Taylor slowly relaxed her grip on the captain's chair, white knuckles returning to their normal skin color. She had never been one for flying around and fighting in the air. Gun fights on the ground were her thing. She let out a sigh, then let Hestia tend to her wounds as she came up. The remaining pieces of shrapnel and debris were removed, and the cuts were sealed. She was still battered and bruised, but at a much less risk of getting an artery sliced open by a little bit of metal or glass.
"You should have become a gunner instead of a biologist, Amelia." said Taylor, glancing over in her direction and smirking. She flipped on the comms, opening a line to the ground team. "Status report? Is Jason and the Archive secure?"
Frosty was back inside his lofty cabin, ensuring his pet scorpion was fed. The thoughts of what could've happened had he intervened in the ceremony crept into his mind. He really wishes he would've done or said something, but he worries he would've been torn apart on the altar as well. But at the very least, he spared someone from a cruel fate and he felt a bit more at ease because of that. His thoughts were interrupted because someone kept knocking on the cabin door. Looking through the eyehole, he saw that it was Beherit; one of the few sorcerers.
"Mr. Frosty, open up! We have news that you would very much like to hear."
"What is it?" said Frosty through the door.
"Open up and I will tell you!" barked Beherit.
The door opened and Beherit slowly stepped inside. He had a wide smile on his face and his arms were outstretched, ready to give Frosty a hug.
"We have very special news for you, Mr. Frosty! You will be able to rejoin your crew very soon!... [[I]in the lowest pits of Jahannam[/I].]"
Beherit's smile turned into a harsh scowl as he pulled out a steel baton. He forced Frosty onto the ground, and began beating him across the face.
"[B]YOU TRAITOROUS BASTARD!! [/B]Do you know what you just [B][I]DID!?[/I][/B] That pirate filth [B]KNOWS WHERE WE LIVE!![/B] [I][B]THEY KNOW WE ARE HERE!!![/B][/I] For 300 years we've kept this location a secret, and now someone out there knows! [B]AN OUTSIDER KNOWS, AND SOON EVERYONE ELSE OUT IN THIS DISGUSTING GALAXY WILL TOO![/B] [I][B]I OUGHT TO HAVE YOU CRUCIFIED FOR THIS!!![/B][/I]"
The beating continued until someone else stepped in.
"[I]That's enough, Beherit.[/I]"
Moloch stepped in just in time before Frosty's face turned into a yellow pulp. Beherit turned around and glared angrily at Moloch. The only reason Frosty would live past this day is because Beherit was forced to let him live. He put his baton back in his coat and stormed out before giving one last angry look at Moloch. Frosty was left on the floor in pain.
"[I]Can you stand?[/I]"
Fortunately, Frosty's legs are OK, so he stood up without a problem, though he collapsed and had to settle for kneeling because the pain was too much. It felt as if his face exploded, and as such was holding it in his hands. Blood was seeping between his fingers, staining the carpet below.
"[I]Allow me see what he had done.[/I]" Moloch kneeled infront of Frosty and inspected his face.
Frosty's face was in awful shape after Beherit's savage beating. His nose was twisted at an angle it wasn't meant to be bent in, one of his eyes was about to pop out with the other being completely yellow, and his lower lip had a gash in it. On the inside, the nasal bone had shattered, and the maxilla and zygomatic bones had split into two parts underneath the eye that was about to burst. Moloch shook his head as he would have to heal him once again.
"[I]Now, be still. This will only be a minute.[/I]"
As he began healing Frosty's face, he expressed his condemnation of what Frosty had done with the captive.
"[I]Mr. Frosty. What you did was very, very stupid. An outsider knows of this place, and you had set them free before we were able to attend to them. As Beherit said, the location of this planet must and always remain a secret to prevent any other group from having their hands on it. You see, Karbala is a very... strange planet. This planet is 'hidden' due to a psychic shield of sorts around it, thus rendering it visible only to the naked eye. What more is that since there's only one star that gives off so little light, it makes it even harder to physically see this planet. In addition, the darkness surrounding this system allows us to patrol it undetected in the events whatever generic pirate group of the week suddenly decides they want to conquer us. So this planet is ideal for us, Mr. Frosty. We are trying to hide, we are purposefully on this planet for a reason. Reasons you already know, I am sure.[/I]"
His work was done. He removed his hands from Frosty's face.
"[I]Now, do not move your face until the pain subsides.[/I]"
Frosty had so many questions to ask, but wasn't able to due to moving any bit of his face made the pain worse.
