C.C. - Mission 2

[Abdel featherfall]

Alerius was quiet for a long moment after seeing the footage and looking at the body. " They didn't eat him just.. Slaughtered him." He said quietly as he rested his hand over the bottom half of his face mask in thought. " we have to warn the team inside.. They are screwed if these things show up and we are seperated." He stood up no checked his ammo, switching back to his regular ammo with a click and a whirr.


He looked up at the sky. Heavy cloud cover was moving in quickly and he didn't like the look of it at all. Storms out here were prone to excessive lightning due to the sand the winds kicked up. " we should get to shelter soon ourselves. I don't like the look of those clouds." He said looking to the rest.


@Zer0 @tammynorthland

 

[Zer0]

Komodo just grunted in affirmative at Alerius' suggestion and mounted his Goliath. Artemis stepped into her Dynasty Scarab and waited until the scout was safely on her scarab's back before flying back towards the mine.


"What do you mean, Shina?" said Artemis, "That the bugs dragged the bodies to feed the worms?" she had a skeptical tone. "Why would predators give another predator their food? . . . "


She sank into deep thought as the desert wind began to kick up and she saw the beginnings of a sandstorm and a thunderstorm brewing from the east. Perhaps there was some sort of symbiotic relationship between the worm and the large bugs. Her initial thought was that perhaps the bugs were carrying the bodies to a colony somewhere in the desert and just happened to pass by the sandworms.


"Whatever happened, we should do a thorough sweep of the mine in groups." said Komodo Rhino. "Make sure there aren't any bugs that got left behind. I'm gonna' check the place where they dump the excess from the refinery, it seemed that's where the bugs entered the mine."


@Abdel featherfall, @tammynorthland

 

[LocoBlock]

"I'll proceed with Rhino for backup." Jace follows Rhino to the dump wondering what would happen when they entered the dump. As they approach they she an excavation mecha and hear several of the bugs making noises.


@Zer0 (I exist again)

 

[CkSmalling]

Robert and Assassin reached the central CCTV area and stopped at the door. The floor was covered with drag marks made of blood and so were the walls. Some computer terminals were destroyed and others were humming away slowly. He approached one on the left and motioned Assassin to get to one on the opposite side. He pushed the corpse which was on the chair and sat down. He used the badge from the scientist to access the footage.


What he saw was bugs crawling out of concrete and dragging them below. They were not eating them, just shredding them to pieces and throwing them into the burrows they had made. 'Oh this is not good.' He switched between rooms and got the same result. However one particular insect drew his attention. It was large and silver in color. It seemed like it was controlling the smaller insects. He searched the animal database and learnt of their names. "Assassin search for addition information about these insects called 'Antlions'. Send them to me once you have them." "Got it."


He opened a channel to the rest of the squad. " Ladies and Gentlemen, may i have your attention please. If you may direct your eyes to the top left corner of your screen, there is a hologram of a very large insect. They are called AntLions. They are four legged insectoid creature measuring 3-5 feet in height and 6 feet in length.Their hard shells are mostly green with stripes of tan yellow,green, purple and red. They have wings which allow them to fly several feet in the air, so be careful. This is the part where it gets interesting. They are blind but they are very sensitive to vibrations. One step in their territory will set them off. You see those large structures over the hills and near the mines? Those are Thumpers. They pound the ground rhythmically, so as to overload their senses. Iwill turn them on if you decide to venture further."


HE received a file from Assassin. " Yes one more thing. The following hologram is that of an AntLion Guard. kill it and extract something called a Pheropod. Its a pheromone that can be used to control the Antions. Artemis, i leave that in your capable hands. I will tell you where it is located. However their use is limited to them only. There are rumors of a queen but i will dig deep to see where it was sighted. Also, there is a worm thing with has a tongue i think. When you see one, shoot it until the tongue retracts. I will stay here to see what i can do. I will convey any additional information i come across and if things get to thick, join you. Over and out."


He disconnected the comms and swung his chair. He slid the chair next to Assassin and looked at her console. "Find anything interesting?"


"Yep. According to the miners log, they stumbled upon the nest a few years ago. They lost 30 personnel in just 5 minutes. Whatever these things are, they are brutal. And the queen burrowed herself deeper into the mines so whoever is going there, needs to be careful."


