World Tree MUSH

    It looks like, since the last trip out, the androids encountered last time have secured their position a little bit. A barricade is here, piled high from cargo containers and various scrap from destroyed robots, and this has made a quasi-military encampment around the base of the Spire, the huge column leading upward. Newcomers may find it disorienting to arrive on what is supposedly a ship, since the ceiling here is a mile up, and the area around is so huge there are numerous biomes of grasslands and wetlands and such things. Androids, humanoid beings with various templates, some of which are faceless and others with sculpted human features but all a dull grey in color, are making the place suitable as a base camp.

    Signs of battle are all around, and most of them look like energy weapons of some kind. Burn marks all about, and so on. At the moment it looks quiet though, and like a functional community... after a fashion.

There wasn't much left for Itana el-Zayl in the deserts around Damcyan. That included signs of the people she's been trying to hunt down. Even the most determined person can only keep up a fruitless search for so long without support - and it's that need that drew her into the branches of the World Tree, more than anything else.

She did not expect the branches to extend past the sky. It's not something she's entirely used to - but tasks are tasks.

"This place is immense," she murmurs as she looks up towards the cavernous ceiling, then out across what looks to all the world like an actual village like any other, except for all the machinery. She shifts uncomfortably, drawing a breath of air that feels entirely more stale than she's used to. Hanging back, she silently lets people more accustomed to this level of technology take point.

Itana made a concession to this environment: She picked up a spacesuit, the only one she could find that'd let her move around. The one she found is mostly blue and looks like it's a combination of latex and rigid framing. She's not a tactical surface fighter pilot, but she could play one on TV.

    Valerian is here! And he has been in more than one military camp before! So he is immediately scanning the cap for anything that looks like a command center or a leadership tent and heading his way over there. Across his back is the usual bundle that he carries on a strap. 

    "Well. Looks like the place didn't get overrun since last time. I guess today I wanna figure out a way to get admin access and get to that whatever hub thing they were worried about the other androids getting to," He murmurs to himself, making a mental note as he walks. He reaches into a pouch on his apron and pulls out a piece of jerky, chewing on it as he walks.

    Belle is new to exploring the World Tree even if her world has been joined for a long time. The student adjusts her glasses as she looks about, not really expecting any supernatural threats given the blatantly technological nature of the world this seems to have. She appears unarmed, which might be worrying for those who don't know what she's capable of. And so far the androids seem to match her idea of tech, even if the sheer size of this place is mind-boggling.

    Valerian she sorta knows, so his comment gets her to tilt her head like a curious dog. "Is the whole ship like this, I wonder? Just tons and tons of plants? I guess that recycles the atmosphere..."

    Claire brought along a big basket covered with a plaid blanket. She hasn't bothered with the spacesuit, wearing the same stuff she does when working the farm. She heads towards a familiar face, Valerian. "Hello mister Railton." She glances towards Belle, "Hello. I'm Claire." She tips her hat, "Owner of the Getaway farm."

    Circe has come back, too, with a little bit more in the way of preparation. She, too, is planning to try to get admin access, though she's not planning on really asking permission. She'll give a glance around as she approaches, waiting to see if any of the androids will say anything to her as a returning visitor.

    She also looks mostly unarmed, other than a small knife at her side. "This place is so disorienting." She'll mutter to herself, hoping this time she can get access to any sort of network, whether for these androids or the hostile ones. "Shame all the crew probably has freezer burn by now, or they're horrible monsters. I still wasn't totally clear on which."

    Once more Samus Aran finds herself boarding the CS Warden. Docking her gunship at the same port she had previously, it's not long before she makes her way across the plains and grasslands toward the spire and the growing camp around it. The intergalactic bounty hunter is already in the purple, red, and white plating of her Chozo power armor, making for a towering figure that approaches the encampment at a purposeful stride, while keeping her weapon arm low to indicate non-hostility.
    "Railton." Valerian gets a greeting.
    "Gagnon." Belle gets a greeting.
    The Hunter's head dips in a nod of greeting for Claire as well, before her attention shifts.
    "... Aida." That's to Circe. To her credit Samus isn't blowing the complete terrorist's cover, before her helmet turns towards Itana almost questioningly.
    "Aran. Samus Aran." That's an introduction from the Hunter as looks back to the Dragon Juicer.
    "Finding clearance would be a good first step to learning more about this ship. And if the people on it are even still alive."
    Looks like she agrees with Valerian.

