RP: LSDF Akahar [Chapter 3.0] - To Tear Free

LSDF Akahar - Deck 3

Crawling, it was the only word which came to Ha'reiel's mind as he thought on their situation, the pace of the team was a mere crawl, through a ship that was crawling with infection, a ship which was crawling through space due to the burden of the situation. There was a need inside of Ha'reiel, a need to assert some degree of control over the moment, not on his own, but as a crew, as a force of the Matriarchy, if anything, he felt as if they were at the mercy of the situation, and that did not sit well with the Chaplain-Inquisitor in the slightest, especially as he felt the deck beneath his feet vibrate with the footfalls of a machine, nothing too impressive from the feel of it, but it was enough to get Ha'reiel's attention.

Listening to Bes'linn and Gough, the Fyunnen pressed his lips together in a frown, understanding more of the situation in the process, but at the same time, more questions came from that thought than anything else as he spoke over their little communication 'web'. "We need to ID the armor occupant, get a friend-or-foe confirmation. Then, if it is hostile, we have more than enough firepower to neutralize an 'Impulse', the Silva should be able to disable or destroy it without a problem with sustained fire." Ha'reiel stated to the group, as he snapped open his M'cel, swapping 40mm rounds, and sliding in a round, which from coloration of the shell, could be identified as a plasma grenade.

"Identification of this armor, and securing the critical assets on this deck, is of key importance to making our plans work. Utility supply and control is interconnected to most of the ship, if it is vulnerable, then the rest of the ship is vulnerable, and that means all that we're doing right now is for naught." Ha'reiel spoke, as he steadied his thoughts "If anything, it is becoming increasingly clear we may have to conduct an offensive operation to protect our long-term interests, and to screen our escape. Assuming utility control has been compromised, then I doubt our escape will go off without a hitch... the utility mains would allow our foe enough mobility to cut off our escape route."

Perhaps it was a trick of perspective, perhaps it was a matter of existing mindset, but one thing was becoming clearer to Ha'reiel the longer the situation carried on; a purge was needed.

LSDF Akahar - Deck 3

Widow finished up her task dealing with the remnants of Mars, placing it carefully inside the compartment that Vithr revealed in the transport stretcher before anyone else could see. Knowing the Chaplain, he probably was going to really take her to task before the Goddess herself for even doing this, though it was his decision to use such decisive firepower that gave little hope of anything other than a scorched earth outcome. The group was lucky that he had a capable Medic around that had brushes with death and corpse handling before, though this task made her skin crawl nonetheless.

But the pessimist inside of her mind knew that probably wasn't going to be such a rosy outcome, so she had to remain alert. There was no telling what things existing on the ship, biological or mechanical, that could be turned on them by the parasite. And the footfalls coming closer confirmed that suspicion. Widow moved forward on guard at the rear of the formation, physically checking the locks of the nearby doors they passed were secure as Keib instructed.

"Little bit, I know you know your tech stuff, but doing a rodeo like that's awefully risky," she cautioned Jiji as she overheard the plan, "Did you also ever think that the armor is moving by itself, with no occupant or even a corpse inside? This virus could probably do something like that, if the Mok'ro was any indication. There shouldn't be anything else living on this ship besides us now, and what remains of Merril. If so, then I'm on the side of Mr. Trigger Happy's plan here." Aran'ya glanced at Harariel once, "Keep it at arm's length and take it down, quickly."

Something invaded the digital link between the team. That something being all too familiar at this point.

Eyes gazing from a narrow port, watching as a ship plummeted through the atmosphere, dim lights forcing the yellow lenses to reflect in glass.

Blink

Green eyes looked in the mirror dangled before her, a youthful face being tugged at by a finger to look at her own teeth.

"Do you think I'm gonna grow biiiiiiig scary teeth, papa?" She asked, turning to look at a thin man, seated on the floor with needle and thread, making a quilt. He nodded in response, the slightest motion of his head acknowledging her question.

"Cooooooool!" she said. "Hey papa, can ya teach me howda sew?"

The thin man nodded again, and the vision wobbled - a disconnected motion bourne from watching life through somebody else's eyes - before looking at their own small body, wispy hands clasped over her own. They guided hers into the first stroke-

Blink

"Like this, okay La'al?" A voice more clearly identifiable as Merril's instructed as her father before her. A smaller body sat in her lap now, now that Merril was all grown up. A free hand stroked the dark-skinned child's hair, and Merril caught herself grinning her fangly grin in the reflection of a nearby window. "S'okay if you don't get the hang of it. Took me a while. Might be man's work, but S'a useful trick."

