((You got a lot of bad rolls this update, and that was with a real dice. Just be thankful for it turning out this good.....))
So, focus fire, smart positioning with overlapping fields of fire, and explosives thrown in.
Thinking fast, you tell your team, over the battle-net, to try to cleverly position themselves with overlapping fields of fire. You need the enemy suppressed if the next part of your plan is going to work.
Remarkably, your team takes no casualties as it moves to better positions. There is now far less chance a grenade will wipe them out as they are no longer stacked up next to the doorway you entered from.
You lob one of your larger plasma grenades at the enemy position, whilst telling your sisters to aim for the higher platform. Your grande goes wide and blows a large hole in one of the inner walls. You dont think anyone was hurt by it, and you cannot see anyone on the other side of the wall.
Your team does better however, crumbling the platform. Unfortunately, the Vanguard marine on it nimbly jumps off it to the level below where you are, and, like a ninja, rolls behind some cover before anyone can shoot him. All six Vanguard are now roughly together behind their cover.
You change tac. You tell those without heavier weapons to fire at will, picking their targets carefully whilst trying to suppress the enemy. You join with those with heavier weapons and aim for the promenade above the Vanguard troops. Despite your earlier assumptions, the promenade is rock solid. It isn't falling any time soon.
Your team does manage to suppress the enemy. The largest factor is the Vanguards lack of numbers. Even with their far more advanced weaponry, they cannot match the sheer volume of firepower you and your comrades can lay down.
You check your grenade pack. You have a decent amount of grenades of all varieties available to the Morey. Selecting a Super Plasma Heavy Grenade, you lob it at the Vanguard position. It nearly goes wide, but when it detonates, it manages to catch two of the 6 Vanguard troops in its blast.
You cannot believe what you see once the shrapnel has cleared. One of the hit Vanguard soldiers is standing straight up, looking straight at you. You hear what sounds like a laugh. His armour does not even seem to be damaged. You then notice something, a vague shimmer on his armour and another, different coloured one that seems to be a couple inches from his armours surface.
'
Personal Shields strong enough to stop Super Plasma ordnance? And that was one of my most powerful grenades! Just what ARE these people?' You think, as you hurriedly take cover again.
You managed to see that both Vanguard troops appear unharmed, and have taken cover behind other obsticles due to the destruction of their old cover.
Your team has started throwing grandes of their own, although they are less powerful than yours. None have any impact on the enemies performance.
You then think of your last resort. In your pack you find one of the mini-WMD's Ari told you about. The Bunker Buster. Clutching it, you arm it and lob it with all your strength (its heavy, even for a Vat-Born; it is not supposed to be used as a grenade, after all). You shout over the battle net for everyone in the vicinity to get down.
And that is when things went a bit wrong.
A huge shock wave rocks the ship.
'***ATTENTION. ATTENTION. ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED. ATTENTION. ATTENTION. ENGINEERS TO THE GRAVITY DECK. GRAVITY CONTROL CENTRE HEAVILY DAMAGED.***'
Your blood runs cold. That is the last thing you needed. You look up as you see everyone in the room start to float. Then, everyone's, even the Vanguard Marines, attention is on the bomb you threw. Everyone seems to know what it is. You hold your breath as it spins off towards the wall that is also the inner skin, the only thing between you and the outer hull, and, further, the black void of space.
There is a collective 'Oh SHIT' from everyone in the room as the bomb explodes, ripping a 20 foot hole in the hull of the ship.
Everything not nailed down in the room is sucked out into space as the room depressurizes. The lockdown doors close, securing the atmosphere bulkheads. Fortunately no one is caught as they close. Another fortunate fact is that all of your brood managed to get their helmets on, if they didn't already have them on. Your suits are not made for space walks, but they'll do for now.
The Vanguard troops seem perfectly happy though. They use small thrusters in their boots to maneuvre out the hole, where a small Vanguard shuttle arrives to pick them up. As they get in, the largest of the Vanguard troops turns and looks at you. His visor suddenly goes clear, and you see his eyes.
The colour of his eyes is a bright gold, with what looks like a red cross hair over over-layed on the eyeball. You can tell he is smiling as he looks at you. The shuttle starts to move away. He makes an 'I will be watching you' action, before securing the vulcan-wing hatch.
The Shuttle speeds off.
You manage to open the lockdown doors long enough for your girls plus what remains of Elianna's team to get back into the pressurised area of the ship. Panting, you check if anyone has any life threatening injuries. Your brood is fine, as are Ankara and Ari, however, Elianna is nursing a shattered left arm and multiple plasma burns. The rest of her team that was in the room with her are mostly in worse shape.
