Flight of the Icaron: Episode 5 - Full Send

headquarter of our heroes as they prepare to save the Ikhoran.

The hollow table is illuminated, schematics of the Ikhoran existing in three-dimensional space, standing next to it, Nate Sharp, now fully dressed for battle, rifle slung at his side, around him, Kiki Davis, Vogue and Vad Vlostrov prepared to assault the command bridge to distract and take on attention. In front of them, fish cakes surrounded by five children strapped with packs of coolant

ready to climb through the vents, Nate caps the communicator collar that he is wearing and goes. Andre, you got me? I got you loud and clear on that. In the TRC, Andre Dalka, tubes, Lewis and Arjun as well as a group of other officers

of the ship, prepare to overcharge its central engine, the thermoplastic reactor core. Nate's dance addressing the group with his collar communicator opens so that everyone on the channel are able to hear.

All right, everybody, we got one shot at this, let's make a count, Andre, you got everything

“you need to overcharge the torres, set everything up so we can knock it down.”

We're going to be in here just in this battery up as fast as we can, okay, but listen, it's going to be all on the same watch so everybody stays chatting on the gums. 100% fishcakes, you and the kids know that seven places on the ship you're planning the coolant to make sure that the life support systems and other main factors are able to maintain.

I've been raining for this my entire life. In just a double check again, fishcakes, these kids are down as a commander, I'm not 100% comfortable sending children into a dangerous area. I look over at the kids, you guys know we'll die anyway if we don't do this correctly, right?

Yeah. Okay. We're good. Okay. And take you work, we're better than wrong, whatever you are.

Let's go. I'm going to walk over to Kiki and fish sticks. Kicks. Fishcakes. Uh.

Kicks. I'm going to walk over it. All right, fish sticks. Listen up. Come on, yeah.

Four of those people. Five of those people. Five of those people. Five of those. I'm going to walk over and go fishcakes.

Kiki. These are for you. And I'm going to hand each of you a small little virtual pet. But I have them a bad life. What's this?

This is a little virtual pet. My daughters like them when they are young. You are both younger than me. You have them.

“Also they have a secret map to the installation.”

So if you any you lose it, they have a backup here and I'm going to give each of you a

potent aptitude die which is a D4, which is basically a bargain inspiration you can carry

around with you. When handed this, what is a little virtual pet, fish cakes look a little difficult, but then lights up when you say that it is of service in this mission and looks up at you with big watery eyes and goes to hug you. Andre looks surprised at first, return the embrace, hey, we all got to make it.

So we all going to make it. All right, mine, if I get a little weird for the group, Nate, come over here. Yeah, sure. No, never mind. I'm going to go away.

All right. Just slide on back. Yeah, I'm not going to, I won't take any steps to that. And Kiki, like in that moment, you two are embracing and she's looking down at her virtual pet.

And she's actually way more excited about the virtual pet park. The map is fine. I'm going to go break hallways.

“I think you all feel that same strange, like gravity is pulling in different directions”

on you. Like, you guys are the center of it, and I'm going to cast four spary area for the next eight hours. Your hit point max and current hit points increased by five. Incredible.

Oh. Are you, are you, are you guys done? What? We're trying to have a moment. No, I'm not.

Let me over. God.

And then ask me to go away.

Come on. Let's go kill some stuff. And this is the biggest gun you could find.

“You see that he points at the kind of magnetic rifle he's giving you?”

I mean, that's what we got down here. You don't make bigger guns than this. And you thought you're going to win a war against the Martian. We, I wasn't planning to win a war against the Martians. All right.

I'll do what I can with this P shooter. And it's going to have, like, you can't see most of Kiki's torso. Oh, I miss. I want to be like you and I grow up. Each of his sticks and you will.

Can't see you.

You see Nate, laughs, are you, are you comfortable outside?

Yeah. Great. I think we're going to hit him at fabrication. Then I think we bust out the airlock and calm. Sweet.

Then I'm going to take out my little, like, knife that I had earlier.

“And you just see her, like, turn and slit the bottom of her boots to, like, split the”

soul. So she can, like, she moves a little quieter and it's just a little more dexterity, like, who boots? You dress. Okay.

Just like home. Let's go. That's one hell of a home you're from. All right. Everybody moves out.

You, Nate, and his two aides move toward the central lift that you're going to take up to fabrication where you will begin your offensive. Andre, you head back to the TRC up the service stairs from the new DRAB. There, tubes is already has his kind of climbing clubs up and is ready. It's like, all right.

But I say the word. We're getting going. The words. Let's do it. Fishcakes.

The kids look at you. This is going to be fun, right? It's going to be so much fun. You're going to have the best time of your lives. And honestly, when you're crawling around in the vents, you are king there.

King, king, king, king, king. You all have been outfitted with similar equipment to what Andre has. So you will have no problem climbing vertically through the vents as you move to the seven points

“in the ship where you need to place the coolant.”

We will now begin the final assault. Woo! During this time. Now, that's what I call pa the racing. As Earth emerges far, far distant on the horizon.