She lifted the child up and over her head, forcing legs to dangle past the sides of her head. "You can be my little sister, just for today. Now c'mon, let's look at the animals again!"

Click to expand...

A horrible noise echoed through the ship, interrupting the memories like a warped VHS tape. It was the noise of cars crashing, warping and scraping together as momentum destroyed them.

The child sat at the far end of a pen, cowering in fear as a beast advanced towards her. Merril looked down at her own tensing muscles on the ground, careful not to make a sound. Her vision sudden lurched as she leaped at the creature, but it turned and raised its claw to-

Blink

Vision blurred a coating of red, staring at a gored arm pierced by shrapnel of her surroundings - the broken escape pod. Her only good hand wrapped around the massive wound, clutching it like a vice. And yet, she watched herself mend before her own eyes.

Fresh flesh to replace the old.

Click to expand...

LSDF Akahar, Deck 4 Middle Corridors
Keib looked about the halls, the corridors, and even the ceilings as more of Merril's digital thoughts invaded their network. Was their network compromised? Was it merely involuntarily picking up the static of her being? Was she too close to them for comfort? More possibilities, these ones closer and deadlier than Keib would've liked with no time to dwell on what to do.

He had to break his mental holding patterns somehow.

"Fan out. We're equally vulnerable if we're caught by surprise together. Watch each other's back and scanners to full," Keib directed, trying to take command of the situation that was unknowable. The way he held himself almost sounded as though it was a country he'd set foot in before but whether it was commanding bravado to keep the morale up or knowing the truth was another unknown to his peers. "Bes'linn, take JiJi, Glacier and Pitch with you to the Utilities room and assess the damage. The medicals stay with Ha'ariel and I - we have a rogue armour to hunt down. Stay in touch."

"Yes sir," Bes'linn said. She was on the Akahar not for any crime or slight committed against the name of the Goddess, but only here because the numbers were needed and she'd drawn the short straw. She kept her head up though. Maybe after this, I can at the very least get a transfer elsewhere. She mused, though the larger than life personalities on the Akahar were a quiet entertainment - currently being stripped away to see what people beneath were like.

She hadn't felt like the events that'd unfolded peeled all of her layers off yet, though. Some resolve was still keeping her going as she waved to the technician, the silent soldier and the frame pilot. "So, Pitch, we have an experimental Frame in storage, I'll try and run you through it as best as I can without the manuals handy..." Bes'linn said as she and her team of three started moving towards the Aft of the ship.

As they were around the corner from utilities, Bes'linn could hear something, stopped in place and stuck to the walls and motioned quietly for the others to get behind her. "Something's still here." Bes'linn radioed, finger against the trigger now, shuffling backwards slightly as she pointed the barrel down. "Around the corner."

She poked her head around the corner and she saw a lit fuse followed by a streaming, whistling firework crossing past their field of vision, smacking against the wall without detonating and falling to the floor and snaking itself into a corner as the rocket's fuel expired and the payload went off a moment later with a loud CRACK!

Even from six metres away and backed into a corner, streaks of red and green material leapt through Bes'linn and her team's vision and the loud sound disoriented her sensors. Specks of burning material against their armours could be felt, and were burning hot enough to be felt from within.

"Th...thermite!" Bes'linn yowled as she brushed the burning material off of her right shoulder and her Silva rifle before it could do lasting damage - and then off of her hand. Glacier's armour was caught and found his chest and right shoulder grazed with it. A space above the wall near JiJi was hit with a speck of burning thermite and making the wall melt before expending itself completely - a little taller and it would've hit them in the head - and finally Pitch was lucky enough to avoid the brunt of it altogether.

Two of the Pratimas were there, the Type Two ones, an automation carrying a bizarre apparatus for safely (relatively speaking) launching the fireworks while their ebony-skinned companion was passing them more. Bes'linn, being closest to the blast was dazzled and had to collect herself before advancing.


Towards the Fore...
Left with the others, Gough's sensors were on high alert, both natural and those provided by his armour. He then pointed through a blast-shuttered wall into a corridor that couldn't be seen. "There..."

Sensors were picking up the noise made by each footstep and triangulating it now that a sound signature had been established, and using a mix between sonar and tremor senses, the sensors were able to find each footfall of the clanking armour. It was a right turn, then a sharp left, and it was heading in their direction. "Maybe we can ambush-"

Then its pace started to pick up and the sound of a pair of assault rifles, previously owned by the pirates were firing off haphazardly - bullets striking walls, the floors, ceilings, the blast doors, ricochetting off of everything. Gough ducked, and a bullet struck Keib in the thigh - but not because it was intended to hit there, having bounced off a wall. "Ghk-!" He stumbled, but regained his balance and girded himself. Vithr and the bridge bunnies ducked behind the litter once the bullets were flying.

