THE RP THREAD!!! *sparkle sparkle*

[Earl McClaw]

"What? An earthquake in the Midwest?" asked a confused jaguar.

"A very loud kick," McClaw replied. "We should be seeing some ants soon." He glanced across the refugees crouched behind the makeshift cover and hoped they wouldn't get impatient.

* * *

Upstream, in the direction of the Viledarian encampment, a small group of four guard-suited troopers pushed their way through the unfamiliar plants. One of them stopped to try and scratch.

<I told you not to mess around with the local plants,> his partner teased. <Better switch on your medkit.>

<Shut up! And keep everything powered down!> the one in front said. <One active energy signal and whoever's up there will land - directly on us!>

<Doesn't feel right, us bailing like this, Corporal.>

The corporal snapped, <Then you're free to go back to camp and get stepped on with the rest. These people aren't the primitives High Command believes. Getting out is our best option.>

The four continued downstream.

[Calbeck]

Roy peered out across the zone of cleared forest.

"Damn," he muttered. "Doesn't look like they're comin' out. Maybe..."

Suddenly his left ear twitched, and he turned to peer back the way they came --- through the low ground, near the stream. There was a distant but distinct rustle of foliage. He dropped to his chest and low-crawled over to Fergie.

"I think we're bein' flanked. Movement in th' brush, maybe a hunnerd meters left an' behind us. Let's reverse our position an' see who pops out."

No sooner said, the unicorn hustled his butt over to Gil to give the same info, distinctly aware of how well his white hide and blond mane and tail would give their position away if he didn't keep his face in the dirt. Safeties clicked off the rifles to either side, and he peered over a fallen tree branch.

Kommenzie papa, du hengst...

[BrockthePaine]

Gil tried to control his breathing. Okay. Done this dozens of time at the range. The rifle will hold 2" groups easy, if I'm aiming right. Control breathing. Don't shoot the instant something pops its head up - identify, aim, THEN fire...

The bushes rustled again, and Gil nearly put a few rounds into it on general principle - but the Viledarian emerged with his hands up, and no weapon to be seen. Gil remembered the history of the Marines in WWII - to approach surrendering Japanese only to be blown up by suicide bombs or grenades hidden in back belt loops.

Yeah, now I'm jumpy... great, Gil thought. "Guys, any ideas on what to do now?"

[Calbeck]

"Stay down, stay down," Roy muttered quickly. "Could be a ruse, if he's got more people with 'im. We pop up, they pop us. Keep a bead on 'im. I'll tripwire."

Before Gil could ask what he meant by that, the unicorn crept forward and left a few meters and then stood straight up, a golden-white beacon in military camouflage, holding both hands forward. With one, he gestured for the Viledarian to get on the ground with hands behind his head...and the other began to glow with a light blue corona...

Shields up, as they say...now let's see what goes.

[Sharuuk]

Approaching the prison ship from starbord aft Şaaruuk was more than mildly amused to see at least 4 'Greenie guards' levitating to an altitude of about 50-75ft and slowly, well not too slowly, rotating uncontrollably (at least by themselves) on all 3 axis.

"So that's why he wanted quick stick pads on those A-gravs......very innovative...and damned effective." The huge wolf grinned to himself. "I hope nobody gets underneath them within the next 5 minutes or so....at least not without an umbrella."

Touching down in the tall grass about 20yds from the 5 o'clock position of the ship he quickly made his way to one of the massive landing struts about 20ft underneath the ships hull.

Linking up with the W'ykkryn's sensor array he attempted to scan the ship to locate the prisoners. This proved inconclusive as the Viledarians had activated some type of shield that made accurate sensor scans nearly impossible.

"Alright then, time to turn up the heat." He muttered to himself as he fed commands and coordinates to the W'ykkryn's fire control systems.

Keying the bone-phone he contacted Kerry.

"Circuit to Skydancer....Heads up buddy, I can't scan for the prisoners due to interference...Gonna try and flush 'em out so I'm starting the fireworks beginning on the starboard side in 5...4...3...2...1...MARK!!!!"

