Herald drops to his knee as shots ring out. Around him, panels of pale blue sunlight form around his body, girding him in a suit of armor that hovers around him.
"What the heck?! They shot our contact!" he exclaims, reaching for his rifle.
Valorus eyed the two groups of shooters. Two of them, one left, one right. Going in the middle of them was obvious suicide, so instead he focused on where all of the obvious ones. No one else seemed to have made a decision yet. A sigh a relief was heard from Valorus before he spoke up to the five, "{My allies, it looks like the ones to the left are closer, we should take care of them first.}"
He turned to Herald and said only to him, "{Hold up before you fire that.}" Valorus then touched Herald's rifle and casts the spell Supercharge Weapon. "{You're powered up now.}"
When Darshe does not spot their contact right away, he looks down and reaches for his comm unit, to take another look at Duravor's picture. It is only when the screams start that he looks up and sees the chaos that has unfolded before them.
"Oh, s%%%."
He scrambles to shove the communicator back into his pocket, standing out in the open like an idiot in the process.
The firefight continues between the two gangs, as people duck for cover or attempt to flee the area. Many shots fly wide of their targets, with one exploding in a shower of sparks against the barrels that Krevlor is hiding behind. This shot seems to come from the other side of the docking bay.
It is clear that this is between two separate factions - the gang on the left of the docking bay are humans dressed in sleek black station wear with red trim and numerous tattoos, brandings, and piercings visible. The group on the right are decidedly scruffier looking, with grungy leather coats lined in matted fur being the only unifying feature between them. They too are humans.
Two of the sleeker looking gang members - a young man with a shaved head covered in tattoos and standing by some large crates at the other side of the bay, and a woman with a line of small subdermal spikes jutting from her brow along her hairline and what appears to be scar tissue running down her left cheek and down her shoulder - both get hit by their foes on the opposing side of the gun battle. The young man's shoulder begins to crackle and sizzle as a laser blast hits him, while the young woman is hit in one of her collarbones.
Initiative - Round 1
21 - Cree
21 - Darshe
16 - Herald
16 - Krevlor
7 - Valorous
5 - Gang members
Cree remains low to the ground, focusing his attention on the nearest member of the gang to the right. Time to level the playing field, I suppose. He stares down the barrel of "The Business" - the rifle has the words burned into one side - and aims, relaxing his computerized arm and allowing it to adjust the trajectory of his shot with its own calculations. After the adjustment, he exhales slowly, squeezing the trigger and firing.
Herald jogs to the and hops off the landing pad, firing a shot at R3. Unfortunately, the luggage trolley caught the blast.
Valorus pulls out his pistol and moves out to behind one of the barrels.
He will target the easiest shot. If his culture check gives and indication of one gang being more likely to be the aggressor or having targetted Kreel he will prioritise them.
Finally gathering his wits, Darshe unslings his rifle and ducks low to the ground, alongside Cree.
"Just like a pirate attack," he mutters, mostly to himself. For the relatively short amount of time he'd been on Absalom Station before, he had managed to avoid getting into any shootouts. Until now. Eyeing the ganger that took a potshot at Krevlor, Darshe brings up his hunting rifle, takes aim, and fires.
Cree levels his hunting rifle at the only target who is standing upright and within range and squeezes the trigger. The bullet rips through the air and catches the tattoo-covered ganger in the forearm. He looks around wildly before noting the smoke drifting from the barrel of the ysoki's rifle.
Meanwhile, Herald attempts to shoot at the gang member - a young woman with a face full of piercings and short damp-looking hair dyed an unflattering bright green - but the shot is wide and serves only to shatter the side door the luggage trolley she is hiding behind.
As Valorous takes a position near to Krevlor, the kasatha attempts to shoot at the woman with the thin line of subdermal spikes , but the shot merely lodges itself into the crate in front of her with a loud bang.
Dropping to his knee, Darshe stares down the barrel at the same target that Cree had shot. Squeezing the trigger, his aim is true and the ganger takes a mean shot to the gut.
The firefight continues to blaze around the docking bay, with laser shots flying in all directions. One of the random laser bolts hits Darshe square in the upper chest as he attempts to duck out of the way of the way of being aimed at by the standing ganger with the tattooed head, a tiny hole being burned though the ceremonial plate he wears.
