NationStates Jolt Archive

Planet CF-385. United States Colony. For days now, no response had been recieved. Things started to get serious. Marines would be sent in. The Weyland-Yutani Company, the sponsors of the colony, decided to send in the "exchange group" in. They did all the preparations. On a ship to the planet, Lt. Steiner got out of cryo-sleep. He waited a moment, got dressed, and ate something. "Marines, get up!" He gave his men some time before he would get them ready. He grabbed his gear while he waited.

"Sir I'm Cpl Drake. I have been reassigned to your squad." Drake gave a salute to Lt. Steiner and waited until Steiner gave him a salute. He already had his armour on with his helmet, but he still yet to get his firearms.

Steiner saluted Drake. "Good to meet you. You know, my whole squad is new. All exchange people. No big deal. So, wha weapons you taking?" Steiner grabbed his knife, pistol, shotgun, pulse rifle, ammo, and motion tracker and put them in his ammo pockets and holsters.

"Well I'm taking the pulse rifle, combat knife, and pistol. What are we doing on CF-385 anyways?" Drake grabbed the equiment and loaded up his pistol and pulse rifle.

"That's all your taking? Here, use this." He threw him a sniper rifle. "You probably won't need to use it. We're just investigating what happened to the colonists."

"Christ." Then, about a minute later... "Christ."

PFC Carter loved the Corps. He probably would have made it a career even if circumstances weren't what they were. The one thing he couldn't stand was coming out of hypersleep. He felt like a corpse. His muscles were sluggish and his brain was shrouded in impenetrable fog. He muttered a few blasphemies and forced himself out of the cryotube. Naturally, the floor was freezing. He went through the motions of dressing as the fog started to lift. Carter headed to the galley. The best thing for cutting through hypersleep grog was strong, hot coffee.

A few minutes later, Carter had shaken off the haze and was his usual self--amicable and ready for a fight. He trotted to the weapon racks and armed up. His load: a pulse rifle, a flamethrower, a 9mm sidearm, and a hacking tool. Seeing Lt. Steiner, he saluted. "PFC Carter. What's this operation? I didn't get much in the way of a briefing."

"The op, it's a standard investigation."

"Okay I thanks. Well I haven't even used a gun in combat. It was my first mission. When my former squad landed on the spacestation it was deserted. We checked the place out. My Lt. told me to stay inside the ship. They were attacked by something. All the men were killed and Lt. push a button for the ship to leave." Drake picked up the Sniper rifle and more ammo.

Specialist Arthur Icarus had recovered considerably well from the usual disorientation of Hypersleep. A thin, stealthy man, and a former Special Forces member, he was alreadly wide awake by the time most of the marines were still shaking off their grogginess. An assult rifle was over his back; his pair of 454. Casulls were strapped to his waist. Sure, the pistols were old fashioned, but the ammo wasn't. They would blow apart a hole in pretty much anything in a single shot. Icarus also packed a foot-long combat knife. He might be a little parinoid, but there was Nothing like being prepared.

Icarus saluted the Lt. half-heartedly and leaned against a wall.

"Specialist Icarus, ready for action. When do we get started?"

"That makes two of us. I have combat experience, but my squad was massacred by guerilla fighters. If you want, we have some combat simulators over in that room."

"No it's fine Lt. I will gain experience by being in real combat." Drake tried to aim his pulse.

"Fucking Americans..."

Ademaro stated as he proceeded to get dressed, loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Steiner turned to the soldier that cursed at him. "Hey. I'm Lt. Steiner. And you are? Forgive me, I got a lot of changes and transfers, so Idon't know you?"

"Fucking Americans," Carter heard someone say. He wasn't offended--he'd been called worse--but he was surprised and a little amused. "'Scuse me," he said to Ademaro. "What Marine Corps did you enlist in?"

"Private Derek Ademaro, transfered here from the Tocrowkian Colonial Marines. I really wish I hadn't been, though..."

He replied.

"Carter, chill. Look, I don't know what your problem is, but your still a soldier. You'll just help us finish this mission, then I'll set up your return to the Tocrowkian Colonial Marines, alright?"

"Icarus, we get started when everyone is up, ready, and all equipment id checked."

OOC- I'll have some NPC's who become Alien fodder.

Adrian walked over to his weapons locker, he quietly got ready. "Sir." He said saluting "Its great to be here."

Arisu wakes up from cold sleep and stretches, the oversized t-shirt she wore as a night gown moving with her.

"good whatever time this is" she mutters to no-one in particular.

She climbs out and spots her temporary commanding officer whom she remembered from the briefing.

"Medic Arisu Kodomo, awake and reporting, sir!" she says in Kirisuban accented english and saluting to Lt Steiner still in her baggy t-shirt and pair of shorts, her long black pony tail swinging behind her.

"oh man, i hate thiose ice boxes" warmaster said as he got dressed

"Hello Arisu Kodomo. I'm Cpl Drake. I have been reassigned to this unit." Drake put down his pusle rifle and sniper rifle.

"Hello Drake san" she says with a little smile on her young face and bowing before adding a salute.

"Maybe we can talk more later on" she says softly into his ear and heads to the shower after grabbing her uniform out of a locker.

While in the shower she can be heard to be singing softly in Kirisuban.

Drake probably was the rookie of this group. Even though he was a Corporal. He remebered what his unit said on the space station. They said there were huge black things with tails. Drake could hear Arisu singing. Her voice was beautiful and she was beautiful, but Drake wasn't going to let that get in his way. He went up to Lt. Steiner.

"Who is the second in command of this unit?"

"Technically I am." Came a low voice, as the android picked up a tray of the bland and unremarkable biscuits and slid them across the table top. His smile seemed a little... Artificial.

"Sheffield, everyone calls me 'Field." He continued in his unobtrusive voice, casually distributing the processed coffee substitute into the cups, movements elegant and somewhat alien. His hands were pale white spiders as he drew them across the pulse rifle, almost sensually loading and checking the rifle, clearing the breach and magazine. He set down the weapon carefully on the tabletop whilst the Coffee cups heated the black stuff to drinking level.

Her shower completed Arisu dries herself off and gets dressed in the colonial marine uniform after she tied her hair up into a bun.

The only difference on her uniform was the non-standard patches on her right sleeve which marked her out as a member of the Kirisuban Defence Force, the black flag with the red sun and the two crossed katanas.

She also wore on her shirt and flak jacket the patch of the medical corp, a black patch with a snake coiled round a katana in gold thread. above the snake was a red sun. There was also stencilled in black her identifier. Medic 2C A Kodomo.

Finally she puts on her boots and pistol holster retrieving a 9mm pistol from the weapons locker along with several clips of ammo and her well organised medical pack from another locker. A marine issue combat knife and scabbard, and a generic pouch which held her ammo clips hung from a belt on her left side.

she was now ready for whatever this mission could throw at them.

Carrying her Kevlar helmet and flak jacket she looked round at the others present. She would know soon enough who she was dealing with.

"What the hell are you?" Drake moved a little away from Sheffield.

loading rounds into his shotgun, mick looked at these other guys
"the gonna be the same aliens that almost killed me,destroyedmy entire family on my home colony?" he asked, the dhell in his hands seemily fighting against being put into the shotgun, due to micks hand shaking

"Weyland Yutani Class Three Android. Field medical and Tactical. Don't worry, I don't kill people. Much." Sheffield presented the tray of coffees to the man. "Coffee? It's not the real thing, but after a while you can't tell the difference." Grinned the machine.