From the vishab at the bottom, our final assault begins. Each of you has different tasks that you are hoping to achieve. But with the goal of them all sinking up to create the chain reaction necessary for the ideal outcome. Andre, you will be rolling to generate energy within Morris the tourists to overpower the engine with electromagnetic energy that will then be facilitated out to the ship.

You will need to generate 10 successes. At any point after generating those 10 successes, you will be able to unleash the electromagnetic energy deeply affecting the Martian fleet. However, you will also be tasked with maintaining that energy should other elements of the plan not have occurred in time. Fishcakes, your goal is to move through the ship silently and safely with these kids

depositing coolant along the different service lines to protect the life support systems within the ship. Your task is the slowest and will take the longest. So Andre's goal is to maintain that energy until the coolant can be placed and you all can escape from the service vents into a safe location. Kiki, your job is to make noise and the more successful that you are at making noise,

the easier fishkicks job will be and thus the longer Andre will have to maintain energy within the tourists. I need everyone to roll the initiative. We do it at 19. That's good for me.

Fishcakes, you will go first.

You begin to climb up through service vents above the material. Your first placement is right around the electrical conduit for the habitat's life support systems. Go ahead and give us our first stealth check. You hear footsteps in the hallway outside of the vent. It's your first attempt to place one of the coolant fixtures so that it is in place.

And also can receive the electrical shock it will need to explode at the exact moment that you are placing it. 24. 24. Incredible. That is one success.

You are able to take the coolant off the teemo's back. You can fishcakes. I look at him. Point to my eyes with two fingers.

Okay. He uses the climbing gear that he got from Andre to actually flip upside down so that you can easily using the weight ring the coolant into place. Do some light electrical work. One of the coolant is placed.

That brings us to Andre in the torus.

“How many coolants are you trying to place fishcakes?”

Seven. Seven. Okay. Gotcha. Great.

One of seven placed. Yes. Andre. You see a fleet of officers and tubes. A Lewis and Arsham.

All in place starting to facilitate energy. You are on a console.

I need that first check to begin to generate an overwhelming amount of electromagnetic energy in the torus.

Hell yeah. Is it also cool just for flavor if I cast countermeasures walking up to the console? Of course you may. All right. Good.

Cloking all activity from the large. So I just want it to look like everything coming out of the TRC right now is a autonomic supposed to happen for a seizure. Hundred percent on the command bridge systems nominal. I'm going to look over to tubes as I crack my knuckles go up to the console.

Look over and say. Combs not scanable by the security. We're not supposed to have these tubes. Not the naughty. Come on.

Got a unionized subway. And that's going to be 7 plus a 9 on the day getting advantage is going to be 16. 16. One success. You feel the energy course in here.

Normally things in here are quite balanced. And the plasma kind of gives off a very specific kind of heat and vibration. However, you can tell as you are beginning to warp the nature of what the torus is generating. You feel hairs on the back of your neck begin to stand up. Kiki, you feel this central lift rise up towards the fabrication level of the station.

Nate looks over you goes to your comfortable and fight.

No, this is my first set.

Yes, obviously. I wouldn't have been the one that was like, let's go shoot stuff. I don't know. I'm not big like you. You're not GC.

I haven't died yet. I mean, respect. The doors open. Martians already voiced fire on me.

“As the door begins to open, I think there's that little, like, you get that, like,”

little bit of hairs on the back of your neck of, like, it's about to start. And I think I just lean into my collar and go. You're going to want to turn it down. It's about to get loud. A squad of Martian troopers prepared to fire on you.

It's good. Let's see. Trying to get all three of you. That is a Nat 20. Huh!

Well, hot start. A 12.

And aiming at you and 11.

Does the 11. 11 does not hit. You see, Nate gets hit for seven points of tip. Oh! A false back as fog and bad falling in front of him.

Bad takes seven points of damage. And you dodge falling into the side of the central lift. That is your turn. Yeah, let's get some shots off. As we were coming up, I think I wasn't even making eye contact with Nate.

I was kind of just playing with the weapon and just tweaking little things.

“So I think this as it spins up just sounds a little dirty and broken already.”

But I like playing with my stuff. So let's we're just going to get a shot off. 17 to hit? 17 hits. Amazing.

This weapon is a detentice. Can I add some of my particular brand of nasty to this? Very much so. Great. Because I'm also using the ability wound.

So I think the bullet's coming or the, like, is this a, this is a... Magnetic weapon. So yeah. It's discharging, like, like, shooting bullets just without combustion. Yeah.

The ordinance coming off of this is just a little weird and dirty. So it's going to be an additional two-d-eight in a chronic damage. Jesus. And I need a constitution saving throw from the guy I'm hitting. Oh, okay.

However, I'm going to burn an extra. I have a version of sorcery points. I have four points. I'm going to use pinpoint power. So I'm going to spend one more fourth point 16 hits.

For 19 points of damage and he's poisoned. Holy shit. Yeah. Woo. Where I'm using a stat block for a squad.

Yeah. So you, for fool, bring one person up. For fool. You see as these bits of ordinance that have brought on your intensity. Hit, guys.

