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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Oct 10, 2012 0:43:50 GMT -5
"Now hold on a moment. I know I've been thinking about the possibility of these creatures being on board the Medusa, but aren't we being a bit presumptuous? We thus far have no reason to directly assume it's them, it could be pirates or anything. Let's prepare for both possibilities. Besides, if we equip ourselves too well, they'll just say we're banned from that equipment again." Elliot steadied himself against a weapons rack and looked up at the pair of them.
"Let's speak frankly for a moment. I think that we're all a bit more jarred by this whole thing than is good for us. We're already afraid to head back out there without enough equipment to blast a hole in the ship's hull in half a heartbeat. The rookies with us are going to pick up on that, and we shouldn't alarm them yet. I'll help them gear up, then do so myself, but let's not over prepare to protect ourselves from our mental monsters."
They looked at him, pensively, and didn't respond. Satisfied that his point had been made, Elliot walked over to Marvin who was examining a large assault rifle.
"I'm surprised, aren't engineer's supposed to favor shotguns?"
"We may encounter some scientists, sir, but little else. Shotguns may be preferential for close-quarter combat, but, if there are hostiles, we still won't want to get into the effective range. These deep space groups are always armed in case they are attacked by raiders, and we'll be coming up against that kind of gear, if any at all."
"But that doesn't answer my question, does it?"
"Sir?"
"Didn't I ask you not to call me sir?" groaned Elliot as he pinched the bridge of his nose out frustration.
"Sorry... as to the shotgun, I've been trained how to use combat shotguns, but I don't think they'd be necessary for this situation. Now if you're ordering me to-"
"No." Interrupted Elliot. "That's fine, I was trying to joke around a bit. For the most part, you can choose whatever weapons you want unless the mission, or someone higher up the chain tells you to. Speaking of which, the Black Sheep wants us each of us to pick up a gauss pistol. I'd recommend it, but it wasn't really an order."
"Yes, sir."
Still pinching the bridge of his nose, Elliot walked to Yvette. She at least would refrain from the constant usage of titles. For a guy that seemed capable and able to think, Marvin was completely hung up on in old habits.
"Makin' an inspection of the troops, Elliot?" Yvette was waiting for him. She had a pistol on either hip, and one on seated in an over-sized pocket on the left side.
"You could say that. What's that you have there?"
"Well, this one on my right is one of those gauss pistols you were telling PFC Gunther to grab. The one on my right hip is just a regular ol' backup pistol. Now this big guy here, " she patted the holstered one on her left, "is one of those 'Nose-breakers'. You know, the ones whose recoil drives the gun up and back? Nearly did break mine once too."
"Shouldn't you have a rifle or something? I mean, the 'Nose-breaker' does pack a good punch for a handgun, but, still, isn't this a little under-equipped?" He was beginning to regret telling Dom and Azzy to lighten their load-outs.
"I've never been a good shot with a rifle. 'Never really got much training for it. I haven't spent much time under fire, and I never thought I'd wind up here. If I had, I might have spent more time studying how to use one. Even combat shotguns are a bit beyond me. I'm not a weak girl, mind you, but I'm just not all that skilled with one. Now in my satchel there, next to the wall, I have several different grenades. EMP, Scrambler, fragmentation, flashbangs, even a few tear gas canisters."
"What?! You're just keeping them all together in a bag?! Now-"
"Oh, relax" Yvette lightly slapped him in his upper arm. "I'm blond, but I'm not stupid! They're kept separate, the safety is set on the EMP and Scramblers, and I won't construct the Frags until we're almost to the station."
"Sorry, I'm not used to others handling grenades."
"That's alright Elliot. Now, I need to suit up and you need to get your gear too." She then turned and grabbed her own suit, undid the hip holsters, and begin to pull it on over her own clothes.
Elliot left her, feeling slightly confused in the process, and grabbed his own gear. He had never favored the gauss pistol that Dom had recommended and instead grabbed an older RC-29. It didn't have the firing speed of the standard gauss, but was a bit more accurate at longer ranges and had a much greater punch per shot. The rifle he picked up was made by the same manufacturer, but fired a bit faster and used a much larger caliber round. Nicknamed 'The Penetrator', it was highly accurate and very powerful. Generally it was used against the newer model combat suits, as well as vehicles with light to medium armor. If not for it being one of the few weapons he favored, he'd feel like a bit of a hypocrite in light of his speech to Dom and Azzy. Still, this was one of the few weapons likely to take down one of the monsters with a few rounds, rather than a stream of plasma, or lead in the case of the gauss rifles.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Oct 11, 2012 1:51:21 GMT -5
Azira quickly suited up and grabbed her gear, taking one of the Taurus gauss pistols and a standard Alliance made SMG, before rejoining the others. "What was that hard lurch when the ship dropped out all about?"
Dom looked around the room as the two teams gathered with their gear. "I'm not really sure, but I've never felt it do that before, maybe we had to drop out sooner than planned."
Dom stuck two fingers in his mouth and made a sharp, loud whistle to get everyone's attention. "Alright, everybody listen up! I'm only going over this once! If anyone packed any frag grenades or other explosive charges, lose them now! I don't care if this shipwreck is drifting in space or crashed into the ground, in my book throwing explosives around on an eighty year old shipwreck is potentially a very bad idea!"
"Now, we're going to split into two teams and take two separate transports to reach the wreck! I'll be leading alpha team and Lieutenant Frost will be leading delta team! Now, since we don't know what condition the wreck is in, assignments for each team will be given once we're on site!"
"Are there any questions!?"
Everyone in the armory simply resounded together, "no sir!"
"Good, now move out! To the transports!"
Dom stood at the door, inspecting and observing each soldier as they passed him on the way out of the armory and then followed after the end of the line and brought up the rear heading into the deployment bay.
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The captain of the Hydra, an older black man in full, white uniform marched onto the bridge, his hands clasped behind his back. "Helmsman, we dropped out rougher than intended, what happened?"
A young, uniformed man looked back at the captain from the helmsman's seat. "There's a planet sir, near the Medusa's last point of transmission." He turned back around as he continued, "our initial drop out point would have put us within the edge of an asteroid field orbiting the planet, we had to drop out prematurely to avoid it."
"Is there any sign of the Medusa in the vicinity of the planet or anywhere else in this system?"
"Our scanners aren't picking up any sign of the Medusa in the planet's orbit and nothing of much interest anywhere else in the system, I'm still waiting on the completed surface scan though. There is something interesting about the asteroid field, however."
The captain stood behind the helmsman's seat. "Interesting in what way exactly?"
"Well sir, there are large pieces of debris out there amidst the asteroids that the scanners are reporting as being of artificial origin, they're registering as some kind of unidentified metallic alloy."
"Is that so," the captain exclaimed as he leaned over the helmsman's shoulder to look more closely at the readings. "So its definitely not part of the Medu-"
"Sir! Captain Mathews sir!" Called out a young women at another station. "I'm seeing movement inside the debris field around the planet, multiple unidentified objects moving towards us fast!"
