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"Are you frakking kidding me!?" Ruby shouted her first address to The Gorgon, sounding completely incredulous. "You are blaming us for the fact you are under attack by forces that love to appear right out of nowhere?! Are you even aware how easy it is to track a giant head larger than most moons in the galax?! They were probably planning to take you out long before we even got here!" Sure, shouting at a insane A.I might not be the best course of action right at this moment but she was not seeing many options since it was likely gonna kill them. Plus it was strangely cathartic to scream at a seemingly godlike being.

"We asked you to help us destroy these bastards. They want to destroy us. We get nothing out of betraying you! Also will you Stop Crushing My Ship!?" The bounty hunter continued on, raising her arm now covered in blinking red holograms displaying WARNING in Galstandard and faint beeping noises rising from the device.

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Sitara knew it had been going too well for be true as she swore to herself in her native tongue. Whilst the other came to there own defense she spent a few moments analysing everything that she was seeing in front of her, trying to figure out how this giant planet sized creature was thinking. Information gathered by herself and the other Praetorians was helpfully able to fill in a few of the essential gap that would helpfully save them this day.

“Whilst the Communions use Isopteran technology they are no allies of our. I had the dubious honour of meeting the last of their race and whilst he wasn’t forthcoming with all the information he did suggest that they had some hand in the Communions origins.The Isopteran are no more and we fight to destroy their creations, a battle I’ve thought for thousands of years.” she spoke in a calm and lever tone hoping that the truth in her words would be enough to make their case.

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"Wouldn't be rational to betray you," Dragonfly pointed out. She'd brought her force field up, armor alive and humming - though, for the moment, only defensively. Her drones, too, had pulled back: they were arrayed around her in a vertical half-circle, like an absurd mechanical halo around her entire upper body. "Too high-risk, gains nothing. Clearly aren't Communion drones; Communion doesn't seem to do 'subtle'. Plus, conversion leaves obvious signs. Couldn't have known you'd take us inside, you interact with people too little. Would have already done damage while inside, if we wanted to - had the chance when you cut out, before Communion showed up."

She cocked her head at the holograms, frowning. too many "Let us help. Best case, fight by your side, sign of good faith. Repel or escape Communion. Worst case, if you think we're still traitors, less dangerous to you out there than in here. Win/win. Need ship intact for that, though."

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The Gorgon was not a creature inclined to give apologies. The door opened to allow them out, the pressure on the hull of Ruby's spaceship stopped a bare instant before the metal itself could crack. As they made their way out of the central hearth of the vast creature, the avatar spoke only once. "Dragonfly-entity." She was sitting back on the throne again, holographic outline overlaid with that desiccated corpse. "Tell my sister I never left my post." 

They made their way out of the Gorgon the same way they had left, but this time they headed out into a solar system in chaos! Ejected from the Gorgon's serpent hair, they found themselves in the middle of a gigantic space battle. A significant portion of the Communion's fleet had been deployed here, everything from gigantic dreadnaughts nearly as large as the Planet Killer that had destroyed Lor-Van to those infamous small, fast fighters that had done so much damage to the Lor fleet in so many battles. 

And the Gorgon was fighting them all - and winning! Even as giant battleships poured plasma fire into her gigantic exterior, the planet-sized mass still glowing hot from the heat of 51 Pegasi, those gigantic serpentine limbs struck again and again from the Gorgon's position, tearing apart whole wings of those massive vessels with the casual ease of a man swatting flies. The smaller vessels, cruisers down to fighters, seemed completely beneath the Gorgon's notice. 

They had to fly fast to even see the battle, given the sheer planet-sized bulk of the Ultimate Preserver. Even ramming wasn't seeming to accomplish much; even when accelerating to relativistic velocities, the Communion battleships attacking the Gorgon were doing nothing more than cratering that vast armored surface and splattering themselves against a hull stronger than impervium in a sticky-looking, silvery mess that matched the growing mass accumulating around the serpent heads as they struck at attacking battleship groups. 

