World Tree MUSH

  Port Pixelito, Malastare.
  Dustig Sector, Mid Rim.
  Midnight.

  Gravity is Malastare's defining feature. The pull of gravity is powerful to beings accustomed to the Earths or the Corellias of the World Tree; the mere act of walking or standing is exhausting to such sensibilities, and one must take care not to severely twist an ankle or knee. Offworld visitors are advised to move carefully.

  The largest city and capital of the planet is Pixelito, a riotous melting pot of hundreds of galactic species, clashing politics, and business. There's a little bit of everything for everyone, here.

  The First Order has installed multiple garrisons to keep the peace, but their casual neglect of the city and its non-human native sentients is a constant irritant. After all, most consider it the Galactic Empire with a fresh coat of paint. This unrest in turn fans the flame of the Rebel Alliance, working quietly and feverishly to cast off the yoke of oppression. Finding them is like caging smoke: They are swift, silent; well-organised.

  Strikes and skirmishes between the two are common, making Pixelito's seedy underbellies even more dangerous.

  Pixelito's spaceport follows an "open-berth" policy. Anybody can show up, but they'd better guard their stuff from all the riffraff. An unguarded ship wouldn't last an hour here. Separate berths are marked off for the First Order. They maintain a guard and garrison there, with prefabricated buildings shored up against gravity's pull. There isn't much activity going on there just now.

  A bill was posted some time ago seeking help in an anti-Imperial strike. It covered its steps carefully; a contact time and place was established, but with no identities. No traceback.

  It's here a contact waits: An older woman leaning against the closed bay of a neutral berth, arms folded. She has silver-frosted blonde hair and alert, tired blue eyes. The tense lines of her shoulder and stress lines of her face might just be the gravity. They might also be the pull of years.

  She wears plain clothing and carries a blaster at each hip. The subtleties, though, describe a very high-ranking Rebel operative: The Rebel sigil and a general's subtle rank insignia are enameled into her belt buckle, half-hidden from sight.

  Locally, it's very late at night, but the older woman doesn't seem to care. She maintains her vigil in silence, hip leaned against the wall, head tilted so her face is downcast and in shadow, keeping her attention split between the local Vine and the suspiciously quiet First Order garrison.

    'DARGN, how's my body holding up?'

    'Load is more than 50% above normal. Well within acceptable parameters. Lightning crystal unaffected.'

    A faint smile tugs at Hyouka's lips. There's something nice about being able to just walk into a high-G world like this and not instantly stagger under the additional weight. She can feel it, for sure, but with her body, she's not nearly as troubled by it. Which means she can stride briskly; probably kind of nice, given the way her outfit and her ears don't *quiiiite* fit in here.

    Granted, most here probably think she's just another exotic alien - or perhaps an offworlder (which is true) - but it's still a bit worrisome having attention directed her way. So reaching the meeting spot quickly is a boon, no matter how much she'd like to stop and gawk at all the /other/ aliens about.

    When Hyouka arrives at the berth, her hands are in the pockets of her jacket, and her gaze sweeps over the contact briefly before she offers a somewhat awkward, "Ah, hello? The, erm... there was a job posting, right?"

    There's something about the phrase 'anti-Imperial strike' that just sounds fun. Or maybe that's just to Cayde, who along with his Ghost had been skimming the latest postings for anything that might perk his interests. "If nothing else, I'm pretty sure we haven't been to this place," he'd said, and that had been that.

    Sundance had been quick to note the gravitational differences, but that came with the exploration territory, and while it'd take a little to get himself acclimated, Cayde's not too worried about it. For him it's another point in favor of adventure on unknown planets, reminding him of times long past. 

    His saunter is spoiled just a touch by a misstep and a stumble, but the Exo just as easily manages to keep his footing, even if it puts him briefly in an awkward position. He whirls about, the shredded ends of what might have been a cloak at some point in time trailing him as he finds his balance, gloved hands akimbo. He definitely stands out, robotic of face, yet humanoid in attire. Since when do droids wear that much clothes?

    "No one saw that," he says, addressing no one and anyone in the area before giving a slight tug of his hood in case it had slipped from its place during his little trip.

And Emily just shows up hovering.

A staticky portal opens up, and out floats Emily in the form of a silver-skinned android with white hair, robotic eyes, and four arms; she's dressed in a pale blue tutu and ballet shoes.

She grins at the group, snickering at Cayde's pratfalls, before she nods to Hyouka and Juno. "Hello again, Hyouka, Blackout," she says, in an instantly-recognizable voice. "Emily Nyx here."

