Once More, with Feeling...

[thespaceopera]

[It comes at some point in the mid-afternoon, not that space is anything but timeless. The Fleet holds its collective breath as a lone figure works tireless at the controls, surrounded by as much machinery as could be feasibly cobbled together in the span of a few short weeks… But Zhade is here and working hard, and at last he finds an opening.

Communicators and consoles light up everywhere, broadcasting his voice and half-shrouded face in a broad echo. There's nothing to lose, and no reason to hide themselves any longer.]

This is Zhade! Prepare yourselves-- the shields are about to come down! You'll need to hit it with everything you have. Spells, cannons, everything, all of it. Don't you dare hold back, not after the heroics you've shown us time and time again!

[He wipes some sweat from his scarred brow and hits a button, broadcasting instead an image of the Marsiva. The space around it crackles and sparks visibly, lightning rippling over the barrier in a honeycomb fashion. This is the same view as from any of the Fleet's windows. The audio picks up the sound of things sparking and crackling around Zhade, but this doesn't slow him at all.

Instead, he roars a simple command:]

FIRE—!

[The shields are down, and all is laid bare.

What happens next is up to the combined strength of the Fleet, whether they are firing upon the ship to maintain a distraction or boarding the ship themselves.]



[ooc: Please see the latest drift post for information on toplevels, threading, etc. and what to expect.]

Comments

( SORRY this week killed me )

[queenmonarch]

[ Monarch nods as she searches through the system for the answer to Vision's question, but in the end, it doesn't really matter! Because Wanda flips the switches and beats her to it. ]

It's a backup kill-switch, so it's manual only. It should--

[ Yyyep, there it goes! All power in the room shuts down, and the familiar sound of massive amounts of electricity suddenly going dark echoes heavily against the walls. All of the live wires stop, and only two of the computer monitors remain lit at all: the one Monarch is using, and another on the other side of the room.

The pain is gone, replaced with a wave of relief that everyone can feel. There's a moment's hesitation, and then it tentatively begins to sing a song... And when there's no sign of electrical punishment, the song grows and grows!! Hope! Thank you! ]

[ But Monarch walks over to the glass, gently raps her knuckles against it, looking thoughtful. ]

Okay, but all we did was turn off the power. It's still in there.

[ And suddenly, the light is mentally tugging at Vision and Wanda, guiding them to look at the other monitor. If they do, they'll see the name Marsiva along with what looks very much like biometrics - alien ones, sure, with values that seem exponentially off of any charts on a humanoid scale. The very last lines read:

"Ready for inhabitable planet formation?: NO
Reason: TOO YOUNG"

And the light finds a few more words to share with everyone - Travel. Until time to grow. ]

you and me both

[unbearablynaive]

[Realization dawns on the Vision's face as the data highlights what the being is saying.]

Without the false controls overlaid, this is what it is meant to do. It travels the stars until it becomes a planet, or finds one and makes it habitable. That was the original purpose of the Atroma, until it became corrupted.

[He splays his fingers against the glass and sends back a matching expression of gratitude and joy, albeit in the digital form he can use and not as pure emotion like Wanda can.]

I've never felt a living being with that much power. All it wants is the freedom to grow.

[And he nods, turning back to the other two.]

If we can permanently disconnect what was shocking it, we may be able to ask it to help us return home. It can interface with the computers, after a fashion.