You actually see these squad move from a tight formation. And to something a little bit more disjointed and spread out. Which will use to kind of the impact their effectiveness in the same way as the poison condition would. And I think over the comms. If you guys have furs, what like gunfire sounds like.

Whatever reason the sounds very low and distorted coming. Like over the radio. These people are gone. I'm getting like great space weird. Yes.

So they'll have disadvantage on attacks against you.

As this low distorted sound.

Raise that squad kind of moves from its uniform formation. It is something more disjointed as they will now make their attacks with disadvantage. Just so the end of my next step. Until the end of your next turn. Fish case.

You hear the sound of gunfire not just over the comms. But also around you as you hear footsteps. Rush towards kind of up and towards fabrication. Can I hear how many people. How many footsteps are on?

It feels like between 6 and 10. You feel like maybe some patrol. That was looking for stragglers. As now been tasked to move up to fabrication. Kiki, 6 to 10.

Moving onto your location. Good to know. You good? Oh yeah. We're good.

Because of Kiki's effectiveness. Your DC has now been lowered by 6. Because of the squadrons now moving away from your location to deal with Kiki. That's a natural 20 baby. Let's go.

Holy shit.

“I think there is a genuine sense of excitement.”

As you guys kind of have your first success.

Get your first coolant. You see the kids get anxious to like. I want to help. You see that they are moving faster and more eagerly. They are not disjointed or unsure.

They want to do this. They want to help you fish cakes. They look to you as being like. What do you mean fish cakes? We move quietly, almost silently.

And instead of whispering oftentimes will use hand gestures and communications that we've come up with just in quiet moments at the orphanage. And I direct them into two little teams. One of the teams carrying with the backpack and the other one helping to assist pull the backpack off to the other.

So they're sort of chained up in a little circle helping each other's backpack. Sure and Zady are able to do exactly what you thought maybe you would be having to do every single time. These kids have been watching from you. I've been learning from you.

Really see you as they are later and they're helper. And you see that Zady goes to make the connection. And then looks pointed at it. Points at you. I get thumbs up.

You see that she does a quiet cheer. As you succeed in placing two more coolant and continue to move through the ship. I feel something. A sense of something. Everything has been about trying to live moment to moment it's alive and eat.

And I don't, this is nice. You have so much going on. So many questions still about who you are and where you come from.

“But I think in this moment you know that these kids love you.”

They have a hard time expressing it, but they're in this with you together. Back to the TRC. Andre, things are moving along. You hear that two more coolant have been placed. These kids are more effective than maybe even you planned for.

Fits. Okay. I thought I was going to have to slow it down. Hey, we're done. We're going to need to speed up.

Louis, get on it. Okay. Okay. Okay. We're going to roll again.

And it's DC 15 is one. DC 20 is two. 25 is three. Yes. Oh, 19 on the dive for a 20 26.

That's incredible. You see that Archen and Louis get on it. Archen has a hollow in one hand where he is flicking through pages of the manual. As he as he fixes things to reroute the energy from the vaults holding electromagnetic energy directly into the torso. You feel the stick super charged in a moment as you are now at four successes.

Oh, boy, Boris getting full hang on, Boris. Yes. You start to see your hair lifting off your head as the energy in here becomes palpable. I'm going to go ahead and pull a little sort of vinyl tab. Like my black snap clipped harness.

I'm going to pull on a red tab and my boots. Just suction to the floor and keep it in front of there.

I'm going to end my feelings rip out in a second.

Okay, keep going, boy. You feel your teeth in your jaw as you can duck this mighty orchestra. Kiki, again, against the door bullets raining in for attacks coming your way each with disadvantage. Let's go. That is a two on the dice.

That is a miss second attack coming your way for a total of fourteen. Just that hit. Fourteen hits. Right, and then two more attacks on your companion.

“That's a three and a six, which I think will miss.”

You take three damage as to another as a shot from one of their rifles clips your arm.

This kicks it six more in the way.

This is dead. All right.

“We're good to stay here for a second, but we're going to need to push.”

We want them chasing us. Okay. Can you move? Yeah. You got hit harder early.

Oh, you don't think I could take. Welcome on. He charges out on your initiative, which is his he moves out into the fabrication space. Firing a suppressor fire. As he waves behind.

Go, go. Perfect. Then on my turn, I'm going to spray my fire. If I know we're getting six to ten more in this hallway.

Uh, can I shoot to put out the lights?

Very much so. Great. Then I'm going to spray to knock out the lighting and put us in as much darkness as I can. Uh, and again, everyone else has gone and no one knows what grace face is like. I'm going to use shadow side of myself and give myself dark vision.

How do you take point in this? Go ahead and give me that attack on the lights. Does a twelve kill the lights? A twelve kills the lights. Yeah.

You come up. The lights in here go dark. Make us what the hell. And then it's looking to you to leave them. Yeah.

Because he does not have shadows.

“I think it's one of those things where it's like you're close enough to me that you can hear my footsteps.”

But Kiki stops talking at this point. If you fall behind you get left behind. Let's fucking go boys. The boys fall in. The boys are going to take some attacks in the dark.

Oh, and then bonus action. I'm also going to use phase shift, which just lets me move five feet.

