Apr 12 11:39:56 108 PA - Laramy Run to Very, Very Strange Strangers

From Chronicles

Apr 12 11:39:56 108 PA.

LANDING STRIP

Here on the Landing Strip, the western sky has finally faded out of reds and golds, the Moon rising in a pleasant crescent of a youthful night. There are only a few clouds in the area, but they are large and fluffy ones that make for good natural canvas. Thankfully winter has passed, and early spring is here, though at the Landing Strip where there is little vegetation, one might only be able to tell from the temperature of the light but constant winds blowing in from the southwest.

Among all of the normal traffic at this location, from fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft to single-seat, gasoline-powered motorcycles, are a pair of slightly dinged hovertrucks of good size. Perhaps the equal of the unnecessarily large 4x4, jacked-up compensatory pickups of times long past, but without the wheels and tires. The beds of both are heavily laden with cargo that has been covered and tied down - and concealed - with heavy tarps and rope. One truck possibly carrying crates, the other possibly with barrels, at least based on how the canvas seems to bulge in certain places. Neither vehicle looks to be constructed of heavy plate steel, rather simple common automotive shells.

There are two men standing nearby in deep discussion that involves a lot of hand motions. One appears human, the other is clearly an elf. Their clothing is nothing more impressive than what any merchants would wear if they commonly transported their own goods from place to place. Each carries a small energy pistol and a common vibro-knife. As for armor, they wear little more than a form of plate armor made of material possibly scavenged from pieces of genuine armor, with simple gas masks hanging around their necks. Finally, each one wears a small backpack.

It's gotta be better 'n giving glasses to drunks. Maybe more fun, too. And better tips. That's why Bella's here. Everybody needs creds. She shuffles into the big area and looks around. Then more shuffling to the trucks. She's not really big 'n tough. Not really a merc either, but she's got a pistol to go with her piece of table leg. And nothing better to do. She even dressed up for work.

Looking a bit more high-tech in comparison, Sage is a small walking armory clad in Gladiator armor. She walks at a more sedate pace as she isn't alone in her trip towards the landing pad. She glances over towards the other person with her, "Are you sure?" She asks simply, as if to see if the other might have some second thoughts about this particular trip.

"Well this is the sort of thing normal folks do isn't it?" Rubidia asks, walking into the strip and not really paying a lot of attention to her surroundings. Rather her attention seems quite fixed on Sage. "Hire a handful of guards for half a days travel to a small farming village?" She continues, sounding strangely curious about what anyone would consider quite normal. "I want more perspective along the lines you've shown me so far. Best way to get it is to follow you on such journeys yes?"

An armored figure strides from the direction of the Gates. Clad in heavily modified light armor, it bears dozens of small recessed buttons and controls. His forearm control stack is chipped and re-painted, his crescent moon antenna on his back showing the muted red sheen of iron rust scrubbed away but not forgotten. Johnson looks worn-in. Still, the blankly armored figure carries a vaguely disturbing air about with him, echoing against something primal in the hind brain that quickens the pulse as they first see him. He taps his chest translator, dialing the language to Dragonese/Elf as he makes his way to the overloaded convoy, goggled visor sweeping the pair of merchants speculatively. His helmeted head tilts back to pan the trucks, and then his chin aligns squarely with the human in the pair. He speaks in the foreign tongue, "Good evening. My name is Johnson, and I'm here to help."

The human starts a little at Johnsons's abrupt introduction, but extends a hand, nevertheless. Speaking clearly in Johnson's language, "I'm Pert. Pert Plus. Here for the run to Laramy, then?" He repeats in American for the sake of the others gathering. The tall elf took things better, also responding in the proper language. "Thanks for coming, this is a very important trip for us. My name's Clarifying, but everyone just calls me 'Suave.' It's a family name." Both men look to the others gathering, then mutter amongst themselves for a short time before returning to the group with Hollywood-bright smiles, just waiting to see who these other people are. And giving a few good tugs on the ropes holding the tarps down.

"'ere ta work. I guess." Help's free. Bella waves a little hand at the guys. The ones with really good hair. "Hi. Gotta be special if ya need people ta watch over it fer ya." Then she eyes music box man. "Ain' gonna try no glowy shit are ya?" A little wave at Sage and the other one too.

Sage chuckles faintly to the question, "It depends on who you talk to, I guess." She comments, but keeps an eye on their surroundings for the other woman as well. Should any issues come up she'll react accordingly. "But, it is a normal enough thing to be done when protection is needed, though." She comments, "Sometimes helping people means taking on potential danger... I do hope that not all of our journeys will be such." She pauses to turn her attention to the others as they approach. She raises her hand to wave over towards Bella, before looking to the others around with a brief acknowledgment. "Yes, I would be here to help... perhaps you could explain a little before we begin?" She asks.

"And I'm with her." Rubidia chirps brightly with a gesture to Sage. Momentarily turning away from their conversation before jumping right back into it. "How much potential danger? Demons? Oni? Dead gods? Never bothered with those levels myself. Escape has always been a flash away."

"Pert," Johnson echoes in Dragonese, and then looks to the Elf. "Suave." He then tilts his head and considers the women who have arrived, helmet fixed on Sage a touch longer than the other pair. "Before we leave," he continues speaking in that foreign tongue, "answer me this; is anything in those trucks unstable, flammable, explosive, or otherwise of unfortunate temperament?"

Bartholemew wears Bushman armor and carries a C-12 Rifle over one shoulder as he arrives. Taking a look at the 4x4's before coming up to the group fully to smile as he removes his helmet to everyone here. "How yall doing? I just need to know if we are all ridin on those trucks right there? Don't look like much room is left." giving a chuckle.

There seems to be a bit of discussion as to exactly which one of the merchants is in charge, but it's eventually Pert who speaks first, and addresses Johnson's question quickly. "Nothing explosive, nothing poisonous unless you try to quench your thirst. But lots of things burn. Some better than others." He shrugs and leaves it at that, at least for now. Sage's question receives slightly more detail. "We have a very important delivery to make. A lot of money involved for us, but we need to get it to Laramy *tonight.*" He leans on that final word. "So we only have a few hours. Obviously, traveling the wilderness isn't known to be safe, and night doesn't help. That's why you folks are here. To keep us alive and our cargo intact." The latecomer is only briefly addressed, but by Suave. "These are the only vehicles we have. We assumed that you'd know how to handle this kind of thing."

Bella looks hard at one of the trucks. Kicks it a little. Just to make sure it ain't gonna fall apart. "Gotta get't all there 'n not get blowed up. Right? Sounds easy ta me." She shrugs and looks around. "Why're we all standin' 'round 'n jus' talkin' bout whatever fer?" Bella's got no clue what the boys're all chittering about anyways. "Ain' gettin earlier ya know."

