Polaris&#x27; Newest Scourge

"OOOOOOOHHHHH!" J.A.N.E.T continued, tapping Ratchet's tail. "I sure can. Tyson's in a meeting with Queen Koriand'r currently so we should give them privacy. Or go in and eavesdrop. Whatever you two wanna do. I'm not your dad."

She flitted away in a circular formation. Celine knew enough from her dad's old Disney Sing-Along tapes to know about following the bouncing ball.

"Just politely let them know we're here and that I guess we'll be waiting in the mess or... we'll figure it out."

He really was not sure where they'll go once all of this stuff was put away. But figuring things out as he went came naturally to the Lombax. While he didn't bounce along he still followed the 'ball' along through the Hound's corridors.

"Though if either of you have any ideas on what to do once we've gotten all of this stored away I'm all ears."

"Yeah that could help some," Celine nodded, they headed into the ship together, following the halls down to the bridge. "Interesting that they would be able to build such compatible tech with one another. Then again they are variants of each other. So it does stand to reason great minds think alike." "What's that say about Trojan?" J.A.N.E.T quipped, appearing as a little pixie on Celine's shoulder. "OOOOOOOHHHHH!" Celine repeated the call, high fiving the diminutive techno-soul with one finger. If Ratchet joined in, he'd get high fives from J.A.N.E.T as well. But there was no pressure to act if they didn't want to. "Seriously though, have I ever met that guy? I remember maybe once when he was trying to nuke reality, but that was a day..."

At first the captain believed that he would not have been able to join in on the fun, what with his hands all still full carrying bags of food for Tyson. But then he remembered he still had one limb that was not currently occupied and could deal with the task at hand. Lifting up his tail and hoping this would not be too weird, he would offer the little puffball at the end if they would take it.

If they had cared to look and notice they would see a golden ring emblazoned with an L was affixed onto the appendage. The oversized tuff of fur on the end seemingly being the only thing keeping the jewelry from sliding right off.

"Good to see you again, Jan. You wouldn't happen to be able to direct us to the galley, would you? I want to make sure all this stuff is put away and keep it from spoiling if he won't go for any of it now."

cerullean

"If you believe it to be important, then, sure, I'll accompany you," Meredith shrugged, feeling neutral over the proposition. In her mind, she already had everything she needed to know: Tachyon was still alive, he was a threat, he needed to die. Simple as. The rest wasn't her business as far as she was concerned.

"Though I am curious as to why you feel the need to correct any possible misinformation along the way. Are you concerned about my impressions of your reputation and person?"

#cerullean #Aerospace Engineer Meredith Corona

Her question gave the Captain some pause. Having not even questioned the reason why he wanted to do such a thing and with her of all people he had to take a little time to think about it. Ultimately he was unsatisfied with what he could come up with in such a short time span and he struggled to get it out.

"I am… not sure honestly. It's… weird, Usually I don't really try to care all that much about what people think about me."

Now his mind was rushing, trying to think of something, anything really that could constitute something even close to an acceptable answer. Ratchet was already this far so he figured he might as well commit to whatever this was.

"But with you it feels different and I don't really get why? Best I can figure is maybe it's because you're not only a Lombax but… you're from where they went instead of being left behind here like me. I can't get a handle on why but... I don't know, I don't even know if this could make any sense."

"I try not to stare," she remarked, smirking at him commenting his topless nature. "Why are you fishing for compliments? As for inspiration, I don't mind it at all but where are you going with--?"

And before she could finish she watched the robotic arms forming behind the captain, making about eight arms in addition to his standard two. "Well aren't you just handy?" she laughed gently. "Tyson's been working on something similar, but it's just the fist part. He said it allows him to make more. Quantity over quality."

They walked along until they reached the dock, finding a helpful worker who pointed them in the direction of the Hound, which Celine finally got to see from the outside.

"Damn, that madlad actually made this thing look like the AstroMegaship....I thought Danielle was kidding."

While he was not understanding just what she was talking about Ratchet still wondered if she would be able to put a name to the other strange things he had seen this vessel do. So he just started talking about exactly that.

"This thing can take a humanoid form too, kinda makes me want to get something like this for myself. Make it easier to fight the really big battles alongside Clank."

Regardless of if Celine would lead on inside or stay out here to keep on taking it all in, the Lombax would stick by her and just keep on explaining.

"Trojan also had a black ship like this and it was able to combine with Tyson's. It put these big rotary cannons on the Hound's shoulders, I thought the whole thing looked unbalanced but the overall power boost it gave proved pretty effective."

"Well, he does like having options," Celine remarked. As they began to depart for the shipdock, the question about how she'd handle the issue came as easily as raising her extra limbs on the armor. "Well, I may have a few ideas. Do you want me to carry some of that?"

