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Starbound Flotilla     Welcome back to THE LINE.

    A name for an unusual zone in the multiverse, The Line is a well-defined territory that isn't a result of a unification. Rather, it seems to have been carved long after. It cuts miles-wide but relatively thin territory directly and precisely westward over the whole face of the multiversal superplanet, parallel to sea level, punching through tall mountains and soaring over massive canyons. Out here, many miles from its center, the environment is surreal. Sand-blasted stone, cement, and metal have been irregularly heated by bursts of heat, creating an environment that actually winds up looking like pottery, cooked in a kiln. This is the southern half of the east-west strip of territory. But it's about to get a little more north.

    The Flotilla have built up a heavy, three-story-tall super-tank of some sort, with heavy rocket thrusters at the back. They've have finished rigging the Linerunner with the recent upgrades too: Dexter's heavy superrocket that he managed to hijack from the mad Doctor Voronov has been welded right to its midsection as a main thruster, and it's been fed a tiny dose of the insanely high-potency fuel that the two fuel runners rescued by Riva and Zwei it's now escorting were carrying. The heavy whale that Corona and Kotone managed to save has been floating nearby, giving it air cover while the fuel ships keep under the Linerunner's ground cover weapons.

    As before, Concord allies or mercenary folks who don't mind helping the Flotilla are welcomed aboard, and it's a sure bet that those who want to keep up with them at their own pace can find a way to accelerate to the blistering speeds of Second Gear from the already tremendous speed of First Gear. Right now that means getting through the First Gear lane of The Line, a mess of hostile raiders, scavengers, and traders trying to get to The Line's inner lanes with valuable cargo from the outside world. That means fighting off swarms of angry human bandits in junky modded cars wielding arrays of guns, esoteric collections of Hylotl with strange high-speed armor systems, violent Florans atop screeching animals, hostile Glitch knights keeping up atop high-speed mechanical horses, dangerous zeerusty Miniknog ships being driven by hostile Apex, or Avians flying about with propeller-hoisted "airships".

    The Flotilla are making a run to merge into Second Gear, where blurring metal shapes zip by at incomprehensible speed every so often. But they'll undoubtedly benefit from some help to make this run!
Corona Arclite There had been plenty of heavy lifting and other mechanical work to do getting the modifications onto the Linerunner, so Corona had brought in her steampunk loader-mech to help with that. Though that meant that she didn't have much time to put towards repairing the Boom Buggy.

So instead she pulled a few units off of the vehicle and then beamed it back onto her ship, and with a bit of on-the-spot ingenuity and jury-rigging modified those units to install on the ride armor instead. So now the FoxTrotter was sporting the pair of pulsarium boosters like a semi-variable rocket-pack, while the launchers have been mounted on the arms and the gearwork minigun over one shoulder pauldron. Plus the hands and feet had electromagnetic couplers in them already so it could stick to any metallic surfaces. Considering they're dealing with a crapton of potential vehicle targets... Well, the Foxtrotter was more suited to potential mid-battle salvage anyways.

Right now it was hunked down, essentially crouched, in one spot aboard the Linerunner while Corona was sprawled back in the cockpit like it was a hammock with her hat pulled down over her face. Best to catch a few extra Z's while she had the chance before they hit the Second Gear merger.
Ryu     Ryu has decided to stop retrieving the dead from this place. Not because he doesn't care, but because they are slamming their heads against this horrific obstacle at relativistic speeds, and he's decided to let them taste the consequences of that kind of foolishness. He has other concerns... like why the Flotilla is so obsessed with this speeding Treasure. He flies along First Gear, following with his basic invisibility. It would be possible to spot him by the way he disturbs the dust in his path, and the faint glimmer on the edges of his wings while he alters his trajectory to avoid hitting anyone.

    He's not gonna help. Not when Albert could try to crush his head with a hammer if he gets too close.
Dexter Arkwright Doctor Voronov and his henchman had did a number to the Venture Suit, ripping holes in it, much to Dexter's displeasure. He had absolutely no idea how to repair it, and thought the suit was ruined. Up until it repaired itself, that is, to his immense curioisity. The adventurer had suited back up...

And is currently perched on top of the Linerunner, waiting for the right time to fly. He brought /two/ guns this time, a regular handgun in his bag and a revolver ready and holstered to the side of his suit, in case he runs out of ammo and quickly needs to shoot someone more than six or eight times. Talking out loud to anyone listening, Dexter seems cheery. "I'll keep an eye out up here! The Linerunner won't throw us off when we accelerate, will it?" He can fly with the thruster pack, but still.

And if any hostiles try to sideslam them during the pursuit, Dexter draws his revolver and moves to try and sharpshoot them so that they won't be a hassle for the Linerunner.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa has been helping out with both the heavy lifting and the technical aspects of things, as she's a cyborg for one in a military spec body. The second she was a mechanic to start with so this is totally Kotone's jam. She's been working mostly with Corona and the Starbounders when help has been needed on this crazy death race. She's bounced back and forth from her own ship bringing tools and other bits of gear, she's added a few drone gun turrets to aid with defence if anyone gets onboard the craft she's also got the guy she caught locked up in one of the cargo bays on it with SLipbolt keeping watch over him.

Kotone was also crashing near Corona but well? She looked like a corpse or a doll, not moving no signs of breathing really hell she wasn't moving at all.
Riva Banari Riva likes THE LINE. It's new. Fresh. Crazy. People are living here in a completely new and different way than anywhere else she's seen.

Also, she's made friends with a gloqing cowboy that might in fact be made of star matter. That's /kickin' rad/ as they like to call it.

Maybe Hexane is still around, maybe not. Either way, Riva will be with the Flotilla this time, using her Ajoran Cross as an anchor to hang onto the Linerunner as it prepares to undergo a GEAR SHIFT.

She's actually holding on with both hands, which means she's expecting this to get /stupid fast/. She did not contribute to the mechanical defenses of the Linerunner. This is because she is not an engineer. She /is/ the defenses. And possibly also the brute squad, though one might not think it to look at the jovial woman who is even now grinning like a maniac in anticipation.
Yuuki Kuran Having come aboard the Linerunner before they had accellerated to LUDICROUS SPEED, Yuuki Kuran had been quite interested in the Starbound Flotilla's latest get-amazing-quick plan for ENTIRELY BUSINESS REASONS.

