Starpath: Scoundrels of the Interstellar Highway - Thread 2 - Games

Joseph ducked under the gun before it connected with his face. That was new. He barely dodged out of the way of Valk's attacks that followed, the plasma singing the armor as it connected. Now it was his turn. He raised his sword and swung, aiming to disarm her. --- [QUOTE]After you, then.[/QUOTE] Seth nodded and took point when they entered the prison. They walked a certain distance before they could hear sounds of fighting coming down the hall. "Better move fast."

Sarok managed to slam the hilt of his sword into Mercury's ribs, allowing him to temporarily get out of the merceneray's hands. Meanwhile Warren managed to snap the neck of the bodyguard using his legs, however the SDF lieutenant was still cuffed to the wall. The remaining bodyguard chuckled and raised his rifle. Sarok prepared to strike once more. "Now you will die!"

[QUOTE]"Better move fast."[/QUOTE] Taylor motioned Seth to run, before herself running with her pistol at the ready. Hopefully they'd make it in time. Wouldn't exactly look all that great if they let the POWs die. As they neared the cell where the POWs were being held, Taylor decided to try something risky. As they rounded the corner into view, she dove sideways and fired off a shot at the bodyguard with the rifle. It was something her mother told Ira and her to never do since it boiled down to, as she put it, 'action movie bullshit'. Still, She found that it worked on occasion. Besides, she had seen her mother do it from old holovids online. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Valk glanced up in time to see Joseph's sword swinging towards her. She hopped to the side, narrowly dodging it, before counterattacking with her own swing. She viciously swung her plasma sword, arcing it upwards at an angle across the chest plate of his power armor.

Seth stepped into the room after Taylor dived in. First thing he noticed was the fanatic holding a blade to Mercury's throat. He didn't hesitate. He aimed the gun and fired at Sarok, emptying the clip in his body. Mercury looked shocked for a second before he realised what had happened. He thought he was dreaming. That he started to hallucinate. But no, Seth was standing then and there, the only difference about him was the eyepatch. "Boss?" He stammered out "Is that you?" "Kept you waiting, huh?" Seth went over to his brother and began to unlock his restraints. "Can you walk?" "Fraid not." Mercury pointed towards his legs. Mangled and look like they were chewed on. Seth put two and two together real quick. If his kids caught up to him, Stanislav had better hope they end him quick. --- Joseph anticipated the move, but not in time. He managed to move, but the plasma had cut through part of his armor. Luckily, it was just part of the plating. Everything else would function fine. She was an...adequate opponent. He had to admit. But he wanted to end this so he could turn his attention to the abominations again. Attacking her over and over might was proving unproductive. So perhaps he could use her own aggression against her. He readied himself for another strike, look weakened, bait her to attack. He grinned under his helmet. The arrogant bitch won't see the counter coming.

As Seth tended to Mercury, Taylor went to help the SDF Lieutenant. She got the key from Seth, and managed to unlock the restraints binding Warren to the wall. As Warren slipped his hands out of his retraints, Taylor planted two more shots into the bodyguard that she had shot moments before. Just to be sure. She glanced over and noticed that another bodyguard had been killed just prior to their arrival. Warren must have surprised him. "Nice job." she said simply, as she picked up the guard's rifle and handed it to Warren. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Wow, you're pretty fucking shit at this!" said Valkyrie, grinning wildly. "And you're supposed to be some kind of Knight!?" She readied herself as she soon saw him ready up for another attack. She was going to attack first. She swapped the sword into her off hand, and lunged forwards into a stab. Aimed for his midsection.

Warren grunted as Taylor freed him. "Thanks." He glanced at the crew from the Atlas gunship. Only two of them were still alive. After freeing the surviving crewmembers and collecting the dogtags of those who didn't Warren fell in line. "You SDF?" He asked Taylor.