Then the guns could be heard clicking as they ran dry, and all they could hear were footsteps. No announcement of reloading, or any dropping magazines, save for the brass rolling around on the floor.

Between the sounds of the gunfire, and ringing in her ears, Aiesu asked: "D-Did they go off prematurely?"

Akahar - Deck 4 - Command & Medical Team

A sharp exhale came from the behemoth of a Fyunnen, as he quickly pressed himself against the nearest bulkhead as soon as the sounds of weapon fire sounded, mixed with the tell-tale 'zings' and 'slaps' of assault rifle fire impacting against the hardened material of the Akahar's bulkheads. "Blind fire." Ha'reiel spoke through their comm-link, as he weighed the situation, letting his instincts do the talking, but the voice that came from his gut spoke of stupid impulses, idiotic whims, it was a moment to think sensibly it seemed. "Rifles at the ready." Ha'reiel ordered, before leaving his space against the bulkhead, quickly dashing to the bulkhead which was adjacent to the approaching armor's route, effectively placing himself 'around the corner' from the approaching machine.

Once in place, Ha'reiel's fingers dipped into a pouch on his hip, pulling a piece of ancient technology from the pocket... a mirror, but the frame around the mirror had another purpose, as he pulled a thin telescoping metal rod from the mirror's frame, and soon put the mirror around the corner, peering down the corridor where the shots had hailed from. He was spotting for the group, as his hand minus the mirror had clutched upon the grip of his M'cel, ready to take a shot if need-be.

What do we have here? Ha'reiel thought silently, as he remained on edge, knowing full well that at any moment some sort of machine could bound out from the corridor... but... he did something else instead of sitting and waiting. "This is Chaplain Ha'reiel Himsa, approaching armor, if you are friendly identify yourself. If you are a foe, I insist you surrender, this ship is unclean, and must be evacuated, save your own hide if you're fool enough to attack a ship of the Matriarchy, and on this occasion we will let you flee. If you are a foe that insists on attacking, know now, I have an antimatter round chambered, and I am not hesitant to use it." After Ha'reiel spoke, he made sure to get low, knowing the sound of his voice could easily serve as a targeting parameter for a head-shot.

LSDF Akahar, Deck 3

Carefully maintaining focus on his assigned role, Glacier payed little heed to the general actions and interactions of the group, leaving the general considerations of their advance and actions to the Acting Captain and whoever else might take the mantle of responsibility upon themselves. Instead Glacier dedicated his attention to maintaining an uninterrupted vigil on his surroundings, endlessly scanning the floor, walls, and ceiling in an unending task that he was careful to moderate so as to avoid falling into a complacent and lazy pattern.

The brief stop to handle materials acquisition was thankfully made with little fanfare, though it quickly became apparent that all things were not to progress without incident as the Acting Captain called for silence from further down the stairwell. The chatter that soon followed made light that patching into the Akahar's camera network was futile, and made clear the implication that there was likely a hostile force toward the fore of the ship on Deck Four.

LSDF Akahar, Deck 4 Corridors

Slowly and cautiously the crew eased forward and down to Deck Four, spreading into their assigned formation in the new corridor once it was clear that no immediate threat had presented itself. As they settled holding position for the moment Glacier settled into his incessant vigil, continuing to watch and wait for any small sign that might betray a hazard or hostile presence that would threaten the group as they decided how to progress through what had once been their ship.

As their present location aligned with the location of many of the ship's more critical facilities it was ordered that all locks should be re-checked as they passed to ensure the ship remained as secure as possible and to prevent any hostile forces from acquiring additional resources. As their brief time on Deck Four extended, it was suggested that thing had not remained as secure as the crew had hoped.

The least of their worries came from the sound of heavy footsteps that were labelled with the possible identity of an Origin produced powered armour. Further theories suggested that at the very least Utilities had been compromised by someone, or something aboard the ship.

Additional information came from Bright as she summarized the details of a typical Origin powered armour soon followed by a plan detailing the possibility of Bright getting on the back of the powered armour and disconnecting its power supply. Feeling that the plan wasn't very wise given the uncertain odds that the small l'manel would be able to successfully approach and get onto the powered armour he was glad that at the very least Pitch and Widow seemed to share his sentiments based on their comments.

