"You lot don' know when yer beat, doya?"
The explorer continues working to gain every advantage he can during this fight.
Sharlavaka grunted as the injuries he sustained finally pierced his thick hide, and blood began to flow within the armour. This did not stop him from opening fire again on the damaged weapon. He wanted that weapon silent.
Sharlavaka is successful in taking out the Heavy Laser. It will be doing no more cutting without some major repairs.
The lights going out suddenly take Six-Pack's sensors a moment to adjust to, causing him to shoot wild. The sudden flip also seems to have affected Thalin, who also misses.
At this point, an indicator light goes off on the pulverizer that catches Joyride's interest. The engineers on the Azlanti vessel have overcome his hampering of their portal. Suddenly, a portal opens in the hallway, and the remaining Azlanti retreat into its light, with Isis taking pot-shots as they do.
After a few tense seconds, the building settles into an uneasy quiet, with only the creatures lurking in the tunnels below to break it.
Meanwhile, up in orbit, the troop transport breaks off combat and heads for the skies.
It appears you have driven off the Azlanti invaders, keeping them from taking this rock as a foothold. For now.
Shalavaka went to look over the laser, and see if it could be taken with them. It might not be operational, yet, but could be useful. If nothing else it would be useful as parts and practice.
"We need ta hit'n'git it. T'ey ain't gonna STAY gone! A t'ink we know w'at hap'n'd. Whut else we tryin' ta 'complish?" The dwarf takes the time start gathering supplies for the resistance from the bodies of the soldiers who didn't get to run.
Restore power, establish communication... identify the beast and determine if the threat is persistent. James drones on as he checks the screen on his forearm.
He restores the backup lighting.
The elf sighs, and makes sure there's still a strong connection between him and their ship. "Damage report, anything fatal or difficult to manage?"
"There's certainly a bit of damage, but nothing we can't fix up." Esh can hear him lean away from the comms and yell to Otis,
He leans back and says, "We may have to repair some minor damage, but we will retrieve you at our earliest convenience. I assume you're able to hold tight for a bit, yes?"
Shalavaka went to look over the laser, and see if it could be taken with them. It might not be operational, yet, but could be useful. If nothing else it would be useful as parts and practice.
It appears it can probably be repaired to a functional state, though it will be a little more rickety (-5 on Hardness).
As far as the scope of the mission, it's probably the captain's discretion. You already have valuable information (you've discovered the creatures and their deleterious effects on the installation, and confirmed the presence of the Azlanti). You CAN stay and try to get the main power back up and get more information, or you could return and make a recommendation that the planet's no longer a viable resource. You're the people on the ground; Gardathir command will trust your intel.
Esh can hear him lean away from the comms and yell to Otis, "Nothing we can't fix, right?"
"Nothing significant. We should get the shields back to full in case they come back. The scrapes and bruises we can fix back at base."
"Recommend restoring power, gaining additional information," the Vesk announced as he hefted the laser for later repairs and stashed it. "Azlant want this world. Should know why before we cede it." He paused. "Also, kill invisible predator. May need mines."
"Fine. Have it yer way, t'en! Where's t' bleedin' central plant, t'en? Ye wan' power, we gotta git 'er back online."
James pulls up the mining operation's schematic and finds the power core.
Eshenvral backs Joyride up as he starts getting to work to find the facility's power core.
Joyride and Esh have no problems gaining access to the layout of the entire facility. The power reactor is on the opposite end of the facility from the garage. (I'll post a map later tonight).
Teamwork makes the dream work, Esh... A bit too saccharine, don't ya think? But, you get the idea.
Thinks it's just one of those things? Hey, I've got an idea... yeah, another one. They must have security sensors of some sort, yes?
What it we modified the sensor to pick up a different frequency on the spectrum... Something unaffected by the camouflage... Sonar, ultra-violet, infra-red... You're smarter than I am.
Area 23 being the reactor. Keep in mind, it's an old-style fission reactor. You want to bring it on line nice and easy like.
"If yer ded set onnit, t'en let's git it over wit'." Thalin starts moving in the direction of the reactor.
