warning! warning!

[thespaceopera]

[The nebulas are beautiful in this region of space, at the very least. They gleam as great distorting clouds of space-stuff that your scanners don't even want to attempt to analyze. They affect the ships' instruments much like other areas of disruption have in the past, but these are actually visible as large swathes of light--like giant flames frozen in their swirling shapes, suspended across impressive stretches of space. For once, there's something like scenery to look at, out here in the black...

And then, the proximity alarms begin to blare.

From a gap between the two nearest clouds comes an assemblage of ships! Familiar to some and new to others--they do not respond to hails or communications of any kind, and they're gunning straight for the Fleet without slowing. Their weapons are locking on and firing as soon as they are in range.

Many passengers have been through this before, and many of the ships are bigger and better than they'd been in the previous skirmish. Today, the Drift Fleet will put up a better fight, even punch a few holes in their attackers.

Your augment knows where you need to go! Do you run to your station? Do you dodge your job? Are you unsure how to help? Are the captains giving orders or panicking, and are their crews paying attention? Everyone's got a chance to fight back before the enemy fleet runs them into the nearest nebula--and things suddenly take a bad turn.

As soon as each Drift Fleet ship hits the nebula, its systems overload and short-circuit before going dead. It stays silent for minutes, no radar, no comms, no network. Stubborn stragglers are ganged up on and forced into the cloud, followed by the poor ships on autopilot being bodily hauled into the nebula with tractor beams. Once the entire Fleet has been set adrift as sitting ducks, before the Marsiva can get too close, the attacking fleet... turns and flees through the cloud, seemingly untouched by the nebula that scrambles your ships.

Eventually, the systems flicker back to life, blinking on one by one. It will be several hours before any other effects of the attack will be noticeable. The network shows up as live again, but Atroma never shows up to explain a thing...]


ooc: the out-of-character event post is over here! respond to this post any way you like; you can have action, comm messages, play during the attack, being stuck in the nebula, checking in after the network comes back online, or whatever else seems fitting.

Comments

PAISLEY

[delincuente]

(( the attack - action ))

[The sudden blare of the proximity alarm knocks Alex right out of bed - she wakes as she hits the floor in a tangle of sheets, already shouting for her crewmates.]

Hey! Get your asses up front, we've got-

[Fire. We've got fire. She recognizes the sound, like something from one of her brothers' stupid video games. Only it's real, and it's close, and she has no idea who's shooting it.]

James, go start dodging. Everyone else-

[Her feet hit the cold floor of the bridge, and the battle around them erupts in fiery light and the glow of the massive nebula. Her stomach goes cold.]

Shit, we don't even have guns... Just- everyone just get somewhere safe, okay?

(( the blackout - action ))

[Seconds after the ship goes dead, Alex pulls her wand from her boot and mutters a quick spell - the bridge lights up an eerie green.]

E-everyone still alive? Yes or no, folks.

(( the aftermath - action/audio ))

[About five minutes after the lights crackle back on, Alex makes a quick, out-of-breath broadcast.]

SS Paisley's alright, back online. Just some bumps.

(( private to Allen, Hiro, Davesprite, Sokka, and Crowley ))

[And added on, just to her closer friends - ]

Hey none of you are dead, right? Tell me if you are so I can come kick your ass.

[misterprongs]

[James is excellent under pressure.

If he can run about with a werewolf every month, he can do this. This is easy, right? Absolutely. He's good. He can do this. He has been here for maybe a week and these people are relying on him not to die. Cake. Absolute. Cake.

Natural intuition and blind fucking luck are the only reason why they're alive at the moment and James (who went from being groggily asleep to wide awake in .0003 seconds) has reached the wheel in time to bolt out of the way of -- is that a spaceship? Another one?]

The hell --

[Please hold as he yanks upward to narrowly avoid -- what, exactly? He has no fucking idea.]

-- do you mean we don't have guns?

