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

[edwinjarvis]

[... Ack. Jarvis blinks, one hand moving to the back of his head, where it's rather sore -- and his neck is feeling it particularly. There's a wet spot on his forearm, and he flexes it experimentally; just a cut, he thinks, probably from a fritzing piece of the machinery that shot lose in the collision. At any rate, his adrenaline is allowing him a moment of kindness from the sting of it.

It takes him a moment to actually remember what's going on, and that's probably because his brain's been thoroughly rattled. The darkness is heavy and new, and when he hears Howard calling for him, he wonders how real the dull thud in his head actually is. He'd known by Howard's anxious glance that it was no good, that hitting the ground was inevitable, and so...]

... We're not dead, are we?

[There he is, it's ya boy, Jarvis.]

[speedboat]

[ howard holds his breath until he hears the other man speak, letting out a breath and a cough at once. ] Thanks to me. [ a mutter, but nowhere near his usual bravado. just a statement. once his eyes start to adjust to the dark he releases his flight harness and tumbles in a calculated way to the floor. for himself he has a few superficial cuts on his face and arms, but he isn't feeling much of anything yet -- all he can think about is checking on jarvis anyway, hearing his voice doesn't mean he's alright. ]

Stay put, I'm coming. [ there's debris and a lot of glass between him and the other man, but thankfully as his eyes adjust more and more things appear more or less fine. though when he appears by jarvis's side his eyes go immediately to the blood soaking through his shirt. ] You're alright. [ it's said with much palpable relief, holding out a hand to help the other man up. ]

[edwinjarvis]

I wouldn't say anything is alright, at the moment.

[His eyes are also doing him the favor of adjusting, and he looks at Howard with some level of relief; last time he'd seen him in an accident, it had been his life getting stolen, after all. He's not about to let Mr. Stark get killed on his watch. Where on earth are the firearms around here? They need to go get them, with haste.]

I fear we may be getting raided again; we need to stay low.

[His voice is low, careful. He puts a hand over the bleeding cut.]

Do you hear anything?

[speedboat]

Well, okay, but we're alive old pal. That's something. [ he taps jarvis affectionately on the shoulder before proceeding to help him up and starting to guide him through debris. ]

I don't think so-- at least not yet. Comms are down, Princess-- The captain. She said to head to the bridge.

[edwinjarvis]

Very well -- stay close by, Mr. Stark, in case anything happens.

[And Jarvis is -- taking point, rather brazenly. It's not necessarily against his character at the end of the day, when one considers his willingness to rush in and help Miss Carter, or to try and rescue certain redheads from danger in their wartime countries, but there's a sort of newfound determination to keep himself between danger and Howard Stark. Ha. Funny, that.

He switches on the comms device in his hand for a little added light, letting his wounded arm hover closer to him than outward.

Shall we head toward the others, then?]

I wish I'd kept a torch close by; what an oversight....

[speedboat]

[ if he notices jarvis being overzealous, he doesn't let on, sticking close by as the other man suggests. it helps that he's hiding his terror just under the surface as it is. ]

We just have to find Pidge, she'll get the systems back up in no time. [ he grabs onto jarvis' good arm to keep himself from tripping over some fallen beams. this is going to take some time to fix if he's honest. even with her engineer augment and his help, of course. ]

[edwinjarvis]

Pidge -- the young lady in glasses? I do hope she's alright...

[He's worried about everyone ever, even people he's not too familiar with. After all, as much as he's loathe to admit it (especially with the shit he's seen), he's found a small place among the people here. They're a community. Howard at least distracts him from being gung-ho about this, though he makes sure to give Howard a helpful arm whenever he happens to need it.]

... I wonder if every ship went down, or only a few.

[speedboat]

She's fine. [ was that too quick? maybe he's sick of losing people too. he glances over at jarvis before continuing on, fielding debris. ] She's... resourceful. And I'm a genius. We'll find her.

...No way to know until Comms are back up. We'll check on the Tourist and Starstruck ASAP. [ but he has this feeling they're both still in the air. what if it's just them down here?

[edwinjarvis]

... Miss Carter is likely somewhere furiously fuming.

[He pities whoever is around her, foe or otherwise.]

I had thought you'd missed the worst of it, but I suppose where there's smoke, there's fire that... somehow catches everything else on fire, too.