NationStates Jolt Archive

The evening sky above the squat, metallic complex marked as the scientists quarters on the map the creature had had a brief look at before being released was, as always, gleaming with a multitude of tiny stars. Scaling the fence surrounding the small outpost had been simple enough, now however, the difficult part of the assignment was beginning to rear it’s ugly head...

Locating and neutralising the designated target, one Lt. Sanders of the Padmasan expeditionary forces. The name meant little to it as it silently made it’s way across the distance from the fence to the wall of the nearest building. The critters oily, dull grey skin blended neatly with colour of the buildings exterior as it continued on it’s way down the side of it, neatly rounding the corner and rising to it’s full height in the shadows there.

How it had got up on the roof was anyone’s guess, but more baffling yet was the fatal inch-wide puncture wound the aforementioned Lt. Sanders had received to the left side of the head when he was discovered in his bed the next morning. The occupants of the bunks to the left and right of Lt. Sanders had been dealt with in much the same manners, one with a similar puncture wound, the other with a snapped neck.

The small, inconspicuous spacecraft which departed into the planets atmosphere soon after appeared as the tiniest of blips on the outposts radar screens for a moment or two before vanishing completely . . . Out of sight, out of mind.

(OOC: There Pad, I've posted the first post. Now the ball is in your corner. Enjoy)

Tag! I'll write up my post later to-day.

Inqusitor Magnus sat in his cabin reviewing the data again. Four junior officers and two senior officers had been slain over the past three weeks. All were killed with a single thrust from some massive needle like weapon that had literally pulped their skull in the area of impact. Moreover at least 10 grunts had been killed while they either patroled with or bunked with the officers. Morale had been brought to a crippling low. Moreover no one had willingly been promoted for fear of murder, this almost proved that it was not a powerplay, which was to some extent legal. No contracts had been filed with the inqusition, so the murders were not legal, and that confirmed the hypothesis that it was not a powerplay.

Magnus rose and shuffled over to his footlocker and began getting dressed in the full inqusitional "uniform."He put on a "Dragon Suit," a pair of CF weave fatigue pants, black knee-high boots, a black silk shirt, and his numerous holsters. Finally he put on a heavy leather trenchcoat and a wide-brimmed hat. With a vicious grin he sheathed his chainsword, pulled on gloves, and pinned his inqusitional brooch to his right collar where it would be obscured or even hidden by the black leather. With one last look in the mirror to be sure the targeting sensor over his eye looked suitably polished and the scars that he a gained when joining the inqusition were still visible on his now tanned face he stepped into the hall.

Magnus walked down the hall, his steps clicking so that no one could mistake him for someone else or miss him. Some of the crew darted away while others tried to meet his gaze. Everyone reeked of fear. Magnus loved the feeling of complete power this gave him and set off for the cargo bay. When he arrived he found his men already there. For this mission he had been granted the use of three Inqusitional shock-troops most of whom were originally from the military. In the back there was a cyborg soldier form the Crimson legion. As he entered the cast hold he was greeted by a happy abrk and rushed by two massive wolves. Each of the creatures easily eighted 70 kilos and they were trained to kill a man. He leaned down and let them happily lick his face, wearing a rediculous grin the entire time. Gently he soved them away and passed each a large biscuit which they took to "their" corner of the hold and devoured.

"How long until we arrive, Magnus?" the cyborg, Rikter, asked.
"Not long old friend."
"That's not an anwser."
"Twenty."

The soldiers continued prepping and when everything was finally in order knelt to play cards. Magnus simply stood by the ramp and waited. Some inqusitors skulked about until they choose to make an entrance and raise hell, Maguns didn't wait to raise hell and entrances insured everyone knew who you were and no one tried get away. When the ship finally landed, it was a credit to the pilot that no one even knew they were decending until the inevitable jolts of putting landing gear onto earth, the doors slid open slowly letting in gales of wind. The planet was a desert world currently being scanned for minerals, and was nearly constantly stormy. Magnus stood ram-rod stiff and let his trenchcoat "flutter" framatically in the wind. His wolves joined him, one standing at each side, and growled at the dock hands. For their part none of them ran, which was surpising but all froze. They stared, none even daring to blink, as the inqusitor walked down the ramp with his men following him to the fort.

