Star Brigade: A 53rd Century Adventure RP

[Soviet Heavy]

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"Technically, I don't fill any actual role." said Tom sheepishly. "I was the Colonial Envoy, so I represent the Three Sectors on our ship. Most of the time, I'm supposed to be working relations between new species requesting applications for joining the Union, but right now, I just fill whatever role the Captain gives me."

Ruth looked slightly confused, but she rebounded quickly. "So, you're just an everyman? How did you know that using your sealant would fix Nejra's arm? That doesn't seem normal."

Tom shrugged. "Every now and then, I get a flash of intuition. Can't really explain it any other way."

The group made their way to the warehouse. Inside, the team discovered the rest of the refugees. Most of them were young and old, with few adults. The Crelm sat apart from the humans. Ruth clapped her hands to get their attention.

"Everyone, we've got an escort! Those damn Durras don't want to help us, but the Union does. Every able bodied adult should carry those who can't make it on their own. Hurry, the tide is coming in quick today! We've only got about an hour before the lower dome is submerged!

The Crelm gathered up two people at a time, their grasping arms easily lifting the humans. Tom was impressed at the speed with which the people got to work gathering themselves up. "You a community leader?" he asked Ruth.

"More or less. Here, help me move Hanni. She's too old to move on her own."

Behind them, Til Wing noticed something brushing against her leg. Looking down, she noticed a steadily growing stream of water passing around her. Small creatures began nibbling at her hard skin, before breaking off in search of softer targets. Bigger ones soon followed, long white tubular creatures with sharp fang filled maws. So that was a Skrillex, she thought. But they usually swarmed, according to Diran....

"Erm, if I may say so, we should begin our ascent as soon as we can." said Til hesitantly. Her soft voice carried in the warehouse, drawing everyone's attention to the oncoming water. Ruth paled even further when she saw the Skrillex being pushed along by the flow.

"Move, move!" she shouted. Ruth turned to a pair of Crelm, carrying children. "Teal, Cyan, take the young and get up top as fast as you can. Brian, you and Til give them cover. Tom, Lime, with me. Everyone else make for the upper dome!"

 

[Tiger Sora]

Thor poured half his canteen into his pack, now filled with dehydrated foods and powdered foods. All the rations maybe going to the beasts, but better it than them.
The pack was hurled out into the throngs of foes. The foodstuff spilled out the scents attracting a large sum the beasts. "How we coming on the door"?

Spoiler: OOC

quotes don't wana work for me.

 

[TheBlueShotgun0]

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James had, at least somewhat, regained his sense since his freak out. He peered over the rock he had been cowering behind to see the swarm of creatures where attacking Thor's bag. He then heard Thor's question, and began wondering the same thing. He looked behind him at the Durras working on the door. They seemed confused; James guessed they hadn't bothered to bring any engineers or tech specialists along. He knew that the creatures would only be occupied by the bag for so long. Pushing his still present fear aside, James got up and approached the door. "Excuse me." he said to the Durras, but he got no response. "Hey, I know how to open it." Still no response. Goddammit. "Get out of the way!" he shouted as he pushed the Durras away. They saying something but James didn't care; he just wanted to get away from the predators.

The door was SU tech, that much was clear. James recognized it as the same kind that the SU used on its submarines, just much stronger to resist the increased pressure. Normally they where hooked up to a computer that would open them on command. James had no reason to believe this one was any different, but he should be able to operate the motors that opened the door with his wireless interface. James opened the pouch on his belt and withdrew the device. "I just need a second" he shouted back to Thor.

 

[JoJo]

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The refugees pattered out of the domed area, Til and Brian following them and helping those who couldn't move themselves. Ruth moved closer to Lime and Tom, speaking in a low voice.

"Well those are the healthy half of us. You better put on these before we see the sick ones, whatever it is it's highly infectious. That we've learned from bitter experience."

She handed two Diplomatic Corps a pair of white breathing masks, one human-sized, the other crelm. As they were checking the masks for size, Najeed reappeared by Ruth's shoulder.

"Wait, can I come too?" he asked pleadingly "my mum and little sis are down there."

Ruth sighed "What about your father? Doesn't he need you now?"

"That Brian guy's already taken him, anyway it's not like he'll know until he wakes up. I promised Ayesha I'd bring her some more sweets from the warehouse. She needs something to keep her going until the ship comes!"

Ruth looked like she was about to say something but instead swallowed and turned back to Tom and Lime with an exasperated glance.

"What do you think? I suppose there won't be much danger if he comes and wears a mask too."

 

[Soviet Heavy]

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"As long as there's no risk of infection, he can come. We'll need all the hands we can get." said Tom. "How many infected are there, exactly?"

"There's about twelve of them." said Ruth, handing another mask to Najeed. "They went into withdrawal after exposure to some of the imported creatures, Gyrale you called them? It was almost like they were drawn to them, they wouldn't respond to us, and they stopped eating. The infected just kept bringing things to those flesh sacks, and then consuming the growths that dropped off them. Even the doctors at the upper level didn't know how to treat them, and we're too far out of the way from the major jump gate lanes for help to come fast enough, so we put them in quarantine."