Captain Mathews rushed quickly to the young women's station, "what do we have ensign?"
The screen in front of the women showed the planet and the surrounding asteroid field and several small, uniformly sized objects moving towards the ship's location all plotted out on a sensor grid. "I don't know what they are sir, the sensor's are reading them as being composed of an unidentified metallic alloy, but a different alloy than the larger debris in the asteroid field. There are thousands of them sir, all inside the field, and a lot of them are on an intercept course."
Captain Mathews quickly stepped to the center of the bridge. "Alright everyone, battle stations, we've got company coming! Shields to maximum and ready all weapons!" The alarms signaling battle stations began blaring throughout the ship accompanied by flashing red lights.
The young tactical officer worked quickly at his station. "All weapons armed, targeting system is good to go sir!"
"Sir all targets are on a collision course with us and are rapidly gaining in speed, they aren't going to stop sir!" Called out the young female ensign.
"All weapons are locked on targets sir! Ready to fire on your command!"
"Open fire!" Only seconds later all of the Hydra's rapid fire sentry guns began firing into the distance at the incoming objects.
"Captain we're thinning their numbers, but there's a lot of them, I think a few are going to get through!"
The captain stood strong, "then brace for impact, because we're not going anywhere!"
The young tactical officer just starred at his screens, watching several of the blips on the scanners rapidly getting closer to the ship, a tense, nervous look on his face. "Impact is immanent sir!" He quickly declared.
After just a few seconds the ship rocked and rattled violently as the first of the objects collided with the shields and detonated. Captain Mathews braced himself against one of the bridge stations nearby to stay on his feet. "Get me a detailed scan of one of those things, I want to know what the hell they are and what they're doing out here!"
Another explosive impact rocked the ship hard, causing crew members all around the ship to stumble around and brace themselves against whatever they could find.
"Sir our shields are already down by thirty percent from just two hits, we can't take much more of this!" The female ensign to the left of the captain declared.
"Dial the shields up as far as they'll go and focus the weapons on the closest available targets, we'll take a beating, but I'll be damned if we go down that easy." He leaned over the shoulder of the ensign at the weapons station watching him refocus the targeting system.
Yet another impact reverberated through the ship, the crew in the deployment bay still struggling to secure a lot of loose equipment while also trying to keep from stumbling around and falling.
"Captain we finally have a detailed scan of one of the objects." Declared the female ensign.
"Put it up on the main screen."
"Yes sir."
A detailed scan image appeared on the main screen showing a round object covered in spines with a highly explosive core at its center. The captain observed the object on the screen closely, "hmmm".
"Some kind of homing mine perhaps?" General Higgens stepped beside the captain and crossed his arms. "A much warmer welcome than we were expecting way out here."
"I couldn't agree more, I was expecting a fairly cold reception myself." The two of them braced each other as another impact rocked the ship. "We haven't turned up any sign of-"
"Scans of the planet have just been completed sir, I have the Medusa, looks like it crash landed in a large canyon in the western hemisphere and from what the scanners can see the wreck is still mostly intact."
Captain Mathews and General Higgens approached the helm and braced themselves on the back of the seat as another impact jolted the ship. "That's good work helmsman." The captain patted him on the shoulder. "Now we just have to fight off the rest of this mine field we seemingly triggered."
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Back in the deployment bay Dom and Azira were helping medics tend to crew members who had been injured by falling equipment that had not been secured prior to the first impact. The alarms continued to blare loudly and red warning lights flashed all over the bay, everyone scrambling around and still struggling to stay on their feet with every impact.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Oct 15, 2012 20:48:14 GMT -5
"What the Hell is going on out there?! We're supposed to be investigating an abandoned research vessel, not caught in a war zo-"
The second jolt rocked through the armory, causing Elliot to slam his jaw shut and give a silent prayer to God that they'd pull through.
"Abandoned, sir?" the private asked.
"Yeah, it went silent 80 years or so ago while conducting research out here. We're going in armed as a precaution, not because of expectations."
Marvin glared at Elliot briefly, before catching himself and turning his attention to a man who had fallen headfirst into a weapon rack before slumping to the ground, a red trickle forming just underneath his right eye. Whatever respect Marvin had for Elliot as an officer had clearly left him.
"Yvette!"Cried Elliot as he inspected an unconscious man. "Call medical, tell them to get some people down here. This looks like more than just a few bad bumps."
The equipment is supposed to be secured before every FTL launch, just to prevent this sort of thing from happening! What the devil happened?!
Yvette scrambled around the fallen troops. As a third jolt passed through the ship, she grabbed a hold of support beam and held herself to it. When it passed, she glanced back. Dom had his tucked head in and had grabbed onto Azira, while Elliot and Marvin picked themselves back up from the floor.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Oct 16, 2012 20:11:56 GMT -5
Just as everyone had picked themselves up off the floor two more impacts jolted the ship within seconds of each other, rocking the ship harder than before and sending people sprawling across various area of the ship.
"We just lost our shields!" Rang out the young female ensign.
Captain Mathews hurried to her station. "Can you get them back online?"
She shook her head quickly as she worked. "Its no use sir, the shield generators have had it, the detonations from the homing mines were too powerful, they couldn't take the strain. They've overheated and shut down, gone into a full cooling cycle, even if I could get them back online they wouldn't be able to take more than a single impact sir."
"What do we do sir?" The ensign at the weapons station asked, clearly scared shitless right now.
"Continue firing on those things, that's what we do! Keep everything focused on the closest targets!" The captain quickly demanded.
"But sir, some of them are still going to get through! We have no shields!"
"Ya think I don't know that son? I know your scared shitless right now, I can see it in your face, but trust me when I tell you this ship can take a few hits without shields, what the hell kinda war ship would it be if it couldn't?"
"Ye...yes sir, your absolutely right sir." The young ensign nervously returned to monitoring the weapon systems. "There are still a lot of them left sir, but the weapons are holding them off for the moment."
General Higgens approached the captain again and spoke quietly to his ear. "Is there any chance we could just make a quick FTL jump and get away from them?"
Captain Mathews turned to the General and spoke quietly. "We'd have to shut down the weapon systems before we could make the jump and making an FTL jump with no shield coverage is a very risky and delicate operation. Besides, with or without shields do you realize what would happen if one of those mines were to be swept along with the ship when we made the jump and then it detonated inside the FTL stream?" The captain shook his head. "The result of that would be catastrophic for the ship, even the slightest disruption of our course through an FTL stream or disruption of the stream itself would chance us being torn to shreds."
"Captain it looks like we might pull through after all, nearly all targets have been neutralized, I'm not detecting anymore incoming behind this last wave."
The Captain turned and approached the front of the bridge. "That's good news, I told you we'd pull through alright." He glanced back at the general. "Better get down to the deployment bay general, looks like the mission is a go."
