FTL: Harmony Edition IC

"Good work. If we're lucky that should give us the edge needed to take off" - glancing briefly behind and assesing the situation, Emblem commented on his horned companion's effort.

The unicorn found himself slightly baffled at the sight that's emerged before them. It looked as though they weren't the only ones that thought of this particular passageway. He decided to go along with the assumption of the spokespony of the newlyfound group, not commenting upon that for now. Actions spoke louder, anyway. As Missive listened on, he tried to determine who might the new guy be, based on his appearance and whether he looked credible.* That was likely to affect their relations in the nearest future - and he longed not to delay their takeoff. As he just got abandoned by his own crew, suspicousness of an another pony, seemingly offering a place on their own ship came as something natural to him.

He was a bit surprised when the minotaour mentioned the absorption of the biomass, but didn't question it, consdiering he may've been a witness to something Emblem did not. He reckoned that must've occured when he was busy searching for the artifact. He nodded at the true PMC member's words, deeming there's little for him to add to it. The message got across better with just a single character speaking anyway - and time was of the essence. Noticing the terrified look on the children's faces and hearing the minotaur's proposition about carrying them, he decided to act his part there, to facilitate their advance. He attempted to achieve that by modulating his voice into a confident, resonating, yet friendly tone, which he deemed appropriate to calm down a whole bunch of foals with: **

"Trust the minotaur... you'll be fine."

*Perception check: 18 + d20 (6) = 24

**Persuasion check: 13 + d20 (14) = 27

Seva Borealis Emblem
The pony who offered is a unicorn, garbed in slightly singed hospital robes, looking fairly frazzled and panicked. He looks like he offered more out of desperation than any ill-intent. Plus, his reasoning does make sense - having PMC as security detail just for free passage? Good deal.

The children seem reassured by the unicorn's words, and even moreso when the minotaur, after singlehandedly snapping off the padlock, wraps the youngest and weakest of them up in an actually fairly secure looking bear hug, and invites a few more to sit on his shoulders. Six or so fillies and colts are now perched on top of Borealis, as the party moves quickly through the underground passageway. Emerging through the other side, Clean Cut takes a moment to look for the ship - before frowning. "That's the Onset Dawn, there... but there's a drake there. Think it's safe to approach?"

---

Belgond Copperette
Gristle narrows her eyes. "Buncha lost sheep, lookin' for their boss. Don't bother 'em, unless they bother ya first."

She pointedly looks away from the group of pegasi, though her grip on her pipe-cane tightens. The grip tightens even further when one of the pegasi stops in front of Belgond. There's a moment of tension, until the pegasus asks, "Have you seen a griffon - about yea high, purple highlights, black plumage?"

---

Degree
The HMS Onset Dawn is a small, 20-30 person transport ship, lightly armed, with only Concord standard issue pulse lasers and impact missiles. Its docking port is unguarded, but locked up securely - it seems the hospital takes good care of their equipment, although Degree has seen the kind of lock before. He can probably unlock it with a little elbow grease.

Belgond had been prepared to ignore the group of thugs as they walked past, but then one of them stepped up to him in order to ask if he had seen a griffin with purple highlights and black plumage... much like the one he had seen slip into the docks moments before. While they might have made a bad decision by following a path in life that most people would look down on them for, that wasn't justification to deny them a chance at surviving this invasion. There was also something of a dilemma to this situation; These ponies were no doubt dumb muscle for the gang that they belonged to and considering that such ponies tended not to have skills that they could use to barter their way onto a ship without violence taking place. In the panic of the evacuation that would only end badly for a great many ponies.

There was really only one choice to make really...

"Listen, I just saw a griffin that had those colors fly into the docks over there-" A hoof was pointed towards the dock area that the griffin had been seen entering the area "- But honestly he has most likely gotten on a ship by this point and I don't think he'll have the pull to get you places on that ship with him. Maybe I'm wrong through and if you want to take your chances with him go ahead, but I'm willing to make you a once in a lifetime offer... on account that if you take it you'll have more of a lifetime then you will if you end up stuck here. My name is Belgond and I am a tech-priest and this is Golden Gears, one of the most skill mechanics I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Together we were planning to use our skills with machines to barter ourselves and those with us onto a ship and if any of you wish to join us I'm willing to add you to that number. Choice is yours though and time is ticking so make up your minds quickly."

