RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 5] A Unique Encounter

The Kohanian turned his head when the little freespacer spoke. He looked at the canister in his hand, and then handed the whole weapon to Tweak. Truth be told, Deacon still did not like dealing with the Variable weapon. It was effective most of the time, that he could agree with, but it did not provide an advantage in a combat situation unless your enemy was totally unarmed and unarmored.

Once he had handed over the weapon, he would pull out the two HHGs that hung off each hip, and began to load them with mass driver ammo. After each chamber was full, he gave them a spin while holding back the hammer, smiling at the whirring sound that was produced. Then he would slip them back into their holsters and follow the rest of the team towards the lab areas, peeking through each of the unlocked doors to make sure the rooms were safe, and then he fell back in with the rest of the squad.

"If you wanted a miracle, go find yourself a prophet," stated Jen as she made sure her weapon was in working order. "We should probably find a way to keep this door closed when we have to run our asses out of here, assuming you can get your large butt moving fast enough."

"Emergency power to this area allows some of the doors to function," Dick answered Jen, moving towards the panel on the side of the door. "It's only the lab area and the assembly plant, however, running on a separate generator...hopefully the back-up plant will be enough."

The development laboratory was populated with a handful of labcoat-clad scientists. They looked startled at first to see the squad follow in with their Administrator, but the shock quickly transformed into grave concern as Dick quickly explained what had happened.

"Sir...we're trapped in here!" One of the scientists suddenly blurted out. " The other exit into the main hall is offline, Brookson and I went over to the assembly plant, and their door to the main hall is also sealed shut." The other science crewmembers nodded along with their peer's explanation, confirmed its validity. Dick seemed somewhat stoic in his response, however. "Try and find a place to hide...if those Uniques catch sight of you, they might try and kill you all as well," Dick explained as he moved over to a large machine in the corner.

The ID-SOL turned back to Squad 35. "I can alter the potency of the plasma containers with this machine. We condensed all of the plasma currently in those canisters through here, and theoretically I could alter the density of the particles...but it's still a question as to if the weapon itself will be able to utilize the increased performance," Dick explained. "However...it will take time to do. And I can only work on a single canister at a time. I suppose we better make the first one count...who will volunteer their plasma container?"

---

As the three Uniques quickly scaled the maintenance ladder after Cyril, while the fourth one sat conservatively on the side-lines away from the large vessel, keeping watch. Keziah's position in the ventilation shaft went largely unnoticed, given the lack of light and the immediate attention being drawn on the fallen CSS member. When the Uniques reached the top, the stayed low and quietly began fanning out, hunting for Cyril.

As Cyril came upon the entrance to the Vinross Yu-Cranker ship, he of course was met with a large, closed door. The alcove holding the entrance allowed him some limited hiding, given the angle it erected compared to where the Uniques were at the moment. Against the right-hand wall of the alcove was a small panel, no doubt connected to the door and the extending walkway underneath the alcove itself.

---

Meanwhile, Captain Bell and her small entourage had all grouped up at the top of the staircase, anxiously awaiting a breakage in the barricade. Finally, after several heavy (and somewhat difficult, given their choice of footwear) kicks and blunt hits with their shoulders, the Unique at the head of the group broke through and stumbled into the hallway. Far, far down on the opposing end of the hall, Jen and Stovaa could see the rest of the Uniques immediately pour out of the stairwell...

...and head straight for the empty Observation Room. It would appear that Squad 35's uncanny luck had bought them a few more precious minutes.

Keziah hissed at Cyril. Three on top. Searching. Stay down.

With her message done, she aimed her rifle towards the Unique closest to Cyril, and waited to fire. Work quickly, she hoped. But even then, I don't know what we'll do. What I'll do!

"Well, who trusts their aim? With how this will work, we won't have much time." Kokuten turned, repeating what was said before, though quickly with lack of time. "I only scored basic in rifle training back at the Corps, anyone done better?"

"Just a bit below above average, sir." Noboru piped in, still standing by Scarlet. He was absorbing his surroundings, watching and listening intently for the sound of the Uniques' heels closing in on him. The situation was bad enough, with them being outgunned severely, but Noboru would be damned if he would be caught off guard by a personal defense force.

