RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 18.3B] The City of Urtullan (HX-24)

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

Off in her peripheral vision, Sienna saw the giant shape of Conrad and Sune falter in midair. She whipped her head to look, and noticed the spurt of blood falling from Sune's arm, the unmistakable grimace of pain on his face. Her eyes immediately went to the ground, and she spotted Gravedigger's familiar form on the rooftops, aiming a rifle up at them.

Her heart started to race and she felt it pounding in her temples. She looked around futilely; she was unarmed and in the open. She could only hope that the group didn't falter before they were picked out of the sky like birds in hunting season. She looked up. The pipes were very close now, just a couple more seconds and they'd be there.

"Just a little further," she shouted back at the Neko, who was already shooting down at the ground, the eerie pulses from her pistol resounding through the cavern. "Get me on the pipes and I'll find us a hatch!"

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

As the soldiers started firing at him, Gravedigger ducked into a doorway and tumbled down the stairwell of a building. This left everyone clear to get to the top of the city dome, where they were surprisingly not alone. A few flight-capable teens were camping out up top. The spacesuit-clad soldiers were the last thing they expected to see during their spin-the-bottle game. From the catwalks they could follow the curve of the dome to the side walls, where the tunnels led to the surface. From there, it was just a matter of having Egil get the shuttle to them.

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

Natsumi couldn't help but be dissapointed as Gravedigger managed to escape once again. She couldn't tell if she had landed a single hit on him or not.

She returned her NSP to it's holster and flew the rest of the way up, landing Sienna and herself safely on the catwalk with the others. They were close now, a twinge of excitement for getting off this rock tugged at her as she undid the straps so Sienna could move freely once more.

Natsumi had not expected anyone to be up where they landed, but it did make sense flight capable teens would go to a place like this to get some privacy. That said, she kept a weary eye on them. She didn't trust people on this planet anymore.

Then she noticed Sune,s wounded arm. "You're hurt!" She yelped.

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

As soon as her feet were on the ground, Sienna wriggled free of the strap and took off down the catwalk, bounding like a gazelle. She assumed the rest of the team would be right behind her.

She jumped over the teens' spin-the-bottle game, sailing over the middle of the group and landing on the declined slope of the catwalk on the other side. On a higher-gravity world, she might have nearly tumbled head over heels down the rest of the way when she landed, but she kept her feet and followed the curve of the dome as she descended to the nearest airlock, backpack tight against her shoulders and her mask and goggles still securely in place.

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

Conrad did not like flying. Not like this. Being dragged on a strap by his Captain, yet now upwards. Not a pretty feeling. And they were ducks in the hunting season. Gravedigger's aim so far had not faltered him. As he kept his teeth gritted on the clunky respirator, Sune's flight path halted for a moment as they were getting fired at.

Conrad didn't know how or why, but Sune had a bottle of alcohol with him. Probably nabbed from the clinic. Didn't matter. All he had to do was pinpoint it and shoot. Glorious flames might have Gravedigger flinch or think twice.

Yet it was in vain. It wasn't just hard to hit the bottles, but the mercenary proved to be as guile and slithered away before they could actually damage him. This only strengthened Conrad's resolve to return with his own 'set-o-barrels-that-spit-lead-death'. But that was for another time. They needed to evacuate before even more got hurt.

Surprised to see flight-abled children, Conrad readied for another bout, but there seemed to be none. Warily but surely, he followed Sienna in pursuit of their way to the Eucharis.

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

Catwalk

Sune looked around when the landed. He wondered how the young people had gotten up there, but followed Sienna along the catwalks. He undid the belt and used it to form a sling for his injured arm. He applied pressure to help stanch the flow, it was all he could do until they got aboard the shuttle.

"Egil, contact the shuttle and start bringing it closer. I want us to be able to board as quickly as possible, and then lift." he said to the IT specialist.

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

Catwalk


Natsumi bolted after Sienna, using her gravity manipulation to carry her along quickly without putting strain on her healing leg. She flew over the teen's spin the bottle game.

"Sorry!" she said as she zipped on.

With Egil calling the shuttle in, she was ready to hop into the pilot's seat and get them out of the atmosphere.

"Is that the airlock up there?" she asked as she paced Sienna and pointed at the rusty looking hatch that was rapidly growing closer.

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

Bors was glad to be away from the streets below, and even happier to be almost off of the planet.

"Remind me to put in a request for a strike team to come back and hunt that guy down." he said adjusting his suits mask as he prepared to return to the hostile environment outside. As he checked the neck seal he noticed that Sune had been hit,

"You allright there boss? I mean we just left the clinic a few moments ago, I doubt you want to get back there that soon."

