NationStates Jolt Archive

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It was a standard mission for the prospector team. The 8 men, 4 in each manned ship, and 2 scout drones, felt no different from when they embarked on other missions to find the ores and uranium that were scattered across Sarlham. As they headed to Site K-5, the latest job from the North Sarlham Resource Company, the VTOL scouts took a look. They went in, landed, and stuck in a sampler. The scout then transmitted the data to the onboard analyzer on one of the transport VTOL ships.
"Positive. A whole lotta metals here. Scoutcam's picking up some fragments too. Might be a crash site."
"No, there's too much setteled in the soil. Tell 2 we're setting down."
The VTOLs landed gracefully, and the prospectors got out. 3 were armed with semi-auto rifles, and all had pistols. With the smugglers out here, it was good to take chances. 2 inches of dust from the latest storm kicked around them, but with the oxygen/sensor helmets and masks, they were fine.
"Check out that cliff. Put a dab of Composition-India on it, enough to blow a chunk out. I want better samples before we call in the NSRC."
The engineer slapped some on the 50 foot high cliff, and then they ran behind a jutting boulder.
"Clear!"
The explsion rumbled, but there was something different. It sounded... hollow. And it was. Inside the cliff was a passageway.
"Holy sh*t."
"Dawson, you're with me. We'll check this out. Tell the archeology commitee they might have something on their hands."
The 2 men walked down the passageway, and switched to NVG. They stopped. A huge, 30 foot high monolith, scribbled with writing that could not be understood through the NVGs.
"Oh my god."
Dawson stepped forward onto the circular platform the monolith rested on. He felt it with his gloved hand... Cold. Even through the gloves.
"Dawson, get your hands off that-"
A high pitched shriek appeared out of nowhere, and Dawson clutched his helmeted head.
"Aaah! Sh*t! What the hell was that?"
--
The team at the landing zone noticed unusual signals from their radio. All across the planet, others were getting the same. TVs, Radios, Satellites, everything was breifly interrupted by 3 minutes of static and unitelligible signals. Somehow, the signal went beyond the speed of light, and within minutes, had reached Earth, causing many SETI group members to go completely insane. And thus it began.
OOC-Anyone who can make it here to the planet Sarlham is welcome (Assuming you picked up the signals). This will be a space RP, but limit your ships to 1 or 2 large ships. There'll be some combat, too, so bring weapons. This is gonna be pretty open-ended.

An Annihilus frigate picked up signals emanating from a nearby planet, and moved to investigate.

Two cloaked Elarian Battleships put themselves in orbit , this is where the signal that they recieved had came from.

Commander Zoroth: "Comm open transmission , send signals all around the planet to make sure any intelligent life will get it."

Comm: "Done Commander , Transmission opened."

Commander Zoroth: "This is Commander Zoroth of the Elarian Empire." "We recieved a signal from this planet , please respond."


They waited for a response anxiously , Zoroth kept his Warriors calm , they wanted to go in guns blazing and claim the planet for the Empire , ahh foolish young ones.

:::The Liberty-class Space Corps Destroyer whirled through the outer atmoshpere as the helmsmen franticly attepted to regain control of the navigation systems:::

Captain: Ensign, lieutenant, get nav back online NOW! (He picks up the ship's comm reciever): All hands this is Commander McElhinny, prepare for an emerceny override of all computer systems, this is no a drill.

Cheif Engineer: Skipper, the mergency atmospheric landing protocol has begun, all other computer systems are offline minus life support.

Captain McElhinny: Good O'Brien, Helmsmen, see if you can guide this brick in!

Lieutenant JG: Aye sir.
--A sudden jerk hits the ship as it violently regains control, evening out its rate of decent--

Engisn: Sir, we have manual control, should i set her down?

Captain: Do it Ensign(again pick up the com): All crew we have gained control and are making our final landing approach. Marines, to arms, priority yellow. (To tactical officer): lieutenant, i want options, who is here, what was that weapon they used to hit out computers, and where are they? I want asnwers.(to a crewmen) go to Colonel Bateson, tell him i want all his men at alert and i want 3 platoons ready, im going out myself.

Crewmen: Aye sir.

Tactical Officer(lieutenant); Sir, the type of jammer they used is nothing like ive ever seen, I dont recognize whose it is either, i do have the co-ordiantes though, Short flight by Vipers.

Captain: Good, tell the the hanger officer i want 3 vipers ready to go asap, medium armament. full fuel rations, and supply.

Tactical Officer: Aye sir.

Captain: Commander Raab, youb have the bridge until my return, radio command on Zues, beif them of our situation.

Raab: Aye sir, be careful, the Admiral isnt happy with you as is sir.

Captain: I know Commander, i know, Radio the new empire command here, brief them as well ,give them the frequency of Viper-2 in case they need to talk to me directly.

:::The 3 Viper atomosheric craft flew fro mthe launch bay towars the origin co-ordinates:::

A scoutship barely picks up the signal. It moves in the direction of it's orgin....

"We have detected a primitive communication Elder".

- Move to intercept

"It is done"

-Search the data for this type

"Searching"

-Advise me when we are close.

-Yes Elder....

Communications Officer: Commander, we have recieved an Elaran Signal, but i cant seem tp pick up the ship its comming from...

Commander: Yes, get used to that scuttlebutt is that they have cloacking devices. Open a channel.
:::tansmission to the elaran ship:::
(from the commander): This is Commander Raab of the Liberty Destroyer 'Honor' of the 1st Liberty Space Cops expeditionary forces, we had our computer systems knowcked out by an alien jammer of some sort, we were the rear guard for the rest of the group so it will take time for them to relize we are gone, out long-range comm seems to be down, if you could contact Liberty Command on Planet Zues in the liberty system it would be most appriecieated. here is the frequency of the Viper Craft our Captain is aboard,
he went to investigate the origin of the jammer==sends frequency==

Cruising through deep space near the central Milky Way Galaxy, a Vzxlackian scout ship searching for planets to exploit picked up the signal from a previously unknown region of space. The crew, all insectoid creatures of the Vzxlackian race, chittered and buzzed at each other as they contemplated the meaning of this signal. It could not be translated into their language, despite all the failed attempts at trying.

Finally the captain of the scout ship decided to investigate the matter and whistled its orders. They would find out what it was and if possible, conquer it and claim it for the Vzxlackian Empire. What awaited them was even unknown to the strange Vzxlackians, being strange and mysterious in themselves.

A GLA patrol hovers silently in the eternal darkness.
On the GLAF Listener:
"Sir, were getting a signal..."
"Well. what does it say?"
"Ummm...nothing sir, its just gibberish, the translators are working on it, but not making much progress"
"Source?"
"Sarlham sir, its a little out of our way, but I think we should stop by."
"Allright, signal the Goliath, transmit the jump coordinates, then go, once there fighters are to array themselves in defensive formation, the rest of the fleet is to remain here until further notice."
"Right away sir, Hyperdrive is warming up now"
Fifteen seconds later a blue glow appears, visible for thosands of miles, and the two GLA ships dissapear.

-Inform the commander, we have translated a portion of the transmission
+-+Yes Hivelord+-+
"Co'man'dar, we ha've tran'slated a por'tion of the me's'sage, he're is our re'sult"
The captain reluctantly took the paper, he never liked Seven Spin hivemind, maybe it was the way they spoke, or the fact that almost every GLA ship had at least fiftey giant metal preying mantasis on board.
"Very interesting, send it to HQ, they will decide our course of action."

After several moments in high speed hyperspace, the Vzxlackian scout vessel arrived in the star system that Sarlham orbited. Their sensors identified the planet as the source of the strange signal, and further investigation was taken. The atmosphere appeared to be nearly airless, so their highly complicated space suits were required when they landed. The planet didn't appear to particularly impressive to them but the strange signal was worth the investigation.

The ship careened and flew to planet's surface. The Vzxlackian crew selected the most remote area found, far from any signs of settlement. There were twenty-five of them in total, but only eighteen would leave the ship to investigate. Suited and armed with Vzxlackian pulse rifles, the team of insectoid creatures left the ship allowing a tracking device, hooked on the signals exact location, to guide them.

This strange mystery would be solved.

The ShaRa vessel stops on the edge of the system. Fully cloaked, the ship records the location and cross referances it to the database. The vessel detects several other ships in the area and begins a signature search....

<<<Bio scanning>>>
::::commencing:::::
[<<<Signal---Scrambling>>>
[CONFIRMED]

Vessel: Unidentified--Orgin: Earth
Vessel: Unidentified--Orgin: Earth
Vessel: Unidentified--Orgin: Outter Rim
Vessel: Unidentified--Orgin: Unknown
Vessel:IDENTIFIED--ORGIN: EARTH
ACCESSING:::::::CONFIRMED: Species 00EE987-ELARIAN

The Bridge Elder stood in surprise. He glanced at the display of all the ships gathered around the Planet. He pointed to a section of the screen and instructed the pilot...
Hold position here...maintain a safe distance from their sensors...Understood?
Yes Elder....

Transmission to LF ship "Honor":

Commander Zoroth: This is Commander Zoroth , in command of Elarian vessels in this sector. I am pleased to see an ally in the area , we reieved your message , my comm officer has already relayed the information to the location you gave us. We plan on staying and seeing what all we can find on this planet , in particular who or what sent that signal. Zoroth out.

Transmission Ended.


A bridge officer turns to Zoroth.

Officer: Sir , I could have sworn I saw a...

Commander Zoroth: Saw what? Well , answer me!

Officer: I could have sworn I picked up another vessel signature...

Commander Zoroth: Probably just readings from the LF ships.

Officer: No sir , these were different , Ive never seen them before , they are not from earth I can tell you that.....they must be cloaked as we are.

Commander Zoroth: Ahhh I see......another hunter perhaps. Keep me posted if you see anything else , perform scans of the area.

Officer: Yes Commander!

