Exfiltration

[Nej Tane]

Waist deep he said. Do the job they said. Go out and have an adventure, they said. Eat your vegetables they said.

And here he was, wading through what he assumed to be water that was worthy of a tetanus booster. And a shower. At the same time. A shower made of tetanus boosters.

He kept his blaster at the ready, and made sure to keep it nice and dry. Blasters weren't as reliable in poor conditions as slugthrowers, hence Nej's fondness for slugthrowers. There was also the fact that he liked the sound it made. Those things aside, Nej was pretty upset having to wade through the water, but nonetheless carried on, not for any sense of duty or pride, but because he really liked money.

Lawyer fees for unlicensed dentist practicing were expensive, after all.

 

[Formorta]

Formorta was not to worried about the possibility of swimming, she had re breathers to deal with being underwater, and extra arms, with in a way webbed fingers, made swimming much easier. Their was not much point in stating such an opinion as [member="Xin Boa"] made mention that the tunnels should not be fooled and orders to find an up route way to the bunker by herself.

"copy"

The group split up, to be honest she was a bit glad of this current plan, Formorta was a lone wolf, not really one to walk in team, solo mission and tasks were what she excelled at. It meant you only had to account for one person, and you could change up the plan mid way without having to go through the means of telling everyone.

One by one her cloaking devices took affect, the body simmering into nothingness and the area around the assassin was distorted to look like nothing was their. Slowly she made her way to a partially collapsed building, crumbling and looking like it was about to collapse, but making an accessible path across the canal, one that could only be traversed by a someone light on their feet, and able to keep a hold of the structure without jumping or sudden movements.

Holstering the giant gun on her back, Formrota started the steep assent of the makeshift rout, more scuttling up the path due to her extra limbs.

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Barnabas Harou"] [member="Delila Castillon"] [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] [member="Ava Taylor"] [member="Khthul the Elder"] [member="Formorta"] [member="Nej Tane"] [member="Captain Beloved"]

Whilst side passages often led up and away from the water, the level in the tunnel they took under Khthul's direction rarely went below waist level. For one stretch it almost reached shoulder height on the shortest of the group. The smoothly curved roof of the tunnel was formed of tight, interlocking bricks. Yet the light they brought only rarely caught it. The passages were built tall to take a huge capacity of water away. In the darkness it just made them more ominous.

Xin had a bad feeling about this. So much that he brought up a closed fist to halt the group.

"Jammer," he called back to Hirrau. The nikto passed him the small device that was shaped like a handheld radio. It would be no use underwater, but as long as it wasn't submerged it would keep any scouts they encountered from sending a warning. Especially with all the duracrete and water above them.

As they turned the corner several lights winked into existence above them. More and more little red dots appeared. Someone turned their torch upwards to see a multitude of legs scuttling towards them. There was a flash of red. Xin heard a hiss and realised a bolt had struck the water right next to him.

"Kark."

As he raised his blaster one of the spider droids came to stop right above him. It seemed to focus on the jammer in his hand. There was a clack as it detached itself from the roof and plummeted towards him.

"Catch!" Xin shouted as he tossed the jammer back towards the others. He hoped someone caught it, but was preoccupied with the metallic claws dropping for him.

 

[Nej Tane]

Catch- oh right, catch that. Sure, Nej caught the Jammer. After bouncing it around several times. An embarrassing amount, really. But Nej was both shooting his gun, and trying to hold onto the jammer after Xin kindly threw it. Nej rolled his blaster and hit the droid dead on that was coming for Xin. He would've smiled, if he wasn't assaulted by an equally embarrassing amount of spider droids. They latched onto his clothes, their little friggin claws digging pretty harshly into his skin.

"THING- OFF-PLEASE-ME!"

Nej thrashed around, trying to keep himself above the water, while the droid seemed to have other comical ideas.

 

[Ava Taylor]

The dark, spacious tunnels made Ava’s skin crawl, but at least they weren’t submerged, so she counted that as a small mercy. The water couldn’t soak trough the fabric of her pants and boots, but that didn’t mean she exactly relished waddling waist deep in other people’s waste.

Not to mention the stench. The karking stench.

