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

[tothefly]

[during attack]
[Natasha doesn't sleep much, these days. Too many things to think about. Which is why when those alarms start blaring, she's already on the bridge, staring out at the stars. The second they ring, she slams at the pilot controls, which do...exactly nothing. Frutrated, she opens ship communications.]

Time to wake up! We have visitors, and I'm pretty sure they aren't Girl Scouts. Ray, Vision, I need one of you in Engineering now, and one of you on the bridge! Wrath, weapons systems. Castle, Murphy, do what you can. They're almost here.

[after, fleetwide broadcast]
[The broadcast is garbled, punctuated by static, like the network is erratic, or maybe like the communications systems have been damaged.]

--nybody there? This--Windrose, checking in. Is a--dy hurt? We're stuck, but--s to be fine. Everyone okay?

[unbearablynaive]

Yes, Captain. I will take Engineering. [Neither of them is an easy job, and he suspects Ray will be joining him there before long. But for now? Boost the shields, keep damage contained, and above all make sure life support stays in good working order.]

[tothefly]

[It's a good order of operations. Don't let them get blown up, don't explode the ship, don't run out of air. There's a banging sound as she kicks the console. Not that it's helping, but...]

Good. Keep an open comm channel, I want to know what happens the second it happens. Any word from the rest of the fleet yet?

[unbearablynaive]

I will let you know immediately. [...Whether or not there's an open comm channel. But hey, might as well use what they have. The next bit is sent over the comms as he's heading down to his station.]

The Vanquish has no weapons and is requesting support. Minor signals from the other ships, but all appear to be busy. No significant damage reported.

[tothefly]

[It's really just the end result that matters. She might not have the right augment skills, but she's still got years of experience in combat situations, and communication is key every time.]

[Unfortunately, his news is mixed. Without a pilot, they can't help anyone, and a curse in Russian is barely audible over the line. She's never regretted her (useless) augment more.]

We can't help anyone unless they're coming to us. Without a pilot, we're dead in the water.

after!

[dancingmd]

Na--ha? This is --er, on ...

[Give her a second, she's whacking her communicator into shape.]

Dr. Crusher here. Oh, that's better.

after!

[tothefly]

[Natasha's voice still sounds blurry, slightly fuzzed, but there's no hiding the sharp concern in her voice.]

Beverly? How's the Blue Fish?

after!

[dancingmd]

[See, Natasha, you do care.]

We're all right. Ship's systems are mostly offline, but no one is hurt.

[tothefly]

[Despite herself, often. She relaxes just a shade to hear it.]

Once you hit the nebula, right? From what we saw before we hit the cloud, they were herding everyone this way. Probably for this reason.

After, encoded broadcast to Windrose Comms

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda's tactical support augment had enabled her to serve as the ship's substitute weapons handler, and now it seemed to be giving her the information she needed to operate the Starstruck's comm station adequately enough for her current need. Luckily, Peggy and Yosuke were both nearby if Wanda needed the extra hand. She just hopes her message is able to get through.]

Nat- ...re you ther-? It's Wan- on the Starstr... can- hear me? Are you- ...Vision okay?

After

[tothefly]

[The Windrose doesn't have a communications officer, and therefore no way to really best use the comms, but they can still respond to messages. After a moment, there's a loud banging and the slightly less staticky reply comes through.]

Wanda? We're...ll fine. Few scra--s and bruises, nothing...struck okay?

Re: After

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda's response returns with some static still affecting the message's quality.]

Nat? Na- is that yo- ? If you ca- --ar me, we are all rig--. The Starstr--- has taken a few hi--. But we ar- all rig--.

[There's a slight pause before her message continues. Her tone sounding more reassured and happy.]

I am gla- --u are all ok--.

Re: After

[tothefly]

Wa--a??

[There are several loud bangs, the static growing louder before mostly clearing away just in time for the tail end of a string of Russian cursing to be caught by the audio. Her voice is still blurry and indistinct, but it's mostly intelligible.]