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

The team quickly moved through the piping, following Sienna towards the nearest exit. Egil was glad their final run-in with Gravedigger went down without much incident. Now that they were almost off planet they could forget this disaster and get on with more important things.

"Yes sir." He replied to Sune. Using the wireless communication system his species possessed he connected to the shuttle through its id signature, which he had memorized from the datapad earlier, along with his personal credentials. He simply needed to send a few instructions and let the shuttle's autopilot take care of the rest. For now he let it home in on his signal and hover several feet above the surface since the exact location of the exit was unknown to him.

As the shuttle acknowledged the commands and began to descend he made some final checks on his gear and made sure the breathing apparatus in his suit was still functional. Everything checked out and now the exit was in sight. While the team gathered up at the airlock hatch he sent a final set of instructions to the shuttle, directing it to scan for a suitable landing spot as close to the hatch as possible.

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

"No," Sienna called back to Natsumi around her mouthpiece. "Airlock's at the end of the tunnel on the other side of this hatch, if I remember right."

She slid to a stop in front of the rusty hatch and attempted to rotate the locking valve. When it didn't move much, she took hold of one side and threw all of her might into budging it. Still nothing. Looking up, she saw a mess of low-hanging pipes running into the dome wall, low enough for her to reach. Swinging her arms back, she leaped upwards and grabbed hold of them and shimmied up to the wall so that her feet were dangling right in front of the locking valve.

From where she hung, she delivered two solid kicks downward to the left side of the valve. On the first it still didn't budge. On the second, she could hear the groan of rusted metal starting to give. She reared back and gave it a third kick, and finally the valve sprung free. "Guess this one ain't been used in a good while," she muttered as she let go of her handholds, dropping back to the catwalk. She rotated the valve the rest of the way and shoved the heavy hatch open with her shoulder and a soft grunt of effort.

On the other side was a tunnel that snaked away into near-darkness, with only a few flickering, neglected rectangular running lights covered by rusted metallic grills along the walls where they met the floor remaining functional enough to give the group a rough idea of where their footing was. The rest of them were either missing, broken, or otherwise nonfunctional. Far at the other end they could see a ladder that ascended above the ceiling, presumably to the airlock.

She took off running down the tunnel, leading the group. Her boots banged against the grilling along the floor, echoing down the metallic tunnel loudly. Reaching the ladder, she started to climb without looking back.

"Hey Conrad!" she called back down the tunnel. "One more thing before we get topside. Don't take that mouthpiece out for anything, and don't hold your breath for more than a second or two. Without constant airflow I can't guarantee the filter won't spin down. So you and I won't be talking until we get aboard your shuttle, 'kay?"


[Minor edit for syntax]

Re: [Mission 18.3B] Filth Potpourri (HX-24)

Sune looked at the faces of the young people, and the items they had. Some sort of adolescent activity, not sure what but it seems harmless enough. Good to see that they have time enough to engage in such. he thought. There must be a way to help these people, but I do not see a simple solution. Using force would endanger too many of the innocent who have already suffered enough. I am dubious about a diplomatic approach, without a lot more information. I will recommend to Hanako that we request SAINT send a covert team in to get more information... he thought until he heard Bors.

Sune turned to Bors holding the wound, pain was clearly written on his face, but he kept his voice clear. "I have been better. This is not the first time I have been wounded. But there is nothing we can do about it right now. We have no medical supplies, and I refuse to stop and give Gravedigger a chance to catch up with us.." Sune said in response to Bors question.

He sent an encrypted subspace message to update the Eucharis.

Away Team to Eucharis. Making our way to the surface via a different route. Assassin has made another attempt, all team members still alive. I was shot in the left arm, humerus broken, lost my NSP. Will tend to injury once we get to the shuttle.

We are bringing a guest with us when we lift. Her name is Sienna, she is local who has been very helpful. She requested a ride to someplace else as payment for her assistance.

Sune-Out.

Click to expand...

He watched with interest at Sienna's efforts to open the hatch. She is obviously used to doing things herself. It never even came to her mind that having others help would have achieved the same goal. Most likely a result of her life here. he thought to himself.

Seeing her enter the less used passage way he looked around. "Conrad, close that hatch behind us. We do not need to leave it open and make it obvious we went in here.

The rest of you keep your eyes sharp and weapons ready. Gravedigger has far to much luck for my liking."

Conrad moved behind the rest as he went to close the hatch behind them. He had let Sienna do her thing as it seemed quite obvious she did not want any assistance in conquering the hatch. It was rusty alright, but Conrad got it closed easily enough with brute force. He heard Sienna call out to him as he was following Sune's orders.