Never mind that. Ava was a professional and a bit of excrement wasn’t about to faze her. A small army of creepy, crawly droids, though, that was another story. She only wasted a second or two before the blaster was in her hands, aiming at the ceiling. A few droids fell down into the water, singed and crackling from her shots, before her attention was drawn to the dozen assaulting the human just a few paces in front of her.

“Hey pretty boy, bend back!” She didn’t really wait long to see if he would heed her warning before shooting the droid on his chest straight off, tumbling another one into the sewer with it. That was really all the relief she could provide her squad mate, as the droids were now descending on the back of the party too and she found herself busy trying to keep their spidery spikes off her body.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"] | [member="Captain Beloved"]


"I don't know. This is the first time we've met."


The elder's eyes blinked, silence falling between them. Delila wasn't sure what to say beyond her quip and left it at that. Just let it be known she wasn't writing a letter to the parents of the kid. Those days of taking in the young ones were over. Silently she grabbed the binoculars and watched. The group was disappearing from their view. Sewer system? That wasn't good.


Just as she was debating to follow, the droids started to perk up. Rapid scuttling started to move to the waterways and sewers. They had been alerted.


"Looks like its been decided for us. Captain, stop staring at our asses and lets move. We might be able to collapse the tunnel in same and save them a bit of trouble."

 

[Nej Tane]

He was furious. He was angry that she almost shot him. He might've also, been in love.

He scrambled, still trying to hold onto the Jammer. Droids were pining after him like he was a boy band and they had front-row seats. But instead of reaching for his pant legs, they were reaching for his internal organs. His shirt was more or less a shredded mess, bleeding from mostly superficial wounds that the droids were clamping down on. He turned and fired wildly into the crowd of spider droids.

Nej would like to have told everyone that he made a brave sound when he was running away, but honestly, he didn't. At all. He was holding the jammer and screaming in an uncomfortably high-pitched volume as he ran as fast as he could in the waist-high water, back towards the other Dragoons, spider droids in tow.

 

[Xin Boa]

It's claws snapped towards him as it descended. It opened up a long gash down the length of his forearm and his blaster was dropped. On instinct Xin dropped into the water. It fell with him, some part of it caught on his clothing. Its blaster didn't fire, perhaps not functional underwater.

That was previously little relief. As Xin dropped to the bottom of the water it snatched its clawed at him with its multitude of limbs. Xin tried to kick free, but it stayed anchored to him. Powerful metal limbs managed to grasp his torso and started to squeeze.

Xin thrashed in panic, wedging his arms against it and trying to resist its crushing strength. It was no use, he felt the air squeezed from his lungs and readied himself to feel his ribs crack under the pressure.

They didn't. It stopped moving. The lights on its body flickered and winked out. Xin reached out across the cobbled floor of the tunnel and his hand found something smooth and heavy. His blaster pistol.

My luck hasn't gone just yet...

His blaster did work in the water. He fired two rounds into the droid. The others would have seen the bright flashes, Xin's silhouette illuminated with the spidery terror wrapped around him. He emerged from the water a moment later, shaking his head.

"They don't work in the water!" He called out. Nej still had the jammer but was retreating back to the others. Xin raised his blaster and fired at the masonry. A chunk came off plunging two droids into the water. He submerged himself as two turned to fire at him, using the water as cover as he swam for a better firing position.

 

[Dravis Rosilla]

What did I get myself into?

Barney had signed up to infiltrate a city full to the brim with murderous droids. He had come equipped for such a scenario. He hadn't prepared to deal with the stench.

As they waded through the water, Barnabas almost gagged. The smell was beyond gross, and he winced as the contents of the sewer touched his bare skin. The pink hue of the Zeltron was slowly smudging, covered by layers of muck.

Then the droids attacked.

Barnabas stepped away as the droids swooped down, attempting to claw at the Dragoons. He flailed his arms wildly, before realizing none had attacked him, instead focusing on those ahead. With a start, Barney realized he had an opening.

For what, he wasn't sure yet.

Acquiring a hydrospanner from his backpack, the mechanic leapt up, grabbing hold of a spider droid from behind. Jamming the tool into a compartment on the back, Barney brought the beast crashing into the water. The Zeltron began to viciously disassemble the droid, pulling out wires and bolts like nobody's business.

Finally, the droid's vision dulled, the lights flickering out.

