The Evrensel Conflict: Act 1 -- Chapter 1, Mission 4a - the Chevaliers du Ciel

[Epiphany]

The great city of Val Royeaux lay on the northern coast of the Waking Sea, the center of the Orlesian Empire and the beating heart of the Chantry, a religion that spanned the known world. From the White Spire, the Templar Order directed a nation-wide watch on Mages. And the University of Orlais rested in the grace of the Empress, Celene, who had greatly expanded its resources and prestige in the 10 years since she's sat the throne of Orlais.

And Val Royeaux was also a city besieged.

Months ago, the first visitors from other realities emerged in Thedas. Three banded together in Orlais and founded the Chevaliers du Ciel, tasked with addressing those from other worlds, particularly the rising threat posed by untold thousands of Nazi soldiers currently occupying the Dales in the south of Orlais. As you were not one of the invaders, instead you found yourself attached to this organization, which offered provisions, funding, even armaments at the cost of a (loose) chain of command.

Originally, each of you found your way to Orlais somehow, one moment elsewhere and the next...here. Each of you encountered the people of Orlais and, one way or another, found yourselves meeting the original Trois du Ciel. As you find yourself meeting them again today.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1, Mission 4a: The Chevaliers du Ciel

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Chevaliers du Ciel have been called back to Val Royeaux to their headquarters, the Manoir d'Abadie which rested in the noble northern quarter of the city. Upon arrival, you were met by Orlesian servants tasked with meeting the needs of the Chevaliers du Ciel (or the Cell as members used among themselves). These servants provided an escort to one of the Manoir's more comfortable rooms, a parlor. Presumably, this had been a room for gentlemen to pass the time drinking and smoking. Now it served for conferences and discussions...along with drinking and smoking for those so inclined.

Standing by a window was Jean-Luc Picard. The retired Admiral was the public 'face' of the Trois du Ciel, as well as the Chevaliers du Ciel. In his way, Picard was the slowest to speak as well but he had a commanding voice, a palpable charismatic force when he entered a room, to which even Orlais' nobility responded. He'd been ennobled in the last month by the Empress Celene for his efforts in planning the Orlesian/Nazi war theater at a strategic and tactical level. It was his counsel and contributions that originally won the Cell the right of use to the Manoir d'Abadie, and it was widely opinioned that the heirless property would be outright deeded to him now that he was Lord Picard.

He gave a short nod of acknowledgement as each member of the Cell filed in, flashing an occasional smile or giving a warm greeting to a few of like sensibility. There was no question the Admiral both knew war very well and was particularly well read in the history of the enemy. But he didn't love either. Jean-Luc Picard was a peacemaker at heart and while he respected the abilities and accomplishments of all in the Cell, he was at his most personable with those who favored his kind of moral restraint.

"We'll get started once everyone's here," he said, in a low voice that wavered slightly from age but not from a lack of conviction. "We have...we have important news to share, that affects us all."

Once the Cell had assembled, Picard nodded as he surveyed those present. Then he spoke. "You've been recalled from the front because our intelligence suggests the Nazis are planning a direct attack on Val Royeaux itself. We've faced them before, most of you have, but an attack on the capital will, must, come over the Waking Sea. That could mean boats. It certainly means airplanes, a great many, possibly the whole of their reserve." He stepped away from the bar, hands clasped behind his back as he slowly paced through the room. "I expect, even in those numbers, they lack the strength to take Val Royeaux. But an attack on the heartland will, unfortunately, carry powerful political repercussions. Ms. Tano, if you please?"

Standing on the other side of the bar, and still standing there, was the Chevalier Cramoisi, as the locals knew her. Ahsoka Tano had quickly won the admiration of Orlesian society with her exotic looks, genteel manner and her legendary prowess with a pair of white lightsabers. Where Picard was the heart of the Cell, Ahsoka had frequently been its voice...and its eyes. Despite those exotic looks, she was remarkably good at passing unseen and had gathered a considerable amount of covert intelligence to be discussed and acted on by the people in this room. Several of you may have even partnered with her for a mission or two, and seen first hand her friendly, reserved presence as well as the fierce decisiveness she was capable of.

"Many of you know the Empress Celene has been on the throne for ten years," Ahsoka said. "What you may not know is that Orlesian succession is complicated at the best of times. In her case, the prior Emperor died without a direct heir of the body, resulting in an internal conflict that cost a number of lives. She won." The redskinned Torguta woman spoke with a quiet intensity that belied the reflexive discipline that usually cooled her tone. "And her chief rival, the loser, was the Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons. You might know him as the Field Marshal for the Orlesian Army. The very man who has become the chief critic of the Cell. A man I believe is at risk for acting against his oaths to a throne he might seize for his own."

Ahsoka Tano's gaze dropped to consider the ground for a moment as she gathered her words. "I've done what I could to keep the relationship between the Empress and her Field Marshal as friendly as possible. It's worked so far. But fresh pressure could fracture a relationship that's had ten years of resentment feeding it. Anger is a pathway to dark choices. The people of Orlais will be the real victims if a successful attack on Val Royeaux happens, because they will be the front lines and because their rulers will set them against each other in their names to win power."

"It's not uncommon, in cultures at this level of development," Lord Picard said, smiling faintly. Something in his presence relaxed the alien ex-Jedi and she gave him a slight smile in return. "Where I come from, we have a policy of strict non-interference in the affairs of nation states like Orlais. But events beyond anyone's control have already interfered in the natural development of their society. Ms. Tano's quite right; the civilians will suffer the most from this. Unless we can help them. Now, Val Royeaux is a long ways from mounting a credible defense against airplanes but I believe my colleague Mr. Luthor can give us all some good news."

The final member of the Trois du Ciel was the only one seated throughout this discussion. Once addressed, he rose, making it obvious how tall, well-muscled and immaculately dressed he was, even if his wardrobe didn't begin to blend in with Orlesian fashion. Lex Luthor had been named by the Empress Celene as the Chancellor of the University of Orlais and held principal responsibility for advancing the nation's technology for the escalating war.

Those who'd spoken with him had come to know very quickly how powerfully intelligent the man was. And equally quick came the realization that this man was far more pragmatic than either of his fellow founders.

"There simply hasn't been enough time," he said, slowly and a bit reluctantly. "Since my arrival in Val Royeaux, I've instructed their people in the elementary principles of building steam engines, as well as wind and water turbines to produce power. We do have the beginnings of an anti-aircraft system in place, basic flak cannons using gunpowder and RDX for propellent. But we haven't been able to manufacture enough to provide adequate air coverage of the entire city, nor are there enough trained gunners to make effective use of them."

"I do have repeating crossbows in production, with enough built to supply the Royal Army stationed here. Explosives are also not a problem. RDX is easy enough to produce if you know the formula and we have plenty of it now but that will be more useful for offensive missions, not against planes in the air. Proper rifles are still a bit off, constrained by the need to upgrade their manufacturing infrastructure. As promised, I do have individual presses for the ammunition used by all of you here."

Lex Luthor lifted a glass of wine that he'd held steady by the stem throughout the meeting. With it, he gestured at a rather large box set against one wall between a pair of chairs. "For those of you who've been hoarding your ammunition, you're invited to resupply. In good health," he toasted before sipping from his wine glass.

Taking that sip as his cue, Lord Picard said, "Now, some obvious strategies suggest themselves for defending Val Royeaux. But, as Ms. Tano so recently reminded me, I'm not the only person in the room with experience fighting a more modern war than this world is ready for. Take a moment. Refresh your drink, retrieve your ammunition if you like. Give it some thought. Each of you has remarkable experience and ability. We want to know how you might approach this scenario."​

 

[BobTheNinja]

Edward Buck had taken a seat on one of the couches, currently wearing his titanium nanocomposite undersuit. Since he was no longer on combat duty right now, his outer armor modules were stowed away for the time being.

He grimaced noticeably as he listened to Jean-Luc Picard give his latest findings. He and the retired Admiral often didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, thanks in no small part to the major differences in how humanity developed between their respective timelines. But even so, he respected the man for his depth of experience and knowledge, and the way he carried himself as a former officer of Starfleet. As a military man, he trusted Picard the most.

Buck couldn't say the same for Lex Luthor. While he had proven himself invaluable for his razor-sharp intelligence and scientific prowess, he seemed to embody the traits of a egotistical corporate executive AND a cutthroat ONI spook. He could tell that Lex was largely in this for himself, whether for his own survival or for some other motive that only he knew. The frustrating part was that they couldn't afford to do without him, and Buck was pretty sure Lex knew that.

Ashoka Tano...evoked mixed feelings, moreso than Picard. She was an alien, but that didn't really bother him much anymore, given all the strangeness he had seen these past few months. She was clearly a skilled fighter, a Jedi of all things, and he respected both her combat prowess and her Force abilities. But her spiritualistic outlook just didn't click all that well with him. Though given the absurd situation he had been pulled into, with the line between reality and fiction having firmly broken down, perhaps that said more about his own mindset than hers.

In any case, he now was resting a closed hand on his chin as he considered the current situation in his head. And sadly, the conclusions were not pretty.

"I hate to admit it Admiral, but I'm pretty sure we're in it deep this time," Buck spoke up. "We know that the Nazis have been assembling and fielding jet-powered aircraft as they've expanded their foothold in the Dales. We may be able to counter many of their ground-based offensives, but a full-scale air assault is something we're not properly equipped to repulse. Flak batteries may be better than nothing, but without sufficient numbers, I expect they'll be able to bomb us pretty reliably."

"The local mages may be able to pick up some of the slack, but I'd say that's a tall order, given the speed and distance of their targets. The only other thing I can think of is if they can somehow combine their power to change the local whether conditions to discourage enemy flight, but I'm not holding my breath on that as a possibility."

