2263/Shooting Starro

Shooting Starro
Date of Scene:	01 September 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Box, Super-Man, Batman, Phoenix, Crusader, Meggan, Martian Manhunter, Kaelyn Silverleaf, Juggernaut

---

Box has posed:
Jovian System, Sol

Something large maneuvers through the cold vacuum of space, a vessel, larger than anything in service by Earth's space force, Alpha Flight, yet with distinctly human aesthetics, and a design not unlike the ships used by that very organization, with one distinctly striking note that suggests it is in fact, of earth origin, the partial remains of a seafaring vessel in the process of being consumed and absorbed into the craft.

Further toward the edge of the solar system something even bigger can be detected lumbering its way deeper into the solar system, a star shaped entity, approximately the size of the Atlantic Ocean, tended to by a number of smaller star creatures of varying sizes.

Super-Man has posed:
The Chinese government had watched Starro's progress closely, but had not seen any deviation in it's course. Briaxi, the Chinese Bat-man, had theorized that possibly some kind of flaw existed in the Starro Clones, but was uncertain what. When Jean contacted Kenan about the problem being that the clones were from a different Starro swarm, he contacted Briaxi, who got with the scientists on Crab Base to whip up a portable cloner which would insert the benetic changes and rapidly grow a small clone that would, hopefully, be able to infect the swarm. Of course, the modified clone will still have the same weakness...

Batman has posed:
Deep range probes on the outer edges of the solar system are the first to 'see' the interlopers, and they're already peeeeeering that way just as powerfully as they can, after the warnings coming in from Phoenix and Aquaman. The telemetry from those sensor units feeds back to the Justice League via hyper-pulsed transmissions, and it's from there that the Batman lays a battle line in space. Every satellite within range was gathered here regardless of the impact to its onboard fuel reserves, and either weaponized... or already armed.. with a substantial array of railguns pointed outwards at the Earth's incoming foe.

The Dark Knight has spent what little other prep time he had arming up a substantially modified Javelin for deep-space combat, complete with stylized fins and thrusters pointed every which-way, optimized for zero gravity. His batsuit of the evening is more one solid, form-fitted piece of powered armor emblazoned with his sigil, fully environmentally sealed and featuring eerily glowing helm-lenses.

The craft, bristling with hardpoints loaded for bear, gracefully pirhouettes away from the Watchtower and falls into formation with the other defenders of Earth planning to meet the Starro head-on.

The first of those orbital weapons platforms begins to discharge its payload: metal rods fired by railgun at precisely timed targets across vast distances, driven by sophisticated onboard target-acquisition software. Each discharged rod, on impact with a target-- in this case, larger Starros-- shears into countless shards of kinetic impact so profound it rivals the fiercest high explosives. At nearly relativistic speed, it won't take long for the fireworks to begin...

Phoenix has posed:
EARLIER

"So," Phoenix says over the Bat's shoulder as he programs satellites, or tunes up spacecraft, or does whatever it is that Bats do when they're preparing for extraterrestrial war, "I think I've got someone who could help me establish contact with the hive mind-- communicate with it, or at least keep it distracted. But she can't fly in space, and isn't a pilot, and that ship we went over-- it'd be a tight squeeze."

The telepath takes a few steps closer.

"Normally, this'd be a hell of a lot less awkward, but-- can I get in there?" she asks while extending a couple of fingers squarely towards his skull. "Just for a few moments-- long enough to give myself a crash course, and nothing else."

NOW

With or without the benefits of Batman's knowledge and experience, Phoenix studies a standard-issue Javelin's controls as straps secure themselves across her torso. A microswitch in her League-provided space suit's glove sends a short burst of static through she and her co-pilot's helmet, followed by her voice:

"So, first of all, I just wanna thank you again for agreeing to help on such short notice, Meggan; I appreciate it, and you've got abilities that could be critical. That being said:"

Buttons fall and rise, switches toggle, and engines roar to life.

"If you wanna turn back-- I mean, I wouldn't blame you, but this' gonna your last chance to do it..."

After Meggan gives her answer, the craft explodes out of the Watchtower in a rush of fire that quickly settles into a steady thrust bearing the Javelin towards the heart of the swarm-- and the many-limbed spawn teeming about it.

Crusader has posed:
And from earth as came Crusader ship The Starpiecer...which might be taking on a more litteral meaning depending on how todays events unfold! The ship from an outside perspective was surprisingly small. But on the inside it seemed oddly large. Large enough to house Kenan and the portable clonening device plus more - including a crew ship area for any passangers to ride in and see outside through screens. The ship itself was very streamlined, mostly white with gold and blue accents.

Crusader voice breaks through the intercoms "On route to pick up Mr. Kong, One will be up there with you in no time" if nothing goes wrong. His ship zooms through the atmorsphere and arrives in CHina where he should be picking up Kenan. The ship lands and the door opens up into the ship as if it just formed. Inside...Crusader didn't appear to be anywhere, but none no doubt this was Kenan ride as a voice rings out "Mr. Kong One assumes - please enter and we will be off"

Meggan has posed:
Meggan has gotten into the provided suit without much drama. She had to shrink her hair, which is slightly odd to watch. Now, though, she's attached. She's here. She's wriggling in anticipation.

"Oh, thank you," she answers Jean but in a sort of absently reflexive way. But then she's given a question.

"No," Meggan answers Jean, "I wouldn't miss this for the world -"

And during the launch she squeals in apparent, sheer delight!

The delight does pale after a little bit, as the swarm comes clearly into perspective. "I was going to say there's something about Jupiter, but... I think I'm just feeling that. It looks so tiny... It's not tiny, is it, not actually."

Meggan swallows and tries to focus her mind on: This is amazing, I am on a SPACE ROCKET, rather than, Oh God, I'm going to be eaten by the biggest starfish in the cosmos.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
Working with Batman as soon as the identification of the incoming threat occurred, the Martian Manhunter quickly establishes a mental link with the various heroes who arrived to help stop this threat, and allowing them near-instantaneous communication in preperation for the battle. "I will attempt to keep the attention of the Entity while you engineer your solution, Batman." The Martian says in his calm tone, nodding once to Jean, he adds "We can make an attempt at connecting with the Entity as a team, to further disrupt it's ability to progress towards Earth."

