Web of the Clans

[Dr. James Tsenre Aldric]

Dr. James Tsenre Aldric mumbled, his frizzy hair in a mess and his goggles crooked and messy on his slightly aged face as he lay on the now dusty ground. The scientist coughed, sending a puff of dust up into the air. As he lay in a dirty slump, the very familiar voice of a colleague came clearly through his radio,

"Aldric, my friend...that was a rather...costly little piece of hardware you so hastily disposed of. Fortunate for you, then, that the Dojo does not seem to have a taste of your all-too organic flavour."

Aldric pulled himself to his feet, brushing himself off and running a gloved hand through his wild hair, creating a substantial cloud of dirt and grime. "Only because you determined rocket boosters would never be necessary, Brackman." he retorted through the Comm device, rolling his eyes. Aldric adjusted his oversized, cup-like goggles and wiped them clear with his index fingers.

The doctor scanned around what used to be the Dark Psycho's funeral site. He frowned upon discovering the limited damage his assault in the Spiderbot had caused was not nearly sufficient to appease his insatiable craving for destruction. Well, I shall just have to fix that, then.. The maniac called up to the Mothership forcefully,
"Brackman! I require more soldiers. Send down more battledroids and landing craft. And arm Rambo with his signature weapons, I think his trigger finger requires a stretch! It's time to show these fools who is boss. The people of this planet will quake at our unstoppable might, our undeniable superiority, our unquenchable thirst for domination! Today the Dojo will tremble in fear as our great armies march forth to crush all oposition. Nobody can stop the Mad Doctors in their quest for total power, NOBODY!!"

His arms flailed about theatrically through this brief monologue and his frizzy hair wobbled comically. Dr. Aldric was easily the most dramatic of the two doctors, and it seemed as if everything he did needed to have some sort of cinematic quality to it for him to be satisfied. Just before bursting out in a bout of insane laughter, something in the sky caught the maniac's attention. The Clan pods descended to the ground, and shortly afterwards their soldiers began to spread out and attack local Dojodians. ((the other RP participants, of course))
Aldric spoke through his radio,
"Brackman...I thought I told you to notify me every time you upgrade to a new model of landing craft. I must say your most recent design is...aesthetically lacking."

[Dr. Gustaf Brackman]

Brackman listened to Kazumaru's words and instantly picked out the discrepancy. A slight grin appeared on his face, and he responded in his somewhat deep, calm, and casual voice, while trying to suppress its inherent sly-sounding nature,

"Good sir, do not think me a fool. My scanners have the entire area under constant and vigilant watch. I would dare to boast that nothing here has escaped their gaze. Oh yes, I can see where your weapons are pointed. Indeed, I can even pinpoint the location of every human being on your station if I so wish. So please, do not try anything underhanded."

He paused the transmission just before a diabolical chuckle escaped his mouth; who was he to tell someone not to do anything underhanded? Hah, a funny thought.

"That aside, my name is Doctor Gustaf Brackman. In all honesty I cannot think of a concrete reason for you to trust me, but I do know that I could have blasted your little station to dust a while ago if I so wished, and the mere fact that I have not should be sufficient. I also know that you have no chance of stopping the other large vessel orbiting Blackstar without my help. You can either fight them, or you can fight both them and myself. Your choice."

A few moments later, Dr. Aldric's transmission came through. Brackman sat impatiently through his counterpart's rant, irritating though it was bogging down communications, Dr. Brackman had learned to just let Aldric rant; he would simply rant even longer in outrage if interrupted.
"Those landing craft are not mine, Aldric. Those belong to an army of unfamiliar and uninvited guests, who have already caused a good deal of commotion up here. Wait one moment, my friend, I must deal with some of their orbiting ships first, then you can have your fun with their ground forces."

On his holographic viewer, Brackman 'clicked' one of the dozen craft guarding the Mothership simply by putting a finger to it's holographic representation. Through a short sequence of movements and interactions with the display, he gave it an order.
On the drone, which was not too dissimilar in general shape to a hydrous naval vessel, a pair of small ports revealed themselves on either side of the 'bow'. From one of these shot a torpedo, an EMP torpedo to be precise, which streaked towards the Clan pod with shocking speed. The first shot had been fired. Brackman wanted to disable this craft before launching somewhat vulnerable landing transports.