[QUOTE=Viper123_SWE;52974296]Sting, you take point. Ravis, I want you covering the right. I got left.[/QUOTE] Ravis nodded, priming his rifle for another round of combat. "Y-yeah, whatever you need!" --- [B]Seloveha[/B] The hired shuttle sat down in the middle of the mandala-like marina city which greeted foreign tourists. Here, against a backdrop of stunning azure ocean and sky, the glimmering white structure deceived the eye. No one would ever guess that a war was being waged below the surface. The shuttle opened its doors, releasing Constantine, Neasha, and Nir onto the landing pad. Beshyem, Myaga, and Zeddai stood by, ready to greet them, both sides protected by their security detail as a formality. However, it was immediately obvious that the two groups were greeting one another like old friends. The awkward questions over the supply of further weapons would need to wait; first, they both needed time to learn of the other sides triumphs and setbacks since the last time they met. Most importantly, the TBC group would need to prove that the drastic change in leadership would not affect the company's loyalties or output. "We are winning this war, you know," Zeddai casually announced. "It won't be much longer, and when it's over we'll be looking for continued support for the new regime." "Well then," Neasha replied, "we're at your service."

[QUOTE]"You SDF?"[/QUOTE] "I was. I'm a merc now. Actual SDF are outside with the Boomes fighting Creed. You guys good to go? Might get messy on the way out." said Taylor, looking from Warren to the others.

Sting grinned and pumped her revolvers excitedly. With the subtlety of a bulldozer she walked right into the room, "If y'all want to say some prayers to your god ya oughta say em now." She shouted. "Cause I'm here with my god an' his name is General Robert E. Lee!" Premptively, Sting let her revolvers loose on whatever dark corners potential creed soldiers could be hiding.

The gunship commander nodded. "Lead the way." Warren checked the Creed carbine and took up point in the back, placing his injured comrades between him and Taylor. --- Inside the command center several Creed techs raised their heads un confusion only to witness Sting unleash hell on the occuppants of the room. A pair of Crusaders placed on each side of the door quickly raised their rifles only to be gunned down by Iron and Ravis. Iron activated a flash which temporarily blinded two other guards whom were then dispatched by Ravis. The last technician unholstered his pistol and fired a grazing shot which struck Iron in his right arm. Before he had the chance to fix his aim Sting made quick work of him. As the technician collapsed his hand activated a large hologram. Iron looked at the hologram which appeared to be a timer of sorts. "This is bad." The timer ticked down to zero. --- "Incoming jump signatures, lots of 'em too!" Yelled the tactical officer onboard the bridge of the Redstar. Zhaneys stroked his beard. "Do we know who they are?" "It's the enemy." --- In an instant dozens of Creed vessels appeared in orbit around Zyus II. Zealot Hector Roth, now scarred from his recent battle with the Trans-Sentience Cult, hailed Stanislav. "Brother, are you there?"

[QUOTE]Brother, are you there?[/QUOTE] "I am here, brother Roth...It is good to hear your voice." Stanislav was having a hard time keeping his pace. The wound was beginning to take its toll on him. "I will be at the end of the tunnel soon and I'll meet you on the bridge of your ship soon after, don't worry about me. Pray for the heretics instead. Soon, they will find a good reason to fear god." --- 'Using your off-hand, huh? Your arrogance will end you.' Joseph gripped the hilt of his sword and sidestepped Valkyrie's assault catching her by surprise. Now was the time. He quickly raised his sword and brought it down on her arm, cutting through elbow pad, flesh and bone like they were paper. Blood splattering his armor and her screams filled the air. As far as he was concerned, this fight was over. Now he would turn his attention to more worthy opponents.

