The Return to Liten (Game Over)

[HackerHuck]

I'm surprised that this isn't locked yet.

MoI - I like the buddying to the mod, but I still don't like making suggestions to the claimed vig. I do find it interesting that you ignored Nikanor in your suggestions considering he acted just like Cupcake. The only difference is that he actually dropped the hammer.

ThAd - did you decide on the flavour for your kill?

[ThAdmiral]

ThAd - did you decide on the flavour for your kill?

I did ask, but I was informed we could only discuss that at night.

I booo'd kerrigan for that response though, for what its worth.

[SaintKerrigan]

Final Vote Count of Day 1

(10) Square Obscure: AlmasterGM, LynchMePlz, Untrod Tripod, Slaxx, ThAdmiral, MagnaofIllusion, HackerHuck, Twomz, Cogito Ergo Sum, Nikanor

(3) Untrod Tripod: danakillsu, Square Obscure, Thor665
(2) Nero Cain: Furry, SpyreX
(1) danakillsu: apathyplusCUPCAKES
(1) MagnaofIllusion: Nero Cain

Not Voting: Feysal

With eighteen people alive, it takes ten votes to lynch.
The deadline is Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. CST.

- A lynch majority has been achieved! -

Meggido Extraction Point
Colonized Sector 2, UTP Planet Liten, Tynnfred System
December 4th, 2486 SC (Day 3, Month 15 LC)
1222 hours SST (2425 hours LLT2)

The final rays of light danced across the Liten landscape. Sara observed the sunset silently, her rifle held loosely at her side. So far, nothing truly eventful, other than Simona's fake death. Not a single Arkon sighting the entire day.

I ought to be relieved. And yet...

She heard footsteps behind her, and she glanced back. "Jezzy?"

"Sara." Jezzy stepped up to Sara's side.

She's being polite to me?

"What it is it, Jezzy?"

"Something's not right. We're not safe here."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Is there anywhere on this planet that is safe?"

"No, it's not like that. I think we're going to be attacked tonight."

"Uh...explain, please."

Jezzy stared at Sara's eyes. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed it."

"Noticed what?"

"Felt that something feels wrong about all this. We haven't seen a single Arkon since the ambush, not even an air patrol. If they want this IED so badly, why haven't they made a more concerted effort to locate it?"

Sara sighed. "I've noticed, all right, but what can we do about it?"

"Dammit, Captain, are you really this blind? There's only

one

reason why their presence is this minimal, and that's because they've got infiltrators in our ranks! We can't just ignore that!"

"I

know

! But we can't use scanners to detect them, and from what I've seen in the files, they can even fake human DNA for blood draws. Without a strong psychic to do a mind check, we don't have any way to detect them."

"Wrong. There is a way."

Sara felt the blood vanish from her face. "You can't be serious..."

"Oh, I'm absolutely serious," Jezzy said sternly. "If we ignore the threat, they'll tear us apart!"

"But--that's barbarian!"

Jezzy chuckled. "Real world's a bitch, ain't it? So, you actually got some balls, or is it all pussy down there?"

Before Sara could respond, Travis ran up to them, panting heavily. "Captain Gaints--come quickly--about to kill--Ellen!"

Icy fingers seized Sara's spine. "Oh, god..."

"Better get down there,

Captain

," Jezzy suggested. "Your iron fist is required."

Sara glared at her, but now was not the time for petty contrivances. "Show me," she ordered Travis.

He nodded, and led Sara and Jezzy back to the boing-grassy area where they'd eaten earlier that day. Directly in the center was Ellen, her arms tightly secured by Dylan and Black Cat. Jack stood in front of her, his laser rifle aimed straight at her body. The rest of the Megiddos and the colonists encircled them, attention squarely on the scene before them.

Sara pushed her way into the circle. "What the devil is going on here, Jack?"

Without removing his gaze from Ellen, Chuck replied, "She's an Arkon, Sara. Wesley, how about you show Sara what you found in Ellen's pack."

Wesley stepped out from the outside of the circle and approached Sara, holding a strange object in his fist. "It's obviously not human," he stated.

