Celestia's Finest: Sunshine for Days

[Miltonian]

The Thunderbird comes in for a landing. Star doesn't show off, no flourishes this time. She lands the ship gently and carefully, still not sure how good their repairs will hold up. Yet it makes it to the ground without trouble.

A pony in heavy armor (made from scrap, but still) steps out of the building to greet them. "Alright. No sudden moves," he says in a gruff voice that is definitely not Night Sky, "I'm going to have to ask you to turn over any weapons before going in."

[DigoDragon]

Rose locks her weapons away in the Thunderbird, rather than come out with them. Best to look as peaceful as possible. Also, she rather not leave them with the "bouncer". Rose steps out and shows that she is unarmed.

[D.KnightSpider]

A great many things annoyed Sniper Scope and surrendering his weapon was one of them. Unfortunately, it was a necessary annoyance and that meant he needed to decide how to play this. He could follow Rose's lead and hide his weapons on the Thunderbird or he could make a show of good faith and demonstrate some of that Equestrian razzle-dazzle.

A momentary smirk passed over his lips. Sniper decided to play it straight. There was always the possibility that they'd need their weapons while on the inside. Further, he knew a few things about his gun that the 'bouncer' didn't.

"Fair 'nough." Sniper said as he disembarked. "As a friendly word of warning: don't mess with my equipment. It will only work for me. If you try to circumvent the protections, then it'll explode and take you with it."

He'd turn the sniper rifle and grenades over to the guard, but hold onto his hidden drug needle. Odds were that the pony wouldn't know what it was just by looking at it.

[Miltonian]

The bouncer nods and gingerly accepts Sniper's rifle but does not call for the needle. He can't recognize it at all. He waves him and Rose through. Star turns over her pistol and joins them. Then, he sizes up Love and Brazen in their power armor. "I don't...I don't know what to say to that," he says, "Turn over your weapons, please, and I'll try and search you best I can, I guess."

[Elbeyon]

Transparent armor, Love sticks to the ground, no sudden moves, and waits for her turn. When he reaches her, she says, "Heh. This is a little embarrassing. I can step out of my armor if a look through isn't good enough."

The embarrassing part?

1 Laser Rifle w/ 4 grenade launchers
2 Aerosol grenades.
2 EMP grenades.
4 Liquid grenades
2 Different aerosol grenades
2 Tangler grenades
4 Aerosol 40mm shells
4 Tangler 40mm shells
5 Limputs
1 Long knife
1 Zap gloves (w/ hidden drug patch)
1 Mono Katana

Slowly, Love turns over her weapon and starts hoofing over various grenades on her rigging. Then, she gives him the 40mm shots and some flat cones (Limpets) from inside her saddlebags. She pulls a knife off her side, takes her zap gloves off her hoofs, and takes her katana off her side too. She reluctantly and carefully gives him her sword. "Careful!", she warns. "The blade is so thin it can cut through steel with ease. Don't underestimate its sharpness. It'll slide through metal."

Once all her weapons are gone, she'll consent to a search of her rigging and saddlebags. She really did turn over all her weapons.

The hidden drug patch is suppose to be hidden. D: It's suppose to be thin/mass less enough to be transparent.

[DigoDragon]

"I wonder if it would be rude to take a picture of the guard's face?" she whispers to Sniper.

[Miltonian]

The guard looks at Love’s vast supply of weaponry and takes a few steps back. He does not spot Love’s patch, seemingly very satisfied with her compliance so far. “Thinking of starting a war?” he asks.

[Elbeyon]

"Heh." Love rubs the back of her armored neck. "No, this is my normal loadout. I like to keep my options open." She puts a hoof up in protest. "Four of those are fire extinguishers. The rest... Well, options are good." She gives him a smile. He doesn't need to know that every grenade is non-lethal. "I have a different set for war," she jokes.

[D.KnightSpider]

"I wonder if it would be rude to take a picture of the guard's face?" she whispers to Sniper.

Sniper's immediate reaction was a side-eye glance and a micro-frown. They were still doing this hushed whisper thing?

"When in doubt, ask." Sniper replied with a quiet tone and an equally subdued shrug.

[DigoDragon]

"When in doubt, ask." Sniper replied with a quiet tone and an equally subdued shrug.

"Nah, the moment's gone," Rose replies.

[Miltonian]

The stallion nods and turns to Brazen expectantly.

[userpay]

Brazen stares down the stallion for a moment before sighing. Given all that's been going on he didn't like giving up his weapons but if they wanted their meeting they had to play by their rules didn't they? Brazen divests himself of his shotgun and his carry unit and hands it over. "Like-wise these ain't toys."

I've always imagined my saddlebags being more of a metal case I suppose. Anyway shotgun, ammo, grenades. The zap gloves are built into the power armor so not sure he'd even beable to tell those apart.

[Miltonian]

The stallion accepts Brazen's weapons and steps aside.

The five ponies enter into what passes for a well-furnished entry hall. The walls have most of the rust scoured away and very few water stains. The furniture has actual cushions and the receptionist desk has only a few iron bars blocking them from getting behind it. The mare seated there smiles at them. "Night Sky is broadcasting right now, but he will be out shortly."

A radio in the corner carries the live broadcast. Night Sky is going over some local reports of where raiders have been sighted and what areas to avoid.

[DigoDragon]

Night Sky is going over some local reports of where raiders have been sighted and what areas to avoid.

Rose will pay attention to the areas mentioned. Could be useful to know the lay of trouble spots when the EDF moves on to new ground.

"How long have you worked here?" Rose asks the receptionist.

[Miltonian]

"Since I was born," she says, looking up, "It's a family business."

[Elbeyon]

Love tips her head to the guard as he walks by him. "Have a good day. Watch out for that blade! I wasn't joking."

The entry hall is interesting. The curious mare walks and looks around. "Thank you," she says to the receptionist. She jokes, "The commute out her must be a shore." She gives her a big smile and sits down on one of the cushioned benches.

She opens her laptop, inserts a data drive, and makes all the final checks on the information that the group wants to give Night Sky.

[DigoDragon]

"Since I was born," she says, looking up, "It's a family business."

"Oh, that's actually quite neat. So what relation would that make Night Sky to you?" Rose asks.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper hesitated at the doorway. One ear was tuned to the conversation while an eye watched the bouncer. Questioning the bouncer's credentials might not have been appropriate a few moments ago, but there was no reason why Sniper couldn't make sure the bouncer didn't immediately head for the hills.

[Miltonian]

She laughs at Love's joke. "Oh yes. I have to walk all the way down here from my bed! You have no idea how comfortable that thing is."

"He's my second-cousin," she says, "By my grandfather."

Fortunately, the bouncer seems to not be bouncing but standing guard and doing his job.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper nodded to himself. Then he entered the building proper. It was a far cry from the duct tape and bailing wire that he'd k imagined. Then again, they were still on the outskirts of the Wasteland.

Sniper entered the general chit-chat to wile away the wait.

"In case you need introductions." He pointed to each of the ponies in turn. "Lts. Partial Charge (AKA Love), Rose Croix, Brazen Hoof, Sniper Scope of the Equestrian Defense Force. Our pilot, Star Chaser."

[DigoDragon]

Rose nods at being introduced. "We're new to the area and want to get acquainted. Like what kind of music do you play on this station, what's the good towns to visit that value ponies, where the trouble is to mess with. That sort of stuff."

[Elbeyon]

Love takes her hoof off her keyboard and waves. "I'm Love." To be polite, she asks, "What's your name?"

"Wow! That's a major family business." The laptop closes and makes its way back into her saddlebag. "Do you recognize a certain founding father? Heh. No pun intended."

[Miltonian]

She nods. "And I'm Lemon Lime. It's because of my mane and coat. I've never tasted either." She does have a green mane and yellow coat, though neither exactly scream lemon or lime. But then again, it's likely none of them have seen real fruit for a long time now.

"We play whatever we can get, though we make a lot of our own music too. Clear Sky, my grandfather, sang a lot of our songs, earth rest his soul, and we throw those on the turntable whenever we're feeling nostalgic. His are more melancholy, as a general rule, though our listeners have an ear for that lately."

"We're mostly descended from the original inhabitants of the vault you see here, not counting others who married in. The old government tried to keep advancing our science even after the land got scorched and used the vaults to run different experiments while they compiled the results. Well, that was the plan anyway. Fell apart real quick. They say Equestria found the main vault and trashed it."

[DigoDragon]

"Whatever you can find... hmm, how do you feel about rock-n-roll?" Rose pulls up her phone playlist for ZZ Trot; Sharp Dressed Colt, Legs, Luna Just Left Chicoltgo, Viva Las Pegasus, Mexicolt Blackbird... she shuffles a few songs on play to see if Lemon Lime is interested.

[D.KnightSpider]

"I can't speak to any main vault, the only trashing we've done lately is to the Co-Prosperity Initiative's big airship- the one assumed to be the Pacification Protocol." Sniper said.

He made a mental note to ask Happy about the extent of their fruit stores. A little goodwill gift wouldn't hurt relations if he could swing the Commander's approval.

That led into another idea that he filed away for later.

[Miltonian]

"Well, that would have been long before any of us were born," she says with amusement.

Rose's offer grabs her attention. She looks through the selection with wide eyes. "Oh. Oh my. I don't know what to say, but..." She taps the phone. "How do we get those to play on a record turntable?"

[DigoDragon]

"How do we get those to play on a record turntable?"

"Good question. I don't own any vinyl albums of them. Might find some records online but that's back home. Hmm... have any recording devices?"

[D.KnightSpider]

"That would be a question for our resident electronics genius."

Sniper looked to Love, giving her a cue.

[Elbeyon]

Love was off in her own little world rubbing her chin. "Are we at the base level? Does this place go any deeper?"

A bit surprised, she lights up to Scope, "Oh! I might be able to work out something. Do you have any recording equipment? I was planning to leave a computer here so we could more easily transfer video, holo back and forth between us. So, if you don't, I could work with the existing system more extensively to allow some music without a vinyl."

[Miltonian]

"We do have some recording devices, but no more blank discs," Lemon Lime answers, "But before I let you see it, you'll have to get permission from Night Skye. He is the boss around here and replacements aren’t exactly easy to come by.”

“Hey, we have at least two ponies skilled with tech,” Star says, “We won’t break anything.”

“Even still,” Lemon says firmly, “It’ll have to wait.”

“And now, some music,” the radio says. A soft musical score picks up, reminding the ponies of old times.

Lemon smiles. “Night Skye will see you now.”

[DigoDragon]

Rose puts her phone away. "We'll get back to you on the music idea. I'm sure our techs can work something out."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper merely nodded. There was nothing else to add to the conversation at this point.

With his game-face ready, Sniper would follow their lead into the meeting with Night Sky.

[Elbeyon]

"Thank you for your time. We'll see what we can do."

Love hops off the bench and trots over to Star to be next to her. "Hello, techie." She gives her a smirk. "I saw you working in the hot sun the other day. You looked cool compared to it."

[Miltonian]

"You've seen me do a lot of things," Star says with a chuckle.

