TURN 29
MISSION'S END, PART 1
The megabeast lies on the floor, panting; a hole in its throat and the side of its neck rapidly spill its blood onto the floor. It's dying - slowly, but surely. The fight is finally over. As one, the inmates breathe a collective sigh of relief as they set about their final tasks before heading home.
Buck
You crawl out of the pond, muttering to yourself as you inject a painkiller stim into your suit. It feels good -
really good. Only seconds have passed before you feel the beginning of its effects. "So, what in the hot hell is happenin' here?" you ask, limping into the center of the room. (Even
with the painkillers, you can barely stand on your leg. It threatens to crumple beneath you, and it's getting weaker.) "And who the hell is Meakin?"
"I'm
Mekkin, you cretin," someone speaks up. He's a middle-aged, balding man - and wearing light-armor REKT gear. He seems annoyed. "Mekkin Skaldin. Former doctor, scientist, and business manager. I'm here to provide medical support for an efficient extraction."
Hearing that, someone feminine-sounding calls out, "Mekkin! If you have a moment, Frank needs some medical assistance!" Mekkin immediately heads in that direction, and some girl appears from behind a rock. You don't really recognize her. She doesn't look nearly as battle-scarred as you guys, and you're confused for a moment.
"Who the..." you begin, and then you're hit with a wave of realization. Oh, right! It's
that Beta girl! Saorise, or something. Now you remember. ...Vaguely. "Oh, it's y'all from Beta. Well, took you long enough! You're late to the party! As you can see, we dun' killed it, no thanks to you!" You gesture at the near-corpse heaving on the floor behind her.
The girl pauses, stuttering, as though speechless. She clearly has no comeback to this - and how would she, being a lazy bum like she is? Finally she stammers, "Yes, I could see you were clearly valiantly attacking it, from all the way over there with no ranged weapons."
Good that she noticed. You damn sure
were killing the thing, before Beta got involved and probably screwed everything up. "It threw me over there while I was bashin' its head in," you agree. Then you get an idea and whip out your PDA, setting it to take a picture. "Anyway, smile for the camera, y'all!"
And thus is taken a picture that will be remembered on the Nemesis for hopefully ages to come, populated with numerous individuals:
- Buck, the Valiant and Painfully Sober
- A flabbergasted, limping Saoirse
- A weak, snarling, dying megadrakedog taking up most of the pathway
- Vynkor, high on drugs with her lips pulled back in a ghoulish grimace
- Gene, full of holes and gashed up on the chest
- Brom, also full of holes, gashed up, and trying to come to terms with the fact that he sucks
Frank is missing from the photograph entirely. You don't notice this until much later, partly because Frank's typically pretty hard to notice, and second because... you have
no clue how to work your PDA beyond the starting screen. Damn newfangled gadget has too many bells and whistles to make sense.
With everything taken care of, you head back towards your ship. Once inside, you quietly detach the nuke, intending to leave it behind after everyone else takes off. It isn't long before Bob and Gene show up and take off, so you follow suit.
Bob
"Bob-Boss!" Saoirse calls. You shoulder your minigun and walk into the main room. There's a big dying monster on the floor. It's scary stuff, and you're glad you have Jimmy with you. Saoirse continues, "Bob, we need you to put
that, on
that." She's pointing at two different things - a big, shiny, flat-sided piece of something metal, and a hovering board-machine-thing. "And then we need to get out of here immediately - no time for anything else or the bad guys are gonna come and kill us."
You frown. "So Bob no has time to collect shiny pieces?"
Saoirse shakes her head in regret. "Ah... no, sorry. Maybe next time."
"Aw," you mutter, slouching. "Sad no pickup shiny stuff." But, dutifully, you go over to the stellaplex... and find that it's far too heavy for you to lift with only one hand. Fortunately, some other guy comes to help - you recognize him from the mission briefing. B-R-O-M. That spells "Broom"! Broom appears to have a messed-up arm too, but he helps you lift it onto the hovering harness thing, and helps you strap it in. Then you leave, headed for your ship. You're happy to be headed back. (You also pick up a shiny rock on the way out, just because it looked cool and had wavy bands in it. Wavy bands are cool.)
Broom is a helpful guy. Terrible name though. You feel a little sad for him. Maybe he'd like it more if his name was short, like yours. B-O-M. BOM. BOM is a good name. It's almost like BOB. Just one letter different! You'd like him more then.
After strapping yourself into your CASKET, you take off and get ready to go.
Brom
You feel rather dizzy and lightheaded. "What's our status, Alpha? Is everyone all right? I must've gotten knocked unconscious... They can't keep me down for long, though!"