Tom whistled. "That's a handful. So how are we going to move them before the Skillex decide they're hungry?"

"That's why I needed you." said Ruth. "We're going to deal with the Skillex first. This warehouse is part of the water treatment facilities. We'll empty the boilers into the tide. Skillex are used to cold waters, so the heat shock will kill them. You and your friend Lime will need to hit each of the hatches simultaneously. We'll trap the Skillex swarm in the warehouse and cook them in the pot. Then we can see to the infected."

"Won't that put the infected victims at risk from the higher temperatures?" asked Tom. "As well as us?"

"It will," admitted Ruth. "But if we work fast enough, we can minimize the damage."

"And after we fill the exit with scalding hot water?"

Ruth paused for a moment. "I'm still working on that part."

"Ah."

Najeed spoke up. "And what can I do then, Ruth? I'm not leaving here without Ayesha and Mom!"

"Najeed, look for some way we can get out of here. A runner, a skiff, anything we could use to keep above the tide."

The young boy nodded earnestly. "I'll do it, don't worry, I'll find something!" he ran off on his search. Ruth turned back to the two Corps members.

"Are we ready to do this then?"

Tom nodded. "Alright, let's get started. Lime, take the far boiler. Radio me when you're ready so we can do it at the same time."

 

[JoJo]

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Lime put up a tentacle in protest before Tom could go any further. Heandshe silently handed the mask back to Ruth before speaking cordially through the translator.

"I'm surprised that you didn't know but us Crelm breathe through our skin. I'm not going to take the risk of going in there unprotected when there's nothing to stop me becoming like them."

"Oops, sorry" Ruth blushed "I'm no biologist, I guess you'll have to go with Najeed to find a boat"

"I will" Lime replied bluntly and saluted Tom with a tentacle "Good luck down there diplomat you know what to do"

Without saying anything more the Crelm hurried out of the room. Ruth then turned to Tom with a sigh.

"Well that'll make it more complicated if it's just the two of us. Do you think you can hit both hatches simultaneously, or will I need to assist? I warn you I'm not the best shot around."

 

[Soviet Heavy]

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"Well, that makes two of us." admitted Tom. "I'll take the far hatch if you can cover the one on this side."

"Won't that make you a target for the fish?" asked Ruth.

"It will, yes. But it's better I put my life on the line right now than you. It wouldn't look good on the reports if everyone under my care was eaten by the local wildlife."

"Oh."

"Let's get it over with before more of them swim in." said Tom.

"Right, let's go."

Tom climbed the stairwell in the back of the room, leading up to the gantry overlooking the warehouse floor. He wasn't sure where the Skillex stopped and the water began. There were thousands of them, all jumping and skipping, trying to wriggle their way to the top of the pile. One managed to leap from the water, and latched onto Tom's shoulder while he raced across the gantry. Hundreds of tiny teeth nibbled at his skin, and he grimaced with pain. He tore the creature off his shoulder and threw it back into the growing mass.

There was the hatch. It looked heavy, but a decent particle shot should blast it off, he thought. He looked over to Ruth, who was positioned at the other hatch across the building. She gave him a thumbs up to indicate she was ready. Tom aimed his particle gun and fired.

 

[Tiger Sora]

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Thor stumbled through the door like everyone else. He tripped, landing hard on the floor. Heart pounding from the near death experience. "Ohh gods I thank you for opening that door" He whispered to himself. He recovered quickly, his machine parts didn't need blood, so his heart had less stress on it.

"Mae..... make". His body may have recovered but his brain and circuitry were still discombobulated. "Diplomacy.... with the nice people who let us in". Thor let out a large sigh, blocked by his helmet no one else could hear, but his body motion was a dead give away.

 

[JoJo]

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As Tom fired his gun, Ruth did the same and almost fell backwards into the pile of Skillex, the recoil was much more than she expected. Luckily though the shot hit it's mark for the hatch she was aiming for burst open, scalding water rushing in a gigantic wave over the writhing crustacean-like aliens. A faint steamy haze filled the air momentarily, leaving the agricultural expert squinting to see what was happening to the Diplomatic Corp on the other side of the room.

"Everything okay over there?" she called to Tom.

~​

Meanwhile back on the ship, Captain Vance's PDA beeped unexpectedly. Kalade briefly looked up from a computer she was programming but didn't pay much attention to what was going on.

"Huh, finally a reply from Nate, what's taken him so long?" the Captain murmured to himself and read the message. "Shit!" he exclaimed once he finished and leapt out of his chair towards the lift down to the medical bay. This time Kalade noticed the Captain's alarm and ran after him, partly because she wanted to help but mainly because she didn't like being left in the dark about ship matters and there were always some information that Lisa would refuse to divulge to her. This time she'd find out the juicy details first-hand.

