- Location
- Orbit
This is either going to go really well or really oddly for morale. Both examples of which are going to be encapsulated by the saying "holy shit we have a dragon on our crew"
The Voyage Without
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
This is either going to go really well or really oddly for morale. Both examples of which are going to be encapsulated by the saying "holy shit we have a dragon on our crew"
And the best part is, if you finish your meal, they come with a prize shuttle you can take home.
For multiple reasons, Zephyr won't be biting. Why should you reveal soft flesh to firearms when you can break bones with strikes from your forelegs?
- Pronouns
- She/Her
But what if they smell delicious?
Oh, you know. Kill, cook, eat, like a civilized being.
With a properly tuned phaser, you should be able to do 1 and 2 at the same time.Oh, you know. Kill, cook, eat, like a civilized being.
Well. Phasers are apparently magical, so... I suppose you could, when you aren't avoiding long range scans.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
*slow blinks*Oh, you know. Kill, cook, eat, like a civilized being.
… but raw meat tastes better?
Oh, you know. Kill, cook, eat, like a civilized being.
Who knows, this could be the point Zephyr discovers he has the classic dragon fire breath. Do 1 and 2 at the same time as 3.
- Location
- Arizona
What do you call it when a half dozen Kazon ships arrive and drop several shuttles on your landing party.
Full replicator feedstock bins.
What? No, not using the Kazon, using their ships and shuttles. Then leave the ones who were smart enough to surrender with the Federation equivalent of a set of third grade textbooks so they can learn such advanced concepts as water is super plentiful and doesn't need to be raided for.
I had this idea early this morning of a Kazon clan deciding to do some trades for school places for their kids on some nearby planet and wondered why they haven't been taken over by a clan that did that. And it occurred to me that any Kazon who stayed on a world long enough for such a plan probably soon come to prefer where they are to going back home. Or even if the elders don't the kids very likely have low interest in heading back.
Full replicator feedstock bins.
What? No, not using the Kazon, using their ships and shuttles. Then leave the ones who were smart enough to surrender with the Federation equivalent of a set of third grade textbooks so they can learn such advanced concepts as water is super plentiful and doesn't need to be raided for.
I had this idea early this morning of a Kazon clan deciding to do some trades for school places for their kids on some nearby planet and wondered why they haven't been taken over by a clan that did that. And it occurred to me that any Kazon who stayed on a world long enough for such a plan probably soon come to prefer where they are to going back home. Or even if the elders don't the kids very likely have low interest in heading back.
28
I moved slowly through the jungle, keeping somewhat low as I hunted my prey.
This was not how I was meant to hunt.
It felt slow. Silly even. No swoop down from above, just slow movements between trees. But these were not deer, they were thinking beings armed with energy weapons.
Which meant flying would not make me the hunter, it would make me skeet.
Which was blatantly unfair of them.
Still, they were pretty easy to track through the forest. Stepping on branches, pushing others aside.
Some even talked.
The sounds were getting closer and I stopped and waited. Movement, lights between the trees. I shifted slightly and waited as the duo was approaching. If I had judged their approximate course right, they were coming right towards me.
I closed my eyes to keep them from reflecting any of their light and listened, waiting.
"This is ridiculous! How can we possibly find anyone in this!?"
"Shut up, the Maje gave you an order. If we find the humans, we can use them to capture their ship!"
"But how are we going to find any-"
Opening my eyes, I judged the distance and pounced. My forepaws slammed into the front one, bringing him down as I snapped out with my jaws, catching the arm carrying the weapon of the second.
The first one didn't scream.
The second one certainly did as I ripped it off. Then he stopped as I swiped at him with my claws.
I dropped the arm onto the forest floor and continued on, making a point of crushing their weapons on the ground in case somebody tried to recover them.
I stopped and eyed the bodies while trying to get the taste of Kazon out of my mouth.
Ew.
Damn, what a useless species.
While planning, I had debated trying to take them both quietly, but decided it was too dangerous. Too easy to fuck up if I focused on that and let one of them get a shot off.
The screaming was a double edged sword really. It would make the rest alert that something had happened, but it might also get them to fuck off which would be even better.
