[Mass Effect: New Genesis] Part 5: Prothean Base Thanatos

The bottle was half empty of its ryncol contents as voices echoed in the hallway. Jormungand stood from the seat, groaning with the effort and annoyance. He thudded towards the doorway, the metal portal sliding open revealing the hallway and a number of the crew. The Krogan cocked his head, "Team meeting without inviting me hmm?"

"Kreiger. For what it's worth. I'm sorry about your family. Here. Read it when you have the time." He tossed a letter onto the table as he turned to leave.kreiger mumbled to himself.
"sorry doesn't bring them back..." he grabbed the letter from above him and opened it as the door slid open.
"Can I help you with something?" Corwins voice seemed calm, like nothing had ever happened.
Kreiger began to read the not in his head, struggling with some of the human words on the page.

Lieutenant

Perhaps we were not clear enough to you.

We apologize. We overestimated your intelligence.

We thought we made it clear that if you leave, you will die. Apparently this was something too complicated for you to grasp. So we killed you. You're body doesn't realize that it is already dead. Once your nosebleed starts, you should go see your doctor. Tell you doctor about Nagi Syndrome.

If you want to live, you must prove it. Use your Alliance contacts to track down the Migrant Fleet. We think it is a small price to pay for your life.

Under the last sentence is one statement, written in ink. It was probably a message Corwin left for himself. It simply reads:

I choose death

Kreigers head rolled back, thumping against the wood of the desk, a few tears began to form as the events past began to sink in.

After a few moments of waiting breathlessly through the silence, Kreiger's door opened and there stood Corwin. Bloody and bruised, he asked in his ever polite yet somehow irritated voice, "Can I help you with something?" Astila looked at him, her expression changing from anger to one of worry and sympathy. He looked like he had been pretty beat up and she knew Kreiger probably looked the same.

After Corwin moved out of the doorway and the door had shut behind him, Astila made her way to Kreiger's room politely pushing past the crowd. The door opened and she stood in the doorway, raising her eyebrows as she looked at the shambles. She stepped in, the door shutting behind her. She saw the shards of broken mirror, the blood on the floor, the dents in the wall, and the room entirely in shambles. She followed the trail of broken mirror and blood to the desk, where Kreiger was sitting ... Weeping and wounded. She slowly walked up to him, trying to avoid the broken glass. Her wedged heels cracked against a mirror shard, shattering it. He looked back at her as she entered, making sure of who it was before putting his head back down.

Once she reached the desk, Astila slid a delicate hand across Kreiger's shoulder gently in case he was wounded. Then glided it across his back to comfort him. She raised his head, looking at his bloodied face and tear-stained cheeks. "Oh ... Kreiger.", She lightly cradled his head, letting him cry a moment as she comforted him.

Astila knew he couldn't stay in this room. Corwin's blood was all over it and his as well. Not to mention the broken mirror, dents in the walls, and all around not a good place for anyone to be. "Come on ...", She said softly. "Come to my room and I'll clean you up. You can stay with me and tell me what happened when your ready."

"Can I help you with something?" said Corwin after looking at them all.

"I'll say." said Aivar, looking a bit shocked. "Um, this may be the wrong time to say this, but why....?" 'He' was motioning to the door where Astila had gone in. It was pretty confused, but it was obvious that Kreiger and Corwin had a fight. "Um, if you want, I can still string him up by his insides....." It all really depended on what Corwin wanted to do. The irritation 'he' felt disappeared as it was replaced by concern for 'his' employer's health.

"Can I help you with something?", Corwin said, blood covering his face. Nick grunted and said, "Funny. Yeah, I'm with Aivar, you want to tell us what that was all about?", gesturing at the door to Kreiger's room. "Sounded like you guys were having an interesting time in there."

Nick wasn't sure if whatever disagreement these two had was mission related, personal, or something else. Either way, he felt a little uncomfortable that his employer had let it break down into violence. If this fight was an indicator of how things were run around here, their chances of working together and surviving this mission were not looking that great. He hadn't known these his crew mates all that long, so maybe he should reserve judgement, but it still left him feeling uneasy.

