((Sorry if this seems a little disjointed.....
When i was writing this, it just didn't seem right. Like something was off.
If i have forgotten anything, or made a mistake, dont hesitate to point it out.))
Get another beacon and have round 2 with unconscious karista and her mutant friend. Explaining only half are dead and their leader is still alive but unconscious, VERY vulnerable to take our here and now.
*Check with Ari or whoever else to know if the Matriarch, The Grand-General, and Dr. Ala-shar got out yet.*
"Come back here, i thought you were going to eat me Karista, I thought the Imperioum was suppose to have bravery and a whole lot of power behind their threats? Maybe your own leadership will look down on your mistakes AND your inability to defend your honor!"
EDIT: Bigger than Karista who was 3 times her size..it's time we go for the engine room and rig it for an explosion. Then follow using our stealth to see what they do.
No way we can finish the beat down...today.
Before you do anything else, you use your mental link to contact Ari.
'
Ari, have the Morey been evacuated?'
"
Affirmative. We finished evacuation ten minutes ago. Currently awaiting pickup from a Vanguard vessel. Is everything going alright there?"
'
Things are going OK, but the big fucker that used to be Karista managed to get itself saved by an even bigger one before she got hit with the Obelisks barrage. About to go on the hunt. I was thinking of overloading the engines to try and lure them out.'
"
That could be difficult. The engines, engine room and engine related systems are heavily hardened against attack or damage. they are serviced by automated machinery and guarded by point defense autocannons when the ship goes into combat to prevent boarders from taking the engines out. There may also be some isolated Morey crew-women down there who dont know about this new peace treaty yet.
You can still try your plan though."
'
I'll think about it. Make sure to get out safe, Ari. I dont want to lose you or my other sisters.'
"
Dont worry about us. We'll be fine. See you soon."
You start to think about your plan. It is looking increasingly unlikely you will be able to finish off Karista today.
You notice that the Vanguard and Morey troops near you are locking down the hole in the hull. They succeed in closing the containment shutters, sealing the ship again until repairs can be done. At least you haven't got sudden depressurization to worry about.
***
These close-quarters are really amplifying the Belshaan melee ablities, and working undercover should have prevented them from bringing their best equipment. I say shoot the walls, throw in demolition charges, reconfigure the ship into an open cavern...
You have an idea. The Balshaan are trying to hide, so lets blow away any shelter they can find.
But first, you have to make sure you have the explosives needed. You check your equipment. You forgot your engineering equipment, however you do have three explosive charges and four high explosive grenades. You look about, and see that there seems to be several soldiers, both from the Morey and Vanguard, who look like they are carrying a variety of explosives, as well as heavy weapons, launchers and other area effect weaponry.
Good.
These close-quarters are really amplifying the Belshaan melee ablities, and working undercover should have prevented them from bringing their best equipment. I say shoot the walls, throw in demolition charges, reconfigure the ship into an open cavern...
+1 call support from remaining vanguard troops and brood sisters to hunt down the Balkans with rocket launchers, grenades, and anything to blow holes in any place they can hide in.
"DO NOT LET THE BALSHANS OR THE PRESIDENT ESCAPE!"
Also see if we can take the presidents assistants corpse back. We could find out more about their anatomy/armor.
You use your helmet comms device to talk to all Vanguard and Morey troops in this section of the ship.
"This is Commander Katia Heartwood speaking. I want all soldiers who are fit for combat, and who are armed with explosives or similar weaponry, to form up on my position. I have a plan for rooting out these abominations but i will need your help."
You get a response from an old friend, but on a private channel.
"Ah, Commander Heartwood, formerly Brood Leader Pandora. Its been a long time since that battle five years ago. Whilst i have unfinished business with you, i would like you to know that
my troops will follow your orders. For now. However, would you like to enlighten me on what this plan of yours is?" Brigadier Xander Berginstaff says, seemingly trying to be civil.