Cyril caught Kaz's message as he scampered over the cusp and down into the alcove for the airlock. That could put a crimp on the festivities, no doubt, and was simply yet another point on the long list of reasons he had to get this door open quickly. Before he ducked down the cusp, he quickly flashed back Roger. Moving quickly. Be cautious.

The panel looked familiar, thankfully, and it was hopefully an indication that they had at least started with a stock config. If they had gone for it, then he could get this thing open in as little as fifteen seconds with the right layout. He didn't even begin to think that it would be so easy, but at least he shouldn't be figuring things out from base principles.

The panel was too well secured for him to rip it off like the one in the vents had been, and Cyril didn't have a screwdriver on him either. But he did have a cutting torch in the back of his hand. It wouldn't last long, but there should be enough of it to cut the panel free of it's mountings.

His eyes automatically dimmed as the cutter extended from the back of his hand, telescoping out to it's full seven centimeter length. He turned his back to the docking bay, trying to block as much of the ambient light from the torch as he could, and began to cut the panel free. Once it was open, he could see to bypassing the door.

Speedy raised his hand "I'm a decent shot, I've got plenty of experience." Where he got said experience, he was not going to say, not here at lest. He placed himself by the door, ready to at the next Unique bitch to show her face.

Serra looked around at the assembled squad, before turning her weapon over to Dick. "I'm a bellow average shot and a terrible soldier." She stated calmly, "if I go out there, I'm going to waste my shot and die." She continued.

"I'm giving up my rifle first so you can get an extra round out of this plan Administer Vanderhuge." Serra continued to say. "I won't take the shot, but if you want, I'll assist you to the best of my abilities to synthesize these canister modifications faster." The Elysian finished by ejecting the plasma core of her rifle into the air, spinning her empty rifle in her free hand, and then finally catching the ejected core at the same time she set her rifle on the ground butt first.

"Shall we get to work, sir?" She asked with a smile.

After giving a brief smile to Deacon, Tweak examined the plasma canisters. Then she frowned.

They were basically featureless, except for their connection points where the gun would take the plasma from them. No controls, no magnetic containment...Tweak was curious how they got around that problem but this was not a time to be distracted.

She glanced toward the table-blocked door to the stairway. That wouldn't hold long.

I don't want to die.

Her plan was gone. Tweak looked down the hall where the rest of the team, except for two, had gone while she was looking over the canisters. Labs were that way, but...

...

What if this was all a trick? What if she didn't work here, if these people were all acting? Tweak's brow furrowed slightly and she flipped her visor back down, sealing it, then glanced over at Scarlet and Noboru from the corner of her eye, her head facing the door. She looked over at the old control room and then at the door.

"I'm going to look in the control room again..." she said, barely loud enough for either Noboru or Scarlet to hear, then hurried into the room. She found the hatch to the conduit system and went in. Where Kez and Ceril went one way, Tweak took the other direction, heading away from the group and looking for another exit.

She went as far as she could in that direction, taking random turns when the opportunity arose, trying to get herself lost. Trying to find somewhere away from what was going on.

The book on her leg was always uncomfortable with the CSS suit on. After all, the suit was supposed to be skin-tight or at least snug, and having a book, even with a soft cover, in there made that leg of the suit deform beyond what it was intended to. Tweak had been curious about what was in it ever since she noticed it on her way to the showers, but everything had happened so fast from there that she hadn't had time to read any of it.

Well, if she was left alone for a while, she would have that chance.

"HEY!"

The lone Unique who had been standing guard on the ground caught sight of Keziah's last batch of signals, and immediately opened up on the ventilation shaft opening. The other Uniques turned up and quickly picked up on their comrades actions, turning their guns towards the ceiling as well. Down below, however, Cyril's actions upon the door panel were apparently surprisingly effective as the passenger entrance slid open. The noise of the door moving was, luckily, drowned out by the firefight resuming above.

The inside of the ship was markedly more decorative than the outside. The metal floor paneling was hidden behind a lush red carpet, rolled luxuriously down the length of the hallway. Further along the corridor, Cyril could make out a simple opened doorway leading into a well-lit room, a familiar voice wafting through it.