Meera was also shocked, disbelief written all over her face. First, she found it amazing that Corwin was walking around at all, let alone getting in fights, and secondly, from the looks of him it was a pretty intense fight. Meera looked at Aivar as he spoke to Corwin.

"Um, if you want, I can still string him up by his insides....." Aivar seemed genuinely concerned.

"Well I do not need anything, but it looks like you have some wounds that need treating. I can help with that, but at a glance looks like it is nothing that requires my assistance. If you do not mind, I am going back to the med bay." With that Meera turned on her heel and stalked back to the medical bay, letting the door slide closed behind her. She leaned up against it. My god, she thought, what have I gotten myself into. First day aboard the Eris and already a fight breaks out between one of the crew members and the "leader."

Meera was definitely concerned about fitting in now. She was nowhere near as hardened as some of these people seemed to be. She had grown up in a comfortable home, and lived a comfortable life with little drama. This was more than she was used to. She closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. She decided to spend a moment checking out exactly what the Eris' med-bay had to offer.

[Sorry...sorry....edited to include other questions]

Corwin touched Aivar on the shoulder gently with his blood-free hand and smiled. He turned his head toward Nick. "Kreiger and I had a long overdo discussion. He had a couple of problems but it's resolved now. Probably should have had it sooner. But I do need help getting to the medbay."

Corwin felt the adrenaline starting to leave his system as he touched his ribs gingerly. "I think I have have broken something important during our talk." Corwin looked around toward the group, expectantly.

kreiger took Astila shoulder lightly as she offered support. he sobbed quietly.
"i failed them. it was always my fault..."
"Come on ...", She said softly. "Come to my room and I'll clean you up. You can stay with me and tell me what happened when your ready."
He nodded and got to his feet. dusting himself off and grabbing his jacket, shaking the glass from it. he threw it over his shoulder and wiped some of the blood onto a shirt he had lying around. the headed towards the door and kreiger laid a soft hand on corwins shoulder, giving him a curt nod as he passed. the entered astilas room across the hall and locked the door.
"i need a shower, i'll be back in a few and we can talk."
he dropped his jacket and headed for the bathroom.

Corwin turned to look at Nick and said, "Kreiger and I had a long overdo discussion. He had a couple of problems but it's resolved now. Probably should have had it sooner. But I do need help getting to the medbay."

"A discussion?", Nick said, incredulity in his voice, "Looks more like an all out brawl!"

He was about to go on when Kreiger came out of the room with Asari. As Kreiger passed Corwin, he put his hand on his shoulder and gave him a small nod. "Huh, I guess there are some disputes that really just need to be solved like that."

Nick looked back at Corwin. "Ah, never-mind that. Let's just get you to the medbay. You look like hell.", he said, moving to help Corwin over to the medbay.

Corwin solemnly nodded back toward Kreiger. After that, he grinned towards the rest of the group..

"Ah, never-mind that." Nick said in a surprised tone. "Let's just get you to the medbay. You look like hell."

Corwin replied...trying not to wince. "And I'm going to be feeling a lot worse when the adrenaline leaves my system."

Astila lifted Kreiger's arm over her shoulder to help support him, she could tell he was somewhat in pain as he threw his jacket over his shoulder. She helped him out the door, bewildered and a little bit in shock when he removed his arm from around her shoulder and he placed his hand on Corwin's shoulder, when not ten minutes they were ready to kill each other. She looked up at Corwin, then back at Kreiger. Their expressions of mutual exhaustion. She swung his arm back around her shoulder, helping him over to her room and locking the door behind them.

"i need a shower, I'll be back in a few and we can talk."

Astila nodded, watching as he walked through the side door in her room and stepped into the showers. She began getting some medical supplies she had in her room from when she was injured. Bandages, Check. Cleansing solution, Check. Gauze and cotton swabs, Check. She laid out her stuff on her bed stand, making up her bed so he would have a soft place to sit. The ship may have a new doctor and she knew he would eventually have to see the doctor, but she knew what he needed most was someone to be there for him. She sat down on her bed, waiting on Kreiger to finish in the showers and listened closely in case he were to faint or need her.