Once outside the confines of the Tower, the Martian Manhunter hovers near the line of weapons and satellites prepared to defend the planet. As Starro approaches, the Martian Manhunter thinks to the collective *Phoenix, if you wish to leave the confines of the ship, I can protect you from the rigors of Space, but it will divide some of my attention.*

Then as the first javelins land, the Martian Manhunter begins to grow in size, becoming about the size of a 10 story building, as he telekinetically gathers all debris from the explosions, and redirects it back towards the Entity to compound the damage done.

He attempts a quick mental scan of the Entity in an attempt to determine if he is capable of disrupting or dispersing it before it comes any closer to Earth.

Super-Man has posed:
Sometimes Kenan regrets publicly announcing his identity on live TV and internet feed, but what is done can not be changed. Anyone who cares to look it up now knows that Kong Kenan is Chaoren, the Chinese Super-man. Kenan is outfitted with his pace gear and is carrying the cloning device. Hopefully the genetic sample he is trying to clone from is already on board the craft. He has a lot to do and a short time to do it...and this science stuff is not his forte. Fortunately Briaxi gave him a computer with instructions how to proceed step by step.

Box has posed:
Out in the vicinity of Jupiter lays the invading Starro, and 'BOX' in Starship mode, the remains of the cargo ship finally being subsumed into the vessel, and partially reconfigured into a large rail cannon, of some sort.

Aboard the ship a virtual assistant creation of one Madison Jeffries pipes up "Incoming Message from Mackenzie Station: Weapons fire detected from earth orbit. Plotting trajectory." Madison, for his part, deploys the shielding around his 'spaceship' to protect it from the incoming weapons fire.

Minutes pass from the satellites firing before they cross that vast distance, the weapons impacting several of the smaller Starros, which move to intercept and protect the larger creature, gore and viscera spreading across the stars, so to speak. Disturbingly, in response to the attack the Mother Starro begins to 'extrude' replacements from its body.

Crusader has posed:
The ship closes up as the voice speaks up "Alright, Sir, brace yourself" and with that the ship rises up and faces towards the sky - despite the change in direction Kenen shouldn't feel any difference. The ship was stark...and definintly /did not/ have a sample of Starro onboard. The ship takes off and once high enough gains another burst of speed breaking the sound barrier...and goes faster still! The floor seems to 'stick' to Kenan boots to keep him upright

"One can intergrate you with the ship if you cannot be in space yourself...it will give yourself something to fight with" Crusader offers still unseen. From the floor a captains chair forms for Kenan should he wish to comply

As they mass Martion ManHunter Crusader echos to the collected groups of heros "Sorry One is late to the party...and ManHunter, Phoenix, One has another hero on board that will need a link up" he informs the two telepaths. The ship changes shape into a a heavily armored ship with various mounted weapons. He had to update it for kinetic weapons...but he did it. He shoots out several thin rods towards the oncommin Starros hoping to help slow their advanced - many of them being skewered instead of exploded.

Batman has posed:
~
"J'onn can help you with that better than I can." In one smooth, hesitation-free deflection, the Caped Crusader evades the need to decide whether risking Jean in his head is a worthwhile gamble, and passes the responsibility to the man-- or Martian-- in the League most capable of seeing it done right.

"My head's a bad place to wander." It's possibly a familiar sentiment, to Jean Grey-- if a bit more stoically offered from this source.
~

Pehaps interestingly, in the here and now, none of the rail-cannons directed by BatNet target the unknown spacecraft: only Starros. The Dark Knight isn't one to take a shot he's unsure of-- particularly with so large a cannon. "We'll make as many runs as we can get until we get close enough to deliver that payload." Batman sounds much the same in one's head as in one's ear, a carefully coached, precisely measured delivery.

"Stay on the periphery of the swarm until we open that window." The Caped Crusader maxxes out the throttle on his craft, and a powerful booster engine hurtles him out towards the enemy as more frequent fire emits from the array of orbitals, each time they have a clear and accurate firing line on a major Starro.

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Ok So this might be cool, Kae had been testing a new suit of sorts, the woman having seen plenty of video on Iron man and the various other super powered armored suits. Instead of going the whole heavy state technology route, Kae's artificed her own suit of sorts. This resembling really a lithe western dragon that's maybe 3 or 4 times larger than a human being. The whole 'suit' or armor as it were is made from a slate grey metal, with the occasional brass-colored trim around it. The scales are all finely woven together plates, and well the whole suit isn't just one item, it's litterally hundreds of artificed items meant to work together as a whole unit. There's warding spells in place, self repair spells to repair the suit should it aquire damage. Spells based on scrying, evocation type spells, of course flight, even fast transport, that being able to form a gateway of sorts...

Kae had been working on this suit even before she got her shop.. She'd then heard somewhere about the entity needing folks to show up and help out with... She glanced at the suit, and well extreme curiosity as to how this thing would perform out there and the fact she's not really used it much beyond seeing if she could get it on and off if needed, and well moved it around. Of course getting into the thing is very much so like transfiguring one's self as the person almost litterally becomes the 'suit' so to speak... Kae glances at the bracelets and anklets, and the head band, then puts the jewelry on. She takes a deep breath and activates the enchantments, anyone even remotely sensitive to magics can probably feel the powerful magicteched item come alive briefly as it activates. Kae was there, then suddenly she isn't, now a semi-humanoid super sleek dragon is there, though the thing only looks barely organic. Kae looks at her now clawed hands and checks her wings muttering "Should have gone with a more humanoid look, this is still hugely wierd..." Before she turns and promptly knocks a table over with that new tail. She winces a bit as some of her clockwork is damaged and getting giggled at by her apprentice... She then sighs, and sticks out her tongue, And yes she's even gone so far as to make the magitech dragon she's now inhabiting even have a tongue. "Be back soon." she says, the dragon mouth moving just like it were her own, her voice only just slightly synthetic as all the spells and tech interfears with the sound, but then again right now she is kind of the 'dragon' as it were...

Kae glances up, then activates the suit's fast transit magics, the 'dragon' as it were instantly is moved to high Earth Orbit, about as far as she can go in one go, the girl muttering "Ooh yah this is gonna take getitng used to, then she begins flying straight toward jupiter at exceptionally high speed... "This is nuts!" Kae says her voice projecting even over normal com signals and probably can be picked up by the folks allready looking to engage the problem.

