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Workers. Lovers. Cold-blooded killers. Tupai. These are the oversized bug-eyed bats that have developed a recent taste for Nall scales. A grizzled, dark green Tupai geared up in all sorts of techy tools adjusts his goggles and steps towards the head Llivori. “Where do we dine tonight, boss?” he sneers with a faint grin.
A six foot, black-furred Gankri known as Sert adjusts his armor around his body and looks over his pulse rifle, webbed feet stepping towards the Captain. “Ready to move out,” The rebel adds after the Tupai’s questions, “We should get going, yeah?”
The burly Llivori, Garthik, is a near-middleaged, snaggle-toothed brawler. He grins toothily at the green Tupai, chuffing quietly. “We dine back at base,” he growls out, “Those Opodian scum dine with their foolishness in hell.” He shifts the rifle on his shoulder and turns to a second Tupai on his shoulder. “Take a look up ahead, Esmer,” he says, “I don’t want no surprises.” He lifts a pair of fingers and points them forward. “Let’s head up, behind, though.”
The second Tupai, Esmer, is a dark charcoal gray, less grizzled, and running on the light side of equipped. She steadies herself on the lead Llivori’s shoulder, head swiveling as the group stops at the base of the ladder. She cranes her head back to peer upward, but the sight is muted due to the darkness. “Okey dokey, boss,” she replies to Garthik before alighting from his shoulder. She flaps quickly, carrying herself up through the hole above and up yet more to circle the area and scan the surroundings for enemies.
Mert the red Gankri is looking pretty anxious. “Come on, I want to kick Nall butt! Come on!” he says, bouncing on his legs like a manic kangaroo.
From the back steps forward a pitch black Gankri, Vorn. “Don’t worry,” he says lowly to Mert, placing a hand on his shoulder. “There’ll be enough Nall blood for all of us to bathe in by the end of the day,” he grins toothily. “But best not to get us caught till after we blow shit up,” he adds, patting a backpack of (currently) inert explosives.
Up through the hole above? Why, yes, the Nall *do* have a couple of warriors on watch. They look particularly bored at first, although the relative warmth and humidity of these underground tunnels are preferable to the chillier temperatures inside the spaceport where so many of the sensitive electronics are kept. The sudden arrival of the Tupai fluttering up through the hatch opening gets their attention, and they swivel their guns to open fire from either side of the hatch.
Chezat pulls his rifle from his back and waits for the other Tupai to clear the hatch before scaling the ladder a bit, hoping for a better shot. He fires off a round, aiming for a Nall’s throat.
Garthik watches Chezak come to an abrupt halt at the top of the ladder in front of him and growls, giving the smaller creature a hard shove to get him out of the way before snapping out a paw towards the leg of the remaining Nall, intending to drop back down and drag the Nall with him.
Sert eyes the hatch, the black-furred Gankri lowering on two powerful legs, tail steadying as he seems ready to try and leap up the hatch. When Garthik makes a swiping motion to try and grab one of the Nall, he gets the idea. Shouldering his weapon, the Gankri bounds off his legs, making another snatching motion for the Nall’s leg to drag it down into the tunnelways.
After catching her breath from the terrifying aerial maneuvers that keep her from becoming a bit of ash floating on the breeze, Esmer flits away from the commotion at the hatch below. She lands a few feet away and pulls her rifle from its harness, turning and attempting to echolocate the Nall. However, the creature appears to have disappeared down the hatch because she only senses the distant opening beyond. Frowning as much as a Tupai can, she clutches her rifle and hops over to peer down through the hatch. “So–did we get him?”
Vorn hisses under his breath as the second Nall is pulled down the hole. “Quick, silence him,” he growls, withdrawing a combat knife from his belt and stepping forwards to try and shove it into the Nall’s throat.
The first Nall takes a shot to the throat, tumbles back against the wall, gagging as it tries unsuccessfully to breathe through its ruptured and scorched windpipe. His partner is dragged down the ladder moments later. As the first Nall slumps on the floor, suffocating and sagging over sideways, the second hits the floor at the base of the ladder and tries to reach for the commlink at his side, only to have that effort interrupted by the sharp blade of Vorn’s knife plunging into his throat. Blood spurts, and the second Nall gurgles and hisses as it dies, tail thrashing back and forth.
