EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As ferocious as Janius was, the numbers he was facing could easily be overwhelming. Naturally, Skaafin spearmen were at the front of the enemy charge, and he could not possibly deflect or avoid all of their thrusts. A Skaafin could not stab through dragonbone plate, but every attack came with a risk of them finding a gap between the plates. Not to mention, there were other types of Daedra surrounding him as well. After cleaving through enough Skaafin, Janius found himself with a Daedroth charging him from the front to try and tackle him, while a Dremora flanked him from the side with a heavy warhammer at the ready. Of course, Janius, too was not alone.

Kaleeth rushed in to help guard Janius’ flank. Though, she was not agile, and the Dremora had already been rearing back for a swing on Janius, so his hammer found a new target when it smashed into the armor on her neck. It was a hard hit, to be sure; almost as bad as a blow to the head. There was a loud crack on impact, though fortunately, it was not from a broken neck. She roared out in pain, and may have even been injured, but she was still able to retaliate. When she swung out at the Dremora, she was able to grab a hold of his head. Daedric armor was hard to get through, even for a werecrocodile, but in this case, she did not need to. She simply grasped his head and twisted until it was facing backwards.

On the rear flank, Leaps hissed and roared at the approaching Dremora, but slowly backed away and gave ground in fear. Their spears, swords, and hammers were known threats to him, and their numbers were intimidating. Every instinct wanted him to run, though he had nowhere to go. However, matters did change somewhat once he was no longer alone. Lorag bellowed out a roar when he ran out to meet the Dremora, running in front of Leaps to directly challenge their enemy. Leaps did not have as much fear about facing the threat in a group. Soon enough, there was a charge in the air as lightning started to pool in Leaps’ maw.

Ahnasha loosed arrows in the general direction of the enemy without much focus. The enemey was densely packed enough that pretty much any arrow shot would be guaranteed to hit something. The rest of her focus she put into considering Fendros’ suggestion. “Yes, but…I’m not sure any one or two Daedra would be enough. I…I have an idea. Just buy me time.” She answered. The bound bow disappeared from her hand as she reached into her bag and grabbed one of Sabine’s magicka fortification potions. She would certainly need it. Ahnasha moved back, hiding behind Leaps in the center of the group before she fell down to her knees. She closed her eyes to concentrate, which, of course, meant she would be exceptionally vulnerable if not protected. The technique she intended to use was related to one that could be used by mages who could attune themselves to the constellation of the Ritual, and she hoped Neesa’s teachings would be enough for her to accomplish it as well.

The ice did indeed give Arinette trouble, as Sabine had planned. Yerig moved to support Do’rhajul and Tarna, and all three were ready to finish Arinette when they had the opportunity. As the mangled Breton slid towards the spikes of ice, however, she raised up her healthy hand with her own magical power surging through it. Crimson red, thorned vines erupted from the ground in front of her to shatter the ice and clear away the spikes. By that point, Do’rhajul and the others had already started to charge her, and it was too late for them to stop, so they were caught with vines tunneling up out of the ground around them as well. A pair of thick vines wrapped entirely around Tarna’s legs to pull her to the ground, while their long, sharp thorns tore into her flesh. At the same time, a shout could be heard from Yerig nearby: FEIM! Vines had attempted to entangle him as well, but his shout allowed him to pass through them unharmed. As a vine tried to wrap its way around Tarna’s neck, he became corporeal and managed to cut it precisely enough with his greatsword to save her throat from evisceration. From there, he did what he could to cut away the rest of the vines to free her, as they could certainly take her life if he did not.

Do’rhajul too was faced with vines, but his reaction was as quick and efficient as one could expect from a masterful warrior. Before the vines could get any sort of hold around his legs, he spun around and cleaved through half of them with his ebony sword In one single motion, and the rest did not survive another slice. He was still in a position to be a threat to Arinette, but as much rage as she held for him as a traitor, her fury towards Sabine still eclipsed it. Arinette’s crystal glowed for a moment as she used some of its power to conjure forth a powerful Daedra to occupy him: a harvester.

The surge of power damaged yet more of Arinette’s body, but she still rushed forward with Sabine as her sole focus. As she was now close, she conjured a bound sword in her free hand. Others might soon be able to help her, but for the moment, it was just Arinette and Sabine.

The Cradle

Rareth kept aware of the movements around her, but she was happy to keep her distance from the insects as well. As long as they allowed herself and the Agent to pass, they would not come to harm. As for the Agent herself, Rareth did not have enough information to so much as guess at what had transpired. She archived everything her sensors had recorded about the event, but she was not certain how much they would learn from it.

On approach, Rareth looked over 595 closely for any signs of injury. Her suit did not seem to be damaged, though if there were any internal injuries, they would require a more detailed examination to detect. “Whatever happened occurred quickly. And whatever happened was nothing possible in our reality. Something killed the insect you were fighting by disintegrating it into dust, then you disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared here. We are not far from where we were, but still, you did not move here yourself. We need to move quickly; I want us to leave this simulation as soon as we can. It does not necessarily have to conform to the rules of our reality, clearly. Let us go back to the camp. The team’s medic can examine you, while I finish scouting these caves.”

