Aberrant: The Long March - Chapter 9: Where the Road Leads

[Courier]

Steve sends,

*We're hours away from being able to move this stuff with any intelligence. And this time someone kindly left the labels so we're a lot better off. Hopefully this means they didn't have the time to burn all their records.*

*Looks like we fight. We have just enough time to move the field generator. Joani, Omar, you might want to grab something to throw at them while the field is up.*

*Lorean, if Andrew doesn't countermand this in 60 seconds I want you to 'port him up to his room.*

Steve grabs the "storm trooper" carbine and helps move and set up the null generator.

[Omar]

"It looks like we fight them down here." He shrugs his shoulders at Steve, but does give him a wry smile. "I'll try not to bring this place down around our heads."

Omar finds a large heavy object, like a metal door or desk with which to throw. Also, Omar tries to see if he can bring forth his large boney spines. If he can, he keeps them extended, looking like a giant pin cushion. He had not used them with the paragons, as extreme lethal force did not bring criminals to justice. It just killed them.

[Courier]

Steve says,

"I'd rather hide down here and hope they miss us anyway. This was a hidden facility finding it isn't... wait. How did they track us here to begin with? There's no one on record who can track warps. Node pings are out of range. They might have someone with scarily good senses... or..."

Steve's thoughts race, "...telepathy. They might have picked up Andrew; I think everyone else has some sort of shield."

*Lorean, please 'port Andrew and let us know if those incoming Novas alter course*.

[Ulric Reikspar]

Ulric takes the Lightning Rifle and rushes back out to see if Andrew has been taken yet. Once Andrew is safetly away, he comes back and takes cover in the back of the lobby, keeping in mind he will need to shoot past the statues to engage the intruders.

[Mr Fox]

Lorean sent back over the link, *Rodger that Steve, transporting Andrew now. I'll update you in a moment if they change course.*[/i}

Just after Lorean's reply Andrew disappears from the floor where he was lying. Kyria suddenly finds herself comforting empty air.

A minute or so passes when Lorean reports again, *They have slowed down but they are still heading toward you. You may have gained a couple minutes, or perhaps more depending on how they are tracking you and how precise they were zeroed in on your location.

[SkyLion]

Cody grabs the last remaining weapon, a very retro looking laser rod. Collector's item, he mused.

Cody takes the extra time gained to investigate the vaults and goes in to at least check on the status of the record room/server banks.

[Mr Fox]

Looking into the record room you see that it has been burned. Literally. Someone implemented the failsafe on the physical docs. The computers look intact though, but it will take investigation to determine if the databases are functional.

Lorean sends that the novas are nearing the building only about 2 minutes out. More than that if you are going to be fighting them down stairs.

[SkyLion]

Cody sends over the link.

*Looks like the record room was burned here too. Good news is the servers seem to be intact. Why don't we save ourselves the risk of anyone dying and have Lorean teleport all the servers up to us. Then we can get out of here...*

[z028 Riley]

Kyria gave one last good-will thought to Andrew, then began going over in her mind what they could do and what they had available. This might be her first real physical fight, but she intended to make a good showing of herself. She kept the guns and knife she'd brought with her, figuring that the others could use the Proteus weapons to better effect than her.

"Anyone have a plan other than 'shoot them'? Are we doing this here or going up to them on the surface?" This wasn't sarcastic, just curious.

[Joani]

Joani nodded to Omar with a look of grim determination. "Try not to kill them, ok? You're the wrestler - what about you pick em up and I knock them unconscious?"

Joani wasn't looking for any weapons it looked like she would be just using her fists.

[SkyLion]

*How about it Lorean? Can you teleport the servers up from the room I am standing in?*

[Omar]

Omar frowned back a Joani. He then said in an emotionless voice. "I don't know if you understand Joani, but sometimes it's neccessary to kill. They can be eliminated much quicker, and with less chance of our friends getting killed, if we use lethal force."

Finally, Omar gave her a shrug. "Do whatever you wish, but I am not going to give them any chances to kill us."

[SalmonMax]

"And," Meri adds, "You can't really use your fists, you'll be in the nullifier's field. And you didn't seem to like that much."

She hesitates, then asks, "I've been meaning to ask, but isn't that a Superman symbol on your outfit?"

[Courier]

Steve surveys the situation, which rooms have open doors and where they lead, where there is cover, what they want to take, then he says to Meri,

"How do you turn on the damper, and which area will it effect and not effect?"

*We should make our stand here. This room is hardened and there's little chance they'll be able to flank us. If we're very lucky they might miss us entirely, but if they don't then they have one obvious entrance. Even if we don't get everyone and they level the building it won't matter. What we want is here and with teleportation we'd be gone long before we run out of air.*

[Andrew Murphy]

Andrew rematerializes within his quarters. The familiar surroundings and pervasive hunger finally break through to his mind. Too late he finds that he is unable to force his body to resume a solid state, he continues to degrade until he is little more than a puddle of reddish ooze. *Lorean, Morgan, I need help.*

[Joani]

Joani just nodded at Omar but didn't add anything to what he said. She wouldn't kill if it wasn't necessary.

