Continued from: Sin Sangre, No Hay Gloria
The Cliffwalker circles around to stand in front of the pirate near him, placing the Hekayti between himself and his cohort. The big Demarian snaps the mace end of his axe up towards the herbivore's jaw, trying to disable the taller, though possibly lighter being without actually killing him.
Akamatsu hears the war cry from the Hek trying to headbutt Nix and decides one shot is about as noticable as a blood curtling scream so he aims for the jugular and fires the rifle.
The noise seems to have caught someone's attention, as now the alert lights DO flare on - and stay on, triggered from a ship's console this time. Alarms blare, a pre-recorded Hekayti voice warns everyone of intruders, and the corridors are bathed in ominous red light.
Razorback's strike slips right through air as the Medlidikke jerks back away from the strike, before lunging in with a mighty two-handed sweep to try and put down the Demarian. Meanwhile, the already injured Hekayti is silenced by a bullet through the neck - not quite the throat, but it tears a gash out of a major artery and he bleeds out quickly from his wounds.
Down from the direction from which the heroes came can be heard the distant clomping of many feet on the metal floors. Ahead, a banging noise starts up from the door at the aft end of the corridor, accompanied by very muffled yells.
"Hold them as long as you can!" Razorback roars forward to Akamatsu as he bats the incoming axe away with the haft of his own weapon. He jumps forward towards his opponent, then releases the axe with his right paw and snaps his arm out towards the Hek, claws bared, attempting to grasp at the throat and begin the process of strangling.
Akamatsu nods assuming Razor was the Hek under control and finds some cover to try and hold em off as best he can with just the rifle the sword he has left and if needed his bare hands.
This Hekayti just bats aside the incoming arm, grinning evilly as he chuckles at Razorback. He lurches forward quickly, attempting to plant his horns in the Demarian's face.
The large quantity of feet are still approaching, getting closer to the fore end of the corridor but not yet emerging. Not it can be heard that it's not all hooves, some of the sounds softer like paws and others with the dull thud of boots. The banging at the aft end continues, although it seems to slow down.
The same paw, brushed so carelessly aside before, flies forward again to try and grab the Hek by the horns. If he should make said grab, he will wrench his arm to the side, attempting to fling the Hekayti into the wall by his own headgear.
He being Razorback...
Akamatsu looks down at his jug of sake and gets an idea a crazy one but an idea. He hurries over to the nearby dead Hekayti and searches him for a lighter which thankfully he finds. He rushes back to his cover looking frantic and rips a large peice of cloth from the bottom of his red coat and opens the bottle stuffing the cloth into the hole and prepares to light it the second whoever is coming gets around the corner. The ronin is beginning to sweat with anticipation.
The imbalance of trying to put his whole weight into a headbutt works against the Hekayti, and Razor manages to fling him into the wall with almost pathetic ease. The hooved man is dazed, dropping his axe as his head wobbles oh so gently. He probably won't be getting back up of his own accord.
The large approaching group... stops. Apparently they have no intention of rounding the corner.
The big Cliffwalker snorts in disgust, still maintaining his grip on the Hek's horns as he drags his 'prey' back to the door from which pounding and banging was heard. On the off chance that it works, he tries simply opening the door. "Cliffwalkerrr to sstrrrike team," he says into his comm, "Prrrisonerrrs may have been located. Sstandby to converrrge on thiss location on my marrrk."
Akamatsu looks to Razor and says as quietly as he can without the group around the corner hearing them "They've stopped. I wonder why....I don't think I want to stick around to find out either." The ronin stands and goes to stand by Razor and ask "What's the plan?"
"Say ag-*shht*-do not cop-*shht*," is the reply, the Heks apparently having gotten on to their own communications tampering now that they all know of the intruders' arrival.
The group remains halted. Meanwhile, the banging has all but stopped, and the yelling becomes more panicked yet weaker. It's locked, but with a handy Hek-sized palmreader beside it.
Razorback reaches down and roughly grabs the hand of the Hekayti he has been dragging and tries to place the hand on the palmreader. "Lookss like we arrre on ourrr own herrre," the Cliffwalker growls, leaning his axe on the wall near the door.
Akamatsu nods with the almost molotav still in hand and goes back to preparing to light it just in case there is something a little nasty on the other side.
The door opens with a -hiss-, the pressurized room expelling a choking cloud of greenish gas into the corridor. Almost no one inside is standing, most lying unconscious while some are knelt at the door. In the corner is Garviel, head mostly healed but hooked up to crude life support. Lucy is nowhere to be seen.
