Futuristic The Deep Dark: A Space-Age, Galactic Freeroam RP

[Quarantinetimer]

0% charge, read the X-7's capacitor. Slotting another one into the magazine well , Crix heard an ominous roar. "Engines! They are getting away!" He lifted his head just in time to witness an Anchora class troop transport departing. Apparently, an officer has managed to lodge a EMP grenade into the outboard engine, as his weapon switched into safe mode momentarily to protect its electronic firing mechanism. The well-shielded transport shrugged the effects off in a similar way, steering sharply to negate the temporary loss of thrust balance. Then it was gone. Perhaps forever.


I won't let that happen, the agent was convinced that they would be captured. "Entry team to Haven JROC, suspects escaping in spacecraft. Code Lima-6, hostage situation with violent propensity."


"Copy. We have your 20. Interceptors dispatch...*Static* What in the name of the Galaxy is that?! Uh, All units receiving on Haven Arc-Net, Code Z-C1. Assume...*KRRRRSSSSSHZZZZZTTHZZZZZ...beep*".


Just when Crix was starting to wonder why the connection died, the grenades thrown by the cyborg were already flying towards them. This time however, the team was ready for it, and none of them were seriously injured, although the shield bearer did receive a laceration on his forearm. EMP grenades were thrown in return, in hopes of disabling the cyborg's parts.


"So, I'm not too familiar with Haven's codes." Crix asked the injured shield bearer, firing a few shots over. "What does code Z-C1 mean exactly?"


"Devor attack, sir. A major one. We're screwed." he answered apprehensively.


The agent's face darkened like a storm cloud. "No, we're really screwed."

 

[LeviathanL]

Fasir skulked around the corridors, intent on evading the firefight. He had no intention of getting caught up in any of that mess. Now if only he could find a window, he'd have a line of sight and be able to phase out of here. Ah, a trapdoor to the roof, perfect. He stealthily made his way to the upper levels. Though it was mostly luck he didn't encounter anyone as far as he saw.


Gliding over the bridge meant being in the line of sight of any hostiles on it or below it, as he couldn't crouch in his suit. But he didn't have much choice.


Seemingly making it, he phased over to the door and opened it.


He stopped. There was something prickling in the back of his neck. A feeling he hadn't felt for a very long time.


"No." he said as he looked up to the sky in horror.


"They're here."

 

[AlphaDraco]

The young human in charge held him hostage, though the term hostage was not necessarily accurate since he was full and willing to let it happen. From what Taz was seeing, sticking around in his warehouse any longer would lead to many a complicated issues, and the pirates apparently had a shuttle.


The shuttle itself was nothing special. Pretty standard fare for a high value pirate, yet it still had a bit of Red Queen flare to it. He would feel bad for what was about to happen if it the owners of the shuttle didn't loot and plunder various vessels in the void between stars. As it was now, they were getting what was coming to them.


Knowing the timing was right, Taz stood from his seat. Every single echlan pointed their gun at him as they had been told to do by their mistress. Still, he would be out of their not-hair very quickly. Facing his captors, he raised his hand.


"Thank you for the ride, it was most enjoyable, but I have to go now. Give your boss my condolences on the loss of her shuttle."


A laser blast rocked the shuttle as the wall behind Taz ruptured from laser fire. The sudden depressurization sucked the Rooktan out and put him into a freefall. Angling his body, he dove down and towards the direction of the laser shots. Within a second, Taz grabbed onto a quickly moving black blur. With controlled burst and slow deceleration, the fall became a much more leisurely drone ride down to the planet.


"You know, that was incredibly ill-advised and quite dangerous" Zenx asserted. "Ah, just like old times. Still, the Devor threat caused me to land the mining vessel in one of the space ports near the outer edge of the colony, and judging by the rapidly growing forest we are headed to, that is going to be quite a bit of a hike for the two of us."


"Yes, yes I know." Taz solemnly said as he watched his acquaintances' damaged shuttle declining towards the forest below, smoke trailing from where he had made his escape. He had, at least, inadvertently saved their lives for the time being. The Devor would have shot them down with much more intent to kill. As it was, he had quite a ways to go to get back to his ship. Hopefully the colony had the defenses to repel the Devor, even if Taz knew it was not true.