Chezat is shoved forth, out of the hatch, to sprawl on his front with a snarl. He scrambles upright and whirls around, a thumb to his lips, then watches Esmer circle to land nearby. Peering down the hatch, he cackles at the scent of Nall blood. “Piece a’ millipede-cake.”
Garthik tosses the fallen Nall off of him after it lands across his body, then growls, making his way up the ladder. He glances around the new tunnel before pointing onward towards their objective. “You two hear anything behind that door?” he queries, moving away from the hatch to allow the others to come up as well.
Sert grabs the Nall’s comm off of the reptilian creature and follows up after the Llivori, weapon still shouldered. A look back at Vorn and he gives an approving nod. “Let’s go-let’s go-let’s go.” The Gankri looks about as he clears the hatch, also moving out the way.
Esmer glances toward Chezat before holstering her rifle and turning toward the aforementioned door. She half-runs, half-hops in its direction, not yet wanting to wear herself out with flight. She reaches up to cup her wings around her ears, making them as if they have been attached all along. In this seriously silly stance, she prowls slowly on ‘tiptoes’ as if the door itself senses her presence. “I have no idea,” she whispers, looking once more to Chezat.
Ahead of Garthik are two doors, on the left and right. The left door is marked: Electronics Manasgement Access. The right is marked: MAIN GENERATOR. The door to the left, according to plans reviewed by Ribas Salek back at camp, leads to a turbolift that goes up to a chamber that contains a computer that must be hacked to keep the backup generators from coming online after the main generator blows. That has to be done before planting the charges in the room to the right. There’s a low thrum coming from inside the main generator room. If anyone is inside, they’re being awfully quiet and paying no attention to the shooting outside.
Vorn nods to the others, pulling his knife out of the Nall and wiping it on the creature’s uniform. “Good,” he says simply, clambering up the ladder quickly and crouching by the hatch, eyes on the door in case trouble starts happening.
Chezat watches Esmer a moment, then moves towards the Electriconics Management door, both ears swiveling towards it. He strains to catch a sound after instinctively emitting some ‘ping-ping-ping’s. “Can’t hear anyone, boss,” he murmurs. “The thrummin’ is throwin’ me off.” He gestures to the other door.
“Good,” Garthik says, “Let’s take the lift, then.” He taps the call button and then moves to the side of the door with his back to the wall, rifle held ready, waiting for the lift to open.
The call button lights up and more machinery starts chugging and thrumming behind the walls as the lift descends.
Sert imitates Garthik’s move, getting on the other side of the lift, gun held ready, coming into his hands. He looks towards the Llivori, nods and presses against the wall. “Keep an eye on the other door too while the lift’s coming.” He adds.
Esmer listens intently at Chezat’s side but offers a woeful shake of her head. When Garthik assumes a position by the lift, she reaches out to snag his pant leg with a claw, tugging at it insistently. “Up?” she inquires of the Llivori, tilting her head to the side.
Mert waits rather impatiently for the lift to arrive, tapping his rifle in his hand, still bouncing on his legs like he’s got an energy overload and nowhere to release it…. yet.
Vorn eyes the lift balefully, pulling out a smaller throwing knife, readying it to throw should anything moving step out of the lift.
The lift does not PING! when it arrives. Instead, it makes a loud buzzing sound akin to a thousand bees trapped inside a thermos. When the sound dissipates, the doors open to reveal an empty compartment that may be large enough for the team to enter. The inspection plaque on the wall above the buttons for the BASEMENT and ELECTRONICS UTILITY indicates that the lift can safely handle a few tons of cargo, but was last officially checked for mechanical functionality in 2647.
Thiran rubs at her muzzle absently as the lift is revealed to be empty. An ear flicks as she looks between the others and returns both clawed hands to her rifle. “Who first?” the llivori female asks quietly.
Chezat finds the time to pick at his nose with a claw. As Sert advises, he keeps his fragmented gaze on the generator door, just in case… When the doors to the lift open, he hobbles inside, rifle at the ready. Then he begins to walk along the perimeter, checking to make sure it’s safe enough.