He didn't need to give them such an offer and he strongly suspected that they would be surprised that he had given it to them, but everyone deserved a chance...

Dice Rolls:

Degree picks away at the electronic lock for a moment before furrowing his brow in frustration - he has neither the proper tools nor the time to fiddle with the circuits. "Damn it. Where are the owners of the ship when you need them? The one time I want to do things legit."

Degree turns away from the ship, packing up what little lock picking tools he had and looks around for any hospital looking people that might be around. Maybe do a proper business pitch. Get a job (Oh God) as a professional pilot or something.

Copperette cringed behind Granny Gristle, still coughing periodically, and moaning a bit as she discovered painful burns in various places. She watched the thug ponies fearfully, ready to bolt...

Belgond Copperette
The atmosphere shifts, and the pegasus narrows his eyes. "We don't need your ship, and we don't need your charity. If you think we're going to abandon the Boss over some... stripy technophile, you're sorely mistaken. We don't leave family behind."

There's a distant rumble, and the pegasus notices this, Rummaging through his pouches before bringing up a communicator. "This is Skyblitz, come in Aileron," he waits a few moments before smiling. "Glad to hear your comms are back online, boss. Transmitting coordinates now..." He pauses, before glancing at Belgond. "Yes... we were offered a place by a couple of mechanics, but we turned 'em down."

As he talks, the thugs slowly begin spreading out, the six of them trying to circle around the group of four, with the one talking to Belgond remaining still. He puts the communicator away, and smiles winningly "You see, with this turn of events, we kind of need... a startup fund, lets say."

The thugs all start to shift, and the tension increases even more. "No hard feelings... but we might want to sell you to slavers."

OOC: If you're going to try anything, now's the time. Otherwise, ROLL INITIATIVE!

---

Degree
Degree notices a very odd group of individuals coming out of a staff entrance - a medic looking unicorn, an ACHE, another unicorn, and a minotaur laden with little pony foals. They seem to have noticed him as well.

Copperette panicked briefly... And then proceeded to do the Ponyville thing. No way was she spending the future as a slave.

"AAAAAAAAGGGH! HALP!" she screamed, running off in the other direction...

Initiative:

Talents:

To say that the Zebra was disappointed by the way that the situation was going would be something of an understatement.

As poor as their decision to turn down his offer and attacking him and those with him must have been, killing them still felt... wrong to Belgond. It made sense through; Warning 10 did say that the soul was forged by emotion, empathy and compassion and Warning 09 quite clearly stated that the soul is the conscience of sentience. To relate to and feel compassion towards hardened thugs that had full intention of enslaving him and those around him was merely a sign that his soul was working as it was intended to do... To have felt nothing would be a very grim omen.

With a small sigh, Belgond unclasped his cloak but kept the red robe on for the time being, shaking his head as he ignored Copperette's screaming and focused on the leader of this band of loyal but misguided wannabe slavers. "I feel you are making a terrible mistake. But you've clearly made your decision even if it is very unwise."

Even as he spoke, he was charging up his systems for combat, his words merely a distraction to power up.

Initiative:

Belgond Copperette
The thugs grin and advance, though a few turn to look at Copperette as she breaks free of the circle and runs. The lead pegasus - Skyblitz - growls, and points a hoof at the fleeing pony. "Young ones are worth even more - get her!"

Three of the thugs separate from the group, leaving four (including Skyblitz) remaining to face the group.

---

It's Copperette's Turn!
Turn Order:
Copperette
3 Thugs
Gristle
3 Thugs
Skyblitz
Golden
Belgond

Copperette continued to run and shriek, heading towards the station. Glancing to the side, she focused her magic a little to knock over some trash bins behind her, leaving a field of debris in her wake...

Actions:

Condition:

Belgond Copperette
The thugs chasing Copperette lunge forward, but Copperette is just a step ahead, and they crash into the ground, the debris digging into their sides and leaving a few painful marks. "Damn it! You're trained enforcers and you can't nab one filly? GET BACK UP!" Blitz roars, as he eyes Belgond apprehensively.

OOC: Copperette takes 6 damage, unmodified. The thugs also lose 6 life.

