Planet of Peculiar Peril: Interactive Story Thread

[Abadon XXX1]

"Woah!"

As she tried to work her remote, she stumbled backwards onto the ground when she saw the beam of light shoot straight down and blast away a piece of the robot. Dumbfounded, she looked down at her control and wondered where the attack had come from. But for now there wasn't much time to study what was going on. Quickly turning as she stood up, she made a beeline straight for the ship. As she got into the hatch, she slid on the floor before landing against a wall.

 

[Carnivore]

Damien watched as Ouranus slid across the floor before hitting the wall with a thud. He winced as he witnessed the crash, it looked like it might have hurt. However, there wasn't time to help her, Carina was still outside and the rocket was seconds away from launching. Damien bounded towards the control panel, practically leaping over Chrissana to reach the large, red 'abort' button just as the counter reached one. The last second abort made him wonder whether the ship's designers had been wise to design such a simple cancellation mechanism after all.

Taking a deep breath now that the crisis was momentarily over, he stepped back from the controls, as well as taking a step back from Chrissana, whom he had been casting a shadow over. He walked back to where Ouranus had crashed into the wall, and decided to lend a hand. "Hey, are you alright?" He asked in a slightly gruff tone, mentally still focused on their situation as he put a hand around her waist in order to pull her into a standing position.

 

[Violetta]

The abort buzzer sounded, echoing through the rocket's cabins just as Carina got a hand atop the ladder. Climbing another rung, she looked entirely relieved to hear the sound. It looked like she'd come with a crew that stays on the ball.

"A little close there," the Martian sighed, "Maybe too close. Still, Chrissana, don't let those engines get cold just yet. It might not be alone, so we should decide now if we want to stay or get out of here just to play it safe." Letting the thought sink in, she climbed aboard before taking another look out of the hatch. Then her brown eyes came to a rest on Damien, Ouranus, and Chrissana. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I've always found safe means missing out on the fun."

 

[Regal]

It is often that when we think we are safe that we are in the greatest danger. Such is the case here. As everyone recovered from the attack, things would only go from bad to worse. A large ship descended from space and loomed over the space explorers. Their location was discovered thanks to the scout from before. What was the reason for this assault? Trespassing. The malevolent warlord who owns this planet does not tolerate unwelcome guests and that is why the Gemma Lancer crew found themselves in this current crisis.

The ship, labeled the Dark Star, deployed several small ships carrying about five armed soldiers each landed, dropping off their dangerous cargo and quickly surrounding our heroes.

Each soldier wore a dark grey suit equipped with some sort of gas mask. The mouthpiece was slightly detached and their speech sounded as if it was coming off a megaphone, albeit not as loud. They're all equipped with bizarre looking, state of the art weaponry, probably plasma rifles.

"Halt, intruders!" one soldier said as he stepped forward. "You are surrounded. Lay down your weapons and come with us. You have one chance to comply. Submit or die. Resistance is futile.''

 

[Abadon XXX1]

"Ugh..."

Ouranus could feel the bells going off in her head as she stumbled on her feet. She would have fallen onto her knees if Damien wasn't there to help support her. "I think the ship with the robot is the least of our concerns. I think we may have another ship out there. And those guys have a pretty big gun." From what she had seen between the robot and the laser cannon is that they probably were not working together. "Huh, speak of the devil. Were you the ones with the robot or the laser?"

 

[tklsh_swim_grl]

Chrissana worked hard at the engines, trying to get them ready for launch and was not prepared to hear an abort.
"What's going on?" she yelled out over the intercom. The engines were almost ready to go and she continued tending to the big machines, intending to be ready when the commander gave the order to launch. Suddenly, the sensors picked up the enemy ships and she grabbed her weapon and ran to the rocket's entryway just in time to find soldiers surrounding the rocket. She quickly dove back in and looked for somewhere to hide.

 

[Carnivore]

"Well, it looks like we're in for a lot more fun." Damien said dryly as he glanced out the hatch at the people or aliens outside. They were probably aliens, he didn't know of any Earthling group that dressed like them, wore gas masks and carried those strange energy guns. There appeared to be about thirty of them, and while they'd be hard pressed to crawl up the ladder and take them by force, numbers were not in the intrepid crew's favor.

"Looks like we've got three options: Fight, flee, or surrender." Damien unholstered his laser pistol from his hip, casually aiming at one of the beings outside. "All three seem equally bad at the moment. I don't suppose anyone knows standard scout protocol for being hopelessly outnumbered by hostile aliens?"

Damien was sure he could zap at least three of them if they started shooting first. That only left… too many. He wished he had the bottle of Martian Scotch he had been keeping under his bed. It seemed a travesty to face a life or death situation completely sober. His eyes glanced at each of his crewmates, waiting for a decision to be made.

 

[Violetta]

Carina herself took a look outside the rocket at the approaching troops. Just the sight of them was enough to make her brow furrow with a worry that was entirely uncomfortable on her typically confident face. "The scouts' handbook says to retreat to your landing sight in the face of indomitable numbers," the Martian commented, "But we're already here and those blasters look like they could melt through our engines before we got out of their range."

