World Tree MUSH

    Baby's Cry. Not a common distress signal in the world of the Radial Drive, but one brought in and conflated with the local Code Black. Both mean the utmost urgency, a distress situation that anyone and everyone who hears it should heed and move to provide aid.

    That's why, when the Sanctuary emerges from Linespace, it's into the middle of a warzone. Dozens of ships whizz by in the local volume, all focussing their attacks on a huge cube-shaped object in orbit of the local Class-L planet.

    Local channels are a christmas tree of comm signals, but Justina and Minerva maneuver around the battle to get into range to drop people on the ground.

    The ground scene is much the same, a chaos of people fighting around a grounded vessel. It's about the size of a standard two-storey house, with large maneuver engine nacelles on each side. Blocky and angular. It has a bubble shield raised, that shimmers and flickers with impacts from stray shots, and a few directed attacks from some kind of emplaced weapon.

    The aggressors appear to be some kind of cybernetic creatures, many different organic species with mechanical and electronic augmentations.

    A Vine opens up within the bubble of the Refuge's shield, and anyone arriving through it would be passed by a group of non-descript robots, all sporting various blades as forearms while they rush into the fray. A voice comes over the loudspeaker of the vessel, "Oh thank goodness you've come, these things just keep coming and---" Hope's voice is interrupted by a bellowing, multi-tonal announcement, it seems to be coming from everywhere. "WE ARE THE MEKAAN. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED. YOUR BIOLOGICAL, TECHNOLOGICAL AND MAGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE." "---And they keep transmitting that on all bands every few minutes. I've tried to block the signal but it's so powerful it just breaks through anyway. My onboard defense Dolls are keeping most of them at bay, and the other responding craft have sent down troops to reinforce this position, but we can't advance out to take out their entrenched gun battery. It's pounding the Refuge's shields and we need it gone ASAP."

    Circe is, for all her many strengths, not necessarily the goddess you would choose for a heroic last stand against a massive enemy. That'd be more or less anyone else in the family, in fact.

    Still, she's the one who has actually arrived within the bubble, riding the vine. The communications and technological implants filling up her brainmeat will also probably be of interest to these Mekaan, in addition to her having that message immediately and persistantly blasted straight into her head.

    "DOES ANYONE KNOW WHICH SIDE WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON?" Circe will yell, even though she definitely does actually know that and also knows the broadcast is mostly in her head. She's not immediately going to be helpful, instead focusing internally on figuring out what the technological approach she should use is.

    BBaby's Cry may not be a common distress signal to this universe, but it's the kind of signal that attracts attention.
    Of the ships arriving to investigate the source of the signal, one comes out of hyperspace and is almost immediately beset by fire from the cube-shaped ship in orbit. Try as it might to avoid the incoming barrage, the pilot isn't so lucky and their ship eats a glancing blow that causes it to swerve off course and go down on the planet below, likely too far out of reach to be of help in time...

 
 While normally Shas'O Shadowsun would be arriving to the engagement zone through her own means, she would not refuse the aid of allies, for such is the power of the GREATER GOOD. Teamwork, set them up, execute! Hitching a ride with the local forces would get her there much faster than her own jet pack, and it would get her up to speed with the current situation. It was the logical path. 
 
 "Acknowledge-AAGH!" Shadowsun winced as that annoying blaring started coming through her communicators, deciding to mute the whole thing and just stick to encrypted channels. "At this point I'm going to destroy them purely to shut them up!" The fiery Tau rolled her head on her shoulders limbering up. Protocol stated that she -should- try diplomacy first, but these Mekaan were already engaging the downed ship they were trying to rescue! They had squandered their chance to parlay. 
 
 "I'll be the vanguard! Cover me!" Shadowsun exited the ship and flew straight ahead, trying to draw the enemies fire towards her whilst also trying to get a good sense of the battle field. 
 
 Whilst she's scouting out the area, she hears Circe yelling desperately for orders through her comms and tries to be the designated leader and issue out directions. 
 
 "All allied units; focus fire on the cybernetic creatures attacking the ship! Engage their ground forces or destroy their artillery! Pick your targets and take them down!" 

    Claire comes through, and ready for fighting, she has a whole cart full of bombs dragged behind her by a rig that has her set up to move it while keeping her hands free. It looks suspiciously like a makeshift adaptation, but it holds. "I'll be cutting my way through to the cannon before blowing it up!" She informs the others, heading out without delay, for now she's using her blade to attack any Mekaan that seem intent on trying to stop her, but otherwise makes no real effort to combat them directly.

