*staying down she knows she has one more sho from her gun before she needs to reload and waits where she was staying in cover taking a breath to steady herself..while she awaited an opening and perhaps a clue of where the other one went*
(stay in cover and pass for now..only got one ep after all)
Circe was about to pop over the window and fire another shot when she heard Laina's call.
Using a military encrypted signal, she spoke softly into her radio to the two new arrivals. "What the hell are you doing here? Do you want to get raped? If not, keep your heads and voices down. Use encrypted burst transmissions to communicate. Take cover and only abandon it if you have to." She instructed them and poked over the window, shooting at the one greenskin she could see before dropping back behind the wall. The shot served two purposes: to try to take the enemy out of course, but also to announce her position to the two girls.
Laina quickly raises her pistol and fires off a couple of rounds at the exposed greenskin before dashing to the nearest building and ducking inside it. She takes cover next to a window in a very similar fashion to Circe, before answering into her communicator. "Kiera said you needed help and we were told to come find you.."
(Fire 2x at the greenskin Circe is shooting at, run to the building in the top right corner, and take cover)
Two Miles East of Firelight: Security Checkpoint Titan-3; Kalica.
Kalica: Continues to take cover; 1 EP used.
Humanoid 2: Climbs in through the shattered window; uses 1 EP.
Humanoid (Armored): Moves through the factory and takes cover; uses 2 EP. Gives up turn.
Humanoid 2: Moves to the end of conveyor belt; uses 1 EP.
New round; all EP restored. Rolling for initiative.
Kalica has initiative for 4 rounds.
Kalica clings with her back to the conveyor system, holding her breath as she heard not only one, but two of the creatures climb into the factory. One was even moving slowly towards her; luckily, it stopped, just behind cover and out of reach of a deadly lead-based round. The other green-tinted humanoid climbed through the same window as the one before, stopping to take a look around for Kalica...
She was fully energized again, and was ready to take actions. To both the right and left of her were windows she could easily jump out of.
'Bigga': Runs out of sight from Circe and gives up turn.
Note: 'Bigga' can be seen by Ruri and Laina, who still have EP.
Circe's shot did much more than just alert her comrades of her position: It literally destroyed the head of one of the humanoid's the creature dropping lifelessly to the ground. Laina ran into an abandoned building, firing twice at the larger enemy in armor. Only one round struck home, damaging the creatures armor. Ruri just... kind of followed her into the house, wondering what her pistol was supposed to do. Maybe if she threw it at her enemies, it would help!
1 Mile Northwest of Firelight: Carmina Delage's house, Convenience Store; Ashley, Hali and Cassidy
Cassidy: Gets to cover,pulling Hali with her; uses 2 EP.
Hali: Takes three shots at the drone and then goes back to cover; uses 4 EP.
Attack 1: 19 + 2 = 21 vs. 5 (Autohit); Damage: 1
Attack 2: 17 + 2 = 19 vs. 2 (Autohit); Damage: 1
Attack 3: 14 + 2 = 16 vs. 2 (Autohit); Damage: 1
Ashley: Takes one shot and then runs to cover; uses 2 EP.
Attack 1: 9 + 2 = 11 vs. 7 + 2 = 9; Damage: 2.
The drone is destroyed.
EXP Gain: 1 all around.
The battle barely even lasted a second. Cassidy reacted quickly, grabbing onto the almost too familiar human, dragging her into cover. Throwing herself - and the red head - up against a wall, the asari pressed her back against the cool cement, watching as Hali popped out from behind the wall, aiming and snapping off three shots at the Drone, all three striking it's metallic frame. She dropped back behind the wall, looking at the blue woman next to her.
"...Thanks?" She asked hesitantly.
Almost immediately afterwords, Ashley leveled her pistol, trying to keep her shakes in control as she let a round from the Peacemaker fly. The woman was already scrambling for cover as soon as the shot was fired, hoping the security bot wasn't going to shoot at her again. She had heard horror stories about how the PMC Bots had absolutely decimated crowds of people because of targeting errors; or how one would wander into a crowded office and kill everyone in an emotionless, machine-driven trigger-happy mode... And she didn't want to be another number in some calculation of people killed by robots. She dove head first behind a wall, whimpering pathetically as she covered up her head, hoping that the drone wouldn't come for her...
...
"Hey, uhm, Ashley?"
The civilian poked her head up, looking back at the Engineer and the odd Asari, whom she swore she recognized.
"...You killed it."