She pauses. "I'm a shapeshifter, by the way," she adds dryly. "So, how's it going?" Her eyes shift towards the First Order base. "... besides the obvious, of course."

     After doing a little prior reconnaissance, Krystal decides not to come in her ship, and rather just take the vine on foot. She also decided to dress as lightly as possible to cut back on any extra weight she'd be carrying around in the increased gravity, wearing a simple peach-colored dress that hugs her figure, with a top that leaves most of her back and stomach uncovered, and a fairly short skirt. 

     Her collapsed down staff is bad enough to lug around, though it also doesn't occur to her that hanging from her waist, it would look a bit like the hilt of a double-bladed lightsaber at first glance. 

     After arriving through the vine, she immediately staggers under the increased gravity as she adjusts from what she was experiencing on the other side. With a small grunt she regains her composure and stands, straight, but soon moves to a nearby wall for support for the moment. 

     "Ooof, even my fur feels heavy like I just went swimming in water that has the weight of lead." She mutters a bit as she looks around, eyes studying the blonde woman and the others around, wondering who else came for this job.

  The woman leaning against the berth's doorframe keeps her arms crossed, head tilted just slightly to watch the newcomers arriving. Every one is studied, although it seems like most of her attention is fixed on the First Order's silent garrison.

  When more or less everyone has arrived, the woman lifts her gaze again, sweeping each one and studying them; sizing them up with the cool, detached professionality of a soldier.

  "I presume you're all here for a job." Her voice is low but clear, words clipped and neat and well-enunciated. If this were Earth her accent might be British. She thins her lips in a subtle frown, glancing distractedly back toward the garrison. "I'll caution you up front: This had better be quick, quiet, and subtle. If you can't be subtle, I have no use for you."

  She pushes off from the doorway with a quiet grunt, straightening her jacket and resting her hands just shy of the holsters of the weapon at each hip. "I wasn't going to give a name at all, but I suppose Nyx took care of that for me. Yes, you can call me 'Blackout.' It isn't my name, but my name isn't important."

  "Our target," she says softly, "is over there. Yonder lies a garrison of the First Order. Sufficed to say, the First Order spreads throughout the galaxy just like the cancer that was the Galactic Empire, built on its ashes and its tenets. They have a shipment arriving tonight of parts that I need. I don't want them receiving that shipment. You all are going to help me make sure the shipment never arrives."

  "The freighter is ultimately due in Corellia, which is in the Core Worlds of the galaxy. The heart of Imperial authority, in a manner of speaking." She sweeps them with those simultaneously tired-but-bright eyes; although it's clear that some of that brightness is the result of stimulants more than anything else. "It has a stopover here in Port Pixelito to pick up additional supplies, according to a copy of the manifest I sliced from the local Imperial databases."

  She folds her arms again, leaning against the berth. "I'm going to slice into their mainframe, knock out their power or compromise their systems in any way that I can. That ought to have them panicking for a few brief moments, which should hopefully be enough for you all to get in, commandeer the transport, and hold it until I can arrive to pilot it to a safe location."

  Sweeping them with a look again, 'Blackout' hoods her eyes. "Any questions? The freighter should be arriving soon. On my mark, we'll infiltrate. Quietly," she adds. "We may be able to knock out this garrison, but the whole fleet will be on our heads if we waste too much time."

    Hyouka gives Cayde a flat stare. The corner of her mouth quirks up a bit.

    She doesn't say a word.

    Then Emily steps out of a portal, and the elven woman blinks in vague surprise. "Ah, hello again," she replies, lifting a hand in a brief little wave of greeting. Krystal garners a more openly curious look, but that doesn't last long at all; their 'employer' is bringing things to order. The cyborg responds only with a nod, at first. Yes, she is indeed here for a job. But the woman's next statement includes the words 'quick, quiet and subtle.'

    'Hyouka, we should bow out,' DARGN immediately suggests in her head.

    'Shush. I can do subtle!'

    There's no outward sign of the exchange. She only folds her arms, listening quietly. "...Hyouka works well enough, I suppose. I can give you contact information afterwards." Beyond that, the woman continues to listen to the briefing. Distraction tactic, commandeer transport, hold out... wait. Won't that last part involve being not-subtle? Ah well. Hyouka will just figure that out when the time comes. "Can't think of any. DARGN should be able to sync communications with you easily enough."

    "For that, I require basic contact information," a feminine voice points out; it's not Hyouka's, but it seems to issue from somewhere within her.

