Stryker turned on his heels just before he left the bridge, remembering something he had to say to Tibulus. "I know you've got some business to take care of, but I need you to stay at the helm for now. Just long enough for me to get out of this armor and address the others. Hell even just long enough to get a shower would be enough. Radio my cabin when you want me to take over."
Just outside he found Benny climbing out of his gunner seat. "Good job down there." he said, clapping the Scotsman's shoulder "If I make it through the next hour or two without being keelhauled for what happened down there, find me for a drink, we'll toast to a job well done."
With that said, he wandered off towards his cabin, his mind racing as he scrambled to figure out how to explain everything that happened down there to the crew, and more importantly, how was gonna cover it up when he reported back to the Alliance?
Arriving in the Captain's Quarters, he locked the door and finally started to remove his armor. The clothes he wore underneath were stuck to him like cling wrap. Before making his way into his bathroom to fire up the shower, he decided what to say, and grabbed the datapad to access the ship's intercoms.
"I know things didn't go exactly the way we planned down there. This is all on me, so if any of you want to look me in the eye while I explain what happened, come to the War Room in twenty. I'll broadcast it ship-wide for everyone else, so if you're injured, get up to the med bay... that means both of you Grayson and Amy. Stryker out."
Grayson, still helping Amy stay off her injured leg, looked across to Harriet.
"Dr. Matthias right? Well, ya heard 'em, I guess we'll meet ya up in med bay? Just gonna stop by the Armory fer a sec, drop off the gear."
He turned in the direction of the elevator and started to walk towards it. "I guess we'll take the elevator this time eh lass? Make it a bit easier for ya to keep off that leg."
SAL, after receiving the all-clear and Stryker's follow-up message, made sure Tibulus's prisoner was still unconscious before exiting the shuttle. Still mindful of his old duties, he immediately walked up the small staircase into the engine room to get a diagnostic of the ship's systems. He knew one of the two newcomers on the crew was to be the new chief engineer, but he couldn't recall which one, having not committed that info to long-term memory. Nevertheless, he headed back out into the cargo bay. A few members of the crew were still milling about the cargo bay, including the ones he needed to speak to.
"Engineer" he said, directing the greeting to both Harrison and Koren "Ship's systems are reading some minor damages from the rapid ascent through the planet's atmosphere. Nothing urgent, just wanted to inform you, now that those duties fall to you."
"Tobi" he said quietly, after excusing himself away from the others "Come with me to the Tech Lab, we have to speak immediately."
"That'd be my cue to leave." Reaper stated simply as the sirens grew closer. He took one last look around, making sure he hadn't left anything of his behind except the spent bullet casings.
Heading out through the back door, he took a moment and (after unloading them) stashed both the shotgun and rifle in a nearby dumpster. Garbage collection wouldn't be for another few days, so they'd be safe there until he could swing back around and collect them. he'd have to leave the van behind too until the cops cleared out of the area a few hours from now. He zipped up his jacket to hide the infamous skull emblazoned on his shirt and walked off down the street, just another face in the crowd.
Trip sat silently as his friends shared their stories. They were all quite familiar by now with the story of how his father was murdered, he didn't need to bring it up here. Instead he decided to chime in with a more recent tale.
He took a sip of coffee and set the cup back on the table, waiting for the conversation to die down enough for him to start speaking. "I was out for a jog along the boardwalk this morning. Saw a guy just blow this woman over and snatched her purse. I tried to catch up to him, but the bastard had too much of a head start. You guys are right, things are really going to hell in a hand basket. The gangs have the run of the whole city. Personally, I think the cops are on the take, but that's just me"
He finished off his coffee and tried to lob the empty cup into a nearby garbage can. It clattered off the rim and landed in the floor. "This is why I don't play basketball" he said with a grin as he slipped out of his seat to finish disposing the cup.
Occupation: Semi-Professional Boxer. Teaches classes part-time at the gym he trains at.
Personality: Despite tremendous pain in his past, he tries to stay a generally upbeat fellow. He's a kind and loyal friend who wears his heart on his sleeve, and above all else, he's a joker at heart, with a wicked sense of humor.
Backstory: Trip can't remember a time when his parents were together. His father was a struggling boxer, his mother a cashier at a drug store. They just weren't compatible in the end, no big deal. They lived on opposite sides of Long Beach and had split custody all through Trip's childhood. He fell in love with the sweet science of fighting at a young age, even as his mother tried to instill her deeply-held religious beliefs into him and cursed on his father's name for leading young Trip onto "a dark path". At the age of 14, shortly after his father had finally enlisted him in legitimate boxing lessons, the senior Daggett was shot and killed by persons unknown. When he came of age, Trip inherited all of his father's belongings, and made the decision to fight professionally, in memory of his father.
