Turn 8: Before It Gets Better

[Corporal Hicks]

The Marines had done their best to recon the tunnels safely, but time was not on their side. Finally, the Master Sergeant made the difficult decision to move forward and risk the unknown. Time would tell if the somewhat aggressive move would pay off.

SECOND SQUAD:
Second Squad stowed their gear and prepared to move out down the southwest tunnel. Lance Corporal Giosso was standing inches away from the sentry gun, adjusting his helmet and preparing to move out. The gun exploded with noise, echoing in his ear drums and making him instinctively dive to the floor. The light from the muzzle fire lit the tunnel ahead in flickering bursts. The gun roared three times, the barrel moving on its own accord and finding targets. High pitched screams echoed from down the tunnel, then all fell silent, leaving only the ringing in their ears. The gun’s ammo counter now read 442.

Meanwhile, Pope stayed focused and piloted the drone up the north tunnel. He tapped Soles on the shoulder once the situation calmed down and showed him the updated map information.

Second Squad moved out at last down the corridor, anxiously watching for movement. They found the remnants of two xenomorphs, torn into pieces by the withering fire of the sentry. Their blood was eating into the floor and walls, but it was already oxidizing. The tunnel ahead twisted to the right and out of sight.

FIRST SQUAD:
First Squad was on point when they heard the sentry gun fire reverberating down the tunnels behind them. It was nerve-wracking but it was too distant to worry them right now. They had to stay focused… Then their own sentry gun suddenly exploded into life! The staccato bursts rattled their teeth even at this distance. The sound was followed by alien screeching that was cut off instantly. Evidently, Bravo Sentry had dealt with some hostiles that had been sneaking up on them.

A shrill and distant scream split the air, sending shivers up the spines of all three squads. Something had been disturbed by the sentry guns, and they had a feeling it didn’t like them being in its nest.

Paulson looked forward again and led the way down the tunnel. Sweat trickled down his neck and he shifted uncomfortably, not willing to take his hands off the flame unit to deal with the itch. His eyes flitted left and right, then up to the ceiling. He stepped forward and found no footing, his right foot sinking below the level of the floor. His left knee buckled as he tried to keep his balance, and he slipped and fell feet first down into the blackness. It was a pit trap! Blake spotted it just in time, and tried to grab him, but her hand only brushed his arm. For a horrifying microsecond, he waved his legs, and they met nothing but air. Then he hit the bottom, his right foot striking first and twisting the ankle. With a cry, he instinctively dropped the gun and reached out to break his fall. The flamethrower clattered away somewhere in the darkness, and his helmet banged off of the floor. His body was sore and his ankle burned with pain.
(Actions)

Riddle Map 7.png (33.62 KiB) Viewed 295 times

[eyeball]

Paulson had landed badly and was unsure how much damage he had done, worse he had dropped his weapon and could not see it. he instinctively searched with his hands using his shoulder light as best he could before he was found unarmed and trapped.

as and after thought he commed the rest of the squad "I'm alive, leg hurt unsure on damage cant see shit can someone drop a flare" " gonna need help getting out it's pretty deep."
<search for flamer , locally.>
<tag second squad>

sitting in the dark nursing his ankle Paulsons fears began to get the better of him and he drew his pistol just in case it was not just him down here when the light came down.

[LT_Chun]

Henniger put himself on point in a wedge formation moving down their passage. He passed the tracker off and took a mental inventory of resources. One sentry deployed. One still on Giosso. No heavy weapons besides the underslung frag launchers. This would be a knife and gun fight at close quarters with these damn things.
He selected thermal overview over the infrared on his lens. It illuminated any shadow except cooler spots.

"Second moving out." He said into squad/command link. He made sure one Marine was watching their back trail and struck another IR flare. He tossed it ahead and kept moving, where his head moved so traveled the barrel of his pulse rifle.