     Krystal nods as Blackout asks the gathered group if they're all here for a job. Otherwise, she stays quiet and listens as the terms of the job are given. She smirks a little at the question of being subtle. Sure, she could be quiet, and now that she was starting to get used to the added gravity, she hoped she could be at least relatively quick, but she herself wondered how a blue vixen trying to sneak into a military garrison could be subtle. 'I suppose I'll do my best. 

     Krystal hopes that these First Order folks think loudly so she'll know if and when the dung is about to hit the fan. Finally pushing off from the wall and stretching a bit and feeling her tail tugged down to her ankles, she almost wishes she didn't have one, but she'll make the best of this less than ideal situation. 

     She ultimately shakes her head at Blackout. "Quick and quiet, got it, I don't really have any questions. I will say though that I'm a telepath, so if I can put that to good use here, just let me know and I'll do my best."

    Cayde folds his arms as he studies the others who've arrived, presumably for the same reason he did. He notes the slight smirk, wags a finger at her knowingly. A metal brow lifts slightly before moving on from Krystal to the woman who had likewise been eyeing them. To her presumption he offers a nod. "Subtle, I can do subtle," he unwittingly echoes Hyouka's own internal dialogue. Not that saying as much probably offers much for reassurance.

    He follows her glances towards the garrison, briefly before returning his attention towards 'Blackout' as she continues with details and background of the situation they're getting themselves into.

    Oh yes. Definitely sounds like fun.

    "I'm so glad I came along," he says, facial plates and the tilt of his head expressing a smirk as he rubs his hands together almost gleefully. A heist! In his opinion anyone who called themselves the First Order was asking for it.

    "Means to keep in touch would be a good idea," he nods. "Sundance can patch us in to a frequency if we've got a secure one available."

Emily doesn't really do 'subtle', and she knows it. In fact, looks like she's about to protest when Blackout says she has no use for those who cannot be subtle, and again at 'quietly'.

Then she visibly takes a mental step back to actually think about this situation, and taps her chin thoughtfully, glancing between the others present for a moment as they talk.

Then she looks at Krystal. "I have an idea!" she says, with the sweetest of grins. "How about I follow your lead!"

She isn't clearly saying what that's about, but as a telepath, Krystal might pick up on it ...

She pauses. "Oh, and I can keep in radio contact, too, if necessary." She gestures vaguely. "Robot, and all that."

  Those blue eyes flick to Hyouka when the woman offers her agreement, and mentions basic contact information. She doesn't seem too disturbed by the sound of a second voice.

  "I have a droid. You can rout them through him," she says, in answer to the request for information. She turns her head, speaking to what seems empty air. "PROXY?"

  Hello. The voice is polite and just a degree or two shy of human. My name is PROXY. You may rout all your communications through-- He issues a line of technical jargon that ought to be just fine for the tech-savvy types: A secured comm frequency that seems to be routed through something very shadowy and indistinct; some kind of network or computing system, but not something that's immediately clear.

  There's a pause before the droid speaks again. Will you be requiring any additional assistance?

  "That'll do it, PROXY. Thanks."

  My pleasure. Good luck with your mission, everyone. Do try to stay close, though. It may be liable to drop you if you wander too from the garrison.

  A telepath? Now that seems interesting, and the woman arches a brow. Fascinating. "I'll keep you appraised," she comments, thoughtfully. Now that there's a secure band they can use, 'Blackout' turns to face the others, gesturing to indicate the First Order compound.

  "Do it," she says to Cayde. "PROXY's got one set up that we can use. Secure and shielded. If Sundance can maintain coverage over the area, that would be even better. Knock them out if you can, but if lethal force is necessary, I'll shed no tears." The woman shakes her head. "Our first priority is the transport. That's all, everyone."

  Krystal and Emily Nyx are eyed for a moment, somewhat dubiously, before she shakes her head. Lights in the sky catch her attention as a freighter slowly hoves into view, formation lights blinking and running lights illuminating the garrison for a moment. It's big, and its ion drives are straining against Malastare's absurd gravity.

  "I'm going in," 'Blackout' states crisply. "When the lights go out, that's your cue, everyone. PROXY and I will keep them as busy as we can."

  With that, the woman moves to stride briskly -- the gravity is too high to trust herself to jog -- for a back entrance of the garrison wall. Krystal might feel the distant mind of one of the guards wink out (unconscious, not dead) and then, maybe five to ten minutes later...

  The lights go out. Everything in the garrison goes dark. A second later, an alarm starts wailing, voice shouting, boots pounding as soldiers scramble to find out what's happening... the whole nine yards.