The next room is crowded with archaic electronics. A soundboard bolted to the wall runs along one side with a colt running it. He smiles and nods as they enter. A few seconds later, the door on the other side opens and a stallion, who has to be in his fifties or sixties, steps inside. His eyes are bright, despite the wrinkles, and his body still strong in defiance of age. His coat is a mere shade darker than Luna’s, though his mane and tail are white. Whether naturally or with age, it is impossible to tell. A constellation rests on both his flanks.

“So, you’re the ponies on the other end?” he says with a wry smile, “Good to put faces to names. I’m Night Skye.” He holds out his hoof to shake.

Star takes it first. “Lt. Star Chaser, Equestrian Defense Force. I guess you’re what’s up around here. I mean, the sky is always up.”

He laughs. “In more ways than one.” He gestures to the colt. “This is Shadow, my grandson. He doesn’t talk, but he’s an excellent listener.” The colt grins and waves.

[DigoDragon]

"Lt. Rose Croix, EDF field medic," she introduces. "I've lead the research on procedures that the CPI have been performing on their recruits."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper acknowledged the colt's wave and then focused on Night Skye.

"Lt. Sniper Scope: tactics and intelligence support." Sniper said. There wasn't any point in bringing up his usual line of work. 'Infiltration and assassination' did little to inspire confidence in civilians.

[Elbeyon]

"A mare after my own heart. The way you fired up those heavy guns a couple days ago - I think both my hearts skipped a beat."

Wow, this place is amazingly retro. It pulls the look off with some authenticity! The old pony looks mega cool. A lot of bars are going to lose some luster after this visit. Love smiles and waves back to Shadow. "Name's Love. Lt. Love: support engineer. It's a pleasure to meet both of you."

"I'm glad we could meet in person on such short notice."

[userpay]

"Lt. Brazen Hoof, close combat and explosives expert." Brazen says as he shakes Night's hoof. The talk of vaults in the previous room intrigued him somewhat but the stallion had been focused on keeping an eye on their surroundings since they were in unknown territory. Still there was enough equipment in the current room it was unlikely that something would be pulled in here... Theoretically. "Pleasure to meet ya."

[Miltonian]

Night Skye's smile never wavers. "Shadow, go fetch our guests something to drink, eh?" The young colt slips out of the room.

Night Skye takes a seat. "Now, I understand that you have some things for me."

[DigoDragon]

"Yes, we do." Rose looks at her teammates to see if she should start first or if the squad should build up to the big reveals?

[Elbeyon]

Love weakly waves goodbye to Shadow as he leaves the room.

A small smile forms on her lips. "How about we begin with the big obvious stuff and try to work our way down to the finer details?" Love pulls her laptop out of her saddlebag, plugs in a data bank, and opens a video with a long distance rotating shot of the destroyed Protocol. The screen is turned his way. "This here is the Pacification Protocol that entered into an altercation with us two days ago. I take it you've already heard rumors about some PCI secret warship? Well, that's the ship we encountered."

"I can show you through as many pictures, videos, holos as you want. We were at the site this morning collecting some things to bring to you. We thought you'd be interested in learning some things about the CPI that most don't know."

[D.KnightSpider]

This was Love's shindig. Sniper remained quiet and played this self-appointed role of window dressing.

[Miltonian]

Night Skye seems momentarily more interested in the laptop than what's on it. He whistles. "Now that's something you don't see every day around here."

And when he looks at the pictures, he shakes his head. "Rumors don't do it justice. Guess a picture is worth a thousand words." He claps his hooves. "Well that's the death of my doubts. What else did you have?"

He probably doesn't know that pictures could be edited. Never would occur to him that it could be a fake.

[Elbeyon]

Love admits, "It's been a real challenge getting every pony used to the technology. Powder Keg has been my longest student yet. She's got an open mind and soaks everything, real quick."

"Rose, here, she has some very grim tales."

"I'd like to to stick on the topic of the Protocol a bit longer though. We've brought scrap, crew pictures, and everything we can muster. We can get you in touch with Goodhope, and they can give you some witness testimony. We'd even fly you out to the crash site." Love explains and raises her laptop, "These videos aren't proof enough. They can be forged with time. Listen, I don't want to leave you with any possibility of doubt. Make any request. We can get you or a pony out to the crash site later."

[Miltonian]

Night Skye chuckles. "I'm not leaving the station, though I'll be happy to take a look at whatever you brought along."

[DigoDragon]

Rose pulls up images of Merry Melody on her laptop and shows them. "This is Merry Melody, a captured soldier of the CPI from our battle on their airship. Now, in this video, you can see her catatonic state. We believe the CPI is employing a kind of brainwashing to make their soldiers complicit to their orders. This is maintained with an implant in their neck."

Rose levitates a bag with one of the tiny chips inside. "This is found in the neck of every CPI soldier. It contains potent magic that forces the pony with it to obey. Even when they are mortally wounded, the CPI soldiers will relentlessly continue to crawl toward you with one intent--to kill enemies of the CPI."

[Elbeyon]

Love nods. "That's understandable. We'll do what we can while working within those limitations. We'll give you Goodhope's frequency, and so much video that it'd be so time consuming to be impractical to recreate it all within the existing time frame." Love pulls out her phone and pulls down on it while clicking a button. At the same time she says, "Holo too", and true to her word a holo pops up.

"Rose, here, has some other important issues to discuss."

[Miltonian]

Night Skye raises an eyebrow at the holograms. "Well, been awhile since I saw any magic 'round here. What's this spell do? Project your memory?"

He studies Rose's presentation carefully. "Hmm. I'll ask around discretely. See if anypony knows where her family is. Is she alright?"

[DigoDragon]

"Hmm. I'll ask around discretely. See if anypony knows where her family is. Is she alright?"

"She remains catatonic for the most part," Rose replies, "Although, recently she has made minor responses to the presence of other ponies in the room. It's... well I have hope. It may take some time, but just maybe the damage can be undone."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper cleared his throat.

"All of this is standard operating procedure for the CPI. They're all about co-opting the initiative of ponies for their own prosperity. Even their flagship bore that motivation out: 'Pacification Protocol' it was all about bringing ponies to heel. That's not something that we take kindly to or appreciate.

"And that's not who we are. The EDF isn't here to enslave or subject any pony. We're here to help, not conquer."

[userpay]

While the others take point in delivering information Brazen takes to running a scan on Night as well as the different objects in the room. Shadow to when he returns.

"They're more than like tryin to play on the hate ya'll might have fer Equestria's actions against this land to draw you in and when it's to late, chip ya. While we might be ah bit late we're here to help the Wasteland." He pauses for a moment. "Ah do admit ah'm ah mite curious about the vaults... Can't help but wonder if the CPI might have an investment in ah few that ain't commonly known."

[Miltonian]

Night Skye sighs. "And they have an army of them," he says.

"Not gonna lie, it's gonna be a hard sell. There are a lot of ponies out here who don't like Equestria. Calling out the CPI? Fine. Promoting Equestria? There's the rub. They've to the advantage over you there. We've got to engineer hate. There's comes pre-packaged."

Brazen's scans return technical information. That is a computer. Yes that whole thing. It's massive, but it has less than half the processing power your phone does. It runs the entire station. That is a recording device that presses new records. And so on.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper performed his traditional headshake. Time to reach for the platitudes, again.

"Likewise, I'll be straight with you, we're not entirely here out of the goodness of our hearts. We're tracking an extremely dangerous bat pony who is wanted for crimes against Equestria. Said pony is allied with the CPI and is most likely responsible for giving them their brainwashing technology.

"Which is why we don't peddle hate. We don't fight against the CPI or our quarry because we hate them. We fight to protect our homeland just as we'll fight to protect yours. That's why we're offering our friendship and help against the CPI: not out of hate, but a love for friends, family and homeland."

Sniper wanted to send a mental 'buck you' to Cadance. But he couldn't. His words were truer than they would have been a few days ago. There was now an empty void in his emotional core where all the outwardly directed hate used to reside.

His reasons for this war were few, but not entirely rooted in anger.

[DigoDragon]

"Well, then we advertise ourselves as a peacekeeping force here to break the CPI in pieces and keep it that way for the good of the wasteland residents."

[Miltonian]

"I think it wise if we don't mention you're from Equestria to start with. Focus on the CPI's wrongdoings first," he says, flicking through some of the evidence, "Then, when they're all fired up, I mention that there's a group here to unseat them and arrest their top dogs, but not interested in replacing them."

[DigoDragon]

3d6"I think that is an excellent idea, Mr. Sky. Together we can accomplish all that we wish for the freedom and peace of your homeland."

[userpay]

"Unseating CPI would be enough for now to my thinking." Brazen gives a rolling shrug of his shoulders. "They don't need to like us to work with us, or at least not against us, and we can save improving relations for after things have settled down and they see how we do things. If the Wasteland wants to be left alone afterwards then so be it, that's for our superiors to deal with after ah fashion."

So did the scan of Night return anything interesting? Normal pony? Perhaps a few mutations?

[Elbeyon]

Any CPI identifiers the group managed to gather from the ship are cycled through on his whim with the help of Love. Military markings, tech that doesn't originate from the wasteland, pieces of stuff that she can show him on video are from the ship. She has forensics stuff, but most of that would be worthless to him.

She still has the Goodhope contact information to turn over when he has a minute to take a note. The EDF, Two Bit, Powder Keg, and Goodhope should be some solid testimony.

Love smiles. "The past is set, but the future is a mystery to us all. Equestria and Wasterlanders have a common goal to work toward."

Love notes. "The devices affects don't have to be so obvious. They can be made to create a near perfect spy, undetectable to almost any means. They can be hastily implanted on a pony, and the pony themselves wouldn't even know it. They would be themselves under their own power expect when the chip is activated. We have ways to detect the chips, luckily." Love is very clearly suggesting something.

[Miltonian]

He is an average wastelander. Which means mostly earth pony with some adaptations to survive the harsh elements.

He accepts all the data and raises an eyebrow at Love. "How do you mean?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose almost said Yeah, What do you mean? but stays quiet and waits to hear what this thought is up to.

[Elbeyon]

Love raises a hoof to Rose. "Rose is our on-site expert with the devices. It'll take time, but she can search a pony for the devices without too much trouble. She could do a much better job of explaining the details."

"My, our, friend was the victim of one of these devices. She was out of our sight for minutes, and that was enough time for the device to be implanted. Her capture had gone undetected by all her closest friends and family. They were none the wiser, and neither was she for that fact. She didn't even know what she was doing or remember doing it. It was a difficult situation for everypony, but Rose here found and removed the device."

Love looks to Rose to ask her to continue.

[DigoDragon]

"Forgive us if this is too forward, but we would like to test you and your family in case the cpi has infiltrated this station. Believe me when I say that you do not want one of these chips in you."

[Elbeyon]

Love adds, "It only takes a moment to check a pony. I've had it done to me. The process is harmless."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper internally winced, but said nothing. He kept his face neutral.

Had Rose and Love just over reached in the conversation?

