December 17-24, 108 PA - USS Louisiana Power Source Recovery

From Chronicles

DAY ONE - December 17, 108 PA

LANDING STRIP - BARTHOLEMEW'S PARKING AREA

The weather is fierce, encouraging all to stay inside either homes or armor. Though even armor is hindered some as the freezing rain and whipping wind encourage water to crystallize over one's faceplate. But as horrid as it is here, it may be better elsewhere. And even if it's not, it will be just as bad for the opposition. So with that in mind there is no hint of waiting for better weather. Valeriya is there at Bart's bay on the landing strip bright and early. She leans against the wall there, letting the precipitation aid her armor's camouflaging.

Tek is in his cyclops armor with the visor down as he walks up to Bart's bay. Through the speakers in his armor Tek's voice is somewhat distorted but still can be recognized, "What a lovely day for an outing." looking around he seems to be in no real hurry.

Lovely weather... it is not. It is certainly nothing one would wish to walk about in, especially unprotected. For that reason, Leonard does not venture out across the space. Rather, he bends space to his whim. Well within the shelter of the bay, reality is torn asunder into an angry wound of flashing blue-white. Leonard steps through the tear, bearing a corvid companion upon his shoulder. Once he steps through, the rift closes behind him.

Valeriya gives a nod to Leonard's unconventional mode of travel. "An umbrella would be cheaper and more fashionable." She remarks jokingly before turning her head to regard the other fellow in armor. "Tek?" She inquires of him.

After getting under the overhang Tek raises up his visor and gives a nod, "The one and only. So it looks like we are still waiting on a few people."

"It would be far more slow, as well." Leonard chuckles. His eyes shift to the others. "Whom else is expected?" Unlike the others, he wears no armor.

"Bart and Jax. Both of them have been gathering further intel, so I imagine that is the nature of the delay. Bart did mention Tek here though, a mechanic specialist apparently. Could be very useful in extracting our charge." Valeriya explains to Leonard before nodding to Tek. "I am Valeriya, mage in general. And this fashionably dressed fellow is Leonard, a shifter."

Tek smiles as he looks the two over, "I am a Psi-Tech. And I love working with new machines. I do not see any problems with getting done what has been explained. Speaking of machines I met an AI machine out here last night. I think it was some type of alien intelligence in a robot type hovering machine. It was making metal plates when I talked with it."

Leonard completes the introductions, primarily to Tek, with a brief gesture to the raven perched upon his shoulder. "This is Edgar." The bird simply stares blankly, while the man arches a brow. "A hovering machine intelligence? Fascinating. Is it relevant to the task before us?"

"It is curious timing for it to show up just before we head out in search. Was I a more indulgent sort I might seek to question that coincidence. But arrangements are made, further delay would be foolish and unnecessary." Valeriya notes with a shrug.

Tek shakes his head, "I think it is just a coincidence. I do not think that it is related to our task. It seemed interested in finding work actually."

Valeriya shrugs again. "Who isn’t?" She asks in turn before shaking her head. "Got enough folks to do this job I think. Three specialists and three mercenaries. Should be plenty."

Tek nods with excitement, "What other specialists are coming. That is, what are the specialties?" He looks out to the inclement weather with a sigh before returning his gaze to Valeriya.

Valeriya gestures to Leonard and herself. "What you see is what you get. I'm a magic specialist. Can understand any sort. Leonard is the transport specialist, good at quickly covering large distances. On the mercenary side we have Bart, Jax and myself."

Tek smiles, "So you are pulling double duty it would seem. Well to be honest I am excited. I can't wait to see what this power source is and how this thing keeps doing what it has been doing." seeming a bit giddy and anxious Tek keeps looking out into the weather in hopes of seeing others approaching.

From the direction of the city comes an unusual being. Well over six feet tall, and solidly built. In two very different ways. The man's right half is entirely human. His left half is... entirely machine. It's a very strange look. Due to the strange construction, it walks with not a limp, but it just doesn't walk right, either. Over its shoulder is a large metal case, with smaller metal cases around its waist. It, or he, has the look of someone who has a vague idea of where he's going, but not a perfectly good one.

"I'm glad to know that I shall always fill the role of chauffeur," Leonard aims a sidelong smirk at Valeriya. His focus subsequently shifts to the new arrival. Some consideration follows, as if debating whether he should offer tea or oil.

Valeriya cocks her head at Leo and nods slightly. "Knowing what one is good at is the key to success. And having a safe ride home is a key to enjoying success." She notes to him before nodding to Tek. "Versatility is another key to success." She adds before glancing at the half machine person.

His back being turned to the approaching man/robot Tek turns to see only after Leonard and Valeriya look in that direction with questioning looks. Upon seeing the 'Borg Tek smiles but remains silent not sure if he is in on the whole plan as a last minute add in or what.

The oddly constructed fellow seems to wander the landing area for a while before eventually ending up among this ragtag group. When he speaks, it's even stranger than his looks. American, to be sure, but with one heavy bit of Italian accent out of a human mouth, and one heavy bit of Spanish accent with an additional droid scratchiness from the cybernetic mouth. "You guys hired a navigator?"

Leonard shakes his head. "I hired no one, though we still await others. Perhaps one of them worries over getting lost." His shoulders roll, slightly disturbing the bird perched on one.

"Bart did probably, we are kinda looking for a needle in a haystack out there." Valeriya notes, her gaze focusing on the 'Borg. "I trust there is a specific reason you've been hired for that important task? Knowledge of the area?"

Tek smiles and relaxes a bit and finds a place to lean against. For now he remains silent as the other two question the newcomer.

The man-borg looks around, not entirely convinced that he's in the right place. But shrugs, answering, "No, I don't know the area. But I guess the guy who hired me can't read the map that I was given. So I'm here to get him where he wants to go. I'd really hoped to talk with him before leaving, though."

Leonard chuckles and nods in agreement with Valeriya. "Yes, this sounds more and more very much like Bartholemew." To the manchine, he notes, "I expect that he shall be along at some point. Also, I trust that you collected your fee upfront? Honor and goodwill are qualities on similar standing to his navigational and martial abilities."

Tek chuckles at Leonard’s comments but continues to just lean on the wall for now.

Valeriya's gaze turns to Leonard with a sigh. "You got lot of juice? Can I afford to spend some to verify his account?"

"Yes," comes that odd, scratchy, swirly voice again. "I always get paid ahead of the job. I'm Magellan de Leon, and we're all headed up north, huh?"

Leonard arches a brow at Valeriya. "How much energy did you wish to invest? Don't you have reserves of your own?"

"Well it is a sixth level spell, over ten percent of my reserves. Which don’t go far if I take them down in such chunks. So I asked how yours are." Valeriya replies to Leonard, ignoring the 'Borg for a moment as they exchange dialogue.

Tek studies the exposed machinery on the 'Borg, "So where did you get your work done Magellan?" he seems intrigued by the machinery even with it being part of the person.

"It would be a waste of resources, in my opinion," Leonard waves a hand in vague dismissal. "Either Bartholemew arrives and confirms the hire, denies it, or fails to arrive altogether. I can't say that any of those results would prove especially surprising." They are present and he is not, after all. de Leon looks at Tek, studies him for a moment, then answers, "The Enhancement Center." Looking to all three, he asks, "So the guy who hired me isn't even here? And you guys don't know what I'm doing here?"

"Except that whether Bart hired someone half machine to be a navigator is not what I'm doubting. I want to check his references and ensure he can navigate to where we need to go. And only has that intention." Valeriya counters to Leonard before nodding to de Leon. "So it appears." She answers before muttering a dark phrase.

Seeing the beginnings of magic Tek takes a step back and watches though stays quiet as to not interrupt.

Leonard nods to the cybernetic organism. "That is correct." Following Valeriya's explanation, he concedes the point with a mild shrug. She does hold a valid concern.

de Leon seems to take some offense to Valeriya's insinuation. "Look. I got hired to navigate, I'll goddamn well navigate. Been doin' this since I was nineteen, got shredded with Donner, they turned me into a specialist. I don't give a damn why you're going where you're going, I've been paid, and unless I'm a fucking idiot, I'm not going to try to cross a bunch of mercs to steal a treasure and bring it home myself." The literal half-man, half-machine give some glares all around. "I'd like to make it a pleasant trip, but I need to know some things, and I'd like to speak to the guy who hired me if you're just going to try to shove things up my ass for the effort."

Valeriya takes a second to remove her helmet and ensure she's in arms reach of the 'Borg with a calm smirk. "Relax if you would. You may ask your questions. I will ask mine. And there will be no shoving or unpleasantness involved." She instructs firmly, leveling her gaze on the 'Borg. "Are you a professional navigator?"

Leonard falls quiet for the present in order to allow Valeriya to make the most of her invocation. What he felt the need to mention was already stated, at any rate.

Magellan's one human eye and one cybernetic eye fix on Valeriya, and his strangely mechano-accented voice says, "I'm one of the best damn navigators in Kingsdale outside of the military."

Tek moves around closer to the opening of Bart's bay, not worrying about the weather. His concentration is on the 'Borg but his hand is moving to his pistol just in case things go awry. What with Valeriya casting a spell on this guy and all.

Valeriya nods, looking quite satisfied with that answer. "Excellent. Who was your previous employer?" She asks next, keeping a casual tone and demeanor. Though Tek's caress of his weapon merits an icy glare from her.

Seeing Magellan playing along Tek relaxes and looks out over the landing strip wondering where the hell Jax is, being as he is the one who got him in on this mission and all.

Bartholemew finally shows up to the soiree, with Jaxain. "Howdy all. Better late than never." A look to Val and the 'Borg and Tek, "And I see just in time. Had some last minute things to arrange, and pick up Jax here too. So what have you all been talking about up till now?" Moving to where the 'Borg and Val are, "Good to see you didn't change your mind." he says to the big machine.

"Actually," Leonard looks to the arriving Bartholemew, "We were just discussing the pros and cons of late vs never concerning your arrival and participation." A hand gestures to Valeriya, the 'Borg, and Tek, as well. "Also, Valeriya has taken the liberty of interrogating your allegedly hired map reader, for the safety of all involved."

With a frown, the dual-being answers, "Kingsdale Militia, Donner's Division. As I already said." Magellan takes a few bored steps backward and starts to wander off, opening up one of his metal cases. The 'Borg is in fact something out of a child's drawing. One half of his body is entirely machine, the other half appears to be entirely man. He speaks American with a triple accent of Spanish, Italian and machine chatter. Well over six feet tall, he carries with him one large metal case on his back, and a number of smaller cases at his waist.

Jaxain walks over to Tek first and gives him a nod. "Glad you could make it." he grins, before turning to the large machine-man. "Oh hey, you must be the navigator I heard about, glad to meet ya!" he says with a smile as he approaches the being and extends his hand. "Name's Jax." The rest he gives nods of greetings and waves, as he makes some adjustments on his armor, his helmet resting on a strap off his waist.

"Sorry, didn’t realize that was your immediately previous employer." Valeriya consoles, trying really hard to be cordial, really. "Last question. And you are not working for anyone other than Bart at this time?"

Tek smiles and waves to Jax as he comes in, "I have been looking forward to this for some time now. So is there any new information?"

Bartholemew is sporting Vaqueros EBA with the overcoat. Archaic Falchion and Punching Dagger plainly visible where once were held vibro-weapons, for those that know him that is. Like a southwestern swordsman, gunslinger. A nod to Leonard, but then a smile when he realizes who it is, that is revealed when his visor is opened, "You're looking much better than last time I saw you. Good to see it." Then looks back to Val, and smiles with her thoroughness as he opens the large bay doors to get to the stored items inside. "Ok listen up! Who needs communications?" Getting right to business in gearing up the team.

Leonard nods to Bartholemew. "You look much less cowed and spineless than when last I saw you. I can only hope that it will last." Following the shout and query, he answers, "I have my own communications."

While there's a decent chance that de Leon is out of range of an unnatural influence, he seems just as honest as his other answers when he says, "Self-employed. A few of us have a professional relationship to spread jobs around, but otherwise, no. I'm not working for anyone else right now. Eighty-five hundred to get you where you want to go, that was the deal." He pulls out the map that he'd been given. "This is where I was told." Bartholemew receives a subtle shake of his head, apparently not needing a separate communications device. "Now who wired me the credits and told me to show up here?"

Jaxain gives the 'Borg a surprised look as he completely ignores Jax's friendly greeting, then looks at Val and cocks his head to the side. "She been giving you a hard time?" He asks the 'Borg with a smile, giving him a friendly poke with his elbow. "Don't worry, she means well." Then he nods to Tek and says in a quiet voice, "Yeah, I set up a meeting with the pilot who took the photo and we got an updated map with landmarks, and a much smaller search area." He looks over at Bart, "And when we are safe to speak of such things, I got some more details about what we are looking for to share. Details nobody else has, so with the map and my new intel we should have a leg up on our competition. I hope." He waits for Bart to finish his speech, if he has one. He looks at Leo, "Hey, just a warning, the pilot said TW batteries drained fast near the ship, so I'm not sure how well magic might fare. Might be a good idea to bring some backup." He nods his head to Bart's communicators.

Valeriya has been following the 'Borg through his wandering till she gets her answer, not letting him get too far from arm's reach without actual effort. She doesn’t mention the rudeness of wandering away from someone who is interrogating you. But with it she relaxes and gestures to Bart. "That would be him." She answer before smiling to Jax. "Yes, I do."

Tek shakes his head when Bart asks about radio equipment, "I am all set unless I need something that goes farther than five miles." Then looking over to Jaxain he gives a smile and a nod.

Bartholemew looks to Leonard with his comment, taking him a bit by surprise, "An what's that supposed to mean?" Stopping his original plan to gear up moving over to where Leonard stands, "What's on your mind?" Not seeming too appreciative of the unkind words.

"I thought that I was reasonably clear," Leonard arches brows in mild surprise to Bartholemew, "Though I can explain in more monosyllabic terms, if necessary. What are on my mind are the same past events of which you spoke." He gestures to the 'Borg. "While I appreciate that you hired a literate assistant, there are others here who can read and navigate if you can't."

de Leon seems to just sit back and wait to see what happens between his employer and the other guy with the bird on his shoulder.

Jaxain is starting to really not like this 'Borg guy, as he's one of the least friendly people Jax has ever met. So he makes his way over to Leo, more than willing to jettison the chaff. "Great! I can read them too, but not as well as someone trained in how to do it." He pulls a map from his bag and starts unfolding it, "This is the updated map." He looks at Bart, waiting for his partner to give the nod before handing it out to anyone. He does his best to ignore the tension between the two men, just commenting with a smile. "Another time guys, it's all in the past."

And it seems Valeriya is finished handling one thing when she is abruptly faced with another. She quickly returns back to where tensions are rising between Bart and Leo, an unappreciative look on her face. "And what is this? Leonard I told you Bart would be on this trip. So that would mean you don’t go out of your way to antagonize him. Or you would have told me you can't give me your best here. Because that’s what I need. From both of you. So can we check the personal baggage for the time being and get focused?"

Tek seems happy that he is not the only one who seems to have issues with the ill-tempered Bart. He stays quiet for the time being and lets the others get whatever it is off their chest and just waits for more details on the job, staying out of the way.

Bartholemew gives a cocky grin, "What? You blame your injuries on me? I think you got one too many pieces of shrapnel in that head of yours. Ain't my fault you got all blown up, I didn't pick the squad, I just worked with what I was given. And from my recollection, everyone survived. Even you. Despite just standing there for Coalition target practice. Or is it you're just angry I didn't give up my cut to get you fixed up? Maybe you should look to joining a company if you're looking for medical insurance." He says his piece, despite Val interjecting, but then takes a step back and says to her, "It's a job, you got my best, as always. Job's a job. We can settle this on personal time." Then goes to move back to the gearing up. "Aright! Who needs armaments?!"

Leonard eyes Bartholemew's turned back with notably narrowed gaze. He is quiet for some time before answering the many questions, Valeriya's included. "I simply wished that all are aware of his best, which amounts to cowering in holes while others take the risk. He is, at best, entirely useless. Aside from that," he shrugs to Valeriya, "I care not whether he goes or not."

de Leon watches as Jax walks past, still holding onto his given map. His odd head is shaken negatively after his employer's argument against the bird-man - no, he doesn't seem to need a weapon, either. As for any other arguments? He's been paid to do a job - nothing more, nothing less. Seems like there's a lot of that going around right now.

Jaxain grimaces at the heated argument between the two men, both of them sworn to never speak of the incident in public. He looks at Bart for a moment, focusing his attention, before just stepping back and moving over to Tek. At least they might as well start talking about the mission, while everyone else goes nuclear. "Ok, here is the map." He shows it to Tek. "This is the updated area, as you can see it's a lot smaller than originally given." He smiles, pride obvious on his face. "The item itself I will give more details about once I am sure we are in a more secure area."

Valeriya does not looking very impressed, and is directing most of her disappointment at Leonard. "I decide what uses everyone has on this trip. This is my job, through my contacts. And the only thing you are showing all my people, is that you are a small petty man. Grow up, man up. Step on my toes again and I will cut yours off. Seeing as you just got them back that should curb your behavior." She explains to Leonard, her tone, very cold and precise. She then turns and nods to Bart. "Leonard needs some armor, if he is still coming."

Tek looks to Bart, "I could use an energy rifle. I have my energy pistol but something with a little more reach would be better I think." then looking to Jaxain, "You had mentioned that I was going to use your jet pack as transportation?"

Bartholemew stops, slowly turning around, though with Val saying her bit, he turns back with a nod. "Urban warrior, full working order or slightly damaged Crusader. The Crusader is still a bit stronger than the Urban." he says in reply to Val comment of Leonard needing armor while he goes over and pulls down two rifles to show Tek, NG Particle Beam Rifle or a C-12 assault rifle.

"Yes, it is your operation," Leonard nods to Valeriya, "To which I came out of invitation and my own curiosity. If you do not wish my advice, for your benefit, I will no longer give it. Would you prefer that I investigated this anomaly myself? I might still be present by the time the rest of you arrive."

"You, with the busted nose," de Leon says, addressing Jaxain while allowing the others to fight and bicker, "I don't need to know why you want to go there, but there are things I do need to know before I tell you how to get there."

Jaxain looks up at the 'Borg in mild surprise and raises an eyebrow. "Cumon, you coulda said 'You, with the map in his hand'." He laughs, "Glad you finally decided I was worth your time to address. I feel truly honored." He nods to Tek and starts to make his way over. "Let's go talk to the smiley guy over there." Jaxain looks over at Bart, "Hey, mind if I borrow that particle peam cannon? My rifles are in the shop."

"Advice you could have given when you were initially invited, or at least been more tactful about. I always appreciate advice, and knowing about a problem beforehand. You're late on both counts. So in the future, try to be considerate to how you give such advice, ok?" Valeriya retorts back to Leonard, her tone starting to recover some warmth as she tries to move on. "Urban warrior will do fine. He does have magical defenses." She informs Bart before looking back to Leonard. "I'd love that, but, We don’t know where exactly this thing is. Jax has a map with the area we have to search if you want to take a look. Also I'm quite certain the CS and other factions are observing the site. They probably wouldn’t hesitate to gun down a lone explorer without warning."

Tek nods to Bart, "Thank you, the C-12 will work great. I will replenish the E-Clips I use when we get back." Then looking to Jaxain he nods and follows along.

Bartholemew hands Tek the C-12 and 5 standard clips to go with it, then pull out a suit of Urban armor and brings it over for Leonard, "Here ya go." then moves to Jax and the 'Borg, handing a weapon to Jax. "Speakin of CS and other factions, there are five known factions out there. Two governments and three other merc groups that might be of concern. If things work out, at least one merc group will be out of the equation."

Leonard accepts the armor without comment, save for Valeriya, "Let us hope that a group of explorers do not draw more fire than one. " If nothing else, perhaps Bartholemew's interest in protecting his equipment is greater than his care for associates.

de Leon listens up as his direct employer finally speaks. "This is why I wanted to talk, there are choices of how to get you where you want to go. Depends on a few factors, and I'm sure that you'll consider a competing group to be one of them." If he has anything to say on departing merc groups, he doesn't mention it.

Jaxain nods to Bart in thanks as the other man hands him the heavy particle beam weapon, checking it over briefly. "Alright, sounds good." He nods to the half-man. He looks at Bart, waiting to see what his word is on the matter. His other intel can wait for later. Jaxain has a sudden thought, "Oh! By the way Tek, Bart said you will be on a Skycycle for this mission. Great for scouting." He looks to Bart for confirmation.

"Will probably draw a lot more. But will also be able to effectively fight back. Ideally we'll find a discreet spot to set camp and proceed with stealthy stuff from there. I don't like the idea of sending a friend into a battle zone without possible backup." Valeriya explains to Leonard casually as she waits for everyone to be outfitted.

Bartholemew gives a sharp nod to the navigator, "We'll get to that here in just a second, but I'm thinking quickest way. Lemme just get everyone geared up here." then looks to Jax, "I've had a change of thought on that idea. Too much CS activity now, would make us way too obvious an they don't like it when you use their equipment. Unless Val still thinks it a good idea." Then with one final call, "Alright, everyone good with necessary gear?" Taking a moment to see if anyone makes any other requests.

"That makes for two of us," Leonard notes to her. He is then otherwise occupied with donning the provided armor. Fortunately, it is a task expedited by his familiarity with the type and model.

The half-person seems satisfied with whatever gear it is that he-it has, not really paying much attention to the distribution of weapons and equipment to others. It's not his problem. In answer to Bart's opinion, he offers, "Quickest way will take you right through the heart of Coalition territory here in Missouri. But it's the fastest way."

Jaxain grimaces slightly, looking at Bart. "I dunno." He looks at the navigator. "Which route do you recommend, and why?" He asks the being, relying on his years of experience rather than dumb luck. He looks at Tek, "Ok, then yeah you can use my jet pack." He nods, "Mostly for scouting, if we get in a fight I doubt you wanna be the easy target in the air." He smiles.

"How about a route that doesn’t scream 'Here we are!' To anyone who might not like us. Fast is nice and all, getting there in one piece is nicer." Valeriya suggests, joining the route conversation.

Tek nods to Jaxain, "Sounds like a plan. I will be sure to only use it when I need to. Or if there is another vehicle going with a weapons system I am exceptionally good with those. What are we taking as transportation anyway?"

Bartholemew locks up the weapon lockers as no one else asks for any gear, grabbing his own gear required for the job and loading it up on the truck, also in the hangar. "You're the boss Val, you two can work out the route. What about the bike? Wanna bring it, or not? Your call, but with recent troop movements, I don't think its a good idea. It is available though at this point."

"The decision between an extra day of travel versus the possibility of encountering battalions of Coalition troops and armor seems a simple one," Leonard notes, adding, rather belatedly, "In my humble opinion, of course."

"I do need to know what our transport is, and its capabilities. That will be an important factor," de Leon states, mimicking Tek's own question. Then, "Do you guys have some specific fear of the Coalition, beyond the obvious fact that they're human supremacists?"

Jaxain shakes his head, "Not as far as I am aware." He looks over at the rest of the group. "Except we have a few magic users with us." he shrugs. Looking at Bart, he waits for questions about their transport to be answered.

"Magic users that can be detected by CS psi units." Valeriya adds before looking to Bart. "Can we bring it in the back of your truck? If we need it then it's there, if not then no worries." She asks before looking between Bart and the 'Borg on the truck's capabilities.

Tek just waits to see what the transportation decisions are, "I have a Land Rover, it has good sensors and some armor but no weapons as of yet."

Bartholemew replies to the 'Borg, "Triax B-Type Hover Work Vehicle with armor upgrade, familiar with it?" Motioning to the large vehicle he is tossing his gear up on. He gives a sharp nod to Val, "You got it boss." Then points to Tek, "You. Come on. I'll pull the truck out. You land that baby on the back of it. Ain't got the big guy to pick it up for us. Aright folks, clear the front here so we can pull out," moving to climb up in the truck.

Leonard leaves the organization to those who withhold the rights and responsibility to do so. He is merely a participant, after all. With the demand to move clear, he does so. Becoming an unintended speed bump is not on his list of goals for the day.

"Oh. Well, that limits things considering the altitude capabilities of those trucks," says the navigator. "You don't want to go the route that takes you through the Coalition. Basically leaves two options. We can swing wide to the west over the Ozarks, which are slightly barren, but easy to traverse and generally without any unusual intervention. But it'll be a long trip. Or you can take a longer time to weave through the forests, head generally north and use the rivers as highways. It's definitely more dangerous, but it's faster, assuming that you don't get too stuck in the forests. Here. I marked the two best options as I see them. Nothing's perfect, and nothing's free of danger."

Jaxain nods to the navigator, then looks at Bart and Val. "Alright. Well if we have our forward scouts out, we should be able to avoid ambush." He shrugs.

"Forests and rivers will provide more cover than barren lands. That’s my vote. Counters?" Valeriya contributes, looking to the others.

Tek gets onto the Skycycle and lands it skillfully on the back of the hovertruck. Then starts to lock it down to the bed.

Bartholemew fires up the big vehicle, shouting out before closing the door, "Works for me. That was gonna be my suggestion." And once the area is clear, he pulls it out into the open so Tek can land it on the back. Snow flies in all directions when it gets out from within the confines of its hangar. He hits the horn loudly twice to signal he is ready for Tek's attempt. Once the bike is landed and shut down, he climbs out to help secure it.

Leonard voices no objections over the whine of hoverjets, blare of horns, yells, and whatever else contributes to the cacophony.

de Leon marks up his map, then looks around to see where he's supposed to sit. Naturally, he gravitates toward the front "shotgun" passenger seat of the hovertruck's cab. If he has an opinion on the chosen route, he doesn't voice it.

Jaxain hops in the back, ready for bear, and gets his optics helmet ready to go. "Alright!" he says, smiling.

Valeriya will climb onto the truck anywhere she can ride comfortably, not being picky on location. "Alright so that’s the route. Wake me when we get there or get ambushed." She notes over the comm and goes about some meditation to recover used energy.

Tek finishes up locking the cycle down and finds his spot. He keeps his visor closed while he is out in the elements though.

Bartholemew does one final check to be sure everything needed is loaded up, but before he climbs up to head out, "Just got one last thing before we go. The three groups competing with us, one is a group of 'Borgs, the other magic and psi types, the last is a run of the mill merc group. If I remember correctly, they were the largest of the three. Mages the smallest. So be alert while we're out there. I've arranged a guardian angel that will hopefully make one, if not two, of the groups out of the picture. I'm confident one will be eliminated. The magic and psi types will probably be the ones who are not able to be molested too much. The CS and Federation both have units in the area. The CS using standard search protocols by the sounds of it. Not too sure on the Federation though. That’s about all I got to add on this right now, bout all I could find out."

"So it is a scavenger hunt and a race, both. How delightful." Aside from the comment, Leonard has nothing further to add. He merely awaits the call to board the vehicle so that they can begin. Or not.

As the navigator, Magellan finally makes a decision to take the appropriate front passenger seat. He pulls out another map - the same region, but at a far greater magnification, and all sorts of what people would assume to be navigational markings on it. Waterproofed, he uses a grease pencil to take notes. "All of my equipment is operational, I'm ready to give directions." The half-man/half-machine states his progress firmly, in a tone that says, "Yes, I do know what I'm doing."

Jaxain nods, "Alright, once we get underway, I'll relay what I found out about the object and the ship, but that isn't important right now. Let's head out!." He smiles inside his helmet.

The winter has picked up, with blowing snow thrust along by a harsh wind. Here along the landing strip the large open area allows it to be clear enough to see fifty yards clearly, one-hundred yards with difficulty. Anyone not artificially warmed is going to be uncomfortable.

Valeriya has found a spot she can sit quite still and zone out in the back though her comm is open should something important come up. Like what Jax said. "When does that get important?" She asks.

Tek is nestled in on the back of the truck near the hovercycle, the visor to his cyclops armor is down and he is glad he has environmental controls right now. With visibility so low he flips between thermal and normal vision frequently as to not miss anything.

Jaxain looks at Val and nods. "I tried to bring it up a few times before we left but no worries. I will speak next we stop and can speak face to face without radios. There ain’t no hurry." He shrugs and closes his eyes. Best to rest now, before things get hairy.

OLD HIGHWAY

Bartholemew takes the role of driver. With everyone and everything loaded up, they're off. Unfortunately the truck does not provide much of comfort as it is but a two person cab, the rest must sit out on the flatbed in the cold. "So, we're going with the forests and river highways to avoid the open barren lands. Just point the way Magellan, and I'll head that way." He uses the optics of his helm to help navigate the vehicle through the snow, ice, and rain.

Leonard settles himself between the edge of the bed and the Skycycle. In this way, the latter can serve as wind break and backrest for his seated position. Edgar stands perched on the now armored shoulder. If the weather bothers the avian in the slightest, it does not complain.

The half-man-half-machine makes a note along the side of his waterproof map. "Ten-thirty. Just go out and hit the old highway, head north. This is the easy part. Depending on traffic conditions, we'll probably take, oh, hour, two hours. Then the wilderness'll really set in." He offers a helpful point of a finger.

It will be at least an hour before Valeriya stirs again, maybe two. She remains still in her seated position, focused inside herself in a meditative trance.

Tek sighs to himself wishing he would have already have modified his armor to play files in the visor. I mean if he had this ride would be so much better, after all the new Live and Raw; Girls of Atlantis just came out.

Bartholemew nods with the direction and that’s the way he goes. Lucky for everyone, the ride is not all that bumpy. The wind shimmies the vehicle when it hits it gusting, but for the most part it's just a nasty ride through the wind and rain as usual. He keeps his attention out on the road ahead, watching the road and looking for trouble.

Leonard's attentions during the trip are not too dissimilar from Valeriya's. He rests, possibly dozing or meditating, as there is little to admire of the scenery.

de Leon doesn't have much to do for a while. Following roads should be simple enough. "So, you're going for the Council's treasure? Got some kind of 'in' for it, or just rolling the dice?"

Valeriya shows no indication of following any current conversation, simply sitting there and taking deep relaxed breaths.

Tek also seems to be just staring off to the side at the passing scenery.

Bartholemew glides out onto the highway and guns it. It's straight, relatively flat. So balls to the walls it is. He isn't without warning, over the radio, "Hang on, maxin out speed." Once he reaches a nice cruisin speed he gives just a glance over to the 'Borg, Magellan, "Not my gig, I'm here for gear and firepower. Make sure we get there and back. The lovely woman interrogating you earlier is the command chief here. It's her gig. I'm just in it for the paycheck."

Leonard might chuckle at something mentioned by Bart, but the separation of cab and bed, not to mention the wind render his words inaudible.

"Understood," is the navigator's reply to his boss. "I work for you, you work for her." He looks out the window to see how far they're hovering off the ground, and makes a face. A very strange face, considering that he already owns two half-faces. "Can you take this thing any higher? If not, we're gonna go from real fast to real slow, in what can be a bad neighborhood." His bionic eye glances out the front of the cab. "Just keep following the road." All of these spoken words are mimicked over the local radio in real time. Anyone whose radio isn't simply off is going to hear him.

"What sort of bad neighbourhood?" Valeriya asks without moving from her relaxed position.

Tek sits up so he can get a better look. Switches to thermal and scans the area carefully the C-12 rifle is at the ready.

Bartholemew pulls it up to 12 feet off the ground, using maximum clearance, but slows some as well, to a more steady cruising speed of 70 MPH. His eyes on the road ahead of course. "We should have plenty of clearance. Not like we're hauling a full load. Hell it ain't even near countin at this point. This is a twelve ton capacity vehicle."

"What, dare I ask," Leonard speaks up over the comm, "Is the plan for once we arrive? Such details have yet to be discussed, and I fear that they may prove to be mildly important."

de Leon makes a waggling motion with his human arm. Responding first to Valeriya, "The highway's okay, but damn, haven't you guys ever heard of the wilderness? Crazy out there! Never know what you might run into. We've got fifty miles of raw wilderness from the end of the road, between relative safety and a little safety at the river." His bionic eye then turns to Bart. If there were an eyebrow, it's probably arch. "You ever seen between here and there? Missouri wilderness? Ya got thirty, forty, sometimes fifty foot trees, all packed in nice 'n tight. Gotta go slow, just to get around 'em. Plus, since you can't go over, you're gonna have to stay low, or else this cab -" he bangs the metal "- is just going to keep plowing into big limbs. Only thing you have going for you is the relative lack of winter leaves." Navigators need to know not just angles and compasses, but the hows and whys to get there as well. His local broadcast finishes off, with no response to Leonard's question. Magellan's probably just as interested in an answer.

Valeriya lets out a sigh of relief as bad neighbourhood is described as the local flora. Her relaxation deepens her tone as she replies to Leonard. "We'll be looking for a clearing in the area noted on the map, and something unusual in that clearing. That is where we find out prize."

Tek similarly relaxes upon hearing the big bad tales of the tightly packed trees, and goes back to wishing he had worked on an upgrade for watching vid clips. There are still a few old dead ball games he could catch up on after all.

Bartholemew gives a nod to Magellan, taking his advice in consideration. "Gotcha. That’s why I paid to have ya along." He follows the conditions of the road and weather, along with watching out for any other surprises as well.

Leonard pans his helm to face in Valeriya's direction. "I can only assume that we have no idea of what to expect. In that case, the plan is as viable as any, I suppose. How long is the expected journey?"

The snow has temporarily abated, but in the manner that tells most people that it's just Mother Nature taking a breath before letting out the really bad stuff. An hour has passed since leaving Kingsdale, a journey slowed by the necessity to avoid poor drivers swerving out of control on ice, or allowing hover vehicles to be blown around. He doesn't question much of the trip itself, only doing his job. "How long've you been driving this thing?" de Leon shrugs weirdly, commenting, "Dodging trees gives a lot of new guys headaches. Gotta keep an eye out, too." His head inclines back to the bed. "Guess they're for that." He broadcasts in the open, "How many of you ever been out this way? Or that far north in the Territory?"

"I haven’t been that far in that particular direction, but much farther in others. Particularly to the east." Valeriya answers calmly.

Tek just sits there being quiet for now.

Bartholemew chuckles, "This particular vehicle? Not that long, but long enough. As far as goin out this far north, yeah, first time for me. Been south and west mostly, as far east as Whykin. Still not all too far from Kingsdale for the most part." Being in the cab with the 'Borg, he doesn't use the radio when talking to him. He does chime in over the short range radio of his armor, "Ley lines. Anyone here pick up ley lines? Might predict a path for one of the competitors out there."

"There hasn't much reason for me to venture out into this wilderness," Leonard notes, "Though, like Valeriya, I've traveled much further in other directions. The beaches of Australia are rather nice this time of year." While not especially relevant, warm thoughts are pleasant at the moment. "As for ley lines, I'm sure that we will know if we approach any."

"Oh. Never been that far," Magellan opines. Then, "I can navigate you all over the world, but they say that the old pilots on the Mississippi only knew a small stretch, 'cuz it changed too often for any one man to know the whole length. Well? Missouri's my area, and I'm helpin' out the riverboat captain." The wind and snow suddenly blows up, as promised, twice as hard as it had been blowing before. Thankfully they've gone far enough that highway traffic is minimal. "I'm not familiar with very many ley lines where we're going. They're around, but not packed."

