2670/Half A Space Hulk

Half A Space Hulk
Date of Scene:	23 July 2015
Location:	Callidus Amicae
Synopsis:	A bug hunt happens on the Callidus Amicae. Actual bugs may or may not be involved.
Cast of Characters:	833, 571, 834, 632, Staren, 796, Kotone Yamakawa, 518

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O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
The Callidus Amicae is, in plain terms, friggin' enormous.

Five kilometers long and nearly a klick wide, the cruiser exists on a scale so large that it's hard to believe there isn't a city in there -- because, with a typical crew size of nearly a hundred thousand men, there pretty much is. In fact, the Callidus Amicae's crew complement is a good deal smaller than that, and takes up a lesser amount of space as a result.

That is, in fact, the crux of the problem.

A missive was sent to the Union and to the Syndicate once the Callidus Amicae had stopped at a waystation in the distant Void of the Multiverse: they had a problem, and would you care to help resolve it for a fair amount of pay? In truth, Captain Hexam could have had his men handle the issue internally, but that would not get their name out there. They needed people to know who they were and what they had to offer before profit could be had. That is, after all, the name of the game.

The waystation's warpgate lets out near the space-dock where an Imperial spacecraft is waiting: an Aquila Lander, a small winged shuttlecraft named for its resemblance to the Imperial sigil. The multiple engine vents that run up the wings come together to give it a distinctly feathered appearance. Three individuals wait outside: two man in black and grey carapace armor carrying short, boxy-looking rifles and wearing full-face helmets with an almost skeletal design stand to either side of the entry ramp. Between them, a more feminine figure with hooves rather than feet waits, wearing a dark green and white jumpsuit and holding some form of tablet.

The tall, blue-skinned Tau woman raises one hand when the prospective mercenaries (and allies, to boot) enter the hangar. "Greetings! I am Vre'Yan. I will be ferrying you and your equipment to the ship." She smiles, an expression that looks slightly odd with the lack of a nose and the Y-shaped slit running between her eyes and onto her forehead.

"I will also attempt to answer any questions posed to me, despite that being far outside my realm of expertise and this being /quite/ well-known, at the Commander's request." Her smile becomes a touch more forced. The two troopers exchange a glance behind her. One shrugs a little.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    As the SGB Crimson Spectre makes it approach after emerging from a warpgate, the crew is greeted by an ENORMOUS ship. Maaka and Kaz stare in shock as they make their way to the waystation itself, landing not far from the warpstation.

    A ship of this size in their world would've cost innumerable resources and funds, as well as take the better part of a century to construct...and yet the Imperium seems to have so many of these they lose track of them.

    Maaka takes one more look at the ship itself, before she begins to get the big guns.

    She arrives with her helmet currently unfolded, and her EM-GASH coilgun slung over her shoulder as well as her Kama P40 pistol and a PDW to accompany it. As the cyborg approaches the tau woman, her head bows before she speaks. "I worked alongside one of your people before, though she was an Exalt if I remember right. We'd taken an investigation to this ice world, nothing too notable about it." She says conversationally, lying through her teeth regarding the truth of the matter in those caves, where Dark Eldar were shredded to bits by Necrons, one predator destroyed by an even worse one.

    Even thinking about the Necrons sends a chill up the normally stoic Alexis Maaka's spine.

    Passing that thought away, she asks, "So what exactly is it that needs our help this Commander can't send his own troops to deal with?" Not that she's complaining, even if it is curious, but one has to get known somehow in the Multiverse Alexis supposes.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Why is Valentha here? Well, any opportunity to get out there and learn, get -her- name out there, figure out who's who and other factoids is one worth taking. So she's come in her ridiculous getup, the inside of her jacket stuffed with all sorts of gear and gadgets.

    "Well," she begins smoothly, "Some info on whatever's got the ship tied up would be a good start." Valentha plants a hand on her hip, letting her slightly impish but merry grin do more of the speaking for her. "I'm loaded for bear. Demigod bear, even."

    Not that she looks it. Not even SLIGHTLY.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Before she'd left her own ship behind, Septette had ensured her cloak was wrapped snugly- though not too snugly- around her angular frame, that her ear-fins were inconspicuously tucked under a pair of cute and moderately-fluffy earmuffs, and that her reactor core wasn't leaking ionizing radiation again. These 'Rogue Traders' seem like open-minded folk, and they'd know who she is with even a cursory background check, but there's no sense in standing out any more than she has to.

     Now that it's time to board, Ms. Arcubielle allows herself a little smile: it isn't often that she's one of the least-intimidating people in a room. "No questions here," she replies in a sunny, synthetic alto before turning her attention to her teammates. "Demigod bear? Them's fightin' words, Valentha," the robot girl murmurs with tongue firmly in cheek. "Could rustle up one or two of them back home, should this mission disappoint ya."

Staren has posed:
    "Holy..." Staren breathes, after stepping up to a window at the spacedock and seeing the distant ship they'll be flying to.

    He's seen Transformers the size of cities, but a spaceship that size?

    It's incredible.

    His more immediate destination is the small ship to fly them /to/ the big ship, though. Staren approaches. A spaceship with feathery wings? Interesting aesthetic. He looks over the alien curiously, but she doesn't seem that unusual for the Multiverse. He nods and retracts his visor, "Greetings, I am Staren, researcher of problems for the Union." He holds up his right forearm and taps one of the beam cannons on the side with his left index finger, smiling a bit. "And sometimes, assistant with 'solving' those problems." He lowers his left arm while making a vague, palm-up gesture with his right. "So, your ship has... unwanted passengers. Are any specific threats known or suspected? Is this an extermination mission or do you think there might be a society there we can reason with?" He shrugs, "Or do you just not know?"

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah tears herself away from staring at the area. Especially the huge warship looming in the distance. The multiverse never ceases to be weird. She looks the female Tau over for a moment as if sizing her up, then steps up to ask questions.

    "What kind of environment can we expect in the ship? Is it pressurized? Also what kind of opposition should we be expecting?"

    She pauses to take a breath. "And who the hell build something that freaking huge anyway? Corporations don't even usually go that big.. It'd take a completely unified society to even manage the resources for something like that." She pauses a moment, "Either that, or a civilization of religious zealots." She shivers at the thought.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa had got the job it was an interesting offer and she'd been curious to meet O'Mont're Tyr. So here she was she was clad in stealth gear. She'd considered bringing full out carpace armour but that would limit her moblity some. She did however make sure to be wearing a nanofiber vest under her stealth gear though. That was some wonderful beefed up protection she'd found. She nods to Vre'yan. She grins a little bit.

"I do given the scale of this ship is there some sort of guest access I can get to it's local network given my area of skills it would be helpful if that is premitted."

No the poor dear has no idea about how things work on a Imperium ship.

"I won't press but also anything about the local tech and such that I'd need to know would be useful."

She's got several weapons on her most of them look like they would be Autoguns as the Imperium calls them but she's packing a odd looking energy weapon also across her back.

"Came prepared for about anything myself."

She's also got a case carrying something else in it which is unknown for the moment.

"Damn that ship could likely bring most of my home world to heel....Oh! I'm Kotone Yamakawa!"

She notes to their host.

She also looks over to Septette and Sarah.

"Hey good to have you aboard."

She also looks back to Alexis and will attempt to open a network with those people like Alexis that she's worked with before.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki Kuran, High School Girl, Totally, We Swear, arrives at the designated waystation, in a pair of... Trousers. Well, ok, they're dark blue jeans. And a nice belt! A button-down white shirt. She's got nice cuffs, and the shirt is tailored in the hems, cuffs, waist, and collar, and there's a silver chain with some form of crossy-thing pendant on the end. She looks... really well put together!

    She's also wearing a snapback cap and a dorkily huge pair of sunglasses, giving her a sort of 'celebrity/person who doesn't want to be noticed' vibe.

    "Ah, yes, hello. I'm Yuuki. From the Union. I'm, ah... I think that's the biggest thing I've ever seen in my life. And it... not only flies, but can move between worlds?" She asks, looking up (through her sunglasses) into space.

    She smiles brightly, looking at Vre'Yan. "Oh, um, I didn't know what to bring, so I just brought myself. I have my own weapons, though!" She notes. Though, compared to everyone else...

    There's a silver cylinder of a very short baton hanging from her waist.

    "... I feel a bit under-armed though. I'm happy to help, though!"

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
"Ah. I see." Vre'Yan nods her head to Alexis. "I have been informed that there have been Tau in the wider Multiverse, but I haven't met any." She tips her head to each of the Elites as they approach; it seems like most of the questions are actually pretty similar, so she starts in on them.

"The Callidus Amicae is in good repair thanks to our Void-Master Hiird and the tireless, ceaseless, loud, smelly, incessant and," she changes her tone back to the positive rather than the irritated, "/effective/ maintenance of the Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests aboard. You should not lack for oxygen, even in the less-inhabited parts of the ship. If you do encounter a depressurized chamber, report it and it will be repaired as soon as possible." /That/ part she seems serious about.

"And," she asides to Sarah, still deadly serious (maybe a little more than necessary), "the Imperium is all of these things. This is one of many thousands like it. Please keep that in mind."

The two marines exchange glances again, and then just go back to watching them. They give the impression of rolling eyes behind opaque helmets.

She bobs her head at Yuuki, attitude brightening some. "Yes! It uses warp engines to propel itself through a dimension the humans call the 'Immaterium,' allowing it to cross great distances very quickly. There are some dangers inherent in this method of travel, but the speed is worth it. But, oh, if you require a weapon, we have a great number. Simply ask one of the marines when you are aboard."

"There are no networks as you know them aboard the ship that are not dedicated to drone control," she says to Kotone. "I am not permitted access to those; you would have to ask one of the Earth castes or the Void-Master. I do not recommend it."

"As for opposition..." Vre'Yan looks down at her tablet. "A number of maintenance drones have gone offline, and the Hruud technicians sent to repair them refuse to enter the sector of the ship they are housed in. One of the tech-priests went below with a marine escort, but never returned. Commander Deathgaze believes it is a matter that can be handled internally, but Captain Hexam wishes to build positive relations with the Multiverse at large, and thus, offered this chance at employment."

"While we suspect it is some manner of large vermin," she adds, "it is not outside the realm of possibility that there was a minor daemonic incursion following the last trip through the Warp. It is very unlikely, however Confessor-Militant Kor is prepared to join you if you believe it necessary."

She looks back up. "Time is wasting. We should go."

