Maelstrom of Darkness

Leila nodded. "Yeah, I probably could. In fact, I don't mind doing that at all if I can get a map." She grinned happily. "But first, I have a slightly different request. I was wondering if I could stay here for the rest of the night and catch up to everyone else in the morning. If I know the general area they'll be at, I can warp to them. The reason I ask Ma'am is because...um..." She glances at Kira and swallows nervously. "Well, Kira is my friend, and I want her to get some sleep. I was hoping I could stay here till morning then cast a sleep spell on her to make her sleep. It would be good for everyone involved since if Kira remains awake without any sleep she will get sloppy, and eventually die from sleep loss. I just need our flight path, that's all."

Leila turned to Kira with a guilty look on her face. "I'm sorry Kira, but you do need sleep, and I feel it's my duty as your friend to help you. Even if you don't want the help. We all know you're too stubborn to ask for help, or even to go to sleep. You would stay up till you died of exhaustion."

Even if Leila had tried to say it quietly, Kira would've heard. Apparently, Leila knew that. Kira felt she deserved some respect for saying it openly, and put more effort into keeping calm. After all, she already blew up about it once. Now wasn't the time to continue bashing one's head against the wall.

"While I appreciate that you want to help me," Kira said, doing her best to keep her tone level and her head calm, "I told you, there are too many people who depend on me and the work that I do for me to get sleep any time soon. I'll be--"

A large, sudden quake shook the building. Alarms seemed to start going off in every room and hallway. Kira didn't seem physically fazed by it at all, and she reacted as quick as she could, producing from a pocket of her labcoat what appeared to be a small hand-mirror. A man's face appeared in the glass, and from it, similar alarm sounds came as well.

"Please tell me you guys just fired the wrong way," Kira said to the man in the mirror.

He responded, "Afraid not, sir. I regret to inform you, but we have a breach."

"Fuck me," groaned Kira. She handed the mirror off to Armelle, assuming she'd want to give some orders or whatever, and headed back to the armory.

Leila sighed. "I knew you would say that Kira. You still need sleep. Yes the people depend on you, but they will be a lot better off with a well rested Kira then a tired one." Suddenly the room began to shake and alarms blared. Leila looked around and grimaced, then turned to Armelle with a salute. "Permission to scout the damage Ma'am?"

Suddenly, alarms starting ringing just as Mort exited the building. Judging by the looks on peoples faces, this wasn't a drill. He grinned and clutched the hilt of his sword.

"Alright!" He said to himself. "What an opportunity for a warm up."

He approached Armelle and Leila, overhearing the last part of their conversation.

"Permission to escort the lady while she does the scouting? After all, it could be danger- ah who am I kidding... I just want to kill something."

He chuckled and rubbed the pommel of his sword. He had spent far too long on the sidelines of this conflict. After such a long time, he was looking forward to a fight.

"As if I needed your permission for that. Still, the lady here might need a guy to keep her safe. Might as well kill two birds with one stone eh?"

The moment Mort's shoe connected with Bale his head whipped up, loudly snapping his teeth at him and snarling. When the alarms started going off he calmly put his backpack back on, then stood be a wall, awaiting orders.

If only briefly, Leila would be able to see a smile on Armelle's lips: it made it easier to miss the bags under her eyes, but soon the light grin was replaced by a stern expression. In response to Leila's request, she shook her head. "Denied. You will accompany your team tonight and immediately. Regarding your other request: Kira will survive. She's done so admirably thus far." She smiled to the Neko, knowing the girl knew her own limits... hopefully. She accepted the mirror, but had one final thing to do before she could turn her focus to the defense of the city.

Returning to the armory one last time to address the rest of the group, she said, "Negav will survive another night. Your mission trumps any immediate concerns for the city. Get to the ship and go." She began walking out of the armory, towards the command center, mirror communicator in hand. "Talk to me: where's the breach, what got through, and what forces can we mobilize quickly?"

Upon arriving back at the armory, Kira made a beeline for the oversized and overweighted shields she had been showing off earlier, lifted them up with relative ease, and dashed back out of the room, albeit at a fairly slow pace. If left to do so, she'd pass by Armelle and Leila again on her way to take up her defensive position.

Leila nodded. "Ma'am yes Ma'am." She looked at Mort. "Come on, we have our orders, best not waste any more time." She started for the ship, nodding to Kira as she passed. "Stay safe Kira, when I get back I want to hear about how many of those things you managed to rip apart, you hear?"

Mort made his way to the ship and got on board. He pondered whether he should take a nap on the way there. Guess that would depend on how far their destination was.

(I'm ready to go whenever. ^^ )

Minare watched the commotion and was ready to follow Mort to battle but they were told no. The Shakala nodded to the commander. "Understood."

As Kira left Minare said, "May you have a good battle master."

Bale immediately got on board, then silently squatted in a corner, examining his surroundings.

The ship was a heavily modified cargo or transport vessel, benches lining the walls and military green crates under the benches for storage, with a holographic display built into the center of the space, though the projector was not currently on, leaving a flat table with raised edges seemingly unoccupied. The station for controlling one of the twin linked autocannon sat right next to the 'head' of the projector, taking up a separate screen. It was surprisingly spacious inside, though this was probably due to it not being designed for such applications as transporting a squad of warriors into a dark, hostile night.

Lydia walked out of the cockpit to stretch her back once more before, she suspected, she would be glued to her seat for a good long while. "So, ready to fly into Hell?"

