“Very well. I also saved this one from certain death.” Gamma beamed.
“Oh, I see you’ve met Gamma! He’s my robot. My name’s Jimi.” the robot’s creator introduced himself enthusiastically. I introduced myself too and thanked both of them. But I had to excuse myself when I saw the reckless young minifigure from earlier.
He looked up from tinkering with his armor when he saw me approaching.
“What’s your secret, Samson?” I called to him over the footworn field.
He laughed.
“It’s in my armor, not my hair. Super speed and super strength. Sorry if I alarmed anyone by rushing into the middle of everything. I hate to be that guy but it’s kind of who I am. I’m Gai — Gai Kiryu.”
“Hey, I recognize your name — I think I may be your team leader. I’m John Brickman but I usually go by Brick.”
“So you are! Good to meet you, Brick.” he replied, offering me a handshake.
I noticed the minifigure who had been behind the barricade with me and Gamma was now approaching.
“Mason Spacer” he introduced himself, with a crushing handshake. “I’m on your team too, Captain.”
Gai explained that they’d been fighting together, but hadn’t met before today.
Suddenly, a series of explosions like thunder echoed through the canyon as the Nexus Force squadron did their run. It was now safe for us to get back on the battlefield.
“There’s our cue.” Gai grinned.
Mason slapped him on the back and started jogging towards the gate.
“This looks right..” Gai peered up from his tattered tourist map at an imposing metal door set into one of the rolling hills.
It’d been about a week of fighting Maelstrom and biding our time since I’d arrived here, but the Nexus Force had finally sent us the message that the Paradox research facility here was ready for us.
The Paradox guard standing outside showed no sign he even noticed us, but I was sure that under his dark visor he was watching our every move. I was just glad we were expected.
“We could be doing more damage out on the battlefield” grumbled Mason, in an attempt to fill the silence as we rode an elevator down to the bunker below.
“We’ll be back out there soon enough.” Gai assured him.
We stepped off the elevator into a large, dimly-lit subterranean shop floor. We peered into the darkness, our eyes still used to the bright light of the Avant Gardens day.
“Captain Brickman?” A voice issued out of the darkness, making us jump.
I looked around, and my eyes picked out a point of white light where the voice had come from.
The minifigure carrying the flashlight stepped into the pool of light just in front of us. His red hair looked dead in the unnatural glow of the lamps overhead, and his scrawny figure was covered in oil from head to foot. But the self-confidence he carried himself with made us respect him immediately.
“I’m Takashi Kazugane” he introduced himself. “Sorry about my appearance, I’ve been helping with the Omen and the Wolf.”
“That’s kind of a mouthful.” Gai observed. “Can I call you Kazu?”
“Might as well.” he sighed, with a wry smile. ”I’ve never been able to shake that nickname.”
I'm sorry for your trials....Kazoo I'm sorry I'm so slaphappy rn XD
I hit the ship, but It also ripped through the cloak with a horrible crack sound, shorting out our power generator and leaving us dead in the water. The lights went out, and we sailed by the other ships, now dead in the water.
“Mack, where’s our power?!? I shouted over my shoulder urgently, the intercom offline. The fighters were closing in, with more of their friends on the way.
“Reserve power coming!” I heard him yell.
Maelstrom energy blasts started ripping into the unshielded hull, with thundering clangs echoing through the ship. I pushed on the throttle uselessly, looking around at the fighters that were now closing in.
Suddenly, the engines came to life, and the instruments lit up around me — Mack had got our power back.
Not interested in anything other than our escape, I slammed the throttle all the way open and sent us rocketing towards and past the Maelstrom horde with a roar. I dove towards the safety of Avant Gardens, the Maelstrom ships still in pursuit.
With a crack, we slammed into the atmosphere of Avant. The Maelstrom ships peeled off, scared of the Nexus Force fighters that patrolled this area.
I eased off the throttle and laid back in my seat, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Looks like we have some bugs to work out.” The voice on the radio observed.
Abort abort there are LEGOs aboard repeat there are LEGOs aboard! DISENGAGE REPEAT DISENGAGE!!!
“I’m Steele Hammer,” he introduced himself, “the question is, who are you?”
After Steven had introduced himself, Steele carried on with his explanation.
“Long story short, the Maelstrom sees by detecting imagination. They can practically smell it. And because the sparks that make us tick are filled with it, and our engines and blasters run on it, starships are a particularly obvious source of imagination.” he began, pointing to the large sublight engines on the Omen.
“So, the simplest way to keep the Maelstrom from being able to see us is to block emissions from imagination. Those two big rings are actually part of a massive shield projector setup. Except instead of projecting a shield, it projects an anti-imagination veil that cancels out the imagination signals. The Maelstrom can’t see it until it’s within about 400 bricks.”
Takeshi peered up at the ship with newfound respect.
“So why don’t all ships have this then?” he asked.
“It turns out anti-imagination has its own unique signature. Once the Maelstrom learns to look for it, this will be about as effective as painting a giant bulls-eye on the side.”
“Well that makes me feel safe.” Steven interjected.
“Relax, it’ll probably take them a generation or two for them to fully adapt to it.” Steele assured him.
“So what went wrong out there, then?” Takeshi asked, turning back to look at Steele.
“Well, the nose guns are the only imagination weapons, the rest being Paradox-spec Maelstrom powered weapons. Firing them probably caused a reaction with the anti-imagination in the cloak.”
“That’s easy enough to fix.” Takeshi concluded.
“Yes, but Maelstrom weapons have some drawbacks.. They have limited ammunition and range, and they don’t work on certain types of Maelstrom.” Steven reminded him. “That’s probably why the imagination blasters were on there in the first place.
“We’ll have to make every shot count, then.” Takeshi mused grimly.
“Very well. I also saved this one from certain death.” Gamma beamed.
“Oh, I see you’ve met Gamma! He’s my robot. My name’s Jimi.” the robot’s creator introduced himself enthusiastically. I introduced myself too and thanked both of them. But I had to excuse myself when I saw the reckless young minifigure from earlier.
He looked up from tinkering with his armor when he saw me approaching.
“What’s your secret, Samson?” I called to him over the footworn field.
He laughed.
“It’s in my armor, not my hair. Super speed and super strength. Sorry if I alarmed anyone by rushing into the middle of everything. I hate to be that guy but it’s kind of who I am. I’m Gai — Gai Kiryu.”
“Hey, I recognize your name — I think I may be your team leader. I’m John Brickman but I usually go by Brick.”
“So you are! Good to meet you, Brick.” he replied, offering me a handshake.
I noticed the minifigure who had been behind the barricade with me and Gamma was now approaching.
“Mason Spacer” he introduced himself, with a crushing handshake. “I’m on your team too, Captain.”
Gai explained that they’d been fighting together, but hadn’t met before today.
Suddenly, a series of explosions like thunder echoed through the canyon as the Nexus Force squadron did their run. It was now safe for us to get back on the battlefield.
“There’s our cue.” Gai grinned.
Mason slapped him on the back and started jogging towards the gate.
“Let’s go!”
Get'n some strong K2s0 vibes....
This came before K2S0.
"Wise words by wise men write wise deeds in wise pen." —Lollimon the Wise
![[derp]](http://storage.proboards.com/6672327/images/YqNTPqyQUocVMYXZgUAI.png)
Every shot must count 
![[y]](http://storage.proboards.com/6672327/images/WYWPH2VRo26pOFDid7QZ.png)
I don't know what anyone's talking about half the time, but it's good. 