    It's hard to tell the androids apart. While many of them have different body types, androids within the same body type are pretty much identical. It would appear that the one in charge hasn't changed though! It's only a minute or two before the security model notices the humans nearby and approaches. Some of them he recognizes. "You came back. Did you have a request I could fulfill?"

    He specifically looks at Valerian, how mentioned access last time. "Did you obtain a security card? If you can manage to acquire one I can let you onto another level." Interesting way he worded that, isn't it?

A quiet Itana takes stock of names and listens to some of the conversations among the others. Slightly tense, she pulls up her hood, draping it over her hair and letting the tails of it spill over her fortified suit's shoulders and across her upper back. It's not the most colour-coordinated look in the world, especially considering she's got a bow and quiver to go with it, but she makes it work.

She glances at Circe with a small frown. "We can hope it is not the horrible monster option."

When Samus makes an introduction, Itana looks up at her - almost a foot up, actually - not really finding a face behind the helmet, but returning reserved stoicism nevertheless. "Itana el-Zayl."

The towering armoured woman seems like she knows what needs to be done, at least. It saves Itana having to do something she absolutely hates: Explicitly ask for help. With a short nod, she moves along to one side of Samus, shifting her bow to rest against her shoulder. The approach of the security android leaves her shoulders stiffening a little before she frowns pensively. "A card?" she murmurs before glancing towards the others. The question she wants to ask is obvious and only her pride and desire not to look like an idiot prevent her from just saying it.

    Circe will reply to Itana, defensiveness in her voice, "Some people are happier when they are turned into horrible monsters. Or at least they act happier." She'll also glance over at Samus, thankful for the reminder of which of her aliases she'd used on the ship last time but not otherwise conversing, before just butting in on the main security conversation.

    "Yes, I'm afraid I misplaced my security card. Is there a reset procedure or another way to regain access?" If there is, she certainly thinks she can bypass it easier than just making credentials out of whole cloth.

    Belle waves to Samus, then introduces herself to the others who don't know her. "Belle Gagnon, High School Student." Yes, that's how she introduces herself, mainly. But she's more interested in what's going on than making friends right now, because she overhears the discussion.

    "Wait, wait. So as long as someone has an access card, you can give them access? Even if we just like... found it on the ground or something?" She glances around and very belatedly realizes that maybe, just maybe, she shouldn't have said that so loudly.

    "A security card is like a token that with the right tools can be verified that you have the appropriate permissions." The Clairification is offered, "I think they want to give us access but their programming is preventing them from doing so." Claire smiles at the Android, "Where would you suggest we look for a security card?"

    "Hey," Valerian gives Belle and Claire and Samus all a faint wave. 

    "I did not manage to find a security card. But I was told to bring you this note..." 

    Valerian pulls out and hands over what looks to be a sheet of paper. It reads as follows: 

    'Valerian Railton is to be given the highest-level access and an authorization card for the ship as a private security contractor. Under no circumstances should you wake any sleeping military personnel and jeopardize their safety. 

-Military Intelligence' 

    This note is 100% a forgery. However, it also gives the robot a loophole in its programming, by Valerian's reckoning, to use lateral decision making to let him in. 

    "It's real. I swear."

    "As far as I know, without the proper clearance card we're not getting up the spire." Samus says shortly after Claire explains for Itana's sake. She watches as Valerian hands over the note.
    "..."
    Will that even work?
    "We may as well search this floor while we're here, she does suggest on the chance Valerian's gambit fails.
    She will, however, not just sod off on her own to do it.

    The android waits patiently, listening to Circe and also taking the note from Valerian. "No, this note is not good enough. It needs to be an actual security token. Technically, you need a wristband, but those would only be issued to crew, and as none of the crew have been revived, none have been issued. I can provide a wristband of equivalent rank to a presented security card though."

    He hands the note back. "Sorry, this is all I can do." And he does hand out several wristbands. "My programming prevents me from escalating your access, but I can give you base crew-level access. This can get you to the crew quarters level. I am fully aware that you are not supposed to be on the ship, but you're our best chance of securing the ship. You can either attempt to find a robot that has an access card inside it - most likely one of the models that does not run on broadcast power - or you can attempt to find it in the crew quarters. As the crew quarters are empty right now, it's unlikely any bands are there, but maybe one of them has a spare access card, if you can somehow gain access to their quarters."