"This is Robert again. The queen is found deep into the mines. Kill her and maybe just maybe the antlions will loose interest. Not sure though. Avoid walking on the ground directly. Find something to step on so as to avoid direct contact."


@Zer0 @tammynorthland @Abdel featherfall,

 

[Abdel featherfall]

Alerius rode on the back of the Scarab again and listened carefully to the report inside. He rubbed the back of his neck despite the fact he was only rubbing his helmet. " Sounds like we have two types of bugs vying for these tunnels. The large ones look enough like the Antlions you showed us to possibly just be soldiers.. And the smaller ones are the workers. My guess is they are using the worms for their tunnels and just kill everything on the surface to use as bait.. It's possible our miners stumbled into one of these tunnels." He said over the comm. it was entirely possible only the workers had been seen up to this point as we hadn't been planet side very long.


He checked his belt for his extra cylinders for quick and easy reloads then his pouches for extra bullets once he ran out of spare cylinders. His short sword which was previously hidden behind his cloak now showed strapped across his lower back. Flexing his gloves and readying himself for an interesting day. " Major I think I'll pair up with you for the time being unless you have a better plan."


@Zer0 @CkSmalling @tammynorthland @LocoBlock

 

[Zer0]

- Maj. Artemis Romanov -

" Mine, Refinery"​

"Glad to have you along, Alerius." said Artemis, docking her mech in the mine's transport bay. "Shina, me, Alerius, Jace, and Komodo are heading for the Refinery to check the burrows. Robert's in the Control Room with Assassin Marmot." She dismounted and headed for the Refinery with Komodo and Jace on foot.


"That was nice of you, burying the civilian." she told Alerius after a while. "Most of the time we just leave a body if we're still in the middle of the mission."


She listened to Robert's findings and watched the videos he was sending them from the control room. "So let me get this straight, Robert, there are three classes of Antlions we're dealing with:

• Big Silver
  Controls other antlions.
  

[*]Striped

• Antlion soldiers or guards. Has an organ called a "Pheropod" that secretes a hormone that can be used to control all antlions.
  

[*]Workers and the Queen

• no distinguishing marks that we know as of now.
  

"Did I get all of that, right? If yes, how do we use the pheropod? Do we toss it like a rock and the antlions will move to that spot?"


@CkSmalling, @Abdel featherfall, @tammynorthland

- Msgt. Komodo Rhino -

" Mine, Refinery "​

Komodo held up a hand signaling the squad to stop when he saw the antlions making noise in the dump. Robert had said that they sense vibrations so he surmised that there was no point being sneaky, just fast.


"Contact, twelve bugs straight ahead, not sure if there's more. Setting up a mine." he set up one of his directional mines near a choke point close to the team and marked it on the mini-map so that no one accidentally steps on it.


"I don't know how you guys fight, but I'm going melee then falling back to the directional mine if things get too tough." His assault rifle shifted and he now held in his hands a two-handed plasma axe. Ever since the last mission, he had upgraded his suit to have double strength enhancement and double armor. That two times tougher than Connor's --- the squad's heavy gunner --- suit. Time to see if he can cleave one of these five-foot antlions in two with a single blow.


When everyone had finished setting up, he leaped on to high ground on top of a large rectangular cargo hold and began to attract the attention of the big antlions, taking a sturdy stance and ready to swing a mighty blow if a multitude of them came at once.


@LocoBlock

 

[tammynorthland]

Shina rocked ed to listen to the Intel the parties exchanged between themselves. With the mines as small as they were it would not be a good idea to try and fight in a suit. But at the same time going mechless could be an issue with the amount of soldiers they had.


This still didn't answer the question. They understood why the antlions attacked. But why didn't they just keep their prey? Inside the suit shina begun to pull up basic information from the video footage. Rewarding it on fast forward to see if she could use her bio optics to spot a clue.


Nothing


So why did they just murder the humans then drag them away and let the worms take them? Things didn't add up. But one thing shina recalled was some creatures don't eat their enemy. Only their prey. What if these sound and vibration sensitive creatures only killed them in attack to kill and protect. Not in the sense they were going to eat the humans? It still didn't add up though.


But what if.....


Shina sat on the thought for a while and moved inside the docking bay to the entrance to the mine. The machines powered down. Shina felt her spinal port detach from the shiryoku as it begun to distach it's senses from her body.within a moment or two the stomach of the bot opened up dispatching shina from her bionic suit. Her senses became nullified, the shiryoku wasn't just a bot. You couldn't get one from the shop. No it was specifically designed to her synthetics and organics. Her body became linked into it like a hard drive with a computer.