"Corporal, get in touch with the local CO, tell him to lock this hole down, double patrols, and tell him that the base is now under inqusitional control."
"Yes, inqusitor." The Corporal who commanded the three shock-troops ran ahead. He wore the standard uniform and no one would know of Magnus' presence until he walked into the mess hall.
"You two, police the bodies, get me a set of quarters with one entrance and no windows or vents, and by the masters be fast."
With a chorus of "Yes inqusitor" the two jogged off after their commander. Magnus turned to Rikter, "I want you to start looking over the records. I want ever scrap of data abotu the past 6 weeks examined." The Cyborg walked off to find the main computer bank and left Magnus alone int eh storm before the compund.

Maguns grinned and walked in, this should be an easy assignment.

A ferocious sand storm of a certain magnitude caressed the surface of the planet as the modest, one-man craft touched down on it’s rocky surface in order to pay the outposts inhabitants another nocturnal visit. The signature of the ships engines masked by the twirling gales of sand, the crafts only passenger once more made it’s way towards the outskirts of the compound...

The on-going storm hampered vision quite efficiently, would any sort of cloaking be necessary? Only time would tell. It’s thin, yellowish eyes squinting at the headlights by the front gate, the contours of a hitherto unfamiliar space-craft could just be made out . . .

Interesting, more targets to deal with? The creature, standing just over 5,6 feet tall was quite well aware of it’s own capabilities – perhaps putting the new arrivals to the test would suffice for tonight? Shortly afterwards, the tall fence that served as the outposts outer perimeter was scaled and -sounds masked by the howling winds - the grey-skinn touched down lightly on the other side . . .

Clenching and unclenching it’s clawed hands, the critter began it’s grisly work . . .

Soft. It was the word which best described the skin of these pale, hairless humanoids whose lair it had come to prey on. The soft, sandy ground effectively muffled any sounds the creature might make as it swiftly sidled up against one of a nearby building walls, grey and austere as always. It’s sensitive ears had for a moment picked up the faint sound of . . . something . . . possibly moving towards it.

It crouched low in the darkness of the night, the stormy gales of wind and sand obscuring it from anyone but the most trained of observers. And so it waited . . .

Rise slowly and gently. No need to rush things. Come up quietly from behind, press hand against the temple and . . . end the struggle . . .

The guardsman’s frenzied fight came to an abrupt end as the bony spike the creature had shot out from the heel of it’s hand impaled the man’s temple with a gory, organic sound.

But then, suddenly . . .

... it heard something coming toward it, a clicking of metal on metal. It turned toward the doorway behind it as Magnus entered. His trenchoat flared behind him as he carefully drew a gun from its harness on his back. "Well, I'll be damned," he muttered as he looked at the creature. As the gun was raised to his shoulder it realized what would happen and made a lunge for him, the bonespike already extended to impale his heart. The first shot sent it flying back against the wall, a hole the size of grapefruit materializing where the center of it's chest had once been, the round couldn't even be seen but it's effects were undenyable. The sonic boom left from the shot was little more than an afterthought. The next 20 shots came as quickly as the first had been slow, the creature didn't shudder with each impace it stood still as it's torso desintigrated. A spray of blue-purple blood coated most of the room as Magnus release the firing stud and re-harnessed the weapon.

"Major, get a team of engineers up here to repair the wall, it's missing a big chunk."
"Yes, inquistor. I take it that you killed whoever was slaying my officers."
"Yes, I did slay it, whatever it is."

With a set of thuds Rikter arrived on the scene. He scanned the hall, looking from Magnus to the creature's remains which had fallen into a heap of legs, shoulders, head, and arms. There was a marine on the ground a few feet away, a massive hole in the back of his head and grey matter, blood, and skull fragment mix slowly spreading out form his head to coat the hallway.

"Magnus, this thing is not a local life-form. It came by ship. I spotted a pattern of a small anomoly on the scanners every night there was an attack."
"Very good, Rikter," Magnus murmured with a grin. "Stay here and insure everythign is put into cold storage. I'll call for an inqusitional ship to come and pick everything up to be examined later."
"Of course, Magnus."

