Something I found from my org forums, wrote this at work a couple years back on a quiet day or two...back then I really wasn't talking on the official forums. If someone likes reading rp stuffs then feel free to have a read. :-)
Originally posted on Nov 21, 2007
Wednesday morning, headache. Vague memories of the previous night flash through my head. I seem to have gotten to Old Athen from the Cup somehow. Better Finest Edition than a prison cell in Rome, I suppose. I was in bad enough condition anyone could have walked me to the nearest OT police station without any problems.
I wipe my mouth and get up. My wristcomm beeps angrily. That thing woke me up in the first place, I guess.
It's squadron commander Spankings. She tells me to get my **** together and head towards the Shadowlands. Apparently the Order is planning an operation against the Unredeemed and they need some support.
I tell Spankings to stand by. A bottle of water, some neurofin and I'm good to go. The Widowmaker is leaking oil and coolant fluid, it's hardly capable of moving let alone entering combat as it is. These cold rainy mornings are tough for the old piece of junk. I open the servo control panel, add some coolant and adjust the hydraulics back to battle settings. The left coolant chamber is ****ed for good by the looks of it, but that can wait. The 64-ton heap of rheinmetall steel, ceramic armor and turbine engines gets up with a deafening hissing noise. We're ready enough.
Sipping bad-tasting instant coffee and letting my Yalmaha 29600 Pearl take care of the flying, I head towards Wailing Wastes. I arrive to a rocky statue in the desert and the sand in the wind somehow finds it's way inside my armor within seconds. I press the blue-glowing garden key against the statue and find myself from the Garden of Redeemed. The heat of Inferno is uncomfortable but as always before operations, a chill runs down my spine.
We go talk to the Redeemed guy, a tall, skinny-looking git. Mr. Skinny gives us a short briefing about the operation. We need to take out some guy with a funny name and lots of legs according to the target information sheet. Sounds like a walk in the park, but I've been wrong before.
We make the necessary adjustments to the mission plan, cross-check each other's gear and head out to the heat. My boots are supposed to keep my feet cool despite the conditions, but I can already feel blisters forming. Our small force moves swiftly towards the coordinates of the mission, the satellite positioning system showing us the way through the burning plains. It's a fine morning in Inferno and my walkman is full of Iron Maiden to get me in the mood.
We enter a low cavern and pass the strange floating mechanical egg called Ergo. It mumbles odd words to our ears as we go by. The guy we are supposed to take out seems to hang out at some sort of a dungeon. General Everlong goes in first, us following him in a close formation. As we enter the twilight of the dungeon, my target display lights up like a christmas tree. The target brought friends, it seems.
'On my mark. Breach, bang, clear,' calls General Everlong. As we form up behind the first door, I can feel adrenaline pumping into my veins. The cold steel of my hand-held mortar feels comforting. In a heartbeat we are inside the room, choosing targets, firing and pressing forwards in pairs. Move, fire, move, fire again. Suddenly I see a black, spiky figure rushing straight towards me from the corner of the room, moving way too fast for something that big. I manage to get off a single shot at the beast's center of mass but the 66 mm HE round seems to hardly make a mark. The thing crashes against me with overwhelming strength, claws digging deep gashes through my armor. Luckily Everlong, Spanking and the rest of the team are awake and notice what's happening on time. It's not pleasant to wipe what's left of the creature off my face, but I'd much rather do that than die. I hate resurrection.
Squad Commander Dirty heals my wounds quickly and we continue. We have to keep moving so the target won't have time to evacuate. Next room is again full of nameless dark creatures standing twice as tall as any of us and I can't help wishing we had an enforcer with us to take the punishment. The air I breathe through the regulator smells acrid and sickly sweet at the same time. The smell of victory. Inside my mask I smile slightly as I command the Widowmaker to snare and kill a coral rafter running towards Dirty, our medic. The mortar kicks against my shoulder, I count the rounds and keep walking. 28, 29, 30. Dead man's click. "Reload", I shout and kneel down, trying to make myself as small target as possible. The rest of the team covers me, keeping the incoming horrors pinned down. I slam another magazine in the weapon, pull the moving parts back and let them snap forward on their own, thus minimizing the chance of a stoppage. I yell "Ready" and rush forward.