So once we hear it hit that like main knot of the first group that was there, I'm going to use phase shift because it doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.

Got it. Describe for me both these abilities. What does it look like as your ability to the dark comes on? And then also this moment of phase shifting through this kind of crowd of sort of surprise. And just made soldiers.

Even if you're like, I want to put the lights out here. There's so many like redundant systems built in that the best dark is just about like slow cycling of like low red light. That would like alert people. So it goes dark. It's like a very slow dark red stroke.

When Kiki looks over her shoulder, it's to make sure her three dudes are still following her. Her eyes are giving that like cat retina reflection. In like a weird purple glow. Ooh. And then during one of the like edges of like as the red phases out into a stroke.

Suddenly Kiki is just five feet farther along without making any sound. And it's on the other side moving forward. As these emergency red lights become the only lights in the room. One spin you're standing where you are standing looking back at them. Purple reflections of your eyes glowing.

Next spin of these red lights. You are five feet further, Nate's eyes go wide. As he prepares shots at the crowd of Martians. As you guys move through. Two hits from your kind of hatred.

Go boys. For a total of 10 points of damage, which will lower fishcakes next DC by three. You got this big God? As you guys move through, you hear Nate goes. Airlock airlock.

As you guys move through. Put, put, put. Continuing to move through. Back around to fishcakes. Your little family crawling through the fence up and up and up.

That's an 18 on the die. So plus nine is 27. Fucking incredible. I got you. I haven't been knocking the Martian engineering, but I tell you.

They build them good. That's why they wanted it back. Fishcakes. As you are climbing, you guys are moving at an incredibly well timed clip. The kids are exactly and lined.

They are steps for a flood your steps looking at your little virtual reality petless Comedics of the ship. You are at the top of the thermal plastic routing core. So you are now a fixing coolant. You are kind of a cross event that like crosses from one side to the other.

“You need to fix these coolant vessels here to protect some of the major energy kind of throngs”

for powering kind of the upper half of the ship. You see because of the effectiveness that your team now has. You see, Timo, look at you thumbs up points and nylon gestures with me. And the two of them climb across the other side of the top of the thermal plastic routing core and fix a coolant on the other side.

Double thumbs up and point. So they will now climb separately of you to the next kind of placement area. I send back a double thumbs up and I open my bottom lid to show my bottom teeth in any way I believe to be an encouraging smile. Timo puts this palm up kind of waves it to one side of the other.

Understanding your meaning though perhaps not as effective as you know. As you all continue to climb up. These kids are exceptional, Andre. And my head I'm going, what's going to happen if they get to seven successes and we're a mile away from ten successes?

Okay. That's going to be a 16. It's not ideal.

There is a chance that the coolant could prematurely explode but it is unlikely.

They were meant to be the most difficult part.

“I think even in the plan that you created the five children carrying the coolant”

was a thing that thought might not work out. That was a real Achilles heel. Turn out to be Achilles Spear. Yeah, the mark got a worry about. So I'm going to, how many successes have you accumulated?

That's five. Five successes. So I'm going to look at it's possible for you to get two successes at once. That only happens. That is very possible.

I'm going to look and say. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on. Hold up. A fist in the air.

Nileau who is about to follow team of grabs his ankle and pulls him back down.

Point to you. Thumbs up. Thumbs up. I'm going to go for another one here. Ooh, that's an interesting one.

Andre does some quick math in his head. He has a 19. I have defiant to only get to use once in this entire encounter, which would make more sense to use at a big climactic moment. But Andre is not in hero mode.

He's an engineer mode. And because I am one away from an extra success, which would bump me to a two success category, this is actually the best possible time to use defiant. Good defiant only goes to a four, which means that there is no difference between getting one or getting four, that kind of raw, calculated optimization.

Exactly the mind state, the Andre is in.

He's going to defy it to get a DC-20. Let's go. Huge. Never tell him the odds. Always tell me the odds.

You. Hard at work. Six successes. You are four away from hitting the threshold of energy you need. And again, you do this in absolute secret.

And whoever or whatever is on the bridge that could move to stop you or affect you has no idea what you're doing. That is going to be the Martians who are now firing at you kiki with disadvantage for a different reason. Okay, that does not hit.

That also does not hit. They are putting all of their fire on this strange woman with this strange gun who is making this combat incredibly difficult for them.

“I think kiki's screaming at them and her voice sounds like it's coming through a distorted”

1920s radio. She's just getting as weird as possible. She's trying to get them to throw up as many like be worried about. She's trying to be noisy by getting as weird and trying to draw as much aggro as possible. What do you say in this insane distorted voice as you become like a true gray space fighter

where the gravity is weird. The tech is unregulated and the things people are allowed to do to their bodies and their weapons is completely out of control. I think she's full like delfic oracle right now. You can't understand.

She's speaking in like the lingua franca here. But it sounds like ancient Greek being hyped through an old old speaker. It's not meant to be intelligible. It's meant to touch something inside of you that fears deep space. She's the thing that you become when you stay in the areas you're not supposed to stay

in for more than a couple years. She's like the object lesson and why you don't stay in gray space. Hell yes. All the attacks of this quadrant are aimed at you as you see the eight Martians that you were warned about enter this space as well. That's going to be one hit for attacks.