    The Sanctuary stays in orbit after dropping Shadowsun to the surface via teleportation. "Ground team, the Sanctuary will remain in orbit over the combat zone. If you need fire support, we can fire the Beam Emitter once at 100% power. Mark the location then vacate the area, orbital strikes are not accurate." comes Justina's voice over encrypted comms.

    Shadowsun's jet-powered charge gets several Mekaan to redirect their attention to the power-armoured Tau warrior. Energy blades ignite from arm prosthetics, a few energy blasters power up also, slinging plasma-like bolts of energy. The bulk of the Battlesuit knocks many aside, some falling on their allies weapons, others taking hits from stray bolts. These Mekaan seem to be drone-like, robotic. But there are a lot of them.

    Claire's less aggressive engagement, just moving through the battlefield and hitting those that get directly in her way actually leaves a large swath open for her. Perhaps some kind of 'threat assignment' routine is being used and if you don't register as a threat, the drones don't move to engage.

    Hope continues to send freshly minted, refitted Dolls out, some mimicing the Mekaan drones with fusion cutters built into one arm. Others mimicing the Klon'gan with their curved blades and other aliens with mimiced versions of their weapons. They're all slap-dash, jury-rigged and shoddy. But there's a constant stream of these robots to help stem the tides.

    Circe is not exactly the following orders sort, so she's super going to not do what is requested from Shadowsun, at least in the sense of 'covering them'. Truthfully, Circe, who generally works in a team made up entirely of Circe and various things programmed or controlled by Circe, doesn't really know what covering that person would entail. She's also not entirely certain if the Mekaan are alive on an individual level or not, but she's not going to take the risk of destroying one until she can confirm it either way.

    Instead, she's going to try to run interferance in a more normal way, by attempting to snatch the first Mekaan she can get her hands on and asking. "Can you explain to me just what your deal is?" While her nanotech tries to at least not get herself murdered as a reasonable response to this approach

 
 "Copy that Sanctuary. Stand-by, I'll see if I can paint an important target for you." Answered Shadowsun whilst she skillfully waded through the battlefield, whatever incoming projectile she didn't manage to avoid was deflected by her energy shields or even a well placed plasma shot from herself. 
 
 Still.. there were a lot! A lot! "Blast, they're more numerous than Guardsmen or even Orks." She muttered to herself as she tried to disengage a little to not be right in the line of fire. 
 
 She glanced about to see what Circe was doing, faceplamed that she was disregarding directions, and then realized that one of her allies was Claire she just shook her head. "Of course she's going to try and blow up the cannon. That tracks." She recalled just how 'enthusiastic' that girl was about blowing up things. Gods, trying to work with these women was like herding cats! 
 
 Rather than get annoyed that Claire was just going to do whatever she wanted again, she decided to use the girl's recklessness to her advantage. "Engage the cannon, Claire! I'll cover you!" Shadowsun made like she was about the dive into the mass of Mekaan- only to disappear from view at the last second. 
 
 She would reappear again suddenly attacking from a different angle at the Mekaan still trying to assess Claire's threat level, striking where they were not expecting it. 
 
 "EAT PLASMA FIRE!!" Came the sudden yell from the Tau as she just kind of SLAMMED into the sides of the Mekaan forces and sprayed gouts of blue fiery death from her double flammers. Tau may suck in melee but a pair of flame throwers kind of made that a null point. 

    Claire proceeds, glad to be relatively ignored, when she gets to the cannon, she disconnects her cart. Then she pushes it right next to the emplaced cannon, as close to the barrel as she can manage, and lights the prepared fuse, set up to blow all the bombs in the cart in a manner that will direct most of the force to destroy as much of the cannon as absolutely possible, and running away without delay, knowing that she's going to be within the blast radius, throwing herself to the ground right as the bombs go off.

    Crash landing some distance away, the ship from earlier will need some rudimentary repair work before it can fly again, but considering the sheer span between the crash site and the Sanctuary, whoever has come to help likely won't make it in time.
    At least that's what one might think.
    Something in the distance comes barreling across the landscape at a breakneck pace, trailing dust in the air behind it as it approaches at inhuman speed before it reaches the conflict zone...
    A lone figure wrapped in a tattered cloak crests a hill, slowly approaching, boots crunching the dirt and dust underfoot before pausing to observe the scene and chaos of the ongoing battle. Before a voice breaks out over the local comms.
    "Hope. I'm here now."
    Samus Aran, the universe's greatest bounty hunter; the galactic warrior has arrived, cloak draped over the shoulders of her power armor as she raises her right arm, particles of light coalescing at the barrel of her armcannon as it charges up a shot... A shot of superheated plasma that lances towards the Mekaan gun battery in a flare and pulse of vaporizing heat that melts anything metallic it comes into contact with.