((Edited to add response to Aldric's comment on Clan pods))

[Kazumaru]

Kazumaru muted his mic, and kicked back in his chair. After a few moments of thought, he unmuted it and spoke again."Very well. I see your scanners work... My name is Kazumaru, commander of this glorious station. About my choices, though... You've missed one thing. I could also align with them and take you down. However, herr doktor, you've not sent anything hostile my way... so..." he paused "On behalf of the loyal crew of the CSS, I accept your offer of an alliance. For the greater good." My greater good...

[Intyalle]

~~Riley~~
The comm that had been 'carelessly' left on - ie Riley had jammed it on that setting from this end, there was no way a Vulcan would carelessly do anything - meant Riley heard the whole conversation.
"I don't like the feeling of this, Commander," she said into the comm unit. "What will we do after the battle? We will be weakened and they will have our trust. I learnt - the hard way - that there are many people in the world who will take advantage of this fact."

[The Clans]

((Please excuse our absence, matters of greater importance than this invasion have directed our attention elsewhere.))

The Clan pod-ships sat there, barely moving, lightning arcing between them, as the EMP torpedo streaked towards Clan-Lieutenant 122's pod-ship. Suddenly, faster than could be seen, one of them shot towards the torpedo, colliding with it. The pod-ship sat motionless, as it's circuits shorted out. The four other pod-ships now flew towards Brackman's ship, the lightning now flying between each of them with unrivalled ferocity and speed.
The enemy had made its move, now was theirs.

----------

Clan-Lieutenant 122 sighed in relief audibly as the other pod-ship took the EMP torpedo, the time for subterfuge was over, now it was time for some action. The CSS obviously suspected something, and he was worried that the alien ship had somehow convinced them that he was the enemy, which he was, but that wasn't the point. He activated the pod-ship engines, flying in a wide arc, back towards the Clan-Mothership. He stopped som distance away, and pressed an ominous large red button.

Outside, the pod-ship disappeared, leaving a large black hole where it had been. All at once, a bolt of planar energy streaked towards Brackman's ship, before stopping, opening a portal, and revealing 122's pod-ship,

~Time for some fighting~ he fought, opening fire.

----------

Mechan Taanookii screeched angrily as its shots missed Lily. It heard Naine's shots, followed by Shaaiikliin's injured screeches, and turned round, Shaaiikliin lay dead, in a pool of its own blood. Revenge. Revenge for a devout follower of Tagai'Tan. It spun back round, and fired off a volley of planar energy at Lily, Naine could wait,

"Kiiiiii!"

----------

Clan-Priest 62 sighed deeply,

~How bothersome.~ he though to himself. Time to fall back and regroup. He swung his mace angrily,

"Fall back! Regroup! Fall back!" their training kicking in, the soldiers done as they were told, leaving their five dead comrades in their pools of blood, and retreating to the foliage for cover.

----------

Clan-Lieutenant 103 smiled as Brock fell for his 'little lie'. It was so easy to trick heathens. He signalled to his soldiers to follow, and began to move after Brock, behind him, hands tightened on holsters. When this puny moon was conquered, they could use it to help the mothership, if the battle was still raging, that was.

[Intyalle]

~~Aisha~~
Aisha heard the shrieks in the distance. Looking around her, she saw most of the others had as well.
"I shall stay here," Earcutter said. "With impending attack, we cannot afford to leave the city unguarded. It's bad for income."
Aisha nodded. "Erica, Zane, come with me. Stick to the shadows, let's go see what's going on."
"Yes Shadowdancer."

~~Tel'Erusva~~
I sighed with relief, finally glad that was over. Unfortunately, Agarwala decided to up and chase after them.
Oh gawd..
"Come on, let's go!" I called, and we all chased after them along with Agarwala.

[Cirrial]

[ That war cry. Acquiring target two! Let's see if we can't beat our last time. ]

There's no need to boast about your orcadamned 'superior aim'! We DID just lose an arm just under ten minutes ago! Wait. Is that one attacking the girl still? You'd think-

[ No time for think! Act! ACT! FIRE AND KILL! ]

Goldie aimed the gun arm at Taanookii, eager to strike while the opportunity presented itself.

More ferrous metal shards fly out of the cannon. The only sound the weapon ever makes is the tortured hum of tiny cooling fans and the muffled "thwup" of projectiles flying through the air. Gaussers are silent, and effective.

I begin to feel somewhat more useless each passing moment. I think I'll sleep. Wake me up when you've single handedly... ha ha... beaten the entire invasion force.

Inside his own mind, and not directed to Goldie, Naine quietly worries about Goldie's recent behaviour. Okay, Goldie's been with me for a while, and I don't recall it ever screaming 'fire and kill' at me. Or ending someone's life before we both agree on what to do.