She would have let him handle it, but she didn't expect him to buy out the store, single handedly putting the restaurant on the road to closing early. After they restocked their stores for the next day that is.

That little arm raise was exactly the answer the Captain was expecting out of her. A saying about many hands and light work came to the forefront of his mind, now he wondered just how it may apply to them both given how they were now.

"No, thanks for the offer, but it's fine, I should be able to handle all of this."

While Ratchet said that he would reach over and gently guide that extra arm of her's back down to its point of rest, assuming that she even allowed such a thing of course.

"Do you remember those metal parts in my actual back? You should have had a few chances to catch a look at them with how often I went topless today."

He would let Skitter ruminate on the question for a few moments before he began to speak yet again, bringing up another question.

"Now how would you feel if someone took a little... inspiration?"

Less time would be given to her for to think on this this question compared to gap between the previous two. A robotic arm, in many ways visually very similar to his main right arm, would come out of one of the top 'metal parts' in his back. As it grabbed a selection of of the bags of food another arm would come out of the other top port to repeat the process. Before yet another pair from lower on down his back, and then yet a third.

Coming to a grand total of ten arms, if his main two were included, he was able to carry everything on his own. While he did not bring it up the cyborg did wonder just what the people back in that little food shop, as well as any of the other locals around, might think of his little display.

"I'd go airborne but I don't want any of these things to rip in the breeze. So I guess we're hoofing it, lead on."

catmole

My absolute favourite part of the Marathon games has always been the S'pht Compilers. I doodle them quite a bit already so I might as well do a more proper drawing of one I thought. This design is somewhat merging some different S'pht designs from the different games, but mostly draws on the Compilers from the first game in the classic trilogy.

#Marathon

"That sounds like the right plan," she said, putting two hands on his shoulder. Well, the two hands on the right side of her body, but still... "Look, something Skitter has had to learn while working with me, you can't punch your way through every problem you face. Or in her case spit globs of webbing at and bite liters of venom into people. The best thing we can do is be there for each other when we need it."

At the suggestion of hitting that food cart again she nodded vigorously in agreement. "Oh you have no idea!" she said. "I thought I was a workaholic, that boy would miss his own funeral if he was focused on something more important. I do believe a bowl of noodles and a side of dumplings will, if not set him right, put him on the right path to it."

Thankfully the walk from the room given to the Lombax to where Tyson had the Hound Eoghan docked was, after everything that had already happened today, mostly uneventful. Even boring some might say.

There was only one moment that seemed like it could have been trouble, that being when they arrived back at the little food shop they stopped at earlier in the day. As he approached the counter the staff seemed nervous, as if they were expecting this strange figure to rob the place, but quickly relaxed once his helmet had fully retracted.

An order of the same noodles and dumplings as the last time was made. However since Ratchet had no idea what their friend may want or if he would ever return here he expanded his purchase to every other item on their menu. Really taxing that account the queen gave him to use here.

"Thanks!"

Now he had the problem of having so much stuff to carry for the rest of the walk. Although from the smirk that had made its way across his fluffy face he seemed to be more amused than anything about this little problem he had gotten himself into even if he has not actually done anything to tackle it just yet.

"Didn't think the first time I'd be showing this off to you would be with something so mundane, haha. So, Skitter, how would you handle this problem?

Tyson realized he wasn't of much need there so he could get the lowdown from Skitter and Pi later. It seemed they were in the middle of something before they had to save his dumb ass. So he sent along a message to Celine to let her know where he'd be when they were done checking in on Caye'n. It wouldn't do him any good to hear her talk about a monster that disturbed her so. Less so to know that she thought it was him. After they finished at the hospital, Celine told Pi about meeting Tyson back at the Hound, where he'd be working on repairs to take his mind off things.

"I seee..."

Despite more time to think on it the Captain was still at a loss on what to say about the whole situation, given how strange and terrible it was there probably was not anything that anyone could say at all. Still he felt as if he had to do something.

"I guess that's where we'll be heading next then? To see if he needs any help, or even just company."

For this outing he would be wearing his full armor, now with his entire kit at his disposal Ratchet felt much more ready should any more unexpected problems arise. Upon his heads up display he changed the suit's outer color settings in attempt to appear less threatening to the locals. He did not want to give people the wrong idea after all.

"Maybe we could stop by that little shop and get another batch of dumplings and noodles for him? With everything he has going on I'd bet bolts on him forgetting to eat something."

Pi could have taken their pick of the squad, since they were all in the same boat of not understanding what could have caused such a reaction. They knew Tyson as a good person, and he would be since if he wasn't Caye'n would have demolished him upon meeting him. Or in this case, blasted him out a twenty story window. And he looked as concerned for Caye'n as she was horrified by his appearance.

Tyson had been listening in from around the corner, but retreated back when Pi and the other nurse came out to speak with him.