Phoenix has posed:
{{I feel like we're probably better off in here for now,}} Phoenix replies as she and Meggan's Javelin sharply veers from its forward trajectory to cruise near the edge of the satellite perimeter, {{but I'll keep that in mind, just in case.}}

"Okay," Phoenix exhales to her student, "so, the last time I tried confronting this thing, it was-- I tried to brute force it, to fight it astrally and intimidate it; that was a complete waste of time. Its mind is enormous, and alien, and powerful-- even with Cerebro, I couldn't sway it. That's why you're here: instead of trying to fight it again, I wanna see if we can communicate with it, and - if not come to some kind of understanding, at least use our empathic abilities to bootstrap our way into disrupting it from a different angle, while Chaoren tries to plug the clone Starro-slash-virus into its network."

{{Okay, I'm engaging auto-pilot,}} she broadcasts across the telepathic network, {{while my associate and I look for something to talk to. Manhunter: be super careful if you're going for an astral assault, it's psi-active. Signal if you need back-up.}}

The telepath's breath catches once her monitors feed her images of the Motherstar disgorging fresh spawn; a roiling mixture of fear and disgust fills the cockpit for a couple of seconds before being pushed down by determination. "Okay," she murmurs. "Let's see if we can make it care about us at all, okay? Let's just forget that it's a parasitic glutton with a taste for sentience, and focus on what else it is: a collective of thousands of intelligent alien lifeforms psychically linked to one another. A race of things with a not-so-passing resemblance to Earth fauna, appearing again and again without much more to explain them than biological need. Where did they come from? Are they only now looking our way, or did our ancestors meet them too?"

Curiosity burbles forth from her psyche as she tries to guide her student's efforts. After that first rush of emotion, however, she turns her attention towards gathering whatever empathic input Meggan's able to give her and securing it to burning wings intended to carry - and incubate - it on its way to the Motherstar's mind in the hopes of sparking something other than hunger in it.

Super-Man has posed:
Kenan has a secret, though he does not know it. Before he left Briaxi gave him a shot to "immunize him against Starro's mind control". In actuality, it is a form of the virus, if Starro controlls Kenan, the virus should spread from him, though it will NOT protect him from control. Kenan informs the others through the telepathic link, "I will need a small Starro, or at least a piece of one, for the cloning device to work on." Briaxi is counting on the fact that Kenan's powers have a limit, he needs to focus on acting heroicly or he loses his powers...it seems unlikely that Starro will be acting Heroicly, so Kenan will be easily defeated if he is controlled.

Martian Manhunter has posed:
"Interesting..." The Martian Manhunter says as he watches Starro begin to spew forth even more smaller versions of itself. Noticing the strange craft, J'onn does perform a quick mental scan to determine if it is tied to the Entity at all, or a threat to the current situation, and as long as it comes up clean he directs most of his focus on Starro. As he closes the distance to engage the Entity, he mentally engages the rest of the team *I will attempt to clear away the smaller portions of the Entity away so that it allows you a clear shot at what appears to be the main body.* Then he disappears as he flashes ahead at tremendous speed.

Maintaining his mental connection as well as spatial awareness of the incoming projectiles, the Martian Manhunter mentally pushes smaller bits of the entity out of the way as missiles close the distance. His timing is such that he minimizes to the last second the time that Starro has to react as great swaths of the smaller creatures are flung aside in space.

Mentally responding to Phoenix, *Understood. Thank you for the information on its Astral Presence. I will attempt to divert as much attention to provide you an avenue to breach its mental defenses.*

As he's clearing a path, J'onn will attempt to single one small Starro out for Kenan, capturing it in a bubble of force, and shutting it towards the ship he occupies. Sending a quick mental message *One of the smaller pieces of the Entity is headed to your vessel.*

Juggernaut has posed:
    Jean may or may not have remembered to mention to Meggan that there is another passenger on their Javelin that she managed to convince to come along on this mission. But..surprise. She's caught a Juggernaut.

    Shared past experiences and history coupled with the fact that Juggernaut is not utterly opposed to occasional acts of heroism (albiet often still motivated by internal selfishness) means that getting him involved was probably easier then expected. Plus, violence. Hard to ignore a chance for violence. Heavy footfalls against the metallic interiors of the javelin announce his presence as he emerges from the cargo hold, hunched over and crouched to make it easier to peer out of the windows with his helmet tucked under an arm. His eyes quint as he gets a view of the nonsense occuring out in the depths of space.

"Hey..uh..this a little bigger then the one in the farmhouse..?"

Meggan has posed:
Meggan settles down as the space travel becomes more... routine? No. Less /uniquely novel/ in this moment. She listens to Jean raptly. She's always been attentive, just not always retention-heavy. "Like with the Borg," she says, nodding along. Her lips purse for a moment when the sight of the fresh disgorgement affects Jean.

{{I'm giving it a go,}} Meggan thinks hard, probably a small clear 'voice' on the fringes of what Jean does. Her eyes close, and then

she listens. Jean's reaching out and Meggan is feeling there too, a metaphorical hand resting on that metaphorical shoulder as she steadies herself. There's a heartbeat where Meggan doesn't seem to do anything at all, but only one. After this, she lets herself lean forwards as her heart pours itself outwards.

Curiosity. Warmth. Outreached hands (or similar appendages). We don't want to fight!

So Meggan resonates.

But there is sternness in the background. We're not afraid (comes the transmitted emotion) - but must we fight?

Meggan's ACTUAL, factual hands grip down deep on the arm rests of her seat. She doesn't know quite how tight she's squeezing.

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Kae is like making great time. She gates ahead, using her relative speed to jump from about a 3rd of the way to Mars, to more within just a few AU of the team... Kae then adjusts the tramsission spells in her 'suit' to transmit over comms <<Uhhh, Kaelyn here! I'm here to help! JUst got this thing working!>> She says now, hoping that folks hear her before she spools up her gate again, and suddenly she's leaping the last distance and showing up within a few tens of miles of the team... Her draconic 'suit' as it were now closing in rapidly. It may or may not show up really on sensors, the technology that was used to create it being mystical in nature rather than scienitifical. She wills the suit to slow, and the large wings fan a bit, the magically-powered gravitic propulsion shifting axis and acting to slow the oddity that is Kaelyn currently...