Sarlham Space Command
"Jesus, we're getting activity all over the system. Reports are even in on landings."
"Dispatch a heavy platoon to K-5. Kill everyone. If this gets out, we're screwed."
The Colonel turned, and responded to the Elarian hailing.
"Elarian vessel, this is the SSC. The transmission you detected was probably one of the emergency beacons setting off. We have a rescue team on it now."
Bullsh*t. Like they'd have trouble figuring out that lie.
The sirens blared at the airfield as the 2 MC/V-12 dropships loaded up with 48 troops, all in ORC power armor. They lifted off, making their way to K-5.
--
K-5
Dunhelds sat on top of the C/V-32 VTOL, his M-892 DMR slung around his soldier. This very gun had killed 135 men in the Markov war. He was a crack shot, but had come to Sarlham to get away from the violence. Of course, he hadn't planned on the smugglers and mercs that roamed the canyons and mountains of the planet. And by insticnt, he brought his rifle. Back at his house in Sarlham Landing, he had his medals. Purple hearts, Auerstadt Crosses, even the Medal of Valor (Medal of Honor equivalent). But he was here to get away, and this damn whatever it was was screwing that all up.
--
The 2 mercenary gunships, LK-228s, screamed through the canyons. Each was armed with a minigun, 8 missiles, and 140 70mm Rockets, and carried 8 men. Their target, K-5, only 3 hours away.

::transmission to SSC::

Commander Raab: SSC this is the Liberty Destroyer 'Honnor' of the 1st Liberty Expeditionary unit. I am Commander Raab, 1st officer. we were jammed by some sort of beam that scrambled our computers, everything is working now minus our long range coms and lift off thrusters, but we will have them in time, Our captain and 3 platoons of Liberty Space Marines have departed in Viper Atmosheric gunships. they are going to the site from which we scanned the jamming originating from. Here is the frequency to my captain's Viper, Viper-2 ==Sends Frequency==


::transmission to Viper-2::

Raab: Captain i have contacted the elarans and they relayed the messege to Space Command, Also I sent a transmission to the SSC. Simms reported multiple ships in the area, because of the geology of the planet i cannot confirm, but it looks as an ship landed on the other side of this planet, origin unknown sir, moderatley armed and armored from the looks of it sir.

McElhinny: Good work Raab, We'll keep our safties off, We're comming up on the site now McElhinny out.


::::the 3 gunships found the nearest LZ to the origin and set down:::
McElhinny: Major, I want your marines in 2 shifts, a perimeter at all times, also tell the pilots nad gunners to stay on alert, we need to keep our eyes peeled here, and bring me the platoon leader of 2nd Platoon.

Major: (salutes and jogs off)

Lieutenant: Sir(salutes at attention)

McElhinny: At ease, I like the way you run your platoon, you and your men are with me. In 30 we will go into that cave, Im not to comfortale with the scanner interference, not to mention the fact there isnt a trace of anyone else here. (to the other marines standing around) You, I want base camp up and running in 5! Move it!