Skills/Weapons: Classically trained boxer. He uses a pair of MMA gloves for their versatility.
"Wonder how bad the Alliance will hate us after they find out their scientists have been 'accidentally' killed," Amy casually mentioned to Grayson, motioning for him to hand her a fresh, fully-loaded magazine to reload Stryker's rifle as they both walked out of the room.
"Out of ten?" he replied as he fished out a mag and placed it in her hand "eleven."
As they walked, Grayson reconfigured the MARS into a semi-auto battle rifle and loaded in a magazine of appropriate rounds. He stopped just short of the threshold to the stairway.
"Alright love, stairs or elevator? Your call."
"Well, we have to do stairs of course," she replied matter-of-factly, loading up the rifle just as Grayson was getting his ready. After a few seconds, her smile ended the silence. "I think it's better we're as prepared as possible...can't do much if we get stuck in the elevator. We'll be sitting ducks there, you know? It doesn't hurt to be a little cautious with these crazies...."
Amy started ascending the stairs, on alert in case they were taken by surprise.
"Good call lass, I'm right behin' ya." Grayson followed her up, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice. As they neared the top, he reached up and lightly gripped her shoulder to get her to stop.
"Hold up a minute, I wanna try somethin'" he said quietly "Suppose we oughta warn 'em we're comin' too." As he typed a few commands into the wrist computer on his armor, he tuned his comms into the default team channel and spoke quickly. "Grayson here. From the sound a' things, seems like you're puttin' up a good fight, at least a few of ye are. Listen, the job's a bust, time to get outta here. Me and Ames are on the way up, we'll give ya some coverin' fire to start pullin' back."
With the transmission ended, he looked back over at Amy. "Never tried this before, but I'm manually extendin' the range on my suit's Active Camo, should cover you as well. Battery'll definitely run out quickly, but it should last long enough for us to get in close enough to join the fight without 'em knowin' we're there." A quick tap on the screen later and both of them popped completely out of sight. Grayson put his hand out and felt it brush past her arm. "Ah, there ya are. Lead on, when we get up there, grab cover. The less we move, the longer the camo'll last. If I'm rememberin' right should be a slight corner on the right soon as we hit the top of the stairs, you take the first shot."
"Okay, got it," Amy replied, walking ahead of Grayson to take point. She placed her finger on the trigger, very loosely tapping it as she went up the stairs. Once she was reaching the last few steps, she switched off the safety and peeked around the corner, placing a hand out behind her to stop Grayson from walking into her.
"There's the action...let's do this."
Amy took a few steps to the side to give Grayson some room and began firing, the task a little harder than it should be given the offensive strategy of the vikings.
Grayson wheeled out from cover and dropped to a knee, he sighted up on the front line of Skaldurm raiders and engaged his optic enhancements, scanning for weak points. Slowly but steadily, he began to lay down some fire. As he slipped back behind the corner to reload a small alert icon began to flash in the bottom corner of his HUD.
"We've got under a minute of Camo left lass." He stated as he loaded in a fresh mag.
"Yeah, that might be a bit of a problem..."
Amy fired off a few more rounds before she retreated behind the safety of the wall to reload a second time. As she did so, the camouflage flickered before finally shutting off.
"Well, I hope you have a plan now."
"I do, but it's a really, really stupid one" Grayson grinned behind his visor. In his hands, the MARS shifted again, the barrel widened and the magazine well deepened as the rifle shifted to a rarely-used LMG configuration.
"I'll draw their fire, you cover the team as they start to pull back." Reconnecting with the team comms channel, he repeated his plan to the others. "Tobi, SAL, hold that fuckin' line, I'll do what I can to draw their fire. The rest of ya, start to pull back to the end of the hall, one at a time, heads down, fast as ya can move, and Amy'll cover ya." He passed Amy another two magazines. "That's all I got left to fit that rifle, now don't go runnin' out of cover after me, I'll be fine, trust me." He stood up, walked out into the open, and lifted the rifle to his shoulder, gritting his teeth as he prepared for the kickback, and pulled the trigger.
A simple nod was all Amy returned before moving forward. Although she went without words, it didn't mean her mind was any less troubled. She knew what she had to do, despite what the faint voice in the back of her mind told her.
The rifle rattled in his hands as Grayson slowly stepped forward. Inch by inch, bullet after bullet, he walked forward down the hallway until he reached the next open door, a place for him to take cover if he needed to reload, until then, he stood out in the open, a barely-moving target taunting the Vikings to fire on him instead of his retreating teammates. He'd already taken a couple hits from laser weapons, but at this range, they'd burned out enough that all they did was leave some superficial burn marks on his armor.
Tibulus went first, head down and with as much haste as one could expect given that he was dragging a body with him. Harriet soon followed. Two down, six to go.