Or it might draw them in this direction.
I continued on through the thick forest, moving silently and carefully.
A couple of minutes later, there was another scream followed by weapons fire somewhere in the distance. Then silence.
In the opposite way that any of the crew had moved off towards, which meant that the local wildlife were also giving them some troubles. Useful, not only giving me cover, but also helped possibly drive them off.
Anything that bought time for Voyager and Val Jean to get back here was a good thing.
The weird thing? I was actually trained for this.
While my role on SFI had been mainly research and development, SERE training was mandatory, which it wasn't in the regular fleet. I had spent two weeks in the Cambodian jungles, first learning and then taking a week long test where I had to avoid being captured.
Apparently, my natural camouflage along with my resistance to sensors made that really difficult for the ones hunting me.
Three days in I had gotten bored and started to hunt them in turn.
Then it had been 'tag, you're out'.
Now it was a lot more serious. I may be able to just leave and they'd never find me in this, but my crewmates were not that lucky.
I froze. Yelling ahead.
A weapon fired somewhere in the direction of the yelling.
More yelling.
Shit, they found someone.
I sped up slightly in that direction, still careful not to make any more sound than I had to. Seeing lights between the trees, I slowed down once more and started to circle around towards a spot between them and their shuttles.
Then I started to move closer again, finding that they had indeed found someone.
Chakotay and some Maquis I didn't know the name of, a blonde woman were both on the forest floor, arms cuffed behind their backs.
The blonde woman was unconscious, but Chakotay was most definitely awake and trying to talk to them.
The Kazon seemed to find this funny.
Problem was that there were half a dozen of them and even as I watched, another pair came crashing out of the underbrush to join them.
And they were all armed, no way would I be able to take all of them at once without one of them getting a shot off.
Sure, I could tank it if it was on stun, but if it was set any higher I would get seriously hurt. And while they were trying to find prisoners, I didn't trust these primitive screwheads not to fuck it up.
Damn.
I should have kept my helmet. It may show up on scans a lot easier than I do, but at least then I would have had my phaser. Lesson learned.
Didn't help me now, however. I had no clue where my drones had gone to ground and currently no way nor enough time to issue a recall signal.
My best chance is overwhelming force.
Hit them so hard and fast they didn't have a chance to effectively react and hope that if one of them did get a shot off, it would miss or be set on stun.
That was a bad fucking plan and I hated it.
What options did I have?
I could do nothing and just wait. They would take them back to their shuttle and then have hostages to threaten the rest with if they didn't surrender. If anyone did, that gave them more hostages.
I could wait until they were moving. But that would make them spread out and even more could arrive by then, making things even more dangerous.
Did I have any other options?
The best odds were to attack now.
Fuck, I hate that idea. Even so, I started to creep forward, keeping low and slow, eyes half closed to limit accidental reflections.
"You don't want to do this," Chakotay said, looking up at the Kazon I assumed was the highest rank in their current group, "We ca-ooph!"
He got a kick to the stomach for his trouble. The one facing more or less in my direction turned to look at the rest and laughed.
I charged and pounced, more or less jumping over him, slamming down with a rear leg and driving him into the ground as I swiped at the rest. I brought a second down with a foreleg as I landed and I slashed at two more as I tried to bite the last.
One went down, the other only got snagged and stumbled back, screaming.
The leader managed to just about avoid my bite, but I caught his weapon and tore it from his grasp. I spun around, smacking him hard enough to break bone with my tail as I pounced the one that I barely snagged.
His weapon went up one handed and he fired.
There was a searing pain against my chest and I slammed into him, bringing him down onto the ground with a snarl as my claws dug deep and there was a sound of snapping bone.
Growling, I looked down at myself, fearing the worst.
The scales on my chest looked scorched, but I didn't seem seriously damaged. It ached a bit, but I could move.
I turned my head, looking towards the one I smacked with my tail. He was laying in a heap next to a tree.
Growling a bit deeper, I turned towards Chakotay and the other Maquis.
He was laying very, very still.
"Chakotay," I told him as I moved closer, "I'm not a rabid animal. Playing dead would not help even if I were here to hurt instead of saving you."
