The station is quiet. In the docking bay, what looks like a security team in light armor and brown jumpsuits are loading up a light shuttle with equipment and armor. Ships arrive to transport non-essential personnel off the station for the time being.
Umishi wanders into the area inspecting a gun she found.
Umishi wanders into the area and over to the shuttle area, "Uh..Doubt i could get some of those could i?"
A medium sized transport ship comes in to land, her name clearly showing on her side: AUKAM'S LIGHT. Soon after the engines cycle down, a short, skinny girl steps out of the airlock, her brow furrowed as she looks around.
"'Ey!" Kes calls over to the security team. "Whass goin' on 'ere? How comes peoples's leavin'?" Ah, the direct approach.
Zariel also wanders in, looking a great deal distracted. Enough so that his avoidance of obstacles is slow at best. Or just doesn't happen, as is demonstrated by him cracking his hoof on a crate. "Oops," he mutters to himself absently, before growling, "Where the flying fuck is Fauze with the Fox??"
"'Cause 'ey're meat eaters," Shep explains to Kes as he wanders down the ramp after her. The Solan, for no reason whatsoever, is bedecked in his full combat gear. Axe and grenade bandoleers included. He's got a carrot jammed between his teeth as well, and it currently smolders as if it were a cigar.
A guy overseeing the security detail sees Umishi first. He smirks. "Not unless you're coming with us," he says. He turns at Kestrel's arrival, putting one hand on his sidearm. "Uh ... you were cleared to land?" He seems kind of surprised. "Some kind of experiment failed in the portside laboratories. We've sealed off that section, but we're evacuating non-essential personnel from the station as a precaution. Just engineers and security staff left." The guard looks Kes and Shep up and down. "Doesn't look like you're here to escort anyone to safety."
Kestrel blinks blankly. "...Mack jest now put 'is place up an' people're blowin' it up 'fore s'even done?" she asks, incredulous. "An' yeah, I was cleared ta land, why wouldn't I be?" She honestly seems confused. The Later's brow furrows then. "So, uh. What kind'a failure're we talkin 'bout 'ere? Reckon it didn't jest fizzle if'n yer 'vacuatin'. We talkin' shredded universes 'r jest mutant rats from Kanter knows where?"
She and Shep seem to have just disembarked from a medium-sized transport ship emblazoned 'AUKAM'S LIGHT'.
Umishi whiskers twitch, "Yes i am going to help! What do i need to do?", blinks at Kestral "sounded bigger then a rat.."
"Psionic rift monsters," Zariel calls over, suddenly more aware as he speeds up to join the loading, "I can't really describe what they look like... Anshera says that they've blocked them off in another room. The people who came in from the shuttle are fine but some of the station people have been lost." He pokes his temple a couple times as though to explain before adding, "Do we have adequate worksuits and weapons?"
Shep wanders all the way down the ramp, giving that security dude the bird as he does, "Fuckin' 'ate safeties, mate, jus' takes longer ta get ta the shootin'," he declares. He pauses, then looks at Kes, "'is mean we get ta shoot stuff?" he querries.
"Somewhere in between, I think," says the security chief. "The experiment had something to do with proving you could move something from one universe to another. I don't know how that got to all of a sudden having a half-dozen critters running all over the place eating scientists' heads off." He gives Umishi a speculative glance, then reaches into the crate and pulls out a pulse pistol and a clip. He offers both of them to Umishi.
"...Huh. Sounds like a li'l bit'a both, yep," Kes agrees, nodding. "An' psi. Psh. 'At's right up m'alley, yep." She eyes Shep speculatively, then shrugs. "Reckon it does, Shep. Reckon it does. Guess I better kit up m'self." She purses her lips. "Don' reckon m'rifle'd work too good, prob'ly ain't 'nough space ta work with if'n 'ey're trapped somewheres. Whatcha think, Shep? Handguns?" This is offered as she turns and starts up the Light's ramp.
The Laughing Fox is big, big by anyone's standards. It's not big by perhaps Comorros standards, but as space twitches outside the station and parts to let it through from the OS jump, there is a lot to let through. On the bridge of The Fox, Fauze is perched on the pilots console, manipulating the controls with his feet, wings, tail and anything else he can touch. The freighter turns towards the station and heavy engines push it gracefully forwards. With only, "She handles like a pregnant space whale with only one flipper and no eyes." squeaked in Hekayan, Fauze brings her in to land.
Once the Fox touches down, it's ramp is quick to open. Making his way slowly down the ramp is one rather irritated looking Varal Mikin. Rather uniquely for him, he's wearing some-sort of modern protective vest and is carrying a rather large submachinegun. As if to emphasize his entrance, he chambers a round into the weapon quite noisily. "Situation?"
Willow doesn't seem to like ships, as well, she's not in the bridge. She's stowed herself away in a quieter section of the ship, well, until the ship settles down, then the teen comes following after Varal, dressed in a borrowed armoured vest and a helmet that's a size too large for her. Though she's still carrying a guitar case that's now only secured by only a clip, in leui of any weapons.
