Mars Mission

When Emerik came flying towards him, Robless took advantage of the commotion and engaged his stealth suit. He climbed into the wreckage of the shuttle and found the left engine semi-operational. Searching for the engine status and ignition consoles, he saw that it also had just enough fuel to fire it up. Which was still a huge amount of energy.

Looking through the only working rear-facing camera, Robless positioned the engine very slowly until it had swiveled into the correct position. "Ready to start cooking in 3...2...1..." He tripped the ignition sequence to take-off position and anticipated the plasma engine's reaction.

<Emerik yelled as he was thrown into robless. He stood to he feet, pulling robless up,.>
he's had enough of this guy.
"Time for some home field advantage."
Then, Emerik snapped his fingers, and an rift opened, Emerik pulls out a red sword, and a crackle sounded in the air, a spark of static glowed off the sword.

With three bounded steps, he leaps in the air at Verax, staking advantage of the low gravity on Mars. He lands a kick right in the middle of Verax's chest, arcing his sword into his shoulder.

Archelaus stopped in one step, leaped forward into the air opposite around Verax, dodgeing the shuttle (although it was close, too close...) and landing behind him, knowing the superior numbers of his comrades would give them a bigger advantage if they spread out.

Using the Rolxan, and holding his broken orb, Archelaus slammed the pieces deep into Verax's armor, combining Lord Ebert's momentum with his own, and using their shard-like qualities to dig deep into his armor, and disrupt whatever process were going on inside it.

One of the missile's engines turned off and fell to the ground. (specifically, the one heading for Caz)
Apparently, Verax had not expected his armor to be punctured...

When Archelaus slammed into Verax, it pushed him forward and off balance, flinging his armored body toward Zyria and Caz.

Expecting immediate counter-attack, Archelaus then immediately withdrew, with Eiosstill in-tact, and Retranka buried deep within the circuitry of Verax's armor.
The secret about Eios, is that the metal which it is created from is not actually in any sense of the word, a metal. It is the Rolxan of an Atleriian warlord named Eios. When Verax's spacial disruption headed for it, it simply wavered a second, and then continued onward.

But Eios had upgrades too.

Archelaus extended out one side into a giant twohanded double blade, with target-seeking-cannons on each end, and began firing rounds at Verax, even as he sprinted toward Cassus.

Verax ROARED in agony. He had NOT anticipated this. As his hair and cape burnt to ashes, Verax's armor wrapped a helmet around his head, preventing any more damage from the heat, but.... the PAIN! Verax roared again, the very shout blasting about a ton and a half of sand into the air, which almost instantly turned into a perfect massive glass bowl in the heat, as well as knocking all of his attackers away from him. THEY WILL PAY!!!
"WHO DID THIS?!?" He turned to face the engine, and took, slow, agonizing steps towards it. Ignoring the increasing pain. Once he got to the engine he made an X with his arms, and swung them, imitating a cross cut, which created a spacial rend through the engine, cutting it off from the rest of the shuttle. He was growing weary, he made it look effortless, but creating and closing these tears were taxing. Very, taxing. He returned to the battle at hand, the anarchy he had begun filling him with motivation to go on. But... not for much longer. There were too many of them. He was strong, powerful, but he was not an army. He decided to pick them off, one by one now. Remembering the link Archelaus had used to search his persona, he launched his own mental attack at the High Druid, subjecting his mind to every memory of pain and agony and insanity he could conjure.

Zyria's Post:

-Zyria watches in horror. Whoever is confronting Archelaus and the others, he wasn't good. She looks at Cassus, and sees his finger on the trigger. Before she can protest, he takes a shot, and an instant later, his arm is practically blown off. Caz is immediately at Cassus's side, and begins to heal his arm. With such a wound, though, Zyria knows a lot of energy will be needed. They'll be defenseless with Caz losing energy and Cassus having almost lost an arm. Just as she thinks this, Verax aims and fires missiles at them. Without thinking, she pulls out her shield, and extends it, even larger than its usual size. Running towards the missiles, she glances at her feet, as her shoes change slightly, shimmering as they change shape. Holding the shield tightly, she uses the new shoes to jump off the hill, level with the missiles. Just as the missiles hit, the shield shapes completely around her, detonating the missile, but not damaging the shield fatally.-

(Slow down a bit, even I'm having trouble getting a post in. Thanks guys. xD)

