Event | Satellite | Spectres!

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all!
Date: May 23 - 26, 2013
Location: Keeliai, turtleside, ARSHEPHELIOS cluster remains
Situation: Repairs and salvage operations operating innocently have triggered an invasion of spectres that possess and wreak havoc upon all they see.
Warnings/Rating: Please put CW in your subject lines

Satellite Crash Event

Crash Landing | Salvage Party | Shocking Spectres


Questions | Keeliai | ARSHEPHELIOS


Salvage is sweet, but not all is well on board the ARSHEPHELIOS cluster. The seamless cylinders salvaged from debris and the cluster, now being frequently traded, turn out to be pods the first time one is penetrated or cracked open. Each breached pod releases a flood of energy-based apparitions hellbent on world domination -- or, more accurately, person domination (and it's not the fun kind).

These apparitions -- spectres, if you will -- are driven by a need to protect the technology of the satellite cluster that their pods are associated with. They will stop at nothing to see this through. Each is immune to physical attacks, but seem to be injured or dissipated entirely by things like electrical shock or other energy-based projections. If people touch them, there is also a brief window of vulnerability, but it acts also like a door that swings both way. Through contact, these spectres can and will invade one's psyche, take over their body and cause them to attack friend or foe alike! Should the possessed body be subjected to sufficient electrical shock, the possession should fade. Strong natural will can also drive the spectres out, but it is no walk in the park to do so. Possession is not the only tool in the arsenal, for these spectres use electricity as their main offensive weapon. They'll leave deep-tissue burns on anyone they fight, and show no degree of fatigue after constant use of it.

Ten thousand of these creatures will be freed from pods, resulting in a veritable flood of Keeliai, the turtleside, and the satellite cluster. With such a driven enemy, it comes down to killing or being killed.

Meanwhile, those taking shelter indoors may notice that the spectres will get into the biomechanical functions of Keeliai. Consoles will be malfunctioning during this time, with lines of mysterious code and strange, ghostly images. One might hear people screaming for help or hours of patchy radio static.

Comments

[jirk]

Well, let's fix that. Number one rule of combat, don't do it on an empty stomach.

[There's a restaurant nearby in a building that's stayed largely untouched by the damage save for a couple broken windows, Jim cants his head towards it and holds out a hand in a after you gesture. Once there, it's easy enough to reach in through the broken glass and unlock and open the door.]

When this is over, you and me are going to come back and help whoever owns this place patch it up, all right? In the meantime I don't think they'll begrudge us a loaf of bread.

[And if they do, Jim will argue with them like you would not believe.]

[hackingyoursensors]

[Robin decides not to point out that he's done it before. Probably more times that he ever should have.]

I don't think they will. We all have bigger problems right now.

[He waits for Jim to open the door and walks in first, carefully surveying the surroundings. Empty. Fortunately. He relaxes slightly.]

[jirk]

[Jim steps in after him. He's alert too, but it isn't as obvious with him. He's very casual around danger, and a lot of people mistake that to mean he's not serious about it, when it's the furthest thing from the truth. He gestures for Robin to keep an eye on the door as he heads into the store rooms, and then he comes out with a fresh-looking loaf and some sort of dried meat, a tiny piece of cheese.

Then he sits down at one of the booths near the back and pulls out a little knife he'd snagged from the kitchen and starts carving things up.]

You got a name or should I just call you 'Maskie'?

[hackingyoursensors]

[He sits across from Kirk, watching him cut up the food.]

Robin. Definitely not "Maskie."

[jirk]

Robin works.

[It feels like a title more than a real name. Sort of like captain. But Jim doesn't question it, he just folds the whole mess of meat and cheese and bread into a sandwich and holds out out across the table. No point in plates.]

You wanna tell me what got you riled up so bad out there?

[An offer, not an order.]

[hackingyoursensors]

[Robin takes the sandwich. He takes a bite and chews thoughtfully before replying. He's not sure how much he wants to talk about.]

Before, there were the jingashi. They're sort of like zombies.

