312/We're Not Gonna' Take It

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We're Not Gonna' Take It
Date of Scene: 07 May 2017
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: Summary needed
Cast of Characters: Star-Lord, Indigo, Viridian, Crusader, 171, Yondu Udonta




Star-Lord has posed:
Mirpet System
Orbit of Beta

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A squadron of seven Star Blasters jump into the Mirpet System, one after another. As they skim to a halt just outside of the planet Beta, the Corspmen piloting these these ships make sure to make these ships fall in line.
"Corpsman Esquire reporting in. Jump to the Mirpet System successful. Entering Beta's orbit now." Corpsman Esquire leads the other Star Blasters as they over in the non-existant air around the planet. "Scanning now."
The Star Blasters hold formation as Corpsman Esquire initializes the scanning equipment.
--"Um. Is that right?"
"That can't be right."
"That's impossible."
"Uh, this is Corpsman Esquire again. I'm showing no signs of life on Beta. I repeat. I'm showing no signs of life. At all." Corpsman Esquire frowns. "It's like everything on the planet is... like it's gone."

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Standby. I'm going to scan again. Maybe something's interfering with our scanners."

zzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

"Holy Nova..." Corpsman Logan peers out of the dura-glass that allows him to see what's going on outside of his ship. Either the light of the sun in the distance or the collective Star Blaster thrusters have managed to make it possible to see the flicker of red that seems to be appearing. Red... eyes? "Uh, guys?" Another set of red eyes appears in the darkness of space. Then another. Then another. More and more those red alien eyes create a magnificent visage of faceless wonderment that seems to be advancing on their location. "Is anybody else seeing this?"
"See what--- oh shit. Oh SHIT! OH SHIIIIIIT!"

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

That buzzing sound that nobody can hear (because, it's space) grows its loudest as possible as that trail of red eyes opens up into a gigantic, well, SWARM. Headed straight for those Nova Corps Scouts.
"FIRE EVERYTHING!" Corpsman Reynolds screams and the Star Blasters ignite their weapons and fire with everything they have. Bolts rocket through stars and smack against the Black Swarm with the intent to destroy whatever's headed in their direction. Shots connect. Rockets smack into the darkness. Direct hits. Multiple direct hits!
And not a single piece of the Black Swarm buckles or moves. Instead, the Swarm overtakes the entire line of Star Blasters and leaves... nothing in its wake as the collective swarm jumps to another system.

Intergalactic Communications Network}

Intercepted Nova Corps Transmission:
"--pzsht---Corpzhtman---ksssshquire---rrrrrSCHHHHHun!---itzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz----thSKRRRRGGGG----Hshhhhhhhhrde----I repcrkzleat---Th----HRRRRRRRDZzzzzzzzzZZZzzzzzshhhh---"

Indigo has posed:
    Aboard the Milano, Indigo's ears perk up at the sound of the transmission. She swivels in the gunner's seat to hop out of it and walk quickly (for the two steps it takes) over to the communications center, where she takes the transmitter controls in hand and begins programming a quick language scrubbing protocol into her systems. Slightly before she's finished convincing communications to record, the program is complete and the diagnostic is presented: she flips on the intercom and announces to the ship, "Peter, this is Indigo. A garbled distress signal has been received. Fractal analysis suggests it's saying the Nova Corps requires assistance due to an oncoming horde. I have the transmission's point of origin. What are your orders, Star-Lord?"

Viridian has posed:
    "Attempting to piece together the missing fragments of the distress code you sent me, Indigo." That's Viridian's high, cheerful voice, now a llittle less vibrant as she turns her attention to the task at hand. The girl never actually sits at a computer. Right now she actually has her tools and hands inside of one of the little roomba-like robots which ahve been roaming the ship.. They've learned to avoid Peter's wrath and be as inobtrusive as possible while they work. Viri sets the tools down on the table now and sighs. "Okay, more of that later. I have work to do! Max, have you finished maintenace on your weapon pods?"

    The trill of a mechanical dolphin follows to signal the affirmative. "Indi, this might take a bit. If I can get anything out of it at all."

