Khosin looked as the assembled crew of the Borealis distributed themselves into small teams in the span of a few minutes "Well, at the very least we aren't bickering at our enemy's doorstep." Thought the Batarian as he took out his mattock assault rifle, carefully holding it in his hands as he waited while the recon team fed the rest of them information on the structure they were to assault, along with the position of some of the enemy contacts.
They didn't have to wait long for the combat to start, for after a few more minutes the comms of the squad came to life as Haze announced that he had been compromised and that he would set one of the vehicles to explode so as to create a distraction for the rest of them. Taking cover, Khosin began to give suppression fire to the rest of the squad. However, it wouldn't be long before he heard someone speaking on the comms again.
“I got Three Eyed Zallak. He’s down in the warehouse - he’s gonna need medi-gel and restraints in an hour or two or he’ll die, so don’t say I didn’t warn you. Bosh’tet kicks hard, so watch out if you plan to wake him up at all.”
Kasyra's news stopped Khosin for a few seconds as he considered his options "Kasyra, I'm grabbing a pack of medi-gel now, heading to your location ASAP." He said through the comms before he ducked into cover under a hail of gunfire from the slavers. Activating his tech-armor before moving, Khosin headed to the truck and picked a pack of medi-gel before dashing madly towards the location where Kasyra was, hoping that the rest of the team would draw some fire away from him. After a few tense minutes, he arrived where Kasyra, his tech-armor having succumbed under the barrage of gunfire from the slavers, with his shields depleted to a 35% percent of their capability.
Handing the medi-gel to the quarian, he scanned the area and noticed that while the Asari and Quarian where present, the Turian wasn't. Activating his comms unit he tried to hail the Turian "Hello, Vellios wasn't it? Can you hear me?" He asked through the comms "If you do, send me your coordinates and I'll rendezvous with you." He said into the comms channel, waiting for the Turian to reply to him before he set off towards his location.
"Haze here. I got compromised. I'm setting off an explosive distraction in the vehicle yard. All teams, use it to your advantage."
Was all the warning Vellios got when suddenly, one of the trucks went up into a fiery ball of pure carnage and blaze. The metal skeleton crackled while the flames grew, casting a yellowish light over all those nearby. Oddly, Vellios found himself staring a moment at it before the gunfire erupted all the way around. His back jerk back against the wall. In a few seconds his fingers were flicking across his display screen on his omnitool while his eyes darted between the scene and monitoring his shields, which were down about 10%. In moments the orange glow coating him was shifted to a duller color when he activated stage 2. It no longer strengthened his armor but reverted to his shields, sparing his energy in his omni tool.
His hand felt something press into his back causing his eyes to widen then a hand reached toward it. Something hard scraped across his talons as he removed it and let it fall to his feet. A metal chunk had lodged itself into his armor but thankfully, with some mysterious luck, failed to break the armor’s hard surface.
”Note to self, have Serena check my shield alert system again...” He said through irritated teeth and clenched them tightly together. Next time, he knew he wouldn’t be so lucky.
Abruptly, Dex’s voice came up over the comms with an important message and briefly distracting him. Vellios’ foot shifting underneath the metal piece side and was about to kick it away when he paused to listen. "Drono and I have cleared the Administration building. We've captured a Blue Suns operative working closely with the Twin Star crew. Three Eyed Zallak is in the warehouse while Kapan Nasa'dor is in the housing unit. They're storing high grade narcotics in the warehouse, marked and procured by the Blue Suns."
Interesting, he thought, his eyes tightened in thought as the first message was followed by Kasyra’s own report. “I got Three Eyed Zallak. He’s down in the warehouse - he’s gonna need medi-gel and restraints in an hour or two or he’ll die, so don’t say I didn’t warn you. Bosh’tet kicks hard, so watch out if you plan to wake him up at all.”
Vellios couldn’t help comment here, chuckling, when he made his vote. “I see, I leave you two girls alone and you go right for the big game. Oh well, I suppose I can to be the gentleman and mop up. It’s only fair,”He added on a side note, “Also… No one on our side open the warehouse back door, or you’re going to get a nasty surprise.”
At adding on that insightful note, the Turian’s hand formed a single Cain Mine and slapped it on the door’s side when he darted into the warehouse’s back door. His talon was careful not to let the door slam behind him when his hand clicked it shut. At the same time, his ears caught the vibrations of gun fire rapidly shoot off at Kasyra. He spotted the quarian scramble into cover when the thugs all shot at once, their figures crouched from behind several metal coverings on the walkway they were currently at. As the bullets flew, the crate that Kasyra was hunched down had its contents sprayed all over the place, the liquid spattering over her suit and likely making her damp. It seemed they had packed the crates as cheaply as possible, their cheap ways costing them a fortune now. Vellios’ crested head shook silently with a smirk.
Careful not to make a sound, his feet skirted quietly across the concrete floor toward the five individuals firing on Vallis, Kasyra, and unknown to him, Khosin. He was too far to get a clear shot and even if he could, their shields were up and ready to block the bullet. He had to get close enough for a melee attack instead. Halfway there, his carapace, easily blended into the shadow, but he luck didn’t hold out this time. Khosin’s voice came up over the comm, loudly alerting his prey quickly to his presence.
"Hello, Vellios wasn't it? Can you hear me? If you do, send me your coordinates and I'll rendezvous with you."
The nearest Batarian caught the sound and twirled around behind him to see Vellios’ figure just meters from them. The turian froze for only a second until the alien’s pistol end bursted with the familiar white of gun fire and open fired, his voice bellowing to his comrades. “Contact! There’s another behind us. Shoot the damn turian! And keep the others down!”
Vellios cursed, his omni tool catching his voice and followed by more shoots being fired at him. The bullets hit the shields causing them to flash with brief blue on impact, revealing them to be cryo ammo when a thin layer of ice formed and dissipated. It quickly brought his shield percent down from 90% to about 60%, his alert system telling him in a static like tone about the obvious and making him want to hit the thing. He’d been meaning to get it repaired but naturally essentials came first and the way Serena and him got hurt, their life was a bit more important. Hoping to spare his remaining power, he pressed himself tightly against the wall and made himself small as possible against the suppression fire. It didn’t help the Survivor model, even the Turian specs, had shields that were weaker than his heavy armor and he was already regretting on not bring it instead.
Live and learn, he thought. Inhaling he couldn’t easily hear the Batarian give out orders as he took a moment to inform his allies he was still alive.
“Thanks Khosin, right? Interestingly enough, you’re not the first Batarian ally that has nearly got me killed but likely the first willing to bail my ass out. I’m a bit pinned down behind your little friends. The bastard’s got cryo ammo and I think another got explosive, so watch yourselves.” Vellios stated before he jerked his hand out to return fire, his hand ripped the disruptor ammo box out then ejected the cryo to switch them out. The movement was almost natural when it clicked into place causing his finger to pull the trigger. The zero energy sliced and jerked at the metal block, shaving off a sliver sized fragment then sling shot it right at his targets causing them to scatter into new cover. At least until after two shots. His attempt to control the situation was met with another rain of bullet hail and forced him to retreat. He was soldier but he wasn't stupid enough to risk his shields holding out well against the return fire.
So much for that working… He thought with a sigh.
Kaza, the Batarian who took charge, pressed his comm to communicate with his locate allies. A plan was forming in his thin head while he filled them in, his eyes cold while he kept the scarred Turian pinned in his pitiful cover. Pausing to cool his gun as Lonoto and Ghonvan both taking his place while he spoke. “Alright, here’s the plan. I’m going to blow the lights and send everyone into darkness.I want you, Tonnis and Jelagan, to focus on the Asari. I don’t want her upright when the gun fight ends and for fuck's sake, keep in mind her biotics are dangerous." Kaza's eyes turned to the pair then moved on to the next.
"Lonato and Ghonvan, I want you two to take out the Batarian and the Quarian. Head toward the turret then use it to splatter the nuisance into a smear on the floor. All of you take a few grenades, both flash and explosive, and use your special rounds. These mercs have proven to be serious trouble and I don't want any risks taken, you understand?"
His head jerked in Vellios' direction, determining his own task."I'll make boots out of our little pain in the ass then support who I can when I'm done. Understand?”
All four nodded their approval, their figures slipping off to collect their supplies nearby and move to their assignments with surprising stealth. It didn’t take long at all being in the warehouse where most their supplies were kept. Seeing Vellios trying to peer out and glimpse the retreating Batarians, Kaza took careful aim then fired. It nicked the Turian across the cheek, finding a hole in his shields, and causing him to thump back into his hiding place with a loud sound.
His blade flicked out at the thought of making a pair of Turian skin boots, his hand pressed it to his mouth for the moment. He placed on his night goggles when everyone was in position for the plan, their fire pinning down the group well. Kaza pulled out a grenade from his waist and squeezed the sides, activating it. With the warning lights counting down, he tossed it high up into the only set of lights within the building.
Everyone within the area would hear the distinct beeping before…
Boom!
On the outside, the sound could easily be heard when it rattled the whole construction. It was a miracle it didn’t bring the whole thing down.
Tonnis & Jelagon
Tonnis - Disruptor ammo (effective on shields), 3 grenades and 1 flash grenade. Shields about 82%, heavy armor. Jelagon- Antipersonnel ammo and Explosive, 1 flash grenade and 2 grenades. Shields about 79%, heavy armor.
Tonnis and Jelagon were gaining on the Asari’s position fairly rapidly, their figures slipping from one shadow to another. Every so many feet, they ducked behind the crates and scanned their surroundings like well trained soldiers while they searched for their prey. Tonnis was the first to spot her as he grinned with his fat cheeks then gestures for Jelagon to ready a flash grenade. Meanwhile, Tonnis, switching his goggles to filter both light and dark, preventing him from being blinded by the flash going off. Especially if the bitch was smart enough to toss it back with her biotics even at the risk of getting shot. He pulled out then open fire while Jelagon’s hand flipped out the grenade into her direction causing the grenade to bounce once before it should flood the area with a blinding light nearest Vallis.
Ghonvan & Lonato
Ghonvan- Antipersonnel ammo and Explosive rounds, 2 grenades. Shields about 62 %, heavy armor. Lonato- Antipersonnel ammo, Disruptor ammo (equipped currently) and Inferno rounds., 2 flash grenades. Shields about 84 %, heavy armor.