The Cliffwalker glares around the room, coughing a bit to expell the gasses from his lungs. He snarls, turns to the Hekayti near him and tries to lift the ungulatoid by the horns to eye level. He gives the pirate a good swat on the nose to try and wake him as his lips curl in the most vicious snarl he can muster. "Wherrre arrre the otherrr prrrisonerrrs?" he practically roars in the Hek's face as soon as it shows any sign of waking.
Akamatsu coughs in unison with Razor and searches the room for people high on his priority list. He sees Garviel and thinks about rushing it to get him but thinks better of it with all the gas in there he probably wouldn't make it. He gets out of the gas's path and asks Razor "Should we go grab Garviel?"
The Hekayti grunts, peering at Razorback and chuckling. "Where they belong," he mutters, and doesn't offer another word. One of the conscious prisoners, however, is more helpful. "They killed the worst injured," she says weakly, "The Lotorian... the little girl, she offered to... to work on the ship, if they wouldn't kill any more of us... They keep her in engineering." She and a few others start crawling out into the corridor in hopes of getting some fresh air.
The gas is still actively being pumped into the room, and is starting to fill up the corridor enough to continue posing a threat. Yes, even off to the side. Gas doesn't just travel straight.
The Cliffwalker hisses and coughs at the unhelpful Hekayti, then simply but violently twists his grip on the pirate's horns, with full intention of snapping the neck. Mercy is extended to those who ask...
Akamatsu nods to the helpful prisoners and turns to Razor saying "Lets leave the door open and get to engineering. That'll give them a chance to get out and maybe even get a little of this gas over to the Heks."
Remember that large group at the fore end of the corridor? /Now/ they round the corner. The herd is constructed of pretty much every common race from both Hiverspace and Normalspace, neither armed nor armored, and the great majority of them are wobbling on their feet as they surge into the hallway. At the back of the group are five Medlidikke - the Captain and his bodyguards, all of them with electric prods, plasma pistols, and grins as they drive the herd forward.
"No," Razor growls to Akamatsu, "Get these ones back to the sship, trrry to use the comms therrre to rrregrrroup and get to engineerrring. I sshall meet you therrre if I can." With that spout of orders, Razorback charges back into the hallway, snagging up his axe, as well as that of the Hekayti, as he runs. He charges directly towards the crowd of unarmed people and seems nearly upon them when he gathers his legs up under himself and *springs* to attempt to vault them and get between them and the cattle prods.
Akamatsu yells to everyone inside the room to come out with him to the ship and to help get any unconscious people too. "I'll have to slice up any Heks we meet on the way so I won't be able to do it." He opens a door that looks like it might lead to where they started this mission having no good way to get through the hallway.
And behind door Number One! It's a dead end. Three other doors remain, and the herd nears.
The crowd continues to surge forward. Someone in the front trips and falls, and is promptly trampled. Razorback vaults over them in a brilliant display of feline grace, landing before the Hekayti - who all start shooting. Two of them are aimed at Razorback, but the Captain and his two nearest aim down the hallway, into the crowd of drugged slaves and towards Akamatsu's group beyond.
The big Demarian hisses in pain as a plasma bolt strikes him while he is sticking his landing. His rapid forward motion carries him past the first bolt, but the second one whizzes past his borrowed axe to strike him. The Cliffwalker's eye lock onto those of the Meddie captain and he drives forward toward the closest of the Hekayti, bringing both axes around in a whirling maneuver towards the ungulatoid's chest.
Akamatsu grumbles at the dead end and shots coming his way and tries the another door seeming content to let process of elimination do his work and decidign throwing the molotav is a bit too risky right now.
The gas stops pumping out of the cargo bay at the aft end of the corridor now, and the ventilation of the hallyway makes quick work of what's left. Razor and Akamatsu quickly start to feel better. And what luck - the second door Akamatsu opens reveals a way out. But the crowd is on him and the prisoners now, making movement difficult as the bodies push them aftwards.
The first of the Captain's bodyguards goes down without a sound, killed before he even knew what hit him. The third decides to shift his aim, and joins Number Two in shooting directly at the Demarian. One of the slaves is killed, two more lucking out as Number Four and the Captain continue to shoot down the hall.
Razorback and Akamatsu are in the corridor in one of the blank spots on the schematics, Akamatsu herding prisoners through a door about 1/3 of the way from the aft end while a crowd of slaves is being forced to bear down on them from the fore end. Razorback, having vaulted the crowd, is at the aft end and taking on the Medlidikke Captain and his Bodyguards, who shoot at him and into the slave crowd.
