The Black Steel RP. Rated R.

[Chatty]

"Aye, Captain." Kellen said, acknowledging both the order to unpack the grenade launcher and to watch out for the other Di'Lekk. He unhooked the belt at his waist that kept the pack from rubbing him when he was hiking, then he dropped the pack on the ground and pulled the grenade launcher out of the straps that held it securely to the side of the pack.

He then handed Daxia an empty cylinder to pack with the requisite grenades while he made sure that the sightscope was securely attached and everything was in good working order.

Jessan sat back after Sophie acknowledged his warning about the male Di'Lekk. All he could do now was to monitor the comm channel and back them up if Sophie called out to him.

He really hated this, he preferred being able to see their traces on sensors rather than being blind like he was now. But as long as he could hear them he'd know if they were in trouble or not.

T'Sarrina moved from her place behind the shrub, and she got ready to move once Kellen fired the grenades. Daxia was helping him and the Prakeshis were spreading out and getting ready to move. Crimson, too, seemed to be following up as well, so she concentrated on mostly hanging back and getting ready to administer medical aid if it was needed.

[Mikoto]

Though Daxia had been splitting her wary attention between Crimson and the cave mouth, she couldn't quite hide a small smile when Sophie came up with a plan after a minute or two of thinking about it. "Yes Captain." She replied obediently then unslung her backpack. She glanced around as she did so, wondering who the male Di'Lekk was and what he was doing then she began her task.

She took the cylinder and pieces that Kellen handed to her and began selecting the grenades. The most intense stun grenade and most potent anasthetic grenades they had. It seemed like Sophie wanted to stun Varrus unconscious first then use the anasthetic grenades to keep him under while the Black Steel and their mercenary 'guests' would work on discovering and disarming the traps he had to have prepared around him safely and in their own time without having to worry about whether their target would wake up.

Daxia set the grenades down safely and began helping Kellen unpack and prepare the grenade launcher. She found herself quietly enjoying the heavy work and being in such close proximity to him. All the small brushes and touches of their bodies as they worked. It seemed she was definately attracted to this particular human. She didn't let it distract her from her duties though.

[Chatty]

As they prepared the grenade launcher, Kellen couldn't help but notice how pretty she was, even as she focused on doing her job. It didn't help matters when their hands brushed several times during the operation, but he somehow managed to keep his mind on the task.. Once she packed the grenades into the cylinder, he snapped it into the holder, then winked slightly at her. "Sleepy time." He said as he straightened.

He almost wished they weren't on a mission and surrounded by so many people, he'd definitely like to explore these sensations that just being near her brought out in him. He wasn't sure what her species views on humans or other species was, but at the moment he didn't much care, she was Disgraced, so maybe her views were a little more open.

"Ready and waiting for your signal, Captain." He informed Sophie, taking a position where he had the best shot at the front of the cave.

[RJDiogenes]

Shortly after all sensor devices stopped working, Squa's companion group came to a halt near the entrance to a land cave. This was clearly the burrow of the rogue biped, however the belligerent creature was likely prepared to do harm to any who attempted to complete the bounty procedure. Indeed, Sophie came to Squa and communicated the need to entice him to leave his shelter or to allow entry and capture in a way that the group would not be reduced by death. The solution was obvious. An explosive object could be used to close the entrance to the land cave, sealing the rogue biped inside with limited nourishment. The group could form a temporary bed here and wait the turns of the currents until the creature agreed to completion of the process or became harmless with weakness. Unfortunately, it was felt that it would take too many currents to be desirable. This was consistent with typical land creature behavior. Gliesian scientists believed that land creatures had an accelerated time sense which evolved in conjunction with the repetitive day-night cycle.

[Mikoto]

Sylen frowned when he drew close to the cave, arriving noticably later than the large group of bounty hunters and his scanner stopped working. Clearly Varrus was using sensor dampaning or jamming technology. He knew that he'd 'lost' this bounty-that the other group had beaten him to it and gotten there first but perhaps there was a chance he could salvage something from the situation. Maybe. He took care to make enough noise in his approach that the other bounty hunters would hear him but the occupant of the cave wouldn't.

He didn't want to startle them and get shot in the process. Nor did he want to seem hostile so he took a chance and held his hands and tentacles away from his weapons and stepped partially into the open next to a tree trunk that he could dodge behind quick if he needed to. "Don't be alarmed." Sylen said to them. "I have no hostile intent. Indeed I'm hoping we might be able to team up." He decided to get to the point quickly to see how the bounty hunters-who were loading up a grenade launcher of all things-would react.

