Author Topic: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL  (Read 539609 times)

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Offline Devin Caulfield

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5550 on: July 29, 2016, 04:45:21 AM »
Despite the raging storm, buffeting winds threatening to peel those clinging to the hull off and into the abyss, Aji is standing resolutely near the line he had anchored to the other ship beyond.  He seems physically unconcerned, matching his tone.

"Ah, my pupil," he replies, speaking through comm line alone, giving the futility of an actual audible conversation in the void.  "Yes, but our ship is drifting away, we must hurry.  I placed it equidistant between side entrance, there," he points, "and cockpit viewscreen.  Either can be used to gain entrance."

His enthusiasm is not matched with experience, the first discordant gust of wind nearly taking him off his feet-- and towards a rather certain death.  Noticing this, Nix reaches over, her large talons roughly grabbing onto the scruff of his borrowed suit.

"Just in case," she says as way of explanation.  "This is not a gambling table, after all."

Naeir seems to struggle a bit as well, but uses her recurved legs to lean in low, presenting a small aerodynamic target against which the wind could find little purchase.


"Yeah, thanks," Devin breathed through a sigh of relief.
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Offline Oliviar Valerius

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5551 on: July 29, 2016, 04:50:47 AM »
Despite the raging storm, buffeting winds threatening to peel those clinging to the hull off and into the abyss, Aji is standing resolutely near the line he had anchored to the other ship beyond.  He seems physically unconcerned, matching his tone.

"Ah, my pupil," he replies, speaking through comm line alone, giving the futility of an actual audible conversation in the void.  "Yes, but our ship is drifting away, we must hurry.  I placed it equidistant between side entrance, there," he points, "and cockpit viewscreen.  Either can be used to gain entrance."

His enthusiasm is not matched with experience, the first discordant gust of wind nearly taking him off his feet-- and towards a rather certain death.  Noticing this, Nix reaches over, her large talons roughly grabbing onto the scruff of his borrowed suit.

"Just in case," she says as way of explanation.  "This is not a gambling table, after all."

Naeir seems to struggle a bit as well, but uses her recurved legs to lean in low, presenting a small aerodynamic target against which the wind could find little purchase.

Oli, likewise, looks altogether unconcerned by the blistering winds. That was to be expected of someone who enjoyed soaring through the sky with little more than a layer of armor to keep them aloft.

"We'll breach both," Oli says, indicating the two hatches. "You take Devin and Naeir and go in through the hatch. Nix and I can breach the cockpit. Knowing Faskan, he probably set traps in anticipation of a boarding action. If one group runs into trouble, the others can react."

Pulling out a length of chord, Oli ties it over the cable Aji had erected. "Alright, lets go. Anyone without EVA thrusters, hang on to me!"

Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5552 on: July 29, 2016, 05:07:01 AM »
Oli, likewise, looks altogether unconcerned by the blistering winds. That was to be expected of someone who enjoyed soaring through the sky with little more than a layer of armor to keep them aloft.

"We'll breach both," Oli says, indicating the two hatches. "You take Devin and Naeir and go in through the hatch. Nix and I can breach the cockpit. Knowing Faskan, he probably set traps in anticipation of a boarding action. If one group runs into trouble, the others can react."

Pulling out a length of chord, Oli ties it over the cable Aji had erected. "Alright, lets go. Anyone without EVA thrusters, hang on to me!"

Naeir hooks a line from her belt, the clean silver burnished by the storm, to Oli's while she uses another to clip onto Aji's cable.  Nix seems to have come prepared, a Hierarchy-designed cable draw allowing her to move her the gap on her own accord, with Devin in tow.  Aji takes up a position at the rear.

Thus in three small groups they make the crossing, the moment they detach from the hull of the Ordo to the moment they land upon the Resolute an exceedingly dangerous affair-- especially given the whining of the cable, which grows louder as each small team makes it across.  Just as Aji snaps his mag-boots to the enemy vessel the Ordo across the way, buffeted by a hurricane-force gale, drifts far enough that the salarian's cable snaps under the strain.  Thankfully for those so exposed, it does so near the Resolute, and thus whips back to smack relatively harmlessly against the Ordo.

"I will be making a third entrance," Aji declares as the other teams split up, the Spectre seemingly unafraid to work alone.  Nix and Oli meanwhile make their way towards the cockpit, where the larger turian peeks carefully over the line between armored hull and transparent viewscreen, only to draw back quickly.

"It's occupied," she relates.  "Two, full armor.  Batarian."

Further back, Naeir and Devin meanwhile approach the side hatch.  Without Nix to hold him, Devin nearly is left to struggle towards their objective-- only to find a lack of exterior handle or entrance pad. 

"Can you... rip it off or something, with your biotics?" The quarian asks, crouching down, her eyes narrowed.


"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."

Offline Yan Luos nar Tonbay

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5553 on: July 29, 2016, 05:07:35 AM »
"That depends if enough of the emitter network is still intact. Failing that, one of the shuttles will have to project such. And if this goes further, we might end up having to use the other to help cover the descent."

Seluj raises her omni-tool, scanning the area to evaluate what was left of their resources.

<"Tala, do I need to head up to the bridge as well, or is he doing well enough by himself?">

"Then get your shuttle online now. The pulse may force it to take longer," Yan answers, standing at the ramp into his own disheveled shuttle with Kahlin seated inside, "I may have enough element zero here to string an emitter together."

