This logfile is imported from aitelogs2 and may contain errors or wrong timestamps.
#CollectorShip – January 11, 2018
Oxaris stares down her form, the edges of her vision swimming in darkness as two husks claw and clamber over her body. All the while, the dark figures linger around her, staring at her expectantly. One motions to the husks, a casual gesture not fit for the urgency of the situation. But she understands. Her omni-blade extends on her right forearm and her left hand snaps up to grab the throat of the creature on her. She
makes to plunge her blade into the side of its head and feebly shove the corpse off of her. She musters what strength she has and brings her other foot up to kick it into the face of the one clawing at her leg. To add insult to injury, the lone jet at her ankle flares up each time she kicks, spewing flame into its face.
Nathan does stop when he catches the giant lumbering nope raise its cannon, albeit slowly. "OH!" He slips the knife back in and dives across the floor, sliding to snatch up Lil' Lucy in his hands. He rolls onto his back and aims at the Scion, his HUD relaying the targeting data to slam the fragmentation right into it's face. THUNK. He fires the launcher and immediately decides to scrabble out the way, pulling out his
Ehanis opens fire at the husks closest to her, but it doesn't take more than two shots before her pistol lets out the telltale sign of an empty clip. "We need to go!" she shouts, holsters it and starts running around the pillar. When her escape is folded by a glowing collector she stops in her tracks, and with a loud grunt she sends a warp field his way with everything she's got.
Ilyna gasps as she's pulled in by the collector, groaning at the extreme pain his field brings her. At first she just lets out a whimper instead of speaking. Everything around her is going dark, she has no weapon, poor armor and she's exhausted from the explosive. She hopes that what's possibly her final moments give the others a chance to fight back or escape. Li was with Halisi, which is the one person in the
galaxy she'll trust to take care of her. She lets out another pained groan. Feeling the warp field's approach snaps her out of it, and she takes a deep breath. "Never!" she screams and directs a biotic throw at the foe in front of her.
Jason hurries back to his feet, propelled upwards by sheer adrenaline and their rapidly decaying situation. The sight of Ilyna being pulled towards the loudmouthed creature puts an extra pep in his step. With Jessica and now Ilyna both in front of him, opening up with fully automatic weaponry isn't an option. Still, he'll be damned if he's about to allow this blabbering psychopath take Ilyna. He's already pushed into a sprint by
the time his Revenant has folded up and been holstered onto his back, the sound of heavy, armored footfalls pressing against the chitanous ground resonating down the hall as he puts as much force as he can muster into shooting right past Ilyna and slamming into the possessed Collector with his large, armored frame.
Jessica is overcome with a dull thumping as her helmet impacts against the hallway wall, shaking some cobwebs loose. She peers through her visor at the ensuing chaos. Enemies swarming in from the next room over. Little room to maneuver. But as Jason zips past her, she blinks herself back into action once more, hurrying behind his charge. In an attempt at capitalizing on Ilyna's actions before it has a chance to recover, Jessica
quickly swaps her Falcon for the serrated blade once more and moves to drive it into the downed Collector's skull. A downed enemy can't fight back, after all. Let's keep it that way.
Leah halts her progress as husks begin to mount Oxaris. The blue glow around her deepens, but she's quick to change her focus when Oxaris once again springs to life. The larger threat was the creature lining up for another shot. Her hand snaps up from Oxaris' armour, palm out towards the scion. With a jerk of her wrist, she attempts to pull the massive arm cannon that left her floored moments earlier to the side in hopes of
Zaylus takes his momentary freedom from the husks as an opportunity to stomp forward and boot some monsters away from Oxaris' body, but it's not long before fire from the flying collector pings off his quickly waning shields. He swings his aim up a this more pressing threat, squeezing off slow, deliberate shots from his pistol.
Oxaris manages to take out the husk climbing over her even in her badly wounded state, but the one holding onto her leg proves harder to shake. Its grip remains strong even as its face is struck by an armored boot and lit aflame. The Scion's cannon is pulled to the side just before it shoots out another biotic blast, striking the approaching husks instead, sending at least a dozen of them sailing through the air and slamming into
the wall of the chamber as the misshapen creature staggers. Then the grenade strikes. A large chunk of flesh is blown off its body by the explosion, and shrapnel tears through its eezo blisters as well as many nearby husks, causing the Scion to drop to its knees, struggling to support its weight by pressing the cannon against the floor. Fragments also strike the Eclipse biotic, her shields reduces to nothing and shards of metal
embedding themselves in her armor, causing a cry of pain as she stumbles, struggling to keep the husks that are quickly surrounding her off. Zaylus and Nathan both take some hits from grenade fragments as well, Leah and Oxaris only being spared due to their low profile and the horde of husks in their way. The possessed Collector is struck by a warp field which starts to eat away at its barrier, and then the throw strikes, making
short work of what's left of its protection with the violent reaction that follows. Its focus is disrupted and Ilyna would find herself freed. Jason charges into the creature, sending it staggering, but it recovers quickly, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him into the air before slamming him into the ground right next to Jessica, who has just eliminated the downed Collector. The flying drone is still engaging Zaylus, while
one of the landed ones have manuvered around to the northwest of the chamber to get a clear shot on Jason with its assault rifle. Husks are still streaming from the tunnel in what seems like an endless supply. Elena finds herself unable to open fire as Jason and Jessica enter melee range, but when Jason is slammed to the ground she unleashes a carefully aimed burst of fire at the possessed avatar, shredding some chitin away from
its body and drawing its attention temporarily as it sends a biotic blast her way. It impacts the corner as she ducks back behind cover. Sounds of fighting are still coming from the southern group, and soon Makk sounds over comms: "We've got bugs blocking our escape, we're holding them off, but we're not breaking through."
