Space E-war

[dinoman666]

The Drone swarm, as it swirled around the corner, scattered as it was fired upon. The Yanme'e soon retreated back around the corner, with the occasional bug skittering sideways into the open to fire a couple potshots, before heading back into cover...

[Doc 42]

The scout continued circling for a while before swooping down and grabbing the tiger bug's carcass, hauling it into the air and flying down the mountain side, searching for an enclave to start digging in...

[dinoman666]

The Arachnid Warriors soon spotted the airborne scout, and screeched angrily at the intruder. However, they couldn't do anything from their current position. They quickly scurried away, back the way they had come...

[Doc 42]

The scout eventually dumped the corpse in a small hollow in the mountain, dragging down rocks and sand to cover it. She had injected it with 2 eggs, they'd be mobile within the minutes, though she could just check back on them later. They'd know what to do after hatching. The Scout took to the air again zipping into the air speedily, her camouflage changing to match the sky as she went in search of the arachnids she'd seen earlier.

[dinoman666]

The Warriors had vanished from sight, having disappeared underground as they left...

[Doc 42]

The scout widened her search fruitlessly, on the look out for any signs of life.

The tiger bug's hidden corpse suddenly burst open, 2 half grown raka-anra workers eating it from the inside. It would take them a long time to reach full size, but they could work immediately.

[dinoman666]

The Warriros made it back to the hive safely, and it wasn't long before the Arachnids' native Brain Bug found out about the airborne intruder. Several Hoppers were sent out to quell the threat prematurely...

A trio of Arachnid Hoppers burrowed their way out of the ground and, with mighty leaps, bounded 30 meters into the air, their stiff wings extending to allow them to catch the rising thermals and buzz towards the circling Scout...

[Doc 42]

The Scout spotted the approaching arachnids, observing with concern that these ones could fly. The Scout's four wings buzzed rapidly, twisting the insectoid beast around and propelling her away from the Arachnids. She had the height advantage, and intended to maintain it for the time being

[dinoman666]

The Hoppers stayed in pursuit, stubbornly chasing their quarry. It would take time to reach the scout's altitude, but the Arachnids were quite content to wait...

[Doc 42]

The Scout twisted and arced away, leading the hoppers away from the mountain...

Below, the workers began digging and tasting the soil, trying to see if anything could possibly live in it.

[dinoman666]

The Hoppers continued to buzz towards the fleeing scout, rapidly gaining altitude...

[Doc 42]

The Scout suddenly dove, gaining speed rapidly and moving in a wide arc...


Meanwhile, at the boarders of old Marican territory, several civilian vessels pushed forward. The Merc ship Stray Wolf lead them, acting as a relay to control and protect the other ships. The raider vessel, Kodiak covered them, using it's disruptor laser to suppress the 2 drones, though it could only target one at a time. The black pine cone like carrier was also providing the bulk of their fighter escorts. The raiders stood out like sore thumbs in the dog fights, their ships customised and decorated with anything and everything, trophies and random alien slogans. They were also the best pilots there. Even the mercs were worried. Raiders were supposed to be nothing but scum, thats what they'd always learned, but Stray Wolf's crew were best on the ground, these raiders were pilots from birth. Unorthodox, but effective and skillfull, here, their skill was more a blessing than a curse. The majority of the drone fighters were nothing more than distractions, the real threats acting as snipers amongst their ranks, picking out the most dangerous ships and destroying them with surgical precision.

"Cheese it here, fires under control, we're going to make it."
"Stray wolf, good job guys, keep up the shield work." From the merc ship's bridge, several alarms suddenly attracted the Captains attention, he looked at his tac map, seeing a trail of blips launch out of the disruptor cloud a head of them. Missiles.
He clicked on the radio channel to Kodiak "Kodiak, you've got an alpha strike headed your way, full salvo of missiles"
After a short delay, the raiders husky voice replied "Nothing's showing up on system."

The captain checked his map again. The missiles were definitely there. Lots of them. About 8 by the looks of it, easily capable of crippling an unshielded ship.
"Check again Kodiak! We're transmitting you target data of them right now! f**k sake I have them on optical damn it!" A window had popped up in the tac map, showing the 8 missiles streaking along in an arc, like pulsing green orbs

"Negative Stray Wolf, we-" The signal was interrupted by various alarms and shouts, before the operator shouted in, his voice scratchy and frustrated "God damn it they suppressed our receiver! " Then the line went dead, presumably as the operator and everyone else on board braced for impact. The receiver was suppressed. Meaning the data being sent to them had been intercepted and fake data was planted on Kodiak, to throw them off the scent. Meaning the drones knew exactly what they had been talking about. Meaning they knew Kodiak's shield was drained, and therefore, there was no point in firing anti shield weapons at them.

The missiles suddenly dispersed showering out to land the whole side along Kodiak's starboard side. Then they all broke up, each one splitting into 6 cluster chargers. Anti ship short range torpedos. The screen broke into static momentarily as the radiation blast smashed into the ship, clearing to reveal explosions pock marking the gargantuan ship, the dart like torpedos having penetrated right through it's formidable plated armour. The explosions ballooned out slowly debris and exploding compartments being flung outwards. The entire ship rippling and shuddering from the force of the blasts. It finally pulled clear of the cloud of fire and debris, more flame gushing out of the massive tear opened in it's side. Then it started rolling to the side, sliding along through space, unable to keep a straight vector because of the damage.

