"Understood." Varn opened up the face-plate to his helmet and lid a cigar. He started to slowly walk towards Lion's position. Clutching the tags in his hand.
Lion took the hand. "Thanks." He dusted off his plates. "One of Saw's men I assume?"
"Sort of." The Agent replied, he saw the injured merc walking towards both along with the Captain.
"Hawk." Agent said, earning a raised eyebrow from Jeremy.
((Elaborating on what Lion clarified, Valkyrie is a package for the Knight armor system which assists with carrying heavy equipment, which also has an emergency function which can allow a falling crew member to land safely in lieu of a parachute.))
Yanim was laying on her back in the shade of the Archius. The drone had done its job, sending her high into the air as she requested. The high vantage point made it too difficult for the armored vehicles or heavy guns to track her, but a direct hit from her own heavy weapon was also unlikely. Luckily, Yanim's focus and cool trigger finger allowed her to zero in on one of the vehicles and pull off the trickiest shot of her lifetime. The recoil pushed her backward, and she tumbled end over end toward the top of the ship. Going spread eagle, she managed to slow the roll and direct her feet toward the ground just in time for the airmobile pack to do its job. She landed hard, as the system was designed, but a lightning bolt of pain from her earlier wounds caused her to drop the railgun and crumple over, sliding off the sloped deck toward the ground. Again, Valkyrie kicked in right before she hit the sand, saving her life a second time.
Battered and exhausted, she watched as the chaotic scene unfolded all around. Within minutes, the crew had achieved victory, and she sneered in relief as she summoned a drone to carry her to the medical bay.
The Agent deactivated the helmet worn, depressurizing it then unhooking the straps. A girl in her thirties appeared in front of them. Hair decompressed as she moved some strands.
"Major Greene?" Jeremy asked.
"I'm not a Major right now, I'm just doing Harken Saw favors." She curved her lip.
"I'll be damned." Said Lion as he sat down on a dead merc. "Nice shooting back there."
He then opened up the comms channel. "Attention all Archius personnel, danger is over. We won."
Varn knelled down to the merc Lion was sitting on and pulled off his tags. "Zevran Smalt. Shame, he had potential." he though as he read the name, he tossed the tag away. "So you were the surprise Saw had for us. Good thing you came when you did."
"Someone had to keep watch somehow." She said, slinging her carbine over. "If anything, I've seen enough to know that a lot of people are on your ass." Kira observed around the defunct havoc.
"In any case, thanks for the help Major." Lion did a quick salute before he went back to Roughrider. The ship slowly took off and returned to the Archius hangar.
"What a mess..." Said Lion as he observed the hangar area. "Looks like I'm going to be busy for several hours."
(Crap, I missed that whole thing, can I just say Pippin was in the backround missing every shot?)
[QUOTE=liberalllama;48240654](Crap, I missed that whole thing, can I just say Pippin was in the backround missing every shot?)[/QUOTE]
[How about he did better than the Duroma shootout and he feels proud?]
(Okay then, it's your call)
Kira saw the now dead Bromun laying, sand was already covering inches of his body.
"You know these guys?" She turned to Jeremy. "Not really, I barely know them." The Captain stated, he saw the tank moving closer as he took a peek.
"Nice war machine Kira. I didn't know Agents can command one of those." Jeremy remarked earning a chuckle from Kira.
"HarkArk Bear Tanks. Huge, enough to destabilize a force."
[Just to update our story progress we're almost to the end folks. Only thing is 1. State Sec. 2. Rescue Viper. 3. Final Confrontation.]
[Don't sell Pippin or his abilities short.]
Varn looked at the Roughrider as it ascended. "I could have used a pickup." He saluted Jeremy and the major and started to slowly walk back towards the ship. On the way back he picked up some "trophies". Bromun's helmet and Sasha's smg. He tied them and the tags to his belt. He passed by the destroyed ATD "Yanim is gonna beat me to death with her cane, when she finds out I wrecked the ATD."
Varn eventually made it back to the ship, by that time the haze had worn off and the damages from the brutal beating he received had caught up to him. His pace slowed down, he barely made it to medical. He entered through the door and collapsed on the floor.
Lion had just finished repairing most of the damage to Roughrider when Varn's vitals flatlined for a moment.