Sara studied the object. It was a small, black-green cylinder, twelve centimeters in diameter and twenty-nine centimeters long, with uneven ridges lining the outer wall. The top of the object was slightly concave, and unlike the rest of the cylinder, was perfectly smooth. To the naked eye, it almost seemed as if there were faint, swirling, red lights inside the object. It made no noise whatsoever.

"Sara, don't listen to them!" Ellen pleaded. "They've gone crazy!"

"Shut the fuck up, you Arkon bitch!" Pal shouted. "We've caught you, and now you're going to pay for what you motherfuckers did--"

"Shut up, Pal!" Sara ordered. "Wesley, why were you searching Ellen's things in the first place?"

Wesley shrugged. "God gave me a feeling. A strong intuition, if you will."

"He's wrong!" Ellen screamed. "Someone else must've planted that thing in my pack! Or...or he's

lying

!"

"No, you," Pyscho countered.

"Fuck you!"

Sara felt panic creeping through her brain. "Jack, holster your weapon, goddammit! Do you have absolute proof that Ellen actually put that device in her pack?"

"Sir," Jack spat, "with all due respect--"

"That was an

order

, Operative!"

Slowly Jack lowered his laser pistol. "Yes,

sir

."

"And you two," Sara continued, pointing at Black Cat and Dylan, "let Ellen go. Now!"

"Are you serious, Captain?" Kestrel exclaimed. "Do you honestly believe what it's saying?"

"I- I don't know!" Sara groaned. "But we can't just kill her!"

"Why not?" Simona inquired.

"All of you are acting so absurd," Joshua cut in. "You haven't even tried to find all the data--"

"

Fuck

off," Jezzy barked.

"He's right!" Sara glared at each of the accusers. "You're willing to kill off one of our own

without giving her a fair chance to prove her innocence

? There isn't nearly enough data to make an informed decision--"

"Aw, fuck this shit." Sara whirled in time to see Jack bring his laser rifle to bear on Ellen.

"Jack, no!"

Suddenly, Jack froze. "Um...I have something to do," he mumbled, lowering his weapon and walking away.

Sara looked back at Ellen, and saw her standing alone; both Black Cat and Dylan were nonchalantly striding away from her...as was everyone else.

"Move along, Captain," Ellen commented. "Nothing to see here."

Obediently Sara turned around and strode off.

Wait, isn't this--nope, nothing to see here...

Suddenly she heard a laser shot, and a low, guttural cry: "Hylesk!" Then another laser shot.

She whirled around. Ellen was lying on the grass, two holes burned through the side of her head. Except...it wasn't really Ellen anymore. Her body was transforming rapidly. Pupils narrowed until they were almost like vertical slits, while irises became eggplant purple and whites bright orange. Pale, white skin darkened until it was dark green in color. Black hair became bubblegum pink, and some of it even recessed into her skull. Purple lips snarled to expose goldenrod-colored teeth. In the space of less than a second, the Ellen she thought she knew had vanished, replaced by this horrific abomination of nature.

An Arkon.

Oh my god. But...

People slowly came back to the clearing. "So what the fuck

was

that shit?" Ingrid demanded to know.

"It was weird..." Dylan commented. "More importantly, who broke that spell and shot the bitch?"

"Moi." Everyone turned to see Chuck, standing on a nearby rock. "Was coming back from my scouting position to report in, when you all went random or something. So I took out my laser rifle and shot the Arkon dead."

"Nice shot," Black Cat remarked.

"Why, thank you."

Arthur cleared his throat. "After thinking about it for a bit, I recall something about a type of Arkon warrior that was capable of misdirection like this. Doctor-class, they're called by us, and few people have seen them--or at least, seen them and lived to tell the tale."

"Well, aren't you the fucking Encyclopedia," Psycho said. "Why'd they call it Doctor, anyway? Why not Mindfucker or something more appropriate?"

Arthur shrugged. "Because it saves lives, I guess."

Sara's mind was a convoluted mess. "I can't believe this..."

"Yeah, we noticed." Jezzy frowned. "And it nearly cost us our lives."

Sara glared at her. "You're out of line, Operative."

"Oh, I am, am I? At least I know what should be done in the clutch."

Pal nodded. "Jezzy's right. Now we know what kind of soldier Sara truly is--"

"A soldier who still possesses a heart, even in the midst of this living hell."

