Schizo Tech

[Solar112]

((Danke))

Seeing that night has fallen, The solari broke off from their groups and gathered around helios.
"Okay, Let's head off north northeast. I'll take 4 of you upfront with me to pull, 5 at the back to push, and the rest at either side for protection." Said helios.
A collection of okays and uhuhs were heard from the group as they moved into their positions.
"It'll take us about an hour if we move at a decent speed" noted the solari that was outfitting the ship with tech.

[Shadowcatbot]

Ooc: Any towns nearby error? Ima drop my character there if there is one.

[Error]

OOC, sure. Randomize the name, they're all just middle-of-nowheresvilles.

[cats]

Taarakra's hand moved toward his face, preparing to remove his armor's visor, as the pins that connected the equipment to his cranial plates were beginning to irritate the soft flesh underneath. It paused as he noticed a notification. His eye drifted over the symbol, which automatically opened and displayed its contents. UC320,000, considerably more than the contract had specified, even though it was not entirely fulfilled. With the notification of payment, there was a message, Your services are no longer needed, but appreciated. With reserved satisfaction, he continued his walk toward the runway where a small private Concorde VI subplane was preparing for a singular boarding. On its sunken tail were the words Cradle Air, a false company name which most knew was a facade for the North African mercenary network. As he climbed the steps into the craft, it turned its turbines skyward and thrust against the asphalt.

He hadn't made the trek to the terminal with Val, instead trying and retrying to establish contact with Cerberus in the secluded area that had been designated the evac point, not far from the outskirts from the town. Prior to their farewells, however, he had injected her with a tracking beacon. A needle placed in the niche of the wrist of his armor, a hand on the shoulder, and a pinch that could easily be mistaken for a bit of skin caught among the alloy plates. Nothing especially sinister, and she didn't seem to notice. After she had left, he waited until the sun dipped behind the tallest of the town's buildings, then, satisfied that there would be no extraction, left the area and headed towards the private airport that held his own transport. While walking, illuminated by the setting sun, a gleam out of the periphery of his peripheral eye had caught his attention. Several warships in formation lazily drifting toward the smoldering town, then one on the opposite edge of the horizon, advancing. None of them seemed to be paying Taarakra any mind.

================================

La Contingencia was still several dozen kilometers from the town, out of weapons range, but the formation of ships was easily seen on the edge of the increasingly murky horizon. Cerberus stared ahead, through the thick transparent plate of the bridge's window. For another moment, the officers around him persisted in their silence. His second-in-command, who was manning the sensors, spoke first. "Sir, we've established the make of these craft."

He slowly turned the sunken lens of his false eye toward her. "And?"

"Australian, sir. They're of the Free Sate, not Republic." She replied, a somewhat relieved tone alleviating some of the characteristic tension in her voice.

Cerberus considered that for a moment. Relations between the rebels and the Aussies had been scarce, but the few that had occurred hadn't been hostile. This could be an opportunity to reestablish his structure in the region, this could be the event that makes the longshot worthwhile. Or it could be his downfall, which he had initially expected, anyway. "Someone establish comms. Hail the flagship."

"Yes, sir." Another of the officers shouted. There was a short pause as he fiddled with the console, somewhat unsure of its controls. "Communications established. To the best of my abilities, sir. Prepared to send a message."

He acknowledged his officer's efforts and began the message. "This is Juan Villa of the Southern Independent Militia. We have recently engaged in a skirmish with forces of the Strigiforme Republic and have taken considerable losses. If you would like to move against the Republic in the area, we will assist in any operation. We have information that may be of use." He nodded to the communications officer, signaling him to close the channel and send the message.

The behemoth ship continued to crawl across the sky toward the town, its engines straining against the weight of the craft.

[Chairman_Tiel]

"This is Juan Villa of the Southern Independent Militia. We have recently engaged in a skirmish with forces of the Strigiforme Republic and have taken considerable losses. If you would like to move against the Republic in the area, we will assist in any operation. We have information that may be of use."

The bridge radio gave a short cackle at the end of the message; corroded and otherwise unreplaced components conspiring to create the illusion that the ship itself found the proposition amusing. Austin gave the wall a condescending look in lieu of any tangible subordinate on which to place his ire. Ire for...well, just about everything. There was nothing in Aeherhope to eliminate, no chance for the combat he knew would have brought victory. He'd seen scores of Strigiforme dead at this very spot, dead on the dirty sand, victims of...of...he squinted his eyes as he tried to recall the vision. Where there was usually a threat, the victor or conquerer, all he had seen was a hand evidently jammed into an arse visibly struggling to extricate itself. Sodomy killed the Strigiforme?