Vre'Yan turns and boards the shuttle. There are seats inside for everyone, but she goes to the cockpit. The two marines wait until everyone is aboard before they follow.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah gets a very sober expression on her face as it's explained that the ship came to be frighteningly close to the way she imagined. She doesn't seem to feel the need for any extra gear so she starts moving, drifting towards Septette and Kotone as she moves to board the shuttle, They're the people she knows best! She also gives a friendly wave to Yuuki, as she looks the most out of place. "Hey! Come join the cool kids!" She offers with a mischievous grin. "So.. we're after either giant rats or demons.. sounds like a fun night."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "And also incredibly overly likely to fight itself rather than focus on external problems." ALexis deadpans to Sarah, before listening to Vre's briefing. She nods, logging all of what Vre's been going over dutifully.

    Daemons give her reason to frown, and she ponders whether or not she'd be able to live through the risk of daemonic corruption, even if she is half-cybernetic really.

    "We'll keep it in mind, ma'am." She says, before glancing to Yuuki. Weapons wise, she isn't sure if the girl would be able to use anything on the cyborg's person, sadly. Ah well, it'll work out.

    She also pops her neck, joining the 'cool kids' club as well with a little laugh, ruffling Kotone's hair. "Let's hope it turns out an exterminator is needed, I'd hate to see the alternative." The cyborg adds to Sarah, grabbing a seat and checking the scope on her coilgun while she waits.

Staren has posed:
    "So whatever's in there, was enough to take out this marine escort... do you know of any threats that could do that? How large and well-equipped was this particular escort?"

     Staren has questions still, as he heads into the ship.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Everyone else has asked the pertinent questions, as anticipated. Septette isn't going to waste her (metaphorical) breath on trying to wring further information out of their gracious hosts. Nor is she liable to fawn over the spaceship they're headed to: yes, it's larger than any vessel she's ever seen, but unlike most organics she's capable of visualizing exactly what 'five kilometers long' looks like. The enormous ship is more or less exactly how she'd envisioned it from its description.

     So without further ado, the little robot walks up the ramp- at five feet and a bit, she's dwarfed by the marines on either side- and climbs into a chair near the back, pulling her clawed feet up onto the seat and crossing her legs. "You'll be alright, miss," she says to Yuuki. "If anything, I think the other folks here are considerably overprepared." Despite that, there's a nagging worry in the back of her head as she looks over her teammates...

     Septette isn't worried about being corrupted by daemons: they're remarkably similar to the creatures that she was built to fight, from what information she's been able to glean. But the others here... they're squishies. Capable squishies, from everything she's seen thus far, but squishies nonetheless. They may need to be shepherded carefully...

     For now, she lets Staren and the others do the talking, merely resting her head on a wall and soaking up all the tactically-useful information she can. Half-formed plans dart through her mind already, honing in on vague eventualities. But she needs more data first, and it's likely to be more than the Tau can provide.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Hearing that a squad of MARINES was brought down has Valentha looking Vre'Yan's way VERY sharply aboard the shuttle. It's time for additional questions. "Daemonic incursions? So it sounds like the inside of the ship is not well monitored. No security programs warning of breaches or unusual activity?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has not met Yuuki before and takes note of of her she seems nice enough. She doesn't assume anyone here is underarmed Yuuki may just be modest. She now settles in for the ride at this point. She makes note to map their trip on the ship and tag any places like that. She then gets a bit of an eye opening respoinse.

"No control network but how could you ...wait are you saying the entire thing outside of your drones analog?!"

She's clearly wide eyed at this but seems to be accepting it.

"I understand then, I won't do so. I understand about needing to keep drone security."

She listens and isn't liking the sounds of this.

"Look if we're dealing with something like Daemonic beings? Having someone along who knows how to deal with them is welcome in my book."

She's on the shuttle now strapping her self in and is generllly looking the place over. Analog? Everything here might be analog? How do they even get a ship that big to /run/ on that. She finds her hair's riffled and she nods to Alexis as she joins up with Sarah and Maaka.

"Hope so, just some alien vermin would be a pretty nice change of pace from what I have encountered lately.

"I'd presume they'd be decently armed if they were going with a VIP like a Tech Priest, right?

"Everything's not networeked at least as I understand it sounds like they rely on a lot of manual work. Then again this prevents them from being vunrable to a lot of info warfare tactics."

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    "Wow. That is quite amazing!" Yuuki notes, big starry red-brown eyes behind her sunglasses filled with wonder. The world /was/ an amazing place, and not dark and dreary and horrible at all! She heads towards the shuttle, settling on a quiet sort of hopeful.

    "Well, that shouldn't be too bad. Well, okay, it /could/ be, but... She gives a nice hopeful look. "That ship's so big they certainly could be lost, and still alive." She knows she's being ultra-optimistic, but she's got this Thing where she really does want to see the best in people and circumstances until things take a horrible tone-shift into HORRIBLE.

    It's coming, she knows it, she can feel it in her Normal Girl Bones.

    "Though, I have a question. What sort of vermin? Like... big... rats?" She asks.

    Oh sweet summer Totally Human child...

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
Vre'Yan closes the ship up and takes off. Getting out of the bay is a smooth process, handled by an experienced pilot; getting to the ship is accompanied by a distinct feeling of acceleration, followed by a sort of impromptu fly-by of the starboard side of the enormous vessel as the Tau pilot does a little showing off.

One of the two armored men answers the question. Vre'Yan's accent is sibilant; his isn't, but he speaks in a bit of a drawl. "Five-man fire team; shotguns with shipboard rounds." He reaches into a pouch attached to his armor and fishes out a shell, flipping it to Staren. "Wire, glass, bits of ceramite -- the kind of thing that won't puncture a deck but'll do a number to anything made of skin 'n bone they find down there. Tech-priest probably had a laspistol or something, if he was even armed."

"Rats? More like hrud, if you ask me," the other mutters.

The first leans forward and hits the other with his free hand. "It isn't /hrud/; the Void-Master's got them under control. Naw, you're looking at something bigger than him," nodding at Staren, "with claws /this/ big," he gestures about the width of his shoulders, "that like to hide in the dark and drop offa ceilings. We picked a few up on Omin Apsalus Prime for sale. Maybe a couple got loose." A shrug.

The transport pulls into a docking bay. It slows to a stop and then drops to the deck with a lurch and a whine. The ramp drops again, and a number of ship's marines stand waiting, armed and equipped like the two with the group. On their left, a formation of what must be Tau in sleek, curved armor and mono-eye helmets wait, long-barreled rifles held at ease. Their armor is the same shade of dark green as Vre'Yan's jumpsuit.

Commander Deathgaze himself stands between the two groups, wearing armor like the other Tau but lacking the helmet, and with a greatcoat worn over the top of it. He's carrying what is clearly a chainsword at his hip, and a pair of mismatched pistols along with it.

"Welcome aboard the Callidus Amicae," O'Mont're Tyr says. "I am Commander Deathgaze, first mate of this ship under Captain Hexam. I will be accompanying you on your mission. My men will secure the area behind us, to ensure our entry into the lower decks does not loose anything that may be waiting for us. If you require any additional supplies before we make our entrance, make your requests now."

He turns his head to the left and nods. The two groups of infantry turn and spread out, starting to disappear into the vessel. Only a cursory guard -- five Tau and five humans -- are left with him.

Staren has posed:
    Staren listens to the marines intently. He nods at the description of the rounds they use. He doesn't seem particularly worried by large-clawed space drop bears. "We can proooobably handle something like that..." but he's not willing to promise with 100% certainty.

    After COmmander Deathgaze asks if they have any other requests, Staren has a thought: He raises a hand, "Excuse me, are there some test targets we can fire our weapons at to confirm whether any are at risk of puncturing a deck? We might require alternate weapons than those we brought with us."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    As Alexis inspects the magazine on her coilgun, she overhears the discussion of the guards and frowns. Definitely time for subsonic and low-power loads alright, she was smart to bring both. She dials down the output on her rifle before she whistles sharply at the marine, "Hey, what guage are those shells? I might be willing to pay for a couple cases of those and a shotgun to go with it if you can get to the quartermaster." She says, looking at the shell curiously. "Might help to get on that quickly before we go hunting, most of my kit was designed for much more powerful loads, even if I've got most of this stuff dialed down."

    Hopefully she'll get her hands on one of said shotguns, considering the tight quarters of the ship and the circumstances of the hull. Keeping her weapons slung on her person, she joins the rest of the crew with Deathgaze. he seems a charming sort for a...blue cow man with hooves, all things considered. "'s why I asked, Staren." She asides.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     "It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Tyr," the robot says amiably as she disembarks the transport vessel, assuming that he already recognizes her from the job application and radio chatter. Strange that she doesn't use his title, given that he just provided it a moment ago- though her tone and demeanor would indicate that she intends no disrespect at all. In fact, she gives him what might be a curtsy after leaving the ramp.

     "I have everything I need," she asserts with a self-assured tone, despite the fact that she's only carrying her cloak and a leather pouch hardly big enough to hold a packed lunch. "That said, is there any way that you could reversibly vent the relevant sections of the ship to space? If I'm not mistaken, a hard vacuum would hurt most vermin considerably more than it would hinder us."

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    The phrase 'Shipboard rounds' echos through Sarah's mind, and she makes a mental note not to go wildly throwing her hammer around. It could breach the hull as easily as gunfire and leave a much larger hole. Unfortunately in her mind, that's the biggest danger. Vermin, Hrud and Daemon are all just different words for monster as far as she's concerned. She has zero experience with Daemons or daemonic corruption.

    She nods in agreement with Septette's question. "That seems like a good first step. the fact that they called us in suggests we're dealing with something a bit bigger than rats. Something that's not all that bothered by vacuum."

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Valentha snaps a playful salute off to Tyr! "Valentha Summers, Techno-Wizard. And mercenary for the moment. Pleased to finally meet you in the flesh, Commander Deathgaze." She's still not armed. Or armored. But apparently this isn't bothering her at all.

    But she's fine, and requests nothing further. She does spend a considerable amount of time going over gadgets inside her jacket and hooked to her pants, among other places. She has weapons, no doubt about that. Although the main one she pulled out looks like an old six-shooter...

    "So we're the vanguard! All the excitement's on us. We'd best take it slow and careful. ... Otherwise, someone's gonna lose a head. Corridors like these can be deathtraps."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has no idea what a Hrud is but gets they can be a problem but the crew seems to have it under control? She thinks that's enough. She looks over the marines and listne to their gear load outs.

"I'm carrying some heavier weaponry I and hello Commander Deathgaze. We meet in person at last. I'm Kotone Yamakawa."

She seems to be looking over the Tau and humans that make up the fire team that will be moving with them.

"I'll keep to my lighter weapons unless it's needed then."

Though Staren and Alexis idea to get better suited weapons if their are a problem might be a very good idea. Either way she's about ready to go. She gives Sarah a nod and looks over to Valentha for a moment.

"By the number don't split up and cover eachother."

The blue haired lady seems to have some experiance with this. She also takes a moment to open the case and a pair of small hovering drones deploy, nothing fancey just mobile cameras. She'll have to thank Rory yet again about having a fabber to work with on small projects.