Everyone turned. "Furry?" Travis asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"

"Well, as okay as I can get, considering what's happened," Furry replied. "Sorry my personal moping took so long, guys, but for better or worse, I'm back in the saddle."

"So..." Simona scratched her heel. "Could you explain what you meant by that earlier statement?"

"Simple. Sara is still a human being. The rest of you guys, I'm beginning to wonder about."

Jezzy frowned. "With all due respect, ma'am, you have no idea what you're talking about. How about you let the real leaders do their job?"

Furry laughed. "With all due respect, Operative Bahha, your covetous desire for command has no place on the battlefield.

"Wha- how dare you--"

Furry turned to look at the others. "And as for the rest of you, you seem to be forgetting the very principle of teamwork. What would've happened if Ellen had been telling the truth? Wouldn't

that

send y'all right up shit creek without a paddle?" People began hanging their heads. "The only one of you that remembered the principle of teamwork is your leader. And you want to depose her, why? Because she wanted to be certain about things before committing to a permanent solution? But your carelessness nearly allowed the Arkon to escape. In fact, the only reason the Arkon

didn't

escape was because of Chuck--who was following Sara's orders."

Furry paused. "So, if you really feel like having a mutiny, you get two choices. On the one hand, you have the rebellious Lieutenant Jezebel Bahha, who has shown she'll only take the obvious solution, with little thought of the aftereffects; on the other hand, you have your rightful leader, Captain Sara Gaints, whose prudent caution is being mistaken for fearful hesitation. Sara has shown that she will try to keep as many of her people alive as she can. Can you say the same about Jezebel?"

Taking a cigarette out of her utility belt, Furry concluded with, "I'm with Sara." She lit up, took a draw, and blew out a puff of smoke. "That's all from me, folks." She put the cigarette back in her mouth and strode away. Joshua and Travis followed her.

Sara looked at her operatives. "All of you need to get some shut-eye," she ordered. "It's been almost two days space time since we've last slept, and it's showing. Hopefully, we can just board the

Apollyon

and safely return to the

Deborah

; but in the event that we're not so fortunate...we'll be alert and refreshed. You got me, operatives?"

Chuck nodded. "I got you, Sara."

"As do I," Simona added.

"And I," Bill concurred. One by one, the surviving Meggidos assented to Sara's order, until only Jezzy was left.

She fell silent for a long time. "C'mon, Jezzy," Geordi said, "don't do this to us. We're a team, remember?"

Jezzy sighed. "Aye, Sara. Um..." She scuffed her feet on the boing grass. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," Sara replied. "I'm sure it was just the sleep deprivation."

"Yeah..." Jezzy shrugged and ambled off to her insta-house; the other Meggidos followed suit. Sara, however, strode off to find Furry. By now, the sun had set completely, and with no moon to bounce light onto the planet, Sara had to use her laser rifle's light to find her way through the dark.

The colonists had set up their own insta-houses on the outskirts of the Meggido camp. Joshua and Travis had already retired, but Furry was sitting outside the entrance to hers, drawing silent breaths from her cigarettes. She looked up as Sara approached her.

"I suppose you came here to thank me," she remarked.

Sara nodded. "I'm new to the SOB, and it's less...regulated than I'm used to. So, thank you for saving my ass."

"You're welcome." Furry took a long draw. "The only shot we've got at beating these bastards is unity. So do me a favor and don't put yourself in that kind of situation again, okay?"

"I don't intend to." Sara thought for a moment, wondering if she ought to ask her

the

question.

What the hell, I do need to know these colonists if we're going to survive together.

"Um, mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why did you rebel in the first place?"

"Hmm..." Another long draw. "Didn't your briefing mention anything about that?"

"I'd like to hear it from your lips," Sara replied. "You obviously had a reason."

Furry sighed. "Ironically, it was because I thought I knew better than my leader. Sarah--Governor St. Kerrigan was moving towards complying with the UTP's demand that we join them. A number of people, myself included, fervently believed that joining the UTP would be our undoing. So we launched a coup. Right in the middle of when we were dealing with the Arkon scouting party, too." She laughed bitterly. "And here I am, now officially a UTP citizen, the very thing I rebelled against in the first place. Talk about karma."

