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Post by Jakob on Feb 6, 2013 13:53:46 GMT -4
//LOCATION TRACKED AND LOCKED. THE EARTH-ORIGIN SIGNAL IS MOVING. GIVEN WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE MEMBERS OF THE STRIKE TEAM, IT MUST BE THE BLUE METAL UNIT.
Jakob lightly nodded as the two enforcement drones led him to a large legged transport at the end of a street- not armed like Jakob's mech, but more visibly armoured. Inside the transport was a squadron of military-class Cluster drones. Once aboard, the transport began to move, with Ultima close by.
A good time passed before the transport arrived at a bunker- where the war room most likely was. "You'll pardon us if we cuff you and ask your mech pilot to wait outside," a couple of military drones said.
"Understandable precaution," Jakob replied, "I won't resist."
The cuffs were rather strong. While the android could break them easily, he didn't want to come across as a hostile force.
//WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Just track that signal and record movement patterns, Jakob thought in reply as he was led by the armed drones into the bunker- and eventually to the war room, where one young-looking fembot stood amongst assorted military drones.
Queen Vega, with her husband. Jakob remembered meeting them, though it was a short meet. One drone approached and bowed. "My Queen, we have brought a robot from Earth. He claims there are still earthlings on Cluster Prime."
Not really a claim when we already found him, Jakob thought.
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Post by omnios on Feb 6, 2013 20:29:15 GMT -4
Eric raised an eyebrow at Vega, and commented about the drone.
"He does realize that I'm an Earthling--and a human, right?" Eric asked.
"Drones. Can't live with 'em, can't run an empire without 'em." Vega said.
-----
"What are you here for?" Eric asked.
Jakob explained the situation to Vega and her husband.
"Ok, so mother took the Obliterator, and is going to attack Earth. Also, there are reports of one or more humans or robots on Cluster Prime, seeking to do me or my husband harm. Right?" Vega said.
Jakob nodded.
"Great. Now what are we supposed to defend Cluster Prime with?" Eric asked.
"We're not going to war with Earth. I'm going to Earth to catch up with mom to stop all of this before any more damage is done. You're coming with me." Vega told Eric.
Eric nodded. "Right."
Vega ordered the drone to release Jakob.
"You're coming with us to help, right?" Vega asked.
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Post by Plink on Feb 6, 2013 21:02:07 GMT -4
((Um...i do not think you are allowed to commandeer other players characters))
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Post by Jakob on Feb 6, 2013 22:00:59 GMT -4
((Um...i do not think you are allowed to commandeer other players characters)) ((Yeah, I'll just rewind to when Eric asked.)) --- "What are you here for?" Eric asked. "Same reason you're all here," Jakob replied, "gathering intel on this particular slab of detritus, hopefully before it really hits the fan. My current priority is finding and interrogating any POWs or MIAs that may still be here- which my sensors say there are." --- The mech suit remained absolutely still while waiting for Jakob outside the bunker. Some of the guards were a little unnerved at the apparent lack of activity. In reality, the AI uploaded in the mech was hard at work, recording the movement of the moving blob that represented the tech of human origin- which the AI labeled as cyan in colour. The tech was rather close... The AI wanted to go and capture the tech in question, but it was wise to be patient and wait for the force multiplier to be at full strength again. //JAKOB? No response. In hindsight, it was to be expected. War rooms- no matter how makeshift- would try to blot communications coming from visitors- allied or especially otherwise.
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TheRealBullet
Resident
Finally, I have a real avatar!!!
Posts: 154
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Post by TheRealBullet on Feb 7, 2013 1:36:47 GMT -4
For a few moments there was no response. Then an evenly-paced footstep could be heard approaching within the building. The pentagon-ish door opened to reveal a short middle-aged woman. She wore red-tinted glasses (OOC: This is open debate to anyone whether you believe Wakeman wears glasses or goggles. It's all the same to me, they both begin with G...), a yellow labcoat, an antisocial frown, and eyes that lazily glared with suspicion. What she lacked in size was made up by the height and volume of her white hair.
"May I help you?" The woman, who Bullet assumed was Dr. Wakeman asked with a slighly annoyed tone, as if she had just been interrupted from an engaging experiment.
