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Chapter Six: All Hands on Deck

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Captain Hesperus Captain Hesperus Tag!

Before Toph destroys it, Hercules's aegis is struck hard by the last shot from the sentry gun's cannon. The laser-fire from the other further melts the shield and Hercules can tell it will not last much longer!

The blasts rocking his shield throws off the aim of his Thundercracker and Hercules sprayed the left wall full of steaming laser bolts. Still, Hercules forged ahead. The Wild Cards were now 100 feet down the loud, violent corridor and only 50 feet away from the last sentry gun.

Careful Cap'n! After those shots, Herc's shield now has only 22 Mega-damage left!

For Herc's strafe, my blue d20 rolled a 4 which counts as an automatic miss.

Kaerri Kaerri It was Elinor's turn to act!
 
Captain Hesperus Captain Hesperus

Elinor narrowed her eyes as the guns rocked Hercules' shield, trying to estimate how damaged it was. Hard to tell from her angle, but it had taken some pretty hard hits already, and she wasn't sure it would last through another. She moved up, close behind the big tanker. "Swap shields with me, Sergeant!" she ordered, doing her best to make following that command as quick and easy on his part as possible. Once the trade was accomplished, she dropped back a couple feet to her original position within the squad.
 
(Game Master note: Unless Hercules, for whatever reason, does not accept Elinor's offer, his discarding his near-ruined shield and taking on Elinor's is a Free Action on his part - Elinor's Action is providing her shield to him while on the move.)

"Stole my idea!" Cera growled at Elinor in an Ura-Meltrandi way that simultaneously conveyed her mock-irritation and pride of her dentella. Cera used her Action instead to blast the remaining sentry gun with a long burst from her Centurion. The sentry gun's shield swiftly raised but not in time and Cera's lasers further ate into the housing of the gun.

Sherwood Sherwood It is Mario's turn. How does he choose to use it?
 
Mario levels the Thundercracker and fires off a full burst at the damaged turret, hoping to finish it off.
 
When the Thundercracker strafes, it creates a hailstorm of burning hell. When the Thundercracker looses all of that in a direct stream of blasts, it is laser-focused hell on its unenviable target. Using his expertise as an Armorer, he leveled the unfamiliar but devastating weapon on the heavily-damaged sentry gun and gave it everything the Thundercracker had. Mario's well-aimed Gatling-like river of lightning shot past the sentry gun's attempt at Parrying with its smoking shield. It was obvious from the moment Mario had hit it that it would not survive the Italian-American's onslaught - the sentry gun exploded loudly in a dazzling array of a firework-like show as secondary explosions erupted, finishing the turret!

(Game Master note: Hey Gang! We now leave Encounter mode and return to Exploration mode. Good going!)

* * *​

Only when the corridor was silent did Cera rise to standing position, her Centurion rifle still aimed warily down the corridor for most Ura-Meltrandi were slow to trust anyone or anything. Four pillars of smoke from the burning sentry guns cloaked the end of the corridor. Now that you were this close, your eyes beheld a doorway once-concealed by the turrets. But there was something very different about this and every doorway the Wild Cards had seen since entering Chessel Corporations 5th outpost in Veracruz, Mexico.

There was a strange glowing barrier of pure energy at the very rear of the hallway. It was 15 feet high by 15 feet wide, shamrock green, and you could not see beyond it. With a little creativity, you could carefully guide your Cyclones past the fallen sentry guns, and investigate if you so chose. But then again, if you chose not to, then why in the world risk your necks to come down this violent deathtrap in the first place? =)
 
Hercules accepted the Aegis from his squad lead, but moments later Mario made the maneuver moot by terminating the last threat with a volley of laser fire.
”Thank you, ma’am,” he said as the last turret finished exploding, “I was starting to feel the hairs on my arms starting to singe.”
 
Mario gives Hercules a thumbs up. "Awesome job coming up with the shields, buddy! Kept us all from being ripped up by those guns. But now, we have them taken out, we should go investigate and see what lies beyond. Lets squeeze past the mess and lets go!"
 
Elinor smiled at Mario's eagerness. "I agree. That's what we came here for, after all. Keep relative positions and eyes open for any further surprises." She motioned for Hercules and Mario to proceed down the hallway to the mysterious barrier.
 
Reaching the green barrier was relatively simple once the flaming debris was passed. Circumventing the barrier at the end of the hall seemed another matter entirely.

"Elly Nor," Cera gave Elinor a troubled glance, "what is this?" She placed her Centurion's buttstock against the field and tapped against it. The emerald barrier of light did not budge.
 
Mario comments, "When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Well, I have a pretty big hammer here," he hefts the Thundercracker meaningfully, "and we can give it a try and see what effect it has on the force field here. I would just want everyone to step back, just in case there is some sort of flashback or explosion."
 
Toph says, "Just make sure you don't fire straight on at the barrier, just in case it reflects your fire back at you." With that, she backs away to give the Italian-American room to fire, putting about thirty feet between her and the glowing wall.
 
With his new shield firmly to the fore, Hercules yielded not a step backward.
“I’m with you, every step of the way.”
 
"I don't know what it is, but I'd like to find out," Elinor replied to Cera.

In response to Mario's suggestion, she added doubtfully, "I don't think that will work, but we might learn something by trying." She moved back thirty feet with Toph, and settled herself behind Hercules' much-used shield.
 
