Tales of the Praetorians: We Are Legion

[Thevshi]

GM 

Up on the opposite plateau, the glowing Praetorian hovering in the air saw Paradigm dive down into the valley below.  With the heavy weapons finished on this plateau and the individual weapons of the remaining pirates unable to penetrate Seresk's thick hide, the female Praetorian felt she could leave her reptilian comrade alone to finish dealing with the pirates while she went down below as well.

"I am following after Paradigm."  She called out, noting Seresk's simple nod as he faced off with more of the pirates.  Then the energy controlling Praetorian flew out over the edge of the plateau and dove down into the valley bellow.  Already Paradigm had caused some disruption in the pirates' attempts to organize some sort of counter attack.  The other Praetorian decided to add to that confusion.   

Once again the glow around her intensified as she held her hands out in front of her, building up the energy around her.  Then another torrent of rapid energy blasts shot out in a wide cone, tearing through some of the pirates' equipment and striking a number of then.  Another half a dozen pirates were blasted to the ground by the attack, but the two large pirates that had withstood Paradigm's shockwave also weathered the storm of energy blasts, a number hitting them, but to seemingly no effect.

[Tiffany Korta]

The distraction seemed to be working and Sitara little scouting party hadn’t been spotted, or at least they hadn’t chosen to worry about their presence. She unclipped the two parts of her force pike and checked the powers levels just in case, best to be prepared for any trouble ahead after all.

“Okay let’s keep moving but keep an eye out for trouble. I doubt we’ll be lucky enough to get to far in unopposed.”

As she spoke she moved cautiously forward keeping her wits about her for any potential ambushes or other forms of attack.

 

[Thevshi]

GM 

As Traveller moved to catch up with Moon Moth and Huhunu, the telekinetic Praetorian followed along with her.  The pair soon arrived where the other two Praetorians were waiting by the entrance to the cave. 

Up on the plateau, Seresk moved after some of the fleeing pirates, twisting slightly as he swept his tail in a wide arc in front of him.  The heavy spiked end caught three of the pirates as it swung around, knocking them all to the ground and in into unconsciousness. 

Over on the other plateau, the last for pirates still on their feet opened fire on Dragonid and Kharag, a pair shooting at each.  But the pirates' nerves were clearly rattled, as all four missed their targets, although one shot passed very close to Kharag. 

Down in the valley below, several of the pirates fired on Paradigm and the energy controlling Praetorian, but the blasts proved no more effective than had the prior attacks.  However, a number of pirates moved up holding what appeared to be heavier weapons...

[Exaccus]

Moon-Moth is quite happy to be on the move again, he always feels nervous standing still planet-side, back on lantern the furious wall of atomic fire that was the dawn moved with startling speed and loosing track of it for even a moment could prove agonizing and fatal, he was however much more relaxed within the tunnels precipice. even as he walked at the rear of the espionage team he kept his eyes as front and center as the stationary orbs could be held and even in his enthusiasm stop breathing to reduce the noise he was producing.

[Mad Scientist]

The rest of the squad closed the remaining distance as Hūhunu finished the threat assessment of the immediate area.

"Clear," the marine reported.  "Moving forward; I'll pause at any divergent corridors, and will report contact."  Reactivating the perception filters, the small armoured form became difficult to notice and slipped away, heading deeper into the tunnel.  Hūhunu's weapon was out, the selector setting on stun.  Not that there was an issue with killing pirates if it came down to it, but killing was generally quite noisy, and the stunner, while limited to close range, was a much more subtle tool.

Besides -- once an enemy becomes incapacitated, killing becomes a matter of choosing methodology....

[ca_lazerdwarf]

As the other Praetorians left Kharag and Dragonid alone on the plateau, Dragonid glared at the remaining pirates still standing in front of him. They did not heed warnings, they did not recognize the obvious superior force. "Will some fires beneath your feet teach you to run?" he asked them, blowing out a long stream of flame which he bent to his will.

