Nerrone's Rangers IC

IO's transmission to Kwa was completely drowned out as Xol's comlink transmitted the painfully loud noise of a blaster bolt scoring a hit on the wall of the Lacuna.

"Argh, Xol, what's happening?" She said, wincing as the echoes of the sound pierced her skull.
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Xol had moved into the living quarters of the Lacuna, the single most spacious room in the ship. In the middle of the room was a large table surrounded by metal chairs, to his left the kitchenette and in the far corner an old sofa in front of the holo-screen.

There was a loud crackle of static as Xol's assailant powered up its shields, and at that moment another door to the living area, the third from the cockpit, burst open. The power-armoured figure did not move like someone carrying a ton of metal and enough technology to bankrupt a small star system. Servo-motors and a small anti-gravity module worked perfectly in sync with its movements, and the effect was like watching an obscenely tall man made of metal charging through the doorway, letting off another three shots from the hip at Xol as it did so.

The Sentinel was finally getting to have some fun on this assignment.
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Dagon remained indecisive — they stood a better chance of avoiding security if they went back into the pipes, sure, but what of the insectoids? What if the Lacuna didn't manage to get airborne again? After a moment's silent pondering, he decided it would be best to take advantage of the opportunity Rhak and Bor had gone to such trouble to create for them.

"Alright everyone, let's move: the elevators are less than a klick from our current position, but stay quiet. If we hear security coming, we'll need to fall back and find a good spot to make a stand until we have a way out."
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In the elevator shaft, Rhak and Bor's bickering was interrupted by a noise from far above them: the sound of pulleys and gears moving at the top of the shaft. The elevator's counterweight, a huge metal block suspended on cables as thick as a human body, sprang into life and was lifted up past the pair at an alarming speed, followed shortly by a gust of displaced air washing over them.

"Oh, s***!" Bor loosened his hold on the ladder and began speeding up again. "Rhak, the elevator's coming down! We've got to get to the bottom before it hits us!

"Can you see the bottom from there?"

Xol rolled forward as the Sentinal entered the room, anticipating the shots that followed. They all missed him and slammed into the wall.

In the moments immediately prior to this assault, Xol had tried to remember everything he could about power-armor, forcefields, etc. While technology was his strongsuit, forcefields were the one aspect had just didn't have the stomach to figure out. There had to be one thing he could remember.

Then it hit him. The Starvation Tournament.

A holo-trilogy he had read a few months previously. While it mainly involved an abusive government forcing young humanoids to fight for survival, there was on thing he remembered about it that may have been his saving grace. In the second installment, the heroine had escaped an arena by firing an electrified arrow through a forcefield dome that enclosed everyone. She had done this by aiming for a small, square imperfection in the nearly seamless dome. The resulting electric shock had shorted out the forcefield, allowing the heroine and her companions to leave the arena.

Xol peeked out from behind the chair he was using a barrier. If the Sentinal's energized shielding wasn't seemless, he didn't know what was. There's always a chink in the armor... He couldn't see it, but Xol knew it was there, despite this knowledge only being obtained from a work of fiction.

He holtered one pistol, his newly freed hand hovering over his energy dagger, which he hoped would have enough juice to short circuit the forcefield. He then rolled out of his hiding spot, tried to look as menacing as possible, and squeezed off a series of shots at the Sentinal's face, designes not to harm him, but to surprise him and give Xol and opportunity to get behind him.

((Anyone see what I did there with The Starvation Tournament?))

Of the shots that Xol fired, those that hit the Sentinel were absorbed by its shields without any apparent trouble; the searing bolts of plasma fizzled out of existence a foot away from their target, who seemed only mildly phased by the bursts of light in front of its visor. Another three stun bolts were sent Xol's way as he broke from cover.

Two of the three bolts missed Xol, the third clipping the toe of his left boot, sending a wave of numbness across half his foot.

Aw X'vak, he just had to ruin my day. I guess it's only fair, if I'm going to ruin both his life and his suit.

Xol holstered his pistol and began rolling under and around the furnishings, trying to confuse his opponent. He knew the suit must have had at least a dozen motion sensing gadgets and whatnot, but he was just using it as a diversion. He found himself in the kitchenette, and in an act of sheer desperation, he picked up the microwave and launched it with all his might, aiming for the charging Sentinal's face.