[timelapsed]

[ Okay, if Max looks like she's a little worn out, it's because she's done this three times already. what's the point of being able to rewind time if you don't abuse it during critical moments? Plus she's trying to avoid losing any more of the ship than they need to, okay.

She's given up on responding to the guns comment though. It doesn't produce nay meaningful dialogue anyways. ]

To the right!

[delincuente]

Jason was our security officer, we don't-

[She grips James' seat when the ship jolts upwards, and then looks over at Max, a little irritated. They can all see the battle in front of them.]

What's with the backseat driving?

Private;

[save_the_souls]

[Man he's had to contact so many people, what's with that]

I'm fine. No arse kicking needed today.

How about you?

[delincuente]

[THEY LOVE YOU ALLEN, OKAY.]

Yeah, we're good. Looks like everyone is, pretty much.

They weren't shooting to kill.

[save_the_souls]

Thank God.

[SPACE IS TOO DEADLY UGH he wants to find some nice ground]

No, they weren't. It's almost like they were herding us into this... [Shit what's the term] ...space cloud?

[HE TRIED]

[delincuente]

Nebula.

[She's had this talk with her crew. They're smarter than her.]

But yeah, I don't know what's worse. What if they were just scouts for something bigger?

[huaaaaagh]

[One thing at least can be said about Kazuto- he's remarkably calm in the heat of battle. Actually, he seems more at home in the midst of the fighting than he did socializing with his crewmates. Not that he's happy by any stretch of the word, of course. He's too unfamiliar with his new role on the team to truly feel comfortable, and even with the augment, it's hard to know what to do and where to be. Harder still not to second-guess himself when his head tells him to boost the shields and his heart is screaming for him to find a sword, any sword, now, now, now.

He hates the idea of an enemy he can't take down with a blade he doesn't own.

Gotta do what I can. So he does- he runs around the engine room, following the augment's directions and his own instincts, bracing himself against the nearest wall when a sudden swerve threatens his balance, arming himself only with the tools of the trade- a wrench, a screwdriver, a pry bar for those stubborn panels. If Asuna could see him now, god.

When the whole ship goes offline, he doesn't respond to the captain's call at first; he starts pulling off panels in the dark, feeling his way to the critical areas, trying urgently to find a way to restart the power. Even with fantasy being his main interest, he's seen enough sci-fi to know that the life of a ship is the engine. If it dies, everyone on board dies with it. Stubbornly, he tries over and over to get it to work. He can't allow this to happen. Never again. I promised.

If no one comes to find him, eventually he'll stumble up to the bridge, in case someone else has a better suggestion.]

I can't get the engine back on...!

[delincuente]

[Alex has collapsed in her officer's chair, tapping her glowing wand against her temple. When she sees Kirito come up from the engine, she mentally kicks herself. She hadn't counted everyone after the attack. She's totally failing as a captain.]

It's not just the engine. You can give it a rest.

[huaaaaagh]

[Oh, thank god.

Okay, well. Not so much, but he's relieved that it isn't just his fault. His shoulders slump, and he leans against the nearest wall, one hand resting on his forehead. What a crazy way to get introduced to the job.]

What happened? I couldn't see anything from the engine room. How are we not dead?

[delincuente]

I don't know.

[She rubs her eyes with one hand, and then takes a deep breath.]

Best I can guess, they weren't trying to kill us.

[stefanged]

[While the engine is definitely a pressing concern, Stefan's main focus is ensuring everyone's physical well-being - and so of course, once Kirito's done talking to Alex, Stefan rushes over for an assessment.]

Engine aside, you holding up okay?

[Sure, it's dark, save for the eerie glow from Alex's spell, but Stefan hasn't needed proper light for a year and a half now. His pupils might look a little weird (since he's relying on his vamp powers), but otherwise, nothing about Stef seems particularly out of place.]

