Space E-war

[C S]

Kystion pulled down his visor and stepped into the bright sun light. He held his chin, thinking. The drunken man was being pursued, where could he go to hide? There was his ship...

Kystion began to nod. The hooded man and his smaller friend could stay there until the coast was clear...

[dinoman666]

"My apologies, oh great-mighty leader, kill-killer of many Man-things, oh brave-powerful conqueror, oh--" "SILENCE!" Gnawdwell screeched finally at the cowering Chieftain, named Snikt, bowing before his cushioned throne that seemed too large for the Warlord. Normally, such flattery would be acceptable, but not today. Standing, Gnawdwell grabbed Snikt by the ear and yanked him painfully into a standing position. The trembling Skaven did his best to keep his snout lower than Gnawdwell's without hurting himself further, while the Warlord hissed, "I am sick-tired of Clan Moulder stop-stopping all my great-brilliant plans! The Thing will be mine, even if you cannot get-steal it for me!" Snikt, worried of an impending execution by Gnawdwell, was shaking uncontrollably by this point, but to his shock, the Skaven let go of his ear, and he nearly fell unceremoniously on his tail. "I know-know... Clan Eshin has always been my loyal-faithful ally... SNIKT!" Gnawdwell glared daggers at the Chieftain as he stood rimrod straight, nose still lowered. "Y-y-yes-yes?" "Go and contact the Nightlord. Tell him that I need-need his.... particular expertise..." Snikt, swallowing at the mere thought of speaking with the enigmatic Warlord of Clan Eshin, nervously scurried out of Gnawdwell's throne room, while the Warlord turned around, back to his throne. He sat down, more at ease now, and hit a switch on his throne. It projected a glowing green screen in front of him, the Covenant triumvirate appearing on the other side. "Lord-mighty Ripa, you wished to speak to me?" Gnawdwell chittered, leaning forward with interest...

As the battle in the factory began getting ever more chaotic, and Grievous was repeatedly radioing Serephir for any updates on the situation, a cloaked figure descended down the lift. It slunk past the battling commandos with ease, winding its way past the Grunts, snapping the neck of one that got too close for comfort. It soon reached the ramp next to the catwalk on which Grievous and Lissarkh had just finished off a Spiker Jackal. The cloaked figure raised its sniper rifle, took aim, and fired...

Grievous turned his head and spotted the Jackal Sniper on the tower taking aim at him. Raising his stolen Carbine, Grievous was about to fire, only to see another tracer bullet come out of seemingly nowhere and pierce the Kig-Yar's helmeted head. The sniper toppled off the tower, and Grievous was momentarily stunned. He was soon startled back into motion, however, when a clutch of Grunts charged from the upper floor of the central spire and across the catwalk at him and Lissarkh. He activated his Lightsabers, as did Lissarkh, and the two charged across the catwalk, slicing their through the diminutive aliens. The inside of the spire was relatively small, with a beam of light extended through the hole in the floor. He tested it with his Lightsaber, but the energy blade met resistance. However, when the cyborg tested it with a finger, it passed through harmlessly. He ignored the unusual Covenant technology and simply stepped around the beam, heading across the factory and towards the other structure. Chances are, Serephir needed help...

The Grunt patrol inside the structure where Serephir was were already well aware of his presence, and they formed up at the opposite end of the structure, weapons aimed at the entrance. The armored, hulking figures that had been there earlier were nowhere to be seen...

[The Kingpin]

globes of plasma energy zipped forward, detonating at the feet of several jackals, blowing three off their feet, one falling off the platform as a final round from Serephir killed it as it fell, a series of muffled humming sounds being heard as the lighter Infantry units moved forward, cutting through the enemy forces. "We're there. moving forward" said Serephir through the comm link, twisting, drawing his side arm and firing, a single high powered plasma round tearing right through what turned out to be the head of a stealthed Elite, the headless corpse dropping backwards, Serephir holstering the side arm as he went...

[dinoman666]

The Grunts watched the Elite die, but, surprisingly enough, didn't falter. The structure they were in was long from one door to the other, but in the middle was a tall wall of purple metal, separated in the middle by a gap, where a ramp extended down towards the back of the structure and split in two, curving back around and underneath the building. The Grunts opened fire down the corridor of the structure as Serephir rounded the corner, filling the air with plasma and Needler rounds...

[The Kingpin]

Serephir backed away just in time, arms reaching out to hold his men back, as the rounds zipped by. he drew his hand gun, flipping it and attaching it to the bottom of his rifle, attaching it to the rifle's power supply to amplify it's rounds, panels extending from the assault rifle to hold the gun in place, as a chip extended from a slit on the rifle, Serephir extracting it and planting it in his gauntlet PC. the assault rifle began to humm dully, Serephir twisting the gun around the corner and used the screen on the gauntlet to see the trajectory of the weapon, firing, a bright yellow orb zipping down the corridor and between the gap, detonating on impact in a massive plume of flames and plasma, everything behind the purple metallic plate scorched black...

