Space E-war

[TyrannoTitan]

Where there were five, there now stood ten. With the base's defenses largely destroyed, the machines were now consuming its exterior, a patch of the metal now slowly disintegrating as it was broken down into molecular components. The new machines were visibly different from their allies; they lacked the quality material of their form, being less durable, and therefore expendable. However, they were being produced at an alarming rate. Two of the original machines now lay dormant, their "pilots" busy consuming the structure...


The two followed, having no other option if they wanted to evade the mercenaries...

[C S]

The sounds of the beings' foot steps disappeared once they stepped onto the sifting sands. There was a hot and dry breeze that blew through, kicking up a blanket of white and tan. Kytion turned around to face them. "I know a place where our friend here can stay without fear. Its not too far from here though. We'll have to be quick though, I dont want to attract anymore of those people"

[dinoman666]

Lissarkh coughed as dust billowed from where she had landed. Getting up, she looked around. She was in a tunnel that had obviously been artificially made. It was lined with Covenant work lights, which were little more than purple sticks tipped with blue, glowing crystals that provided quite a bit of visibility. Lissarkh smirked, as an idea formed in her head. Looking back through the hole, she shouted, "Serephir, get down here with your men! I have an idea!"

[The Kingpin]

"You heard her men! down!" said Serephir, the lighter infantry leaping directly down to the lower level, burst jets in their armoured uniforms slowing their landing, Serephir drawing his swords and using it to deflect incoming shots at the airborne enemies while the C-variant T-20 kept up suppressive fire, the Gunner Troopers continuing to fire at the ground forces with their heavy Plasma Cannons, slowly backing away towards the ramp, haulting fire when they reached and sliding down in a slant, almost as if surfing. once everyone had descended the T-20 disappeared and retreated after the soldiers, Serephir suddenly leaping backwards and dropping straight down, landing on his feet below...

[dinoman666]

Drones buzzed around the hole like a swarm of angry bees, but didn't fire. Lissarkh hissed, "Quick! Follow me! I've got an idea, but let's find a safe place down here to rest first!" Using the Force, she sprinted down the tunnel, but slowly enough that Serephir and his troops could follow...

Huka 'Ardumee watched the humans and their reptilian friend retreat into the mining shaft. The Elite Major twitched his mandibles with disgust. Not only would they be difficult to trap down there, but they would have to be hunted down like rats. Demeaning to everyone involved, Huka thought, hefting his Type-31 Needle Rifle. "Bok, Jaq, take the Yanme'e and track them down, but keep your distance. The rest of you, come with me. We know these tunnels much better than them..." Huka snarled. Bok and Jaq hissed and leaped down into the mining tunnel, Plasma Pistols at the ready. As Huka walked down a separate corridor, he radioed to one of his Minor Domos, "Release the serpents the Daleks have given us. We will force them out if we must..."

Lissarkh slowed to a stop after several minutes, leaning against the wall and panting. She grinned at Serephir. "You think... we can... relax... for a bit?"

[The Kingpin]

Serephir glanced at the Trandoshan, nodding after a few moments of thought. "just keep in mind the longer we hang around the more likely the entire base will fall in over our heads" he warned, as he signalled for his men to form a small perimiter around them...

[dinoman666]

Lissarkh shrugged. "If Grievous finds the reactor, he'll warn us. Until then, we might as well rest. We've been fighting non-stop for awhile. It gets pretty tiresome." She looked farther down the tunnel. "And besides, if we find what I expect us to find, rest will definitely serve us well in the long run."

[TyrannoTitan]

"So long as our drunken friend doesn't fall into anyone, we should be fine." the small being said, shoving his companion away as he attempted to lean on the small alien...

[C S]

"Then we should get him out of the heat. We dont want him to... collapse" Kystion growled, shaking his head at the hooded figure's drunken antics. "I told him that brew was strong" The ascatian mumbled in his native toung, which sounded like soft growls and snarls...

A while later, after the trio made their trek across the sand covered streets, they came to a vacant area near the out skirts of the city. Over the city limits there were nothing but the vast expanse of sand dunes. Kystion raised his arm up to chest level and began tapping the device on his wrist. Suddenly there was a ripple of light, the sleek dark red ship slowly becoming visable. There was a mechanical hum as the ramp at the aft of the craft started to lower...

[Doc 42]

"This is Stray Wolf, Freedom is down. I repeat Freedom is down."
The merc ship took a sharp dive, it's turrets firing wildly at the incoming missiles, it's shield preparing for impact

"Cheese it here, what do you mean they're down? We have them on visuals right here"

The mercs swung left, rocking from several explosions.
Marcus, their captain, didn't bother replying to the civilians. With the Exo ship shot down, their party was completely militia. Freedom 7 had been an ancient ship more fitting of a museum but at least it was Marican military tech. Stray Wolf was bought in Outreach, a 'wasteland' planet. Most of the tech available on the free markets had been slowly upgraded from commercial craft. Sure, as a ship, it was still an exceptional piece of machinery and technology, on par with many other designs around the Galaxy, but here, it was out classed

Marcus held his head for a moment, indulging in a second of weakness. His crew couldn't see him, so it didnt matter much. he was enclosed in his command pod. He opened his eyes again, taken in by the space around him. It was as if he was floating above the battle space. He forced himself to refocus and called to the weapons officer "We're coming into range now, what can you do for us Sullivan?"

