This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
Operation Flooded Sphere #2
Oxaris advances into the room. After seeing the overturned table and the call for backup, she fires a burst at the hostile to keep him suppressed. "Contact," she informs her team over comms.
Suppression isn't particularly required considering the table is of the cheap variety mass produced by some future (probably) Swedish company. The sort that always provides one less screw than you need for assembly. The table screwed Justin during its build day, causing him to search the entirety of the house for that one last screw, blaming himself for a thing that never was day and night before finally accepting the cold, harsh truth: There
never was a screw. And now? It was screwing him again. The table is shredded wide open and Justin's inability to get his armor powered in time means Oxaris' weapon tears through him like a hot knife through butter. The door to the next apartment over slides open and a woman, dark skinned and shaved head, peers just beyond the doorframe. She curses under her breath and the sound of her heavy breathing is audible over the mayhem. She's scared. She
gathers up all the courage she can muster and leans out into the hallway, firing her Avenger at Tank with gritted teeth.
Oxaris hums once but moves on. She does a thorough sweep of the room before announcing it's clear. She makes a hand gesture for Renala to move back out, waiting for her before following.
Renala sighs and steps further away from the door, aiming towards the gunfire. "Let's offer them one chance to surrender," she says over comms.
Tank seems unaffected as the shots ping off her omni-shield, and she calls out over comms "I've got one in the hallway!" before popping her pistol over the top of the shield, firing off a shot as accurate as she can manage without leaning out of cover to take aim.
(Comms)[Serena] "Fuck! They're overriding my control! The hangar door is opening. I'm going as fast as I can to prevent it, but they're already working on getting a gunship in the air! If you're still in the sky, I'd recommend preparing for evasive maneuvers! I might be able to seize control and reactivate their AA defense. If I override their IFF tags, it should open fire on the gunship, but that won't stop it from firing at our shuttle,
The woman's position in the doorway makes her a difficult target to hit. Given Tank's need to aim around her shield, she has ample time from her dug-in position to return to cover to avoid the shots. She seems ready to continue trading gunfire. "Who the fuck are you!? Drop your weapons!" she orders, but doesn't bother waiting for a response before swinging out and emptying another volley of gunfire in Tank's direction.
Oxaris follows outside and aims at the woman. "They've engaged. Put them down," she says simply, firing a burst at the woman. "Tank, push up."
Tank calls out as loudly as she can over the sounds of the gunfire, remaining unfazed by the shots. "We're here for the people you kidnapped! Surrender!" she shouts before lifting the shield slightly and starting to move forward at a crouch.
The third door slides open as well. An asari peers out into the hallway briefly before darting her head back inside. "You picked the wrong party to crash!" she threatens, "How about you surrender and we'll let you join them rather than putting you in the ground!" Rather than exposing herself, she merely blindfires her Predator pistol around the corner, her shots wild and undisciplined. The dark skinned woman fires another volley at the team.
Despite the fact that she's clearly no marksman, her defensive position definitely gives her a leg up on the approaching team. The closer they get, the more likely she'll get an angle to clip them.
Renala enables her omni-tool and tries to access door phones, and various other sound systems. She moves to stand beside the door, hoping tank keeps the hostiles occupied. "I'll try open a channel with them," she says. "Here's hoping the rest of them don't have a death wish."
Victoria activates her comms "I have landed the shuttle on top of Charlie's roof. If that gunship is in the air, I should be able to deal with it." Vicky then locks her phaeston onto her back and moves into the shuttle to get the missile launcher, once she had found it, she walked out of the shuttle and waited for the gunship to appear.
It takes Renala a few moments, but as she patches into the floor's door intercomms, she's able to hear jumbled, overlapping talking coming from a couple of the apartments as well as the gunfire bleeding into the system. "-...to get down to the basement and gear up! Defend the cargo at all cost! If these assholes don't kill you and you let them take the cargo, you can bet your ass that Mertius will! Go!" a turian voice can be heard through the
Oxaris takes a moment to aim, leaning slightly to angle herself better. A shot or two strikes her shields, but she pays it no mind. She fires another burst as the HUD shows a location she can boost forward to to get an angle on the doorway. Whether or not she takes it, depends.
Oxaris would likely have little issue boosting in to get an angle on the woman with the Avenger, but it would undoubtedly leave her exposed to the asari and stranded in the middle of a hallway with no cover, a good distance from her squad.
(Comms) [Amiliax] "Flank? How-..." a loud crack sounds out over comms, drowning out the rest of Amiliax' words.
[Rayze] The distinct sound of a Graal Spike Thrower sounds off followed by thunderous laughter. "Cheap walls! Found a nice place for a new door. Clear!"