His eyes were unnervingly steady, and devoid of emotion or waver. They rested on each of them in turn, before slinging his gun up over his shoulders, safed and one pale hand resting over the trigger guard, almost possessively.

"Hey Mick what are you talking about? What aliens? Also I'm Cpl. Drake I have been reassigned to your unit." Drake made his grip on his pulse rifle stronger.

"no aliens? thank god, i was assuming because wed lost contact, that thered be aliens, nevermind, its nothing" mick said, shivering slightly

"And finally, we're all here." Sighed the gun toting automaton, swinging the rifle into his back, and checking the team.

"Sound off, marines. I want your details, your specialty, and your rank." His voice hardened, was sharper, and more like the whipcrack they'd come to expect from their 2-O.

Arisu smiles and says "Domo Sheffield san" taking a handful of the biscuits and a cup of coffee.

Hearing the command she says "Sir, field medic 2nd class Arisu Kodomo, Kirisuban Defence Force. I guess that makes me a private"

"private first class mick porter, callsign: warmaster, specialty, killing" mick yelled out, as if he was on parade ground

"Corporal Drake, I have no specialty I'm a rookie. Also might I ask what your specialty and rank are?" Drake looked at Sheffield.

"Lieutenant Sheffield 'Field'. Field-medic first class, triage specialty. Tactical analysis specialist and computer systems analyst." Rang off the Android, handing Drake a cup of coffee, and the tray of the biscuits. He was as calm and rational a person as you could get. Except he was an android, and had no Three Law compunction. So he could calmly and rationally tear your head off.

"Any more questions, Corporal?"

"Yeah how come there's two lieutenants in our unit?" Drake clamly drank the coffee.

"I'm a trial run." Sighed the android. "I have a triage coping level that's... Not human. I can perform field medicine or even fully blown medical surgery. Not only that, but Weyland Yutani's computer systems will not accept Colonial overrides. It's like this everywhere, these days. I will be the index for the mission. I've been equipped with the right codes. I'm also a tactical analyst." He shrugged, drinking down his own coffee substitute with an unseemly grace. "I'm apparently indispensable. Although when push comes to shove, if the lieutenant dies, the command goes to the next human officer available, not me."

"Who's the next human officer? After Lt. Steiner." Drake was a little worried about this android being sent by Weyland Yutani,

"Don't worry, Corporal. I doubt the Lieutenant's going anywhere." The Android's voice didn't change one octave. He was still as wintery cold as before. He didn't even pat the man reassuringly.

"Oh, and don't worry about me killing you, Corporal. Not all Androids go insane." He said as he waited for Steiner.

Arisu eats the biscuits and drinks the coffee quietly listening to this exchange. it was in her benefit to know the chain of command.

She had heard about the Weyland-Yutani androids before but never expected to meet one herself. Sheffields status wouldn't change anything for her since he was still the 2ic but she was unsure if she would be able to treat him if he was badly injured.

Then the burden of medical care would fall squarely on her shoulders.

This was a thought that slightly frightened her but she had trained for 4 years as a full time defence force member and this time it may be for real.

Her cool professionalism kicked in and swept the doubts away for now.

"Specialist Aurthur Icarus. My streanths are in stealth, recon, and scouting. I'm an odd duck I guess; no technical rank. I'll take orders from lieutenant, but that's about it."

Icuras yawned, seemingly bored with the situation.

"Christ..."

A torrent of British accented curses filled the cryo-chamber for a few moments. Slowly sitting up, Kartion realised he was one of the last out.

"Bloody hell...to think they would at least wake me up..."

Sluggishly standing, Kartion Elesto was a fine figure of a man. Standing a 6 ft. five inches, he only wore a pair of boxers, exposing his well muscled body. His hair was dark brown, and long for a Marine. His blue eyes surveyed the room.

"Where's the caff...I need my bloody tea..."

Wiping his eyes, Kartion half-strode, half-sauntered towards his locker, marked Cpl. Elesto. Typing in his code, Kartion pulled the locker open, and quickly dressed himself in uniform. Pushing his hair down, he carefully manoeuvred his cap onto his head, and quickly pulling his hand out of the way, he pressed his cap down, securing it on his head. Straightening out the creases in his uniform, Kartion strode towards the cafeteria, yawning.

Once he made it inside, he made himself some synthesized tea. Sipping it, he gagged slightly.

"Bloody Americans...can't even synthesize tea..." He muttered. Downing the tea, he gagged a little, and found himself awakening. He then felt alot of pressure from down below.

"Bugger!"

Jogging, he literally dived into the nearest toilet, and about a minute later, he walked out, sighing.

"Last time I bloody drink before going into hypersleep."

Scratching his back, he made his way towards the others. Icarus was nearest, so he walked towards him.

"Hey, you're Icarus right?"

Once he got the affirmative reply, he stuck his right hand out.

"I'm Kartion."

The young, small and very slight asian woman looked up from her coffee and said in Kirisuban accented English "hi, I'm Arisu. Glad to meet you Kartion"

Kartion turned his head towards Arisu, and smiled. His blue eyes held that twinkle that girls always seemed to like.

"Pleasure's all mine. What's your role in this...'mission'?"

mick scratched the scars agoing verticly through both ofd his eyes, and the one that extended from the corner of his mouth to his chin, he l;ooed aroud

"eh a brit!" mick exclaimed haoppy to see another member of the commonwealth here.

Arisu returns the smile and replies "I'm one off the two field medics" pointing out the KDF medical patch, a snake wrapped round a katana.

"I've been in the Kirisuban Defence force for 4 years now and i was sent to the USMC as part of an exchange programme"

Kartion smiled, and nodded.

"Well, I feel much safer now I know you'll be the one saving me if I get gunned down."

Flashing Arisu a devious smile, he sat down opposite her.

"So, I take it Kirisubo is one of the Asian superpowers then?"

"Hi Kartion, I'm Cpl Drake. You better get ready for the mission we are leaving out soon. The mission is to check on the colony." Drake looked at the other Kartion.

Kartion looked up, and nodded at Drake.

"I know Corporal. Wondering where my weapons and armour is, I told your lot that it was special to me."

"It should be in the equiment room with Lt. Steiner." Drake pointed toward a room.

Kartion nodded.

"Cheers mate."

Smiling at Arisu, he stood up.

"I'll see you around then Arisu, it was a pleasure."

Taking a small bow, Kartion then strode off toward the room indicated. Walking in, he nodded at Lieutenant Steiner.

"Alright sir?" He asked, absentminedly gathering his armour and weaponry.

A few minutes later, Kartion walked out of the equipment room, dressed in Colonial Marine Armour, only painted white. On his right shoulder, the emblem of the Royal Conglomerate Marines gleamed, which was a flaming dragon wrapped around a Katana, which was stabbed through a planet like Earth. On his left shoulder, there were three small coloured, rectangular gems. All three were red, representing the rank of an Enlisted Corporal.

"How do I look?"