"My plan is very simple. Chase after them and blow up any cover they could use, flushing them out. Then, we hit them with everything we have. If we can create a large enough area using the explosives, we will be able to bring our far superior firepower to bare, hopefully destroying them eventually."
Berginstaff pauses, before grunting agreement. "Simple, but possibly worthwhile. Get to it."
You take command of the troops. You tell them that they should, under no circumstances, let the Balshaan escape, no matter how frightening they are. You target this more at the Morey than the Vanguard, as the Vanguard have most likely fought them before.
After setting out on the hunt, the troops, of which there are hundreds, make slow progress moving through the heavily damaged ship. The attack from the Obelisk meant for Karista seems to have overloaded several systems and damaged the ship heavily. The troops do however follow their orders, leaving few, if any, hiding places left after they move through an area. They check their sectors thoroughly, and find tell tale signs of the Balshaan, usually their dark, almost black, blood.
You move through the ships with Annie and the rest of the team. You take point with Annie, whilst the others fan out behind you, double checking areas you have checked at least once before.
"Are the Balshaan usually this good at hiding?"
"Not the big ones. But then again, the big ones dont usually run away, or show any signs of intelligence at all."That does not sound good. It could be a sign that the Balshaan are improving, or evolving.
You eventually come across some recent signs of Balshaan moving through the area. You check your weapon, making sure it is ready and charged and nod to your teammates, who do the same. You move forward more carefully, weapons raised. Your comms unit peeps as Annie sends out a beacon letting the others know you have found the Balshaan.
You come towards a large door, with the words recreation hall in Morey above it. You send out feelers using your psychic abilities, and find that you can't seem to pick up the Balshaan, even though there are two large blood splashes on the door. Signalling the team to move to the sides of the corridor, you open the doors.
There is a stream of energy weapon fire, making you think there is more than just one Balshaan firing. Using your stealth capabilities, you catch a look around the corner. The huge Balshaan is armed in a similar way as the Vanguards Titan troops. Shoulder mounted weapons on its shoulders, plus more weaponry on its arms. Your knowledge from the Vanguard Vat also tells you that the Titans have missile pods. You hope the Balshaan does have that capability.
You see Karista seemingly unconscious at the things feet.
"Anyone have a beacon we can use?"
"I grabbed one before we moved out. Here." Levinia says, throwing you a beacon.
"Thanks. We only get one shot at this.....I need covering fire from any heavy weapons we have."
"We...erm...dont have any. We have our standard scouting and infiltration kit at the moment. We left our heavier weapons back in our quarters....""Great...." You say, letting your sarcasm through. "Well, it will just have to be small arms then. We need him to stop firing so that I can move around in stealth mode and plant this beacon on them....".
You flinch away from the door frame as the fire intensifies. What the hell is this thing doing? it is trying to overheat its weapons?
***
> new plan: put the ship on a trajectory that takes it into the sun and kill all tech onboard permanently.
Shouldn't we keep the ship to learn how to counter their aiming counter measures?
You think of piloting the ship towards the sun, but the distance is too far and the Vanguard need the ship so that they can analyse the technology on it.
You do not want to anger the Vanguard by denying them access to some very good technology, on top of the targeting disruptors.
***
If we can get them near to the out side then we can open a bit of the hull and send then out in to space.
If we can get them near to the out side then we can open a bit of the hull and send then out in to space.
We'd risk ourselves and the corpse of the the balshans that we can experiment later on.
Yes xcomisque but it could help us on the long run AND help the morey leadership not present have proof of the...betrayal we'll call it.
if they are fighting a war then they probably have plenty of opportunity for autopsy. And these folk seem somewhat... gelatinous... it may not be so much a case of 'alive' and 'dead' but more 'active and dangerous' or 'dormant but dangerous'. If you ask me then the two 'dead' ones are probably now components in that one large one...
Ask about the balshaan and whether or not to take corpses back for autopsy.
A Mark 21 Phantom Powered Exoskeleton Suit, must have an air supply of some kind, and how bad is a little space trip going to be for the corpses?
