"Disgusting," Jacques says, his voice lost in the gunfire.
Occux pulls open the door then steps back and kneels to aim his carbine.
Attack, single shot. BS:31-5=26.
Octus is going to lay down suppressing fire with his autopistol.
BS=32-25=7
Between Julian, Jacques and Nebdel the creature is easily torn apart before it manages to cross the length of the corridor. It's momentum causes the body to tumble for a meter or so spreading its dark blood across the floor. A minute later you hear movement in a room farther ahead. Then a door opens slightly, "it's me, I'm coming out so don't shoot okay." a thinner young man steps out with his rifle held above his head, wearing the same armour as the dead GREL you found earlier. "GREL Simms reporting. And thanks for the rescue." he quite obviously sizes you all up before stopping at Occux,"Oh, a Mechanicus priest. Please Lord, could you appease the machine spirit of my gun? I've tried the usual prayers but it still refuses to function."
Confused, Skrate takes a quick look into the closet the guard came out of.
Grel man, where are the rest?
With his expressionless gaze fixing the GREL soldier in place, Occux snatches the his firearm from his grasp.
His motions practices and precise, Occux commences to field strip the rifle, applying a touch of holy machine oil here and there, a liturgy of prayers to the Machine god whispering through his lips.
A short time later the rifle is once again in one piece. With a brusque motion Occux presents the now operative weapon to the grateful soldier.
"GREL this is second string, allow me to introduce Judge, Cyber, Grifter, Prowl, and I'm Trooper. Please answer Prowls question, for if there are more of you down here we need to try and get linked back up."
Jacques kneels down and considers the possible xenos beast.
"I am beginning to wonder under what legal jurisdiction these labs were operating. It seems to me these experiments, these secret scientific endeavors were little more than a brute's curiosity."
He lets the body fall to the floor.
"Best hurry, Simms. We are running out of time and had little enough to start with. We need a full debriefing, ASAP. Start with Nebdels question and move on from there."
"We'll sirs, after we breached the main door the captain split us into fire teams, one to hold the entrance, one to check out the main, well second level, my team to search the labs while the captain took his team to secure the reactor. Standard three man teams head out and did what we were trained to do. My team led by Ape, Apeonziki, with Smithson hopped of the lift and moved through the labs, clearing as we went. No signs of life anywhere aside from the slaughter house which was empty of inhabitants at the time. I was told the secure this door while they moved on down the passage. Ape commend in that they've detected some movement and were going to investigate before I lost comms with them. A few minutes later that thing comes wandering up the hall behind me, I shot it but when my gun jammed I ducked into a room and tried to block the door. Then you all showed up." he paused and takes his gun back, "Thank you. So is team three still holding up top or did they come down with you?
"Team three did their duty, but two are confirmed KIA and one is MIA presumed dead. The one who wore this helmet stayed alive long enough to tell us you were down here. I am glad we found you. Are there any targets of value on this level or should we get to the captain? I am guessing he has the nuke right?"
JT will search around the area while he listens.
"We were ordered to clear this level of any living non human organisms. Wait, what? Did you just say nuke? That wasn't part of our briefing!"
Checking out the nearby room they appear to be various specimen storage rooms. Each containing freezers with flash frozen xenos, shelves with preserved parts in uniform cylinders, or sealed boxes and crates. Peering around the bend you can see the corridor continues straight for about twenty meters without any doors before ending in a set of stairs leading downwards and to the right.
Occux pokes around through the storage rooms, stopping to invesitgate the arcane numbering system or the complex naming conventions for some of the items. "Though thoroughly heretical, one must admire the logical mind behind such an enterprise....and be completely aware of the danger said individual presents." he says while peering at a flask of frozen xeno embryos.
Search Per:35
"Well crap kid, hope there isn't a commissar around I case I just burned that ihostick down to my fingers. I was under the impression you guys had a big bomb in case you had to blow this place. Did your captain come down to the surface with any unexplained containers or devices?"
JT looks away from the GREL trooper to awknowlegde Occux quickly, "Yeah I'm with you pal, though I haven't seen anything yet that explains why this joint needs so much power. We must be missing something. Plus why are the AA systems still screwy? Orks? Please!"
While the others are talking and searching, Skrate sets up to watch for anything coming up the stairway. He uses the corner for partial cover.