Verax only now realized the damage that Archelaus and Emerik had done. His fatigue finally took hold of him, and he fell to one knee (The fall causing a 2-second long magnitude 3 earthquake), clutching his left shoulder, panting heavily. Then.... he began laughing. Everyone stopped attacking. He stood, dusted himself off, and clapped in a triangle-shaped path.
"Good job! FANTASTIC! In all my years, not once have I been pushed so hard!" He laughed a hearty laugh, his entire body into it. Then he looked every single member of this group around him in the eyes, and said punctually,
"But... Know this..... This is not the end of ME! I will return, stronger, faster, more determined. But until then..... go on! Your victory is to be enjoyed! Find a way to defeat the parasite, I'm rooting for you all! Hehehaa! Savor this...... for it will not last forever. I will return." He turned around and began to walked nonchalantly away.
"Now, if that's all, I'll see you later, I have a few visits to make, oh, you know the negative fourth and if I can find it the 0th, if it exists.... and if I have time, maybe I'll visit the first and the fourth! Well, " He clapped as another rift formed behind him. "Remember, never get the extended warranty on anything, always brush your teeth before bed time, wear pants, and taking a dragon by the tongue is a bad idea. That's all for now!! Again, I'll see you all later.... except for you Archelaus.... you'll be seeing me MUCH more often..... for now the thread of fate that binds us is growing..... and... now we have a mental link! I can talk to you in your head ALL DAY LONG! Ta ta for now! Peace." And he back flipped, while twirling into the rift, and it closed just as he entered. He had left.... just as he came, randomly.

Zyria's Post:

-Zyria's shield, similar to a wounded animal, shrinks to its portable form slowly after the missiles explode. In a controlled free fall, Zyria lands at the bottom of the hill, first on her padded feet, then her knees, then completely falling and rolling down the rest of the hill. To say the least, not so gracefully. Nonetheless, she is only a little beat up. Looking at her damaged shield, a look of loss and grief shows on her face, but Zyria merely returns the shield to her pocket and begins the short walk up the hill. Caz and Cassus are still on top of the hill, Caz looking drained, but fine, and Cassus seeming to gain strength with each second.- "Are you both all right?"

"What--" Robless was cut off as he emerged from the shuttle and show Verax disappear into the rift. The engine was utterly fried, and a black scorch mark extended from where the sand was literally turned to a glowing hot glass. He looked around and saw that everyone was OK.

"Step 2...We need to assess the situation, and get to Olympus Mons somehow. I don't know the damage that Verax has done, and they're probably just as cut off as we are." Caz, Zyria, and Cassus descended from the sandy hill and joined the group. "Hopefully we'll be able to get in contact with someone that can tell us where we are. For now, we're going to set up camp and rest here awhile. We could use it after a day like this."

The sun turned red as it approached the horizon. Night would fall soon, and cold would blanket the desert. "So much for distancing ourselves from the shuttle. Settle down in the shuttle. It's the only shelter we have, and Mars is certainly not a friendly place at night." Robless ducked into the hole in the shuttle's hull and took a look around. "Seems safe. I'll stand watch for the first part of the night. Rest up." He walked back outside and leaned against the wreckage, holding his assault rifle as he used his suit's enhanced awareness to scan the surrounding terrain for hostile activity.

Caz slowly got to his feet, helping Cassus up, and headed towards the remains of the ship. He nods thankfully at Robless, for volunteering to stand guard and checks to make sure Zyria is behind him. He helps Cassus back down to comfortable position, and briefly creates a couple of blankets for the cold Martian night. He hands one to Cassus, one to Zyria, one to Emerik, and one to D'garar and Kassandra. It can be noticed at this point that he is limping, not because of a physical injury but because of the amount of energy he had been exerting throughout the day. As he sits himself, he shrinks slightly to the size of an abnormally large wolf, and curls up in the ship, waiting for Zyria, smiling slightly as he remembers her passionate kiss earlier in the day.

A short ways away from the crashed ship, a small creature scuttled along. It made to look like it was searching for small morsels of food, but that was not at all what it was doing. In fact, it was not an animal at all but a small machine instead, partly clockwork but camoflauged so that anyone who didn't look too close wouldn't be able to tell. But a small camera in its eyes was completely focused on the crashed ship and its inhabitants. Who were they? What were they doing here, out in the endless desert? The creature daringly scuttled even closer, getting a better look. Not at the people, necessarily, but at the ship and its damage. Could I fix that? Hm... Deep underground, a boy scrounged around, looking at parts and pieces, things from his huge junkyard of stolen or scavenged machines and parts. Maybe not the whole ship... But I'm sure there's some very useful things in there... I just have to wait for them to leave in the morning. The boy continued to watch through the dust rat's eyes, drawing ever closer... Maybe it was too close. But the rat did not withdraw, did not stop. The boy was too curious. It scuttled right around the edge of the ship, scratching in the sand, dangerously close to the man standing guard.