As Joseph turned to tend to other matters, Valk's voice sounded off yet again. She was done screaming. At least in pain, that is. [highlight]"[I][B]DON'T YOU GO ANY-FUCKING-WHERE, MOTHERFUCKER.[/B][/I]"[/highlight] she barked. She gathered herself, picking up her plasma sword from the ground with her right hand. Blood spurted from the open wound on her arm, but wouldn't for long. Maybe it was the adrenaline telling her to do it. Maybe it was just gut survival instinct. She she lifted the plasma blade up to her nub of a left arm, leting the plasma bathe the wound. She gritted her teeth, a few curses seeping through them as the hot plasma cauterized the wound. A moment later, it was finished. The wound had stopped bleeding, scorched shut by the green blade. She looked back to Joseph. Her grin was gone. "You and I, we're not done. Oh no. Far from it." she said, her tone rather dark. "And your [I]god[/I] won't save you from what I'm about to do to you."

Roth nodded. "I will be there to meet you." He turned towards one of the Knight Commanders. "Deploy the ground forces!" Within minutes the Creed ships sent a swarm of Omen dropships coupled with a dozen of Saint heavy transports. On the ground the SDF received word that they risked getting boxed in as a massive Creed force touched down on the ground. Apostle hovertanks shielded numerous walkers while hordes of Crusaders formed a wall of metal behind it all. Despite the battle raging below the two fleets maintained their distance with neither side willing to risk a full-on fleet engagement with so many of their infantry forces fighting on the ground.

"You show you have guts. I'll give you that." Joseph remarked."But if you are so intent on spilling them on the ground, I will assists you, melady." He gripped the sword and charged Valkyrie, he swung low, aiming to cut her in half. Nearby Orso was busy going through the group of squires and fanatics coming his way. Shotgun blasts rang out next to him, slowing down the advancing wall, but not stop it. The sides collided once again, engaging in melee. Orso sank his machete deep in the shoulder of a squire before kicking him away. Another swing and it collided with the skull of another. That's when he heard the news of the newly arrived reinforcements. Looking to the distance he could spot the landed forces of the Creed begin to move in. This was beginning to look bad. --- Seth began to lead the team out of the prison. Mercury was helped by the two Atlas crewmembers so he could take point. When they got to the staircase he made contact with Iron again. "Iron. We have the POWs, did you bring down those base defenses yet?" --- In the tunnels, Stanislav had nearly reached the end of his journey. A metal door guarded his exit, only opened with a palm scanner. He just needed to activate it and he could escape to his freedom. As he was about to place his hand, a loud shot rang out and shattered the console. He turned to where it came from and was shocked. "Leaving without saying goodbye, dad?" Alex growled "The family just came back together!"

Iron smashed the last console to a mechanical pulp. Outside the automated defenses went haywire alongside the large defense batteries now left unpowered. "Just did." Replied Iron. --- Praxaz and his team continued to support Orso and Valkyrie inside the compound. Meanwhile Ares and Gladius stumbled upon Seth, Taylor and the PoWs. Ares raised his hand. "Friendlies! Don't shoot!" The soldiers formed a wall around their comrades. Gladius approached Seth. "Commander Rollonso, what's the status of your mission?"