Lonato and Ghonvan paired off naturally, mostly because they had spotted their targets side by side. Splitting off from Kaza, they moved to the right as opposed to Tonnis and Jelagon who moved to the warehouse’s left. Through they had two different goal, they aimed to help each other as much as possible, when they started to move toward the frozen statue of Zallak. Their leader currently was fixed in a furious and outraged expression while in cased in thick ice covering his skin. Normally, they would’ve considered using medigel on him but that would expose them and risk being shot down, something neither could afford until they lowered the merc number. Lonato looked at Ghonvan, who nodded his agreement, causing the Batarian to edge out of his hiding place behind a crate then open fire. The shots were explosive ammo so while they were stopped by the shield, each hit was quickly draining their energy and even shattering the crate’s contents. If they didn’t hunch down, they were going to get hit, as on contact with the container filled with the drugs busted from the gunfire. The glass tubes they were carried in shattered and sprayed their liquids all over those nearby, likely dowsing both Khosin and Kasyra in product. Meanwhile, Ghonvan made a dash for the turret just a few seconds before the flash bang went off, flooding the area to blind those unprepared.
Vellios, Warehouse
“Tonka to all signs, I lost my vantage point. Advancing on foot to share a few words with the pyjaak with the anti-armour weaponry. Iosef, recommend you get that pile of bolts and rust moving, or you’ll be picking shrapnel out of your ass for the next three weeks.” Came Tonka’s message just before the building rumbled its protest, making Vellios comment. “Have fun Tonka. Also, try not to spend over half the day fucking him over. We might need you later.”
Immediately all the individuals were shrouded and locked in total darkness, their backs shined with light from the door where they entered through. There was a soft hum when the emergency lights came on. A reddish, orange glow dowsed the area in a faint light. Vellios could barely see a few feet in front of himself, a realisation that hit him like a wall, and memories about the Haides flooded his mind. His mandible wiggled nervously while his crested head peered from his hiding place, his ice cold eyes narrowed and examined the tight corner causing him to frown when he noted no one within his range. Encouraged by the lacking presence of life, his hand reached for his knife then took a step into the open.
His nails clicked against the metal floor quietly when he looked at his omni tool to notice something odd. The Turian’s rapid breathing and heart increase, his banter seemed to have faded for a moment, when his mind became absorbed into the anxiety. Pupils dilated in excitement while he sought his target in the darkness, straining against the shadows pushing into blind him and failing. Vellios kept his body crouched lower while skirted along the crate’s cover toward where Kaza’s signal was strongest. The Batarian didn’t seem to move, not even to take a shot, something that was making his instincts scream something was wrong. A small, fleeting consideration washed over and he was wondering if his prey was already dead. Surprisingly, irritation rose up like a snake to nip his patience drawing a low, frustrated growl at the thought.
Closer and closer Vellios came, his carapace already tingling with enthusiasm spreading across his surface when he halted at just beside his prey’s position. The whole time his mind was wondering why the goon hadn’t fired and carefully edged out, his knife taken out to stab into where he guessed the throat would be. It hit the box but nothing more. Hie eyes looked down and all he found was the Batarian’s omni tool. The device laying there like…
Suddenly movement from Vellios’ peripheral vision caused him to drop instantly to one knee when Kaza’s figure appeared out of nowhere. The Batarian’s blade raised and stabbed downwards on his hunched down figure with all his strength. A madden, eager glint in his eyes.
Vellios booby-trapped the back door with a Cain Mine, then warned his team. Kaza, the self established leader, took out the lights and shrouded everyone in darkness until the dim emergency light came on. Tonnis and Jelagon are targeting Vallis, Tonnis laying suppression fire while Jelagon uses a flash grenade at her. Ghonvan and Lonato are gunning for Khosin and Kasyra, Ghonvan heading for the turret while Lonato and the flash covers his actions. Kaza is aiming to make boots out of Vellios, tricking the Turian by using his discarded omnitool as bait, and slicing at him.
“Iosef, you alright?” Tanya's voice quickly caught Iosif's earshot, a surprising level of concern in her voice, “Hang in there, we’ll get you patched up. How bad is it?” It was appreciated nonetheless, "A scratch from the batarians," he finally answered through clenched teeth, hoping that the medi-gel's local anaesthesiac would kick in soon, "I'll live." Judging by the heavy chugging of the turret sounding off from just a few feet behind the driver's compartment, it seemed she'd already got to work on evening the score with those four-eyed bastards - now it was on him to get things moving.
But his attempts to jumpstart the engine weren't without interruption; gunfire rattling against the technical was distraction enough, but the sudden thud of another, heavier impact against the car's plating made this situation even nastier. “Fucking hell!” he heard her exclaim, her bursts of heavy fire interrupted this time. Luckily, he recognised Tonka's voice shortly afterwards and realised that the krogan had dealt with the sniper, much to his relief. But, then...
Amidst the heard that all-too-familiar whistle of a projectile that could've come from only one thing. Fuck! Jerking towards the direction of the whistle, he saw the rocket move past his line of sight before exploding upon impact - followed shortly afterwards by the words of an agitated krogan. “Tonka to all signs, I lost my vantage point. Advancing on foot to share a few words with the pyjaak with the anti-armour weaponry. Iosef, recommend you get that pile of bolts and rust moving, or you’ll be picking shrapnel out of your ass for the next three weeks.” It was respite, albeit brief; it was clear they'd be the next target unless they got this ride going.
This time, Iosif pushed the truck's ignition system hard, tuning out all other distractions as best as he could in a shit-stick situation like this. After a few more moments, the truck finally roared to life with an audible groan, just as yet another passenger stowed in for the ride - Serena, who seemed like she was just as urgent to get out of here. "Iosif, buddy, how is it going? You heard Tonka, right? And we're getting ready to go right now, right? Because being blown up is very low on my list of 'things to do on first mission.' Not one to disagree with her, he threw the truck into motion, weaving in and out of the yard in an effort to throw the bastards off. "Hold tight! Tanya, lay some suppressive down - focus on that AA if you can!"
Valiss smirked as the quarian took down the wanted man, now they just needed to keep him alive and turn the scumbag in for that nice bonus. The actual job wasn't done yet, there were still slavers all around them and one more to take in alive. She had her submachine gun at the ready, then she was hit by a surge of surprise as the lights went out inside the warehouse. Darkness, it wasn't something she liked seeing while in combat.
Then the asari heard something hit the floor, bounce once before it went off. A grenade? She was not hit by shrapnel but a blinding flash which caused her to let out an unhappy groan. She closed her eyes, only seeing the piercing light caused by the grenade. She then stumbled as the bastards started firing at her position, laying down suppressing fire.
A good amount of shots hit her hard, knocking into her shields. In an almost panicked reaction she threw down a biotic shockwave in the direction from where the she heard the grenade land. She doubted whoever threw it had that amazing an arm, she would probably be able to catch them with her biotic talents. The wave rumbled as it connected, Valiss diving behind cover, her shields too low for any real attempt at retaliation.
In all the confusion, Hazan had taken a moment to collect himself. After the truck explosion, all hell had broken loose. He'd heard explosions from the admin block, shots coming to and from housing. His teammates chattering in the comms. Vel and Iosif getting hit. It was madness. Chaos. He'd gotten outside the perimeter fence again, but it seemed like the team needed more help inside than out.
As he climbed the fence, things became clearer. The warehouse team had downed a turret gunner. He could see the big gun sitting silent inside the warehouse as he clambered up and over the fence and landed on the dirt inside. His shotgun swung upward as he advanced in, noting that Vellios' team was ahead of him a ways. They'd split up, according to the little blue squares that indicated them on his visor HUD. He found Vellios splitting off from the team and heading off into the warehouse, so he made to follow.
"Vel, I'm gonna link up with you. Coming in from your six."
As he entered the warehouse, the lights went dead. Expecting the worst, he ducked down and peered up, which was when the flashbang went off.
Hissing in pain, he averted his gaze and groped around for something to hold onto, finding a stack of crates to latch onto with a talon as he got his bearings.
"Mother fucker... Fucking flashbangs."
Hazan stumbled forwards, shotgun out in one hand while he shielded his eyes with the other. A few seconds later and the flash faded, leaving him in almost total darkness, except for the emergency lights. Lit under the dim orange glow, Hazan moved forward, heading slowly for Vellios' blue square. The sudden silence was startling, but shortly followed by the sounds of gunfire, in the direction of Valiss, whose marker was just outside. He ignored her for the moment and concentrated on meeting Vellios.
Which was when he saw the glint of steel in the emergency lights.
Round a stack of crates was Vellios, cornered by a batarian with a knife. An omnitool laid on the ground.
Haze had the advantage of stealth.
But not for long.
"Oh no you don't."
With the utterance he charged, silent at first, but his boots on the dirt were all too obvious for Kaza. He swivelled away from Vellios and parried Haze's initial knife swing with his own.
The two short blades met in the air for a brief second before Kaza moved forward. His left grabbed onto Haze's collar and his right met his face, a straight punch sending the turian reeling. Another wild swing parried, the batarian stepped in, sliced at Haze's side and moved past him.
The turian hissed in pain, blue dripping down onto the dirt as he staggered backward. Agony lanced through his side from the cut through his armour mesh. Not deep, but enough to hurt. Haze steadied his knife in his right, while he backed up and reached down with his left.
"I took that for you, asshole. Better get up so we can kill this fucker."
Kaza merely laughed and cleaned his blade of turian blood.
"Aww, what's the matter? Little baby turian needs to hold hands to get the job done? Pathetic."
He brandished his combat knife and assumed a fighting stance.
“Thanks Khoshin.” Kasyra said, sarcasm thick in her voice. “Don’t go applying it now though. If he wakes up while we’re still fighting I’m letting you deal with him.” She scooped her gun from the ground, tapping into her omni tool the command that would activate disruption ammo on the weapon. She was just about to pop up over the cover and take a shot at one of the Batarians when a flash bang grenade went off nearby and the lights went out. Kasyra was only somewhat affected by the sudden burst of light. Her visor was coated with mild flash suppressant, preventing the worst of the effect, though it was still mildly disorienting.
As the very worst of the effect wore off, she went to rise over the cover again, making use of her hud to spot the general locations of the enemies at least. Once again she was forced back into cover however, cursing as she went, as explosive rounds impacted the crates around her. “They’ve evidently decided living is better than getting payed!” She said acidly, looking around for some new cover as vials of drugs shattered around her, spraying colored liquid over the outside of her suit. “Bosh’tet! That’s going to stain!” She screeched as the elegantly patterned fabric she wore over the top of her suit absorbed the liquid. She was safe from the effects of the drug within her sealed suit, at least assuming she didn’t get a breach, but that didn’t mean it didn’t piss her off to have her clothing ruined.
