ShiningSector

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

The assassin shuttered as he looked into Ducaelia's death glare. Like with Silas before, he was reluctant to answer although Silas wasn't as direct as the femme Vandrell that lifted and held him within her stabbing clutches. Seeing his squad wasted was bad enough and now desperation settled in once more. He finally spoke.

"The Edwards C-cahlaway Museum. Last I-I heard, he was moving in there. That's all know..."

Silas whom was observing the interrogation, brought up a holographic map of the city and looked for the location of the museum the assassin just mentioned. As he was anticipating, though unsure at the time, the Edwards Cahlaway Museum was located further North. Closer to Deval's territory. Given their mission goals they'd been following, Madlock was still quite a ways out and positioned in fortified territory and therefore, it was still unsuitable to go after him with many of the Horsemen still at large. In addition, Cyne's prediction could come true and Madlock would come for them. He still wasn't all that cool with the idea but it nevertheless would make things straightforward.

Satisfied with the assassin's reply, he glanced back at Ducaelia, "good enough for me. We'll be leaving soon anyway. Do what you want with him."

After that, he turned to Cyne as he readied his comms device, "we good with the generators?"

"We finally got past the override and we now have full control over this station. Putting those control towers to sleep...now."

"Nice work. Now if you all don't mind, I'll be making a quick call and then we'll be on our way."

---

Having staved and effectively eliminating Lasminee's control towers, Silas and company made their way out of the complex. Upon exiting the station, Silas found that the once quite city around them had erupted with continuous gunfire and explosions. The resistance timed their attack the moment the towers had ceased transmitting, allowing them to capitalize on the confusion Lasminee's and Gorcht's forces were now experiencing as the slaves they previously held captive were now rebelling, unpunished by the nulled kill-collars they all wore. With Lasminee's key advantage robbed from her, it would now be a simpler task in cutting through her currently distracted forces. However, the culling of the control towers had brought more attention upon them.

While it was previously subtle at first, the sound of may motorized vehicles soon became all the more evident once the distant shooting became drowned out, "that doesn't sound good," Cyne commented as he readied his rifle.

Indeed it wasn't. Just outside the demolished walls of the complex, about thirty or so APCs and converted trucks roared into the scene with a rigged jeep leading armed convoy. Silas couldn't make out the occupants of the jeep but he did eye a large individual standing in the passenger side, one hand on the front windshield and the other holding a large firearm. The jeep eventually stopped and the man began shouting and waving the other vehicles forward. Silas frowned upon seeing the mechanized force storming their way to the complex. It was an assault, likely to comprise of infantry supported by heavier arms mounted on the approaching vehicles.

"They just won't cut us a break will they?" Silas openly groaned, not even trying to hide is annoyance with the Horsemen's persistence, "right defense positions, people! Sven and Ducaelia, you're with me. We'll setup a defensive perimeter so we can ambush our unwanted guests and put them into a cross fire. Cyne and Gerad, you'll provide overwatch. Cyne, kill any mounted gunners on those advancing trucks. Gerad, I want any APC you encounter out of commission. We have less than a minute until they're right on top of us!"

True to Silas' words, the first wave of vehicles and infantry stormed the entrance. The infantry in question were comprised of the same lowlifes as they had dealt with before but were better armed with proper body armor and weapons. Sven made out over twenty-six of them having dismounted. Along side the charging thugs, three APCs slowly moved up, providing the softer element with legitimate protection while the trucks advanced from the rear. Per Silas's instructions everyone was to hold fire until the first wave was fully exposed. Attacking earlier and the advancing thugs would've been able to entrench themselves and prompt a more drawn out fight. Once the first wave had made it behind the walls, Silas had ordered to everyone to open up.

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

Could never get into WoT:Merc, the controller just never 'felt' right in relation to the driving (too used to WoT PC I guess...not that I play a whole hell of a lot)

@Athol

Admittingly, the controls are kinda funky as you have to use the stick to drive the vehicle rather using keys on a keyboard. There is something getting used to but it is still fun. I found that the player base isn't as noobish as those on PC.

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

Don't know if the 'survivor' will have much to say, but I figure Gerad will give them 2 choices.
1. Talk and get a quick death.
2. Don't talk and get Ducaelia.