"Captain Bell? Have you finished already?" Laj Vinross Yu questioned the unseen figure, sounding very impressed.

---

Dick gave the Elysian woman a wry smile. "You are talking about the weapon, right?" The ID-SOL joked, somewhat inappropriately given the situation, as he took the small blue canister from Serra's grasp. Turning his attention away for a moment, Dick quickly addressed the rest of the group, but most of his attention laid on Captain Kokuten.

"You'll have to make do with what you have until we finished...but I sure hope you all have a plan," Administrator Vanderhuge said as he turned back to Serra and the machine, tossing the container towards the winged security guard. "Screw that into the valve point on that stand in the center...if you don't mind," he asked her as he made his way to a set of computer terminals on the side of the large machine, knocking a chair out of his way as he approached.

The rest of the science screw littered around the room continued looking around nervously, a handful of them approaching the Administrator to possibly help him.

---

Captain Bell narrowed her eyes and pursued her lips in anger at the bloodstains on the floor of the Observation Deck near the windows. Of course, the Unique's search turned fruitless, save for scorch-marks on the ground. Captain Bell didn't need to be told that the marks belonged to two of her previous subordinates. The rest of her small detachment were searching the room, one of them lightly examining one of the several blue metallic canisters littering the floor from the upturned box in the center.

"ALRIGHT!" Bell barked as her remaining Uniques. "Back into the hall, Marques pattern...we'll advance further and pick up their trail," she ordered, the women warriors quickly filing into the hall, weapons raised as they came into distant view of Jen and Stovaa, Unique Captain Bell taking position at the rear.

"They can't have made it too far."

Jen moved forward slowly and pressed the switch to close the door, "I am quite aware there are only a few doors out here, but at least the first will be assured kill... hopefully," muttered Jen. Though it would work only if luck was with her, or if they notice the closing door would only make them dead sooner.

"Either way they are coming sooner or later," she muttered, hoping enough time has passed for her buddies down in the corridor have figured something out or this delay tactic would be for naught.

Bullets sparked and ricochetted around her, forcing Keziah back into the ductwork. There was no telling just how sturdy it all was, but so far it--

One round burst through the metal beneath her, striking her in the side. She staggered and fell onto her hands, gasping through the sharp pain in her side. It hadn't penetrated, at least. It just hurt.

More holes were appearing, more bullets sparking all around her. A xaser beam cut through it all, too, leaving only a faint heat trail in its wake. This was really, really bad. At least Cyril has a distraction. I just hope he's fast enough.

She rolled over to one of the grates, her armor taking several hits in the process. That xaser, blessed be, kept missing her, which was the only thing she could ask for. Once she got to the grate, she opened fire from there, spraying wildly but taking care not to hit Cyril. Then she moved again, back to the broken section, scrabbling along the increasingly precarious expanse. The electrical cable was spread out down towards her, and she grabbed it to run the rest of the distance, using it to keep herself steady. She reached the edge of the break, just as the xaser caught her.

The pain was incredible. She would've screamed, but she couldn't find the air or the strength to do even that. Heat flashed out from her belly, where it burned the worst, and she blacked out.

Cyril and the Uniques would see her tumble out of the ducts, rifle still in hand, her other tightly gripping the broken electrical cable. Her fall was rapid, but controlled, surprisingly, until the cable ran out and she crashed into the hangar deck, landing on her knees and collapsing there, underneath the ship.

Serra caught the plasma unit and walked over to the center machinery, after looking about for a second, she found the place Dick asked for and screwed it in.

After testing it to make sure it was in securely. Serra turned to Dick. "Plasma unit is secured Administrator." She took a few steps away from the device out of basic saftey.

Cyril had been about to turn and wave Keziah off to safety when the Uniques unleashed a shitstorm of fire on the vent she was hiding in. It took all the disipline hammered into him during Basic to not pop up and betray his position with supporting fire. The vent should protect her from the worst of the fire. He hoped.