She considered abandoning this fight to go and find the Blue Sun that was mentioned earlier, but that was not really an option at this point. She had too much fire incoming to make a break for it.
On her Hud she could see two signatures approaching, visible both in the top down map view and highlighted in front of her. She guessed they had night vision goggles, which gave them an advantage in the darkness. Unless she hit them with an overload. The amount of energy that would flood the system would likely render the device inoperable for a few moments at the very least.
Noting that he Shield boost was once again charged, she rose above the cover once again. Once again, multiple impacts found her shield immediately. This time, she hit her shield booster, allowing her shield to regenerate as fast as it was failing and giving her a moment of reprieve to attack. She quickly identified, by way of her Hud and the muzzle flare, the Batarian with the explosive ammo and hit him with an overload. He staggered back as his shields failed, his form momentarily silhouetted in the burst of electricity. At the same time, Kasyra lined up a shot with her pistol and fired. She had not been aiming at his vulnerable head or neck, but his gun. As the high powered disruptor round struck the weapon, it started smoking and sparking, internal systems ruined by the hit.
She had just enough time left to pop off a cryo blast in his direction before her shields failed. With armor as thick as his, it wouldn’t be a fatal effect, but he would certainly be disabled for a good minute at least by it. Plenty of time for Khoshin to finish him off.
As she slunk back down into the now somewhat spotty cover, her shields failed completely. “Keelah.” She muttered, before continuing. “My shields are down. I need a minute to recharge.”
Ghonvan - Main weapon destroyed, only has a pistol with no ammo. 2 Grenades. 0% Shield. Heavy armor. Currently slowed by cryo blast. Lonato - Antipersonnel ammo, Disruptor ammo (equipped currently) and Inferno rounds, 2 flash grenades. Shields about 90 %, heavy armor.
It was a huge relief to hear Iosif was still holding together, the slight panic attack that came with a squadmate’s injuries along with her own near-death encounter had made Tanya jittery. She was glad the machine-gun was mounted and her face was concealed behind a helmet, lest Serena notice her nerves. From her personal combat experience, nothing eroded confidence and moral in a unit faster than someone steadfast showing that they were shaken. They were expecting the cocky, somewhat obnoxious, and abrasive asshole to have confidence in her command, so there really wasn’t much of a choice but to project what the crowd wanted.
The technical kicked into gear, and Tanya’s inner mechanic cringed as she listened to one of the most sticky and improperly aligned eezo drive trains she’d encountered lurch from park to drive, the machine’s lack of proper maintenance and age quite apparent. The momentum pressed her back against the turret ring, and she locked her legs into position so she didn’t shift as much in the maneuvering. Swivelling the gun towards some of the group that hadn’t quite reached the warehouse, Tanya let loose a long burst, walking the shots into target using the forward momentum of the vehicle to pull her rounds into the group. The heavy shots didn’t take long to tear through their shielding and rip bloody ragged holes through two of them; the third escaped unharmed.
To her relief, no rocket seemed to find them as she traversed to face the housing complex, which she hammered the glass windows of the bar or dining area or whatever the fuck it was with rounds, stopping as the gun’s heat gauge was nearing 90% capacity. Her attention, however, was on the comm chatter from her team. She opened the channel with the team. “So we picked up half our pay cheque and a bonus? Not bad for a bunch of degenerate fuck-ups! I’m offering our battered and up-armoured taxi as a means of collecting and keeping an eye on them; might make them think twice about turning us into confetti if their bosses are in the crossfire, plus it gives us means of a quick extraction. You all think on that before we figure out something else to do with it, like putting it in neutral with a bunch of high explosives and shove it down the mine shaft for kicks.”
Tanya moved her boot to kick the glass of the cab behind Iosif to get his attention. “I’m counting on you to know how to drive this piece of shit, just try to keep a clear line of sight towards asshole hotel.” She shouted, bracing herself as the vehicle took a tight turn to bring the gun back in line. She turned towards Serena, who seemed to be hanging on for dear life. “You might as well hop on the rear gun. Think you can get your drones to look for captain missile launcher?” she asked.
~ ~ ~ “Have fun Tonka. Also, try not to spend over half the day fucking him over. We might need you later.” Vellios replied, good naturedly but somehow still being smug as shit to Tonka’s ears.
The krogan responded, “Over half the day? I’m not that old. I’ll be gentle with him. Maybe I’ll bring you back a present. Dex, Drono? I’m coming your way. We’ll handle your Blue Sun problem and go say hello to the town drunks after.” The krogan said, jogging towards the admin building, some 50 meters away. Most of the yard was clear, safe for whatever was going on in the warehouse and the as of yet breach-free housing slab. He cleared the distance in negligible time, his long, powerful legs propelling him towards the relative protection of the building. Diving prone and switching hands, the krogan crawled towards the corner, giving himself a clear line of sight for anyone dumb enough to poke their heads out of the windows of the housing complex. With optics scanning for threats, it seemed that between his earlier sniper activity, the rampaging hijacked vehicle, and the fall of two of their buildings, the remaining Twin Star pirates were hesitant to step out and try their luck, and were likely fortifying the building. It was too bad they didn’t have any demolition charges; that would bring the place down in spectacular fashion without risking anyone’s lives.
“In position, no sign of our friend yet, but maybe he’s just being shy.”
Tanya has killed 2 more batarians, one remains unharmed about 30 meters from the warehouse. The truck is moving as to not be a sitting duck.
Tonka has relocated to a new position, waiting for Dex and Drono to regroup with him while he watches for anyone to leave the housing complex. It appears the batarians aren’t in a hurry to rush out after the carnage outside has thinned their numbers. The Asshole with the rocket launcher is still at large.
“Oh, you sneaky little bastard!’ Vellios cursed out loud when he spotted Kaza’s blade. It was a crude and blood crusted weapon and came down right at Vellios’ shields. It penetrated them like a thermal knife through a Ardol’s hide*. The aim was at the tender, quick bleed out part where his neck and torso connected causing the Turian to pull back just to brace against the attack. His right leg thumped upon the ground hard drawing a painful grunt to his throat while his left tried to pull backwards. His left hand went for his knife and aimed to block the unexpected attack, but he was too slow. Realizing this, Vellios’ pistol hand whipped up. He tilted it and let his wrist catch the Batarian’s just when the blade found its mark. It scratched and barely grinded his attacker’s action to a halt. He gritted at the the strength of his opponent as his mandibles started to flutter with excitement.
Vellios’ senses seemed to heighten into a state of adrenaline, his vision sharpening his focus while blurring the rest when the buzz started to hum within his head. Gun fire faded into the distance like muffled while the two Batarian fired, followed by Vallis creating a shockwave that rolled into their direction. The Turian’s heart thumped within his chest enough to flood him with a buzz not related to his wounds, which he hadn’t sustained much if any.
"I had a hunch you had inside intel, somehow.The way the bitch Quarian entered the warehouse and took out several of our crew was too perfect, at least without intel… now I know."Kaza said in an eerily calm voice, his lips curled up into a knowing smirk.
“Well, you know that’s what happens when you fail to protect your toys… Through nice to see someone’s been working out.”, Vellios commented back mocking admirations. Meanwhile, Kasya’s voice rattled in the background and keeping him in the present… not the past where his instincts tried to take him. The Turian’s teeth gritted against the challenge, though he clearly was enjoying the energy rippling through his whole being, and noted his options.
His gun’s business end was pointed toward Vallis, the botic still occupied since it seemed one of the idiots had been in the process of tossing another grenade at her before she decided to knock their world about. Thankfully it was going to miss but not without most likely catching her with the aftermath. Well, Vellios thought, so much for shooting the asshole at all or bouncing it off my shields into him.
As if Kaza had read his mind, the Batarian smile turned into a frown then the bastard’s other hand came up to grip the blade. He leaned in harder and forced Vellios to one knee, the weight difficult to handle with his posture. The blade started to inch past his protective barrier easily and started to rotate downward. Vellios exhaled in resistance as his weight leaned back, trying to keep the tender spot not protected by his armor from being stabbed into. However, he wasn’t out of tricks. And he sure as fuck didn’t survive Haides to die now.
Shifting his foot to brace against the floor, propping himself upright best he could, his figure jerked to the crate at his side and leaned into it. His weight shifted, Vellios’ hand reach out to slash at Kaza’s exposed lower thigh and spray a blood rich vein wide open. Spotting the movement, Kaza jerked away. His arm was already reaching for his pistol to put a bullet into the merc’s head.
Before the bullet could be fired, Vellios brought up his free hand and started to shift it. It clasped about the wrist and jerked the muzzle to the right. Pain filled his attention for a brief moment as the bullet’s echo deafened his earpiece. The sound filling the communications for several moments then followed by a screech when the device skidded across the floor. There was nothing but silence on the other end.
Vellios breathed hard while his eyes narrowed, a familiar heat from his adrenaline rush filling his core. His hand was tight against the gun and kept it pointed away causing Kaza to alter his tactics. The Batarian’s blade hand came up to swing at the Turian’s neck and severe it from his body. His crested head twisted slightly to spot the incoming then jerked forward, bowing from the blade’s path. It was here that Kaza caught a glimpse of another Turian sneaking up on him and continued to turn, pivoting on his toes of his foot while leaning to the side.
Ting!
The two blades met in the middle of the air blocking the attack. In the same instance, his boot whipped back and kicked Vellios into the gut sending the Turian backwards a few paces, clutching his knee directly on the joint. Vellios barely had time to twist it where shot would merely hurt like hell and not cripple or worse. It sent Vellios backward and Not stopping his momentum, he twisted his blade to bring down Haze’s and opening him up for a pistol butt to the face sending the Turian reeling back as well. Not wanting to take two on, he didn’t waste much time. He pushed to step into Haze’s personal space as he tried to take out Haze’s side then moved past.
The Batarian smiled at seeing the Turian hiss with his side stained in blue and droplets dripped to the floor. The knife managed to cut through the armor and into the carapace underneath through it was shallow enough. Haze wobbled then steadied himself through the pain while Vellios was already coming up to counter against Kaza.
"I took that for you, asshole. Better get up so we can kill this fucker." Naturally when Haze snapped, Vellios countered with lacking empathy and slight mocking.
Kaza let out a belly laugh at the Turian’s whine, his blade pressed against his leg and wiped it clean. "Aww, what's the matter? Little baby turian needs to hold hands to get the job done? Pathetic."