"[I]In ten minutes, we depart for Voyak. In the meantime, however, there is something I like to show you. For all the trouble you have had in being here on Karbala, I feel it is necessary to compensate you in some manner. I am giving you a new starfighter, as well as a brand new flight suit and various other important pieces of equipment. Come, I will lead you to the hangar.[/I]"
He led Frosty through the maze-like interior of the flagship all the way to the vast expanse that is the hangar. The hangar was completely empty except for a lone starfighter in the center, as well as several boxes with test dummies set up around the place. Moloch had it prepared in this manner as he wanted Frosty to get accustomed to the gift he would give to Frosty. He gestured to him to climb aboard and turn it on. The cockpit was nearly identical to his previous starfighter, however it had two control sticks at the armrests instead of one in between the legs of the seat. The same mysterious text that Frosty saw whenever he activated his starfighter was also present here, and he still did not know what it meant.
"[I]Do not be intimidated. Our current starfighters share many features as our previous ones did, as well as some many new ones which I would like for you to see.[/I]"
As the flagship began to take off, so did Frosty in his shiny new starfighter as he maneuvered about the wide open hangar. As he moved about, he realized it wasn't being propelled by engines, but rather an anti-gravity drive. He glided forward at a slow pace while also pulling one of the control sticks upward. Without the starfighter changing direction, it floated up until it hit the ceiling. He moved the other control stick, which rotated and spun the starfighter in many directions. Frosty flipped it upside down and began to maneuver around the hangar some more. Again he let go of the controls, making the starfighter float in place while upside down. Inside the cockpit, Frosty didn't feel the gravity shift at all. It's like if it was always relative below him at all times. Moloch spoke to him through the onboard radio.
"[I]For safety purposes, the starfighter is currently unarmed but with a weak laser. I want you to attempt a technique our finest pilot performed before he disappeared: the [B]Death Blossom[/B]. Move towards the center of the hangar, and spin your starfighter horizontally while firing your laser at the mannequins you see before you.[/I]"
Once at the center, Frosty leveled himself with the dummies, and began to spin the starfighter like a top. The moment he couldn't see anything outside the cockpit window due to it being so blurry, he fired his beam. Each mannequin received a fine scorch mark at the center.
"[I]Very good! However, that was a very watered down variant of his technique. Had you performed the [B]real [/B]maneuver, it would have killed us all. Still, feel free to continue flying around. You still have time until we reach Voyak.[/I]"
Frosty was anxious to meet the crew again. It's been too long since he's been in good company. He thinks of what he would tell the crew. Should tell them about Karbala and the ceremonies? What about what he learned of himself? Or how much he [B]really[/B] does not want his memories back knowing he was once part of a horrible group of people? The thought that the crew might hate him by extension if they knew about CoG also bothered him as it meant losing the only friends he had. If only he knew that he wasn't the only one in CoG who would be joining the crew...
Maddox opened up the comms channel. "Yes ma'am, mr. Bradley is a little bit shaken but otherwise fine. Mercy is keeping an eye on him. Archive is also secured and in pristine condition."
"Hey uh, Maddox? can you grab one of those OBS rifles?" Jason said while being helped by Mercy on his wounds. he then turns to Mercy.
"Got a name?"
"I'm on the phone, nigga." Maddox jokingly responds.
After the air battle had been concluded, Hestia took an moment to refresh her systems and calculations while treating Taylor's wounds.
Making an brief pause before continuing her work, mending the right lower side of her back after carefully removing an shard of steel.
"Captain Caine," Hestia said while cleaning up a particularly nasty gash, "could you and Mister. Jackson make your way towards to medbay? Your wounds require further treatment when possible"
Hestia asked claimlly of Taylor and just loud enough for Owen to hear. Hestia then spun her head in Amelia's direction.
"Fine work, Miss Weinheart. Though do I prefer if you can please stay along and help me with Muramasa's medical operations. I would hate to see you end up like poor Sir Va'un." Hestia said with a caring tilt of her head.
[QUOTE]"Yes ma'am, Mr. Bradley is a little bit shaken but otherwise fine. Mercy is keeping an eye on him. Archive is also secured and in pristine condition."[/QUOTE]
"Good. Get him and the Archive out of there ASAP, then we can finish this op." responded Taylor, before releasing the comms switch. She flipped over to the intercom, and decided to check with Bucky. "How's the ship holding up, Bucky? Think she'll last till we can get out of here?"