Behind Varal comes a gentleman that looks for all the world as if he just stepped out of a black and white detective film. Revolver in hand Pierce makes his way down the ramp after the Mikin, one eye on where he's going and the other on checking the number of bullets in the weapon, "Never fear, Pierce is here," he announces rather boldly.
The security chief frowns. "I'm not going to repeat myself," he says, and gestures to Umishi and Zariel. "You guys explain."
The Lyiri takes the pistol and looks it over before deftly loading the clip into it and testing the grip between hands. Umishi blinks a moment as the fox lands, "We have Psionic rift monsters loose on the station..most of it is sealed off theres a docking bay on the port side if we can get over there."
"Psionic rift creatures," Zariel repeats for the newcomers, "And it's about damn time, I was getting ready to leave without you guys." He strides over towards the Fox. He eyes Pierce briefly but doesn't comment. Umishi then finishes the though for him and he nods, "Yeah, like she says. The docking bay over there isn't finished, so we're likely to need worksuits to get to the airlock. And we don't really know what the creatures are capable of, so keep on your toes. We're going to go in, get as many people out as we can. Possibly kill as many rift creatures as we can in the process."
Varal nods slowly before frowning at Zariel. "I'm not trained to use a worksuit, so we will have to have a special party for any area that requires them. We should have a spare or two in the ship, though I'm not sure if there is one big enough for you." He motions towards the corridor with his weapon and grunts. "Shall we?"
"Bring yer assualt rifle, too," Shep comments to Kes, "And bring free pistols, backup," he adds. The Solan snorts around his carrot when the Fox arrives, "Well, lookit 'eese fuckin' 'ero's," at which point, a bird is flicked in their general direction, "So, where're 'eese fings at? 'Ope the 'ero's can keep up, don't want the fuckin' cannon fodder inna back ranks,"
"Got worksuits, an' we's trained in 'em," Kes offers, before nodding at Shep. She raises a brow at Pierce, snorting derisively after a few moments of quiet disbelief. "Jest stay outta m'line'a fire, Sparky," she replies, shaking her head as she ascends the boarding ramp.
There's a small scuttling sound that announces Fauze, on all fours, climbing down the ramp leading to the Fox. Reaching the bottom, the grey and scarred tupai looks around through his red visor, it shines a blood red in the light and he unfurls his wings and flutters across to perch on Varal's shoulder, his only weapons a pair of knives sheathed on a belt around his chest. He adjusts his visor with the tip of his wings.
"That ain't hard," the security chief says. "You put the worksuit on, it keeps your fluids from coming out your skin, when you're not in space no more, you take it off again. And if you're itchin' to use that thing, then you'd best learn quick, otherwise you're not gonna get to. The landing bay, it's not done yet. Airlock works, but the bay doesn't have atmospheric shielding yet."
Pierce makes his way down the ramp, eyes flicking toward Shep, "Just keep clear, bimbo, just keep clear.." he says before taking a look around, "Suits..where's these suits at?" he asks, one hand settling his fedora a little further down on his head. He glances back toward the skittering Tupai, "Hey, bat boy, thought you said there'd be dames around here...."
At the mention of actually going outside in a space suit, Willow pales and even looks a bit green at the suggestion of it. "I... I'm sorry, I /won't/ go outside," she nervously utters. She unclips the final clasp on the guitar case, and slips her hand inside and withdraws a bottle of pills, before knocking the lid completely shut with her leg. Then comes the unscrewing bit.
Umishi looks between the two ship parties...facepaws for a moment then looks around again. "Okay so we all need worksuits..get as close as we can..then jump in and make our way to the rift creatures."
Varal grins at Shep, but completely without humor. "Please, *professionals*, lead the way. Us *heroes* will do our best to follow in your august footsteps." He seems pretty okay with the perched Tupai.
Fauze can't understand word that people are saying, and he ends up cheerfully daydreaming about various forms of candy.
"Fuck off, we don't have time for you to be pissants," Zariel snarks to both Shep and Varal flatly, "We're all on the same side here, so if you want to help just shut your face and do your fucking job." He checks his pistol and his aluminum bat, before nodding, "They have Hek-sized suits here, I'll be fine. Are we ready to go yet?" The last is directed at the whole room, "I want to get in there before more bad shit happens."
The Light's hatch cycles open once more, revealing Kes for a second time. This time, however, she's got an assault rifle over her shoulder, probably several handguns stowed in various places on her person, and a smoldering cigarette perched on her lip. She's also, notably, suited up in a worksuit. Apparently she believes in being prepared. "'Ey, Shep, I tried ta bring yer suit, but s'almost as heavy as you are," she drawls. She catches the tail-end of Zariel's rant, and blinks. "...Say, you sound like a drill sergeant I once knew back inna fleet..."