The Di'Lekk's eyes widened a bit as he recognised one of the bounty hunters. "Lieutenant Caros? Is that you?" He exclaimed in surprise. Was that really Kellen Caros? They had fought together in the 'war on terror' after the Avalanche terrorist group had bombed some Di'Lekk cities. Defeating Avalanche had been a joint effort between humanity and the Di'Lekk's. It had gone far in advancing the friendly relationship between the two species. Sylen was surprised to see him here. They'd lost contact with each other after Avalanche had been defeated. He had no idea Kellen had even left the Earth Military.

[Chatty]

Kellen had just finished snapping the grenade cylinder to the launcher and positioned himself for the best shot at the cave entrance when his hand went down towards his sidearm after hearing footsteps coming towards them from a direction that none of them had taken in coming here. Then he caught sight of the tentacles and knew that it was the lone Di'Lekk that they had been warned about. When he got a look at the blue face, his hand dropped all the way down and he didn't draw his weapon. The Di'Lekk recognized him almost as quickly, as he called him by his military designation.

"Sylen? Sylen Valorius?" He smiled and walked over to him, extending a hand and lowering the grenade launcher and carrying it at his side in his other hand. "It's good to see you off the battlefield. Well, for now." They were about to turn the clearing ahead into another battlefield likely battling whatever traps were laid out.

After shaking the Di'Lekk's hand, he turned to Sophie. "I know this guy. We fought terrorists together when I was still military. He's a good guy to have at your back." He glanced at Sylen and grinned. "I'm not a lieutenant anymore, just Kellen will do."

T'Sarrina glanced up when she heard footsteps coming towards them. She had been kneeling and checking her medical kit over to be sure she would be ready in case she was needed. When she saw the blue tentacles, she stood and stared. Sylen, as Kellen had called him, was most obviously military-grade Di'Lekk, with his tall, muscular frame and larger than normal long tentacles. However, if he was after this bounty then he was no longer with the military. Why this would be so she didn't know, but she couldn't keep from admiring his almost-perfect physique.

[Mikoto]

Sylen relaxed when Kellen vouched for him. "Long story short is that I got made redundant by military budget cuts a couple months ago. Thought I'd become more.... freelance." He explained very shortly. The blonde human female who was clearly the group's leader nodded. "Fair enough, I can cut you in with an equal share of the bounty. All told between 60 and 80 thousand credits shared between us and the crew aboard my ship."

She explained quickly and efficiently. Since that amount of money was easily enough to keep Sylen fed and sheltered for a few months he nodded. "Done, I'm pleased to work with you." Sophie smiled and quickly explained her plan. "Everything is in position so if you could take your place we can get started." Out of habit Sylen saluted smartly and took cover in the undergrowth with his assault rifle at the ready. He hadn't missed the extremely attractive female Di'Lekk in the group. He wondered if there would be a chance to talk to her later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Sylen, the Skitter pilot and everyone was ready and in position, Sophie took a slow breath in, then out. "Fire." She accompanied her spoken command with a signalled one in Glisean so Squa definately wouldn't miss it. As Kellen first the first grenade, quickly followed by the other three Sophie waited tensely to see what would happen. There was a bright flash and a muffled bang from within the cave then silence. At least for a few moments.

She heard a mechanical whirring suddenly activate like a small machine's engines had just fired up. A moment later a large automated flying drone swooped out of the cave's mouth. It was roughly the size of Kellen's torso and arms put together, grey with painted blue patches with four small rotor blades keeping it aloft. There were two wicked-looking guns on it's front, a third one on its rear and some kind of dart weapon mounted on its sides. The drone started firing as soon as it detected lifeforms.

Two bullets hit Crimson in the shoulder, embedding deeply but causing painful bleeding wounds. However while it was enough to hamper movement in his arm and side his other side would remain unaffected. The injuries were non-lethal to him and even without medical treatment would eventually heal over. More bullets hit two of the three Prakeshi and killed them instantly. Daxia's hip was grazed by a bullet as she jumped out of its path of bullets in a hurry. For a moment it was sheer chaos. Then Sophie was firing at it with her pistols.

[Chatty]

Once introductions were over with and Sylen agreed to a fair share of the bounty, Kellen resumed his position that he had taken before. When Sophie gave the order to fire, he fired the four grenades in quick succession, so that each one would explode right behind the previous one. As he watched some of the gases escaping through the mouth of the cave, a large, heavily armed drone flew out of the cave and directly for them. Kellen ducked behind the large tree just as the bullets began spraying and he closed his eyes and winced when splinters from the tree trunk sprayed his face. Once the splinters stopped hitting him, he pulled his weapon out. leaned out and started spraying his own hail of bullets at the drone.