Gristle smirks, and launches forward, her cane a blur. Blitz barely has a moment to react before he's tapped on the neck, arm, side, shoulder - then his eyes bug out as he squeals, stumbling a little before glaring at the old diamond dog. "You're messing with the wrong group, friends."

OOC: Skyblitz takes 4 damage and is weakened, save ends!

The thugs around the group throw themselves at Belgond, each throwing in a solid punch before retreating, eyeing the zebra cautiously.

OOC: Belgond takes 8 damage, unmodified.

Golden Gears narrows her eyes at the damage done to Belgond, and her mechanical limbs morph into twin batons that crackle with electricity - which she uses to slap the thugs, multiple times, painfully. The strikes leave red welts, and the thugs back away, a bit alarmed.

OOC: Thugs take 6 damage and are dazed.

---

It's Belgond Turn!
Turn Order:
Copperette
3 Thugs
Gristle
3 Thugs
Skyblitz
Golden
Belgond

Copperette skidded around a corner, scrambling down an alleyway - but felt some satisfaction at the commotion behind her as the ponies tripped over themselves...

Reaction:

Condition:

Charging up for combat took far longer then Belgond had wanted it to, making him unable to avoid getting struck be three solid punches to his body; Some of the power that he had been charging was lost by a blow to his barrel while a little more was funneled to power emergency medical programs throughout his body in order to try and repair some of the damage. Granted it there were still parts of his body that hurt, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been moments before.

Shaking his head in order to get his mind back into the fray and off his injuries, Belgond finally cast off the red robe off his order as he rose to stand on his hind legs, raising his front hooves up and pointing them towards Skyblitz and the group of thugs that had attacked him. The ends of his hooves slide away in order to show off two glowing balls of energy; Both of which shot towards their targets. Almost as an afterthought, he pointed a hoof towards the thugs chasing Copperette and launched an orb towards them as well; When the orbs made contact, they exploded in a quick taser like blast designed to knock out rather then kill.

Once fired, he would return to his hooves as the power started to charge once more.

Reaction:

Actions:

Condition:

Copperette carried on running down the alleyway, looking for another corner to turn into, or perhaps a hiding spot...

Actions:

Condition:

Belgond Copperette
The thugs chasing Copperette stumble again, falling flat on their faces just as they attempt to lunge again.
OOC: Thugs A take 6 damage.

Golden Gears, taking the opportunity of the thugs attacking Belgond, leaps forward again with her batons flashing, striking the thugs in the face - almost branding them with the mark of the baton.
OOC: Thugs B take 5 damage.

The thugs chasing Copperette gnash their teeth in frustration, but seeing their companions fair rather poorly against these would-be slaves makes them stop making a fool of themselves - and they turn from the filly, throwing themselves at Golden Gears who seems to be dealing out a significant amount of punishment to their companions.
OOC: Golden Gears takes 6 damage.

Gristle snarls at the thugs, and jumping forward, her claws flash once - twice - thrice - and suddenly claws mark the bodies of the three thugs who hit Golden, causing the thugs to back off, nursing significant claw wounds all across their chests. However, Gristle's paw seems to cramp up, and she whimpers slightly, shaking it out gingerly.
OOC: Thugs A take 11 damage. Gristle has Vuln 2, save ends.

The other thugs take the chance and run forward, kicking at the old dog, and the diamond dog whimpers as she tries desperately to fend off her attackers.
OOC: Gristle takes 6 damage, factoring in Vuln she takes 8 damage.

Skyblitz narrows his eyes, and moves to attack, but the sight of blood spraying from the thug's wounds gives him pause. "Damn it... Clouder, Snow, Lightning... back off." The thee thugs back away, looking at their apparent leader one last time before galloping off - not in the direction of Copperette, but into a backalley.
OOC: Thugs A retreats from the battle!

Golden Gears whips around, and with her batons, swips at the remaining thugs, slapping them each with a charged strike that causes their legs to lose control and fall over.
OOC: Thugs B take 5 damage and are dazed.

---

It's Belgond Turn!
Turn Order:
Copperette
Thugs A
Gristle
Thugs B
Skyblitz
Golden
Belgond

Watching as the battle rages around him, Belgond had to make a decision. He could either inflict damage onto those that were attacking them, or he could focus his talents elsewhere...

