Scrapyard Dogs: The First Casualty

[Daws Combine]

Sen sighed. She lover her crew. She really did. However, they sometimes needed a little more mental tuning than they had. She activated the coms, sighing heavily. "Relax, everyone. One of these ships must have an Icarus system on board. One that can make us a lot of money. You know the drill. Focus on one thing and one thing only."

The Icarus system. It was a little piece of old world tech that directly attacked the minds of fighter pilots via subliminal messaging in the com links. It made you think your worst fears were coming to life directly in front of you. Many skirmishers went berserk because of them, and many more simply died from the fear alone. They had salvaged a few before, but casualties had happened. Sen hoped they wouldn't this time.

"Nobody attack anything unless I tell you to. Follow the signal and shut that thing down, first. I want everyone back in one piece, understood?"

 

[Thomas McTavish]

Jace, Baffled Buffoon

The Icarus System? Subliminal com mind control? Jace turned off his receiver and took off his helmet, taking a gaze at the monitor, unhindered by outside noise. Nothing from the original scene had changed. Except for some holes in the ships, and the Cowboy missing, with a big hole in the otherwise same corvette. "I'll be damned." he said to himself. It made sense. Taking a risk, Jace reactivates the comms. "Guys, de-act. your comms. It's more of that subliminal messaging psycho bullshit." Setting the scanner to trace the signal, the self-disappointed man goes to retrieve the artifact.

 

[Romaan]

Helium Sun;

The calm reply from comm system didn't help, as much as it was trying to reassure her. As much as the boss didn't mind it, the flashing lights and shaking ship felt very real. An icarus system? This far out? And a strong one too, if it was able to make this feel so real. That wasn't good news in the first place; why the hell was the captain so calm about it? She punched the comm system again, "Got it boss, c-" the red flashing lights were starting to hurt Helium's head. They're only an illusion. She looked to her left, seeing a someone she wasn't exactly glad to see. Her heart hurt just as much as her head now. She's only an illusion. The spectre was gone as soon as it came. Helium closed her eyes, "Careful out there. Keep your heads out of trouble and make us some money."
When she opened them, the ship was just as it had been before. Calm, steady, the old yellow lights flickering from age. "Agh-" the merchant looked at her side, all bruised up now from her violent trashing around. Throwing yourself on the floor did that to people. Damn.. I better get this checked out. Knowing Minrah, she was sure to be near the hangar, "Just in case," the alien miss always said. Better to be safe than sorry and all that jazz.
--
It was only a few minutes walk to where the Morino was, the sight of her immediately relaxing. The medic had that effect on people, despite how uptight she could be sometimes. Helium suddenly recalled Jace's not-at-all smooth attempts at getting her to join them for a few drinks. Maybe after this mess of a start to a simple run, Helium could work a wonder and help her old pal Jace out.
"Hey, Minrah, mind checking this out for me?"

 

[Baddamobs]

Humans were odd creatures, Minrah knew this for a fact. Not exactly long lived, and lacking in evolutionary strengths when compared to the Morino and Gronus, they had never the less survived thanks to ingenuity and adaptability. Despite achieving space travel much later than either of their alien neighbours, they had become a respectable powerhouse in the galaxy. Some even say they survived The War solely due to their sheer determination. A fascinating, but odd, race.

The fact that half of human crew were currently throwing themselves into walls and shouting while the other half looked on in confusion made them even odder.

Minrah blinked, half wondering if she was witnessing a new kind of 'space madness,' before the captain's voice reached across the ship's intercom.

Icarus system? That's rare piece of tech. And not exactly a reliable one…

The 'Icarus system' (not it's actual name, but that's neither here nor there) wasn't a sure-fire way of winning a battle thanks to its widely varying effects. No one could pin down exactly what made it ineffective, but some individuals simply didn't react to it, even at close range. She would have to make a note to check up on the Gronus of the crew; poor bastards would have headaches for days following this, knowing how vulnerable they were to such a device. Hell, if rumours were to be believed, they were the original targets of the Icarus system. Morino were largely immune to its effects, mostly because they were the ones who designed it…

Regardless, the captain's message seemed to have its desired effect, and the crew were starting to get their bearings. Another reason the Icarus system wasn't employed by every military force ever: the mind is good at sorting reality from the illusion when it's told there's an illusion before it.

Taking a second to make sure the Gronus crewmates she passed were recovering okay, Minrah hurried on to the hanger. The Icarus may not have been a massive threat by its self, but it DID mean that someone meant them harm, or at least away from this area of space.

It didn't take long before Minrah stepped into the monolithic hanger, the sound of spacecraft revving and activating and the shouting of engineers and marshallers hitting her like a brick wall. On one side, all of the Dawnson's ships were either preparing to take flight or were being worked on, a collection of the skirmisher's prides and joys. On the other, a series of airlock chambers large enough to accommodate said spacecraft, the huge doors open and closing with hellish booms as skirmishers gently guided them through.

In all honesty, Minrah would much rather be back at the quiet med-bay…

""Hey, Minrah, mind checking this out for me?"

"Hmm?" The doctor turned in place, just in time to see a grinning Helium waving at her not too far down the entry catwalk. "Well, that depends on what it is."

 

[Crono]

Choas.

Q felt a touch of... which one was that? Ah yes, disappointment as the other members of the squad instantly went into a state of pure panic upon finding the scrapyard a trap. She as always did not follow them in their madness and instead waited for orders to attack from the captain. The Flicker remained where it was, occasionally zipping out of the way of a missile or laser. The captain's voice came on, Q pressed the 'Yes' button to make sure she understood. The swift white mouse of the skirmisher ships immediately took off for the signal which was predictively located on the one ship that wasn't firing, a heavily armored, medium sized cargo ship, practically touching the side of the massive corvette. One with weaker radar then hers might think it was on the warship itself. And that's probably what the enemy wanted, her radar picked some powerful signals coming inside the corvette, definitely lying in wait for the crew. The Flicker zoomed over the cargo ship, deployed its sting, and shot a explosive stinger into the thrusters of the ship. It exploded as Q pressed the button for 'I found something.' She hadn't encountered any of the illusions Sen had spoke of. Mainly because she feared nothing, not even Him.

Mable growled as her idea was shot down by her idiotic coworker. "I see you would rather damage your life's work then make it more effective you lousy-" And the little engineer's eardrums exploded as that damned merchant Sun screamed into the coms. Massive radio chatter, made clear by looking out through the armory window, it looked as if the war had started over and this was one of the more famous battles. Of course the Dogs didn't fight glorious battles, they stole shit after some idiots killed each other in a glorious battle. That annoying laughing from Stukov caused Mable to wonder if she would be payed to hand him over to a insane asylum, provided they ever found one. She quickly donned her TRS, not even bothering to comment on her fellow engineer's lack of foresight. She grabbed 'Dragoon' and briefly squeezed the handle to test it. A tongue of flame blew out to her approval, and finally she turned back to Stukov to shake her head. "Low unless we're boarded. None of the fighters are big enough to board and that bloody corvette is miles away." She connected to the captain's coms. She was briefly distracted by a flicker in the corner of her eye but carried on speaking. "Do you have any orders for us captain?"

 

[Aedion]

Shit. An Icarus rig. Havent fought one of them in years, although that explaibs why im seeing my dead finacee. "Captain, Im on board the vette. Do uou want me to try to find the Icarus rig?"