Star Brigade: A 53rd Century Adventure RP

[Evrant-Knight]

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Gabriel continued taking shots at the attacking Durras. Whilst a few went down in a single shot, the majority of them scattered, their attack formations breaking up into smaller groups. It was then that Lime contacted him again over the radio.

"You appear to have them scattered, I'm extending an offer of covering fire should be able to move you into our position. Unless you'd rather stay in position."

"Whilst the offer seems tempting Commander, I think I'd much better... Look out!" Gabriel shouted in response, as two of the cultists, had managed to sneak past the defensive line, and were about to shoot Lime. With his fast reactions, he planted a couple of bullets into their skulls, sending them crashing to the floor. He chuckled slightly, and finished his message.

"I think I'll stay right here. Over."

 

[TheBlueShotgun0]

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"I don't think so." James said, coming to a stop before his companions. "They're still in the main colony. I don't think we'll be able to get there in time." James hated that he felt so useless. His shipmate were getting attacked, maybe dying, and he was powerless to help.

 

[JoJo]

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Ruth thanked Tom for his assistance whilst they both sheltered from the ongoing battle, though she personally didn't think the prognosis looked good for Brian. The onslaught seemed to be dying down somewhat so she risked putting her head up to look through the window. She couldn't see Lime or the other corps from her position but she could see some of the other civilians including Najeed and his family, who were all hiding between a stack of crates. Their position seemed a little precarious but there wasn't much other cover for them to use.

Suddenly to her horror she felt something standing on one of her boots, she rolled around to see one of the Durras cultists standing over her. His or her blue fur was pierced in multiple places by shining metallic rings of various sizes and they appeared to be a whole arm short, only having five and a stump. The Durras pointed it's gun at her face and spoke in a coarse voice.

Where's Tom got to? she thought in a panic.

"Tell me the position of your hidden men now, or I will finish you off without hesitation!"

~​

Mae had been quiet for a while but he took the chance during the brief silence to address James, Muo and Thor.

"They're literally about five minutes away if we take the most direct route, though these underground tunnels here." He pointed to a complicated map he had been studying for a few minutes. "The tunnel exit is in some offices right next to where our fellow corps supposedly are. Eh Durras guy, we can still use those tunnels right?"

"Uh huh," the Durras leader nodded, "I warn you though we've had infestation problems down there in the past, shouldn't be as bad as what you escaped from recently but still a challenge. Some of my soldiers will accompany you if you choose to take that route since they know the quickest way."

"Excellent," Mae said, he felt he was getting back into the diplomacy groove. "What say you guys to the idea?" He asked James and Muo.

~​

"KALADE!!!"

The Captain stormed over where the Lallowen was standing in front of the computer screen, he had been about to take over control from Demexin when she had jumped in. His face was clenched with rage and his normally ebony skin was tinged with angry red.

"This is a SENSITIVE diplomatic exchange, not a girl's chat-room!" he almost shouted, only moderating his voice and curses because of the Norg still watching. "Return to your cabin at once, we'll discuss your discipline later."

Captain Vance then turned to Tallek's, breathing deeply in-and-out to calm himself.

"I apologise fully, she wasn't meant to be on the air. So, I'm curious about this strike you speak of. Will it destroy or otherwise harm a good deal of the planet's ecosystem? Will the remaining sentients have a chance to escape the planet before the strike? What is the threat posed by this infection exactly?"

The Captain sat back in his leather chair and waited for a response, this wasn't going to be easy if their demands were unreasonable, especially as the Star Brigade's entire overarching mission was to mediate between these creatures and the Durras. An attack on a Durras colony, even one virtually abandoned, could potentially be interpreted as an act of war however good intentions there might be behind it.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

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Gabriel was just about to carry on taking shots at the Durras Cultists, when he noticed something going on in Ruth's office. He quickly activated his tap into the security cam feed, and saw that a five armed cultist, had pointed a gun to its face. The audio soon came over the feed.

"Tell me the position of your hidden men now, or I will finish you off without hesitation! It shouted, ready to pull the trigger.

"Not on my watch." Gabriel quietly said to himself, as he lined up to fire. A single click, and a round pierced straight through the center of its skull. From the looks of it, Ruth jumped back a bit, shocked by the sudden strike. He then activated his radio.

