Shining Prospect

[Nail Strafer]

So these guys were right...

Nail recalled the conversation from a few days earlier, about the raptors being at war with others. However, he hadn't thought too seriously about it since then. After all, the universe was a big place. What were the odds of these two groups of dinosaurs running into each other? Very good, as he regrettably found out today. Nail had been thinking a war might be several years off at least, if it would happen at all.

And if no one had been watching the radars when the ship appeared, then that meant the rebel craft may have picked up the signal to the beacons before they were shut off. Plus the signal suddenly stopping dead might be a red flag to the enemy ship itself. The enemy might interpret that as being detected.

Oh well...no use crying over spilled milk. All I can do now is prepare and start learning about my new enemy.

"So...how many ships do you think would be in that fleet? Do they have technology like yours?"

[Giichi Twinkieland]

When Amiroo brought up weapons, Giichi felt a bittersweet feeling roll over him. While the prospect of facing an unknown enemy loomed over him, he felt intrigued about seeing saurian weapons. In their whole time at the base, Giichi couldn't recall a single time where he had seen an actual weapon on any of the raptors

"So what kind of weapon will it be?" Giichi asked, turning to Rye.

Giichi truthfully didn't even want to learn how to use a weapon all that much, since he preferred stealth, subterfuge, and misdirection over direct combat. But the value of this opportunity could not be ignored.

Especially considering Earth weapons may not even do any good against the enemy of these people...

Best to start brushing up now.

[SOLIS]

While I would not mind doing what I can to help", SOLIS responded, "please keep in mind that, in addition to requiring Nail's permission to do so, I have had no prior combat training and may not make the best decisions. Nail can attest to this first hand. However, a facility like this should have combat training or personnel. If I could have access to those, I may be of more use to you."

[Terrador Bellator]

The whole entire time, through Nail's procedure and all; Terrador remained in his spot within the cave Am had brought him to. He spent the last few days recovering his near vanished Geokinesis and honing his abilities to make sure they were working at full capacity. When troubled reared itself upon the raptors, the echidna was in a state of meditation, sitting with legs crossed in a corner of the rocky room. With the various alarms going off as well as the announcement through the loudspeakers, Terrador became instantly vigilant and hopped to his feet, Baculum Petra in hand. He approached the exit of the cave, taking not of the reptiles scampering about to reach their stations as ordered by their superior. He let out a sigh, finding himself unable to do anything. If the ship were really under attack, he preferred to simply wait here until he was instructed otherwise. After all, he was most comfortable in this location as he felt he would stand the most chance if the ship were to be boarded.

[Echo]

Quote:"So...how many ships do you think would be in that fleet? Do they have technology like yours?"

Amiroo's face fell as Era spoke, "If I had to guess by the size of this thing, I'd say there's probably a carrier group within 2 to 5 light years range. There would be at least one carrier obviously, those carry up to 70 star fighters and ammunition to supply an moderate sized military for months on end. Then probably 2 to 4 smaller battle ships. SO, adding in the smaller ships under those, I'd hazard about 12 to 15 ships, that's about average."

"Which means we could be up against as many as 5,000 standard infantry, backed up with who knows what kind of armored vehicles, star fighters and bombers, as well as F.O.S. capabilities. There's a whole range of things they could be carrying. Not to mention their toting technology on par with our own, so every one of their troops are worth in the neighborhood of 40 of yours, if I had to guess. So that 5,000 might as well be around 200,000 as far as you Mobians are concerned. Again, plus their back up. So it may be more..a lot more." Amiroo added in a hushed tone.

"We have to hope it goes away then." Tybe said

"Not likely, I have a bad feeling about this. For all we know, it could have arrived weeks ago, remaining cloaked until it was ready. De-cloak, draw our attention, then a group strikes unexpectedly from our newly created blind spot." Era said.

The room fell silent as everyone took that in. It was an unsettling sort of silence. A silence that, by it's very presence, signaled the arrival of a darkness settling in over the crew. Amiroo's feathers stood on end as the reality sunk in. Like that chill one gets when it is realized one is being stalked by something in the misty darkness, unseen, but it's presence is known. It can attack at it's leisure.