    He then looks at Samus. "Searching this floor may take a long while, it is one of the larger floors. It contains roughly four thousand square kilometers of area, most of that vegetation. However I do know an alternative to the crew deck. We suspect one of the damaged android manufacturing vats is on this floor, along the side in the maintenance areas. They may have a security token of some sort, and you could take care of the problem, or determine if it isn't damaged. We don't have the forces to do that ourselves. It could also be very dangerous though. This damage is usually due to contamination by materials or radiation that is damaging to organics. It is why the ship activated androids and robots first."

Itana presses her lips together and glances sidelong at Circe, the upper edge of her hood casting her eyes in shadow. "...I meant no offense," she offers up after a moment's pause, voice low. "So long as all are happy."

Samus, at least, seems to pick up on the things Itana won't put into words. She shifts her weight, scuffing an integrated heel against the turf. Valerian's gambit is met with a curious squint as she watches to see how the security automaton responds. Not well, as it turns out. Wristbands are distributed, and she blinks and holds her arm out to accept one.

"If you mean there is something in there that damages the body, there may be ways to fight that," she muses with a pensive frown. "I do not claim to understand all of your devices or whirring gadgets, but there are remedies and potions one can take to prevent the worst of damage from... outside things. Illnesses or energies and the like."

She's been taking stock of the surrounding wilderness as they've passed. The idea of thousands of kilometres of artificial woodland is bizarre, but surely there are useful herbs to be found.

    "Would you mind if I were to attempts to destructively access some of these quarters in the hopes of finding the kind of security token you need?" Claire lifts the blanket on her basket to reveal a selection of artisanal explosives. Same identifying mark as on the containers of goods Valerian bought from her. She puts on the wristband.

    Valerian crumples up the note and puts it in his pocket, "Ah well. Worth a shot," He comments as he takes the access wristband for the crew quarters, "I shoulda fought that bigass robot that was around here when we first came in. Bet that guy had a security card." 

    He folds his hands behind his head, "Do you know where the 'Base of Operations' for the rogue droids is? Or are they totally off your network?" 

    Regardless of the answer, Valerian turns back towards the 'People' that have joined them, looking over the Ops Team for this mission. He points to Belle and Claire, "You both stay behind me when we're exploring. You're more fragile." He looks towards Circe a moment later, "Maybe you too." And then to Itana, "I dunno you, so I can't give you any orders, really. Never seen you fight." 

    And then he looks to Samus, "Standard milspec formation? Forward guard, rear guard, VIPs in center grouping?"

    Circe's question is more interesting. "We can't do it here, but not far from where that android vat is, is a security station. They could issue new credentials for crew members, provided your retinal scan is on the roster, or you have identification from a superior military officer. I have a feeling that isn't an option for you." But it does answer the question.

    "..You never know. I might just have the exact same retina as a valid crew member or military officer. Can you give me exact directions to where that security station is?" Circe will ask, extremely confident in her ability to do something with that process. She'll give a glance at Valerian, lip curling up in a smile, before adding. "If it's in the same direction I'll go that way with you, and I'm happy to let you do the fighting if you really want to, but try to boss me around and I'm going to leave you begging for Zeus himself to strike you down, whether there's lightning in here or not."

    Samus will take a wristband when offered, as Valerian's plan seems to at least get them that much.
    "My suit can protect me from hazardous environments. But some of the others..." She concedes, looking at the noticeably less-than-power-armored members of the party. "It might not be ideal for the rest of you."
    Except maybe Valerian, because he's on literal dragon drugs.
    "There's decontamination." She asides to Itana. "But does this ship have the proper facilities for that?" A question aimed at the android, before her helmet dips in a nod to Valerian.
    "I can take rear guard." She's seen the Juicer fight enough to know not to get in his way.

    To answer Claire, the android looks at her. "Try to avoid undue damage to the ship. We are in space, that would be bad. Only use high level explosives when necessary." Even the android isn't forbidding it completely, though. "The crew quarters, should you go there, are not exactly bulkhead doors. I've never been there but I believe they are intended to look comfortable, so once inside the doors should be relatively mundane materials, not hull metal."

    Belle looks amused, and nudges her glasses up. "Yes, I am definitely a vulnerable schoolgirl who would be traumatically injured by most conflicts." She says it in such a monotone, it's obvious she isn't meaning it, but she doesn't actually object to being in the back. "I use a bow so it's probably best for me to be in the back anyway," she clarifies.

