USCMRPG

Paulson’s flamethrower sent a jet of fire at the xenomorph. It screamed in terror and pain as the flames washed over it. The screams died away as it burned to a crisp. Private Henniger opened fire on the other xenomorph with his pistol. The rounds roared out and tore its arm off with a spray of acid. It continued forward undeterred, but Paulson swung his flamer around and lit it up with another hideous high-pitched scream.

Meanwhile, Second Squad faced another xenomorph. Samantha Hall took aim and fired a shotgun shell. The shell struck it in the center of mass and knocked it back a few feet. She cocked and fired again, this time hitting it in the head. Its head exploded and it collapsed, dead.

The squads formed up together with First Squad. Third Squad brought up the terrified engineers and ordered them to begin working. They moved about quickly from console to console, reactivating dormant processes. The Marines could hear the grumbling of the machinery as it was turned back on. They heard gunfire coming from the farther side of engineering where the cops were clearing the remaining rooms.

The Marines also noticed the appearance of some familiar faces wearing bulky zero-gravity suits. With their glass helmets removed, they saw a few of the Navy crew from the Heimlich, as well as a Marine named Cohen. “You can thank us for reactivating life support,” said the leader, Petty Officer Javier Fernandez. “Seaman Stark will need medical assistance; he has suffered from partial decompression of his suit.” The injured sailor was passed off to Quinn, who had been busy with aiding wounded Marines for pretty much the entire mission.

“Morse, this is Sergeant Major Sykes, copy? Good work in there, the engineers have stopped the station’s descent into the atmosphere. The last of the rescue birds are pulling out now. The hangar is getting too hot to evac any more civilians. I’ve been looking at the cameras, and it looks like the xenomorphs are building a nest in the Euphrates Living Quarters. They must have captured hundreds of civilians. Here’s the good news; I finally got the all-clear to pull us out of here. Bring eight Marines to the bridge to pull out the VIPs. Leave the rest of your people to defend the engineers. Once the engineers are done, an evac bird is going to pull them out.”
<Tag Morse>

New Roster:

The Devil Dawgs
Commanding NCO - SSgt. Allen Morse (Morse)

First Squad:
Cpl. Sixtus Quinn - Squad leader (Quinn)
LCpl. Robert Paulson - Special Weapons Tech (Eyeball)
Pvt. Josh Henniger – Rifleman (LT_Chun)
Pvt. Isabel Orozco - Rifleman (Medic Guy)

Second Squad:
Sgt. Samantha Hall – Squad leader (Maxvale76)
Pvt. Korben Poole - Smartgunner
Cpl. Dimitri Barayev - Rifleman (Taimdala)
LCpl. Tanya Sokolova - Rifleman (BarbarianMathematics) - WIA

Knight - Synthetic (JuanPerez)

Their skirmish was at its end with a triumphant whirring of machinery coming back to life. They had survived another encounter with the carnal enemy and still managed to get the full might of human technology back on to surviving in the most inhospitable environment in the universe... space. But with the news that the xenomorphs were likely building a nest, it may well have all been for not. Who would know what was to happen next. Morse understood Sykes order that they were to be pulling out, but he was not sure if it simply meant out of engineering or off of the station. If the nest was as large as they were suspecting, it may have been more advantageous to destroy it all now... but that was rarely the option that was allowed to be tried frist.

"First squad, second squad." Morse directed after hearing the order. "We're movin' back to the bridge. Third n' police are hangin' behind to watch the engineers n' drag up the dead. Don't fuck with any of the alien bodies, leave em where they are. Keep your eyes open n' don't get made dead without sayin' somethin."

Morse was realizing that the squads were rotating on him faster then they would even in garrison with troops coming in and troops going out. Still it was necessary to keep everyone moving until they were actually at a situation that could be deemed safe.

"Nice job in here, Marines. We aint down, n' we sure as shit aint out. Let's move n' get some water n' food n' reassess this shit show."

<Tag Anyone

On the orders of Morse, the Marines ate their iron rations and chugged from their canteens while on the move. The hallways were well lit now; the bright fluorescent lights were restored now that engineering was operational again. No threats appeared as they made their way to the bridge.