Phoenix has posed:
"Well," Phoenix says in a distant, almost dreamy voice, "I did... promise you something worth hitting... right? All you need is an airlock and a little propulsion..."

Crusader has posed:
"Read you loud and clear ManHunter" Crusader voice over the telepathic link - though he keeps oddly quiet when over the link. None the less as the piece of Starro comes closer it is engulfed into the ship itself for Kenan to work his cloening device on. The ship alters shape once more - this time it becomes smaller and yet more bulky as if heavily armored. Many of the turrents seem to dissappear....and is that a sapce dragon. Its a space dragon

"Kaelyn...you do realize your a space dragon right now, right?" yes he knows the woman. But none the less he stays forcused and shoots off another round of kinetic shots as he skirts the fringes of the swarm. The ship navigates to stay in the backline to better protect Kenan while he works. But even from there his ship focus on keeping up the defense.

Box has posed:
"Unidentified vessels, his is the Alpha Flight Cruiser Box, identify yourself and state your intentions." Madison Jeffries broadcasts to the assorted Justice League spacecraft. That very cruiser begins another reconfiguration, forming a large dorsal railgun along the length of the ship, power beginning to increase on the sensor read outs as the cruiser prepares to fire.

The Starros weather the attacks from the heroes, and as they begin to be engaged by the squadron of ships, they begin to return fire, Tentacles starting to angle, beams of energy flying out at the various ships. One of the larger ones hit's 'Box', energy shields flaring, strained intensely by the powerful blast.

Batman has posed:
The brilliant blue flare that rockets the jet black batcraft through the vacuum of space ebbs and gives way to smaller maneuvering thrusters as the Dark Knight throttles back once in proximity to the Starro swarm. "This is a Justice League strikefore hailing from the Watchtower." comes the answer to the hail. "We are moving to interdict the Swarm."

And the Caped Crusaader does just that. A half-dozen small, spherical drones deploy from the battle-modded Javelin and orbit near it, their autonomous piloting protocols keeping them well and thoroughly clear of the Starro, above all, as they nullify incoming blasts on modulating shields that feed off a number of the frequencies projected-- it's kind of like casting Wall on oneself when the enemy uses Wall.

Several of the missile pods mounted on the Bat's starcraft are field tested, an initial charge of propellant cementing their trajectory before a powerful onboard electromagnetic uses up its juice in a flash. The energy is utilized, transferred into pure, kinetic force-- in this case, cone-arced blasts of a resilient, alloyed shrapnel designed to shred the impregnable.

As the Caped Crusader banks into an evasive roll, afterburning along the edges of the Swarm, twin forward-mounted rotary autocannons open up on Starro who get in his way. His mission parameters tonight; Distract and Harry. Convince these damned things Earth is one major, dangerous fight.

Crusader has posed:
"Any help with this task Alpha Flight, would be apprecaited" Crusader adds on "Kaelyn...not sure what you can do...but we need to keep any Starros from breaching the perimiter, a mini swarm is forming near the west - take it out" he instructs the newly aquired dragon ally!

He keeps up his rate of fire...but as large ones are taken out, smaller once begin to manusver more easily. Despite driving carefully - about a dozen mini starros attach themselves to The StarPiecers hull and begin fireing point blank shots of energy on him. Chunks of his hull blast away when this happens. "Joy" and the ship quickly begins to spin rapidly to throw the starros off to prevent them from breaching him.

"Phoenix, ManHunter, how are things comming along on your end?"

Juggernaut has posed:
    A flash of red and a crackle of magical energy accompany a clang of metal upon metal as Juggernaut raises his helmet up and clamps it back down onto his suit, sealing into place with supernatural force. His mind vanishes from the psionic plane as a result, rendering him invoilate against any such attempts by the Starro swarm, and others. His gaze flickers back and forth over the swarm and the beams of energy lancing out from it towards the approaching defenders and he finally wrinkles his nose and backs away from the cockpit to begin to towards the airlock.

"Yeah, yeah. So you did." He answers Phoenix finally while rolling his shoulders and then opening the firt heavy duty doors that lead into the airlock compartment, "Just make sure you don't leave me sitting on an asteroid or something out here.." Sealing the door behind him, he reaches a hand up to grip hold of a rail to and braces himself for the airlock to seal and then open up to the depths of space. "..I hate it when that happens."

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Kae ummms "Yah, tell me about it, this is an ummmm.. Combat Artifice. Made it just in case of something like this." Kae responds... "Anyhow I'm limited like this, attack and defense mostly... All the magic I'm channeling is being used through the enchantments on the suit. And everything's there for the suit, I can't ward other individuals like this... though I guess I shouldnt say... suit..." She says and taps her long narrow chin with a runed, metalic claw... "Anyhoo, orders?" She asks, then watches all hell start to break loose... Kae then nods as she hears Crusader tell her what to do. She then turns and suddenly accelerates, her wings taking on a dull glow as the mage-turned magitech monstrocity of a dragon darts ahead, accelerating much faster than normal chemical propulsion should handle, not to mention faster than a human body should be able to handle..

"OOkay, well here's the deal, in theory, I should be able to exhail bolts of force, and a plasma bolt with ummm with umm well a lot of force.. I can shield my self, accelerate decelerate and change direction quickly. Oh and I can gateway from position to position to accelerate my speed... Also this form has a rapid self repair function. However, that's pretty much it... Operating this thing makes my normal spells quite limited." She informs Crusader... "Not so much in power, it will enhance the raw power and destructive aspects rather startlingly, buuuut, the bredth and scope of what I can do is severely limited..." She ads then banks in toward some of the swarm, her mouth opens and a bright blue glow appears at the back of that metallic mouth, complete with teeth and all and a long stream of energy lances out, arcs of energy crackling along the tightly focussed beam's breadth to lance in and among the swarm. As the blue bolt stops Kae banks away sharply from the swarm, swooping around to make another as she turns her head back to look at what she just did.. "Ooh, that was unexpected... And kinda felt wierd.." She says.

Phoenix has posed:
"We're a Justice League-X-Men task force formed to combat the Starro threat," Phoenix broadcasts-- just about simultaneously with the Bat. "And a... space Targaryen? She seems pretty likely anti-Starr-- Star Conq-- SC too, though."

