Re: Opening Salvos

[Seth]

Ant chuckled. "I can take one," he said. "If you're too good for spoon feeding."

Lisa chuckled at that. "Totally gonna undercut her authority like that, huh?" She winked at Xiantha.

Lisa nodded, and blew out a breath, sliding into a seat and beginning to type on the console. "Let me get it working, then." She began to flip through images, frowning as she did, her brow furrowing.

"Errrrrgh," she growled. "Stupid program. What did I do wrong? Hmm...calculated for radiation and EMF bands... did I forget to carry a one?" She started scrolling through data, looking at raw code in search of an error.

[JanetJulian]

Xi laughed. "Definitely." She offered Ant Annabelle and snuggled with the kitten for a moment, teasing him with her fingers and then picking him up and kissing his little pink nose.

"You're such a cutie," she told him, letting him go as she leaned forward to make a small adjustment in their path, not quite liking the one the autopilot had chosen.

She looked over at Lisa and smiled, knowing she'd be fine. "How are things downstairs, Ant? Are they going to be ready in time?"

[Seth]

She could have sworn Blackie gave Annabelle a smug look when she was handed off, purring like crazy as she pecked his nose. He curled atop her bosom, glancing around the bridge like the king of everything.

Ant chuckled at the kitten, holding Annabelle and sinking into the opposite chair. Lisa continued to work, squinting at the screen. It took a moment to realize what she was focusing on - the radar appeared to show a large section of the asteroid belt ceasing to behave randomly - dozens of asteroids were all flying in a straight line, further down the lane. They were all far out of optical range, at the far end of the radar's reducaed capacity.

"I've created order out of chaos," sighed Lisa. "Serves me right for trying to predict the unpredictable." She held her hands to the sides of her head. "The next winning lotto number is..." She closed her eyes, pretending to think very hard.

Ant chuckled, ignoring her antics. "Should be set, now. They were a little later than I predicted, but Sylvia was just done running through the doublechecks. Should give a solid forty percent boost in all the maneuvering thrusters, but not the primaries. Also says the ship'lll be in dry dock for a week afterward, at least."

[JanetJulian]

Xi chuckled at the kitten. She'd given up the baby mostly because she knew Ant would prefer her to the cat and she'd be safer. She grinned at her little king cat and then looked at the radar image and blinked. "Holy ..." she grabbed the cat and sat up. "That's you?" She stared. "How in the seven black hells are you doing that?"

[Seth]

"No, I'm not moving asteroids," said Lisa, shaking her head. "I just.. broke the radar. My program must be scrambling the image processor - I created data equivalents for all of the aseroids, trying to track them and create a predictive matrix. And, my hours of programming were tired have resulted in... this garbage."

She growled and shook her head. "I'll disable the program. I need to crack open the code. I shouldn't have taken a nap," she groused.

She clicked a button, and nothing happened.

"Huh." She glanced down, and peered at the screen, were a wave of asteroids was still moving along a single vector. "That's - my program's disengaged."

[JanetJulian]

"Oh," Xi leaned back. "Good. I mean, not good, but still, better than the alternative." She shook herself and blew out a breath. "You'll fix it. I trust - wait, what you mean the program is disengaged? Do you mean we're not doing that? That's real?"

She peered at the Radar again and then jumped up.

"I need to get a closer look at this. Lisa, watch the helm. The autopilot should do most of it, just double-check it. I'm going to take the launch and get a closer look."

She paused in front of Ant. "Where is Patrick?"

[Seth]

Lisa nodded. "Right, it's not - I mean, unless the radar itself is damaged. No, that doesn't make any sense - why would it show that?"

She blinked as she jumped up.

"No," she said. "That - whatever that is, is coming right this way. I can make a course correction, but we're smack in the middle of an asteroid field, with Alliance ships and Reavers within a stone's throw. If you - if anything happens to you, then everyone on this ship is dead. We can't turn back, and we'll need you going forward. I can't handle that. No one on this ship can. But there's a half dozen people who can pilot a shuttle."

Ant considered. "He's down teaching firearms."

[JanetJulian]

Xi stopped and stared at Lisa, frowning. Her dark eyes narrowed and she glared at her for a moment before sighing and moving back to the com unit.

"Sylvia?" She called out. "Are you awake? I need you on the bridge."