"<This city, Merisola,>" Beshyem explained as the group followed him toward the street car station, "<was built using public funds fifty years ago. To this day, it has not paid for itself. All of the money it has generated through taxes and tourism have gone into maintenance and interest payments whereas the principal remains untouched. As you can imagine, there's quite a bit of excess revenue being generated, and it's going directly into the monarchy's coffers. Or, at least, it was, until we took control.>" "<The city is anchored to a sub-aquatic mountain range,>" Myaga added. "<As impressive as Merisola appears on the surface, there is an even grander city below. Taking control of this port came at a dear cost. You cannot see the signs up here, but the devastation was widespread. But now, we control this land and sea in every direction for dozens of kilometers- the money we generate here will be used to repair the community below. And while we may be far from the capital right now, our comrades have had them under siege for weeks, going on months.>" "We've been eagerly waiting for additional rifles," Zeddai said. "We had hopes by this point that we'd be several shipments ahead." "We were betrayed from within," Constantine replied. "Some of our 'less honorable' crew and officers sold us out to the ayr and kanads, and we spent more than a week trying to escape." "<I remember being told about this, but I've been busy as well; I apologize,>" Beshyem commented. "<I know that a significant number of our recruits were killed in the most recent attack, of course, that's what brought you here. But I had forgotten about the betrayal. That is terrible news...>" Neasha sighed. "I know you've probably experienced this sort of thing before in your own work, but these sorts of operations attract powerful egos. And, unfortunately, these egos sometimes clash." The three melora agreed readily. "But," Neasha continued, "this has allowed us to weed out some of our most problematic workers in the process. Some of them were killed, some of them were jailed, and some of them left of their own accord. We're far more united now than at any point in the past." Myaga looked at her skeptically. "<Even with the loss of Terika herself?>" Neasha had planned her response ahead of time. "Yanim made her life as much of an example as possible. She left behind a company as compassionate as willful as she was." The party boarded a streetcar and began to ride toward the center of the city. Zeddai reached up and activated one of the misting jets located above the seats, cooling him and his leaders. Nir cracked her neck as she settled into her seat next to Constantine. "So, when are you going to tell them about the tank?" she asked, flippantly. "<...Tank?>" Beshyem replied as both Constantine and Neasha looked at each other and their chief of security in bewilderment. "Well," Constantine began awkwardly, "it wasn't exactly relevant right now, but... We recovered a Peacekeeper tank in battle, or, two of them, actually. We gave one to our Muramasa crew to use for their future missions, while we disassemble the other for study. We were thinking, maybe, as a way to drum up investments in the future, we'd design our own model, based on it. But we weren't considering-" "Actually," Neasha interrupted, "I- I'm sorry, you weren't there when it happened," she said quietly to the human as the melora looked on in total confusion, "but... I kind of... asked Mattheus to start designing one for [I]this[/I] conflict." "[I]The hell?[/I]" Constantine blurted as Nir pulled out and lit up a cigarette. "<You're working on an underwater [I]tank?[/I]>" Beshyem asked, incredulously. "<Your assembly lines aren't even moving and you're trying to- how would that even work?>" Constantine was pale, fearing that Nir had just made fools of their company and that their contract would soon be lost. Neasha hung her head for a moment, trying to decide whether to play it off as a joke or to go all-in. She decided on the latter. "Well, basically, it's like this... we keep the engine and armor compounds the same, keep the turret mechanisms the same, but change the means of propulsion into a concealed double-corkscrew arrangement with control surfaces, swap out the ballistic ammunition for gas-launched torpedoes, and waterproof the interior so that it can operate pressure-neutral. "It would basically be a conversion into a tiny submarine," she summarized, feeling stupid. "You'd want to stay close to the ground, maybe on skis." Myaga laughed. "<That's fantastic!>" Beshyem stopped and looked at her as if he didn't know her. She slapped him on the shoulder. "<Just imagine the look on the royal guards' faces if a dozen or two of these came chugging along right into Nagashy!>" Nobody knew what to say. Neasha quickly added- "...but of course, we were just spit balling, the main focus is on small arms." Beshyem, infected by his lover's amusement over the idea, replied with a chuckle, "<don't throw the plans away... Honestly, if you somehow make that work, I would personally pledge my loyalty to your company for the rest of my life. The audacity of it all...>" he commented, shaking his head in amazement. "<You know it's illegal to smoke here, right?>" Zeddai warned after a moment of awkward silence. Nir looked at him disdainfully. "Under whose laws?" she grumbled as she pulled the cigarette out of her lips and grumpily snuffed it out in an ash canister. "Don't want to get arrested for smoking while I help you overthrow your government..." Zeddai looked at Constantine, making a face which clearly communicated "who the hell is she?" Constantine cleared his throat. "...Anyway, we've also been designing torpedo grenades and ballistic vests for meloran body types which we'd be able to put into production as soon as we can get more manpower..."