Magnus walked fromt he room, he met the engineers as they walked in. Before he could take five steps he heard them being vilotently ill behind him. A malicious grin spread wide on his face. The stronghold had come alive and men rushed here and there. "Corporal," he growled into his private comm, "gather three kill teams, ten men in each. One of your men leads each of the second two. You and I lead the first. Meet me at the gates in five." Three minutes later Magnus lead the men out into the storm the implant on his eye allowing him to see everything clear as if it were a sunny day and not a night storm. The others walked as though used to the blindness of the storm. They had fanned out looking for the thing's ship. it took them four hours to find the crater. Magnus looked at it with digust and walked back to the base.

The ship had obviously been wired to blow the moment the creature should die. It was annoying when these things were intellegent enough to not leave evidence. Really a damn shame.

(Put a mature audiences only warning in the title, please. I want to try and be a bit more descriptive than I was in this post and that is certain to offend some.)

The dark and previously dormant computer screen suddenly flashed into life, filling the small alcove in which it stood with a pale, blue light as a sudden flood of figures, computer-relayed information and recognisance data sped across it at an alarming rate, far to fast for human eyes to make any sense of it.

But the eyes of the figure who’s attention had been briefly focused upon the virtual waterfall of information cascading down the computer-screen, or at least the implants that passed for it’s eyes these days, most certainly wasn’t human. The figure’s mouth twitched into something resembling a grin as the implants in it’s eye sockets whirred and clicked, to better undertake the arduous task of making any sense of the many layers of sifting information appearing before it . . .

So, test subject 14 A had met it’s untimely end while out on assignment? What a pity. It had been such a promising specimen too. It’s body count had been one of the highest by far! Oh well, all things had to end eventually, even lucky breaks. But where had this tragic accident occurred? The records marked a nearby military mining outpost as the specimens last scene of action before contact had been lost. The figure appeared to consider this, and then reached a decision . . .

. . . And erased the files.

It was not going to let a little mishap endanger the entire operation out here! Someone had to draw a line somewhere, and if it would not be the one to do it it’d be damned if it could think of anyone else.

No. Some things were better left unknown.

OOC: Thanks. This post is more to show off the arrival of re-inforcements and to show the conflicts between the three main powers in Padmasa. (The Draconian Cult, the Iron Priests, and the Inqusition.) There's a bit more to be written but at this point it can wait.

IC:
Typhus sat at his command chair. Infront of him a set of screens flickered from subject to subject watching as his men did their duties about the base. To his left the base's AI had taken over the holoprojecter and was using it to make a manifestation of itself for Typhus to at least speak toward, he didn't and it annoyed the AI to no end. It took the form a true knight, clad in black armour trimmed with deep crimson and it usually wore the visor down. With a slight sigh the doors behind Typhus slid open silently to allow his second, Chivalry, entry. The very manner of footsteps told Typhus enough.

"How bad is it?"
"The Masters themselves are ordering it, and it seems that the inqusition is behind it."
"What are the orders?"
"To assemble a kill team, which you will lead personally, to find and destroy a group of aliens that have been preying on Military Outpost Gama Beta 458792."
"They set no limit the men I could bring?"
"No sir."
"Ah, have them prep the Rimmon, Fenriz, and Shiva. We're off for a hunt."
Both shared a deep and somewhat disturbing laugh.


_________________________________________________________________________________________

Military Outpost Gama Beta 458792, called Farwatch.

Magnus stared at the screen. No number of favours could explain what was happening. He expect the Grey Lord would call in all of those favours, as soon as Magnus as once again a roving inqusitor. But for now everything was perfect. Somehow they had convinced the thrice-damned Draconian Cult to send a kill team on top of three fireteams from the Crimson Legion. It would take them a only days to arrive and then Magnus could begin his hunt for the beasts. The outpost had a pitiful supply of weapons and equipment, most was either damaged or out-dated. Hell, most of the soldiers didn't know about the Demogorgon MK II let alone the MK V that Magnus carried.