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

"And," Meri adds, "You can't really use your fists, you'll be in the nullifier's field. And you didn't seem to like that much."

She hesitates, then asks, "I've been meaning to ask, but isn't that a Superman symbol on your outfit?"

"I won't be inside the field, I'll attack once they're drained. They'll need a few minutes before they can recover - enough time to finish them off.", said Joani. Then she looked at the Symbol on her chest and nodded to Meri. "I'll explain later, ok?"

[Courier]

Steve picks out a spot with cover where he's going to set up, then looks at his gun. For a moment he debates the wisdom of bringing in an untested unknown experiment weapon to a nova fight, then he lays down a pair of sharp looking knives next to his set up spot.

[SalmonMax]

"It has a remote cutoff I rigged up for it," Meredith answers Steve, holding up a little plastic box about the size of a cigarette box. "It covers about two-thirds of the room. There's little mark I made by Thomas...um, the statue I was moving."

She crosses between the eerie stone people and points at the floor. There's a faint scuff mark there. She then moves her finger to describe an arc. "It runs more or less along like this. The machine's embedded in the floor near the elevator shaft."

Meri then nods at Joani, "It's okay. I'm in no position to judge. Look at me...stuck down here with manniquins I pulled out of the floor. We all find ways to cope."

[Ulric Reikspar]

"Lorean, could we have an ETA of those novas?"

Ulric moves over to were Cody is with the Computer back ups. He begins checking to see if they are bobby-trapped and on how soon they can be removed.

{Use Engineering 5 or Computer 3 please.}

[Joani]

Joani memorized the described arc - she was making sure she wouldn't fall behind that line unless the nullifier was turned off.

"It's going to be crowded... I suppose I should expose myself a little to the side, so they have a target to focus on. Once I've got their attention you can hit them with the nullifier and your weapons. Should anyone still move Omar and I pick em up and finish them... of course after you turned it off again. We should have a window of about 100 seconds before they can recover. More than enough time I'd say. If things get nasty we fall back and you reactivate the field while Lorean teleports us in safety. Objections?"

[SalmonMax]

"Oh, guys!" Meri yelps when she sees what Cody and Ulric are doing. "Careful! Those things are rigged to erase all their data if they're tampered with unless you have the right passwords and things. I couldn't figure out how to do it safely...and believe me, I had plenty of time."

[Mr Fox]

Morgan looked worried when Andrew appeared. He'd watched the man's decline over the years and this was by far the worse he'd been. Speaking to the air he asked, "Lorean, can you do something with the bed please?"

After a second the bed began to reform gaining a small wall around the bed area that would contain Andrew's liquid state. Morgan spoke comfortingly to his friend, "Relax and recover. Take your time, we've got the folks down on the planet covered, we can teleport them out if things get dangerous."

********

Lorean response over the link *Cody, there is no way to transport up fixed objects like those servers. They would have to be disconnected and possibly even disassembled in order to transport.*

*The other novas seem to be searching the ground floor for the way down to your location. Michael says the one in charge that detected you, has mental shields and he can't breach them without drawing the mans attention. From what he gleans from the others their intentions are extremely hostile. They seem to have resorted to cannibalism and are thinking of you all as their next meal. Michael was nearly sick on reading their thoughts. I was afraid I was going to have to clean the floor of the bridge... Wait, he says, they are moving now. One of them has spotted the elevator shaft. I will teleport you all out if I detect any injury.*

From above you here an echoing series of BOOMs. After a moment chunks of concrete come raining down the elevator shaft.

,,

[SkyLion]

*Morgan, Lo, anyway one of you could open a quick warp and lend me some juice? If I had access to my abilities it could really make a difference here.*

Cody takes up position in a concealed shadow behind some of the concrete statues and takes aim toward the elevator shaft.

[Mr Fox]

Lorean's reply was short *I think it is too late for that, they are on the way down the shaft now. Two of them are floating down and should be at the bottom in under 30 seconds.*

[Joani]

Joani braced herself for the fight positioning herself on the other side staying behind the field. She was clearly visible for the intruders and hoped that her short distraction would buy the others enough time to land a solid attack.

[SkyLion]

*Heh. Floating huh? Their in for a rude surprise when they hit the field. Be ready...*

[Courier]

Steve waves his hands to signal (to Meri) that trouble is coming, and walks to his position. His eufiber shifts to match the stone men as he does so.

Steve intends to wait until Meri says it's on, then he'll open with throwing both his knives (split action) on which ever two are closest to him. Steve is hiding behind a statue.

[Ulric Reikspar]

Ulric gives Cody a thumbs-up and then hurries back out of the vault to his firing postion. He studies the various angles of attack, notes how Joani has put herself in Harm's Way once again and sighs quietly. He heffs up the rifle and aims.

[Andrew Murphy]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Morgan spoke comfortingly to his friend, "Relax and recover. Take your time, we've got the folks down on the planet covered, we can teleport them out if things get dangerous."