Body Language:
[roll0] VS 14

Detect Lies:
[roll1] VS 13

[Miltonian]

Night Skye visibly tenses. "This place is self-sufficient. Nopony's come or gone for months, save you. And I'm not comfortable letting you poke around at my family with stuff that I don't know isn't harmful, except that you told me it's not."

[D.KnightSpider]

"That's an entirely understandable position." Sniper interjected. "One that I can appreciate and would be concerned if you didn't hold.

"Your word is good enough for us in this matter. We won't press the issue any further and instead look forward to earning your continued trust in the future."

He snap-fired a pointed look at Love and Rose that clearly said: Right?

[DigoDragon]

"Alright. Just be careful then if anyone sympathetic to the CPI or on behalf of a bat pony named Hyper Thought shows up." Rose says.

[Elbeyon]

Love grabs and rubs the back of her mane and tries to chuckle. "Yeah."

[DigoDragon]

Rose puts the chip away. "What kind of defense do you have at the station here? Do you have a panic room?"

[Miltonian]

"I appreciate your understanding," Night Skye says with a nod.

"Again, that's not something we tell to visitors, friendly or otherwise."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper attempted to explain and smooth over the situation. "For what it's worth, Love already alluded to the situation, but to provide more context: Hyper Thought perfected his brainwashing techniques in Equestria and tested them on a friend of mine named Ruby Red. He attempted to use Ruby as a spy. We found the Control Chip in her and disabled it before any harm was done, but when the issue of brainwashing comes up, well, we take it personally."

Time to get things back on track.

"We appreciate your willingness to hear us out and we'll pass along anything else we learn or discover. Forewarned is forearmed and that may be enough to save some lives out here."

Sniper looked to the others.

"I don't believe we had anything else to share?"

[DigoDragon]

"I don't think so. Just be alert, for I'm sure once the CPI figures out who we are they'll start looking for anyone who worked with us. We'll do everything to ensure the heat stays on us however."

[Miltonian]

Night Skye chuckles. "There's always some bandit king, upstart mayor, or random mare who wants to blow us off the map. That's nothing new."

"Now..." He looks between the five of them. "I believe that there was some talk of music?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose pulls up her cell phone and cues up some ZZTrot. "Ad a token of good will, we'd like to find a way of getting some of these jsms to you for your collection. We just have to work out the tech barrier."

[Miltonian]

He nods, listening to the music and smiling. "Well, some new tunes would be much appreciated. I guess I could let you have a go at it."

Star nudges Love. "That's your cue."

[Elbeyon]

"Ahem. Right." She puts down all the 'evidence' and packs away the stuff.

She chuckles. "Let's try to stick to public domain songs, Rose?"

His radio station is his baby, so she asks permission before she starts working. She motions toward his soundboard and asks, "Would it be alright if set up a channel/input into your audio console?" She is ready to move her hoofs. A few tools in her hooves always felt like heaven. "I'd be happy to show you how to switch between songs. You wouldn't be the first pony I've taught today." Love motions for Rose's phone, but she has her own phone if Rose isn't ready to make that sort of sacrifice.

[DigoDragon]

She chuckles. "Let's try to stick to public domain songs, Rose?".

"Lots of luck with that."

Rose hands over her phone, but it's probably got very few public domain songs in it. Maybe a few of the Weird Ewe Yankovic songs?

[Elbeyon]

"We can mix collections."

[D.KnightSpider]

Yet another headshake escaped Sniper Scope. They were battling aliens for the fate of Equestria and getting hung up on digital piracy.

"I doubt copyright law has any jurisdiction or authority out here." He observed.

[Miltonian]

Night Skye chuckles. "Well, if you don't mind Shadow looking over your shoulder the whole time you work and making sure you don't break anything important, then you're welcome to try an' sync up our systems."

Speaking of Shadow, he chooses that moment to return. Perhaps he was waiting at the door for his name to be called or something. With him comes fresh, cool water.

[Elbeyon]

"I don't want any lawsuits on my hooves. That's just asking for trouble."

Love will take a cup of water from Shadow, but she doesn't drink. "Thank you."

"It'll be my pleasure working with Shadow. I look forward to his guidance." She re-introduces herself to him. "Name's Love. This is Star." She motions to her. "How about we head into the other room and get to work? We're going to be trying to sync up our systems." She smirks. She motions for him to lead the way since he doesn't seem the talkative sort.

[Miltonian]

Shadow grins and nods. He seems gregarious and friendly, very open, which makes his silence a bit strange. But he's all too happy to lead Love back to the server room. Well, this is tech she hasn't seen in a long, long time. Even the few instances where she would have laid her eyes on it before, it was never this well maintained and functioning. He sits down on a stool and waits for Love to get to work.

[Elbeyon]

As he is leading the way, Love will mark him for a SCAN. She doesn't expect anything out of the ordinary, but she should get a couple free glances at him to move the process along. It'd be a waste not to use Twilight's gift, really. The glass of water is set off to the side. She's going to keep her helmet on for now too.

Right. The main business. She'll try to keep most of her work contained within the phone to put Shadow and his family at ease, but she will need their systems eventually. She takes out her tools and starts working. "Here, get closer. You should get a real good look at what I'm doing."

Half a minute into the process, she asks with some charm. "No need to be quiet. Am I the first stranger you've seen in a while?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose jots down some notes from the meeting, using aliases as she waits for Love to sync the music stuff.

[D.KnightSpider]

The universe must have hiccuped. Sniper could have sworn he'd just advocated bypassing procedure while Love became a stickler for following the rules.

Must have been his imagination.

With the other three gone, Sniper turned back to Night Skye.

"If you don't mind my picking your brain, what's your take on Powder Keg's angle?"

[Miltonian]

"Shadow Skye, age 11. Biology is in line with what information has been gathered on the Wastelanders, with one exception. Vocal cords appear to be non-functional."

Shadow scoots close to get a good view but looks askance at Love's suggestion that he talk. He opens his mouth wide and points to it. A little gurgle comes out.

--------

Night Skye chuckles. "Oh, she's playing you. She's definitely playing you. Her gang gets wiped out? She goes to the ponies that can kill the ones who wasted them. She'll play nice right up till when the CPI is destroyed. Then, she'll turn her back on you. Probably won't betray you or try to kill you. But I bet if you managed to strip away whatever front she's put up, you'll find nothing but burning hatred underneath."

[Elbeyon]

Love puts her hoof on the back of her mane and laughs. "I stepped right into that one. Didn't I?"

Though her armor is transparent, she takes the helmet off and hooks it on her hip. A touch to her horn. "No pony has everything. How about I keep an eye on you, and you give me signals for yes, no, or you're asking too complicated a question Love! I'll let you surprise me with what the third one looks like." She gives him a big warm smile. "How does that sound?"

"I'm going to hug you now unless you signal in the negative" She gives him a smile and if allowed tries to wrap him up in a hug.

[Miltonian]

He accepts the hug with a smile. And then, as Love turns towards her work.

Rolling time!

[D.KnightSpider]

"That's in line with my expectation." Sniper admitted. "A pony doesn't lose her racist edge overnight."

Stripping of the facade might handle itself when they rescued Question Mark. QM might feel a bit differently about accepting Powder Keg than the rest of the EDF.

"Have you heard anything about the CPI invoking child labor?"

[Miltonian]

"Can't rightly say I have," Night Skye replies, "Though I wouldn't put it past them. They've checked pretty much every other crime imaginable off their list. Why not that one too?"

[userpay]

Brazen can't help but chuckle when the topic of Powder Keg's viewpoint comes in. "Somehow that wouldn't surprise me none. Gotta admit if she does bail on us later she puts on ah good act." Time would tell on that. Brazen runs a scan over the water as it's left, just in case, and doffs his helmet to take a sip should it come up clean.

"Anyway there's other vaults like this one dotted around right? What ones do ya know about especially if CPI might have their hooves on them or would have an interest? Lemon Lime mentioned somethin about the vaults were fer experiments which sounds like it could be up CPI's alley dependin on which vaults were doin what."

[Miltonian]

The water is pure and refreshing, no poisonous elements whatsoever.

Night Skye clears his throat. “Sorry, but...some of them don’t want outsiders knowing where they are. Some of them were hidden deep, deep underground and only recently just made contact with the surface. Whatever experiments they were running have long been finished.”

[D.KnightSpider]

Seeing Brazen brave the water, Sniper felt secure enough to test it in himself. They were stuck in an awkward tango, neither side able to fully trust the other or share all their information. Hopefully, Love wouldn't get lost daydreaming and finish the file transfer soon.

"Which brings us back to the sticking point for both of us." Sniper observed. "Trust. What can we do to earn the trust of you and yours? And along that line, what do all call your land? Our term for it isn't exactly insulting but not complementary either."

[Miltonian]

“Out here, actions speak louder than words. Much louder. Ponies can say whatever they want, but actions are what counts.” He raises his front hooves. “An’ to be fair, you all did destroy the Protocol. If it were just you, I’d be a bit more open. But you all got ponies you report to back home, don’t you? And it’s them I don’t trust.”

-------

The hardware is archaic and software so simple it's almost insulting. But getting it to sync together, that's the hard part. But in the end, Love gets their system to read the phone the same way it reads the turntables. It's held together with the programming equivalent of duct tape, but it works. Now she just has to show the increasingly insistent Shadow how it works so he can fix it himself when it breaks.

[DigoDragon]

“Out here, actions speak louder than words. Much louder. Ponies can say whatever they want, but actions are what counts.” He raises his front hooves. “An’ to be fair, you all did destroy the Protocol. If it were just you, I’d be a bit more open. But you all got ponies you report to back home, don’t you? And it’s them I don’t trust.”

"Hence why we don't tell anyone who we work for," Rose comments, not looking up from her notes.

[Elbeyon]

Love makes a backup of the phone, wipes it, then downloads the free songs. Luckily, Love isn't entirely dependent on Rose's selection and brought her own music. There are advantages to being a digital hoarder. Ha! And, some pony said that it was a bit much to keep a data bank solely for songs! Now who is laughing?! "Haha!" Woops, did she say that out loud? Love turns to Shadow to see his reaction. Embarrassed, she puts her snout to the grindstone for a second.

She tries her best to childproof the phone. There is no password. There are few clickable things as possible. She wants to try to get the soundboard to control which song plays.

Either way, Love is happy to have such a passionate student. It's the disinterested one's that are difficult. With the patience of a tree, Love will slowly, step by step, walk Shadow through the process of using a phone. She is fine with the idea that it'll take her longer to show him how to work the device than it did for her to plug it into their system.

"...That's why you always check to make sure something is microwave safe first!" A chuckle dots the end of her story. Love rubs her chin. "Hey, Shadow? Do you know how to write and read?" She watches over him with a warm non-judging posture.

[D.KnightSpider]

"That's a fair stance to take; after all that's happened you have reasons to doubt those to whom we report." Sniper checked his slight frustration and forced himself to relax. Don't get worked up and ruin everything. Deep breath. Stay calm. Stay neutral.

"However, their interests, ours and yours align at dismantling the CPI. So help us prove that and put some action to our words. You've got your hoof on the Wasteland pulse. Where's the CPI gaining a hoofhold and where can we make a difference?"