"Sorry about startling you there Ruth." He remarked, with a slightly dark chuckle, before turning the radio off. It was then that he heard a rattling sound. Gabriel looked down at the ladder, and saw that Durras, began to climb the tower.

"Note to self: modify a sniper rifle, to include a silencer." He then whipped out his combat knife, its long, razor sharp blade, was calling for some action. Gabriel started striking at the attackers, hoping to scare them off. He also made an announcement over the radio.

"Hello everyone, umm, should anyone have a free moment at all, could you kindly help me remove these Durras, that seem to be harassing my current position. Over."

 

[TheBlueShotgun0]

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"Sounds like a plan to me." James said, happy to be of use again. "Which way are these tunnels? This place seems to go on forever."

 

[Bravo 21]

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"I'm in. Let's move." Muo grabbed one of the soldiers and had him lead him towards the entrance of the tunnels, as a small contingent of Durras soldiers assembled. Glancing back to the rest of the team, Muo shouted "You ready to go?", and without waiting for a reply he turned and led the first of the Durras into the tunnel.

 

[TheBlueShotgun0]

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James entered the tunnel behind a Durras soldier and drew his pistol; if there was another swarm down here James didn't want to be caught off guard. The human had to walk hunched over to prevent banging his head on the ceiling. Judging from the small size, lack of any light fixtures, and easy to remove panels lining the walls, the tunnel must have been some sort of maintenance access. James switched on the lights of his suit to see better.

 

[JoJo]

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"Eh... thanks Gabriel ," Ruth said after a pause into the radio, not knowing if his was still switched on. She had to admit he was a striking man, attractive even, but not really her type she told herself quickly. Bringing herself back to her senses, she looked around the room for Tom, having no idea where he had got to.

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Mae followed up the rear behind James, Muo and the Durras soldiers, watching the tunnel walls for any sign of more hostile wildlife. He briefly tried to pick up signals on his radio but couldn't get anything. Suddenly he saw something moving in the shadows behind them.

"Oh shit, there's something behind us and I can't see what!" he shouted up to his fellow corps ahead.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Tom rolled over on his side. He was wet, and his back ached all over. Wherever he was, it wasn't the control room. The last thing he remembered was a bang, the sound of something shattering from a sonic caster blast, and a loud thump. He'd hit the ground pretty hard, it seemed. The insulation layer had split, and water seeped into his pores, sliding around underneath the gel layer uncomfortably.

He hauled himself upright, tenderly in case he had broken something during the fall. Nothing broken, it seemed, but he was covered in bruises, and a throbbing headache and blurred vision suggested he had a concussion. He wished he had a gillie suit rather than his usual replicated attire. It would seem rather strange for a man wearing centuries old fashion wandering around a submerged colony filled with bloodthirsty blue space monkeys. Upon consideration, it wasn't much different than most assignments. Maybe just slightly more painful.

From the looks of things, he was at the base of the tower. The trigger happy Durras must have blown out one of the windows, and he'd fallen out. He could still hear gunfire, but it was getting more distant. Figuring that moving towards the noise was a bad idea, he instead decided to check his comm system.

"Operative Anderson calling in. Anyone read me? I'm cut off from the main group, and I haven't a clue where to go. Can someone maybe, I dunno, point me in the right direction?"

"Apologies, Mr. Anderson," came an ingratiatingly sweet voice. Lisa sounded slightly strained. "Ship board functions are currently operating at 80% Capacity, scanning an unidentified vessel for defenses and threat measures. Map layouts are unavailable while I perform combat diagnostics."

"Hmph, great. First time you could actually help me, and you're stuck playing whack a mole with another computer. Can you at least point me in the direction of the others?"

"The party is currently seven hundred meters east of your position, forty meters below. It appears to be a maintenance tunnel. I suggest heading in that direction."

"Of course you do." he muttered. Tom was beginning to understand why Demexin didn't like the AI very much. He headed for the nearest entrance to the command station, and started towards the maintenance hatches.

 

[TheBlueShotgun0]

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The party turned towards Mae's cry and James managed to nudge his way to the alien. "Where is it?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly. The dark alone didn't scare him, but whatever was lurking in it did.

