sooner or later, god'll cut you down.

[thespaceopera]

Who: Everyone
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Lato'li's orbit and also planetside.
When: Forward dated to 11/15.

[The Interceptor Fleet moves into position, waiting for the last few shield generators to fall. And in the early hours of the 15th, they do. The shield dissolves with a blip as if it was never there, leaving the man-eaters as prone as their prey. The Interceptors send out a transmission-- an unholy mix of Cockney and Australian that graces every available communicator-- if they answer it.]

We’re firin’! Do yer worst, Vieziri! We’re gonna kick yer sorry arses so hard you’ll kiss the moons!

[Five Interceptor ships swoop out of the dark and unload their various weaponry onto the Vieziri warships. At the same time, people stranded on the planet below ready the anti-aircraft guns onto their makers. And of course there is the Fleet itself, battered and yet beautiful across the velvet sky, as they fire everything they have.

Now the Vieziri start moving. Though the big red ship can’t do much maneuvering, the rest of the Vieziri warships certainly can. They fire back at the Interceptors and whoever else fires at them, willing to defend their leader and lose their lives in the process.

Luckily, the Interceptors have their own daring ships, which may look familiar to those who were here for the raider attack. One is emblazoned with racing stripes and flames all along the hull, and it moves so fast it nearly enters hyperspace. It’s there and gone in a flash, weaving past the enemy in crazy thrillseeking loops. Still another Interceptor ship is painted red and orange with a gold plate near the front, which reads BAMF with no explanation. This one has guns aplenty and easily weathers any duel it gets into. The third Interceptor ship is beautiful gold and black, sleek as hell and engineered with sense; this one packs the most gadgets and formidable guns of all calibers, and appears to do the most damage. Trailing behind is a much smaller ship, so nondescript it almost doesn’t stand out at all-- that is, until it forms a barrier to absorb some oncoming fire and reflect it back at the Vieziri.

There’s one ship that’s missing, though-- the one that was blown up several months ago after the heist. In its place is a small black ship that runs invisible to radar, sweeping past with silent speed as it lets loose a barrage of photon missiles onto the Vieziri flagship.

Down below, the Vieziri come out in full force-- one last stand before the warlord falls, trying to finish their fell rituals. Some of them rush the encampments, some go for the cities. Near the restored comms tower, a cloaked figure with a plain white mask fights their way through the onslaught using a plasma blade and a laser rifle.

After an hours-long siege, the big warship finally takes too much fire and breaks apart, lighting up the sky with falling shards like stars. The biggest debris burns up in orbit, but little pieces still rain down. It signals the end as the Vieziri begin to retreat both on ground and in the air. The loss of their leadership leaves them scattered and panicked.

The Fleet has won the day, but as the sun rises again over the wreckage, there is still plenty of work to be done.]

[ooc: Feel free to assume the Interceptors are helping your ships! The gold and black ship can be hailed and will give responses, as she’s been the main point of contact during this plot. You can also run into Zhade, though tags will be slow for both accounting for RL things. Please mark Zhade or Interceptors in the header of your toplevel if you’d like NPC interaction.

Any questions should be asked on the plot post for phase two.]

Comments

Sokka | Planetside | OTA

[alwayscomeback]

[The Siege]

[Sokka is no stranger to a battle. He spent his years from birth to sixteen living in a world at war- and that last year he was an active part of it. He's faced foes a thousand times worse (the Vieziri, at least, can't throw fire and lightning at him) this, this he can handle. But even an experienced fighter can be overwhelmed by numbers.

He's been doing well, flinging out his boomerang to catch the more far-out Vieziri, while getting the closer ones with sweeps of his space sword. He's definitely been making headway- it's just unfortunate that one of the Vieziri manages to cut through the ranks, driving a spear down into the back of Sokka's arm, just below the shoulder. He cries out in pain and surprise, turning to slice his sword up to bring the Vieziri down. He's definitely not doing as hot any more though, his one arm dangling uselessly as he tries to slice around him with his sword arm.

Might be an idea to help him out or possibly drag him out of there, because he is not budging. ]

[Aftermath]

[Eventually, he is dragged away from the fight. Once it's all over, and he's been bandaged up, he's moving around again- checking on people. Primarily his crew, but if he notices anyone who's blatantly from the Fleet, he'll head over to them. ]

Hey. How're you holding up?

Aftermath; because i suck at combat scenes

[bryces_pup]

[Riona's a bit banged up, but she's suffered worse in the past. Honestly, her injuries are minor, especially compared to Sokka's.]

I'm not too bad. How's your arm? That looked like a nasty wound you got back there.