The officer called back, sounding shaken "The deck gun and torpedos are active and ready, but I don't know what it will do, these guns are meant for practically stationary enemies, this thing is like a fighter."


"Cheese It again, guys what do you mean they're down?"

Realising Stray Wolf didn't care, Blue caster answered, the captain's voice obviously disheartened "It mean's they're ******. Hull breach. Chances are that thing is hollow at this stage"

A few moments later, Blue caster called again "Stray Wolf, enemy carrier launching fighter craft, frigates and weapons platforms. What now?"

Stray Wolf replied, the captain soon losing his voice "I... just... god damn it, I don't know!"

The coms were quiet for a while, then Kodiak, the Raider ship, communicated for the first time, a deep cracked voice hailing them "This is Kodiak. Let them come."

Marcus flicked his main view port around, examining the Kodiak, the huge black ship opening fire on the incoming craft, a single red beam laser striking out of the gargantuan ship's 'mouth.' It was an ugly craft, almost like a pine cone with the front broken away into a gaping maw. Fighter craft dropped from the bays haphazardly placed around it, launching into action.

The captain cursed. If raiders were going to fight tooth and claw to the end, then by hell so would he.

[The Kingpin]

"Alright. but remember the longer we hang around, the more time we're giving enemies to prepare and find other ways to get to us" warned Serephir...

[dinoman666]

"Don't worry," replied Lissarkh calmly. "At the very least we can walk, not run." She stood straight and stretched her arms above her head before walking farther down the tunnel, waving for Serephir and his men to follow...

[Doc 42]

Spurred on by the heat of the moment, Marcus begun trying to re-coordinate the parties movements "Everyone, release fighters, but keep them close on defensive. Kodiak, so you think you can keep them at arms length"

The others quickly acknowledged, the Raiders replying "Our fighters our fitted with only basic weaponry but with effective counter measures. If you can support them enough to keep the enemy fighters off they should be able to evade the enemy main guns"

Stray Wolf responded "Excellent. The fighters are trying to rush us, you'll need to stall them out there to give our guns the chance they need to take them down."

The plan clicked into place in a matter of minutes. projectile fire and missile impacts flickered up infront of the ships. Kodiak's fighter armament moved ahead of the rest, having superior numbers, but poor quality ships. They flew old conventional craft. Black boomerang shaped machines, though with none of the stream lined sleekness that that implied.

They did surprisingly well. He spotted just a few fighters being destroyed, clipped by burst weapons from short range. Stray Wolf's gargantuan form moved forward, banking slightly to the side, it's turrets firing rapidly, tearing the incoming enemies apart. He ordered the computer to freeze frame one of the targets as it was hit, when it's scrambler was disabled but before it was completely destroyed. studying the resulting image, he realised the drones hadn't sent fighters, but marines. Sentinels, or variants of them at least, designed to board as opposed to engage in space. They had gotten lucky. The enemy cruisers were still the main threat, the party's shields being pounded relentlessly. They were cautious though. Neither drone wanted to be caught by another trick like Freedom 7 had pulled. They were comfortable to hammer away from range instead of closing in for the kill.

A huge burst fired out from Kodiak's frontal main gun, the red energy spike blasting past one of the Jr-10's in a mad torrent of power. It completely missed, the Jr-10 avoiding it easily.

A communication came in from the Raider ship "Stray Wolf, our weapons cannot lock onto their ship effectively, it's scrambling our targeters just enough to give it reign to escape. We need to close in if we are to do any damage."

Marcus replied calmly "Negative Kodiak, our high speed sensors can outpace their scramblers. Should be enough for an effective lock. Uploading data now, target them through us"

The raiders didn't reply, instead re-firing their weapon a minute later. This time the Jr-10 knew it had been caught. The craft's shield flashed full power, the burst smashing into a moment later, enveloping the ship in an expanding explosion.

The blast cleared somewhat, residual energy still crackling in and around the drone ship. It's sensors dazed by the backwash, it the craft dived zipping out of the cloud to clear it's view. Before it could bring it's weapons to bare effectively, Kodiak released another burst, effectively suppressing the enemy ship.

Marcus watched on in amazement, realising the Kodiaks main weapon was essentially a rapid fire disruptor energy gun. Outdated technology, but effective. It was in no way fool proof, but would take time to counter...

[dinoman666]

As they walked along, Lissarkh and the rest of the group passed a pair of holes, each in either side of the tunnel, which seemed to lead to two more tunnels. Lissarkh, standing between them, shook her head. "I don't think there's anything down those..." she trailed off, rubbing her head as she was struck with a sudden, but slight, headache. Instinctively knowing it was a bad sign for a Force-user to get a migraine, she pulled out her Lightsaber and activated it, staring down one of the tunnels. "Serephir, watch the other tunnel. I don't think we're as alone as it would seem..."

