RP X-Com Role-Play Missions

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Finem Timere: Part 23
End Battle

Emma turned her attention towards Atka, firing off several shots at the troublesome scout. Not one to be easily hit, Atka activated her afterimage and pre-image, the former being destroyed as she weaved from side to side, trying to get in closer. “I’ll handle them, but someone… please disrupt his contr-” A plasma bolt from Ammelia’s expert aim punched into her shoulder armor, breaking it and leaving a vulnerable spot in her defense. Hurry!

Modya glanced at Christine. “I think it is time to try out that trick!” the Russian prompted with nervousness creeping into his tone.

Christine blinked several times. “Modya, really this is no time for… oh, oh you mean the… okay!” Christine took a deep breath. “This is really gonna drain me, so, um…” She pulled out her last rocket and handed it to Modya. She then extended her arms, and formed two rifts, one pushing out, the other pulling in, facing up and down. A few pebbles flew out, pulled in and going through them, faster and faster. “D… d-do it… I-I’ll keep it open as long as I can to give it the most speed.”

What are you up to over there? Phobos formed a rift of his own, sending it flying towards the two rocketeers so he could stay with his meat shield. Modya, Albert, and Mary managed to get over to Christine, pumping a storm of plasma into it, the superheated gases going through the repeating tunnel faster and faster, climbing to terminal velocity.

Desmond rushed into action, managing to get in front of Phobos’s rift and make another Pulsar. Holding it out in front of him, as the rift came into contact with Desmond’s ability, the rift flowed into the Core and the two expanded as the powers mixed together and the Core blew, flinging Desmond back hard as the two canceled each other out. Rubbing his head, Desmond slowly rose to his feet. “Well...not dead, but ow…” He took several deep breaths, trying to compose his swirling head.

Phobos glared at the recovering soldier. Kill him!

As Emma and Ammelia turned their weapons towards Desmond, Christine’s eyes widened. “N-n-now… or… n-never!” The pushing rift dispersed, and another appeared near Phobos. The super accelerated plasma shots slammed into his shield, and sent the Ethereal firing back. The feedback from the attack sent a wave of energy into the two puppets, Ammelia getting the worst of it thanks to the multiple attacks. Phobos slammed into a wall, slowly rising his feet and shuddering in anger.

Ammelia grasped her head in pain as she fell to the floor; the massive surge of psionic energy not only forced her to the ground, but also overloaded the SAaIDA, causing the earpiece to explode. A trickle of blood leaked out of both her ears and her nose as she fell unconscious. Emma fared a bit better, her neural feedback finally kicking in and preventing the backlash from the connection being lost from knocking her out cold, though it did temporarily incapacitate her.

Desmond looked over at Christine and rose to his feet, shaking his head. “Thanks for the save.”

“N… n-no… prob… Walk…” Christine dropped to the ground, Albert barely catching her before she could slam her head, and gently placed her to the side.

Ayame panted heavily, one of the fear non-psions left not fairing well against the the Fear Aura. “M-Mary… go! I’ll cover you! G-get… Ammy out… of the line of fire…”

“Beh’ ‘areful!” (Be careful!) Mary responded as she rushed towards her sister, easily lifting Ammy up onto her shoulders while finding a particularly solid pillar to hide behind.

Ayame smiled. “G-good… job… Mary.” Ayame fired at Phobos to try and hit him while he still recovered, but her shot went incredibly high. The Aura taking hold, she barely had the strength to hunker behind her cover before she was completely paralyzed.

Phobos cracked his neck. The shake in his arms was as much from the exertion of energy as from his anger. Damn… was hoping to kill that one. I’ll have to do so when I am finished with the rest of you. He swirled two hands, forming another rift. Two more hands filled the rift with fire, and the cybernetic ones moved to direct it directly towards Atka.

As soon as the psychokinetic storm started coming for her, the Colonel was already in motion, running to the side with her afterimage trailing behind her, the leftover from the psionic manifestation that now slumbered once more. A shot screamed from the barrel of her reflex rifle as she moved to avoid the rift, but it merely dented the shield around Thanatos. “Dammit, he’s…” she warned as a tendril of green briefly connected with Ayame, feeding off her terror and using the energy to repair the telekinetic bubble. The storm of energy, still being controlled remotely, redirected itself, pursuing Atka and threatening to catch up with her, despite her speed.

“Mind fray isn’t going to do much here…” Ashley shook her head, and looked over to the unconscious Eva. “Worked for you.” She channeled her energy, and sent it flying towards Desmond, Emma, and Fay, the psi inspiration restoring their vigor and some of their energy. “Hurry, protect Colonel At…” The cover in front of her started to spark. Looking towards Phobos, she caught a glimpse of him siphoning energy off of the Black King wreck, and she was blasted back by a powerful electrokinetic blast. Fay had just enough time to pull her into cover before Phobos could finish her off.

Mary rested her sister down comfortably behind the intricately decorated pillar as she considered what to do next. Her biokinesis was almost entirely useless against him, instead, she attempted to imbue her weapon even though she wasn’t entirely good at it. The plasma weapon glowed a even deeper green as Mary drilled the newly repaired shield with a storm of augmented blasts.

With Phobos distracted by Mary but Atka still in danger, Jan’Tiala couldn’t stay hidden any more. Dropping her shield, she tried to mimic Phobos’ flaming rift to the best of her abilities, and blasted it between Atka and Phobos’ rift. It wasn’t even close to being strong enough to cancel it, but it did redirect it, and it slammed into an intricate statue of Phobos, obliterating it.

Atka slid to a stop, breathing a sigh of relief. “I thought I felt another presence here, even with the overriding presence of this asshole… thanks for the save, Tiala.” Standing up straight again, Atka formed her two telekinetic helixes around her arms, cutting two gouges into them at weak points in the armor. The blood that flowed forth formed Xifeng anew, this time at normal strength. “Let’s see how you like this!” the Inuit woman spoke through her psionic manifestation, and the helixes wrapped around its own arms, before Xifeng extended her hands, and fired off the telekinetic projections, crossing them as they sped towards Phobos.

Another shot from Mary’s weapon, and a large crack formed in the shield. Noting the helixes at the last moment, Phobos dropped the shield and dumped a large pool of energy into physical enhancement. The helixes sent him flying once again, leaving another Ethereal-shaped dent in the wall. Now clearly shaken by the barrage, Phobos let out a terrifying scream that echoed in everyone’s heads. He pulled a huge pillar straight out of the wall, imbued it with energy, and sent it hurtling towards Mary.

As the pillar flew towards her, Mary quickly realized she had nowhere to go. “‘oody ‘uck!” (Bloody fuck!) she yelled as she tried to do the only thing that came to mind, catch the pillar. Her enhanced arms and leg muscles seemed to only slow it down however as the force slid her back into one of the walls, pinning her arms and legs against it. Mary struggled to free herself, but found that she simply couldn’t budge it as she cursed out loud, pain flowing through her body.

“Foe sufficiently still,” Fay muttered, a burning yellow glow enveloping the last tungsten slug suspended over her shoulder. “Three point eight kilometers per second, firing.” With that, the yellow glow discharged like a miniature flash-bang, the tungsten slug vanishing in a stream of ionized atmosphere and molten metal, propelled straight towards Phobos.

Raising one hand to try and slow the slug and another to strengthen his shield, the slug punched through the shield, one of Phobos’ hands, and through his side. Howling in pain as he quickly tried to seal the holes, an explosion of energy erupted from the Ethereal, and he sent a flaming javelin of psionic energy directly towards the sniper that had wounded him.

Having briefly lost consciousness from the sheer amount of energy that she had expended on the blow, Fay didn’t have a chance to avoid the attack, the lance striking true. With a wordless cry, Fay was enveloped in psionic energy, before the illusion dissipated under the assault. Elsewhere, the sniper collapsed to the floor, unconscious and blood pouring from her nose.

Jan’Tiala raised her hands, a psi lance forming in them. He’s wounded now. Press the attack!

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Operation Finem Timere: Part 24
End Battle

Modya lifted his rocket launcher, though the movement of his hands seemed slowed as he put in Christine’s last rocket and fired the blaster bomb at Phobos, with Emma and Atka adding to the attack with shots from their primary weapons.

Phobos held out his hands, redirecting the rocket just enough to lighten the blow to his shield. His energy clearly fading, he fired off two more powerful psi lances, one at Modya, another at Emma. Just die already!

Emma managed to catch hers and redirect it at Phobos, while Modya ducked behind his cover, chunks of metal being torn apart by the blast, some of it parts of his armor. “N-No… I can still…” Modya mumbled, starting to push himself up off the ground, but his muscles locked in place, the paralysis from Exhorresco taking effect.

