USCMRPG

As Dirk slowly made his way to the sergeant movement caught his eye. He froze in place. One of the egg things started to shudder. Staying in place he swung his pulse rifle towards the movement and waited nervously for what the thing would do, hopping that his stopping might stop what ever would come next.

"I guess these things are affected by motion, or maybe pressure." He said to first squad. "Keep your eyes on these things. I don't think anything good will come from those bastards."
<Tag first>

<Location: Hadley's Hope - Tunnel system beneath the Atmospheric Processor Plant>

After the rest of the Eights made their way into the tunnel, they followed Jonsson's heat signature. The more they advanced, the stranger the tunnel itself and specifically the non-man-made additions to it, for the lack of a better wording, became. Clearly, they stumbled upon some major bullshit. The darkness, the stench, the steadily raising temperature, those alien constructions on the floor, ceiling and walls, it felt like .... hell. Perez pulled out his necklace and kissed the small golden cross from time to time, while movin carefully forward, always on the look-out for a potential threat. The barrel of the smart gun swiped from left to right and back in countinous flow, interrupted by a sudden aim on a certain spot, just to reckognize a few milliseconds later, that he fell for another shadow. At least the grip on the weapon gave him a tiny feeling of security. Nobody spoke, but, the way the guys moved, the look in their eyes, the mimics on their faces revealed the tensions. Suddenly a kind of fog appeared near ground-level, fitting perfectly into the scenery of Dante's Inferno.

He couldn't help it, but he had this feeling, that they were in their territory and were forced to play their game. He did not like it one bit. But, as Corporal Pitt had stated, the Eights would not leave anyone behind, so there was no choice. After rounding another corner, they suddenly stood at the entrance to a larger cavern-like room. Temperature and humidity was high, and Perez sweat began to pour out of every pore, drenching his underwear. Felt like being in an south-american jungle. After moving up to the entrance, he paused for a moment to take a look around. And what he saw made him shiver. It was like having reached the grand finale of a horror show, the approach through the tunnel just serving as an appetizer.

The lurid miasma flew across the bedrock, winding through oval lumpish shapes, that dotted the floor. A low hissing sound was present everywhere, sounding like a leakage in a distant steam pipe. And those strange resin-made artwork everywhere. In the distance, he could see a familiar figure. Jonsson, but he felt no sign of relief. On the contrary, he had to fight against the urgent need to throw up, because there was something attached to her face in a way, that her hole head was covered with that ... hmmm ... well, giant spider with a tale. Oh my god. What the hell happened to her? The black resin covered her legs and arms and sticked her against the wall.

"What the fuck?"

Corporal Pitt summed it up pretty good, before giving out orders ...

"Defensive perimeter. Avoid those things on the ground though. God knows what they are and I don't want to find out now. Smart gunners, look for targets. I don't think we'll find any friendlies down here. Someone get on a motion tracker. I want to know if anything is coming up on us. I'm going to grab the sarg and try to get her out of here."

... and so he moved slowly a few meters into the chamber, positioning himself to provide cover-fire all over the room if necessary and stayed out of reach of those leather-like shapes. He concentrated on the smart gun tracking system, looking for bugs all around the room.

<Roll Awareness - Level Professional>

Samantha was probably more at home in the heat and humidity than most of her fellow marines; New Kingston was a tropical water world of steamy islands, after all; but that didn't mean she was feeling at ease. FAR from it....

The sights all around her in ADDITION to the heat and humidity was causing the sweat to roll down the back of her neck and causing her heart beat to accelerate rapidly. She had to stop a scream from escaping her throat when they found poor Jonsson with the.....THING...covering her face...

Seeing the....pods?... or whatever they were all around her suddenly put her in the mindset of being in an ant-hive. "Uh....am I de only one 'tinkin' dese tings might be eggs?" she asked no one in particular around while gesturing with her Pulse Rifle at the pods all around them. She was keeping her attention on them....if anything started to come out...she was gonna blast it back to Hades....

