NationStates Jolt Archive

And when he hath reached the Gates of Heaven

To Saint Peter he will tell,

"One more soldier reporting sir,

I've served my time in Hell."

_________________________________

"Arise, my brothers. The hour of our return to the mortal world is at hand."

From within the shadows, the dark form of the Lord of Hatred floated above a vile pit of screaming carcasses. Around the edge of the pit, six other dark forms stepped forth, their forms floating over the pit where their brother and leader commanded them. His voice was like a thousand needles piercing the very soul.

"For too long have we allowed the powers of heaven to prevent us from conquering the mortal realm, but no longer shall this be so."

Mephisto raised his arms above himself, and in a cacophany of inhuman screams, the pit began to eminate an eerie glow. Below the Seven Great Evils was a pit of innumerable souls, each tortured to insanity. Their screams were like nothing even humanly possible as the light played upon their agonizing features.

"I have begun the ritual that will ensure our passage into the mortal world of Magicus Mundus."

His gaze then fixed upon the only female amongst them. He lowered one of his hands, pointing the flat of his hand directly at her. A stream of white energy would then shoot forth from his hand, enveloping the one whom he addressed.

"Andariel, you shall be the Great Leader of our first incursion into the mortal realm. Go now to the portal which binds our world with theirs, and conquer the great mountain upon which their entrance to our world resides. The remainder of us shall join you upon completion of the ritual."

The large form of Andariel bowed gracefully to her Lord before turning to leave the infernal chamber which the Conclave of Evil resides within. A dark, demonic smile played upon her face as she left the lighted chamber and disappeared into the darkness.

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

Three days later...

"C'mon, Jack! Just toss the rock through!"

Quite the comedic event could be seen as a group of men cheered, jeered, and roared in excitement as a man stood before a massive gate left behind by some long-dead race of powerful beings. The archway was more than a kilometer in width, and the height of the gate extended for nearly two kilometers. Within the archway, a semi-liquid portal could be seen, resembling something like a stargate wormhole, although the portal was red instead of blue.

Jack turned back to his comrades several hundred meters away. They were quite visible as they jumped up and down, their shouts echoing throught the large cauldron of the dead volcano which they were within.

"But what if something comes out?!"

"Nothin's come out of that gate in centuries! C'mon! Just toss the rock in and you'll be an official member of the Gate Watch!"

Jack turned back towards the gate, staring straight up to its very top. He nearly tipped backwards in sheer dizziness, but he regained his composure. He timidly stepped up to within six feet of the portal, its red, luminescient light playing upon his nervous features. He gulped, and then, squeezing his eyes shut, he tossed the rock through the portal. The rock would then disappear beyond the event horizon. Opening his eyes, Jack would smile and turn back to his comrades, who were all cheering at his victory.

"Atta boy, Jack! C'mon back and let's have a couple shots!"

Jack began to jog back. This just happened to be the happiest day of his miserable life. He was then surprised to find himself being lifted into the air. Could it have been euphoria? Not in this case. His comrades' cheering had switched to horrified screams as they witnessed a massive arm grab hold of Jack's legs. It all felt surreal to him. He felt as though he were flying. Then he was dangling upside down, facing the gate once more. Slowly, and to Jack's horror, the face of a terrible beast materialized through the gate. Its features were that of a deformed human, contorted to look almost like an ogre. Jack began to feel the blood rush out of his face as fear took over. The creature looked directly into Jack's eyes, and all Jack could do was sputter incoherently. The beast then stepped out into the light of day, its height reaching well over twelve feet, and its entire body covered in fur and tattered clothing. It looked upon the small form of Jack once more, and then roared, its mouth widening as it took a hold of Jack's upper body with its other hand and merely broke him in two, like a child would to a stick.

"Jack!" The ringleader of the group couldn't believe his eyes as the poor kid was broken in two and casually tossed aside. Rage would then build up inside him as he then took hold of the nearest weapon available - a large axe - and he jumped over the edge of the trench they were in. He roared in anger and anguish as he charged the demon. "You mother fucker! You piece of fucking shit! I'll fucking kill you! Gaaaah!"

He would stop dead in his tracks no more than fifteen meters from the trench, and his mouth gaped open. From the gate, more of the same creature would begin to emerge, each standing in near-equivalent height to each other. Amongst their feet would be dozens, then hundreds of small goblin-like creatures armed to the teeth with scimitars, hand axes, shields, and torchs, their skin colours ranging from bright red, to blue, and even dark shades of black. They babbled incoherently in their foul dialect as their shamans rallied them together. Then, with one deafening roar from all of the larger creatures, the entirety of the demon army would charge forth towards the trenchs as more of their kind poured forth from the gate.

"Joe! Get out of there!"

One of the freebirth soldiers called out to his commanding officer. Joe would then turn on one heel, dropping the axe he carried and begin running towards the trench in sheer terror. He cried out in a high pitched voice, "Open fire! Fire at will!" And his troops would soon oblige him as the single point of (now) twenty four men opened fire on the surging horde of demons. Their wild, barely aimed shots would strike true as battle rifle, assault rifle, carbine, and heavy machine gun blazed away at their aggressors. Their shots would soon be joined by the other four points, who fired their own weapons, creating a fatal crossfire that would cut swathes into the enemy ranks. This would not deter the demons, as they were soon joined by legions of more of their kind, as well as corrupted women, minotaur-like creatures, and innumerable amounts of undead zombies and skeletons, every one of them armed with some form of weapon. The skeletons and the corrupted human women would bring to bear ranged weapons, such as ancient rifles, machine guns, and soon recoiless rifles.

"Keep firing! Don't let up! Hold them back!" Joe frantically tried to rally his troops, and was successful as his men held their positions. One of the men had so far as gone to grab the nearest grenade launcher, and had been keeping his head down, blind-fire-barraging the demonic army. It was partly successful, but the number of foul creatures pouring out of the gate was just too many to make any significant difference. Piles of corpses, bones, armour, and weapons fell down, creating a wall of dead which the enemy clambered over, only to be cut down by the freebirth skeleton defense force.

"Sir, we're gonna run low on ammo before this is over," shouted a soldier, who then fired a burst of rounds into a pair of the goblin-like creatures. Both creatures fell in inhuman, agonizing throes.

"I know that!" Joe leveled his sniper rifle with a zombie, squeezing the trigger to be end with the satisfying result of watching the zombie have its head blown into pulp. He looked over to another soldier. "Get in the bunker! Get on the comms with third point and tell them to send a man to the command post for reinforcements! I want it done five minutes ago!"

"Yes sir!" But as the troop made his way into the bunker, he was cut down as a barrage of needles fired from an enemy gun peppered him. The soldier would scream in agonizing pain as Joe watched in horror as the soldier's body inflated beyond normal proportions, and then exploded into a pair of over-sized rats covered in quills. Before even one of them could move, Joe unholstered his pistol, and then both rats leaped for him. Joe cut both rats down with two, well-placed shots, the pistol blowing both rats into pulp with its massive fifty caliber rounds.

"Mother of fuck! Keep your heads down boys! Dunno what'll come outta you when-"

"Sir! Look!"

Joe realigned his attention to the battlefield, and again his jaw dropped. The hordes of creatures they had just killed within the last few minutes of fighting were glowing, and they began to rise again, going back into their charge with more gusto than before.

"Fall back...fall back...fall back!" Joe's voice resounded with terror as he leaped from the trench and began to run for his life. His troops, upon watching him do this, suddenly lost any morale they had had when the fighting had started and ran head over heels to catch up with their commander. They ran as fast as they could up the hardened interior slope of the caldera, but the demons soon caught up with the stragglers, cutting them down at the legs first so that they could jump upon them and tear them to pieces. One by one, they were slowly cut down, and as the other points saw this, their respective commanders gave the word to retreat. Each point fled as fast as they could up the slope, some of the freebirths having a decent amount of courage to turn back and fire a few wild shots only to be torn assunder by a swarm of demons.

The one hundred and twenty five men had now been reduced only to thirty by the time they had reached the top of the caldera, and they ran down the opposite hill with revitalized strength as they saw the command post ahead of them. However, between them and the camp was a rocky outcropping, and they still had those demons chasing after them. As they reached the outcropping, the men soon became separated from one another as they tried to leap between rocks. The terrified men were then cut asunder once more as several barrages of arrows rained down upon them. By now, only Joe and three others were left...

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

It had been quite the boring day. Nothing to do, as usual. There hadn't been a demon incursion in centuries, and most demons that lived today were allied with the humans, and lived amongst them, merely because they were more civilized. For now, all that Kathy could do was sit at her post, waiting for something to happen. She yawned, and slowly, but surely, she began to doze off.

She woke up with a start as she heard a scream, and she bolted out of her chair, grabbing her SMG off the table. Opening up the tent flap, she leveled her gun just in time to see Joe and his remaining troops come running into the camp.

"We're under attack! We're under attack!" Joe screamed as he kept running, almost passing Kathy before she grabbed onto his arm and yanked him back.

"What is going on, surat?! Answer me!" Kathy's rage was obvious as she was none too pleased with the freebirth in her charge.

"The...they're...they're attacking! We gotta run! They won't...won't stop...coming!" Joe's face was contorted with fear.

"Who is attacking?!" Kathy demanded.

"The...," Joe started, but his face contorted even more as he looked beyond Kathy's shoulder. "They're here!"

Kathy whirled around, releasing Joe to flee once more. What she saw struck fear into her trueborn heart. Never in her life had she seen such a massive force in her entire life as she watched a legion of goblins and skeletons come charging forth into the camp.

"Enemy! The enemy has made us!" She lifted her SMG, pulling the trigger to release a barrage of bullets to cut down a trio of goblins. She galloped backwards and she fired barrage after barrage, before she turned and took off for the comms tower. She could hear the enemy charging after her and anyone else in their path. Kathy looked to her right in time to see another horrid creature burst out of a tent, grappling with an unarmoured Elemental before slaughtering the courageous warrior in a festive eating frenzy, gorging itself upon the warrior. Two of its kin emerged from the same tent, tearing the temporary structure down. Their gaze was set upon Kathy. Turning her attention back to the comms tower, she pushed herself harder as she ran for the doorway at the base. She could hear the creatures breathing as they chased after her, their sickly breath creeping into her nostrils.

Kathy could see the door getting closer, and every inch of her fiber told her not to give up. She felt the breath of one of the creatures play across her back, and she screamed as she elbow-slammed into the door, bursting it open and promptly swinging it shut with a slam. She locked the deadbolt to the door just as soon as one of the creatures bashed against the door, leaving a humongous dent. Kathy stepped back as she then began to ran up the stairs. After yet another try, the creature finally managed to bash the door open. Kathy gave a scream as she turned, while on the stairway, and pumped the creature full of rounds, killing it in one go. However, two, then three more creatures followed their brother into the building, and Kathy turned her attention back to running up the stairs. She took the steps two and three at a time, listening to the creatures attempt to scramble up after her. After dashing up four flights of stairs, she opened the door up into the top control tower, which was unoccupied. She didn't even bother to look behind her before she slammed the control room door shut, deadbolting it, grabbing onto a nearby heavy desk, and, using her nanosuits strength mode, yanked the desk in front of the door. She backed away from the door as she watched the door dent inward from a creature slamming up against it.

Focusing her attention on the communications station, Kathy quickly slammed a few commands into the computer. Soon, the computer had a communication open for her, and she quickly recorded her message.

"This is Star Captain Kathy of the Gate Defense Force. To those who receive this message, the gate has been compromised, I repeat, the gate has been compromised. Reinforcements will not reach here in time, but I will attempt to provide a video link for visual confirmation...standby..."

The visual of her would then switch automatically to an exterior camera, which recorded the scenes of carnage, mayhem, and slaughter. "As you can see, we have been completely overrun by the demons from the gate. It is likely that no one has survived this attack."

The visual switched back to her, and the sound of banging on the door could be heard. "I do not have much time left. Please, I implore those who receive this message to send all available forces to the Gate Mountain. If this situation is not contained, Magicus Mundus, and perhaps even the entire system, will be lost."

She then set the message to auto-send as it recorded both the exterior events and interior events. On the recording, Kathy could be seen hoisting her SMG up, leveling it with the door as more urgent slamming could be heard from the door. The roars, screams, and wails of the creatures could be heard as the door strained against the pressure. Sliding in a fresh magazine, Kathy then called out to the demons.

"You want some of this?! Come get it, you filthborn scumbags!" The door then burst open, and several creatures rushed through the doorway. Kathy roared as she held down the trigger on her gun, cutting down several of the creatures as she backed up towards a wall. One of the creatures then leaped into the air, its hind legs slamming down upon Kathy as her battlecries turned to screams of agony. The creatures swarmed upon her, and blood splattered across the entire room as her cries soon turned to gurgles, and suddenly fell silent. The transmission ended soon after...

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

Nova Louisiana

Aboard their ship, Eishun, Setsuna, and Asuna awaited Batov-sensei's arrival. Asuna and Setsuna, by now, had turned to distracting themselves with shopping, wearing civilian clothes as they went on their little excursions. They had bought lots of wonderful new clothing, and were chit-chatting about how good they looked in their purchased goods. Y'know, the typical, cliche girl stuff.

Meanwhile, Eishun had taken to practicing his arts outside of the ship, having had too much of the girls' giggling and shrieking. Yes, he had had quite enough of their female shenanigans, and had sought solace in his sword. He had been performing a form of taichi with his sword, using fluid movements as he mimicked battle. They had been waiting some time now for Batov-sensei, and Eishun was rather eager to leave, moreso because he wished to learn the truth about the Grand Master's ethereal visit to this strange man. Eishun prided himself on his patience, though, so he continued to practice, simply waiting for the man's arrival.

((This RP is strictly closed to those who were given prior permission to join in. Under no circumstances are there to be any comments, unwarranted tags, or joining of third parties unless EXPRESSED PERMISSION IS GIVEN!

This RP is now officially started!))

Nova Louisiana

The two men strolled the grounds on their way to the simple automobile, a Toyota repulsorlift craft, that would take them to the O'Donnell--Faquaha Memorial Spaceport, named for two heroes of the Nova Louisianan Wars that had torn the province apart long ago. One was a tall Russian man, dressed in robes recalling that of a Russian Orthodox priest along with his People's Acolytes uniform. He walked with a fiery stride in his step and determination in his eyes. His lightsaber was in one hand, a bag with spare clothing and supplies in the other. And, he had a retainer to help carry extra.

The other man was a Chinese fellow. Also wearing the People's Acolytes uniform, he had two holsters on his hips, and his own battle gear. Dressed much more simply than his counterpart, the Chinese smiled and laughed.

"Sensei Batov....I still can't believe you talked me into this."

Batov glared at the Chinese, and said, "Young man, it was your right to refuse. I would not take a noble task and speak ill of it, Mr. Chin."

Chin smiled, and said holding his finger up, "That is Master Chin to you, old man. I would not prefer to quibble the point though."

As they got into the auto and drove to the spaceport, Chin asked Batov, "Now, correct me if I am wrong, but this is a high-risk mission, yes? Journeys into distant lands are never easy."

Batov, not looking at Chin, said gravely, "Tell me, young Master--do you believe in Hell?" Chin looked at him oddly, and said, "I believe in a Hell, but I am a Buddhist by nature. Our Hell is a little different than yours, I would estimate." Chin's expression then narrowed, as he retorted with, "Why the theological debate, may I ask?"

Batov turned to him with a fierce look, and said, "We go into Hell, to get to Heaven."

Chin raised an eyebrow, and said, "I see" with a puzzled tone of voice. Batov then softened a little and said, "You remember the briefing I gave you when I visited you on Lantau Island, in Hong Kong?"

Chin nodded, stroking his chin, and said, "Yes, the part about Magicus Mundus and the alternate dimension. It sounds daunting indeed....."

He then paused for a moment, and looked in shock at Batov.

"Wait. I'm sensing something from you....ususually, you're hard to tell, but I can definetly sense whatever we're doing is genuinely Hellish."

Batov nodded, and looked into the distance. He replied, merely, "Young Chin, I would not be surprised if you were quaking in fear right about now. Lesser men would be at the prospect of the Harrowing we face. I sense some apprehension. However, I also sense justness about you. Use your justice and will to tame your fear, and let the Light of Lights guide you through this journey."

Batov then turned to Chin and said, "Besides, it is too late to turn back now."

Chin then replied, "But of course. Makes me glad I brought the extra ammo."

As he said that, the hovercraft ended up at the hangar where the Clanners were, all that was necessary was for the D'Haran and the others to come....

OOC: From Twist of Fate. Sorry, I am a bit late.

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"To the heads all bodies within the friends of Socialism using psykery, the Force or magical powers--

I, Grigori Batov, Sensei of the Shinmei School of the People's Acolytes, am about to undergo a great task into the unknown. What I am about to tell you seems more akin to the world of fantasy and soft science fiction than it does to our earthly plane. But it may turn out to be something significant for all of us. Hear me out.

It seems that during my training in the Divine Essence underneath the Eternals, I had experienced visions of an Asian man wearing a white and red kimono with long black hair. Upon contact with the Shinmei-ryuu practioners from the Clans, it was ascertained that due to the similarities of abilities and names with my school with theirs, this Asian fellow was none other than the founder of the Clan Shinmei-ryuu school. According to one Eishun Konoe, a leader of the Clan Shinmei, this information is of some significance; the fact that I had experienced these visions suggests I was chosen for some great task.

However, to ascertain what this task exactly is, I am forced to undergo no less than a Harrowing of Hell; according to Konoe-sensei, a journey through a dimension known as the Infernus Necromundus--a dimension akin to the fires of Hell and the violence of the worst nightmares as I have been told--is necessary in order to reach a gateway to the realm where this Master now dwells. Once there, the purpose of the aforementioned visions can be ascertained.

Now, you may ask, why join me, if this concerns a so-called "Mad Russian" only? Well, there are two motivations why I ask you for help. One is the inherent danger of such a mission. Not many have returned, and I do not go on this quest for sport. Thus, if I am to go, I need the help of strong allies who can provide assistance so the way to the Master can be reached. Also, as promised before, this affects all of us; as speculated, the revelations this Master is said to contain may involve a task greater than any present struggle, one that surely must affect all of us. Why would you miss out on the opportunity to discover what that is?

It is with that purpose, that I intend to call upon the heads of all your organizations to send representatives of your finest disciplines of magic, psykery or Force usage, without delay, to Hieara Major, to join in this task.

Sincerely,

Grigori Alexandrovich Batov
Sensei
People's Acolytes Shinmei School"

Colonel Keith Allaire, Jedi Knight, sighed as his pager went off in the middle of his Hydrogeology course. It had not been the first time; after all, he was always on call, but still, it was a bit of an annoyance. He quickly looked down at his pager, which flashed green, signaling a low-priority message that could wait, at least until after class. Therefore, he continued diligently taking notes as the instructor continued the day's lecture on the formation of aquifers. Occasionally, he had to remind himself why he was here...he had to learn about his geokinetic powers somewhere, and the White Diamond university system was as good a place as any, since the Jedi Order had no one capable of training him in such a direction.

Forty-five minutes later, the class adjourned from the day, and Keith was free to check the page, whereupon he found Batov's message waiting for him. He quickly read it; it sounded like he needed someone who could be committed to an extended mission. Alas, Keith had a couple of years of study ahead of him, and such study was here; he thought for a while about other Woodian military personnel who might be interested in meeting this challenge. Keith would have loved to go himself, but alas, he was already tied up.

However, another crossed his mind, one Major Ehrell, a master Teras Kasi instructor, not to mention fully trained as a Combat Medic. Keith knew him to be Force Sensitive, though he had refused Jedi training until such time that the Jedi Order fully atoned for the Bailey Kipper Incident, and the Order had not quite gotten around to it yet. Perhaps the Acolytes could begin his training in the Force; they at least tended to reserve the darker stuff for those with a known capacity to handle it, unlike the Jedi Order to which Keith himself belonged (and found himself in frequent disagreement with). Not to mention that, from the description of the request, Major Ehrell's expertise and services as a Combat Medic might prove useful.

Colonel Allaire summoned the Major, and all but thrust the communique in his face. Major Ehrell glared down at him, looking hard into his eyes, fully not appreciating the manner in which the Colonel had handled the communication. Yet he read it, eyes narrowing. "This is an order?" he asked the Colonel after a few minutes of eerie silence, not to mention the Colonel wondering if the Major was going to pick a fight with him.

"It is now." Colonel Allaire's voice left no doubt. He had not anticipated Major Ehrell to ask that, but as long as he asked like that...well, at least it would allow the Jedi Order adequate time to reconcile over The Bailey Incident.

Major Ehrell was in no mood to waste time. He threw his weapons, a blaster, a service pistol, and a sniper rifle, complete with blaster packs and ammo, into a backpack, followed by a miniature, twenty-kilo replicator to replicate said packs and ammo, as it seemed this would be an extended mission. He also stuffed a Class D medkit into said backpack, followed by as many MREs and other assorted as he could fit around it. Not to mention a spare military uniform, in case he splattered too much blood on the one he was wearing. He stuffed many more ration bars into the assorted cargo pockets of his battle dress uniform, before mounting two canteens, and picking up more scalpels. Scalpels in his hands became deadly melee weapons; alternatively, he used them as kunai.

After which point, he "requisitioned" an X-wing and burned for Hieara Major, not knowing what he would find...

Batov and Chin and their goods, by now, were at the spaceport, and in the distance, Batov spotted the lone X-wing flying into the area. He smiled, and said, "Here we are. We have another coming to aid us."

Chin then said, visoring his eyes with his hands, "Yes...I can sense it well enough. He's not hostile. He's guarded, however, with a Woodian's lock."

To that, Batov replied, "A Woodian's lock?" A turn of the head, and Chin said with a smile, "I've known Woodians to jealously guard the sanctity of their minds. I cannot tell much from that man, I can deduce you cannot either. the experience of Darth Ebolus has taught them to make that their policy. Though that means they may have gotten your message, if that's any comfort."

Batov fumed slightly, saying, "It is a shame. Since you have experience with Woodians, Chin, you deal with him. I will deal with the Shinmei."

Chin then went to greet Major Ehrell, as his X-wing landed. He merely stood still and greeted the new arrival when he got out, saying with a salute a bow and a handshake, "I am Sensei 1st Class Chin Tai Wong, Qiangquan School. I have been seconded by Sensei Batov to accompany him on his journey. Please, follow me."

While Soren's ship floated through hyperspace, the young sorcerer spent much of his down time focusing on the tome he had brought from the People's Palace in D'Hara. Pouring over the old manuscripts and trying to decipher the High D'Haran, Soren was struggling to figure out its meaning. Every book of magic spoke in simplistic ideas that were easy to grasp but the difficulty came in trying to understand how the text was coming up with a simple idea. Often the most basic ideas required volumes of writing to understand.

Soren let it flop on his bed then rubbed his temples. "Ugh, what the hell is this thing trying to tell me. It is not divination or a summoning. This seems to complicated for an enchantment." The young sorcerer wondered at the intention of the spell line. He was even struggling with deciding if the tome was trying to show him a line that was beneficial or harmful to the target.

Kicking his feet up, Soren dropped back in the bed and let his head hit the pillow. He took a moments rest before the warning sirens sounded out.

"Finally."

The sorcerer grabbed his cloak and threw it around his shoulders then headed up to the bridge. "Coming up on it are we?"

"Yes sir. The Memorial Spaceport."

A jump point formed not far from the Dornalian spaceport which produced the newest Ranger class starship. Positioning around to hangar bay 57, the ship headed in.

Soren ran back to his room quickly and grabbed the book he had been studying. Ready, he headed towards the main exit at the bridge and prepared to disembark and meet these new companions.

Soren ran back to his room quickly and grabbed the book he had been studying. Ready, he headed towards the main exit at the bridge and prepared to disembark and meet these new companions.

Batov stepped forth and greeted the man with a bow and a salute. He then addressed the magician, saying with proud voice, "Greetings, Comrade. I am Sensei Grigori Batov. I represent the Shinmei School of the People's Acolytes, and I am the one who has contacted you for assistance. Who may I ask are you?"

Batov and Chin and their goods, by now, were at the spaceport, and in the distance, Batov spotted the lone X-wing flying into the area. He smiled, and said, "Here we are. We have another coming to aid us."

Chin then said, visoring his eyes with his hands, "Yes...I can sense it well enough. He's not hostile. He's guarded, however, with a Woodian's lock."

To that, Batov replied, "A Woodian's lock?" A turn of the head, and Chin said with a smile, "I've known Woodians to jealously guard the sanctity of their minds. I cannot tell much from that man, I can deduce you cannot either. the experience of Darth Ebolus has taught them to make that their policy. Though that means they may have gotten your message, if that's any comfort."

Batov fumed slightly, saying, "It is a shame. Since you have experience with Woodians, Chin, you deal with him. I will deal with the Shinmei."

Chin then went to greet Major Ehrell, as his X-wing landed. He merely stood still and greeted the new arrival when he got out, saying with a salute a bow and a handshake, "I am Sensei 1st Class Chin Tai Wong, Qiangquan School. I have been seconded by Sensei Batov to accompany him on his journey. Please, follow me."

Major Ehrell extracted his heavily-laden backpack from the X-wing's cargo hold as he got out, slinging the bulky, heavy pack over his shoulder as if it was empty. He barely seemed to notice Chin at all; he disembarked from his fighter, and turned around.

If Chin had any attention to detail, the patch on the left shoulder of Major Ehrell's battle dress uniform would catch his eye, for emblazoned on it, in black so as not to give away camouflage, was the Rod of Asclepius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius); this was likewise complemented by a medical cross (again, black, for the same reason) on his opposite sleeve. The six-foot-seven Combat Medic had a stern look on his face, not that his eyes even seemed to notice Chin's presence, and he simply left his uniform to be his introduction. He definitely seemed like someone who could save one's life, but go out of his way to make the necessary procedure as painful as possible. Chin had but a brief moment to read the name 'EHRELL' on his uniform's namestrip, and his rank insignia.

When Chin saluted the Major, Major Ehrell quickly returned the salute, but did not speak. Nor did Major Ehrell actually look down to see Chin's outstretched hand as he walked by; that Chin was offering him a handshake seemed not to register with the beast of burden. Major Ehrell simply walked right past Chin, looking for the one who had signed the note directing him here, leaving Chin with little more than a gust of wind as he passed, and a look at his backpack and the back of his brunette head.

When Chin saluted the Major, Major Ehrell quickly returned the salute, but did not speak. Nor did Major Ehrell actually look down to see Chin's outstretched hand as he walked by; that Chin was offering him a handshake seemed not to register with the beast of burden. Major Ehrell simply walked right past Chin, looking for the one who had signed the note directing him here, leaving Chin with little more than a gust of wind as he passed, and a look at his backpack and the back of his brunette head.

Ehrell's manners were off-putting, to say the least, and it was with that Chin just shrugged. He was taken aback slightly, but decided to hold off on any judgments until he actually knew the guy long enough. After all, Woodian medical personnel were legendary for their almost mechanical efficency, and this was perhaps just another manifestation of it. He then followed none too closely, as Batov greeted Ehrell with a bow and a salute, introducing himself as he did with Soren, saying to the former, "Excuse me."

Ehrell's manners were off-putting, to say the least, and it was with that Chin just shrugged. He was taken aback slightly, but decided to hold off on any judgments until he actually knew the guy long enough. After all, Woodian medical personnel were legendary for their almost mechanical efficency, and this was perhaps just another manifestation of it. He then followed none too closely, as Batov greeted Ehrell with a bow and a salute, introducing himself as he did with Soren saying to the former, "Excuse me."

Major Ehrell recognized the name of Batov in said introduction, all right. Barely noticing, or caring, that Chin was still following him, the Major stopped and returned Sensei Batov's salute, standing ramrod-straight at attention. Then, Chin heard Major Ehrell's voice for the first time, one that all but ignored his presence. "Major Andrew Ehrell reporting as ordered, sir." The voice came out cold, deep, harsh, definitely not friendly. At least he had acknowledged Batov's presence, unlike Chin's. He looked straight ahead, his eyes completely parallel to the ground, not deviating so much from that as a tenth of a degree. Which pretty much meant that he looked straight into Batov's eyes...if not past them.

Major Ehrell recognized the name of Batov in said introduction, all right. Barely noticing, or caring, that Chin was still following him, the Major stopped and returned Sensei Batov's salute, standing ramrod-straight at attention. Then, Chin heard Major Ehrell's voice for the first time, one that all but ignored his presence. "Major Andrew Ehrell reporting as ordered, sir." The voice came out cold, deep, harsh, definitely not friendly. At least he had acknowledged Batov's presence, unlike Chin's. He looked straight ahead, his eyes completely parallel to the ground, not deviating so much from that as a tenth of a degree. Which pretty much meant that he looked straight into Batov's eyes...if not past them.

Batov nodded his head, and sized up the new man. So far, he was certainly two things. Stern, and ill-mannered. Batov sensed some latent Force energies in the man, and he sensed indeed, the lock-and-key mindset that kept his thoughts hidden. Respectfully, Batov poked no further, only wondering whether Woodian custom ignored social graces.

He returnend Ehrell's stern glare with a folding of arms across his chest, and a serious tone of voice as he sized up the man.

"Very well, Major Ehrell. I do not need to repeat myself, you have obviously been given the message about the need for assistance here." He gestured briefly to the assembled Clanners, and Soren, as he said, "These are your comrades, Konoe Eishun of the Clan Shinmei-ryuu. And, this is a wizard from D'hara, whom I was just greeting." Turning to the D'haran, he said, "Your name was..."

"To the heads all bodies within the friends of Socialism using psykery, the Force or magical powers--

I, Grigori Batov, Sensei of the Shinmei School of the People's Acolytes, am about to undergo a great task into the unknown. What I am about to tell you seems more akin to the world of fantasy and soft science fiction than it does to our earthly plane. But it may turn out to be something significant for all of us. Hear me out.

It seems that during my training in the Divine Essence underneath the Eternals, I had experienced visions of an Asian man wearing a white and red kimono with long black hair. Upon contact with the Shinmei-ryuu practioners from the Clans, it was ascertained that due to the similarities of abilities and names with my school with theirs, this Asian fellow was none other than the founder of the Clan Shinmei-ryuu school. According to one Eishun Konoe, a leader of the Clan Shinmei, this information is of some significance; the fact that I had experienced these visions suggests I was chosen for some great task.

However, to ascertain what this task exactly is, I am forced to undergo no less than a Harrowing of Hell; according to Konoe-sensei, a journey through a dimension known as the Infernus Necromundus--a dimension akin to the fires of Hell and the violence of the worst nightmares as I have been told--is necessary in order to reach a gateway to the realm where this Master now dwells. Once there, the purpose of the aforementioned visions can be ascertained.

Now, you may ask, why join me, if this concerns a so-called "Mad Russian" only? Well, there are two motivations why I ask you for help. One is the inherent danger of such a mission. Not many have returned, and I do not go on this quest for sport. Thus, if I am to go, I need the help of strong allies who can provide assistance so the way to the Master can be reached. Also, as promised before, this affects all of us; as speculated, the revelations this Master is said to contain may involve a task greater than any present struggle, one that surely must affect all of us. Why would you miss out on the opportunity to discover what that is?

It is with that purpose, that I intend to call upon the heads of all your organizations to send representatives of your finest disciplines of magic, psykery or Force usage, without delay, to Hieara Major, to join in this task.

Sincerely,

Grigori Alexandrovich Batov
Sensei
People's Acolytes Shinmei School"
To discuss the message, the High Council once again met from locales all over the galaxy. Unfortunately for this meeting, Master Emily Rydo would not be available.

"<Well. This is an interesting situation. Do we have the resources to deal with whatever may crop up here?>" Master Lowbacca asked after Elendil called he meeting to order.

"Well, a lot of our best are on missions already, so we'll have to choose carefully here." Tsunade said.

"Indeed. So who do we choose?" Master Izumi Curtis asked.

"Well, Naruto's still doing his thing with the underground anti-Cylon Resistance so he'll be busy." I said. "He and his team will be out for the time being. Master Quortan is out patrolling the Inner Rim and the others are as Master Tsunade said, persona non grata at this point. Hmm. How about Uchiha Sasuke? I believe he hasn't had a mission since the search for Travis."

"I'd say he's open, but what of his daughter? She's still out on that mission." Tsunade mentioned.

"I don't think that would be a problem. Keith and Haruka are still useful and if need be, he can draw from the pool of skilled apprentices to fill the third slot." I smiled.

"Very well. I believe then we have our decision?" Master Elendil asked the rest of the Council.

All nodded their heads.

"Very well. Someone will need to be sent to inform Uchiha Sasuke of this mission. Until then, this meeting is adjourned."

Batov stepped forth and greeted the man with a bow and a salute. He then addressed the magician, saying with proud voice, "Greetings, Comrade. I am Sensei Grigori Batov. I represent the Shinmei School of the People's Acolytes, and I am the one who has contacted you for assistance. Who may I ask are you?"

Soren looked around at the gathering so far as he walked off the ship. Looking little more than a skinny book worm in robes, the sorcerer kept the book close under his arm. The young man pushed the locks of black hair away from an arcane symbol painted on his forehead around a jewel then walked over to what appeared to be the meeting of the place.

Soren was a bit reclusive and not that attentitive to his manners or whether he was so blunt for hurting someone's feelings. He would have fit in perfectly with the Abh.

"Ranger Soren and former sorcerer of the Palace of Light." Was the answer when Batov introduced himself for the first time. Soren continued his scan around the station when Batov came back for the same question twice.

"Soren." Stating it matter of factly.

"Ranger Soren and former sorcerer of the Palace of Light." Was the answer when Batov introduced himself for the first time. Soren continued his scan around the station when Batov came back for the same question twice.

"Soren." Stating it matter of factly.

Batov nodded and said after Soren mentioned his name again, "My apologies for being repetitive, I was distracted for a moment. After all, a journey such as this requires much effort and planning."

The idea of sorcery was something interesting to Batov; he was always taught that sorcery, as it existed, was merely the practice of psychic powers or the Force. Magic itself, merely something for fantasy books. Then again, things had changed a lot....

Chin and Batov then stood in the silence, and looked at one another. Something was with this Major. Not his attitude either. Both of them sensed he was more than a surly man with a medkit, but he had Force sensitivity. Not too pronounced, but it was there. It needed some bringing out, was all.

Batov then leaned into Chin and said, "Do you notice--"

Chin merely pushed him back a little, and Forcemessaged him, saying, "I know. I know you know. The Major may have reticence to spare but he is one of us. Or has the potential to be."

Batov replied back with his own Forcemessage, nodding "Yes, it is understood. He has the Force within him, but his mind is guarded. Like it does not wish to be known."

Chin smiled and replied with one last Forcemessage, "You keep fixating on that. Trust me, if you knew Woodian history, you would do it too."

Batov then nodded and said out loud, "Very well. Mr. Chin, you will do the honors, since you know his people well." Chin replied with his own nod. He then walked over to Major Ehrell, bidding him to come over to the side with a simple, "Can you come with me for a minute? I have something I wish to discuss with you." When they were able to get to a secluded bit of the spacedock, Chin said, "Major, I will be blunt. I sense.....something about you. An inherent power that normally is used only by the masters of Light, Dark, or in our case, Red. The Force, if only latently, to hammer the point home. Are you aware of this?"

Batov nodded his head, and sized up the new man. So far, he was certainly two things. Stern, and ill-mannered. Batov sensed some latent Force energies in the man, and he sensed indeed, the lock-and-key mindset that kept his thoughts hidden. Respectfully, Batov poked no further, only wondering whether Woodian custom ignored social graces.

He returnend Ehrell's stern glare with a folding of arms across his chest, and a serious tone of voice as he sized up the man.

"Very well, Major Ehrell. I do not need to repeat myself, you have obviously been given the message about the need for assistance here." He gestured briefly to the assembled Clanners, and Soren, as he said, "These are your comrades, Konoe Eishun of the Clan Shinmei-ryuu. And, this is a wizard from D'hara, whom I was just greeting." Turning to the D'haran, he said, "Your name was..."