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
The marine glances at Alexis. "Ten-gauge," he says. "Got these from an Arbites supplier. Quartermaster should be able to supply you."

"Yes, of course. Here." Tyr nods at Staren, and then turns and gestures towards the marines. A couple of them run off. He smiles slightly at the people he's actually spoken to, inclining his head. "I am glad to be able to put faces to names." Then, Septette's question. "It would need to be done manually, from the maintenance shafts connected to the deck. Imperial vessels are not known for their advanced electronics."

Five men come back where two left. Two are lugging a big metal plate, which they setup across the hangar; two others have a box between them, which they put down for the fifth: a hooded, white-robed individual, whose eyes are clearly mechanical replacements and who seems to have a number of wires or tubes running from his neck and head to somewhere under his robe. Some might get an impression of things moving underneath, which the robes keep very well-concealed. (Septette may feel a kinship with this man.)

"These," he says in a reedy voice, as the marines open the case, "are Vox Legi-pattern pump-action shotguns. They are normally used by the Adeptus Arbites in fringe worlds; however, the Captain has graciously acquired a large supply for shipboard use. They have been cared for with all the requisite rites and blessings, and are here for your use." Six round magazines, a stock that can be used as an effective club, and a very audible and intimidating pump action. They look pretty nice, all told.

Test-firing on the piece of plating shows that small-caliber weapons won't punch holes in the walls, but the shipboard shells might be necessary after all if you aim isn't good. It's unlikely that you'll actually damage the hull armor, but there's always a chance you'll hit something vital in a neighboring room.

"If that is all," Tyr says, "we should begin."

The path to the below-decks leads into the main artery of the ship, with the enormous vaulted ceilings and the overblown baroque artistry wherever one looks. The door they're headed to isn't far away, and it's already covered by a number of well-armed marines and Tau warriors, who let them pass without trouble. The group gets a few stares, but they're a well-disciplined bunch of the most part, the Tau moreso than the humans.

Tyr opens the door and steps through first, descending a metal staircase into a more dimly-lit section of the vessel. He stops at the bottom, where the corridor widens and extends onward. It's maybe fifteen feet high and wide, lacking some of the ornamentation of the other decks. The corridor extends forward out of sight, and with a growing number of sconces damaged, into deeper and deeper darkness.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Stepping off the ship, Yuuki smiles at 'Commander Deathgaze', pausing slightly to nod thougtfully, looking between the marines and the Fire Warriors. Nnnnnnneat.

    She bows - low, and rather archaically - to the Tau First Officer. "Greetings. Yuuki Kuran, member of the Union and... Ah... C-concerned party?" She tries, hopefully. It's totally true, she's just a bit... Worried.

    Dude's name is Commander /Deathgaze/. She is, in fact, pointedly avoiding his... mono eye? How does that work. "I won't, ah, die if I look at you, mmm?"

    At the idea of being the vanguard, she nods at Valentha. "Yeah. I mean, I'd rather risk my neck than having other people risk theirs. I'm pretty confident in keeping mine. Not, uh, avoiding locking killer death-gazes with people, though. That's OK, yeah? Heh-heh."

    She's starting to get the heeby-jeebies.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Ten guage, wood stock, tube mag and pump action? One might think Alexis is in love with these shotguns, as she takes one of the Vox Legi shotguns and shoulders the weapon with a nod. She begins to load a shell through the breech, then six additional shells into the tube magazine. Keeping the shotgun in hand, she takes as many shells as she can carry on herself, loading up little shell holders all over her armor for a quick reload.

    Her shotgun flips in her hands once it's loaded, and she grins a little while offers up a hand to Tyr. "Alexis Maaka, of the Flotilla." A quick handshake later, and she folds her helmet into place without even touching it, the helm giving off little reving noises and the sound of the suit sealing up entirely just in case a vacuum comes into play.

    She's content to be close to the front, shotgun readied, she snorts at Yuuki. "Only if you piss 'im off, I figure."

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     The sceptical robot does raise one eyebrow a fraction of an inch at the mention of rituals and blessings being used in the care of weapons, but decides to bite her tongue for now- cultural and religious discussions can wait for after the mission, no doubt. As the party begins to walk down the hallway, Septette glows more brightly to provide illumination for those without night vision, and switches to infrared sensors herself.

     A few brisk strides later, she's at the fore of the merry band. Her arm-mounted blades unfold with a quiet snap, covering a good few feet on either side of her: anything trying to run past would find itself clotheslined on a razor-sharp sickle. "So," she asks Tyr- perhaps a bit belatedly- "where exactly are we headed? This is quite a large ship, after all. Splitting up and searching aimlessly could both prove disastrous at worst, and a waste of time at best. I assume you have some idea where we ought to go."

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah gives Yuuki a reassuring smile. "I'm sure it's just an expression!" She says almost certainly. She gives the provided weapons a curious look, and though she seems impressed, they're not for her.

    Instead she unslings her shield from her back and grips it firmly in her left hand, while the right goes to touch her necklace, which disappears and is replaced by a large Nordic hammer that seems like it should be too heavy for the girl to handle, yet she holds it in one hand without a problem. She then lifts a few inches off the ground, probably just to show off a bit. and hovers alongside Septette.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Into the darkness they go, and Valentha answers this by softly chanting and summoning up a wisp of a light. A simple ball of light that gives off a lantern light.

    Having Nightvision herself, she does not need it, but others may.

    She asides to Yuuki, "Well...." The mage slips back to put a hand on her shoulder. "Relax. Wait, no. Don't relax. But take a deep breathe. This is a good group. We've got things handled."

    Hopefully. Really hopefully.

    Her senses, of course, are quite open. If there's anything SPECTACULARLY evil around, she MIGHT feel it coming.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa bows slightly s the big metal plate comes up and she nods to them smiling a bit.

"Thank you, this should help."

Kotone looks at the man and gets a feeling he's very much like her. She seddles in her solid slug pistol and her blaster those are not an issue. the XCOM laser rifle actually is a bit of an issue as it does perhaps a bit too much damage here. She frowns and looks at her grenades. Yup she's going to chdeck those. She will however take the shotgun which was offered, she seems to know how to handle such.

"I can tell they do look pretty well maintained."

Tyr might have noticed something about Kotone something's a bit off not in a bad way, those little imperfections most humans have she doesn't seem to have them, something with her eyes and her motions are /very/ efficent. She'll also switch over her pistol which she was able to find some workable ship ammo for.

"Ready to go!"

She readies the shotgun and gets ready to move out her small flying drones? One keeps with the party, the other is going to scout ahead.

She keeps an eye on Yuuki and smiles a little about her asking Deathgaze's name. She's feeling a bit creeped out.

She's however already making a map, the drones are doing a good job keeping out of the way, but that's because Kotone's riding shotgun on them right now. She does however keep with Alexis whom she's got a good deal of work experiance with. She's also kept an eye on Septette as well.

<<Good to go here, man this is like something out of a movie...>>

Staren has posed:
    Staren goes through weapon after weapon, testing beam cannons, beam swords, a laser rifle, and a laser pistol on the sample of armor plating, blowing it to bits and then blowing the bits into smaller bits. "Hrrrrmm..." he growls to himself. Through his cyberjack, he turns off the beam cannons so he won't use them accidentally, then stuffs his laser pistol and laser sniper rifle into his bag, pulling out the RAISER rifle and dialing the power waaaaay down, and the penetration to zero and slinging it over his back. A normal pistol and his missile pistol stick to the armor are put in holsters on his hips for quick access, and at last he pulls out a shotgun of his own, a pump-action design from Earth-1960. He might need the shipboard shells if lead buckshot is a problem.

    They're led below decks. "Wow! This place is pretty fancy. It looks like a church! A giant space church.

    Once they reach the dimly-lit section, Staren's visor rotates into place, and he turns on a light on his helmet, as well as a flashlight attached under the shotgun's magazine, and shines light into the darkness ahead.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah gives Staren an odd look. "Wouldn't it have been easier just to take one of the guns they had ready!?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks at Sarah. "This one has an eight-round magazine. That's two more shots."

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
Alexis gets a four-fingered handshake. "Thank you for coming. We will speak later of this Flotilla, if you would. The Captain is interested in it."

Tyr dons his white (and only slightly green) helmet on the way down. It's more ornate than the rest of the Fire Warrior combat armor; there's gold chasing and Imperial aquilas adorning it (particularly the Rogue Trader variant with the skull and wreath), which don't really do anything practical. It does make him look simultaneously more regal and more menacing, though.

He does turn to Yuuki when addressed, though, the mono-eye locked on her. "Have you caused harm to me or my crew?" He sounds grim and dreadfully serious. "Have you endangered those I am sworn to protect? Are you in league with the Great Enemy, and an enemy of the Emperor?"

There is a long pause.

"Then no," he says, in a gentler tone of voice, "you will not."

Commander Deathgaze allows the Elites specializing in close quarters to take up vanguard positions. He seems comfortable with a spot in the midst of the group, drawing the shorter-barreled of his two pistols. This one, like his armor, also bears the golden Imperial eagle. The power pack, or what's visible of it, is bright red. That probably means something.

He eyes the globe of light, remarking, "I would recommend avoiding a demonstration of your sorcery in front of the rest of the crew. It would alarm them unnecessarily." He seems less worried about Septette's appearance than the minor amount of magic-use. Tyr keeps pace with the group, nodding at Septette before scanning the area ahead of them. Kotone's advance scout-drone can see that the corridor extends on and on. There's an open side door a long ways up, though; the rest are all sealed.

"I sent a scout team into this section before you arrived. They were instructed to locate the tech-priest's route, mark it clearly, and meet us at the entry-point. In point of fact..."

A trio of Tau warriors fade into sight next to the door Kotone's drone found. Their armor is black as pitch and made of smoother contours than the other combat suits, with what looks like small jetpacks affixed to the backs. They carry shorter-barreled versions of the typical Tau rifle. The lead of the three salutes in a very human manner, but greets Tyr over his suit's radio as, "Shas'O." It's echoed across the common frequency to the rest of the group. "The route has been marked. We detected motion multiple times but did not see the source, and did not seek to engage, as per your instructions."

"You have done well," Tyr says. "Return to the upper deck." The lead Tau nods, and the three move past the team, disappearing behind them. Tyr looks over the Elites, and then gestures at the hatch. "After y-"

A grate flush with the ceiling falls. Three figures swing out, shadowy shapes barely illuminated by the ball of light up at the top of the heavily-arched hallway. They drop down with a rodent-like screech, one towards Valentha, a second at Septette in the lead, and the last -- having dragged its way across the ceiling -- throws itself right at Yuuki's head.

They aren't quite as big as the marine made them out to be, but whatever they are, they definitely have enormous claws and really pointy teeth!