[Seth]

Lisa flinched a bit. She knew she'd just argued with the Captain in front of her own superior officer and her Captain, and her mind flicked with worries about being booted off the ship once they were at Greenleaf - but she could't in good consciousness say nothing.

There was a pause, and Sylvia answered. "Am now. I'll be up in a sec."

Ant bobbled Annabelle, and scooped up Blackie as the kitten made a beeline for Xiantha's lap.

[JanetJulian]

"Thanks," Xi said to Sylvia and then flung herself back in the chair. She glared grumpily at the screen for a moment and then sighed again. "Oh, give him to me." She she reached for the kitten and brought him up to her face to nuzzle him, trying to get rid of her bad mood.

"And stop thinking that I'll boot you off," she said to the room at large, finally turning to look at Lisa again. "Would be damn stupid of me to even consider, especially since you're right. Doesn't mean I have to like it, though." She made a sour face and dropped the cat into her lap. "I'll send Sylvia to take a closer look instead. I need to know how that's happening before we get too much closer. I don't want to fly us into some crazy electromagnetic field that's going to screw with us.

[Seth]

Blackie gazed smugly at Ant when he handed him over, his tail twitching victoriously. He licked Xiantha's nose as she nuzzled, putting his paws on her neck and headbutting her chin with enthusiasm.

Lisa sighed as she was called out. Part of her logically knew Xi wasn't the type to hold grudges, and she nodded. Lisa looked over at the Captain and smiled. "Not my fault you're the only pilot crazy enough and good enough that I trust to do this. I'm very vested in making it to the other side."

She nodded. "I'm getting some EMF from the area. But I agree, we should - "

She paused, thoughtful. "No, that can't be coincidence. We're... we're right where we projected the Alliance to be, aren't we? Maybe that's the aftermath of some... weapon system."

Ant frowned. "Can we hide this tub? Against an asteroid, or such, until Sylvia's scouted it out?"

Sylvia could be heard running on the steps - she'd dressed quickly, and without a bra or a vest, Xi could sympathize with the pain of running up them. It could be felt at a distance. She knocked on the archway a second later, having a sense for Xi's urgency.

[JanetJulian]

Xi chuckled. "Well, me too for that matter. Not to mention getting all the women and children there as well," she shot Ant and Annabelle a look and sighed again. She frowned at Lisa's comment and nodded. "Well, 'round about anyway. We didn't have a direct notion. But - what kind of weapon could do that?" She pointed at the dancing asteroids, looking towards the door as Sylvia ran up the stairs, nodding at Ant's words. "Yes, we'll have to or we'll just fly into it ourselves." She pushed keys to slow them down, starting to scan for a likely asteroid to match pace with.

"Hey Sylvia. We've got some strange doings and Lisa has convinced me that I need to stay here, so I'll need you to take the Launch and go get a closer look." She pointed at the screen and got out of the way so Sylvia could take a closer look.

"I was going to take Patrick with me, but I'll leave it up to you who, if anyone, you want with you."

[Seth]

Lisa frowned. "Nothing that I've heard of. I mean, an incredibly gigantic electro-magnet could maybe attract asteroids which were highly ferrous, but... but why just that group, and not the others?"

Ant studied it, nodding and beginning to look for the appropriately sized and paced asteroid for them to hide behind with her.

Lisa frowned. "Geez, those are huge." She pointed at one of the asteroids. "That one - that's the size of Greenleaf's southern continent."

Sylvia looked over her shoulder, peering at the screen. "Uh.... I'll fly solo," she said. "People distract me. Let me get down there. Anything I should be worried about on EMF? Magnetic waves or anything?"

"The scans are all wonky because of the field," said Lisa. "Be cautious."

[JanetJulian]

Xi frowned, shaking her head. "Nothing I've heard of either." Then again she hadn't heard of ships that flew near speed of light until recently either. Something told her that maybe it wasn't all a coincidence.

She nodded at Sylvia. "Stay out of the field. It's hopefully not too hard to find the edge of it - keep with the asteroids that aren't acting weird. See if you can get any clearer readings or see what might be generating this field and then get back here. Keep a channel open at all times; I promise not to natter at you."

She gave Sylvia a look that was both gruff and worried at the same time.