....

Chin and Batov then stood in the silence, and looked at one another. Something was with this Major. Not his attitude either. Both of them sensed he was more than a surly man with a medkit, but he had Force sensitivity. Not too pronounced, but it was there. It needed some bringing out, was all.

Batov then leaned into Chin and said, "Do you notice--"

Chin merely pushed him back a little, and Forcemessaged him, saying, "I know. I know you know. The Major may have reticence to spare but he is one of us. Or has the potential to be."

Batov replied back with his own Forcemessage, nodding "Yes, it is understood. He has the Force within him, but his mind is guarded. Like it does not wish to be known."

Chin smiled and replied with one last Forcemessage, "You keep fixating on that. Trust me, if you knew Woodian history, you would do it too."

Batov then nodded and said out loud, "Very well. Mr. Chin, you will do the honors, since you know his people well." Chin replied with his own nod. He then walked over to Major Ehrell, bidding him to come over to the side with a simple, "Can you come with me for a minute? I have something I wish to discuss with you." When they were able to get to a secluded bit of the spacedock, Chin said, "Major, I will be blunt. I sense.....something about you. An inherent power that normally is used only by the masters of Light, Dark, or in our case, Red. The Force, if only latently, to hammer the point home. Are you aware of this?"

Not able to discern a direct order from Batov's words, Major Ehrell stood, at attention, doing a mighty fine and dandy job of ignoring the scrawny little Abh. About the only thing that Major Ehrell knew about Abh, courtesy of their recent doings concerning the Colonials and somewhat-sensationalized Woodian media coverage thereof, was that they were untrustworthy little savages who bragged about stabbing their allies in the back. Of course, that label could also be applied to Coredians, though the Coredians were not involved in this mission. (Or at least not to the Major's knowledge anyway...yet.) New Dornalia and Godular were the only two allies who had kept their word, at least in the Major's view.

Major Ehrell continued to stand at attention, as if in a parade formation awaiting an order to dismiss. He heard Chin's question, his request to move to a more secluded area, but did not move or say anything for at least forty-five seconds, almost as if he was evaluating at length whether or not Chin's request constituted a direct order from a superior officer to move. Of course, part of it was just a desire to test Chin's patience, but the Major gave little, if any, hint of that.

At last, Chin decided to appeal to Ehrell's military instincts. Suppressing bewilderment at Major Ehrell's apparent refusal to move, he said, "I believe I gave you an order, Major. I shall state it again, since it seems to have missed. Kindly follow me."

His reticence mollified, the Major did an about-face and marched behind Chin towards a more secluded area, his eyes still arrow-straight, not deviating in the slightest to track the Acolyte. Moreover, Chin had to be prepared for someone who only felt like making turns in forty-five degree increments at the moment, as specified in drill maneuvers, which might take some getting used to. Not to mention the precise cadence of 120 steps per minute. Of course, Chin could have easily thought the Major, for whatever reason, wanted to make his life as difficult as possible.

When the two of them reached a corner of some unused warehouse somewhere, the Major continued to stand at attention. Chin would not have existed in his field of vision if he came too close, for the Major did not countenance looking down. Chin would have had to take a few steps back if he desired eye contact with Major Ehrell, and the latter refused to shift his eyes in the slightest.

The Major acted almost like a recruit, if not a damn disciplined one, speaking only when spoken to, and answering only in very short, concise answers. Aspirating the last word, he finally answered Chin's curiosity. "Yes, SIR." Of course, the answer would lead to more questions...

OOC: This post made with cooperation of New Dornalia

Chin took the career soldier's military habits in stride. He was used to soldiers wanting to train at his Lantau Temple, marching in like it was boot camp. He had to assure him Qiangquan training was something different.

Of course, to do that, he had to speak Ehrell's lingo. And that meant catering to this Tin Soldier's inability to respond to ambigious orders. He stood in front of Ehrell, imitating his best Drill Sergeant's voice--he had seen plenty of American war films, so he knew something of how it worked--and he said, "At rest, major."

Having done that, Chin stepped back and replied, once the Major had done thusly, "So you do have powers. Tell me, Major, have you considered putting them to use? Talent is not something to be wasted, though a talent like the Force must be used carefully. Digression aside, the question stands."

Major Ehrell immediately slid his left foot over, such that his feet were shoulder-width apart, and tied his hands behind his back. Chin's command left him leeway to look around, and to speak freely. Of course, he did have the ability to respond to ambiguous orders; he just didn't want Chin knowing that quite yet, and/or he was being an ass. Though Chin better not tell him to move his right foot.

The ability to look around, unfortunately for Chin, meant the ability to look straight down at him. Major Ehrell did so, casting upon Chin a strong look of...discontentment. At what, was not to be revealed. Nor did he answer the question immediately, though perhaps he could have. After another fifteen seconds or so, Major Ehrell replied, in a rather cold tone of voice, "The Fallen Order requested that I train, but I told the Fallen Council that it must Redeem itself before I will accept such training."

Major Ehrell immediately slid his left foot over, such that his feet were shoulder-width apart, and tied his hands behind his back. Chin's command left him leeway to look around, and to speak freely. Of course, he did have the ability to respond to ambiguous orders; he just didn't want Chin knowing that quite yet, and/or he was being an ass. Though Chin better not tell him to move his right foot.

The ability to look around, unfortunately for Chin, meant the ability to look straight down at him. Major Ehrell did so, casting upon Chin a strong look of...discontentment. At what, was not to be revealed. Nor did he answer the question immediately, though perhaps he could have. After another fifteen seconds or so, Major Ehrell replied, in a rather cold tone of voice, "The Fallen Order requested that I train, but I told the Fallen Council that it must Redeem itself before I will accept such training."

Chin nodded and began pacing about. It didn't take the Force to figure out Ehrell wasn't exactly proud of being a Force user. He wasn't comfortable, for sure, with Chin. And he wasn't comfy with the Coredian Jedi Council.

He began his piece, opening with a simple, "I see. I can sense a lot of anger and resentment at the Jedi Council, no doubt due to Mr. Kipper's unfortunate choice of move. Indeed, their actions at this stage have no doubt left them as untrustworthy to you. I can understand where you come from, so I will not dwell on it."

He then put his finger up and walked to the front of Ehrell again. Looking him in the eyes with a wise and serene look, he said, "Perhaps you can trust the People's Acolytes then, to train you? We use both sides of the Force, yes, but in such a manner as to harmonize them and only allow those with maturity to utilize higher level abilities, especially those from the darker side of the Force. We in fact punish those who stray with extreme prejudice, as the Americans would say."

Capping that statement with a smile, he went on to say, "To that end, I would like to, with your permission, allow either Batov or myself to train you. In particular, my school, the Qiangquan School, focuses on brotherhood, loyalty, and trust in one's brother in order to protect those around us. Plus, you will find it possibly more amenable, as we do not focus solely on lightsaber combat. We use firearms, though we take care to ensure care in their use. Sensei Batov's school is more Force powered, and involves a little something else called the Divine Essence. I am none too familiar with it."

He then concluded with, "What do you think?"

Major Ehrell displayed no emotion on his face; he barely moved at all, though he continued to stare down Chin. His voice came out cold, clinical, unmoved. "The exact words I spoke to the Fallen Council were, and I quote, 'I wish to begin training after this Council has completed its reconciliation with the Woodians.' Thus, I am honor-bound to take my training from them after such time as they Redeem themselves, or at least I am obligated to give them a reasonable chance to Redeem themselves. Therefore, I cannot commit to training under the banner of the Acolytes. However, I see nothing that precludes me from accepting training as an uncommitted, freelance student under the scope of this mission. Understand that I cannot at this point commit to join any Force-using organization, due to my words with the Fallen Council."

Chin chuckled slightly at the thought of a man keeping his word to an organization he found disreputable. He shrugged and said, "As you wish, Major. I cannot force you to join us, but I can do freelance training in basic Force skills."

He then took the time to reiterate himself, something the Major would have found somewhat annoying. He said, "As I have said, we have a heterodox approach to the Force, which may not necessarily exactly translate to the Coredian Jedi methods. But ours work just as well, and with just as much power. So to that end, I think I can teach you a basic regimen, and maybe even a few things to help you along."

He then flashed the famous Dornalian Smile, and said, "Consider this Test Prep, like for a college entrance exam. Are we agreed?"

Major Ehrell wished Chin would wipe that smile off his face. He did not like said smile at all. However, to Chin's comments about the possibility of training, he simply nodded, and answered his question rather bluntly. "Aff."

However, Major Ehrell was not sure whether or not Chin would catch the technicality of being unable to give a valid command, other than an order to stand at attention, from his current position. He decided to have a little fun with this, and see if Chin was on the ball, not that he left any hint of that thought process for Chin to pick up, at least not without hacking his mind, anyway.

Major Ehrell wished Chin would wipe that smile off his face. He did not like said smile at all. However, to Chin's comments about the possibility of training, he simply nodded, and answered his question rather bluntly. "Aff."

However, Major Ehrell was not sure whether or not Chin would catch the technicality of being unable to give a valid command, other than an order to stand at attention, from his current position. He decided to have a little fun with this, and see if Chin was on the ball, not that he left any hint of that thought process for Chin to pick up, at least not without hacking his mind, anyway.

Chin then said, "Good." Noticing Ehrell's relatively ambigious reply, Chin was slowed for a moment, then realized he had to play drill sergeant again. So, he then let out a cry of, "ATTEN-SHUN!" Attention gained, Chin said, "Now, while Sensei Batov is busy, I'm going to test you on some manuevers."

He walked over to a toolbox, and opened it up to pull out a monkey wrench. He then said simply, "I am going to throw this monkey wrench. It may come at you, near you, or somewhere around you. The objective is to catch said wrench in mid-air and pass it to me. Understood?"

He then cried out, "Fall out!" He then raised the wrench, and threw it with considerable force, aiming to just miss Ehrell's head.

Major Ehrell fell out of the little one-man formation, now done with his own testing of Chin (for now). Now was the time for Chin to gauge his capabilities, for better or for worse. He said nothing to acknowledge Chin's instructions; he just waited for him to throw the darn wrench.

Only there was one slight problem. As he had only used Telekinesis in almost-reflexive attacks against an entire person, he completely lacked any knowledge of fine control of the ability. He was, insofar as the Force was concerned, anyway, a raw recruit, after all.

He "caught" the wrench, all right, but it was thrown back at Chin for him to catch with the approximate telekinetic Force equivalent of a double-barreled shotgun. Chin got slammed with far more of the energy than the wrench did...

Major Ehrell fell out of the little one-man formation, now done with his own testing of Chin (for now). Now was the time for Chin to gauge his capabilities, for better or for worse. He said nothing to acknowledge Chin's instructions; he just waited for him to throw the darn wrench.

Only there was one slight problem. As he had only used Telekinesis in almost-reflexive attacks against an entire person, he completely lacked any knowledge of fine control of the ability. He was, insofar as the Force was concerned, anyway, a raw recruit, after all.

He "caught" the wrench, all right, but it was thrown back at Chin for him to catch with the approximate telekinetic Force equivalent of a double-barreled shotgun. Chin got slammed with far more of the energy than the wrench did...

Chin staggered back with the force of the telekinetic movement, but having trained people before, he was used to it. He waved his hand, and Ehrell would suddenly feel time slow down--or witness Chin move really fast--as he used the boost to recover. Taking himself out of the time bubble he snatched the wrench rather easily with his hand, and said, "Not bad. Your telekinesis needs a little more control. You caught the wrench, but you threw me back with it."

Standing back up, he declared, "Hmm....now let's do another exam. I am thinking of an image in my mind. Detect said image in my mind."

Chin then thought of Marc Chagall's La Mariee, a nice painting he saw on a trip to Paris once, in a martial arts tournament. Hopefully, if Ehrell didn't recognize the artist, he'd at least recognize something about it.

Ehrell witnessed Chin move really, really, fast, and all he could think of was that it might be useful for performing surgical operations that were highly time-sensitive, or for performing his duties as a medic in a mass-casualty situation. Nevertheless, he did not say anything, though Chin's criticism of his telekinesis was obvious. Well duh, I have only used it on one occasion, and then not fully consciously, Major Ehrell thought to himself. His mind did not betray the thought to Chin.

Now onto the task at hand, which presented a slight problem. The Major found the idea of digging around others' minds utterly reprehensible, probably because of what the Sith had done to millions upon millions of his countrymen. As a result, he would have been far stronger in defending his own mind than invading the privacy of someone else's. He thought for a long moment, first on whether or not the request was even ethical; Chin would not be able to detect much, if any, mental activity on the Major's part without actively prying for about a full minute, almost like the Major was ignoring him again. Finally, upon deciding the order was indeed ethical on the basis of consent, the Major considered for a much briefer time how to go about accomplishing the request. He had successfully used telepathy to convey his displeasure to the Sith Lord Tilton, when the latter had him immobilized so thoroughly that he could not physically speak. Therefore, he used telepathy to gain a foothold into Chin's mind.

The thoughts projected were those of revulsion. Like a novice student forced under duress into using a Dark Power that he was not prepared for. Major Ehrell had to physically suppress the urge to hurl from his instinctual reaction to reading the mind of another. But before he aborted the attempt, he did catch a brief glimpse of the image before fading away.

"A lady, dressed in red and white, and a stringed instrument..." was all that his mind had had time to visually process in the brief flicker of the image.

"A lady, dressed in red and white, and a stringed instrument..." was all that his mind had had time to visually process in the brief flicker of the image.

OOC: credit goes here for the Tiger fist: http://www.hungkuen.net/forms-4pillars.htm

IC:
Chin nodded, and said, "Good, good. Your telepathy skills are not too shabby. Modern art is very distinct."

Chin didn't bother saying his mind, but the incoming wave of negativity in the Force with the exercise suggested Ehrell, at best, was uncomfortable with the idea of just probing around someone's mind. It was indeed the kind of revulsion one would associate with Dark Side usage, and Chin knew that telepathy was definetly not going to be Ehrell's strong suit, owing to his people's cultural and historical bias against it. This was indeed going to be a challenge, since People's Acolytes would use skills--albiet in balanced, measured quantities--that would make the Major absolutely livid.

He then looked up and said, "Now that I've tested telepathy, and telekinesis, let's have a diagnostic of your reaction time and your speed."

He then put his fists up, and said, "I will attempt to attack you, with no tricks, no Force powers. React as quickly as possible and take me down with all due speed." He then assumed a basic stance from the Tiger fist set, and then proceeded to lash out at the Major with two quick punches and a high kick delivered with natural strength.

Apparently, reaction time and/or precognition was Major Ehrell's pre-existing strong suit.

Major Ehrell took a quick step back, and caught Chin's foot well before the kick (or either of the punches) could land with his right hand, shoving Chin's foot hard left. In the split second that a normal-speed person would have been caught off balance, Major Ehrell's left fist swung outward from his chest, directing itself at Chin's lower jaw, with enough force behind it to easily produce whiplash, and in some people with weak necks or vertebrae, paralysis. It might have been a blow that would tempt Chin into using his temporal abilities...

Chin was hit with the force of the fist, and stumbled backwards. Rubbing his jaw some and moving it a bit to ensure it wasn't broken, he felt a rather nasty gash on the side of his jawline. Examining the rest of his face, he found it was fine, though he did feel one of his teeth was chipped and another seemed to have been knocked out completely. He deftly put the teeth back into place, and used Force Heal to put the teeth back together the way they used to be, with some residual pain.

He then stood and bowed, saying, "You not only have good reaction time and speed, but strength as well. A lesser man would have been felled by that punch."

He then looked at his watch, and said, "I think we have time for a couple more exercises. They will seem like mere trifles, but as I am not at my home base in Lantau, I cannot do much more."

He then took out a bullet, and then removed the bullet from its casing. Going to a remote part of the room within eyesight of Ehrell and out of the way of any explosives, he emptied the powder inside the cartridge onto a small tissue. Chin then got up, and said, "Let's test your ability to manipulate the elements. Ignite this pile of gunpowder."

Major Ehrell scowled. A civilian doctor would probably decree that Chin needed stitches for the gash in his jaw at this point. Major Ehrell, however, considered it a cosmetic injury at best; he was more accustomed to the field-hospital, emergency-room type of medicine than worrying about what he would have considered a "minor cut" or dentistry. He did not wish to waste the supplies he brought with him on something so trivial, for they might be supplies that he would actually need later; therefore he allowed Chin to Force-heal himself, but silently vowed to keep watch for any sign of infection. Whereupon, if such was to occur, even he would concede that intervention be required.

Now, as far as Chin's newest batch of tests, the Major doubted their efficacy. Colonel Allaire, Jedi Knight, had told him that such "elemental" abilities were not necessarily innate, as was midichlorian count. A particularly enterprising Padawan might derive an elemental power not from an inherent predisposition, but from testing knowledge gained in, say, a chemistry or physics class, as Master Whitfield had done decades ago. Major Ehrell knew that Master Whitfield had also taught Knight Allaire in much the same manner.

That, and his ability to do things solely with telekinesis was not exactly finely tuned to the point of being able to incite molecules to a chemical reaction to begin with, as Chin had found earlier. Not surprisingly, nothing happened until he figured orders were orders, and blasted the gunpowder with his blaster.

That, and his ability to do things solely with telekinesis was not exactly finely tuned to the point of being able to incite molecules to a chemical reaction to begin with, as Chin had found earlier. Not surprisingly, nothing happened until he figured orders were orders, and blasted the gunpowder with his blaster.

Chin's turn to scowl came about, as he said, shaking his head, "I see." He then paced around Ehrell and said, "I think I can make a judgment now about your abilities. You are more of a physical fighter than a Force user. We need to develop your Force powers into something....concrete. Again, you have that talent, the inherent skill, but as demonstrated by that shot, you have a way to go."

He then stood firm and said, "You do have good weapons skill though. I can use that."

Major Ehrell remained dead silent. All he did was glare upon Chin's apparent stupidity. Well, of course he was a physical fighter, not a Force user. He had been extensively trained in the former, but had no training whatsoever in the latter. To anyone with even an ounce of common sense, that he would have strength in the former, but not the latter, was manifestly obvious. The Major's cold stare might have betrayed to Chin that he was being judged...harshly. Exactly what the judgment was, however, remained a secret that Chin would have to pry from Major Ehrell's mind, if not for the slight problem that doing so would instantly earn him a label as a "Sith."

The only acknowledgment Chin received was that the Major holstered his blaster.

Major Ehrell remained dead silent. All he did was glare upon Chin's apparent stupidity. Well, of course he was a physical fighter, not a Force user. He had been extensively trained in the former, but had no training whatsoever in the latter. To anyone with even an ounce of common sense, that he would have strength in the former, but not the latter, was manifestly obvious. The Major's cold stare might have betrayed to Chin that he was being judged...harshly. Exactly what the judgment was, however, remained a secret that Chin would have to pry from Major Ehrell's mind, if not for the slight problem that doing so would instantly earn him a label as a "Sith."

The only acknowledgment Chin received was that the Major holstered his blaster.

Chin recognized that stare from many a recalcitrant student. It was that "So what, old man?" stare he got from many a trainee. It didn't take much more to figure out the Major was, in no uncertain terms, treating him with utmost disrespect. Nodding and smiling, he didn't betray any sense of impaitence with his would-be student as he said, "Alright, my assessment is over. As useless as this seemed, it will help me gauge a training regimen later on. Do bear with me."

He then motioned for him to follow and said, "Let us return to the loading dock."

When Ehrell decided to follow, they followed, and as they reunited with Batov, Batov turned to Chin and said, "My God! Your face!" Chin merely smiled and said, "I had our Major do a speed and reflex test involving a duel. He is an expert brawler. Not a good Force user though."

Batov then said, "I would have figured as such, young Chin. And it would not have taken a brawl to do so."

Chin pointedly replied, "You have your ways, I have mine. As it is, I recommend training him in Force usage, and maybe some Qiangquan Gun skills."

Batov merely replied with a "harumph." He nodded curtly, almost sneering at the mention of the Qiangquan's use of guns. Ehrell and the others would probably be able to notice there was some tension in terms of method. Whether they cared was secondary.

While the Dornalian and Woodian played catch the wrench with one another, Soren took the lapse in time to look into the tome he had brought along. The young sorcerer found a secluded spot and dropped down into a cross legged position. Pages flew with the wave of his hand as he focused in on the last page he had been studying.

"Fascinating little trip."

Soren casted a translating spell to help the High D'Haran glyphs to become easier to read as he eyes began taking in the pages.

It didn't take long for Sasuke to be reached and for him and his students to take a modified freighter to whereever Batov and the others were. It helped that the particular freighter had a button known as Ludicrous Speed, allowing Team Eight to reach the location in time. Unfortunately, the button only worked once and any further use would be...disasterous. Well, Vector Industries did say they were still testing Ludicrous Speed.

Anyway, Team Eight arrived shortly after Master Chin was testing Major Ehrell's powers and stepped down from their freighter.

It didn't take long for Sasuke to be reached and for him and his students to take a modified freighter to whereever Batov and the others were. It helped that the particular freighter had a button known as Ludicrous Speed, allowing Team Eight to reach the location in time. Unfortunately, the button only worked once and any further use would be...disasterous. Well, Vector Industries did say they were still testing Ludicrous Speed.

Anyway, Team Eight arrived shortly after Master Chin was testing Major Ehrell's powers and stepped down from their freighter.

OOC: Bonus points for using Ludicrous Speed.

IC:

Chin and Batov both felt the presence of Sasuke Uchiha, and turned to see him come out of the freighter. Batov then said, tapping Chin, "I will handle this one. You've done a lot already with Ehrell."

He then forcemessaged Chin, "Do keep Ehrell and the Uchiha boy civil. I have a feeling they will not get along."

Chin nodded only in acknowledgement, as Batov wandered to Team Eight and said, after issuing the customary 45 degree bow and a handshake to Sasuke, "Brothers from Coredia! I am Sensei Grigori Batov, the one from the message sent to your illustrious Council. I am particularly honored to have you all participate on this Harrowing--especially you, Sasuke Uchiha, was it?"

Chin meanwhile, shrugged at Batov's courteous reply and walked up to Soren, making sure to keep watch on Ehrell. He then asked, gently, "What exactly are you doing?"

Soren was a bit focused on his reading, so much that he ignored Chin for a moment when he walked up behind Soren. It took a minute before Soren looked up. "Casting a translation spell so I can read the language easier."

Soren went back to reading some more while Chin was standing above him. Sort of agitated that he was still standing there, the sorcerer pressed him for questions. "So, are we moving on now or just staying in the space port?"

"We shall be leaving now," came a voice from behind Soren and Chin. From within the doorway to bay fifty seven came Eishun, clad in what looked like a cross between a business and a zoot suit. His jacket was unbuttoned, and his regular button-up shirt was shown to be the usual white. "I do apologize for keeping you all waiting. I had to make the necessary preparations for our arrival in Clan space. The Warrior Caste is none too pleased when a ship arrives in their territory unexpectedly, even if it is one of their own."

Eishun then looked across the general waiting area, and he made note of who all was here. Two representatives from the Dornalians, one from the Woodians, three from the Coredians, and one who seemed to be of a group he was not familiar with. He made careful mental notes of each, noting that the most powerful seemed to be Batov-sensei, his companion, and the leader of the Coredians. Nodding to himself mentally, he then spoke once more.

"Shall we then?" He gestured into the doorway for the assembled to follow him before he actually walked through before them, disappearing into the darkness of the shadow cast by the doorway.

((Horribly short post. I do apologize to everyone for not managing to get online this weekend. Much transpired that I could not avoid, and it took my spare time up.))

OOC: Bonus points for using Ludicrous Speed.

IC:

Chin and Batov both felt the presence of Sasuke Uchiha, and turned to see him come out of the freighter. Batov then said, tapping Chin, "I will handle this one. You've done a lot already with Ehrell."

He then forcemessaged Chin, "Do keep Ehrell and the Uchiha boy civil. I have a feeling they will not get along."

Chin nodded only in acknowledgement, as Batov wandered to Team Eight and said, after issuing the customary 45 degree bow and a handshake to Sasuke, "Brothers from Coredia! I am Sensei Grigori Batov, the one from the message sent to your illustrious Council. I am particularly honored to have you all participate on this Harrowing--especially you, Sasuke Uchiha, was it?"

Chin meanwhile, shrugged at Batov's courteous reply and walked up to Soren, making sure to keep watch on Ehrell. He then asked, gently, "What exactly are you doing?"

Major Ehrell scowled as he sensed the Coredian present. "Great, I get to spend the Harrowing with a Sith," he muttered quietly to himself. Disgust filled him; of course, he did not know that his superior in the Woodian military was at the moment counseling the Jedi Order on what it could do to Redeem itself. He did not bow, nor introduce himself, to Sasuke at all. He only managed to say to the Jedi...or Sith, if recent history of the Order was any guide, "Your nation has a damn lot to atone for." His voice bore a deep, disapproving scowl as he stared at the Sith disapprovingly. Uchicha was fortunate that Ehrell didn't know enough about the Founding Clans to recognize him as a member of the Founding Nepotism.

[edit, upon seeing Skaugra's post] He then followed the Clanners aboard their ship, saying nothing more of the matter. However, he did respectfully bow to Eishun as he passed. The Clanners, after all were not the Fallen Ones; they had something the Coredians did not, called honor.

OOC: I thought there was only one Coredian present?

OOC: I thought there was only one Coredian present?
OOC: It's actually pretty rare for that to occur. The Buddy System is like a chapter of the Bible to us. As a consequence, we tend to send pairs or teams.

Chin nodded only in acknowledgement, as Batov wandered to Team Eight and said, after issuing the customary 45 degree bow and a handshake to Sasuke, "Brothers from Coredia! I am Sensei Grigori Batov, the one from the message sent to your illustrious Council. I am particularly honored to have you all participate on this Harrowing--especially you, Sasuke Uchiha, was it?"
"Hai, I am indeed Sasuke Uchiha. My apprentices, Keith Masaki and Haruka Umino." Sasuke said by way of announcing his two apprentices. who bowed with him. He would have liked Reika by his side as well, but she was on another mission. He scowled slightly at Ehrell's complaint, but said little else as he headed into the doorway indicated by Eishun.

Chin sighed, and as he and Batov boarded the vessel, the first thing he did when he got onto the vessel was to speak to Ehrell, using his sternest, best Drill Sergeant voice. He knew this was bound to happen, and he decided to end it, NOW.

"Soldier! Atten-shun!"

When Ehrell decided to go to attention, Chin would then sternly rebuke Ehrell, saying with a pointing finger to his chest, like Ehrell was a schoolkid, "You will cooperate with the Uchiha boy and his party, and adjust your attitude accordingly. I do not ask for immediate amity and friendship, considering the circumstances, but I at least ask for a cessation of hostile behavior and a grudging allowance of their presence. You even think about not doing so, and I will subject you to the Qiangquan penalties for betraying one's battle brother. And I do not want to do that.

They will be working with you on this Expedition, and when the time comes, they will be watching your back. I will expect you to do so accordingly.

I am issuing you a direct order, right here, right now. Cooperate with them, play civilly, or else I will make you regret it. Is that clear, Major?"

As this occurred, Batov then turned to Sasuke and his party and said, with a sigh and a grim chuckle, "You will have to forgive my companion. Young Chin has a lot to learn, especially when dealing with a man like the Major. Though I will emphasize the need for cooperation about this trip. Word travels, and the word of the recent "fallings-out" between your two forces is saddening, but spreading. Don't get into too much trouble with the Major, alright?"

OOC: It's actually pretty rare for that to occur. The Buddy System is like a chapter of the Bible to us. As a consequence, we tend to send pairs or teams.

"Hai, I am indeed Sasuke Uchiha. My apprentices, Keith Masaki and Haruka Umino." Sasuke said by way of announcing his two apprentices. who bowed with him. He would have liked Reika by his side as well, but she was on another mission. He scowled slightly at Ehrell's complaint, but said little else as he headed into the doorway indicated by Eishun.

Major Ehrell, in turn, scowled even more at the mention of the name, 'Masaki.' Masaki, Teh Chief Nepotists of Coredia. Keith was sent because of the Silver Spoon born in his mouth, no doubt. As little respect as Major Ehrell had for Sasuke, he had less for Teh Nepotist Kid, whom he would have gladly beaten some humility into if he had not been outnumbered something ridiculous like five to one. He did not say anything, but gave the kid a hard, disapproving glare to let him know that right off the bat, his presence was less than fully appreciated.

Chin sighed, and as he and Batov boarded the vessel, the first thing he did when he got onto the vessel was to speak to Ehrell, using his sternest, best Drill Sergeant voice. He knew this was bound to happen, and he decided to end it, NOW.

"Soldier! Atten-shun!"

When Ehrell decided to go to attention, Chin would then sternly rebuke Ehrell, saying with a pointing finger to his chest, like Ehrell was a schoolkid, "You will cooperate with the Uchiha boy and his party, and adjust your attitude accordingly. I do not ask for immediate amity and friendship, considering the circumstances, but I at least ask for a cessation of hostile behavior and a grudging allowance of their presence. You even think about not doing so, and I will subject you to the Qiangquan penalties for betraying one's battle brother. And I do not want to do that.

They will be working with you on this Expedition, and when the time comes, they will be watching your back. I will expect you to do so accordingly.

I am issuing you a direct order, right here, right now. Cooperate with them, play civilly, or else I will make you regret it. Is that clear, Major?"

As this occurred, Batov then turned to Sasuke and his party and said, with a sigh and a grim chuckle, "You will have to forgive my companion. Young Chin has a lot to learn, especially when dealing with a man like the Major. Though I will emphasize the need for cooperation about this trip. Word travels, and the word of the recent "fallings-out" between your two forces is saddening, but spreading. Don't get into too much trouble with the Major, alright?"

The Major stood at attention, all right, but he was not happy about such 'orders.' One did not simply waltz in front of a Woodian officer and unilaterally demand the presence of emotion that did not exist, such as brotherhood and trust. It needed to be earned. It was a bit like ordering a Woodian to recite a loyalty oath to a third, uninvolved nation, like Chronosia. (Woodians didn't know much about Chronosia, but if they did, they certainly would refuse such an oath...they'd refuse it anyway, on principle.)

"Neg." The Major's response came sharply and harshly. "If you are worried that I would frag them, know that to do so would betray my own Honor. However, such things as this Trust, and this Brotherhood, are not given freely. If the Coredians desire it, they must earn it." Major Ehrell's voice hung on that second-to-last word. "Their nation has betrayed a damn lot of both lately."

"Neg." The Major's response came sharply and harshly. "If you are worried that I would frag them, know that to do so would betray my own Honor. However, such things as this Trust, and this Brotherhood, are not given freely. If the Coredians desire it, they must earn it." Major Ehrell's voice hung on that second-to-last word. "Their nation has betrayed a damn lot of both lately."

Chin sighed, and looked Ehrell square in the eyes with no small hint of frustration. He usually wasn't comfy with students refusing to obey perfectly good requests, and normally, he would be somewhat less inclined to emotionality. But something about Ehrell's stubborn manner was irritating him, and Chin did his damndest to stay calm as he said firmly, but somewhat softening his tone, "I do not ask you to accord them honor you cannot give. I merely order you to, as the Americans say, 'tone it down' somewhat for the purposes of cooperation. Your anger is understandable, but you must balance your emotions and sense of injustice with reason. You are in the same boat with them now. Make the best of it. Is that clearer?"

Chin sighed, and looked Ehrell square in the eyes with no small hint of frustration. He usually wasn't comfy with students refusing to obey perfectly good requests, and normally, he would be somewhat less inclined to emotionality. But something about Ehrell's stubborn manner was irritating him, and Chin did his damndest to stay calm as he said firmly, but somewhat softening his tone, "I do not ask you to accord them honor you cannot give. I merely order you to, as the Americans say, 'tone it down' somewhat for the purposes of cooperation. Your anger is understandable, but you must balance your emotions and sense of injustice with reason. You are in the same boat with them now. Make the best of it. Is that clearer?"

"Aff. But it might be advisable to teach me how to deflect lightsabers, blasters, and what-have-you, lest the Untrustworthy Ones attempt to frag ME." Major Ehrell stared straight ahead from the position of attention, barely noticing Chin's head out of his peripheral vision.

"Aff. But it might be advisable to teach me how to deflect lightsabers, blasters, and what-have-you, lest the Untrustworthy Ones attempt to frag ME." Major Ehrell stared straight ahead from the position of attention, barely noticing Chin's head out of his peripheral vision.

Chin softened, now that his student was finally getting the point. He opened with the Dornalian Smile again and replied to Ehrell's concern, "At rest, Major! Fall out!" He then pulled out a spare People's Acolytes lightsaber from his supply bag, and twirled the handle deftly as he said, "To answer your reply, I will teach you all the standard Lightsaber and Force skills. These will include deflection of energy shots, detection of traps, etc--basic survival against projectiles and explosives skills. I may even teach you some basic temporal manipulation, if you are so inclined.

I will also teach you the rudiments of lightsaber combat. We use the National School here in New Dornalia, not the Forms you may have heard about. It is just as powerful, owing to its flexibility though. So do not underestimate it. Once you are taught the basic National School skills, I will then, time permitting, teach you some more advanced manuevers involving firearms. Qiangquan Precision Aim, Qiangquan Barrage, for example. But those will wait until I have taught you the basics."

He then handed Ehrell the lightsaber, and said, "Let's begin. This is your standard issue People's Acolytes Lightsaber. Tool of Liberation and Revolution. We make ours in the Workshop on Mars. And by the way, I will fill out all the right forms afterwards."

Chin softened, now that his student was finally getting the point. He opened with the Dornalian Smile again and replied to Ehrell's concern, "At rest, Major! Fall out!" He then pulled out a spare People's Acolytes lightsaber from his supply bag, and twirled the handle deftly as he said, "To answer your reply, I will teach you all the standard Lightsaber and Force skills. These will include deflection of energy shots, detection of traps, etc--basic survival against projectiles and explosives skills. I may even teach you some basic temporal manipulation, if you are so inclined.

I will also teach you the rudiments of lightsaber combat. We use the National School here in New Dornalia, not the Forms you may have heard about. It is just as powerful, owing to its flexibility though. So do not underestimate it. Once you are taught the basic National School skills, I will then, time permitting, teach you some more advanced manuevers involving firearms. Qiangquan Precision Aim, Qiangquan Barrage, for example. But those will wait until I have taught you the basics."

He then handed Ehrell the lightsaber, and said, "Let's begin. This is your standard issue People's Acolytes Lightsaber. Tool of Liberation and Revolution. We make ours in the Workshop on Mars. And by the way, I will fill out all the right forms afterwards."

The Major could not help but notice Chin's little Drill Sergeant Error, as the order to fall out should have been given directly from the position of attention, but he subtly corrected it by interpreting the order as belaying the order to stand at rest. Chin might have noticed the subtle correction, if he was really on the ball. Apparently, the Major did have some discretion in following conflicting orders, after all. Had Chin been a Drill Sergeant in the Woodian military, however, such error would have had him howling in pain on the ground, with several broken bones, by now.

He took the lightsaber, instinctively turning his right wrist to the right as he took it, and ignited it no later than the second it touched his hand, so the blade formed away from the both of them. Major Ehrell stared at the red blade for a moment, before swinging the lightsaber up with a quick flick of the wrist. Its operation seemed instinctual to him, almost like an extension of his arm. As it should be.

He made a couple of mock attacks in the air, even finding an expendable pipe fitting somewhere on the ship and propping it up. He swung at the pipe fitting, but stopped the lightsaber blade less than an inch short of it. It was obvious that Major Ehrell had had some prior melee weapons training from somewhere, and that whatever fine motor control he lacked in his telekinesis, appeared from out of nowhere when a lightsaber was in his hand. He remained quiet as he put his new weapon through its paces.

He made a couple of mock attacks in the air, even finding an expendable pipe fitting somewhere on the ship and propping it up. He swung at the pipe fitting, but stopped the lightsaber blade less than an inch short of it. It was obvious that Major Ehrell had had some prior melee weapons training from somewhere, and that whatever fine motor control he lacked in his telekinesis, appeared from out of nowhere when a lightsaber was in his hand. He remained quiet as he put his new weapon through its paces.

