Slaughter infinitum: The first use of the Bioroid in combat

[Central Facehuggeria]

(OOC: Continued from Here)

Prontt moved over to a large holographic display mounted upon the wall of the armory. After he fiddled with the controls, he began to speak; "Sixty years ago, the dreadnought CFV Vengeance was sent exploring on its maiden flight. Of course you've heard the story, if you were paying attention in history class..."

"Right. The Vengeance found nothing of intrest and jumped back to Earth to participate in the Illiorian skirmish. So?" Shephard said, interrupting Prontt, and causing the older man to get slightly angry.

"Well, that belief is wrong. Before the Vengeance returned to Sol, it discovered a remarkable world. This world actually had a small, but thriving human settlement there. However, this settlement didn't arrive there on their own. They were still in the mid industrial revolution period of development. The Vengeance also noted the presense of a giant megalith, an ancient artifical structure of extraterestrial design, in the system. Unfournately, the Vengeance had to participate in the Illiorian skirmishes before any more detailed data could be collected. Suffice it to say that when the conflict ended, we sent a full science team to the planet." Prontt explained, his voice betraying his agitation.

"And...?" Shephard interjected.

"And the science team made planetfall. It appears however, that their arrival did not go...unnoticed. We soon lost contact with them. Eventually, after going through a few recon teams, we discovered they had been killed by a beligerent race of subterranean beings. We also uncovered evidence that they had been using the humans on the planet as slave labor, food, and breeding material. In fact, they are highly similar to Chryssalids in their breeding practices. Except these creatures carry weapons.

The slaughter of our science and recon teams started what has largely been a stalemated war between us and them. Our troops are better equipped, but they have lots more troops. (Due to plausible deniability, we cannot send the full force of our Legions.) You are being sent to even the scales. We believe that they have a small leadership caste. If we eliminate their leaders, their mindless drones will likely fall as well. We will be free to colonize the world at our leisure. You will arrive with the next wave of Commandos and Silencers to be deployed. Your transport leaves in one hour, and your equipment will be loaded into a sealed crate marked 'Classified materials. Do not touch under pain of death."

"Will I get to talk to anyone? My girlfriend would be happy to know I'm alive..." Shephard asked.

"Perhaps after you complete this mission. But remember, you were dead for a year. Perhaps she has moved on..." Prontt said. "You had best use the time you have wisely, begin practicing with your new equipment before you must go." He added quickly, to avoid any potiential backlash from his earlier statement.

"Yeah...Practice..." Shephard, trailing off.

[Central Facehuggeria]

Hours rolled by, and Shephard made it to his ride right on time. The military starport was a a hub of activity, people going every which way each with their own purpose. He walked up to gate 27, Special Operations and gave the military policeman the passcard that Prontt had given him only a few short hours ago.

The MP gawked at Shephard for a split second. The enhancements had certainly taken their toll upon Shephard's body. Shephard was now almost 400 pounds of pure rock hard muscle, but still perfectly in proportion. To the MP, Shephard must have seemed like the Hulk, or a Titan.

The MP recovered his composure quickly and inserted the pass card into his scanner. "Wow...Uh...You're cleared. Head on through...Sir" he said, stuttering a bit.

Shephard made set to just do that. He walked through the checkpoint, but the metal detector beeped. Another MP drew his pistol and said "Stop right there!"

Shephard did as he was told and began to wait. Fourtunately, he didn't have to wait long. The previous MP ran up to the MP with the pistol and whispered in his ear. The new MP's eyes widened, and he quickly put his weapon away.

"Shit! I'm really sorry sir! I didn't know..." The man apologized profusely.

Shephard merely ignored him and kept walking. Quickly boarding the Avatar transport, almost as soon as the doors closed, Shephard gazed out the window.

The Earth quickly got smaller and smaller as the transport sped away from the glittering blue jewel. Shephard looked at the stars and wondered "I wonder which one of you I'm going to be visiting..."

The transport docked to a Dreadnought for the quasi-space jump. Final loading procedures would still take another few hours, so the passengers were assigned temporary quarters and told to entertain themselves until the ship was ready to depart.

So that's what Shephard did. Back before he 'died', working out in the nearest gym was always one of his favorite ways to blow off steam and he saw no reason to stop that practice now.

The ship's primary gym was particularly crowded. Virtually all of the machines were occupied, except for one of the grav lifters Shephard walked over to the machine and began to work out.

A navy boy, only twenty two at the latest walked up to Shephard with eyes wide and said "Holy shit! You're using that machine! It's been stuck on 100g for weeks now! How did you fix it?"

Shephard frowned and looked at the dial. It was set to '100 times normal gravity.' It certainly didn't feel like he was lifting 100gees worth of gravity when he effortlessly lifted the steel weights...