[QUOTE]"Captain Caine," Hestia said while cleaning up a particularly nasty gash, "Could you and Mr. Jackson make your way towards to medbay? Your wounds require further treatment when possible."[/QUOTE]
"It'll have to a quick run. We still have to finish this op. Owen needs treatment more than I do." said Taylor, motioning to the pilot sitting in front of her.
Maddox nodded. "Roger that captain. Maddox out." Maddox then grabbed one of the OBS rifles lying in the mud. He looked at Jason. "Not sure what you want with this but I can tell you right now that firing it would have a good chance of making it explode in your face. The mud alone is enough to jam some of the components but the acid water, oh boy."
Hariim opens a channel to the squad and the Muramasa. "Hariim checking in. Area appears secure. Zero return on sensors, all hostiles dead or accounted for. Will keep my eyes out. Maddox, let's set up a perimeter for 300 meters, and check our blind spots while we're here. We don't want surprises."
Mercy, now tending to Jason's wounds and softly humming. She stops for a moment and tilts her head up as he asks:
[quote]"Got a name?"[/quote]
"Oh, me? I am Mercy, zhe doc-" She bites her tongue slightly as she says this, "Zhe, ehm, medic, even." She says, ending with a sigh. She clears her throat, looking down to go back to work on Jason. "And, if I did not mishear, you are... Jason, correct?" She says, her voice clearly not as enthusiastic as before.
[QUOTE]"And, if I did not mishear, you are... Jason, correct?"[/QUOTE]
"Yes Ma'am, world's finest" Jason had a small chuckle at the end, taking out his VRI and admiring its glorious design, he looks at Mercy again to continue their conversation
"So when did you join the crew?"
-snip-
((Ayr blood is a very murky red, like almost black red.))
[quote]"So when did you join the crew?"[/quote]
"Well, I, er, joined zhe crew of zhe..." She stops for a minute, racking her brain to think, "...Zhe... Muramasa, I zhink it was called, just today, actually. Or, officially, anyways. And good [i]lord[/i] what a day it has been..."
Mercy then goes on to explain the day's earlier Op, involving fighting shitbeasts and nearly getting blown into "itty-bitty chunks" while she continues working on Jason's wounds.
((hooray for me trying to actually become active and not just fucking MEME AND PROCRASTINATE))
"Woah. I guess two of us had one hell of a day huh?" Jason replies to Mercy with another small chuckle at the end.
Jason explains to Mercy about how he escaped, nearly gets killed by a group of kanads, how he stole the Major's truck.
Maddox did a thumbs up towards Hariim. "Hoorah on that."
Wilson guided the Cascade into an open patch of ground, using proximity scanners to ensure that the dropship wouldn't set down on top of a rock or anything of that nature. The away team, having reached the conclusion that the kanads had actually retreated, finally returned to the smoking remains of Yadahr's truck and hoisted the Archive out of the back of it. They carted it toward the yellow light of the Cascade's crew compartment, tracking mud and gunk up the ramp in the process, before setting it down in the center isle between the seats which faced each other at either side of the craft.
Mercy and Jason were then able to sit down as Maddox, Jag, Hariim, and Markus all inspected the heavy box they had been working so hard to retrieve, and briefly reveled in their good fortune that they didn't have to haul it out of Yovek airbase themselves. The Black Fleet wouldn't be coming after them anymore, thanks to the sanghvi finally pressing the attack in orbit, but this meant that there was little time left to successfully complete their primary mission on Voyak- to prevent the kanads from utilizing the missiles at Dyatiq. But this would be a concern they would address on the Muramasa, once they had reunited with their comrades. In the meantime, they poured over the Archive's features while Jason received treatment.
CH Estimate: 1/4 (Triage)
[B]Actual: 1[/B]
Roll Failed.
+20 HP
Jason HP: 58/100
Now that the box was under a bright light, the crew could see that its outer surfaces were fairly smooth, appearing scientific in nature rather than military. It was made out of a dark, translucent material akin to glass, but it was likely some form of artificial material, and a faint, mysterious blue glow emanated from within. On closer inspection there seemed to be numerous, closely-packed circuit boards inside, with numerous coolant lines weaving throughout the structure. As to what was powering the box - and it was clearly being powered by something - no clear explanation could be found, as there weren't any visible batteries. Mounted on top, there was a terminal plugged in, but it was clearly an addition made by the UGC team that had been poking at the device back at Yovek, and it was unpowered now.