Feeding off of Modya’s energy, Phobos formed another massive attack. Building up another Annihilation Surge, the telekinetic shield in front of him glowing red as it was engulfed in flames. Using the cybernetic arms on his back to build the attack, and fired psi lances at Albert, Emma, Atka, and Desmond to keep them at bay. Enough! That’s it! Everybody dies!

Albert barely weaved out of the way of the psi lance, his enhanced reflexes narrowly enabling him to avoid the blow. So fast… Albert thought, rolling to another piece of cover, moving to load another charge pack into his rifle, before realizing he had no more. And out of ammo, shit. Need a plan...

The attack halfway charged, Phobos sent a powerful mind-control tendril towards the ammo-less soldier. Come to me!

“What, nononoNO-!” Albert shouted, reeling away from the psionic tendril but getting caught regardless of his efforts. Albert’s body contorted as his first mind shield failed, followed by the second - triggering a harmless neural feedback - before the Amero-Anglican’s will was subsumed, his body now a puppet to Phobos.

Phobos’ manipulated his fingers, and Albert started walking, in clear view of Phobos’ growing annihilation surge. With an angry yell, Desmond suddenly charged at Phobos while manifesting two Pulsar Cores in his hands. "Not again, you bastard!" Bypassing Albert, Desmond pumped as much psionic power as he was willing to go into his cores. With a jerk of both his arms, Desmond challenged the power of the Ethereal.

The two energies surging against each other, Desmond obviously pumping everything he had into the attack, crackles of energy surged through the annihilation surge and into Phobos’s cybernetic arms. With a whine, a crack, and a groan, the back of Phobos’ armor exploded, the arms flying to either side. The attack dissipated, and a burst of energy flowed through Phobos’ mind control. Albert was floored, not out, but open to the fear aura with his mind shield overloaded. Phobos reached out, lifting Desmond by the neck with telekinesis. You… are... PISSING ME OFF!

Emma fired off some of the last of the energy in her plasma rifle, battering the Ethereal’s shield. “You are not killing my brother!”

The plasma blasted through the shield and hit Phobos, and another arm, this one organic, dropped to the ground. Phobos roared in pain as he flung Desmond straight at Emma.

The engineer collided with the shadow operative, knocking both to the ground as the power of the Fear Aura rose with Phobos’s anger. Emma struggled to get up, but found herself starting to lock up like Modya had. “Is this... the end, then…?”

"No way...I still..." Desmond tried to get up but found he had no strength left in him. "I can still...kick his ass." The soldier gave his sister a smirk as he watched Phobos.

Mary looked over at her friends from behind the pillar, the aura sapping her energy slowly but surely as she gave them a determined look, “‘At’s ‘ight! ye’ ‘an ‘ill ‘ick ‘at ‘astard’s ass! Don’t ‘ose yer’ spirit! He’s ‘ot ‘vincible!” (That’s right! You can still kick that bastard’s ass! Don’t lose your spirit! He’s not invincible!)

“And I refuse this fate… as well,” Albert groaned, pulling himself from the floor and drawing his Mauler. Fighting through the terror in his gut that was growing ever stronger, Albert charged Phobos, emptying the side arm of ammo with a long pull of the trigger.

The shield caught all but the last round, and Phobos got hit in the same spot Fay had got him. He reached out, and sent a telekinetic wave towards Albert, like a giant invisible hand that sent him flying back. The infantry trooper momentarily panicked as he felt the floor lift out from underneath him, and this signalled the end, as the Fear Aura took over his mind, locking Albert’s muscles in place as he crashed into a bulkhead with a tremendous crash, before falling to the floor.

Atka shakily lifted her reflex rifle, glancing at Jan’Tiala. “Don’t give in! We can still… finish this! We have to!” she shouted, firing off an imbued shot at Phobos.

I-I… I know, I… I’ll keep fighting until the end! Tiala sent some imbued psi lances of her own.

Phobos quickly shot up pieces of rubble, the constant attacks making his shields unreliable. You little ingrate! You know why I told everyone you were dead?

So you could slaughter my saviors without…

WRONG! I DID BECAUSE YOU WERE DEAD TO ME WHEN YOU LEFT! YOU ARE A FAILURE! YOU ARE NOTHING! AND I NEED TO CLEAN UP MY MISTAKE!

An enormous blast, using so much energy it looked like Phobos’ skin started to lose color, rocketed towards the two. They moved out of the way, and Tiala suddenly rocketed towards Phobos as he pulled her in. And when you are dead, I will use you energy to kill your friends! She hovered before her father, and her energy started to flow into him.

“Damn it! No!” Atka fired off two quick shots from her reflex rifle, and then hit the shield with her telekinetic helixes, but while one of the latter landed, it quickly healed from the energy the God of Fear was draining. “She’s your daughter!”

Daughter? I used my DNA to make this… experiment, nothing more. I put a lot of time and energy into this thing… and now, I take it back. Tiala convulsed as her deep black skin shifted to a pale grey. Phobos casually tossed her to the side, not a bit of psionic energy coming from her. Atka practically felt his smile under his mask as he sent a powerful psi panic towards the scout.

Atka blanched, the combined power of the psi panic and waves of fear emanating from Phobos barely enough to paralyze her halfway, her will slightly overcome. The light blue fires around her eyes dimmed to mere flickers. I… I’m sorry, Jan’Tiala…

Phobos panted heavily, slowly scanning the scene around him. He slowly floated forward, only to stumble a bit. Having to reserve his energy, he instead did one thing Ethereals found awfully awkward; walking. You… were… close… so close. I hope… that doesn’t upset you. You should be proud. I would never… bring it up… to rub it in… He slowly pointed at Atka. But… you have not suffered enough. You can not die… until you see more of your friends die… Slowly, carefully, Phobos looked for anyone still conscious, as he didn’t want someone to die if Atka couldn’t hear the scream in pain. Knocking the pillar away, he pulled in Mary, along with Desmond, Albert, and Ayame. This… is going… to hurt… any last words for them?

Atka trembled slightly, trying to push herself from her position on her knees, but couldn’t muster the strength to move that drastically. It’s...Toronto all over again… She thought privately, the memories of the civilian hostages in the airport burned into her mind, and her failure to save some of them and quite a few of her squad members as well. I… I won’t let that happen again… I can’t…! A soft blue glow surrounded her body, while a bluegreen one rimmed her head, the combination of psi inspiration and physical enhancement removing the constraints on her mind and body. The Inuit Scout Colonel lifted her reflex rifle again, firing it at Phobos’s weakened defenses. “Get away from them!”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Finem Timere: Part 25
End Battle

Phobos moved his hands to block, the four captives dropping to the ground. It punched into the shield, and it shattered. Phobos hunched over a bit. You… want to… die first! Fine! The pillar he had used on Mary floated up, Phobos breaking it in half, as the whole thing was too heavy. He threw it towards Atka, though it slid across the ground instead of through the air.

The Inuit woman’s precognition picked up where it would hit, and she jumped to the side, though a piece of debris cut across her forehead, blood running down her face. “The only one… dying here… is you!” She screamed out. The blood around her face solidified, frozen, forming into a mask that was decidedly lupine in nature, like the face of an alpha wolf. The scout ran forward with a cross strike of twin icy helixes.

Caught off guard, Phobos rose two arms, forming a pair of telekinetic fire swords, similar to Airi’s. His energy faltering, the helixes cut through them, taking off several fingers with them. Phobos let out what sounded like a gasp. You… you humans… just… die! The aura in the air shifted slightly as he blinked back, though regretted it as the expenditure of power made him dizzy. He fired off another rift towards Atka.

Without hesitation, Atka cut her arms a second time, a potent telekinetic barrier forming around her, though she grimaced from the strain of withstanding the attack. “You’re going to pay for everything...nghh...you’ve done! I’d list all your crimes like I did with Invidia...but the list… is too damn long!” The barrier shattering, and the last tongues of the rift shattering portions of her armor and drawing lines of blood across her skin, Atka stepped purposely forward. The shape of a spear formed in her right hand, telekinetic force wrapping around it as it was imbued, and Atka drew it back. With a powerful boom, she launched it at Phobos, coughing up a bit of blood.

Phobos rose his shield again, and the spear easily punched through. The javelin punching through his stomach, he fell back, coughing violently, blood seeping out from under his mask. He desperately tried to seal the wound, eventually having to simply burn the skin to seal it. He drew power from his fallen enemies, but as the fear aura faltered, so did the amount of energy he obtained. His movements seemed erratic as Fear seemed to panic, and he charged his shield with energy while rapidly firing psi lances. D… Die already, you freak!

Atka raised her shield again, draining the blood had been lost to her wounds, but a few of the psi lances broke through, injuring her further but not putting her down. “We can...say the same...for you…” Desmond said, raising his hand, and pressing the activation button of his last remaining alien grenade. Using what strength he could muster and the very last bit of his psionic energy to edge the weak grenade toss a little further, the explosive went off. “Go...bring him down!” He told the others around him.