Sharlavaka gave the area a once over as he entered. "Check for sabotage. Dwarfs here may have left final message for Azlant." It was what he would have done - rig it so the reactor left the invading forces nothing to claim but a smoking hole.
Radioactivity is to be expected, assure environmental protection is active...
"Fine, so's activate yer suits 'n' let's git to i'!"
James send Six-Pack to unloack does and enter first... towards the reactor.
It's a short distance between us and the reactor, but there are a lot of doors, rooms and closets... let's clear them out. We don't want anything behind us if we have to evacuate quickly.
Six-Pack can use his manipulator arm to unlock doors and and breach first... everyone patched up?
The trip through the rest of the facility is surprisingly uneventful. This area houses the living area, including dining facilities (complete with bar, because Dwarves), sleeping area, and medical facilities. Most are heavily damaged, either by Azlanti weaponfire or burrowing creatures.
It would appear the creatures had set upon the facility first, taking out communication equipment in an unlucky initial attack. The Dwarves went into lockdown procedures to try to deal with the problem, to the extent that they had safely powered down the reactor.
Then, a couple days later, the unwitting Azlanti assaulted the remains of the facility. It appears from Azlanti comm recordings (which Isis and Joyride have no trouble hacking and translating) that their goal was to use the facility to build a large portal generator and use this as a forward base to attack Zothune.
The reactor chamber has elevated levels of ambient radiation, but as it was shut down safely, they're within tolerable levels.
Someone give me a Life Science check and a Computers check.
Checking the sensors, Joyride notes several life forms moving in the vicinity of the facility, below the surface. Thalin is able to confirm the life signs match those of the creatures. Seemingly, having found some food here, more are moving in for further dining.
"Two choices," Sharlavaka said. "Defend facility from Azlant to prevent portal. Deny facility to Azlant via destruction." Reducing the place to a smoking hole would also get the creatures. Sharalvaka was petty enough that nuking them would give him a happy little glow. "Depends on necessity of facility. If non-essential would be easier to blow to the Boneyard."
The elf nods. "Ideally we'd want this facility kept in tact for the dwarves, as we wouldn't be able to prevent them from simply establishing their own basehere if they really wanted too. Destroying this facility would at least slow their efdorts down however."
He brings a hand to the outer poetion of his cybernetic implant jist under hisbleft ear. More of habbit then necessity, still. "Tamrat, I recommend bringing the ship down for me. Establishing communication with Zothune and get their input may be essential in carrying out the most ideal course of action."
Maybe we can figure out what attracted the animals... what they are, where they came from.
"Certainly. I shall come down to your position momentarily." With that, he initiates the landing sequence and begins steering the ship down towards the surface.
"Maybe t' buggers 'r' 'tract'd ta t' heat? T' food's uh bonus?"
Esh, do we know how many years this operation had been in place? Maybe the worms were in some dormant phase of their lifecycle.
"The creatures aren't listed in any database I can recall having read through, my assumption is that they likely are a native species to this planet that went unnoticed. It's possible that dormancy may've played a part."
The elf tabs cusps the front of his mask, thinking to himself silently as he added in a few more details they've learned to his mental profile of the creature.
Sharlavaka eagerly awaited news as to what he should bait traps with.
Well, if the whole damn planet is covered in permafrost... Maybe the mining operation's generator became a heat source that messed with the... "perma" aspect of it.
And it just took however long this mining station had been around to wake these things from some natural cryogenic stasis. As far as I'm concerned, it's their planet. We scouted as ordered.
Is there anything we can salvage?
The theory you've collectively pieced together is reasonable. The facility had been in use several decades, but had recently begun to delve further both outward and downward, likely hitting the area where the creatures lived or were hibernating.
Having contacted Zothune using your encrypted channel, you get communication back to return to base. It is unlikely the planet will make a good forwarding base for the Azlanti, as the creatures will attack them as well. Zothune will send a clean up crew to gather the fuel rods and decommission the reactor.
You can salvage roughly 10000 credits worth of general gear, of which the Gardathir will take 1/2, leaving you 5000 total, plus your payment (1000 each).
Rise the Gardathir!