Ilyna falls down to the floor with a pained grunt, and rolls over to her side. Even if the world around her comes back, it's still a blur of shooting, shouting, growls and footsteps to her. She starts getting back to her feet, but she's not ready to immediately attack anything.
Nathan looks at the possessed Collector and, after seeing it already explode after it is killed, elects not to engage in- wait. EOD armour. Never mind. He holsters his pistol and draws out his knife, running straight at it from behind and throwing himself at it to try and grasp it in a chokehold with his arm after it has thrown Jason. He would then start just trying to jam the knife into its face over and over again.
Ehanis considers attacking it again, but there's too many friendlies nearby. Even her first attack was a great risk. She instead answers Makk's call, and tries to slip past the fight and run down the southern tunnel to catch up with them. She's also reloading her pistol while doing so. With ther army of creatures, and the paralyzers probably finding a detour soon, they can't afford a slow escape.
Oxaris grunts in pain as she forces her body beyond what is should be doing. She slides closer to it, using its weight as an anchor and behind her knee to bring the omni-blade into its face. After that, she lets out a small sharp cry of pain and sinks back onto the ground, clutching her smouldering chest as the thundering darkness creeps ever closer. Her HUD annoyingly alerts her to her exhausted supply of medi-gel,
having already applied it to stop her insides from spilling out and distributed amongst as many wounds as possible. But not all of them.
Jessica rather unceremoniously plants a boot against the bug's head and adjusts her grasp on the handle to rip the blade free, immediately moving on to her next target. Her position right beside the possessed Collector makes him the obvious choice and she quickly reverses her grip, giving a loud grunt as she rises off of the dispatched drone and swings her arm downward, aiming to jam the serrated blade right into the side of
its.... neck(?) just as Nathan moves in to grapple with it. Should he get control of the situation, she would try to rip the blade free, the serrated edge tearing on its way out, only to plunge it right back in.
Jason finds himself clawing at the creatures hand, eyes wide as he finds the floor escaping him. But it's not long before he finds it again. A dull throb racks his body as he's slammed into the floor and the lights momentarily go out for him. But he doesn't go down that easy. Even with blurred vision, he's already getting his shaky legs beneath him and climbing back to his feet, hopefully a luxury granted to him by the time
Jattic halts his advance as he enters the hallway, the cluster-fuck of people giving him little opportunity to leap into the melee without making things even messier. Makk's message only further cements his decision. As much as he'd like to smack this smug, shit-talking asshole into next week, the others need him. As Ehanis pushes past, he falls in line behind her, his Vindicator snapping open as he reaches for it to finally
Leah uses the valuable seconds bought by the disruption of the Scion and its subsequent friendly fire to try and make up some ground. Once Oxaris has dealt with the creature on her leg, Leah's hand once again clasps onto Oxaris' armor and begins to pull the turian backwards with her. With little time to reload, she snaps the Carnifex back to her thigh and reaches back, haphazardly unholstering her Mattock off of her back by the
barrel and thrusting it into the dragged turian's lap. "I'm gonna need a little more fight out of you, Oxaris!" she rallies as she reaches across herself, awkwardly pulling her Predator free. "Just stay with me a little longer! We're getting you out of here!" She immediately sights in on the closest husk coming their way, picking her shots as she continues her retreat in hope that the others will do their part to clear the
Oxaris blinks as a Mattock is thrust into her lap and she wraps her hands around it. She grunts in pain and presses the stock to her shoulder, finding that act alone difficult. She needs to wake up. She still has breath in her, she can still fight. She raises a fist and hits her chest wound hard. She cries out, but finds that there is focus there now, a sharp jolt of pain that pushes the creeping darkness back, rather
than entice it closer. "I'd take some... medi-gel right now," she manages before raises the Mattock and squeezing a shot at an approach husk.
Zaylus jerks back as some of the grenade fragments reach him. Thanks for the friendly fire, asshole. As his shields deplete there's only really one option: to stay the course. So he grits his teeth hard and pauses firing only long enough to charge the next thermal clip, before resuming firing on the collector that has targeted him.