@Athol

Apparently #2 seemed more fun to me.

In other news:
Destiny 2: Hey! We got new content!
World of Tanks: Mercenaries: Hey! We got new content!
Star Trek Online: Hey! We got new content!

-groans while trying to type out the post-

Its like everyone decided March 5th was a good date to start releasing stuff.

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

Silas didn't like surprises; and this one he certainly did not appreciate. Seven of the new specters engaged with automatic weapons fire blazing away at his and Sven's positions. A mass flurry of projectiles violently prances about against their deteriorating cover. It was evident that the consoles they hid behind were not well suited to play as a wall as each bullet strike carved away at the fragile machine. Silas tried to nudge out, attempting to attain a visual on his assailants but several hits skimming off of his Shade's Skin forced him back down. He growled in irritation of his predicament.

Luckily, the trial didn't last when Sven, while not attempting the same feat, raised his plasma rifle from out of cover and blindly returned fire. The assassin, not wanting to chance a direct hit, even from one plasma bolt, broke off and fell back being the array of processing obelisks. One of them however was not so lucky. Being only a second short from diving to safety, their head practically exploded into a spray of red, courtesy of Cyne's returning fire. Another one whom tried to return fire to keep Sven and Silas at bay also suffered the same fate. Their lifeless body tumbling back with a splatter of blood painting a processing tower behind them.

With five to go, not counting the ones Ducaelia and Gerad were currently dealing with, Sven and Silas made their move. Sven throttled through the return fire and blazed away via roaring automatic plasma bolts forcing some of the attackers back into hiding. Being more nimbler than Sven, Silas zipped by and caught two of them by surprise. With his handy Death's Grasp pistol in his right and a plasma knife in his left, he threw himself at his red-eyed enemies. One tried to return fire but failed to set of a successful burst as the few shots, coming to shallow, ricocheted on Silas's adaptable armor. Silas in turn shot the man dead with two loud discharges as .50 caliber rounds flung his victim back. The other assassin was better prepared, having drew their high-frequency blade in anticipation of Silas's charge swung vertically and set the edge upon him. Silas reacted and brought his knife into an upside-down hold and intercepted the assassin's armor-carving sword. Had his knife been of any other substance, the HF blade would have teared right through and then into him. Thankfully it held though in the process, it stalemated him and the assailant into am enduring pushing match. Silas however wasn't about to play along and brought his pistol to bear and fired. His opponent unfortunately reflexively dodged the shot and then sidestepped into a parry, momentary throwing Silas off balance and vulnerable to attack. Taking the advantage of the opening, the assassin leapt forward to strike out, sword once again to raised. However, Silas was able to recover in time and managed to take aim with his pistol once more in fire. Though it was not a kill, the round was enough to literally blow the man's hand which gripped onto the HF blade clean of. The assassin screamed in pain but he was quickly silenced, being gunned down by Silas.

Sven had an easier time as he stormed the three remaining assassin desperately trying to distance themselves from the Ascended Vandrell. Two of them eventually succumbed to plasma fire hits and fell to the hard floor, dead, The remaining one managed to climb atop one of the obelisks and lunged at Sven, HF blade in hands. But the attack was miscalculated as Sven was able to reach out and grabbed the man out of the air before the assassin could bring their blade down. Pulling the assailant close, Sven kneed him and before bringing his foot and the assassin into the floor. With a mechanical cocking down clicking from his leg, the assassin's back exploded into blood and gore, having been the recipient of a buckshot slug from a loaded shotgun built-in to Sven's leg. The blooded heap simply fell away in two pulverized pieces.

Finally, the room at last became silent and the overhead lights finally returned. The exposed scene revealed a grisly coat of red having painted across the room in addition to the many capped corpses that now littered the floor. Cyne moved to one of the console to check back to one of his earlier procedures.

"...Looks like that command I mentioned before has-"

Cyne's report fell short as another Assassin materialized with a HF Blade also in their grasps. Before the assassin could swing downward, Cyne, whom has not even bothered to turn to face his attacker, quickly but casually pulled his pistol from its holster pulled the trigger as the barrel lined up with the assassin. Albeit dumfounded by the reply, the assailant fell backwards with a bleeding hole in their chest and lied dead on the floor.