The ramp retracted behind them and the Cascade rumbled into the sky. Finally, Markus began to relax as the enemy sniper had not fired again. As he slumped back into his seat, Wilson spoke up from the darkened cockpit at the front of the craft. "Alright, everyone, we're going to do this quick and easy- we rendezvous with the Sparrowhawk and drop off the Archive, and then I-"
The door separating the cockpit from the crew compartment suddenly slammed shut, alerting the crew. Muffled, from within, they heard a shrill voice:
"Shtyk a velkar, teres: land dar vessel, oka! Near dar main roadway, teres, kader ket!?"
Wilson yelled in response, and there was a scuffle followed by the shriek of a plasma pistol firing.
At once, the away team was frantically unbelting itself and stumbling over the Archive in their efforts to get to the cockpit, completely dumbfounded as to how this was happening. The enemy had somehow gotten into the craft without anyone seeing, but that couldn't be possible, could it? They pounded against the door, but it was locked and could only be opened from the inside. Jag then stepped up, throwing its limbs against the door to puncture it and pry it away from its hinges. The Cascade lurched forward and to the side, throwing the sanghvi off momentarily as the G-forces pulled, but eventually Jag succeeded in pulling the hatch open the wrong way and revealing a peculiar sight:
The commando inside was wearing a skin-tight suit made from an odd, honeycomb-textured material, with an advanced-looking device on her back. The whole ensemble flickered with various shades of yellow light momentarily before the kanad [I]completely vanished,[/I] gun included. Hariim, who had picked her up on his sensors as soon as the door was breeched, now found himself unable to track her. Things were becoming more clear, in more than one sense. Meanwhile, Wilson hung onto the controls, trying to maneuver the dropship as blood trickled from a wound in his side.
"Back off!" her voice squawked, and it was unclear which direction she was pointing her gun. "Shkut - sit - or he die! You die! We takar die, rah!"
Hariim cycles through his full spectrum. RADAR, LADAR, LIDAR, Thermographic filters, IR, EM shift detectors, and wireless device probing. His full suite is designed to defeat the most common modes of cloaking. If it's a meta-material system or another light-bending system it will still show up on RADAR and EM-band analysis. Even LADAR would show light bending, thus revealing the presence of a reflective or bending cloaking field. His computer infiltration implants and tools scan all local frequencies for any sign of any wireless device he can hook into that he hasn't seen before. Through the process of elimination he peers as hard as he can into the surrounding space.
Hariim sets his rifle's slugs to post-impact detonation so that they will explode inside their target after penetrating in side of her. Airbursters; lovely versatile weapons.
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"Hariim." Whispered Maddox over the comms. "Make her suit go haywire. Do not engage with airburst ammo, it could wound or kill Wilson."
Still whispering, Maddox glanced at Markus from under his visor. "Koval, as soon as hell breaks out, throw onemof your knives. Make it count."
Meanwhile Maddox slowly pressed a button on his wrist when the commando wasn't looking, broadcasting the feed from his helmet camera to the Muramasa.
Markus had left his rifle in the passenger compartment but leaning against the wall he reached to the back of his combat vest, slowly pulling a knife out and gripping it securely.
His eyes met Maddox's and he e nodded in confirmation.
"Shit, its one of those cloaker fucks who got me jailed... What can i do to help, Maddox?"
Jason whispered to Maddox as both Jason and Mercy are now crouched with Jason's slightly injured arm still around Mercy's neck.
"Already scanning the local space, Mad. Burster rouds are set to detonate [I]inside[/I] target, Wilson ought to be fine." Hariim replies over the squad's comms, to the world outside his helmet he is as quiet as space itself.
Jag held itself still in the cockpit, using its senses to detect this Kanad agent.
Ready to propell itself towards the frist sighting it had.
Hariim:
CH Estimate: 5/7
[B]Actual: 6[/B]
Roll Passed.
Using the sensors integrated into his suit, Hariim unleashes an array of different scans, searching for a method to thwart the enemy's cloaking device. Having been in this sort of situation before, he expected one of several "common" forms of stealth technology, but was actually surprised by the results: thermographic techniques returned confusing readouts- the enemy nearly blended in perfectly with the cockpit behind her, but had an odd, tessellated distortion around her. RADAR and LIDAR readings seemed to find a "hole" in the picture, rather than an object, where the enemy was standing. Shift detection was likewise difficult to read; although it was obvious that some sort of interference was taking place, it was impossible to determine the shape of the object concealed by the cloak. Hariim couldn't tell, for example, which direction the kanad was pointing her gun.