Garthik glares at Mert, then jerks his snout towards the remaining Nall corpse. “Toss it down,” he says, then turns to step into the lift. “It look ok?” he asks, giving it a cursory examination himself for any engineering defects.
It does, in fact, look okay.
Sert steps into the lift next, looking over his rifle a bit nervously and then the lift. “Ready,” He quietly says, nodding in agreement with Garthik”s comment to kick the Nall corpse into the tunnels.
Esmer chirps a naughty word in a high-pitched fit of pique and stomps after Garthik, making a great show out of dragging her wings along the ground and doing her utmost to look pathetic. She boards the lift quickly and hops the last step to perch atop one of the Llivori’s clawed feet instead.
Vorn keeps hold of his throwing knife as he moves into the back of the lift with the others, keeping an eye out for where it goes.
In the spaceport control tower, the same Nall who witnessed the crash of the Odyssey on sensors is entering the room and approaching his desk. There’s a comm receiver unit built into the desk. It is not blinking. The Nall clacks his fangs together. It *should* be blinking. He taps his commlink and says, “Low Watch One, report. Immediately.” The voice hisses through the commlink snatched from the throat-stabbed Nall.
Slipping into the lift with the rest, Thiran keeps her rifle ready. The voice coming from the commlink causes another ear twitch, but she doesn’t speak.
Chezat makes an A-OK symbol with his thumb and shorter index finger. He hits the switch for the electronics level after everyone files in. “Going up…” When a voice emits from the commlink, he looks to Garthik, ears perked.
In the spaceport control tower, the same Nall who witnessed the crash of the Odyssey on sensors is entering the room and approaching his desk. There’s a comm receiver unit built into the desk. It is not blinking. The Nall clacks his fangs together. It *should* be blinking. He taps his commlink and says, “Low Watch One, report. Immediately.” The voice hisses through the commlink snatched from the throat-stabbed Nall.
Garthik looks over at the comm, grumbling faintly and reaching out for the comm. “Lemme see that,” he says, his teeth baring slightly with the tension.
Sert removes the comm he had took and hands it to Garthik with a nod. The black furred Gankri looks nervously towards the others.
Esmer tucks her wings in against her body, hunkering down in an attempt to stay perched atop Garthik’s foot. The chirruping of a Nall voice over the commlink, however, startles her into spreading her wings and bouncing over the lift floor to dance from foot to foot in an antsy manner near the doors. “Whoever sounds the dumbest should answer that.”
Mert is still bouncing like a kangaroo, getting more antsy by the minute. “So… who’s the dumbest?” he says, looking around the group.
Chezat lowers his voice, “Eh, I dunno’ but… make sure to do a lotta’ ‘sssssss’s.” He shifts from foot to foot like Esmer, only a bit more subtly, tail swaying.
The lack of an immediate response leads to the nervous lashing of the Nall’s tail. He repeats: “Low Watch One, report.” His dark eyes glitter in the reflected glow of the comm terminal. His fangs click and clack through the silence. He swivels his snout toward the Nall guard next to the lift, opening his mouth to bark an order.
Garthik glares at Mert. “Shut up!” he hisses. He shoots another glare over at Esmer, then activates the comm, doing his best to obscure his voice and speak in a slightly higher register. He’s not actually trying to imitate a Nall as much as imitate a Nall with a comm malfunction. “Low Watch One here,” he says, “We have some communications difficulty apparently. Should one of us come up for new equipment?”
Sert remains dead silent, waiting for the lift. He stares towards Garthik hopefully.
Esmer merely stares back at Garthik through an unblinking set of compound eyes. When he attempts the ridiculous, she drapes a wing over her piggish snout and trembles, effectively miming her attempt to hold back gales of laughter. The others may be nervous, but she seems to find everything exceptionally amusing.
Mert gets even more anxious if that’s possible. “Hey.. it was a valid question!” he snaps back to Garthik. “Guess it’s answered then…” he mutters under his breath.
The Nall in the control tower grunts as he finally hears a response from down below. He holds off on ordering the guard next to the lift, swinging his snout back to point at the comm terminal. “Negative,” he replies. “I will report the malfunction to the Opodian technicianssss. The ssssignal interference isssssue sssshould have been fixed dayssss ago. If they fail again, they will be sssshot. Resssume your dutiesss. Do not fail to check in again.”