"-been turned off. Appears one of us got the bad guy fiddling around with the lights," Cyne concluded.

"Seems so." Silas huffed as his Shade's Skin retracted before making his way over to the only surviving assassin whom was now under Gerad's weapon barrel. The man's legs has been nearly cleaved off he tried to bail out from the fight. Clearly he didn't make it far, "Hey, dumbass. Neat trick with the lights. Who sent you?"

The assassin didn't reply.

"Where's your boss?"

Nothing. The only thing that emanated from their mouth was pained but defiant grunt. Silas pondered how to approach their lip-tight friend when Cyne came into the argument, "he's one of Madlock's goons."

Silas turned to Cyne who had now only bothered to give any attention to his former attacker. Cyne rummaged through the assassin's equipment and pulled the HF blade from their dead fingers. He examined it intently, "What makes you think that? How do you know?" queried Silas.

"Think about it," Cyne replied as he gave a few practice swings with the sword, "these fellas are clearly unlike the armed oafs we dealt with before. They knew what they were doing. And if I remember right, Deval doesn't divulge in this kind of work. It isn't his style of warfare."

"What about Lasminee?"

"Doubt it. Her thugs would only be a tad smarter than Gorcht's, but not as skilled as these guys."

Silas picked up on what Cyne was going by, "so that only leave's Madlock then."

"Yep," Cyne then proceed to activate the blade's high-frequency emitter and swung the sword's edge into a deactivated console. The emitter's micro-vibrations separated molecular bonds that made up the console's material, allowing the blade to seemingly pass right through it like a hot knife through butter. The console then neatly split in to fined halves seconds later, "I like this sword."

Silas then turned his gaze back to assassin whose angry gaze remained fixated on him, "so you're with Madlock, huh?"

The assassin didn't give a verbal reply but their unamused groan was good enough as an answer to him. Silas turned his attention to Ducaelia, "Did'ya hear that? This fella here is with Madlock. Want to get to know him?"

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

Okay, I fixed my goof. Post is ready now.

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

@Athol@Dealdric

If by chance you're online to notice the post I stupidly submitted early, note that I am still working on it so don't reply yet till I give the okay to.

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

Silas allowed everyone a moment's breather Their encounter with the Chimera was an unexpectedly intense trial and had nearly cost them a few of their number. However, through ingenuity and teamwork, they were able to overcome such a lethal threat that would've had no problem of wasting a squad of regulars. Silas however still eyed the silenced vehicle. Despite the damage it took, the Chimera was relatively still intact. The hull was certainly compromised and one of the thrusters was essentially out of commission. Further more, the internal control compartments, while likely to have been cooked and suffered quite a bit of fire damage. Nevertheless, the 'wreck' was, surprisingly still serviceable; if one were to try their best to discount the stench of seared flesh.

That lead to another thought. The Chimera's crew. The same crew that fought unusually hard unlike the thugs they've been dealing with for sometime. It was very probable that - and the same could be said as well with the combat power armor units from before - they were apart of Deval's PMC forces, loaned to Gorcht to accommodate his own forces and as assurance that the power generation facility remained under the Horsemen's control. Or specifically, Lasminee's control. That was going to end soon.

With Ducaelia prompting for their advance, Silas figured it was time to move, "Alright. Remember the plan folks. We're knocking out the main power supply that runs through Lasminee's control towers. We have an untold number of civilians enslaved by those same towers and our job will become excessively complicated if they are not dealt with - I don't want any crap from the resistance if we screw this up. So...Cyne here is going to-"

"Whoa, wait a minute. Why're you bringing me into this?" Cyne abruptly protested.

"Because you're the genius who opted for and backed this plan to begin with," replied Silas as he eyed the sniper, "and rather belligerent about it to, I may add. So as I was saying, you will be taking point and lead us to this plant's grid control network. We're cover you while you and Pathfinder-"

Pathfinder buzzed in protest as well. Sven couldn't help but snort in amusement.

"Good, God! You too? Whatever. You're helping. And I want both of you starving those towers out of commission. Once that starts, I'll inform the resistance and after that, it's their problem about the freed civvies. We clear?"