The possessed Collector finds itself swarmed, knives plunging repeatedly through its cracked carapace. "YOU ONLY DAMAGE THE VESSEL, YOU CANNOT HURT ME." The voice booms doubly loud for Nathan and Jessica, burrowing into their skulls as the yellow glow intensifies, and then, with a sudden blast of biotic power, the damaged form disintegrates. The burning husk is finally finished off, Leah's dragging temporarily unimpaired, but the
delay granted by Nathan's grenade and the Scion's misfire has come to an end - more husks are rushing at them, even as they shoot some. They'll be swarmed again any moment. The Eclipse biotic can no longer be seen amid the sea of husks, the grenade fragments having interrupted her efforts to fight off the monsters that surrounded her. The flying Collector finally succumbs to Zaylus' well aimed shots as one strikes its head, and it
tumbles into the horde of husks. The one to the northwest, meanwhile, opens fire on the trio in the doorway. Niklos has just managed to clamber back to his feet and pick up his sister once more, heading south after Ehanis and Jattic. Elena and Halisi too start to move south. They have to get out soon if there's going to be any chance of survival. Jattic and Ehanis would spot Makk and the Alliance marine crouched behind outgrowths
just south of the labs, engaging Collectors that are in cover around the corner. The civilians have taken shelter in the labs for now, but Xiu is doing her best to help with the fighting, taking poorly aimed shots with her handgun.
Ilyna gets her feet by the time Harbinger is defeated, and starts down the hallway. She frowns as she sees the civilians and Halisi still in the lab, hoping they'd have gotten the chance to escape already. She sighs and positions herself to block off the doorway from the lab with a barrier once the others are through, even if she appears to be in no shape to do so.
Nathan tumbles onto the ground from the blast, the wind knocked out of him. "This guy really," he chokes, "likes the sound of his own voice..." He rolls onto his hands and knees, then feet and draws his Argus in one hand. He moves over to Leah and Oxaris, looking over the Turian whilst providing a burst of covering fire towards the husks. "Jesus. Alright, hold on," he says, reaching around and pulling out his last
stim. He looks at the Turian and jams it into her neck, injecting her with the substance. Whilst nowhere near as potent as the cocktail she has been taking (more of a wake-up than an actual combat stim.), it has the right effect. He then quickly administers a dose of medi-gel to her and glances at Leah as he stands, stepping to her side. "Help her on her feet, I got you covered." He raises the Argus and feels
Ehanis takes cover by the corner of the labs while she tries to get a read of the situation, taking a few careful shots at the collectors when they pop out of cover. She tries her best to avoid friendly fire, which shouldn't be a difficult if they stick to their cover or call their movements. "Any idea how many there are around the corner?" she calls out, both over comms and helmet speakers.
Jason brings a hand up to shield his eyes from the glow, stumbling backwards slightly from the combined haziness of getting chokeslammed into the ground and the biotic surge occurring a few feet away. "Yeah? That another one of your genius 'Revelations'?" he grunts at the disintegrating avatar, pressing a hand against the hallway wall to regain his balance. "Well you keep sending your little 'vessels' and we'll keep knocking 'em
down, alright buddy?!" He has little time to relish their victory, however, as the situation is becoming increasingly volatile. "Let's get the fuck out of here, people!" he orders, once more freeing the large LMG from its magnetic holster. As the weapon snaps and unfolds, his visor interfaces with it, keying it into his armor's targeting systems. "Keep Oxaris moving! Everyone else? Bounding overwatch! Two shooters at a
time!" he snaps off orders and settles into his suppressive fire position against the hallway doorframe, immediately letting loose at the encroaching army of husks.
Jessica is staggered back a few feet by the blast before falling backwards. She softens her fall with her hands, a loud, frustrated grunt escaping her as her ass hits the ground. She snaps the blade back to her boot before climbing to her knees, already beginning to ready her new grenade launcher before she's even back on her feet. A few frustrated scoffs escape her as Jason speaks. "I-... Gah! You are just saying words! What is
Jason sucks in a deep breath. He doesn't have time to give Jessica a lesson in tactics. "Shoot the enemy!" he says simply. "When the others get back here? They will shoot!" Ratttattattta. "The fucking!" Rattatttattta. "Enemy! Then we move. Got it? Stay out of the line of fire and watch your aim!"
Jessica nods a bunch of times as Jason speaks, already lining up on the opposite side of the doorframe. "Mmm. Shoot enemies!" she repeats, "This I can do!" Whether or not the rest sank in over the sound of battle is unclear, but soon enough she's firing explosive rounds downrange, doing her best to set her sights on clumps of husks pouring through the doorway as to avoid hitting any too close to Oxaris and the others. Given the low
ammo capacity of the weapon, she staggers her shots, only opening fire when it's clear she can bring down a group of them.