[dinoman666]

Grunts were hurled in arbitrary directions, and methane tanks ignited, making the explosion even more catastrophic. A nearby Plasma Cora was caught in the blast, and Grievous could see a plume of blue fire erupt from the doorway as he stopped running...

Even as the deafening boom faded, it was soon replaced by the steady hum of a large weapon charging up. From the dark shadows of the structure, right in front of the doorway, was a bright green glow, illuminating the statue behind it. Only it wasn't a statue: it was a gold-armored Hunter. There was a green flash, and a small, green glowing comet erupted from the Hunter's arm cannon, rocketing towards Serephir and his men, too close to dodge easily...

[The Kingpin]

Serephir's eyes widened, letting go of the assault rifle and swiftly drawing his third sword, as a psychic shockwave blew his forces back, the black and red blade slamming into the ground as it's flat side took the Hunter's blast head on, absorbing the force and charging the blade's already horrific power for later use. Serephir sheathed the blade as his Gunner Troopers took aim, 3 powerful plasma cannon shells zipping forward, several powerful blasts of plasma blowing the Hunter back with stratling force, as a wind up sound was heard, hundreds of muzzle flashes coming up behind the hunter as a concealed T-20 opened fire at the creature's back, the Drone having snuck down the corridor ahead of Serephir's forces after exiting the elevator...

[dinoman666]

The explosions failed to penetrate the Hunter's thick shield and armor, only succeeding in making it stumble back. However, its worms vibrated rapidly, creating a deep, rumbling howl of pain as the T-20 opened fire on its exposed backside. However, before it could harm the Hunter too much, the beast's blue-armored bond brother thundered up the ramp behind the T-20, raising its shield and smashing it down onto the scorpion-like mech edgefirst, a blow that was powerful enough to tear nearly anything apart...

[The Kingpin]

sparks flew from the T-20's armoured frame, the entire thing beginning to turn from tan camouflage to a glowing red, the metallic frame soon turning white as the drone went into Self-Destruct mode, overloading it's internal energy reactor and emptying it's entire arsenal at once, thin rockets bursting from the machine's back and slamming into the blue Hunter as it's gatling guns and tail-mounted pulse plasma cannon unleashed their fire on the first Hunter, before exploding violently in an shockwave of fiery energy, the blast itself engulfing the Hunters near it and rivalling the force of several Gunner Troopers' Plasma Cannon rounds, Serephir making use of the chance to have his troops pull back and out of the corridor, taking his assault rifle and holstering it, pulling down a thin rectangular screen, slightly swept back towards the side of his head, ultra-visionary scanners granting him vision of the events from behind the wall...

[dinoman666]

The blue-armored Hunter was still standing, standing straight, obviously stunned. The gold-armored one was face-first on the ground, but still struggling weakly, dozens of Lekgolo worms wriggling madly around it. It didn't take very long for the blue-armored Hunter to recover, but instead of attacking, it spun around as several Carbine rounds pinged off its armor. Grievous stood at the other end of the structure, though he backed around the corner as the Hunter opened fire, the beam of its Assault Cannon scorching the floor and walls. Grievous shouted into the com, "Serephir, aim for its back! I'll keep the b**tard distracted!"

The cloaked figure slunk away from the battle, heading up the lift and leaving the factory far behind...

[The Kingpin]

Serephir bolted forward with blinding speed, swords in hand, leaping in mid air and stabbing the first Hunter in the back and through the floor beneath it, as he leapt, flipping towards the second, cleaving a fatally deep line right down it's back and through it, the blow striking with enough force to split the monstrosity in half, Serephir raising the sword as he stood where the Hunter was, flipping the blade with almost mechanical precision, and lowered it back into it's sheath. "Annoyingly sturdy things" he commented...

[dinoman666]

The Hunter let out a bellow of pain and collapsed, more of the worms spilling out of their protective armored casing. Grievous looked down at the fallen creatures with disgust. "Yes, well, let's hope we don't run into any more." The droids had finished mopping up the last of the Grunts and were soon gathered around the structure. Grievous turned and headed back to the lift, saying, "Come on, let's get out of here. I don't want any more guards getting rammed down our throats while we're down here. By the way, congratulate whoever killed that sniper earlier. Your troops are quite the shooters."

[The Kingpin]

"I'm not quite sure who, if any, of my men killed a sniper, but i will congratulate them for their performance" said Serephir as he eyed the cyborg, before moving forward, his forces following close behind, accompanied by 3 more T-20s which had cut through the lift's wall and followed the group when they went down...

[dinoman666]

Grievous paused at this news, but shrugged it off and stepped into the beam of orange energy just behind the tower alongside Serephir and Lissarkh. They drifted upwards through the beam, ascending rapidly, as their troops followed close behind. On the way up, Grievous handed Serephir a few of the hemispherical explosive charges used by his commandoes earlier, as well as a detonator. "In case we have to split up," he explained, "you can use those to take out the reactor if you find it." As their ascent slowed, the open air around them being swallowed up by darkness as a metal shaft enveloped the Grav-Lift, Grievous floated forward through a door and onto the floor of a hallway, dimly lit by purple light. He looked around, stepping forward cautiously...