[a couple hours after the fight. Feel free to continue the RP before the fight if you'd like. I'm expecting this fight to take about 4 or 5 days to complete, as everyone should have the chance to declare their actions.]

The Eris sailed through the thick interstellar gas clouds toward the Gorgon System. Her systems were running silent, in case there was anyone listening. Jarvis carefully monitored the surrounding area for any hint of activity from any ships or outposts in the region. The AI detected nothing and sailed past Gorgon's solar boundary into open space with an unobstructed view of the system.

Within five second, Jarvis's voice was heard over the Eris' speaker system. "I am terribly sorry to interrupt. However, I have intercepted a transmission of Asari origin and I believe it to be a matter of extreme importance."

Jarvis's voice cuts off and he played the transmission. "Citadel Command. This is Commander Maraga of the Somme's Descent. All attempts to hail the Eris have failed. They have opened fire on us. I repeat. We are engaging the Eris. May they find peace in the Goddess's embrace."

Jarvis signaled an alarm almost immediately.

(for note: I received notification that Myn was heading for one of the guns.)

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Welcome to the first space battle of the RPG. I've spent some time trying to make sure everything will flow nicely. So here's hoping, right?

Conditions for victory:

• The Eris must reach Slekon in one piece.
• All enemy ships must be either destroyed or disabled so they cannot pursue.

Eris's available weapons (up to three people can be on this)

• Two Gun Turrets
• One GARDIAN system

Jormungand's shuttle's available weapon (One person can operate this)

• Twin Mass Accelerator Guns

The enemies:

• The Somme's Descent: An Asari Frigate
• 7 Combat Support Crafts
  • All 7 are fighters
• The ships all are equipped with shields, making one shot kills difficult.

The structure of the battle:

• The battle will go by round.
• The players will always have the initiative against the enemy. That means, the player will always go first.
• Talking is always a free action. Meaning you can have virtually unlimited communication between players without it eating up time within the round.
• Please be as descriptive and creative with what you are doing for the battle. You should, in theory, only get one attack, dodge, maintenance (repair or upgrade), or hacking attempt per round. Unless you feel you should get multiple actions....I'm flexible...but it should be a special case.

The rules:

• The player declares their action (through creative roleplaying, etc).
• If you have percentile dice, great! Feel free to use them. I trust everyone on here. If not, don't worry. I can handle the rolls.
• The base percentage of PC success with any action is 75%. That means, on a percentile roll, any number between 1% - 75% will be a success. Anything higher will be a failure. Between 1 - 5% is a critical success. 96-100% a critical failure.
• The success percentages can (and will) increase based solely on creative actions taken by the PC. For example, if Myn gives an awesome description of firing on one of the support crafts and presents one heck of a good plan, the success will jump from 75% to 85%! This system is designed to reward creativity.
• What does a critical success mean? Double damage if you are firing. If dodging, a successful dodge that'll put the Eris into a better position to dodge again (dodging bonuses for the next round). If repairing (or upgrading), the Eris will function better than ever! If hacking, you'll learn great information about the ships and/or take temporary control over their vital system(s).
• What does a critical failure mean? Don't ask.
• After all of that. I will go through the enemy's actions. For the sake of brevity, I will just declare their action (55% success chance...will vary based on successful evasions), roll the dice, and see if there are successes or failures.
• In round two, please describe, in your RPs the enemy's successes and failures as relevant to your character's situation.
• Each round will last 24 hours, real time. The GM will take a look at the posts at midnight CST and figure out the successes/failures and how the enemy will respond. So feel free to plan out what you will do and edit your posts till your heart is content. Because at midnight, your post will be considered finalized.

Extra notes

• I feel it is safe to assume that Jormungand's shuttle will be used in the battle....it is not my call to say if he'll need assistance with firing the weapon from it, but it could make things more fun for everyone who wants a chance to use the ship's weapons.

Within five second, Jarvis's voice was heard over the Eris' speaker system. "I am terribly sorry to interrupt. However, I have intercepted a transmission of Asari origin and I believe it to be a matter of extreme importance."