[Kazumaru]

Kazumaru watched the readout on his screen. His reaction to the sudden departure of the ship was near-immediate-

"All weapons armed. Locked on to Unidentified Ship 1." a crewman reported.

"Launch nukes one through five!" Kazumaru said

"Sir, we only have four."

"Oh. WELL, LAUNCH NUKES ONE THROUGH FOUR!"

"Aye, sir." A pause. "Nukes away, sir."

"Excellent..." Kazumaru said, tenting his fingers. It didn't cross his mind even once that that action left the station near-defenseless...

[Intyalle]

~~T'Parr~~
"Sir, that action was exceedingly illogical," T'Parr pointed out. "You now leave us defenseless in the face of one - potentially tow - enemies."

[Kazumaru]

((Warning: Longish post/EMO KAZ.))

Kazumaru spun in his chair, the fake crown slipping down over his forehead. He pushed it back in place. "And that's where you're wrong, my Vulcan friend. Jack! Reveal the secret weapon!"

"What secret weapon, dad?" Jack responded, his cheery tone entirely inappropriate for the situation.

"... The... One that... You're telling me there's no secret weapon?" Kazumaru said, his face going pale.

"Sorry, dad."

"... Oh gods. Do we have any other weaponry?"

"Uhh... We have a rail-mounted plasma cannon on the outside of the station." Jack said.

"See, we're not defen-"

"Ohhh..." Jack said. "It was never hooked up."

Kazumaru smacked his forehead with his palm. "DAMNIT!" he shouted, shaking slightly. "Damn damn damn damn damn damn..."

After a few moments, Kazumaru regained his composure, at least enough to speak semi-coherent sentences. "All... All non-vital personnel, gather your things and prepare for an abandon ship order. Do not, and I mean DO NOT abandon ship until the order is given." The spirit said into the comms mic, sending the message all across the station.

With that, Kazumaru spun his chair back so it was facing the console. He was still visibly shaking, and bits of himself were rolling down his cheeks.

He wiped the tears off on his arm, sat up, and spun the chair around again.

"T'Parr." he said, attempting to steady his voice at the same time. "You have the bridge."

The spirit of electricity stood up and walked solemnly over to T'Parr, putting his crown beside the Vulcan.

"I'm going to go step outside the space station in the middle of a fierce battle complete with nuclear weaponry being thrown around. Without a space suit. While we're defenseless." He said. There was no pause. No opporitunity to interrupt.

It was really quite hypnotic.

With that vaguely-dramatic announcement, he left the bridge (Chucking his lab coat into a corner as he did so) and made for the nearest airlock.

[alakin1]

Another ship flew through the void. This time it wasn't some invading force, just a small, metallic cone, only large enough to fit one or two people in. Flying fast, the cone perforated the CSS, using its abnormally large behind to plug the hole. Inside, a hatch opened, revealing a humanoid snow leopard that, cautiously, exited the cone-shaped ship.

On his wrist a console hummed, and another person appeared, this time a slender young human, though she was, if you looked closely, evidently an AI hologram. She looked round once, before looking at the snow leopard, who was already moving towards a nearby door.

The door slid open and the snow leopard and AI walked through. They were in a large room, with people scurrying around, it was evidently the bridge of a space-craft or space-station. There was some human-looking person nearby, with an obviously fake crown sitting beside her, Hissatsu moved towards her,

"Hey you. Where are we?"

((Sorry for the powerplay there Kazumaru. Any problems with it, just tell me and I'll change it.))

[rosebarks]

((Hey people, sorry for not responding to this until now, I will be slow in responding being I will have hardly any time with my computer for a little bit, sorry))

Lily looked at him freaking as she started trying to ice the planar shots as quickly as she could with simple yet effective ice spells. she knew that if she was hit she'd be dead. She took the only course of action she could and drained at least another 1/4 of her energy to teleport, but she hadn't teleported very far, she was teleporting only to the ground to get away from the initial blasts as she put a bit of fire out from her hair.

"thanks for ruining my hair guy! okay, so you ahv a high powered, hot blaster, do you actually have some skill with other weapons?" Lily asked curiously, not in a mean way just in a curious way. She threw three daggers at him waiting for him to make a move, and hoping it wasn't more planar shots.