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Dom stepped over a man crumpled up on the floor as he tried to understand what was coming in over his radio. "Sir I...I can't understand you...sorry sir your breaking up." Dom kept moving around the bay trying to get a better signal, finally getting one and nodding a few times. "Yes sir, I understand sir." He looked around now and spotted Elliot and moved to him quickly and carefully. "Lieutenant, General Higgens says we had a run in with some kind of unidentified minefield, possibly alien origin, but we're clear now the mission is a go."
Dom then spotted Lieutenant Frost and waved her over. "Elena! The mission is a go, lets move to the transports!"
She nodded from across the bay and quickly gathered her team. "Alright men we're going in, get your game faces on!"
A pilot called out from near the two transports that would be used for the mission. "Commander, the transports are prepped and ready to go on your order!"
Dom nodded to him and then turned back to Elliot. "Alright, lets move!"
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Dec 29, 2012 11:21:50 GMT -5
Yvette hung up the phone, nodding to Elliot in confirmation; the medics were on the way. She then looked down at one of the fallen soldiers. Although medical supplies were standard on all of the dropships, they weren't within the armory. There was nothing that could be done right now.
"Yvette, Marv, let's get going. Let's go hitch a ride off this bucket." Elliot then followed Dom and Azira out of the armory.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Time to get up corporal. Your team needs a pilot, and we need to get this mission underway."
Jimmy winced as he hurriedly raised his arm to salute the general.
"Sir, are you sure it's alright? I was told my shoulder would take at least a couple weeks to fully recover."
"You're suited to the team, and you won't be in combat yourself. Now come along." If a superior officer told you to do something, you did it. Especially if they were a general. Without further complaint Jimmy got dressed and then went immediately towards the hangar, with the general leading the way.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jan 12, 2013 3:24:39 GMT -5
Dom watched as Lieutenant Frost's team quickly filed onto the second transport as yellow caution lights around the hangar began flashing to signal the imminent deployment as instructions were voiced over the intercom.
"TRANSPORT DEPLOYMENT IN FIVE MINUTES, ALL NON-ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL MUST EXIT THE HANGAR AREA IMMEDIATELY."
Dom grumbled and tapped his foot, wondering why Elliot and the two recruits were taking so long, Azira already securing her equipment on the transport.
"Elliot, Marvin, Yvette! Times a wasting, lets move! On the transport! Now!"
As Dom prepared to board the transport he noticed General Higgens enter the hangar bay with Jimmy at his back and quickly saluted.
"We finally getting Jimmy back sir?"
"That's right commander, you got your pilot back." The general said as he saluted back.
"You men try and bring him back in one piece this time if you don't mind."
"Will do sir!" Dom nodded. "Alright Jimmy lets get going, we've got a shipwreck to investigate." Dom watched as Jimmy took his place in the cockpit, being careful of his arm.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jan 17, 2013 3:07:30 GMT -5
"Yes sir. Door locked, powering up engines, checking systems... all systems online. Engines ready..."
As Jimmy continued to read off his checklist, Elliot checked everyone's restraints. With no issues found he took a seat next to Azira and buckled himself in. "Ya know something. " He said, turning to her. "It feels kinda weird not having Jake around."
"Alright, I hope everyone is ready. We're launching, now!" A moment passed after Jimmy's announcement, then the ship lurched forward. The hangar doors opened in response to the approach. Once past, the hangar doors closed and a larger, thicker, set of doors opened up.
"Sir," called Jimmy. "Take a look outside, there's the debris from whatever was attacking the ship. I'm guessing some sort of mine. I think there's a whole lot more of them out here too."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jan 18, 2013 1:00:44 GMT -5
"Ironic that you'd be the one to point that out, after the way things went between the two of you when last we saw him I honestly didn't expect you to miss him all that much." She remarked as she gazed out the window at the stars. "I just hope that if we do get him back he refrains from going homicidal on any of us again."
Dom looked out the window, absently listening to Elliot and Azira as he observed the debris left behind from the mines that attacked the ship barely twenty minutes ago. "The debris really doesn't look all that alien, it just looks like debris that you'd find anywhere, just drifting in space." He blinked a bit as the other transport came into view along side.
He reached up and flipped a small switch, a green light coming on to indicate an open channel with the other transport. "Everything good over there Elena?"
The radio crackled a bit for several seconds. "So far, so good." She responded in her deep Russian accent. "How are things on your end?"
"No problems so far, though we seem to be getting some interference from somewhere."
The radio crackled again. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, its probably coming from the debris field up ahead."
"Right, tell your pilot to follow us in." Dom leaned towards the cockpit a bit. "Take us in Jimmy, nice and easy, with any luck the transports will be too small for any other mines out there to pick up on."
"Alright guys, the debris field is coming up, brace yourselves for the possibility of abrupt maneuvers, though I'm certain Jimmy will try and keep those to a minimum, lets just hope there's nothing other than mines out here watching us."
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Feb 5, 2013 22:02:07 GMT -5
"I wouldn't really say it's irony. I just said it's weird that he's not here. Besides, who can I antagonize now? Yvette? Marvin?" At the sound of her name, Yvette perked up and turned to look at him, then at Azira.
"Is this Jake fella really all that bad? I know I haven't heard much about him, but it seems that you aren't all that fond of him. You don't seem like the bad type, so I'd like to know what he's done to you."
"To be brief, at this point he just needs help. Something in him has snapped, and that's what I don't like. He's always been a bit dense, but he used to be a good guy. Maybe you'll find out for yourself."
"Maybe I will." she said, turning back around.
With a sigh, Elliot unbuckled himself. "Ya know what? I'm going to take a look up front. Care to tag along, Azzy?"
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Feb 13, 2013 0:11:12 GMT -5
Azira blinked a bit at Elliot's question. "But Elliot we're about to..." Just at that moment the transport made a maneuver that sent Elliot sprawling. "Oh!" She exclaimed trying to reach for Elliot in that moment, but missing his arm as he was sent stumbling down the isle towards the back of the ship.
"Alright, we're entering the debris field now." Jimmy said over the intercom as he began maneuvering around asteroids and random pieces of debris. "Hang on guys, looks like this is going to be a rough flight!"
Dom watched several mines go by the window, completely oblivious to the scene with Elliot. "Looks like the mines are ignoring us Jimmy. Just try not to bump anything out there, especially not one of them."
"Will do sir, just let me concentrate and we'll be fine!" He exclaimed in response.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Mar 2, 2013 6:45:05 GMT -5
Elliot hit the floor hard, stars flashed before his eyes. He laid there for a moment before rising back up, quiet curses flew from his mouth.
"Sit down back there! It's going to be rough going!" Jimmy's voice was filled with frustration more than anything else, and had the characteristic sound of being spoken through gritted teeth.
Elliot scrambled into the closest seat, a solo window seat used by copilots on long drops, and buckled himself in. The view of the planet outside the window was obscured by rocks and metal. One asteroid came close to the window when a sudden twist of the ship caused it to disappear from view. The ship shook from another sudden impact that caused Elliot to grind his teeth.
Several other, smaller, objects struck the hull, but with little force by comparison. After a few more tense minutes Jimmy called out to them.
"Sorry for the bumpy ride guys, I don't know where it all came from. Is everyone ok back there?"