He whipped his combat knife up and entered a stance, his gun already aimed at Vellios. "Come get some, little guys."
Suddenly, the grenade went off causing all within the warehouse to hear.
“Stop whining Haze, we’ve got bigger issues or I’ll tell your girl about how much of a baby you’re being...” Vellios commented through gritted teeth, his hand already slid across his wounded mandible. He pressed his omni-tool for a medi-gel as he rose to his feet, his pain easing a bit more. The black carapace Turian assessed his damage at his wounded knee, thankful it wasn’t broken through it hurt like hell and bent less than it did earlier.
“It’s the little guys you should be most worried about…” Vellios almost growled in warning, a tone so unlike him. His mandibles wiggled in a excitement while he stood at attention then rushed forward, using his adrenaline ability to make his figure blur. Through that didn’t stop the Batarian from firing. The blast was directed at Haze, aiming to surprise the other Turian while his body rolled to avoid Vellios and came to a halt beside his omni-tool. It took moments for him to grip it and snap it on, smirking slightly at the pair.
"Neither one of your are leaving here alive..."
* Ardol: A creature native to Pavalen. It has a grey to black color theme with a long, panther like body and ejected feline claws raised to enable sprinting. Armor plating similar to an ankylosaurus ranging along its spine, from the blunt nose to the spiky tail. It’s face has features similar to a bat with smaller, pointed ears upon its head sides. reference pic
Tonnis & Jelagon
Tonnis - Disruptor ammo (effective on shields), 2 grenades and 1 flash grenade. Shields about 42%, heavy armor. Jelagon- Antipersonnel ammo and Explosive, 1 flash grenade and 1 grenade. Shields about 36%, heavy armor.
Tonnis considering a grenade when his gun started to beep. The barrel reddened from overheating and needed a cool down period, he promptly ducked down behind the nearest crate for cover. His back pressed against the product, now busted to pieces and leaked down his shoulder, his hand cocked his submachine gun to the side while waiting out the timer. Tonnis’ free hand quickly reached to free another grenade and recalled Kaza’s orders. He pressed the side triggers which caused the disk like object to blink, his figure coming around the crate’s edge to toss the thing right at the blue bitch.
There was only one issue. That very blue bitch sent an unexpected biotic shock wave at their position.
Tonnis had faired the best. His body was sent backwards and was tossed to the ground, his body skidding across the floor a few feet away. However, he had managed to toss the grenade just a moment before the wave made contact. His voice cried out in pain while his shields dropped quickly from the direct hit and blared out its next count. Unfortunately, with the sudden attack the grenade didn’t go as far when it hit the ground and slide under a crate to Vallis’ far right. It boomed and exploded the crate, shattering both product and metal pieces into the air. Debris was sent scattering, most harmless but a few chucks dangerous enough to slice deep if Vallis was caught off guard.
Jelgon, who had finished switching explosive ammo, was sent flying into a crate with a loud crash and made big dent in the center. Blue liquid oozed through the twisted metal and soaked his clothes before he started to stir. Forcing himself upright from the wreckage, his pistol whipped out in the direction he last witnessed the Asari, firing if he spotted her peer upright before the grenade off. He would pop off about two or three rounds when his eyes spotted Tonnis’ mistake, the very one beeping across the floor.
“Shit!” He exclaimed. Quickly he rolled over the crate’s side and fell into the small cover that remained when the second grenade went off.
~Vellios engaged the batarian Kaza before haze showed up and separated the two. ~Haze got nailed in the side and decided to aid Vellios on taking the big bad Batarian out. ~Vallis' shockwave hit Jelgon and Tonnis sending them away from her, but the latter managed to toss a grenade.
While Dex waited for a response she stretched back some of her exosuit material on her left arm to reveal a deliberately cut swath for a panel on her arm. She poked it opening up to reveal a small pocket where dry food sat compacted into the tiny space. Carefully lifting her arm up then emptied the contents of pearl sized nuts directly into her mouth. Chewing loudly she closed the panel again. Growing impatient with no acknowledgment from Mirage her right talons drummed against the terminal. A few more minutes passed then she snapped over the comms “Mirage you're obviously too busy to help, so please sit back and relax while the rest of us get the actual work done."
With a huff she turned to the terminal beginning to pick through the raw code for her doorway. Dex would get to T’Raza’s omnitool after she was done. The security on the terminal was dense, it was definitely provided by the Blue Suns. She had difficulty imagining the pirates have bothered to protect the compound’s security. It spoke volumes more of T’Raza than Kapan and Zallak.
Now that Zallak was captured she only hoped that Kapan wouldn’t prove to be too wily despite being dubbed the mastermind. Dex worked steadily on hacking her way past layers of security code. Unfortunately she ran into several data traps that slowed her down considerably.
Her eyes flicked away from the screen down to the wiring panel unopened and begging to be tampered with. Squinting at it she gave in then flicked on the flashlight on her left shoulder pad. Peering into the mess of wires her talons drew up where they connected she tugged network connections that strengthened the security in the terminal. Carefully trying not to bring the entire system down.
Leaning back she used her omnitool to create a wireless transmitter, a window for their hacker to get off his lazy ass and take advantage of. She plugged the network cables into it then nestled it in the corner of the panel.
Returning to the terminal, with the extra walls of security hardware being unplugged she was able to break through.
“There’s a reason why shortcuts exist.” She said smugly under her breath.
The comm chatter only proved to distract her while she downloaded everything she could. “So we picked up half our pay cheque and a bonus? Not bad for a bunch of degenerate fuck-ups! I’m offering our battered and up-armoured taxi as a means of collecting and keeping an eye on them; might make them think twice about turning us into confetti if their bosses are in the crossfire, plus it gives us means of a quick extraction. You all think on that before we figure out something else to do with it, like putting it in neutral with a bunch of high explosives and shove it down the mineshaft for kicks.”
She stopped mid keystroke within a few steps she carefully leaned against the wall taking a sneaking peak out the window. The humans had taken over the truck armed with a turret firing on the housing unit. She laughed at the ridiculous idea of sending it down the mineshaft.
Replying to Tanya’s idea, “You sound like a real riot, Tanya. I’m all for turning the mineshaft into a fiery hellhole.” Returning to the terminal she browsed through their logs noticing a couple classes of sky cars registered within the warehouse having checked in for maintenance over the past week.
“Let’s not push our luck on using shitty trucks. We’re flying out of here. They have sky cars stored in the warehouse.” Dex offered instead, “If any of you blow them up I will personally come down there and kick your as-”
She stopped mid sentence having finally read the key logs.
Oh for fuckssakes.
Tonka's voice rumbled through the comms, her name catching her attention, “Dex, Drono? I’m coming your way. We’ll handle your Blue Sun problem and go say hello to the town drunks after.”
Reconfirming the logs Kapan's name was tagged across the checkpoints in the mineshaft. She couldn't gain any access outside the administration building the logs she stumbled across were general notifications before she disconnected the network.
Quickly filling Tonka in on the Blue Sun problem, "T’Raza passed out from shock if you’re willing to cover us while we get her out then that would work."
"Also...I hacked into their security terminal and I’ve some bad news..." She continued her mandibles flickering nervously, "Kapan has fled down into the mines; his key logs tracked him down through the checkpoints. He fled as soon as the fighting started. Fiery hellhole is going to have to wait."
Hazan wiped his nose; it ached and dripped blood from the pistol butt to his face. Even now, as he stood next to Vellios, his empty hand hovered above his hip holster and the Predator within. He glared as much as a turian could glare at their adversary, and gripped his knife tighter.
The silence and tension were palpable.
Then the gunshot tore through it all.
Haze ducked instinctively as the batarian raised his gun. The shot went wide, but hitting him wasn't his real purpose. For as Vellios ran forward, the batarian dive rolled away from the charging turian and reattached his omnitool to his arm.
It took a few seconds for Haze to straighten and draw his Predator, and in that amount of time, Kaza had already met Vellios. He took a step forward, planted his left foot in the floor and greeted the turian with a grab. Using the momentum of the charge, Kaza pivoted to the right and tossed him aside, at which point a shot from Hazan impacted the crates beside him. The sudden movement had thrown off the second turian's aim, but his second shot wouldn't miss.
Vellios had thought the shot would’ve been aimed at him. Instead it went at Haze, likely to prevent the Turian from even being able to pull out his weapon and fire. It was too late for the first step but the second didn’t exactly go according to plan either. Vellios was almost on top of the Batarian and moved in to force the gun upright, pushing the aim higher then originally intended. The moment he got his fingers around Kaza’s wrist, the thug reacted. His hand whipped his blade around to slice at Vellios while his other arm jerked about to stretch the merc's figure and expose him to the attack. Instead of fighting to keep himself upright, the scarred Turian rolled with the motion as he pushed more into the charge. His feet were pulled from the floor while Kaza spotted Haze lining up a shot.
The slaver’s figure moved while he pivoted to bring himself out of Haze’s range when the crate was impacted, sparks flying from the edge it smacked.
“Shit, Haze, watch it!” Vellios blurted out when he felt the metal sliver breeze by him, the crates rang from the impact.
Kaza spotted Haze already readying himself for another shot and wasn’t about to allow it to happen. Kaza's fingers tightened into a fist then whipped up his knife hand to point his omni-tool at the younger Turian. It glowed quickly then fired at a fast rate right at the dirty sneak who had missed. Vellios, on the other hand, rolled free of Kaza’s grip when the Batarian released his blades. He was lucky he had been, because not soon after, several shots rang out where he was moments ago, leaving about two to three bullet holes.
"Then don't get in the way! Woah!"
Haze ducked too slow to avoid the omni blades. He saw the arm go up but reacted too late. The blades flew past his right, slicing his shoulder and his cheek as he dove to the floor. With a hiss, he raised his omnitool arm to his face and deployed medigel there, while his gun arm fired a blind shot for Kaza. The round thumped into the crate behind him, but Hazan kept firing, intentionally heating up his gun for close combat.
Splinters would rain down over Kaza and Vellios as the turian scampered for safety.
"You're the one that interrupted the dance. By the way, now I can see why you rather not be seen..." Vellios snapped back, his crested head turned to spot Haze immediately start to hit the ground and nearly kiss it. He tried not to smirk while he curled his feet underneath himself and came upright on his fourth roll about across the cold floor. His arm shoved himself up while his other slipped his talons into a tight grip over his blade. He quickly turned to attempt to clash again.