[Seth]

"Our scans aren't picking up any kind of field," said Lisa, clarifying for Sylvia. "But that doesn't mean there isn't something there. And they're headed our direction, so make it quick."

Sylvia nodded, taking a breath. "Kay. I can do that." She quelled her own fear, forcing it down and then painting on a smile. "Alright. If... someone's monitoring communications, that won't get us in trouble, right?"

Lisa winced. "Depends. I'll do my best to encrypt it, but that won't hide it."

Sylvia nodded, stepping forward and giving Xiantha hug.

"Back in two shakes," she said.

[JanetJulian]

Xi sighed. Still, it was the best she could manage right now.

She hugged Sylvia back. "You'd best. You are so not expendable, alright?" She kissed her mouth softly and then looked up into her eyes. "But I know you can do this. You have more experience than any of us." She paused then, fingers tightening on Sylvia as she turned to Lisa.

"Wait - no field? No field at all? But you said you were getting EMF waves." It had suddenly occurred to her who could manipulate large amounts of matter. But she found it almost impossible to believe he'd be here. Or that he'd bother with part of the asteroid field unless ...

She spoke a vile curse in Chinese. "Can you get any kind of close-up on those rocks?" She turned back towards the screen, one hand still on Sylvia least she get some notion of running off.

[Seth]

Sylvia nodded, squeezing her back hard at the mention of expendability. She kissed her back, the soft kiss catching just a tingle of heat at the end, and then smiled and straightened. "Been flying shuttles for two hundred years," she promised. "I've got this."

Lisa shook her head. "I'm picking them up all over the asteroid field, but that's normal. I'm not getting anything unusual for the spectrum, or two out of bounds from our last trip through."

Lisa shook her head. "I can connect the shuttle's vid feeds, but we need something getting closer." She gestured to Xiantha. "Get us to a big safe asteroid to clamp to, and I'll sync the video."

Syvlia blew a kiss. "Flying camera, check. I'm on my way." She bounced back down the stairs, wincing as she went, and Ant rose.

"Putting the little cute things somewhere safe," he said, gesturing to Annabelle and Blackie. "And I'll get firearms distributed."

[JanetJulian]

Xi nodded and smiled at the reminder. "Yeah, yeah, I remember. Grandma."

She frowned at Lisa's words, still staring at the screen. "Uh-huh," she said, clearly distracted, letting Sylvia slip through her fingers. She blinked and looked up when she reached the door.

"Be careful - the only thing I know that can move that much mass in strange ways is Arturus," she said. "Can't imagine that he'd be out here, but still. Be careful."

She glanced over at Ant and stepped closer to kiss the baby and the kitten goodbye. "Give Annie to Inara. She'll take good care of her." Then she returned to the screen, staring at it like it might offer her some answers for a moment. After a minute she shook her head and got busy looking for a nice big asteroid to clamp to.

[Seth]

Sylvia exclaimed, "Hey!" with a whack on Xiantha's shoulder. "I've half a mind to take your around back and give you a switchin'," she teased.

Sylvia swallowed and nodded to the door. "I can't either,' she nodded, although she still looked nervous. "I will be," she promised.

Ant smiled, raising baby and kitten in turn and then stealing a kiss himself. "Alright. I'll make sure everyone gets locked down into the galley, too - it's the most reinforced area on the ship right now."

It didn't take too long to find a big, iron rich asteroid drifting lazily in the direction of the far side of the belt. It was mostly spinning laterally to where they were headed, so for a well-parked vessel should keep them in radio range of the shuttle.

Sylvia's face appeared on one of the viewing screens on the bridge a moment later, and the external view of the shuttle appeared on four others.

"You reading me, Diver?" she asked. Lisa pressed the comm button and nodded. "Loud and clear, babe. We're just getting ready to park, here. Wait til we're snuggled in."

[JanetJulian]

Xi giggled. "Better don't," she teased back. "Wouldn't want you ta hurt yourself."

She ducked and then grew more serious as she offered her thoughts, waving as Sylvia left. She gave Ant his kiss in turn and then got herself back to work. The asteroid wasn't hard to find, but the maneuvering wasn't easy with this tub of a ship, still, she thought she could do it. At least she hoped so. She'd have to die of embarrassment if they'd worked so hard to avoid asteroids only to have her ram one trying to park next to it.