Elliot turned and gave everyone a quick look. A few red marks on some, indicating where their heads had smacked the seat in front of them.
"Looks like we're good back here." Elliot unbuckled himself once more and went back upfront. "What about you? Are you sure you're ok to continue flying?" His voice was serious
Jimmy didn't turn to face Elliot, despite the danger having passed, as if to prove that he was still able to do his job. "It really did come up from nowhere. My radar stopped working briefly while it suddenly came into view. Whatever moved all that interfered with my systems as well, though I don't know how."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"My shoulder isn't causing trouble. I was cleared for duty, and I've done it thus far."
"That you have." said Elliot, the jocular tone coming back into his voice. He patted Jimmy lightly on his uninjured shoulder. "Now get us the rest of the way there, a little more smoothly if you don't mind. I'm sure our Black Sheep leader wants to catch some brief beauty sleep before Lieutenant Frost sees him again."
Jimmy seemed to loosen up at that, the tension easing out of him a bit. Silently, Elliot prayed that nothing more would happen, at least until they landed. Jimmy may have been given permission to fly them down, but it didn't mean he was well. He was definitely a little pale, and should be back home resting for awhile, but they needed him. If the sudden appearance of the asteroid field told him anything, it was just how much they needed Jimmy as their pilot, injured or not.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Mar 4, 2013 2:28:18 GMT -5
Dom threw Elliot a slight scowl as he unbuckled himself and stood. "This is hardly the time for sleeping on the job Lieutenant and I'll thank you to stay out of my personal affairs."
Normally Dom didn't mind a bit of joking around on the job, but if there was one thing he didn't appreciate it was anyone sticking their nose in his business or making sarcastic remarks about his own personal matters.
A light beep began to resonate from the transport's com link indicating an incoming transmission and Dom shifted slightly as he reached up and flicked a switch on the panel over his head to open the link, his scowl still fixed on Elliot for the time being.
Loud static poured from the com channel. ".....Comma.....do.....opy?" The static got louder and continued for a minute or two before the channel finally went dead.
Dom reached back up, flicking the switch again to close the channel. "That was a really bad connection, sounded like General Higgens' voice though."
"What do you think he was trying to tell us?" Azira asked.
"I'm not sure, but we were supposed to receive planetary data from the Hydra's sensor logs. Doesn't look like that's happening now."
"Couldn't we use the transport's sensors to gather that data ourselves?" She suggested.
Dom rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We could gather much needed data on the area around the crash sight during our descent, but that would be it. We would essentially be missing the larger picture of the planet."
He reached up to the panel over his head again and flicked a few switches. "Hey Jimmy, i'm bringing the transport's sensor array online, I want you to direct them at..." Suddenly there was a beeping sound and a red light flashed on the panel over his head, indicating a malfunction with the sensor array.
"Shit, i'm getting a malfunction indicator for the sensors back here Jimmy, what have you got up there?"
"I've got the same thing up here sir, some of that debris that hit us in the asteroid field must have damaged the sensor array." Jimmy responded as he deactivated incessant beeping and flashing on his control interface. "Might I suggest we contact the other transport, their sensor array hopefully remained undamaged."
"That's not a bad idea Jimmy," said Dom as he reached back up to the panel over his head and flicked a switch to open a channel to the other transport. "Elena, do you copy?" Only static came over the channel in response. "Elena, please respond," he said, again being met only with static.
"Well that's just great, absolutely perfect," he frowned as he flicked the switch again to close the channel. "Now we really are flying in totally blind."
Dom felt more frustrated than usual going into this mission and he could feel that whatever they were about to walk into was going to be big, possibly dangerous. It didn't help that they were in completely uncharted space and would soon be investigating the wreck of a ship that was conducting god knows what sort of research. Then of course they had lost all contact with the Hydra and the other transport and to make matters worse the sensor array was malfunctioning, what more could possibly go wrong? He wondered to himself, hoping that his frustration and concern about this mission wouldn't show through too much.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jun 3, 2013 21:36:50 GMT -5
"Well, there's no way we're getting back through that field with ease. We should continue to land on the planet, then get in touch with Frost. Assuming their array isn't damaged, we can contact General Higgins and let him know what's up." suggested Elliot.
"I agree with the lieutenant. Out first priority should be to link up with liuetenant Frost's team, then with HQ." chimed Marvin
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jun 26, 2013 21:41:30 GMT -5
Dom rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then looked towards Jimmy in the cockpit. "Take us in Jimmy, we didn't come this far to turn around, despite having issues" he said before turning to Elliot.
"We'll have to rely on basic handheld scanners to determine what the atmosphere is like unless Elena managed to get the readings we needed. Needless to say..." Dom was suddenly interrupted by a loud impact on top of the ship followed by metallic scraping sounds.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jul 27, 2013 20:06:00 GMT -5
"Another impact? I thought we were through the field already!" said Elliot, concern filling his voice.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jul 30, 2013 22:16:50 GMT -5
The metallic scraping sounds ceased momentarily, only to be replaced with what sounded like knives tapping along the roof. "I don't think that was just another impact." Dom said as his gaze followed the sounds along the ceiling.
After a minute or so the other transport, visible out the window, suddenly fell back behind our ship and out of sight. "Where are they..." the ship rocked suddenly as a rocket from the other transport suddenly exploded just above. Dom stumbled and caught himself on the back of Jimmy's seat "what the hell are they doing!?" He asked loudly as he and Jimmy watched heavy gunfire fly past just above the cockpit window.
"What the hell are they thinking are they nuts!?"
The sound of tapping knives on the roof resumed briefly and then suddenly a long blade pierced the roof of the transport and air began hissing out around it into the vacuum of space, red warning lights flashing as an alarm began to blare loudly.
"Shit! Helmets on! Helmets on!" Dom yelled as he tossed Azira her helmet, which she quickly put on, and then quickly slipped a helmet down over Jimmy's head as he continued to fly and locked it in place.
Dom quickly began to feel lightheaded as he grabbed his own helmet and started putting it on.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jan 1, 2014 20:34:13 GMT -5
Elliot snapped his own helmet on before helping Yvette and Marvin. Marvin seemed to be holding his own, sitting still with no sign of panic as he waited for someone to hand him a helmet. Yvette, on the other hand, was clawing madly at her seat's buckles in an attempt to get up and find a helmet herself.
Elliot patted Marvin's knee as he reached beneath his seat and handed him his helmet. Yvette was more of a struggle. As Elliot pulled the helmet out she ripped it out of his hands and fumbled trying to get it attached to her suit. Repeatedly she shoved Elliot's hands away in increasingly desperate attempts to do it herself, until Marvin, free from his own seat, grabbed her arms and held them tight so Elliot could finish hooking it in. As she finally began to calm down Elliot ran up front to check Jimmy's helmet as well. A quick look told him that the older model helmet had been properly snapped into his pilot suit.