Buck's voice is the first you hear. "Brom, ya dumbass, you fell asleep at the best part! You should've seen how me and Frank fuckin' obliterated this thing! It stood no chance."
"Did Vynkor ever wake up?"
"Nope!" Vynkor shouts, quite loudly. "Still asleep, and definitely not standing right next to you." You grimace at her volume and look up - she's right there. Huh, neat. Her face looks bizarre though - lips drawn back in a ghoulish grin, eyes wide, muscles tense. Doesn't look too pleasant. She seems jittery, too. You feel like keeping your distance.
As the rest of your squad fills you in on everything you missed, you get to your feet, make sure you have your gear, and head to the central stellaplex tower. When you last saw, the autohack device was busily churning away. Now the tower has "opened up", and lowered the stellaplex to a level that's easier to reach. Bob is currently in the process of trying to lift it onto the harness, so you help him out - while he only has one usable hand, you're in the same boat. He seems to feel like this gives you some kind of kinship. You're far superior, but with his help you manage the feat, and strap the stellaplex securely into the hovering device.
Then you push it out of the plant to your ship. Along the way you try to pick up a few scraps of things - bits of shiny metal, a laser gun, whatever you see - without losing any time. You're a bit rushed.
Outside, you put the stellaplex in your aux slot and take off, flying well ahead of everyone else to get to the Nemesis.
Vynkor
You feel jittery. Standing still feels difficult. You want to
move. Your thoughts race.
You wonder when the drugs will wear off. They did amazing things for you, that's true, but you don't need them anymore. Their effects seem to have a longer duration than you needed.
"What's our status, Alpha?" someone mumbles. You look down. Brom is holding his head and trying to sit up. "is everyone all right? I must've gotten knocked unconscious. They can't keep me down for long, though! ...Did Vynkor ever wake up?
"Nope!" you say, careful to control your volume. "Still asleep, and definitely not standing right next to you." Grimacing, Brom looks up at you. You give a smirk and a pleasant smile. He missed out on all the fun.
"Jeez!" he says. "No need to shout - this is why we have a comm system!" You
weren't shouting, though. Were you? "Things are still a bit hazy for me... Also still feeling light-headed. Quite a peculiar experience... one I wish to avoid in the future. How are you holding up?"
"Well, my arm hurts like hell," you reply, wiggling your shoulder. "I'll probably pass out again after whatever the doc gave me wears off. But otherwise, peachy!"
Buck takes advantage of this moment to take a picture of all of you. You smile attractively for the camera, dead arm and all, and then head out of the building. While you do so, you stay well away from the dead mega-drake (it snarls at you) and glance around unsuccessfully for Brom's pistol. No idea where it went... it really could be anywhere, what with Buck throwing things around and the gravity being bonkers.
Back at your ship, inside your cockpit, you watch as Brom loads his Stellaplex on the back of his CASKET. Looks like you have self-assigned guard duty. You take off and get ready to go.
Gene
You did it. No - you
all did it. No man left behind, nobody died. You're honestly amazed. It feels wonderful - a great relief.
However, you feel quite exhausted.
Brom, behind you, gets up starts talking to your squadmates. Mekkin goes to help Frank. Buck takes a picture of you and everyone else. You probably look terrible, but you don't really care. Not at this point.
You address Mekkin, who is coming over toward you. "Meakin - or Mekkin - or whoever-the-hell-you-are - I believe both Brom and myself would appreciate some medical support."
"We don't have time for much," Mekkin says, jamming a syringe into a port on your chest. You choke from the blow - which wasn't really much of a blow, honestly. Your chest burns with fire - a fire that
fortunately soon begins to dull. "I'm giving you some painkillers, but they'll have to fix you up on the Nemesis. Get to your ships ASAP. I'm on my way out too," he says tersely, starting to jog off (after jamming a similar syringe into Brom's suit).
"Gene!" Brom exults, finally noticing you. "It's so good to hear your voice! Those were
your shotgun blasts I heard, if I'm not mistaken. Excellent shooting! Much improved."
"Those were indeed my blasts," you confirm, feeling a bit odd about his change of demeanor. Maybe in order to be a decent person, Brom just needs to be knocked out regularly. You think you could handle that. "Thank you for your compliment, Brom. It means a lot to me. How are you holding up?
He coughs and winces, then says, "I'm achy and lightheaded, but I'll live. What is the extent of your injuries?"
You look down, quickly taking stock. "Uh, several gashes on my chest, but they don't seem to be bleeding. Must be the coags kicking in. I'll be fine for a moment. Anyway - let's get out of this place. I'm sure we'd all appreciate some TLC after this clusterfukc of a 'mission'."