"Uh...I didn't fix it. It's still set at 100gees." Shephard replied after looking at the setting. The kid's eyes would have went even wider, if that were possible.

By now, a group had gathered around Shephard. One grizzled navy flyboy pushed through the people encircling Shephard. "Bull. That isn't set to 100gees! Let me have a look!" So the man looked. His eyes darted down to the readout, and he read, as clear as day '100 times normal gravity.'

"Uh-huh. If you lifted 100gees, lets see you do it now!" the egocentric pilot demanded.

So that's exactly what Shephard did. He didn't even break a sweat. "That's not 100Gees! Let me try!" The pilot demanded.

Shephard did that too. Unfournately for the pilot, it really was set to 100gees, and the pilot soon found himself being crushed by the iron weights. He would have been squished into jelly had Shephard not reached up and held the weight while the pilot squirmed out from under the crushing force.

The pilot left in a fluster, angry at humiliating himself in front of virtually the entire crew. With nothing more to see, most of the onlookers returned to their daily exercises. There was one exception however...

[Central Facehuggeria]

A powerful shudder ran through the entire ship as it made the jump to quasi-space. Seconds later (to the passengers and crew), the ship emerged at its destination: above the world orbiting star SC-208402, better known by 'Optera.' In the real world, a week had passed between departure and arrival, but the time-dialation effect of the quasi-space jump changed that to mere seconds for the people onboard the battleship turned transport.

A loud and commanding voice blared over the speakers: "Attention all passengers, this is the Captain. We've arrived at our destination. All troops boarding transports A-J proceed to the docking bay now."

That was Shephard's time to go. He was on transport C and he'd have to move if he wanted to make it on time. Navy transport pilots were nortorious for leaving without you, even if you were only a minute late. Of all the people running out the door, only Shephard caught Nova Carter's eye. She had a feeling about that one. His display with Kazansky merely highlited it. She felt that there was something...unique about him. There was something about him that she just found so...mysterious. But that would have to wait. She had to get to transport C. Her co-pilot would probably get agitated if she made her wait.

Shephard walked as fast as he could through the congested halls of the dreadnought. He would be glad to have his feet planted firmly on the ground in a sparsely populated base. A base that seemingly wasn't packed to the rim with people like a sardine can.

Arriving at the main docking bay, he found the Avatar transport sitting there, still waiting for its pilot. Shephard quickly entered and chose a seat near the front of the craft. Moments later, the pilot ran through the doors. She had obviously run all the way to the transport, based on her panting. Shephard did a quick double take once he saw her. She was drop dead gorgeous. long raven hair tied in a ponytail that only seemed to attenuate her beauty, green eyes that glittered like sparkling emeralds, reflecting the pure light of the sun. Even the bulky light armor suit that all pilots wear couldn't detract from her beauty...

...Nova quickly ran through the transport's door, out of breath. Her copilot would be angry that she was almost late, but that's too bad. That man in the gym deserved a few extra minutes of observation...

Looking up, Nova saw something she didn't expect to see- that mysterious stranger from the gym, staring at right her. She suddenly felt very self-concious. Fourtunately for Nova, her copilot slapped her out of it and bluntly said "Get in! We've got a schedule to keep, or have you forgotten, Nova?"

"No...no I haven't forgotten. I was just...distracted for a moment. Don't worry about me, Jany." Nova replied before turning away from the man and strapping herself into the pilot chair. Her co-pilot, Jany got on the ship wide intercom and said "Attention all passengers. We'll be arriving at Patton memorial airbase in twenty minutes. Until then, you can watch the inflight movie: 'Captain Neutron versus the robot beach zombies from mars!"

The choice of movie solicited groans from the assembled soldiers. Most of them thought, quite rationally, that if you were going to play a movie on the briefing panels in front of each gee chair, you should play something that the entire crew wants to watch.

The soldiers suffered through twenty minutes of that god awful c grade movie. For most everyone on the trip, it was boring and uneventful. Shephard however, he couldn't stop thinking about the pilot. It felt...wrong somehow. After all, he had a girlfriend! But still, Prontt's last words rang in his head over and over again; "You've been dead for a year. Perhaps she has moved on..."

Nova also had trouble concentrating. She found herself unwillingly thinking about her passenger. It's a good thing Jany took over when Nova started to lose focus, otherwise the transport might have crashed or burnt up in the atmosphere.

Fourtunately, it didn't. Jany managed to land the ship safely. She was concerned for Nova. Nova didn't usually let herself get so distracted, especially during a drop. "Hey Nova" Jany said "You alright? You seem kind of... out of it if you know what I'm saying."

"Hmm...? Oh right. Thanks for the concern, but I'm fine Jany. I've just been distracted lately." Nova replied.