When the dust settled, the grenade had left clear cracks in the shield. Phobos tried to draw in more energy to fix it, but his fear aura was dispersing, the paralyzing effects on Ayame, Modya, Emma, Mary, Albert, Desmond, and even Emily dissipating. Seeing them start to rise, Phobos’ panic rose, and this only made his aura fade more. NO! W… why… just… s-stop!

“Just shut up already,” Albert growled, rising to his feet and flicking a switch on his artificial arm, the hand folding back to reveal the barrel of a pulse cannon. Levelling the hand cannon, Albert fired off the lance of light.

Mary tried to move, but the bones in her arms and legs were very obviously broken. Her limbs glowed emerald green as Mary used her powers to force them to move, fighting through the pain that the jagged shards of bone caused as they tore her muscles. She moved forwards, pulling out her sidearm and firing into his shield, smirking. “Are ye’ ‘ared? eh’ ‘ought ‘ods in’nt ‘ow fear…” (A-Are you scared? I-I thought… God’s didn’t… know fear…)

Emily crawled out behind a small wall that Emma had presumably dragged her behind, clutching her carbine and staring towards her target. Even though her gun was small and her hands were shaking, she tried to contribute the best she could, shouting angrily as she fired.

Ayame simply pulled a side arm, not having the strength to lift a rifle with one hand. She fired, hoping the small contribution would be enough.

The combined hits struck home, and the shield shattered, falling over Phobos like shards of glass. He panted heavily as Atka closed in, Phobos slowly shook his head. You… heretics… you have… wasted… your potential. The Gift… its potential… will die with me! My people… will be lost! Please… don’t…

Atka lifted her reflex rifle, standing before the so-called God of Fear, her mask crumbling away into droplets of blood and shards of red ice. “I think… we used our power… I used my power… for exactly what it was meant for. You can take your own failure to use yours with you to the grave.” As Atka pulled the trigger, Phobos desperately fired off one last lance. The jagged psionic sphere punched through the far right side of the Inuit woman’s chest, as the bolt of plasma launched from her gun went through Phobos’s head.

The Colonel coughed for a moment, and slowly turned her head to look back at the others. “We… did it… then… w-well...done…” She practically whispered the last few words, a catch to her voice, and then fell backwards, unable to stand.

Chandra’s eyes widened, and she ran over to the Inuit scout, kneeling down by her. “Don’t you dare...die now…” Pressing her hands down, threads of green started to suture the wound and slow the bleeding. Atka’s breathing, while shallow, didn’t cease, and Chandra sighed in relief. “You’re...all...fucking idiots… Vee needs a new kidney, and now you need a new lung… damn it all…”

Desmond smiled, shaking his head but quickly turned around, running to where Phobos had thrown Jan’Tiala. He collapsed by her, groaning in pain before forcing himself to his knees and crawling over to the alien. The young Ethereal slowly reached up, lightly tracing her hand across Desmond’s cheek. She was silent for a moment until she realized she couldn’t hear him, and softly said, “Did… we… win?”

He reached up and touched her hand, sighing in relief. “Yeah...we won Tia…he’s dead…”

Tiala slowly nodded. “G-good. G-guess I could… th-thank him for… g-giving me this body. But… need some… energy…”

Emily, still shaking off the effects of overexertion and the fear aura, rushed over and looked between Desmond and Tiala. “W-what happened?”

“Psionics… drained… need… Ethereal… d-doctor…”

Desmond looked up at Emily and sighed. “Look...remember when I told you not to use the power Luxuria gave to you? Yeah, fuck that, and help her.” He told Emily, falling back and closing his eyes. “Let me know when you are done, I need to rest a few seconds…”

“Um…let me think…” Emily closed her eyes and tried to focus, bringing up memories from Luxuria’s life as she searched for what to do. Her hands raised on instinct and touched the Ethereal’s skin, and she tried to replicate the Ethereals’ body-preserving techniques on Tiala, aided by a healthy dose of willpower. “Am I helping…?”

The young Ethereal nodded, though the return of color to her skin said as much. She smiled lightly, and asked. “Was it… painful for him?”

“Emotionally...we basically humiliated the hell out of him after all. Though Atka had to put plasma in his head to prevent being killed.” Desmond answered for Emily, sitting up and holding his head. “Is this what a hangover feels like?”

Tiala only smiled, enjoying the feeling of her father finally being gone.

Ayame reached down over Ammelia, then walked over to her fallen lover, sitting next to her. “Ammy’s breathing, though I think her dad is gonna need to replace her eye thing. You okay, Mary?”

“Yeh’... Je’ ‘ot ‘it by eh’ ‘illar… ‘ight ‘ave… eh’ few ‘oken bones… ‘ere an’ ‘ere.”(Yeah… Just got hit by a pillar… Might have… a few broken bones… here and there…) Mary replied, smiling.

Ayame chuckled. She glanced over at Atka, the look on Chandra’s face saying she was hurt but alive. Ayame’s face suddenly reddened, and she reached over, passionately kissing Mary.

After a few moments, Mary pulled away and whispered in her ear. “Eh ‘aw ‘at ye’ ‘id with Atka… Et ‘as ‘eally ‘tracting… eh’ ‘as se’ ‘empted te’ ‘oin in...” (I saw what you did with Atka… It was really distracting… I was sooo tempted to join in... )

Ayame sighed. “I love you, Mary… and only you… in that way. Remember that… always.” She curled up next to Mary, holding her close until someone with a stretcher could come get her.

Desmond finally managed to get himself to his feet, looking over all the people who had come into the throne room, fought the God of Fear, and were going to live to tell the tale. Rubbing his eyes and finally realizing that no one would have made the attempt to yet, the soldier put a hand to his ear and confirmed that Phobos was dead and that medics should be on stand by. Sitting on the ground and looking over his rifle, Desmond didn’t say anything, letting the gravity of their victory fully sink into him before he began to laugh to himself, unable to keep himself from being happy.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Operation War’s Conquest: Part One
Temple Ship: Main Bridge
Twenty Minutes after the Death of the Exalted Commander

“I want the area leading to the bridge cleared out. We’re bringing some civilian staff aboard to help pilot this thing and deal with civilians, and I don’t need them getting sniped by a Sectoid with a grudge.” The soldiers nodded at Morrigan, and ran off. The Commander walked past Elene, attending to her sister with Nick, and smiled. Approaching Ogedei and Kokachin, she said, “You’ll be handling the M… Balmadaar. Make sure they know any that stand down with be treated justly.”

Approaching her very tired Central Officer, wrapped in some sheets and trying not to blush, Morrigan chuckled, and Aya sneered, clenching her head like she had a bad hang-over. “What are you laughing at?”

Morrigan shook her head. “Nothing, nothing. Just… surprised to see you on your feet.”

Aya pointed to Jan’tiala, hunched over Eva and holding a small orb. “She found that in Phobos’ broken cyborg-arm thing that Desmond blasted off. He was using it to use psionics he didn’t have, and strengthen his own. She’s been using it to help poor Chandra with all the healing.”

Morrigan nodded, and looked down at the computer in front of Aya. “What are these?”

“Alarms, I guess. Red alerts.”

Morrigan shook her head. “No, these… different ones. What are they…” She noted the blank look on Aya’s face, and grinned. “Right. Guess we’ll have to learn this if we are dealing with these things.”

Emily butted in next to the computer, reading the glyphs with squinted eyes. “It says there’s an environmental malfunction…like the oxygen has gone out there for some reason,” she explained.

“Not another intruder alarm, huh?” Aya tilted her head. “Where is it coming from?”

“Nope, it’s just mechanical. It’s in the civilian area we passed…could be someone’s equivalent of pulling a fire alarm, maybe. Although it looks like the ship automatically seals off sections that could be leaking air, so if it is real, the civilians aren’t all at risk.”

“Still shouldn’t leave it to chance.” Morrigan rubbed her chin. “Could be sabotage.”

“There was a rumble a little bit ago, but with all the damage, and an inability to read the language, we didn’t know where it was coming from,” Aya offered.

“Alright.” Morrigan adjusted the armor under her shirt, and grabbed a weapon. “Let’s go.”

“Go? What are you talking about?” Aya started to get up, but didn’t have the strength.

“Most of my most trusted soldiers are down right now. I’ll see to it myself.” Morrigan scanned the room for anyone able to move. “Desmond! Up to check something out with me?”

He looked over his rifle, throwing to the side as it wasn’t going to fire again without some maintenance after he accidentally overheated it while firing and began to strap pieces of his armor back into place. “You got it.”

“I’ll go too,” Emily offered, “you might need to read something there too.”

“Good idea,” Morrigan said. “Um… Albert, Eva… Sarah, Scarlet.” She glanced to the side at the two non-X-COM, but skilled, combatants in the room. “Hawke, Dorian, you mind coming too?”