"In there." Mae said in a trembling voice. He was pointing to an air duct about 4 feet off the ground. Since James was the only one close by with good eyes, he bent over to look, afraid of what he might see.

James caught only a glimpse of the creature before it jumped out of the vent and latched onto his face. James still wore the helmet of his suit so it couldn't get him, but James freaked out just the same. "AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! GET IT OFF ME!!!" he screamed as fell against the opposite wall and began tugging on the animal. It wouldn't let go, no matter how hard James pulled. Unable to remove it with his hands, James drew his pistol and shot where he thought the creature's body was.

The view of the creature's tentacles and mouth were replaced by several dots obscuring James' vision. When it cleared, James looked at where the animal had landed. The flashlight revealed a squid-like being, about 2 feet long, and pasty white in color, as if it had never seen sunlight. A smoldering crater marked where James had shot it. "What is that thing?" he asked one of the Durras next to him.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

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Gabriel managed to fight off the Durras who were scaling the guard post. A few had managed to get up to him, but he quickly finished them with either a slash from his combat blade, or a shot from his pistol. Soon, though, part of the large horde that assaulted the base, began to back off. Those that harassed the tower, began to leave as well. He was about to jump from the tower, when he noticed a small group of Durras still lingering near the tower. It seems as though, they brought along some sort of insect like creature with them as well.

Gabriel quickly hid himself behind one of the towers walls, and scoped out the situation.

Oh look, they brought their little watch dogs with them. And, are they on a leash as well? They... are, well, first time for everything.
Can't simply walk past them, the Durras's echo location will mean that, I get turned into broken synthetics, rather quickly.

Gabriel then began looking around the tower, to see if, something could be used to distract the Durras. He then noticed the security alarm.

Of course. If I can rig the alarm to trigger by remote, that would draw their attention away. Time to hack it seems. Gabriel then activated the hacking tool on his wrist computer. A screen came up, with all nearby hacking locations. The alarm was one of them.

Lets see. If I disrupt the firewalls there, then rework the activation sequence here, bypass the security protocols, to allow remote activation... And I'm done. Gabriel then smiled, rather pleased with his work. Making sure he was out of the line of sight from those bugs, he leapt down onto the floor nearby, and soon got into cover. He double checked his distance from the tower, and then triggered the security alarm. A loud high pitched noise soon came forth from above. And like moths to a light, the Durras rushed over to the tower to investigate.

With them out of the picture for now, time to deal with those bugs. Single shot to the head should work. And with that alarm, the gunshot sound, should be hidden. Here goes nothing. Gabriel then whipped out one of his pistols, and pulled the trigger three times, each bullet downing a insect without much noise from them. It seems that the Durras didn't hear the noise from the gun. He quickly moved to a piece of cover, that was oppositely facing the tower, as the Durras began to descend.

Gabriel switched form his pistol, to the SMG on his back, with the reasoning that, its stopping power, would be greater than the handgun. The Durras soon discovered the bodies of their watch dogs, and then snarled, desperately trying to find out what happened.

Now or never it seems. He remarked, pulling the trigger in controlled bursts, downing the Durras without much hesitation. Gabriel then got up, and placed the guns, back in their respective holsters. He then went to join the others.

 

[Bravo 21]

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It took Muo a few moments to get turned around and past the Durras soldiers behind him, and once he reached Mae and James, the creature was dead. One of he Durras stood over it and prodded it to ensure that the thing was dead. The soldier then commented, "Not quite sure what it is, some kind of indigenous species, but with all the chaos going on with the new colony, and then the outbreak, I don't know if they've ever been properly studied. Nasty creature though, with razor sharp teeth." At that Muo scoffed at the threat assessment offered by the Durras, looking down at the motionless animal before him.
Turning to James he offered a small smile and nodded towards the dead squid thing "Not bad. You good to keep moving?"

 

[JoJo]

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Ruth and Til trudged into the shadowy facility, carrying between them Brian's limp body. Behind them trailed the thirty or so civilians, many of whom were wearing masks to protect them due to their close contact with infected relatives. Najeed was there too, holding his unconscious little sister gently and behind his mother helped his angry father hobble along, who still bitter at the loss of his right arm. Ruth made her way to Lime and the main group of corps.

"I'm afraid Brian didn't make it," she told Lime, "Tom tried to fix him up but his wounds were more severe than we thought and he passed away whilst we were occupied with the cultists. Where is Tom anyway?"