As soon as I get a chance, I'm asking her what the Hell that was about thought Elliot as he strode back to the seats.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jan 2, 2014 17:45:15 GMT -5
Only minutes after everyone had finally gotten their helmets on, yet another long blade punctured the roof of the ship. It was as if some absurdity had taken place and their ship was being attacked by medieval soldiers in outer space. Dom watched through the cockpit window as more heavy gunfire from the other ship flew over head and then the ship rocked as another torpedo went off close to the outside of the hull.
Dom stumbled a bit and cursed, “what the hell is going on out there!?”
The ship began to rumble lightly as the faint aura of the planet’s thin atmosphere came into view ahead of the ship, visible now as the light of the system’s star shone through it.
“We’re beginning to enter the planet’s atmosphere now! You guys might want to buckle up!” Jimmy yelled back from his seat in the cockpit where he held the fate of the ship and everyone on board it in his hands. The ship rocked and rattled harshly as it dove through the atmosphere, metallic scraping sounds on the roof of the ship indicating that the attacker was struggling to hold on.
As the bumpy ride through the planet’s thin atmosphere neared its end there was more heavy gunfire from the other ship, most of it seemingly hitting whatever was on top of the ship and the long blades suddenly cut through the hull towards the starboard side. Suddenly the ship’s attacker came into view of Dom’s window seat where he had begun to buckle himself in, a mechanical construct of some kind with six tendril like arms, each ending in four large claw-like projections which it used to clamp down on the ship’s hull once more.
“What in the name of…” Dom was scarcely able to finish his sentence before the mechanical beast crashed the front of its main body through the window and attempted to claw at him with four small appendages, each ending in two sharp prongs, that flayed out from the underside of its body.
Dom quickly threw himself away from the window and the pointed arms hooked against the inside of the window frame as the front of the main body suddenly began to slide apart and open up like some kind of strange puzzle to reveal a mechanical insectoid face complete with a mouth and pincers. An optical cluster sat on the left side of the face and a glowing orange diode sat on the right.
“What the hell is that thing!?” Azira screamed in a bit of a panic as she quickly unbuckled herself so she wouldn’t be trapped if it clawed its way into the ship.
The creature made a strange mechanical whirring sound that vibrated the hull of the ship and its pincers wiggled as the orange diode glowed brightly and then suddenly shot a narrow, fiery swath across the floor towards Dom that cut clean through the floor and the bottom hull of the ship just as he rolled out of the way.
Once out of the way Dom quickly drew his side arm placed three rounds right into the construct’s optical cluster causing it to shriek and withdraw, losing its grip as it did. As it slid off the hull onto the port side wing of the ship more precision heavy gunfire from the other ship hit it, cutting off three of its long arms. In a last attempt to regain its grip the construct clamped down on the wing with one of its remaining arms, its claws tearing right through it causing the wing and the engine it housed to come loose from the ship just as more heavy gunfire flew at it, most of the rounds hitting the engine, which promptly exploded.
Alarms in the cockpit began to sound loudly and red lights began to flash everywhere as the ship began to spin out of control as it plunged through the dark clouds and towards the surface. Dom quickly grabbed hold of one of the straps from the seat he’d been in and held on tight. Azira was promptly thrown all the way to the back of the ship at the start of the catastrophe where she slammed into the wall and the visor on her helmet cracked. Jimmy held tight to the flight control stick as he desperately tried to control the ship, to no avail. Through all of the spinning and shaking and blaring alarms everything just seemed to go black.
Jimmy just barely managed to regain a slight bit of control over the ship’s descent and straighten it out just before it crashed through a rock spire, shattering the cockpit window and knocking him unconscious. The ship then slammed into the rocky ground snapping off the other wing and engine and slid several yards before finally stopping.
As Dom began to stir an unknown amount of time later everything seemed blurry as he tried to look around, his head felt as if someone had smacked him with the butt of a rifle and all he could hear was the sound of groaning metal and the howling of wind outside the ship.
“Ugh”, he winced as he slowly tried to get up, managing only to stumble backwards into the seat he had been in before. “Everyone alright?” He asked, looking up slowly after there was no response for several minutes.
As his vision cleared he looked around to check the status of his team. Yvette was still strapped securely to her seat and seemed to be stirring slowly herself. Elliot and Marvin were jumbled on the floor so that you couldn’t tell which arm or leg belonged to who and they both seemed to be unharmed and slowly regaining consciousness as well.
Dom stood slowly as he looked around for Azira, seeing no trace of her, “Azira?” He said as he looked around the ship, glancing down only briefly as he holstered his pistol which had been firmly in his grasp since the attack. “Azira!?” He called out as he turned around, only to find the limp figure of Jimmy slumped over in the pilot’s seat.
“Jimmy you alright?” He asked as he walked up behind his seat only to find him unconscious, a trickle of blood running down his forehead inside his helmet, which was thankfully undamaged. Dom quickly hit the button on the communications panel that activated the ship’s emergency beacon before turning back around.
What happened to Azira? He thought to himself as concern filled him. He worried that she may have been pulled or thrown out of the busted window at some point before the crash in which case she could be anywhere along the ship’s descent path severely injured and likely unconscious if not dead all together.
He quickly moved to the starboard side deployment door, which was elevated from the ground slightly due to the angle that the ship had come to rest at, and mashed the buttons on the door controls to open it. The door groaned as it opened slowly and only opened about halfway before it stopped, the door controls sparking.
As he looked out across the barren landscape of the alien world they had just crashed on Dom began to pray that the other ship had remained undamaged and would soon locate them using the emergency beacon he had activated. He grabbed his heavy assault rifle from where it had come to rest against the wall and began to walk away from the ship, looking around, taking in the vast rocky landscape dominated by jagged rock spires hundreds of feet tall. In the distance he could see high, jagged mountains and the howling winds blew sand against his suit so hard he could feel it. As he moved towards the tail of the ship he searched the landscape for any trace of Azira he could find. The other wing and engine of the ship, that snapped off when it crashed into the ground, lay several feet behind the ship along with the top of the massive rock spire that the ship had crashed through. On the other side of the ship he still saw no sign of Azira anywhere and began to dread the idea of having to break tragic news to Elliot upon his awakening.
Determined, Dom turned away from the ship and began to walk along the debris trail hoping to find her. He had only walked a few feet when he heard a distant rumble to his left. As he looked towards the jagged mountains he had seen earlier he saw that they were now masked by what appeared to be a massive dust cloud. As the massive dust cloud rolled down the mountains the sky darkened above the advancing storm, the clouds in the sky seeming to follow the dust cloud. Lightening arced through the clouds above the distant mountains and he once again heard the distant rumble that had grabbed his attention.
“Well…that’s just great.”
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jan 5, 2014 2:17:56 GMT -5
Elliot stirred slowly. A throbbing pain had filled his head and lanced through him, causing him to lay still until it began to dissipate. Then, slowly, he began to pull himself free from Marvin. Silently he thanked God that Jake wasn't there to see this, he wasn't sure that he could take the jokes.
"'Bought time you got up, Elliot". It was Yvette, sitting there in her seat, unbuckled and sane. He looked at her carefully, she seemed fine but a look over didn't necessarily mean that she was."