"We'll do everything we can to restore Caye'n, but this is nothing we've ever seen before. It may require our most eccentric doctors to root out the issue. I don't wish to give false hope, but we might be facing the reality that..."

It seemed to pain the nurse to even consider the worst case scenario, but Tyson understood. It had been something he and Caye'n had talked about in case the worst should happen.

While the Witch had already firmly established herself deep within his shitlist with their lone encounter, this act was something he might call downright diabolical, not to mention just out there. Taking her life would have been one thing but this was something he really had no idea how to react.

Keeping quiet he slunk back into their little group. Moving in-between between the pair of guards they had picked up along the way and Skitter. Giving them all a strange look as he continued to think on everything. He does want to be there if they needed him, however there was still the fight he had to get back to at home. Ratchet could not spend too much longer here on Tamaran.

"Certainly, little friend," one of the nurses said. "Caye'n had come out of her coma a few minutes ago, and when we called in her mate, she...well..."

They gestured to the damage to the room and the hole in the wall of the other gentleman, who was just getting out of bed before another doctor was encouraging them to take it easy. It was audible that the little captain gave him his orders.

Caye'n snorted at the remark made about her 'mate'. "I am not mated to anyone, let alone a horrid creature like that! It's not even here and the thought of its visage makes my skin crawl."

Little was a comment that Ratchet was certainly used to, however horrid and skin crawling did start to actually hurt. But he quickly realized that she was not talking about him at all. Combined with everything else she said things had just gotten much more concerning.

"Not mated to anyone?"

His shield powered down the hand upon that arm was brought up to rub down his face. He could tell that they, Tyson most of all, were in for a long and terrible day. Here's hoping that he could stay for all of it and give what support he could.

"Alright, which of you nurses know the most about what's going on with Caye'n?"

Once he had his answer he would bring them out into the hall to meet with said human. He just hoped that their medical technology was able to fix whatever was wrong with her. Not just for Caye'n's sake but Tyson's too.

"I can go if you want this to be more private, I'll take the rest of our little ensemble with me too."

until-its-dxne

The Slayer nodded as he watched Ratchet rip through the enemies with his new chainsaw hand, approving of using a very profound weapon.

“We make it out of here, I’ll get you a better one of those,” he said, swapping out his shotgun for his baby.

Loading in some uranium-coated buckshot, Slayer would unleash the Super Shotgun’s fury, blasting through them with so much intensity, their body parts flew through the air. He saw one of their arms smack another in the face, and then have a realization of horror as the Doom Slayer started moving in their direction.

While he's never actually fought these creatures before, having only heard tales of them during a forced stay on some strange planet for some races. The Lombax was still very surprised to see the Metal Heads actually retreat from the Slayer charging like that, it was enough to leave him speechless.

Pulling out that gifted pistol Ratchet joined in. While the uncharged shots did not do much damage that was not the point. The continuous fire kept the enemy on the back foot or even straight up stunned if he landed his shots just right. Making it all the easier for him to get in close and put that new arm of his to even further use.

However the Metal Heads quickly regrouped and redoubled their efforts. But together the little group were able to carve a messy, stained path through the horde to that crashed ship, it's copper-ish hull still glinting where it poked out from beneath the mess of a nest the creatures had constructed around it. Bright yellow eggs stuck up high illuminating the area below as more unseen monsters gestated within.

"Alright, I… should know how to get us inside?"

Ratchet's confidence was noticeably shaky. Which would be understandable given how he's only heard about this kind of technology secondhand. He'll just have to hope that what he did know was accurate and improvise from there.

"Do you see a round hatch anywhere? The door should look like a camera shutter. And V.E.G.A., do you detect any weird energy just kinda, I dunno, floating around?"

#untilitsdxne

"Oh sure, my hundred year old body is ready...just don't worry if you hear a lot of creaking and groaning. Tend to do that at my age," the old man chuckled.

As they entered the room, things had settled down a bit. Caye'n had been returned to her bed and there were several very large nurses guarding.

"Hello, friends," Caye'n greeted. "I see you are prepared for great battle. Have you come to help me defeat the great evil?"

The Captain's free hand motioning for the rest of the group to stay right where they were behind him he kept his guard up. After all, they still had no idea what exactly they were walking into here.

"...Depends, what is this "great evil" you're talking about?"

While he waited for Caye'n to explain exactly what she meant by that he scanned the room using his cybernetic eye, although he was unsure exactly what he was looking for. However those nurses were certainly noteworthy, they each appeared as powerful as any guard he's seen during his short stay on the planet.

"After what happened the whole group is on edge, if you or any the nurses could explain what's going on that'd be a big help."

"That's a good approach to life," the old man nodded.

"We should hope so," Basil stated.