The Vzxlackian away party of eighteen continued its march across the planet's rocky terrain. Their tracking device told them that they were close to the source of the signal... about eleven miles. Quickly they moved, their long, insectoid legs allowing them to cover more ground faster than other races.

~~~~~~~~~

Back at the Vzxlackian scout ship, their readings were picking up the arrivals of other star craft. Wisely, the remaining crew activated their ship's cloaking system so no one may detect their exact landing spot. This mission was to be as discreet as possible.

Nearby, an Olof Palme class explorer vessel had picked up the signal.

"Oi, captain!"
"Yes?"
"Sonic anomaly. The funny thing is, it matches TMA-1 perfectly. Might be the same guys!"
"Well, then! Bring us there! New Empire forces at K-5, this is LRRSV Isaac Asimov. We are heading to your position from a spot .56 parsecs away. ETA 23 minutes."
"Hyperspacing now!"

A blue glow shines above the planet briefly, as the Command and Control ship, GLAF Listener appears, shortly after the 25 mile bulk of the Solo flashes into existance alongside.
"We de'tec't mu'ch act'ivity on the'ee sur'face co'man'dar" A clicking, rattling voice sounded behind him
"All right, send down a Commander unit and 250 FLASH tanks, being setting up the base immidiatly, signal all other ships in the area..."
A short while later an all frequencies broadcast through the universal translator is sent to all ships in the area.
This is the GLAF Listener to all ships in the area, we are here to investigate an anomoly that originated at these coordinates, since our purposes seem to be one and the same, we respectfully request that we pool our efforts to uncover the source, and then determine our action from there.
MESSAGE REPEATS:
This is the GLAF listener...

Of course no response would ever come from the Vzxlackian scout ship. Yes they listened to the message translated to their strange language of clicks, buzzes, and whistles; but no way would they pool their efforts with species they felt inferior to their own. Their presence on this side of the galaxy was to remain secret at all costs.

On Sarlham a GLA base is begining to spring up.
The commander unit waits patently, as small contstruction 'bots set up a frame, once this is completed he raises his 'lathe and begins spraying nanites onto the pre-mold frame, about five minutes goes by and in place of the frame a new Light Laser tower stands, behind it a plant is producing remote controled scout and military 'bots in a similar fashion, some of the troops take a brief glance skyward, amazed that even when its 250 miles away, they can still see the bulk of Solo hanging in the sky.
There have been some disturbances, a brief attack by some large carnivore, its carcase is still smoking while a stubby 'bot trundles up to it and beings using a 'lathe similar to the commanders to drain the useful elements from the body, it turns and stomps off, leaving nothing but skin and cartilage behind it.
The GLA's army is expected to be effecient, and waste is not efficient.

-K-5
"Marks! Sensor activity. The landings all over this area. Oh...Oh man. 2 LK-228s Inbound. Wait... They got distracted. Anyone see anything?"
"Hold on. VTOL scout has something. About a platoon of soldiers. I dunno who they are. Dunhelds, get down here. You know this military sh*t."
"Hmm... Heavily armed S&D or force recon... Wait. What was that?"
"Some kind of attack craft."
"EVERYONE! Head for the hills. Get a foxhole or something. There's gonna be some serious sh*t happening, and we don't wanna be down there."
"But... The sensors... the VTOLs... OUR PAYMENT! You wanna abandon that?"
"What's worth more, your gear or your life?"
The 6 men headed up the rocky slopes, carrying all the equipment they could. Dawson and Jamison rigged the entrance with a Comp-India charge, covered it with dust and dirt, and followed them.
-SSC
"Honor, we advise you take caution. We DO NOT, repeat DO NOT know the situation down at K-5. These are private prospectors, not government forces... Try contacting them for more details."
"LRRSV Asimov, we don't know what's happening at K-5. These are prospectors. We have a rescue team inbound."
"GLAF Listener, we agree with your request, but we would like to send our rescue unit first, before we risk anyone else."
The Colonel, tired of making transmissions, sat down and sighed.

The Isaac Asimov soon arrives in orbit around the remote world. It prepares to land and set up a base of operations. Aboard the frigate was, in supplement to its regular compliment of 40 scientists/engineers/sensors operators, a pair of specialists had been brought in from the GA base station. They were the Biologist George Miller, and Geologist Mikhail Korpanoff. There was also a party of five marines, who cold be easily identified by their more substantial construction and camoflauge dress. In the shirtsleeve environment of an Olof Palme frigate, uniforms were something of an oddity, as were clean-shaven faces and regulation haircuts.

"So, Mik. Here we are. On the verge of one of the most important discoveries ever. How do you feel?"
"Good, George. I hope you packed your climbiong gear. I've been looking at the terrrain maps, and it looks rocky, mountainous, and generally inhospitible."
"My kind of place."

A voice came over the intercom.

"All crew, were landing now. Hold onto something."

George and Mikhail, having traveled on Olof Palme Frigates many times before, knew to hold onto something. They grabbed the legs of the table that they sat at. The marines, on the other hand, confident in their abilities, sat as normal as ever.

"Landing in five....four....three....two....one.....Touchdown!"

From throughout the ship, LRR war whoops were heard as the overenthusiasic crewmembers celebrated the event. George and Mikhail were able to avoid the worst effects of the landing, but the marines were a different story. They were thrown from the table, several hitting the low ceiling on their way to the floor. The sergant in command of the marines ws a certain Emily Larson. She hit the floor first and spit out a flurry of curses, and drew Mikhail's eyes. They were soon warded off by a certain gesture of the sergant which I'm sure we all know well.

The Two scientists, accompanied by the marines, suited up and proceeded out into the sandy, rocky environment.

"Tr'ansm'ission re'cie'ved co'man'dar"
"Play it back"
The commander sat and listened.
Acknowledged Sarlham, we are setting up a temporary outpost at coordinates following, the outpost will be transfered to your control when operations are completed, please advise as to current situation when rescue force arrives. GLA forces are ready to assist in fending off attackers if nescasary.

The 2 LK-228 Gunships hovered over the area, guns and sensor turrets swiveling.
"They're hiding. Flush them out."
"Hit the cave first."
The LK-228 came close to the ground, and began firing the 12.7mm minigun. The second one circled the area like a shark. Fortunately, the prospectors had brought something special for the occaision. They pulled out the .50 RailSniper, and fired on the engine of the circling gunship.
The engine seemed to disintegrate in a cloud of shattered metal, and then began falling towards the ground. It crashed, and the soldiers ran out, firing into the hills.
Dunhelds took aim with the M-892, and took down 3 soldiers with perfect head shots.
"GET DOWN!"
The second LK-228 began firing 70mm rockets into the hillside.

Commander Zoroth: Hes deceiving me....but why....we are allies of New Empire.... I dont trust this... 6 Shuttle....filled Warriors , close to site of signal...now!

Officer: Yes Commander!

Soon after 6 Elarian Shuttles come out from the 2 Elarian Battleships and head for the surface.

Onboard the lead shuttle a tall strong and beautiful female Centurion gives orders to her Warriors.

Centurion Terin: Alright Warriors! We are the pride of the Empire , this is what we are trained for. If you come into contact with hostiles do not hesitate to fire , it could cost you your life!

The Elarian Shuttles land and and the Elarian Warriors with Centurion Terin leading them head for where the signal emanated.

"How far are we from the ship?"
"About five Kilometers. Tired, are you, George?"
"I could go a few miles yet. It seems as our friends have rather outpaced us."
"That they ha..... hey! What's this?"

George attempted to pick up the large, blue-colored stone which he had almost tripped over, but found it quite hard to move.

"Let me help you there, George."

Soon, a radio transmssion from the marines came crackling into their ears.

"Hey, slow pokes. You want to get moving or what?"

George replied coldly.

"Do you expect us to conduct an accurate scientific investigation at your pace? Now come over here and help me with this rock!"

Emily pondered her response. They did have a point, she thought. Better to wait for an opportunity for insults later. They had ignored that frightful landing experience, after all.

"Ok, ok. Be right over."

With the help of the more muscular marines, they soon had the rock turned over.

"Woah! Is that a stellar coordinate map, or am I out of my mind, Mik?"
"No kidding! Hey, cap! We've got something here for you to see!"

The captain's eager voice came across the radio.

"We'll send a team over post-haste! We're going back into orbit, but we'll have the shuttlecraft with you guys."

A small ravtruck came rumbling across the surface to the small party of seven, and picked up the rock. It was soon headed to the geolab on theAsimov.

"LRRSV Isaac Asimov to all ships, we have found what appears to be a stellar coordinate map! We request assistance in analyzing said object."

The marines and geologists, in the meantime, stayed on the planet to search for more artifacts.

In the distance, Emily could hear some low-frequency rumbling. She didn't quite know what it was, until she thought back to her experiences on the Agrippa.

"Gunfire! Get down!"

The whole party dropped to the ground. The marines crawled foreward, until they got to a small ridge. The two scientists followed behind. Emily took out her field glasses and studied the horizon, to see a group of soldiers and some flying craft battling it out nearby. She took out her radio.

"New Empire command, this is LRR field party. What's going on over there?"

"Who has the flares?"
"I got 'em."
"Light them up, hold them high!"
Marks stood up a flare in each hand. 2 mercenary soldiers advanced up the hillside.
"I... I... I surren-"
The 7.62mm bullets from their J-76 carbines ripped through him, as his body dropped to the ground.
"F*ck you, a$$holes!"
Dawson, with his semi-auto rail-rilfe, began firing into the 2 soldiers killing them, and continued firing into the corpses.
"What the hell are you doing? You think ammo grows on trees? Let's move!"
Working with a bunch of civvies made Dunhelds quite frustrated, but you take what you get and make the best of it.
"Look, we keep going that way," he said, pointing.

The eighteen armed Vzxlackians continued their way towards the signal source. According to their tracking device, the source was now only three miles away. At this rapid rate of uninterrupted journey, they'd be at the K-5 site within a few more hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scout ship continued monitoring the activity of other ships across the planet. Now there were conflicts breaking out—nothing that their shield generators couldn't handle if it reached them. This mission would be a success.

The 300 Elarian Warriors stop at the sight of an explosion up ahead.

Elarian Warrior: What the hell was that?...Alright , battle!

Centurion Terin: Plasma Rifles ready! Lets move!


The Elarians rush ahead as fast as their feet and terrain training could bring them , they would soon reach where the battle was taking place.

"LRR, mercenaries are attacking. Our rescue force is already there."
The 48 ORC soldiers spread out, with IR scopes on their M-32 rifles. They gunned down the 16 mercenaries mercilessly. An A/V-45 Wasp had shot down the other LK-228.
"Kill everyone who isn't ours. I want those prospectors dead. Anything that saw this dies. Got that?"
"Yes, Colonel." spoke the Master Seargeant.
"MOVE OUT! Kill everyone. No survivors."

Three squads of GLAtroopers approach the edge of the crash site.
"Hey. L-T, we've got gunfire over there..."
"Allright, they may need our assistance, we have orders from the higher ups, dont kill unless its unavoidable, but it might be, so I suggest you load your rifle, private."
Several chuckles are heard and the men begin to check their GC11 assault rifles.
"Montoya, get up here, send a message to the camp, I want a decent picture of whats going on up there, in the mean time, move out!"

Stev-o recieves the misterious signal, and sends out two STEV-Gunships, intercepor class. the second fastest of all stev-o ships. they each have 4 commandos inside, the max that that ship can hold.