The Cradle

Rareth dropped the last of the insects to the ground with a hole clean through the center of its head. The kinetic impact of a particle cannon was more immediately effective than the more diffuse cloud of plasma. Though, she supposed more concentrated heat sources would still burn through the stone shell quickly. In any case, she kept her particle cannon deployed as she turned her attention to scanning her surroundings. Whatever happened to the Agent, Rareth needed to act quickly. She still hoped to find her somewhere, even if that seemed unlikely. She had disappeared in a sudden, impossible manner, and Rareth’s sensor recordings were not giving any hints she could identify at the moment.

There was noise from farther down the cave, in the direction the pair had been heading before the ambush. Despite all that Rareth now had to be concerned about, she still had to make herself focus. Whether she found 595 or not, she would still need to scout the route through the mountain. The noises Rareth heard were a kind of chittering that sounded like it originated from the insects. She would have preferred not to have to interact with them further, but the path through the mountain required it, Rareth would have to deal with them.

It was not a far walk to reach the next chamber, and there was a lot for her to take in when she arrived. It was a fairly tall, wide chamber with more than a few smaller, paler version of the same insects that had ambushed her, along with a few larger creatures in-sight. Interestingly, there were also many unnatural-looking stone structures embedded into the walls and floor. They appeared as small, elongated domes made of rock, and were certainly not normal features in caves. However, what drew her primary focus was the Human shape she spotted laying at the center of the chamber. Rareth naturally recognized her right away, but of course, there was no explanation for how she got here and why she looked to be asleep, or otherwise unconscious.

The Agent started to stir as Rareth walked forward. She intended to bring the Human back to their camp to recover regardless of what objections she tried to raise. This was all terribly unusual, and Rareth did not like any part of it. She had seemingly disappeared from reality in a blinding flash of light, only to suddenly be found again a short distance away, unconscious and without her IFF tag transmitting. Rareth felt she had plenty of reason to doubt, but for now, she would just deal with the problems in front of her. She was not directly hostile towards the creatures, but if either herself or 595 were threatened, she would fight as many as was necessary to leave.

The Cradle

Rareth quickly pulled her hand from the screaming, squirming creature and tossed it aside with the hope that the wound would be enough to incapacitate or kill it. What demanded more of her attention than the creatures was the incomprehensible occurrence with the Agent. Even with her many, many years of experience, she was not quite certain what had transpired. It was a definite reminder that this place was not reality, no matter how convincing it seemed. The creature, by whatever means, disappeared into ash, and Rareth lost 595 in a flash of light that even her own sensors did not adjust to in time.

The third creature, in the time it was given, did manage to recover from the hit it took and turn on Rareth. It lunged at her, slamming her back against the cave wall with its mandibles latched firmly around her torso. The insect squeezed to try and crush her body between them, but Rareth seemed to have an almost apathetic calm about her. She looked down on it as if it was a nuisance, as she had felt the strength of their mandibles herself during the first attack. She knew well that her armor could hold up long enough for her to take the time to deploy the particle cannon in her right arm, stuff the barrel into its mouthparts, and fire down the length of its body. What happened to the agent was far more interesting to her than killing simple insects.

The Cradle

Rareth had to decide quickly how to follow through. The Agent rushed one of the creatures, and she did not have time to concern herself with whether or not the Human would succeed. The Agent had insisted upon coming along, so it was her fault if she could not hold her own. Just a few seconds after throwing the creature, Rareth rushed after it to press the advantage.

The creature Rareth had thrown fared better than the one she had struck with it. There was quite a distinctive sound to their shells cracking against one another. The one underneath had been crushed between the the ground and the weight of the other insect, and so was squirming from its injuries. Although, neither were close to death. The top creature started to rear up again, which was met by Rareth charging straight into it to slam it up against the wall of the cave. The one on the ground would surely be scrambling to turn on her soon, and the other had already struck her shields with acid, but she had a few seconds, at least, to deal with the one in her grip.

Rareth pressed her hand against the equivalent of the creature’s throat to hold it up against the wall for a moment as she reared her hand back. Its legs tried scratching at her armor while its mandibles snapped loudly at the air, but there was nothing to stop Rareth pulling back for one, good punch. One punch that landed with all the strength her body could produce. One punch that shattered the stone shell just below its neck, pierced through the soft tissue, broke out of the shell on the far side, and finally smashed part of the cavern wall behind it.

The Cradle

Rareth quickly moved her fusion cannon to her back as the creatures emerged from the cloud of plasma. Visual scans showed their shells were melting, but not quickly. Its composition appeared to be closer to that of rock than chitin, hence the heat resistance. It would not be immune, but another approach might be more effective, not that there were too many choices for Rareth. By the time her weapon was away, the first creature was already close upon her.

Rather than run or dodge, Rareth elected to meet her foe head-on. She modulated her shields to their normal state before rushing forward herself at one of the creatures. When the pair met, the sound was like a clash of titans. Metal struck stone, and they both stopped one another in their tracks. To avoid being pushed back, Rareth had to dig her feet into the ground, cracking the stone underneath her and pushing her feet into the cavern floor itself. The stone insect was massive, but so too was Rareth’s strength.

