The Rocketeer's Story

The Rocketeer turns in circles, trying to figure out how to leave.

The Rocketeer stops, muttering something about having to get off-planet, and fast.

The Rocketeer stands in the spaceport, wishing he had a ship, then shakes his head. He needs to get onto a ship. There's no chance of him getting one.

The Rocketeer walks in, and sits down, ordering nothing. The eyesockets on his mask are filled with a gray light, not exactly glowing but definitely a presence of light.

The Rocketeer mutters "Bloody Hell... How'm I gonna get off-planet?"

The Rocketeer was in his work room, assembling a flamethrower asked to be constructed by him on request of a younger member. He didn't know why one of the kids needed it, but whatever. He just made weapons.

He was pretty new to the rebellion, but he was willing to help. He did repairs on weaponry and designed and put things together for his comrades, and was also partially involved in some larger projects, such as helping Mr. Cossack. He wasn't sure what the things he was helping build were yet, but he didn't need to know. He had designed the interplanetary comm, and was working on the overheating problem, but it would take some time, and they didn't really have that. Not a lot, at least.

He screws the barrel of the flamethrower onto the pump and trigger, and sets it aside to be tested later.

The Rocketeer wasn't used to building things other than propulsive tech, but he was good at other things too. He could put together basic weapons, such as the flamethrower he just assembled, and beam rifles, as well as slugthrower weapons, like assault rifles. A lot of the men and women out there were able to fix their own weapons, but the younger ones weren't as usually experienced. So that was what he did part time. Fix weapons.

He flips up his mask and moves on to the next weapon.

“Then someone should have protected them.” Rei stated hotly. She was in no mood to hear Roland’s sad excuses when it came to why he had allowed children to become involved in what amounted to little other than guerrilla warfare against the Aschen currently. Sure, they were causing trouble, making things a little inconvenient; but there was little else they felt that they could do. Often enough their pleas fell on deaf ears in the government, and their worlds were continually stripped for the usefulness of the Aschen and their effort to conquer the entire galaxy.

The Children of Ash had done everything in their power to move quietly and covertly, but there were still those with power who would see them dead or otherwise forgotten by the masses in the colonial sphere.

“I don’t know anything about the Asylians, but it seems they have the Aschen running scared.” That alone was pause for concern for Rei, and she wondered just what that fleet was doing stationed around the planet. In previous times, they weren’t given so much as a nod of acknowledgement, but all of a sudden they seemed to have the albeit divided, attention of the Aschen empire. At least that was the impression that yet another one of Roland’s ill trained goons gave her, and she wondered how much of this was an intimidation tactic and how much was action.

“…they did what?” She then asked Roland as she caught the device he had tossed her. “That’s… never mind. As long as it works.” Rei muttered reading over the dossier before anything else. “But.. I think I can contact this Kassandra.”

Roland ignored Rei's pushback on the topic of children. She hadn't been here for a while, and Roland did not have the time nor the temperament to debate his ethics with her. Thomas could speak for himself with much greater effect, anyway, should Rei continue to have doubts in the future.

"It's a plan, then." He said. "I'll catch up with you soon. I have to determine if there's any link between your arrival and the fleet's, as well as how to reacquire your ship. Good luck, Rei."

Leaving Rei to exit the room, Roland headed back to tinker with the skull probe. He reached into the empty eye socket, contorting his hand into an incredibly uncomfortable position to reattach a tube leading to the ceiling of its 'brain'. The other eye's robotic lense glowed a deep red, as its systems started to whir into action. What was previously a great sense of unease was overwhelmed by the thought of the Aschen fleet above his head. Roland would wait for the probe to become fully operational, and then speak.

"Hello?" He said to the probe. "It's the Children. We're ready to talk about moving things forward."

Roland ignored Rei's pushback on the topic of children. She hadn't been here for a while, and Roland did not have the time nor the temperament to debate his ethics with her. Thomas could speak for himself with much greater effect, anyway, should Rei continue to have doubts in the future.