"Long trips leave me sleepy. Is everyone ok?"
"I'm alright. Jimmy seems a bit hurt, but Marvin appears alright. I can't tell about the Commander or Azira though, they're gone. When I came around I saw the Commander walking out. I didn't see Azira go though.
Jimmy leaned against one of the seats and looked up at the hole above him. A sudden, cold, memory came back to him. Something had ripped the ship apart as they made their way to the planet's surface. Their attacker had clearly left, so were they inspecting the damage? No... that didn't sound right. There were too many holes for the ship to fly again, and he'd hear them discuss it. That left few options, and one major concern; Azzy was gone, and Dom had left to see what happened to her.
He dashed outside and looked around; nothing but tall rock spires and flat land. No Black Sheep Commander, and No Azira. Worse yet, a distant rumble filled the air. He went back inside, and attempted to collect himself. Marvin, who had been sitting as Elliot came back in, stood up straight in attention. Jimmy was sitting in his seat, holding his head, and gave a light wave.
"Well, some bad news and some more bad news. It looks like our Black Sheep has led us off another cliff, there's no sign of either him or Azira out there. On top of that I heard some thunder out there, it sounds like a storm is on our way."
"I heard it too, Elliot. We might be able to patch parts of the hull, but she won't fly again. Not like this." advised Jimmy. He continued, "on top of that, our sensors and radio have been destroyed. Our personal radios should be fine, but that's all."
Elliot swore inwardly. Without the ship radio they'd have a hard time contacting the other team, they'd have to manually hunt down the frequency. While the Black Sheep might have it memorized, or, more likely, stored in his suit, the rest of them wouldn't.
"Commander, this is Elliot. Please respond." He spoke into his suit's radio and paused. No response.
"Commander, this is Elliot. Please respond!" He repeated, adding emphasis to it. Still no response.
"Black Sheep! Answer the call already!" He nearly shouted this time, and waited a little longer. Again there was no response. Most likely the radio on someone's suit had been damaged too, either on his or the Commander's. Other possibilities came to mind as well; he was too far, something in the rocks blocked or distorted signals, he was just unable to respond...
"Alright, Marvin, I want you to come with me. We're going to go looking for our Black Sheep. Yvette, I need you and Jimmy to try patching up some of these holes. There's not much shelter out there and we may need to come back in a hurry. Make it good, but make it quick."
"Radio test; Jimmy. Radio test; Jimmy." He said, speaking into his suit's radio again.
"I hear you, Elliot."
"Great! Stay in contact. Marv, grab your gun and let's go. Whatever attacked may still be out there."
"Yes sir!" Marvin reached into a storage cabinet and pulled out his rifle, while Elliot went to his seat, where his gun had fallen and become wedged between the chair legs, and pulled on Penetrator, until it as finally free from them. The pair then marched outside.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jan 6, 2014 23:28:29 GMT -5
Dom hurried along the debris trail, slowing his pace a bit as he finally neared the base of the rock spire that the ship had crashed through, stepping carefully around the boulders that were left behind. He looked around a bit before stepping up to the remaining base and leaned against it as he looked beyond. Still no sign of her, he thought to himself as he figured the ship’s descent path extended for several hundred miles and it would be impossible to search the entire length on foot.
Dom had received no attempts at radio contact and began to wonder if anyone back at the ship had come around yet, looking back in that direction, barely able to see the shape of the wreck several yards behind him under the darkening sky.
“Elliot, you awake yet?” He spoke into his suit radio, but received only static in response.
“Lieutenant please respond.” He tried again, but to no avail.
Dom sighed, slightly irritated at the lack of things going right and changed the frequency on his suit radio. “Elena, please tell me you’re still out there.” He received static once more, but with something that sounded like distorted speech in the background, but it was inaudible.
He hoped this meant that the other ship had at least received his attempt to communicate with them and decided to relay a message hoping they would receive it as well. “Elena if you can hear me Echo one has crash landed. I repeat, Echo one has crash landed. I have activated the emergency beacon in the ship, if you are receiving our emergency signal please proceed to our location.”
More of what sounded like distorted speech mingled with static flooded in over the channel for several seconds, but it was still completely inaudible. Dom sighed once more and hoped that meant Elena had received the message and turned his suit radio to a collective channel that would receive multiple frequencies in the event anyone tried to contact him. He then turned his focus back to locating Azira and raised his heavy rifle, zooming in with the scope and using it to scan the landscape beyond the broken spire base he rested against.
As he scanned the distant landscape the rumbles from the approaching storm slowly grew in proximity and Dom could swear he heard a sound like a far off ship approaching, but as he looked for the source high and low in the sky he could see nothing. After looking numerous times to determine the source of this faint sound and failing to find any cause Dom simply dismissed it as having something to do with the way the surrounding landscape reflected the sounds from the distant storm.
Just as he had put the many distractions around him at the back of his mind Dom spotted something in the distance, a dark shape laying next to a piece of debris from the ship. There, that could be…that could be her, he thought to himself as he zoomed in as far as he could on the object, which appeared to be the crumpled shape of a person in an environment suit.
As Dom lowered the rifle scope from his visor and stepped away from the giant spire base a chill ran down his spine as he began to dread what he might find when he reached the object in question. With that he slowly set off in the direction he had been looking with several yards to hike and the howling wind was picking up rapidly.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jan 8, 2014 23:15:27 GMT -5
"Azira, this is Jimmy. Please respond, over." Jimmy had tried this a few times since Elliot and Marvin had left, but with no response. By now she, if she had been on the move, she was probably too far away. Still, he had to try. At the very least she needed to be warned about the coming storm.
Nothing, again. He gave the console a light smack and rubbed his face out of frustration as fresh pain shot through his shoulder. The basic repairs had been finished relatively quickly. The holes had been patched, and power had been relayed away from the defunct communications systems and a few nonessential systems, so it would last longer if needed. The life-support system had suffered some minor damage, but nothing too worrisome.
"Really worried about Azira, aren't ya?" asked Yvette, ripping Jimmy from his mental checklist of what was and wasn't wrong with the ship.
"oh? Yeah, of course. Aren't you?"
"It's just a conversation starter hun. Are you sweet on her?"
"Hell no, Elliot would kill me if I was interested. She's not my type anyways." He wondered if he should bother sharing that detail with her, but it was fairly common knowledge among the team, possibly among the crew of the Hydra. She'd hear it sooner or later.
"Elliot? Really? I guess if you ask for an inter-office romance you get one. Does anyone else know?"
"The whole team, possibly the crew on the Hydra as well. I'm sure the General knows."
"Wow, I'm surprised that they allow that. I could understand you, being the pilot and all, but the rest of them work pretty closely together."
"Well... our group has always been different. I'm sure you've noticed that we don't follow the standard rules. Before I was assigned to this group I would never have dreamed of calling my commanding officer by his first name, or that someone wouldn't even allow me to address him by rank or show the typical signs of respect. Yet we've been given all sorts of different missions; hostile insertions, explorations, S&D, recon, recovery. It seems to be that as long as we can continue to successfully complete the goals they give us, then they don't mind us not following the standard rules.