The Marines entered the bridge and saw Sergeant Major Sykes along with the VIPs. The Colonial Governor and the Chief of Police were there along with two dozen staff and bridge crew. Sykes grinned as he approached his unit. “Welcome back, Marines. I hope you are all packed because we are leaving this station. We are escorting the remaining bridge staff to the main docking bay for evac. Set up a perimeter, we are moving out in two minutes.”
<Tag everyone>

Sykes pulled Morse and Hall aside, “I can’t believe it either, but we are letting the station go. The operation is now under military jurisdiction and Commander Zimmerman isn’t going to risk any more lives to save the hardware. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes when they bring out the corporate lawyers. He lost a couple dropships trying to pick up civilians in the secondary docking bay and decided to call it quits.”
<Tag Morse and Hall>

As the ponderous group became ready, they started to exit the bridge. Private Korben Poole took point and was the first to step through the door. As he did, a shot rang out and his head exploded in a shower of gore all over Corporal Barayev right behind him. The terrorists were attacking the bridge in a last-ditch effort to obtain whatever it was they had come for. The bridge had three exits: one large one in the middle and two small doors to the left and right.
(Actions)

Paulson Rapidly moved to cover from where the fatal shot had sounded and aimed back that area with his flamer, the biggest deal here could be friendly fire and he was unsure still wether to use his side arm or not. for now he readied his main weapon if these terrorists where foolish enough to try a mass rush they would get a whole heap of surprise.
<aim>
<ready clear shot>

Henniger had been been three back in the column when Poole's head went wet-nova. Still some of the gore painted his shoulder armor. He hadn't seen where it had come from and so didn't sing out a contact report. He just swung out opposite Paulson and dove to the opposite bulkhead in the corridor. He rolled behind a stanchion and took up a good prone-supported shooting position facing opposite Paulson.

He scanned rapidly over the sights of his pulse rifle.

"Hey Paulson, thanks for frying that monster for me back there." He murmured into his helmet mic.

<perception>
<aim/gun combat>

Paulson finally managed to calm down enough to realize he could get a sneak peak on what was happening, he pulled up his motion detector and risked a good look at it before he hoped the terrorists moved up into the bridge.
<roll motion detector>
Henniger disappeared into cover like Paulson had done then suddenly there he was again prone ready to spray death to anyone coming through the gap.
Paulson heard the compliment and mumbled his thanks at least he thought he did, he was still trying to piece together the return from the motion detector so he could report to Morse.

Knight handed over the wounded Stark to Quinn. Then he heard the news about a xenomorph hive inside the station. Although he was not capable of feeling true emotions, he was, hmmm, "sad" for the victims. The group moved on to the bridge, where they met up with the former commanding staff of Gaia Station. More interesting news. Gaia Station was about to be given up. And again he was .... "sad" for a frag of a second. Being on this station for the most of his artificial life, he never thought about this possibility. And he was .... curious, about, what would come after Gaia Station. But this was not the time and place for philosophical questions, because from out of nowhere, an attack on the bridge was launched.

Processing the current situation, there was a nice solution for this problem, but was he allowed to suggest it? His behavioural inhibitors fought a brief battle against all safety and security protocols, and lost. Clearly, defending Gaia station against any attackers was a priority. He went over to the grizzled marine, who was in charge ....

"Excuse me, Sergeant Major Sykes, may i suggest to activate the bridge defense system as a countermeasure to this threat? It is based on electricity and is designed to keep attackers out of command center as long as possible. But, i have to point out, that it is lethal. You could activate it by using this terminal over there."
<Tag Sykes>

After taking care of the xenomorph and linking back up with the other squads, Samantha felt a few moments of satisfaction. She reloaded her shotgun as the situation developed and she ALMOST started to feel okay about their chances of getting off the station without any more trouble....and then a combination of things happened to ruin everything......

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a civilian woman and a young child hiding behind a police barricade...a split second later, poor silent Poole, her Smartgunner got his head blown off as the door opened and poor Dmitri got covered in gore. She wasted no time in moving in response....