He needed to get close. Vellios was able to shot and decently, but he did his best thinking when clashing blades. It irritated the Turian, mildly, that Kaza was tossing him aside like an unwanted omni-tools which wasn't helping him. He suspected the Batarian already figured out it was best never to engage him direct after the first round and instead, keep him at arms' length during the whole fight. When the splinters rained down on the pair. Vellios uttered a curse then pulled back slightly just when Kaza shot at him. He jerked to the right hearing the bullet catch on the shielding and alerted him it had dropped another percent or two. It was pretty clear he hadn't been fast enough to completely dodge out of the way.
Kaza wasn't as fazed by the splinters as Vellios was, his eyes protected by the night googles he wore. The Batarian noted the Turian didn't have much of a way to defend against his attack, so he jerked into closer then released his blade at the Turian's gut. His other hand held something tightly within his fist and tossed at Haze's direction. It was a grenade. It beeped and sailed at the younger Turian who was approaching the pair causing Vellios to shout, Kaza darting in then out with a slice to Vellio's arm.
"Haze, Grenade!"
"Fuck!"
Hazan took stock of the grenade and did the only thing he could.
Charge.
As the grenade sailed towards him, he ducked under it and kept running. With a roar his shoulder collided with Kaza's middle and the explosive kept going. Haze hauled the batarian a foot back and slammed him into the crate he'd been shooting at. Seconds later the grenade exploded, making the turian grit his teeth as the shockwave washed over him.
Hazan's pistol had been abandoned on the floor once he'd seen the grenade arc towards him. The barrel still smoked on the concrete.
Hazan let go of Kaza and straightened just as the batarian was driving his knife downward to stab into his back.
Bam!
Vellios had quickly pulled out his gun and shot. However, his aim not perfect as the bullet hit the Batarian's shield and didn't pentrate. It did distract the Batarian long enough for Haze to get the upper hand as Kaza looked toward Vellios for a moment. Vellios gave another smirk, his figure fully upright and facing his target then squeezed off another round, this time at the slaver's head.
Hazan felt the impact of the two shots against the batarian's shield and decided to make his move. While Kaza was distracted, he made a stab for the batarian's gun hand, his knife shooting straight for Kaza's wrist. While doing this, he let go of Kaza and stood, bringing the back of his head upward swiftly in a reverse headbutt aimed at Kaza's chin.
The stab landed into his hand causing Kaza snarl in pain, his arm pushed Turian away enough for his foot to plant into Hazan's middle. He landed a kick sending the entangled merc in the opposite direction and allowing him a moment to recover. His gun hand jerked up to fire at Vellios as the scarred Turian ran in the direct that Haze was sent.
Hazan grunted as he got kicked in the gut and toppled aside, landing on his ass, gasping for breath. He wiped blood away from his still-bleeding nose and gripped his knife tighter as he struggled to sit up as Vellios ran towards him.
"Dude. We're getting our asses kicked."
Vellios gave Haze a 'No shit look' then retorted in a slight sarcasm. " No, I thought he was kissing our asses..."
Kaza looked at his wounded hand then pushed a button on his omni-tool activing the medi-gel. His bleeding in his hand stopped as he quickly reached down for his explosive rounds and quickly swapped out his anti-personel rounds. "You're getting on my nerves you two, play time's over."
He took at a shot at Vellios and Haze right as the prior's arm reached out and snagged Haze's armor collar. With strength powered by adrenaline and the rush of blood, Vellios ripped the younger Turian into cover right when the Batarian fired.
Before he could even react, Haze was being grabbed not once but twice, first by Kaza as he took a stare down the barrel of his pistol, then by Vellios pulling him out of the batarian's grip. With a grunt he fell to the floor, his footing completely lost as he toppled over backwards onto his ass. When Haze landed on his ass, Vellios' legs tangled then sent him sprawled across the younger Turian's lap.
"Ow! What the fu- Watch where you're going, and get off me, Vellios!"
With his equally spindly limbs tangled with Vellios' legs, he struggled to get away from the older turian, as close as they were.
" Not really my idea, but at least I saved your scaly ass!" Vellios commented while he rolled from Haze's lap and onto the floor, his body leaned to the side to face the other Turian. His back was firmly placed against the crate while it was peppered with explosive rounds that made a loud bomb with each impact. He could pretty much feel the vibrations rattling off the container.
"I'm going to state the obvious here: This isn't working. So, got any ideas for how to work together and turn bubble face into a corpse because honestly, I'm getting tired of waiting on you to stop dancing with him."
"Well gee I thought it was open season on the dance floor here, didn't know you had a hard-on for that asshole."
Hazan huffed and sat upright, braced against the explosions that rocked the crate.
"I didn't realize you danced so badly either, but we learn something new every day, don't we?"
"Not my fault I have a better dance partner. Well, you're good at close quarters, yeah?"
"Yes, had to be since I was ten. Pretty much had to learn how to survive with a knife or become another victim. Rather hard to sleep when your throat is sliced into." Vellios stated with surprisingly calm tone.
"Well I'm good at long range, so why not we gang up on him? I have a feeling his shields aren't that full any more, so if you distract him, I can wheel around and maybe fill his back full of molten metal."
"That should be possible, but you sure you won't be spotted this time?"
"Not if you keep all four of his eyes occupied. He'll be too busy keeping you at bay to notice me."
"Alright, but before you do." Vellios' hand reached over and clicked on his omni-tool with a few rapid taps then immediately downloaded a medi-gel. He then teased with a slight smirk on his turian face. " I rather not have Dex harping at me later."
Hazan's omnitool beeped with the transfer of medi-gel, and he immediately applied it to himself, sighing a little in relief as his cuts stopped bleeding. He shook his head and grinned back. "Thanks dad. Now go get 'em. I'm gonna go find my pistol."
He swapped knife hands, switching the deadly blade to a backhand grip in his left.
"Take mine for now. Don't lose or break it, son." Vellios handed Haze his pistol as he took out his own blade and activated his own omni-tool blade. "If I'm lucky, I might be able to get a Ballistic Blades shot off as well."
"Pinky swear? Oh wait." Hazan chuckled as he accepted the gun in his right. With his knife hand braced underneath his right wrist, he peeked up over the crate.
Kaza stood nearby but he was moving closer, smoke slowly rising from the barrel of his overheated gun. Within seconds, it would be ready to fire again. In his other hand, he held a familiar looking black heavy pistol.
A Predator.
A round flew over his head as Hazan ducked back down and swore.
"He's got my pistol. Mother fucker."
"Could be worse, could have a piece of your ass too."
"Bah, don't remind me." With a quick movement, Hazan drew his rifle and unfolded it. He peeked over the crate again to get the batarian's position and ducked.
"Alright, I'm gonna pin him down. Once I do, you go get him. We go as planned; you engage him in close, I'll circle around and plug his ass."
"Make sure to empty into him, and not me too. You need to take me out to dinner before that." Vellios snickered then crawled to his hands and feet, his body moved into position when Haze unleashed his fire into the Batarian's direction.
"Oh I'll save a load for you later, sweetie. Alright, on three."
"Baby, you promise? I might have a few toys for you later too."
"Try me."
"Careful what you wish for. Size isn't everything after all. So, you ready?"
"Ready. One, two, three go!"
Hazan stood and swung his rifle to bear at Kaza. The batarian's four eyes widened and he dove straight down as the young turian opened fire. The crates around Kaza's position rang with fire as the battle rifle barked, preventing the batarian from moving one inch. Haze glanced at Vel beneath him and yelled.
"Go get him!"
Vellios was already off like a shot. His legs thumping against the concrete hard to bring him quickly toward Kaza's position, the Batarian now pinned down behind the very crates he had been shooting at earlier. His lungs rattled softly against his chest while the Turian's spindly legs cut down the distance causing Haze to cease firing. Kaza was already aiming to come with his pistol pointed only to meet Vellios' blade pinning it to the crate side. It made a loud thunk just then the gun went off, the bullet hitting his shields and completely blocked at the cost of another three percent.
The Batarian snarled then jerked out his blade to cut Vellios into the gut. Immediately the Turian darted back and used his omni-tool to cut at the slaver's side. Again it was blocked, but neither were giving any quarter. The pistol was forgotten while the two started to engage in close combat. Vellios' lithe body ducked out of the way, though his eyes lost track of Haze early into the fight, before he made a slashing counter with his omni-tool.
Once Hazan saw Vellios tangling blades with the batarian, he began moving. He ducked down behind his cover and began cutting a wide circle around the two combatants, keeping track of where they were from all the grunting and noise they made. He kept moving, weaving through stacks of crates and boxes while always keeping the noise to his left. When he took a peek and saw Kaza's back facing him, he grinned. Perfect position. He took a minute to move forward and then braced himself against a stack of crates and took aim, pistol on the top of a stack of pallets. He muttered to himself as he watched the two of them fight.
"C'mon Vellios...you can do it."
Vellios' arm managed to loop about Kaza's arm, his other stressing at the blade trying to come in and slice open his throat. His limbs were struggling against the Batarian's superior strength while he started to let his torso be pushed to the side. It seemed like the Turian was losing but Haze would likely know better. At least, Vellios hoped. At the moment, the Batarian's side was open for a shot to the shields and with any luck would bring them.
He saw the opening. Hazan's eyes spotted the subtle movement to the side and swivelled his sights straight there. With a quick glance to the side of the gun, he switched on the Disruptor ammunition mod, took aim, and fired.
The electrified slugs thumped into Kaza's middle, making him grunt in pain as he staggered backwards. He growled and glared straight at Hazan, who grinned in response and ducked back down behind cover.
When the disruptor ammo impacted and buzzed, shutting down the shielding, Vellios’ arm released his grip. The Batarian’s already skewered balance toppled a bit causing his footing to stagger sideways and retreat from the Turian’s personal space. This was enough to detangle them. When the disruptor ammo impacted the shielding with electrical energy, it buzzed and spread across the surface shutting down the shields. With Kaza’s head turned to glare at Haze, who did a cheeky silent gesture that Vellios approved of, the black Turian was determined to keep the Batarian’s attention on him.
“Yo, sweetie, I’m not done with you yet.” His blade hand came out to slash across the Batarian’s chest, the space between them was now a few steps wider than before, as the thug countered with his. The blades interlocked with Vellios’ forearm bracing against his when Kaza’s arm forced Vellios’ across to his left then raised his gun. A muzzle was aimed at Vellio’s head just when his eyes caught the weapon coming into view and his elbow jerked upward, the end smacking Kaza’s underarm causing him to fire prematurely. The bullet skirted past his shoulder and buried into the crate that Haze was using for cover.