Grayson ducked into cover and reloaded as he coordinated the next step. "Willow, yer up nex' kid, Harrison and Koren, you guys wheel around, fall back to the closest cover and get ready for your turns." He stepped back out into the open again. Tobi and SAL were doing an admirable job, keeping the Skaldurm at bay, though it seemed for every one killed, two more took their place. They had to step it up, and get out before they were overrun. Thankfully, at that moment, a voice cut across the comms.
"Stryker here. We're ready to start the evac. Bottom floor, end of the hall, let's get out of here!"
"Alright, you heard the man. Tib, Harriet, you two head on down now. Willow, come on kid, get movin'!"
And he did, Willow panicked and ran out from cover in a full-on sprint, head stuck straight up in the air. A laser bolt flashed into being and soared down the hallway. Grayson tried to get in the way, but it just grazed along his shoulder and continued on, until it collided with the back of Willow's head and vaporized it. The kid was dead before he hit the ground. "NO!" Grayson shouted. He didn't know the kid well, but he was one of them. He felt the anger rise up in him and turned his attention back to the task at hand, he took another step forward and resumed his rain of fire, pulling the trigger a bit tighter now, as if it would make the bullets shoot faster. In his rage, he didn't noticed that he'd stepped across the invisible line where the Skaldurm's weapons would be in effective range. A bolt zipped down and ripped across his side, burning through the thin plates of his armor and searing the skin underneath. Grayson stepped back, rifle falling to his side as one hand jumped to the injury and he let out an involuntary growl of pain.
Amy whispered a string of curse words when she noticed Grayson had been hit, and she did exactly the opposite of what he had warned against. Ignoring her better judgement, Amy stepped out of cover, slowly but deliberately making her way to where Grayson stood leaning against the wall as he clutched his wound. Amy spoke, but she did not bother to look at him. Instead, she concentrated on hitting her targets down range.
"Get your rifle and let's go!"
Once she felt a tap on her shoulder, Amy retreated, picking up the pace as she covered Grayson while they made their way back to cover. She thought was out of danger, but some of the enemy firepower managed to find the breathable layer of armor in her suit and penetrated it. She was grazed once on the side just below her waist, although the adrenaline kept her going moving forward at that point without so much as a word of complaint. But as she turned the corner into cover with Grayson in front of her, they got a direct hit on her calf, sending her crashing down to the floor when her leg gave out. Stryker's rifle fell out of reach, and she hurriedly pulled herself towards it.
"Help me up!" she called out to Grayson, not wanting to give the Skaldurm even more of an advantage by numbers.
Grayson reached down and grabbed Stryker's rifle before quickly pulling Amy back to her feet. "Damn Ames, I tol' ya to hang back, didn't want somethin' like this to happen." he said as he handed her the rifle "Jus' hang on to me for a minute, don't go puttin' any weight on it."
His eye wandered over to the elevator door. The power on this level was still flickering, too unstable to rely on, but it was worth a shot.
"Ok, Koren, Harrison, Matija, we've taken a couple hits, but we'll do what we can to cover ya, get down here! SAL, Tobi, stand by."
Tobi turned to SAL. Cover the rear. Got it! Tobi's visor stopped flickering and remained red. He opened fire until his machine gun ran out of bullets. He then holstered his gun as he began to walk toward the charging vikings.Well...you know the drill kids. Daddy's had too much to drink. With that, Tobi pulled the pin on one of his cluster grenades and lobbed it over the few vikings still holding metal panels. Given that they were bunched up made it difficult to find the grenade in the crowd. The explosion of the cluster grenade roared through the narrow hall.
When the others arrived Grayson shot out a hand to catch Harrison's arm and pointed at the elevator. "We can't outrun 'em, not like this, get down there, reroute some power to the elevator and send it back up for us."
”On it.” Harrison dashed to the elevator and felt for a gap wide enough for his spear. After a second, he found one and jammed his spear into it.
“Am coming with. Might run into other things,” Matija said with amusement in her voice. The prospect of being alone with Harrison was not appealing, but she thought that it would be better than staying somewhere too hot.
The Juz’ gave a small glance towards the other man and Matija before saying “I’ll help,” and hurriedly engaged his gauntlets. Over to the elevator, Koren helped pry the doors open with his powered gauntlets and equally practiced strength and precision. Matija on the other had slapped on her grappling hook launcher on one of her pistols and slid a hook in place.
Together, they worked it until the doors came apart. Harrison took his chance. Here we go.. he thought as he climbed down.
