Space E-war

[dinoman666]

The commotion from the other side of the cave entrance stopped, and a couple of boulders rolled out, leaving a small hole in the rock wall. A single mutated Koult stepped out of the hole, a pistol in its rotten claws. The creature stepped out into the sunlight and walked into the forest slowly, partially hunched over...

[Doc 42]

A missile took off out of the tube on the Koultian's arm, whisstleing foreward and spiralling into the path of the mutant, it tore through its chest, carrying it back before zipping into the tunnel, lighting up the darkness with an orange glow as it made its way towards the source of the tenticles from earlier. During the flight, the warriors had been watching video feed from the Trackers, so they knew the score.

One of the other soilder's arm began clicking as he moved a weapon into the ready position, the barrel of a three barreled gattleing gun slideing foreward below his arm...

[dinoman666]

The Koult had been completely vaporized by the sheer force of the missile, but as it made its way towards the Gravemind, it simply hit the wall of the massive shaft the beast had once been inside of, sending a cascade of debris into the darkness, some catching onto a second tunnel, just below the first, that extended out of the mountain in the same direction...

Suddenly, with a rumble from the earth, a pair of particularly massive tentacles erupted from the earth, mashing downward on the Koults' position.

[Doc 42]

The koultians all spread out, leaping away from the tenticles, the suits own motors compensateing for their huge weight, allowing the soilders inside to maneuver normally, or even better than normal in many cases. A missile zipped up from one, crashing into the side of one of the tenticles. The leader said into his mic casually "Guys? you there? Do me a favour and deploy that watcher I know you have, we might need some airsupport on this, for a distraction I mean" The tracker's squad leader responded "If you break this thing, I'm going to have your head..." The Warrior replied "suuuuuuuuuure, just make sure it doesnt shoot us"

Meanwhile, one of the warrior sprinted foreward, leaping into the air and latching onto one of the tenticles, metal fingers digging into the flash, latching him on, using his other arm to protect himself, makeing sure his shield was up. Wherever this tenticle went, he went. His suit would be strong enough to smash through the earth if it came to that

[dinoman666]

A booming voice laughed in all the Koult's heads, the massive tentacle's thick mass only losing a chunk of flesh from the missile, while the other simply slammed repeatedly into the ground, trying to crush the Koult with brute force. "Now the gate has been unlatched, headstones pushed aside. Corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must ABIDE!" Finally, the tentacle managed to throw the now-dazed Koult off it, sending him flying through the air and into the jungle, before the two tentacles disappeared back underground...

[Doc 42]

The warrior stretched his arm out, a blade poping out over his thumb, sliceing into the tree. He span around it before letting go, landing onto the ground into a crouch. The leader of the warriors walked foreward, saying a loud through his speaker "Gate has been unlatched? headstones have been shifted? You've got that right... To make room for your disembodied head...." One of the warriors walked towards one of the holes left by the tenticles, gattleing gun and blade extending out of his hands. He growled out loud "Permission to kick its a** sir?" The squad leader grunted "Granted, don't die, that suit costs more than your worth."
the soilder replied "Affirimitive. I'll keep that in mind."

The soilder jumped down the hole, jets activateing to help control the drop, his sensors easily penetrating the darkness...

The other soilders made their way towards the gave entrance, they had no need for flashlights, their helmets illuminateing the darkness easily....

[dinoman666]

The tunnels were similar to their original appearance, in that they were covered in the typical gray-green gunk, but the former pustules that covered the walls like a plague were now easily the size of the Koult soldiers' heads. Other than the occasional Infection Form that scuttled around the tunnel--and seemed to enjoy suicidally attacking the Koults as well--the cave was strangely silent. Several other tunnels, freshly dug, went off in random directions, some leading downward, some up, some at angle, etc...

[Doc 42]

the team went straight on, aiming for the older looking tunnels, figureing that the new ones could have been recently dug to make room for more of those... things....

[dinoman666]

The two tunnels ended up ending right at the shaft, the newer tunnel directly below the older one. The shaft was empty, except for the odd slithering sound that emanated from below and behind the Koults. There was still no sign of the Gravemind.

A single CCS-Class Battlecruiser, its normally sleek, aerodynamic hull battered and portions of it peeled away, crawled out of Slipspace in a flash of purplish light. It limped onward, now near the planet of Ka'Roll, where it sent a distress signal: "This is Ship Master Elch 'Masal, of the cruiser Luminous Grace. Requesting repairs immediately!"

[Doc 42]

A space port picked up the disstress message, after it had been diverted, the radio man replied "We read you... This is space master k'tarn... Space port location, Longitude 68 langitude 37... We will need to know your species, extent of damage, known weapons and the cause of said damage."

The soilders couldnt help but be un-nerved by the haunting tunnel.... the sickening pulstates furthering the feeling. One of them whisspered "I say we get out of here, then nuke it later..." The squad leader held up a hand, silencing him.... Without another word, he activated his jets stepping out into the shaft, holding onto the edge of the wall to make sure he could climb up if needed... The jets were ment for jumping or cushioning a fall, not for direct flight....

[dinoman666]

Elch sighed, holding a bleeding arm. He replied, "I am of the race of Sangheili. Our planet was attacked by an insectoid species known as the Arachnids. My ship was the only one to escape, at least to my knowledge. Our engines are badly damaged, and our only working weapon is a single Plasma Turret. Our hull is compromised in many sections."