Rhak thinking the same thing that Bor had transmitted vocally, tried to see the bottom. It was hidden in the dark masses of the shaft, but the orange light gave Rhak enough light to see the end of the shaft.
"Yes! I think it's about some hundred meters down."
He looked towars the Lynski and then up towards a dark square closing in towards them.
"You're ready? We have to jump."

"That'll bust my knees!" Bor snapped. But glancing up again, he saw he'd have little choice if he wanted to come out of this without becoming 2-Dimensional. Gritting his teeth, he called down: "I'm ready!"

The Sentinel swept its right arm out viciously as it advanced on Xol, and the unfortunate microwave was battered away into the far wall, with the sound of breaking glass and a spark of residual electricity. As it closed to within a few meters of Xol, the Sentinel lifted its rifle to shoulder height and aimed one more shot at Xol's chest.


Meanwhile, Kwa's earpiece continued to be assaulted by the sounds of the fight. She tried again to make contact: "Xol, come in! Do you read me?"
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The mechanical sounds emanating from above Rhak and Bor were growing in volume, and a jarring vibration ran through the length of the ladder they clung to.

As the microwave flew across the room, Xol drew his dagger and hopped up onto the counter. Without predicting the bolt that would follow, he lept into the air and sailed over the Sentinal, twisting mid-air in an attempt to bring his blade down on the brute's back.

Then the shot hit him. It lodged itself in his right knee, sending another wave of pain and numbness through his leg. Because of the shot, time seemed to slow down, his heart beating in his ears. Through the haze and ebbing pain, he finally saw it. The imperfection. The chink. A small, square section of the energy field was emenaing with a different wavelength, right below the Sentinal's left shoulderblade. Using up what little energy the two wounds had left him with, Xol tossed his dagger at that small imperfection, his entire being hoping that it would somehow make it.

He was unconscious before he even hit the floor.

Unfortunately for Xol, a dagger is a far cry from an arrow in terms of accuracy and fiction, today, failed to translate into reality. The aura of the Sentinel's shield glowed blue as the electric field of Xol's weapon interfered with it, several inches from the spot he had targeted. Ultimately, however, the blade was repelled and dropped to the ground in a cascade of sparks. The Sentinel's shields flickered uncertainly for a moment, but did not fail.

Barely sparing a glance for the fallen weapon, the Sentinel stepped over to where Xol now lay and nudged him tentatively with one foot, checking he was unconscious.

Rhak looked at Bor.
"I don't like to say this, but if I jump ahead of you I might be fast enough to catch you. If I miss I'll own you a beer."
With thoose words, Rhak realesed his grip and fell through the shaft getting to the far side of it, nudging the wall. With this contact, Rhak expected to hold his balance without slowing him down.

Grecsh had heard the commotion on Xol's side of the comms and had started to get worried. He radioed to Kwa, "Kwa, it's Grecsh. If you can help me get to the surface, I'll go check out what's happening on the Lacuna. Have you gotten any bioscans on what's down there?"


In a momentary relapse of consciousness, Xol's eye opened just a sliver, and he saw the Sentinal looking down at him. Then he blacked out again.

"Hang on a moment," Kwa replied, bringing Bor's fighter around until she had line of sight with the Lacuna.

"Two life signs on board. Only one of them is moving around. The way its electromagnetic readings are smudging the bio-signs, I would judge that the latter is not Xol." Towards the end of this statement, a trace of concern may even have entered her voice as Kwa squinted closer at the sensor readout.
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Satisfied that Xol was no longer a threat, the Sentinel turned, holstering its rifle on its back, and strode out of the living quarters, into the cockpit of the Lacuna.

"Alright Kwa, I'm going to start heading up there now." Grecsh turned to the rest of Team A and adressed Dagon. "Unless we're planning on dawdling around until everyone has been bandaged to their heart's content, I say we leave now. Something has happened to Xol of the Lacuna. If you still need time, then would you be so kind as to point me to the elevators?"

IO, who was waiting for a response and had overheard the conversation between Grecsh and Kwa, decided to speak up "OR, you could beam the people who are already at the surface over to the Lacuna. Just a thought."

Grecsh responded to IO, "Even if you go first, I want to get down there." The O'onthos knitted his eyebrows. He had known Xol for much longer than anyone else in the Rangers, and he knew he would be of more help.

He suddenly felt a bit hypocritical, after critcizing Flank about having friends, but he put this feeling off.