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    The Imperial iconography is enough to confuse the hell out of Alexis, but she does not dare speak. That can wait for later, when they discuss the Flotilla and all that jazz. She isn't opposed to talking further about that stuff, however.

    It's still weird seeing tau loyal to the Imperium, but whatever. Time to get to work.

    She doesn't need light, instead she activates night-vision as the group goes into the depths and light becomes less and less common. Making sure to remain close to Septette, she does let the android stay up ahead while she levels her shotgun. She keeps the weapon against her shoulder as she approaches the door. And then all hell breaks loose.

    Her shotgun levels up at one of the creatures, the one leaping at Yuuki, and fires off a round. "GET BACK!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren holds the Renegade Rangemaster at the ready. When the grate falls, Staren swings the gun up, but can't draw a bead yet...

    His initial reaction is to shoot the one trying to grab Septette, since the yggdroid won't be hurt by friendly fire... then he realizes that that's really needless. Septette doesn't need the help. Valentha is powerful and can conjure a psi-sword, or maybe a magic sword -- he vaguely recalls reading about a spell that does that but the name escapes him. Yuuki, he knows nothing about, so he errs on the side of caution: He turns and charges, holding his shotgun by the barrel in his left hand while drawing his plasma sword, trying to make a quick stab and slash with glowing purple-white energy at the... whatever-it-is!

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Scarcely has the grate burst open before Septette tenses and mutters an incantation, despite Tyr's apparent distaste for sorcery. Its effect is immediately apparent: her already wicked-looking curved blades glow red with heat, distorting the air around them as they stir up convection currents.

     She's never fought on a spaceship before, and these creatures come from a world she has never set foot on. Still, everything else about this situation feels deeply familiar to the Yggdroid; almost comfortable, even. It's just her and a small band of hardy adventurers fighting against alien creatures bent on spilling the blood of innocent people. Save for the scenery and her allies' equipment, this could almost be a scene from the Abyssal War.

     So it should come as no surprise that her old combat reflexes kick in even before her subjective time slows to a crawl from those ancient combat routines. She trusts her companions to take care of the other two beasts, and anticipates the nearest monster's trajectory to lash out at its vital areas with almost blinding speed. Rather than retreat in the face of its attack, she digs her talons into the floor, hoping to use the beast's own momentum to help cut it to pieces!

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah was ready to rush to Yuuki's aid as well, but there's already at least two people set on blasting the thing to bits already. Septette's probably the most dangerous monster in the whole place, and she's on their side! She knows nothing about Val's abilities though, so that's the creature she dashes through the air towards. Mjolnir already crackling with lighting as she swings it at the thing.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks to Tyr for a brief moment as he speaks to Alexis of the Flotilla.

"Oh he is we talk about that or even set up a meeting if the Captain's curious about it."

She notes but she's moving ahead now as she gets the feed from teh drone she wees everything is sealed one way or another. She looks to the scout who are alive to report. That's good she watches as they get told to move out, but then something drops in. Kotone's reflexs are quite refined in responding to things like this. She opens fire with the shotgun on the thing. She's not sure what the hellish looking thing is? But she's not going to wait about to be eaten, she is also dancing back and she's not hiding at all how agile she is, either.

"Xenofauna?!"

She's going to save footage of these things to see if they cna ID these things later but that's only a brief thought for her givne how fast she can process information. As this fight ocntiunes she tracks the movments of Staren, Sepetette and the others to avoid catching them with the shotgun blasts.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    SPACE DROPBEARS drop in like TENNO SKOOM, going for the Totally Normal Girl's head, her large anime eyes, and her insistence on STILL WEARING SUNGLASSES IN THE DARK.

    This doesn't actually seem to affect the highschool-aged anime in any way, as she raises up her hand, the metal cylinder in it extending in an electric arc to grow, somehow, into a long metal pole, simply multiplying itself into a long staff that she jams into a soft part - even the mouth - of her pouncing attacker, and send flying over her head, holding her weapon at the ready.

    Staff? It's more like... a Scythe. Somewhere between 'implement for reaping grain' and 'organometallic power weapon'. It's got a kind of batty-motif on the scythe's head, and she had been using the blunted 'staff' end for tossing the monster over her. She twirls it once to reset it to a more useful ready position. "Wow. If these guys' hearts weren't so loud, and their blood so... rich and tangy and smelly, I'd never have noticed them!" She announces, panting slightly from anxiety. It's scary, being jumped!

    Did she say blood?

    "I-I mean, wow, they're pretty smelly, ha-ha-ha, can't anyone else tell? Wow, these things just dropped from the vents, Commander Deathgaze you really shouldn't have monster-sized vents!"

    Good segue, Yuuki. Nobody will notice.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    "That's why we're all the way in here, isn't it?" Valentha cracks in response. She does kep the ball out of sight when others arrive, but unfortunately keeping focused on that leaves her just a BIT vulnerable. She looks UP when the grate's blown in and -- "HYAAAAAH!"

    Instantly she's whipped out a little handle from within her jacket and thumbed it on. Well, it has THREE thumb-buttons, and her thumb's on a red one. There's also yellow and blue!

    Red is apparently FIRE, because a FLAME SCIMITAR erupts from the little device. She waves the thing around at comical-seeming hyperspeed. "GoawaygoawaygoawayGOAWAY!"

    Well, there might be some method to that madness, because the comical flailing's at least not encroaching into anyone else's range. She's mostly waving it over her head at the dropping creature. Not that this does much to stop its fall! It gets a grip on her shoulders and the two go tumbling around.

    At the first available opportunity though she'll SLAM it against a wall in all of this flailing.

    That might not go so well for the well. Expect dents and bending.

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
The first creature -- the one that made the fundamental error of engaging Septette in close-quarters combat -- gets turned into a pile of monster-steaks in short order. It sprays blood as it's cut to pieces and pumped full of shot, and the remainder of the carcass splatters across the floor, making a big ol' mess and leaving a bloody streak into the midst of the group. It doesn't even twitch after that.

Yuuki deflects the second of the falling xenofauna by jabbing it somewhere that makes it make an alarmed kind of squeak-hiss noise. It tumbles and jerks, shredding ammunition from Maaka's shotgun ripping into its soft, fleshy body -- and not quite killing it. It scrabbles on the deck, getting up and starting to lunge, only to get staggered by another shotgun blast from Kotone and skewered by Staren's saber. It looks like it actually takes some /effort/ to kill these.

Val's FLAME SCIMITAR, accompanied by COMEDIC FLAILING, manages to fill the corridor with the smell of burnt fur. It doesn't stop, the now-burning, wicked-looking claws descending for her face --

-- which promptly gets electrocuted and slammed into the wall by judicious application of Mjolnir. Val hits it once more for good measure, the two of them embedding it into the interior wall and leaving a big ol' bloody dent in the otherwise nice-looking corridor. This one /does/ twitch a bunch.

Tyr, meanwhile, has his pistol trained on the vent. Two more of the things come out, skittering across the ceiling; he fires once, a sharp cracking sound joining the deafening shotgun blasts and an intense red beam hitting it in the midsection. It burns a hole through it, dropping it to the floor while the other keeps running. It's making sounds as it rushes /away/ from the groun. Rapid, terrified squeaking kinds of sounds.

"It won't make it out the entrance," Tyr says. He looks down at the bodies. "They must have come aboard when we came back from the planet. Hm." He turns his mono-eyed helmet towards the door, absently exchanging the red power pack in his laspistol for another from his coat. "We should move forward. The path will be marked with glow-rods." It is. It's a bunch of narrow, twisting corridors, but it is. They may have to get friendly to go that way.

Staren has posed:
    Staren steps back from the skewered rodent, pulling his sword out with a slight fluorish. When more monsters show up, he shifts his grip on the shotgun and lifts it one-handed, pulling the trigger: *click*

    Oh, right. As Tyr speaks, Staren nods, deactivating and holstering the plasma sword, then pumping the shotgun and loading another shell to top it off.

    Staren moves up not quite to the front line, but to the next rank behind them. "So... these monsters didn't attack the team that laid these glowsticks, but they come after /us/, with superior numbers and armament? Any idea what that might be?"

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Seemingly disoriented, Val wrenches herself away from the embedded creature and wrings her hands out after flicking the saber off. "Phew. Thanks! You got that one good!" She flashes Sarah a quick thumbs-up, then goes for her pistol. All of a sudden the goofy expressions she's been wielding drain away.

    "Oh boy."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Pump pump. The shell falls to the ground with smoke still pouring from the opening, and Maaka casually draws her Kama before the massive handgun begins to fire. THe ship should be lucky she's not using full power loads, 'cause 12mm slugs are a beast of a cartridge even at half-powder. The rounds blast at the small creature. SHe has no idea what it is, but it better be dead after this.

    She does have the decency to warn everybody with a hearty, "GET CLEAR!" to anybody at the entrance, if only to avoid getting hit by a riccochet.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa reloads her shotguin once the battle is over. She looks to Tyr as he's got the vent handled she lowers her weapon now noddiong as she gets ready to move ahead. She orders both drones now to scout ahead and hopefully will keep them a bit better informed.

"Strange but the last unit I think was a stealth group, could be they were. She's on edge she hears the comm chatter and press onwards.She doesn't mind if she's got friendly with the others here, she's not that uptight.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Heh heh. Heh... Vampire intelligences. Terrors from the warp. Ssssuuuure.

    "Wow, good job everyone! Sure is a lot of firepower everyone's packing, I'm glad. Otherwise... Well, they wouldn't be dead and thus not threatening the people of this ship! And with a ship this big, well, that's pretty good." Yuuki notes, nodding firmly.

    Then she has a thought. "Wait, if they got on the ship when you landed someplace, and are in here now, wouldn't that mean the way we come in /isn't/ the only way in here?" She wonders, shouldering her weird batty bio-metallic scythe.

    She looks for the glow-rods, sunglasses still on, not seemingly impaired in any way. "Well, at least that forward team was thourough. Hey, Commander, why didn't you send them in to hunt down the beast instead of that team of marines and a priest-technician? Seems to me they did a super job."

    Let's ignore the fact she almost died.

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
Alexis decides that there will be no runners. She plugs the fleeing creature with twelve millimeter rounds, and after a couple, it drops off the ceiling with a meaty 'thump.'It twitches in the dark behind them. That... seems to be all of them?

Staren asks a pertinent question. Tyr lowers his laspistol. "The Stealthsuit team is, as the name suggests, equipped for stealth. We are not. However, given their disposition..." He looks at one of the bloody corpses. "...I would venture to guess they were fleeing something else."

Kotone's drones beep and boop on forward. The path is narrow, twisting corridors, with a number of grates and vents and pipes festooning the walls to their right. Past them is a solid wall, and past /that/ is the evil presence that Val sensed... somewhere. It looks like the corridor is the long route, but will eventually let out in into a much more wide-open area.