Further input on the situation came from the Chaplain, suggesting a pragmatic friend-or-foe identification procedure followed by summary termination should the armour prove hostile. He then proceeded to outline in brief what he considered to be their primary concerns, highlighting the danger of leaving the assets on the deck unsecured as well as adding repeated emphasis on the need to address the powered armour.

Before much more thought could be directed toward planning and outlining their next course of action, let alone allowing for the Acting Captain to make a decision, Glacier found himself once again embraced by the memories of one who had been lost.

The sight of a ship falling planetside was oddly beautiful overlayed with a reflection of resplendent yellow eyes, Merril's own? Too easily the scene slipped into one that seemed to be from her childhood, youthful excitement and innocence, almost painful to observe at present, starkly contrasting wit the tragic scenario that Glacier lived out even as he watched it shift once again, the position and roles reversed, now playing mentor to a younger charge.

A new abrupt and discordant shift fitting for the new memory. One of violence and fear. It was something that made Glacier wonder if it was perhaps a familiar scenario for the L'manel caste as a whole. Before more could be learned of this new scenario it shifted once again becoming something very different, yet still one of blood, pain, and fear. It seemed to be a moment of healing, one far beyond anything Glacier had ever experienced, but oddly relieving in comparison to the startlingly painful memories of youth and innocence lost.

The order to fan out drew Glacier out of any potential consideration of the memories as he quickly moved to obey, slowly coming to realize that the latest round of visions had already ended. Further orders were delivered detailing that he would be travelling with Bright, Pitch, and the Head Engineer to secure Utilities.

Quickly falling into place with his group, Glacier idly noted that he had learned little about the Head Engineer during their time in isolation before shaking out the after effects of the mental invasion to resume his silent vigil. As they moved, the Head Engineer briefly touched on the subject of an experimental Frame that the Akahar held in storage, something that Pitch would hopefully be able to put to good use. Hopefully the weapon platform would ease their efforts to escape.

At the order to fall into a defensive position behind the Head Engineer was given, Glacier silently slipped up against the wall wondering what they'd be encountering only to be answered a moment later by a firework. Snapping his eyes shut and turning his head away out of habit to keep from being dazzled by the explosive, Glacier was lucky to have avoided the dazzling flash as the firework detonated near them, spraying warmth over their small group that was quickly followed by the unexpected call of 'Thermite.'

Working quickly, Glacier ran his hands over his armour, working to scrape the burning motes from his armour encouraging them to cascade to the floor away from his squad. With a grim thought, Glacier noted that while the weapon was hardly conventional and the payload random, they would likely end up burning slowly to death should further 'fireworks' be rained upon them.

With a short clear call of, "Suppressing!" over their communications network, Glacier easily went into motion switching out his Silva for the Ek'yra he had held onto as he rounded the corner and dropped into a crouch to reduce his profile. Identifying the pair of hostiles, Glacier disabled the safety while he picked out the one that seemed to hold a firing mechanism of some sort and lined up his shot with their centre of mass. A second later a three round burst of 7.62mm slugs tore the air of the corridor singing of thunder as they lanced out toward their target. Realigning his aim, Glacier hoped that the impacts would hopefully knock the target off balance at the very least and delay further 'fireworks.'

Akahar - Deck 4 - Command & Medical Team

It didn't take long before Merril's latest memory projection invaded not only the ship, but now their intimate squad link. This was very concerning to Widow, and only proved how rapidly things were breaking down now. As much as she wanted to indulge in the visions and learn more about what could be driving the Beast and perhaps how to save Merril from herself, there were some things about this time that were different. It wasn't the images but... the sound.

Aran'ya held her hands to her ears reflexively through the stonethread of the Wind suit's hood. That crashing sound! It rang through her being like a bell, vibrating through her own memories. Metal scraping, colliding, warping... A personal nightmare breathed back to life that she was trying to forget. It seemed like the corridors of the Akahar were for a moment the halls of her biological research facility back on Lor. The fragments of the moon were falling and the roof was caving, crushing... she couldn't breathe. She choked a moment, and tried to banish the invading transmission and the memory it engendered with a low growl, "Ghh... stop it!"

Widow managed to get a grip on things again, jarred to awareness by the team splitting up and soon thereafter sounds of danger. Not meteorites as in the distant past, but gunfire. Bullets erupted into the corridor without rhyme or reason like a swarm of angered hornets. She reflexively began to act to shield the injured and under-protected team members or ensure they took appropriate cover behind the litter before she herself crouched low and raised her issued rifle in the direction of where the rounds came from, ready to defend them. As the Chaplain-Inquisitor used his device to look round the corner and identify the foe, the Medic could also see that Keib has taken some stray fire. "Are you alright, Captain?" she transmitted worriedly in that fleeting moment -- part of her psyche perhaps still needed reassurance that this was not the night she lost Tian'vir.