More rooms, more creatures. We stop for a minute to report back to Rubi-Ka. The Order's Ops Room radio guy wants to make sure we are still breathing. I'm taking a leak on the barrel of my mortar to cool it down. Heat makes the parts of the weapon enlarge and the last thing I want is an empty click when the next wave of unredeemed is pouring on top of us.
Everlong finishes the sitrep and signals us to fall back in formation. We start moving forward in an arrow formation, General Everlong in front. She's stepping forward softly with a seemingly surprised expression on her face, mouth slightly open. I'd think she's scared if I didn't know better: she's keeping her mouth open to prevent her own bloodflow humming in her ears, to hear better. Glancing around the next corner, she raises a fist. Stop. We're too close to the enemy to use voice comms. Three fingers in the air. Damn. We go in on her mark. Spankings calms one of the three nightmare creatures as Everlong strikes the closest monster. With a terrible shriek both of the remaining Unredeemed charge at us. I'm firing as fast as I can, sending several lb's of projectiles towards the nearest beast in a matter of seconds. I know the rest of the team is doing the same; I can feel the impacts of air pounding my ears as Dirty is firing her weapons right next to me. Ears ringing, I mutter the voice commands to activate the blinding nanobot aura. I can't hear myself speak but it seems my onboard systems can, since I can see a cloud of black nanobots blinding the two monsters.
We quickly step over the corpses and move forward. Damn this place is huge. Taking down enemies we go deeper and deeper into the dungeon. Suddenly the air around me twists and I can't see my companions anymore. Bloody Shadowlands and the disturbances here. The disturbance has thrown me forward in space and time, I'm already in the room we were supposed to be storming next. It also seems I am not here alone. Two huge creatures loom in front of me in the dark, shaped like some overgrown malformed spiders. They turn their eyes on me and I barely have time to blurt out a command for my NCU. The massive claws strike towards my throat from two sides, but the bio cocoon fires up just on time.
I roll backwards, sending the Widowmaker and the dog to rip the enemy a new one and command the blinds up again. I fire without counting my shots and watch the cocoon report display overload with information, telling me that I'm running out of protection way too soon. I press a button in the control panel in my palm, uploading another program to kick in when the cocoon runs out. Bracing myself for what's about to come I keep firing, managing a good shot at the monster's head and taking out an eye. The cocoon runs out and the beasts rush in in the blink of an eye. I fire at point-blank range, taking steps back. Click. Damn. Mag empty. Cold weapon combat training kicks in. Low swing with the butt of the weapon, followed by a rebound hit with the end of the barrel. Repeat. The beasts rip wide open wounds in my chest and arms and the bio regrowth bots are doing their best to undo the damage. Works, but hurts like **** and I know that if I'm not getting help soon I'll wake up in the Garden with one hell of a headache. Just as I use my last first aid spindle, an orange glow surrounds the enemies and I can feel healing nanobots repairing my wounds, clicking broken bones back in place and replacing lost blood with some fresh artificial stuff. I grunt a thanks to my teammates, cursing the disturbances and we go on.
Finally there's no more rooms left to clear, we know the mark we came here for is in the next room. Reloading weapons and rerunning combat nanoprograms, we get ready for the kill. We enter the room and find the target right on top of us. Lots of legs, spidery look. This is our guy, no doubt. Also, he is the size of your average Stiletto. His bulk is not helping him much as we strike him, though. Everyone in the team has lost a teammate at some point in battles with some of this guy's brothers, so we have some unfinished business with him. I keep my distance and let the target have his share of good news. He's down in less than 10 seconds. We take out the last couple of mobs, including a guy who's name reminds me of some old earth rock band.
Then we are done. I take off my helmet and grab a bottle of water. Christ how combat makes me thirsty.
Vasalli 'Kermaperuna' Vernissa
Squadron Commander
Paragon Order