    She snaps the wristband on. Hearing everyone else she hmms, "Looks like we're going to the android vat first, anyway. Fine with me, maybe we can get rid of some of these problems for you." Even if his programming prevents him from giving access, it never hurts to have the guy in charge of the floor owe you a favor.

    Idly she thinks to ask, "Would a military installation on Earth maybe have some kind of identification that would work?"

"I fight from range," Itana says with a shrug towards Valerian. "If you wish to take the lead, I will support you." She pats the haft of her bow meaningfully.

Her gaze darts towards Samus again, lips coming briefly together before passing. As much as she picked out a spacesuit for this, it's nothing close to power armour - and she's not even sure enough about the nature of the threat to do more than guess at how effective any mixtures she could make would be.

With a glance at Belle, she nods simply. "That seems like the best course, then. If we can find what we need there, so much the better."

^t"I may not have your fancy armour, mister Valerian, but I've got plenty experience fighting creatures that would tear a man in half." Claire draws her sword, and holds it up, "I bet if the crew quarters aren't made of that sturdy material this beauty can just cut me through, that's fine, right?" She asks the android, sheathing it and quietly acceding to her role in the back by taking out her slingshot and some balls made of a strange purple metal.

    "We do not know where their main base is," the android replies to Valerian. "We have suspicions of where some of the infected vats are, and we have some idea of where some vats that might be compromised are, but they may or may not be currently active. A lot of the communications on the ship are damaged, so the AI has a lot of blind spots. For security reasons, I can't tell you where those are."

    He sets down a bulky-looking tablet and starts selecting portions of what looks like a floor plan. "Here is the vat, and here is the security station nearby." A faint hiss, and then there's a plastic sheet with both locations. "You can take the monorail to the edge of the ship, I think it is still working up to about a kilometer from the vat. Your bands should allow that."

    And to Claire, "Again, try to avoid damage if possible, but door hinges can be replaced easily. We have a foundry on another level with manufacturing nearby."

    Oh, Belle asked an interesting question. "I do not know the current state of Earth's military, but if an access card of the same style can be acquired, then yes, that would work. A sufficiently high civilian clearance would work as well."

    "I respect both of your distinct abilities and combat training. However, I am very specifically a bespoke-designed shocktrooper made to be a meat wall. I am just trying to pick the safest formation," He says to Claire and Belle as he takes another piece of jerky from his apron and takes a bite of it, "You don't have to heed my suggestion, I was just making them," He adds to Clair as she draws her sword. 

    "Anyway. Monorail sounds nice. Let's go head that way."

    To the monorail then.
    When the android prints out the map, Samus' suit saves it to internal memory as the Hunter spends a moment studying the provided plastic sheets.
    "Let's get going, then." The Hunter says, tone mild as she lets the party take formation and takes to the rear guard.

    Circe will be taking notes at least as she listens to the various options, while also examing her band to determine just how it's granting access so that she can replicate it if she needed to. "I'm pretty confident in this as long as we manage to not shut down the security station or something. Just let me do my thing once we get to it, okay? And try not to let any evil androids or security systems or anything shoot me while I'm working."

    In spite of her complaints, she's going to accept being towards the center of the group. She's resilient, but there's no reason to go eating radiation unnecessarily.

    "Sure, you're probably right, doesn't mean you have to put it the way you did." Claire grumbles a bit, but keeps her sword sheathed. "I promise to be more gentle than I usually am when I'm out in the mines." The promise is given to the androids. "Let's go."

With a frown, Itana leans forward to get a better look at the tablet. Technology's far from her strong point, but she can at least wayfind pretty easily. She quickly commits the route to memory. "A reasonable walk after the rail system takes us as far as it can, then," she murmurs. "Good."

To the monorail it is, then. Itana begins to move along, letting Valerian and some of the others move out front while she drifts inevitably towards the rear. In no way equipped to tank, she at least doesn't seem equipped to put holes in the bulkhead.

Again she glances up at Samus, nodding soberly before pushing a few locks of hair back beneath her hood.

    Without knowing exactly what agents are causing problems, it's probably not possible for Itana to create any sort of protection... but she did see an extreme variety of plants here. It's quite likely that if she can identify the contagion, she can provide some kind of remedy for it, given a little time and effort. This is a science vessel as well as colony ship, so there are a large amount of useful plants here!

Itana has no clue at the moment. Offworld diseases are hard!