She had come aboard with a duffel bag and wearing some weird set of 'biker shojou' clothes, with a fluffy-collared leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses and a bike helmet. In fact, the bag was full of helmets, and a seatbelt.

"Now, this is going to go fast, right? Like, really fast? I've never ridden in a vehicle like this before! How wonderful! I did some research and brought helmets for everyone! You know, for proper vehicle safety. There's so many bandits here, too, all dirty and grungy. Are you sure everything will go well?"

She calls up to Dexter. "Mister Arkwright, do you have proper safety belts and helmets on?!"
Staren     How did Staren not hear about THE LINE until now? It sounds like a fascinating phenomenon all on its own, let alone for any hope of obtaining the mysterious TREASURE.

    Of course, when you've GOTTA GO FAST, it's hard to go wrong with a NUCLEAR-POWERED JET. As he finishes atmospheric re-entry, Staren rapidly overtakes the Linerunner as he flies over towards the airspace above Second Gear. They'll catch up.
Leyanne Tiny's heard there are friends of hers in need on the Linerunner. The whine of a gas turbine is audible aboard the great big road train, before squat, wide-wheeled form of Skrat, Leyanne's bike, pulls in behind it. It jockeys for position for a while before suddenly pulling off to one side, catching some hardcore air.

She giggles, pulling a superman seat-grab, kicking her legs and holding it as long as she can. She gets herself back in the seat to land on the deck, hitting the brakes to finish it off with an endo on the combat motorcycle.

She giggles and gives a thumbs up to anyone she recognises. "Sup dudes."
Starbound Flotilla     "Confident. The Linerunner shouldn't throw you off! But make sure that suit you have is ready to accommodate G forces, Mr. Arkwright. Our dampeners will keep that from being lethal, but a lot is still going to get in." Seft calls out to Dexter. It looks like Riva has the right idea to get a good grip. Albert is already running over to Leyanne's bike, and grumpily strapping it down so that it's not thrown off of the upper deck.

    George has taken one of the helmets just for fun.

    In any case, the process of acceleration and merging has drawn attention. Waves of bandits close on the Linerunner, trying to leap aboard and stow away. Staren, with some fuel supplied by the Flotilla, may be able to catch up. Ryu is undoubtedly one of the few solo individuals who could keep pace with Second Gear on his own, despite its blistering speed. But the bandits are just trying to hook their way aboard, or land their aerial vehicles and creatures, just to try to merge with them.

    The massive rocket at the back begins its intense burn, and even with all the inertial dampening in the world, it feels INTENSE. Blood shifts in the body, metal creaks, and the terrain begins to warp -- both in reality, and in one's eyes -- as the Flotilla start to try to find a good spot to slip into the stream of dangerous masses of metal zooming by to the right of their Linerunner.
Starbound Flotilla     Hexane is here, though he's still mostly down in his own train. Riva can see him if she just looks down over the top deck of the Linerunner and peers at one of the windows of the engine compartment. He's already fighting off some of the bandits trying to hook onto their own merging train.
Staren     Dawn brings to Staren's attention a picture-in-picture of one of the underside cameras showing the distant specks and fine lines of bandits trying to hitch onto the Linerunner. "Oh for..." Staren mutters, waiting for the Linerunner to pass and then diving down behind it to give chase and get into a position to attack the bandits from behind. Those that have already landed, he trusts some of the onboard defenders can handle, as he sets to work firing lasers and railgun shots at the pursuing bandits. Particularly any smaller wheeled vehicles -- firing the railgun to crater the area just ahead of their front wheels might flip them! If he's lucky.
Corona Arclite Corona may be napping but as light of a sleeper she is it doesn't take much to stirr her awake. An ear twitches, as even through the cacophony of speed she can pick up the distinct sound of a familiar motorcycle engine belonging to a certain martain mouse. She pulls her feet back to drop them into the cockpit and sit up, grabbing her hat with one hand to pull it back up onto her head just to see Leyanne catch some air and land on the deck. "Nice entrance Tiny."

Then Staren comments over the radio. "Sounds like yer just in time, too." She grabs the control levers with her gloved hands and stomps on one of the unseen foot pedals. There's an audible rumble as the steam-armor rattles out of standby, smoke puffing out the stacks and steam hissing from various ports as pistons compress and gears spin up, unfolding the legs to stand the machine upright. A few bluish sparks krackle around the feet as the electromagnets assert their hold on the deck as the Linerunner starts to speed up. Instead of risking moving at the moment Corona just spins the upper torso of the armor a full three-sixty to face towards one of the back angles. "Guess we drew some attention." Corona pulls on her goggles, and then pulls on one of her controls. The clockpunk minigun clatters to life as the barrels spin up and spew out volleys of flak fire towards the incoming aerial bandits.

"Yeeehaa! Always wanted to do this atop a train -in a mecha-!"
Leyanne Leyanne blinks at Albert and nods, strapping the front end down to help make the job faster. She smiles to him, grabbing hold of something as the burn begins, then engages her mag-boots. She gets somewhere she can feel at least get a good view, hearing the call that there's boarders on the way? She remembers a level like this in a game she played. She unhooks something from her bike, and spends several moments assembling her Bushmaster cannon and its gunnery harness.

Once it's in place, and the belt feed is clipped in, she readies the weapon and moves aft. It's a practiced, spacer's gait - the mouse has spent time in zero gravity, using magnetic boots to move around. One foot is always in contact with the ground.

She stands on the back of the Linerunner, spraying the boarders ascending the back of the train with heavy autogun fire.

"NO TICKETS - NO RIDE!" she growls
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is sleeping but she too is roused fairly easily as well, she starts to move and her appearing doll-like lessens to almost nothing. She gets up stretching a little bit out and yawns. "So its go time. She'd brought her own ARMED suit in the hulking four armed power armour or small mecha depending on how you saw it was ready to go. Kotone gets up gets in plugs into it using all four of her jacks in the back of her head. With that, she's kicking in its own jump jets and she's following after Corona.