"Cannon fodder first," Shep replies, "But if'n yer too scared, fine by me, Ah'll take point," he states. The Solan is taking off his grenade bandolier, as well as his weapons and kevlar, for preparation to get into a worksuit, "Yea yea yea," he tells Kes, disappearing into the light to get his suit on. He reappears safter a moment, kevlar and weapons on the outside of the suit. Zariels rant? Well, he doesn't understand a /word/.
Pierce switches to Hekayan, eyes still on Fauze for the moment, "Hey, babes, broads, dames.." it probably all translates to girls, girls, and more girls in the language though. His eyes fall on Willow at her explanation and he makes his way over toward her, one arm draping over her shoulder, "Don't worry, toots, I've got you covered. It's all a piece of cake."
"There'll be no cannon fodder on my watch," The security chief says. "I'd prefer no one died, thank you much. The rest of my squad will see to that. Far as being outside is concerned, it's not really outside, strictly speaking. Just inside with the wrong window open." He pulls a snub-nosed pulse assault weapon from the crate, slings it over one shoulder, tapes two clips together, one facing one way, one facing another. "Either way, my boat is leaving. If you're coming, I'd suggest you do it now."
Umishi puts her worksuit on being REALLY careful not to catch fur into anything and gos to the secruity shuttle.
Varal frowns. "If we have to go outside a breathable environment, I will be a liability. I'll hold the fort down here, then."
Kestrel raises a brow at Varal. "All ya gotta do is walk from th'ship ta th'airlock," she says. "S'fine inside th'airlock, bay jest don' got no air yet. Might even have gravity." The Later shrugs vaguely, and clomps toward the security shuttle.
The tupai, getting the gist of things now, glides into the Fox, appearing after a short while clad in a tupai 'worksuit', which should really be called an 'anti-flight' suit, and he ends up laboriously dragging himself towards the shuttle, unable to fly in such a thing.
Sheppard snorts at Varal as he follows Kes, "Ah knew it, cannon fodder's always 'fraida everyfin'," he states, shaking his head as he gets into the shuttle, making sure his worksuit is secure.
Willow's shaking, despite the attempt of Pierce's attempts of reassurance. She slowly unscrews the lid of the anti-anxiety medication, and raises the bottle up to her lips and shakes one out, before swallowing it and screwing the lid back on. "I... I'm not going," she utters first in standard, and then in Hekayti. She slips out of the PI's grasp, and heads back into the Fox.
"Well, wait a second," the chief says. "If you all come with is, you could make sure the ship stays okay. You know." he scratches the back of his head. "Just in case."
Pierce watches the TKer move away, "Did I forget the deoderant today?" he asks, sniffing lightly at an armpit as he heads back toward the ship. It's a moment later that he returns, now in a suit close enough to his size.
"Ready when you are, chief," he calls out before stuffing the helmet on his head, effectively mashing the fedora within.
Zariel heads for the shuttle himself, picking up a massive worksuit along the way to put on onboard. The big red Hek is just shaking his head and muttering under his breath. "Take off the damn hat, you tard," he adds Pierce's way sharply.
Kestrel stubs out her cigarette on the floor and flicks the remnant toward her own ship before she slides her own helmet over her head and boards the security shuttle, plunking herself down next to Shep. At Zariel's words, she starts giggling uncontrollably, a pretty good clue that she does indeed understand what he's saying.
Umishi waits as the others load on staying in an out of the way spot.
"That's it," says the Chief. "Last call!" He stands on the ramp, waiting for everyone else to come aboard.
At Kes's uncontrollable giggling, Shep peers over at her, "Yer drunk, ain'tcha?" he asks, checking his assautl rifle over, "Damnit Kes, 'ow many times Ah gotta tell yah not ta go inta a firefight drunk," he states, still seated in the shuttle.
"It's signature," Pierce mutters softly. "All the good detectives wear the hat..." He looks up and up at the Hekayti that spoke though and seems to have a second thought about this, "Oh..right...remove it.." he says taking the helmet then hat off and replacing said helmet on his way into the shuttle.
The shuttle ride is uneventful, as is the process of landing and pressurizing the landing bay. The two mooks who handled that process remove their helmets, then start shirking the rest of their bulky apparatus.
The Chief and his security team get into position in front of the inner airlock door, guns at the ready.
When everything is all pressurized, Shep pulls out another carrot and lights it up, like a fat, orange, smelly cigar clamped between his teeth, "Let's do 'is," he states. If the security team wants to go first, Shep doesn't seem to particularly mind, stacking up where he can with his rifle out.
Zariel joins the team getting into position, having not botheres with his worksuit since it turned out to be unnecessary. He slides his pistol out of its holster and just falls into place, leaving the orders and the formations to someone else.
Kestrel scampers down out of the shuttle. "Shep, m'tellin' ya, I *ain't drunk!*" she insists. "Ain't hadda drink t'day." Pause. "Well, okay, ain't had more'n two drinks t'day." She chortles gleefully and shucks her worksuit as well before she scoots over toward the airlock door after Shep.
