ND's Christmas Surprise

[Crazyboy]

"Shit shit shit shit shit. THAT BLOODY WELL HURT !!!!"

Crazy screwed his eyes shut, trying to clear his vission from the flash of the flashbangs.

"MARINE! FALLBACK!"

Crazy shouted at the engineer dude as he watched the High Explosive grenade of death tumble down and clonk on the floor. He ducked through the door, stumbling down the stairs, ears still ringing, which was made a whole lot worse when the grenade went off. Crazy continued stumbling down the stairs, till he got to the first exit, then he stumbled through the door, where he stumbled around a corner and collapsed against the wall, waiting for his head to clear.

[Bakan]

*Smiling at the comment about speed, Incom chuckles.*

"Tell you what, you get to far ahead, just kill enough of the motherless whores to make me work a big, eh."

*Heaving up the Pulse Minigun, Incom takes a covering position out the door, awaiting the order to move out.*

[demiGOD]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

DMing begins for the day - December 24th, 2004
Oh shit, Rangers!

demiGOD
That's more like it.

Grabbing a fire extinguisher, you rush out to the generator room, but it soon becomes apparent that there's little you can do for it. The entire length of the generator is on fire, and one part of it appears to have exploded outwards. Deciding that your purpose in the vicinity of the room was long since defunct, you heard out back to the main corridor. Running through the open double doors, you come face to face with a pair of Marines wearing Biological Warfare Division unit badges, and gas masks. For a second or two, both of you just stare at eachother, then-

"One of the guards!" Shouts one of the Bio Marines through the external speakers of his gas mask. "Kill him!" The Bio Marine starts to bring up his pulse rifle, as does his companion...

-Demi, face to face with the Bio Marines and within a split second, pulls back shut one of the double doors and ran behind the consoles...

"WTF!!??!? BioMarines!! what do i do now??"

*edit: lol my bad and please bear with me guys this is my first time here in RP

[Dunin Hemm]

Cali growls a short "Yeah," in reply. The gasmask turns and eyes the Light Marine and then adds "Sir".

[No Dachi]

Inspectre/Bakan/Dunin/Darkling/Crazy
Up on the ground floor of the research facility, Corporal Crazy is the first to react to the high explosive grenade bouncing toward him and Corporal Morgan. Yelling to retreat, Corporal Crazy fortunatly has the foresight to grab Corporal Morgan's collar as he leaps backwards through the doorway, carrying them both tumbling down the stairs behind them. Coming to rest at the point where the stairs double back beneath themselves, the grenade goes off with a loud bang that sends both your ears ringing again. Corporal Crazy continues on down the stairs as Corporal Morgan recovers, before slumping against the wall besides the open door to first underground and waiting for his head to clear.

Through the open door to the Armoury, across the length of corridor connecting the Armoury to the perimeter corridor, Lieutenant Tremaine, Corporal Roxborough and Corporal (Incom) Morgan see shrapnel clattering down the steps following the sound of another explosion, and see Corporal Crazy slumped against the side of the door to the stairwell, and Corporal (Lewis) Morgan getting up from his position on the staircase itself. Corporal Roxborough tries to raise HQ on her coms unit, and though the return signal gets through, all she hears is gunfire, explosions and screaming...

Fluffie
You strained your ears, trying to pinpoint the location of the Rangers that you knew were advancing along the wall round the corner, and then threw yourself out sideways from behind it, Mp10 blazing. The lead Ranger is torn to pieces by a hail of bullets, but with the rate of fire of the sub machine gun being as it is, he shields his comrade - who flattens himself against the wall at the first shot - from half of your clip. You hit the ground hard, jarring your aim upwards, and you see a line of pockmarks in the wall of the tower stretching up above the Ranger's head, showering him with shards of Duracrete. All of a sudden, all you can hear is the empty ammunition chamber of your weapon clicking desparately as it tries to fire off bullets that aren't coming into its chamber. The Ranger looks up, seeing you, and lifts the muzzle of his sword bayonetted pulse rifle. Everything seems to move in slow motion, you powerless to affect the events unfolding before your eyes. You see the Marine aim down the scope of his pulse rifle, you see his index finger squeeze the trigger and - nothing. His weapon clicks uselessly - jammed.

"Shit!" The marine exclaims, throwing his pulse rifle to the ground and fumbling at the cover for a pulse pistol holster at his hip...

demiGOD
You've started assuming things here. Bear in mind that I never told you what the generators actually run on (it isn't oil), and also that, if you look, none of the RPers attempt to control NPCs (especially enemy NPCs) in their posts. I'd reccomend editting that one again, this time using what I've told you already in terms of environment, and only posting your own actions. Also, remember, bullets kill you quickly...

[No Dachi]

DMing concluded for the day - December 24th, 2004

Casualties
Crazy - alive, but becoming mentally unstable, lacerations to left arm, bruising from fall
Fluffie - alive, still dieing slowly of lung cancer, minor shrapnel wound to right shin, moderate bullet wound to side.
Bakan - minor wound, lacerated arm
Flapjack - moderate wound, twice pierced upper arm; probably dead soon if he doesn't post
PK - alive and uninjured
Darkling - alive, bruising from fall
Hewitt - alive and uninjured; needs to post some more
Dunin - alive and uninjured
Inspectre - alive and uninjured
mrmao - alive and uninjured
Wraith - alive and uninjured
demiGOD - alive and uninjured

[Dunin Hemm]

Roxborough (from now on) barks a curse yells to the others: "Get moving! We can't get trapped in here!" She charges out through the door and kneels on the corridor floor, aiming her shotgun in the direction of the explosion. Now she definetly didn't need to stick around anymore.

