Brotherhood of the Machine (IC Thread) [PG/14] {02}

[Ryudo Lee]

The zealot behind the forcefield took the potshots at Jexx as he climbed the prison vehicle.  Morgan's grenade landed behind the forcefield and exploded, sending the zealot one way, and the elite over the forcefield, into Darkshine's shots.  All that were left were one elite, and a couple of zealots who were behind the prison vehicle.

[Lisky]

Not 100% trusting that the elite he'd riddled was dead, darkshine slid over, and put one round clean through the skull, just above where the neck met the skull.  Once satisfied, he moved to Morgans position to work out the next part of the assault, and maybe figure out a way to actually get inside.  He approached with a smirk, hidden by his mask, and said "so, uh, what do you guys think we should do next?"  all the while searching for anything that might be an entrance into the prisoner area.

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan watched with faint nausea as the Elite took a bullet.  He may have been evil, he thought, but he was still a person.

"Are we clear?" he asked over the comm.  "And are you a hundred percent sure that guy's dead?  He might not be wholly organic, remember."

[techmaster-glitch]

   If the few moments it took Jexx to climb the transport, another zealot managed to get a few shots off at him. Again, due to the angle, most ricocheted off of his metal legs, but he felt a sudden sting in his left upper leg just as he was getting to the top. He heaved himself over, and was finally in the clear. He took a very breif moment to take stock of his injuries. The hit on his neck was just a nick, but it still bled. His leg was worse off, actually having a small bleeding bullet-hole in it.
   Jexx had been through much worse over his two years, but this required some attention. Quickly, he morphed back his handcannons, turned down and focused the power, and gave himself a burst of plasma on all the bleeding sites. He grunted in pain, but the wounds were now sealed, and that's all that mattered.
   After only taking a few moments to do that, he brought his handcannons back up to full, crawled over to the side of the van where the last Brotherhood zealot footmen were hiding on, pointed his handcannons over, and rained fire from above.

[Azlan]

Morgan pulled a piece of shrapnel from a frag grenade out of the armor covering his leg.  The light, formed suit was strong against ballistics and had not been penetrated.

Morgan sighed to himself, tk did not stop the projectile, good thing for armor.

When asked what they were going to do next, Morgan shrugged, "go around.  DK, cover me and follow.  You two sweep the area for any stragglers and link up with Exo."

Morgan zipped out from cover and slid to a halt at the downed elite's body.  Morgan grabbed the plasma repeater and checked the status.

Weapon status: online, 75% charge left.  Link enabled.  Connect? Y/N

Morgan accessed the smart-link and was whacked upside the processor with a generic Brotherhood embedded shell OS.

Morgan chuckled, stupid proprietary Brotherhood junk, it should work, but it will probably bluescreen on me at the drop of a hat.

The embedded programming was simple, handling the LCD display and weapon diagnostics, as well as the Smart-Link© interface.  It did not contain any special code or secret data, nor any insight into the Brotherhood's technology.

The foxish being tossed Darkshine's borrowed carbine back over to him with a nod of thanks just as he broke into a low run coming to a stop up against the transport.

The Brotherhood seemed to be attempting to return fire at Jexx, so Morgan hoped they were a bit distracted.  He took a deep breath and rounded the back of the transport, only to have the plasma repeater knocked from his hand by a slightly surprised elite.  The weapon of the elite was pointed right at Morgan, up close and personal.

Without thinking, responding purely by instinct, Morgan grabbed the weapon and pushed, while ducking his head down, up with far more strength than the elite could have ever expected this little red haired male to have.

The plasma shots flew up into the air.

The elite was recovering quickly, but not before Morgan had executed a high reverse roundhouse kick.  Though it did little damage to the elite, it threw him back and away from the cover of the transport and more importantly, away from Morgan.

Jexx, DK, some one light him up!!!!  Morgan yelled into the comm.  He panted hard as his heart pounded in his chest and his adrenaline peaked.

The remaining couple of Zealots trained fire in his direction and Morgan dove for his new plasma repeater.   