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Mae interjected before James could reply to Muo's query.

"Lets get out of here quickly," he stammered, "we can't afford to meet something like that again!"

He took the lead on the group's exit of the tunnel, apparently very eager to be the first one out. A couple of uneventful minutes later, the trio and the Durras soldiers found themselves exiting into a wooded clearing with a large unwindowed building standing nearby.

"According to my PDA, the other corps should be near here somewhere," Mae told James and Muo. "We better hurry, according to this we've only got a couple of hours left before the sea reaches this place and submerges us unless we're under proper cover."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

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Gabriel made his way through the shadowy facility, following the small crowd of about 30 or so people, a majority of them, wearing masks, to better protect themselves from the infection, due to mostly being near infected relatives. He soon found Ruth, and the Crelm from earlier.

"-Where is Tom anyway?" Ruth asked.

"I didn't see Tommy boy as I made my way through the facility." Gabriel answered, appearing from amongst the shadows, and making his way to he pair. He hesitated in raising a hand to the Crelm, its slimy exterior somewhat bugging him a little.

"You must be Commander Lime then. The name is Wolfe, we uh, talked over the radio." He then turned to Ruth.

"As I was saying. Didn't see Tom on my way through the facility. May have gotten lost outside during the battle. Too risky though to go and look for him, could be Cultists outside. Encountered a small group of them a few moments ago. Which explains if you heard a loud ringing sound just now." Gabriel then noticed the dead body of Brian, the security who was escorting Ruth earlier. He noticed the bold blue eyes staring back at him. He closed them, moving his hand over the eyelids. He then muttered something under his breath.

"Requiescat in pace." He then placed Brian's arms in a cross pattern over his chest. Gabriel turned his head, a slight look on confusion on Ruth's face, and an odd look on Lime's.

"What? Even the dead deserve rest."

 

[TheBlueShotgun0]

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"Well then, lets get moving." James said happily. He was still a little shaken up by the attack, but he wasn't about to let the others see it. Besides, he wanted to meet up with the other corps as soon as possible. "Which way should we go?" he said, looking around. He didn't see an entrance to the building. Perhaps it was on the other side.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

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Demexin
Demexin watched the screen with his arms folded and a look of disgust on his face. The damned Norg stole his tech, and now they were doing exactly what he feared they'd start doing. Tallek's continued.

"We will send drones to the surface to retrieve Diplomatic Corps members, then proceed to cleanse the colony. Tallek understands that an altercation with the Union is non beneficial to both organizations. We will aid your escape."

Demexin cut in before Vance could speak. "And what about the Durras? Last I checked you weren't quite on friendly terms."

"The Durras are a threat to Tallek's. They worship the plague spreaders, and their religion renders them blind to the Norg's reasoning. Tallek's refuses to allow them on this ship. If you wish to take them, that is your prerogative, not Tallek's. We will extract Diplomatic Corps members, and nobody else. The threat to society is too great." Another ship could arrive, and the infestation would spread."

Demexin wandered off, shaking his head. Vance could deal with this, while he begrudgingly checked in on Lisa. Once he was out of earshot from Vance, he pulled her up on a side console. "Got anything yet?"

"Scans show the ship has been heavily upgraded in armor and firepower for a vessel of its class. I have managed to breach their security systems, but redundant backup generators are impeding my progress."

"Well, how much time will it take you to get past them? The bugs look like they're gearing up regardless of whatever Vance can come up with."

"One moment, compiling projections. Approximately three hours to breach their systems and disable ship borne weaponry."

"Keep on it then, once Vance is done talking, we'll get on the line with the Corps members on the ground."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

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"Thank you for the compliment, Commander. When you've had training in weapons like these, you tend to become extremely accurate with them. Must say though, that little pressure ram of yours, certainly has it benefits." Gabriel replied with, including a smile. He then sat down at a nearby table, laying each of his guns out on the process, finishing off with his knife, which had some Durras blood on it. He then started examining his sniper rifle, activating the mechanism, which allowed it to change between its collapsed, and firing mode. With a sudden click, the rifle sprang out, spooking a nearby colonist.

"You know Commander, if there are questions about me you want to ask, I'll be happy to answer some of them."