Dorian looked up from his seat, he seemed relatively uninjured except for an discoloration on his knuckles. “Of course.”

Hawke took his near by rifle and put it over his shoulder. “I got some time on my hands.”

“You should take Ogedei and Kokachin too, in case there are any non-Ethereals there,” Aya suggested. “And Nick and Elene, in case she needs to work with Emily to activate or deactivate anything.”

Morrigan nodded, and looked around at the assembled group. With a nod, the group headed down the civilian quarters.

Halfway there, Morrigan stepped next to Albert. In a low voice, she asked, “You okay, Al? Heard the big cheese… got into your head.”

“Yeah, but luckily Desmond managed to pull me out of it before anything serious could happen,” Albert replied, shrugging slightly. “I’m fit to fight, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Morrigan patted him on the shoulder. “I know you are. Just… lost a lot of good people today. Don’t wanna…” She held her hand up to her ear and stepped away. “What is it? … What? Where? … Well, we’re heading over there now, we’ll keep an eye out.” Morrigan sighed. “Luxuria went missing on her way to the bridge. Everyone, just… keep an eye out for her.”

“You think the girl finally making her move?” Hawke asked, looking directly at Emily. “Perfect time to slip away. Although it could just be a wild goose chase and she is going to see a friend or something like that.” He stated with a shrug.

“I don’t know, maybe. She didn’t say she knew anyone on the ship…but she wouldn’t really know who’s on it anyway,” Emily replied, scratching her head. “Although I did…take off her inhibitor before we left.”

Morrigan’s eyes darted towards Emily briefly, and she shook her head. “We’ll… deal with it if need be, but I’d like to give her the benefit of…” She was silenced by the sound of gunfire up ahead.

 

[Adrammalech]

Operation War’s Conquest: Part Two

Luxuria walked through the sweeping hallways of the Temple Ship, needing to put in an active effort not to revert to floating. The lights flickered every now and then, alarms going off in some sectors, nothing surprising for a ship under attack. She looked over at the other civilians coming through the hallways, including the Commander and Acedia. She noticed one of the screens in the hallway showing an environmental failure rather than a foreign invader, her head tilting in curiosity before she and Acedia heard a small voice squeaking behind her.

I-I’ll save you…

Luxuria stopped in place, searching for the source of the message. Acedia briefly looked around, but quickly gave up and kept walking. Luxuria noticed a small Ethereal head poking out from around a corner, a small pistol held in its hands. She walked towards it and the child quickly pulled the trigger on the recognizable toy, lights blinking rapidly across its surface.

Calm down, I am one of you. Luxuria stated in her feminine voice, cozening and clear in the Ethereals’ native language.

Y-you don’t l-look like it…

My body is different so that I can spy on them. Trust me, little one.

O-okay…

You need to go back to your mother, it’s not safe out here.

N-no. I want to help.

“Luxuria, what are you doing over there?” Morrigan shouted, looking at her quizzically.

Luxuria looked back and then forward, noticing that the child was hiding behind the corner as the humans were focused at her.

I am handling the humans. Go to your home.

What about the s-ship…

Ship?

The one that just crashed into us…

“Get over here or you’re going back to the Arkbird,” the Commander scowled.

“Sorry…coming,” Luxuria replied.

Luxuria walked around the corner for a moment and then re-emerged with a placating smile. She caught up with the rest of the civilians and walked alongside them, quiet and orderly. Morrigan shook her head and continued along to the bridge. The real Luxuria, however, kneeled beside the child, content her illusion would keep her keepers happy.

What ship? Who was on it?

T-there was…a b-big yellowy one covered in black…and a big metal r-red one. They crashed into the w-wall…and they s-shot some of mother’s friends…

Show me where.

Luxuria followed the child throughout the temple ship, arriving in one of dozens of hallways cordoned off for evacuated civilians. The damage was noticeable here even though it was far from the point of impact. Pieces of the floor and walls jagged from sudden pressure overloads, dim lights from power being redirected towards life support quarantining, and even more ship alerts whirling and strobing across the walls.

In the center of the hallway were the remaining horsemen, Conquest and War, along with several Thin Men, all armed surprisingly well. Almost all of the energy doors were closed and sealed, but one was open, a male Ethereal standing outside.

“You will stay in your room where you belong,” Conquest ordered.

I will go where I please, I will not take orders from some Balmadaar savage!

He raised his rifle and a female hand pulled him back into the room, a forcefield barely going up in time to catch a burst of plasma.

“Stay in there, like a good animal,” Conquest sneered, turning back towards his crew. “Engine room. Move.”

Luxuria turned towards the child, standing up. Hide.

The tiny Ethereal nodded and backed away, and Luxuria sprinted out into the hallway.

“Not another step,” Luxuria shouted.

Conquest and his entourage turned towards her. “Go back to your war, human. Everything will be solved soon enough.”

“Yes…yes it will,” she replied.

“Hm…I met you, did I not?”

“You met my template, Emily.”

“Template? Then who…”

“My name is Acra’siathi, and you murdered my friend,” Luxuria’s hands began fiercely glowing as she raised her voice, “now you will pay in blood.”

“The humans gave you one of their bodies?” Conquest chuckled. “I knew they would become as corrupt as you. A cleansing is in order, and it is coming quickly.”

“Not if I tear you in half first.”

“Kill her,” he pointed.

One of the Thin Men rushed forwards and froze in place right in front of her, Luxuria channeling fear into the reptile’s mind with little effort. The Dagon flexed his many arms, each cradling a weapon that would take two human hands to wield. Luxuria noticed a haphazardly screwed in plate of alloy in the wall beside him and ripped it out with one telekinetic hand, pulling it into War with enough force to knock him to the ground. She continued to force the plate against the muscular alien even on the ground, her rage allowing her to put hundreds of pounds of pressure on its torso with a simple motion. The metal bent around his frame from the force, pinning the alien's shoulders and rendering him unable to fire.

Two more Thin Men rushed forwards, firing quick shots from plasma pistols that thumped harmlessly into Luxuria’s psionic shield. She fired a jagged lance through the heart of one and lifted the other, tossing it into the wall and caving in its head instantly. With each kill she made, another Thin Man or Muton filed out from the wreck and rushed to Conquest’s side. Knowing what she had to do, she gave a manic grin as she began to create a telekinetic field around the rogue Balmadaar, who simply sat passively. She seethed with her eyes wide and her teeth gnashed, only the malicious smile breaking the otherwise steadfast display of rage.

“Very impressive,” he sneered.

“I’ll show you impressive. I’m going to crush every bone in your body, watch you die slowly and pleading just like you did to my friend. Then I’ll cut off your head and plant it on the front of this ship, so everyone knows what happens to those that cross me. You killed my best friend, my people, and my home…”

Two heavy plates teared off each side of the wall, and another from the ceiling. The plates began to slowly surround Conquest.

“And now you will suffer!”

The Balmadaar raised his hand to stop the two remaining Thin Men behind him, and he casually pulled a pistol on his belt and fired a single shot between the pieces of metal, punching through the lung of the cringing Thin Man at her feet. The poisonous cloud spread around her almost instantly, the gas quickly slipping into her mouth and nose. The violet in her eyes vanished, and she suddenly felt aches in her muscles and soreness in her feet. The plates in her grip fell to the ground, Conquest sidestepping the one above his head. War shoved up with his elbows, throwing the alloy off him as he gathered his weapons again. Luxuria backed away from the cloud, coughing and trying to summon more power into her hands.

“N-no…how…”

“What a surprise, an Ethereal distracted by ceremony,” Conquest laughed heartily, slapping one of War’s shoulders. “Dispose of this abomination so we can proceed.”

Luxuria’s eyes went wide as she stared into the four plasma dragons, each brimming with emerald energy.

 

[Dahlexpert]

Operation War’s Conquest: Part Three
The team rushed over to a flickering energy door, and Morrigan let out a frustrated grunt. “Figures. Maybe it was sabotage after all. Elene, can you get this open?”

The Exalt nodded, and quickly got to work on the door. It opened to a shattered remains of part of the civilian quarters, a ship smashed into the side of it. In the center of the room was Luxuria, coughing and gagging in a cloud of gas as War leveled his four plasma dragons, and fired. Luxuria barely dived aside as a stream of plasma fired through the halls.

Emily sprung into action and moved alongside the walls, raising her carbine and taking a shot at War’s arms, the plasma barely doing anything to its crimson armor.

As the rest of team rushed in, Conquest muttered an unintelligible curse. “Figures they’d come to that creature’s rescue. Come on, we don’t have time for this. Get to environmental. I’ll head to the engine room.”

War and Conquest ran down a hall with most of the Thin Men and Mutons at their side. Four more Thin Men stayed behind, taking shots at the X-COM troops to try and slow them down.

Hawke quickly set up his plasma sniper rifle, using his own arm as a support and firing a shot straight through the neck of a Thin Man, causing the alien to fly backwards and it’s acid deploying well away from the soldiers.