That hope was boyed for a second by the whipcrack of return fire from the vent. But it didn't take long before it was dashed again as she tumbled out from the broken opening. As she bounced her way to the floor of the bay, Cyril decided that the element of surprise could go to hell. He'd seen what those butchers did to bystanders. Cyril wasn't going to leave Kaz to their tender mercies.

Tossing his rifle into the airlock, Cyril ignored the voice coming from deeper in the ship. He didn't care if they knew he was coming. It would take more time to fix a hardware override then it would take for him to get Kaz.
Pausing only to extend the acess ramp, Cyril dropped down to the deck. The impact was a little jarring, but he didn't waste any time feeling it. Pushing himself up, he started to sprint to Kaz's crumpled form.

If there was one blessing to where Kaz fell, it was the fact that it cut the fire on her by 75%. And Cyril's abrupt enterance to the scene drew the attention of the fourth Unique down on the floor of the bay. At least for a while, his friend had a reprive. Hopefully that was enough.

The slugs from the Unique in the bay were like hammerblows as they hit his armor. But whether by accident or design the CSS suit was proof against small arms fire. That didn't mean that he wouldn't have an impressive collection of bruses tomorrow. Or that he wouldn't be screwed once the xaser showed up. Or the armor failed catastropicly.

Weathering the punishing fire, he slid in beside Kaz's body. Cyril spent a precious second to make sure that she was still alive. When he saw that she was, he didn't even pause for a relieved sigh. Lifting her up in a fireman's carry, he began his determined run back to the relative safety of the frieghter.

As soon as the first Unique took a step out of the door, weapon raised, Stovaa opened fire, plasma-enhanced projectiles screaming towards the female's face, neck and torso. Stovaa roared, a gutteral sound that echoed along the corridor, almost a weapon in itself; sheer volume combined with a tone that'd make most men shit themselves.

"FUUUUUUUCCCCKKK YOOOOUUUU!!!!!!!!"

He raised his rifle, took sight and aimed at the neck of the second Unique before sidling back half-behind the wall and shooting at the lights on the landing between him and the Uniques, leaving the one above their head. He didn't especially imagine himself killing any of them, maybe one or two, but it would at least cause them to take cover and return fire. In an ideal world, he would have killed all the Uniques with pinpoint accurate fire.

Sadly, he wasn't one for marksmanship, preferring insane spray in the hopes the pinpoint weakness was hit a few times. The accuracy was something his teammate could do, hopefully.

Kokuten nearly jumped over and flipped upside down at Stovaa's roar and took notice of the Uniques approaching down the way. He looked around, furiously, seeing nothing immediately useful. His attention went to Vanderhuge.

"How would we override that door?" said Kokuten, trying to figure out two things. One, why he didn't he think to do that earlier, and two, wandering if he could somehow override the protocols on the door controls. He looked at Jen, and silently hopped that the door was just taking it's time to close.

Noting the weapons fire, Lance moved to the doorway and started to lay down additional suppressing fire, hoping maybe they'd get lucky and simply overwhelm another of the Unique's suits with sheer volume of firepower. Carefully tracking the first Unique that had entered, he kept up a steady stream of fire at her in an attempt to force her back to where she had come from.

Well, they showed their faces, so Speedy made due to his promise. He readied his HHG, and popped out of cover, and fired two shots at the incoming Uniques, and popped back into cover, waited, back out two shots, back in, wait. Back out, last two shots, back in to reload.

Kokuten said:

"How would we override that door?"

Click to expand...

He shouted at Kokuten, "I could take a stab at it, sir!"

When the firefight started, Deacon leapt off to the side, the opposite way that most of the others seemed to have gone, leaving him basically by himself in the other lab, peeking every once in a while around the door frame to keep an eye on the fight. He wasn't overly sure how much of a use he could be other than maybe as a distraction sacrificing himself for the betterment of the team.

After all, the first attack on the Uniques had been with the element of surprise and a lot of supporting fire. This time he was going against the leader of the special unit, and they would know what he was capable of doing...Oh if only this were his homeworld, he would have felt more confidence in his abilities, and might have been able to channel some of the magic he had been trained in...Here though, he was just another poorly armored, under armed, gunjockey