''But Sienna, how would I be able to live without your constant stream of creative insults?'' he said with a sarcastic mocking tone. A hint of a joking matter in the midst of a serious situation. ''Sure thing though, but I'd almost think you'd try to kill two birds with one stone!''

Conrad moved back to form up with the rest of the squad, moving warily through the tunnels. He didn't like confined spaces, well, confined to him and less to others. A flashlight wouldn't have hurt as well, but that was all for a later time. This was a race against an armed clock.

"Aw, you think they're creative?" Sienna called back chidingly in a mock girly tone as she continued to ascend the ladder, out of Conrad's sight by now. "That's sweet. But a big guy like you I imagine will find a way to tough it out. Don't ya worry though, hon. I'll make it up to you when we get out of here."

She reached the inner door of the airlock above her. Opening a rusted and bent metal cover set in the wall alongside the ladder, she reached inside and with a grunt of effort, twisted a faded red and stubbornly hard to turn handle. The door whooshed open with a loud, irritating scrape of metal on metal, revealing another stretch of ladder up to the outer door. She resisted the urge to clap her hands over her ears to defend them against the piercing whine echoing through the metal walls, but when she finished grimacing, a wave of nervous anticipation washed over her. She was so close to getting out and off this rock.

Her excitement was tempered by the realization, however, that not all of them would fit at once inside the airlock. "Damn it," she murmured, and looked back down, dangling from the ladder by the crook of her arm. "Right, we'll have to do this in two--" she began, then noticed Conrad's hulking form starting his ascent on the ladder down below. "--three groups," she finished. "Inner door release is right here," she continued, rapping her knuckles on the handle she'd just twisted. "It'll pop back where it was when me and Natsumi close it behind us. When y'all hear the airlock cycle and recompress, rinse and repeat."

Natsumi had followed Sienna into the tunnel once she had kicked open the rusty hatch. She was glad Gravedigger had not been waiting for them on the other side. He had the nasty habbet of being able to show up wherever they were going fast. She had to wonder if hehad some sort of teleportation device.

Following sienna up into the small airlock she drew her NSP once more. There was no telling what was awaiting them on the other side. Natsumi didn't like the idea of them splitting iu into small groups, but there was no way around it with how small the airlock was.

Once the outer lock was open Natsumi was going to check the area for hostiles, then confirm the location of the shuttle. If Egil had done right, it should have already been fairly close to where they were going to come out and she would be able to access it and get ready to fly them out.

"Ready when you are" Natsumi saifld to Sienna, aiming her NSP at the outer airlock hatch.

Checking one last time to be sure her respirator and goggles were in place, she nodded down at Natsumi and drew a long, deliberate breath through the filter. Now she would see how her improvised design held up in the field. If she'd made a mistake, she may not live to regret it, or at best, Conrad might have a few choice words for her when they got to clean air.

She popped open another small metal cover near the top door and turned the rotary handle counterclockwise. It stopped with a sharp clack at about forty-five degrees, and with another grating, high-pitched screech the lower door between them and Sune slid shut, separating the group. A staticky and neglected klaxon blared in the airlock warning in broken Nepleslian of the impending toxic air that would soon flood the chamber, and yellow rotary lights flashed, spinning around the walls in an eerie dance.

After a few seconds, the yellow lights changed to green, and the lock on the rotating handle clicked free. Sienna turned it the rest of the way, and the door above them groaned open. Immediately the sickening yellowish haze of the air above whooshed inside, and even through her mask she could smell the sulfur. She had to consciously remind herself not to hold her breath on reflex, just keep breathing.

When she didn't start hacking up bits of her lungs immediately, she climbed out of the hatch and up onto the walkway that circled the dome covering the underground city, looking around at the sickly-looking, barren and rocky landscape that stretched out for miles. This side of the dome seemed largely ignored, as the main landing pad was on the other side, and very little traffic had any reason to come over this way. She stole a glance up and behind her. The monolithic dome stretched up and away until it was lost in the haze, only a few red and white beacon lights pulsing from comms towers and gas vents that jutted out at seemingly random intervals visible.

It had been a good while since she'd set foot on the surface, and hopefully this would be the last time she'd see it.

She turned around on one knee and offered Natsumi one of her hands to help her up and out.

Natsumi was ready to return fire as Sienna opened the rusty outer hatch and slipped out into the hostile outer world. But no attack came. Either they had actually given Gravedigger the slip or he was waiting to make his move. Either way, she wanted to get going as quick as possible.

Sienna offered her hand to helm Natsumi up and out of the airlock. Natsumi could have easily just floated out, but she almost instinctivly accepted the offered assistance, noting the strong grip for someone of her build as Sienna hauled her out of the hatch.