As they pushed against one another, Rareth gripped the beast’s mandibles from the inside as it tried to close them around Rareth’s head, while she pushed outward to stop them…then start prying them apart. Far from her usual military professionalism, Rareth let out her own bestial roar as she pushed back, then steadily lifted up the insect. It took considerable exertion even for her, but while still gripping its mandibles as handholds, she turned and pushed all of her strength at once into throwing the creature. She sent it through the air and slammed its full weight into a second creature that had tried rushing past her towards the Agent.

Halo: Aegis Team

In their charge across the room, many of the Brutes had not made it to the other side, or died shortly thereafter. Spartan Aviza had cleared the walkway above them, leaving the chieftain with little in the way of direct support. Many Human rebels were still alive, but they moved forward more slowly and fired from distance, as they were more vulnerable.

The Spartan, Rex, had moved up into cover behind the rightmost column to meet the chieftain’s charge. Especially in close quarters, his shotgun could put quite a lot of pressure on the Brute’s shields. His first shot as the chieftain was nearing caused his shields to flare, then Aviza’s firebomb struck from above and further drained them with the intense flames. Nevertheless, the chieftain did not stop his momentum straight at Rex. As a Spartan and CQC expert, however, Rex’s reflexes were quick and precise. He deftly ducked under the the hammer’s horizontal swing while dashing away from where it would strike the column. The weapon’s kinetic impulse sent out a shockwave that pushed Rex and damaged his shields, but he had dodged far enough to avoid most of the damage. As well, he kept his aim on-target enough to deplete the Brute’s shields with another shell from his shotgun.

Rex took aim straight at his opponent’s head as he pumped his shotgun; however, the chieftain had one more trick before he could fire. Suddenly, the chieftain’s shields were charged rapidly and started to glow bright white with streaks like lightning across their surface. The “invincibility” module, as it was known, overcharged his shields to the point of being practically impenetrable. It was surprising that these Brutes would still have such equipment in a working state from the war, but that was the obstacle they now faced. The module would only last a short time, but the chieftain had already made it into close quarters, among Aviza’s team.

The Cradle

This time, it seemed, the insects really were simple animals. 595’s light display did seem like a good idea to scare them off, though unfortunately, it did not seem to be enough. When the creatures reared up, she switched to the third firing mode on her fusion cannon, which turned it into a plasma thrower. It could shoot forward a dense cloud of superheated plasma, much like a flamethrower. It was bright and immensely hot, neither of which would be too appealing to any creature on the receiving end.

Rareth’s suit identified the acid as a corrosive agent as soon as it hit her shields. There was some drain to her shielding, but the acid was not too much of a concern. Although it was good to know these things had the capability; it could be more of a threat to others in their group. In any case, Rareth soon let loose a stream of plasma in a wide arc in front of them. Its glow easily illuminated the cave, and its heat would hopefully encourage anything it did not incinerate to run away. As she had said to the Agent, she was not here to be an exterminator.

The Cradle

Rareth did not back away, at least not at first. The creatures seemed to have their own passageways, likely dug themselves, that branched off from the main passages. It was an important detail to remember, though the insects in front of her were more of a concern at the moment. She also scanned them as much as possible and made note of what she could observe of their morphology. They were long, slender, and seemed equipped to deal with tough prey. In any case, Rareth still stayed calm regardless of the numbers in front of her.

In an elongated bubble around Rareth, the Agent would be able to see her energy shield become visible in the air as it turned translucent and started to refract the light passing through it. She had modulated it to allow it to protect against lower velocity attacks. In normal use, an energy shield would protect against high energy or high velocity projectiles, while slower moving objects could pass through it. They could, however, be modulated to become more like solid walls blocking any object attempting to pass. The disadvantage in this state was that the shield would block attacks in either direction, so Rareth would need to lower it whenever she made any attacks herself.

“Are you mere animals, or are you intelligent?” Rareth questioned towards the insects. After the worm had turned out to be an intelligent entity, it was plausible that any creature they encountered could be sapient. “If you are, we have no intention to hurt you. If not…” Her voice trailed off as she glanced down at 595. “Let’s start backing away and return to the first passage. If they let us go, we will leave them be.”

The Cradle

“Hold right there.” Rareth ordered as soon as the Agent started to move off along the side passage. “If you are going to help me, you must move behind me, not ahead. It is necessary for us to scout these caves for danger, but we are not here to exterminate every pest that might live here. Follow behind me, and we will see what is living here, but do not simply shoot on sight. If these are simple animals, they may simply flee when they see us. If they attack, I will kill them.”

Regardless of what 595 might have thought about Rareth taking the lead, it was not as if there would be much hope of overtaking her once she did get moving. There was no feasible way of moving their entire group through the caves stealthily, with all of their equipment, when the tight passages would carry the echoes of every single footstep far and wide. Since they would not have the option of stealth later, Rareth made no attempt to hide now. If something was going to attack, she wanted it to attack her, without the civilians present. Ideally, whatever creatures they encountered would either flee on sight, or they would be able to scare them off. If not, she would need to assess how much of a threat they posed.