That's about where Kotone loses the drones. They lose signal and seemingly fall off the face of the ship, at least as far as she can tell.

Yuuki brings up another excellent point about other ways in here. "There very well may be," Tyr agrees. He adjusts his comm and makes a call. "Hiird."

Another voice comes over the local comm network. It's simultaneously rough and wet, like someone was gargling both mud and gravel and still managing to talk through it. There's some kind of odd interference along with it. "Commander. Yes. I am here."

"Have there been any hull breaches detected since we left Omin Apsalus Prime?" Tyr asks.

The voice makes a thoughtful sound. It's almost a hiss. "One. One of my subordinates, he was to repair the breach. The ship's Auspex does not detect a breach. My subordinate, he has not been seen in many cycles. I did not think to concern you."

Tyr's expression is unreadable beneath his helmet, but he doesn't sound happy. "Thank you." With that, the staticky extra connection disappears. Tyr gestures towards the passage, waiting for the vanguard to proceed.

Once they've begun, he looks back at the Perfectly Normal Girl. Why /didn't/ he have the cloaked guys take care of the problem? "I was instructed otherwise. Thus, it falls to all of you."

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah looks around for something she can prod at the body of a dead critter with, finally deciding to use the edge of her shield to prop one up a bit. "Anyone know what these things are that we just killed?" She asks, looking firstly to Tyr, then to anyone else who might speak up in response. She decides to stick close to Valentha for now. It looks like her swordsmanship may be lacking due to her earlier antics.

Staren has posed:
    Fleeing something else. Staren was just starting to think along those lines... "Something else... like /demons/, huh?" He's now carrying one of the shotguns Deathgaze's crew offered. Having the shotgun he gave Eliot Ness was just an ANIMATION ERROR. "Are regular shotgun shells really going to be enough for demons? I mean, I know it works in videogames, but..." The missile launchers on his armor's shoulders raise into forward-firing position.

    After the report over the radio, Staren looks at the Commander. "There was a breach, but your ship's Auspex doesn't detect it? What does that mean?"

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Septette's blades flare momentarily, cooking off the blood staining them, then cool abruptly before the heat they radiated could build up and singe the more delicate members of the party. "They're nothing to be too concerned about, I believe. Non-elemental creatures, apparently mundane. I do have to wonder what they've been eating for the last few weeks," she adds with a glance towards Tyr. "They're apparently predators. The fact that they hadn't starved thus far means we'll likely enounter other fauna that have infested the ship, no?" Stepping on the nearest one's remains, she carefully excises a small swatch of tissue with her leg-talons and stashes it in her pouch.

     "I doubt they're the worst we'll find down here, unfortunately," the little robot remarks before turning around and slowly walking down the hallway again. "Shall we proceed, or does anyone have wounds that need tending?"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Don't know, looks alien whatever it is." Alexis says, before shrugging at Staren. "Depends whether or not these are blessed or something, I guess." She half-jokes, before she watches Septette extract some samples curiously. "I'm fine, we'd be best off getting to this sooner than later." The android has a point, these are nothing compared to whatever is ahead of them, and Alexis knows it.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    With there being EVIL afoot, Valentha's on high alert. Supernatural evil is a whole different beast from hungry animals. Whoever has some exposed flesh to work with (or at least ordinary clothes, instead of thick power armor) she'll touch and cast a Armor of Ithan (invisible force field) for their benefit. Just in case things get really hairy!

    And apparently with no concern whatsoever for how much energy all that casting's costing...

    "Well. I sense ONE thing. That way." She points towards the solid wall. "But just because I only sense one thing, it doesn't mean there's not more of SOMETHING dangerous. Hungry animals aren't exactly DEMONS, you know." But she's checking over her gear while the others chat up and take stock of things.

    But her alert hearing picks up some rather troubling information from Tyr's tone of voice and that message.

    "Probably those 'things that got loose' we heard about a while ago. They've got the claws for it!" She asides to Sarah... then pfffts at Staren. "It'll probably be fine. From what I know of the gear used by the races inhabiting this part of space, there's not much in the idea of 'blessed weapons' or 'vampire stakes.' Bullets and bombs seem adequate enough!"

    She flicks on her TW blade again, this time producing a lightning rapier, which she stabs at the air a few times. "Good, still working..."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa Doesn't like it when she closes contact with hte drones, but that's why she brought them.

"I think I found something my Dones just fell right off the ship. I think they been taken out."

She notes and brings up a data pad bringing up tha map of the route the drones took to show Deathgaze so he can get an idea of it.

"I have no idea, and I'm just happy it didn't turn out wors, SArah."

She looks to Septette for a moment bobbing her head.

"Sounds like it Sepette but if they want help cleaning out the ducts I think we can come to an arrangment of some sort right?"

She makes sure to reload her weapons and falls in again. She'll also show the map to the others after deathgaze is done with it. Those on the tact net would just get sent a copty, such s Alexis and likely Staren.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki seems to nod thoughtfully. The smells of the ship were vast and unknowing and assaulting her sensitive schnoz. That, and the fact she was probably covered in part by disgusting drop bearhorror ichor.

    She tries to wipe it off, looking at the glowing mono-eye of Commander Deathgaze. And the enlightening answers to his questions, and the rather eager 'did I get it did I get it' look behind her sunglasses is practically sparkling.

    "So... Wait, that's bad, a hullbreach. But good, because it's sealed! But... bad, because you can't find the engineer. And... Demons? Like, real demons, or figurative demons, becuase there's a lot of..."

    She taps her fingers together meaningfully. "Cross-over. I mean, some people just call magic demon-stuff, you know? Heh-heh..."

    Yuuki nods, a sympathetic look in her eye. "I understand, Commander! You didn't want to risk your men, when you could save their lives by going in yourself, valiantly." She's beaming up at him. "You're very noble."

    She looks at Valencia, letting her weapon shrink back to a baton and clipping it to her belt. "Oh, thank you, but I'll be fine! I have all of you to protect me! With guns!"

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
"Native fauna of the planet we visited. You would need to ask the magos biologis for specific details." Tyr sort of waves off the question about what they are exactly. The answer seems to be 'nothing special,' at least, compared to /some/ things he's run into. "Yes. There is likely a prey species aboard as well. It would not be the first time it has happened. The hrud and off-duty marines typically keep rodent population numbers down."

"It means," he tells Staren, "that the ship's sensors are either malfunctioning, or the breach was sealed successfully." He inclines his head in Yuuki's direction, apparently willing to accept her version of events rather than try to explain how the chain of command here works. "They are quite real. And, if it /is/ a daemon... well. I will be glad you brought heavier weaponry, and inform the Captain of the necessity following its destruction." Which is to say, collateral damage won't be taken out of your pay... probably.

Septette's slow advance finds the beginnings of the claustrophobic passages. They're lit by red glow-sticks, or the local equivalent, and seem to be monster-free all the way to an entrance to a much larger chamber. The bigger chamber opens up to the left once one is out of the tight, twisting passages, but it's impossible to actually see far into it without moving in.

The light level in the chamber is higher. It's red, like the passages. There's a smell of burnt flesh and spilled industrial lubricants, detectable by those with sensitive noses.

Staren has posed:
    Staren nods to Deathgaze, and follows the frontliners into the tight passages. A moment after, he puts his gun away and turns down his headlight, holding the hilt to his plasma saber ready. No fight starts there, though...

    Once he's out into the larger room, he clips the hilt to his armor and readies his shotgun again, shining the light he affixed underneath it, and the light on his helmet, into the chamber...

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     She may not have a human-like sense of smell, but Ms. Arcubielle's chemoreceptors do pick up burnt organic tissue and traces of synthetic lubricants in the air. "This seems suitably ominous," she observes dryly while peering into what little of the larger room is visible. "Tell me if any of you start hearing boss-fight music, hmm?" Then she steps out into the open with loud and clanging steps, taking care to remain between the others and the center of the room.

     If no hostiles are clearly present, she'd call forth wisps of fire to illuminate the dark corners of the room... but if there's any obvious threat, she'd enchant her blades again to prepare for it instead.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    "Basically giant space rats then." Sarah nods to herself, "Totally normal and not servants of a mother creature or anything worrisome?" She asks as she follows Septette through the corridors. "For the record, unlike some people here I do actually need to breathe, and I seem to be doing an okay job of it so far. So if there's a hull breach we're at least on the other side of a bulkhead from it at the moment."

    She waves Mjolnir in the air for a moment, "This thing is considered a religious artifact in some worlds, Though if that means anything to the Demons in this one, I have no idea." She gives Septette an odd look, "That was a joke right?"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis activates night-vision as the area gets darker. The idea of fighting daemons leaves her worried, but shotguns are shotguns. She's killed worse before, and she shoulders her shotgun close as she begins to follow Septette as well. She's thankful for having a big enough gun at least, as she occassionally trails it down corridors along the way.

    Her pace is steady and alert, and she pays attention to motion scanners as she goes, keeping her ears perked for anything sneaking up on the group from some vent shaft or whatever.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa also has motion trackers she's borrowed from the XCOM armory she's going to need to ask if she can get the specs for those to work up plans for her fabber with Rory on that. She look to Yuuki with a concerned look on her face.

"Every myth is true somewhere in the multiverse espically the bad ones."

She seems sadded by this but she's not seeming to doubt Tyr's words on this at all.

She makes note there may be more local fauna and she brings up a few things on the tact net to STaren and her. She's made sure to make a way point where her drones vanished. She also switches over to lower light vision as she gets on the moves. She smirks at Septette and humms a few bars of an famous boss fight theme from a long running game line, on her world.

"Sure thing Septette. I'm more worried about things coming out of the damn walls."

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Into the red-tinted chamber! Valentha's nose twitches a bit, and her free hand immediately claps over it. "Ewwwwwwwww... anyone else smell that? Please tell me someone smells that...?" A glance around reveals no obvious signs anyone DOES though.

    With a sigh, the Techno-Wizard hunts around for whatever poor soul had a bad encounter with fire. And other things.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki cringes slightly, but doesn't say anything. She's strong! She's a hero! She won't be... Disgusted...

    By the disgusting smells. Of industrial stuff! Ooh, burnt flesh! That's...

    Actually she gets a little 'hungry' from that. Reaching into a pocket, she pulls out some sort of fruit-nut bar with chocolate chips with it and starts peeling away the wrapper, chewing softly.

    Sniff sniff. "So, I noticed you said day-mon, not dee-mon, Commander. Is there some difference? Or is it just an accent thing...?" She wonders, her own accent somewhere between Archaic European and Modern Japanese.

    Valentha asks if anyone else does. Yuuki raises her hand - clutched around the snack bar - like a schoolgirl called on suddenly in class. "Ooh, I do! I mean... The machinery-smells and stuff, right?" She asks hopefully.