The speaking in the foreign tongue makes Sage feel like she's back in that strange village where no one seemed to speak a language she could speak. She can only hope that it isn't anything vitally important. Shame that Leo isn't around to help her understand. She considers the response from the men to her question before she nods before looking back to Rubidia. "Likely nothing so terrible... we're more likely to run into people wanting the shipment for themselves." She comments before she looks to one of the trucks, "Let's take that one?" She suggests before she begins to move towards the indicated truck.

Rubidia shrugs and follows Sage to the other truck. A brief glance is given to the employers and Johnson at their chatter. She fingers her headset briefly before making a slight nod. "What are we taking that others would value so highly?" She asks of Sage as they get situated.

Johnson eyes the trucks warily, and then seems to shrug. He watches the girls head towards the barrel truck, and heads for the box-laiden one to look for a place to climb in. Or at the very least, on! As he walks, he taps at his chest and notes in American, "Radio channel 17, yes?" And then he taps at his arm screen, which lights up with an image of the truck to which he's heading, and then the second as his head pans in that direction. Recording, apparently.

Bartholemew looks over the situation again and looks back to the others, with a grin to Bella's comment, "Sounds good to me, we should git, an it's prolly gonna be a minute to get situated on them trucks." With the one pair heading to one truck, he heads over to the other with Johnson to see if there's a spot in the back he can squeeze into and still be able to shoot if need be.

Suave offers in a clear American, "These are our best heavy trucks, but they're old, and they're overloaded. They don't go very fast, and they don't stay up off the ground more than a foot or so." Then he admits some rather morbid information. "We're wearing deadman switches. Our hearts stop, the cargo blows. Wasn't our decision, our client insisted." Both he and Pert look rather... unsettled... at the thought. But there's also money in their eyes. Perhaps worried that others didn't understand Pert's explanation to Johnson, he reiterates the other man's answer - and the question - word for word in American. Pert speaks up - in American. "We're old, overloaded, slow, traveling the wilderness at night, and have about eighty miles, as the crow flies. You folks are the experts, but if there's anything you think needs to be done, do it now, because we need to get on the road." With that, Pert hops into the truck carrying what is possibly crates, which seems as if it will be the lead vehicle, Suave mounts the driver's seat of the other, slamming the door - which sounds as if it might come off its hinges at the blow. Pert leans out the window and shouts to Bella, "Hey, lady, we need to leave! Unless you're gonna run, hop on something!" He revs the engine... to rather meager internal combustion intimidation.

"I's the one tellin' ya ta hurry up!" Bella sorta yells back. She's climbing up in or on the boxy truck now, though. "Hope he crashes. Even if his dead's switched ta blow up." That part's not yellin and pretty much just for her. Bella drops into a seat on something.

"They haven't really said, but anything that's important and low in supply can become very valuable when ordinarily wouldn't be." Sage comments before sighing faintly at the dead man switch revelation. Her gaze shifts more fully to Rubidia, "I should feel it ahead of time if that might happen... so, if I tell you to go, you go, okay?" She asks softly, as she gets situated on the truck into whatever position she can manage some level of comfort and combat ability. She'll take care of her radio based on suggestion.

Rubidia looks rather unsettled by the explosive situation. More so by Sage's request. She hesitates in her answer, choosing a question instead. "Will you be ok if I do? I mean I might be able to take it mostly unscathed but you could be left defenseless." She points out with uncertainty. "I will wait to ensure I do all I can for you, then go." She decides as she settles into her seat, taking her bow off her back to rest in her lap.

Johnson claims the shotgun seat, which forces Bella in behind them onto the cargo. He leans close to Pert, the seat creaking faintly as he's still fully shrouded in that armor. "If there is an ambush with enemies on foot," he utters in Dragonese, "try to drive through at full speed. If someone is able to follow, just stop. I will try to defend you and the truck. Though it is too large for me to shield well," he murmurs at the end, peering up at the heavily-laiden hovercraft. Reaching to his chest translator, he punches it to American and wonders in that flat, mechanical voice he can muster. "Is cargo bomb? Drive to Laramy, blow up, make them like Coalition?" He peers aside at the man, giving him a steady look. "If so, I want out before blow up."

Bartholemew climbs up onto the truck finding a place to situate himself atop. Finding a spot with a couple of ropes to hang onto if things get rough, he seems happy with where he is at. "All set boss, good to go, these eighty miles ain't gonna drive themselves."

Pert looks at Johnson as if the armored man sitting next to him is a lunatic. "A bomb? NO! I'm not driving a *bomb*! There just happens to be a few small explosive charges beneath the cargo." He lowers his voice for that part. "But unless you're holding on to it, you'll be fine. I've been promised that it'll just destroy the cargo. And probably screw up my truck bed." He then reaches up and pulls a handled that emits a loud HONK HONK, which is echoed by Suave in the trailing truck. With only minimal chatter, the trucks begin to move out onto the highway. They're doing a decent clip for how they're loaded - but this is pretty good road, too. Back in the second truck, Suave tries to play nice. Maybe the elf man genuinely is nice. Yelling back over the noise of the diesel, "You two been doing this long?" They move out.

LARAMY TRAIL

The road is very hard packed dirt with a small dirt road leading off to the south as well. The main road looks as if extremely heavy vehicles have been traversing it. the forest creates a canopy over most of the road. Large branches can be seen littering the ground perhaps being broken off by the large vehicles passing. Litter in the form or ration packets can been strewn about at one spot where campfires apparently have been placed in recent weeks.

Sage considers Rubidia for a long moment before her body seems to loose a little tension, "Then we both can be tougher than we look." She says with relief, "Wait..." She adds, before looking towards Suave. "Those explosives aren't more than just enough to make those barrels drain out, right?" She asks, deciding she needs her own clarification since she's likely unable to note the answer from the other truck. She reaches over to lightly touch Rubidia's shoulder, before she goes to address the man again. "Well, I've been doing stuff like this for a couple years now..." She comments.

"This is my first time!" Rubidia chirps brightly to Suave. Apparently seeing nothing wrong with her lack of experience. "Well second time to Laramy actually. But firs time escorting weaklings through monster and bandit infested wilderness. Normally I don't travel so slowly."

Johnson settles back, mulling that over. "Cheap heavy truck, think be trouble, cargo burns, explosive switch. Travel at night, use strangers for safety, secret cargo. Wonder why I think bomb?" He settles back then, hands settling across his chest as he keys his radio. "How much wind up there Bartholemew?"

Bartholemew is enjoying his ride atop the so called bomb, answering Johnson over the radio, "It ain't bad, nothing like the wind riding a Skycycle. I still can keep a lookout up ahead and all that." During his time atop the cargo, he spends it scanning the terrain ahead with his telescopic sights for any signs of life or an ambush. "Best view from up here."