Jany knew what the problem was. Nova was having man troubles, again. Despite being one of the most attractive women on the ship, Nova seemed to have really bad luck when it came to picking up guys.

The transport landed with a dull *Thump* and the passengers began to disembark. By chance (luck?), Shephard was one of the last ones to exfiltrate the ship. Turning back towards the pilot, he smiled. She returned the smile and winked at him.

Shephard was distracted from that visage of beauty by a man, clad in a full general's fatigues and power armor. Years of military training kicked in and Shephard saluted the general. "Sir!" he said while holding his arm in a rigid salute.

The older man merely smiled and said "At ease. Welcome to Camp Lagume. It's been really bad here, and I'm glad you've arrived, Corporal Shephard. If what those egg heads tell me is true, you should be a great asset to our conventional forces here. If you'll follow me to the command bunker, I'll get you straight on the situation."

Nova only caught the last part of the generals speech. She was shocked that the General himself had come out to greet her mysterious passenger. What she did catch of the conversation only deepened the mystery. "...glad you've arrived, Corporal Shephard...". So Nova thought, his name is Corporal Shephard. Intresting. "...If what those egg heads tell me is true, you should be a great asset to our conventional forces here..." The General's words only added questions to Nova's list about her dark and mystifying passenger.

Shephard followed the general into the command bunker, where Nova couldn't see (nor hear.) It was too bad she had to get back to the ship and ferry another load of troopers down to Optera. She always loved a good mystery.

The situation on Optera wasn't very good. The enemy had too many advantages. They were many, and they knew the terrain like the back of their claws. They also had a natural chitinous plating that was almost as hard as steel. They did not die easily. You could, for example, laser off one's arm, and it would still attack you. And then there were the stories of what they did to prisoners...

Shephard listened attentively to the briefing. Finally, the general stopped speaking, giving Shephard time to ask a critical question; "What's my first misison?"

The general frowned, and his eyes looked sad for a moment. He punched out commands on a keyboard and brought up a holomap of the area around the base. "Several hours ago, we lost contact with a commando team we sent into the enemy tunnels, here." The general said, with the indicated tunnel segment turning red. He continued; "We don't honestly know if they're still alive, but I want you to go down and rescue them if you can. Or at the very least, bring back their dogtags. I never leave soldiers behind. I'm not one of the Nazi assholes. Any questions?"

"Yes. Back home, they mentioned my equipment would be shipped here seperately. Have you recieved it?" Shephard asked.

"We have indeed. It's in the armory. Just follow the signs, when you find the MPs and combat robots standing guard, you'll know you've got the right place. Any more questions? No? Good. Get going. Each moment you delay gives those monsters more time to implant their hideous eggs in my men." The General replied pointedly.

Shephard gave a quick salute and made best speed to the armory. To the General's credit, it was incredibly easy to find. Waving his security pass in front of the MPs, he was quickly allowed access to the armory. The unassuming box was in the corner. But piled on top of it were several other, larger boxes filled with spare depleted uranium shells for the tanks. Shephard lifted the excess boxes effortlessly, much to the amazement of the MP who came in to offer his assistance.

Opening the box, Shephard grabbed his equipment. There was the armor, the rifles, his side arm, several spare magazines of ammo, and another box labled "Lucifuge flamethrower." Inside was a fully functional 'pocket' flamethrower assembly (The 'Lucifuge' flamethrower is a normal flamer cut down into a pistol form, and loaded by small naplam canisters with an hour worth of napalm.) But much to the chagrin of Shephard, the flamethrower didn't have any ammunition! The Nazi bureaucracy had struck again!

The flame thrower would have to wait until his next mission however. Shephard had no time to go looking in the cavernous armory for more flamethrower fuel.

Shephard ran to landing pad eight, where the Skyranger transport was waiting to take him to the mouth of the alien tunnel network...

[Central Facehuggeria]

OOC: Okay, if you want to get in on the alien killing fun, now this RP is open. You can RP as one of my troops, or one of your own special forces teams that has been sent to Optera as part of a covert ESUS wide action. I've got a somewhat hazy plan for the course of the RP, so I'll PM you what I'm planning if you decide to join, so that you don't do something that goes against what I'm planning.

[Central Facehuggeria]

The Skyranger transport lifted off from the pad, carrying Shephard to his first mission since his death at the hands of the Shivans. He hoped he would get the chance to fight a Shivan again, and rip out its filthy little innards.

Unlike its larger cousin, the Skyranger II, the original Skyranger VTOL transport was a small scale vehicle designed exclusively for special forces. It could carry no more than ten men and one automated weapons platform or a large combat robot. This transport only carried three living things: The pilot, copilot, and Shephard.