His left holster held a standard Motion Tracker, also coloured white. It was currently off. His right holster held the standard 9mm Pistol. On his back, there were two holsters, one holding a Shotgun, the other a Pulse Rifle. Inbetween the two Holsters was a backpack, holding rations, clips, ammo, and a few bandages.

OOC: Outer Heaven MK II you should probably sign up in the sign up theard. We all wear pretty much the same thing the Colonial Marines in the movie Aliens. The weapons are listed so choose from them.

OOC: Pretty sure I did....

OOC: Actually you didn't here is the sign up theard. http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=464296

Here is what the Marines look like.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/ColonialMarines.jpg

OOC: Right, will edit the post, and yes, I know Marines, I have played AvP, and seen the Alien movies :P

Signed up, will bump once edited.

OOC: Edited.

"Private First-Class Rick Carter, specialty, field technician." In practice, this largely meant bypassing locked doors, overriding security systems, and establishing communication uplinks.

"Sir, what do we know about this colony?" Carter asked.

"Carter, chill. Look, I don't know what your problem is, but your still a soldier. You'll just help us finish this mission, then I'll set up your return to the Tocrowkian Colonial Marines, alright?"

"Carter? What the hell? Oh, what ever..."

Derek shook his head, and walked off, feeling hungry now.

"You look good Kartion. Well I guess I'm the new sniper in this unit." Drake showed Kartion the sniper rifle. On Drake was the usally patch with the goden eagle going down to a blue planet with another blue planet behind it. At the bottom was the words USCM.

Kartion whistled.

"That's a bloody beauty, if you don't mind me saying so. Mind if I take a look? I've dealt with a few Sniper Rifles before."

Kartion extended his hands.

Drake handed Kartion his sniper rifle. Then he turned toward Carter.

"Well Lt. Steiner has told anything to us. We are just suppose to check on the colony. Also it is just a rountine walk in the park mission."

Kartion took the Rifle, and looked it over. As Drake finished speaking, he smirked.

"No mission is a bloody walk in the park. If this were just a communication problem, why would they be sending Marines in?"

Kartion continued to look over the Rifle, and aimed a few times at a nearby wall.

"And this is a real good weapon. Hate to be the poor bugger on the other end of this."

Kartion then held out the Sniper Rifle to Drake to take back.

mick wstrapped the black, like the rest of his uniform, black with red trim helmet, he bore the Wrods Who Dares wins under an Australian flag

"Well this seems to me as a walk in the park. In my old unit we went to a space station and were attack by black creatures with tails. All the men were killed and my Lt. told me to get back in the ship. The last time I saw Lt. is when he pushed a button and the ship escaped. Then the Lt. was attack by something and the ship left. After escaping the space station exploded. I have know idea what the hell killed all those men. It came from some place called LV-426." Drake grabbed back his sniper rifle. On Drake's helmets the words "C'mon, you apes! You wanta live forever?"

OOC: Guess where i got that quote from.

Kartion rose an eyebrow.

"I've seen reports on those, heard they're fierce buggers. Never encountered one, hope never to either. But if I do, I should be okay. I heard their blood's some kind of acid? I may be wrong though, it was ages since I've read the reports, and I bet it's just a rumour."

"Alright Marines! Heres your briefing. That colony has been responsless for days. We have no idea whats going on. We have to find out. So, get ready, and meet me on the ship when your ready."

Drake grabbed his stuff and put on his helmet. He followed Lt. Steiner to the ship.

"I hope this mission got better then I'm first one."

"Excuse me, but do you have a floor plan of the building?" Adrian asked from the other end of the table.

'You're the sniper of the unit?"

Ademaro asked with a slight laugh.

"Let's just hope the American reputation for friendly fire doesn't carry over here."

He ended, laughing a bit more.

"I'm not American. I'm a Canadian." Drake said as he sat inside the UD-4 'CHEYENNE' DROPSHIP.

"Hahaha, really? That's just as bad."

Ademaro said as he also took his seat in the drop-ship.

Kartion wasted no time, and jogged to the ship. Bounding up the ramp, he took a seat next to Drake.

"So, this your second drop then?"

"Nope never had a drop. We just landed on the space station. This is really my first real mission. On my first mission I didn't even fire my gun or get out of the spacecraft. I heard everything though. All of you probably have years of combat experience. I'm the rookie of this unit." Drake started to strap himself in.

Kartion followed suit.

"This is my fifth drop. The first time is the worst, after that, it's just...fun."

Kartion finished strapping in and sighed.

"I've only been a Marine two years. Seen five missions, four were cakewalks...and one...was hell. Was my first too..."

"Hey, you're Icarus right?"

Once he got the affirmative reply, he stuck his right hand out.

"I'm Kartion."

(Sorry for the late reply.)

Icarus shook Kartion's hand lazily.

"Pleasure to meet you."

Arisu listens carefully to the war stories and isn't exactly looking forward to her first drop.

She prepares her medical kit and pistol and confesses quietly "it'll be my first drop so I hope I don't embaress myself"

Ademaro smiled at Arisu. He thought she was pretty good looking, and there was also the fact that she wasn't American like the others here.

"Fucking Americans..."

He repeated to pretty much everyone, but he had hoped Arisu would reply in particular.

"Good, everyone's here. Let's do it!" The drop started. Steiner was used to the drop. It didn't bother him.

Ignoring Ademaro, Icarus cracked a rare smile at Arisu-a small one, but it still counted.

"Don't worry. I don't think anyone will be judging you." He did some quick calculations in his head. "Actually, I can't remember how many drops I've done. Seems I've lost count. I know I've been on over fourty missions, though. That's what I get for being an old-timer, I guess."

His head snapped up as Steiner announced the drop.

"About time. Let's get to it."

Arisu gives Ademaro a meaningfull look and whispers in his ear "we'll talk about this later. We can't have dissention in the ranks especially if we're going to face aliens"

She looks at the others saying "lets get this drop over with"

Drake was starting to get really queasy. He felt like he was going to puke.

The ship landed. "Alright people, let's go!"

Arisu took out her pistol and steadied her nerves after the white knuckle ride she had just been through.

She waited slightly so the heavier armed troops can take point. She adjusts the strap on her kirisuban helmet painted green to match the marine armour.

Still she was ready to face what was out there.

Drake unstrapped himself and went outside. Then he started to throw up all over the place.

"I don't fell to good..."

Drake fell to the ground and passed out.

Icarus walked nonchalontly off the ship ahead of Arisu, seemingly without a care in the world. He didn't have any of his weapons in his hands-his pistols were holstered and his rifle on his back-and wasn't even wearing his helmet. He hated all this armor, favoring total freedom of movement and speed over protection any day. Sure, his armor was so light that most people barely noticed it, but Icarus had always argued that it threw off his balance. I'll just abandon it later in the trip, he thought to himself.

Icarus rasied his eyebrows as Drake passed out.

"I didn't think it was that bad. Ah, well. a newbie's a newbie, after all."

He glanced at Arisu, then back to Drake.

"I assume you'll take care of this?"

Carter filed out of the dropship with the others, forming up against the colony's main lock. He got his tool kit ready, though the access keypad looked intact. If they couldn't get it open, he'd be ready for a bypass...

Arisu rushes over to Cpl Drake and digs out smelling salts holding them under his nose.