"And throw a grenade into the Armoury when you leave," she adds. Awfully bossy, even though she is nowhere near the top ranking soldier around.

[Bakan]

"Awe shit!"

*Seeing the other Marines falling down the stairwell, Incom moves closer, his Pulse Minigun in ready position, finger on the trigger, ready to shoot at any hostiles that followed them.*

"Someone get them out of the way NOW!!!!"

[Planetkiller II]

*PK decides to keep his quip short this time.*

"S*** loike."

*PK aimed his pulse rifle at the creature bonded to the floor. He was ready to fire at the slightest hint of hostile motion, from anywhere, not just the creature itself.*

"I'd prefer not, Mr. Purple. Don't suppose you'd like to give me some answers? I'm pretty sure I can kill you before your friends outside can get me."

*PK pauses for a second, considering why all these bodies might be here in one place.*

"Now wouldn't I look like a fool if you had friends in here too?"

*PK is now ready to shoot the creature and leg it, if neccessary.*

[Crazyboy]

Crazy, his head now clear enough for him to move, looks up and sees a lot of marines.

" ... "

Crazy nearly starts shooting, until he realises that the marines weren't shooting at him. That was good. Right? Yeah. That was good. That must mean they were on his side. Then someone started shouting. Get out of the way. Yeah. That sounded like a brilliant idea. Crazy scrambled up, and ran. He ran past the other marines and slumped against the wall leading to the armoury. He was rather tired. Having run up and down numerous stairs, been attacked by horrible creatures and nasty marines, and nearly blown up. Yes. He was tired and needed a little rest. He also needed more ammo and grenades. That would be good. But now probably wasn't the best time to spend running riot in the armoury. A dropship was pouring out a load of Marines, and would probably be down those stairs within moments. That would mean a firefight. Yes, the armoury really wouldn't be a good place to be in a firefight. He'd just have to wait to get more guns. Ah well. At least now he had some guys to watch his back.

It would also probably be a good idea to tell the others about the marines and the drop ship. So he did.

[mrmao]

As Alexander entered the tower he saw a wall covered with blood, it was a lot of blood. He hoped it was from the dead marine and not the wounded one in here somewhere. Alexander move toward the stairs that lead to the upper level. Making sure to look in the living quarters as he whent. Alex decided to take a risk.

"Hello!, anybody alive in here."

[Darkling]

The whole thing happened so fast first the flash bang grenades went off followed by some hihg explosive being dropped, then being pulled down the stairways clear of the blast. Thought despite how sore he felt after that he was greatfull to the marine.
"Thanks for that"
His vision begining to clear some as well as his hearing, getting himself up as quickly as he could. Noticing the other marines down the hall by the armoury.
The marine who had helped before making his way down the corridor, lewis follwing suit shouting
"Incoming hostiles"

Just to get everyone attention about the fact, in case the explosions and gunfire was not enough clues. Almsot skidding to a halt by the armoury Lewis rather than rasing his rifle takes his pack of and starts digging through it, pulling out a timed explosive setting it for a sixty second detonation. Taking a rather deep breath makes a run for the stairs position, moving at much quicker pace without his pack, slapping the mine in place agaisnt the wall of the stairways. Running back with his life litrally on the line to lobe a smoke grenade at the stairs hoping his plan worked.

If not what the hell he tried, least it wa sgoing to make it more ocward for them to advance down. Barly stopping himself by the armoury entrance in time to grab a udnerside grenade launcher for his rifle, reloading with a fresh magazine.
"Its better than running out of bullets mid fight"
Muttering to himself, right now it was about only way he could keep any sort of control in this situation and keep his sanity in check.

ooc - hope this is alright and not taking things to far.

[Wraith[x]]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

Wraith
You load a new belt of pulse rounds into your minigun, and then set about looking the room over. Apart from blood, corpses with flesh missing and upturned tables and chairs, there isn't a whole lot to see. You do spot the mutilated corpse of a fellow Heavy Marine slumped in one corner of the room. You'd all been posted to your guard positions without weapons or equipment, due to Heavy Marine equipment being so cumbersome and bulky, and so this man had probably been helpless when the things came. You do keep checking for reinforcements, but none are forthcoming. You do, however, continue to hear screeching from the corridor outside. Then, suddenly, you hear screaming. One man, one woman, both sounding terrified, from the corridor that the red critters scurried into. From the sound of it, both of them are moving.

Wraith glanced over the room, quickly taking it all in. Several bodies lay in the centre of the room; most were randoms, not known to him on his brief sojourn in the base. One face he did recognise however was Petersen, a Heavy Marine from his company. The late heavy marine had recently transfered, and Wraith didn't know him that well, but it was still galling to see one of your own lifeless on the deck.