[Lisky]

Catching the carbine one handed, darkshine slung the weapon around his back.  He then lined his sights up to keep Morgan covered with the rifle.  He had fallen a few steps back while slinging the rifle, and while getting back into position, the heavy weapon Morgan had picked up seemed to fly from the redhead's hands.  Darkshine had little time to react, he sidestepped away from the vehicle, and switched the rifle into full auto.  When the elite appeared in his sights after the kick, he unloaded the magazine in several longer bursts of the armor piercing rounds.  The slugs were aimed at the head and chest of the elite.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx still handn't yet replaced his microcomm, but he heard Morgan's voice yell over the sound of battle. He stopped firing his handcannons down for a moment, and lifted himself up a little to see what Morgan was talking about. He saw an elite in the general direction or Morgan's voice, and dropped down again, putting his handcannons back over the top of the transport, and let loose a volly towards the elite as Darkshine was also pumping bullets at the man.

[Arcalane]

Exo clambers up on TOP of the convoy vehicle (much to the metal's complaint - it wasn't exactly designed for this), pounds over the roof and hefts it's own plasma repeater, the 'bot spraying plasma down on the zealots firing on Morgan as soon as it had a visual on them, using the height advantage to make sure Morgan was nowhere near the line of fire.

[Ryudo Lee]

The elite took several shots before he was finally thrown onto his back.  He didn't get back up.

The remaining zealots, realizing that their main firepower, the elites, had been disposed of, began panicking and firing wildly.  They only managed to get off a small number of shots at Jexx, Exo, and Morgan before Jexx's and Exo's fire put them down.

[Lisky]

Darkshine walked over to the convoy vehicle when the gunfire had ceased.  He slung the rifle behind, and brought the carbine to the front as he prepared for the confined quarters of the convoy vehicle. he searched for any sign of a way in on his little walk, he used his nanite cache to access the smartlink scope on the carbine and checked the readout. 18 rounds left in the magazine, standard FMJs... when he approached the group, he looked straight at Exo and said in a slightly sarcastic tone "you know, i don't just wear this headset to look the part, it's also great for communicating... though it helps a lot if i actually know what settings i need to access the channel everyone else is on..."  he paused, let out a slow breath then continued "so, whats the game plan from here, uh... sir?"
thinking to himself i wonder if they actually use the military formalities, or if i should stop using them, and address their commanders by name instead...

[Tapewolf]

"Are we clear?"  Dorcan asked over the comms.  He didn't want to take any chances.

[Azlan]

Morgan had dove for the plasma repeater, rolled and come to a halt while firing on the remaining zealots.  With everyone's concentrated fire, the remaining Brotherhood forces were neutralized.  Adrenalin still pumping, he stood and surveyed the area quickly with the repeater, "everything is clear on this side, someone check out that elite.  Marcus, Langley report."

Langley was the first to respond, "Roger, all clear on this side.  Over."

"Ditto, but I took a piece of shrapnel to my leg... hurts like heck, but it's not too bad... uh, over."

His CTC had a backlog of messages waiting for him, but he concentrated on tactical and combat data only.  However, in his examination of the area he noticed and odd trail.  With his eyes he followed it to the spot he had rolled to and sighed.  He felt around the corresponding area as the ground impression and his hand came back wet with the acknowledgment.

Releasing the CTC's combat mode, Morgan received all the condition information and sensory input.  He groaned slightly and bent over in his crouch.  It took a few moments for him to get used to the pain as he pressed his hand to his side.   

I have had worse... does not seem that way right now...

The data from the CTC was encouraging, lower left quadrant of the abdomen, missed all internal viscera and major blood vessels.  He directed all available nanites to do what they could to mediate damages.

Slowly he stood and headed over towards the others, he kept his right hand pressed to his left side, "one of the zealots got lucky, I should be okay though..."  Morgan commented as he leaned on the side of the vehicle, "it just hurts like hell."

[Tapewolf]

"You're sure you're okay, sir?"  Dorcan queried over the comms, as he climbed out from under the van.  If he's not, if he's out for the count, who's he delegating to?  Then again, Exo's in overall command...