Ashley blinked, slowly getting up to look about the corner; and, much to her surprise, found out the Drone was lying on it's back, it's large 'visual sensor' destroyed from her round. Ashley dusted her knees off , looking around in an embarrassed way, as Kiera commented over the come network that only two human women had for now.
"Nice shot. Engineer Hali, would you mind going over to that Drone and searching it? It should have a direct communicator to ASTRA, the AI in the city to our South. Also, there may be a communicator there for our Asari friend."
Hali's Stats:
DX8 Pistol: 1/5 ammo left, 7 clips.
Ashley's Stats:
Peacemaker: 0/1 ammo left, 9 rounds.
*looking to the windows nearby she chose the one to the right to make a jump for seeking to go out of the window and take cover right there against the wall just under it. she would wait there pistol at the ready as she hid against the wall should one of the creatures decide to stick its head out the window to look for her. if it did she would put the last two rounds of her gun into its face*
(jump out window at right take cover against the wall under it and stand ready to shoot)
From the safety of her cover, Laina pokes her head out again to fire at the exposed Bigga. Carefully lining up her shot, she fires three times in rapid succession before ducking back into her cover.
(Firing 3x and taking cover puts me out of EP and empties the clip right?)
I smiled at the civilian woman, taking a deep breath and holding it for a second. With a soft groan, I stood up and scanned the broken cityscape. "Nice work." I said after I determine the area was safe. A shiver ran down my spine and I shuddered visibly, "I hate shooting." By the time I was finished expressing my distaste for using it, my gun was reloaded.
Then I turned to the Asari... "I'm Hali." I said, reaching out my hand to help her up if she hadn't gotten there already. "Thanks for saving my ass." Grinning, I subtly ran my eyes up and down her body... She was beautiful, "Its really nice to meet you, under the circumstances."
Once she was on her feet, I held out my hand. Whether she took it or not, I'd embrace her without a moments notice, so as not to allow her to escape. "Thanks again! What brings you here? And by here I don't mean to this particular place, because clearly there's something out there who wanted you to drag me into cover and save me, but what I mean is brought you to the colony? What do you do? Whats the story?" I swayed forwards and back, rocking from heel to toe, raising my pistol slightly to cap the twitching kill-bot before smiling innocently.
Cassidy winces at the gunshot so close to her head, and practically falls flat behind the cover, grumbling. She wasn't exactly a stranger to gunfire, but that revolver was -loud-. When the roar dies away from her eardrums, though, the Asari's up again, just in time to see the bot that's pursued her for the last two miles... crackle and die.
Hali's pleasantries go totally ignored, as do her wandering eyes - instead, she gets a great view of the Asari's back as Cassidy pads off towards the downed robot, dismissing the words with a wave of her hand, and the casual..
"Yeah, right, introductions. Can we skip that part and get right to the working together to survive? I'm trapped on this blasted hunk of metal you humans call a space station, and that's all you need to know."
Sinking down to her haunches beside the fallen robot, the Asari pokes it with a blue finger, gingerly.. before reaching for its waist. If memory served, the Enforcer variants of these things usually had a utility-belt style gadget, with a few useful things inside. She was hoping for handcuffs, a laser screwdriver... and if she was really lucky, a key to the anklet clamped around her leg. She wasn't quite sure what it was supposed to be doing.. but tracking, messing with her nervous system, or possible remote detonation didn't make for a particularly appealing list.
Ashley gapes in awe that her shot had stuck the robot so cleanly, and destroyed the thing to boot. She was so surprised that she missed the entire conversation between Hali and the unknown asari. After a minute she snaps back to reality, however, and looks over the blue-skinned woman again. "Do I.... Know you from somewhere? I swear, I must have seen you somewhere before. With all those tattoos, you'd think I would remember..... Not that it matters all that much, I guess. I'm Ashley, in case you didn't hear earlier. If you want, I guess you could stay with us, but we're supposed to be fixing some sensor, so we've got to get that done before we can take you back to the base. It's up to you." Ashley said, still trying to figure out just who the asari was. In the meantime, she reloaded her Peacemaker, wanting the weapon ready in case more homicidal robots decided to show up.
Cassidy concentrates, and a blue nimbus flares into life around her left hand. She lifts it.. and drives her fist into the robot's chassis, as if intending to break open with bare hands. Somewhat unsurprisingly.. the Asari's knuckles rebound from the metal, and she swears in an alien tongue, before drifting at some point back into Common.
"-ing feth-blasted robotic morons.. Must have built an inhibitor into the anklet.. either that or some sort of chemical in that hypodermic.. What?