  Pretty good distraction, all things considered. They could just waltz right in the front if they wanted to. Clearly, these Imperials were absolutely not expecting anybody to bother hitting this place.

  There are some soldiers milling around just inside, but they aren't very effective at anything, unable to see in the dark. Easy pickings for the enthusiastic adventurer.

  PROXY provides an update via radio.

  Blackout has reached the generator and disabled it. That will be your cue to enter, he explains, politely. Do try not to let any of the First Order personnel reach any of their radio equipment. Most of them will be carrying local tightband equipment, but they must use the garrison's transmitter to call for outside help. We must prevent them from doing so at all costs, or they will call down the First Order's fleet. Perhaps not in its entirety, he muses, but enough to, ah, complicate this operation significantly. Good luck, everyone! I recommend securing the courtyard and the cargo berth the transport is attempting to dock in, and I would also strongly recommend somebody attempt to disable the pilot of the transport.

    It takes half a heartbeat for DARGN to start up the comms link, once she has the information. 'Comms established,' the AI reports to Hyouka. Just in time, because here comes the freighter, and there goes Blackout. "Ah, alright, so I suppose we just have to wait here, then..." Five to ten minutes. In a situation like this, five to ten minutes can feel like an eternity. By minute two, Hyouka is fidgeting a little. Eventually, she opens her mouth to offer a concerned, "Is it supposed to take this long? I wonder if we should-"

    Lights out.

    "Ah, there, that's got to be it." PROXY offers confirmation, but Hyouka is already moving. Her senses are a fair bit better than human; she's got the advantage in the low light, especially with her ability to still move at full speed, more or less. "We should probably do this fast, right? Take advantage of the surprise while we have it?" She's already putting her words into practice, driving a fist into the abdomen of the first guard she reaches. It's not delivered with killing force, but it's absolutely going to ruin the poor sap's day if it actually connects.

     At the last minute, Krystal has another thought and she telepathically speaks to 'Blackout' as she heads off to disable the generator. She lets her know that she's also a pilot so if things get bad, she could pilot the cargo ship and pick her up on the way out of here. 

     She does eventually feel the mind of a guard suddenly flare up in surprise for the briefest moment before going quiet, and smiles. "Seems like things are going well so far with our employer." She comments to the rest of the team, and sure enough, some minutes later the lights go out. 

     "Guess that's our queue!" She comments with a grin as she quickly follows after Hyouka, but tries to look as casual as possible while heading toward a military base bristling with alarms, who is she kidding, this is going to involve fighting. Seeing the guard that Hyouka decks out, she probably grabs her staff and extends it to full combat length. "Well, we aren't the most stealthy group, but they definitely seem surprised." She comments with a laugh. 

     "Lets get this done as quickly as possible though before they can recover, organize a defense, and call for backup."

    "Sundance?" Cayde prompts with Blackout's confirmation, and he can sense his Ghost at work as his partner patches them in with Proxy's info. He nods at Blackout. "Will do. And if there's anything that needs some technical work, I'll let her have at it." 

    Eyes shift to the incoming transport, and with final details in place, he exchanges a nod with the others. As the lady makes her move, he tenses, waiting. Showtime!

    "So if it's not us that triggered the alarm, does that make us exempt from subtle?"

    He doesn't wait for a response as he slinks on towards the front entrance, vanishing a good while before the glow of blue optics might be seen just before he appears to drop out of nowhere to take another hapless soldier out. A quick look about and he heads on in, slipping out his favorite handcanon. Hah. Subtle.

Emily nods to PROXY with a smile. << Connection confirmed! >> she says by radio.

She manages to stay calm for the entire time; she's had literal centuries to learn to deal with boredom, after all, but she is starting to fidget a little bit by the time the lights go out.

She smiles, and hops to her feet. "Releasing capacitor seals three and two," she announces, and three distinct auras appear around her, one gold, one silver, and one pearlescent; the first two seem to shatter, and the third fades. In a swirl of glitter, she transforms into a jet-black humanoid figure, so dark as to seem like a hole in space, or a graphical glitch. Except for the glowing purple eyes, that is. The manner in which she floats off after Hyouka and Krystal probably looks like the exact opposite of stealthy, really, but hey, it's not like the alarms are gonna get any quieter on their own. Another swirl of glitter, and a staff similar to Krystal's own materializes in her staff. She whacks the guards with exactly the same level of force that Krystal is using, too.

<< Oh wait, I just had an idea! >> she radios to the group. << PROXY, can you give me the location of the radio antennae? I can teleport, so I could probably knock them out, as long as I know their exact location relative to my current position. >> She transmits PROXY a crude 3D map of the room they're in and the outside of the base as far as she could see.