<Tag 1st Squad>

Corporal Hicks wrote:

"Pitt, this is Sykes, over. The Lieutenant is gone. I think the bugs took him. We are secure for the moment. Get the Sergeant and get the fuck out of there. Whatever you need, just let us know."
<Tag Pitt>

"Roger that Sykes. We'll get her. Get the med bay ready. I want this thing off the sarge asap. God knows what it's doing to her." Dirk said into his comm.
<Tag Sykes>

"Sam, I'm going to go for the sarge. If one of those things dose anything, waste it. If I don't make it, take the squad and fall back to command. "He said with a nervous glance at Samantha.
<Tag Sam>

With everything said that needed to be said Dirk turned towards the Sargent. A few deep breaths to overcome the freak that threatened to freeze him in place. "Ok, here goes something stupid" he said to himself as he took off towards the Sargent. He dodged the eggs and the vines that surrounded them as best he could as he made his way.

Once he reached her he started to pull the resin off the limp form of Jonnson, trusting his squad to cover his back.

(Roll agility, awareness, strength and NOT the doom dice!)

Samantha's mouth fell open at Pitt's remarks and then she shook her head and said in admiration; "You're one bad-ass Marine, Corporal"; and then turned to keep her attention on any pods near Pitt that might....do something....threatening; ready to light them up if they did. She made sure to stand at an angle where her fire would cause any damage to explode AWAY from Dirk and the Sarge....

<Tag Pitt>
<Roll Awareness>

Sara swung the motion tracker around as Pitt ran forward, looking for any sign of movement. Sweat poured down her forehead from the heat and stress, and she blinked it out of her eyes.

<Motion Tracker>

"Pass 'er here when you get 'er," she offered, beckoning with one of her long, gangly arms, presuming that Pitt was a better shot with the rifle than she was.

<Tag Pitt>

Uhtred followed the rest of the eights through the tunnel and into the cave where the saw the eggs littering the ground.

"Of course it fucking gets worse," Uhtred said gruffly as he held gripped his pulse rifle tightly.

He looked around and saw Jonsson pinned to the wall with the spider-like creature gripped to her face. "Eve must have bitten a really sour apple eh Perez?" Uhtred said to Perez in a condescending voice. Uhtred felt that belief in an almighty creator was naive. The Gods he believed in enjoyed the thrill of war and battle and they certainly were not perfect. The insect like creatures surrounding the cave only reinforced his disbelief.
<Tag Perez>

"I think we need to destroy these egg things but capture one for us to study," Uhtred said aloud to the rest of the group.
<Tag Anyone>

Uhtred waited for the go ahead command before destroying the eggs by himself.

Uhtred wrote:"I think we need to destroy these egg things but capture one for us to study," Uhtred said aloud to the rest of the group.

Sara glanced sideways at Ragnarson. She admired his scientific spirit, but she was starting to get a little concerned that she had unleashed a monster with her earlier suggestion. "Uh, plenty of time for that later, big fella," she said with a glance at the incapacitated sergeant. "Things might be a little too hairy this time around, don'tcha think? May need a bit more manpower for that."

Mission Timer: 04:45

As Pitt moved through the field of leathery oblong globes. The mist deepened as several of the egg shapes begin to shutter, the tops begin to split like a flower blossoming. The leathery folds slipped back to reveal a strange pasty white form that begins to move slowly at first as it unwinds itself. Then rapidly six shapes scuttle from them each intent on only one thing . . . . the Eights arrayed around the room.

<Action>

"'Ey, watch it!" Sara called in warning. Her motion tracker began to shriek as the shapes leapt from their eggs. She pulled out her pulse rifle and fired a short burst at one of the creatures that emerged, taking care not to shoot in Pitt's direction.

<Roll Gun Combat: Novice>

<Location: Hadley's Hope - The Nest - beneath the Atmospheric Processor Plant>

Perez tried to track bugs or other threats, while the barrel of the smartgun moved from one side of the room to the other. Nothing so far. As he reckoned the size of the room, they were in, he concluded, that it was far too dangerous to fire in full auto mode, so he switched to burst fire mode.

