((I think the rescue should get here next turn, if I didn't miscount/misinterpret.))
"Stand fast soldiers, evac is coming! Just a little more!
Iveso, if the shuttle can't land you'll get to fly the brain up first thing to secure it, but for now I'll hang on to it."
Is there a way we could create a safe LZ for the shuttles to land (aka so loading stuff up goes faster)? Could I perhaps create a permanent forcewall around the (previously) cleared area a meter or two high (cylinder shaped) so that the fungus can't get to us? How many mindpoints would it take more or less? If it's something that should work, do so, then clear away fungus in immediate area with my newly reclaimed namite thrower.
If not a feasible plan, would it be possible to load up everything while the shuttles are hovering a dozen meters (or more, I dunno?) aboveground? What about me and Iveso? Oh, and what are the shuttles that were originally in orbit doing? Can I assume these are also coming down, being guided by Steve/autopilot?
Radio channel to shuttles:
"Gyromitra actual to shuttles, be advised, LZ is still hot. We'll try to clear it now, but if we can't it's gonna be airlifting everything up. Be prepared for either."
The shuttles already in orbit are part of the distraction. You and Iveso are taking the same shuttle as everyone else. Try not to slow it down too much, fatasses.
And no, Manips are bad at continuous effects remember? Better off with the napalm.
"For those who can, I would try freezing the ground to clear an LZ, it worked rather well for me. Made the fungus brittle and easy to break. I believe that they will need some sort visual signal in order to see where we are, anyone have any ideas?"
Begin freezing the fungus ground around us, then proceed to smash it once it is brittle. Don't freeze the ground over the trench or the brain hole, just clear an LZ adjacent to them so I do not freeze my team mates. Only try getting them out of the trench if I am absolutely sure that I will not hurt or kill them.
You freeze large chunks of the flesh and smash it up before kicking and throwing the chunks away. Not the fastest method, but effective.
"You have an amp so that makes sense, but Tek is a little paranoid about using his manipulator for non-precision work, so... good luck. He will focus on freeing the wounded, if he can."
Shovel! Start digging up the flesh near where I think the guy with all the heads is. If it can't cut through the flesh at first, precisely sharpen the edge of it first with the manipulator. If by some miracle this actually works, dump all the sand out of my backpack, then stuff any heads I'm tossed in there.
You run over to the pocket where you think the guy is and slice it open with your shovel. The instant you get it open the guy inside starts tossing severed heads to you.
help
Be stuck under flesh
You sit around under the flesh until someone suddenly sprays fire down onto you.
"Does anyone still alive have an unsealed suit? Because I have a plan."
If everyone who's alive has an intact suit, start burning the flesh off of them. Otherwise, continue to burninate the countryside to clear a landing zone.
((Schrodinger's Flamer is a plain old jellied fuel type, not Namite.))
Burn the flesh off them you say.
You run over to the hole that Kyle is trapped in and proceed to jam the tip of the flamethrower into the hole and squeeze the trigger. This results in burning the haebi skin off the area, but fails to burn kyle's flesh off, thanks to his suit.
Aw.
"Yeah, I'm down in the trench with a bunch of heads and a shovel! I'd much rather not piss off the flesh too much with this cargo!" Ryan says, transmitting it to both the ground and rescue team.
Huddle, team! We gotta put our heads together on this one! If a hole above us opens up, toss the heads through it, then get through it myself!
You toss the heads up before tossing yourself up as well.
Continue lasering the Flesh around me.
Continue the lightning
These guys, along with Miya and others, make sure the skin can't grow back into the area the team is in and protects them from the planet's random gnashing.
Now, you wouldn't be able to see it, but just about now, the bombing is beginning on the other side of the world.
Radio channel to shuttles:
"Gyromitra actual to shuttles, be advised, LZ is still hot. We'll try to clear it now, but if we can't it's gonna be airlifting everything up. Be prepared for either."
To Miyamoto:
Understood.
Prepare for either landing or airlift, depending on further messages.
As you bring the ship down something in the distance fires at you. It comes in from somewhere far beyond the little patch of land that miya's team is fighting against, from the realm of some other nerve cluster. Maybe it remembers ships, or maybe this attack is a remnant of some long past invasion, an AA gun left over from the last time the planet faced invaders. You manage to dodge the detonating organic shell for the most part, but bone sliver shrapnel still pelts the shuttle's crew compartment. The only injury though, judging from the screaming, seems to be a shard that punches straight through Duncan's right forearm.
You grumble and bring the ship lower, till you've got it in a hovering position 30 or 40 feet above the team. The LZ is small; a hole takes up most of the cleared area and the rest of the cleared space is occupied by the team.
"Can't land like this" You radio to the ground team.