"We won't near any until we're much further north into the wilderness." Valeriya answers to the question with a shrug.

Tek leans back against the hovercycle and closes his eyes for now. He remains silent at the moment.

Bartholemew cruises along, the highway portion making clean sailing along with the slight break in the weather. But now, with the weather kicking back up, things have slowed down greatly. And on top of that, the end of the highway is quickly approaching to turn to much rougher terrain. About to slow things down even more, "Just thought if we knew where they might be, it might be the way the magic types went. Thought all you magic types knew where those things were, like moths to a flame or somethin. Road's about to get a bit rougher."

Jaxain starts being a bit more alert now that they are farther from the city. "Are we gonna need to stop at any point, or are we going straight through?" Then he goes back to watching the wilderness.

de Leon holds up a hand as the road falls away and the trees near. "Twelve-thirty. We have fifty linear miles to cover, but also getting around the trees, so it's not straight. Figuring the density of the forest, the terrain, and we'll be lucky to cover about ten miles in an hour." He waves a hand. "Yeah, yeah, I know, very slow. But trust me, unless you're some ultimate master driver, you can expect that. So. That potentially leaves us in the woods after the sun goes down. We can plow ahead, or call it an early day. Up to you, I'm prepared to camp."

"Camp now? We've only been traveling for two hours. And made terrible time in that two hours. We're going to continue for about 6 more before camping." Valeriya decrees, rousing from her meditation as she doesn’t seem to be getting much concentration. "Will our time improve once we hit the river you figure?" She asks.

Tek looks up from his musings for a moment looking around and then goes back to his daydream.

Bartholemew slows down to a safe speed to traverse the forested areas. "I'm up for driving through the night, but that’s up to you boss. I wanna make some ground, we got a group two days ahead of us. The weather is a bitch though right now."

Leonard considers their own rate of travel and the worries of competition. "With two days lead, they either arrived days ago or are only a few miles ahead. In either case, I doubt that we can do much to affect them at present. Considering that our destination and the threats there are unknown, and that we will arrive after dark, I suggest that we stop short, if even by a mile or two."

de Leon actually turns his head to stick out the window and call to the bed of the truck, "Definitely! The rivers are better highways than this one, at least for the most part. A few bumps to pass, but we'll make good time. Really open up this puppy. It's just getting to 'em that's the hard part!" He makes another marking on the map, one of which is the current time, one is undecipherable. His bionic index finger is pointed slightly west of north. "Head that direction. You'll have to do some weaving, but I'll keep you in the right general direction." Indeed, the trees are so close that in places the hovertruck can't even pass. Low branches get in the way, large boulders... it's slow going, but as Magellan had said earlier, at least the lack of leaves makes it a little easier.

Valeriya considers Bart's offer with a moment of hesitation. "I'd like that too but we need you in top form when we get there. If we drive to exhaustion that’s not going to make us a match for said competition. Not unless you have a way to keep sustained."

Jaxain looks up from his watch and ponders for a moment, "Hey, Tek is some kinda master pilot or whatever. Can he take us faster? Like will that save us time, maybe?" He looks at Tek, cocking his head to the side in question.

WILDERNESS NORTH OF KINGSDALE

Bartholemew responds to Val, "Gotcha boss." His attention is consumed with navigating through the trees. The ride is smooth for as difficult and narrow some of the gaps are, but relatively managing without too many scrapes to the paint job. No major bumping of trees occurs, only the harsh brushing of the end of branches along the sides or the roof of the cab.

Leonard chuckles across the airwaves. "If a few hours riding is exhaustion, you need to improve your stamina, Valeriya. There are also mystical means to refresh or remain so, if needed. I simply thought that colliding with trees in the dark would be uncomfortable and conspicuous. Venturing a mile or two dismounted might be a bit more discrete."

"Hey! Good time," Magellan says over the radio. His hand has been moving in extremely fine detail for the past hour, one eye on the map... and one eye somehow out the window. Probably a bunch of cybernetics whirring away as well. "Thirteen miles, as the crow flies. Maybe you'll beat the sun. Adjust your heading slightly north -" he points his hand in the proper direction "- you're starting to drift a little."

Valeriya raises her brow as she glances at Leonard then grins widely. "We'll take a break at dusk. but will drive through the night." She decrees before shifting to Jax. "You have globe of daylight right?"

Tek looks up to Jax, "I could fly this hovertruck yes but unless you want to risk your neck I would not be going much faster than Bart is now. He seems to be making good time with weather and obstacles considered."

Jaxain nods to Tek and grunts. "Well, I like it fast and crazy myself, but I get what you mean." He looks at Val and nods. "I also have a flashlight. We don't want to use Globe of Daylight until we are inside the ship, because it would just broadcast our position to everyone and anyone."

Bartholemew tries adjusting north and finds a rough patch, tight squeezes and dead ends causing him to have to back out and try different approaches. The scraping of trees and branches may send people looking for cover as they whip back and forth into position as the vehicle pushes through in places. At one point a large tree is hit jostling everyone in and on the vehicle. One of many reverse modes. Whatever time he made earlier is probably lost now. By this time he is cursing to himself, though Magellan can easily hear every frustrated word.

"Just how far distant is our destination?" Leonard inquires again as he adds crack driver to his personal list of Bartholemew's talents. "If we will reach it by nightfall, or shortly thereafter, I see no reason to halt now."

Still making marks on his map, Magellan frowns. "Fuck, only four miles. Too bad this thing doesn't have a plow. Try bending west slightly more -" hand to indicate direction "- maybe it'll open up for you, and we'll make up enough time to cover this rough patch." He nothing to say to anyone else, very carefully doing the job that he was hired to do. "We really want to get to the Gascanode before nightfall, or at least real damn close. There's been a group of slavers operating in the area. Lizard-looking guys. I hear they're a bit amateurish, but ya still don't want to have to put up with shit, right?" People with chronometers will note that it's approximately two-thirty in the afternoon. Leonard is belatedly - and briefly - answered, "Little over thirty miles still." He then goes back to concentrating on his job. de Leon mumbles an addition about just under a total of three-hundred miles to make it to the destination, considering that the journey won't be straight.

Valeriya braces herself as things get a bit turbulent but doesn’t look overly bothered as she shakes her head to Jax. "No more than this thing's headlights will. You and I are going to take two hour shifts lighting the way through the night."

Tek shifts his weight a bit having been sitting for so long his cheeks are starting to tingle, and not in a good way. He still remains silent, not having anything helpful to add.

Bartholemew sure ain't finding this as easy as he thought it would be. The truck shudders each time it makes an impact with the thick trunk of a tree. So far the slow speed keeping any real damage from happening, or losing anyone off of the back. But it is a rough ride, if not bumping into the trees and throwing the passengers side to side, front to back. They are dodging swinging branches that whip across from their bent back positions. A lot less backing up, but still there are places where the trees are just too thick to push aside or squeeze by. His cursing hasn't subsided much either, just become more directed at the trees than random curses. The west does prove a bit more maneuverable with a younger generation of shrubbery to push through, just a lot more whipping trees and branches coming from it. "Who needs headlights?" Seeming to hear something mentioned of it.

Jaxain shakes his head to Val. "The globe doesn't shine ahead very far, and it's omnidirectional. It will light up the entire sky around us, unlike headlights, and will only shine about 40 or so feet ahead, which won't help out our driver. We would be much better off if he just used a thermal optics system to navigate." He makes sure his radio is on. "Do you copy that, Bart? You got an optics system you can use to drive at night?"

"Anyone who does not have night vision and does not wish to collide with solid objects in the dark." At the belated information concerning their /actual/ destination, Leonard exhales a sigh loud enough to trigger the VOX. "I've no intention of spending the next few days of my life encased in an uncomfortable cocoon upon the back of a dangerous, and very /slow/ vehicle when we could have had our prize in hand and enjoying a glass of wine in warm comfort and company at this time."

There's a large enough bump that even de Leon's head bounces off the ceiling of the cab, but he smiles - or maybe smiles, it's hard to tell - and says, "Good time, good distance. Don't matter how you get there, as long as you get there, right?" Speaking of right, "Pull to the right, we need to get back on track. Twenty miles straight. If we keep making good time, we might hit it before sundown."

"Omnidirectional for sixty feet at my level. Half of that’s going to be shadowed by my hand holding it. What's an extra twenty feet? And thermal vision to see in a dark forest at winter? There isn’t any thermal to read. We need light or Leonard has a very valid point." Valeriya retorts with a glance to Leo. "Have a little patience, once we it the river it will smooth out. Will only take us a day to get there."

Tek smiles and keeps looking out at the trees as they pass. When the truck hits the bump Tek flies up a little wild but manages to grab ahold of something.

Jaxain taps his radio. "Bart? Can you read me?" He isn't sure if his radio is broken. "Thermal systems would work better, and if it comes down to it." He reaches into his bag, rummages a moment, and takes out a flashlight with a cross taped to the front. Peeling the tape off, he shines it off onto a tree and even in the waning daylight it's a BRIGHT DAMN FLASHLIGHT. Longer range than a Globe of Daylight by far, and a broad beam to boot. He shrugs. "No point in wasting PPE."

Bartholemew says so everyone in the group can hear him, "This ain't no easy go pick it up from the warehouse and drop it back off kinda thing. We still got something like 400 square miles to search. We got it lucky though, all them other groups got thousands of square miles to search. So I suggest you get used to that cocoon, it's gonna be longer than you think. Oh, and yeah Jax, got all kinds of optics for night travel, we're good." The ride gets a bit smoother, the bumping of the vehicle stops as it seems the soldier is getting the hang of this tight maneuvering. It's still a slow go though, the trees only thicken, allowing very little distance to be covered as the group winds its way through the maze of forestry.

Perhaps it is his dubbed position as 'transportation specialist,' and the fact that he cannot claim to be involved in even that at the moment that makes Leonard uneasy. As well, that he can travel to any physical point in an infinite number of realms in a matter of seconds tends to bias him against lengthy commutes. Nor is he the only one who has possibly become impatient, given that Edgar took flight several minutes ago. The corvid can easily fly more quickly, and directly than the vehicle. A literal example of the vernacular simile, in effect.

The navigator comments on the smooth ride, but also a lack of distance traveled. He also points westward. "Look. Sun's hitting the horizon. We've got about... oh, just over half an hour before it's genuinely dark out here." He seems to be about to say something further when four blasts come flying out of the forest. Two of them slam into the cab, one into the bed, and one of them nails the semi-relaxing Tek.

Bartholemew tries to assess the situation still pushing onward, if they haven't stopped him, he's not stopping yet. Bartholemew keeps pushing despite the incoming fire, let em chase em. " Two port and two starboard, gonna try and make a break for it." He pushes the speed a bit, but it's still not like he's flying or anything, he may hit 20 mph when all said and done, maybe.

One of the enemy fires again, nailing the cab next to Magellan. The door's window is looking pretty bad at this point.

Someone aims at Tek again, but the shot goes astray, demolishing a huge branch instead.

Another shot blasts out of the snow and impacts the truck's door, just below the window. The metal door screeches and all but disintegrates, well-holed and hanging off of a hinge.

One final angry bolt slaps into the bed, scarring it.

Valeriya had a particularly good rant to lay into Jax, lucky for him shots hail down on them. Which of course gets Valeriya cursing and moving towards the side receiving fire as she swears in a dark tongue to invoke and 8 foot diameter energy field. "Go as fast as you dare Bart, Leo and Jax, if you have this spell protecting the rest of the truck would be an idea." She notes, having already positioned herself to protect the front part of that side.

Tek gets as much cover as he can using the side of the truck hunkered down he concentrates for a moment.

Jaxain says, "Nah, Don't got that spell, but I can give them another target to shoot at." With those words mutters a quick incantation and points, "Right there, and there." For anyone who missed them, then he hops off the truck in the direction of two of the snipers and says, "Alright, let's get this party started!" He waves his arms in the air, large vibro-blades extending as he makes himself as obvious a target as possible to draw fire from the truck. Jaxain radios to Bart, "I'll catch up later, keep going."

Expecting to be bored to death, rather than vaporized, Leonard is a touch slow to react. When he does, Valeriya's point is taken, with a protective field rapidly conjured to protect the bed of the truck. Which conveniently includes himself.

Bartholemew continues making a run for it, "Gotcha Jax, see ya in a bit." weaving skillfully through the trees. It's not fast, but it is smooth. No bumps or scrapes, just weaving and dodging trees.

Another bolt reaches out as if to strike de Leon, who now appears to be completely unprotected - but smacks against Valeriya's energy shield, blunting its attack.

Magellan isn't a soldier, and spends a lot of time split between looking at a map and ducking.

Possibly because the vehicle continues to move - albeit slowly - another shot at de Leon goes astray, blasting apart a tree trunk that had otherwise been surviving the winter.

Having seen one man jump off of the vehicle, someone decides that there's a new, and more entertaining target to be had. Jaxain is that target. A tiny blue bolt sizzles out toward him.

The other person on that side picks on Jaxain for now, too.

Valeriya's expression is confused as Jax jumps ship to sacrifice himself for the good of the group. Sure it's noble and all, but by her expression she certainly doesn’t know how he will catch up. "I hope he knows what the hell he is doing. We won't be able to afford to come back for him," is her only comment as the shield holds against the incoming fire.

Tek uses the thermal optics in his helmet to try and get a fix on one of the people who are shooting at them. While he is looking he says, "I can shoot out right?"

Jaxain starts walking towards the two slavers he has in his sights, unslinging his rifle and taking two controlled bursts. "Yeehahh!" he says. He has not only a flash suppressor, but a silencer, so the sound of his yell far exceeds the sound of the gun. But still. Baddbadddbadddass.

One being beneath the snow stops moving as the bolts from Jaxain's rifle lance into his body.

"If he doesn't," Leonard notes, "And survives long enough to realize it, he may be fleeing quickly enough to reach us." For the moment, there is little other action for him to take. The attackers are not visible, and no one in the truck bed can fire out directly even if they were.

Bartholemew continues to weave through the trees like a master. Just keeping a steady speed so not to make things more difficult than they already are. Quick enough to put some ground between the gunmen and the vehicle.

There's still room to shoot, and one of the combatants on the shot-up side rises to a kneeling position and pumps out a pulse of laser energy at the offending navigator. Someone needs to die, and he seems the easiest, obvious choice. That first blunting must have been a misfire.

The remaining slaver on Jaxain's side gets up out of the snow and charges the man, throwing down a rifle as he goes, and peeling two large vibro-swords from across his back. He's screaming some probably unkind things as they close - and he looks like a man who probably knows what he's doing.

Another group of laser pulses fires off at the cab. It gets hammered fairly well. Now there are two combatants to the general right of the vehicle, one behind the vehicle where Jaxain and the other opponent are squaring off.

"One more shot like that and this shield is done. Have another." Valeriya offers, chanting another string of alien syllables as she gestures to conjure a second energy field just inside the first.

Tek continues to scan the area for bad guys. Keeping track of where they are. He still has the C-12 raised and aimed, "So can I shoot through this thing or not?" he glances over his shoulder at Valeriya

"Nope, but on the bright side you also can't be shot. Save the ammo, we'll need it later." Valeriya answers quickly.

Jaxain keeps an eye on the enraged slaver charging him, but judges he can get off three bursts before he has to turn and face the oncoming warrior, so he blasts away at the a-holes trying to destroy Bart's truck, then re-assess the situation after wards. "Watch your flank, Bart! I'm trying to turn their attention."

The shots fly true, and the two men are quickly vaporized. Unlike the remaining figure, they may not have been counting on body armor to save them, only camouflage.

Leonard focuses his attention on the truck upon which he slowly rides away. His choice of seat against the Skycycle also obliterates his line of sight to the opposing side. The side that is, apparently, where most of the activity occurs.

Bartholemew is driving his truck away from the scene of the brief battle, and doing so quite well when it comes to avoiding trees. The blowing wind and snow makes seeing things difficult, blinding most of the people riding along in the vehicle whose right door has been blown to pieces, hanging off a hinge. de Leon is covering himself as best he can, but also trying to keep Bartholemew pointed in the right direction, so that they don't end up looping around on themselves. Jaxain has jumped off the truck, and is facing down one angry man in body armor charging with two very large vibro-swords raised.

Tek stands and points. He says over the radio as he is pointing, "There is a slaver train right over there."

Leonard rises slowly, carefully in order to survey what remains of the increasingly distant conflict. Now that no incoming fire has arrived in a few seconds, he wagers that it is more safe to do so.

Valeriya patiently waits for the truck to leave the field of battle under the protective shielding. She nods slightly to Tek as he points out the train. "Be sure to give it a good wave goodbye."

Jaxain blinks in surprise, slightly shocked, as he turns to face his sword wielding opponent. Muttering a few mystical words, he increases his strength to superhuman levels, then he lets loose with a dual blow at the oncoming fighter. Jaxain says over the radio, "Tek, details, train, crap, uhhhhgg."

The person in EBA swings the large swords fast enough to parry the incoming attacks, knocking them aside with little effort.

Bartholemew is still zigging and zagging through the trees confidently, the slavers sure didn't pick a good ambush spot, it seems more open now than an hour ago.

After having deflected the incoming attacks, the more imposing figure pulls up for only a brief moment. Then a shimmering carpet of energy appears, ready to ensnare anyone foolish enough to have decided to fight a slaver in close combat.

de Leon just keeps pointing Bartholemew in the direction of 'out.'

Tek uses the telescopic portion of his helmet to get a better look at the train. He then says over the radio, "Not sure, looks like cages for box cars."

"Well," Leonard opines as he observes the agile, if rash, Jaxain, "If distraction to aid our escape was his intent, I'd say that he's succeeded quite well." His helm pans to Valeriya, regardless of the fact that he's conversing over the radio, "Were you planning on him participating in any of the journey further on?"

"I was kinda hoping he'd be with us for the main event yeah." Valeriya answers with a shrug. "I guess we'll see if he catches up like he said he would."

Eyes opening wide in surprise as he suddenly sees magical entrapment, slavery, then death flying towards him, Jaxain swears, "SHIT!" As he activates the rockets built into his boots, loud but quickly muffled by the trees, and sends himself careening up into the air in a somersault, just barely avoiding his fate. As he falls towards the ground he swears at the man who almost got him, "You FUCK!" As he mutters a pair of enchantments, attempting to return the favor as sticky magical energy springs out in an attempt to ensnare the slaver.

Bartholemew has found his groove, the trees in the forest have become nothing more than guiding cones to show him the way. Skillfully he maneuvers the large cargo vehicle through the forest in their escape. "Hey Magellan, you doin ok over there? Ain't heard a peep outta ya."

Having had to dodge an attempt at the taste of his own medicine, the armored slaver rolls to his feet and points a sword at Jaxain. The entire area around the man instantly becomes a sticky mass. It's as if the snow has become a flypaper-like white glue.

de Leon seems to appreciate Bart's conversation, sitting up a little straighter. "Ah, yeah, I'm fine," he says in that odd voice of his. "You're doin' fine, just get out of here, and I'll get us back on track."

Tek says over the radio, "Man there are a lot of people crammed in that hover train, I'd say a hundred or so people in those cages. I only see two guards though."

Leonard watches as agility and/or luck now expires for Jaxain. He turns to reseat himself for the continuing ride. "My instincts tell me that he will not be joining us anytime soon." His attention then shifts to Tek's comments. "Train? What train?" Leonard may have missed prior discussion in the midst of the firefight. "Is it relevant? It could be, if it is moving in the proper direction and faster than this truck can manage."

"Then it may be a hundred and one soon. We have neither the time or resources to change that," Valeriya notes to Tek with a shrug and a sigh. She doesn't look happy to leave it like this. But doesn’t see an option.

Bartholemew runs outta luck, too many trees missed, not this one though, it said Hell No! You better think again. The truck hits hard, and it's loud, but it doesn't stop him, he adjusts and keeps it moving. The people in the back might not be too appreciative of that one.

Jaxain narrows his eyes at his would be captor, and raises his hand to unleash an energy blast. Or a flurry of them to be precise, at the magic user. "Drop your weapons and cancel the spell, and I'll let you live." He says as he shoots, his words somewhat at odds. But maybe he's planning on missing on purpose!

The slaver drops, not quite as quickly as one might expect, but he does go down, obviously holed. In the distance, the two guards at the train immediately look up and grab weapons. One of them takes immediate cover behind a tree, the other begins to move forward, running from cover to cover, advancing on Jaxain's position.

Tek says across the radio, "Jax looks like he is in trouble. Do you want me to take the cycle and go and get him?"

"Drive, drive!" Magellan seems to have his own best interest in mind. Whether that be his own hide, or getting a job done is anyone's guess. Of course, being thrown violently forward against the dashboard didn't help his mood any.

"That is a question for our attractive and wise employer," is Leonard's reply, along with a gesture to Valeriya. "I'm not entirely certain that he is especially useful. More than once, at least."

"And risk you and the Skycycle to the same fate? No. Either he can handle it or he has made a sacrifice so we can go on. But from the looks of things he actually has things well in hand," Valeriya decides, still holding the shield as the truck moves further and further away.

Jaxain growls into the radio, "I'm alright, and I'm going to help these people whether you selfish fucks decide to or not. I'm sure as fuck not going to tell you what you are looking for, or how to safely disconnect it, or how to safely transport it if you leave these people behind. We don't have to take them back to a city, but we can give them the weapons from the dead slavers and point them to Kingsdale. I'm no saint, but I can't BELIVE you would run from two slavers and leave these poor people behind! What, maybe it will slow us 10 minutes at most? Out of several days travel? That’s a god damn rest stop to take a piss, you cowards!!" With that, he mutters a few choice words and vanishes from sight. Neither thermals or visuals can make him out.

Bartholemew isn't phased by the brief lapse in his weaves, the little bump maybe keeping him from getting too cocky about it, getting back on track quite quickly. He hasn't gotten an order, so he's not changing his action. It's just how a soldier rolls.

The first guard is holding back, having moved forward slightly, sheltering well in snow and behind a tree. For now, he's holding his fire against the carpeted-but-invisible opponent.

The second guard is moving forward fairly quickly. He gets within about seventy-five feet of where his dead friend and carpet of adhesion lay, then tosses a grenade blindly in that direction. It flies off and starts to emit a faint yellow gas, harmlessly.

"Go! Twenty miles, man, fuck it!" Magellan punches the dashboard.

Currently, the winter storm continues to rage. The only good thing is that there aren't many leaves to blow around. Bartholemew is doing a good job of weaving through the trees, even though it realistically isn't any faster than before. Perhaps it's adrenaline. The hired navigator is giving directions to get to the river. The right front door of the truck has been blown off, and the bed slightly damaged. Tek has taken a light shot to his body armor, but the real trouble is Jaxain, who is currently thoroughly stuck to a magical adhesive in the snow a hundred yards away. A distance beyond that - and difficult to make out through the snow - is a slave train. Two guards were there, moving up toward Jaxain's position. One of them has vanished from view, the one farther back, but the second is quite close to the invisible Jaxain's position, having just chucked some kind of grenade into the area.

Jaxain didn't appreciate the grenade very much, he whispers words of magic and power quietly, covering the man's hiding place entirely in a sticky covering. Not unlike the one he is stuck in now, strangely.

The guard close to Jaxain taking cover behind the tree is firmly anchored to the snow.

de Leon isn't looking back. In fact, he's getting more comfortable now that things aren't happening. Even offers a more refined point of his finger to indicate the direction they want to go.

Tek says, "I only see one more guard back there and there are a couple hundred people locked in those cages. Are we really going to leave them?"

Even behind his armor, it's obvious that the stuck guard isn't happy. Fortunately, as he'd been flush against the tree, his hands are quite clear, though his feet are terribly stuck. He just hurls two grenades over his shoulder in what he hopes is the general direction of the offender.

As was recently, and rather bluntly, stated, it is not the fault of others should one run off and make themselves a target. Leonard already made such an error once, and he does not plan to do so again. "They are not our responsibility." He is not heartless, however. "Should I see you again, Jax, I will apologize that I couldn't do more."

"There is a distinct difference between bravery and insanity. Leaping off a truck and abandoning your objective for idealism doesn’t sound like the former." Valeriya returns over the radio. "You want to free slaves, go ahead. But don't expect me to drop everything for your indulgence. I have my objective, and my resources must be focused on it alone it its to succeed," she explains before shaking her head to Tek. "Jax is more than capable of handling the remaining guard or two. Let him."

Bartholemew smooths out the erratic nature of travel as the combat seems to have diminished completely. With Magellan's instructions, they are easily back on track to the river.

The first guard remains vanished who wherever he or she has gone.

Tek says into the radio, "That hover train has got to be worth a pretty penny. I mean too bad about the slaves and all but man I would have liked to see the inner workings of it."

Perhaps he's a cold-hearted man. Perhaps he's a man with a cold heart. Perhaps he has no heart at all, just a power supply. Perhaps he didn't even hear anything about Jaxain or slaves. Whatever the case, Magellan points northeast. "Okay. Slow it down, keep going. We lost a little time, but we can probably make it up before sundown."

With an angry growl, two more grenades are blindly chucked from behind the same tree. Again, they land wide, but this time explode loud and bright.

Jaxain mutters a few magical words, quietly, and enables himself to see the invisible. Just in case. Then he looks around again, evaluating targets, and starts to take aim at the man throwing the grenades as he sees no invisible foes.

"Once we make camp," Leonard now comments on more impending future events, "Perhaps we can discuss possible alternate transportation? If nothing else, a brief, discrete reconnaissance of our final destination could be valuable."

"It poses too great of a distraction at this time. Five other groups are after our objective with is worth a very pretty penny. And we're not in the lead. I can't afford side treks right now. After our job is done I'm all for it. Not before." Valeriya explains to Tek before shrugging at Leonard. "We will camp just shy of the objective, proceed with recon and searching from there. We've only got one more run through the forest like this one coming up, then it's all clear."

The group continues on toward the river, leaving Jaxain to his fate.

Jaxain Goes After the Slavers

The Missouri winter continues to pound Bartholemew's hovertruck and everyone aboard. Blowing snow has turned to blowing sleet, freezing rain that is beginning to cake the tied-down Skycycle in an icy jacket. Although it will never reach the cargo capacity of the vehicle, ice continues to build in impressive masses that often retain their diagonal flow even when crystallized in mid-air. The truck itself is looking somewhat worse for the wear, with its passenger door having been blown off by light fire from energy weapons wielded by slavers. The bed took a small shot, and a skittering blast worked across Tek's body armor. The most obvious difference between this moment and a few minutes earlier is Jaxain's conspicuous absence. After leaping off of the truck to combat the slavers, he was left behind by the rest of the group, who continued north toward the promised safety of the Gasconade River. The man's ultimate fate is unknown.

"Make a left at that giant oak," de Leon instructs, pointing with his bionic arm. "Twenty miles or so before we come out into the Gasconade's valley. Pretty open there, not much trouble until we actually get into or over the water. Safe place to camp." He waits silently for a moment before asking, "Not that I really give a damn, but that other guy piss you off or something? He one of those holier-than-thou types? Kinda sounded like it on the radio, but I don't know him." Magellan's voice continues to come out in that odd Spanish-Italian-digital accent.

Once back on track, slavers long gone behind them, the terrain and weather are taking its toll. Bart does very well in keeping on course and avoiding obstacles in the way and puts a good seven or eight mile distance between where the hostilities were and they are now. "Sounds good. Now if only the weather would let up. Guess it's halfway decent cover," he says to Magellan, making the left at the oak as told.

"He just has different priorities." Valeriya replies with a shrug as she takes a look at what's left of the door, if anything. "I don’t hold that against him, unless he starts demanding my priorities change to suit his. That would be an ok demand if I was working for him. But I'm not. He was working for me."

Tek can hear the chatter on the radio but he does not respond. Moving over carefully to the Skycycle the robot arm on Tek's armor extends out and when he gets it in position he starts using the laser finger to attempt to deice the important parts vital to flight capabilities with it.

de Leon nods to Bartholemew's suggestion about the cover of weather, and to Valeriya's explanation of Jaxain's actions, only offers in his strange tone, "Ah, I understand." His attention is on the map and the front window, though he notes the obvious. "We're going to be in complete darkness by the time we get to the river, assuming we keep making good time. Keep it up, you don't want to get caught here in the dark."

The weather is making visibility pretty much nothing, even for optic systems. Bartholemew doesn't seem to cover much ground, having to slow to a near crawl to even remotely navigate through the forest. It's at that point here, yup, we could walk faster. Just the circumstances though, they all are against us.

Valeriya turns away from the cab to take in the box and Leo and Tek who still occupy it. "Everyone and everything still in one piece?" She asks of them both, starting to relax again with the action passed.

Tek carefully moves around the hovercycle extending the robot arm here and there where it extends out and a small bright light comes out of one of the fingers. After a chunk or two of ice falls out of the crack or crevice. After doing this in several well selected areas Tek moves back to where he was, the robot arm retracts back to it's former position on top of his forearm. "The cycle looks fine, just keeping the ice from building up in key areas that would prevent it from flying." he replies into his radio.

de Leon grunts, clearly not pleased with their last progress. At this point, the very top arc of the sun has dipped below the western horizon, and the navigator is getting fidgety. "C'mon, c'mon. Just press it, man. Screw keeping the truck pretty." His own exposure with not having a protective passenger door may be part of his temporary fragility.

Bartholemew does exactly that, he presses it, appears under stress he does much better and makes good time. There's a couple small bumps along the way, but that is only so he can get the pace up and keep it up. Just up ahead begins to look like it might be opening up, but he could be mistaken with the weather.

"The pretty truck is getting us there and back. Keeping it 'pretty' is advisable for our continued survival." Valeriya notes to Magellan’s pushing of Bart. Not that she dislikes good time. But she really likes getting there in one piece. "Good thinking." She says encouragingly to Tek.

Tek nods in Valeriya's direction in response to her comment. His attention is now split between looking out his side of the truck bed for anything that might pose a threat with his thermal optics and keeping tabs on the ice buildup on the cycle so he can deice it again if need be.

The trees do indeed open up. Breaking out of the forest at seven in the evening meant that there were glowing eyes following the hovertruck during its last half-mile or so. Obvious creatures in the dark making hungry, growling noises. Large, toothy creatures like mutant gorillas of some kind, when revealed by thermal optics. However, this ends at the treeline. Here at the ford initially marked by the man who did the overflight is a valley roughly seven-hundred feet across. On the other side of the valley, and to all sides of this half-ford rise hundred-foot tall sheer cliffs. The three-hundred foot wide Gasconade rushes down the center. It's a very fast moving river. The two-hundred feet on either side are a mix of low grass and loose sand. It does seem safe, as the hired navigator had promised. This represents a sudden break in the weather, too, as the storm blows itself out, leaving - at least for now - a very clear sky with a moon large enough to illuminate the area for people to see fairly well without special optics. de Leon gives Bartholemew a punch on the shoulder. "We made it, hot damn!" Then he jumps out of the cab and asks the obvious, "So, we're camping here, right? Where you sleepin'?" As he wanders over toward the river, he tosses back over his shoulder in that odd scratchy, accented tone, "Which one of you was in charge of bringin' food?"

Bartholemew comments back to Val, "It'll get us there an back, don't worry bout that, a few trees ain't gonna bang her up too bad, nuthin a can a spray paint can't fix. An see, told ya we'd get there." Pulling over for at least a good stretch out a moment. "Well boss, we campin or am I still driving? Hell Tek can take a turn if he likes too, but I'm still good. Used to forced marches in the night. Just need to stretch out the legs a bit."

Valeriya shrugs, not objecting to a short break to stretch ones legs and give the truck a more thorough check for damage. "We won't be camping here, thirty minutes rest period, Leonard is going to take care of our sustenance during such. If you prefer actual food, and have it, go ahead. After which we'll continue to the next point of landfall and consider camping there."

Tek does not move right away when the truck stops but seems to simply starts to concentrate for a moment before standing and moving around to the passenger door inspecting the damage there for a moment.

de Leon doesn't take much time to stretch his... leg? He's quickly back at the truck, having listened to Valeriya's words. It doesn't take much time for him to scramble back into his seat, though he does ask, "You have anything to put across this? I'm really open to a shot right now." This time, he braces himself between the dashboard and the seat with his bionic leg. "You want to go to the next landfall? It's about sixty miles of river to our next stop, in some relative darkness. But as long as no one overturns us in the rapids, you can make good time." He then idly wonders, "What's the difference between actual food and sustenance?" He follows Bartholemew's stretching and calls out to him a few words of congratulations for bringing them this far.

Bartholemew circles the truck inspecting the damage while stretching out his legs a bit. No tires to thump, and no training, so just the obvious is noticeable to the soldier. He also takes the time to pop open his visor to partake in a cigar. "Thanks. Good job keepin us on course. Hey Tek, think you can re-attach that door a bit?"

"The sustenance is a magic spell that will take care of your food and water needs for the next 24 hours. It will also rejuvenate you with plenty of energy so you only need 2 hours of sleep." Valeriya explains to Magellan as she moves towards Leo to get her hit.

Tek gives the truck a once over and asks Bart, "So if there is someplace I might be able to take some material from I might be able to rig up something to give more protection for the passenger."

Leonard has hopped down from the truck to give himself some time to stretch, sending Edgar into the air to make some reconnaissance circles of the local area. When Valeriya approaches, he casts the necessary spell that will sustain her for another day.

de Leon looks down at his map and starts to make a few markings. Apparently he has nothing else to add to the conversation at the moment.

Bartholemew is quite happy with the explanation Val gives for sustenance, better to save the trail rations for a time when they are really needed. "Take a hit a that when ya get the chance." Then looks to Tek while heading over for a shot of magical sustenance, "Do what ya feel is needed and can be spared for the moment. Need to keep the metal guy alive. Is thirty minutes enough time?"

"Take the back fender off and tack to the cab if you insist." Valeriya suggests encouragingly as the boys debate the options. She is clearly rejuvenated by the spell and eager to help so they can get back moving. "That or I'll have to sit on the navigator's lap to protect him."

Tek nods to Bart as he gives him permission to do whatever is needed, "I will do what I can," and then moves over to the truck and carefully starts cutting pieces of armor from various places on the main body.

Leonard waits quietly, then supplies Bartholemew with the same energy that he did for Valeriya.

The navigator makes no comment about a woman sitting on his lap. But he does seem happy that people are at least attempting to see to his well-being. "Anyone ever flown a river before?"

Bartholemew chuckles to the Navigator, "No. But it ain't never stopped me before. Got us this far didn't I?" Then goes over to lend a hand or supervise Tek in his jury-rigging. "Thanks for the juice Leonard."

"Nope." Valeriya answers to the question of taking the hovertruck over water. "Anything we need to be aware of on the concept?"

After cutting off armor pieces from here and there from many different places he starts welding them into place on the area where the door use to be on the passenger side. After completing the work he looks over to Bart, "It might not be pretty but it is better than it was. Though until it can be fixed correctly the passenger will have to get in and out of the truck on the driver's side."

Leonard nods quietly to Bartholemew's thanks, waiting for Edgar to return. When the raven does, he announces, "The area seems safe for five miles around."