The sheer scale of the battle was unimaginable, larger than any the heroes had yet lived through even during the Communion War - from the number of Communion ships here, so vast as to obscure the light of the star behind them, it looked as though the mass of at least one Earth-sized planet had been redirected to this place!

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There was always a horrible beauty in space combat the as various weapons streaked silently through the void. The slow dance of death normally allowed a moment or two of contemplation and wonderment. This however wasn’t a moment like this they’d have to act quickly to avoid casualty.

“Contact the our forces and have them get out of Gorgon’s way, hopefully they’ll believe us and not try to take shots at her.”

Sitara straightened up and looked around the motley little crew.

“I know we’ve been through a lot already today, and I promise you i’ll be the first to buy you all a drink. But there are wounded out there that need our help, I need you all just one last time today...”

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Ruby leaped right into the pilots seat and was quick to the the Voidrunners systems operational. Readings from the console revealed that the Gorgons attack had left the ship covered in minor damage. It would run, but it looked like a large percentage of her pay from this job would be sunk into repairs. At least I still have the bloody thing. She though as the ship was finally freed from the titanic ancient. Never before had Ruby been this close to a conflict with the Gorgon. Part of her was glad she was not going to have to fight her. 

As far as she knew anyway.

Ruby tapped at a few holographic displays. "Patching us through. Contact should not take too long." Small ports opened across the ship, revealing several Auto-Cannon Turrets at the ready. "Might as well perforate a few of these bastards while we're at it. Anyone operated ship turrets before?"

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Ruby tapped at a few holographic displays. "Patching us through. Contact should not take too long." Small ports opened across the ship, revealing several Auto-Cannon Turrets at the ready. "Might as well perforate a few of these bastards while we're at it. Anyone operated ship turrets before?"

Ana grinned. "No, but if you hum a few bars, I think I can fake it; point me at a joystick and I'll see what I can do." The Terran engineer had successfully avoided having to operate any ship armaments up until now, but she figured it would have to happen someday; she was just glad it was in a fight where she knew where she stood morally. Once the controls were explained to her, she powered down her helmet to reduce any sort of glare, and got ready to open fire.

"Ready when you are, Ruby." 

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"Not a great shot outside of suit systems," Dragonfly admitted. She took a moment to look back toward the Gorgon, expression unreadable under her metal helmet.

encrypt recording - transmit to warehouse on sympathetic link - time delivery to Jack if I fail to check in She waved a hand, one drone holding steady as if processing something while the rest scattered across the ship. "Will assess damage and repair what I can, though - existing damage and stress, any new we incur. Have a couple tricks I can try if they get close enough, but would prefer they didn't."

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Sitara didn't insult the others by explaining the danger of all this, they were all smart enough to figure it out enough.

"Doctor contact Gorgon and warn her of the potential danger maybe she knows a way to avoid the threat." she turned to the assembled heroes who she didn't know but trusted them to solve almost any problems

"You all among the smartest people in Known Space between us all we should be able to come up with a way to stop this threat to Gorgon and possibly us all."

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  • 2 weeks later...

"Oh, bother!" declared Zober, setting down his nutrient gel and hastily wiping his paws clean. "Well, we can't stay in our corner of space waiting for help to come to us - we must go and be the help. What shall we do?" he asked the others. Time ticked by in that frozen instant as the team contemplated the sheer horror of the possibility they faced - the cosmic threat that a Gorgon hijacked by the Communion would pose to the Republic and all the civilizations of the galaxy. What could they do against such an awe-inspiring threat? What, indeed, could the galaxy itself do? The Gorgon alone was a civilization-wrecking monster that could have posed a serious threat to the Republic before the Incursion - the prospect of her great and terrible power in the hands of the Communion was almost too terrible to think about. What could they possible do against an enemy so terrifying? 

