Avengers: Warlord of Baluur #2 (of 3)

"Not yet", Nick explains. "They seem to be making a wide arc around the planet rather than going down to it."

Nick shrugs. "Maybe that's why they haven't entered the atmosphere yet."

Nick slowly turns his head towards EnergyStar, his one good eye like a piercing dagger. She returns his cold, hard stare.

"It's a humbling experience when two warriors meet", Agent 13 says. "Paraphrasing Paul McCartney. Two Virgins album."
"I thought Two Virgins was by John Lennon?", another younger agent asks.
"It was", Agent 13 responds, "but Paul McCartney did the liner notes."
"Are...you...through?" Nick asks Agent 13. The younger agent puts his head down and rushes off. "Yeah. That's pretty much all I got." Agent 13 responds. You get the impression that not many people within SHIELD can speak to Nick like that. The two of them obviously have some sort of shared history as well as what seems to be a strong respect for each other.

Nick turns back towards EnergyStar, somewhat calmer than he seemed before. "We're not sure where the ship is heading. It's far easier to beam you here and then beam you back to the planet wherever you are needed should they decide to decend to the surface. In spite of your limited experience, honey, not EVERYTHING happens to New York...any yer face ain't THAT pretty, sweetheart."

Pulsar, EnergyStar, Radical Warrior, and Maelstrom get a quick rundown on the operation of the BRAVE and within a few moments take off as a single ship in pursuit of the alien vessal.

The ship seems to have stopped decending towards Earth, almost as if it has gone into orbit around the planet. Just before you manage to get the ship within range of your laser cannons, a small pod is ejected from the alien ship and it rockets towards the Earth with great speed. The main vessal appears to stay on the same orbital trajectory.

I think we need to spilt, guys. The bigger our ship is, the better target we are for that battleship's guns.

Since I'm the best pilot, I'm going to intercept that pod that just broke off.

See ya on the flipside!

And with that, Pulsar's pod breaks off from the main ship, and hurtles toward the pod with the highest speed he can muster.

Piloting skill (In)

CUT SCENE

Sometime the same evening.

A costumed figure sits on top of an old house - the only house - along a popular stip in NYC. (Attentive readers would notice this is the same house that appeared in panels 73 and 93 of AEF #3.) He gazes down at the crowds walking along the street until his attention is caught by a brilliant shooting star that streaks acrosss the sky and then goes out. "Second one tonight", he muses to himself.
Suddenly, he hears a cry for help in the distance. He throws himself off the top of the building and towards the street below. Before he hits the street however, his body seems to bounce off some invisible object below him, launching him back into the air. He repeats this process several times, gradually moving in the direction of the cry.
Two construction workers at the construction site on 11th Avenue are hanging on to a beam ten feet out from the 9th floor of the structure. It doesn't look like they'll be able to hold on much longer...

One of the enemy ship's weapon batteries track Pulsar's module as he flies after the escape pod and fires at him. He deftly maneuevers his BRAVE module out of the weapon's path of fire and continues pursuit...

Beorn hasn't flown anything in what feels like a lifetime, and when he had been a space engineer it was in a much different place with different rules. Nevertheless, some things were similar here and the controls of the pod weren't completely confusing. As he zigzagged away after the main ship, he brought up his aegis. He fired a couple of times and watched the beams fly off into space nowhere near his target before he got an idea. Likely not a great one, but it was an idea.

As they approached the big ship, he looked for something that could be a control room or a bridge.

piloting: excellent

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 80

Maelstrom is looking for something important looking to crash his ship into. He plans to teleport out a few seconds before impact.

Energystar breaks off from Rad heads toward the enemy ship.

Using the ship's controls

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 50

Then she will fire the weapons aiming for the enemy ship's weapons.

Using Karma to get a red result. Agility GOOD

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 95

[NPCing Rad until his return] Rad sees 'Star and Maelstrom head towards the large ship while Pulsar streaks after the escape pod. Rad shrugs and chooses to follow Pulsar. 2 on each target sounds good.

With a single shot, EnergyStar manages to completely take out one of the vessal's weapon batteries. Unfortunately, there are still three more...
Each of the remaining three target a seperate module of the BRAVE. Pulsar and Maelstrom are missed, while Rad's module is struck and goes spiralling down towards the Earth.

Maelstrom's module heads directly for a round sphere located at the front of the alien vessel. His speed increases. He doesn't seem to be pulling out of this dangerous game of chicken...

Split panel: Nick and 'Star both observe Maelstrom's module on a crash course with the alien ship. Both shout "AARRHHH!!!"

Maelstrom's module impacts the ship, creating a huge explosion in space, exactly the way it wouldn't happen under the laws of real world physics. An instant before impact, Maesltrom appears "Aegis Up" a short distance away, having teleported away at the moment of impact.

Split panel: Nick and 'Star both look shaken and mutter to themselves "I hate when he does stuff like that..."

A glistening beam extends from the alien vessel towards EnergyStar's ship, which becomes immobile. Her BRAVE module seems to be stuck in some sort of tractor beam. The alien vessel looks pretty severly damaged at this point and you are pretty sure it isn't going anywhere, nor will it be causing any trouble for while. Then again, neither will 'Star, as the two disabled ships dance a silent duet in Earth's orbit.

Suddenly (love that word), the monitor in 'Star's BRAVE module comes to life (see PM).

Further below, Rad's module spirals into the atmosphere at the wrong angle and begins to heat up. Inside the module, the heat increases as Rad desperately tries to stabilize the ship.

Five turns later, the module exlpodes in the atmosphere.

Pulsar, completely unaware of what has happened behind him, continues to track the escape pod. Entering the atmosphere, a view of cloud-spattered New York state comes into view with the escape pod heading towards Long Island.
Pulsar silently wonders what 'Star would say to Nick's "Not EVERYTHING happens to New York" comment now.

ooc

Pulsar's observations

Pulsar, in a cold sweat, tries to aim his shots so that the pod spirals harmlessly into the ocean. Spending karma for a red result:

In agility