 

[Cry U 945]

Solar system reached, slowing down to half of light speed.

Target locked: Planet 453990, indigenous label: Haven.


Sensors indicate no detection by indigenous species, proceed with scan of exo-planetary constructs.


Scan complete: Technological development has increased since last scan. Capability for resistance: unchanged.


Sabotage of interstellar communication... success.


Destruction of vessels capable of interstellar flight... in progress.


Request for individuality send... Granted.


Field-commander Emissary is cleared for deployment, limited autonomy granted.


Proceed with Galactic Consumption.


The warnings were sent to everyone as fast as possible, as soon as they knew, but by then it was too late. The Devorantem were here, and nothing could stop them. Their chitinous, organic ships filled the sky as they deployed to the streets, opening fire immediately upon citizens running to the local town hall for sanctuary. The law enforcement fought with vigor, but were pushed aside by numbers and even greater ferocity.


Insectile humanoids with blades for their right arms and identical ones with bio-plasma blasters in the same place made up the majority of the invading force, dubbed Grunts and Troopers respectively.


Rippers, quick shock troopers with razor-edged claws rushed forwards, shredding their prey.


Tanks, though few in number, rumbled forwards steadily on four spider-like legs, heavy chitin armor protecting them while the tore apart innocents with massive, crustacean-esque claws.


A large squad of about a dozen Grunts and Troopers stormed the interior of a strikingly familiar warehouse.


The Devorantem were here, capable of consuming this entire world's life.


And they were hungry.

Setting the Scene

The Devor are attacking. The streets run with blood and chaos reigns. The nearest spaceport is approximately ten miles away, while the local town hall and embassy is about half that distance. The warehouse is under attack, as well as most other buildings containing groups of people. The two options you have are to flee straight to the spaceport, or attempt to reach the local embassy and hold out with whomever is still alive.

Current Objective

Survive.

 

[whitefoxkiller]

(warning - slightly graphic but not too bad)


Vinnie’s little moment of peace and success was short lived. As she moved her eyes between the tracking screen and the window to look up and see a swarm encroach upon them, she heard a commotion in the back. She told the pilot to land as soon as possible and she went in the back to see what was going on just in time to see the Rooktan blow a hole in the side of the shuttle and slip out of it. The sudden depressurization had thrown the shuttle and contents into total disarray. The whole space was shaken up with strong winds as Vinnie and the rest of the Echan did her utmost to not get pulled out in the initial normalization and to get to a seat and buckle in. Vinnie was successful in this but two of the Echan got pulled out screaming. The pilot in the front screamed something to the back about a crash landing and being surrounded as the shuttle started to receive fire from the incoming swarm. From out of the whole the Rooktan blew Vinnie could start to see the kind of ships that had arrived. This was a Devor attack. Her panic as multiplied several times over, But she tried to affirm to herself that the was the Red Princess herself (she actually always hated that nickname), and that she could survive any attack. The Shuttle came barreling through the trees at an uncontrollable speed, which soon decelerated quickly. It was a very very rough landing as they snapped and broke trees on their way down, causing a large streak in the indigenous forest. Soon, however, the shuttle came to a reluctant and interim halt, threatening to either crush more trees and sink lower into the forest, or blow up due to debris in the afterburners or damage to the engine by the Devor. Either way, Vinnie and the Echan bolted out of their seats and rushed to the hole to climb out. As she ushered her loyal friends out of the shuttle she turned to the pilot to urge him to get out, but found a titan tree had smashed through the glass of the cockpit. It appeared as though one of the large shards of glass fell down onto the pilot’s head and, entering through his eyes, had cut through his face. It was gruesome and Vinnie was horrified but she couldn’t look away. One of the Echan pulled her away from him and practically pushed her out of the exit. She landed on the ground, a good 6 or 7 meters down, with a painful thump.


She saw a group of nine Echan around one echan who apparently had broken his leg on the jump down, but it wasn’t a clean break. His shin had shattered and was jutting out in bloody splinters. He was begging them not to leave him behind. F-1 turned to Vinnie and said “Should we bring him with us M’am?” He asked calmly, as if he wasn’t affected by the shit storm arround him. Vinnie slowly shook her head in horror. F-1 shot the echan in the head right between the eyes and then F-1, his voice somehow changed now, said “The spaceport is that way,” pointing in a seemingly random direction. Vinnie trusted him though, as she knew the echan has an amazing sense of direction. Then they were off quickly, knowing the crashed ship would soon draw attention from the Devor who were currently preoccupied with the city they were headed right for.