It hadn't escaped his notice that two insectoids went down and didn't get back up, though he couldn't see what was going on behind him.

T'Sarrina shook her head briefly as Sophie spoke with Sylen about getting a cut of the bounty, then she picked up her pack and was about to sling it over her shoulder when Kellen fired the three grenades into the cave. Then all she could do was dive behind the nearest tree when the drone emerged and started spraying their position with rapid fire. She then crawled through the underbrush towards the two fallen insectoids and briefly examined them before concluding they were dead and couldn't be revived. She then scampered over to Crimson, who had one arm hanging useless and quickly wrapped it in a pressure bandage for the time being to stem the bleeding. She couldn't try to extract the bullets while under fire or she'd risk injuring the limb further.

Jessan listened over the comm channel when Kellen greeted the Di'Lekk. He then listened as Sophie bartered with him for a share of the bounty, and then he heard the four rapid 'whump's that indicated Kellen had fired the grenades.

Then he sat up straighter when he heard the whine of the drone over the comm, and then unfamiliar gunfire. "Uh oh." He said to himself. He remained alert, just in case Sophie called him to come.

He put Darren in the pilot's chair and took Sophie's captain's chair so he could negotiate with flight control, who were getting a little antsy with him hovering just at the edge of legal space. He told them that Sophie and her group were tracking a dangerous serial killer who had a substantial bounty on his head and things weren't quite going according to plan. He assured them that he was simply monitoring the situation, but if he got a distress call from her, he would answer it.

Thankfully, they understood and backed down from trying to get him to land the ship, something he hadn't been about to do.

[RJDiogenes]

At this point, Squa was losing track of the bipedal activities. A new biped, another example of the pseudopod-topped species, had entered the clearing, but the dynamics of the interactions that followed were unclear. The newcomer was evidently known to one, but not all, and after some talk appeared to have joined the bounty activities and was included in the economic division. Unlike in the case of the previous newcomer, there was no tension or multiple allowances involved, though undoubtedly each individual share would be reduced. This was of no concern to Squa, since surface dweller economic units were only of use to him while traveling away from Gliese and he had enough for his requirements.

Then Sophie indicated verbally and manually that the assault on the land cave was about to begin and the activities of the bipeds became clear again. Unfortunately, all did not go according to plan. Following the application of the poisoned air bottles to the cave, a machine swam quickly out into the atmosphere, firing weapons at all sapients. One of the new bipeds was struck and injured, while two of the insectoids immediately perished. Squa reflexively coiled and uncoiled his tentacles, springing backward away from the machine. He procured a beam weapon, a bipedal design customized for his tentacles, from his tool harness and fired at it. The device, however, was able to take evasive action. He continued to fire, attempting to discern a pattern or limitations to its evasive activities.

[Mikoto]

With the drone displaying agility as well as an armoured hull, Sophie made a decision. She paused in shooting at the drone with her pistols and touched the small red button on the communicator attached to her shipsuit collar. It was a distress signal, encrypted on a narrow channel so only the Firestorm and local law enforcement could detect it. Knowing that Jessan was on the line anyway she spoke over the distress signal. "We got trouble, there's an aerial attack drone attacking us. Heavily armed and armoured. Two of the Prakeshi are down. Crimson is injured and we need help."

She reported. Sophie peered around the edge of the tree trunk she'd been using for cover and resumed shooting at the drone. They just had to hold on for roughly five minutes while the Firestorm got there. The bounty notice had said that Varrus had been a military inventor that had snapped but there'd been no mention that he was in possession of a drone. With a distress call issued it was no longer illegal for the ship to fly beyond the city limits to come to their rescue. She timed her shots carefully, as much trying to hit the drone despite its evasive manouvers as trying to pierce the armour at a critical spot.

[Mikoto]

After hitting the ground with a graze having nearly been shot by the drone, Daxia immediately rolled into a crouch. A quick glance at the graze confirmed that it wasn't serious. There was only a small trickle of pale golden blood. In the heat and siadrenaline of battle she felt no pain. Mentally dismissing the small injury Daxia raised her assault rifle and took aim. As it was currently targeting someone else and apparently didn't notice her lurking in the undergrowth she took a moment to aim properly. She shot at it with a full spread of bullets from her assault rifle, managing to disable one of the rotor blades keeping it aloft.