"Either way, I guess we'd better find out what's in the box," he said.  "What's the plan for opening it?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   After the final Zealot fell, Jexx checked himself over again. His two wounds were still cauterized, of course, but after his glow went out he figured he'd have a nice dose of pain to deal with. Oh well.
   Now, though all the Brotherhood outside the van were dead, there might be one or two still inside this transport. Jexx had already thought of a way to deal with that; it was a big reason why he was on top of the transport in the first place. He held both his handcannons out to his sides, pointed down at the roof, and began firing. At this range, they acted almost like plasma cutters, but he deliberately kept from going all the way through yet. He began rotating on the spot, beginning to melt a circle into the roof. He completed a circle, and added a little more plasma around until he felt it start to sag. He moved off the circle, and then jumped onto it, keeping himself crouched a bit after the inital jump.
   The circle immediately gave, falling out of the roof of the transport, but with Jexx on it. If there were any Brotherhood, and the sharted shooting at the hole the moment the circle began to fall, Jexx being on it and crouched down should both protect him and be unexpected. As he fell, his eyes were already darting around, looking for anything that resembled the Brotherhood's signature circuitry-inlaid robes. If his eyes did catch any, he would immediately return his own fire.

[Ryudo Lee]

The soldiers on the ground were all very much dead.  Even the two elites had taken enough damage to keep them from ever moving again.

The inside of the prison vehicle was empty, except for several cells which left for very little space to move between them.  One cell contained a man who wears a torn rebellion uniform, who looks like he had been worked over a few times, and was unconscious.  There were others who were in civilian uniforms, and appeared to be in similar condition to the rebellion man, but were awake, and on the edge of hysteria.  They cried out to Jexx to free them, begging and pleading.  It would seem to Jexx that Fetrethar was the least injured of the inmates.

[Arcalane]

The four troopers deploy out the back of the van and sweep for survivors, two of them staying with Darkshine whilst the others make doubly sure the Elites are down for good. They reform and exchange glances, obviously communicating on the squad's network rather than the entire group's local network. "Boss says you'll get a full brief once we get back to HQ, if you check out," the one who handed Darkshine the heavy SMG notes, "`til then we're... disinclined to go givin' out secure comm info, get what I'm sayin'?"

Exo 'adjusts' the hole in the roof with several unpleasant rending sounds and the creak of metal bending under stress, the auxiliary hydraulic system kicking into gear. After a few moments, satsified that there's enough room, the 'bot hops down after Jexx and surveys the cells, scanning the occupants, visual systems recording the prisoners as it sweeps it's view around.

[Someone get a medical team and some cellbreakers in here, we have several... ex-prisoners and they look like they took a beating en route, some are in worse shape than others. Find the actual door to this thing so we can get people out safely. Looks like one of them is ours, plus several civilians.]

The 'bot switches back to vocal. "You have been liberated by a Rebellion strike team. Please remain calm, medical personnel and locksmiths will be here to administer aid and free you within a few moments."

[Lisky]

Darkshine slung his carbine, feeling slightly disappointed in their lack of trust...  he thought i brought down at least one elite, i followed orders, i didn't take out any friendlies... and i kept morgan alive... well, whatever... if i don't have a radio, going CQC would most likely get someone killed his thoughts then drifted on getting back to the rebel base... not really sure what he'd be qualifying as when they arrived... He strolled back to Banshee and took a moment to put away the rifle and exchanged the half empty magazine in the carbine for a full one, if nothing else, he could play security detail, and give the rebels back their weapon...

While retrieving the SMG, he noticed a small wooden box at the bottom the locker, he opened it, and retrieved the large .357 magnum, semi-automatic pistol, along with 2 loaded magazines sitting inside. He found the holster and harness for the weapon on the shelves, and loaded everything up... When he walked back out, Darkshine had the carbine slung out front, the smg on his back, and the loaded weapons harness dangling from his left hand.

He took a few moments to try and find Dorcan...
when he found the doberman he walked over and said "hey, i think i found something you might be able to use" holding the pistol by the holstered barrel, and offering Dorcan the grip

[Tapewolf]

"Thank you," Dorcan said, taking the gun.  His voice sounded a bit brittle.  As Darkshine watched, the Doberman opened the magnum up and extracted the rounds from it, slipping them into his pocket.

"I have killed at least three people today," he said.  "From a puppy I was brought up to respect life." he stopped.  "My grandfather did much worse.  He took the souls of hundreds of mortals, maybe thousands before he saw the light, but...  I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't like what I've done.  I know it's necessary, but..."