 

[Bravo 21]

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Muo looked at the new group of Durras facing them. They were unarmed, and seemed to be more or less harmless. "I suppose we could eat with you, but are there more of you, or is this all of you?" He asked, gesturing at the assembled group of Durras.
"There are just us here, but we have been trapped in here for days, and there might be more survivors elsewhere."

 

[Soviet Heavy]

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"I'm good!" Tom called back. The steam and heat was immense, and the smell of cooking fish began to stink up the warehouse. "Though I think we should get out of here. I'm not keen on being cooked like a lobster."

"What's a lobster?" asked Ruth. "Never mind, your friend and Najeed should be here soon. Let's start moving the infected."

The sick colonists were in one of the side rooms on the second floor. They were gaunt and pallid from not eating, and none of them reacted as Tom and Ruth entered the room. One woman made a faint moaning sound when Tom lifted her up, but otherwise, they were silent and non responsive.

"How did they get this way?" asked Tom. "They're vegetative."

"Put one of those damn tumor monsters in front of them and they'll perk right up." muttered Ruth. "What's taking Najeed so long?"

 

[Tiger Sora]

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"We received a distress signal coming from the colony as we were passing. I figure it's you maybe". Thor poked the..... food, uninterested he left it be. "We're here to assist with what we can, but it will be sometime before we're able to go out. So in the meantime". Thor made a hand gesture for them to talk.

 

[JoJo]

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At that moment, Ruth and Tom heard a clattering noise outside of the small room. A few seconds later Najeed appeared, panting and out-of-breath.

"Phew... the crelm guy's waiting outside with a skip we found, some way to the left" he exclaimed, before going over to a pair of the patients, a middle-aged woman and child. The woman was bordering on overweight, her skin a patchy mess of various browns and a large white gown covered her sleeping mass. Out of the corner of her mouth a line of dribble was hanging nonchalantly. Next to her lay a small girl, perhaps only four or five years old and naked from the waist up. Her stomach seemed oddly swollen and like her mother she was unconscious. Najeed put on a breathing mask he had procured from somewhere and then bent down to hold the girl's hand, muttering something under his breath while searching the rucksack he'd brought with him.

"Let's get these people out of here now," Ruth said to Tom, then switching to a lower voice so the teenager couldn't hear "There's something important I need to speak to you and Lime privately about... about the illness. But that can wait until we've got these people on the boat. There might be... problems with keeping them with us long-term."

 

[Tiger Sora]

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"Thanks but I'm fine". Thor wasn't gona eat, or even take his helmet off with Gryale around. "Now you need to know I don't care about positions and ranks. I care about information. If you have someone who can tell me whats going on I'd love to talk to them. If not, you'll make due".

 

[Soviet Heavy]

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"It can wait then." said Tom. "Let's move."

They moved the last few infected onto the skip, and Najeed powered up the engines. The boat roared to life, shooting out of the flooded warehouse. The tide was coming in much faster now, and most of the buildings were completely submerged. "We need to get to the access port before it fills up." called Najeed over the wind. He pushed the accelerator as far forward as it would go, the skip rocketing ahead.

Tom turned to look back, and promptly started to panic. "Umm, can this thing go any faster?" he babbled quickly.

"Why?" shouted Najeed, struggling to hear Tom's voice. Tom grabbed him by his shoulders and turned him around.

"Because that."

A massive wave was swelling up behind them, swiftly lifting the water level as it surged forward. "Ah." said Najeed.

The buildings had been built to withstand the daily flooding, but the boat wasn't. It would be smashed against the walls of the dome and shattered if they didn't move faster. Tom looked at the back of the skip where Ruth and Lime were watching over the infected colonists. Lime was using his extendible arms to act as straps, holding down the colonists so as to not throw them overboard by Najeed's sharp turns.

"There!" Najeed suddenly shouted, pointing upwards. An access port near the top of the lower dome looked like an opening to safety. "Just a little faster!"

"Go go go!" screamed Tom, more for his own reassurance than for Najeed. The boy expertly caught the rising waves to get them closer to the port. Lime strained to keep his charges from tumbling over the sides as Najeed took the skip at nearly a 90 degree angle. The port came closer and closer, but the waves were faster. They finally overtook the skip, plunging it under the water.

Najeed struggled to get out from under the apex of the tidal wave. They were coming in too high; the skip would be smashed above the entrance. Concentrating, Najeed pushed the nose of the boat downwards, aiming for the hole. They hit it.

The top of the skip was stripped away from the hull, rocking the rest of the boat violently. The waves pushed the tiny vessel through the port, overturning it and sending it crashing into the docks in the upper level. The skip spun through the air, before finally skidding to a halt in a huge pile of wreckage.

Tom peered up from the waterfront where he'd been thrown by the crash. The skip's fuel tank had caught fire, but the water extinguished each new burst as it happened. He hauled himself up out of the water and rushed for the access port. Frantically searching for a button to close the leak, he resorted to mashing every switch on the console. A relief inducing beep sounded as the access port closed, sealing off the lower level. He took a deep breath, and turned to look at the wreck.

"Everybody alright?" he said. "Is anyone hurt? Najeed? Ruth? Lime? Is anyone there?"