Suave does unfortunately have to yell at Sage to be heard over the taxed engine. Internal combustion and hover was never meant to go together, particularly with this load. Indeed, one hour of travel along the fairly good highway has only netted about forty miles of the entire trip. "The explosives, they're small! Just take out the cargo, spread it around a lot, maybe set it on fire. Probably blow you off if you're sitting on it, though! But I can't imagine it'd do much more than that." Pert complains to Johnson, "Hey, this is the first big run we've had in two months. You do what you can afford, y'know. Maybe we go out and shoot up people like you do, get paid for it, maybe we just transport goods. Hold on." Pert grabs a large, palm-sized microphone that's attached to the ceiling by a curly wire and presses it. Static. A CB radio, really? Yes. "Suave, follow, we're turning off here." Indeed, they do, turning off of the main highway and onto a smaller road. In fact, as far as smaller roads go, it's quite a small road, and none-too-well maintained right at the turn-off.

Bella's in the back. The way back with the guy with the gun. Ok. The guy with the bigger gun. She ain' gonna squeeze in with Mr. music box. It's way safer sittin' on the bombed stuff. "Ya ready ta shoot people? 'N don' run inta nothin this time." She remembers him. Or thinks she does since all she's got to go on is his voice. Bella's shouting some so he can hear. If she's got a radio, it's stuck in her ears. There's lotsa looking 'round, too. With plain old eyeballs.

With the trip getting fully underway, Sage makes sure her helmet is secure and her rifle is ready at hand should any danger comes to pass. She glances over towards Rubidia, "Guess you can disregard what I said earlier." She comments with a little ruefulness, before looking back to Suave. When the road starts to get rougher, she considers. "Did your client specify the route too?"

Rubidia shrugs, taking Sage's queue to tuck her hair in and pull her armor over her head. Kinda looks like a ninja with the hood. "And the transport? Wouldn’t a cargo plane or helicopter be quicker and cheaper? Rented of course." She asks curiously.

You not like highway?" Johnson wonders, eyeing the route. "This slower, let people get closer we no see." He shifts a little straighter in his seat, rolling down his window to peer outside at the steadily-encroaching trees.

Bartholemew chuckles to Bella though his gaze is fixed on the task at hand. Shouting back, "Don't worry too much, I've been told I'm a better shot than a runner." giving another chuckle, "You should be safe for the most part. I'm all outta puddles too." Then turning to face her for a moment, "Name's Bart. I've seen ya around, just not long enough to introduce myself the right way." Then returns to scanning the landscape. As he does so, he pulls from a pouch hooked to his belt a pair of Binocs and hands them over to her if she wants, "These might get ya a better looksee out there."

After muffling something over the comm - a sequence of press-release-press-release - Suave calls back again, "Sure did! Supposed to keep off the main roads." After a momentary lapse, he says in a quieter yell, "This isn't an entirely legal delivery. Well, it is, just not where we're going. I mean, or Whykin, that'd be bad. Probably any Coalition-type places. But Kingsdale, yeah, they're great with it! Don't worry, we go to Laramy lots of times!" Despite possible misgivings, Mr. Clarifying seems confident doing the cannonball run, but perhaps with someone more attractive than Sally Field. If not that, then at least just plain not with Sally Field. As the roads become worse, the trucks slow down. Loaded as they are, their hover repulsors are having difficulty keeping them on the uneven, increasingly debris-strewn roads. People driving at legal speed in a neighborhood might do better.

"Cool!" Bella likes free stuff. Even if it's just for a little while. Now she's got fancy things to look through. Easier to see that way. More since they're gettin slow. "Didn' ya say yer all inna rush? Maybe shoulda got better trucks!" Can Pert Plus even hear her? No idea. Guess they'll get there when they get there. She goes back to looking around and yelling at the guy next to her. "Shootin' like ya run's good. Ya'd hit everythin." There's grinning under the binocs.

Sage nods faintly to the comments before looking over to Rubidia, "The Coalition has been trying to get Laramy on board... which, unfortunately, has included trying to restrict outside aid. I helped with some of the runs to Laramy, but that was mainly food and medical stuff for the most part." She comments, "The Coalition may not have liked it, but they didn't stop us at the time. Whatever we might be carrying this time might be a whole other story."

Rubidia nods slightly to Sage. "Restricted aid? I heard after the rally they muscled into a patrol agreement of the area but hadn’t heard that. So it's more of a blockade than a patrol then?" She asks Sage.

Johnson reaches up and taps his goggles, grumbling. "Worthless Mark Twos. Too much bounce can't see thermo without Threes." He glances back at Bella, eyeing those goggles, and admonishes, "No use infrared. Too easy see." He settles in, and glances back at her again, those black goggles peering at Bella for about a minute. "If things go bad," he utters, "You shoot. I keep you alive. That is even. Fair trade. No glow."

Bartholemew pulls out a length of rope from his pack as the road starts getting a bit more bumpy. He ties some off onto himself from his utility belt and to the cargo line to give a bit of insurance from falling off the truck. His rifle being already secure should he drop it with the strap over his head and opposite shoulder crossing across his chest. He gives himself about three feet of leeway in the length of the rope, cutting the excess off with his knife to tuck back away. Before he does so though he shouts back to Bella, "Ya want to anchor yerself or risk it?"

Another hour passes, and the road doesn't get any better. In fact, it continues to get worse. Closing in, debris, large swells. It's barely a road. At least the hovertrucks don't bounce too badly. If people were looking for something positive, that would be it. Only another twenty miles have gone past, and if the last few hours have been any signal, it's just going to get slower. Puddles begin to appear. Perhaps in an attempt to keep himself from going dull along the route, Pert asks out into the open, "So what's your story?" In Dragonese. A quick look back is all that Bart and Bella receive. As for Suave, he continues to chat up Sage and Rubidia, quite the friendly elf. "You two been doing this long?"

Bella looks at Bartholemew. Without the binos and whatever infra, intra, extra stuff they got. "Gets slower 'n I'm gonna fall off jus' so's I can walk faster." A smirk this time. Then she calls to the cab. "Ya say somethin?" She's not dragon and not elf. That means she don't talk funny.

"I can't say that things have improved much since they've been making a show of protecting Laramy." Sage replies, "It seems to me that the Coalition is big enough that they could probably spare some supplies and yet private citizens from Kingsdale make an effort to gather as much food as possible to help out Laramy. You have to admit that patrols sound better than blockading." She offers, before glancing briefly out around the vehicle then looking towards Suave, "Long enough... how long have you been doing this?" She asks simply.

Rubidia nods to Sage. "Yeah, sounds like the Coalition really has a rod up its butt in the wrong way. Not at all like Triax. At least the supernatural evil they fight is actual supernatural evil." She notes in agreement.

"River ahead," Johnson notes, in American, gauntleted finger tapping the windshield. "Hundred feet away. Just past stand of trees and bushes there." He taps again, pointing it out. In the dark it just looks like shadows, a gap beyond those trees barely seen in the shaking wilderness. "Maybe deep, maybe no. If not lift off land, truck have trouble over water. This trouble with no highway. I get out and see how deep?"