The Mikoatty felt a small surge of satisfaction as the drone's evasive
manouvers became less effective and less graceful now that it had sustained some damage. It was then she spotted the grenade launcher that Kellen had used on the ground in the mud from where he'd been forced to drop it. She thought that it might be able to do some serious damage to the drone. However Daxia was forced to dive behind some rocks as the drone sprayed bullets at her in turn. She shielded her face and stayed behind the rocks while bullets and sparks flew around her.

OOC: Please check the discussion thread before posting.

[Chatty]

Jessan sat up when the distress signal came through, plus Sophie also spoke over the signal, telling him that there was an armored drone attacking them and it was capable of evading their fire. Well, that tore it, now that she'd sent the distress call, he could go.

"Control tower, this is the Firestorm. We are enroute to our Captain's location." He informed flight control. He then glanced at Darren. "Take us there, now." They'd be there in roughly five minutes, he only hoped they others could hold it off for that long. "Assault team, be ready to drop and render assistance as soon as we get there." He said over the intercom as Darren put the ship in motion and headed for the cave.

Kellen had to dive behind the tree again when the drone homed in on his rifle fire and he swore when more splinters splattered his face. He swiped a hand across his face and it came away with smeared makeup and blood. The injuries were only scratches, but he'd been sweating, so they also stung like hell. He glanced at the grenade launcher, lying just a couple feet from him, and he waited for a lull in the drone's firing. Then he dropped and rolled over to the launcher, then he grabbed a clip of incendiary grenades and snapped it in after pulling the gas grenade cylinder out. Then he stood and was about to take aim and fire when he saw the machine guns move his way, and he just had time to dive out of the way of another spray of bullets, yelping when he felt some of them hitting too close for comfort. He'd also managed to drop the grenade launcher again as he had to quickly roll behind his tree to keep from being peppered with gunfire again. Now he was effectively pinned down for now. This was going to be the longest five minutes of his life...

T'Sarrina wasn't carrying anything heavy enough to even penetrate the armor of the drone, so she tried to stay behind cover after she bandaged Crimson's arm up as best she could. It was effectively trying to keep them pinned, or kill them if they left cover, and she was glad when Sophie sent the distress call. She only hoped they could last out the five minutes that it would take them to get here.

All she could do was to keep an eye on everyone and render aid if someone got hurt.

[Jim Gamma]

Pedras, Honus and Berek stayed near the grenade launcher as Black Steel prepared for the opening moves of their assault - if they were greeted by combatants, their ability to charge at speed would come in handy. They stood on four limbs, poised to launch themselves forward, with their upper arms carrying large laser rifles.

As the grenades fired into the cave, they heard a soft humming, then saw an armoured drone fly from the cave. Knowing their comparatively soft chitin was no match for the drone's weapons, Berek and Honus turned to scatter to the forest. This turned out to be the wrong move - the extra second they needed to do this was all the time the drone needed to lock on to their location and pump them full of bullets.

Pedras, unaware of the twins' fate, was instead charging forward and angling away from the drone in a more controlled arc - partly to ensure he was a moving target, and therefore harder to hit, and partly to try to give the drone too much to aim at. He launched a few shots at the drone, not really expecting to do much damage, and ploughed past it. A dart whizzed straight past his head - way too close for comfort - and he grabbed at a nearby tree to swing himself round and into the forest.

A spray of bullets followed him, but clearly the drone was focused on the larger group; as the drone momentarily lost sight of him, he stopped, turned and made his way back, increasing the power per shot on his laser. It would drain the battery that much faster, but it was more likely to pierce the drone's hull.

Only as he re-entered the fray did he realise that his compatriots had fallen in battle - given the amount of blood, they were certainly dead. Fury gripped him, and he charged forward, firing his laser at the drone's whirling rotors.

[Mikoto]

When the hail of bullets stopped peppering the rock that she crouched behind, Daxia cautiously peered around the edge of the rock to see that the drone was targetting Kellen, Sophie and Pedras. She could see that a second set of rotor blades had been badly damaged and mangled by the Prakeshi's attack. Because of the extra damage the drone was flying slower and was a lot less maneouverable. Bullets from Sophie, Squa and others were hitting it now as it could no longer evade. But it's attention wasn't on her so she darted forward and grabbed the grenade launcher.

Someone-probably Kellen judging by his close proximity to it-had reloaded the launcher with explosive grenades. "Fire in the hole!" She yelled to all the combatants. "Move move move!" She hollered a warning for everyone to get out the way of the drone. Daxia dropped to a crouch, partially concealed by a bushy plant and braced the grenade launcher against her then aimed while all the other combatants made sure that they weren't too close to the drone.