With everything pressurized, Varal trots over while cradling his submachinegun.
Umishi moves her now off worksuit to the side and tries to get into a postion near the secruity team with her gun drawn and ears back.
Fauze knows what a rifle is, he's seen people use pistols, but all his tupai wings are really good for are knives, which he knows how to use with years of experience. The tupai, free of his worksuit, perches on Varal's shoulder and looks about, taking in as much as he can through his visor, knives sheathed on his belt, but wings never far from their handles.
Pierce also discards the worksuit, eyes looking about as he follows the others. That revolver is brought up to lips and the barrel given a little kiss, "Be a good broad, okay," he whispers softly before going back to watching the goings on of the area.
Meanwhile, Willow's still back on the Fox. She's got herself nice and comfy, and with access granted, the Sivadian-Later is overviewing the cameras via datajack. "Allocating tags on friendly biometrics. Biometric tag allocation completed. Survival rates being calculated," is offered in Hekayti and then standard over commlinks that are on; though its delivered in a flat, shakey voice belonging to someone's that both trying to regain composure while being very distracted. "Observing operation."
The door hisses open, to reveal a long, empty corridor, lit with flickering red emergency lighting. The Chief gestures, and the security team starts to move forward, checking the first dogged hatches and niches in the sides of the corridor. "Clear!" Says one guard. "Clear," says another, speaking a Hekayti battle language.
"Yea right," Shep mutters to Kes, "Feel like a Nall's gonna jump outta a corner," he does state. Otherwise, the Solan is silent, following the security team with his assault rifle raised and ready.
Varal appears less than happy to be using a gun instead of something else- maybe a sword. He looks towards Fauze. "Keep an eye open," he says in a low voice, slowly moving after the security team.
The large red man in blue just follows along, pistol at the ready and attention kept sharp. A small grin is sliding into place on Zariel's features, nervous energy fueling him into inner giddiness that spills over a little to the outside.
Umishi starts to move after the team ears flicking in all directions to catch anything her eyes don't.
"Psh," Kes scoffs, shaking her head at Shep. She ends up beside him, her rifle readied as well as she moves quietly along after the security team.
"It was silent as we entered the bay. It's the silence that gets ya, get into your head and makes you think strange and crazy thoughts," Pierce monologues as he follows along, eyes darting around the area nervously. His hat is one again perched on his head, eyes narrowed and gun held before him but pointed toward the ceiling.
The tupai's ears fold against his head as Varal speaks to him. "Fauze thinks he tries to tell him something, but Fauze is not know what." The tupai squeaks to himself, but feels something more is owed to Varal, so taking a gamble at what response is expected, the tupai gives a knowing wink.
Zariel blinks and peers over his shoulder at Pierce. "Dude," he whispers over to the guy, "Really? Do you /have/ to do the noir narration right now? Shut it."
There's a meaty noise, not unlike that of a cleaver slicing through a pork belly. One of the guards -- one of the ones that yelled "clear?" -- he's now staggering backwards. There's something on his head, something about the size of an eight-year-old girl with batlike ears and patches of fur, skinny, clawed hands, and a monstrous, fanged snout. Its jaw is unhinged. It has completely enveloped the guard's head and appears to be trying to separate the head from the shoulders by way of the neck. Blood spatters the other guard's uniform.
"Oh my God!" the guard says, in Standard. Then he levels his gun. His compatriot dead, he opens fire, shooting indiscriminately.
Another creature flies out from the cravasse that guard had just declared clear, and leaps atop that guard's shoulders. Its jaw unhinges, its head tilts, ready to devour.
Fauze's reaction to the horrible, horrible death, is to squeak and cling to Varal's shoulders. The tupai draws his a knife and quickly clenches it between his teeth, ready to fly if that is needed, but otherwise stays put.
"It's the darkness that gets into the soul, it creeps out when all is quiet," Pierce continues on with the monologue. "It was then that the big red guy seemed to become irrationally irritated..." it's at this that the detective looks up at Zariel with wide eyes, mouth snapping closed and then his attention is drawn to the screams and blood spatter.
Kestrel raises a brow at Pierce. "Quiet, you," she hisses in Standard over her shoulder. "Don' want more noise 'en we gotta have. 'Sides, talkin' to yerself means--" She stops there and whips her attention back to the poor dead man (who really should've been wearing a red shirt) and his soon-to-be-dead companion, she raises the assault rifle and fires on the abomination.
Umishi eyes widen and ears go back even flatter, were that possible right now, and she opens fire taking as much aim as she can at the creature.
Varal hisses a sharp intake of breath, dropping to a knee and raising his gun to his shoulder. He begins firing in the general direction of the crevasse. using bullets to try to hose down the general region where the monsters appeared from - buying time for everyone else to deal with the two that are present.