Cera stared at the green barrier and then gave into her Ura-Meltrandi nigh-paranoid warrior instincts - they told her, "If you don't know what it is, take cover and be ready to kill whatever comes out of there!" Her many understandings as an Auxiliary Specialist also told her to be overly cautious. It was a heavy energy weapon versus an energy barrier she could in no way move with her Cyclone. Nudging at it with her rifle told her that much.

Cera fell back to Toph and Elinor's position, but unlike her human-blooded compatriots, Cera dropped to prone position and covered herself completely behind Sam's Aegis. Centurion rifle at the ready, she listened instead of watched.

Then, unable to quash her curiosity, she looked to find Mario and Hercules still up there close to the barrier. "Males..." she muttered and hunkered back down behind her shield.

* * *​

Sherwood Sherwood The situation was in Mario's hands with Hercules standing resolutely beside him. What does Mario do and from what range does he do it?
 
Mario raises up the Thundercracker, and gives off the warning, "Lets see what this does to the barrier. Firing in 3, 2, 1!" From a distance of about twenty feet out, he fires, making sure to aim off to the side just in case it somehow reflects the shot back at him.
 
Sherwood Sherwood Captain Hesperus Captain Hesperus

The Thundercracker unerringly does its job by lashing out its laser fury at its worst, however instead of penetrating it, the green door sends the laser bolts bouncing in every direction - including some back at Mario at Hercules, despite his precautions, for it turns out 20 feet is simply too close and the laser bolts have to go somewhere! Mario and Hercules find themselves attacked by Mario's own blasts!

How do Mario and Hercules attempt to defend themselves?
 
Shit! Mario had somewhat expected some kind of blow back, but this was ridiculous! He lets out a yelp and ducks behind his shield, letting it take the hits.
 
Cera's shield spoke. Or rather, it seemed to as Cera kept her head down behind it. "Mario! Next time test it with a short burst!" she yelled from under cover.

With laser bolts bouncing off of the green door and Wild Cards diving behind cover for their lives, a transmission over Professor Stein's technopathic polyphonic nexus came through your brains. It was Hitomi, via Transceiver, and she sounded curious.

"Hi Wild Cards! Sorry if I'm interrupting anything. Professor? Um, I can't raise you on our channel. Are you in this one?"

Professor Stein's voice replied with his usual confident edge. "I am in many places at once. Sorry to have missed you, my dear. What is on your mind?"

"How far did you get with our latest contestants?"

"Not half as far as I would have liked. I made the offer but could not go into detail. Things have been... hectic."

"Yeah, that's the word S-9 used."

Professor Stein sounded surprised and confused. "What? You're in contact? The Valkyrie's radio?"

"Even better. Trouble."

You heard the sound of Professor Stein's gusty laughter. "Brilliant! There is a channel the enemy won't be breaking into! And?"

"I've answered a few questions and made the offer to S-9. Awaiting her reply."

"Well, I'm going after S-10 in the Blue World. I think he is trying to Traverse a booby trap they placed in his cockpit."

"So that's how they were going to do it!" Hitomi gave a growl.

"Precisely my own feelings! I will need my fullest attention here, so wish me luck!"

"Good luck with the trap, sir!" Hitomi's tone did not change as she addressed you. "Wild Cards? I'm staying both in here and in another channel if you need me. But knowing you guys, you're doing juuust fine." Little did Hitomi know about the laser bolts zipping down the corridor, the smoking turrets, or the Spacecrew Sam and Samantha cautiously trying to watch it all from the opposite end of the hallway. =)
 
Captain Hesperus Captain Hesperus (Tag for you! La la la la la la la!)

Mario and Hercules found themselves shoulder to shoulder and behind their shields, both of them pinging and dinging while they absorbed the wild blasts.

Mario's aegis eats up 7 Mega-damage. Herc's aegis spares him 15 points of Mega-damage grief. =)

As the laser-fire dies down, another commotion, this one coming from the other end of the hallway is heard. Turning, you see a quartet of Samantha and Sam units running as fast as they can down the corridor toward you. As one, they slide together until they are beside Elinor. There, using body language, they offer to take the sad remnants of the aegis Hercules had used from Elinor's hands and replace it (with the aegis that they had made for Toph, who didn't need it because she was going in with The Twins!). Does Elinor accept?

Whichever the decision, the Sams and Samanthas clap their hands while small speakers out of one of their arm-mounted laptop mimics the cheering of fans in some huge auditorium. This done, the Sams and Samanthas race back to their position of safety and continue to observe.

Meanwhile, Cera's floor-mounted aegis speaks again with a tone of irritation mixed with curiosity. "Is it safe to rise again?" Mario sees the side of a helmet with one feminine red eye looking out from behind the Cyclone helmet.
 
Cera's aegis spoke again. "How about... now?"
 
Mario chuckles. "Well, that didn't quite work as well as I had hoped. I have another idea. I still have a pair of mini missiles on my Cyclone. I can give it a pair of those - from a safer distance - and see if an explosive has better success in bringing down the shield. Thoughts?"
 
Cera's reply was immediate - it sounded stern, almost commanding, but there was a hint of concern for Mario in there too.

"Yes. This time I recommend you get down behind my shield, dumb male." It was kind of like a comment a sister would make to a brother.
 
Mario has a good chuckle at her tone. "I didn't get scorched, thank you very much! It just hit the shield, which is what it's there for. Ok, lets all back away and I'll fire on the shield with my mini's and see if it has any better effect." This time, he makes sure that everyone is at least 100 feet back and down behind the cover of the shields before raising up his arm into firing position. "Firing in 3, 2, 1! Missiles away!"

With that, he unleashes both of his arm mounted missiles at the shield and huddles back down behind the shield.
 
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