World Tree MUSH

    With vines leading all around the Tree as they do, it's not out of the ordinary for new worlds and universes to appear. Today seems to be one of those days.
    With a relatively new series of vines leading to a new expanse of worlds and space, things have been... Interesting to say the least. The local government, called The Galactic Federation, has been scrambling to figure out what's going on and establish new ties with offworld governments as best they can in the flurry of sudden new activity. Until then the Federation has opened up some of their more civilized worlds and colonies to offworlders to explore and see what they have to offer, and all is well and good. Though... There have been rumors of Space Pirate activity ramping up again, and with word of one of the Federation's ships, a frigate by the name of The Aegis going missing, there's been some unspoken tension.
    And then. Then comes the distress signal.
    Baby's Cry; the code name for a common type of distress signal in this universe, nicknamed for the urgency it implies, designed to attract as much attention as possible.
    The Aegis has been found; floating adrift just out of range of the planet Jigraad, floating adrift.
    The Federation Police have the area on lockdown, but volunteers and bounty hunters are more than welcome to investigate, with payment and transporation offered on the Federation's dime.
    The Frigate is stone silent on arrival, the only entrance available being the ship's docking bay, big enough for smaller ships... Like the purple gunship already docked in place. Someone is already here.

    One Valerian Railton is here! He is currently wearing a full suit of powerarmor. It's a drab steel color, looking industrial and fairly uncustomized. Across his lap is an assault rifle that looks to be large-caliber but nothing insane. Just something clearly made for firefights between things wearing power armor like what the wielder is wearing. 

    He's smoking a stimstick as he rides the transport in, the helmet of the suit in his lap as well. When the ship docks, Valerian flicks a roll of bills at the pilot, "Thanks for the right, man. Keep the change. I'll give you a five-star rating on R-Uber." He puts the helmet on with a loud hiss as he hops out onto the deck. 

    The rideshare he was taking turns and leaves pretty much immediately. Valerian looks at his phone and taps it a few times. 

Transporter Mac
Rating: ***** 
Comments: Polite, Smooth Ride, Prompt

    "Captain, another Vine just appeared on our vector... it's tracking us like the previous ones." comes Minerva's soft tone over intra-ship comms.

    "Understood, bring us out of Linespace, and take us in at sublight... I'll prep a Doll for contact. Check that comm-chatter coming through for anything pertinent."

    "Already scanning comm-lines... apparently a new Blossom recently established, they have a Priority Black distress call going out from a Frigate near the exit point of this Vine... They're calling for aid in figuring out why it went missing, and why it is now adrift near an exoplanet... Forwarding pertinent data to Xander's matrix and spooling up the Teleport system for contact."

    "Understood, ready for contact."

    The bulbous frame of the Sanctuary emerges from a space-based Vine some 12 lightseconds away from the cordon, and Minerva transmits requests to offer assistance as she maneuvers the bulky ship closer to the frigate. Once in range, an energy spike rises from the ship, and a robotic frame appears in the entry, near to where the gunship is docked. It clicks, chitters as it powers up and then shifts as Justina imprints on it. "Alright, lets see how different this feels... beginning local area scan, diverting auxillary power to hull plating." The red optic flares as a 'pulse' expands from it, mapping the local area and propogating down opene corridors to get a 'view' of the layout of the ship, and extra metal plates appear flash-forged in exposed areas of the frame, supplementing the glistening white 'armour' already in place.

    Exploring a newly-linked world is already exactly the kind of adventure Hyouka Kiyama is interested in - so as it happens, she's relatively close by when the Baby's Cry goes out. Transport by the Federation is more than welcome, and it ends up with her dropped off right behind Valerian, and Justina's frame. Ordinarily, she'd recognize the former, but that armor is entirely new to the cyborg, so naturally, she thinks she's meeting two new people! "Ah, hello. Are the two of you here about the distress signal?"

     Suiren has gained a new appreciation and interest in the goings on among the people of space since attending a recent event where several people from various species spoke about their history and efforts to cooperate. So when she heard about a new vine opening up, and a distress signal, she decided to join the group going to investigate. Though as she sits on the transport ship, looking over at Valerian, she's feeling a bit underdressed as it were. "You sure look ready for battle." She comments before looking out a window and catching a glimpse of Justina's ship coming onto the scene.