LSDF Akahar, Utilities Team

Once more the group was interrupted by Merril's memories, and the memories seemed pleasant, at least the first half did. The second half was disturbing once again and brought all the tension back, reminding her once more that she was dealing with a very unusual situation. There was no time to relax and she had to expect the worst, or her fight assignment would end up as her last.

Before she really knew what was going on the group was being split up and to her surprise she was not assigned to help hunt down the armor. Rather she was sent to utilities, which she was thankful for. She would much rather go there than deal with a possibly hostile power armor using her sidearms and an unfamiliar rifle. Also it was said that there was some experimental frame on board and that she would be piloting it. She had mixed feelings about the notion, it would be nice to pilot a new frame almost fun even, but if she broke anything it would be her fault and she would probably have to pay a lot in reparations.

She did not have much time to contemplate the situation however, soon they heard something on the path ahead and before she knew it a fire work whizzed by and exploded, sending molten material everywhere. Fortunately for her she had not been struck by it so she did not need to brush herself clean and peered around the corner to see what was going on. She saw two figures there that stood in opposition to them and she wasn't sure if they were friendly or not, but since they fired first it was safe to assume they weren't. She pulled out her pistol and joined Glacier in firing on the aggressors however she wan't aiming particularly lethal shots at the moment, right now she jsut wanted ot force them into cover to get time to think things through.

LSDF Akahar, Utilities Team

Jiji found herself with the Utilities Team, the idea to disable the robot was ignored, or just chosen to be a bad idea overall. She had been okay with this, no hard feelings, it was a very risky plan and the plan would risk her life. She followed the Utilities Team quietly listening to orders and staying in line, it wasn't until the thermite splattered the wall behind her that her eyes widened and she quickly brought her gun up and peeked around the larger Lorath with gun outstretched to see where it was coming from her eyes quickly scanning the area before them. What the fuck was that?! Thermite...it was a very deadly type of heat that would find itself burning through whatever surface it would touch. Thermite...Thermite... How can you counter act thermite?! If I had been just a little taller the thing would've killed me...I'd of been dead...But what...What threw it? Her mind raced, as her eyes scanned.

Akahar, Deck 4, Command & Medical Team
"I-Indeed." Keib replied to Ha'reiel as he stuck to the wall next to Ha'reiel, soon getting spring back into his step as he watched the Fyunnen pull out a mirror, place it on a telescoping rod and point it around a corner to inspect what was going on. Keib had to lean forward to see what was on the mirror, but Ha'reiel's bulk meant that he had to poke his head too far out from the mirror to see clearly around the corner. Gough fell in behind Keib, and Keib saw Aran'ya ask if he was okay, and he nodded back at her, and put a finger to his lip. He didn't want to ruin the element of surprise.

Ha'reiel however was able to see a power armour that was missing its helmet, missing its chestplate, and appeared to have a half-rotten corpse mummified and penetrated by wires. The corpses eyes were sunken and milky white as their skin starting to decay, showing parts of the former occupant's flesh beneath. What reanimated them? Was the armour moving on its own volition or had the Pratmias rigged something together? Bricks of explosive material were wired together and strapped across the armour's belt.

It didn't seem to make an effort to pick up its guns as it kept on advancing. Perhaps the guns were only to get some attention and draw them closer. 'What is it?' Keib transmitted as he flicked the safety off of his rifle and heard it power up. Gough followed suit too, and kept an eye on the medical personnel.

Vithr and the Bridge crew backed away to let the more combat oriented sorts of the team do their job. Not far enough to split off and make their own group, and still within eyesight, backing into foot of the stairs as Vithr was keeping a view on the rear.


LSDF Akahar, Deck 4, Utilities Team
The Automation who was mounting the firing aparatus for fireworks was lighting the fuse for another as Glacier fired at them. The wick caught flame as the automaton type Freespacer seemed to be able to withstand the shots, being made of less organic material than most Freespacers were. Their aim wavered and the ebony skinned companion panicked, forgetting their friend's strength and holding the apparatus steady for them.

But the Freespacers forgot to raise the backblast shield to prevent the rocket's fuel from burning into them and ended up being showered in sparks as another rocket sailed past Glacier and Pitch. The pain of both bullets and now being set aflame by their own rocket showed the relative combat inexperience of these beings. Not following ordnance protocol had disastrous consequences - and gave Pitch an exploitation to fire at the ebony skinned one, who fell to the ground clutching their side while the automaton was trying to put themselves out.