As Brom goes over to help Bob remove the stellaplex, you go back to your ship, keeping an eye out for hostiles. Then, you climb into your CASKET's cockpit and, after starting it up, take off, intending to assume a position near the center of the formation.
Frank
Whoa. You... really don't feel so good.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" some beautiful lass cries, rushing to your aid. You think it's Brenna. In your dream-like state you see her face above yours, her long hair dangling like a curtain about you. It's positively romantic. You groan in agony.
"The sword," you choke out, gurgling and rasping. "The sword - where's the sword? It - it might come back..."
"No, no, don't worry," the beautiful dream-maiden croons, cradling you in her arms. "It's dead, it won't come back." Love is truly in the air - a picturesque, idyllic scene. You gag, struggling to breathe.
The girl turns and calls someone else, and you see more blurry shapes. Some guy stabs a syringe into your chest, and things
finally start to clear up a bit. Just a bit. Enough at least to hobble to your ship - apparently with the help of Saoirse (the 'beautiful lass', of course).
By the time you're situated in your cockpit, you're beginning to feel a little better... but you're still short on blood. You can't wait to get back.
Saoirse
Stepping carefully around the fallen super-lizard-dog-thing, you rush over to Frank and try to help him back up. He groans at you. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" you apologize, urgently and profusely. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to hit you too!"
Frank gurgles and rasps. His eyes flutter open, and then close again. "The sword," he murmurs in a small voice. "Where's the sword? It might come back..."
"No, no, don't worry," you say, trying to prop him up so he can breathe. "It's dead, it won't come back." Then, hearing Mekkin announce himself as a doctor, you turn and shout, "Mekkin! Mekkin, if you have a moment, Frank needs medical attention!"
Mekkin soon shows up and brushes you away, so you surrender Frank to him, get up, and walk towards everyone else. Buck soon sights you and looks at you quizzically. "Who the... Oh! Oh, it's y'all from Beta. Well, took you long enough! You're late to the party! As you can see, we dun' killed it, no thanks to you!"
You've never been particularly witty, and you stammer for a few moments as you try to come up with a response. What? No thanks to you? You're the one that dealt some of the final attacks! This is nonsense. Finally, you come up with a halfhearted, sarcastic remark: "Yes, I could see you were clearly valiantly attacking it, from all the way over there with no ranged weapon." Terrible wording, maybe. You begin to doubt your ability to compose sentences, especially as Buck seems to take it as a compliment.
"Yeah, it threw me over there while I was bashing its head in," he beams. Then he whips out his PDA. "Anyway, smile for the camera, y'all!" And he snaps a picture. You're sure it's horrendous. You're limping and must look terrible.
You turn your attention to Bob, and get him (because he's so strong) to carefully lift the stellaplex and put it on the stretcher-hover-thing that Alpha had already assembled without telling you. Then, you turn your gravbelt back on (to help your leg) and start looking around for Frank's sword. You have no idea where it fell - it could be anywhere - but fortunately, while the place
is a wreck, it's not as much of a wreck as the entrance area, and you're able to pick a sword (is it the right one?) out of a bush. On bringing it back to Frank, he seems grateful, so you assume you found what he wanted.
With Frank calmed, you help him back to his ship, and he (feeling better thanks to some of the stims Mekkin gave him) takes off, headed back toward the Nemesis on his own. Then you get into your own CASKET.
And then, out of the corner of your eye, you catch sight of something on the ground... something someone left behind. It looks like a large box of some sort. You stare at it, puzzled, and notice a radiation symbol on the side.
Your eyes go wide.
It's a nuke.
Your mind races. Buck had a nuke. Right? Shit. Shit shit
shit!
Dinosawer wrote:Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:37 am
Guess I'll do this as well for once then:
Instead of what I wrote:
Then I get in my ship and wait for the others - if they're all lifted off I lift off as well and fly to the Nemesis.
I will do:
Then I get in my ship and wait for the others - if they're all lifted off I lift off, I notice Buck dropped his nuke, and curse expansively in Irish.
The Hiltorel didn't do much wrong, we're not going to commit a genocide on top of what we already did just because that drunk idiot thought it was a fun idea!
I wait a second till Buck's ship is pointing away, and then jump out again, run towards his nuke and do an electrical scan with my PDA, looking for the detonation electronics. If I find them, I try to fry them with my electro amp.
Then I run back to my ship, jump in, take off and fire a large bubble stream at the part of the nuke where the electronics are, or at the nuke in general.
Then I full throttle fly to the Nemesis.
When attacked while flying, I dodge, using PSI to assist.