Magellan watches as Tek goes about his work, asking rhetorically, "I wondered how I'm supposed to get out in case of an emergency. Thanks, man." His head swivels backwards unnaturally far. "Rivers are very fast, but sometimes hover vehicles can find them almost, ah... slippery? But I doubt you'll have any problems except for the drops. Only three between here and there, but they're beyond the standard abilities of this truck." He looks to Bartholemew. "Take some good flying to get of 'em without trouble." Having answered questions, his eyes go to the vertical cliffs, scanning them. Apparently he isn't interested in actually eating any food that he'd mentioned.

Bartholemew watches Tek take care of the damage, not that he'd mess up or anything. Replying to Magellan as he tosses the last of his cigar to the ground, "Slippery and three drops. What kind a drops are we talking?"

Valeriya raises a brow at the mention of drops, paying very close attention to the conversation. She's got that sinking feeling.

After finishing up his work Tek makes his way over to Leonard to get his boost. Afterward he walks over near the edge so he can get a good look at the river. Using his magnification and thermal enhancements he scans the area in several different ways to get a feel for what is to come next on their voyage.

Leonard wanders over toward the truck, completely uninterested in Tek's work, but he does give him the same magical food benefits that he gave everyone else.

"The first drop is a sheer thirty feet. Then twenty-five, then twenty down to the regular flow that'd take ya all the way to the Missouri, if you wanted to go that far. Has to do with the geology, rock, somethin' like that. Just know that you're going to have to get past. Lotta guys just floor it and try to fly." de Leon shrugs, not offering opinion one way or another. He keeps looking up at the cliffs, saying, "Every time I come here, they remind me of something, but I can never put my finger on it. But unless you're a poor pilot, the 'slippery' part shouldn't cause you any problems. You said you can do seventy in this thing?" He knocks his flesh-hand against the new door. "We can probably make next landfall in an hour and a half." There isn't much to be seen within range of optics on this stretch, as the river does bend and curve, thus blocking sight lines. Just a deep canyon with steep walls and some occasional sandy 'beaches.'

Bartholemew chuckles to the half machine, "This baby'll do almost twice that. If flying is what is needed, then flying she'll do. How long before we get to the first drop and so on?" he then looks to Tek, "I need you to fly the cycle during those drops, I don't wanna destroy two vehicles if something bad happens."

Valeriya relaxes as the feet turn out to be not so bad for the drops. "Thirty feet is the largest? That shouldn’t be too big of a deal. Let's get it done."

Tek nods in agreement, "I am up for some more. Got the kinks out and made it a bit safer for our navigator, let's hit it." Then moving back over to the truck Tek gives the Skycycle another once over to see if any deicing needs doing before the truck gets back on the road.

Leonard climbs back into his position in the bed without any further words other than to say that this is a poor way to travel.

de Leon waves Tek. "Thanks, man! Okay, just turn down river. 'bout twenty miles clean before we get to the first drop." He braces himself again, but now also gives a little lean of his fleshy arm on the new door, getting comfortable. "Not much navigating to do on a river. Just keeping track of the miles."

Bartholemew is all good with that and climbs up after Magellan climbs his self inside, being they have to use the same door now. Firing up the truck again he switches to night vision optics so he will be able to go without headlights, the ambient light of the moon should be more than enough to light the way. "All set? We're off." He takes the river highway at a comfortable 70mph, keeping it safe and steady.

Valeriya hops into the back of the truck and devotes the next twenty miles to finding the best spot back there to hang onto for the foretold drop. Anything that can't move against her strength should be adequate.

Tek knows where he can get a good grip and footholds so he decides to climb atop the Skycycle that is still attached to the truck for this next portion.

After a few miles, Leonard sends up his avian friend, and quickly reports back, "There are flying creatures up ahead."

de Leon listens to the mage and snaps his fingers. "Oh yeah, that's it. Well, maybe you're faster? They like to hang in the cliffs." He points out the window at a group of four, very large pterodactyl-like creatures swooping down very quickly on the hovertruck from the front, screeching out high-pitched cries as they go. The navigator doesn't offer any more information for now, just ducks down and retrieves a tiny little pistol from one of his metal boxes. "'bout twelve miles to the first drop."

Bartholemew quickly slows the vehicle to a stop, trying to find a bit of land to do the stopping on if able. If not, he keeps the truck as steady as possible for him to take off, "Alright Tek, get that puppy unloaded and in the air. They like to swoop down, you swoop down on them. If nothing else, should split their targets. Try not to use up missiles, last resort weapon."

Valeriya just shakes her head as more complications loom ahead. "I can take em out one at a time, but they have to be pretty close to do so." She says, preparing to do just that. If one comes within 60 feet she'll hit it with a good flash.

Tek jumps down and quickly takes off the bindings on the Skycycle. After jumping on it he pauses for a moment concentrating before firing it up and taking off. Once in the air he heads off towards the flying monsters with weapons at the ready.

Leonard quickly releases his raven into the sky, otherwise waiting similarly like Valeriya, though commenting somewhat smugly about distance. Acting quickly, Leonard is the first one to strike. A few words bring up a shimmering energy field that encapsulates his body with a mass of writhing, disgusting blobs and tentacles, then a long bolt of electricity shoots out toward the nearest creature, striking it in the chest and causing it to smoke. However, the beast continues toward the truck and gathered party.

Maddened by the attack, one of the creatures swoops in on Leonard, slashing with his huge lower talons. They scrape fiercely across the shimmering energy field, then the creature has passed, beginning to circle back.

Now that Tek has the Skycycle up to speed he cuts in sharply opening up with a dual laser blast on one of the creatures. The laser blasts scar the chest of another creature, which screams in anger.

The assaulted winged beast flies up into the sky and makes a powerful diving attack at Tek and his Skycycle. Its eerie, high-pitched screech is that of fingernails being pulled. For some reason, one of its wings collapses, and it flies past the 'cycle and into the river below. It begins to shake off the water. Confused but possibly even more angry than before.

Seeing its other comrade somehow hurt attacking the artificially flying object, the remaining reptilian aviator makes a similar dive, the claws of its massive feet pressed forward. Its full weight and enormous natural scythes slam into the Skycycle like a bus hitting a compact car.

Bartholemew guns the vehicle once Tek is in the air, giving only a brief warning, "Hold on tight!" Speed is his goal, speed in the direction they want to be going. Get past the big bad birds and on their way. This time, at least no trees will be in the way.

Valeriya disappears from conventional view with one utterance and gesture then with another. A very bright flash of light goes off in front of the attacker that splashed down.

The flash of light succeeds in getting the creature's attention. It doesn't blind it, but causes it to take more time flapping out of the river.

The remaining beast swoops down for a strike at Leonard. More claws clatter across the mage's energy field.

de Leon just shouts, "Drive, drive! Floor it, get past the nest, they'll stop! I *told* you that people fly through here!" He pokes his little pistol out the window, but doesn't bother to pull the trigger at anything.

The beleaguered shifter aims at the same creature he hit before, this time bringing down two bolts of lightning on the infernal scaled beast. Both bolts strike their target, causing significant damage.

Unfortunately, the severely wounded creature is single-minded and none-too-bright, swooping down on Leonard even as it is struck More claws scratch at the magical armor, but it remains strong.

After getting slammed and the bike's armor all but collapsing Tek guns it to full speed in the same direction the truck is heading but only until he is just shy of a mile away from these creatures at which time he whips the Skycycle around.

The creature that has just emerged from the water following its dramatic miss can see no target that may have wounded it. Instead, it simply attacks in what it hopes is the general direction, flailing for whatever it will hit nearby. In this case, it decides simply on tearing at the cab of the truck with its huge claws.

The creature that struck the offending Skycycle takes off after it as it flees. Though it is hopelessly outclassed in terms of speed, it is at least dedicated on the level of an animal intelligence.

Bartholemew pushes the vehicle to its limits on the river highway now, flooring it. We'll see how long it takes to get this truck to 130mph now by god. "I'm going! I'm going!" he shouts back to the navigator. "Just keep an eye on them birds an tell me where they comin from."

Valeriya has two of these things decently close now so she sends out a flash at each. Both creatures blink as the flashes go off, but are otherwise not bothered by the magic.

The fourth creature is beginning to fall back at this point, not able to keep up with the truck that it had swooped by in one of its attacks on Leonard.

de Leon points 'up.' In answer to 'Where they comin from.' "The walls, they hug the walls! I've never seen 'em this far north. Just keep going. They'll give up before you hit the first drop, but not by much."

Just to be safe, Leonard brings down more bolts of electrical energy on the original creature. Finally, the assault is too much, and the offensive reptile falls from the sky in smoking pieces.

Tek is still trying to gain some distance from the creature that is pursuing him before he turns around.

The creature that seconds ago smashed the Skycycle nearly out of the sky is having difficulty keeping up with the truck as well. The winged animal flying next to it cannot keep up either. They're not falling back quickly, but they are falling back inevitably.

Bartholemew just keeps going as fast as he can. Might as well keep going till that jump comes and take it at full speed. "Mark this place on my map when we get through it. I wanna come back for some payback another time."

As the group starts putting larger amounts of distance between them and the creatures Valeriya ends her apparently ineffective flashes and returns to normal view. Onward.

The most distant creature behind the truck simply gives up the chase, and flies upward to hang once more on the walls in ambush.

Magellan says only, "Marked."

Tek turns the Skycycle abruptly turning to face the pursuing creature. After getting a lock two plasma missiles fly out from the Skycycle and fly towards the creature.

The large reptilian bird swoops slightly as the two missiles lose guidance, attracted to a sensor glitch, and explode against the canyon walls.

If there is something good to come of this, it is that the explosions distract the animals enough that the speed and distance given by Skycycle and hovertruck are sufficient to cause them to cease the chase. They screech, then turn around to fly back to the nest.

Leonard grunts and sends Edgar father ahead, looking somewhat conceited at the huge piece of flying technology that failed so miserably in his eyes.

"Whoa! That was good," de Leon says. "Sounded like somethin' scraped the truck, though. A minute or two before we get to the drop."

Bartholemew doesn't let his eyes off the liquid road, but asks, "What do ya mean something scraped the truck? Feels ok to me."

"Our distance covered isn’t measuring well against our damage taken and energy expended, not to mention time. This going to get better or worse as we continue north? Valeriya asks, sounding uncertain of the journey ahead for the first time.

Seeing the creatures falling back Tek moves into a position so he can land back onto the truck and then says over the radio, "Looks like those creatures are giving up. Do we have time for me to land before the jumps or should I stay here until after?"

Magellan looks to Bartholemew with curiosity, wondering perhaps if he felt something that no one else did. In answer to Valeriya's question, "Seems like whatever it is you're doing's kinda dangerous by nature, isn't it?" He shrugs. "The drops can be hard if you don't hit 'em right, and I told you that we have to pass through merc territory to get to the Missouri. But the Mo is usually a pretty quiet ride. Not a promise though. But after that, when I get you off the river?" His head rotates oddly backwards again. "I ain't gonna guarantee shit. Specially with all that you're going into, like you said about others racin' you to it."

Bartholemew replies to Tek, "Keep her in the air till we clear the jumps," still unknowing of the damage caused by the bird's ambush. "Should be coming up here very soon, so grab onto something and hold on tight. One a them carpets might do ya right back there."

"The trouble waiting for us when we get there isn’t concerning me. Tell me about your average merc encounter, and how many encounters are likely for the distance we have to cover." Valeriya requests, maybe a little late to do the risk assessment, but better late than never. And a carpet of adhesion to keep them on board isn’t a bad idea either.

Tek is following along low to the ground keeping speed with the truck, "If there is more combat the Skycycle has about had it. The flying creature slammed me pretty good. It is still flying but can't take much more fire."

"Well, this time of year, with winter and all, probably just one or two. Not well traveled, so they don't move in large groups, either. The mercs, I mean," de Leon clarifies. "But you never know. Could always be some asshole out trying to make a name for himself. Never seen anyone who wasn't pretty well armed, though. There's always *someone* to steal from." He points out the windscreen with his fleshy hand and grabs ahold of the dashboard with his bionic one. "Half mile to the first drop." At this speed, that distance will be covered in a very short about of time.

Bartholemew comes to the first of the three jumps, the biggest of the jumps, "Hold on, here it comes!" And off it goes. Approaching at full speed causes the vehicle to fly outward over the fall, the distance allowing for a gradual fall instead of a fast drop. When it lands the front end dips into the deep center of the river to pull up with only a minimal amount of speed reduction. Still going strong. "Anybody lose their lunch back there?"

One drop passes without incident and Valeriya's mood is lightening with the improvement. "Are we going to be able to outrun them like that last two surprises or should I prepare a plan B for them?" Valeriya asks, giving a nod to the prior bit of information. She's not sounding as worried now. Even with the cycle in bad shape. "Best keep it in the air then Tek, and keep away from any trouble that comes after us. We can handle ourselves, and gotta play this conservatively to accomplish the task. That means keeping the cycle intact though evasion and avoidance. Take it up to max altitude and keep with our lateral position"

Tek seems a bit surprised and decides to confirm before following the order, "Roger that. Just to verify you want me to climb to max altitude. I believe by doing so I will be seen on any radar that might be up and running. I was thinking staying low and near the truck might be best but you are the boss. Please re-verify if you want me to climb."

"We're going through forest again, remember? Not as dense, but still forest. Why the mercs are able to be successful in the area, it gives 'em places to hide. Piles of rock here and there, too. Sort of, ah... rolling hills." de Leon hasn't taken his eyes off of his map since the last jump. "So if you have rifle's or somethin' have 'em ready. These guys have to work hard for what they get, they're not like stupid slavers. Second jump in about two miles," is the alert given.

Bartholemew screams down the river not letting up, make these next two jumps is all he's concerned with now, "Gotcha, How dense is the forests out that way?"

Valeriya takes a moment to pause considering Tek's concern and shaking her head. "Ok, didn’t know going higher made one more open to detection. What do you suggest Tek?"

Tek holds a position about three feet higher than the truck is and about ten feet back, "I will just stay here. If something comes at us again I will get out of here quick, this thing can get up and go if I need it to. Besides I might catch something on my sensors that you all miss."

de Leon waves to indicate the obvious medium-height jump immediately ahead. "Twenty-five feet, pretty rocky below. This one's actually more dangerous than the first." In response to the question, he repeats, "Not as dense. If someone smiles on you, you might make, oh... half again the speed as last time? Please try to move quickly through merc territory." It's an obvious request, and he braces himself for the next fall.

Bartholemew goes into the jump thinking he's got it good, truck sails into the air, but sure as shit, there are rocks below. With never seeing the area before, he could've never expected it. The truck slams hard, bottoming out on a large set of rocks jutting out from the water, the sound of scraping metal is loud, but the truck keeps on going surprisingly enough.

Valeriya winces at the very loud crunch made with the fall. So much for a trend of improvement. Shortly after the carpet fades and she takes hold of the vehicle to help stead her nerves. "Alright Tek, you do whatever you can to keep the cycle from taking further damage."

Tek follows along except on the jumps where he gives the truck plenty of room but falls back into his position after.

The navigator winces as the truck bottoms out. "Damn. Don't worry about it, most people don't make that jump without at least a little trouble." He then lets go of the dash and makes himself more comfortable against the jury-rigged door. "Fifteen miles to the last drop, then on a few more to the beach. I really would suggest a little sleep. You don't want to go through the forest at night, with a bunch of hungry mercs waiting around for idiots to pass through." He shakes his head. "Dyin' before you get to where you're goin' isn't going to help you get it."

Bartholemew keeps going on down the river heading to the final jump, "We keepin on through the forest at night or taking a break boss? Up to you, but if it's safe to stop, should at least check damage."

"We're breaking. Eight hours, that will allow Leonard and I to recover energy," Valeriya answers, and now looks to be looking forward to the said rest stop. "Next time we definitely use alternate travel arrangements." She says to Leonard to cut off his told you so.

Tek remains in formation following along with radio silence since they are in merc territory.

"Not to mention allowing fresh air to lungs and skin. The return trip will be far more brief." Leonard does not remind her that he told her so, though he welcomes the opportunity to relieve himself of the claustrophobic body armor. Itches can be insidiously annoying.

"Last jump coming up. Should be simple. After that, just two miles, and there's gonna be a small lagoon on the west side. Pull in there. Place to sleep, shelter. Wait there until first light, then take off." de Leon pokes a finger forward. "Half rock, half water. Just don't miss, because the rocks are jagged. But then you - we - can rest."

Bartholemew comes to the last jump and confidently goes into it. With the less of a drop as the others, he is able to catch sight of the rocks before coming anywhere near hitting them, landing smoothly over water. Once safely landed, he looks for that lagoon to pull into.

Valeriya nods as the next jump nears and puts out another carpet of adhesion to keep her and Leo on board. "You wouldn’t do well in space." She remarks to Leonard with a smirk. "Imagine sharing your recycled air with a dozen people."

Tek follows along and finds a nice place to land, wanting to keep the two separate so he can check them both out separately.

Leonard chuckles, the only indication of the smirk that's likely behind his faceplate. "It's not the air," he pauses during their airborne leap, "But the enclosure. At present, none of us need to breathe, eat, nor drink for nearly a week. In a spacecraft I could, at least, scratch my ear when necessary."

Magellan guides Bart into the comfortable little lagoon to the west of the primary flow of the Gasgonade. "This is a safe place. Or I should say, it is *usually* a safe place. With all the people like you out hunting for the same thing, I can't guarantee it. But I can guarantee that it's safer than the forest. Anyway, the sun won't be up in any useful manner until six, minimum. That's assuming good weather." He waits for an opportunity to get out of the battered truck.

Bartholemew pulls into the lagoon and parks on a good part of the beach. First thing he does is inspect damage to the truck. It's pretty beat up but it's holding up as expected. It wasn't a combat vehicle to start with. "Well, could be worse." But then he sees the Skycycle, "Holy shit man! What the hell happened up there?!"

Valeriya is also quick to disembark taking a moment to consider the area before looking to Bart. "I want you to handle the camp necessities while Leonard and I recover expenditures." Valeriya informs him before finding a good spot on the beach to meditate. Once there she takes a moment to conjure a glowing orb of fire before her meditation begins, popping it into her satchel.

Getting off the Skycycle Tek moves over to the truck and shrugs to Bart, "That freakin flyin creature thing slammed into me hard. I was happy to still be in one piece to be honest." He then starts going through the hovertruck to see if there is any damage.

Leonard is likewise quick to depart the vehicle and walk upon solid ground under his own power. He crafts a conjuration of his own, albeit one markedly different than Valeriya's. As he wishes to be more comfortable, and without making himself uncomfortable in the process, a translucent dome appears, large enough to comfortably hold at least 4. Within the windless, dry, and notably warmer enclosure, he can remove his helm, at the least.

de Leon, having found himself his own place to sit, doesn't actually sleep. Just sits and plays with a few bits of electronics, watching as the others go about their business. The sky seems to remain clear for now.

Bartholemew looks at the mechanic that just gives a shrug to bringing back a just about destroyed Skycycle, watching him walk on over to the truck, fists clenching. With visor down, the expression is unseen. He does what he is ordered to do and goes to setting up the camp. Setting out motion detectors at far edges of the boundaries he sets for the camp. When all is set up, he takes up a position atop the back of the truck to stand watch over the mages.

Tek finishes up looking over the truck before checking out the internals on the Skycycle. He then looks up to Bart on the truck and walks over so he can speak to him without yelling, "Well the guidance system on the missile launcher took some damage when that thing smashed into me, I swear I did my best to dodge but there were two of them right there right as I was taking off, but getting back to it. I can fix it... but... if the repair does not go as smoothly as I am hoping it might delay us departing at first light. The armor on both vehicles I can't do anything about. The Skycycle is down to about one-fifth it normal total as well. Your cycle your call." He looks up to Bart and waits for his response.

Leonard gets himself comfortable and begins his meditations to recharge both his mind and body.

de Leon has taken to wandering the shore, occasionally poking at his map and marking it up. Even seems to be glancing at the stars every once in a while.

Bartholemew looks to Tek, popping open his visor. It's apparent he's not happy by the look in his eye, "Up to the boss if she wants to chance the time loss. She's busy at the moment." he says in a straight up military to the point tone before closing the visor to go back to watch. Before he goes to find out or whatever he adds, "It happens."

Valeriya is indeed busy for the moment. Last she partook of the conversation the suggestion was first light. By that she herself will be late by a few hours. So she keeps her focus inward, not letting anything interrupt her recuperation.

Tek makes his way over to Valeriya, "Excuse me boss lady. I... I uhhh... Well you might have noticed that those flying creatures got the better of me up there, well the guidance system on the missile launching system seems to be broken. I am pretty sure I can fix it by first light... that is if everything goes smoothly... If I hit a bump it might take a bit longer than that. I was not sure if you wanted me to go ahead and fix it or if I should just load it on the truck as is?" He stands there looking down to her for a moment before adding, "The damage to the armor I cannot fix out here however."

Magellan wanders into the river a few feet, splashing water on the human-half of his face.

Bartholemew calls out to Tek hopping down from the back of the truck, "I said, she's busy. She ain't gonna appreciate bein interrupted. It ain't much up for battle anyways." Bartholemew shakes his head, "Give the magic types some time to do their thing. I suggest rest up, I'll wake ya for the last hour or so before we go so I can catch a few Z's."

Tek nods and finds a spot to lay down to recharge his batteries.

Leonard offers a casual call to his fellow arcanist, an invitation to join him out of the weather and chill. Afterward, he focuses his attention inward, towards recuperation.

de Leon quickly blurts out the option that he can stay up and keep watch, as long as no one needs him to shoot at anything.

NORTHWEST BANK OF THE GASCONADE

DAY TWO - December 18, 108 PA

The second day of the journey dawns pleasantly enough. It's extremely cold, but the skies are clear. The winds remain harsh, but all they blow is snow that has already collected on the ground. de Leon is already up and about, almost as if he never slept. Just leaning against the side of the hovertruck, waiting to get going. "Now's a good time to move, hopefully get ahead of the mercs. No promises."

Bartholemew replies to Magellan, "I already counted you in. Two are better than one." Keeping watch till he said, waking Tek on his turn to catch a few minutes of sleep before breaking camp on Val's command. When it's time to go and everything is loaded back up into its place, he waits for everyone else to load up to head out again.

Valeriya had quickly moved to join Leonard in his bubble simply for the convenience of not being interrupted. Eight hours later she can tell her reserves are replenished and starts to move again. Looking about she takes in the morning scene. "Clearly an uneventful night, that’s good."

Tek having last watch is already up when everyone else wakes up. He is all packed up and waiting on Val to tell him to load the Skycycle. It seems he has already gone through both vehicles again this morning just as a double check. Looking over to Val, Tek says, "Should I load this onto the truck? With only one-fifth of its armor I am not sure it should be used except in an emergency."

Leonard is likewise refreshed and rouses easily enough, although he does mourn one absence. "Remind me to insist that the next time we take the long route that someone /must/ bring coffee." What few items he removed are collected and donned, with his helmet last to be sealed in place. "A dull night is preferable to not waking at all."

"I've been going over the map. Thirty-two miles as the crow flies. Think you can make it, sport?" Magellan looks to Bartholemew, then at Tek, commenting, "Probably shouldn't let him drive." He jumps into the cab and scoots to his side without waiting for an invitation, map in hand. "You'd best get those people ready to get shot at. I mean, drive your ass off, but this place is the shits."

Bartholemew only waits for the last thing to be loaded, he's ready to go. "We'll get through, just keep us on course," climbing up after the 'Borg climbs in. "Keep your heads down back there. I'm gonna keep us moving till something stops us or we get there."

Valeriya shrugs at Tek, really not sure on best vehicle protection practices. "Do as Bart's advised to keep it intact," she answers before taking a few minutes to freshen up by the stream. She is efficient at that and on the truck before anyone can wait for her, laying out weapons and a large assortment of grenades to be ready to use as needed.

Tek looks to Bart with a questioning look, "Should I load it on the truck or fly it behind?"

"In other words," Leonard chuckles, "This could be an interesting ride." To Tek, he notes, "If we're expecting more resistance, you may as well fly cover. If nothing else, it gives enemies more targets with which to concern themselves." This is noted as he climbs aboard onto the truck bed. With only his rifle, as yet unused, to bother with, he only needs to ensure that the clip is charged, seated, and the weapon prepared.

Bartholemew replies sharply, "Load it up." Adding, "Might be enough armor left to give you guys some cover."

The navigator doesn't have much of an opinion - he's a navigator, he doesn't do fighting. However, he does offer, "Never seen these guys in the air. Don't mean they can't, though."

Tek loads the Skycycle on the back of the truck and after tying it down nice and tight he gets into his position in the bed with the C-12 at the ready and his extra clips at easy access.

Valeriya takes a moment to familiarize everyone with the communal arsenal she's lain out. "These ones are stun grenades. Bart gave em to me a while ago so they're free. First to use freely. These are TK grenades, knocks people back 30 feet. Probably be pretty effective at knocking mercs off a vehicle. But they're not free. Make em count."

Leonard takes the liberty of swatting the cab once all are on board, adding "We are ready" over the radio. He subsequently occupies himself with reviewing Valeriya's arsenal and her instructions regarding it.

Up in the cab, de Leon takes the whap on metal as the proper sign that they're ready to go. "Take off at three-hundred forty-one degrees." He then leans back for the truck to get going before saying, "Oh. Um. That way." He points with both hands.

Bartholemew helps to make the loading quick. With that all done they head out on their way, cruisin at a fast pace. Now isn't the time to be conservative with the speed, so he pushes it a bit trying to make good time and gain some ground. At least the weather isn't a factor today.

The arsenal explained and laid out, Valeriya focuses on her more personal supply. She slams a clip of five stun grenades into her C-5.

Tek pays close attention to the explanation and takes one of the stun grenades so he has it close at hand when needed before retaking his position with the C-12 at the ready.

"Now, we shall see if any targets present themselves." Leonard leans his back against the cycle that now serves as nothing more than cover. "Personally, it wouldn't be so terrible if any others that arrived before us already managed to defeat any defense and then destroyed one another."

This forest is far less dense the the previous one, as promised. The hovertruck is by no means speeding, but de Leon manages to keep it on course that they're making good time. About five miles in from the river, he announces, "We're getting into merc territory. Lot of 'em stay away from the river because they're easier for protective groups patrol. Unlike the inner forest." The trees remain entirely barren of leaves, and the snow is piled two to three feet thick.

Her C-5 ready to go Valeriya lays her rifle down beside her for easy exchange between the two and finally looks ready for what ever might come. "I don’t think I’ll miss the distant future where my arsenal is much more efficiently compacted thanks to advances in technique."

Knowing that battle is sure to come soon Tek decides he is going to jump the gun and chance an early bluff. Closing his eyes and concentrating for a moment and then he is right back to scanning for any enemies.

Leonard makes no further preparations, though he does remain alert for any impolite guests. "A shame that technology would advance universally. It's always better to improve yourself, rather than rely on others."

Another five miles roll by, and the forest begins to close in slightly. Not surprising really, given where they are. de Leon keeps Bartholemew on the same course, as straight as possible to the next assumed safe location, this time on the Missouri itself. Wind whips past, partially obscuring the road ahead - if it can be called a road. "Makin' good time, friend. Veer right a just a tad, if you can."

Bartholemew cruises along following the directions of his navigator, the forest so much easier here than before. "If anyone cares to venture, there is a CR-1 in a crate back there, with some high explosive missiles. It's only good for one shot for the most part, really slow reload, but might be good on a vehicle chasing us."

Valeriya nods to the mentioned heavy artillery. Though she herself wouldn’t know the first thing about using it competently. "Noted." She remarks and patiently waits for something.

Tek moves over to where Bart indicated and unpacks the CR-1 then looking to Leonard, "Would you like to use it or shall I?"

"Given my expertise with weaponry, that's best left to someone else." Were Leonard to fire at a vehicle in pursuit, he could well hit the wrong vehicle. "There don't appear to be any incoming targets at the moment, either." This is a bit of positive news.

Bartholemew keeps cruisin along, fast as he can, working to make it only a short time across this territory. "Everybody doin ok back there? Enjoyin the scenery?"

"All good back here. keep up the good driving." Valeriya replies encouragingly before belatedly shrugging at Leonard. "I said technique, not techno." She counters, with may only leave confusion anyway.

Tek takes the CR-1 and secures it near his position but within easy access before taking the C-12 back in hand and resumes his watch out the back of the truck for bad guys, "When I fire this thing it will have one helluva back blast. Do you two have a means of protecting yourselves and your stuff from fire damage? I will stand and try to let most of it go over the top of the truck but there is no way to keep you both from taking some of it."

Leonard would not have thought of such courtesies. He nods and rises enough to reposition himself on Valeriya's side of the bed. That it places him closer to her expansive arsenal is hardly a bad thing. "Nothing has decided to destroy us just yet." His helm turns towards the cab. "I hope that our navigator won't be disappointed if we encounter no resistance."

de Leon seems to be on the verge of saying something nice about the trip when a large explosion goes off right in front of the truck, doing a number on the cab, shredding it and nearly ripping it open. It's luck that the nuclear core isn't breached. However, there is a sudden lack of power, and the truck grinds to a halt, its hoverlifts useless, at least for the moment. "SHIT! Mercs!" A sizzling blue particle beam flies close enough to Leonard that he can hear it. Another one strikes him in the chest. The navigator seems unhappy, shouting, "There should be more of them!" Despite the fact that, at this moment, there aren't. In fact, where the bolts came from is difficult to determine.

With the truck losing power, Bart struggles to guide the vehicle to a safe landing so to speak. Once stopped completely, first thing he does is grab his rifle, using whats left of the wrecked cab as cover to scan for the enemy.

With the truck severely damaged Valeriya doesn’t want to contribute to more fire in its direction. Thus with the attack she immediately goes about making herself as little of a target as possible.

"Sonofa!" Leonard would have preferred that both shots were close enough to only be felt in passing, rather than felt by scoring deeply into his armor. Now that the truck grinds to a halt, it is just one large target. His thoughts mirror Valeriya's as he focuses first on personal defense. The means is also all but identical.

Tek keeps his head down as much as possible but has the C-12 at the ready and is scanning the area using thermal sights and if not seeing anything there going with normal and amplification on any movement to try and identify the shooters.

A blue bolt flies in from the right side of the truck, some kind of heavier weapon. It slams into the side of the Skycycle, nearly blowing it completely to pieces.

Another blast from the right impacts one of the truck's forward maneuvering jets, completely blowing it off of its mount.

Two pulses of laser energy lance out from the left side of the vehicle toward Tek.

One more large blue bolt flies from the north, the right side of the truck. It blows a hole right through the Skycycle, a vehicle which starts to slowly fall into pieces. It's never going to be of use to anyone again. Someone's smart out there, taking out escape routes first.

Tek is hunkered down but pops up to get a better look at something when two blasts ring out, one flying just wide of him the other connecting solidly with the chest of his armor. He ducks back into a more covered position after taking the hit.

Bartholemew switches to the telescopic sights of his helm to check the area to the right of the vehicle where he thinks he may have spotted something, but doesn't want to just start firing into snowbanks. Bartholemew locates something and starts firing a burst of laser fire in the direction of the enemy.

Footsteps in the snow and bushes shaking as she passes them are the only indication Valeriya is on the move, taking off to the right side of the truck where she see's shots coming from.

Once Leonard is clear of the truck, he also begins to move in the rough direction of the incoming fire. His steps are not quick, as he also performs a slightly more involved incantation. When it is finished, a shimmering wall ten feet high snaps into place on the north side of the disabled vehicle. It is easily long enough to cover that flank of the vehicle and possibly turn to protect front and rear as well. He notes curt instructions over the radio, "Conserve your weapons. Let them exhaust theirs. Do not touch the barrier." Now the mercs have two enemies they cannot see and one that is all but invulnerable.

Tek keeps his head down and gets back into position leveling the C-12 after having dodged out of the way.

Another blaze of blue energy lances out from the right side of the vehicle. Not really a vehicle anymore. This last blast tears it apart enough that its own structural integrity will no longer be sufficient to allow it to hover ever again.

A loudspeaker from somewhere to the right of the truck announces, "Throw down your weapons! You are surrounded, you are outgunned, you are unable to flee! You can walk away from this, or you can be put down. How do you want it?"

There is a brief pause as the mercenaries give people time to think.

Bartholemew lays low for now, to see if they get too confident.

"Comply!" Valeriya orders from the bush. "Leonard, you've got the idea." She adds, keeping herself vague in case the radio channels are being monitored. The idea would be clear from her own action, or lack thereof. She simply stands deathly still in the bush, still cloaked and waits.

Leonard was not quite quick enough to save whatever might have been salvaged of the vehicle's mobility. Fortunately, alternate means of transportation are likely available. "Understood," is his only reply to Valeriya. He remains in place to not create conspicuous footprints in the snow. The airborne Edgar, however, can perhaps provide him with a better view of their opponents. Bird's eye, in fact. He feels confident enough to allow more of the raven form's senses to overlay on his own.

Tek takes two shots at a form he sees in the treeline before saying into his radio, "Opps sorry, we complying with them then?"

The energy fired from the borrowed C-12 hits a very vague spot in the distant snow. There's a short jump, then it's motionless again.

Another loudspeaker calls from a concealed location. "Okay, that's how you want it? Mages, show yourselves. Yeah, we've been following you stupid fucks, we know you're there. You don't show up?

Another blue laser pulse comes flying in from the left, making a beeline toward Tek.

Tek is trying to keep his head down as much as possible but another energy blast finds its mark. The last of Tek's armor falls away in shreds. With this Tek dives face first to the bed of the truck trying to become as little of a target as possible.

"Surrender! I don't want to lose another half of my body!" Brave, Magellan is not. Though if he really ended up the way he is due to combat like that, perhaps people can cut him a little slack.

A battle continues to rage. Mercenaries who had given the option of surrender or death seem to have decided that 'death' was the chosen option, following Tek's shots which took place after their ultimatum. For his efforts, Tek's specially enhanced armor has been shredded to the point of uselessness. Though pieces may still hang obviously from his body, they will offer him no further protection. In fact, some of the over-bleed from the last shot has wounded his body slightly. The mercenaries are calling for the mages to reveal themselves, having stated that the vehicle had been observed for a while - times when Valeriya and Leonard were not invisible to sensors or optics. Even Valeriya's camouflaged armor was insufficient to hide her; not surprising considering how quickly the background was changing as the vehicle moved. These mercenaries work a harsh land, and need to be good at what they do; observation is one of those things.

If there is any happy part to this bit of mayhem, it is that one of the previous shots from the right had dissipated itself against Leonard's magical wall. While it initially appeared to have hit the truck due to the very close proximity of the wall to the vehicle, the truck is still barely intact. If two of the maneuvering jets and a hover lift can be repaired, it will limp through the air again. However, even at that, any unblocked shots have an excellent chance at doing exactly what the first, optical-illusion of a blast seemed to have done. The wind continues to blow snow along the ground, four feet off the ground in haze, making things difficult to see. Where the mercenaries are is largely unknown. Exact positions are very hard to determine. Bartholemew is currently sheltering and looking for a shot from inside the remains of the cab, which had been shattered by a mine of some sort. Leonard has remained invisible near the truck, while invisible Valeriya is slowly making her way out from the truck to its right side. Tek is in shredded armor with a bit of blood from his abdomen, hunkering down as best he can for shelter in the back of the flatbed. As for the hired navigator, he just isn't doing much other than hiding.

