"We're OK" Paladin's brain scrambled, trying to come up with a plan. Unfortunately the sniper hadn't made enough shots to determine anything more than their general location. Without knowing where the sniper was they couldn't attack him without a risk of heavy casualties, so he decided the best move would be to consolidate his defense, to get everyone together and safe.
"Jetta use your biotics to pull that dumpster over here while you two stay in cover behind it, Brooks, keep an eye out, make sure she gets here safe."
Jetta nodded her understanding and placed a hand on Brooks' shoulder so she could be sure of exactly where he was while she kept her focus on the dumpster, she fed power through her biotics and Lifted the metal monstrosity with a headache-inducing effort. "Go." Then they were all moving across the alley to join Paladin where she set the dumpster on an angle designed for good firing cover, leaning herself against the wall to recharge her batteries a moment.
From what she'd glimpsed there were only a few buildings with enough vantage to be worth a sniper's time. But that was a few too many to be helpful. Any blind shooting they did would be a gamble at best.
"We do nothing, anybody goes out there, they'll be sitting ducks." Ethan turned on his omni-tool and linked the comm. "Esten, I know Jetta just called you but we need intel ASAP. We've regrouped and taken cover, there are no casualties." He turned and saw Jetta leaning, obviously tired from her recent exertion, then turned to address the group,
"Alright, this is the situation, we've got a hostile sniper with a clear shot on anyone in the street, we go through there, no one's coming back. the nearest members of Aegis are at least 5 minutes away, and Jetta looks like she needs a minute to rest before she can use her biotics again. So we'll hold this position for a little while, long enough for Jetta to get back on her feet, then we move down the alley where the sniper doesn't have a shot and regroup with the rest of Aegis. We can let Esten worry about the sniper" He turned to Terina, pointing in her direction to make sure he got the point, "Understand? no heroics, you run out, guns blazing you'll die, and I'll be damned if anyone else dies because of me"
He turned to Jetta, "I'll give you one minute to catch your breath, then we're going down this alley if I have to carry you." Then Paladin stepped off and loaded a new clip into his pistol, then radioing in the plan to the rest of Aegis.
Jetta straightened, a bit grudging about her display of weakness. "I'm good, pushed myself way harder than this before." She checked her pistol. "Just giving my nerves a sec to reset. In case we peg the sniper's location and you need me to blow the supports out of the building or something crazy like-" She stopped mid-sentence and looked at the surrounding construction materials. The place was a slum. Not exactly lined with reinforced Salarian ore.
"Top, get ready to take out the croucher the second I'm clear" whispered Ocara as he stepped out of his hiding place and began to stalk over to the Vorcha's ambush position, his right hand clutching a mean looking blade kept close to his body, where as his left hand was extended at about shoulder height. With the armor the two Vorcha were wearing, it would be too risky to open fire on them from the hiding place, because even though they might get lucky and take out the standers, Mr Crouch might have time to get into cover and start a fight, something that Ocara wanted to avoid at this moment.
The Turian was now directly behind the Vorcha and it was time to strike. Bringing his left hand up quickly, he clamped it tightly over the Vorcha's mouth to stifle any sounds he might make, as the right hand went flying upwards sharply, sending the blade through a pre-targeted gap in his opponents armor (just as Esten had taught him) and into the Vorcha's spine, where the blade was twisted at a 45 degree angle and pulled down sharply for maximum damage. Ocara's quarry let out a cry, but it was muted against the Turian's armored hand and soon the Vorcha's body went limp, allowing Ocara to grab his enemy tighter and fall backwards to the floor, the Vorcha on top of him, giving Sal a shot on her target.
As Ocara fell backwards out of her range Sal squezzed the trigger on her Tempest. The SMG let loose with a quick burst of bullets which met their mark into the torso of the surprised Vorcha, another burst hit the torso again and once more in the head. The Vorcha let loose with a cry before it fell down in a pool of it's blood.
"well those two are takin care of, you may wanna get up now unless you want to smell like dead Vorcha for a week." Sal said with a chuckle.
"Argh! I hate Vorcha blood, its so... Sticky" complained Ocara as he stood up and ran a finger across his chest, where a fair amount of orange Vorcha blood was splattered. Once he was on his feet, Ocara knelled down once more and wiped the blade of his knife clean of blood on the Vorcha's tough skin, before replacing the blade in its chest sheathe.