Oxaris fires another poorly aimed shot, glancing at Nathan as he kneels besides her. "Wha-" The injector goes into her neck, punching through a soft spot in her carapace and she feels the drugs hit her system. The darkness fades and the world comes back into focus, the pain numbed by the fresh medi-gel. She looks down range and brings up the Mattock, finding her aim is slightly steadier. Double tap as a husk creeps
close. Switch. Double tap. It's nowhere near as disciplined as she would like, but it is nowhere near as poor as before. And that suits her fine. "I...I can walk," she grunts. "You got to help me, Leah, but I think I can move faster than you can drag me...". It's a risky assessment, but it's better than getting more people killed just because she was an easy target. The husks have already grabbed her once,
Leah once again releases her grip on Oxaris' armor as Nathan moves to administer aid. Holding her Predator loosely in her right hand, she conjures up another flare of blue, pressing outward as if pushing an invisible figure before her, attempting to push back the horde as he does his thing. She follows up with a few more shots at the husks closest to them, aiming squarely for easy headshots as there's no time for the reloading
that comes with relying on numerous center-of-mass shots. As soon as he finishes and Oxaris confirms her ability to walk, she sighs loudly but has little say in the matter. They're fighting a losing battle with time and, despite the Minagen coursing through her system, there's only so much she can do. She swallows hard, giving a brief nod as she allows Nathan to take over covering them and leans down, temporarily dropping
to one knee. Ducking her helmeted head under Oxaris' arm, she hastily works on lifting the turian to her feet, giving a brief: "Copy!" in response to Jason's orders amidst her effort. Her biotics make the task quick and easy, but she doesn't seem confident with releasing her grip on Oxaris until she's sure the turian won't topple right back to the ground.
Oxaris grunts as she stands and there is a brief moment where it does look like she is about to topple again. But the turian remains standing and nods to Leah. "Let's go."
Jattic comes to a stop with Ehanis, clutching his Vindicator in both hands as he awaits an answer to Ehanis' question to get a better read on the situation rather than blindly charging into a firefight.
Zaylus pulls his aim back down to the mass of husks once the pressing flighted collector has been dealt with. He watches the exchanges and miraculous revival of Oxaris through the corner of his eyes, and like the human he's putting careful thought into every bullet to keep the husks at bay as best he can. Seeing the older turian returned to her feet inspires some confidence, and he nods
Nathan just barely manages to take out the nearest husks before Jason's LMG fire comes in at the last second, the automatic fire easily mowing down the frontline of the unarmored horde that is charging at them. Zaylus and Leah will have difficulty finding targets amid the machinegun fire and micro-grenade explosions. Shots continue to strike the group as they fall back, doubling in intensity as the second Collector takes to the air
to get clear shots. Their assault rifles are designed to strip shields rapidly, and several members of the group would no doubt find rounds hitting armor now. The Scion has just about managed to get back on its feet, still leaking eezo all over as it lifts its cannon to aim at the fleeing mercenaries, looking like it might topple itself with the shot. A biotic flare lights up the center of the horde, however, and the Eclipse biotic
emerges, husks still clinging to her battered and blood-stained armor as she climbs the Scion, Claymore in one hand. BIotic energy surrounds her arm as she fires the bone-breaker of a weapon directly into the mangled body of the twisted creature. She tumbles out of view once more as the towering brute collapses, the shotgun cutting straight through it. To the south, A Collector Guardian keeps popping out of cover to take shots at
Makk and the marine. Neither of them have been able to make much headway against the barrier-equipped foe. Makk lacks the shielding to rush into close quarters, and the marine could hardly expect to survive such an encounter. "Unknown!" the marine calls out. "We've got at least two! Cover's our biggest problem!"
Nathan snaps his rifle up and fires into the flying Collector, his shields teetering on the edge of collapse. But his armour was designed to stand up to massive amounts of punishment, shields included. He waves the others back, retreating alongside with them. "How are there so many of these things?!" He stops firing at the Collector to pull out his pistol and fire a shot at a husk that has strayed too close.
"Seriously?!" He holsters the pistol and switches back to firing at the Collectors, letting the Revenant mow down the husks.
Ehanis sighs, and a shimmer forms around her. "Don't make any sudden moves," she urges the others with her helmet's speaker. "Warp going out." She leans out of cover, and lets go of a warp field which she guides in a high arch and around the corner to slam into whatever is in cover there.
Ilyna nods to Jason's order before forming a barrier wall in front of her. It's flickering at first, and it doesn't look like it will hold long even when it stabilizes. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.
Leah seems to briefly consider charging forward in hope of aiding the fellow biotic, but given the sheer number of bodies between her and the Eclipse mercenary as well as her rapidly dwindling shields from the rifle-wielding Collectors, it quickly becomes clear that doing so would be suicide. The telltale sound of her armor systems warning her that her shields have been depleted all but seals any chance for assisting the
mercenary. The next round plinks off of her chestplate, the impact causing a short stutter step before she regains her balance. "Shit! Shields down!" she calls out, urging Oxaris to keep moving with a pat on the shoulder and upping her pace as she pulls back to the door. She only fires at hostiles on a direct collision course with their retreat, leaving the bulk for Jason and Jessica to handle as they're far better equipped
for the occasion. But as Nathan sights in on the flying Collector, that deep glow once again envelopes her. Without even slowing her run, she reaches up in the Collector's direction, tightly closing her fist, as if to pluck him out of the sky, and jerks her hand back behind her in an attempt at biotically ripping him from the sky and into the crowd of twisted creatures in their wake. They seemed to show little concern for
trampling their own before, so it's worth a shot. Only when she's through the door- past Jason and out of his zone of fire- does she stop and swing back around. Weapon lowered she uses this time to reload her weaponry as she waits for the others to join her and take positions, ready to tap Jason on the shoulder to indicate it's their turn to begin pulling back.