Jarvis's voice cuts off and he played the transmission. "Citadel Command. This is Commander Maraga of the Somme's Descent. All attempts to hail the Eris have failed. They have opened fire on us. I repeat. We are engaging the Eris. May they find peace in the Goddess's embrace."

Jormungand's eyes went wide as the alarm went off, "A fight with the Asari!?" The massive Krogan leapt from the chair in his quarters, trophy skulls mounted on the walls watching him with empty sockets as he armed himself. "What in the Void is going on?!" he bellowed once in the hallway as the other crew members popped their heads out of their rooms. He activated his omni-tool, remotely prepping his Kodiak for launch just in case it was needed. The little shuttle had held her own in plenty of fights both in atmosphere and out, but he had no idea just yet what they were facing. If there was an Asari Dreadnought out there, his shuttle might as well be shooting spitballs.

Within five second, Jarvis's voice was heard over the Eris' speaker system. "I am terribly sorry to interrupt. However, I have intercepted a transmission of Asari origin and I believe it to be a matter of extreme importance."

Jarvis's voice cuts off and he played the transmission. "Citadel Command. This is Commander Maraga of the Somme's Descent. All attempts to hail the Eris have failed. They have opened fire on us. I repeat. We are engaging the Eris. May they find peace in the Goddess's embrace."

The alarm following the transmission wiped away the last vestiges of sleep from Nick, who had fallen asleep on the couch in the rec room. "We opened fire? What the hell?", he thought as he leaped from the couch and headed to the gunnery station in engineering. He opened up a line to the cockpit with his Omni-tool, hoping someone was there to hear him. "Hey, anyone up there want to let me know what's going on? I'm going to start up the belly gun, in case we can't talk our way out of this."

He entered engineering and made his way to the ladder leading to the gun. He slid down the ladder and sat down at the controls. He brought up the targeting program and activated the torpedo feed, hearing the satisfying thud of torpedoes being locked into the firing tubes.

The Eris sailed through the thick interstellar gas clouds toward the Gorgon System. Her systems were running silent, just in case there was anyone out there listening, and Eri had Jarvis carefully monitoring the surrounding area for any hint of activity in the region. So far, all had been quiet.

She and Myn had discussed all possible options as to the origins of the mystery voice Eri had heard, even to the point of checking to see if any of the new arrivals on the crew might be telepathic, though Eri strongly doubted that to be the case. There was simply nothing else to be done about it except push the weird feeling aside and move on... and hope she didn't hear it again.

Aside from that, they'd spent the next hour or two simply talking. Chatting, laughing, teasing - getting to know each other a little better. It was nice... comforting, and something that Eri hadn't realized how much she'd missed. She was still a little shocked at the whole thing - if someone had told her weeks ago that she'd start to develop feelings for someone on this little adventure, she'd have flat out laughed in their face. This went against nearly all of Eri's rules for herself, and what was worse, part of her wasn't even bothered by that. Yet, as much as she tried to tell herself there was nothing there, this was clearly a unique case. As cliche as it sounded in her head, there was just something about Myn that felt different - different enough for her not to ignore it. And clearly the feeling was mutual...

She glanced over at Myn and smiled a little. He'd nodded off in the chair beside her's about a half hour ago. She couldn't blame him - with the soothing hum of the engines and the rythmic patterns of the gas clouds streaming by outside, Eri was feeling a little blurry-eyed herself. He looked peaceful when he slept - her hand was still lying in his on the armrest of the chair, their fingers intertwined, and she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

She chuckled quietly to herself and shook her head, looking back outside as a large grin spread across her face. She still couldn't believe she'd kissed him...

Jarvis's voice over the comm system derailed her thoughts. "I am terribly sorry to interrupt. However, I have intercepted a transmission of Asari origin and I believe it to be a matter of extreme importance."

Eri frowned, feeling Myn stir awake beside her. "Asari? What kind of transmission...?"