The captain tried to open up a com link with them again, to no avail. It could take them hours to contain the damage and get the bridge up and running again, that's if they even succeeded. It was fully possible that a hit like that would bring the ship down. Especially on a raider ship, where safety protocols are far and few between. A chain reaction could easily be set off that would doom everyone on board. There was another problem. Should they try rescue survivors or just press on? Anyone breaking formation long enough to try pick up escape pods would be singled out by the drones and be torn apart by auto-cannon fire, or another wave of missiles. And if they did continue to press on, without the suppression provided by Kodiak's disruptor laser, they'd have to cover each other from twice as much fire.

[dinoman666]

One of the Hoppers folded its wings and dove towards the scout, while the other two took their time swooping around to follow the retreating scout's flight path more directly...

Huka snarled in annoyance. This was taking too long. "Bok, Jaq!" he barked. "Get your Skirmishers in their and provide supporting fire!" As three of the Kig-Yar bounded around the corner, Huka holstered his Needle Rifle and pulled out the new Plasma Repeater. He had yet to use it, but this seemed liked the perfect time for a field test...

Three Skirmishers leaped around the corner at the same time as several bold Drones, and they all charged at once, opening fire with their Plasma Pistols and Needlers, sending a hail of deadly green plasma and purple-pink explosive shards at Serephir's squad, including Lissarkh who, with her back turned and eyes closed, had no way to protect herself...

[The Kingpin]

Serephir signalled one of the commandos in the team, the commando simply nodding as he hit a button on the side of the assault rifle, a small, red, holographic screen coming up, dimly lighting his face, green dots appearing on either side of the center, which resembled a very tall, narrow crosshair. a thumping sound was heard, a projectile arcing out of the weapin, reaching most of the way to it's destination, just as a flare of flames appeared at it's end, the rocket propelled grenade arcing around the corner, slamming into the back of a retreating yanme'e, a massive white and orange explosion erupting around the corner, Serephir's hawk-like eyes narrowing in the face of the blast, noting that the blast will have likely injured dozens of drones around the corner...

[dinoman666]

The explosion flash-fried a number of Drones and knocked the Skirmishers flat on their faces, but the incoming fire still splashed against Serephir and his commandos...

Huka raised an arm as the blast washed over him, his shields flaring and dropping to half. As they sluggishly recharged, he barked more angry orders, and the Skirmishers that had survived the explosion sprinted around the corner, opening fire over their brethren, who stayed in a crouch as they fired as well...

[The Kingpin]

several silvery orbs streaked forward from the Vardian troops, massive explosions going off as the Plasma Cannons wiped out the skirmishers by the dozens, a sudden psychic shockwave knocking the entire platoon off it's feet, Serephir going into a crouch as he adjusted his weapon, the sniper rifle mode of the utility rifle activating, the barrel extending forward, panels popping out at the sides of the newly exposed part of the barrel, making the rifle seem more like a conventional rifle, stability supports locking in place to prevent the barrel from being damaged by the high velocity round, Serephir removing the assault rifle's energy clip and replacing it with a larger, thicker one, the clip holder widening to accomodate it, Serephir taking aim, waiting for the right moment to strike, while the Vardian soldiers maintained a wave of constant firepower, assault rifles and plasma cannons tearing apart the enemies...

[dinoman666]

OOC: There are only a few Skirmishers, KP. They're basically muscular Jackals.

As his soldiers were cut down, Huka's rage grew. He stepped around the corner, rifle raised, when the wall at the end of the tunnel seemed to explode...

Lissarkh's hands, which were surrounded by a shimmering blue light, shot forward, and the Trandoshan launched a massive Force Push into the wall, which exploded outward, releasing a massive cloud of dust that enveloped her, Serephir, and their team. A dim light poured into the tunnel, and Lissarkh looked out as the flustered Covenant forces backed around the corner to protect themselves from the dust...

Where there was once a wall, there was now a massive chamber, similar to the one that had held the Covenant factory. However, this one seemed to be empty, and extended many dozens of meters down and up. As Lissarkh looked up, however, she saw a massive, two-layered bridge spanning the entire chamber. On the far walls were several platforms and doorways that were apparently used purely as defensive sniping positions. Fortunately, they were vacant, for now. Turning to Serephir, Lissarkh hissed, "You think you can get your troops up to that bridge before the Covenant regroup?"

[The Kingpin]

"Definately" responded Serephir, signalling for his men to get moving, the soldiers moving towards the bridge, Serephir taking up the rear, ready to fire back at attackers if the need arose...

[dinoman666]

Lissarkh looked up at the bridge, which was 5 or 6 meters above them, and growled, "Grappling hooks, I assume? They would come in handy."

Huka and the few remaining Yanme'e and Skirmishers huddled behind the corner of the tunnel, coughing as they tried to clear their lungs of dust and debris...

[The Kingpin]

"Indeed" said Serephir as he dropped two small disk-shaped objects, the disks glinting blue for a split second before fading, all sight of them lost in the dust. "Let's move away from here. you DON'T want to be standing here when those witless idiots stumble in after us" warned Serephir as he walked further into the place, several of his men kicking off the ground, the lighter commandos using grappling hooks built into their gauntlets alongside blades usually used for melee, while the heavier soldiers like the Plasma Cannoneers used thick cables and plasma tipped hooks, which tore into the upper layer of the bridge before deactivating, instantly cooling so that it was firmly embedded in the bridge, lifting themselves up steadily, though not as fast as the lighter Commandos, Serephir waiting for the last of the troops to ascend before he rose himself...