DAKKADAKKADAKKA - That's what Ashley says right now. And who is Ashley? Why Shep's assault rifle, that's who! The Solan opens up on the already dead guy, and no, he doesn't seem to care if he hits the body with stray shots or not, "FUCKIN' MEAT EATERS! DIE YAH FRIED CHICKEN GUZZLERS!" the Solan calls as he opens up.
Zariel twitches in irritation and reacts to Pierce before he can really stop himself - a hooved foot lashing out to donky-kick the hardboiled detective. "Shut up or go back to the ship!" he barks. There are enough guns firing for the moment, he can spare a second or two to silence Problem Sleuth over here.
The hoof that lashes out catches Pierce square in the chest, knocking the detective back into the bulkhead. Crack goes his head, the fedora slipping forward as he somehow manages a movie style slide down from the wall, a slight head wobbling included before it becomes obvious that the Problem Sleuth(TM) is down and out cold.
"Updating biometric values," comes Willow's voice, still over the commlink in neutral, distant manner. "Casualities taken into consideration." Despite viewing it over the feeds, she doesn't show any emotion to the guard being taken down or the anarchy that is taking place, or even Pierce Falkin's flying lesson. "Recommendation; All - Watch your six. Watch your six. You may have hostiles behind you or flanking, out of sight of cameras."
You pemit "The cameras show a feed from inside one bulkhead in particular, labeled Bulkhead 237. This looks like it's where the experiment happened; there's crushed plassteel on the floor, a dead creature of some kind, about the size of a human, with slime dripping off its skin and six spindly clawed limbs. There's another dead creature, something that would be easily twice Shep's size if it hadn't been cut off at the waist, with four horns and two rows of teeth each on its jaws. A dead Hekayti, its head chewed clean off, is slumped over a console of some sort.
Two more slimy creatures patrols the edges of this room. In the center of the room are a series of eggs, held up by some sort or slime and ichor. They throb and pulse. One cracks open to reveal another one of the slimy creatures.
The dead half-a-huge-ugly-thing is moving a little -- its torso is, anyways, although the thing is clearly dead. There's something peeking out of the exposed wound where it was severed at the waist. The wound, by the way, looks to have been chewed at, as have spots of the entire creature's corpse. Is it another egg, /inside/ the corpse?" to Willow.
The critter that just ate the dead guy's head is struck and vaporized by the forcefulness of Ashley's argument, sending gore and ichor everywhere as the gun's lead invective pierces the corpse in several places as well. What's left of the critter and what's left of the guard both fall to the floor in a heap.
The other critter jukes to one side, its head quivering as it shrieks its defiance at the gunners. Then, a final act of rebellion, its jaws lash out, encompass the guard's head, and rip it clean off the guard's shoulders before it turns to retreat back through the same niche it came out of.
Aside from the corpses on the ground and the fluids they leak onto the floor, it's all deathly quiet again.
The tupai squeaks as Varal drops to one knee, the tupai losing balance and falling off of his shoulder in a mess of flailing fur and wings. He misses the action after that, and looks up to find everything quiet, and dead.
Umishi looks around quickly ears swiviling erraticly trying not to curse her own bad aiming and growls, "Those thingss arre fast..be carreful."
"Well 'at's jest 'bout as fuckin' keen as a sackfull'a peaches," Kes observes crossly, surveying the damage. Shaking her head, she looks over at Shep, shrugs, and starts forward again, stepping quietly. "Lessgo. Gotta score ta settle."
Varal looks towards Fauze, tapping his shoulder before raising his gun again. "Get some light here," he says. "More light." He rises from the knee, moving to flank Kes, keeping watch over her shoulder.
Sheppard pokes at the dead thing with his gun barrel, "One - zero," he states to Kes, and whether it's about him vs Kes or him vs the things is ambiguous, "Yew 'eard the lady, cover our fuckin' asses," he tells one of the security team, before setting out after Kes, reloading as he goes.
Zariel peers at Pierce and the large man actually looks a little sheepish. "Oops," he says under his breath, before comming back to the ship, "Um, Pierce is down... send someone to come collect him?" With that he heads to move with the group, guarding the rear.
A long pause is on Willow's end, and she seems to have spotted something which might be taking her time. "Tactical update - Unknown species, team has encountered young members of species. Deemed hostile. Biometric tags updated for other irregularities. Approach with caution, Bulkhead two-three-seven. Numerous... Unidentified organic structures present, appearing to be egg sacks. Area status: Plascrete door to room destroyed, repairs needed. Known biometric signatures in the room terminated." A pause. "Much larger creatures are present in area."
The Chief draws one uneasy breath, pushes it out again. "We're taking flank, then," he says. "When we're clear, nuke those spots," he adds to his guards. They nod and, uneasily, guns at the ready, move to follow. And as the team moves clear of those two niches, two of the guards throw grenades in their wake. Foom! Foom! They explode.