[userpay]

"Well that's the fun part of our little band, while we do answer to ponies back in Equestria we got much more leeway in how we do things and don't gotta check in with them constantly." Brazen drawls. "Ah think they understand that the way we've done things in the past kept them from doin what really needed to be done and we're the attempt to set things right."

[Miltonian]

Night Skye looks flatly at Rose. “Then you might want to take the words ‘Equestrian Defense Force’ off your shoulder, there.”

“So you can promise that, whatever I tell you, won’t reach whatever ponies are waiting for you back home?” he says to Brazen.

And finally, to Sniper, he says. “Yeah. That info I can share. No problem. You got a map?”

----------

And Shadow is interested! He eagerly swallows down whatever info Love is willing to share. And he picks it up fairly quickly too. Impressionable young minds.

Shadow looks askance at Love and nods. Of course he knows how to read! It would be real hard to work the soundboard if he didn’t.

[Elbeyon]

A hoof dismisses her obvious question away. Love gives him an sly grin. "Well, Mr. Shadow! I would like for you to type something to me. Anything. What do you want to tell me?" She sets the phone to Text to Voice and offers it to him.

[DigoDragon]

Night Skye looks flatly at Rose. “Then you might want to take the words ‘Equestrian Defense Force’ off your shoulder, there.”

Rose puts her laptop down, removes her armor, tears off the EDF badge with her teeth and ponykinesis, puts the armor back on, picks up her laptop, and goes back to typing notes.

*ptooie* The moist patch is spat onto the floor with a soft splut.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper stared at Rose for a long moment. One hoof ran through his mane. Then he turned his attention to Night Skye.

"You'll have to check with Star about a map. She's the pilot and navigations. If you tell her where to go, she'll get us there.

"By the way, did you hear the one about the snarky private?"

[Miltonian]

Shadow thinks for a moment and begins typing furiously. He hides the screen from Love, though, until he's finished. Then, he hits enter and nearly drops it when it starts speaking.

"Hello, Ms. Love! I am berry." Shadow winces at the mispelt word. "Impressed by what you do with tech. I have never seen anything like it. And you're a good teacher. Will you be staying long?"

-----------------

Night Skye raises an eyebrow at Rose's display. "That was more...emphatic than I expected."

"No I have not," he says to Sniper as Star pulls up a map.

[Elbeyon]

Out of instinct she goes to catch the phone though he seems to have gotten his grip under control.

Love smiles and giddy claps at his first words. She throws her forelegs around him in a hug. "There we go. Hello, Shadow! It's a joy to be your teacher and technician. It's been berry fun." She squeezes him when she says the malapropism. "The tech you will get used to before long. I don't think I'll be here long unless a reason why comes up."

"I'm sorry that the phone has to be used with the soundboard at times. I'd love to be able to get you a personal device someday. Would you like to select a different voice?" She backs away so he can type, or she can see his head.

She'll help him change the settings if he does want a different voice.

[DigoDragon]

Night Skye raises an eyebrow at Rose's display. "That was more...emphatic than I expected."

"An old saying among my old airship crew was 'Go big or go home'. I think sinking one of the CPI's prized airships is a perfect example of that," Rose says, pausing in her note-taking momentarily. "'Sides, you drive an excellent point that we'd make more allies focusing on the CPI being the villains then on Equestria being the good gals."

[D.KnightSpider]

Problem: the decision about whether to go incognito or not was out of their hooves. Wildcat would have a say and Two Bits knew the truth.

Which was why he had set up a joke to try and defuse any mounting tension.

"A new drill instructor was giving a shipment of new recruits the lowdown on their new life: rules, regs, expectations-- all that sort of thing.

"They get to the Mess Hall and the drill instructor informs his rookies of its three rules: Shut up, eat up, get up. Now, this drill instructor, he decides to test the privates' awareness. He announces, in his big booming voice: 'Pop Quiz: What's the first rule of the Mess Hall?'

"Without delay, sixty voice enthusiastically respond: 'Shut up, Sir!'."

The corner of Sniper's mouth inched upward in a grin.

"Which is to say: thank you for preventing our upstart newbie drill instructor mistakes by tipping us off to them. You're taking a chance on us. It's appreciated."

[Miltonian]

"I hope so, it's a lot to take in."

"I've got along just fine without it so far," he 'says', "I won't mind. This is weird. Very weird. And the voice sounds like a robot."

He flips through the different choices and settles on a foreign accent, one he'd never have had the chance to hear before. Germane.

-------------

Night Skye, a little put off by Rose's...intensity, focuses on Sniper for the moment and chuckles at his joke. "Funny. I'll have to use that one."

[Elbeyon]

She smiles at him. "You're doing great. You're a quick learner."

"Oh, I know, Shadow. We wastelanders survive. It's what we do. I hope you're not taking this the wrong way. I just wanted to show you something from across the hot sands. One of my friends uses the voice to text and text to voice because she doesn't know how to read. It's interesting to see the program used for different reasons."

She smiles as he settles on a voice. "Perfect! It'll only be weird until you get used to it! I hope you have some fun messing with your family." Love puts a hoof to her chin.

"I got her a bunch of different tutoring programs to help her out when I'm not around." She looks gloomy as she processes the next line. "I've been a bit busy the last couple days. I... Anyway! Would you like some educational programs too?" She smiles. "I have them so we might as well use them."

[userpay]

“So you can promise that, whatever I tell you, won’t reach whatever ponies are waiting for you back home?” he says to Brazen.

"That would depend on whether it be relevant to the mission or not ah guess. Personal info ain't high on the list compared to details that could affect the mission." Brazen tries to think on how Red Tapes reports tend to go. "In the end we still gotta send reports back but we've got more autonomy than yer typical squad of military grunts..." Brazen trails off has he watches Rose's display for a moment, probably imagining the Commander's reaction or hells Kittyhoof's. "... Which we've earned several times over by choosin what felt right rather than stick to military doctrine."

"Actually better question is which ponies are you concerned about info gettin back to? Pretty sure ah can say with confidence the Princesses want to mend relations with the Wasteland considerin we're here like this, if we wanted to just nail CPI no matter the cost there'd be a lot more of us rollin over the Wastes."

[D.KnightSpider]

"I've got plenty of others if you ever want the material. And Star is a master of puns as well as communications. We're not all guns and explosions. We'll also will do anything to protect our allies.

"Brazen tackled a monster to save my life. Rose assaulted a station full of hostiles, after getting a leg blown off, to save some hostages. Love charged into a death-trap war-zone to save a family member and lived to tell the tale. Star single-hoofedly organized the rescue of stranded soldiers.

"We'll do the same for you." Sniper tapped a hoof on Star's map. "You give us the chance and we'll show you that we're more than talk. We'll prove ourselves to you.

"And if you want some comedy material, hey, we can do that too. Free of charge."

[DigoDragon]

Rose finishes up her notes. Hopefully this meeting is over.

[Miltonian]

"No, no, thank you," he replies, "This will help. And yes, I'll take whatever you're willing to give." True Wastelander. Never turn down a gift.

-----------

Night Skye shrugs. "Made a promise to keep some things secret. Don't intend to break it."

Star grins. "Yep! And here's one. What do you get when you line up a bunch of male rabbits and make them step back? A receding hare line!"

The stallion takes a moment to get it, then he chuckles. "You all seem alright. Like I said, I'll point you towards any CPI installations I hear about."

[DigoDragon]

"So, first and last question from me; what's your motivation to help us?" Rose asks. "You know why we're here. What are you getting out of this team-up?"

[Miltonian]

He chuckles darkly. "You think I have the power to take on the CPI? Think me or my family could have brought down that ship? And if half of what you've shown me here today is true, then that's only the first of the horrors they've got waiting for whoever takes them on." He gives Rose a wry salute. "Best of luck, Equestrian..."

[DigoDragon]

Apparently he's seen something and/or been directly affected by the CPI. Rose looks at her companions. "I asked my one."

[D.KnightSpider]

"Then I think all that's left is for Love to finish her hot-wiring,*" Sniper said. "and we'll get out of your, ahem, hair."

He was tempted to point out that they didn't need luck since they were the EDF. But he let it go. It was best to end things on a friendly note and not overstay their welcome.

Which Auto Correct insisted is actually a hot wife.

[Elbeyon]

"It's no problem, sweetie. I'm glad you like it. Let's try to wrap this up, hm? If my friends haven't gone insane from the wait, they'll be getting close to kicking down that door to free themselves from boredom." She smirks. "I'm joking. I'm joking. Let's take our time and do this proper."

Love will install what programs she brought and teach him how to use the ones that teach how to use a phone.

"Alright! New Project! Last step! I need to adjust this", she pulls a hologram projector out of her saddlebag, "hologram projector to be able to recharge off your system, alongside everything else. How about we do that, set the thing up to receive (picture, video, holo) transmissions from us, and then, we'll see if your grandfather(?) is alright with us leaving the thing behind to better facilitate the information we give him."

Once Love is done, she'll get Shadow to escort her out and tell Night Skye that his new songs are installed. "How about you tell Night Skye the news?"

Scope must think Love moves pretty fast if she is already wifeing Star.

[Miltonian]

Shadow watches the hologram projector with wide eyes. That seems to be a common reaction around here. He nods and will help Love set it up. She's won him over at least.

When they return, Night Skye smiles at him. "Everything set up?" Shadow takes a moment to type, drawing a raised eyebrow from Night Skye. "That's a fancy thing you got there. Does that--

"Yep! Everything set up."

Night Skye's mouth stops mid-sentence and hangs open. "Well I'll be."

[D.KnightSpider]

"As I said, we're more than guns and explosions. We can do a lot of good if allowed." Sniper said.

It was a guess at the overall picture, true. However, given the pieces of the puzzle that he held, one he felt safe in making.

[Elbeyon]

Love gives a really big old smile at the scene in front of her. It's so beautiful! She can almost feel tears coming.

Scope seems to be working some type of angle so she stays quiet and waits out her turn to speak.

[Miltonian]

Night Skye wipes away a single, stallion-like tear. “Thank you,” he says quietly. Then he straightens. “I sent out a broadcast about the Protocol’s destruction this morning. I was careful to say I’d only heard rumors, but now I’ll be able to confirm it.” He smirks. “I almost want to request some of your fancy weapons. We’ve always been a thorn in the CPI’s side, but they might take this as an opportunity to--”

The ground shakes with the unmistakable tremor of a nearby explosion. Night Skye curses. “Shadow, get to the basement!” He runs to the wall and slams the intercom button. “Sonata! What’s going on? Is it raiders?”

“It’s a plane!” a mare’s voice on the other end says, “It fired a shot over the roof and hit the desert. A warning, I think.”

Star leaps for the door. “The Thunderbird! If they so much as scratch it again, I swear I’ll...”

[DigoDragon]

"As if they'd only scratch it," Rose says. She packs up her notebook and goes to follow Star.

[Elbeyon]

Love pushes the holo into Shadow's hoofs.

She says forcefully, "Night, get us our weapons!"