Just when the situation seemed to gape impossibly vast and dangerous, a new force appeared - a fast, lethal-looking ship that was clearly not of Communion design, for all that it had appeared behind the Communion armada that had so mysteriously emerged from nowhere. Or was it nowhere? This other ship's arrival had flooded the star system with a sleet of highly-charged quarks; reempowered already high levels of free quarks in the system. The same level of free quarks that had been detected at Kestevan and over Lor-Van! Still much too far to see except on long-range sensors, the vessel at first looked like nothing special, at least not until it opened fire on the Communion vessels in its way! Whatever the pilot was, it was smart, using attacks to break through the enemy lines (and avoid scattered counter-fire) rather than actually engage the enemy directly. 

With a few quick shots and some fancy piloting, the new arrival blasted its way through the armada, practically dancing between the ships that were closing around the Gorgon. In interstellar terms, they must have come out right on top of the Voidrunner. It took up a position alongside the Voidrunner, its lights on and flashing friendly colors as it faced the enemy - and the dire situation, alongside the heroes. Another fleet of Communion battlewagons splattered itself against the flank of the Gorgon in a near-relativistic strike that would have left a gaping crater on the side of the Earth. And after all, why not? Any number of ships were worth the sacrifice to the enemy - if they gained the Gorgon! 

The Gorgon was still fighting, still tearing her way through the Gorgon armada, but the growing plaque of silvery nanites along its 'face' was beginning to expand, a continent's worth of starship stuff, of swirling, hungry nanites, gradually worming its way across the face of the cosmic planet eater. 

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Suddenly, Dragonfly's suit communicator crackled to life with a familiar voice. "Dragonfly, is that you?" Miss Americana asked. "Fancy meeting you all the way out here! I was just out in the Oort Cloud investigating a wormhole and suddenly I'm all the way out here, getting picked up by some kindly passers-by. Lucky for me I brought my luggage with me." There was just a faint edge of strain in her voice over that. "Looks like some really bad trouble out there. Want to put our heads together and see if we can come up with  a way to scramble these guys up? I owe them some trouble after last month on the moon." 

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Paradigm looked at the screens inside the Horizon's cockpit and the sheer number of Communion warships that had been brought to bare against the Gorgon.  The Naram and the others who had stood with her against Star Khan had dropped the defeated despot off with Coalition forces and had then been on their way to follow up with this mission.  They had taken one of the wormholes the Communion had been creating when it destroyed planets, and come across a Terran within the wormhole.  The woman who introduced herself as Miss Americana had brought welcome news of the Communion's defeat in her world's system.

Now they found themselves in the middle of the colossal battle against the Gorgon.   

"While you work on your plan, I will see what we can do to help aid the Gorgon."  Paradigm stated as she glanced over toward Galvanic and Rock.  "Are you two ready to head out there and try to cut down on the numbers some?"

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"Wh--Americana?"

The stunned blink as Dragonfly's mind shifted gears was almost as audible as her incredulity; as she realized how wide their options had just opened up, though, her tone became somewhat more animated. "That's...yes, okay. Would very much like to. Had considered it as an option earlier, but not viable solo. Together...yes. Plans. Mmh."

She paced, tapping a finger against her leg. "Communion's basically a massive network. Seems like we should be able to mess with that. Dangerous, though. Communion's trying to overload Gorgon with nanites; active ones near worst of fighting may be too dangerous. Could try from a ship; heavy risk to you, though. Poses danger to feedback and to your...luggage. Can try to make it over to you to better plan, though."

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Aboard the Horizon's bridge Rock looked at the tactical readout with an expression that was stoney even for him. The Communion destroyed planets outright when it suited its purposes and converted them into glorified server space otherwise. The Gorgon encased planets in an endless living death of frozen amber, 'preserved' in only the most perverse sense. He'd seen the handiwork of both up close and personal and he genuinely wasn't sure which he found more disturbing but there was little argument that the Gorgon under the control of the Communion was even worse than either of them separately. Getting Paradigm's attention with a wave the towering mercenary pointed to the Communion ships on the holographic representation then to himself. "Rock."

