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

[universal_charm]

_{[ He rubbed at his head, groaning. ]}

It's like every other time this happens. We always end up with to little information, not nearly enough to get us to the other side.

_{[ His frown deepened, fingers digging into his biceps. ]}

We just have to do what we always do - attack the problems in front of us and keep moving forward. Which right now would be communications and keeping alive. You haven't seen any of the natives around, have you?

[candothat]

We wouldn't be fun to watch if we knew what was going on.

[Pavel doesn't seem as concerned about the thought that they're being toyed with as he probably ought to be.]

In the interest of both restoring communications and keeping alive, I have stayed inside the ship. [Not that Chekov isn't perfectly willing to take up a gun and traipse around the forest, but that would hardly be the best use of his time or strengths.] The natives have not, so far as I know, made any attempts to get in. Fenris would know more about their movements.

[universal_charm]

<sub>[ He nodded, more than well aware that his love was out there patrolling. It bothered him, but that was the best place for Fenris - he was a good fighter, and vicious. A match for the things attacking them. He could admit he did feel better knowing the other was out guarding their borders, so to speak.

It certainly gave him the ability to concentrate more on the interior work. ]</sub>

What's your status on that? The communications I mean?

_{[ Kirk had been focusing on restoring possibly defense systems they had and making sure their life support was in working order. ]}

[candothat]

[The whole situation would be far less stressful if they could just all stay inside and focus on regrouping and repairs, but the Lato'li seem too determined to get at them to make that an option.

And, of course, there are members of their group who would choose fighting even if it wasn't strictly necessary.

He makes a decidedly irritated Russian sound.] Everything should he working now. Should. Everything is not working and I cannot account for it. All other vital systems are operating at least nominally, but communications remains unresponsive.

[universal_charm]

_{[ At least they had a ship to repair this time. The last time, well, they had lost everything. And then more or less repaired another abandoned ship, but it wasn't the same. All things considered, Kirk could probably say it wasn't the worst situation they had ever been in, but it wasn't the best either. ]}

Maybe it's outside influence. If they have the ability to shoot us down, it's likely they can jam us if they want too. We should keep trying, but in the meantime focus on the rest of the ship.

_{[ He wiped a hand over his face, the interior hot. ]}

I think we're as close to done with the inside as we can be soon, then we'll need to move to the outside. We need her as ready to break atmosphere as we can.

[candothat]

[The only real advantage they had had on Altamid was their crew. As much as Chekov appreciates everyone on the Tourist, they aren't exactly experts in the field of ship repair, even with the augments.

That and no one on Altamid had been this intent on murdering them.]

I agree that most of our problems now are outside. There is extensive damage to the hull and the engine's external casing and, at this moment, we would either fall apart or explode impressively if we attempted to leave the planet's atmosphere.

[While he's stating the obvious...]

Working out there will be very dangerous.

[universal_charm]

_{[ No, they aren't. But really, who is in the Fleet? Kirk could count on his hand the people he knew who had experience with ships - well, maybe hands, but still. It was few, and certainly none of them counted among their crew. It certainly made things difficult, but the rest had been trying in their own ways, and he couldn't ask very much more of them than that. ]}

Yes, it will be. But Fenris is around the perimeter, and both he and Hawke have extensive battle experience. You can trust them to have your back. But we should definitely work in pairs. No one alone. That's asking for trouble.

_{[ He shook his head. That rule would probably have to bent for Fenris because... Fenris, but he and Chekov needed to focus their efforts right now. The sooner they were repaired, or, well, taped together enough not to explode, the better. ]}

[candothat]

[They all have their talents. That most of their shipmates' talents involve killing things happens to be extremely fortunate sometimes.

He nodded, pleased that sensible precautions against being murdered were being taken. Working outside alone, however inadvisable, would not be an entirely un-Kirk-like thing to do.]

I doubt that Fenris will agree to that. [Not that he was overly concerned about Fenris's odds against their enemies.

He checked the gun at his side to ensure that it was loaded.] I have done all that I can in here if you would like to begin exterior repairs.

[universal_charm]

_{[ It certainly was, as much as he wished it were not. ]}

Fenris doesn't like agreeing to a lot of things, but it is worth a try.

_{[ He honestly wasn't much up to fighting with Fenris over it, and the other was skill enough that Kirk didn't worry overmuch. Now getting him to rest was another thing. Not even Fenris had unlimited amounts of energy. ]}

Which do you think we should tackle first? The little things, and knock them off the list, or should we do the major ones that will affect atmosphere escape?

[candothat]

What? He is an eminently agreeable person.

[That was the opposite of the truth and they both know it.]

Major ones. The ones that will definitely kill us, then the ones that may kill us, and then the ones that are likely survivable.

[universal_charm]

Seems like a good enough order to me. Right, let's get the supplies then - and weapons. One of us will work at a time. At the least, I want one of us up and in a position to switch to defense as quickly as possible.

_{[ He sucked his tongue behind his teeth, hoping that their weapons had not been to badly damaged in the crash and that they had good enough charges. ]}