    There's a squad of Federation soldiers in the docking bay, men and women dressed in dark blue suits of middling quality power armor, wielding rifles, themselves, waiting for the offoworlders to arrive.
    "You're the help the Federtion called in?" One soldier sounds incredulous, especially when he sees how young Suiren is. Another hushes him and is more professional: "A lone bounty hunter already went on ahead. Signal interference has been heavy, we lost contact with them a while back. We'll secure the docking bay so you have a safe route to exfil from here." He says.
    Which leaves Valerian, Hyouka, Justina's Doll, and Suiren to proceed on their own.
    The door into the ship proper slides open with a hiss to reveal a darkened corridor, red emergency lights running along the floor panels are the only source of illumination. Scorch marks on the walls, melted panelling, and exposed sparking wiring says there was a firefight that tore though here, and a tossed over barricade says that whoever was here lost it as the signs of battle travel deeper into the ship.
    It's not long before the corridor leads to a larger room, crates and canisters denoting the space as a cargo area. Some of them have been broken into. ... A lot of them have been broken into actually, and the soft guttural sound of something chittering can be heard rattling in the dim lighting.

    The XE-MI Frame hunkers down a little, collapsing a bit into itself after getting a lay of the area. It's single red optic looks back over at Valerian, Hyouka and Suiren as they arrive, the operator recognizing only the latter. "Miss Suiren, it is nice to see you again... under only slightly better circumstances." the familiar voice coming from an unfamiliar frame. "I was actually enroute to a totally different area to test this Doll, but a Vine intercepted my ship so, two birds." she replies to Hyouka, before heading out into the corridor without any further pleasantries. The splayed, talon-like feet of the Doll click against the metal of the deck, and the overall movement looks very predatory... Justina even shifts to 'four limbed' movement as that gutteral chittering sounds out in the cargo bay, lowering to the ground and stalking toward it, soft metallic clicks from the claws echoing through the large room.

    "You know what they say: Dress for the job you want." Valerian responds to Suiren as she comments on how he's ready for battle. He slings the rifle across his back and then gives her a grin through the visor on his helmet. He then turns towards Hyouka, "Oh hey, yo Dragon Sis. What's up in your world? Yeah, I'm here about the distress signal. It's good money." 

    But then the soldiers are saying they'll hold the dock and Valerian nods at the team, "Alright. Sounds good." He taps the side of his visor so the low-light vision kicks on. And then... Valerian gets distracted IMMEDIATELY. Because he rushes over to the XE-MI frame and inspects it when it uses that four-limbed movement, "Oh maaaaaaaaaaaan, look at that design work. That's some high-spec shit!" 

    He's holding a rifle, but he seems less worried about the noise in the bay.

>> SUMMARY[Valerian Railton] >> Saying hi to people. Geeking out over Mil-Spec Robot Design

     Suiren tries her best to put on a brave face and prove that she wasn't going to slow anyone down,s though with none of her Pokemon currently out, she does just look like an average girl. She smiles as she recognizes Justina's voice behind the doll which would be a bit more frightening to run into if it wasn't familiar from her first run-in with Justina. "Hello Justina! Nice to hear your voice again. Can't help but wonder what other place you were planning to go. I do wish you could come visit my world sometime." Though she supposes it's not the same going to an island paradise when you can't feel the warm sun and cool ocean against your own skin, at this thought she frowns a bit, but quickly turns to nod toward Valerian she quips. "I'll just uh... stand behind you."

    The cargo bay's ominous atmosphere does not lend well to the feeling of safety. Something moves in the shadows, chittering to itself as Justina approaches, with Valerian close by.
    Then the emergency lights go out.
    Something snarls in the darkness.
    A pair of glowing eyes open and the space pirate in the gloom raises its clawed hands, the crustacean-looking creature clicking as twin red pinpricks of light illuminate the blasters attached to those pincer-like hands. And then it unloads a volley of lasers at the party!
    And this pirate isn't alone. There's a whole squad of them lurking in the now pitch black cargo chamber, firing their blasters with lethal intent.