Aftermath; I hear you there

[alwayscomeback]

[He very almost goes to rolls his shoulder automatically, but manages to stop himself in time. That, well, that would suck a lot. ]

I'll be doing stuff one handed for a while, but I'v had worse.

[That's a blatant lie, the worst he's done before is break his leg. ]

Glad you're good- hopefully all of this mess is over now.

[bryces_pup]

[Please don't do that, Sokka. She's so not qualified to deal with that fallout.]

I'd hate to see what that "worse" was. That really tore into your shoulder and arm. [Maaaaaybe she should nab Anders later on and have him speed up the healing process. Otherwise, that arm could be out of commission for weeks, if not longer.]

We can only hope. I'm ready to be rid of this forsaken place.

[alwayscomeback]

Well, that's what I get for not paying attention- lesson learned, it won't happen again.

[He'd appreciate that, he kind of needs his arm. Who knows what Atroma will throw at them next. ]

Ugh, me too. I want our ship to be spacebourne again and actually have maybe a week of worrying about exactly nothing. Just a week, one singular not-crazy week.

[bryces_pup]

If nothing else, it'll leave a scar. And you can brag about it and exaggerate the story to your heart's content.

[That's what scars are good for. Well, and to look attractive. Hopefully.]

Sounds like a far off dream. Wishful thinking and the like. Which I know sounds ridiculous since it's not like we've been here for months and months, but it almost feels like it.

[alwayscomeback]

Ooooh, I do like to be able to exaggerate my scar story. Maybe I can add to the number of Vieziri that were actually attacking me.

[There were already a lot of them, come on, Sokka.]

It really does feel like we've been stuck here forever. But if there's one thing I've learned from life on the Fleet is that nothing stays the same forever.

Aftermath; assuming the different teams are in a position to seek one another out

[tough_love]

[She may not have lost the use of a limb, but Looma's...well. She'd seen better days. Her armor's pockmarked with scorch marks from too many hits to count- though it still fared better than the fur cloak at her back, which was now riddle with holes and looked to have actually caught fire in several places. And there are several shallow cuts from Vieziri blades covering her arms, evidence that some of the stronger "hunters" possessed the sort of determination necessary to at least inflict minor wounds up close.

Though that wasn't to say she'd only escaped with minor injuries. Much of the left side of her head was wrapped in bloodied bandages she hadn't gotten around to changing yet. Whatever hit her, hit her hard, seeing as how she had several folded up and secured against her neck as well.]

Fine.

[Not the most convincing response, given her current state and the occasional wince or hiss that she failed to hide, but at least she was among the living. She even managed something of a pained grin at seeing his own injuries.]

If you were that eager to wear the scars of battle, I would have gladly provided them myself.

[Well, she was clearly in good spirits- that had to count for something, right?]

aww yee action forever

[alwayscomeback]

[He smiles, honestly glad to see she's got through this alright. He knows better than to fuss over her injuries- she probably sees them as badges of honour. Those bandages around her head are worrying, though. ]

Aww~ That's you all over, Looma. Always a giver.

[He casts his arm a look, rather annoyed that he let himself be caught at all, honestly. He won't be using that for a while. They better have a damn rest month after all of this. ]

What happened to your head? I'd say I hoped they came off worse than you, but I already know that's true.

[tough_love]

One quality that is not given nearly the praise it deserves.

[She's just as aware as he is that joking or not, that's veering into a gray area as far as honesty is concerned. She does give great gifts, just...very, very infrequently.]

There were unexpected...complications in breaking through the Vieziri's defenses.

[That was putting it mildly- the heavy machine guns, they'd seen while surveying the field before the attack. The other heavy weaponry, not so much.]

They had cannon, and hubris.

I dealt with both!

[Loudly and violently, not to mention with considerably less exuberance than was currently on display. And really, Sokka was probably much happier not knowing the details. Or what she'd put his hammer through before being forced to leave it behind. Or, well, who.]

And what of your battle? It would be a shame if you were granted a wound without a good story!

[alwayscomeback]

I know, right? We really should work better on that.

[Maybe a Looma Appreciation Day or something. ]

That I don't doubt at all. You gonna heal up okay, or did they leave an actual scar?

[He knows which one she'd PREFER so he manages to keep his worried tone to a minimum. ]

I wish it had a good story, but it was just plain old being caught off guard with one from behind while I was trying to fight off a couple from the front. So sorry, it's not the most adventurous story ever.

[tough_love]

Oh, they did!