"Wait...the Arkons sent a scouting party

before

this invasion?"

"Aye. Even got two of their infiltrators in the cabinet. Hell, we only killed one of the little buggers; the other rat bastard just slipped away." She shook her head. "If I hadn't blindly insisted on forwarding my agenda, I could've got him, too. But that's the past." She checked the clock on her wristcom. "Extraction's at 0000 Liten Local, right?"

Sara nodded. "About four hours and change from now."

"Then I better get some shut-eye." Furry ground the cigarette into the soil and opened the door to her insta-house. "Goodnight,

Captain

Sara Gaints."

Sara smiled. "Goodnight, Furry. Oh, and next time, I really want to know how you got that nickname."

Furry chuckled. "When there's time." She crawled into the insta-house and closed the door behind her. Sara turned around and headed back for her own insta-house.

She removed all the equipment that she had fastened to her person, but left the uniform on, not only to combat the chill of the Liten night, but also to be ready in the event that combat sprung up at less than a moment's notice. Holding her laser pistol in her right hand, Sara lay on her back on top of the sleeping bag, not bothering crawling in. For a moment, she missed the soft, warm touch of Margaret's body, but shortly thereafter she fell asleep.

Square Obscure, Ellen Abalyski,

Arkon Doctor

, was sniped by Chuck Norris on Day 1.

It is now Night 1. The deadline is Saturday, November 6th, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. CST.

[SaintKerrigan]

Half a kilometer south of Vodlesta, Capital City of Liten
Colonized Sector 1, UTP Planet Liten, Tynnfred System
December 1st, 2486 SC (Day 27, Month 14 LC)
0318 hours SST (2520 hours LLT1)

Sara sat behind a rock, along with Margaret. "How long has it been since we've landed, Sara?" Margaret whispered.

"Um..." Sara shrugged. "About three hours, I guess. But don't you have a--"

"Wrong. It's actually been over five hours."

Huh? Oh, right...

"I didn't know you wanted Liten Local."

"I didn't tell you. I was testing to see if you'd already made the adjustment." Margaret put a hand on Sara's shoulder. "Your dossier indicated that you haven't been transferred much planet-wise in your career, so let me give you some more advice: once you land on a planet, acclimate to its time zone as swiftly as you can. A standard second is 1.6 times that of a Liten second. The Liten time system runs on fifty second minutes, fifty-minute hours, and thirty-hour days. If you don't adjust to it fast, your internal chronometer will get thrown out of whack, and you just can't afford to compromise yourself like that. So from now on, give me times in Liten Local, and get used to it as soon as possible. Understood?"

"Y-yes, Margaret. I'm sorry."

Margaret raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"I didn't think of it soon enough. I know I'm better than this."

"Hey, now..." Margaret pulled Sara in close. "You're not perfect, Sara. No one is. Don't beat yourself up over things you have less experience with. Everyone's allowed to learn, even when they know everything." She began rubbing Sara's back. "Have faith in yourself, Sara. You wouldn't be my second if you didn't deserve it."

They stared into each others eyes. Sara felt Margaret's hands on her back, rubbing out a bit of the tension accumulated over three--no,

five

--straight hours of foot transportation. She let out a pleasured sigh.

"A-a-ahem." Startled, Sara turned to look at Jezzy, standing beside them; she could feel the blood rushing through her cheeks. "If your business with Captain Gaints is finished, Margaret, Bill and I have returned with a situation report on Vodlesta."

Margaret took her hand away from Sara and stood up; Sara rose as well. "Go ahead," Margaret ordered.

"It's almost totally destroyed. Most of the buildings are either melted piles or burnt rubble. What's still standing is precariously close to tumbling in on itself. There's a heavy Arkon presence, and a good number of groups that appeared to be search parties. Too many to be simply ferreting out survivors, in my opinion."

"So they still haven't found the IED, yet," Margaret commented. "Go on, Jezzy."

"Bill set up some equipment and ran a brief scan for human life-signs, but he didn't find any. Given the state of Vodlesta in general, I doubt we'll find any."

Margaret looked at Sara. "Thoughts?"

It's rather obvious.