+1 to the autopsy.
As the enemy fire flies by you, you think of many ideas on how to take down that monster. The best way you can think of is to blow them out into space and flash freeze them, but you dont know if the Vanguard will want the bodies.
"Can anyone tell me if the Vanguard will need their corpses for autopsy?"
"I think our scientists will be itching to get a look at those freaks. They are displaying behaviour and abilities we have not seen before. We'll need all the information we can get in order to mount an effective counter.""Damn....What about these suits? Can they be used to spacewalk?"
"Of course. Our suits have the standard setting for all Vanguard full body suits of two hours of EVA before more oxygen is needed""That's good. Does the Vanguard have the technology to do autopsies on corpses that have been exposed to space?"
"Ah, now i understand what you are getting at. You want to blast them out the ship... That is doable. ANd it should not disrupt any scientific investigation either.""Good. because that is what we are going to do. Look."
Just as your conversation finishes, several large groups of heavily armed soldiers pour into the room, drawn by Annie's beacon and the gunfire.
You send your message over the comms. You say that all Morey not in EVA capable suits should retreat, and that all Vanguard with the heaviest weapons should blow out the observation wall on the far side of the recreation hall which, whats reinforced and armoured, is still the easiest way to the outside.
The first part of your plan, however, goes poorly. The massive Balshaan in the centre of the room wheels around, spreading devastating, if inaccurate, fire around the entire hall. Fortunately, many of the Morey who fell managed to fire their heavy weapons or throw explosives at least once, with varying effects. Some hit, others didn't.
But nothing seemed to slow the beast down.
The Morey numbers got heavily thinned before they retreated to safety. Then the second part of your plan comes into play. The Vanguard troops level their weapons on the Balshaan, suppressing it long enough for other troops to blow a large hole in the side of the ship. Due to the damage, the ships shields and force fields had failed half an hour ago, when the search for these monsters was still ongoing.
The room depressurizes, rapidly. The massive Balshaan gets sucked out, and the void of space takes care of the rest, but not in the way you thought. They literally seem to turn into ice. Talk about flash freezing. It seems to be dead, although you cannot help but feel it is not that easy to kill one of those things.
The Vanguard grab any Morey corpses and wounded not carried to safety by the retreating Morey forces to stop them flying out into space. The equipment, as well as the Balshaan, can be recovered later. There is the odd 'Thank you' in Morey spoken that you can hear. The Vanguard strap temporary breathing apparatus to the still living Morey, to stop them dying of suffocation.
You then notice that Karista's corpse is not a corpse, nor had she been sucked out. She is clinging on for dear life to the floor panels. Looking terrified. You are not sure how you can tell that when she is currently a huge monster, but it brings you some satisfaction.
As the containment shutters fall into place, the room re-pressurizes. The Vanguard troops not tending to the wounded and corpses rush to surround the former Presidentess.
***
You walk over to Karista, who seems far worse for wear than the last time you saw her. She must have been hit by a lot of weapons fire during the brief but bloody fight with the Balshaan that saved her.
As you approach, you crouch down in front of her. You allow your helmet to fold back, exposing your face to her. She growls at you, but makes no move to attack.
"You really are as ugly on the outside as you are on the inside, Karista."
Just then, something remarkable starts to happen. The former presidentess starts to shrink, and shrink and shrink, until she is back to her normal size. She then starts to mutate again, becoming more and more Morey-like with every passing second. A brief look around tells you that the Vanguard are as surprised as you. Some even seem uneasy.
She starts convulsing, as if she is about to vomit. After half a dozen dry heaves, she eventually vomits up a foot long, snake like thing that instantly shoots forward at a surprising speed.
Heading straight for your head.
You reengage your helmet just in time and you dodge, preventing the snake-thing from entering your mouth, which you are pretty sure is what it was going for. Willhelm, Emma and Kilroy all fire at the thing at the same time, hitting and obliterating it.
You turn back to a visibly shaking Karista, her clothes torn, with large pieces missing. In actuality, she might as well be naked.