"Good afternoon Ms. Wakeman, I presume." Bullet saluted. "I am... Bullet, and these are my aquaintences, Viktor S-whatever and John "Plink" Welton. We're both kind of new to the area, but are interested in getting to the bottom of this recent Cluster hullabaloo. We were wondering what all XJ-9 knows about these happenings?"
Upon hearing Bullet's exposition, Noreen's eyes squinted into a look of even further suspicion, as if looking straight into Bullet.
Uh-oh, does she recognize me somehow, I mean, I guess they knew each other in college or something... But Dr. Wakeman has never met or seen me specifically.
Noreen's face returned to its former nonchalant state. "Hmmm... I've told XJ-9 to get on it several times, but I'm sure she's out at the mall or something right now. Normally, I don't trust newcomers, but you three seem well enough. Just don't cause any trouble."
"Oh, don't worry about that, ma'am." Bullet replied with a reassuring smile.
"Now, if you will pardon me, I have an experiment down in my lab that I need to attend to. Good-day."
"Uhh, thanks, you too, Mr. Wakeman." Bullet called as Noreen shut the door behind her.
Bullet turned to the other two. "To the mall it is, I guess."
(OOC: One last chance if anyone wants to take Jen. I'm terrible at getting characterization right on characters that aren't my own. Next post will take Bullet, Viktor and Plink(?) to the mall where I'll take control of her for the time being.)
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Post by Plink on Feb 7, 2013 2:37:28 GMT -4
((Righty.))
The three of them walked over to the mall immediately after their encounter with Dr.Wakeman. "Yeesh. She sure seemed a bit creepy." John said as he opened the door to the mall. John stopped as his mouth dropped to see the large, vaccuos building filled with walking humans, most of which appeared to be in their teens. "So exactly how will we find XJ9?" John said.
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Post by Hunter on Feb 7, 2013 3:27:08 GMT -4
Back at the Cluster safe house, Gene rapped on the door of Firaga's apartment. "Hey, I'm here! Open up!"
The door unlocked with a click and slid open to reveal Firaga on the other side. Like many high-ranking Cluster officials, he eschewed the traditional drone chassis in favor of a custom shell, in his case a four-legged body that stood five feet tall and was painted with black and indigo stripes. "GREETINGS AGAIN, HUMAN," he said. "I ASSUME YOU ARE HERE TO DELIVER THE IDENTITY TAGS SENT BY HER MAJESTY."
"Yup. Here you go." Gene handed over the package with the dog tags.
Firaga inspected the package carefully. "THIS PARCEL WAS NOT SENT BY HER MAJESTY."
"...guh?"
"THESE AUTHORIZATION CODES ARE OUTDATED." Firaga pointed at bar codes below the "For Immediate Delivery" and "By Royal Order" labels. "ACCORDING TO MY SOURCES, HER MAJESTY'S PRIVATE SECURITY CODES WERE COMPROMISED IN THE COURSE OF THE EARTHLINGS' ATTACK. AS A RESULT SHE HAS ISSUED A NEW SET OF CODES FOR THE AUTHENTICATION OF ROYAL DECREES. THE OLD CODES ARE SCHEDULED TO EXPIRE IN APPROXIMATELY SIXTY-SEVEN TERRAN HOURS, AND IT IS HIGHLY IMPROBABLE THAT SHE WOULD HAVE ATTACHED THEM TO A PACKAGE POSTMARKED AFTER THE NEW CODES WERE ANNOUNCED."
"Well then, where did this thing really come fr... oh, son of a b****."
"YOU HAVE DEDUCED THE TRUE IDENTITY OF THE SENDER?"
Gene nodded. "The soldiers at the airfield let slip that their commander snagged something or other from Vexus while he was with her. So if he's still alive -- still out there -- and if that something included her codes... but why? Why me? Why the hell would he bring me into this mess?"
"IT IS POSSIBLE THAT YOU ARE THE ONLY CLUSTER ASSET ON EARTH HE COULD IDENTIFY."
"...I guess."