She heads for the door, but she doesn't leave yet. She delays for a second to motion everypony else through.

[Miltonian]

“They’re in the lockup,” Night says, pushing ahead, “I’ve got a key. Hurry!” In a raid, there’s no sense in not putting a gun in any able-bodied pony’s hooves.

He moves slower than the younger ponies would like, but he leads them to a very sturdy-looking steel door and fumbles with the lock for a moment before wrenching it open. Their weapons, plus a few more, are right inside.

A voice, loud enough to echo through the halls of the station, snarls out a command. “To the inhabitants of the so-called Night Sky radio station. This is your first and only warning. You have five minutes to come out and surrender or I will blow you and your primitive fort to smithereens.”

[DigoDragon]

Rose looks to see if there's a window or something to get an idea of how big a vehicle they got outside? What weapons it has?

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper barked. "Harrier Squadron: nobody engage them just yet. They gave us five minutes. Let's use it."

No time to be fancy. Sniper grabbed his rifle and threw it over his shoulder. It latched into place. The grenades were secured next. His shoulder complained with phantom pains. He ignored them.

He looked at Night Skye.

"I told you we defended our allies. I meant it. We'll handle this."

Now to get some eyes on the situation. What were they up against?

[Elbeyon]

Love follows after Night Skye toward the armory. She motions for him to head inside. "Grab a weapon."

While everyone hurries in to grab weapons Love waits outside and puts her helmet on.

"Five minutes. Right."

Her saddlebags get opened and she lets out her ScoutBot, lots of RoboBugs, a SSwarm, and a ESwarm.

"Sky, do you have a map of the place? I need to know what type of ventilation or windows you have and were they are located."

She starts manually placing RoboBugs so they have camera's over the area.

[Miltonian]

The weapons room itself is sealed, but going to the front and peering out the barred windows gives a good view of the sky. Other than a few skylights, the compound has no windows that look directly up, however. Half is above ground, and half below. The half below is more fortified. The half on top is a collection of squat, squarish structures built with ramparts designed to give good cover against attacks from below. There is one tower, which was the former entrance to the vault and originally went up to ground level. Not a terribly advantageous position. And the air filtration system is actually self-contained, given that this was supposed to all be underground. No external vents.

The ship itself looks like it came right out of space. A gunship, of sorts, but no design Love has ever seen. And a symbol, a caricature of a six-tailed fox, rests on the side. And when she deploys her nanobots, they don’t function correctly. They swerve, struggle to go higher, and have all sorts of trouble.

https://pre00.deviantart.net/12c8/th/pre/f/2014/096/8/8/gunship_concept_by_leonovichdmitriy-d7d9ro9.jpg

[DigoDragon]

"Huh, guess he did have one in his back pocket," Rose says. "So what's the plan, cause we'd need like... 27 seconds to get into the Thunderbird and into the air. I'm guessing 30, 32%
chance those guns are ballistic and if not then my shield spell isn't going to be much use against it."

[Elbeyon]

There must be a lot of noise, a low powered jammer, or some unknown cause for her microbots messing up. She tries to turn them off and leave them in her saddlebag. At least the bugs & scoutbot are working. They do have stronger radios.

"The last ship used lasers for their main gun. Bullets for AA. Here, let me check in a second."

Once some of the squad is out of the armory she heads in to grab her weapon and grenades.

Love sneaks/low crawls her way over to the window and peaks her gun up so she can view thing on her hud.

Do you go dakka dakka or pew pew? Both?
[roll0] vs 18 (Inventor!) +2? (Software) +/- 2? Other(s)

[Miltonian]

The ship appears to be armed with guns of a traditional sense, just vastly bigger. Maybe electromagnets? Still, definitely not lasers.

[Elbeyon]

Love pulls her gun away from the window, but sticks a robobug there instead.

"It's a ballistic weapon, probably." She really hopes she's not wrong for everyone's sake.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper began manipulating his HUD, setting up the variables and conditions of their situation.

He looked at Night Skye.

"I'm working through strategies now. To help with that, if you know any reason why the CPI is offering you a chance to surrender instead of blowing you away with a pre-emptive strike, I'd like to know.

"Rose, think your magic could stand up to an AA broadside?"

Tactics

[roll0] VS 15 (13 Skill + 2 Software)

[Miltonian]

It's not looking good. Sniper's not one to sugar-coat it, especially to himself. That thing can gun down anypony headed to the Thunderbird before they make it halfway. And there's no telling how well it's armored just by looking at it. But, there is always the option to radio the Wonderbolts.

Night Skye chuckles. Cynically, he says, "So they don't have to blow up the entire complex just to kill us. Then, they can capture it and use it themselves without bothering to fix it back up."

[DigoDragon]

"I honestly never tested my shield spell against caliber that big. Willing to chance it if it'll give us a good position."

[userpay]

Brazen brings up the rear to the lock up. Slapping his shotgun into it's mount, attaching his saddlecase to it's hardpoint, and making sure his riot shield was ready to go. "Note to self, ah need to start gettin trainin in propelled explosives. Ah could try chuckin ah satchel though no guarantee it'll reach high enough... Got smokes for layin cover." He loads his armor piercing rounds into the shotgun and racks it.

[DigoDragon]

"Well, this IS a radio station, right? How about Love gives them an earful of radio noise to overwhelm their systems while Sniper and Brazen are up on the tower throwing explosives into their engines?" Rose plans out. "I can attempt to give the stallions each a shield to help protect them from bullets if they open fire with that first."

[D.KnightSpider]

"With a slight modification, that's most likely our best bet." Sniper nodded. His next comments were aimed at Night Skye. "Right this moment, you don't need our fancy weapons to hurt that gunship. You're standing in everything you need. With Love's help, you can blind that ship's radar/sensors and turn the tables on them.

"Brazen, I need a bomb. When the jamming begins, I'll head for the gunship while they're blinded and take out an engine.

"Rose, I won't say 'no' to some shielding."

He looked at the collection of soldiers and civilians. "Sound good?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose's horn lit up with a smokey glow of blue-green light. "Best shot we got."

[Elbeyon]

Love starts dumping her grenades on the floor for Brazen.

She brings up the crest on the gunboat in her hud and sees if her database says anything.

"Night and I. Right! Night, they'll want an answer. Let them sweet for a bit. We'll set up a jam in the meanwhile. When we're nearing completion, contact them with the crappiest radio signal you've ever sent out. Make them work those comms to hear you."

"If someone could get a robobug outside, I'd like some more information."

[Miltonian]

Night Skye nods slowly. "Well, the radio's my family business. Anypony knows it better than me, I'll eat my mic." He goes with Love to the main terminal for the tower and begins setting it up. The haste seems to be getting to the older pony, but he knows his stuff well enough to muscle his way through it.

However, Love's databanks do not contain any information on this crest.

And the plan proceeds.

"Three minutes remaining," the voice outside booms.

[DigoDragon]

"Well, let's try and get this shield cast." Rose attempts her missile shield spell on Sniper.


Casting [roll0] vs. 14

[Miltonian]

Something goes wrong. The magic of the spell does not take hold on Sniper, but Rose feels it connect with something. What that is, she doesn't know.

[Elbeyon]

Love smiles. "Good, let's work together! We can fight our foes and share snacks afterwards. I'm joking." Love puts a hoof up to her mouth and crackles. Sky seems like the gristly sort, but she's not sure about his combat experience. A little emotional misdirection might be good for him. "How valuable do you consider your windows?"

[Miltonian]

His smile is warm, but his eyes hard. "Less valuable than the lives of my family."

[DigoDragon]

"Oww... fff... hang it, let me try that again." Rose tries again to get the spell right.

Missile Shield [roll0] vs. 13 (14 -1 for previous spell still active)

[Elbeyon]

"Let me pass that along. One second."

Love switches her voice off. Love comms, "We can crack a window and put a robobug out there. I'll give everyone access. Pilot it by voice if you can't handle the controls." Love will give everyone access to a flying robobug.

She starts recording the wonderbolt message to be compressed.

[D.KnightSpider]

While Rose did her casting, Sniper made an opening in the window and released the robobug. He gave it a vocal order to scout the enemy ship.

He moved into position by the doorway. All that was needed was the bomb from Brazen and the signal from Love and he was ready to do something monumentally stupid. Which was his usual M.O. so no surprise there.

At Rose's frustrations, he raised an eyebrow.

"Bad news?" He asked.

The thought crossed his mind to leave a message for Diamond with Rose but he shook it off. He couldn't put Rose in that position. He'd hurt her enough.

[Miltonian]

This time, the spell takes to Sniper.

Love' robo-bug takes to the air and begins to chase the circling gunship. In less than a minute, it lands on the top, but can't find a way inside. The hull is sealed. But it does see through the canopy and inside is a creature unlike any seen by Equestrians before.

Some of the inhabitants of the Wasteland walk on two legs, and some of them look like foxes, but none of them have six tails. And the tips of their tails aren't, to anypony's knowledge, constantly on fire. Also, that is a very odd eye color. I mean, it's only purple, but the pupils glow. To all appearances, this is a real-life alien.

The eyes flick up and spot the bug. He presses a button and a windshield wiper knocks it off.

[DigoDragon]

"Bad news?" He asked.

"False start. Go, go. It's up on you now." Rose waves him off and takes a moment to catch her breath.

[userpay]

"One bomb comin." Brazen pulls out the materials for an explosive for easy use. "Mayhaps we chuck ah smoke grenade in ah unused room and crack a window? See if that'll confuse them?"

Explosives (demo) [roll0] vs 16 (14 skill +2 program)

[Elbeyon]

"Try to smoke a room near opposite of Scope's door."

---------------

Love is readying her wonderbolt message.

"Super advance basaltic gunboat has us pinned at Night's Radio. Foe was requesting Night Skye's surrender. Threatened to destroy the tower if we didn't turn him over 5 minutes, now, 30 seconds. Requesting Wonderbolt reinforcements. Engagement not advised. Stealth advised."

Love comms Scope, "What do you think? That good enough?"

Love will put the final compressed message to rely off Night's radio at the press of a button.

---------------

Love keeps working until Night and her are ready / a few button presses away.

In the last minute, Love speaks up to Night.

"I'm going to hot mike the conversation between her(?) and you so my entire team can hear."

"Night, try make them strain to listen. Now." She nods to him.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper exchanged his two tangler grenades for Brazen's bomb. His explosive grenade stayed on his rigging. Any systems that would be impacted by the jamming were shut off.

"That'll work, Love. Good job.

Deep breathes. Steady the nerves. Suppress the emotion.

An edge appeared in the back of his mind. Not quite a bloodless but an expectation. An expectation that he was about to do what he was born to do.

[userpay]

Brazen nods and heads for a room to utilize. Popping the smoke and using the ensuing cover to open a window up so that the smoke can leak out. "Keep in mind they might beable to see through the smoke so it's just as ah distraction." He says returning.

[Miltonian]

Night Skye opens communications with the enemy. But to Love’s surprise, his voice sounds almost completely different. Raspy, as if he’d been smoking his whole life. “Whoa, whoa! Hold up there. You’re at the wrong place, buddy.”