As Vinnie and the echan ran, however, they drew more attention and a couple of small ships started flying right overhead and laying spreads of fire on them, and they got a few echan. Two. But Vinnie and the rest never looked back at any fallen comrades, just kept running. Soon they came to a government building. It was chaos, People ran in random directions and the Devor were on the ground here, pursuing and killing anyone they saw. Screaming and energy weapons discharge and the smell of charred bodies filled the air. The ground was littered with bodies and the area was way too exposed. They’d never get through the whole area but they might make it to the government building. Vinnie, knowing she’d be unable to cut through the noise, simply pointed at the building and sprinted towards it. The echan followed dutifully, and she reached the doors. As soon as she saw her whole procession in, she closed the door and found something to barricade it with. Without calming down yet, all the echan started helping her, finding items to barricade it with until they ran out of items. After that they all took breath and looked around. There were only 4 echan left, including F-1. The building they were in was not all open but filled with smaller rooms. It was a run-down gloomy looking building and the echan and Vinnie seemed to be in a main hall of sorts, with offices and meeting rooms and other hallways coating the walls.

 

[Yesman]

Everything happened so quick. One moment, Jarod was firing Scorch at OIGA while diving between cover. The next moment involved bladed limbs, screaming, and bugs, lots of bugs. Jarod had barely had enough time to block a Ripper with his hard light blade and blasting its head off with Cannon before he was assaulted be another. All the while, Troopers fired their plasma blasters, leaving scorch marks on everything they hit. For every Ripper killed, ten took its place. For every ten Grunts or Troopers blown up, a hundred took its place.


Jared grabbed the Grunt that had pounced on him and flung the devor over his shoulder. The gunshot that ended it was drowned out by the other firearms shooting hard light, metal, and plasma every which way. The next Grunt was met with a the hilt of the cyborg's sword, sending its head into a plasma bolt.


"We need to get out of here," he shouted to nobody in particular. He ducked several projectiles. The warehouse was most likely surrounded by these bugs outside so to where now? The mercenary turned his attention to the catwalks. These bugs didn't look like they could fly so...


Several smoke bombs were rolled along the floor and promptly shot, once again obscuring the view of all those within the warehouse. Jared imitated his earlier action and jumped up onto the catwalks. He climbed up onto the roof just in time to see several Grunts climbing up. Holographic reticles appeared in his vision as his robotic eye and arms worked in perfect unison, aiming Scorch and placing an electric bolt straight into the climbing Devors' heads. He turned around, surveying his surroundings, the Red Princess' shuttle went down over the forest, more Devors were climbing to the roof, and something giant, crablike monsters crawled menacingly towards the warehouse. Jared knew he had to run right away. Jumping down from the roof, the mercenary grabbed a climbing Grunt and used it to soften his landing. His AI then began mapping a path through the woods to the nearest large void portal (he had one in his arm but its portal size was limited). He had barely started running when he heard the stomping and screaming of pursuing Reapers. He let out a sigh, this was going to be a long run.

 

[LeviathanL]

Fasir was checking his bracer-unit for information when one of the mercenaries ran right past him. Hmm. The database suggested this 'Silver Rose' was quite infamous, and more than capable. He could be of use, and frankly, Fasir wasn't going to solve anything by standing around and tracking planetary communications. Loath as he was to admit it, to survive this he needed assistance.


Fasir dissipated into thin air, to reappear right in front of Jared's nose.


@Yesman


I observed the puddle of melted goo before me with great interest.


"Log:human melting point remains inconsistent, in accordance with findings on previous field excursions. So far no common precedent has presented itself."


Telepathically ordering a grunt to preserve the organic matter for later structural analysis. I continued on my way to the prioritized objective.