"It's a plan, then." He said. "I'll catch up with you soon. I have to determine if there's any link between your arrival and the fleet's, as well as how to reacquire your ship. Good luck, Rei."

Leaving Rei to exit the room, Roland headed back to tinker with the skull probe. He reached into the empty eye socket, contorting his hand into an incredibly uncomfortable position to reattach a tube leading to the ceiling of its 'brain'. The other eye's robotic lense glowed a deep red, as its systems started to whir into action. What was previously a great sense of unease was overwhelmed by the thought of the Aschen fleet above his head. Roland would wait for the probe to become fully operational, and then speak.

"Hello?" He said to the probe. "It's the Children. We're ready to talk about moving things forward."

Roland ignored Rei's pushback on the topic of children. She hadn't been here for a while, and Roland did not have the time nor the temperament to debate his ethics with her. Thomas could speak for himself with much greater effect, anyway, should Rei continue to have doubts in the future.

"It's a plan, then." He said. "I'll catch up with you soon. I have to determine if there's any link between your arrival and the fleet's, as well as how to reacquire your ship. Good luck, Rei."

Leaving Rei to exit the room, Roland headed back to tinker with the skull probe. He reached into the empty eye socket, contorting his hand into an incredibly uncomfortable position to reattach a tube leading to the ceiling of its 'brain'. The other eye's robotic lense glowed a deep red, as its systems started to whir into action. What was previously a great sense of unease was overwhelmed by the thought of the Aschen fleet above his head. Roland would wait for the probe to become fully operational, and then speak.

"Hello?" He said to the probe. "It's the Children. We're ready to talk about moving things forward."

Rei had made her way down to a disused and subsequently forgotten workroom in a drift off the main tunnel of the old mine, long since left to molder by the previous occupants. Left to her own devices by Roland, who clearly seemed to have better things to do that fuss over someone, who in his opinion would likely be gone with the next shuttle out. Equipment lay scattered throughout the workings that the group had so firmly entrenched themselves into, and it wasn't any wonder that the Children of Ash had taken to such a location. It was defensible and located close to strategic locations from which to launch smaller campaigns. They were at least within a week of taking Novo Acamepamento, a middling city not terribly far from Neuva Valparaiso and it's equitoral elevator. But the safety of their holdings deep with in the planet's jungles would have to hold out.

In the meantime, she had promised Roland she would try to get a signal off planet by way of the hunk of junk he had handed her. If she was to believe him, it was some sort of subspace ansible technology that would evade even the Aschen's own scanners. He had gone on and on about how it worked, that they had bypassed a heatsink that prevented the small device from cooking itself or the hand of poor unfortunate soul that held on to it.

Switching the item on, the first thing Rei noticed was a whirring, followed by a series of sparks. Catching her breath and feeling her stomach plumet, she hoped that it wasn't broken. If it were, it would fall right in line with the series of unfortunate events she'd been having lately. Risking burning her fingers, Rei picked up the device again, feeling it thrum between her fingers. "Hello? It's Bennie Dwight." She ventured groaning inwardly at Roland's choice of names. Where did he even come up with a name like Bennie Dwight? "The children need you... they... they set up a blockade with an entire fleet over Sky's Edge."

Need wasn't exactly the best way to put it, but that's all her scrambled brain could come up with. Need was the strongest way she could put it and have everything still make sense. The fleet sighting worried her and made Rei wonder if this was all for nothing. Sighing in frustration she tossed the device aside and closed her eyes drifting off while awaiting a response, unsure if Roland had said it was one or two way.

Thomas, having overheard the techie freaking out over the blockade, surprisingly felt nothing at all. Well, not exactly nothing. He felt a need to prepare. For what, he didn't know. But he knew something was coming.

He makes his way down the hall, not saying anything to his brothers and sisters in arms so as to not incite panic. Roland would handle that.