(Hi...? This's my cue, I think. )

(Oh hey there. Nice post you got there. )

Robless' sensors picked up a little dot on the overview display. Nothing more than a desert rat, he thought to himself. But it won't hurt to check. He ran a detailed 5m proximity scan. "Hmm...what's this?" It seemed to be a rat, but sensors indicated otherwise. Metal and miniature clockwork devices composed the creature, but a desert animal's skin coated it. Robless bent over to examine it closer, but it scurried back into the shadows. Strange... At least he had enough information to run an assessment of it.

Whatever it was, it seemed to be some kind of surveillance bot...using a quite advanced form of clockwork technology. Definitely not standard equipment, but not military-grade either. Almost as if it were homemade... Going over its communications relays, he started tracking the signal back to a settlement some distance away. Maybe he would be able to get help and medical assistance if he could reach them. And then...-ERROR: Signal type unidentified-. Hm. No matter how many times he retried, the technology of the mysterious robot's controller was beyond the capabilities of even his command suit's sensors.

He looked back into the shuttle for assistance, but everyone seemed to be too tired to respond or already asleep. It would have to wait until morning before they could move far anyways. The desert cold would be too detrimental to the already worn-out team if they moved in the state they were at. The blip on his proximity sensor had disappeared by now, into the night. Just another one of the strange happenings on Mars... Robless returned to his post and leaned back against the shuttle, contemplating the events that just happened.

[This goes over the course of before and after Robless's post. And hiiiiii Dreston. Look at your bio acceptance post, I give a formal welcome there.]

-After receiving the blanket from Caz, Zyria hangs back. I thought I heard...no, it must have just been an animal. That sound though....it was almost...metallic...I don't know the creatures here, so I can't be too paranoid... She shakes her head, trying to clear it of the doubts. To distract herself, she turns to Robless.- "Whenever you're tired, wake me up, I'll take the next shift. If there's anything, at all, wake me." -After another look out along the sand, listening for that metallic sound, she turns and goes into the ship. Zyria wraps the blanket around her shoulders, and looks around the smoldering wreckage, spotting a slightly large wolf. Oh, Caz....My poor, exhausted Caz... Without hesitation, she walks up to him, and sits next to the furry wolf. Zyria examines the fur, long, like a wild wolf's, but sleek. Tentatively, curiously, Zyria reaches out and touches the fur, amazed by how soft, yet coarse, it is. While running her fingers through his fur, Zyria notices that Caz is awake.- "Oh! I-I'm sorry...I was...just...curious..." -Zyria trails off, unable to continue.-

D'garar trailed the others silently, the crash not rattling him at all, he merely tapped away on his floating keyboard. He had been trying to open communications back to his Warship but had not yet found success. As they set up camp he stepped forward. "I'll be on guard for the night. I am restless and will not be able to sleep anyways." He silently takes watch and retunrs to his work, ignoring the others.

Caz smiles and chuckles slightly, shaking his head. He sweeps his large, furry tail around her, brushing it against her softly, then shifts position slightly so that Zyria can lie down. "It's okay, I don't mind. It felt... nice." He purposefully sits in a way that would make it most comfortable for her to cuddle up to him, silently showing that he doesn't mind, not at all.

Zyria's Post:

-Zyria smiles, her face slightly red, and she lies down, not needing the blanket so much anymore, what with the giant wolf emanating enough body heat. As she lays there, she absently twists a lock of his fur around a finger. Zyria yawns, and says,- "Please sleep, Caz, we'll need you when something else goes wrong. And if that moment comes in two hours, or ten minutes, that's at least SOME time to rest." -And with that, Zyria snuggles up to Caz, and proceeds to sleep, end of discussion.-

(Thanks, Robless.)
The boy shuddered as the man's scans swept over the rat, and over the abandoned town nearby. The sensors the boy had placed picked up the scans, but it seemed like the man couldn't track the remote signal that would have connected him to the boy, luckily enough.
The boy sighed quietly in relief.
Still... there was something odd about these people. The boy had only been watching near the end of the fight with the man they called Verax, and they had mentioned Olympus Mons, and saving a friend. Olympus Mons was almost three weeks' trek from their location... They had not intended to land in the desert; Verax must have ambushed them. But they seemed okay... maybe the boy would help him, even though he was hesitant...