they enter the atmesphere near where they calculated the signal came from, and see an artifact being loaded onto a shuttle of some sort. they decide that the artifact may have some importance, so one gunship lands and the 4 Commandos disembark. they point thier guns at the people carrying the rock and tell them to hand it over. the other gunship hovers and waits for the resolution... the piolt is getting nervous, he flips the [arm missle] key.... his finger hovers over the button. if they open fire, and his team loses, he will blow them all up... the artifact cannot fall into the wrong hands... which would mean anyones but Stev-o's.

The 12 Sarlham Special Forces soldiers saw Dunhelds, Dawson, and Maversman, and fired. Maversman died instantly, and Dawson was hit in the throat, and lay gurgling on the ground. Dunhelds had ducked.
"If you want to see the source of the signal, you won't shoot me. This is a remote detonator. I've rigged it as a dead man's switch. It stops detecting a heartbeat, K-5's secret is lost to the world."
Dunhelds held his M-892 up against a rock in one hand, and a FN57B pistol in the other.
"Go ahead. Shoot me."

Suddenly 300 Elarian Warriors open fire unleashing hellon the Mercenaries.

Centurion Terin: Elarians! Friendlies!

Shouts Centurion Terin to the New Empirians.


______________________

Meanwhile onboard the Elarian Battleships.

Commander Zoroth: Continue scans , I want to know everything that happens down there.

Officer: Yes Commander , ...weapons fire...

Commander Zoroth: Try to get in contact with our Warriors. Keep me posted.

Officer: Yes Commander!

Stev-o recieves the misterious signal, and sends out two STEV-Gunships, intercepor class. the second fastest of all stev-o ships. they each have 4 commandos inside, the max that that ship can hold.

they enter the atmesphere near where they calculated the signal came from, and see an artifact being loaded onto a shuttle of some sort. they decide that the artifact may have some importance, so one gunship lands and the 4 Commandos disembark. they point thier guns at the people carrying the rock and tell them to hand it over. the other gunship hovers and waits for the resolution... the piolt is getting nervous, he flips the [arm missle] key.... his finger hovers over the button. if they open fire, and his team loses, he will blow them all up... the artifact cannot fall into the wrong hands... which would mean anyones but Stev-o's.
Uhmmm... No, I don't think so. This is a 30 foot high monolith, in a cave, and there is no way your 4 men would survive the 48 commandos, and 3 gunships, as well as the other forces coming here. Please learn to RP.

Finally the eighteen Vzxlackian troopers reached the range of the K-5 site and found guns blazing between two separate factions. The insectoid creatures readied their powerful pulse rifles and scattered, finding places to hide amongst the rocky terrain. They were ready to fire on anything that fired at them. These barbaric, petty, ape-like creatures were to be annihilated if they became a problem for the Vzxlackian mission.

"ELARIAN TROOPS! THIS IS THE SARLHAM SPECIAL FORCES! Please wait while we secure the area. We have one hostile reporting to have set a large explosive device in the area!"

An Elarian Sniper sits anxiously , his sight on the man with the detonator.

Sniper: Centurion...I have a headshot , permission to fire.

Centurion Terin: Hold your fire! Go easy , we'll wait for them to make the first move...

Over the private com system built into their space suits, one Vzxlackian demanded to its commanding officer that they should crush these ape scum immediately and achieve access to their target—the myterious signal source. The commanding officer clicked back in a stern tone, reprimanding the other for such reckless thinking. They must remain hidden and observe a way in to reach the source. The lower ranked troop backed down and apologized.

Those insectoid eyes lined over the rocky terrain, searching for some way to get past the lines of ape-troops and gunships without being seen. There were too many of these filthy creatures to pull off a completely successful ambush and reach the desired goal. The commanding Vzxlackian continued to formulate in its mind possible plans of action.

Gunnery Sergeant: Captain! We have massive gunfire, Elarans and NE troops, along with a couple other un identified species.

Captain: Corporal, radio SSC, tell them we are at K-5 and we have it secured. Lieutenant, Ready your platoon, Major, you are in charge while im gone, i want the other two platoons on guard shift, hold this site at all costs, Semper Fi

:::tansmission to SSC:::
This is commander Raab of the Honnor, the away team reports that they have K-5 secure, there is a remote mine on it, Demo teams are attempting to disarm, Gunfire between your troops, elarans, and multiple Un-ID's have been detected ,we are sending support

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Viper-2 with the Captain, and 2nd Platoon on board speeds to the battle sight, comming right behind Dunheld's position, the 2 snipers on board opend the gunning hatches and took aim, the green beams fro mthe targeting sights rested on Dunheld, on on his throat, another on his Gutt.

OOC-okay guys, some of you didnt read the first post, to summerize, NE told you guys to keep tyhe number's and power of your troops down. and come on, he said 1-2 SMALL Ships, not whole battle groups

OOC: Maybe you didn't notice, but NE has 45 commandos and 3 gunships. I don't know about anyone else, but I just have 25 bugs (18 on the prowl) and a scout ship.

IC: The commanding Vzxlackian finally had a solid plan. Whistling orders through their com system, it ordered one of its troops to sneak across the rocky terrain towards the cave, as according to the tracking device, that was where the signal had originated.

The Vzxlackian troop chirped back in acknowledgement to its commander and began its crawl towards the distant cave. Slowly slipping from rock to rock, keeping close to the ground as much as possible—no matter how difficult the space suit made this—it crept towards its ordered destination.

The commander believed this tactic would work as one individual would attract less attention than the full eighteen. Certainly the chances of working were significantly low, but if that troop could get through and reach the cave, they were made.

OOC- yeah ur fine, just the people bring in 2+ ships and some hundred troops kinda obsolites the point of a small RP like this was supposed to be i thot, like i have a Liberty Space Class destoryer, will full compliment and crew, but logisticly im prolly olnly gonna use the troops in the vipers

OOC-Woah, Woah, Woah. I haven't sent anything yet. The Sarlham Special Forces are the "bad guys" so to speak. They are part of Sarlham's military, and therefore can bring in as much stuff as they want. My actual forces are coming soon.
IC-
"Sir! Got something on IR!"
"Kill it!"
The SSF trooper raised the Automatic Railgun and began firing at the scuttling Vzxlackian. The rounds would burst torso sized chunks out of the rocks.

OOC: Oh no , NE , Im helping the bad guys? Mine if I put some wholes in them? Dont exactly want to be the bad guys assistant. :D

OOC-Well, you may not know they are the "bad guys". It's a conspiracy thing... You have to figure it out.

As all this was happening, the Stellar Coordinate map was undergoing examination aboard the LRR frigate.

"Captain, the map os about five million years old, and from the material formation, it was brought from an area far from here, near the galactic core."
"Well, now! Get me on the radio to a base!"

From a commercial port near Ursa Minor, an Olof Palme slides out of its berth, headed coreward. It engages hyerdrives, and starts its trek to the origin of the stone..... but that's another story.

Meanwhile, the ground party watches the proceedings of the battle from their vantage point on the ridge.

"Dimitry, how do you suppose we could get in there to that monolith?"
"I dunno. Wait until everybody dies, I guess."
"Sounds good. Except for the fact that someone else might get to it first and blow a piece of archeological history sky high. Oh well."
"But anyway, let's look around some more."
"Sounds good."

Meanwhile, Emily had been listening to the combat transmissions from the Elaran and New Empire troops, and was quite alarmed.

"Get down, idiots! If they see you, they'll kill you! Good thing they don't know that you guys are intent on looking at whatever it is in there!"
"Ma'am, I see non-humanoid life forms down there!"

The party sniper, free to examine the entirety of the canyon below, had seen a Vzxlackian get shot by the New Empire forces.

"Where?"
"To your left! One's down!"
"Damn! How are we gonna get down there now?"

The two scientists, upon hearing non-humanoid, came rushing to the ridgeline, almost falling off in their anxiety.

"The poor fellow's been shot! We have to help!"
"No way, science guy. Too dangerous. I'm not sacrificing myself this early in the game."

Then Mikhail, red with anger, came charging up.

"YOU JARHEAD MORONS! GET DOWN THERE NOW OR I'LL KICK YOU ALL OFF THE RIDGE!"

A toothy smile appeared on George's face as he sat on the ground behind a large rock, safe from stray bullets. Emily's expression was not as happy, though. She pondered inflicting physical harm on the man, a good deal smaller than she, and a well-aimed punch or kick would put him on the ground, but she decided against it.

"Listen, science guy. You're off your rocker if you think I'm gonna TAKE MY WHOLE TEAM DOWN THERE TO SAVE SOME BUG WHO FOR ALL WE KNOW MIGHT KILL AND EAT US AFTER WE'VE FIXED HIM UP!"
"Well, if you don't want to go then we will. Come on, George."
"Right away, Mik."

The pair started off down the gradual slope behind them, and soon they had reached the bottom of the cliff. Emily watched them go, and pondered wether to go with them or to stay and watch them die.

"You privates! Stat here and make sure nothing comes near that bug but us, understand?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Corporal, come with me."
"Right away, ma'am."
"Hey, science guys. We're coming to help out. Just try to stay away from the main fighting."

The four-person party slowly proceeded across the rock-strewn valley twoards the fallen Vzxlackian.

Dunhelds nudges a second detonator with his foot, as a part of the hillside explodes in a cloud of dust. He gets up, and runs down the hillside, and as the explosion shakes the valley, finds what used to be solid ground is now collapsing under his feet. He finds himself in a cavern, with a passageway leading to the direction of the monolith. The begins running, when he feels himself being pulled into blackness.

OOC: New Empire, are there any other planets around here, moons. asteroids, etc?

OOC-Yes. There are 3 planets- Sarlham, from the Sun, Kinsetica, which is unihabitated, save for a few sensor listening posts, and Gralshenk a gas giant which is separated from the rest of the system by an asteroid belt.

The Frisia Class Frigate jumps out of hyperspace.
"Jesus, what is going ON down there?"
"Sarlham Space Command, this is the USNE. We have jurisdiction in this process, tell your forces to cease fire while we land Marines."

Centurion Terin talks with Commander Zoroth through her communicator.

Centruion Terin: Yes Commander , understood we'll guard this whole area and await further orders from you. Terin out.

Elarians watch and begins to spread out to better defend the area as the dust from the explosion settles.

OOC-Yes. There are 3 planets- Sarlham, from the Sun, Kinsetica, which is unihabitated, save for a few sensor listening posts, and Gralshenk a gas giant which is separated from the rest of the system by an asteroid belt.

OOC: Thank you.

IC:The Elder stands on the bridge of the ShaRa scoutship, monitoring all the various ships and species. Recording and designating "species" numbers for furture data. The Elder orders the vessel to move towards the Gas giant. Slowly the ship proceeds to it's course.

Upon arrival, the ship launches a tiny Bio-probe, (approx the size of your hand) towards the asteroid field.

It is done Elder...
Prepare the "fluid" jump...
Yes Elder...ready
Very well, the System Lord can determine what course to take with these species...Engage...

For a fraction of a second, others ship sensors may have picked up a brief spacial anomoly as the ShaRa scoutship "jumped" to fluid space....It has departed the system

The Frisia Class Frigate jumps out of hyperspace.
"Jesus, what is going ON down there?"
"Sarlham Space Command, this is the USNE. We have jurisdiction in this process, tell your forces to cease fire while we land Marines."

Aboard the Asimov, the captain was sitting in his chair on the bridge looking quite puzzled. He was staring at one of the many viewscreens on said bridge. It showed that there was obviously some battle going on down there, but there was no reason for it that he could ascertain. He was profoundly confused.

"The morons. Why do they have to have a battle so close to it?"

The rest of the sensor crew was in equal confusion, especially when another frigate, not a small, non-threatening explorer/science frigate like his Asimov, but a warship. Sensors also told the captain that it was running pretty hot, indicating that it was in a battle footing.

"Oi, captain! Want me to take us to a safer position?"