Ducking back inside and forcibly rebooting the shuttle's power, the narrow quarters comfortably familiar for the two quarians weaving between each other, Yan's innumerable compartments of spare parts, circuits, geological samples, and tools are quickly searched as a schematic forms in his mind. "I'm going back up to the breach," the hooded man speaks aloud to the woman beside him, his hands moving with almost blinding speed and the glowing light of his omnitool to assemble the field emitter, yet still finding time to fix Kahlin's hood, "Until I can seal it and the Ordo touches down, stay inside. The shuttle's defenses will keep you safe."

The device in mind was simple; twin anchor points on either side of the breach, anchored to the hull magnetically and with a steady stream of electrons fired between them upon activation. The next stage would allow the fields to be emitted along the stream, stabilizing the field into one, and then expanding it to cover the breach. Not unlike a suit patch, albeit this one was for a hull breach. Plated module sliding over his mask, Yan sets to work.

Offline Devin Caulfield

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5554 on: July 29, 2016, 05:17:07 AM »
Further back, Naeir and Devin meanwhile approach the side hatch.  Without Nix to hold him, Devin nearly is left to struggle towards their objective-- only to find a lack of exterior handle or entrance pad. 

"Can you... rip it off or something, with your biotics?" The quarian asks, crouching down, her eyes narrowed.

"It won't exactly be stealthy," Devin calls back over; the shrieking wind forcing him to raise his voice despite their close proximity. "But if it means getting out of this gently-carressing storm, I'm willing to try anything."

Crouching down low, Devin got as close as he could to the hatch and ran his gloved hand across it, feeling its smooth surface. It was going to be difficult going in blind and with the storm raging around him, but Devin figured if he could just find the locking mechanism inside the door, he might be able to unlock it. Or at least break the gently-carressing thing. It might be easier to focus on that one small piece of the puzzle then trying to brute force the entire door.

gently-carress, if he could disarm an entire detonator without seeing inside of it, how hard could a door be?

"Okay," Devin shouted again, "I'm gonna try something. Just... ah.... just hold on to me and make sure I don't get ripped off into space, yeah?"

Taking a deep breath of recycled air, Devin holds his right hand a few inches away from the hatch and began to 'feel' around; looking for a way to breach the door and thinking how much easier this would all be if one of them just had a damn crowbar.
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Offline Oliviar Valerius

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5555 on: July 29, 2016, 05:19:15 AM »
Naeir hooks a line from her belt, the clean silver burnished by the storm, to Oli's while she uses another to clip onto Aji's cable.  Nix seems to have come prepared, a Hierarchy-designed cable draw allowing her to move her the gap on her own accord, with Devin in tow.  Aji takes up a position at the rear.

Thus in three small groups they make the crossing, the moment they detach from the hull of the Ordo to the moment they land upon the Resolute an exceedingly dangerous affair-- especially given the whining of the cable, which grows louder as each small team makes it across.  Just as Aji snaps his mag-boots to the enemy vessel the Ordo across the way, buffeted by a hurricane-force gale, drifts far enough that the salarian's cable snaps under the strain.  Thankfully for those so exposed, it does so near the Resolute, and thus whips back to smack relatively harmlessly against the Ordo.

"I will be making a third entrance," Aji declares as the other teams split up, the Spectre seemingly unafraid to work alone.  Nix and Oli meanwhile make their way towards the cockpit, where the larger turian peeks carefully over the line between armored hull and transparent viewscreen, only to draw back quickly.

"It's occupied," she relates.  "Two, full armor.  Batarian."

Further back, Naeir and Devin meanwhile approach the side hatch.  Without Nix to hold him, Devin nearly is left to struggle towards their objective-- only to find a lack of exterior handle or entrance pad. 

"Can you... rip it off or something, with your biotics?" The quarian asks, crouching down, her eyes narrowed.

Oli nods to indicate she understood, while simultaneously reaching down to her belt and drawing out two units of high yield explosive. "If they haven't seen us yet, then we can surprise them. If you can toss them up, with the current, so they pass over the glass, I can shoot them so that they blow the screen without the batarians ever having time to activate their mag boots. They'll be sucked out into the storm, and the bridge will be ours, but we'll have to be absolutely precise. If we mistime it, we could blow ourselves up instead."

Offline Captain Seluj Temoi

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5556 on: July 29, 2016, 05:20:13 AM »
"Then get your shuttle online now. The pulse may force it to take longer," Yan answers, standing at the ramp into his own disheveled shuttle with Kahlin seated inside, "I may have enough element zero here to string an emitter together."

Ducking back inside and forcibly rebooting the shuttle's power, the narrow quarters comfortably familiar for the two quarians weaving between each other, Yan's innumerable compartments of spare parts, circuits, geological samples, and tools are quickly searched as a schematic forms in his mind. "I'm going back up to the breach," the hooded man speaks aloud to the woman beside him, his hands moving with almost blinding speed and the glowing light of his omnitool to assemble the field emitter, yet still finding time to fix Kahlin's hood, "Until I can seal it and the Ordo touches down, stay inside. The shuttle's defenses will keep you safe."

The device in mind was simple; twin anchor points on either side of the breach, anchored to the hull magnetically and with a steady stream of electrons fired between them upon activation. The next stage would allow the fields to be emitted along the stream, stabilizing the field into one, and then expanding it to cover the breach. Not unlike a suit patch, albeit this one was for a hull breach. Plated module sliding over his mask, Yan sets to work.

Seluj snaps her fingers, a mnemonic for a full power on of the Kurinth. The door rises to meet its master, the Captain stridently isolating herself in the pilot's seat, and the requisite cuffs to her means of piloting restrain her within its cradle. The thrusters prime, and the cannon up top is brought through its whole range of motion, gleaming in the new frame that Seluj had modified it into.