Renala frowns. "They're headed to the basement to gear up," she says over comms to her teammates. "I don't think surrender is an option they have." She tries checking if she can access the doors downstairs, but if not, she'll target the power systems instead. If the former succeeds, she'll lock them and alter access codes. If the former fails and latter succeeds, she'll cut power to the basement, even backup power.
Oxaris decides against it. While speed is vital, squad cohesion is more of a priority. After hearing Rayze over comms, she looks to the walls, estimating points where a breach could be possible.
Tank lets out a frustrated grunt at the defiant asari, and then unclips a flashbang from her belt, shouting out "Dropping shield, fall back!" over comms before tossing it down the corridor with the goal of landing it near her doorway.Immediately after the detonation, she drops her shield and storms into the open door just to her side, aiming a heavy punch at where she expects the human woman to be.
It's not long before a shape rises into the sky to the north of Vicky. One doesn't need to be a pilot to spot the distinct design of a Mantis gunship heading Vicky's way.
(Comms)[Serena] "Alright! I've got their systems locked down! Time to work on making sure this jackass can't counter my progress. As far as I can see, most of the colony's priority systems can be accessed from here. If you need something done, just say the word!"
Oxaris is safe to assume that- should the apartment units all follow a similar design layout- the wall beyond the small dining area should lead into the kitchen of the next apartment. The eastern
wall of the closet would lead into the bathroom of the next apartment. As the flashbang goes off, a pained shriek can be heard escaping the asari. The bullrush catches the woman in the doorway completely by surprise, the powerful punch laying her completely out. As she falls to her back, there's a nearly immediate reaction around her right eye where the punch landed, the swelling already beginning to take place. Her eyes flicker, the lights
behind them threatening to go out due to the introduction of gauntlet to bare skull, but she grips her Avenger tightly. Further into the apartment, a man is whispering into his omni-tool near the kitchen area. As he spots Tank, his eyes dance to the side, locking onto something just out of sight of Tank.
Oxaris is confident Tank can handle herself. Now, she jets forwards to the wall leading into the asari's apartment. She quickly plants a breaching charge, primes it and moves away. If all this went off without a hitch, she would blow the wall and storm inside, hinging on shock and awe.
Oxaris follows Tank into the apartment, leaning around her to sweep the room. Seeing the man, she snaps the weapon to him and fires a burst.
Renala finds little issue accessing the systems in the basement, but there seems to be no indication that the basement doors are on the same network as the rest of the apartment. She's able to kill the power down there, but there either doesn't seem to be any backup power, or it's inaccessible remotely.
Victoria moves to the northern edge of the building's roof and begins to aim at the gunship "Gunship is in the air. Gonna take a few shots at it with the missile launcher." She said over the comms as she fires a single shot at the gunship.
Tank rips the Avenger away from the woman she punched and then aims the pistol in her right hand at the man in the kitchen. She's about to offer the unarmed man a chance to surrender when Oxaris opens fire.
Renala sighs. "I cut power to the basement," she says over team comms. "I have no intel on the basement doors' status, but this should buy us some time."
The man winces as Oxaris raises her weapon at him. The omni-tool falls from his hands and he brings them up in front of his face as he clasps his eyes shut. He draws one last breath as the gunfire tears through him and his lifeless body falls to the ground. The woman at Tank's feet tries lifting her head from the floor, a small pool of blood forming behind it from the collision it made with the ground. She looks completely out of it. The Mantis
dips low and a bright, blinding flash erupts from the tail end, firing high into the sky. Vicky's HUD signifies that the missile lost its lock. It attempts to chase the flash, getting confused numerous times and switching targets before sailing ineffectually overhead and out into the distance.
Oxaris lowers her weapon. She taps Tank on the shoulder and waves her to check the back of the room. She turns around and leans out the doorway, keeping a guard on the corridor.
(Comms)[Xavier] "Clipped one and they pulled back. I'm movin' down to secure the landing-... Oh yeah! I hear you motherfuckers! Keep runnin'! I'ma catch your ass!"
(Comms)[Xavier] "Yeah! Right! Roger! Ten-four, boss! I feel ya!" The line goes quiet for a few moments. "Over."
The woman on the floor is clearly no longer a threat to anyone. Her eyes drift close soon enough as blood continues to pool behind her. As Oxaris exposes herself to the corridor, the asari opens up with her Predator, firing wildly at the turian.
Tank clips the Avenger to her back and then activates her shield as she moves further into the apartment. She stops at the dead man, looking down at him in silence for a moment, but she quickly moves on to check the rest of the rooms, starting with whatever the man was looking at out of view.