With a significant portion of her consciousness devoted to trying to smuggle Meggan's outpouring of curiosity and empathy into the Motherstar's mind and force open a line of communication between Mutant and Starfish, Phoenix doesn't have much focus left for bio-lasers. The Javelin's auto-pilot does what it can, weaving between satellites in efficient, but ultimately limited evasive patterns; for now, at least, it's enough to keep the craft undamaged, but several satellites take direct hits in its stead as it dips behind them.

Switching channels to reply to Crusader, she exhales, "Gradually," while settling back into her chair, tightening her fingers around the Javelin's controls-- and shutting her eyes. "Trying to find a way to bridge the chasm between us..."

{{Can you understand us?}} she wonders of the Motherstar as her astral avatar tries to fan Meggan's warmth into a bonfire bright enough to attract the Conqueror's attention. {{The last time I met you, I came in anger and fear - because I didn't know how else to react to you; is that all there can be between our species? Fear and violence? Hunger-- death?}}

Martian Manhunter has posed:
*Greetings, Kaelyn.* J'onn's voice mentally reaches out to her, *...I am bringing you into the mental link.* Kaelyn is now capable of telepathically speaking to the rest of the team, at the speed of thought, if she wishes. Sending a mental ping to, Crusader and Kenan, the Martian Manhunter messages *Phoenix has warned me that the Entity has psionic abilities. Be wary if it escapes captivity.*

The Martian Manhunter attempts to reach out to the Alpha Flight vessel in an attempt to establish communications with it as the Entity returns fire at the heroes. Given his current gigantic size, he provides cover for the space ships behind him, especially those in an attempt to communicate with the Entity, and changes his molecular structure to deal with the incoming beams of energy. Some of the energy is reflected off his newly configured structure with beams of light careening off into space. Some of the energy is absorbed, inspecting the type and amount of energy produced, and allowing his body to refine defenses against it.

The Martian Manhunter then produces three other projects of himself surrounding the Entity in an attempt to draw it's focus away from the ships of his comrades. He avoids any mental attacks, as he knows Phoenix and Meggan are attempting to connect with it, and instead attempts to pull as many smaller Entities together as possible for an easier shot from the other heroes.

*I have not attempted to engage the Entity in mental battle yet, Crusader...* J'onn responds *...as I believe the Phoenix and Meggan are working on a peaceful resolution.*

Meggan has posed:
Meggan feels sweat running down the back of her neck in the suit. She could have sworn she'd taken off the sweat glands since she was going to be in a sealed cooled suit. There is a lull in her sendings as she asks Jean, with mild trepidation, "Alpha Force isn't upset with us, are they?"

The departure of the Juggernaut from the craft does not ease Meggan a lot. She does not know much about the man. However, he is /stupid/ strong, and there's a starfish the size of the ocean out there.

"I don't know if you want to compare her to the Targaryens," Meggan says with a tone of underlying anxiety in her voice. "I mean they weren't very well regarded for most of the show, and they dated within their own family tree. Wasn't a tree so much as a sort of braided bush, oh gosh I'm babbling. Alright, hold on -"

Her eyes close again and that warm curiosity blooms out of her. She has no words to her; she reaches for memories of swelling wonder, of sympathy, of a desire to know more. Peace. Peace! It takes a moment or two, and her head slouches forwards slightly as the introspective sensation sends strange feelings resonating through her...

Something. Meggan doesn't know where 'it' is happening, but she breathes steadily and lets it come out. Paradoxically enough, she imagines Jupiter and leaning against it, with the bright red spot resting at about hip height. The image helps; or at least kills strain.

"If this doesn't work, Jean," says Meggan with a sort of tentativity, "d'you think I should try 'we taste awful'. I don't know how a starfish really feels... and it's an alien one besides. Thousands of them..."

Crusader has posed:
"While a peaceful resolution is often best...something about attacking the various starro drones is unlikely to help promote such a feeling a peace." it is after all a tad bit contridictory. "We should perhaps pull back on our attack temporarily" he suggest to the group as a whole. Of course...with Juggernauts helmet on, that message won't be reaching him!
    he ship does another manuver around several more Starros that attempted to get to his ship. He was thankful that Martion Manhunter was attacking as ashield for the various energy attacks. For now he concentrates on re-enforcing defenses, and cuts down on his rate of fire to only attack starros that get to close to the perimeter

Juggernaut has posed:
    "What're you DOING?! Light the thing on fire already!!" yells Juggernaut back into the ship as soon as he sees that the Starro's are not bursting into millions of firebird inspired fireworks courtesy of Jean. "..This is why y'all don't get nothing done.."

Tiring of waiting and eager to test out his newly added thrusters (likely due to self destruct on their own after the mission is done cause..Batman. And who wants a flying a Juggernaut back on Earth.) he hits the trigger and opens the airlock exposing himself and the chamber to the rushing expanse of space.

Leaning out of the ship with one hand still gripping hold, he extends his other arm out as the Javelin rushes past an incoming swarm of Starro, literally clothslining them one after the other as they smash both into him and one another with in rapid fire succession.

He then releases his grip from the ship, letting it roar and bank away from him while bringing his other arm around to try and ball the gathered Starro's up into a squishy pile and ready to use projectile. Space bowling!

So yeah no. No message of 'hold your fire' made it through.

Box has posed:
Luckily for Juggernaut, there are no Asteroids to be stranded upon nearby, there are however, there are many, many Starros about that could fit the bill.

<<Not Fear. Not Violence. Not Death. Unity.>> Is the response that fills Jean's mind, the contact overbearing, powerful, and utterly alien in its nature.

Martian Manhunter has a great degree of success drawing the attention of the Starros, beams of energy fired at the Martian, creature attempting to cling and grapple to him, this does, however, help draw attention away from the other Justice League ships, with the exception of Batman's, as his missiles launch out, drawing attention to him, and causing the death of several smaller Starros. Luckily, his shield drones protect him from the initial retaliations.

The Alpha Flight Ship's weapon finally charges, and it isn't long before an ultra-dense alloy shell, of Madison's own design, is fired at the primary Starro from the massive railgun, a projectile the size of a railcar is accelerated at intense speeds into the large Starro, creating a massive crater in the even more massive creature's body. A retaliatory strike from the Main Starro is fired back at the Star Cruiser, engulfing it.

Phoenix has posed:
"They absorb fire, Juggernaut!" Phoenix calls back with a slight cock of her head. Shortly afterwards, she's watching him rocket across the monitors and into the fray while reaching for one of Meggan's tightly clenched hands.