He puts his brother out of his mind as he reaches the barracks, going straight to his cot and drags out his duffel, and taking out a disassembled crossbow, he quickly screws the bow onto the riser, and attaches the sight to the sight bridge.

He doesn't think this is enough, so he goes over to Joseph's cot and snatches up his bag, taking out a couple of smoke grenades and an incendiary.

"I hope you're okay, brother." he mutters to himself, dropping his brothers bag and taking a quiver out of his own, as well as a couple of arrows. He would have to go to the shop in the mines and purchase some more.

He goes back over to his cot and sits down, doing a thorough check of his equipment, humming a song he heard long ago and had forgotten the words to.

Roland waited in silence, secretly hoping the skull probe would not respond.

“Hello? This is the Children.” He said, giving the grotesque machine a little shake. A bright blue light sparked from its inner workings, giving Roland a static shock as the glowing red eye faded out.

“What?” Roland said. He shook it a couple more times before pushing it onto the floor in irritation. He’d have to get an engineer to repair it. Possibly that new rocketeer fellow, although he seems more interested in propulsion systems than anything else.

Roland headed out into the corridor, quickly locating Rei in a mostly unused workroom. He could see she was waiting for a response, and gave it a good moment before the communicator got way too hot to keep holding on to. “It’s alright.” He said, using his coat like an oven mitt to take it from her and place it into one of his many unreasonably deep pockets.

“Just as well the skull-machine is unresponsive too. That was my plan B all the way to Z…” Roland twirled a pen in between his fingers, looking intently through the doorway leading to a corridor. Just as one of the Childrens’ many thugs rushed past, Roland called out.

“You!” and the thug stopped in his tracks, attentive to Roland’s words. “Sorry. Daniel, I mean. Collect Thomas Lawson. Bring him here. Afterwards get our resident rocketeer to repair the skull probe in my office.” Daniel gave a nod.. “Then prepare a ship to take us off world. Enhanced procedures, more discretion than usual. Use a connection we haven’t used in a good while. Understood?”

“Uh, sure thing... Are we boned?” He said.

“Not if we stick to procedure. Get to it, now.”

Daniel left down the corridor. Roland turned back to Rei.

“We need your ship. Great Magellan war era, yes? The technology we could develop from its design would give us a much needed edge. I can track it, within reason, and also get a ship prepared to smuggle us outside of the blockade. Getting back in would be a problem, though I believe the Ghost Dance meets the technical specifications for such a task.”