"IT IS EQUALLY POSSIBLE THAT HE HOPES YOUR INVOLVEMENT WILL DETER HER MAJESTY FROM SEEKING RETALIATION ON THIS PLANET."
"If that's the case, he's mistaken me for a friggin' genie."
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Post by Koith on Feb 7, 2013 10:02:09 GMT -4
At the time, Koith sends some signals to Jakob, just testing if he can receive the call. Sneaking through the top-secret military compound with cloaking device, the soldier take some photos about Cluster invasion on Earth. Lurks silently through the dummy guards, Koith head into the Command quarter as one droid just passed through the automated door in time.
The lonely computer stay in the room unguarded, as those guys still keep in mind that it's safely secured. Using a special device that creates an EMP field covering Koith's body. that will help him out of the cameras' eyes for pretty long time, enough for him to investigate. Hacking into the system, the codes changed, certainly Vexus ordered. "It's bit risky..." Koith sighs, but he ended up his worries fast. Take a cable outside, the soldier connects it with his AI and the computer...
From every microseconds, Koith dipped into the cybernetic world of Cluster. The data archives, just like the construction of a bee hive. Hacking into the main archive, it requires password. No problem, the soldier heads into the history of this computer, that will help him access the code. And...done! He's got inside without alarming the anti-hacking system. Every details about the possible counterattack, forces, manpower, locations,...Koith got every bits of Cluster's plan inside his hand. Now he need to send it back to Junkerton. Why not the Defense? Cause they will possibly send nukes through the ships with the same model of Koith's one-way driver last time, as self-defense in their own words. Into the final steps, suddenly...
The soldier shocked with his eyes. It's the countdown for the attack! It's...it's counting, really close now.
...
For a while, Kane used his intels to show the truth with the crowd who trusted blindly to their own government. To the last words from the President and the gentlemen in Pentagon, they heard the voice.
"This attack will lead us to the new age of total leadership, from both Earth and Space! Even it fails, it will help us a lot learning on those aliens' technologies that can help us more and more next time, also our nukes will reach their surface without any difficult. When Cluster is down, we will have more influence within the Earth. Tomorrow, we'll unite this world, under our cause and liberty. And in the near future after we unite, UN is no more, but UE (United Earth) in our hand."
"So, what's about Blue Metal?" Now it's really from Mr. P. The guy who started continues his words.
"He's the Charlie, and that piece of junk will be our imminent threat in the future! You remember what Vanga - the old prophet of a century said? In time, the Charlies and Sockers will rise again, threatening our Liberty, our Capital, and our Constitution! So eliminating them or else, preventing them is all what you and your predecessors said with the Capitol. Global Strategy doesn't change, always, even through the steps be shuffled time to time."
The mob shocked when hearing these words. Grinder and his men didn't hear about this, but they're also very surprised with the Command. Of course, the soldiers like them is just grunts for their superiors, mindlessly fight as the order. But now, they realized what they're really fighting for. The record finally ended, the townspeople lower their attitudes toward Kane, Marie and the Deltas. Suddenly, the leader of the crowd risen his megaphone. He want to say what?
"DOWN THE WARMONGERS!!!"
Of course, their target changed, not Kane or Koith now either. But, their own government who really pulled the string in this war...
-It's...it's worked!-Marie can't believe in her eyes about the tide could be changed so easily. At the time, Kane's got the signal from Koith, pretty weak, but distressing. Checking for a while, he turns to Grinder, his sister-in-law and the soldiers with some words:
-The Clusters are coming! Be prepared.
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Post by Jakob on Feb 7, 2013 12:32:45 GMT -4
The incredibly advanced sensors could still see Jakob and the Cluster citizens within the bunker, but the mech had no clear line of communication within. Ultima had tracked the signal of the moving human tech to the interior of the bunker.
It began to move, and it tried to see if it could fit into the tiny door.
"Oi!" One drone shouted, "What's happening?"
"It's trying to get in!"
The mech stepped back and turned to the drones- all of whom had weapons out and trained on the mech.
"What's going on with you, pilot?"
The mech paused for a moment, before turning around and lowering itself down and opening the cockpit. Within, the cluster drones would see a holographic projection of the bunker interior... with the Blue Metal's signal showing as a cyan blob in a room isolated from multiple red blobs.