You take eight points of damage as through the dark. These red lasers hit your body as you continue this strange dissonant call. That is going to be your turn. Nate is gesturing toward a docking space that has an airlock available for exit to the outside of the ship and a fully like sea level door behind you.

You see that is where he is pointing as you guys cross the fabrication floor of the ship. I'm using my full movement but for my action because I'm way of endurance as a consular. I'm going to use upheld by the force. So for the next minute I've got resistance to kinetic and energy damage. So I'm going to stay behind to be the last one to move through.

So now the smallest one in the group is body blocking.

“And I think the one like eight point damage that hit her like winged and knocked enough of her clothing off.”

So you would see the like full wound. And as she cast that I think the blood starts to like it stops flowing as much. And begins to drift up like she's already out of Atmo. Yes, your your own personal gravitational field. The gravity eliciting off of you lets the droplets of blood from your wound hanging suspended in the air around you.

Yeah, bonus action.

I'm going to spend one more force point to quick in and at Will spell.

Just casting turbulence. Don't really care about the damage. I'm just trying to break this hallway as we leave just to make it a little harder for them to follow. Hell yes. What does that look like as you cast turbulence?

“I think we just get that little bit of like the camera would push in and you have that like quiet soft moment of seeing the blood begin to drift.”

As if everything's gotten slow and is in Atmo. And then suddenly like the red pulsing tunnel just shakes. Yeah, I think it's Keke's eyes still reflecting that purple like shimmer along with it. And then she turns and runs and follows everyone out. Hell yes.

You see Martian's trip stumple as they get up clambering over one another to pursue you. Into a one point of force damage. I roll like I roll. You see their head slam against the wall as they take a single point of force damage.

In my head I'm doing two successes away.

I'm four successes away. Do I feel that two successes away is in my head I'm going. Is it more dangerous for me to hold the energy or is it more dangerous for the coolant to just sit there? Undeniably more dangerous for you to wait. I'll go to fish case and say.

Okay, we're right behind you, keep moving. My hand goes from a fist to you pointing two fingers in the direction. Nilo Timo, nod and begin to climb.

“I'll go ahead and give me your next placement chair.”

Time wasized 18 18 one success. One success. Nilo and Timo are able to a fixed one and are climbing back over towards you. Zady who is behind you gets their foot stuck in some courting and kind of gestures for your help. All right.

I climber over there and I'm going to use a fast and agile to both move and as a bonus action try and help her. Hell yes.

You climb down, are able to use your fast and agile.

You're able to work your arm into the straps that carry the little coolant vessels and are able to kind of help bear that weight which allows her to focus on getting her foot unstuck and the two of you are able to continue climbing. One coolant placement away from having your job complete. Fix down one to go.

Get it done fish case. We've got to be okay. Kicking sound like distortion on the radio. You all right? There's just nothing coming through that isn't static and reach a some deep like animal fear

in the center of your heart. Got them. We got to move to four. Move to four. Yeah.

You see everyone in your click to a different channel. Fish case. Fish is something a little soothing about it all. Okay. Move to five.

And I'm going to go for this. I'm going to go for another check. I know I'm still chasing them because they can get it done in the next one. They also need to get out of the fence.

“So there's two things you have to wait for, which is one their last success.”

And then two their ability to escape out of the kind of danger zone. Okay. We need to be right on time. All right. Come on.

Our John Lewis tobs. Eighteen on the die. Plus seven is 25. Four three. Six six six.

Hell yes. Which I believe brings me to none. Nine successes. You're one away from having power. Andre, you do feel the fillings in your mouth as you realize that your earlier use of your

tech abilities to kind of fix yourself is very necessary. You see bits of equipment, clip boards, anything with a piece of metal on it. Start to kind of get caught in the turbulence that is now coursing around forest, the tourists. I look at it. I shot reflexively.

No pins in the DRC. Hands outside. You see out of our dunes like a little coat pocket. Two pants fight because no. You see that he grabs those two pants is only going on to them with one hand.

Well, still trying to fix the conversion vaults with the other. The tops of my little sparness suit suspenders are digging into my shoulders. As gravity is just moving me up. It's like my boots are zipped to my pants, which have the overall suspenders. And that is now the hammock that is holding my body as my face goes

right red as blood Russians to it. And one of my teeth is just yanking against my jaw. I'm like, "I'm not glorious home steady." Zoom, zoom, zoom. The energy generating in here is insane.

This is so dangerous, Andre. We now have another platoon of Martians.

A set of turns before you exit.

Oh, net one and a two. Oh, man, sir. A nine. And another net one. It is upsetting in the club.

Can it be that like they're hitting? And it's just not doing damage. I like the idea that they're not-- Well, you also have resistance too. So at this point, they are hitting.

And you watch as the kind of gravity around you. A swirls, kinetic bullets hitting you are then pinging up and around. Their shots are hitting. You are just too strength. Wow, we're really in it.

As you turn, Nate grabs you by the phone and pulls you in to the room.