Wraith's survey of the room was suddenly cut short by a shriek from outside the room, and yelling. He click his weapon back into overdrive, sending the barrel whirring round, give his ammo belt one final check and stomps towards the door. He quickly covers the distance and shoves the door open and, minigun at the ready, checks the situation in the corridor...

[ooc] If it's clear, feel free to DM me investigating the source of the sounds, swiftly yet cautiously [/ooc]

[Fluffie]

Fluffie found himself look up at the barrel of a sword bayonetted pulse rifle, time having slowed down around him, the previously roaring of the dropship's engines now just a hardly audible sound in the far, far distance. The concrete wall behind the hostile marine seemed to shift and change colour, slowly showing itself to be his wife and baby girl, standing there and looking at him, as if waiting for him to get up and fight, instead of laying there and getting killed. But he couldn't, there wasn't enough time...

Just with that in mind, his head focussing around that single image, he saw the rifle's trigger squeezed... Wanting to scream, call out for his wife, his daughter and tell them he's sorry for ever leaving but nothing doing so, he just looks, half expecting to see the bullet come straight at him. But nothing happens. Looking past the marine again for a split second, the wall of Tower D was now indeed a wall again, the image gone again. Focussing on the person in front of it again, Fluffie saw his mouth move, hearing the swear word too, but out of synch with the mouth.

With a speed he wouldn't be able to believe afterwards, Fluffie literally launches himself up onto his feet and storms the Ranger, already bringing his weapon backwards, aiming to slam him in the face with his hard metal Mp10, hit him hard and keep hitting him till he bleeds and breaths no more.

[Hewitt]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

Hewitt - alive and uninjured; needs to post some more

ooc: *Asks the alighty DM politely to take over for a bit while he recovers from an overdose of christmas cheer.*

[No Dachi]

You lost your chance to blitz into the research facility and reveal its deepest, darkest secrets anyway. Not enough time now. Still, I'm happy to take control of the character.

Hewitt and Crazy are now (by request) NPCs.

[No Dachi]

DMing begins for the day - December 26th, 2004

demiGOD
Better stuff. Only bit of advice here is not to post "WTF" as actual speech from your character. Instead, post "What the ****" in full. That's a minor thing that's really up to you, though.

Letting off a curse, you duck back behind the wall next to the doorway, and from there dash to a console standing perpendicular to the wrecked generator and throw yourself behind it dramatically. Seconds later, the sound of steel-toed boots cracking on the duracrete floor resounds around the room, echoing from the high cieling. You can hear one of the Marines speak, his voice distorted into something inhuman-sounding through the external speakers of his mask.

"Where's he go?" One of them asks.

"Can't see..." Replies the other, "search and clear. No survivors, the Captain said." And...silence. Apparently they're searching the room, but they're keeping quiet about it. You do have your pulse rifle with you...

Armoury Defenders
Corporal (Lewis) Morgan and Corporal Crazy explode out of the doorway to the stairwell, glad to get out of the way of any incoming Rangers, and Corporal Crazy makes a beeline for the Armoury. Corporal (Lewis) Morgan, however, slumps down against the wall next to the doorway, produces a timed mine which he plants on the inside of the stairwell, and then throws another smoke grenade up over the railing into the room beyond. The smoke would reduce the Rangers to cautious advance, but it wouldn't cause them any problems breathing since they were all gas masked. Corporal Roxborough and Corporal (Incom) Morgan both move to covering positions in the Armoury corridor, watching the stairwell door beyond. Nothing yet, the Rangers might be considering their options, or they might be waiting for reinforcements. Corporal Roxborough shouts somethng about destroying the Armoury - which probably isn't such a bad idea - but Corporal Crazy and Corporal (Lewis) Morgan are too busy looting equipment to comply for the time being. 2nd Lieutenant Tremaine, though he should probably be the one organising the defense, remains pretty much silent. Sergeant Henley, one of the two Light Marines with the Lieutenant, takes over in his stead.

"You! Heavy Marine! Move forward down the corridor and cover the doorway from there. Your job is to keep them occupied while we clear up business here. Stay far enough back that you won't get caught in the blast when that mine detonates." He shouts, already moving back down the corridor toward the Armoury. "Roxborough, move up to the perimeter corridor and stay to the right of the doorway, cover that angle in case they find some way of sneaking down past the stairwell. Scarez, with me!" Scarez, the Light Marine Private who also came down with the Lieutenant, complies, turning away from looking down the corridor at the doorway to follow the Sergeant. The two of them reach the door in short order, still open, through which Corporals (Lewis) Morgan and Crazy are visible. Crazy is already on his way out, moving back down the corridor. Henley wastes no time. "Combat Engineer, rig up a couple of det charges, and get ready to set them to explode. Don't do it yet though. Wait for the Lieutenant's plan. Corporal Crazy, get up there and help Roxborough." With that, he turns back to watch the open stairwell door, pulse rifle raised to his shoulder. Scarez, the Light Marine Private, does the same. You wait. From above, all the Marines near the stairwell doorway can here is silence. Eerie silence, with wisps of smoke curling down the stairs...


Mao
You enter the tower, looking apprehensively at the blood. Examining the living area, you find the dead Marine pretty quickly. Dried blood plasters his uniform around two large pulse round wounds to the chest. You can see white bones from his ribcage glistening wetly through one of the wounds - not a pretty sight. At least he would have died quickly. You call out a hail, there is no reply. Either the wounded man is unconscious, or he's dead, or he isn't here. The Rangers could always have taken him prisoner...