“So Rei, what do you think? I’ll require every piece of information regarding its present location, to your knowledge.”

~~~

Daniel headed down the corridor, poking his head into the occasional barracks room or meeting area until he spotted Thomas looking through his things at his bunk. The kid had earnt himself a reputation as being one of the more quiet souls as part of the Children, and it was irksome to see him rummaging around weapons and grenades.

“Uh, Tom?” Said Daniel. “The boss wants you. Sounded important.”

If Thomas would follow, Daniel would lead him back to Roland before moving on to tasking the Rocketeer with repairing the skull probe.

Thomas looks up as he hears the voice of Daniel, and quickly nods, deciding to leave his crossbow behind as he gets up. He walks with Daniel, heading back to Roland.

Later, At an out-of-the-way workroom

The Rocketeer looks up at the door as someone knocks, rather loudly, he thinks, to come in. He walks over and opens the door, partially at first, then wider as he recognizes the face behind it. "Daniel! Are you here to pick up your beam rifle?" Daniel shrugs and says, "No, not exactly. The boss says he needs you to fix this." Daniel then holds up the skull probe.
The Rocketeer flips up his mask and walks up to it, taking it from Daniel, and then looking at it from all directions. "This Rolands?" he asks. Daniel says, "Yeah." The Rocketeer mutters to himself, "Seems fried, should probably replace a couple wires and the antenna. Main wiring seems to have frayed a bit. Probably should replace the lens as well, just to be sure about it."
He then sets it down on his workbench, hands Daniel his modified beam rifle, stating, "Thanks for this. The rifle should have a faster cooldown and more energy efficiency now. See you around, Dan."

As Daniel closes the door behind him, The Rocketeer sits down and gets to work.

Rei had spent the last however long drifting in and out of sleep waiting for a response. She had half suspected that all she would get was the static of communication across interstellar space, but she held out a small glimmer of hope that something might crackle across where she sat waiting.

Roland plucking the communicator out of her hands though did catch her by surprise, at which point she moved quickly and grabbed the offending party by wrist on their empty hand, twisting hard. "Roland?!" Rei exclaimed quickly releasing him from her vice like grip. "The fuck is wrong with you?! Don't sneak up on people like that! Especially not me!" She admonished the other, but it seemed he was too busy blabbering about the skull.

"Of course it's unresponsive.. it's a fucking dark age relic. They somehow pick and choose who they'll work with. Fuck if I know how... and what the fuck do you want with my ship?" She asked looking at him suspiciously. When she had gotten there, it had all been 'oh sorry about your ship.. but now that you're here..' nonsense. As always, Roland had been preoccupied by something that had piqued his interest, and never what Rei considered the issue at hand.

"So what if it is? There's probably more relics from that occupation out there, not just my ship." Rei was suspicious, and hoped that this wasn't some last ditch, suicidal effort. As much as she disliked the Aschen, she also tended to like not getting shot. "I told you, it was damaged out on the rim. I limped back here, and woke up in a Cenote. I don't know who has my ship or where it is."

To her it sounded like he wanted to gut it, use the technology aboard to do something she wouldn't like. "Even if we find it, what's to say it hasn't been scrapped already? Also running a blockade is... well... it's not easy."

Getting through the Aschen line would be hard, and undoubtedly they'd be on the lookout for the ship. Especially once someone spotting the hull numbers or radio signature. There would be so much that they would have to do to make everything seem legal and above board.

Broadcasting room, Orion base, Sky's Edge.
(View Q&A with an anonymous Aschen fleet member -COTA Broadcast #002 for context.)

Jack Scott had just finished his "on the 'waves" discussion with a low ranking member of the Aschen fleet above him, when he heard arguing voices through the thin walls in the room next to him. Sounded like an upset woman, at least to him. He was used to listening to radio static all day, god knows what it does to his ears. He thumps a fist on the wall once or twice and shouts, "Hey, I'm trying to run a radio show in here!"
He then goes back to his chair and sits down, fiddling with his revolver. He has probably one of the riskiest jobs of the entire rebellion, he's the guy who picks up most of all of the info from the outside worlds. He knows names of most everybody outside of Sky's Edge, and the names of most everyone inside it. If the Aschen took the base, and got as far down as where he was, he'd save five shots for them and the last one for himself. He hopes to God they don't ever find the Children, or any of their bases. Orion base was by far the biggest, and definitely the most at risk to attack. Especially at a time like now. When one member goes missing and you figure out they've probably gotten themselves arrested and interrogated, and then a fucking fleet appears over your head, it only causes a little bit of stress, don't you think? He just hopes that Joseph Lawson doesn't end up killing them all.
So he lights himself a smoke and sets the revolver on the table he has. This room was already meant for radio broadcasting, and when they first inhabited the mines, he immediately claimed it as his workspace. He just needed to mess with the longwave radio equipment a bit, and there he was. All set.
