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

[livesfastdiesung]

Whatever you guys think is safest...

[They're still better at this whole survival thing than she is, so she's gonna just go with them, and she starts walking in the agreed upon direction.]

Anyway, we don't know if they were holding back guns or somethin'. They could've been testin' us and hopin' they'd get what they wanted without them. We just surprised them with the singing.

[moseyin]

[They could switch to guns later, but Cloud isn't betting on it. In fact, he's hoping they get out of the woods without any more confrontations like that; it had been way too close for comfort, either of them could've easily been stabbed if they hadn't caught them with the singing.]

That wasn't just surprise, it definitely did something. Can you guys keep that up as we move?

[axi]

Of course we can, we've done it during conditions much worse than this. [Like always being shot at. Or with their friend bleeding by their feet.

Kaname moves past Freyja, taking point again, with Cloud to bring up the rear.] For now, it'll be better if we switch off singing, if only to keep lines of communication open. Freyja, I'll take care of it for a bit so you can rest, all right?

[And she does begin a new song, a calmer one this time. Hopefully it takes some of the edge off of them.]

[livesfastdiesung]

[Freyja can't say the break isn't welcome, but she still can't help but sway even as she walks with Cloud and Kaname.]

Kaname-san is right. We've done it under a lot worse than that! A lot of the time, if we're not moving, we're gonna get hurt really badly.

[moseyin]

[Well the path down into the valley isn't exactly a hiking trail, so Cloud goes first to test out the stability before checking back to see if either of them need any assistance coming down.] What's a lot worse than that? You almost got your head lopped off.

[axi]

[Kaname remains singing as she partially slides/walks down the trail, nodding to Cloud in a thanks anyway type of thing. Carry on, since she won't join in the conversation for a little bit.]

[livesfastdiesung]

We've been shot at! There've been things thrown at us, and there were some times where I'd be dead if Hayate hadn't protected me... [And she never, ever doubted that Hayate would protect her.] Ehh, and on my home planet, they were gonna execute us 'cause we were traitors, especially me, 'cause I was singin' for the enemy.

Violence just kinda happens, and it's always scary, but we can't help the people we're supposed to help if we don't sing in those kinds of situations.

[And that's when she starts trying to get down. She's actually somewhat decent at doing it, minus a few stumbles here and there. She grew up on a snowy planet, so while not the same, it's helped her learn how to be careful while traversing some terrain.]

[moseyin]

[Oh good, they're both mountain goats. Not that he thought Kaname couldn't, what with the...jumping from orbit thing.]

Sounds hard. [Cloud squints at the trees in the upper end of the valley, looking for any flashes of metal or rustling indicating an approach] I can fight easy enough, but singing too? Too much brainwork.

[livesfastdiesung]

Kinda. But it's okay, 'cause it helps people out. Singin' just comes naturally after awhile!

[At the very least, for the moment, it doesn't seem like anything is approaching.]

[moseyin]

[After one more look around -and checking with the two idols for any readings- Cloud waves them across the valley, keeping a pace between them and checking and forth as they make their way to the other ridge of the valley slope.]

If there's anybody here they might be waiting for you to stop singing, Kaname. Or we just got lucky and only ran into a small hunting party.

[livesfastdiesung]

Mm, but we don't know for sure, so if Kaname-san needs a break then I can take over for her, too.

[She's sure to keep checking everything out with her technails here and there, though, just to be sure.]

I didn't think our singin' would work as well here, but it's nice to see that it does what we need it to do.