A moment later, Jarvis played the transmission over the comm as well. "Citadel Command. This is Commander Maraga of the Somme's Descent. All attempts to hail the Eris have failed. They have opened fire on us. I repeat. We are engaging the Eris. May they find peace in the Goddess's embrace."

Eri sat a bit dumbfounded for a moment. Her eyes flicked across the panel before her just to be sure there was nothing she'd missed, but.. they hadn't received ANY such hails, and certainly hadn't open fired on anyone...

"What the fu..." Eri was cut off as a loud alarm blared to life throughout the ship followed by the tell-tale sound of gun fire striking the hull of the ship as the Eris rocked slightly from the impact.

Eri swore loudly as her hands flew across the panel, trying to figure out where the Asari vessel was so she could begin planning evasive actions.

She glanced over at Myn to see similar shock reflected on his face. "I'll get the guns," he said simply, disappearing a moment later.

Eri reached out to flick the intercom open to Aashe's quarters. "Hey, Aashe? Now would be an EXCELLENT time to return from your three hour bathroom break..."

This was never what Jeshua had signed up for. He still didn't know why he was recruited, they had been through three major fights - with half of the crew getting injured almost everytime - he learned after the fact that Kreiger died, of course there was the thing with Corwin in the hospital, and then the things he had been told in the orphanage. All in all it was just too much to handle, as evidenced by his breakdown in front of Aashe before they even landed on Illium. And he wasn't present when it happened, but he learned very quickly about the fight between Corwin and Kreiger, and everybody went into a frenzy following that, with Jeshua not able to go anywhere in the ship without hearing someone talking about it. And now Jarvis was warning them of an attack by an asari ship, and they very likely wouldn't make it through the encounter alive.

Screw this, Jeshua said, running from his room down the hall, towards the rec room, and then up into the cockpit. He didn't notice if Aashe or Eri were sitting at the helms, instead going straight for the console that turned into his "station" "Jarvis," he said once he was in front of the console, "I need the carrier frequency of the asari ship's comm system."

"Right away Mr. Robinson." Jarvis accessed the console while Jeshua was traversing through lines of code. At first they were competing against eachother, but eventually they became an effective duo, and the process went doubly fast.

"You might want to strap in ... this is going to be a bumpy ride." Jeshua nearly jumped. He kinda figured someone else was up here, but Eri's voice bringing him out of his focus so abruptly was a little unnerving. He looked over towards her, and saw that she was looking at him with a questioning expression on her face.

"I can take care of myself, Eri. And anyways, I can't "strap in", not right now. I'm going to attempt to feed the fighters false info from the main asari ship by mimicing their captain's voice. I don't know if it'll work, but you never know."

"I have isolated the frequency Mr. Robinson." Jarvis had pulled up the necessary codes and files onto the console while Jeshua was distracted, and now Jeshua pulled up his omni-tool to extract the data into his.

"Okay, put that file there, turn the circle 90 degrees ... Okay, got it. Jarvis, can you run test simulations, see if my theory is viable?"

"It is not a main feature of my programming, but I am equipped to take presented data and in turn present logical conclusions based on the information received."

"Great, so you can do simulations. Okay," Jeshua said, switching to the other side of the cockpit to access Jarvis' system. A moment later Jarvis and Jeshua's omni-tool were figuratively "one", and the data was copied to Jarvis' systems for use.

"Data processed, simulation commencing."
----
([Since we're going by precentage, I'll leave this up to MZ as to whether it succeeds, as I don't have a die to do it myself

EDIT: As for "declaring my action" in a TL;DR form, Jeshua is attempting to hack into the comm systems of the asari ship. But first he is having Jarvis run a simulation to test whether or not it'll work. It'll either work or won't, depending on how the dice is rolled.])

(after the fight, after the shower)
Kreiger walked out of the shower, drying himself as he entered the main room. this felt like a reversal from the intimate night they spent together. he dropped his trowel, sliding back into his jeans, fastening the button and fly. he looked at astila with all her medical gear spread over the bed.
"bah, i'll be fine. just a few knocks and scraps." he hated the idea of people fussing over him, but he said it with a smile.