"That Jakob? What's he doing without his escort?"
//NEGATIVE - the text materialized within the holographic projector before the image shifted to the War Room area, where Jakob was talking with the Queen and everyone.
"An intruder!" Every drone immediately realised, "Alright, mech. Keep this area secure. We're going in."
Flashing in red text, the AI managed to communicate with the drones.
//PLEASE DON'T USE LETHAL FORCE. HE MUST BE QUESTIONED.
The drones probably saw it, but they were checking their weapons before moving into the bunker like a SWAT team to quickly spread the news through the whole bunker.
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TheRealBullet
Resident
Finally, I have a real avatar!!!
Posts: 154
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Post by TheRealBullet on Feb 8, 2013 1:22:59 GMT -4
As if on Plink's cue, a voice rang out behind them.
"I am XJ-9. Do you need something?" Bullet turned to the sudden newcomer, who wasn't exactly as he had expected XJ-9. This robot was tall, sleek turquoise-and-white. Two large "pigtails" hung over a head with a kind face. XJ-9 wasn't a he at all, but a she. However, Bullet' sexist presumption was the last thing on his mind.
That wasn't saying much though, as Bullet just kind of stood there with a dumb look on his face. Something Bullet had never noticed in his systems seemed to be malfunctioning.
After an awkward moment, he finally replied. "Uhhh... Hi. These are my counterparts Plink and Viktor. I-I'm RYK-16, but they call me Bullet. Is the any name you go by other than XJ-9?"
"Uhh.. I prefer to go by Jenny." She replied, slightly perturbed by Bullet's odd behavior.
"Jenny... That's a nice name..." Bullet replied absent-mindedly
Viktor cut in to help Bullet stop making a fool of himself. "What all have you heard about the recent attack on Cluster Prime by the USMC?"
Jenny took on a more exasperated look. "Yeah, i've been meaning to get on that, but my overall workload has been huge lately and I guess I've let the issue slide."
By this time, Bullet had regained most of his senses. "Well, last we have heard, Vexus is likely planning a counterattack, so the issue's become a bit more urgent now."
Jenny's eyes tensed at the mention of her old nemisis's name. "I thought she was supposed to be at a ceasefire with Earth. Well, I guess it only makes sense, considering 'we' attacked first." She sighed in the sense that a robot could. "It looks like life will have so be put on hold until we get this Mrs sorted out "
((Sorry if this post was terrible. I've had to type it on my "smart"phone at only sparing intervals since I've been working on a robot with my team since 7))
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Post by Plink on Feb 8, 2013 1:46:41 GMT -4
"I am XJ-9. Do you need something?" Plink turned around as he heard the female voice. Upon sight, Plink's jaw dropped almost instantly. To Plink, she was only an inch taller than he was. She had a roundish head much similar to Plink's own round head but her hair was docked into two large "ponytail's" that were bolted onto it. She seemed to stare at the three quietly and this only made Plink even more embarassed of the fact that he hadn't counted the possibility that she was a girl. As Bullet stared at her dumbfoundedy, Plink spoke out in a very slow and sheepish manner. "Ooohhhh." Plink said. "So XJ9 was a girl and we thought she was a guy and...oh crap this is embarassing." Plink lowered his round head...his head slightly pink from the embarassment (or as far as he could simulate).
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Post by Hunter on Feb 8, 2013 13:24:02 GMT -4
"I mean, God knows I've been trying, but -"
Firaga held up a finger to interrupt Gene. "ONE MOMENT, HUMAN." An antenna sprang up from the side of the robot's head. "THIS IS FRG-1712, ALIAS FIRAGA. GO AHEAD.... UNDERSTOOD.... UNDERSTOOD.... AFFIRMATIVE.... UNDERSTOOD.... NEGATIVE.... AFFIRMATIVE.... UNDERSTOOD. FIRAGA OUT." The antenna retracted.
"What was that all about?" Gene asked.
"ONE OF MY SIGNAL ANALYSTS IS REPORTING A DISTURBANCE IN THE VICINITY OF THE TREMORTON JUNKYARD THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU." Firaga pointed at a nearby monitor.