Star-Lord has posed:
"So what do you say, do we have a deal?"
The Collector sits on his makeshift throne. His fingers are steepled in front of him as he considers the offer that's on the table. He doesn't seem impressed. That's for sure.
On the other side of the table is The Legendary Star-Lord. He's grinning with all the charm he can muster up on such short notice to make sure that nothing could possibly go wrong with this deal. Until, y'know, Indigo's voice comes across the communicator he's got set on speaker. He forgot. "Uhhhh... could you give me a minute, Indigo? I'm negotiating over here." Peter reaches up to mute the communicator and puts his focus back on The Collector.
Said Collector has already turned his raised eyebrows and attention towards his own holographic transmission reception device. "Oh my my my. Do my ears deceive me? Could it be?"
"Could what be what?" Star-Lord's clueless.
The Collector grins as he looks back towards Star-Lord. "The Horde."
"Yeah, uh, unless you're talking about She-Ra Princess of Power... you're going to need to elaborate a bit more." Peter crosses his arms since his deal is still on the table.
"The Horde. Nasty things. Violent things. Unkillable, I hear." The Collector gets that greedy grin of his on his face once more. "I want one."
"Well, okay. That's awesome. You go right ahead and--"
"Ah ah, Peter. I want you and your friends to get me one."
Peter stares at The Collector. The Collector stares back. Peter raises one eyebrow. The Collector raises both. Peter sighs and The Collector grins.
"Fine. But I want a million credits for this. On /top/ of what we're already working out for last job." Peter doesn't look like he's budging on that.
"Done!" The Collector is up and out of his seat. "Go now. Shoo! Before they kill everything in sight and you don't stand a chance at getting me what I want."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Don't die, Quill! Remember! A million units!"

The Milano opens up and here comes Peter. "Alright, Assholes! Strap in! We got business anywhere but here." Peter just makes his way through the ship and towards the cockpit. "Indigo, get Nova Corps on the line. Tell 'em we're on our way. Usual rates apply." Peter's walk through has him tossing orders to everyone within earshot apparently, "Viri. Please tell me you've got something in your bag of tricks that'll let us catch an ultra violent, unkillable, space monster of death? If not, you've got until we run right smack dab into the middle of them to build one."
Peter hops into the pilot seat in the cockpit and gets The Milano purring.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods. "Yes, Star-Lord," she says calmly, the electronic hum beneath her voice present even without the communicators. She keys in the transmission to the Nova Corps, creating a quick holographic transmission on the fly so she can talk to both Nova Prime and Star-Lord simultaneously, the latter of whom she informs, "I have gravitic weaponry installed in my body, Star-Lord." 'Star-Lord,' she keeps calling him; not 'Peter.' Mission time. "I use them primarily for concussive shockwaves, but it's possible for me to emit a focused ray that compresses time within the beam. It's not impossible I that effect could speed time for an enemy enough to make it weak with hunger, or to drain its power cells, depending on what we're talking about. I'd have to leave the ship to do it, though."

Viridian has posed:
    "An ultraviolent, unkillable space monster of death... Actually, I have an idea. Do you think they feel pain?" Viridian frown s then, tilting her head slightly as she does so. The little computer sitting next to her is scrolling information along the scren at an alarming rate.
    "I understand, Max, but there is something to be said for feedback fields- right, no. If we calibrate it wrong the stupid thing can just fly out! Right, okay." Tori is arguing with an unseen presence while she... Stares at a wall, her computer recording her thoughts as searches for information in the technical library. Technopaths are weird.
    "If you can make it weak I think I can probably trap one. I call it a feedback field. Basically, if you push on it it pushes back. Push too hard it might break, but a flailing, weakend monster thing... Well, that and a few forcefields and we're okay! Probably. Either that or it oges into a berserk fury, breaks the field, and kils us all. You know how it is, guys!" Tori waves this offf, speaking animatedly in a rather chipper tone.
    "I... Hope my uncle's okay. He's a Corpsman."

Crusader has posed:
Very rarely does Crusader ever use his ship. His home was earth and earth is where he generally stays. But... a distress signal from outer space? Lordy lord, that ment trouble. Didn't take a geniouse to figure that out

Soon enough Crusader is one with The StarPiercer, his ship and rising into space. Once a few miles out the ship changes into a streamline form. Thrusters fire up....and BOOM! The StarPiecer goes racing through space at FTL speeds towards the where the signal originated from and towards the Guardians unknowingly to Crusader.

Star-Lord has posed:
The Milano is making jumps with ease thanks to Star-Lord being at the helm. He's focused on flying but he's also capable of trying to keep up with everything that's going on with his crew back there.

"Hey, this is super important but like, does Max fetch? Max, if you fetch, I need Cosmic Mix, Vol. 1! Yes, you can go in my room!" With that out of the way, Peter can focus on more important matters.

"I don't want you going out there. I don't know the first thing about these things. If The Collector wants one and doesn't have one, they can't be easy to catch. We just got you put back together. I'm not having you ripped to shreds again." Peter jumps through another couple systems. "You're like a super genius. And so is she. Put your heads together and find a way to make your gravity laser thing work from the ship."

The Milano's sensors pick up on, well, a bunch of everything the moment they jump into the Lomora System. There's one blip on the sensors that's another ship and then there's a bunch of blips. A lot of blips.

A SWARM of Blips.

"Um. Shit?"