It was only a few meters before Grievous' prediction was confirmed: the hallway suddenly split into two separate corridors. Having planned for this eventuality, the cyborg growled, "Alright, I guess we'll split up. Lissarkh, go with Serephir. I'll take my commandoes down the left passageway, along with any troops you'd like to give me," he turned to Serephir expectantly...

[The Kingpin]

Serephir nodded, tapping a couple of commands on the gauntlet PC, two of the three T-20s, both marginally lighter built than the third, heading to Grievous' side, now hooked up to his frequency for easy command. he also looked at the Gunners. "I want one of you to go there for heavy armoured support" he ordered. they saluted, and one headed to one side, away from the rest. Serephir then split the 15 Infantrymen up into groups of 10 and 5. he ordered 5 to go with Grievous to support the Gunner Trooper, while the rest stayed with him. "We'll contact you if we find the reactor" he said, swords back in their sheathes by now and his assault rifle in hand, the Grenade Launcher handgun attachment still in place...

[dinoman666]

Grievous nodded. "And if you find the Covenant Command Center, take out their leadership. That should stop whatever they're doing here, or at least slow them down." With that, he headed away, disappearing into the gloom, while Lissarkh turned to Serephir and smirked. "I think I'll lead the way. I know a bit more about Covenant architecture than you, wouldn't you say?" she hissed jokingly...

[The Kingpin]

"Apparently so" responded Serephir with a smirk, following the Trandoshan, his forces close behind...

[dinoman666]

The path was fairly straightforward. Lissarkh led the group as silently as possible through the corridor. However, something kept nipping at the back of her mind. The entire journey was quiet, with no resistance whatsoever. Eventually, they arrived at a door that was actually unlocked, and Lissarkh cautiously stepped through it as it opened.

The room was as dim as the corridor, and the floor made muffled echoes of Lissarkh's footsteps, the room obviously above some sort of cavern that was part of whatever the Covenant were digging through down here. The room had a hatch on the opposite side of the room, which was mostly barren, except for the tension-wire walkway (made of the same purple metal of all Covenant architecture) that hung from the ceiling, with a number of openings in it along the walls, where small grav-lifts allowed passage up to or down from the walkway. There were also several doorways that led directly out onto the walkway, as well as a number of strange, growthlike objects hanging from the latticework of the walkway itself. Upon closer inspection, Lissarkh froze mid-step and immediately raised a clawed finger to shush the group behind her. The growth weren't really growths at all: they were a large swarm of 30 or so Covenant Drones, all hanging upside-down from their hooked back legs and sleeping soundly. Occasionally one would rustle its wings and wing cases, making a soft chittering noise. The human-sized insects were a myriad of green and blue carapaces punctuated by the occasional gold or red (their swarm "leaders"). "Don't... make... a move..." Lissarkh hissed quietly.

Naturally, as soon as she spoke, the door on the opposite side of the room opened, and a red-armored Elite Major Domo stepped through, his rifle, which looked like a combination of a Needler and a Carbine, raised and poised to fire. The doors above the group opened, as did the one behind them, and from each one a pair of Jackals sprinted out, all ready to fire their Plasma Pistols. However, these were different from the rest of the Jackals they had encountered so far. These ones were far bulkier, with darker skin and no shield gauntlets. "Sh*t, I KNEW there was going to be a trap..." Lissarkh hissed angrily.

[The Kingpin]

"So the Covenant want to play....alright....let's play. Men! Fire at will!" ordered Serephir as he drew one sword, holding his assault rifle in the other hand. firing a yellow, glowing round towards the Elite, the round stuck to the ground mere inches from it's feet and detonated violently, the Vardian Infantry opening fire, filling the jackals behind them with holes to open a route for retreat if things got ugly. the Gunner Troopers opened fire at other groups of jackals, one firing at a large collection of Drones, intending to kill them before they became a problem for the others, a large silvery orb of controlled plasma seeming to drift towards them at surprising speed, before exploding with such force that the drones it hit were immediately vapourised. Serephir began to lead the men forwards towards where the Elite was, intending to get the forces out of there...

[dinoman666]

The Drones were startled awake by the gunfire, screeching angrily as they took off, swarming over the heads of Serephir's men. The Jackal Skirmishers howled furiously and opened fire, raining plasma down on the enemy. The Elite was nowhere to be seen after the smoke cleared, and Lissarkh didn't bother staying around to find out where he had gone. She sprinted to the exit, bisecting an incoming Drone with her Lightsaber and stopping just outside the door, where another hallway waited beyond. She turned and shouted, "Come on, let's get--" several flashes of blue-white plasma exploded from the floor as an anti-matter charge detonated, the floor giving way and sending a very surprised Lissarkh tumbling down the newly-formed ramp and into a tunnel in the rock below.

The Skirmishers squawked and screeched as they jumped through the holes in the tension-wire grid, joining the frenzied Yanme'e in the attack more directly...