Tek looks for a place to crawl and hide. He makes sure to keep his head down while he is doing so.

"Call for help!" de Leon continues to be helpful.

As Valeriya has a plan in mind, but her communication of such is limited, Leonard delays for a moment to see what she might share by example.

Valeriya grins as a moment of stillness gives her all the clarity she needs. "You'll need four times the forces you have here to out-man and out-gun us, bring it," She declares on the radio before making a gesture back to the truck and cast an energy field over top of Bart and Tek. "Leo if you can do one more wall to maximize the protection of the trek and company that would be swell," she requests as she starts moving again towards the mounds to the right. Another gesture and utterance on the way.

"As you wish," is Leonard's reply over the radio. With further gesture and incantation, a second wall appears to protect the remaining exposed flank of the vehicle and those within it.

A total of five angry shots lance out at the downed truck, three from the right that pound into the energy wall and dissipate in a beautiful show of wandering light. Two shots to the left impact a similar wall, also dissipating.

Seeing the energy blasts hitting the barrier Tek takes this chance to really find a good spot to get out of fire in case the shield comes down.

"Don't just stand there, shoot back!" cries Magellan.

Leonard is now confident that the others are protected, and begins to move again. He does so towards the former sounds of the announcement. En route, he increases his own defense against the primarily energy weapons. The landscape ahead is then further studied in attempt to make out targets.

Valeriya has less than 90 seconds to deal with this situation. Twenty of which will by used just getting to the heart of the matter to do so. So she has some time as she continues to head for the three mounds she spotted. She points them out to the tailing Leo as she exchanges clips in her C-5 for concussion.

Again, three bolts of energy slam into the right-side wall that Leonard had erected, two from the left.

Tek continues to stay where he is with his head down

Magellan cries, "Surrender, surrender!"

Now that Leonard has a target, he begins to hasten his steps. His corvid companion is far more swift and does not need travel through the snow. Edgar turns in the air and approaches the eastern-most mound, incanting an invocation when nearly overhead. The mound, and/or a forty foot diameter area of it, is suddenly far less comfortable to occupy for most.

A man rises from the mound, grabbing his weapons like they're children and begins to run in a northeasterly direction. To his credit, he makes very good time through thick snow.

"I'd like to loot what we can from these guys since were going through so much hassle Leo," Valeriya chides as her ally drives one opponent off. She's still rushing towards the remaining mounds, but more than close enough to shoot a grenade at each as she does.

But running through the snow isn’t great for one's aim. So while the two concussion blasts rip through with awesome force through the snow banks, they miss the snow mounds, by a lot. But it probably opened some eyes.

It's surprising when a comrade gets up and runs away. It's also surprising when two grenades appear out of nowhere and slam into the ground a good distance beyond. Surprising enough that there's some hesitation, but not surprising enough to keep one of the mercs from firing a blind snap-shot on that spot in space that the grenades came from.

Another mercenary on the same side is similarly stricken with surprise, and action.

In the south, one figure rises, clad in winter camouflage and bearing a rifle and grenade bandoleer. He begins to charge the vehicle.

Perhaps not sure if he hit anything - one mercenary to the right of the truck rises to his knees and starts to unclip grenades from his bandoleer.

Nice a clear target. Valeriya is still running towards him, firing one grenade before he can through his then following with an incantation.

The grenade shot at him from a spot in empty space goes far enough that the mercenary doesn't even notice. He barely even notices that he's been magically applied to the ground for a few moments. However, whatever he'd like to believe, he's stuck.

Tek gets out his pistol and rolls onto his knees facing the approaching merc. Without drawing attention to it he is preparing the stun grenade he got from Valeriya earlier.

The risen troop to the left continues to charge the truck, letting loose at Tek's barely visible form. The shot goes wild, likely due to his attempt at hitting a small target while moving quickly.

Leonard pays no mind to the man charging the vehicle. Should he contact or strike the wall, he will be halted just as any other projectile. Halted and immobilized until the wall dissipates. With Valeriya currently handling the one who left a different mound, Leonard turns to approach the final mound to the north of the vehicle. Regrettably, range is an issue and he chooses to do little but move. Only a bemused, "Yes, dear," is made over the radio in reply to Valeriya's desire for equipment.

"Are we winning?" Navigators can be winners, too.

The man under the influence of fear simply continues running at a good speed away from the scene of the battle. The man stuck to the ground, however, hurtles two grenades at the spot where the other grenade had issued from, not knowing if the target has moved or not. Two fragmentation grenades explode in delightfully harmless fire.

Also of note is the appearance of five hovercycles, closing in two on each side, one from the rear.

The central mound finally rises to a kneeling firing position, the shape of a man with a heavy rifle. He makes some motions with his arm as if the hovercycles somehow needed his direction. Another shot is fired off at the truck, blunted by Leonard's wall.

Valeriya is getting pretty close to the mounds now, the men in them can probably see her approaching foot steps. Not that that will save the remaining one from her following incantations.

The central man is in an odd state now. Not being completely stuck to the ground, but well encapsulated with magical netting. He won't be going anywhere for a while.

The hovercycle flying in from the southwest opens fire from long range, a staccato sound obviously paired with some type of machine gun. The rounds smack into the magical wall and just hang there, eerily, like something out of a movie.

Tek stays on one knee looking at the oncoming hovercycles and seems to pause where he is.

The cousin to the first cycle that fired swoops from the southeast, and fires from a similar distant range, and with apparently the same weapon, based on sounds. More and more heavy rounds impact the magical wall and stick there, just waiting to be released into gravity.

The mercenary who has been charging the vehicle from the south now pulls two grenades from his belt and hurdles them in a perfectly executed arc toward the truck. Both of them fly over the invisible walls, and immediately start to emit a tear gas that attacks the eyes and lungs, but is otherwise harmless in the long-term. Just makes it nearly impossible to fight.

Leonard continues moving west, to wrap up the final loose end on the ground that remains to the north. This would be the one adhered to the round, which he makes match his compatriot by ensnaring with magical strands. It is then a matter of waiting for the hovercycles to the north to close the distance.

The other man stuck to the ground is now netted as well. As he had started off stuck to the ground even worse, it may be a lucky thing for a backhoe to lift him for dinner tonight.

To the northeast, another hovercycle opens fire. This may be their initial default attack pass, as they're all executing the same move. The shots go so far wild that they don't even hit the magical barrier.

Coming up from behind, the other cycle also fires at the grounded truck. The rounds slam into the encasement for the vehicle without doing anything beyond stopping.

"Who's shooting now??" At least this time de Leon pokes his head to look out. Unfortunately, the only semi-transparency of the magic shields keep him from seeing anything detailed.

More shots are fired, this time from the northwest. As with the others, they embed themselves in the walls like metallic graffiti.

The terrified man just keeps running. He's not going to be giving anyone any trouble. So far gone that his camouflage is practically blending into the surroundings again, if only due to distance.

The two men on the ground, stuck to the ground and in nets as well have very little to do. However, to their credit they don't turn on external speakers to curse out any kind of cowardly, unseen attacker that they may be thinking of.

Valeriya finishes her run to the man in the middle of it all. That’s her gamble anyway and seems to make some sense given the gesture just prior to his netting. The carpet disappears just before her feet grace the area it covered and she takes physical hold of the netted fellow. She pulls out the fireglobe she conjured last night. "Hi there. Here's the deal. You can either convince your friends to stand down, or you can let your screams convince them as you burn to death." She informs him in a very clear and direct tone of voice.

The two cycles to the south seem to pause in their attack runs, taking up tight circles that are still apparently well within the range of the weapons that have been used so far.

The mercenary that had charged the truck stops short of the semi-opaque magical walls, only fifty feet out. His rifle remains up and in a ready position to fire, even though it's unlikely that he can make out any specifics beyond the barrier. He does not fire.

Leonard does not continue the retaliation, given that Valeriya's audible ultimatum appears to have some effect. He does, however, make comment over external speakers, "We would prefer to go on our way without further delays, and I imagine that many of you wish to continue breathing. I'm sure that we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement, yes?"

The remaining cycles to the north orbit tightly for whatever reason, and out at a good distance, while the one coming in from the east swoops closer. de Leon stays quiet. The fleeing man achieves his goal, disappearing from sight in the snow, trees and rolling hills.

Tek stays hunkered down on the back of the truck a pistol in one hand and stun grenade in the other though he is still not taking any actions.

The close merc on the south side just walks a few feet closer, but other than keeping his rifle ready, apparently does nothing.

Leonard added his piece and awaits Valeriya's determination on the situation.

The stuck man on the ground to the west remains stuck, but his external speakers just start out a rolling laughter.

The cycle to the southeast just blurps out a burst of machine gun fire at the encased truck. Obviously not even aiming, the rounds go wild.

The man being held by Valeriya engages his own speakers. "You want to walk away alive? Let go and get rid of this magic shit, or we can both go up in a lover's embrace." Apparently the ultimatum fell flat.

de Leon's eyes pop up... and he actually stands. Not much to see out the magical walls, but apparently he's feeling safer.

To the northwest, the cycle leaves its circle briefly to aim at the fireglobe floating near its friend. Using it as an aiming point, it releases a burst of projectiles.

Bart growls at Tek, "Can't you grab their weapons or something?"

Valeriya shrugs and lets her captive go. But she doesn’t burn him out of spite. She seems to have everyone's attention anyway so she opens the radio waves. "Alright then. I think we've all got a handle on everyone’s capabilities. So we can fight each other to the bitter end, or I can offer you all a job and you might actually make a profit on this. If you are interested, land, dismount, converge on the center north position. No need to throw down weapons or anything silly like that. Surround me completely, and we will discuss the opportunity. Meanwhile my people will hold at what's left of our vehicles for the moment. Otherwise I'll start shooting you down one by one, and I have plenty of time and firepower to do just that."

Now, the decision is once again on the merc's heads. Leonard utters a minor incantation as a potential precaution, but otherwise remains where he stands.

Someone opens up over the airwaves. "Bullshit. You ain't got anything. We can wear you the fuck down until you're crawlin' in panties. You want to say something, say it. Make it something good, or a few area weapons will drop ya. Take off the invisibility shit, too, or we ain't even gonna pretend to listen. Know there're two of you out there, so don't try to be cute." The cycles maintain what is apparently an easy shooting distance, based on what they've already done.

The mercenary close to the truck can probably see Tek peering at him through the semi-opaque wall. He doesn't lower his rifle, but in keeping with the radio call, he makes no further movements.

"Very well," Leonard does not want this to carry on forever, and drops his own invisibility as his words are broadcast in the open, "In the interests of not wasting any more time than you already have." He subsequently gasps loudly and makes exaggerated gestures of hands to faceplate to accentuate his feigned dismay. "Please, don't drop enough fusion explosives to vaporize the entire area..." Leonard straightens and crosses his arms, "There wouldn't be anything left of value for us to walk off with. I suggest you listen."

The held merc who had tossed the grenades finds something amusing about Leonard's claim.

The cycle to the southeast continues to circle. The man who'd been talking to Valeriya is now offering some laughs of his own.

de Leon's head perks up again, apparently having heard the radio call despite lack of obvious radio.

The northwestern cycle makes a closer swoop, but still remains well out of range of retaliation.

"Suit yourselves." Valeriya replies before looking to Leonard as she exchanges drops her C-5 and fireglobe to take up her rifle. "Take care of the south group, I'll start shooting down the flies." She directs, clearly not interested in further appeasing. Then she makes a gesture to protect herself and beelines back to the truck. No one can see the grotesque armor shielding her. But that doesn’t make it less effective at protecting her.

That was rude. Goodness, it was only debate about listening. The cycle to the back of the vehicle rises high and puts some distance between itself and the truck before beginning an obvious loop-around.

To the northeast, the cycle opens up on the suddenly-visible Leonard.

Tek smiles widely at the man through the shimmering field even though he knows he will not see it but a soft chuckle does escape, though due to his radio being down he is probably the only one who hears it.

The man before Tek bursts into excitement. To an extent. His L-20 suddenly fires off a laser pulse that slams into the magical barrier between them. A vibro-knife cuts its way out of its hip-sheath and falls to the ground. Otherwise, his excitement is decidedly muted as he steps back, hops back from where he was by twenty feet or so, shaking his head as if wondering what just happened.

Leonard has no intention of remaining a target, now that the mercenaries' intentions are clear. They are not even competent mercenaries, as they seem determined to fight beyond any and all chance of profit. One incantation renders him unseen once more, and the second sheaths him in unseen armor composed of writhing tendrils. This is becoming quite an annoyance.

The cycle to the southeast is out of range for a shot, and for now stays at distance.

The fellow who had been held by Valeriya, perhaps hoping that he'd catch her close enough, chooses to go out in a blaze of glory rather than meekly in a net. A huge explosion extends a full five feet in either direction. Yes, that's how you make a name for yourself.

The cycle to the east uses Leonard's just barely blipped-out position as a target, and a machine gun chatters.

The other cycle in the area of where Leonard has just immediately disappeared from view does as his comrade did, and fires on the empty spot.

The southwestern cycle continues to orbit, perhaps looking for a decent target. All of the vehicles are roughly two-thousand feet out, using their weapons' extreme range to advantage.

Tek watches attentively concentrating on the merc on the other side of the barrier as if waiting for something.

The mercenary up toward the truck is seemingly rattled, not as effective as he might be. He manages to get off another shot at the magic barrier, probably just more for anger than for effect.

Cowards. Leonard begins to move towards the south, as requested. The chance impacts on his armor construct pauses his steps, however, and he unslings his rifle. While he does keep it maintained well enough not to rust, his practice with it may need some polishing. He takes the time to aim at the moving target. More specifically, the offending weapon.

The netted, stuck man isn't laughing so much anymore. But he is cheering on his comrades.

Again, the southeast cycle stays distant, perhaps just watching for an opportune target.

de Leon pokes his head up and asks, "Hey, what about the rocket?" Then his head disappears behind the imagined safety of the cab again.

The northwest cycle continues to orbit, waiting like a shark.

After a long period of contemplation, perhaps surprised at the loss of his Skycycle and near-loss of his truck, Bartholemew suggests, "You could take down the cover, Val, and Tek could throw a Blinder at this guy." He motions toward the nearby mercenary.

Two thousand feet works for Val, though she'll take a closer shot if it comes up. Finally all the weeks training with Bart on using energy rifles comes into play as she picks two of the cycles, and fires one stunning shot at each. "And let the cycles shoot you up? That field's keeping you both alive, learn to love it."

While waiting to see what happens to the first target, something goes horribly wrong with Valeriya's rifle. Perhaps the techno-wizardry blew some kind of mystical circuit, perhaps something as simple as a micro-fracture in the standard body casing finally gave out. The end result is that Valeriya's Nau'Tyll Sonic Rifle detonates right in her invisible face with an enormous fireball that without Leonard's protective walls may well have wiped out the hovertruck as well.

An explosion is an obvious target, and the hovercycle pilot to the northwest gets a little cocky, flying closer, lining up his light machine gun to fire into the explosion. Fortunately for those inside, explosions are big targets, not point targets.

The man to the north continues to be stuck.

The cycle coming up from behind does as his comrade does, swooping for a shot at the explosion.

The grunt close to the vehicle runs closer and grabs his vibro-blade from the ground. It may still be running, but he knows how to use it. With the weapon raised, he charges Tek's blurry image.

Valeriya is still in this plane of existence, somehow. But by the long lines a dark tongue coming over the world she's not happy about it. Some might take solace in that they couldn’t understand the gods she is cursing right now. Moving on though now she needs another weapon, so with a gesture and another curse she pushes off into the air, jumping over Leonard's walls and dismissing the energy field.

"Fuck! What the hell was that?" Bartholemew exclaims as the mage's weapon detonates. Seeing the overhead energy shield drop, he raises his rifle out the shattered back window, muttering, "Come closer, cowardly bastards."

The southeastern cycle is too far to shoot at the explosion, but apparently decides that it's a good place to go, and begins to accelerate toward it.

If only they would come closer and/or stay still. Unfortunately, few enemies are considerate enough to do one, much less both. Leonard finally judges his aim to be as aligned as it ever will be and fires at the machine gun mounted on the cycle that fired upon him most recently.

The surprising shot out of the blue - or the nothing, depending on how one looks at it - takes the pilot of the northeastern cycle by surprise. He makes no move to get out of the way, and as his vehicle-mounted weapon is melted to slag, he instinctively pulls back on the throttle, bringing him to about one-thousand feet of the truck. Of course, mercenaries of this caliber probably won't stay that way for long.

The hovercycle to the northwest makes a diving run at Leonard's position from extreme range, only with the vaguest notion of targets based on where the shot came from. The bullets skitter into the snow, harmlessly.

de Leon is silent at this point, watching the happenings of the rapidly changing battle.

Tek just stands there with his eyes closed

The man on the stopped cycle takes a moment to unsling a long firearm from a carriage spot, and aims it toward the truck. It's a quick shot, and not very powerful, but due to the lowered magic ceiling armor, he seems to aim for the general center of the vehicle. The single bolt of energy slams into the truck, cracking open even more of its structure.

The remaining man caught in the net is laughing like an idiot over his external speakers. "Oh, we got you, bitch, we got you! Yeah, that's right shove yer tits in our face? That's it, you're gone!"

With the truck's overhead shield down, the eastern cycle dives in for a shot. At least it's a target. The bullets hit, and technically hurt, though only in a very minor way.

The man close to the truck goes into a mild fit again. His L-20 fires another pulse into the ground, but as it's on a sling, manages to miss hitting his body. Even as his vibro-knife shuts off, his momentum can't stop, and the blade slams into the magical wall. Fortunately, he himself manages to stop just short of slamming into it with his own body. Yanking at the knife to get it back doesn't seem to help.

Valeriya touches down inside the shielding and immediately moves to the cab to borrow Bart's CP-50 "Yeah, I know I owe you a shitload. I'm gonna bill these bastards for every damn penny." She consoles as she collects the weapon before launching her self back into the air.

Bartholemew nods his head to Valeriya in a solid, military way, allowing her to take his weapon to where she might have a better shot with it than he has.

Diving out of the southwest, the cycle takes a shot at the truck. These are certainly closing range for many of the vehicles, but also giving them clear shots. More heavy bullets slam into the truck. It may be gone now, structurally unsound thanks to death by a thousand cuts.

The southwestern cycle continues to make circles at a safe distance.

Leonard now switches targets, firing off a quick pair of shots at the two armed and nearby hovercycles. Or, rather, their riders.

The first shot goes wild of the vehicle in the sky to the north, the pilot not even needing to depart from his attack run. As Leonard pulls around to the southeast, his shot is better, impacting the cycle's pilot. It doesn't appear to be enough to kill him, but it catches him off guard enough that he pulls around and away from the truck for now, trying to put some distance between himself and the unseen shooter.

The cycle in the northwest that had just been on the end of a missed shot once more uses the shooting point as a target. It's getting much closer now, as if it perhaps intends to swoop overhead in one pass.

de Leon keeps his eyes on the shifting battlefield.

Tek bends down and picks up the rocket launcher getting it ready to fire.

The man on the stationary cycle actually stands, as if in stirrups. One large burst is fired at what may have been the location of the previous shots, the other is aimed at what is left of the trashed truck, as he sees movement back there. The first shot impacts the ground, blowing snow up in a beautiful geyser. The last shot is absolutely devastating. The truck buckles and breaks, axles cracked, drivetrain down, the monocoque construction finally failing. One might imagine that within the helmet, the stationary merc is smirking. There's some shrapnel in the bed, but fortunately it's not too bad, with the energy blast primarily slicing through like butter.

The netted man laughs and laughs and laughs.

The cycle in the east is getting extremely close, swooping over the truck, but not firing.

Near the shield, with his knife embedded in a wall of magical energy, the mercenary continues to just look uncomfortable, fussing over his rifle that keeps firing without his finger being anywhere near the trigger.

Close is good, Valeriya likes close as she points the CP-50 at the trespassing cycle upon her return to earth. Two grenades are fired at it in short order. "I'll show you a profit margin."

Bartholemew grabs de Leon and shoves him low in the cab. "If Tek's gonna fire that thing, stay away from the back blast!" Then he dives for cover as well.

To the southeast, the cycle comes quiet close but without any decent targets - the truck obviously a write-off as is the Skycycle - it simply dives.

The southwestern cycle continues to orbit, overseeing the battle.

This is getting increasingly annoying, whether from delays, merc stupidity, or the sheer inefficiency of his rifle. Drawing upon his link to Edgar, Leonard siphons a measure of power and utters an incantation. Twice. Hands lift to point obliquely across the field, targeting the pilots to southeast and northwest. Excited particles lash out at each in a measure worthy of the mercs' heaviest particle beam rifles.

Leonard's blast of energy rips into the two pilots, punching large holes in their armor. The way that their bodies flap and flutter is likely to indicate that they're quite dead. The way that their hovercycles make two full-power dives into the ground finishes it off, if there were any questions. The explosions are impressive, as is the shrapnel and the craters that they leave behind.

de Leon plays the fool, trying to keep his head up, but Bart does a good job of keeping him down.

Tek is standing holding the launcher aimed in the general direction of the cycle and with his eyes closed he launches the missile. The back blast fills the back of the truck, flames reaching around to the front. Heat, flame and smoke billowing and roaring.

The battlefield in mid-Missouri is a chaotic one, indeed. The hovertruck that had been the main conveyance of the team heading north lies in tatters, its body entirely insufficient to hold up its own weight. It might make for good salvage, if anyone ever comes this way with something large enough and enough time to take it apart. The Skycycle that had been intended for reconnaissance and aerial fire support is also holed in so many places that it too is a complete write-off. This was a well-executed mercenary ambush, as de Leon had warned of when they left the Gasconade. Even though the trees are less dense than before, the complete lack of canopy makes things easy to see. It's driving around the trunks that's difficult. The original six mercenary ground-pounders have been whittled down to three living subjects. One is encased in a magic net and also stuck to a magical sticky carpet, completely unable to move - but laughing like a madman, and goading his opponents to do stupid things. One mercenary is only twenty feet from the south side of the truck, standing outside of the wall with his rifle going off at odd times, his vibro-knife embedded in the barrier. Another man, if anyone remembers at this point, has been entirely silent this whole time, barely a bump in the snow to the southeast, about three-hundred feet out. The initial assault of five new armed hovercycles has now been whittled down to three, thanks to two devastating attacks made by Leonard. To the northeast, one cycle has had its weapon blown off, with its pilot using it as a simple aerial platform from which to fire. He is about one-thousand feet out. Another cycle is swooping in from the east, now about five-hundred feet out, having easily slipped from being hit by Tek's shoulder-fired missile. Finally, in the distance, one hovercycle simply continues to orbit out of weapons range. Bartholemew and de Leon are inside the remains of the cab, with Tek being on the back, completely without armor and bleeding from a few minor wounds. Valeriya is invisible, somewhere near the vehicle. For his part, Leonard is quite near the netted man in the northeast, also invisible. The battle rages on. Tek remains under the influence of tear gas irritating his eyes and skin.

Bart grunts an ironic and disgustingly worded comment about Tek's ability to shoot a missile.

Leonard pans his facing and attention to the immobile one that has yet to lose his sense of humor. "Would you care to halt your stupidity, or are you dedicated to destroying yourselves for no reason?" If nothing else, a reply could cause him to stop his inane laughter.

Magellan's head pops up, some of his half-head's hair singed off. "Can I look now?"

As the cycle screams in from the east, having just avoided - easily - a missile fired at it, it lines up on the one who assaulted it. Though one might not be able to tell, some of these mercenaries are interested in taking prisoners, and his weapon is swapped over to a much smaller one. Still, an effective one against the clearly unarmored man.

The southwestern cycle just continues to orbit out of weapons range.

If nothing else, Leonard's threats only cause the netted man to laugh more. "You're dead of exposure, asshole! Where do you think you're going to? Busted-ass vehicles? Hah!"

The man on the ground near the truck runs back a good distance, still fiddling with his equipment which is inexplicably malfunctioning. His blade is left behind in the magical barrier.

The stationary hovercycle's pilot appears to aim at Tek, but for some reason he doesn't fire. Still, he has a clear shot at just about anything near the truck.

Tek finishes firing the missile, though without connecting when he sees the hovercycle line up to fire. He dives out of the way just in time as the blasts slam into the bed of the truck right where he had just been standing.

Valeriya does a quick risk assessment to choose her next target. The stationary cycle amid at Tek is a clear threat so off go two more grenades that way.

The explosion of Valeriya's grenade isn't actually enough to do much damage, but it does knock the pilot off balance, and he falls five-hundred feet to the ground, embedded in the snow. The cycle continues to hang in the sky.

"Someone take out that guy diving at Tek!" Bart's voice comes out of the shredded cab.

The truck, destroyed as it is, remains a target. Leonard is not feeling especially heroic, but there is a benefit to one's enemy having more targets to worry about. He can do little terribly effective to aid those in the truck, so he attempts something only partially effective. He brings his rifle to bear once more at the incoming pilot.

The laser pulse is incredibly ineffective, barely scraping anything off of the cycle diving in from the east.

de Leon suddenly seems to have a flash of insight. "Maybe someone should get that guy out there?" He points southwest with his bionic hand. "When I was with Donner's Division, we'd run into these guys, they'd be like the recon and control. He gets away, ya got more problems." Then he starts climbing around the back looking for missiles, wide in the open for further shots, but at least he's finally doing something.

Angered by the lack of hits last time, the cycle blazing in from the east waits until he is insanely close to Tek before firing, fixated on Tek rather than the odd mechanical-biological man. Fifty feet is very close. Of course, it puts him within danger as well. But some people just get blinded by anger.

The distant cycle continues to circle.

Laugh, laugh, laugh. The netted guy is either crazy, or knows something. Or thinks he knows something.

The nearby merc on the ground seems to be finally sorting out his equipment, but remains inactive for the time being.

Tek is still all tangled up in debris from his wild dodge he is kicking his legs free and rubbing his eyes at the same time. His already bloodied torso gets torn into again by rounds from the gun of the guy swooping in closely to the truck.

One cycle has trespassed dangerously close to the scene. Defending the area Val doesn't let that pass by, her aim follows the moving cycle to take it down and hopefully finish this farce.

The pilot is holed by Valeriya's two shots from the borrowed rifle. He slumps forward onto the controls, causing the cycle to accelerate and impact the ground, but at a relatively sharp angle. It leaves a long gouge in the snow and the ground, and when it eventually comes to a halt, its dead pilot flies forward thanks to inertia. Some smoke starts to rise from the downed hovercycle.

Bartholemew echoes de Leon's idea about getting a missile onto the distant cycle, even pointing out the two piles of missiles that he'd brought along. "Gotta hit 'im fast, Magellan's probably right, now that only infantry's left."

"Instead of offering advice or holding a discussion," Leonard notes with some annoyance, "Perhaps you should take action?" Not that others leaving the work, dirty or otherwise, to him is all that great a surprise. He begins making his way south, now. To expedite that, he draws once more upon his link and conjures a shimmering spot on the snow before him. He drops into it and reappears at a similar patch several hundred feet south of the vehicle.

de Leon watches Valeriya's handiwork, commenting, "That was cool."

The shot-down cycle just sputters and smokes.

Distantly, the remaining operational cycle seems to start to make one last flight, headed up vertically to get a good view of the area.

The netted man might feel like time is on his side, laughing, cursing and singing drinking songs. Whether he's nuts, didn't see his comrades crash, or doesn't question the presumed lack of radio chatter might not matter.

The merc close to the truck angrily unloads three pulses, even though by body language he realizes that it's fruitless. They impact the magical barrier and dissipate.

Tek hurries over to where Bart has dug out the next missile and loads it into the launcher and aims it at the hovercycle that has just elevated in the distance and yells over his shoulder clear... "Firing in 3.2.1..." His eyes are still closed as he takes aim with it he pulls the trigger.

The missile loses track for some reason. Probably a manufacturing defect that sends it off in a useless direction.

It's a long shot, but it's the last shot. Valeriya levels the CP-50 at the last cycle and fires two pulse blasts after it. Cross your fingers.

The long-range shot from Valeriya's rifle is quite an impressive piece of marksmanship, but the pilot isn't bothered by the impact of energy on his vehicle. He continues to fly off to the southwest.

Bartholemew leaps out of the back of the truck, cursing even at his boss for being inept. He has time only to reload the missile launcher and fire off one plasma missile with a quick lock-on, swearing the whole time. Apparently this is an entire load of defective missiles, as this one follows almost the exact path that Tek's took.

The hovertruck and Skycycle are smoking heaps. In fact, there are a number of smoking heaps around the battlefield. Two armed hovercycles have crashed in fiery explosions that have left deep craters. One hovercycle with its vehicle-mounted weaponry blasted off is stationary at five-hundred feet, its pilot embedded in the snow directly below; armor not completely holed. One hovercycle came to a skittering halt in front of the hovertruck's previous line of travel. It is smoking and sputtering, its pilot dead. One man remains netted and stuck in a magical adhesive carpet, but his spirits remain positive. One merc grunt is near the truck, angry at his continuing odd equipment malfunctions. A mound of snow that may possibly be another merc is three-hundred feet to the southeast. Nothing has ever come from its direction. To the southwest, what de Leon has suggested is some kind of command hovercycle is beginning to make its escape, roughly twenty-eight hundred feet away at the moment. Magellan is inside the cab, and Bartholemew is on the back, a smoking missile launcher in hand. Valeriya is nearby and invisible. Tek's armor has been blown to pieces, and he's bleeding from a number of wounds, including shrapnel and direct blasts from a vehicle-mounted weapon. Blood is starting to be rather profuse. Leonard has just teleported south, putting him roughly one-hundred and fifty feet away from the unmoving mound. The mage remains invisible. The hired navigator continues to insist that taking out the fleeing hovercycle is an excellent course of action. The skies remain bright and clear, though with a brisk wind that kicks up the snow four feet off the ground like a haze makes seeing the actual surface rather difficult.

Bartholemew pops open the rocket launcher and drops the shell from the tube and proceeds to start the slow reload process, hoping there is time to get another shot off at the fleeing hovercycle.

Up to the north, the possibly crazy man continues to laugh intermittently.

The man near the truck has retaken his stance, rifle at the ready to fire on the truck. His earlier attempts at breaching the magical wall having failed, it would appear that he has learned his lesson of patience.

With all the targets in her range mostly eliminated Valeriya considers what can possibly be salvaged from all this. The pilot she knocked back down is the closest result so she starts her run in his direction.

The possible command cycle simply continues to flee in a straight line to the southwest.

Having given just about all he has Tek collapses onto the bed of the truck with a grunt.

Leonard re-orients from his quasi-teleportation and moves to close the distance to the southern mound. It is the sole remaining firing position that was not cleared, to his knowledge.

The mercenary near the truck who has just taking up a good position is rather surprised as his rifle goes off with two more pulses, one of them so surprising that it almost doesn't even hit the wall right in front of him.

de Leon climbs into the back of the truck and starts trying to help Bartholemew. He's not trained in anything, but even an untrained hand lifting a missile is better than nothing.

Bartholemew grabs another plasma missile from its crate to load into the missile launcher after checking the tube of the launcher to be sure it is free of debris.

This time, instead of flying off wildly and unguided, the missile tracks straight and sound, impacting the hovercycle and detonating with such force that there is a brilliant orange-and-yellow explosion, followed by a black cloud of ash, and then not much else left in the sky.

The stuck man suddenly falls rather quiet, though he continues to struggle with his magical bindings.

Not only surprised by his last double pulse of obviously unwanted fire, the mercenary near the truck pulls the trigger and suddenly - or at least, apparently - discovers that his clip has been completely drained. He immediately pops it out and fishes for a reload.

Valeriya arrives at the dumped pilot quickly enough, giving him a hard boot to turn him over. He can't see the CP-50 in his face, but her disembodied voice will say enough. "Hi, I'm going to divest you of everything of possible value. Provided you don’t resit I won't break your limbs in the process."

The pilot doesn't have anything to say, and neither does he move. Whether he's dead or simply unconscious can't be determined when he's still inside of his armor.

Leonard is unsure whether others still lurk in the mound, but intends to learn the truth. A brief invocation makes the area of and about the terrain feature rather uncomfortable.

Tek has stopped moving and is laying flat on his back on the smoldering truck bed. Blood can be seen beginning to pool around him.

"YES!" de Leon pumps his fist once, slapping Bartholemew on the back. "We did it, man!" While 'we' might be rather generous, the navigator is indeed happy, but only for a moment. He starts to crawl towards Tek's blasted body. "Anyone know how to help this guy? I don't know shit about medicine!"

Bartholemew shouts with excitement as the hovercycle is obliterated, "WOOOOOHOOOO!!" then quickly turns to that nuisance of a merc trying to shoot at him and Tek on the truck. He stands and tosses two fireglobes up and over the wall at the man trying to reload his rifle. Let's see how he likes being a human torch.

The man's armor immediately catches fire, and before he can do much more than drop his rifle to try to snuff it out, it has burned through his helmet. Fire is man's best invention, for good and for bad. This time it's for bad, and he drops, dead, in only a few seconds. One can only imagine how much it hurt.

The guy stuck in the nets just engages his speakers and for some reason begins blasting out harsh slash metal music that you might expect from a bad band at the Nut 'n Bolt.

Valeriya is glad the the pilot has no objections to her taking all of his things, but the news that Tek is in trouble gives her pause. So with that in mind she just grabs the limp body and carries it back with her towards the truck. "I've got just enough juice to do some healing. Leo can you drop the north shield?"

When no forms rise from the mound, Leonard must assume that it is currently empty. Therefor, there is no need to waste any further time nor resources upon it. Leonard moves north, dismissing the northern and eastern wall as he nears the vehicle. "Done. We should hurry. Perhaps our remaining foe has better knowledge of the area than his taste in music." He continues north, towards the netted mercenary, adding a request to Valeriya. "Could you likewise cancel your adhering carpet?"

Tek still has not moved since he collapsed in a heap. The pool of blood grows thicker and larger by the minute.

Bartholemew gives a quick survey of the battlefield with this enemy dispatched, scanning with his thermal imaging for any other hostiles nearby or within range of his scanners. Over the short range radio, "Sorry. No medical skill here."

Valeriya drops her prize at Bart's feet so she can handle the medical situation. Meanwhile the carpet surrounding the netted fellow dissolves without her will to maintain it. For a few seconds she focuses all her attention on Tek. Hopefully she is not too late.

Leonard leaves the sorting and healing to those so inclined and gifted to do so. His focus is upon the remaining mercenary. Once he arrives upon the snared individual, he calls once more upon his link with the being dubbed Edgar. A modest measure of power is drawn in so that he can invoke an urge in the prisoner. One of claustrophobia, asphyxiation, and similar discomfort that screams for his helmet to be removed.

At this point, if the fellow were in the mood to fight it, he's too disturbed to try. He struggles to remove his helmet, but his magical bonds keep him from doing so, as he can't even get his hands up to it.

Tek's eyes open and he sits up quickly looking like he feels better but just then he doubles over clearly in pain. A second later he regains his breath saying, "No, no... I am ok. I think there is still something in there." Looking down through the holes in his clothes he looks at the mended skin, "Thanks Val!" he says with a smile of appreciation.