After a moment, the fox replies. “That is impossible.”

“Common mistake, actually,” Night Skye says, “If I had a pound of scrap for every raider that’s made the same mistake, maybe the place wouldn’t be falling apart so much. You want the place just up the road.”

Silence comes from the other end. “I do not under--”

Then Brazen sets off the smoke grenade.

“There goes something now,” Night Skye says, “The well-pump’s been acting up. Should get on that. Oi! Sharky! I thought you fixed that thing last week.” He pauses, as if listening to a reply. “Well shuddup and fix it again!”

“My instruments say that the smoke is not from--”

“I don’t care what your instruments say, now go away!” Night Skye snaps, “Oh, and have a nice day.” He nods to Love. It’s time to blind him.

[Elbeyon]

It was at that moment Love felt a feeling, a feeling of jealousy. Why didn't she get to be the snarky radio pony?!

Love gives Night a hooves up at a job well done!

Oh, well! Love pings Scope. Buttons get pressed, switches thrown. Love moves between the hybrid fusion of her own equipment and Night Skye's control center. She sends out her message. She tries to jam the Star Fox. She cranks up the signals!

I'm putting some jammer on this toast!
[roll0] vs 13 (Electronics Operation (EW)) + 2 (Software) +/- Other(s)

Night deserves his chops.

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper ducked out the door and began making his way skyward. It was almost amusing. The last time he'd sneaked his way across an airship, he had gone down a conning tower. Now he was going up a radio tower. There was no mental energy to spare for the thought.

All of his concentration was put on scaling the radio tower and, once the jamming took effect, making his way to the rear of the foxy airship undetected.


Extra Effort: (If applicable)
[roll0] VS 13

Stealth
[roll1] VS 14/15 (14 Skill + 1 Extra Effort?)

I had to use the forum's 'Restore Saved Content' button.
Hopefully, that won't freak out the dice roller.

Also, I think Night Skye just became everyone's favorite pony.

[Miltonian]

In reaction to the sudden jamming of his sensors, the fox immediately hits the engines and lifts higher into the sky. As he does so, he swings around, preparing to punch it and put some distance between him and the station. The cockpit enough to put Sniper within full view of the pilot. A spray of bullets flies past him, kept away from his flesh only by the power of Rose’s magic.

Trusting in it, Sniper flies closer. But as he draws within striking distance, the ship’s rear engines burst to life and it begins to accelerate right towards him.

Time for a dodge roll, Sniper. Don’t worry, you get a +2 bonus. This thing accelerates pretty slowly and doesn’t turn all that well.

[DigoDragon]

Rose waits on Star Chaser if she wants to use this moment to race to the Thunderbird or not?

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper's eyes met the alien's. An open invitation, in the form of a smirk, passed over his face.

Time to play 'chicken' with a fox.


DOOOOOODGE!
[roll0] VS 11 (9 Base Stat + 2 Bonus)

[userpay]

Brazen sets up riot shield at the ready. It could at least weather some of the firepower that thing could put out but whether it could hold up to it was another matter entirely. "Ah'll cover ya'll."

Right so, heading to work soon. Not entirely sure how Brazen can help since it sounds like the ship is a ways in the air now. For the moment I could have him running as a literal shield wall for those going for the Thunderbird or I could try to run distraction anyway by taking potshots as I head in a different direction.

[Miltonian]

A glancing blow, all things considered, but one that hurts nonetheless despite Sniper’s armor. The ship knocks him aside and soars on past. But if he has the quick-reflexes for it, he can perhaps plant the charge on the back.

Brawling check with an undisclosed penalty, please. And

Star makes a run for the Thunderbird. Even if it’s not designed for combat, a few rounds on his tail will make the fox sit up and take notice. She would definitely appreciate some cover from the friendly neighborhood walking tank, though.

[DigoDragon]

Rose races along with Star for the Thunderbird.

[Elbeyon]

Love doesn't seem to be getting any resistance on the radio? She can hear the machinegun fire. Horse chocolate! He got spotted. There is no explosion. The bullets stop firing?

Love says in a serious tone, "There should have been an explosion by now. Scope has some more time before the spell wears off. Hold for now."

Love wires an order to her scoutbot to go look out the window then return as soon as it sees a flying ship.

[D.KnightSpider]

From 'buzzkill' to 'roadkill'. Ow. And here he'd just healed there.

Sniper scrabbled for a hold on the aircraft. The bomb had to be planted. Get the job done.


Unless I'm missing something, Brawling has no default. Did you mean grappling?

Here's a standard roll. Sniper's DEX is 12 if that helps.
[roll0]

[Miltonian]

Star and Rose race into the Thunderbird. "Get to the comms!" Star orders Rose, "Raise the Commander. Tell him what's happening. I don't think our signals are getting through."

-----------

Love's bug pops outside just in time to see Sniper completely miss the gunship and tumble through the air. The gunship comes around for another pass. But it stops short of another charge.

"Lt. Sniper Scope of the EDF," the loudspeaker booms, " You are an enemy of Lord Polaris. Surrender or be destroyed."

[DigoDragon]

Star and Rose race into the Thunderbird. "Get to the comms!" Star orders Rose, "Raise the Commander. Tell him what's happening. I don't think our signals are getting through."

"Should I even bother then?" Rose asks. She runs to the chair and jumps on the comm controls anyway because really what can you do but try something and hope you succeed.

"Harrier to Wildcat, Harrier to Wildcat. We are under attack by a hostile gunboat. Repeat, we are under attack."

[Miltonian]

There is no reply to Rose's hails. Star begins warming up the engines.

[DigoDragon]

Rose tries other EDF channels, "This is Harrier Squad, we are under attack, please acknowledge."

[D.KnightSpider]

Right. Like he was just going to roll over and play dead for Polaris after all that he'd been through. There was as much chance of that happening as Wildcat retiring to a ballet troupe.

Since the alien wouldn't be able to hear him, Sniper drove the point home nonverbally: he popped the pin on his explosive grenade and chucked it at the alien's face.

The Thunderbird better get in the air soon...


Time for two big gambles.

Will:
[roll0] VS 13

Throwing:
[roll1] VS 15/16 (11 Skill +4 All Out Attack +1 Extra Effort?)

[userpay]

Distraction time. Brazen moves opposite of those heading for the 'Bird riot shield held aloft. Taking advantage of the ship focusing on Sniper a few shots ring out at the ship's engine compartment.

Lets go with 5 rounds of the armor piercing.
Shotgun [roll0] vs 20 (base 17 + targeting program + 1 rate of fire + (bonuses I'm probably forgetting) - distance)
Not sure if any of the things Love did to this shotgun make the recoil better but assuming default recoil for every 4 points I beat the DC is an extra round that hits.

Damage would be 4d+4 pi+ (2) per round.

[Elbeyon]

As far as I know there is nothing that helps with recoil (besides better aim). Brazen's weapon mount does get rid of the the rather major move & attack penalty so our team (besides Rose) is very mobile.

Grenades. The wrong type of grenades. Gunfire. Love pushes away from her console. "Night, I believe you've got this covered! I'm going to go upgrade the situation. Yell if you need me!" Love runs off toward the window her ScoutBot flew. If she reaches there fast enough to fire off a shot she will.

[Miltonian]

The grenade is perfectly timed. It hits the canopy and explodes. The sheer force of it turns the glass into a spiderweb of cracks, though it doesn’t shatter. It’s better designed than that. But the fox is blind now. He immediately begins ascending.

Brazen’s shots are well-aimed and the first two hit. Even though they are armor-piercing, they don’t seem to get good penetration. But a bit of smoke comes off the engine regardless. They hit something important.

Rose finally gets something of a response. “Ha---r Squ-d! -----is------hawk! Co---in!”

Love makes it to the window, though not in time to fire off a shot this round.

[DigoDragon]

"we are under attack by enemy aircraft. Repeat under attack by enemy aircraft," Rose says into the radio. "Request air support. Request air support."

[D.KnightSpider]

He wasn't fast enough to keep up with an airship. Augmentation or mechanical assistance that he didn't have would be required for such a feat.

Instead, Sniper drew his rifle, slower and clumsier than he'd like given his airborne status, and readied himself to open fire.

[userpay]

Brazen clicks his tongue. Definitely needed to find something that can deal with armor when his explosives couldn't reach. He reorients for the ships new altitude and continues firing trying to hit any sensitive or otherwise less armored spots.

Lets go with 5 rounds of the armor piercing again. Engine is probably the most likely but going for the weapons if they aren't to small wouldn't be out of the question.
Shotgun [roll0] 23 (base 17 + 5 (equipment bonuses) + 1 rate of fire - distance)
Again every 4 that beats DC is another bullet that hits.

Damage would be 4d+4 pi+ (2) per round.

[Elbeyon]

Love runs up to the window on her backlegs and slings her laser rifle around her shoulder to point at the ship.

Her hud marks and zooms in on Scope then the apparent battle damage on the fox's canopy. The glass may not be military grade? The plan was to try to blind the ship, but it looks like Scope is one step ahead of her. If the glass isn't military grade, Love might be able to make some shots that count. She'd like to to take a shot into the cracked canopy, but if the angle is impossible, she'll flail some lasers toward Brazen's targeted engine hoping to get lucky.

Night Skye's glass. She doubts it's modern so she expects her laser to pass straight through without any interference.

Laser Rifle
[roll0] vs 20 = 13 (Beam Weapons) +5 (Weapon) + 2 (RoF 10) +/- Other(s)

Rcl 1; (2) burn; (10) vs non-laser resistant transparent material (Ultra p.114)
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]

[Miltonian]

"C.....that. Lost contact and....nder Wil...t sent us over. Oh ...! Signal is getting...onger."

----------

The ship is now even farther away and harder to hit, but another two shots strike the armor. The engine begins to smoke heavily as sparks fly and it goes into automatic shutdown. Thus, the rate of the ascent is lessened.

Love's attack, on the other hand, leaves a few burning holes in the glass canopy, but are blocked by it. That glass was laser resistant. Night Skye's offers no resistance whatsoever.

The ship continues to climb, best it can. No change in course.

[DigoDragon]

"C.....that. Lost contact and....nder Wil...t sent us over. Oh ...! Signal is getting...onger.

"Appraise Wildcat."



The ship continues to climb, best it can. No change in course.

"How are you on starting up this Cuisinart?" Rose asks Star. "Looks like they got that gunboat on the ropes."

[Elbeyon]

Brazen did some work on that engine! Love switches tactics and tries shooting the other engine out.

Laser Rifle
[roll0] vs 20 = 13 (Beam Weapons) +5 (Weapon) + 2 (RoF 10) +/- Other(s)

Rcl 1;
[roll1] (2) burn
[roll2] (2) burn
[roll3] (2) burn
[roll4] (2) burn
[roll5] (2) burn
[roll6] (2) burn
[roll7] (2) burn
[roll8] (2) burn
[roll9] (2) burn
[roll10] (2) burn

[D.KnightSpider]

Now they were fighting in Sniper's turf. He raised his gun and began picking the aircraft apart one shot at a time. First target: engines.

