Space E-war Reloaded

[dinoman666]

The walk was uneventful, but eerie, which didn't help Arrak's nerves one bit. The main control room was relatively small and uninteresting, and Arrak quickly moved to the central console, examining the controls. "Watch the door. I'll see if I can turn anything back on. Doesn't look like anything was tampered with..."

[The Kingpin]

"Right" said Khuurava as he stood by the hydraulic door, weapon at the ready. The panelling on the walls was pristine, despite the supposed attack. And no trace whatsoever of Blood Pack forces. There were only two possible explanations; either this was a Blood Pack trap, or they had departed already. But even then, Blood Pack weren't the most intelligent of merc groups. They were run by Trandoshans, Krogan and Vorcha, for the Ancestors' sake. Then again, this place would be a strategic stronghold for them were they to use it, so leaving it didn't make sense either. Driven away, perhaps? But then, by whom?

[dinoman666]

It didn't take Arrak long to turn on the power, and one by one, ceiling-mounted lights flickered to life throughout the complex. Arrak smiled at his handiwork. "Well, that wasn't so bad." As if on cue, however, the screen in front of him flashed red and began to beep rapidly. "Sh*t, a failsafe!" The Turian turned and jumped away as the console suddenly and violently exploded, the resulting shockwave sending Arrak tumbling through the air despite his attempt at evasion and causing him to crash into Khuurava...

[The Kingpin]

Khuurava hadn't waited to be caught in the blast, the Merc stepping out and taking cover behind the wall, the blast sending Arrak flying past. It would've been funny if it didn't mean that whatever shitstorm was supposed to be waiting for them had just started. "Well that was fun" grunted the Khurakra as he looked in through the doorway at the wrecked room, weapons at the ready...

[dinoman666]

Khuurava was not met with the expected smoke and sparks, but instead a stream of fire which projected straight at his face, obscuring whatever was producing it. Arrak hit the floor and rolled a short distance out into one of the large assembly areas, dazed and confused for the moment. Even with his blurry vision, he could see movement above him, but couldn't make out the source...

[The Kingpin]

Khuurava backed away from the stream of flame, taking cover behind the wall once more. turning to his friend, the Khurakra grabbed the Turian's arm with one of his own and pulled him to his feet with a swift tug, a clicking hiss coming from the Khurakra. "That'll be the first time A broken console shot a jet of flames at me" snarled the Mercenary...

[dinoman666]

Arrak shook his head to clear his vision, crouched slightly to avoid the gunfire that suddenly sprang from the control center after the flames died down. "Definitely not a failsafe," the Turian said as he recovered. "It's a trap." He pointed out into the main room they were in, where several shapes were scuttling along the inactive conveyor belts. Thanks to the newfound lighting, he could make out enough of their features from this distance to recognize them. "Vorcha..." he snarled, raising his weapon. They weren't in firing range yet, but that would change soon enough...

[The Kingpin]

"You don't say?" growled the Khurakra, as he took aim, crouching down to get a more stable shot. three loud booms were heard as rounds were fired off, two zipping by the head of one Vorcha, the third blowing it's head clean off, the remaining stump dissolving rapidly as the highly corrosive acid coating the round ate away at the creature's mangled remains...

[dinoman666]

The death of one of their troops, didn't seem to stop the Vorcha, of which there was ten more. All scuttled along the conveyor belts, staying atop them so that rounds from their enemies would hit the bottoms of the belts instead of the Vorcha themselves. That, plus the height advantage, frustrated Arrak. They could easily pop out of hiding and take potshots, effectively keeping them pinned, while their comrade inside the control room flanked them. For now, though, the Vorcha took their time getting closer, staying hidden behind the conveyors to avoid any more sniper rounds...

[The Kingpin]

Khuurava snarled as he put away his assault rifle, drawing his railgun, the large weapon unfolding and extending as he did so, powering up, streams of blue light running along groves lining the barrel of the large weapon. The powerful scope popped up from the main body of the weapon, the Khurakra mercenary making full use of it's barrier penetrating capabilities to scope out the targets...He needed to know just what he was getting into before he made his next move...

[dinoman666]

The Vorcha didn't move from their cover, but did fire back once they got within range... with a barrage of Inferno grenades thrown over the edge. Arrak's eyes widened. "Oh, sh*t! Grenades! Move it!" he shouted, turning to run out of the path of the incoming explosives...

[The Kingpin]

Khuurava snarled as he dove out of the way, taking cover behind another object that blocked the Inferno Grenade's blast and residue, before taking aim through one of the walls and firing.

The result was catastrophic. A gargantuan hole was blown through the wall, the edges of which glowed white from the sheer heat of the impact, the round having punched through it easily, before striking one of the Vorcha, which had been armed with a flamethrower, the subsequent explosion killing two others as Khuurava put away the weapon, drawing his assault rifle and one of his blades as he moved to make use of the chaos...