Cyne was about to respond but couldn't get a word in before Silas cut him off. Probably got annoyed of being interrupted, "Good talk. You heard Ducaelia; ladies first."

---

As ordered Cyne, begrudgingly, lead the group into the power plant. Unsurprisingly, they met no resistance once they passed though the lobby area. The lobby itself was poorly treated during Gorcht's crude and clumsy takeover of the entire facility. Being more of a utility site, the lobby certainly wouldn't have been glamorous although albeit not spartan either. Simply nice looking and functional, ideally with the arrangement of furniture for idling guests with a few tables hosting all the latest local magazines and a colored tarp crafted into the floor which lead to the security and receptionist desks. That's what the space would've looked like had the furniture not been ransacked, the tables flipped, and the desks set ablaze. But by far the worst offence with the muddy tarnishing of a great and inviting looking tarp. The barbarity was astounding.

Their advance further into the facility was essentially uneventful. The further fact of there being a distinct lack of any hostiles was unusual. Granted, the facility wasn't all that big and was perhaps a rough average fifty or so meters in ground length. Ironically, it was the generators outside that dwarfed building. Before long, they arrived to the deck that governed power distribution throughout the entire city. The large room was arrayed with mechanical obelisks in rows of four and flanked the main walkway on both sides. Mass of cords and wires covered the black rectangular nodes like vines, covering the many lights that flickered in constant patterns. As they travelled down the path, electronic chirps and beeps echoed around as they passed each row of the tangled structures. Soon, the arrived at the end of the room where a large screen positioned on the back wall showed the map of the entire city and the grid it encompassed. Below it were many consoles that controlled where power was routed to; whether it be a section of the city or to a certain structure. There must have been thousands to sort though.

"This looks like the place," Cyne commented.

"Dunno what else it could be," replied Silas, "I'll get in touch with the resistance ahead of time and let them know what we're doing."

"Right. C'mon Pathfinder," the drone chirped and acknowledgement and followed him to the nearest console.

It didn't take them long to figure how the control towers were networked. Apparently, each tower that was installed was positioned in close proximity to a native power line and leached off it. That figured, since it would have taken more time and resources to build a whole power grid. Additionally, since the Horsemen typically didn't stay in one spot for long, there was little need to go through the hassle in trying to perfect a system that was already working the way it should be.

"Shouldn't take too much longer," Cyne reported as he tapped away at the nearest console. Funnily enough, he didn't really know what he was doing; only following Pathfinder's instructions as was displayed on his HUD, "we isolated the scheme for regulating power to the towers. All we have to do now it getting though the override and...huh."

"What's 'huh'?" Silas queried suspiciously.

"A new command was just put into the power sequence. Remotely... directly to this room."

Before he could say more, the overhead lights suddenly died and bathed the entire deck in darkness, save for the small lights that still flickered from the wired obelisks.

"Ah, hell. I know where this is going. Night vision if you got them, folks." Silas declared as he assumed his Shade's Skin once more.

Silas scanned the room cautiously as he tried to spy any intruders that might be trying to advance under the cover of pitch black. His assault carbine raised and a laser dot to guide his aim, he slowly shifted his position behind one of the consoles. Sven followed suit as well. Their eyes were mainly trained on the open door way they came in from though only briefly, did looks around for any movement. Oddly enough, there was no movement they could race.

"How're we doin', Cyne?"

"Still working on it. Pathfinder is still trying to localize the source. From what we could tell, its close by." Cyne replied as he assumed a defensive position.

"How close are we talking?'

"...right on top of us."

Sven was the first to notice something was amiss as his visual sensors, now set for night vision, picked up what appeared to be a distortion moving about behind one of the wired devices. At first, he though he was seeing things. But soon enough, more circumstances of the distortion began appearing and moving between the flickering pillars. And they were getting closer. Fast.

Sven arrived to the conclusion they were not alone, "Cloaked contacts! Twelve 'o clock!"

Just one cue several masked and capped interlopers materialized from thin air and began opening fire on the group. Intense automatic weapons fire harried their positions, Forcing Silas and Sven, and everyone else to take evasive action, "not this shit again." Silas growled as he ducked behind one of the consoles.