As you slam the door behind you, you see that there are two of these squat kind of four-wheeled vehicles with a wide stance, blunt nose, mat, black composite, cross-touch with scuffs. These are duckies. These are-- you would be very familiar with these.

These are used to kind of move around the exterior of the ship. You see that he hands you a helmet. We gotta go. Yeah.

“Again, I think she's laughing and enthusiastic about this.”

And like every sound out of hers is she's just full weird. Helmet on, following a lead. Valkin' that already have their helmets affixed as he smacks up button. You see the door from where she came goes airtight to the other wall. You hear the fire of lasers against it as airlock.

You hop on the back, Nate is driving as he's too duckies with great force.

You can feel that like the torque on these things sane as they-- Again, silent in the foi. Yeah. But you feel the vibrations as you guys move out from this hatch onto the exterior of the arc line.

And they begin to maneuver you up towards the command bridge. Is there any-- we're not going to follow out from this, right? No. And just looking out now that it's like open space all around, are we anywhere in the area where the like Martian Armada is gathering?

Go ahead and give me a perception check. 12. Hey, a tunnel to it. As you move out, you see that there are coffins moving up the arc line towards you.

“Does it look like they see us or they're just moving information?”

No, they are moving in the pursuit of you. Oh, great. Sweet. Not that it will help very much, but again with her like your dark vision, she's going to immediately like crash the light inside of her helmet.

So her helmet start. And she's just looking up. And if I don't have to focus on driving, I'm just trying to disable things with my weapon. Hell yeah. Hang it.

Very much, you want to take a shot at one of these puffs. Yeah, so please go ahead. It still flakes chains in hell, but why not? Oh shit, 19 on the die. Hit.

Oh my god. I want to shoot a plane out of the sky. This is just a random spraying prey. So crazy that it hit one point of damage. You connect with one of the two coffins in pursuit of you.

Of course not enough damage to affect it. But you do see you make contact in the silence of the void. As you hear, your own breathing and the vibrations of the duckie through your bones as you move up the arc line to where the command bridge. I think the one cool thing I could take from that is the moment.

She's like, if she's just sort of spraying the moment. She sees the one connect. You just see her whole body snap back like a turret locking in. Like she's just going to keep shooting exactly like that. Here we go.

Fishcakes, one last coolant to place. Having had the go ahead from Miss Fordaca. I signal to some of the other team, the rest of my team. 23. A fixed.

All of the coolant is set.

“The only thing left for you to do is take another turn to get out of the fence.”

I can use... Oh, I guess just cunning action. Where I used dash, disengage or hide as bonus action. Right now we're past fabrication. You just past fabrication, you're going to come out at the top of central IT

just below the command deck. I'm going to allow you to use cunning action. So you are able to pop event and kind of get out into a, like an anti-champer outside of the command bridge, but not immediately outside. You're not inherently in danger.

This is a safe space for you and the kids to be separated by a number of rooms from the command bridge. I'm going to roll dice to see if the kids are able to keep up with you. We'll say that a 10 does it. None of those are 10s. The children, as coordinated and competent as you all have been working together,

So as you are able to pop the vent, get up into this safe area.

You look down and you see that all of them are climbing as fast as they can to get there. So they will need to, they will need to get to your next turn to clear the fence. Fishcakes, you clear! I am clear, there are still rabbits in the barn. I repeat, rabbits in the barn.

All right little bunnies run!

“My question for you is, if I fail to accumulate a success, what happens?”

Do I stay at where I'm at or do I lose a success? At this point, we'll stay at where you're at. The tourist is generating energy. But your fears and calculations suggest that there's no worry of the tourist losing energy, it's just once it has surpassed it.

The ability to maintain is very difficult. Okay understood.

In that case, I am going to hearing that we're not clear yet and knowing that we're at nine out of ten successes.

I do some quick math in my head. My head is pounding with blood rushing into it. I'm in a lot of physical pain. And I think I'm sitting there looking at it and I'm going to take my hands off the console. And I have been getting to help action from Arjun and Lewis. If there's anything in the help action, could I ask them to take actions that I know would give me

disadvantage on this role? You can! What? Because the rabbits are not out of the warning. So I would like to go over and say, "Ha ha, Arjun, you want to take a crack at this one?"

“What? Go for it! I believe in you and I'm going to take a leatherman out of my back half instead of pliers”

and pull my fucking tooth out of my head. Because it's making me go insane with aim. I'd like to roll with disadvantage knowing that we don't lose levels from failure. I would like to roll with disadvantage knowing we don't lose levels from failure. Pull my tooth out of my head.

Yes, to nail the one success. Because if you do get more successes than 20 maintaining stabilisation becomes much more difficult. So in other words, if I were to actually break past 10 successes, even this round, that's a problem. That makes maintenance really hard.

Okay, so yeah, I'm going to basically stand back and be like, it's been a full court press to get here.

And now we're throwing the e-break on this moving train to try to just slide into the exact correct. Uh, you see that Archie goes, "Me, you want me to do it?" Stay there! You're going to save the Earth! Go for it! I gotta get these fucking tooth out! Uh, you see that he is scrolling through his hollow. That's not in the manual!