"We are representatives of the Queen. And she always strives to do what's best for the people of Tameran," Q-Myn added. "We can only strive to do what's right by the people in turn."

"Well, alright then," Skitter remarked, cracking her knuckles on several hands. "Let's get in there. Ty, you're still staying back so we can test the waters, yeah?"

"Sounds like the best approach," Tyson nodded.

How he wished he could call upon his friend's short-handed hammer, not even just to fight her with, but rather to just restrain her using its strange properties. If Caye'n really was not in her right state of mind then hopefully she would be unable to lift it and they could use that time to figure out what was going on with her. However without that there would be no use thinking any further on this he supposed.

"Sir, if you can try to get yourself to safety. Help anyone else along the way if possible but focus on yourself first, you can't help anyone else if your situation gets any worse."

Shield raised the Lombax marched forward with silent steps as he was yet again pushing himself up to the front of the group. Hi s mechanical hand silently motioned for the others to quickly fall in line behind the protection his shield and body could provide.

rxbelling-hxrald

The offered towels were taken gratefully as Dan began to wipe himself down as they walked and conversed, giving a nod to confirm Ratchet's question. "Kinda...I mean compared to the rest of your crew, he doesn't strike me as the pirate type." If anything outside of his time with the captain's own ship, the robot had seemed well mannered in the way they spoke and acted. "I was curious as to how he ended up as apart of your crew, then he sorta just laughed before saying he was part of the original 'crew'." Dan made air quotes as he said that, as if trying to mimic how he'd seen them do it. "He didn't go too much further on it but it left me more curious. Course I didn't get chance to ask you until now considering.....well everything else." It was easy enough to recall that memory with how much had happened that day, yet something about that little bot was charismatic enough to add to his introduction to this universe and band of pirates he was now amongst. The demon-hog would listen to more of the details shared, chiming in with the occasional. "No, I never heard of that place" Or

"Another galaxy away?" It was still remarkable that the technology in this place was at such a point that they could just traverse about in such a way using their ships. No fuss compared to what he often had to deal with when following his own methods.

As the lombax leaned in to whisper, he nods. "I won't say a word." Apparently if it was meant to a jest of sorts, it went over his head completely. "Must be nice to know you have a home to go back too if you ever wanted it." The matter of belonging, a place to call their own being a sensitive topic in Dan's mind, he didn't want to ruin such a thing for anyone. His focus would eventually be pulled away as he noticed something on one of the stalls. "And just what is that meant to be?" as it were a distinct, near perfectly spherical ball. "Something for sport? or some kind of obvious hidden explosive?"

Often it was quite easy for him to forget that most other dimensions, zones, or whatever you called them did not have technology to the same level that they did here. Any run of the mill vessel could get him to Bogon, Solana, or where ever in not much time, while with Aphelion he bet they could set records. Seeing the 'hedgehog' react like that to what he'd consider just a neat little factoid was a nice little reminder to appreciate what they did have.

But there was also what Dan said about Clank of all people. Yes, he would wholeheartedly agree that his little robot friend did not seem very well suited for this pirate life that they were both deep into now. But to not say anything about himself? A small laugh that sounded somewhat forced escaped him.

"Am I really that well integrated into the crew now?"

While that may have been Ratchet's goal with the whole get up he was wearing along with everything else. It was still strange to actually hear it out loud from someone else, even if it was only by his omission. He could not help but wonder what they would think about him now had they first met only a few years earlier.

"Hmmm?"

Now the Captain was thankful for this change of pace. He can think about all of that other stuff later when he was alone or with closer friends, like Clank. Staring at the little balls he did not need to run any sort of scans to know what these things were.

"Oh wow, I haven't seen this line of little guys in a while. May I?"

With the owner's permission he would take one sphere and hand it over to Dan. Once activated it would open up, sending out a quartet of little flying robots. With unexpressive visors taking up most of their faces each had a cannon in place of one hand as they hovered close to the 'hedgehog'.

#rxbellinghxrald

"I'll be fine," the old man said. "It's a busy hospital, so yeah there are. You're not looking to start a fight with that firecracker, are ya?"

"We hope not, sir," Celine answered. "But I guess we're trying to make sure that everyone's safe in case things go sour."

"Again I ask; are you expecting things to go sour?"

"We hope for the best but prepare for the worst, it's all we can do."

That certainly complicated matters. While he did not expect to be able to get the whole building clear he hoped they would at least have this floor more or less safe. Using the index and smallest finger on the same hand he pointed to the pair of guards still with them.

"Would the people listen to you two if you order the floor clear or even an evacuation of the whole building?"

It was the best he could think of on such short notice. Even if the locals found him cute Ratchet doubted anyone would really listen to him before any more trouble started.

"If we do need to fight our best option would probably be for the three of us to charge her all at once and get her clear of the building, then figure it out as we go from there."