Valkyrie waited as Joseph charged, planning to time her counter just right. As he swung low, towards her waist, she swung upwards. The plasma connected with the power sword's blade, cleaving through it like butter and sending the end of the sword flipping through the air past her. The blunt edge of his word swung past her, before he realized the weapon had been sliced clean in two. Now it was her time to strike back. She swung twice, downwards at an angle across his helmet, then sideways across his chest. She was gonna cut him out of that power armor. And then have a bit a fun.

[QUOTE]Commander Rollonso, what's the status of your mission?[/QUOTE] "Well, we have a few POWs and two of our team just went after Stanislav down in that tunnel and before you get an idea to go down there, don't! I would stay out of any family matters if I were you. Give them some time to catch up." --- "So this is how it ends is it?" Stanislav looked at his children. "Trapped like a rat with my own son wanting to end me. Wonder if your sister shared the same sentiment." "I've been right behind him, dad." Amy answered. Her helmet had retracted into her armor, allowing her to stare her father straight into his eyes "The answer is yes." "I... never would have imagined that you would follow in his footsteps." Stanislav was wide eyed for a moment, before overcoming his shock. He continued with a remorseful tone to his voice "I see it is too late now. I chose to pursue the enemy instead of seeking you and because of my folly, you fell to the dark." "And he started talking dogma again." "Mock all you want, Alexander. In the end of the day, my failings led to both of you falling off the right path. For that you have my apologies." "Apologies?" Alex was furious "You apologise to us that you didn't turn us into fanatic murderers? You were always demented, but I didn't think you were this far gone. If you should apologize for anything it's for what you put us through. For what you did to everyone you came across. For what you did to mom when she dared to defy you." "Do not bring you mother into this!" Stanislav suddenly snapped. "Hit a nerve did I?" Alex couldn't help but sneer "The one sin you could never forgive yourself for doing. Good." "Who are you to judge me, boy? Both of you! Whatever sin I committed, I did for you! I never wanted anything but the best for both of you! If I could turn back time, I would repeat everything I did so I..." [B][I]BLAM[/I][/B] An ear splitting shot rang out from behind Alex. Stanislav looked down and could see the trickle of blood beginning to flow from his wound. He looked up and could see Amy holding the smoking gun. Before he could say anything else, Alex sank the blade of his sword deep within his gut, the blade sticking out from the other side. "Save it for the man upstairs." He released the grip of the sword and watched his father take a three steps back before collapsing backwards. There were a few moments of silence in the tunnel. It was over. The long nightmare was over. Yet, it didn't feel like victory. --- "What?" Joseph's eyes widened as his sword was destroyed in front of him. How? How did this bitch outdo him? He didn't have time to think about him as the second blow came and shattered his helmet open. The final blow was deep enough to hit the power source of his armor. He fell over, helpless like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. --- Seth received a blip on his comms. "You guys get him?...Good, you got proof that...Alright, good job. If they don't throw you a parade for this, I'll send them shit in a box...No mood for jokes, huh, sorry....Right, we'll wait for you here so we can leave...What's that?...I'll tell em, just hurry back." He looked at Gladius and told him with a complete deadpan "Alex and Amy Koronov wish to tell Sol to graciously go fuck yourselves for allowing this shitshow in the first place."

Valkyrie twirled the plasma sword in her hand, contemplating on what to do next to her helpless foe. "Ahh, so you're a pretty boy. [I][B]Vain motherfucker[/B][/I], I bet." she spat, her eyes locked onto the exposed face of Joseph. She stepped over, and stuck the tip of her plasma sword to the ground. Next to one of his legs. "Now, lets fix something really quick. [I]So you don't try to get away.[/I]" she muttered, before sloooowly dragging the blade across. It slowly burned through one leg, Joseph letting out agonizing screams as she cut. Eventually, she cut through the other, then stopped. "There we are. And now...[I]the arms.[/I]" She stepped up over him, before dragging the blade across each arm in turn. The limbs were sliced clean from the body. Joseph screamed again, quite loudly. "Now, pretty boy. I want you to watch this. Because it'll be [I]the last thing you fucking see in your worthless excuse of a life[/I]." She stepped back down to where his feet had been, and stuck the tip of the plasma sword right between his now scorched nubs for legs. [highlight][I][B]"Scream for me, pretty boy."[/B][/I][/highlight] she said simply, before slowly dragging the blade straight up the middle of Joseph's body. Effectively slicing him in half. He screamed bloody murder, before going silent as her blade cleaved through his chest. Then finally, his head. Valkyrie stepped back. She wasn't smiling, and hadn't been the whole time. Two Creed troops rushed up, however, and saw what she had done to their commander. They tried to attack, but Valkyrie put them down quickly with a few angry swings of the plasma blade. Forcing their corpses to join Joseph's fate. Now, she could press on. She took one last glance at Joseph's carved up corpse, then her own arm that had been sliced off, before heading after Orso and the others.