Not following protocol didn't prevent the rocket from smashing into the back wall and exploding into a mess of large iron ball bearings the size of a pinky finger's nail, aggravating the thermite splattered regions and peppering Bes'linn from the side with iron bearings while and Glacier and Pitch were struck from behind.

The explosive propelling the fragments wasn't as strong as the rocket - still lethal for unarmoured personnel but not at military strength as the metal bounced through the hallway, slamming into armour and forcing the breath out of people - apparently intended to shake up armoured personnel with a barrage of bearings.

JiJi's state of heightened alertness let her see the rocket as it sailed past, and she dove backwards to avoid the worst of it. Hitting the deck seemed to save her from copping injury - only copping a couple of lower-velocity bouncing ball bearings against her suit. Bes'linn, however, wasn't so lucky, and fell to the ground in pain.


Elsewhere...
Beings spotted. Huddling together because they were weak individually, having needed to arm themselves with guns. She had adequate protection from the threats she'd known of, the ones she encountered in her inception - she'd stolen it herself from a place the ones who were only skimming the surface of unity had pried open.

She looked at Keib from her shadowy vantage. Her previous captain and the one who'd gotten a shot at her was looking down the corridor at the Medical personnel just beneath her, and she couldn't strike. The one who shot her was watching, and armed.

It was not yet.

She stalked silently.

Akahar, Deck 4 - Command & Medical Team

Looking upon the mirror, Ha'reiel saw the machine, the occupant, and the hazard present. It caused him to press his lips together, before he looked to Keib, seeing him stick out so sorely, before he grasped the New Tur'listian by the shoulder and pulled him back. "Armor, minus chest-plate and helmet, dead occupant, strapped with what appears to be explosives." Ha'reiel explained over the communication link which the team shared. "We could try for a clean kill, minus explosion. Unsure if it would work though, if they are somehow reanimated in a way which would not involve the use of a central nerve center. Or, we could take the explosion, it won't be anything compared to the stairway. Your call, Commander." Ha'reiel spoke through their digital link. "It does not 'seem right' though, whatever we do, be alert, it seems too obvious, I don't like it."

Akahar, Deck 4, Command & Medical Team
Keib sucked on his teeth as he considered what Ha'reiel had transmitted over to him. It seemed a bit . "It seems like a dangerous, deadly distraction. Taking it out quietly might appear the best course of action." There were other possibilities to consider, in addition to the explosions that could be heard coming from the utilities wing.

"Utilities, what's going on over there?" He radioed to that team before turning his attention back to Ha'reiel. "I'm considering the possibility of a deadman switch that'll detonate the bombs though. A knockout may work better than a kill, and we need to get distance between us and the bomber in case the bombs do go off anyway."

Akahar, Deck 4 - Command & Medical Team

"Whatever is in that machine is dead, so, something monitoring life-signs is out of the question." Ha'reiel replied, and as he did, he felt time slipping by, as he went over the thought of the target in his mind again, and then, he stole a glance around the corner once more before something 'clicked'. "Those explosives, they look like rigging used for plastic explosives. My plasma shell may possibly detonate them, though, a concussive force such as a solid munition rifle, or a microwave discharge from a Silva, would not detonate the explosives." Ha'reiel explained, reaching into his experience of field ordinance. "Even if it is conventional explosives, a well placed blast from the Silva should be able to fry any sort of electronic monitor on the corpse that could be used as a trigger."

With the acknowledgement of the vital role of the Silva rifle, it left disposing of the target to the rest of the team, at least those equipped with the new piece of hardware.

Akahar, Deck 4 - Command & Medical Team

Widow was glad to hear Kieb was unharmed, and it ssrved to ground what remained of her uncertainty after the previous little incident. She listened carefully as the two men of action assessed the situation with the enemy armor rigged to explode with a literal corpse inside of it -- indeed just as she had feared. The suicide bomber left them no real safe course to remove it conventionally, as it would inevitably catch someone in the deadly blast.

Vithr and those accompanying the medical team drew back to a safer distance, but Aran'ya instead held her ground for a moment. Her arachnid-enhanced senses seemed to be uneasy about this situation... she could feel something in the air. A predatory intent dripped off the cieling and walls near the stairs, but there was no sign of anyone or anything there when she looked. The team could feel her heightened state through the network, even if she did not directly vocalize it.

When Ha'reiel announced the plan to use a microwave blast, Widow lifted her Issued Silva rifle up and moved closer to get a clear shot at the enemy, crouching in a position that gave some measure of protection should the shrapnel fragments go awry. She only hesitated long enough to look towards the Captain and Gough for a safe to fire order.