"Yes!"

He had just enough time to exclaim his success before three bolts came splashing at him. He stumbled out of the way, just as two of the things descended upon him.

"Oh, no!"

 

[Nadir]

Well, that was unfortunate. Last time Khthul had waded through these, the spider droids weren’t here. Probably because it’d been raining that week, and every damn tunnel was flooded with the drainage from the streets. These little monsters didn’t work in water.

Good.

Cthahy in hand, the quarren didn’t waste any time. Aim as precise as ever, he took one shot after another, picking off the droids one by one.

Bang! – there went the one stalking behind [member="Nej Tane"].

Bang! Bang! – say goodbye to the two bastards dropping on [member="Barnabas Harou"].

The last one… he narrowed his red eyes, locking his wrist, puffing out the smoke through his gills. Miracle that the cig hadn’t gone out in all the splashing and commotion. Or was it?

Single-action trigger went down easy and smooth (like a Zeltron escort), and Khthul popped his fourth round off at a spider creeping up on [member="Ava Taylor"]. Feth-damned flaking tactics.

He sniffed the air. Smelled like shet and ozone – like a firefight.

“Time get outta here. Fast,” the quarren mumbled around his cigarette as he gestured past [member="Xin Boa"]. “It’s all downhill from here, kids, so leg it. Just straight on ahead.”

Last one in, first one out. Khthul took his own advice and began to push forward through the swill and twitching droid remains.

 

[Formorta]

Another piece of the structure broke away from her hand, the composition of the building becoming more unstable as the sniper climbed even higher, though still stable enough to make the required bridge. Slowly but surely Formorta reached the other tower that the first was leaning against, getting a solid footing on level ground, now to find the bunker, and provide over watch at the tunnel exit for the other members of the group.

Looking through her micro-binocular she did a quick recon of the area, and things did not seem to good, several large droids were patrolling the area, maybe looking for the bunker in question, or just on a standard patrol, their way the path to the bunker was blocked for the time been.

Keeping cloaked Formorta layed down on the floor, probably 13 stories high up, eyeing the different targets though the scope of her anti-armor rifle, if things for the tunnel team were already bad, then things just got more worse. Keeping an eye on the closer targets she radioed in her findings, "Formorta here, I've got several Bipedal walker robots and small fry my end not far from the bunker, whats your status over".

/ [member="Khthul the Elder"] / [member="Xin Boa"] / [member="Barnabas Harou"] / [member="Nej Tane"] / [member="Delila Castillon"] /

 

[Xin Boa]

At the end of a slowly fading trail of wet footprints was a group of armed mercenaries and dragoons visually confirming Formorta's report. Once more Xin caught just a glimpse of something silvery moving over the distant rooftops. It was almost serpentine in its movements.

"Three teams," Hirrau called over the radio. "Xin is taking fire team Aurek and setting up somewhere defensible nearby and drawing them out. I'm taking Fire Team Besh and we're pushing for the VIPs. Cresh is fire support to cover our advance."

"Why am I taking team 'shoot at us'?" Xin asked.

"People tend to miss you for some reason. Me not so much." Hirrau waved at a range of blaster pockmarks in his armour. "Just make sure you have three plans to get out of them when we're clear."


Choose a team!

A) Draw the enemy away from the bunker
B) Make a run for the VIPs and escort them away
C) Provide cover fire to B

 

[Dravis Rosilla]

Barnabas yelped unceremoniously as [member="Khthul the Elder"] dispatched the droids attacking him, pieces of machinery raining from above. A large piece fell on his forehead, and he rubbed it to try to banish the pain. He looked to the Quarren in thanks, stuffing pieces of the droid he had disassembled into his backpack.

They kept walking, and walking, and walking, until their watery voyage ended, and they were on dry land again. Barney shook his head, blinking spots from his eyes as they emerged from the tunnel. The Zeltron's red hair fluttered as he turned to the Nikto, Hirrau, listening as he laid out the plan of attack.

Barney smiled, despite the fear he suddenly felt in the pit of his stomach. "Well, one of those plans involves being a target, and the other requires shooting at targets, so..." He walked confidently up to the Nikto, planting himself at the being's side. hydospanner gripped at his side.

"Let's go save these very important people."