Praxaz cursed as he watched Valkyrie slaughter Joseph. "That is no woman; it is a demon in a woman's body." Several nearby Legionaires nodded before they resumed fighting. --- Gladius stared at Seth. "Let's move."

Iron, Sting and Ravis cam running down the stairs into the central wing. Seeing Valkyrie walking away and the mutilated corpses she left behind, Sting bumped Iron with one of her elbows, "Now how come we aint never part of all this fun stuff?"

Iron glared at Sting. "You and I have two very distinct thoughts on what's "fun"."

"Hold on for a second, boy scout. Team isn't all here." --- Outside the Creed perimeter began to fold once their leader was brutalized. The combined might of Sol and the mercenaries began to push forwards. Inside the courtyard of the fortress, the last knight-commander oversaw the last line of defense forming to hold the fort. She was intrusted by Stanislav to deliver the final blow of defiance to any force that would storm the base and she would gladly pay her life for that honor. There was no place to run, nowhere to go. She looked to the advancing horde with anger, hate and malice. "Lady Monica." One of her squires came forward "The technicians and engineers have finished with the preparations. We're ready." "Good. Come, let us show these heretics that even in defeat, we are their betters. The last stand of fort Morningstar begins now!" The large garage doors of the compound opened, revealing one last trick the Creed had up their sleeve. The ground shook as its mechanical legs moved the metal beast out from its den. The heavy walker lived again. --- Orso didn't notice that Valkyrie had returned to join up with them until she took a swing at a creed trooper near him. A quick glance was enough to surprise him. "The hell happened to you?...Fuck it, tell me later, we have a sea of assholes to swim through and they just landed more!" He pointed to the direction of the newly arrived Creed reinforcements. "Pay them back with interest?" --- Alex and Amy emerged from the tunnel to meet up with the team when Sting, Iron and Ravis arrived. The ground and base began to shook. Seth got on his comms "We're still down here you morons, don't bomb this place yet!...What?" Once he was finished he looked to the team "Good news, they aren't bombing us to shit." "What's the bad news, boss?" "Those quakes are from a giant mech under Creed control."

The reclaimer walker, a menacing gift to Stanislav built byt he Fists of Sol, cleared the smoke. SDF soldiers went quiet as they realized what they were facing. Suddenly dozens of laser turrets popped out and began to engage the soldiers while larger turrets focused on the vehicles. Meanwhile the main laser cannon started to hum, signaling that it was powering up... "It's a fucking mech!" Yelled one of the marine sergeants seconds before a devastating laser swathed right through the SDF forces. Alyssa hurried to get her squad into cover. "Stay down! Let the ships take it out!" --- In orbit Zhaneys shook his head. "Tactical, ready the S-MAC. Low density shot. Focus on the walker." The Redstar vibrated as the massive S-MAC was readied. "Gun ready." "F-" Before the order to open fire could be said the enemy fleet bombarded the Redstar with projectiles. Warnings and alarms began to sound as several external generators powering the gun exploded. "The S-MAC is down!" Zhaneys cursed while Kaspar opened up a channel to the commanders on the ground. "Ground forces, prioritize your fire on the enemy walker. We cannot evacuate you before the threat has been destroyed."