LSDF Akahar, Deck 4, Utilities Team

Pitch grew worried as she saw bullets strike the automaton harmlessly. If they couldn't stop the machine it would continue to assault them. However it seemed that the firing did have an effect, it was probably due to lack of training but Pitch wanted to think it was form the pressure of their constant firing, the freespacers made a mistake in prepping their weapon that resulted in them catching themselves on fire. She did manage to land a shot or two on the more organic looking of the two, hoping that she didn't kill her. This was after all her first time combating something that did not appear as a monster before her.

Her worry however distracted her and she had forgotten about the rocket sailing past her. Before she could react half a dozen iron ball bearings struck her rear end causing her to jump, large wings extending quickly as she let out cry that was not entirely of pain over the radio, in fact there was quite a bit of sensuality to it. Her face quickly turned red with embarrassment as she rubbed her rump, hoping that no one was paying attention to the sound.

Looking back ahead she noticed that the robot had not yet fired another shot and with her mind still full of embarrassment and wanting to run off and hide, she made a rash decision to rush the thing since it only seemed to have a rocket launcher. Pulling out her searing blade as she made a jumping dash using a quick burst from her suit's thrusters. She never was very precise with the searing blade and now she was was trying to land in time with her strike as well, so she simply swung down at the rocket launching device partially rotating her body along with it as she over swung and the suit suspected she was attempting to perform a flip.

LSDF Akahar, Deck 4, Utilities Team

Jiji dropped to the deck like a boss as the rocket came sailing past and got hit by a few ball bearings, but nothing amazingly dangerous to her. She felt relief but then heard Pitch and raised her eyebrows looking upside down at the woman. "...Okay then." She hopped back up in a show of acrobatics landing back on her feet by pushing off her hands. Upon landing she immediately crouched and studied the situation of the battle. Her weapon was up and she was about ready to shoot only to see Pitch run past her and charge the enemies. She wondered what she was thinking, but then realized that they only had a rocket launcher, making it easy to avoid attacks should they fire. So what seemed like a silly attempt, might actually work!

LSDF Akahar, Deck 4, Utilities Team

Despite his efforts to knock the automaton off balance Glacier found himself wincing as the rocket sailed past him to detonate in a shower of what turned out to be painful impacts rather than a burning spray of thermite.

Grimacing as he dealt with the pain which likely heralded the formation of a bruise that would occupy the entirety of his back Glacier dully noted that Pitch's share of the shrapnel had sent her into the air. This observation was soon accompanied by a wash of despair as she continued forward Searing Blade in hand toward the hostiles cutting off any chance to continue to fire on the enemy without risking friendly fire.

With an effort Glacier set his sore muscles into action rising and drawing his own Searing blade as he started to dash down the hall doing the only thing that he could to support Pitch in her reckless dash toward the enemy, hoping that he'd be able to work around the L'manel's actions and at the very least make sure that she stayed alive.

LSDF Akahar, Deck 4, Command and Medical Team
Aran'ya raised the Silva rifle, and as instructed hastily by Aiesu, she flipped its safety switches and waited for the indicators on the boxy scope to light up. One of the things the soldier noticed about the rifle was the lack of sensory feedback aside from indications in the HUD. It made very little sound powering up, and once the chevrons in the reticle were yellow and had painted the target in its sights, it was ready to fire. She could see Keib and Ha'reiel in the periphary of the sights, and they were not designated.

Squeezing the trigger, a warning beep sounded in Aran'ya's ears that the weapon was active the chevrons turned red. There was no other report visible than a slight warmth in the hand that was supporting the barrel of the weapon. Microwaves were being beamed out with great prejudice at the decaying man in the power armour and his bandolier of explosives.

The armour seemed to lock up mid step and teeter as joints sparked and adhered together while shocks could be seen, and Aran'ya could see the decaying flesh bubbling in its hull, and then falling over as their centre of gravity was unable to be adjusted. "Please..." The corpse inside the armour moaned as their muscles turned into soup. The explosives, however, seemed to ignite themselves, flames licking them and the plastic on the wires sloughing and melting off to reveal the copper - and the world went still.

Did the explosives go off?

Not quite. The powered armour's flailing on the floor begun to slow as everything had melted and burnt together, and the signs of unlife inside were finally given respite. These explosives could only detonate when the shock from the blasting cap was given, or if there was a severe enough shock at high temperatures.

As it all became still, Keib heard a click and his blood froze in that instant.