You've gathered at The Forge, the miner's bar in Vul Faldihr's inner city where it all began. This is the seedy bar where the original team met up after their first Gardathir mission: theft of ore for the cause. It's been over two years since it began, and members of the team have left, to be replaced by others.
In the month or so since your last mission, a pall has hung over the city. Everyone knows war is coming; Gardathir as well as official Zothune Security Forces have done their best to prepare for that day, which could be any day. As you down your drinks, watching the local news in a bar crowded with Dwarven shift miners, the alarm claxons finally sound. You have little information, but one thing is clear: The Azlanti are here.
Sharlavaka paused and looked to the alarm. Well, that was no shock. The attack had been coming for a while. The Vesk tilted his head, considering. The problem was that, so long as the system had something the Azlant wanted, they would keep attacking. The Gardathir wasn't strong enough to force them to stop attacking. That meant two options - more strength, or less desirability. Unfortunately, Sharlavaka understood the problem. He didn't understand the solution.
"Sharlavaka to Exsilium. Source of alarm please?"
"Wonderful." The elf commented dryly as the noise flared. He'd have preferred to be on the ship monitoring the sensors rather then down here, but these meetings were more often mandatory then not. Instead of complaining about it however, he decides to do as he always did in these situations and establish a link with the Exsilium remotely.
Ohh, sugar... No rest for the wicked! The Azlanti, I mean... ehem
James traps the panel in his forearm, hoping the networks were up and the ship would reward him with a connection.
"Uh, guys, yeah, that's the urban defense alarm! I don't have a lot of info right now, but there's shooting in the streets out in the Open-air section of the city."
Vul Faldihr is, as a reminder, a city that was originally built by the first miners on Zothune. The Old City, where you are, is built into caverns in the side of a mountain. The rest of the city, including the spaceport, sprawls out from there.
Both Esh and Joyride are able to connect to the Exsilium's computers without issue.
As they do, people are getting up from their tables, moving toward emergency shelters or, in the case of many, to either their Defense Force or Gardathir outposts. Curiously, Morgrym has not yet contacted you.
Clicking annoyance, Sharlavaka checked his weapon was on a fresh battery pack and began to head for the ship. He wasn't sure if they'd want him on the ground or in the air, but meeting with the rest of the crew seemed like a solid first step.
I'd target the spaceport to ground defending ships... Should the Exsilium take off, before she can't?
Irina, please try to hail Morgrym on whatever channels we know.
James starts to move, the new improved Six-Pack comes with.
His eye twitches involuntarily as his digital ghost taps into the sensors, pointing them up and trying to get a grasp of the situation above the planet. At the same time he's moving to follow Sharlavaka and Joyride, arcane electricity dancing across his fingers with anticipation.
"Bleedin' Hell." Stopping only to make sure he's got his gear, the pack always sitting ready, or course, Thalin heads for the port.
Joyride's computer scan nets him some useful information; there are a large number of human signatures in the spaceport area, too many to be accounted for by Zothune's small human population. It's a good bet they're Azlanti. Defensive forces and vehicles are on the scene.
Esh's skyward scan hits some interference with the defensive forcefield around Vul Falduhr, but he is able to tell that there are the beginnings of a space battle happening past the 1st defensive platform. The platform itself seems functional. Due to the interference, it's impossible to tell if the outer platform is functional as well, but since there are ships past the outer perimeter, it's likely either heavily engaged or non-functional.
"We're way ahead of you on the takeoff, Joyride. We'll meet you guys just outside the Old City."
When you step into the street, you encounter the most orderly chaos you've ever seen. Mostly miners, these people are used to emergency evacuations, and tend to do so with much grumbling but in straight marches. The foreigners (re:non-Dwarves) are a little less effective at getting with the program, some running the wrong direction or trying to find friends or relatives in the mass of moving life.
Then, there are the Gardathir (like yourself), and off-duty members of the Defensive Force. This group is mixed in among the others, moving with purpose, but not necessarily in the same direction as the majority. While most people are moving further into the caves, you're moving OUT; that's going to slow your progress as you navigate through the masses.
Gorn Steelbreaker
Zelda Marie Lupescu