The hired navigator looks on as bodies are collected. "So. We walkin' now?"

Bartholemew moves to the limp body of the merc dropped at his feet once the battlefield has been scanned. He starts unbuckling and working at removing the guy's weapon and ammo belts to eventually move on to stripping the armor itself from his limp body. "Guess we'll see after scavenging." he comments to the navigator.

The body is apparently just that - a body. The inside of the armor suit is full of blood and gore, mostly from falling such a distance.

Valeriya shakes her head to the navigator's question right after nodding to Tek. "Yeah I'm not medically apt enough to pull the bullets out, you'll have to bear with them until we get back to town. Till then I need you to get the two cycles that are still in once piece ready to take us on our way." She points out to the mechanic with a gesture to the cycle that is still smoking. Then she looks to the navigator. "And you can tell me the best nearby place we can take those cycles for 24 hours to recover from this mess."

Perhaps Leonard is merely adding to the man's discomfort as he waits and watches the merc struggle.

Somehow, despite the fact that he can barely move, the merc's faceplate pops open, but only enough to get in some fresh air. Otherwise the sticky tendrils prevent it from moving much. However, from the cries coming from within, it's obvious that he's not a happy man.

Tek gets to a leaning position and looks up to the floating hovercycle, "If someone can get me up on that cycle I can bring it down for us."

de Leon looks at Tek, then Valeriya. "Yeah. There's a place called 'Mixed Blessing' north of here. You can reach it fast if we make it to the Osage." His gaze then turns southwest. "Wonder if he was actually going anywhere or not."

Bartholemew shakes his head when he sees the inside mess of the armor, "Gonna have to clean this one out. Guy was a bit of a slob." With the gear gathered though, he starts piling the remnants of what gear is left on the truck too, into a pile. From this stored gear, he pulls a battered suit of Crusader out for Tek, to replace the useless suit in pieces he was wearing. "It's beat up, but it's better than that Plastic Man full of gore."

"Fix up the smoking one first Tek if you can, then you can take Bart up to retrieve the other," Valeriya advises before collecting a vibro-sword from the salvage pile. Then she rises to run over to join Leonard, and recollect the weaponry she dropped near him.

Leonard smiles, albeit unseen. Now that there is a breach, another few words are uttered to exploit it. While he could likely slay the man, with or without the opening, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Ever more so when it could, instead, be warped, twisted, drained, and wrung out of every last drop of utility. "Now, you will first tell me if any distress calls were made, and the expected response time of any reinforcements." These are just the first of many intended questions. The ones responsible for damage and delay should now make restitution by expediting Leonard and his companions on their task.

"The radios went out a minute ago! I couldn't call!" The man tells the truth. The source of the radio outage, of course, is likely unknown.

Tek nods to Valariya before turning to Bart, "Thanks." Then he begins donning the armor that was just given, "As soon as I am in this armor I will go check out what can be done with the couple that are on the ground maybe out of them both I can get one running."

With nothing else been said that he can seem to help with, he moves back into what's left of the cab to grab his gear. de Leon finds his stuff quickly enough.

Bartholemew goes out to see what's left of the two bikes himself, not that he knows anything about fixing them or anything, just to give a quick look see before looking around the battlefield for any other weapons or equipment that may have been dropped in the battle that needs collecting and can be useful here. It's about all he can do for now till it's time to head out again. He even takes the time to go out to the distant mound positions the mercs were hiding in. "Can anyone fly? I don't see any other way a gettin that other one down. It's up there."

Valeriya recollects her C-5 and fireglobe, then joins Leonard in his interrogation. "His armor will serve Tek well, then he can serve to lead pursuers astray." She suggests.

"Valeriya," Leonard requests once control is established, "You can release him, now." The remainder of his words are aloud, directed at the mercenary. "When your bonds are removed, you will stand, but remain where you are and remove your equipment and armor. Tell me where your camp lies, what other vehicles are in the area, and anything of any activity in the region." It stands to reason that they would know more of current events in this locale.

The man does exactly as instructed, and answers in a monotone that says that his mind is close to being completely blown. "Southwest, ten miles or so. Gotta Mountaineer waiting, one sentry. Dunno about anybody else in the area. Stick to yourself and don't get in nobody else's way, that's the code."

Bartholemew drags back one last body and begins to strip it of its gear, "Looks like this is it out there. Everything else is torched." The gear similar to what has been collected already. After looking at what is piled up, "Well, even if we get them cycles running, some of this gear is going to have to be left behind. No way it's all gonna load up on those bikes, even if we do our damnedest to try. If we get that Mountaineer and come back we should be good. I could get to burying it, Magellan can mark this place on the map so we can get back here. Oh yeah! Get his radio codes and retrieve protocols before ya let him go!" Trying to get Val or Leo's attention real quick,"With the way they were set up, it's supposed to come to us when the raid is over to pick up loot, just my guess. Guy there should be able to tell ya."

"He makes a good point." Valeriya notes of Bart's suggestion as the magic net dissipates. "Either way We'll be on the move shortly.." She concurs before looking back to the still airborne cycle and its apparent height.

Tek makes his way to the first downed cycle and puts a hand on it while concentrating.

Leonard agrees with Valeriya and, by extension, Bart. He voices the stated suggestion to the merc as a directive, as well as extending options by also directing him to answer the questions of others.

The mercenary spouts out the radio codes; there aren't many right now. Apparently they change them regularly. Protocols are very simple. If you want to talk, call in. If someone wants to answer, they will. If not, they won't. As for the Mountaineer, he informs Leonard that it is in no way set up to self-retrieve. That's why they keep a sentry on it.

Bartholemew hears the merc's answer and shakes his head moving over to where the questioning is being conducted, "No, ya dope. How do you retrieve loot from your ambush? Carry it back on the cycles or call the Mountaineer to you or go back, get the Mountaineer and all drive back as one unit?"

Tek moves over to the second downed cycle and bends down over to put a hand on it, "I can get the other one up enough to hover just above the ground and use like a wagon. Looking at this one now."

At 500 feet up the other cycle is comparable to a bird as far as vision goes. So Val doesn’t stand long underneath it. She could never reach it under the circumstances. "Leo, when you're done with him could you have Edgar turn off the ignition on this cycle, then I think I can catch it."

Leonard's attention is away from the mercenary just enough to speak to his avian friend. Edgar only takes a few seconds to pass by the cycle, though disengaging an electronic ignition takes a little time. However, when turned off, the hover units cut out, and it falls out of the sky - into a bit of Valeriya's magic, which allows it to gently kiss the Earth without damage.

The mercenary just stands there, unmoving and barely even blinking. However, he's frightened enough that it's clear that his bowels and other assorted bodily functions such as controlled drooling are starting to shut down. His weapons lay around him where they've fallen after the net was removed.

Bartholemew walks up to the merc that is slowly losing control of his bodily functions. Gives him a bit of a shove-like poke in the chest, "So which is it? How do you pick up loot from a raid?"

Tek lifts the cycle up and puts it on its side to expose the hover units. He does so with little effort. After he pulls out his tools and digs in starting to repair what he can.

"Clearly they are not the smartest mercenaries for hire. We knew that much already. Let's load up what we can then cache the rest. I want to collect that ATV right away." Valeriya decrees to get things finalized now that the better cycle has been landed.

"How they planned to clean up after their failed ambush is of no concern to us, Bartholemew." To the merc, Leonard directs, "You will lead the way to the Mountaineer. Get on the hovercycle." He notes to Valeriya, "We'll be borrowing the hovercraft." A gesture could be made to the vehicle, though it would be rather pointless.

The mercenary marches over, dazed, to the hovercycle, then flops across it like saddlebags. Technically, he did exactly as he was told, and his poor mind that was built to fire plasma rifles just isn't in such good shape right now.

Bartholemew waves off the zombie in frustration, looking for a makeshift shovel to bury the gear not able to be carried for later retrieval. "Make sure you get this mark on the map good Magellan. I wanna be able to get this stuff back later." Then looks over to Leonard, "If they have it set up for the sentry to come to them with the vehicle to retrieve loot, it would save us time by having him come this way. All it would take is a radio call," continuing his digging. Burying only that which is not able to be carried easily.

Tek says over the radio, "This cycle is in rough shape. I can get it to hover for sure but it means I am going to have to dismantle the housings, and probably throw most of that away, before I can get to the outer casing to the hover engines. After that it's as simple as bypassing the standard flow compressors, which I can say will never work again, and rerouting the secondary couplings to exert extended power flow to the primary blades. Those are a bit shot but I can rebuild or repair what is there. But even after that I still have to get into the circuit boards... Ummm you all probably don't care about... Sorry. It will be at least two hours." he then turns and immediately begins his work.

The navigator makes a quick mark on the map with a grease pencil. "Got it!"

Valeriya eyes the new saddlebag for the cycle with a shake of her head. "If we have to go get the ATV then we need both types of pilots to go, unless de Leon can drive the ATV back here, I believe that is just Bart and Tek." She notes, looking to Tek. "Given we only have two pilots, salvage the worst cycle for parts. That’s after we get the ATV."

Leonard sighs at the deft merc. "It seems that he will not be piloting, but at least he is not dumb /and/ deaf. He already stated that that was not their plan, Bartholemew. Perhaps you should keep to whatever you are talented at... whenever you determine what that might be." Leonard pauses. "Actually, why not go with him and retrieve the vehicle? You are the designated driver, as I recall. Unless Valeriya has other ideas?" In the end, he defers to her, as she is the exalted leader. Or he is somewhat preempted by her, prompting a nod, "As she directs."

The mercenary wobbles an arm in the general direction out southwest. He drools out, "Just... go.. fly back.. when done, come back. Easy."

Tek keeps on working as he says, "So I am not fixing this? It is worth some credits in parts and I can get it so it can be pulled behind the other one hauling the extra gear. As for the stuff we found I would love to have one of the rifles so I can give this borrowed one back. Would that be ok?"

de Leon is wandering around the area, looking at his watch occasionally. There's lots of daylight left. "So, which one's in front? Seeing as how we only have one?"

Bartholemew doesn’t reply to Leonard's mouthiness for now, just kinda shakes his head at it with a subtle chuckle. Other things to deal with right now. He gathers what gear of his he can carry and moves over to the working cycle and hops on, "Alright, who's riding along?" he says as he does his pre-check of the weapons and guidance systems of the vehicle before firing up the engines.

Valeriya shakes her head at Tek. "What's worth keeping from that cycle can be put in the ATV if there's room." She explains before looking at the slave merc. "At the moment it looks like we have a space issue. Assuming only two people can ride on a cycle, and assuming the cycle can't be loaded onto the ATV in its fully assembled state both Tek and Bart need to go and there's no room for the peon. If I'm mistaken on any point speak now."

"Give Bartholemew detailed directions to the Mountaineer," Leonard instructs as he moves to find a place to sit and await their return. Now there is not much need for the peon, and Leonard can decide what to do with him. He does not find any fault in Valeriya's logic.

The mercenary does his best considering the mind-control. Unfortunately, he's one of the ground-pounders, not one of the flyboys with a better sense of direction for long distances. "That way," he says, pointing to the southwest. "I don't walk that far, they pick us up. But it's hard to miss. Painted it bright red. Looks scary that way." He starts to slide off of the cycle at that point, and unless anyone catches him, he'll hit the ground head-first.

Tek puts away his tools before heading over to the cycle, "I would be better as a pilot I think. That way you are free to shoot if we have any trouble."

de Leon is heading for Valeriya's side, poking at his map. "So, we staying here to rest, or what?"

Bartholemew waits for Tek to saddle up, tossing the saddlebag merc to the ground by sliding him off the back of the bike in his already slow slide off the bike. "After seeing the result of your last piloting attempt, I think I'll do it for now, you pilot the ATV back. I'll feel better that way. No hard feelings or anything." When Tek is saddled up, he takes off in the direction pointed out by the Zombie Merc.

Valeriya shakes her head at the navigator. "No, it should take them less than an hour to get the ATV and come back. Once they do we move on to the location you mentioned earlier."

Leonard does nothing further, aside from making himself comfortable. He decided that it is time for him to rest, if only temporarily.

BONK The mercenary slips off and whacks his unarmored head on the ground below. It's not really the force of the impact that kills him, it's the way that his neck snaps under the weight of the rest of his body that kills him. Now his weapons truly are up for grabs with no one to complain about it, save possibly for next of kin.

Tek gets on the back of the cycle letting Bart drive. He did bring along the C-12, which he has strapped to his back at the moment.

"No, no, that's what I meant," Magellan says, shoving his map in Valeriya's face and pointing at and an X. "At 'Mixed Blessing.' Because it'll take longer to get there overland than on the river - which obviously we can't take anymore, unless you have a Mountaineer that floats."

Bartholemew is unconcerned for a merc that took shots at him and his companions and destroyed the equipment he worked hard for. He doesn't even give a second look back, just guns it once over the tops of the trees to search out that ATV. He keeps just over the tops of the trees as if that was the road.

Valeriya takes a moment to re-gear herself with 2 E-Clips and a rifle, giving Bart his back just before he left. "Do you have another location to suggest with that new development in mind?" She asks Magellan as she rejoins the visible world and joins Leonard to wait for their ride.

It takes only about thirty minutes to cover enough area to find the Mountaineer. Even against white snow, ten miles and only a vague direction doesn't make for the fastest travel. Indeed, it can be seen from the air that there is one sentry, outfitted in the heavier version, standing watch.

de Leon seems to have nothing to say to Valeriya except for the obvious, "Well, it'll take longer. But there's no safer place to stay."

Tek points to the sentry when he sees him and says on the radio, "Maybe we should land and try to surprise him?"

Bartholemew slows a bit on the cycle but still comes in fast. He drops a Blinder grenade on the guy leaning against the truck and maneuvers to land the cycle on the opposite side of the truck which he does gracefully, like he was born piloting these things. "You go left, I got right!" he tells Tek as he jumps off the bike.

Tek dismounts and readies the C-12 and moves left around the truck hoping to catch the guy still stunned.

The Blinder drops perfectly and goes off right in front of the sentry, who is immediately blinded. At first he dances and curses, but then starts firing his rifle off in random directions, slamming from left to right, just letting off pulse after pulse.

Bartholemew goes goes around the vehicle to the right drawing his sword and punching dagger, keeping close to the truck for cover. Soon as he sees the guy, he waits for the opening in the random fire and charges in, blades looking for their mark. The sword comes down first in an attempt to disarm the enemy.

The man's rifle comes out of his hands, but he has the presence of mind to reach for a sidearm on his hip, even though he's blinded. Of course, being off-kilter as he is, it takes longer than normal. But he has a general direction to fire in.

Tek rounds the truck and seeing the rifle go down and him going for his pistol and he lowers his shoulder and charges in for a tackle.

Distracted, the man would have been an easy target. However, both distracted and turning into Bartholemew's attack, he should be easy to take down. Surprisingly, this man and his colleagues are not as stupid as Valeriya had posed. He's trained, and strong, not going down under the attack. Rather, slamming his body backward against the truck, something that would hurt if they were not both in body armor.

Bartholemew goes to disarm the man once again with his sword while following it up with a punch with the punching dagger. The elegantly crafted weapons deceivingly able to damage this type of armor.

The ion pistol flips out of the sentry's hand as easily as the rifle had, and the unusual punching dagger bites into his armor. Not terribly, though. Without being able to see, he does only what he can. A vibro-knife is quickly drawn and thrust backwards past his abdomen, trying to get the monkey off of his back. Metaphorically speaking.

Being squeezed between the ATV and the sentry Tek keeps his hands on the man and lets loose with a large jolt of electricity.

The electricity is impressive, at least by looks. Something out of an old movie about evil Sith lords. However, the heavy armor isn't too scarred by it, and the sentry continues to flail about with his blade, just waiting for another chance to strike at something.

Bartholemew takes a couple a chops at the man's knee with his sword like a cop trying to take down his suspect, maybe it will knock him more off balance if nothing else.

The man is knocked off balance, but not far enough to go over. The blow to the knee is hard, but not apparently devastating, either. He might actually be more worried if he could see the amazing weaponry and that his attacker is wielding, and see the electricity coursing over his armor. A psychological effect missing from the equation. He thrusts that same vibro-blade backwards, trying to get the weight off his back, shaking his head as if that would help clear his blindness.

Tek holds on with all his might, trying to keep weight on him to keep him off balance. He also lets loose with another jolt of electricity, which can be seen reaching around the armor and the smell of ozone fills the air along with the crackle and pop of loose electricity.

That last blow does hurt the armor, but still not enough to keep the man from fighting. Perhaps this is why they made him sentry. As his two knife attacks seem to have bitten but not yet dislodged his problem, he takes a step forward, then puts all of his weight behind a crushing blow between body and Mountaineer.

Bartholemew takes two more big swinging chops at the stubborn merc's leg as he is able to dislodge the mechanic, if he ain't gonna go down, the leg is coming off at the knee. Eventually. "GO DOWN!" he shouts in a commanding tone through his external speaker.

It's probably not the speaker command, and the man's leg is still quite intact, but the blow and location are enough to take the sentry to the ground, leaning on that targeted knee and needing to catch himself with the hand holding the vibro-knife. He's not out of action, obviously still willing to fight, but he's temporarily down if nothing else.

Getting knocked off the sentry's back Tek regains his balance and tries to take advantage of him being knocked down. Taking a couple quick steps Tek dives for the man in an attempt to tackle him to the ground and hold him there with Bart.

Tek's tackle is enough to topple the man. He's on the ground, but starting to get back to his feet, apparently having found some leverage beneath his attacker, despite his blindness. The knife starts to come up, and will be dangerous again soon.

The man finally drops to one knee through the persistent force of being beaten in the back of the knee with the chopping blade of Bart's falchion. The knife needs to go, so the blade swings into place to try and relieve the merc from his backup, backup weapon while he follows through with a kick to knock him back off balance and hopefully to the ground.

The knife goes flying, and the man goes down, flat on his back. He starts to get up, but he isn't nearly as quick to do so as previously. The combination of blindness, impacts, slashing and being repeatedly knocked down would get to anyone.

Tek keeps his weight on the man, helping Bart keep him pinned and pulls out his pistol. He looks down at him waiting for the visor to open.

The man continues to struggle, and his visor certainly doesn't open. There's actually a decent chance that this merc might be able to toss Tek off of him once more. If only they'd put this man on the front lines instead of sentry duty.

Bartholemew looks for an opening through the struggling of Tek and the merc, just as one presents itself the soldier punches at the man with his katara in hopes to finally breach the heavy armor.

Even the heavy punches don't penetrate the armor, but at this point, down on the ground, completely unarmed, armor admittedly damaged, blind and with someone on his back, he does his best to surrender with terms. External speakers click on. "Okay, okay! No more!"

Tek says through his external speakers, "Then take off your helmet and I will release you." he keeps his hold on the man waiting for the helmet to release before letting go and backing off of him.

"Fuck man, who are you? 'Take off your helmet and I will release you'," the man mocks. "Fuckin' drama police or somethin'." Still, the helmet cracks open beneath his fingers. "You talk that way when picking up chicks, or is that why you haven't gotten laid the last two years, asshole?"

Bartholemew goes to swing a punch one more time, but when the man starts begging he holds. His own speaker clicking on, "It doesn't matter who we are, just worry about leaving here alive right now. Now strip down," he commands, still ready to start swinging again. He takes the time to kick away any close lying weapons that could possibly be grabbed.

The man stands - hands out, nonthreatening - and strips to everything but the clothes that he was wearing underneath, and the torso piece. "You can still cut me up, but I don't have to freeze. Guess you killed or took the other guys captive?"

Instead of letting go Tek pulls open the helmet and when his hand breaches the opening he releases another bolt of electricity, "Fuckin insult me again and you will end up crispy shitbag!"

The man winces. Only a little. "That.. hurt? Fuck off, obviously this guy's in charge." Indeed, he seems amused by Tek's 'attack.' He yanks a thumb toward Bart. "Someone who knows what the hell he's doing in a fight. So whaddya want?" The last question is directed at Bartholemew.

Bartholemew points to Tek with the dagger, "Load up the truck with his gear and get ready to head out. YOU." Pointing his sword at the merc, "Whaddya think? Your gear asshole. Now strip the rest of that armor off and start walking. Cold or not, it's your only out alive today."

"How about this. I walk out of here as I am, and with the knife, but I give you the ignition codes so that the engine rolls over instead of detonating." The fellow crosses his cloth-covered arms. Argument, counter-argument.

Tek starts laughing, "I don't need the code." Walking a little closer he raises the energy pistol to the man's head, "Now finish taking off the armor... NOW!"

Figuring Bart and Tek are probably on their way back Val starts feeling impatient. "How's it coming guys? Any snags?" She asks over radio, looking to relive some anxiety.

The mercenary smacks Tek's pistol out of his hand as if it were a red-headed step-child. It flies for a good distance, even ricocheting off of the ATV before hitting the ground. "Get the fuck away, kid. Ya ain't gonna pull the trigger, don't pull the gun." He turns back to Bartholemew. "Whaddya say? You keep most of my gear, good fight on both sides. Go our separate ways, without a radio it'll be days before I can even bitch to someone that I was beaten."

Bartholemew says fuck it and swings down the chopping blade to take the man's hand off at the wrist, following up if he has to. "I told you only one way!"

"Fuck man!" The merc pulls his hand back before it can be sliced off. Twice. He sneers at Bart's ability but the laughs it off as well. "Fine, fine. Pussy. Gonna kill me anyway, right?" The torso piece pops off. "Really? Your whole argument was about that? Can I leave now?"

The gun goes flying out of Tek's hand and his face turns red. Reaching out he grabs the man by the throat, but as soon as there is contact he lets loose with an electrical blast that crackles and pops as it reaches into the man's skin, ozone and burnt flesh is immediately smelled.

This time, Tek's attack is actually devastating. Although electrocuting-to-death one source of information in an unknown region isn't usually a good option, it did succeed in killing the man. He won't be supplying any further information save to his maker.

Bartholemew shakes his head giving Tek somewhat of a shove out of frustration, "Didn't I tell you to survey the truck? Didn't I?! Now get the fuck over there and get it started. Without blowing it up. I still coulda gotten those codes, damn it." still shaking his head he moves to where the hovercycle still runs, idling. "Lemme get the bike and myself outta the way first."

Tek says into his radio, "We just took control of the truck. The sentry insulted me... So I killed him... I did warn him first. I am heading to the truck now, he said it needed access codes or it would blow. Luckily I don't need access codes. Will radio back when we are on our way. Out." Walking over to the truck and getting close, about five feet away actually, Tek turns to Bart, "Ha! See the shitbag was bluffing. The truck is not rigged. Will have it up and running in minutes." With that Tek goes right up and loads up the gear taken from the sentry and starts it up.

Bartholemew mounts up on the bike and moves to a safe distance in case the mechanic is wrong. "Whatever, just get it going. I'll follow you."

Valeriya is relieved of any concern she is bad influence with Tek's reply and shrugs, waiting for the following call.

The Mountaineer roars to life and starts off back the way they came from and the Tek says into his radio, "The eagle has left the coop and is on it's way back to you. Will contact if any trouble along the way. Out."

"Okay, see you in a bit," Valeriya replies before looking to Leo and de Leon. "They're on their way back."

Bartholemew flies behind the Mountaineer, keeping an eye out for trouble from just above the treetops. He can't scream ahead like he did coming to get the vehicle, so he flies along at the slower speed of the truck.

It takes another hour just to get the vehicle back to the original ambush point, considering the lack of decent navigation and the continuing need to go around trees. But Bartholemew and Tek do arrive. Roughly two hours have passed since their departure.

"Excellent," Leonard acknowledges. "With any luck, we'll make up for lost time. To a degree, that is. Our forced stop is unfortunate, but we must rest."

Tek continues driving it back to meet up with those they left behind. Saying over the radio on the way back, "It has a nuclear power source too, which is fantastic. Got an ion pistol and particle beam rifle as well as a handful of grenades."

Bartholemew decides to stay with the bike for the rest of the trip to Mixed Blessing. "I'll try and play look out for you guys, so if you don't see me nearby, I am scouting. Which general direction is this Mixed Blessing place and roughly how far as the crow flies?"

Once the truck returns Valeriya is quite eager to move on to their intended stop for the second night. "Ok everyone load up and we're out of here," she confirms, jumping on herself. She smirks at Tek's read out of the ATV. "Nice, does it have better armor than the hovertruck? Can't say I appreciate the bright red paint job."

de Leon looks around for his ride, eventually wandering over toward the Mountaineer and insisting that he get the 'shotgun' seat. "About twenty-five miles. But it'll take longer, going overland. Go that way." His cybernetic hand points north as he completely ignores Valeriya's presence.

Leonard likewise climbs aboard. "The color is a touch conspicuous, though it is still preferable to walking. Hopefully, there will be no more unscheduled stops between here and there." He once more attempts to make himself comfortable, even if the trip should not be excessively long.

Tek says to Valeriya, "It does have better armor. If everyone is ready let's get loaded up and on our way." Tek resumes his spot in the driver's seat.

TOWN OF MIXED BLESSING

The wind whips up again, driving snow enough that it makes seeing far rather difficult. The density of trees and the increased size of the transportation means that it takes Tek, with de Leon's help, nearly twelve-hours to reach the outskirts of the village of Mixed Blessing. It's a trading town, built mostly of wood, but with a few generators supplying electricity, clean water from the river and a basic sewer system. It's actually one of those wilderness gems that no one knows about. Many people stop here to rest, if they come across it - or make it a point to come across it, if they've been here before. When the Mountaineer pulls in, it's after dark. Thankfully, there were no further attacks.

Bartholemew kinda likes the color of the truck, at least for now, it will make finding the truck from the air quite easy. Once they move out, he keeps below a 100 to 200 foot ceiling, just so he's high enough to be able to see up ahead and side to side easily and low enough to hopefully keep off any radar screens that might be watching. He's relieved to be able to land in the town finally, the weather being horrible for a person using this mode of transportation. He lands nearby where the truck parks and waits for the rest to unload and figure out whats next.

Valeriya slept through most of the trip here, so looks pretty alert upon arrival. She gives the functional slum a look and a shrug, nodding slightly. "Ok, 12 hour break folks. Grab some sleep, food, beer, fun. Whatever you can but stay out of trouble," she advises before letting everyone go to do their thing for the much needed rest. She herself heads out to find a beer.

Power. Clean water. Running water. All of these definitely score highly with Leonard. "If many take rest, there should be rooms for let. I intend to take full advantage of such facilities." He is eager to disembark and does so upon the halt. A chuckle is loosed as he dismounts. "Food and drink are an excellent start."

Tek dismounts from the Mountaineer but when he lands he lets out a yelp, "Ahhhhh!", and sinks to one knee, grabbing his midsection, "Dagnabbit that freakin hurt like the dickin's. Feels like I got glass shards in my belly."

There are a number of small inns available, some better than others. Bars are equally scattered here at the confluence of the Mighty Muddy and the Osage. de Leon looks happy, obviously having been here before. He suggests on bar called the 'Horny Boar' and an upscale - for the area - inn named, 'Your Secret and Hours.' There are many people in the streets, both local traders and a few obviously from out of town looking for what repairs and rearmament can be found.

Bartholemew makes sure the vehicles are secure before following the rest of the group for some needed food and drink. "Sounds good to me, lead on Navigator." he chuckles.

Valeriya just shakes her head at the name. "As long as they don’t overprice the beer it sounds good enough to me." She agrees, following Bart and Leon.

Leonard takes the prompt opportunity to unseal and remove his helmet. Fresh air, even cold, is a relief. He offers a smirk over his shoulder to Valeriya. "You're not worried of drinking yourself unconscious are you?" A jest, of course, as he would be the first to wager that she could drink them all under the table if she wished.

Tek gets up and starts to follow along and calls up to de Leon, "Hey do you know if there is a doctor in this town Magellan?"

Magellan notices Tek's discomfort. "There's a couple of docs in town, but honestly most people don't use 'em unless they're in some kind of emergency. This isn't exactly the Enhancement Center out here. Maybe find a psychic? I know they're around here, too." He then leads his charges northeast, to the southern shores of the Missouri - a short walk. It's a clear night, and a large moon to help him illustrate his point. Still, rather difficult to see. "Okay, we're here. We need to be on the north shore, there." He points. "Which is just shy of three-thousand feet of swift-moving water. You're not gonna drive through, either, not even in that big monster you stole. Missouri's about thirty-five feet deep. There's one ferry every day, at three in the afternoon. Unless you have other ideas, I'm afraid you're laid up here for a while, out of the race." His odd half-face looks back, eyes focusing on each person in turn.

Bartholemew gives a shrug taking it in stride, "Oh well, looks like we got a little longer of a break than we thought, more beer for us. So let's get there already. I'm starving and thirsty."

Valeriya doesn’t look too concerned about the situation with the river. "Alright, we're here a bit longer. Maybe. I'll discuss it with Leonard in the morning, we might look at another option." She says then puts the topic behind her, eager to move on to a pitcher of cold beer.

Tek heads off on his own looking for a doctor, preferably a psychic doctor, "I will meet back up with you all. I am going to see if I can get these bullets removed."

"Will you be able to reach a healer?" Leonard's attention pauses on Tek. Concern, practical or otherwise. His query is subsequently answered. "Don't collect any more along the way." His delay now places him to follow Valeriya for the bar.

As the group breaks up, de Leon wanders off into a separate bar. People have drinks to chug, food to chew, mattresses to hit and perhaps a cheap local girl to... make sweet innocent love to. Time passes.

Bartholemew and Jaxain Over the Radio

Tek Goes to the Doctor

DAY THREE - December 19, 108 PA

Mixed Blessing continues to be a fairly busy little wilderness town. Activity really didn't let up at all during the night. The Mountaineer remains safely parked, with no one trying to mess with it overnight. The streets are full of all kinds of beings coming and going. A light snow with big flakes has picked up, blowing in from the west, with sufficient cloud cover to blot out some sunlight when it rises.

Nothing like a long night of drinking to clear one's head. Followed by a long morning of sleeping off the aftershocks. Near the crack of noon Valeriya is fully roused and exits her room at the inn ready to continue. The many questionable activities of the long night nearly forgotten as she turns her focus back to the job. Time to collect all her people, got a boat to catch.

The new day brings new opportunities. Such as bouncing around uncomfortably in a vehicle while people make their best effort to kill you. In that way, it's not so different from yesterday, save for a few key points: hot showers, soft beds, and beer, not particularly in that order. Those are enough to help motivate Leonard to continue the journey. Who knows what tonight may bring?

Bartholemew is up when the light from the new day fills the truck that he slept in. Once awake, he gets dressed and geared up for the day of waiting for their boat and heads out to seek the people he came with. Figuring they all slept comfortably in the Inn, he heads there for breakfast.

de Leon is nowhere obvious. It's questionable as to guess where a half-man, half-machine being might choose to spend his-its night.

Tek wanders in with eyes half open, he is moving slowly and seems to be clutching his midsection. There is no new damage to his armor but he is definitely limping again, "I sure hope we have time for breakfast before we head out. I thought the ferry was at three?"

"Two I believe, we have a few hours." Valeriya confirms for Tek as she finds the rest of the group at what passes for a diner. There she orders a simple hash, not expecting exquisite cuisine and no hesitation to devour whatever roadkill is place before her.

"More than enough time," Leonard agrees on that point. On the cuisine, however, he is a bit more discerning. It is still a simple stew, but the morsels should still be separately identifiable. "Are there any other preparations that need to be made?"

Bartholemew is fed by the time the others are first ordering. "Yeah, what's the plan till the boat gets here?" he asks of Val once she places her order for food, following on Leonard's question.

Tek orders some soup and a sandwich, "I just hope I can rest on this next leg. I spent all night in surgery. Got the bullets out but the Doc says I need to stay on bed rest for a few days. How long is the ferry ride?"

The inn's dining area is large enough to accommodate about twenty normal-sized beings in semi-close quarters, and is doing such right now. A single waitress is running between tables, filling orders and busing tables.

Valeriya's consumption of her meal eliminates any misconception of manners or culinary discipline. She scarfs down the meal as fast a she is able, pausing only to breathe and wash down with coffee until it is gone ten minutes later. Then relaxing with a satisfied look she shrugs. "Shouldn't take long to cross the river, after that we probably have another days travel." She explains before looking to Bart. "Any suggestions? I tried to sense ley lines to see if we might take a shortcut and stock up on mine and Leo's energies, but no luck. So I guess we keep playing conservative get ourselves to the actual job in top shape." She offers before taking a moment to focus some energy and conjure a second globe of fire that may be useful later. Then she looks at Tek. "Would another healing spell help?"

It's a shame that coffee is not a consumable source of mystical energy. Leonard might never expend himself at the rate he imbibes it. Next comes food which is hastily eaten, albeit with a touch more manners than their esteemed leader. He has little to add at the moment, his mouth occupied, but he does glance to Tek curiously with Valeriya's question.

Bartholemew chuckles at the mechanic, "Bed rest he says. Yeah, you're gonna get plenty of that in the next few days. We'll set up a nice comfy spot in the back of the truck for ya. Maybe you should grab a pillow before we head out too. I'll load up the mattress for ya while you go grab that," and laughs, finding it too amusing to give any suggestions yet.

Tek gives a sideways glance to Bart and his comment but smiles with a nod to Valeriya, "The Doc had to cut me open pretty wide to get all the slugs out, some healing would help quite a bit actually. As far as rest... Well I will get what I can when I can." He eats his soup and sandwich neatly and at a normal speed.

It's about now that de Leon wanders in, a little snow blowing past him and eliciting a few shouts from patrons indoors. Eventually, the door closes, and he takes a moment to look around, obviously looking to see who's here.

Valeriya nods and keeps her attention on Tek as she makes a gesture and a dark tongued chant. It culminates with a touch to Tek and a nod. "There you go then. If need be I can look at giving you some more at the next rest stop." She states before looking to Leonard. "How are you doing on your reserves? Figure we should take shifts on who's recovering and who's spending till get get to where we're going."

"Mystically, I should be conservative, as you mentioned," Leonard chuckles and lifts his mug towards her. "Physically, the caffeine is certainly helping. Still, I won't be incapable should the need arise."

Bartholemew still chuckles, but more to himself than out loud, apparently only entertaining himself. Giving a shrug to Val, "We should be talking to the navigator, he's the one that knows the way better than anyone. Once across the river, we have him put us on a conservative path to the goal. And speak of the devil." Spotting the 'Borg entering and giving a nod his way, more to bring the attention to the others at the table.

Tek seems relieved as Valeriya touches him and he speeds up his eating as he starts feeling better but remains silent for the moment.

de Leon's cyber-eye seems to be the one that spots Bartholemew's wave. His human eye was pointing in the opposite direction. It takes him a few steps to get over to the table, where he has to stand for a while, waiting for someone to clear out a chair down the long wooden planks.

Valeriya pulls back the chair beside her for de Leon with a nod to Bart. "Yes, he can confirm the ETA better than I," she agrees before looking back to Leo. "Then you can continue recovering, I'll handle what needs to be handled till you're done, then it's my turn. Hopefully we gain more than we spend and arrive at full strength." She says with a nod, not oblivious to the fact she's already spent several hours of recovery.