Bartholemew replies,shouting back up to the driver "I used to be Kingsdale military, when my term was up I decided to freelance, jumping job to job like this one here. The work's been good so far. All to finance my own Merc Company, so if ya need a trip like this again, keep me in mind." Spotting a somewhat larger puddle as they pass by he chuckles back to Bella, "Gonna have to be careful, my puddle supply is somehow restocking itself." With the alert of a river he gets back to attention and scans using his thermal and infrared settings to see what more he may see, unfortunately the binocs that he gave to Bella are just that, plain old Binoculars.

Pert seems to grow a pair, mashing the accelerator down to the floor, growling with testosterone, "We can make it!" Vroom-vroom! "Everybody hold on back there! Don't think it's going to be bumpy, but you never know!" The truck begins to slide side-to-side for a moment, then momentum gathers and it barrels toward the creek. In the back of the two-truck caravan, Suave has neglected to follow up on any pleasant conversation, following Pert as fast as he can. In fact, his truck seems to have the superior engine, or lighter load, because he closes to with the polite freeway citizen's law of three car-lengths.

"Huh?" Now people're speakin' right. Bella oughtta be happy. But she ain't. "Fack that!" She hops her little butt clean off the truck. Barely even looks down first. Maybe she won't land in a big puddle. Or get stuck in mud. "Ain' drownin' cause yer too stupid ta find a bridge!"

With the lack of response, Sage takes note of the faster pace that's taken. She considers their surroundings, but so far there hasn't been any sign of trouble. She can only hope the increased speed isn't the first sign. She glances back to Rubidia with a thoughtful pause, "Perhaps we can talk about things we could do when we get a moment." She decides before turning her attention back to the scene around them.

"Ok." Rubidia agrees to Sage, really not looking to be paying much attention at all to things like the speed and obstacles like a river. Clearly she's not the sort to get motion sickness. "Well there is the concert I'm preparing for a month or so down the road. You wanna help with that?"

Johnson looks right, looks left, and surreptitiously reaches aside to lay a hand lightly on Pert's shoulder, ready to cast an armor spell if things go sideways. His feet brace against the floorboards, his other hand reaching to grab the 'oshi' bar above and to his right. So named as the words one traditionally invokes while grabbing it are 'Oh shiiiiii!'

Bartholemew calls over the radio so all the crew can hear, "Got a bogey bout 1600 ft behind, airborne." He switches to telescopic to see if he can get a better look and determine an identity, if following, if spotted. "Keep in cover, Keep out of the open!" he exclaims not wanting to blow their position if they have not been spotted yet.

The truck, which had been gunned, dives down the gradual slope, Pert not even having noticed Bella abandoning the vehicle. It hits the creek... and slides across! Its momentum takes it far enough that the taxed engine can drag them up the next shallow slope. Suave is not far behind, though he does manage to shout out, "What the hell?" as Bella jumps. Then his own truck crosses as had Pert's, but better. Apparently he really does tweak it a little more. What may have seemed like an obstacle proved to be nothing more exciting than a bit of wilderness crossing the road.

Bella hit the little water at least. She still ain't happy, though. Worse since she found a big damn puddle to land in. "SONOFAHHH!" The rest is just yelling and screaming. With some growl tossed in while she's scrambling and flailing to get out of the mucky water. Hope Bartholemew's got more of those bino things. The one's she had are on the truck, in the puddle, or somewheres between. If there's something coming after them then maybe she's closest now. Course she's busy trying to find dry dirt. Bella even forgot about the other truck that could've run her over.

The commotion drawn by Bella ditching the forward truck and the announcement is enough to give Sage a brief pause, "Huh..." She comments, but isn't really able to get the truck to stop before they start across the water. Then once onto the water, she decides against shouting for the man to turn back since there's obviously a reason they sped up to make the crossing. "Let's hope SAMAS are the only thing we have to worry about." She doesn't bother to put that over the radio, though. "Who or what was that?" She asks.

"I think that was one of the other passengers." Rubidia replies as things seem to be getting more interesting. With the call of a pursuer over the radio she calmly takes up her bow to have it ready should a shot be available. "This is exciting. Is it always this fun?" She asks Sage.

Johnson similarly seems to not see the difference. As the truck clears the river he relaxes a touch, and then peers back and up at word of the bogey. Furiously punching at his chest translator, he says in Dragonese, "Don't stop. It looks suspicious. Just keep going and hope they blow over." Then, peering briefly back at where Bart is, Johnson fights with the crank to roll down his window and stick his head out, shouting up into the wind, "Stay off the radio! Act natural! Anything airborne can see us plain as day on thermo, stopped or not! ... What happened to the Coat?!"

Bartholemew doesn't seem to notice Bella gone, too concerned with the airborne bogey. Getting frustrated with the magnification and the dark he goes back to thermal to at least keep an eye on it, readying his rifle though not raising it just yet. "Wha? huh?" looking back where Bella once was, not knowing what happened. "What happened?" shouting back to Johnson.

At about that time, there is a bolt of white energy from the distant sky, landing just short of the rear truck's aft end, erupting in a burst of rock and mud. Mostly mud. Some oddly-placed river cobbles that may or may not smack the two women riding in the back. "Shit!" Suave doesn't appreciate this, and mashes the accelerator again, coming up so quickly behind Pert, who either didn't notice, or has poor reaction time. There's no crash, but the fore and aft bumper bump. Not hard enough to cause damage, but hard enough to jostle everyone around. Pert yells something very unkind about Suave's mother over the radio, but his engine seems to be maxed out, only because he was climbing out of that shallow ravine. A second explosion hits behind the truck again, and once more, bumping ensues. The merchants are panicking a bit. A lot, maybe.

The Coat's busy. Yelling. Screaming. Cursing. Flailing. But, hey, Bella gets out of the puddle too. She walks a little bit away from it to a more extra dry spot. That lets her calm down a little. So she can dry off quicker the legs of her overalls get tore at. Shorts're still better than soaked pants. Then there's energy things flying. "What-the-everlovinnfack?!" Bella's wet AND got people shootin' at her? So much for easy.

Debris bouncing off her armor isn't too much of a concern as Sage is more concerned with her positioning. She didn't fully strap herself in since they might have to get out of the vehicle in a hurry due to circumstance. She tries to make sense of what's going on, and her gaze goes towards the sky or what she can see of it to tell what's going on. "Calm down... just drive... we don't need you crashing into something and making their job easier." She advises with a little command in her voice as she readies her rifle for a potential battle.

As things get a little bumpy Rubidia's footing goes a little astray, causing her to disregard finding the shot with the bow to focus on keeping it and she manages. "This is awesome. Who do I shoot at now?" She asks, one might mistake her for a tourist on a hunting safari.

"Stop!" Johnson yells in Dragonese. "I cannot shield you if you're moving, and unless that is someone in a jet pack hitting this tug is child's play from above." He reaches to the left, punching at his radio, but can't seem to get the controls right with all the jostling about.