"In all likelihood, a small group of colonists have managed to escape the capital city, along with the IED, and are now hiding somewhere, hoping for the UTP to send someone to extract the IED. If I had to guess at a likely hiding place...either the Istor Forest or the Kehvit mountains, as both are not that far away, yet distant enough to avoid the main bulk of the Arkon invasion force."

Margaret smiled. "Excellent, Sara, you practically spoke my mind. Now, both of you, go round up the rest of the troops. The Istor Forest is closer, so we'll head north, skirt Vodlesta and head there first. Move out, operatives!"

[SaintKerrigan]

Night 1 is over. Day will break once I resolve night actions...

[SaintKerrigan]

Meggido Extraction Point
Colonized Sector 2, UTP Planet Liten, Tynnfred System
December 4th, 2486 SC (Day 3, Month 15 LC)
1434 hours SST (2930 hours LLT2)

Sara opened her eyes--and moments later her wristcom buzzer went off. She smiled wistfully.

I got the Liten timing down pat, Margaret, just like you told me to...

It was still hard as hell to keep her eyes from clamping shut again, but sheer willpower and a quick jab of adrenaline stim helped overcome that deficiency. Quickly dressing, she crawled out of her insta-house. A few people were crawling out as well; others were still inside, held captive in the land of Nod.

The two nearest operatives were Chuck and Simona, and Sara called them over. "Go 'round and get the heavy sleepers up," she ordered. "I want us packed and ready for evac as quickly as humanly possible."

They both gave lackluster, tired salutes and set off to accomplish their task. Meanwhile, Sara turned back to her insta-house. After taking all her things out and putting them in her pack, Sara compacted the insta-house to a small, 30cm by 30cm by 20cm box in less than thirty seconds. Afterward, she put the whole thing into her pack. It was quite heavy, but her muscles were well-conditioned, and she knew just how to carry it to lessen the stress on her back.

"Sara."

She stood up and turned around. "Yes, Bill?"

"Did you have that Arkon device taken care of?"

What device...oh, shit!

"Uh, no. It slipped my mind."

Great way to start the day, with more incompetence on my part.

"It slipped a lot of people's minds." Then he grinned. "Fortunately for us, it didn't slip mine."

Sara sighed in relief. "Good job, Bill. I'm going to guess you spent a good portion of your sleep time studying the thing."

"Well...all of it, actually. But don't worry, I've got enough adrenaline stims to keep me going, and it'll be awhile before it becomes unsafe for me to--"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Sara laughed. "At least you were doing something productive. But you better get some shut-eye first chance you get, 'kay?" He nodded. "So, find anything interesting?"

"Oh, yeah. Actually, perplexing is more the word I'd use--"

"What, exactly?"

"Right. Anyway, when I started my scans, the device was still active. Not long afterward, however, the device shut itself off. I don't know if it was my scanning or if it just did that automatically, or perhaps the batteries ran out--"

"Focus, Bill."

"Yeah, sorry. Probably the stims. Anyway, when my first scans were finished, I couldn't believe it, but every test I've run since then has confirmed it--"

"Confirmed what?"

"The device was a signal jammer!"

Sara stared at him. "So you mean that was what was jamming our transmissions?"

"No, no, not that! That's a separate thing entirely.

This

jammer was configured to block Arkon channels."

"

Arkon

channels?" Sara folded her arms across her chest. "Why the hell would Arkons want to jam their own comms?"

Bill shrugged. "I dunno. I told you, it's damned perplexing."

Sara chuckled bitterly. "Wouldn't it be ironic if the Arkons were having a bloody civil war right now."

"Who knows? That IED is a valuable and powerful device. Perhaps there's a leadership schism on how to handle the post-acquisition--"

"Well, whatever the fuck's going on with those bastards, it's not our concern. We're just going to get us and the IED the hell off of--"

Suddenly, someone came running up to Sara rapidly. "Sara!" Pal exclaimed, hyperventilating uncontrollably. "Chuck...sent me...big...fucking...shit, man!"

"Calm down, Pal," Sara said calmly. "What's going on?"

"Jack's dead!"

Sara's cheeks paled. "I'm on my way--"

Someone else ran up to the group. "Sara, we've got trouble!" Kestrel gasped. "Arthur's dead!"

Two deaths? Dear god...

"I'll see Jack first," Sara said. "Kestrel, come with me and give me details on Arthur."