The flames danced across the ground, a trail of flames leading to each of the pirates in turn. The hungry frames licked at the pirates legs, but one managed jump nearly completely out of the way, and of the others only one was unable to beat the flames away.

[RobRX]

For one of the pirate left standing, it ended up being a rather bad day as he soon experienced what others had moments before, as a calloused alien fist connected to his jaw. The pirate found itself knocked off it's feet and knocked out cold with a single punch.

"Is this truly all you pirates have to offer?" Kharag shouted. He then pointed to the last two; "What about you, scum? Or you?" The alien (former?) king's face twisted into a mocking grin. "No of course not, none of you are a match for me."

[Thevshi]

GM 

Back in the cave, Huhunu led the rest of the stealth team forward, moving quickly through the narrow cave.  It was not far before the narrow cave opened up into a larger space behind some outcropping rocks.  Moving carefully ahead of the others, Huhunu found they were on a small ledge, overlooking a larger chamber below.  Within that large chamber sat a larger spacecraft nearly the size of a cruiser.  It had been augmented with welded on armor and weapons which were clearly not part of its original design.  There were a pair of smaller spacecraft as well, and around them all were dozens of pirates, rushing about trying to prep the vessels for takeoff, or grabbing weapons to go out and fight the Praetorians out in the canyon. 

Out in the canyon, several of the pirates had started to get organized in trying to repulse the attacking Praetorians.  A trio of pirates were directing others into position, some of which were armed with heavier weapons than the personal blasters most had been using thus far.  The two hulking pirates that had withstood Paradigm's shockwave and the barrage of energy from the glowing Praetorian both rushed forward toward Paradigm. 

The pair were nearly as large as Seresk, towering above the young Naram as they attacked.  Paradigm easily sidestepped the first attack, the pirate’s large fist smashing up rock and dust as it created a small crater.  She then caught the second attack one with one hand, her smaller hand holding the much larger one tightly, stopping it altogether.  

[Thevshi]

As Paradigm held the much larger hand of one of the hulking pirates with only her left hand, she could feel the pirate's powerful muscles trying to pull it back free.  But as strong as the pirate was, the deceptively small Naram was stronger still.  She spotted a slight look of worry come over the pirate’s face as it realized it was not going to be able to easily overpower her.

"You would do well to consider surrender."  Paradigm stated to the pair of pirates that had moved in to engage her.  To which she immediately followed up with a powerful upper cut with her free hand against the pirate who's fist she had stopped.  

WHAM 

The blow caught the pirate directly under the chin, the force of the blow echoing through the canyon.  The pirate’s head snapped backward, as it was lifted off its feet and sent flying backward nearly thirty feet to crash back down on the rocky ground.  Dust kicked up around it, and the pirate groaned slightly as it tried to push itself back upright, dazed, but not yet out of the fight.

[Thevshi]

GM 

After checking briefly to ensure Paradigm had things well in hand with those two large pirates, the glowing Praetorian still hovering in the air turned her attention back to the other pirates preparing to launch a counterattack.  Deciding the pirates armed with the heavier handheld weapons appeared to at least have the possibility of being a more serious thread, the Praetorian decided to focus on dealing with them first. 

She once again began focusing energy between her hands for a few moments, before launching another barrage of rapid blasts towards the gathering pirates.  Once again dust and rock chips were kicked into the air, as multiple pirates were blasted off their feet and unconscious.  As the dust settled however, there were still three pirates standing, although injured, and a forth who had been knocked off his feet, but was not unconscious. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Sitara took a couple of seconds to assess the situation and came up with the beginnings of a plan, simple but to the point.

“Okay let’s go for the basic plan. You two go down and disable the ship's engines, stick to the shadows until you sure but make sure the engine are taken out.”

She took the two pieces of her power pike and connected them together extended it, she took a crouched position with the pike over her shoulder.

“I’ll stay here and give support, if trouble starts call I’ll be there straight away.”