Bartholemew tries to grab on to a tie down with the jolt from the blast, still losing his footing and hitting the bed of the truck hard. "Oh yeah ya bastard." he says as he shakes off the blast and tries regaining himself by lying on his back against the load of cargo for better balance. "I'm gonna blast that punk!" pulling his rifle around and setting it to burst mode in ready to shoot this bird out of the sky.

Pert does as instructed, slowing his truck, though Suave continues to bounce against it. Not hard enough to put anyone off balance, but still hard enough to feel the bumping. They're bitching at each other over the radio. The trees have really narrowed in at this area, and the road is dry, but full of ruts of non-hover vehicles. A third shot comes in and strikes behind Suave's truck. The merchants are starting to flail.

Bella's not gonna drown but she still ain't happy. The big energy shooty things coming down don't make it better neither. Even if they ain't shooting at her. "Fack you!" She's gotta gun 'n she knows how to use it. Ok, she knows what end to point where. She's pretty sure anyways. The pistol gets pawed at and pulled out. She finds a dark dot that maybe looks different than all the other dark sky and squeezes the trigger thingy. Is it probably way too far away? Yep. Does she know or care how far is too far? Nope.

While she may realize the main threat at the moment is the something that's shooting at them, Sage has enough clarity of thought to consider the area as well. "Think there's a trap buried on the road behind us... wired to something in the trees." She advises over the radio before looking Rubidia, "If you can actually hit it, see if you can discourage the thing that's shooting at us." She advises, figuring there's little reason to avoid it now. She begins to brings her rifle up to find the aggressor. If she's able to find the target and squeeze off a pulse, she will.

"Can't see him like this so.." Rubidia starts to explain, breaking off as the second truck explodes into light as if a small sun were placed inside. Bet that disorients the pilot... "I'm not sure how accurate I can be at this range. Close enough I could burn out his sensors.." She notes as she bring up her bow to fire a shot at the airborne pursuer.

"Bartholemew, dismount!" Johnson speaks into the radio in Dragonese as the truck slows. "If they shoot at you and miss they hit the principle!" He looks left at Pert again and elbows him, hard. "Stop, not slow." And then he looks up, hands on the oshi bar and the dash. Just above the truck, a pale blue glowing sphere pops into being, eight feet in diameter. It doesn't completely obscure the truck from above, but it does offer some cover.

Bartholemew opens fire, "I'll dismount right after this!" shooting a burst of laser fire across the sky towards the enemy firing on them. With the vehicle stopped now at least it wont be a total luck shot to hit this guy though still not guaranteed by a long shot.

The distant object is struck by Bart's blast, but other than doing some loops after impact, it doesn't seem impressed.

At this fortuitous point in time, the small dip in the road that the two woman on Suave's truck had observed detonates in a cloud of dust and debris, leaving behind what could accurately be called a tank trap. Similarly, in front of the vehicle, another line of explosives goes off. Not as deep a trench, but still, these trucks certainly aren't going over top. Two Blinders go off up at the front, and Pert, if nothing else, is completely blinded. The vehicle, or whatever it is from behind is swooping in to make another pass, or whatever it has been doing.

A hugely muscled man utters a war cry from about 150 feet away in the trees. It's hard to spot him, because he's extremely fast, running from tree to tree. In fact, because he really just seemed to get the drop on everyone, he goes after whoever's closest, who in this case happens to be Bartholemew. The giant is holding two large vibro-swords, and clad in some kind of modified EBA. It takes him but a leap to get up and swing at the man.

Bartholemew is surprised a bit as the big guy leaps up onto the truck taking a swing at him. Rolling out of the way of the vicious double attack of the swords to avoid the pain it would have most definitely caused.

Little black specks ain't much fun to shoot at. Not 'less they go boom. Big muscley guys are different. Too bad he's trying to chop Batholemew up right on top of the stuff they're s'posed to be protectin. Bella don' wanna blow that up really. "Hey! Tiny! Why don'tcha come over 'ere so's I can shoot ya better?! 'R ya scared'f'a li'l girl?" If you can't beat 'em, get 'em over to where you CAN beat 'em.

"That one's two far off." Rubidia notes about the flier as things go up in smoke. "Big guy though I can handle him." She chirps as she looks to his head. Light beams shine from her eyes to try and hit his face and blind him.

Well, the giant of a man sure wasn't expecting that. So much not expecting it that Rubidia's light smacks his faceplate like an enthusiastic dog. He falls to his knees, banging his helmet with the hilt of his swords - that he still hangs onto.

"Alright, let me see if I'll be able to hit the farther off one." Sage comments, "If the vehicle starts to take a beating, make sure to get out of it." She adds before an energy field snaps into place as she gets out of the vehicle to find a good spot away from the truck enough to see about getting a good line of sight on the distance target. If she has the time, she'll also snap off a shot.

The laser misses its target. The target is getting closer, and though still distant, can probably be made out to be a hovercycle of some kind. But at the moment, it simply out-flies Sage's shot.

From the north, or the right side of the road relative to the previous line of travel comes a burst of laser energy, pointed at Sage. Perhaps it's angry that she just shot at the thing in the sky. Why it ignored the obviously dangerous glowy thing, perhaps the being behind the bolt is hoping that it will just blow away.

Spending her attention on the thing to one side, Sage doesn't notice the other fire until she hears the sizzling sound of the laser burning away at her energy body field. A small curse coming from her as she begins to take note of the new threat.

Another shot comes out of the trees from an unseen assailant, but this time from the other side of the road, and aimed at the obvious target - the glowing Rubidia.

A new man steps forward to the treeline, two pistols in his hands. He happens to be shockingly close to Bart, and fires both pistols, twice. Apparently he's quite the pistol expert.

Johnson goes crazy in the cab of that truck, an elbow flung to spiderweb the side armored window, as the seat rattles and the hovertruck rocks. After a long moment, the cab goes silent, and Pert would feel a strong hand grab his right shoulder, followed by a sense of disconnection from the world, as an extra suit of invisible armor wraps the driver.

The thing in the sky swoops in lower, and now anyone who can see in the dark would see an armed hovercycle. Of course, if you can't, then you can't see very well, but it's still there, and with a rider, to boot. Apparently its rider is none too happy about being shot at, and a large cannon in a chin turret snaps off a large white bolt at Sage.

Bartholemew dodges the swordsman who is now blinded or something which allows the other gunman to surprise him and getting one of two shots in on him as Bart fails to get out of the way of the last one, the laser leaving a scorch mark on the side of his armor.

Without having anything else to do, the giant of a man just lunges toward where Bartholemew is, or at least in his blinded state, where he seems to remember that he had been. Both swords come down twice at... where Bartholemew might be?