  There is one thing everybody gets to learn very quickly, and it's the fact that however helpful he is, PROXY is kind of wordy.

  Certainly, Miss Hyouka. The faster we can accomplish this, the better. If we can withdraw before the First Order notices that the transport is missing, all the better. PROXY seems to pause, and there comes from over the line a spate of electronic static and tones. Kind of like an angry dial-up modem. ...Oh, dear, it seems they're already scrambling their defenses.

  Another voice joins the line. It's Juno's.

  Blackout here. I've managed to slice into their comm array and their security cameras, so I can guide you through. Fortunately, the latter are low-light equipped.

  The low-level guards offer very little resistance, owing to the fact that they're still panicking and trying to figure out what's going on. They aren't very well informed, but what does one expect from an organisation that issues them a number and never refers to them by name? Once a Stormtrooper, always a Stormtrooper.

  One of them is about to say something, but he doesn't get a chance. Cayde drops him, and he drops like a stone in a clatter of plastisteel armour.

  So much for subtle. At her console, 'Blackout' exhales in a long, quietly resigned sigh.

  You're about as subtle as a bantha in a china shop, Juno observes exasperatedly, line crackling. Nobody's raised the alarm yet. Do try to hurry. I can't disable their outside comm transmitters, so we have one shot at this.

  There's a moment of silence when Emily makes her request of PROXY; presumably, the polite droid is working in the background. For a brief moment, the line goes completely dead.

  It might be a few long seconds of sweating and wondering until it comes back up.

  I will forward the coordinates. If you can disable the transmitter, that will buy us some additional time. Good luck!

  PROXY is way too cheerful about the prospect of a handful of Stormtroopers about to have a really bad day.

  The rest of you, Blackout adds, had better book it to that transport before they realise something's wrong. They'll be wanting to take off and reverse course. Don't let them.

  True to her warning, the sound of ion engines thundering can be heard. It doesn't sound like it's about to take off -- but it's getting ready so it can be in a position to, no doubt.

  My master advises that you proceed with caution, PROXY offers, cheerfully. The transport crew will be well armed. Disabling or disarmament is advised.

  There's a great clattering of boots in the hall, outside the transport cargo bay. Sounds like more Stormtroopers are headed in. How do they even run in this gravity?! They must go through absurd training.

    "I don't believe it does," DARGN replies to Cayde-6 over the comms. "However, if you move quickly, it raises the threshold for 'subtlety'." Hyouka just keeps on moving. At least, until she realizes she has no clue which way she's actually going. Aside from the sound of engines warming up. "Ah, well, it's..." DARGN immediately chimes in. "I will highlight directions on your HUD. Just run." Oh good! That makes this simple.

    And like that, Hyouka is running again. Straight into danger. Without any kind of armament whatsoever to use against the approaching troops. "Oh, right. FI-" The cyborg cuts her own words short - shouting a cool activation phrase is probably not 'subtle'. "...DARGN, switch them on please. Low output." By the time she reaches the next horde of Stormtroopers, Hyouka's forearms have been replaced by an utterly massive pair of high-tech gauntlets, each as big around as her torso, if not moreso. Along each gauntlet there are lines of glowing blue-white light, and when she swings one around at the first hostile to come within reach, there's an audible *krak!* of elemental lightning.

>> SUMMARY[Hyouka Kiyama] >> Stunfisto.

     Krystal senses the trouble coming their way before even hearing the sound of their boots, though the latter is more helpful in knowing what direction they are coming from, even if she could have guessed they were coming from the direction of the cargo bay. 

     "Here come some more plastic armor soldiers." She says with a grin, moving into the hall ahead of the group and aiming her staff at the floor, using its ice blast ability to freeze the floor, though being careful to keep an unfrozen path so they could later pass without slipping. 

     She hopes it will trip up a few of the Stormtroopers, and gets ready to blast them as they come around the corner, the end of her staff now lighting up in red flashes as she focuses on any who don't slip first.

    "Hey, I can't help it. It's not like I can turn off my face!" the Guardian snorts over the comms.  

    He doesn't mind the delegation of tasks as Emily volunteers to handle jamming  the radio transmissions. Agreeing with Hyouka, he follows after her, head cocking at the sound of ship engines. "Sundance, what's it look like ahead? How much trouble we got waiting for us?" 

    As he waits for his Ghost to update as she scans for lifeforms and any concerning energy spikes, Cayde watches his companions work. "..nice!" 