    Wandering along at her own pace, she doesn't seem to mind how dark it is, even behind her sunglasses. And cap. Both of which she's still wearing.

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
Tyr examines the map offered by Kotone. "The passage should lead to the chamber adjacent to the hull breach. Perhaps it remains open to space, and that is where your drones went," he theorizes.

The chamber itself is massive. It's the size of a cathedral's interior, with a vaulted roof and enormous pillars of what look like wrought iron. The reddish light seems to come from ensconced torches scattered around the room. They're actually burning, rather than merely recepticles of what is probably electric light elsewhere on the ship. There's a sort of smokey haze drifting around the upper end of the room, with the ceiling maybe thirty feet up and a whole second-level catwalk present along the left and right sides of the chamber.

The added light from the party reveals what used to be the purpose of this room: storage. What looks like industrial vehicles and old and enormous parts of machines lay about the room. A good portion of them have been severely damaged by something or other, with only the few smaller ('smaller' being 'waist-high cover' rather than 'bigger than a person') objects -- like stacks of giant cogs and gears, for instance -- remaining seemingly useful.

Tyr brings up the rear of the group, stepping into the chamber. He looks left, looks right, and then looks up -- and throws himself forward into a roll, away from the passageway back. An enormous object slams down in front of it where he was just standing, embedding itself in the deck. It is, in fact, one of the massive, many-toothed gears scattered around the room.

There's a mechanical kind of hiss, and a shape snakes its way around the upper half of the room. Tendrils, clearly metallic, slide out of the smoke and spiral down the metal pillars. A bulky shape made of jagged, burned metal plates surrounding a humanoid figure descends, suspended from a dozen or more of the metallic tentacles, each one disappearing up into the haze. Its body is a mess of metal fused with flesh, most of the cybernetic components crudely affixed around what look like more professional (if still bulky) implants in its blood-caked head and chest.

There's a click and the whirr and the glow of optical implants. Flickering red lights focus on the group. It has too many eyes. The shape of other things, man-sized and -shaped, are dimly visible in the smoke on the catwalks above.

"Ah," it sighs, with an electronic warble to its voice, "fresh meat."

Mechadendrites -- the numerous metallic tentacles -- flicker with reflected red light as they move. Half a dozen more gears, some sharpened and others not needing to be, are cast forward and down with a vast ripple of motion. They sail towards the group in silence -- a fact that changes the moment they hit the deck or a person, filling the room with thunderous sounds of metal crashing down all around from the instant of impact to the sudden and shocking /bouncing/ they do towards the far wall the group is arrayed in front of.

Get moving!

WELL, SEPTETTE CALLED THE BGM CHANGE: https://youtu.be/D9s18rUaubc

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Seems the Imperium's ships are just as huge on the inside as they are on the outside, as Alexis notes the ridiculous interior of this storage room,along. Not unmerited, mind, considering the vehicles and waist high cogs and such. It brings to mind a chathedral of mechanics, and given the cogboys that might not be off the mark at all.

    Alexis still snorts in derision imagining their response to her. They'd probably hate her, clinging to her human form in favor of adopting a truly robotic appearance like them given her insides.

    Though that's interrupted by /this/ fresh hell of a horror show of a being.

    Behind her visor, ALexis looks disgusted at this cyborg, if it can even be called that if anything.

    Without wasting time, Alexis begins to let off a few blasts of ten gauge shipboard shells, aiming to cover Septette's approach as she aims for the fleshy center of this creature.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah quickly brings her shield up, hoping to protect the people she sees as squishy, mainly Valentha and Yuuki, from the incoming gears. Her brain has a moment to process the fact that that thing actually spoke as gears hit the Star Shield and fall to the ground.

    "Oh Yeah! I can't wait to see what you taste like!" She quips back at the thing. Okay, she has no intention of eating it really, she's just trying to seem intimidating.

    She starts spinning Mjolnir up until it's crackling with lightning then hurls it at the cybernetic monstrosity, aiming for it's head.

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     Her vanadium-carbide claws dig into the metal floor as Septette tenses up almost instantaneously, then tears across the floor with a backscatter of debris accompanying each lunging step. Those wicked blades of hers are already deployed, and she uses them to cut through a pair of rolling cogs before they've even finished heating up. The veteran warrior tacks back and forth once she's within reach of the tendrils, leaping from side to side in an erratic pattern and slashing at any mechadendrites that come close.

     It's not until she's within ten meters or so that Septette leaps towards the monstrosity, unfolding a matching pair of blades from her lower legs. With an incantation and a sudden flare of plasma, the robot sharply changes course halfway through her trajectory, aiming to tear into the tendrils suspending her opponent from the ceiling rather than attacking its main body! "HELLFIRE!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is hoping that as she enters the massive chamber, she looks about, her eyes tarting left and right as she tries to take in what's in here. She the machines and wonders about the remains of the various crafts in here. She wonders about it but she seems to be quite concerned about it. This place almost looked in. She starea for a moment at the thing.

She sees the tentacles she sees the flesh, the cyberware she has an idea what happpened to the missing people. She watches the machine and now she's starting to move and use a good deal of inhuman agility. She's already got her blaster out, it's been set to normal kill mode and she's letting rip a hail of bolts at the thing trying to target it's flesh even as she dodges about. She brings up the grenades she'd carrying over the comm ti Tyr, but she's not going to sit still. She gets a plan from Tyr and is going to carry it out.

Staren has posed:
    More giant church rooms! Staren stops to narrow his eyes at one of the torches. "...How do these stay lit...?"

    And then, the boss door closes! Staren holds his arm out to blast it open, but he disabled his beam cannons earlier... He raises the shotgun and fires a couple of times at the tentacles, then realizes he should re-enable his weapons and sets to work on that -- only to have to dive to the ground to dodge a giant flying gear!

    It has now emerged that the monster is an armored cyborg tentacle snake demon thing! And it can talk, but it won't be talking to them -- it wants to eat them! Very well, Staren has the missiles ready, so... as soon as he gets up even to his knees and faces the creature, a half-dozen missiles launch from his shoulder racks, aiming to penetrate that armor plating and explode within!

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    It might be dim here to some, but Valentha can see clear as daylight out to a few hundred feet. She reacts to the distant motion by bringing up her 'blade' and flicking it on again. An ice CLAYMORE springs from it, which her scrawny arms apparently can support as if it weighed nothing more than a feather. She doesn't have much SKILL with that thing, but Valentha wields it with tremendous strength and speed. A whirlwind of strikes - considering the blade's likely astronomical weight - beats back several tendrils with enormous clangs, casting shards of ice in every direction!

    And that's just with ONE hand. Valentha's other hand goes for her revolver. While backing up and fending off some of the tendrils, she brings up the weapon and takes aim...

    But thus her defense falters and some of the tentacles slam into her HARD. She goes flying back towards a bulkhead and hits it HARD. Hard enough to force a grunt from her but NOT hard enough to knock her for a loop. The weapon comes up again and she starts firing. The weapon's SILENT, but sends ripples of SOMETHING flying through the air. Ripples that will hit like hammer blows, no doubt...

    "And just who or what are YOU?!"

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki is agile! She was on the track team in school, and was the prefect, too, which basically meant a lot of jumping around at nighttime chasing schoolgirls who are trying to get a peep of prettyboys and...

    And Staren raises the questions that Yuuki feels, deep inside. How the heck are those torches /working/? They're obviously burning, and they smell like they're, you know, burning something rather than magic or an illusion or...

    Her thoughts are filled with useless wonderings as she acrobatically leaps away from the first set of razor-cogs, drawing forth her Artemis Rod (the scythe-baton), setting in her stance and...

    Coughing. More like choking, really, she looks down, as her nice white shirt is stained crimson. Well, no, she can't see that. What she CAN see is the blade neatly replacing where things like spines and organs should be. Then, the mechadendrites neatly stave in her head and she falls, in two pieces, in a pool of rather sweet-smelling blood, a big blade-cog seperating her halves neatly.

    It's rather messy. She seems so... surprised that she got 'killed' like that. But isn't everyone?

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
Alexis' shotgun barks, and the creature immediately reacts. The plating around what looks like the human body at the core of it rotates, swinging in front of the fleshy parts and intercepting most of the shipboard shot before it can connect. The main body begins to pull itself back into the cloud of smoke, but the mechadendrites affixed to it twitch and twist, moving like a puppeteer's strings --

-- and two of the humanoid shapes in the smoke are abruptly illuminated by muzzle-flashes, as the 'Ka-chak-BOOM' of the 10 gauges is mimicked by the men on the catwalks. They look like the marines that escorted you in, but lack the face-concealing helmets. Their fire is aimed at Alexis and Staren, except they don't fire the shipboard rounds. Instead, their shells are loaded with some kind of acidic payload, bursting into an oddly sticky, corrosive mess accompanied by a plume of poison gas.

The smell from that is on the far opposite side of 'pleasant.'

Staren finds that his shotgun isn't doing jack or shit to the metallic tentacles. They weave their way around the room, sliding along walls and attacking from odd angles, bludgeoning and crushing. Two slam down from the ceiling towards him as he gets to a kneeling position and fires his missiles, a whirring of cutting blades alerting him to what /they/ seem to be armed with!

The missiles fly forward, up -- and detonate prematurely, striking white shapes cast in front of them. Fragments of hot shrapnel are shot across the room, and another four disc-shaped drones bearing diagonally-pointed vertical fins sail out of the corners of the room. They're burned and their armor marred, some kind of extra equipment fused to them. Lights begin to glow on the front, points of bright red building...

Mjolnir sails, and two of them jerk drunkenly into its path. Unfortunately, that isn't quite enough to stop /that/ hammer, smashing through both the hijacked Tau drones and barely losing momentum. The monstrosity smoothly repositions but in a hurry, Mjolnir's glancing blow spinning it on its tentacle-mount and tearing metal off its cocoon-like shell. Val's force cannon starts pounding indents into the same shell before it can register that something's hitting it, and the last two drones are used as shields again, folded in half an sent careening across the room.

Septette, who has been covered by this hail of incoming fire, comes in free and clear. She hits the mechadendrites holding it up, hard, and cleaves through the armored tendrils with a flash of plasma and a spray of sparks. The monster lists to the left and begins to drop, lashing out with its other tentacles to grab hold of the pillars and keep itself from falling into the midst of the heroes. It barely manages it, instead swinging itself towards the back of the room, filling the space between the group and it with bright red cutting lasers that scythe this way and that across the intervening space.

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
Tyr, meanwhile, is speaking rapidly into his commbead and ducked behind the cover of one of the rapidly-diced industrial components. For a moment, it looks like he's just engrossed in a particularly important phone call.