"Alright, we have our orders. We need to take that thing down so we can get out of this place. Kids, take the POWs to the ship and guard it, Gladius send some of your mooks for back-up. Rest of us are gonna need to find something big and heavy." Seth looked towards the direction of the garage and then the wing where Taylor found the big gun from earlier. "I think I know where we can find what we need."

Having first made sure that Mattheus was busy, Arkadam crept onto the currently-unoccupied bridge using his biometric signature, and locked the door behind himself. The lights were out, and the surfaces were bathed in the soft blue light of Seloveha, far below, where his comrades were now discussing the company's arms dealing future. But Arkadam, passing by his navigation console and instead sitting in the captain's chair - Yanim's chair - had plans of his own for his fiance's company. Outwardly, he would acknowledge Neasha as its new leader, but in his heart he knew that the time hadn't come to pass on the torch. Yanim was still alive, and it was now his task to see it proven. Step one... Arkadam opened the comm console and began scrolling through the contacts, most of which were unknown to him. But he knew who he was looking for- a former contractor. Yanim had told him enough to know who the power players were. He found it: Argos... Red. With a sweep of his finger he initiated a long-range call to a distant star, and waited for a response. "...Who are you?" a voice replied. The holoprojector quickly assembled Red's image, standing at the opposite end of the bridge as Arkadam reclined in the captain's chair. "You know where this call is coming from," Arkadam answered in a smooth monotone, "and you know that our leadership has changed." "I don't have any business with your company without her," Red replied indifferently. "Our relationship was built on trust, which unfortunately she felt compelled to destroy. The rest of you mean little to us." Arkadam was impossible to read. "Yanim and I were very close. We have a lot in common." "Such as?" "The two of us have both spoken with Starvis." Red stared, silently, before asking more forcefully: "[I]Who are you?[/I]" "My name is Arkadam. I was engaged to Yanim. And now that she's gone, I have an important task. I want to finish what she started. This galaxy ought to prosper. People ought to stop killing each other. Death and destruction suits us lowly mortals poorly, doesn't it?" Red was cautious, as Arkadam's sarcasm was difficult to discern from his earnest message. He chose to be direct in response: "What do you want?" Arkadam smiled in a way which was wholly mechanical. "It's not about what I want, it's about what I have to offer." "Which is?" "I have the third Archive."

[QUOTE=kilerabv;52990889]"Alright, we have our orders. We need to take that thing down so we can get out of this place. Kids, take the POWs to the ship and guard it, Gladius send some of your mooks for back-up. Rest of us are gonna need to find something big and heavy." Seth looked towards the direction of the garage and then the wing where Taylor found the big gun from earlier. "I think I know where we can find what we need."[/QUOTE] Gladius nodded. "Deploying." The hevaily-armored commander moved down the hallway with Ares and his men following closely. Outside Epsilon Alpha tried to mark the walker for an artillery strike using laser optics. This proved impossible as advanced onboard electronics jammed the infrared beam and caused it to bounce off. --- Iron walked up to Alex. "You good?"

Taylor looked back to Seth, then towards the garage. She pondered just what the Creed had locked up in there, just waiting to be used. As for the Armory, that was a different story. "I did see a few missile launchers in the armory. Two people could bring that anti-vehicular railgun out here to use as well." she said, looking back to Seth. "Lets go check out what they've got locked away, shall we?" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [QUOTE]"The hell happened to you?...Fuck it, tell me later, we have a sea of assholes to swim through and they just landed more! Pay them back with interest?"[/QUOTE] "You don't have to tell me twice." responded Valkyrie, eyeing the Creed troops that Orso had pointed out. She wished she had a decent combat mech right about now...and her left arm back. Still, she had to make due with what she had. Which was her sword. As enemy troops neared, she did what she had been doing for the past few minutes. Slicing and carving a path through her foes.