<"Julius," She reaches out to the bridge. <"I'll need the cargo bay opened for launch to cover the Ordo in its descent.">

Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5557 on: July 29, 2016, 05:21:18 AM »
"Then get your shuttle online now. The pulse may force it to take longer," Yan answers, standing at the ramp into his own disheveled shuttle with Kahlin seated inside, "I may have enough element zero here to string an emitter together."

Ducking back inside and forcibly rebooting the shuttle's power, the narrow quarters comfortably familiar for the two quarians weaving between each other, Yan's innumerable compartments of spare parts, circuits, geological samples, and tools are quickly searched as a schematic forms in his mind. "I'm going back up to the breach," the hooded man speaks aloud to the woman beside him, his hands moving with almost blinding speed and the glowing light of his omnitool to assemble the field emitter, yet still finding time to fix Kahlin's hood, "Until I can seal it and the Ordo touches down, stay inside. The shuttle's defenses will keep you safe."

The device in mind was simple; twin anchor points on either side of the breach, anchored to the hull magnetically and with a steady stream of electrons fired between them upon activation. The next stage would allow the fields to be emitted along the stream, stabilizing the field into one, and then expanding it to cover the breach. Not unlike a suit patch, albeit this one was for a hull breach. Plated module sliding over his mask, Yan sets to work.

Spoiler for Tech Challenge!:
T4 vs T5 = Partial Success!

Besides envirosuit maintenance, the task before Yan, that of ship repair, could not be more intrinsically quarian-- at least since the fall of Homeworld.

He sets to work with gusto, ascending into the storm with a plan and the means to see it through.  Almost immediately, however, he runs into problems.  Proper mounting points for the emitters are few, twisted steel and obstructions requiring he cut through several large pieces before finally planting them.  Then the sand of the storm intrudes, the fine particulates breaking up the electron streams intended to shield the Ordo's breached side.  He addresses that by manual fine tuning, eventually settling on a compromise-- while establishing an enviromental-proof barrier, he allows the sand to pass through by slightly widening the field's tolerances.  It would lead to a messy hallway, but the danger of more damage was averted.

Almost immediately afterward the life support system door, sealed but previously surrounded by the intruding storm, opens.  From it the black carapace of Varses emerges, her lanky form supporting their resident doctor.  Adilet appears to have suffered a head wound, one eye covered by gauze through which red peeks through.

"Oh good," she greets.  "Can you help me with him?  The head wound is superficial, but he thinks--"

"Concussion," the human cuts in. 


"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."

Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5558 on: July 29, 2016, 05:27:16 AM »
"It won't exactly be stealthy," Devin calls back over; the shrieking wind forcing him to raise his voice despite their close proximity. "But if it means getting out of this gently-carressing storm, I'm willing to try anything."

Crouching down low, Devin got as close as he could to the hatch and ran his gloved hand across it, feeling its smooth surface. It was going to be difficult going in blind and with the storm raging around him, but Devin figured if he could just find the locking mechanism inside the door, he might be able to unlock it. Or at least break the gently-carressing thing. It might be easier to focus on that one small piece of the puzzle then trying to brute force the entire door.

gently-carress, if he could disarm an entire detonator without seeing inside of it, how hard could a door be?

"Okay," Devin shouted again, "I'm gonna try something. Just... ah.... just hold on to me and make sure I don't get ripped off into space, yeah?"

Taking a deep breath of recycled air, Devin holds his right hand a few inches away from the hatch and began to 'feel' around; looking for a way to breach the door and thinking how much easier this would all be if one of them just had a damn crowbar.

Spoiler for Biotic Challenge!:
B4 + B1 vs B6 = Partial Success!

"Got it," Naeir says readily, her arms encircling his waist as he reaches towards the door.  While it was true that such blind work was worryingly difficult, there was a bright side-- namely shoddy batarian engineering.  While asari or salarian ships would have had utterly seamless hatches, this one has enough space to feel around in, providing some guidance-- enough in fact that Devin believes he had found the locking mechanism, which he grips as if it was in his fist.  When his hand closes, within the mechanism is crushed, and the hatch pops open.

Well, for a moment at least.  Devin had grabbed more then just the locking mechanism, the hinges too had been caught in the effort, and with them gone the door is suddenly ripped off and into the storm.  The resulting hole, that Naeir rolls through almost immediately, her rifle coming up fast, is met with the klaxon alarms of a hull breach going off throughout the ship. 

"We're gonna have company, fast," the quarian intones.  "Get in here."


"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."

Offline Yan Luos nar Tonbay

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5559 on: July 29, 2016, 05:33:20 AM »
Spoiler for Tech Challenge!:
T4 vs T5 = Partial Success!

Besides envirosuit maintenance, the task before Yan, that of ship repair, could not be more intrinsically quarian-- at least since the fall of Homeworld.

He sets to work with gusto, ascending into the storm with a plan and the means to see it through.  Almost immediately, however, he runs into problems.  Proper mounting points for the emitters are few, twisted steel and obstructions requiring he cut through several large pieces before finally planting them.  Then the sand of the storm intrudes, the fine particulates breaking up the electron streams intended to shield the Ordo's breached side.  He addresses that by manual fine tuning, eventually settling on a compromise-- while establishing an enviromental-proof barrier, he allows the sand to pass through by slightly widening the field's tolerances.  It would lead to a messy hallway, but the danger of more damage was averted.

Almost immediately afterward the life support system door, sealed but previously surrounded by the intruding storm, opens.  From it the black carapace of Varses emerges, her lanky form supporting their resident doctor.  Adilet appears to have suffered a head wound, one eye covered by gauze through which red peeks through.

