View Topic

"We can't leave. Protocol demands we found out what happened here... Stay calm, and don't let anything get near this ship, organic or non-organic.

Alexsandr had a bad feeling about this situation... Most ominous.

"We should head to the control center of this station... We may find information in the logs recorded there. There must of been security cameras of what happened here."

Alexsandr looked around the hanger. He noticed another shuttle, presumably for transport from the station to the planet below, which was broken. 3 bodies littered the ramp to the shuttle. Perhaps they were trying to escape whatever hunted them.

"Prepare your weapons. Who knows what'll we find here" said Alexsandr as he moved towards the corrider leading from the station.

"Fuck protocol! It's gonna get us all killed! You're not a military crew, for god's sake! We're an exploration unit, up against people with much better weaponry than the toys we have here, given HKR's description!"

Hendrik was displaying exactly the type of attitude that had driven his superiors up a wall sometimes. When something didn't make sense to him, he would make sure his CO knew it, no matter how far he was out-ranked.

"We're walking in blind into what could be a fucking warzone. We have a lot more military personnel on the ship. If we have to investigate here, I say we head back and bring a lot more guys with us. We don't even know whether we're being watched, for fuck's sake. The moment you guys leave, this shuttle would become a prime target for whoever gunned down these people."

Zerick couldn't take listening to them anymore and connected his console to the comm link.

"Listen here, arguing like this isn't helping things. Here are the facts: they're expertly trained and have better guns, they've sent our a false SOS, and there's nobody in sight that's alive. This has trap written all over it. Captain, taking the main route, or any route for that matter, to the control center could be suicide. Let me get the schematics for the station, and I'll see if there's another way there."

"And what happens to our shuttle while everyone else is strolling through the halls? Let's be realistic here, one pilot and one doctor will be no match for the type of weaponry we're seeing here."

"I recall Gunther saying he's not feeling well enough for the front lines. I'd stake him at the shuttle since his machine gun can lay down some heavy suppression fire long enough for everyone else to return and flank the enemy. Captain?"

"The schematics for this place would be nice... We will need some defense on the shuttle. And get us some reinforcements here!"

Alexsandr turned to Hendrik.

"Calm down man. Panicking won't help us in this situation... Whoever took out this station seemed to do it by surprise. .. And perhaps that emergency broadcast was automated. It doesn't look like this place has been inhabited for a while. I believe we will make it through."

Just then a security droid appeared from the hallway, repeating EXTERMINATE INTRUDERS. It then began aiming its weapon and fired indiscriminately.

Hendrik began scrambling for cover the moment a well-armed droid appeared, and had barely been able to find some behind a thick metal crate when the droid's rounds began flying past him.

"Calm down, huh? I'd say our "surprise" just showed up."

Hendrik wasn't fond of the idea, but all things considered, it seemed like the best solution, so he quickly peaked behind cover and threw an EMP grenade at the droid. As he did so, he took a round to his right shoulder.

"Godamn it!"

The droid was stunned for a few seconds. Alexsandr attempted to shoot as the droid's weakest point, since the droid was Acarian Military Grade, which was a small circuitboard. After 5 shots missed, he shot once more and the circuitboard got uncovered. However, it turned back on and began rapid firing again as he got into cover.

Hendrik took out his bag of grenades, slowed down because of his arm, and saw he had just one more EMP grenade.

He decided it would be a stupid idea to peak behind cover again. But he went ahead and did it anyway. He saw that the captain had sparked the droid's ire temporarily. So he decided to signal Anderson and Gunther so he could throw it to them, and they, in turn, might throw it at the droid. He would be able to throw it to them without moving from cover.

Acarian military droids. No wonder the massacre was familiar. It had taken cover and slipped from crate to crate till it was behind the robot. It had seen the pilot take a round in the shoulder.  If Hendrik was not careful, he would bleed out soon. It also saw what he was planning. If he tried it while that droid was facing him then the crew would be down a pilot. Unacceptable loss. It looked around, grabbing a spanner laying on the floor. It shoot up, threw the spanner at the droid and exclaimed " Hey Acarian junk droid! " the spanner bounced off the droid harmlessly, but it turned around to face it, away from the other crew members. It was happy only for a second before it took a round to the face. It guessed the droid took exception to its remark....

The Droid started walking towards HKR while firing his gun rapidly.

"ALL DISOBEDIENT DROIDS MUST GO TO DROID MAINTENANCE"

Gunther was pumping with adrenaline -- this was the closest he had ever been to real combat, and he strangely had the urge to prove himself. He saw the injured Hendrik signaling to him with the EMP grenade, but he also saw the droid turn and shoot HKR in the face, so he took the opening and aimed at the droid from around his cover.

He yelled "AAAAHH" and squeezed the trigger of his machine gun. He got about a dozen rounds off toward the droid before the recoil caused him to fall backwards and fire a few more rounds into the ceiling -- he was still weak from the stasis, but he was also not expecting the strong recoil. He landed with a loud "OOF", knocking the wind out of him.

The droid turned towards Gunther, but slowly broke down due to a bullet hitting its circuit board. It then exploded.

"That was close. We must get out of here. It's not safe."

Just then, the hanger doors started closing.

"Well, shit. I think we'll have to go to the command center of this station. I think we should stay together if any more of these robots show up..."

HKR checked its face. Cosmetic damage only, no permanent failures. It then went to Hendrik, applying pressure to his wound. " Hendrik Wolfskemer, your wounds, if untreated, can be fatal. The doctor should attend to you. To facilitate unit integrity, your survival is paramount. "

"You don't say."

The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and with it, the pain suddenly struck Hendrik full force. He expected this. This was not the first time he'd been shot.

"Did we bring any proper weaponry, like a LMG, aboard the shuttle? If so, help us set it up, and then get to that command center immediately. The doctor can do something about my shoulder. Just move your asses.

"And Gunther, for fuck's sake, when facing a droid, disable it before firing upon it. You're lucky one of your rounds killed it. If it hadn't, you'd be looking a lot worse than me right now."