"*sigh* where's the republic when we need it." Era said.

"Maybe it doesn't exist anymore, since the merge." Rog proposed.

"I mean, lets look at the facts. We've been signaling ever since the merge, what have we to show for it? Nothing. We've sent signals to our nearest outposts 300 light years out, silence is all we get back. Just deafening silence, is all we ever get back. The Galaxy was awash with signals just hours before the merge, now not one sniff of any artificial signals, not one. We may need to start looking at the possibility, that the republic no longer exists."

" Easy Brother, lets not scare the Mobians Rog." Tybe hushed him.

" I'm just saying what everyone is thinking in the back of their minds."

" But that doesn't mean we want to hear it." Amiroo said with perhaps a little more force than he had intended. "We're in a delicate situation here, we've lost contact with our side, while possibly standing on the brink of open war here on Mobius, with a Skeleton crew with no chance repelling an invasion in open combat. If we start giving in to our darkest fears now, we're going to lose our heads, and lose our combat effectiveness. Your mental state going into combat, is half the battle. You go in with a bad outlook at your odds, the battle is already half lost. This is basic training Raptors, come on. We are professional soldiers, representing the naval forces of, in my opinion, the greatest civilization to ever grace to vast sea of space. lets pull it together, and act like it. My orders still stand, you heard Era, an attack could come without warning at any moment, so lets stay Razor here. Until we get confirmation, the republic exists, and we are merely out of contact."

He snapped a stern look to Rye, clearly not allowing any more room for any defeatism, "Sister, weapons, now." he said gesturing towards Gichii and the others.

Quote:"So what kind of weapon will it be?"

"I think it would be wise, if we took the Mobians to the range. Take Gichii and Nail to the training grounds. Put them
through some holo-training. They need to be able to recognize friend from foe, officers from enlisted, the works, got it? Don't be gentle either, or start slowly. Throw them in, let them learn to swim." Amiroo said.
Rye nudged her head against Gichii, lightly gesturing him towards the elevator doors.
"Come on buddy, lets go shoot some stuff. You get to use alien weapons, isn't that exciting?" she exclaimed.
Era did the same with Nail, a little less subtly. "Lets move, little brother. We got shooting and school work to do."

"Wait!" Amiroo exclaimed, "Nail, would you hand SOLIS over to us? While you guys are training, we'd like to hook him up to the systems and get him acquainted with it's capabilities...Oh, and make sure you grab the Terra and get him some training as well. We need all hands on deck."

[Nail Strafer]

When Era tried to nudge Nail off to the training room, he raised a hand up and shook his head. Then he walked over to Tybe, talking as he stepped forward.

"Me training with some Saurian weapons isn't going to make a big difference. You need a longer-term plan than this if we are to win, and I have an idea. We're going to need more allies, right? Have you ever heard of the phrase 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? And have you ever heard of Robotnik?"

Nail was sure they had, considering they'd studied the state of this world before revealing themselves.

"I'm not proposing we become permanent friends with Robotnik mind you. But if you know him then you know how much he wants to conquer this world, and he won't be happy if some dinosaurs do it instead of him. We need to let him know about this incoming threat somehow. Once Robo goes to war, it's a win-win for all of us here, since both our mortal enemies will be tearing each other apart. Once they're weakened, we can attack openly. I think that sounds a lot better than taking them on directly from the start, don't you?"

[Giichi Twinkieland]

Quote:"Come on buddy, lets go shoot some stuff. You get to use alien weapons, isn't that exciting?"

Giichi gave an enthusiastic grin, smiling back at Era. He couldn't wait to see what these weapons were like. The cat wasn't listening to Nail's speech once they finally brought up the training hall. However, he did mention something on the way out.

"I think you put SOLIS in a storage bin somewhere, didn't you? May want to go get him. I'm going to go get Terrador too."

