Location: Aldera Ruins, Allied Frontlines
Objective: Dance Around the Vong
Allies: The Last Alliance, [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Phylis Alince"],
Enemies: The One Sith, [member="Tsavong Kraal"], [member="Darth Mierin"],
Musical Selection: Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill
While the Tef-Vong prepared his attack against HK, the droid was pulling from one of his pouches a trick of his own. He would take a
DUST ball, the grenade-like object filled with ashy particles of the miniature tracker as he tossed it in the Vong's direction, the device would beep only once as it erupted in a cloud of grey particle, funny enough the DUST looked exactly like its namesake, just ash, dirt, unassuming dust. The cloud that resulted from the gadget had strong chances of tagging Tef-Vong with it, the chances of Mierin getting some of it were much smaller, but still there, it's up for their writers to decide, Phylis and Sio were seemingly too far from it at the moment, Phylis being even farther than Miriam and Sio flying at the moment. Of course, most of the trackers would end up in the air or soil, which was expected with utility such as the DUST. Due to the area of effect of the grenade, the effects of DUST were temporary, as opposed to the tracker being ingested, so anyone caught in its effects would be able to get rid of it with application of good old water whenever it is convenient for them.
Anyhoo, since HK was busy swatting around the beetles and throwing DUST, he did not exactly noticed Tef-Vong's trick with the shield and the plasma eel, he did picked up on the shield being thrown in his direction. By then the droid learned that when somebody throws something at him during a battle and they are not allies they are usually doing so for one or mix of three reasons. The object is explosive or will affect an area within which the droid is in some manner of horrible effects, the object can deploy a strike from other weapon, like orbital bombardment, or it can fight on its own, or it can cut pretty much through anything, which he really doubted in this case as it was a shield being thrown.
And so HK had only time to tumble away from the calculated point of impact between the makeshift projectile and the ground, curling up into a little droid ball of metal as the Vong Shield exploded. The flash of it was brilliant, dancing in yellow, orange, and red colors of the plasma eel colorized by the shield's fire-breathing properties, the ball of shockwave and fire spreading outwards as if some vile, infernal spell would be cast by a warlock. As the Hellball did its dance of destruction a smoking object could be seen propelled from it, blue light enveloping its frame as it disappeared in one of the nearby ruined buildings. The light was from the droid's double redundant deflector shield systems, one from the
Power Armor he wore into battle on usual, the second from his new
Masterwork Vessel. And so much of his equipment would be saved from the flames and heat of the explosion as the two shield systems absorbed the energy of heat, as well as kinetic impacts from any debris the explosion would throw in his direction, diffusing the direct damage although it could not diffuse the shockwave.
And so with a nice impact the droid's momentum would be stopped by his well-timed limbs and a concrete wall at one of the lower levels of the ruined building where he was tossed into. Ejecting himself from it with a push, he would turn just in time to see a cloud of dust and debris raise on the battlefield, it was not from the explosion that just happened, it was something else. The work of Darth Miriam. Machine's sensors and trackers would go to work, penetrating the dust she has thrown up through nifty use of infrared vision and other spectrum, as well as the presence of DUST particles the droid has thrown around earlier, covering the ground and still present in the air to give the droid a better idea of the combatants and obstacles' position. He would pull off the
MD-1 launcher off of his back, as opposed to the heavy weapon Siobhan carried with herself HK did not loaded this time with explosive standard Bolt Gun ammunition, this time he switched things up a bit and went with the solid metal Slug Bolt Gun Ammunition. Basically the same caliber as standard Bolt Gun ammunition but made from large solid metal bullet, instead of explosive charges inside there was only more metal, making the projectile quite heavy. Which meant that at the same velocity it would be propelled as standard ammunition it would generate greater Kinetic Energy, therefore where it would lack from the conical area of effect the standard ammunition offered when fired from MD-1, it would make up in the greater degree of focused damaged. As such, it could punch straight through even heavy tanks or walkers, making it a much better weapon against single targets rather than MD-1 loaded with Standard Ammunition.
Anyway, HK took the heavy weapon in his hands and noticed something, it was crackling and arcing a bit, surely damage from the whole being-thrown-around issue, he nodded slightly to himself, realizing that he probably had only one shot at this. Anyway, as he took aim he used the sensor and tracking methods mentioned in couple paragraphs earlier to pick up on Mierin's position, the aiming would not take long as he pulled the trigger of his Mass Driver-
And then there was flash, almost immediately after the trigger was pulled, bright flash inside the cloud of dust and debris conjured by Mierin, the flash created by friction and kinetic energy being released as the Mass Driver's projectile met whatever it was in its path, whether it was Mierin herself or a shield of sorts, or just ground itself. As mentioned in other posts, the Mass Driver did not created a muzzle flash due to magnetic systems propelling the projectile, it certainly did create noise though! After the cloud of dust that covered Mierin begun to rock and erupt from the pressure of the projectile's impact and resulting shockwave, dissipating slightly to clear up the view, the thunderous roar of the gun would be heard, after all its projectile would travel faster than sound, and meet its resistance with ground or Mierin before the sound of the shot would reach them. It would shake the very structure of the building HK was in, although there wasn't anybody in his proximity to stun, and by proximity the writer means right by him.
But then another sound would join him, a whirring, zapping sound, only accelerating and picking up on magnitude with each second. The droid knew what that sound was and immediately threw the Mass Driver aside, the rails in their damage could not dissipate their charge properly, and so as more power went into them to prepare for another shot they short-circuited and begun to overload, preparing for an explosion.
HK just ran, there was nothing else he could do, just look ahead, sprint, and hope for the best, his shield systems was still low on charge if not entirely deactivated, his armor's structure was most likely somewhat compromised with all the tumbling and being thrown around by his jet propulsion systems and the Vong Shield's explosion, his odds of making through in full equipment were running short.
And so, finally the Mass Driver would erupt in a brilliant flash of blue light and flames as its more capable power supply was ignited and went critical. The dust and debris would envelop HK's running form as the whole structure begun to shake and crumble, the ruined building collapsing on the machine's position.
Coincidentally, the partially ruined building where this all happened was also the building on top of which [member="Darth Carach"] lain hidden. Although the Sith would most likely be fine, since the gunshot would give him a bit of heads up something was going on a bit of distance beneath him, the collapsing building could still be a threat to him since he was on top of it, that is if he wasn't quick enough. Plus he would have to leave his hiding spot and find a new one, most likely breaking his concentration as well for a bit. So that was inconvenient.