(after the fight, hours later)
kreiger was busy tinkering away in engineering. he still felt shook up after the fight with Corwin, but was more at peace with himself. he was still feeling guilty, but a sence of calm washed over him. things were going well with astila, feeling her warmth at night was comforting to him. he had just re calibrated the drive cores power draw when javis interrupted with a message from another ship.
"Citadel Command. This is Commander Maraga of the Somme's Descent. All attempts to hail the Eris have failed. They have opened fire on us. I repeat. We are engaging the Eris. May they find peace in the Goddess's embrace."
"opened fire? WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" he ran to the read outs by the core, panic in his eyes and fear as he was about to lose his 'family' once more. no power draw to the main weapons in the last 24 hours. they were running cold.
"no,no no NO!" he patched his omnitool into the ships on board battle systems he was playing with theory settings against dreadnought weapons. no matter how much power he diverted to the shielding, almost all hits were critical.
"great...we're going to die...no WAIT! speed is key!" he patched himself into the Eris comms
"Attention who ever the F**K is flying, brace yourself for a sudden shift in power."
he slid a few leavers up on the control panel, diverting half the energy from no vital systems into the ships core and shifting it directly to the engines.
he then patched himself directly into astila's omnitool.
"astila, baby, i could really use an extra hand in here... and it would be nice to have you close for this" his voice trailed into deep worry with those last words.

Aashe was painting. She'd given Myn and Eri their space to get to know each other better, and spent the time alone. Painting gave her an excuse to let out her feelings in a controlled environment. Oils running together, blending into one another. It was poetic, honestly. She found herself enjoying the moment of silence and peace; at the moment, no one needed her help, Eri and Myn could watch the ship. For the first time in her life she was temporarily freed of her duties.

She had mulled over the blood on her hands for the death she had inflicted back on Illium; had Jarvis read her any new message; started coming up with new jokes to tease Eri and Myn with now that they had kissed, and.. oh, yes... thought about her own kiss, and Corwin. It was a damn strange galaxy, at the end of the day, she hadn't at all expected for someone to fall for her... especially someone as vibrant as Corwin.

"I am terribly sorry to interrupt. However, I have intercepted a transmission of Asari origin and I believe it to be a matter of extreme importance." Jarvis... and he was talking through the shipwide Comm.

"Jarvis!" Aashe exclaimed, absolutely horrified. "What in the Gods' Hell do you think you're doing? What have I told you about disturbing guests?!"

"I am sorry, Ma'am, for my breach in protocol." Jarvis's voice cut in on her personal Comm. "But I believe the phrase is 'you will need all the help you can get'. Here is the transmission...." His voice ended, to be replaced by an Asari woman.

"Citadel Command. This is Commander Maraga of the Somme's Descent. All attempts to hail the Eris have failed. They have opened fire on us. I repeat. We are engaging the Eris. May they find peace in the Goddess's embrace."

Aashe went cold, her blood freezing in her veins. She stood there for a second, stock still, paintbrush in hand. We didn't... wouldn't... couldn't have... Oh Gods... Gods no, no... no, this is....

"Jarvis..." For a second, she absolutely couldn't think of the words she needed. Her brain was already reeling from the fallout of this - if that transmission made it back to the Citadel...

"They are coming, Aashe." Jarvis informed her, snapping her out of her thoughts by using her name. "I recommend alacrity."

Aashe needed no further prompting. She threw her paints and brushes on her desk and ran through her cabin door.

"Hey, Aashe? Now would be an EXCELLENT time to return from your three hour bathroom break..." Eri was yelling into her comm to get her, Myn was disappearing up the ladder to the upstairs Gun. Jeshua appeared beside her, and started barking orders to Jarvis, who was obediently following his command.

