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

[Private; Audio]

[geonomy]

Preeeetty much.

My guess is that the metal of our ships conducted the ionized energy, which might be the reason they didn't completely fall apart. It's possible that the material and general shapes of the ships resisted the flow of it, enough to keep itself intact, but not enough to keep all of our mechanical and electrical equipment from overloading. Everything's relatively fine now, but I'm betting we'll still see the effects of it for a little while longer, depending on how hard the ship was hit. And since it was hit by a nebula... It could take weeks for everything to fully recover. That's my estimate, at least.

[Private; Audio]

[save_the_souls]

Weeks? [And we're lucky that it's just that? Shiiiiiiiit.] That's insane. I'm grateful we might be able to fly to a waystation or planet, but Sokka and Hiro might give themselves heart attacks trying to fix everything else.

[Glitchy computers and lights, that's going to be his dear captain and nephew's end. But speaking of heart attacks-]

If a nebula can do that much damage to our equipment, how unhealthy is it for us to be near that much ionized gas? [And wait-] And what about our augments? They're electrical too!

[Private; Audio]

[geonomy]

I think we'll be fine. These ships have seen better days, yeah, but they did their job when it came to protecting us from the nebula. [He gives the floor an appreciative pat; sure, Vanquish is pretty junky compared to, say, Blue Fish, but hey, it's still his baby.]

As for our augments... Yeah, we might see a few glitches from them, too. They're connected right to us, so - hey, you're lab support, right? You might expect people to talk about aches and pains from that area. Take all of that with a grain of salt; I mean, someone can wear a watch when lightning strikes their house and their wrist is fine. But something like an augment under our skin...

[Private; Audio]

[save_the_souls]

That's a relief to hear. [And he sounds so. Side effects of nebulae wasn't exactly in his medical education] Thank you for your hard work, ships. [He makes a mental note to tell Sokka some of this too. He'll appreciate knowing how much Blue Fish shielded her crew. ]

[The bit about the augments though, not so much. He takes what Clay says for consideration, and adds-]

...Under our skin and connected to our central nervous systems, you mean. [Brilliant job Atroma, really] Aches and pains aren't so bad, but last time the augments glitched they caused erratic behaviours and moods from people. Nothing too dangerous, but it's probably worth keeping in mind if any of your crew start acting strangely.

[Private; Audio]

[geonomy]

Right, I will. I haven't actually seen an augment glitch happen before, so thanks for letting me know. [This way, he won't be too caught off guard if his crew - or he himself - acts strangely. He can't help rubbing at the back of his neck uncomfortably at that; shit's weird, man.]

Hey... be careful, okay? I'll see you when we're on more solid ground.

[Private; Audio]

[save_the_souls]

[Awww Clay. There's a pause before he responds in a more reassuring tone]

Of course. I'll be fine. We all will. Especially with you around to let us know what to expect. [Seriously, just knowing what's going on helps ease Allen's nerves- even if it's not great news] Thank you for that.

Just please go find a spot to scream. And then we'll have a nice date on solid ground when we reach a planet. Okay?

[Private; Audio]

[geonomy]

[There's a pause on his end as well before he smiles, more to make himself feel better than anything.]

Yeah, we'll be fine! WE'RE FINE!

I'm expecting the worst movie possible from you, okay?

[Private; Audio]

[save_the_souls]

[Whoa- he has to pull his communicator away from his ear when Clay shouts. That guy sure has volume. But it makes him chuckle a little]

Yes, we're fine!

Don't worry, provided my television still works- I won't settle for anything less than atrocious.