The ganger girl with the bright green hair sizes up Herald and takes a shot at him, and pain blossoms from his shoulder as the laser bolt skims his flesh.
Initiative - Round 2
21 - Cree
21 - Darshe
16 - Herald
16 - Krevlor
7 - Valorous
5 - Gang members
Cree remains prone, pulling the bolt back on his rifle to eject a cartridge, then slamming it home to fire another shot. His hand twitches slightly, aiming the weapon of its own accord, and he sighs. "I'm gonna give this fella The Business twice, it seems."
Cree's second shot is a far better one, and finds purchase in the young man's chest. A dark stain blossoms from the impact point, and without so much as a whimper the gang member slumps against the crate and slides down it into a crumpled heap.
Initiative - Round 2
21 - Cree
21 - Darshe
16 - Herald
16 - Krevlor
7 - Valorous
5 - Gang members
"Great shot!" Herald calls, firing back as he hustles over to the same cover she's using.
Herald throws his shoulder against the cart and switches to his survival knife.
Valorus heads to the middle of the area, making sure that he is clear from most threats that he can. He takes aim and fires his pistol at one of the goons hiding behind the barrels.
Krevlor tries again to shoot at the young woman with subdermal implants while trying to make as much advantage of his cover as he could.
"Are you kidding me?" Darshe hisses as he ducks for cover. He sticks a little finger into the hole in his armor. An inch or so deeper and it would have hit flesh. "I just finished polishing this!"
He takes a quick potshot at one of the gangers on his left before shifting position with a roadie run.
Herald aims once again at the woman on the opposite side of the luggage cart and fires a laser shot, which misses his target by mere inches. As he draws his survival knife out of its sheath, the shirren dashes down the ramp and out into the middle of the room. Levelling his azimuth-class pistol at the ganger behind the barrels, Valorous pulls the trigger and shoots. The impact of the laser sends another waft of charred flesh into the air as the laser bites into the gang member's shoulder.
Krevlor's shot misses its mark completely, exploding harmlessly against a support beam and sending a shower of sparks down to the floor below. Likewise, Darshe misses his target also though the shot is much closer and hampered only by the big fuel relay that she is partly hiding behind.
The woman with the subdermal implants snarls at how close Darshe's shot had come to hitting her and steps out from her cover to fire another beam at the kneeling soldier. This time her aim is a lot more deadly, and the laser bolt catches the soldier across the neck, searing the skin and cauterising the wound.
The other sleek gang member takes careful aim at his rival from across the docking bay and shoots him between the barrels. The ganger yelps as the laser bolt impacts directly onto his lower leg.
The remaining shots from the scruffier looking gang are all less impactful, though one of them does come perilously close to Cree's prone form.
Initiative - Round 3
21 - Cree
21 - Darshe
16 - Herald
16 - Krevlor
7 - Valorous
5 - Gang members
The sound of screaming dies down as most of the crowd has fled in whatever direction they can find an escape path. Only a few bystanders hide at the periphery of the docking bay - either too injured to move quickly or because their hiding place provides them with cover out of the way of the gunfight.
Herald dives around the luggage trolley and swings with his knife, but his swing goes wide.
"Hold Still!" he exclaims.
Valorus quickly rounds the information booth, placing his back against the metal before peering around and taking another shot at the same target.
Krevlor attempted to his the female with subdermal implants again, hoping this time to make an impact.
Cree kips up to his feet in a hurry, charging the information booth behind Valorus and posting up inside.
Wheeling around the front end of the luggage cart, Herald takes a wild swing at the ganger with the red hair. She manages, however, to step back just far enough to dodge the blade. Meanwhile Valorous ducks to the side of the information booth in the middle of the docking bay and fires a shot at the gang member hiding in amongst barrels. The shot ricochet's off of the rim of a barrel and pings harmlessly into the distance.
Cree manages to kip up off the ground effortlessly and dashes to the information booth as fast as his legs will take him, while Krevlor aims at the woman with the subdermal spikes in her brow. He shoots with his pistol, and the bullet narrowly misses the woman, deflected by the fuel relay she is hiding behind.
