Then I'll bring you down here.
When she landed back on the ground, Vivian immediately pivoted towards the nearest untouched leg to take another swing at it...
When she landed back on the ground, Vivian immediately pivoted towards the nearest untouched leg to take another swing at it...
Gem flaps clumsily over toward the robot, flying in a haphazard zig-zag in order to avoid it as it rears back. Her wings feel ungainly and awkward; being off the ground is still alien, especially when she tries as hard as she currently is to maintain her human brain faculties. Spurred on by a combination of fear of being noticed and sheer, unbridled determination, she makes her way toward the topmost laser turret. She doesn't know what it is she expects to find up there -- wires? Buttons? A touch screen? -- but she does know one thing: whatever it is, she's going to peck the ever-loving shit out of it.
To all~~
The coordinated attack was rather effective. Pigeon Gem found some exposed wiring and... with some unfortunate sparking, was able to disable the laser turret via sheer determination. Vivian’s assault on the other front leg resulted in it also being simply removed throwing the robot entirely off balance.
In that moment, Kathy switched into offensive throwing her generous supply of knives at any exposed wiring she saw. In moments, the robot was a motionless, sparking heap on the ground.
Alarms continued to blare as 0814 spoke up....
The coordinated attack was rather effective. Pigeon Gem found some exposed wiring and... with some unfortunate sparking, was able to disable the laser turret via sheer determination. Vivian’s assault on the other front leg resulted in it also being simply removed throwing the robot entirely off balance.
In that moment, Kathy switched into offensive throwing her generous supply of knives at any exposed wiring she saw. In moments, the robot was a motionless, sparking heap on the ground.
Alarms continued to blare as 0814 spoke up....
“More will come, we must act quickly if we want to return to your planet.” They said to no one in particular, checking the readings on their hacking unit. “We need an item that traveled through the wormhole with us, it is a piece of aluminium oxide with high volumes of chromium. It has been fashioned into some sort of token, one designed to be worn. According to ship’s sensor data it is several decks down, we should move!”
Working furiously on her device she moved towards the open door where the robot had come through.
Working furiously on her device she moved towards the open door where the robot had come through.
Hunched over the fallen mechanical monstrosity, Vivian took a long drag of her cigarette in an attempt to distract herself as the pain in her side magnified tenfold now that she stood still and the battlemind drained away from her like molasses on a tilted spoon.
Morbid curiosity dictated she look at her wound now pulsing, pounding, painfully radiating and demanding she draw her attention to it since she stood still, and she closed her eyes as ash free-fell from the cancer stick once she let out a puff of smoke from either side of it as if to resist satisfying the niggling desire for as long as she could manage.
She knew from experience it would hurt worse once she visually quantified it.
The effects of the nicotine were not nearly as pronounced as it had been even just two weeks ago, though currently her heart rate had yet to calm down anyway and the dopamine that might have in the last fortnight immediately given her the smoker's high seemed in this moment so little compared to the rush from the fight they'd just ended.
Vivian couldn't stop the grunt she gave when she forced her legs to move, trying to ride the last of the adrenaline as she turned and intended to toss the tome in the box with the gun and ammo, put them under her uninjured arm, and shuffle after Trouble.
Morbid curiosity dictated she look at her wound now pulsing, pounding, painfully radiating and demanding she draw her attention to it since she stood still, and she closed her eyes as ash free-fell from the cancer stick once she let out a puff of smoke from either side of it as if to resist satisfying the niggling desire for as long as she could manage.
She knew from experience it would hurt worse once she visually quantified it.
The effects of the nicotine were not nearly as pronounced as it had been even just two weeks ago, though currently her heart rate had yet to calm down anyway and the dopamine that might have in the last fortnight immediately given her the smoker's high seemed in this moment so little compared to the rush from the fight they'd just ended.
Vivian couldn't stop the grunt she gave when she forced her legs to move, trying to ride the last of the adrenaline as she turned and intended to toss the tome in the box with the gun and ammo, put them under her uninjured arm, and shuffle after Trouble.
Kathy collects her daggers and catches her breath. She is amazed at the resilience of the young woman with the cigarette, that wound looks painful, though not ultimately dangerous.
It wasn’t normally in her best interest to follow children... but they did seem to have a plan. Glancing at the pigeon that was a woman a moment ago she considered pinching herself awake, but decided to apply her energy to watching the collective group’s back as they proceeded down the hall.