He stared into the distance for a few moments.

"I thank you for your gift," he said, snapping back to the present.  "I just hope I never have to use it."

[Lisky]

Darkshine nodded in understanding "i too hope for the same thing, but, i would prefer to see you come out of a situation where it is necessary alive... you've shown great kindness towards me, and i feel i owe you something in return...  that pistol is more a gift a necessity than thanks. i saw a friend who isn't equipped properly, and i feel it was my responsibility to watch out for them..." he paused as he thought about what Dorcan had done.  Darkshine then added, "you know, i'd keep the weapon loaded until we're sure there isn't brotherhood backup near by, just in case... when we get back to the rebel base, i'll get you the box and cleaning kit to do with what you like...also, i'd like to find a more suitable gift... but for now, i guess that will have to do"  He leaned against the vehicle and waited for the others inside the vehicle to finish their sweep and start freeing prisoners.

[Azlan]

Morgan shook his head to clear it, he had apparently zoned out.  He pulled his hand off and stifled a bit of profanity, it was hemorrhaging rather vigorously and he was feeling a tad lightheaded.

He pushed off the vehicle and wandered over to Darkshine and Dorcan, "good day D and D."  Morgan gave a brief laugh just after the initials, for some reason it seemed funny to him, "I just wanted to say, good job and uh, Dorcan... I think I am going to delegate to you to be second... oooh, dizzy... I think I might be a bit worse off than I thought.  Either of you have a medkit?  I left my emergency gear in the Banshee and I do not think I can make it there.  I do not think it is bad enough for me to bleed out for at least a couple of hours, but a little bit of binding and bandaging might help."

Hey Exo, buddy... I am going to slack off for a bit... got a bit shot.  I think Dorcan can second well for now.  I vouch for DK as a good guy.  Morgan said into the comms.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Although it was hard for Fetrethar to tell time in the cramped and near lightless confines of the vehicle, he judged that it was a few minutes after the first sounds of fire that an impact, something heavy, probably around man-sized landed on the vehicle, and the roof began to glow, a dull cherry color.

That seemed to trigger something, because there was a clicking sound, off to the right wall, and a pale green gas began to seep inside the vehicle. Whatever shred of restraint the clansmen had was shattered, and within an instant, blows were struck in the mingled group. Fetrethar's goal was clear. He wouldn't let some unseen foe rob him of this opportunity.

Darting through the melee, Fetrethar unerringly made his way to the bearded Mongoose clan elder. His memory, perhaps sharpened by the adrenaline, brought back a little tidbit that Mongoose men generally shaved, except for their leaders. Which meant........ He had to roll off to the left, avoid getting connected with a burly man's kick, who was promptly intercepted by one of his clanmates, and there it was, the opportunity, a clear path to the bearded man.

Fetrethar was always one of the smaller and weaker members in his clan, but he was quick, and good at moving suddenly, and it took him slightly over a second to close the gap. His foe, no novice to combat, managed to strike Fetrethar, one on the chest and a second time on the stomach, but Fetrethar simply accepted the blows and closed. He gripped the flab around the midsection, and bit the man on the shoulder, pressing the swelling in his gumline with his tongue.

The stinger went in, pricked the flesh of this Mongoose leader, and pumped a few milliliters of concentrated venom into the wound. Within a few seconds the arm was swollen and black, and it took only ten for the man to writhe around on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Fetrethar spotted a ring, made out of some brassy metal, on the fallen man's left hand, and quick as a ferret, he dropped to his knees and snatched up the prize, thrusting it into one of the pockets in his clothes.

He rose and turned, just in time to see a fist arc towards his face........ A blow struck him, and the world spun around the small man.

[Tapewolf]

"Thanks for the concern," Dorcan said, sounding touched.  "I guess I find it easier to talk to furred types... humans are vanishingly rare where I come from and I'm not used to seeing so many."

"Maybe you're right about the rounds," he said, and reached into his pocket.  At that moment Morgan appeared and began to ramble drunkenly.

"Shit," Dorcan said, and reached for his belt.  "Did you use some kind of painkiller there?  Best you lie down, I think," he added, and began to unwrap the bandages.  "Can we get a medic here?" he added over the comms.