"come on Drake san" she urges him "we've got a job to do"

Adrian was lugging the Mini Gun out of the drop ship. "Would anyone mind giving me some help with this things ammo?"

Adrian was lugging the Mini Gun out of the drop ship. "Would anyone mind giving me some help with this things ammo?"

Icarus considered the matter, then stepped forward.

"I'll do it; I've got a light load, anyways."

Drake woke up and smelled something horrible. He saw Arisu. The thought went threw his mind that she was beautiful.

"Thanks Arisu. That was my first time for a drop."

Drake got back up and looked around. It seemed so quiet.

"Sure, you can take two full ammo clips if ya want. But bear in mind that that would be eighteen thousand rounds."

Icarus shrugged as he took on the extra burden.

"I've had worse. Worse as in having to strap Rocket Launcher rounds to my body in a large firefight. I'm suprised that I'm still alive from doing things like that, actually."

"Alright, let's go! Into the building! NOW!

Carter took that as his cue. He flipped the cover off of the control panel, connected two alligator clips from his hacking tool to a pair of wires, tapped a few buttons, and the heavy airlock doors swooshed open. He tucked the pack into a pocket, hefted his rifle, and got in formation with the others.

Why is it so quiet? he wondered. He'd never believed the stories about LV-426. A section of Marines getting wiped out by overgrown vermin--nonsense. Still, he was glad to have some firepower.

Drake, still feeling a little bad, followed Lt.Steiner into the building.

Swinging the Mini Gun up into line with the door way, Adrian stated the barrels spinning.

Icarus went behind Adrian, hauling the heavy crates of ammo.

"Let's not get too jumpy," Icarus commented. "Techniclly, we haven't found anything wrong with this place. Yet."

Drake pointed his pusle rifle in front of him. So far they didn't see anything. He could feel the sweat come down his neck.

"Relax everyone. Move into the Main Lab."

Drake made his way into the Lab. While walking around he thought he saw something move. Once inside he looked around to find no one.

"Lt. Steiner the lab is clear!"

Drake still pointed his gun at the objects in the room.

"Excellent, someone find some files explaining what happened here."

"Listen, I don't like going into confined spaces with out some reassurance I'll survive."

"Hey Lt. I think Rick Carter is a field technician." Drake pointed his gun toward the door to make sure noting got threw.

"That's right." Carter sat down at one of the terminals and switched it on. The screen flickered to life. Boot commands filled the screen, casting a green hue over his face. He tapped in some commands, overrode the administrative security protocols, and started looking through colony logs. "Last entry is dated...six weeks ago. Whatever the problem was here, it was bigger than a dead transmitter." He scrolled down the page. "Jesus Christ. Lieutenant, take a look at this."

"Yes Carter, what is it?"

Drake walked over toward the terminal.

"Rick what is it?"

Carter read aloud. "This shall be my last entry. The barricades fell. God knows how many of those things crawled in. It was hopeless--we couldn't fight them off. Didn't even try. I think a lot of us secretly wanted to die.

I hid in a maintenance crawlspace. They didn't find me. I don't know why I even bothered, though. They would find me in the end. But I'll make sure they don't take me alive.

I wish I could transmit this, tell my family what happened. Tell the Company to stay away. We lost the transmitter early on, though. If you're reading this, leave now. Get the Marines and tell them to nuke this place into a glassy crater.

Winslow Grant."

Steiner thought the situation over. "Marines, let's go." Walking, he noticed his motion teacker beeping. He looked at it to see tons of dots. "Barricade the doors! Now! Weld it shut!"

Icarus drew both his pistols and aimed for the door.

"I thought this had seemed a little too easy."

He glanced over at Steiner.

"Not a wise move. Leave one door open, or you cut off all of our escape routes."

"Icarus, barricade the that door only. Thats were they'll come from. We can get out that door back there. Now do what I said."

"Lt are we all in here?" Drake started to weld a door shut.

"Leave the fore runners to me, you guys should keep a look out for things trying to come in above us."

Normally, Icarus would have Pistol-whipped Steiner and tell him not to expect where an enemy will come from, but he reasoned that now wasn't the time. He began helping Drake with the door.

Drake finished welding the door.

"Lt.Steiner where are they now?"

feeling like a 5th wheel in this crisis she now knew the stories were true.

This didn't phase her although since she still had a job to do.

She looks upward at the ceiling wondering where the signals were coming from.

OOC: Hot damn, you left without me :P

IC: Kartion cursed, and activating his Motion Tracker, did a quick twirl.

"Lieutenant, I'm reading at least twenty, average speed blips here. Heading our way...about...30 meters ahead."

Transferring the Tracker to his left hand, Kartion pulled out his Pistol, and cocked it quickly.

mick loaded one last round into his shotgun, njow fully loaded, he intended to let the full force of his weapon loose on the first thing to breazk the barricades

"Steiner. MoDec has twenty six moving objects - They're through the first barricade. It barely slowed them down." The low voice twisted the guts. Sheffield delivered this information as though it was weather. He'd been quiet this entire time, almost invisible to the marines. His bald head twisted to look at his commander, a look as vague as the colour of air.

"I don't think we should stay here - we should get above ground, we've done our job." He advised, unsafing his rifle and reaching towards one of the creature vats. Immediately the supposedly dead creature writhed up against the tank, feeling the android in its inexorably odd sense. His hand did not waver, as he pried the vat from its base, the tiny creature attacking the solid armoured plastic with a fervor that momentarily shocked the android, before he continued to heft it.

"For research." He explained. He carefully laid the vat into one of the armoured cases the marines had brought along especially for evidence gathering.

"Move out! There's to many! NOW!" As Steiner said this, the barricade burst open. Hundreds of black things poured into the room. Steiner launched a grenade with the pulse rifle and started firing. "Everyone, start moving out, but keep firing!"

The Mini Gun scream was defening. The 900 rounds used up all to quickly for Adrians like. "I just used all my ammo in my gun, so I think I'm going to run now."

Drake started to retreat with the rest of the people. He still fired his pulse rifle.
"They're coming out of the walls! They're coming out of the goddamn walls!”

Hundreds was an exxagarration, but there were many of them. The Android's gun pulsed, a small staccato blast as the slugs burst the creatures chests apart like overripe melons, their blood staining the floors. And then eating through them.

The metal surfaces immediately began to melt.

He shot again. And again. Headshots. Very little blood. Good.

"Marines, aim for the heads or the knees - don't waste ammunition. Their blood is corrosive, don't let it touch you." He said all of this very calmly, interspercing it between well aimed bursts with his gun.

"Steiner. Call for evac. I don't like to think of how fast these things are on open ground." What amazed him was how eerily quiet they were - the monstrous aliens were well over 6 foot tall, not including the long pointy tail, with its barbed end, and they made practically no noise as they rushed the marines.

"Don't let them get near enough to use their tails." He said again, shredding the head from a creature in a neat three round burst. The depleted uranium shells were like a knife through butter on these things. Obviously not very hard armour.

"Don't aim for their chests. Too much acid splash."

"To bad I can't bring the Mini into play at the moment." Adrian said as he upholstered hi pistol and aimed it at the nearest creature.

Drake aimmed his pulse rifle at a facehugger and pulled the trigger. It exploded and the acid came out. They just kept coming. Drake turned to find a black alien. One came out and Drake opened fire on the alien, but it just kept coming.

