eggemperor

[eggemperor]

Eggman gets straight to work helping Taavi attach the cables to his precious eggpod. He's still in pain, but he finds it much easier to ignore his bruises now that he's got something to do. All of that conversation was pleasant, but the good doctor would much rather be taking action than sitting around talking.

The pod isn't quite as heavy as it looks, designed to be speedy in an emergency, but Eggman still doubts that the little aliens are going to be able to move it on their own. Luckily, the pod's spherical design makes it fairly easy to manoevre onto the vehicle with the help of the elastic cables.

"Phew! That just about does it." Eggman breaths a sigh of relief and wipes the sweat from his brow.

He stands by his pod and examines the damage a little more now that it's out of the sand and visible. It probably would've been a good idea to mount the pod upside down where it would be less wobbly, but it looks secure enough and Eggman climbs into his pod's cockpit.

"I'll stay back here, out of your way," he says. "I should be able to run some diagnostics before we reach your space ship."

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

[eggemperor]

Eggman kneels beside his downed pod and examines the damage. He had been hoping to somehow manually reactivate the thrusters so that the other two could at least push a fairly weightless object, but it looks like one of the fuel lines was damaged on the way out of the launch bay. It's dripping an oily substance into the sand around it. He frowns.

"If I can repair my pod, then I should have no problem getting back to the Egg Carrier." He stands and looks around. He can't see any sign of the two aliens' transport shuttle, but he can't imagine they just walked here. "What about your transport? I assume you parked it nearby when you came to rescue me. I'm sure it could tow us back to your ship."

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

[eggemperor]

Really, Taavi, you're going to make Eggman blush.

"Oh ho ho! You do flatter me! But it's nothing, really, for one of my genius."He grins and makes a dismissive hand gesture. And yes, this is his idea of modesty. "I too started out small like yourself - with the robotics, that is. It just takes decades of hard work and dedication, that's all." But that's not important right now, Eggman thinks.

"That is true. I won't know how long the repairs will take until I can assess the damage to the Egg Carrier, but it would be prudent to assume it could be some time in a worst case scenario." He strokes his chin in thought, wondering if it will even be worth repairing the bucket of bolts. "The sooner we can carry my pod back to your Cornucopia the better. Once it's back up and running I'll be free to return to my own ship and assemble a survey crew from the survivors."

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

[eggemperor]

Eggman lets out a laugh at the idea of him building his Egg Carrier by hand. That would take decades, probably, if not centuries and the rate at which Sonic destroys them...

"Oh ho ho! Built by my genius, if not by my hand alone. I design everything myself, but I'm still only one man. Factory complexes and robot work crews do all the grunt work, leaving me to concentrate on the magnificent designs." Eggman coughs quietly, realising he probably shouldn't give away trade secrets too freely.

"An accident? Unfortunate." That's the problem with organic work forces, they're more expensive to fix when they break, thinks Eggman. "Interesting, nontheless," he says, finishing his own private thought out loud. "I suppose as engineers, some amount of expertise must come with the job. Speaking of which..." Eggman turns to face his crippled hovercraft. "I'll need to borrow your ship's repair bay to fix my hoverpod and get back to the Egg Carrier."

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

[eggemperor]

Eggman beams with pride at Taavi's words. He is a pretty special guy, alright. In fact, it's a change to finally see some alien life that appreciates that for once.

"My ship was damaged travelling to this region of space. However, my navigation and communication equipment showed little sign of physical damage, at least initially. Something must have scrambled their programming when I transitioned to this region of space. The damage probably removed some of my encryption, which could explain how part of my transmission reached you."

Eggman gives a sad look back at his crashed pod as Nura mentions his technology. His poor, broken pod. They're usually much sturdier than that, but at least it still hasn't failed to get him out of danger alive. From the damage it probably only needs a few minor repairs, but as tempted as the scientist is to start finding out he decides it would be rude to ignore the pair.

"All of the technology you see before you is of my own design and making. It's no wonder you haven't seen anything like it before," he explains proudly. "As for how I got here, it was purely by accident, I can assure you." He looks a little sheepish. "An experimental warp drive on my flagship malfunctioned after sustaining damage during a meteor shower not far away from my home planet, Earth. Before I knew it, I was here, in this uncharted region of space. I'm afraid I haven't heard of either Dreamland or Mekkai."

And looking at Taavi, and noting Nura's interest in his tech, he can't help but be somewhat curious himself. "You seem like you have some knowledge of technology yourselves. Those are some interesting bionics."

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

[eggemperor]

Eggman doesn't return the smile that Taavi gave him. He just frowns in response, unable to hide his disappointment at the tiny creatures that have come to aid him. He hesitates for a second, but takes the little emergency pack from the odd creature resembling a magician.

He opens the case and looks over its contents momentarily. Although he aches from the crash, he doesn't want to admit he has little idea what to do with the contents. Instead, he turns his attention back to the aliens. As he looks them over, he can't help but briefly begin to imagine a way to build the little winged one into a robot. The thought only lasts for a brief moment, however, before Eggman speaks.

"You're shorter than I thought you were going to be," he sighs and hands the emergency kit back to Nura.