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo swivels in her chair to face Viridian, and reaches out to take her hand. Her cotton candy lips are curled up in a sweet smile. "I'm sure he is. And if he's not, we'll have to get there in time to make him okay again. Do you know his callsign to watch for?"
    Once Viridian has been comforted, then Indigo returns her attention to Star-Lord. "It would take a retrofit of the Milano's weapons systems to do such a thing. The ship simply doesn't have the capacity. I'm not sure the technology even exists in this century. Short of detaching my arms, mounting them to the hull, and slaving the weapons system to my CPU--which I'm willing to discuss if you are--the only option I see is to open the airlock and let me stand inside while I fire, if you don't want me actually flying in space myself. Viri, do you have a clever solution I haven't seen?"

Viridian has posed:
    "Well. It might be safer if we send Max," Viri responds quietly. She is staring at the wall again, those blue eyees of hers thoughtful as pink hair shifts to violet. A deep breath is taken and she exhales very slowly. "He wants me to rig your weapon systems to him. Just in case something happens to you because we, um... We can't rebuild... I can't..."
    Tori swallows, hard. She shifts her weight in her seat and then looks over at Indigo again as she considers this. "Because he has spare parts and you don't. Say, how much... power do we need to run those? What kind of fuel supply? I mean, can batteries in this century even run your weapons?" The girl runs her fingers along the edge of the table.
    A little bit later one of the cleaning droids arrives to give Peter the mix tape. He beeps cheerfully, having just gained access to the hidden trove of dirty things to make clean.

Phyla-Vell (171) has posed:
TINCH

Phyla appears standing in the doorway of the cockpit, her sword tip scraping the floor as she leans against it and smiles at the crew of the Milano. "That's a great idea Indigo." The half titan says, reaching one hand up over her shoulder to tug at the hem of her cloak's hood and brings it up over her white hair and with that Quasar turns around and starts to climb down the staggered steps.

TINK

PLINK

PLONK

Goes the tip of the bastard sword off each step as she makes her way towards the airlock.

Crusader has posed:
The starpiecer containing Crusader soon lands within the Lomora System. It is its' own blip on a monitor as it 'tech' is odd. It slow down and alters shape to be in stealth mode. He was getting his own indicator of all those blippin bleeps. "....crap" is all the Crusader says

He puts out a signal "Hello, hello, anyone out there? This the captain of The StarPiecer, do you read?" he didn't know if anything was alive out here yet

Star-Lord has posed:
Peter leaves the communications to Indigo since she's the one handling all of that business. "Indigo, make sure that other ship knows this is our bounty! Dibs, dude! Dibs!" Just in case Indigo has the channel open, Peter makes sure his orders are heard.

"Hey! What? Wait!" Peter keeps trying to look behind him but he's also flying so it's kind of hard. "Why does everybody keep trying to jump out of a moving ship?! Do we not know the difference between Safe Inside and Dead Outside?" Peter rolls his eyes and pulls back on the controls to keep some distance between his Milano and The Freakin' Horde.

----

Outside, swarming en masse through this system is that exact Freakin' Horde. Their numbers are large, infinite even. Or at least that's how it looks. They move at their constant and unyielding pace as though anything in their path will simply be done away with as they soar through the system. Nothing is safe. Nothing will be safe. Not The Milano. Not The Starpiercer. Not the Planets of this System.

The Horde Swarms.

----

Auto-Pilot Engaged.

Quill snatches the mixtape from the little bot. "Good for somethin'. You didn't clean up while you were in there, did you?" It's just a joke as Peter twirls the tape between his fingers and heads off in the direction of the bridge... and his tape deck.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo raises her eyebrows at Viri, and smiles at the mostly human girl. "Max would like my arms?" she asks, for clarification. She turns her smile to him and shakes her head. "Thank you for offering, Max, but I don't consider you expendable. Nor is Phyla-Vell. We all work together to cover one another, or everyone's at risk." She nods firmly, considering the matter settled even as she sends out a general communications signal: 'To all ships engaged in the battle with the Horde, this is the Milano. We are here to assist. Please advise of a strategy; in lieu of advisement, we are beginning to engage.'
    Not exactly Star-Lord's orders, but rather more diplomatic, hm?
    "Star-Lord, I'm going to the airlock to cover Phyla-Vell. Please don't worry about me. I have very good aim." She winks at Viri and stands up from the communications console, both arms morphing strangely as she walks; her forearms are deepening to color in purple as the microfilaments stretch to allow for the turbines to power each shot. The focusing lenses appear in each palm as her fingers melt back into her wrists to provide extra mass to cover the surface area the cannons require. Four seconds later, she no longer has hands: she's kind of rocking a Samus Aran look, except the cannons aren't visibly metallic, they're made of her own flesh.

Viridian has posed:
    "Oh, and Star-Bot calls dibs," Viri transmits helpfully after Indigo is done speaking. "Whatever that means." After that the girl then shifts her gaze toward Indigo, blue eyes wide. Max trills somethign only Viridian could possible understand.
    "From the airlock then," the girl agrees quietly. "I'll send Max to assist. I can reconfigure his power matrix and get ready with those feedback fields I was talking about so we acan find out if they can catch these things."
    With a sigh Viridian turns, the frame moving a bit awkwardly as she goes to meet a couple of her little bots carrying parts. "This is exciting, though! A new blueprint." It doesn't take much for the engineer to be happy apparently. Her hair is reaching a deep green.

