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

[alwayscomeback]

That would be pretty gross, and we wouldn't want to throw it out too close to the ship. Who knows what it'd attract.

[Nothing good, probably. ]

And hopefully they're edible animals. And not...weird alien poisonous ones. I mean, someone shot us down right? So there's people here, they have to eat something.

[Ha. Ha. ]

[bryces_pup]

If it comes down to having to toss it, I say we suck it up until we get into the air, then toss it out the airlock as we go. Rather a stinky kitchen then attracting a horde of... whatever to the ship.

[The locks can only do so much.]

One would think. And the people in the towns scattered around eat as well, and I doubt they import much, given the state of things.

[alwayscomeback]

Too true. We can live with a smell, not with...well. Whatever will obviously want to kill us here.

[He sighs. It strikes a little too close at home for him. ]

Yeah. Living in constant terror or raiders will do that to you. They'd stick close to each other and not stray too far out of areas they know are relatively safe. It wouldn't be safe to import things- I'd bet most of these villages have been completely isolated from one another for years.

[bryces_pup]

No, very likely they haven't been out and about much since these Vieziri showed up. Even ships aren't safe, given how we got shot down from the damned air.

[STILL FEEL LIKE SHIT ABOUT THAT.]

I should get going and see what's going on out there. Unless you rather I stick inside and try to make sure everyone's all right first?

[alwayscomeback]

It would make a lot of sense to stick to one place.

No no, it's cool. You go see what you can see, I'll see if I can do something with the ship. Call if you need me. Really loudly.

[Seen as no comms haaaa.]

[bryces_pup]

No worries, I will scream at the top of my lungs if I run into trouble.

[The smart thing to do would be to grab someone else to go with, but...]

Be careful. I won't be gone too long.

[alwayscomeback]

That's a great plan and I approve.

[That WOULD be the smart thing, but they're the Blue Fish, so!]

Okay, see you real soon. Stay safe.