The shaft was silent, empty, and dark, and more large pustules lined it, wriggling spasmodically, as if something inside was trying to escape. Back in the tunnel, short tentacles poked and prodded at the Koult soldiers curiously, as if wondering what they were.

[The Kingpin]

Serephir soon entered the control room, a pair of wet faced twins following in after him, the light whirring and bleeping of the 'drink-droid' hearable behind them. "OK, Guys. this is the deal. While we were sleeping, an asteroid managed to get past the defense system and has damaged a number of important systems on the ship. the best place we can go that's within the Ship's limited range is Trandosha. so we're stopping there for some serious repairs, and, hopefully, some improvements" he said, crossing his arms. the holographic projector in the Control Room opened up a projection of the planet and all nearby objects, showing the Endeavour drifting slowly towards the planet, engines barely active to save fuel, a massive number of much larger space craft not far from there, and an absolutely GIGANTIC ship floating in the middle of them. ahead, the Planet Trandosha, twisting white clouds wrapping it's atmosphere like robes of pure white silk, the blue oceans beneath rich reservoirs of life and water to sustain the planet, the earth around it varying in colour from brown, to grey, to green and even white in some places, the whole planet dotted with grey and black spots, representing the cities there. Serephir eyed the large space craft floating among the small ones...judging by scale, that thing had the potential to rival the Vardian Flagship in size...

[dinoman666]

Arqueek's eyes widened at the size of the fleet. "That must a whole army over that planet! How're we going to get past that?"

"Sir, another small object is head..." the droid pilot was cut off midsyllable by General Grievous. "Enough! No more reports of anything unless you are sure it's an enemy ship! Let it hit the planet, it won't do anything..."

[The Kingpin]

"Well, it hasn't fired, and it hasn't sent anything to us in terms of communications. so i assume that would mean we don't have to worry about anything" said Serephir with a shrug. the Endeavour began to enter the atmosphere, the anti gravity thrusters activating as they entered to lighten the load on the ship's engines. the ship slowly hovered towards the nearest port/shipyard marked on the Endeavour's detectors. as the craft came to a gentle stop at the port, Serephir gave the ship's Computer a command to lock and completely seal all the bedrooms until they got back, then went for the exit, the protection on the outside of the door sliding aside under the hull's surface as the doors slid open...

[dinoman666]

The port was rather basic, made up of a landing pad attached to a small control building that was shaped vaguely like a pyramid. A walkway attached the two structures together, and along marched a small column of B1 Battle Droids, E-5 Blaster Rifles at the ready. At the head of the column was a Commander, marked by yellow head and chest marking. In a high-pitched, monotonous voice, the droid said, "Halt! What is your business here?" The rest of the droids shifted jerkily, rifles waving.

[The Kingpin]

Serephir stepped forward as he exited the Endeavour, facing the droids. "We are here requesting a repair at the nearest possible shipyard, and as soon as possible. during an attempt to traverse a dense Asteroid Belt, we were hit by an asteroid that got by the defense system aboard our ship. it has damaged many vital systems and has left us with no other option but to seek repair here" said the VAMCEB General simply, unintimidated by the Droids. if the worst came to the worst, he could destroy them, their commander and still block their shots, if the managed to get them off before he destroyed the weapons as well. the problem was he needed repairs, and conflict on such an obviously wary planet wasn't going to get him, his crew or his ship anywhere...

[dinoman666]

The Commander paused, sending a signal to Grievous. The cyborg General looked at a screen that snapped on, which showed the view of the Endeavour through a security camera attached to the port building. Grievous' eyes narrowed as soon as he saw Serephir on the screen, and sent his reply back to the Commander through his earlike antennae...

The Commander immediately leveled his weapon, followed by the rest of the droids. "You are to come with us, human," it replied. "General Grievous wants to speak to you."

[The Kingpin]

"Grievous? what a surprise. before following, i request you take my ship for repairs. I'll worry about payment after your General is done speaking with me" said Serephir, standing his ground for now, arms crossed as he waited. Blaze's eyes went wide with fear when he heard the name. he just got the most important person in Vardia's entire military force in a potentially dangerous situation over a comment he said in a bar in Kimrav...if Serephir got through it with anything less than a completely peaceful and comfortable talk, chances were there was to be something alot more severe than a simple order to remain silent...

[dinoman666]

The Commander said, "Correction: Grievous does not want to SPEAK with you." After a moment, he added, "Never mind. We will dispose of you instead. Open fire!" The other droids made a chorus of "Roger rogers," before preparing to fire.

[The Kingpin]

Serephir sighed. "I hate being forced into hostility" he said, the E-5 Blaster Rifles instantly getting crushed to dust, falling out of the droids' hands. "Now. if your General wants to SPEAK with me, tell him i'd be glad to, but attempting an attack will result in his death. We came here with no hostility to this planet or it's occupants, simply requesting a repair. If it was hostility i was after, i would've destroyed all of you immediately. Contact Grievous and tell him General Serephir of the VAMCEB requests a meeting. I'd be glad to supply a place for our 'meeting' to take place. no weapons will be carried by either side, and if he really is fearful, he is welcome to bring bodyguards" said Serephir simply, his eyes narrowed. in the background, Blaze was starting to get a bit pale in fear of what would become of him later...