Shina pulled the weapons off the rack inside shiryoku as well as her pack and hopped out. She approached komodo from the back. Slightly resting her hand on his shoulder. Black helmet on her head at this point bioptics shining their red color through the visor.


"I think I get it now." She grabbed the squads attentions. " so understand these antlions aren't eating the carcasses, merely killing them. What if the Silverback commanded that they only attacked and removed the intruder. It would make sense why they didn't eat them at that point. Considering their only command was kill. Not collect food."


She kept her guard tight inside the mine as they delved deeper into the main shaft. "This would make sense why they moved them outside and then all that commotion. Attracted the sandworm. Or worms " Shina chuckled. "Thus they aren't actual hunters. Perhaps they are scavengers hence why they stayed close to this colony of antlions, it's a percent food source for both parties." Shina spoke with on hypothosis. Nothing was evident but clues help create evidence. And this was what they had so far.


@Abdel featherfall @Zer0 @CkSmalling @LocoBlock

 

[CkSmalling]

"Allow me to correct my very confused partner here guys. Theoretically, according to the researchers notes, there are 5 classes of the Antlions. They are as follows"


Antlion Soldier: Which is most likely to be encountering as you travel.


Antlion Grub: This is the larvae.


Antlion Worker: They mostly work in the nest and protect the Grub


Antlion Guard: Same as the soldier, only bigger and more faster.


Antion Guardian/Queen: They rule the nest.


To answer your question Artemis, the Soldier and the guard are the green ones. They can control over the workers but not the queen. The worker is silver. The chances of finding the silver ones are when you go deep into the mine and very high as you are invading their territory. The pheropod is located inside a guard and to extract it, you will need a some kind of a weapon. An extractor of some sort. I will look for the blueprints of it and send it to you. Once you have that pheropod, all you have do is press it and they will ask how high. The specifications of the Guardian are not here, maybe they need a high level clearance.I shall comb the servers for more information. Now to answer your question Shina. The Antlions have a similar psychological thinking to that of ants. You attack them, they retaliate. They do not consume human flesh, they are herbivores. However, if you go to their home world, they will attack..and with force. The ants and the worms have a symbiotic relationship. Your theory is correct Shina. Now does that makes things clear or now do i have to draw using crayons and colored pencils?"


'All Robert did was just stare in amazement and apologized through the comms. "I apologize guys for confusing you.Any other questions, ask Assassin.Let me look for the extractor." He rotated his seat and started to search through the database


@Zer0 @LocoBlock @Abdel featherfall @tammynorthland

 

[tammynorthland]

Shina gave a sharp glance with her red eyes towards the speaker of his research on the antlions, she got a little angry when he used his sarcasm but didnt let it get to her instead she put her weapon at port side and continued down the shaft.


The air smelled sticky, almost like there was a sap in it, even her air purifier couldnt get all the smell out. The walls of the mine became more and more....living, like an ecosystem. "I am assuming we are getting closer." Shina said pointing out the trash piles the antlions left on the borders of their underground tunnel system. It almost seemed as if the miners accidentally hit some of the tunnels from the antlion hill they had. Which explains how they got to attack so easily and off guard. Shina stepped over a dead corpse mostly remains but still noticable as a human body that was pprobably the first to go while the attack happened. The world got darker from behind and pretty soon the only lighting was the lights the miners set up in the tunnels, which would soon seize to exsist once they hit the main nest of the antlions


@Zer0 @LocoBlock @Abdel featherfall @CkSmalling

 

[Abdel featherfall]

Alerius stayed mounted on the Scarab until Artemis dismounted and he'd follow just after with his pistol unholstered with the hammer cocked. He listened to the chatter and kept his guard up. When she mentioned the man he buried he shrugged a little. " if I were him I'd want someone to do the same should they have time." He said simply as they continued. He heard Komodo ahead finding the antlions and stuck close to Artemis bringing his pistol up toward the sound of the fighting. He'd only fire if one came over the small ridge


He held that defensive stance holding utterly still for the time being. Once Komodo started swinging however he'd move up to provide raged support. His large caliber rounds likely put a large hole in any antlions he hit. He was careful with any and every shot he took, he was a surprisingly excellent marksman. " if we just stand and fight more will come."