Umishi follows everyone else being as attentive as she can.
Greaaaw! Two more of those critters come flying, one at Kes, one at Shep.
Fauze ends up trailing behind Varal, knife still clenched in between his teeth. He is very careful not to swallow the knife as the two things come flying at Kes and Shep, and the tupai spreads his wings, eager to assist the Later, he takes off towards the critter attacking her.
Kestrel sighs. "Great. Puppies," she mutters to herself. Right about then, the *thing* comes flying at her, and the Later sidesteps, putting her back facing a bulkhead as the creature splats to the floor. "S'time ta kick some puppies!" she declares, even as the assault rifle barks out lead at it.
Varal flicks the safety on his submachinegun. He uses one hand to flip the weapon over his back while the other finds a sword in one, clean motion. If one of the creatures makes it past the hail of lead from Kes and Shep, he's there to slash it.
"BRING IT!" Shep calls, opening up with his assault rifle as the thing flies at him, "FER CARROTS AN' CAULIFLOWER YAH MEAT EATIN' FUCKS!"
Zariel isn't busy kicking a wanna-be noir character this time. So naturally, when there are creatures flying, he turns his attention to them - letting the security team worry about the rear - and levels his pistol at the one attacking Shep. There's half a moment' hesitation as he notes what might happen if he misses... but then he just mutters, "Fuck it." and shoots anyway.
Squish! Splash! The various projectiles and energy bolts vaporize the two critters. There don't appear to be any more. For now.
But -- what's that noise? There's a metallic thud, and then a sound not unlike hullsteel being torn asunder.
The flap-flapping of tupai wings comes to a stop as creatures are vaporized, and Fauze perches on Kestrel's shoulder, if she lets him.
"Hello!" He chirps cheerfully. "Is this party? Guest is drunk?" He doesn't expect a response, these people are all too serious for party-happy-time anyway.
You pemit "The critters at the perimeter both turn, all of a sudden, and take a running leap at the door to this room. Between themselves, they manage to knock the door loose of its top hinge, and working in concert, their strength is enough to start peeling the door open, given that first little crack.
That half of the much larger creature explodes, and from the gore, a large red hand emerges." to Willow.
"Uh..." The Later flattens her back to the bulkhead, ostensibly to make herself less noticeable. "Ain't sure I like th'sound'a 'at." As the Tupai tries to perch on her, she makes a face. "'Ey, not now, yer gonna screw up m'aim," Kes says, shooing Fauze away vaguely with one hand, while keeping her eyes further up the corridor.
Umishi crouches down and seems to creep into a defensive postion by a wall fun rasied and she focuses on the noise. "You know..I think the only way to end thiss is to blow the entirre sstation, unlesss ssomeone hass a betterr idea."
Varal pulls out a second sword and grins. "Plenty of Shadowspawn tonight."
"One-one," Shep conceeds to Kes for a moment, before the Solan presses on. Hullsteel being torn? Doesn't seem to phase the big carrot smoking man at all, pressing onwards with Ashley raised and ready.
Zariel raises an eyebrow at the sound of rending metal, tilting his head and taking up a position to wait for rending to give way to killing. He stays in the back - not because he's afraid of anything, but because he's easily the tallest person here and he doesn't want to inconvenience anyone by making them have to see around him.
Thought Willow's last pause was long? Her latest one easily trumps that one. Despite the dangers, her voice remains that same level and flat tone, though still distracted. "Recommendation - Tactical; Fall back, set up cross-fire on that door you're at. Two /larger/ hostiles just busted down a door. Tracking movement towards your position." Then a pause, as she seems geniunely shocked by something that she's seen on the cameras. "Sweet Akari. The large corpse exploded. There's a large hand coming from the large corpse."
The hand is joined by another one, which, together, the two pull open the corpse's open lower half. A smaller version of the dead thing -- about the size of a human being -- crawls out of the corpse.
The two slimy demons, the ones with six limbs? They pull the door clear, leap out into the hallway, and disappear from view.
You pemit "The hand is joined by another one, which, together, the two pull open the corpse's open lower half. A smaller version of the dead thing -- about the size of a human being -- crawls out of the corpse.
The two slimy demons, the ones with six limbs? They pull the door clear, leap out into the hallway, and disappear from view." to Willow.
There's a clattering as of hullsteel, not twenty-five yards up the corridor, just around a bend. The sound of claws on decking. Then two slimy-looking critters emerge, each just a little smaller than Shep, with six limbs and big carnivorous jaws. They charge at the group, while two more of the smaller head-eaters appear behind them, going the same way.
Fauze flutters down to the floor, cursing Kes under his breath. This is until the demons approach, at which point Fauze takes one look at the nearest one, utters, "Fauze doesn't like this party anymore!", unfurls his wings, and tries to fly up to the roof, where he hopes he'll be safe.