Attack:
[roll0] VS 26 (14 Skill +3 Hyperspectral +5 Weapon +4 All Out Attack)

Damage:
[roll1] (2) Burn
[roll2] (2) Burn
[roll3] (2) Burn

[Miltonian]

The Thunderbird roars to life. "Pretty good," Star answers, "Under a minute. Not bad for make-shift repairs."

--------------

Sniper and Love's lasers, for the most part, hit home. And they begin to melt away at the armor. However, they are having markedly less effect than solid ammo. At this range, though, it is unlikely a shotgun will be very accurate.

[D.KnightSpider]

Frown. Great. He could hit the banished thing but not hurt it. Being half useless was almost worse than entirely useless.

Sniper chased after the fleeing ship. His rifle continued to fire all the while. The back of his mind wondered if he was still k mine to bullets. Guess he'd find out.


Move and Attack
[roll0] VS 14 (14 Skill +3 Hyperspectral +5 Weapon - 8 Bulk Rating)

Damage
[roll1] (2) Burn
[roll2] (2) Burn
[roll3] (2) Burn

[Elbeyon]

Scope's powered weapon harness reduces his bulk rating to 0! The team is very mobile. On the flip side, I don't think Hyperspectral Vision gives a bonus to hit (only skills & negating lots of negative modifiers).
Love starts to bend down to keep her angle as the ship continues its slow climb. She figures her shots are doing nothing against its armor, but shooting the thing is at least providing a morale bonus to counteract her own uselessness. There is something to be said for keeping up morale.

Laser Rifle
[roll0] vs 20 = 13 (Beam Weapons) +5 (Weapon) + 2 (RoF 10) +/- Other(s)

Rcl 1;
[roll1] (2) burn
[roll2] (2) burn
[roll3] (2) burn
[roll4] (2) burn
[roll5] (2) burn
[roll6] (2) burn
[roll7] (2) burn
[roll8] (2) burn
[roll9] (2) burn
[roll10] (2) burn

[DigoDragon]

The Thunderbird roars to life. "Pretty good," Star answers, "Under a minute. Not bad for make-shift repairs."

"Nice, way to rock that startup!" Rose congratulates. "Let's see if we can catch up and force the enemy down before they fly off."

[userpay]

As the ship gets out of range Brazen huffs and slots a fresh clip of AP rounds into his shotgun. "Want me to stick around and guard or hop on the 'Bird?" Brazen queries as he racks the new rounds.

[Miltonian]

The continued barrage is wearing the gunship down, but it's engine remains functional. Star Chaser revs the Thunderbird's engines. "Will all members of Harrier Squad please board the ship? We are about to engage in a high-speed chase."

[DigoDragon]

Rose switches her seat out from copilot and retreives her weapons.

[Elbeyon]

Love lets go off her weapon (letting her harness catch it) and starts running for the ship. "Leave me if I'm taking too long!" Love will jump down any stairs.

[D.KnightSpider]

1) Our comms still work despite the jamming?

2) Someone want to tell Night what we're doing?

Upon hearing that the 'bird was operational, Sniper broke off and made a beeline for the ship.

Laser weapons were no good against the ship. Interesting. That meant Brazen was their best bet at taking down the fox.

[Elbeyon]

1. Star could have yelled? She used the ship's loudspeakers? Laser weapons are completely silent/no one is shooting? (Idk! :smalleek:)

2. Yep. Love should do that. She is at the top(?) of the tower with him.

Love hurriedly yells as she makes a run for it. "Night, Report? Chasing fleeing ship."

[Miltonian]

It was over the loudspeaker. Sorry, I forgot to make that clear.

"Go," Night Skye tells Love.

"Our ETA...ne minute!" Kittyhawk's voice squawks over the radio.

Star puts her headphones on. "Right. We have him on radar. Get here, Love, and we'll chase him down."

In a few moments the Thunderbird takes off. The Wonderbolts zip by and take point. And the chase is on!

[userpay]

Brazen hesitates for another moment before dashing for the Bird. Night didn't seem worried about the facility and from what he could see from the ground lasers were't helping much. Clamping onto the side with the suit's magboots as the Bird takes off and makes to brace in one of the side doors. "Good to go here."

[Elbeyon]

Guard rails, stairs, doors, furniture and potted plants stand no chance against Love's jumping and acrobatic prowess. Plus, if she falls, she can stand right back uninjured except for her pride. She flies out the door at the bottom of the tower past Brazen into the ship. "Good job, Brazen! You took out an engine!"

She hurries for the co-pilot seat and starts strapping in.

"I see him." She notes to Star.

"Hey, Scope? You still have that bomb?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose straps in for safety and turns of gun safety. "Anyone get a good look at who our enemy pilot is?"

[D.KnightSpider]

EDIT: Ninjas

Sniper secured into the Thunderbird's back seat. One hoof massaged the gap between his eyes. Deep breath. Let the adrenaline go.

His left foreleg began shaking. Stop it. Be a rock. Steady.

He looked up.

"That's two I owe you, Rose. Yes. I got a good look at him. He's like a mutant fox. Nine tails. Looked like each one was on fire or something. Hyper Thought has been very hard at work, apparently."

It was hard to miss the alien fox amidst the game of chicken.

Sniper answered Love next: "Yes. I've still got the bomb. Didn't get a chance to use it. Hit him with a grenade, though. Shattered his windshield."

[DigoDragon]

"An alien Fox? Geez, where is getting all the toys to make these things?"

at is h

[Miltonian]

Star shouts back. "Comms are operational again! Seems that once we got clear of the radio station, everything turned back on."

"Speaking of which, hello!" Kittyhawk says, coming in loud and clear, "What's the sit-rep? Are we capturing that ship or blowing it up? Kill or disable?"

[D.KnightSpider]

The comm. was operational... That meant... Shoot.

Sniper toggled his mic.: "The ship is allied with the CPI and Polaris. It was sent to capture Night Skye and his family. It's got to go down now before the pilot radios in a report for backup."

He pulled himself out of the seat and began making for a gun port.

[Elbeyon]

Love starts dialing and flipping switches to try to jam the other ship. She really needs to hit the dance floor because she is getting out of control here.

"Hello Kitty."

"We should try to disable it to the ground!"

"Jamming!"

Jam! Love (Dances)
[roll0] vs 13 (Skill) + 2 (Software) +/- Other(s)

[DigoDragon]

"Shooting it down is a very efficient way of grounding it," Rose says. "Just saying."

[Miltonian]

"Right. Shoot to damage it then, not destroy it," Kittyhawk says, "Wonderbolts, let's go with Delta attack pattern." Zero and Seafire veer off to the side while Kittyhawk continues chasing it from directly behind.

"Anypony feel like manning the guns? Or should we let the computer auto-aim?" Star asks.

[D.KnightSpider]

"That depends on whether the computer would do better than a complete novice." Sniper replied. "Never done this before. You know the system. It's your call."

He slid into position and prepared to operate the guns if Star desired.

Elbeyon has it right. Gunner defaults to DEX -4, which is an 8 for everyone. That's less than a 50/50 chance just to hit without much leeway for dodging.

[Miltonian]

"Noted," Star Chaser says, "One minute till we come down on his rear like Brazen does to Sea--" She trails off. "--Like Brazen does to the ground every other week."

The gunship appears up ahead. The Wonderbolts zoom forward and come in from three directions, lasers firing instead of their rockets. They're looking for weak points in the armor, seeking to disable the electronics further.

Seems their comms are jammed. Or at least, they are as far as Love can tell.

Time to open fire!

[userpay]

Brazen can't help but laugh. "Careful Star, might start to think yer watchin somehow." Ah that was just what he needed, something to take the edge off this situation. "Right well time to throw some more slugs down range!"

Go go shotgun AP~
Shotgun, 5 rounds at engines, [roll0] vs 23 (base 17 + 5 (equipment bonuses) + 1 rate of fire - distance)
Again every 4 that beats DC is another bullet that hits.

Damage would be 4d+4 pi+ (2) per round.

[D.KnightSpider]

Right. Because-- Sniper bit off that thought before it could germinate. No sense in getting snarky with his own teammates.

Instead, he concentrated on doing what he could to bring down the aircraft.


I guess Sniper's doing the guns? Looking into this further, if the Thunderbird's weapons are ballistic, Sniper takes another -2 because he has no familiarity with the weapon type. Rose was the better gunner choice.

Attack:
[roll0] VS 8/6

No idea what to roll for damage.

[Elbeyon]

Since the ship is probably blind, it shouldn't get an active defense roll! They can't dodge what you can't see!

I'm assuming the bird only has two pilot seats? Maybe, a gunner spot? I'll have Love move if needed.
Love chuckles but doesn't say anything.

Love doesn't technically need a seat for sensors/jamming. If needed, she'll slide out of co-pilot. She pulls a wire from her armor and plugs into the Firebird's computer. Magboots activated, she'll lead the cord back to take a passenger seat and buckle in there. Now would be a really bad time for an electrical surge. There is no way this set up complies to safety standards.

"Don't trip over the wire!", she warns everypony.

[DigoDragon]

Rose moves to the side door Brazen is at and will attempt to help shoot down the enemy ship.

--Assault Carbine.
--Called shot, engine
--Full burst of three (RoF 3)
--Recoil 2

--[roll0] vs. 18 minus whatever the called shot is for engine.

[Miltonian]

The ship tries to return fire. Unfortunately, without it's sensors, it can only set the turrets to fill the air with flack and hope it hits. The Wonderbolts pull back real quick, spending some time analyzing the pattern before jumping back in. Star simply flies out of the way of the one shooting backwards at them.

"Keep it up!" she says, "Sensors are picking up some hits."

[userpay]

"Is he tossin out any signals at all? Surprised he ain't given up yet." Granted what they were doing were but pinpricks to the gunship yet those pinpricks were adding up.

Go go shotgun AP~
Shotgun, 5 rounds at engines, [roll0] vs 23 (base 17 + 5 (equipment bonuses) + 1 rate of fire - distance)
Again every 4 that beats DC is another bullet that hits.

Damage would be 4d+4 pi+ (2) per round.

[DigoDragon]

"Just keep shooting till he lawndarts into the ground. We'll ask 'em later," Rose says to Brazen.


--Assault Carbine.
--Called shot, engine
--Full burst of three (RoF 3)
--Recoil 2

--[roll0] vs. 18 minus whatever the called shot is for engine.

[D.KnightSpider]

Leaving the retorts to others, Sniper emptied another round at the fleeing aircraft.

"Any idea where he's fleeing to?"

Tables could turn quickly. He didn't want to go from being the hunter to the hunted.

Gunner:
[roll0] VS 6 + Whatever targeting bonuses apply.

[Elbeyon]

Love starts humming to herself as the battle madness happens around her. She keeps up to date on the sensors/jamming via her connection to the ship.

[Miltonian]

The gunship's second engine sputters and dies. With only two remaining, it slowly begins to dip towards the ground.

Star frowns. "He's hail--" She clears her throat and, in her best imitation of Scotch Tape from Star Trot, says, "We're pickin' up somethin' from dae ship, Cap'n. But our jammin' is keepin' it from bein' decipherable."