Chin looked about, and nodded with satisfaction as he saw his pupil manuever the saber about like it was second nature. He replied with a simple, "Good, good....you obviously know your melee weapons. Tell me, what school did you learn, Major?"

Chin looked about, and nodded with satisfaction as he saw his pupil manuever the saber about like it was second nature. He replied with a simple, "Good, good....you obviously know your melee weapons. Tell me, what school did you learn, Major?"

"Kenjutsu," Major Ehrell replied, continuing to test his weapon for a bit before finally deactivating it and finding a place to sheath it on his utility belt. "Some Nitōjutsu training as well. Which might be relevant, because these things are so ridiculously light, I could see myself wielding two of them. Anyway, when do we get to the Self-Defense from Frag Attempts?" He asked the question that belied his lingering mistrust of anything Coredian a bit too casually, perhaps.

Soren sighed and rose from the ground as he straigthened out his robes. The Woodian appeared to be about as annoying as watching a trained cat perform cheap parlor tricks. Both painful and grotesque. Not exactly the social butterfly himself, Soren kept off to the side.

He headed through the doorway the everyone else was walking through and found himself a small corner to stake out then went back to studying his book. It only took a moment for him to pick up a line of reasoning that he had missed previously while studying the text.

"Ah, now that makes much more sense."

Happy to have solved his little riddle, Soren closed the book and put it in the sleeve of his robe.

As everyone boarded the ship, Eishun made his way to the bridge of the smaller DropShip variant, where he would find Setsuna and Asuna busily making departure preparations. Asuna was sitting at the helm of the ship while Setsuna had manned the co-pilot/gunner's seat.

"This is Clan DropShip one-twenty-nine requesting permission to launch." Asuna was speaking into a microphone attached to her headset that she was currently wearing. There was silence from the other end until the port authorities finally gave the green light. Switching to the interior of the ship, Asuna spoke once more. "This is your Captain speaking. I would like to request that everyone take their seats until we have reached high-orbit over the planet. Once we have reached high-orbit, you may proceed to mingle about the ship while we are in hyper space. Thank you."

Meanwhile, Eishun would take his seat at the communications and tactical display station, observing the air traffic before giving Asuna a thumbs-up. Asuna would then nod, and after entering a few commands into the ship, the engines would ignite, and the ship would slowly begin to take off before the thrusters increased their output after achieving an altitude of five hundred feet. The DropShip now resembled a spherical space shuttle, its thrusters leaving a trail of smoke behind, although not quite at the same level as an old space shuttle would.

Within a couple of minutes, the DropShip had attained orbit, and was slowly leaving the planet's gravitational pull. After reaching a certain point, a jolt would be felt as the ship blasted its way into hyper space, bound for the Clan homeland...

((You may continue to post what you're doing currently, but I will fluid time this on Thursday so that we get to Magicus Mundus in a decent amount of time.))

Major Ehrell, in turn, scowled even more at the mention of the name, 'Masaki.' Masaki, Teh Chief Nepotists of Coredia. Keith was sent because of the Silver Spoon born in his mouth, no doubt. As little respect as Major Ehrell had for Sasuke, he had less for Teh Nepotist Kid, whom he would have gladly beaten some humility into if he had not been outnumbered something ridiculous like five to one. He did not say anything, but gave the kid a hard, disapproving glare to let him know that right off the bat, his presence was less than fully appreciated.
Keith Masaki sensed a chilling scowl from the Major and resisted the urge to have a cold feeling shiver up and down the spine. What's his problem?

As this occurred, Batov then turned to Sasuke and his party and said, with a sigh and a grim chuckle, "You will have to forgive my companion. Young Chin has a lot to learn, especially when dealing with a man like the Major. Though I will emphasize the need for cooperation about this trip. Word travels, and the word of the recent "fallings-out" between your two forces is saddening, but spreading. Don't get into too much trouble with the Major, alright?"
"I shall ensure that no trouble come from us." Sasuke said, sending an 'I-better-not-hear-trouble' glance to Keith and Haruka, mostly Keith. "I do hope the Major will at least extend the same courtesy."

Then everyone heard the captain's orders to buckle up and did so.

Batov having recieved his reply from the Coredian Party, he promptly obeyed the In-Flight instructions and took his seat. Chin, meanwhile, reacted to the news thusly with an, "Alright, Major. Report to your seat. You are dismissed." When this was done, he went to his seat next to Batov. He then took out a Thermos from his Bag of Tricks and a small Chinese teacup, and when the DropShip finished its movement, he promptly poured out some jasmine tea, swirled it around a bit, and sipped it in the Cantonese style. Chin then offered some to Batov, but Batov held his hand up, merely saying, "It is alright. I prefer green tea, myself."

Chin smiled and laughed. His only reply was, "My people know tea well, Sensei Batov. We invented it thousands of years ago. I would not dismiss this tea so easily. It is a fine jasmine, good for the body and soul."

Batov said nothing, letting Chin revel in his tea time.

Upon receiving the In-Flight Instructions, Major Ehrell quickly took off his backpack and found a seat, setting his nearly a hundred kilos of gear on his lap and holding on to it so it would not fly into anyone's head. He had seen too many Naval cadets not paying attention when an engine burn started; he always found the resulting bodies bouncing off walls mildly amusing. However, the Major respected the fact that it was only amusing if it involved someone else.

Of course, he overheard Batov and Chin discussing tea, and while he was aware of its health benefits, he disdained small talk, and thus kept his mouth shut. However, he had to wonder: Was he the only one who had made an effort at preparing for an extremely extended mission, with no support? Sure, the Dornies had brought weapons and tea, but Major Ehrell did not think the duffel bag could have possibly contained enough supplies for a mission expected to take as long as this one was. And this was to say nothing of the three Sith (well, that was perhaps to be expected; after all, Coredia wasn't the most talented of nations when it came to anything resembling logistics), and the scrawny little Abh. Which meant that halfway into the mission, the party would be living off the generosity of his replicator...

Of course, he overheard Batov and Chin discussing tea, and while he was aware of its health benefits, he disdained small talk, and thus kept his mouth shut. However, he had to wonder: Was he the only one who had made an effort at preparing for an extremely extended mission, with no support? Sure, the Dornies had brought weapons and tea, but Major Ehrell did not think the duffel bag could have possibly contained enough supplies for a mission expected to take as long as this one was. And this was to say nothing of the three Sith (well, that was perhaps to be expected; after all, Coredia wasn't the most talented of nations when it came to anything resembling logistics), and the scrawny little Abh. Which meant that halfway into the mission, the party would be living off the generosity of his replicator...

Unbeknownst to Ehrell, Chin and Batov had brought plenty of gear. If the Woodian, in his people's percieved due diligence and anal-retentiveness (as stereotyped by the Dornalians), would have peeked inside Chin's Bag of Tricks, he would have found lots of ammo, MREs, tea, snacks, cooking equipment, Krugerrands, training manuals, et cetera--enough to keep both Dornies and the others supplied for a long duration.

And what Chin failed to bring, Batov remembered. The pair even had their own portable replicator, natch. Not that Ehrell bothered to look, or could, considering the Engine Burn.

All this time, Chin merely relaxed, sipping his tea and turning into the perfect model of serenity. One wouldn't recognize him as the master of a sect that taught its users how to meld the Force with firearms and become avenging angels of justice. The only thing remotely violent on him were his dual Colt Governments, and his lightsaber. Batov, meanwhile, was not used to the force of Clan technology, and was taken aback by the thrust. Dornalian space vehicles usually had smoother rides....

It had been several days since the DropShip had entered hyper space. Then, on the fifteenth day, the ship dropped out of hyper space, and before the ship, within the vastness of space, a large nebula cloud thundered, blasted, and lashed out from within its depths. Eishun smiled, before pressing, and holding, a button to the intercom system.

"I believe everyone should come to the bridge. I think you might kick yourselves should you miss this wonder of the galaxy."

It had been several days since the DropShip had entered hyper space. Then, on the fifteenth day, the ship dropped out of hyper space, and before the ship, within the vastness of space, a large nebula cloud thundered, blasted, and lashed out from within its depths. Eishun smiled, before pressing, and holding, a button to the intercom system.

"I believe everyone should come to the bridge. I think you might kick yourselves should you miss this wonder of the galaxy."

Chin, who had been chatting up Sensei Batov on matters of things such as religion, favorite movies, and the merits of Japanese versus Chinese teas, heard the announcement. Stowing his tea set, he said, "I'm going to take Konoe-sensei's advice, and perhaps view the vista he promises." Batov then replied, "As you wish. I will come with. Though mere star clusters no longer excite me as they used to."

Thus, the two got up, and went to the bridge....

Major Ehrell got up as well, throwing his backpack back over his shoulder, the one that weighed more than most of those whom the Three Nations had sent . It was really more of a curiosity specific to Clan space than the thought of seeing some random star cluster, however, that drew his attention. Ignoring the others, save the Clan warriors aboard the ship, he, too, made his way to the vessel's bridge. As for the Clan warriors themselves, Major Ehrell deferred to them as if he had just passed his Trial of Position yesterday, for he was a foreigner to them, after all. Usually, Clans looked down upon foreigners. The thought that he was in deployment to a mission that was even devoid of Clanners on the roster, save its initial stages, and the respect such might accord him, barely even registered. For now, he spoke only when spoken to by a Clanner, let the Dornalians poke him slightly before answering any of their questions, as if their voices were a shade too quiet to hear at first, and quietly, yet completely shunned the Coredians and the scrawny little Abh. Those four still needed to earn his respect.

For now, however, there was the view.

It had been several days since the DropShip had entered hyper space. Then, on the fifteenth day, the ship dropped out of hyper space, and before the ship, within the vastness of space, a large nebula cloud thundered, blasted, and lashed out from within its depths. Eishun smiled, before pressing, and holding, a button to the intercom system.

"I believe everyone should come to the bridge. I think you might kick yourselves should you miss this wonder of the galaxy."
Sasuke and his two apprentices took up Eishun's suggestion and headed to the bridge.

"Wow." Keith gawked at the sight. "Not every day you saw a really active nebula."

Haruka nodded in agreement. Sasuke was silent, as he's seen many such views on his travels.

Soren had taken a seat all to himself in the back of the ship and leaned back to catch some rest before the reached their destination. The vast majority of the assembled company appeared to ignore him which suited him just fine. Not that he cared to get to know them in the first place any way.

It was a short lived reprieve for the human sorcerer as he rested his body. Groaning, Soren rose from his seat to go up and see the site that was to be so astounding. When he got to the bridge and saw the nebula, Soren was perhaps not as amazed as the rest were by its site. He was more of a land person by preference and the workings of the galaxy did not fascinate him so.

Batov pointed to the wondrous sight in front of him, and said to Chin, "See, young Chin? This is the work of the Light of Lights. In Its infinite beauty, the Light manifests Itself in the wonders of nature. Truly a sight to behold indeed."

Chin nodded, saying only, "It is rather nice." Inwardly, he thought Batov somewhat odd, and he was not unfamiliar with the legends of the Mad Monk. Batov, however could sense this. He immediately turned to Chin and said, "I don't seem that crazy, do I?"

Chin then said, "Um, no. Why?"

Batov replied, "Young Chin, there is a fine line between madness and piety. I straddle it every day....." He then trailed off into the distance, looking at the nebula and then kneeling and beginning meditations.

Chin then walked away, and went to his charge, Major Ehrell. He then said, "Nice view, isn't it?" Producing a pen and a small notepad, Chin continued with, "Right. Why don't we begin our introductory exercises for the day?"

Major Ehrell ignored, or pretended to ignore, Chin's attempt at small talk. He had No Comment Whatsoever on the scenery. In fact, Chin had to poke Major Ehrell's arm with that pen of his to get any attention at all. The blunt end of it to be exact, the end that one would press with a thumb. The Major stood, taking in the scenery of Clan space, appreciating who held it a bit more than the scenery itself. The Clans had a nearly mythical status in Woodian military circles. Finally, the assorted Dornalian poking, and Chin's slightly annoying habit of making as much noise with the damned pen as he could, became too incessant for even the Major to ignore. What next, Chin leaving tiny little blue dots of ink all over his sleeve? Finally, Major Ehrell's neck turned in Chin's general direction and looked nearly straight down.

"Yes? Oh, and I would appreciate it if you stopped fidgeting so damn much."

Major Ehrell ignored, or pretended to ignore, Chin's attempt at small talk. He had No Comment Whatsoever on the scenery. In fact, Chin had to poke Major Ehrell's arm with that pen of his to get any attention at all. The blunt end of it to be exact, the end that one would press with a thumb. The Major stood, taking in the scenery of Clan space, appreciating who held it a bit more than the scenery itself. The Clans had a nearly mythical status in Woodian military circles. Finally, the assorted Dornalian poking, and Chin's slightly annoying habit of making as much noise with the damned pen as he could, became too incessant for even the Major to ignore. What next, Chin leaving tiny little blue dots of ink all over his sleeve? Finally, Major Ehrell's neck turned in Chin's general direction and looked nearly straight down.

"Yes? Oh, and I would appreciate it if you stopped fidgeting so damn much."

Chin merely returned the Major's comment with that Dornalian Smile, and said, "Of course." Putting the pen in his pocket, Chin led the Major off of the bridge back into the passenger area, and pulled out his Bag of Tricks. Muttering to himself as he did so, he let out an "Aha!" and pulled out a sack full of objects and a yellow silk handkerchief. Chin then barked to Ehrell, "ATTENTION!"

Once Ehrell had gotten the point, Chin then proceeded to say, "Major, I will quiz you on your ability to detect and disable traps. Close your eyes, do not open them unless instructed. You will be blindfolded, so you must use the skills I have taught you so far in order to find and disable the traps themselves. Do not remove the blindfold, or you will fail the test. Understood?"

When Ehrell eventually complied, Chin would blindfold him and then proceed to place his "traps" around various transit points in the room. They weren't too much. Just standard issue party favors that exploded, and used magnesium snappers to produce a bang and a sting. The only thing would be they would be rigged to blow in a variety of ways. Some with proximity sensors, others with laser tripwires, and others with light sensors that caused the favors to pop if the light was blocked. Once done, Chin retreated to a place where he could observe his charge and said, "You may begin, novitiate." He then barked, "FALL OUT!"

"You can stop it with the Bad American Propaganda Movies anytime," the Major growled. Apparently, Chin hadn't figured out that his use of military drill on the first day, apparently motivated by a desire to piss Chin off, had been little more than a test of Chin's patience and acuity. Well, said test was long over. But there was this new one...

Fortunately, Major Ehrell had studied the room for a few brief seconds before getting blindfolded, and of course he had an excellent memory, helped along by semi-inert Force ability, of course. And the best way to trip traps without actually being there? Why, a surgeon's favorite ninja weapon--a scalpel, of course! Major Ehrell levitated one of the lifesaving devices--or deadly weapons--out from one of the many pockets of his military uniform, and got to work, using the Force to try to sense stuff that was in the room that shouldn't be there, and/or wasn't there when he entered. Were an observer ignorant of the Force to come into the room, all said observer would see would consist of a random scalpel darting about, periodic mini-detonations, and Major Ehrell standing in the middle of it all, not budging.

Of course, one of the best locations for traps was the Choke Point. Be they doors, or just narrow spaces between stacked-up crates, Major Ehrell searched out the choke points he knew of one by one, probing them with his scalpel. He did not move, but his probe levitated throughout the room, periodically getting blown to the other side, or bouncing off a crate or something, in the process, as it blocked a laser tripwire from reaching the receiver here, struck a proxy sensor there, making a close pass and casting a shadow over light sensors everywhere. Each time, of course, the Major had to figure out where the scalpel landed, but the explosive force of the prank traps was not enough to destroy it, or even really damage it beyond repair. Neither did the Major remove his blindfold to do it; fortunately, training in transit had given him enough fine control over Force telekinesis to control the scalpel's whereabouts. Though telekinesis still felt a bit...clunky.

After Major Ehrell had exhausted choke points, he then started searching under any furniture, or other devices, like tables, chairs, propped-up crates set an inch above the ground, et cetera. It became clear to Chin that it might take a little while for the Major to find them all, as he relied on a kind of military methodology to find them. The concept of "trusting his feelings" and searching out what his connection to the Force told him was still a bit alien to him. Nevertheless, if Chin waited long enough, the Major would eventually exhaust the search...

After Major Ehrell had exhausted choke points, he then started searching under any furniture, or other devices, like tables, chairs, propped-up crates set an inch above the ground, et cetera. It became clear to Chin that it might take a little while for the Major to find them all, as he relied on a kind of military methodology to find them. The concept of "trusting his feelings" and searching out what his connection to the Force told him was still a bit alien to him. Nevertheless, if Chin waited long enough, the Major would eventually exhaust the search...

OOC: Jewish studies class for the win (that's where the 'emunah' thing comes from, I tweaked it appropriately.).

IC:

Chin took notes on his charge's performance. He was doing pretty well for a newbie, alright. He seemed to be getting the skills well enough. But Ehrell seemed rather unsure of himself, and fell back upon his military regimentation to do the job of hunting for the traps. While not a bad thing, it was taking a bit, and Chin noted this on the pad and paper.

After Ehrell found the traps, Chin said, "Remove the blindfold now, Major. You have passed the test." Getting up and walking to his charge, he said, looking at his notes, "Overall not a bad job. However, I find you still need some practice in relying upon your Force senses to do the job. Even through that guarded mind of yours, I could sense unease."

He began pacing about, waving his finger up in the air as he said, calmly, "One must trust in the Force, make what is known in the National School as 'emunah'--the leap of faith in trusting one's inner connection to the Force, searching one's feelings as the Jedi would say, and trusting in one's instincts in the Force wholeheartedly. You should never forget your sense of the consquences, for this is an integral part of the concept as taught by the Acolytes. But it is also important to trust the Force, for without it, you cannot utilize your abilities to the utmost. Is that understood?"

OOC: Jewish studies class for the win (that's where the 'emunah' thing comes from, I tweaked it appropriately.).

IC:

Chin took notes on his charge's performance. He was doing pretty well for a newbie, alright. He seemed to be getting the skills well enough. But Ehrell seemed rather unsure of himself, and fell back upon his military regimentation to do the job of hunting for the traps. While not a bad thing, it was taking a bit, and Chin noted this on the pad and paper.

After Ehrell found the traps, Chin said, "Remove the blindfold now, Major. You have passed the test." Getting up and walking to his charge, he said, looking at his notes, "Overall not a bad job. However, I find you still need some practice in relying upon your Force senses to do the job. Even through that guarded mind of yours, I could sense unease."

He began pacing about, waving his finger up in the air as he said, calmly, "One must trust in the Force, make what is known in the National School as 'emunah'--the leap of faith in trusting one's inner connection to the Force, searching one's feelings as the Jedi would say, and trusting in one's instincts in the Force wholeheartedly. You should never forget your sense of the consequences, for this is an integral part of the concept as taught by the Acolytes. But it is also important to trust the Force, for without it, you cannot utilize your abilities to the utmost. Is that understood?"

"Neg." The Major wasn't necessarily just being an ass, this whole idea of "trusting the Force" was a bit alien to him, though he had on occasion done it without knowing it. He stared down at Chin. "Perhaps if you wish to demonstrate, you should devise a test for which no alternative methodologies of passing exist."

Chin then nodded and noted the skepticism of the Major. He then nodded and said, "As you wish, Major. Here's what I will do, as a more rigorous test. I was saving it for later, considering you wished to exercise trap detection, but considering your skepticism I might have to ramp it up some."

He then reblindfolded Ehrell and then said, "Now, I will attempt to strike you and take you down. Use your connection to the Force to detect where I am coming from and intercept me."

Chin then proceeded to move slightly to the left side of Ehrell, and assumed a Hung Gar Kung Fu Bow and Arrow stance at the side of the Major, putting his left foot forward, and his right foot and arm back. Tucking his right arm back against his side, he extended his left hand slightly forward and held his palm open, ready to strike. With an open-palm attack, he moved to hit Ehrell's jaw with just enough physical force to make him hurt....or so was the intent. It remained to be seen if Ehrell could intercept.

Chin then nodded and noted the skepticism of the Major. He then nodded and said, "As you wish, Major. Here's what I will do, as a more rigorous test. I was saving it for later, considering you wished to exercise trap detection, but considering your skepticism I might have to ramp it up some."

He then reblindfolded Ehrell and then said, "Now, I will attempt to strike you and take you down. Use your connection to the Force to detect where I am coming from and intercept me."

Chin then proceeded to move slightly to the left side of Ehrell, and assumed a Hung Gar Kung Fu Bow and Arrow stance at the side of the Major, putting his left foot forward, and his right foot and arm back. Tucking his right arm back against his side, he extended his left hand slightly forward and held his palm open, ready to strike. With an open-palm attack, he moved to hit Ehrell's jaw with just enough physical force to make him hurt....or so was the intent. It remained to be seen if Ehrell could intercept.

Major Ehrell couldn't see, at least not with his eyes. Nevertheless, he could sense Chin's location, even his stance, with a little focus. Outwardly, he made no commitment to a stance, other than squatting a bit to bring himself down to about Chin's height. Why he did this, he did not know.

Nevertheless, the intercept turned out to be all but perfect. Major Ehrell grabbed Chin's wrist while it was still nearly a meter away from him, and stood up from his squat, using the strength of his legs to physically lift Chin off the floor. Locking his arms immediately after grabbing his opponent's wrist, Major Ehrell proceeded to fling Chin backwards over his body, almost like the action of a trebuchet. Albeit a trebuchet that didn't take oodles of time to prepare to fire.

Nevertheless, the intercept turned out to be all but perfect. Major Ehrell grabbed Chin's wrist while it was still nearly a meter away from him, and stood up from his squat, using the strength of his legs to physically lift Chin off the floor. Locking his arms immediately after grabbing his opponent's wrist, Major Ehrell proceeded to fling Chin backwards over his body, almost like the action of a trebuchet. Albeit a trebuchet that didn't take oodles of time to prepare to fire.

Chin promptly flew across the cabin and slammed into the other wall. He was feeling quite sore at the moment, and after stumbling back up, he felt himself to ensure he wasn't nursing broken bones. After some self-assurance of that fact, he got back up and walked up to Ehrell.

Squatting down into a Cat Stance, he compacted his body into a defensive manner, compacting himself into a ball of sorts as he squat down, as if sitting on an invisible chair and leaning on his left foot. Then, he lept into a sweeping kick, attempting to test Ehrell again.....

Major Ehrell sensed Chin curl up, and knew he was either going to attempt a low attack or jump out at him. Though when he sensed Chin's muscles tightening in only one leg, he knew it was going to be the former.

Had his kick been higher, the Major could've grabbed the ankle, broken it, and had all kinds of fun. Nevertheless, the Major knew that it was low enough that the best thing to do was jump. Chin's leg passed below Major Ehrell as the latter executed a particularly high backflip, out of the reach of Chin's body. While he could've jumped forward and come down with an elbow on Chin's head, he did not particularly like the idea of expending his medical supplies before the upcoming mission started.

Chin then got up and said, "Time! The exercise is over. Not bad, not bad...." He then removed the blindfold from Ehrell, saying as he did so, "You trusted the Force; you took me down as a result and avoided my return maneuver."

Putting the blindfold back in his Bag of Tricks, and proceeding to clean up the various traps scattered about the room, he continued with, "That is an important skill to learn. We will continue doing those exercises with the trap detection quizzes, meditation regimen, and manipulation regimens, to ensure development of your powers."

Chin then got up and said, "Time! The exercise is over. Not bad, not bad...." He then removed the blindfold from Ehrell, saying as he did so, "You trusted the Force; you took me down as a result and avoided my return maneuver."

Putting the blindfold back in his Bag of Tricks, and proceeding to clean up the various traps scattered about the room, he continued with, "That is an important skill to learn. We will continue doing those exercises with the trap detection quizzes, meditation regimen, and manipulation regimens, to ensure development of your powers."

Major Ehrell simply proceeded to remount his backpack and return to the bridge, having little appetite for conversation at the moment...

OOC: Anyone know where Skaugra went?

((I'm still working on my internet situation at home. It sounds like my grandmother is waning in her faith of AOL. She actually talked to me about what it would take to get a broadband connection set up at the house. Progress, my friends. Slow, simple progress. Trust me, once I have net at home, I'll be on almost every night.))

To those who had remained in the bridge of the ship, Eishun continued to speak on the subject of the nebula. The ship, in the meantime, began moving in towards the very active nebula.

"When we first arrived here, we initially believed that this nebula was only a single cloud that resided within an area about a lightyear in diameter. However, when our first ships passed through it to the other side, we saw that the nebula cloud encircles an area of roughly seven hundred fifty light years in diameter. The Scientist Caste is rather divided on their speculation of the nebula cloud, some believing it to be the cause of natural events like most nebulae, while others believe it was created by an ancient race to be used as a defensive line in a great war. Wreckage found on several of our uninhabited mining worlds, as well as the ruins containing the gate to Infernus Necromundus, supports this theory."

An with those words uttered, the ship fell through the cloud, disappearing from site, radar, and even the senses of special beings.

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

((FLUID TIME AGAIN!))

It took less than five hours to pass through the nebula cloud, and upon their arrival within range of the outpost stations, several Cerberus-class corvettes under the banner of Clan Star Adder quickly arrived to investigate them. After several minutes of negotiating in arabic, sanskrit, and greek, Eishun managed to persuade the Star Adders to let the DropShip pass through their territory.

Yet another day passed before the ship would finally arrive in orbit over Magicus Mundus on its far side...and to quite the astonishing sight.

"What in the name of-?!"

"Eishun-sensei! Look!"

"I see it, girls...I see it..."

The sight before them was a terrible one to behold. Several Stars of Saber-class Frigates were blockading a specific point in orbit over the planet. Every five seconds or so, a single ship would Alpha Strike the a certain area of the planet, and a series of explosions could be seen from orbit, even at the distance the DropShip was at. Then, as if in response, that same general area would return fire with a blast of some fell energy, each time narrowly missing the fleet of frigates.

As the DropShip got closer, all of the comms were suddenly filled with the voice of the Head Master. "Damnit, son-in-law! Where have you been? We're in quite the pickle here, y'know!"

"As I can see, father," Eishun replied. "What is the current situation?"

"The current situation is that we're being invaded from within again! Those blasted demons have taken control of the mountain, and the area thirty kilometers around it! The Ghost Bears have sent that fleet to help us contain the situation, but no matter how many times we blow away their forces with orbital strikes, double of what was killed pours out of the Gate!"

"What would you have me-?"

"I want you to get down here this instant and put these blasted demons back in their hole! We can't hold them much longer! There is a landing assembly area for the incoming forces ten kilometers from the frontline! Get there and get there fast!"

The transmission would then suddenly cut as the Head Master quickly shut it off. Everyone in the ship would've been able to hear their conversation, but even before anyone would be able to ask, Eishun would then speak on the intercom.

"Everyone, strap yourselves in. We're going in hot. Ee tee ay to ehll zee is ten minutes. I would suggest that those capable prepare themselves for a fight."

And soon, the ship would begin to descend...

((Your next few posts should be for preparing your characters. I have something planned out, so get ready for the unexpected.))

Chin and Batov moved to take their seats. As they did so, Batov began preparing his own Sack of Stuff, checking his saber for any problems before sitting in his seat and beginning meditation to focus his command of the Force and Divine Essence. If the conditions were as bad on the ground as promised, Batov would need all of his powers in order to persevere. As he did so, he muttered an old Russian Orthodox prayer from his childhood, to center him....

Chin, meanwhile, said to his Charge, "Time to go, Major. Remember your training, from before and from now. You will need it." He then checked his Colt Governments, holstered them, holstered his saber, and sat down in his seat in order to begin meditating, though in his way. Batov's Orthodox prayer and the rumbling of the ship notwithstanding, he was able to get some serenity....

Major Ehrell said nothing to Chin, pretending to ignore him, though he quietly unpacked his sniper rifle and his replicator. He took a minute to clean the rifle, before running a clip of ammunition through his replicator a few times. He took the replicated clips, best to save the original for future replications, and fastened a couple to his belt, meanwhile loading his sniper rifle with another. His sniper rifle was quite shiny, too, as Woodians spared no expense in weapons procurement; not even the scummiest of bounty hunters had access to the types of weapons that the Woodian military oft had custom built for its men. Major Ehrell's sniper rifle was one such item.

He then checked his other weapons, decking out his repeating blaster with a fresh energy pack, and loading a clip of ammo into his service pistol. Nevertheless, he could not shake the feeling that he would be getting a lot of use from that lightsaber Chin had given him as well. He slung the sniper rifle over his neck, where it would be easily accessible, yet still allow him to use other weapons, and remounted his now-slightly-lighter backpack. Of course, its weight hadn't gone very far.

Soren was slightly less equipped than the rest of the company around him. He only wore the robes on his back and the simple tome carried in his volumous sleeves. With everything he had brought with him on his back, Soren found a quiet corner out of the way to prepare himself.

The sound of demons on this realm would be a little bit of a challenge. His repitoir of holy spells was limited but ever the confident one, Soren was assured that he could handle the situation if it ever got sticky.

"Sounds like we'd best be ready." Keith said, then began reviewing all the summons he's gathered to this point. Everything from the cute to his Boss Summon, Taikou, the Queen Phoenix. Not to mention that he has learned the four standard Elemental Dragon Techniques by now: Katon: Karyuudan no Jutsu (Fire Type: Fire Dragon Blast Technique). Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water Type: Water Dragon Blast Technique). Doton: Doryuudan no Jutsu (Earth Style: Earth Dragon Blast Technique) and Fuuton: Fuuryuudan no Jutsu (Wind Style: Wind Dragon Blast Technique).

"Aye. Lightsabers?" Haruka asked. He didn't need more than his special Alchemy gloves and all the training he's gained from Jacob Masaki himself.

"Check. My staff's also ready. Explosive notes?" Keith asked. Keith favors a telescoping staff made of phrik alloy as his primary weapon and a lightsaber as his backup.

"Check. Marbles of Doom?" These marbles are easily underestimated. They range from extremely stinky gas to powerful grenades of various types, depending on the labels.

"Check. Kunai, shuriken, medpacks and other standard gear?"

"Check. Blasters?"

"Not sure we need 'em, but check."

"Ok. Looks like we have everything we need for battle."

"Yep. Let's kick some ass." Keith grinned.

As for Sasuke, he mentally checked his own inventory and satisfied himself with his considerable arsenal.

The Coredian crew were ready for action!

The descent began rather quickly, and the ship's outter hull began to super-heat, the armour on it tightening to prevent the heat of the exterior from cooking the occupants within. At around fifty thousand feet, the ships hull began to cool down almost immediately, the liquid-cooling system underneath the armour doing its job quite well. The guns on the DropShip were poised and ready to go as the ground below soon became semi-visible on the screens inside the bridge. Lasers, PPCs, and gauss rifle shots could be seen, even at this height, as the fight below grew more intense.

However, their descent had not gone unnoticed. From within the mountain's caldera, a swarm of semi-living aerofighters streaked forth to meet the DropShip. And they were followed by something just a bit larger...

"Eishun-sensei, two dozen plus targets inbound on our descent path!" Setsuna was quickly working on getting a few of the guns redirected towards the swarm of fighters.

"Asuna, take evasive action!"

"Hai!"

"Setsuna, why aren't those guns firing yet?!"

"I'm working on it!"

Eishun then spoke into the intercom. "Everyone, brace for impact! Major Ehrell! There's a manually-controled medium laser on the fourth deck! Get on it now! Batov-san, Chin-san! There are two other similar cannons on decks three and five! Quickly!"

The intercom then switched off, and suddenly the ship was rocked hard as the swarm of fighters veered off from their target after their first run. Meanwhile, the larger target kept off some distance, staying out of range of the fight.

Clanners using contractions? How odd...

Major Ehrell shoved aside the thought for now, though he had noticed that a bit earlier, too. For now, defending the DropShip's flightpath was slightly more important. He scurried off to his assigned gun, managing much faster than most Clan Warriors could ever hope to do, despite the weight of about two hundred pounds worth of equipment on his person.

The Major had not been specifically trained as a MechWarrior, nor as a fighter pilot, though he had enough basic skills to perform the latter in a pinch. Despite the fact that his specialties lay elsewhere, Major Ehrell quickly found the weapon's trigger, and selected his target. However, he aimed nowhere near said target; any true Clanner would have pwned him for his complete inability to aim the weapon. Nevertheless, he waited for exactly one-fifth of a second.

The DropShip suddenly took a stomach-wrenching evasive maneuver, correcting what would have been horrible aim. Major Ehrell fired off a shot precisely at whatever it was these living fighters were using as engines right in the middle of the evasive maneuver. Major Ehrell quietly selected another target. Then another. Then another...

The two Acolyte masters rushed to their appointed positions, Chin finding his gun quickly and Batov taking a little longer. Sitting in the weapons chairs and not noticing the usage of contractions--Batov wasn't familiar with the custom of suppressing that part of the English language among the Clans and Woodians, and Chin was too busy to care--they immediately got to work.

Batov wasn't an expert shootist like Chin was, and it showed through his somewhat hesitant work with the weapon, paitently using the Force to navigate his way around the hunt. Still, he was able to get a few good shots off. Chin, being the gunman, was the more natural shootist. Instinctively, he tracked the targets, and quickly zeroed in and shot at the foe, only using the Force and his Precision Aim skill when things really got bad.

Then, the DropShip's evasive move resulted in Batov's aim being thrown off some, and he had to use the Force to play catch up. Chin, meanwhile, kept on target...

As the Coredians seemed to currently be passengers while the others pwned the enemy, they braced for impact. Soon, they too would fight and when they did, the enemy would wish they never met the Coredians!

Major Ehrells shots were true each time he fired, striking the demon fighters down, or wounding them and forcing them off. The first fighter he managed to take down was practically skewered, and as it fell, it let out a death screech so high-pitched, it could be heard from the interior of the DropShip. Chin's shots were also quite well placed, but even so, the injured fighters would continue to return and harrass the DropShip. Even Batov's wild shots didn't deter them as they hammered the DropShip with their strafing runs.

That's when the automated main guns came online. Their targetting computers began to lock onto every target available, and they began blasting away at the fighter swarm, finally forcing them to keep their distance. Unfortunately, they didn't catch on to the larger target, which, until now, had kepts its distance. Before the ship could react to the larger target's amazingly quick form, the demon spawn had slammed against the top-end of the ship, latching onto it drilling into the frame.

"Hull breach! Deck six!"

"Sasuke! Get your team to deck six asap! Possible boarding parties there! Take extra precautions!" The intercom clicked to make it evidenced that Eishun had shut it off.

Meanwhile, on deck six, several 'eggs' that had been regurgitated into the interior of the ship began to hatch, and large, maggot-like creatures began to swarm into the ship, tearing apart circuitry and bulkheads like they were merely paper with the assistance of their own regurgitated acid.

"Right!" With a flicker, he and his two apprentices removed their straps and headed for Deck Six, where they found amongst the wind and debris, several rampaging maggots.

"Yuck!" Keith commented as he pulled out his staff and extended it, proceeding to bash the first maggot he came across.

The other two utilized their lightsabers against the maggots...

Major Ehrell did not allow the boarding to distract him, for he figured the Coredian Sith would probably Force Crush everything that boarded. Mentally steeling himself for what he expected to be an urge to hurl, along with preparing himself for the event that the boarders did make it this far, he continued firing his medium laser, his aim seeming off at first but miraculously accounting for any change in the DropShip's vector to hit sensitive areas like what passed for engines and control surfaces--after he had hit a few, he fired mostly on the living engines, which seemed to be how the damn blasted things breathed. Meanwhile, Major Ehrell became more comfortable with the weapon itself, and after figuring out the time it took for the weapon to recycle itself and fire again, he fired it much more efficiently, timing his shots to fire the instant the relevant indicator turned green again.