@tammynorthland @Zer0 @CkSmalling @LocoBlock

 

[Zer0]

- Maj. Artemis Romanov -

" Mine, Refinery"​

"Alright, got it, Master Sergeant." Artemis told Robert. "Have those thumpers switched on for us, we've arrived in the refinery and are engaging the bugs!"


Three large antlions launched themselves on Komodo Rhino and there was a sickening crunch as his axe cut through their carapace, knocking them back down with the force of the blow; Artemis climbed up the cargo hold and joined Komodo in the melee, drawing out her magnum karambits. The blades of the dual pistols cackled with electricity as she sliced and diced, stunning three and then finishing them off with shots to their exposed underbelly.


The two melee combatants kept out of Alerius' line of fire. Komodo shoved and kept the bugs from overwhelming Artemis or getting near Alerius all at once, while the combat medic stayed close and protected Komodo's back. It was obvious with the way they worked as a team that these two trust the other and have been used to fighting together for a long time.


@Abdel featherfall, @tammynorthland

 

[CkSmalling]

"On it." He pressed a button on the console and the area was what was refereed to as mini tremors at regular intervals of 15 seconds apart. " The thumpers are active. According to the scientists, the mines should be able to handle the tremors so there is no risk of a cave-in. The bugs should be scattering or stand still disoriented. Finish them off and continue forward. We will search for information about the Queen and relay it to you."


'We will be looking for that specific weapon and send you the schematics and its possible location. In the process, stay safe guys." Assassin said in conclusion and switched off the comms. "Now then Robert, shall we look for the weapon.They are going to need it and fast. They are going to the nest."


"Yes they are. You search here i will look at the Director of Control offices. Its just down the hall." Assassin nodded and turned to the console to search. Robert made his way to the office and used the keycard he found and opened the door. The room was spotlessly clean, like someone had OCD. Everything was in place and arranged in a chronological order. He admired the view of the distance hill over the horizon and sat at the computer. He opened and logged in the credentials and found the password behind a picture of his 2 children. He began his search on the weapon.


@Zer0 @tammynorthland @Abdel featherfall @LocoBlock

 

[tammynorthland]

Shina felt the ground shake, it begun from the thumper that just was activated, Shina moved silently as she could listening intentively to the surrounding caverns that were nearby and listened to the sounds of any antlions making their way to the source of the shaking. Each shot should be delivered with perfect accuracy, no bullet scattering and certainly no room for error in the small corridor they were inside of, friendly fire could not occur in this area, because of it Shina held middle of the pack with her weapons at the ready. "Keep your eyes peeled, they are coming....I can feel it."


@Zer0 @Abdel featherfall @CkSmalling @LocoBlock

 

[Zer0]

- Maj. Artemis Romanov -

" Mine, Refinery"​

"Copy that, Robert, we're heading in." said Artemis after the bugs in the refinery dump were taken care of. Komodo deactivated his mine and stored it away while Artemis quickly took a swig of water as she rested for a few seconds, the refinery was hot and humid.


When everyone was ready to go, they pressed onwards. The thumpers were doing their jobs, making it easier to dispatch the bugs as Komodo led the way, hacking antlions here and there with his great plasma axe into their burrowed tunnels.


The passageway led to a miner's tunnel where a few antlion soldiers were scattered or retreating deeper into the darkness where there were no lamps to light up the surroundings.


"Trackers out, cover me!" said Komodo Rhino sprinting forward to catch up with the retreating bugs with a couple of trackers in his hands; Artemis followed him, filling the tunnel with gunshots to help clear his way.


Komodo slid under an angry flailing antlion's snapping pincer, his axe mechanically shifting back into an assault rifle. He kneeled, loaded the tracking rounds into his gun and fired three shots into the retreating bugs and saw two hit their mark. "Two trackers live." he said, before something hit him hard on the back, knocking him forward, his weapon clattering away.


Pain erupted from his leg as an antlion bit into his thigh and lifted him up until he was dangling in mid-air. Komodo cursed in pain and drew out his neosteel dagger to stab the creature, but his attacks were ineffective and just made the creature angrier.