[DigoDragon]

"Got 'em on the ropes," Rose says. She keeps laying on the gunfire.

--Assault Carbine.
--Called shot, engine
--Full burst of three (RoF 3)
--Recoil 2

--[roll0] vs. 18 minus whatever the called shot is for engine.

[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Elbeyon]

Love can't help but snicker a little alongside Star's voice acting.

Love sends a ScoutBot up to the canopy to deliver her message.

"We can talk in pony once he has 'landed'!"

"He's going down. Scope, maybe, let off on the main guns a little?"

[D.KnightSpider]

At Love's request, Sniper refrained from further firing-- odds were that he'd only miss his target anyway. He extended a curious look at Love.

"That's oddly cold for you." Sniper observed. "The fox might be trying to surrender. Are you sure you don't want to hear what he has to say?"

He turned back to the controls and began taking aim at the retreating ship.

[Elbeyon]

A perfect time to aim!

Love says (with her normal tone), "I'll dial back the jamming until their full power broadcast can let through a short range message."

"Star, would you send them a similar broadcast so they get the idea?"

[userpay]

Brazen leans back with a grin on his face. "I'm dry on AP rounds anyway. Could try chuckin some tangler rounds downrange to see if it gums up the works."

Brazen might suggest pinpointing out the gunboat's topside weaponry and the Bolts could try to "push it down" but not sure whether it's still firing or not.

[Miltonian]

"Sure thing, Cap'n!" Star says, "Attention foxy-boy! What is it you want to say?"

"Oh, so now you'll let me talk?" The fox sounds very annoyed. It's hard to make out his words, though, because of all the alarms blaring in the background. "I was going to say, 'I surrender, please let me set down', but my paw just got scorched and now I'm going to wait a half minute so I can feel self-righteous about it."

One of the engines falls off the ship. It begins to slip into a nose-dive.

[Elbeyon]

Love yells toward the front of the ship, "We accept your surrender!"

She comms the Wonderbolts, "Try to keep their wings up and generating lift!"

[DigoDragon]

"Not sure that boat was made for air flight," Rose comments. "Not like ours. If he had any sense, he'd eject."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper keyed up the Wonderbolts frequency.

"A clarification on our last transmission. In case you couldn't hear the exchange, the pilot of the airship has surrendered. He requested permission to set down. Then he lost the engine. This may become a rescue operation.

"Be careful. The pilot is a fox and you know how crazy they are."

[Elbeyon]

Love claps one hoof in the other in a moment of eureka. "It doesn't even have wings!"

She yells up front, "Star, you think there is anything we can do to help?"

[Miltonian]

"Our landing gears are magnetic," Star says, "But I'm not quite that good of a pilot."

"Roger that," Kittyhawk replies, "Oi! You! Eject! Your ship is going down."

There is no reply from the other end but static as the ship tilts farther forward.

"Buck it," Kittyhawk says, "Bolts, grab it."

The three of them latch onto the ship and try to pull up. But the ship is a bit heavier than even three times Brazen's weight. They only manage to stabilize it's flight, not stop it. They let go as it crashes down into the sand below.

"Well buck," Seafire says.

[DigoDragon]

"Well, she's down now. I suggest we tell the Wonderbolts to watch our skies and we go see what survived?" Rose says.

[Elbeyon]

"We'd be landing on their gun anyway. It's a bad idea."

When they get no reply Love starts unbuckling herself (with the magboots helping secure herself). "I volunteer to run at the ship for a rescue!"

If the Firebird is still high up in the air, Love requests a wonderbolt to set her down while the duo avoiding any firing arcs.

[DigoDragon]

"I volunteer to run at the ship for a rescue!"

"No, we land and approach the crash as a unit," Rose counters. "There's no reason for anyone to play the hero."

[D.KnightSpider]

"Rose has this right. There's no justification for sending you in by yourself. It's all or none at this point." Sniper said.

"Star, you can take us in, and you might want to keep the engine running."

He toggled his comm. "Wonderbolts, what's it look like down there? Any signs of the pilot?"

Intelligence was a wonderful thing and the Wonderbolts were in a prime position to give it to him.

[Miltonian]

"I agree with Rose," Star says, "Sorry, Love."

She will swing the ship in for a landing while the Wonderbolts fly in a covering formation overhead.

[DigoDragon]

Rose has her carbine still drawn to the crash site, but carries her medical bag in case there is a survivor.

[Elbeyon]

"Heh. Outvoted."

Love will hop off the ship with everypony else. Instead of approaching on her hind legs with her rifle trained on the wreck, she approaches with a grenades in both hoofs. She'll 'lead' the group charge with everypony, but she keeps a quick tactical pace.

[D.KnightSpider]

Something was off with Love. She wasn't acting like herself. Sniper made a note of her actions, possible reasons behind them, and then stuffed the observation in the back of his mind.

Ground bound, Sniper followed after Rose and Love. He kept his rifle up and ready for use, providing cover for the other two ponies' approach.

He didn't like this at all.

[userpay]

Brazen locks in a clip of normal shotgun slugs as the Bird goes in for a landing. hoping out when they land and taking point with riot shield out as they approach the ship. "Want me to make ourselves a welcome mat?" Curious he taps the edge of his shield on the hull of the gunboat.

[Miltonian]

Brazen's shield makes a clang as it strikes the side, but elicits no reaction.

[D.KnightSpider]

"If you would be so kind." Sniper said.

He moved to the side of the ship's hull, taking up a flanking position. Once Brazen ripped the ship a new one, anything hostile that came out of the ship would be in for a surprise.

[Elbeyon]

"Ready, whenever you are big pony."

Love sets her two grenades in one hoof and pulls another out. She cracks the cold one open and smoke goes off in her hoofs, spraying everywhere.

"What?", She asks. "It's cover! He might not have hyper vision!"

Love will take cover on the opposite side of Scope. She readies her ScoutBot for a voice toggled "search & rescue" while Brazen sets up the charge.

[DigoDragon]

Rose backs away so as not to be within the grenade smoke.

[userpay]

"Aaaalrighty then one new door comin up." Brazen sets about putting up a charge that hopefully will only make a door and not damage to much of what's beyond. Once it's set up he raps his shield against the outside again. "Last chance to open this up or communicate if you can." If there's no further response incoming Brazen braces his riot shield on the ground a meter from the impending new door and sets off the charge.

Explosive (demo) [roll0] vs 16

[Miltonian]

The door gets blown off its hinges, exposing the interior of the ship. A red light flickers on and off, but otherwise the ship is dark. Thermals and other imaging software pierce the veil and show a wrecked room. Cargo’s sprung free of the moorings, boxes spilling their contents all over the floor. Tools and maybe weapons of strange, alien design lie scattered all around. A bed, pierced and stabbed with shrapnel, lies in the corner next to a small kitchenette. In the opposite corner is a sanitation station, which includes both a toilet and a shower. If the floor and walls weren’t buckled by the force of the impact, it would be a cozy little place to live.

The door to the cockpit remains closed.

[DigoDragon]

"Remember that part about foxes being clever? Cause if I were him I'd hide in something to jump out at us."

[Elbeyon]

"Go search, foal!" Love sends in her ScoutBot to search for their fox and alert the group if it finds the fox.

Love notes to Rose, "I hope they're alright."

Love will take a step in, with her primed grenades in each hoof, to make her way to the canopy. She's careful for Rose's suggested trap and starts sweeping blind spots.

"If we check the glass from outside we could see whats going on inside the cockpit."

[D.KnightSpider]

Sniper swept the interior of the airship with his rifle. Provided that he didn't see anything amiss or indicative of a trap, Sniper will signal that he's ready to cover an advance.

"Glass is shattered. We won't see anything." Sniper reminded Love.

He keyed his comm. to the fox's frequency.

"This is the Equestrian Defense Force. Come out with your paws up."

[Miltonian]

The scoutbot quickly reports that there are no life signs in the cargo/living area, but that it detects a heat signature from beyond the door.

Sniper, however, receives a breathless, pained reply. "That's...going to be...a little difficult right now. I'm a bit pinned down at the moment. But since you haven't...nggg...blown me up, I think we can talk. One...moment."

The door creaks and slides open. The fox sits in his command chair, now swiveled to face them, propping up a large, high-tech rifle in their general direction with one hand and clutching at his side with the other. He's not wearing the restraints, but a jagged bit of metal is embedded in the back of his chair. A portion of it goes all the way through and has penetrated from his back all through and protrudes a few inches from his side.

"Drop your weapons," he growls.

[DigoDragon]

"Drop your weapons," he growls.

"Okay, firstly, you're out-gunned four to one. Secondly, you'll last 30 minutes, 40 tops with a wound like that. Third, and this is one's important, note that if we wanted you dead, we wouldn't have this conversation."

Rose says this with cool-headed factual logic using a calm voice. "Our counter offer is if you surrender, I'll stitch you back together. Yes, you'll be a prisoner, but you'll be alive and treated well. Choice is yours, how much is your life worth to yourself? I'm betting quite a lot."

[Miltonian]

He chuckles. "Oh I am outgunned. But if it comes to a shooting match, this gun is going to kill one of you, even if I die a moment later. You might as well be wearing paper right now. And I don't think any of you want that to happen. And thank you for your kind offer, but I can take care of myself."

He leans forward a little and draws a sharp, pained breath. But it's not enough to deter him. "So drop your weapons."

[Elbeyon]

Love turns her grenades off and lowers them to the ground. Love sounds disappointed, "Can we stop fighting for a second? We're all military here. Let's deescalate the situation. No one wants any pony dead. We have time here and now to talk."

"It's nice to meet you. I like your ship. It's very advanced. The whole flame thing you have going on is super awesome too!" She 'ahems.' "I get excited easily. You said we could talk. What's your name?"

[roll0] vs 13 Body Language
[roll1]vs 11 Detect Lies

[D.KnightSpider]

If that was the case, then it was best to shoot first. If the fox had no chance to act then there was no chance of some pony dying.

Sniper emptied a stun shot spread into the fox. Would it hurt extra with that metal in the alien's chest? Yes. That's what he was counting on.

Attack:
[roll0] VS 19 (14 Skill +5 Weapon)

Damage:
[roll1] -3
[roll2] -3
[roll3] -3

[DigoDragon]

Soon as Sniper fired, Rose dropped the ground, dropped the medical bag, and dropped all pretenses of niceties. Her carbine sails into her hooves and she points it at the fox's head, aiming down the scope.

(Aiming)

[Miltonian]

Love can tell that, by the way the gun is pointed at Sniper Scope, that it does not, in fact, have a magical way to bypass armor and he's bluffing. Still is probably a danger to Sniper Scope, though.

He grimaces. "Yes, let's ta--" Sniper fires and all three shots whiz right past. He throws his arm up to shield his face and lets out a long, high-pitched yelp of pain, but is unharmed. Rose quickly realizes where her botched spell went to.

The fox glares at Sniper and keeps the gun pointed right at him. "One more twitch out of you, pegasus."