Without hesitation the Mikoatty fired two of the four loaded grenades at the drone. Her aim was good. The first one lodged under the plate of it's armour and exploded and the second one exploded on impact. Daxia shielded her face and braced herself as the sound and shockwave from the explosion blew through the clearing.

When she unshielded her eyes she saw that the drone was very badly damaged, barely aloft with only one functional gun left. It was turning unsteadily towards her so Daxia quickly ran behind a tree trunk. She put down the grenade launcher and kept on moving so someone else might be able to get to it if needed. As she continued to evade the drone's bullets she could hear the sound of ship engines in the distance.

OOC: The Drone is very badly damaged now, but there's still a bit of life left in it if someone wants another little tussle with it before the Firestorm arrives.

[Mikoto]

For most of the fight Sophie remained where she was, shooting at the drone with her laser pistol. She'd holstered her stun pistol as it was having no effect on the drone. She wasn't really surprised as a stun pistol used a type of electricity-based laser beam designed to render an organic being unconscious. It was widely known as a safe and effective weapon to incapacitate individuals without side effects. This made stun pistols prohibitively expensive to most people outside of the military or law enforcement.

So instead she had been using her laser pistol which emitted a much stronger and destructive type of laser beam. Hitting the drone, let alone trying for accurate shots at its few weak points was difficult. At least until Pedras charged at it and shot at close range with his own laser gun. This damaged a second set of rotors and now the drone was far less maneouverable. It couldn't evade her shots now. Sophie aimed carefully and fired at what looked like one of its sensory nodes. Her aim was good. Now the drone couldn't 'see' on its left side. But it could on it's right. It seemed to focus on her as a particular threat.

It fired just about every weapon in its arsenal at her. She tried to dodge back behind the tree trunk but wasn't quite fast enough. She felt a sudden and intense pain sear at her lower leg and she collapsed with a pained yell. Sophie rolled away into the deeper undergrowth despite the pain even as another bullet struck her ankle. Then there was an explosion and the drone stopped firing at her. Sophie lay on the forest floor with two points of pain in her left leg. She was disoriented by the pain and the explosion shockwave.

[Chatty]

Kellen half crouched and dove away from the drone when Daxia yelled her warning, then he covered his head until the explosions ended. He then stood and saw that the drone was badly damaged, but it was firing at Sophie, who had tried to dive out of the way and didn't quite make it. He lost sight of her when she rolled into the underbrush, yelling in pain. He saw that T'Sarrina had already scampered in her direction, now they just had to keep the drone from targeting them anymore, so he stood and peppered it with his assault rifle to get its attention. By the sound of things, Jessan and the Firestorm was almost there, so they just had to keep it busy.

T'Sarrina had been crouching behind a large tree until she heard Sophie yelling in pain. She scooped up her pack and scampered over, staying as low as she could, just as she'd been taught.

She reached Sophie and dropped her pack. She then got out her medical scanner, but the dampening field was affecting it too, so she put it aside and first gave Sophie an injection for the pain, and then she carefully examined her left leg. It looked like the wound on her calf was a through and through, but she only detected an entrance wound on her ankle. By the time she got ready to bandage the wounds, the medication was beginning to dull her pain. She then bandaged the wounds up, waiting for Jessan to get there and finish off the drone so that she could get Sophie and Crimson into the infirmary and remove their bullets. She was going to need everyone in there by then to examine and treat any other injuries.

Jessan had been listening to the battle with the drone while Darren piloted the Firestorm towards their location. "You have weapons ready to go as soon as we get there." He instructed Twyla. Then he could drop the backup team to lend them aid and get any injured on board and safe.

Just before they were close enough to try a shot, Jessan heard the exploding grenades, then he heard Sophie yelling in pain. "Sophie?" Now he couldn't get there fast enough, and the last bit was beginning to feel like slow motion as he tapped his foot in agitation, worrying about how badly she was hurt.

[RJDiogenes]

Keeping squashed down as close to the ground as possible, Squa flowed through the grass of the field like water, firing his beam weapon at the drone. Once the machine lost one of its rotors and became less maneuverable, his shots got closer and he was able to take out one of its turrets. He noted that it concentrated its attacks on other members of the group, and he speculated that it was not programmed to recognize non-humanoids; but surely its internal thinking simulator could detect the shots from his beam weapon and triangulate his position, so perhaps he should retreat to cover behind one of the large land plants. Too late. His beam weapon stopped firing because his tentacle was lying on the ground a good pseudopod-and-a-half away.

Then he heard Sophie shout an order, but he did not recognize the words. No, that was not an order-- it was a bipedal cry of pain, meaning that she had suffered an injury. He quickly undulated across the field in the direction of her voice, dodging fire from the air-swimming weapon, which now had added him to its target list.

