Prepping for the Mission
9/19/2010
StarFyre's Characters:
Chavaranth: HP: 12; Attack 4; Magic: 0; Resist: 1; Evade: 3
Kallis: HP: 7; Attack 4 +3 Sword; Magic: 0; Resist: 0; Evade 4
Dray:
The holo-suite felt much like something out of some hopelessly cheerful old sci-fi series, even if the grisled figure presiding before the pair did not. The /Euphrates/ was a mercenary ship holding orbit over the arid world of Driolo, a few thousand kilometres away from Star City. On other days, she was one of the more successful pirate ships, having managed to dodge security forces with a playful kind of disparagement to all forms of law. It might seem strange, then, that the captain had been turned to supporting the retaking of the station.
Whatever the politics had been, Kallis and Chavaranth had been shown aboard the great ship along with other willing hands, and the hardened merc standing before them had been put to training them. He spoke with a gravely voice, pointing out the holo-suite's features, explaining the basics of the Hive to the bonded pair. Eggs and face huggers, full-grown drones and warriors... all of them feral and interested only in building the Hive.
With the basics down and the computer activated, Kallis and Chavranth were left standing in a dank, acrid smelling tunnel system. "When the melon-heads get through with a place, it usually winds up lookin' like this," the merc explained. He pointed up; a spotless brown Drone full fifteen feet tall was hanging, eying them, if it could be said to do so despite the lack of eyes. "Keep your blinkers peeled if you wanna live. Computer, let's have a basic fight with that drone up there."
StarFyre:
Chavaranth reared up on his hindlegs, wings fluttering to assist him in the pose, and took a swipe with his claws at the xeno who was clinging to the ceiling, attempting to knock the creature down where his bond could reach it. Kallis, reacting a bit slower to the prompting, drew his sword and darted past his bond, striking at the creature's paw as soon as it was within his range.
Dray:
Before the xenodragon could so much as leap down upon the pair, the great bronze's talons snagged within its carapace and ripped it from its perch, slamming it upon the ground. (6 damage!) With an ear-splitting shriek, part of its armor burst and set flying a sizzling spatter of acidic blood, some of which Kallis avoided just barely catching in the chest. "That'll sting y'good," the merc added, unnecessarily, too: where it landed, a bubbling holographic hole was being eaten into the ground.
The drone, completely ignorant of Kallis' attempt to stab it, whipped a tail about and slashed Chavaranth across his leg. The brightness of the suite blinked several times and, marked up on a display above the suite's doors, a tally began. Chavaranth had taken five points damage. "Whew, that'll hurt ya!" the merc warned, jacking his thumb at the board. "Couple more like that and you'd be limping home! Pay more attention, it's pointy all over!"
StarFyre:
::I noticed,:: Chava grouched to the merc as he decided against trying to bite the thing and instead went for another claw-blow at a nearby piece of its carapace. Kallis, trying to be a bit more wary of the thing's stupid acidic blood, took a slice at the creature's tail as it went by.
Dray:
His wariness seemed to make him overly cautious, as the creature pulled away before Chavaranth could dig into its carapace... however, it didn't notice Kallis' blade behind him, and in a moment, what was meant to be a tail slash wound up biting deep into the creature's neck. The creature, stunned, fell flat. Kallis would only need to twist his blade a little deeper to end its life.
StarFyre:
Kallis didn't spare the creature for more than a moment before driving his blade deeper and ending its life. He wrenched his sword free and backed away as soon as he was sure it was dead.
Dray:
The merc clapped his gloved hands together as the image of the drone disintegrated, and tossed his thumb over his shoulder at the board again: Kallis and Chavaranth had knocked together one and a half points each. "You up for a bigger challenge?" he asked, several of his gold teeth gleaming as he grinned.
StarFyre:
Chavaranth eyed the merc warily, then snorted, ::Why do I feel you'll give us one whether we say yes or not?:: Kallis shook off his sword and added, "What he means is, 'yes please sir'." He ignores Chava's annoyed look, but a small, amused smile twitches at the corner of his lips.
Dray:
At that, the merc houghed a not quite polite laugh, and barked some orders to the Euphrates' computer. And here they came, sure enough: two migdnight black hides, a sure sign of dangerous Warriors. One could be told from the other only by the scars slashed across a ridged dome, whereas the other's was smooth... luckily, their movements made them clear enough targets, such that Chavaranth, with his odd eyes, was easily able to decide who to land the first blow upon.
StarFyre:
Chava made up his mind quickly. To him, scars signified the more dangerous of the pair, and it was the scarred one that he aimed at as he drew breath and breathed fire. Kallis, having been warned of what Chava was planning, kept well out of the way of the fire stream and aimed his strike at the unscarred one.
Dray:
Chavaranth's estimation seemed quite accurate: the scarred creature seemed to glide out of the path of fire even as the Pernese creature drew breath to sear it. Its companion, not so lucky, immediately splashed acid down as Kallis made a precise strike across its unfolded pinions.
These two seemed less interested in holding back than did the drone: the scarred Warrior lunged at Chavaranth and fastened its outer jaws upon the Bronze's wing-shoulder, causing the room to flash briefly. (4 damage for Chava!) The second, infuriated and painfully dragging its useless wings, brought a huge clawed paw upon Kallis, knocking him from his feet and leaving his ears ringing -- it didn't /hurt/ so much as it startled! (6 damage!) "Use that pack!" the merc intoned, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully as he watched the proceedings.
StarFyre:
Chava roared in anger and whipped his head around to flame at the scarred Warrior's body, trying to get the creature to let go of him. Kallis scrambled back to his feet and retreated back to the un-xeno-bitten side of Chava, using the medpack as he went.