As Tank moves further into the apartment, the object the man was looking at becomes clear. A holographic frame on the wall just above the small dining table. Him with his arm around the woman in the doorway's shoulder, big smiles on both of their faces. The image shifts into another, but it's more of the same, just the two of them. Obviously a couple. The rest of the apartment is clear.
Victoria gives a growl and fires another shot at the gunship "Hey Bravo, wanna see if you can get those AA defence up? Don't want to waste all the missiles on it." She wanted to save some missiles in case they were getting chased during their escape.
(Comms)[Serena] "Uhhhh sure..." she says, sounding quite distracted, "It's gonna take me a few, though! I've got the hangar doors under control so we shouldn't be getting any more unexpected company. Just hang tight and I'll see what I can do!"
Renala keeps listening in on the building comms, even after she shuts off her omni-tool's projection. She refrains from speaking to the group, finding the flow of intel more valuable than trying to incite an improbable surrender. She draws her weapon and moves over to the other doorframe.
Oxaris ducks back into the room and hums. She looks to the wall leading into the next apartment and pulls off a breaching charge. She attaches it to the wall and primes it.
Tank curses quietly, looking at the turian in the doorway, her expression hidden under the helmet. After sweeping the rest of the apartment she calls out "Clear." over comms and stomps back into the hallway, crouching slightly as she resumes her previous tactic, taking cover behind her shield and slowly approaching the next door.
With Oxaris out of the way, the asari takes a couple of potshots in Renala's direction as she moves for the doorframe. She pulls back into her doorframe, quickly trying to place another thermal clip into her pistol. As Oxaris detonates the breaching charge, the entire room shakes, the thunderous sound reverberating throughout the building. The wall caves inward, flinging plastic shrapnel everywhere and decimating the picture frame on the
wall. As the dust clears, Oxaris finds herself staring into another, nearly identical apartment unit. The kitchen counter was on the other side of the wall, but the cabinets and countertop are slung in every direction. The asari is out-of-sight, but logically would be around the corner to the right of Oxaris from the kitchen.
The Mantis regains some altitude once the first missile misses but the pilot doesn't have enough time to launch countermeasures against the second. The autocannons on the underside of the Mantis begin to stir, roaring to life with a high squeal just as the missile impacts the belly, causing the gunship to list wildly to its right and sending a vollet of gunfire into the side of the apartment complex. The high powered cannon fire effortlessly
penetrates the hallway, making a diagonal trail across Tank's path and narrowly missing her. The Mantis nearly spins out of control for a moment before the pilot rights the aircraft. The lack of kinetic barriers becomes clear as the missile makes contact, but the gunship seems to have a decent amount of plating. Once the smoke has cleared, the autocannon begins to whir to life once again, but the smoke billowing from it due to the missile strike
Oxaris storms into the room, checking her left to make sure it is clear, before swinging right to target the asari. If left was clear, she would fire a burst into the asari.
Victoria fires one last missile at the gunship as it was spinning out of control, believing that the pilot would not have enough time to use counter measures, while they tried to get it under control.
Renala frowns as the gunfire shots going through the wall. The asari's shots ping off her shields effortlessly. "We outnumber you, and just cut off your supply," she calls out, partly lying in an effort to demoralize. "Tell your people to surrender."
Tank stumbles, caught completely off-guard by the sudden cannon-fire, and goes immobile for a moment, letting the shield rest against the floor as she looks off to her side in the direction of the autocannon shots. "What was that?!" she shouts out over comms, unwilling to move forward while she's at risk of being shot from outside.
As Victoria suspected, the pilot is far too busy trying to maintain control of the Mantis to dodge the follow-up missile. It seems as if two is the magic number here, as the Mantis swings wildly to its side the moment the second missile makes contact with it. Unable to maintain altitude, the gunship sails downward, crashing loudly into the side of the apartment building, decimating the final apartment unit on the floor Charlie is clearing before
ping-ponging into Alpha's apartment complex ineffectually and crashing to the ground. Smoke begins to billow up between the buildings.
The asari slams another thermal clip into her Predator pistol, pressing tightly up against the doorframe as the entire foundation is rocked by the breaching charge and the gunship crashing into the side of the building. "Shit! Fuck!" she cusses nervously to herself as the hallway is engulfed in Mantis gunfire. "Yeah, surrender! That's gonna happen!" she shouts sarcastically as she recovers, her voice shaky. "How about-..." she begins, but her
voice trails off as she glances to her side, looking down the barrel of Oxaris' weapon. "Shi-..." her words are silenced as the burst dances across her chest and she goes limp, sliding down the wall.