"Wait, why are you..." Kestrel's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, fuck!"

"We're screwed, man, we're screwed!" Pal moaned. "Only four fucking months, and I'd get my leave--"

"Dammit, Pal, this isn't the time for bitching!" Kestrel shouted.

"Can it, both of you," Sara barked. "C'mon, Kestrel." As they took off for Jack's tent, Sara checked her wristcom. 1041.

Dammit. I should've gotten everyone up a hell of a lot earlier!

"Describe Arthur for me," she ordered Kestrel. "How'd he die?"

"Seems obvious enough," Kestrel replied. "Laser melted through his brain and fried him. If you want a time of death, you're asking the wrong person."

"Any evidence of a struggle?"

"Not that I could tell. One odd thing, though: he had medical equipment in his insta-house."

Medical equipment? But one of our medics died in the ambush, and the other...

They came upon Jack's tent. A small crowd already stood gathered outside.

"Hey, Sara!" Psycho called. "Smells good out here, don't it?"

Jezzy glared at him. "Christ Jesus, Psycho,

seriously

?" She then turned her hellfire-'n-brimstone flamethrower at Sara. "And you! Why the hell didn't you set up guards, huh? A team's only as good as it's leader--"

"Save it for when we evac, Jezzy!" Sara barked. "Everyone, stand back and let me see him."

The operatives stood aside, and Sara got onto her knees and peered through the opened door. Jack lay on the ground, in combat uniform, his eyes rolled so far into the back of his head that they weren't visible. Other than that, no evidence of stress or trauma was visible. Nearby, his medical equipment lay, unpacked and ready for use.

Why didn't I set up guards? I should've thought of that! Dammit, maybe I really can't do this...

Sara slowly stood up. "Chuck, Geordi, get Jack's body and bag it. We'll...take it with us when the

Apollyon

arrives."

Speaking of which...she checked her wristcom. 2948.

Dammit, the

Apollyon

is due any moment now!

A low roar began rumbling in the sky. Looking up, Sara saw nothing at first; then, seemingly from out of nowhere, a dropship appeared. The

Apollyon

. "Make that double-time, operatives. Kestrel, see to Arthur's body. I'll get the colonists."

Without warning, loud, screeching sounds, like fingernails on a chalkboard put through an amplifier, blared from the skies. Looking up again, Sara saw white streaks of light impacting the

Apollyon

. It took all of Sara's will to avoid collapsing to the ground then and there.

Anything but this...

"Air raid!" she yelled. "Operatives, night vision and laser rifles, now! Set to maximum power and burn those birds out of the sky, fast!"

The entire camp buzzed with activity as the word was passed down amongst the operatives. Sara grabbed her laser rifle, amplified the power output to maximum, and dropped her tacvisor over her head, night vision engaged. She searched the sky for the Arkon bogeys.

"Remember, short, singular bursts!" Sara hollered.

We only get six short shots per battery on max power. Every shot needs to count.

The

Apollyon

was performing aerial acrobatics nearby, and streaks of light were still hitting it. Rapidly Sara traced the path of one light stream back to the Arkon fighter that it was coming from. She set the laser rifle to her shoulder, let the tacvisor autorange for her, took careful aim, and pulled the trigger. A violet beam of light burst from her rifle, instantly streaking across the sky and slicing clear through the Arkon fighter. The fighter didn't even wobble.

Damn, missed the fuel cells!

More lasers began bursting from the ground into the sky, lighting up the night in a purple extravaganza of light dancing across the clouds that had crept over the land. Sara took aim once again, at another fighter, and fired. This time, the shot knifed through the center of the cockpit, and the aircraft skewed downward, plummeting toward the ground. Moments, later, it smashed into the ground and exploded; fortunately, it was far enough away that the debris didn't have a chance of hitting the Meggidos.

"Good shot, Sara!" Chuck yelled.

Sara smiled, and then she saw the

Apollyon

. It was flying more slowly than before, and there was a trail of smoke coming out of the rear.

We've gotta hurry, dammit!

"Look out!" Jezzy screamed. "One of them's making a pass at us!"