"Didn't think you were," he answered with a cough, his voice strained, "Can you get these cuffs off?"
I eyed them and then hooked a claw into the links, feeling it, "...Not without risking hurting you. Which of them has the controller?"
He struggled up to sit and motioned with his head towards the leader crumbled on the forest floor, "That one."
I nodded and headed towards him when a pair of Kazon rushed out of the underbrush ten meters away.
They looked as surprised to see the scene before them as I was to see them.
Fuck, I didn't hear them at all!
They raised their weapons and I felt a surge of fear and fury even as I twisted to face them. They were too far away!
I roared in defiance.
The Kazon burned.
This was not how I was meant to hunt.
It felt slow. Silly even. No swoop down from above, just slow movements between trees. But these were not deer, they were thinking beings armed with energy weapons.
Which meant flying would not make me the hunter, it would make me skeet.
Which was blatantly unfair of them.
Still, they were pretty easy to track through the forest. Stepping on branches, pushing others aside.
Some even talked.
The sounds were getting closer and I stopped and waited. Movement, lights between the trees. I shifted slightly and waited as the duo was approaching. If I had judged their approximate course right, they were coming right towards me.
I closed my eyes to keep them from reflecting any of their light and listened, waiting.
"This is ridiculous! How can we possibly find anyone in this!?"
"Shut up, the Maje gave you an order. If we find the humans, we can use them to capture their ship!"
"But how are we going to find any-"
Opening my eyes, I judged the distance and pounced. My forepaws slammed into the front one, bringing him down as I snapped out with my jaws, catching the arm carrying the weapon of the second.
The first one didn't scream.
The second one certainly did as I ripped it off. Then he stopped as I swiped at him with my claws.
I dropped the arm onto the forest floor and continued on, making a point of crushing their weapons on the ground in case somebody tried to recover them.
I stopped and eyed the bodies while trying to get the taste of Kazon out of my mouth.
Ew.
Damn, what a useless species.
While planning, I had debated trying to take them both quietly, but decided it was too dangerous. Too easy to fuck up if I focused on that and let one of them get a shot off.
The screaming was a double edged sword really. It would make the rest alert that something had happened, but it might also get them to fuck off which would be even better.
Or it might draw them in this direction.
I continued on through the thick forest, moving silently and carefully.
A couple of minutes later, there was another scream followed by weapons fire somewhere in the distance. Then silence.
In the opposite way that any of the crew had moved off towards, which meant that the local wildlife were also giving them some troubles. Useful, not only giving me cover, but also helped possibly drive them off.
Anything that bought time for Voyager and Val Jean to get back here was a good thing.
The weird thing? I was actually trained for this.
While my role on SFI had been mainly research and development, SERE training was mandatory, which it wasn't in the regular fleet. I had spent two weeks in the Cambodian jungles, first learning and then taking a week long test where I had to avoid being captured.
Apparently, my natural camouflage along with my resistance to sensors made that really difficult for the ones hunting me.
Three days in I had gotten bored and started to hunt them in turn.
Then it had been 'tag, you're out'.
Now it was a lot more serious. I may be able to just leave and they'd never find me in this, but my crewmates were not that lucky.
I froze. Yelling ahead.
A weapon fired somewhere in the direction of the yelling.
More yelling.
Shit, they found someone.
I sped up slightly in that direction, still careful not to make any more sound than I had to. Seeing lights between the trees, I slowed down once more and started to circle around towards a spot between them and their shuttles.
Then I started to move closer again, finding that they had indeed found someone.
Chakotay and some Maquis I didn't know the name of, a blonde woman were both on the forest floor, arms cuffed behind their backs.
The blonde woman was unconscious, but Chakotay was most definitely awake and trying to talk to them.
The Kazon seemed to find this funny.
Problem was that there were half a dozen of them and even as I watched, another pair came crashing out of the underbrush to join them.
And they were all armed, no way would I be able to take all of them at once without one of them getting a shot off.
Sure, I could tank it if it was on stun, but if it was set any higher I would get seriously hurt. And while they were trying to find prisoners, I didn't trust these primitive screwheads not to fuck it up.