[Thevshi]

GM 

With the plateau he was on all but clear of pirates, Seresk turned his attention to the valley below.  The reptilian Praetorian leapt into the air, falling down into the valley below like a meteor.  The hulking figure landed on one of the pirate's fighters that was being prepped for launch, causing a bit of damage to the vehicle, but not completely crippling  it. 

With Paradigm still in melee with one of the large pirates, the group of pirates with heavy weapons that had been taking aim at the Naram shifted their attention to the newly arrived Seresk.  Four pirates opened fire with their standard blasters, but not with any goal of actually hitting the Praetorian, instead trying to help their allies with two heavy blasters target the larger figure. 

The pair of pirates wielding the heavy blasters opened fire on Seresk, the first somehow missing the large figure, while the second managed to score a direct hit.  Seresk felt the blast, which managed to hurt him, even through his thick scaly hide.  But the injury was far from sever, as the Praetorian shifted his attention to the pirates with the heavy weapons. 

Another group of pirates took aim at the glowing Praetorian hovering in the air in the valley.  Another four opened fire with their blasters, once again trying to assist their companions with the heavy weapons in hitting the glowing target.  As had happened with Seresk, only one of the pirates with a heavy blaster managed to his the Praetorian, the powerful blast managing to hurt her some, but again failing to completely remove her from the fight.

[Mad Scientist]

"Yes ma'am," Hūhunu replied to the Traveller, although for a fleeting moment wished for the presence of a senior NCO to give specifics to the directive of 'disable the engines'.  Entering the ship by stealth and assaulting the engineering section would undoubtedly be effective, but most likely not very efficient for time consumed.

Sticking to the shadows wouldn't be difficult -- for all practical purposes, the armour provided any shadows it needed in order to remain unobserved, even if it wasn't a matter of light or the lack thereof that was involved in the function, as far as it was understood by most of the marines who wore it.  Perception filter active, it was a simple matter for Hūhunu to remain unobserved.

Of course, that was far from the only trick the impressive piece of technology had to offer.  Stepping forward off the edge, the gravity leveller reoriented until 'down' was now the vertical surface of the wall, and the little marine moved swiftly and silently down -- or forward, depending on your perspective -- toward the huge ship in the cavern below.  It took only a matter of seconds to descend to a point where the engines didn't seem to be shielded by the bulk of the ship -- a very difficult shot in ship-to-ship combat between two vessels moving with six disparate vectors, but simplicity itself with a static firing point and target, at such close ranges.

Flicking the carbine's selector switch to long-beam, Hūhunu took aim on the ship's portside engine and half-depressed the trigger, starting the several-second charging required to fire the almost-undetectable high-frequency microwave beam and hopefully cripple the ship's ability to take off.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Dragonid jumped off the empty plateau, flying down into the valley to seek out new targets. The pirates were not putting up much of a fight, but still refused to surrender. Not as cowardly a lot as he expected, but still no real threat.

He saw one Praetorian raining energy bursts down on a group of pirates that mostly shrugged off the assault. Her name escaped him, too many new allies too quickly. No matter, Dragonid rushed down to help, sending a tight fireball down amongst the pirates, but the dusk the energy controller had kicked up obscurred his view and his his attack harmlessly hit the empty ground.

[Exaccus]

Moon-moth nods silently and with a flick of his antenna and a crackle of his signature prismatic energy broadcasts his arcane mirage across the hanger, at first it seems like nothing much is happening, the ground quakes with fury of the battle above thrumming through it, making smaller stones skitter along the floor like rice on the skin of a drum, it is then that the fractures begin to form in the walls and floors of the environment with crisp clear cracking sounds, 

"The dangers is Illusionary, friends, but hopefully it will cause confusion and panic upon which we may capitalist." he whispers even as with a dull hiss plumes of sickly green gas begin to poor from the ground in acrid smelling torrents, clearly in the image of Tibanna gas a famously volatile form of chemical fuel toxic enough to kill in extended exposure.