Buck sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Since we're looking at London Blitz type scenario, I think we should prioritize marking out the most hardened structures and underground areas in Val Royeaux as shelter points for civilians. And we'll need to distribute response plans so that people know what to do and where to go when this goes down. Otherwise there will be panic in the streets, which means even more lives lost."

He slumped back in his seat, letting out a breath. "I think that's about as much as I can recommend with what we have at the moment."

 

[Trappy]

Grn'Durf

The mood of the meeting was tense. War was on the horizon, and Grn'Durf personally found that the Cell was in a hard place to provide sufficient aid to the Orlasians. These natives were outnumbered, frankly primitive comparing to their opponent (despite Lex Luther's efforts), and now according to the Togruta (another different species!) 'Ahsoka Tano', their leadership was simmering with infighting behind a fragile façade of amicability and cooperation - all in all, not good odds, definitely not one the former Shipmaster would've liked.

Grn was comically huge comparing to his associates in the parlour, so he resigned to cross his legs and sat on the floor in an attempt to match their average height. As he listened to the 'Trois' taking turns with the briefing, and a human who went by 'Edward Buck' putting forward his suggestions, Grn felt fascinated by the [predominantly human] attitude towards an imminent conflict, and found that they were greatly similar to his kind in this scenario, or at least in the angle of approach. Wars demanded efficiency, and that meant extensive planning for confrontation and contingencies. The Orlasians were fortunate indeed that this is the attitude helming their resistance efforts, instead of some brutes with a simple thirst for flesh, blood and superficial glories.

Onto their opponent... These 'Nazis' were an interesting read when Grn sought after researches and documents about them, most of which being human historical records, or contemporary observation logs by alien survey missions. It was apparently an (often contemptuous) abbreviation of this particular belief - Grn admittedly found himself having some reservations about calling it an ideology - in its native human language. The large wings which framed him flashed an uncomfortable blend of green and white in a Cri's approximation of a shiver as he recalled the details of these Nazis' creed. In a way, it was horrifying to him how a desperate people could be convinced to give their life for such outrageous and radical ideas.

Having heard Edward's suggestions, the thus-far still and silent creature decided to voice his thoughts.
"Edward Buck presents an admirable cause to steer the civilians away from the fighting and keep them safe." Grn gestured towards the human with one of his smaller arms. "However, comes a point such efforts may prove to hinder our own efforts. I believe we should organise a militia with any able-bodied Orlasians to augment the Army - whose job will not necessarily be to fight enemy soldiers head-on, but to construct infrastructures, transport supplies and disrupt the enemy in occupied territories, should they ever manage to gain a foothold."

Grn then turned to address the elderly human admiral 'Picard'.
"I am also in possession of a reconnaissance shuttle of my kind. It is fitted with enough ordnance to serve an air support role, I place it at your command. Our enemy may be fearsome, but I doubt their technological sophistication is a match for mine."

@BobTheNinja @Epiphany.

 

[Kabboom]

Raiden

Raiden simply stood at the corner of the room, his poncho and sombrero still hanging over his cyborg body. He closed his one good eye, and passively listened to the ideas being tossed around. It was weird enough getting zapped across time and space to this weird alternate universe - while in the middle of an important mission in Guadalajara - but he'd gotten used to the insanity of the scenario: cutting down futuristic Nazis in a medieval type world with magic, while talking with people (and aliens) from different universes... Nuts.

But the bald captain Picard spoke wise words, and he'd been doing a good job so far with coordinating the defense of this empire they'd stumbled into defending. The guy in the suave suit, Lex Luthor, was much more pragmatic with his plans, gearing up the locals for a war with a foe a few centuries ahead of them technologically. Ahsoka, the superpowered alien girl with a laser blade, earned most of Raiden's respect with her martial prowess and intelligence-gathering capability - once or twice, he'd partnered up with her and they wreaked havoc among the Nazi rank and file.

So far, Buck and the alien Grn had some good ideas - not good enough, in Raiden's perception. Highly trained soldier he may be, Buck still had a ways to go in terms of coordinating a defense for a city as big as Val Royeaux - just taking shelter won't cut it for limiting civilian casualties; they need to be concentrated in a defensible and important place for the rest of the Cell and the Orlesians to defend effectively, and not get spread out over a wide area. As for the alien Grn... his suggestion only reminded Raiden of his time in Liberia as a child - he'd rather not send the civilians to fight.

Cocking his head up, eye open beneath the sombrero, Raiden spoke up. "The Nazis aren't gonna hit us with just aircraft. I'm betting after the bombardment, they're gonna follow up with a ground invasion. Some of our scouts mentioned movement on the outskirts - might be it. If anything, we should try to withdraw most of the civilians to strongpoints: the palace, this Manor, other places where we have Cell anti-air assets in place. Might be crowded, but it's worth it if we can save their lives with the coverage we provide." If he still had lips, he'd be biting them at this moment: these 'anti-air assets' were in reality little better than jury-rigged machine gun platforms manned by Cell gunners and some Orlesian volunteers - volunteers who didn't even know guns were a thing until a few months ago. "Once bombardment ends, then we'll need the civvies to run fire extinguishing and help build road barricades, tend to the wounded. Grn can fly interference and give those Nazi pilots something to be scared of; I'll stay on the ground, tackle any ground assault that comes. If they're really just sending planes, then I can cling onto his shuttle and act as an extra gun."

With that last remark, his right hand touched the sling on his shoulder, the one that carried a captured Nazi machine gun. He'll need to grab that ammo Lex promised before this fight, regardless of what the Nazis toss at the city.

 

[Valkan]

Valeria Oconitrillo

Much like the funny looking cyborg with a sombrero, Valkyrie leaned against a wall, near a corner. Unlike him though, she threw all class out the window by drinking wine straight out of a bottle. She looked like a heavy contrast to one of the Cell leaders, Lex. While dressed similarly, she didn't have time or willingness to make it not look sloppy, despite the suit being undamaged. He exuded confidence and intelligence, while she just barely looked the part as a member of the Cell, however, anyone who had worked with her can attest of her trustworthiness in her role. That didn't change the fact that a couple of individuals were giving her all kinds of looks, not that it mattered to her. She continued to drink as the debrief started.
Jean-Luc was first, dropping quite a piece of information. Certainly worthy of being recalled from her previous mission. This was nothing to laugh at. Those bastards had scary levels of technology, they could do serious damage a city like this one with ease, especially with their numbers. Then Ahsoka and Picard expressed the perils that would entail from this attack from the inside. Not that an attack was needed for that fight to break out. In Valeria's eyes, that bomb could go off at any second.
Lex spoke up next, confirming what the other two were saying in a more direct manner. They lacked what it takes to truly take these Nazis on. Suggestions started being thrown around. Valeria? She continued to drink in silence. She was better off not making any plans, as usual. When she planned things, they went wrong for everyone around her. She was better off being assigned by someone else... Everyone was.

 

[Epiphany]

Edward Buck had taken a seat on one of the couches, currently wearing his titanium nanocomposite undersuit. Since he was no longer on combat duty right now, his outer armor modules were stowed away for the time being.

He grimaced noticeably as he listened to Jean-Luc Picard give his latest findings. He and the retired Admiral often didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, thanks in no small part to the major differences in how humanity developed between their respective timelines. But even so, he respected the man for his depth of experience and knowledge, and the way he carried himself as a former officer of Starfleet. As a military man, he trusted Picard the most.

Buck couldn't say the same for Lex Luthor. While he had proven himself invaluable for his razor-sharp intelligence and scientific prowess, he seemed to embody the traits of a egotistical corporate executive AND a cutthroat ONI spook. He could tell that Lex was largely in this for himself, whether for his own survival or for some other motive that only he knew. The frustrating part was that they couldn't afford to do without him, and Buck was pretty sure Lex knew that.

Ashoka Tano...evoked mixed feelings, moreso than Picard. She was an alien, but that didn't really bother him much anymore, given all the strangeness he had seen these past few months. She was clearly a skilled fighter, a Jedi of all things, and he respected both her combat prowess and her Force abilities. But her spiritualistic outlook just didn't click all that well with him. Though given the absurd situation he had been pulled into, with the line between reality and fiction having firmly broken down, perhaps that said more about his own mindset than hers.

In any case, he now was resting a closed hand on his chin as he considered the current situation in his head. And sadly, the conclusions were not pretty.

"I hate to admit it Admiral, but I'm pretty sure we're in it deep this time," Buck spoke up. "We know that the Nazis have been assembling and fielding jet-powered aircraft as they've expanded their foothold in the Dales. We may be able to counter many of their ground-based offensives, but a full-scale air assault is something we're not properly equipped to repulse. Flak batteries may be better than nothing, but without sufficient numbers, I expect they'll be able to bomb us pretty reliably."

"The local mages may be able to pick up some of the slack, but I'd say that's a tall order, given the speed and distance of their targets. The only other thing I can think of is if they can somehow combine their power to change the local whether conditions to discourage enemy flight, but I'm not holding my breath on that as a possibility."

Buck sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Since we're looking at London Blitz type scenario, I think we should prioritize marking out the most hardened structures and underground areas in Val Royeaux as shelter points for civilians. And we'll need to distribute response plans so that people know what to do and where to go when this goes down. Otherwise there will be panic in the streets, which means even more lives lost."

He slumped back in his seat, letting out a breath. "I think that's about as much as I can recommend with what we have at the moment."

Lord Picard nodded gravely at the Spartan's articulation of their scenario. "Ms. Tano and I have some experience with strategy in conflicts between worlds with differing degrees of technology, Spartan Buck. Never this degree of disparity, however. Your experience differs from ours and is all the more valuable for it." The ancient admiral gave a tight smile. "A good thought on weather manipulation. I'll confess, I don't fully understand what the Orlesian Circle of Mages can do but I'll see to it the question gets asked. In my experience, the people of Orlais aren't used to thinking of creative applications of Mage power, including other Mages."

"Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him," quoted Lex Luthor who wore a frown as he said. "Transfigurations 1:2, from the Cahntry's Canticle of Transfigurations. Those who wield superhuman power have considerable social constraints limiting that power. At some point, we'll have to judge the extent we change that dynamic. We may leave someday as suddenly as we arrived. What we teach the natives may last far beyond our presence."

Ahsoka Tano made a face in Lex Luthor's direction but said nothing to the man directly, just as he didn't see (or acknowledge) her expression. Instead, she spoke to Buck. "Stone has advantages and disadvantages to resisting impacts but Orlais does have a number of very large, well-built structures we could use. Communicating the plan to the civilians will be harder without a Holonet to use."

"Perhaps the Chantry," Lord Picard suggested, in a gentle tone. Again, Ahsoka made a face but she reluctantly nodded.​

Grn'Durf

The mood of the meeting was tense. War was on the horizon, and Grn'Durf personally found that the Cell was in a hard place to provide sufficient aid to the Orlasians. These natives were outnumbered, frankly primitive comparing to their opponent (despite Lex Luther's efforts), and now according to the Togruta (another different species!) 'Ahsoka Tano', their leadership was simmering with infighting behind a fragile façade of amicability and cooperation - all in all, not good odds, definitely not one the former Shipmaster would've liked.

Grn was comically huge comparing to his associates in the parlour, so he resigned to cross his legs and sat on the floor in an attempt to match their average height. As he listened to the 'Trois' taking turns with the briefing, and a human who went by 'Edward Buck' putting forward his suggestions, Grn felt fascinated by the [predominantly human] attitude towards an imminent conflict, and found that they were greatly similar to his kind in this scenario, or at least in the angle of approach. Wars demanded efficiency, and that meant extensive planning for confrontation and contingencies. The Orlasians were fortunate indeed that this is the attitude helming their resistance efforts, instead of some brutes with a simple thirst for flesh, blood and superficial glories.

Onto their opponent... These 'Nazis' were an interesting read when Grn sought after researches and documents about them, most of which being human historical records, or contemporary observation logs by alien survey missions. It was apparently an (often contemptuous) abbreviation of this particular belief - Grn admittedly found himself having some reservations about calling it an ideology - in its native human language. The large wings which framed him flashed an uncomfortable blend of green and white in a Cri's approximation of a shiver as he recalled the details of these Nazis' creed. In a way, it was horrifying to him how a desperate people could be convinced to give their life for such outrageous and radical ideas.

Having heard Edward's suggestions, the thus-far still and silent creature decided to voice his thoughts.
"Edward Buck presents an admirable cause to steer the civilians away from the fighting and keep them safe." Grn gestured towards the human with one of his smaller arms. "However, comes a point such efforts may prove to hinder our own efforts. I believe we should organise a militia with any able-bodied Orlasians to augment the Army - whose job will not necessarily be to fight enemy soldiers head-on, but to construct infrastructures, transport supplies and disrupt the enemy in occupied territories, should they ever manage to gain a foothold."

Grn then turned to address the elderly human admiral 'Picard'.
"I am also in possession of a reconnaissance shuttle of my kind. It is fitted with enough ordnance to serve an air support role, I place it at your command. Our enemy may be fearsome, but I doubt their technological sophistication is a match for mine."

"Mmmm, more good suggestions," Lord Picard said, his bald head bobbing slightly as he nodded. "The Orlesian nobility isn't used to thinking flexibly about its underclass. I imagine the Grand Duke would suggest such a 'militia' be organized by simply conscripting everyone into the Army and then running them like a military unit, despite their untrained state."

"The Royal Army is almost entirely front line combatants," Ahsoka added, her lack of hair obscured by her impressive montrals and the three lekku which hung from her head, hair-like. "Their support units are informal and very small, compared to even the Grand Army of the Republic. We might try asking the Grand Duke to talk to his commanders and ask them to find good men who come from Val Royeaux. They could liaison with local neighborhoods."

"You'll need to go through the Court," Lex said, his equally bald head gleaming in the light of the nearby fireplace. "But I don't see why it wouldn't work. We'll definitely need the support of the nobility outside of Val Royeaux, if we're proposing to make the peasant population into an insurgency."

Grn's last suggestion merited another "Mmmm," from the retired Admiral. "Agreed, Grn, but one ship is unlikely to be an effective defense for an entire city. I'd rather reserve your craft for transportation, if you're willing, to support Chevalier du Ciel operations behind enemy lines. Which we will hopefully get all of you back to as soon as can be."​

Raiden

Raiden simply stood at the corner of the room, his poncho and sombrero still hanging over his cyborg body. He closed his one good eye, and passively listened to the ideas being tossed around. It was weird enough getting zapped across time and space to this weird alternate universe - while in the middle of an important mission in Guadalajara - but he'd gotten used to the insanity of the scenario: cutting down futuristic Nazis in a medieval type world with magic, while talking with people (and aliens) from different universes... Nuts.

But the bald captain Picard spoke wise words, and he'd been doing a good job so far with coordinating the defense of this empire they'd stumbled into defending. The guy in the suave suit, Lex Luthor, was much more pragmatic with his plans, gearing up the locals for a war with a foe a few centuries ahead of them technologically. Ahsoka, the superpowered alien girl with a laser blade, earned most of Raiden's respect with her martial prowess and intelligence-gathering capability - once or twice, he'd partnered up with her and they wreaked havoc among the Nazi rank and file.

So far, Buck and the alien Grn had some good ideas - not good enough, in Raiden's perception. Highly trained soldier he may be, Buck still had a ways to go in terms of coordinating a defense for a city as big as Val Royeaux - just taking shelter won't cut it for limiting civilian casualties; they need to be concentrated in a defensible and important place for the rest of the Cell and the Orlesians to defend effectively, and not get spread out over a wide area. As for the alien Grn... his suggestion only reminded Raiden of his time in Liberia as a child - he'd rather not send the civilians to fight.

Cocking his head up, eye open beneath the sombrero, Raiden spoke up. "The Nazis aren't gonna hit us with just aircraft. I'm betting after the bombardment, they're gonna follow up with a ground invasion. Some of our scouts mentioned movement on the outskirts - might be it. If anything, we should try to withdraw most of the civilians to strongpoints: the palace, this Manor, other places where we have Cell anti-air assets in place. Might be crowded, but it's worth it if we can save their lives with the coverage we provide." If he still had lips, he'd be biting them at this moment: these 'anti-air assets' were in reality little better than jury-rigged machine gun platforms manned by Cell gunners and some Orlesian volunteers - volunteers who didn't even know guns were a thing until a few months ago. "Once bombardment ends, then we'll need the civvies to run fire extinguishing and help build road barricades, tend to the wounded. Grn can fly interference and give those Nazi pilots something to be scared of; I'll stay on the ground, tackle any ground assault that comes. If they're really just sending planes, then I can cling onto his shuttle and act as an extra gun."

With that last remark, his right hand touched the sling on his shoulder, the one that carried a captured Nazi machine gun. He'll need to grab that ammo Lex promised before this fight, regardless of what the Nazis toss at the city.

The Trio listen to Raiden's remarks with varying degrees of attention (Lex Luthor in general looks like he's probably doing math in his head to solve other problems unrelated to this meeting).

Lord Picard smiles a touch at the cyborg's last remark. "Yes, Raiden, something I'm well aware of is that the Cell works best in the field. All of you have valuable experience we hope to leverage for the defense of this city. But actually using you for direct defense is underutilizing what all of you can do. If it comes to it, and you're here, we'll look at the state of Orlais' defenses to plan where you can help best. That's a conversation we'd like to have with each of you, though, and it's a conversation, not a command."

"None of us signed up for this," the Torguta Jedi added. "But people's lives are at stake. We all bring something to the table. We're better together. And that means letting you all play to your strengths."

Ahsoka looked particularly intrigued at the notion of clinging to Grn's shuttle and being flown around as a mobile gun...or sword...​

Valeria Oconitrillo

Much like the funny looking cyborg with a sombrero, Valkyrie leaned against a wall, near a corner. Unlike him though, she threw all class out the window by drinking wine straight out of a bottle. She looked like a heavy contrast to one of the Cell leaders, Lex. While dressed similarly, she didn't have time or willingness to make it not look sloppy, despite the suit being undamaged. He exuded confidence and intelligence, while she just barely looked the part as a member of the Cell, however, anyone who had worked with her can attest of her trustworthiness in her role. That didn't change the fact that a couple of individuals were giving her all kinds of looks, not that it mattered to her. She continued to drink as the debrief started.
Jean-Luc was first, dropping quite a piece of information. Certainly worthy of being recalled from her previous mission. This was nothing to laugh at. Those bastards had scary levels of technology, they could do serious damage a city like this one with ease, especially with their numbers. Then Ahsoka and Picard expressed the perils that would entail from this attack from the inside. Not that an attack was needed for that fight to break out. In Valeria's eyes, that bomb could go off at any second.

Lex spoke up next, confirming what the other two were saying in a more direct manner. They lacked what it takes to truly take these Nazis on. Suggestions started being thrown around. Valeria? She continued to drink in silence. She was better off not making any plans, as usual. When she planned things, they went wrong for everyone around her. She was better off being assigned by someone else... Everyone was.

By and large, the Trois du Ciel didn't get too judgmental with the looks. But that was probably a result of time and exposure. Picard's lips still pressed together in a thin line. Ahsoka just rolled her eyes once. Lex looked...amused.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The opening of the door to this parlor wasn't uncommon; the Chevaliers du Ciel weren't big on meeting etiquette, despite the retired Admiral's reflexive formality setting the tone and example. In this case, a peasant serving girl came in, crossed the room silently and bent by Lex Luthor's chair. He leaned in, listened to something she whispered in his ear before nodding once. She promptly exited, the hem of her brown work dress flapping when she opened the door.