As to Elliot and Azira, you know Elliot. Everything to him is a joke. So I think that when he started flirting with Azira no one took it seriously. After awhile Dom figured it out that he was serious about her, and so did the rest of us. Azira seemed annoyed by it at first, I don't know if she returned his feelings or if she just wanted him to be serious about it, but she seems to have been worn down to just enjoy it. Being so much more reserved than he is, I'm not sure that she shares his feelings though. Granted, I don't get to talk to her as much as I do Elliot either."
"But it seems like those lax rules are hurting the team too. I don't know what's going on, but it seems like Elliot and Jake don't get along, so I'm surprised that they're willing to let all this stuff go on."
"Well... that's all recent stuff. I don't know how much I'm allowed to say, but something happened during our last mission. They saw something strange that really upset Jake. The two of them were pretty good friends, joked with each other a lot, and even spent a lot of time playing old games together off duty. I heard them joking around about it during the last mission. But whatever they saw really got to Jake, and, for whatever reason, he seems to hold it against Elliot. Maybe it's because he picks on Jake, I don't know. It really seemed to come to a head when we reached Whitefall though." Jimmy continued on through the recent events while Yvette listened on intently. She seemed to understand it all, though she didn't seem to disapprove at all. ----------------------------------------------------
"Sir, could that be the Commander up ahead?" Marvin pointed to a distant figure past a broken spire.
"I think so, I don't know who else it could be. And Marvin..."
"Yes sir?"
"I know I must sound like a broken record, but call me Elliot, NOT sir."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jan 9, 2014 23:24:10 GMT -5
As Dom came closer to the object he had spotted earlier it quickly became clear to him that it was Azira he had spotted laying crumpled on the ground. Now that he could tell for certain that it was her Dom quickly broke into a full sprint in her direction. “Azira!” He exclaimed, hoping to rouse her from what he hoped was unconsciousness.
Please be alive, please be alive! He thought loudly to himself as he came to a stop and kneeled beside her, lightly dropping the heavy rifle to the ground and beginning to look her over. The first thing he noticed was the long branching crack that ran down one side of her helmet visor and then he saw that the front of her visor periodically fogged up a bit. This was a tell tale sign that she was definitely still breathing and Dom gave a sigh of relief, but what still troubled him was the fact that her breathing seemed shallow and labored.
He shook her lightly to try and wake her, but it was no use as she had been banged up pretty bad and he wasn’t sure if she had a concussion or was otherwise injured. Not knowing what else to do except carry her he quickly grabbed his heavy rifle and put one arm through the strap and then over his head so the rifle hung on his back at an angle. As he moved to pick her up Dom suddenly came to the realization that the hunk of debris that lay nearby was not from the ship at all, it was the remains of the construct that attacked the ship.
Dom quickly knelt down and slid his arms under Azira’s limp body and stood up with her in his arms and then noticed the blinking light on the construct’s crumpled remains. He starred for several seconds before starting to back away slowly, “it’s still emitting a signal,” he whispered to himself before something in the sky caught his eye.
The wind picked up even more in front of the advancing storm and lightening arced through the clouds overhead, cracking loudly as Dom watched three constructs descending from above, looking like large squid as they seemed to glide through the air as if it were water. Dom quickly began to move back the way he came as the first suddenly came upon the ground, four of its long tendrils hitting the ground and digging in with their mechanical claws. As the front plating of its body slid apart it began to emit a loud mechanical chattering sound as the orange diode on its face began to glow brightly, its other tendrils drifting almost elegantly in the air as it prepared to fire.
Dom ran as fast as he could while carrying Azira, “shit shit shit!”
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It had concealed itself above the dark clouds in the sky during its approach, only just now beginning to descend upon the recent crash site. As it did, the sound of its engines quickly became apparent to Jimmy and Yvette, the only two occupants of the crumpled ship and now in very real danger.
A ship, similar in design to the wrecked drop ship below, but much larger and covered in sharp metal spikes and protrusions as if some barbaric tribe had recently decorated it. It circled more and more tightly over the crash site below as it descended, sizing up the area before a coming battle.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jan 16, 2014 1:01:05 GMT -5
"Sir, what is that?!"
"I have no idea, but it's chasing them. Try to draw its attention off of them!" ordered Elliot. He paused, lined up a shot on the construct, and fired several rounds at it. Rocks and dust sprang forth from a nearby spire, causing Elliot to curse the wind. His shots went wide. He squatted down and readjusted his aim before firing another short burst of heavy rounds. This time his shots struck true.
The construct immediately shifted his attention to Elliot, it's orange light blinking in an odd pattern as two more appeared behind it, their indicator lights blinking the same way. The nearest one seemed to shift its attention off of Dom and onto Marvin.
"Marvin, take care of the second, I'll handle the other two."
"Yes sir!" ----------------------------------------------------
"Jimmy, do you hear that? It sounds like the second team has arrived!" she bounded towards the door, excited to meet up with the other crew.
The sound isn't right... it's a different engine!
"Wait!" he cried, leaping from his seat towards her. "Don't open it yet!"
She froze as he reached her, her hand all ready to push open the door.
"It's not the same, ship. Someone else has followed us here, they're probably the ones that shot us down in the first place!"
She frowned for a moment, then sealed the door. Whoever it was would likely try to break in, possibly shoot their way through... "Jimmy, help me set up a barricade! Break down the seats!"
She grabbed a wrench and tossed it to him, then set to unscrewing the bolts that held the seats in place. It's not much, let's just hop it's enough
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jan 16, 2014 1:40:26 GMT -5
Dom carried Azira as quickly as he could in Elliot’s direction, heading for the base of the broken spire. “Watch out for their attack! They’ll cut you right in half!” He quickly yelled to Elliot and Marvin.
The construct that had been chasing him was now heading for Elliot, the shots he had fired only having hit part of its outer shell away from its face and leaving little more than shallow dents. “Aim for the optical cluster on the one side of the face!” Dom yelled as he carefully laid Azira down against the broken spire base. The construct quickly fired its narrow, fiery, orange beam at Elliot, cutting a swath across the rocky ground towards him.
One of the descending constructs had focused on Marvin and sealed the plating over its face as it flew towards him like a bullet, the young soldier’s rounds only bouncing off the plating with little effect. It quickly snapped four of its tendrils down, clamping into the ground and then pushing its body back upwards and head butted Marvin, sending him sprawling on his ass as it then rose and towered over him.
Construct number three quickly landed in a similar manner and began to follow the first one in the direction of Elliot. Dom quickly moved up next to the spire base and brought his heavy Scorpion rifle from his back and let off a burst of heavy rounds at the third construct, hitting the base of one of its walking tendrils to both draw its attention as well as attempt to slow it down. “Marvin! Get the hell out of there soldier!” Dom said this as a long blade, like the ones that had poked holes in the ship’s hull, extended from within one of the construct’s tendrils as it raised the tendril above Marvin.