He sent a bright grin out to the vicinity, the only part of him that wasn't covered in grime.

| [member="Xin Boa"] | [member="Formorta"] | [member="Nej Tane"] | [member="Ava Taylor"] |[member="Delila Castillon"] | ​

 

[Nej Tane]

"Where Xin goes, I go."

Nej swiveled out his other blaster and twirled them both oh-so-stylishly in his hands. He was good-lookin, good shootin, but not good-screamin. He was trying hard to play off the fact he just ran away screaming not quite like a girl, but fairly close.

He hoped the one-liner helped put up the badass points a bit.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Captain Beloved"] | [member="Kinsey Starchaser"]



Delila hated urban combat. It was the most deadliest type of warfare to be stuck in - just her opinion.



She took point, leading the two through back alleys and off the highly trafficked streets. They had encountered several droids by now, nothing they couldn't handle with well placed blaster shots. Booted feet slowed, stopping to listen. They were getting closer to the tunnel and sewer system that the first part of the group disappeared down. The noise of droids was growing louder and louder with each step.


She held up a closed, a sign to stop. Delila would be going forward alone. She slowly crept forward, hand pulling off several explosives from various places on her body. The redhead was moving diagonally away from the two others with her, planning to draw fire. Hopefully he companions could flank and give them some element of surprise.


Peering around a corner, the first set of explosives were let loose near the tunnel, catching several droids with it. Delila didn't stop to admire her handiwork, she had to move and quick.

 

[Xin Boa]

Team A: Suicide Squad

These dusty, deserted streets had become no less unnerving through the day. That was the thought that ran through his head as they approached the warehouse they would use for their stand. At least Nej had given him a vote of confidence. Of a sort.

Light streamed into the abandoned warehouse through several holes in the ceiling. Most of the entrances faced away from the target zones, whilst the facing wall was mostly intact. Xin made his way up to the mezzanine floor. Square panes of glass a foot across made up the windows that ran from wall to wall. Dust and grime made them mostly opaque. Fortunately enough of them had been smashed out that Xin could get his eyes on the target.

"Take up positions, someone watch the back streets to make sure they're clear to high tail it," Xin called. [member="Formorta"] would guide the extraction team of [member="Barnabas Harou"] [member="Khthul the Elder"] and Hirrau in and provide cover fire. With any luck [member="Delila Castillon"] [member="Captain Beloved"] and [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] would catch up in time to cover their retreat back to a suitable pick up point.

Xin dropped to one knee. He slid the muzzle of his E22 through the window and lined up one of the droids stationary outside the bunker. He squeezed the trigger. The red bolt lanced across the air and struck it. He'd only clipped it's left leg and he cursed the poor shot, but it had the intended effect. Several of the human-sized walkers started to rush in their direction. He heard several panes of glass smashed out as the rest of the distraction team started to open fire.

"They're on us! Time to make a move!" He called out. A bolt of bright green sliced through the pane of glass next to his head. It didn't shatter, but left a neat hole. The circle of bright orange, molten glass slowly cooling. Damn Hirrau for putting him on this team.

 

[Nej Tane]

Team A: Target Practice for Droids/Pity Party
[member="Xin Boa"] and friends

Nej realized when a pissed off droid army was coming for them that he probably should have brought something a little bigger than a pistol. But damned if he wasn't going to try hard, hard as he could. Nej popped off shots, hitting droids dead center. Lots of important circuits and bits in the middle. So that's where he hit. Again. Pow. Again. Pow. Say what you wanted about Nej, but when it came to slinging guns and shootouts, Nej was King.

All hail the King, baby.

Nej turned a corner and let loose a rapid-fire volley, hitting four droids with deadly aim.

Then about twenty bolts hit where he was. The droids had little care for his showmanship and his precision. They marched forward, robotic death approaching their suicide squad pretty quickly. He looked over at Xin, half wanting to yell at him. So he did.

"How come every time I go somewhere with-" He was interrupted by a deadly barrage. He turned and fired at the droid who shot at him. More bolts burnt through the wall he was standing near. He flinched as the bolts tore through the building.

"You and your friends, I get shot at! Just one time, JUST ONE TIME- I want to go someplace quiet, steal something, and not get shot at for it!"