“Underssssstood,” Garthik replies, then calmly puts the commlink away, looks up, and takes a hefty swing at the side of Mert’s head. Temple strike.
Chezat shuffles back towards the lift doors, ear pressed against it to see if he can pick up anything as they ascend. His other ear swivels independently towards the comm, looking just as tense as the rest, aside from the amused Esmer. He exhales after the Nall speaks, watching Garthik as he smacks Mert. “Heh.”
“Remember that,” Sert reminds, “Next time we hear Nall reporting in. Low watch one.” Sert just shakes his head at Mert and takes a long sigh of relief.
Taking her cue from Chezat, Esmer sidles closer to the doors in her own attempt to hear anything other than the din of the moving lift and the commlink. She ducks her head when Mert speaks out of turn, and the gust of air from Garthik’s temple strike buffets against her outstretched wings. “Really? We’re really going to do this /right now/?” she mutters to nobody in particular.
Mert is smacked hard in the temple, and he puts a hand up to the now tender spot. “OWWW! Hey! Save it for the Nalls!” he snarls.
Another annoying buzzing sound precedes the lift doors sliding open to reveal a well-chilled chamber full of computer equipment, monitored by a single fat Opodian who at the moment is speaking into his commlink: “Uh, yes, I *did* resolve the issue with the comm interference, as ordered, six days ago. I filed a repor…” His voice trails off as he hears the newly arrived lift and turns to see the ragtag team of rebels inside. His mouth falls open. He notices they are armed. He doesn’t immediately say anything.
A pulse rifle comes up pointed at the Opodian’s head as Garthik steps out of the lift. “It is still broken,” he growls out, “Tell him you made a mistake.” He points Chezat towards the computer interfaces, snarling at the Opodian.
Chezat leers at the Opodian, then nods to Garthik, shuffling over to the computers to whip out all manners of electronics. He spreads them on the console, plugging in various ports, rocking up on his toes to view the screens.
Sert holds his rifle up as well, moving to secure the room and make sure any other entrances are locked. He nods back at Garthik then.
Esmer’s jaw drops as the doors open to reveal an Opodian. Fat or not, it incites within her a wrath that sends her wings stretching wide and causes her to emit a low warning hiss. Of course, Tupai tend to be somewhat unthreatening, especially when their most intimidating move is hampered by the fact that they have to hurriedly hop along the floor like a birdie to get out of the way of those exiting the lift. But then she recalls that she’s armed, and she pulls out her pulse rifle to aim it at the Opodian from below; the target is most likely not his head but something else vital.
Mert does a somersault into the room, flipping up on his feet and swinging his rifle side to side as he looks for things to shoot… but is then saddened there’s just the Opodian. Still, he keeps an eye on the lift to make sure no one sneaks up behind them.
The Opodian twitches his whiskers and swivels his ears as he considers the order from the Llivori. Thousands of years of culturally imbued animosity wins out over proper common sense. “Intruder alert,” the technician growls into the commlink. As he does so, he manages a feral smile at Garthik. And then comes the alarm klaxon.
Garthik snarls irritably as he squeezes the firing stud on his rifle, hopefully somewhere while the Opodian is saying ‘Intru…’ Failing that, however… “Boring conversation anyway,” he says, “Move, we’re gonna have company.”
Chezat winces when the Opodian announces their intrusion, lightly thumping his head on the edge of the console. With a loud, chittering sigh, he gets back to work, tapping away with his thumbs, trying to disable those back-up generators.
Sert moves back towards the lift quickly, jaw clenched tight. “Alright. We gotta be quick.” He looks nervous, but he stands by, making sure the lift doesn’t leave without them.
“Damn it,” Esmer growls, holstering her now useless firearm and bouncing around below Chezat with a furious sputtering. “Opodians, of course. You can’t expect them to keep their fat fucking mouths closed, the bespeckled cape-wearing turd-noses.” Furious at the fact that she has yet to shoot anyone, the Tupai pushes off the ground and flaps her wings, gliding the brief distance back toward the lift. “What now, boss?” she inquires, craning her head to peer up at Garthik.