"Oh good," she greets.  "Can you help me with him?  The head wound is superficial, but he thinks--"

"Concussion," the human cuts in.

"Oh, for-" sighs the quarian, Yan brushing the sand from his hands as he approaches the limping pair and adds his broad shoulder to support Adilet, "Here, ease him onto the table..." Carefully, the suited alien attempts to lower the wounded human onto the common lounge table, the one they had used to play cards not too long ago. Testing the edge of the red bandage and keeping it properly constricted, Yan's omnitool ignites a flashlight and waves it gently back in forth before Adilet's exposed eye. "Well, I'm not exactly a doctor, but let's start with a few basic questions to make sure your brain isn't ready to collapse into jelly, yes? Do you remember your name, age, the name of the ship you're on?"

Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5560 on: July 29, 2016, 05:36:46 AM »
Oli nods to indicate she understood, while simultaneously reaching down to her belt and drawing out two units of high yield explosive. "If they haven't seen us yet, then we can surprise them. If you can toss them up, with the current, so they pass over the glass, I can shoot them so that they blow the screen without the batarians ever having time to activate their mag boots. They'll be sucked out into the storm, and the bridge will be ours, but we'll have to be absolutely precise. If we mistime it, we could blow ourselves up instead."

Spoiler for Combat Challenge:
C4+2 +C2 vs C7 = Success!

"That is not a regulation maneuver," Nix replies, sounding very much like the Hierarchy grunts Oli so despised.  The difference between them and her partner, however, was the way that the larger turian then nods and takes the offered explosives.  Risky or not, she was willing to follow Oli anywhere.

"On three," she advises.  "One... two... three!"

Tossing them, they move with frightening speed, Oli is quicker-- her renowned reflexes on full display.  Two shots ring out, and both explosives detonate, just as intended.  Those inside are caught utterly unaware, the windscreen caving in before they even had the chance to respond.  One batarian is sucked out immediately, his armored form disappearing into the storm in the blink of an eye.  The second is luckier, perhaps, his leg being pierced by a jagged bit of reinforced viewport that pins him in place.  Nix is quick to jam her new rifle into the obstructing glass, breaking it by sheer force, and allowing the man to fling out into the abyss.

Climbing in, the pair are met with half a hundred alarms announcing multiple sources of displeasure throughout the ship.  The engines were still cycling back up, a side hatch had just blown in, and the cargo bay door on the belly was open.  A sealed door at the rear led into the rest of the ship proper, red sand already piling up against it as the storm entered the room.  Nearby, meanwhile, a radio console was filled with panicked voices.

"Breach at the port side hatch!"

"We've lost contact with the cargo bay team!"

"Where is Faskan?  This wasn't the plan!"

"Bridge, please respond!"


"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."

Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5561 on: July 29, 2016, 05:42:10 AM »
"Oh, for-" sighs the quarian, Yan brushing the sand from his hands as he approaches the limping pair and adds his broad shoulder to support Adilet, "Here, ease him onto the table..." Carefully, the suited alien attempts to lower the wounded human onto the common lounge table, the one they had used to play cards not too long ago. Testing the edge of the red bandage and keeping it properly constricted, Yan's omnitool ignites a flashlight and waves it gently back in forth before Adilet's exposed eye. "Well, I'm not exactly a doctor, but let's start with a few basic questions to make sure your brain isn't ready to collapse into jelly, yes? Do you remember your name, age, the name of the ship you're on?"

"Yes, yes," the human grumbles, wincing from the intercession of the light.  "I-I already performed the basic check on myself, and Varses insisted on repeating it, a third repetition-- God help me, no."

Sitting up slightly, Adilet looks at the patch job, blinking rapidly.  "Good job on th-the fix, ugh.  I'll be alright.  Told Varses that too."

The turian's mandibles pull tight, a sign of indignation.  "It's called First Aid!"


"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."

Offline Devin Caulfield

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5562 on: July 29, 2016, 05:44:29 AM »
Spoiler for Biotic Challenge!:
B4 + B1 vs B6 = Partial Success!

"Got it," Naeir says readily, her arms encircling his waist as he reaches towards the door.  While it was true that such blind work was worryingly difficult, there was a bright side-- namely shoddy batarian engineering.  While asari or salarian ships would have had utterly seamless hatches, this one has enough space to feel around in, providing some guidance-- enough in fact that Devin believes he had found the locking mechanism, which he grips as if it was in his fist.  When his hand closes, within the mechanism is crushed, and the hatch pops open.

Well, for a moment at least.  Devin had grabbed more then just the locking mechanism, the hinges too had been caught in the effort, and with them gone the door is suddenly ripped off and into the storm.  The resulting hole, that Naeir rolls through almost immediately, her rifle coming up fast, is met with the klaxon alarms of a hull breach going off throughout the ship. 

"We're gonna have company, fast," the quarian intones.  "Get in here."

Devin does not need to be told twice. Hell, Naeir is barely through telling him once before the human is already clawing his way out of the raging storm and through the hatchway. The feeling of being thankful for being on solid ground (or even the illusion of ground) is short lived, though. They had maybe twenty seconds at best before someone came to check on the breach. With any luck, it wouldn't turn out to be a whole gently-carressing squadron.

"No time to run and it's too dangerous to go bumbling around a ship we don't know. We need to stand and fight."

In his right hand, the gambler held his snubnose pistol; excrement a long distance, but able to put a hell of a hole through anything that dared get in too close. In his left hand, his biotics twisted and swirled with energy just aching to be let loose on a target.