"One of my many projects at the University of Orlais includes an effort to detect and trace extradimensional activity." Lex Luthor steepled his fingers. "Obviously knowing if others have been brought here is vital to our efforts. Both for recruitment here and for detecting any other hostile expeditionary forces. I haven't had the means nor the time to invent the means for higher order technologies. Thankfully, a cooperative Mage and a cooperative Spirit provided other avenues. Judging by what I'm told, there's been an incident of chrono displacement."

He surveyed the room to assess looks of comprehension (or lack thereof) before adding, "It means a time traveler has arrived. In Val Royeaux. If they're from the future, they may possess vital intelligence or they may be here to stop us. Either way, it's imperative we find them swiftly, before their presence and actions create enough changes in the timeline to render their future knowledge useless."

"Search the city. Quickly. Anyone who doesn't look like they belong, bring them back here."

A moment later, the retired Admiral cleared his throat and added the word, "Please."​

 

[Wade Von Doom]

Off in the background of this whole meeting, everyone would hear the sound of a porcelain vase being dropped to the floor. When they'd turn to look, they'd see the tanned skin woman who was examining it, and accidentally dropped it by letting her grip go too soft, since she was trying to be careful. Her name was Amelie Nuan, though she prefered 'Amy' for short. She was an earth bender, an artist who was particularly fond of clay molding and sculpture work. Somehow, she ended up with this group, and was.... less than useful on the battlefield. Or fighting in general. Her talents lied in helping set up defenses around the city, creating trenches for the soldiers, that sort of thing. She had little to no fighting experience, or even training in her earth bending talents to use for fighting.

She was just an artist... So why was she even here? With these captain, technological inventors, cyborg ninjas, weird lizard aliens, and just regular aliens? She hadn't a clue. Yet, somehow, she was teleported to this world like everyone else. And they were willing to help save her from wild beasts out in the country side when she arrived here around the same time they all did. To say she felt out of place would be an understatement. She felt more like a bother than anything else. Often she just stayed out of the way, practicing her earth bending to see if she could be more helpful in combat. But instead, she was more helpful in destroying things. Like people's walls. She'd flown a boulder or two into walls by accident while practicing on her own.

While everyone was busy talking about strategies and planning for their next moves, she just eavesdropped and wondered if they had anything to say about her. Thinking they wouldn't notice. At least until she was so focused on listening in, her grip on the vase loosened to the point it fell to the floor and cracked into a hundred pieces. She looked over to the group, mildly blushing. "Hehe... sorry..." She said, smiling awkwardly and clearly embarrassed.

 

[Kabboom]

Raiden

Raiden stood in wait, his back still glued to the wall as he took in the atmosphere of the room and the ideas of its occupants. Over the past few months, he'd gotten more used to the situation: direct action doesn't mean shit when you're fighting a whole army, and he'd come around to more strategical thinking as of late - mercs aren't paid to think, but he's got nothing else to do. Discovering that electrolyte recharging was a possibility in this land was a relief, although Raiden did miss hearing familiar voices on his Codec.

So far, the Big Three - what he calls them - made sense in their words. Wise people, certainly the type that would've been commanding him if he were still back in his world. Though Picard's words struck him as peculiar: the Captain knows precisely how much good Raiden does out in the field, but now that a gigantic attack comes to the friendly nation's capital city, Raiden's a precious commander all of a sudden? As if by reflex, he responded to that one with some incredulity in his voice.

"Underutilizing? Captain, with all due respect, you know what I'm capable of. I'm only smart in the field - my direct defense is my best strength."

Listening to Lex Luthor's new information, Raiden bounced off the wall he'd used as a backrest for the last few minutes. "If my presence is no longer needed, then I'll-" Turning around, the cyborg caught sight of the earthbender dropping a vase by accident. Simply looking her in the eye, then glancing down to the crumpled pieces (one even landed on his foot), then back up to her eyes, he tried not to let any disappointment show. The girl wasn't a fighter, wasn't a thinker, and was barely a builder - in Raiden's terms, useless dead weight. "-then I'll go find 'em."

@Epiphany. @Wade Von Doom

 

[Epiphany]

Off in the background of this whole meeting, everyone would hear the sound of a porcelain vase being dropped to the floor. When they'd turn to look, they'd see the tanned skin woman who was examining it, and accidentally dropped it by letting her grip go too soft, since she was trying to be careful. Her name was Amelie Nuan, though she prefered 'Amy' for short. She was an earth bender, an artist who was particularly fond of clay molding and sculpture work. Somehow, she ended up with this group, and was.... less than useful on the battlefield. Or fighting in general. Her talents lied in helping set up defenses around the city, creating trenches for the soldiers, that sort of thing. She had little to no fighting experience, or even training in her earth bending talents to use for fighting.

She was just an artist... So why was she even here? With these captain, technological inventors, cyborg ninjas, weird lizard aliens, and just regular aliens? She hadn't a clue. Yet, somehow, she was teleported to this world like everyone else. And they were willing to help save her from wild beasts out in the country side when she arrived here around the same time they all did. To say she felt out of place would be an understatement. She felt more like a bother than anything else. Often she just stayed out of the way, practicing her earth bending to see if she could be more helpful in combat. But instead, she was more helpful in destroying things. Like people's walls. She'd flown a boulder or two into walls by accident while practicing on her own.

While everyone was busy talking about strategies and planning for their next moves, she just eavesdropped and wondered if they had anything to say about her. Thinking they wouldn't notice. At least until she was so focused on listening in, her grip on the vase loosened to the point it fell to the floor and cracked into a hundred pieces. She looked over to the group, mildly blushing. "Hehe... sorry..." She said, smiling awkwardly and clearly embarrassed.

Admiral Picard cleared his throat and looked gently amused. "It's quite alright, Ms. Nuan," he said, in his stately gravely voice. "Perhaps you might accompany our friends here? It sounds as if there's another visitor and a friendly face such as yours might do much to soothe any nerves they have. You know, just as they might, how disorienting all of this can be."

Lex Luthor frowned slightly in the direction of Lord Picard but he purposely didn't make eye contact nor contradict the older man. Or maybe his mind had just moved on to other problems.

Raiden

Raiden stood in wait, his back still glued to the wall as he took in the atmosphere of the room and the ideas of its occupants. Over the past few months, he'd gotten more used to the situation: direct action doesn't mean shit when you're fighting a whole army, and he'd come around to more strategical thinking as of late - mercs aren't paid to think, but he's got nothing else to do. Discovering that electrolyte recharging was a possibility in this land was a relief, although Raiden did miss hearing familiar voices on his Codec.

So far, the Big Three - what he calls them - made sense in their words. Wise people, certainly the type that would've been commanding him if he were still back in his world. Though Picard's words struck him as peculiar: the Captain knows precisely how much good Raiden does out in the field, but now that a gigantic attack comes to the friendly nation's capital city, Raiden's a precious commander all of a sudden? As if by reflex, he responded to that one with some incredulity in his voice.

"Underutilizing? Captain, with all due respect, you know what I'm capable of. I'm only smart in the field - my direct defense is my best strength."

Listening to Lex Luthor's new information, Raiden bounced off the wall he'd used as a backrest for the last few minutes. "If my presence is no longer needed, then I'll-" Turning around, the cyborg caught sight of the earthbender dropping a vase by accident. Simply looking her in the eye, then glancing down to the crumpled pieces (one even landed on his foot), then back up to her eyes, he tried not to let any disappointment show. The girl wasn't a fighter, wasn't a thinker, and was barely a builder - in Raiden's terms, useless dead weight. "-then I'll go find 'em."

"Mine too," Ahsoka Tano said, with an agreeable grin. "But this is a new scale of conflict for all of us. And each of us might have some insight that could help with planning the-" She paused and tilted her head towards the window, as if hearing something.

Lord Picard listened for a moment as well, then said, "Ms. Tano is quite right, of course. But alone, you're one man. Whereas what you know could teach a hundred, a thousand more men to be better than they are."

"Do you hear that?" Lex Luthor said suddenly, frowning further as he looked out the window.

"Engines," Ahsoka said, evidently having the best hearing of the Three. "Not repulsorlifts or sublight engines. Airplanes."

"Already?" Lex looked incredulous. "They must have already been on their way when our scouts sent their reports."

"All hands," came the Admiral's experienced voice, cutting through the sudden spirit of panic rising in the room with all the efficiency of a man who'd done exactly that a hundred times over. "You know what to do, my friends," Lord Picard said, a tight smile drawing attention to the lines that command had etched into his face. "If they've come by air, I would expect a ground element to follow. Grn'Durf, you're our only airborne air defense. Anyone who wishes to join him, by all means. Otherwise, see where those planes are going and be prepared to repel a land assult."

"I'm heading to the White Spire," Lex said, straightening his tie and looking like his suit was as stiff a defense as a suit of armor. "The Val Royeaux Circle of Magi are there, they'll be our best chance of repelling an air attack."

"I'm with you, Grn," Ahsoka said, drawing two slender rods from her belt. "See if you can't drop me off on top of one of those planes, if you get the chance."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the Cell split into teams and ventured out of the Manoir d'Abadie, it was immediately apparent what the threat in the sky was.

They were airplanes. A fleet of them, several score at least. And in their midst a giant dirigible. The great behemoth must have spanned at least 300 meters. Despite the theoretically much greater velocity of the curiously antiquated airplanes flanking it, the giant blimp was somehow matching their speed. Perhaps owing to what resembled a...tornado?

A sideways tornado, emanating from a curious slash in the sky affixed within something only binoculars could tell is a doorway wrought of hewn tree branches bound together with leather straps, the doorway itself positioned on a wooden platform that trailed the blimp yet remained attached through a series of steel tethers. ...Somehow, that open doorway was emitting a colossal windstorm that the dirigible was deliberately using as a means of faster propulsion.