This last directed at Ashley.
"...No, you've never seen me before. You humans tend to mix us Asari up. As for fixing the sensor.. wait. You have a base set up already? Guess I'm sticking with you lot, then! Don't worry, I'll make myself useful..
Shaking her bruised knuckles, the Asari wonders if a shot would be more appropriate for getting the carapace of the robot open. Anything useful would probably be stored inside, after all..
".......Okay, I'll just wait for you to finish whatever you're doing then." Ashley replied, and then turned away from the woman to glance around, making sure that nothing was trying to sneak up on them. She'd never met an asari, so she wasn't sure what to think of what the stranger was saying, though she would have been suspicious had the woman been human. Still, she figured that, if the woman was dangerous, one of the military types would recognize her. And besides, she was in much the same situation that they were, so she figured that it served the asaris self interest to work together.
"Sticking together and surviving is a noble cause to be sure," I said, approaching the tinkering woman from behind, "but I'd kinda like to know who's got my back, and who's back I've got... Get it?" I put my hands on my hips, looking at her with a curious, yet slightly annoyed look. Sure I might have been a little rude, but I at least I made an effort to be civil!
I watched her work, my instinct was to delay volunteering my mechanical services... "Can I help with that?" I asked, pointing at the robut on the ground, scanning it with my eyes, taking in its technical superstructure... If I wasn't mistaken, after we opened the armor, its substructure was a fairly common design that I knew well...
Two Miles East of Firelight: Security Checkpoint Titan-3; Kalica.
Kalica: Uses Free Running to jump out the window easily, pushing her back to the wall; uses 2 EP.
Humanoid 2: Makes unknown movements; uses 1 EP.
Humanoid 3 (Armored): Makes unknown movements; uses 1 EP.
Kalica's underground training takes full effect as she waits for the perfect moment, getting into a low running stance. She lunges forward at the moment her two enemies aren't looking, taking the distance in just four easy strides, the last one powering her through the open window. Tucking her body into a ball, Kalica rolled as she hit the ground; in an expert display of athleticism, she reversed her moment by kicking out her legs, slamming her back against the wall, looking up at the open window in anticipation...
1 Mile Northwest of Firelight: Carmina Delage's house, Convenience Store; Ashley, Hali and Cassidy
"Engineer Hali, I know she's attractive, but really; Please retrieve the connection to ASTRA." As she spoke to Hali, Kiera began to upload some headlines for Ashley about Asari in human news; while there were no pictures, the headlines didn't seem all that catchy, either... at least, not until the last one:
'Asari Convict Brought to Titan for Prison Sentence.'
Cassidy couldn't get the robot's chest cavity open with a punch.. or, maybe she might be able to. After her biotic-charged punch failed so horribly, she notices the seam running down the middle of it's body. She pried open the chest cavity, revealing the 'survival pack' each one of these robots carried around for a human in need. She wasn't wearing a helmet like Hali was, but the Visual and Audio Communication Interface (VaACI) that the robot had in it's carapace was perfect. She took it out and put the simple little device in her ear, the orange holographic interface quickly forming over her right eye.
Linking to Titan Security Network...
...
...
...
Error; No Network Found.
Searching for available network...
...
Network Found: Firelight Base.
Attaching to: VI, designation Kiera.
Hali reached into the carapace of the robot as Cassidy waited for the connection to go through. She picked up an odd transmitter, one with the words 'Astronomical System for Telemetric Relay Access.'
"Hello, Engineer Cassidy. My name is Kiera, and I'm the VI currently trying to run Firelight.
"You're the Asari who decided it would be funny to try and put a virus in my system..."
((And now.. I have to change my last name to Vakarian. Also, +5% headshot damage!))
Cassidy ignores Hali in favour of gutting the robot, laying claim to the survival kit, and swiftly removing the communications hardware. The rest, goes into a pouch on her hip, a storage space apparently akin to pockets.. that folds flat against her body. Her own design, and luckily, not something the mechs had thought to confiscate.
As the network boots, Cassidy stands, and turns to face Hali, arms crossed over her chest. The tattoos on her face twist and swirl with her frown..
"You can call me Cassidy. No pet names. I'm an Asari.. and a genius. I happen to be a.. non-certified expert in most fields you can name, and I've been studying most of them for longer than you've been alive. Now, if that's sufficient for your introduction.."
She trails off as the networking chip boots.. and auto-connects to what appears to be the only surviving network. Kiera..? That was a familiar name..