Jason releases his trigger momentarily as he sweeps across the hallway to take a position just behind and to the side of Jessica to keep the retreating group's path clear and set up for the rotation without being in anyone's line of fire. "Get ready to move, Jess!" he calls out, once more heavy on the trigger.
Jessica cracks off another Falcon shot right into the meat of the horde as Jason switches positions, doing her part to hold them back as best as she can. Once the welcome sound of the Revenant starts up again, she works on slapping a fresh thermal clip into her weapon as the overheated one is ejected to the floor. "Mmm!" she hums, the intense focus required is doing its part to wall her off from the part of her brain that should be
looking at this sea of creatures with absolute terror. Adrenaline is a hell of a thing. "They just-..." Crack BOOM "...keep..." Crack BOOM "...coming!"
Jattic gives a few shallow nods to the limited intel the marine offers. He stands at the ready as Ehanis preps her warp, gripping his rifle tightly in both hands. "They are between us and our way out." he says to Ehanis, stating the obvious, "We must ensure the way is clear by the time the others arrive or we will be pinched on both sides!"
Zaylus sticks close to Leah and her turian burden during their retreat, moving his aim off the husks whenever Jason and Jessica's fire leaves him without clear targets. He grits his teeth as his shields are lost entirely, hissing softly as bullets chip his shoulder plates. He takes up position with the blonde biotic, glancing tensely from person to person.
Oxaris leans heavily against Leah as she helps carry her through the doorway. She grunts and moves off of Leah to stand on her own two feet, bracing the rifle and firing a shot at an approaching husk. The kick of the rifle is almost enough to knock her off her balance, but she manages and shakes her head, hissing at herself for being so useless. She then leans against Zaylus, grasping his shoulder to steady herself. She
quickly opens a private channel to her fellow turian and growls lowly at him, "If I'm slowing everyone down, you abandon me, understood? I'm not letting everyone drown under a hoard of those things because of the fucking cripple." She glares hard at him under her visor.
Ehanis' warp is eaten by the Guardian's barrier. The attack proves largely fruitless as it ducks back into cover to recharge, a particle beam-wielding Captain replacing it at the corner. A yellow beam shoots out in response, draining the shields and grazing the shoulder of the Alliance marine before striking Ehanis. Elena has just about caught up with the others, and throws herself into cover as she spots the beam, readying a
flashbang. In the pod room, the flying Collector takes several shots before being slammed into the horde of husks, disappearing from view. The other drone makes a flying charge as the group is about to escape through the doorway, landing right in their line of fire and letting loose a wide spray with it's assault rifle before being gunned down, showing no regard for its own safety whatsoever. The brief moment of suppression gives
the husk horde a change to close in. They're getting dangerously close. Too close to fire micro-grenades. In fact the nearest one slips along the wall and jumps Jessica. Many more are rushing, and some, further back, have the telltale red glow of the explosive abominations. Their numbers seem endless. Twisted, cybernetically resurrected humans in infinite supply. The result of so many emptied colonies. There are glimpses of more
biotic flashes amid the horde, and after a moment the Eclipse mercenary reappears in the doorway, blocking their line of fire and sending the husks beyond the one attacking Jessica flying back, or, in the case of the furthest two, flying forward, slamming to the floor at Leah's feat. Her armor is torn to shreds and she's bleeding from a number of gashes across her body, as well as what appears to be a bullet wound in her abdomen.
She immediately stumbles forward unto her knees as she arrives, one hand planted against the floor to keep her from collapsing entirely. Her helmet is missing, and she's coughing up blood.
Nathan snarls in annoyance (and to stop the fear from currently taking hold because, holy crap that's a lot of husks) and pulls back his gun when the Eclipse merc materialises in front of him. He reaches down to grab her and pull her beyond their firing line, then turns back and says to Jason, "I'm going to nuke the room! See if I can't collapse it and buy us some time!" He flicks his head to the Cain on his back and
Ehanis lets out a frustrated grunt. "There goes that plan," she mutters before getting back into cover for a moment to top off her shields. "Maybe you can take his weapon," she says and leans back out for another moment to send a throw at the particle beam weilding collector.
The Captain ducks into cover at the last moment, the bolt of biotic seeming to hit its mark, but out of view. There's a brief pause in the gunfire however, and Elena follows up with a flashbang, hurling it in disc-mode into the wall opposite the Collectors, ducking down as the bright flash illuminates the corner for a split-second. Now's the time.
Jattic lowers his head to the ground, desperately trying to use sound to get a grasp on the situation. The lull in particle beam fire is about the best indication he has to go on that Ehanis' attack hit its mark. There's little time for doubt, so it'll have to do. The moment Elena's flashbang goes off, the batarian gives a loud roar to amp himself up as he storms in, snapping his Vindicator up in preparation to open up on
anything that gets in his way. His objective: Close the gap with that dangerous captain, preferably putting him down with gunfire before he has the chance to recover, but getting close enough to mitigate the suppression power of the particle beam and put him in a position to engage in close quarters combat would suffice as well.