Lion used the Archius secuirty systems to locate Varn's signal, he was just outisde the medbay. With all the speed he could muster to run to his fallen comrade.
He reached the outside of the medbay and found Varn face-down on the floor.
Lion kneeled down and turned him over. "Varn! Status!" No response.
Lion was about to remove Varn's helmet when his armor's emergency systems kicked in, retracting it automatically. "That helps."
He made sure that Varn wasn't swallowing his tongue before putting his right hand on his chest.
"Let's hope this works." A weak humming sound could be heard as Lion charged up his robotic hand with several volts. "Clear!"
He discharged a electronic pulse right above Varn's heart.
The sudden shock brought Varn back to the land of the awake. The surprise send him into a panic mistaking the help from Lion as an attack. He instinctively grabbed the hand of his would be assailant and tried to brake it. After a few seconds, he realized what was going on and released the hold. "Ehh...sorry Lion." the pain reminded him of it's presence. He just gritted his teeth "Help me up to the bed."
Lion's motorized arm adapted and begun rotating as Varn twisted it before suddenly letting go.
"Ehh...sorry Lion."
"No harm done, don't worry."
Varn then gritted his teeth. "Help me up to the bed."
"Up you go." Said Lion as he pulled Varn up from the floor and stabilized him. "I'll walk you to the bed."
With Varn's left arm behind his neck, Lion supported Varn all the way to one of the more private beds in the medbay.
Varn lied down and Lion hooked up him with a device that administered painkillers. Lion opened up his right thigh and brought out a small syringe with a pistol-like grip. "Don't move."
The needle hit Varn's neck and Lion injected it contents before putting it away.
"Healing nanobots, you'll get better in no-time."
Moments later, a drone supporting Yanim from under her arms entered the medbay and stopped at one of the first aid stations. Obviously her condition wasn't as serious as Varn's, so she didn't need a bed. She unlatched the helmet-like attachments to her mask and placed them on the table next to her- a piece of debris had hit the crown of her head and deflected away; she was lucky it hadn't been lower.
In a small mirror on the counter, she could see the dried blood caked to her cheeks all the way down to her scarf from her perforated eardrums. She snapped her fingers close to her head and heard nothing on either side aside from the ringing of tinnitus. She took a long sigh, it would be a while, maybe days, before her hearing would return. A small monitor near the station had already identified the source of her injuries based on their type; it requested an internal imaging scan of her head, which she reluctantly agreed to.
A robotic arm extended from the ceiling, circling her head with a small device which analyzed the structures inside of her cranium. Although the images were displayed on screen, she wasn't sure what they meant until it requested one of Joseph's attendants discuss the results with the patient. She couldn't believe it- she had been struck only once, and this was the consequence?
Lion noticed Yanim had entered the medbay. "Be right back, Varn." As she was being briefed on her injuries Lion approached. "Nice shot out there." He switched to kanad. "[How are you holding up?]"
The nanobots eased the pain as they started repairing the torn muscles and cracked bones.They should last for several hours before they dissolved in his bloodstream. One of the negatives of his conditions is that he could never take full advantage of nanotechnology. "Thanks Lion."
"Be right back, Varn."
"Take your time. I'm not going anywhere soon." Personally, Varn couldn't wait until they got off Duroma. This dusty rock was getting on his nerves.
Yanim stared back at Lion briefly, unsure of what to say because she didn't hear the question. After a moment of hesitation, she answered in slurred Kanad, "[I think I've lost hearing.]" She pointed at her helmet. "[No ear protection, it's my fault...]"
She was unsure of whether the nanobots Lion just used on Varn would be any help, or if they would be safe to use while her cybernetics were still new. It was frightening.
Lion nodded and mimiced with his mouth "Let me help." before slowly approaching her as a small light appeared to the side of his head.
As Lion began to process the information now displayed on the monitor, a medical attendant came available and joined him. The two of them had a short conversation, Yanim looking on tiredly in confusion as their words literally fell on her deaf ears. Finally the attendant swiped his finger across the monitor panel and enabled a speech-to-text application.
