it's gonna rain - and it never ends

[thespaceopera]

[ It's midday, or close enough to it that the sun is blazing red hot above the planet. Everything seems ordinary - for disturbing, red-tinted values of ordinary, anyway. But the normalcy doesn't last for long.

Without warning, an explosive sound shocks through the jungle. It doesn't come from any one central point, but rather several points, scattered throughout, strategically placed to the advantage of someone. And from those massive shocks rises a wave of missiles - large, fast, and apparently, freely flying. They're guided, and they've locked onto their target: any foreign ship that is currently within Lato'li's atmosphere.

There's no way to mistake it. They're headed right for the Fleet.

The first wave feels a bit sporadic - timings might be off, but the missiles are still deadly, and if they hit, they hit hard. Shields might withstand this wave, but ships without shields will take direct hits. The ability to stay airborn is very, very quickly lost.

The second wave is much more precise, expertly timed and executed by whomever is firing from below. Even smaller shuttles get caught in the crosshairs, and those ships that lasted through the first volley will take a few more shots. If shields saved you before, they will fail here, giving out under the strain.

And the third wave comes, a little bit longer after, to finish the job. There are more of them, and they are far more advanced - they make the previous two volleys look like warning shots. This time, it's all missiles launched, all targets acquired.

Seven Fleet ships - and many, many shuttles - fall out of the sky, headed straight for the surface at alarming speed. Only four ships manage to escape the assault and exit the planet's atmosphere, retreating to orbit as fast as possible. Those lucky enough to have been in orbit can only watch as all of this happens.

But the missiles aren't the only thing up their sleeve. Just when the dust settles, while the network is surely lighting up with activity, attempts to contact one another and check on the status of fellow ships and crew, A loud, quick, terrible screeching noise shocks the network. It drowns out all communications on any connected devices - ship or personal. Ships in orbit will see all on-board systems flicker, then fizzle out, all non-emergency systems have gone completely down.

And with that.. there's silence. Perhaps too much silence. No matter what you do, no matter which buttons you press, which channels you try, there is no connection. Those who have dropped to the surface are entirely radio silent, and those in orbit have been reduced to the barest of abilities and life-support, with the bare minimum of contact.

So... What can you do now? ]


(( ooc: Feel free to use this post as a mingle for all your crashy or missile-dodgy needs!

• The following ships have been shot down: Bishop, Bloodsport, Blue Fish, Goldstone, Heron, Tourist, Twin Roses.
• The following ships are now in orbit: Blameless, Caprine, First Breath, Huntress, Iskaulit, Red Fish, Starstruck, Vanquish, Wonderduck

Good luck, Dear Fleet...~ ♪ ))

Comments

[servantnotserving]

[They can be at least glad that half of them can get by without food. Thanks curse. Of course, the same curse makes them really unhelpful in general heavy work. You win some, you lose some. ]

Oui. We need to make sure we won't lose anything vital like oxygen or gravity. Once we know we aren't dead in the water-uh space - then we will be able to move on from that. There are other ships. Perhaps then we can create some way of rescuing the others.

[english_dignity]

I can get started on the repairs immediately if the rest of you handle the fires and notify me of where you spot damages. I'll start on the life support systems to make sure they're stable. Are there any other places you need lights sent to?

[Might as well put his spells to use. It was just too bad he didn't have one that could just fix the ship all at once.]

[timelysteward]

All right, we have a battle plan.

[Cogsworth slapped one brass fist against the other, his expression determined.]

So we split up to put out the fires, Arthur will fix the ship, and then we will see what we can do to get down to the surface to rescue our people!

[He paused, then cleared his throat.]

... does anyone know precisely how we are going to do that without getting shot to bits and pieces?

[servantnotserving]

[Lumière gives a little salute.]

I will do what I can to get our communication back online.

[Don't ask Lumière questions like this. ]

A lot of dodging?

[humene]

Until we can take out their weapons, I don't think we have any other options.

[Which sounded...not great.]

But, after that last wave, I believe we should be safe. We've made it this far without taking heavy damage.

[english_dignity]

It sounds better than playing dead and hoping they buy it.

[Which would have also been not great.]

I'll get to work right away.

[Grabs his tools to get started again.]