Oxaris snaps her weapon up as the apartment shakes from the collision. "Sit-rep, what just happened?"
Tank remains steady as the building is rocked, thanks to the motorized joints of her armor and her stable position, and after the asari is taken out she looks around, apprasining the situation. "Don't know, I think something just blew up in the last apartment. Moving in to investigate." she says before advancing down the corridor, no longer crouched, prioritizing speed as she nears the blown-out apartment and inspects it.
Victoria keeps herself stable as the gunship crashes, she then gets back onto the comms "Gunship is down. See about getting those AA defences up. Want to keep some missiles in case they try to follow us."
Renala looks on wide-eyed at the burst on the end of the hallway. "Fuck!" she shouts. "This is fucked up, and they seems to be more afraid of Mertius' punishment for surrender," she speaks into comms. "Check the next door and get ready to move downstairs," a sigh, "I'll keep an eye on the stairs." She prepares her biotics and raises her Punisher at the staircase.
Tank remains steady as the building is rocked, thanks to the motorized joints of her armor and her stable position, and after the asari is taken out she looks around, apprasining the situation. "Don't know, I think something just blew up in the last apartment." she says before starting to advance towards the fourth door, remaining crouched behind her shield.
Oxaris huffs. "Tank, I'll go through the wall. See what you can do about that door. We'll go in at the same time, catch the occupants off guard." She sets up another breaching charge on the wall, figuring the same layout applies to the next. She backs away and patiently waits for the go ahead.
(Comms)[Rayze] "The fuck is going on out there? Felt the whole building just shake! One down! Can't get a shot on that asshole in the doorway!"
The asari's apartment is clear, Oxaris spots no more hostiles. Its layout is quite similar to the previous units. The red interface of the door before Tank indicates it's locked. The stairs Renala approaches are clear, but there's some muffled chatter echoing from down the stairwell.
(Comms)[Serena] "Yeah, I can do that. But we'll need to shut it down before we're getting out of here so let me know before you takeoff! The AA guns won't discriminate between friend and foe!"
Tank lowers her shield and stands in front of the doorway. "Going to try manual breach. Grab their attention for me." she says before holstering her pistol and clenching her gauntleted right hand into a fist, appraising the strength of the door.
Oxaris tilts her head slightly. "Manual...? Understood." She detonates the charge, but doesn't head on in yet. This turian had the most time to prepare, so she's hinging her bets that he might have something a little more coordinated that the others.
Renala keeps her weapon aimed at the stairs down, counting on Steels to cover the roof. She does not report anything yet.
As expected, the turian is pressed against the doorframe of his bedroom, fully armored in a blue and black hardsuit. The breach causes mild confusion, causing him to fire his Avenger wildly in the direction of the breach. "This is the only chance I'm giving you fuckers to put down your weapons and walk out of this cleanly! Mertius isn't going to let you assholes fuck with his operation! When he gets here you're all dead! Understand me!?" he
threatens, moving to the opposite side of the bedroom doorframe to break line of sight with the breach.
Tank waits for the sound of the breaching charge, the servos in her arm whirring as they charge up. A moment after Oxaris breaches she slams her fist into the door as hard as she can manage before dropping back, going down to one knee and raising her shield.
Victoria switches from the missile launcher and takes out her phaeston and begins to keep an eye out from the roof.
The muffled voices from the stairwell become louder. They don't appear to be getting closer, just-... louder. Shouting. It seems as if a heated argument is brewing downstairs, but the exact details are hard to make out. One thing is quite clear, however: they have a krogan. His booming voice is hard to miss.
The upper half of the door caves in, splintering outward from the point of impact. The turian leans out from his cover, firing another volley at the hole that wrecked his kitchen before catching sight of Tank and shifting gears, aiming in her direction. "Didn't you hear me!? Give it up! It's over! You lost!" he continues to threaten.
Renala raises her brows. "Fuck, they have a krogan," she says, lowering her voice. "I can't parse what they're saying, but it sounds like an argument to me. They're not moving up yet, so continue your search."
Victoria would be able to see quite the crowd piling up along the Dome's inner wall. The walkways are lined with people watching the destruction play out, hands over mouths in disbelief. On the street level, a few people have began exiting their apartments. A small crowd is gathered just outside a prefab-turned-bar up the street with a big, tacky sign identifying the place as "Karla's".
(Comms)[Serena] "AA guns are online but they're not getting anything else off the ground. I'm not picking up anything on approach, either. I think we're in the clear for now. Let's hurry this up before that changes."
Oxaris storms in and sights the turian. She fires off an overload at him and fires her weapon afterwards, aimed straight for his head.