Only a few people on the street seemed to have noticed much of anything. But those of you familiar with the sound of engines, with the keen senses to take in the sight above, see one last signature bit of relevant information.

The dull gray canopy of the blimp is struck through with a white circle on a field of red, a certain crooked black swastika brandished so that even those on the ground could see the ominous symbol. And even as the party has had a minute to begin reacting to the blimp with its accompanying flight of scores of airplanes, hatches begin to open and parachutes deploy...​

 

[Trappy]

Grn'Durf

The Cri was intently listening to the discussion when the sudden shattering of a vase turned his sight towards the culprit. Amy Nuan - though he believed the human preferred Amy - often exhibited her clumsiness, so this was no surprise. She always seemed apologetic about that trait, and thus was one of the more shy individuals among the Cell. But humility is always a great motivator, and in the coming fight, Grn felt that Amy would have plenty chances to prove herself, especially given the potentials of her 'Earth-bending' capabilities in the defence.

Grn turned to privately address the awkward Earth-bender when everyone had resumed the discussion.
"Your abilities can be great boons to our effort on the ground today, Amy Nuan. I think you will perform well."

Grn turned his attention back to the talks at hand, and was nodding along at comments addressed to him when noisy, mechanical sounds of antique engines caught the attention of the room. He gave Lord Picard and Ahsoka Tano an affirmative grunt.
"Anyone who wish to take the fight to those Nazis in the sky, I can give you a lift."

-------------------------------------

As he accompanied those who wished a lift upon the Circumspect Curiosity towards an empty plot of land on the Manoir grounds where the shuttle was parked, Grn gazed up towards the massing hulk above the city. The instruments of war fielded by these Nazis are practically ancient history to him, and that fact sent a shimmering wave of confident crimson down the chromatophores of his wings. However... side-way tornado around the fleet of warplanes and the airship was unknown to him.

"Ahsoka Tano." He spoke up. "Want to me to skip those planes and drop you right on that airship?"

@Wade Von Doom @Epiphany.

 

[Kabboom]

Raiden

His metallic lower jaw opened, ready to voice protest at the thought of Amy accompanying him on the search trip - her top speed is barely a quarter of his, and he's pretty sure her clumsiness would put both of them through a wall, or some poor merchant's cabbage stand again. The sound of the engines outside silenced whatever sentence he was about to utter, and committed Picard's words to heart. A visible excitement overtook his synthetic muscles, straightening his back as if by instinct and flexing his forearms with subconscious anticipation of the slaughter to come; his mind went against this flow of bloodlust, and his bionic heart (figuratively) sank deeper into his chest at the thought of the civilian casualties to come. The fucking Nazis are here.

"I'll head for the newcomers." Mission objectives and parameters were mentally updated: he is to find the newcomers, cooperate and come up with a coherent defensive formation; on the way, evacuate and protect civilians and assist Orlesian garrisons where possible - kill everything with a swastika on it. Raiden decided against Lex Luthor's offered ammunition, he'll just have to hope his current stock is enough. Right hand tipping down the brim of his sombrero, he walked quickly towards Amy and, without further ado, picked her up by the waist with both arms, making sure any attempts to break free are in vain. They'll go faster this way.

"Hold on, pipsqueak." Darting down the staircase with exponentially increasing speed, the two terrified Orlesian spearmen at the entrance of the Manor d'Abadie barely had any time to pull open the ornate wooden mansion doors before Raiden smashed through it with his shoulders. By the time he was past the threshold of the gates, his footfalls left neat little craters in the pavement and surges of blue electricity ran through his lower legs. His left arm wrapped around the earthbender's hips, keeping her off the ground while his right coiled around her shoulders, keeping her face from getting painfully peeled off by the dirt whizzing by past her eyes right about now - the sight looked less like a cyborg ninja carrying a clumsy earthbender girl, and more like a quarterback with a football.

Civilians were running to and fro through the streets as word spread of the 'unknown craft' above them, though what worried him more were the befuddled gentry standing stationary and gawking up at the Nazi blimp and its slowly-descending contents. They're gonna get slaughtered like this, Raiden can't allow it! Using his Spanish - something the locals seem to understand well - he yelled warnings as he ran past, being careful not to splatter anyone. "Entra en tus casas, rapido! Vamonos, vamonos!"

His bionic left eye analyzed the situation above, while his mind ran the math. Scans indicate about an odd 200 paratroopers descending, with more still on the way; half a dozen 6-engine jet transport planes, Messerschmitt 323s, were closer to the blimp, certainly indicating either more paratroopers or heavier hardware, most likely mechs; flanking those were flights of twin-jet fighter aircraft, Messerschmitt 262s and Horten 229s, escorting the transports. That giant tornado behind the zeppelin was extremely worrying - have they cracked weather control? Mage defectors on the Nazi side? Some other occult shit?

On the ground, local resistance is... optimistic, to put it lightly. Five thousand Royal Guard, Templar Order garrison, and a bunch of mages in the White Spire under Luthor's command - plus the Cell themselves, but they're not numerous enough to cover the whole city effectively. Damn Picard and his sensible words, he was right, the bastard! As he rounded a street corner, narrowly pulling Amy's head away from a solid wall, he continued to yell in Spanish at the Orlesian civilians. Soon, his ears picked up a familiar booming staccato from near the Templar Order quarters, the White Spire and apparently the Manor d'Abadie itself - some of their newly-trained gunners were putting the captured Nazi AA guns to good use, and some Cell members were also getting small arms fire up at the descending paratroopers. They'll just have to keep it up for much, much longer.

@Epiphany. @Wade Von Doom

 

[BobTheNinja]

The opening of the door to this parlor wasn't uncommon; the Chevaliers du Ciel weren't big on meeting etiquette, despite the retired Admiral's reflexive formality setting the tone and example. In this case, a peasant serving girl came in, crossed the room silently and bent by Lex Luthor's chair. He leaned in, listened to something she whispered in his ear before nodding once. She promptly exited, the hem of her brown work dress flapping when she opened the door.

"One of my many projects at the University of Orlais includes an effort to detect and trace extradimensional activity." Lex Luthor steepled his fingers. "Obviously knowing if others have been brought here is vital to our efforts. Both for recruitment here and for detecting any other hostile expeditionary forces. I haven't had the means nor the time to invent the means for higher order technologies. Thankfully, a cooperative Mage and a cooperative Spirit provided other avenues. Judging by what I'm told, there's been an incident of chrono displacement."

He surveyed the room to assess looks of comprehension (or lack thereof) before adding, "It means a time traveler has arrived. In Val Royeaux. If they're from the future, they may possess vital intelligence or they may be here to stop us. Either way, it's imperative we find them swiftly, before their presence and actions create enough changes in the timeline to render their future knowledge useless."

"Search the city. Quickly. Anyone who doesn't look like they belong, bring them back here."

A moment later, the retired Admiral cleared his throat and added the word, "Please."​

Buck looked pensive at that news. If the new arrivals were others like themselves, people who opposed what the Nazis stood for, and if they were similarly capable, they may just be able to turn this situation around. But on the other hand, there was also a possibility that they might not be cooperative at all, or even worse, outright hostile.

"Well, I guess we'd better head out and say hello then," Buck said with a grunt as he stood up from the sofa, heading over to the next room to begin mounting on his external MJOLNIR armor modules. Several minutes later, he walked back into the meeting room, fully decked out in his gear except for his helmet, which he had magnetically attached to his lower back at the moment.

"Mine too," Ahsoka Tano said, with an agreeable grin. "But this is a new scale of conflict for all of us. And each of us might have some insight that could help with planning the-" She paused and tilted her head towards the window, as if hearing something.

Lord Picard listened for a moment as well, then said, "Ms. Tano is quite right, of course. But alone, you're one man. Whereas what you know could teach a hundred, a thousand more men to be better than they are."

"Do you hear that?" Lex Luthor said suddenly, frowning further as he looked out the window.

"Engines," Ahsoka said, evidently having the best hearing of the Three. "Not repulsorlifts or sublight engines. Airplanes."

"Already?" Lex looked incredulous. "They must have already been on their way when our scouts sent their reports."

"All hands," came the Admiral's experienced voice, cutting through the sudden spirit of panic rising in the room with all the efficiency of a man who'd done exactly that a hundred times over. "You know what to do, my friends," Lord Picard said, a tight smile drawing attention to the lines that command had etched into his face. "If they've come by air, I would expect a ground element to follow. Grn'Durf, you're our only airborne air defense. Anyone who wishes to join him, by all means. Otherwise, see where those planes are going and be prepared to repel a land assult."

"I'm heading to the White Spire," Lex said, straightening his tie and looking like his suit was as stiff a defense as a suit of armor. "The Val Royeaux Circle of Magi are there, they'll be our best chance of repelling an air attack."

"I'm with you, Grn," Ahsoka said, drawing two slender rods from her belt. "See if you can't drop me off on top of one of those planes, if you get the chance."​

"God dammit, they got the jump on us," Buck cursed as he took his helmet and put it on with brief hiss of air as it sealed with the rest of his armor. He toggled on his external speakers. "Keep me in the loop on the comms. I'm gonna head out toward their approach vector and warn as many people as possible to take cover inside."

With that, the supersolider began jogging out of the room, his boots echoing heavily on the stone floor. Once he was out of the building, he took off in a run toward the approaching air force, only slowing down enough to broadcast an AI-translated warning in Orlesian from his suit's speakers: "NAZI INVASION IMMINENT, LOCK YOURSELVES INDOORS AND TAKE COVER."

As the Cell split into teams and ventured out of the Manoir d'Abadie, it was immediately apparent what the threat in the sky was.

They were airplanes. A fleet of them, several score at least. And in their midst a giant dirigible. The great behemoth must have spanned at least 300 meters. Despite the theoretically much greater velocity of the curiously antiquated airplanes flanking it, the giant blimp was somehow matching their speed. Perhaps owing to what resembled a...tornado?