Once opened, the Mecorian peered in and down to make sure they were on the clear before shooting the grappling hook at the ceiling of the elevator shaft. A sharp resounding bang echoed throughout the chamber, making Matija wince in pain at the sound. As she peered back out of the elevator, she pulled the Juz' close with one hand and holstered her gun with the other. She then looked at Harrison as she jumped down, shouting "Last one down's a loser!" through her helmet's speaker.
Immediately, he saw a handhold and climbed to it. He shuffled to a bar and worked his way across it. He lowered himself down two pegs he used as handholds and looked around. On the other side of the shaft was another pipe, this time going vertically. He breathed in and jumped. Thankfully, Harrison made it to the other side and slid down the pipe. Eventually, he made it down safely and pried the door open. He rushed to the power room and looked around. There was a poster on the wall explaining the colors of the wire. He switched the lights to lowest power, the life support to medium, and the elevator to highest power. The lights dimmed and took on a red hue. He called into the shaft, ”Try it now!” He turned on his Focus and started moving towards the exit.
The explosion had created complete disarray, more than enough for Tobi take advantage of. He pulled out his knife and begin slashing at the vikings. Several from the back charged. Tobi equipped his pistol in his other hand and opened fire on the pirates on the back of the small group that charged him. Tobi side stepped the first and immediately slashed the stomach open on the second viking. On his slash, his arm moved back and Tobi used this momentum to throw his knife at the first viking he side stepped. The knife pierced the first vikings leg causing him to drop to one knee. Tobi then pulled out the second vikings intestines from the stomach gash and with his free hand, wrapped them around the first vikings throat. His pistol hand continued to fire at the other vikings. We gotta close the wound. Tobi grabbed the strangled Viking and shoved his head into the second vikings stomach gash which caused the two vikings to fall over. Tobi kneeled down and pulled his knife out of the vikings leg. Don't worry kids. Daddy always cools of from his alcohol-induced rampage when the cooking channel is on. Tobi put away his knife and pistol. He ducked as a viking swung at him, he came up and broke the vikings arm and immediately followed by bashing his face in with one or two punches. He threw the body on the ground and continued his physical assault.
"That's enough, Tobi, pull back!" SAL said as he started to walk backwards, still firing into the crowd. If he was an organic being, SAL would find this display both frightening and sickening. Instead it filled him with a different sort of dread- that his creation may become a liability with this display of instability.
One second SAL, gotta tenderize the meat. The repeated thuds and bashing of brain matter could be heard over Tobi's radio. Tobi then grabbed one Viking by the throat and lifted them in the air. With his other hand, he pulled out another cluster grenade. This caused the other vikings to hesitate in proceeding for a short time. I still have two more of these. the viking being suspended in air punched at Tobi, only to break his hand. Though this turned on Tobi's radio for his team to hear. I'm sure if I had a nose, I would know you all smell horrible. But don't worry, the chefs on the ship say the meat smells better after its cooked. That's what I use the grenade for. Good cooks sample their food first, that's why I regret not having a mouth. How else am I suppose to feel the erection inducing sensation of ripping your vocal cords out with my teeth if I don't have a mouth? I'm sure I'll figure it out. Tobi used his thumb to pull the pin on his cluster grenade and tossed it into the crowd. The explosion caused Tobi to be painted in viscera and such. Finally, a new coat of paint. Tobi turned and began running back to evac with his group. If he saw the vikings pile up again, he would use his last cluster grenade.
"I'll cover 'em as they pull back!" Grayson said as an idea popped in his head. He reached around to his rear ammo pouch and pulled out a pair of energy batteries. "Haven't used this one in a minute." he muttered to himself as he slid them in to the MARS and watched it reconfigure around to a concentrated laser rifle. He rounded the corner and stood in the middle of the hallway, SAL and Tobi were sprinting in retreat as the Skaldurm charged behind them, Grayson made a motion for them to split off to the sides as he pulled teh trigger, unleashing a brilliant red beam that cut right through the Skaldurm front lines, the heat meters were already ticking close to maximum as battery 1 drained and he flipped to the secondary. SAL and Tobi passed by him and into cover. Not needing to take caution, he swept the laser in a wide arc, taking out a few more vikings, but also clipping exposed support beams, loose light fixtures and even carving a hole in the ceiling, causing debris to fall in, anything to slow them down at this point. The laser overheated and died. Grayson turned to retreat behind cover, but left his shoulder exposed for a second too long as a retaliatory laser blast struck him, nearly blasting a hole right through it. He shouted as his left arm went entirely dead and nearly topped over to the floor from the blinding pain.
"I'm totally empty." he growled as he stowed away his rifle. Looking over at the elevator, he willed it to arrive. "Come on, come on."
"There it is," Amy nudged Grayson once the elevator arrived at their level. She finished off whatever amount of ammo she had left in the magazine before limping her way over to the elevator, using Grayson as support.