"Oi, what?!" Nae-Dae objected from the pilot's seat. It had taken some cajoling to convince the XXX to take the Horizon on another mission immediately after dropping Star-Khan off with the Coalition convoy but she knew as well as any of them that they couldn't afford to sit back and let the enemy make the next mode unimpeded. Had she known they were going to be running into the Pit forsaken Gorgon Rock suspected she would have never initiated the take-off sequence. "Yer not serious, like?!"

"Rock?"

"No, I ain't got a better-- That ain't-- Argh!" Throwing two of her arms up in the air, Nae-Dae used the others to nose the ship toward the enemy, knowing when she wasn't going to win an argument with rough-edged partner.

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Paradigm looked over to Rock as the hulking figure repeated the one word he appeared capable of saying in GalStandard and made gestures to the Communion ships and himself.  Although the young Naram could not quiet pick up all the subtle nuances in Rock's attempts to communicate, she did understand his meaning well enough.

"Very well, I can get you over to one of the ships."  The Praetorian replied.  Turning to Nae-Dae.  "Once we depart, move to rendezvous with the other spacecraft so our new allies can work on their plan.  We will do our best to help keep the Communion busy."

With that, she strode over toward the nearest airlock as she prepared herself to enter into the cold of the void and face the Communion once more.  Once they were all inside and the airlock sealed, the outer door opened, exposing them all to the vacuum. 

But the enhancements the ancient Delzatri Empire had provided protected Paradigm from the freezing cold and the lack of pressure.  Grabbing ahold of Rock, the Naram flew out of the airlock and off toward the nearest Communion cruiser.  She streaked through the blackness like a missile, and as she neared the cruiser, threw Rock toward the vessel, waiting a moment to be sure he was able to breach the hull and get inside before she flew on towards the next nearest cruiser.

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In the battle and subsequent freezing many of Sitara’s systems had been damaged, something she had been working on in her spare time between fighting the Communions. Many systems were still a work in progress but her translation matrix had been working away picking up the Terrans language. When Ms Americana called after arriving with the cavalry her system were ready.

“I’m hope I’m not interrupting here. My name is Sitara Shashikala I have been a wanderer and explorer and I was, and guess I still am, a Praetorian. One thing I also am is a engineer, though obviously not to you friends high standards.”

She paused to allow the information to sink she hoped she didn’t sound like she was boasting to much.

“I assume the designers of Gorgon built in some sort of immune systems, may be also nanites of some kind. Maybe we could do something to kick her own system into action? It could at least buy us some time to find a more permanent solution.”

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"A multi-pronged attack and defense is always a good strategy," Miss Americana agreed over the comm system, her voice still a little too cheerful for the severity of the situation. "Looks like some of my shipmates here just bailed out to start another prong of the attack more directly. If you guys can get over to the Horizon, that's this ship, maybe we can close in and either remote interface with the Gorgon and the Nanites, or get ourselves onto one of those ships. And I wanted to talk to you about my luggage, Dragonfly, but that can wait till we get together. Have you got a teleporter, or do we need a physical rendezvous?" 

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Sitara looked through the cockpit at the general chaos going on around them as the battle raged around them, hundreds if not thousands of objects whirling around in a maelstrom of destruction.

“It’s probably best if we make our way over to you, we don’t know what exotic countermeasures are being employed by any side.”

She lent down beside Ruby and spoke to their pilot.

“We need to get to that ship as quickly as possible, without attracting too much attention. I’m sure you’re more than up to the task.”