As the Coredians dealt with the boarders and Ehrell blasted away, Chin continued to pull anti-aircraft duty. Like his Charge, he had quickly learned to gauge the weapon's recycling rate to his advantage, and it helped him out as he continued to plink away at the vitals of the foes. Batov, meanwhile, Forcemessaged Chin, saying, "I wish I didn't have to use this cursed thing!"

Chin merely Forcemessaged back, "Guns are a natural part of civilization, now. Only people who watch too many samurai films discount their value."

Batov angrily messaged back, "Very funny, young Chin. Now, how do I operate this thing!?"

Chin then looked at the controls of the gun, and through the Force, did something that was normally Batov's territory. Astral projection of sorts, in this case, of Chin providing a live fire demonstration of the weapon and a narrative on how to use it. After several minutes, the old master then fumed, "I get it!" and blocked Chin out, before following the steps he mentioned. It was worthwhile, since the shots now seemed to actually hit something.

The combined work of the DropShip, Ehrell, Batov, and Chin was finally beginning to pay off. The fighters assaulting them began to drop like flies in a cold room, and the remaining fighters were beginning show hesitancy to actually attacking their prey.

The maggots, however, proved to be quite the nuisance, and as the Coredian Ninjas did their job, they'd soon find that they were becoming the targets of the acid...and that the acid was actually being spit from long ranges now! Soon to join maggots onboard were more maggots, who would join their brethren. Soon, it would be quite impossible contain the situation as the odds began to turn to fifty to one in favor of the maggots. Then, suddenly, the ship lurched, and a mechanical voice spoke immediately after.

"Warning. Main bridge controls no longer have control of the engines. Engine output steadily decreasing. Back-up stabilization thrusters maintaining current altitude. Recommend evacuation of all personnel within seven minutes, thirty seconds."

The intercom then switched on and Eishun's voice could be heard.

"Everyone get to the main hangar immediately! Abandon ship!"

The comms then turned to static as, somewhere on deck six, the maggots began to mutilate the necessary circuitry to operate any of the ship's functions.

"Asuna, Setsuna! Let's go!"

"Hai!" The two girls would soon follow their commanding officer, grabbing Soren as they went on towards the main hangar on the third deck, taking the obligitorily-installed stairs since they didn't want to chance getting stuck in any of the lifts.

"Aff." Major Ehrell did not reply to anyone in particular, but he was a bit peeved that his pwnage of the fighters was interrupted. HALO Jump? Those do not occur too often, he thought to himself. He quickly made his way to the hangar bay, arriving well before those who had been on the fourth deck...

The two Acolyte masters got out of their chairs, and began making a fast exit, as the DropShip began buckling. They assembled with the others on the hangar deck, running past falling objects and picking up their "Bags of Tricks" as they moved past....

Soren was basically dragged backwards towards the nearest escape pod, not that he wasn't going to leave with them, he just didn't have much of a chance to run before being picked up. The young sorceror managed to turn in their grasp and keep up a descent pace without becoming a burden.

"There's too many of them!" Haruka yelled.

"Let's make our exit, then!" Keith replied as they heard the announcement over the PA.

Sasuke didn't need prompting as he let loose a fireball to cover their tracks and they headed for the hangar deck as well...

As they dragged Soren along, the group of Maho came across quite a road block on the stairs. Dozens upon dozens of the maggots were swarming up the stairs, as well as down them, in an effort to consume the ship. As the swarm quickly made their way towards them, Eishun's first reaction, without even saying a word, was to shove Soren off of the stairs into the stairwell, Asuna was quick to follow him, grabbing onto his arm along the way. Then, Setsuna and Eishun joined them, both falling into the stairwell.

As they fell, Asuna would catch onto a railing just above the third deck, and, by using momentum, tossed Soren through the open doorway of the third deck. Whether or not Soren got hurt wasn't an issue at this point. If those maggots got to them, being hurt would be the least of their problems. Just as Setsuna and Eishun caught onto the same railing, Asuna would swing herself onto the platform of the doorway, dash through the doorway, and then pick up Soren and merely shouted, "Run!" Within a second, Eishun and Setsuna were on their tail, and within another three seconds, the swarm of maggots poured through the doorway, chasing after their quary.

After making two lefts and a right, the four would arrive in the main hangar, with Asuna pulling Soren along as they ran in. Setsuna closed the door behind them, sealing it shut as to prevent the maggots from joining them in the hangar.

"That oughta hold 'em," she said.

"Not for long, though," Eishun replied. "Setsuna, get a couple of the automated aytch emme gee turrets trained on that door."

"Hai!" She quickly went about her task.

"Asuna, get you and Soren a parachute," Eishun continued. "You'll be in charge of getting him safely down to our lines. Soren, do not leave Asuna's side." During his instruction, Eishun would open a container on the farthest wall from the maggot-infested portion of the ship. He would procure a pair of battle rifles, tossing one to Asuna, as well as tossing her a pair of magazines while slinging his weapon and belting two magazines for himself. He would then procure a carbine and three magazines for it, and then toss those to Asuna to hand to Soren.

"Hai, sensei," Asuna replied, catching the battle rifle. She would then pop the magazine out of the gun, inspect it quickly, and then jam it back into the weapon. Just as she slung her weapon and belted her own magazines, she would catch the carbine with one hand while catching the magazines with her other, handing them off to Soren.

"Guns ready," Setsuna announced, flipping on the switch for both of the twin-automated heavy machine guns. They hummed to life as they slowly scanned a one hundred eighty degree area in front of them.

"Good," Eishun said. "Setsuna, grab yourself a weapon, then head out. Get to the forward aytch cue on our side of the battle line and tell them we're on our way, and that we may need some support." As she walked to the weapons container, Eishun would toss her a head-set. "This is how we'll communicate."

"Hai, Elder," Setsuna replied, catching the head-set as she got to the weapons container. She would then open the second weapons container, reach into it, and procure herself a sub-machine gun and three magazines. She'd then belt her magazines, and then take off at a job towards the personnel door on the main hangar door. Upon opening it, one would notice that the pressurized hangar would not become a torrent of wind. Almost as soon as she opened the door, she would drop out of the ship, and out of sight. Anyone paying attention would notice that she did not have a parachute on.

"Everyone else, get any rifles, pistols, or projectile weapons you prefer to use ready," Eishun announced. "If you do not have one, grab one from the weapons containers. Once you are armed, grab a parachute and a head-set and jump on out. Should we become separated, report your locations, and I will input nav points into your heads-up displays." Eishun then put on his own head-set, and then looked in Asuna's direction. Asuna nodded, and then pulled Soren along towards the door. Once at the door, she would use a set of secondary straps to hold him to her, and then waddled them both into the doorway.

"Hold on," she said quietly into his ear, and then she threw them both out of the ship and straight into freefall.

Batov and Chin quickly moved to acquire some parachutes. Chin seemed to maintain an air of calm on the outside, and Batov seemed to smile madly at the prospect of a jump, muttering, "Young Chin...it seems we get to jump out of an aircraft on our first day!"

Chin then muttered, "Yeah, cool," focused more on putting his pack on, as Batov continued, "Truly, this is a challenge from the Light. He is testing us indeed....the battle awaits!" He then let out a crazed belly laugh.

Chin then smirked, betraying a hint of sarcasm in his face. Batov was infamous for his mad fits, and sure enough, the rumors were true. He then whipped out his two Colt Government pistols, and prepped them for battle, holstering them and keeping the holster secure. Chin then grabbed a headset and found another battle rifle in the weapons crate, and grabbed a couple of magazines. Tapping Batov just as the man finished strapping on his pack and acquired a headset, he said, "Sensei--you will need this," thrusting the weapon into his arms.

Batov looked at it with some incredulousness and said, "I do not use guns."

To that, Chin replied, "It's a bit late to play the guncontrol card. Let's go!" He then grabbed the reluctant Sensei and jumped out the plane, parachutes activating when the time was right.

"Do we really need projectile rifles?" Keith asked.

"Never know. It's likely we'll face enemies who arere immune to energy bolts." Sasuke said, in a combination of chiding and lesson as he plucked off a battle rifle and a pistol and several magazines, as well as a headset. Finished, he grinned at his apprentice. "I hope you're rated, young summoner."

"I so am!" Keith groused as he grabbed a rifle of his own and a headset as well. Haruka also took his weapon and equipment and added a scope to his own. Like his friend Nick Kingfisher, when he's not alchemizing stuff, he likes to outrange enemies.

All three took parachutes and wasted no time in jumping out...

Major Ehrell did not need to be told what to do, for he had already been trained for paradrops in the event he needed to treat soldiers trapped behind enemy lines and other contingencies. It took him all of about three and a half seconds to don the parachute pack, and about another two for the headset. Then he jumped, holding his sniper rifle off to the side so it didn't fall off of his neck in the middle of the jump. As he looked down, he got a decent idea of where the enemy positions were--information that he was sure would serve him well later. He wished he could snipe now, while he had the birds-eye-view of everything, but alas, the sniper rifle was powerful enough that the recoil was guaranteed to separate him from the group, and very nearly guaranteed to send him way out of control, as well.

Therefore, the Major behaved himself. Combat would come soon enough. Recognizing that deploying the chute too early would make it far easier for the enemy to shoot him down, he waited until he was about a hundred eighty meters above ground level to deploy. It would make for a very hard landing, but it would not be a first time. A wan smile crossed his face...

Soren didn't know which to laugh at first, the fact that they though he required a parachute to land safely or whether a sorceror would be any good with a rifle. He kept the rifle and the extra magazines figuring that it could come in handy for some of the other members of this group later. As for the parachute, he left it off to the side and assured them that he would not require it.

Once the doors were opened, Soren was right with Asuna when she jumped. Only difference in the jump was that when Asuna pulled the rip cord on her chute, Soren slowed his decent as well though minus the chute. A pillar of air rushed up to greet the Sorceror and helped guide his path towards the landingzone.

In the mean time, he had the carbine and extra magazines to deal with. He simply slung the rifle over his shoulder and put the extra rounds in the folds of his robes. Guns were so low in Soren's mind that they were lower than barbaric. They were primitive. The young Sorceror only sighed and ready a rather large list of spells he was ready to cast once he touched solid earth again and for the way down.

As they fell through the air and away from the DropShip, the maggots had finally begun to tear through the bulkhead to reach the hangar. Eishun turned his head, frowning slightly as the resounding blasts of the automated machine guns began tearing the maggots to acidic shreds. He then refocused his attention back to the door. He then sprinted straight for the door, and without even stopping, Eishun fell through the door.

Within seconds of passing through the door, the DropShip began to blow apart as the generator and the hyperdrive were compromised. Slowly, but surely, the DropShip began to fall. Finally, after a final, resounding explosion, the DropShip began to fall much faster, passing by Eishun and the other members of the party as they fell. While it fell semi-harmlessly away from them, Eishun focused his attention to where he was falling. He observed the area where the DropShip would crash, and looked across to where everyone was falling, watching as each of the chutes opened up one by one. Satisfied, he concentrated his chi, and in an amazing burst of speed, made his way to the forward command center on the allied lines.

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

Asuna was the first to touch down on the ground, and she easily cut her chute away and brought her rifle to the ready, crouching down as she waited for Soren. Tapping her earpiece, spoke clearly, but quietly enough so that, if any enemies were nearby, they would not hear her. Everyone else in the group, however, would, courtesy of their own headsets.

"We're in," she said. "Eishun-sensei, do you copy?"

There was some minor hissing due to interference before she received a response. "Eishun here. Excellent news. Who else is with you?"

Asuna took a look at her surroundings for a quick few seconds before she focused back on the conversation once more.

"Looks like Soren, Ehrell, and Batov, sir."

"Alright. Asuna, your squad is now defined as Able. Chin? You're team leader for Bravo with the Coredians. I'd like to say we could just walk straight into enemy territory and pull you out, but we've got some problems to deal with first, and your squads are the closest to take care of them. Setsuna will brief you on your objectives."

A short hiss followed before Setsuna's voice took over for Eishun.

"Forward command has informed us that the enemy has taken three important bunkers that we originally set up to defend against incusions such as we're dealing with now. These three bunkers are linked together by a tunnel system, which is also linked to our bunkers on our side of the line. Those three bunkers, marked as Navs Alpha, Beta, and Delta, are the end of the tunnel line, and they're providing the enemy with a second front on which to fight. The tunnel system gives them an advantage that is slowly pushing our subterranean line back, and we need you to seal them off.

Able squad will be in charge of taking out Nav Alpha, which is about seventy meters from their position. It should be obviously visible to you, Able, and if not, you can probably hear the stationary gun lobbing shells at our lines three hundred meters back. Bravo squad? You position is roughly five hundred meters away from Able's. This also puts you closer to Nav Delta, which is fifty meters from your position. Likewise, you should be able to see it from where you are, and if not, the gun will lead you to it.

Dead between these bunkers is the third bunker, the largest of them, which is roughly two hundred fifty meters from both squads. Once you have both taken out the bunkers are Navs Alpha and Delta, you are to catch the bunker at Nav Beta in a pincer maneuver, link up, and either destroy it, hold it, or both. Once you have neutralized the enemy at Beta, we will reinforce your position with a Star of infantry with a supporting Star of Elementals. Once they arrive, you are to spearhead an assault on the enemy's main artillery emplacement at the base three hundred meters up the mountain at Nav Gamma, fortify it, and hold it until the main army can advance their line and join you.

I am uploading the Nav Points now. From here on, you will refer to command as Fox Den. Artillery support will be available to you when needed. Good hunting."

Once the transmission was finished, Asuna returned her attention to her squad and her surroundings. Raising her hand up into the air and making a few spinning motions with it, she said, in a hushed shout, "Squad! Form on me!"

((Alright, after everyone has posted, we are officially on pause until I return, or until I post again. This chance of internet time was a fluke, so don't get your hopes up.

Squads

Able
-Asuna (Able Lead)
-Soren (Able Two)
-Ehrell (Able Three)
-Batov (Able Four)

Bravo
-Chin (Bravo Lead)
-Sasuke (Bravo Two)
-Keith (Bravo Three)
-Haruka (Bravo Four)

While I have the time, I will be drawing up floor plans for the bunkers. From there, I will monitor squad progress, and we will have specific ways in which we take out the first two bunkers.

[NOTE: if the post seems scrambled a bit, this can be attributed to my tiredness.]))

Batov formed up onto Asuna's position, keeping low with his rifle. It still felt somewhat clumsy in his hands, but he knew that his more far-reaching abilities had to be saved for the really tight spots. With that thought he stoically tolerated the rifle. The mission itself he also tolerated; he wasn't expecting to have to play Commando on his Harrowing, but then again the Light of Lights worked in mysterious ways by His plan.

Up ahead, Batov could catch a glimpse of the bunker ahead, and saw the flashes of infernal gunfire flying into Clan lines. It reminded him of the War in Nova Louisiana all over again, and he had to close his eyes and breathe slowly to prevent the flashbacks from causing him to lose control.

He then asked Asuna in a hushed tone, "How do you intend to break the bunker?"

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

Chin, meanwhile, was more surprised by his sudden appointment as Squad Leader for Bravo Team than anything. The initial surprise, however, wore off, and like his comrade he could see the objective in the distance. Chin then got down, and moved forward quietly. Pulling out a pair of Binoculars from his Bag of Tricks, he examined the objective. It was indeed hot, so he got down and motioned for the Coredians to form up on him. He then asked, "The bunker is hot.....a direct charge won't work. Does anyone have a plan?"

Soren lightly touched down on the ground as the air rushed away from him leaving him firmly standing on their new location. The sorceror folded his hands within the hems of his robes and plopped down while he waited for his troop to move out. From the sounds of the layout of the bunker, it sounded like a tunnel fight which would not be terribly difficult to overcome though that was going on a vague bit of information.

As long as it was as simple as the voice from the headset was making it to sound out, this should prove no problem for the small group. However he had had his fare share of less than honest intelligence so far.

Fuck. A damn lot of good the sniper rifle will do in a bunker, Major Ehrell thought to himself, as he listened to the intel report. Not wasting a second in dwelling on it, he quickly ran grenades through his replicator, hoping twenty-four would be enough. Unfortunately, there were only so many nooks and crannies on his uniform to clip them to. The good news: Batov and Chin had trained him just enough in telekinesis for him to turn his concussion grenades into semi-guided missiles, an ability that the Major fully expected would come in handy.

Melee weapons, however...incredibly useful. If he had not received lightsaber training before, he would receive on-the-job training now. Oh, he instinctively knew how to wield the lightsaber Chin had given him, he had had previous training in melee fighting, even to the point of being a martial arts instructor himself...but he would not be able to hold a candle to Chin or Batov in lightsaber combat; he had only a couple of days' worth of familiarity with the weapon. Still, he was good enough with any melee weapon to wield it effectively against anything that was not Jedi or Sith, for the most part. Ehrell grabbed his lightsaber in his left hand, but left it unignited for now.

Major Ehrell quietly listened to the conversation between Asuna and Batov. If he had had floorplans, he might have some ideas himself; alas, he did not. But Asuna could tell that Ehrell had the right general idea.

Chin, meanwhile, was more surprised by his sudden appointment as Squad Leader for Bravo Team than anything. The initial surprise, however, wore off, and like his comrade he could see the objective in the distance. Chin then got down, and moved forward quietly. Pulling out a pair of Binoculars from his Bag of Tricks, he examined the objective. It was indeed hot, so he got down and motioned for the Coredians to form up on him. He then asked, "The bunker is hot.....a direct charge won't work. Does anyone have a plan?"
"We'll need a distraction. Big enough to be a threat to the bunker." Sasuke said.

"I'll send one." Keith suggested.

"Keith, your summons are always random. What if you summon something cute instead of menacing?" Haruka asked wryly. "I'll send a golem, Sensei. They're hard to kill and I can control it."

Sasuke nodded. "Very well. Keith and I will use the distraction to attack the bunker from the sides. Will that be acceptable, Master Chin?"

Chin nodded, looking at Haruka. With his serene, wry manner, he replied to the young Umino, "Then it shall be so. When you summon your golem, I'll use my Qiangquan mastery and temporal displacement abilities to make the process more in our favor." He then turned to Sasuke and Keith, saying, "And I trust you two to do well on your part."

Chin then concluded with, "The plan is good. Get ready." He then pulled out his battle rifle, cocked it, and began meditating a little, to focus his energies for the slugfest to come.

"Right!" Haruka clapped his hands and slammed them onto the ground. Instantly, energy crackled all over the face and a giant golem about ten feet tall rose out of the ground like it was a mountain. Haruka then used a jutsu to activate it. Its eyes began to glow blue and it roared in challenge. Now it only needed an order. "Attack that bunker!"

As Haruka began attacking with the golem, Sasuke and Keith sneaked away to take up positions for an attack on the bunker's sides...

Asuna looked amongst her team and then slowly began to recall what she knew about the bunkers while she began to move, motioning to her team to follow her. "We'll work as we go along," she said to her team. "Major Ehrell, you're in charge of sniping any sentries near the main door. Once they're down, we'll move in quietly to the door. On a three count, I will bash the door open, and then you are to clear the room with your grenades. After ten seconds of grenades, we'll move in, divide, and conquer. There should be four levels to the bunker."

Asuna temporarily halted, having gotten within visual range of the bunker to obtain detail. She motioned for everyone to lay low, and with a single hand motion, she signaled Ehrell to spot for and take out sentries.

At the door, Ehrell would be able to see two hunkered-down corrupt female warriors. They were decked in arcane armour, and they were both carrying old-style M16A2 assault rifles. They were casually talking to one another as the resounding cannon shots from the artillery on top of the bunker continued to shell the Clan lines far behind the teams. Unfortunately for the team, the artillery crew could not be seen from this vantage point as there was a protective lip preventing any visual confirmation of numbers.

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

Meanwhile, the occupants of the bunker that Bravo team was assaulting had heard the cry of the Golem. Many went to the windows to see what was going on. That's when they saw the golem, and all hell broke loose. Before Haruka could even manage to command his creature to move, two machine gun nests were hastily put up, and a pair of MG-42s would begin to sporadically take shots at the golem, hoping to have some effect on them. Meanwhile, the sentries, having been alerted by the machine guns, made their way to the door. Whoever was flanking left would only have about ten seconds before they would lose their opportunity to kill the sentries and get inside the bunker.

Major Ehrell quietly sneaked away, activating the silencer on his sniper rifle. He would get to use it, after all, and a wan smile crossed his face as he stole off for an ideal shot. As he did not wish to give himself away, one shot would have to dispose of both of said sentries. Which was possible, but only with a precise firing angle.

The sniper rifle, Ehrell knew, was plenty powerful enough to behead someone with a shot through the spine at neck level. Whereupon Major Ehrell had to make sure that the bullet traveled out the exit point, and through the other sentry's skull, which would result in a nice, pretty head explosion. Oh, yes.

Major Ehrell wasted no time in lining up such a shot, though it took a few seconds longer than he would have liked due to their incessant chatting. When at last he had the proper shot, he fired, and then following Rule Number One of sniping, moved. He knew he needed to make his way back to the group...

OOC: It's about ten feet all, Skaugra. Edited.

The shot rang true, and the bullet easily decapitated the first woman like her head was merely paper against scissors. The second woman, having only a tenth of a second to react, had began to duck instinctively before the bullet pounded through her forehead and turned her entire head into a glop of mess on the the terrain features around her. The first body would continue to stand for a few seconds stumbling around as the head looked on in horror for only a few seconds, watching its body grow larger than itself as it fell. Eventually, the body would fall atop the head and grow limp. The second body, however, was picked up by the force of the round, and was sent end-over-end for about four meters before finally falling into a relatively large crater, disappearing from sight. Its head had splattered on pretty much everything around it, whether it was the wall of the bunker or the ground around it before it was sent flying.

Asuna, looking through the built-in scope of her rifle, grimmaced at the sight of the two women dying. However, it didn't matter at this point. She quickly turned her attention to Ehrell, who was returning from a job well done.

"Great shot," she said casually. "Alright, squad, secure the door." With that order, Asuna shot up from her position and began running for the door. Because everyone in the bunker was paying attention to the lines rather than their surroundings (having relied on the sentries for that), no one would notice the entire squad moving in on the door.

Meanwhile, the occupants of the bunker that Bravo team was assaulting had heard the cry of the Golem. Many went to the windows to see what was going on. That's when they saw the golem, and all hell broke loose. Before Haruka could even manage to command his creature to move, two machine gun nests were hastily put up, and a pair of MG-42s would begin to sporadically take shots at the golem, hoping to have some effect on them. Meanwhile, the sentries, having been alerted by the machine guns, made their way to the door. Whoever was flanking left would only have about ten seconds before they would lose their opportunity to kill the sentries and get inside the bunker.

Chin meanwhile, leveled his rifle and moved forward to get fire on the MG-42 gunners. Breathing in and out slowly, time seemed to slow around him as he let himself get in touch with the Force. He gripped the rifle firmly, and sighted down the iron sights on top of its barrel. Squinting slightly, he focused on the men manning the machine gun.

He then began using that potent cocktail of Force Aim and some sort of projection known as the Qiangquan Precision Aim skill. He didn't need the scope, though it was certainly helping him right about now as let the Precision Aim gaze through the scope and towards the foes operating the archaic machinegun.

He then breathed out, and opened fire with several well timed and well aimed bursts of the rifle at the machinegun crew. Reality would then phase back at normal speed as he peered down the rifle's scope to judge whether the fools had gotten back up or not, as he moved slowly and low on the ground.

"Great shot," she said casually. "Alright, squad, secure the door." With that order, Asuna shot up from her position and began running for the door. Because everyone in the bunker was paying attention to the lines rather than their surroundings (having relied on the sentries for that), no one would notice the entire squad moving in on the door.

Batov got up from his position and rushed the door also, following Asuna as he kept an eye out for interlopers. The trick shot and resulting splatter didn't provoke much of an obvious reaction from Batov, though privately Batov found the whole thing rather distasteful. "That should have been a sword's work, not the work of a gun," he thought. Still, war was war, and he knew that more than anyone.

At any rate, the Force was quite disturbed around here, and he felt eminations of twisted glee and rage from the lost souls manning this fortification. He would free them from their misery soon enough. Like how the Major did....

Meanwhile, the occupants of the bunker that Bravo team was assaulting had heard the cry of the Golem. Many went to the windows to see what was going on. That's when they saw the golem, and all hell broke loose. Before Haruka could even manage to command his creature to move, two machine gun nests were hastily put up, and a pair of MG-42s would begin to sporadically take shots at the golem, hoping to have some effect on them. Meanwhile, the sentries, having been alerted by the machine guns, made their way to the door. Whoever was flanking left would only have about ten seconds before they would lose their opportunity to kill the sentries and get inside the bunker.
Chunks of rock were blown off the golem, but it charged at the bunker, unfazed by the 'popgun' blows that pelted its hard skin. It's going to likely to take a bazooka or mortar blast to do any damage to it.

Not if Sasuke had anything to say about that as he zipped onto the left flank and noticed a small door. He entered the door and immediately his crimson lightsaber sprang to life, cutting down anyone in his way.

Meanwhile, on the right flank, Keith mentally ran through the possibilities for a summon to use. Big? No. It'd get cut up by the machine guns. So go small. Keith smiled as he knew just what to summon, then went through the seals and slammed his hand on the ground. A poof of smoke and a small yellow rat appeared.

"Go for the bunker with Agility, then Thunderbolt everything inside, Raijuu!" Keith ordered.

The rat nodded and blazed a trail with Keith not far behind to deflect any machine gun bullets from hitting him or his little yellow ally with his phrik staff.

Bravo Bunker was under attack!

Soren rose up with the rest of the company and headed off towards the bunker. "Just clear out the main room then leave the tunnels to me."

The sorceror ran through a number of spells in his mind, loading them up and preparing them for whatever he might encounter. His mind pulled in on itself to file through the extensive catalogue of spells he had come to master and pulled out ones that would be necessary. At the same time, his eyes scanned the surroundings to be sure that nothing would catch him off his guard.

The shot rang true, and the bullet easily decapitated the first woman like her head was merely paper against scissors. The second woman, having only a tenth of a second to react, had began to duck instinctively before the bullet pounded through her forehead and turned her entire head into a glop of mess on the the terrain features around her. The first body would continue to stand for a few seconds stumbling around as the head looked on in horror for only a few seconds, watching its body grow larger than itself as it fell. Eventually, the body would fall atop the head and grow limp. The second body, however, was picked up by the force of the round, and was sent end-over-end for about four meters before finally falling into a relatively large crater, disappearing from sight. Its head had splattered on pretty much everything around it, whether it was the wall of the bunker or the ground around it before it was sent flying.

Asuna, looking through the built-in scope of her rifle, grimmaced at the sight of the two women dying. However, it didn't matter at this point. She quickly turned her attention to Ehrell, who was returning from a job well done.

"Great shot," she said casually. "Alright, squad, secure the door." With that order, Asuna shot up from her position and began running for the door. Because everyone in the bunker was paying attention to the lines rather than their surroundings (having relied on the sentries for that), no one would notice the entire squad moving in on the door.

Major Ehrell, too, attacked the bunker in conjunction with Asuna and Batov, taking slight cues from the former. Still, he knew what to do. His sniper rifle now comparatively useless, he drew his loaded, silenced service pistol with his left hand and the lightsaber Chin had earlier given him with his right, for he knew Asuna did not want the noise of grenades rousing the enemy quite yet. Though he was not as fluid as Batov in the use of said lightsaber, lacking Batov's experience and training in its use, he knew how to wield it well enough to slice open assorted enemies with little to no defense capable of blocking the thing, and then some, for his own experience in other melee weapons remained at least somewhat applicable if not perfectly so. Ehrell used his lightsaber on anything that got too close and sniped with his pistol at those enemies who just wanted to hide or snipe down the bunker hallways...

Asuna pressed her back against the wall to the bunker right alongside the door, and watched as Batov, Ehrell, and Soren followed suit. Batov was alongside her left, while Ehrell was across the doorway with Soren behind him. Using her left hand, she raised it up, and on the three-count, she whirled the butt of her battle rifle into the door, smashing it open with ease. Backing away, she allowed Ehrell to enter the bunker first before she charged headlong into the building. She had, by now, activated the built-in silencer on her weapon, and she began to pick off anything that was highlighted red on her HUD. By the time Batov and Soren would've followed in, Asuna and Ehrell would have cleared the ground floor by now without so much as a fight. In total, out of the fifteen corrupted warriors on the ground floor, only one had managed to survive, and had fled without his weapon down the stairwell, shouting to his comrades below in an obscure, arcane dialect.

"Shit," Asuna said, obviously pissed they hadn't gotten all of them on the first go. "Silencers off! Ehrell, Soren! Secure the basement levels and find any explosives we can use to blow this bunker to hell! Batov, secure the ground level! You're our fall-back point! Nothing lives! Move!"

Upon those orders, Asuna made her way for the second stairwell leading up. As she turned to run up the stairs, she practically bumped into another soldier. He shouted in confusion as Asuna jumped back and slammed against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway from the stairwell. Once she hit the wall, she unloaded six rounds into the poor bastard, and he fell. Up the stairs, another of the corrupt warriors went wide-eyed as he watched his friend get torn into pieces, and he quickly slammed the door, hoping to prevent Asuna from coming up. Asuna smirked as she merely flipped the switch to the built-in rocket launcher. Standing up, she leveled her rifle to the door above, and after holding her position for three seconds, she squeezed the trigger. The recoil from the rocket didn't so much as phase Asuna, and she watched with glee as the door up the stairs was blown from its hinges. Smirking, she began to slowly make her way up the stairs, ready to take on the gun crew single-handedly.

Meanwhile, in the first basement level, another dozen soldiers had been called to arms, and they were hastily throwing together simple fortifications using several empty steel crates. They even so much as went out of their way to set up an old MG-42 on top of one of the crates, and had put two smaller crates along side the gun to give added cover. There, they waited for anything that came downstairs, and as soon as something revealed itself, the MG-42 would be the first to fire, soon followed by its companions, who used a variety of ancient weapons, running from old Kar98Ks to M16s.

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

Chin's abilities, his force aptitude, and the HUD he had on his headset would prove to be the undoing of the machine gunner. As the gunner focused on the golem, his head would be practically torn in half by the rounds plugged through it, and his loader would shout in surprise as he sprawled for cover. Meanwhile, the second machine gun would now redirect its attention to the obvious threat, firing upon Chin's position, and would slowly track him.

In the meantime, two new machine guns would begin to go off, focusing on Keith and his little yellow companion. They would fire in a spread form, creating a deadly crossfire each time they crossed the paths of the their firing arcs. However, this machine gun fire was quick to subside as Sasuke barged into the doorway on the opposite side. He would find little resistance coming from the internal forces as they were unable to keep up with their new foe. However, one insane, albeit courageous, man would rise to challenge Sasuke, screaming a challenge to him in his arcane dialect, and would bring to bear a short sword and a small buckler. If Sasuke tried to cut through these weapons, he would be disappointed to find out that they were one hundred percent resistant to the effects of lightsabers.

All the while, the golem that Haruka had summoned was now left to its own devices, practically forgotten as the new attackers were now designated as priority one targets. To make matters worse, a radio crew on top of the bunker was reporting back to the main bunker about the attack, and unbeknownst to any of the members of Bravo Squad, the main bunker was redirecting one of its three guns on their position. It wouldn't be long before they would have to deal with an artillery bombardment.

"Shit," Asuna said, obviously pissed they hadn't gotten all of them on the first go. "Silencers off! Ehrell, Soren! Secure the basement levels and find any explosives we can use to blow this bunker to hell! Batov, secure the ground level! You're our fall-back point! Nothing lives! Move!"

Batov nodded at Asuna's order, and if he hadn't already ignited his lightsaber and drew it, said process was done and he was ready to go. He slung the rifle on his shoulder, and was glad to not have to use the thing for now. Batov would then begin wandering about the ground floor, peering into the Force and the Divine to check for signs of enemy life, gripping the saber in a neutral stance as he moved quickly--yet not hurredly--about the floor.

The souhds of gunfire upstairs and the thump and boom of the rocket and explosion didn't faze him. He had felt worse as a veteran of another war with Daemonic elements. Still, he had to suppress the temptation to relate this to his past beyond the obvious application of tactical lessons, and focus on the job.

So far, there was nothing in the first room when he opened it. Just an archaic MG-42 machine gun--truly an ancient weapon indeed--and the remains of what were dead enemies. To those, he shook his head, and crossed himself in the Russo-Byzantine style, saying, "Light of Lights, ensure the Corruption is finally gone from these lost souls" before spotting the door to the next room. He opened it slightly, then lept to the side quickly throwing his saber in front of him and used some of his weather control abilities to get the door open.

Chin's abilities, his force aptitude, and the HUD he had on his headset would prove to be the undoing of the machine gunner. As the gunner focused on the golem, his head would be practically torn in half by the rounds plugged through it, and his loader would shout in surprise as he sprawled for cover. Meanwhile, the second machine gun would now redirect its attention to the obvious threat, firing upon Chin's position, and would slowly track him.


Chin decided to meet the challenge of the second machine gunner. He ducked then spoke on his headset to Haruka, "Cover me with the golem. I'm going to hit the machine gun from another angle. GO!"

After issuing that order, he quickly skulked to another angle facing the offending machine gun, noting how its operators moved the traverse rather slowly in their attempts to end his career. He decided to make them retire first, and thus charged out of the thicket towards the bunker, throwing up a Force Shield all around him to block any bullets, and then leaping forward towards the MG.

In a scene one could call Pure Hollywood, Chin decided to make time slow again, and the second Machine Gun firer would notice that things seemed to slow up as Chin opened fire with a long burst onto the machine gun position before finishing with a Force Push to shove the man back hard onto the floor.

Great. I get stuck with someone who probably does not even know to stay the fuck out of a grenade's way. Soren still had not earned Major Ehrell's estimation of competence, much less respect. Nevertheless, Major Ehrell was not one to let such personal feelings interfere with mission, and he just hoped that Soren would not manage to get him killed by battlefield stupidity. He quickly deactivated the silencer on his pistol, then went to 'investigate' the basement...

He found those fortifications, and for a second or so he had to use his lightsaber to keep the MG-42 bullets from threatening him. He backed off, behind its field of fire. Of course, it was a ruse. He had grenades, and just new during the last few days, the means to manipulate their trajectory after they were thrown. In other words, he had, more or less, guided grenades. Bwahahaha.

A wan smile crossed his face as he pulled grenade pins, then threw them down the stairs. Ordinarily, it would have been a useless gesture as the machine gun nests were set up farther from the stairwell than said grenades' blast radius. However, the grenades did not hit the ground until they had already lodged themselves into ammo magazines near said machine gun nests, courtesy of Major Ehrell playing around with the Force.

Immediately after the grenade blasts, Major Ehrell headed down, pistol in one hand and lightsaber in the other, to mop up whatever mess of confused enemies remained...

In the meantime, two new machine guns would begin to go off, focusing on Keith and his little yellow companion. They would fire in a spread form, creating a deadly crossfire each time they crossed the paths of the their firing arcs. However, this machine gun fire was quick to subside as Sasuke barged into the doorway on the opposite side. He would find little resistance coming from the internal forces as they were unable to keep up with their new foe. However, one insane, albeit courageous, man would rise to challenge Sasuke, screaming a challenge to him in his arcane dialect, and would bring to bear a short sword and a small buckler. If Sasuke tried to cut through these weapons, he would be disappointed to find out that they were one hundred percent resistant to the effects of lightsabers.
For a short time, it looked hairy as Keith Masaki and Raijuu rolled and weaved through the machine gun fire, their natural agility and Keith's ability to deflect the bullets all that stood between them and death. Then Sasuke took out the machine gunners and all was quiet on their front. The two used the timing to head in close enough to see Sasuke overcome the foolish yet courageous man with his superior strength and skill and chop the guy's head off.

"Let's finish this." Sasuke said, saying nothing about the yellow mouse that was currently Keith's familiar.

"Right." Keith nodded.

All three headed up to the top of the bunker to finish things off.