<<Never got to show you this thing before did I Corona?>>

With that she moves to go intercept opening fire with the massive assault gun it has on the incoming flying bandits.
Starbound Flotilla     Putting craters where the cars and creatures once were is swiftly becoming a non-risk. As things accelerate, Staren that any damage to the terrain is so fleeting that the bursts of ceramic-like ground blasting upwards are out of sight behind them before they're finished forming. The vehicles and mounts are starting to have a hard time keeping up, but by focusing on the incoming foes, Staren is going to have a relatively easy time driving them off. He finds quickly that taking out anyone ahead of any other small vehicle means the crater and detonation passes backwards too fast for them to react! A useful thing that might be a combat tactic he can use in Second Gear.
Dexter Arkwright "Alright!" Dexter calls back, and then shortly...the world starts speeding up. The suit is actually capable of protecting him from really getting hurt by the g-forces, though it's still fast enough to be uncomfortable. Though, that's not the only problem there - there's the bandits pursuing. Dexter levels his revolver at them, focuses through the speed, and tries to empty his revolver. He's accurate, but who knows how accurate he is when going this fast?
Yuuki Kuran Yuuki gives George a big smile as he takes the helmet, nodding enthusiastically. "Safety first!"

Just as she's buckling in to a convenient bit of railing, the MASSIVE acceleration of the rocket engine starts up, sending her inertially back and staggered as all her precious blood flows into the back. All her blood! It's awful and leaves her momentarily paler than normal. Thankfully, this passes... mostly.

Just as grapple lines are tossed over the back and side, and banditos try to get aboard! Over the roar of the boosters and the cacophany of First Gear trying to get on board the Linerunner as the Linerunner metaphorically turns on its rocket blinkers and Asserts Itself on the road.

With an electric pop she unclips and extends her long staff-baton, ratcheting at grapnel lines or simply just golfswinging guys off the ship after putting helmets on them.

She's not a savage.

Others get past her, and she follows them, waving Artemis at them. "Hey! You! Is this... is this road rage?"
Ryu     Accelerating the way he's doing, Ryu's body gives off a shine until his invisibility peels away like skin sheared by the intense G-forces. His wings are splayed out at his sides in a pair of V-shapes, his head pointed forward, his body pointed rigid like a dart while he flies at increasingly intense speed without any apparent problem keeping up. He does, however, have to deal with the many violent speedsters that try to hijack him for his speed, despite how small of a target he is. He banks and lifts and spins, and whips his tail or a leg or arm to smack a grapple line away from himself in the chaos.

    He follows close to caravan-train that Hexane is a part of, as Riva was helping them out before, performing interference for their sake as best he can manage.
Starbound Flotilla     Tribal Florans on diseased dragons, Miniknog Apex in big swerving rockets, and humans in terrifying junky autogyros are downed as Corona rips up the pursuers, and her anti-air tactics cover what Staren with his anti-ground-vehicular approach can't. Kotone's joined with her, and together the pair manage to prevent most of the landers from setting foot on the deck; Kotone takes out riders and mounts, while Corona's anti-air flak fire downs the machines quite effectively. They might need to avoid firing on Ryu, but it might be easier to do that than it normally would be, considering he's clearly not a boarder; there's Florans probably already attacking him!
Starbound Flotilla     Those violent boarders are trying more to find a place to hold tight to more than they're trying to attack Leyanne, and so when she goes after the armored Hylotl or the angry humans or the Glitch that have gotten aboard with rocket-powered siege towers, she finds that they're focused on getting cover. While she can definitely get them on the way in, they start taking cover! It might be a good idea to find a way of getting at the ones that have already tried to hide behind a rocket thruster or something like that, but then, who would be crazy enough and equipped enough to do something like get a tethered perspective far behind a vehicle moving at speeds like this, AND shoot down targets?
Starbound Flotilla     Dexter's got a good grip on handrails, most likely, and so he's got a good position to clear the boarders off that have moved towards the side to try to get out of Leyanne's firing range! He dispatches them pretty effectively.
Riva Banari Riva holds on tight, bracing as the Linerunner accelerates. Her shades hold on, but she struggles to make sure her face doesn't start making ridiculoud expressions from the wind shear ripping against her.

The problem is the bandits. She grimaces instinctively, causing her face to flap a bit before she pulls back. Staying braced, she pulls a gun from her jacket and points down at the bandits trying to board Hexane's ship. Trying to change what craft she's on at the moment would be more insane than she is willing to do /while accelerating/.

But bullets? Bullets are fine. She pulls the trigger a few times, starting to rain down glowing Anima-infused bullets on the bandits trying to board Hexane's craft.
Leyanne Leyanne looks around at the setup, looking thoughtful. She continues to spray fire over the boarders - and their siege towers - to keep them in cover, but her mind's not in it. She's running calculations. A grin crosses her face, although it can't be seen behind her faceplate, and she makes a few calls on the radio. She catches the hook thrown by Floran, trusting them to hook the other end securely. Cause if they don't? This is going to be really ugly.

She turns, tying the line around her waist and hooking it into her belt. She giggles, then pulls the ripcord on the chute built into her armour. It pops a curved wing of energy above her, which catches the wind and wrenches Tiny into the air, above and behind the Linerunner.

She giggles, and begins to spray the boarders hiding in cover of the engine clusters. "WOOOO!"
Corona Arclite Corona would rather avoid friendly fire incidents so as a large portion of the initial swarm is gunned down she disengages the minigun. Better to switch to something a bit more accurate over satuation so they don't hit... whoever the other dragon is. The enemy is attacking him so, well, helping the victims out last time certainly helped!