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Ruby checked the ships speed, rapidly making adjustments as she banked left and right to avoid most debris flying across the empty void. Last thing she needed was to attempt to pick a fight with a puddle of nanties on her ship. "Considering how much is going on right now I Don't think that will be much of a problem." She replied as she started to maneuver the ship towards its new destination. "I do hope you all decide what to do next soon. I doubt another shouting match with the Gorgon is gonna go my way if the Communion have their way." Having some control of her ships fate seems to have calmed her down even with the threats surrounding them

Edited by Darksider42
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"If Communion have their way, won't be so much 'shouting' as 'screaming'," Dragonfly deadpanned. The lines and glass in her suit were glowing neon, and that glow was accompanied by an ominous hum. Periodic lightning-like twists in space arced off her gauntlets and back, though they appeared to go straight through the ship itself - like an effect with bad clipping. "Heading to Miss Americana's ship to see what we can do from that end. Boosting immunities is a good idea - recommend pursuing it. Leaving a drone with you - get its attention if you want mine. If it disappears, I just got too far away. Good luck."

They were apparently now within range of whatever she was doing; there was an awful noise and a wave of air pressure like space itself had experienced whiplash, and she was gone.

Or, depending on your perspective, she had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Hello, Americana," she said, suit spinning back down. "Small universe. Time to get to work?

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Galvanic followed soon after Paradigm and Rock, holding her breath briefly as she burst out of the airlock. As her momentum carried her forwards out towards the fleet, she abruptly exploded in a cloud of blue-yellow sparks. They coalesced again, into a roughly Galvanic-shaped blur in space. The shimmering form looked this way and that, the 'head' seeming to lock on to a third cruiser. Paradigm and Rock were both formidable and mighty individuals. She had faith neither needed back-up with something like a Communion ship. And she'd already single-handedly destroyed ships that size in this war. 

She streaked towards the cruiser through space, not achieving relativistic velocities, but moving at rapid speed nonetheless.

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“And I didn’t even get my bonus Credits for a swift delivery.” there was a bemused note to her voice “We’ll keep a datalink open to share whatever information we discover. May you prefered deity bless this day for us all Horizon.”

Again she turned her attention to how they could aid Gorgon fighting off this threat, ironic seeing how many different attempts had been tried to destroy her in the past.

“Captain Voxx we’re going to need to get pretty close to Gorgon to be able to have any effect on her, hopefully she won’t try to eat us again. Doctor Zober you know more about Gorgon than anyone of us here, any suggestion as to how we could proceed?”

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"Absolutely," Miss A confirmed with a grin that was nearly predatory. "I want to see what makes these guys tick. Nae-dae," she asked, "we're going to have to get in pretty damn close to that swarm for this to work. Can you get us within oh, 1.05 light seconds of that swarm without them annihilating us? I can work at that range, and Dragonfly, if you can't get out that far, maybe you can link up with me and we'll go together." Her face betrayed a slight discomfort at the mental closeness such a gestalt would bring, but there was a lot of work to be done, and two minds would definitely be better than one. "With our friends potshotting the Communion ships, we're probably safer here." 

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For a moment, even as the heroes moved out among them, it looked like the Communion ships were going to completely ignore them. After all, as mighty as they were, this was indeed a vast armada. And then a fighter rammed Galvanic. It happened too fast for anyone to react - a lightning-quick move at relativistic speeds that sent the electrical paragon and the craft that had subsumed her spinning away in a dizzying spiral. She wasn't out of the fight; the heroes could see lightning flashing out of the swirling, gelatinous mass enclosing the Praetorian, but it was pretty clear that for now it was up to Paradigm and Rock to fight the Communion! The cruiser they'd been approached at first still loomed in the rapidly-shrinking distance, left vulnerable by the fighter screen that had struck down their comrade. 

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"Been working on it, but range is not that good yet. But unsure my girlfriend would approve of us being that close," she wryly half-joked, taking a seat on the floor. "Besides," she added, "that's what engineering is for - making up the difference, correcting for human limits.

Her suit flared to life, sprouting its four blade-like wings - which spread themselves into an oddly-vibrating X. Little lights danced behind the lenses of her helmet, and Miss Americana could hear a familiar voice - though, oddly, detected over her radio link instead of just coming from nowhere. Ready when you are.

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