"P-p-p-please d-dont kill m-me" She whines pitifully. "That monstrosity you j-just killed was c-controlling me, making me do things...."
At the disbelieving stares piercing her, she shudders and starts to cry. "I-I never wanted any of this! Y-you have to believe me!" She wails, falling to her knees.
For some reason, you take pity on her. You kneel next to her and take her into a hug. She presses into you like a scared little girl. She is crying uncontrollably now. Quite a few of the Vanguard troops are standing around looking rather awkward. The Titans being the exception....they seem to have the emotional range of a teaspoon.
You pick Karista up in a princess carry position. As if she is a little girl, she snuggles into you. It is then that it becomes apparent just how small she actually is.
"I think we better return to the Obelisk, and just find out what the hell is going on......" You say, your confusion at the sudden turn of events evident in your voice.
~~~***~~~
Is there anything else you would like to do before returning to the Obelisk?
Status:1. Demeanor/Status: Calm and collected. Slightly confused.
2. Mental Condition: Mentally fit and stable.
3. Physical Condition: Extensive Scarring.
4. Clear thoughts and currently inactive mental factions.
Inventory:1. Mark 21 Phantom Powered Exoskeleton Suit (Wearing)
2. Mark 21 Phantom Powered Exoskeleton Helmet (Wearing)
3. Mk3 Plasma Beam Pistol (sidearm) (Holstered)
4. Mk 29 Mass Driver Sniper Rifle (Holstered)
5. Mk 32 Pulsed Hyper-Plasma Assault Rifle (Holstered)
Available Equipment:1. Mark 21 Phantom Powered Exoskeleton Suit (Wearing)
2. Mark 21 Phantom Powered Exoskeleton Helmet (Wearing)
3. Mk3 Plasma Beam Pistol (sidearm)
4. Mk 29 Mass Driver Sniper Rifle
5. Mk 32 Pulsed Hyper-Plasma Assault Rifle
6. Combat Engineering Equipment and explosives.
7. Various Vanguard casual clothes.
Implants and Augmentations:1. Vanguard Multi-range optics (Thermal, magnetic, IR, UV, multi-stage magnification etc) implant on eyes.
2. Vanguard Command and Control (C&C) nano-module implanted in head.
3. Vanguard Communications array nano-module implanted in head.
4. Phantom-Spec 28th generation Bio-nanomachines and bio-picomachines in blood stream, bones, muscles, tendons and organs.
6. Vanguard Nano-memory modules in the Cerebrum, holding all relevant non-personal data and nano-supercomputers throughout the brain aiding mental capabilities.
Brood Composition:1. Forward Command and communications: 10 Vat-born.
2. Field Combat Medic: 37 Vat Born
3. Long Range Specialists (Snipers): 48 Vat-Born
4. Heavy assault: 148 Vat-Born
5. Light Assault: 127 Vat-Born
6. Infiltrators: 27
7. Heavy Support: 77
8. Combat Engineers: 69
9. Scouts: 80
Allied Characters:1. Ala-Shar
2. Ankara
3. Ari
4. Elianna
5. Kaleetra
6. Talli
7. Dornishi, Morey regular Commander
8. Tirl-kha, Morey Commando Commander
9. Quish-ka, Morey Regular Commander
10. Annastasia
11. Levinia
12. High Marshall Veldin
13. Major General Hopfield
14. Kilroy
15. Emma
16. Willhelm
Enemy Characters:1. Kirish, the Presidentess's assitant. (Now mutant thing) (Deceased)
2. The Senatorium (Now mutant things) (Deceased)
3. New Guard Generals (Now mutant things) (Deceased)
Currently Neutral Relations:1. Brigadier Xander Berginstaff
2. Former-Presidentess Karista (Now blubbering, crying woman with a story to tell.)
Author
Topic: (SG) Starfire: War and Politics - Enemies Old and New - UPDATE 03/07/2014 (Read 87362 times)