Leonard nods to Val before turning his attention to the navigator and gesturing to the opened seat. "Please, sit. You have good news concerning the remainder of our travel, I hope?" As he awaits information and the time to depart, his eyes drift between de Leon, Valeriya, and the mended Tek.

Bartholemew gives a smile up to the 'Borg, "G'morning Magellan," he greets, "Yeah, work anything out for the next leg of the trip?" Sliding a bit over to give some more room for the guy to squeeze in.

Tek finishes up his lunch and waves over the waitress and orders a piece of pie. As the navigator takes a seat he gives a nod in greeting waiting to see if he has anything new to add.

The cyborg has to go around the length of the table to get to the chair offered by Valeriya, but he does sit down. Smiling and with breath reeking of bathtub moonshine, has asks, "Define good news. Can you still make it to your target area? Sure. Is Mother Nature gonna make you her bitch? Yeah. The river was an excellent route. Quick, not too many surprises unless you were really unlucky. Everyone knows that the northern forests are worse than the south. Closer, bigger, more dangerous. That's why it was good to avoid 'em. Kinda fucked, particularly trying to drive around that monster that you stole. Liberated. Found?" His one eyebrow rises. "Four guys alone? Sorry, it's going to be rough." He smiles - and continues to stink. "It's just my good nature that's keeping me with you rather than hiring some muscle and digging in my heels here. But it's not impossible."

"Well ain’t that a positive view. An attitude like that would take us all the way to Tolkeen I'm sure." Valeriya kids with a shake of her head. "Ok, they are worse. What might we do to make them better? Cut trees down instead of going around them? Bart and I could certainly do that." She offers, looking for ways to improve their score.

"I'm glad that you're coming with us, at least," Leonard thanks the navigator. "I can only imagine that you'll do your best to help us avoid trouble when you're with us." A chuckle follows before he shrugs at Val's suggestion. "It would be easier than driving around them, but a tad conspicuous, as well."

Bartholemew doesn't seem too phased by the odds, he knew it was going to be a tough gig, it would be disappointing if it wasn't. "Well, what's the safest route that you know of? Speed I don't think is an issue for now. It'll take the rest of em weeks to search all that area. We could also try and snag some new wheels too, either through trade or creative means."

Tek looks around and then leans in on the table and says softly, "I think we might want to wait to talk about specifics until we are alone and on route." Looking around he might just be being overly cautious or maybe someone is listening in on their conversation.

de Leon shrugs, very happy considering what he's facing, and amused at Valeriya's comment about Tolkeen. Perhaps ignoring Tek's singular worries for now. He's here to navigate, that's it. "Plow the trees? Sure, if you have seventy-five miles worth of plowing energy, or rockets, whatever you'd use. Like he said, throw up a big flag that you're there." A nod is given to Leonard. "It's the last twenty-five that breaks into grassland to get you where you're going. Give or take a few miles, of course, depending on how well the forest did this year. I'm not a tactician. Keep an eye on the vehicle and do your damnedest not to get caught in the trees at night. But I don't see how that'd happen, unless you have something up your sleeve."

Valeriya frowns and gives a reluctant nod to Leonard and de Leon, then to Tek. "Right it'll be easier to assess on the other side. Either way we have a long road north we better get started." She decides then looks to Bart. "You see any possibilities?" She asks in reference to the possible acquisition of better transport.

Leonard considers a moment before offering, "I know of one. It is not conservative, but it may be worth the effort if the area is as dangerous as our navigator implied." A hand waves to indicate de Leon before Leonard explains, "Edgar and/or myself could survey ahead, perhaps all the way to the opposite side of the heavy forest. I could then bring all to that point. Rather than pick or hack our way through, we could simply bypass the obstacle."

Bartholemew thinks about the question for a bit, a number of vehicles passing through his mind, "Well, there are plenty out there. I haven't scoped anything out specifically, but there are potentials. Leo's idea has merit if the vehicle can be brought forward too cause I don't think we are there yet even if we get through the forest part."

Tek just stays quiet for now eating his pie waiting to head out.

"Ah, look. You can do what you want, but this place is safe haven for everybody, neutral ground for travelers, mercenaries, bandits. Even small Coalition units. It's not that everyone here loves each other, it's that everyone here needs the place, so it goes unspoken that no one punches another guy, or shoots another guy - or steals another guy's ride." de Leon raises his good eyebrow. "You wanna go that route and I'll just give you back your money now and point once for ya in the right direction. I can't risk my own reputation here, y'know? Why d'ya think they call it Mixed Blessing?"

Valeriya nods to de Leon. "We don’t want to burn any bridges. But if a trade is possible, I wouldn’t pass it up." She notes before looking to Leonard. "Let's talk about that in the truck. What can be done now, is Edgar could do a wider search for a ley line. That would cut our investment significantly."

"Agreed," Leonard nods, "On all counts. I won't object to a more efficient vehicle," he regards Bartholemew at length for the first time today, "But a grab and go isn't the wisest choice. We'll have plenty of people attempting to kill us without provoking more. As for mystical travel, it can be done whenever we have need."

Bartholemew grins, "I was talking about a trade, I never said to steal anything. That would just be wrong," giving a look like he's shocked that theft was implied. He's not a good actor though. "A Mountaineer and hovercycle is a good trade for maybe some air type travel we all can fit in."

Tek looks around at everyone again, "So shall we stay here and tell everyone what we are up to or shall we be on our way to discuss such info in private?" Standing, Tek starts to make his way towards the door.

Magellan is simply listening, somewhat relieved as the idea of a smash-and-grab is dropped. At another one of the inn's long tables, two men rise from among others. They both wipe their hands on napkins, then make their way over to the table belonging to Baptiste's retrieval squad. Both are in their early thirties, military in appearance, but not to a severe extent. A few other men stand from the table as well. They don't exactly block Tek's passage, but they make their presence known. The slightly taller of the two at the table, perhaps a few inches over six feet introduces himself politely. "Hello. Good place for lunch, isn't it? Town's a nice stop-over for people trying to take things from the wilderness. My name's Paulus, but people call me 'Red.' It's an old nickname. Perhaps we could chat?" Beyond the actions of the men near Tek, none of them make any intimidating or threatening moves.

Valeriya gives a calm confident smirk, her hand casually rolling around the globe she conjured earlier. Her expression holds as she glances at everyone in her group to keep them at ease before she nods to Red. "Talking doesn’t hurt if you do it right. Take your best shot," she invites, with a wave to join them.

Leonard is also anxious to get moving and take the conversation elsewhere. His rise is halted and reversed with the arrival of additional conversationalists. "It does seem to be a gathering place." He nods to Red and company. "What is on your mind?"

Bartholemew looks to the man called Red, sizing the man up briefly, finally meeting the man he's heard about. As Val answers the man he takes note of the others in Red's group and does the same with them. Taking note of weaponry visible and armor types worn. Calmly his arm and elbow rests on the hilt of his sword as he leans back in his seat to listen to the conversation, his attention split among Red and his men. He appears relaxed and unworried with the situation, just attentive due to the coming topic anticipated to be discussed.

Tek takes a few steps back as Red approaches. Seeing the others from his group take notice Tek sits back down in the chair he just got up from. Though he is not doing anything he does seem a bit nervous now that the other group has approached them.

Red doesn't seem to be overly impressed by the fireglobe, looking to Valeriya but also engaging Bartholemew and Leonard. "I think that we're all out here for the same reason. Last I heard, there was a reward per person, not a reward per split. Maybe we could come to some kind of arrangement? I'm sure we both have things that the other could use." The other men - nine, with their speaker making an even ten - are relaxed, hands away from weapons. They had done a fairly good job of blending into the crowd, just a bunch of guys around the room eating, but now can be seen to possibly have some type of generally black uniform. Not Coalition black, just black and professional.

Valeriya nods slightly, looking very attentive as the ten prospective recruits line up. "I'm listening. What are you bringing to the table?" She states simply, making no move to confirm or deny his derivations. Rather waiting to see his cards.

"Yes," Leonard agrees, "What is it you seek, and what do you bring concerning it?" A chuckle and shrug. "We wouldn't want to waste anyone's time if your assumptions are incorrect, after all."

Bartholemew is relaxed despite the apparent odds, the guy seems nice enough so far for a mercenary competing with them and it's not a totally ridiculous idea. Remaining quiet while the Boss discusses terms, he remains alert on the other nine lackeys as he listens to the conversation progress.

Tek's gaze keeps flicking from one to the next of the men in the black uniforms. His hand has moved slowly down to the pistol on his hip but other than that he just remains seated listening.

"For one? I have a ride. Your turn." Red then nods to de Leon, grinning in obvious friendship. "Good to see you again, Maggie. Still stealin' people's wallets?" The navigator nods and laughs, belatedly getting up to smack the other man on the shoulder. "Hey, you want quality, you pay for it, right?" He then takes the time to introduce the others at his table by name before seating himself again. "I heard you were out here. Didn't expect to run into you, though."

"We also have a ride. But I understand you are implying yours is better. We have unparallelled understanding of both magic and technology. Both of which have been hinted at being needed to the north. That what you want?" Valeriya explains, her eyes growing wary as de Leon makes friendly.

Now that they've been introduced, desired or not, Leonard smirks. "You don't appear to bring much." Aside from the large number of bodies and presumed weapons, that is. "Might I ask what else you would offer? We both seem competent, informed, and equipped enough, from what I know so far."

Bartholemew gives a sharp look at the navigator as it's realized the two know each other pretty damn well, that is some coincidence. Not a coincidence that he appears happy to be learning right now. But maybe he is about to overreact, we are all in the same business in a way, it could happen, just not a good time with the luck that they have had so far. He does or says nothing for now, but if looks could kill.

Red's eyebrow raises and he looks to the man next to him. "Unparalleled understanding of everything?" he notes in questioning tone. Perhaps the faintest hint of a smirk. He glances at his comrades, who start to slowly step back to where they'd been. Again, he addresses all those at the table. "Forgive me, I've taken up your time unnecessarily. Safe journey." Magellan slumps a little in his seat and waves with a shrug. "See you back in town, man." Apparently the conversation's done, and their navigator seems only resigned to continue on with whatever plan was being worked on.

Valeriya blinks, watching the other team fold she looks like she thought they had a better hand than that. Oh well. She then nods to her own people. "Well then, that diversion done we have things to do. Leonard, take an hour to see what's ahead before we catch the ferry. Bart and Tek, you have an hour to arrange a trade," she assigns before looking directly at de Leon. "And you are going spend an hour telling me exactly what that was about."

"Yes, ma'am," Leonard chuckles as he nods and rises. He received the most simple of possible assignments, though it is de Leon he does not envy. On the other hand, he doesn't pity the man-machine, either. His steps take him for the exit, and Edgar is airborne before Leonard is outside.

Bartholemew nods affirmatively to Val, though he keeps tabs on those falling back in the black uniforms. "You got it boss," getting up from the table, "Come on Tek, let's get this done."

Tek follows Bart out and begins scanning for what they are looking for, "I think I saw something over that way earlier." After pointing towards where they had originally entered Tek just follows behind Bart.

de Leon frowns and meets Valeriya's eyes. "It's exactly what it looked like. Guy came to you with an offer, offer didn't work out. The end." He seems quite sincere, watching now that the other men have seated themselves and gone about whatever it was that they were doing. "I'm left here with you to take you where you're going. You're clearly the paranoid kind, but if you don't believe me I'll hand you fifty credits and you can pay a psychic to read my mind and tell you if I'm telling the truth."

Valeriya shakes her head with a dismissive gesture. "I believe all that. You misunderstood what I was asking for. You are clearly familiar with an obvious member of the opposition. I want you to familiarize me with them. Explain to me why it didn’t work out. I'm paranoid, yes, but usually I'm also sensible." She replies to him as the others head out to do their thing.

Leonard moves to stand near their current vehicle while Edgar flies across the river. He, if the raven could be referred to as such, does not require ferries or vehicles to travel.

Bartholemew heading out with Tek heads in the direction mentioned by Tek, "Well, I'll leave the finding and checking out the vehicle to you. You prolly know better than I do what'll hold up. Remember, it's gotta be able to take some fire an we need to be able to fire back somehow. We'll keep the hovecycle hush for now in the deal, the Mountaineer should be more than enough as a trade, don't ya think?"

Tek nods to Bart, "With the Nuke drive in it, I think we should be ok." Walking along he pauses here and there as he passes different vehicles that might work.

"He's not *my* opposition, I'm just a guy who got hired to read a map, hailing from a major city. Now, just like I'm not going to steal a truck, I'm not going to spout off about another guy, even if he wasn't an acquaintance. This business of mine, you gotta be neutral or you don't get work." de Leon nods then to Valeriya. "However, if I had to venture a guess at why it didn't work out? Let me phrase it this way." He steeples his fingers. "Two men need to go somewhere. One has a donkey, the other one knows where the destination is. The guy with the donkey offers the donkey, to which the other guy replies, 'I know everything, I'm a goddamn genius and probably don't need you anyway. Sweeten the deal, motherfucker.' Think the guy with the donkey's gonna want to ride with someone who truly believes they know everything?" He shakes his head and answers for her. "No."

Valeriya frowns shaking her head. "So everyone you know well is extremely melodramatic. Good to know. I didn’t say I know everything. I was trying to say I know enough, and then asked if that was enough. If that was a fair arrangement. Apparently they took that, and mutated it into your ridiculous impression. Which is well enough, I already got enough loose cannons. Don't need ten more."

Leonard continues his indirect scouting, which involves no audible conversation on his part. Merely he and Edgar communicating via their link.

Bartholemew looks to Tek as they are walking, "Anything strike your fancy yet? Anything?" To him there have already been a few that look good, but he's not the mechanic in the pair.

A smile spreads across Tek's face as something seems to catch his eye, "That hovertruck over there seems about right. It is about the same as the one we started on. Electric engine, seems in good shape. I will let you do the negotiations."

de Leon laughs right at Valeriya as if he can't help himself. "Melodramatic? Yet you use the word 'Unparalleled?' That's a pretty damn all-encompassing word that means 'better than everyone you will ever meet in your life.' *Then* you went and applied it to both magic *and* technology? I'll say no more than this since you're my employer, but that's pretty fucking arrogant. If I'd known you were like that before I signed on, *I* wouldn't have come with you." Then he leans back in his chair and apparently just waits to see where he's needed next, done with the subject out of both sides of his mouth.

Valeriya shrugs. "Yeah maybe that can be seen as arrogant. But it's not untrue. And your reservations about working with the best, well they sound childish. Fact is I can unravel and understand any type of magic, even techno-wizardry. And Tek has the same understanding for technology. That is fact, and that is why we are the best ones for this job. You think that's arrogant, you are entitled to your opinion. I think it's arrogant to discount the possibility without second thought." Valeriya explains and finally rises to make her way from the diner. "Let's go see what Bart and Tek have found so far."

Bartholemew takes a look at the one Tek points out. Moving up to the vehicle to give it a look over himself. "I don't know, my truck didn't hold up too well if ya remember. I'd rather something with a bit more armor than cargo space, or maybe a bit faster with higher ground clearance. Would be perfect to find something that can skim the tree tops. But if this is the best you see, I'll see if the guy is interested in a trade."

Tek looks around and shrugs, "This is one of the better ones. I don't see anything of a higher caliber around."

"Good for you. I'm goin' back to the bar. I don't have a liver to worry about anymore," de Leon says as he walks swiftly past Valeriya and out the door, calling behind only, "Come get me when you need to go somewhere."

Leonard's recon may not involve staring or discussion, but something has caught his interest. He begins walking towards the river. Slowly, tilting his head to either side as if searching or listening. After several steps, he stops and frowns with puzzlement.

Bartholemew looks for the owner of the vehicle in the immediate and obvious area with just a shrug to Tek. "Anyone know who owns this truck here?" asking of the nearby people.

An ogre carrying a battered wilderness L-20 across his back wanders away from one of the local fruit vendors, heading toward Bart. "Yeah? My truck. You wanna lift 'r something? Making a run to Devil's Gate."

Tek walks up closer to the vehicle getting within five feet of it. He seems to be looking around as much as he is looking at the vehicle.

Bartholemew gives the big guy a grin, "You wouldn't be looking to sell that vehicle, would ya? I could use a hovertruck where I'm going."

"Um. I wasn't. Sound like I am now. Whaddya got?" The ogre speaks the words like everyone around here - friendly. Good night, sleep well, I'll likely kill you in the morning.

Tek stays back and lets Bart do the talking for now. He does seem satisfied with his very basic inspection of the hovertruck.

Bartholemew gives a point with his thumb over his shoulder, "Got a Mountaineer up the road here I'd be willing to trade ya for yours. Pretty fancy paint job too. Sound interested?"

The ogre looks wary. "A Mountaineer for this thing? One-for-one? It on its last leg or something?"

Leonard does not walk any further, but continues frowning. Some time passes before he feels less uncomfortable and frowns less. He also makes his way back to the rally point to await Valeriya.

Tek wanders over to where Bart and the ogre are talking, "The hovertruck is in good condition. I still say the Mountaineer is worth way more." He glances at the ogre before looking back to Bart. He then takes a step back behind him to show deference to his authority and goes back to remaining silent.

Bartholemew chuckles at the monstrous man's skepticism, "No, not at all. Actually, you're getting the better deal, I just need the functionality. It's nuclear powered and strong as an ox, just wheels don't do well through water, and I need to get upriver quick. We can go take a look if you like. It's parked up by the Inn."

The ogre's eyes really narrow at the mention of not just a vehicle that at window-sticker is far more lucrative, but also nuclear powered. However, he calls, "Sonny! Gonna look at a truck." A shorter and uglier ogre walks over. The two converse for a while in their language, then it's agreed that upon inspection and satisfaction, they'll be happy to make the trade.

Tek says, "I am going to stay here and start going through the propulsion units, just to double check is all. I am sure they are fine but I will feel better if I can get an eyeball on them. It will not take very long." With that Tek moves over to the truck and for the first time actually start to physically look into the truck and it's parts.

A third ogre hurries over, saying nothing. Just stays back near the truck as Tek looks over it. Not interfering at all. Just even in Mixed Blessing, you don't let people poke around your stuff without an eye on 'em.

Bartholemew got no problem with the second ogre coming along and freely shows the beasts the vehicle. Being as they are happy with it they exchange vehicles, Mountaineer for the hovertruck. "Thanks much. Good luck on your trip to Devil's Gate. Let's pull em together so we can switch out our portable gear."

Sonny seems to be possibly Tek's cousin. His own inspection of the Mountaineer seems identical, just from an uglier body. The vehicle is declared good, and the lead ogre is more than happy to trade pink slips and swap equipment.

Tek does not even pay attention to the ogre left to watch him. Now he is all about checking all the small incidental areas most people miss, though he knows there will be nothing that can be done at this point even if he finds something small.

Valeriya finds her way to the exchange just after its completion, giving her a good look at the before and after. Her expression looks pretty blank on the comparison. After all it's not her truck. Rather she simply looks to Tek. "Will it do the job?"

Leonard steps away from the vehicle so that it can be inspected and deals made. He also approaches Valeriya in the process, noting, "Now that we have a better vehicle, I have a better idea of where to take it."

Bartholemew looks to Val with a shrug, "It'll get us up the river like we planned, much safer than the forest with the Mountaineer in my opinion from what Maggie said. How'd your talk go with him?"

Trade complete, the rest of the denizens of Mixed Blessing, including the navigator, go about their business, whatever it may be.

Tek adds, "Now that we don't need to use the ferry, do we have the time and resources to get the laser on the hovercycle fixed? I might be able to jury-rig something together from stuff I can find around here but I am broke. I spent four grand to get those slugs outta me."

"Possibly." Valeriya answers to Tek and turns to Leonard. After all it is his discovery that will tell them all they need to know about time. She keeps her focus on him as she shrugs for Bart. "We reached an understanding of sorts. And he gave away quite a bit about our competitors even if he didn’t want to."

"I'm surprised that he is still walking about," Leonard chuckles, "After such an understanding. At any rate, we should now be able to make up for lost time. I'll share more once we're underway."

Bartholemew nods to Val, "Good. So are we outta here or what? We still got some trade goods if you want to give him the time to get that weapon working again."

Tek looks to Val, "There is not a whole lot left. I am sure I could find the parts I would need around here. But the real question is about if we have the time... one. And two... if we have the credits or trade goods."

"How much credits or goods do you need? And can you do the job on the back of the truck as we head to our next location? I'm all for it if it's cost effective. But I can't say we have time until I see what Leonard has found for us. If nothing else I can reconsider giving you the time when we get there." Valeriya decides, hopping on the new old truck. "And we can pick up de Leon at the bar."

Bartholemew's got nothing more to really say on it, he is ready to go when they are, the quicker the better in his mind. When the mention of working on the truck is mentioned, "Sounds good to me, better to head on out."

Tek shakes his head, "Ohh no, this is definitely not a do it on the back of the truck while we are going kind of thing. I mean I am good and all but I am not even sure I can pull it off without finding a shop I can rent time in. I really would need some time to really dig in and see what is there and to look around to see what is available here before I could even give an absolute that it could be done, which is better than anyone else would say about the condition of the hovercycle's weapon." He then hops on the back of the truck waiting to head back to the Inn.

Leonard likewise boards the truck and gets himself settled. "Do we really need one more weapon on the cycle? I'm no expert, but I doubt we could locate nor afford anything more potent than what we already have. We need to get moving again. This ...event is... unusual."

Valeriya shakes her head at Tek as he lays out how extensive the work is. "Then no, we need to move now. So get in gear. Though I do welcome you to reconsider, perhaps see if you can rig the to particle rifles we got as a temporary fix." She suggests, waiting for everyone to get on board and get going.

Bartholemew climbs on up and fires up the truck, making sure everyone is aboard before pulling out to pick up the navigator at the bar. "Everyone aboard? We'll pick up the navigator and load up the hovercycle. An yeah, See if you can rig something from what we got weapon-wise to that cycle. You're supposed to be a wiz at this tech stuff, right? Use what we got and make it happen."

When they are back at the inn and strapping the hovercycle on the back of the truck Tek gives the C-12 he borrowed back to Bart. Then looking to Valeriya he says, "Can I get one of the plasma rifles and a vibro-knife from what we have found so far? And as far as rigging something like that it would be better for whoever was riding it to either use a pistol while moving or stop and hover to shoot with a rifle. Otherwise I am pretty sure I will need some shop time."

Valeriya looks a bit perplexed at Tek's reluctance. Perhaps he is to used to having a shop and plenty of time to do things right. "You can just tape them to the handlebars for point and shoot? Sure it'd be a bit awkward to maneuver the cycle to aim like that, take a bit longer. But once you're lined up, you do double the damage." She notes with a shrug. "If not then yes, holding one would be best, And help yourself to the spoils."

Bartholemew comments, "Well then how bout this, Tek, you drive the truck and just keep on course with Magellan. I'll fly the cycle, I can at least dive-bomb grenades on our enemies and keep a look out, I think pilot-wise, I can keep any trouble firing on me and just fly. Hard to hit a 250 mile per hour target as it makes passes dropping grenades on your ass. But it has got to be in the air already, can't be a stop and take-off thing again."

Tek looks to Valeriya, "Well I could secure a plasma rifle somehow but you would still need a finger to fire it. And without supports, which would take shop time, firing one handed still would not work. I don't see getting around shop time. As far as me driving the truck I am perfectly fine with that." Tek takes a plasma rifle and vibro-knife from the spoils into his own inventory.

Valeriya nods to Bart. "Sounds like an excellent plan. Just before it's my shift to recover I’ll see about making a few more for you." She agrees, settling the last detail as they set out on their way.

de Leon comes out of a bar close to the truck as his employers get settled. He still reeks of moonshine, but he's upgraded from bathtub moonshine to toilet bowl moonshine. However, he seems completely lucid as he shoves his way into the passenger seat of the cab. "Okay. It's two, got about six hours to make a hundred miles. If this bucket can't handle that, ya got buttfucked. As long as there aren't any problems, you should be picnicking in the given zone before the end of the day. Then you get to protect *me,* my job done. You pick up your end of the arrangement." He then swings an arm out the window and shouts in his odd Spanish-Italian-digital accent, "Wagons, hoooooo!"

"Let us hope that we do not encounter any angry Native Americans," Leonard offers with a quasi-hopeful tone. "Or any angry immigrants, for that matter." He is settled and more than willing to get the mobile feast underway once more.

Jaxain comes out of one of the nearby eateries, climbs into the back of the hovertruck, barely even acknowledging anyone else. After a few moments of being collapsed, he begins to pull himself into a meditating position. Jaxain smells like burnt metal and ceramic, has huge bags under his eyes and is lacking his customary smile. Looks like he's been through hell. Oh and most of the gear he had before, including his armor, is gone.

Bart climbs onto the the hovercycle and takes off to take up an escort position for the truck. He's quick with practiced efficiency and quiet with steeled resolve.

Tek walks up to the cab of the truck, pauses for a second before taking three steps backwards and looking up onto the bed of the hovertruck, "Jaxain? Wow... good to see you back with us. You look as torn up as I am. Well no time for reunions now." With that Tek jumps into the driver's seat and waits for the all go from Valeriya.

Valeriya nods once everyone's ready and knocks on the cab to signal the move out. Afterward her gaze turns to Jaxain with mild speculation. "Come to your senses?"

de Leon just points west-by-northwest, up the immensely wide and deep Missouri River.

Leonard is now aware that Jaxain was neither killed nor captured, but reserves judgment on whether sense was regained. "Be warned that our destination is some manner of dimensional anomaly. I don't know whether the target is a result or the cause of the disturbance, but it seems to have a negative affect on magic and the preternatural."

Jaxain doesn't respond to anyone. Simply attempts to break into a meditative posture as the hovertruck begins to move out.

Bart follows as the truck starts off. Weaving the faster bike to tail effectively without loosing readiness, getting into the feel of the combat run ahead.

Tek takes the truck up over the river and brings it up to cruising speed following the navigator's directions. His concentration for now is on driving.

de Leon lounges. "Got about seventy-five miles of straight line, fifteen-hundred feet on either side. No problems unless you really do something stupid, or someone's got it out for ya."

Valeriya is standing watch as she arranged with Leo to let him rest for this leg. As such she's got her rifle at one side, casually pulling out her C-5 to reload from last time.

Not one to argue with Valeriya, especially concerning recuperation, Leonard seeks rest and meditation. Edgar remains on watch for both Leonard's sake and as an additional pair of eyes. The corvid remains perched on the vehicle; even it will not forsake a lazy ride.

Jaxain is silent and unmoving, in a meditative trance.

The wide river and easy course allow Bart more freedom to maneuver and explore the area surrounding the truck in the interests of security and he does. Keeping a watchful eye and protective wake.

Tek keeps the hovertruck on course and flying at a fast but secure pace. He does keep an eye ahead for anything that looks suspicious or like it could be a good ambush spot.

Valeriya re-holsters her cleanly loaded C-5, refilled with concussion rounds and takes her rifle back up as she leans against the cab, considering the river behind them in a distant gaze.

Up in the cab, the navigator may be getting bored as miles pass by quickly. Twenty miles in half an hour. Forty miles fly by in the span of an hour. The river maintains a relatively straight course, and its width is enough to make any of its minor bends meaningless. de Leon turns in his seat and looks back to the rear deck. "That guy grab a lit fusion black and hug it or something?"

Leonard ignores the scenery, though he is thankful for the easily navigated course while he recuperates. An hour or three of rest could prove useful once they arrive.

Meditate. Meditate. Meditate. Jaxain is unexciting.

Bart keeps up his tailing wake, his focus on the river ahead as he weaves to and fro behind the truck.

Though Tek is in his groove now he remains attentive to his surroundings his eyes shifting in front of the truck to scan for obstructions or any possible problems.

"We're probably being followed. Probably by Magellan's buddies." Valeriya notes with a slightly annoyed tone, her gaze still distant. "No need to panic though, keep casual until we're sure." The meeting at the diner does make it likely but it's far from certain.

"Hey! Why'd ya say that?" de Leon turns fully to look behind him. "Thought he made it pretty clear they didn't want to have anything to do with you." If a half-cyborg can sound hurt, he does.

Meditate. Meditate. Meditate. Leonard is no more exciting than Jaxain. The only major difference is that Leonard did not leap from moving vehicles nor embrace fusion blocks.

Who knows what may be going on inside of Jaxain's unmoving head. Between the two men in the back of the truck, it's like watching a meditating championship bout.

Bart keeps his attention forward, continuing to weave as he does. Though he is paying attention to the speculation he hasn’t allowed it to alter his behavior yet.

Tek looks behind him but keeps his driving consistent and says over the radio, "What do you want to do boss, doubt we can outrun them, whoever they are."

"So you think he packed up and went home knowing he can't compete? Or is it more likely he'll follow us and then ambush us once we have the prize?" Valeriya asks of de Leon, keeping her gaze on the distant object to determine if it is following or even gaining.

de Leon shrugs. "I don't know. Long as no one tries to kill me, it's not my problem. I don't take sides against anyone bigger than wilderness thugs until someone starts shooting."

Leonard continues his obliviousness for the moment. He will not concern himself with possible tails or potential competition until such things make themselves known.

Jaxain's mind continues to vamp.

Bart continues to weave, taking a quick glance back with the continuing conjecture. "I'll move to a higher altitude, be ready to move to bomb them." He states to it all and then does so, escalating to one hundred feet above the river

Tek keeps on driving where he's told.

"Well whoever they are they are definitely gaining, making this thing look like a shopping cart. Not sure if that’s good or bad." Valeriya notes, slinging her rifle to pull out her C-5 again.

de Leon just looks out back. "Coming up pretty fast. Real fast."

Whether it will prove to be threat, aid, or simply complication, the comments are enough to rouse Leonard via Edgar. He turns his attentions outward to ask, "What is approaching?" Even as the question is posed, he looks in the direction of the vehicle's wake in attempt to spy the concern for himself.

Jaxain continues to meditate, needing to regain his strength after having been battered in the wilderness.

"Possibly some form of aircraft, from the speed and altitude." Bart answers from above, taking himself higher to compensate for the revealed information. He lifts up to 200 feet above the river to let the bogey pass between the truck and himself.

Tek looks over his shoulder and makes a decision on the spur and yells into the radio, "Hold tight." just before making a quick maneuver to the left and into the trees.

That was unexpected. Valeriya's grip is iron as she grabs the truck to keep herself on board against the evasive action. "Woah, let's not overreact, not at the cost of our new truck. Trees will do more harm to us that a river, and won't protect us. I can handle that though, so just get us there Tek, I'll take care of the one piece."

"It looks like a.. holy SHIT!" de Leon screams as Tek makes his unannounced and radical course change off the water and onto the dirt. "Slow down, slow down! Fuck! STOP!" It's at about that time that the dot resolves itself. It climbs slightly so that its altitude is above Bart and his hovercycle, then dives back to river level, angling and following the truck's path. A Coalition-issue Skycycle beams past at what may be full speed, judging by the sound and visuals. As the winter has left the forest canopy open, it's quite easy to see. Yet as it is practically at ground level, it rapidly disappears from sight, not making any course corrections before being obscured.

Leonard is now unhappy, and not only because he must grab hold of something to stay on the swerving vehicle. "That is definitely a threat, and not approaching for conversation. Not unless they wish to hurl insults before firing."

Jaxain falls over because of the turn, whacking his head just enough to jar him and break his meditation.

Bart returns to the river with a sigh after being blitzed by the sky cycle. Shaking his head he mutters. "Must have been a scout, question is, is he leaving the group or returning to it."

The quick maneuver into the trees jostled everyone in the truck and probably caught them all off guard but seen from outside the truck it is obvious that though abrupt Tek kept the hovertruck under perfect control the entire time even having the vehicle angled appropriately so as to see the Skycyle rocket by, after which Tek heads back out over the river and back up to cruising speed with smooth and controlled movements.

"No way to know so we might as well continue as planned. Everyone get comfy again and well put this behind us for now." Valeriya decides, relaxing her C-5 but not holstering it.

de Leon is once more jostled around, and from his two half-mouths comes a strange sigh. "It was probably a standard patrol. They run them up from Devil's Gate all the time, that's why the route was a reasonable one. But my head was down when it passed. Anyone see any markings?" He then gives Tek some quick directions of the obvious - the river is going to take a long, wide turn to the southwest. "Probably pinch off as an oxbow one of these years."

"You may rest if you wish, Valeriya," Leonard offers. "I doubt that I could focus, now, knowing that there are Coalition patrols about. I did not see any markings, though I doubt there is much distinction between units. Although, there is always the slim chance that it was pirated and the pilot serves some mercenary company."

Jaxain rubs his head. "What was that?" He's still woozy from being so shockingly awakened from his meditation.

Bart returns to his weaving behind the truck, trying to shrug off the brief passing and resume his routine.

Tek stays the course, following the river though staying on high alert.

Valeriya nods to Leonard, hesitantly holstering her C-5 to sit down on the truck bed and enter a meditative state herself.

The entire bow of the river is an uneventful travel. The Skycycle never comes back, no one takes shots from the treeline, no great river monsters rise up to devour the vehicle. People have time to meditate or rest, depending on their individual peculiarities. de Leon notes that the party is about fifty miles from the center of the target area, a point that he has been using as a reference. "If everything works out like the map you gave me, got about twenty-five miles on the river, then we hit land and slow down for trees. But see? Look, sun's up and everything!"

Leonard's hands come up to his head as senses go strange; both his own and Edgar's. "Valeriya, are you feeling this?! Whatever we're approaching, it's powerful. More than a nexus or a single rift. It's not like anything I've encountered."

Jaxain takes a moment to look around, as the truck continues on its path.

Bart is oblivious to the energy the mages feel, but it sounds like good news regardless. As such it brightens his outlook as he keeps his tabs behind the truck.

"Yeah, feels great." Valeriya confirms with a grin, drinking it in. "Especially considering we may yet be more the 50 miles away from it, could be ten times as powerful.." She notes, continuing to bask in the radiant power.

de Leon seems to take no notice. "Just keep pushing, kid. What's the big deal?"

A mix of groan and grumble is the first to key Leonard's VOX. "Yes, the power is pleasant, but the cause is not. It's as if the area cannot decide in which dimension it exists... or it exist in many at once. Possibly all." His helm turns to de Leon, "To make it more vernacular, we could find that one arm is in Kingsdale, a leg is in Tolkeen, while our asses are in Chi-Town. Simultaneous. Hopefully, everything will stay attached. To my knowledge, Edgar is the only multi-dimensional being among us, and it is chaotic enough to affect /him./"

Jaxain appears as if it may be affecting him as well, though he remains silent for the time being.

Bart keeps pace, not letting the developing uncertainty get to him as they near their target.

Tek glances around but maintains course and speed before half looking to Magellan, "Just give me a heads-up when we are going to have to transition into the trees." He also seems unaffected by whatever has the mages all whipped up.

Valeriya shrugs at the worry wart, perhaps too elated by the energy to take Leonard seriously. "That would explain why it was so difficult to pinpoint.. You still want to take it for ourselves? Told you it was hazardous goods." She reminds with a slight smirk.