Using a device that, like the rat, the boy had built himself, he began to compose a message that the man would not be able to trace. It would be simple, nothing incriminating.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" This was the short message he decided on, and seeing that there was no one else in the vicinity he broadcast it on an open frequency to the general area, and eagerly awaited a response.
.
..
...

Robless almost jumped at the crackling communications, as he was still deep in thought. Reaching up to his helmet to establish contact with whatever sent the message, Robless noticed the "rat" had shown up as a momentary blip on his proximity sensor. "Finally, I'm glad someone found us out here. This mission was supposed to be completely dark, but it won't hurt to tell you. We've already been compromised to begin with."

"We are a group of dimensional rulers, and I'm fairly you've heard of most of us. My name would happen to be Valderis Robless." He cringed at hearing his own name, which up until recently had been spoken of as a tyrannical ruler. "I've--changed, recently. The rest of the rulers will probably introduce themselves later, we're all worn from the day's events. The reason we came to Mars was to search for a cure for the Thel-ghan'che, an ancient parasite of the Kazesqui. One of our...friends...have been infested with it...Please, if you know anything about how to get to the Cave of Shattered Suns or Olympus Mons, meet us here in the morning. I'm just glad to know someone's out there."

(Oh, by the way, it wasn't a spoken message. It was typed, since Dreston is mute. I'll try to remember not to put it in quotes next time. XD)

The boy waited for a long moment before replying, processing what Robless had said. Should he trust them? He certainly didn't trust them enough to come out himself, but he might send one of his ships out, with a couple of bots on board... Hm...
The boy then rapidly typed a response.

>I'm the only one in this area. The town you detected nearby is abandoned. The rat is one of my creations, please don't harm him in any way.

Deep beneath the ground, the boy wondered about the people on the surface. He sent the rat skittering closer to Robless, to allow him a better look, then typed:

>You're welcome to scan him, though. Just nothing invasive, please. My name is Dreston. I can send a beetle out to get you, and take you to Olympus Mons.

(A beetle is a vehicle that drills into the sand and rock. Just fyi.)

Using voice-to-text recognition, Robless replied to the messages displayed on his screen. "Right. Thanks for the information. I'll try to trace the signal and establish a relay between us."

Who was this mysterious mechanic? Could he be trusted? The team would have to trust him, or they would be stranded here indefinitely.

>Acknowledged, but... I don't think that will be necessary. I've... decided to meet you personally. One moment.

Dreston stepped, with extreme caution and hesitation, onto the lifting platform, which was positioned very near the crash site. He called up a rover, like a desert motorbike, and it rolled onto the platform with him. He silently thanked... well, he thanked himself that he had the forethought to ensure that one was still in working order. He mounted it, then gave the command for the platform to rise. It lifted a door to the surface, mostly unused and covered in fresh sand from the last dustdevils. Dreston and his bike appeared at the surface and the door closed like it had never existed. Dreston lowered a pair of gogggles over his eyes, and then he sped off in the direction of the crash.

A moment later his bike sped into Robless' view, then within moments had pulled up next to the ship. Dreston noted Robless, but instead looked mostly at the ship, examining the damaged bits and looking for useful salvage. Finally, he turned to Robless, lifting the goggles and stepping off the bike and closer, revealing his mechanical nature. He peered curiously into the ship, and said nothing, silent. His internal workings informed him that there were many more fleshy-types inside the ship, and that made him a little nervous. After a moment he looked back at Robless, and directed another message to his communications device.

>How many of you are there?

[I don't think anyone is going to hear me unless I put it here. If everyone can, join the chat when you log onto here. I have a terrible connection to my wifi, and would rather have just this open instead of this AND Facebook. Plus, I canNOT stand not being able to post. Seriously. And Zyria would notice some of this happening, or Caz (since he's a wolf).]

((Sure, but Dreston WAS talking to Robless...))

So are we all oging on the chat? o.O

[Yeah, so we do NEED Robless. But I really would rather not keep up with the back and forth conversation. Have everyone wake up, or, I don't know...AND KLYDE, TALK IN YOUR OOC FORM]