Moments later a barrage of white hot plasma bolts seemingly from nowhere began cratering the ground as others slammed into the shields of the ship causing them to flicker and flash as the generators strained to maintain integrity under the onslaught. Taking great care not to hit the fast moving megabat, the helpless guards or the small huts and tent like structures near the ship, he continued the rain of fire and chaos for nearly 5 unrelenting minutes. The thundering blasts mixing with the thrumming of the W'ykkryn's engines to create a near deafening cacaphony that was probably heard 2 counties over.

Then as quickly as it had begun, the barrage suddenly ceased......the silence was deafening.....and eerie....even the thrumming had stopped. As the last of the echos died away, not a sound could be heard....not a bird, not a bug. Nothing moved save for the four terrified, nauseated and now somewhat soiled guards still hovering and turning but completely untouched. Dozens of 10ft wide, 8ft deep craters surrounded the ship. The ship itself had several points on her superstructure that were warped, melted or at least still glowing red hot where the shields had failed to completely stop incoming bolts.

"Now....lets see if I've gotten their attention." He said to himself as he quickly moved to a position behind another landing strut.....and waited.

[Calbeck]

When Sharuuk's unexpected attack kicked in, neither Roy nor the Viledarian were ready for it. The unicorn looked in the direction of the clearing involuntarily, and the Vile' chose that moment to bolt for the stream.

Roy cursed under his breath and gestured to Gil and Fergie. "I'll go after him! You two follow, but keep to cover! I'm still not buyin' that he's out here entirely alone!"

With that, the unicorn actually broke to gallop, surging after the fleeing enemy with a leap-doublestep-leap gait reminiscient of a bounding deer, hand still outstretched and glowing blue.

[The JAM]

All the former prisioners screamed at the uncomfortably close thundering and explosions, and many flinched or took cover. Reflexively, the jaguar [WARP!!!] disappeared from sight, much to the surprise and disappointment of the female who looked like a dark coated leopard.

[Fusion]

As they continue to approach the ship without resistance, Ben gets increasingly nervous. It was way to quiet. Suddenly Saaruuk's playing the earth as a persecution instrument just about sends him running for cover. Not exactly the quiet breaker he was looking for.

Oddly, as they come up to the ship a door opens. Expecting attack, they quickly flatten against the side of the ship waiting for them to come out so they can pick them off. Still quiet. Ben edges to the door and peers around cautiously around the corner.

Now finding himself looking at the wrong end of a plasma rifle, instincts quickly take over. His blade comes out quickly turning the Viledarian into minced meat and warning Omega and Seba that it was party time.

[Earl McClaw]

All the former prisioners screamed at the uncomfortably close thundering and explosions, and many flinched or took cover. Reflexively, the jaguar [WARP!!!] disappeared from sight, much to the surprise and disappointment of the female who looked like a dark coated leopard.

"Everybody, hold places! We're defending ourselves, not taking revenge!" called out McClaw. With a lot of muttering, the refugees did keep to their posts.

"Where'd he go?" N'marra whimpered, referring to J.A.M.'s disappearance.

"Probably scouting," McClaw said under his breath. Inwardly, however, he was worried about the jaguar.

* * *

Not far upstream, the four deserters got fearfully back to their feet, having hugged the ground when the barrage started.

The corporal snapped, <On your feet, you wimps! And if you didn't like your CO, you just said 'goodbye'. Now let's go find a way to get the better of these lying locals. They're going to pay for this!> Secretly the corporal had fantasies of conquering this backwater planet and it's unexpectedly powerful people. It would make a prize worthy of the Emporer himself. Or, once properly trained and equipped, make their ruler an emporer!

Behind the corporal, Trooper Blute pondered having traded one cruel leader for another. He needed to get away from those like the corporal, and find a way to meet these locals peacefully!

[The JAM]

The jaguar heard McClaw's order, and that was precisely what he was doing. If anyone showed up, he'd be sure that he would see them first...

[Kerry Skydancer]

Kerry had spent a profitable few minutes finding the sentries and sending them up to bob around like balloons. They'd gotten slack, picking off the occasional Terran every so often to add to their hostage collection, and even the capture of their sister ship and the withdrawal of the Villedarian fleet hadn't shaken up the lowest levels of their 'leadership'. The first one never knew anything was wrong until he found himself spinning randomly while drifting slowly downwind - the other three were too busy concentrating on the troubles of their colleagues to remember to watch their backs. They hadn't figured out that one of the locals they held in contempt could fly -without- a power assist.