Desmond quickly followed up with the a shot through the head of a Thin Man with one of his revolvers, having to duck down as the other two pinned him down. Albert followed this up with a burst of fire from his plasma rifle, a pair of center of mass shots nailing one of the Thin Men suppressing Desmond, the other burst going slightly wide and impacting a bulkhead to the other Thin Man’s right. Finally, Dorian pulled a hand cannon off his belt, using the opportunity given to slide out of cover and land an easy shot on the suppressed Thin Man.

As the smoke cleared from the entrance to the corridor War and Conquest had run down, Morrigan and Emily helped Luxuria to her feet. “Are you okay, Luxuria?” Morrigan asked. “What happened here?”

Luxuria blinked rapidly, panting from her near-death experience. “Thank you, I would’ve…w-we have to chase them, they have the poison with them,” she stammered.

“The one they used on your homeworld?” Emily asked. “We should go back to the bridge, get back up.”

“No, the ventilation and the engine rooms are down that hall…they could easily kill all the Ethereals on the ship within minutes. And Conquest said something about a ‘cleansing’ for you…”


“Damn it… I knew this would come back to bite me.” Morrigan motioned for the others to follow, and the reached a split to the left and right. Morrigan had seen enough ships to recognize the symbols for the engine room, and assumed the other was for ventilation. Turning to the others, she closed her eyes in thought for a moment. “We… we can’t leave Conquest to try and wreck the ship, or whatever he has planned. That being said… War is the biggest threat. We know he has the poison, and we know he’s going to ventilation.” She pointed to the large scrapes in the wall from the bulky alien’s armor. “Desmond, Albert, Eva, Hawke, Elene, Nick, Sarah, Scarlet, Ogedei, and Kokachin, go after War. The four of us will try to slow down whatever Conquest has planned until you can get to us. Hopefully, we can take him out ourselves.”

“Commander, are you certain of this?” Albert asked. “Even if it’s only a stalling action, taking four soldiers against Conquest is borderline suicide.”

Morrigan slowly nodded. “I know the risks… and I don’t like them. But most of you aren’t even close to full strength, and that Titan isn’t going down easy.” She smiled softly. “Trust me… we’ll be okay. I’m counting on you.”

“Holding you to that, Commander,” Albert replied, his stance easing off slightly.

Morrigan nodded again, and turned to Luxuria, Emily, and Dorian. “You three ready?”

Dorian gripped his reflex cannon, looking Morrigan in the eyes and nodding. “We have to be.”

The fate of all aboard this ship depend on us. Rook added.

“I’m afraid I can’t use my psionics…I’m not much use,” Luxuria frowned.

Morrigan handed Luxuria her plasma rifle, and pulled out a plasma pistol and revolver. “I’ll be fine with these. You know how to use that thing?”

Luxuria cocked an eyebrow as she took it. “This design is not exactly original to your kind…”

Morrigan laughed. “Good point.” She turned to the others, and nodded towards Desmond. “Don’t let him get that gas into the vents, Mr. Walker.”

Desmond nodded, the soldier walking over to Morrigan and giving her a hug. “Don’t you die on us yet Morrigan.”

Morrigan squeezed him back. “I won’t. Cross my heart.” She smiled at the others, and the two teams went their separate ways. As they ran off, from a side room, and group of Mutons rushed out, looked down the two hallways, and ran after the War team.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Operation War’s Conquest: Part Four

The roar of the chasing Mutons made War’s pursuers spin around. Elene held up her rifle and turned to Desmond. “Go! We’ll keep them busy!”

“We can’t…” Desmond started.

“We need to stop War before he kills every Ethereal on this ship. Go!”

Desmond nodded, and waved Eva, Hawke, and Albert to follow him. The rushed ahead, trusting the others to handle themselves. Reaching the ventilation room, War stood before the main controls, simply staring down at them, barely moving.

Eva looked at War. “You know, if this was three hours ago and if you didn't betray us, we might have helped you. But in all honesty, am I the only one that finds it weird that three hours ago we were killing Ethereals and now were helping them?”

War slowly turned around, looking down on the four soldier. His voice deep and booming, he said, “It is an odd turn of events. Why not stand down? You do not have to die for them.”

“Aye, I suppose I could agree with you there,” Albert replied, his rifle still raised and trained upon War. “Though your buddy’s idea of ‘cleansing’... what did he exactly mean there?”

War sighed. “He… he believes you have been corrupted by the Ethereals. He… he believe there is no going back for you, and you must be purged with the rest of the psions. I… I am sorry.”

“Y-you…” Albert growled. “And you let him run off to go kill billions of people who don’t even know what a psion is. If you were just gonna kill the Ethereals, I might have stayed out, but this… This is unforgivable.”

War nodded. “It… it is. I… I am bound by honor to eliminate the Ethereals. They must pay for the death of my people. I am… I am not sure we should go this far, but… it is thanks to Conquest I have gotten this close. I… I must finish this…”

Desmond took a step forward and looked up at War. “If you truly believe that you must answer the near extinction of your race with the extinction of two more than you have no honor. What Conquest is proposing is crazy and you obviously don’t agree. You can still walk away from all of this. We have technology that could save your race War, killing us will wipe all of that away! You kill us, and eventually you kill your race as well.”

“My race is dead!” War roared. “I am the only one left! And… no matter what happens… I will likely die here…” After a moment, War slowly reached up, and pulled his massive helmet off, revealing a stern, scarred face, with blue skin and fish-like features. The helmet fell to the ground with a resounding BOOM. “I hope that your friends are able to stop Conquest. Do… what I am not strong enough to do, just as you have put aside your grievances with the Ethereals to protect their citizens.” He quickly removed the rest of his massive armor. Down to much simpler armor, he cracked his neck. “And if you can kill me… then you will have succeeded.” He reached down and lifted his four plasma dragons. “But either I die here… or all of you do.”

“Oh you gotta be kidding me,” Albert said in disbelief, caught slightly off-guard by the arsenal of weaponry. Snapping off a wild burst at War, the infantry instinctively rushed for the heaviest piece of cover he could locate.

War jumped to the side with surprising speed without his bulky armor, Albert’s attack grazing one of his left arms. He fired his weapons, one for each of his opponents, while moving to cover himself.

Hawke rolled to the side, grabbing a small piece of cover that barely covered his entire body as plasma slammed into where he was. Popping up, he took a quick pot shot and was on the move again.

Desmond had run forward and slid behind cover, firing at War in a hail of bullets from his two revolvers.

Eva ran to cover, but she fell to the ground trying to get to cover. “Damn it body, I know you’re in pain right now, but work with me here.” Eva crawled to cover and tried to figure out a way to fight War.

A few plasma rounds burned through War’s armor, Desmond’s revolvers punching into his shoulders. The titanic alien either didn’t feel it, or ignored it as he recklessly stepped out of cover and slowly brought his arms together towards Hawke, trying to box off any escape attempt.

Hawke watched as the plasma walls came in closer to him and he had the idea to run backwards, jumping up and climbing his way upwards. “Get him off me! I can’t outrun him forever.”

“Oi! Pick on someone slightly closer to your own size!” Albert barked, tucking out of cover and clamping down on the trigger to his plasma rifle, in an attempt to force War off of Hawke or at least score some hits amongst the hail of plasma fire.

War ignored as a few plasma shots hit his upper left arm. The plasma hail got closer and closer to Hawke until the pain finally became too much, and War lost the fight with his own instincts. He ducked back into cover, and got to work reloading his four weapons.

Desmond looked up and saw that War was in cover. Standing up, his shoulder launcher sent a grenade at the massive alien as the psionic soldier went in to get closer.

War dived to the side, escaping the blast but losing a weapon in the process. He fired at Desmond, forcing him into cover again, albeit closer, and turned to Albert, firing with two arms while tossing a grenade with a third.

Eyes widening in shock, Albert legged it for another piece of cover away from the grenade, using the sudden surge in adrenaline coupled with his mods to help avoid the worst of the oncoming plasma fire, the other shots digging deep into his armor. Finding a new cover point, Albert loaded a new charge pack into his rifle, and steadied himself for his next assault.

Snarling a bit, War fired one weapon on Albert, Desmond, and Hawke. With his fourth, he pulled out a rounded object. He threw it, and it landed a few feet from Eva. It started blinking rapidly, and began moving towards her.

“Aw, come on, I’m trying to rest here.” Eva stood up, trying to run from the round object. “Damn it, this is some bull!” Eva pulled out her storm-gun, firing it at the moving bomb, but it exploded, sending Eva flying to the the middle of the room with the front of her armor severely damaged. War grunted, and took aim at the fallen woman.

There was a sharp blast of Hawke’s sniper rifle, aimed at the core of one of War’s gun. Hopping down from his elevated position Hawke ran for Eva and grabbed the back collar of her armor, dragging her away.