    With everyone else being loud he doesn't take much encouragement to throw stealth out the window as he jerks his gun up and fans the hammer to let several quick shots fly once the targets present themselves. 

Emily nods, even though PROXY and Blackout can't see it. "Righto!" she says. She pauses as she sees Krystal fire off, however; she grins, and summons a phalanx of five golden bolts, which also launch into the stormtroopers!

And then she opens a staticky portal, with the antennas visible through them. She slips through, looks in the direction of the ship from her new vantage point, and carefully moves around to the other side. She transforms her staff into a sword, regards the antenna for a moment, and then carefully and quietly stabs into some important-looking components -- nothing that would make it obvious unless you actually walked up to it and took a look, although the comm center will probably discover it pretty quick.

  The unfortunate platoon of Stormtroopers nearest to Hyouka get to learn why offworlders are considered dangerous, and why the upper echelons of First Order hierarchy make a point of treating them carefully. Unfortunately, the grunts aren't so wise, and so the grunts in front of Hyouka go down like a sack of bricks. Somehow Malastare's gravity makes the thud all that more satisfying.

  I just saw several of them go down. Nice work. Blackout's compliment is clipped, and the sound of mechanical fiddling can be heard over her line. Pilot, the transport is all yours. I'll be en route once I'm certain things are handled here, but I'm going to need you to stop the transport from taking off.

  Stormtroopers come slipping and sliding around the corner of the frozen pathway. The gravity makes it that much worse whenver one of them goes down; they hit hard enough to crack the ice, wearing all that armour. It's certainly not plastic; but by the same token, it's certainly not as good as it could be.

  Needless to say, they also go down. If the ice doesn't get them, the blasting zone gets them instead. Through it all, the basso roar of engines is still audible; a constant reminder that they have a timer ticking down.

  More Stormtroopers go down once they walk face-first into Cayde's volleys.

  The next wave is a little smarter, and learns from their downed comrades. They have their blasters out, this time, and they're firing shots on their way around the corner. Stormtroopers are notoriously poor at aiming, but you never know, one of them might get lucky once in a while. They're carrying heavy assault rifles, so the energy those things are throwing packs one hell of a punch. It might not kill someone as tough as offworlders, but it might ruin their day a little.

  Pretty soon there aren't all that many left, and the alarms are still sounding. Must be the cue to get to the transport. The way is pretty much clear, at this point.

  On arriving at the cargo bay, they'll find a medium-size transport barge firing its ion drives, trying to get them primed to take off again. Fortunately, it's a fairly light detail: The captain, the co-pilot, and a few engineers and technicians. The captain and co-pilot have weapons, but the engineers don't, and they'll quickly raise hands in surrender once weird offworlders start barging onto their barge. Easily dealt with.

  Once you've got the transport's crew dealt with, 'Blackout' reports, I'll have PROXY forward coordinates to you. You can follow me there for confirmation of goods and payment for services rendered.

  Please confirm once you have taken control of the transport ship, PROXY reports cheerfully. I will forward the coordinates directly to its navcomputer. Oh so helpful.

    Hyouka is exuberant as the first wave goes down, turning her head to give Cayde and Krystal a huge-fisted thumbs-up. "Ha! So much for trained soldi-"

    Her boot hits the patch of ice Krystal has laid down. Because she wasn't watching where she was going. As a result, she is now going 'flat on her backside'. Even accounting for the higher gravity, her landing is far heavier than her frame would suggest.

    "Ow," Hyouka says, deadpan.

    "Hyouka, be careful. Our ally has frozen much of the floor," DARGN warns, equally deadpan.

    With a vaguely irritated grunt, the cyborg rolls herself over and pushes back up to her feet, without any seeming effort. From there it's a high-speed dash to the cargo bay... and a continued high-speed dash once she reaches it. "HEY, DON'T YOU DARE TAKE OFF!" Her gauntlet is already crackling with electricity as she comes straight at the co-pilot, and she fully intends to give him the taser treatment if she can reach him fast. She's banking on her superhuman body to give her the advantage there.

>> SUMMARY[Hyouka Kiyama] >> Rushing like a bull. Probably making noise like one, too.

    The Hunter Vanguard can't help but let out a little whoop as troopers go falling. Although there's a wince when Hyouka goes down. Otherwise, everything's looking good- until reinforcements arrive and manage to start firing back. "Uh-oh." Cayde throws himself to the side, Sundance's warning coming a second too late to remind him of the gravity adjustments. It about halves the distance he'd meant to go for, and he can feel the heat as a shot or two come a tad too close for comfort. He might just have a fresh hole singed in his cloak to boot.