Phyla-Vell (171) has posed:
Carrying the sword upside down, Phyla walks briskly with a deviant smile crossing over her face before she notices Indigo and some robots following her towards the air lock. "This is going to be a good fight." She says, obviously she doesn't know they need to capture at least one of the things, this girl is just here to fight with her blood lust starting to take over. The warrior within wakening.

She looks over her shoulder and waits for all the combatants to enter the air lock with her and tightens her grip on her elaborate golden sword. "Everyone ready?" She asks before shouting, "Brace yourselves!" And slams the button with her palm, shutting the interrior door and sucking the air out to equalize the pressure with the vacuum outside before opening the exterior door to get a view of the hoard following the Milano.

Crusader has posed:
"One am here for a distress call only. Sides... this look like fun!" Crusader chips back over the comms "So keep your dibs, so long as one is happy getting a chance to fire some weapons" is his quip back

The Starpiecer changes shape again, exiting stealth mode and entering an offense mood with various weapons and turrents on the ship itself. His ship was of course trying to stay ahead of the hoard, but also out of the Milano way. Infact he seems to try and provide cover fire as he laucnhs various weapons at the comming Horde!

Yondu Udonta has posed:
"Assist? Assist?!" comes the familiar voice of Yondu Udonta in a transmission to the communication system. "Quill, if you're here to assist, we might as well already be dead!"

Two Milano-sized Ravager ships can be seen in the distance, although one bursts apart as the Horde engulfs and obliterates it. The other is missing a wing, its remaining thruster sending it into a spiraling maneuver.

"I had this in the bag 'til you came along, boy! Now you're gonna make it look like I needed help!"

Yondu's ship clearly needs the help.

Star-Lord has posed:
The Horde doesn't seem like they even realize what's happening. They don't care. They don't seem to do anything but grow in number and maybe even the size of the swarm as they head towards the ships in their path. They don't break off. They don't break formation. They don't do anything but speed towards The Milano and The Starpiercer with predatory speed.

----

Peter actually stops when he hears Viri butchering his name. He rolls his eyes. "Even my own crew, man. Come on. It's not /that/ hard to remember." Peter remembers what he's supposed to be doing and gets over to the tape deck. He shoves the Cosmic Mix, Vol. 1 into the deck and presses Play.

"Hey! Hey! Nobody dies! The Collector's offering us a million units. But nobody on my crew is gonna' die for 'em!" That's the general communication sent to EVERYONE ON THE SHIP. Orders have been given, dammit.

Peter's already on his way back to the cockpit so that he can get to the weapons when Yondu's voice comes onto his channel. "... Yondu?" Peter's eyes go wide and he speeds up to drop down is chair. "Yondu! What the hell are you doing?! Why are you even in this system?!" Peter narrows his eyes to peer through the glass of his Milano. Almost as if he could glare through the Horde and see Yondu. "... did The Collector hail you? I called dibs!" Even in the middle of all his talking and joking, Peter's turning the ship to make sure that those in the Airlock are getting a better angle while at the same time making it very clear that he might have to fly INTO The Horde to get to Yondu.

In the tape deck, the cassette has finally started its slow spin towards the first track...

----

The Starpiercer's weapons are flying in the direction of the HUGE HORDE SWARM. Turrets are blasting away with their cover fire and the Eternal Space Locusts are hit DEAD ON. One after another they are riddled into by all manner of laser or ballistic or whatever else is headed in their direction. Pieces of The Horde seem to clip and chip off but they are not stopped. They are not moved. They are not brought to a pause.

The Horde Continues...

Indigo has posed:
    As soon as she's out of view of the cockpit, Indigo undergoes more hardware reconfigurations: small thruster fins push out of her shoulder blades and calves; her ability to fly is now engaged. Oh, she doesn't mean to go out of the airlock, but no plan survives contact with the enemy, and if an explosion or something knocks her out into space, she wants to be ready to fly immediately. No reason to startle anyone with her appearance otherwise.
    In the airlock, as the hatch back to the ship proper cycles through the sealing process, Indigo nods at Quasar. "We're being paid to capture one, so if you see Max encase one in a force field, please do your best to make sure he can successfully transport it back to the ship," she requests, "but not at the expense of your own safety. I'd hate if something happened to you, Phyla-Vell." She smiles at the half-titan, then widens her stance for more stable footing and points her arms, ready to fire the moment Quasar opens the hatch.