"Let's move forward a bit and get into cover. We'll try to ambush them from behind as they go past," he said. Unlike Nix or Oli, Devin might not have been a soldier or tactical planner, but if there was one thing that he had learned throughout his sordid life; it was how to hold his own in a fight. As well as whatever dirty tactics needed to be done to ensure his side was the one that walked away.

"Let's gently-carress up some slavers."
« Last Edit: July 29, 2016, 05:47:41 AM by Devin Caulfield »
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Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5563 on: July 29, 2016, 05:46:50 AM »
Seluj snaps her fingers, a mnemonic for a full power on of the Kurinth. The door rises to meet its master, the Captain stridently isolating herself in the pilot's seat, and the requisite cuffs to her means of piloting restrain her within its cradle. The thrusters prime, and the cannon up top is brought through its whole range of motion, gleaming in the new frame that Seluj had modified it into.

<"Julius," She reaches out to the bridge. <"I'll need the cargo bay opened for launch to cover the Ordo in its descent.">

<"Locking you in,"> Tala whispers through their shared connection.  <"Neural link with the Kurinth active and steady, your shielding against electronic disruption looks prophetic at this point, I might add.  Beginning engine startup.">

Julius meanwhile cuts in, sounding belabored.  <"Roger that.  Just make your exit quick, that damn opening will catch wind like hell until I seal it back up, and my ship is already having trouble staying stable.">

And on cue, the large doors, breached by Faskan during his last attempt on their lives, open.  The maw of the storm awaits.


"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."

Offline Oliviar Valerius

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5564 on: July 29, 2016, 05:46:56 AM »
Stepping onto the bridge proper, Oli begins pulling up diagnostics, seeing how extensive the damage on the ship was. The fact it had engines that still worked was a plus, but there was the bothersome bit about the crew.

"This is more your field of expertise than mine," Oli says, looking over the alien layout. "You're trained for breaching enemy ships, do you know how we can access the main controls? We need to seal this off," she indicates the shattered viewscreen, "and see about sealing off the rest of the ship."

Pulling up her omni-tool, Oli begins looking for a way to sync it up to the ship's intercom. "Come on, stupid... alright! Do your thing, I've got something to say to the crew."

Offline Yan Luos nar Tonbay

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5565 on: July 29, 2016, 05:54:46 AM »
"Yes, yes," the human grumbles, wincing from the intercession of the light.  "I-I already performed the basic check on myself, and Varses insisted on repeating it, a third repetition-- God help me, no."

Sitting up slightly, Adilet looks at the patch job, blinking rapidly.  "Good job on th-the fix, ugh.  I'll be alright.  Told Varses that too."

The turian's mandibles pull tight, a sign of indignation.  "It's called First Aid!"

Genuinely laughing at that, perhaps mildly fueled by peril of the situation, Yan gives Varses a reassuring clap at her armored shoulder before turning away. "Be sure to keep him off his feet," the quarian orders with one eye turned back towards the human and turian, "We'll be coming in for a rough landing."

Once more, the pirate prince ascends the lift, his hood and furred cloth swaying dramatically as he steadily makes his way into the Ordo's cockpit to find the captain, ready to offer whatever aid he could. "Captain," the quarian bows, a smile in his tone as he laughs at the attempted formality, "I've secured the breach for now. We should be safe to make landfall whenever your approach is favorable."

Offline Captain Seluj Temoi

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5566 on: July 29, 2016, 05:55:00 AM »
<"Locking you in,"> Tala whispers through their shared connection.  <"Neural link with the Kurinth active and steady, your shielding against electronic disruption looks prophetic at this point, I might add.  Beginning engine startup.">

Julius meanwhile cuts in, sounding belabored.  <"Roger that.  Just make your exit quick, that damn opening will catch wind like hell until I seal it back up, and my ship is already having trouble staying stable.">

And on cue, the large doors, breached by Faskan during his last attempt on their lives, open.  The maw of the storm awaits.

<"Launch!"> The legs of the shuttle come to life, the thrusters kicking the Kurinth forward and into the storm. Once clear, the thrusters go dark, only using the passive mass effect fields to stay aloft and guided by the storm to pitch into a steep descent alongside the Ordo. Out of the corner of Julius's sight in the cockpit, the shuttle can be seen as it drops past, its jets suddenly fluttering alight as it briskly cuts through its momentum and enters a swarming movement around the descending corvette. The craft moves with a disturbing alacrity, the movements less of result of control manipulation, more lifelike by result of its micromovements.

<"Combat scans active, linking ladar and detection suit with Ordo to provide unified coverage.">
« Last Edit: July 29, 2016, 05:57:43 AM by Captain Seluj Temoi »

Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5567 on: July 29, 2016, 05:57:28 AM »
Devin does not need to be told twice. Hell, Naeir is barely through telling him once before the human is already clawing his way out of the raging storm and through the hatchway. The feeling of being thankful for being on solid ground (or even the illusion of ground) is short lived, though. They had maybe twenty seconds at best before someone came to check on the breach. With any luck, it wouldn't turn out to be a whole gently-carressing squadron.

"No time to run and it's too dangerous to go bumbling around a ship we don't know. We need to stand and fight."

In his right hand, the gambler held his snubnose pistol; excrement a long distance, but able to put a hell of a hole through anything that dared get in too close. In his left hand, his biotics twisted and swirled with energy just aching to be let loose on a target.