The ship rocked from the first volley, and Aashe ran head long into the cockpit, clearing her chair in a leap, and landing in the seat. She started to turn on the weapons systems, reaching up to turn the Shipwide Comm on so she could address everyone. "Listen, the turrets are warming, they'll be ready to fire by the time you're settled in - there's earphones on the chairs, I suggest wearing them. The turrets are deadly loud otherwise. Krieger, if we turn on the Anti Proton drive, the RDA heat sinks are going to be working overtime, keep an eye on things down there. I'll try to give you warning if we need to turn the drive on - but - you should know, the blast doors to Engineering will automatically shut when... or if... the drive engages - good luck to you. I'm leaving the comm open, feel free to jack your Omni Tools in, everyone - the channel is 5973.873."

Aashe's voice was devoid of any of her humor or sarcasm, low and serious, she tried to prepare the others for what was coming. She glanced over at Eri after the shipwide announcement. "Eri, tell me you're staying here with me. If we don't get anyone else in the cockpit who can fire the GARDIAN systems - I imagine you're a hell of a shot... if we do, I need you to help me fly my Baby."

((Eri Response))

"Kid, I need you to do me a favor over there. Make sure my Jarvis doesn't get hacked again. If we get hacked this time, we're dead in the water. We're counting on you." Aashe turned to look at Jeshua, meeting his eyes briefly. She nodded a little at him, before offering a small smile. "I'm counting on you."

((Jesh Response))

Aashe looked forward again, looking at the incoming ships. Gods there are a lot of them.... The crew can do this Aashe, just look on the bright side. If you were alone, you'd be dead right now...

"We appear to be being approached by an Asari Frigate and a handful of fighters coming in for wolf pack tactics. My plan is to try and stay within knife fight distances of the Somme's Descent - hopefully that will make it harder for her considerably larger group of support troops to fire on us, for fear of hitting each other. I'm normalizing the Cargo Bay now for shuttle take off, I can buy you some time of good flying before leaving on the shuttle will be problematic. The barriers are holding for the moment, but evasive maneuvers may be necessary soon." Aashe informed anyone who was listening as she pushed the ship up to speed.

Why are they doing this? We didn't fire on anyone! This is no coincidence, they knew we were coming... this is an ambush. Aashe closed her hands around the controls for The Eris, and frowned. Well, if it's a fight they want, they better look out - we're not going down that easy.

Meera had finally settled in when Jarvis' announcement came over the comm. She was groggy as he made the introduction, but as soon as the comm from the Asari came she was wide awake. We are under attack?! She jumped up and dressed quickly, throwing on a pair of medical scrubs. She had a feeling things were going to get intense, and would probably need to run around the ship keeping people in the action. She wished she could offer more help, but this situation was so beyond her experience that she was not sure how to react.

Soon an announcement from Aashe followed, and Meera immediately patched into the comm channel Aashe had directed. After that she swept through the bay, gathering any supply she thought she could easily carry, and hoisted the medical bag over her should as she ran out of the room. The ship was suddenly alive, with noise and people running everywhere. She was still not fully comfortable with the layout. Meera quickly sent a message over the comm channel, figuring the easiest way to help was hang around the gunner's and the engineer, and keep them going so they could keep the ship going. She went down the hall heading toward engineering first.

"...Engaging The Eris...."

The voice had been far off, interrupting his blissful peace. It wasn't until the ship shuddered with the strike of enemy shells that Othic fully woke up.

He looked over to Eri, she was afraid but didn't seem to try and hide it. "I'll get the guns." Was all he said. He knew West was battle tested and hardened. It was doubtful this would shake her. He hurried up the ladder as he saw Aashe come into the cockpit. He didn't have time to say anything to her and was sure someone would fill her in soon enough anyway.

Othic sat himself in the gunner's chair. The seat rotated fully to allow the person working the system to have a 360-degree view of the battlefield. Myn didn't need to turn his seat. He could clearly make out a Frigate and several smaller starships, almost certainly fighters.

It had looked like for now the enemy ships were keeping their distance but suddenly one broke away from the pack, flying at high speed toward the Eris, it's lasers stitching the side of the ship. Othic didn't let the incoming fire put him off, he knew the shields on the Eris would hold against a smaller fighter craft for the time being.

Myn waited until the ship was within range, before squeezing the trigger. He was rewarded with the thundering of the torpedo firing and the system reloading automatically. He waited as the missile streaked toward the incoming fighter.