Andrew could feel the fuzz covering his brain. Fuzz covering it, red hot rage surrounding that, and then there were the physical issues, a pervading hunger that was preventing his body from recovering quantum, and the simple basic fact that even if he had the power he couldn't force his body to form anything more complex than a cube or a sphere.

*Morgan ... need to ... feed ... please ...* Andrew breifly considered the alternative, all Lorean would need to do is create a null field it would seem and he would be returned to his human self. But the cost is too great, my intellect, my stamina, the clones, the shapeshifting. It's too much a part of me. I could sooner remove my own brain than live that way. But, oh, it had felt so good. To have been free of it all, not even a drop of taint and real lungs and a beating heart again. It was like a miracle, like he had found the cure at last ...

[Omar]

Omar hefted a large desk with one hand, and a computer monitor with the other. "I hope I am behind the null field when you activate it. Otherwise, I might pull a muscle."

As he moves towards the rear of the room, he say to Meri. "When they enter the field, I will throw these at them" He tosses the monitor in the air and catches it again like it was a baseball. I will then charge and engage. It might be helpful to have it turned off at that time."

[SkyLion]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Lorean's reply was short *I think it is too late for that, they are on the way down the shaft now. Two of them are floating down and should be at the bottom in under 30 seconds.*

*More than enough time. It would take at most 3-6 seconds for Morgan to open a Warp and lend me a bit.*

((In a single 3 second turn, Morgan could open a warp and Cody could leech some juice. This way I could use disorient and dominate to help in this fight...2 abilities I have never been able to use "on screen."))

[Mr Fox]

*Morgan sends back, "We are kinda busy trying to save Andrew's life at the moment, he's in bad shape. Lorean is monitoring the situation and if anyone gets hurt we'll pull you out. That's the best we can do at the moment.*

[SalmonMax]

"With six coming, they'll send a few in first to test the situation," Meri decides. She reaches out to touch a statue, and a ripple seems to travel up her flesh and clothes, leaving cold hardened concrete in its wake. In seconds the transformation is complete, and she stands as she was before; an animate statue.

"Hide wherever you can. They'll probably smell us or have powers to see us, and signal the attack. When they all come rushing in, I'll trigger the field. If they're too careful, I'll play some conversation files at them."

[Mr Fox]

Less than a minute later two men came floating down into the empty elevator. One was large and yellowish in color and completely naked, with bulging muscles looking a lot like a small jaundiced version of Geryon. His partner looked as well groomed as it was possible to be given the dust and ash still in the air outside, he had grey hair combed back into a haircut an evangelist would be proud of and was wearing his Sunday best, with only small lights on around the room it must have been an eriee sight for the men to behold. Much like you experienced it when you first came down. The smaller man scanned the room and focused on Joani, and said in a voice that ought to belong to a creepy uncle to a small child, "I see you." Then he smiled and added, "Tell you little friends to come out of hiding, we just want to talk, and I don't really feel like playing hide and seek right now."

[Ulric Reikspar]

Ulric steps half way out of his cover, looking angry.

"Fine. This is your last chance. Turn away and leave this place and we will spare your lives. We really don't want to be executioners here. Don't make us be. Now, be gone, you monsters."

He is dominating in his command to these invaders, these cannibals. There is a tinge of sadness for these aberrated monsters. They probably have little choice, but for their sakes and Joani's he makes the ernest offer.

[z028 Riley]

Kyria stays hidden, crouched behind a statue somewhere near the elevator. Moving very slowly she is taking aim on the larger one, hoping for a shot to the legs to disable. She knew killing them might be necessary, and was more prepared for it than it seemed like Joani was, but she still abhorred the idea. The creepy voice and menacingly rehearsed sound of his 'offer' made her certain this wasn't going to end without violence, and probably deaths.

[SalmonMax]

Meredith stays still, playing statue, but her thumb is on the button to activate the nullifier. At the first sign of trouble, she pushes it. Otherwise she waits to see if more will come in.

[Courier]

Steve holds his breath and concentrates on remaining motionless, but after a moment he finds he has to breath and lets himself exhale.

With nothing to do but think and listen he slightly alters his plan. He'll hold back just a hair and see who the others target, then do his knife trick on whoever acts or is standing.

Steve eyes the gun lying out of sight at his feet under an old newspaper and wonders if he'll regret not using it as a first move. Two worlds, one century, and one lifetime ago he was really good at throwing darts in the local bar.

[Mr Fox]

The first two step out of the elevator slowly and the smaller man has his hands out in a 'I'm not a threat' manner. As soon as they step out, two more appear in the elevator. One man holding the others shoulder. The two new arrivals look like brothers, both ashy blond hair and almost identical leather trench coats. One of them has a shotgun in hand and the other is holding his right hand in an odd way. (Those with Intuition feel it triggering, violence is imminent. I will roll init once I get home and post it.)

[Courier]

Steve yells,

"MERI, NOW!"