Jacques regards the GREL member. "Do you have any idea how all the xenos here got loosed? Was it because of the power outage? When was the last time you had contact with the rest of your squad?"
After he answers the questions, Jacques will address the group.
"We need to keep moving, further into the facility. GREL, what level is the reactor on, this one? If so, we need to make contact as soon as possible and coordinate our clearing of the facility.
He reloads a missing shell into his shotgun and checks the rest of his equipment, waiting for everyone else to be ready.
"I lost contact with my fire team about two hours ago. The rest about six. These xenos were already loose when we hit dirt. Most of the facility didn't have power until a few minutes ago so I guess that's how they got out. No this is just some of the labs, according to the captain there are three levels dedicated to labs, two more for storage, one for staff and then the reactor was separate from everything. I don't know what order or anything, I'm just a shooter sir. My fireteam was going to investigate a strange room on their map, just down this way, maybe we can find them and they can give you more answers."
After a quick check of his rifle Simms slips in a new clip and chambers a fresh round, "Just in case there's more."
When you head down the corridor, around the bend Nedbel is crouched at and down the stairs you find yourselves staring at a half opened bulkhead door with a gantry way on the other side onlooking a large expanse.
Below you you can see what appears to be a huge cargo hold or warehouse and inside appear to be the wrecks of hundreds of alien vehicles, all in various states of damage and dismantle. There are slim, almost elegant vehicles in various shades of blue and green shaped like daggers and decorated with gems. Elsewhere you can see sleek tan vehicles with odd runes and camouflage markings. You also can see many vehicles that obviously belonged to Orks clumped in one corner.
You almost miss it while scanning below you but suspended above you from the ceiling is a skeletal husk of a creature that makes the mighty Thunderhead gunships look tiny in comparison. It looks to be the remains of some strange mix between a whale and an insect with desiccated tendrils hanging down below it.
This is an odd collection of wrongness.
"Wow, I guess this is a major heretic collection or some vermillion level clearance facility. If we have to fight down three more levels of this house of horrors. Hey wait a minute, a place like this should have massive security. Where the hell are they? You twelve didn't wipe out all those bunkers up top. Where the hell are all the staff members?!"
There are several stairwells down as well as an open elevator large enough for four or five people. There is an enormous hangar door at the far right of this room large enough for a Titan to walk through, that's most likely how they got everything in. As you continue to look around you can just barely see signs of smoke on the far left coming from something hidden behind the ork equipment.
You can move closer keeping to the upper balcony, take any of several stairwells down or rode the elevator if you want to investigate the smoke. Otherwise you are pretty sure you see another doorway, normal sided on the opposite side of the main level.
Let's see what we can see...
Skrate spends a few minutes using his rifle scope to scan the area where the smoke is coming from.
"Just awesome, you get a couple of greenskins in here and they would cobble together a star killing space station. Do we keep moving Judge or check that smoke and hope it isnt orks making an escape ship?"
His eyes avidly taking in the alien tech arrayed in the large rooms, Occux brings his mind back to the mission at hand.
"I suggest investigation of the smoke. If the Ork-heretics have conjured up some heinous contraption we may be in danger."
Octus stands as rear guard of the party, focusing his attention on any place where the cell may be flanked from.
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Uriel, you've found you've created a device that is capable of launching grenades about 50 meters. However it is inaccurate, and the grenades must be modified in such a way that they're primed at the pull of the trigger. the device is also of suspect reliability given the components it's made of. It will work as intended however.
?!?
Oh sweet, a new grenade launcher.
Jacques waits to see if Nebdel can glean anything from behind his scope.
We'll investigate. Keep it quiet until we know what we're up against. Don't fire unless they spot us.
Jacques will thus take point and move along the walkway until he can spot what's down below.
Moving along the upper level closer to the smoke you are blocked by the different machines and vehicles until you are nearly parallel with the smoke. Hiding as much as you can Nebdel zeroes in on the smoke through his scope, following it downwards towards the source which is blocked by the mass of a dilapidated trukk. Watching for several seconds you notice that the source of the smoke seems to be moving back and forth erratically. As you wait and watch you begin to hear the sounds of an altercation followed by yelling in deep gravely voices. "What makes you think you can stand up to me twerp?" followed immediately by the sight of a large ork flying through the air and smashing head first into the side of an old ork tank.