"Ah reckon it's time to show these unwanted varmits how we do things on Brimsteel," Corona murrs gleefully as the big weapon powers down and she draws one of the modified launchers in the power-loader's right manipulator. It's raised up as the arm is held out and Corona takes aim, then barks loudly when fired. Followed by a clnk-clnk-clnk rattling on as instead just a bullet it fires a length of carbon-fiber chain at incredible velocity. It's aimed at one of the diseased dragons to snare it like a lasso so the Foxtrotter can pull it away from ganging up on Ryu.
Starbound Flotilla     The comedy of golfswinging the guys off after putting helmets on them may or may not be lost on the cloud-cuckoolander perspective of Yuuki and her electrified baton, but it does somehow manage to make a few of these bandits not die when they hit the dirt. They die after one or two more bouncing slams, instead! They don't really get what Artemis is, but the few that get past the side she's covering seem more interested in finding a place to squirrel up and hide than fighting her. But surely someone as pretty and sweet as Yuuki Kuran could never, ever horror-hunt someone trying to hide in a mess of tank machinery or something like that, certainly not that couple of Floran and human raiders that slipped by in all the chaos and are trying to find a place to hole up somewhere near the rear thruster segment's welding mounts.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa lays down fire on the Tribal Florans and Minikong Apex, geez there's a lot of them and they don't seem to be stopping here at all. She will watch her shots sometimes ceasing to avoid hitting Ryu. Shell rain from the gun as it fires. There seems to be more going on. <<What's Ryu doing here? We should give him some cover.>>

So long as he's not hostile to the party there should be no issue. It is also wise to keep on the good side of the man who can legitly bring back the dead too if one can help it.

She'll keep targeting riders to pick off.

<<They just ain't stopping are they??>>
Starbound Flotilla     Ryu's gotta contend primarily with Florans who do a mix of trying to leap on him and consume his flesh to gain his SPEED POWERS (this is not how Florans work) or trying to leap on him and command him as their own personal steed to ride into the promised land of Second Gear (this is technically how it works, but probably should be prevented). It does mean a lot of probable air-wrestling though, and contending with a lot of daggers from the Florans that do manage to survive his spins and tail-whipping.
Starbound Flotilla     Hexane is already doing his business atop the train -- how in the world does that hat manage to stay on during all that gunfighting at speeds like this?! -- and he's more than a little grateful to Riva for the backup. The rain of bullets provokes more and more falling barbarians and bandits, and a friendly, upbeat tip of the hat from Hexane. Ryu's keeping most of the aerial forces off of Hexane's train too, so Riva never has to deal with some of those larger mounts getting aboard!
Ryu     "Stop biting me!"

    Ryu grabs a Floran by the head and violently whips them into the ceramic ground as he flies, leaving a rapidly vanishing cloud of dust from the violent impact. Another Floran nearly lands on him but gets hit by Corona's support fire. So, Ryu gives her a thumbs up in appreciation and shouts over the noise, "I owe you a drink later!" She might not catch that over all the blustering wind, but it's clear from looking he appreciates the help.

    He doesn't stop slapping the more feeble mounts out of the air, of course, but it's hard to accelerate to full speed with all of these obstacles in the way.
Starbound Flotilla     Leyanne's about to See Forever.

    Biteblade fires a grappling hook line in her direction, tying it off against the tank itself. And then she /parasails/ the rocket-tank, at something no less than hundreds, maybe thousands of miles an hour. This lets her clear off the back, cleaning it of enemies! That last burst of speed absolutely blasts through her though, since she's so far from inertial dampeners; she'll get a moment to experience the real, true insane acceleration of The Line before she's reeled in a bit by Biteblade.

    Corona rips enemies out of the sky, giving Ryu some space that may be dearly needed. This means Kotone gets her turn to take down jetpacking Miniknog who're trying to get that tiny little bit of extra speed to land on the Linerunner, but to no avail; several of them are even whipped right out of the sky when they try to grab onto that chain and use it as a way to get aboard! Ryu's cleared out much of the air beyond the back of the train compartments, and so...

    They're starting to leave their pursuers behind. Without those high-quality fuels or high-grade thrusters, they just can't keep pace. And those warped shapes of metal are starting to be a little more visible. They're starting to catch up... Soon, the Flotilla has reached their speed, and they shift into sight.

    SECOND GEAR has been unlocked!

    The landscape of Second Gear is vast and strange. The kiln-blasted sand has given way to strange rolling valleys of heat-melted glas, in hills that stretch in warped miles. Vast, long arches of glass formations appear and disappear as they zip by. Everything appears and disappears as if they've run right into the Soft Expanse. What doesn't disappear and appear are the vehicles of this area. They're massive, all of them. Huge tanks, ancient dragons, vast landwhales, large cargo airships, and other structures are lashed together with heavy bridge structures or large grids of teleportation equipment and enchantments. Hovering, massive wheels, propellers, or beating wings make sure that the gradual, glassed-over, perfectly smooth ground doesn't disrupt these moving territories.

    Where First Gear was full of barbarians and tribes, Second Gear seems to have its own small settlements moving at hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles per hour. Already, the Flotilla's escort fuelships are heading towards a settlement made up of several landships and trains, trying to move in to dock in some way while insanely high-speed hoverbikes dispatch to help guide them in. Hexane is waving the others over to join them!

    There's a lot of Hylotl -- fishmen in eastern-style clothing, like Moonfin -- and a lot of Novakids -- western-looking sorts who look like humanoid suns -- over at the "harbor" where the fuel's going to be received; it's not long before the group can get right off the Linerunner and off onto the "pier" to meet up with Hexane and an elder-looking well-muscled Hylotl man with a long "beard" of fins that has come out to meet them.
Ryu     Ryu banks in for a landing at one of the settlements, just so he can sit down and rest for a minute or two, clinging to something moving along at these incredible speeds so he doesn't have to expend the effort himself for a while. Despite his ability to regenerate from damage, he does not have an infinite reserve of energy, and so when he lands he pants and closes his eyes, flattening out like a puddle of exhausted dragon.

    "This place is insane," he breathes.
Dexter Arkwright As the bandits go down, Dexter moves to reload his revolver, speed-loading, and eventually as he's doing that...they unlock Second Gear. Turning as they approach, Dexter leaps off the Linerunner to fly over to the pier once they're close enough, landing on his feet. The wealthy adventurer removes his helmet, in an odd way. It deflates after a button is pushed, and then is folded back like a hoodie, before being pushed back into the suit to sort of retract.