Nixkamich had been shoved behind a door that was closed and locked earlier, and will have just now found his way back. Grut, after being informed by Griss that communications are down, probably came this way to back up the group now that the landing area is secured. He and Nix will both be taking up the fore, coming in behind the Hekayti.
Razorback has turned into a whirling mass of black-furred death. He sidesteps one of the shots and knocks the gun of another pirate aside as he continues driving towards the pirate captain. Baring his teeth, he leaps at the Hekayti, his jaws stretched wide, both axes driving down towards the taller being.
Akamatsu slips into the exit just ahead of the crowd trying to get away and leads them to the ship as quickly as he can to aviod being trampled.
With a solid few kicks at the door, the lock buckles and breaks, Nix able to slide it open and to the side. He doesn't look exactly pleased to of been shoved in a locker while everyone else was doing the fighting. Moving down the hallway he had originally intended to go down after taking care of sneaking up on the last two pirates, he finds himself encountering more Hekayti, and conveintently, a large Zangali with a chain gun. Nodding at the lizard, he takes no scruples in drawing out his assault pistol and opening fire on their backsides.
That Zangali seems to be on an intersecting path with the Hekayti group as Nix starts firing. His shallow gaze falls across the way, "Merc sshoot coward shoot!" Grut complains. He shoulder barges forward, attempting to scatter his aggressors like horned bowling pins.
One of the Captain's loyal bodyguards tries to get in the way of Razor's attack, but not quickly enough. The Captain, however, is compenent enough to avoid the attack on his own, the electric prod deflecting the Demarian's incoming weapons before he whips it back to attack his attacker.
It's straightforward enough to get out of the schematics blank spot, and once he does Akamatsu can guide the prisoners back to the ship easily enough. There is a strange lack of resistance out here, consideirng that the ship is on high alert. Some of the slaves follow along, so out of it that their herd mentality latches onto the escapees. The rest continue down the corridor and into the cargo bay in which the prisoners were found, flushing a number with them along the way before they huddle down to hide from the incoming fire.
The target of Nixkamich's attack twists away just in time, turning to blast at the Qua with his plasma pistol. Then Grut bowls into the lot of them, and that same firing hekayti is the only one who manages to get out of the way in time. The Captain and his other two guards go sprawling, as does Razorback due to his close proximity and the speed of the tackle.
Razorback nearly drops as he gets bumped by a tackled Hekayti, but uses the momentum to continue his rotation, knocking the captain's gun aside as he swings his non-borrowed axe towards the pirate leader, roaring as a cattle prod whizzes by him.
Akamatsu leads anybody following him to the ship and informs them all to stay there until the mission is done. He then consults the schematics and starts heading to engineering on his own. He still has the almost molotav in hand along with the lighter in a pocket.
Nixkamich sidesteps cleanly out of the way of the incoming shot, moving into a roll down and over to the side. Coming back up, he's already bringing his weapon to bear at the pirates neck. He's just being held up at this point.
If it has horns and is attempting to get up, Grut would like to ensure that it doesn't. He smashes, bashes, slashes and trashes. He fights and bites and catches, latches, scratches, dispatches and makes patches of whatever is stupid enough to move long enough to register as being alive. He almost tail whips Razor, were it not for a quick glance sideways to get a read on the walking rug.
The Captain stands, jerking away from Grut's slashing, smashing, bashing, and thrashing. He falls for Razor's feint as well, dodging the incoming blade with no hint that it's not the real attack.
Akamatsu makes it all the way to engineering without a problem. It's eerie. Once he does get there, he sees Lucy clinging to a wrench as she gets her tail handed to her by the Hek who was assigned to keep her in line.
Nix shoots down Bodyguard Number Three, neck gore splattering into the fray juicily.
The other two Bodyguards stay down, dazed momentarily by having been bowled over so viciously.
Oh, um, Cap'n probably attacks, too. Yeah! he takes another swipe at Razor with the stunstick.
Two axes intercept the captain's cattle-prod and Razorback roars in the Hekayti's face, ears folded back against his skull. With a surge of motion, the Cliffwalker drives forward, his fangs seeking out the temples of the ungulatoid's skull, somewhere between the horns and he tries to bite down... Hard.
Akamatsu sees Lucy get beaten and if either one of the two saw him they'd notice all color drain from his face as he goes into a cold fury. The would be molotav finds itself on the ground and the katana is drawn. The next thing Akamatsu knows he's charging at the Hekayti and attempting to slice it's legs off to make sure it lives long enough to feel the pain.