As Pitt, Hall and Wang moved up to the sergeant, Ragnarson said something about taking one of those oval shapes for study.

"Private, you will do as ord...."

He wanted to remind him of the chain of command, but suddenly some of those leather shaped objects .... hmm .... began to open up like a blossoming flower. He stopped talking and started aiming.

As the first of those spiders stuck its neck out, he tracked and fired a burst shot. The sound of the heavy weapon was deafening inside the room, but he could not help it.

OOC
The smartgun will not fire, if there is someone in the line of fire - game master descision, as I do not have a layout.
Perez will not shoot a hugger, if there is a marine near by.

Loop:
<Track Hugger - Fire Burst Shot>
<Roll Machine Gun - Level Expert>

Pale Rider wrote:Mission Timer: 04:45

As Pitt moved through the field of leathery oblong globes. The mist deepened as several of the egg shapes begin to shutter, the tops begin to split like a flower blossoming. The leathery folds slipped back to reveal a strange pasty white form that begins to move slowly at first as it unwinds itself. Then rapidly six shapes scuttle from the them each intent on only one thing . . . . the Eights arrayed around the room.

<Action>

The warnings shouted by the Marines of first squad alerted him to the danger that was at once all around them. The leathery eggs opened and creatures identical to the one that was wrapped around the Sargent's face burst forth, each skittering toward a Marine.

"Fire! Fire! Dirk yelled at he swung his M41A towards the closest creature.
<Tag first squad>

Dirk fired his pulse rifle at the advancing creatures as he backed off towards the still form of the Sargent.
(Roll gun combat, machine gun)

(OOC: In my last post I specifically said Hall would shoot if the eggs opened and anything made its way towards Dirk)

Samantha Hall had her Pulse Rifle up and aimed at the eggs as they opened and the spider-like creatures began to emerge; so she was NOT taken by surprise at this course of events. She aimed first at the creatures closest to Pitt; at an angle where her fire would cause blow-back from impact to fly AWAY from the Corporal and SGT and pulled the trigger; sending a burst of 10mm rounds at the alien....

She then shifted aim and fired at the alien closest to her and then again at the next closest alien to her.....


<Sam has a Master rating in Gun Combat and 6 Combat Actions a round; so she will AIM for 1 action, Fire a Burst for 1 action; 3 times in a row.....first at the face-hugger going for Pitt, then at the one coming for her; finally at whatever the next closest one is>

(OOC: Initiative Order - 1. Sam 2. Protomorph 3 3. Protomorph 6 4. Sara 5. Protomorph 2 6. Protomorph 5 7. Dirk 8. Protomorph 4 9. Protomorph 1 10. Perez)

Time seemed to slow down as combat training took over. The Eights quickly settled down to fire. Private Hall took a deep breathe, tracking the arc of one of the white spider shapes as it launched itself towards Dirk. Her three burst shot catching at its zenith, body parts sprayed across the area the viscera hissing as it landed on the floor. Pivoting on her foot she released her breathe as she stroked the trigger a second time, another enemy dropped to the floor. A shape moved in her left peripheral vision and she spun firing another three round burst. The bullets impacted rolling the Protomorph across the floor.

The third Protomorph moved like something from out of a nightmare, the spiderlike legs clicking loudly across the floor as it launched itself onto Wang's pants leg. Wang's aim was jerked upwards as the Protomorph began climbing towards her face. The sixth Protomorph, shuffled between the large eggs, moving rapidly in and out of them until it was able to launch itself at Perez, only to be slammed back from a three round burst by Hall. Another Protomorph launched itself from behind a row of the eggs, its legs striking and clinging to the frame of the M56 Smart Gun.
Dirk dropped to one knee as he squeezed the trigger of his pulse rifle. The rounds struck the first Protomorph exploding it into a deadly hail of corrosive viscera. Perez's smartgun tracked through the room, not quit able to lock onto a target as the others rapidly put down the enemies.

(OCC: 2 of the six are still alive. Both are attached to marines.)

<Actions>