The young blonde man smiles cheerfully as he meets Hexane and the elder, speaking up. "Hey there! Dexter Arkwright, adventure capitalist, owner of Arkwright Diesel. Nice to meet you." He's curious about something, as he outstretches his hand for a shake. "What is this place?"
Corona Arclite The whiplash would be self-decapitating at this speed so instead of retracting Corona just ejects the chain lasso, launcher and all. That'll keep anyone from trying to use it to get aboard, like that bunch of Apex that thought grabbing on would be a good idea. Not to mention any other would-be pursuers that it catchs along the way.

Then she rotates the torso back in the direction of Second Gear as the high speed liner merges into it, watching the landscape, what can be seen of it, whip past for a bit. Followed by an awed whistle as they pull up to the literal moving settlement. "Tarnation! Ah've only seen this sort of thin' only in pulp pages!" In other words, comic books.

As the Linerunner moves close enough to begin docking Corona disengages the mag-locks on the feet and opens up the thrusters. That in combination with relative velocity as the Linerunner matchs up speed and position to docking is enough momentum to catapult the Foxtrotter off the super-speed train-tank and onto the super-speed moving settlement. The steampunk ride armor clunks hard onto the opposite platform, staggering a few steps as Corona has to resyncronize balance before finally hissing to a halt, the machine letting out hissing gouts of steam that are quickly whoosed off into the speeding atmosphere behind them. "Aaaaall abooooard!"
Leyanne Leyanne signals to Biteblade to reel her in. As soon as she's back on the 'solid' deck of the Linerunner, she disengages her chute, hooks her gun into its storage position, flips up her facemask... and just giggles, looking back into the distance. She's there for a few minutes. Then, slowly, she walks towards the group.

By the time she gets to Hexane and the others, she's merely grinning like an idiot, still surfing that adrenaline high. With that said, anyone with an ounce of medical training will note the bloodshot eye, and she's walking a little stiffly, as if her everything aches, a testament to the high-G she's just experienced. She's going to feel this in the morning.

"I saw Plaid." she says, her tone still somewhat awed, and, unusually for her, quiet.
Staren     As they leave First Gear behind, Staren pushes the throttle forward... they're going supersonic! It is, frankly, incredible and weird to be traveling at such speeds so close to the ground and with vehicles, let alone buildings, moving at the same rate around him. Usually, Staren only flies at such speeds high in the sky in a hurry to get somewhere. A fascinating situation, from an engineering standpoint!

    Once it's clear that there aren't any more attacks coming for the moment, Staren comes in for a landing atop the Linerunner, and makes sure the Star Hawk is somehow secured to something, then disembarks and makes his way to the 'pier' to meet with the others. By coincidence, the aesthetic of his flightsuit is surprisingly Novakid, aside from the futuristic helmet and white-and-safety-orange color scheme. He looks around in wonderment at the sheer number of people gathered. "How long have your people been living like this?!" he asks, astounded.
Starbound Flotilla     There's a Novakid somewhere near where Ryu's landed. He's got... A fishing rod? What could one catch with a fishing rod tossed over the edge and into the glass? He pulls up what looks like a huge clump of refractive crystal. "Land's sakes alive, you almost scared my brand off. You one of those First Gear crazies?" He says, looking concerned with no expression at all on his blank face. His gleaming crimson sun-skin somehow just /looks/ worried, but he's still relaxed on his stool at the edge of the pier further back where Ryu landed.
Riva Banari As the bandits fall away, Riva hangs on tight and looks forward into the massively blurred area around her. She's never GONE this fast before. The experience is amazing. Riva grips tight, despite the Linerunner's protection. There are theoretically /limits/ to such things and surely she doesn't want to get surprised by them.

Getting knocked off and faceplanting into the Line in the middle of Second Gear would be an /exceptionally/ bad idea.

The sight of the inhabitants of Second Gear hove into view as speed begins to match, relativity asserting itself. The massive, hurtling machines get a look of awe from the Templar as she sees the contents. "Wow. How do things that big MOVE this fast?" She wondes aloud.

Now that the acceleration is over, however, Riva doesn't see a problem with using a grapple line to slide down and join Hexane. "WHOO!" She calls to the Novakid. "That was a RUSH!" She laughs, almost prancing forward with the knowledge that she is in fact going Stupid Fast right now, even spinning around as if to test her movement. "This is definitely a new experience!" She smiles widely, and waves to Hexane and the elder. "Hello there!" She says to the Hylotl. "Riva Banari! Nice to meet you!" She holds out a hand in greeting.
Ryu     Ryu pushes himself up to a seated position, huffing in exhaustion.

    "Nah," he responds, paying no mind to the oddity of a plasma man fishing glass from the twisted path beneath them all. He turns his head to examine his surroundings, his ears flicking and his nose wrinkling from the ever-present scent of something mortal creatures rarely smell... that incredible ionizing scent of plasma constantly generated, but without being hit by an atomic bomb or something similar. He looks back to the Novakid and grins at him.

    "Sorry to disturb. I just needed to rest my wings. Don't mind me." ... "Got anything to eat on this thing?" he wonders, suddenly, getting up to a stand and brushing some dust off off his silvery scales.
Yuuki Kuran The humor on Yuuki's strange crusade to apply hats to people who are then being kicked to the curb at a zillion miles an hour not dying to HEAD damage, merely 'lethal internal trauma' as they bounce. BUT THEY WERE PERFORMING VEHICULAR SAFETY PROPERLY! And that's what matters.

Yuuki isn't good at Vehicles, but she can't see them die, nor smell them, at this speed. Plus, all the Mad Max around here messed with her nose at it was.

Stalking among what can only be described as 'the boiler room in OUTLAST' but upon the ship, Yuuki quietly steps, tapping a finger on the piping as she goes, letting her staff clink on the ground, like a slow horror game boss at thousands of miles an hour.

But when that fun's done, and they achieve LUDICROUS SPEED at Second Gear, Yuuki can only gape at the field, and the strange landscape. It was like they had shifted an entire plane of realiy, and tried to wrap her mind around the relativistic speeds.

"So, George, uh..." Yuuki begins, as they dock. "Are we going sooooo fast that we don't feel going fast at all? I just feel weird. I thought we'd be scraped off the deck!"

