Launch Base Zone - Infiltration

[Jijeka-Te]

Neither Ji nor Anu really had any idea what to expect of the patrols' range of sight. Still, most of them were gaining altitude, so Ji decided it was a good time to descend. She dove to about half her prior altitude, and Anu followed.

(Ji) "Anu, watch up above while I watch down below."
(Anu) "Right, Your Highness."

[Gail Strafer]

As the SWATbot approached, Gail had looked off to the side where Chadin had run off. He'd seen the deer gathering up bits of scrap metal to help "fix" the ships. The wolf wanted to call out for help, but that would reveal his position. Fortunately, Chadin appeared to have seen the bot too, and had thrown something at it.

Afterwards, Gail heard a solid "crack" sound as the bit of metal hit the side of a shuttle. He peeked between the gaps in the barrels, and noticed the SWATbot on its way back to investigate the sound. Looked like it had worked. Gail crouch walked quickly to hide behind the scrap metal with Chadin.

"Thanks. Got all the metal we need?" It looked like he had a rather sizeable pile. "Remember, just stick a good sized piece or two in every air intake yeh see. Put it back in far enough so that they won't notice 'em. And hopefully, when they try to take off, the engine will go..."

He mimed an explosion, between expanding his hands and making ker-blooey sounds. Afterwards, he held out his arms to accept the metal bits that he could carry.

"And then, we can see about checkin' them crates."

[Chadin]

"Right, but at some point it would also be good to take down that giant factory ship of his too. Without it, Robotnik won't be able to attempt something like this for a long time." I nodded firmly. Stopping the ships from leaving with their cargo is important yes, but I doubted that we'd have time to check them all. Not while there were all these Swat-bots to worry about. Disabling or destroying that ship would cripple Robotnik's entire operation now, and in the future prospect he attempts such an operation again.

"Lets just hope that Jii and Anu get here soon. I can't sabotage all these ships myself."

[Jijeka-Te]

Finally Ji shut her frills and landed in a roll, coming to a stop neatly underneath one of the ships. Anu quickly joined her.

(Anu) "Okay, we're down. Let's hope nobody saw any of that."
(Ji) "Right... so where are the others?"

[Gail Strafer]

"Maybe we'll run into them as we go along. Let's get to work." Gail said, holding a small stack of pipes on his shoulder. Giving one last look at Chadin, he started to make his way stealthily around the ships.

The ships sat slightly raised off the ground, with the air intakes as small holes near the bottom. At the first one he reached, the wolf withdrew a pipe and started stuffing it inside rather roughly. After pushing it in over and over, and satisfied he'd jammed it in there badly enough, he started making his way to the next one.

However, at the next one, he couldn't help but feel like he could hear something moving the dirt under the ship. Gail made a quick peek, and to his surprise he saw Anu and Ji down there.

"Hey! How'd you get here so fast?"

---

Off in the distance, a rhythmic marching sound could be heard. Those looking might see several dozen SWATbots walking side by side from the factory ship, on their way towards the delivery ships.

[Chadin]

It was about the only thing they could do at this point really. So, as Gail ran off to start sabotaging the ships, so did I. I went for a separate ship to ensure as few of the transports got off the ground as possible. I managed to jam some metal into the intakes on the first ship and was just moving on to the second when my hearing picked up on the telltale sound of Swat-bots on the march. A glance around the ship confirmed my suspicion. They'd be here soon if I didn't do something.

I heard Gail's voice and ran over to investigate to discover Jii and Anu had both set down close to Gail. "Nice work you two, glad you made it."

"Listen, it looks like there's a squad of Swat-bots on their way here. We need to either pick up the pace. Or find someway to slow them down."
Then it dawned on me as I saw my crossbow hanging from Jii's shoulder.

"My Crossbow! Quick, take these scrapes of metal. Gail, show Jii and Anu what to do with them. I'll go keep the Swat-bots busy!"

[Jijeka-Te]

(He... heard... something moving the dirt? Does Gail have exceptionally good hearing or is dirt really noisy around here?)

The pharaoh didn't expect Gail and Chadin to find her and Anu so soon. Nevertheless, she quickly passed Chadin's crossbow back to him, then she and Anu climbed out of hiding and collected the metal scraps he offered them.

(Ji) "..."

[Gail Strafer]

[Try scraping your foot across dirt. It makes a very distinct "skritch" sound, especially if pebbles are mixed in. I know a lot of things happening now are rather convenient, but it's mostly to keep the plotline going fast and get us to interesting stuff faster. Rule of fun, more or less. But if you'd prefer, I could make things a little bit harder.]

Gail blinked a couple times at the blank stares he got from Ji and Anu. However, Chadin's warning and the rhythmic sounds of metal boots marching got him going again. As they took the scraps, he started explaining. The wolf attempted to go fast yet keep it simple so they could understand, since they weren't from modern times.

"These here are airships," he started. "Like boats, but they can fly. We need to keep 'em from leavin'. See these holes?" he waved at the air intake he'd just jammed a pipe into. "Air goes into them to cool down the engine. The engine makes the ship go. With this pipe in here like this, it'll get sucked into the engine and destroy it when they start it up. They won't be able to go anywhere. Understand?"

Another ship was parked across from the one Ji and Anu had hidden under. Gail quickly took another steel pipe and jammed it into the hole as hard as he could. As he did so, he spoke to the others.

"Like that, see? But I think we better hide for now..."

He kept looking anxiously towards the sound of the marching, as it got louder and louder. The wolf crouched to crawl underneath the parked ship, like Ji and Anu had done previously.

---

As the swatbots got closer, they started to fan out of their ranks to march down the rows between the ships. Several seconds more, and they'd have every aisle in sight.

[Chadin]

I made a mad dash and dive behind the barrels Gail punctured earlier. Quite a lot of fuel had spilled out and flowed down the hill by now. It definitely would make for a great distraction by itself, but I didn't want to simply count on a distraction. I wanted to take some of these things out!

I tipped over a barrel that Gail had already punctured and gave it a shove down the hill. I swiftly followed it up with a second, aimed at one of the divergent groups. The sound of the rolling barrels would hardly be unnoticeable, so I didn't even try to silence my shot. I fired my Crossbow at each of the barrels as they got close to the Swat-bots, detonating the volatile fuel like a bomb. Hopefully, I'd manage to take out a few; and draw the attention of all the other bots I didn't.

[Jijeka-Te]

Ji was about to begin her sabotage, but the sudden arrival of the investigation squad dashed that idea.

Not knowing what else to do, she and Anu moved back into their hiding spot under the ship, alongside Gail this time.