"Miss Sidikan, we're, uh, looking at the charts here," the attendant began, "and it looks like the blast you were in, uh, caused some severe damage to your inner ear beyond the drum- and going by the literature we've got on kanads here, uh, what we've got from your government..." Lion gave the attendant a look which urged him to get to the point.
The attendant sighed. "Kanad ears are supposed to be protected because the drums are thicker, better suited to swimming in deep water. Everything behind the drums is so delicate and miniscule compared to the human ear that I wouldn't recommend even attempting reconstruction. The potential for complications are too high. You should probably look into auditory implants; your nerves are intact and I can see you at least have some experience with that sort of thing as it is."
Jeremy entered through the hangar and saw the wrecked interior seeing what the mercs have done to the place. "Shit, Byron's gonna be pissed." Jeremy said to himself as he walked with Kira. "Why are you exactly here? Don't you had military affairs to attend to?"
The question felt like a classified one but this was Harken Saw who hired her as a guard of some sort, plus she was made to protect the Archius so it might be important to tell them all things. She tilted her head. "When you guys left I was excused by Harken Saw to be on leave for the meanwhile. He spoke to me about an assignment since I did kept you on watch last two weeks."
She explained, kneeing down to find fresh blood on the ground, rubbing it against her armored fingers.
"He made me an honorary Agent, asked me for one assignment: Protect the Archius XI." She turned, wiping the blood.
"Good news for us." Jeremy replied as he received a nod. "You have a ship somewhere?" Jeremy asked.
"I do."
"Good, right now we should pack up and leave this place. We're attracting too much attention and I will not have another merc assault." Jeremy said.
"Agreed."
Lion nodded before motioning for the medical attendant to leave. "I'll keep an eye on her, don't you worry."
The attendant nodded. "Of course, sir." He then left.
Lion looked at Yanim before picking up a tablet. He wrote down everything the doctor had said in kanad before handing it over to Yanim.
Yanim understood a fair amount of what she had read in English, but seeing it in Kanad allowed the reality to set in. She thanked Lion for translating it all, wincing a bit as she worried about infection. It was only one of many thoughts giving her anxiety after a particularly stressful few days- she wondered if changing any of her decisions during the previous week would have somehow prevented the current circumstances. She remembered that she was the one who suggested stopping on Duroma and was flush with regret.
Breaking her silence, she sneered as she recalled the mark on her helmet. "[Did you see this?]" she asked. She held the damaged plate up to Lion.
"Hyushya," replied Lion, "[looks like things could have been worse.]"
"[All things considered,]" Yanim slurred out, "[I shouldn't complain. I'll be okay, I just need to wrap my head up and get some sleep already.]"
Iska had been able to avoid almost all kinds of damage, even tho she was a bit bruised and dirty. She sat down on a crate in the hangar and looked out over the dunes and the remains of the carnage. She lit a cigarette.
She let out a sigh of relief, as she was still alive to go home and bury her father. Suddenly she remembered sending her confession to Bubal. Iska put her hand on her cheek and blushed a little, to which she then let out a loud laugh, she hadn't felt like this since she was but a little girl.
Iska continued to sit alone and enjoying the silence after the battle.
[QUOTE=Damian0358;48217357][I just want you guys to know that I'll be traveling to the Czech Republic by car in the midmorning. I'll be gone for the entire day, so, have fun with this entire sequence.][/QUOTE]
[Well, this is awkward. We arrived in Czechia to find the internet was out. Just had it fixed. Can I ask for a TL;DR? This combat sequence is a bit messy.]
[QUOTE=Damian0358;48258815][Well, this is awkward. We arrived in Czechia to find the internet was out. Just had it fixed. Can I ask for a TL;DR? This combat sequence is a bit messy.][/QUOTE]
[Mercs arrive in waves, Lion and Iska go by Roughrider to charge through the convoy, they get hit on a dune. The Agent has a tank to counter offend the convoy, Varn and Jeremy defend the ship. John Riker dies. Varn kills his ex-wife, convoy is weakened by the tank. Bromun goes to Varn. We have a fight scene which results in Varn winning but barely. The fight ends and its revealed the Agent is Kira Greene sent to protect the crew at all times.]
Pippin wiped the sweat and dirt from his face. "Good to see you again major." He shouted from across the hangar.
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