Victoria begins scanning the crowd of people for any threats. She wanted to make sure that there were no reinforcements on the ground near.
It's unclear as to who may or may not be threats. None of the people on the street level are armored, but a few do have visible weaponry holstered.
The turian's shields crackle as the overload pegs him, but the shots miss their mark as he attempts to swing back into cover, pinging against his hardsuit. Once the door is torn from the frame, the room falls entirely silent. No sounds come from the bedroom. After a few heartbeats, seemingly realizing he's out of options and isn't getting out of this situation alive, the turian storms free from the bedroom door, focusing fire on Tank in an
Oxaris tracks the turian, but there is little she can do to down him while her overload recharges and her burst fire won't be sufficient enough to being him down. "Tank, get him back in here!" She says as she holsters her weapon. Her omni-blades spring to life, emitting a light sheen to the room. She would move behind him and wait to see how things play out before
Whatever is going on downstairs seems to be getting quite heated. The krogan's thundering voice echoes up the stairwell. "COWARDS!"
Victoria holds her phaeston and rests it on her shoulder, with her free hand she points down the street to the Karla's sign and then does the hand gesture for drinking. Hopefully they understood those gestures.
Tank is an unfortunate choice for a last ditch attack. Most of the shots ping fruitlessly off her omni-shield, while the few that make it past and strike the edges of her kinetic barrier are insufficent to bring them down. She drops to a crouch as she comes under fire, firing a shot from her pistol over the shield and hoping that Oxaris can take him out while he's distracted.
The turian continues to come at Tank with reckless abandon, mouth agape as he shouts nonsense at her, Avenger bouncing against his shoulder as shots ring out. Her pistol shot strikes him, causing his shields to flicker.
Oxaris charges at him, the range too short to add her propulsion to the mix. She makes to sweep out his legs with one of the omni-blades. If successful, she would bring the second blade down to thrust through his stomach, dropping to one knee as she does so.
(Comms[Amiliax] "Hostages secured! We had to blow the barrier to get to them, but we're ready to extract! We're on our way to the roof now."
The turian's shouting is ended mid-breath as his legs are swept out from beneath him, sending him sprawling backwards. As the blade is plunged into his stomach, he's forced to the ground with a heavy thud. His grip on his weapon falls slack as he stares lifelessly up at the ceiling.
Tank stands up after the turian is elminated, motioning for Oxaris to sweep the room as she turns back to the doorway and activates her comms. "Amiliax, repeat. You have the hostages? Are all of them accounted for?"
Renala keeps her gun trained on the stairwell, getting to a knee to better use the landing as cover should the krogan move up. "Copy that, Alpha," she says. "Krogan may be coming upstairs, so hurry with your search, Charlie."
Victoria mutes her exterior comm unit and activates her internal one, so only the teams can hear her. "Understood Alpha. Make your way to the roof and hold. Bravo, turn off the AA defence for now." She keeps her eyes on the crowd of people while she waits.
(Comms)[Amiliax] "Negative, Charlie. We have six. That's five short of what we came for. They're in pretty rough shape, but they're alive. They were locked up in the basement. We didn't face much opposition, but we swept the entirety of the building and I'm confident that there's no chance that the remaining hostages are here. Moving to the rooftop."
The people outside don't seem to be paying much mind to Vicky's suggestion. They seem to be approaching the apartments. Possibly to get a better look at what's going on. Possibly to join in. It's impossible to tell.
Oxaris deactivates the blades and rights herself. She draws her SMG and presses the stock into her shoulder, sweeping the interior.
Tank steps out into the hallway, starting to head back towards Renala. "Understood, Alpha. We're still searching." Upon approaching the asari she re-activates her shield, crouching down and assiting in watching the stairwell as they wait for Oxaris to join them.
The apartment seems to be empty. Without Alpha in the fight and nobody left on the floor to shoot at Charlie, it falls eerily silent.
(Comms)[Serena] "Annnnd, done. AA weapons offline. Sounds like we're almost ready to bug out. I'm going to begin wiping their surveillance. Let me know when you're en route to pick us up."
Oxaris exits the corridor and jogs down to the rest of her squad. She nods her readiness. "Let's finish this up."
Victoria activates her comms "We got a crowd of people out front guys. Might need to fire a few shots in the air to get them to back off." She awaits confirmation from Redrock's team leader.
Renala points down the corridor with her gun. "This is going to be risky," she says, not over comms. "They've got people down there waiting for us. Take point, Tankovich. Ortoratus and I will follow, but don't walk too close." She then gets on the comms. "Negative, Steels, that could be taken as a sign of aggression," she says. "The shuttle has speakers, right? Try talking them down."