A sideways tornado, emanating from a curious slash in the sky affixed within something only binoculars could tell is a doorway wrought of hewn tree branches bound together with leather straps, the doorway itself positioned on a wooden platform that trailed the blimp yet remained attached through a series of steel tethers. ...Somehow, that open doorway was emitting a colossal windstorm that the dirigible was deliberately using as a means of faster propulsion.

Only a few people on the street seemed to have noticed much of anything. But those of you familiar with the sound of engines, with the keen senses to take in the sight above, see one last signature bit of relevant information.

The dull gray canopy of the blimp is struck through with a white circle on a field of red, a certain crooked black swastika brandished so that even those on the ground could see the ominous symbol. And even as the party has had a minute to begin reacting to the blimp with its accompanying flight of scores of airplanes, hatches begin to open and parachutes deploy...

Buck could clearly see the approaching zeppelin and its escorts thanks to the magnification on his helmet HUD. The accursed swastika emblem could be seen emblazoned on every one of them. He then saw paratroopers begin to drop out of the zeppelin en masse.

He had made sure to stock up on ammo from Lex's reserves before heading out, which he was grateful for, even if he didn't like or trust the man himself. He sprinted his way toward the deployment area, trying to close as much distance as possible. Once he was within 300 yards of the descending paratroopers, he began taking shots at them from afar, using his assault rifle's single shot mode to conserve ammo and improve accuracy, trying to kill as many of them as he could before they could reach the ground.

 

[Wade Von Doom]

Raiden

His metallic lower jaw opened, ready to voice protest at the thought of Amy accompanying him on the search trip - her top speed is barely a quarter of his, and he's pretty sure her clumsiness would put both of them through a wall, or some poor merchant's cabbage stand again. The sound of the engines outside silenced whatever sentence he was about to utter, and committed Picard's words to heart. A visible excitement overtook his synthetic muscles, straightening his back as if by instinct and flexing his forearms with subconscious anticipation of the slaughter to come; his mind went against this flow of bloodlust, and his bionic heart (figuratively) sank deeper into his chest at the thought of the civilian casualties to come. The fucking Nazis are here.

"I'll head for the newcomers." Mission objectives and parameters were mentally updated: he is to find the newcomers, cooperate and come up with a coherent defensive formation; on the way, evacuate and protect civilians and assist Orlesian garrisons where possible - kill everything with a swastika on it. Raiden decided against Lex Luthor's offered ammunition, he'll just have to hope his current stock is enough. Right hand tipping down the brim of his sombrero, he walked quickly towards Amy and, without further ado, picked her up by the waist with both arms, making sure any attempts to break free are in vain. They'll go faster this way.

"Hold on, pipsqueak." Darting down the staircase with exponentially increasing speed, the two terrified Orlesian spearmen at the entrance of the Manor d'Abadie barely had any time to pull open the ornate wooden mansion doors before Raiden smashed through it with his shoulders. By the time he was past the threshold of the gates, his footfalls left neat little craters in the pavement and surges of blue electricity ran through his lower legs. His left arm wrapped around the earthbender's hips, keeping her off the ground while his right coiled around her shoulders, keeping her face from getting painfully peeled off by the dirt whizzing by past her eyes right about now - the sight looked less like a cyborg ninja carrying a clumsy earthbender girl, and more like a quarterback with a football.

Civilians were running to and fro through the streets as word spread of the 'unknown craft' above them, though what worried him more were the befuddled gentry standing stationary and gawking up at the Nazi blimp and its slowly-descending contents. They're gonna get slaughtered like this, Raiden can't allow it! Using his Spanish - something the locals seem to understand well - he yelled warnings as he ran past, being careful not to splatter anyone. "Entra en tus casas, rapido! Vamonos, vamonos!"

His bionic left eye analyzed the situation above, while his mind ran the math. Scans indicate about an odd 200 paratroopers descending, with more still on the way; half a dozen 6-engine jet transport planes, Messerschmitt 323s, were closer to the blimp, certainly indicating either more paratroopers or heavier hardware, most likely mechs; flanking those were flights of twin-jet fighter aircraft, Messerschmitt 262s and Horten 229s, escorting the transports. That giant tornado behind the zeppelin was extremely worrying - have they cracked weather control? Mage defectors on the Nazi side? Some other occult shit?

On the ground, local resistance is... optimistic, to put it lightly. Five thousand Royal Guard, Templar Order garrison, and a bunch of mages in the White Spire under Luthor's command - plus the Cell themselves, but they're not numerous enough to cover the whole city effectively. Damn Picard and his sensible words, he was right, the bastard! As he rounded a street corner, narrowly pulling Amy's head away from a solid wall, he continued to yell in Spanish at the Orlesian civilians. Soon, his ears picked up a familiar booming staccato from near the Templar Order quarters, the White Spire and apparently the Manor d'Abadie itself - some of their newly-trained gunners were putting the captured Nazi AA guns to good use, and some Cell members were also getting small arms fire up at the descending paratroopers. They'll just have to keep it up for much, much longer.

@Epiphany. @Wade Von Doom

Now, the others had seen the enemy before. Amy had stuck to the background to focus on her training and building the fortifications here in the city. But upon everyone pointing out the window to where the giant floating balloon was, Amy couldn't help but have her eyes go wide from shock and surprise. That was more than twice the size of Police Airship in Republic City, it darn near covered the whole city in its shadow! Of course, as she was stunned watching the thing slowly move through the clouds, she didn't notice the others already getting to work. Especially Raiden. Once she felt his hands around her, Amy's mind finally came back to her surroundings. "Hey, what the heck--" She was cut off once Raiden charged down the stairs and out the door, carrying her like she was a box. "AHHHHHH!" She screamed past everyone, feeling really uncomfortable in being carried like this from the cyborg man.

"LET GO OF ME!" She shouted at him. Not just because of how humiliating it was to be carried like this, but also that she felt sick from how fast they were going.

 

[Epiphany]

Far above, the skies were filled with that gigantic blimp and its escorting wings of planes, several score in number, mostly transports with a dozen or so accompanying fighter planes to those in the know. And yet the mighty fleet with its air superiority seemed content to remain at range over Val Royeaux...and instead rain parachutes down upon the city.

It's almost peaceful at first, although the screams of the crowds of people quickly put an end to that once the locals noticed the invasion force in the skies above them. Hundreds and hundreds of parachutes continue to deploy from planes, even from the great blimp, and the soldiers beneath them descended with machineguns and rifles of a curious make.

They didn't get within rifle range without a challenge, though.

Audibly, coughing booms rose from the city. Members of the Cell already know that Lex Luthor's spent months teaching select manufactories how to produce flak cannons. For the first time, they're being used to widescale effect. They...well, they could be better. Explosive propellent was thankfully fairly easy to make but there just weren't enough cannons, they didn't have enough range to fully engage the fleet in the sky and they lacked any means to defend themselves besides shooting an incoming plane down first.

At least blood was being shed in both directions. Rockets hit flak cannon points across the city, fired by the dirigible and the escorting fighter planes. But the Nazi forces were taking casualties from shell bursts, which killed parachuters and incoming rockets alike, even hitting one of the troop transports and sending it careening out towards the Inner Sea.

On the bright side, all of the fighter aircraft escorting the troop transports were fully engaged in attacks down on the city.

As the Cell members left the Manoir, a rather spectacular fireball launched into the sky from a far quarter of Val Royeaux. The Manoir d'Abadie stood on one side of the noble quarter that abutted the White Spire. The fireball came from the neighborhood abutting the other side, not from the Spire itself. And it flew higher and brighter than any wizards fire anyone had ever seen a Mage conjure in Orlais.

Moments later, miniature explosions erupted among the parachuting troops aimed at that neighborhood. Followed by laser weaponry pinpointing troops and gun fire evidently collapsing parachutes. Clearly someone over there packed weaponry well beyond Thedas' technology level.

@Trappy
The red-skinned Jedi followed Grn out towards his shuttle and gave him a triumphant grin when he spoke up.

"You mean that big blimp? Yes. If I remember my ancient history, lighter-than-air gases filling canvas containers like that were usually made up of hydrogen." One of her two lightsabers flamed into existence, a brilliant white blade of plasma projecting from the hilt she held in her hand. A second later, it vanished, leaving only a brief afterimage and the sight of her smile. "Don't worry about catching me. I can find my own way down."

"The Force be with us," she said as she launched herself into the passenger compartment and readied for the Circumspect Curiosity to take off.

@Kabboom @Wade Von Doom
Raiden scooped up Amy with little fanfare and tore out of the Manoir, swiftly going faster than anything else in this city could possibly go. In his wake, and ahead, people caught sight of the ships and parachutes in the sky and began to take cover. The serving and underclasses in particular demonstrated good sense. If only all the nobles were equally good about recognizing the grave danger they were in.

Flak cannons and the Royal Guard spread out across the city would provide some defense. But conveniently, his cybernetic eye let him calculate that only a quarter of the parachutes were canvassing the whole city. Likely intended for shock and awe, as well as a feint from the real target.

Because the real target was, conveniently, the White Spire.

At this speed, though, Raiden could probably clear the Spire's courtyard and make it into the other neighborhood by the time there were boots on the ground. But reaching the far side into that neighboring quarter revealed scores of landed Nazi shock troops, wearing full body armor they'd never had in World War 2, and firing sophisticated machineguns at anyone they could see.

Worse were the descending rectangular crates landing in the streets. Even as Raiden watched, the lids burst open to reveal soldiers even more armored, perhaps not soldiers at all but robots or mecha or something God-awful with heavy weapon elements.

This was about to get very bloody.

@BobTheNinja
Armed and armored, this Spartan was ready to go to war.