"Sounds good, matey. Or helm. Whatever."
"Ok. Here we go."

The small frigate descended to the surface of the planet, landing in the shadow of a large cliff, which made it difficult to detect visually and also less hot than it would be otherwise. A group of crewmen, as well as the captain, donned their climate suits and exited the ship, bound for the monolith via some as of yet undiscovered tunnels.

OCC: What is this planet like in Geology? Does it have many underground passageways, tunnels, caves, etc.? What is its distance from its sun? How long is its year, its day?

Ahhh... My freakin head.
Dunhelds came to conciousness.
What...Where... Am I?
The area was dark, pitch black.
"Sh*t."
He got up and found the view hadn't improved. He stumbled around, and hit something cold. It felt engraved upon. Suddenly, a bluish glow began eminating from the engravings, and faintly illuminated the area. He was on what seemed to be the back of the monolith. Maybe.
Oh, what the hell?
The ground too, began lighting up in diagrams and patterns he could never understand. The walls, the ceiling. A map of some sorts? A picture? The bright light from the center of the disklike diagram on the ceiling, seeming to come into his conciousness.
Dunhelds screamed in his mind.
The blue glow started on the other side of the monolith, as it's strange symbols lit up. For 5 seconds, a brilliant blue glow came out of every opening in the cliff and passageway that held the monolith. Then, it stopped.

OOC-Sarlham is 1.09 AUs from it's sun. It has a 27 hour day, and a 392 day year. It is mostly desert on the north, while the south is mountains and jungle. Gravity is .893 G, and geology similar to Earth and Mars. There are many caves in the Northern deserts (Like at K-5).

Ahhh... My freakin head.
Dunhelds came to conciousness.
What...Where... Am I?
The area was dark, pitch black.
"Sh*t."
He got up and found the view hadn't improved. He stumbled around, and hit something cold. It felt engraved upon. Suddenly, a bluish glow began eminating from the engravings, and faintly illuminated the area. He was on what seemed to be the back of the monolith. Maybe.
Oh, what the hell?
The ground too, began lighting up in diagrams and patterns he could never understand. The walls, the ceiling. A map of some sorts? A picture? The bright light from the center of the disklike diagram on the ceiling, seeming to come into his conciousness.
Dunhelds screamed in his mind.
The blue glow started on the other side of the monolith, as it's strange symbols lit up. For 5 seconds, a brilliant blue glow came out of every opening in the cliff and passageway that held the monolith. Then, it stopped.

The LRR captain and his party of 10 had succeeded in locating a cave with tunnel access, and had gone about 20 miles on foot, and had sent a small probe up to their front about 10 miles. The captain and probe operator were sitting up against one of the tunnel walls, as they were now situated in a large cavern and intersection of the tunnels. The probe was so far finding nothing worthy of note, but as soon as it turned a corner roughly 12 miles ahead, it encountered a blueish glow.

"What was that?"
"Amazing, isn't it? You guys weren't there for KMA-1, but I was. I have a feeling that this is what we've been looking for all these years. Come on! Lets go find out!"

The party of eleven were soon in a run down the tunnel, the correct route marked by a mapping software used by the probe. The main body lost momentum after about two miles, however, and they were soon at a rapid walking pace. The blue glow had died down, and they feared that whatever it was they had missed it.

OOC-Sarlham is 1.09 AUs from it's sun. It has a 27 hour day, and a 392 day year. It is mostly desert on the north, while the south is mountains and jungle. Gravity is .893 G, and geology similar to Earth and Mars. There are many caves in the Northern deserts (Like at K-5).

Ok. Thanks. Just out of curiosity, what is the mean temperature in each of the main climate zones?

The unfortunate Vzxlackian that attempted to crawl its way towards the cave found itself shot at. After several charges were fired it was shot and sent flying against a rock that exploded afterwards from another charge hit. Battered and fallen, it collapsed into unconsciousness while it held tightly to its pulse rifle. Fortunate for it; however, its space suit and exoskeletal structure provided enough protection for it to barely survive the assault. But it was not complete luck, for it might not live for longer—there was a strange beeping emanating from the suit signifying that the oxygen tank of its suit was leaking.

If it didn't receive aid soon, it would suffocate without oxygen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The commanding Vzxlackian clicked a curse at the failure of its plan and was about to order two others to move quickly and retrieve the fallen trooper. But then, it noticed several of the apes moving to rescue the Vzxlackian's fallen comrade. They would allow the inferior creatures capture their troop and nurse it back to health while they stealthily followed. As soon as the trooper was patched up, the Vzxlackians would ambush the apes and kill everyone in sight. They must have no surviving witnesses....

Clicking and buzzing its new plan to the rest of the Vzxlackian troop, it told them to wait while the apes rescued their comrade. So the rest of the Vzxlackians did wait and carefully watched the apes as they approached the fallen, insectoid being.

OOC-In the jungle, 70-120 F, and in the deserts, 30 F at night in the average area, and 135 F at the hottest areas. K-5s reigon usually is between 50 F and 90 F at this time of year.
IC-
Dunhelds body, seeming lifeless, lay at the center of the monolith.
Greetings, traveler.
The voice in his mind wasn't in a language, but he could understand it, somehow.
Who are you? And what am doing? What are you doing?

I am the Navigator. I have freed you.

That's... That's my BODY! What the hell have you done?

You no longer need it.

What do you mean? I need my body, I'm a human being!

That may not be true anymore. Someone approaches.

The unfortunate Vzxlackian that attempted to crawl its way towards the cave found itself shot at. After several charges were fired it was shot and sent flying against a rock that exploded afterwards from another charge hit. Battered and fallen, it collapsed into unconsciousness while it held tightly to its pulse rifle. Fortunate for it; however, its space suit and exoskeletal structure provided enough protection for it to barely survive the assault. But it was not complete luck, for it might not live for longer—there was a strange beeping emanating from the suit signifying that the oxygen tank of its suit was leaking.

If it didn't receive aid soon, it would suffocate without oxygen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The commanding Vzxlackian clicked a curse at the failure of its plan and was about to order two others to move quickly and retrieve the fallen trooper. But then, it noticed several of the apes moving to rescue the Vzxlackian's fallen comrade. They would allow the inferior creatures capture their troop and nurse it back to health while they stealthily followed. As soon as the trooper was patched up, the Vzxlackians would ambush the apes and kill everyone in sight. They must have no surviving witnesses....

Clicking and buzzing its new plan to the rest of the Vzxlackian troop, it told them to wait while the apes rescued their comrade. So the rest of the Vzxlackians did wait and carefully watched the apes as they approached the fallen, insectoid being.

The party of four soon arrived at the fallen Vzxlackian and attempted to render what aid they could. This was not much, as they were unfamiliar with Vzxlackian anatomy. LRR had only a handfull of insectoids, the population being mainly humanoid creatures and free-thinking robots. (Like Marvin in The Hitchhiker's guide, not the terminator.)

"What do we do? I don't know this anatomy as well as I should. Mik, what's on your suit library?"
"I'm looking, George. Ah! Here it is! Basic exoskeleton construction. Watch those legs, George. We don't want to hurt this guy."
"I think I've remedied the wound. Good thing for these suit kits. But how to we get him out of here?"
"We better not try to make 'em consious yet. Do you have any of those UD flares?"
"Why yes, I do! Hold on, budddy, we'll have you out of here in a second."

George pulles out a flare launcher, firing the Universal Distress marker into the atmosphere. The luminescent patch hovered in the sky for about five minutes before deploying its parachute and floating to the ground.

Meanwhile, Emily and the corporal had taken up positions on surrounding rocks, and were prepared to blast apart anything that came close. She checked the safety on her Ak-200, the ultramodern version of that venerable russian firearm, and put it on semi-automatic. She looked over at the corporal, who was visibly frightened. He hadn't said a word since they started off, and was sweating profusely.

OOC- okay, 2 things, 1 dunsheld wouldnt have been able to escape, he had 3 snipers trained on him, 2 of mine, one elaran. #2 the cave is being guarded by 2 of my platoons and 2 gunships, which is pretty formidable because they dug in pretty well.

OOC-In the jungle, 70-120 F, and in the deserts, 30 F at night in the average area, and 135 F at the hottest areas. K-5s reigon usually is between 50 F and 90 F at this time of year.
IC-
Dunhelds body, seeming lifeless, lay at the center of the monolith.
Greetings, traveler.
The voice in his mind wasn't in a language, but he could understand it, somehow.
Who are you? And what am doing? What are you doing?

I am the Navigator. I have freed you.

That's... That's my BODY! What the hell have you done?

You no longer need it.

What do you mean? I need my body, I'm a human being!

That may not be true anymore. Someone approaches.

The captain and his partt of then burst into the room. On top of the monolith, there is a body. Except for the captain and the chief archaeologist, everyone thinks he's dead. The nine other crewmembers start to head back to the ship. The captain and CA, however, remain, with wide grins covering their faces.

"I've found it! This is great! The story all fits now! Bob and Frank were our counterparts! They must have found another one too!"

The Captain and CA immediately search the room for any falsifications or evidence of a ploy. They then come up close to the monolith, giddy as a first grader with all A+'s.

You seem to be a violent species. You yourself have killed many. And these others that have come here... They threaten the safety of the temple. They must be stopped.
No...No...
It is for your safety as well as mine. It must be done.
The ground at K-5 rumbled, and then seem to jump, flinging people 10 feet into the air, and a burst shorted out most sensors.
Hopefully, they will stop the combat now.

OCC: I see you are an Arthur C. Clarke fan. Mind if I get some of my guys involved, to whom happened pretty much the same thing? Well, they found one in space, not on a plane, but same idea. What do you say?

(Frank and Bob were the crew of the LRRSV Holzfeller on its first and last mission. All but a few think that they were killed or captured by Zoir pirates. Their mission is a popular discussion topic on many UFO shows.)

OOC- okay, 2 things, 1 dunsheld wouldnt have been able to escape, he had 3 snipers trained on him, 2 of mine, one elaran. #2 the cave is being guarded by 2 of my platoons and 2 gunships, which is pretty formidable because they dug in pretty well.
OOC- The explosion would have sent enough interference to screw over most sensors. The dust cloud would have been a hundred feet high, and just as wide. Not to mention the rumble would have offset most aim, and the area is strewn with rocks for cover. Besides, Dunhelds was a necessary and planned part of the RP.

OCC: I see you are an Arthur C. Clarke fan. Mind if I get some of my guys involved, to whom happened pretty much the same thing? Well, they found one in space, not on a plane, but same idea. What do you say?

(Frank and Bob were the crew of the LRRSV Holzfeller on its first and last mission. All but a few think that they were killed or captured by Zoir pirates. Their mission is a popular discussion topic on many UFO shows.)
Uhh, I actually ain't a Clarke fan. The monolith here is much different. I'm not sure if it'll fit in well, as these "temples" are all located on planets that support life. I'm not really sure... Let's keep it simple until the story behind these are unraveled.

OOC- okay ill let it slide for the sake of RP

Transmission to the NE Forces in Orbit.

Commander Raab: This is Commander Raab, 1st officer of the LF Destoryer 'Honnor' from the 1st LEG(Liberty Expeditionary Group), we responded to a jamming signal comming from site k-5, we linked up with the elaran forces, our captain left with a 3 platoon detachment of LSM(liberty Space Marines) and 3 Viper Gunships, detected weapons fire, they have k-5 site secured and just disarmed a remote mine set at the entrance, scans say that they entered the cave through a collapse in the tunnels roof, we are waiting your response to co-ordiantes reaction, here is my captain's frequency==transmitts the frequency of Viper-2==