Viridian has posed:
    That damnable pink dolphin has exited the Milano. It floats toward Yondu, though perhaps by happenstance, as it seems to be hauiling with it a large box with a dish on the top of it. Viri bites her bottom lip while she watches one of the diplay. The dolphin is incredibly nimble as it flits through space with its package, moving toward the oncoming horde. The box and its dish is is jettisoned, cable whipping around then retracting into the dolphin's backside. The creature heads back to the ship to meet up with Viri again and retrieve another box.
    "Deploying the countermeasures," Viridian calls out itno the comms. "We'll see how they work on these things. ...Oh! Hi, Yondu," she calls cheerfully. "We're coming for you! Don't worry. Even Max." Her hair is now something of a lime green. Viri is pretty content with how things go, even while Max is setting up her forcefield web.

Yondu Udonta has posed:
"Collector?!" Yondu shouts across the comm. "Don't be a Poglachian, Pete! I'm here on an errand for..." He pauses before cackling. "Damn you, you still got it--almost made me give up /my/ buyer! But good to know that the Collector's payin' enough to get you outta that Xybarklic slime-pit you call a bed!"

His ship continues to veer about in a sharp spiral path, although it's not entirely predictable. The result is that Yondu's defensive fire is erratic, potentially threatening the Guardians as much as the Horde forces swarming about.

Just then, a few Horde locusts manage to latch on to the remaining wing and the cockpit of Yondu's ship. "Damnation!" he cries.

Phyla-Vell (171) has posed:
Phyla makes sure to lean out of the way of the dolphin and to give the beast covering fire as she levels her one of her arms, more specifically, her gauntlet towards the horde and unleshes rapid fire beams of energy. Looking like golden hued laser bolts, the half titan isn't even sure if her attacks will phase the beings chasing them, but it's her only long range option.

As the beast comes back into the Milano, Phyla crouches out of the way, turning and looking at Indigo with surprise. "Quill-Lord is turning the ship around. He's going to dive into the horde." A frown initially on her face slowly grows into a euphoric smile.

Next thing Indigo would see is Phyla stepping out of the air lock, sword held tightly and carefully crawling/flying her way around the ship until she's moving across the glass canopy and waves comically inwards before she moves to stand on the nose of the Milano.

Crusader has posed:
The StarPiecer own captain seem to have his own brand of crazy. The ship flies up, down, zig zag spin....all fireing constantly. It may not be doing much to the Horde,but dang it, he was going to give them a bite

He than realizes that another ship is in trouble. The ship alters again fro speed. He fires up a pulse weapon. Takes aim...and fires! The shot goes between Yundo ship and the horde, the resulting pulse sending the ship in question away from the horde and towards the Milano. It was at least something

The ship speed forward and contines to provide cover fire for the Milano, inspite of the obviouse risks of going towards the horde.

Star-Lord has posed:
The Horde is tanking most of the fire that's headed in their direction. Not because they want to but because they just can. There's clearly very little that can be done to them that will actually make them stop. The pieces that get chipped and shot and blasted and exploded off only seem to reform moments later. As if there's any semblance of time in space.

The Starpiercer's efforts may not be killing The Horde but it certainly seems to be making some dents. Holes in the mass of Eternal Creatures are opened up in almost all directions thanks to the Starpiercer's assault. If anyone were to look at this from a distance, they'd probably get to see a big Middle Finger carved into the swarm's collective body. Those holes start to fill up moments later.

Quantum blasts, though, seem to have done a little something different. Such power actually creates a sizzling effect when the blasts connect with the Horde. Two of them actually stutter off course for a couple of moments, their reforming bodies taking longer than the others. Huh.

----

"Oh, come on! I haven't slept in Xybarklic slime in at least ten years! You wouldn't let me keep it on the ship!" Peter's into full on remember this mode because he remembers it. Just like it was yesterday. "Now hold still. I'm comin' to save your ass." Peter makes sure Yondu knows who's doing the saving around here as he takes The Milano right into one of those Holes in the Horde. "Phyla! You better not die out there! I do not want to clean super hot half-titan babe off my windshield!" More jokes because that's what Peter does. Y'know, while he's flying INTO a swarm of life-ending creatures.

That cassette tape finally rolls over towards the song he's been waiting to hear. Especially since it's going to make him fly better...

https://youtu.be/pivx0PRFOYs

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo is braced against the sudden vacuum, and keeps her footing in the airlock. She's already tracking targets, but, as much as the mission priority is to pick a straggler from the herd, all those ships out there are full of people, and the expression of her face is stricken as she calculates the human cost of what she's seeing.
    New mission parameters are generated: save the people. Her apertures narrow down to needle-thin points: whatever the Horde are, they're about to be hit with a pressure sprayer that instead of shooting water shoots gravity. It may not kill these things, but it won't feel good by a long stretch either. She begins firing short bursts at the creatures near any ship she can target; in space, the distance between the Milano and the Horde is vast, but gravity travels pretty darned quickly, and she lands at least a dozen solid shots. She watches through narrowed eyes, looking for signs that she cracked anything's carapaces, or even impaled them.