[Intyalle]

((*dies laughing* NICE one Kaz!))
______________________________
~~T'Parr~~
T'PArr frowned minutely. "Highly illogical."
she left the crown where it was and moved to the command chair, turning on the comm. "All non-essential personnel please disembark now. The Commander has left the station. Abandon ship now. Avoid all contact with any ships once you are off the station. Land on the planet downside and stay away from the battle. I repeat - stay away from the battle."
That was the first problem taken care of. Now for the next one. "Commander Adams, your entire department is currently considered essential personnel. Do you think you can 'hook up' that cannon in time for it to be used?"
"Possibly," came the voice over the comm. "I shall do what I can."
T'Parr switched frequencies to that of the SIC of Science. "Please come up to the bridge and take over the science."
Last of all, she turned to Jack. "Do we have any fighters or such on this station?"

However, they were interrupted once more by Commander Adams. "Picking up a slight hull breach. Going to investigate."
"Negative Commander," T'Parr told her. "You are to make our phaser operational. Send someone else to do it."

[Kazumaru]

((I try. ))

Kazumaru clipped a tool kit to his belt and stepped into the Airlock. He prodded the "Depressurize" button- briefly wondering why the button was so small it'd be nigh-impossible to hit with a space suit on- and exited the station as soon as the door opened. Immediately after crossing the threshold, he flt the grip of gravity lose it's hold, grasping vainly at his foot and finally slipping away fully.

He grabbed a ladder beside the door and used it to throw himself up to the plasma cannon's rail mount.

He looked around, and dipped his head, making a sighing motion. He opened his mouth and made several confused gestures.

Oh right. No sound in space. Crap. Lessee... Left or right... Kazumaru pulled a coin out of his pocket. Heads, left. Tails, right. He flipped the coin up.

Eagerly, the spirit watched it spin as it flew up... and up... and up... Damnit.

[Dr. Gustaf Brackman]

((I may not understand the capabilities of your ship or you reasoning for sending your command ship ahead of the rest of the attack force, Clans, but having him attack a mothership that is at least a mile long singlehandedly does not seem like the best of ideas to me.))

Brackman was taken aback briefly at the agility of the ship which threw itself in front of the torpedo, but after the initial surprise he sneered at the effects of the EMP. Though the other Clan pods reacted with swift ferocity, so the Doctor had to act quickly, motioning the holographic viewer to reposition itself at a closer, more comfortable distance as he sat up straight in his command chair.

"AI, we have found our weapon of choice." he said, his hands flowing in rapid but controlled motions, beginning to order the drones about through the holographic viewer, " Oh yes. Begin loading EMP armaments on all craft in the launch hangar, in case more force is needed."

Two ships he commanded to move forth and open fire on the disabled Clan pod, the rest to split and spread out left and right (the front of Brackman's ship is facing the charging Clans), for he did not want to lose them in his next move. A light shudder alerted him to the incoming fire from the Lieutenant 122's vessel, which he had thought just a moment ago was in retreat. The Mothership's powerful protective shielding absorbed the shock from the small craft's weapons, and Brackman scoffed. No matter. We will be away from these fools in just a moment. Oh yes!

As soon as his drones were clear, the Doctor grinned, and jammed a button on his armrest console. All the thrusters on the Mothership fired, accelerating it straight towards the incoming Pods. Though whether or not they evaded in time was irrelevant, they were not his target anyhow; the Doctor understood completely the huge and bulky guns on his ship would have no chance of hitting the tiny corvette-sized Pods anyway, and so he set his sights on the Clan mothership, planning to use his monstrous cannons to full effect once he came into range. And even though the Clan pods were likely to evade the Mothership in time, after they did so they would find themselves surrounded on both sides by the ten drones, armed to the teeth with EMP torpedo's.

((To give my impression of orientation, the Mothership is situated along the equator of the planet, which is to it's 'left'. Looking off to the 'right' would just be open space. The 'front' of the mothership is facing off towards the Clan mothership which is quite some distance off, and I presume is also in an equatorial orbit. The CSS is not in the path of the accelerating Brackman ship, it is close by on the front-left, closer to the planet. Therefore, sending two drones to attack the disabled pod (which should be somewhat close to where Clan 122's docking positon near the CSS was), should not leave them in the trajectory of Brackman's ship.

That's just my personal vision of the situation, and if it is unclear please explain what you are unsure about. I'd also like to hear everyone else's vision of orientation and location of ships relative to one another... we should come to a consensus on this to make things operate a little more smoothly, and so everyone knows where everything else is...blah, I need a diagram. :p

On another note, it has come to my attention that the description I gave for the drones does not really match the 50 foot length I gave them. At 50 feet they would be much more maneuverable than I described them as, and it is much too small for a frigate-class vessel anyway. Hence, I think it is appropriate to alter their size to 150 feet in length.))