A few seconds later you see an immense ork almost twice the size of the three you dealt with a few minutes ago. Much darker in complexion and covered in armour plates similar to that tank it stands before. It's body is partially blocked by the different vehicles and its at the the most extreme range of your rifle making a good shot very unlikely. In addition you can see lots more movement down aside from the giant.
Low tones into microbead Guys, bunch of Orks and one really big mother with attached armor plates. Don't know numbers yet, but he may be have some leadership issues. I don't have a clear shot from here. Do you want me to find a better sniping position?
"I think we had better get to the ractor and blow this place, or hope there is a Lehman Russ around if we are goig to try and take that thing on. You give Orks a junk pile like that and they will get off this planet or take the place over.I am betting that is why they turned the power off. Who knows what else has escaped and is around here. Again I am going to ask, where are all the staff and guardsmen that should be around here? This installation is the only thing on this planet right?"
"I think this installation relied primarily on its remoteness for security, aside from the automated security and the wreckage of a few combat servitors that my team saw we haven't really seen more than just scientists. Unless the security is holed up somewhere. I don't see any signs of my team mates here, do you think they went the other way?" when JT suggests blowing up the reactor, "What about the rest of my team? And the scientists, there could be some still alive down here."
"Ah blast it, yeah okay, hey lets get our tech priest to jack in. Anyone seen a working cogitator in this place?"
"Nebel, you got eyes on any heavy weapons we can use in that junk pile?"
"Judge I think we had better try and figure out how we can seal this level off and buy us sometime. The grunt is right there might be a safe room around here someplace."
"Buddy, I'm sorry, but this 'ere's the inquisition. If leavin' a few men behind is what we gotta do to get the job done, it's what we gotta do. We'll do our best ta' find em man, but if push comes to shove, this place is goin' up whether or not people are still down here or not. Hell, that might even include us.
"Hey, you guys think there's a way we can seal these green f%+~s in here in a pinch in case they get the idea to start wanderin' about this place while we're still here?"
I'm sure there are heavy weapons in those piles of scat. However, I don't have any way to tell what if anything is usable, has ammo, or has power.
You could probably lock and bar the door you use to get in here but there are most likely multiple exits to such a large room. If this is a storage room for xenos vehicles and tech its likely that the ammunition in any weapons was removed but it it's also possible that power systems built into any of these vehicles may still be present.
Jacques is unperturbed by the GREL member's plight. "Grifter and Trooper are right, son. If it comes down to it, in the name of the Immortal God Emperor, all our lives are forfeit. Each and every one of us here would gladly sacrifice ourselves and everyone on this station if it would prevent greater harm to the Imperium."
Jacques, just loud enough to be heard, addresses the whole team.
"That said, we're not just going to throw our lives away. I plan on seeing this shit-storm through to the end. I'm sorry, Simms, but the others might already be dead. This is too large a room, too many corners, too many places to hide. It's just not an optimal battle-space. We need information on how many enemies are down here, what their weaponry is. We are not getting ambushed, not on my watch.
Any ideas?"
"Yeah we need to get tech boy to a real interface link where he can contact the machine spirits of this place. We need to get a better idea of the layout and maybe find the safe rooms and fail safes if the exist.. If there is some doomsday protocol we can activate to purge the filthy Xenos that would be great. We also need to bring down the AA or we aren't getting off this rock. I think we need to get moving too, lets head down the hallway at least, we aren't doing any good sitting up here."
Your best bet for locating a suitable connection for Occux would likely be the control room you left or the primary security second on the second level.
"While your suggestion has merit, Julian Treadwell, there is a conspicuous dearth of available data points in the immediate area. " Occux says where he crouches by a pillar.
Lets hit up that control room and see what you can learn."
"Or we haven't hit the primary second on the second level. But if you guys want to keep moving down levels that is fine too. We can't just sit here though. We aren't set up for defensive action, we have keep mobile."
"I am not the tech guy nor squad leader, but I would say if we aren't going to get any more intel, just head for the reactor and secure it. We can bring it down or melt it down if we have to. Some one turned the power off for a reason earlier. We might find answers there and there has to be some kind of data port there.
So are you continuing on this level? Going back to the CnC or heading for level two?
"We should clear this level out first, at least find out if there are any more nasties that might come crawlin' down to great us before we go plungin' ourselves deeper in this shite."