Gene watched as the monitor started showing footage of the confrontation in Junkerton. "Whoa. Whose feed is this? The US? Skyway? A Cluster bug?"
"THAT INFORMATION IS NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW. YOU REQUIRE PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY."
"Ohhh. Gotcha. So what am I looking for then?"
"IT WILL BE SELF-EVIDENT. JUST WATCH."
"Right. Sorry." Gene stood in silence as the standoff played out. S***! he thought. Who leaked KM-08's ties to the Reich? That was one of my biggest bargaining chips for the MRA. Some unscrupulous jerk just killed my hostage! Is that why -- no, that can't be it. He continued to watch as Kane appeared, claiming to have a message from the American President. Wait, what? Gene listened to the alleged words of the Pentagon and White House, then turned to face Firaga. "Ho...ly... s***."
Firaga nodded. "IF THAT AUDIO RECORDING IS GENUINE, THE AMERICANS ARE A GREATER THREAT THAN INITIALLY ASSUMED. THEY WOULD WREAK UNTOLD HAVOC ON THE CLUSTER IN ORDER TO CONQUER THIS PLANET."
"Which is insane. They think the rest of the world's gonna fall in line behind them, especially if they plan to blow their nuclear deterrent picking a fight with us? Heck, with that audio in hand Vexus won't need to do anything once she gets here. She can just kick back and let every other nation on Earth do her dirty work."
"AFFIRMATIVE. THAT IS WHY I HAVE TRANSMITTED A COPY OF THE RECORDING TO HER MAJESTY. SHE WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT."
"If she looks at it. And I can only pray she does."
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Post by omnios on Feb 8, 2013 20:55:32 GMT -4
Word spread through the bunker that there was an intruder. A drone informed Vega, who activated her primary weapon, a three-foot long energon blade.
"Eric, stay behind me." Vega said, pushing her husband behind her.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Eric replied, ducking behind a console.
Vega assumed a battle stance, and scanned the room for anything out of the ordinary.
After a few tense seconds, she picked the intruder out from the heaps of computers and random servers.
'There. He's there.' Vega thought.
Calculating the distance between her and the intruder, Vega lept towards her opponent, and thrust forwards with her sword. A shower of sparks lit up the room as Vega's weapon impaled the intruders' shoulder.
"Tell the others that we've got the intruder." Vega said to Jakob. "and tell 'em that he'll be hanging around for a while."
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Post by Koith on Feb 9, 2013 21:20:20 GMT -4
While being shocked with the countdown, Koith suddenly felt something impaled his shoulder that disrupted the trip to the Clusters' core. When the reality came back, he saw a Vexus-like female droid with a sword made by energy, behind her is an army of troopers with blasters. Damm! The soldier cursed his carelessness, but blaming doesn't make sense, he must find an escape route or die.
Silently takes out an EMP taser, Koith waits his attacker being distracted. Then, she said, distracting herself. As the chance arrived, KM-08 quickly zapped into the blade, crippled it and broke it out of his shoulder. The troopers intended to neutralize Koith, but they're being shot first with Night Hawk. Throwing next to them a flashbang, the soldier pushes through the crowd and quickly disappears as he turns on the cloaking device.
Enough playtime on Cluster, Koith must return to Earth and preparing the imminent attack. Takes into the starport, he steals one fastest spaceship and flying off the ground. Into the orbit, the soldier takes on the secret route that led him and his men to the surface of this planet during Hornet, and miraculously undiscovered. FTL drive is hot, and Koith pushes the button, sending him home in no time...
...
At the same time, Kane's recording was being broadcasted through every channels all over the US, also in many other languages. Many politicians of the world strongly criticized the Americans as warmongers, like:
"The Americans led our world in danger by their military adventure,"
"World's peace is now in depth of peril as the Clusters' possible retaliation is counting down,"
Also, at the news and live surveys, the people showed their attitudes toward the US:
"We need the peace! We don't need any war with Clusters anymore."