Wraith
You reflect on your lost comrade. You didn't really know who he was or what kind of life he'd led before transfer to Novagorsk, but his death was sobreing at any rate. You are disturbed from your quasi-meditation by screams from the corridor outside, and you clump your way over to the doorway to have a look at the corridor outside. A bizarre sight greets your eyes. A man - who you dimly recognise as Office Manager of the administrative section - and an attractive young woman - who you dimly recognise as the man's secretary - being carried down the corridor at alarming speed, each by no less than five of the small red creatures. Both are terrified. The little procession is being escorted by two of the larger creatures, both of which spot you in short order. With loud shireks, both of them leap a good ten metres toward you, landing around two metres in front of you and there crouching, emitting low keening noises and apparently attemping to screen the smaller creatures and their two captives. The two of them tear past you down the corridor. Yiou can't shoot the red creatures without getting them as welll - pulse minigun as innacurate as it is - so you'd better kill the guard ants and then hot foot it after them...

Fluffie
You're hallucinating about your family again. Must be the cold, that or the sleep deprivation, that or the wounds. You prepare yourself for death, though you loathe to leave your family, but then, the man's gun jams. You leap to your feet, running at him and smashing him in the face with the but of your Mp10 to send him sprawling to the floor in one blow. He lies there, groaning. You stand over him, hesitating suddenly. He turns over on the ground, and by chance the light from the distant dual suns hits the glass eye pieces of his gas mask in such a way that they become transparent rather than their usual reflective. You see his eyes, staring up at you defiantly. It looks familiar, somehow. And then you remember. It's the same look that the wounded Marine in the tower gave you before he died and, you realise slowly, the same look you were giving him a moment before. You hear the man cough weakly - a sound amplified through the external speakers of his gas mask. The snow bank around forty metres in front of you is currently cast in warm, orange-yellow light by the two suns. The colours over the bank of snow swirl before taking the form of your wife and daughter. Your daughter looks unconcerned by everything around her, but your wife looks down at the man in front of you, then looks at the Mp10 in your hands, then frowns accusingly at you. Maybe the man in front of you had a wife and baby girl just like that...you can feel doubt edging across your anger.

PK
Before you have even begun to move your pulse rifle, however, the host of hanging bodies moves into a protective wall in front of the creature. Nonetheless, you speak your threat, and demand answers.

Whether or not you would be able to destroy me, Lieutenan King, before I could defend myself is debateable, You hear the voice say, again in your head, but I will not die if you destroy this body, though I would doubtless mourn the loss of my...collection, and through recovery would be arduous. You, on the other hand, will be quite dead if I choose to destroy your body. Nonetheless, I enjoy conversing with your species, and you do not tarr yourself with responsibility for the crimes I seek to punish. I shall answer your questions.

[No Dachi]

Somehow I managed to forget PK. Editting your reply in now.

[No Dachi]

PK done.

[Planetkiller II]

*PK tried to keep his voice even, despite the grotesquery. This creature did not seem inherantly evil from its words at least, and perhaps it could be reasoned with.*

"Why do you do this... horror.... Why slaughter civilians like... like cattle? You are obviously intelligant, whatever you are, but this seems mindless. What have you or your kind set in motion here on this base, and why are there those seeking to cover it up so strongly?"

[Dunin Hemm]

Roxborough neither speaks nor turn her head as she recieves her order; she simple gets up and advances to the right, placing herself in the junction of the corridors (Am I right? My picture of the arena is very unsure).
Her right thumb slowly strokes the upper side of shotgun, her eyes half-closed. There is no panic, no fear, but there are indeed some matters she needs to take up with the 2nd Lieutenant.

[Darkling]

Finishing his re-armement, Lewis decidng that if there going to be battle he was going to have as many suprsies as possible. Not taking much from armour a few extra grenades for underside launcher, grabbing a pack of explosive grenade to replace his almost used smoke ones.

(I assume you mean me when meant about charges so here goes)

Running over to his pack, Lewis grabs a series of timed explosives placing them at the weakest looking point of the rooms interior. Along ceiling supports placing them so the combined blast would not spreads out to far from the room and catch the defenders in the process. Looking back at the stairways of in the distance hoping, or more praying silenty that things would turn out, a single armoury on a backwater planet that held little signifcants in most peoples view was not worth dying over.
"Why can't people just get along, always we seek the death of our own kind in more inventive ways, to undo that which has been created in the face of all that could be lost"

Finding himself mimbling aloud without realising it, become an engineer in the mariens was not his first choice of career path. Rather it was the last one, not much of an interlectual or having grades to really get much in life, other than possesing a little talent towards the written word. Though that was becoming a dying art form in this day an age, thinking to himself, memeories of his life flashing before him in a few short second. Meeting his future wife not long after entering the service, gritting his teeth atht eh very thought.
"Damn it im not going to die here in this metal coffin"
stuttering out aoud once more, a fierce determination keeping him going burning with the essence of his being. Finsihed setting the last of the explosives up. Taking a defensive position not far from the armoury entrance.