Thank the Masters, this will end soon.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Two days later most of the Base turned out to watch as three small vessels, none more than 60 meters long, landed. Each was completely black, no insignia and certainly no identification markers. From each a single ramp descended and allowed 4 massive demons to stomp out. The Draconians had changed their armour to incorporate clawed hands and their helms had gone from being faceless masks to bearing the faces of demons. All wore a red cape and carried extra weapons despite the obvious weapons built into thier armour. From the second ship to land their descended a fifth Draconian, he wore a black cape and his armour was covered in symbols and runes. None could be described as holy or pure by a long shot, Magnus identified a few that he though onyl the inqusition knew of and some he had never seen before. It carried a sword at its side and a massive gun that looked like a small cannon. It was unnerving to meet the balefire that was in the Draconian's eye-slits but Magnus was forced to as it strode up to him and towered over him in a way almost no man could do.

"You are inqusitor Magnus. I am not a mere sergeant of my order as you no doubt expected, I am Captain Typhus and we will be treated as equals despite the fact that in this matter I am vastly more qualified than you." Magnus was speechless, he could say nothing to this as the thing leaned foward to closer inspect him. "The men of this outpost will be trained as if they were laymen in the Draconian Cult and given proper weapons and armour. We cannot face any force with rejects like these." Magnus felt as though the Draconian blamed him for these things and would have exercised his authority in the matter however the man continued. "I have sent those Crimson Legion maggots back to lick at the Iron Priests feet."
With that he turned around and walked off into the desert, the other Draconians drifting into a set of columns behind him save two that began a snap inspection of the marines.

Belatedly Magnus roared after the Captain, and railed at the two Draconians. Neither paid him any attention and Magnus considered shooting one, it's armour would not withstand a round from the Demogorgon Magnus carried, but reconsidered when he noticed that they were flanking him. For all that he could slay one, he would be long dead before he could even try to turn on the other.

A long, sleek, streamlined, metal barrelled weapon fitted with some manner of scope which vastly out-sized the rest of the rifle construction was casually slung from the creatures back and down onto the ground as it kneeled down behind a convenient rock formation some odd 700 yards from the outposts gate.

A light wind playfully whirled up a few dust clouds here and there, but the conditions were nothing like the last strike. This was a bright and sunny afternoon in comparison. With a nearly inaudible humming sound, the oversized rifle-scope was focused and subsequently used to scan the area for possible targets.

With it’s dull, grey face pressed up against it, the scope covered nearly a fourth of the creatures face. The weapon construction itself had been coloured a dull, sandy brown to match the local surroundings. If only a suitable target would appear now, all hell was sure to break out in no time at all . . .

In the shade of one of the buildings closest to the main gate, another of the creatures sat, immobile, carefully taking in it’s surroundings in every detail. As it eventually rose from it’s crouched position, it had to marvel for a few seconds, at the feeling of total invisibility it was enjoying.

All things that reflected light, even the tiniest little ray, were visible to human eyes. But what if this little quirk of light reflection could be neutralised, disposed of altogether for a few precious minutes of wanton destruction? The glands under it’s skin and the saliva-like substance they produced had obviously been made with such an intent in mind . . . How amusing!

It shuffled into position underneath a partially opened window, heaving itself up and inside by the power of it’s long, grey, wiry arms. Unknown to the grey assassin, this particular building served as the barracks for the guards served with watching the main gate. Much to it’s relief though, it found it to be full of quite compatible targets.

The bonespike punctured heads, chests and abdomens – and if the features of the creature could somehow have been made visible for a moment, it would have betrayed a look of intense, twisted glee in the critters yellow eyes. But the bonespike was not the only weapon put to good use puncturing assorting vital organs. A small submachine gun-like sidearm also pulled a considerable punch... at least at close range.

With one taloned finger fixed smartly around the trigger, and another hand clenched around the magazine which vertically protruded from the weapons left facing, the only sound which were to be heard besides the groans and gargles of wounded and dying men, were the small clicks made as the trigger was squeezed back, again and again and again.

Typhus lead his men at a quick jog thier footfalls great thuds that echoed across the landscape. With a subtle gesture, a flick of the hand really, Typhus sent them scattering to cover at a full sprint. He did not move he simply stood there and slowly turned allowing his sensors to scan the area. The first dart that flew from cover shattered against the back of his helmet, the second impacted with hit shoulder plate as he spun to face the source of the fire.