Yondu Udonta has posed:
The pulse-burst from the Starpiercer certainly is unexpected to Yondu, who is jerked forward by the blast, saved from slamming against his cockpit port by his safety harness. Still alive, he sends a deafening call through the comm:

Wwwwwwww                            aaaaaaaa
      wwwwhhhh                ooooaaaa    aaaaoooo                !!!!!!!!
            hhhhhhhh    oooooooo                oooooooo    aaaa!!!!
                  hhhhoooo                            ooooaaaa


Yondu's ship spirals around more rapidly and chaotically in its new trajectory toward the Milano. Its thrusters sputter, attempting to reboot and fire, but some mechanical issue prevents it from succeeding. This may not matter for too long, given that the ruined Ravager ship is about to make a high-speed dock-to-dock connection. That unassuming part of the Milano's hull facing Yondu's craft is totally a dock, right?

Phyla-Vell (171) has posed:
"I don't plan on it Quill-Lord!" Phyla says before she pushes off the front of the ship, pushing her own flying powers to their full potential diving into the mass of eternals with her sword swinging like a mad woman, but over the com, she's laughing. She's laughing her ass off.

Crusader has posed:
No ship is left behind. The STarpiecer notes the Milano going through one of the holes. Heavy concentration fire activate!

The Starpiecer keeps speed, but it concentration is now in making sure the hole the Milano goes through does not close and stays open instead. Which isn't easy considering the horde keeps getting closer

"Best get your friend out of there....perhaps yesterday!" he exclaims over the come "And for the record Xybarklic slime is VERY comfortable" he states bluntly over the coms

Yondu Udonta has posed:
Straining to control his entirely-out-of-control ship, Yondu grimaces. The weapons, at least, continue to operate normally--which is to say that they're currently firing ZONK ZONK ZONKZONK ZONK in every imaginable direction.

"Milano!" he calls over the comm. "I may have to eject if you've got any way to grab me--otherwise don't risk yourselves for me! You know the deal, Quill...get out alive and get as rich as you can!"

Yondu attempts to keep firing at the Horde, not that his targeting is remotely reliable. The thrusters continue to sputter, activating in short bursts that seem to keep dying out. After a moment, Yondu releases his safety harness and is immediately thrown about the cabin. Loud curses, thuds, and bangs can be heard over the radio.

Viridian has posed:
Floating in space a small network of boxes with radial dishes on to pof them has been set up to float in space behind the Milanol. The pink dolphin rejoins the crew while the boxes, each a meter across, float and do... nothing. a Nothing at all. Between them they probably cover enough space to catch two or three of the horde between them. If that space wasn't just empty.

Viridian, for her part, is staring off into space again. Her fingers are moving as if she is typing on a keyboard that doesn't exist, the strokes too soft to actually strike a key. A deep breath is taken. "Yondu! Go ahead and eject! I have a care package headed your way. Trust me!"

The pink dolphin, Max, diverts his course, jetting toward Yondu's flailing ship. The Horde is closing on the vessel ahead. The dolphin opens up on all sides to reveal missile racks. "Tracking... Tracking..." Those are some pretty big warheads for such a little creature. Viridian was definitely busy preparing for this.

Viridian has posed:
The missiles fire. Of course. Whatever propulsion they use there are no familiar jets flame in space. Just pretty lights. And so plays the song,

            "They're Dolphins, Dolphins space!
            Flying about, protecting the human race!"

Max loves that song.

Indigo has posed:
    A shapeshifting spaceship. That's interesting. Indigo continues firing, focusing fire on repelling the horde from the ships...then Yondu's distress call. "Yondu Udonta," she tries to call out, then could just about facepalm herself out of existence: there is no sound in the vacuum, and she knows that very well. Her knees flex to launch herself out after him...but then Viridian promises Max's attention, and Indigo relaxes. She trusts Viri, and therefore Max, implicitly. Her mission parameters change again to focus on cover fire for Max, aiming across his bow (such as it is) to clear not only a path ahead of him but also to make a hole in space for Yondu to eject into. Then the Milano is arcing, and Indigo has taken her best shot. All she can do is go back to sniping random Hordelings as the opportunity presents itself.
    Fortunately, there are a lot of Hordelings to give her opportunities.

Star-Lord has posed:
The Horde is being penetrated but not decimated. As if the music has created a montage of action and space adventure, The Horde starts to feel the effects of the multiple attacks from every direction. It fights to try and close the holes that are being made by the Quasar and the Starpiercer. Both of them seem to close up almost as quickly as they are opened. It's like a revolving door of Hordeness.
As The Horde passes by The Milano they get dangerously close. Close enough to smack into the ship wildly. Almost like giant bugs smacking against a windshield. Phyla-Vell is definitely going to be in for a rude awakening because some of those locusts do veer off in her direction and they come with sharp objects for the stabbing. They are looking to tear her apart. They just don't know exactly what they're dealing with yet.

Indigo's blasts seem to be making the exact dent needed for collaboration in saving Yondu. Likely this was all planned and not as haphazard and thrown together as it seems. But there's a path that Max can take to get to Yondu! If Yondu ejects right!