Now more than a little annoyed, War tossed away the damaged weapon and steadied his weapons with two arms each. Firing as Hawke reached cover, the concentrated fire forced the sniper to keep moving as the cover fell apart behind him.

 

[BMPixy]

Operation War’s Conquest: Part Five

Eva, still being held by Hawke, looked at War and yelled. “You coward, look at you. You think your winning against us. Ha! You're facing a bunch of beat up humans, especially me! Hell if I didn't fight an alien demigod and whatever the fuck Aya is, I would be beating the hell out of you right now! Heh, you make me laugh you can’t even beat some humans, and you're at a hundred percent. When these guys are at seventy, fifty at the most, and me at twenty, probably less than that. You have no honor.”

War sneered, but his eyes shifted around, less from the taunting, and more because of the mention of his opponents conditions. His firing slowed just enough for Hawke and Eva to get into solid cover, and War shook his head. “There… there is no honor in this. I… I had to give up my honor long ago. I can only hope my people can forgive me when I join them…” He lowered his weapons, and reached into the pockets of his armor, producing four large grenades. He launched them forward, two towards Hawke and Eva, and one each for Desmond and Albert.

Albert reacted instinctively as the grenade arced towards him, dashing to the side to put as much heavy cover between him and the grenade as possible. However, the continued onslaught of stresses upon his damaged servomotors overcame the hasty field repairs, and the legs in the armor promptly seized up as the grenade went off, the wave of shrapnel and plasma ripping into the infantry’s back and knocking him to the ground, precariously close to being exposed to fire.

Desmond watched as the grenade landed near him, the soldier ran towards it, quickly picking up the grenade as he chucked it without thinking where he was throwing it, the explosive going off away from both War and the team harmlessly.

Hawke watched as the two grenades bounced into sight, the sniper and Eva pinned between the two of them. Wondering for a split second whether he should leave the girl for dead, he was already moving before his head told him it was a stupid idea, kicking the grenade that was to the right of them away, sprinting back and jumping on top of Eva as the second grenade went off. Hawke was blown off of the woman, the explosion sending shrapnel into his light armor, pain racking him as the left side of him was burned by the plasma. Rolling to a stop on the ground, he laid bleeding, burned and barely alive, groaning unconsciously from the pain.

Eva turned to her side and saw Hawke bleeding and unconscious. “Damn it.” Eva looked around and sees her squadmates in trouble and pinned down. “Not again, I will not let my team die near me again. I don’t care anymore. I will not let them die like my team in Afghanistan did.” Eva using the wall to lift herself up finally stands to her feet. “This is going to tear me apart, I can’t imagine how much pain I’m going to be in once this is over. But if it mean saving my friends and the civilians, I as a soldier owe it to them. Release restriction to level one.” Eva cries in pain as her body changed. She looked at Hawke and carried him to a new position. “Desmond, shoot at the bastard, force him out of cover. Albert once he’s out of cover aim for his legs, make sure he can’t go anywhere.”

Desmond took a grenade off of his belt, throwing at War and shooting at the alien with his revolver, quickly having to reload and firing again. War blocked the rounds with a plasma dragon, the elerium rounds ripping its insides. He roared loudly, charging Desmond and the fallen Albert, his last weapon raised. He slammed his heavy weapon into the flying grenade, the explosion ripping it apart and sending shards of alloy into his chest, but he continued to charge.

Eva ran towards War as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in her legs. “You stay away from them!” Eva tackles War and throws him away from Desmond and Albert. “You two alright?”

War leapt to his feet, his blue face turning a bit red from anger. He rushed Eva, and slammed his fists into her like a truck.

Eva, being knocked back, actually coughed up some blood “Heh it’s been awhile since I seen my own blood.” Eva smiles arrogantly and yelled. “Is that all you got, come on!”

War snarled. “Do… not… test... me!” He lifted her into the air, and sent a solid, rib crushing punch to her stomach, her enhancements the only thing stopping her heart from exploding in her chest. He threw her across the room, and turned to the soldiers he had lost track of in Eva’s distraction.

As War turned around, Desmond was already on him, his Pulsar flaring at high speed. “You leave her alone!” He thrust his hand forward, straight at War’s midriff, throwing all of his weight and strength to increase the impact.

War stood tall, and barely flinched as Desmond’s hand connected. He glared down at Desmond, mumbling, “Is that all?”

“Not even close.” In Desmond’s other hand flashed, a deep red aura surrounding his mechanical arm as he sent the enhanced punch straight into the alien’s ribs. Pulling back his right, his Pulsar grew bigger and it’s rotations sped up as he pushed himself even further.

War hunched over, and shook his head. He slowly reached towards the side of his armor, but instead lifted his fist and swung it at Desmond’s head.

Desmond duck under it, moving himself behind war and pulling out his katana, stabbing it into War’s back. “Al, shoot him now!”

“Right, my Penultimate Gambit!” Albert yelled back, not having time to retrieve his fallen rifle and instead flicking the switches on his mechanical arm, forcing the pulse cannon to extend. Taking quick aim, the infantry fired off the single shot of the emergency weapon, the lance of light spearing out towards War. War shoved Desmond away and turned towards Albert, just in time for the beam to drill into the left side of his chest, digging halfway through. Blood dripping from his lips, War slowly, painfully stood up, trying one last swing at Desmond.

Desmond - who was still on his knee from the swing before - saw the swing approach and his eyes widened slightly. There was a sharp blast and War’s hand was shot by plasma, causing the alien to pull it back in pain. When Desmond looked over, he saw Hawke drop his rifle and fall back to the ground. “Next...time…” He coughed up some blood, the crimson liquid already drenching his jaw. “Hit my...good eye…” With a weak grin his head laid back down on it’s unburnt side, the sniper not moving.

War held has pierced hand, staring at it as blood dripped to the ground. With a tired look, he rushed Desmond for one last, desperate tackle.

Desmond was already on his feet, holding out both his hands and a large mass of psionic energy storing up in them. As War neared, Desmond closed his eyes and dug in his back foot. “Be with your people.” He opened his eyes, the irises burning a deep red, brighter than their normal red tint as he fired off his psionic lance, all his power being pumped through the suit and enhancing the power of the attack as it hurled towards the Dagon’s heart.

The blast shot through the alien’s chest, blowing out the other side. He dropped to his knees, his vision blurring, his secondary heart the only thing keeping him from dying instantly. He fell back, a small pool of blood spreading around him as he stared up. His life fading, he smiled lightly. “Well… done… humans…” he muttered weakly. “Glad I… didn’t… use it… earlier…”

Desmond stood, breathing heavily as sparks flew off his armor, a slight smoke rising off of it as he fell to a knee. “It’s over…”

“Yes… it is…” War slowly, weakly, reached to his side. He pulled out a large grenade, and held it out to Desmond. “Take… it… has… poison… most powerful… use to… develop… cure…”

He took the grenade, placing it on the ground and putting a hand on War’s. “Die knowing that there was good in you at the end. This will save many lives.”

War nodded, everything going dark. “T… t-tell. Tiala… I… I’m… s…”

“I will big guy…” Desmond pushed himself to his feet, his body screaming out in exhaustion but he forced himself through it. “You still breathing Foulke?”

“Yeah, I am,” Albert replied shakily, propping himself up against a bulkhead, the action prompting him to wince as he leaned against his wounds. “Best go attend to the sniper, pro’lly needs more care than me.”

Desmond nodded, “Make sure Eva is okay. I don’t want to hear about it from the girls that I didn’t protect their ‘mom’.” He joked, slowly walking over to the sniper where he laid. Squatting down, Desmond placed two fingers against his neck, his pulse nearly too light to be felt. “If there is one thing I can thank Viktor for, it is making you guys sturdy as hell…” Placing a hand to his ear, Desmond closed his eyes. “This is Walker. War has been dealt with and the poison is secure. We are going to need a lot of medics down here too...we sure took a beating…” Falling onto his back, Desmond smirked as his exhaustion took him and he fell to sleep.

Eva walked towards Desmond and saw him unconscious. “Aww, he looks so peaceful, makes me want to kick him and wake him up, because I don’t want to carry him. But his body isn't like mine. Sigh, well hopefully your wife doesn't give you any crap for this. Sigh, come on.” Eva began very careful trying not to wake Desmond lift’s him and carries him on her shoulder and she whispers to Desmond “Man your gonna have some very interesting stories to tell your kids. Hay Albert can you get Hawke?” Eva saw Albert also exhausted “Sigh might as well rest too.” Eva noticed blood on her chin “Heh, this was a good day.”