[Lisky]

Darkshine looked over the redhead with a little concern, and asked "you sure your alright?" then said to Dorcan "we're going to need some constant pressure on that...  and we're going to need to keep the wound above the heart to slow the bleeding. if we need something like medical staples or some sealant foam, i've got both in the med kit in the banshee. they're not permanent solutions by a long shot, but they should work for a short term patch job until we get him to somewhere safe enough for real treatment... you want to get the med kit, or should i?"

[Tapewolf]

"Would you believe that we didn't have any field medics on our last mission?"  Dorcan said.  "If this had happened back then, we'd really have been in the shit.  Now that we actually have medical backup, I think most of them have gone off to treat the people in that box.

"It falls to us to keep him ticking over until they can take him off our hands, and I think we can probably manage that with the tools at hand."  He cut a section of bandage off and gestured Darkshine to help him fit it.

[Lisky]

Darkshine nodded to Dorcan and asked "wait, your telling me that you went on a mission without anyone who even knew basic combat medicine... isn't that like trying to go out for a night at the bar, but leaving your wallet at home?... " while chatting he kept pressure on the wound, and helped dorcan with the bandage.  He tried to keep his voice casual, but his thoughts kept drifting back to keeping his 'patient' alive... "you know, we should probably find something to prop his head up, and rotate him on the side to keep that wound above the heart... assuming nothing in basic biology or physics has changed in last couple of years, that should slow the bleeding up to 20% in it's own right... "  He chuckled at that last thought here i was not 6 hours ago a prisoner, and now i'm playing medic, trying to keep one of them alive... my... how the world has changed

[Azlan]

Morgan thought it best to just let the two do there medical thing, his internal monitoring was issuing a constant stream of warnings, but there was something a bit disconcerting about watching your own blood pressure decreasing, "Ace!  Reducing bleeding is high on my list mate... aaah... just do not press so hard ya bastard.  Ooh, I feel like I am off my face and I have not even had one drink."

He closed his eyes and tried not to think about pain, but it was considerably futile, "if we can staunch off a majority of the gushing, then my nanites... can take... care of stabilizing things eventually, it will take time."  Morgan narrowed his eyes a bit to focus on Dorcan, "did I hear you say you were uncomfortable around human types?  Well, I would be as furred as you had someone not mucked about with my genetics.  You are going to have to get over it mate..."

Morgan stopped talking and suddenly chuckled, which abruptly made him wince in pain, "you know, back home... my dad's home, there's a saying... 'grinning like a shot fox'.  It means to be very happy or smugly satisfied... oooh, that's the last thing I'm right now..."

He continued to ramble on about other random things, interestingly though, he began using contractions.

[Tapewolf]

"I know," Dorcan told the leopard.  "I dunno what Morgan here thought, but I truly wondered what I'd gotten myself into.  It was something I didn't even think to check before we set out because it was so bloody obvious!"

He masked his concern as the redhead's rambling started to become less coherent.

"It's not prejudice," the Doberman told him, "It's just... I feel a bit like I'm at a party where I only know one or two people, if you get what I mean."

"Anyway, that should keep you with us for now.  Darkshine, stay with him.  I'm going to get a medic."

So saying, he set off towards the 'box'.  "Do we have a spare medic?" he asked again over the comms.  "Morgan's worse off than we thought.  I want one here, ASAP and by the gods I'm going to get one, even if I have to drag them away kicking and screaming."

[Azlan]

Morgan wanted to protest that he was fine and belay any fears, but he was not exactly fine.  The injury was not immediately life threatening, but it was serious.  His nanites could cut his recovery time by half and normally they would have performed better damage control, but he was low on available raw resources.  They had been thrown into too many things at once and he had gotten sloppy, he had skipped eating properly and he had not expected to be going into combat so directly.

He squinted to focus on Darkshine and shook his head to clear it, he was feeling rather light-headed, "you wouldn't happen to have a ration bar would you?  I need to give something to my nanites to work with."

He tried to sit up, but the dizziness persuaded him not too move too much, "they sent a doctor with us on our first mission, Sally, but no field medics... I thought that was strange and I'm still not sure about the Rebellion at times, but the cause is good even if they need a bit better tactical planning.  I really want to take a nap... where is that medic anyways?"