The navigator gives good instruction, and the hovertruck's engine is able to be opened up. The miles to the turn off of water and into wilderness again only takes twenty minutes. de Leon smiles. Possibly; it's a little eerie. "Ha! I won't call it done yet, because I want to earn my keep, but basically all we need to do is point north. Which is that way." He points. "I'm refining my direction with a star sight, as my compass isn't functioning entirely right at the moment." If he has an instrument to make a star sighting, it isn't visible. Fortunately, the forest here is quite open, mocking the trees to the south of the river. Driving should not be much of a problem, as long as reasonable speeds are maintained.

"It was only meant as a warning," Leonard retorts. "Treat it as you will." With some effort, he looks north to their path ahead. For once, he also makes an effort to ignore the dimensional fabric of their surroundings. He did not pack enough painkillers for the headache he is developing as it is.

Jaxain appears as if he may be feeling the enhancement power as well.

With the trees coming up Bart swerves to move alongside the truck rather than behind. It will be making abrupt stops after all, better not to tailgate.

Tek opens the engines up when the river allows it and slows when the turn off into the lightly forested area, "So we are getting close I am guessing?"

"Yes we are getting close." Valeriya confirms, smirking at Leonard. "I was only teasing, and am now fully charged if you want to take in some of the lovely country air." She offers, rising from her meditation with a stretch.

de Leon leans out the window, looks to the sky, then refines his direction once more. "That way. Looks like the trees are pretty open. If you guys are right about this open area on the map, you should get there in about... oh, maybe forty-five minutes to an hour." He looks at Tek. "Depending on how well you drive."

"Driving well enough to not crash is all I ask. Dammit." Leonard doesn't qualify his expletive, but it sounds more harsh than his choice of word.

Jaxain is finally rested up, or as close as he is going to get. "Alright." he says, his first coherent words to the group since re-joining them. "So what's the plan so far. I'll add in the info I have, and we can refine on the go." He does a stretch, working out a crick in his neck. "My suggestion would be Bart, Tek and I go and get the object, then bring it back out and rush it to a portal that Leo has open for us. If we can even get it that close before it sucks all the magic out of Leo and his portal." He shrugs.

Bart keeps pace with the truck on the side, his comm open to listen as planning starts to circulate.

Tek slows down, "Dammit man my vision is going fuzzy. I should be alright if it does not get worse. If I could mount a camera on the front I could pilot it with my eyes closed and that would fix the issue. But we would have to stop. It's like I am looking through water damn it."

As someone who sees magic energy like seeing water, swimming through it isn’t that hard of a stretch for her. Valeriya takes the impaired vision in stride as she starts examine the energy for any sign of a current that might lead the way. "What do you mean drain the energy?" She asks of Jax as she does so.

"Uh..." de Leon grunts and is then quiet as the trunk hums along. "Whoa. My biologic eye's going weird. Other one's good. Keep going, kid. I'll tell you to swerve if you need to."

Leonard groans again, and perhaps not only due to the unsettling sensations. His helm shakes somewhere between negative gesture and attempting to clear his head. "There's no indication that it drains magical energy. Quite the opposite. Although, attempting to open a stable rift in the area may be impossible." After a moment, he adds, "You can go first, to verify."

Jaxain nod to Val, "From what I was able to find out, this thing has already drained a number of TW batteries of vehicles doing flyovers, and at a closer range it may completely drain a mage's PPE. Technology works, but everything else." He looks at Leo, "No thanks." His voice flat and his gaze obviously not amused. "Bart, how are you up there? Vision not too bad?"

"Vision's same up here as what you guys have got." Bart answers, having elevated his flight to just above the trees to compensate the watery look.

"Then what's with this energy surplus then?" Valeriya asks of Jax with a gesture to the chaos they can all see and feel to varying degrees. She herself has stopped looking for order in it. "And what else have you learned?"

Tek keeps going at his same speed but is being careful. His concentration keeps him silent

de Leon grins that odd smile. Only one side even has teeth. "Good, good, kid." He keeps his left hand on the wheel. He's not a driver, but pushing the wheel a little bit this way, or pulling it a little way the other direction is easy enough. "Unless I'm wrong, we should be breaking out of the trees and into your admittedly large designated area in just a few minutes. Then my job's done, I get to kick back with a margarita, right?" He's joking. Probably.

"Perhaps he is experiencing a different reality than you an I," Leonard voices viable hypotheses to Valeriya on Jaxain's interpretations. "It could be the dimensional flux, or the blow to his head. That, or rational thought never returned, assuming that it was ever present before." Leonard attempts to blink away the muddied vision as he continues to look ahead in anticipation.

Jaxain snorts, shaking his head, "Quite poetic, for a coward." That's all he has to add, for now. With the arrival of the plain Bart's attention to the ground below focuses to a militarist scan of the area, looking for signs of their quarry.

Tek smacks Magellan's hand as he reaches over for the wheel, "Hey, whoa there. If you want to drive that is one thing but I heard you were not a 'driver.' If I am going to hit a tree, it is going to be me hitting said tree. Kapiesh?" Still going at the slower pace Tek is doing his best to see through the blur.

de Leon's eyes go wide, both biological and technological at Jaxain's words. Another weird digital sigh comes from his mouth, and he mutters something in what may simply be binary, and is probably also not flattering for the warrior in back. Then he quickly takes his hand off the wheel, apologizing to Tek. After another moment's pause, "Looks like my job is done, folks. I can see the edge of the treeline, even if you can't."

Valeriya just shakes her head at the mini spat as they come onto the plain. "From what I can see of the energy flow it's like a dimensional vortex. The shards are to ley lines and nexi, which I'm sensing in great number, yet we see none.. And magic energy is being drawn through to saturate this area. I can agree the the target is the cause, but I’m thinking for now it won't drain us, because of the saturation level. If that changes that will be an indication of otherwise," she explains before considering the plain before them. "Which way Bart?"

Leonard peers ahead, leaning forward slightly. Aside from the dimensional chaos that he's attempting to not view, and the blurred state of his mundane vision, he can see nothing that is remarkable. His ears work perfectly well, however. Leonard nods his agreement of Valeriya's assessment before opining, "There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity. Considering the source, I will take that as a compliment."

Jaxain laughs, "Says the kettle to the pot! You are among the biggest fools I know, and you speak thus." He seems genuinely amused. "I jumped off the truck to provide a distraction, as with three or four more well placed shots we would have lost it. What did you do? Cower on the cab, protecting less than half of the vehicle and leaving the rest exposed to direct fire. While I neutralized the threat. With no help from you idiots." He shakes his head. "I can understand that you are all evil and selfish, and it is not my place to judge. So I won't blame you for not helping me free the hundred slaves who would have otherwise died. But you have lost ANY right to claim cowardice upon any others."

Bart maxes his altitude at just over a hundred feet to maximize his vision range. He may only see a discolored blur, but what they are looking for should be a different colored blur.

Tek keeps heading in the same general direction as he extends his own senses, "So what is it we are looking for?"

Valeriya just shakes her head. "Don’t you two have something better to do? I mean if you're going to bicker, go all out and at least make it entertaining for the rest of us. Nothing you say is going to change your opinions, neither of you is about to back down. Agree to disagree, or take the head of the one who is wrong." Valeriya hisses, trying to clear the chatter to get more people looking for their target. "A big grey metal thing. Should be easy enough to spot once we get close enough."

"Then it is just as well that I didn't accuse anyone of cowardice," Leonard can't help but chuckle. "I denounced you as an idiot, Jaxain. A shame that my comment went over your head, even if you proved it true in the process. If not for me, nearly everyone in here would be captive or dead in the battle that occurred after you left. You would not know this, of course." He peers ahead, still, but turns his head slightly towards Valeriya. "I'm finished commenting, and will return to ignoring him. "Otherwise, I might do exactly that, as he obviously does not use it."

de Leon kicks his feet up on the dashboard and throws his arms behind is head. "Oh yeah, life is good!" He seems to be proud of a job well done. Apparently when you take your time, you really can get what you pay for. The man didn't screw up once. As Tek continues to head in the general direction, the truck and adventurers find themselves roughly a mile from the trees. There's open grassland for miles, though there is a slight feeling as if looking at a mirage, or heat rising off of a hot road.

Jaxain is obviously exhausted, and very likely he isn't thinking exactly straight, but that doesn't make his points less valid. "Ignoring me would be great, I'm tired of your stupid whiny comments." He shakes his head, "We are looking for a 20th century battleship that is, possibly, half immersed in the ground. The object we are looking for caused it to phase out of space and time, and re-appear hundreds of years later, here. It's some kind of alien artifact, more details later. I gotta get a bit more rest, while I can." And he closes his eyes, trying once more to meditate and find his center.

Bart has yet to see anything in the group's vicinity and throttles up to expand his search area in a steady arc out from the group.

Tek increases his speed some but no more than he feels comfortable with, "How big are the ships from back then and do you have any idea on what the power source it is using is like. Hmmm I wonder if the wings will still be intact. Think we can fly it out if I can fix it?"

"Was this planet space capable in that time? I've come to understand the magic rifts were a large technological setback. but not much factual history. So is it a space ship or air ship?" Valeriya asks.

Beautiful rolling grassland, as far as the eye can see. Except in the direction of the trees, obviously.

Leonard would love nothing more than to educate all with his vast repertoire of historical knowledge. Unfortunately, vast can make specific morsels more difficult to recall. "A battleship is... I'm not certain. I don't believe there were combat spacecraft at that time, but it could be aircraft or watercraft."

Jaxain nods, "From what I was able to find out, it's a watercraft, and not very fast or maneuverable. But very, very large." He still has his eyes closed. "It was probably fueled by some primitive technology, something basic. Can't move in the air or on land, just a long flat boat... That is probably at least partly buried in the ground."

Bart continues his arcing trajectory out from the group, his sweep improving in speed and quality as he finds clarity.

Tek increases his speed, his vision seems clearer, "There we go I am starting to see better... Wait... Does that mean we passed it?"

"No, I'm still seeing the magic energy, we haven’t passed it."Valeriya notes to Tek before turning back to the other conversation. "Watercraft? What lunacy is that? I mean if you can build aircraft why build watercraft at all?"

de Leon pipes up. "Uh. Are those the trees again?" He points out the window. There's a treeline, indeed.

"To control the waterways? Travel the seas?" Leonard makes logical possible explanations. "Aircraft can't stay in the air forever, and I doubt their range at that time was very great." His eyes follow de Leon's direction. "They could be?" He's not certain, either. "Something from another realm that was carried here from elsewhere, possibly?"

Jaxain nods again, "Bart, didn't the pilot tell us things cleared up when he got closer, then after that his PPE batteries drained?"

"Something like that." Bart agrees as he reaches the ahead treeline, there he turns to start another arc, heading west in his search pattern.

Tek slows down and says to Magellan, "Alright navigator guy. We just did a circle. Where am I going? And as far as the ship, I am betting it is some kind of aircraft. I mean there is not even any water around here."

de Leon tosses his hands up. "Navigator, not cartographer. But you were headed that way." He jerks his thumb the opposite direction of current travel. "How'd you manage to do this, anyway?"

"Could still be done by air. Could make aircraft that can stay aloft perpetually. Refueling craft and such. What a backwards world this was," Valeriya notes with a shrug before nodding to the apparent turnaround. "Keep a better eye on our course Tek, don’t want to go in circles." The possible PPE drain is noted but not remarked upon, they have to proceed.

Leonard grumbles something unintelligible before uttering, "Reality itself is in flux, here. Straight ahead may not actually be straight. Up could be- shit!" Leonard visibly shudders. "It feels as if a rift may be opening at any moment. One larger than Devil's Gate... or any other rift I've imagined."

Silent for a moment, Jax speaks after contemplating. "The pilot said he had a lot of difficulty even doing his flyover. Instruments are useless, and senses are hard to trust... Maybe if we go by the stars, Navigator?"

Bart continues his track across the plains, unerring in his search efforts regardless of what insanity gets thrown at him.

Tek turns around... because that is what he knows what to do... "Ummm... Gate? I don't know how... Umm what to do about a gate... And did you say forward could be up? Umm what... exactly does 'that' mean?" This time he goes slower and tries to pay more attention.

Valeriya looks to Leonard, and then looks for the current that would come from a rift of his description. Possibly it's just a passing shard but nothing seems certain in this place..

As Tek turns and gets the vehicle going in - apparently - the right direction, the treeline fading back to where only Bartholemew might be able to see it, meaning a maximum of thirteen miles under perfect conditions, which these clearly are not. Then an intensely bright pinpoint of light appears in the distance, as if having a high-powered laser shined in one's eye, surrounded by the illuminance of a Class O star. It rapidly unfolds, encompassing the area like reverse origami on an unimaginable scale. Almost instantaneously, the hovertruck is no longer hovering over grassland, but rather a broad ocean with water from horizon to horizon. In the distance is indeed a large, gray object floating on the water. Too far to make out details other than that it is likely extremely large in all three dimensions, but clunky and angular, unlike most modern constructs. It's a beautiful day, it may even be noted that there's an albatross overhead. After some minutes of hovering over ocean, there is a screeching sound that increases in volume beyond what might be though possible, except that it is inside the head, rather than being sensed by eardrums. A similar feeling to ringing a tuning fork and then applying the handle gently to the skull. Then things change again.

DAY FOUR - Date Unknown

There it is! Wait, don't go into the light! The bright flash and subsequent disorientation could be considered déjà vu by Leonard. This time, however, his limbs remain attached following his blink. It doesn't seem that he lost consciousness, but it's apparent that he's lost time. He's fairly certain that it was midday a few moments ago. Now, all is dark. After taking the time to ensure that he still possesses the proper count of appendages, he keys his mic. "Well, that was... interesting? How is everyone?"

Valeriya puts a hand up to her head, trying to dull the ringing like one would dull a bell.. "That was interesting.." she manages, hanging on to consciousness as all the others fail. She looks initially surprised to see Leonard is not dozing with the rest of them before recovering to give him a smirk. "You're tougher than you look. I haven’t had my head ring like that since I was training aggressive spell canceling," she complements before leaping off the truck bed to open the cab. "I can feel the reactor, maybe 15 miles northwest minus random dimensional flux. We gotta get moving," she then explains, trying to rouse Tek with the ever popular shake pinch slap progression.

Tek's head lol's to the side a bit as the attempt to rouse him seems unsuccessful.

Leonard now realizes in the dim that the vehicles are no longer moving. "On the chance that moving is not on their agenda in the near future, how are your driving skills?" He reaches around and into the cab to try and nudge their cybernetic navigator, his arms are not nearly long enough to reach Bartholemew on the hovercycle.

"What driving skills? I don’t even drive a bicycle well." Valeriya answers, progressing to let Tek fall out of the cab to see if that works. He's certainly not driving unconscious. Even she can do better than that, maybe.. "You?"

Tek seems to still be unmoving, the attempts so far to wake him have not been successful.

"I may be able to point it in a direction," Leonard nudges de Leon harder, "but that's about all. I can fly a jet pack, but this is marginally larger, and different. Suggestions?"

"Well I could push it, but I can't walk very fast. Mystical solution?" Valeriya asks, leaning down to take Tek up and place him on the truck bed. Meanwhile up in the air Bart is starting to recover, what a hangover, he has the sense to land immediately and not risk anything too fancy.

Face down Tek starts letting out a low moan, "Ughhhhnnnnfftttt... What in the... Snow?" pushing up with another groan, "How in the frack did I get on the ground..." Then seeing the hovertruck and Valeriya standing over him things start to kinda become clear, focusing on Valeriya he directs the next comment to her, "What... what happened? There was water as far as I could see then... then nothing."

"Oh.. shit." de Leon lurches slowly out of his near coma. "God, I have a headache. That's not even supposed to be possible!"

Mumble mumble "Awww, lemme sleep Cindy." Mutter mutter. Jax is awake as well, or close, but instead of getting up right away is taking the opportunity to doze. "Lezzget pancakes..."

Leonard breathes a sigh of relief as some awaken. "Excellent. Now we can continue on, and with a driver. The sooner we can reach it, survive, neutralize and retrieve the item, the better."

Valeriya is surprised to find Tek recover mid-heave. As such she doesn’t drop him on the deck like a sack of potatoes, but gently places him down. "Ah good, you're back with us. Had me worried for a second. How many fingers am I holding up?" She asks to quickly assess if he can drive, offering an even number of digits.

Tek looks at Valeriya for a moment before closing his eyes, "The truck seems to be ok still. I must not have hit anything." Moving a bit slow still he makes his way back into the driver's seat, "Is it possible that is going to happen again?" When everyone is back on board and ready he sets off yet again.

de Leon helps himself recover by repeatedly banging his forehead against the dashboard a dozen times. Eventually he shakes it off, one lip whipping oddly around with his head. He calls out the back, "Yo! Guy who hired me! C'mere, let me show you how to use this." Bartholemew takes a moment for himself, and parks the hovercycle so that it can be taken with them unpiloted, then climbs into a crowded cab.

Jaxain opens his eyes and sits up, looking around. He doesn't say anything for now, probably just figures he dozed off on the drive.

"Hopefully you're well enough to continue to not hit anything," Leonard spares a chuckle, "As well as no more of ..that. We seem to have lost several hours, but I could be wrong. It's equally possible that centuries have passed, or reversed."

"Well let's hope it's reversed if we have to contemplate that. Then we can get it back to where Kingsdale will be, stash it and leave a note for our future selves that it's right there," Valeriya suggests, hopping back onto the back as Tek gets back in the drivers seat. "15 miles northwest guys."

Tek heads northwest carefully trying his best to keep track of his direction and angle in an attempt to not drive in a circle again.

With no one asking anything of him, de Leon occupies himself talking shop with Bartholemew.

Jaxain looks at his watch, then at the surroundings, then at Leo, "Wow, that's pretty crazy. Watch says its only been a minute, but... obviously that’s wrong." He looks up. "How about the stars, they showing any changes, de Leon? Any large time passages?"

Leonard smirks unseen. "I would prefer that only a few hours were shifted, in either direction, myself." His attention now focuses ahead, even if their destination is too far for him to see, much less in the dark.

Valeriya nods to Leonard and just hangs on for the ride, waiting out the fifteen minutes it ought to take ideally. Of course they haven’t seen ideal since the left Kingsdale but she's optimistic.

The cyborg sits up and looks at Jaxain as the man asks a question of him. His two unusual eyes look out the windshield for a moment, and he replies, "If we're in the exact same place we were before, it's been somewhere around five days. Somehow." He huffs. "Alternatively, it's about three in the morning and I have absolutely no idea where we are."

Tek whistles as he hears the time passage. He continues on still concentrating.

Jaxain whistles as well, "Holy crap, de Leon, that's pretty damn impressive." He the turns to the field, keeping an eye out. "Any hint that might happen again, Leo? My vision showed that the power source was in flux, but was settling down. That might have been a final bang before it drops back into our reality?"

"There it is." Valeriya exclaims pointing to a large shadow rising out of the darkness ahead. "Lock and load people, if five days have passed our competition has probably caught up." She reminds, keeping sense alert.

"There's no hint for the moment," Leonard shakes his head, "And I'll have a sense of it should it occur again, but only immediately beforehand. Hardly enough time for us to protect ourselves or avoid it."

Tek keeps on course heading in the direction of the shadow, "Where do you want me to take us? Just straight in?"

The triumphant navigator gives Jaxain a nod, then decides to attempt sleep.

Jaxain looks around, "Crap, I don't have any armor or good weapons. We got anything here I can use?" He looks at the place Val pointed towards. "At least one caster, maybe more, should stay away at first in case it does drain PPE. I don't care if I lose my PPE that much, as long as I have armor and some good weapons around. But if all three of us are drained it might be trouble."

Leonard remains alert, studying both the shadow ahead and the surroundings. "Is it too much to hope that they were incapacitated by a similar event?" He has no equipment to offer Jaxain; his own is minimal, borrowed, and/or damaged.

Valeriya gestures to the pile of salvage tied down on the back of the truck. "Help yourself." She notes to Jax before turning her attention back ahead. "Keep going Tek, we've had enough delays for one trip. Don’t stop and don’t waver till we get there." She insists boldly.

Tek stays the course but slows as he gets closer, "How do we get in that thing?"

Jaxain nods to Val and goes to it, quickly dons the least damaged suit of armor, grabs a pair of vibro-blades, a heavy weapon that looks workable, and some spare ammo for the weapon. "Alright, ready to go. What we are looking for should be a pyramid looking thing with a ball on top, different tech than the rest of the ship so it should stand out. Will be, hopefully, in a lab on a lower level. Door is probably locked, so we need a cutting tool." He looks at Tek. "Got a torch?"

"I can see what must be our destination," Leonard notes as he looks ahead, "And a conspicuous absence of any others on the plains." He sounds as if he could be optimistic, as well. There is subsequently a pause and full rotation so that his faceplate can turn to Jaxain. "Dare I ask how you might know the description of a piece of equipment that is centuries if not millenia old, sealed inside a centuries-old warship we know nothing of, /and/ appears to be tearing through multiple dimensions at random?"

Valeriya shakes her head at Jax and Tek as the pull up. "I got master keys." She informs them ready to jump off as soon as the truck stops before the ship. "Do you know where the lab is? Would make my first master key much more effective." She notes to Jax, hefting a fireglobe. Apparently she is not concerned about how he knows so much.

Tek is making great time with nothing being in the way and no strange magic things throwing oceans at him this time, "We are about to hit the one mile mark. I figure I am going to head straight for it still right?"

de Leon remains gloriously asleep.

Jaxain smiles at Leo, "Hey, I told you I did my research on this mission." He winks, "Part psychic vision, part legwork, part putting two and two together." He looks at Val, "Nah, not from outside, but from the inside.. maybe. This structure should be normal steel though, so we shouldn't need your key." He points at the globe. "Might melt through the whole ship, damage our target." He looks at Tek. "I'm hoping he can help navigate us through. We can just cut a hole in the... bulkhead? I think the book said that’s what it's called." He hefts up his newly acquired vibro-weapon. He suddenly pauses for a minute, "AH! There we go. Feel that?" He looks at Leo with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Then winks to show he's just teasing. Apparently some of his good humor has returned.

"Feel what?" Leonard's words hold confusion. He feels nothing. Not until they continue forward, perhaps. "Dammit! Do we stop and split up or push on?" That is for Valeriya. "Either way, decide quickly."

Valeriya almost jumps of the truck right there when she sees her magic energy being siphoned off. "Stop the truck Tek!" She commands, looking to Leonard. "Well if we continue as is getting home could be hobbled. Do you want to wait here for that reason?"

If a hovertruck could make a screeching sound when the brake was depressed, this one would. Skids another fifty yards toward the object before finally coming to a stop. Tek stays silent, surprised at the command, looking back and awaiting others.

de Leon is thrown forward with the stop. "What?!"

Jaxain nods, pondering for a moment, "I'd feel more comfortable knowing we had Leo out here, with magical reserves, to watch our back." He shrugs, "But then again, there are other angles to consider. If we manage to get the truck fast enough, we MIGHT be able to drive it through a rift.. and also, due to the time travel we MIGHT have thrown pursuit."

Leonard is already dismounting the truck. "Both of you, whomever is continuing on, grant me all the reserves you can. Now. There is no reason to let it all just bleed away and we'll need all we can muster if we want to make a rapid return." After stating this, he begins uttering a spell.

Valeriya nods, not hesitating to place a hand on Leonard's shoulder and transfer all her power to him. It certainly won't last up ahead. Once done she re-boards the truck and is ready to resume. "Ok Tek, full speed ahead." She commands once Jax is done.

Jaxain nods, reaching out a hand and doing the same. No use in wasting energy. "Alright, ready to go." He nods to Tek. Looking back at Leo, "You have a radio? We should keep in contact so we know if anything is going wrong."

Tek looks confused at the turn of events, clearly not knowing what the issue is. Words don't always paint perfect pictures. But when given an order, he follows it, flooring the vehicle. It only takes about one minute to stop a few yards from the object.

The object is simply massive. It is indeed a post-war era battleship, but guns in four turrets with a massive superstructure. It sits oddly on the ground, rather than in the ocean. A sailor might note its exact problems, but it is in the ground up to its forward turret at a shallow angle, listing to starboard at a significant angle. Other than being half-buried thousands of miles from any major body of water, it seems to be in absolutely perfect condition. Even the words, "BBX-71, USS Louisiana" are clear.

Bartholemew shakes himself out of the truck as it comes to a stop. "There's something moving on the... floor? The deck. From here they look real small, but the damn thing's huge."

Jaxain nods, "Awww, crap. So we have company then? With any luck they have no clue what we are looking for... but getting it out might be an issue." He looks at Val, "Any way we can reconsider and go hire up some mercs?"

"I'll be monitoring," Leonard notes over the radio, "Just try not to dawdle. Otherwise, you might miss your ride home." There is a wry chuckle as he then breaks into a solid jog back the direction they came. After withdrawing to a distance that seems safe for the group's mystical reserves, he waits. Not idly, of course, as he attempts some manner of over-watch and security.

Valeriya shakes her head at Jax. "Are you always so squeamish? And do you see a big neon sign saying 'Mercs for hire!' out here?" She asks as she jumps off the truck to take a momentary consideration of the people on the ship. "Might they be the crew?" She asks for anyone to guess as she considers the structure ahead. Ideally she's looking for a vertical section of ship out of view of the deck.

Tek puts the hovertruck in park, secures the emergency brake and allows it to settle to the ground. He's quiet, looking up to the deck but apparently not quite seeing what Bartholemew has seen.

The navigator stays in the car. "End of the line for me, until we turn around for home."

Jaxain shakes his head, "I've had a rough couple of days. There is little I want to to less that get in a fight right now." He sighs, "It might be the crew... but not from the information I have. Anyone have optic systems?"

Leonard looks out away from the site more than at it. Aside from a large dark outline, he is too distant to make out details as small as his companions. "All still seems quiet and clear out here."

Valeriya shrugs at Jaxain's answer, moving on and moving ahead. She points to the ship's hull, about half way along it's length. "We'll cut in there. try to be discrete, if that doesn’t work run ahead, I'll cover."

Tek walks up to the ship, following Valeriya and trying not to be seen. He places a hand against it and lowers his head, eyes closed in concentration. After a few minutes have passed, he speaks, and it is a tone in awe. "This thing is huge! I've never felt a machine like this. There is something, a big.. I can't put my finger on it. In there. Underneath the... buildings." He points at the superstructure and the general area where Valeriya has chosen to cut.

de Leon stays where he is. Bartholemew is quiet, but calls, "Ah, they're real slow. I can't see them very well, but there's maybe... I don't know, there's a lot of 'em."

Jax pauses on his quiet trip to the ship, straightening for a moment, "No voices! No talking... all those people, and no sound... They are out of phase, guys. Here, but not, would be my guess. Holy frack this is weird." He pulls out his vibro-sword, and pokes an inquisitive hole in the hull near where Val pointed. "Alright, we can do it. It's not gonna be easy, but we can cut a hole. Here is good, Tek?" If given a nod, Jax will start cutting a hole for them to fit through.

Valeriya follows, taking up the rear a bit slowly as Tek and Jax run ahead to investigate the hull. She joins them without incident though and nods as Jax starts to cut in.

Tek turns to Valeriya. "What do you want to do? Keep cutting toward whatever's in there?"

Bartholemew pulls out his vibro-knife and silently starts to help with the cut.

Jaxain stops cutting. "Oh, something big in there, but not what we want?" He turns to Bart. "Hold on." He looks at Tek again, "So anywhere we have a clearer path through the hull into the ship?"

Valeriya says, "Is it too thick or what? Valeriya asks, fingering her vibro-sword, with the fireglobe in the other hand. "This will only burn through this wall you know, it won't spread beyond that."

Tek looks at Jaxain. "There's something in there. Real big, real powerful. Incredibly complex. Just asking if you're still cutting in toward it. This... ah, hull... is very thick."

Bartholemew continues to cut - slowly - awaiting Valeriya's instructions.

Jaxain shrugs and looks at Val, "Well, we can try the fireglobe, as long as the object isn't too close to the other side." He grins, taking a step backwards. Then another step. "We can give it a shot."

Valeriya looks at the empty ball of glass she just postured with. "Or not." She corrects with a shrug and draws her vibro-sword to add to the cutting effort. "This would also be easier if I had the juice to boost my strength.."

Cutting a hole in the side of a battleship is not an easy task, no matter what kind of technology you have. Armor belt, inner and outer buffers, bulkheads - it all makes for slow going. Particularly as cutting a hole in the side of something doesn't work like in the cartoons. Walking through a hole means cutting in a conical shape, enlarging it until it's big enough to pass. Considering the construction of this vessel, it's not surprising that it takes three people working for a full hour just to make an opening large enough for people to crawl through like a spelunker.

Jaxain shrugs and starts crawling through the hole. He doesn't have a flashlight any more, but after his eyes adjust the starlight coming through the hole might provide some illumination.

Valeriya follows again, climbing through after everyone else with a quick nod. "We'll probably have to make that hole bigger when we leave, but that will do for now. where to next?"

The interior of any naval ship is confusing. Bulkheads to separate hundreds of compartments, knee-knockers in place and hatches needing to make even short men duck to pass through. Stairways up and down. Hallways to the left and right.

The night is moonless, lit only by starlight at best. With a cold winter continuing to rumble, most of the team is near a hole in the side of the battleship, recently having been cut through to an area just large enough to be crawled through as if it were a cave. Only Leonard is distant, at the edge of the draining area. A large group of quiet, slow-moving somethings are up on the deck of the Louisiana, unidentified. The team has been in this obscured area for roughly an hour now.

Leonard maintains his overwatch, for what little help it may be at this distance. Regrettably, with a barely functional raven on his person and the magical siphoning effect surrounding the vessel, there are few practical options available to him.

Ok inside the hull of an ancient metal warship. And it's really dark. And no magic to conjure any light with.. "Ok folks spread out in search of the light switch. Even this thing must have them. Try and find a door and search the area beside."

Tek turns on his pen flashlight and has his pistol drawn as he steps inside, "No need for light switches, will just tell anyone who might be on this ship where we are. Come on keep up it is just up ahead this ways. Besides all the light bulbs have been fried probably due to some sort of surge." With that Tek starts off towards the power source.

Bartholemew switches out his EBA helm for his MOH, he wants a better look inside before crawling through the small hole they have been able to make in the hull. "Gimme a sec, lemme take a look around first." Switching to thermal view first, he scans the interior for any unusual heat sources. Following Val inside, crawling himself through the hole, he continues to use the optics for a better view inside.

The interior of the Louisiana is pitch black and deadly silent, the hole covering up any noise from outside. Feeling around the walls of this particular room might find it relatively smooth and unadorned, with two hatches on opposite walls.

"Any news?" The period of time passed prompts Leonard to make the inquiry over the radio. All seems quiet, uneventful, and generally dull from his point of observation.

"We're inside, it's dark, and Tek says a surge blew out all the lights. We're following him to the generator." Valeriya answers to Leonard as she does just that. She seems quite pleased someone had a mundane flashlight.

Tek turns the flashlight back to Bart to light up around where he is standing. Tek has stopped in front of a closed hatch that he walked to as if he already knew the way, "What are you looking for Bart? Maybe I can help. There is not any security around here, the only thing I can't feel are people or creatures. If it has to do with this ship I already know where it is." Then looking to include Valeriya in the next part, "There is not a direct route to the power supply and there are several places that I am thinking we will be vulnerable but so long as nothing is behind this hatch we have a long straight shot for about a hundred feet or so before we need to jog in a bit to get to the first stairwell where we will go down. Shall I lead or how do you want to work the traveling?"

Bartholemew scans around the room finding the appropriate setting of infrared to be able to see well, "Watch your ankles and shins walkin through this place, lotsa stuff to bang em up on. I'll take lead, just point me in the right direction Tek, seems you know which way we need to go. If we get jumped, I'm the first one hit. I got better optics too, hopefully I'll see it coming before that."

The ship remains eerily quiet, the closed hatch staring back at the adventurers. Radio communication is slightly garbled. Not bad, but slightly, due simply to the mass of steel and something else between this location and Leonard.

Leonard acknowledges the transmission with some mirth, "Should anything go wrong, don't forget the pre-arranged signal: scream loudly." Some crackle of static follows and then, "What the hells? I may have found some of the former crew members, or what remains of them."

Valeriya isn’t in any position to argue with either men and continues to follow suit. "Lead on boys, no need for the detailed tour either. Just let me know when we get there."

Tek turns the lock on the hatch and looks to Bart and when he is ready, opens the hatch to give him free access, "Down about a hundred feet there should be a passageway going left, that is where we are going." Pistol in hand Tek follows Bart in after he goes.

Bartholemew takes a look through the hatch before stepping through, quietly he says to the others, "There is something down there by that next passageway. Lemme get ahead a bit, can't tell how many yet." Cautiously he makes his way forward, rifle at the ready.

A low, very quiet shuffling nose of feet on steel plating suddenly picks up. The area is otherwise unchanged.

Asking if they are there yet might give Leonard something to do, but he doubts that they would appreciate the bother. He focuses his interest on his own surroundings, instead.

Valeriya nods lightly, shifting to take out her own rifle as well seeing as her C-5 would have interesting results in such narrow halls.

Bartholemew continues cautiously forward to get a better view of what is coming towards them pausing only enough to raise a hand and flashing five fingers twice and rocking up with his thumb like he's hitchhiking before bringing his rifle up to line the sights down the corridor and press forward still cautious. Holding any firing of his weapon till when he can see what it is he will be shooting at.

Inside the Louisiana, the darkness is split only by Tek's penlight and Bartholemew's invisible infrared beam. Scraping and shuffling noises are coming toward the current position from down the corridor, perhaps only three or four hatches beyond. Outside, bodies seem to have now finished appearing in the fields around Leonard, for just about as far as one might be able to see in visual conditions such as these.

The expanse of bodies gives Leonard much to look over. He can only assume that they are casualties of whatever event sparked the dimensional destruction. He peruses those he can see, stepping over those in his path as needed.

Valeriya is nearly blind in all this, Tek's penlight offering a very minimal amount of light to go by. So she really just has to leave it to them for now as she follows dutifully.

Tek holds the pen light on top of his pistol and he stays behind Bart but still on the ready and watching to see what might be coming.

Bartholemew slings his rifle over his shoulder to hang across his back, drawing his Falchion and Katara, still moving forward and staying ahead of the rest of his group, by about one hatch. He is still cautious as he approaches the group of individuals coming his way. Giving a scan over them with thermal imaging before switching back to IR.

The creatures shuffle forth, closer and closer to the hatch where Bartholemew has just emerged from. Their hands are raised somewhat at shoulder level, extended forward, fingers drooping. Though slow, they seem single-minded. Whether they have noted the others behind the immediate intruder is impossible to tell. Outside, there is no further change. Bodies laying here and there as Leonard picks his way through.

Leonard continues to study the bodies and their unfamiliar uniforms. Unfamiliar, yet possibly not entirely unknown. "A portion of these bodies are very likely the crew. I'm certain that some of the uniforms are naval military from the twentieth century." After a momentary pause, he inquires, "Have you found anything yet?"

"Zombies." Valeriya says over the open channel. More to her group than Leonard who may only send and receive static at this point. "Get the light on one Tek, will try for an accurate identification."