Jessica brings her Falcon up horizontally as she's jumped by one of the vile creatures, pressing it into the creature's chest in an attempt at forcing it against the hallway wall.
Leah pats Jason on the shoulder as she takes up her position beside Nathan, indicating it's his turn to move. When she spots Jessica being slowed down by the attacking husk, she brings her Predator up to deliver a set of rounds to the dome. The reappearance of the Eclipse mercenary causes her to glance back at her as Nathan shuffles her past. "Go! Get moving!" she shouts out to her, her gaze then slipping to the injured Oxaris,
Jason maintains his position for a moment longer after Leah signals for him to get moving, holding his trigger until his weapon Clicks. He swivels around the others, holding the large weapon in one hand and ejecting his thermal clip as he leans down to grib the Eclipse merc under the arm with his other hand. He pulls her to her feet, dragging her up before releasing his grip if need be with a loud shout of: "Come on! We're
getting the fuck out of here!" Jason's gaze snaps back towards Nathan when he hears him, already shuffling into his next firing position at the intersection and scrambling to seat a fresh thermal clip. With a deep breath, he gives a single, hard nod. "Fuck it, right?!" he calls out with a deep breath, "Just make damn sure we're good and safe before you let that fucker loose!" Snap His weapon's thermal readout on his HUD
regulates as he pulls the stock to his shoulder once again. "Ilyna! Ready the barrier cuz it's about to get real explodey in here!"
Jessica gives a loud grunted: "Rahhhh!" as the husk goes limp against the wall and swings its lifeless body back against the tide of creatures forming at the mouth of the hallway. "Shit! Fuck! Shit!" she mutters, backpedaling towards the lab. Too tight for more Falcons, but Nathan's comment gets a few nods out of her and she once again scrambles into action, pulling free the gold plated side arm as she takes a position against
Zaylus snaps his attention to Oxaris, raising a hand to her arm in support. At first it seems he hasn't heard her message, and as Leah urges them to get moving, it seems he won't respond to Oxaris' morbid request. He takes a firmer grasp on the turian and hefts her through their retreat. Then, on their private channel he grumbles a response: "We all work together to make sure we come
back together." Her own words come back at her, deliberate and slow, but a slight quiver betrays his fear, the fear of a young kid in way over his head. His other hand grips his pistol tight, always ready to return fire on their retreat.
Ilyna raises her brows and her barrier wall gets a little more intense. "You're not about to collapse the ceiling again, are you?" she asks, looking and sounding concerned. There was no holding back another explosion, not without injuring herself and others near her. Any friendlies in Ilyna's field of vision will have no trouble crossing the barrier.
Oxaris stumbles along with Zaylus, slightly stunned by his response as Leah's Mattock hangs in her hand. She nods sharply and tightens her hold on him. She gives no further response.
Jattic would find himself face to face with the Captain as the Collector swings around the corner just as he reaches it, unable to ready its particle beam in time. Makk charges after the batarian with a roar. In the pod room doorway, the Eclipse biotic is yanked back by Nathan and then urged to her feet by Jason. She staggers forward, but doesn't make it far past the intersection before collapsing to her hands and knees again.
She's left a trail of blood behind on the ground. The husks are still coming, faster now as there's a break in the LMG fire. Both Nathan and Leah find themselves jumped, and an abomination has slipped through, rushing past them towards Jessica. The overlapping chorus of bone-chilling moans is defeaning, filling the intersection and drowning out Ilyna's words to the people there.
Nathan finds a husk scrabbling at his helmet and the chorus of moans brings forth fear to grip his heart. "Get the fuck off me!" He reaches up to grab its throat and pull it off of him and throw it to the floor, bringing up his foot to crush its head beneath it. He snaps his gaze back and pulls off a flashbang, rolling it amidst the hoard as he calls out over comms. "Flash out!" His rifle clicks empty and he stows it
away, pulling out his predator for the more close quarter combat. "If I'm to use this Cain, I'll need room and four seconds to charge it! Someone has to take my place or the goddamn nuke!"
Jattic releases his grip on his Vindicator with his off-hand, grasping the particle beam with his now-free hand and pulling it towards him in an attempt at pull the captain at him. Releasing his grip on the particle beam he lifts his arm, tightly clenching his fist which once again activates his enforcement gauntlet. Taking a heavy step forward and- hopefully- having pulled the captain towards him, their momentum meets with a
heavy enforcement gauntlet-enhanced clothesline that's punctuated by his guttural, animalistic roar.
The Captain is rather abrutply left without a head, the decapitated body falling to the floor as the Collector Guardian sidesteps to get a better view, opening up full-auto on Jattic with its SMG, still out of view from the others around the bend.
The flashbang detones amid the horde, mostly sparing the team from the debilitating effects by the many, many bodies in the way. It's hard to tell how much of an effect it had on slowing the horde due to the sheer number of them approaching.
Ehanis leaves cover and moves to take the cover previously occupied by Makk, and she moves to take cover at the bend once the captain is taken care of. She was in no shape ready for close quarters combat, and there was nothing she could do from her position with Jattic and Makk between her and the enemy.
