RP: Bounty Hunts [Bounty 3.1] Eviction Notice

Machine room roof

Pull of a trigger, after pull of a trigger. Round after round. Duncan was shooting down the attackers as they climbed up the catwalks. There were many though and Duncan's ammo was running low. The man to Duncan's right did not fare much expended his magazine and let his rifle drop down on its sling. He unholstered his pistols and put a shot into a back of ragged woman that almost made it up top.

There were too many of the enemies though. Soon the bolt on Duncan's rifle remained back as the chamber was empty. He was out of ammo. Soon rocks started falling all around him and first of the attackers started jumping from the catwalks to the machine room roof. Some fell to their death, but few manage to grab on to something and pull themselves up.

There were three of them, all raggedy clothed men. One suddenly felt back with a mist of red raining from his chest as the merc next to Duncan shot him. That was the last round though, as the slide of the pistol did not cycle again.

Two of the attackers left for Duncan to deal with and all he ha was an empty rifle with a bayonet stuck on it. One of the men drew out a nasty axe-like thing made out of the circular saw an other grabbed two shivs he had behind the belt. Both men shouted and charged Duncan.

Katya meanwhile could hear the rattle of the ladder not too long after frag grenade exploded. Someone was coming up and Jaina standing next to Katya was reloading her revolver.

Machine room roof

Duncan scoffed as the chamber on the rifle clicked empty. He knew he was low on ammo so with a resounded sigh he stood as he watched the oncoming enemy jump to the roof. He held up his left forearm to fend off any rocks sailing for his head. It was about to get dirty and they still had no idea about any type of rescue or end to the waves. He took a moment to roll his neck and arch his back. Sure there were things flying all around but Duncan had to keep his adrenaline going.

He crouched slightly as the three crazies landed on the roof, steeling himself for the up coming fight. He grinned as one of the three fell to the last ditch aid of his ally. Duncan's groaned as he compared his bayonet to the brandished improvised axe and shiv's. He hated pointy things, especially pointy things trying to stab him. He measured his breathing as the two started their charge.

Duncan gripped the rifle on the stock with his right hand and barrel in his left, in an open handed staff grip. Using both his size and the length of the bayoneted rifle, he waited for the gap to close. He moved to show his profile and released the barrel and thrust out the rifle, only holding the stock allowing a truly impressive reach. His aim was to skewer the shiv wielder in the torso and stop the man's momentum. He felt confidant that he could go toe to toe with the axe wielder but the two knives would be a problem.

Machine room roof

The merc next to duncan suddenly reared back as a line of blood shot out of his neck, and he slowly fell to a knee as he tried to dislodge the rod-looking object that was protuding from it. It took a while for anyone looking his way to realize that it was the same kind of rebar that one of the locals had jury rigged to fire out of a industrial tool by someone on the catwalks, leaving Duncan to face alone the two men. The tall Nepleslian was an adept fighter when it came to hand-to-hand, but his two adversaries also weren't taking any chances and struck at one, the man wielding the axe suicidally charged into the bayonet, stabbing himself with the blade on his midsection and gripping the empty rifle vengefully to keep the Nepleslian from recovering.

Something chattered on everyone's comm beads, but it was hard to make out what it is other than the part where someone who wasn't part of Jaina's merc saying 'Firing salvo!' twice before the Iron Ferret's form loomed over the battleground a few hundred meters away.

The first salvo of the Jinsoku Class Freighter's twin Plasma Cannons mounted on the front, despite hitting the lower ground well outside the machine room, was enough to enough to knock everyone standing on the roof off their feet with the shockwave and deafening sound of it. The plasma bolts that were meant to attack other small starships impacted against the rubble strewn ground outside and exploded in a violent intensity of light, enough to momentarily blind duncan as the explosion glew with the intensity of a small star right below him, and the heat was enough to sear the hairs on his arm before he was thrown back by the blast, ears ringing, and his assailant was thrown over the lip of the roof and fell a good fifteen feet below.

As the other mercenaries that had survived started picking themselves up, the Iron Ferret continued its symphony of destruction, firing with the smaller (by starship standards) point defense lasers to completely demolish the catwalks as the heat from the plasma weapons started to quickly dissipate. From where they stood on top of the building, the mercenaries could see the air distort from the heat of the initial opening salvo, and it was easy to guess that no one caught in there had survived as pieces of the metallic catwalk rained around them, some falling dangerously close to their building.