"What the hell are these thing?!?"

"The Company calls them Xenomorphs. That refers to their ever changing physical growth. There was another supposed encounter aboard a space station in a Deep S sector." The Pulse Rifle coughed one last time and clicked empty. Pulling the magazine out, the android quickly reloaded, dragging Drake back by his shirt as a creature leapt at him from the ceiling. His newly reloaded gun coughed again, and the creature flew backwards, slugs continuing through its body, killing others as they went.

"They are vicious creatures, and if they can't harvest you for their young, they'll kill you. They're akin to some hive insects. Although they are smarter. The Company was not aware of them when it colonized the planet, but when LV-426 came up in an enquiry on a vessel we thought lost for well over 50 years, someone - We don't know who - sent a prospecting caravan to the coordinates provided by the only surviving crewmember." He stated, as he covered the humans' escape. The gun coughed again and again. "Obviously she was telling the truth. But someone didn't take her seriously. An error in judgement."

"Oh my bloody god!"

Kartion had put his Motion Tracker away, and pulled out his Pulse Rifle when he realised the others had Trackers too. When the Aliens came though the doors, ceilin-...everywhere, he transferred his Pistol to his left hand, and, jogging backward, fired short bursts into the sea of black, moving his pistol and Rifle in opposite arcs.

"Lieutenant! C'mon!"

Pistol empty, Kartion grabbed Steiner, and, dragging him back, continued to fire, his strong arm able to keep the Rifle steady for the short bursts he fired. Continuing back, he soon came to the Android. His Rifle was reading a few bullets left.

"Damnit! Cover me! And put that thing down while you're doing it!"

Grabbing the tube with the facehugger, he placed it down next to him. Dropping the empty clip, he slapped a few one in, and grinned. He loaded up his Pistol.

"Here!"

He held the Pistol out.

"I've heard of you Androids. Look, you can fire two-handed better than me. I'll carry that damn...thing..."

Kartion fired off a few more bursts, still holding the Pistol.

"Take it!"

OOC: Just to add something here. I understand some peeps on NS are dyslexic, so spelling and grammar I leave. But the shortness of the posts are nagging at me. Briefings aren't two second, they usually take 30 seconds the very least, to let the Troops know exactly what's going to happen, and any Q&A. While I'm not nagging, it'd be nice if you added depht to your posts, to lenthen them just a little. You don't need to describe things in microscopic detail guys, just add thoughs, words, actions. Just do...more.

That android seems to know a hell of a lot about these things, Carter thought as he backtracked through the rear door. He did his best to aim for their heads and knees, but the fact was that these "xenomorphs" were too fast, and there were dozens of them. In the end, he just aimed for the center of mass like he was trained to do.

Rifle fire raked across their chests, spraying yellowish fluid where it hit. The room the Marines had left was filling with smoke from the corrosive blood. Carter had never seen anything like it, nor, he suspected, had his fellow Marines--except maybe the android.

A fine mist of blood landed on one of the tubes holding the parasites. Carter didn't even notice the spidery form leaping from the tube. It skittered toward him under the smoke; at the last second, he saw it as it pounced.

Carter raised his rifle, blocking his face. The creature smacked into the weapon, fell back--and its prehensile tail wrapped around his arm. Disgusted, Carter grabbed the thing--ignoring its "fingers" digging into his forearms--and flung it back into the room.

Carter fired a grenade through the doorway. Inhuman screeches told him he got a few. Whether he got the parasite, he didn't know. He slapped a control on the door, sliding it shut. That might hold them for a few minutes. Then again, it might not. "Can we get a welder on that?" he asked.

Arisu backs off with the others as she shoots her 9mm pistol aiming for the mass of alien heads.

She empties her pistol, ejects the magazine and swiftly reloads shoving the empty magazine into a trouser pocket.

Re-cocking the pistol she keeps retreating, taking careful aim with her shots. Now was not a time to get nervous as she joined the others behind the blast door.

Good, thought Icarus. Short-range fighting was his specialty. These numbers would cause a problem though. Icarus was the last to fall back, keeping as much of a defensive boundry as he could. His rifle soon ran dry and he couldn't be bothered to change the clip.

instead, his hands went to his Casull pistols; firing like a madman, he tore apart alien heads and limbs like they were paper. An alien got past the barrage of bullets; Icarus decapitated it with his knife. There were too many for him to stand and fightl; he dove behind the blast door just as Carter slammed it shut.

"Good show," breathed Icarus heavily. "These things don't stand up to gunfire very well, but they're numbers are impressive to say the least."

Icarus sighed. Looks like this would be another bad mission-mabey his last.

"Alright everyone, hold the door! We have to stop them! If they get in, we're dead!" Steiner rushed to find something to keep the door shut.

Manwhile, deep below the Planet's Surface...

A massive organism lied on a massive eggsack. The creature could feel the pain her offspring were feeling. She gave a thought. Retreat. She transfered the thought through her telekenetic powers to another creature. Then the creature transmitted it to all of the drones.

Steiner looked at his motion tracker. "Hold up! Those things are leaving!" Steiner wiated until everyone of them was gone. "Alright, Carter, find some building schematics. Arisu, check everyone for injuries. Everybody else, help me find some heavy duty metals to weld to this door. There is no way for those things to get in to this room except through this door. Also, some one try to get a hold of HQ. We need to get out of here."

Arisu checks everyone over and apart from Carters bruising the team gets away uninjured.

Now she knew what she was dealing with her professionalism kicked in and got on with her job.

She even managed a little smile for Carter as she checked him over.

"Oi Icarus, can you give me one of the Mini Gun ammo boxs."

"Here, take this. It's mini gun ammo." Steiner thought the situation over. What caused the aliens to leave? In the back of his ming, he didn't want to find out. Those things took out some of his men. And he would find away to avenge them. Somehow.

"I'm fine," Carter said, shrugging off the attention. The door had led from the medlab to Operations. "First, the schematics...ah, here we go. There is a rear lock, but there's a lot of complex between here and there, and probably some barricades along the way." He frowned. "Multiple sublevels. More than usual for a terraforming colony. No indication of what's down there."

More tapping at keys. "That log said the transmitter was down, but they probably have short-range radio equipment for communicating with survey teams. If I can access that, we might be able to get hold of the dropship." He cast a sidelong glance at Field. "Field, you said they want us for their young. What do you mean?"

"Carter, try to locate any armory, or a place we make a base out of. We're going to need it."

"Querying armory," Carter said. "No guarantees, though. If they have any weapons, it will just be semi-auto rifles and side-arms for repelling pirates--whoa!" He enlarged a section of schematic. "Two levels below us, northeast quarter. But it's big. What the hell was this colony doing?" More typing. "Okay, I definitely do not recommend lifts, even though the power's up. Nearest stairwell is...east of our location. It looks like we can cut through the cafeteria to get there. Ah, the short-range transmitters are fried, by the way. Looks like a short wiped out most of the colony's communication hardware. We're lucky it spared the computer systems. There are storerooms on this level and the same level as the armory; they should have emergency water drums too. If you want to hit them, it's your call." He hesitated. "And, ah, I recommend that Field leave his 'specimen' outside when we hole up."