Bella wishes the big guy'd come over to play. The guy with the flying bike's just as good, though. She could shoot 'im. Or try to. But she doesn't. There's no yelling or waving or insulting. Nope. Bella's pretty quiet now in all the swinging shooting ducking stuff. There's even a new light in her eyes. One bad thing 'bout all those puddles is bugs. Mosquitoes, flies, little gnatty things. Maybe Mr. Flying Bicycle smells sweet. Or like a steaming pile of poo. A swarm of little buzzy things forms up on and in front of him. Hope he's got his mouth closed.

So many opponents, so little time. Rubidia is certainly not the combat savant most of the others appear to be but she can help. And she's also immune to most of whats being shot, that’s handy. To be the most help she's focusing her blast where they'll be the most effective. Like the hovercycle, would be damn hard to pilot it blind now wouldn’t it? She shoots another beam of light accordingly.

Having already taken one sizable hit to her psychic armor, Sage decides not to carelessly let it be whittled away quickly. As a result, when she notices the aggressive approach of the enemy, she rolls her body to one side to try to throw off the aim but it seems she either started the motion too late or moved into the attack as she's struck again and more of the energy field is burned off. The protection seems thinner now, but still holds around her. As she settles herself into the new position, she ends up noticing the double team happening against another of their team. Her mind tries to transmit unreasoning terror into the pistol wielding man in an attempt to even the odds.

From the same position to the north of the road comes another series of bolts sizzling toward Sage. Someone out there doesn't seem to like her very much.

From the south side, whatever it is in the forest must be unbelieving that the glowing flowing thing didn't even care about it shots. This is proven because another series of bolts rips toward Rubidia.

The fellow with the pistols who had just nicked Bart's armor suddenly tears off his helmet screams, and goes tearing into the forest calling for his Mommy. Or, mummy. Not very clear. In any case, he's gone unless someone wants to follow him and remove his head.

Johnson isn't heard from, even yet! Something funky must be going on in that truck cab. He's probably making out with Pert. Anyone who can see inside would have a view of Johnson groping about to unbuckle himself, and then the door opens. As he falls, the armored one apparently disappears into the night.

The person on the back of the armed and armored hovercycle may have been a master of the skies... but not when blinded by both a mass of insects and a burst of dazzling light. The hovercycle begins to swirl around, blurring out the stars, its hover repulsors whining as the driver has instinctively gone to full throttle. It plants itself with a large explosion right before Pert's forward truck. Fragments and fire go everywhere, brushing up the truck, brushing across anyone on the ground, like potentially Johnson.

Bartholemew can't do anything but avoid attacks it seems. Even blind, the big guy is still a serious threat with those big meat choppers swinging and its taking everything to make sure they don't hit their mark. As he sees the gunslinger bolt into the forest his mind rests knowing he now only has the one trying to kill him and not two trying to fillet and bake his arse, now if he could just get a shot in on the guy, but now what? Good news! Though the resulting debris flying from the explosion of the hover cycle causes him to instinctively duck and cover even though the cab of the truck shields him from the blast.

Being big and strong doesn't necessarily always carry over to being big and smart. The man who does ironically smell of burned onions just keeps hacking in the general direction of his previous target. Perhaps it's the smart thing to do? Or just the easiest thing to do when you're blind.

One of the swings coming from the massive man's shoulders brings those two giant swords down in what would have been Bart's general direction had it been a few seconds ago. Instead, not only does he completely miss, but he over-swings, with the swords biting into the tarp, and then into the crates below, which issue some sounds that don't necessarily sound wonderful. Interestingly, the two massive swords seem to warp, shimmer, shimmy, shake, and eventually detonate in a shower of dangerous splinters. Splinters, most of which dig into the big man's armor. While the breastplate remains intact, he goes down onto his face, not moving, at least for the moment.

"Guess he shoulda learnt ta fly." Bella's starting to get happy. Something going boom helps. Also means it ain't shootin't nobody. Course, she ain't neither. Still a couple hiding somewhere, so she looks towards where she thought she saw things zapping out of. Maybe she can figure out where one is.

As Sage get shot up Rubidia is not just going to stand by. Clearly the shots are having more effect on Sage than herself. Instantly she leaps in front of Sage, putting herself in front so any shots have to go through her first. Secondly she turns her blinding gaze south towards that shooter that was shooting her. Lest he wise up and stop doing so.

Deep in the forest, something moves, ducking to the side, trying to avoid another blast of light that's been blinding all of this person's comrades.

With power blasts not only taking out her remaining shred of psychic armor, Sage isn't able to avoid the other shots either as her body armor gets melted and begins to resemble slag. Her dodging attempts ending up leaving her along the ground. She simply tries to keep a low profile as she tries to look out of the fight for the time being.

Things may not be going too well for the attackers at this point, but someone, or perhaps multiple someones, seem to have an absolute win-or-lose attitude, pressing forth with attacks. Sage probably looks completely unimportant at this point. Plus, why put murder on your rap sheet if you don't need it? A series of shimmers come from the north, hooking for Bartholemew, as he's still moving, and that big scary shiny thing can be dealt with later after the pawns have been destroyed. However, due to perhaps distance, or cover, and the nature of lasers themselves, which are just about impossible to spot unless they're aimed at your head... they seem to come from nowhere toward Bartholemew.

Deep in the southern forest is a creature in EBA doing a very good job of being quiet, but not doing a very good job of seeing. Still, it has managed to conceal itself somewhere fairly well, likely behind one of the large tree trunks on that side of the road. Nevertheless, nothing violent happens.

Johnson is invisible! Except to all them folk with fancy new-fangled goggles, who'd catch him reaching up to tug that iron crescent-topped iron pole up to look antenna-like over his shoulder. The hovertruck rocks as Johnson falls back into it, possibly denting the side panel, and he slaps a hand against it to anchor himself before casting a quick spell, head panning up, then to the right.

Bartholemew moves out of the way of the big guy's massive swing of those blades. When the blades cut into those crates and start making weird noises he takes cover just as the weapon explodes back on the guy sending him into sleep mode or whatever, at least he ain't moving. Then the shot from nowhere comes, Bart only having a split second to roll out of the way of that one. "Christ! It just ain't my day. HEY! There ARE other people out there to shoot at!" Cursing and bitching at it seeming he is the only target even though he's just too busy to see who else is getting attacked at the moment.

It's still very nighttime, and the little train is clunked together in a short area between tank traps. Sage is down to lingerie, and Bart is doing a good job playing acrobat to avoid getting hit. There is a smoking crater in front of the forward truck - this crater used to be a hovercycle and pilot. One man has run off into the forest screaming, one man to the south is blinded, though not easily spotted at the moment, and there is a giant of a man laying face down, unmoving on the top of the forward truck's crate-style cargo, having hacked into parts of it that are making possibly odd noises. As things stand, the only combatant is unseen in the trees north of the road. Rubidia is looking glowy and lovely. Johnson is nowhere to be seen, Pert is blinded, and Suave has apparently just been sitting quiet and still the entire time.