@Athol
Several of the unknown figures vectored in on Gerad. Three kept their distance and applied covering fire while two other attackers, drawing what appeared to be high-frequency blades, closed the distance with their Garudin prey. The intruders moved with inhuman speed and instincts, as if they kept a careful eye on Gerad's armament and fluidly moved out of the line of fire if the sights were about to set on them

@Dealdric
A squad of five assailants zeroed in on Ducaelia with HF blades drawn with the odd member of the group wielding some kind of energy halberd. Ducaelia's attackers seemed to jink and sway awkwardly but still covered ground rapidly. Multiple glowing red eyes emanating from the assailants danced through the darkness with murderous intent just before striking out at her.

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

Post is now up. As usual, let me know if anything seems off or confusing.

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

The tank's automated defensive suite was becoming overwhelmed; too many targets to track and the shield generators were running into threat prioritization problems. The system did the best it could but it couldn't stop Ducealia was closing the distance and mounting the massive vehicle and managing to kill one of the defending gunners and exposing the tank's now open hatch in which the crew was not in a position to properly address. Their only reply though was managing to shake the nimble Vandrell off the roof the Chimera.

Gerad finally opened up on the Chimera but having just dealt with it's local boarder problem, the tank's crew, having spotted Gerad and enlightened to his heavy energy attacks, directed the tank's auto defense suite in a desperate bid to avoid suffering any further damage. For a brief moment, the barrier fields absorbed and nulled much of Gerad's overlaying firepower and the Chimera's large turret slowly rotated in an effort to bring its main gun to bare and to rid of its nuisance Garudin problem. Suddenly, a detonation erupted from the Chimera's exposed flank; the same flank that the crew had begrudgingly risked leaving wide open.

Cyne loaded another RPG round and fired again and once more the projectile hit's mark. The consecutive hits were enough to disable one of the shield generators and knock out a few of the auto guns. Faced with this aggravating fact, the Chimera spun one of barriers around, the same barrier that was holding of Gerad's attacks, and intercepted another RPG strike. But now with it's defensive ability now spread thin, the sole barrier that separated Gerad and the Chimera's hull finally began to flicker and steadily collapsed under pressure. The disruption allowed several plasma bolts to dig into the Chimera's armor-plating and periodically gave away to the VLA beam. Eventually, the continuous hits amounted to the destruction of one of the Chimera's four lift engines. While flames vomited out of the dying thruster, the tanks orientation began to lurch forward and risked capsizing the entire frame.

For a mere moment, Silas had figured that they had the Chimera right where they wanted it. That was however before the tank's crew, seemingly in defiance of their deteriorating situation, compensated for lost of one of the thrusters and opted to have the sole surviving lift engine on it's side of the vehicle go into overdrive as an attempt to counterbalance the Chimera's weight and continue the bring the main gun around. And they pulled it off. The tank stabilized and the maw of the Chimera's 160mm plasma cannon locked its vector with Gerad's profile and began to glow as the weapon system charged up.

Silas gritted his teeth as the situation became dire with one of his teammate now in the Chimera's destructive sights and as if on Ducealia's fury induced advisory in the form of shout, Silas leapt into action, "Now or never, Sven! Let's move!"

"Right-o!" Sven replied, having came to the same conclusion as he and Silas abandoned their positions and charged toward the Chimera.

With the auto guns either disabled or fixated on the fake holographic Cynes projected by Pathfinder, their mad dash was practically unopposed. Sven was the first one to reach the Chimera but instead of mounting it like Ducealia did, he instead threw all of his mass and weight into one of the still active lift engines. Just as the Chimera's main gun fired. But instead of slamming into Gerad and rightly incinerating the Garudin, the round veered off it's original course and exploded a few yards behind Gerad. While the violent detonation, given its proximity distance, would only singe Gerad's armor, the sheer pressure wave would've tossed him forward.

Silas on the other hand managed to close with the Chimera and with the assistance with his Shade's Skin, vaulted over tank and per Ducealia's 'suggestion' he dropped a pair of live incendiary grenades down the turret hatch, "Grenades, out!" he called out, though it was mainly directed at Ducealia whom was still pried to the tank.