[C S]

The facility quaked with each explosion. Debris rained down from the ceiling of an isolated room. Observation equipment was scattered throughout the room either upright or sprawling across the floor. A rectangular lab table was angled upwards to a near vertical angle. Strapped to it via clamps was a droid, one obviously not TDGA standard. It was a humanoid shape, though its head was vaguely saurian. Along the sides of its torso and upper arms were purple plating. Everything else was a dark brown in color. On the front and back of both shoulders were small green bulbs that were currently inactive. Its narrow, tapered eyes were pitch black.

That is, until the incredible blast of a punctured flamethrower erupted. A gigantic chunk of the ceiling caved in, the walls dented and broken. The table, which had been restraining the confiscated robot malfunctioned from the immense explosion. The clamps were without power. The robot's eyes lit up, a stark blue with a whitish iris of sorts that had no pupil. Immediately, the robot freed itself, forcing its arms and legs outwards until the clamps broke off from the table. They looked like manacles around its wrists and ankles. It took its first steps since it was captured, scanning its surroundings. It identified several exits, made from the many explosions, and a number of anomalies on the floor above. The Blood Pack mercenaries and Grievous's errand runners were all marked as intruders and subjects of termination.

The Executioner unit pursued its new found objectives without any kind of verbalization or any sound for that matter. Just the sound of its metal feet marching across the ruined floor of the observation room...

[dinoman666]

Assault rifle rounds spanged against Khuurava's shields, fired from a Blood Pack Harrier rifle, as he jumped from cover. The Vorcha that had been hiding in the control room had peeked out from behind the doorway to fire on the mercenary while he was distracted with the other attackers. Arrak got a quick glimpse at him before he ducked behind cover again. His uniform wasn't Blood Pack, though it had slight similarities. Instead of the classic Blood Pack insignia, however, the Vorcha had a red tattoo of a clawed hand, wreathed in flame, on his right shoulder. The Turian wouldn't be surprised if the other Vorcha had the same thing as their boss (as that was likely who it was). These guys weren't Blood Pack, that much was obvious, and they were definitely not your average merc group...

[The Kingpin]

Khuurava snarled as the rounds splashed against his shields, the Mercenary lifting his assault rifle casually in the direction of the cover behind which the Vorcha was hiding, before firing a grenade just past it, a massive green explosion engulfing the cover and the surrounding area, as well as anything unfortunate enough to be hiding near that spot, the vitriolic properties of the grenade eating away the walls, cover and likely, what was hiding there, at an alarming pace. Leaping through the smoke left in the wake of the flamethrower explosion, Khuurava used his visor to pinpoint his opponents, reticles appearing in various locations across the visor's HUD, marking his opponents as he beheaded one particularly close one, still recovering from the blast, before opening fire on another a distance away...

[dinoman666]

The Vorcha dove through the doorway on all fours, scuttling away from the explosion with surprising speed, vanishing into the maze of storage crates littering the area. As he did so, he screeched to his minions, still hiding up in the conveyor belts far above Khuurava and Arrak, "Kill them! Saren not pay you to hide! Attack!"

This short admonishment seemed to spring the Vorcha into action, and they all sprang from their cover at once, rappelling down on cables from the conveyors above, firing their Punisher SMGs at Khuurava as they descended. One unfortunate merc was caught by an Incineration packet launched by Arrak, vaporizing the alien and sending its ashes drifting to the ground. The Turian stayed behind cover, however, knowing the viciousness of the Vorcha's weapons...

[The Kingpin]

Khuurava snarled as he gunned down those in his path, upping the pace of his attack, literally leaping from one crate and cover spot to another as he cleaved one of the rappelling Vorcha in half as it descended, practically dancing around the foes as he tore through the room, the walls being no barrier to him as he continued fighting as he walked up the vertical surface, using it to give him access to cover spots the ground wouldn't grant him...

[C S]

The floor underneath one of the Vorcha gave way to two metal arms with booming thuds, hands clenched into fists that punched through the metal without any difficulty. Those same hands wrapped around the mercenary's shins, latching on. The floor groaned loudly as the arms slid back from whence they came, dragging the previously unsuspecting soldier down through the metal, their legs being ripped from their body

[dinoman666]

The Vorcha, Arrak noticed, were getting slaughtered by Khuurava, so he stayed back and fired on any Vorcha that focused too closely on his fellow merc. Getting in the way of his partner right now seemed like a bad idea. Perhaps these mercs weren't so tough after all...

The Vorcha's leader, however, blew that idea out of the water pretty quickly. He leaped atop a crate on the far side of the room, wielding a Cobra Missile Launcher of all things. Arrak was less concerned about how the d*mn thing had a piece of Alliance equipment and more about how he was aiming the heavy weapon right in Khuurava's path. the rocket wouldn't track him, but it was fast enough--and had a big enough blast radius--that it didn't particularly matter. He would be vaporized if Arrak didn't warn him. "Khuurava! Rocket launcher!" he shouted. "Get the hell down!" At that moment, the Vorcha fired, staying in the open just long enough to sadistically observe his handiwork, before leaping away, back into the shadows...

[C S]

Just then a bloodied fist burst from the floor, Executioner's punch landing in Arrak's lower abdomen, hitting like a solid block. The Turian was knocked flat onto his back, his armor taking most of the crushing blow, in addition to his naturally hardy body. He would not be finished by a single blow, but the power behind it was undeniable...