Sara began scanning the sky for the incoming hostile, but before she found it, the ground exploded nearby, throwing her violently through the air and into a rock. She willed herself to stay on her feet, however, and she estimated where the bird had last fired and pinpointed it in the sky. The ground blew up again, but it was farther behind her; it still shook her and disrupted her aim. Compensating, she fired at the fighter. Another hit, but not on the cockpit. She started to aim for another shot when suddenly another laser struck it, and the fighter exploded.

"Got 'im!" Psycho yelled. "Oh, you bitches ain't so tough now, are ya? Not when the Psycho's fuckin' your shit up, you ain't!"

Sara looked at the

Apollyon

. Only one stream of white lasers were hitting it now. "I think we're down to one left!" Sara shouted. "Get the bastard, men!"

She followed the trail of light back to the bogey. She aimed carefully and fired. Once again, a hit, but not a fatal one.

We're running out of time, dammit!

Suddenly, a violet laser sliced through the fuel cells on the fighter, and it detonated brilliantly. Sara found the

Apollyon

in the sky and watched. No lasers were impacting it.

"Fuck, yeah!" Pal shouted. "We got the fucking motherfuckers! Hoo-rah!"

Cheers began erupting all around. Sara kept her eyes on the

Apollyon

. Something looked wrong. And then she realized what it was...

"Dammit!" she screamed, throwing her rifle onto the ground in disgust.

People stared at her. "What's your problem?" Jezzy wanted to know. "We got the bastards--"

"Yeah..." Sara nodded toward the

Apollyon

. "But not soon enough."

The others looked up, and saw it, too: the

Apollyon

was gradually nosediving toward the ground.

"Aw, fuck!" Pal's tone had done a drastic turnaround. "We're fucking dead, now, fucking goddammit! How the fuck are we getting off Liten now, huh?

What the fuck now

?" More murmurs of horror began emanating from the others.

"Dammit, this isn't the time to be bitching!" Sara hollered.

"

You

got a better idea?" Kestrel growled. "In case you didn't know, our comms are jammed, and our only ticket off of Liten just got shot to hell--"

"I know that!" Sara stared at everyone nearby. "The fact is, we're still alive, and until that is no longer true, we still have a chance." The ground rumbled underneath her feet, and a quick glance back told Sara that the

Apollyon

had finally crashed onto the ground, shredded into various pieces, but without compromise of the fuel cells. "Right now, we need to clear the area. If the Arkons knew about the rendezvous, you can bet this place'll be swarming with them in very short order. We'll check the

Apollyon

wreckage and see if we can find anything useful. After that, we'll be long gone from here."

"Where to?" Chuck inquired.

"I'll figure that out en route to the wreckage. Chuck, Jezzy, grab the IED. Psycho, help me round up the rest of the troops. We are

lea

ving, operatives!"

Nikanor, Jack Anorr,

Human Medic

, had his brains scrambled on Night 1.
danakillsu, Arthur Williams,

Human Medic

, was shot with a laser rifle on Night 1.

It is now Day 2. With 15 players alive, it takes 8 votes to lynch.
Deadline is on Sunday, November 21st, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. CST (note: this is a bit longer than normal because I don't want to spend 2+ hours writing flavor at 9 o'clock in the night).

[SaintKerrigan]

You may post now.

[SpyreX]

Unvote, Vote: Feysal

Lets not play coy today. This is for doing.

[Twomz]

Hmmm, so who was saying not to lynch Tripod? Gotta look back through posts...

And bah, two medics? I'm assuming the laser rifle was ThAd?

[SpyreX]

-I- was patently wrong about SO.

I'll admit it and we can dance.

However, Feysal needs to hang. TIA

[Thor665]

@Admiral - are you claiming one of those kills?

@Spy - Feysal is clearly sandbagging to some degree, but I'll admit I've sorta forgotten the flow of the game, was that vote for any particular case? I don't recall you pushing on Feysal prior to thins. Has your opinion of Nero Cain shifted?

@Twomz - add me to the list against, and probably the most vocal as I called him town too. I have a big beard, you can find me.

[SpyreX]

Unfortunately for Feysal he didn’t cast A SINGLE VOTE ALL DAY and has delayed multiple times on voting for Square despite expressing concern about their claim.