"Absolutely," she says, "And maybe 'we're scaaaa-aaaAAAAAAAAAAUGH-- !!"

The telepath's spine and neck snap into awkward angles as the Motherstar offers its spasm-inducing response. Muscles clench, veins bulge, and about the only bit of her that doesn't move is her jaw, locked ajar by a scream from the depths of her soul. From the inside, it feels endless; outside, it lasts maybe five seconds, and when it finally passes, she slumps over panting in her seat. Both hands shoot to the sides of her helmet, smack at it a couple of times, then claw against it; this does about as much good as the un-obstructed alternative might.

It takes a couple seconds more before she hauls herself upright and once again reaches for her student's hand, still breathing heavily.

"I need... I need an ETA on linking a clone to the hive mind," she transmits across comms. "It-- it thinks it's unifying with us; see if... see if pulling back into defensive patterns makes it any less inclined to attack, but if not-- do whatever you have to do; we just need to get the virus in play!"

To Meggan, she additionally says, "I'm going back in-- are you okay?"

She waits a beat before marshalling her will and responding to the Motherstar:

{{Death for us-- not all of us want unity on the terms you're offering, so coming to Earth, taking our minds-- it'd be just as good as killing us,}} she tries to reason as blood begins to run from her nostrils. {{That's why we're defending ourselves the way we are now-- we're fighting for our lives! There must be some way to compromise-- find some way to reach out to minds who want to join your collective...}}

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
The 'space dragon' looks back over her shoulder, trying to see if her blast had any affect on the swarm. seeing none, she frowns and asks "Soooo you want me to back up any of you? or what? I think they're going after y'all instead of the wierd magical space dragon thing here... But then again I might not be doing anything to them. She is now wheeling back around, the woman turned 'space dragon' now glancing at what's going on, before zipping in for a strafing run to try and pull some of the pressure off the Martian Man Hunter for now. Mentally she shifts the 'firing' mode of her suit this time instead of lancing out a beam she exhails a stream of bolts, 10 maybe 15 of the tightly compat balls of blue crackling energy zip out of the 'space' dragon's mouth as she exhails. Then suddenly she's jinking, changing direction sharply so as to make it hard for the strange star-creatures to actually like aim for her...

Kae then jinks back the other way, changing direction again and swiveling back around "Uhhhh, I soo hope what I'm doing here is helping!" She banks again, rolls sharply like some small fighter fighter craft might, now seeing Batman and him being attacked, she switches 'firing modes' back to that beam for long range shots and fires long narrowly confined beam at a number of the swarm going after the Bat...

Martian Manhunter has posed:
Now that the Juggernaut has joined battle, J'onn decides to help the Unstoppable Force prove his point, and flashes to the behemoth's side. In his 100 foot size, the Martian Manhunter reaches out with an immense hand, and booms out to the Avatar of Cyttorak "I believe this is called the 'Fast Ball Special'..." and proceeds to throw the Juggernaut with all of his unearthly strength at the large Starro.

As he's drawn the attention of the smaller Starros, he phases past those that try to latch onto him. He uses his telekinesis to make sure that the Juggernaut stays on his current trajectory, a mentally guided magical missile, and continues to clump the smaller Starros so the heroes can dispatch them easier.

Splitting his focus, he will continue to push the Juggernaut along, towards the space that the Alpha Flight Ship attack had landed, increasing the speed in which he's traveling... hoping that the magical nature of the Juggernaut will have a greater impact than their current attacks.

"Oh no..." the Martian says as he see's the Alpha Flight ship engulfed in the attack, and shoots over in their direction in an attempt to determine their fate.

He grunts under the impact that Jean took from the Entity, despite not being a part of the communication, but sharing some mental space with the link. He does, however, buffer any feedback from the rest of the linked team.

Meggan has posed:
The great thing about empathy is that in some ways it's easier on you than telepathy.

The bad thing is that sometimes it's just different.

The great greasy inhuman might of Starro's response washes over Meggan and she presses back into her seat, letting out a gasp. The creature wants to unify with them. It wants to be drawn into her. No, she wants to be drawn into it. It's a seething confluence of induced alien desire that swashes through Meggan's mind like surf on a beach. For a fleeting moment her face has a perfect replica of a Starro on it but that is, thankfully, not a period when anyone in the universe is looking at her.

It ebbs. It draws away. It wasn't hostile, at least not directly, or so Meggan thought. It didn't seem angry. It desired them. She feels tiny for a moment, but that vision of leaning against Jupiter comes back to her. Something about Jupiter lingers in her mind even as she shifts in what feels like the sodden swamp of the interior of her suit to take Jean's hand just as it reaches for her own.

Meggan squeezes back gently through the suit.

I think so, Meggan thinks in the back of her mind, but I am completely unsure.

Aloud she says, with only slightly forced perk, "Of course. Just take a breath here..."

She keeps holding Jean's hand as she beams out again. Meggan's own thoughts are able to bounce in the channel even if she is not herself a telepathic driver. They are different now. They aren't wondering, they're... cross.

She can't quite form words, but the full expression of that crossness might be: {{If you want us so badly, treat us right, or we'll cut you. You're on thin ice as it is.}}

Crusader has posed:
Crusader checks in with his passanger "The clone is ready to go" though he isn't sure how to feel about this. The ship takes in another little starro that was attached to the hull. "One can understand the Star Conquores...mind set" he admits. He after all /was/ a collective and had the natural instinct to want to unify with others. "Perhaps bring me in and see if One might be able to make a compromise...collective to collective" he didn't actually want to admit he was one...but desperate times call for desperate measures

And than there Juggernaut...in space. "....those better have an self destruct feature, or there goes half the planet next" is all he says to that...and can only stare as Martian throws Juggernaut in a fast ball special. But at least it would help keep the starros away. Crusader shoots at several starros that are going after Batman ship "Watch your flank Batman, they are gaining on you!"