 

[Frostlich1228]

Operation War’s Conquest: Part Six

The squad quickly but carefully entered the massive engine room. Four massive generators covered each corner of the room, connected by pipes glowing with blue-green energy. In the center of the engine room was a large and arcane spire, reflective plating covering the bottom and ending in a large black orb that was cradled in a nest of glowing elerium. The loud hum from the engines almost made them miss the shots from above, and the four dived into cover behind a glowing pipe of energy. Morrigan darted her head up, then back down again before the Thin Men on the catwalks could shoot her head off. She snuck another look, this time lower, and asked Luxuria, “What is that thing he’s working on?”

“I-I don’t know,” Luxuria replied, “it’s nothing of ours…”

“It’s a bomb, you morons.” Conquest finished the final set up, and peaked out from behind it. “You’re interference has told me that simply dealing with the Ethereals will not be enough. Your entire race has been tainted. With the energy from these engines, the cascading explosion will destroy the Curse for good, and all those it has corrupted! Sacrifices will be made…and you have your own foolishness to thank for it!”

“Think about what you’re doing,” Emily shouted, “what happened to aggressive tactics making you as bad as the Ethereals?”

“I believe you humans have a saying; ‘Fight fire with fire’. Maybe acting as aggressive as the Ethereals is the only way to win.” Conquest laughed grimly. “You should know, using their technology, their weapons, their… gift, to beat them.”

Morrigan slid close to Dorian and whispered, “See if you can sneak to the side and get a shot off.”

“But you went too far!” Conquest screamed. “And now you will become them, if not worse! That… abomination with you is proof enough! So… it ends here!” He reached to his side, pulling out what looked like a smoke bomb.

Dorian stealthily moved behind the engine to his left. Hugging the cover, he moved around it to the side to see if he could gain an angle on the alien; finding it, he pulled out his sidearm and aimed carefully towards Conquest’s head, firing a few rounds from the safety of the full cover.

Two bounced off the bomb, a third leaving a sizable dent in his helmet. With a roar of frustration, Conquest tossed the grenade to where Morrigan, Luxuria, and Emily were, and fired a fire rounds towards Dorian with his Plasma pistols. “Kill them!” he yelled up at the Thin Men, and ran over to one of the power conduits.

Morrigan coughed fiercely, ducking out of the poison, and almost getting shot in the process. “What… is this… crap…”

As Emily got away from the grenade and behind the generator, she noticed feeling distinctly different, as though the air around her was less receptive to her being there. A brief attempt at an experiment confirmed that she was no longer able to use psionics. “I think I know…”

Luxuria’s frown deepened. “We’ve got snipers above, a crazy armored guy below, and no psionics…”

“Damn it…” Morrigan looked to her side as Dorian returned. “You have plenty of combat experience, right? Ever been in a situation where you were pinned by snipers and had little time to act?”

“We have a few options.” Dorian stated plainly, “We could take the ladder up and flank them, or we could try to bring the catwalk down.”

Morrigan glanced towards the latters. “Not much in the way of cover up there…” She patted herself down, looking to see what she had been handed with her armor, and looked between Dorian and Emily. “Either of you have anything explosive?”

“Only a matter of time!” Conquest taunted as he typed on the computer before him. The power node started to glow, and a stream of energy shot towards the bomb. He quickly ran towards another node, taking a few shots towards the humans for good measure.

As Conquest shot into their cover, Emily pulled out one of the smoke grenades from her belt, tossing it into the center of the engines. The plume landed just between the open current Conquest had opened and where he was, both covering and blinding him from their movements.

“Okay, um…” Luxuria took a deep breath. “Those conduits that he’s using are user-friendly, they can be turned on and off with simple switches. What he’s doing is a little more involved, so we can turn them off faster than he turns them on…you know, if we don’t get shot.”

Emily presented the gauntlet on her shadow armor, ejecting the wings of its grappling hook. “I can get up to the catwalks without the ladders, but the cloak won’t cover me while I’m zipping through the air. I’ll need the snipers focused on something else…”

“I could feint going for one of the switches. That would force the snipers to target me.” Dorian suggested.

Morrigan nodded. “Alright… alright. Dorian, make a move towards the node. Once the snipers focus on him, Emily, get onto the catwalks and ghost as soon as you can. Luxuria and I will move down the middle and make our way through the smoke. Lux, you’ll deactivate it while I cover you. Everyone got it?”

Luxuria gave a worried nod.

Dorian nodded too, hopping over the cover and making a break for the right node. The snipers locked onto him, taking shots while he ran. Thankfully, his lightning reflexes allowed him to weave between the shots, some just barely missing.

“Go!” Morrigan rushed forward, hoping Luxuria was right behind her.

Emily aimed upwards and fired her grappling hook, suddenly jerking skyward and flinging herself onto the catwalk. Luxuria followed Morrigan over the piping, pointing her rifle carefully and trying to get a bead on Conquest. Not able to spot him through the smoke, she ran over to the conduit, bending over beside it. Wincing from the light and crackling of the free energy, she reached behind the small node and pulled an emergency switch, shutting off the flow running towards the bomb.

As he activated the next node, the energy flowing forth, Conquest could tell from how the bomb was reacting that this was the only one still powering it. He fired wildly in the direction of the other one. “Get down!” Morrigan said, shoving Luxuria to the ground. A plasma round punched into her armor, just barely stopping before it reached her flesh. She hunched over, feeling like someone had punched her in the chest.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Operation War’s Conquest: Part Seven

Luxuria’s eyes went wide as she climbed back up to her feet and saw that Morrigan had been hit. “Are you alright?”

A sniper rifle fired from above, a shot whizzing by Dorian and hitting a generator behind him. As Luxuria looked up, she noticed the second one pointed towards her, just before the offender’s head was shot through by a clean bolt of plasma, Emily quickly moving towards the now vacant nest. Conquest’s imposing figure began to near through the edge of the smoke.

“We should...we should move!” Luxuria shouted.

Morrigan panted heavily, and slowly nodded. She climbed to her feet, and the pair rushed behind cover again. Dorian coming up by them, Morrigan asked, “What… equipment… do you have?”

Dorian quickly showed her the ghost grenade, “I also have a high capacity magazine.”

Morrigan nodded. Reaching up to her earpiece, she said, “Emily, try and take a few shot at Conquest from up there. Luxuria and I are going to take shots at the other sniper while Dorian uses his ghost grenade to take out the other sniper.”

Emily rested her carbine on the railing and fired at Conquest, landing a couple plinking shots on his back as he moved back towards the conduit Luxuria had just disabled. As he ducked behind the generator to activate it again, Emily lost her line of sight. Conquest laughed as he quickly undid Luxuria’s work, two beams now headed into the bomb. The sphere on top of it began to sizzle and glow with energy. Climbing around the piping, he began to move towards Morrigan and Luxuria as they perforated the second sniper on the catwalks.

Seeing his teammates being fired upon, Dorian activated his ghost grenade and lobbed it across the room to give them cover. This left him vulnerable however as he moved to deactivate the first node. Conquest gave a loud grunt of annoyance as his targets disappeared, turning towards Dorian and firing a few shots around the bomb before moving towards the next node.

The assault saw the shots coming, dodging the first two; the third, however, struck him in the shoulder. The force send him rolling to the floor with thud, luckily, his armor had absorbed most of the blast, suffering only moderate burns underneath. Dorian stood up slowly, throwing the lever to deactivate the energy source, then jumping behind the nearby plasma pipe for cover.

“Good work, Dorian,” Emily smiled, though the grin quickly faded when she saw an energy current return on the other side of the bomb. “We can’t bring him down and keep flipping these switches at the same time…we need a trump card.” Emily focused and tried to see Morrigan and Luxuria’s movements under the effect of the ghost grenade, but without psionics, it was near impossible to tell.

“Alright… um…” Morrigan closed her eyes in thought. “Emily, move towards the third node and take aim. Luxuria, move over there while you are still invisible. Dorian, try and get into a position to suppress. I’m going to move towards the node he just activated. Move!”

“Right...” Dorian replied as he moved to the pipe in front of him, using his reflex cannon to keep the massive alien from firing.

Emily began running across the catwalks to get another advantageous position, but a few shots from the covered Conquest forced her to hide behind the Thin Men’s sniper nests instead of finishing her sprint. Luxuria emerged behind one of the pipes, flipping the switch and bringing the beams back down to one. Conquest roared in anger and moved his fire to her, catching her in the shoulder as she tried to get back over the pipes.

“Agh!” Luxuria yelped, dropping down back into cover.

Emily saw her in trouble and used her height advantage to shoot at Conquest, forcing him out from behind the bomb and into Dorian’s line of fire. A couple plasma shots hit home and began eating through his bulky chest armor, but the damage only seemed to make him angrier. He charged across the ground towards Dorian, raising his rifle and unloading a stream of plasma towards him.

Dorian vaulted back over the pipe for cover and fired back at him. As Conquest approached, it was obvious that we would be able to shoot over the small pipe. Dorian recognised this and tried to circle around the engine near him, but was caught in the back by another plasma blast as he moved. The power behind the blast sent him forwards, forcing him to catch his breath.