[huaaaaagh]

[Kazuto's hunkered down by the entrance to the engine room area, leaning against the wall as he waits for either orders or the power to come back on. More than anything else, he hates feeling useless.

He is able to muster a small smile when Stefan comes to check on him, though. At least someone's still able to do their job in this mess.]

I'm okay. Mostly wishing I could do more.

[stefanged]

You've done what you could. In my book, that's more than enough. [He returns the smile, reaching out for Kirito's wrists so he can check for a steady (or steady-ish pulse). Without a proper imaging device, he's relying on his senses here.]

But seriously - no headaches? No nausea? No wanting to vomit all over the floor? The lab's intact, so medicine won't be an issue.

[stefanged]

[During the attack proper, Stefan had rushed to the med lab, taking the position his augment had guided him towards - and while he's good at keeping people (and medicine) safe in there, he's not so sure what's going on outside. He remembers this. He remembers this too well, because he's been on the receiving end of enemy fire on Earth and--

And well, when the ship loses power, Stefan has a rough idea of what happened. He doesn't need light to see, so he rushes to the rest of the ship, trying to find people and assess them.

He sniffs the air, trying to pinpoint blood, but all he can smell is fear, and whatever smell accompanies the glowing light on the bridge. He comes to Alex last, once he's found everyone else.]

I'm as alive as I'll ever be. [He manages a smile, though it doesn't reach his eyes as he steps forward.] Everyone else seems alright, too. Power isn't working, but I can still assess them [and by extension, her] for damage.

[delincuente]

[Her relief when he checks in is palpable, though it doesn't quite cover up the panic and stress in her eyes. This happened on her watch, and even though she couldn't have done anything to stop it, she still feels like she didn't do a good enough job.]

That's good. Let's stay on the "un" side of "undead", please.

[stefanged]

[He snorts] That's the plan.

[Without thinking, he steps closer to assess her too, taking her wrist to check for a steady (well, somewhat steady) pulse. Unlike his previous attempts at touch, this one's strictly business. Without an imaging device, he's relying on his hearing and his other enhanced senses to detect things like internal bleeding, or damage from hitting the hallway a bit too hard...

So far, her vitals sound okay. Softly, and as reassuringly as possible:] We're all gonna be okay, alright?

[delincuente]

... Yeah. Yeah, alright... Listen, I hit my head when the alarm went off, can you check it?

[She puts her fingers on a small knot just under her ponytail. It's nothing serious, she's sure, but better safe than sorry. And maybe she just doesn't want for Stefan to move on from her quite yet.]

Even if we weren't alright... I wonder if this place would just bring us back, like Paradisa.

audio

[everydayhero]

Very alive, kinda pissed.

[congrats on being one of the few people he'll cuss in front of.]

Did the whole "use us as cover" thing work like it was supposed to?

[delincuente]

[That's what big sisters are for.]

Yeah, I think? [She lowers her voice.] Looks like we've got a psychic on board, or something. She knew exactly where to dodge, so we're good.

[everydayhero]

Good. Any damages your engineer can't handle, I'll be happy to take care of. You're not hurt, right?

audio; crawls in here way late CANT BE TAMED

[feathery]

I'm speaking to you from the great beyond. [Accompanied by a half mumbled, should I talk underlined; no, fuck that.] I'm here to dispense my will: fyi, Alex, I'm leaving all my experimental orange Doritos and shitty ghostly sky visages to you. Dunno how long the sky visages will last, but I bet someone out there's got a polaroid.

[He delivers this in a relative monotone, although he does sound kind of put out by the fact they were all just, y'know. Attacked.]

ACCEPTS YOU WITH OPEN ARMS

[delincuente]

[Alex smiles so hard at hearing this that it hurts her face.]

I'm really touched. I'll treat the Doritos like they were my very own.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC

[feathery]

Thank you. I knew these acres of misused corn chips would be in good hands. How about on your end. Everyone good?

[There's a note of concern, even if it's downplayed.]