[Mikoto]

Sophie squinted and blinked when something blue entered her blurred field of vision. She knew immediately that it was T'Sarrina. This was confirmed a second or so later when she felt a tiny pinprick on her leg then the pain began to diminish. She also heared Jessan calling her name through the communicator.

"Jessan." She was starting to relax now the pain was fading. "I'm okay for the most part. The drone shot me in the leg-twice but T'Sarrina is here now." She assured him. Then she felt slight pressures and movements around her leg and knew that her injuries were being bandaged. Sophie remained still and compliant though the truth was she didn't feel like moving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sylen had spent most of the battle half hidden behind a large tree trunk steadily spraying the drone with bullets from his assault rifle. It was a mixture of technologies combined into one weapon. Bullets with tiny projected laser tips that vastly increased damage and penetration of the bullet. It could also fire intense but narrow laser beams although the duration was short due to power usage.

He'd inflicted a fair amount of damage to the dart weapons but it wasn't until Pedras took out one of the rotor blades that he was finally able to inflict some proper damage. At least until the Mikoatty female used the grenade launcher to severely damage the drone. He hadn't seen many Mikoatty. The gold-skinned species definately preferred to remain within their own territory. He heard a cry of pain from a female though he iddn't know the group well enough to be able to recognise the voice.

Grimly Sylen adjusted his position so that he could see Kellen a bit to his right as they were both peppering it with bullets. "Heads up." He warned his fellow ex-soldier as he took a grenade from his belt, pulled out the pin and threw it at the drone. The smaller explosion sent it crashing into a tree, buying the Gliesean precious time to get out of the way. Sylen then resumed peppering the lurching drone with bullets while it clumsily began turning to face him. Then, overhead he saw the unmistakable silhouette of a ship on the approach over the trees. Instinctively the Di'Lekk ducked behind his tree again not wanting to be out in the open when the ship got within range and aimed at the drone.

[Mikoto]

After what seemed like an eternity of frantically flying over the forest once the Firestorm had left city limit air space, the pilot Darren finally reached the coordinates that he'd been given. The Captain and ground team were in the clearing they were coming upon fast fighting for their lives against a Drone obviously designed for military or law enforcement purposes. Both the sensors and visual sight of a small plume of smoke rising from the clearing told Darren they were in the right place. "Get ready to fire as I'm just about to give you a clean shot." He instructed the weapons officer on duty as he slowed the Firestorm to a near-hover over the clearing so the ship's weapons could be used. Though sensors indicated the drone was just about destroyed already and regular weapons could take it out entirely if someone managed to shoot it before the Firestorm had finished aiming...

[Chatty]

Jessan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Sophie's slightly fuzzy voice calling his name and telling him she'd just been shot in the leg and that T'Sarrina was already there. He wouldn't completely relax until that drone was taken care of though, and everyone was safely aboard and being taken care of properly.

Darren was maneuvering the Firestorm into position and Twyla was bringing the targeting sensors to bear on what was left of the drone.

However, he had to wonder how Varrus had gotten hold of something that sophisticated...

Twyla had acknowledged Jessan's order to have the weapons ready to fire as soon as they got there. They were ready and as Darren brought the ship around, he started trying to home in on the limping drone.

"All right, just hold still." T'Sarrina told Sophie. Probably unnecessarily, but she said it anyway. Once she finished bandaging her leg, she gently made sure that Sophie was lying in as comfortable position as she could manage. Then she glanced up and saw Squa approaching and he was missing one of his tentacles. She made a note to search for it as soon as the drone was taken care of so she could reattach it, even though she knew it would regrow in a few months. If a tentacle could be reattached, it would take much less time to recover. She knew that he must be in a lot of pain, so she gave him a pain injection tailored to his species so that he could cope with the pain, then she bandaged the stump that was remaining, then she smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'll find your tentacle and reattach it." She told him, in words and with sign language.

[Jim Gamma]

Pedras didn't waste time celebrating when his barrage of laser fire destroyed one of the drone's rotors - it had turned its attention back to him. Sheer speed had brought him within range of the drone's few remaining weapons, but as one of them aimed at him, a shot from the Gliesian took it out.

He'd had time to learn a few Gliesian phrases on the hike from the forest clearing, but before he could thank Squa, the drone was already returning fire. A small purple pseudopod, carrying a laser pistol, flew away from Squa as the drone hit its mark. Unfortunately, the pseudopod was too far away for Pedras to reach safely - but he did manage to provide some cover fire for Squa as he retreated to the relative safety of the forest. He heard Sophie scream as it turned its attention back to her, and, reaching his colleagues' corpses, grabbed one of their weapons and redoubled his efforts.