She planes one hand against another. "Shhhnk. By the wind? Or is the effect of the path the treasure takes reducing that?"
Starbound Flotilla     Dexter's immediately sort of scrutinized by the older Hylotl. "Well, the sunnies rather dislike having names they need to remember -- they've the memory of children, really -- but we have our own titles. You mean our settlement, or our territory? Sounds like you've made your first fuel run to the Southern Reaches, that's the lane you're in now. As for this? The sunnies call it--" But his friend interrupts.

    Hexane introduces the little settlement. "Welcome to Daggum! Someone named it that to make someone really mad, I can't remember anything about why. It's one of the King's mobile settlements! Running fuel into here and running hyperglass out of here keeps this place in motion. Now, are you kind folks planning on stopping for a bit here, or heading right for the King? 'Cause I've a mighty strong recommendation against running up to Third Gear around the Southern Reaches alone these days, or even in a convoy like this."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone does not stop shooting at the Minknog she knows what will happen to everyone on the ride here if they somehow take it. She does, however, seem focused on keeping the skies clean but it seems that things are over for the moment Kotone also takes note of Ryu's action and grins a bit before she turns her attention to Second Gear, the strange lands just feel like some kind of alien world, the mobile city craft catch her attention as they keep going on but it looks like they are out of danger of the moment as she lowers her machine's weapons and calls out.

"Everyone all right?"

A stop here at these strange moving cities? That could be a nice breather, given how crazy even for the multiverse this trip has been so far.
Starbound Flotilla     Corona has found her people, apparently, because now she's got plenty of Novakids hassling her. Many young white dwarfs, small child Novakids, but also a number of older, wiser red giants peering at her frontierpunk designs from out of their magnetic metal brands. What a nice welcome! The people who've come out to greet her are, of course, a nice easy source of information if she needs it. And if she can trade it for engineering chats with the both young and old mechanical geniuses, despite their short memory.
Starbound Flotilla     "Moussse friend went extra fassst." Biteblade says, solemnly. "Floran can reel very quick." She gives Leyanne a quick pat, which involves jumping up onto Seft's shoulders to reach up to Leyanne's tallness. "Floran sssay, take break before going to Third Gear."
Leyanne Leyanne grins a little and nods to Ko. "I saw Plaid." she repeats, with a grin.. She squints a moment at Riva... she recognises that laugh, and the dance. It's like looking in a mirror. It's what she would be doing herself, if it wasn't for the fact that she was at the edge of the dampening field during the gear shift, and literally just saw Forever. She aches all over, the kind of ache that heralds the fact that she's going to regret what she's just done in the morning.

She nods to Biteblade, grinning. "That was awesome." She agrees. "A break sounds like a really good idea. Thanks for reeling me back in. Don't think I'd have been able to do that myself, the shift..." She trails off
Starbound Flotilla     The Hylotl is the one who greets Riva, since obviously Hexane knows her well. "I am Kaito, Moonscale of the Hylotl." He introduces himself, shaking her hand with a look sort of like distaste for the gesture, and replacing it after with a bow; he feels like he's not being polite enough to Riva! "A pleasure to meet you as well. It looks as thought you've helped bring in a shipment."

    "Oh, yeah!" Hexane pipes up. "She helped me get through First Gear!"
    "Wonderful." The Moonscale says. "I shall ensure she and her allies are given their proper share and a place to stay. Will you be continuing to act as a guardian of this shipment as it moves towards the Fuel Ark?" He's already beckoning the visitors further in from the pier, towards the residences built atop the ships and trains.
Leyanne Leyanne walks with Riva and the others to see the interesting thing. Though, she's slow - and apparently happy to keep Biteblade up on her shoulder. Least she can do, right?
Corona Arclite There's a clink-clank as locks unlock and hinges unfold to raise the rollcage off the Foxtrotter's cockpit after it's parked and hunched back down. Corona unbuckles her harness and gives a whoop as she hops out and slides down one of the forearms to the deck, spurs giving a clang of their own upon the surface. Looks like she's already got a bit of a gathering.

She grabs the brim of her stetson with one hand and gives it a tip forward in greeting. "Y'all must be the Novakids Ah've heard 'bout." The hat is repositioned and adjusted slightly so it sits comfortably between her fennec-like ears and she's already grinnin'. "Reckon we gots plenty we can talk 'bout. But first, let's get to prop'ly know each other a bit better."

Which apparently consists of pulling a large flask out of her vest and passing it to the elders. "Catcusjack," she explains. "Brimsteel spec'alty." Alcohol made by fermenting the juice found in various species of cactus.
Probably don't want to let the little stars drink that, but it's okay. Corona also pulls out a couple of bottles of ginger ale for the kiddies.

... What? NOT everything she drinks is some form of booze...
... Would you believe because it's good for mixing drinks with at least? (because it is!)
Starbound Flotilla     Ryu gets a few nods from the sheepish-looking sunfriend. "Plenty, if you stop in at the saloon. The grub from the Fuel Arks ain't exactly a steak dinner, but it'll fill you up and keep you fighting out in the frontier. Good place to rest your, uh. Your wings." He gestures oddly and vaguely. "Just try for one of the smaller rooms, reckon Moonscale's gonna need a lot of them for the escorts on the fuel shipment that just came in."
Riva Banari Riva nods to Hexane. "You know the lay of the land better than I do, Hexane, so I'll bow to your expertise on this. Besides, it might be smart to get an idea of how everything works around here before just trying to dive right in." She agrees.

Then there's the matterof the Hylotl. The expression doesn't go unnoticed. "Oh! Right!" She says, remembering when she sees the bow. She clasps her hands together, and bows back to Kaito. "Apologies, Kaito, I was unfamiliar with your customs." She says, straightening and walking along with the Hylotl. "So yeah, we're all newcomers here. Would it be all right to explain to us how this works? What are we getting a share of? I'm guessing fuel is at a super premium here with everyone constantly keeping their engines at full burn for... uh... ever."
Starbound Flotilla     Staren gets a pleased look from Moonscale. "Well, me? I've only been living out here a little while. But out in the Line? You'll find a lot of folks, more the humans, they've been living out here for years. The Engine King was part of an older Acceleration Empire, one that was ten years strong when he took it down. Not a lot of records going around that don't blow away in the wind here." He looks kind of sad about that. Sure would be a lot of history to smugly lord over other people's heads.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa moves her Armour to get aboard the city craft, and will take a momnent to secure it before she gets out, cables snap out of the back of her neck. The hatch opens and she climbs out, while remotly locking the unit down so hopefully it's a brick to anyone trying to use it should someone try to jack it. She grins a bit and dusts her stealth armor off waving toi the locals.