The person in the northern trees might be starting to flail a bit, being heavily outnumbered, and being outfought at the same time. More energy comes out of the trees, nearly impossible to trace - but not toward any of the security. No. They lance out at Suave.

Suave Clarifying disappears in a violet explosion that overpowers his slight plate armor. The interior of the second cab is really quite disgusting. Perhaps because of the overwhelming violence of the kill, the deadman switch fails. Or it was all a ruse. After all, no one actually saw any switch or explosives.

"Can you take cover behind the truck Sage?" Rubidia asks as she puts her bow back on her shoulder. "I can't see the last one from here, gonna have to run out and find him."

Bella still don't see anybody really. Maybe a little of the one running away. She can see the somebody that used to be Suave go splat though. Wonder if that counts as stopping his heart since it got it going instead. Just lots of different ways at once. "They all runnin' 'way? 'R still hidin?" She yells out to the people on the messy side of the creek.

As she lays down and doesn't draw more fire, Sage gathers herself and brings up another body field before she begins to get up from where she is and makes her way behind the vehicle. "I still help as long as I don't take that kind of punishment again." She comments, "If we had the time, I could probably locate him without too much trouble..."

Johnson, visible to those with thermo, walks around the hood of the truck. Those nearby can hear a thumping and scraping, as his gauntlet trades paint with the hood to keep him snugged up against it, and he reaches up to tug the driver's side door open.

Bartholemew moves over and goes to remove the big guy's helmet, working at the seals and buckles. Easier to kill him if he ain't got that on.

The helmet of the modified Crusader armor - heavily modified - comes off with a bit of a struggle. Not just because of locks and seals, but because of what becomes apparent when it finally pops off. The head of an ogre had somehow been jammed in there. Jammed in so tightly that the shape of the faceplate has actually molded the creature's own flesh. That has to hurt. Right now, it seems to be in a trance, or unconscious. At any rate, it's unmoving, and it's very disgusting to look at. But it's alive. Who knows when it might come to?

Nothing happens. There is an empty space in the space-time continuum. Where normally ranged fire would come, there is nothing. Just the rustling of the overhead canopy and the sounds of a healthy forest.

"Well if you take cover, that should buy you the time you need." Rubidia suggests with a shrug before running off north into the woods to look for the missing assailant. Pulling out a small metal cylinder as she runs.

That whole lotta nothing pretty much gives Bella her answer. "Guess they ran 'way. That mean we're all done?" She never got asked, but she ain't been doing this kind of thing very long. Only a couple hours really and mosta that was riding. Her pistol's put away. "Guess so."

Taking a moment to consider her surroundings, Sage decides to simply hide herself away as best she can using the cover that's available to her. Once she's relatively confident she's settled into place, she'll try to begin her preparation for the power that she may need to use.

Johnson calls into the cab, "That thing is a laser magnet! I'm getting you out!" as he reaches into the truck. Thigh, kibbles 'n bits, thigh, SEATBELT BUTTON! Johnson depresses it and grabs Pert, bodily hauling him from the truck and partially shielding him with his body as he begins to weave a spell.

The big ogre begins to groan quietly, as if waking from a dream. The kind of dream where bad things were chasing you. But he's still far from awake and aware.

Bartholemew tosses the helmet aside with an unseen look of disgust as he sees how ugly this guy is. Showing no mercy, he puts the barrel of his rifle right up against the ogre's head and pulls the trigger. A burst of laser beams erupt from the end of the rifle.....

The ogre's head evaporates even more cleanly than Mr. Clarifying's. He's limp. He's not moving. He's very, very dead.

Perhaps something pissed off the marksman. Perhaps it was seeing his comrade vaporized without mercy. That's probably it. Near-invisible shots, silent shots, are aimed in Bartholemew's direction. That bastard without honor!

Rubidia can only continue in the direction of the hidden shooter. Who is still shooting at people, so in time that should help her find them. She'll need to get closer first though so her run continues, the cylinder in her hand lighting into a long cylinder of light.

Or maybe they didn't all run away. The glowy girl ain' the only one't starts looking over where the shooting maybe came from. Bella's peering thattaways, too. Maybe she'll see something. All that glowing could help since Rubidia's getting closer. Course, Bella ain't rushing anywhere yet.

Settling and stilling in her position, Sage has already begun to concentrate on the task at hand. She isn't oblivious to the rest of the world but she can't let it distract her for the time being. It's possible that her ability may be the one thing that could bring this to a swift conclusion unless someone else is able to find the assailant first.

Another faint blue globe springs into existence in the dark night, near the lead truck. Inside, Johnson becomes visible again, leaning over and holding on to the bewildered Pert as his head swings back and forth, shaking and trying to clear the cobwebs.

Pert isn't too happy at this point. He's still flailing about, blinded, but now he's bitching and using naughty words at whoever's dragging him around. Even using his unarmored hands to beat on the person - Johnson. The scary part is that for some reason, perhaps just panic, he starts to draw the little pistol that's little more than a holdout the size of an awkward film canister.

Bartholemew takes two blasts in the chest that send his armor to pieces, the last shot putting him on the ground, barely being missed by the second shot out of the three that came for him. Without his armor, he stays down in hopes he will be left for dead, revenge satisfied.

A burst of bright blue energy flies from the south and out over the trucks, not getting even close to anyone, possibly not even having really been aimed. Someone's still out there, and someone's not yet decided whether to run, hide, or fight.

Silence. Just silence, other than the rustling of trees and a flock of geese passing overhead.

Bartholemew tries to look for the guy shooting at him as he still lays low trying to play dead for the most part though.

The forest continues to hold its secrets.

For all intensive purposes, Sage is simply gathering herself for one of her abilities. She's simply trusting the others to take care of themselves for the time being.

Rubidia finds nothing yet, but doesn’t want to venture out further than she has so far. Seemingly in frustration she lets her laser blade slice through the base of a nearby tree to topple it..

A tree falls in the forest - and it makes a sound! Of a tree falling in the forest.

"Where ya at ya li'l shit?!" Bella still can't see the shooter. Now she's trying to listen for them. Or maybe they'll stand up or something. "Know we's gonna find ya if ya stay. Oughtta jus' run 'way 'r give up. Can' shoot everybody down dead."

The blurry light things have become the blurry dark things! Johnson reaches to his multioptics rig, cranking up the thermo and the infrared, sweeping about as he calls into the radio, "Are they still alive? What's happening?" And then he pounds at his chest, repeating in American, "Anyone live? What happen?" Johnson is, apparently, ignoring the man battering at his armor and threatening him with a tiny laser.

Wind in the trees, a few night birds cawing and whistling, the hoot of an owl. Leaves rustle, otherwise, there are no sounds of armor, or weapons, or weapons fire. No rattle of blades against armor. Just a quiet evening in the forests north by northeast of Kingsdale.

