose your faction has pyramids you report to?
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Date: 2015-10-23 03:51 am (UTC)kill-stealingWolf did just effectively distract the hydra from unloading its cannons on the very exposed Titan opposite, so Blaze has to admit there's something in it. //Guess he's not a primary target anyhow.// Not the biggest or the most dangerous. Save him for last.Besides, he's avoided the Vex fire long enough to cloak again. She'd have to find him to kill him.
//Pyraamids? Hah. We've got the biggest sphere of all! How's it looking, Ghost?//
//
Just a little longer...//http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i-9SQbqd9/0/1050x10000/i-9SQbqd9-1050x10000.jpg
Date: 2015-10-23 04:05 am (UTC)*Samus switches back to her new void beam, staying mobile as she takes a few potshots at the hydra. She also wants to keep its attention off of Blaze, and wants to be ready to close with the next oracle, wherever it might show up. As long as it doesn't break the temporary truce, she's content to leave the Wolf to its own devices.*
Taniks, man. /What/ a showman.
Date: 2015-10-23 06:25 pm (UTC)//
It's coming our way...////Yeah. Don't worry.// Samus drawing the fire gives her a chance to concentrate, chance tactics. The next grenade she tosses out is a ball of blue light; landed squarely between her and the hydra, it throws out pulsed waves of electrical energy in a broad ring around it. The big Vex squeals and halts, refusing to cross it.
Once more the chimes ring out, two- three? That's three, overlapping. One back among the hydra's cronies, one in the earlier half-hidden spot, and one up high, on the opposite side this time. Spotting that one, Blaze doesn't hesitate to throw her last rocket at it. The hydra's in her way anyhow.
Mad respect for the dedication to craft.
Date: 2015-10-24 05:00 am (UTC)How're you two holding up? Ghost, much longer?
A guy who teleports out from around every corner to /personally/ roar in your face.
Date: 2015-10-25 02:09 am (UTC)Almost- there!// The air changes, the wind picking up with a rush as this part of the Citadel is forced into a normal relationship with the space around it. Samus' oracle shatters- then Blaze's- a Fallen rifle plucks the air as round after round finds its mark in the last, but it's dying slow. //I've isolated as much as I can. I'm setting us up to fall! Don't let that oracle activate!//The Wolf might need some help on that though - the hydra's turned to blast the would-be sniper. Blaze checks the odds, grunts, and heads for the last oracle. //Lock us for transmat and let's do this!//
That's fine, artisan-crafted menace, that is.
Date: 2015-10-25 02:39 am (UTC)*So saying, she sprints for the hydra, glowing with the waste plasma of her speed boost. She doubts she'll get up enough speed to go straight through the hydra, but knocking it off-balance and pushing it aside will be enough for now. Piling on all the speed she can muster, she plows into the Vex mech shoulder-first.*
You can have all the poison vents and mook waves you want, but it's the heart that counts
Date: 2015-10-25 10:15 pm (UTC)The moment it breaks, the Vex waver in their fire, reassessing the situation. The Wolf, unheeded, scrambles from cover and dives for the biggest remnant of servitor it can see. Then there's a lurch as the anti-gravity suspension starts to fail, and the Vex decide. Time to disappear.
//
Hold on, I'm getting us out!//http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeartIsAnAwesomePower
Date: 2015-10-26 01:38 am (UTC)Hold on to what?
*All the same, she'll let go of the hydra and fire a grapple line at Blaze. Wherever they go, they'll go together.*
Awesome and terrifying. Especially in the hands of a fifteen-foot piratical augment-addict.
Date: 2015-10-26 09:50 pm (UTC)Whatever you want to keep!//The grapple latches onto Blaze just before she stumbles on the tilting floor. The wind is roaring and buffeting them now. It's nearly drowned out by the groan of straining metal as chunks of Citadel start to tumble around them - not least the one they're standing on. She feels the impact on her shoulder and turns to find Samus, feet sliding under her-
The transmat takes hold then, snatching them away from the falling peak and the acidic Venusian air. The Ghost takes the simplest option and dumps both its charges onto the floor of the jumpship, still connected by the grapple line. It tries not to drop them right on top of each other, but there's barely enough space for two people in there. Blaze goes from staring at the Ishtar basin thousands of feet below to faceplanting on the metal deck two inches away.
Big pirates into augments. Samus knows who she wants to kill next visit.
Date: 2015-10-27 01:03 am (UTC)Is everyone here? Everyone okay? And can we see it happen? Ghost, tell me you made it with us.
There's quite a queue but he can totally fit her in.
Date: 2015-10-27 01:16 pm (UTC)Right here." He who controls the transmat gets the front seat. The Ghost hovers over the controls, projecting blue light as it interfaces with them. The little ship is already diving in response. "I'm taking us down for a look.""All right." Blaze leans against the wall, reaching up for a handhold as she peers through the forward window. "Let's see how the Vex like that parting gift."
Even from this height, the dark mass of the Citadel is visible ahead. So is the wall of cloud rippling out from one end, where the falling sections are punching through. For a moment there's a low rumble through the hull, like a premonition. They drop beneath the cloud cover just before the first of the sections crashes down into a region of overgrown Vex structures, vanishing in a spray of stone and dust and electric haze. The others are close behind.
Up in the ship, they get a few seconds to admire the landscape resculpting before the first thunderous shockwave rattles their hull.
What a guy!
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