And nothing happened because the trigger assembly for the explosive had been turned into something surreal art. The Silva rifle registered that the hostile was well and truly neutralised, and stopped firing, emitting a chirp to indicate safety.

Still, a lurking sense of unease came over Keib as he looked over to Aran'ya to smile at her and say "Good shot, soldier," as he spotted a glint in a vent behind them and up in the ceiling. He looked again, his attention suddenly torn away from Aran'ya, but a scan indicated that there was nothing there. He clicked his tongue. Gough looked up to where Keib was looking and his eyes and HUD scanned, but no avail.

The Acting Captain hadn't heard a reply from the Away Team yet either, setting his nerves on edge and forcing him to make another query. "Utility team, this is Keib - what is your status?" Meanwhile, Al'ris was approaching the downed power armour carefully.

"Kill confirmed," she said after a scan of life came up empty, and there was no signs of movement from the husk of armour.


LSDF Akahar, Deck 4, Utilities Team
Pitch and Glacier launched a frontal assault, with Pitch leading the way and making a sweeping strike through the Freespacer's rocket launching apparatus, slicing it in two. The makeshift construction ensured that the rest of the structure collapsed on itself, inoperable. Hot on Pitch's heels, Glacier would find an ebony skinned Freespacer who was clutching their Automata brethren, and trying to hold up their hands for surrender.

They started chittering, and it sounded more like radio static, or garbled information. They'd only learned Ly'thir recently and soon found themselves trying to put words together "No! Nie! Not like this!" the ebony skinned one cried as the Automata was rolling on the ground trying to extinguish the fires on their body to prevent them from spreading to vital components. "We-we were asked we was!"

Glacier and Pitch had the two at their mercy, both wielding flaming swords against a pair of disarmed Freespacers, both of them injured and out of combat effectiveness, one of them pleading for their life. Their grip on Lorath language was still very fluid, but their anguish was translating loud and clear.

Meanwhile, Bes'linn was still lying on the floor in pain, groaning gently as she tried to peel herself off of the floor and get on her knees. She looked over and saw the situation under control. "Someone, help me up and get me some morphine," Bes'linn requested, looking to JiJi, who was closest and who hadn't engaged the targets. "That's an order, little one."

JiJi, however could feel a pall descending over the room. She felt like she was being watched by something, but she couldn't tell from where under all of the emergency lighting.

Another call from Keib in all of their ears: "Utility team, this is Keib. Status report now!" He sounded increasingly desperate for an answer from them - communication was still key and if it went out, he knew that things would go amiss.

LSDF Akahar, Deck 4, Utilities Team

Thinking quickly Glacier activated his WIND's speaker and spoke in a commanding tone, "Do not move." The words came first in Ly'thir before being repeated somewhat awkwardly in Trade. Keeping himself ready to execute the pair of Freespacers should they begin to do anything suspicious Glacier was quick to reply to the demand for a report over the network, "This is Glacier. Pitch and myself have a pair of Freespacers in custody that claim they were asked to attack us. What are you orders?"

Taking a steadying breath and taking note of the pain and stiffness from the previous explosive especially pronounced in his wings, Glacier waited patiently for a response while keeping an unwavering watch on the pair of Freespacers ready to kill them before they had a chance to make him regret leaving them alive as long as he had.

LSDF Akahar, Deck 4, Command and Medical Team

As someone who was not well versed as a sniper, Aran'ya was thankful in that moment for all the support she received manipulating the unusual weapon from Aiesu, and it seemed that the instruction and the computer's guidance systems paid off. The Silva rifle's microwave burst successfully neutralized the threat without causing the feared collateral damage from the explosives belt. As she watched Al'ris step forward to confirm the kill, the medic took a deep breath and said a small prayer for the remains of whomever it was that was trapped in that suicidal power armor. At least she had released them from their torture, but it also reminded her that the crew was still here... surviving the horrors of today was perhaps in itself a slow and sinister form of torture for all of them.

But at least they were not in it alone. The praise from Keib was a welcome bright spot in the tense situation for Widow, who was glad to have done her part in protecting him and the others. "My pleasure," she replied with a degree of satisfaction, as the lanky woman arose from the crouched firing position and lowered the bulky rifle that was still warm in her hands. She had a soft spot for the Acting Captain, indeed, and looked forward to living long enough to learn more about just what motivated him deep down.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched deep in her Lmanel soul... they may be feeling like predators now, but to someone or something else in the shadows they were prey. And by the way Keib darted his glance upwards, she could tell that he had seen it too. "Captain, sensors are empty of hostiles, but my gut says we are being stalked."