One of his main concerns, however, was that blockade over his head and what the hell they were planning. He hopes to hell they don't glass the place, and he doesn't know if the mines go deep enough to save at least some of them.
"Basically, here's how it goes." He says out loud into his microphone, even though the radio transmitter wasn't on. "If they glass us, we're fucked. If they send down ground troops, we're fucked. If they do literally anything. We. Are. Fucked."
He sighs and shakes his head.

Rei's reluctance to his ideas brought Roland some irritation. He understood she was frustrated, and that since her arrival he had been particularly demanding. It had been his prerogative that any emotional discomforts were secondary to the cause, and had the compartmentalisation skills of a banking firm to make that a reality. He knew it was absurd to expect the same in others, yet it still irritated him.

Roland took a step back, carefully considering his choice of words.

"It might have scrapped, yes… That would be quite the gambit. But things are bad, Rei. We're losing support. It becomes harder and harder to spread the message let alone convince people to heed it. I've exhausted every conceivable lead on this planet. If you told me a year ago that I'd be cavorting with xenos I still wouldn't be able to foresee the current predicament. But the blockade is there for a reason. They know something, and they will make a move as soon as something cracks. I've got nothing else." He lowered his voice. "The mountain just keeps getting taller…"

Thomas entered the room shortly thereafter making himself known to the two.

"Ah, yes. Thomas Lawson, meet Rei Harkov. She was critical to our growth before your time with us." He said, with a cheery tone. "Rei, this here is one of our brightest minds on deck. The Aschen forces lack a certain level of… Creativity. Thomas does not. I can get us through that blockade, but it will require the both of you. Unless either of you have any ideas based upon knowledge I do not have."

Thomas says a "Hello." to Rei Harkov. He's kind of surprised that Roland views him as one of their 'brightest minds' but he goes along with it.
He looks at the transmitter in Rei's hand, and a vague idea clicks in the back of his head.
So he starts talking, probably the most words anybody has ever heard him say.

"Hear me out, real quick. There's a man named Scott a couple of rooms over from here. He runs a sort of radio show. He once bragged he could reach some of the more distant planets, using the occasional ship to pass on his message. Places like Xamayos, Terra, Space Station Z, even Asylian Space. If we broadcast a message calling on people who have felt our suffering, maybe, just maybe, we could get some help from a couple, ah, rogue starships, pirates, factions, maybe even a few superbeings as well. We just have to try. Maybe we can cause the arrival of enough ships, at least around Moleclay, to distract the Aschen fleet long enough to allow us to get out. I'm not suggesting violence, just a blockade surrounding the blockade, just to draw their attention away from us."
He looks down, a bit embarassed, but he hopes that's enough of a plan to start them off.

Aboard the Keeper of Abassid

"Sir!" A young Lieutenant called out as he interrupted Admiral Clegg's deep train of thought, as he kept his eyes focused on the console before him. "Astrometrics intercepted a series of transmissions from the planet." The Lieutenant said as he passed the Admiral several sheets of paper attached to a clipboard.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." The Admiral replied.

"Ad Victoriam!" The Lieutenant called out, bringing his closed fist across his chest. "Ad Victoriam." Clegg replied, turning to the paper, and looking back to the console.

"EVE, can you verify?"

Flickering into view, the soft blue visage of EVE appeared, and she offered the Admiral a reassuring smile. "I'll begin analyzing points of origin, as well as voice patterns to identify the individual in this transmission." The AI Chirped. "As well as monitoring all crew activity from the last twenty four centars, to present." The AI Added, before disappearing.

Briefly, the Admiral brought his thumb to his chin, and began to stroke his beard in thought.

"Colonel, reposition our robotics and aegis cruisers to a wide dispersal pattern, instruct them to begin jamming all communications on the planet's surface, and then assemble a marine strike team for deployment."

The Colonel nodded, and turned to leave his post as the Admiral focused his attention on the readout before him.

He tapped an icon on the display, and began to magnify it.

"EVE, reposition the Night Flight, and the Nox Obscurus to these positions here, and here." The Admiral instructed, moving the icons to two points around the planet. "Have them engage their stealth systems, and have them track, but not pursue anything that tries to leave the system."

"I'll be in my ready room, open a secure channel to Intelligence as soon as I arrive." Clegg added, turning to leave his spot at the console.

---

Dozens of Royarks class robotics cruisers, escorted by Aegis class cruisers began to move away from the main fleet formation, slowly they moved to take up high orbit positions around the planet, with the advanced Electronic warfare suites aboard both the Aegis, and Royarks class ships, jamming signals coming on, and off the planet would likely be a trivial matter.