    "Ugh, dangit," he grumbles, slipping something from his belt and lobbing it with a bit more force and height so that the grenade can reach the Stormtroopers. Even if it doesn't, once it goes off the explosive pieces home in on the nearest targets.

    Scrambling to his feet, Cayde levels himself for a dash, keeping himself low as he runs -towards- the troopers and for the cargo bay beyond. He ghost-steps his way past them, pulling the old disappearing trick to get him clear to the other side. 

    "You heard her!" he says on the heels of Hyouka's order, his gun held up and wagging meaningfully. "Everyone out and we won't have to toss anyone off. Nice and easy." Between Hyouka's launching herself at the co-pilot and him with the Ace of Spades all primed, he hopes these guys make the right choice.

     As the next wave of Stormtroopers come around the corner with their blasters drawn, she already knows they're getting a bit more serious. She quickly drops to the ground and continues using gravity to her advantage as she uses a swing of her staff to try to knock a couple of them off their feet and beat them into submission. 

     Hopefully, some of her teammates will take care of the others, as Krystal gets back up with a bit of a struggle against the pull of gravity, and continues heading toward the cargo bay, knowing they don't have any time to lose. She is starting to feel rather tired and begins panting hard enough to be audible to the others. Being the only fully natural being in their little group, she's feeling the strain as she tries her best to keep up with Hyouka and the others.

Another moment later and Emily comes around the corner behind everyone. She takes one look up at the stormtroopers and crew, and a grin forms on her face, her teeth standing out against the impossible blackness of her exterior surface. "H'yello, everbody!"

Golden bolts go flying; it seems she can't summon more than four or five at once, and she glides over the surface of the ground, avoiding the earlier ice entirely. She pauses briefly when Hyouka goes down, but picks up the pace again, and slides over to Krystal, wrapping a shoulder around her.

And then she turns her grin on the unarmed crew. "Good evening, folks!" she says. "We are all highly trained professionals here --" Krystal would hear the thought that this is a lie, Emily herself is a civilian model which learned to fight over centuries of hardscrabble life in a ruined world, but it's totally okay to kill them either way, they aren't the Masters ... "-- or in any event we're all highly dangerous, and it's clear that you are not, so you should probably consider surrendering!" She summons a single golden bolt, where it hovers over her head. "Capice?"

  The transport's engines are audible through half the garrison, the basso reverberation of its ion drives enough to rattle small objects on the ground near the bay. Ordinarily, the personnel out here would be wearing ear protection, this close to a starship's engine... mostly because this transport ship looks old, and it isn't nice enough to warrant quiet drives.

  That's going to leave a mark. 'Blackout' comments at about the same time Hyouka goes down on the ice, her voice completely deadpan.

  It's PROXY who pipes up next. Where is he in all of this, anyway? It is a mystery. Do be careful, Miss Hyouka, the droid cautions worriedly. Malastare possesses a powerful gravitational field, and from my research among the World Tree's nearest known territories, it is considerably stronger than most planets. It is an oddity even in many of the Outer Rim territories.

  PROXY.

  Yes, master?

  Will you please shut up and let them work?

  Oh. Yes. Of course, master. PROXY's acquiesce is entirely too cheerful.

  When the group reaches the transport, they'll find that the pilot is frantically trying to gun the engines to get them to reverse course from the bay, but the old garbage scow isn't really cooperating. The co-pilot is twisted around in his chair, with a blaster drawn and held up. Neither of them are wearing Imperial uniform, so they must be independent contractors of some kind or another.

  That's probably good because it means they're even worse equipped than the Stormtroopers, which is probably saying something. Evidently seeing reason, the co-pilot drops his weapon at about the same time his hands go up in surrender. The mechanics, wherever they are, do much the same once they're found -- there are only two or three of them. The pilot seems to oscillate for a moment before finally releasing the controls, holding his hands up as well. "Take the ship. It's yours," he sighs, shaking his head.

  "J-just don't kill us," the co-pilot rasps, eyeing that golden bolt trained on his head. He swallows. Both men edge off to the side and away from the controls, hands still held up. They can probably be dropped at the nearest spaceport none the worse for the wear.

  ...Well, that was shockingly easy. Then again, these guys look an awful lot like civilians. They're too sloppy to be clean, crisp Imperial personnel. There are stains on the pilot's clothing, and the co-pilot has enough grease stains on his hands to suggest he does engineering work as well.

  Still. That was easy.