[Bakan]

*Hearing the orders, Incom quickly, or rather, as quickly as possible in his armor, moves into a covering position, keeping a eye on where the mine is, all the while ready to open fire at a moment's notice.*

[mrmao]

Alexander quickly ran up the staris to begin a thurough serch of the building from top to bottom as he left back to the barracks. He needed to be quick he'd already taken too long getting here and if he didn't find the soldier soon he be dead. Then there was everyone in the compound, if they were really under attack he couldn't stay long.

[demiGOD]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

DMing begins for the day - December 26th, 2004

demiGOD
Better stuff. Only bit of advice here is not to post "WTF" as actual speech from your character. Instead, post "What the ****" in full. That's a minor thing that's really up to you, though.

Letting off a curse, you duck back behind the wall next to the doorway, and from there dash to a console standing perpendicular to the wrecked generator and throw yourself behind it dramatically. Seconds later, the sound of steel-toed boots cracking on the duracrete floor resounds around the room, echoing from the high cieling. You can hear one of the Marines speak, his voice distorted into something inhuman-sounding through the external speakers of his mask.

"Where's he go?" One of them asks.

"Can't see..." Replies the other, "search and clear. No survivors, the Captain said." And...silence. Apparently they're searching the room, but they're keeping quiet about it. You do have your pulse rifle with you...

For a second there, Demi thought that would be the end of him, but just the thought that these guys would undoubtedly kill him cold-bloodedly was enough motivation for him. Grasping his pulse rifle he thought..

"..I could lock and load and load off on these cocksuckers, but that's too noisy just preparing to conduct that evolution.. OR.."

He reaches down his utility belt and felt the cold blade of his combat knife. Nice... Slowly and quietly, he unhooks the knife off his belt, and ever-so carefully reaches out his knife up to the front of his pulse rifle's barrel tip. He works the set clip with his fingers and routes his knife and into the set clip and CLICK!!!

"Damn!!!!! Did they ****ing hear me!??? SHIT!!!"

The cold cracking of their boots seemingly stopped all of a sudden as a cold sweat starts dripping on his forehead. Curiosity seemed to kill him as he slowly sticks his left eye off the back of the console and scans whatever his left eye can see across the compartment. damn!!! I can't see them!!!

[Fluffie]

Fluffie reaches for the man's hip and takes hold of the Pulse Pistol the other marine had so anxiously tried to grab and fire mere moments earlier. Putting the shooting end of the little piece of inventive human engineering against the man's forehead, our beloved and apparantly today most heroic and violent Light Marine speaks.

"Who the **** are you, why the **** are you here?"

He didn't hear wether the man actually replied or not. He looked down on him, forcing the image of his wife back and concentrating on the future, on the part where he would actually see and hold them again. With a soft and in a way sorry voice, he speaks again.

"Sorry man."

The last word of that short sentence was hardly audible as Fluffie squeezed the trigger of his newly acquired pistol. He shot the man in the face, point blank. Looking up at the corner, he kept the weapon aimed at it, he reaches down and acquires the dead marine's pulse rifle. Loading a new clip into it and making sure it works, he leaves the pistol on the man's body and grabs some 'nades (flash and HE), before advancing back in the direction of the dropship...

[Wraith[x]]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

Wraith
You reflect on your lost comrade. You didn't really know who he was or what kind of life he'd led before transfer to Novagorsk, but his death was sobreing at any rate. You are disturbed from your quasi-meditation by screams from the corridor outside, and you clump your way over to the doorway to have a look at the corridor outside. A bizarre sight greets your eyes. A man - who you dimly recognise as Office Manager of the administrative section - and an attractive young woman - who you dimly recognise as the man's secretary - being carried down the corridor at alarming speed, each by no less than five of the small red creatures. Both are terrified. The little procession is being escorted by two of the larger creatures, both of which spot you in short order. With loud shireks, both of them leap a good ten metres toward you, landing around two metres in front of you and there crouching, emitting low keening noises and apparently attemping to screen the smaller creatures and their two captives. The two of them tear past you down the corridor. Yiou can't shoot the red creatures without getting them as welll - pulse minigun as innacurate as it is - so you'd better kill the guard ants and then hot foot it after them...

Wraith stumbles backwards, astounded by the agility of the creatures. He quickly squeezes the trigger, and the seemingly interminable buildup of the minigun fills the room with an ominous whistle. The nearest creature hisses loudly at the sound, and seems set to leap at him when the minigun finally gets up to speed and churns it's lethal spray towards the creature. Wraith sends a short burst of fire from his weapon, and then switches targets to the second creature. Before he can fully track it, leaps towards him, knocking him to one knee as it bounds past down the corridor. Wraith, already spinning from the creature's attack, lets his momentum take him round through 180 degrees, and as he completes the turn, swings his weapon towards the target, firing early to bring the barrel up to speed, so it fires as soon as he has found his target.

[No Dachi]

Short sabbatical type thing going on here. Knights of the Old Republic is a fantastic game that consumes my time like some hideous vortex of time consumption. I would DM today, but there was a party last night where I got a little* drunk and a little** stoned and got about forty minutes' dozing at the end of it all before I was up and heading home, so I'm a little tired, and the body is a little unsettled. In conclusion, DMing on (if not before) Saturday.