Mert watches the Opodian get wasted and looks sad that he didn’t get to blow his brains out. He joins Sert by the lift, almost hoping some more targets will come up.
The lift doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, but its floor definitely is, erupting in an explosive burst of energy as plasma weapons rattle off their salvos from the lower section of the shaft. As Chezat tries unsuccessfully on the first attempt to crack the security system programming, the mostly headless body of the Opodian slumps against a nearby console. His commlink lands on the floor near his lifeless feet.
Garthik reaches down to collect a commlink to add to his collection. He hisses a bit, then shrugs, flicking it on. “This is the self-righteous idiot of an Opodian down in the radio shack ™,” he says in the most idiotic voice he can conjure, “Can we get a large grek-pie, with extra vims, please?” What the hell, since there are plasma weapons to deal with. “Anyone have any grenades left?” he asks of the others, waving the Gankri over to take defensive positions around the lift as he himself tosses the Opodian body to a place where he can drop prone behind it, rifle pointed at the door.
Chezat hisses when he comes upon digital roadblocks, and gives the console a smack. And kick. “Grrrnnn.” Trying to zen, he inhales through his nose, and tries a different method, tail twitching anxiously. “C’monnn,” he coos to the console, “Show me the money, baby.” Unfortunately, he’s too distracted to really appreciate Garthik’s humorous response.
“If we die,” Sert says to Mert. “I just wanted you to know…Your second son?…Yeah, he’s mine.” Sert raises his rifle and takes a position where he has a good shot.
Esmer has fewer witty things to say. Instead, she hops over to huddle down behind the Opodian beside Garthik, practically cheesing from one fluffy eartip to the other over the Llivori’s commlink sarcasm. “Damn, he stinks,” she wails, wacking the corpse ineffectually with a wing before finally pulling free her rifle and hunkering down behind his fat skull. She aims it toward the lift, attempting to watch the elevator while simultaneously hiding her snout from the stink of ramen and anti-dandruff shampoo.
Mert glances sidelong at Sert. “Yeah? Well.. while we’re playing truth or dare… there’s a good reason your three daughters have red fur.” he says with a smirk, and gets his own rifle into position.
“YES!” Chezat exclaims, throwing his wings in the air. “Back-ups are disabled-” Before he can gather his tech, shrapnel whizzes between his ears. “Sunnuva’!” Grabbing his gear, he darts after Garthik, deciding it best to use the rope rather than glide down.
“Do you know how much time I had to give my girls help with their homework?” Sert starts, but jumps into action as he sees Garthik move. He gets his rope out and moves to do the same manuever.
Esmer shuffles forward, rifle still at the ready, and leans forward to peer down the shaft as Garthik pulls an epic drop-and-shoot maneuver. As the others follow, she is compelled to glance over her shoulder at Chezat. “You can go ahead of me,” she offers in the sweetest tone possible.
“Probably not as much time I had to spend in the principal’s office with all the trouble my son got in!” Mert calls to Sert as he hooks up his own rope and starts down the shaft.
The head-shot dead Opodian tumbles down the shaft, thus encouraging the heavily armed Nall at the bottom to duck back out into the lower corridor. Alarm klaxons still wail throughout the spaceport. It’s unclear how many Nall wait below, but they now stand between the team and the successful completion of their goal: Blowing the main generators.
Chezat is sliding down the rope dangling the dead Opodian after Garthik, mentally preparing for the worst. “These damned alarms will be the death of us,” he mutters, “Ain’t we got explosives, boss?”
Garthik is rappelling down right behind the corpse and once he reaches the floor with the Nall, he opens up with his pulse rifle, mostly to lay down cover fire. Hopefully, if there are more than a few Nall, he’ll hit one or two anyway if they’re packed in tight enough.
Esmer follows behind Chezat, using one foot and one thumb to hang on to the rope. Her free wing is spread wide to help her balance, and she teeters backward and forward while staring downward and watching Garthik. When he begins firing, she jumps free and spreads her wings, circling in the shaft as she drops down one ‘floor’ at a time. She alights upon an elevator cable and pulls free her rifle, sucking in a breath, and jumps – aiming to land behind Garthik. She tucks her wings in tightly against her sides and begins shooting.