(Don't forget about Steel Blood's mission, Zeph. ;3)

The city shook again as the wandering nightmare attacking Negav crushed a potion's shop and caused a rather intense blue explosion. The creature was at least fifty feet tall, and, with it slightly illuminated by the glow of the purple moon in the sky and the light of the fire below it, looked like an octopus-like creature with empty faces on the tips of its tentacles, made of pure darkness. It made a sound like a wolf howling, though much hollower-sounding, making any glass nearby warble like gelatin. There were a number of mages and soldiers of the Fist with spells and magical weapons aiming attacks on the creature. It seemed to be getting slowed down at least, but the nightmare wasn't sustaining any permanent damage.

Kira watched this from a balcony on a higher floor of the Isolon Fist headquarters, situated in the upper tier of the city. Her sensitive ears rang from the sound of the howl, and at the moment, she was down on one knee, trying to regain her sense of balance. She could see the transport stalling in the courtyard below her. She didn't know whether or not everyone had gotten on yet, but she was a little annoyed that it didn't seem to be in any hurry.

In the shadows of the courtyard, a being hidden by a powerful magical cloak watched the group board the carrier. He kept his eyes locked on it, hoping his mistress would see it as well.

Leila felt the city shake again and grimaced. It felt wrong that she was abandoning Negav during an attack, but the Fairy shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be questioning herself. She nodded towards the pilot. "I'm ready when you are." She smirked. "If you like I can fly next to you as your wingfairy." She stepped aboard the carrier and strapped herself in across from Mort. "Well Mort, this is it. As my old employer would say, "Do what must be done. Do not hesitate, show no mercy, and never surrender."

(I'm ready. :3)

Mort prepared for lift off, just the same as the others. He looked at the fairy across from him and listened.

"Not a bad code of battle." He replied. "Mine is quite simple. Every being has a weakness. Even the guardians. The guardians are invulnerable they said, the guardians are almighty they said. Well look at them now eh? Invulnerable. Yeah right. Put simply, even if it can't die, it can still be defeated. "

(I'm good to go.)

Minare took her seat beside Mort and had difficulty strapping in not being used to such technology so she simply tied the straps in final frustration. She thought to herself as she listened to them speak. 'Hm her former employer seems to have quite a bit of wisdom, or at the very least had some.' Since she had no idea what became of the man herself.

Minare looked to Lydia and nodded confidently.

I've taken up a gunnery position, does this make me the pilot as well? I'm willing if that's necessary but I'd assumed someone else would be driving.

parameciumkid wrote:

I've taken up a gunnery position, does this make me the pilot as well? I'm willing if that's necessary but I'd assumed someone else would be driving.

Like real larger craft (AC-130), the multidirectional guns are controlled from a compartment separate the cockpit, and I believe I outlined the setup in my last post. Lydia Ulyir is the pilot, and a simple AI will handle whatever guns are not being controlled (one of the pair of 20mm auto-cannon either atop or under the ship). Hope that answers your concern sufficiently.
---

With the team aboard, the rear ramp of the ship closed, and almost simultaneously, Lydia, who had returned to her seat by now, powered on the command center and gunnery controls. A great holographic display covered the table, showing for now the area around the ship in recognizable but rough detail. The engines fired, and with a lurch, the carrier began to rise, the display zooming out as the sensors outside got a better view of the area. The wandering nightmare came into view, and almost immediately, the crude AI controlling one of the pairs of cannon swung its' armament to bear on the hostile, though it didn't fire.
Though the boat maneuvered slowly, it was soon heading northwest and gaining speed, the city disappearing from view of the display.

Lydia's voice came on over the speaker, even though she could be reasonably heard from the cockpit, door still open, "Next stop: Fairy Kingdom. Hopefully. Sick bags're under yer seats and the flight attendant will be out with refreshments shortly." The pilot tossed a bag of peanuts over her shoulder, the foil packet landing on the command station, distorting the hologram where it passed through. "Refreshments are served. We arrive at the first potential site in two hours."

---

Back in the city, the android took to her assignment , robotic eyes scanning the courtyard for Kira's lost ball. She figured it would be payment for help replacing her head.

Leila grimaced slightly as the craft took off. "Ok, I have come to the decision that I don't like flying this way...it's loud, uncomfy, and I feel like we could fall at any moment." She looked at her fellow passengers. "How do you people put up with flying like this?"

"To tell you the truth, this is the first time I've ever flown before. But I'm not worried. We'll make it to our destination, no worries."

The invisible shadow watched the carrier take off from the city. He knew his mistress wouldn't be pleased if they got too far. As if in response, the wandering nightmare turned its attention directly on it. One of its tentacle-neck-faces retracted into the main body, using it's own mass to power a blast of dark magic which shot out of one of the other faces. It was aimed directly at the aircraft. Kira could only react by uttering a lewd curse word.

As if on cue, as soon as he had finished talking a huge blast of dark magic came rocketing towards the ship. Mort could feel its presence, as it resonated with his own inner darkness. He was none the less impressed by the size of the blast. If it hit, it would surely bring the ship down. Strapped into his seat, there was nothing he could do.

"You guys better hold onto something!" He yelled. "Its about to get rough!"

Leila looked confused. "Rough? What do you mean by that? It's already rough..."

Minare held in tight already she hadn't realize that she was afraid of flying until now. She was powerless in the air nothing she could do to save herself her fate in some machines bowels this was stupid idea! Now Mort was saying get ready for something this was icying on the cake. The Shakala took a deep breath and prepared to die.

At once, warning lights and alarms came on throughout the ship.
"Oh Hell!" Lydia muttered, and tried her best to get the sluggish vehicle to imitate something that could be called 'evasive maneuvers'. She also thumbed the switch keeping the AI controlling the lower 20mm autocannon from firing, and it quickly started chattering, the bassy staccato reverberating through the floor of the ship as heavy rounds slammed into the missile heading for them.
"You all may want to hold onto one of the handrails, just in case."