She moved to the hatch, hiding just behind the wall so she could speak from cover. "You out there!" she shouted to the armed men outside claiming the planet as their own, "We've come under authorization of the Earth Solar Forces! We haven't come to pick a fight, so if you can prove this planet is yours then you're welcome to it!"

Not expecting the greatest of responses, she turned a wry expression to her crewmates. A shrug bespoke enough of her ill-feelings for the moment. She wasn't sure how they were getting of of this, but there was no sense in spreading that sense of uncertainty. There was enough of it to go around already.

 

[Regal]

The soldier turned his gaze upon the direction of Carina. "This planet is under the authority of the Black Empire.'' he responded. "Uninvited intruders, and more importantly spies, will not be tolerated.''

He then gave a signal and the rest of the squad aimed their weapons at the rocket. "This is your last warning. Lay down your arms and submit yourselves to us or we will open fire.''

 

[Carnivore]

Damien looked from Carina to the strange alien soldiers and back again. Her reply didn't exactly reassure him, and without a rocket nobody was making it back to the Solar System. As he saw it, there were now two options: surrender and go to some alien jail cell, or put up a fight and be melted or vaporized. Anything seemed preferable to being vaporized. After all, Damien was on track to be stuck in an Earth prison before this crazy mission, could an alien one be much worse?

Not wanting to commit his compatriots, he cast a wistful look at the crew. "If you girls want to try something, I'll stall them as long as I can. If not then I guess I'm surrendering first. If anybody makes it out of here, you can help yourself to the Martian Scotch under my bed. Don't say I never did anything nice…" He told them, giving a playful wink that made him look more confident than he really was. For all Damien knew, they'd blast him anyway.

He moved to the hatchway and made a show of placing his ray gun slowly on the ground. He moved slowly and obviously down the ladder to the ground, and once there put his hands up. Trying to pick out a commanding officer and failing, he looked to the closest one and tried to make casual conversation. "So… what is the penalty for going where you're not supposed to anyway? A harsh fine? Prison sentence? Or do I have to blast off to some godforsaken dangerous world on your behalf? I've that one before!" He spoke slowly and wryly, giving the crew as much time as they needed to give up or get going.

 

[Violetta]

"Damien, you are one brave rocketeer," Carina voiced softly as she watched the man stride right towards the armed soldiers keeping them pinned. Even unarmed he still looked confident enough that he might draw enough attention away and allow for enough time to figure a way out of this mess. While the girl didn't mind the thought of sneaking a little of her native world's Scotch, she'd rather not lose a crewman all the same.

"I think someone should try contacting the Solar Forces on the deep space radio," she suggested to her two remaining compatriots inside the rocket, "We might need help with this Black Empire. In the meantime, I'm going to try to keep out little crew together."

Slipping to the back wall, Carina opened the narrow door to one of the cargo modules. Usually carrying larger items to be accessed from outside, those sections would be the only way out of the rocket while the main hatch was being closely watched. Emerging behind one of the fins upon which their craft sat, the young Martian made use of the uneven terrain that they'd mapped upon landing to work her way to the soldiers' flank. With her raygun in hand she watched for her chance to take them by surprise, but if that particularly tall one was their leader then she might have a hard time truly turning the situation against them.

 

[sevenduster]

Ska was standing by the soldier, silently praying that they would be able to solve this problem relatively peacefully, and with little resistance. She walked to Damien, and replied to him calmly, "You're best bet is a Life sentence, worst is you get thrown out an airlock." She shrugged, "Sorry, Mate. Unless you have something I want, then I might be able to get you down to.. How does a ticket for illegal parking sound?" She gave a wry grin, "I could kill for some Martian Scotch right now, do you happen to have any?" Ska hoped the soldier couldn't hear her.

 

[Carnivore]

Damien eyed the strange, tall alien that walked up and spoke to him. It was the first time a woman towered over him, she looked around a foot taller than him. Clearly female, she had a lithe build that make Damien think she was a spacer like him. Looking at those milky eyes made her seem very old, although who knew how her species worked. He had definitely never run into her kind before.

But more importantly, her options did not sound at all appealing. Life? Thrown out an airlock? Maybe he should have just started blasting after all. But... Martian Scotch? How did she know about that? Did she at all, or was this a wacky coincidence in a big universe? He tried not to show his surprise, and keep stalling for time in case Carina and the others were up to something.

"Well... maybe I do have some Martain Scotch hidden away somewhere. I'd have to go and get it back in the ship of course. And if I did... then what's the penalty for illegal parking?" If he could keep her talking, maybe even lure her alone into the ship, maybe they could gain the upper hand.

 

[sevenduster]

"Ah, maybe around 200 credits. So tell me, where is the Scotch?" She smiled, and turned on an earpiece, "Men, stand down, I repeat, stand down." The soldiers lowered their weapons, and she nodded. But in case things got messy, she still had Sniper and Anti Ship cover some 200 meters away, Gauss rifles and rayguns prepared.
"Pretty nice ship you have here, how many people do you have on the crew?"