At the far end of the corridor from the group battling its own demons …
Griss nods his head at Lucius, and lets the man with a rifle take the lead. "I'll take a pisstol rather than fight with thisss." he agrees, passing his knife into the other hand. Once armed, the Grimlahdi cautiously drops back to guard the rear.
Anshera breaks free of Naoi's grip, and the irate little fey charges forward to try and get ahead of Lucius. She wishes to get at the fleeing bat creatures, the child trying to make a leap at one.
"Aw, fer the love'a Irit's bitty skirt," Kes mutters, ostensibly to herself. "'Is's what I get fer kickin' puppies." Yeah, well, she's already got the assault rifle aimed at one of the larger critters. "Shep! I got th'one on th'left!" she advises the Solan even as she opens fire.
the Lyiris fur frizzes up, making Umishi look more fuzzy then Lyiri normally are and speaks in reply to Willows statment, "A WHAT jusst exploded out of a corrpsse now?", lets loose a growl as she sees the oncoming creatues and raises to fire.
Varal stands impatiently behind Kes, a prayer-etched short sword of exquisite craftmanship spinning in either hand. "They get close, you go back and reset. I'll buy you time," he states to Kes and Shep in between the gunfire. "I've seen worse," he adds under his breath.
"Right!" Shep calls back to Kes, opening up on the rightmost big thing, "COME AN' GET IT YAH STEAK SNARFIN' CARNIVORES!" he calls, assault rifle speaking with him. A short, "Fuck yew," is muttered to Varal, the Solan advancing while he fires.
"Ah, THIS is more like it," Zariel muses, dropping to a backwards knee as he takes aim and fires at the nearest enemy - one of the big six-limbed beasties. The grin has returned to the Hekayti's features, and his free hand runs a clawed finger over the handle of that large aluminum baseball bat strapped to his hip. "Soon, babe, very soon..."
Willow isn't here! Well, she sort of isn't but she's there remotely. The Sivadian-Later actor's in the Fox. "Query cannot be answered," comes the reply over the commlinks to Umishi. "It's red, and unidentified. Estimated human size, unknown species. It's pulling itself out of the unknown corpse."
Anshera's claws grasp short of the tiny critter, which, it and the other one both run straight past the growing melee and attempt to pass completely by all the humanoids.
Kestrel's beastie ducks to the side, and suddenly he's -right there-, swinging four of its six limbs at Kestrel as it leaps forward at her.
The other one is not so lucky. Umishi, Shep and Zariel all riddle it with holes, and it staggers backwards to fall in a heap.
Thud, thud, thud thud. Something big and heavy is coming -- oh wait, it's here. That big red creature that Willow was talking about? Yeah, it's now roaring at Shep and Kes, still dripping with a mix of blood and what might be afterbirth. Four little nubs that might someday be horns are on its head; it has two sets of jaws. Fangs surprisingly well-developed for something that might have just been born.
Fauze is clinging to the roof, and cowering. Cowering even more so now that another nasty has arrived.
Kestrel is nothing if not fast on her feet, and as soon as the beast bears down on her, she does what she does best -- she gets the hell out of dodge to let the sturdier types do their thing. The Later rolls away from the wall and darts back several yards in the corridor. In lieu of attempting another shot, she switches off the assault rifle for a large-caliber pistol as she moves, letting the former simply hang by its strap.
There's the ineviatable screeching of claws on hullsteel in her wake, of course. It just couldn't *be* any other way.
Umishi growls at the rather large red,though to her its kind of grey, thing that appeared but turns to fire hopefully at the head of whats attacking Kestral.
Griss slows down once they exit into the middle of a firefight. He throws a quick look over his shoulder and back down the corridor, then moves sideways and presses against the wall, keeping into the shadows and out of sight while the people with big guns sort out the mess. He stays on guard in case anything nasty comes too close to him.
"Back!" Varal growls, leaping into the hole that Kestrel right behind Umishi's shot. His sword flashes as he slices at the creature, bobbing and weaving. "I got this one, get the big one," he states.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Shep calls out a wordless battlecry as the big red thing comes charging. That assault rifle? It gets dropped to the side, the Solan unslinging his axe and charging forward, still screaming that wordless battlecry. Yes, it is Choppa time.
Tempertempertemper! Anshera is pretty well enraged by now as things haven't been going her way at /all/. Who better to take it out on than the newly birthed demon thing? Screw the physical attacks by now, this girl's going mental. With a psionic attack. Whee.
"Holy hell. Bet that's what Plutok looked like when he was born," Zariel chirps brightly, holstering his pistol and pulling out his bat to join the other melee fighters, "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" The Hekayti cackles and charges, the word 'BAKA' shining clearly on its surface, "TAKE THIS, NURGLE BABY!"
The nurgle baby jives sideways and twists, evading axe and bat and sword. HE roars his defiance at the three bladesmen, getting spittle and blood on Shep's face. But then something hurts his head, and he clutches it with his claws. Staggering backwards two steps, he turns and takes an angry swipe at Anshera.