“Haze, you still alive?” Vellios asked as he gritted through his mandibles.
"Never better!" Hazan yelled as the stray bullet pinged off the crate he used to be behind. Now he was circling back around, pistol still in hand. The fight would be over before he knew it.
“Good, because it’s about time…” Vellios started as his omni-tool came up and around the Batarian’s waist, his fist squeezed this whole time to activate his own Ballistic Blades. The distraction Haze had provided was ideal and kept Kaza from realizing what the Turian was doing. It also prevented him from bring his other arm into place because the attack needed a charge to be more effective. His fisted talons whipped out then jabbed into the Batarian’s gut. The Ballistic Blades then released, acting like a shotgun and several blade ejected into the slaver’s middle. "I end this."
Crimson blood suddenly splattered from the impact and scattered upon his black surface. His mandible were wiggling in pure excitement at seeing the shocked look upon the Batarian’s face when all strength went out on realizing he was dead. His eyes filmed over and the light left them, a purely thrilling sensation creeping into Vellios’ smirking jawline. He barely noted the staining red across his front when he stepped backwards to let the corpse thump to the ground with a soft, fleshy sound. The blade’s steel rang out when it hit the floor announcing the slaver’s death.
Vellios’ foot rolled over Kaza’s body to expose the bloodied indention, even with the armor’s protective layer. His figure inhaling and exhaling, his surface covered with fresh superficial cuts as he stared. Abruptly, and without warning, his blade whipped downward then stabbed into the Batarian’s thick neck before slicing it open to spill more blood upon the floor. He jerked the weapon free when he was satisfied the goon was official dead, his feet turned to walk away from it and check on Haze.
"Man, you enjoyed that way too much."
With his black Predator back in his hand, Hazan engaged the safety on Vellios' pistol and tossed it back at him as he walked towards the corpse. Then he aimed the heavy pistol at the corpse's head and blew a few new holes in it.
If Kaza weren't dead, he certainly was now.
"That was for taking my pistol and shooting my friend with it, bitch."
"Enjoy that you finally let off your load?" Vellios snickered, altering the subject matter quickly after Haze's comment.
The younger turian merely chuckled as he stowed his pistol and knelt to inspect the corpse.
"Why, jealous that you didn't get it first?"
He quickly went for the dead batarian's omnitool, disengaging it from his wrist as he activated it and synced it with his own. Once he confirmed that he could use it, he attached it to his left hand and grinned.
"Ballistic Blades aren't as easy to use as they look, Haze. They pack a hella of a wallop if you've not braced yourself so I suggest to wait on using it until I can teach you how. Else you'll end up on your ass more often then you need to be."
"Oh sure, why not. Maybe you could teach me how to dance better too."
"Don't see why not, but first let's go help the others?" Vellios noted his comm laying, broken and damaged upon the ground, and bent down to pick the sparking device up. "Serena is going to kill me now..."
Hazan merely nodded as he stowed his pistol and drew his rifle. Noticing the broken comms piece, the young turian pressed a talon to his own, broadcasting to the crew's common network.
"Haze here. I've linked up with Vellios in the warehouse. Took care of a nasty piece of work. Vellios' comms got destroyed in the process, but I'm sticking with him. We're moving out to help the assault team, starting with Valiss. We're headed for you, out."
With that he shouldered his rifle and gestured forward.
"Let's get going. I'm sure your two battle companions need our help."
Without another word, both turians took off to help the first one on the list: Vallis.
Valiss' shields had recharged as she heard her biotic attack hit home against her two assailants. Gunfire flashed around her as her allies went to work clearing out thugs from the warehouse. Her hands went to cover herself as a grenade went off to her side, annihilating a crate near her. The asari was quite delighted that the explosive had been away from her.
Debris shot around her, she huddled down until the last second, sure that the brute of the action was done with. She was wrong as a sizeable chunk clipped her shoulder, doing a bit of a damage but not going through her shields. She grunted through surprise, now even more angry at the slavers. Her body glued an intense blue once more as shots pinged helplessly around her, as her shields regained their full charge she rose back up.
Blue fury emitted from her hands as she pulled Jelgon out of cover and towards her. Valiss put both hands, ten fingers on her firearm as she aimed it steadily at the now floating fool. The weapon rattled as she squeezed the trigger, driving shots towards her enemy.
No sooner had Hazan and Vellios moved out from their trial-by-combat than they'd gone under fire again. A barrage of shots from the housing block across the way had sent the younger Turian scrambling for cover. Somewhere along the way, he'd lost sight of Vellios, but the older, stealthy Turian was no doubt on his way to perform more killing.
They had a shared objective though: help out their Asari teammate Valiss. She was currently engaged with two slavers, but he did note that she had the upper hand; as two more explosions rocked the warehouse, she pulled one of them out from cover and filled his front full of rounds. Most of them pinged off his shield, but once that went down, more buried themselves in his form and he went limp in the air.
Hazan keyed his comms.
"Valiss, friendlies coming in behind you. Repeat, friendlies behind you."
And just like that he was next to her, crouched down behind a nearby crate as shots pinged off his cover. He grinned at her as he returned fire blindly, lifting his pistol over the crate and squeezing off multiple shots towards where the loud noises were coming from.
"Sorry about the delay, me and Vellios had to take care of a minor problem. D'you know where's the other asshole that needs killing around here?"
Tonnis’s met with Jelagon’s, the latter already readying another grenade in his hand with his other pressing his gun to his chest. He was about to wheel around and toss it when the suddenly a blue glow outline his shape. Immediately, he was lift violent up seconds later over the crates while his other gun dropped from its holder. It clattered to the ground with a loud sound near Tonnis, still hidden. Jelagon’s feet dangled and jerked while he floated over the remaining cargo of drugs, being jerked helpless toward the biotic alien. Surprised, Tonnis paused briefly to stare with a stupefied and shocked look from the safety behind the crate.
That time was ill spent and possibly what cost Jelagon his life.
When Jelagon was in position for Vallis, the Asari let loose with steady gun fire.The bullets emptied into the shield as the Batarian was unable to defend himself and only kept himself from blowing up by cradling the unactivated grenade behind his weapon. It was thick enough to prevent the bullet, when they poured past, and keep the thing hidden from sight for the moment, but that wouldn’t work for long.
Still free and able to move, Tonnis’ teeth gritted in anger and frustration at seeing Jelagon’s shields rapidly declined. His hub monitoring the system as it was counting down from the 36% thanks to the rain of bullets and getting smaller by the second. At this rate, it wouldn’t take long before the slaver’s shields were down to pretty much nothing allowing her to kill him off. Inwardly he wished, secretly, he had brought more grenades since the little blue bitch hadn’t learned she was fighting two not one. When the percent reached about 20% on Jelagon’s armor, the Batarian had gained enough courage to flip his gun to an assault rifle with the same Disruptor ammo.
He edged about the corner, cursing their luck, then he pulled the trigger. When first bullet hit Vallis’ shield on her armor, an electrical jolt spread across it bring the fresh 100% rapidly down again like before. His eyes spied what he assumed was the same Turian moving into position near the Asari, the Batarian’s figure ducking out of sight from the blue bitch’s sight and less likely to be grabbed by the biotics.
Didn’t mean he wasn’t prepared for the occasion. While he hunched over, several shots pinged off the crate he was using for cover causing him to jump briefly. His mouth twisted into a frown at having spot a Turian, assuming that Kaza was dead and failed, join the asari.
Jelagon- Antipersonnel ammo and Explosive, 1 flash grenade and 1 grenade. Shields about 36%, heavy armor.- Deceased Tonnis - Disruptor ammo (effective on shields), 2 grenades and 1 flash grenade. Shields about 42%, heavy armor.
-Jelagon was picked up by Vallis, floated over while he dropped his gun near Tonnis. -His gun held close to chest and hide the grenade, not yet activated, behind his gun as he was killed. -Tonnis brought Vallis' shielding down a large percent when he used disruptors on her then ducked back behind the crate for cover. -Tonnis noted Haze, mistaking him for Vellios, join Vallis.
”Its going down~” Drono spoke as he watched his crewmates exchanging fire and grenades with the enemy down on ground level. He could see the way the enemies numbers were starting to cut into the flanks of his newfound comrades. Looking around nad hearing Dex talk to Tonka, a plan formed in his head. It was a reckless, incredibly dumb move. Therefore, it would certeinly work. He saw the way before his eyes. They were all so focused on driving his buddies back. They would never see it coming. This was the things his former partner had likely shot him over, aside from greed. When it came to improvisation and out of box thinking, Drono was top of the class. The slimey bastard had run down the mines. But Drono was a crook, he knew better then anyone how to smoke other crooks out.
”Ok. I got an idea. It is reckless, and means I am gonna have to take my decrepid srawny ass into the mainbuilding. ”
He lifted a hand before Dex could say a word. Becouse someone was gonna point out that he was walking like a old man right now. ”I can't take our curvy prisoner over the shoulder. Not in my state. And I bet you are physically stronger then me, even if I were 100 percent and at my pique. So you need to extract our bonus.” He said eyeing the Asari. ”I think, as they are all focusing on our friends down there. I am gonna sneak into their armory, and procure me some explosives. I am gonna make it so that this part of the godforsaken rock lights up like a strip club under UV lights unless Kaplan comes out willingly. I know the type. If they run that quickly, they are terrified of dying. And being buried in a mine shaft can't be high up on the preferred death list.” He said as he patted his remaining grenade. ”Granted. With what I got, I will have to play it by ear and rely on my knowledge in these things.. Think you can keep my back clean Tonka?”
Khosin gritted his teeth at Kasyra’s words, opting to just simply hand her the medigel and to not reply to her comment ”Probably what she wants. But knowing my luck she’ll be as happy with me keeping my mouth shut.” Mused the Batarian Sentinel, letting a sigh escape from his lips.
”At least this guys know what they are doing.” Thought Khosin once Kasyra had taken he tried to find the silver lining to the situation. It was in that moment that he saw for a split second the flashbangs before they detonated, temporarily blinding him.
It was only after the effect of the flashbang grenade had subsided that he finally got Vellios’s message, although there was some static on it “Thanks Khosin, right? Interestingly enough, you’re not the first Batarian ally that has nearly got me killed but likely the first willing to bail my ass out. I’m a bit pinned down behind your little friends. The bastard’s got cryo ammo and I think another got explosive, so watch yourselves.”