All the while, the golem that Haruka had summoned was now left to its own devices, practically forgotten as the new attackers were now designated as priority one targets. To make matters worse, a radio crew on top of the bunker was reporting back to the main bunker about the attack, and unbeknownst to any of the members of Bravo Squad, the main bunker was redirecting one of its three guns on their position. It wouldn't be long before they would have to deal with an artillery bombardment.
The Golem and the boy controlling him reached the bunker in little time and watched for any other foolish people that would dare to attack the bunker...

Soren blew out a sigh as he followed Ehrell down the stairs to the basement. He only asked that they do one simply thing and he could take care of the rest. Now they had to completely alter strategies in the middle of an attack. The sorceror was down the stairs checking on Ehrell's back so that a gunship wouldn't claim his life in the first few seconds of their exploration.

Once the Woodian had finished with his grenades and the gun placement was cleared, Soren grabbed him by the shoulder to prevent him from getting too far ahead. The Sorceror looked out around the surrounding area of the basement. "Gather the rest of this unit and get them outside and undercover. I'll take care of the bunker."

Soren blew out a sigh as he followed Ehrell down the stairs to the basement. He only asked that they do one simply thing and he could take care of the rest. Now they had to completely alter strategies in the middle of an attack. The sorceror was down the stairs checking on Ehrell's back so that a gunship wouldn't claim his life in the first few seconds of their exploration.

Once the Woodian had finished with his grenades and the gun placement was cleared, Soren grabbed him by the shoulder to prevent him from getting too far ahead. The Sorceror looked out around the surrounding area of the basement. "Gather the rest of this unit and get them outside and undercover. I'll take care of the bunker."

"Perhaps you should have told that to Asuna." Major Ehrell's voice came out cold, as he was more than irked by a conjurer of cheap tricks, with little or no military training, no military rank that he knew of, ordering him around. He did not even bother to look at Soren as he continued his cleanup operations. "I am following orders, orders that were given for good reason. If you object, speak to her." Meanwhile, he fired a couple more shots at straggling enemies with his pistol.

Soren didn't much care what the Major thought or care about the cold talk. He simply stated matters as they were fact. "I am not giving an order to you. I belong to no military units so technically I do not even have to follow an order given by a military officer, foreign at that. I say it only for your continual survival. If you do not leave now, I will not be responsible for what happens to you when I clear this bunker. As was suggested by the one called Asuna."

The explosions caused by the grenades, specifically one frag grenade, would ignite the ammo, killing the gunner and his loader outright. The force of the explosion would send the other men sprawling for cover, trying to avoid any flying debris from the bullets or from the crates.

When Batov opened the door, he would be greeted by the sight of several freeborn warriors huddled together at the back of the room, having been imprisoned early on. They cowered into the corner, before one of them went wide eyed. "He's on our side! Look at the weapon and the HUD!"

"We're saved!" Another shouted.

They clambered for the door, generously thanking Batov for releasing them as they took off out of the bunker and back to allied lines. As the room cleared, something would glint in the corner of Batov's eye from within the room. On the far side could be seen a relatively small blue crystal, and an ancient sword next to it.

In answer to Ehrell's skepticism, Asuna's voice came over their head sets. "Give him a chance, Major. Alpha squad, evac the bunker. Let Soren finish the job. He's obviously got something planned. Rendezvous at the entrance we came through." While she spoke, gunshot could be heard from the fire fight she was involved in on top of the bunker. "Hey, Soren? Whatever you do, make it good. I'm pinned down up on the roof. Just wait until Ehrell and Batov exit the bunker. Whatever you use, I'll be fine."

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

The machine gunner wasn't even able to contemplate what happened before he was dead, sent flying to the back of the room he was in, which finished the deal and sent him to whatever afterlife he believed in.

Meanwhile, the group making their way up to the top would be met in with a furious combined roar as the gunnery crew, plus their defenders, charged the door, going into melee combat with whatever they had available, whether using their guns as clubs, or using bayonets, et cetera. However, it was pretty obvious that they didn't stand a chance against these combined warriors plus their little mouse friend.

Finally, as Haruka and his Golem made their way to their position near the bunker, the gun on the main bunker that had been diverted to aim upon them would quickly line up a direct shot at the Golem. After a five second delay, the cannon fired. The round whistled as it flew mere meters above the ground. To Haruka, he would have three seconds to hear the whistling of the shell before it plowed through the lower mid-section of the Golem, tearing the creature in half before impacting the ground not more than a three feet in front of it, exploding with enormous force, powerful enough to uproot several trees more than a meter away. The gunnery crew of that cannon was slowly loading the eighty eight again, and soon, it would fire again...

They clambered for the door, generously thanking Batov for releasing them as they took off out of the bunker and back to allied lines. As the room cleared, something would glint in the corner of Batov's eye from within the room. On the far side could be seen a relatively small blue crystal, and an ancient sword next to it.

In answer to Ehrell's skepticism, Asuna's voice came over their head sets. "Give him a chance, Major. Alpha squad, evac the bunker. Let Soren finish the job. He's obviously got something planned. Rendezvous at the entrance we came through." While she spoke, gunshot could be heard from the fire fight she was involved in on top of the bunker. "Hey, Soren? Whatever you do, make it good. I'm pinned down up on the roof. Just wait until Ehrell and Batov exit the bunker. Whatever you use, I'll be fine."

Batov said "You're welcome!" as they left the bunker, but by then the freeborn had cleared out of Dodge. They had left a crystal and a sword. He looked them over with a contemplative gaze, and his Force and Divine senses told him they were clean. He then put the sword in his belt and pocketed the crystal. He would have looked about, were it not for the radio traffic and the sudden eminations in the Divine and the Force that something big was about to go down involving Soren, the ever-recalcitrant wizard. He decided to make haste from the bunker, knowing that the man had studied spells of some strength on the way here....

The machine gunner wasn't even able to contemplate what happened before he was dead, sent flying to the back of the room he was in, which finished the deal and sent him to whatever afterlife he believed in.

Meanwhile, the group making their way up to the top would be met in with a furious combined roar as the gunnery crew, plus their defenders, charged the door, going into melee combat with whatever they had available, whether using their guns as clubs, or using bayonets, et cetera. However, it was pretty obvious that they didn't stand a chance against these combined warriors plus their little mouse friend.

Finally, as Haruka and his Golem made their way to their position near the bunker, the gun on the main bunker that had been diverted to aim upon them would quickly line up a direct shot at the Golem. After a five second delay, the cannon fired. The round whistled as it flew mere meters above the ground. To Haruka, he would have three seconds to hear the whistling of the shell before it plowed through the lower mid-section of the Golem, tearing the creature in half before impacting the ground not more than a three feet in front of it, exploding with enormous force, powerful enough to uproot several trees more than a meter away. The gunnery crew of that cannon was slowly loading the eighty eight again, and soon, it would fire again...

Chin took one look at the shell, and ran into the bunker just as it hit with the help of some Force Speed. As he did so, he screamed to Haruka, "GET OUT OF THERE!" Diving in, he got up and said to the team going upstairs, "What is your status, over? We are coming under artillery bombardment--let's hurry up!"

Soren didn't much care what the Major thought or care about the cold talk. He simply stated matters as they were fact. "I am not giving an order to you. I belong to no military units so technically I do not even have to follow an order given by a military officer, foreign at that. I say it only for your continual survival. If you do not leave now, I will not be responsible for what happens to you when I clear this bunker. As was suggested by the one called Asuna."

In answer to Ehrell's skepticism, Asuna's voice came over their head sets. "Give him a chance, Major. Alpha squad, evac the bunker. Let Soren finish the job. He's obviously got something planned. Rendezvous at the entrance we came through." While she spoke, gunshot could be heard from the fire fight she was involved in on top of the bunker. "Hey, Soren? Whatever you do, make it good. I'm pinned down up on the roof. Just wait until Ehrell and Batov exit the bunker. Whatever you use, I'll be fine."

"Aff," Major Ehrell replied to Asuna over his headset, saying nothing more, leaving Soren to deal with the enemies that still hid behind various crates and whatnot. He said nothing to Soren as he left, but quietly added him to his Do Not Trust List, along with the Coredian Sith. Now, in addition to the Coredians, he would have to keep an eye on Soren's activities at all times, on high alert at all times, such that he may thwart any frag attempts. The assertion that he was not subject to any authority whatsoever may have bought his chance to cast whatever cheap trick on the bunker, but it sure as hell was not inspiring of the kind of trust required of combat missions. Hell, if this guy was not subject to any military authority whatsoever, what was to prevent him from doing something stupid, like revealing their position to the enemy? Major Ehrell made a mental note to look for an opportune time to express this to Asuna, whom he deferred to as the squad leader.

Those thoughts floating through his mind, he removed himself from the bunker. He would not have cared one whit if the scrawny little Abh met his own doom.

The machine gunner wasn't even able to contemplate what happened before he was dead, sent flying to the back of the room he was in, which finished the deal and sent him to whatever afterlife he believed in.

Meanwhile, the group making their way up to the top would be met in with a furious combined roar as the gunnery crew, plus their defenders, charged the door, going into melee combat with whatever they had available, whether using their guns as clubs, or using bayonets, et cetera. However, it was pretty obvious that they didn't stand a chance against these combined warriors plus their little mouse friend.

Finally, as Haruka and his Golem made their way to their position near the bunker, the gun on the main bunker that had been diverted to aim upon them would quickly line up a direct shot at the Golem. After a five second delay, the cannon fired. The round whistled as it flew mere meters above the ground. To Haruka, he would have three seconds to hear the whistling of the shell before it plowed through the lower mid-section of the Golem, tearing the creature in half before impacting the ground not more than a three feet in front of it, exploding with enormous force, powerful enough to uproot several trees more than a meter away. The gunnery crew of that cannon was slowly loading the eighty eight again, and soon, it would fire again...

"Crap!" Haruka dove for cover as the Golem was destroyed by the artillery. Then he scrambled for cover, following Chin into the bunker. "We've got incoming!"

Meanwhile, Sasuke, Keith and Raijuu reached the radio room and heard the yells from below. They would have to move quickly. Sasuke pointed at the operators. "We'll need to interrogate them, so don't kill them!"

"Right! Hit 'em!" Keith said and nodded to Raijuu.

Electricity arced from the mouse, striking them with taser-like intensity...

Soren let the Woodian go, not particularly one way or the other how he felt about the mission or his place in all this. The only thing the sorceror cared about now was moving things along as he had desired from the start before the entire bunker was alerted to their pressence. Now with everyone moving out of the bunker, Soren was free to execute his own plan.

Sitting cross legged on the floor, he cast a quick shield around himself that would thwart any bullets fired in his direction at the time. Indeed more than a few crashed against the shield and ricoched off into the walls. Next came a second shield that would only serve as a protection against his own spell for the time being.

Completely secured in his own making, Soren had himself a little pocket of protection that would suffice until everything was completed. The sorceror concentrated on the spell he began calling to mind as his fingers weaved patterns in the air before him. His hands continually moved through the air and built up furry as a ring of fire encircled the sorceror's perimeter. Fire built up until it formed a pillar of burning sulfur. Appendages grew from the single great pillar of fire and formed into dragon heads moving about looking for a target.

With one fluid motion of his hands, Soren sent the multiple dragon heads screaming through the outlay of the bunker burning away anything in its path. The heat was so great that the walls melted and warped under their pressure. Any enemy in the way would find themselves mercilessly incinerated by the teeth of the fiery dragons roaming in every direction. Through Soren's eyes, he made sure they covered every inch of the bunker.

It wasn't as powerful as Wizard's Fire, being a Sorceror his magic did not cover that of a Wizard's, but it would do the trick. His own studies of destructive spells helped to increase the potency of his magic to help try and close the gap between the two.

Once it was all finished, Soren dusted himself off and stood up. None the tired from it all and glad to have gotten off of his feet for a moment.

Soren's attack spread throughout the bunker like a wild gas fire, and the corrupted troops within weren't given much time to scream before they were practically vapourized in mere miliseconds. Asuna squinted her eyes shut, being the only person to do any screaming as she felt the wave of intense heat build up around her. However, the flames did not hurt her in any way, shape, or form. As a matter of fact, once the flames had dissipated, the only noticeable change to her appearance was the visible sweat from her skin. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, and her view showed the charred remains of the soldiers who were on top of the bunker with her. Even the concrete had been turned black. She sighed, and then spoke through the comms on her headset.

"Well, Soren, whatever you did just now worked wonderfully," Asuna said. "Squad, begin sweep of all levels of the bunker. You should be looking for a case of plasma satchell charges. Whoever finds the box first gets the honors of blowing the bunker when we're a safe distance from it."

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

The radio crew was zapped silly by the tiny little mouse, and they shouted in surprise as they felt the sudden jolt of pain, and then went limp. They all groaned in pain, laying on the floor and slumping in their chairs. Unfortunately, the group wouldn't get the chance to interrogate them. The cannon on the main bunker was now aimed directly at the smaller bunker, and the crew had just finished loading their next shell. After another three second delay, the cannon fired, the sound of its shot resounding. Another three second delay followed as the round whistled through the air, and then struck the side of the bunker. The radio room soon became a torrent of hell as the shell blasted through the wall, killing the radio crew and blasting concrete at Sasuke, Keith, and the little yellow mouse. The shockwave from the explosion was enough to temporarily deafen anyone in the room who survived, and if anyone tried to come up the stairs, they'd be greeted by a plume of dust and smoke.

The radio crew was zapped silly by the tiny little mouse, and they shouted in surprise as they felt the sudden jolt of pain, and then went limp. They all groaned in pain, laying on the floor and slumping in their chairs. Unfortunately, the group wouldn't get the chance to interrogate them. The cannon on the main bunker was now aimed directly at the smaller bunker, and the crew had just finished loading their next shell. After another three second delay, the cannon fired, the sound of its shot resounding. Another three second delay followed as the round whistled through the air, and then struck the side of the bunker. The radio room soon became a torrent of hell as the shell blasted through the wall, killing the radio crew and blasting concrete at Sasuke, Keith, and the little yellow mouse. The shockwave from the explosion was enough to temporarily deafen anyone in the room who survived, and if anyone tried to come up the stairs, they'd be greeted by a plume of dust and smoke.
"Damn!" Sasuke put up a shield just in time as concrete crashed around them. All three were temporarily deafened, but only with the hearing. Not so much the two radiomen. They were now no longer able to hear anything, and it showed that this was deadly serious fighting. There would have to be no mistakes in the future.

Artillery. Keith signaled.

Indeed. We'll have to take it out. But first...this bunker. Sasuke signaled back.

We'll let Haruka do that. For now...Raijuu, release! Keith signaled and the mouse signaled Good Luck!, made a cute V-sign, and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

They headed down towards the stairs and met Haruka halfway, noticing that their hearing was returning to them.

"Let's destroy this place." Sasuke said.

"Right." Haruka nodded.

As Sasuke and Keith headed into the tunnels to keep from getting hit by artillery fire, Haruka began alchemizing the bunker, weakening it enough to start collapsing with the next artillery shell, then ran for it with his friend and Sensei. Of course, Chin was with them, but he didn't seem to be doing much at the time.

Soren's attack spread throughout the bunker like a wild gas fire, and the corrupted troops within weren't given much time to scream before they were practically vapourized in mere miliseconds. Asuna squinted her eyes shut, being the only person to do any screaming as she felt the wave of intense heat build up around her. However, the flames did not hurt her in any way, shape, or form. As a matter of fact, once the flames had dissipated, the only noticeable change to her appearance was the visible sweat from her skin. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, and her view showed the charred remains of the soldiers who were on top of the bunker with her. Even the concrete had been turned black. She sighed, and then spoke through the comms on her headset.

"Well, Soren, whatever you did just now worked wonderfully," Asuna said. "Squad, begin sweep of all levels of the bunker. You should be looking for a case of plasma satchell charges. Whoever finds the box first gets the honors of blowing the bunker when we're a safe distance from it."

Major Ehrell did not pay attention. He was already safely out of his way, and simply turned his back to the flash explosion. It would have been too much to ask for Soren to have killed himself in such explosion, and sure enough, he found Soren dusting himself off as he went down to the basement to search for those plasma charges. He was surprised Soren's magic tricks had not already detonated them, yet he refused to acknowledge Soren's existence as he passed the sorcerer down the stairwell. Major Ehrell quickly wasted no time in inventorying what had survived the blast, to see if the plasma satchell charges were down here...

Batov followed his erstwhile charge--well, more like Master Chin's charge--to sweep the bunker. Unlike Ehrell, Batov nodded to Soren and said nonchalantly as he walked into the bunker, "Good work." If Soren had telepathy on his side, he'd be able to sense Batov genuinely meant that; if not, his face gave it away.

Batov caught up with Ehrell and began using his own senses to scour the bunker for the charges. He casually quipped to Ehrell as he sifted through a burnt pile, vaguely sensing a hint of resentment, "Suspicious?"

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

Chin had been doing things alright--well, he was going to try and react to the goons until the artillery came down. Unbeknownst to Sasuke, Chin also threw in his own time bubble to neaten things out, and proceeded to run after the party into the tunnels. He then muttered, "Right. The next shell comes, this place goes. Now, we react and move to execute the next part of the plan." He called to Haruka, "Did you make sure to seal off the tunnels!?" before squawking on the Force, "Sensei, what is your status?"

Batov casually replied, pausing for a moment to reply to the Forcemessage, "Friend Soren has cleaned out the bunker. However, your charge seems to be quite irritated for some reason. I would watch him. Otherwise, we are almost done here."

Soren didn't much care what the Major thought or care about the cold talk. He simply stated matters as they were fact. "I am not giving an order to you. I belong to no military units so technically I do not even have to follow an order given by a military officer, foreign at that. I say it only for your continual survival. If you do not leave now, I will not be responsible for what happens to you when I clear this bunker. As was suggested by the one called Asuna."

Batov followed his erstwhile charge--well, more like Master Chin's charge--to sweep the bunker. Unlike Ehrell, Batov nodded to Soren and said nonchalantly as he walked into the bunker, "Good work." If Soren had telepathy on his side, he'd be able to sense Batov genuinely meant that; if not, his face gave it away.

Batov caught up with Ehrell and began using his own senses to scour the bunker for the charges. He casually quipped to Ehrell as he sifted through a burnt pile, vaguely sensing a hint of resentment, "Suspicious?"

Major Ehrell scowled at Batov. "Hmm. He only claimed a complete exemption from any and all military authority. Which, of course, could kill me in about seven hundred fifty thousand different ways. 'Suspicious' is an understatement."

Major Ehrell scowled at Batov. "Hmm. He only claimed a complete exemption from any and all military authority. Which, of course, could kill me in about seven hundred fifty thousand different ways. 'Suspicious' is an understatement."

Batov nodded. He then said, opening a cabinet and finding nothing, "Lack of cohesion is a problem. I should know." With a sneer on 'Karate Kid' he continued, sadly going, "I had a young Marine Commando following me, who thought he didn't have to listen to a 'Karate Kid.' He died impaled on a demon's claw, after being mind controllled and ripping a man's throat out. So, do not think my following words are without understanding on my part." He then turned to Ehrell and said. with a sigh, "The man did his job well enough, Young Ehrell. The objective is cleared, is it not?" Continuing on, he opened a door to a room to look for the charges, saying, "It is true Mr. Soren is a civilian contractor of sorts, belonging to an organization, as I understand it not aligned with any military--not even that of the Abh Empire. But I am sure his recent act shows he is committed to the task at hand."

He then smiled at Ehrell, saying, "However, you made me curious, young Ehrell. What did he say exactly that implied he renounced all authority and wished to put you and the mission in jeopardy?"

Again the Major's aloofness to Soren's existance refused to phase the sorceror. It was a quality that had come out of pragmatism more than anything else. He was simply here to do his job, not win popularity contests. If the Woodian had problems with his character, then it was inconsequential to him so long as everyone did their job. The rest was simply scemantics.

Soren was not one to press people for their emotional problems or make close friends and very little of that went through his mind as he reached into the folds of his robe and drew out a candle stick. With a brief word, the candle ignited lighting the hallway as effeciently as any flashlight would. The Sorceror nodded a quiet thanks to Batov as he walked off in another direction to look for the charges.

Batov nodded. He then said, opening a cabinet and finding nothing, "Lack of cohesion is a problem. I should know." With a sneer on 'Karate Kid' he continued, sadly going, "I had a young Marine Commando following me, who thought he didn't have to listen to a 'Karate Kid.' He died impaled on a demon's claw, after being mind controllled and ripping a man's throat out. So, do not think my following words are without understanding on my part." He then turned to Ehrell and said. with a sigh, "The man did his job well enough, Young Ehrell. The objective is cleared, is it not?" Continuing on, he opened a door to a room to look for the charges, saying, "It is true Mr. Soren is a civilian contractor of sorts, belonging to an organization, as I understand it not aligned with any military--not even that of the Abh Empire. But I am sure his recent act shows he is committed to the task at hand."

He then smiled at Ehrell, saying, "However, you made me curious, young Ehrell. What did he say exactly that implied he renounced all authority and wished to put you and the mission in jeopardy?"

"He told me, and I quote, 'I belong to no military units so technically I do not even have to follow an order given by a military officer, foreign at that. I say it only for your continual survival'," Major Ehrell replied with a scowl. "Now, either he learns to follow orders, or one of us returns home. I will not sacrifice my life for someone who believes that he has the right to choose which orders to follow and which orders not to follow, who believes he has the right to blow friendlies up along with the enemy. Yes, you heard me quoting a veiled threat of his."

"And what you need to do, Major, is get over it." Asuna's voice echoed slightly in the room as she walked down the stairs into the first basement level of the bunker. "If you have a problem with a fellow soldier, work through the chain of command and we'll deal with it."

Asuna then focused her attention on Soren. "As for you, Mister Soren, while I appreciate the work you have done, while you are here, you will follow the chain of command. In this room, I am currently at the top of said command. My orders to you are unquestionable, regardless of the circumstance. We're in a warzone, and like it or not, we need to stick together. When you put yourself outside of the squad, you put the squad, as well as yourself, in harms way."

Asuna then addressed the both of them. "I understand that you two come from worlds apart, and that you're both raised in different customs, but if you continue to distrust each other, someone's gonna end up dead, it might just be me or Batov, or it could be either of you. Hell, it could be one of the Coredians, or maybe even Chin. The fact is, while we're on this mission, we are a team. A team that needs to stick together, and put past differences aside to complete our overall mission. I don't care if one of you has AIDS. I don't care if one of you is of a different political viewpoint. I don't care if one of you thinks the other is equivalent to a damned Sith. Only through unhindered unity shall we prevail in the face of this terrible enemy."

Asuna then folded her arms in front of her chest, looking between the two, waiting for them to speak.

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

As Haruka began to deteriorate the bunker, the crew at the main bunker was busily reloading their charge. After a few tense moments, the resounding shot sounded out, and after about three seconds, the shell impacted the bunker. Even though Haruka had yet to finish his work, the bunker came collapsing down, falling apart and effectively sealing Bravo Team into the tunnel they had gone into. The only light they received was the dim lighting of the tunnel lights, which could't've been more than sixty five watt in power, and the worst part was that they were spaced more than ten meters apart, making the tunnel quite dark in appearance.

"Aff," Major Ehrell acknowledged Asuna's warning from attention. He certainly had no problems with it, and was quite pleased to see the scrawny little Abh have his claims of superiority over any military chain of command whatsoever refuted, though of course, his countenance remained utterly expressionless, as required by the position of attention. However, something just past Asuna's shoulders, down the hallway maybe about ten meters, caught his attention. An open crate, with something purple glimmering in it...

As Major Ehrell stood at attention in deference to Asuna, he was pretty much forbidden from opening his mouth. Therefore, in Standard Operating Procedure for Woodian military circles, he raised his right hand, forearm at a ninety-degree angle at the elbow, and after getting acknowledged, requested "Permission to speak freely, Galaxy Commander."

"Speak freely, warrior. We're on the clock. At ease, as well." Asuna was curt and to the point as she waited for Ehrell's ten pence.

Major Ehrell quickly shifted to at ease, or more technically given his permission to speak, the position of at rest, though he was not about to quibble drill minutiae with Asuna. "I wish to point out that no chain of command is yet established below you," the Major pointed out. It was clear by the look on his face the Major was more than willing to 'get over it' in accordance with Asuna's demands if Soren was properly incorporated into such chain of command, whatever it may turn out to be. "Moreover, I see something that looks suspiciously like what we are looking for, about eight meters directly behind you."

Asuna nodded at Ehrell's comment, chuckling a bit. "I do believe that is true. Silly of me, but we've been rather pressed for time. Once we meet up Bravo, we'll stitch together a temporary chain of command until we have more time to make a formal one."

However, his second statement brought a grin to her face. "Ehrell, you have the honors of blowing this place to hell. You just found what we're looking for. Go on and grab them, and bring them out here. We're going to divvy the charges, and I'm going to have you keep one in case we might need it later. Everyone else, grab some charges and start planting them. This place ain't gonna set itself up!"

Soren heard the lectures come over his headset as he continued his search for the charges with his little candle. "Point taken, and thus I have not disputed any of your orders nor do I have any qualms with working with the Major. I am here to complete a mission that I was requested to aid in. I am not here to be Mr. Congeniality"

With Asuna's claim that the charges had been found, Soren retraced his steps to where the rest of the team had gathered. The sorceror grabbed his share of charges and looked for a structurely sound place to put them.

As Haruka began to deteriorate the bunker, the crew at the main bunker was busily reloading their charge. After a few tense moments, the resounding shot sounded out, and after about three seconds, the shell impacted the bunker. Even though Haruka had yet to finish his work, the bunker came collapsing down, falling apart and effectively sealing Bravo Team into the tunnel they had gone into. The only light they received was the dim lighting of the tunnel lights, which could't've been more than sixty five watt in power, and the worst part was that they were spaced more than ten meters apart, making the tunnel quite dark in appearance.
Haruka, remembering that there was a delay in between shots, wasted no time in getting out of the way of the bunker collapse. Once it was finished collapsing, he completed sealing it off, turning the whole thing into a small hill made of solid rock.

Finally, after he was finished, he dusted his hands off. "I'm done. Let's go."

Sasuke nodded and the four of them headed off into the tunnel, Force-scanning ahead for danger in the gloom...

Batov let out a slight harumph, and then in his own mad way, ameliorated it with a slight chuckle as he went to grab the charges and place them in the right spots, sensing for weak spots and caching one in his belt. He then said, with an unusual mix of good humor and firm sternness over the intercom, "Any solution is fine, brothers, as you two don't make more drama for everybody than needed. I thought we were here to go on a Harrowing of Hell, not to stage a Shakespearean Tragedy or an episode of Battlestar Galactica."

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

Chin also used his Force senses to keep an eye out--along with a flashlight he pulled from his Bag of Tricks. A maglite with plenty of power, he pulled out some duct tape and affixed it to his rifle, then shined it into the darkness and used it to look ahead and scan around, though it probably wouldn't do much help.

Good thing most Acolytes were trained in "Spider Sense," a funny colloquialism for a form of Force precognition similar to the power practiced by a certain superhero. Anything that could and would occur would get picked up. He then said, "Okay. Stay alert. I've got the light."

It didn't take too long to 'wire up' the bunker with the charges. Asuna directed where they needed to be set, and she made damn good sure that a few were placed on top to blow the artillery piece and its ammo, taking one charge herself and placing it into the barrel of the gun. These babies were wireless, so it didn't matter where they were put, not to mention there were over six dozen of them in the crate. Seeing that Batov had belted a charge, she told Ehrell to do the same, just in case they needed more for later, sticking a charge on her own person.

Once they were finished, placing charges over practically every meter of the bunker, she quickly assembled the team and had them follow her into the tunnel, making sure to get within its confines for about ten meters before she stopped the group. Looking at Ehrell, she spoke once more.

"Maestro? Would you please begin the Symphony of Death?" She tossed him the detonator.

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

The group would be well-greeted by the lack of conflict through the tunnels as they walked through them. It didn't seem like anyone was using the tunnels at this point, probably because they were all on the frontlines now. That, or they were busy trying to out-flank the Clan lines, but it didn't matter at this point. However, within a few short minutes of walking into the tunnel, they would begin to notice an odd smell, a very grotesque smell.

The group would be well-greeted by the lack of conflict through the tunnels as they walked through them. It didn't seem like anyone was using the tunnels at this point, probably because they were all on the frontlines now. That, or they were busy trying to out-flank the Clan lines, but it didn't matter at this point. However, within a few short minutes of walking into the tunnel, they would begin to notice an odd smell, a very grotesque smell.
"Bleh. This stinks." Keith said.

"You can say that again." Haruka winced.

"Mmm. Tread carefully." Sasuke warned. "This could be anything. Masks on, just in case."

Out of the Jedi Bag of Tricks came simple but effective gas masks, good for filtering out poisons and even bioagents.

"Bleh. This stinks." Keith said.

"You can say that again." Haruka winced.

"Mmm. Tread carefully." Sasuke warned. "This could be anything. Masks on, just in case."

Out of the Jedi Bag of Tricks came simple but effective gas masks, good for filtering out poisons and even bioagents.

And out of the Acolyte Bag of Tricks came a mask for Chin, which was strapped on quickly. Chin was used to a lot of smells people would find foul, especially the infamous durian fruit, but even this was too much. Thus, the mask went on and he made sure the filter was working.

Just in case though, Chin kept his rifle at the ready, saying to the assembled, "Weapons and powers ready. This could get wierd."

As the group moved further into the tunnel towards the main bunker, the stench began to even creep beyond the masks that Bravo Team wore over their faces. Suddenly, as Keith and Haruka stepped forward first, they would suddenly drop about two feet into a liquid substance. It was warm to the touch...but what was it?

Keith and Haruka looked down at the warm substance below them. They didn't like what they saw...even Sasuke's eyes widened slightly at the sight.

Chin heard the squishing and splashing noises made by the steps into the "muck" and directed his light downwards. He then stepped back a little, and suddenly grew a little nervous--no, he grew very concerned, his face quivering just a little. The mean streets of Hong Kong and the gruesome nature of Triad tortures didn't quite match what he was seeing now.

He could say simply only, holding his rifle tight and steeling himself for anything, "I think we may have company."

WARNING TO THE VIEWERS AT HOME!

The contents of this post are for the purpose of plot advance and devices. Anything read here is void of liability to those with mental scarring after reading. The following material, to borrow from standard ratings, would be considered NC-17 and verging on semi-X-rated material. I do not, by any means, support the use of, or the continuing of fetishes pertaining to, what is to be read in the following post.

Reader discretion is HEAVILY advised.

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

As the group looked down into the pit, at first, it would seem they had fallen into a pit of blood. Then, the discoloration would become quite apparent to them as they heard what seemed to be a pouring sound, and the pained moaning of a female. Suddenly, the pained moaning would become a grunt, and muffled scream, as the light pouring suddenly became sounds of rushing water pouring into the pit with large splashes intermixed with it.

As the group followed the sound, they would begin to see small, worm-like creatures swimming in the discolored fluids, feasting on floating excrement and bodily organs, making tiny squeaking noises intermittently. As the splashes began to subside, the female voice seemed to sound like it was sobbing, as well as breathing hard. After a few tense moments, a sight of horror, unlike any seen before that would become transfixed in their minds for the rest of their lives, played across the dark scenery.

Dangling from the ceiling by an unknown, gelatinous webbing could be seen the form of a human woman. Her entire body was exposed to their view, covered in unstitched gashes, abrasions, and broken bones protruding from her flesh. Her stomach had been eviscerated, allowing her intestines and her liver to dangle from her body limply as she hung to the ceiling. Her face was marred beyond recognition, one of her eyes avulsed from its socket and dangling, and her entire jaw missing with what seemed to be an organic tube jammed down her throat. Her hair was matted with blood, and her brain was exposed just over her avulsed eye from where a part of her skull had been broken off. Looking further down her body, it was plain to see that another, very similar tube dangled just beyond her lower genetalia, resembling an over-enlarged phalus. To their horror, it would suddenly jam itself within the female, and she would scream, although it was rather muffled by the other tube jammed down her throat. The tube would then sit where it had entered, its form pulsing as it injected whatever liquid it contained into its prisoner. After a few seconds, the tube removed itself, much to sobbing relief of the poor woman. However, she continued to shiver in pain, her body having been over-inflated beyond normal human constraints, her skin stretching from the obvious over-burden of fluids within her body.

Just beyond this person was another woman, held in a similar fashion, violated in much the same way. She had the same injuries pertaining to her lower jaw and her abdomen, but her other injuries were different in comparison to the first girl.

And just beyond her was another...

And another...

And another...

WARNING: Companion piece to the above, with a little touch of euthanasia. Viewer discretion most definetly advised.

IC:

Chin then resisted the urge to vomit at the sight, throwing up a little in his mouth. There really wasn't anything he could say to describe his reaction to it, only a mixture of horror and pity at the sight. He could only avert his eyes, and shake his head in shock. This was too much.

He then whipped out his lightsaber, and ignited it. He then refused to look at the scene as he threw the saber like a boomerang to cut the abominable tubes and all.....

At the mere sight of such...depravity, the two young Jedi instantly lost their lunches. Much as they believed themselves brave and strong, this was far, far too much for them. Only their Sensei was able to stand strong against the hellish vision, for he suffered worse under the 'tender care' of his elder brother. But his apprentices haven't and he sympathized.

"I will burn this place. Step aside." Sasuke ordered his apprentices. They gladly climbed out of the sickening muck and looked away. Unfortunately, the images would be seared in their minds forever and and they would have nightmares for a long time afterwards indeed.

At his age, Sasuke didn't need to use seals or shout to unleash a Grand Fireball upon the scene, turning the whole place into a burning inferno after Chin cut the tubes.

It didn't take too long to 'wire up' the bunker with the charges. Asuna directed where they needed to be set, and she made damn good sure that a few were placed on top to blow the artillery piece and its ammo, taking one charge herself and placing it into the barrel of the gun. These babies were wireless, so it didn't matter where they were put, not to mention there were over six dozen of them in the crate. Seeing that Batov had belted a charge, she told Ehrell to do the same, just in case they needed more for later, sticking a charge on her own person.

Once they were finished, placing charges over practically every meter of the bunker, she quickly assembled the team and had them follow her into the tunnel, making sure to get within its confines for about ten meters before she stopped the group. Looking at Ehrell, she spoke once more.

"Maestro? Would you please begin the Symphony of Death?" She tossed him the detonator.

After claiming a five-finger discount on a satchell charge or three, per Asuna's orders, and going with the rest of the task force to aforesaid tunnel, Major Ehrell caught the detonator. He ignored Asuna's little question for now, preferring instead to get right down to business. Pointing the detonator in the general direction of the bunker, he pushed the shiny red button.

The ground shook but hard, and those without earplugs soon wished they had thought of said contingency. Fortunately, Major Ehrell had not quite proven that stupid, but even with earplugs, the explosion was plenty LOUD. Cracks formed in the tunnel's ceiling and walls, leaving the party to wonder whether or not said tunnel might collapse. It was a damn good thing said tunnel was reinforced; otherwise, it would have. A damn shame that there was no view. Maybe, just maybe, the party would be able to see the fifty-meter crater in the ground, deep enough to swallow a 'Mech easily, at some future time.

For now, however, there remained the problem of getting out of the tunnel...

Asuna nodded with satisfaction, brushing some dust and dirt off of her vest. She then hefted her weapon into her hands, keeping it in a neutral-ready position, and then turned to move into the tunnel.

"Alright, boys," she said. "Let's go meet our friends."

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

As the tubes were cut, they made sickening sploort noises, and the girls would be released into the pits. Each time a tube was cut, the girl would die instantaneously, and would be released from the sealing to splash into the pits. The small, worm-like creatures would then swarm around the corpses and begin to devour them slowly, but they wouldn't get far as they were incinerated by Sasuke's flames. Slowly, one-by-one, each of the girls was cut loose and torched, the flame completely removing the filth over their stations.

However, as they came to the tenth girl, one could notice that she was relatively new. While her body was currently deformed, it didn't seem as though she were injured.

Plus, she was conscious.