The radio crackled but no message came through. Typhus deactivated it and looked up at the rocks. Suddenly there was a flash of sun on glass and Typhus smiled, a tiny laser dot appeared near the rocks and a single two second long beep sent across the comm. Just as it ended and the creature rose up to take a shot the 11 draconains rose thier arm as one and allowed the dual barrels to charge. The creature saw this and tried to dive away, the plasma bolts flew in a hail of vengance. Each bolt exploded on impact and as each gun fired the ledge desintegrated under the flurry of plasma. Typhus launched himself into the air and the Titan G.I.D. carried him in a a massive leap to what remained of the ledge. There was nothing there no tracks nothing.

The comm suddenly exploded with frantic calls. "Captain come quickly!"
"One of the things..." "We got it." "Reinforce..." Typhus cut the comm and skidded down the rockface. With a glance he gathered his men and the loped for the base.

They were met by a bloody but grinning marine. "We caught one, well your men did, sir. It's trapped in the east barrack." The man ran off, the draconains walked. When they arrived they saw a heavily dented door and two draconians standing to the side.

"Sir, what are we doing?"
"Where's Magnus?" Typhus hissed.
"He's in the med bay, he wounded the thing with his chainsword before reinforcements arrived."
"Oh, good."

Typhus walked up to the door and braced himself. A draconian took a place on either side of the door. With a blow that shook the walls he kicked the door dead center and sent both halves flying into the chamber. The other two charged in and there was no sound. Typhus wlake din and found the chamber a mess but otherwise empty. He cycled through the electromagnetic spectrum and came up empty. One of his men checked the vents, they had been torn open.

"Men, to the ships. No doubt it's running. Our job is to find where it's going."

They ran.

The red sheen of a flashing warning siren reflected neatly off the dull, black visor of the Presarin-type robot currently at watch. It took about a micro-second or so to reflect on this while it’s CPU worked out the appropriate cause and respond for the situation at hand. Moments later loudspeakers around the vital areas of the compound began issuing the standard warning for emergency situation 04C – The appearance of unknown ships with direct course for the base perimeter.

The fact that these as of yet unidentified ships were in hot pursuit of a Talon-class scouting vessel to top it all off didn’t make the situation look any brighter.

“Computer, please put external security systems on standby until further notice by either me, or Captain Barrat. Is that clear?” Doctor Haakens face had a grim look to it, grimmer than usual that was, Barrat noticed as the long, black, billowing, cloak that covered his superiors form almost completely suddenly bristled gently, as if stirred by some unseen force.

“Alert your men and have them battle ready within half an hour Mr. Barrat. It seems that we are expecting guests, as it is” Doctor Haaken narrowed his blue-eyed gaze at Barrat as the colonel sought to find a suitable reply, knowing full well how much the other man loathed him. Balling his hands into fists until his knuckles whitened was all that colonel Barrat could do to stop himself from punching something whenever the doctor spoke to him without including his rank.

“Yes doctor, that’s colonel Barrat. I shall have my men battle-ready within half an hour as you request doctor”. “Good” Haaken replied in his usual voice. If royal purple velvet could make any kind of sound on it’s own, it would sound something like the doctor when he spoke. “I trust you have ordered any non-combat personnel to evacuate to the hangars?” ”Yes doctor, all members of the science team not currently preoccupied with the preparation of the base defences are on their way to the main hangar as we speak” Barrat replied smartly, wishing like hell that the doctor would stop staring at him like that.

“Erm, sir?” Barrat ventured “what about the, um, creatures your subordinates have been monitoring. Are they to simply be left behind, or?” “Why, of course not Mr Barrat, how could you ever conceive such a thought” the doctors smooth, velvet voice replied. “They shall be put to ample use if our unexpected guests somehow manages to outsmart our exterior defences – but run along now, I am sure you have several important things to do, like preparing your men for instance” With those words, the doctor turned and literally floated away from the fuming colonel Barrat, who turned on his heel a few seconds later and walked off to perform his duties.