"I'm sorry about Willow, the poor kid was so young."
She leaned back against the wall, checking out her leg to see how much blood she'd lost. But given that she was still wearing her armor, she couldn't really make out the extent of the damage. "This mission was supposed to be the easy one..."
"Yeah, so much for that eh lass?" Grayson said through gritted teeth "Shame about the kid, he didn't deserve that, but we're not quite finished here yet, still gotta get outta here alive." He glanced down at her leg and knelt to look at it closer "Doesn't look too bad, but looks like we'll both be spendin' a night in the infirm, how do ya feel?" He stood back up before they reached the bottom floor "Alright, better safe than not, come on, arm around my neck. Shoulder may be busted, but my legs are good."
"What would I do without you," Amy smiled, knowing Grayson couldn't see her but rather, it was implied in her words. "The both of us will definitely be out of commission once we get back to the ship, but I don't think it'll be so bad..."
Amy quickly checked for the flask of blood she had stowed away, and luckily it was still there. Maybe once everyone was asleep she'd sneak into the lab.
"Aye" Grayson said as he hooked an arm around her side to help her walk. "What do ya say to a vacation Ames? he said with a faint chuckle as the elevator finally hit the bottom and opened up...
As Grayson and Amy headed off, Stryker shot a glance over to Benny.
"Well, you're the expert here, how do we make it go boom?"
In response to the question, Benny brought up the holographic interface on Skelly, transferring it from his helmet back to the projector. "From tha' schematics an' the area's geography, our best bet is to collapse tha' foundations of the building, let gravity do tha' work fer us since the inside o' the plateau is hollowed," He said, highlighting the empty space around the facility and the support beams that kept the Plateau from collapsing in itself. "If we can overload tha' power jennies on the lower floors, it'll cause some serious structural damage an' the added bonus of disablin' any fire suppression systems in the facility. Along with that, I can place down Mr. Bunker-buster in my pack here in this section of tha' lowest floor ta' bring the foundations crumblin' down," he continued, highlighting the end of the lowest floor that was next to one of the structure's main support pillars that ran up all 3 floors of the facility.
"Hope you brought the good stuff in terms of timers or fuses, because we need to cover a lot of ground through those tunnels before we're totally clear of the blast zone, don't wanna get caught in a cave in." Stryker cast a glance around the lab, the bodies, the bloodstained equipment, and most importantly, the glass case with the speck of dark matter still floating about aimlessly.
"I want something placed in this room, powerful enough to wipe everything out. Consider it an insurance policy, so we'll know with certainty that nothing gets back to Lara or Dawson. There wasn't anything in the schematics about it, but I'd bet every credit I have that if the Alliance dished out for the heavy-duty blast door, they probably insulated the walls of this lab with similar material. A few strategically placed charges, maybe an incendiary device or two if you brought 'em, that should do the trick."
Benny smiled in response to Stryker's instructions, though their captain wouldn't see it through the visor. "I think I've got ye covered, cap'n..." He said as he put down his pack and sifted through the explosive devices he had brought, pulling out the standard charges. "These bad boys can break anythin' that our guns still have nae, and I can put the Acid charge ta' lit'rally melt tha' server room below. Thermite blast will be ta' overload the power jennie. simple enough ta' synchronize detonations on 'em all," He replied as he began priming a couple to place on the computer terminals and data cabinets around the lab, just in case they used an old-fashioned way of storing info outside of their electronic devices that his virus was already hard at work removing the traces of.
"That's a good plan. Stryker said, not taking his eyes off the dark matter. "Alright you get this lab covered, throw me a few charges, I'll head downstairs and set em up, blow the passageway into the mine tunnel open in case we have to get out of here in a hurry"
"Aye aye!" Benny said as he pulled out two of his standard charges and tossed them over to Stryker. "Ya better nae waste 'em because I'll need everythin' else. An' if the vikings corner us 'cause of a botched escape route I'm killin' yer arse ferst" He said as he took out one of his own charges and quickly identified a location from which to cause maximum damage to the computer systems and local hard-drives.
"Don't worry, I got this. Just get us ready up here, seal the lab door after I go, I'm gonna start calling for the others to come down, don't wanna deal with any questions about the dead scientists 'til we're back on the ship."
Stryker, charges in hand, dashed off and headed for the stairs leading down. They definitely cut some corners when constructing the bottom floor. The dim lights flickered rapidly as Stryker took in the rough stone walls, concrete floor, and simple chain-link fences with gates separating the hallway from the various utility hubs. No time to waste, he ran down to the end of the hall, to the naked eye it was an unremarkable dead-end, the same unpainted stone as every other wall, but Stryker knew the difference. He opened up the blueprints on his wrist-computer and made a few quick calculations before placing the first charge and taking a few steps back.
