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

[luxoraculi]

[ Luna might be able to compare such a feeling to how it felt after covenants being forged at home. She is fortunate enough not to have the ability to speak with planets, especially in this particular situation they seem to have found themselves in. Right now, however, she is focused on their surroundings and trying to think of what to do next. She is glad to have found Aerith -- there is safety in numbers, after all, and the poor woman looks like she needs a bit of a shoulder to lean on right now. ]

I'm pleased to hear that you are uninjured. [ At that last bit, she nods in agreement, slowly turning her gaze towards the forest. ] Indeed we do, but it seems like we may be grounded for a bit. So long as we all stick together and do our best, I think everything is going to be alright. We will be back in the air in no time, I promise.

[asphodels]

[ It's incredibly uncomfortable, and Aerith is beginning to realise that she needs to distance herself from the Planets that are not their own. Her home world knew how to communicate with her, knew how to speak with her, because it was used to the Ancients and the Lifestream. This world... It is vicious and cruel, painful on her mind, and she knows she needs to take a step back, no matter how much her heart and her empathy are calling for her. ]

I hope so. [ Aerith shifts, pushing herself up a little, considering for a moment. She looks around, frowning. ] I feel like... There is something we're missing. It's... [ Breathing out, she makes herself a little more comfortable. ] Do we have somewhere safe to go?

[luxoraculi]

[ She most definitely should. This will lead to nothing good and seems to be rather toxic. Her own gaze shifts around, taking in the jungle and what she knows is out there. They're being watched, she can feel it; it makes her skin crawl. This is damn near like the scene from her vision, if she can be honest. ]

There is something we are missing, but I've yet to figure that much out. [ One last sweeping gaze to the jungle, before she allows Aerith to fall back in her line of sight. She offers the other woman another smile. ] As of right now, I've no idea what the plan is. I do not know if there is anywhere safe to go per-say, but what I do know is that there is safety in numbers. I think that our best course of action is to find and stay with as many people as we can right now.

[asphodels]

We shouldn't venture too far from our ships yet, I think. [ She keeps getting distracted by the planet, by the way it calls for her, the itch to reach back despite knowing what it's going to do or say still present. She has to force herself to focus on Lunafreya, on the woman in front of her, before she breathes out and frowns, arms crossed over her chest. ] We have the wreckage as a place to keep ourselves safe, but until we know where everyone else is and we can communicate there's nothing else we can do, right? We need to be able to talk.

[ Which isn't something she has the knowledge to do, unfortunately. Slowly, Aerith moves, pushing herself up onto wobbly feet, looking at the jungle and wondering how far they can go before it'll get dangerous. They'll need food, and water, and she's not sure if anything survived the crash. ] Do you think we can try and contact the people who didn't crash?

[luxoraculi]

No... no, we shouldn't, you are absolutely right. [ Except Luna wants to, and once she knows Aerith is okay enough to leave on her own, she'll do exactly that. She's lost sight of Noctis, anyways, and she's going to have to track him down again, too. ] I suppose so. The only thing we can do is try and help those injured... Noctis and I were fortunate enough to be planetside when the attack started, so we split up to search for survivors and injured. I was hoping to gather people in one spot so we could have a group discussion on what to do next, but I don't know if that will be possible.

[ Luna stands, too, and picks up the trident she'd been carrying earlier again. ] I would assume communications are long gone... there may be some salvageable parts in the ships that we can try to fix, though.

[asphodels]

[ Aerith supposes she was quite lucky; she managed to crash with both her boyfriends nearby so she doesn't need to venture too far. The people she cares about the most are right here with her, and that means her entire focus is here, too. She doesn't know if it's the same for Luna, or if her husband is anywhere nearby at all. ] We can try and use this as a central location, perhaps? It's always good to have a headquarters to come back to!

[ It had worked when she had been travelling with Cloud before, and it might work now. Frowning, she looks around. Can they defend it? Will Zack be okay if someone attacks? Will she? She has her ice materia, but... ] We should see what we can do. If we want to keep people safe that's most important.

[luxoraculi]

[ Luna will be extremely pleased to find Noctis sooner than later -- she feels bad that they had to separate at all, but there's still a lot of ground to cover and the injured and dazed need as much backup as they can get right now. She nods her head -- this would be ideal, considering they both have friends on this ship. ] Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea, you are absolutely right.

[ Her gaze shifts and out to the forest where she swears she can hear things moving around. It's probably just her imagination, though. ] Agreed. I'm going to continue on momentarily and see how many injured we have and how bad the damage truly is. Noctis and I will meet you back here in a few hours.