Once everyone was clear away from the Chimera, two loud bangs, split-seconds apart, echoed out from the exposed hatch, followed by a flash of light that beamed out from the ports and hatches, just as a tower fire spewed out from the hatch. With in seconds, the Chimera finally fell silent and slowly veered into the ground like a tired and dying beast. With the defense suite no longer reacting to the combatants around it, the real Cyne finally materialized into view atop the vehicle and peered into the hatch as smoke and cooking fumes poured out from the inner chambers. Despite the black thickness of the smog, Cyne's visual sensors could still peer inside and seek out any survivors inside the Chimera.

Seconds later, Cyne looked up and gave a thumbs-up gesture, "We're good," he reported.

Silas expressed and sigh of relief before backing into a slab of concrete and resting against it, "Alright. Status report, everybody."

Tales of the Crimson Legion - Galaxy at War

Silas cursed as the Chimer's unending fire poured into his position. Almost curled up, he tightly pressed himself against the concrete wall that separated him from the mechanical terror on the other side. The same wall that was steadily disintegrating as it was chewed apart by the hailing death spray. Gerad was right, anything plan was better than nothing; if they didn't do something soon, they too would become shredded or vaporized.

Looking around, Silas attempted to spot Cyne but, or course, he was no where to be found, "Cyne! Where are you?"

"Top floor, inside the...make-shift hanger that Chimera came from. Plenty of ordinance back here I could use against th-"

"Then why aren't you using..." Silas tried to keep his cool. He knew Cyne would've thought about that as well. The Chimera unfortunately still had guns that weren't in use that could be quickly directed to any new threats that made themselves know. Cyne's only advantage he had was that the tank's sensors had yet to pick him up yet. Wait, the sensors, "actually question for you..."

"Uh, you're serious right now...?"

"Yes I am! Look at the damn tank! Can you see what kind of sensory setup does that thing have?"

Cyne didn't immediately respond. It was probable that he was doing as was asked. He replied at last less than a half a minute later, "Looks like a standard Mk-II Lobe Hawker suite. I think we're fighting an A1 model."

"You sure?"

"Positive. The Mk-II optics are incased in box frames and mounted on swivel platforms..." Cyne paused briefly and then realized where Silas was getting at, "and are entirely visual focused."

"And can't discern between holographic and legit objects," Silas concluded. Which was partially why MTA-507-A1 versions of the Chimera were no longer built and instead were re-worked to the more sophisticated A2 variants; versions whose automated weapon systems were not as easily fooled by artificial translucent trickery, "think you can get Pathfinder to pull up some false blips?"

"Sure can but it won't full them for long though..."

"That's fine," Silas replied, "we just need to turn the tank around. Oh, and get your share of its attention, will ya?"

"...Roger," Cyne grunted.

Moments later, a trio of Cyne lookalikes suddenly appeared around the Chimera. The auto guns, now visually IDing the Cynes as hostiles, reprioritized their targets and open fired. Ensuring that the guns would remain stumped, Pathfinder adjusted the projections and the false-Cynes juked and dodged and weaved through the incoming fire. Had any of the shots managed to pass through any of the fakes, their ploy would've gone up in smoke fairly quickly. After what seemed like an eternity, the Chimera finally shifted its position and began rotating its hull now that three unknowns were now penetrating its defense fields. But it wasn't going to be enough. The holograms couldn't to anything but keep it distracted. Eventually, Cyne finally responded and contributed to the confusion and let loose an RPG he had scrounged together from the hanger. Unsurprisingly, The Chimera quickly picked up the new threat and summoned up another defense barrier.

"Sven!" Silas quickly called out, "Light up that tank - I don't care if it doesn't do shit - just fire!"

Sven didn't verbally reply and immediately popped out from his position and opened up with his plasma rifle. Like before, the shots dispersed but now Silas had joined him and fired upon the Chimera. Another RPG detonated on impact against the barrier and caused it to flicker. It was then that Silas noticed that his own, harmless munitions were no longer being intercepted by the barrier system and were ricocheting off the hull armor.

Silas quickly turned to Gerad and Ducaelia, seeing as the Chimera was, unintentionally, showing them it's flat starboard profile, bristled with the unattended countermeasure suites while its auto guns still fired upon on the dancing holograms, "Good a shot as any folks; let 'em have it!"