Once they were all dealt with, Kerry turned on the antigrav he'd kept for himself and relaxed. Whew. Glad I can stop flapping quite so hard, now. He flitted out of range as Saaruuk warned the circuit about his barrage, and waited it out well upwind before drifting back after the bombardment was done. "Looking good, big fella. I don't think they can lift any more." He listened as Ben and Sebastis went through the airlock of the other ship. "Can't help them much over there. I'm going to see if any others are still wandering around out there." He banked off to the left and started a search spiral.

[Sebastis]

It didn't take Sebastis long to jump into the middle of things once on the ship. She swung her staff with precision accuracy knocking several attackers down with bone crunching thuds. Too easy she thought.... must be a trap somewhere. Where to find it though?

[BrockthePaine]

Fergie nearly followed Calbeck, but a flash of light caught his eye as he started moving. He waved Gil back to cover, and sighted in on the source of the light.

Snakeshooters, he thought, remembering the nickname the disguised ambush pits had earned in the Army. The Viledarian had cleverly built a trapdoor-covered ambush spot, covered in grass and twigs. They had even installed a tiny periscope to see out - which was what Fergie had seen as he scanned the area.

"Gil, you see that fallen tree over there?" he said.

"Yeah?"

"Enemies in a foxhole beneath it. I'm going to shoot, then you give me cover."

"Right."

Fergie targetted the top of the periscope - a target perhaps a half-inch across, 45 meters away - and fired. The mirror atop the ambush sight shattered, and Fergie jumped to his feet and dashed towards the log, quietly dropping into position behind the trapdoor as it swung open.

"Devil dogs killed my video feed!" the Viledarian was saying into his radio. He pulled a medium machine gun out of the hole and aimed it towards Gil, who was popping off a few ill-aimed rounds to draw attention...

And then Fergie jumped over the log and kicked the trapdoor down on the head of the Viledarian trooper. Half-in and half-out of the ambush hole, the Viledarian was stuck trying to wriggle back in. Fergie put the muzzle of the FAL next to the alien's ear.

"The Malarkey County Tourism Board would like to welcome you to our great county," he said. "Is your stay going to be a long one, or a SHORT one?" Fergie flipped the selector switch to full auto, just for the benefit of a sound effect.

"Urghk! Get off m'neck!" the Viledarian exclaimed.

"Sure, if you surrender and tell me where the prisoners are."

"All right! URK! I surrender! I'll... gak! Tell you everything."

Fergie stepped off the trapdoor and kicked the machine gun out of reach. Gil crept in closer, and covered the prisoner with his rifle. When a shadow passed overhead, Fergie flinched, but looked up to see Kerry circling overhead.

"Hey Kerry, down here," Fergie called.

[Calbeck]

As shots sounded off behind him, the Viledarian Roy was chasing suddenly went to ground and spun on his belly, opening up on the pursuing unicorn.

The blue glow around Roy's outstretched hand flashed in time to the submachinegun's staccato roar, and then a flashing boot came down and punted the gun back into the Vile's helmeted face. As the alien grunted with momentary pain, the uniformed unicorn dropped to one knee and brought his fist down.

"I don't have time fer this..."

There was a sickening crack as the Vile's helmet stove in under the impact. It didn't just carry the force of an angry unicorn's punch...it also bore the stored kinetic energy of twenty-five high-velocity submachinegun slugs. Roy withdrew his hand, opened it, and poured the unmarred bullets over the alien corpse. Then he turned with a bound into the foilage, his white hide and blond mane disappearing in an instant.

[The JAM]

[UNWARP!!!]
The jaguar was suddenly next to the tiger. "Shots fired about 500 meters up ahead, and they're approaching. You think we should wait until they're in range?"

[Earl McClaw]

[UNWARP!!!]
The jaguar was suddenly next to the tiger. "Shots fired about 500 meters up ahead, and they're approaching. You think we should wait until they're in range?"