----

"Eject, Yondu! Eject!"

Peter doesn't want to sound like he's worried but he just might be. He's focused on trying to keep The Milano steady because there are SPACE LOCUSTS OF DEATH smacking into his ship and they are not nice. He's firing off some of those ZONKS as well but they are doing absolutely nothing but putting holes through pieces of Horde Swarm that refill the moment the ZONK ZONKS through them.

"We gotta' get outta' here. I am not dyin' by bug. Just no." Peter tosses a quick glance over his shoulder towards the back. "Viri! Grab one of those things whenever you want so we can get the hell outta' here! And by whenever you want I mean... NOW!"

Phyla-Vell (171) has posed:
Phyla is screaming her lungs out into the nothingness so only the com can pick her up. She's trying to carve her way towards Yondu's ship like the turkey meister on Thanksgiving day. Not that she knows a thing about that, nor does she car. She swing madly, but with practiced precision, and will occasionally fire a golden bolt of energy into another Eternal when a trio close the distance and get a few lucky swipes in on the half titan. Causing her to scream out.

Yondu Udonta has posed:
Still veering wildly, Yondu flails desperately to open the airlock in his cabin as he bounces around its walls. Finally, he manages to gain just enough traction to push off the ceiling toward the rear airlock. Yondu reaches out and brushes the control panel, which deactivates the airlock shield.

On the other side of the shield, the hatch has been destroyed, and Yondu is sucked out into space like he's a missile that's been fired--and mostly in the direction of the Milano! He's holding his breath, scrambling to keep his eyes on the Guardians' ship even while he tumbles end-over-end through the vacuum of space, Horde locusts all around him and lasers zipping about in blinding flashes of light.

Viridian has posed:
There's the dolphin. Yondu would see it shooting past him and deploying grappling cables. There's only a moment before those cables latch onto the floating Ravager with surprising facility. They're almost like hands. Once they've been set the dolphin, missile racks empty, turns back toward the ship and starts his swift return. One of the hooks has a spacesuit, just a little slap patch for Yondu to snag and use to keep his face from freezing and his eyes from exploding.

Viri takes a deep breath and nods. She actually picks up her computer now, runningher fingers along the keys. The girl's hair is actually bright daisy yellow for a moment as her fingers are rapidly flying across the keys.

"Okay. They've taken the bait. Following Max and Yondu through the net now. Deploying package, Star Lord!"

The boxes pop with a small puff of trapped atmosphere and fall away. The dishes are attached to what appears to be large batteries, a mass of wires around them. The radial dishes above those boxes begin to glow, shooting out beams of white-golden light that form a broad net as pink dolphin and Ravager are shooting past.

"Okay. So... This will catch it. I think. Probably. Probably maybe. But we have to retrieve the package! Before its friends... You know. Smash everything."

Crusader has posed:
"Nice net. But think you can figure out where these guys are heading?" he asks over the comms "It looks like they destroyed the entire starsystem...and if one system is next, knowing would be appreciaited!" he exclaims over the controls

With the horde bumping into the Milano, careful shots are taken to shoot the horde off the ship. Pew pew pew! Tae that bug scum "And also....you guys are seriiously being payed a mil credits to catch one of these? Call that a steal. Would have charged twice that if one was you fellas" pew pew pew again at more Hordelings! He was careful not to hit the dolphin or others but it was becomming harder to stay away

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo hears Phyla's scream over the comm (which fact she files away for future study into whether Quasar generates her own atmosphere or what) and alters mission parameters again. She'd love to save everyone, but Phyla is crew; Phyla is family. Concentric waves of gravity emanate from her thrusters and then she's blasting into space at a serious clip, both arms morphing back into their normal, human configuration...well, except for the gravity apertures remaining in her palms, open to the widest possible setting. She has to punch her way through a few Hordelings to get to Quasar, but she's equal to the task; the microhydraulic fibers in her muscles make for pretty powerful impact when she wants to, and she wants to now. It's doubtlessly not enough to kill Eternals, but as long as she can scatter them to get in front of Phyla, to pull Phyla's arm around her shoulders and begin flying backward toward Max with Phyla beside her while Indigo's arms thrust out in a warding gesture to generate a force screen for protection: that's good enough for her. With any luck, Phyla will be able to help get the cargo back to the ship, but if not, at least all five (counting Yondu) will be heading home with Indigo's shields in place.

Phyla-Vell (171) has posed:
Phyla's exhausted, so she can't argue with Indigo, she can barely hold onto her quantum sword. "Th-thank you." She says, and smiles weakly to the blue shapeshifter while barely staying conscious from the head first dive into danger and constant attacking to keep the Milano safe.

Yondu Udonta has posed:
The blue-skinned Centaurian hangs on to the cables dragging behind Max the robo-dolphin. He mutters some sort of profanity relating to this whole ordeal into the emptiness of space. Then, he activates the space-suit and breathes easier (which is to say he could breathe at all).