    The lights go out. The baleful red optic of the XE-MI is the only thing visible of the Doll. It /leaps/ shifting to grasp onto a wall and skitter up it, shifting to walk along the ceiling as those lasers flash through the pitch blackness. The doll's white armour plates deflect the laser blasts, the regular metal that was flash-forged melting on impact, being only fairly 'normal', mundane material. Justina continues to skitter along the ceiling, before dropping from above on top of one of the Pirates, pinning it down with one large claw, while the other shifts and forms into a stabbing pike, which is then introduced to the captured specimen directly.

    She doesn't stay in one place for long, though that take-down allows more blasts to scorch the white armour, and melt more of the flash-forged plates before she starts moving again, trying to use some of the broken cargo boxes as cover to hide her movements.

    Oh! Huh, that was Valerian. Hyouka takes time out to complement the armor, and then they all move on. The sound of something lurking had the cyborg on her guard; the FISTEAU units are brought out quickly, crackling with the telltale energy of lightning.

    And soon enough they find themselves under assault by arthropoid pirates - one blast catches Hyouka along her side, scorching away her clothes and visibly dealing damage to the armor underneath - but probably a fair bit less than they expected. And she responds with superhuman speed, lunging right into range of the nearest Pirate and delivering a mighty swing with a fist that's probably as big as the being's torso.

    "Absolutely! If you need cover, stand behind me and I'll make sure to shield you." Valerian says cheerily to Suiren, giving her a thumbs up before the lights go out, "Contact!" 

    Several blasts slam into his armor, drawing scorch marks as he lifts up his rifle and shoulders it, "Opening fire!" He calls out, careful to avoid shooting where Hyouka is in charging and instead making sure that shots from the rifle hit some of the furthest pirates first with high-caliber rifle shots.

     Suiren nods as Valerian gives her a thumbs up, and then as the lights go out it seems it's go time. Suiren's right hand quickly snaps to the Pokeballs at her waist, but she finds herself wishing she had a Pokemon that knew Flash. Still, while taking cover behind Valerian, she releases Iona, a red light dimly illuminating the area in front of her as the Popplio appears. "Iona, try to track it with your ears, and use Aqua Jet!" Iona nods, staying quiet as she listens carefully for a moment, then a stream of water comes from her nose, enveloping her and then rocketing her toward the space pirate in a water-jet assisted tackle of sorts.

    In an instant it's a heavy firefight, blaster fire resounding through the hold as the pirates attempt to cash in on their ambush.
    It doesn't go so well for the pirates.
    They had been expecting Federation soldiers, not offworlders, and Hyouka's mighty fist punches that initial pirate hard enough to dent the bulkhead, while Valerian's high caliber fire punches through carapice easily enough. There's a momentary panic among the cowardly pirates when what they think is an EMMI unit is suddenly among them, stabbing one dead while Suiren summons her Popplio, Aqua Jet slaming another pirate down into a heap.
    But what they lack in firepower and morale they have in numbers, and more emerge from the crates before...
    Something moves in the darkness, before the lighting in the room kicks on again.
    Barely perceptible, almost a shadow, a blurred figure steps away from the wall panel that turned on the lights and de-cloaks.
    It's a figure in sleek purple power armor, visor glowing green as they raise their right arm to take aim, the integrated cannon coming to life with a flare of hot plasma energy that starts evaporating pirates left and right.
    "--The Hunter!" A pirate hisses, and they all immediately take to the back foot of a retreat into the chamber beyond, firing wildly as they go.
    This hunter then turns their sights on the group.
    At the sight of Justina's XE-MI Doll, their left hand twitches. A purple-pink glow suffuses their fingers as they launch from where they stand like a gunshot at the Doll, hand outstreched...
    Before a droning mechanical voice can be heard over the comms.
    [STOP.] In an instant the Hunter is stock still. Almost like a statue in power armor. [Despite similarities in appearance, that is not a Federation EMMI unit. It does not pose an existential threat. Stand down, Lady.]

    A lot of things need to be judged in rapid succession. Valerian is tempted to open fire on Samus when she enters the fight, but if the pirates are that agitated by her, he holds his fire and focuses on gunning down several more pirates with well-placed shots. 