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Delila Castillon"] [member="Captain Beloved"]

Kinsey matched Delila. The redhead seemed sane enough. It was refreshing.

Booted-feet ran across the permacrete. Looked like the tunnel entrance where the rest of the group was getting more secured for their retreat. If they came back the same way. Shoulder pressed behind a trash-compactor as kill bolts zipped and buried a few inches above her head.

"Feth-chit," she swore and tossed one of the grenades Delila had equipped her with.

There was an explosion followed by more bolts.

"These twerps have personal shields. Got anything for plan b?" Kins hollered to Delila in her pinned down position. Hand went to the lightsaber hilt clipped to her belt. It was the weapon she hated to use but it looked like she had no other choice. Blasters weren't doing much.

Thumb pressed down on the hilt's switch, a violet blade erupting to life from the smooth cylinder.

 

[The Bounteous Hunt]

"Starin- uh, why I nevah!" The Captain said jeeringly, "Admirin yes, starin is rude, heh." The Devil's face was a smile as the females repelled down the structure, him following in behind them, with a particular voracity and energy in his muscles. The sulfur was running through his blood, and he was feeling alive and young. The droids were starting to rustle around in the city, and the party they were watching over were beginning to move underground. This seemed like hardly the best course of action, but they had more information to go on down on the ground, it was their call to make.

Beloved followed quickly behind the woman, who raced towards the tunnels as his own men covered their 6's. The Redhead set off a series of explosives, destroying a number of droid pursuers his men were firing at guarding his back as he ran on the permacrete with powerful foot steps, she then began to draw fire from the droids attempting to enter their area of operation, followed closely by the other female, who tossed a grenade. He thought he heard her say something over the din of explosions and bolts, but he was too focused on the fact the droids had personal shields. Well that wouldn't do now would it!

"Ya know what ter do," Beloved said to his boys as his right hand wrapped around a hilt on his left hip, and his powerful calves propelled his charged up body forward. Immediately, his male compatriots were sending a flurry of bolts closely around him, careful not to hit their Captain but skirting the line between suppressive fire and possible fratricide. The shielded droids were quickly pummeled by the sudden flurry of concentrated blaster fire, but shamelessly protected by their energy shields... what they did not expect was a hopped up devil to charge a solid blade through one of their shields into their central processing unit directly behind their weapons array. With blaster bolts peppering their defenses, and the Captains natural agility augmented with his sulfur stimulants, the droids almost couldn't touch him as he seamlessly destroyed one, and then another following it.

Behind him he heard an unfamiliar snap-hiss, and took a cautious glance back to see one of his female companions had activated a violet energy blade. Grinning, the Devil used his off hand to fire rounds as he rolled behind more cover, to relieve his men long enough to bound their way to a better firing position. They traded roles, where Captain Beloved now put on suppressive fire while his fellows moved into new positions. His blade was quickly relieved to his hilt, as both hands focused on rapidly firing at the enemy droids.

"Don't suppose any'ya had the foresight fer ion grenades?" The Captain yelled at the top of his lungs.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"] | [member="Delila Castillon"]

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Captain Beloved"] | [member="Kinsey Starchaser"]



Delila was pinned down in her location, running out of grenades. Of course she should have brought more but one woman could only carry so many. Personal shields meant hand-to-hand up front combat. Nothing unfamiliar but when one was facing a horde of droids that were in constant contact with one another. It was all but an instant death sentence to do such a thing.


"Ion grenades, yeah, let me just whip out a couple hundred!"


In reality Delila had brought only a couple of such grenades. She figured they would be used and choke points, not needed during every step of their operations. Her normal tactic of 'more explosives' didn't seem to work with the droids at this point.


Snap-hiss sound came to life, she was figuring Devil Boy was a Sith. Turned out it was Brown Hair, a curse falling from her lips. Jedi? No one told her about Jedi involvement during this trip.Great. Any moment now there was going to be an orbital bombardment from one of Brown Hair's crazed Jedi friends and they were all going to die. Delila was fairly confident at this point her life that all the meditating and lack of sex made the religious group insane.


"Cover my backside Devil Boy....Going for a little jaunt."


Delila had to move, had to see what was near by. Perhaps a fuel source or a distraction to take out a good chunk at once.