"It had to be this freakin' thing, didn't it..." he says within his suit. "And I thought Quill was the worst."

Yondu looks over his shoulder as he's pulled toward the Milano out toward Phyla-Vell and the Starpiercer continuing their assault on the Horde. He offers a respectful nod in their directions.

Star-Lord has posed:
"Dude with the crazy cool ship that's giving unsolicited advice... who cares?! It's time go! Get out of here!" Peter's not worried about anything but his crew right now. The amount of ZONKS coming out of the Milano right now is insane. And they are direct hitting like there's no tomorrow. They do absolutely nothing to THE HORDE but they are at least buckling them a half-step. And a bunch of half-steps in space can really make the difference here.

"Hang on." Peter stops shooting long enough to swerve The Milano around to face the hole that Bjorn has been keeping open. But he doesn't head that way. Nope, instead, shifts thrusters and starts flying the freak /backwards/. "Come on, come on." How he's managing to bob and weave while the ship is facing the opposite direction probably has more to do with the music that's still going than anything. Oh and maybe his mad piloting skills.

The closer he keeps the airlock to his crew the faster they can get in and everyone can get the hell out. "Come on, guys. Move. /Move/. We got this!"

----

THE HORDE is ON THEM. On everyone. The time has come for The Horde to kick it up a notch and start tearing apart everything that's in their path. They come from all angles now, the swarming opening wider to aim for anything and everything in the system. Debris, Guardians, Starpiercers, that freaking planet off in the distance. Nope. It's time for the Lomora System to get wiped clean.

These locusts are pulling absolutely no more punches.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo smiles back at Phyla, but doesn't nod: at the speeds she's going, she doesn't want to risk that kind of motion throwing off her momentum. She stays on Max's back every metaphorical step of his trip back to the Milano, shielding him and Yondu as best she can (which is, unfortunately, limited: her shield is only three meters in diameter, it's one-directional, and it turns out there's a LOT of directions to come from in space). Still, there's no excuse for giving up. She does her best to angle the shield so every Hordeling impact bumps her back in the direction of the ship, and the instant everyone is in the airlock, she slams the button with her elbow to seal and pressurize. Phyla seems more or less intact, so triage begins with Yondu. She checks his pulse and skin plasticity while she waits for atmosphere to return, and the moment it does, she cries, "Crew and cargo aboard, Peter!"

Yondu Udonta has posed:
Yondu pulls himself up along the tow cable until he's clutching Max's chassis. With one hand, he holds on tight. With the other, he pulls a quantum grenade from a bandolier across his chest and throws it back toward the Horde. It's hard to tell exactly where it is or how fast it's going--but it very quickly reaches a cluster of locusts and detonates.

"Sayonara suckers!" Yondu shouts with a laugh. (He's not saying farewell in Japanese; it's a coincidental homophone that refers to a particular highly despised parasite creature that feeds on uncertainty.)

As he turns back to gaze on the approaching Milano, Yondu's laughter fades. "My crew better never hear 'bout this..." he says quietly.

Crusader has posed:
The Star Piecer enters a hybrid state of defense and speed. "There a reason this baby called the Star Piecer"

The thrusters enagegd and suddenly he darts forward. The extream speed and defense exterior provide what he needs - a hard cover and nearly untouchble speed. He quite litterly carves the words "Crusader was Here" within the horde! Sure it closes up a few minuts latter, but it happened!

The Star Piecer zips in and out of the Horde quick as a whip. But clearly in this state it lacked actual weapons to use. One last thrust as the Horde closes in and The STarpiecer spirals out of the Horde actually seeming to break apart the secontions connected with what looked like liquid metal cabling before reforming back togeather into a single ship and zooming away from the oncomming Horde

Star-Lord has posed:
"Let's see if you bastards can do 90."

With that epic phrase that probably one he gets, Star-Lord flips another switch and shifts thrusters once more. The Milano almost stops but Peter knows how to keep it on a slow burn until some of those beasts are right behind him.

A pair of Hordelings are headed straight for the sides of The Milano, but there's a quantum grenade that makes short work of them. The explosion arcing up and around The Milano as it juts forward with way more speed than it probably should have at this point. Peter's probably switched some systems over.

Peter reaches up and slides his fingers across a screen to make sure that the next system they're headed for is going to be a safe bet. It may or may not be but there's no time to scan or anything. Instead, there is only Peter Quill hitting the button to open the access port and activate the freakin' jump to get them out of here!

----

THE HORDE swallows everything that's left in their path. It all goes up in darkness. The swarm reforms itself a few times to make it look as though they were never attacked. As they flock and fly together, they seem to form one giant space locust of death. It curves and speeds towards that poor planet in the distance.

As The Horde moves as one, there is one small hole in the grand Horde scheme as one of their number are missing...