@Abdel featherfall, @CkSmalling

Resources Spent

​

Alerius:

1/3 Gauss charges

Artemis:

12/20 karambit stun

Komodo:

3/10 trackers

Komodo's Goliath:

1/6 M-53 Myrmidon missiles

 

[Abdel featherfall]

Alerius followed after them into the mine. Holstering his revolver I to his shoulder holster and drawing his Shortsword. He kept a vigilant rear guard apparently they weren't the last ones in the hole as several retreating antlions from further away finally made it into the cave. Thanks to the length of his blade he was able to quickly dispatch two that had tried rush him. His blade arching through both of their heads leaving a spatter of green goop on the wall, then on the floor as he flicked his blade clean.


He kept his back to his group and only checked over his shoulder every now and then to see how they were doing. Another attacking antlion lept right into his blade. It scrabbled for a moment delivering a few non threatening cuts to his arms before it went limp and fell from his blade. Hearing Komodo cursing he spun and drew his revolver and took careful aim waiting for a clear shot. " Major your ears!" He warned a moment or two before he'd fire. The shot roared, the blowback likely rattled the chest of everybody within a few feet. He had been aiming for the bugs center mass as far away from Komodo as he could manage. letting the .44 caliber bullet tear through the bug should it find its mark. Praying the close quarters worked to his advantage and that the revolvers report would at least temporarily disorient the nearby bugs should they prove as sensitive to vibrations as he'd heard.


He didn't stop to see if the shot made its mark he didn't have the luxury of that kind of time as he spun to watch the rear yet again. His helmet visior changing color from blue to a bluish purple to warn him of the suit tear.


@Zer0 @CkSmalling @tammynorthland

 

[Zer0]

- Msgt. Komodo Rhino -

" Mine, Refinery "​

Artemis moved out of the way as Alerius' shot whizzed pass her and hit the antlion holding Komodo, forcing it to drop him. The assault rifleman fell on a heap, then dove for his chimaera before twisting quickly to dispatch more bugs that ganged up on him.


"Thanks!" Komodo nodded at Alerius.


"Robert, Assassin, we need combat assistance." said Artemis as she worked on Komodo's leg while he provided support. "The thumpers are doing their job, but there are so many bugs in the small tunnels that it's hard to dodge them all."


The squad now had two live tracking devices active on their mini-maps. The antlions Komodo tagged seemed to be heading deeper south and then stopped some three kilometers away where they were just making wide circles in place.


@Abdel featherfall, @CkSmalling

 

[tammynorthland]

The antlions begun to hold their ground as Shina kept her weapon in her fighting stance, she was surrounded by the antlions, 3 to be exact. The battle wasnt going to be fair though. No. She wielded the Blade that also served as a transforming SMG a light weapon for a girl as light and nimble as she was. Shina was strong but had to also keep light machinery to fight with her fighting styles. Shina waited for the first beast to lunge she activated the heat on the blade casting a blue hot glow to it from the fuel that it used. the beast tried a fast jab with its pinchers on her torso quickly with a rebuttal resulting in a direct blow to the pinchers cutting both off in one swift strike. The blow made the beast scream as it retreated while the other two came up on her simultaniously. Shina played chicken, waiting for them to get close enough until she made her jump with the suit aiding her jump as their head collided she activated her assault armor and drew a buster from her MOLLE "quick pull" port holding the charge and weapon in her hand she tossed it into the pile the blast was not something she would want to fuck with.


Shina activated her assault armor allowing her to run a bit more swiftly from the beast as she pressed the button before they could plan their chase after her..


The cave rumbled but lacked the power to collapse the tunnels. She was blasted forward from the leftover shock-wave sending her flying landing on her front-side.


She regained her composure and slowly stood up. glancing back at the wasteland of the 3 corpses she just created with the detonation. "Good fucking riddance."


@Abdel featherfall @Zer0 @LocoBlock @CkSmalling

 

[Abdel featherfall]

Alerius grunted in response to Komodos thanks. He kept his revolver in his right hand every once in a while a shot would ring out and bug ichor would spatter the walls of the cave. He pressed forward trying to help press the rest of his group forward. " We gotta keep moving deeper or we won't last much longer with all this noise." He said as a bug lept at him and he brought his heel to bear right against the side of the bugs head sending it sprawling, but not incapacitated.