OOC- okay, 2 things, 1 dunsheld wouldnt have been able to escape, he had 3 snipers trained on him, 2 of mine, one elaran. #2 the cave is being guarded by 2 of my platoons and 2 gunships, which is pretty formidable because they dug in pretty well.
OOC- The explosion would have sent enough interference to screw over most sensors. The dust cloud would have been a hundred feet high, and just as wide. Not to mention the rumble would have offset most aim, and the area is strewn with rocks for cover. Besides, Dunhelds was a necessary and planned part of the RP.

The 11-person party suddenly found themselves in the air one second, and on the floor the next, for the most part unconsious. Aboard the Asimov, the sensors completely cut out, and the crew quickly deduced that the monolith that they searche dfor had been found or something to that effect. George and Mikhail, prepared to transport the faller Insectoid on their backs, found themselves on the ground, george with a broken leg. The corporal, flung from his lofty perch, was nearly dea, and Emily was clinging to the cliff facewith all her strength.

The insectoid creatures observing the party rescuing their comrade were put to stark alert as the area began to violently shake. Clicking and whistling orders, the chief Vzxlackian rounded its troop to a more stable area where falling rocks could not reach them.

Over the private com system, finger readily over the trigger of its pulse rifle, a Vzxlackian asked its commanding officer what the ground quake could have been. The commander shook its bug-like head and replied in a low whistling tone that it did not know.

OCC: I see you are an Arthur C. Clarke fan. Mind if I get some of my guys involved, to whom happened pretty much the same thing? Well, they found one in space, not on a plane, but same idea. What do you say?

(Frank and Bob were the crew of the LRRSV Holzfeller on its first and last mission. All but a few think that they were killed or captured by Zoir pirates. Their mission is a popular discussion topic on many UFO shows.)
Uhh, I actually ain't a Clarke fan. The monolith here is much different. I'm not sure if it'll fit in well, as these "temples" are all located on planets that support life. I'm not really sure... Let's keep it simple until the story behind these are unraveled.

Ok. I am rather confused now. But ok.

"LF ship, we are now sending 36 MMI infantry to K-5. Do NOT interfere, but thanks for the help."

"NE ship, with all due respect, we were jammed and almost forced into a 900kmph colision with the planet's surface, we arent gonna let someone take our investigation out of our hands, my captain is there, im sure hes even more adiment on investigation then i am, we insist on being part of the search."

"LF ship, you can proceed, but be careful. Enough trouble has been caused already."

"NE ship, thank you, when your marines land they will co-ordinate with our captain, i have already sent him word"

The Asimov slowly regains some sensor capabilities, but its acting captain wisely chooses to keep them off, so as to show no hostile intent to the monolith or whatever it was that initiated the jamming. He stepped outside, surveying the fallen rocks and the light damage done to his frigate, and then deployes his favorite lawn chair, pulls out Rendezvous With Rama by A. C. Clarke, and begins to read. The rest of the crew, all level-headed, calm people to begin with, stopped any action that might look suspicious or threatening to an observer. The eleven-man party was still mostly unconsious, but a few people regained consiousness and looked around, trying to get their bearings.

Meanwhile, Emily was able to swing herself up onto the cliff after several attempts. She had lost her Ak-200 early on, and had no other means by which to defend herself. The bulky suit which she wore did not lend itself to unarmed combat, being made to suit the needs of the average LRR, an intellectual and a pacifist. Even in the ranks of the fleet, all combat victories are taken with a grain of salt, never celebrating kills or missions accomplished. One plus is that the LRR fleet almost never sees combat, so very few conflicts of interest arise. It is only in the interest of the greater good that an LRR fleet will go into action. This is why the few LRR special ops marines, like Emily, were held in rather low esteem.

Mikhail now was the only person capable of rescuing the Vzxlackian, and the insectoid was far too heavy a load to carry for a single ape being. George was attempting to walk on his broken leg, but could not make any sufficent speed. In despiration, Mikhail begain calling out for help, hoping that the Vzxlackians would hear.

"Hello, out there! We are unable to rescue your comrade! Please, come and take him, as we can do no more for him! Hello!"

The commander whistled in a frustrated tone to itself upon hearing the ape shout. With a gesture of its hand, it ordered its troop to ready its pulse rifles. Stepping out from their cover, they marched towards the group of apes. Each of the Vzxlackians aimed their pulse rifles at the survivors as if cautious of the conscious survivors.

The leader stepped forward and walked to its fallen troop. Clipping its rifle to its space suit, it kneeled down to the fallen Vzxlackian. Showing superior strength to the ape-beasts, it lifted up the hurt insectoid and carried it back to the party of other Vzxlackians.

Once behind all of its troops with the fallen Vzxlackian, it clicked an order over the com system. The ape survivors were to die. Swift death would come upon the LRR troops as the Vzxlackians opened heavy fire on them with their pulse rifles.

A marine about five miles away lowers his binoculars and mutters into his wrist com.
A signal travleing through hyperspace at over two hundred times the speed of light reaches the captain of the Solo. Orders are issued, weapons prepared, in orbit fifty of over 4000 guns on the massive ship rotate and zero on their targets.
Then, bursts of energy streak from the sky, directly at the Vzxlackian positions.

The Vzxlackians hault their fire on the LRR forces and dive for cover as the incoming bursts speed towards them. Several are sent flying through the air against the rocky terrain, possibly killed. Only twelve of them, the commander and original fallen troop counted among them, make it behind a protective ridge.

The commander buzzes many curses, finding these ape-beasts to be far too hindersome and bothersome for their own good. Once their Empire finally decided to invade this rim of the galaxy, the apes would be the first to go. It clicked an oath to this if it ever survived long enough to be part of that invasion force.

The Viper Gunship cre was having trouble getting the massive coulds of dust out of everywhere, out of knowwhere, the scanners show gunifre, and the marines and shipcrew look up to see Shipfire comming from the sky, immideatley the captain got on his Wrist Com.

Captain: Raab, radio the group, we have shipfire, get in the air, we need support now! I want the rest of thre group here, tell the admiral its priority 1.

Raab: yes sir!

Captain: Alright, bio signs, 5 clicks thaty way, friend of foe, we will find out, warrant officer, take us there, gunners at alert, marines, get ready to jump.

:::transmission from the first LEG to Destoryer Honnor:::

This is admiral McNally, Raab, we are entering hyperspace now, eta 20 minutes.

The rest of the Expidetionary force jumped into hyerspace, the carrier, 2 battleships, 2 destoyers, and 4 crusiers were ready for action.

A distant rumbling sounds, and over the crest of a hill appears the head of a Korogoth assault unit, the largest and most powerful land based unit in the GLAs army, it towers above just about everything at about 200 feet tall.
A distant shout is heard, and the eyes are drawn towards the almost antlike figures at its feet, the cry is drawn through to the combatants by the wind.
"MAAARRIIINNNNEEESSS!!!"
The Korogoth raises its pulse cannon and fires a shot at the insectoids on the hill and a massive voice booms out in the Vzxlackian launguage.
"Surrender now and you will be allowed to return to your transport, if you do not surrender you will be destroyed."
The marines dive behind rocks and other cover, taking aim at the Vzxlackian position, the Korogoth stays put, still pointing its weapon at the insectoids.

The MCS-4 Dropship landed, and the power-armored Mobile Marine Infantry suits poured out. They quickly secured the area, and took no chances. With the Y-racks of missiles loaded, their machinecannon ready, and their sensors poring over the area, a fire-team was dispatched to the monolith. They found a new opening in the cavern lead them to the LRR recon team and Dunheld's body.
"Put your weapons down."
"Wha? Who is this?"
"This is who used to be ex-Master Sgt. Alwin Dunhelds."
"B-Bullsh*t. That's his body, right there."
"I said who used to be. Put down the weapons NOW. And take off the suits."
The marines nervously obeyed, shedding the MMI armor and dropping the rifles.
They are no threat. But what the hell do you plan on doing?

You shall see. Soon you will all learn

"NE forces, this is Captain McElhinny of the 1st LEG, we have detected ship fire from an orbit position, in response the rest of the battle group my ship belongs to is on its way and will be here in minutes, we intercepted a transmission calling down the fire, groun troops, approaching therm now, aprehension course"

==The Gunship soared over the ridge, spotting the soldier who made the transmission they halted, 14 marines made thier jump 10 feet to the ground, the 2 mini guns took auto aim, and the platoons 2 snipers also took aim on him.== over the loudspeaker:Unidentified soldier, halt now or be shot, we will not hesitate, drop your weapons and hit you knees, hand on your head!

Casualties no longer mattered to the Vzxlackian commander, and dropping the originally hurt trooper it led the remaining ten troops it had off the hill and behind a large, nearby, spiky rock. Surrendering to these filthy apes was not an option as surendering to lesser races was seen as a disgrace among their species.

::transmission to NE forces::
This is captain Major McClain, of the LF ship Honnor commander of charlie SM company, we have a major siuation here, scanners report massive armed conflisct 3 clicks from the k-5 site, we need back up NOW!

"Roger, backup on the way!"
The 100 SUF-15 VTOL fighters launched, and surrounded the area.
"ALL FORCES! CEASE FIRE, OR BE DESTROYED!"
--
Why must they fight?...
The burst transmission was directed toward the LRR ship, with enough jamming power to give an AI a nervous breakdown.

The Korogoth unit quietly plucks the transmissions from the air and sends them to the Listener.
The commander hears these messages and quickly pulls up the comm to the NE forces.
"Those are allied troops, they are there to assist you, we had agreed to that. Acknowledge."

"That may be so, but anymore activity, and god knows what that thing will do. Just stop firing."

The battle Group came out of hyperspace and went into geyo-sync orbit above the destoryer 'Honnor', Honnor began to lift off and join the rest of the group, the rest of the Division of Space marines that is assigned to the LEG began to land:::

Viper1 and Viper 3 took off full crews ready to go, Viper 2 with thier new prisoner (dontgonearthere its you marine who called the first strikes from you ship in orbit) joinned the formation and they headed towards the towaring mech they saw in the distance.

With the distractions being to their aid, the eleven surviving Vzxlackians were able to flee the conflicted area for the more mountainous terrain that supplied much cover for them to hide in. Left behind were seven Vzxlackian bodies strewn across the open terrain, two actually blown apart, one still quite alive (the one the commander dropped), and the rest presumably dead but possibly unconscious.

OOC: The radio man called the mech and marines in, hes right underneath them.

Listener:
"All right Sarlham control."
The Korogoth and marines ceased firing, but did not lower their weapons, two or three fired an occasional potshots at the retreating insects but the sergeant started hitting people with his pistol.
The marines advanced, covered by the Korogoth, and two put the insectoid into a stasis unit for transport and study, three GLA dropships arrived and slowly lowered themselves to earth, two lifted off, bearing bits and pieces of insect meat, the other stayed.

The eleven Vzxlackians, now fully concealed and covered by the mountainous area continued their way further into the large rocky outcroppings. What lay behind them was a humiliating but not dishonorable defeat. The apes were surely onto their presence on this side of the galaxy, and what was meant to be a fully secret mission had failed. Now they had to be more careful than before to avoid further discovery.