    And then it looks like the Hunter is about to Justine and he's raising up his weapon again, but THEN a voice comes over telling people to stand down. And he adjusts his footing, keeping the rifle level but his finger off the trigger as he stares forward like a trained soldier. After a few moments he relaxes and lets the rifle lower a bit. 

    He turns to Suiren behind him, "You okay? No stray shots got past, did they?"

    Justina deploys one of the only non-standard devices fitted to the XE-MI. A shoulder-mounted heavy repeating crossbow. It unfolds, and TWOKs a few steel-tipped bolts after the retreating Pirates as they fall back deeper into the ship. The red optic pans to the sudden statue of power armour, and the operator shifts subtly back to an upright standing posture, bringing the Dolls arms up and dismissing the pike in a flicker of blue-white that absorbs back into the thoratic area of the Doll. "Whoever that voice belongs to is correct. This is an XE-MI Interceptor Frame. An old model from my world originally designed to engage multiple organic infantry units and resist energy-based attacks... I don't know what an EMMI is." the voice is feminine, and definitely sounds shaking by the sheer malice and intent from the power-armoured figure. "Refit hull plates." she then intones, causing the melted armour to dissipate much like the pike, then reform 'brand new' from new flashforged material.

    It's a fight of thrown punches, one after another, Hyouka taking full advantage of her superhuman attributes to keep the Pirates within arms' reach completely off their balance. She's more careful about taking hits after that first one, though; she hadn't expected it to be as damaging as it was.

    Then the lights come up, and someone in armor outright scares them all off. And takes down several besides. Hyouka's response is baffled surprise - until the armored 'Hunter' lunges towards Justina. About half a heartbeat after that attack starts, Hyouka herself starts diving to counterattack, a valiant attempt to intercept-

    -until the purple-armored warrior suddenly stops dead.

    Hyouka just ends up flying through the space the Hunter would have occupied, landing on her stomach, and skidding a good several meters across the cargo hold.

    "...I'm fine." Grumble.

     Suiren nods to Valerian, then blinks a bit as she notices a hole in the side of her shirt, the shot thankfully missed her entirely. "Well, I guess one did, but it mostly missed. Hopefully my mom doesn't kill me for ruining another shirt..." Iona claps her flippers as the pirates retreat "Pop, pop!" Suiren blinks as the exchange between the hunter and Justina's doll nearly comes to violence, stopping at the call of a strange voice. "Well, that was close..." She says with a nervous smile while she looks between the two. Finally, she walks over to give Iona a gentle pat before scooping her up into her arms. "I'm guessing those... things... are going to come back, with friends?"

    The Hunter remains in that still position for a long beat; staring at Justina.
    Hyouka leaps-- and lands on her belly and skids right on by.
    The Hunter slowly lowers that outstretche hand as the mechanical voice answers Justina:
    [E.M.M.I.: Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifier. These units are very powerful operative Federation robots, designed for research.]
    "And I've had bad experiences in the past with them."
    That's a woman's voice coming from the power armor, staring hard for a moment while waiting for Hyouka to pick herself up.
    "Samus Aran. I already rescued the hostage crew." That's an introduction. "But the Space Pirates are crawling all over the ship. They-"
    This is about when the emergency lights flare on again and an alarm klaxon begins sounding off.
    [WARNING. The frigate's self destruct system has been activated. It is highly suggested we evacuate immediately.] The male voice interrupts.
    "Typical." The Hunter grumbles. "Back to my gunship, everyone, now." Said as she turns and starts for the door, but halts by it, waiting for others to get going, first.

    Justina takes in that information... "Similar concept to the Ur-Doll, but autonomous? Facinating." one can almost imagine the slender elf inhabiting the robotic body getting out a notebook and scribbling down notes, even as the alert system triggers to warn of the self destruct. That /does/ make her shift to leave... only to stop. "Minerva, one to teleport.. the frigate seems to be undergoing a self destruction sequence, get the Sanctuary to minimum-safe once the Doll is back aboard." With that, the Doll 'compacts' again, chitters briefly before vanishing with a shimmery glyph beneath it.

>> SUMMARY[Justina Thyme] >> Ooo, interesting information. Oh, crap the place is going to explode. Teleport-hax escape plan, Activate.