<tag 2nd/GM>
<roll perception, movement to contact>

[Corporal Hicks]

Corporal Henniger's flare illuminated a right turn in the path. Carefully moving around the corner, Second Squad found themselves faced with yet another fork in the tunnel. One way led to the west, the other to the north and slightly east. The motion tracker showed no movement, but another distant screech echoed from somewhere up ahead in the darkness.
<Tag Soles/Second Squad>

Riddle Map 8.png (13.11 KiB) Viewed 245 times

[LT_Chun]

Henniger held up a flat palm to halt the squad. He looked back at Giosso.

"Deploy your sentry west and forward of the fork, we will proceed to the north as far as we can toward the O.B.J."
<tag Giosso>

To his other Marines he nodded toward where he wanted their weapons covering. He covered Giosso as he worked.

<tag all/2nd>

"Second at another fork, deploying sentry west, then proceeding north, out."
<tag command\GM>
<roll awareness/reflexive fire at security halt>

[Duncan]

Duncan moved around the pitfall carefully, taking point with his M240. "Quinn, I think you need to attend to Paulson. Can you lift him out of there?" he asked, knowing that his ability to actually issue a command was loitering at the corner of jack and shit. He'd offer to help himself, but as the squad's only remaining flame unit, he decided his best use was being ready to lay a wall of fire down in case the xenon tried to ambush them.

[Corporal Hicks]

First Squad:
Private Hu pulled out one of his five remaining flares and tossed it down into the hole. Paulson saw his surroundings illuminated and sighed with relief to see no xenomorph staring back at him. He was not in a pit, however. He had fallen four meters into a deeper tunnel, running perpendicular to the one above. On the ground nearby lay his flame unit and the motion tracker, both scuffed but functional. The ankle still burned with pain whenever he moved or put pressure on it.
<Tag Paulson>

[eyeball]

Paulson was hurting and scared down on his own, his voice trembled slightly as he reported his findings and injury back to second squad.
he picked up his weapon after holstering his pistol and then used the motion detector to perform a sweep.
prodding his ankle he only felt fire and agony, "quinn, i'm gonna need alittle help here! is there a non Paulson way down? do we have a rope?"

as an after thought he reported his prediciment to soles. "should i sugest tiger squad carry on up there and 1 squad down here? i don't know how mobile i am going to be yet waiting on quinn"
<roll motion sensor>
<tag soles and quinn>

[Duncan]

"Also, just as a heads up, I've got claymores I can set up if we need to cut off corridors," Forester added in over the comms. He didn't know if it would be off any use, but it wouldn't hurt to present the option.

[BarbarianMathematics]

"Just hang in there Paulson. Just keep your eyes open for other ways up in the meantime," Pvt Blake mentions to Paulson down the pit. "Could always throw you down something if you're bleeding."

Keeping her main gun at the ready, she takes a look around near them for a way further down the tunnel before looking at the tracker for hostiles, given the gunfire earlier. Now would be the worst time to get ambushed after all.

<Perception>
<Motion tracker>
<1st squad>

[Quinn]

"Yeah, yeah, quit yer bitchin." Sixtus replied to Paulson, kneeling at the edge of the new tunnel entrance. "Blake, Forester, watch perimeter while I figure this out."

Quinn dug into his web gear and removed a flare. He ignited it with a bright red arc of light in front of his face before tossing it down the tunnel where he was, so they could see anything coming. With that taken care of, he turned his attention to the problem at hand.

The "pit" was four meters deep, before curving away to lead... wherever it went. The resin of the tunnel was not smooth, it had a lot of ridges which made for excellent hand holds. That probably was a big reason why those aliens were able to crawl and climb all over the place. But the issue before him was like a training problem out of the Crucible, which made Quinn groan inside. His Drill Instructor would be laughing her ass off right now if the situation weren't so deadly.

When Forester knelt next to Quinn and made the suggestion, Sixtus grunted. "Don't have anything to lift him up with, but he might be able to climb out..." his voice trailed off as a couple ideas hit him. "Give me a claymore." he said, holding out his hand. Upon received the mine, Quinn tucked it into his armor.