"W...wait...y-y-you n-n-n-need to...know..."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. The fires formed a circle around the tenth girl. "Very well. Speak."

He looked for a way to get her free in the meantime.

Soren gathered his belongings and returned them to the hem of his sleeves where the items promptly disappeared. With everything prepared he made ready for the explosion that was to come, which only sounded like a mere feather drop to him and anyone nearby. Aware of what the acoustics could do the human hearing, he had cast a protective silence spell to take care of the noise. If nothing else, it was a good way of keeping the sound of annoying voices away.

All said and done, Soren moved into line with the rest of the group and headed off to find the rest of the company.

Chin managed to keep his shock and revulsion at the scene in check long enough to register the girl's presence, in spite of keeping his eyes averted from the ungodly mess. Fortunately, the fires were at work, and it became easier to conduct business knowing the scene was almost at an end.

He moved close to the circle of flames made by Sasuke, and said, "What is it we....need...to know?" Though he tried to hide his anxiety, Chin's voice though maintaining the familiar, serene tone the others were used to, was now undercut by a strong current of anxiety and distraction trying to get himself together.

Soren gathered his belongings and returned them to the hem of his sleeves where the items promptly disappeared. With everything prepared he made ready for the explosion that was to come, which only sounded like a mere feather drop to him and anyone nearby. Aware of what the acoustics could do the human hearing, he had cast a protective silence spell to take care of the noise. If nothing else, it was a good way of keeping the sound of annoying voices away.

All said and done, Soren moved into line with the rest of the group and headed off to find the rest of the company.

Batov followed the party after duly planting his charges and witnessing the large explosion that occurred. He decided to mute the sound somewhat, putting on a mundane pair of earplugs like Ehrell did and augmenting them with the Force. It was still something, but Batov felt that his hearing was worth the plugs--better to have them and feel something than have nothing and feel the whole thing.

At that moment, he sensed a disturbance in the Force....he felt Chin in distress....and then blurbed, "Something's wrong. Young Chin....he's seen something rather...." He then shook his head and said, "Unpleasant does not describe it well enough."

Asuna nodded at Batov's words, hefting her rifle up to level with her shoulder, pointing it down the tunnel. She thought she had seen something move just down the corridor; something reptillian. Quietly, she kneeled down, stopping to pick up a small rock. She then tossed it down the tunnel. There was a rustling as something moved down the tunnel.

"Batov!" With her voice hushed, yet commanding, Asuna motioned for the old man to come level with her. "Tell me, do you sense something hostile down the tunnel?"

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

The woman coughed a bit, groaning from the pain she suffered from her deformity.

"The...the things that...that we give...birth to...th-they're...not demons." She coughed again, and then winced as a very audible glorph resounded from her body. "Oh gods...oh gods...hnnngaaah!"

The woman's body convulsed as her lower regions suddenly deformed to allow six, rather small, serpent-like creatures to drop to the ground. Before Bravo Team's eyes, the six, serpent-like creatures crawled about the ground, hissing. Their mouths opened to reveal smaller mouths within as they made their birthing cries, and then they quickly scurried away before anyone could get a shot off at them.

The woman breathed heavily as she jerked her head towards the end of the tunnel in the direction the team was going. "There are...hundreds more down there...don't let their blood touch you." The woman jerked again, trying not to throw up this time. "Now, kill me! Before any more of those things come out of me!"

The woman coughed a bit, groaning from the pain she suffered from her deformity.

"The...the things that...that we give...birth to...th-they're...not demons." She coughed again, and then winced as a very audible glorph resounded from her body. "Oh gods...oh gods...hnnngaaah!"

The woman's body convulsed as her lower regions suddenly deformed to allow six, rather small, serpent-like creatures to drop to the ground. Before Bravo Team's eyes, the six, serpent-like creatures crawled about the ground, hissing. Their mouths opened to reveal smaller mouths within as they made their birthing cries, and then they quickly scurried away before anyone could get a shot off at them.

The woman breathed heavily as she jerked her head towards the end of the tunnel in the direction the team was going. "There are...hundreds more down there...don't let their blood touch you." The woman jerked again, trying not to throw up this time. "Now, kill me! Before any more of those things come out of me!"
"May your gods grant you peace." Sasuke muttered, then the fires consumed her quickly, then attempted to attack the...things before they crawled away.

Asuna nodded at Batov's words, hefting her rifle up to level with her shoulder, pointing it down the tunnel. She thought she had seen something move just down the corridor; something reptillian. Quietly, she kneeled down, stopping to pick up a small rock. She then tossed it down the tunnel. There was a rustling as something moved down the tunnel.

"Batov!" With her voice hushed, yet commanding, Asuna motioned for the old man to come level with her. "Tell me, do you sense something hostile down the tunnel?"

While Asuna was busy chatting it up with Batov, Major Ehrell proceeded to activate the silencer on his sniper rifle. He, too, had something of a bad feeling, and he heard a slight skitter from down the tunnel. Now if he could only see the damned thing, he could dispose of it. Well...considering how dark the tunnel was, there was always the infrared scope to fall back on, too. Major Ehrell quickly attached it to his sniper rifle, then went hunting, so to speak.

He did not have to go very far, maybe three steps past Asuna and Batov, before he saw it in his scope. A light infrared signature, but it was there. Major Ehrell wasted no time in putting a bullet through what he perceived to be its head; he did not much care that Asuna had not ordered him to yet. Hell, it appeared she was still trying to find the damned thing.

Batov raised his eyebrows at Ehrell's shots, and said to the Major, "What did you shoot at?!" He had some idea that Ehrell had picked up the same ugly emanations he and Chin did, but the suddenness of the act took him back. Batov hadn't even begun to find the creatures before Ehrell made the shot.

He then replied to Asuna, "Ehrell evidently saw it."

He then entered into Force Comms with Chin, to ascertain what exactly was going on. Enough emanations already.

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

"Young Chin, what did you see?"

The voice of Batov came loud and clear in his head, as Chin ordered the squad to clean out the tunnels of the filthy things, heeding the girl's warnings. Chin Forcemessaged him back, "Horrible things out of the Marquis De Sade's works."

Batov replied, "Be more specific, Young Chin."

Chin frantically Forcemessaged back, "They were bugs! Some kind of worm, or grub! And they came out of the people whom they were forced into! I really can't say anything more about this place, it's even beyond my limits. Only that there's more."

Peering a little bit more, Batov saw the ugly images Chin had to endure earlier for a brief moment, and staggered back, recalling the Nova Louisianan Wars. He then Forcemessaged back, "Understood. Stay strong, Young Chin--we must ensure others do not suffer the same. And keep control of yourself."

Returning a bit back to his old self, Chin retorted with gallows humor, "Says the Mad Monk." The Forcecomms cut off, and Chin returned to the grim task of hunting the straggling monsters, trying to focus on something else.

-----------

Batov radioed to Ehrell, "Young Ehrell, can you tell what it is? Bravo Team encountered a kind of grub or bug, birthed through an especially grotesque manner. Your erstwhile tutor for the trip seemed rather shaken by his encounter with said manner in his portion of the tunnels...."

He then added with a tinge of personal experience, ". . .not that I would blame him."

"Damnit, Ehrell!" Asuna was a little taken aback by the Major's actions, but she wasn't going to proceed with berration. Right now, she was concerned with what Batov had said of Bravo Team's situation. "Squad, on me!" Asuna then made her way towards the thing she had seen, and then quickly nealed beside it. It smelled atrocious, and a hissing sound could be heard coming from the body.

"Somebody get a light on that thing's wound," she ordered. "I don't think the Major's round is the thing making that sound."

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

The woman did not scream as she was engulfed by the flames, but seemed to smile as she was quickly turned to ash, her pain in this world relieved as she moved to the next.

Unfortunately, the little buggers managed to get away, making their way to small holes in the walls of the tunnel, disappearing from sight. After about two seconds, a screech beyond comprehension was heard. It subsided after a few seconds, and then the tunnel was suddenly a cacophony of screeches as hundreds of voices joined the call. Scurrying and scratching of claws against dirt could be heard as several larger creatures (http://www.xmission.com/~vancea/aliendrone.JPG) bounded down the tunnel, making their way towards Bravo Team in a hurried frenzy.

Batov raised his eyebrows at Ehrell's shots, and said to the Major, "What did you shoot at?!" He had some idea that Ehrell had picked up the same ugly emanations he and Chin did, but the suddenness of the act took him back. Batov hadn't even begun to find the creatures before Ehrell made the shot.

He then replied to Asuna, "Ehrell evidently saw it."

He then entered into Force Comms with Chin, to ascertain what exactly was going on. Enough emanations already.

*snip*

Batov radioed to Ehrell, "Young Ehrell, can you tell what it is? Bravo Team encountered a kind of grub or bug, birthed through an especially grotesque manner. Your erstwhile tutor for the trip seemed rather shaken by his encounter with said manner in his portion of the tunnels...."

He then added with a tinge of personal experience, ". . .not that I would blame him."

OOC: It was only one shot, and there's no need to use radios as Batov and Ehrell are probably standing within a few meters of each other. But meh.

"Damnit, Ehrell!" Asuna was a little taken aback by the Major's actions, but she wasn't going to proceed with berration. Right now, she was concerned with what Batov had said of Bravo Team's situation. "Squad, on me!" Asuna then made her way towards the thing she had seen, and then quickly nealed beside it. It smelled atrocious, and a hissing sound could be heard coming from the body.

"Somebody get a light on that thing's wound," she ordered. "I don't think the Major's round is the thing making that sound."

Ehrell extracted a small, yet powerful, halogen flashlight from his utility belt, and shined said light on the thing's corpse, per Asuna's orders. He ignored the berating of Asuna and Batov for now; if they wished to press it later, he would deal with it now. With his free hand, he also extracted a canister of White Phosphorous Mace, Evil Woody Thoughts' solution to having an ultra-portable flamethrower. Woodians maintained a wide variety of incendiary weapons for guerrilla warfare and such, should it ever become necessary. WP mace didn't have quite the area effect as real flamethrowers did, but against a single target, it was usually more than enough to do the trick. "Should I burn it?" he asked, almost offhandedly.

Soren followed the rest of the troop down the tunnel keeping to himself for the most part. The short time was spent going through his list of spells once again to be prepared for the next encounter but was shaken from his thoughts when a commotion up ahead forced him to return to the present world. Conversations started springing up around him about what the mysterious figure was in the shadows. Soren didn't really bother to tell them that he could find out for them but he didn't want to waste a spell on such a simple manner.

When the berating of Ehrell took place, the irony of it all was not lost on the sorceror. From the one most anal about following orders and a chain of command, he sure was the first one to break protocol. But he didn't bother to bring it up. It just amused him how often double standards applied to other people.

Scurrying and scratching of claws against dirt could be heard as several larger creatures (http://www.xmission.com/~vancea/aliendrone.JPG) bounded down the tunnel, making their way towards Bravo Team in a hurried frenzy.

Chin acted fast, screaming "INCOMING!!!!" Slowing down time, he whipped out his rifle and began firing sprays of ammunition at the things, aiming for their heads and bodies. In case any efflua came out, he threw up a Force Wall as he blasted away. He didn't want to be anywhere near what came out of those things.

The three Jedi Shinobi acted swiftly. As Chin put up his Force Wall, they, too unshouldered their projectile rifles and shot at the demonic-looking creatures. Keith thought they looked like creatures he saw in a holoflick once, but now wasn't the time to think such things...just fighting them off and trying to get to the central bunker.

As Asuna gazed upon the corpse, her face contorted into so many different emotions all at once that not even the Force could generally define what it was she was feeling. After a second, she sighed and groaned simultaneously as she pressed her headset to her ear.

"Able to Command, we have Snakes in the Fox Den, repeat, we have Snakes in the Fox Den."

There were a few seconds of silence from Asuna as she listened to a return message from the command center that none of the rest of Able squad could hear.

"Affirmative, Command. Commence Operation Firestorm on our mark."

Once she was finished talking with command, she leveled her rifle down the corridor once more.

"Major, burn the corpse. Everyone, lock and load. Major Ehrell, once you're finished burning that bastard, start tossing clips through a replicator. Take one clip from each of us, and start stocking up on them. From here on out, you're our ammo carrier, so you need to work as we move." As she said this, she tossed Ehrell one of her spare clips.

"To further your knowledge on these things, we call them Snakes, or Serpents. They're a hegemonizing swarm species that we encountered several centuries ago on one of the planets we colonized. Needless to say, we had to burn that planet of all life. What we didn't realize is how these bastards procreate. They use what we call Rapers, which are small, spider-like creatures with very powerful tails and legs. These little bastards will try to jump onto any exposed orifice they see available. Doesn't matter what it is, they go for it and excrete their internal juices into the host, effectively impregnating them. General gestation time is about twelve hours for the average male host, but if these bastards are being controlled by the demon armies, they've likely altered the means of procreation to their needs. If they're using women as hosts, we are thoroughly fucked, because female hosts, having the necessary equipment and hormones to actually give birth, gestate in under three hours. Only the gods know if these things have been altered to any degree, but if they have been, be ready to deal with a huge swarm. To make matters worse, magic has no effect on them by any means."

Before she even waited for anyone on her team to answer her, she pressed a button on the headset, and it suddenly formed a holographic helmet over her head. Within that helmet, Asuna could see tactical data on everything within a thirty meter radius of her. She had a motion tracker, night vision, health data on her team, an ammo count for her weapon (currently marked at 9/30), and details on every non-allied organic object (from weapon type to health conditions).

While still looking down the corridor, Asuna spoke once more. "To view the same cee three tactical data I'm receiving, press the same button I did."

She then started moving forward slowly, giving her team time to get themselves ready. Meanwhile, she mentally ordered her headset to provide her with an open commlink to Bravo Squad...

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

Serpent after serpent was cut asunder by the hail of gunfire, their screeches resounding as they fell into adjutant pits and holes, their blood burning the surface of the tunnels. The Force walls did well to shield them from the blood, and it seemed as though the swarm was letting up. As they continued to handle the serpents, their headsets would suddenly have their holographic helmets activated, and they would see, in the corner of their HUDs, the face of Asuna.

"Bravo team, I'm uploading information on what we're dealing with here. I've activated your holohelms to provide you a full read out, and to assist you with dealing with the darkness of the tunnels. In the meantime, what's your status?"

((To clarify, these holographic helmets are see-through. It's basically having a small holoprojector put things up within a certain range of their eyes that are adjusted to be fully visible and detailed on the visual periphery without having to actually look at it directly to see the information, not actually having something cover their heads and display the information.))

Major Ehrell waved everyone off before igniting his White Phosphorous Mace, which flash-ignited the corpse of whatever-it-was, along with everything else within about three meters in front of Major Ehrell. It didn't have the range of an actual flamethrower, but it did its job in incinerating whatever that thing had been. All that remained of it was a charred husk, and glowing gobs of orange reminded everyone present of what had just happened for a few moments, before finally burning themselves out.

Immediately upon incinerating the bastard, the Major loaded his sniper rifle, pressed the button on his headset to activate his C3 display, but took less than a half-second to take the information in before getting to work. He slid his backpack down his arm as he caught the clip tossed by Asuna with his other hand, extracted his replicator, and slid the backpack to its original place on his back. Fortunately, the C3 told him just how big to make the ammunition clips, and he quickly and efficiently started running through ammunition clips as he traveled down the tunnel with the rest of the group. It wasn't long before he started running out of places to stuff the clips, as he first stuffed his large cargo pockets, then fastened ammo clips on his utility belt, then to the suspenders on his backpack, then two-deep to his belt. Within five minutes, he carried more weight in ammunition than his own bodyweight, and he realized why Asuna had delegated this task to him: he was, physically speaking at least, the strongest in the group by quite a bit, and thus able to bear the most weight. He just hoped he was going to end up resupplying another unit, rather than having his mobility compromised by a hundred-fifty kilos of ammo (and growing), in addition to his hundred-kilo batch o'supplies for the entirety of the mission. Still, he remained quiet, and managed to be maneuverable enough to be of use of combat, despite his heavy burden.

Soren sighed inwardly when he learned that these creatures were not effected by magic. It wasn't that he had never heard of such creatures before, it simply forced him to be more creative with his attacks. In a sense it inconvenienced the sorceror which required him to move through a whole new list of spells to use.

They might not be directly effected by magic, but that didn't mean he couldn't use magic to kill them. He picked up his rifle and gave it a disgusted look at something so primitive. Soren had no desire to use the device but decided to keep it close by in case things got personal.

Serpent after serpent was cut asunder by the hail of gunfire, their screeches resounding as they fell into adjutant pits and holes, their blood burning the surface of the tunnels. The Force walls did well to shield them from the blood, and it seemed as though the swarm was letting up. As they continued to handle the serpents, their headsets would suddenly have their holographic helmets activated, and they would see, in the corner of their HUDs, the face of Asuna.

"Bravo team, I'm uploading information on what we're dealing with here. I've activated your holohelms to provide you a full read out, and to assist you with dealing with the darkness of the tunnels. In the meantime, what's your status?"

((To clarify, these holographic helmets are see-through. It's basically having a small holoprojector put things up within a certain range of their eyes that are adjusted to be fully visible and detailed on the visual periphery without having to actually look at it directly to see the information, not actually having something cover their heads and display the information.))

Chin replied quickly, not pausing for a moment from his job--even with the threat of the vile things subsiding--, "The creatures seem to be slackening in their advance. However, they have proved violently tenacious and numerous and relentless in their charge. They seem neither willing to surrender nor capable of being reasoned with. Otherwise, we are holding well enough."

He then saw the information on his readouts, and nodded. He could only reply grimly, "Then I see these things must be destroyed. Asuna, does that anti-magic power extend to the Force?"

--------

Batov nonchalantly picked up an extra clip, and put it into his belt. Again with the projectiles. He then pushed the button on his headset, and it opened to reveal the data Asuna was sending out. He didn't gasp at the horror he was to fight; the things he saw in Nova Louisiana were horrible enough for many lifetimes.

He merely replied, "Let us move. We have threats to deal with, and little time to waste. Let us hope Young Chin can last."

Serpent after serpent was cut asunder by the hail of gunfire, their screeches resounding as they fell into adjutant pits and holes, their blood burning the surface of the tunnels. The Force walls did well to shield them from the blood, and it seemed as though the swarm was letting up. As they continued to handle the serpents, their headsets would suddenly have their holographic helmets activated, and they would see, in the corner of their HUDs, the face of Asuna.

"Bravo team, I'm uploading information on what we're dealing with here. I've activated your holohelms to provide you a full read out, and to assist you with dealing with the darkness of the tunnels. In the meantime, what's your status?"

((To clarify, these holographic helmets are see-through. It's basically having a small holoprojector put things up within a certain range of their eyes that are adjusted to be fully visible and detailed on the visual periphery without having to actually look at it directly to see the information, not actually having something cover their heads and display the information.))
Sasuke found the holohelmets useful tools in his fight against the beasts, but frowned with the thought of 'magic' being less than useful against them. Did it include the chakra and Force? Well the Force wall was useful, but with chakra, there was only one way to find out.

"Haruka, turn the walls into spikes to impale the beasts. Keith, try using some of those explosives." Sasuke ordered, then turned to Asuna. "We're having some encounters, but we're fine so far. A suggestion: use Force Walls to avoid the acid blood. Chin here found that useful. Anything else we need to know about them?"

As he waited for an answer, he summoned up the chakra necessary to unleash: Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!

A fireball slightly larger than the one that destroyed the horrible place from before blew out of Sasuke's mouth to burn the enemy into ashes. Meanwhile, Haruka touched his hands and placed one of them on the wall. Energy crackled and the walls quickly transformed into a series of spikes that traveled from one side to the other, effectively shish-kebobing the enemy and allowing Haruka to cut them apart with his rifle. Meanwhile, Keith tossed some grenades into the mix to blow them up and continued firing. When ammo was getting low, calls for more came...

As they moved along, Asuna was quick to grab quite a few clips off of Ehrell, covering herself in them as well, to ease his burden. It wasn't long before she was carrying about fourty kilos of ammunition for herself alone. She knew what these Serpents entailed, and she knew that their swarm tactics would easily force her to reload less than a few seconds into her first set of clips. Emptying the gun of the old clip (leaving the ninth round in the chamber), she slammed a new clip home, and her ammo count instantly jumped to thirty one.

"Affirmative, Bravo lead. Keep your advance through the tunnel going. Do not stop moving. Try to work in a tandem group: one person focuses on making a Force Wall, one person replicates ammo and also shoots, and two people shoot as well. Understood?"

Meanwhile, Asuna motioned for Batov to start focusing on making their own Force Wall just in time for Able team to hear their first swarm for the day. Lifting her battle rifle, Asuna shouted, "Incoming!" Her battle rifle then blarred to life as it began pumping rounds down the corridor, and the first screams of death for them began to resound. "Batov! Hurry up and get that wall up and start pushing forward!"

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

Sasuke's attempt to use his fireball seemed effective at first, but the creatures were phased little by the actual end result of his chakra-based attack, and renewed their vigor by charging at Sasuke directly. However, their attempt was short-lived as Haruka and Keith's tandem attack slaughtered the Serpents wholesale. At the same time, the explosions for the grenades would blast out the spikes protruding from the walls, and it would allow Bravo team to commence advancing.

However, an even deeper roar then resounded before them as a pair of much larger Serpents (http://keurcte.darkmoonhunters.com/archive/prey_praetorian.jpg) charged down the tunnel to try their luck against Bravo team. The size and stature of the larger Serpents showed that these creatures were obviously not of the same strain of normal Serpents, and that they seemed to be better armored than their fledgling cousins.

Meanwhile, Asuna motioned for Batov to start focusing on making their own Force Wall just in time for Able team to hear their first swarm for the day. Lifting her battle rifle, Asuna shouted, "Incoming!" Her battle rifle then blarred to life as it began pumping rounds down the corridor, and the first screams of death for them began to resound. "Batov! Hurry up and get that wall up and start pushing forward!"

Batov nodded, and threw up his own Force Wall to protect the group, moving forward like a LAPD Riot policeman pushing into a row of WTO Protesters. The analogy was especially apt, as Batov began opening fire with his own rifle, using short controlled bursts against the foe. He fumed at the kickback from the weapon, as his inexperience made his shots somewhat less steady (though better if he did full auto). However, he compensated with his use of Force energies--those he could immediately muster--to steady the gun.

Sasuke's attempt to use his fireball seemed effective at first, but the creatures were phased little by the actual end result of his chakra-based attack, and renewed their vigor by charging at Sasuke directly. However, their attempt was short-lived as Haruka and Keith's tandem attack slaughtered the Serpents wholesale. At the same time, the explosions for the grenades would blast out the spikes protruding from the walls, and it would allow Bravo team to commence advancing.

However, an even deeper roar then resounded before them as a pair of much larger Serpents (http://keurcte.darkmoonhunters.com/archive/prey_praetorian.jpg) charged down the tunnel to try their luck against Bravo team. The size and stature of the larger Serpents showed that these creatures were obviously not of the same strain of normal Serpents, and that they seemed to be better armored than their fledgling cousins.

Chin then reloaded his rifle, and then kept the wall up as he moved forward, calling to the Coredians, "Sally forth! Attack!" Without a show of emotion, he reloaded his rifle and then decided to pull out one of the best skills in his playbook. The Force Wall was already up, as was the slowing of time.

He then threw in Force Aim into the mix to complete the cocktail (and aim for any weak points) and began opening fire upon the horrors, focusing on the center of mass and opening into them, moving slowly forward with steely-eyed determination.

It was time for Qiangquan Barrage to make itself known.

Batov nodded, and threw up his own Force Wall to protect the group, moving forward like a LAPD Riot policeman pushing into a row of WTO Protesters. The analogy was especially apt, as Batov began opening fire with his own rifle, using short controlled bursts against the foe. He fumed at the kickback from the weapon, as his inexperience made his shots somewhat less steady (though better if he did full auto). However, he compensated with his use of Force energies--those he could immediately muster--to steady the gun.

It didn't take Major Ehrell long to figure out that Batov did not really know how to handle guns, especially those larger than pistols. Batov did not seem to have much control of his aim, and a quick glance revealed why. One hand was not sufficient to steady a battle rifle against its recoil! "For Force sake, use both hands! Your other hand should go under the barrel of the rifle to steady it!" he called out, as he loaded more clips. Given the swarm that was coming, his sniper rifle would not be of much use. Therefore, he instead drew his service pistol, though per orders and necessity, he would continue running clips of ammo for as long as possible. However, the charge soon necessitated his participation, whereupon he jettisoned his ammo and used his pistol to its fullest capacity, utilizing his free hand to run ammunition clips through the replicator, which by now he had slung to his pistol-bearing arm for maximum one-handed replicating efficiency.

It didn't take Major Ehrell long to figure out that Batov did not really know how to handle guns, especially those larger than pistols. Batov did not seem to have much control of his aim, and a quick glance revealed why. One hand was not sufficient to steady a battle rifle against its recoil! "For Force sake, use both hands! Your other hand should go under the barrel of the rifle to steady it!" he called out, as he loaded more clips.

Batov merely complied, he didn't have time to argue. Putting his hand under the gun, he found the aim improving somewhat. He muttered, "Thanks," to Ehrell as he moved to do battle again. As for the matter of the Force Wall, well he just kept on projecting that.....

Sasuke's attempt to use his fireball seemed effective at first, but the creatures were phased little by the actual end result of his chakra-based attack, and renewed their vigor by charging at Sasuke directly. However, their attempt was short-lived as Haruka and Keith's tandem attack slaughtered the Serpents wholesale. At the same time, the explosions for the grenades would blast out the spikes protruding from the walls, and it would allow Bravo team to commence advancing.

However, an even deeper roar then resounded before them as a pair of much larger Serpents charged down the tunnel to try their luck against Bravo team. The size and stature of the larger Serpents showed that these creatures were obviously not of the same strain of normal Serpents, and that they seemed to be better armored than their fledgling cousins.
All three began training their rifles on the two new beasts. Haruka did the reloading. Keith threw grenades and a few explosive note-tipped kunai to the mix. Sasuke moved in tandem with Chin, adding his bullets to the targets and all three kept moving swiftly, so that the enemy wouldn't get too close...

The sorceror was not thrilled at the prospect of having to use a weapon even if most of his magic spells were useless at the moment. Still, the lithe human was not above being resourceful. Reaching into the folds of his cloak, Soren pulled the spare magazines out.

Soren looked at the advancing reptiles then lobbed two of the magazines far to their. He had the distance coordinated so that it was outside of the Force Wall to guarantee the protection of the advancing party. As soon as everything was clear, Soren focused on the magazines themselves and began heating up the small area.

Eventually the air within the magazine grew so hot that the gunpowder sparked and ignited. Bullets and shrapnel exploded from the rear of the Serpents going in every direction.

As Asuna continued to shoot, she watched the two clips fly past her head. Lulling in her shots, she took a second to look back at Soren, and watched as he chanted a spell. She then focused her attention back on the clips, and saw them begin to work their CASE. Asuna instantly knew what Soren was trying to do, and she groaned in frustration.

Her next act was to toss her rifle to Ehrell. She trusted his military intuition to see the rifle coming and understand what was going on. She then tromped up to Soren. "What the hell are you doing?!" Grabbing the sub-machine gun out of Soren's hands, she also took the time to snatch another of his clips off his person.

"Clip goes here!" She pointed at the bottom of the mid-section of the weapon.

"This button ejects the magazine!" She pressed the button, sliding the original clip out, and then slammed the new one in, shoving the unused old clip into Soren's hand.

"Safety!" She then pointed at a little switch just above the trigger guard, and she flipped it to 'off.'

"Point! Shoot!" She then lifted the weapon to her shoulder, the telescoping stock locking into place as she did so. She then squeezed the trigger, letting five rounds burst out of the weapon to cut down the nearest Serpent. After giving the weapon its first kill, Asuna shoved the weapon back into Soren's hands.

"Get out of your fucking comfort zone and use the god damned weapon right!" As she whirled around, the ground suddenly exploded as a Serpent, one that had managed to burrow past their wall, lunged forth at Asuna. Knocking Soren back with a back-kick, Asuna ducked under the creature's first swiping claw, then backed up as it swiped again. As it went for another sweep, the creature feinted, throwing its barbed tail out towards Asuna. Asuna ducked back and to the side as the tail came towards where she was before, and she quickly grabbed hold of it before it could retract. Roaring with fury unseen from any woman her age or size, Asuna yanked the tail, picking up the Serpent off the ground as her inhuman strength allowed her to slam the creature into the left wall. Heaving again, she then slammed the creature into the right wall, then back into the left, before she spun, slamming the creature into the right wall again, simultaneously tearing a portion of the wall out as well as that of the left wall, completing a full three sixty before effectively slamming the creature into the right wall again. Before the creature could recover, Asuna was on top of it, and she quickly grabbed hold of the creature's head. With a swift, jerking motion, she snapped the Serpent's neck, and the creature instantly went limp, its spinal cord effectively sevvered.

"Fucking piece of shit!" Asuna hissed at the Serpent, before she spat on it, retrieved her rifle from Ehrell, and renewed her own assault on the swarming Serpents as Able team made their way towards the main bunker.

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

In the meantime, Bravo team had, by now, made it to the main chamber that branched in four directions. There was the tunnel they had come from, the tunnel which Able would be coming through soon, the tunnel leading towards allied lines, and the staircase going up to the main bunker. However, as they entered the rather large chamber, they would notice that the center part of it was a pit, and at the bottom of the pit, hundreds upon hundreds of egg-like structures could be seen, their forms pulsing. And in the center of them all...

The Queen...

At this point, she did not know of Bravo team's entry into the chamber, which would be to their satisfaction...

As Asuna continued to shoot, she watched the two clips fly past her head. Lulling in her shots, she took a second to look back at Soren, and watched as he chanted a spell. She then focused her attention back on the clips, and saw them begin to work their CASE. Asuna instantly knew what Soren was trying to do, and she groaned in frustration.

Her next act was to toss her rifle to Ehrell. She trusted his military intuition to see the rifle coming and understand what was going on. She then tromped up to Soren. "What the hell are you doing?!" Grabbing the sub-machine gun out of Soren's hands, she also took the time to snatch another of his clips off his person.

And Major Ehrell thought Batov was bad with guns...

Scowling to himself, he caught Asuna's battle rifle, making a quick mental note that Soren required firearms training at earliest opportunity. Of course, he knew Asuna was already on it, so he quickly made use of her battle rifle, holstering his pistol and suspending the replication of ammunition for now so he could make maximum use of the weapon.

While Asuna berated Soren far worse than she had berated the Major earlier, Major Ehrell, too, demonstrated PROPER use of the battle rifle, firing it from shoulder level with the same degree of accuracy one would expect from a sniper, in controlled three-to-four-round bursts. Though the battle rifle wasn't quite as accurate at long range, it was plenty accurate enough for the task at hand in Ehrell's skilled hands. Ehrell managed to sling about one and a half full clips of lead into the Serpents while Asuna 'instructed' Soren, and another two and a half whilst she pwned the Serpent. Ehrell was too busy racking up kills of his own to watch Asuna, however, and only knew she was berating Soren because he could hear her voice had he been standing at Bravo's location, most likely. He could do double takes later...

"Fucking piece of shit!" Asuna hissed at the Serpent, before she spat on it, retrieved her rifle from Ehrell, and renewed her own assault on the swarming Serpents as Able team made their way towards the main bunker.

Ehrell loaded a fifth clip into Asuna's battle rifle before tossing it back to her, and then reverted to using his pistol with one hand and replicating ammo with the other. It was a good thing he had kept that replicator slung to his arm...

Bad timing to begin weapon's training in the middle of a fight, even worse to try and take someone's natural talents and toss them off to the side. A magic user had been recruited and now they wanted him to become a common grunt.

Well Soren wasn't going to bother argue with him. The sorceror hefted the rifle and held it firm to his shoulder, aimed down the sites, and squeezed off a few controlled bursts of rounds in the Serpents general direction. Instead of wasting great amounts of ammo like most normally would, Soren's shots came in concise bursts.

Well Soren wasn't going to bother argue with him. The sorceror hefted the rifle and held it firm to his shoulder, aimed down the sites, and squeezed off a few controlled bursts of rounds in the Serpents general direction. Instead of wasting great amounts of ammo like most normally would, Soren's shots came in concise bursts.


Sensing Soren's discomfort, Batov encouraged him as one awkward student to another with a simple, "Good work, young Soren!" as he continued his own awkward but improving shooting at the Serpents, keeping up his Force Wall and advance. Yeah, Soren's gambit was extremely risky, even for a non-gunslinger like Batov, but it was merely a sign he needed work, like Batov did.

This time, he also mixed in the occasional bolt of Force Shock whenever one of the nasties got too close.

In the meantime, Bravo team had, by now, made it to the main chamber that branched in four directions. There was the tunnel they had come from, the tunnel which Able would be coming through soon, the tunnel leading towards allied lines, and the staircase going up to the main bunker. However, as they entered the rather large chamber, they would notice that the center part of it was a pit, and at the bottom of the pit, hundreds upon hundreds of egg-like structures could be seen, their forms pulsing. And in the center of them all...

The Queen...

At this point, she did not know of Bravo team's entry into the chamber, which would be to their satisfaction...

Chin then stopped the Barrage move, pausing for a moment to get into some sort of cover as he figured out what to do with the large beast in front of them. He then Forcemessaged Sasuke and the others of Bravo Squad, "Right. I'll deploy Force Wall around the members of the team and keep my temporal manipulations handy. I'll keep it occupied. Do you ladies and gentlemen know cloaking manuevers? If so, use them and flank the creature. Otherwise, GO!"

He then rushed forth, casting the Force Wall as he promised and buying time for the team by altering the flow of time around himself and the Queen.....

"Sounds like a plan." Sasuke thought back and began weaving an advanced cloaking technique around him and his apprentices. Then he signaled for them to get into positions around the Queen as Chin distracted it...

After quite a bit of time, Able team's efforts managed to pay off as the swarm began to subside. Below the team's feet were possibly thousands of expended shell casings, and in front of them by no more than a few meters were hundreds of deteriorating bodies. As the acid melted away the ground underneath the bodies, the ground under the pile of corpses finally gave way into a hole. After a couple of seconds, splashing could be heard as the bodies seemed to hit a liquid substance, possibly water, below the tunnel floor.

Asuna crept forward towards the hole, peering down the hole so her HUD could take measurements. One hundred thirty two feet. Not a drop they wanted to experience today.

"Everyone avoid the hole," she said. "You don't want to fall down there. Shimmie along the edges."

As she said that, Asuna began her crossing of the hole, pressing herself against the wall as she scooted along the edge of the hole. After crossing it, she slung her battle rifle, and then looked to Ehrell, clapping her hands.

"Everyone toss me their bags," she ordered. "It will expedite the process of you getting across."

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

Yet as Chin made his move, he would suddenly feel a thumping contact against his abdomen as he was struck by the Queen's large tail and sent careening into the air just before he altered time around himself and the monstrosity. No sooner had he been struck would a group of Praetorians reveal themselves from the Shadows, easily making the odds six to one, in favor of the Serpents. They quickly surrounded their Queen, hissing challenges at Bravo team, daring them to come closer.

Then, suddenly, and simultaneously, the Queen roared at the same time a loud, booming voice reverberated within the minds of Bravo team as the Queen's mind touched theirs.

You dare to enter my domain, humans?! You are foolish to come here and challenge me!

((Rather...uninspired post...to be frank...))

What belongings Soren had, were stuffed in to sleeves of his volumous robes. The only thing he passed off was the rifle he had been issued. Not that he needed to hand it off so he could cross the gap, he just wanted to be rid of the thing.

Once across, Soren took back his materials and made ready to head on in the next stage of their journey.

Though Major Ehrell was quite pissed at Soren for discarding a weapon that damn well might save his life if he actually learned how to use it, given that some of the enemies faced thus far were immune to magic, he managed the discipline not to sigh as he picked up Soren's weapon. More weight for him, on top of the doubling of his bodyweight in ammunition alone and his own supplies. He surveyed the cave, and as its ceiling was not high enough for a reasonably safe pole vault, but like Soren, he could climb along the sides. Before Asuna could swipe some ammo off of him, he shimmied along the left side with the speed and grace of an experienced mountain climber.