She does, at least, inspect a few of the plants as she browses past en route to the monorail, collecting samples of whatever's within range without actually slowing the team down. This mostly takes the form of picking off small branches, leaves and flowers as the team passes by.

She sorts through them as she moves along, otherwise fairly quiet. Figuring out the actual disease will have to wait until she sees it.

    And so the group is bid farewell by the androids, and the monorail nearby is boarded! Soft tones and music sound out, and the greeting voice smoothly asks for a destination. Fortunately, the map has the name of the nearby station, and the high-speed train is swift to accelerate and the trip thus only takes a few minutes to travel the twenty or so kilometers to the station nearby. It's not even a quarter hour before the group can disembark, though this station looks a bit battered and overgrown. A single small robot is trimming the vines away in a slow but steady attempt to get the vegetation under control. How it got to be such a mess is easier to understand, because exposed wires and sparks are everywhere, and it looks like some of the vegetation is mutated here.

    Fortunately, Samus likely has the ability to register radiation, and it doesn't seem like whatever mutated the plants is still around, or perhaps it was some sort of chemical rather than radiation.

    The security station is only about 100 meters from the entrance to the manufacturing vats, but it also looks like the android was right. While the monorail itself is unguarded, a number of red-skinned androids, four visible, are milling about the security station, carrying some kind of energy rifles.

    "Fair enough, that's on me. I shouldn't have used the words 'fragile'. I'm /sorry/," Valerian says, putting his hands up towards Claire as he walks backwards, as if in a gesture of surrender to the woman, "Won't happen again. Might happen again actually, but not intentionally. Juicers aren't really all there in the..." He makes a fingergun gesture to the side of his head and blows a raspberry briefly. 

    He's quiet for most of the ride, though when they wind up at the monorail station and he steps off the train to spot red-skinned androids, the Juicer drops the bundle across his back on the ground and cracks his knuckles. There's only four of them guarding the station right now, so he doesn't have to play TOO serious! 

    He stretches briefly, drops into a sprinter's pose, and then in a flash he's gone. He crosses the 100 meters in about 10-15 seconds, appearing right behind one of the androids before grabbing it around the waist and then german suplexing it squarely into the ground beneath him.

Itana spends much of the monorail trip browsing through the herbs she collected. She pulls one of her gloves off, running her fingers over various leaves, petals and shoots as if sampling their textures and feels. Pulling the large pouch off her hip, she begins sorting the ingredients into the container meticulously. A few more potions can be seen peeking out.

Soon enough, they've reached their destination. Itana joins the rearguard, closing her pouch and drawing an arrow as she readies her bow. Dropping into a low prowl, she eases forward, keeping close to the walls to try and conceal herself within the foliage and rubble as best she can. The principles of skulking are much the same no matter where one goes.

Wordless, she glances towards Valerian, gauging how the Juicer will react. It turns out it's by stabbin' stuff. Itana twirls her arrow between her fingers and murmurs a word of power: "Sanchir." She snaps her arm back and draws her bowstring with a single movement, stepping out to unleash the arrow.

The shot travels far faster than any arrow has a right to. A loud *BOOM* rings through the corridor as the arrow smashes through the sound barrier and leaves a cone of force behind it, smashing towards the android furthest back in the pack.

"Thanks." Claire accepts the apology, quietly joins the monorail and gets ready once they get out. The moment Valerian sprints towards the guards, she gets one of those purple orbs flying towards another android. It's not explosive, it's just a material that doesn't quite work how normal materials work.

    Itana gets a quiet nod back in return, the stoic Hunter boarding the monorail with the others. To her credit, Samus endures the ride and the elevator music the whole way without having a psychotic break and killing everyone around her.
    "I'm not picking up any contamination." She says softly, helmet speakers raising her voice for her for the group.
    Spotting the red-skinned androids, Samus remains towards the rear of the party rather than move in on the androids herself.
    She does however raise her arm cannon, motes of light gathering at the barrel as she charges up a sphere of superheated plasma-- maintaining the charge but not firing just yet, rather than fire and risk damaging the security terminal from this distance with her ordinance.

    Looking around, Belle stares at the robot for a minute, but like Valerian, she isn't one to think too much before acting. She does wonder if the red androids are truly the bad guys some... but they were shooting at them, so there's not much thought put into her next actions. She doesn't rush toward them though. She just flicks her wrist, her bow suddenly in her hand, and raises it.