[He takes a smaller bite. It's clear he doesn't have an appetite.]

I had a bad experience.

[jirk]

[Zombies. Jim's expression is pensive, and he looks down at his hands. Flexes them. He'll be feeling all these burns later, right now he's just glad he can still move, still function. Taking a few minutes to rest isn't selfish, it's necessary if he wants to keep himself from collapsing uselessly. Jim builds himself a sandwich too. He hadn't really intended to eat (he feels guilty about stealing food, okay? There's a part of him that's still that polite little boy from Iowa) but at least it's giving him something to do with his hands.

There are so many kids here who've been in danger. Who know it from back home or have been exposed to it here, and it kills him. He doesn't care if they're talented, he doesn't care if it's necessary. It's his nature to want to protect them.

He doesn't even want to think about what kind of 'bad zombie experience' means. It must've been bad, that's all that matters.]

Okay. So what're your plans after this?

[hackingyoursensors]

[Robin continues picking away at his sandwich-- he knew he needed to eat and it'd probably make his companion feel better. Adults were like that.]

I'm looking for my family.

[He doesn't quite have a plan per se so much as "don't get possessed and hope people you care about haven't been possessed either."]

[jirk]

[Jim's brow furrows a little, and he shifts the bite of sandwich from one side of his mouth to the other, coughs.]

Are they doing the whole-- [he waves a hand at his own face] mask thing too?

[hackingyoursensors]

[He nods.]

Some do, some don't. When I say 'family,' I mean friends, mentors. Most of them are in my line of work, so to speak.

[jirk]

Vigilantes, right?

[He says that neutrally, without real judgement.]

[hackingyoursensors]

[He looks straight at Kirk.]

Yeah.

They can take care of themselves, but these things... I don't know.

[jirk]

They'll be all right. You've got to trust the people you care about.

[He's guessing, what with the whole 'mask' thing that trust isn't really something that comes naturally to this kid. And that's fine. Not like it came easily to him, either.

Sometimes he thinks it still doesn't.]

[hackingyoursensors]

['You can't promise that.'

But he doesn't say anything. He eats another bite, settles more into his chair. Not relaxed, no less vigilant, but he's starting to realize how worn out he is.]

What about you? Anyone you're not-worried about?

[jirk]

[Jim waves a hand.]

I'm worried about the civilians.

[He's just going to casually not even think about how much he misses his crew. He'll never be That Guy that unloads his problems on a kid.]

[hackingyoursensors]

[That means either nobody he knows is here or he's trying to hide his worry. Dick doesn't know, and he doesn't ask. He knows when to keep his distance.]

What's the plan?

[jirk]

I've been sending them to a secured zone when we clear out an area, but 'secure' is pretty... relative in the middle of all this.

[His tone's wry. But not discouraged.]

[hackingyoursensors]

Guess that's the best we can do until we can figure out how to stop them.

[It won't be impossible, but it's not looking great with just the information he had now.]

[jirk]

[God, what the hell's happened to this kid that he's such a cynic? Jim waves a hand.]

We need a broad spectrum EMP blast. Don't worry, it'll happen.

[hackingyoursensors]

[You don't want to know, bro.]

Are you going to make one?

[jirk]

Uh.

[H A N D W A V E.]

It's not exactly my area of expertise, but I guess if I had the time and tools I could probably fake it.

[hackingyoursensors]

["Fake it"? Recklessness-- that explains the wounds.]

I've made one before, but they don't have the same equipment here. A friend of mine might be able to cobble something together, but we'd need time and materials.

[jirk]

[You're learning, padawan. Jim's an open book as far as detective skills go. At least for some things.]

Like what? There's a bunch of tech where these things crashed.

[hackingyoursensors]

I used a vacuum tube and a large power generator. Its range wasn't nearly as big as we'd need it to be to cover the city.

[jirk]

Let me worry about that.

[He'll think of a plan, he always does.]

Go talk to your friend. I'll scrounge up the materials need. Meet back here in an hour, okay? If I'm not here, don't wait up.