[The Kingpin]

Serephir signalled for his men to keep their guard up, raising the one sword he had in his hand to attention, ready to defend himself...and kill the attackers...

[dinoman666]

Lissarkh narrowed her eyes as a large, dark shape rounded the corner farther into the tunnel. She could barely make out its form until it turned and faced her wide, crested head looming in the green light cast by her Lightsaber. Lissarkh's eyes widened and she tumbled back. The creature that stood in the tunnel looked identical to a Xenomorph Queen, just like the one that had hidden in Vassek. However, this alien was nowhere near as large, and lacked the second pair of arms. The 8-foot-tall beast suddenly reared back and let out a scream so loud and hideous, even Lissarkh couldn't help but wince. As the creature stopped and hissed aggressively at the intruders, several more Xenomorphs rounded the corner along the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. These creatures were different from the Trandoshan-spawned ones from Vassek, with smooth heads, no tubes on their backs, more slender limbs, and flexible spines along the tops of their heads, which was a dead giveaway as to their origins: they had apparently been spawned from Covenant Jackals. The creatures screeched and bounded forward, while the larger beast stayed back, seemingly assessing the situation despite lacking eyes...

Lissarkh shouted, "Fire! Fire! Don't let them get close!" Even as she spoke, more shapes loomed from the darkness in the other tunnel as more Jackal-spawned Xenos emerged from the very walls, in addition to larger, more muscular beasts that had four mandibles in place of the standard jaws. These Sangheili-spawned aliens charged forward, mostly from the ground, behind their more numerous brethren...

[The Kingpin]

Serephir cursed as he unleashed a shockwave of kinetic energy, blowing the nearest wave of them back as the Gunner Troopers opened fire, several large silvery orbs of plasma streaking forward, slamming into the ground at the creatures' feet, blowing them back, and into the air, the ones closest to the blast scorched horrifically by the superheated projectiles, as the infantry opened fire, Serephir sheathing his sword and drawing his assault rifle, holding it in one hand while using the now disconnected sidearm in the other, shooting with both simultaniously, a few faint thunks being heard as small red projectiles streaked forward from the ceiling at the seeming leader of the horde...

[dinoman666]

The Large Xeno leaped to the side with surprising speed belying its size, most of the shots missing. A few hit its massive, crested head, doing little more than to illicit an angry hiss from the beast. Another, massive Xeno charged down the tunnel opposite the one the leader was in, bulling its way past smaller ones and slamming bodily into Serephir while his back was turned. The Xenomorph was a good nine feet tall, with a long, powerful tail with an equally large tail blade on it. Its claws were short but large and wickedly sharp, and its banana-shaped head was somewhat shorter than the other Xenos, offset by a massive jaw. The creature screeched in Serephir's face as it pinned him to the ground by his throat, inner jaws opening as they prepared a lethal strike...

Though the Xenos withered before the hail of gunfire, several got through the initial attack, only to be cut down by Lissarkh's skillful use of a Lightsaber. Fortunately, the blade cauterized wounds instantly, preventing the creatures from leaking their caustic blood all over the place. However, some came from the other direction, or even from the main tunnel, dropping down from the ceiling and ramming their tail blades and inner jaws into anything within reach, attempting to drag away several soldiers who were wounded, but alive...

[The Kingpin]

with a fizzling sound the rounds that hit the leader detonated, causing a large, gaping, cauterised wound where it was hit, scorch marks appearing on the ground where it was, the T-20's plasma cannons opening fire, a stream of super hot projectiles burning through it as the machine pursued it's target...


with a swift movement, Serephir brought one leg up and into the creature's side, the angle meaning an effective blow was impossible, but acting as a handy distraction as his own hand tightened around it's throat, just behind the lower jaw, a startling amount of power being used as the creature was forced back, Serephir tightening his grip as he got himself into a crouch, before tossing the creature overhead and at the others that were attacking, knocking several xenomorphs back and giving the troops more breathing room, as he spun around and attacked the ones attacking from behind, a couple of infantry men and one heavy gunner also assisting, while the bulk of the forces continued to fire at the main group...

[dinoman666]

The lead Xenomorph reared back and screeched again, the rest of the Xenomorphs forming a living wall of black exoskeletons to block the incoming fire. The Brute-spawned Xeno that had attacked Serephir swiftly recovered, pouncing after him with shocking speed, tearing a nearby soldier off his feet and throwing him at the General...

The Xenos that fell sprayed their green blood all over, melting through the armor and flesh of the soldiers they had tried to drag away. More seemed to spring from the walls and ceiling and tunnel, and Lissarkh, through the chaos, spotted the distinctive birdlike forms of the Covenant Skirmishers farther back in one of the side tunnels. Hissing angrily, she suddenly got an idea. Cutting her way through the Xeno horde, she tried working her way through to Serephir, but could barely see him as the swarm surged forward in another vicious attack, attempting to swamp their enemy in sheer numbers...