Watching as Golden and Gristle took a fair beating, Belgond's mind was made up; The fact that his core seemed to be having difficulties with charging up attack power if his last attack was any indication was a factor but not the sole reason for his decision to swap from offense to something more defensive.

Standing up on his hind legs again, he carefully twisted his front right leg about 180* clockwise before pointing the limb towards Gristle; The hoof glowed red as a beam of light shot out to connect with the elder diamond dog, easing her wounds and fixing them up within seconds what would have normally taken much, much longer to heal. It was clear that she needed it more then Golden at the moment, but if things carried on he'd get to her in good time... Unfortunately, it seemed that that blow from earlier had triggered some low power mode or something... That needed to be fixed.

Action:

Condition:

Copperette ducked behind a dumpster, leaning against it and panting a moment before peeking around the corner. They were gone! She'd outrun them!

... But, there was still a lot of commotion coming from the way she came. She still wasn't safe.

Her eye fell on a piece of junk across the alleyway. A sort of metal canister, about the size of her hoof. She didn't know what it was - but she did recognize the symbols on either end. Positive and negative, the two alignments of magical energy. She knew you needed both to create an effect - did this thing, perhaps...?

She carefully picked it up, examining it. If she connected the two ends, it should do something, at least. Hopefully something energetic. She cast around and found a piece of copper wire - perfect! She took her two pieces back up the alleyway, towards the commotion...

Actions:

Condition:

Belgond Copperette
Gristle smirks at Belgond, raising a paw to wave at him - then taking up her cane again and just whacking at Skyblitz, conking him upside the head.
OOC: Skyblitz takes 4 damage.

"Princess... damn... Alright you win! Not like we need slaves this uppity anyway - move out! Aileron, Boss - we need immediate evac, about... now!" The remaining thugs scatter, leaving Skyblitz standing in front of the party.
OOC: Thugs B retreat from the fight.

Skyblitz cracks his neck, looking at the group with a slightly unsettlingly calm expression. "Never had the heart to get them too badly hurt, anyway... So you're tougher than you look. I misjudged you... So, I don't got any more fight in me. You gonna let my boss ferry us out? Or do you want to... hoof us over to the authorities or something?"

---

It's... the end of combat?

Copperette peeked around the corner, makeshift bomb in tow... And then sighed in relief. The fight seemed to be over. She dropped the pieces (Making sure they were well away from each other) and walked up slowly and quietly.

"Greetings, fellow... evacuees?" Degree puts on his best 'sales pitch' smile as he walks up to the oddball group. He sizes up each of the individuals carefully, making sure none of them are overtly hostile, and gives them all a little wave. "You can call me Degree - Third Degree Burn, but Degree for short."

He jerks a thumb behind him, where the ship is, and continues, "I notice, that there's a big hospital ship right there, and you've got a doctor in your company. Now, not to brag, but I like to think myself a fairly decent pilot, and I would like to offer you my services as a professional pilot - in exchange for safe passage offworld on your ship."

Wary of the minotaur picking up the children, Seva eventually gave him a pass – he seemed to be displaying an impressive amount of strength, and the children didn't seem to mind the ride. The unicorn still remained to be seen, but he seemed harmless so far.

The dragon though... Seva looked over the dragon. His words displayed confidence in his abilities, but was were they true? They could be, but Seva was not going to risk everyone's lives on the chance that this dragon may be trying to fluff up his qualifications to have an excuse to hitch a ride. Seva's other senses kicked in as they attempted to make a quick character assessment of Degree. For what it was worth, the dragon seemed honest about himself. Seva turned to Clean Cut.

""He appears to be honest. A better qualified pilot than ourselves would likely be better for increasing our survival rate,"" Seva suggested.

Almost as quickly as the fight had began, the fight was over. Belgond was very glad that this was the case as he took the time to go over to his cloak and putting it back on. That was twice today that he had been without it and truthfully he didn't wish to have to cast it aside for combat again before the day was out. Already he was focused on sweeping through his programs in order to try and find the fault that had caused the power he tried to draw for his attack and healing ray to be so low. It was most vexing that he had performed so poorly in front of Golden Gears of all ponies! Hopefully this whole situation wouldn't cause her to think less of him...