Mert fast rapells down behind the others, rifle unslung as he lets go a couple feet from the bottom. Landing on his feet, he starts firing at the first scaly thing he sees… hopefully a Nall.
Thiran rappels along with the others, following suit and blasting at the Nall with her rifle as she hangs and letting out a mighty warcry.
Zu apparently doesn’t wish to follow suit with the others. Instead he attempts to glide over the group of Nall to get behind them and flank. While attempting this he gives a short dive down to claw at one’s eyes before making to take back to the air.
Chezat spreads his wings and breaks off after Esmer, following with the drawing of his rifle. He lands with a thud and fires at the first ugly Nall he spots, with something like a trilly battle cry.
Things got bloody awfully fast for the Nall in the lower corridor, and much to their surprise as the headstrong rebels come out boldly blasting. When it’s over, all the Nall are either dead or sprawled on the floor, grasping at blinded eyes and wounded torsos. For now, the generator room appears to be unguarded, although the alarms are still wailing. Another wave is liable to arrive soon.
Garthik swings himself back into the corridor, his rifle up against his shoulder. He makes his way to the generator room and turns to Chezat, nodding to the door. “Make sure that is not trapped,” he says, then to Zu, “Good job, boy, now see if you can hear anything on the other side of the door.”
After dropping like a rock to the floor, a smiley-faced Esmer pops up from behind the dead Opodian. She walks over the body with her rifle still in her hands, and hops along quickly in order to catch up to Garthik. She frowns, glancing around the room and turning in a slow circle to take in her surroundings.
Mert makes his way over to get in position to guard the door, his leg bounciness returned as he waits for something else to shoot at and miss.
Thiran actually lands now and moves in, slipping aside and kneeling to cover the door to the generator room.
Zu nods to Garthik and moves to the door while keeping a slight distance and remaining in the air to avoid activating any potential traps. With that he merely listens.
Through the door, Zu can hear what sounds like at least two people – possibly Nall, but maybe Opodian – whispering urgently to each other.
Chezat blows the tip of his rifle and chuckles to himself. “You got it, boss.” Moving towards the generator door, he looks over the keypad and taps a few keys to try and open it.
The generator room door slides open to reveal two Opodians armed with rifles provided by their Nall allies. They’re currently provided cover by a half wall that divides the entrance area from the chamber with the generator blocks.
Garthik reaches down and grabs the nearest dead Nall and in a spinning motion, hurls the reptiloid at the Opodians, hoping to distract them enough to allow the commandos to get past the Opodian’s cover. “Get them!” he yells out to the others.
The flying Nall is enough to make Esmer chirp in amusement, but the shouted order sends her skittering along the floor with her rifle held at the ready. She slides along the tile and around the half-wall, taking aim at the nearest Opodian and squeezing off a round.
Mert follows suit behind Esmer, diving the other direction around the half wall, opening fire at the Opodians, laughing at the process. “Die! Die! heh heh.. Die!”
Thiran charges forward at the order, running and gunning as she shouts out another warcry, trying to take down the other Opodian.
Zu flies into the room as fast as he can and is about to swoop down on the secondOpodian to bite it’s neck when Thiran shoots it dead. Zu stops mid-swoop and says a bit dissapointed at not making the kill “Oh. You got him.” After a second he looks around “Who has the bombs?”
The Opodians behind the barrier look flummoxed as Garthik flings a bloody dead Nall through the air at them. One of them manages to keep his wits enough to avoid being shot by Esmer, and is bringing his rifle around to fire when he’s blasted dead by Thiran. The other is turning to provide some backup for his companion when Mert guns him down.
It is about this time that another squad of Nall warriors – this time led by their commander from the control tower – comes storming around the corner of the corridor outside the generator room.
Chezat’s eyes widen as the dead Nall hurdles through the air. Yeah, boss is awesome. Chezat scoots off to the side, only to get a nice spatter of Opodian blood in his face. “PFFFTTHHH! PPP’HH!” he spits, shaking a thumb at Thiran before making his way towards the generator chamber. “You forgot the bombs!?” he teases Zu. The sound of storming Nall makes him pause and whirl. “Oh shit. Aight, hurry up with yer explosives, c’mon!” he shouts at no one in particular, whipping out his own timed bomb.