When he got to the other side, he gave Soren a rather nasty glare as he shoved the abandoned weapon back in his face. "I am not your personal garbage disposal," he growled, making it clear that Soren wasn't giving up the weapon quite so easily. "This rifle is actually quite useful. You just need to learn how to fucking use it, because its ammo is designed to not blow up."

"If I believed you were a trash can, then I would have handed the weapon to you instead of Asuna. Since I've taken it back, then be glad I don't consider it totally useless. Though if the ammunition was not meant to explode, then they shouldn't put gunpowder in the cartridges."

Shouldering the weapon again, Soren moved on. Not exactly the conversationalist of the group. "And I do know how to use it. Rifleman is simply not my specialty. If there are any other qualms or questions you have, I suggest getting them out now. Otherwise we have a job to do so you can swallow your personal feelings towards me until it iso over."

After quite a bit of time, Able team's efforts managed to pay off as the swarm began to subside. Below the team's feet were possibly thousands of expended shell casings, and in front of them by no more than a few meters were hundreds of deteriorating bodies. As the acid melted away the ground underneath the bodies, the ground under the pile of corpses finally gave way into a hole. After a couple of seconds, splashing could be heard as the bodies seemed to hit a liquid substance, possibly water, below the tunnel floor.

Asuna crept forward towards the hole, peering down the hole so her HUD could take measurements. One hundred thirty two feet. Not a drop they wanted to experience today.

"Everyone avoid the hole," she said. "You don't want to fall down there. Shimmie along the edges."

As she said that, Asuna began her crossing of the hole, pressing herself against the wall as she scooted along the edge of the hole. After crossing it, she slung her battle rifle, and then looked to Ehrell, clapping her hands.

"Everyone toss me their bags," she ordered. "It will expedite the process of you getting across."

Batov did as ordered, tossing his materials with a little assistance from Force Throw at their erstwhile Fearless Leader, aiming so she could get them quickly. Once then, he began the risky move across the edges of the hole, shimmying with some care, looking to see where his feet went. Befitting someone of his mental state, he wasn't afraid of looking down. He had done worse.

Once on the other side, he was tempted to intervene in Soren and Ehrell's spat, but decided to wait it out unless things became rather ugly in scope.

Yet as Chin made his move, he would suddenly feel a thumping contact against his abdomen as he was struck by the Queen's large tail and sent careening into the air just before he altered time around himself and the monstrosity. No sooner had he been struck would a group of Praetorians reveal themselves from the Shadows, easily making the odds six to one, in favor of the Serpents. They quickly surrounded their Queen, hissing challenges at Bravo team, daring them to come closer.

Then, suddenly, and simultaneously, the Queen roared at the same time a loud, booming voice reverberated within the minds of Bravo team as the Queen's mind touched theirs.

You dare to enter my domain, humans?! You are foolish to come here and challenge me!

Chin was doubled over by the hit, and stumbled back up. Nursing a slight pain in his gut due to the sudden and powerful blow, he then looked around when the voice came. It didn't take long for him to put two and two together and realize the Queen was threatening him. And his squad--evidently their ruse was broken and they now had to face thicker defenses than expected.

He then quickly proceeded to project and hold a time bubble around the Queen and her cohorts whilst moving back, and then Forcemessaged the Coredians, saying quickly, "Damn! They've got reinforcments. Keith and Haruka disract the Praetorians and deal with them, Sasuke and I will go for the Queen, Sasuke flanks and I keep doing my part, you two do what you do best! GO."

Chin then held the bubble for as long as the others needed...

Do not think that I can not see what you are attempting, human.

The Queen then began to advance on Chin, but before she could do that, she had to tear herself from her breeding pouch. She roared in obvious pain as she did so, thick globs of acid blood spurting from the tears, but, eventually, she broke free, and revealed that the breeding pouch merely covered her own sexual organs without much else interfering. However, this was beside the point.

The Queen quickly charged at Chin, her large, twenty-foot tall form thundering across the cavern towards him, screeching its challenge at him and swiping at him with her large claws.

Meanwhile, the Praetorians kept their attention focused on the Coredians, preventing them from interfering while their Queen took to Chin singlehandedly.

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

"Cut it, you two," Asuna interjected. "Soren, just use it. Once we're done purging this infestation, and by infestation, I mean the whole invasion in general, you won't have to touch another rifle so long as you live, alright? Ehrell, if you've got concerns, voice them at me, and I'll handle them."

And without even waiting for answers, she passed off the equipment she'd been tossed, and then quickly made her way down the passage way at a moderate running pace, keeping her eyes open in case they were ambushed again.

((Next post, Able makes it to the cavern.))

Do not think that I can not see what you are attempting, human.

The Queen then began to advance on Chin, but before she could do that, she had to tear herself from her breeding pouch. She roared in obvious pain as she did so, thick globs of acid blood spurting from the tears, but, eventually, she broke free, and revealed that the breeding pouch merely covered her own sexual organs without much else interfering. However, this was beside the point.

The Queen quickly charged at Chin, her large, twenty-foot tall form thundering across the cavern towards him, screeching its challenge at him and swiping at him with her large claws.

Meanwhile, the Praetorians kept their attention focused on the Coredians, preventing them from interfering while their Queen took to Chin singlehandedly.


Chin realized his opponent was more than he bargained for, for it and its brood seemed to be immune to his manipulation of the flow of time--then again, the Japanese woman, Asuna, had indicated as such with her note that magic didn't hurt these things.

With no time to waste, he lept to the side, rolled on the ground and began strafing the monster. As he moved quickly, Chin threw up a bubble of Force protection all around him as he opened fire with his battle rifle, aiming for the Queen's arms and tail to hurt her striking abilities. As he did so, he Forcemessaged the Coredians, "Hold fast. HOLD FAST!"

The danger Chin was in could be sensed by Batov, who followed Asuna quickly. He then said to her in a pained yet determined voice, eager to save his Comrade, "Young Chi--er, Bravo Team, is in danger. Something is terribly wrong....."

Figuring that complaints were finished for at least the next minute, Soren grabbed what little gear he had to carry and walked off. He scanned the hallways for any threats, even using his magic to reach out a little further to sense what might be lurking in the shadows.

Confident nothing in the immediate area, Soren soldiered on.

It was time. Sasuke blinked for a moment and then his eyes were red and black, the signature of the Sharingan. Now his perception was that he could see the movements of the serpents like they were super-slow, allowing him to dodge and counterattack with ease. As if teleportation wasn't enough...

Having said that, the Praetorians soon learned that combat teleportation plus lightsaber equals massive damage as Sasuke got to work, popping in, slashing at them with his lightsaber, then popping out before the acid would splatter on him.

Meanwhile, Haruka was using a lot of his alchemist skills to take care of them. Walls became fists or pistons. Floors became spikes. And acid that came near was alchemized into harmless compounds. It was a lot of alchemist combat, but he had to help his sensei and teammate out...

Meanwhile, Keith Masaki hung back, tossing explosive-note equipped kunai into the midst to blow up a Praetorian or two, trying to think up a summon he could use. Then, he thought he found one. Cave troll! Their skin would be tough enough to handle the acid and they were nocturnal creatures as well, a good choice for this location! He swiftly moved through the seals and slammed his hand to the ground. "Kuchiyose!"

Almost immediately, a large cave troll attacked the enemy, swinging a large club at them...

"Ah, hell," Asuna said as she heard the echoing screeches from down the corridor. She handed off her battle rifle to Ehrell quickly, and then procured her pactio card.

"Adeat!" There was a flash of light as the card suddenly disappeared, and Asuna was instantly in her normal Ministra Battle Armor, her massive sword held in one hand. "Team, double time it!"

Asuna broke into a sprint, her armor clanking against the stone floor as she rushed towards the main cavern. It didn't take more than thirty seconds for her to reach it, and after only briefly scanning the field of battle (in less an a tenth of a second, to be exact), Asuna leaped into the air, screaming a battle cry, her sword over her head. She came down amongst a group of the Praetorians, catching only one in her attack with the flat of her blade, killing it with the blunt force trauma.

The Praetorians scattered at the attack as they rushed at everyone, striking with efficiency and lethality. However, the powers that the Coredians were using had them on their toes. Soon, however, reinforcements arrived for the Bugs as dozens upon dozens of smaller Drones and Runners rushed from the corridors, exploded from the ground, and pretty much materialized from virtually out of nowhere. The primary target at this point was the cave troll as the bugs swarmed all over it, Drone, Runner, and Praetorian alike, using their extending second mouth to punch holes in its form, as well as using their claws and tails to cut it to pieces. Even though the troll was cutting their numbers down, it probably wouldn't last long.

In the meantime, Asuna was busy engaging a Praetorian, her blade locked with its tail and claws in a shove match. Asuna was holding her own, but she remembered that Soren wouldn't be of any use here. She turned her body away from the Praetorian, causing it to stumble as she pulled the blade away from it, and then she jammed the humongous blade through its back, pinning it to the ground with a thunk as the blade jammed into the ground. She looked up, spotting Soren.

"Soren! Get into the bunker! You'll be of no use here!" (It's time for you to fight the Necromancer, dude.)

Meanwhile, the Queen was busily chasing after Chin, her large form towering over him as she jammed her tail into his path to block him from running, and then she lunged out at him, slashing with her claws.

Meanwhile, the Queen was busily chasing after Chin, her large form towering over him as she jammed her tail into his path to block him from running, and then she lunged out at him, slashing with her claws.

Chin jumped over the tail, somersaulting it with the grace of the Bionic Man, and then rolled on the ground and ran low quickly to evade the claw attack. He knew that he had to keep shooting, so he just reloaded and aimed home at the legs and tail, running and circling about.

He wouldn't be alone long, though. Batov and the others had entered the chamber. When faced with the ranks of reinforcements, he then reached into his Bag of Tricks and opted to pull something out. It was a kukri-like blade, with flakes of what looked like crystal in it.* He then said, "They're resistant to lightning conventionally made Force Lightning. Well, let's see how they deal with this! URAAAHH!!"

He then began hacking at the Praetorians and the others in his wake, throwing up Force Wall then slicing and dicing into the hordes with reckless abandon to aid Asuna. Then, he noticed Chin's tenous dance and glared.

"You....monster!"

He knew the Force would only make the monster madder. But, he figured a little distraction wouldn't hurt his friend any. So, he lept back from the horde he was slashing at, and promptly pulled out his lightsaber. As he ignited it, Chin, as he danced about, noticed the ignition of a very distinct Crimson Red People's Acolytes saber. He then Forcemessaged to Batov, "Don't come here! I've got this handled! Keep them off of me!"

Batov then Forcemessaged back, slashing at another with his Lightningblade and parrying another's strike with the Lightsaber and keeping any efflua off with Force Wall, "Fool! It's too dangerous to go it alone!"

To which he got, "Don't worry! Keep. Them. Off. Me!" Batov then threw himself into keeping the lesser minions off of Chin with the others, whilst Chin focused on the Big Bad in the room--the Queen.

*(OOC: Litham/Hajarran Lightningblade

Discovered during the Farrell Expedition, the Hajarran Lightningblade is a weapon once used by “magicians” (Force-users) of the Akrehite clan of Hajarra as both status symbol and weapon of terror in order to keep their citizens in line. After their regime was overthrown by the Expedition, samples of the Litham were taken to New Dornalia for study.

They revealed that these weapons were kukri-like blades, with a blade three feet in length. Normally forged using a process similar to that used in making Damascene steel, the secret behind the Lightningblade is the fact it uses crystals and other hard bits added into the forging process (noted by Dr. Melissa Voeker, Anthropologist at UCLA to be similar to the Jedi Forge Process) from a local animal known as the kosan. This creature is noted locally for its psychokinetic properties, and its name locally means “wondrous beast.” Its crystals seem to react with nearby Force energies, and channel them through the blade in order to make it more competitive with other, more conventional weapons. It’s Dornalian name comes from the tendency of higher level Force Masters to be able to project lightning with the weapon.

Original Hajarran examples are forged out of a combination of phrik and Damascene steel in a ratio of 90% damascene to 10% phrik, whilst recent Dornalian editions forged at the People’s Acolytes Academy in Mars include layers of phrik and titanium to improve the weapon’s durability in battle in a 70% Damascene steel 30% composite phrik-titanium layered setup.)

Soren didn't need to be told twice as he quickly assessed the situation. There was very little he could do from his vantage. He had no means of turning into an armored soldier with a great sword or anything at that. Acting as a sniper would be of . . . limited use.

Instead, the sorcer took the orders and bolted for the stairs at the far wall and headed up into the bunker. Checking his items to make sure everything was accounted for. Soren didn't want to be caught off guard while he was up there alone.

Ehrell took about one and a half seconds to assess the Queen's capabilities before deciding that the lightsaber that Chin had earlier given him was not long enough to use with any efficacy against the Queen. That tail was a problem.

However, there were ways of dealing with that. Ehrell caught the battle rifle Asuna threw to him, and decided to make use of it, though perhaps not in a manner the others would expect. Making sure the safety was on, the warrior extracted magnetic nanoclips from his utility belt and affixed them to the battle rifle, where a bayonet would be. A second later, a three-foot crimson bayonet protruded from the battle rifle, courtesy of the Acolyte lightsaber and Ehrell's little nano-adhesives.

He hoped what he had heard about lightsabers cutting through pretty much everything was true, but he sensed the Queen might be an exception. Rather than a stupid, blind charge, Major Ehrell quickly circled around the behemoth Queen, on the side opposite Chin, hoping to either flank it or distract its attention, thereby giving Chin an opening...

The Praetorians scattered at the attack as they rushed at everyone, striking with efficiency and lethality. However, the powers that the Coredians were using had them on their toes. Soon, however, reinforcements arrived for the Bugs as dozens upon dozens of smaller Drones and Runners rushed from the corridors, exploded from the ground, and pretty much materialized from virtually out of nowhere. The primary target at this point was the cave troll as the bugs swarmed all over it, Drone, Runner, and Praetorian alike, using their extending second mouth to punch holes in its form, as well as using their claws and tails to cut it to pieces. Even though the troll was cutting their numbers down, it probably wouldn't last long.
"Damn, I gotta summon something else..." Keith mentioned as the Troll fought the enemy to the end. "Something quicker...more of them...Dire Wolves!"

Dire wolves come in packs and have a high resistance to poison and acid attacks due to their...interesting nature. Keith checked his reserves. He only had enough left for a pack of five and maintain his Force skills. Damn! "Haruka! Cover me!"

"Right!" Haruka called back and moved to cover Keith with alchemy while he summoned the wolves.

In a poof of smoke, five Dire Wolves appeared. Their leader instantly recognized a horde of vicious enemies, growled orders and then the pack attacked with a frenzy. Keith panted as his reserves drained heavily from the summoning, but he drew on as much Force as he could still handle and drew his phrik staff to defend himself. He had to last long enough for the battle to end!

Meanwhile, Sasuke fought his way through the enemy forces, slashing at everything he could get his lightsaber in. He had to help Chin...somehow!

Even if Batov had tried to get in close to the Queen, he would've had one major problem. A lone Praetorian had stepped up to challenge him, and it was bigger than most of the others. Its carapace gleamed as it hissed its challenge beginning to circle the Mad Russian before it leaped for him, intending to knock him down.

The troll's saviors forced the assaulting drones to back down, but they had done a decent enough amount of damage to the troll to severely weaken it. The Drones, Runners, and Praetorians, having regrouped, charged back into the fray, outnumbering the Wolves almost fifteen to one. Yet, even as they fought, they were slowly losing ground. This, however, did not deter them as they made their assault upon their new aggressors.

Sasuke was going to have a hard time of it now. More and more Drones and Runners were swarming him, and their numbers were going to push him back even further from Chin. They cared not that they died in droves. They were merely there to weaken him until he finally caved and made a mistake.

The Queen was not so stupid. As Ehrell came up for his little sneak attack, she whipped her tail around to smack him, and then she charged Chin again. Swiping with her claws and thrashing her tail at him, she didn't manage to see the leaping form of Asuna as she came careening from a ledge in the cavern, being chased by a swarm of Bugs. As she passed the Queen, Asuna rotated herself in mid-air, spinning her sword around to smack the flat side of her massive sword against the Queen's head, sending the Queen reeling to the floor, roaring in anger of having been caught so easily by a blind-sight attack.

The Queen was down, for now, giving Asuna time to recover from hitting the ground and rolling. As she came to her feet, she horizontally sliced her sword across the breast-line, cutting down a swarm of Drones in a single swipe. Another Drone, however, tried to take advantage of Asuna's large swing, but, as it came within striking range, it was suddenly smacked down by an armored fist. Asuna roared in triumph, and, knowing full well that Drone was dead, she charged back into the fray, swinging her sword ferociously.

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

As Soren climbed the staircase, the foul odor of death would creep into his senses. As he reached the top of the staircase, he could see piles of dead bodies in the room he reached. What was worse, the room stretched on, and the piles of bodies went with...

Even if Batov had tried to get in close to the Queen, he would've had one major problem. A lone Praetorian had stepped up to challenge him, and it was bigger than most of the others. Its carapace gleamed as it hissed its challenge beginning to circle the Mad Russian before it leaped for him, intending to knock him down.

Batov sidestepped the Praetorian's charge, much like a matador would a raging bull's. Along the way, he slashed at the monster's body with his Lightningblade, imbuing the blade with electrical energy as he swiped at the creature, throwing up Force Wall in case. He then hacked at its tail, before leaping to the side.

The Queen was not so stupid. As Ehrell came up for his little sneak attack, she whipped her tail around to smack him, and then she charged Chin again. Swiping with her claws and thrashing her tail at him, she didn't manage to see the leaping form of Asuna as she came careening from a ledge in the cavern, being chased by a swarm of Bugs. As she passed the Queen, Asuna rotated herself in mid-air, spinning her sword around to smack the flat side of her massive sword against the Queen's head, sending the Queen reeling to the floor, roaring in anger of having been caught so easily by a blind-sight attack.

The Queen was down, for now, giving Asuna time to recover from hitting the ground and rolling. As she came to her feet, she horizontally sliced her sword across the breast-line, cutting down a swarm of Drones in a single swipe. Another Drone, however, tried to take advantage of Asuna's large swing, but, as it came within striking range, it was suddenly smacked down by an armored fist. Asuna roared in triumph, and, knowing full well that Drone was dead, she charged back into the fray, swinging her sword ferociously.


Chin lept quickly to the side, using his temporal abilities to speed up his own jump into a relatively clean spot, stomping on some goo as he landed. He then witnessed Asuna knock down the beast, as it fell over. As the beast raged violently in indignation, Chin decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

He ran to the Queen, keeping some distance to avoid being hit by any sudden moves and keeping up Force Wall. Chin then leveled his rifle at the monster's mouth, and closed his eyes, breathing in and out for a moment to stablize himself. The thought of "why?" briefly flashed, but it was just as quickly replaced with the horrid images from before and the current brawl. Chin opened his eyes, and decided to speed this fight to its logical end.

Seconds after the philosophizing, Chin opened fire on the monster. Chin emptied an entire magazine into the monster's mouth and neck, aiming to penetrate into the brain. He then reloaded and before going, pulled two flares from his Bag of Tricks, one of which was then ignited and thrown into the creature's mouth, the other saved in case, before firing several bursts at the thing's chest.

Soren looked around at all the dead bodies and did a quick little scan to make sure that there was nothing hiding among them. The stench assaulted his nostrils causing him to put his hands over his mouth and nose.

"Oh this is lovely. Remind me to thank Asuna for the advice and the Dornalians for the lovely time."

Despite the uncomforable atmosphere of the place, Soren pushed on deeper through the hall trying not to step on anything.

OOC: Skaugra's back! :)

The Queen was not so stupid. As Ehrell came up for his little sneak attack, she whipped her tail around to smack him, and then she charged Chin again. Swiping with her claws and thrashing her tail at him, she didn't manage to see the leaping form of Asuna as she came careening from a ledge in the cavern, being chased by a swarm of Bugs. As she passed the Queen, Asuna rotated herself in mid-air, spinning her sword around to smack the flat side of her massive sword against the Queen's head, sending the Queen reeling to the floor, roaring in anger of having been caught so easily by a blind-sight attack.

The Queen was down, for now, giving Asuna time to recover from hitting the ground and rolling. As she came to her feet, she horizontally sliced her sword across the breast-line, cutting down a swarm of Drones in a single swipe. Another Drone, however, tried to take advantage of Asuna's large swing, but, as it came within striking range, it was suddenly smacked down by an armored fist. Asuna roared in triumph, and, knowing full well that Drone was dead, she charged back into the fray, swinging her sword ferociously.

Ehrell wasted no time ducking beneath the Queen's tail swipe, and then, seeking to counterattack, he looked back up. What he saw was a quite disgusting organ of excrement at the base of the Queen's tail, just under where her tail met the rest of the body, about a foot by three inches. Figuring a blow to such might be quite painful for the Queen, Ehrell grabbed his improvised lightsaber-bayonet, which he had managed to make about eight feet long or so, including the battle rifle to which it was affixed, and attempted to spear it from his position on the ground, not far from her tail, while her tail was still swinging away from him...

And with that strike, the Queen screamed. The scream pierced through the minds of her brood, and in a single instant, the entire swarm began to howl in such a cacophany that the walls began to crack from the sheer sound vibrations. Asuna was in mid-swing when the chorus of pain began, and she dropped to her knees, covering her ears from the sound in a desparate attempt to keep her own hearing.

The Queen thrashed in violent agony as she fell to the ground. Her body jerked compulsively, her tail crashing into the walls and the ground as she tore the ground apart, incapable of maintaining a conscious thought due to the pain. Acid blood spurted from her wound, covering the ground and burning a hole into the ground, which finally pierced through the floor all the way. The Queen spun in circles on the ground as she bled to death, the acid cutting through the stone beneath her quickly, and as she stood up to instinctually strike down Major Ehrell, the ground gave way to her weight, and she fell, disappearing into the darkness of the cavern beneath the cavern the fighting parties were in, her screams dissipating as she fell towards the center of the planet.

The swarm, now without a Queen, suddenly turned on itself in a frenzy of instinctual blood lust, cutting each other apart as the sentient Praetorians tried desparately to rally their charges. However, they were incapable of doing so, their own charges pouncing upon them to tear them to pieces. With the swarm now turned upon itself, Asuna stood, uncovering her ears as she screamed into the comm network.

"Everyone! Get to the stairs! Go!"

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

As Soren stepped fully into the room, the door that he had passed through suddenly slammed shut behind him, closed by some invisible force. Another instant after had him hearing scurrying towards his left...and then his right...and then...

All around him, bloodied corpses began to slowly creep out of the darkened parts of the room, their bodies still fresh with the scent of recently-exposed blood. They crawled like spiders, their blank, dead faces staring upon him, no hint of emotion showing, as they kept near the darkened edges of the room, simply staring.

"Everyone! Get to the stairs! Go!"

Chin's standing about, amazed that the Queen was finally dead, was interrupted by Batov. The Mad Russian kicked a Drone away and then proceeded to tackled him and drag the confused Qiangquan Master by his wrist, shouting, "Time to go, young Chin!" Both were glad Ehrell had killed the thing, but they were just eager to survive this chamber of horrors, if it was the last thing they did.

Chin then quietly shook Batov off of him, and ran quickly with the others to the stairs, Chin using his rifle to fend off any pursuers who had some hunger for the party left. When all seemed clear, Chin breathed a sigh of relief, glad to be out of there.

Then, he siezed up, a look of horror emerging on his face. Something told him this was going to get ugly. Batov sensed that, and replied calmly, "It always does; experience tells me it always does." Both kept their sabers ignited, and prepared for anything.

The Sorceror shook his head as the door slammed shut behind him. Again the Ranger/sorceror found himself amazed that he was listening to anyone's advice. Since he had started taking orders, he found himself in worse predictaments than ever in his entire life studying necromancy and other arts of magic. "I must be getting soft."

Just as the words left his mouth he heard the scraping of dead bones reanimating. If he thought the situation was bad before, it just got worse. Not just the fact that bodies were now starting to come to life, but something had to breathe life back in them. From all of his studying, Soren knew there was a necromancer in the vacinity or at least something of equal power.

That would have to wait though. For now, he had to deal with these zombies. Closing his eyes, Soren extended a fist out in front of his body as he fell into himself. A small flame appeared as he opened his fist. It was not as potent as Wizard's Fire, his magic simply did not work the same way, but it would serve the purpose. Much like he had done with the original enemies in the tunnels, Soren summoned a pillar of fire around his body.

Putting more energy into the pillar, Soren allowed it to expand until it began engulfing the room around him. It worked before, no reason it shouldn't again.

Asuna was quick to run up the stairs, heading for where she had sent Soren. At about six feet from the door, Asuna put all her strength into her legs and leaped for the door, shoulder perpendicular to it. When she smacked the door, and even with her armored left shoulder, Asuna cried out in pain and surprise and her arm popped out of its socket. She slumped against the door, screaming curses at how her day was going and, using her other fist, she pounded the door once more, more for spite than anything else.

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

The freshly risen zombies and skeletal remains tried to rush Soren at just that moment. Unfortunately for them, the pillar of fire was going to get them fried to a cinder, and it wasn't long before piles of ash began to accumulate on the floor.

Suddenly, however, a flurry of light appeared from the opposite end of the large chamber as a fairly large, highly concentrated beam of pure ice magic rocketed forth towards Soren, even so much as penetrating the fire wall to continue on towards its intended target, although with less force now that it had penetrated an opposing magic force.

The shot of ice collided with the pillar of flames surrounding Soren. Vapor hissed and began filling the air as the ice melt on contact with the fire. Chunks of ice fell against Soren's body with little concern as they dropped to the floor and turned into small puddles of water.

Unfortunately there were some larger concentrations of ice magic that smacked into him causing the Sorceror to stagger back. One clump of ice followed through hitting Soren in the chest and sending him flat on his back. The funnel of fire surrounding the sorceror disappeared but left the room filled with steam, cutting off all visibility.

"Touche, but now I'm pissed."

Soren regained his balance and took a seat on the floor. Switching spells, he called upon a wind spell to blast the steam filled room back at the source of the ice attack with the wind acting as sharp blades.

The wind cleared the steam quite quickly, revealing many of the corpses that had been brought back were now few, and were only on the far side of the room. However, before Soren was quite the sight. A small, fragile looking girl who looked to be no more than eight years old was now the center of attention. Her red hair billowed in the intense wind as it cut into her skin. However, she just stood there, the injuries not even bothering her as they quickly healed as soon as they were made.

Her sharp, green eyes looked upon Soren, unblinking, and then she did something quite odd. She opened her mouth, as if to scream loudly, yet no sound came out. Wind tore apart the interior of her mouth, blood spattering everywhere, yet she seemed unphased.

Suddenly, and without warning, a light began to flicker in her mouth as she held it open. It started quite small, and then began to build up, becoming brighter and brighter until, finally, a stream of flame erupted from her tiny mouth. The odd part about it was that the flame seemed to be nearly five times the size of her mouth.

Soren stared at the girl oddly, as if she didn't belong there. In truth, Soren was done thinking anything was weird now. All it did was remind him that this place was bass ackwards and he had the thankless task of constant dealing with it while everyone else played with their primitive weapons getting excited that they could fire off round after round with little thought. In his mind, it was simply an extension of the primitive intellect of some people.

Right now, Soren had little time to muse on his own philosophies as another problem presented itself. The little girl had a strange aura eminating from her body that sent off alarms in the sorceror's head. Those mental alarms paid off as her mouth opened and a light started to grow from within.

"Uh-oh. This can't be good."

He suddenly wished he had a Wizard at his side, one of the versed ones from D'Hara, but had little choice in the matter. Soren reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out a rolled scroll and activated its enchantment. Around the sorceror, a mirror effect on magic popped up which would hopefully send the flames right back at the little girl.

The little girl, by that time, had finished with her attack, and she was quite ready for the return of her own attack as she quaintly back-handed it away, sending it to crash against the wall to her left, that being Soren's right. As soon as the stream of fire had dissipated, the little girl began to walk slowly towards Soren, her right arm outstretched towards the wall. Slowly, but surely, the crackling of ice could be heard as a sword of pure ice magic began to form in her hand as she advanced, her steps ominous as her short heels clacked against the concrete floor, their sound echoing through the chamber.

The little girl, by that time, had finished with her attack, and she was quite ready for the return of her own attack as she quaintly back-handed it away, sending it to crash against the wall to her left, that being Soren's right. As soon as the stream of fire had dissipated, the little girl began to walk slowly towards Soren, her right arm outstretched towards the wall. Slowly, but surely, the crackling of ice could be heard as a sword of pure ice magic began to form in her hand as she advanced, her steps ominous as her short heels clacked against the concrete floor, their sound echoing through the chamber.

Batov and Chin, meanwhile, stormed upstairs where they were met with a door...the same one Soren was behind. Chin rushed forward to try and open the door, but found he could only tug at it futilely. Cursing in Cantonese, he said to Batov, "Door's locked. Great."

The sounds of the battle inside could be faintly heard, and Batov muttered, "And no doubt Young Soren is in trouble." Chin nodded, the old Russian's assessment similar to his own. A locked door, no way to help a magician who so far showed excellent magical ability but poor close combat and conventional warfare skills and a raging combat outside made for a bad combination.

Chin then raised a Force Wall around the party, or was about to when Batov stayed his hand and said, "Let me do this, young Chin. Take a breather." Thus, the old Russian held his hand up, and before long the Party members outside of Soren's brawl would be protected by a Force wall. Meanwhile, Chin could only smile with appreciation--the old Russian could come through when he had to.

Of course, Sasuke and his apprentices weren't far behind Batov and Chin as they too hurried up after Soren and also found the door locked. "Hmm. All we can do is but wait...but perhaps..."

Sasuke summoned a small serpent and hissed at it, ordering it to find out what was happening with Soren. The serpent compiled, searching for a small hole to crawl through.

"So you fancy the ice magic I see. Well there is a solution for that."

The ice swords crashed against a hard shield keeping them at bay for a time allowing Soren to enact his next series of enchantments. Pounding ice blades echoed in the hall as they continued working ferociously to get to the sorceror but it was all ignored by the trained Ranger. Producing a small needle, Soren pricked the tip of his finger drawing a few drops of blood.

Bending low, the sorceror drew a pentagram of blood on the floor and begin casting over the symbol. Soren stepped back just as a spark of flame ignited where his drops of blood had been. Flames continued to spiral higher and higher until it reached the ceiling. Soren worked his fingers and his mind, molding the great flame until it took on the form of a fire drake.

The great flaming dragon roared at the girl and charged towards her with open maw to engulf her.

"I played with your pets, now you play with mine." While the dragon swooped in for the little girl, Soren fumbled through his pouch just in case the enchantment wouldn't suffice.

And thankfully for Sasuke's serpent, it did find a tiny-enough hole for it to fit through to work its way into the room where Soren was entrapped.

The little girl stood still, a smile creeping across her face as the literal fire drake came for her. She waited until the last second to leap backwards as the flaming dragon crashed against the ground where she was just a moment ago. However, now there was another problem. The little girl was standing on the ceiling, and gravity had just flipped in the entire room. Now, what was technically the ceiling before now became the floor, and Soren was going to figure this out right quick, and probably in the most painful way possible. In the meantime, the little girl, whose smile had not faded from view at all, began to move slowly towards the fire drake, the blade of ice attached to her arm becoming as long as she was tall. However, she made no attempts at attacking it.

There was a loud Umph when Soren made contact with the "new" floor in the room. Pain shot up through his back and in his head as he and the floor got reacquainted the old fashion way. The Sorceror regained his footing and pulled out the items he had been searching for in his pouch.

"If you were human, I would probably think you were cute and attractive if you were older. But since you're not human and I'm willing to bet you are far older than me; you so have to die."

Soren let loose with the items in his hand, a number of born shards shaped into a horn. They found their mark on the floor and began to grow and sprout into fully grown skeletan warriors at Soren's command. Once finished with the encantation, he had his small army of skeletans at his disposal along with a fire drake. Under normal circumstances, he had a formidable army at the ready. Unfortunately, these were not normal circumstances.

The sorceror held off in sending the fire drake back into the fight and instead had his undead warriors circle around. He wasn't sure what the girl planned on doing with the rather large ice blade, but he didn't want to risk two of their magics colliding head-to-head. While the skeletans were sent off to attack her as a distraction, Soren began throwing up an enchantment around his own fire drake to hopefully even the fight some.

During this time, Major Ehrell quietly replicated ammunition to replace that which had been spent, waiting with the others for Soren to finish his little mission. Perhaps, Soren might prove something other than useless, but Ehrell wasn't holding his breath. Even if he did prove that he was somewhat capable of defeating something, it meant little if he could not fight as a member of a group. But Ehrell said nothing.

He merely inserted yet another bullet into his portable replicator to be made into a full clip, resuming his previous role as munitions carrier...

OOC: Not really sure what to post, though I figured I should post something.

The little girl made no sound, but merely gave Soren a curt nod in response to his words. Once the skeletal warriors were in play, she reacted, and surprisingly quick at that. Her initial movement was untraceable. It was as if she had been standing right behind the forward-most skeleton the entire time. She stood in a very odd position, her ice arm-blade out-stretched to her side and just behind her as she held herself in a semi-crouched position; the skeleton she had attacked flew apart at the mid-spine and began freezing into a brittle, irrecoverable state.

Now standing no more than roughly three meters from Soren at this point, the child eyed him, her cold gaze matching that of her current magicweapon of choice. At this point, she finally spoke, her voice matching the intended age-frame that she visually represented. "You're out of your league, child."

"Sweetheart, you'll find I'm a great pain in the ass."

The Sorceror was not surprised at her ability to easily dispatch one of the skeletal warriors as they were only to buy a little bit of time for him to finish his enchantment. Now the only difference here was he had a rather large fire elemental dragon standing between him and the little girl with a host of skeletons behind her reading to stab her in the back.

With a wave of his hand, Soren sent the fire dragon straight into the little girl standing before him. If they met head on, it would be a terrible clash of power to be sure but the real test would come down to who would win out in the end. Soren knew that if his dragon elemental failed, then he would be left with the last little enchantment he had thrown up around it. He could only hope that his fiery beast would do enough damage first to weaken the little witch.

The girl charged the elemental dragon, a second blade of ice emitting itself from her other arm this time. She howled a challenge at the beast as she leaped into the air, right arm reared back as she held her left arm in a perpendicular-to-her-body blocking position. As she came closer to the drake, she would strike with a stab of her right arm, aiming to penetrate the drake's shield and strike it a killing blow to the head.

As if to add spite to injury, the skeleton warriors that were trying to chase after the little girl were suddenly accosted by a swarm of dismembered and eviscerated corpses - zombies, naturally. The zombies, some of which were armed with crude clubs made of other corpses that had failed to be given life prior to the battle, wailed their deathly moans as they did their best to aid their mistress.

Fortunately for Soren's own work was that a flaming dragon was not actually alive persay but a simple flame animated into the shape of a dragon. There were no nerve endings or blood to spill of the fire drake, only more fire to cut through which ice and fire never mixed quite well. The snake-like neck wrapped around the girl just as her blades made contact. Whether or not either one won out in the end, was not Soren's true goal since he had placed another enchantment to follow up the attack. A quite painful banishing spell if the little girl should win out in the first engagement.

Skeletons were now preoccupied with battling zombies as they came to life. Instead of dealing with the little girl, they struck with sword and shield to take out the reanimated corpses. Most likely to the sorceror's benefit since he was a little occupied at the moment to be dealing with other adversaries.

((Procrastination...:$))

The little girl clashed with the fire Elemental. It would seem as if the girl had been completely engulfed and consumed by the drake, but then something that would make Soren's heart sink into his stomach would happen. As the seemingly-victorious elemental stood where its challenger had once been, a sudden drop in temperature would occur as the room went from room temperature to way below freezing and a sudden blizzard blew into existence, one of magical properties that would swirl around the fire drake and attempt to consume it, as well as pretty much ice-blast the skeletons and zombies into frozen dust.