Glancing towards Copperette, Golden Gear and Gristle to make sure that they wwere alright, Belgond finally turned his gaze towards the leader of the thugs. His surrender presented them with a very interesting moral dilemma; They could attempt to turn them in to whatever passed for authorities now as the world turned to glass, but that would take time and effort and the only punishment that the zebra suspected was going to happen was that they wouldn't be allowed on one of the ships; A death sentence to be sure. However, letting them go would result in them linking up with their boss and trying this again against some other group of ponies...The galaxy didn't need slavers prowling the void while war raged through the stars.

What to do? What to do...

Beckoning his friends around him into a huddle, the four of them quickly discussed what to do about the situation. It was a quick conversation because time was a factor, but in the end they seemed to come to some sort of conclusion; Breaking the huddle, Belgond turned to look at Skyblitz before taking a deep breath. "We've come to a decision. We've decided to give you and your friends one last chance to come with us; Now seems like a damn good time to change careers and I'm fairly certain that your old boss isn't going to be thrilled when he finds out what happened here. You're never going to have another chance like this to have a clean slate in life; Can you look me in the eyes and tell me that you really want to waste it to become a slaver?"

Dice Rolls:

Seva Borealis Emblem Degree
"He looks competent - and we do need a pilot." Clean Cut mutters, glancing at Emblem and Borealis, "and we've enlisted strangers anyway. Desperate times call for unorthodox measures."

"Unless you gentlemen," he looks at the duo, "have any objections, I would like to welcome you as the pilot of the Onset Dawn."

---

Belgond Copperette
Skyblitz snarls, kicking at the rubble. "That's not how Aileron works. We're family, you can't just tell us to break up like that."

"I'm not going to go with you. Aileron - he's not just a boss. But... my boys, they don't have that kind of loyalty." He holds up a hoof, and the thugs peek out of the side-alleys that they disappeared into. Turning to face them, Skyblitz continues, "Boys, we've been through thick and thin together, but you don't owe me or the big boss anything. You and I both know that the ship the boss picked up ain't gonna be big enough for all of us."

Sky points at the group. "You go with them, you go a free stallion. No more gang violence, no more extortion, no more being a criminal."

The pegasi look among each other, and all six step forward, although a few of them look back at Sky apologetically. "...Sorry boss - but... Aileron's scary when he's angry."

"I'm Night Snow." A grey and blue pegasi steps towards the group. "I speak for the boys... I'm sorry for trying to sell you off into slavery. It's just business, y'know? So, uh... where to now?"

What caught Embem's attention was a few seemingly minor details, resulting in a less warm attitude towards the drake, despite keeping a fairly neutral expression. It's been visible from afar that he's been in the proximity of the ship... for too long and too close though. Despite not knowing exactly what this Degree had been attempting, the unicorn knew their possible pilot-to-be wasn't interested in finding the original hospital ship's crew. In current circumstances, he could hardly blame him, but the unpleasant taste was still there, magnified by the fact that it's been a dragon, not a pony. Emblem thought that he'd rather let this drake onboard than fight with it or have it follow the ship in space, taking its revenge later. What really muddled his emotions was.... the form within which that seemingly simple speech of his was composed. It wasn't humble excellence that it was crafted with, but it made one taste something akin to it in-between the lines. As much as the minotaur went by valor and the doctor listened to fear, that drake was an unknown in this scheme... and it was exactly this element that he did not take a liking to. Such's the unknown potential's double sided edge that one does not know what's there under the veil... Still, considering the situation, he couldn't help but agree with the fancy robot's words. Keeping his thoughts to himself he simply shook his head slowly at Clean Cut's inquiry, signaling there's no objection from his side.

Belgond offered Night Snow a respectful nod of his head as he said "No hard feelings, glad to have you and your friends with us."

Taking a moment to check up on everyone to make sure that they were alright to move, Belgond beckoned everyone to follow him as he started to lead the way towards the docks. Turning to Night Snow, he quickly asked "Are you or any of your boys up for a quick flight? We need to find a big enough ship for all of us that isn't as crowded as the others. It's our best bet and the sooner we find it, the sooner we can get off this world."