Garthik smiles toothily as he sees the Opodians go down, but his smile fades as he hears the Nall coming and he turns towards them. Baring his teeth grimly, he tosses his pack into the generator room and keys the door to close it before turning to face the incoming enemies.
The Llivori favors the reptiloids with a toothy smile, his rifle lining up on the first one. He squeezes the trigger sending a pulse bolt through the Outverser’s open maw. The second falls as well, his neck exploding to leave the still-living head on the floor to watch its decapitated body flail about. The third trips over the body of one of his fallen comrades and falls directly into the path of a bolt from the Llivori’s weapon. The resolve of the charging reptiloids begins to falter as the chest of yet another of their fellow warriors explode. Another turns to watch him fall as he himself takes a shot in the eye which explodes within his braincase. As they continue to near him, Garthik starts to resort to more of a spray and pray method, firing shots off as fast as he can. The Nall, however, distracted by the amount of their cohorts who have fallen continue to fall to the rebel’s sporadic weapons fire. Two Nall remain, one of whom drops his rifle in rage as he leaps towards the Llivori, claws outstretched. The burly rebel ducks underneath the reptiloid’s pounce and comes up to slam the butt of his rifle into the back of the Nall’s neck, eliciting a sickening crunch. He turns towards the Nall Commander who is brandishing a scimitar with aplomb, preparing to cut the rebel to ribbons. Garthik shoots him.
If only Chezat could witness this epicness! The Tupai sets to work wiring up the bombs as his teammates hopefully bring them forth, circling the generators to synch the countdowns. “STOP STANDIN’ ‘ROUND AND PICKIN’ YER NOSES.”
The closing doors to the generator room cause Esmer to leap up and dive at them in a beeline, shrieking “No! No! Don’t let him go out there alone! Stop, someone open it back up! Let me out there!” Her little wings buffet against the closed steel for a moment before she swoops back through the room in a rage. She drops down by the generators and rips open her backpack, pulling out the explosive unit assigned to her. She throws it at him furiously, ears perked to pick up the sounds of the battle just beyond their little room. If a Tupai could cry, now would be the perfect moment for a tear to roll down her cheek.
“I’ll pick your nose…” Mert mutters at Chezat as he grabs his own explosive pack and gets it in place. As he hears the incredible carnage coming from outside he starts bouncing on his legs. “YES! YES! Die! Die! heheheh Die!”
“Garthik!” Thiran cries out as the Llivori closes them in, joining Esmer in the bolt for the door, “NO!” She takes her explosive pack and slides it to those working to set them up, banging at the door uselessly as she listens to the slaughter beyond. Unable to know how the battle actually fares, she bares her teeth and growls in rage.
Zu kinda looks at the door for a minute after it closes and hears the battle ensueing. Not being able to do much about it he simply distracts himself by setting up the explosives. At every sound of battle however one would see a cringe on the face of Zu as he too has noidea how it’s faring.
The bombs are placed. The timers are activated. The team now has just a few minutes to get back into the sewer tunnels and escape from the spaceport before detonation.
The Llivori outside blinks a few times as he suddenly realizes that everyone in the room is dead. Once he recovers his senses, he turns around and opens the door again. “Are we ready to go?” he asks, surrounded by dead Nall and still looking a bit bewildered.
Chezat is a bit too hardened to whimper at the door for Garthik. “Girls,” he grumbles, directing Zu and Mert until everything’s all set up. “Aight… Let’s- Hey boss! We weren’t about to leave ya’, nawwww… Yeah, everything’s good to go.” He leans on one foot, looking beyond Garthik, “…Wow.”
Esmer jumps when the door opens, and upon spotting Garthik she lets out a keening cry and zooms at the Llivori’s head, wings spread, to bat-attack his face. “DON’T DO THAT!” she chants, thwapping the top of his head with her wings. An entire fifteen seconds is devoted to the reunion before she leaps down to perch on his shoulder and points a clawed finger toward the exit. “I think we go–/now/.”
Mert sprints out of the reactor room as the timers are set. “Yes! Yes! Let’s go….. and do it again! Let’s go find another! YES! Let’s blow them all up!”