Giichi walked towards the little cave where Terrador had made his home since they'd gotten here. The echidna seemed to have noticed the commotion, as he was standing by the entrance watching the raptors run around.

"Terrador...they're going to train us on some Saurian weapons!" the cat said excitedly. However, he sobered down a bit as he remembered why they were doing this. "I don't know if anyone told you, but we're getting ready to go fight their enemy. They want all of us to learn how to use their weapons. You think you'd like that? I know how much you like your Earth powers and all..."

[SOLIS]

[Skipping this round, nothing worth adding.]

[Terrador Bellator]

Giichi was first greeted with a smile from the echidna. He grew to like his friendship with the cat and was actually happy to see a familiar face. This however faded into a dumbfounded look as the talk of Suarian weapons came about. He already had a feeling they were being attacked so it come as a surprise.

"That does explain these reptile's actions." He said at first. "I have no hesitance to battle their enemy." He went on, sounding excited. "I however must decline on using their weaponry. This..." He said, holding the Baculum Petra up somewhat. "This is all I require. If an attack is inevitable, I prefer to fight with a weapon I have familiarized myself with." He explained. The staff began to float as he placed his arm down where it strangely shrunk in size, down to barely half a foot at that. This drifted to his pocket where it was tucked in and secured. "Now, shall I remain here, or am I needed elsewhere?" The Geomancer asked.

[Echo]

Rye barely avoided slamming into Gichii, as she slid to a stop behind him.

Quote:"I have no hesitance to battle their enemy."

Quote:"I however must decline on using their weaponry. This..." "This is all I require. If an attack is inevitable, I prefer to fight with a weapon I have familiarized myself with."

"Fair enough, but that doesn't change the fact you need to know the difference in markings between friendlies and enemies. You also need to get some practice in against tactics used by our enemies. We likely don't have a lot of time, we may have to leave soon. But every little bit helps."
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Quote:"Me training with some Saurian weapons isn't going to make a big difference. You need a longer-term plan than this if we are to win, and I have an idea. We're going to need more allies, right? Have you ever heard of the phrase 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'? And have you ever heard of Robotnik?"

"I'm not proposing we become permanent friends with Robotnik mind you. But if you know him then you know how much he wants to conquer this world, and he won't be happy if some dinosaurs do it instead of him. We need to let him know about this incoming threat somehow. Once Robo goes to war, it's a win-win for all of us here, since both our mortal enemies will be tearing each other apart. Once they're weakened, we can attack openly. I think that sounds a lot better than taking them on directly from the start, don't you?"

Amiroo's expression soured,

"I wasn't proposing we fight them alone, I just need you, and your mobian friends, ready to hold your own if we get hit and need to move. I hadn't really come up with a long term plan yet. This Robotnik however, I'm not so sure is a plan either. How do we even go about contacting him, even if he is our best hope of holding our ground?"

"We could hijack the Mobian's satellite network, and send it that way." Rog said stepping forward. "We'd need to bounce it around through the network as to make it difficult to trace. Another way would be simply bounce our signal off their ionosphere, or even their moon to send the signal."


"OK, so we send him a signal telling him big nasty aliens are coming. He's gonna want proof, I would." Amiroo said.

"Give him the coordinates of the ship, let him radar lock the ship himself. Mobians don't have spacecraft that large that penetrate that deep into space yet." Tybe said turning to Amiroo.

"What do ya think Amiroo?"

"I think it's risky at best. Rog, what are the odds he could trace us?"

"Without knowing his exact capabilities, I can't give you an accurate estimation, but if I had to guess, probably a moderate chance."

Amiroo looked over the screens of the room, clearly weighing his options. A strange silence fell over the room again and lingered for a while as Amiroo made his decision. Then, with a sigh, that decision came, "Alright, lets do it. Rog, do you know where to look, or do you need Nail to help you?"

"I believe Robotropolis is where the gelatinous one resides."

Amiroo snorted in amusement, "contact him, tell Chunky that someone's coming to kick his tail and take his world away from him. "