His visor stayed a steady bluish purple. Slapping his last spare cylinder in he fired another round down the hall to help clear the path a little. He still had a pouch of loose bullets and that took time but was better than nothing. He was careful to save every cylinder to be refilled later. His armor was spattered in green ichor from the bugs. His blade was soaked in their blood as well. His own blood dripped slowly from the cuts on his arms. " how far from the hive center are we?!" He asked rather sick of this game they were playing with the bugs in the tunnel.


@Zer0 @tammynorthland @CkSmalling

 

[Zer0]

- Maj. Artemis Romanov -

" Antlion Hive, Center"​

" Two hundred meters." Artemis told Alerius, following the tracking device deeper into the tunnels. She and Komodo who was up again had their NVGs on and were cutting their way through the front together with Shina.


The squad finally came upon a large chamber dimly lit by bioluminescent fungi. Here smaller antlion workers were crawling about ores of an azure mineral carrying pupae, harvesting fungi, or repairing their dirt and sand tunnels.


On the opposite side of the chamber was the biggest antlion they have ever seen, the antlion Queen. She had a massively swollen abdomen and was being constantly fed and tended to by the workers. Surrounding her were more than four dozen antlion guards and soldiers.


@Abdel featherfall, @CkSmalling, @tammynorthland

 

[CkSmalling]

Robert was still combing through the director's archives looking for the weapon, or anything that they can use against the antlions. He came across an experimental grenade but at the end of the report, it wad written "Unsuccessful" According to the report, they were trying to mimic the pheromones secreted by the guards but what it did was aggrevate them more and turn very aggressive. There was a short video clip which showed what happened when the grenade was tossed. The Antlion guards even destroyed the other antlions in rage. "Wow this cn actually be very useful if used in close quaters. However, the rest of the clip showed the guards breaking out of the facility and killing everyone. "Well that may just be the evidence we need."He closed his eyes and just saved the data to his remote server. He closed the terminal and went to the Armory and found the grenades. He took at least 5 and closed them well.


His comms blew up with the distress message from Artemis but there was nothing he could do from where he was. He opened an open channel and said, "Hey guys its me again. I may have a solution to the antlion problem but it is not 100% safe. Trust me on this. The scientists were able to synthesis a pheromone to try and mimic the one used by the guards but failed as it made them more aggressive. However, due to their aggressiveness, they also turn on their own. So theoretically, if you were to, say, throw three of these pheromones to their layer, they may make the guards turn on each other and destroy each other. Also once you throw them, you better run for your life or you will be destroyed. I will be sending the grenades through a drone but you better think of a way to seal the entrance so that the don't follow you."


He packed the grenades to a drone and activated it. "Assassin control the drone to the others. It may be their salvation. But keep the drone inside, i want to the carnage inside the nest."


"Got it." She took over the drone and flew it to the others. After a few minutes, the drone reached the others and carefully dropped the grenades infront of them. "All the best guys. You will need it."


@Zer0 @tammynorthland @Abdel featherfall

 

[tammynorthland]

Shina fired half a clip into a from row antlion. The beast squealed before collapsing as shina laughed over it and followed in close formation with the other soldiers as they entered the main cavern where the beasts all resided.


At that moment she received a message about the pheromone bomb that Robert found in some archives. His messaged seemed to convey that the beasts would almost attack each other and become each others own enemies. None the less the monsters begun to notice their presence. They stood in parallel formation 2 by 2 by 2 style.


"Time to put up a fight guys. Lock and load." The first. Antlion lunged out at them after the one shina zapped down. She fired another half clip releasing a click thus meaning she was out of rounds and went in transforming her smg into her machete as she sliced through the head of the beast.


@CkSmalling @Abdel featherfall @Zero @LocoBlock

 

[Abdel featherfall]

Alerius looked up as the drone buzzed in overhead and dropped its little care package. " Merry Christmas" he said as he fired two rounds into the forming ranks of bugs ahead of them. He scooped up the grenades and pocketed them for now. " We will want to divert their attention and be well out of here before these things activate." He said using the brief respite that Shinas burst of fire provided to lock home two more bullets into his cylinder to replace the ones he just used. He fired off one more round as one of the bugs got uncomfortably close.each round he put into the bugs tore massive chunks out of their chitin like flesh, spraying green ichor all over the rocks and bugs nearby. The report from his revolver sounded almost like a cannon in the large stony chamber they found themselves in. " I can provide a diversion I'm the most mobile one here." He glanced back at his superiors for approval for this rather risky course of action.