Minutes of walking brought them to realize that they were now on the lower foothills of a mountain. The tracking device had said the origin of the signal was in a cave, so it was only possible that in this mountain they would find another cave that branched into the desired goal.

With this realization, the commander ordered its troops to be on the lookout for any possible opening into the earth below. The mission, although no longer secretive and discreet, was not over yet.

OOC-okay just kidding about the marine then


The batttle group was now in full formation, they scanned the surface and located the ship belonging to the insects.

:::transmission to the GLA ship in orbit:::
This is Rear Admiral E. McNally of the 1st LEG, I demand your forces stand down NOW, being New Imperial teritory you have no authority here, the Liberty Fighters have Recently Allied the NEw Empire in thr APTO. Your agression is un-needed, allied forces are holding the situation and site K-5 is secured by LSM Charlie Company. I am landing the rest of the 11th SMD(space Marine Divison) to help secure K-5 further, again, STAND DOWN or be fired upon


McNally then got on the fleet com channel...
All pilots to your fighters, pilots to your fighters, Yellow Alert, prepare for launch

"We have stood down, there is no more firing, and we are here as allies and friends, if you continue to threaten us we may be forced to rescend that courtesy and bring in our fleet, as well as more troops. As a gesture of our friendly intentions, I would like to inform you that the Listener's scanners have picked up something very interesting, namely the fact that those insects appear to be looking for another way into the cave."

The seven Vzxlackians in the scout ship who had been monitoring the chaos near the K-5 Site were astonished to pick up a force of units nearby. Their ship had been discovered! Quickly they rallied themselves to their battlestations, manning the two plasma cannons that armed their ship. Also they opened their storage of strange, advanced weaponry which stocked rifles, guns, and explosives. If an attack came, they were ready for a fight.

Transmission to the GLA ship in orbit:::"I am glad hostilities are not needed, I was not aware of an alliance between us but that is not the issue, your information would be most welcome and co-operation as well. My troops have set up at k-5, you can talk to Colonel Murphy who has recived control of the base as Captain McElhinny has joinned us in command of the Honnor up here."

"Liberty Fighters, there will be no landing of the SMD. We need to worry about this artifact."
--
When can I get an idea of what's going on?

In time. In time. The temple key must be brought to the starfield. Until then, the knowledge is beyond my reach.

The Marines, sitting on the shells of their power armor, were making a mental list of every detail.

"NE , my Marines are there to help secure the area so your people can go about thier buisiness, Colonel Murphy is a personel Friend and graduated Top of his class at the Academy, sepak to him ,tell him that you have authority and that I say so. HE will listen to you anthough he will keep me updated." -RearAdmiral McNally

Good news came to the field commander of the eleven Vzxlackians; its troops have found a small opening into the mountain. The opening itself isn't big enough for any of them to fit through, but the area beyond was seen to be quite large. The commander clicked an order to its troops to make that opening large enough. Obeying the orders, two troops aimed their pulse rifles at the stone wall with the cave opening and fired.

Rock was blown apart and sent flying, creating a cloud of dust and sand. Once it cleared, the insectoid creatures saw that the opening was now big enough for them to access the cave within. Quickly, without wasting a further moment, the eleven Vzxlackians filed into the cave and the labyrinthine passages beyond, the tracking device being their key navigation.

GLAF Listener:
"Commander! The insectoids are moving! They have breached the mountain!"
The commander shoves the comm tech out of the way,
"Sarlham, this is GLAF Listener, those damn bugs are inside K-5, until further notice our forces will take up defenive positions next to yours, however, if this thing is dangerous, I would suggest immidiate action, we have several Hunter Seeker robots who could capture the insects without using firearms, shall we send them in?"

to GLAF Listener:
This is Colonel Murphy of the 11th Liberty Space Marine Div. I command most of the troops here at the base camp at K-5, Because New Empire has jurisdiction, I am reporting to them as well as Admiral McNally and Captain McElhinny. I cannot authorize the persuit of the insectoids, but i can authorize the stationing of the robots here at the base camp, so send em on down and Ill keep an eye on em.

The Vzxlackians kept on their guard as they wandered the subterrainian tunnels underneath the mountain. With the tracking device as their guide, they selectfully chose the tunnels that led in the direction of the signal's source. It read that they were close, very close... it was just a matter of finding the right passages and getting to their goal.

GLAF Listener:
"Very well, clear an area about 200 feet wide of anything you dont want incenerated at these coordinates"
(encoded coordinates)

A short while later more streaks appear in the skies, five seeming meteors breach the upper atmosphere and fire their retro rockets, all five land within a few feet of each other, as soon as the site has cooled (A process aided by Co2 sprayers mounted on the craft) they crack open and two small hovering robots, roughly sphereoid in shape appear, hovering about man heigth off the ground, they move forward and station themselves at equal distances about the cave entrace.

To GLA Listener:

"Listener, this is Murphy. Your bots have arrived, very nice"
-Colonel B Murphy

GLAF Listener:
"Yes, very fancy, the designers said that we should use a more effecient system, but 47 wouldnt have it, he likes flashy entrances. Now, are we going to do anything about your pest problem? Or do you not care if they get their hands on this whatever it is?"

To GLAF Listener
"Negative, I dont have Authorization to let you in, acctually as of right now im supposed to keep you out. New Empire has jurisdiction. Of COurse I care, they almost killed us, and if theres something that can scramble our Ships' Computers so easliy, i dont want it to get into the wrong hands."
-Col. B Murphy

GLAF Listener:
"Hmmm, were scanning the caves there, and it appears they are almost on top of whatever it is, im afraid if anything starts to happen our only option will be to level the mountain, I hope you understand."

Above them.

That's where the tracking device said the signal source was now to their present location. A half mile above them to be exact. For the last hour or so, the Vzxlackians have been taking a downward descent into the caverns they were exploring.

Clicking to its troop, the commander said they were close and needed to find a cave passage that ascended to areas above. Soon this mystery of the signal will be unraveled.

to GLAF Listener:
Understood, my men have charted the exact passage to the artifct with our probes, my team leaders give me a 2 minutres or less time for them to get to the artifact

OOC: Ok I go to a movie and now theres three pages. Can someone give me a summary please?

OOC: I gotta go to bed soon, feel free to RP for my troops, but dont do anything I wouldnt :roll: :lol:

OOC- okay i guess its done for tonight

OOC: Ok , LF Just gave me a summary. Gonna try to start again somewhere. Just try8ing to figure out how some people snuck past my troops.


The 300 Elarians met up with Liberty forces a tthe base camp and begining planning their next moves.

The insectoids had moved into a mountain cave a while ago, using the mass distraction to their aid to slip past everyone. Now in the cave system, they were beginning to move in on their mysterious goal—the monolith.

"All forces, pursue and destroy the alien forces before they reach K-5."

On recieving this order the GLA 'bots immidiatly do a 180 and fly down the tunnel at top speed, the marines follow as best they can, but obviously, the Korogoth remains behind.

GLAF Listener:
"You may have already heard this New Empire, but I want to make it clear, if the insectoids get ahold of that artifact, we may have to level the mountain, I hope you understand what we have to do."

"No leveling anything till we get our men out of there."
--
The said 6 MMI soldiers had picked up the transmissions, and got into their power armor.

The selected liberty Space Marines rushed in, safties off ready to shoot anyting not humanoid, the followed thier scanner and probd path directly to the artifact, all 24 of them stood in awe, seeing the giant artifact the stood there, all they could do was take a defensive position and aime thier weapons towards it, waiting the order to fire upon it, or waiting to see the aliens. The 2nd Lieutenant called to the 6 marines.

2ndLt: Friendlies, over here, and get down!

The ten probes continue to wind their way through the passages, searching for the recorded life-signs of the insectoids, classified now as species 10,543.5 by the hive mind that controls them, finnaly, one spots the signs, it signals the others and they converge on it, then fly down the passage directly towards the insectoids position.

GLAF Listener:
"From what Ive heard, if the insects get their hands on the artifact, your troops will already of died defending it, or will die when the buggers activate it."

George and Mikhail hid amongst the dead Vzxlackians for about 30 minutes, until they decided that it would be safe to venture out. After the 30 minutes passed, they stand up and survey the scene.

"What a shame. Its really too bad that humans had to evolve like that. Such beautiful life forms, these insectoids."
"Got that right. We should try to get back to the ship. Have any idea where it might be?"
"Nope. Mabye our marine friend could help us. Hey, Em!"

The Sargent, keen to stay hidden, was reluctant to answer this transmission.

"What do you guys want?"

The two scientists were glad to hear the reply.

"We need to get back to the ship. Do you remember where it was?"
"The asimov or the lifeboat?"
"The asimov would have left by now. The lifeboat, dope!"
"Ok, ok! Just let me get down there to you guys."

Emily made her way down the cliff face, her effort impeded by the lack of proper gear and the bulkiness of the suit. Meanwhile, the 11-person tunnel team rushes out of the temple area, hoping to reach the the Asimov before they are trapped. They finally gain the outside of the tunnel, and see the grey-white shape of the frigate about a mile in the distance. Having found what they were looking for, and having delivered the LRR research party, the frigate prepares to take off again, this time headed to the LRR research station on Demios, chosen for its proximity to Sol System assets and the fact that nobody has heard of it before.

"See you guys later, ground party. Equipment should all be witht he lifeboat craft. There's also a rover with the bunch. Have fun. Asimov out."

The privates who remained on the ridge hear this news first. They make their way down to the lifeboat craft and wait for the rest of the party to arrive from their position about two miles away. When all were finally present and accounted for, they started to look for a cave in which to spend the night. Emily's sharp eyes spotted a tunnel opening a few hundred meters away.

"Come on. I found a cave!"

They started twoards the tunnel opening, gaining it in about an hour. The marines could brobably have made the run in 15 minutes, in full combat gear, but the scientists were inclined to take a more leisurely pace.

OOC: LLR, I took the Vzxlackians bodies, and then walked right over the spot...

OOC: LLR, I took the Vzxlackians bodies, and then walked right over the spot...

OCC; It is still possible that you missed the scientists among all the rocks. Just humor me, will you? Pleeeeeeese?

The LF Space Marines would get a surprise, as the Vzxlackians arrived to the chamber with the monolith from an adjoining corridor. Viciously they began fire with their pulse rifles in an attempt to kill as many of the apes as possible. Their commander wanted any ape that got in their way to be killed.

As they fired upon the marines, the commander noticed the monolith and pulling back further into the passage for complete cover, looked at its tracking device. Indeed, it identified the monolith as the source of the signal they tracked through the galaxy. Clicking an order, the commander told its troops to not harm the monolith. Now conscious of this, the insectoid troopers did their best to avoid firing on the great artifact.

The 6 MMI troopers, who were sitting on ledges in the cavern, began spraying the aliens with 12.7mm rounds from their machine guns.