"Lord, Typhus!" the ship's pilot squawked in alarm.
"Yes, pilot?"
"Incoming transmission, file attached."
"Ah, good. Open it."
A solar chart appeared on the main holo-projector. It was uploaded into their maping computers and showed their location and the location of a large space station. There were many smaller objects both near the station and far from it. A closer examination showed each was a gun platform capable on taking out several fighters.
"Very good. Pilot put us into scanner range of that station and do not move into the firing zone of any of those platforms."
"Yes, lord."

Typhus walked out of the cockpit and went to the preproom where the men of his elite guard stood ready. "Men it seems this hole is well guarded. They have gun platforms that could easily take out our ships we have two options. Reveal ourselves or go in stealthy." As one the men stood hit their chestplates once. "Fine, it's time we let these bastards in on what we have in store for them. Typhus walked to the comm station and sent out a broad transmission that was a single word long. "Dragonship"


________________________________________________________________________________

Colonel Barrat looked down at the defense readout and stared. The ships that had been following the scout were fleeing, yet his defense platforms were winking out of existance. One by one they fell, until only the 4 orbiting the station itself were left.

"Doctor, you might want to begin evac, quickly."

The doctor turned to look at him an expression of mild puzzlement on his face as the screen suddenly flashed a red. Warning kalaxons blared throughout the station. It seems that those three persuit ships had grown... three kilometer long warships were now waiting just inside scanner range. A message came through on the comm.

"This is Captain Venom of the Strike Cruiser Fenriz, will un-identified station please respond."

OOC: This is more your RP than mine, feel free to request I enter the station with stealth...

"This is Captain Venom of the Strike Cruiser Fenriz, will un-identified station please respond."

Colonel Barrat was about to reach for a set of comm-headphones lying next to the defence readout when a hand on his shoulder made him stop. “You do not under nay circumstances respond to any of these savages’ requests Mr Barrat, is that clear?”

Colonel Barrat responded only with a mute nod towards doctor Haaken before removing his hand from his shoulder. “Excellent” Haaken continued is his most velvety-drawl yet “Now go and make sure your forces are covering the landing pad. It would be a shame if this angered mob of dilettantes were to attempt something as rash as a boarding of the premises while we had yet to leave, no?”

Barrat murmured a response which Haaken was pretty sure had been some sort of insult, but did not bother to call the man back. There was a time and place for everything, and right now time was running pretty short and with any luck this place would only be little more than a memory. He turned turned towards a computer console behind him and quickly punched a number of digits in rapid succession.

There. That ought to activate the bases force-field generator which would hamper the progress of any would-be intruders long enough for them to make their escape. “Computer! I hereby order you to enter defence modus. Our external defences has been all nut neutralised by hostile forces, and close contact is all but eminent. You are authorised to open fire on any unknown persona that enters the base perimeter from this point on. Understood?”

The computers voice-replication system consented to the doctors request with a cool, tempered “affirmative” in a distinctly female tone.

In the mean time, as security systems screamed into life and force fields awoke with a distinct hum to cover the bases main doorways and entrance points, the hyperdrives of several ships roared into life and subsequently launched for evacuation. “Just buckle yourselves up good and proper, and head for that nebula! Their scanners will loose us once were inside. Now go!”

Typhus looked ahead and watched as ships fled the station.

"Send a couple of cloaked corvettes to follow those escaping, Venom. My men and I will get in and shut down the defenses."

"Of course. I'll have boarding craft ready as soon as you call."

Typhus nodded and with a handsignal sent his men foward. The anti-scan treatment on thier outer shells kept the base from detecting them while they approached. Each man had had a special set of plating attached to his armour and a much more powerful GID added so that they would make it with plenty of time and air to spare.

The 14 men glided slowly foward, they were less than a kilometer from the station and hadn't been noticed yet. Typhus gestured to a small service panel up ahead, it wasn't much but should be enough to get them in. As they arrived Typhus grinned and set his men to work prying open the doors.

“Sir, we have movement over by the main entrance. There appears to be an anomaly in the structural integrity-“ One of Colonel Barrats aides approached him with a data-pad displaying a map on it.

“My thanks, Werder” the Colonel replied curtly and brushed the aide aside. He was alarmed, to sat the least. Not only had the approaching attackers wiped out nearly all of his external defence platforms, but now they had somehow closed in on the very main doors of the complex, and were by the look of things, busily working on prying open the first set of locked gates!