@Zer0 @CkSmalling @tammynorthland

 

[Zer0]

- Maj. Artemis Romanov -

" Antlion Hive, Center"​

"Go ahead, Alerius." said Artemis as she scooped up the grenades. "We got the grenades. Thanks, Robert!" and tossed one to him and one to Shina. "Pop one on the queen if you can, I'll set up the grenades in the west, circle north, then try to toss one on her too.


"Komodo, give me your mines!" she called out to the assault rifleman who was shoving and hacking off antlions from swarming their current position. Artemis set up one of her remote detonated mines and an inactive directional mine of Komodo's near the chamber's entrance.


"I'm sealing this chamber with explosives once we're back in the tunnel, Komodo, cover us!" and with that she was off, her magnum karambits sparking blue with electricity.


She kept to the side, stunning antlions, and then climbing up the uneven rocks and on to higher ground where the swarm was thinner. "Whoa!" she yelled in surprise as a loose boulder gave way and she grabbed on to the ledge to keep herself from falling. A pheromone grenade tumbled out from her suit and exploded on the mass of insects below.


Immediately, they became more aggressive and began attacking each other. At first it was only soldiers attacking, now it was workers too. It was starting to be overwhelming.


Artemis hauled herself up then made a daring leap to another ledge to get to the queen. She slipped on a fungi in her landing and was sent skidding and sliding down into the open maw of the antlion queen ----


SNAP


Artemis was able to stop the overgrown bug from swallowing her hole by pushing against its jaws with her whole body like a stick in a mouth.


It gave a piercing shriek that covered her in goo and smelly mucus. Then it rose, it's massive form filling a quarter of the chamber, and began whipping its head and thrashing its body everywhere, almost squashing Komodo and sending Artemis' pheromone grenades flying everywhere.


@Abdel featherfall, @CkSmalling, @tammynorthland

 

[Abdel featherfall]

Alerius burst into movement as soon as he got the go ahead from Artemis. Once he was a fair distance away he threw the pharamone grenade nearby and ran through the ensuing cloud before it could disperse. His logic was they were already trying to kill him.. Now they would just be more persistent and kill each other in the process. He unleashed a volley of shots as he sprinted around the edge of the cavern. The chitin was of little use against his .44 rounds which mushroomed on contact with the surface then proceeded to tear through the soft tissue below.


The room rumbled as he glanced up to see Artemis in a rather sticky and smelly situation as the Queen rose up and tried to shake her loose. He switched cylinders to his gauss rounds and then Holstered his revolver. He changed his direction and drew his blade, using his jump boosters to launch him against the queen close to Artemis's spot. He drove his blade into the giant bug and clung there using it as a hand hold. " I'm gonna fire a gauss round down her throat! When I do, jump!" He said really not expecting it to kill the queen instantly but hoping it would hurt her enough to drop her Artemis flavored chew toy and back off. The gauss charge was designed for piercing armor plating and he hoped it would do enough damage being fired Into such soft tissue unhindered by the thick chitin that covered her body.


This was really going to piss the queen off and he knew it as he planted one boot on her bottom jaw and used his free hand to draw his revolver. Despite the thrashing he managed to stay on thanks to the angle of his blade and the suits tight grip on it. He lined up his shot, what appeared to be condensed white lightning erupted from the end of his revolvers secondary specialized barrel in a perfect rail straight line aimed for the queens open throat. Hoping the thrashing didn't throw off his aim. Wether or not it hit its mark he'd pull his blade free and jump free from the thrashing queen. Landing on the ground below with a sharp hiss from his exosuit. He was still covered in pharamones.


@Zer0 @tammynorthland @CkSmalling

 

[Zer0]

- Maj. Artemis Romanov -

" Antlion Hive, Center"​

Artemis tried to jump, but the thrashing of the agonized queen made it hard to time the leap and instead she was flung off in the direction the queen whipped its great head and was sent flying across the chamber and smack into the opposite wall.


Fortunately that was where the entrance and Komodo was. Artemis got to her feet, dizzy. If it wasn't for the toughness of her suit, she would have been hurt worse. She definitely felt like she broke a rib.


"You okay?" asked Komodo who made his way to her, shooting antlions.


"How could I be okay after that?" she said, sorely. "Alerius, Shina, I'm heading back and setting up the rest of the bombs."


@Abdel featherfall