The Marines having instinctivley taken cover when they came into the chamber werent hit by the first burts of fire from the insectoids. LF production had recently issued the new LV Mark V Assault rifles, gave the marines a great advantage. As trained the Marines immediatley used the 203 Acid-fire grenade sub-launcher uner the barrel off thier plasma/lazer/ion rifles. All 24 men fired 2 grenades and then chose thier targets to systematicly take out with accurate assualt fire. The 2nd Lieutenant was hit in the thigh, he retreated to full cover and called for back up. "those damn bugs would soon have the entire 11th Liberty Space Marine Division in this chamber!"

The tracker drones suddenly drop out of the roof onto the insectoids, as it turns out the drones had followed a path far to small for anything to fit into, though it led to the perfect ambush, each drone, using massive strength, siezes a bug and attempts to disable it, on seeing this DGNT marines charge into the fray with wrist mounted flame throwers, and assault rifles, the Sergeant dives behind a rock and starts blasting with his pistol.

One of the insectoids fell from too many of the bullets, the creatures having the fortunate biology of possessing protective exoskeletons. Two turned and aimed their fire on the MMI troopers while the rest concentrated their fire on LF as they kept the adjoining corridor as partial cover.

The commander had enough of these ape creatures and threw out a small device beyond the gunfire. Taking another small device from its belt and pressed a button, causing it to flicker. Clicking into its wrist, it spoke to the opposing forces and the first device, now resting on the cave floor, translated its words to the language of the apes.

"Attention ape-beasts. Allow us to reach the monolith and you will be spared. I possess a Disintegration Detonator, failure to comply with my demands will result me in setting it off and destroying everything in a one mile radius. Back down and be spared."

The sergeant turns and looks at the insect who spoke, then makes a descision, he reaches to his own belt and pulls out a similar device, triggers it and throws it at the commander.
"Hey! CATCH!"
When the small spheroid is about five feet away it detonates, sparying fragments of liquid metal and plasma in all directions.

"Grahhh!! Failure!......."

With the last of its strength, the commander pressed the button on its device, detonating it. Indeed the massive explosion field would be sent forth, disintegrating everything within the stated radius that wasn't shielded by an energy force.

The Admiral watched the scanner readings, intantly he knew what happened. He ordered all ships to destroy the bugs' ship. All 10 space vessels conentrated thier fire on the ship, it was impossible for it to survive, it was more likely that the liberty marines 3 feet away from the charge survived.

On the ground, Colonel Murphy wasted no time, 40 Viper Gunships were in the air and hovered in a defensive formation around the artifact, one way or another, the Liberty Fighters WOULD secure the artifact.

The cavern, and temple, was designed to stand the test of time... and interstellar warfare. The force curled off the strange materials that made up the temple and monolith, but the 6 MMI were not so lucky. They were literally incinerated.
My god... Is it over?

It seems that the species that was fighting your former species, "humans" is it, is gone. It saddens one to see so many die in a place meant for peace. But the key still must be found. I cannot do anything more until that key is inserted into that pedestal.

In the clearing at K-5, a dull metallic blue object was unsurfaced by the rumbles and explosions. It waited for someone or something to find it.

The 12 MMI advanced into the cavern, and set up positions. They would NOT lose their objective this time.

"All forces, the artifact site is ours."

The only way that artifact could have possibly survived the blast is if it was made out of a material that could withstand any assault*, even the mighty mile radius of disintegration. Everything in that area should have been obliterated... the Vzxlackians themselves, the opposing Space Marines, the surrounding rock.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile at the Vzxlackian scout ship, the energy shield generators were surprisingly having a difficult time keeping up with the many charge assaults. Several of the blasts made their way to damage the hull, and the Vzxlackians knew that it was time for a tactful retreat.

While its twin cannons fired back at the enemy forces, the Vzxlackian scout ship slowly lifted off of the ground, ready to take off for space.

*Edit: OOC: Which I now see it is.

OOC-The "people" who built it designed it that way. All of the material was basically shielded, and the force would have been contained by that field.

I mean, what kind of enigmatic alien race has sites that can be killed off by smaller, less advanced races?

OOC: Ok I just have way too much going on to involve myself any further in this , sorry NE perhaps later we can do something else when Im not so busy.

IC:

Commander Zoroth: Thats right Terin , we're needed elsewhere , Im sure our allies can handle this.

Centurion Terin: As you wish Commander we'll be there shortly.


Soon later the Elarian Shuttles are in the Battleships bays and they jump into hyperspace headed for Elarian Imperial Territory.

The Korogoth unit seems to be the last survivor of the blast, though battered, its energy shield held long enough to prevent fatal damage, the crew quickly notices the dull shine of the object, and dispatches the few marines who remained outside, only five survived.

A marine using the Korogoth to boost his radio signal, sends a message to the Listener.
"Sir, weve found something, were taking it to...what used to be the cavern, but were going to need some bridging units, theres a mile deep, mile wide hole between us and it."
"Roger Team 1, help is on the way."
A dropship soon arrives and takes the marines to the artifact, picking up any friendly survivors on the way.

On one of the GLA dropships, one of the Vzxlackian bodies began to move. As remembered from GLA's first assault on the Vzxlackians on the hill, the troops left behind by the other (now disintegrated) eleven numbered seven. Two were blown to bits, four were believed simply dead, and the one that was known to be alive was placed in a stasis pod.

Now one of the four bodies that were believed to be dead was regaining consciousness. Its feelers were moving, its claws were flexing, and its wings were twitching underneath the space suit it wore. The insectoid threat was not over yet......

OOC: He/She/Its in stasis, according to that same post. But if you REALLLLLLYYYY want to do this, go ahead, just know that that same dropship has ten marines on it.

OOC: All of the bodies? I just remember you putting that one in stasis, and this one isn't it.

OCC- just a re-cap. #1The base camp set up by allied forces at k-5 was out of the blast radius. #2 40 Viper Gunships are in the air over the artifact, thus the allies have it secured heavily at the moment. #3 That one ship that my WHOLE BATTLE GROUP targeted, would have been blown to bits, you do realize that it has 10 ships puring everything they have minus thier sub-orbital nukes and 'god rods' Sorry vzxlack, but you desinigrate my men, you don get out alive. that ship is gone.

OOC: The ones I didnt put into stasis were all in small pieces...so do your people just have magnetic personalities?
(laughter at uber-bad joke) 8)

OOC: Well thanks for explaining, Dontgonearthere. You didn't type it in plural, so I assumed only one was placed in stasis. Apologies.

LF, as I stated before, the scout ship has force shield generators. Meaning it's surrounded by a (mostly) protective field of energy. Your forces are overloading it; however, and thus seriously damaging the hull. A few more blasts should be sending it to a crash (which I was planning). To further that, read the following post. And frankly, your troops would have lived if Dontgonearthere hadn't challenged my commanding alien's bluff. Get mad at him for that, not me. :wink:

IC: In the air, the scout ship received dangerous amounts of damage through the struggling and overloaded shields. Frantically, the twin plasma cannons fired at the assaulting ships in a desperate hunger of survival. Unfortunately no matter how shielded the ship was, it was not entirely invulnerable. Thinking they had a chance to break free of the atmosphere and run for it, there was an explosion at one of the engines which sent them instead speeding back at the planet's surface.

Streaking through the air, it met its demise on one of the many mountain ranges of the northern hemisphere's desert. If there were any survivors* among the wreckage, they were stranded on the planet without another means of escape. As good as dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back on the GLA dropship, the stasis pod the reviving Vzxlackian was contained in was obviously failing; possibly the result of a bad storage battery. The twin black, ant-like eyes stared at the world beyond its stasis pod. The scene beyond was unwelcoming, as the crude design of the ship architecture was obviously not Vzxlackian make. The apes had it prisoner.

With an angry clicking and buzzing, its struggled against the pod's opening, trying to force it. It will not be held prisoner! Never in a million years.......

*OOC: One lives, yes, but badly hurt.

Now that the area is secure, archeologists begin moving in and setting up camp at K-5.

OOC_ okay sorry buddy, i just got out of a war with some pretty ignorant and bad RPers, I apologize again. And yes Im aware that it was not your fault those marines died, but IC, Admiral McNally doesnt...

OOC: Hey, just because I cant control all of my peoples minds doesnt make it my fault that some jackass sergeant chucked a grenade at your command bug. For the next post, im going to assume a couple of things about Vzywhateverian anatomy.

Private Willaims was bored. He didnt see WHY he had to stand guard over a bunch of bug parts, especialy on a ten foot wide ship, with twelve people on it, all of whome were GLA personel and had to intention of stealing or damaging anything, then he heard something scratching at the door, he curiosly, not yet alarmed, pressed the button to open the door, and looked down in suprise at the two spines that buried themselves in his chest, he died with a look of utter suprise on his face, but not before his bubbly cry for help alerted the rest of the marines, eight of them charged into the room and opened full auto fire on the bug.

To be more accurate, the spines were the Vzxlackian's claws digging out the man's heart. Once the troopers arrived and began firing, it pulled closed the door of the pod for protection. Shaking in the increasingly bullet battered pod, it toppled it over onto the neighboring stasis pod. Both of them fell and hit the floor with a loud thud.

As the troops were left stunned and wondering if they had killed the thing, the pod of the awakened beast was lifted from underneath by the creature and thrown directly at the troops. Tearing off parts of its space suit while the marines were trying to get the thrown pod off of them, it freed its wings and leaped up into the ceiling.

More gunfire rained at the insectoid's direction, but a body never came down. The curious marines would move in and find not a thing above them either. Behind them came a soft click, then a dead weight dropped on for of their heads as fore and hind tallons began crushing their skulls. Dripping from its exoskeletal limbs was a green ooze where several lucky bullets had injured it.

Unbeknowst, the toppling of a fellow pod had ruined its system like the other, awakening the other insectoid that lay within.

OOC: Gotta have my cliffhanger, damnit. :wink:

OOC: A GLA dropship isnt that big, all the oxygen comes from small air pipes on the ceiling, which is about eight feet up, theyre rather cramped...I gotta go...see ya next day.

OOC: Hrm... you people have to make everything difficult for someone reliving the Alien films. *Edit, edit.*

OOC- so wait a minute, the GLA dropship is on its accent to a ship in orbit i assume right?

OOC: I would only assume.... Dontgonearthere?

OOC: Its likely going to the Solo, where it will recive the welcome of 2500 marines who happen to live in the docking bay :twisted:

IC:
The pilot had heard the gunshots, assuming the worst, he jammed the saftey locks, the doors and airvents to the cockpit sealed, leaving the pilot and copilot alone in a five foot wide space, nothing could get in.

The marines had managed to lift the pod, after tossing a concusion grenade into the hold, and filling the other insect full of large holes, they began to search the ship, small as it was, for the other one.

OOC: Uh... Dontgonearthere.... Reread my edited post.

OOC: Okay, since lack of response shows some confusion I'll explain. In the edited version, the Vzxlackian that was loosed did not escape in an airduct. Instead it jumped on four of your troops, trying to crush their heads. Meanwhile the insect in the other pod is starting to wake up. Clear up things?

:::transmission to allied forces from the LF battle group in orbit:::
Due to demands on our forces in other areas, and the control that the NE forces have regained, we are pulling out all of our forces and going to another call.