Drake picked up pieces of metal and welded them to the door. He was listening to Carter, then finished the job. Turning toward Carter he thought of an idea.

"Carter where are the transmitters? We need to get those fixed. So I volunteer myself to get them fixed and then go to the communication room. Carter are you willing to come along?"

mick looked around nervously,
"so, what exactly are we going to do when we get there? barracade ourselves in? id rather we got off this rock and nuked it" he said, loading more rounds into his shotgun.

OOC: sorry for not posting more, but ive gotta get back into a sleep routine, coz i start school again in a week, so yeah im gonna be around but not for very long, but at least once a day.

"Yeah, I'll come," Carter said. "I'm the most qualified person to repair them anyway. Ah, the two short-range transmitters are on the roof of the complex, northwest and southeast corners. The long-range is by the landing field, about half a kilometer west of the complex; you could reach the Network with it, but we don't need to worry about that if we can fix one of the shorties."

"Well I have a sniper rifle so I can get them from the roof. So who wants to come with Carter and me?" Drake knew that this was going to be hell.

"your not leaving me here" mick said, walking up to them
mick also knew his best chance of survival was to stay with the smart, yet heavily armed pf the group, and at the moment, these two seemed to know what they were doing.

"Put simply, Carter? They're like ants. Ants will provide sustenence for their young. They are Xenomorphs for their wildly varying genetic structures - depending on the animal they are birthed from, the creature is different. But nonetheless, all are dangerous. They represent a problem similar to dealing with cockroaches. If one lives, so do they all." The Android pointed to the Facehugger.

"That creature is an intermediary stage between egg, and fully grown xenomorph. Indeed, they insert the neo-morph into the host's body. It incubates. And then it chews its way out."

"They seem to be much better organized than previously believed possible. The Xenomorphs are a prolific breeder - we've never seen a hive species of any type so sophisticated and intelligent. Note the organized retreat."

"I am here to ensure a possible contaminant does not escape this planet, if it exists. Steps have been taken to ensure this." He pointed to the ceiling.

"The Destroyer, Chenzeme, which brought us here? It ha been equipped with three 500 megaton nuclear warheads. In the event of contamination, you are to retreat to high orbit and bomb this planet into dust. Trust me, it's better than letting those men below our feet become hosts." He pointed to the facehugger.

"This one, I've been ordered to preserve for studying purposes. It's worth trillions in biotechnology and genetics research."

How dispassionate. The android recited like it was poetry.

"So you are telling me that we were send here just to get data and a specimen? How the hell are we going to get off this planet. This planet must be covered with them." Drake pulled out his pistol and shot the facehugger that Sheffield had pointed to.

Icarus knocked Drake's pistol out of his hands and quickly put him in a headlock.

"Good job, idiot," He growled. "Now you've proved that all you're good for is killing valuable scientific specimens. Ones that are 'worth trillions in biotechnology and genetics research.' I bet you'd love to go through that door and get another one for us."

Icarus sighed, released Drake, then pushed him to the ground.

"Don't do that again. If you had missed the Facehugger and blasted just the container open, that thing could have gotten free and killed one of us."

((Cheers for that))

"My orders are very specific, Carter. There's only one way off this planet." He pointed back to the alien.

"It comes, or we all die down here. I can't flag down the dropship without the specimen. My programming is adamant. And on that, I doubt anyone else will be able to transmit to the Chenzeme. Not without my help." He tapped his bald skull. "Weyland Yutani was very explicit that I have the only working codes to call the Chenzeme. It was one of the agreements they came to with the Colonial Authority."

Kartion then screamed a string of curses. He dropped the container.

"Fuck! Drake you bloody shit! Medic! Aaah!"

He shook his right hand around, which had a small blot of acid on, which was currently singeing away his flesh.

"For fuck's sake!!! AAAH!"

Falling to the floor, Kartion began to wipe his hand across the floor. It removed most of the acid, and the metal began to boil.

"Aaaaah...shit..."

Sighing, he held his hand out.

"You owe me the money to regrow the skin when we get back Drake. Rule 1, do NOT shoot anywhere near your bloody comrades! If that thing weren't fucking dead, I'd probably be facehumped!"

Kartion then booted Drake in the stomach, and hissed.

"Fucking hell! MEDIC!!! It's not all off you know!!!"

"This may sting." Said the Android cheerily, as he plunged the carbon steel scalpel into the wound, treating it much like a white phosphor grenade, prying it and the flesh around it loose, and then dumping filler protein into the wound. He pointedly ignored the harsh screams of pain from his patient, being as quick as possible.

After he was done he inspected the wound, made sure there was no extra acid splash, and then took a look at his scalpel. Totally corroded.

Arisu rolls her eyes and wonders if they'll be able to co-operate to be able to get back to the ship.

"Sir I've still got spare scapels" she says to Sheffield .

OOC: Ravea, it was Drake that shot the specimen, not Carter.

IC:
"Stop me," Carter said. "Mick, Drake and I are going to get those transmitters working, and then we're off this fucking rock. If the Company wants some specimens, they can come down themselves." He turned to Lt. Steiner. "With your permission, sir, I'd like to get moving. Shall we meet back at the armory?"

Kartion hissed, rubbing his hand.

"Thanks. Now, we know what's happened, and by the sound of things, these Aliens are bad. So, lets get the transmitter repaired, get into orbit, and blow this place to the bloody heavens!"

Reloading his Pulse Rifle, he groaned. His hand still ached. He looked at the facehugger on the floor.

"How the hell can they survive with such volatile blood?"

Arisu has a theory.

"obviously they're immune to their own blood. I've never seen anything like this before but its as natural to them as iron based blood is for us.

it must be a natural defence they evolved. you don't dare kill them unless you want to get burnt"

OOC: Ravea, it was Drake that shot the specimen, not Carter.

(Ah, Sorry. I misread.)

Icarus frowned and pulled his knife out of it's sheath. A small amount of alien blood was still on it, eating through the metal. He quickly shook it off, swearing.

"Shit. That just ate through half my knife. Good think it didn't get through my pants, or I would have been burnt pretty badly." He paused. "Looks like we're going to want to be killing these things at as long a range as possible."

Drake got up and didn't look at anyone. He picked up his pistol and went in the other room to find a specimen. Picking up the tube he set it down in the middle of the room.

"You happy now? I really don't care about money. To me you should only care about other people. So Carter and Mick let's go. We will meet you guys later in the armoury."

Drake walked away from the group and toward the objective.

OOC-Sorry. have been sick.

IC- "EVERBODY CHILL!" Steiner yelled out the order. "Now, Field, you knew all along about this? And you sacrificed people to get this? Not just the dozen Marines that just die, but the colonists to. I'll see about what to do with you later. Anyway, Carter, Drake, and Mck, come with me. Icarus, you're in charge here. Don't do anything I wouldn't like." Steiner started walking to the objective before anyone had a chance to reply.

"Sir should you say here? I can lead this men. Also there is only two of them to command. While there is more in the other group. They need the help." Drake started to walk and had his pulse rifle pointed foward.

"Listen, Drake, I'm a soldier with years of experience. Your a rookie. No offense, but I need to lead this group. There may be creatures on the way. I'm confidant that Icarus will do a fine job here." Steiner continued on.