It wasn’t normally in her best interest to follow children... but they did seem to have a plan. Glancing at the pigeon that was a woman a moment ago she considered pinching herself awake, but decided to apply her energy to watching the collective group’s back as they proceeded down the hall.
0814 wasted no time. They proceeded down the hall and stopped at some sort of blue panel on the wall beside some sort of small grate in the wall. They began interfacing with the blue panel while indicating the grate.
“Friend Vivian, it is imperative that we proceed down that access, I cannot remove the cover but I believe you can... assuming your injuries are not stopping you.”
Their tone is not commanding per se, but very insistent.
“Friend Vivian, it is imperative that we proceed down that access, I cannot remove the cover but I believe you can... assuming your injuries are not stopping you.”
Their tone is not commanding per se, but very insistent.
Vivian glanced at the other leg of the robot which she had forcibly removed with a single punch as she stepped over the mess in front of the door to follow after Trouble.
That's #$%&ing sweet.
The statement wasn't so much accompanied by an arrogance in association with the deed as it was simply acknowledging the fact that fighting robots was super cool.
Shuffling after Trouble at her usual seemingly nonchalant speed in spite of the blaring alarms, Vivian's expression had returned to its resting bored face, not even considering the fact herself that she should be on the lookout for other would-be attackers.
"...'k." Vivian shrugged as Trouble expressed their assertion and moved forward, starting to shift the box with gun and tome under her left arm over to her right and letting out a quick hiss of breath as she meant to rest it against her side and hit the sensitive area of her skin, still throbbing a bit from the blasts she took earlier.
She shifted to hold it lower against her hip away from the injury as she reached out for the grate and curled her fingers around and through the criss-crossing bars, cautiously testing its strength before giving a pull to see if it would come free.
That's #$%&ing sweet.
The statement wasn't so much accompanied by an arrogance in association with the deed as it was simply acknowledging the fact that fighting robots was super cool.
Shuffling after Trouble at her usual seemingly nonchalant speed in spite of the blaring alarms, Vivian's expression had returned to its resting bored face, not even considering the fact herself that she should be on the lookout for other would-be attackers.
"...'k." Vivian shrugged as Trouble expressed their assertion and moved forward, starting to shift the box with gun and tome under her left arm over to her right and letting out a quick hiss of breath as she meant to rest it against her side and hit the sensitive area of her skin, still throbbing a bit from the blasts she took earlier.
She shifted to hold it lower against her hip away from the injury as she reached out for the grate and curled her fingers around and through the criss-crossing bars, cautiously testing its strength before giving a pull to see if it would come free.
To Vivian~~
The grate is held by four screws (or at least screw-like fasteners) and bends under your testing, it should come free with little effort.
The grate is held by four screws (or at least screw-like fasteners) and bends under your testing, it should come free with little effort.
Yeah, alright. Cool.
Without further prompting, Vivian flexed to jerk the grate towards her off its fastenings.
Without further prompting, Vivian flexed to jerk the grate towards her off its fastenings.
To Vivian~~
The grate argues with you a little more than you expected, but does eventually release with a loud *ping*! The moment you have the grate removed, ‘Trouble’ slams their fist into the blue panel.
The alarm instantly stops.
“No time to explain, we have thirty seconds to be inside the tunnel or the alarms begins again. MOVE!”
The grate argues with you a little more than you expected, but does eventually release with a loud *ping*! The moment you have the grate removed, ‘Trouble’ slams their fist into the blue panel.
The alarm instantly stops.
“No time to explain, we have thirty seconds to be inside the tunnel or the alarms begins again. MOVE!”
At Trouble's urgency, Vivian made little ceremony of dropping the grate aside, shoving her box in the tunnel in front of her, and crawling in--assuming that if animal-lady wanted to scout stuff out, she'd be able to change forms and take point pretty easily--figuring if anyone was going to get hit by whatever was on the other side of the tunnel, it might as well be Vivian herself since she didn't matter nearly as much as the others whom she expected to be following in behind her.
Clearly understanding the urgency, Kathy crawled into the space behind the young woman who had removed the cover with seemingly little effort.
To Vivian ~~
About eight feet inside the crawl space there is a ladder going down. The space itself is lit by some sort of LEDish lines along each surface.
About eight feet inside the crawl space there is a ladder going down. The space itself is lit by some sort of LEDish lines along each surface.