"No sign of hostiles, Jaina," came Jacob's voice through the comms, sounding somewhat concerned. "Sorry to keep you waiting, we had people trying to board the ship," he added as the small starship hovered closer to the scene of the battle.

Machine room - roof

The world to Duncan was white light, pain and the smell of burnt hair as he laid there on his back. He coughed spastically as the hot air permeated his lungs. He tried futilely a few times to both sit up or roll onto his side before he finally accomplished it. He rose onto his knees as he continued to cough. His vision soon became spots and then cleared for the most part.

He took a moment as he knelt there to survey who and what was left on the roof. His initial thought was that he had survived. Lived through a pretty overwhelming situation. Then he noted how few of the mercenaries had ultimately survived. He didn't know them well but they had been comrades.

The last thought he allowed himself was of the crazy denizens of this place. He stopped considering them when he realized that he had no choice and he could think of all that later. He rolled onto his feet as he checked on Jaina and Katya, helping them to their feet if they needed it.

Machine room - roof

Jaina was looking at the hole in the roof, stuffing the moon-clip into her HHG. Her eyes were widened as she saw a dirty hand, grabbing the edge of the trap-door and pulling its owner up. Jaina still was not reloaded and Katya seemed to freeze. The situation was more than dire.

Than the roar came and earth shook. Jaina fell back on her butt and the hand of a madman disappeared as he could not hold on. Plasma cannons of the Issoku freighter tore the surroundings of the machine room and Jaina could not be happier. She finally pushed the cylinder of her weapon back in and pulled herself up on her knees.

"Jacob, you beutiful son of a bitch!" Jaina said into the comms. "You bastard waited for the last moment, didn't ya? You better get close to us so I can come up and give you a big sloppy kiss!"

Jaina then looked at the handful of her mercenaries that made. Most of them were injured in some way. She mainly noticed the man next to Duncan with piece of metal sticking out of this throat. The man trashed around and spitted blood.

"Katya, get there!" Jaina shouted at the young medic and pointed at the man.

Machine room - roof

Due to the medic's inaction, the wounded mercenary twitched and coughed a jet of something red before he stopped squirming on the dusty rooftop and remained still, not even clutching his hands against the rebar that was stuck to his throat anymore and let his his bloodied, gloved hands fall limp by his side. Almost exactly at the same time that happened it also seemed to the mercenaries that the noise outside the building had ceased, with only the cracking of the residual fire caused by the energy weapons. The smell of cooked meat was also starting to become more and more pronounced

The Iron Ferret continued to hover in place outside the killzone, and all in all it seemed that only four of the mercenaries had made it out, which meant that half of them had died in that job.

"Area looks clear, we're landing," Jacob said on the comms as the small cargo runner hovered towards the carnage outside the machine room and extended its landing struts as it prepared to set down.

Machine room - Roof

Duncan moved to the now dead mercenary, knelt and looked down at the corpse. That is when the mission hit him. It washed over him and he visibly sagged. So many dead, so many dead even by his own hand. The allies he barely knew but bonded in common purpose. He was loyal to them for just having his back without question. He knew that he was getting into a very real, very deadly occupation however but it did not lessen the blow.

Then there were those he had to kill. Any option would have been a better one but no other presented itself. He had killed them. He had heard once from a Nepleslian Marine in a bar that killing gets easier. At the time Duncan felt he would be able to move past it pretty easy. Now though, with the circumstance right there in his face he wasn't so sure. Time will tell obviously.

In any case, it was done now. Duncan would pack up, gather what he can, remember those that died and try to move on. His thoughts turned to how he would honor all the carnage on this backwater planet. He landed on a piece of art, a tattoo on his upper back depicting the shredded plate that saved his life. It seemed fitting to hold on to those opportunities that ultimately keep you above ground.

Machine Room

Jaina fell back on the roof, breathing heavily. A barrel of her HHG smoking. Being in a battle was like a 2nd nature to Jaina, but this was no battle. This was a slaughter. So many enemies just running into bullets without any regard for their life. It seemed so needless, with better info, this all could have been solved a lot better. Just pump the whole place with a few tons of sleeping gas and pick the sleeping beauties. Maybe there were still people hidden somewhere inside them. Did not matter now, they were dead. Hindsight was a bitch anyway.

Jaina picked herself up and walked up to Duncan. She put her hand on his shoulder. "You did good son," she said to the large man.

"Let's go home now." She added and then nodded towards the dead mercenary nearby. "All of us."