"Do you will think it's safe to bring a specimen back? I mean those things must have gotten to the space station I was assigned to. What happens if it breaks out on a planet." As Drake was talking he thought he saw something. He looked closer to see a human. He ran up to see.

" I don't know about the speciemen. It is dead. And we need it to get off this planet. If anything goes wrong, I'll destroy it." Steiner cntinued talking when he saw Drake run up to something. "Drake, what the hell is that?"

"It looks to be a human sir." Drake put down his pulse rifle and took off his helmet. He bent down and checked for a pulse. "Sir she still has a pulse. What should we do?"

"Go and take her back to Arisu. We'll go ahead."

"Sir why the hell is this woman still alive when it seems to me that everyone else is dead? This seems alittle weird to me, but I will get Arisu. I will meet up with you later." Drake picked up his pulse rifle and helmet. Then he started to run back to the lab. When getting back he found Arisu.

"Arisu we found someone alive. Lt.Steiner told me to bring you where I found her. So let's get going."

"One moment," Carter said, as he checked the colony schematics one more time. "Okay," he said, getting up. "We should head to the northwest transmitter. There's a mechanical supply room near there, in case I need to grab extra parts."

"lets go" mick said

Icarus waved lazily at Steiner as he and the others walked to find the Transmitters. He had never felt comfertable with the lives of other soldiers under his command-he had always been a natural loner who didn't want to be in charge-but he was the sensible pick at the moment. Drake was starting to annoy him, though. Stupid trigger-happy rookie. Even if he had a command, Icarus wasn't sure if Drake was fully qualified for his job.

Icarus frowned and drew a pistol as Drake came running back to the group; he raised his eyebrows at the news of a live human in the area that wasn't a marine.

"Arisu, go ahead with Drake. We don't need to move everyone at once; if those things break through the door, we'll want a preliminary defense to warn the others. I don't want us being caught unawares if any aliens sneak in here."

Drake moved forward and pointed his gun forward. He wondered if any of those damn aliens had gotten inside. While walking to where the woman was located he found a hand. He picked up the hand and stared at it. Drake then looked back.

"What the hell?!?"

"There's a possibility that the problem isn't with the transmitters themselves," Carter said, mostly to himself. "Since they're both out of service, it might be a bad connection between the hardware and Operations. Probably has to do with that corrosive blood going through the floor. If that's the case, we can patch in manually. Otherwise, we have to make a run for parts. And who knows when those creatures will come rushing back?" He noticed Drake was holding something. "What's that?"

"I think it's a human hand." Drake looked at the hand closer. It waved the hand around a little bit. It didn't have any more blood coming of the hand.
"Here Carter."
The hand was stiff and Drake threw it toward Carter.

Carter caught the hand without a trace of disgust. "Looks human, alright. But...it's fresh,," Carter said. "I'm not a doctor, but I've seen a lot of bodies. I wouldn't say this was more than a day or two old. If one person could survive that long...maybe there are others." But something troubled him. "What was that woman doing with it? Or was it just a coincidence that it was close by?"

"I called Arisu to check out the woman. Man this place is creepying me out. The hand was pretty far away from the woman. Well Carter just give me the coordinates and I will meet up with you guys. I will go check on the medic." Drake ran got the coordinates and ran back to Arisu. He went right next to her. Turing his head he faced her. He noticed her natural beauty.

"Up ahead I found a fresh human hand not that far away from the woman. Man I hope we get out of here."

"I believe their blood is a natural defense against predators. Note, weapons-fire to their chests causes them to practically explode. Headshots killed them outright with the least of blood spatter. I believe their blood to be a very low Ph, to protect against large predators, and possibly to help with nutrient breakdown. Their teeth are impossibly hard - they looked like a composite material. They could probably suck nutrients from a rock, although as you've seen, they take the easy way out..." Said 'Field, working through the medical files he'd managed to yoink from the computers.

"There is a lot of data on the Atmosphere Processor. And something about a Hive. If you can reconnect the transmission towers, I'll be able to pull the files from orbit." He tapped out on the keyboard before standing and beginning to pace.

"There is something about this that makes no sense. The Hive is not in this complex. Nor is it in any adjacent complex. I can't find it. Not only that, where did they come from?" He voiced.

"I'm looking through the logbook - Nothing. No referrals in the past two weeks that they've been out of contact to any sort of origin."

OOC: Acid has a low pH--the lower, the nastier. Sorry, just nitpicking.

IC:
After several minutes, Carter, Steiner, and Mick reached the end of a long corridor. A ladder was bolted to the wall; it rose up into a sealed hatch. "That should take us to the roof. We're pretty near the northwest transmitter." He climbed the ladder and tried to push open the hatch. "No dice. Anyone have a torch?"

As it happened, a torch wouldn't be needed. The hatch was sheared off its hinges by something astonishingly powerful. Carter looked up, grunted, "Shit!" and dropped down the ladder, aiming his rifle upward--and stopped himself from pulling the trigger at the last second. The creature was right above him. He didn't dare fire.

The creature dropped down after Carter, who sprinted away from the ladder just in time to avoid its rending claws. He turned and fired his rifle, blowing the creature's banana-shaped head apart. The body fell forward, caustic blood gushing from its ruined skull.

"Mother of hell," Carter said. He stepped forward, cautiously avoiding the spurting acid and the hole it was eating in the floor grating. He looked long and hard through the hatch before climbing it again. "Just a straggler," he said, mostly for his own benefit.

((My Bad, I always got those two mixed up.))

"Steiner, I lost signal for a second there, how copy? Over." SHeffield was pacing, in that strange, almost birdlike gait he possessed. He heard gunfire and swearing. It didn't sound too bad, however. He waited patiently, eyes returning to the Facehugger in its vat.

"How's it look out there?" He murmured to the marine next to him, as he gripped the gun tightly, eyes still locked on the Facehugger.

Arisu calmly examines the hand as if is a bowl of sushi.

"you're right Drake" she replies "but how did this happen? When I got the call we had a survivor"

She checks the scared woman over and replies quietly "she's got borderline malnutrition and looks traumatised. I don't blame her since she's had to deal with the xenomorphs"

She turns to the woman and says gently "everythings going to be fine now"

Drake moved a little further to show Arisu the body. He pointed toward the body.

"Well she right here."

Drake provide a guard for Arisu. So she wouldn't get a attacked by a alien. He felt bad about shooting the facehugger and the acid getting on Kartion. Deep inside his mind he didn't trust Sheffield. They android is working for a company that created this crap. So why should he trust Sheffield.

Steiner followed Carter. He new things were wrong here. But he didn't have much of a choice. He continued on.

Meanwhile, beneath the planet's surface...

Once again the creature sent an order telepathiclly. Not to a horde of creatures, but to two. One was a large alien, streamlined for speed. It had long, sharp claws on it's hand. The other was heavily built, with crystal like armour. The armoured one was sent to the place were more people were, the clawed one was sent to the place with three people.

Steiner got up to the roof and helped Mick get up. Then, he heard a shrill roar. He spun around, shotgun in hand, and saw a creature. It looked similar to the other aliens, but it was larger, and purple. It also had claws longer than Steiner's arm. The creature jumped foward, and it was met with a blast of Steiner's shotgun. It fell back, but then it started to strafe around with incredible speed.