Makk swings around the corner, blasting the Guardian with his spike thrower, but its barrier holds up to the shot. He growls and rushes forward, impaling the Collector on the serrated bayonet before yanking it up and out, disemboweling the creature. The way seems clear, but they only have a partial view of the room beyond.
Zaylus hefts himself and Oxaris past the barrier, glad to be distancing themselves from Nathan's parting gift. Though tired and beaten his grip does not waver, and he continues to keep an eye out for lines of fire and places to grab extra cover.
Oxaris stumbles along with Zaylus, holding tightly to him as he keeps the rifle tucked under her arm. There is a strong temptation to put the safety on and use the damn thing as a crutch.
Jason waves past himself for people to keep moving. "Four seconds?" he asks, sucking in a deep breath as he shoulders his heavy weapon once more and lowers back into a firing stance, their positioning having afforded him a firing lane on his side of the hallway. He gives a few, ragged nods. "I think I can afford four seconds! But make it a quick four seconds! Everyone else? Get the fuck out of here!" Once again he hammers on the
trigger. Rattatttatttattatta! The hallways erupts in gunfire as Jason keeps his firing zone clear, which only widens as Leah and Nathan continue their retreat.
Leah nods to herself as she hears Jason's orders. But, before she gets the chance to begin her retreat, she finds herself grasped by a husk. "Back-..." she grunts, trying to wrestle her Predator arm free as she delivers a powerful biotic punch with her other hand, "...off!" Unfortunately, she finds her Predator torn away as stumbles backwards.
Jessica having seen the previous abomination's explosive demise at the hands of Jason and Leah, is left with few options for dealing with the abomination. If she kills it where it is, it's sure to damage Jason and the others. And probably her, for that matter. Ever the scrappy brawler, she grasps the creature, swinging it around the corner and right into Ilyna's barrier before raising her Predator and unloading into it. Should it
begin its magnificent glow, she'd pull back around the corner she came from- right back into the meatgrinder- in hope that the bend will protect the rest of them from the creature's blast. Ilyna... Well, she's got a barrier, right? The Eclipse merc? Well, hopefully there's enough distance to protect her from the blast. Otherwise...? Well, it's better her than Jessica.
The husk is sent flying by the punch, slamming into another and staggering it before Jason's hail of bullets cuts down them both, along with many of the closest husks. The abomination detonates just outside Ilyna's barrier, going up in a violent fireball. The Eclipse mercenary barely has time to process what's happening as the creature is pushed past her. She gives up on staggering back to her feet pressing her head against the
floor instead and shielding it with her arms. Even so the blast sends her rolling into Jessica's feet, singing her gauntlets and the top of her head. She ends up on her back, staring up at the ceiling as she coughs up more blood.
Ilyna frowns as she observes the creature being thrown towards her barrier, but she's not given a chance to respond before it goes off. She is not aware the red color means it'll explode, but she did strengthen her barrier regardless in anticipation for an electric shock. Despite preparation, the barrier flickers and she barely manages to hold it together. "Don't do that!" she shouts.
Nathan motions for Leah to follow him as he passes by Jason, switching to the Cain as he books it down to the edge of Ilyna's barrier. He then spins, takes a knee and presses the Cain to his shoulder and aiming it down the corridor. "Charging! Everyone who doesn't want to become ash, get fucking moving!" As soon as the opportunity presents itself after the charging is complete, only when he isn't going to harm any of
his teammates... he would release the projectile and have it target the intersections ceiling, diving into cover after he has fired it. His shield and armour are good, but... yeah, not that good. Otherwise, he would wait until he got the order to launch the deadly projectile.
Nathan switches out his pistol for the Cain, hefting the large weapon into his hands as his HUD interfaces with the weapon. A strange little amber alert pops into the corner, before a small notification warns him of the blast radius of this weapon. He exhales sharply and holds down the trigger, charging the weapon. A glow begins to emit out the end of it and he is briefly enraptured by the beauty of it, the whine
gradually building. He looks up an looks to the area he wants to hit. The entry way they are all pouring out of, just before it on the ceiling. If the HUD is feeding the right information to him, then this room is about to become nothing more than a bad memory. Beep. The weapon is charged, the light from the barrel blazing bright with the radial spin of two red beams of light. "Bad News, ready to fire!" He barks
Jessica frowns through her helmet as she hears Ilyna, stopping the Eclipse mercs roll rather unceremoniously with her boot. "Oh! I am so sorry! Let me just hug the next one and hope he doesn't explode my fucking tits off, yes? Is better? Shut up." she growls, her patience wavering as the stress continues to mount. Pistol held loosely at her side, she leans down and grasps the mercenary by the arm. "Come onnnnn!" she urges,
giving her arm a tug, "We are going! Get up or you are staying and dying!" She takes a step forward, pulling at the mercs arm as she does. If the Ecipse merc doesn't seem to be getting up on her own accord, however, Nathan's message would be enough for her to stop trying and move to cover in the lab.
Ehanis peeks out of cover. "That went well," she says over comms as she sees both assholes have been dealt with. "Just one more room..." She leaves cover, but waits for Jattic and/or Makk to lead the way.