Tank nods and starts moving down the stairs, her pace slow and steady, keeping her shield raised. Once she reaches the landing she stops briefly to make sure the others are ready, and also unclips a concussive grenade. She rounds the corner, grenade in hand, taking cover behind her shield and trying to assess the situation.
The staircase wraps around the elevator, leading to an identical hallway as the one they just exited. The only difference being a door at the opposite end leading outside. All five doors on this floor are wide open and the silence that has fallen over the building persists. It's a ghost town down here. The muffled arguing from the basement picks up once again. "You're weak! All of you! Weak!" Another staircase continues downward around the
Oxaris follows down, her weapon trained on the hallway. She waits for Renala before the team attacks the basement.
Tank proceeds down the stairs, speaking over comms as she does. "How are we handling this? Someone needs to cover this floor while we move to basement." She stops while still out of sight from down the basement stairs.
Victoria turns her external comms back on "Hey people, we are dealing with some very shitty dirt bags right now. I suggest backing away for now. You can all look at the mess after we leave." Vicky was not much of a people person when it came to a situation like this.
A few people point upwards as Victoria begins to speak, but it does little to disperse the crowd. The front door of the apartment next door slides open and a couple of turians in hardsuits step out. They stare at the billowing smoke in disbelief, looking back and forth between each other. They slowly start towards the complex, hands hovering above the pistols holstered at their thighs.
Tank repeats the procedure from the previous floor, rushing down the stairs and quickly dropping to a knee behind her shield, although this time she has the grenade in hand.
Renala stands in cover in front of the elevator door once she's on the first floor, aiming at the end of the hall.
As Tank and Oxaris follow the staircase down, they find themselves facing a door at the bottom, wide open with a single camera pointing at it from the corner. Beyond the door is a dark room, a wall of shelving all that's visible from outside of the room. "Did you not hear that!? They have explosives! We can't fight that! If my options are to fight and die right now or get the hell out of here and risk Mertius catching up to me later, it's
not a hard decision to make." a female voice can be heard, "I'm not dying so someone else can make a few creds!"
"Yeah... does not look like they want to listen to me. Charlie, you guys might want to move fast to get this done. Alpha, you guys hold on the roof. Should be easier to defend the roof from any hostiles." She tells the teams over the comms.
Renala nods. "Copy, Steels," she says. "I'll try buy us some time." She attaches her weapon to the suit and starts tapping away at her omni-tool, hoping to gain access to the doors on the first floor -- especially the one at the end. If she does, she'll close and lock the door(s) and change the access codes.
Once again, Renala finds little difficulty in overcoming the system and bending it to her whim. And just in time, apparently, as the interface flickers as the two turians approach it from outside and attempt to open the door. Two loud thumps sound out as one of them bangs a taloned hand against the door. "What's going on!?" he calls out, "Open up!"
Tank remains in place at first. "Negative. Safety of the prisoners is top priority." she says as she glances around at what they can see from the doorway. "Tayvay. There is camera. Can you hack it?"
Renala tries accessing the outside door phone, if there is one, to get word out to them without having to shout. If she does, she'll open a comms channel directly to it.
As it tends to go, Renala accesses the outside intercom with little effort. The turian continues to bang on the door.
Oxaris remains in place. "We haven't got time. We need to get moving before the whole Dome is upon us. Move up. Take right, I'll take left."
Tank remains in place at first. "Negative. Safety of the prisoners is top priority. And it sounds like they are discussing surrender, or escape. We may be able to negotiate for release of prisoners." She stands up, smashing the edge of her shield upward at the camera in the hopes of disabling it without making as much noise as a gunshot.
Oxaris nods slowly. "We better get moving though. Time is something we do not have a lot of." She waits for Tank to move up before doing anything else.
Renala starts speaking into it. "Freeing slaves," she speaks into it. "The inhabitants of this building were or will be offered a chance to surrender. Those who take it will be spared. We'll extract and take off shortly, and then you'll never see us again."
There's no immediate response from the turians. After a few moments, the banging starts up again. This time louder. Harder. It's clear their intent is to get in, even if that means breaking the door down. And, while the door may be able to take a beating, it certainly won't hold out forever.
Tank waits for any input from Renala, but upon recieving none she clips the grenade to her armor again, pulling a flashbang instead and enters the room, taking a quick look around before turning left, shield raised as she cries out "Give us the prisoners and you will not be harmed!" over helmet speakers while getting a view of the situation.
Renala sighs. "Hurry up, they're not backing down," she speaks into team comms before addressing the people outside again. "Step away from the door. The good people outside don't want to hear that their local security force is in bed with slavers, do they? That any of them could be the next in line to be sold off to fund new hardware?"
