USCMRPG

Giosso quickly identified the entity that was trying to shut him out of the system. The attempts were fumbling, no doubt the enemy was out of practice. He immediately isolated and disabled the threat within the system and returned to the info he was trying to download.

RESEARCH – PROJECT ZENUS. There appeared to be hundreds of pages of research here on something dubbed “Z Species.” Giosso couldn’t get much from it because it was written in jargon and incredibly detailed.

PERSONNEL –
T. Gibson – Foreman / Administrator
J. Terry – Technical Specialist / Enforcer
L. Erikson – Assistant Foreman / Enforcer
Synthetic Unit 1 – Active
Synthetic Unit 2 – Disabled
Synthetic Unit 3 – Active
Synthetic Unit 4 – Inactive
Synthetic Unit 5 – Disabled
Synthetic Unit 6 – Inactive
Synthetic Unit 7 – Active
Synthetic Unit 8 – Inactive
Synthetic Unit 9 – Inactive
Synthetic Unit 10 – Active

Additional Staff:
General Biology: P. Davis, J. Stern, I. Warren
Xenobiology: R. Molina, K. Delgado - DECEASED, O. Barayeva, R. Navarro, M. Snow
DNA Specialized: B. Preston, F. Portillo
Multiple Specialty: P. Madden, D. Dickson, K. Whitehead, R. Knox - DECEASED, U. Galvan, O. Kirby

DEFENSE SYSTEMS – ACTIVE

Lyle Erikson was in a panic as he viewed the reports. They had finally been discovered and he would rather take his chance with death then pay for everything he had done. He could only imagine what the scientists would do to him if they could. And the reports of synthetics 1 and 3 were very serious. He was not thinking rationally but driven by fear as he selected “OPEN OUTER LAB DOOR. OPEN INNER LAB DOOR. Are you sure? Please Override. Override accepted.”

He stood up and ran from the admin center. He could only imagine what Gibson would do to him once he saw what he had done. His only hope was to hide and eventually escape into the jungle. It was not really a hope at all, but he was in too much of a manic state as he ran down the dim metal hallways.

*****************

The marines heard an automated voice over their heads. “Warning, threat detected, sealing outer doors.” The door to the jungle sealed itself, they were trapped in the small hallway. They heard the sound of gunshots from deeper inside the facility.

paulson heard the speakers and said " damn right we're a threat" and then the the gun shots started "oh its not us" he finished. he picked up his motion detector again and with his fellow point man headed off towards the sound of gunfire.
<roll motion detector>
scanning the corridor ahead he relied on his hearing to give away a telltale signal if anything moved they would hear about it and better to be able to react fast.
the occasional gunshots and crashes could still be heard but as yet nothing had come their way.

The automated voice overhead unsettled Morse, and he swiftly levied his weapon to fire. His eyes scanned the ceiling, this would not be the first time he watched an autocannon drop from there and unload a hail of bullets on them. But nothing came to that effect, only a heavy hydraulic moan as their exit point was completely sealed. Morse looked to it, but was not calm as he watched the door shut.

"Wait... No.... FUCK!" Morse roared as the door closed. He did not have to guess that it would take them a long time before they were able to get it open again, which was the exact opposite of how he wanted to spend time on the derelict world given everything else that had happened thus far. Still there was more to the puzzle as small arms fire began to clatter out.

Morse turned as the others did to face it, in preparation for some of it to find its way to them. They were heavily armed and armored so whoever it was, if they chose to take their chance on the Marines they'd learn they'd made a very serious mistake.

"Form up, and prepare for contact. Morse directed. He looked ahead and was ready for what would come.

"Move up. Eyes front." Morse ordered to the group, taking a place at the center of the column to get a full view. He had his infrared eye down and he was ready for whatever would come at them.

<Tag Anyone
< Roll Awareness.

Sam Hall couldn't help but cock a grin and shake her head at Paulson inflating his ego for a second and then watching it plummet back down to earth a moment later....then she came back to the present and hearing Morse's order, she likewise snapped down her IR eyepiece and moved to the right side, against the wall.

She called out to the others; "Stay frosty people and Mark and anyone else who has a Tracker, stay on 'dem and tell us if anyting is getting closer. Sarge, you probably outta take front and center wit dat"; she suggest to Juan with his Smartgun.

Then she took to keeping her head on a swivel and her Pulse Rifle tucked into her shoulder, safety off and ready to rock....

<Tag Everyone>
<Alert>

Sixtus had moved in cautiously, rifle up and scanning ahead. The scope on the weapon system had several vision modes, and he flicked to Electromagnetic while backing off the magnification down to four so as to be somewhat useful. His other hand reached up to his helmet, pulling down the infrared monocle over his other eye. The difference in vision was strange, but veterans were able to overcome the disorientation with only a momentary adjustment.

The automated voice told him that the facility had some sort of computer controlled security system, and corporates loved their sophisticated and overly complicated facilities. When the door slammed shut, their egress was now cut off. Sixtus immediately moved to a wall and went on a knee, expecting some sort of response. The gunfire he expected, but not from deeper within the facility. Likely corporates rushing to cover up whatever they had going on here. Maybe the same group who had blasted them out of the sky.