Wanda? Still there? Repeat your last transmission.

during

[noncriminal]

Uh, yeah, what am I supposed to do, gauze the ship outta this? Are you kidding me?

[HE'S REALLY TRYING NOT TO FREAK OUT BUT HE'S FREAKING OUT]

What the hell is happening?!

during

[tothefly]

[She, conversely, sounds pretty calm, if just a little distracted as she bangs around.]

Raiders. If you know how to use a gun, meet Wrath at weapons. If you want to relay for Vision, meet him in Engineering. Otherwise just prep your band-aids.

We'll be okay if we're careful. Pretty sure Atroma doesn't really want us dead.

[For what it's worth, anyway.]

during

[noncriminal]

Alright, sure, cap, you sound real convinced about that.

[Not wanting them dead, anyway. It was kind of hard to keep that in mind with the alarms.]

Yeah, yeah, I can use a gun, I'll - get the kit, just - [Wherever the living path is, he'll take that one.] whatever ya need, I guess, but I don't remember reading this in the damn contract.

[tothefly]

You have a license for that sarcasm, kid?

[She sounds distracted, working at the control console, attempting again to gain access to anything important. And failing, but hey.]

Don't panic. Just get to a station. This might get bumpy. I'll try and get us backup.

[poetontheinside]

Sound a little freaked out over there, pal. What, you never been in a space fight before?

[Ray has definitely never been in a space fight before. He doesn't let that hold him back.]

After!

[geonomy]

[Yeah, he noticed Windrose helping them out as much as they could with no pilot, though Clay couldn't do much in return, seeing how they didn't even have weapons. Still, now that everything's done with and the power's back on, that's one voice accounted for that makes him feel relief, and it's evident in his voice, garbled as it is from the network.]

Na--? This is--quish, we--

[Oi, communicator. He gives it a shake, as if to get whatever's overloaded it out of there.]

Can you hear me? This is the SS Vanquish, we're fine over here.

After!

[tothefly]

[For all that Natasha is bent on surviving this herself, on not letting people get too close, she's still not going to let anyone get hurt if she can help it. They couldn't do much, but with two engineers and two of them on weapons, they could at least discourage a few of the attackers from targeting the Vanquish. She'd lost sight of most of the other ships when they'd hit the nebula, which is partly why every response she gets is another bit of relief.]

Clay? ...to hear you made--[a metallic CLANG]--repeat, made it. Everyone's fine here. Few cuts and bruises. Are you in the nebula?

After!

[geonomy]

No, we flew out as soon as the systems were back up. We shouldn't be staying there long. [Being in there is dangerous, especially for such a long amount of time. But realizing that Windrose doesn't have a pilot...] Are you still in there?

[tothefly]

Right in one. We're stuck here until the Marsiva gets moving again. As soon as we can reach Atroma again, I'm going to be fixing our lack of a pilot.

Any sign of a response from our friends out there, or did they run?

During attack

[pain_train]

Yes, sir.

[Wrath goes from bouncy and kind of out there to hyper focused in an instant. But she's still smiling. She's grinning, in a ferocious way, as she slides in to man the weapons systems.]

There are three in close range. I'll have a hard lock on one in ten seconds. But we need evasive maneuvering now. We're an easy target.

Re: During attack

[tothefly]

[She knows that sound in Wrath's voice. She's had it herself, has shades of it even now. But now, there's other concerns, like their lack of a pilot.]

I'm trying to get us some kind of control. Without a pilot, we're pretty much dead in the water. Vision's in engineering, he'll give you what power there is.

Right now, looks like our only defense is offense. Give them what you can.

During attack

[pain_train]

Understood.

[She should have known. This makes it a million times more difficult, because they're not going to be dodging. They're predictable. So she needs to make their firing pattern unpredictable. She's always been good at attack, but attacking while functionally holding still is another matter entirely.]

I've got a spread pattern to try to keep them away a bit, but the battery is really short range. I need them closer if we're going to be effective.

[Think, Wrath. Tactics.]

Can you fake a power loss? [Get them in close, and hopefully get them to stop firing for a minute.]