Then, the ceiling splits. A great rent in the deck above forms, the scream of tortured metal being hacked away and peeled back ringing in the ears of the combatants. A line drops, and a man slides own it, dropping onto the catwalk behind the creature as it attempts to flee. It turns, swinging a laser-equipped mechadendrite towards him. There's a flash of red --

-- and a brighter flare of golden light that beats it back. A halo of light surrounds a white-robed figure, wearing a massive aquila amulet and brandishing an enormous, thrumming chainsword in both hans. His face is lined, and his grey hair is thin while his beard if thick.

"THERE IS NO ESCAPE FOR YOU, CREATURE OF CHAOS!!" Confessor-Militant Tertius Kor speaks with a voice that can and does fill the room. "THE LIGHT OF /THE EMPEROR/ IS WITH US, AND AGAINST IT YOU /CANNOT STAND/!" He thrusts his chainsword into the air, depressing the activator. A spray of pure, golden light flies off the spinning edge, brightening the far side of the chamber and seemingly dispersing the thick smoke. The daemon-thing seems to recoil at the sight.

"ALL GLORY TO THE EMPEROR AND HIS SERVANTS!" he bellows. "DELIVER DEATH UNTO THIS FOUL CREATURE -- IN /HIS/ NAME!"

The Confessor-Militant has neatly blocked off the monster's exit. He has also revealed the five mechadendrite-puppeted marines surrounding him. Three pump acid-slash-gas rounds into Septette, one after another after another, while the other two start to turn to fire on Kor. All the while the seemingly-endless mechadendrites swipe through the air, slashing with cutting tools and smashing with grasping claws, making it perilous to close in any further.

Who has the courage to try to get close enough to help make the kill?

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    With the assault doing very little against the evil mecha-horror, Valentha grits her teeth. The sight of Yuuki being instantly mangled brings SHOCK to her face in practically the same instant! Normally she'd be right over there, and Valentha changes her footing as if preparing to DASH THERE IMMEDIATELY, but then...

    Then MORE gunfire begins, from the catwalks above.

    "There's the missing team..." She mumbles unhappily. Valentha's eyes narrow fiercely, focusing on the catwalk. Within a few seconds her whole body flickers, blue... and *BLIP!*

    She's suddenly UP there on the catwalk, right BEHIND one of the puppeted marines. "Do you know what time it is?"

    She waits ONLy long enough for the words to hopefully be heard, before swinging the ICE CLAYMORE horizontally with ALL of her strength! "IT'S CLOBBERING TIME, CLUNKERS!"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis yelps as she feels acid rounds catch her in the chest. Her armor's strong enough to keep intact, but it still burns and sizzles before letting off a squealing sound that's horrific to the ears. Grunting, Alexis focuses her aim to the marines before firing away with her shotgun until it runs dry.

    The shotgun slings over her back, and Alexis leaps over a waist-high cog-thingy and takes cover, changing to her coilgun. She fires a burst blindly at the daemon, until Alexis shifts into aimed shots.

    Her train of thought is derailed for a moment when the Confessor-militant shows up, but she's oddly happy to see the priest here...even if he's a zealot. Still, at least he's focused on the daemon and not the team.

    Her coilgun is then swapped out in favor of a few smoke grenades, and then Maaka draws her PDW, deactivating the safety catch as she approaches in a very heavy sprint. Her free arm lashes out with the grappling hook, intending to grab the daemon by the neck with it. Her plan's to hold it in place for someone to finish it off, while she blazes away with six milimeter rounds.

Staren has posed:
    "Aw, come on!" Staren shouts as the armor-piercing missiles explode early, defeating the whole point. It has /forcefields/?! Dammit! ...Wait, no. It's using drones?

    Yuuki's down. There's no time. Her head's intact, maybe she can be saved? But they have to get away from this thing first...

    Oh hey, the cavalry's here! Tyr has a paladin on-call. Nice! Staren smiles. "...Wait, how did he get here so fast?" Staren shakes his head slightly. No time to worry about that now. Staren holds the shotgun by the barrel in his left hand as he stands and backs away from the swarm of mechadendrites.

    He reaches into his bag and pulls out an oversized revolver with a triple-M monogram engraved on the side.

    Staren doesn't /need/ to get close. He holds out the hand with the shotgun, and micromissiles launch from his left forearm towards the puppets. And then his right hand raises and he fires the Annihilator at the daemon. A weapon created to fight the terrible monsters that go bump in the night and prey on humanity. Hopefully it will work here and help the paladin!

Septette Arcubielle (632) has posed:
     As she breaks her momentum on the far wall and lands with surprising grace on the catwalk, she's struck by several of the acidic rounds, but Septette scarcely registers the poison: if anyone in the group has to soak fire from the puppet-marines, it might as well be her. With her vastly slowed subjective time, the robot girl can clearly see each projectile coming, but can't move out of the marines' line of fire nearly fast enough to avoid them.

     Those same armor plates that weigh her down can be turned to her advantage, however, and Arcubielle moves with utmost economy and precision to take as many of the hits as possible on her flesh-tone exoskeleton. The sticky acid sizzles and burns where it hits her internal components, but wherever it strikes those 'bones', it merely slides off without corroding them.

     Seeing an opening when Val teleports in, Septette dashes forward and lunges at the nearest marine with her bladelike claws, aiming to hit the mechadendrites rather than striking at conventional weak points. Once her claws dig in, she channels a veritable lightning-strike through its body and into the other dendrites, trying to wreak as much havoc on the other tendrils as possible! "Hah! Nice one, Summers. Save one of the guns for me!"

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    "Someone aim for that part I exposed!" Sarah wheezes as she calls Mjolnir back to her hand, attempting to steer it so that it whacks one of the puppeted Marines on the way back. She pushes away the part of her mind that's in shock from seeing Yuuki cut in half. That needs to be delt with after the Battle, not during it.

    Once her hammer is returned to her, she begins the arduous process of making her way toward the once-human thing at the center of the mass, slowly swatting tendrils out of the way with her hammer and outright severing a few with her shield. Several of them start to wrap around her arms and legs and halt her advance, leaving her stuggling in the tangle of tentacles and doing her best to fend them off with her shield.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Sorry, Staren, Yuuki's head CLEARLY got staved in. By that mechadendrite! It was totally gross and horrible and since you saw it, it's pretty fresh in your memory, probab-

    Oh wait, no, it's right over there, attached to her head, good as new. You could have /sworn/ she got staved in, however!

    Also, she was totally bisected by that giant cog, and there's blood EVERYWHERE around her in a pool, but...

    Yeah, no, Yuuki is still totally dead. Just less horribly dead than noted before! Impossibly.

    Instead of the surprised look on her face, there's one of strain and a tightness in her eyes. It's a little hard to see behind her sunglasses, and with her closed eyes. But, you know, maybe it was because her skull got smashed?

    Wait, did it?

    OH WELL DON'T WORRY, DAEMONS AND THE EMPRAH REQUIRE YOUR ATTENTION.

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
Valentha realizes one swing in that the puppet marines are still only human, and she is Definitely Also A Normal Human, Just Like Yuuki Only Not, Wink Wink. The blade cleaves the first in half, and damages the mechadendrite affixed to the second, though the ice blade gets chipped in the process. The damaged one writhes, freezing up -- and Mjolnir hits it in the back on the return, tearing through the mounting and its shoulder in one pass. It flips over the railing, plummeting off the side and dropping meatily to the floor some ways below.

Mjolnir comes back, and Rogers seems to be in trouble, the mass of mechadendrites apparently trying to get enough of a hold to rip her to pieces. Deathgaze steps out of cover to her left, drawing a squarish, long-barreled pistol and drawing a bead on the things. He fires, pulses of electric blue plasma ripping into the mechanical tentacles and burning holes right through them. They're weakened enough that she should be able to get clear.

The remaining puppets don't back down, even under missile-fire. Staren's micro-missiles burn away chunks of flesh and flak armor, leaving bloody messes where one stood and fatally injuring a second. The second doesn't stop firing, its accuracy merely getting worse with one arm burned away and the other covered in gore. It runs out of ammunition and, unable to fire, joins the other in physically assaulting Kor --

-- who brings his two-handed eviscerator down and cleaves straight through the injured one, cutting it neck to groin. The other's shotgun barks, and it throws up more golden light between Kor and the puppet. The priest is unharmed. He starts to advance on the other, but Maaka's gunfire and Septette's electrified claws take care of the problem. The shipboard rounds do a number on the much less-heavily armored puppet, and the electricity fries whatever is keeping it going. It hits the ground.

Staren's Annihilator hammers into the back of the daemon, blasting clear the already-damaged armor from Sarah's previous strike. The second shot hits a mechadendrite mount on its back, taking a chunk of metal and flesh off. The swarm of tentacles assailing Sarah go momentarily wild and suddenly limp, cut off from the source. The daemon-thing turns, its eyes focused on Staren. Three of the remaining mechadendrites veer off from their shielding pattern, coming at him.

Maaka's grappling hook gets the broken armor and pulls it lower. The cyborg-daemon screeches electronically, a noise that is suddenly joined by a rhythmic 'beep-beep-beep' as something grey and green sails gracefully through the air...

BOOOOOM

The alien grenade explodes, vaporizing flesh and shattering metal. The cyborg-daemon howls as it loses more of its control, and it slides towards the ground, dangling perilously from the metal supports. It tries to retract itself... but the lightning of Mjolnir and the electrical shock administered by Septette have ruined what it had left to use. It's a sitting duck.

And then a robed old man leaps off the catwalk. His eviscerator is held over his head, throwing off what looks like holy fire as he dives. His voice is clear, ringing like a church bell in the cavernous space.

"MY FAITH," comes the Confessor-Militant, "IS PURE!"

The chainsword cleaves through the last functional mechadendrite and parts soft flesh. The daemon screams, and screams, and screams -- and then falls, hitting the deck with a tremendous crash and a sizzling of dying electronics. The tendril spasm, and cease moving.

The room goes silent for a span of seconds. Then, it is filled with the quiet hum of the chainsword as the Confessor-Militant extracts it from the possessed man's body and holds it high.

"THE CREATURE," he proclaims, "HAS BEEN /VANQUISHED!/"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis is close enough to the blast that she's knocked off balance, and she yanks off her grappling hook while she picks herself up just in time to see the priest /cleave/ through daemonic flesh and cybernetics. Her eyes widen for a moment, then she lowers both her arms as she chuckles awkwardly for a moment.

    "Oh, you crazy bastard. If you hadn't shown up, we'd be cooked for good." She laughs, approaching the Confessor and clapping him on the shoulder.