    Hyouka comes up to her feet, doing her level best to pretend she's not embarrassed over her great big Rescue Slip'n'Slide act. Brushing herself off, the faux elf turns around to look at the Hunter with interest - and cants her head when it turns out to be a woman. She's about to introduce herself when the robotic voice gives them more pressing concerns. Very, very concerning concerns.

    "Hyouka, I believe it might be wise to take her up on her offer," DARGN observes dryly. "You don't say," Hyouka mutters.

    As they pick up at a run, the cyborg calls out as she goes by Samus. "Hyouka Kiyama. Hyouka's fine. More later."

     Suiren sort of gets an answer about the pirates swarming the ship, but it appears they weren't interested in coming back for another round as the self-destruct alarm begins to sound. "Wow, that's pretty cowardly, instead of facing defeat they just blow the whole ship up? Good thing you took care of the hosta=ges already..." She says while following the others in the rush to Samus' ship and making sure she wasn't leaving anything behind.

    There goes Justina. That was pretty easy. For her.
    The others however are treated to a high pace escape sequence, running through the cargo bay and back down the gunned out hallway while a timer ominously counts down to the frigate's destruction.
    "Space pirates aren't the definition of brave." Samus says rather simply to Suiren as the team books it back to the docking bay.
    The Federation ships are still there, but the soldiers are boarding rapidly, getting ready to leave, as Samus skids to a halt at her ship, the underside dropping a boarding ramp for everyone to climb aboard as she takes her place in the pilot's seat.
    Once everyone is on, the Federation ships and the gunship take off and blaze it for minimum safe distance with the Sanctuary.
    The frigate erupts, several manta-ray shaped ships darting away from it and bailing Federation space as fast as possible as Samus slows her ship down.
    [All crew accounted for. Mission successful.] The ship's onboard AI says.
    "ADAM, please send the Federation my bill."
    [That is three times the usual going rate, Lady.]
    "I know."

    The Sanctuary looks bulbous and slow, and unarmed, but as those manta-ray shaped ships start bailing the area, a few brilliant lances of yellow-green energy lash out from a circular construction girdling the ship, scything across a few as they make to escape. The beams probably won't destroy any of those ships, but its a definite 'Don't Come Back' from the out-verse vessel.

    A hail then comes through to both Federation ships, and to Samus' gunship. A different feminine voice speaks. "Sanctuary to all friendly ships, did everyone make it out safely?"

     Suiren gets aboard with the others and finds a seat. She then watches as Sanctuary fires some sort of energy weapon a the fleeing space pirates. She hopes that will indeed make them less apt to come around here again. From a small travel pack she was wearing, she pulls a water bottle and has a few sips while feeding an oran berry to Iona, then letting her have the rest of the water as well. "Well that was rather exciting."

    On the way, those meeting Hyouka for the first time will get to see her disengage the FISTEAU units (or at least, most of them will - Justina misses the show!). The lines of crackling purple light along each massive gauntlet grow dim, and they begin disassembling themselves in sections, each plate or chunk or piece of machinery withdrawing down into a glowing blue otherspace inside her arms. At the end of it all, the plating of her regular arms slides into place and becomes seamless, and she has normal human (well, elven) forearms once again. It's all a slam-clatter-clank affair that takes no more than a couple seconds.

    She spends most of the escape gawking happily at the interior of Samus' gunship, her body capable of weathering any bumpiness while staying entirely on her feet. It's DARGN's feminine voice that responds over comms to Minerva, though. "This is DARGN. Everyone in the group made it to Aran's ship. No incidents to speak of."

    Sanctuary's fire cripples several of the pirate ships, leaving them floating dead in space for the Federation to pick up, but others get away. It looks like the pirates aren't all getting away scott free now.
    "You get used to it." The Hunter says to Suiren.
    [Affirmative.] ADAM chimes in to confirm DARGN's assessment..
    "I'll dock with the nearest Federation ship to drop you all off and collect my pay." Samus says, sticking with her professionalism.
    [SEE YOU NEXT MISSION.]

>> SUMMARY[Samus Aran] >> SEE YOU NEXT MISSION - https://youtu.be/KWdRKZ6QgcU