And of course...there was Alpha flight seeming to just take a massive hit. "Alpha flight, come in, come in, are you there?" he request over the comms "Kaelyn, see if you can get a visual on the Alpha flight ship - the fellas who shot the big cannon thing"

Juggernaut has posed:
    The Juggernaut vaults from one gigantic Starro to another, using thrusters and the sheer power of his legs to propel him and to land strikes with such force that seismic readings across a country would be trigerred were he earth side. Little reason to hold back out here and against these things after all. He disappears from sight briefly as one attack swarm attempts to engulf him only for them to explode ine very direction as he presses out with against them, splaying his arms to his side and enormous chest bulking outward. "C'mon! Is this it!" he roars, "Is this..uh...oh.. Oh?" He turns just in time to see the Martian Manhunter looming overhead. "What the--!"

The next thing he knows he's hurtling like a meteor straight for the large Starro. At first his huge arms flail wildly but then he seems to get the point and goes with it while stretching his huge arms infront of him and balling them into a wrecking ball dwarfing fists. Should something get in his way or not he's pretty much going to blast right through them. His impact is going to be one for the record books, to say the least.

Box has posed:
The Juggernaut hits the large creature, and bores through it like a worm through a really, really, really big apple, eventually coming out on the other side at an incredibly high rate of speed!

There is no more response to Jean's line of communication, the Starro however does seem to feel pain, as that sensation emanates from the beast to those who can sense such emotions, the pain drowning out any words that might be directed at it.

The harrying of the space dragon doesn't does as much damage as one might hope, the Starros absorbing energy, but the kinetic and magical aspects do seem to have some effect, injuring enough to draw attention at the very least, and aid with clearing the path open!

Where the Alpha Flight ship was, now can be found a large humanoid robot, half the mass of the ship previously, with debris scattered, or vaporized entirely. "That was more potent then I expected?" Madison comments.

With the state of pain that the giant Starro has received, it is easy for those able to read such things to deduce that now is as good an opportunity as any to attempt to deploy the mutant Starro virus!

Meggan has posed:
Meggan is greeted with an opportunity to learn what Pain is. Learning is fun!

The Starro is much bigger than her. Matters such as greatness of heart or courage are one thing, but the pain transmission coming off of the massive psionic hive-mind is almost wholly inconcievable in its scope. Meggan is an amateur radio transciever: Starro is a Russian DEW-line radar transmitter.

So: It is bad.

As the sensation pours in, at first it just feels like a lead weight evenly distributed over her body and somehow wrapping her internal organs. A simple sort of squeeze. And then the actual pain - sheer and sourceless and with only a distant connection of a sort of /piercing/ - reaches Meggan. At first, her body goes in the wrong direction, on the same principle by which she has (thanks to the Danger Room's aquatic mode) trained herself to do survival reflex things such as sprouting gills if she's trapped under water...

And Meggan Puceanu's body becomes exponentially more sensitive to pain for nearly seven whole seconds in an effort to contain what is coming in - to feel it - to experience it! A thousand needles become ten thousand. Then a hundred thousand. Then a million. Then ten million. Around this point Meggan lets out a miserable little quavering groan, which is the only sound she makes.

She can't live like this. Her nervous system is turning into a bath of frenzied calcium ions and is threatening to tear itself apart, drowning in a tide of desperately overcompensating endorphins. There is a precarious internal search towards homeostasis and then -

fwunk!

Meggan's pain receptors deactivate entirely, the branches in her nervous system's infinite web just... shrinking for now. The overcompensating endorphins don't go away, though, and they have wider-ranging effects. Medically speaking, Meggan is now partying. It is wise of Jean that she did not put Meggan in a seat with controls.

"That was a rough one, wasn't it? Wauhw. Did I ever tell you how I felt about you, Miss Gray?" Meggan says. "Jean, I mean."

Juggernaut has posed:
    To bad the thing was like jello and he just punched right through it. Cause that's just gross. Either way it was a more then effective attack and Juggernaut erupts from the other side of the Mega-Starro like a bullet to go tumbling into space for eternity!!

..Or not. He's played this game before. If he had a dime for every time some hero thought teleporting him into space would be a great finish to a fight he'd need a few dozen more swiss bank accounts under false names. Starro is basically a landscape sized being and Juggernaut's not going anywhere he doesn't -want- to go and so at the last possible instance his huge arm snatches out and takes hold of the side of the creature, digging in just as his body passes through the final portions of the creatures flesh. He's not without his own skill at reaction time and reflexes and the end result is that a flex of his massive arm to yank his body backwards distributes the shockwave of his passage throughout the undulating flesh of the monstrous alien and keeps him from tumbling off into the ethers. The borrowed JLA thrusters help as well, letting him right himself and then plant his feet onto the surface of the Starro being.

"Ugh. Gross." he rumbles.

Crusader has posed:
With the clone ready, and a path cleared, and Starro having...a big freaking hole in it - there was only one thing left to do. From Crusader ship a pod is launched out towards the creature and into the swarm to infect it. Crusader wasn't exactly happy about it, but there was little that could be done about it right now. Though he was ready to shoot em up if it made sure the deaths were quick and painless

Martian Manhunter has posed:
"Impressive." The Martian says mostly to himself at seeing the impact the Juggernaut causes on Starro. He quickly builds a mental shield from the empathic backlash of the attack. The pressure of the attack was immense, causing a quick burst of pain but he quickly works on containing it. Once he's sure that the Alpha Flight vessel, now a robot, has not been annihilated he will fly to Juggernaut's side.

As he see's the man has it under control, he rumbles, "Allow me to provide you a path to the ship..." and forms a telekinetic path underneath Juggy's feet, and colored so that he can make out the path ahead of him. J'onn will arc the path back towards the battle closest to Jean's ship.

To the rest of the team, he thinks *Now appears to be an appropriate time to deploy your virus.* As before, the Martian Manhunter uses his telekinetic abilities to clear a path among the smaller Starros to the main Starro.

Kaelyn Silverleaf has posed:
Kae now notices Madison, and then also Juggernaut... "Ummm, yah so I'm going to gate to Juggernaut and try to catch the human robot thing on the way back... Somebody coulda so told me not to be flinging energized plasma at these things it's barely scratched them.." She says, mentally and over the coms... "Would raw kinetic bolts work? Or reinforced magic ice?" She asks, not really sure as to what could maybe do any damage to those creatures... "To be honest, I never really fully geared this construct for space... Though it seems to work as far as maneuvering just fine..." Kae then glances at Juggernaut, notices his distance, the 'suit' sending measurements such as angular velocity, projected velocity, mass, all kinds of interesting things as she starts activating the fast travel option of the suit...