Uh, as he is going to attempt to do his best as you roll this with disadvantage. That's so funny. Oh my god. What if this matter else is natural? That would have been a 16 which would have been more success than we want.

And eight plus seven is exactly 15. Oh my god. Oh my god. What if this matter else is natural? That would have been a 16 which would have been more success than we want.

And eight plus seven is exactly 15. The energy in here is peak right where you want it.

“Releasing this the next turn is ideal if you have to hold any longer we will have problems.”

I'd like to offer that because I cast forest barrier on you. You pull that tooth out but for whatever reason it's not bleeding. Ooh, I'm gonna pull that out and go disturb me. [laughter] Now you're a part of it.

Just let go of the tooth and have it just fly in the front corner. I think it's too much through the entirety of the ship and kills a cop. [laughter] Yes. On the exterior of the cop and you see just a perfect sniper shot.

As a mole of floats off of the space. Kiki, you are riding along the exterior of the arcline climbing to ship toward the command bridge. These coffins are going to take shots on you. Yeah. One hits.

If you do not hear it because you're in space. Yeah. But you feel the impacts as lasers lash the ground around you. Oh, one making contact with the back of your ducky jostling you. Do you still have resistance?

It should be for one minute, so. Minute. Okay, you do that. As you take 10 points of damage to have to five as these lasers impact the ground around you. Kiki is bloody.

Yeah, I mean you're an intensive intimidating presence. You are sadly still human. You hear Nate come over the comms. As he's riding this ducky up the side of the ship. Kiki, that is your turn.

As you guys are cleaning up, you probably got another turns worth of driving to do before you reach the maintenance access point that your plan was to aim for. Cool. About how far away would I say the two coffins are pursuing us? Uh, coffins have now made like a strafing run on you.

I'm still going to bang up and shoot and use wound this time again.

But I think I'm going to spend my little extra bit to get a force whisper in. You're going to die here.

“No one will remember that you died for this.”

Uh, and go ahead and take my stupid little shots. Is it 18 hit? 18 hits. Uh, and then we're going to wound them so we're adding 2d8, 15 points of force damage. Two shots from your rifle.

Hit. You hear that one of the coffins pulls up. The other one continues to drive crashing into the command bridge exploding. I think like even in the burst of that like. Kiki stays like up and locked in again like a turret and the moment like the flash of it goes away.

She's slumping down like she's starting to slow down now.

This is a lot of blood loss and she doesn't have a lot left.

You hear Nate Sharp come over. Kiki, what a shot. You single. We're going away. She is, uh, uh, overclocked.

All right. Just, I don't know if we survived. Move to six. Yeah. Coming back around fishcakes.

“You see the kids climbing up out of the vent.”

Like pull them out and I'm flinging them out into the hallway here. They love it because you are able to successfully fill them almost 5 feet. It's like whoa, and fall back, skid, sliding back with your surprising strength.

The kids are out of the vent.

Go. Everything slows down. No blood in my mouth. Look over at Arjun who I can see has taken the long way to complete the final code programming. Boris is at max capacity and not a single what over.

I looked down. I hit a button to record a message that will publish to the ship's comms. The moment I release this energy, alerting the Martians on the bridge to our presence. In the nanosecond before the entire ship gets fried.

This is Chief Engineer Andredalka of the Akaron. Our vessel was seized in close orbit of our solar system's lone star. By Martian military forces, in a preamble to an invasion of Earth. That Martian our mother,

“that sought to hang the pride of Earth's engineering over you as hostage and trophy of their inevitable victory.”

But our mother is currently disabled. She said you have mere minutes to act before they are operational once more. There are living hostages aboard the Akaron. Life support is active. Armaments are disabled.

The Martian fleet is at your mercy, but only for a moment. We are proud to have fought for Earth. This ship was made by Dr. Amani Cortes, who believed that space held the promise of a brighter future. We have done our part to pave the way.

In honor that is all we can ask. And I hit send and release Boris the tourists. Across the Akaron. The ship shutters. Pressure dropping across the entire structure.

A sharp crack. Somewhere deep in the course. Then everything shifts. Lights flicker. Air gets cold fast.

Immediately. On train. Viscuit. You can see your breath. As everything gets ice cold.

Sharp in your lungs. A metallic twang hits your nose. Coolant ozone burnt plastic. Geeky. From the outside of the ship.

You see the coffin that was raising up to come back into a Straving run. Mid turn stops. And floats lazily through space. Fishcakes.

As you and the kids stand there. In the cold. You hear bodies. Boom. The thuds.

As servos lock, they are limbs unable to move. Their bodies unable to carry the weight of their armor. Fall across the ship.

Kiki. Back outside.

You feel your ducky slow.

Yeah.

“As the vehicles themselves are impacted by this pulse.”

That radiates out from the ship. Give me a perception check. With advantage. 21. That'll be a 22.

Oh. Your message is received. As a fleet of earth starcraft. Fall in crashing through this feeling. Our moda.

It is a brilliant. Technicolor explosion. F ships and scrap. As this. Our moda.