"Let's move forward a bit and get into cover. We'll try to ambush them from behind as they go past," he said. Unlike Nix or Oli, Devin might not have been a soldier or tactical planner, but if there was one thing that he had learned throughout his sordid life; it was how to hold his own in a fight. As well as whatever dirty tactics needed to be done to ensure his side was the one that walked away.

"Let's gently-carress up some slavers."

For the briefest instant, Naeir's body language calls back to her previous role in servitude, a desire-laced hint to her hips as she moves forward with him.  Her interest, however, could not be farther from carnal action.

"They're all gonna die," she assures him, giddily.

They, it turns out, are quick to approach.  Naeir nearly shoves Devin into a side room moments before a large armed group, moving down the ship's spinal corridor, stop at the intersection they had neared.

"That hatch is this way, right?" A black-armored turian asks, gesturing the way Naeir and Devin had just come.

The batarian to his side nods.  "Yeah, but I'm taking most of the teach down to the cargo bay.  I can't raise anyone, there must be an entire team down there.  You can take these two."

As indicated, the group breaks up, the majority moving away before those in hiding could engage.  The turian, alongside a salarian in bright blue armor and a batarian remain, each armed and moving cautiously towards the breach in the distance.  Along the way they begin checking each room, with only moments to spare before they looked into the storage closet where human and quarian hid, chest to chest.  Glowing eyes narrow slightly, Naeir's rifle rising slowly, but allow Devin to go first.


"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."

Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5568 on: July 29, 2016, 06:05:44 AM »
Stepping onto the bridge proper, Oli begins pulling up diagnostics, seeing how extensive the damage on the ship was. The fact it had engines that still worked was a plus, but there was the bothersome bit about the crew.

"This is more your field of expertise than mine," Oli says, looking over the alien layout. "You're trained for breaching enemy ships, do you know how we can access the main controls? We need to seal this off," she indicates the shattered viewscreen, "and see about sealing off the rest of the ship."

Pulling up her omni-tool, Oli begins looking for a way to sync it up to the ship's intercom. "Come on, stupid... alright! Do your thing, I've got something to say to the crew."

Nix is already in motion, as Oli cedes to her greater experience.  "The thing with damage control," the larger turian explains as she begins moving among the various control consoles.  "Is that no one in their right mind locks them, it just doesn't-- ah, here!"

Pressing her armored hand upon the screen she had discovered, a heavy emergency shunt slams down, sealing off the cockpit from the storm.  Small dunes of the desert planet's sand had already formed in the corners, and the room's oxygen would take time to replenish, but at least the gale had disappeared.

"Move it," she says next, her hips tapping against Oli's own, pushing her gently out of the way.  "Main controls will take some time, we usually had a tech detachment for that.  But radio... here--" Holding up an intercom device, Nix finds the cord severed, cut during their dramatic entrance.  She tosses it over her shoulder, and indicates a microphone built into the console itself.

"Hold that button there, speak into the mic.  I'll work on general controls."


"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."

Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5569 on: July 29, 2016, 06:19:04 AM »
Genuinely laughing at that, perhaps mildly fueled by peril of the situation, Yan gives Varses a reassuring clap at her armored shoulder before turning away. "Be sure to keep him off his feet," the quarian orders with one eye turned back towards the human and turian, "We'll be coming in for a rough landing."

Once more, the pirate prince ascends the lift, his hood and furred cloth swaying dramatically as he steadily makes his way into the Ordo's cockpit to find the captain, ready to offer whatever aid he could. "Captain," the quarian bows, a smile in his tone as he laughs at the attempted formality, "I've secured the breach for now. We should be safe to make landfall whenever your approach is favorable."

"Colonel," Julius grunts in response, not breaking his gaze from the various instruments he was monitoring.  "Damn naval cadets never wanted to get their spurs dirty."

A rumble passes through the ship, a bit of rougher turbulence as a small craft passes by the viewscreen.  "Temoi, in her shuttle," he explains, indicating.  Already the smaller vessel is almost lost in the storm, while the Resolute is now some ways away, but still large.

"Good job on the breach, I can feel its absence on the cont--"

He pauses, a fresh light illuminating on his dashboard.

"Is that... an open comm line?"  Picking up his microphone, he looks at it, then to Yan.  "Do you want to... answer it?"

<"Launch!"> The legs of the shuttle come to life, the thrusters kicking the Kurinth forward and into the storm. Once clear, the thrusters go dark, only using the passive mass effect fields to stay aloft and guided by the storm to pitch into a steep descent alongside the Ordo. Out of the corner of Julius's sight in the cockpit, the shuttle can be seen as it drops past, its jets suddenly fluttering alight as it briskly cuts through its momentum and enters a swarming movement around the descending corvette. The craft moves with a disturbing alacrity, the movements less of result of control manipulation, more lifelike by result of its micromovements.

<"Combat scans active, linking ladar and detection suit with Ordo to provide unified coverage.">

<"Link complete,"> Tala replies, working in perfect union with her creator.  <"Attaching ship-based oxygen supply, initiating G-force dampeners.  Completed.  Take a deep breath, to flush the oxygen system.  You haven't flown in awhile, a shame.">

Their shared headspace is interrupted, however, by a new reading as the synced ladar suits come into action.  <"Hmm, storm is interfering fiercely.  Could be a new contact, could be nothing.  Climb out of the storm, and we can confirm?">


"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."

Offline Oliviar Valerius

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5570 on: July 29, 2016, 06:26:22 AM »
Nix is already in motion, as Oli cedes to her greater experience.  "The thing with damage control," the larger turian explains as she begins moving among the various control consoles.  "Is that no one in their right mind locks them, it just doesn't-- ah, here!"