After an hour of stalking through the sordid tunnels, picking off small groups of Vorcha together, Sal and Ocara came within a few blocks radius of the rest of the team and from the sounds coming from the comm unit, they were having a little trouble. Touching his fingers to his ear, Ocara activated his comm unit.
"This is Ocara and Sal here, we're near your position, hold tight and we'll try and flank your sniper"
After delivering his message, Ocara turned to face Sal and smiled his usual smile. Despite the copious amounts of blood, most of it Vorcha, but some of it his own, that adorned his figure and the many cuts and scratches that now covered his face and armor, Ocara still looked as jolly and friendly as usual, because even if his body had taken a beating, the mission was still going well and he was still in high spirits.
"Looks like we've got a job to do" said Ocara, as he brought out his sniper rifle and began a slow, slightly limping advance towards the sounds of battle.
I the time skipping to and minor control of your character to bring us up to date is ok. Also in the future, if need be, feel free to control Ocara when we're teamed up
"Appreciate the help Ocara, judging by the sound, we can give you a rough idea of where he's holed up. Stay out of the street, he's got a clear shot on anyone running down there. We're going to get moving and regroup with you and the rest of the team. We've got cover in the Alley, and I think I see a path we can take where the sniper won't be able to see us. Meet up with us at these coordinates and we'll figure out what to do." Paladin entered the data into his Omni-Tool and sent it off to Ocara. "Alright Jetta, get on your feet, we're moving out. We'll meet up with our backup then take the fight to this sniper bastard."
"Good, let's pull back and get as far away from here as possible," Brooks said as he drew his shotgun and started advancing further down the alley and towards the meeting point.
The group continued moving until they made it about half way to the rendezvous. The path had been almost one way and very cramped. There was only enough space for three of them to fit shoulder to shoulder. The only other way though was through the streets, where the sniper might have moved to cover, or others waited.
When they reached one of the lasts turns though, they had fallen into yet another trap. Brooks was the first to turn the corner. He checked and gave the all clear before walking around it. Before he could react, suddenly a flash bang had been chucked down the alley way and he was blinded.
"I can't see a ---" THUD
By the time the blinding had worn off, two Salarians were standing behind Brooks. In the confusion of the blast, both had managed to decloak and ambush Brooks. One had managed to disarm him and was now holding his shotgun pointing at the corner that the other three were hiding behind while the other was using Brooks as a shield and holding a gun to the side of his head.
The two stood their ground while from the opposite end of the alley; a voice could be heard shouting at the others.
"Drop your weapons," it commanded. "You've been surrounded."
There was silence for a moment as the voice paused, giving a moment for the others to realize their position before continuing.
"Unless we're provoked, we don't intend on turning this into a blood bath," it continued, sounding a little less harsh than before. It was clear now that it was a Turian speaking to them. "If you surrender now, no one will be hurt."
"FUCK, SHIT, FUCK" Paladin murmured under his breath. This had gone from a retreat to a Charlie Foxtrot. "I should have seen this coming" he thought. His mind raced as he considered the possibilities. The obvious struck him first, If we come out shooting, Brooks is dead, there was no way to flank, no way to surprise the enemy. he would have to do something stupid, at least to ensure that the others made it back safely.
"Alright, Terina, Jetta, you stay back here and stay out of sight, I'm going to walk out and see if I can talk our way out of this. No heroics, no assault, If we want Brooks to survive this we need to try diplomacy. But keep your ears peeled, If I say 'Epitome' you come out shooting, maybe we can mitigate our losses if we take them by surprise." He turned to the street, and swallowed, "alright, stay down, stay quiet, and if I say 'Epitome you kill everything that isn't me."
Paladin then holstered his weapons, he wasn't stupid enough to go out totally unarmed, but he hoped that if he wasn't holding anything he could keep the unknown attackers from killing anyone, especially him.
Ethan powered his tech armor then put his hands above his hands above his head, and walked out into the wider alley. "There's no need to kill anyone here friend, maybe we can talk this over."
My basic strategy here is to keep them talking, either until they're willing to do anything to shut me the hell up, or the rest of Aegis shows up for backup
As Paladin rounded the corner, the Salarian with Brooks's shotgun started to make a move at him before the Turian interupted him.