"Thank you for the welcome!"

she'll even bow a bit from what she recalls of Moonfin's culture and even her father's own, it never hurts to be polite either. "I'm Kotone Yamakawa."
Dexter Arkwright "Sunnies? Are they called that because they're glowing?" Dexter asks Kaito, but the list of a few questions boggles him a bit. Hexane's introduction is much easier, and he nods. Well! I don't know what it's like around here, but I'm willing to stop for a bit. What are the markets like around here? Any good commerce for being moving so fast?"

And then a response to Kaito mentioning the Fuel Ark. "What is the Fuel Ark? Is that further into the other lanes, or...?"
Starbound Flotilla     Yuuki has become the true horror villain. And yet George has no idea when she gets back. He's... STILL wearing that helmet. "Oh, yeah, probably. Best we can tell is, weather's all twisty, and there's enough motion, that the air's already kind of trying to keep pace with us, rather than blasting me off the top of this and straight into the glass. That, or maybe the buildings and stuff just keep fields or something. Who knows? Eye dee kay. Way easier this way though."
Starbound Flotilla     "Floran isss happy for helping. Floran isss ssstrong! Can reel anything!" Biteblade flexes at Leyanne, then tries to sort of nudge them in the direction of a bench or something to take a break.
Starbound Flotilla     Corona does the best thing, which is lubricating the social exchange with booze. This has already gotten many of the Novakids excited to work with her, as well as activating their instincts of hospitality. There's questions about whether Corona intends to continue helping out the fuel shipments! Because if so, they're happy to show her to a good saloon to take a rest at.
Yuuki Kuran Yuuki seems to take this idea at face value. "Also I think I got blood on your boiler room."

She turns to look back, at the 'rear' distance, which whips past so fast that she can't even see the Mad Max-ing of First Gear.

"Oh! Not mine." She clarifies, with a little smile. "A field, that sounds neat. Are we going to stick with the convoy? Or strike off after refueling?"
Corona Arclite Helping out the so-called 'locals' has helped their own quest along so far so there's no reason to change tactics now. "That's mighty kind of y'all. Let's go drink, chat," Corona flicks open her analyzer device as she starts to follow the other Novakids, "An Ah can even record fer y'all to review later." Apparently the AI of her ship, being a refurbished Novakid astrotrai
--wait that might get me sued--
Ahem, refurbished Novakid space-locomotive, warned her about their scattershot memories.
Starbound Flotilla     The Hylotl laughs a little. "Fuel's at a premium, certainly -- but not because we're wasteful here!" He says, in a good-natured tone. "We've learned to be as fuel-efficient as we can, but most of the fuel goes to the Engine King so he can chase the Treasure for us. No, here we harvest Second Gear's hyperglass. I hear it sells for quite a price outside the Line, and you can craft rather spectacular equipment from it, things that move like lightning itself."

    "Third Gear skims enough carbons to keep us from getting run over, don't you worry about fuel. Only thing we have to worry about out here is Northband forces, especially if you run close to Third Gear." Moonscale's face twists into a tense frown.
Leyanne Leyanne chuckles at Biteblade. "You are strong." She agrees. "I'm, what, two hundred kilos in armour. And you tugged me back while under the strain of the gear-change. I'll sit down when we get to the bar. I need a cold drink after that." she chuckles, heading into the bar, slowly. She settles down there, after ordering herself whatever the local equivalent of whiskey and coke is... with ice, if it's available. Ice is the symbol of civilization... if they can make rolling towns, there's ice machines, right?

With drink procured, she settles down in a chair with a soft groan. "Where's that dude, what was his name? Hexane? I wanna see if he got any footage of that. I bet I had a picture of a face when the grav chute took. That was a... violent takeoff."
Staren     Staren blinks. "You have the technology for this but you don't use computerized records? Wait, Acceleration Empire??" Staren glances towards the edge. And sees the young novakids. "People have been chasing the treasure long enough that there was an empire? What about all of you, though? You're not reaching for the treasure... is supplying those who are really enough to make this a more prosperous way to live than somewhere else?"

    Staren considers this. "You... you don't have much contact with the outside world, do you? I have culture to trade. Videogames. What can we get for them?"
Starbound Flotilla     Moonscale seems to like the bow from Kotone. "A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Yamakawa. Kaito, Moonscale of the Hylotl." He returns the bow. "And you have our appreciation for the escort for our shipments. Let us know if you have curiosity or need guidance, and we hope you'll be helping guard the shipment as it moves on."
Starbound Flotilla     "Ahhh, the Novakids. Please pardon my local way of speaking, it has has tained my Hylotl speech." Moonscale says. "They are a race of hylotloid ((humanoid)) star-gas substances. You will find them to be quite intelligent, and to have quite a short memory; our relationship is thus one of rather mutual benefit, considering the long memory and records of the Hylotl."

    He explains further on the way in. "The markets here sell and buy materials from the outside world in small amounts, and from the Fuel Arks in much larger ones. We are a waystation that allows the passage of fuel shipments from the outside to the Fuel Arks themselves, but some find a pleasant, peaceful living here. The Fuel Arks themselves are remnants of the Acceleration Empires, great fueling stations designed to provide fuel to a Dragster Throne when one of the great leaders makes an attempt to reach the Finish Line. The Fuel Arks are large enough to be a city unto themselves, as is the necessity for their refineries and dispenseries. The oldest of them are at least twenty years old or more, and they are all found in Fourth Gear, far from these humble Southern Reaches."
Yuuki Kuran Yuuki's eyes are literally Shoujo Sparkling In Real Life as the words roll past.

"Hyper-Glass. Accelleration Empire. Dragster Throne. Finish Line."