    This might be a bad idea, but fuck it, they've won. Let Maaka have this. "So, Padre, was he one of the crew before?" She wonders, trying to figure out how a goddamn cyber-daemon (Not the kind with goat legs and the cannon arm) got aboard this vessel in the first place.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah continues her struggles against the dendrites that seem intent on ripping her apart, and then suddenly the chaos of the fight is focused into some kind of explosion, and everything that was wrapped around her just goes limp. It still takes a few punches, kicks, and grunts to get free, But it's a lot easier when the cybertentacles aren't trying to kill you anymore.

    "What just happened!?" Sarah asks the room in confusion. "I feel like we got used as bait." She adds in an annoyed tone." She kicks away the last of the dead cyborg bits, lifts into the air and flies back to the group, where she starts trying to clean the gunk off herself.

Staren has posed:
    Only /after/ blasting the puppets does Staren wonder if maybe he's preventing them from being saved in the future... oops? Well, he's not the only one not holding back...

    When his shot severs a mechadendrite, he gasps. If he can get in there and break the tendrils /there/, he'll be able to disable swathes of mechadendrite at a time!

    ...But first, he has to deal with the tendrils coming for him. He drops the shotgun, slips the Annihilator into his bag, and unclips his plasma saber, raising his left arm in front of his face protectively -- trying to provide a target. He's confident the mechadendrites can't get through his armor /that/ quickly, so he plans for them to try to grab him and then be unable to evade his cuts! He just has to keep it up until he thinks of a better plan...

    ...Or THE CREATURE IS VANQUISHED! That works too!

    Staren looks around warily for a moment, but when it's clear all is still... he rushes over to Yuuki, looking over her for any sign of damage. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Her clothes covered in blood - though there's no pool under her - Yuuki sits up, holding her head and groaning. She takes a moment to heave the cog out of her gut, frowning at her belly, and the tatters of her shirt around her middriff. "Uuuugh, Zero's going to /kill/ me." She mutters, potentially with some mild irony seeing as WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

    "W-where is that... Oh!" She squints at the GLORIOUS SCION OF THE GOD-EMPEROR, CONFESSOR-MILITANT KOR, and smiles. "Good work! To everyone! Sorry, I got knocked out there."

    She was totally dead.

    "That /really/ hurt."

    Hurt, she looks at Sarah. "W-what makes you say that? Ugh, ow, that really hurt... I mean, we got the bad guys! Saved the ship! I took a pretty bad hit there, but..." She points at her bloody clothes. "Well, beyond my clothes, which are a total wash. I brought spares, though!"

    Staren gets a smile. "Um... I got hit in the head and jammed with the spinny-disc, and then I woke up and it was dead! Yup. To-tally normal."

Staren has posed:
    Staren stares at her, standing as she pulls herself up. "...That is not normal, for humans anyway. But I'm glad you're alright."

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    DOwn goes the soldiers! Down goes the creature, and goes up... well, Valentha would hope to hear some cheering, but instead there's just a lot of fussing and the like. She shuts down the Arc Blade, the ice sword simply 'melting' back into magic and dispersing to leave only the hilt which she tucks away along with the revolver. A short prayer is afforded the fallen soldiers under her breath, then she hurries over towards Yuuki!

    "There's a chance I can save h--" The Techno-Wizard announces in a panic, only to... skid to a halt.

    Yuuki's getting up.

    This leaves her standing there, gaping. Eyes going wiiiiiiiiiide. She even rubs at them as if to clear whatever gunk might've clouded her vision through the fight.

    In just a few moments she's LEEEAAAANING in... and gently poking Yuuki on the shoulder. Poke poke.

    Yup. Solid, living flesh.

    "......Tooooooootally normal." Yeah she's just DRIPPING with sarcasm right now. But she heaves a sigh. "You gave me a scare there."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    AND THEN YUUKI WAS ALIVE

    Alexis kind of double-takes for a moment, hoping to /god/ that the Confessor doesn't at all notice this BLATANT AFFRONT TO TEH EMPRAH and his MIGHTY SHOULDERPADS OF DOOM, and gets the wrong idea.

    "Coulda helped to mention that beforehand, kid." she mutters, before shaking her head in annoyance as she reloads and holsters her gear, her helmet opening up to reveal messy red hair and tired eyes. Just another day at work, Alexis supposes, wiping sweat from her brow.

    "Weeeee should probably get out of here and report to the bridge, unless we want a search party coming for /us/ soon."

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah peers at Yuuki suspiciously, though there's a look of relief on her face "I'm part Alien, part Mutant, and part Super-soldier, and if I took a giant gear to the everything, I wouldn't be getting back up again without a major miracle." No one gave her the list of things one shouldn't talk about in the Imperium. In the Union she's pretty average. "So tell us how you're just a normal girl again?" She smirks a bit.

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks at Sarah. "Woah, cool down, as long as she's not endangering the mission is it really our business?"

    And then he remembers something else that needs to be said.

    He turns to the Confessor and shouts, "GREAT JOB!" smiling and giving him a thumbs-up.

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
Tyr lowers his pulse pistol and looks out into what was, moments ago, a kill zone. The Confessor-Militant releases the activation switch on his chainsword and lays the flat back across his shoulder, striding towards the group. He claps Alexis on the shoulder in return with his free hand. "Take heart! One day, your faith may be as pure as my own -- and on that day, you will know no fear!" He's always like this. "That /creature/, though --"

Deathgaze interrupts. "Was the tech-priest that came here in the first place. He was possessed. It turned him into that, and the men with him into his puppets." He glances to the side, speaking into his comm-bead again. "Bring it down. Prepare the chamber for cleansing."

Shadows are cast from the hole in the ceiling, and men begin to descend. Once two reach the floor, equipment starts to come down. They take what look like flamers and fuel tanks from the lines affixed to them, beginning to assemble the gear. The white-robed quartermaster that gave the weapons is with them, murmuring prayers and incantations. Kor turns and moves to work with them, rather than heading towards Yuuki.

That's Tyr's job. He walks up to her, looking down at the Perfectly Normal Girl. "You and I," he says, "are going to have a conversation before you leave the ship. We are not going to speak of this 'miracle' again until we are in private." It is not a question. There isn't a hint of a request anywhere in his tone. He looks to the rest of the group. "/None/ of us are."

The Confessor-Militant starts to look over. Tyr reaches up and removes his helmet, looking less decidedly ornate once he's a blue-skinned alien again instead of a mono-eyed command machine, and Kor scowls, turning back to the equipment assembly. He seems to be pointing out places for cleansing flame. "Allow me to explain. You feel like you were bait because you /were/ bait."

"Among the Tau, there are two major schools of thought regarding broad combat doctrine. The one I chose to master is the Art of Kauyon, the Patient Hunter. It involves drawing an enemy into a position of vulnerability by using precisely-chosen bait that they cannot resist," he gestures at the group with his free hand, "while simultaneously keeping forces in reserve for a lethal offensive the moment the trap is sprung." Tyr nods at Kor's back.

"As I had no knowledge of your ability to observe operational security," the Commander continues, "nor your potential resistance to psychic or daemonic intrusion, I felt it safer to proceed with this operation without informing you of your status. You performed perfectly, and with all the skill I expected, given your allegiances and, in many cases, your price." He inclines his head. "I thank you. Your pay is well-deserved."

The flamer teams in the background are starting to get ready to do their thing. "If you wish to negotiate hazard pay or equipment prices, I would be happy to discuss it elsewhere."

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    "I -did- wonder about this mission. 'Let's entrust the security of the ship to a bunch of mercenaries' was not the choice I would've made if it was my ship." Valentha agrees, sprouting a slight grin. Did she guess? Well... probably not. Not until the cavalry arrived, anyways.

    "Impressive tactical manuevering." She appears to have no further words about Yuuki's... feat... besides giving Sarah a Disapproving stare.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis is content to let the Confessor do his thing, and she turns to Tyr when he begins to exposit. Fear's nothing she has to worry about, but the priest's words are pretty encouraging...in a way.

    She's very much not willing to get in the way of the cleanup crew, so she joins Tyr and co. where they stand.

    She gives the Tau a thumbs up regarding Yuuki, even she herself is very confused by all that but can only assume 'healing factor' of some sort. A /fast/ one too.

    "Somehow I'm not surprised, wasn't a bad strategy all things considered. I'd have done the same thing in your shoes, to be honest." She says, before clapping her hands at the mention of payment. "Oh, gladly so. I'm definitely keeping the shotgun, that's for sure."

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki is poked, prodded, and potentially mildly chided over her race-type. Which, if we can direct you to her TOTALLY NORMAL CHARACTER SHEET, is penned in as VAM^H^H^H HUMAN (Totally Normal). She is in fact flesh and blood, and there's a decent amount of the latter on her clothes. She nods, rather dumbly, at Commander Deathgaze, adjusting her glasses back up her face. "Ah... Erm... Of course, Commander. I'd love to talk to you at length about the nothing-important that just happened. Ah, though, perhaps I could change first?" She asks. "I brought fresh clothes."

    To Staren, she looks - and pulls off - totally innocent and ignorant. "But it wasn't that bad, I mean... I'm pretty normal!" She argues. "... For me. B-but the Commander said to not talk about it!"

    Good save, nobody will notice.

    She looks sheepishly at her bloodstained lap, hands wringing lightly. "S-sorry if it was my fault. I'm glad our bait worked, though."

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
    Sarah feels like all eyes are on her suddenly. She feels like she got an especially dark look from the Confessor whether or not it actually happened. She decides to just keep quiet for now and save her questions for after they're far away from the Imperial Warship. She's not sure if she should be upset with Tyr or not either. No one died after all, at least not permanently.

Staren has posed:
    Yuuki gets a tilt of the head. He just said it was okay that she's not human and she doesn't have to explain, but it seems a little odd to keep loudly insisting it. Ah well, whatever.

    The commander comes over. Staren frowns slightly as today's events are explained. "I don't like being used as bait. However, you correctly gauged our ability to stand up to it. It's a dangerous game you're playing, but it worked out this time. I'd appreciate if we could work out a better way to maintain opsec in the future, though. If every mission you ask for help with, we have to wonder what you're hiding or if you're lying to us, that's gonna be an unpleasant relationship all around."

O'Mont're Tyr (833) has posed:
"I will find you a chamber to use," the Commander says to the Totally Normal Girl. She's probably got to clean all the blood off, too.

Tyr inclines his head in acknowledgement at Valentha. "Thank you. It is, as the humans say, what I do." He looks to Alexis, then. "We will discuss this. They are valuable weapons, and as you have noticed," there's a plume of heat and flame in the background, "we are suddenly less five of them."

Then, to Staren and Sarah. He nods, a short, precise motion. "You are not soldiers under my command. If you were, I would expect you to trust my judgment in these matters. In this case, I thank you for your relative understanding. Many non-Tau take offense to being utilized in such a manner, though I assure you, it is a valuable and honorable thing you have done. In the future, I will consult you as to your capabilities before proceeding, and advise the Captain to trust in our allies' capabilities and judgment."