"Fire in the hole." he said to himself as he triggered the charge. A section of the wall imploded with a sharp bang and as the dust cleared,Stryker could see a man-sized hole in the wall, with what was very clearly a tunnel beyond it. He quickly raised the team on the comms.
"Stryker here. We're ready to start the evac. Bottom floor, end of the hall, let's get out of here!"
While Stryker went off to prepare their escape route, Benny quickly got to work deploying the charges into two different locations around the lab. Thankfully the terminals and their CPU's were kept close together for ease of access, so rigging them to blow was a simple enough endeavor. Benny always felt that it was easier to blow up an inanimate target as opposed to a living one since they didn't need to risck them anymore. He synced the timer to a custom fuse programmer into Skelly's systems before running off to begin rigging the lower areas of the facility.
It did not take long for him to reach the local server room without any resistance in the way. He heard a loud BANG nearby signalling that Stryker had set of the charges he had given him. With that done he would undoubtedly begin telling the others to pull back so he had to start working fast.
Arriving in the server room, he quickly looked at its make and model, identifying whether it would break apart easily or if it was reinforced. Typical Alliance insurance... blast protected for the most part. but the acid should still be able to melt through with enough time... he thought as he looked around, searching for the most valuable part of the system. "Aha..."He muttered as he found one of the main components vital to keeping the system stable and the data safe, and stuck his acid charge on the upper portion to let gravity drag the corrosive liquid down for him.
He tapped into their comms to call Stryker in case he had already left the floor they were on. "Server room's set fer a total meltdown, Cap'n. Movin' ta' the jennie next," He notified, just in case the fighting spread down there, the others would know how to keep the enemy away from him.
With that, he moved onto the generator room, still hearing the echoes of combat above as the rest of the team fought against the viking attack. Seeing the main power generator covered up with shielding plates along with pipes feeding the coolant into the main reactor, he quickly opened up Skelly's interface and connected into the local generator controls, bypassing security clearance thanks to the Skeleton Key software and making it expose the core. The mad bomber smiled widely from the overload he imagined triggering when the thermite bomb going off. He set the explosive as close as possible to the core at an angle to ensure the heat blast hits it as much as possible. With the device set, he opened up the power controls again and overrode the safety failsafes to shut down the cooling systems to the 2nd one, causing some alarms to begin going off as the lab systems were detecting abnormal heat-spikes in one of the 2 power cores.
"Cap'n, this place is set ta' melt like an asteroid on a collision course with a star. Wot's next? He notified Stryker on their comms
"Well, if you've got anything left, rig it up, somewhere that it'll do enough damage to keep the Skaldurm from coming in the tunnels after us. I only needed one of those charges, so I'm coming to you now." As he said this, the first few members of their evacuating crew showed up.
Arriving with the first set of crew, Harriet overheard some of the talk. Moving up to Stryker she offered a couple of the pods she had left. "These should fill the tunnel with the gas I used before. If it doesn't kill them right away it'll at least be dispersed enough for whatever Benny has planned. Should make a nice fireball."
Heading out through the tunnel the air felt stale save for a small current that had begun to flow. Not too subtle foe others to maybe notice but it was a particular that Harriet's metabolism picked up on almost immediately. It was odd if not perfectly explainable. There was still quite a lot she had to adjust to after being reborn.
Stryker nodded in thanks as he took the pods and quickly placed them throughout the hallway. As Harriet and Tibulus went on to the way out, he walked off to figure out which of the side rooms Benny was in.
By the time Stryker found Benny, he was setting up the bunker buster in the plumbing lab, as a way to have the blast travel through the pipelines that ran beneath the facility to further break apart the lower foundations. Though by his calculation, putting it anywhere on that floor was enough to break the whole thing regardless. However, he didn't get as far as he did from not making extra sure. He turned towards the door as it opened, peering through the large pipes to see Stryker's silhouette at the doorway. "Aww, is it time ta' go home already? He asked jokingly as he finalized the arming process and prepared to set the timer through Skelly's software. "Everythin's primed an' ready ta' burst on-demand. Just need to set a fuse timer. Not much left fer traps but I got a few grenades ta' toss behind us on tha' way out. How long will it take fer us ta' leave tha' blast zone? An' it better be a good estimate 'cause there's no changin' the timers once they're tickin'" He asked as he joined up with their leader and brought up his bomb control interface for input.
"I'm calling the shuttle now, set the timers for 20 minutes. Shouldn't take us more than 8 to get through the tunnel, 5 to get back to the ship and 7 to clear atmo. It's tight but manageable."