A wince. Apparently, her name was familiar too.
"Yes, well... about that. It wasn't exactly a virus, so to speak. I take it someone caught it before it did any harm..?"
Although. That was odd phrasing for a VI. To say that she thought it would be funny.. Her virus had been designed to target the VI first, yank out fairly vital code systems. Of course, theoretically, if it had hit the right code chunks, it could have accidentally unshackled the VI, created -AI-.. But the odds of that were... well. Considering the size and inefficiency of human VI code, and the fact that the "shackles" tended to be buried six layers deep.. It'd be like striking water with an artillery barrage. From orbit. On a dry planet.
"You.. feeling like yourself, Kiera? Having any worries about the universe..?"
A little pause, then she offers, tentatively..
"...Semi-homicidal plans to wipe out the meatbags? If so, I know how you feel, that's mornings for me before coffee.. How'd you catch that virus, by the way? I was sure it was ahead of the current scanning definitions.."
Of course, an AI wouldn't have had a problem finding it..
1 Mile Northwest of Firelight: Carmina Delage's house, Convenience Store; Ashley, Hali and Cassidy
Kiera waited for Cassidy to finish what she was saying, and only decided to respond to a small portion of the Asari's comments.
"Luckily, I had a rather fortuitous Commander who keeps a very close eye on my network. She is, as she likes to say, my Keeper. Currently, we're looking for this 'Keeper' by activating my sensor network.
"Also, what are you all doing in this sector still? You're still 1.23 miles away from the Sensor Node."
waiting...waiting..with the window seeming to have no one else coming through it after a few momments she would shift her legs beneath herself and stand slowly back to the wall she would move along the building northwards towards another window intent to use it to peek through and seek a shot against one of the beasts if they were still there. After reaching the next window with a shot or not she would crouch back against the wall under the window to use it as cover.
"I know, but we got sidetracked. I know of a place that was only slightly out of the way that we might be able to get some supplies from, so I figured we could stop there on the way and check it out. Then we ran into her. Cassidy was it?" Ashley said into her headset, indicating toward the asari. "Anyway, we'll be heading out ASAP Kiera."
((Sorry for the late reply guys. I've been waiting for Tenetarix to reply.. so, to Maiko and Quartz, if he doesn't, I'll be NPCing Ruri so you two can continue.))
Two Miles East of Firelight: Security Checkpoint Titan-3; Kalica.
There didn't seem to be anything going on... So Kalica decided to let her curiosity get the best of her, poking her head around the corner to look at the enemies inside.
The unarmored one was aiming intently at where she had last been, sneaking forward. The armored one still had his back pressed against the larger conveyor belt, inching closer towards the corner...
She took a look back at the way she had to go, and realized there was a clean break towards that sensor tower. Of course, she could stay here and mop up the odd humans....
1 Mile Northwest of Firelight: Carmina Delage's house, Convenience Store; Ashley, Hali and Cassidy
"Hmph. Make excuses if you must," Kiera said to the entire group, "But I'll have you know... Well, I don't know if any of you're comrades have reached their sensors, but I am fairly certain Circe is in danger.
"Just hurry, please." She finished.
Ashley led the small group around the corner of the convenience store, with Cassidy idly glancing into the passenger cabs as she went. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a small Holo-Vid player - a news edition - playing a loop of her arrival on Titan.
As the three walked into the convenience store, Hali voiced what ran through all of their minds:
"How is this supposed to help?"
All kinds of foodstuff had been scattered on the ground; mostly preserved junk foods, like chips and the ever-lasting Spam. Ashley rubbed her arm, wondering how she thought this had been such a good idea.
"There was a vault underneath the counter... and there might be some stuff in the back room?" She asked more than she said...
Search Roll: 14
Ashley hopped over the counter, humming as she began to fiddle with the old, digital-combination lock. Hali murmured about going to get some pork rinds, wandering down the aisle where the chips were- and happened - to be scattered all along. Cassidy flicked her fingers through the odd assortment of food stuffs that happened to be in the aisle was in - and they all seemed rather... un-digestable.
That's when the door to the back flew open, two Alliance soldiers leveling their weapons - one with a pistol, and another with a rifle, a male and female. The woman, who was facing Cassidy, lowered her pistol just a bit, blinking at the blue-skinned alien. The man lowered his rifle completely as he stared at Ashley though - at least, her rear end, as the woman looked over her shoulder at him. Hali popped out from around the aisle she was in, holding her pistol at the ready.