[She sounds...she sounds way happier about this than most people would be. More than anyone should be, really. And she looks it, too- she's smiling ear to ear figuratively speaking and clasping her hands together like she's just been given the best gift ever. Probably because as far as she's concerned, she was.]

Though I am told it is likely I am likely to regain use of the other eye- eventually.

[She almost sounds disappointed at that, but not terribly so- she's at least guaranteed to come out of this whole mess with at least one sweet battle scar, after all. He's right about something else, too: that story was terrible. And he'll get a teasing punch to his good arm as punishment.]

The story has potential nonetheless- it is the delivery that's boring!

[alwayscomeback]

[She is so freaking weird, but he can't help but be charmed by it. At least it's not a bad kind of weird. Sort of endearing, in a smash-y kind of way. ]

Well, you don't want your depth to go completely. Think how hard it would make it to hit people. You'd keep missing them and then what fun would it be?

[He joking but also very aware she'd probably take that seriously. He laughs, stumbling a little because sweet lord she can punch, teasing or not.]

Oh? Have you got a more dramatic way of retelling it? I'd love to hear it.

Siege!

[namisan]

[Help out? Sure thing.]

Sokka, get down!

[Well, if you ever wanted to see what one of Nami's blinding lightning storms does to a bunch of live targets-- there's a loud cracking sound from above. Despite her warning to Sokka, he's perfectly safe unless he decides to run into the crowd for some reason-- she has enough control over the climatact for that. But two seconds later, lightning forks down above, slamming into ground and Vieziri alike, leaving host of smoking bodies in the near vicinity, some of them still twitching.

Have some breathing space?]

[alwayscomeback]

[She is a good friend, the best. He does as asked, trying and failing to ignore the searing pain in his arm from the action. Frackfrackfrack. He pus a hand on it to try and at least slow the blood flow while Nami does he lighting thing. It really is very much like watching Zuko's lighting. Impressive- but something he knows is dangerous as hell if he goes near it.

He stumbles out of the way, cutting down another Vieziri in the way as he makes it to a safer clearing. ]

Thanks for the assist. [She gets a smile and a bloody thumbs-up. Please save him before he passes out.]

[namisan]

[Nami flashes him a quick grin at the thumbs up, which vanishes when she catches sight of just how much blood there is. She glances up make a quick tally of whether she really has time to make an issue of it, and then follows Sokka's lead. It's a little quieter here, at least for a moment.]

How bad is it?

[alwayscomeback]

[Sokka takes another peek at it, grimacing. ]

Ow. Okay, yeah ow. [He puts his hand back on it to try and stem the bloodflow. ]

Well I probably won't die, but it would be super cool if I got to a healer so I could still you know. Have a left arm. That's be neat.

[namisan]

Okay. I can get you off the battle field reasonably fast, assuming we don't get a literal wall of these guys. [She's judging that hole in his arm, and reaches down to tear a band of cloth from the bottom of her shirt. It's not clean, but she just wants to stem the blood flow and give Sokka both hands free.]

Here. Stopgap. [Gimme that arm.] You feel dizzy?

[Please don't feel dizzy.]

[alwayscomeback]

Let's try to avoid any potential walls of people trying to kill us. That's be great.

[She's a good friend, she is. He offers up the arm with argument. ]

Nah, I'm still good on that one. Thanks.

And Aftermath I'm so Late I'm Sorry

[hollystrike]

[This idiot. Going to check on random people before he comes to see her. Honestly, Sokka.

She's not minded to see such a careless promise get him in trouble this time, though, so you can bet Katie suddenly surfaces in his path sooner rather than later, eyebrows at maximum arch. Judgemental staring, go.]

So?

Aftermath, it's all good

[alwayscomeback]

[OH NO NOT THAT LOOK. Sokka's eyes widen, raising his one good arm up in surrender. ]

DON'T DO ANYTHING WEIRD TO ME I WAS CORNERED!!

[hollystrike]

[...goddamn, Sokka, her irritation just vanished in a cloud of vast amusement okay. That is a beautiful response.]

Hmm. I suppose it depends on what you mean by "anything weird". Do you want to keep the hole in your arm?

[alwayscomeback]

I don't know, I can never guess with you.

[She might help him or turn him into a TOAD. It could go either way.]

But no, no I do not.

[hollystrike]

[If it helps, she can't turn you into a toad.

...she can make you think she did for a few hot seconds, though :D]

A wise choice, really.

[And here she is holding her hand out like she expects him to give her something.]

[alwayscomeback]

[See it's things like this that make him twitchy around you, woman. ]

...I...what do you. Do you want my arm? [Fearful whisper. ] Are you gonna rip it off?