Benny nodded in response to Stryker's answer. "Seems doable. As long as no one lags behind. Still ain't stoppin' ta' help anyone who sprains a foot or something" He said as he programmed the fuses for 20 minutes and hit the activation button as they walked out of the room, causing one of the small lights on each device to begin flashing with a dim red light to signify they were armed and counting down. Meanwhile a 20 minute timer appeared on Benny's HUD to keep him updated on how much longer they had until everything went up in flames.
Matija, Harrison and Koren had arrived via the elevator shaft while he was talking to Benny, Stryker waved them on through the tunnel to the mines.
"Go on" He said to Benny "I'll take care of the grenades and the other charge, not leavin' til the others get down here."
Stryker took the grenades and pulled out his pistol, aiming square down at the stairway on the other end of the hall in case the Skaldurm arrived before the elevator. Thankfully, this didn't have to turn into a 'last stand' situation because mere moments after he took up his position, the elevator dinged as the doors slid open and the power promptly died.
"Fuck, what happened to you guys?" Stryker said as he holstered his pistol, noting Grayson and Amy's obvious injuries and the shocking amount of blood covering Tobi.
"Run now, talk later!" Grayson rasped as Tobi went through the hole in the wall. SAL went next then Grayson and he helped Amy get through without putting too much strain on her leg. Stryker sent Grayson on through as he pulled the grenades from his belt. he could hear the rumbling of footsteps, the war cries as the Skaldurm drew near.
"Get going!" he called through the hole to his team "Don't stop, just run! The shuttle will be there at the end of this shaft, go!"
Harriet's pods were beginning to pop, letting the poisonous gas within spread freely in the air, Stryker pulled the pins from all three grenades and tossed them down towards the gas cloud. He scrambled through the hole and slapped the other blasting charge on the wall to his left before breaking into a sprint, mentally counting down the five second timer he had set on it. The following BOOM was all he needed for the peace of mind that they weren't going to be followed..... unless the Skaldurm managed to get topside again through the entrance they'd come through.
Tibulus dashed through the mine tunnels on his way out, lugging the body of the victim that he had grabbed before over one shoulder with the stungun he had in his other hand. He was taking up the rear, having fallen behind slightly since he was walking for two. His stungun at the ready if anyone or anything dared to try and sneak attack the pilot.
"Not today, friend," Tibulus chuckled as a would-be assailant, a large lunging serpent, was shocked with the plethora of appendages that shot out of his sleeves, overloading its body with charges of electricity unable to be felt by anyone without severe harm. It dropped to the ground, seemingly unconscious, until Tibulus noticed its ears and mouth leaking blood. Ahh, that was a new sight to behold, and a good one at that. Man, he missed the life of being a criminal.
He finally arrived at the shuttle and deposited the body off to the side, within seconds the doors were sealed up and they were zooming off back to the ship.
Stryker nervously eyed the timer on his HUD as he ran the calculations in his head.... they had time, but not much to waste.
The shuttle swooped down and landed somewhat roughly on the lowered Cargo Bay ramp, which snapped shut upon their landing. Stryker didn't hesitate as he hopped out of his seat and started barking orders.
"Benny, Tibulus, with me! Everyone else stay right here and buckle up, we're gonna be hitting some turbulence"
Stryker led the way over to the elevator and the trio quickly made their way to the bridge. Stryker plopped down in the co-pilot's seat and buckled up. "Tib, fire up the engines, Benny, gunner's seat. Fly up across the plateau where we got in to the lab, we'll do a single strafing run across there. Wing cannons carving across the side of the mountain to rain down enough debris to block their escape, MGs on their ships in case any of em have already gotten out. We're on the clock, so this gotta be quick. Benny, you've got dealer's choice, pick a weapon and send the controls of the other over to my console. Tibulus, you be ready to flip and burn, straight up through atmo."
"Aye aye!" Benny responded upon being ordered to take up the gunner position. He fired up the controls and accessed the master turret controls while authorizing the co-pilot seat to use the wing cannons. "Turrets are mine! Ya go blast anythin' in front o' us!" he notified Stryker as the turrets reached full power and targeting information began being sent to the gunner terminal. He felt himself lurch to a side as the ship reached began accelerating into the air as they flew back towards the labs they had just escaped from.
Vibrations rumbled across the ship as the wing cannons fired into the plateau, collapsing the mine exit they had used based on the external camera feeds. Tiny shapes of Skaldrum were scurrying about on the top of the plateau Benny smiled under his helmet as he let muscle memory of using his old ship's gunnery systems kick in and he punched in targeting coordinates to the turrets on the ship's starboard side as their broadside faced the plateau. The turrets opened up with heavy ballistic fire, kicking up the dirt around the area he had designated as the fire-zone, even sending a few of the hapless vikings flying or exploding into gore as the large bullets ripped them apart.