  Blackout to infiltration team. Bad luck. This is taking too long. Have you got the ship, yet? Report in; I'm going to have to leave my position very soon, here.

    "Huh?" Hyouka actually looks briefly perplexed at Proxy's concern. "Ah, no, don't worry about me. I'm strong enough to lift and throw a few tons. This isn't too bad for me."

    And so, the ship falls under their control. With Emily joining her, Cayde and Krystal, at this point it would be more surprising if the ship's crew didn't surrender. It still almost feels like a surprise to Hyouka; her lightning-charged gauntlet stops short of the co-pilot, she blinks once or twice, and then takes a step back. "Oh, well, er. Good." That's about when Blackout calls, and the elven woman looks up out of sheer habit. "We've got it, go ahead and get down here."

    After looking them over, Cayde nods, waving them to the side with his gun. He glances at Emily and the others, and if no one else is going to complain, makes a move to take the pilot's seat.

    "Blackout, we hear you. Sorry about the delay, if you can shoot us those coordinates, we'll get this bird off the ground and out of here," he reports as he studies the controls. At least the thing's warmed up for them! He grips the flight yoke, squinting at the switches on the panel beside it. "Err... Sundance, care to help a guy out. Or I can just push buttons--"

    Before he even finishes saying the word, his Ghost materializes, motes of light shimmering from the Guardian to form the red and gray star-like body of his partner. She eyes him and he just grins back, watching as Sundance disappears -into- the ship's console to scan the systems and get the thing at least moving in the right direction. Cayde can handle steering it from there, and once they've got coordinates, Sundance should be able to figure out how to apply them so they can make the jump.

    "Don't worry, I've flown a ship before!" Cayde assures. There may be a few rough patches, upon which he adds, "-just like riding a Sparrow, it's coming back to me."

     Krystal follows the others into the ship while trying to cover her ears against the deafening engines which were even louder for her than most. She smiles as the co-pilot drops the blaster he had and the pilot gives up the controls, which she takes a moment to look over to see if she could make sense of them enough to fly this thing if she had to. 

     Telepathically, she speaks a warning to the captain and co-pilot, along with the rest of the men on the ship. <Thank you very much for your cooperation, we won't hurt you if you continue to cooperate, but if you even think about turning against us, I'll know, and I won't take it kindly.> She then directs her next message to Blackout. <We're here, all clear, what's your ETA?>

Emily lands, steps aside, and gracefully bows, one hand gesturing for the pilots to leave the ship. << Yeah, we managed to secure it one second before your transmission, >> she says by radio. << Reapplying capacitor seals two and three. >> The pearlescent aura appears again, and the golden and silver ones reconstruct themselves before all three fade.

She raises her eyebrows as Cayde takes the pilot's seat. "Hmm. You know, I'm not sure I've ever tried to use my self-inertial manipulation to try to fight against the ship I was currently riding before," she says, a note of teasing in her voice.

  Just about when the gauntlet should raise over his head, the co-pilot's eyes widen to about the size of dinner plates, and the sweating man goes very, very pale. He makes a weird, squeak-like sort of noise, flattens himself back against the bulkhead, and sinks down until he's in a pile on the floor. Oh dear.

  The line Blackout is using crackles as a spate of static washes over the signal. I'll be join-- It's a terrible signal, and God only knows what she's doing to make it work, --you soon. Force be with-- Before she can add anything else, the distorted sound of a lot of shouting and blaster fire transmits, before cutting itself off.

  Silence.

  Oh dear. Are you certain you've flown a ship of this size before, Master Cayde? I do believe that the bulkhead is--

  All through the egress, PROXY tries to talk Cayde through piloting the old transport barge, but he doesn't have very much luck because Cayde probably ignores a bunch of what the droid is trying to advise. Better to just pick it up by doing, right?!

  That barge is probably going to be missing some paint by the time they arrive at their destination. And maybe a few minor parts, too.

  The ship does at least make it off the planet, and following the coordinates provided by the droid, it will eventually arrive in some neutral, backwater planet far away from Imperial attentions.

  They'll be joined by Blackout, but the woman has gone radio silent, as explained by her overly polite droid assistant. At least she survived what sounded an awful lot like a firefight back there -- she'll arrive fashionably late, citing her extraction as what held her up. She'll also be a little singed and very, very tired-looking.

  Payment will be dispensed, along with messages of thanks and encouragement that they did a good thing here in aiding the Rebel Alliance; and that, more relevantly, there may be more jobs in the future. Not once does the woman ever give more of a name than her callsign. Her ship is pretty sweet, though... and not one of them is allowed to touch it.

  How disappointing.