As Conquest used the break in being fired at the activate the node again, Morrigan reached the one that was on. She looked it up and down, and yanked on the lever, keying out in pain as it didn’t budge. Noting the plasma pistol jammed in it, she dropped down and desperately kicked at it. With the second node firing, she hoped Conquest would go for the third. But as she finally released the improvised block, a tight grip on the back of her neck said otherwise.

“I’ve had enough of you humans!” Conquest spun her around and slammed his fist into her stomach and chest. She was in too much pain to cry out as she fell to the ground, holding herself tightly. The Balmadaar simply pushed her out of the way with his foot as he made she the shut off lever was secure, and made his way to activate the third and final node. “It is over. Simply accept your death. I’ve already accepted mine…”

Luxuria had already ran alongside the edges towards the entrance to nurse her wound, the shot already scarring with what little protection she had. She noticed that the energy door was unusually opened, and barely caught a distortion in the air heading towards her. Her arm shoulder started glowing a faint green as the hidden Ethereal came into view. A-are you… okay?

“I’m fine,” she replied, “but I won’t be if I don’t start shooting…Conquest used something to disable all our psionics…”

I-I know. I was heading back to the Arkbird when I heard the fight. I… I sent word back to the others, and I… I got this. Tiala handed Luxuria a small vial. I… I did what you told me. I… worked on an antibody, but I… only managed to make a small amount.

“Do you have enough for Emily too?” Luxuria asked, cradling the vial.

Should… should be just enough.

Seeing Conquest on his way to the final node, Dorian pushed himself off the floor, fighting through the pain. The rest of his mind clouded as he focused on a single objective, to stop him from activating it at any cost. The assault gripped his weapon and rushed towards Conquest, firing shot after shot while he ran. The constant hits finally taking effect, Conquest’s armor cracked, and the plasma drove deep into his gut. The blow that should have floored him failed to do so, however, the determined Muton driven to push on. As Dorian neared him, he suddenly leaped forward, shoulder tackling the man.

 

[Adrammalech]

Operation War’s Conquest: Part Eight

Emily watched from the catwalks, trying to get a good angle but failing to find a clear shot. Luxuria popped up from behind one of the generators, waving a vial in one hand and showing a glowing psionic display in the other. Emily quickly looked between the fight by the third conduit, Luxuria, and the bomb, trying to put together a plan. As Conquest threw the assault off of him and began typing into the computer on the pipe again, she called out to Dorian.

“Dorian, I have a plan! I need you to damage the ceiling with your cannon so I can grapple across it,” Emily shouted, pointing above the bomb.

Hearing the yell, Conquested turned his attention on Dorian again. The assault looked up at her, then back down at the alien charging towards him. Making a split decision, Dorian angled his weapon towards the ceiling, taking the shot as Conquest ran closer and closer to him. The plasma slammed into the alloy, melting it and causing jagged pieces of metal to hang down.

Emily pulled out the blaster pistol from her belt and aimed her grappling hook, swinging from the railing of the catwalk directly on top of the bomb. The sphere thrummed powerfully underneath her feet, and she pointed the pistol at the back of Conquest’s helmet and fired. The pulse round didn’t do much to his plating, but the sound and impact got his attention.

Conquest snarled, and fired at Emily. She ducked down, protected by the sturdy bomb like he had been. He quickly moved over to the node, finishing his inputs. Emily climbed back on top of the bomb and Luxuria threw the vial towards Emily with psionic assistance, guiding it directly to her hands. She took the cure and her psionics returned, feeling a wave of invigoration working through her head, then her torso, then her arms and legs. Both of her hands started to glow orange as she looked down from atop the bomb, focusing on the electrical currents flowing towards it.

“I don’t think so,” Conquest sneered, leveling his pistol towards her again as he input the last keystroke with his other hand.

The Muton’s eyes widened as a plasma round punched it the wound Dorian had already made in his stomach. He looked over to Morrigan, leaning against one of the generators, having used the last of her strength to fire. As Conquest hunched over in pain, Morrigan grinned. “Good… job… Dorian. Now… finish this… Emily…”

The currents below Emily began to bend away from the absorptive properties of the bomb, distorting towards a cyclonic rift whirling around her on top of the sphere. She groaned with effort as she forcefully ripped the electricity away and into the rift, bending the third conduit into the rift the same way as it fired. She felt an agonizing, splitting pain in her head as she used all of her willpower to keep the electricity away from the conductors, the bomb, and herself; the rift growing larger in every direction as she barely kept it together.

R-Run...

Tiala raised her hands, combining power with Luxuria to form a shield. Noting the prone Commander, she shouted, Dorian! Get Morrigan out of there!

“Just… go… Dorian,” Morrigan wheezed. “You’re… too injured… to save us both...”

Without a second of delay, the frenchman took off towards Morrigan. When he reached her, Dorian lifted her up onto his shoulders and carried her towards the shield. Psionic energy sparked wildly behind them as they moved, fearing he wouldn’t make it in time, Dorian threw Morrigan through the barrier. Just as he reached the edge of the shield himself, a blast of energy jolted through him, his armor acting as a conduit. His muscles locked up and he fell to the ground in arms reach of the barrier. Morrigan reached out, and screamed in pain as she pulled him inside. “Can't let… Ammelia’s friend… die after… s-saving… me…” She yanked forward, and pulled the man behind the shield, the room going dark as she hoped Emily knew what she was doing.

“N-no, you can’t do this!” Conquest shouted, firing his pistol desperately at Emily while clutching his wound, the plasma being thrown off by the massive electromagnetic field in the rift. “A universe without the Curse…I was so close…”

It’ll still be without a curse...it’ll be without you.

The rift grew beyond the piping, the main currents reaching Conquest and disintegrating him near-instantly on contact, only a furious scream to accompany it. As the rift continued to grow out of Emily’s control, the electricity reached back to the conduits, overloading the engine and short circuiting the entire battery of generators. Explosions of sparks burst from the interiors of the engines and the lights shut off, the rift petering out into wind as its sources no longer fed it.

A few moments of darkness and unsettling silence later, the emergency lights kicked on above the room, flickering and clicking as energy flowed to them from other sectors of the ship. Luxuria and Tiala cautiously looked over the team, still safe beyond their psionic shield. Emily wavered for a moment and fell off the top of the bomb, landing hard on the ground beside it.

Tiala hunched over Morrigan and Dorian. I will attend to their wounds as best I can. Please make sure Emily is okay. Her hands glowed a faint green as she tried to at least stabilize them, not having the energy to fully heal them.

Luxuria quickly jumped over the deactivated pipes to get to Emily, lying unconscious on the floor. Her face looked distorted somehow, and blood was seeping slightly out of her ears. Not knowing what to do and beginning to panic, she lifted her up and brought her back to Tiala, placing her gently down beside her.

“Something’s wrong,” Luxuria stated, “can you heal her too?”

I… I will try. My energy is very low, but… but perhaps I can give her back some of the energy she used to save me. Jan’tiala closed her eyes and concentrated. After the three humans worked so hard to save the entire planet, she didn’t want to lose one of them. Come on, Emily…

Luxuria thought hard, flipping through her years of study to figure out the problem. I think it’s her brain that’s the problem… it would make sense…

Tiala nodded, and cautiously placed her hands on the fallen soldier’s head. She struggled, the color draining from her skin again, but after a few moments, she looked up and nodded. I think she’ll live. But we need to get them all back to the infirmary.

A squad of a dozen legion mech rushed into the room, the one in the middle rushed forward, speaking with a familiar voice. “Morrigan! Dorian! What happened? Legion’s been getting alerts all over the ship.” David said through a mech that obviously wasn’t his own.

Tiala nodded. “They… they saved everyone.” She smiled at Luxuria. “As did she. We… we need to get everyone to the ship to heal up.”

The legion androids moved to pick up the injured persons, but David quickly stopped them. “They can’t be picked up! We don’t know if they have some sort of spinal injury we could make it worse. Just go get the doctors here now!”

Ammelia’s father rushed to his best friend’s side, looking over the plasma burns in his armor. Dorian’s eyes slowly opened as David put a hand on his shoulder, “You’re going to be fine, alright? We’ll get you a doctor.”

Hundreds of thoughts ran through Dorian’s head, but was seemed the most pressing. R-Rook? Are you there? Unfortunately, he heard no answer. He simply closed his eyes tiredly, hoping that the worst had not happened to his mysterious advisor.

David looked over at the unconscious psion, noting the droop in her face and the trickle of blood from her ears. “I… I think she’s had some sort of stroke… Forget what I just said, she needs to get to the med-bay NOW.”

Luxuria looked sadly as Emily was carefully lifted by one of the mechs, remembering the seriousness of the term David used. She quickly urged on the mech ahead of the rest and followed behind it. Hang in there, Emily…