Initiative - Round 3
21 - Cree
21 - Darshe
16 - Herald
16 - Krevlor
7 - Valorous
5 - Gang members
Darshe hisses in pain when the laser sears his neck, a hand quickly shooting up to nurse the fresh wound. Things clearly weren't working out in his favor. Despite the crowd clearing up and opening new lines of fire, he decides to focus on finding some better cover. He stands and dashes over to the nearby crates before ducking down again, not intent on getting shot again.
[spoiler=GM Rolls]
While Darshe hustles to take cover behind a stack of loading crates near to the ramp, each of the gang members that remain standing let another volley of laser bolts. The woman with the subdermal implants fires wildly around the corner, one of her laser bolts hammering into the crates that Darshe is hiding behind with a shower of sparks, and the other flying blindly in Herald's direction only to hit the luggage cart, which has now seen far better days.
The third sleek gang member leaves his current hiding place and hustles to try and hide behind the fuel relay. As he attempts to run for better cover, two of the opposing gang members take a shot at the sleek young man. One of them misses by inches, but the other laser bolt catches the man in his side, causing him to yelp in pain.
As the firefight behind the luggage trolley turns into a brawl, the woman with the bright red hair draws a piece of pipe that has been modified into a crude melee weapon from her belt and swings it madly at Herald in an attempt to bean the lashunta across the head with it. She misplaces her footing slightly, however, and the attack is easily dodged.
Initiative - Round 4
21 - Cree
21 - Darshe
16 - Herald
16 - Krevlor
7 - Valorous
5 - Gang members
Herald ducks the pipe and steps in with the survival knife.
His knife skills are actually on point this time!
Behind the relative safety of his cover, Darshe takes a second to catch his breath. Deciding that he still has a way to go before keeling over and dying, he pops up over the barrel and takes a shot at the woman with the implants.
Krevlor continues to fire at the woman with the subdermal implants. Sooner or later he will hit. Once the enemies are dealt with he can check on the others and see if they have acquired any serious injuries.
Valorus goes to some nearby crates and peeks around one of them to fire upon the gang member that tried to get better cover.
Cree focuses his attention on the gang member outside his makeshift foxhole , taking steady aim as he drops to the ground once more. He plants his elbow against the floor to steady himself, inhales, and squeezes the trigger with his exhalation. "Gonna give all you ********'s The Business if you keep this up."
Herald steps in and slices a deep cut into the red-headed ganger's forearm, and she squeals in pain at the bite of the knife.
On the other side of the docking bay, a concerted effort to take down the remaining male gang member finally pays off, and he cries out as a hail of bullets and laser fire causes him to collapse unmoving to the floor. The woman wails. "No, Jinar! Oh, you will PAY for that!" she yells as she comes out from behind the fuel relay to get a clean shot at the shirren.
The laser pistol's shot impacts hits Valorous in the shoulder, his second skin armour the only thing saving him from the burning beam. Meanwhile, incensed by the knife wound, the red-headed woman screeches and continues her attack on Herald, sidestepping him and bringing the club down on the back of his skull. The blow sends stars flying into the lashunta's vision.
The remaining two gangers appear to hold their shots back for a moment, appearing to judge the scene for a moment.
Initiative - Round 5
21 - Cree
21 - Darshe
16 - Herald
16 - Krevlor
7 - Valorous
5 - Gang members
Krevlor moves over beside Darshe to get a clear shot of the last remaining gang member on the left hand side.
"{My allies, I will distract this one, but I don't know how long I can hold them off.}
Valorus moves off to the side, to get to some cover, and prepares himself to dodge.
"A bit early for the heroics, Valorus!" Darshe shouts, taking another shot at the woman. In her fury, she seemed to be neglecting the fact that she no longer had cover.
"{Not much of a choice, I'm afraid, which trust me if I got to choose, I'd be as far away from her weapon as possible. I just see an opportunity. She seems pretty angry with me and all.}"
Herald's armor flares up brightly, and he crosses his arms in front of him briefly before throwing them apart.
"HYAH!" he cries out, exploding with a wave of iridescent and multicolored light!
Cree pulls the bolt-action back on his rifle, ejecting the cartridge before slamming the bolt home and firing again in quick succession.