THE DRIFT FLEET

[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.]

[As promised, Zhade calls you. He calls on the secret network, and only briefly; he's surrounded by sparks and static as his fingers fly across the keyboard, though none of this is seen. It's an urgent audio message.]

I found them! Whatever you did-- it woke them up enough that I could find them. I'm breaking through as we speak. Once I get a lock on, we have a limited-- [BZZZZTTTTT-crackPOP] -- ignore that-- a limited amount of time. The Marsiva's defenses are about to come down. Distract Atroma, fire at will, and I'll bring them home safe.

You hear me?

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven --

[There's the sound of a transporter firing up, and more furious typing and beeping from the consoles.]

Six! Five! Four! Three, two, ONE!

[And just like that, the invisible shields around the Marsiva fail. There's a frantic pause as Zhade checks to make sure everything's as it should be.]

Interceptors retrieved safely. Now light her up! You have just a few minutes, so go, go, go!

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(( ooc: This post is to serve as a "mingle" of sorts for any damage dealt to the Marsiva, any attempted investigations of the downed security, or any other coordination! Feel free to tag each other, play out any crew interactions related to the attack, or try to come up with your own plans! You ICly only have a few minutes, but OOCly the post will remain open. Hit 'em with your best shot, Fleet!! ))

Who: The Interceptors… And You!!!
Broadcast: Yes -- ONLY over the private, non-Atroma network!
Action: Planetside
When: Network contact is RIGHT NOW, any planetside action begins ICly 2 days later at least.

[ Well, Fleet, long time no speak -- when it comes to addressing anyone, anyway. ♥ On the exclusive network, safely away from Atroma, an audio message appears, from your faraway pals! And on the other line is the very obvious voice of one particular Interceptor super scientist lady. ]

Drift Fleet Twelve, this is the Interceptor fleet. Based off our own trajectory, we're predicting that you guys are in the RR-0451 Aquilae system and - more importantly - near Libuscha IV. Can you confirm? A crewmate and I are in a shuttle right now, and we've got some... digging we'd like to do there.

[ There’s a new voice, one that Drift Fleet Twelve hasn’t heard before, in the background. And he sounds amused? ]

That’s one way of putting it… [ Can you just see the smirk now? The scientist continues as if there’d been no interruption.]

I'm attaching a file with some notes we've taken on a particular metal alloy that's naturally occurring and very abundant on that planet. It's apparently not that hard to find once you get far enough below the surface, and we have intel that there are vast cave networks. Have any of you guys seen those by chance?

And, uh… before we leave, we're probably gonna need to refuel while we're at it.

I told you we should have gotten gas before we hit the road, but did you listen to me? Nooooo...

Anyway! Since we'd be in the neighborhood - literally - we thought it might be a good chance to swing by and say hello, maybe share some stories, exchange some presents… [ Hey, someone mentioned ribbons to them - and they're happy to share this metal alloy, so… win/win? ] Discreetly, of course. What would Big Brother think if he knew, after all?


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(( You can directly respond to this post if you wish to speak with the Interceptors over this newfangled secure network you created!! If you have a preference as to who responds, let us know somewhere in the comment or subject line.

If you wish to join them planetside to scour the caves for metals, help them restock and refuel, or just to try asking them some questions, each will have their own toplevel comment soon. And if for any reason you want to use this post for mingle purposes amongst yourselves, feel free to do so! ))

[ It's been a few days since the heist, and the Fleet is surely back to business as usual: biding time until it's time to leave and begin yet another drifting period. Meanwhile, the two Interceptor agents are still hiding on the very edges of the system, their specific location kept secret from the Fleet - for -everyone's safety. Still, they keep their encrypted frequency in place, just in case anything requiring their attention comes up. Until now, it's been quiet. Uneventful. They consider that a good thing, honestly.

But the quiet and the uneventful don't last.

Without warning, the Marsiva stirs. Something at the very top of her shifts in place, entire sheets of metal sliding apart to reveal an opening - one that produces a barrel. A cannon barrel. It spins and clicks into place, large and ominous, finally coming to a stop as it's pointing into the distance -- right where the Interceptor agents are hidden.

The cannon begins to charge, an ominous swirl of heat and energy pulsing to life inside... and then, all too quickly, it fires: a high-powered ablation laser - a three-second beam of white-hot brightness that seeks to destroy. After, just as quickly as the gun appeared, it shifts back inside the Marsiva, and the gap is closed off.

The resulting massive burst of light can easily be seen from the Fleet ships, and even from the surface of some asteroids in the system. The EMP aftershock knocks some electrical systems offline, but only for a second, with no damage done.

Well, no damage done to the Fleet ships. The Interceptors, though... Could they have survived that? ]


======================

[ After that, those concerned about the spoils of your heist might want to double-check on the safety of all of it, hmm? Prepare for some bad news...

It doesn't matter which file you try, any files, intel, and information gained from the Dreadhorse's lab that was put onto the network in any capacity is now tightly locked, and right now, no amount of decryption will even begin to make a dent in the wall.

|| FILE LOCKED ||

Oh, remember - you grabbed something other than those files on Atroma...! Something incredibly important! That AI unit!! Better check on that!

Plugging the drive into any compatible device returns an error: the drive doesn't exist. Tech-savvy individuals can poke around, try to get around this, plug it into different ports in the hopes that there will be different results, but to no avail. The AI is no longer accessible, no matter what you try. The drive it's on may as well be a paperweight now for all the good it will do you - it's unusable. Period.

Ominously enough, though, enough poking will eventually net you this very important message:

|| THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION ☺ ||

It's only displayed long enough to be read, before it fades from the screen. The drive is still essentially a brick.

... What now? ]



(( OOC: And with that... The AI has been taken from you, the files on Atroma are locked, and the fate of the Interceptor agents is unknown.

- While it's difficult to determine the exact direction that laser was fired, it is possible. However, any investigations out there will turn up nothing: no trace of the Interceptors' shuttles, no signs of activity, only some singed and/or exploded space rock debris.
- The locked files apply only to anything on the Atroma network. **IF CHARACTERS COLLABORATED TO KEEP A COPY OF FILES OFFLINE SOMEWHERE, then that copy is still safe! You dodged a bullet!! There is an OOC post here made by Shiro's player (thank you!) attempting to organize such an effort.
- The AI, however, is too massive to have been copied onto anything else, so it is absolutely inaccessible now.

Any other questions/comments/concerns? Feel free to drop a comment here! ))