She pulled her smoke grenade, primed it and threw it in front of the Marine's position to give them some cover from the terrorists' last ditch attack while at the same time ducking down and grabbing the collar of poor Poole's armored vest and with a grunt hauling his body back inside the doorway and off to one side. She yelled into the platoon wide net the whole time.....

"THIS IS HALL, WE'VE GOT TERRORISTS MAKING A LAST DITCH ATTACK ON THE BRIDGE! POOLE IS KIA AND I JUST THREW A SMOKE OUT TO TRY AND GIVE US A BIT OF COVER! USE THE MOTION TRACKERS, SWITCH TO INFA RED AND LIGHT THOSE BASTARDS UP!"

After she crouched down and ducked/dragged Poole's body out of the way so that she was behind some cover, she turned to poor Dmitri and limping Tanya. "Dmitri...give me some cover fire while I grab that civvie lady and her kid over there by that barrier-"; she nods to where a lady was crouched down behind a police barrier with a young child; "-and Tanya, get Poole's body back outta de way".

That done, she took a deep breath and moved quickly and low to the woman by the barrier and when she got there, she'd say as calmly as possible; "Ma'am, we've got bad dudes with guns moving this way fast...we'll get you and your kid outta here, but you got move NOW!" As soon as Dmitri opens up with some cover fire, she'll hustle the lady and her kid thru the doorway to the Bridge while keeping her body interposed between them and the terrorits....and praying it wouldn't be her last act....


<Arm, throw Smoke Grenade, Drag Poole out of the way, move to Civvie Lady and kid, try to get them out>

<Tag Dmitri and Tanya>
<Tag everyone>
<Tag Civilian woman and child>

"What the fuck!' Morse yelled as the shooting started again. Up until a few seconds prior he was under the impression that they had their area mostly secured. It seemed that was wrong. They were presently under siege, but they would not be able to tell how many of the enemy there were. Another problem was that they were somewhat bottle necked at the bridge, and already being ambushed. They could pump out whatever they wanted and it would leave them at tactical stalemate.

"Need a reading on that tracker!" Morse ordered. "Need how many there are." He readied his own weapon but did not yet fire. He could not even see what to fire at as he moved forward.

Hall threw smoke, a sound tactic, but if the enemy had infrared too it would be for not. But the bridge did not have only one door. There was a door to the left, and to the right... and the hallways connected most likely. Morse was not sure, but he could not go himself and leave the marines if he made the wrong call.

"Two of yall head to the right! Git' down that hall and flank em. Run fast and kill those fuckers dead!" Morse told the squad, beginning to lay down covering fire himself.

<Tag Any Two to Flank
<Roll Awareness
<Roll Gun Combat

Henniger flipper his IR lens down and activated the reticule as smoke filled the corridor. The Marines were at a disadvantage fighting from a series of hallways.
He acknowledged the staff sergeant's order and got to his feet.
"Moving!" He called over the comm. he did not pause to see if anyone followed him. They were Marines. He had no doubt that another warrior would flank with him.
<tag everyone>
<roll run and gun>

Tanya was shocked to see what happened to her squad mate, Poole. She had lost squad mates before, but it was a shock nonetheless. As she heard Sergeant Hall give the order, she stepped forward and retrieved the body from the doorway. Placing it down as gently as she could without wasting any time, she looked up for further orders. Morse was still acting platoon commander, so she listened attentively to his orders. She felt obligated to contribute to the team. The death of her comrade made her realize that she needed to step up and try to pull even more weight.

"On my way," she replied to Morse and followed Private Henniger in the flanking attack. She readied her SHARP stick rifle; as soon as she caught sight of the terrorists she would send one of the explosive-tipped harpoons into their midst.
<Roll: Special Weapons if applicable>
<Roll: Awareness>

"Sarge, want me to go hit the left door and secure the other side of the hallway?" Orozco called out to Morse after the gunfire and smoke had erupted.

<Tag Morse

She sprinted over to the left door and went to the far side bulkhead, waiting to open the door and attempt to reduce the enemy number. The pulse rifle in hand and a growing hatred towards these extremists. She tried to listen for the number of combatants from Paulson but waited to open the left side door to avoid a potential crossfire if it was all one long connected hallway.