[@PlatinumSkink][@Dark Light]

Grayson struggled to keep up with Lataniva, she was much quicker than him and made it to their destination a minute or so before him. At the mention of Hunters, Grayson had lagged behind a little to recalibrate the MARS rifle into a mode he rarely used- the Heavy Rifle. In this function, the barrel lengthened and the bore size increased, to allow for the firing of .50 caliber F.M.A.P. rounds. They were extremely powerful, but the sheer recoil of firing a single shot of it was like being kicked by a mule. Despite hardly ever using it, Grayson always came prepared, and loaded in a box magazine of 5 rounds, that was all he had, and hoped it was all he'd need.

He came up on Arex and Lataniva's location and pushed his way to the front, taking a stand against the approaching Hunter Droid.
"Got ya covered gang, fall back to the hangar!" He sighted up on the droid, braced the rifle against his already injured shoulder, and grit his teeth, preparing for the kickback.

[i][b]BANG*chik*BANG[/b][/i]

The first round had blown a hole clear through the blue orb that made up it's head. When that hadn't slowed its approach, Grayson aimed lower, and blew out the ball joint connecting the upper and lower part of its left leg. The droid toppled over, but still it tried to attack them, crawling it's way across the floor to them.

"Let's go guys!" Grayson shouted as the team retreated. His comms chirped twice, incoming message on the general channel.
"-yson? Do you read?" SAL stated
"I hear ya rustbucket, what is it?"
"We are awaiting you in the hangar. We just deployed Shuttle 1 back to the ship, you must hurry. The fuse we set is much shorter than anticipated, we only have 5 minutes to get to a minimum safe distance before the station erupts"
"We'll be there, don't ya fuckin' dare take off on us!"

[@Azereiah][@Banana]

"Not a bad idea android" Stryker said, he wheeled into the comms channel and issued an alert for the team still on the station.
"If it's within your power, incapacitate and capture one of the Federation droids. We can scuttle its memory core for any passwords or back channels into the Federation Central Database. Don't risk your lives for it though"
He closed the comms and turned back to his console, ready to assist Tibulus with any last minute adjustments.
"Shuttle 1 coming in now" he stated for no other reason than to settle his own nerves "Cargo bay clear, lowering the ramp"

[@Xandrya][@Tickout][@Turbowraith][@Rultaos][@mackielars][@BKburke]

More Hunter Droids had arrived in the hangar, bringing their total number to 9. This was problematic, SAL thought as he returned fire. Most of the team had gone on ahead on the first shuttle. Like a simple organic, SAL had elected to remain behind and wait for his "friend". Sure he had an ulterior motive for survival at the forefront of his mind, but leaving Grayson behind would create a paradox that reduced his long-term percentage of survival to near zero.

The 2 surviving drones had fallen, 116 had shattered to bits by the superior firepower and melee capabilities of the Hunter Droids. 772 was similarly damaged, though it still had some power flowing, twitching at SAL's feet with half a head and very few limbs. The Hunter Droids were closing in, relentless in their quest to extinguish the remaining lives. SAL wheeled out of cover and returned fire, the explosive rounds of his shotgun were quite devastating at close range, but even with the damage he could inflict on any that closed the distance, they were still outnumbered and outgunned.

More gunshots joined the cacophony of the hangar bay. Grayson and the others had arrived. Between the combined firepower of the two groups, they were able to cut a path through the line of Hunter Droids. One droid had it's arm severed by one of Grayson's heavy rounds, and it was close enough for SAL to grab. With a few quick slashes from his wrist-mounted laser blade, the Droid fell in a manner that SAl felt to be sufficiently incapacitated. Grayson's team had made it over to them and the others were loading into the shuttle. SAL grabbed the Hunter, and, for no particular reason other than perhaps pity, also snatched up the remains of 772 and bolted for the shuttle. He saw Grayson looking at him strangely, his eyes going back and forth between SAL and 772.

"I believe we can salvage this drone" he stated simply as the shuttle took off.

Aboard the Revenant, Stryker got word that the other shuttle had arrived and gave the order to fall back to the edge of the system. The ship hung around until the timer hit zero, and the station went up in a brilliant blaze of red, blue, yellow and white. The explosion was instantaneous. One flash of light before it was swallowed up by the emptiness of space. As if on cue, a pair of ships came onto the radar, blinking into existence via hyperjump tech that the Revenant wasn't equipped with. Making sure they were spotted and (unsuccessfully) hailed. Stryker told Tibulus to flip the engines to full burn and set a course for Minos Station, way out in the Deadzone. The captain walked back through the upper deck to his quarters, stone faced and ignoring any cheers or hellos offered to him. They had done it, against all odds and at great cost of life, they had completed their first mission as a team. Back in the safety his room, Stryker breathed a sigh of relief and allowed himself a quick chuckle before letting the emotion of the moment overcome him. Apparently, Dawson had stashed a bottle of Stryker's favorite rum in the desk drawer, he had discovered it during their trip, now felt like a good time to break it out. 

He gathered the crew down in the Common Area, and distributed glasses.
"Here I am again, giving a speech like some kind of goddamn leader, but I just felt I needed to say this. You all did a fine job out there. Never had much experience with teams, but you all just set a good standard going forward. It wasn't perfect, we lost a couple of our own but all in all I'd say this was a good start to our little squad" He raised his glass "A toast for the fallen, for the innocent lives wiped out by our actions, and to our future endeavors, cheers" He threw the drink back and slammed the glass down on the table.