Pressing her armored hand upon the screen she had discovered, a heavy emergency shunt slams down, sealing off the cockpit from the storm.  Small dunes of the desert planet's sand had already formed in the corners, and the room's oxygen would take time to replenish, but at least the gale had disappeared.

"Move it," she says next, her hips tapping against Oli's own, pushing her gently out of the way.  "Main controls will take some time, we usually had a tech detachment for that.  But radio... here--" Holding up an intercom device, Nix finds the cord severed, cut during their dramatic entrance.  She tosses it over her shoulder, and indicates a microphone built into the console itself.

"Hold that button there, speak into the mic.  I'll work on general controls."

"Ah, right, got it!" Oli replies, putting away her omni-tool and working over towards the intercom. "We need to seal off the hull breaches. Isolating the crew from one another should be another priority. If you can vent any of them into space, that would work, but really, we just need to make sure they can't come at us in a large group. In the mean time..."

"Ahem? Is this thing on?"

If there was sound in the cockpit, Oli and Nixidonia would never know, the vacuum of space had seen to that, as there still wasn't enough air to carry sound yet. She merely looks at Nix, giving her a shrug before continuing. "Right, so uh, hi! My name is Oli! Or Oliviar, or Valerius, or whatever Faskan uses, but I just go by Oli! So uh... yeah! I don't know how much you all know about me, I don't really know anything about any of you. But here's what I do know. I've kicked your bosses' ass a few times now. Like, he had a fleet of ships, yeah? And he's down to what? The one? I also engaged him on Tefnut, in person. He ran away, after using your pals as meat shields. I'm not really one for the whole honor schtick, either, but even to someone like me, that was a lame move."

"So aaaanyway," the small turian continues, leaning against a console. "Okay, look, here's the thing. I know we kind of pissed off the Blue Suns, and I'm sure Faskan, having followed us all the way across the galaxy has probably picked up a few others who aren't too happy with my little group, and I get that. I'm sure your bosses feel slighted. We're on a big job, stuff happens. But at every turn, at every turn, we've won. Every time you guys come at us, we kill all of you cookie cutter soldier wannabes and your leaders turn tail and run. Well guess what? You haven't been learning from your mistakes, because that's where we are again. Faskan is nowhere to be found, and I'm on your bridge, with more of your buddies dead at my feet."

"So here's the deal. Anyone who decides enough is enough, today is your lucky day. Lay down your arms and surrender. Because, and I'm going to make this as simple as I can: if you don't, every last one of you will die. No, no glorious death in a blaze of glory. You'll just die. Cold, alone, floating in space, and no one will ever know what happened to you. A few of your pals also decided they'd go down swinging, and, you know, for the life of me, I can't recall a single one of their names. Boring kills, I can't help it if I forget the next day. Not when every week or so I'm putting a few dozen notches on my guns."

"Surrender. We have a Spectre, he'll give you asylum. Because honestly? I've gotten bored of killing you losers. It's not fun anymore. I want the people you work for. Give up, and you can go your own way. If not, then our Spectre is going to be the least of your problems, because I'll be coming for every single one of you, and there isn't a single person on this ship who has what it takes to kill me or my team. Don't become another notch on my guns. Frankly, I'm out of room."


Offline Yan Luos nar Tonbay

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5571 on: July 29, 2016, 06:26:31 AM »
"Colonel," Julius grunts in response, not breaking his gaze from the various instruments he was monitoring.  "Damn naval cadets never wanted to get their spurs dirty."

A rumble passes through the ship, a bit of rougher turbulence as a small craft passes by the viewscreen.  "Temoi, in her shuttle," he explains, indicating.  Already the smaller vessel is almost lost in the storm, while the Resolute is now some ways away, but still large.

"Good job on the breach, I can feel its absence on the cont--"

He pauses, a fresh light illuminating on his dashboard.

"Is that... an open comm line?"  Picking up his microphone, he looks at it, then to Yan.  "Do you want to... answer it?"

Glittering eyes narrow sharply behind the opaque blue veil of Yan's mask, shrewdly considering the offensive indicator. He already knew just who it was on the other side of the comm channel, but the quarian was never one to back away from a challenge. Stepping forward, a sharp finger finds the comm switch, tuning into the hail and answering, "Finally ready to offer your terms of surrender?"

Offline Captain Seluj Temoi

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5572 on: July 29, 2016, 06:45:26 AM »
"Colonel," Julius grunts in response, not breaking his gaze from the various instruments he was monitoring.  "Damn naval cadets never wanted to get their spurs dirty."

A rumble passes through the ship, a bit of rougher turbulence as a small craft passes by the viewscreen.  "Temoi, in her shuttle," he explains, indicating.  Already the smaller vessel is almost lost in the storm, while the Resolute is now some ways away, but still large.

"Good job on the breach, I can feel its absence on the cont--"

He pauses, a fresh light illuminating on his dashboard.

"Is that... an open comm line?"  Picking up his microphone, he looks at it, then to Yan.  "Do you want to... answer it?"

<"Link complete,"> Tala replies, working in perfect union with her creator.  <"Attaching ship-based oxygen supply, initiating G-force dampeners.  Completed.  Take a deep breath, to flush the oxygen system.  You haven't flown in awhile, a shame.">

Their shared headspace is interrupted, however, by a new reading as the synced ladar suits come into action.  <"Hmm, storm is interfering fiercely.  Could be a new contact, could be nothing.  Climb out of the storm, and we can confirm?">

A breath is taken, the vehicle cycling the oxygen in a faint emission. It had been quite some while, true, but this freedom was something she had missed from her separation from the Outis.