*Varyingly
**Very, so far as I can tell, but then I don't have any previous experience to compare it to.

[Fluffie]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

a little** stoned

**Very, so far as I can tell, but then I don't have any previous experience to compare it to.

dachi's turning my world upside down by using drugs
woe becomes me etc (

[No Dachi]

I didn't use the drugs, precisely. It was all indirect inhalation from those wretched incense sticks they were burning.

[Fluffie]

tell that to the police, buster!

when ye're a stoned as a shrimp trying to make yer way home, that ain't gonnah cut it

[No Dachi]

Oh you've got me in trouble now . I expect MI5 are going to bust down my door any minute and give me a caution (!!!!!!!!1111122) for use of the stuff. I'm not even sure they could do that, actually, seeing as it was the cannabis resin in the insence sticks that was the cause of the whole problem.

[Fluffie]

heh

it's just another loophole or maze in the whole fabrics of the laws stuff that you young punks are exploiting and you should be punished for great zig!

[No Dachi]

At least my country has laws to loophole in the first place...

[Fluffie]

oh ye're jealous 'cause ye can't get yer next hit, eh?

[No Dachi]

I don't want another hit, though, so it's all good.

In other news, the dull pain from the area that I think my liver is in has gone away, which I can only believe is a good thing.

[Fluffie]

Originally Posted by No Dachi

I don't want another hit, though, so it's all good.

In other news, the dull pain from the area that I think my liver is in has gone away, which I can only believe is a good thing.

(lies..)

well you know.. they say that when babies fall down or something and scream their lungs out, it's good. if they don't, it's bad.

so what if your little liver baby has suddenly stopped screaming :eek:

[No Dachi]

Either it's finally coped with all the alcohol from last night, or it's given up and imploded and I shall die soon of blood poisoning.

[Fluffie]

well... with your (as usual) utterly pessimistic and depressing view on the 'worst case scenario', you've scared me into hoping yer liver has coped.

good job

[No Dachi]

PK
You see the hanging corpses quiver collectively again.

My "kind" set nothing into motion here, Lieutenant King. The creature replies with its booming voice that sounds within your skull. The voice is odd, you realise, in that if you consider it carefully it seems to be composed of many individual voices melded into one. I have no "kind" but what was created. Similarly, there is no motion other than what was created. Nor have I killed these people, my...collection, per se. They will never experience another waking hour unless I am killed - which I advise you against attempting in advance - or untill I release them. Perhaps I will do this one day, but not now, certainly. Not untill I find more interesting specimens. The others, it begins, and suddenly an image appears in your head, first of a small red creature the size of a man's hand, then of a large red creature the size of a small dog, then of something huge and grotesque, apparently some kind of huge, pulsating, organic-looking red cylinder. The first two red creatures looked something like ants. Then, more images, a yellow creature the size of a man's hand, and something more humanoid looking - but very different, and apparently with chitinous blades instead of arms, the others slaughter senselessly and indisciminately, without motive nor goal. But this is not difficult to understand, the others are animals. The yellow certainly, I more-or-less ignore them. They were the first, and the most poorly-designed. At first I though the reds were similarly flawed, but now I have observed them more closely, I am beginning to think that they may be even better designed than we. At first they were little better than the yellows, but they change, they adapt, and they become stronger, all in ways that I cannot. And, the final correction, these people are certainly not innocent. I speak to you with only a small part of my mind at the moment; the greater whole of it considers the question of whether your species is innocent. These people, however, are not innocent. They all contributed, knowingly or not, to the crime. The crime of creating us, and of creating the others. Such terrible creations, capable only of spreading death. To create such things with the intention of unleashing them against one's enemies demonstrates a dark and dangerous aspect of humanity's psyche. Even if I decide that you cannot all be held responsible for their creation, I may attempt to destroy you all regardless, for even if we and the others are contained, a species capable of manufacturing such destructive forces is a species that threatens any others it encounters. Perhaps I would be doing a service to the galaxy by destroying you. But, I am loathe to destroy any sentient, and humanity comprises so many... The creature trails off for a few minutes.

I have answered one of your questions, Lieutenant King, The creature states suddenly, breaking the silence, and now I feel it fair that you answer one of mine. I possess mental faculties beyond what your species is capable even of understanding. I sense two others like me. Not here, on this frozen moon, but elsewhere in the galaxy, separated from me by vast expanses of the void. My perception of humanity's territories is incomplete, but I gather that both are within the circumference created by your outward expansion. What are these other creatures, Lieutenant King, do you know? None of the specimens that I added to my collection did, but there is always the chance.

Armoury Defenders
Corporal Roxborough moves into position, watching the corridor, as Corporal (Lewis/Engineer) Morgan sets a timed demolition charge and Corporal (Incom/Heavy) Morgan moves down the corridor into a position where he has a better view of the stairwell door. He sets up just in time - seconds later, two Rangers come into view. They have both vaulted over the steel railing running alongside the stairs up at the top of the well near the door to the ground floor, and both land crouching on the ground of your level before standing and, almost instantly, spotting you. Neither have time to do much, however. Private Scarez and Corporal Crazy open fire even as the two Rangers bring their guns to bear, punching one of them off his feet in a spray of blood. The other moves forward, taking cover out of sight behind the doorway. Seconds later, a grenade bounces through the doorway. Not high explosive...could be a flash. Corporal (Lewis/Engineer) Morgan finishes setting the charge at precisely this moment. Corporal Roxborough, looking down the perimeter corridor which runs at right angles to the Armoury corridor, can see the grenade bouncing across the floor of the intersection, heading toward the latter, but little else other than wisps of smoke revealing themselves from the doorway.