“Computer! Hostile activity have been detected by the main gate, arm all turrets within range and open fire as soon as the targeting matrix have calculated a 50 % chance of scoring a hit, clear?” The base’s automatic defence system ought to slow the intruders down for a while though, Barrat most certainly hoped so at least . . . He went back to eyeing the data-pad, carefully watching for any progress the enemy might make.


The Nebula.

Dense, heavy clouds of mineral dust, ice and tiny pieces of rock, everything bearing a dull, cyan colour due to the number of traces of Hycotide in it blocked the advancing ships scanners to a mere few kilometres or so. The ships from the research station bearing scientists and soldiers met up with another group of larger, rugged-looking vessels. All painted in varying shades of red, from pink to dark crimson . . .

#tagged...

Tagged (for the new forums)

OOC: How are you targeting them? The anti-scan treatment makes them invisible to most all scanners. I'm going to RP those turrets opening up on their position anyway but for future reference I need to know if it'll be accurate or not.

IC:
Typhus hissed over the comm as he heard the bases' defensive guns rotating. "Hurry up!" The door was proving resistant to their attempts to pry it open... With a shriek of metal the door gave, giving them half an entrance.

"Get the rest of it open!" Typhus looked up and saw one of those lasers pointing toward his position, it wasn't near him or his men but the computer doubtless couldn't see them. It fired and missed spectacularly, but then shifted to aim closer to the door, Typhus could hear other turrets doing the same.

One of his men grunted and pulled the door open a little more, "Sir, I think we can get through if we leave our extra plating." and air supply. He didn't need to say that last part, Typhus knew.

"Fine, throw a pulse grenade at each of those turrets and then spray out a smoke grenade here!" Typhus' men obeyed and soon they were in a dense cloud of smoke. They quickly stripped off thier outer plating and slipped inside while lasers blazed away at the smoke. Typhus looked about the airlock, which did fit his team to an extent.

"Okay, from here on in use the shotguns you brought and do not use your mounted guns. I can't have a hull breach, or rather I don't want any that could potentially hurt whoever is in charge here." Typhus stepped up to the door and started blowing it apart with his demogorgon, the rounds punching throught he door and beyond. Air, and small items flew through these holes and out into space while warnings flashed on.

Within ten seconds the door looked like swiss cheese. Typhus kicked it down and stepped into the hall, bulkheads were closed up ahead but could easily be hacked to open as they were supposed to be able to be opened manually for repair crews. "Wait here and train your guns in both directions. In ten minutes we begin to hack these doors and head for the reactors. I want those shut down first, then we begin working our way up to the control room to have a chat with those in charge and to raid their data-logs."

_____________________________

The harbingers slid foreward. The enemy obviosuly thought that they were safe here. Illithids sat watching as they enemy met up with other ships, and reported all of this back to base, they wouldn't get very far at least not with the ships they had. Each harbinger released a tick and sent it foreward to attach itself to one of the larger ships, while another was released to attach itself to one of the station's ships. They had about 25% of all of those ships bearing a tick in half an hour. They could rip the little group apart at a seconds notice.

OOC: The turrets’ targeting systems emits a resonance sound wave, not unlike a bat when hunting, and reads any anomalies in the patterns it finds as potential threats (something huge, bulky and armoured would absolutely be interpreted as such) Further on, the resonance wave also measures the thickness / strength of any carapace or armour the target(s) might be in possession of, thereby locating weak spots and the most likely places it’s shots will hit home.

Bright yellow stabs of laser-fire spat from the turrets four, twin-linked muzzles towards the advancing attackers. Alarm klaxons had also come to life as Typhus had put his Demogorgon to work, issuing shrill warnings with regards to the suddenly dropping air pressure inside.

In the mean time, Colonel Barrat punching in a few keys on his data-pad, found himself suddenly viewing the entrance scene of Typhus’ advancement through the bleary-eyed view of one of the turrets cameras. He raised an eyebrow slightly as he silently took on the sight of several huge, armoured giants stalking in through the remains of the main bulkhead doors.