"Jeran, no."
With that the Salarian stepped back, but kept his shotgun trained on Paladin's back.
In front of Paladin the Turian stood. His armour was mostly dark blue with a few black lines streaking over it. A couple thin white stripes ran down his arm, and a logo was on his left shoulder. He stood there with his arms crossed, but with a heavy pistol still in his hands, having it resting on top of his left elbow.
"Do us a favor, keep your hands far away from your guns. I doubt Jeran will hesitate if he thinks you're reaching for something."
He looked Paladin over. From his face to his boots he examined him quietly. He was taking in as many details as he could.
"Why did Verahl send you Raven?" he said his gaze shifted back to Paladin's face. "Why are you down here?"
"You seem to have me confused for someone else friend, I know there aren't that many Humans on Omega, but I thought my reputation was better than that. I'm not Raven. The name's Paladin. As to why I'm down here, We were clearing out the Vorcha infestation, they'd been harassing too many people lately. Now, what are you doing down here? we were under the impression that these streets were deserted."
"I ask, you answer," the Turian said as his gaze harshened on Paladin. "Now, you may not be Raven, but I know that armour colouring. You've wandered out of Aegis territory and into Dusk's. You get lost chasing down Vorcha and---"
Suddenly the Turian raised his weapon. He didn't aim it at Paladin though, but was focused on Brooks behind him. Brooks had managed to wiggle his arms close enough together to activate his Omni-Tool without the Salarian holding him being able to see it, and behind the others back.
"Keep your hands down or else I will shoot," he threatened as he glared at Brooks. Brooks lowered his arms to his sides as the Salarian drilled his pistol harder into the side of his head.
"No need to get frisky," he said as he attempted to deal with the discomfort of the barrel being pushed harder against his temple.
"As I was going to say," the Turian repeated as he returned his pistol back to its original position. "How did you wind up wandering out of your territory and into Dusk's?"
"You do have the gun, but I have the answers you want, so we'll play it like this. I tell you something, you tell me something. And there won't be any violence."
"Now, you just answered my question, you're Dusk mercs inspecting an incursion on your territory, so I'll let this one pass. And I'll answer your question about your territory, to put it simply, we're new, we weren't entirely clear on the boundaries, we must have stumbled across your border in our zeal for Vorcha kills, so, sorry, that's our fault.
Now, how about a different line of discussion, what's say you lower your gun. Nobody's been hurt yet, there's no reason to point your hardware in my direction. You don't have to drop it, just lower it. Or at least take the cold steel out of my buddy Brooks' neck, what'dya say?"
"Fine, now, where is the rest of your---" before he could finish, he was interupted by someone speaking on their Comms.
The Turian paused for a moment, allowing his focus to go to the Comms, and off of Paladin.
"Hold your fire," he said finally as he looked back up at and started speaking directly to him.
"It seems as though we have a gunship approaching us. If it's the rest of you, I advise you tell them to land immediatly. If they don't, we'll have to bring them down ourselves."
"for the record, I don't think any of you have the capacity to take down a gunship. but first, was that sniper earlier one of yours?"
Paladin turned on his Omni-tool and opened up the comm. "Hey Esten, we rain into our neighbors. They're kind of nervous, and the gunship hasn't helped. Why don't you guys keep your distance while I try and negotiate a truce."
Alright, they'll be holding back, you don't have to worry about a gunship hovering over us while we talk. Now, you know my name, what's yours?"
Raven shook his head at the Rook's stupidity. Leave it to the rookies to fuck something up on the very first mission. He has no idea how politics function on Omega. Motioning for to Kry he said, "Bring us in quiet. I'm going to try to get some kind of peaceful resolution to this. Be ready in case things hit the fan and we have to make a hasty retreat." Moving to the loading bay, he opened his comm and called Esten. "I want you and Ocara in position in case shit hits the fan." Standing in the bay door, he played several scenarios through his head as Kry landed the razor in the road by the alley. If I start a war, Verahl will have my ass so I need to be careful with this.
Hopping out of the ship, he waited as one of the members of the Dusk company came over to his location. Let's see how bad things are.
Raven paused for a second as before responding to the Salarian. "I'm Raven, second in command of the Aegis Protection Firm. My men can stay on the ship if necessary but I need to defuse the situation before any one gets a little to trigger happy."
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