Minutes rolled by as the transport flew towards the entrance to the alien tunnel complex. "Hold on Corporal, we'll set you down here. Those little bastards have a habit of taking potshots at our transports." The pilot said. The Skyranger started to lurch downwards, its rear door opening up. "Okay Shephard, jump for it!" The pilot yelled.

Shephard leapt out of the ship and hit the ground with a thud. Shephard lay prone for a moment, scanning the area with his armor's thermal and biogenic scans, and with his eyes. After all, sophisticated scanners can be spoofed or broken. Eyes cannot.

Satisified that there was no threat in the immediate vicinity, Shephard got to his feet and proceed into the tunnel network, his armor's built in computer system mapping each area he went to, copying it to his soulcatcher chip, essientially 'comitting it to memory.'

Suddenly, his motion trackers picked up movement. Four contacts, dead ahead. Shephard squinted in the darkness of the tunnel (He didn't use any lights, because that would have been akin to turning on a big "Shoot me" sign.) Silently advancing, Shephard caught sight of them. Four of the smaller ones, only six feet tall. They still had the chitnous plating and deadly weaponry just like the larger enemies to compensate however. Raising his rifle, Shephard let off a burst of 7.62mm flechettes. It was surreal, the flechettes seemed to be moving too slowly, just like the bullets in the obstacle course. The firing of his weapon was also totally silent. (That rifle is designed to be virtually silent however. Shephard isn't losing his hearing.)

The creatures' armor was pierced, dark blue blood liberally spraying from the aliens as they fell, their higher blood pressure spraying the blue substance around magnificently. They didn't even have time to scream as they were killed by the deadly flechettes.

Continuing on, Shephard found more of the things, and summarily gunned them down as well. But half way to the squad's last known position, Shephard heard a loud roar that came from a beast behind him. He quickly turned and saw the thing. It was easily ten feet tall, and heavily armored. Shephard knew his flechettes wouldn't penetrate the alien's armor, so he ran ahead of it and ducked into a corridor. In one fluid motion, he readied his phased particle beam rifle and fired it at the hulking creature. The PPB rifle completely vaporized a pizza sized hole in the creature, burning through its armor in a flash.

Not too long after dispatching the creature, his IFF system picked up four friendly tags to the north. The missing squad. Shephard made best speed there, fighting through floods of the smaller aliens along the way. He emerged into a large prison cavern. Strewn about were numerous human skeletons. And four suits of CF powered armor, chained to various points on the walls. The missing squad. Just as he went over to the troops, Shephard became aware of another presence in the cavern. He spun around, weapons at the ready and saw another hulking alien, just like the kind he had dispatched before. Pulling the trigger on his PPB rifle did nothing. He would have to give it more time to recharge.

The creature seemed to grin like a shark and stepped closer, unsheathing a large blade as it did.

"Oh shit!" Shephard cursed. He tapped two panels on his armor, and one vibroblade projected out from each of his two gauntlets. (Similar to wolverine's claws, except these are just vibrating swords, not claws.)

His blades emitted a low hum as they began to vibrate rapidly. The creature charged, bringing its heavy sword to bear, trying to decapitate Shephard. Unfournately for the creature, he nimbly dodged it.

Shephard made to slice off the thing's hand, but the alien had different ideas. It sucker punched Shephard hard, throwing him off balance and allowing the alien time to raise its sword again. Shephard lanced out with a swift punch of his own, followed by a lightning fast swipe by his vibroblades, severing the creature's right hand and leg repsectively. The creature was still trying to get back up and kill shephard though.

Shephard took offense to that and jammed his vibroblade directly into the creature's skull. The blade passed through the thing's armored helmet, and its exoskeletal head, to imbed itself in the thing's brain, where it quickly destroyed all it touched. When he removed the blade, there was nothing left of the alien's head except little bits of bone. The vibroblade was covered with the alien's blue blood, but that hardly mattered. It was self cleaning...

After the brief battle with the jailkeeper, Shephard released the four commandos, and the group of five tried to make their way to the surface...

[Metallinauts]

OOC: I'm in when can I join?

[Five Civilized Nations]

I'm up for something...

[Central Facehuggeria]

You can join whenever you want, as whatever you want. I'd reccommend allied Special Forces teams. Just post your arrival and the General will call you up to his office to give you mission briefings.

[Metallinauts]

Then on a hornet Assault vehicle 5 Metallinauts special operatives came. They were the best of the best. Anyone who knew anything about Metallinauts could tell by their black armor and weapons they were the Black Covert Tactical Recon Unit or BCTRU.
OOC: How's that?

[Central Facehuggeria]

Bump waiting for 5CN.

And metallinauts: I'll need to know exactly what kind of weapons your troops are bringing. I need to assign damage to the aliens after all. :p