Pedras became aware of the engines of a ship in the distance; aware that Sophie had called for backup, he assumed it was incoming, and began to beat a retreat in the direction of the engines. The drone buzzed in his direction, having taken out most of the other obvious targets. Now, if I can just time this right, Pedras thought, I can get the drone to be completely exposed as the ship comes over those trees...

Unfortunately for Pedras, he was now moving backward, not forward, so was unable to make use of his ability to charge - even Prakeshi didn't have the 360-degree vision and other physical features necessary for retreating quickly while firing two weapons. The drone sent a barrage of bullets at him, most of which missed - except the few that zinged off his mid-limb joints. Although the bullets had only grazed him, he found himself flung backward by the sheer force behind them. A quick mental calculation told him there was no time to get back up; gritting his teeth and knowing he was still out in the open and visible to the drone, he continued firing, expecting the end to come at any moment. It never came.

OOC: Pedras hasn't shot it down, he's just got it into the open for the ship or anyone on the ground with fight in them.

[Mikoto]

Just as Daxia gathered herself to rush out to try and save Pedras, Darren finally finished positioning the Firestorm allowing a weapons lock. One of the guns mounted near the front of the cargo ship activated and shot at the drone. The ammunition, designed to disable enemy shields and rip through hulls, tore the drone apart into shreds and made indentations in the soil around it. Then the gun stopped and for a few moments there was no sound except that of the Firestorm's engines.

Daxia looked up when she heard one of the cargo doors open and smiled when Logan, Alex and Irwin prepared some lines and rappelled down into the clearing. Logan was an engineer, Alex was a communications officer but both had undergone combat training. Irwin was one of the ship's medics trained to paramedic level. As soon as their boots touched the ground Logan and Alex took up positions either side of the cave entrance and held their assault rifles ready. Nobody but a member of the Black Steel would be permitted to enter the cave.

Irwin hurried over to T'Sarrina carrying a large medical kit with extra medical equipment and supplies. He was ready and able to assist her with treating the wounded. Now that the situation was secure Daxia reloaded her assault rifle and went over to Kellen even as Sophie sat up slowly and carefully without moving her leg. "Okay." She said after assessing the situation. "Daxia, Kellen, enter the cave and see what you can do about apprehending Varrus. Anyone who is injured, report to T'Sarrina and Irwin. The rest of you, either stand guard or assist Daxia and Kellen."

Daxia smiled slightly. Even whilst injured Sophie didn't want to relinquish her responsibilities as leader to Kellen who was her first officer. Still she had given them an important task. She looked towards the cave entrance as she realised that with the drone destroyed, their scanning equipment wasn't being jammed anymore. She scanned the mouth of the cave and glanced at Kellen. "It seems save enough to enter. The anasthetic gas has dissipated and the scanners detect no traps." She informed him.

[Chatty]

Kellen relaxed once the drone was torn to pieces and was no longer a threat. He smiled when Sophie, like always, still kept charge as she sat up and started assigning tasks. She likely wouldn't relinquish charge unless medically forced to do so, and she could still bark orders while sitting on her ass. He glanced at Daxia when she said the scanners were working and that there weren't any sign of traps in the clearing, so he nodded and placed a fresh clip of ammo in his assault rifle. His scratches were superficial and he could clean them up himself when the situation was totally under control.

He then went towards the mouth of the cave with Daxia, still being careful, as they couldn't be sure that the grenades had done their job. As they approached the mouth of the cave, his scanner detected two traps, so he indicated for Daxia to disarm the one closest to her, and he disarmed one intended to capture intruders in a net. Once the traps were disarmed, the two of them moved inside and scanned for more traps. Finding none, they ventured farther in to the main cave.

That was when Kellen stopped and whistled appreciatively. Along one wall was stacked crates that were labeled top-secret, which would mean big money if it really was. "Can't wait to see what's in them crates." He remarked to Daxia as he made his way over to a makeshift desk on another wall, passing by a mattress covered in rumpled blankets, obviously a makeshift bed. Varrus was lying across the desk, unconscious, meaning that his grenades had struck true.

Once he reached Varrus, he pulled him off the desk and laid him out on the floor of the cave, where he systematically divested him of every weapon he had on his person, making sure he searched him well. Once that was accomplished, he tied him up well and snug, so that he wouldn't be able to move, just in case he woke before they could get him into a secure cell. He couldn't help but note that he had the toned body of a soldier, plus all the scars that said he'd seen some combat. That, combined with the military-looking crates containing secrets they had yet to discover told him this guy must be ex-military.