Varal gets the smaller critter right in the midsection, and it falls forward in a heap.
The little Later moves so she's got a decent line of sight to the last living creature -- the giant demon baby. She waits until the shot is clear (actually, when it jukes out of the way of blade and bat it presents a good opportunity) and pulls the trigger as soon as she's got it. If anyone thought the rifle fire was loud, they haven't heard anything yet. Kestrel's hand-cannon all but roars out, the report echoing on down the corridor.
Umishi starts to fire again, but at the loudness of kestrals shot she ducks down and fires toward the celing hopefully not near fuaze.
Shep does not seem to care that he missed, continuing to swing away with his 'choppa' at the nurgle baby, still screaming that warcry still at the top of his lungs. He also doesn't seem to mind if someone gets in the way of his swing at all. Such is the ferocity of the 'Waaaagh'
Screw you nurgle baby!
Little 'Shera isn't getting caught in your swing, as the child jumps over the swiping arm, just barely tucking her feet up enough to avoid getting caught. Once her feet are back on solid ground, the fey again metally assaults the nasty nurgle baby thing.
The Big Red Hek with his Baka Stick doesn't seem to mind either about missing the bid red nurgle baby. Zariel growls as it swings at Anshera, although he's still grinning as he bellows, "BAD BABY!" and makes to give the monstrous creature a spanking with the bat.
The baby roars at Anshera as she dodges him, and seems unfazed as the slug from Kestrel's hand cannon flies by and digs a hole in the deck at Anshera's feet. He jumps forward towards Anshera as Zariel swipes at him with the bat, avoiding Zariel's blow. He half-turns, just in time to catch the 'choppa' with one monstrous arm. Shep's 'Choppa' gets about halfway through Nurgle Baby's arm between elbow and wrist, and gets lodged there.
Shep's too strong for the baby to pull away just now, but it's pretty deep in the bone. So he swipes at Shep with his good arm.
"Right! For faries!" Is Fauzes own brand of battle cry, mouthed around the knife clutched in his teeth, it's more of a battle mutter really. The tupai's other blade is unsheathed with his foot as he drops and glides towards the creature, intent on maiming it with the knife.
Kestrel seems unfazed by missing, simply tracking the creature with her weapon. As Shep ends up toe-to-toe with the beast, however. she all but snarls aloud and fires again at the monstrous creature, sending another loud report bouncing off the bulkheads.
Umishi stays tucked near the wall not wanting to fire in case she hits someone.
Sheppard is hit /hard/ by the blow, the force throwing the Solan into a nearby wall. But Shep? Still not phased, the big Solan is back up and on his feet in no time, drawing his knife from it's sheath to charge the nurgle baby and get back into the melee. Bring it.
Diediediediedie!
There's very little else going through Anshera's head as she takes to continuing to try and melt nurgle baby's brain.
The Hekayti is starting to get annoyed, his strikes refusing to hit the large beast. "HOLD THE FUCK STILL!" he barks irritably as the Baka Stick comes around for another strike, "TAKE YOUR WHOOPIN'S!"
Pain has come for Nurgle Baby. It tries to swat Shep aside with the arm still housing the man's axe, but mistimes. It winds up exposing its ribs to Shep, and that's where it takes Shep's knife. Zariel's swat tags the beast right in the head. Fauze's strike reaches it in the shoulder. Its eyes go unfocused as it roars one last time, weaker now. It manages to start one ineffectual swipe at its various attackers, but it falls to one knee.
Nurgle Baby never finishes the swipe. Kestrel's round catches it in the throat, spraying Zariel, Shep and Fauze with gore. With a final moan, the creature falls backwards, its breathing labored and hard.
As soon as she sees the gigantic *thing* fall backward, Kestrel's darting forward, covering it with the gun. As if there weren't enough hulking meatshields around to keep it busy even if it *could* move, right? "Shep! You a'ight?" she asks as an aside, though she doesn't glance to the Solan.
Nurgle Baby is down, and Zariel wasn't even attacked. The Hekayti looks vaguely disappointed that he came out unscathed - so much so that he wanders off in search of more monsters to slay.
Umishi walks up to the creature, gun trained on it..then abruptly fires a shot into its head, "You know..its hide might make good armor."
Rarr! Anshera doesn't care about anyone else's state as she scoots up onto Nurgle baby's stomach. Claws at the ready, she drives both hands down so that she can literally rip out the creature's guts. Yummy.
"Yea, Ah'm fine," Shep replies to Kes, pulling his weapons free of the nurgle baby. And what does the Solan do now? Kick it in the mouth and gets it's teeth.
Kestrel finally holsters her weapon, and adjusts the strap to the rifle across her back. "M'still lookin' ya over when we get back," she says firmly to the Solan. For lack of anything better to do, a small (but sharp) knife is taken out of her pocket, and she starts sawing at one of the thing's fingers, trying to remove a claw.