"Juggernaut, I'm going to pull up above you and try and pick you up... This... body, construct moves through gravitic manipulation, so if you can tell me anything about how best to grab you, now would be the time?" says the 'space' dragon as spinal plates shift a bit, the rows of bony spines down the middle of her back raising as iff her hackles were going up before they and the leading edges of her wings glow. Directly in front of her snout now a 7 sided star with a circle around it and runes suddenly flickers into existance, moving with her as it rapidly forms, then stops as she passes through it, leaving a brief contrail in a straight line on a near intercept course of Juggernaut. Suddenly she seems to flare into existance, a contrails of magical force now trailing behind the tips and fingers of her wings as well as the end of her tail. Kae then blinks, well she -had- calculated how to get back to Jug's vector, but well he's now gripped onto the star thing... Kae frowns and rolls as she banks sharply to the right wings flapping briefly, not really to get lift per say, instead the gravity bubble that's propelling her changes shape, allowing the woman-inna-star-dragon to change vectors silly fast, and now she's zipping toward Juggernaut.

Then Martian Manhunter does his thing, and she veers now, changing her trajectory to bring her in line with the humanoid robot... "Hang tight!" She transmits his way as the redhead inna construct wings their way in and around star thingies, occasionally sending out blasts of raw Kinetic energy, or even magically reinforced spears seemingly made of ice now at the stars in her way before finally catching up to Madison.. "Uhh, hi! Hang on!" she calls out, pulling up as she comes to a sudden stop and then tries to grip Madison's hand with both forelimbs before starting to accelerate back toward the rest of the ships and vehicles...

Phoenix has posed:
Both of Phoenix's hands fall to clutch at her chest in the moments after Juggernaut's titanic impact, and the strangled sounds of a telepath trying to swallow back screams slip into the comm line. Through the telepathic link, she radiates sadness at the realization that communications have ceased, possibly forever-- sadness, and panic, because jesus christ did someone just launch a 747 through her chest after pummeling her extremities non-stop???? J'onn's presence - buffering negative feedback from she and Meggan's attempts at contact - may suffice to contain the worst of it, though, sparing the other heroes from experiencing little more than the idea of her sadness, her panic.

She and Meggan likely aren't doing one another any favors, though: pain is received, shared, magnified, and shared again in a cycle that sets every nerve aflame and causes her to strain violently against her straps.

Visions of a world with humans; mutants; and humans and mutants, but with Starros on their faces, all living side by side flicker in and out of being around them in a dozen different permutations. Some tilt towards more towards lasting harmony than others, but good or bad, each possibility lost is a weight hanging from Phoenix's neck, dragging her ever deeper into her seat.

What if the Crusader could've helped them reach an accord?

What if she'd tried talking to it the first time?

What if she hadn't been quietly counting down the seconds until the rest of the team planted their virus and she could disconnect?

Seven seconds later, Meggan manages to shut her pain receptors off, lightening some of the psychoempathic load on Phoenix and giving her the breathing room she needs to focus on clearing her mind and rebuilding eroded defenses.

And, more importantly, transmitting, "Now! Deploy the virus, now, now, right now, it's hurting badly! As soon as it's in, I'm gonna use my powers to give it a boost!" while jerking upright in her chair. Right afterwards, she sinks back in, panting and peering towards Meggan.

"I mean, not recently, but I'm guessing this little outing isn't doing me any favors," she replies.

Box has posed:
The cloned Starro is launched, kept at the precise temperature needed, and it eventually impacts with the giant Mother Starro. The effect is not immediate, however it is rather rapid, the smaller creatures begin going dormant, drifting off in whatever direction they might have been heading previously, next the mid-sized ones, and finally the giant. Without their own power to guide them, it is quite unlikely that the Starros will make it to earth, a certainty for the larger ones. Assuming the virus takes hold, the threat to earth seems to be at an end?

Martian Manhunter has posed:
*Phoenix and Meggan, do you need any assistance?* The Martian sends their way, having felt not only Starro's pain but the two other psychics as well. He continues to build the telekinetic road towards the ship, and slowly decreases his size to normal for him as he takes in the scene around him.

*I will attempt to gather up as many of the Entities as I can. In their dormnat state, though, it is hard for me to detect them.*

J'onn will try his best to collect as many of the starros as he can sense, but there might be one or two that slip through...

Juggernaut has posed:
    Jean and Meggans' ship lurches slightly as Juggernaut grasps hold of it once again and steps off of the telekinetic road.

"Uh..thanks.." he says towards Martian Manhunter while shaking his hand to dislodge any remaining Starro-goop from it. He eyes the Martian from a far and then shakes his head. "Sheesh..what can't that piece of broccli do.."

Dragon-Kae is given a distant look as well but at the end he slips back in and then closes the airlock up.

Meggan has posed:
"Well," Meggan says, "I mean I cried so much when we thought you were dead, but I had to do it all alone because I knew everyone else was hurting too, and I mean all of you, everyone at the school has been so utterly sweet to me, sometimes I think I couldn't possibly deserve it if I became Superman's partner or something like that, and, AND"

"Oh, Juggernaut is back," Meggan says as there is a distinctly Marko-shaped CLONK on the whole there. Her eyes squinch up as she answers the telepathic statement: ansi(xterm14,{{)]Thank you so much for your help, sir, I think the ship's working...}}

"So the computer flies it, right?" Meggan mumbles. She manages to raise a hand to wave at the Juggernaut, which she may, later, have cause to consider ironic.

Phoenix has posed:
True to her word, Phoenix wraps burning wings around the viral invader for a heartbeat. Long enough to lend it some of her warmth - reverberating inwards as Meggan speaks - to encourage it to grow strong and multiply before setting it free to spread itself through the collective.

Once that's done, her eyes roll fully open and - smiling wanly - she loudly snuffs up some of the blood leaking from her face so that she's free to reply,

*KLONK!*

"Shit! Shit, one of them hit-- " Her eyes fix on the angry red bullet on an exterior camera feed. "... oh, yeah, okay, yeah, he's fine."

{{I think we're good, I think Juggernaut didn't kill us.}}

"Technically? I know how to fly it. And I could. But I'm probably not gonna, right now, because Jesus Christ."

Meggan has posed:
"Batman can do it if we turn on the wi-fi, can't he?" Meggan says, which seems plausible enough to her.