Trying to get into the device wirelessly proved impossible as it was not connected to any network, and so there was no simple off-switch to trigger and solve this dispute immediately. Hariim could only detect her comm system, which wasn't currently engaged. Despite this, Hariim was confident that he could neutralize the target, especially with help from his teammates. His airburst rifle was already configured for the ideal shot. "You will sit!" the kanad's voice squawked one more time before Hariim pulled the trigger.
Hariim: [B]6[/B] x 1.5 x (No Feat Applicable) = [B]9 DMG[/B]
The blast caught the commando off guard, as she was actually expecting compliance. In fact, it seemed almost insane for someone to take on a hijacker who was ready to kill the pilot. Nonetheless, the shot missed the kanad's body by inches, thanks to the distortion fields the suit was creating, and instead struck the device on her back, exploding within and piercing her back in several places. Instantly, the cloak was disabled, revealing the commando's arched back form, her pistol knocked off center, hovering inches in front of Wilson's nose. Before she had set back to fire, Markus flung his knife at her. It would need to be a perfect throw; otherwise, disaster would strike.
Markus: [B]6[/B] x 3(Ambusher) = [B]18 DMG[/B]
It wasn't perfect. The knife struck the enemy perfectly, yes, but it wasn't a killing shot. The blade slipped between the kanad's ribs and quickly came loose with a splash of cherry-colored blood. "Shnkaaaaah!" the commando yelled in frustration as she centered the pistol and shot Wilson in the head.
CH Estimate: 3/4 x 2(Malevolence) = 1
Roll Passed.
[B]Total Incapacitation.[/B]
With a flash and a shriek, the VRI tore the top of Wilson's head off and killed him instantly with a spray of grey matter that coated the windscreen of the Cascade, which was now tumbling out of control. Jason, still wounded, tried to pull his own VRI out of its holster while standing up straight, and Jag was thrown from its feet through the opening into the cockpit by the sudden roll of the vehicle. Neither could have prevented Wilson's death, but as soon as the Jag had regained balance, the sanghvi shot an arm forward at the commando.
Jag: [B]8[/B] x 1.5 x Dismemberment(CH1/2, 2, Passed, x2) = [B]24 DMG[/B]
The kanad was impaled by the sanghvi's talon- she stood there, frozen in place for a moment immediately following her short-lived victory, a mixture of shock and doom in her eyes as her insides audibly squelched around the rocky appendage's presence. Jag simply retracted its arm in disregard and focused instead on getting control of the falling dropship.
[B]Enemy Eliminated.[/B]
((React however you're going to react. My next update will be the end of the Voyak mission.))
Hariim immediately snags the controls with his implants and has the auto-pilot level out the Cascade and get it on-course for its proper destination. "Frak me."
Fuck, Wilson's down!" Yelled Maddox. When Jag took care of the commando Maddox lunged towards the pilot seat and unfastened Wilson's body before dragging it into the rear of the ship.
"Hariim, seats's all yours."
When Wilson was killed and the ship rocked unexpectedly he had lost his footing and tumbled back into the cargohold.
When he had regained his balance the ship was already leveled out and Maddox came dragging Wilsons body along.
"Shit..." he muttered for himself before sitting down and taking out his communicator, "Captain, this is the away team. We 'ad a uhhh..." he glanced at Wilsons body, "situation on the dropship. That Wilson fella got wasted proper by one o' them cloakin' cunts. Tell the boss we got our new employee on board as well as this bloody box o' hers. An' ya better tell 'er that this payout 'ad better reflect the fuckin' workload, a'right?" he concluded and put down the communicator.
He slumped back into his seat again and relaxed.
Maddox simply shook his head and covered up Wilsons face with a blanket from one of the onboard medkits. He looked at Jag and pointed at the dead kanad. "Destroy anything on her person which could be a tracker or transmitter."
He looked back at Wilson. "We've lost one too many as it is."
Jason was still in shock and disbelief as Maddox drags Wilson's dead body at the back of the cascade where Jason and Mercy are. Jason grabs a tarp from one of the storage compartments and then covers Wilson's corpse as he cannot bear to watch anymore. Jason makes his way back to a still-shocked Mercy.
"I hope that guy lived a happy life, shame it had to be in my rescue too." Jason spoke as he returns his injured arm around Mercy's neck again.
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