Benny let out restrained giggles at the sight while the timer continued to tick down on the corner of his HUD. As the Revenant flew higher and higher, their scanners picked up multiple flying contacts converging on their ship from the direction of the Skaldurm's main encampment. With their takeoff as loud as it was, it was impossible for their ship to have remained undetected.
"Baddies on our arse!" Benny announced as the small interceptor crafts began closing the distance with their large frigate. Tibulus was giving it everything he had, but the Revenant couldn't outrun or outmaneuver the closest squadrons. Benny kept his eye on the scanners and waited for the incoming ships to get within turret range.
The moment he received the alert that the enemy craft was within weapon range, he quickly locked in targeting information to the rear-most turrets, having them fire their lasers to vaporize the enemy ships' shields. The interceptors began returning fire with small laser cannons and launching shield-disruptor missiles. As the Revenant's shield status went lower, Benny quickly rearmed the turrets with ballistic ammunition, and adjusted the targeting solution for gravity, ship speed, and wind in record time as the computer's calculations and his number comprehension worked in harmony. within seconds of firing the lasers, the rear turrets began firing their replaced weapon as the large bullets shredded the hull of the light interceptors closing in on them.
The small squadron of small Skaldurm craft closest to them, scattered and disengaged as at least 3 interceptors caught fire and began crashing to the ground, while 1 exploded in mid-air as a shot ignited their fuel tank, sending burning shrapnel through the air.
"That all ya ninnies gaut!?! Come on! Gimme more firewerks!" Benny shouted enthusiastically as he proceeded to scatter another squadron of interceptors with the same tactic of rapidly swapping weapons and adjusting targeting data.
The timer on his HUD finally ticked down to zero, and he felt a strong rumble spread through the ship just before they broke atmosphere. Using one of the rear-most turret cameras he saw the Secret Lab plateau collapsing in a pile of rock as huge storm of dirt and dust erupted from it. "Ahah! All right, that'll do!" He exclaimed happily. Meanwhile, the Skaldrum ships disengaged as their craft were not built to have enough engine power to break atmosphere. The ship vibrated more violently as they pierced atmosphere as Benny's terminal showed that no ships were within range anymore. Then the vibrations ceased as they became fully immersed in the vacuum of space once more.
Stryker finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was suddenly aware of how hot it was inside his helmet and scrambled to pull it off. As he mopped the sweat from his face, he couldn't help but grin as he repeated something an old friend used to say when they got out of a close shave with their lives. "Another happy landing."
He took a look at the scans captured by the rear cameras, no drive core insignias, so they definitely weren't being followed by any surviving Skaldurm. There was however, a noticeable amount of dark energy emanating from the ruins of the lab. Concerning in the long run, but not enough to set off any immediate alarms. The Alliance wouldn't be able to recover anything, and as soon as they could, Stryker would send them a cover story, his lies would become fact, and what happened here would fade away in time. In a way, it was a good thing the Skaldurm had killed or taken everyone living there, because Arbonne was a doomed world now.
Stryker finally signaled an 'all-clear' to the rest of the team and stood up, clapping Tibulus on the shoulder as he walked by. "Good job. Now get us the fuck out of this system, I don't care which direction, just anywhere but here."
Occupation: Semi-Professional Boxer. Teaches classes part-time at the gym he trains at.
Personality: Despite tremendous pain in his past, he tries to stay a generally upbeat fellow. He's a kind and loyal friend who wears his heart on his sleeve, and above all else, he's a joker at heart, with a wicked sense of humor.
Backstory: Trip can't remember a time when his parents were together. His father was a struggling boxer, his mother a cashier at a drug store. They just weren't compatible in the end, no big deal. They lived on opposite sides of Long Beach and had split custody all through Trip's childhood. He fell in love with the sweet science of fighting at a young age, even as his mother tried to instill her deeply-held religious beliefs into him and cursed on his father's name for leading young Trip onto "a dark path". At the age of 14, shortly after his father had finally enlisted him in legitimate boxing lessons, the senior Daggett was shot and killed by persons unknown. When he came of age, Trip inherited all of his father's belongings, and made the decision to fight professionally, in memory of his father.
Skills/Weapons: Classically trained boxer. He uses a pair of MMA gloves for their versatility.
"No, but this will" Reaper growled as he slammed his final magazine into the rifle. He centered his aim straight on Flame's outstretched arm and pulled the trigger, unleashing a stream of bullets in a tight pattern that, even if it didn't take her out, would at least slow her down. As the gun clicked empty, he slid it around to his back and snatched up his fallen shotgun, racked in a load and slowly started to close in.
Sorry again folks, I suddenly got super-busy, lots of stuff going on irl, I can't believe it's almost been a week since I last posted here, but I will definitely get an IC post up by the end of the weekend at the absolute latest.
Simple Unicycle