Victoria looks over the edge hearing the banging on the door. "Hey, what are you guys doing down there? Can't you see we are having a business deal going on?"
Oxaris storms in and swings left. "Weapons down on the ground now!" She bellows, her weapon sighting in the closest target.
The basement is a damp, dirty place. A musky smell permeates the air. The shelves just beyond the door hold a number of cheap, canned foods. From Tank's position, she would be able to see the wide open door to an empty bathroom and a small, dirty kitchenette area beside it. The sound of movement beyond her line of sight can be heard. Boots on the ground, all moving together. Suddenly, a voice shouts, "We don't want any part of this! Let us walk out of
The turians outside step away from the door, choosing instead to begin kicking at it. Their heads snap up as they hear Victoria. One unholsters his Predator pistol and raises it.
To the left are even more shelving units. Basic supplies. Bedding. Pillows. Clothing folded up. It looks as if the operation is built with the long term in mind.
Victoria aims her phaeston at them "Now fellas. I got a bigger gun and much better armor." She waits a second for that to sink in. "My suggestion fellas, stand the fuck down."
Tank clips the flashbang to her armor and unholsters her Carnifex, moving further into the room and turning right. "Hand over the prisoners and we will go!" she says as she crouches down behind her shield. "Now!"
Oxaris sticks close behind Tank, her SMG presses firmly into her shoulder. She follows her turn and keeps her weapon raised. Tank is doing a suitable job of demands.
Renala gets on the shared comms with all three teams. "Steels, tell them what kind of scum they're protecting," she says, "that any of them could be the next for sale to cover the damages caused today. Anything to buy us time to extract." It's clear in her voice that she is getting more than a little stressed out as the door could go down at any minute. "Ortoratus, be ready to pull back and help me cover the extraction once the door goes down."
The two turians seem to hesitate as the one with the pistol sights in on Victoria. They exchange glances with one another and slowly begin backing away from the door. "You just wait right there!" the armed turian taunts as they continue to backpedal, "We'll be with you in a second." They pass a glance back and forth and both break forward, charging at the front door in an attempt at planting one last heavy shoulder into it.
As Tank rounds the corner, the basement opens up significantly. A number of people in different stages of being armored are standing around, most seemingly having lost their desire to gear up midway through. A couple turians, three humans and an asari stand amongst a krogan. The krogan holds an eviscerator in both hands, white knuckling it as he bares his teeth. The others seem to only be armed with Predators and Avengers. "We have no intention
of fighting you." the asari says, putting a face to the voice previously heard. She tosses her Avenger on the ground, holding eye contact with Tank. The others slowly follow suit, casting cautious glances at the krogan who only grips his shotgun tighter. The entirety of the basement is lit by a blue glow emanating from the barrier of the holding cell behind them, the lights having been cut by Renala previously. Beyond the blue barrier, the
prisoners can be seen. Five of them. Three asari, a male turian and a male human. They're dirty, their clothes little more than tatters. They cower, huddled in the corner of their cell together, clearly terrified of what's going on. Thin mattresses line the back wall and a small table is set up for them to eat at. It's obvious they weren't allowed to leave the room since their capture. Two buckets serve as toilets and two showerheads protrude
from the wall beside them. The krogan roars loudly. "COWARDS!" he shouts once again, his rage finally boiling over. He swings his shotgun to the side, taking a chunk out of the asari's side before leveling it at Tank and Oxaris. The others all break, running straight towards Tank and Oxaris out of fear of their krogan 'teammate'. "YOU'RE ALL COWARDS!" he roars.
Tank curses as the krogan opens fire, and she quickly gets on her feet, charging right at him, no doubt shoving some of the others aside in the process. As soon as she reaches the krogan she slams the omni-shield into him as hard as she can, hoping to prevent him from firing and possible disarm him. "Everyone get to cover!" she shouts, deciding to risk treating those that surrendered as non-combatants for now.
Oxaris steps to the side and aims at the Krogan, letting the others pass by. However, with Tank engaging him in melee, she lowers her weapon slightly. "Tank is engaged with a krogan. Do you need me back up, T'lavay?"
Victoria hears Renala's words "Fellas, are you really worried about the slavers in this building? Slavers who will probably want use you to replace their loses today?" She stops again to let it sink in "Just stand down, we don't want to take any innocent lives."
The krogan, being much larges and heavier than Tank, barely budges as the shield slams into him. She succeeds in knocking his shotgun aside, which goes skittering across the ground. The krogan bares his teeth, a loud, guttural roar escaping him as he grips the edges of the omni-shield and tears at it, trying to rip it away from her."