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The ship moving in upon the crash site shifted into a holding pattern and began to descend straight to the ground several yards from the wreck where Jimmy and Yvette had barricaded themselves in. Still high in the air, the ship opened the deployment door facing the wreck and then a large gun emplacement slid into place at the door. The heavy, double barreled turret came complete with a metal plate shield that masked the gunner from view as well as any attempted pot shots.
The turret clicked and then suddenly opened fire on the wreck, the heavy armor piercing rounds hitting ground and hull alike, sending rocks flying and ripping holes in the already weakened hull.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jan 16, 2014 3:15:44 GMT -5
Marvin lay still, stunned by the sudden impact of the construct that was now upon him. He heard the noise from multiple guns, but the only thing that registered in his mind was a fiery pain in his chest.
Elliot fired several rounds at the first construct, then dove and rolled off to the side before it could repeat its friend's tactic. He squeezed the trigger again, sending spikes into the construct's back plate and one of the writhing tendrils.
In a heartbeat it spun to face him, its orange light blinking rapidly as five of its tendrils were raised up to strike him, the sixth hanging limp.
He rolled to the side again, narrowly avoiding the construct's attempt to crush him. He pulled the trigger again, taking care to aim for the machine's only apparent weak-point. The shots hit, impaling the tendrils and causing a dark, viscous, fluid to seep from them.
"Marvin, aim for the tentacles!" He shouted, not fully realizing his teammate was down. Then the second construct was upon him.
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Yvette swore loudly. She had expected men with rifles, maybe some explosives to force the door open. Not heavy caliber rounds from a turret! She was an explosives expert, not tactical assault!
Wait, that's it! The EMP grenades should do it! But how do I get them out?! With the holes sealed the only option to her were the windows facing the landed craft, and if she did that she'd be seen and shot in a heartbeat. A distraction... that's what she needed.
"Jimmy, I need you to be bait!" she shouted over a burst of heavy gunfire.
"What?!" it was hard to tell if he sounded incredulous, or if he hadn't heard her.
"ON MY WORD, GET TO THE COCKPIT AND SHOW YOUR FACE, THEN DROP DOWN"
He nodded in understanding and crawled towards the cockpit, when he was in place he gave her a thumbs up. She returned his gesture, then looked up at the cabinets above the seats. Ok... now for the tricky part. She stood up and quickly dashed to the cabinet that held her satchel, then immediately dropped to the floor. A moment later gunfire rang out and bullets passed overheard, tearing into the few nearby seats that were still standing. After a few moments passed, it paused and then started back up in a different spot. Quickly she rose back up and pulled her grenades from the cabinet, then dropped again. She then slowly made her way to the windows, pulled out the canister-like grenade and pressed a button on top. "DO IT JIMMY!"
He rose up in front of the window and even started pounding on it before he dropped back to the floor, covering his head and neck with his hands. More bullets passed through, making glass rain down on top of them. No time to look, go! Yvette rose up, twisting the grenade as she went, and threw it out of a broken window.
There was a flash of light, and the firing stopped. A quiet, triumphant, laugh escaped her and she looked to Jimmy. Small holes from some of the larger shards had appeared in his suit over his arms. She suspected that he was bleeding, but seemed fine as he sat against a wall, his breathing somewhat heavy.
Still, it wasn't over yet. Their turret was dead, not them. She pulled a pistol out of one of her over-sized pockets and slid it over to Jimmy. "Keep them occupied. I'm going to assemble some frags."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jan 28, 2014 1:19:50 GMT -5
Seeing that Marvin was clearly injured Dom quickly aimed his heavy Scorpion rifle towards the construct that was looming over him. Aiming carefully he let off a burst of heavy rounds, enough of them hitting the bladed tendril aimed at Marvin to sever it. The tendril flailed about, flinging dark fluid all around as the construct shrieked angrily and exposed its face. Dom quickly let off several more bursts of heavy rounds, cutting off more of its tendrils and forcing it to levitate again so as to keep its balance. “Marvin! Shoot its optical cluster with your gauss pistol!”
As Dom prepared to move, the construct that had already been damaged by Elliot writhed across the ground and then launched itself at him preparing to fire its particle beam. He quickly threw himself backwards and aimed his heavy rifle at it and just held down the trigger. A barrage of heavy rounds pelted the construct’s face, destroying its optical cluster and its particle beam diode. As Dom hit the ground the construct flew right over him shrieking and sparking and crashed into the ground writhing and flailing about as gleaming orange cracks formed all over its body and then it exploded sending rocks and metal parts flying in all directions.
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Now dead, the turret was useless to them besides being in the way of the deployment door and so it was quickly disengaged from the tracks it had moved into place on. As the dead turret toppled out the open deployment door the troopers behind opened fire on the wreck as they began to file out of the ship on either side of the scrapped turret.
These troopers were unlike anything that Jimmy or Yvette had ever seen before. They were dressed from head to toe in dark brown polymer under suits with an overlay of dirty, metallic colored armor plating, and helmets that looked as if they were made from old gas masks. Upon each shoulder stood three spikes as well as three smaller spikes along the forearms of their suits. Their helmets donned a ridge of small spines along the top from front to back and the assault rifles they carried were an improvised design including a serrated bayonet. All of the troopers quickly moved to cover behind the various sizes of rocks and boulders littering the landscape.
As the troopers continued to lay down suppressive fire at the wreck the leader of their strike force stepped forward from the ship followed by two more troopers carrying a large device, possibly a bomb. The leader wore similar armor to the troopers with the addition of long, red cloth banners draped under his larger shoulder guards that hung to his waist in the front and back. These banners appeared to be decorated with strange symbols along their entire length, possibly some sort of language. His helmet donned a ridge of much larger spikes and a large crescent shaped crest sat prominently behind his head, the inner curve facing downward with each tip looking like a blade.
As this leader stepped away from the ship and looked around he rested his right hand on the hilt of a long sword, with serrations along the cutting edge, that sat sheathed on his right hip. On the opposite hip sat a heavy pistol with a serrated blade along the underside of the barrel.
“Na’vahrat, krut su’muru vahat!” He suddenly shouted in a distorted voice, most likely an affect produced by a system within his helmet.
At the moment of his shout all of the troopers ceased fire, but continued to peer from behind their cover with weapons at the ready. He slowly and confidently walked closer to the wrecked ship and stopped a few yards away. As the two troopers carrying the large device moved up behind him he glanced back at them and then pointed at the deployment door.
“Zel estanzak, usta kala veshat!” At that the troopers quickly hauled the device up to the side of the wrecked ship and nestled it against the deployment door. “Neshkato kala!”
One of the two troopers gripped a handle on top of a cylinder in the center of the device and pulled it up and then turned it, causing indicator lights to come on and then pushed it back down. As the device began to hum to life the second trooper pushed a button causing a display to show blinking symbols that appeared to be counting down and the device began to beep loudly. The leader of the strike force crossed his arms and stood firm as the two troopers rushed away behind him.
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