    Circe's direct approach of 'Grab and talk at' earns a completely deadpan stare in response. The uncovered eye is glassy, lifeless. Like a corpse, but the mechanically enhanced limbs still move with a purpose... that purpose being attempting to bring that burning plasma blade to a point intersecting with one of Circe's important bits, like the neck or chest. Circe's nanite-swarm would encounter a hostile nanoswarm that's attempting to infiltrate her systems.

    Shadowsun is a Big Loud Threat that's drawing in a LOT more of the local drones. Some even disengaging from the other defenders and releaving the pressure to allow them to regroup and drag wounded out of the line of battle. The flamers roast several drones completely, the organic sections melting away in the plasma flames, leaving smoking husks of augments behind to clatter to the ground.

    Claire's actions start to earn her more attention, a few of the cannon crew turning to investigate the bomb and chase after the fleeing farmer... only to be vaporized by the blast, chunks of drone flying everywhere, the cannon physically lifting up and throwing off the shot it was in the process of firing, which causes it to fly far into the side of a mountain and blast a crater about 100m across... It settles back down afterwards, and unfolds legs that reset its angle. The cannon body is badly scorched, the mechanism warped but it's... self repairing! The cannon starts to drag itself to a new position as the bombs caused the terrain to become unfavorable and most of its crew is gone, but the cannon isn't firing right now.

    Then comes the Big Damn Hero. Samus Aran crests the ridge, fires her arm-cannon and seizes up one of the legs, melting the actuator in place with the blast of plasma. The cannon staggers and drags the limb, before toppling over as a secondary explosion goes off inside, one of the bombs from Claire's cart taking an extra moment to detonate after being hurled into the superstructure.

    The cannon detonates spectacularly in a great green cloud; then a new cannon teleports in, setting up and firing a shot without skipping a beat. "Captain Aran! I'm glad you're here... I'm working on a teleport blocker, it's almost ready but I can't deploy it until we disable that second cannon. I'm sending out another wave of Dolls now." comes Hope over local comms, as the Refuge's shield shows cracks from the impact before sealing up again.

    The good news for Circe is that she's incredibly resilient against being hacked; she's more or less a literal goddess of nanohacking, and her own swarm will probably be able to at least fight off the intrusion if not carry herself to victory through that front. The bad news is that she's not exactly on guard against that plasma blade, not enough to completely avoid it, though it's but a scratch compared to what it could be, a burn through her clothing and into the side of her torso rather than a decapitating blow or something similarly troublesome. That'd leave her stack in a vulnerable place!

    Circe will start cursing in ancient greek even as she pulls out a remarkably low-tech tool, her own knife, going to town with it on the maybe-already-dead drone. Her fighting style is heavy on light slashes and poisoning, though, which might not be the most effective here; she doesn't really have practice at trying to kill with the knife itself.

 
 "DIEEEEEE SCUM!!" Given sufficient ferocity sometimes did not allow to retaliate in any way, shape or form. Shadowsun continued plunging into the heart of the of the Makaan forces, pouring flames all over them. For a Tau, Shadowsun was -particularly- vicious and she did more than burn the Makaan, she pistol whipped them, headbutted them, and then STOMPED their heads with her hooves when they were on the ground, exploding their skulls and brains. All with something of a fierce grin about her- it was clear she loved her job. 
 
 "Yes! Hah! That crazy girl did it!" She pumped her fist up in triumph when she saw Claire blow the cannon to bits-- 
 
 Only to have another one appear. 
 
 "What in the Warp!?" The Tau's eyes went wide and she quickly reached for her comms. "Sanctuary, what's the status on the Beam Emitter? We may needing an orbital strike soon." 
 
 And then came Samus Aran, drawing the attention of Shadowsun. Finally! Someone that actually looked like a trained warrior! "Ah! Your presence is welcomed, Captain!" She made sure to address Samus by her rank as she heard the chatter in local band. 
 
 "I'm Commander Shadowsun. It sounds like you're acquainted with these enemy combatants! If you have any suggestions for me I'd be happy follow your lead!" 
 
 Shadowsun spoke over comms whilst she kept putting on the pressure on the Makaan ground forces, switching from her flamers over to her double fusion cannons, engaging those targets that were no longer on melee-- since, well, every Makaan drone around her had been liquified. 