This threat to earth is torn. A sucker. Andre opens the viewing bridge from the base station of the TRC. Argin Lewis, two nearby looking out. Just realizing that the entire fate of his family and earth depends on that message

having gotten through all of this having worked exactly on time. And like it's just shaking with nausea.

And the second he sees one of those.

Aaron, one of those earth ships start to tear through the lazing. Martian vessels before they can reboot. He just start to crying so hard jumping up and down. Yes. Yes.

Brought to by a space as like you. That's public funding. You fucking Martian cons. As that cheering is happening. And watching the fleet get destroyed in real time.

I'm going to tap Nate on this shoulder in front of me.

“I think I have to use a force whisper because I still sound insane.”

So it's just a mental conversation. It sounds like Keke's voice again to be like, I think I'm free later. Now. Are you in my head? Yeah.

Is that a problem? Freaky. You like it. I do. Watch your head.

Oh, scrap floats overhead. Fishcakes and the kids are already crawling over where the bridge is and pulling out cortex spines. You immediately. Yes.

Are able to make your way. Fallen Martian soldiers are down. They are UC Red Lights, drinking arms and ligaments. Generating as they're armor components and body mechanics. Struggle to continue to function.

And yes. You immediately show the kids how to remove. Once you several connections, they might still be twitching a little bit. But that's only natural. That's kind of fun.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. King's.

Don't make this awesome. You see that tubes walks over to you.

“Andre amongst your cheering goes, I think we still need to go get your daughter.”

That's right. Let's go do it. And I'll turn to the viewing window one last time and just look at the Martian ships. This was supposed to be a symbol of peace and discovery and looking at the earthling ship. The earthling ships tear through the Martian Armada.

I think Andre thinks of conversations he had with the money and just goes. I wish there weren't so many that tried to stop us from believing in a three galaxy. Your dream was through the money. I wish you were here to see it. Put a hand up on the window and turn to go get Stella.

You take the long way up a series of service corridors and staircases. And after about, you know, 15, 20 minutes arrive on the command bridge. You see the body of a Martian general fissing his face kind of a fixture of confusion and surprise and terror that you can only assume was his reaction to hearing your message over the loudspeaker. And the many members of the executive council, including your daughter, hands tied blindfolded as they hear your footsteps. Hello, hello.

It's all right, Stella. And I'm going to go watch out to my daughter and release the bonds on her. You see the chief embraces you in a tight hug. It's all right, he's all right. Everything going to be okay.

And I'm going to look around is Nisha here. As you begin to un-bind Stella, Nisha and Sophie arrive. You guys are able to come through the maintenance. We were stuck out there for so long. Yeah, exactly.

You guys had to pry it open.

We're able to finally get inside.

You and the kids, kids are carrying arm loads of servos from different, uh, Martian courses. Bogos is like, "What's she got there, kid? Oh God!" As everyone kind of confines here, Nisha walks up to you. What happened? I'm just going to give her a huge hug and pull in the daughters for a big family embrace and go.

And I'll look up at her and say,

“"They tried to take something that belonged to everybody."”

Same old story. She not solemnly embraces you. You can call Troy, I'm dying. Yeah. You see kind of mingling about hands ringing, kind of looking around

is a vice counselor, Everett Quill. Thank you.

As she goes, everybody, all right.

The moment Nate goes off to go find Troy. I'll never call anybody. Anyone on the spot there like a little given name. Doctor called her, but sure.

“Yeah, everyone's fine. Are you okay? Did anything happen?”

Oh, it was terrifying. The Martians are so large, so violent. The moment he gets close enough, it's just my hand around his neck.

I'm going to choke him with that with my little Martian prosthetics.

Uh, you see that the other executive counsel school is stop. Uh, and you go, you see Nate goes relax. Wow, I really like you. Yeah, as you extinguish this man's life on the command bridge of this ship. Space justice.

Yeah, you let the body drop, and it like hard focus to fish kicks behind you. Like, like clapping a little bit. I think it's the like choke to the death, but the little Martian pinky. Uh, like buried itself in his throat, and I rip it off my hands. Because I don't want any more Martian tech on.

I just see those little foil emergency blankets and ambulances in the scene. And it's clearly being shot in magic hour, which means law is suspended. Yeah, of course. But everything heroes do in this quality of life. Yes, you get 20 minutes during the blue hour.

Yes.

“To do as much crime as you need to do for the sake of catharsis.”

And with that, we pull out through the transparent alloy of the command bridge to the Ecaron, silhouetted against the blue marble of earth. And it's moan surrounded by the scrap of the Martian fleet. Our heroes successful the flight of the Ecaron. At an end.

That was Erica Ishii as Vera Fishcake's land. A Bria Iungar as Kiki Davis. Brendan Lee Mulligan as Andre Dalka. And me, Lou Wilson as everyone and everything else. Flight of the Ecaron is produced by fortune, horse, and worlds beyond number.

Editing sound designed by Brian Flarity of many sided media. And score by Will Savino. For even more stories like this, join us on our Patreon. We'll see you there. [MUSIC]

[MUSIC] It wasn't actually movie. Let's go. Woo! Fucking incredible.

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