<"We'll climb out briefly, and duck back in. This storm is cover too."> The Kurinth crests above for a gasp of clearance.

Offline Devin Caulfield

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5573 on: July 29, 2016, 06:46:05 AM »
For the briefest instant, Naeir's body language calls back to her previous role in servitude, a desire-laced hint to her hips as she moves forward with him.  Her interest, however, could not be farther from carnal action.

"They're all gonna die," she assures him, giddily.

They, it turns out, are quick to approach.  Naeir nearly shoves Devin into a side room moments before a large armed group, moving down the ship's spinal corridor, stop at the intersection they had neared.

"That hatch is this way, right?" A black-armored turian asks, gesturing the way Naeir and Devin had just come.

The batarian to his side nods.  "Yeah, but I'm taking most of the teach down to the cargo bay.  I can't raise anyone, there must be an entire team down there.  You can take these two."

As indicated, the group breaks up, the majority moving away before those in hiding could engage.  The turian, alongside a salarian in bright blue armor and a batarian remain, each armed and moving cautiously towards the breach in the distance.  Along the way they begin checking each room, with only moments to spare before they looked into the storage closet where human and quarian hid, chest to chest.  Glowing eyes narrow slightly, Naeir's rifle rising slowly, but allow Devin to go first.

"Crouch down and be ready," Devin whispered to Naeir.

Positioning himself in the center of the already cramped closet, Devin took a deep breath and raised his pistol towards the doors. Then, he waited. To the outside observer his unblinking and unwavering pose might have made him look like a very well crafted statue. Inside the gambler's head, though, he was desperately trying not to focus on all the ways he could gently-carress this up and get both he and the quarian gunned down inside this tight space. Once again the term 'fish in a barrel' rang through his head. On this time, Devin felt like the one in the water.

From outside the closet door came the sound of heavy footsteps on metal floors, and the chatter of voices. They sounded professional, but not very. Men who knew what they were doing, but not exactly a tight-knit group of battle-hardened soldiers. Not quite the street-scum level of wanna-be gang bangers Devin was used to roughing up, but this was fine. This was good. He would work with this.

The sound of boots stopped just outside the door Devin stood behind. The was the click of a panel, the soft whoosh of the door opening, and there before them stood the salarian.

The alien looked at the scene before him, at the gun leveled less than three inches from his face. There was just enough time for his expression to twist into mild confusion at just what he was looking at before Devin pulled the trigger. The snubnose was modified to be small, easily hidden in and removed from any pocket. The design made it excrement for anything even a decent distance away, but at this range? At this range not even the salarian's heavily armored helmet saved him. The bullet punched through both metal, glass, skull, and brain matter with ease; dropping the salarian to the ground and splattering the wall behind him with a spray of green-tinted blood.

Before either of the dead man's cohorts could react, Devin dropped to a crouch and extended his free left hand. In response, everything that had been sitting on the shelves inside the closet lifted into the air and flew out the door as if possessed by a particularly violet poltergeist. Cleaning products, spare ship parts, boxes of lightbulbs and toilet paper all flew over Devin and Naeir's heads and at the remaining two soldiers. While the barrage of brick-a-brac did nothing to actually damage the men, the sheer surprise and force did drive them back, giving both human and quarian and window to escape the tiny room.

"Move! New cover!" Devin shouted at Naeir, diving out of the room and trusting the girl to follow him.
« Last Edit: July 29, 2016, 06:50:34 AM by Devin Caulfield »
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Offline Redtracer7

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Re: Mass Effect: NO SIGNAL
« Reply #5574 on: July 29, 2016, 06:53:58 AM »
Glittering eyes narrow sharply behind the opaque blue veil of Yan's mask, shrewdly considering the offensive indicator. He already knew just who it was on the other side of the comm channel, but the quarian was never one to back away from a challenge. Stepping forward, a sharp finger finds the comm switch, tuning into the hail and answering, "Finally ready to offer your terms of surrender?"

For the first moment, only static responds from the flicker panel.  And then-- the rough voice Yan had expected, as confident as ever.

Faskan Crofporos.

"Quite the opposite, in fact.  No, my Prince, the time has come that you learned the difference between the hunter and the prey.  The hunter... the hunter learns.  And I've learned you're damn resilient.  So it is time to take the gloves off, because I know you will survive what is to come.  I expect it."

The feed does dead, only to be replaced by shrill incoming warnings.  Dozens at once.

A breath is taken, the vehicle cycling the oxygen in a faint emission. It had been quite some while, true, but this freedom was something she had missed from her separation from the Outis.

<"We'll climb out briefly, and duck back in. This storm is cover too."> The Kurinth crests above for a gasp of clearance.

Red gives way to clear space, as the shuttle hits the peak of its arc, and momentarily breaks clear of the raging storm-- but the pure black of space is dirtied by the presence of a batarian cruiser, massive in the harsh glare of the unexplored system's star.  And it's firing, barrels glowing red from a sustained effort, into the distance, towards...

<"...nothing at all?"> Tala muses, only to suddenly break from her calculations as dozens of incoming blips further down in the atmosphere start to register.

<"Oh no,"> the construct breathes, in a hush.  <"They're arcing them around the planet, indiscriminately.  Gravity will pull all those rounds... into the storm.">

More immediately for the small shuttle, small blue figures break off from the cruiser, as the Kurinth dives.  <"More fighters!">



"And in the end, said the witch to the drowning prince, you've been the one choosing the path of the Rose in spite of knowing where it lead.  To petals, yes, but the abyss of thorns as well."