"This place isn't just exciting to see, all of the names are amazing!"
Riva Banari Riva nods back to the Hylotl. "That makes sense. When fuel is basically life or death out here, you always want to keep an eye on being as efficient as possible." She rubs her chin. "Hyperglass sounds really cool. I'd be interested in getting some for... I dunno. Something." She's as likely to have a cool looking floor lamp made as getting a weapon. "So you're worried about Northband? That's... the North side of The Line, right? Do they move in and interfere in their own way?"

She rubs her chin. "How do people normally handle working to keep things peaceful and secure with Third Gear in the way? Seems like it would be hard to go across like that without risking getting run over by hyperfast... /stuff/.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa Says "I intend to Kaito, we got started and might as well keep going at this rate. I do have a few questions if you have anything on the history of all of this? Also is there anywhere one might get a good bite to eat here?"
Starbound Flotilla     Yuuki's questions are important. Moonfin seems to be the one to field them. "It will depend, to a degree, on what our allies in this matter think. I am wary of this Engine King, but I certainly think the hyper-glass is an intriguing material, and that if our friends are amenable to it, there is hardly an issue to be found with having a few allies as we explore deeper into the Line."

"I'll have Biteblade go deal with the blood, in any case."
"Floran will have dumb fishface go fuck ssself."
"It will get dealt with eventually."
Leyanne Leyanne chuckles at Biteblade's response to Moonfin. "Charming. I'm Leyanne by the way... I think we fought once, and we've spoke loads on the radio." She smiles. Should anyone else enter the bar where she's at, she waves to them and smiles cheerfully. If she doesn't know them, she introduces herself.
Starbound Flotilla     "Indeed, Acceleration Empire. It is what we call the many unified groups of nations that have thrown themselves into the Line. The Treasure of the Finish Line is something that no one individual could ever reach." Moonscale explains to Staren, as they get to the saloon. "Nor any group, I think, though some have come close. No, you need an entire nation working to take it. Whoever has it could likely have a prosperous nation for hundreds of years they say, and that's worth a lot to people. It's said that the Treasure can grant you more staying power than almost anything else in the Multiverse."

    He takes a seat inside the cozy saloon, all wood panels and stylish warm lighting in a western aesthetic, mixed with Hylotl decorations to give it a distinctly eastern vibe. "Now, to be clear, the Hylotl unified nation of long ago could have claimed it easily. But in these troubled days, it is all that some of us can do to find prosperity in the border lands such as these Southern Reaches. And if the Engine King claims the prize, well, he's not a man to divide his nation into haves or have-nots; he used to be a slave himself."

    "Culture. Hah! That's what humans still call it? Well, I can hardly expect a /proper/ Hylotl library, but if you want to start running cultural materials around the Gears, I can say you'll fetch a sensible price. Especially from the Novakids. They have no taste, and they'll play anything that can get finished in less than an hour. I believe they call it 'speed running'." He pronounces that like he's trying to describe The New Drug Of The Youth.
Starbound Flotilla     "The Northband? That's about right. The Northband Acceleration Empires cross over and send troops past the southern Fuel Arks sometimes." Hexane's the one explaining that to Riva. "Tough customers. Barbarians and raiders are one thing, but those Empires will tear each other to shreds just to make sure nobody Finishes before they do. You sabotage the pit crew, you take down the driver. Gear running is dangerous because there's nothing more obvious than trying to get up to speed." He's also taken a seat around the saloon, gotten something to drink, and settled in. "Only thing you can do is outrun them, one way or another; either you leave them in your dust, or you outmaneuver them and put them in the glass. It's why we need convoys, heading from Second Gear to Third Gear."
Staren     Staren finds himself wondering how much prosperity has already been spent chasing the Treasure, and what else might've been done with it, but doesn't voice that thought.

    He also finds himself wondering what a Hylotl considers a /proper/ videogame. Moonfin fills him in: Visual Novels. Huh.

    One of the first things Staren did with access to the Multiverse was find a future Earth where old videogames had entered the public domain and downloaded them. And then in turn loaded the old-timey 8-bit ones onto the com-units that he used to pass around before he got access to ectos. He still carries some of those, and that's what he thought of to trade.

    It sounds like that might be right up the Novakids' alley, though! He's happy to contribute funds to the cause if needed, otherwise, at least all expenses he could accrue here are covered. He might just stay here a few days. It's not every adventure that you get to see a society adapted to such a strange environment, after all! Maybe he'll even learn a thing or two about Novakid and Hylotl engineering!

    Staren simply nods solemnly to Moonscale, as if to agree that speedrunning is a distasteful teen drug, and follows him into the Saloon, looking around curiously.
Yuuki Kuran Direly, Yuuki has one thing to ascertain before calling the adventures today done, and spotting Staren to go into the Saloon gives her an idea. "Staren! Ask around to find any >bad dudes< that we can conveniently mug for parts and fuel! You know, as a public service slash hobo heroes sense!" She calls after the catboy scientist, cupping her hands around her mouth.

Then, she checks around the outside of the saloon for bulletin boards or other job postings to see if there's a 'go kill giant fastrats/speed kobolds' request or something. Her japanese roleplaying games told her that this was in fact the correct and proper thing for places like this.

And her anime senses had never failed before.
Staren     Staren's being-from-an-adventurer-friendly-world senses concur with Yuuki's anime senses, he nods and checks in the saloon for quests.
Starbound Flotilla     Yuuki's seeking out something here. The ecosystem itself is hardly devoid of life. Out here, people have brought many high-speed mounts, and many of them go feral without their owners. If she's looking around for Speedy Monsters to Slay, well, she finds it pretty fast: Second Gear's typical wildlife are descended from ancient enchanted or bioengineered supercreatures, and they tend towards the fastest; enhanced cheetahs, jetblack marlins, falcons, dragons, horses (mechanical, unicorn, or otherwise), something called a "drift boar", and other such creatures often menace settlements, and have strange, erratic, mobile "territory"; life was never meant to exist at such a speed, and so where that speed bleeds into the ecosystem, it's warped and strange.

    If the group wants to go slaying in order to supply further efforts to get to Third Gear, it'll be well within their power, and certainly within the needs of a settlement like Daggum.