Damn.
I should have kept my helmet. It may show up on scans a lot easier than I do, but at least then I would have had my phaser. Lesson learned.
Didn't help me now, however. I had no clue where my drones had gone to ground and currently no way nor enough time to issue a recall signal.
My best chance is overwhelming force.
Hit them so hard and fast they didn't have a chance to effectively react and hope that if one of them did get a shot off, it would miss or be set on stun.
That was a bad fucking plan and I hated it.
What options did I have?
I could do nothing and just wait. They would take them back to their shuttle and then have hostages to threaten the rest with if they didn't surrender. If anyone did, that gave them more hostages.
I could wait until they were moving. But that would make them spread out and even more could arrive by then, making things even more dangerous.
Did I have any other options?
The best odds were to attack now.
Fuck, I hate that idea. Even so, I started to creep forward, keeping low and slow, eyes half closed to limit accidental reflections.
"You don't want to do this," Chakotay said, looking up at the Kazon I assumed was the highest rank in their current group, "We ca-ooph!"
He got a kick to the stomach for his trouble. The one facing more or less in my direction turned to look at the rest and laughed.
I charged and pounced, more or less jumping over him, slamming down with a rear leg and driving him into the ground as I swiped at the rest. I brought a second down with a foreleg as I landed and I slashed at two more as I tried to bite the last.
One went down, the other only got snagged and stumbled back, screaming.
The leader managed to just about avoid my bite, but I caught his weapon and tore it from his grasp. I spun around, smacking him hard enough to break bone with my tail as I pounced the one that I barely snagged.
His weapon went up one handed and he fired.
There was a searing pain against my chest and I slammed into him, bringing him down onto the ground with a snarl as my claws dug deep and there was a sound of snapping bone.
Growling, I looked down at myself, fearing the worst.
The scales on my chest looked scorched, but I didn't seem seriously damaged. It ached a bit, but I could move.
I turned my head, looking towards the one I smacked with my tail. He was laying in a heap next to a tree.
Growling a bit deeper, I turned towards Chakotay and the other Maquis.
He was laying very, very still.
"Chakotay," I told him as I moved closer, "I'm not a rabid animal. Playing dead would not help even if I were here to hurt instead of saving you."
"Didn't think you were," he answered with a cough, his voice strained, "Can you get these cuffs off?"
I eyed them and then hooked a claw into the links, feeling it, "...Not without risking hurting you. Which of them has the controller?"
He struggled up to sit and motioned with his head towards the leader crumbled on the forest floor, "That one."
I nodded and headed towards him when a pair of Kazon rushed out of the underbrush ten meters away.
They looked as surprised to see the scene before them as I was to see them.
Fuck, I didn't hear them at all!
They raised their weapons and I felt a surge of fear and fury even as I twisted to face them. They were too far away!
I roared in defiance.
The Kazon burned.
Well, @.Winged_One. seems to have called a thing.
Wonder whether it's actually a breath weapon or psychic pyrokinesis.
Wonder whether it's actually a breath weapon or psychic pyrokinesis.
- Location
- England
It's probably just as well that they don't taste good with ketchup. That might not look good on your record when you get back.
- Pronouns
- ButterflyDfect
Something relatively funky may still be plausible. It was only written that they burned - plasma can start a fire too y'know!
Last edited:
Nitronorm5688
The Armchair Reader
- Location
- Oakdale, CT
Now say: "Burn you poor stupid mortals!"
Also, I'm going to be really surprised if he only now is meeting the definition of a teenager. The ornery attitude was a clu, but "Suddenly Everything Fire!" sounds like a puberty thing.
Also, I'm going to be really surprised if he only now is meeting the definition of a teenager. The ornery attitude was a clu, but "Suddenly Everything Fire!" sounds like a puberty thing.
Ginny McAllister
On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog
- Location
- Pacific NorthWet
Zephyr doesn't want Kazon that taste good, he wants Kazon with good taste. Unfortunately for him, the Kazon got neither.
- Location
- france
Zephyr: "Finally, I leveled up enough to gain 'Breath Weapon'."