”Hmm, flashbangs must have fried something on my helmet, bah, I can apologize later if we get out of this alive” Thought the Batarian Sentinel as survival instincts kicked in. He took cover behind the craters next to the quarian and brought his omni-tool up “Damn it all, need a couple of seconds before the tech armor is ready” He mumbled under the sound of gunfire as Kasyra engaged in on the pair of Batarian’s that were attacking them.
“My shields are down. I need a minute to recharge.” He heard Kasyra say. Nodding silently, he tipped a few commands in his omni-tool and looked as hsi tech-armor sprang to life around him.
Standing up, he turned to face the target that Kasyra had recently made vulnerable with her attack. Finding the target in question easily enough with his Hud, Khosin stopped holding his rifle with both hands and drew in a deep breath. After a few seconds, a purple aura enveloped his body -briefly illuminating the dark room with its azure glow- and, soon enough, a small ball of biotic energy was formed into his hand and sent towards the un-shielded target.
While Ghonvan screamed in pain as the Reave affected his nervous system, Khosin took no time to put in it's fair share of bullet's in the slaver's body, making sure that -sooner or later- he’d meet his end, either from his biotic attack or from the bullet wounds. However, his focus on Ghonvan cost Khosin dearly, as he didn’t pay attention to the warnings that his Hud had been blaring in his helmet -his concentration focused on the Reave technique- until he felt a bullet pierce through his armor and shoulder, courtesy of Lonato.
Turning around, he fired a few rounds against the other Batarian -taking chance of the temporary reprieve as Lonato waited a few seconds for his weapon not to overheat- he ducked behind cover, but not before sending an incineration blast towards the remaining Batarian. “How much longer until your shields are back up? Mine are already depleted” He said to Kasyra, shifting slightly as blood poured slightly from his wound.
Twenty Minutes Later, somewhere down the mineshaft…
The enforcer gauntlet struck with such an impact that stupid fucking Tierogk didn’t even have a discernible face when Kapan Nasa’Dor struck one of his hired guns across the face with his omni-tool’s most useful function. Chunks of bone fragment and blood, held together by long sinews of flesh, clung to the translucent fist that had enveloped Kapan’s. As Tierogk’s body fell with a drawn out, haunting gurgle, the enforcer gauntlet disappeared, causing the viscera that had clung to it to fall to the dirt below, suddenly taken by gravity when the surface supporting it vanished. The surrounding men didn’t say a thing, some even had the fucking decency to avert their eyes. A few sick bastards like, Johark, cradling some ugly krogan-made Striker assault rifle like he got off on this shit. It was for that reason Johark was often left in charge of managing the slaves. More than one idiot who had gotten cheeky found themselves blown apart in raged chunks from the Striker’s explosive rounds. People tended to fall in line after that, since few people tended to immediately wipe chunks of their husband or wife off their face and remain defiant.
“Let this be a lesson to the rest of you idiots! You run like cowards, you die like one!” he kicked at Tierogk’s body, causing it to shift the dirt as it rolled over. Kapan walked around, jabbing the men in the chests with the same hand that had only moments before had taken life so violently. The effect was exactly as Kapan intended; they were shitting themselves over what he’d do to them rather than what the other gang would do to them. He didn’t know who they are or what they wanted, but they were good enough to destroy most of his operation, and Kapan couldn’t figure out who would be ballsy enough to cross him. Most of the big gangs in the area left the Twin Stars to their devices, thanks largely to the monthly “tributes” Kapan started to contribute to them without being threatened first. The result was a largely peaceful little corner of Omega where most of the players played nice and let each other do business without interruption. Hell, most of the gangs in the area shared the same dock, a de facto neutral ground where nobody tried to seize control, and nobody tried to butt others out of their assigned spots. As far as Omega went, it was almost charmingly progressive.
Or it was, until some assholes decided to start a turf war. It was only four days off from their own power play, which just pissed Kapan off. The slave master crossed his arms, looking at the men around him, 15 in all, and he knew that 4 more were working on the mining operation while another 4 were watching over the slaves, who were being taken out of their cages two at a time and transferred onto a truck.
“Okay, here’s the deal, I don’t know who’s out there, but let’s not start pointing fingers until we take them from their bodies and find out who wants a piece of our prize. We need results, because I do not need to tell you what the Blue Suns do to people who cross them, and the blue bitch they sent had the personality of, well, an asari,” a few nervous chuckles filled the crowd. Good. Break them down, build them up. That was how you did a business. Johark spat on the ground, his rifle resting between his arms on top his shoulders. “Speaking of her, think her pussy’s still good? I ain’t picky if it’s warm.” He said, finally washing away the last vestiges of fear and hesitation from the gang. They were ready to fucking fight.
“Can’t be colder than when she was alive!” Kapan roared with fraternal glee. “Okay, settle down boys, settle down. So here’s how we do it, since none of you guys had a chance to get shit faced like the boys above, gods rest their souls, you’re actually able to fight. Johark, you take three boys and help get the slaves to the ship. You get it warmed up, but don’t you dare take off without me, got it? Good.
“Yerg,” he jabbed his marksman with a Kishock harpoon rifle in the chest. “You take the other two snipers, go set up as far up the tunnel as you can make it while still falling back. Bleed ‘em out, draw them out, and force them to divide where the fork hits. Utan? You are going to take lead a squad, pick a second in command to lead the other. For those of you who were too busy getting blowjobs from your math teachers in school instead of lessons, two squads of four, including Utan. Set up down the forks in a kill zone, use any heavy weaponry, grenades, whatever we got down here, which ain’t much, and kill anyone who crosses your path. Snipers, keep the squads up to date.
“I’m going to take the last two guys, including myself, and go help with the bombs. We’re ahead of schedule, but we’re going to make future generations forget the Howlers were even fucking there. Okay? Get to work, boys! We can drink to our fallen lot tonight, but look at it this way, your pay cuts just increased way higher than anyone else on this rock!”
With that, Kapan lead his men down a poorly lit side tunnel while the rest of his crew began to follow orders, digging in tight.
Twin Stars are preparing for assault from mercenary team. There are 22 men, including Kapan Nasa’Dor, that will have to be dealt with. They are divided as follows, -7 slavers, lead by the heavy armour and Striker armed Johark, are armed with various light weaponry and up to medium armour, no heavy weapons or snipers. They are largely dealing with the slaves, so they are distracted and trusting that their comrades keep the mercenaries off their backs. You may be able to get the drop on them.
-6 fighters, plus Kapan, are busy setting up a huge amount of explosive charges to destroy rival territory from underneath. Like the slavers, they are largely distracted and trying to finish up quick while depending on the others. Kapan is a lot more alert than the others, so he is very vigilant. Armed with heavy armour, a Locust submachine gun and biotic vanguard abilities, he is an extremely deadly combatant who you do not want to get close to.
-4 snipers, led by Yerg, have light armour and 2 Kishock sniper rifles, plus 2 other batarian made sniper rifles. They are pretty good shots thanks to years of practice and slaving raids, but they aren’t military trained. Rudimentary counter-sniper skills may work fine. -one squad lead by Utan are down the left fork, and are setting up a defensive position with a grenade launcher and three assault rifles. There are 4 batarians here.
-one squad is led by Utan’s second in command and have an unknown composition, they are down the right fork.
-The mine has two paths, plus a smaller foot path connecting the two further down. One ends with the bomb site, and the other ends with a vehicle similar to the technical Tanya, Serenna, and Iosif have hijacked, only with slaves chained to the back benches. The roads are wide enough for the vehicles, and have the occasional cut away to turn around where mining activity was historically done. There are some ledges and scaffolding to be aware of, as well as some crude bunkers, sand bags, and strategically piled rocks that were set up for defensive reasons long ago, just for a scenario like this.
-While their resolve has been restored somewhat, the slavers are still shaken after the brutal execution of their friend they witnessed, who had survived the chaos above and moved to warn everyone below. They also know the vast majority of their comrades are dead, and know next to nothing of the mercenary team.
~ ~ ~ At the mouth of the mineshaft…
All considered, the assault was going pretty well. Nobody was dead, a little fucked up here and there, but Tanya was overall pretty impressed with the group. Now the compound was cleared, 3 Eye and the Blue Sun cunt were in custody, and it was decided some of the team would go and secure the frigate the Twin Stars owned and take it home. Duuka, Mirage, Alex, Tia, and Marco volunteered for the assignment, the looks or radio responses evident for some of them that they were all too eager to get the fuck off Omega and away from the death trap that was calling itself a team. The team split in two, but Tanya suspected they wouldn’t see their acquaintances again. She hoped, at least, that they’d wire the funds for that job instead of screwing everyone out of a cut. There were no guarantees with anyone, hell they were still largely strangers, but there was something oddly comforting about the whole thing. It felt good to be fighting again, and Tanya wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she missed having a team.
The engineer leaned against the turret ring, looking down at the group gathered below, half of whom were watching the entrance, half were scratching up a plan in the dirt below. Tonka seemed to be taking charge of this part. “Okay, from the files Dex and Drono lifted, we have a mineshaft here that didn’t really get a good lifespan before it was shut down. About six hundred meters down, it splits into two, so we’ll have to split the team into two. I’ll take point for one, I used to be a miner so this is like stepping into a crusty ass bubble bath for me. Past that, about another 550 meters the fork ends to the right path, and it looks like there’s surface access at the end. The other side goes about 700 meters but is much more narrow at the end, like they were trying to go far, but didn’t really spread it out to look for minerals or whatever the hell they were looking for. Either way, I’ll head off that way. It sounds like that’s checkpoint central, and I’m itching to get my armour dirty.” He said, collapsing his sniper rifle and pulling the Argus free, the well-worn rifle springing to life with well-lubricated function. “So, who’s with me?”
“Iosif and I seem to be a package deal here, so we’ll take this here truck down and go to the right towards the wider end, rather not find out the road’s too narrow for us to get down and find another rocket sailing up our ass. We’ll do fire support, and we can probably cover a lot of ground acting like an APC of sorts.” Tanya called down, leaning on her helmet and her hair looking even more messy and wild than usually. She took a hand and absent mindedly brushed the Mohawk into some semblance of order. She smiled at the team below. ”You know, I’m starting to like you guys. We still haven’t picked a name for our little team here. What do you say we pick it out over celebratory drinks tonight?”
“You humans drink way too much, but screw it. I’m in this to see this beautiful disaster fall apart, so the scary krogan will chaperone you idiots. Now, can we focus on the job?”