"Keep watch up here, and keep that flamer pointed down this tunnel. You try to cover us with it, and you'll kill us both." Quinn gestured at the upper tunnel they were in, before slinging his rifle and dropping his heavy as fuck medical bag. He dropped it down the "pit" so it didn't land on Paulson, and then started to climb down. "Hey Paulie, watch the tunnel down there, don't want one of those bastards trying to implant an egg up my rear or something."

<roll Climbing>

[Corporal Hicks]

Second Squad:
“I think they found the drone,” said Pope in a resigned tone. Master Sergeant Soles looked down in time to see three xenomorphs rushing the camera, then spinning images and static. “No response. I’m sorry, Sergeant.”
<Tag Soles>

Between the two of them, Giosso and Pope had C Gun placed and operational in a short amount of time. The hydraulics whined slightly as the barrel swiveled slowly from wall to wall of the west tunnel. Once they were ready, the squad moved northeast, relieved of their heavy burden.

The shoulder lamps cut through the darkness like blades as the red light of the flare faded behind them. They crept forward for a little under 40 meters, watching for any movement. As they traveled this distance, their noses began to wrinkle at the growing scent ahead. It smelled like shit and decay. Then, the tunnel opened out into a wide, round chamber. The floor was littered with something horrible, and the smell became overwhelmingly awful.

Edging cautiously forward, the Marines shined their flashlights on the dead bodies that littered the room. There were about fifteen dead grows that seemed to be piled up unceremoniously in the middle of the chamber. A brief investigation showed a few human bodies in the pile, thrown in randomly. Corporal Henniger knelt over the body of a middle aged woman. It was Wilda Baumann, the owner of the Beerwolf. Her shirt was split vertically, and her chest cavity was exploded outward with gore. They all know exactly what that meant.

The Marines jumped as the sound of a sentry gun split the air. More screams followed it, then more gunfire. C Gun had already found some targets. A combination of caution and luck had once again paid off for them, but they wondered how long that luck could hold up…

First Squad:
Quinn threw a flare out ahead and it rolled to a stop just short of a wall. The tunnel ahead ended abruptly and split into a T intersection, leading essentially north and south. The whole area was now brightly illuminated, and nothing could sneak up on their position without alerting them. It was a comforting feeling to most, if not all of them.

Now, Quinn attempted to climb down the side of the pit. He lowered himself down uncertainly until his hands were well above his head, clinging to the floor above. Then, he slipped and lost his footing. If he hadn’t been armored, he would have skinned up his elbows and shins. As it was, he slid awkwardly down the wall, before bouncing back and landing painfully on his ass. He was down, and without injury.

Riddle Map 9.png (37.04 KiB) Viewed 157 times

[eyeball]

"classy descent man all style, not like mine at all, good to see you mate, i don't see any bleeding but fuck it hurts." paulson jabbered on he was really really relieved not to be here on his own.

"movement sensor clear but i screamed liked a princess as i fell so who knows how long that will last" paulson prattled on.

[BarbarianMathematics]

"Doesn't look like anything on the tracker yet boys. You should be good for a little bit," Blake mentioned before going into position for watching the tunnels.

Looking to Forester, she shrugs. "Those will come in handy when we're nearer their nesting grounds. The mama bear... Or beast in this case, will likely be coming around those spots. One heck of an ugly mother though."

<1st>

[LT_Chun]

Henniger knew his Marines were already pulling good security, and he stood from the body. He tapped to All Hands.

"Net call, net call. Second Squad reporting approximately five civilian KIA, typical Xenomorph hatching cycle. Sentry C engaging targets at our last checkpoint. Out."
<tag all>

He looked around sadly and motioned his people to secure the wide space as much as possible. They were all glancing back the way they'd come. He couldn't decide if he was better off having run into the civilians' remains, thereby "accomplishing" part of their operational parameters, or if they'd turned away from the PDT's and got some much needed payback against some creepy crawlies. He shook his head and waited for orders.

He swung the motion tracker to his front and began to check the chamber completely while his squad locked down the avenues of approach. He struck two IR flares and tossed them around the chamber.

"Pull security, we'll halt here for now."
<tag 2nd>

<roll awareness>
<roll perception of the scene>
<roll motion tracker>
<roll reactive gun combat>