"Thanks" The white haired Neko said as she took up a covering spot, her red eyes sweeping the barren and ugly landscape. "Seal it back up so the others can get out as quick as possible" she added and took a moment to scan the sky for the shuttle before returning her attention to searching the landscape for Gravedigger.

There really wasn't much of anywhere to hide. The rocking outcroppings worn down by centuries of wind and chemical erosion. Then the looming dark dome over the city, smooth and polished by the same winds, offered nowhere to hide.

While Natsumi kept watch on their environs, Sienna acquiesced to her directions and knelt down next to the open hatch, her respirator clicking and whirring with each breath. Set in the grilled decking of the walkway was yet another metal covering for what could only be the external hatch release. She pulled on the indented edge to flip it open, but it didn't move. Rusted shut, again. She had to laugh a little in spite of the situation, wondering just how this rustbucket of a colony managed to keep its air supply breathable if most of the hulls separating its population from the noxious fumes outside were in such a sorry state of disrepair.

She tugged harder on the cover, giving it a few successively harder yanks, and finally the entire cover just snapped off in her hand, the metal fatigued from neglect and exposure. She stared blankly at the broken cover in her hand for a brief second before simply tossing it over her shoulder.

At least the handle within still functioned properly for the most part. With only marginally more effort than she assumed it should have taken, she turned it and the outer hatch scraped closed, slamming shut hard. The grating they stood on gently started to rumble as the pumps in the airlock engaged. With a sharp hiss, the poisonous gasses were vented back outside through vents in the dome just above their catwalk. After a moment, the pumps stopped and the hiss petered out to nothing.

Sienna banged hard on the outer hatch twice with the side of her fist, letting Sune know the airlock had cycled and was ready for the next group.

Moving down the hallway to the hatch, Sune activated the lamps on his helmet. The passageway had the appearance of disuse and neglect. Not surprising since the 'defacto' ruler probably intentionally limited access so they could monitor who and what came and went from the city.

"Those of you with weapons, activate your lamps so you will illuminate your target if you have to fire." He said as he watched Sienna move towards the end.

He watched the resourceful woman work the aged airlock. He was grateful that it worked. Once she went into it, he moved up towards the hatch. "Egil, you and I will go next. You are needed to remote fly the shuttle to the surface and I am currently weaponless.

Bors and Conrad, the two of your cover our departure. Cycle through the airlock as soon as it turns green." He said.

He listened as Natsumi and Sienna exited the airlock and dogged the hatch on the other side. He opened the hatch with his good arm, and opened the door. He stepped in looked around. "Egil, you will need to take care of cycling." he said returning his grip onto his wound.

Natsumi and Sienna disappeared behind the thick metal door accompanied by an eardrum piercing screech that made Egil squint his eyes. A few clicks, clacks and a set of definitive thuds later and the airlock was ready for the second group. The Chusa made it clear they were going in next and opened the inner airlock door again.

“The shuttle is en-route and should arrive shortly.” He notified Sune. Once the entire team was topside they should be good to go. “Any word from outside yet?” Egil moved over to the second set of rusted controls and yanked the handle around until it went no further, initiating the airlock cycle and letting loose another set of deafening screeches as the door closed behind them. All this stuff looked like it hadn’t been used in ages and it amazed him everything still worked as intended.

The warning lights illuminated the chamber along with the machinery around them whishing and groaning as the pressure adjusted and the toxic air was led into the chamber. It didn’t take long for the lights to turn green and the distinct smell of heavily filtered air to fill their noses. Egil turned the now released handle further until it clicked in place and the door above them opened up. He reached for his sidearm, punched on the flashlight and brightened the way out.

Sienna had stayed kneeling by the outer hatch, waiting for it to grind open and expel the next two members. When Sune's face appeared, she reached down and offered both her hands to assist his climb out, given that his wound rendered one of his arms near useless. She was quite impressed he'd managed to get up the ladder in his state.

Egil was right behind him, and she tried not to stare too long at the melted-looking stitching and scarring across his throat from where Gravedigger had tried to garrote him. Pulling him out of the lock, she motioned for the two of them to step back from the hatch and gripped the twist handle down on the walkway again. The air through her respirator started to taste a little sour, causing a creeping sense of dread to snake its way into the pit of her stomach. She didn't give any outward indication, but she desperately hoped that it was just a fluke of its operation, and not a sign that the filter was already failing after only a few minutes.

With everyone clear of the hatch, she twisted the handle in the floor again, and the door slammed shut a second time. The walkway rumbled with the pumps again, then the whoosh and hiss of vented air, then once more it died out to nothing. One more group to go.

She banged her fist several times on the hatch again, realizing only afterwards that it had probably sounded a little more urgent this time.