    Of course, 100 meters is quite a distance to hit a single target accurately, though certainly not out of the question. Much like Itana, though, it would appear she isn't a normal archer, as the arrow whistles through the air and cuts the distance unnaturally fast. By coincidence she targeted the same one as Itana, which is probably bad for the android.

    Circe is going to calmly and patiently allow everyone else to do all the work of dealing with these androids. She's not completely certain that they even count as alive - probably not - so her opposition to killing isn't even in effect. Once it looks like all of the androids are at least engaged, she's going to start to sneak her way up over to the security terminal, mentally preparing herself for the extra effort it might take to slice through whatever defenses are on the terminal to prevent exactly the sort of thing she's intent on doing, her red eyes already starting to get an electric glow to them as she kicks her implants into high gear.

    If she's lucky, maybe she can make herself an admiral. There'd be a certain irony in it.

    "Humans!" One of the androids shouts, and they are FAST! Fast enough that two of them actually get shots off toward Valerian... though these aren't combat models, so his rapid movement means neither shot is dead center, and in another second one of the androids is smacking into the ground, crumpling and spewing that weird, glowing fluid that keeps them going everywhere. A second one gets two shots in it, Itana and Belle's arrows tearing its torso apart and causing it to stagger and flail. It looks to be 'alive' but is leaking fluid fast, and is down for the count.

    The other two start snapping off shots, mostly toward Valerian, but then the second turns toward Samus, seeing the plasma form. He doesn't get a shot off yet, though, because Claire's slingshot impacts, staggering him. He isn't down yet, just damaged, another hit like that would take him down.

Itana glances sharply towards Belle, her eyebrows arching as the other woman releases her arrow. She nods with approval.

Any doubt Itana had that the androids were hostile is dispelled when they start yelling about humans. She's one of those! So long as that's true, her concerns fall by the wayside. Tumbling adeptly out of cover, she reaches for another arrow and begins to dash forward, long legs eating up distance as she closes to the mid-range.

She's not going to get much closer than that, especially not with energy blasts filling the field. Itana squints forward and establishes a sightline to one side of Valerian, trying to focus on the android attacking Samus. That one's not in the act of being actively wrestled. It's a safer target.

As she crosses a specific point in her mind, she darts to the side to avoid an energy blast ripping her way. Hitting the ground in a deep crouch, she springs upwards -

And she /flips/ heels over head in midair, managing to leap well higher than her own height and tumble as she goes. Somehow she manages to keep her equilibrium even while tumbling in midair, her arm lashing out like a scorpion's tail. There's a sharp twang as she unloads another arrow. This one's moving at normal speed - probably not enough to destroy an android by itself - but it comes from an unpredictable angle.

    Claire slowly approaches, loading another bullet into her slingshot and snapping it off towards one of the Androids that's still standing, aiming to disable. She's making sure her movement is a little bit unpredictable, in case they choose to return fire.

    No sooner than Claire takes her shot and staggers the android, Samus adjusts her aim. Itana vaults for a better shot and releases... Samus narrows her eyes.
    Once she's sure she has an angle that won't damage the terminal, and or Circe by proxy, she raises her arm cannon.
    As soon as Itana's arrow impacts, she releases the gathered plasma, a searing hot ray of molten hot energy lancing from her weapon hand toward the android's center of mass in a quick and efficient shot.

    POW POW! The two shots hit Valerian in the shoulder and the arm, causing the flesh of his arm to blacken from the scorch, flesh burning away, while the part of his clothing that it hits seems to hold firm, albeit some of the material is blackened from carbon rather than actually damaged. 

    After the suplex, he makes sure to stomp on the skull of the one that Itana and Belle put to the ground, finishing it off in case it tries to fire from a prone position. Then a barrage of shots from the two remaining androids start to slam into his chest. He puts up his arms in a cross guard position in front of his face, letting the shots hit his forearms and burn away the flesh with each shot as he tries to hold their attention. 

    He resigns to let the others line up their shots while the attention is on him, just staying in a guard stance while the rest of the team works.

    Circe isn't going to wait for the fight to be done. At this point, with all the androids engaged and her approach to the terminal done, she'll place her hands on it, her body slumping slightly as the vast majority of her attention moves from the world around her to a virtual one, what's left of her divinity directed through her implants and nanobots into the act of making the terminal recognize and authorize her with the highest rank and permissions that she can manage, her mind fully engaged with that task.