But there was one big bonus to a place like this. They likely had a good communications set up, or at least a schedule for supply runs, which would indicate a ship returning here. And if the facility could be cleared out, it would make for a better possible base.

”Move up, eyes front.” Morse ordered to the group, taking a place at the center of the column to get a full view.

Sixtus gave a hand signal to Sokolova, and the two took point, checking corners and dark areas to make sure that nothing popped up at them. Quinn especially paid attention to the ceiling and any ingress points there.

<roll Awareness: Proficient>

Dmitri heard the order given and afer flipping down his IR lens, he took up position even with Sam, close enough to offer support but not so close as to get taken out by any fire sent her way. The gunshots rattled through the facility to where the Marines were poised for mayhem. Dmitri didn't think the gunshots boded well for whomever they were intended for, but he hoped that they might yet find someone alive. A living being was a source of intel and given all the shit that had happened to them so far, a little intel would be vastly better than constantly flailing around in the dark.

the two point men moved past Paulson and he switch back to his pistol, best not flambe his own team. he pulled up his motion detector again and continually swept the area around them, with the men on point plus sensors hopefully nothing would be creeping up on them.
<roll motion detector>

Paulson’s motion tracker suddenly started to whine. “Contacts left. Four, five, make that six contacts. Range, twenty meters. Fifteen.”

Quinn and Sokolova saw a handful of people coming from the left tunnel at a full tilt run. They looked to be wearing white lab coats. As they came into sight, shots rang out from the right tunnel. Two of the scientists dropped with bullets to the forehead. The other four slid to a halt, not five meters from Quinn. They looked around for shelter with panic-stricken faces.
(Actions)

Sixtus saw the lab coats, and lack of weapons in their hands. Non-combatants, his brain classified them. Combined with the gunfire from the right, a threat was coming from that direction.

”CONTACT RIGHT!” he barked, moving to place himself between the scientists and the threat. The sniper rifle was extended out in front of him, the stock firm in his shoulder with his head hunched down against the stock. His other hand went to his webbing, drawing a gray canister from his gear. He pulled the pin and threw the smoke grenade down the corridor to provide concealment for the scientists and Marines. ”SMOKE OUT.”

Tanya, nodded to his action and raised her rifle up to firing position. Going toward the corner of the corridor, she put herself up against the wall before turning out into the hallway, prepared to send fire down range, though keeping most of her body concealed. Murmuring to Quinn a moment, "You may want to step back. We send them packing..."

Taking a quick aim with the pulse rifle, she hits the trigger for a grenade to go live down the hallway, an added unexpected present to go along with the smoke grenade, before pulling herself back behind the wall, counting off the number of seconds before the grenade would activate with its payload.
(Roll: Grenade Launcher)

Smoke began to fill the hallway as Quinn’s grenade activated. The M40 HEDP high explosive fragmentation grenade exited the U1 grenade launcher and skipped several times down the metal hallway. One of the hostiles dove for cover, but the other lacked this option. The grenade detonated under his feet and his body was reduced to a fount of white liquid latex.

The marines felt the shock wave of the grenade, especially Quinn. The loud BANG hit their ears, amplified by the tight quarters. The scientists seemed frozen, staring at the armored men and women they wondered if they had found their saving grace or just another adversary. Two of them turned in terror and ran back down the hallway. The two that remained were a tall black man pressed up against the wall and a brown-haired woman staring wide-eyed at the marines in front of her.
(Actions)

(Writing from GM note)

Before the smoke grenade filled the corridor with gray smoke, Sixtus saw two figures. Both looked like duplicates of the androids that were killed outside, and both carried rifles. They were crouched down on either side of the hallway, approximately twenty-five meters distant. Child’s play at this range for rifles.

He sighted down his rifle and picked up both targets through the smoke thanks to the setting on the scope allowing him to see electromagnetic fields. It came up as seeing fuzzy outlines through the scope. He didn’t even hear Sokolova through the adrenaline, only hearing the CHOONK of the grenade launcher. The overpressure from the grenade washed over him, and he tracked the remaining android. Coming up, he fired twice center mass, then scanned the other hallways for other threats. A dull ringing in his ears signifying that he had sustained hearing damage from the explosion amplified by the hallway blocked out most of what could be said at a normal conversational level.

(Action 1: Advance)
(Action 2: Smoke Grenade)
(Action 3: Aim at Synthetic 2)
(Action 4: Fire, Gun Combat Expert)
(Action 5: Fire)
(Action 6: Roll Awareness Proficient)

"gentleman, lady, stay calm and close and we can protect you" Paulson said to the two that had stayed, " what is going on and why have your androids gone rogue?" he questioned.
the two moved out of the firing line and relaxed if only a little. keeping an ear on his motion detector Paulson continued to try and get some answers from the obviously two terrified scientists.

Just as Sam suggested "Sarge, you probably outta take front and center wit dat", the barrel of the smartgun twiched three times, indicating some sort of problem, and all of a sudden, the smartgun tracking system went offline ...

"Fuck, Smartgun Tracking System is offline. Gimme two minutes to fix that"

... he reported and started to look for the glitch in the system.