Once out of the Manoir, the sheer number of descending hostile forces was evident. Already, the nobles and the merchants of the city were beginning to take notice of the invasion from the sky. But there was nothing like a blaring loud speaker-transmitted warning message to get those civilians moving!

It became quickly evident that there were no shortage of paratroopers to shoot at. They did seem to be deploying in this quarter of the city already so the 'deployment' zone was a big operational area. That said, it also provided ample time for Buck to find himself some cover and get set up for some sniping.

Just in time too. By the time the descending enemy reached effective range for his assault rifle, the Nazis began to open fire with machine guns. At this range, their fire was undirected and more irritating than concerning. The 7.62mm rounds fired by Buck's gun, however, were more effective. Each Nazi wore armor but the UNSC built their guns to fight the Covenant, who used high-tech body armor *and* shields on top.

A good dozen were dead by the time there were boots on the ground. Bloodied, the Nazis began shooting at just about everything around them.

 

[Kabboom]

Raiden

Here come the guns - and not a moment too soon. After months in the field, Raiden could identify these foes in his sleep. The sparsity of the parachutes in other areas, and their approximate landing sites relative to the strategically important White Spire, meant that they were gonna take that by force and secure it as a beachhead for further attacks into Val Royeaux - taking down the strong mages that can put a hurting on their forces, and taking a vantage point from which to coordinate accurate artillery or airstrikes. Not if he can do anything about it.

"Hold on, Amy! Just a bit more!" The earthbender girl's protests didn't fall on deaf ears, though he'd much rather deal with it once they arrived at the White Spire. Conscious of her very-useful abilities on the defense, and her non-usefulness when she's vomiting her lunch out from motion sickness, Raiden made a deliberate decision to reduce his running speed, no longer emanating electric bursts from his feet. He was still cyborg-ninja level fast, so he was just going to have to hope that Amy can walk straight once they arrive.

Rounding the corner to a whole squad of battle-ready paratroopers mowing down Orlesians in the vicinity, the cyborg didn't hesitate. Still sprinting full-speed ahead, his right arm let go of Amy's shoulder and reached for the poached MG60 slung on his right hip - Amy'll probably be fine with her head dangling close to the ground - and started blasting away at the paratroopers. The closest two locked onto him with their metal masks and eyeless black sockets, and were promptly punished with more than a dozen burning holes in their oh-so-superior armored carapaces from his rotary-barrel machine gun; the other squad members of the unfortunate duo only managed some fire lagging behind Raiden's actual position as he began side-strafing to his left, using his own body to shield Amy from any potential fire. With three more dead and the rest of the Nazis forced into ineffectual cover, he continued his electrifying run into an alleyway. Emerging from the shortcut, he quickly checked both sides and found enemies roughly 30 meters away on the right-

And then his entire right side fucking exploded. A V1 rocket, fired from that ugly blimp above, struck near him on his right flank, sending hundreds of pieces of shrapnel into his arm, leg, and entire torso area - and ripped maybe a thousand new holes into his freshly sewn-together poncho and sombrero. The earthbender in his left arm emerged very fortunately (see: alive) thanks to his cyborg body eating the fragmentation, but was also sent flying along with the cyborg ninja holding her. Sombrero airborne, MG60 flying right out of his right hand, Amy free from his left, Raiden 'felt' a piece of shrapnel graze his metal chin, before faceplanting and carving a chin-shaped dent in the pavement for a decent few meters.

Recalibrating and diagnosing his body (God bless pain inhibitors) as his ears rang like hell, Raiden recovered after a short while. Amy was somewhere to his left, though in what state he can't discern yet - a more pressing concern stood over him, taking the shape of a Nazi stormtrooper with his gun pointed at his head. "Ist das... der Aufreißer?" the soldier seemed hesitant, looking to his other teammate who was in a similar stance over Amy. In his recovery, Raiden had managed to get on his left side, with his shrapnel side facing skyward - coincidentally perfect.

Surging his synthetic blood to the shrapnel-ridden muscles, Raiden pressure-launched hundreds of embedded fragmentation right into the soldier above him, eliciting a painful howl from the guy. His entire upper torso area audibly bulged with injected energy, and Raiden pushed himself upright with his left arm, simultaneously drawing the blade with his right. In one fell swoop, the shrapnel-ridden Nazi, once a whole man, fell as four pieces, as both his forearms, his legs and lower torso area, then his upper torso contacted the ground (in that order). The smoke from the impact was still thick in his area, but his cybernetic eye discerned three immediate targets: one standing over Amy, one standing a few meters further away, and another one next to that guy, poking at Raiden's sombrero.

The one near Amy diverted his attention to the much more immediate threat, loosing a few Sturmgewehr 1960 rounds at Raiden, who effortlessly deflected them with his swirling blade on the approach. In a second, he'd approached within swinging range of the soldier, with the latter attempting a muzzle strike to injure Raiden. The cyborg ninja simply side-stepped to the right at the last moment and brought down his sword to punish the soldier's audacity. The faceless soldier screamed in shock and pain as both his beloved forearms departed from the larger body, followed by fresh gushes of blood in sync with his adrenaline-spiked heartbeats. With a quick swap of the blade to his left hand, Raiden's robotic claws dug into the flesh around the Nazi's neck and yanked him to the side, right between him and the remaining two soldiers who'd just remembered that they have guns that work.

Multiple splatters of blood began coating the rest of his tattered poncho, as his meat shield coughed out his last breath out from the orifices of the face mask. The chattering of gunfire grew louder as Raiden approached the two targets, who only now were attempting to move away from the murderous blade-wielding cyborg ninja that just swiss-cheesed two of their comrades - too little too late. Tossing the corpse to his right and onto one Nazi, Raiden swung his blade up from his left, slapping the gun barrel of the other Nazi to its side; one more swing from right to left took the stormtrooper's head clean off.

The second Nazi, with his primary weapon burdened by a bullet-ridden comrade's corpse, sought to draw his combat knife and charge his back. With an instinctual flick of the left arm, Raiden's HF blade was pointed behind him in a reverse grip, and he simply thrust it backwards. The final opponent received this attack with his belly (not a very good tactic), and was sent right off Raiden's back with a quick strike from his right elbow, shattering the face mask and pushing the Nazi off his blade. Flicking the blood off his katana, Raiden simply reached down and put his (ruined) sombrero back on its white-haired perch on his head. Ignoring his MG60 further ahead, Raiden rushed back to Amy's side.

"Hey, pipsqueak, you okay? C'mon, we gotta get moving."

@Wade Von Doom

 

[The Wanderer]

Otto
Manoir

The young Mandalorian stood to the side, listening along as the others went over their plan. Explaining preparations for the potential Nazi incursion on the city. Said enemy held little honor in Otto's eyes, as they preferred to target civilians and wouldn't hesitate to shoot a child if they happened upon one. And as such, they deserved little to no honor in their death. Otto still remembers using his flamethrower to roast a small squad of 'SS' as they were called by Picard, listening to the screams as metal that was wreathed in flame cooked their wearers after they had done the same to a small group of survivors from a town that the Nazis had hit hard when they first arrived on this world.

He was pulled out of a trip down memory lane when the noise of engines filled the air, which didn't take long for everyone to figure out what this meant as everyone gathered to stations and getting ready to repel the assault from the air. Taking the poncho off his armor and neatly folding it, he handed it off to Picard. "Watch this for me sir." He said, his accent a light toned variation comparable to Russian, but with an added 'tilt' to the accent.

Once the treasured piece of clothing that was very dear to him was secured in possession of the only one he could really trust as the others would no doubt join the fight on the ground. Turning around and breaking off into a run, following Ahsoka and Grn to the latter's ship, climbing aboard with the two and whoever else joined them, blasters ready and his jetpack with a rocket was available to be used against the enemy aircraft.

"I can assist in keeping the fighters off of your tail." He said to Grn.

@Trappy @Epiphany.

 

[Nomad-22]

Karel

Milky Way Galaxy, Crescent Nebula, Planet Illium​

A shadowy figure crept amongst a labyrinth of crates near the train within the local spaceport. Slowly a Quarian visor underneath a ragged hood glanced up. The train is already filling up best to get onboard as soon as possible. Karel'Nelvaan quietly concluded hearing angry shouting from behind and smoke rising above.

It hadn't been easy to infiltrate the station to say the least. Nevertheless he had bypassed security via an air vent and erasing his presence on the few cameras installed here. Thank the ancestors. Whoever running security here is lazy. For a brief moment Karel activated his omni-tool once more, revealing a digital map of the terminal station and final destination, a corporate facility.

After examination he nodded. Good, I just need to be extra careful. Don't want to get caught by these corporate bosh'tets. Turning off the omni-tool Karel let out a soft sigh and squeezed his right hand into a shaking fist. There was no turning back for him.

After making sure no one was watching he climbed up the set of crates closest to the train. Subsequently the train began to move. Alarmed at the new development he muttered. "Keelah!" Without hesitation he sprang forth and jumped. Seconds later Karel landed on the roof of the back car with both feet.

Heart pounding from the adrenaline the Quarian self-exile lowered himself flat on his stomach. The train increased speed, forcing Karel to hold on for dear life. He felt the strong wind flying across the air, though not really affecting his vision. "Another advantage of being a suit rat." He sarcastically told himself.

Karel continued to hold on, not wanting to fall off. That would be a stupid way to die after everything. The very possibility annoyed him and strengthened his determination. Of course a new question subsequently occurred to the infiltrator.

Assuming the Eclipse lost my trail they've keep hunting for me. Not a lot of quarians here Illium after all and I really pissed them off back there.

It was a concerning thought but his course was set. Yet without a green flash suddenly consumed the Quarian's vision. "What the-" Before Karel can even finish his sentence before the light takes him.