Bartholemew chimes in over the radio, "Still here, can't see the guy." still remaining still, looking for the sniper in the distance. Guy must be outta range for thermal optics.

After a long moment, Sage's body completely relaxes as death or asleep for all intensive purposes. With her out of body experience, she considers the area around herself with full awareness of detail. Lacking what she seems to find, she reaches out with her mind to the easiest mind to reach. Likely that of Bart's.

Suddenly Rubidia is in motion again. Clearly she saw something, perhaps a bit a moonlight reflected off the sniper scope. Who knows. Regardless she charges at a tree almost 50 feet away from her to have her laser sword cut its base and start its topple..

The tree does indeed begin to topple. But it's a big tree. Toppling takes a little bit of time. Not long, but a tiny bit.

Bella was really hoping they'd yell back. Or something. Anything. All she gets is glowy girl cutting up trees. Maybe Rubidia sees something she don't. "Ya find 'em? Or jus' gonna get ridda everythin' ta hide behind?" That ain't such a bad idea, really. "Can't we just like leave? They can't keep shootin ferever."

There's a flash of light, a tiny pale beam arcing beside Johnson to explode against that iron pole over his shoulder in a shower of sparks, followed by small lighting cracks coming off the crescent top to blacken the ground around him. He peers up, and around, and then down at his disoriented charge, assuring, "You OK. Just me. Under magic shield, then have magic armor, then have you armor. You be OK. I watch you. Relax."

The tree continues to fall, and finally, there is noise. "You shiny bearded bitch!" Where the beard part came from, only the person in armor and his god knows. It manages to keep its feet, neatly like a gymnast, and hurls a grenade at the shining light. Unfortunately, the pin hooks onto his thumb, and it detonates in his hand, sending fragments across his body, and shredding the previously beautiful, highly modified L-20. That thing's never going to fire again. He hits the ground with an "OOMPH," then lays there. The only thing interesting about him at the moment is that he's covered in a camouflage netting - but has absolutely no thermal signature visible to anyone who can see that kind of thing. For now, the sniper's down.

Bartholemew gets himself up now hopping off the truck, it's been long enough with no shooting for him to take a better look around, using the truck as cover still from the sniper's direction just in case.

While the activity of cutting down the tree and subsequent grenade explosion are beyond her perception, the effects of them are noted in her heightened awareness. It also appears that she won't be able to get someone to move her body for a better look. As a result, her body begins to stir as she revives from the trance. "What happened out there?" She calls out.

"Got him!" Rubidia exclaims, closing in on the fallen sniper to stand above him laser sword making moving inadvisable. "See what loot we can grab off the others too." She suggests, nudging her prisoner to see if their is any response.

"Bout damn time. We go now?" For trying to get somewhere quick, Bella don't think they're going real far or real fast. "After we swipe everythin. Yeah." She ain't in too big a hurry to leave free stuff. Even if she's still over on her side of the little river.

The man (or woman) at Rubidia's feet is either dead or unconscious, offering no resistance. He's wearing a set of Urban Warrior armor, used and battered at this point, but reasonably intact. Two vibro-knives, two frag grenades, a Wilk's 320, and two Blinders. The rifle was unfortunately destroyed by a fluke of fate. What one might - upon inspection - find interesting is the lack of thermal signature. Tugging at the motionless person will demonstrate that the camouflage netting comes off of his armor, and once off, he has a thermal signature just like anyone else. The ogre? Apparently he was just depending on this big swords to carry him through. Save for one vibro-knife and a single flash-bang, he's clean. Of course, there's a suit of armor that's been modified to fit his massive form and girth. The man to the south, who is easily captured, is carrying a simple L-20 as if right of the rack, then swung against the asphalt a few dozen times by a 'Borg.

Johnson stays hunched over Pert until the man's eyesight returns, and then the energy field drops. And likely, the Armor of Ithan drops. He waves out at the vast wild expanse and says, "You did it! You kill many foes. Mercs go loot them now. Big treasures. Your friend not so lucky. We bag him up for good burial, yes?"

Some relief comes to Rubidia's response as it was hard to tell what exactly happened with in the distance. "Well, you heard her." She comments before she goes about the somewhat familiar task of rounding up bad guys and taking their stuff. She keeps the psychic body field up, but it does nothing to hide the ruined state of her armor. At least her mobility isn't hampered.

Rubidia doesn’t look bothered by her catch's lack of response. Indeed the small girl seems to have little trouble picking up the full-sized person and carrying him back to the trucks at speed. Once there she lets her lights dim with a satisfied smile.

Whelp. Looks like everybody over there's got everytin' all wrapped up. Over there. Bella ain't got nobody at yell at or shoot at. Yep. Time to get going. They already got paid anyways. She turns and shuffles back the other way. Not on the road since it's full of puddles. Just sort of along it. On the drier part.

Johnson gets Pert up and dusts off his back, ushering him to the cab of the hovertruck. "Up go!" he proclaims. "Not safe. Maybe more. Maybe lose some in the woods who come back." He keys his radio, asking, "Anyone see Coat? Anyone know how drive other truck? I drive land truck, maybe close enough, maybe bump into trees." He makes his way to the hovervehicle, climbing to the cab with shattered windshield, and grabs the corpse to shove it unceremoniously into the passenger seat. Waving the door for a few moments, he fans the smoke from the cushions out into the night air, and climbs inside, coughing faintly as he eyes the controls. They're ... mostly the same.

From the west, coming from Laramy, the sounds of wheels upon muddy road are heard, muffled by the roar of an extremely powerful engine. It comes into view as a genuine, if used Coalition Mark V Armored Personnel Carrier, with extra soldiers in full combat gear sitting on the roof. They're in the old-style armor, with old-style weapons, but they still look mean. There's plenty of time for anyone nearby to dive for really good cover before it comes to a stop on the other side of the tank trap that had stopped the trucks. It unloads an entire half-platoon of twenty soldiers who inspect the trap, then jump in and raise a series of temporary-bridges that had obviously been left there by the ambushers with the intent of moving on with the booty. Pert seems happy, though he does say, "They're not supposed to be out this far." He then walks over to a soldier with the rank of lieutenant, and says, "Janson, you bastard! You couldn't have gotten here twenty minutes ago?"

A number of soldiers cross the bridge, and they begin to unload the cargo, one crate and one barrel at a time. The efficient Coalition military doesn't take more than ten minutes to complete the transfer as Pert and the lieutenant converse quietly. Janson hands Pert the credits that were apparently promised, glances at the trucks, and says, "Be more careful next time." With that, the APC just turns and heads back to Laramy, the unspecified cargo in the possession of a bunch of unspecified troops. Pert returns to the trucks and calls, "I'll double your pay, because I'll split Suave's cut. Hop on, let's take you home. Get on Suave's truck, it runs better." The ride home is mostly uneventful, everyone arriving back in Kingsdale, no harm, no foul. Unless you got your armor blown off.