 

[Violetta]

Carina couldn't hear what was being said between Damien and the extraordinarily tall alien, but it sure looked like he was keeping them from advancing on their rocket. Something had even gotten them to lower their weapons, and that was just the chance the girl was looking for.

Sneaking around behind one of the squads she moved quickly and quietly, raising her raygun until she had a good bead on the enemy commander. That's when she called out, sounding as clear and in charge as possible, "Why don't you let me worry about the crew. You've got enough to deal with now that things have turned around." The Martian wore a smug grin. It looked like they'd managed to best these enemies with a little quick thinking and a helping of luck.

 

[Abadon XXX1]

Taking the lead of her commanding officer and commrade, that is when Ouranus sneaked out from the group. She seemed to be keeping pretty quiet to make sure that she wouldn't be found out. The idea seemed like a sound one: try to get a distress signal without anyone noticing. She sneaked past the new arrivals as she made her way to communications. She used the encoded transmission for SOS so that hopefully the Solar Force could see they were in trouble.

 

[sevenduster]

Ska blinked, she felt the effects of the steak wear off, her eyes became sharper, more like a predator, her posture changed, matching the strict discipline of the rest of the soldiers. She looked around her surroundings anew with a more calculating gaze, thinking to herself; 'Let's see, I suppose the steel could be sold for about 500 credits, engines for about the same, and each crew member is around 100 dead, 200 alive..' She looked over to Damien, vaguely remembering agreeing to let him off the hook for 200 credits and some Martian Scotch, seems she was about to have a change of plans.
Not that she wasn't going to pass the chance of getting some scotch and extra credits.

 

[Violetta]

[Hold the phone, last I looked all the badguys were outside the ship with Carina pointing a raygun at Ska. I didn't miss a few posts, did I?]

 

[Carnivore]

[Yea, I think the gun was jumped there. The Glik + scotch are both in Damien's cabin/ the group bedroom (not sure which is correct). Ska, Damien, the evil henchman and now Carina are all outside the ship. Also, it wouldn't just be walkable, there's a ladder built for human scale -> entry hatch -> cockpit -> other rooms(?) -> bedroom with Scotch and Glik in it. More than a little too much happened in just a couple lines there.

Right now Ska has to deal with Carina's aggressive move, or continue negotiating with Damien, who may let her into the ship. Hell, she could even pick Damien up and throw him in a sack or something. But one step at a time.]

 

[Violetta]

(Oh! For my own thoughts, I suspect that the sleeping area is fairly communal, likely small beds arrayed in a circle around the central ladder through the rocket. Just to clarify my intent with the rocket.)

 

[Regal]

(So are we waiting for sevenduster to edit her post or what?

And I don't mean to nitpick, but Ska is way too diplomatic to be in this army, much less be a high ranking officer. These are the kind of guys who shoot first, shoot again then shoot some more before planting the flag on their enemies corpse. They're not really one for talking; they let their guns do that. It just seems that Ska isn't ruthless or aggressive enough to hold a position to command troops.)

 

[tklsh_swim_grl]

Chrissana began encoding a second distress signal from the engine room, unaware of Ouranus' attempts elsewhere in the rocket.
"This is the Gemma Lancer calling Earth Solar Forces! We are surrounded by Black Empire forces and need assistance! Coordinates are being sent with this message. Enemy numbers unknown."
They'll almost certainly intercept this message but I have to try she thought as it was transmitted.

 

[Violetta]

Carina narrowed her eyes at the alien in front of her, her finger poised on the raygun's trigger while her target stared at Damien. "I know you can understand our language," she warned, "So let's see your hands in the air." She tried not to lose any of her cool, but she had expected her armed appearance would get a quicker response.

 

[sevenduster]

Ska faced Carina, and her eyes widened, "S-shit..." She put her arms up, knowing if she went for her needle pistol, she wouldn't last. She looked over to her troops, giving them a signal to hold their fire. Ska growled, "Seems going the peaceful way didn't work.." She sighed, knowing that this was overall embarrassing for a soldier of her stature and command, and her leader didn't tolerate failure too well, "Surely we can work something out.."

 

[Carnivore]

Damien looked around wide eyed. Everyone was holding their fire in some kind of stand off. The situation was growing stranger by the second. First the aggressive, thug-like aliens descend on them with overwhelming force, the next they're meek and surrendering? It seemed unlikely that help would arrive from Earth considering how deep into Outer Space they were, despite the efforts back inside. But the part that made the entire situation completely intolerable: everyone had a weapon except for him. Considering that someone could start firing at any moment, Damien didn't want to be the only one who didn't get to go out or go on guns blazing.

With the large alien's back to him, Damien darted towards the nearest soldier, quickly grabbing what he hoped to be a ray gun he could operate quickly. Not trusting his ability to figure it out on the spot, he swung the barrel at the creature's head as hard as he could, noting the resounding 'thuk' sound. The alien went down. Thankfully they didn't seem to have superhuman strength. At least that one was a bit of a flunky.

Shiny alien ray gun in hand, Damien turned to look down on it. It had… buttons. Lots of them. "Crap," Damien thought. "How the hell does this work now?" Damien decided to use a tried and true method to figure it out… carefully aiming away, he started pressing random buttons.