Shortly after, the team deployed, Tanya and Iosef in the truck, with Serena scouting ahead with her drones. The young woman cursed loudly and opened comms with the team, who were walking in formation on either side of the truck in fire teams.
“Snipers up ahead! We round that corner, and we’re taking shots.” As if punctuating her point, a gunshot rang out loudly in the tunnels and the shimmering of her drone exploding lit up the cavernous walls ahead. Anyone who wasn’t wearing a helmet probably wish they had hearing protection at this point. “Right, I don’t fancy getting my head shot off today. Who enjoys killing snipers?” Tanya asked. Tonka was already getting his Volkov sniper rifle ready, in case he needed to counter-snipe.
”As for drinks. None of you drunks better lick my face. It keeps happening with humans. I keep telling people there are better ways to get high.” He said as he checked his gun. He noted that the heatsink was uninjured from him being rag dolled earlier. The ache in his back had been reduced to a dull ache but it wasn't entirely gone. He knew a visit to the clinic was in his future. But for now he would have to play ball and suck it up. But in the meanwhile he had a little salvaging to do. He was about of flash bangs, but he had a whole compound worth of dead guys and their weapons. And he wasn't beyond desecrating the remains of scum to get what he needed. The Drell began cooking up something diabolical that only a career criminal could come up with.
By the time the were moving out again, he was behind behind the truck, pushing along a rather sizable chunk of improvised death. He had snagged a small automated loading trolley and attached aimed all the servos to pull it a single direction. On the back he had fashioned something similar to a oversized bottle rocket. They had taken some time collecting themselves and he had taken that time to loot every container of their flammables and explosive materials. The glimmer in his eyes would give a Krogan Berserker pause. Resting at his feet was a obscene amount of everything remotely explosive he could get. It seemed as if he had almost hotglued stuff into a giant ball of death. As the report came in of gunfire, his face lit up.
”Snipers in a tunnel. Like shooting fish in a barrel.. And me without my flash bangs.” But he seemed rather unphased. ”Hey Tonka! I have just thing.” He said, the grin on his face spreading wide, like that of a Cheshire cat. Evolution clearly had not designed the Drell to smile that wide because it looked almost obscene, stretching his reptile face. ”I once rigged one of these when I had to ditch a ship that was being boarded. Me and my old Partner ran into pirates every so often.” The nervous energy rolled off him in waves. He kept looking from the bomb to the corner where bullets were pinging off.. ”Its basicly this big ball of death you roll down slopes.” He said as he prepped the fuse for it. ” You set it off and watch it roll. The first explosion goes off and it picks up speed. Bouncing down the corridor or tunnel while blowing into more an more fragments. It's great for breaching a position when you lack proper military stuff. Those snipers won't have a target with all this chaff, fire and smoke rolling down their way.”
As if to prove his point. He grabbed the ball of improvised death and pushed around the corner with it.. A bullet pinged it but it only worked to set off the chain reactions of odd chemicals and explosives. The smoke that came from it was several different colors as it shot down like a lopsided, bouncing rocket. The wheels he attached to it allowed it to propel forward with the rocket as a engine of sort. There were a bunch of yelling as it went off with a large bang. And then it filled the tunnel with light, sparkling fire and the acrid smell of gunpowder and chemicals. He doubted it had made far enough to kill them all outright. But by now it was on the others to use the smoke and distracting noise to get in position. By the time the trolley had exploded, they'd have had plenty of time to move and make am move.
"There's one Batarian bastard around. Just took out my shields." Valiss said to Haze, then she sighed as her shields recharged. He had hit her with disruptor shots and they had done damage. She had to be careful with him but she had take her own toll on the scum. Both of her hands rested on her weapon, she could still feel the heat emit from it from the shots she had been firing off. She wouldn't be satisfied until it was scorching hot in her palm after she cooked the batarian alive with bullets.
Part of her was relieved to have backup, another part of her was angry that she needed backup. She was a damn former Asari commando, there are high tales of them clearing out entire fortresses on their own. These slavers were literally nothing.
"Try to get him to come out of cover for me," Valiss said before she popped up then unloaded her submachine gun towards Tonnis, the shots not making contact but were definetly close enough to make him nervous. She went back down behind cover then mumbled to herself, practically grinding her teeth. "I'm gonna tear this fucker's heart out."
"You got it, just stay safe, alright? You'll know when he's out."
As Valiss stood and unloaded a barrage of fire at where the other batarian was, he made his move. Haze scrambled out from behind the shared cover and wheeled left, cutting a wide swathe across the concrete as he ran towards Tonnis' hiding place.
Tonnis peeked out from cover and gulped, watching the angry Asari commando duck back down behind her cover, weapon spent again. He grinned and raised his rifle, peppering the crate with shots to force her down.
"That's right, blue bitch! Cower! I'm gonna drink your blood and then I'm coming for your friend next!"
Of course, lost in the heat of battle, he never noticed the black-clad turian sneak up next to him. A talon aimed itself at his side as Haze lined up his stolen omnitool, Ballistic Blades charged.
"Drink this."
Tonnis spun to the side, gasping in surprise, just as Haze pressed a button. His omnitool charged and spat a burst of blades at the batarian, everything pinging off his shields. But the sheer force tossed both of them backwards; Haze on his ass behind the crates, and Tonnis out in the open, his shields popping like a balloon from the contact.
Valiss had her eyes poked from cover as she watched her teamate It hadn't killed the bastard but had yanked him out of hiding which delighted the asari. He couldn't stay tucked away any longer, no he was all hers. The imposing blue aura flared around Valiss' feminine form as her biotics charged up.
Her free hand shot upwards as she yanked the slaver off the ground then sent him backwards towards the wall with as much force as she could muster. Tonnis slammed into it hard, the asari was not messing around anymore. She wanted this man dead and she would damn well try to do it. He went down, noise shooting up as he landed downwards, Valiss dropping him from her biotic grasp.
"Make sure no one sneaks up on me!" She exlaimed to Haze as Valiss placed both hands on her submachine gun. She was momentarily out of cover, the last thing she needed was to be shot in the back. Valiss pressed the trigger and shots rang out.
"You got it!"
Standing back up, he whipped around and aimed his rifle past the Asari, while she filled the fallen Batarian full of hot death.
Tonnis barely had a word out before bullets thudded into his back. Blood splattered over the floor as he gurgled his last, then slumped, very dead. Without a word, Haze shifted to the left and doubled checked the body by kicking it hard in the shin.
"Definitely dead, Valiss. You got him."
He kept his rifle up, but whipped around and took a knee as he waited for the commando.
"Let's go find the rest, Valiss. And no sense going alone. Better safe than sorry."
"Good idea, there's plenty more of the scum to kill." Valiss said with a smile on her face. They had to keep moving as she dashed towards Haze, both of them moving forward as the assault on the slavers raged on.
"THOSE MOTHERFUCKING, COCKSUCKING, SHIT-EATING, PISS-DRINKING, BASTARD LOVING, KROGAN HUMPING, HANAR SPOONING, BRICK WALL HEADBUTTING, ACID SNIFFING, VOLUS RIDING, VARREN FUCKING, FOUR EYED BALLSWEAT LICKING, SONS OF BITCHES!" Serena cursed, hiding behind the wall and looking at the remains of one of Del. "He's going to be all sorts of out of whack now you fuckers!" She was genuinely furious. Del represented months of hard work, and those fucking Batarian snipers had just destroyed a piece of him without a second thought. Of course, the other half of her rage was the mind numbing terror of irrevocable fact that sheer luck had saved her from getting a bullet to the head. Hiding that terror behind rage was an easier thing to do than to sit down and start shaking.
Her other two drones were hiding behind the wall with her, and Serena seethed, thinking about just how she could get her drones and others down there and start shooting the fuckers as much as possible (she herself wasn't made for this whole, direct combat thing). Or at the very least cause them considerable distress. She didn't notice Drono's monologue and his insane contraption (seriously, even her more scary creations looked more stable than that ball of death) until it started barreling down the tunnel and exploding spectacularly. What was far more important was the fact that all the smoke gave the remaining Del drones the perfect cover for an up close and personal assault. "Oh Vellios!" Serena called with a false sweetness through the spare comm she had given him (Idiot was always getting his destroyed, damaged, or 'lost) "You like killing Batarian snipers don't you? The two remaining Del will cause a lovely bit of chaos, and I'll fire a couple concussive crossbow bolts down the way, and you can go kill them. Sounds like a plan?"
Without waiting for an answer, her two remaining drones dimmed their lights considerably, flew close to top of the tunnel and zoomed towards the Snipers in a hopefully unpredictable pattern. Once behind said snipers, they'd drop down and start shooting and hopefully killing the Batarians. Serena herself peeked from her cover and fired a concussive bolt from her Omni-tool down the tunnel where she figured the bastards were from the brief glance she got before scrambling into cover.
Hazan rubbed his sore behind as he advanced up with Valiss. The mutter was to himself as they came up on the rest of the crew under a withering hail of fire from snipers at the other end of the tunnel. He broke away from Valiss as he dashed up behind Serena and took stock.
The crew were mostly arrayed out around the inside of the tunnel entrance. Drono, their crazy Drell engineer, had just sent a ball of...something rolling down a side tunnel that was sparking and snapping and cracking and popping and exploding with every bounce. Serena had just sent out two of her drones to harass the snipers while she barked an order a suggestion to good ol' Vellios. The rest were hiding from the intermittent sniper fire (accurate sniper fire at that), mostly pinned down but otherwise in good shape.
Just a few minutes earlier, they'd been coming up with a game plan. Tanya and Iosif, two of their heavyweights, had suggested a truck down the right tunnel, and everyone had agreed, obviously. Now they were scattered round the tunnel, truck abandoned for now. The fork in the tunnel system lay up ahead, but that was was sniper country.
Hazan cursed his luck. First forced back to Omega on a job he wished he didn't have, now under fire from snipers without a means of shooting back. He knew Tonka carried a sniper rifle, but a fist to the face from a Krogan wasn't what he wanted.
As he peeked out from cover, he saw the purpose of Drono's big ball: the thing was jumping and popping all over the place, but smoke now bellowed out of it, obscuring their locations from the snipers. But it also worked against them; he couldn't bloody see where they were either.
He keyed his comms while moving forward, taking a place behind an abandoned mine cart.
"Hey Tanya, don't your drones have those miniature rockets? A couple of those on those sniper positions and we can move up. Maybe use the truck as cover."
Then he raised his rifle over the rock and spat fire towards where he thought the snipers were. Without means of pinpointing their locations, he could do little except suppress them.
