Igni Irae
Gear: Equipment: Armour, Hold-out Bolter,
A heavy blast door stood in the way of access to the shield generator - or one of the main generators, at any rate. Some slicing on Natalie's part took care of that problem while her squadmates covered her. As the door hissed open, the team lobbed in flashbangs. Bang. A blinding flash of light filled the room, and the team stormed in, firing at temporarily disorientated guards. Sirens howled loudly. Elpsis' shotgun blazed and a guard went down, another one got two slugs to the chest from Natalie's revolvers before he could get a shot off. Her hands had moved in a blur which seemed almost Force enhanced to eyes, but the Natalie was blind to the Force.
Another guard dashed for cover behind a table, and let loose with a salvoe of blaster fire. Elpsis' Gauntlet caught blaster bolts, and Nyssa gripped his head with her mind and slammed it into a computer. Blood splattered all over the monitor. Suddenly, turrets sprouted from the ceiling, letting loose a hailstorm. The team scattered, looking for cover from the fussilade. Diona gripped one turret with a telekinetic grip, yanking it so that its salvoes went in the other direction. Bolts of lightning shrieked from Rhea's hands to destroy it. Shikoba manifested a magnetic field around the other turret it to distort and disable its firing mechanisms.
Mre projectiles and bolts were exchanged, the team moved to methodically clear the room. "We're so good at this together. You're going to realise that some day," Nyssa called out to Elpsis, her cybernetic fist slick with the blood of the wicked. Or whoever had the misfortune of working for evil cultists to pay the bills.
Elpsis felt exasperated. "Nyssa, no offence. Your voice is hot, you've got great muscles and you're good with a sabre. Those are qualities I greatly admire. But you and me together would be like a four alarm fire in a Rhydonium refinery."
"Sounds cozy for a fire girl," Nyssa countered, putting her aforementioned sabre to good use. Technicians went down alongside the guards, mowed down in the crossfire. And then there was silence. "Rancor, Maalraas," Elpsis called out. "Set the charges. Rest of you, cover them."
While the human and the Rattataki set to work, the team assumed defensive positions. The appearance of several cultists was not long in coming. Projectiles raked through the attackers. The corridor was an ideal kill zone, but there were many of them, willing to charge over the bodies of dead comrades. With her Force energies feeling very drained, Elpsis relied on her shotgun. It was ideal for close quarter battle, tearing through attackers with its white-hot cartridges. Blood splattered across the floor and walls of the corridor. Shikoba had taken cover in the rear, haunting and confusing the minds of attackers with apparitions of the Nether so that they would become distracted, shoot wildly or flee.
Diona's face was set with an expression of grim determination as she squeezed the trigger of her bolter, pumping foes with explosive microgrenades. Each of the explosive rounds would shred targets, if not killing them it would tear limbs and leave them in pieces. The weapon barked out in rapid succession, one, two, three bolts rippled through the air.
When the magazine clicked shut, she hurled the weapon at an attacker to buy herself time to draw her blade and sliced his arm off before cutting him down. But their defensive position was being breached. A cultist aimed a gun at Elpsis and a sonic wave burst forth. Her mind exploded in an eruption of hard sound and she fell against the wall hard. Blood seeped from Elpsis' eardrums and her head hurt like it had been hit by a migraine. Luckily, his arm turned limp when Diona willed the Force to paralyse him, and crushed his throat before he could shoot the disorientated, defenceless Lieutenant. "Rancor, status?" Elpsis yelled, throat burning. There was no reply.
Nyssa snapped an opponent's neck before hurling the body back at his comrades. But the marauders took heart as a dark presence was felt among them. Elpsis, still reeling from being shot, felt a spark of premonition. "Danger! Above you!" Suddenly the metal beam on the ceiling came loose and descended upon them. Diona held it aloft with her powers, but buckled under the strain. Elpsis joined what was left of her powers, but the ex-Jedi took a blaster bolt. More parts of the corridor's walls were hurled at them, along with grenades. Explode on impact grenades, to be precise.
Telekinetic deflection caused premature detonation. An improvised barrier wrapped around the team to give it some protection. Diona took the brunt of the blast, pouring as much of her power into the barrier as possible to shield her comrades. Shrapnel, metal and rubble bounced off it. She staggered, bloodied and tired. A cloud of smoke filled the corridor, clogging the air. The ex-Jedi had shielded her from the rubble and much of the shrapnel, but Shikoba was disorientated, her sensitive pointed ears ringing painfully from the explosion.
Nyssa still stood, defiant to the last, and clove through attacking marauders with her blade, howling a Sith war cry that sent an enemy flying as if hit by a concussive wave. Spinning, she furiously blocked a blow, cut a foe's arm with a brutal slash and thrust her blade through his neck. But then an attacker smashed a large mace into her shoulder. That was too much even for the Pureblood, though she would be loath to admit it, and her organic arm turned limp, bone crushed by the shattering impact. The pain was too much. Quickly Shikoba, having regained her bearings, shot him with her bowcaster. The weapon hit the cultist at close range and he hurled backward.
Elpsis' ears were ringing from the blast and the shrapnel filled her with searing pain. She perceived a masked warrior charging through the smoke, his speed greatly amplified by the Force. He swung his lightsabre in a furious downward cut, aiming for Diona. But she interposed herself between him and the wounded ex-Jedi, raising her shotgun to block his stroke. His lightsabre carved through the weapon, sizzling with crimson energy. His telekinetic willpower sent half of the broken gun flying towards her like an improvised projectile. It hit her leg hard enough to make her stumble on a pool of blood, and he delivered a thunderous, Force-augmented kick to the ribs. Elpsis spat blood, wheezing.
But when he swung his lightsabre, she suddenly raised her cybernetic arm and grabbed ahold of the blade. Blazing heat surged through her arm. A finger was hacked off, then another followed it. But she held on. She yanked his blade downward and her forceful grip made her foe lose his balance. There was too much heat for her arm to contain, and so it exploded outward. And so she poured all the heat into his arm, burning it.
The Ren cried out in fury and anguish. His sabre fell to the floor, but he drew a concealed, poisoned dagger. The small blade found purchase between the protection of her armour and the lower right of her abdomen. It was a sudden burn, causing her to stagger, and blood oozed down the curve of her hip and thigh. Then her red-hot cybernetic hand seized his wrist. There was a crack when it broke. Smoke coiled from his scorched gauntlet. Inferno ignited when she thrust the tip into his stomach.
"Done!" Natalie called out.
"Charges set?" Elpsis asked, short of breath and tired. Her organic hand pressed against her wound. The fingers were slick with blood, still tainted from the spear of darkness.
"Did you one better. Gonna trigger an overload. May cause a ripple effect." If they were lucky. She added, 'you guys look like crap."
"Partuz, help Mynock. Let's roll," Elpsis ordered, wheezing. She frowned, looking at the Tephriki. "We need a better call sign for you."
"Later. Where to? More foes are approaching," Diona spoke, sounding strained. "We must depart."
Natalie checked her scanner. "She's right."
"We can fight our way through the savages," Rhea insisted. "A world is at stake."
Elpsis looked uncertain. She looked to Nyssa, who gave her the mental equivalent of a shrug. She looked at her crew, all bloodied and injured badly in some way. She could not physically see their injuries, but felt them. Elpsis herself was in a crappy state, though she would not admit it. "We leave," she decided at last. She limped as the the squad quickly moved out of the corridor, stepping on corpses and pools of blood along the way. Their destination was the nearest hangar.
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