Mao
You find nothing downstairs, other than bullet pockmarks in the walls and the occasional spent ammunition casing, and so procede upstairs. Reaching the top of the stairs, you are on the first floor observation deck of the tower. The walls are formed entirely from floor to cieling height bullet proof glass windows. Turning, you look back in the direction of the base, and find yourself staring at a starship. Hovering magnificently just below cloud cover, seemingly illuminated in pale orange light by the setting suns, with brilliant, neon-blue staining the underside of the clouds near its rear fusion engines, which glow magnificently. The ship is small, only a frigate, but the nonetheless powerful-looking gun turrets on the underside of the ship mark it as a warship. As you watch, a smaller vessel apparently detaches itself form the larger, speeding off in the direction of the base. A dropship, or a shuttle of some kind.

demiGOD
You consider your options. Both of the Bio Marines were armed and armoured, but you feared attracting more of them. You decided to fix your bayonet. The click as the thing locks into place on the barrel of your gun resounds around the room, but you don't hear anything from the Bio Marines. Slowly, carefully, you pull yourself up, looking over the top of the console in front of you. Both of them have their backs turned to you, and from the way their pulse rifles hang from their straps, both have largely given up on your being present.

Fluffie
The moment you pull the trigger of your pulse pistol and cross the line into murder, your wife and child dissapear. Only hallucinations anyway. At any rate, though, their dissapearance worries you somehow. Regardless, gathering more equipment and refills to you, you head back toward the dropship. As you pass the corner of the front of the tower, you hear a hoarse croaking noise from off to your right. Turning, you see Mathers. He is sitting slumped against the front wall of the tower, with a stain of dark red blood covering the wall behind and above him. His face is pale, his uniform is red with blood, and his right hand is clamped across his chest. He has an odd grin on his face and his breathing is heavy and laboured. He's dieing.

Wraith
Two of the red creatures are town to pieces by minigun fire. The third remaining is running for you when you turn to bring your minigun to bear on it. It doesn't last long, the explosive rounds ripping it to shreds and blood. You are alone in the corridor again. As though to remind you that you aren't finished yet, another terrified scream echoes toward you from down the corridor ahead and around a corner to the left...

[Darkling]

The sound of abttle being joined alerting Lewis of the threat, bringing up his rifle after setting the final charges. Weapons fire already ripping its way down the corridor though seconds later, the sound of a metal moving rolloing along metal reaching his ears spotting assuming it tobe a grenade make its way down a corridor. Reaching up to check that his welding gogles are still where he left them, pulling them down a bit more to prepare for any flash bang grenades. Taking a crocuhed position by the armouries entrance, needing to stay close to charges if he was going to start their timers. Letting the others cover the position, Morgans own view being far from clear enough to shoot at anything right now.

[Fluffie]

****.

Fluffie started running towards Mathers, very unhappy. Mathers had been a good soldier who had, as far as Warren knew, never done anything wrong. They had just been following orders and guarding this Tower D on this bloody cold planet. Nothing of interest here, but nooo, these Rangers had to come and screw things up.

****.

He had been around the corner too long, gathering equipment. Taking too much time to do so and to finish off that ranger. He might've been able to prevent Mathers dying, maybe he could've... Arriving where his fellow Marine was sitting against the wall, he crouched down, taking a closer look. The sight wasn't pretty.

"Mathers..."

His voice was not quite so loud as when he had been ordering the Private earlier this day. His voice wasn't quite happy either... he hadn't really known the man, but he had served with him. And the reason for his dead seemed entirely pointless. This planet had nothing of interest.

"Got'em all, did ya?"

A faint attempt at a joke, to try and make his dying... easier, smoother. Less serious, less sad. Looking up from the soon-to-be corpse, he checks his surroundings again, not quite wanting to die himself.

[Planetkiller II]

"I do not know. But my guess would be more Bio Division creations like yourself. With that piece of information, I suspect you don't see another use for me, so what comes next here? Are you planning to add me to your 'collection' too? I, for one feel there could be much more mutally benificial arrangements we could make. We both have enemies within our species here; the special forces trying to do a cover up, and the Reds and Yellows. I suspect that the marines here could be convinced not to fight with your Purples if you could promise the same. I don't suppose you could give me names, evidence of who created you rainbow coloured guys? It might be enough to prevent such a thing occuring again, assuming I get off this rock alive."

[No Dachi]

Armoury Defenders
(I'll wait for a few more people to post, if that's okay with you, Darkling)

Fluffie
Mathers, still grinning, nods weakly.