“Werder!” he yelled, his aide materialising at his side “how are those engines coming up? I think discretion will prove to be the better part of valour today” “Sir?” Werder replied, sounding somewhat confused for a second “The last science-team members are boarding their shuttles now sir, we can leave within a few minutes if the need arises ”Good” Barrat said, eyeing the entrance door to the landing pad suspiciously.

The blurry pictures of the monstrous forms by the entrance his data-pad had displayed had worried him deeply, and although the door in question he was currently staring at had been constructed to withstand a blast from the exploding engines of a small space-shuttle... It still nagged at him.

“Allright boys” Barrat said, turning to his men. “Bring the Heatsceptre forth to cover the entrance here” Why the administrators of the Purple Council in charge of equipping his men with weapons had decided to give them something like that to play with, he’d never know. The snub nosed, dual-barrelled monstrosity two of his ochre-uniformed men were carrying between them, a third following with a tripod, could very well be used to shred a small car!

Whatever the administrators reasons for giving them that, Barrat doubted the man had had any idea of what they would be up against... It could prove to become quite handy now however.

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In the nebula however, the ships from the base had begun to travel further on into the cyan fog and would soon be lost to the Padmasan ships scanners. Two of crimson-coloured ships had taken up sentry positions on both sides of the shuttle-convoy while the others appeared to be waiting for others to join them.

Black looked up from his door and hissed. As they had suspected the fools hadn't tried lock down the doors, and despite the emergency system the doors could still be opened manually. "Lord, I'll have it open in about 30 seconds!"

Typhus nodded and pointed his shotgun at the door, his men did likewise. The door opened and two draconians ran through one going to each side. Typhus followed and looked about. They had managed to break into a room full of enviroment suits. Typhus hissed with annoyance and ordered black and the men into the room to hit open the next door.

Black knelt down to the side of the door to begin work, when the door slid open. Everyone turned and looked, facing them were two equally suprised men manning a huge gun. Typhus' men spun and began opening fire but the two apparently pulled the trigger. The room's temperature rose steeply and Kaplan who had been standing directly in the path of the weapon shrieked... his armour was melting off his body.

The roar of auto shotguns filled the room with Kaplan's screams. The temperature fell quickly afterward as the men were shredded by the flechette rounds, bloody and gobbets of flesh covering the floor... Typhus stepped over to Kaplan, he was still alive. He quickly drew his chainsword and with a sweep sent Kaplan's armoured head across the room.

"Black, throw Kaplan outside before the suit blows, send his head with him," Typhus ordered has he slung Kaplan's shotgun across his shoulders along with his belt of clips. Villian, you take that gun. I want that thing studied when this is over." Typhus then nodded to the rest of his men and they entered the next room shotguns leveled looking for some threat.

Colonel Barrat gave a slight start as the armoured gate to the landing pad slid open and ducked for cover as a swift, brutal firefight erupted between his Heatscepter team and the armoured assilants. Complete chaos ensued as some of his men scrambled for cover while others again fled towards the last shuttles awaiting takeoff, seeking refuge within their armoured hulls.

“All hands fire at will” The order was issued by bleary-eyed Colonel Barrat, who- with his sidearm in one hand and the microphone from his datapad in the other –had wisely chosen to hide his wiry frame behind a stack of crates filled with spare machine components. Angry smatterings of laser fire began to issue back from scattered groupings of his men who had found cover along the walls and railings of the landing bay. One of the soldiers, clutching a grenade launcher is his hands, deftly fired one of the feared projectiles in the general direction of the armoured brutes stalking through the doorway, only to note a few moments later, that he might have been better off with something more potent than a smoke grenade.

As a final precaution, Barrat pressed a button on the side of his datapad, and swiftly read the confirming message on it’s screen, acknowledging his order to open the experimental tubes. If his men couldn’t pose a threat to these monsters, the Dr’s own little things had better bridge the gap!


Outside in the blissful endlessness of space however, things were far from as violent as down on the base. The shuttle convoy flanked by the larger, crimson ships snaked it’s way off into the nebula, it’s speed steadily increasing. The ticks from the Padmasan ships fastened themselves on several of their numbers hulls without any notice, and everything seemed to be bobbing along quite nicely.

But not for long...

Bump