Still, short help is better than no help at all. Eggman offers the strange pair an affable smile.

"But where are my manners?" He adopts a more dignified pose and brushes a little more sand off his coat sleeve as he introduces himself. "My name is Doctor Eggman, the universe's most brilliant scientist. I must say, I appreciate you responding to my distress signal."

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

[eggemperor]

The pod's cracked visor pops open and Eggman flops unceremoniously onto the ground, getting a face full of sand in the process. After a moment he drags himself to his feet with a pained groan. Despite his rather clumsy escape he's left with nothing more than some painful bruises, but in his dizzy state he doesn't the voice addressing him.

"Guh..." Eggman brushes some of the sand off his coat before clutching his head for a moment. When he blinks and glances down he notices the two alien creatures before him and makes more of an effort to look dignified. "Who or what are you?"

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

[eggemperor]

Without time to say anything further to the two strangers - and knowing full well that neither of them has a working radar - Eggman leaps up from his seat and begins to sprint away from the Egg Carrier's bridge, hoping for the best. Even if these two can't arrive, he'll just have to find a way to get himself to safety like always. By now, the emergency backup secondary alarm system has kicked in, but despite the chaos most of the robots on board continue to diligently do their duty and keep the battleship descending relatively stably. In fact, one of these robots is so busy mopping that Eggman collides with it as he dashes around a corner. Without skipping a beat, the scientist scrambles back onto his feet and enters the access code for the pod bay.

As the pod bay doors open, the flagship has managed to pass over the float islands, leaving them relatively unscathed except for a few poor palm trees being destroyed by the engine wash, but there are only seconds left before it hits the ocean.

Eggman leaps into the trusty hoverpod, the same multi-purpose craft that has served him well from the beginning of his career. The visor closes over the pod, but the sudden impact of the Egg Carrier with the ocean throws Eggman out of his seat before he can strap himself in. Immediately after, the ship's spring loaded launch mechanism fires Eggman's hovercraft out of the ship and sends him flying out of control towards the beach.

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

[eggemperor]

Eggman only stops for a moment to wipe his brow before his hands resume hitting buttons on the captain's console at lightning speed. The hulking Egg Carrier is approaching the landing zone a little too fast and it's taking all of Eggman's energy to keep it stable without the proper navigation equipment. "Yes, yes, of course I can! Engage emergency landing thrusters!" There's an agonising several seconds as nothing appears to happen and Eggman just watches the landing strip approaching. Then he turns to face the nearest of his minions. The bulbous robot just shrugs at him. Before the doctor can begin to yell at his underling, vibrations begin to shake the control deck indicating the engines finally kicking in. But it looks like they're too late and the battleship continues to descend much too fast for a safe landing. "Gah! Of all the- Abort landing! Pull up, pull up!" The ship manages to gain just enough lift to avoid crashing and instead starts to head towards the ocean. However, its flight is wobbly and the ship is starting to pour smoke and leave parts of itself behind as it descends towards the ocean. Eggman speaks directly into the communicator again. "Our hasty entry into the atmosphere has overloaded the engines and damaged the vertical thrusters. I'm bailing out before things get any worse!"

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

[eggemperor]

Things on the Egg Carrier's bridge are a little calmer now. Most of the ship's systems are still damaged but they have been stablised and a catastrophic explosion suddenly seems a lot less likely. Best of all, someone has finally taken a wrench to the alarm systems, silencing them and giving Doctor Eggman the respite he needs to concentrate fully on directing his robot crew as they pilot the crippled vessel to safety. As far as he's concerned, his transmission must have reached his crew and he continues to be unaware that it reached anyone else until the bridge controls indicate a new transmission.

As the message comes through, one of the pawns manning the navigation console tilts its head at Eggman and he indicates that the robot should follow the course adjustment suggestion.

"I'd love to send you my co-ordinates, but my navigation systems have completely lost their calibration. I'll attempt to transmit a signal that your own systems can lock onto. That is, as soon as you tell me who you are."

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

On any equipment that might register it, there is a sudden strange energy reading followed by a garbled transmission encoded with foreign callsigns. 

”- Carrier to fleet, do you copy? Multiple system failures in all sectors. Life support critical! Maintenance crews-” The recording cuts out for a few seconds and is replaced by static. “- don’t care who’s receiving this, RESPOND IMMEDIATELY!”

The voice in the recording is loud and angry, but it carries a tone of desperation. The aggressive tone is probably just because the speaker is trying to yell over the sounds of klaxons and general chaos. It’s definitely some kind of cry for help, probably.

[eggemperor]

Locked to askstarshipvagabonds

On any equipment that might register it, there is a sudden strange energy reading followed by a garbled transmission encoded with foreign callsigns. 

"- Carrier to fleet, do you copy? Multiple system failures in all sectors. Life support critical! Maintenance crews-" The recording cuts out for a few seconds and is replaced by static. "- don't care who's receiving this, RESPOND IMMEDIATELY!"

The voice in the recording is loud and angry, but it carries a tone of desperation. The aggressive tone is probably just because the speaker is trying to yell over the sounds of klaxons and general chaos. It's definitely some kind of cry for help, probably.