    Claire's singed by her efforts, and she doesn't look in great shape, but neither does she look dissuaded. She takes out her slingshot and some of her explosive ammo, and starts taking shots at the new cannon, aiming loosely for the barrel, trying to land that lucky hit to disable with it.

    To have one cannon be destroyed only for another to port in... Samus watches silently as the new weapon sets itself up and starts assaulting the Refuge's shield once more.
    "You've done well for yourself." Samus comments to Hope and her defenses. "Let us take it from here."
    "Samus Aran." That's her introduction over the comms to Shadowsun. "Keep doing what you're doing, Commander; you've been handling things just fine. Claire and I will take out the new cannon."
    Speaking of said new cannon, Samus shifts her aim to the new weapon as Claire aims for the barrel... She does as well; armcannon splitting at the barrel to lock the red-tipped warhead of a missile into place before she sends a salvo of missiles in after Claire's explosive shots.

    Circe's stabs manage to cut loose one of the life support tubes. The drone starts to spasm as the organic being seems to come back to 'life' for a brief moment, a gasp of air, a wild-eyed look... and then it goes away and the drone goes inert, falling to the ground like a sack of metal. Her efforts have managed to glean that these things are using organic life to 'piggyback' the mechanical parts on, without consent. The nanoswarm would also have found, just before shutdown, a highly specialized communication link that travels via some other layer of space-time... and it was /busy/ with trillions of datapackets whizzing across the network every nanosecond.

    Shadowsun's assault draws attention from the others. That's good. But she'll find herself surrounded by many drones, the melee ones keeping back and body-blocking for the ranged ones as they adapt tactics and attempt to overwhelm the Battlesuit's shields with volley fire from many angles. "Ready for a target, Commander. Give us coordinates, or paint it for our sensors and we'll do the rest." comes Justina's reply.

    Claire lobs explosive shot at the cannon. They strike some kind of energy barrier that absorbs the blast for the first couple of impacts, before it breaks like glass and several more strike the hull, causing the rig to jolt and shudder.

    Samus's missiles follow Claire's shots, and strike into the side of the cannon. The combined impact knocking it over onto its side. It starts to right itself using those legs again, firing a much lower powered shot while traversing back upright. These things are tenacious.

 
 It's good that the drones are focusing on her again! Shadowsun wants that! Even if it means getting in the horrible melee that her crisis suit is not exactly designed for. 
 
 But Shadowsun was always a practical one, that's why she earned the title of Commander and her name to boot. 
 
 "Filthy wretches!!" The Tau used the enormous size of her fusion cannons to block melee attacks, practically using them as giant tonfas. She blocked melee attacks with one gun, the pressed the barrel of her other gun into a drone's stomach and fired through it, to shoot the ranged drones behind them, taking out the Makaan backline -through- their front line. Even with these many warriors surrounding her, Shadowsun would hold, as fierce as they were they were nothing in comparison to Guardsmen, or Orks, or indeed, Astartes. 
 
 That wasn't the problem though, the problem was them taking out Hope. "Copy that, Captain. Good hunting!" She responded to Samus and focused again on her efforts, though despite that she couldn't help but notice that Samus made a bee line for Claire and actually managed to coordinate attacks with the crazed girl. 
 
 "Uh, out of curiosity Captain, have you worked with Claire before?" Because Shadowsun was very curious if Samus was actually going to manage to get Claire to follow orders. 
 
 Shadowsun was just a master at multitasking though, she was fighting hordes of Makaan, talking with Samus, and still managing to keep up with Sanctuary in orbit. 
 
 "Understood, Sanctuary. Make ready to fire. I may be able to paint a target for you." Shadowsun hoped that an orbital strike wasn't necessary but better safe than sorry. 

    This is actually going to cause a brief moral crisis for Circe, because she's quite strict on herself with the no-killing rule and she knows enough to realize she almost certainly technically just did. She'll drop the knife for a moment, and her nanoswarm will momentarily have trouble reporting.

    She'll have to try to remember the rituals to purify herself later, she decides, and hope it doesn't really count.

    The communication link, on the other hand, is much more interesting, and she's going to start trying to break into it, her attention almost entirely focused on that rather than the combat directly around her, either trying to disrupt the communication between all the attacking forces or at least try and listen in on it so she can communicate what's going on to the others on her side. This is probably going to open her up to getting stabbed again if a drone takes offense though.

    "She has, and she doesn't tell me what to do like she's got any right to!" Claire yells at Shadowsun. She doesn't hesitate to rush towards the cannon now that it's struggling, and draws her legendary sword, leaping forwards to try to cut through or at least damage the barrel.