EclipseBiotic crawls along for a couple of steps when Jessica pulls at her arm, but she simply doesn't have the strength to support herself, and she collapses back against the floor before reaching Ilyna's barrier.
Leah lashes out one last time, delivering a powerful biotic push-kick as another husk clambers towards her. She uses the time it affords her to get clear of Jason and Nathan. As she rounds the corner, she's already reaching for her Carnifex but the sight of the crumpled mercenary causes her to reconsider. "Oh no you don't, you psychopath." she calls out, a soft vibration coursing through her body as a biotic glow reappears. "No
dying!" Her right hand thrusts forward and, as gently as she can while still moving with a literal army on her tail, she pushes the mercenary across the ground and through the barrier just before she enters behind her.
Jason's HUD remains rich with targets. Rattatttattta! More are cut down to his Revenant. 'One' he counts the seconds down in his head. The husks push hard on the left-hand side of the hallway, causing him to reorient the large weapon in his arms and refocus.Rattattatattta. Another swathe is cut out of the advancing creatures. At this range with such a target rich environment, he can just hold down the trigger and watch the
waves of creatures crash against a wall of projectiles. 'Two' They're gaining ground on the right. Rattattattattata. The stream of gunfire continues as he sweeps his Revenant slowly to the right side to compensate. 'Three' His eyes flicker towards the thermal readout. Thank you wonders of technology. Thermal clip is only half dead. Plenty more metal shards to go. Still, he reduces his firing slightly, tapping the
trigger lightly just in case they need a little more time. 'Four' Jason sucks in a deep breath. "Do it!" he calls out, finally lowering his Revenant. He lifts one hand, flipping the bird to the tide of hostiles before swiveling towards the others and breaking towards the lab in a sprint.
Jattic's shields flicker and spasm as the SMG rounds begin pinging off of him and his helmet snaps towards the guardian. There's no turning back. They have to clear the path. It's victory or death. He seems about ready to play a game of chicken, poised to charge the guardian and put to test whether his shields can outlast the SMG pummeling long enough for him to get in to striking range when Makk makes short work of the
bipedal insectoid. Rolling his spiked, armored shoulders, he comes to a stop, grunting his approval to the krogan. Pulling the stock of his Vindicator back to his shoulder, he keeps up the forward momentum, leading the charge into the next room with Makk. "Keep going!" he growls.
Nathan grins, a twisted feral snarl beneath his helmet as the visor goes black. "Nothing travels faster," he mutters as he fires Bad News, the weapon bucking in his hand. Travelling at 5KM/S, he knows he won't have even a fraction of time to take cover as the projectile leaves the barrel. He sends a silent prayer out to Lucy, pleading that her armour design holds true as he turns away and braces himself.
Leah swivels on her heels the moment she's in the safety of Ilyna's barrier. Her eyes go wide as she realizes Jason and Nathan aren't right behind her. She has little knowledge of explosives, but she knows enough to be acutely aware that remaining in the blast radius is never a good idea. "Nate!" she calls out, jerking Jason the rest of the way through the barrier biotically without so much as a second thought. She's no Ilyna.
Defensive biotics aren't her strong point. But she's riding a Minagen wave and her teammate is standing right in a warpath. No, not just a teammate. He's more than that. Both hands surge forward, palms outward as her body crackles with the mounting buildup of static electricity and she puts every ounce of strength she can muster into wrapping Nathan in a personal barrier.
Jason is torn through the barrier with little warning, his body crashing hard against the chitanous ground with a loud grunt. His Revenant goes skittering across the floor and he breaks into a crawl, scrambling to press against the wall for whatever cover he can manage.
The chamber full of empty pods and the approaching army of husks instantly disappears in a blindingly bright flash of light. To the people behind the barrier, Nathan too disappears in the light. For a brief moment time almost seems to come to a standstill, an eerie silence coming over the corridor before the thunderous, deafening roar of the massive explosion drowns out anything else. With it comes a shockwave that washes violently
through the confines of the corridor, knocking looses pieces of material from the walls and ceiling, and easily knocking out Nathan's personal barrier, sending him flying in a southwestern direction, slamming into the wall and tumbling south as the shockwave strikes Ilyna's barrier. The Eclipse biotic is lucky to have been pushed inside by Leah. Halisi has dragged her aside into the lab, frantically administering medigel when the
shockwave hits. Many mangled and broken husk corpses tumble after Nathan, some even lit aflame, but nothing living rounds that corner. Cracking and creaking throughout the walls sound in the corridor, but most of the team is likely to be deafened either by the soundwave itself against unprotected ears, or by overcompensating helmet audio dialing sensitivity down to zero. To the south, the chamber shows itself to be clear, but the
Nathan feels weightless. Senseless. Light has engulfed him andthen he finds himself spinning, falling. SLAM. He tumbles, spins, crashes, Bad Nes being ripped from his hand and thrown into the barrier. Pain sears across his body for a moment before nothing and the armour does what it can to absorb all the damage, all the shockwave. He then meets the barrier itself and he ends up lying motionless, still. Darkness. It's