[QUOTE]You good?[/QUOTE] "I'm fine." Alex muttered, avoiding eye contact. "We're gonna take the prisoners back to the ship." He didn't wait for a responce, he just went to help Mercury get up. Amy gave Iron a concerned look. "He's gonna be fine...I think." She didn't know what to say. "You guys focus on bringing that thing down, the roof had a good view of the courtyard, so I can pop a few heads from there, but that's about it" Amy put her helmet back on and went off to join her brother and the others. [QUOTE]Lets go check out what they've got locked away, shall we?[/QUOTE] Seth nodded and opened the entrance to the garage. From their point of view the team could see the large open space where the Creed would use to store their vehicles, now mostly empty. They could see the large door had been opened to allow for the mechanical monstrosity to exit. Even now they could see it's [URL="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starpath/images/7/7f/Fists_of_Sol_Reclaimer_Walker.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/640?cb=20171103205438"]large frame[/URL] operating at its deadly efficiency. At the entrance stood a group of Creed warriors. Three large silhouettes of the golems and numerous smaller armored foes surrounded them. Seth could only have a hunch that those were the part of the last line of defense. Possibly the last knight commanding the forces. If they took them down, they could break the remaining Creed's morale. The fanatics haven't noticed them yet, but that wouldn't last for long. A more careful look around the garage showed that there was a variety of vehicles still not deployed in the fight. Possibly due to a lack of pilots left alive to man them. Trucks, speeder bikes, smaller walkers and even a tank or two. "Between the armory and here, we have options." Seth commented "Suggestions, team?"

Eihboh was surprisingly warm the day the Motchkir arrived carrying Captain Vixe home from Rigel, February 22nd. Yadakhmarot was covered in a sickly smog which hung over the passengers like a wet blanket, and the city skyline was lost behind a greenish-yellow curtain. It made disembarking even more of an unpleasant, shoulder-to-shoulder affair as the passengers rushed to recover their possessions and depart for the safety of interior spaces. Vixe double-checked the airtight seal on her mask before stepping into the sunlight in the queue, wondering what sort of future she had unwittingly attained in the course of her deployment. She had just been psychologically evaluated. It was the third such examination she had received since she arrived on Rigel, and the third that she had failed. Doctors had asked her a litany of questions about her thoughts and behaviors, her logic and her emotions, and they exhausted her each time. It was as if they were searching for something they couldn't find. By the time it was over, she had come to realize that they were trying to redeem her, to find some indisputable evidence that the bravery she had displayed in that one moment aboard the Viokhmar was a trend, a vein of heroism which could be mined further in service to the fleet. But whether or not she had more to give was something they would all have to discover at some future date. On the surface, it didn't seem so bad. Her uniform was crisp and spotless, the stump of her missing ear had healed cleanly and a prosthetic had been neatly installed, and she seemed to carry herself well, answering every question with clarity and with a professional air. It was only once they dug in, treading the line between conversation and interrogation, that they exposed her weaknesses, brought about contradictions, and ultimately found her lacking. Sometimes it seemed as if they were goading her toward safer answers, but she couldn't commit to them, at least not permanently. By the time of the third and final evaluation, staring into the stark white uniforms of the cruiser's resident mental health specialists prompted visions of the flash- the fireball which killed two men outside of Vostokrebh and poisoned hundreds of others with its fallout. She wasn't improving, she was slowly unraveling. She pulled a small container out of her pocket and counted- yes, she had taken her pills that morning. Not just the antidepressants, but the iodine as well... [I][Everything's going to be okay.][/I] She moved down the line toward the platform, where the luggage was being distributed. All around her, she watched for evil, violet eyes. It was no use, it felt as if "Lieutenant Damya" would come calling the moment she dropped her guard. She waited, paranoid, until her luggage was returned to her. She rushed down the concourse to the mag train station and purchased a ticket, anxiously watching the clock and wondering. The real Ryvik Sidikan was somewhere in the city, and she needed to find him and give him his journal, before they could send him away again.