Continent of Thedas, Empire of Orlais, City of Val Royeaux
​

Just as the flash appeared it vanished. Karel let out a panicked cry as he fell, hitting the floor with the left shoulder. He rolled for several seconds before finally stopping. Laid on the ground the vigilante grunted, his side sore from the fall. He rolled onto his back with both eyes closed.

When he finally looked through his visor Karel paused. Above him was a wooden floor ceiling. He blinked, repeatedly with great disbelief. "Impossible!" He exclaimed, before sitting up and glanced at his new surroundings. It was a sparse and dust covered room with several empty cots and dirty blankets.

What is going on here?

Thought Karel, who was completely dumbfounded. Was this kind of strange dream he wondered to himself. In realization he activated the omi-tool and its trademark orange hologram appeared on his hand. Karel subsequently pressed a button to see if there was a map of the area but there was none. He did a second time, a third and a fourth but same result.

There is no way this is Illium.

His whole body began to tremble, becoming overwhelmed at this revelation. As if on cue the house shook, dust falling to the ground and on Karel. Soon it was followed by distant shouting and gunfire and explosions. It was followed by screaming as the shooting continued.

All of those sounds forced Karel to his senses. Getting up he drew his M-8 Avenger rifle. He advanced cautiously toward the front door with a hand size hole in the middle. Mayhem continued to sound outside. The Quarian knelt a bit, looking through the hole.

What he saw next was both puzzling and horrifying. People in various poor clothing and rags running for their lives as they screamed to the right. Having watched a number of human vids on the externet he noted the style appeared to be medieval in style. But his eyes widened as he saw a red haired little girl no more than ten years old stumble several feet away before running back, but not before seeing her pointed ears!

For a moment Karel thought his eyes were deceiving him when he saw the other people had pointed ears as well. Moments later bullets were tearing through the frightened and defenseless masses. Further cries were uttered either in pain or sheer terror. Soon enough Karel saw the attackers, nearly a platoon of armored and helmeted figures advancing steadily in a line formation. Without any hint of remorse the mysterious soldiers kept firing only to take turns to reload.

Within a minute dozens of pointed ear people were dead and dying in the dirt while the survivors scattered into the alleys. Only then did the soldiers cease shooting. One of them leading in front ordered in German

"Press the attack, let's flush out the vermin." Turning to those in the rear he added. "Strasser, Hoffman and Kloch stay here and finish off any of these rats still breathing."

"Yes sir." The pair said in unison. With that the rest of the platoon advanced amongst the corpses they had wrought upon the soil. Karel stayed where was able to understand what was said due to the language translator in his suit that included many known Earth languages.

They're humans! He concluded with disgust while the trio left behind began their inspection. One by one they occasionally searched, kicking a body or firing a short burst into another. Karel continued to watch, refusing to look away. His eyes narrowed through the visor.

"Scum all of them."

However due to his weight the door collapsed and slammed to the ground kicking up a small dust cloud. Immediately the dark armored soldiers looked and saw the Quarian. For a moment both sides just stared at one another before the Nazis swifty aimed their weapons at Karel.

But the alien fired a short burst first into the hostile in the center. Blood poured out from Koluch's chest as he fell sideways. Karel immediately took cover next to the right wall and the enemy bullets flew through the opened doorway. Acting quickly the ex-fleet Marine drew a flashbang and tossed the sphere outside. It ignited, blinding the German pair, yelling out pain and curses.

Without hesitation Karel returned fire, shooting four rounds each into both enemies' chests. Once they're dead Karel stepped out of the hovel, soon his filters picked the scent of smoke in the air and embers. Looking above he saw the airship and planes swarming around. Seconds later he inspected one of the dead enemies, pulling off his mask revealing his human features.

Scowling in contempt Karel then examined the symbol armbands. Wait, I seen this symbol before... from old Earth vids but what does it mean exactly?

New screams followed yards away. Reloading his rifle with a new thermal clip Karel'Nelvaan held his breath and released it. "Ancestors guide my steps." He whispered amongst the dead. He did not know what this was all and frankly didn't want to get involved but it was out of his hands now. Unbeknownst to him this place is actually the elven alienage of Val Royeaux.

 

[Trappy]

Grn'Durf

Grn acknowledged the Mandalorian fighter with a raspy grunt.
"And I can guarantee you will be busy." He said, gesturing towards the swarm of antiquated planes above.

The Cri then left his crew to their own devices in the cargo / passenger hold, and made for the cockpit, throwing himself into the pilot's seat, and promptly went through a series of system evaluation and start-ups to prepare for take off. As soon as the vessel's impressive array of surveillance equipment went live, the former shipmaster had to take a moment to digest the data flowing through before him. Radio waves, and there were too many of them. There must exist a stable portal somewhere out there, allowing these humans to pour their forces through. That is, unless they have figured out how to manufacture this many assets locally with this world's resources. One of his arms instinctively reached for the forcefield dial. Grn had no doubt in the Ascendancy's technological superiority over a bunch of fanatics from a chapter of human history, but it didn't hurt to play it safe.

The Circumspect Curiosity purred awake, and steadily lifted itself aloft with nary a shake or vibration to its structure. With a sudden blast, the vessel was booming itself towards the fleet of Nazi planes and the airship, knocking up a layer of dirt, dust and plant matter on the Manoir grounds where it was parked. The 'standard English' voice that Grn's translator implant chose to employ soon came through the intercoms.

"Greetings, gallant companions. The plan is to skirt around their formation and peel away as many of those escort planes as possible, before dropping some offensive elements onto that airship. You're welcome to walk around and prepare yourselves. The internal force field is active, so you should not suffer any drawbacks from any aerobatic maneauvers or velocity. On the control panel in the middle, the big blue button opens the cargo door in the back, and I can be reached by pressing the small blue button. Please do not press the big red button."

@The Wanderer @Epiphany.

 

[Wade Von Doom]

When the rocket went off, Amy landed hard on the ground as she and Raiden went flying from the shockwave of such an explosion. And while he was quick to get back up and return to the fight, clearing their immediate area of Nazi's, Amy was still on the ground, reeling from both dizziness and a small cut that had opened up along her forehead from the bad landing.

"Hey, pipsqueak, you okay? C'mon, we gotta get moving."

She blinked a few times, trying to get her vision back on track, but as he offered out a hand, she saw another rocket falling from the sky. "Look out!" She shouted, suddenly standing up and forming a earth dome around them both to avoid the second explosion. She put it up just in time, as the ground beneath them shook violently, and the dome was rocked by sounds of multiple explosions going off at once. Artillery strikes across the city, bombing down the from the planes to make the city's defenses weaker.

This invasion's worst was now beginning. All across the city, the planes were dropping more and more bombs along the taller buildings and heavy fortified streets.

Amy's body strained against the intense force outside the dome, with sweat building up across her face as she groaned in pain, but when it finally stopped, she parted the dome in half and collapsed onto her knees in exhaustion. She took deep breaths while trying to regain her breath.

Ash was falling from the sky like snow, and the sun was blocked out by the rising smoke so thick, they were clouds. With heavy fog to accompany the bleakness of their surroundings.

The whole city was gonna end up like this if they didn't stop this invasion. From behind, the two would hear something running towards them. Something heavy. It's footsteps were clunky, like metal hitting the ground, and before they knew it, it rushed out of the fog and charged at Raiden first.

---------------------------------------------------------------

BUCK & KAREL

Both the Spartan and Quarian would get the same bombing treatment from the planes, and once it passed, they'd hear the sound of a whistle going off at the other end of the city from where they where, just beyond the still standing buildings.

Out came the charge of a couple dozen soldiers, shouting at the top of their voice in a cry of war. As they ran towards the defensive lines, joined between them were more Supersoldaten, and now, unfortunately, tanks.

Three would be visible from where they stood, along with five Supersoldatens. They had their work cut out for them.

-------------------------------------------------------

OTTO & GRN

As the two began to try and retake the sky, more planes came flying out of the zeppelin's sides. Scans would show they were maned by pilots, but just one in each ship. The rest split up to continue their bombing runs, but five would break off from the rest to deal with both Otto and Grn each, first flying right at them while firing to throw them off course for the Zeppelin, then trying to chase them off from behind.

​

 

[Valkan]

Valeria Oconitrillo

Sadly, the attack they were so eagerly preparing to defend against came early. Everyone scrambled in a flash. Well shit. And her orders? Now only Jean-Luc remained besides her. She sighed, trying to think of the way she could involve the least with the others' orders.Asking for orders now would make her look even more like a jackass, so it was out of the question. A few choices came to mind, and she opted for what she thought was the simplest. As she downed the remaining half or so of the bottle, she placed it where the vase Amy broke used to sit. Then calmly walked to the ammo cache and grabbed a couple of belts of grenades and some more explosives she placed in her pockets. "Well, if you excuse me..." she said, somewhat straightening her suit. "I'll see what I can shoot down from the roof. Later, boss." she said, trying to hide her concern in a mask of her trademark drunken, slurred speech did the job.
With a jump and some string pulling, she quickly found herself laying on the roof of the manor. Before holding her rifle to the sky, she spread monitoring threads in all directions as far as possible. Then scanned the ships up above "Let's see... 7532, 7649, 7566, 7551, 7713... Yuuup, pretty doable. Now, let's warm up..." As she spoke, the preloaded Levi fired five times. Every time, sending an energy blast all the way up and through the fuselage of one plane, obliterating the pilot's skull. With a grin of satisfaction on her face, she reloaded her rifle. Now taking aim to the blimp. She observed carefully at the people in the airship, paying particular focus to what looked like the navigation room. She tried to make out anything of relevance on the room that wasn't the people. Sadly, she wasn't knowledgeable about german uniforms, so she wasn't sure on which target to take out. After a few seconds of deliberation, she shot in quick succession at the three people closest to the navigation console, then shooting twice at said console. Then reloaded more penetrating rounds and looked intently for the results of her fire.