[X] Well, the commander is here. You can always ask how she want that issue dealt with, so long as it's not stupid.
- [X] Have a clone bring her back so someone can interrogate her.
You shake your head and relax your grip on the ship's eye, and as you move toward the curled-up commander and her assistant one of your clones leaps after the fleeing watcher. The commander's assistant looks up as you reach them, his face a mixture of concern and embarrassment. The runner ducks into an alley and your clone catches her, latching its arms around her stomach and lifting her into the air. You aren't sure where the knife came from, but when she blindly stabs behind her your clone simply wraps a wing around her wrist and squeezes - not enough to break anything, but enough to let her know the option is there. She slumps, defeated, and doesn't resist as your clone carries her back toward you and the commander.
"Hello! Angela, was it?" Her assistant raises his hand as you lean in, but you ignore him. "You're in charge, right? Do you want me to do anything in particular to these raiders?" She shudders and whimpers, and you hesitate as your malevolent grin is replaced by a glaring frown.
"Um, please excuse us. She's … this is - was - um." Her assistant flinches as you turn toward him and he swallows nervously. "I - I mean. This …." He takes a deep breath and starts speaking excessively slowly, choosing his words with care. "This mission … she wasn't supposed to have to do anything except administrative duties. Possibly some discussion with the locals. Should have been … safe." Lutecia comes rushing out of the hospital and your clone approaches, still invisibly carrying her burden. The local populace doesn't seem to have moved much - no rush for Bureau protection, but no flight to any other place of safety, either. Resigned to their fate, perhaps? You turn away from Angela and her assistant and wave to your friend.
"Lulu! Would you mind taking charge of her while I'm gone?" She frowns at the request and looks at the girl as your clone drops her to the cobbled path and forces her into a kneeling position. Shimmering purple bands spring into existence around her, constricting her arms. You smile and bow to Lutecia. "Thank you! I'm not sure who she is, but she started running right after the message, so she must be part of some group. While I'm doing my job, I suppose you can try to figure out who she is and what she and her partner were doing, spying on you." The runner's head jerks up to look at you suspiciously, but you ignore her to look up at the sky. The shooting star that is the incoming ship is easily visible now, even to human eyes, and you have no problems tracking it. … Of course, if it decides to go somewhere besides the hospital and its immediate area, you might have some trouble catching it … but that's what commanders are for! You smile sweetly at Angela's assistant. "So, since she's currently worthless to me, what about you? Kill them all? Prisoners? Blow up the ship and take anyone who survives prisoner?" Lutecia winces as the assistant and prisoner gawk at you. The assistant closes his mouth first and looks down at the shuddering and sobbing commander.
"… Prisoners, if you can. As many as you can, especially anyone in command. If that's not possible, try to take the ship intact. If nothing else, we can get information from the computers." He touches the commander's shoulder and shakes his head when she flinches. "Go on, get out of here." You raise an eyebrow at his dull, uninterested tone, but he's not paying attention to you anymore. You shrug and smile at Lutecia.
"See you soon!" You put your parasol away and fly up into the air, your still-invisible clones following after you - he did say to leave, after all, and that sounds like an order to go engage the ship away from the hospital. The ship slows immensely as you approach; in fact, it halts a little above you. It's a pretty big ship, nearly eighty meters long and thirty wide … although without having seen any Bureau ships from outside, you don't know how big it is relative to them. It's pretty clunky-looking, too, but it's probably using magic to manage to fly in the first place, so it shouldn't need to be sleek and aerodynamic, either. Two cannons on the underside swivel around, neither of them pointing at you or the hospital, but surely capable of targeting the hospital, at least. No other dorsal weapons that you can see … and no entrance, either. You keep two of your clones by the cannons, to keep an eye on them and maybe to break in that way. You fly up along one flank, near the front, while the last clone spirals along the other flank to come up on top of the ship at the back. The top is studded with smaller cannons, several of which swivel quickly to track you as you reach the bow … such as it is, anyway. The control room occupies the front of the ship - two decks, an upper command area and what looks like a marshaling area for troops below. Perhaps the ship is intended to ram into its target and disgorge troops that way? A small crack announces the presence of another communication device, again showing the severe-looking woman, but after a glance at it you drop onto a flatter part of the armored framing to examine the front viewport and the inhabitants.
"Well, well. What's a cute little freak like yourself doing here, I wonder?" You keep your expression neutral as she chuckles at you and look inside. The speaker - commander, likely - is seated at a comfortable-looking chair in the upper area, feet thrown up on a desk as she grins at you through the glass. A dozen other crewmen are operating various consoles, but no one is present in the lower area that you can see. "… Now, now, that's not very nice, kiddo. When someone says something, you're supposed to say something back. If you don't …." She waves at one of the crewmen, and after he does something the two cannons swivel around and belch energy blasts at the earth below. You carefully turn around at the woman's gesture for you to do so, and see the flash of an explosion. After a moment, the woman's image is replaced by a scene of destruction in the city - not a terribly bad one, all things considered, but without knowing how much more powerful the cannons can be or how quickly they can fire, they represent a threat you're going to have to deal with somehow. "Now, a munchkin like yourself working for those bastards, you probably think you're pretty hot stuff, but we have a little trick that'll wipe out any magic you try to use. So what'll it be? Give up, and maybe life won't be so bad … or be really dumb, and you'll learn what real life is really like." You manage to keep your face blank; it probably wouldn't be a good idea to laugh at the woman until after you've managed to get inside the ship.
Which could be somewhat difficult. You might be able to break through the viewport glass, but unless they're completely stupid, it's reinforced to be more than just glass. It would let you disable the ship quickly, however. Or you could try going through the cannons - they're weak points in the armor, after all, and once you destroy the barrels themselves you ought to be able to tear through the innards. Of course, while you're doing that, they might have other weapons they can use against the hospital … or they could flee. That wouldn't be good.
"You're allowed to negotiate, aren't you? Get them to 'surrender.'" That … would be deliciously amusing, and you wouldn't have to work to get inside the ship. Well, probably, anyway. Whether they would fall for it ….
What do you do?
[ ] Attack the ship from the front. Remember to try taking prisoners!
[ ] Attack the ship through the cannons.
[ ] Ask to come inside to negotiate the surrender.
- [ ] Give them a chance to surrender.
- [ ] They don't deserve the chance to make their case to you; attack once you're inside.
[ ] Other?