"I don't know much about the Clusters, but the war US waged with them is not tolerable,"
In the Arabic world, things getting worse according to some Islamic warriors:
"The Americans ended themselves with their greed! We'll support the Clusters whenever they're coming,"
In the UN Council of Security, there's some diversion. China and Russia strongly criticized the US, while France and UK stay neutral. Meetings and protests against the Americans broken out in every corners of the Earth. The atmosphere getting hotter and hotter, India and many countries declared to be Non-Aligned Movement, while many nations risen their speech will support the Clusters when the US fall. From the President of United States, he also suffered from the credibility severely lowered by his words and left no comments about them.
After the confrontation ended, Marie takes a note with Koith's dog tags, while Kane left in haste cause The Company are now trying to silence him due to leak of this record. It's the Enigma-coded time of the Cluster's possible retaliation. Can't let it unsolved, Marie immediately called Grinder and give some warnings:
-Please, send this to Command! We must be ready for that.
-Roger,-The Delta captain nodded, then take Koith's tag and the deciphered note in haste, alerting his men preparing the defense.
(OOC: I'm back as I promised)
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Post by Jakob on Feb 10, 2013 2:19:22 GMT -4
((A spot of speedy godmodding, eh, chaps?))
As the Cluster Drones rolled in with the news of the intruder, Jakob pried the cuffs off, where he was immediately greeted by the AI in Ultima.
The cuffs, apparently, were what were blocking his comms with the mech. He made a quick note to work on anti-blocking measures.
//HUMAN TECH IS IN THE BASE. MOVE IN FOR CAPTURE.
"Understood," Jakob muttered as some plates shifted to reveal a scattergun- loaded with short-circuit electrical rounds, the equivalent of stun rounds for robots.
Then he saw the large energy blade produced by the Queen. Before Jakob could request that she use non-lethal methods, the Queen had already bounded out of the war room with her husband and an escort.
"No!" Jakob shouted, "We need to take him alive!"
//HUMAN TECH IS IN A STRANGELY UNGUARDED DATA STORAGE ROOM.
"Thanks. Chart me the fastest route."
On his heads-up display, a full holographic map painted itself. With it came a glowing zig-zagging line that cut efficiently through the corridors of the bunker. The cyan blob that represented the intruder was at the end of the line, with multiple red blobs (representing Cluster Drones) were closing in from nearly every direction.
"Let's catch us a warmonger," Jakob muttered before charging down the corridors.
---
Jakob had just arrived when he spotted the Queen stab the target in the shoulder.
No! The android thought, I said non-lethal measures!
"Tell the others that we've got the intruder." Vega said to Jakob. "and tell 'em that he'll be hanging around for a while."
Jakob found it odd that she'd be asking him to transfer news to units not on the same channels as he, but the android was more concerned about Vega's report turned into a distraction- which the target took advantage of.
He rose his scattergun to take down the individual, but he stopped short due to the risk of hitting the Queen by mistake. Then a quick flash- which Jakob's mechanical replacements for eyes corrected within nanoseconds. He spotted the individual- whose cloaking device was reactivating- and prepared to take a shot without risk of hitting the Queen.
But the target managed to escape out another door. Jakob checked the Heads-up display to take note of potential target locations.
"Keep an eye on the hangar. If I were him, I'd be making my way to an evac."
//ALREADY ON IT.
---
Ultima easily locked onto the target aircraft as it began to lift out of the hangar, and prepared piercing energy lasers.
However, the ship was rather fast and maneuverable.
//HE TOOK A SHIP. CLUSTER RECORDS INDICATE THE SHIP IS AN INTERCEPTOR WITH FASTER-THAN-LIGHT CAPABILITY.
"Fast ship," Jakob replied through comms after the report. He had managed to barge into the hangar as the ship took off, and he didn't much care about what the heck the Cluster drones were doing. With a sigh, Jakob took a few steps and sat down on a storage crate amongst a bunch. The mech blinked into the hangar and opened the cockpit.
//WE CAN MAKE IT HOME BEFORE THE TARGET EVEN MAKES IT HALF-WAY.
"True," Jakob replied as he stood up and jogged to clamber into the cockpit, "There's one place an earthling would go for backup, and we can shoot him down and question him then."
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