Soren was now faced with a challenge. Not because he was worried about his fire enchantment or because the room was growing colder by the second, it was because the little demon girl was still alive casting spells and he had no idea where she was. The room seemed to get cleared out again though this time it was by the young girl's own doing as both skeletan and zombie were turned into ice chunks.

Only the fire drake held on the longest as ice and snow continued to assault it. Soren's own magic was dwindling and he knew it wouldn't be long before the last big firework he had planned would go off. Sure enough, the fire drake froze over to an ice drake. The transformation was only temporary though as an inner light burned with in. It continued to build on itself as ice melted despite the extreme temperatures.

Being that his abilities with holy magic were limited, Soren put it all in one concentrated effort in the dragon's banishing countermeasure. The light grew into brilliance as burst from the ice shell of a dragon and turned into a hellfire of holy flame as it filled the room with its burning pressence. The cold wind soon turned warm on Soren's face as the engulfing inferno burned through the room.

There was an audible scream as the girl, who had been inside of the drake at the time, became engulfed in the cleansing, holy flames. Her scream pierced the concrete, cracking it and reverberating off the walls, her body now clearly visible as the darkness within her tried to push back the holy flames. Unfortunately for her, it was to no avail. Slowly, but surely (and in a very DBZ-like fashion), the girl began to disappear as she slowly disintegrated within the flame until not a piece of her was left within the room.

As the dark presence within the room dissipated, the door that Soren had come through would now open, revealing the rest of the team barricaded against the door. Asuna, whose arm was still dislocated, stumbled to her feet as she pushed past Ehrell, gritting her teeth as her dislocated arm shoved against him slightly.

"Everyone, get the fuck out of there!" Her voice was loud as she called to the rest of team, slowly making her way over to Soren, observing the scorched concrete. "What the hell happened in here?"

Batov and Chin ran inside, and were confronted with what was, simply put, a bloody mess. Batov then shook his head, saying simply, "For such a battle....it looks rather quaint," marveling at the devastation--or rather, the lack thereof--wrought inside.

Chin was more succinct. The experience in the tunnels had shocked him, and made everything else seem less terrifying. He simply mused, with a calm smile as he walked in carefully, "Atisha once said, 'The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.'"

"Come again?" Batov said skeptically.

Chin then raised his hand up and spoke so all could hear, "Applied to the situation, Sensei Batov, it means that Mr. Soren has done something rather well. He has exorcised the foe in this room, and through doing so brought some order back into this universe. Will it be lasting? Time will tell. But for now, the evil is expelled, and we can go on."

"Duly noted. Let's go on, shall we?" muttered Batov with a nervous chuckle. Chin was always the more philosophical one of them, and he sometimes left the old Russian in the dust. Batov didn't mind that much--as long as he had a grasp on what he knew and how to fight, he was happy. Chin nodded and went on further....

Meanwhile, Major Ehrell slung the last clip of replicated ammunition around his shoulder, the last possible place he could have fitted it without committing his hands, quietly. The aura that the Acolytes were playing Benevolent Philosopher about did not really bother him, strangely enough, and he did not utter a word. Instead, he merely followed Asuna through, loaded down with about a hundred kilos of ammunition alone, as he had spent the time of the battle resuming his role as munitions carrier.

As the girl scream from the holy fire, Soren gave a wry grin. "Now stay dead."

Once she was gone for good, Soren slumped to the floor and rested his head against the wall. Practically all of his energy had been spent in dealing with the threat. He simply nodded his head at the good jobs when everyone finally made their way into the room.

When everyone was ready to move on, the Sorceror rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. "You go on ahead, I'll catch up later. I'm just going to rest here for a moment."

Chin and Batov nodded. Chin then decided to poke Batov, and caused the two to stop. He then asked, "May I see the bag, please?" Batov nodded; there wasn't going to be much harm in letting his partner look into a gear bag. Chin rummaged through it, and whistled as he did so, eventually revealing a bottle of some sort of drink. Labeled "Jamie's All Natural Wake-Em-Up Tea," he then walked over to Soren and handed the bottle next to the tired sorceror. Chin proceeded to walk back to Batov's side, as he said to Soren, "I find it helps to have a drink after strenous activity. It's a rather good tea, this one."

Batov candidly observed, "A charitable individual at heart? That is good." Chin then shook his head, saying, "I find it's not charity. It's just my job." He then shrugged and walked on, as Batov was as confused as ever over what was an evidently different mindset.

Very suddenly, and without any apparent warning, the temperature in the room dropped. The once warm air was again cold enough to allow everyone to see their own breath. Asuna cursed under her breath as she held her dislocated sword arm with her armored shield-arm. She went into a battle-ready stance, still more than capable of fighting despite her arm.

And then something happened that no one would quite expect. The little girl who had been supposedly destroyed by Soren suddenly reappeared; yet, there were several things different. Her clothes, once black, were now snow white, and her once modest garb now resembled, ever so slightly, the appearance of a semi-sleazy magical girl's costume. As she appeared in a quick flurry of snow and ice, she would appear knelt before him, head bowed.

"Great Magi, I am Minia Marcelio. I have forever waited for the one who could defeat me, and you have proven worthy enough for a contract to be formed between us." She would look up at him, her cold, glazed eyes staring into his. "I hereby give myself to thee, servant to you and your family for the rest of eternity. I am Lich Queen, and I and my armies are at your command."

The chill caught Sensei Batov and Master Chin offguard, and it was fortunate that Sensei Batov had an overcoat ready to put on. He took it out of the Bag of Tricks and put it on as the Lich Queen reappeared. Chin, though somewhat challenged by the cold, held fast.

The two would have gotten into a combat stance, but the sudden speech by the Queen prevented them from doing so. Moreover, since they were not there to witness the threat to Soren personally through sight, they had no idea that this was once the enemy Soren had subdued. They did however, sense something significant about this spirit.

When it spoke, Chin was simply and utterly stunned, though he certainly didn't show it. Turning to Batov, he could only whisper to the old Russian, "Did she just say what she thought she said?"

To that, Batov would say, just as transfixed on the scene, "Yes. She did just offer him her powers and her forces at young Soren's command. A gift of great strength indeed...."

Major Ehrell, too, noticed the temperature drop, quickly enough to frost over the reams of bullets slung over his body. While he wasn't sure he could trust her as a Bondswoman to Asuna, he could think of tactical uses aplenty for her. Moreover, so far, she had not appeared so unprepared and useless in battle as Soren had earlier. A shame indeed that Ehrell could not see Soren's duel, for it might have earned the sorcerer a bit of respect in the Major's eyes.

Useful indeed. This young girl was not the first time Major Ehrell had heard of such cryokinetic abilities. Master Whitfield, held by Woodians in comparable esteem with the Clans' reverence of Kerensky, had used similar abilities to disarm concentrations of incendiary devices that otherwise would have burnt small cities to a smoking black husk in the ground.

Such disarmament had occurred over multiple square kilometers.

Useful, oh yes. While Chin and Batov were trying to pick up their jaws off the ground, Major Ehrell's mind was running with permutations of just how this spooky little girl could make a nice little bow-tied present of doom for the fiery hordes that awaited...at least according to his briefings.

Still, he wasn't exactly one to trust this little girl...

Soren took the tea from Chin and gave his thanks. He wasn't partial to many beverages but when he saw the tea, he was glad that some people on the trip had good taste. The taste of the tea was soothing and it brought a little energy back to his body as his shoulders lifted slightly.

All was going well as he sat back and relaxed until the temperature in the room suddenly dropped. Having just come off a battle in a similar situation, Soren knew what this meant as he sat his cup of tea down and stood up on shaky legs. He reached into the folds of his cloak to grab onto a small phial of holy inferno energy, the last he had saved up. There wasn't much magic energy left in him but he had enough left in the phial to give everyone and head start for running.

All that changed when the Lich Queen fell down at his feet and bowed. Dumbfounded as he was, the sorcerer managed to mouth. "What the hell?"

"Great Magi, I am Minia Marcelio. I have forever waited for the one who could defeat me, and you have proven worthy enough for a contract to be formed between us." She would look up at him, her cold, glazed eyes staring into his. "I hereby give myself to thee, servant to you and your family for the rest of eternity. I am Lich Queen, and I and my armies are at your command."

Soren plopped backed own and scooped up his tea cup and finished its contents in one quick gulp. "You've got to be kidding..."

The sorcerer paused for a moment to think over the implications of all this. She was undoubtedly powerful and had nearly bested him in a magic dual. Only a desperate act had saved his life though he was not willing to admit it. There was much he could learn from her and there was no telling when her armies might come in handy.

"Alright. I accept your service, though there will have to be one condition."

Soren looked at the "little girl" at the revealing dress she wore. If she was to have a servant always at his side, then she couldn't go around as prepubescent teenager. She would need to at least look like she was in her mid-twenties.

Seeming to sense his mind, the Lich Queen began shifting in size and shape until she looked like a full grown women in the same dress. The sorcerer nodded his approval then looked at the rest of the company. "Everyone, meet our new friend. Mina Marcelio."

Soren looked at the "little girl" at the revealing dress she wore. If she was to have a servant always at his side, then she couldn't go around as prepubescent teenager. She would need to at least look like she was in her mid-twenties.

Seeming to sense his mind, the Lich Queen began shifting in size and shape until she looked like a full grown women in the same dress. The sorcerer nodded his approval then looked at the rest of the company. "Everyone, meet our new friend. Mina Marcelio."

"Would wonders never cease?" was the thought in Batov's mind. He thought his time in the Daedra War had led him to see it all when it came to the ways of the supernatural. His own experience had taught him creatures that harmed you generally weren't interested in playing nice after, much less shapeshifting into more, um, mature and buxom forms. But as he saw the change in front of his eyes, he couldn't help but feel questions surface....and he had to step back a moment as he pondered the implications of it all.

Chin picked up on Batov's nervousness, and he managed to snap back into reality. "Someone's got to be sensible," he thought to himself. Noticing the others, he nodded to himself and then sent the old man a simple, reassuring message via the Force.

"She is the genuine article. If Soren trusts her, I am sure she is in turn safe. After all, did he not just best her in combat?"

Batov turned to face Chin, and echoed Ehrell's sentiment about the new Bondswoman with his own views. Delivered via the Force as well, it was seasoned with a dose of skepticism that could be felt by Chin.

"We'll see. We'll see."

Asuna had to take it in a little longer than the others. This...thing...had just offered its services after getting its ass handed to it by Soren? This didn't quite compute to her, but she shrugged it off for the time being as beeping from her headset began and a video feed played over the HUD, showing Setsuna.

"Asuna-san! We lost your signal temporarily! Is everything alright?"

Asuna smiled. "We're fine, Setsuna-san. We just had a setback is all. What's the situation top-side?"

"Hang on. Incoming tac-feed." As soon as Setsuna spoke, a tactical display would come up concerning the general field they were in, codenamed S-Field. The majority of the field was covered in red, but the bunkers on the flanks no longer appeared on the tactical field. Several blue ally indicators for drop ships were quickly landing infantry at the demolished bunkers, but several red tanks with supporting infantry were on their way to engage them. Not only that, but the enemy infantry that had been occupying the bunker they were in now had vacated and were retreating towards an advancing line of tanks and APCs with infantry right on their heels.

"Shit," Asuna muttered. "Thanks Setsuna. Squads! Regroup! We've got company coming!" She quickly tossed the Lich Queen a spare headset she had in her pocket, and then muttered a command to transfer the tactical feed she was getting to the rest of the squad.

"Major Ehrell! There's a flight of drop ships moving in to drop support, but they're fifteen minutes out! I want you, Chin, and Batov to commandeer the two light ay ays and that field gun on top of the bunker and redirect their fire towards the advancing enemy line!"

She would then toss the three of them small, USB-drive-sized chips. "Insert these into their command consoles and the AIs inside will do the rest. Soren! You and your new friend are with me! Sasuke, your team is charged with sealing this portion of the bunker off! We don't need those damn Serpents following up behind us."

"Major Ehrell! There's a flight of drop ships moving in to drop support, but they're fifteen minutes out! I want you, Chin, and Batov to commandeer the two light ay ays and that field gun on top of the bunker and redirect their fire towards the advancing enemy line!"

She would then toss the three of them small, USB-drive-sized chips. "Insert these into their command consoles and the AIs inside will do the rest. Soren! You and your new friend are with me! Sasuke, your team is charged with sealing this portion of the bunker off! We don't need those damn Serpents following up behind us."

Now shaken out of their stupor by the new set of mission objectives, the two Acolyte masters took the chips, pocketed them in a secure spot and rushed to begin moving to the top of the bunker without delay after finding an appropriate exit to where they needed to go. The same sort of instinct that got Chin through the uglies now propelled him and Batov to ascend the stairs and get to their objective, and the two looked at each other and nodded, understanding where to go.

They could be seen preparing their respective weapons--Chin his rifle, Batov his lightsaber. This was in case there were more enemies eager to make things difficult for them. And Chin and Batov could be seen swapping info, directing one another to go this way and that.

Meanwhile, Major Ehrell quickly found his own AA gun, despite being encumbered by his own bodyweight in munitions alone. Where is the unit that needs these supplies so badly? he thought to himself, nevertheless finding the slot for his little command chip. Surveying the hills and mountains before him, he realized why Asuna had wanted the three of them to use anti-aircraft guns. The enemy line, sure enough, was coming down those mountains, well within the AAs' arc of fire. If only Major Ehrell had had time to modify the shells to make them more incendiary...

He quickly advised Chin and Batov where to find the slot for their chips. His sniper rifle remained easily accessible, slung across his chest, should he need it. For now, he took control of the AA gun before him, willing to wait only a couple of seconds for the AI to kick in before firing it manually.

(OOC: Jolt ate my post, sorry for the crappiness of the replacement. I hate it when that happens.)

Enough energy had returned to Soren's body for him to get and move onward with the rest of the squad. He was unsure how well his magical repertoire would hold up but sitting here or being out with the rest wasn't going to make a difference on the speed of his recovery. Getting back to his feet, a little bit more sturdy this time, Soren followed after Asuna along with Mina to where ever the commander was going.

"What exactly do you want us to do?"

"I want you to get your friend here to summon as many soldiers as she possibly can and try to charge the advancing line," Asuna replied, stepping out the door on the first floor to a small, slightly sheltered courtyard facing the advancing enemy line. She popped her dislocated arm back into place with a sickening sound loud enough for the two present to hear, and then pulled out her pactio card. "Once that's over with, I want you both to provide me and that summoned army magic artillery support. I'll be leading the charge up the hill, so watch where you shoot, alright?"

Her pactio card would then flash brilliantly, instantly being replaced by the sword she had procured earlier on. The massive sword she held gleamed in the light of the sun as it dragged behind her, scraping along the concrete before it started to drag along the dirt and grass behind her, her armored form showing a hardened, resolved young woman within.

As Asuna began her advance, shortly after Ehrell had deposited his AI chip into the gun's targeting system, the gun sprang to life, the control panels flashing with new commands as the old ones were cut. After going through a fifteen second boot-up phase, the gun was wrenched free from Ehrell as the AI took over, leveling the gun at an approaching T-80 about seven hundred meters up the hill. The AI, after gathering data on the vehicle and the other vehicles and infantry around it, soon re-directed the gun at the infantry and lighter vehicles and, after a brief three seconds of having been wrenched from Ehrell's control, the gun began blasting away, the four barrels on the machine pouring flak rounds onto the approaching line.

The tanks and APCs were caught off guard by the sudden assault from the first anti-aircraft gun in Ehrell's hands, the advance halting almost in synchronization as the wall of vehicles stopped. The vehicles kept in place as the tanks began leveling their weapons towards the bunker when all hell broke loose. Infantry around the vehicles scurried frantically for cover as the flak rounds exploded around them, cutting swathes of infantry down in the first few seconds of AI controlled fire. The tanks, now thoroughly annoyed, then began firing at the bunker. Shells slammed into the ground around the large bunker, and a few were even successful in hitting the lower portion of the bunker itself, blowing moderately sized chunks off and small holes in its walls.

And at this point, Asuna lifted the large sword she held into both hands and, without uttering a word or a battle cry, she began charging through the oncoming fire at the stopped enemy line.

Soren nodded to Mina. "It's time for you to prove yourself to me."

The Lich Queen bowed deeply to her new master then hurried off to find a view of the battleground. Once she was in place, Mina began falling into a deep casting. Her fingers danced out before her body as she murmured through the intricacies of her summoning spell.

It was only moments later when a deep rumbling could be felt shaking the ground. Outside, all was made clear as an army of the undead rose from the ground. Two thousand zombies strong marched on the attacking army as their diseased flesh reached out for them. With an army summoned, half of Asuna's orders had been carried out.

The other half was going to be a rather complicated matter since most of Soren's energy had not returned yet. "Very well done. With our minions attacking the enemy's line, that only leaves the magical barrage. Put your efforts into your ice spells."

Soren sat cross legged on the floor while Mina began casting once more. It wasn't long before dark clouds formed over Asuna's head though if people were expecting lightning, they were going to be sorely disappointed. From the sky came razor sharp spikes of ice raining down on the enemy formation which was soon accompanied by a massive blazing meteor shower compliments of Soren.

The combination of attacks would send dirt high in the sky not to mention a little bit of steam which could work to Asuna's advantage by masking her movements.

Meanwhile, Major Ehrell found himself a little surprised that the AA gun was fully automated, but he did not let that deter him. As Asuna left to charge the enemy line, Major Ehrell checked the rounds in his sniper rifle, and from the seat of the gun, started looking for targets of opportunity. When the ice storm made that difficult, he switched to infrared scope.

Normally, he would have shot at the army of undead charging with Asuna, blissfully unaware that they'd been summoned, but he somehow could tell even from this distance which undead had been summoned by Soren and his new friend and which had not, almost as if this Force he had been told he was sensitive to functioned as a low-grade IFF. Obviously, however, not everything around Asuna was friendly, and Ehrell was especially interested in threats that Asuna might miss if she succumbed to tunnel-vision in battle. Deliberately adjusting his aim for the wind conditions (which oddly enough he sensed more than measured, even in the convergences and shear of the storm forming) and sleet, he fired rounds through the demonic scum that threatened Asuna on her flanks outside of her peripheral vision...

OOC: If this is overpowered, TG me due to my lack of IM access as I am in Los Angeles right now.

IC:

Chin and Batov got their AI chips into their respective slots as quickly as possible, and just in time too. Chin and Batov sat in their guns, and leveled them at the opposition, tearing into them as ordered. Chin, being the master of all things ballistic, kept his fire on target, firing focused rage in the form of ack-ack fire to clean up the enemy. Batov was, as usual, less precise. However, the fact their ally was now storming the enemy lines gave him the impetus to at least make his shots count, firing in wide swathes against the foe and aiming to miss his allies on the ground and avoid friendly fire.

As the AIs would begin cycling into action like Ehrell's did, and as Ehrell's battle machine began to roar at the opposition, Chin sensed that the ever-enigmatic and stubbornly moralistic Major began to sense something about his own powers. Given the Woodian's mind was locked up tighter than a bank vault buried under tons of earth, it was hard to get an exact reading....but Chin knew something was happening.

When the AI's did awake, the two Acolyte masters would let them handle the grunt work of shooting and killing. Batov and Chin, meanwhile, would handle their own brand of theatrics.

Chin whipped out his battle rifle. He had the advantage of Precision Aiming, the Force skill he concocted using a combination of temporal manipulation and his own mastery of Force Aim. Drinking a bottle of the same tea he gave to Soren, he proceeded to try his own hand at sniping. Leveling the rifle, he sighted down the iron sights, focusing intensely upon a poor infantryman being confused by Soren's assault. Breathing in and out, he decided to calibrate his aim. He pulled the trigger, his sense of the Force guiding him through the vagaries of windage and such by instinct.

As for Batov, he had more elaborate means that would mirror Soren's in their might. Waving his hand in the air, he bellowed with a mighty voice that could be heard by pretty much everyone, "And the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; AND THE LORD RAINED HAIL UPON THE LAND OF EGYPT!"

The Russian priest immediately began moving his hands about to draw forth several medium sized storm clouds in the sky over groups of the enemy, bowing his head and raising them up as he began muttering incantations in what to Ehrell and Chin would seem smatterings of Old Church Slavonic and Japanese (classical and modern). When enough were amassed to his satisfaction, he dropped his arms down and glared with the fury of a thousand suns, as the storm clouds began unleasing massive lightning storms and hailstorms of Biblical proportions upon the enemy forces that weren't impaled by the ice storms and flattened by Soren's meteors.

Keeping the presence of the good guys on the ground in mind, he could be seen steering the massive storm system with the agility of a conductor over the enemy, keeping up the litanies that brought forth the cloud; Asuna and Soren (as well as the others under his command) would find themselves relatively untouched thanks to Batov's care whilst the enemy was hit with a swathe of Natural fury. Sweat, however, could be seen, as the Old Russian sought to keep his control over the monstrous thing he had conjured.

Chin could only sigh. "Such drama...." he muttered in Cantonese.

Asuna, in the meantime, was caught in the midst of a swarm of terrified, enraged, and absolutely baffled corrupt human soldiers. This made them all the more dangerous as they frantically fought back against both zombies and Asuna, incapable of retaliating against the other members of the squad due to them being out of reach.

Asuna's blade lashed around as it cut swathes of enemy soldiers in wide sweeps, the general confusion making it much easier for her to get her more devastating wide swings to do the job. When she could not defend herself against those behind her, she would be thankful for Ehrell's protective sniper fire as it picked off the dangerous stragglers.

In the case of Batov's turret of choice, he'd find that it was not an anti-air weapon. In fact, it was the largest weapon available on the bunker - a one hundred fifty five millimeter field gun. As the cannon rotated to face the line, the tiny AI would begin by activating a bunch of tiny, gnome-sized drones. These little drones were the ammo loaders for the gun itself, and their little forms hurried about as they collected magazines for the magazine-fed field gun, which already had half of a magazine still remaining.

After some painstaking waiting for the gun to rotate, the weapon leveled itself with the closest enemy tank, a T-80, and fired. The ancient tank was smashed by the enormous round, exploding into a spectacular ball of fire. Then a second tank exploded. Then a third.

Once the third tank was blown into a slag of metal, the gun ejected its large magazine, depositing it into the arms of a waiting drone, which happily carted it off. Another drone would take its place, depositing a new magazine into the gun, at which point the gun would auto-load a new round and proceed with its task of tactical anti-tank fire.

The combined efforts of Soren, Minia, and Batov also helped to make short work of enemy troop and vehicle formations. The razor ice winds would tear soldiers to ribbons, leaving them in a vivisected state. Soren's meteors, however, were quick to make short work of enemy vehicles. Tanks and APCs were strewn about in piles of their own demolished parts, many of which were melting as they now had a flaming magma rock wedged into their chassis. Batov's attack, however, was equally devastating to both armored vehicle and exposed troop alike. The lightning blasts each had the capacity to penetrate armor, and their lasting electroshock therapy would detonate ammo and fuel in the vehicles, causing the powerful machines to practically vaporize themselves. Likewise, infantry were liable not to survive as they were blasted apart or shocked to death by the lightning bolts. Should a trooper survive, they'd have less than a fifth of a second to live before their spare ammunition detonated, at which point they'd be torn apart in a hail of bullets. Their buddies would also suffer the same fate should they be standing too close to their electrocuted comrade.

Likewise, the two anti-air quad flak guns were making it tough for infantry to come out of cover, said cover being their newly demolished war vehicles now strewn about across the battlefield in a line about fifty meters in width. Those armored vehicles that did survive would quickly pull themselves out of the line of fire as the brigade commander tried desperately to regain order amongst his ranks.

Thus far, the two squads had the upper hand in this battle, despite the numerical odds against them...

Chin could only sit in awe at the destruction unfolding in front of him. That his partner Batov was able to conjure up such things was not unknown to him, given the Dornalian Shinmei and their legendary use of esoteric powers. But it was quite another to see them tear apart a large horde of that size. He could only repeat what J. Robert Oppenheimer did upon seeing the first atom bomb go off and utter the quote, "'I have become death, destroyer of worlds.'"

He then shook his head and decided he would do his part. Partly out of altruism, and partly out of a "Save some for me!" mentality, the Chinese master slung his battle rifle and pulled out his dual Colt Government pistols. He then took a few running steps and lept into battle. Using his mastery of time to soften his fall, Batov would notice his partner and detect his eagerness to do something. The Russian eagerly Forcemessaged Chin with, "You fool! WHat are you doing now......"

"I can't let you have all the glory....besides, our comrades have plenty more to deal with, Moses." Delivered with a joking smile and characteristic warmth, he finished by landing on the wreck of a T-80. Batov could only sigh--he had another ally to make his storms avoid, but kept on going. "Moses..." he mumbled. "He is fortunate I do not get him for blasphemy."

Chin then ran into enemy lines. With his characteristic use of temporal manipulation and vehicles as cover, he began firing pistol shots in rapid staccato at the enemy troopers that had somehow made it through, jumping about on top of vehicles as well as the heads of enemies as he fired at his opponents, occasionaly pausing to slice with his wrist sabers as he bounded from one group of enemies to another. As he did his work, Chin spotted Asuna in the distance. He decided to link up with the Clanner, and radioed her after ducking behind a ruined tank.

"Asuna, what's your status!? Do you need assistance?"

Ehrell emptied his sniper rifle's magazine, picked another off his belt, and jammed it into the weapon, grunting at Batov's storm. Batov might have diverted the worst of the hail around allies, but HE still had to play Ping Pong Sniper Bullet. Each hailstone that the sniper rifle's fire struck had the potential to divert the bullet's path by perhaps a fraction of a millimeter--but in a storm like this, that added up, and quickly.

Cursing to himself and aiming high and wide to countervail wind gusts and hail dragging his fire down where it did not need to be, Ehrell let loose another shot at some random troll bearing down on Asuna. He tracked the bullet, almost sensing it ping off and shatter a thousand hailstones, keeping track of how the storm affected the path of his fire. This information in mind, he fired another round, wondering what the hell the point of all of this was if Batov was so damn intent on rendering his own ability to assist in the fight moot.

Well, there WAS always the cleanup. Let Batov perform severed limb reattachments and put vertebrae back together. Heh heh heh.

Well, there WAS always the cleanup. Let Batov perform severed limb reattachments and put vertebrae back together. Heh heh heh.

Batov paid no heed to Ehrell's complaining, not that he could really sense it. Chin, in the meanwhile, didn't notice much, trying to avoid fire in general as he slogged about....

The fire hailstorm played out to its finale as the last of Soren's energies were put into effect. Only a few more fire balls fell from the sky leaving Mina's ice attacks the only magical form other than Batov's that was still in effect.

Soren let out huff as he settled onto some rubble, the last of his strength leaving him. "Mina, I need you to summon another legion."

The vixen looked down at her new master with little emotion. "If we do, then I will not be able to use my powers while the army still walks this world."

"It's alright, in time my abilities will return. Then I'll have enough for the both of us. For now, your legions will serve as our protection."

With a nod of acceptance to her master, Mina's ice storm quickly faded on the battlefield. However that would not be the last heard from the two magic wielders. From the ground came another horrible cry as the dead rose once more. Only now came skeleton warriors instead of the decaying zombies that filtered through the battlefield.

Fresh reinforcements wielded ancient weapons charged the field in silent death.

As Chin commed Asuna, the blade mistress was furiously engaged in a four to one melee, unable to use her massive blade due to the size constraints of the weapon in question. These small fries, which turned out to be demons rather than humans, as she had assumed, were quick, and her only means of defending herself at this point was to use her armored arm as a means of defense.

"I could use a little help, yes!" She ducked back as a spear was thrust towards her head, to which she spun around her sword, which was embedded in the ground, and then produced a strong backhand as another enemy with a gladius tried to swing and lop her head off. The demon was caught by the back of her fist and sent spinning as Asuna wrenched her sword out of the ground to block yet another wide swing, this time by a demon with a claymore.

As the battle progressed, it seemed as though the demonic forces were beginning to regain their momentum as their own magical reinforcements were arriving. Shamans and necromancers were quick to raise the dead from their slumber, the shamans merely resurrecting the dead soldiers to their normal forms while the necromancers brought forth the dead to walk amongst the living in mockery of the shamans' magics.

To make matters worse, clerics were beginning to form rank with the tanks, providing magical barriers that rendered Batov's own magics ineffective as a whole. While there weren't too many clerics, their defensive shields were enough to protect a wide enough area that a good bulk of the tanks were beginning to file into a wide line, their shells passing through the magical fields with little difficulty; unfortunately, as the automated guns were finding out, this wasn't a two-way deal, although the field gun was providing many problems for the clerics as their magics weakened under the strain of concussive blasts and near-perpetual flak.

Furthermore, matters weren't getting a whole lot better. As the group (and their make-shift army) continued to battle the enemy front line, more reinforcements were arriving the form of massive trolls, possessed tanks, and even battle armored demons, the bulk of which was heading right to where Asuna was, who was now caught behind enemy lines as she fought desperately to survive her own personal battle while trying ever so slowly to reach the line of zombies and skeletons fighting the bulk of the enemy's front line infantry.

As Chin commed Asuna, the blade mistress was furiously engaged in a four to one melee, unable to use her massive blade due to the size constraints of the weapon in question. These small fries, which turned out to be demons rather than humans, as she had assumed, were quick, and her only means of defending herself at this point was to use her armored arm as a means of defense.

"I could use a little help, yes!" She ducked back as a spear was thrust towards her head, to which she spun around her sword, which was embedded in the ground, and then produced a strong backhand as another enemy with a gladius tried to swing and lop her head off. The demon was caught by the back of her fist and sent spinning as Asuna wrenched her sword out of the ground to block yet another wide swing, this time by a demon with a claymore.

As the battle progressed, it seemed as though the demonic forces were beginning to regain their momentum as their own magical reinforcements were arriving. Shamans and necromancers were quick to raise the dead from their slumber, the shamans merely resurrecting the dead soldiers to their normal forms while the necromancers brought forth the dead to walk amongst the living in mockery of the shamans' magics.

At the point Chin heard the advice, he decided to close. Dashing--no, leaping--from piece of cover to piece of cover, he continued to open fire on the enemy as he manuevered his way through the lines of thugs, enemies and general malcontents from beyond with the usual Colt Governments. He made a couple of brief pauses to reload, mostly focused on how to get to Asuna with economies of movement and force--both physical and spiritual, as he found his time control rather useful.

From his point on the ground, Chin began noticing first hand the shamanic revivals of the horde soldiers he and the comrades slew. Chin opted to focus fire on them, Forcemessaging his ally that little tip as he continued on.



To make matters worse, clerics were beginning to form rank with the tanks, providing magical barriers that rendered Batov's own magics ineffective as a whole. While there weren't too many clerics, their defensive shields were enough to protect a wide enough area that a good bulk of the tanks were beginning to file into a wide line, their shells passing through the magical fields with little difficulty; unfortunately, as the automated guns were finding out, this wasn't a two-way deal, although the field gun was providing many problems for the clerics as their magics weakened under the strain of concussive blasts and near-perpetual flak.

Furthermore, matters weren't getting a whole lot better. As the group (and their make-shift army) continued to battle the enemy front line, more reinforcements were arriving the form of massive trolls, possessed tanks, and even battle armored demons, the bulk of which was heading right to where Asuna was, who was now caught behind enemy lines as she fought desperately to survive her own personal battle while trying ever so slowly to reach the line of zombies and skeletons fighting the bulk of the enemy's front line infantry.

Batov noticed things weren't working as well as they used to, and decided to adjust accordingly. From his vantage point, he too could see that amongst the teeming, barbaric hordes, what looked like enemy leaders were reviving the dead. Chin's message was frankly redundant. There were, however, other problems. Mainly the incoming foes and the tanks.

Batov decided to split the attacks two ways. One way was to shunt some of the violence he spawned--the storms and hail--at the incoming reinforcements, some of whom looked rather large. The other way was to begin quickly spawning very productive and fiery hailstorms over the locations of the shamans for seconds at a time, shifting them as needed to keep his energy up.
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As this occurred in turn, Chin landed at Asuna's side, just in time to witness the incoming monsters and the zombies and skeletons at the rear.

Without a word he pulled out his Battle Rifle, and loaded a fresh magazine in before proceeding to gulp down what looked like a bottle of tea, casting it aside.

He then let out a feral scream, and time--which usually slowed down around him--REALLY seemed to slow down on this occasion. Out of nowhere, doves flew past and the sounds of battle seemed to be overlain by soft, mournful Chinese music as he began opening fire with his rifle, sweeping it at the enemies in front with the occasional explosive and spinning around to face the enemies in back and repeating this again. Yet as he opened fire, he did so with precision and care, marking the vital spots on his foe and going for them solely with Force Aim, missing Asuna entirely. To protect Asuna and himself, he threw up a Force Wall as well, and let loose as if he was a War God Incarnate.

This would go on for a bit, four to five seconds that seemed to last forever, to be exact. Chin then emerged from his trance, the Force Wall still up but the Master taking a breather before checking his magazine and putting it back.

"Still good," he said before leveling his gun and getting back to work.

OOC: Sorry for Not Posting...I've been working the Puyallup Fair and 17 consecutive days with no day off...ugh. It ended the 21st so I have some time for posting now.

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Meanwhile, as Ehrell fired the first of a new magazine of sniper bullets, he noticed something horribly wrong. No exploding zombie head on the other end. Somewhat disturbed by this, the Major fired again, this time at a different what-the-hell-was-it, but this time he tracked the bullet he fired, as he had earlier during Batov's storms.

He found it pinged off something, like it hit a shield of the kind used by most navies. His helmet's HUD wasn't detecting anything of the sort, but he knew his bullets would not hit their targets if the enemy had erected some sort of supernatural variant thereof. Watching Chin, Asuna, and Batov in melee for a few minutes, from the information the HUD provided, he concluded he may as well join them. Though he knew he would not match their...flashiness, he figured that at some point or another, his medical expertise would more than make up for it.

Hell, come to think of it, scalpels had an art form all their own. From the relative safety of his perch, he mounted fifteen or so on his utility belt for use against targets of opportunity. Knowing he had little time to waste, he grabbed his recently-issued lightsaber, silently wishing the length of the blade matched his height and reach better (he found it about 45 centimeters too short), he joined the melee, running underneath the shield.

The lightsaber certainly was light enough to wield one-handed; he did not even bother using his dominant hand, which he thought was better used practicing scalpel-jutsu. Had the damn red glowing thing been fitted to him, he might have found it slightly more useful, but for now, he only used it to sever weapons that were used to attack him, and the heads of the unfortunate attackers. He figured that, untrained in specific techniques to use it, its use was about equivalent to a Roman gladius, and thus used it accordingly, using it to slice anything that got too close in two but keeping it close to his body. Instead, he relied on his boots for violently quick kicks to the attackers' heads more than capable of breaking a normal person's neck. Of course, it wasn't like he was engaging any semblance of "normal people." He did not teach Teras Kasi at the Woodian Military Academy for nothing; however, he remained slightly more interested in unloading scalpels than all-out brawls. To that end, his right arm remained busy throwing scalpels at juicy targets like cartoid arteries of the living, that they may faint and die of hemorrhagic shock. The necromanced dead, he tried not to deal with. Soren might actually prove more useful against them, even Ehrell had to admit.

As Ehrell penetrated deeper, he saw an enemy tank column and decided his lightsaber might have a bit more use than originally thought...

((Wellp...I've got some bad news, guys. I'm killing Harrowing indefinitely. Reasoning? Three of them.

Reason one is pretty simple: new job takin' up my online time.

Reason two: I'm gonna have to get a second one that'll take up my entire social life because my parents are || <---- this close to losing the house.

Reason three: I've flat out exhausted my creativity on this one. I can't think of anything else to put up. If my creativity had a fuel tank dedicated to it, it would be running on the E-line. I'll continue to try and be active in other RPs that I'm involved in, but until such time as my brain can concoct a new idea, I will not be hosting another RP for a long time.))