Meanwhile, a massive armoured alien moved slowly through a tunnel. Finally, it came to the place were the three humans had been. Instead of following them, it turned around and found a room full of people. It moved slow, but it's armour was nearly impenetrable.

OOC-Both aliens are half the size of the queen.

OOC: Guys, where am I in this? Posts erupt while I sleep, and I can't find mention of Kart anywhere.

OOC: Guys, where am I in this? Posts erupt while I sleep, and I can't find mention of Kart anywhere.

i assume you are with the group of marines with Icarus, Drake, Arisu, Field, and the new human. Also, if you read my previous post, you'll see that a massive alien has joined you, so you can start on trying to kill that if you want.

Kartion looked up.

"Holy f**king bloody mother of god!"

Not wasting a moment, Kartion brought up his Pulse Rifle, and began to spray short bursts into the huge Alien.

"Mother o'pearl!" Carter let loose a burst at the creature, which was headed straight for the lieutenant. The rounds impacted solidly against its chest, putting it slightly off-balance. Its yard-long claws glanced along the roof of the complex, tearing through the thin metal and composite sheeting. The creature turned and sprinted toward this new attacker. Can't dodge at this range, those claws are too big, Carter thought. His only option was to slow the creature down. He fired at the creature's legs, its knees, kept on firing...

Arisu draws her pistol shooting for the aliens head while she looks for anything that may help them slow it down.

She backs off one step at a time trusting in tactical sureity.

Drake pulled out his sniper rifle. He aimmed for the body and started to fire his the gun. He made a couple of shots and got one directly in the head. The alien kept on coming. Then he switch to his pulse rifle and started to fire. The alien was instoppable.

"Arisu you get the woman out of here. Also tell the others that there is a armoured alien in here. Kariton and I will take care of this fucktard. Hey Kariton when did you come here? I thought you were in the lab with the others?"

Drake provided cover for Arisu. There was only one way to go back down the hallway to the lab.

Icarus whirled around as he heard bullets flying.

"Well, shit."

He ran out of the lab and down the hall; he found Kariton, Drake, and Arisu engaging a massive creature; Icarus nearly fell over from shock. This thing was huge, and unstoppable by the looks of it. He wondered how it got in.

Judging by the small amount of damage that a pair of Pulse Rifles and a pistol were dealing this thing, Icarus decided that it was not the time for normal ammo. He released both clips from his pistols and dove into his pockets, revealing a pair of clips spray-painted red with the the words "#3 AMMO: HIGHLY DANGEROUS!" written on them. Explosive shells with mecury tips. If these didn't do damage, Icarus wasn't sure what would.

"Eat Mecury, you piece of shit!" Icarus grimaced, and opened up. The special bullets tore a few good-sized chunks out of the alien; it stumbled for a moment, but still kept moving. Icarus groaned as his pistols ran dry; he had nowgotten the alien's full attention. It turned and started striding towards him.

"Jesus!" The alien was heading right toward Icarus. Drake pulled out a grenade and tossed it toward the alien.

"Hit the deck!"

Icarus didn't need to be told twice; he flung himself backwards as the grenade detonated. He peered through the smoke and fire...to see the alien still coming towards him. It only had one and a half arms at the moment, but it was definetly not giving up without a fight.

"Got anymore bright ideas?" Icarus scrambled backwards and reloaded his pistols, firing as quickly as he could."

Getting out his sniper rifle again he aimmed for the aliens head. He looked threw the scope and pulled the trigger. A couple of shots when into its head. The acid blood came out of it's head. Then going back to his pulse rifle he put it to full auto. The aliens head exploded from the blast from Drake's rifle. Then the alien fell to the ground.

A white blur, the Android punctuated the Alien, all very much cnetred on the alien's neck plates, which seemed weaker than the surrounding carapace. Field deigned to get closer, hoping to get a shot off at the Alien's chin - the weakest armour.

So he dropped onto his haunches and slid underneath, gun roaring.

With alien dead the battle was over. Drake reloaded his sniper rifle, but the alien still moved. Pulling out his pulse rifle he got closer. He was about to pull the trigger when he saw Sheffield.

Carter's rifle fire raked through the creature's knees, dropping it. It dragged itself inexorably closer to him, punching its massive claws into the roof, but it was very much slowed down.

"Back away!" Carter shouted, doing the same. When he got as much distance as he could, he fired a grenade at the creature's ugly face. Its head and chest blew apart, spraying alien ichor. A glop landed next to Carter, who cringed as it sizzled into the roof. The alien's body quickly melted a hole through the roof and slid in, leaving two gigantic, severed arms behind.

The transmitter was only a few meters away. Carter looked around cautiously for more surprises, then got out his tools. "Let's get to work," he said tersely.

Arisu gently guides the woman to safety as the combat continues since her pistol had little effect.

When she reaches the lab she finally gets a chance to holster her pistol and to get to talk to her patient.

"how did all this start?" she asked the woman

Drake came back to the lab. He took off his helmet and set down his pulse rifle. Sweat was all over his head. Coming over to Arisu and bent down.

"Well that alien will never live again."

"The modulator bus is burned to shit," Carter commented. "If there's a spare part in mechanical storage, I can replace it. The storage room is pretty close--we passed it on the way here." Carter turned to Steiner and Mick. "I could use some cover, in case we run into any more trouble."

His synth skin was a semi-organic layer over hardened plastic layers, comparable to human skin, if a little thicker. So the skin sloughed off as alien blood sizzled on his bald head and arms, his gun reduced to pockmarked slag.

"I fear I won't be winning many beauty contests looking like this." He sighed. Humour. Misplaced. But humour. He must have looked a nightmare, skin bubbling away from the shiny gray plastic of his cranium. Under that was a skull of ceramic molds with titanium bases. His nose had already begun to leak from his head. He simply, dispassionately, watched over the body.

While Arisu waits for a reply from her patient she says quietly to Drake "thats good but have we enough bullets to defeat all those creatures?

All I want to get out off here in one piece with any survivors we find"

"Well I still have some clips for the Pulse Rifle. I have a lot of ammo for my pistol and sniper rifle so I think we should have plenty of ammo." Drake looke Arisu.

bump

Arisu turns back to the traumatised woman and asks again gently in english "what happend here and how did it start?"

"I don't believe this." Carter held out the replacement part for the others to see. "It's the wrong model. One replacement modulator, and it's not even the right kind."

They had made it to the mechanical parts storage room easily--it was just down the hatch and around a bend in the corridor. It had been locked with a simple padlock, which presented no problem. A few strong kicks opened the door; they didn't even need a torch.

The room was small and dark, and contained mostly outdated equipment. Half of it wasn't even in working order. Carter had found exactly one old, beaten-up modulator bus, and it didn't look much like the ruined one from the transmitter.

"With an hour and some decent tools, I might be able to rig this modulator to the transmitter. Or we can go to the other transmitter at the southeast corner. Preferences?"

"Carter, let's go to the aromoury now. Then we'll go and check on the others. What direction is the armoury?"

"The armoury's on Sub-Level 2, southeast corner of the complex," Carter said. A thought returned to him. "Most terraforming colonies only have one sub-level, and that's used for waste treatment and support machinery. I don't think this place is normal."

"I think it's obvious that this place isn't normal. Well, let's move out."

bump