Xol's conciousness was teasing him. He would start to wake up then dip back into blqckness before he could do anything. In these small periods of time, he slowly began clawing his way across the floor, heading for the Engineering Deck. After several painful minutes, he finally made it, his strength returning in sporadic doses. He propped himself up against a wall and stared at the wall of lights that glared down at him. He blacked out again, this time for several minutes.

Kwa did a quick gear change as this new factor entered into the equation, thinking rapidly: "Alright alright," She responded to IO, "I'm coming about. It could be dangerous to drop you inside the ship with an unknown threat aboard, but the only open access point is via the emergency hatch on the roof, which drops you in the living quarters. Teleportation isn't a very subtle mode of transport, and I'll only be able to shift one out of you, Quark and 'Cuna every twenty seconds. How do you want to play this?"

Satisfied that he had collected enough ammo, Flank returned to the group. On his way back, his comm. link blared new voices into the area of his neck that was capable of hearing. A voice would sound, and before he could comprehend what was happening, the conversation would switch to a new one. One such voice was familiar, and stated that it belonged to someone named Grecsh.
He recognised the voice: it belonged to The Psychic One.

OK, he thought to himself, that one is called Grecsh. Remember that.
Listening intently to the chatter, he flinched noticeably when the voice of a woman sounded through his helmet. A bead of sweat rolled down his neck.

With nothing else to detain them further, Team A filed out through the door and left the pumping station.

"This way," Dagon called, pointing right, "We passed the elevators on the way here. It should only take us a few minutes to reach them from here."

The group set off, and for a while all was quiet save for the echoes of their own footsteps.

...Of course, it was not to last.

"There they are! Fire at will!" The shout emanated from some way behind them. Its originator, a creature clad in familiar orange body armour and hefting a blaster rifle, was stood at the far end of the long, straight stretch of corridor Team A had just traversed.

"AARRRGG!!!" Grecsh yelled at the top of his lungs. "Enough setbacks! EAT LEAD!" He ripped a grenade off his belt and hurled it at the troopers. But this was no ordinary grenade. It was a grenade Grecsh had designed himself, and it packed two chemicals in it which, when the grenade detonated, would combine and form a compound he referred to as "gelatenous lead". The grenade exploded a few meters in front of the oncoming troopers, quickly forming a large bubble of the jelly-like substance. The bubble kept expanding, and would stop expanding once it had reached about seven meters in diameter.

The column of armoured figures that had just rounded the corner, looking to number far more than the squad the group had encountered earlier, clattered to a halt as Grecsh's grenade landed and the suspicious bubble began to expand at an alarming rate before their eyes. As it reached its full size, the buggle covered the whole width of the corridor, blocking it off entirely.

"Everyone, step back!" One of the soldiers, clearly the superior officer, called out. In a few seconds, the enemy force had retreated several meters back the way they had come, and made to move even further when they saw their commander lob an incendiary grenade at the gelatinous mass that stood in their way.

"Nice work Grecsh, but that won't hold them forever. We have to keep moving." Celdryc said.
((We aren't actually AT the elevator yet right?))
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"Well, Quark and 'Cuna are badly injured, and im less injured, so I think I should go first if theres something in there" IO said to Kwa.

IsakTheWriter wrote:

Rhak looked at Bor. "I don't like to say this, but if I jump ahead of you I might be fast enough to catch you. If I miss I'll own you a beer."

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"If you miss I'll be dead!" Bor retorted. He wasn't in a joking mood. "I'll jump first, then you. Push me away from underneath the elevator; I'd rather break my legs in the fall than get crushed by the elevator."

The bottom of the elevator shaft was getting close. They were about thirty seconds away from a messy demise.

As the reinforcements arrived, Flank swung his cannon about and made to fire a shell into the cluster of soldiers. But as Grecsh's lead bubble obstructed his view, he decided that it would be better not to deafen the other rangers. At Celdryc's beckon, he ran after the others.

As he ran, he released the remaining shells from his clip and they dropped into his hand. Reaching back, he stuffed them into his ammo box and reloaded on some more FLAK rounds.

The lead bubble was strong, but it would have a higher likelyhood of weakening if it was attacked before it had completed expanding. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the had done when he tossed the grenade. The explosion ripped through the bubble, sending several globs of the stuff in the squad's direction. A fair amount of the mass had been blown up, not enough for the attackers to pass through, but enough that they could see their targets through what was left of the barrier.

As the explosion sounded, Grecsh looked behind him, still sprinting along with the others. "X'vak! They just HAD to do that..." he muttered, scittering to a halt by the elevator doors.