That was the final vote then. Hopefully we got it right. I agree the bastard mod game was not really an explanation, and being bulletproof is one of those powers that becomes meaningless once revealed. Well, we're about to see.

[Furry]

I'm assuming the laser rifle was ThAd?

It better not have been, dana was pretty likely to be town all of yesterday. NC should have been deadified, at the very least Feysal

Vote Feysal

The unexpected flip actually makes him more likely to be scum then NC. Also makes CES and Twomz a little less likely to be scum then I thought they were yesterday.

[HackerHuck]

This did look pretty bad yesterday.

VOTE: Feysal

[Slaxx]

Did we lose like...doctors?

[Slaxx]

Today is not my birthday O.o

[SaintKerrigan]

I just realized that I completely forgot to post the deadline. Chalk it up to writing massive amounts of flavor...

Anyway, the deadline is on Sunday, November 21st, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. CST (this is a bit longer than normal because, given how long it's taking me to write flavor these days, I don't want to be up past midnight writing the flavor).

I also edited the deadline into the daystart post.

[Slaxx]

I'm finding Feysal worse then CES on a meta basis for their current activity. I don't know Twomz from spit though.

SO's answer to my question is terrible and helps my read of him not at all. That said; I'm actually nervous about how there's been no real movement off his wagon even though I've been campaigning around offering a viable counterwagon for some time now. I'm pretty sure we're lynching town and would much rather lynch Tripod.

Vote: Thor

Speed of the wagon argument is meh. Hey, he got even more scummy to me, but I still don't want to lynch him because other people do.

Alright.

I skimmed Feysal, keep in mind he has a different playstyle. Now we all know that different or new doesnt make someone immune to being scum, but my gut says no, at least for now.

[Nero Cain]

I'm assuming the laser rifle was ThAd?

It better not have been, dana was pretty likely to be town all of yesterday.

And why why whould he have vigged Nik?

I'm finding Feysal worse then CES on a meta basis for their current activity. I don't know Twomz from spit though.

SO's answer to my question is terrible and helps my read of him not at all. That said; I'm actually nervous about how there's been no real movement off his wagon even though I've been campaigning around offering a viable counterwagon for some time now. I'm pretty sure we're lynching town and would much rather lynch Tripod.

Vote: Thor

Speed of the wagon argument is meh. Hey, he got even more scummy to me, but I still don't want to lynch him because other people do.

Do you think Thor did anything scummy yesterday or just today?

[Slaxx]

That quote is from yesterday.

I haven't ISOed everybody, just the people who were against the bandwagon. Tomorrow I will get to the rest. Thats more of a placeholder for me, but yeah, its definitely a possibility that Thor is mafia.

[Nero Cain]

Thor665, Furry, SpyreX, apathyplusCUPCAKES, Nero Cain

Those are the members that were off the wagon SO wagon.

[SpyreX]

Ohh Slaxx don't fight the feeling.

And you missed one there Nero its ok you can go next.

[ThAdmiral]

@Admiral - are you claiming one of those kills?

Yeah, I shot danakillsu. Whoops.

I've got reasons if you want to hear them. The other one I was considering was nerocain, but in the end I chose dana.

As far as kill flavor goes, it has to be related to a military theme. So feeding to animals is out, I'm afraid.

@ nero cain: There are a number of questions that were asked yesterday that I would like you to answer.
1) You said you thought SO's claim "made sense". Explain. (as asked by LynchMePls)
2) What was your case against MOI? (As asked by Thor)
3)

For the most part no; it would be stupid to

distance

this early but its equally possible for "vet" scums to act newbish.
Its also possible that it is a large scum group; Thor said something dumb and now he is being

bussed

.

Emphasis is mine.

@Newbie Cain - decided to Ctrl+F your iso for "distanced" to see if you used it interchangably with "bussed". Other then your debate with MoI about it this is your only use of the word "distance" you seem to be using it in a way and in the same paragraph as "bussed" and are using them both in ways that suggest you believe there is a difference between the two words.

Thoughts?

[SpyreX]

Hows about after a Feysal flip you shoot Nero? Sound good?

[Nero Cain]

Hows about after a Feysal flip you shoot Nero? Sound good?

not particularly. It'll be a waste of a shot but if at the end of the day phase if ThAd finds me the scummiest then he has permission to shoot me.