That was when he saw the laptop on the desk, open and running. Well, no good time like the present to see if there was anything useful on it, so he got Daxia's attention and pointed at it while he picked up a crowbar and went over to see what the crates had inside them.

*************************************

Once the worst of the wounds were tended to, T'Sarrina went out into the clearing to search for Squa's missing tentacle. It was imperative that she find it and reattach it before too much time passed or Squa would have to wait and regrow the limb naturally. After some searching, she finally found it and picked it up and carried it back. As soon as the ship landed and she could get the injured into the infirmary, reattaching the limb would be priority and the other medics on the ship could tend to removing the bullets from Sophie and Crimson.

After stabilizing the tentacle, she went back over to Sophie to make sure she wasn't trying to overdo things. She knelt next to her friend and checked to make sure the wounds weren't bleeding again.

***************************************

Once the backup team rappeled down to help, Jessan left Darren at the controls and he scurried to the cargo bay, where he rappeled down one of the ropes dangling out of the open hatch. He then hurried over to where Sophie was sitting up and giving orders while T'Sarrina was checking her over. He should have known if she was still conscious she would still be in charge and issue orders from a sitting position.

He went over to her and sat with her, supporting and cuddling her, thankful to be able to hold her in his arms. As soon as Darren could land in a safe spot, they would be able to get her to the infirmary where she could be taken care of properly.

[Jim Gamma]

Pedras resisted the urge to close his eyes and fire blindly as the drone lined up what was sure to be the salvo that killed him. Just as he was about to meet his maker, the sun was obscured by the shadow of a large vessel. Before the drone could reassess the situation, it had fired on the drone, reducing it to shrapnel.
Instinct took over as Pedras shifted to protect the weaker parts of his chitin, which had already been chipped by the bullets. He let out a Prakeshi curse as hot shrapnel pelted him, singeing the two arms protecting his face. One piece of shrapnel lodged in his abdomen, but he was able to limp over to Sophie and her team as reinforcements arrived from the ship.
Waving Daxia away for a moment - his injuries were nowhere near as bad as other team members', he thought - he told Sophie, "Your pilot has excellent timing."

OOC: This should have been posted before Chatty's post but the board went down just as I was posting.

-----

Not wanting to be a liability in the cave, and certain that he would be more useful outside, Pedras waited whilst Black Steel explored the interior, content to prepare for any further surprises that may result from that exploration.

[Mikoto]

Daxia stood by while Kellen secured Varrus. Because they had been intending to capture him alive all along they'd came prepared. Thick durable cuffs and shackles secured his wrists and ankles. They also fixed plastic restraints at his elbows and knees so he couldn't bend his limbs. When Kellen gestured to the laptop that Varrus had apparently been using before the grenades hit, she nodded and sat down at the crude desk.

The first thing she did was get a memory storage device out of her backpack and copied the laptop's entire hard drive onto it before slipping the memory device into one of her pockets. Then the Mikoatty started going through the data stored on the laptop. "This is interesting." She said to Kellen as he went through the crates. "Varrus is ex-military. He served in the Relexal Army as part of the Engineering Corps during the war with an alien species referred to only as the Jurgilenko. Later he developed PTSD but didn't seek help dealing with it even though Relexal veterans have free and easy access to help." She explained.

"He concealed it though and took a job as a military research and development contractor. Looks like he put his skills to use helping develop new stuff for military use. It seems that he finally 'snapped' a few months ago and started kidnapping people, torturing them before finally killing them. He seemed particularly obsessed with stabbling, electrocuting and extracting brain matter whilst his victim was still alive." To Daxia that sounded like he was reliving something he saw or experienced during the war in his own twisted, insane way. "When he was identified as the serial killer by local law enforcement he fled after stealing a whole bunch of newly developed, classified stuff including a state of the art prototype military drone......" She trailed off in shock and her eyes narrowed.

"Holy crap. The authorities that put out the bounty knew full well what he'd stolen. They knew he had that drone in his possession but didn't disclose it in the briefing or put it up in the bounty notice." She growled deep in her throat angrily. "That almost got us all killed. It certainly would have killed any lone bounty hunter like Sylen or Crimson. If we'd known about the drone we would have approached this target differently..." Daxia stopped reading and investigating the contents of the laptop further as she sought to control the anger bubbling up inside her. Taking a minute or two to absorb what she'd just learnt and to calm herself seemed like a good idea.