Renala disconnects the comms channel with the door phone and readies a grenade, preparing for them to breach at any moment. "Do it, Ortoratus," she says. "The door won't hold much longer."
The two turians don't seem to even be listening to Victoria at this point. The moment they make contact with the door, their armored shoulders connecting with it, it buckles inward. Another heavy blow like that and the door will surely give. The turians back up for another go at it.
Tank seems a little caught off-guard by the krogan's attempt to tear her shield away, and stumbles slightly, but as soon as she regains her footing she lowers the shield, hoping to catch the krogan off-guard as she sticks her Carnifex directly into his face and squeezes the trigger.
Oxaris | "Copy, on my way!" She looks to Tank one last time and turns, storming back the way she came. She takes the steps two at a time, her armoured form clanking. She reaches Renala and drops to a knelt position next to her, aiming down the corridor.
Victoria fires three rounds onto the ground next to the turians "Stand the fuck down. Fellas, that was a warning shot. I am giving you are peaceful way out here."
Most of the slavers seem to have taken cover amongst the shelving, although Oxaris passes one of the humans on her way up the stairs. He holds his hands up to show her he's unarmed.
The krogan maintains his grip on the shield, leveraging for control of it as the Carnifex rips through his face. He loud, pained roar echoes through the complex and his teeth begins to gnash. He releases the shield and swats upward, wildly. A hammerfist comes down at Tank, his blow powerful but wild.
The turians still show no sign of backing down. It's obvious they came to fight. The warning shots do, however, cause a panic to erupt among the others gathered outside. People begin sprinting in every direction. The two turians charge the door once more, shoulders lowered. The buckled door barely even slows them as the charge straight through it, toppling the door inward and sending it down the hall.
Renala throws the grenade with her left hand, aiming at the doorway that was just breach, and immediately follows it up with a barrier dome to cover her and Oxaris from any fragments coming their way.
Tank steps back, armor whirring as she blocks the blow with her left arm and then opens fire at the krogan's face again, getting off as many shots as she can before he closes the short distance.
Oxaris holds her fire as the grenade is thrown and the barrier goes up. She patiently waits for it to drop, gripping her weapon tightly.
Victoria growls to herself and returns to her over watch of the crowd and waits to see if any more idiots come towards the door. "T'Iavay, want me to take down anyone that comes near the door now?"
The turians, having nowhere to go in the narrow hallway, continue to charge forward. The grenade goes off just behind them, shredding their shields and sending them sprawling forward. They're quick to recover, their shields having saved them from the brunt of the grenade blast, and are back on their knees and bringing their pistols to bear before long.
The krogan shows clear signs of slowing as another pistol round penetrates his face. He raises his arm and drops another hammerfist at Tank, this one weaker and more wild. His jaw opens and closes wildly, sharp teeth gnashing at air. Another round enters his skull. And another. He nearly tips on his side, but steadies himself before he falls, pressing a hand to the floor. He scoops one of the discarded Avengers off the floor and, with a
bellowing roar, swings it with all he has left at Tank as fluid oozes from the wounds dotting his face.
Tank bats the rifle aside and raises her Carnifex at the krogan's head, taking aim and firing the last shot in her clip, hoping it will be enough to fell him for good.
Renala drops the barrier and draws her Punisher. "Yes," she replies over comms in a hurry. She does not hesitate before firing a burst towards the leftmost of them, including the extra concussive shot.
Oxaris decides for a high-risk, high-reward method here. She holsters her SMG and activates her omni-blades. Her HUD plots a path carrying her straight between them. As soon as Renala has fired, she activates her jets and goes screeching down the corridor, aiming to slice through the pair.
As the krogan makes contact with his improvised bludgeon, the Avenger bends and folds over Tanks heavy gauntlet. The Carnifex round causes the krogan to spasm in place as it penetrates his left eye. His eyelids flicker open and closed once, teeth still gnashing as his body sways to the side before spilling over entirely. As his body lays, sprawled out on the floor, his limbs continue to twitch, moving with little rhyme or reason.
Renala's shots dance up the leftmost turian. His shields gone, the rounds hit their mark, the burst ending right along his jaw. His body goes slack, but doesn't have time to hit the ground as Oxaris boosts right between the turians, her blades carried through the throats of each turian by the momentum of her propulsion jets.
Oxaris skids to a halt and spins on the point, examining her handiwork. She deactivates the blades and nods down to Renala. "Clear."
Renala raises her brows. "Good job," she says before getting on comms. "The hallway is clear. Ortoratus and I will cover the extraction. Steels, keep an eye out for anyone approaching our position."