Tek does his best to get the light on one of the creatures moving towards them. He still has his pistol at the ready.

Bartholemew calls back to the others, "Look like zombies or something in posture. Crewmen." Backing through the last portal he just came through as the crewmen seem to have Bart's brains on their mind, time to bottleneck the issue before it gets too outta control. He gives one order to the crewmen coming towards him, "Stand down or lose limbs!" Sword and dagger at the ready to hold them at the hatchway.

The crewmen moving forward seem to register nothing of Bartholemew's words, other than being a source of sound. They don't stop or hesitate, they just keep moving forward with blank stares and fingers that are now reaching out toward the intruder. There are roughly six of them in this mass.

"How wonderful," is Leonard's opinion on shambling mostly dead. It also makes him very much more aware of the sea of bodies through which he wades. The attire of one is conspicuously different. He approaches the male corpse (hopefully of the permanent sort) in a brown suit and begins to search the body.

"Let's not make this more messy than necessary." Valeriya suggests. "Fire works, silver works, everything else will be about half as effective. But they're still fragile like most people."

Using the pen flashlight Tek moves to get in the best position he can manage and aims his pistol.

Bartholemew goes into battle to hold them at the hatchway, a broad grin at the new information, his sword chopping at one of the lead crewman, his dagger punching at the next, "I warned ya!" looking to bury his blades deep into their chests.

The two beings - zombies, apparently - go down, cut and stabbed to wicked perfection. They put up no fight whatsoever, not even a flinch. The way that the blades bit into them was incredibly easy, with almost nothing resisting the attacks. The others continue to shamble forward.

The results of Leonard's search are filed under 'Interesting.' "We appear to have a survivor. A scientist. Also, not to be a voice of reason, but you could also attempt to circumvent them. The average animate corpse is about as intelligent as the average horse." This could explain their culinary preferences. Leonard is not a medic, and can do little to treat any wounds the man might have. He can, however, study the discovered written notes for further information, with the aid of an incantation.

"It's also most permanent when you take off their heads or blow them up." Valeriya adds as Bart takes down a third of the opposition to their progress.

Tek Keeps his aim but still does not fire, seeing Bart handling things for now. Though he stays on the ready in case he is needed.

Bartholemew pushes the one zombie off his punching blade as he swings at another with his chopping blade, his punching blade coming free goes at another. Savagely, the soldier chops and punches at the abominations like he is cutting through thick vegetation.

Another two zombies go down easily beneath Bartholemew's blades. Almost too easy, as if they're undead, but not of this particular undead world. The weapons just glide through their bodies. The two from the back manage to lurch forward as their comrades go down, each one clumsily grabbing for on of the man's arms.

"That could work, also," Leonard must admit. The notes he finds are further deciphered, though not fully understood.

Valeriya calmly follows, seeing Bart is quite capable of the task at hand. "Zombies are really best employed with modern armor," she notes, to explain the easy of their progress.

Tek follows along as well, quite impressed with Bart's progress, "Just up there we want to take that left, I wonder how many of these undead things there will be on this ship and how they came to be this way."

Bartholemew chops into the one with his sword only to have to bring his blade up in defense to block one gruesome set of arms getting a hold of his. The dagger is pulled from the skull of the other one as it falls keeping the last of the close zombies from getting within arms reach. With another push forward, his blades flash through the air toward their victims. Even if he must chop his way through the whole way, this should allow a push forward from the hatchway if his strikes land as they have so far.

The final two zombies go down. There's an abundance of blood on the floor, as if these had been humans going down beneath the power of weapons meant to destroy heavy armor. Then, nothing but silence once more. Through any hatch that one might peer from this chamber, the way is clear.

Leonard once more looks out into the moonless night to ensure that the bodies on the ground remain there and that no other concerns have materialized in the interim. He is confident that Valeriya knows how to handle the zombies, so he remains off of the airwaves for now.

Valeriya tries not to think of the sticky mess the blood is making of her shoes. Instead she looks to Tek. "Lead on then," she insists, eager to get on to the objective.

After Bart clears the last of the zombies Tek moves up and leads the group up to the left and down a passageway, needing to open several hatches though finding no further trouble to this point. After climbing up a ladder they head back in a similar direction they just came from but up one level for a while before turning right and through another couple hatches, one of which was stuck pretty good but after a couple tries Tek lets Bart break it loose and they get back to another ladder which they take down into a chamber with several hatches leading out as well as the ability to go down one more level, "Ok, that hatch over there will take us to another hallway," as he points out the hatchway to the right.

Bartholemew pushes through stepping over the now unmoving corpses in the passageway, blood on his boots not being important enough to avoid, blades still in hand dripping their own bit of blood, scanning ahead briefly before moving to the next passageway intended on the left. "Seems all clear up ahead," waving them up as he moves forward flipping through to thermal and back to IR, unless thermal shows something unusual or interesting. He is back to being cautious at point, looking to stay one hatchway ahead of the others. At the final hatchway, as all others they have passed, he scans with thermal imaging to see what might be seen beyond before opening.

The ship remains largely silent, but not completely. From down the corridor are some small tool noises, as if someone is poking and guessing at what they want to to, unsure.

Large shadows in a dark sky are not always easily noticed. Leonard does not spot one until it moves overhead. "Incoming!" is his initial call over the radio. "There is ...something flying in towards the ship." He can't be more specific until after peering at the thing, and may not be able to, even then.

"I see a light at the end of the tunnel." Valeriya notes with a point down their intended path. "Kinda like ley line energy." She adds, mildly curious if she is the only one who sees it.

Tek says, "Well I can't 'feel' anything but we are very close." He then moves up to the hatch and looks to Bart ready to open it for him when he gives the signal.

Bartholemew looks back to the others switching back to his rifle bringing his finger to his lips to shh everyone. Lifting his rifle to the ready to look down the sights as he cautiously moves forward towards the sounds of tools being used, scanning between thermal and IR to pick up the target or targets.

As Bartholemew moves to a position in which he can see into the hatch, some noise is made by his boot scraping one of the knee-knockers. There's a brisk and almost inaudible *click* from inside the presumed target chamber, and all goes silent. Outdoors, the field of bodies around Leonard remains quiet.

"Hello?" Not receiving an acknowledgment to his warning is a concern for Leonard. No response to his followup makes it more so. "Dammit." He could attempt to intervene, but his assistance would be minimal without any mystical might. That's assuming that he could even catch or keep up with the aircraft. In the end, he remains where he is.

Valeriya takes Bart's cue minus the boot scrape and silences her approach.

Tek stays quiet with his pistol at the ready he remains still with his eyes closed and says in a whisper into the radio, "Hang on a sec. There is a cyborg and some high powered energy weapons just inside there."

Bartholemew keeps cover behind the bulkhead getting sight on the next bit of cover within the room to move to and then tosses two grenades into the room. The first, a Blinder grenade, at the female 'Borg. The second, a Triax stun grenade, at the group of techs.

The Blinder goes off perfectly, right in the face of the cyborg, an artificial entity so surprised that it drops - or she, as it appears - the two pistols, though vibro-swords remain in her grip. The technicians, not being intended for any kind of battle, are stunned immediately. However, the assault on the 'Borg is not without consequences. As she struggles to stand, she begins calling for backup out loud with a decibel level that would rival standing near a jet engine on full afterburner. All lighting inside is gone. Outside, men and women are barely beginning to rouse; it's tough to come out of something like that on your own.

Rouse? Leonard's concern shifts to his immediate surroundings. Namely the gaggle of people surrounding him. Will they want brains or aspirin? Either way, he is outnumbered by a significant factor. There is also the loss of contact with the boarding party. His first order of business is an attempt to relocate himself to a section of ground where he might be less surrounded.

Valeriya mutters a bit as Bart and Tek stand in her way of seeing and partaking in the action. Especially because there is light for her to see in up ahead. Oh well.

Tek starts to move forward slowly looking to catch up with Bart but staying behind cover. His pistol is still out he stays on this side of the hatch. But feeling into the room he turns off the vibro-swords that are active in the room.

Bartholemew fires a burst of laser fire at the disoriented Femborg and darts for his next piece of cover within the room of the power source, diving behind it, paying attention to where backup may come from.

Inside the chamber, something that has been seen only by Bartholemew's eyes and Tek's mind, the 'Borg takes a direct hit from the large Coalition-brand rifle. It stings just enough to cause it to roll away, bringing the pyramid between Bartholemew and itself. The techs in the room remain stunned, not doing anything at all except rolling and complaining. The 'Borg continues to call for assistance, its voice echoing down corridors whose hatches remain gloriously open. Obviously not because of seeing the man, but probably guessing that it came from the direction of the hatch. Outside, Leonard has moved another good distance away from the oddly-sunken battleship.

Leonard has moved a few hundred yards further from the ship and now simply watches those on the ground. "Valeriya, I don't know if you can can hear me, but you've got incoming. Some sort of flying craft." A UFO, technically. Were he from the same era as the crewmen, he might find the situation appropriate for an entertainment vid.

Shooting in the room of the objective is bad. Using it as cover doubly so. Seeing this unfold Valeriya dashes ahead to try and add some sense to the chaos and put herself between the two combatants. "Hold your fire!" She yells out as she enters, trying to compete with the 'Borg's calls for reinforcements. Then she is momentarily captivated by the very pretty architecture of the wonderful room. She just seems to gaze at it all momentarily to take it all in with a breath of admiration.

Tek moves forward so he can see into the room and see if he can start to figure out how to remove this power supply, though he keeps behind cover for now.

Bartholemew rolls to one knee scanning the open hatchways within line of sight for any movement or activity. Knowing the Femborg is only on the other side of the power source he too shouts at the top of his lungs to compete against it's decibel level, "STAND DOWN BORG! STAND DOWN! STAND DOWN!" Rifle ready to fire down any one of the passageways visible.

If the 'Borg moves or does anything else, it's unseen and unheard. Simply continuing to call for help, echoing through open hatches toward whatever assistance she believes is there. All three who have made the trip and entered the room have their own special vision of the area, due to different technology and ability. The techs are stunned and confused. The only visual light source comes from Tek's small penlight. Outside, people are beginning to come to enough to groan, for the most awakened. Coming out of a near-coma isn't an easy thing to do by yourself.

Leonard isn't in any hurry for them to be fully conscious and awake. While they don't appear to be an intentional threat, a mob or stampede of confused or frightened masses will not do him any good. Not that there is much that he can do about it or the lack of communications. More radio calls are made, regardless, seeking status from Valeriya and the others, in case something might get through.

"Tek, see if you can figure this thing out, find the off switch." Valeriya suggests, moving herself towards the closest glowing pillar to try experimentally place a hand against it. Maybe she can draw out the energy flowing through and possibly cast something. She sees little other options with the 'Borg pinned down and no idea how long till reinforcements arrive.

Tek closes his eyes again and seems to concentrate. He remains silent for the moment.

Bartholemew not seeing anything coming from the other hatchways, he begins to circle the pyramid cautiously, he knows the Femborg is just on the other side, rifle at the ready, he looks to get a bead on the living machine.

Deep inside the USS Louisiana, many things are happening. A 'Borg is screaming, techs are rolling. A soldier is hunting his prey, a psionic technician is deep in a trance, trying to understand a piece of technology never before encountered. A mage is reaching for the core, enthralled. Other than the 'Borg's yelling, it would be shockingly peaceful. Apparently she takes solace that the numerous hatches remain open. Outside, people continue to barely rouse - the ones in the black uniforms doing so faster than the others. Fortunately, they do all seem to be living humans, not zombies.

As more rise to higher levels of consciousness, Leonard can only ignore the mix of people so long. Those in black uniforms, as the ones more quickly rousing, become his focus. His initial offering isn't exactly eloquent, but is polite and could be considered diplomatic. "Hello. I believe that you recently experienced an extreme dimensional event. It could make for one hellacious hangover."

Reaching for the pillar Valeriya begins to feel what she expected, unmeasurable power. Like reaching into a river, she then reaches further to grab a ball of the fluid draw and hold it for herself for just a tiny moment. The calming euphoria she feels probably aids her resolve to do this, nothing that feels so comforting could possibly hurt her.. And then she's blasted across the room and out cold..

Tek stays where he is though he sees Valeriya go flying, though he is not sure from what, he says over the radio, "I know how to get it down but I used too much of my inner reserves I can't actually carry the thing. It looks rather heavy. Any ideas on that?"

Bartholemew continues to cautiously circle the pyramid in search of his target. He still pays attention to those open hatchways within line of sight for any immediate activity, he doesn't want to be caught off guard there.

Inside the Louisiana, many things happen. The most exciting of which being Valeriya reaching for part of the wall and flying across the room where she impacts the pyramid and slides down it to the floor in an unmoving heap. Bartholemew's boot catches something again, but due to the yelling by the 'Borg, it probably doesn't matter. Indeed, the 'Borg falls silent. While she likely is still blind, her 'normal' voice comes out. "Okay, okay! Look. I'm here with a group of other 'Borgs, but there are only two of us small enough to fit through the hatches, plus the techs." She hesitates, then says, "We can work together, and everyone walks away from this. Same payout, right?" The crew - apparently - continue to rouse. Some of the ones in the black uniforms have actually reached the level of being able to pull themselves along on their elbows. No one seems to have noticed Leonard yet.

Leonard may have jumped the gun a touch. So now he waits until some are much more conscious. That, or the team returns. In fact, he'd much prefer the latter.

Tek peeks up over to get a better look into the room but still remains silent. Though he does pan the room with his penlight to try and locate the 'Borg if he can.

Bartholemew steps around the pyramid sharply, rifle leveled at the Femborg, aimed at its head, setting up that fatal called shot should it come to it, when she starts to beg, "Back away from the pyramid, slowly. How many more on the outside? You with Red?" If she remotely recognizes the CP-50, it might make her think twice about resisting, but that is all on her. "Tek! How's Val and the machine here?"

The 'Borg is blind. She might recognize a CP-50 by feel, but sight is not her forte right now, thanks to the good people at Wilk's. Her legs and four arms take her back away from the pyramid, putting up absolutely no fight or complaint. "Red? Is he the guy that NTI sponsors?" Interesting question, one that she doesn't leave time to answer. "No, no. Gutz. 'Gutz's Guyz.' 'Borgs, like I said. But, ah... you know, me and my partner are the infiltrator types. You really don't want to mess with the big ones. Trust me on that. But let's just work it out. We want money, you want money, we all want to live. Fuck, let my eyes get back and maybe we can have a more normal conversation." Some of the men and women outside near Leonard are obviously beginning to note his presence, but not in a highly significant manner yet. Except for many of the ones clad in black, who may be laying on the ground, mostly, but some of whom have drawn old handguns. Their fire is held, as if still too hazy even for them to aim straight.

Seeing that Bart has the 'Borg under control Tek stands and moves over to Valeriya and checks to make sure she is still breathing. Over the radio Tek says, "The power supply is fine. Checking on Val now. And like I said no problem getting it down but I can't carry it my inner reserves are too low."

Bartholemew's aim is set now, she makes a move, her head is coming off, "Get Val awake and we'll see what's up Tek. As for you Miss Borg, I'm not the bargaining type, but you're lucky, I'm not the boss here. Where is your buddy that came inside with you, call him here, tell him to remain peaceful or you are going to be the first to go." he sounds very serious.

"Yeah, well, I'm not the boss either, so I guess right now we're just stuck with each other," the female 'Borg says. Her eyes seem to be starting to clear, as she rubs across them - slowly - with one hand. The other three arms remain carefully away of anything or any motion that could be intimidating. "Radios here are bad, I'm sure you know. But I've been trying to reach 'em. We came in through a bulkhead up near the bow. I don't know which direction that is because your little Blinder's messed up my sense of direction for the moment. I promise when I get him, he'll come in armed, but he won't come in shooting. You can't expect any more than that - we're all obviously mercs here. Losing me would be a shame, but they aren't going to walk in helpless. Talk to Gutz." Groans are increasing near Leonard. Someone manages to ask quietly, "Who are you?" The black-clad man is barely to a knee, and wobbling with his handgun's aim. "Where are we? Are you Soviet?" As for checking on Valeriya, it can be confirmed even by non-medical personnel that she is unconscious.

Leonard attempts diplomacy again, now that people are cognizant enough to point weapons in his direction. He begins by lifting up empty hands to be visible as empty. "Hello. I'm fairly sure that you may have one hell of a hangover from whatever happened. While I don't have any painkillers, I'm not here to harm you, either."

Tek gets over to Valeriya and opens her visor. After seeing she is indeed alive he tries to revive her with a gentle shake and if that does not work he will try a slap.

Bartholemew considers the current situation, Val is out cold, Tek can't lift this thing himself, he can't keep aiming on the Femborg and watch out for enemies sneaking in on them, "How many in your group outside, 'Borg? Tek, keep an eye out for her friend and on these techs. All you techs, go tell your boss we have the item and will destroy it should anyone come in hostile, be thankful you're walking out alive right now. We need to work out a deal if one can be worked out." He still keeps his aim on the biggest threat at the moment.

The techs run out, presumably doing as they're told. The 'Borg is now starting to become more belligerent. "You stupid fuck, did I shoot at you? Insult your mother? Toss a goddamn grenade at you? No! I'm just trying to work with you. Besides, man. Gutz isn't an idiot. You are... possibly not an idiot. You're not going to destroy the prize. Damn, a power source like that, you're really going to blow it away? I told you that I'd tell everyone to stand down if they come in. Armed, yes. Shooting? No. Jesus Christ, you take some of that Juicer shit before you hit the mission?" There's more silence. "I think we both have what the other can use. So stop the big fucking talk so we can all get rich, or they damn well will swarm you and crush you to bits." Outside in the starlit fields, one of the black-clad men asks, "What are you wearing? Who won the Series last year?" Valeriya takes the slap well. By not responding at all, completely unconscious.

Oh, yes. Leonard must resemble a tin can to them even more than he feels like one. "I'm wearing full body armor. It isn't safe in the wilderness. As for the series," Leonard shrugs and admits, "I've no idea what series you refer to, but I'm quite certain that the current year here is not the same as when you last recall."

Tek says over his speakers, "She ain't getting up any time soon. I will not be able to handle this weight without resting and I am not resting here. I however have no problem unhooking it. You 'Borg, what is your weight capacity?"

Bartholemew growls under his breath, his trigger finger getting itchy, "I am really getting sick of you augmented fucks and your cocky attitudes. I will do what I have to do just remember that. If I don't get the prize, no one will. Plain and simple. I already said I am willing to talk, hence sending the peons out to send the message. Say one more balzy word, and I won't have to aim anymore. Got it tin bitch. Now let's see if we can work together happily and work this out as you said, where we all can get rich. Now answer the questions please. I won't ask again. How many are there in Gutz's group, and what is your weight capacity? And to be a bit more friendly like, whats your name? You can call me, Bart." he is angry, but remains sort of calm, becoming more so by the end of his speech, trying to be reasonable.

The 'Borg huffs. "No one said we're taking it from you. Said we'll all take it. Equal pay was promised all around. What the hell makes you think you're bargaining from a position of strength anyway? Far as I know there's one man with a big mouth and presumably a rifle, some other guy running around not doing anything. Wow, yeah. You're in control. My name's Artemis, hi Bart. Nine of us, total, plus techs, and I can lift about five-hundred pounds. Please take my word for it that the rest will not hesitate to squish you if you continue to press the issue, as you will have proven that you are a lone wolf type who cannot be trusted. I'm holding out an olive branch, and you are trying to burn it." A hesitation. "I'm curious as to how you planned on getting the thing out of the vessel?" Outside, the people around Leonard are starting to genuinely come out of it, though all but the black-clad seem content to sit and wonder where they are. They don't seem to notice the comment about the same year, or if they do, it is brushed aside. "Capital of Illinois? Give me a good reason not to shoot you or take you prisoner right here?" More and more men are standing, armed and ready for combat as they can be right now.

"Illinois?" Leonard invests some thought in that before exhaling a sigh loud enough to be transmitted over the speaker. "Unfortunately, the world that you knew no longer exists. North America is no longer a few nations, but something more...medieval. There are no longer any United States. My apologies for being the bearer of bad news. As for a good reason, the lives of you and those around you is the best that I have to offer." He shrugs with enough exaggeration to conspicuously display the gesture. "Even if you subdue me, the wilderness here would likely claim all."

Tek moves over to the ladder that leads up the arm that attaches to the power supply and starts to climb up the ladder, "Well even if Val wakes up I don't think you could carry this thing even with her. I don't see many options here Bart. Hell I am not even sure she can handle it by herself. It would be close that is for sure."

Bartholemew gives somewhat of a chuckle, "And what keeps you from using that olive branch to pound me to a pulp once I let my guard down Artemis? Nothing from my standpoint. I am showing good faith by not shooting you down right now, we'll see how the trust thing builds as we go. It's a work in progress sort of thing, wouldn't you agree? I'll lower the rifle when I hear from your boss or mine, whichever comes first. As for how we plan to get it out of here, you'll see soon enough." He moves to a spot so nothing can come up behind him but still keeping the Borg in front of his muzzle in deadly line of sight.

The 'Borg just shakes her head and slowly starts to get to her feet, arms crossed as if she's just had it. Waiting to see what will happen. Her eyes follow Tek, though only Bartholemew might be cognizant of that. Outside and very distant, armed men are starting to surround Leonard. "Okay. Just hand over the rifle and tell me where we are."

Leonard dips his helm in a nod. "You are in what was once Missouri... or thereabouts. I don't know of the exact borders of the past." He slowly grasps the sling of the rifle and lifts it clear by that strap only. It is then lowered to the ground. "Will you settle for my putting it down? Forgive my not trusting anyone with it." When his hand is emptied, he gestures with it towards the silhouette of the massive ship. "Whatever your experiments or efforts there, it's safe to say that something went wrong. Now, others have ventured in to investigate, and I've lost contact. Is there anything any of you care to share that might help? If I need to go in after them, I'd rather not do so blind." In return, he offers, "We can escort you to a city where you will be far more safe."

Tek is now at the exact point where the power supply is connected, he already has the appropriate tools in hand and puts them in place, "Well now that I am in position with very little effort what we all came here for will free fall to the ground. Let me assure all of you that if I do so it will not end well for any of us. So let's all just calm down and figure out how we are going to settle this."

Bartholemew grunts with Tek's words, "Hold on, we need to wake up Val. Need her to catch the object, unless Artemis is willing to help bring it down safely." Lowering his rifle in good faith but ready if things change. "Are you willing?"

Artemis turns and looks at Bart. "Yeah. Show of good faith, right? If I can get up the damn pyramid." Still, using four arms and two legs, she makes it up near the spot to catch the sphere. "Okay. Try not to drop it too hard." Then, directly to Bart, "From here on out, if I catch this for you, it's everyone together. Gutz' Guyz and you guys. If you try to sneak out on the deal - they'll kill you." Her gaze goes up. "Okay, drop it." Outside, the people seem to accept dropping the rifle as a good enough start. Even though handguns remain raised, one of them offers, "Major Thomas Samson, 21st Brigade Combat Strike Team under Colonel Gabriel Blaze. We're security for whatever it is that the doctor's doing." He then calls out, "Someone find the Colonel!"

Why does that name sound familiar? Leonard completes the introductions, first. "Greetings, Major. My name is Leonard." Oh, yes. He knows a Gabriel, and one that was displaced in time and dimension. It could be coincidence, but it is something. "Also, if your Colonel is the same Gabriel that I have met, you will not find him here. He is in Kingsdale, the city we traveled from. Due to the vagaries of what brought you here, he arrived some months ago." Leonard can only hope that they don't expect him to explain the finer details of dimensional travel. That could take some time.

Tek says, "Listen... Ummm... I am good I know but the weight I am just guessing on. And my guess is five hundred pounds. What happens if say I was off a bit and it is actually five hundred and fifty pounds or six hundred? I am thinking we need at least one more strong person to catch this to be on the safe side."

Bartholemew chuckles with the Borg's comment, "I understand where you're coming from, but neither of us can speak for our bosses, right now it's still good faith gestures. But I assure you, I am good with that prospect, though if my boss gives the order, I will do as I am told, as I'm sure you would too." With the 'Borg and Tek occupied, he moves to the hatchway of the room to look down the passageways in all direction able to be seen to see if Gutz has sent anyone else down by now. "I'd help out, but I think I'd get squished if you're off by too much."

Artemis dismisses Tek's concerns. "If it's a little more, I can still catch it and slide down, just not be able to take it anywhere. Anywhere through any of the openings large enough for it. That I don't see." Her arms reach skyward in the pitch black, gesturing with her fingers in a 'drop it already' motion. Bartholemew's words are heard, but not commented on. To Leonard, Major Samson shakes his head. "No, the Colonels were both up on the flying bridge right before we blacked out. Anyone ever hear of a Kingsdale, Missouri?" The last question is called out for all to hear.

"It may or may not have been known as Kingsdale in the twentieth century," Leonard sighs, softer this time. The temporal aspect does make this even more difficult to attempt a rational, civilized interaction. "I understand your concerns, Major, but I may not have any simple or quick means to offer you irrefutable proof of your situation. Regardless of whether you believe me, we are all here, now, and in no small amount of danger." He gestures again towards the battleship. "My associates are in there, may need my assistance, and I intend to lend it as best I can." The other hand indicates the many newly awakened anachronisms. "You have a very large collection of what the wildlife here consider to be food. Even if we decide nothing more than to be on our respective ways, I'd appreciate it if you would cease pointing weapons in my direction. My guess is that they are no threat to me, but I'd rather not learn the hard way."

Tek looks down to the 'Borg, "I understand what you are saying but I need to wait to hear what to do. I am way down the list as far as in charge is concerned," looking to Bart as if to say, what are we doing.

Bartholemew replies to Tek, his attention down the passageway, "Drop it." Then calls down the hall to the techs he can see but the others are still oblivious to, "So what up?"

After a moment of hesitation, the majority of the men surrounding Leonard, pull their weapons back, muzzles to the sky so as to be ready, but not immediately threatening. "Okay," the major says, "You seem to know this place, Leonard. Take us in. Someone find the two colonels!" The other people around, in the other uniforms don't seem to be taking this nearly as swiftly as the men in black. They give the impression of men and women used to change and radically unusual circumstances. Artemis remains ready to catch. The techs call back to Bartholemew. "Like Artemis said. No one threatens anyone, everyone leaves with a big reward. But, ah... Gutz isn't real happy about the other stuff, like threatening to blow up the cargo. He actually laughed at that and wanted me to make it absolutely clear to you that he's more than happy to work together. But if you or any of your people try to cross him, or any of his people... he will kill you. I'd take his word for it, dude."

Leonard frowns behind his faceplate. Go in. As much as he does not wish to venture into the draining perimeter, he does need to re-establish contact with the others. Reluctantly, he nods to the major prior to glancing around. "Can I have a volunteer? I need someone who will not be going to the ship, but remaining here, to hold something for me."

Tek gives a twist with his wrench, "Get ready." Another twist and then a tap and it comes completely free and drops down to Artemis, "Here it comes."

Bartholemew shouts back, "Fine by me, as long as he knows, I will blow the prize to smithereens if he crosses me. If I don't get paid, no one does. I already know I'm dead if I cross him, this is my insurance, I got nothing else to lose at this point. Tell him we need a bigger entryway to get the object out. These passageways are way too small."

A whole bunch of silence greets Leonard's request, before the major calls, "Sergeant Hanson!" Briefly thereafter, another black-clad man emerges from the darkness. There are no salutes exchanged, but orders are given. Hanson will hold whatever it is that Leonard has, then everyone will go in. Artemis catches the sphere. It's quite clearly on the very edge of her strength, but she does hold on, and then slides with surprising grace to the deck. A ten-foot diameter sphere being held by a four-armed 'Borg? That's not something that you see every day. Bartholemew is given the quick explanation that yes, they get it, he's a badass and would for some reason destroy the prize out of spite. Otherwise, there are no disagreements, and the techs explain that word has already been passed that cutting torches will be necessary, and arriving shortly.

As if the conversation was not confusing enough for the others, Leonard doubts that this will help. With a few moments of concentration, gestures, and uttered words, he conjures a small sphere of coalesced energy. Aside from that required to cast the spell, all of the remaining mystical reserves are stored within it. This is what is gifted to the lucky Sergeant Hanson. "Please don't lose it." His words carry no small amount of wry, as the sphere hovers at the man's shoulder of its own volition. Leonard then begins to move for the battleship. "They're inside searching for the device that powered, and is still causing, this oddity," he offers in the hopes that the crew members will know of the location and a path to it.

After loosing the sphere Tek moves down to the first hatch and with a Wilk's laser wand starts cutting.

Bartholemew moves over to where Val still lies unconscious now that things have been worked out for the time being to see if he has any luck in awakening her. "Hey Artemis, you folks got a medic in your outfit? Could use some smelling salts or something."

Sergeant Hanson takes the energy ball in stride, and with little question beyond a few words with the local officer in charge. Beyond that, they're ready to move out. Major Samson offers what he can, "Except for the Colonel, none of us ever saw the room. Not even the other officer. But it's basically at the dead center, safest place you could possibly put something important. Artemis says, "Hey, you with the itty-bitty torch. Just hold off on that for a moment, it'll take forever." Shortly thereafter are an increasingly loud series of thumps that shake the entire room. She seems too occupied for a moment to do anything but hold the heavy orb, but does take a moment to answer Bartholemew, "Oh, no. Not unless she's a 'Borg like us."

"Ah. Two colonels." Leonard doesn't recall all of his past conversations, but he does remember that the man was alone in the here and now. "Damn. That means that it will be the most difficult to reach and remove. They had to cut into the hull simply to enter." As they approach, he calls out to the others on the radio again. Leonard doubts that it is distance that is the problem, but it can't hurt to try.

Tek ignores the 'Borg an continues cutting on the doorway to make it large enough for the sphere to fit through.

Bartholemew calls over to Tek, still trying to rouse Val, but not having much luck so far, "Hey, can you tap into the com system of this boat from here? Maybe we can call to the rest of the team to meet us where Gutz's boys are."

A flame shoots out of the ceiling high over the pyramid, and Artemis calls, "Move!" She herself scoots up against the wall as an enormous plate of decking comes crashing down. Thankfully, the impact seems to make no difference to the remaining pieces. Shortly thereafter, a number of cables, ropes and harnesses descend through, accompanied by two technicians in little cloth seats. They announce their presence beforehand to avoid being shot, and are here to affix the sphere for pulling out. Artemis politely offers the paranoid Bartholemew a ride up with the sphere so that it doesn't get out of his sight. The people around Leonard break into a run, apparently not pleased with the previously slow progress. Still, a mile is a good distance to run or see.

Leonard, for all his lack of aptitude military or physical, can run quite well. A mile run is easily managed. En route, at least one more call to the group is made. "Valeriya, Tek, Bartholemew? Is anyone there?"

Tek continues his work, "Nope it does not seem to be working or I just can't reach it I am not sure which." Until someone comes with a bigger torch he will continue to use his little Wilk's wand.

Bartholemew lifts up Val to have her brought out with him and the sphere as well, or first if need be as the techs work on affixing the sphere for its ride out. As he gets closer to the outside of the ship, he attempts his radio, "Leo, Jax. You guys still out there?"

The 'Borgs, as it turns out, are extremely efficient, now that they have heavy work to do. Everyone is taken from the chamber below in only three trips. The 'Borg known as Gutz is nearly fourteen feet tall, built like a barn and could probably squash a Mark V APC like a beer can. His fellow combat 'Borgs are only slightly less imposing. They have a rotary-wing aircraft that seems to have been modeled after an MH-53D, but outsized to accommodate their frames. The aircraft sits on the stern, and word comes across a politely shared radio band that there are Coalition soldiers preparing for an assault up the deck.

Leonard catches the last few words from Tek, which is more than enough. "I'm here, and on the way. All of you should consider being on the way out, however. The deck looks very occupied from here, and some of them are Coalition." With all that activity noted, he also calls out to the major and his troops. "I don't know your plan or tactics, Major, but a confrontation is not good for any of us."

Bartholemew switches out his partial E-Clip for a fully charged one with the news of an impending Coalition assault. Called back over the radio to Leo, "We are with one group on the deck with the object. Val is unconscious. We are departing with Gutz's guys, will pick you up when we leave the deck. Get to the truck and bike if you are close, Jax should be there." Then looks for Gutz, "So what's the plan for the deadboys? We taking off or taking on the assault? We need to pick up the rest of our team on the ground."

The troops to whom Leonard addresses seem to be in no way the kind of fool grunts who would charge into an unknown situation, shooting at whatever presents the first target. They actually take a long way around so that the bulk of the ship is generally between them and the unknown entities on deck. Leonard receives a polite, "We'll take it from here, please stay out of the way, sir." Quick orders are whispered, and runners head off in different directions as the officers and senior enlisted men gather for a quiet conference. The 'Borgs quickly answer Bartholemew with a, "If we can just get out of here, they can't catch us. We'll shoot 'em down if they get too close if they think they have the balls to try." Then, when everything is secured, the helicopter's engines wind up and it lifts off. "Get your guy away from the ship, can't land that close, might tear off a blade!"

Leonard has no issues with staying back, as that is accomplished by moving to locate Jaxain and the hovertruck. "Dammit," is his initial reply concerning their status, to be followed by a more precise and descriptive plan. "I'll meet you at the vehicles, or we can link up further out. Once we're clear of the anomaly, I can return everyone to Kingsdale. Assuming the others are also headed there. There are also dozens, if not hundreds of survivors from the ship down here on the ground."

Bartholemew is quite content with that answer. Calling out to Leo over the radio, "You'll see a helicopter, we can't land too close to the ship, so when you see us landing get over to us quick and get on board." Then verbally to Tek, "We need to grab our vehicles an git soon as Leo is onboard with Val. Me an you will retrieve the other two vehicles and bolt with the Navigator and Jax. So soon as the copter lands and Leo is on board, we make our run for it to get our shit and get the hell outta dodge."

Despite Leonard's good will toward them, the soldiers nearby seem to have no interest in being rescued, going about their martial training, the newcomer ignored. The massive helicopter lands as close as it can for Leonard, Magellan and Jaxain to board, the 'Borgs being polite enough to shovel the equipment from the hovertruck and into their flying craft. Obviously the truck is left behind as they rise once more. The pilot takes off due south, and though it takes them directly over the massing Coalition force, only a few shots scar its bottom and sides. Passing south leads them once more through the odd zone of enhanced magical energy - with all personal reserves and Techno-Wizard weapons completely repowering themselves. Edgar perks back up to his normal chipper self.

The flight to Kingsdale is a dark one considering the hour, but only takes slightly more than an hour. On the way, the 'Borgs explain the relative ease with which they located the ship and found the core. Apparently there were a number of different sources of information around the city, for those who had the time and inclination to ask. The helicopter sets down west of the city, where a team of mages of some kind meets them. A team that offered even more than Baptiste, for those who had the tenacity to look. The 'Borgs will happily share are three-hundred thousand credit per head bounty, as long as everyone else is. Some equipment is exchanged, and a still-unconscious Valeriya is left to Leonard's care.

A final note for those who braved the harsh wilderness aboard a simple hovertruck. As far as everyone else is concerned, their chronometers are five full days slow.