"One of them shot me," He croaks, "but he thought I was down, so I shot him back when he got up. Pretty sure he's dead. Hit him in the head." A single tear leaks from the corner of his eye, rolling down his bloodied face, and his grin fades. "I killed a lot of guys today, sir." He says, and you see the life fading from his eyes as he speaks. Just like it did for the Ranger. "I don't even know who those guys were, or where they were from. Could have been just like me. Could have had girlfriends they wanted to get back to themselves. I won't see her again, will I, sir? I'm dieing here..." He reaches into a pocket of his uniform jacket, and produces a folded piece of paper. It looks to have been folded and unfolded a few times. "My girl's on Tau Ceta, sir. She's on home. I grew up there, you know. Won't see it again." He laughs weakly. It isn't a happy laugh. He holds the folded paper up toward you. It is stained with blood from his fingers. "Find Cara, sir. I don't have much right to ask you to do this, but I'd like you to find Cara and give this to her. It's my death letter. I got blood on it, but just a bit." He looks sad, all of a sudden. He grinned at the prospect of death, but felt sad at the prospect of getting blood on his death letter. "Tell her I died peacefully. And tell her I'm sorry," Another tear, "sorry I won't get home." He is speaking very weakly now. Very weakly indeed. The snow around where he sits is red with blood.

PK
You fool yourself, Lieutenant King, Replies the voice, but even in your hope for peace you cannot fool me. You do not speak even for the men of your own faction, let alone the others. There are many sides at work in humanity, and the work for the most part against eachother. It is not in your nature to be trusting, not in your nature to live peacefully. As for the ones that created me, You see the hanging bodies quiver again, they are for the most part here in my collection, or dead. There are precious few survivors. I doubt they shall escape this planet. But, of course, you don't refer to them, you refer to their superiors. It is, of course, your Biological Warfare Division. More than that, I cannot say. Many members of my collection had seen white papers from the Division's Central Headquarters on Earth, but they were not signed with names, and even if they were, I doubt the names would be of those who actually concieved this. It falls silent, apparently awaiting your next question.

[No Dachi]

All
Any plot questions for Mr Purple? Forward them to PK.

[Bakan]

*Seeing the two Rangers leap into the room, Incom grunts to himself, takes quick aim, braces himself, and opens fire. As the barrels start spinning, Incom aims at where the Rangers are as the chain-minigun shakes as it fires it's rounds. As the one Ranger attempts to move behind cover, Incom follows him with the barrel of his minigun.*

[Inspectre]

Having taken a few minutes to withdraw into his own mind and examine the situation, Jake finally comes to and looks around. In his "absence", it would seem the Sergeant had taken command, and currently seemed to be managing the Armory's defense. It was, however, long past time to get out of here. Noticing that the Engineering Corproal was already setting a demolition charge, a plan began to form in Jake's mind. Careful to keep his commlink shut off, for fear of the enemy intercepting it, he began to bark out his orders, loud enough for everyone in the Armory to hear. "Alright you slugs, time to pack up! Corporal, set the charge for four minutes! We're gonna be leaving this merry place via the Western Stairwell, and we're going to go report in at the Command Center for a review of this shing-dig. Meanwhile, our friends can roast their chestnuts on the fireplace this room is about to become. Relay my orders to the others out in the corridor, and hurry! I'm goign to make things a bit more difficult for them be laying down some smoke grenades . . . feel free to grab some as well and cover our retreat with them!" So saying, Jake Tremain grabbed a belt of smoke grenades off a rack, and began to arm them and throw them in the far corners of the room, figuring three or so should be more than sufficient to turn the room into a dark, foul smelling piece of H*ll. He does, however, wait for Corporal Darkling to finish arming the charge and setting the timer for four minutes, and for most of the others to clear the room before throwing the grenades. Once finished, he drops the empty bandolier onto the ground, and hurries out after the others into the corridor beyond.

[No Dachi]

Armoury people getting DMed now.

[No Dachi]

Armoury Defenders
Corporal (Lewis) Morgan runs out into the Armoury Corridor even as Corporal (Incom) Morgan's pulse minigun fire tears into the wall behind which the Ranger is sheltering. At this moment, the flash goes off. Corporal (Lewis) Morgan's welder's goggles block out the flash neatly, leaving him fine, but the grenade detonates only a short distance from Corporal (Incom) Morgan, blinding him completely, with Corporal Roxborough similarly affected. Sergeant Henley and Private Scarez are both dazed momentarily by the flash. At about this time, five Rangers including the original storm through the doorway, firing at Corporal (Incom) Morgan, whose pulse minigun is still firing. One of them is torn to shreds by pulse minigun rounds, while their own pulse rifle rounds mostly are absorbed by Incom's armour. Lieutenant Tremaine, meanwhile, lowers the timer on the charges to four minutes, and begins dropping smoke grenades. Four Rangers are now moving down the corridor to the left of the stairwell door (from where you're standing), apparently seeking cover. Incom and Roxborough's vision is beginning to return.

[Fluffie]

"I'll find Cara.. I'll find her John."

Fluffie didn't like this scene one bit. It wasn't making him feel happy, not at all. A feeling of sadness, the suddenly even larger chance of getting killed and not seeing his loved ones again. Or Cara. Taking the letter from Mathers' hand and more than just carefully tucking it away under his armour, he puts his hand on Mathers shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"It was an honor serving with you... And don't worry about that letter..."

He looked over his shoulder again, at the dropship. Seeing no-one (hopefully...) leaving it, he looks back at Mathers as he.. dies.