You escort them to the med bay. As you do so, you check your and Ari's shared brood. They report no fatalities, just minor injuries. Ankara's reports the same. It seems, they say, that the Vanguard were not here to kill as many as possible, but to get information off of the ships mainframe and databanks before pulling out. You make a mental note to talk to Ala-Shar about this.
The ship occasionally shakes from being hit in the starship battle still raging outside, however form the size of the shockwaves, your ship has pulled away from the centre of the fighting.
As you reach the med bay, you see it is surprisingly not full. And then you see the morgue, which is overflowing with full body suspension tubes ((high tech body preserving body bags)). You realise most are filled with members of Elianna's brood, although there is a significant number of Morey crew and command personnel.
You sit Elianna down on one of the beds.
"Eli, you're going to be alright..." You begin, but you see her gaze is fixed on her dead sisters. You pull her into a hug, one she accepts. You feel her start crying. "Shhhh. There was nothing you could have done."
"B-b-but i was supposed to *hic* lead them! And now, half my Brood is dead!" She wails. Ari is draw over by the noise.
You cannot think of anything to say to that. Ari jumps in.
"You cannot be everywhere at once. You did your best, we know that and you know that. It was a surprise attack by an enemy far more advanced than we are. I know what its like to lose those that are close to you, sisters who you live and fight alongside." Ari falls silent for a moment, studying Alianna's face. "The only advice i can give you is to not let their deaths be in vain."
Elianna's sobs start to slow, although she still clings to you like a little child. You notice her armour is heavily damaged, and parts of the plating have been completely shattered. Her helmet is cracked and dented, no easy feat due to the nano-materials and composites used in its construction.
'
I cant imagine what she has been through.... In only an hour, half of her brood.....wiped out' You shake your head, unsuccessfully trying to clear your mind. '
Will i be like her if, or when, i lose some of my sisters?'
You gently remove Elianna's helmet, dropping the now useless piece of equipment on the floor with a clunk. You see her nose is most definitely broken, and there is a cut over her left eye that will scar, even with the healing properties of the nanomachines in her blood.
You pull her close again as her sobs start again. Morey Doctors start to remove the arm section of her armour to get a better look at her wounds.
***
What do you do now?
Status:1. Calm.
2. Mentally fit
3. Physically fit.
4. Clear thoughts and currently inactive mental factions.
5. Free moving.
Condition:1. Physically Healthy. Extensive Scarring.
2. Mentally Stable.
Inventory:1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet
3. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit
4. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm) (Holstered)
5. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle (In Hands)
6. Dikari Plasma shotgun (Holstered)
7. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle (Holstered)
8. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives.
Available Equipment:1. Mark 3 Vat-Born Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Suit
2. Mark 3 Engineer Armoured Powered Exoskeleton Helmet
3. Basic White Skin Tight full Body Under-suit x 4
4. Advanced White Cooled Skin Tight Full Body Under-suit x 2 (Currently Wearing One)
5. Mk5 Mass-Driver pistol (sidearm)
6. Arishok Plasma pulse rifle
7. Dikari Plasma shotgun
8. Warrisk Mass-Driver Battle Rifle
9. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives.
10. Stun/Concussion rifle
11. Casual clothes x10 (White skin tight suit, Gloves, Boots)
12. Ceremonial robes
13. Royal Guard Armoured Powered Exoskeleton suit
Implants and Augmentations:1. 2x Loyalty probe in the Striatum part of the brain.
2. Multi-range optics (Thermal, magnetic, IR, UV, multi-stage magnification etc) implant on eyes.
3. Command and Control (C&C) nano-module implanted in head.
4. Communications array nano-module implanted in head.
5. Fortified 7th Generation reverse engineered biological nano-machines in blood stream, bones, muscles, tendons and organs.
6. Nano-memory modules in the Cerebrum, holding all relevant non-personal data.
Brood Composition:1. Forward Command and communications: 10 Vat-born.
2. Field Combat Medic and Long Range Specialists (Snipers) all come in at 50 persons each.
3. Heavy assault and Light Assault have 250 each.
4. Infiltrators: 50
5. Heavy Support: 120
6. Combat Engineers: 120
7. Scouts: 100
Ari's Contingent:1. 12 Scouts
2. 7 Infiltrators
3. 5 Forward Command & Comms
4. 19 Field Medics
5. 13 Combat Engineers
6. 22 Long Rage Specialists (Snipers)
7. 25 heavy Support
8. 23 Light assault
9. 64 Heavy Assault (including Ari herself)
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Topic: (SG) Starfire: War and Politics - Enemies Old and New - UPDATE 03/07/2014 (Read 87600 times)