Dray:
This time, the flame couldn't possibly miss with the scarred Warrior's proximity. Taking a face full of the stuff, the black creature recoiled back and thrashed, the forward portion of its face melting gruesomely. It thrashed blindly, landing a hit upon Chavaranth's nose (natural 20 :D) through pure luck, sending the Pernese dragon's vision spinning. (7 damage!)
Kallis, skilled already with the basic tenants of field medication, found the technologically advanced kit easy to understand in principal. Going through the motions as he had been trained, he noted with one eye on the score board that his points had been rolled back -- he was in fact better than he'd started. (-10 damage; he's at 11 now!) "No actual adrenaline in that pack, but you'll be thankful for it when it's the real thing," was the merc's sage advice. The smooth-domed warrior was taken with Chavaranth's display and had chosen to disregard Kallis for the more showy opponent. With a silent leap, it sailed at the Bronze and landed a blow upon the dragon's side, causing the entire room to flash red. "That's a KO, big fella!" the merc intoned, voice maliciously cheerful. "You're out! You two need ta learn t'handle yerselves better if you actually want to go out and hunt!"
StarFyre:
Kallis growled and lunged at the unscarred xeno that he had previously wounded, furious that he hadn't been capable enough to keep the second completely off Chava.
Dray:
That said, the human managed to plunge his blade straight through the creature's exposed breast, and even if it was a comparatively small gesture, it hit its mark. The Warrior collapsed, and though it might not have been at the forefront, Kallis' score pinged upwards a full five points. The scarred Warrior, snarling, batted at Kallis but only managed to send him tumbling. (5 damage)
StarFyre:
Kallis pulled himself back to his feet again and went for the burn-marks that Chava had left on the creature, sword poised to strike.
Dray:
Alas! Kallis' blade swept clear of the creature, bouncing off as it jerked almost randomly about. A moment later, it lunged forward, as if not quite sure of the little human's location. Despite its speed, Kallis managed by quite a feat of acrobatics to roll out of the way, back to his feet. "Not bad!" the merc called, genuinely surprised.
StarFyre:
Chava, watching from his seat on the floor grouched, ::Can I stop pretending to be dead yet?:: Kallis, ignoring Chava's whining, came at the scarred xeno again from the side, attempting to strike a quick, fatal blow.
Dray:
The side-swipe seemed to be more than enough to make the xenodragon topple: slowed by its blindness, it was not able quite to keep up to Kallis, not until the blade pierced between its rib cage and it collapsed upon the ground. As if to compound Chavaranth's mulish mindset, Kallis' tally grew by another five points. "You want a taste of the little buggers?" the merc asked prosaically, gesturing with his head to the Pernese that he could rejoin the battle.
StarFyre:
Kallis shot a grin at Chava, then responded, "Sure! Let's see what these little things can do." Chava growled and took a swipe at his bond, ::Just watch, you'll die this time and I'll get all the glory.::
Dray:
With a chuckle from the merc, as well as an order, it seemed that the next round was to begin... however, nothing seemed to present itself the way that the previous three had. Only a sense of impending attack seemed to make the two wary. A slithering here, a scurrying there -- it seemed as though the walls had come alive!
Only when something had sprung quite literally from the wall and sailed past Chavaranth's face did they realize that their adversaries were quite smaller, this time around. A single facehugger had made an attempt at a surprise attack, but fortunately had failed. "These'll do ye REAL ugly!" the merc intoned, tapping his fingers together. He seemed to imply that there was more than one, but the first, scurrying as if to find another hiding spot, was all that the two could spot.
StarFyre:
Chava, eager to dispose of this little scurrying thing, took a swipe at it with his claws. Kallis, however, raised his sword into a guard position and took a balanced stance, ready to strike if one tried to leap at his face the way the other one had attempted to do with Chava.
Dray:
Chavaranth made little work of the creature, stabbing it with his claws and ending its life in one blow. A point for him and for his bond both went up on the score board. Kallis' alertness was all that saved him, then, as the second creature flew from the shadows and missed him, though its claws scratched his extended arms as it died upon his blade. (2 damage for Kallis!) Each of their points climbed by one, once more.
StarFyre:
Chava mantled his wings and looked about, trying to spot any more of the scurrying little things that might come at him... deciding that things were a bit too dark for his liking, he gathered his breath and swept a stream of fire across several shadows that he thought might hold something. Kallis rolled his eyes at Chava's decision, shook the facehugger off his blade and resumed his defensive stance, alert for more.
Dray:
The flames didn't manage to incinerate anything, however, their light startled several snake-like figures into darting out into the open. Three burstlings, in various shades of brown and black, scurried into the open, squealing rapaciously for a better hiding place. Kallis, ((rolling a natural 20 -- I mean --)) noting their movements almost immediately, gathered two upon his blade in a skewering of flailing snakey limbs. Both ceased their struggles almost immediately, as their points were tallied up; half for each of the fighters.
StarFyre:
Chava struck at the burstling that Kallis hadn't managed to skewer, grumbling under his mental breath about showoffs and bonds that should leave some killing to their bigger, better half. Kallis once more shook the creatures off his blade and resumed his defensive stance, figuring that he'd done well enough in this situation like this so far.
Dray:
And that seemed to do it: Chavaranth squished the last of the burstlings, the last half a point being split between the two of them... it was too bad that the Bronze's tally was trailing so far behind his smaller, weaker half's! "Well now," the merc clapped to gain their attention. "You're looking fit as whistles to me. The next battles won't be so friendly, but y'seem to've got the point!"
StarFyre: Kallis lowered his sword and grinned slightly, "Less friendly than two Warriors?" Chava ha-ruuumph deep in his throat and decided to ignore the point totals.