Nixkamich strides in the room proper after being detained by the pirate, not to mention being locked inside. Taking in line the carnage that's already been wrough, he won't be aparty to any more. "Razorback." he calls over the way. "You still live, I see. Good to know." The two Hekayti that are trying to get up, the Qua will not give at least one of them that oppurtunity, drawing his gun on one of the downed criminals and pulling the trigger. "We done here?"
Grut slows down in his directionless flailing for a moment, looking down at those he has knocked on the floor before slowly treading towards the one /not/ being shot. "Horny softskin up. Horny softskin fight Grut." He demands, attempting to knock the Hekayti's weapon away.
The carnage wrought by Razorback's jaws crushing the Medlidikke Captain's skull is too gruesome to describe. He's well and truly dead. Mmm, yummy Hek brains.
Nix shoots one of the rising Hekayti guards, but he still lives yet. Realizing that they're all going to die anyway, the Medlidikke bellows out a challenge and pulls out a grenade, attempting to pull the pin before he can be put down.
The other one, seeing this, has no interest in fighting anymore. He lets his weapon be kicked away, and tries to run like hell.
Meanwhile, in engineering, the Hek raises his stunstick in time to knock Akamatsu's sword aside, growling low in his throat as he swipes his other hand in a clawed slash towards the ronin's face.
Ears swing towards the roaring Hekayti as Razorback spits the pirate captain's face out onto the decking. Baring bloodied teeth, the Cliffwalker spins towards the injured Medlidikke, his axes brought about towards the wrists of the pirate in an attempt to remove the grenade-holding hands.
Akamatsu is slashed because of his haste and haphazard attempt at a slash in his rage so he tries fighting more sensibly and as he's slashed he uses the blow to spin around and go to slice the Hek's legs clean off.
Nixkamich had sucked a breath in as the pirate he thought he had downed pulls a grenade. Thankfully Razorback is there to take care of that issue. "Hmm, I'll need to adjust my aim next time." he notes when he realizes he can breath again. But then the other one who he was about to shoot is on his hooves making a fast break away. Lifting his handgun again, he'll make he doesn't get away, or is really going to make sure it's going to be painful, firing off another three round burst.
A little behind, perhaps, but Grut's attention flicks to the grenade bearer before the Zangali roars in reply. "Boss!" He calls, turning away from the Hekayti and tackling the Demarian sideways and beneath him so that his thick and scaley hide provides cover from the blast, only... "No boom?" Grut sounds puzzled.
The shot goes wide, and the hekayti disappears through one of the doors to the side. From the sound of hooves on metal, he doesn't stop there, either. The prisoners and slaves in the room at the end stay huddled, most too drugged to realise the danger has passed.
Akamatsu manages to sink his sword into one of the Hekayti's legs, but it still remains attached. Painful and close to useless, but attached. He roars in Akamatsu's face and swipes at him again with those claws.
Lucy starts to get up, crying but still clutching that wrench. Not one to just leave and let a friend fend for himself, she pads back into the fight and tries to bean the Hek in the backwards knee of his good leg.
"That was-OOOF!" Razorback calls, his energy shield crackling as he is slammed to the deck by the larger Zangali. Snorting in disgust, the Demarian kicks and pushes the reptiloid off of him, or tries to, anyway. "No," he growls, "No boom." Once he can rise to his feet, he jerks his head towards the engine room. "Therrre is yet anotherrr prrrisonerrr unrrrecoverrred," he says, his teeth and jaws glistening red in the fluorescent lighting, "Let us get down therrre as quickly as possible." He then storms off towards the aforementioned section.
Akamatsu stops the blow this time easily with the flat of his blade and looks at the creature in utter disgust before saying in a very menacing tone "Maybe you should have thought twice before hitting her." He then attempts to behead the Hekayti.
Grut rolls onto his side and looks back at the grenade, still cupped comfortably in the dismembered hand. He growls, "No boom." The Zangali pulls himself onto his feet, lumbering forward and taking the chaingun, dropped in his bodyguard leap, from the floor. He falls silent, small eyes looking back to Razor for an order.
Huh? (Type "help" for help.)
Nixkamich herds the remaining prisoners to the ship, encountering minimal resistance along the way. It's the same story for Razor and Grut's trip to Engineering.
Akamatsu severs his target's head clean from his shoulders, and Lucy lets out a rattling sigh as she drops her wrench and moves to give the blood-soaked ronin a weak hug.
"I knew my mezzage got out," she says softly through her tears, "Iz Garvi okay? Can we go home now?"