A yell from directly behind him broke Austin from his thoughts before he could consider the implications further.

"SIR HOW WILL WE RESPOND!?"

He glowered at the speaker, a twenty three year old known to most of the crew as 'Sergeant Gruff' who'd apparently made it out of basic training through mimicking the drill sergeants precisely. It wouldn't have been a problem if he'd been like everyone else and ditched the regimented lifestyle he'd been taught immediately after deployment, but the man took everything 'learned' to heart. Even now Gruff stood clean shaven in a crisp red naval uniform; impossibly shiny boots glowing against the not nearly so spotless floor. His mouth opened to unleash another thirty decibel shout, but Austin waved him down before he could bring centuries of naval tradition to bear on the compact space of the bridge.

He then took the opportunity to pace as he formulated an answer, pausing at each of the bridge's imposing windows to throw glances at the object of the discussion.

"Hold off on that." He finally said to no one in particular.

"Sir?" This time another bridge officer cut in before Gruff could make the same inquiry. Austin made a mental note of his name. Someone was in line for a promotion. He then halted and turned to face the handful of the Hastati's crew present in the room.

"Don't be givin' any indication we received their message," he said slowly to the group before narrowing his gaze in on the tactical officer. "We have what we came fer. Relay orders to the Galatia and Juno to start scavenging ops on that there town with Nomad complements."

Gruff suddenly took on an uncharacteristically excited expression. "WILL WE BE BLOWIN THEM TO SHIT SIR?"

"We'll see." Austin looked out at the massive, inexplicably flying craft yet again. "Helm, take us to combat speed on that airship's bearing and assume a tight escort pattern. Let's keep an eye on them."

He paused, then added, "And tell someone to stop it from looking at what we're doing on the ground, too. I don't care who."

[Solar112]

After about an hours worth of travel, the group was about three kilometers away from the town. Stopping, Helios ordered the magic users to help him levitate the airship out of the cart. Upon completion one of the Solari suggested that we build a base.
"That's actually a very good idea." Helios said.

[Error]

Val lay on the deck of the ship, idly conjuring spectral shapes and forms in the air. A low drone - engines - interrupted her thoughts.

Looking about, she spotted the fleet moving in. Squinting, then bringing her binoculars up, she noted the insignia on the approaching vessels - AFS.

Lowering the binos, she tapped on the hatch. Without looking, she said to the person raising it;

"May want to tell the commander we have a pile of AFS incoming. If you are said commander, you may want to have a look."

[Shadowcatbot]

In the nearby town to the Solari sat Syrtho in his airship, It's a small little thing designed to move fast and light with only one pivoting turret gun on the front nose, It held just enough for Syrtho to move some trade goods around or just leisurely fly about as he felt.

Syrtho sat back in his captains chair watching the docks, He parked his ship back at a high point so he could watch the airships moving about while he waited for some postman to drop off a subtle package of "High value goods" he was hired to move to another town.


ooc: And then, Explosions.

[ACH0225]

Kyr, and by extension, the gyrodyne had arrived at the Strigiforme base to the east of Aetherhope. Once there, he was debriefed, given a quick check-up, and allowed to return to his barracks. As he glided, he saw the dozens of Strigiforme vessels. The gyrodynes served a very niche role for rapid transportation and special operations, and were used almost exclusively by the Strigiforme. The vast majority of the vessels there were far larger airships; the 8th Strigiforme Aerial Battlefleet was stationed here, with the dozens of support vessels included. He briefly glanced the capital ship, the Vyytiier, before it was blocked by a patrol cutter at its mooring. Kyr arrived at his barracks, and fell into a grateful sleep.

In the command building, a few hundred feet beneath the earth and encased in concrete, the radar operator began to notice something on his screen.

"Commander, I have some sort of ping."

The Commander of the base strode over, looking over the RadOp's wing.

"Something large, for sure. Can you get a better read on it?"

"No, Commander. It's too far out; out sensors can barely detect it, let alone get an ID on it."

"I see." The Commander then walked to the Patrol Commander, "Get a patrol over to Aetherhope area. We need to secure that airspace, anyways."

"Aye, Commander."

[Shadowcatbot]

OOC: Someone should like, Do something.

[Solar112]

((Someone should, yes.))

((E:I'll do something I guess))

Helios, and two others spent about two hours on converting dirt into energy, which was fed into the ambient magical field, instead of into surrounding particles. This process took longer, and was slightly less efficient, but was more convenient. The two hours of digging made a tunnel about 70 meters long into the ground, and a room that's about 12 cubic meters in size. Of course the room would be much larger in the end.