    Has Samus worked with Claire before?
    It's a good question.
    "She's stubborn, and does as she pleases. But she gets results."

    Cue annoyed flashback to That One Time In The Elevator.

    But Samus doesn't bring that up.
    "Things tend to just work out around her."
    Because as Claire goes for the barrel of the gun, Samus shifts her aim.
    She's aiming for the legs this time, visor picking out weaknesses in the structure and intending to bring it down again after the Galaxy Sword cuts into it.

    The comm network is a mess. It's more 'computer code' than 'communication', call/receive binaries, info packets, sensory data from trillions of sources compressed so much the packet would fill entire planet-sized supercomputers and still overflow. Whatever the Mekaan is, it's some kind of artificial mind, using each individual as a processor node, growing more powerful with each addition. The network would be impossible for anyone to crack. Anyone normal, that is, but even then it'll take time.

    Shadowsun manages to do something. The number of drones around her starts to thin out, damaged ones being teleported away, active models backing off and self-teleporting out in a shimmer of green light. Are they fleeing? It certainly seems that way. Circe would find a single directive overriding everything on the network for a split of a split of a second: DISENGAGE.

    Claire and Samus combine arms, and the Galaxy Sword, combined with the Visor-assisted cannon shots, bring the cannon-construct down. The barrel cleaved clean from its housing, and one of the legs that's supporting the whole weight of the machine as it rights itself being blown out at the joint. The cannon smashes back into the ground, lets out an electronic sound and then goes inert before it shimmers and self destructs in a non-explosive manner, the internal nanites rendering the machine down to base elements. A pile of dust all that remains.

    "Sanctuary to ground team, do you still need that orbital strike? The ship seems to be pulling out. We're currently tracking its trajectory, the Andari are in pursuit. Their drive system is similar enough to these Mekaan's they can track the ship while keeping pace."

 
 Shadowsun refrained from rolling her eyes at Claire, purely because that gesture would mean getting her eyes off her opponents and eating a few stray shots that she'd rather dodge. 
 
 "Ahuh.." Samus' story certainly reminded her of her own 'Clock Tower' incident and she understood what the Hunter was saying about the girl. "Roger that." 
 
 The Tau was ready to continue then, except that the Mekaan were not. "Huh!? They're retreating!" Exclaimed the Tau Commander and communicated with Sanctuary again. 
 
 "Belay that orbital strike, Sanctuary. The Mekaan ground forces are disengaging. I think the area is secured" 
 
 Was the day won? Shadowsun furrowed her fiery red eyebrows and surveyed the scene for further threats. 

    Circe will certainly want to take a closer look later, perhaps when she can bring herself more fully to bear on that network. For the moment, however, it mostly just causes her a headache as she starts to wrap her head around it just in time to get that blast of an order to DISENGAGE tossed straight into her brain like a grenade going off.

    She manages to just fall flat on her face instead of actually running away, or worse having all her implants turn themselves off or something similarly awful.

    "...Oww. I think I need to go look at grass for a few days or something after that. My brain feels dirty after dealing with that mess."

    That seems to be the end to the tide of the Mekaan. This is well and good as the gun emplacement turns to dust and the enemy forces cease beaming down reinforcements.
    Samus rests her armcannon on her hip, cloak billowing slowly in the wind.
    "Mmh..."
    Things are done here. She should get back to her ship. And so, as the Hunter turns to walk back the way she came, she shoots a thumbs up at Claire, Shadowsun, the Refuge and Hope... And even Circe as she crests the hill and vanishes the way she came.

    "Solid copy, Commander, does anyone need evac? I have space for twelve in the sealed medical bay, or two hundred in the cargo hold." replies Justina, as the other ships start to angle out of system, having exchanged cautious messages between cold-war level enemies, and warmer messages between allies. This kind of distress signal does bring the whole galaxy together, it seems.

    Hope comes out of her ship... only to see Samus walking away. She lifts her hands to cup around her mouth, and shouts with all the might of an anime heroine. "THANK YOU CAPTAIN!" the words echoing across the desert sands.

An interesting gesture. Shadowsun, still somewhat new to this galaxy, has yet to encounter someone giving her the thumbsup. She senses that this is a positive thing though and returned the salute to Samus before she disappeared from view. "What a curious warrior." She mused to herself. 
 
 Seeing no more threats, the Tau Commander answered Justina through comms. Ready to coordinate any necessary evacuation procedures.