Gem takes a moment to preen at her lightly-singed feathers. The cat-eye spectacle marks around her beady eyes are ringed by an extra layer of charcoal, thanks to the thankfully-deceased laser turret. She's not keen to stay in the room alone with it, though, and unfortunately she doesn't think it would be wise to change back to her natural human form, so she takes off and flaps after Vivian, 0814, and Kathy into the tunnel.
It's a bit claustrophobic -- bird brain craves open air -- but she steels herself and flies in circles for a bit over the tunnel. "We're going down, I assume?" she asks, partially to confirm, but mostly to remind herself that she can, in fact, maintain some aspects of her humanity in this form.
It's a bit claustrophobic -- bird brain craves open air -- but she steels herself and flies in circles for a bit over the tunnel. "We're going down, I assume?" she asks, partially to confirm, but mostly to remind herself that she can, in fact, maintain some aspects of her humanity in this form.
"I dunno, I don't even work here." Vivian replied, hunching over and folding herself up to situate and hang her legs over the ladder bit, box within reach.
"If you go, I'll go, though." She shrugged, "Or I can go first. Whatever."
"If you go, I'll go, though." She shrugged, "Or I can go first. Whatever."
“Correct.” 0814 seems unphased by the bird talking to them. They quickly grab the removed grate and prop it gently along the wall as they gracefully dive feet first into the access at the back of the group.
“We should be safe in here, I convinced the defense programs we are conducting routine maintenance so they should leave us alone, this access will take us around the exterior of the ship and into the correct deck.”
“We should be safe in here, I convinced the defense programs we are conducting routine maintenance so they should leave us alone, this access will take us around the exterior of the ship and into the correct deck.”
"O-kay then," Gem says, and starts to glide down the tunnel, slowly spiraling ever downward. Occasionally, she flaps a bit to reset herself and interrupt her own speed -- she doesn't want to get too far ahead while everyone else descends the ladder.
While she might have originally intended for the piGem to have a chance at scoping the place out first, Vivian was also not about to let the poor thing get shot out of the sky, and after stepping a few rungs down the ladder and--positioning the box she was still carrying for reasons she couldn't really explain herself above her injured side between her head and her shoulder--Vivian planted her feet outside the rungs meaning to slide down the ladder to the bottom, free hand positioned near the pole probably to slow herself at some point, but to say she thought that far ahead would be giving her too much credit.
The ladder goes down for an alarming distance before taking a 90 degree turn and widening somewhat. Wether flying or climbing it is clear that in this section there is no artificial gravity and it quickly becomes apparent why. The exterior of the access tunnel has a seam where the metal is connected to a transparent material that allows those inside to inspect critical areas of the ship’s exterior. This also gives you an opportunity to take a look around and see where you truly are.
Space is much bigger than those who have never seen it would assume, and this section of space is no exception. However, this particular area seems rather crowded. Hundreds of ships, each the size of a respectable moon dot the blackness in various states of damage... you cannot be sure but it would seem a great battle happened here... long ago.
Then, for those looking, movement catches your eye.
Far away, but in the center of the mass graveyard a creature is stirring...
At least, that’s what you think you should call it, it is clearly several times the size of even the larger ships and is... consuming them... slowly. Not by eating, as you might suspect, but by absorbing them into itself. It moves slowly, almost aimlessly, from ship to ship pulling in pieces from each and sometimes returning to one it previously fed from to get a little more. In the otherwise still scene it feels violent and aggressive despite it’s calm demeanor.
Along the transparent tunnel there are occasional handholds to pull yourself along by. 0814 had been staring at the creature, but they suddenly began moving quickly in the direction you had already been going.
“Don’t know what that is, but we need to be far away...”
Space is much bigger than those who have never seen it would assume, and this section of space is no exception. However, this particular area seems rather crowded. Hundreds of ships, each the size of a respectable moon dot the blackness in various states of damage... you cannot be sure but it would seem a great battle happened here... long ago.
Then, for those looking, movement catches your eye.
Far away, but in the center of the mass graveyard a creature is stirring...
At least, that’s what you think you should call it, it is clearly several times the size of even the larger ships and is... consuming them... slowly. Not by eating, as you might suspect, but by absorbing them into itself. It moves slowly, almost aimlessly, from ship to ship pulling in pieces from each and sometimes returning to one it previously fed from to get a little more. In the otherwise still scene it feels violent and aggressive despite it’s calm demeanor.
Along the transparent tunnel there are occasional handholds to pull yourself along by. 0814 had been staring at the creature, but they suddenly began moving quickly in the direction you had already been going.
“Don’t know what that is, but we need to be far away...”