Ah, it was refreshing being an 'I' again, even with limited autonomy, it always made this unit see the world with a new eye. That is not to say the hivemind is wanting, far from it. But lowering once mental capacity to an individual level has proven to aid this unit in understanding the behavior of indigenous species. As such it became an entity of strategic value, and was given the name Emissary to reflect this. This unit is me, but it was still part of the we. I once tried to explain it to a captured native of the homo sapiens variety as part of the assessment of their psychological profile. Disappointingly, it did not appear to have the mental capacity to grasp the concept. Its spine, however, turned out to be a wellspring of information.


Here I go reminiscing useless information, truly one of the downsides of personality, so unfocused. Nevertheless the objective was in sight, an institutional structure attached to the planet's transportation network. If there were any space-faring vehicles on the planet that were not stationed at the already-destroyed ports, this building would have records of them. I mentally gave the order to the lesser devor. Obtain the data, consume the rest.


@whitefoxkiller

 

[Quarantinetimer]

Before the results of the EMP grenades could even be observed, an new threat has presented itself: an entire platoon of insectoids were attempting to assault their way through a newly created bug-shaped hole in the wall. They are that friggin' quick? Crix barely had the time to contemplate on their speedy deployment before having to duck from a plasma bolt aimed squarely at his face. A smell of burning emanated from the melting metal crates. Am I really that ugly?! Crix was very infuriated after 18624 projectiles were apparently unsatisfied with his appearance.


"Disengage!" Crix ordered the team while drawing his sidearm. His X-7 has just run of charge again, and he had used all his capacitors. "We'll get slaughtered one by one if we stay here. They have enough to squash us to death!"


As the team began its retreat, a smoke cloud once again engulfed them. This time, however, was a godsend. It did not blind them, as they have already reached the access corridor, but instead prevented the Devor troops from pursuing them, allowing the team to make it back to their tactical hover-cruiser. ALIVE. The sky was so chock full of enemy ship that the local star was blotted out. Good thing that requisitions had the foresight to outfit it with Ash Enterprises' HDMR armor. Crix was relieved that it hadn't become a burning wreck while they were mucking about in the warehouse.


Just as they were loading up, a burst of radio traffic reached their ears. Devor destruction of communication infrastructure, combined with poor maintenance, had finally taken down the supposedly highly resistant network, allowing civilian device traffic to flow unrestricted through its originally restricted frequencies. Cries of despair and sounds of desperate last stands flooded the officers.


"De-clutter." Crix commanded the radio equipment to filter-out the messages. There is nothing we can do for them now. Crix understood. The last thing I need in a situation like this is for my men to get demoralized.


The erratic radio traffic did remember him one thing however. If alliance command knows even an inkling of this, the sector's quick response fleet is going to be arriving at any moment. But he wasn't willing to bet that the Devor hadn't crippled communications in a way that no one would know something's wrong.


At last managing to climb into the commander's seat, Agent Crix told the driver, who was incidentally also the shield-bearer, to drive them towards the spaceport.


"Avoid the main roads and for the alliance's sake don't go near any large public spaces." The driver responded with a grunt and pressed his foot on the accelerator immediately, almost too glad to be away from the mess.


As Crix seized a few fresh capacitors for his now-depleted X-7, he knew that they were still miles away from resolving their awkward predicament.

 

[Yesman]

Jared gave a shout out of surprise when a man in a metal suit suddenly appeared in front of him. He skidded to a stop and one of his arms instinctively shot up, pointing a revolver at the metallic helmet. His finger was already pulling the trigger when he realized that his target was not a Devor. The robotic wrist flicked to the side, sending the shot pass the man's head. The entire process took less than a second.


The mercenary panted as he looked around, checking for any nearby Devors, before turning his attention to Fasir. "Who- wha- how?" he stuttered before he stopped to take a breath. "Wait. You, you're the guy from the warehouse, right? The queen's customer. Well, I don't know why you're still here. We've kina got a bug infestation problem going on here, and not a kind that we can take care of with a bottle of bug spray. Unless you're looking for a refund for those crystals you bought in which case, I'm still not the one to talk to." The cyborg pointed to the smoke trail left by the Red Princess's downed ship. "You're supplier left a while ago, though whatever brought her down, brought her down hard." He stopped again to check for any nearby Devors. He didn't like how quiet it was. "The nearest void portal generator is in the same general direction of the crash. If you want to come along, you're very welcome to."