“… What the f-…?” Thiran gawks as the door opens, showing Garthik unharmed and surrounded by a roomful of slaughtered Nall gore. “You… what just…?” She shakes out her shock, then, and rereadies her rifle. “Right, let’s get out of here…” She moves out, taking up the forward scouting position with her rifle up.
Zu grabs himself a perch on Thiran’s shoulder holding on tight to keep balance. The bat looks prepared to leap off any second however. He keeps an ear and eye out for any more unwanted guests that might come their way. Garthik is given an awed glance during all this too.
Garthik nods quickly to the other rebels as he turns to the hatch in the floor to drop through it and pelt down the corridor as fast as his stubby legs can carry him. “MOOOVE!!” he snaps out to the commandos.
Chezat MOOOVES. He takes to the air and makes a beeline for that sewer hatch, but not before blowing a kiss to the wired up bombs.
Esmer hunkers down, clinging to Garthik’s shoulder and fanning out her wings to keep from falling off right away – and also to keep her from landing on her head should she get knocked off.
Mert bounces along kangaroo style after the others, his expression full of pure joy as they make their escape. “Nall HQ go bye bye!” he says cackling.
“Touch me again and you will be /-LUNCH-/!” Thiran barks at Zu, snatching over her shoulder and trying to physically shove the tupai through the hatch ahead of her before descending herself and making a run for it.
Zu takes the advice of Thiran and moves to the air now. The bat flaps himself a good distance from Thiran good in this case being out of arms reach. His wings are carrying him about as fast as they can.
The timers count down to 0 simultaneously, blink briefly, and then they trigger the detonation of the explosives rigged against the generator housings. A huge explosion rattles the spaceport, sending flames and debris through the corridors, blasting down even into the sewer tunnels as the commandos flee. The backup generators, hacked into oblivion, fail to kick in. So the spaceport is plunged in darkness, its sensors rendered blind. Worse, the blast cripples the supports for the control tower. The Nall and Opodians inside hiss and shriek in horror as the structure topples, crashing to the pavement below.
Garthik turns to Esmer with a faint grin. “You know I didn’t plan to do that, right?” he asks. He turns back for a moment to admire the squad’s handiwork. “Nicely done, people,” he gruffs with a curt nod, “Let’s head back to base, shall we?”
Chezat lands near Garthik, panting as he peers back at the smoldering. “Yeah!” he cheers, thrusting a thumb in the air. Freeze frame.
In orbit above Kamsho, Vox Hurk of Hatch Vril receives the latest report on activities on Kamsho. His eye membranes flick in frustration before he resumes his conversation with the holoviewer version of the Light Singer known as the Inquisitor: “The blood of the honored fallen isssss on your handssss, Inquisitor. This should never have been allowed to happen.”
The Light Singer replies, “The blame is accepted. But, as I told you previously, it was necessary to allow the rebels to make this attempt. I had some doubt that they would succeed, but succeed they did. Now, they will feel confident. They will not suspect that a traitor is within their ranks. They will *not* see what comes next.”
The Vox leans forward, growling. “They had bessst not. For your sssake, Light Ssssinger.” He cuts the channel and leans back in his chair, clacking his fangs in irritation.
At the Inquisitor’s camp in the Kamsho jungle, a Nall warrior asks, “Do we sssstrike now?”
“No,” the Light Singer replies as the image of the Vox fades, leaving him in darkness illuminated by the dull crimson glow that dances around him. “Soon enough, though. We pack up camp tomorrow. Inform your troops. There will be vengeance for your fallen comrades in Vor within days.”
Esmer thunks her head against the side of Garthik’s face, grinning. “I know. You meant to die. Next time you want to die, just ask me and I’ll kill you instead.” She remains attached to the Llivori’s shoulder, head swiveling as she takes note of where the others of the team are located in relation.
Mert bounds along behind them, watching back as the spaceport goes up in flames. “Preeeetty.” he says with a wide grin. “Let’s do it again!!”
“Mission accomplished. And we’re alive! Great,” Thiran says with a fanged grin, “Now let’s get out of here before that draws more attention, eh?”
Zu gives a nod to the group remaining in the air as he does so. “Agreed.” With that he flies back in the direction of the base apparently having no intentions of sticking around long.