[Seth]

Sylvia's eyes widened. "OHhhhh! Oh, you are definitely getting a paddling when I get back, young lady."

The landing was certainly not the breezy easiness she might have managed in Terpischory, or a shuttle - the forward clamps refused to grip at first, and for a moment the giant tub seemed to skip up and away. A moment later it was coming back down, and all four clamps caught, gripping the rock even as they ground through another half dozen meters of the asteroid, before the Sundiver came to a halt, sighing as it did. It was a landing only a dozen pilots might have been able to accomplish, steering down through the enormous outcroppings, avoiding razor sharp rock which might be able to tear the Sundiver open. Add in a response time that made turtles look like a racing animal, and it was about predicting and living fifteen seconds in the future.

Lisa grinned over at her, eyes dancing. Her hands had been white knuckled as they moved in, and she leaned back in her chair and let out a breath, staring at the ceiling for a moment. "If you were a man, I'd have your babies right now," she laughed. "That was amazing."

[JanetJulian]

Xi chuckled. "Well, you'll have to come back first, right?" She winked at her and let her go.

She focused hard on the landing, growling in frustration at the skidding, bumpy landing, frowning. Certainly not one of her best. If only she'd eased in just a little bit more she could have ...

She blinked and looked up at Lisa. "Was it?" She hesitated and then grinned. "Well, maybe it was. But it could have been better. And if I were a man I'm sure I'd be happy to oblige."

She cracked her knuckles. "So, we got that video connection yet?"

[Seth]

Sylvia laughed at the flirtatious pharsing, and leaned to steal another kiss.

"It was," she laughed. "Isn't landing on a gravity less asteroid with a giant tub of metal with no thrusters hard? Cause you made that look easy." She grinned at her and rose, wrapping her arms around her shoulder.s

She pointed at Sylvia, and the interior view of the hangar bay. "Yup. Right there."

She pushed the comm. "Sylvia, we're good here. You're clear to launch."

Sylvia nodded on screen. "Here we go," she said. She slid the launch out of the bay, flying into the void and peeling around the asteroid towards the stange radar reading. Lisa held on around Xi's shoulders, a little nervous and grateful for the contact.

[JanetJulian]

Xi chuckled. "Well, it's not easy, I suppose. But it could be harder - the asteroid could be thrusting back." She leaned into the hug and looked at the screen, waving at Sylvia before she realized it was a one-way video.

She didn't try to dislodge Lisa, leaning back in the chair and wishing she was out there. She hated being the responsible one sitting here watching. She wanted to be doing.

[Seth]

She chuckled. "Making it sound kinky,' she grinned. She continued to linger around Xiantha's shoulders, holding her, taking some strength, and worried for Sylvia. She had the fleeting thought that if anything happened to Sylvia, she'd probably never forgive herself, and silently prayed that everything would be fine.

Sylvia headed out, and on the viewscreen they could see her slip past asteroids, staying out of the main lane but creeping towards the position of the strange anomaly. She was careful and cautious, realizing that if she could detect anything on radar, it could probably detect her, too.

It was a solid twenty, tense minutes before they got a real visual on the asteroids. They looked exactly as they had on the radar - dozens upon dozens of large steroids, flying in formation, heading along the lane towards the Core, from the Rim.

Lisa's eyes narrowed, and she slipped forward, pushing buttons and beginning to magnify and resolve the visuals. She spotted a long, dark line that ran from one of the asteroids forward, and drew the camera along it, expanding as she went.

"What the - " she frowned, as she caught a section of it that was actually visible in starlight. It was a chair, an enormous wrought chain, and she continued to follow it. She bit her lip, holding her breath.

Ships came into resolution, flying in the same formation as the asteroids. There was not trick of Arturus's power - instead, it was a Reaver fleet, dragging asteroids through the field. There were two, perhaps three hundred vessels, some working in tandem to tow larger asteroids.

"Oh my god," said Lisa. "Oh my god. If they - if they break the field's gravity, and drop those into a planet's gravity well - " Her eyes were wide. "It'll obliterate cities. Maybe the whole planet. It could... it could kick up enough dust to block out the sun, suffocate every living thing - oh my god." Her mind was reeling, realizing with horror just how insidious Qun Shi's battle plan was.

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