    Hopefully noone will shoot her while she's busy with that, but people had seemed to promise that they wouldn't!

>> GAME >> Circe spends an Edge for: Turning on the higher levels of Circe's hacking abilities for the scene!

    Belle grins at Itana, but she doesn't say anything, instead sticking to, well, taking down the enemy. Fortunately her arrows, while powerful, are unlikely to penetrate walls unless she is specifically trying to do that. It's an easy choice though... she's not really a tactician, but some androids are kept standing, so she shoots at one of them!

    Probably could have coordinated that better, but fortunately they outnumber these androids. She picks one at random, since Samus and Claire and Itana are still attacking. Surely the remaining two can go down! She does see Circe sneaking off to do her thing, but... well, that makes sense to her. "I guess they really are hostile," she muses.

    The androids aren't used to fighting humans, and certainly not humans bouncing around like a superball like Itana, nor who can literally tear their limbs off like Valerian. A few wild shots snap off, and one of them might even hit Samus, but the fight is short and brutal. The luckiest one is Claire's target that crumples to the ground and isn't killed right away, but the arrows tearing through the bio-mechanical systems are still deadly, so the other one is already in trouble... especially when a smoking hole is in the chest and he too is crumpling to the ground.

    Circe is already plugging in, and she finds... well it's both good and bad. The good news is, the systems aren't as complex as some she is used to. The bad news is, they thought things through enough that the RFID-bands are pretty unique to each security type, and it looks like this station can't grant the highest level of clearance to begin with. She does get some good selections between maintenance crews, science crews, and even some security crew options, but nothing of admin level or command level. This should definitely open up some options, though.

    Valerian shakes his arms a bit and clenches his hand as the fight winds down. Given a few minutes, anyone can see that the scorched and blackened flesh on his forearms where he was tanking laser shots will begin to return to a normal color, and fill back in, regeneration starting to pick up again without the incoming damage to impede it. 

    He takes up a guarding position near Circe's slumped-over body as he stretches, "I hope she remembers to bring back enough treats for the whole class."

Itana makes her landing with a sharp click of fortified-suit heels on decking, dropping down to one knee and lowering her hand to her hip. A wild shot grazed her, leaving a burn mark across her side. Wincing, she glances away, dipping into her pouch for a potion and popping the stopper to take a quick drink.

It's imperfect, but it seems to help. The pain ebbs away, and she tucks the potion away again with a sloww breath through her nose. It'll take a bit of time for the burn to fully heal, but the brew will help.

She'll bear it. It's not from the first time.

The droids, at least, seem to be dealt with. Itana lets the potion to its work and eases to one side, maneuvering into the shelter of a structural buttress to look on at... whatever Circe is doing. It is not something she understands - she's poked at monitors before but she's never /slumped/ like that.

"...Is she alright?" she asks after a pause.

    Funny thing. Even in that heavy plated power armor, Samus is... Incredibly nimble. A sudden juke of her body gets her out of harm's way when the laser fire goes wild. Prevention is the best cure they say, and Samus would rather not have to discover first hand how much damage those weapons can do even against Chozo technology.
    However, with the androids dealt with Samus lowers her weapon.
    "Is eveeryone alright?"
    Valerian is probably fine even though her got shot, but it looks like Itana took a graze, and the Hunter spends a moment glancing at Clair and Belle as well just to make sure no one was seriously hurt in the firefight before making her way over to 'Aida'. Yes, to check up on her as well while she works.
    "No clue." She does reply to Itana.

    "Yeah," Belle replies to the question if she's all right. She suddenly doesn't have a bow any more, and is walking toward the carnage to see if Circe is successful. Now that she's not in combat, she can actually think a little more tactically, and realizes something.

    "We should get what we need then get moving, just in case they have backup or something, or a patroll coming in."

    Circe is a little disappointed, but not surprised, that a remote terminal like this can't actually get the highest level accesses. Hopefully, it'll at least get them access to the terminals that can! She'll start to assign roles for everyone, giving herself both a science and maintenance role, in both cases with a specialization in computer systems.

    She'll pause for a moment, then pick out a security roles for Itana and Claire, a science role for Belle, and maintenance roles for Valerian and Samus. She'll also get any maintenance or security maps that she can, hoping that clear instructions will help with finding where they should go next.

    By the time she's finished and opens her eyes back up, the glow will have reduced, though it'll still be present. "...Aagh. A boring system."