While flying, I also sing The Irish Rover and feel giddy, because we actually pulled this mission thing off!
You curse expansively in Irish. "D'éirigh le duine éigin dom go bhfuil an domhan ag dul orm! Níl mé an uirlis is gasta sa seid, bhí sí ag lorg cineál balbh lena méar agus a ordóg i gcruth lín ar a clár éadain!" These are not words that should be repeated or brought up in civil conversation.
Then, hurriedly, you climb back out of your ship. You have no idea how much time you have left. Buck, having already flown off, could blow the nuke at any time. You sprint towards it and do an electrical scan with your PDA, looking for the detonation electronics.
No dice. The outer shell is too thick and you screwed up the settings in your haste. "Máistreacht máthair moncaí maonaiseacha," you groan, dashing
back to your ship. Then, taking off, you frantically fire an
enormous stream of bubbles at the thing, terribly screwing up your aim. You think some of them may have hit, but you honestly have no idea. - but you don't have any more time. You have to get out of here. You don't plan on dying just yet.
Abandoning the nuke, you head back towards the others' formation at full blast.
Ishmael
You breathe a quick prayer of thanks to the FSM. Then, you turn around, starting to head back towards the others. You fly low, close to the tops of the buildings.
Arrr, Anabais! Why would you do that? There must be a heart of gold behind that callous exterior of yours! But now it is ruined! Everything is ruined! She squandered all the opportunities me and our Esteemed Engineer provided...oh.
You watch in horror as Gearhead's CASKET impacts the ground with great gravitas. Subtle sad music is playing in your head. You see the whole thing in slow motion with a monochrome filter, and wipe away a tear.
May he find rest in the FSM's noodly embrace. He wasn't a good Pastafarian, but he died fighting for the Cause. May the Lord welcome him at his side, and may the Beer Volcano never stop giving him the finest ales in existence!
Then you send a message to Anabais. SCAMPS sent you there to die. It was her responsibility to survive. She should know that. You are sorry you didn't make it abundantly clear.
"Piss off, shithead," Anabais quickly responds. "Don't know what the hell you wanted to accomplish with that crap, but listen up: We're going straight over the mountains. Don't want to? Tough shit. We'll group up with the others soon. If you don't follow along, then when we get back, I'll shred your fingers like spaghetti so they match your fukcing religion. Got it?"
You understand, all right.
Caleb
You chuckle a bit at Aloka's remark. "Showering is by no means the same as swimming, but more power to you, I guess!"
"I know it's not!" she spits back in response - but then seem to realize she sounds too harsh. She softens her voice a little. "I just don't see the point. That's all I'm trying to say."
There's several seconds of silence. You're not really sure how to respond to that. "Um..." you start back hesitantly. "Ah, if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your father? Why are you out here on this rock?"
"I didn't have a father," she radios back. "Unless you mean Da. He wasn't my dad. That was his name - Da Krivuks. We lived on a station around Virkla, orbiting one of the moons of Elnausa. It's mining country, farther out than Derge. ...Derge is a big blue star near where we are. Can't miss it. Brightest star in the sky here... well, at night. Anyway, some of the local gangs got pissed that Da wasn't paying his 'protection fees'. There wasn't anybody to protect him from. It was just tribute to keep them from attacking us... which they did. They killed Da, and would've killed me too if a few mercs hadn't shown up then - Red Eclipse. Dark name, darker people. I was young though. They saved me and, I thought, tried to save Da, so I joined them. It perhaps wasn't a very good idea... But then I... well..." Seeming to feel uncomfortable, she trails off.
The awkward silence is quickly broken by your PDA making a buzzing sound. You'd forgotten it was with you. Surprised, you reach down to your waist and pick it up; a message appears on the screen:
Did you retrieve my package. ~Havor Maluk
A hovering yes/no option hologram appears; you tap your finger through "yes". The screen immediately changes:
Upon retrieval, I will add 3000 creds to your account. Congratulations, and thank you.
The screen goes blank - and just in time. A bigger, heavier CASKET than yours slows to a hover nearby, and you hear someone new speaking over the comms.
"Kendall here!," he says in a smooth voice.
"I'm part of the crew that saved your hides an hour ago. I'm here to pick up your CASKET and return it. I hear you have a prisoner on board?" You radio an affirmative response.
"Great! You can follow me back. They won't shoot at us now. Reyha says Nemesis just got word that your allies are on the way home. Nobody left behind! 'Grats on a successful mission. Can't wait to get off this rock and break out the beer. It's been a tough one."
Kendall picks up your busted CASKET with his ship's robotic arms, letting it hang beneath his, and together you fly back towards the Nemesis.