"I think we need to sit tight and make sure these people don't start shooting at the first thing that steps out of the trees..." McClaw was saying when that very foliage began to move.

Reaching the thick underbrush at the tree line near the cabins, Trooper Blute held his tongue. One of the others was not so cautious and had to endure the corporal's wrath. With the miscreant's jaw held in a vice-like grip, the corporal hissed, <You don't like pushing through this stuff? Tough! That's locals out there; some kind of village. They're not running around or anything, so we've caught them with their pants down. What we're gonna do is walk in, scare the cr@p outa them, and have them hide us until those ships are gone. Then they're going to do exactly what we tell 'em, got it? Good! Let's go.> Pushing his way out of the trees, the corporal didn't notice the targeting dots until they were dancing en mass on his torso. With a whispered, <Oh cr@p!> he responded as he'd been trained and brought his weapon to bear.

Unfortunately, he forgot his battle suit was still "off". When the refugees saw the Villie raising his weapon, they fired almost simultaneously. In the middle of the devastation from stray shots, the corporal effectively vaporized into a rapidly expanding ball of flame. A secondary explosion followed almost immediately as his weapon's energy pack overloaded.

Trooper Blute was the first to recover. Quickly snatching the weapons from his companions, he heaved them out of the brush and to one side. Unlike the corporal, Blute had bothered to learn a little English. He called out, "Don't shoot! We surrender!"

[Kerry Skydancer]

Skydancer grinned as he landed by Fergie. "Got one, I see. Looks like there was a brief firefight down by the refugee village. Lot of our weapons going off, but no one on the circuit down there is reporting a problem. Either a false alarm, or we won quick."

He winked at Fergie and Gil, and mouthed 'Good cop, bad cop?' while pointing to the Villedarian. "Better tell us where your buddies are. If you're not going to be useful, I'll just stuff a grenade in your shorts and pull the pin."

[Spacewolfomega]

The Viledarians were retreating into the scout ship. Sebastis was moving like a blur with her bo staff, having subdued or currently subduing any opposing forces outside the ship. Omega wasn't worried... she could handle herself, plus the Wolfstar had her covered if anything went wrong. Ben was covered in blood splatter from where he had killed the first Viledarian and he was currently holding another Viledarian he had rendered unconscious. He was standing next to the door. Omega moved past him.

"I'm going in to get the prisoners out!" Omega shouted. "Watch that cargo door! When it opens, make sure that they get out okay!"

Once inside, Omega quickly made his way to the cargo hold, knowing the schematics of the ship from his Space Wolf training. Part of the training being to take a tour of captured Viledarian vessels in order to familiarize one's self in the event of needing to take a boarding action.

Once he reached the cargo hold, his blood went cold. Huddled in the hold were the prisoners... all children. A couple of women sat holding babies. Omega cursed. There was no telling what the Viledarians had in store for them. The children stared at him with fear...

He prayed there were no booby traps. As he struggled to decide on his next course of action, a few of the children look wide-eyed over his shoulder. Someone was behind him...

Omega whirled around with his laspistol extended, only to have it knocked from his hand by a towering Viledarian wearing no armor. The Viledarian held up his hands after disarming Omega.

"Stop! You don't want to do this..." he began.

Yeah, right. This was no time for Omega to listen to threats. Viledarians were good about stalling you, filling your head with just enough indecision to get their schemes up and running. He wasn't about to let this guy get the upper hand on him. He flew at him in a rage.

"Bastard!" Omega shouted. "What were you planning on doing to them?"

The Viledarian stepped back, defending himself against Omega's attacks. Omega managed to land a few blows, causing the Viledarian to stagger, but not causing him to drop.

"We were trying to take them away..."

"Where?" Omega demanded. "Do you have another ship in orbit? Another headquarters here on Earth?"

[Sharuuk]

*Meanwhile back at the prison barge*

Şaaruuk waited near one of the amidships landing struts for the reaction to the bombardment.....and right on cue he heard the airlocks open and the loading ramp extend and lower. As the ramp lowered, he quickly moved from his place at the landing strut to a position behind and under it. In a blur of motion he came out from under the ramp leveled his plasma wrist guns at the edges of the airlock hatch and opened fire. In an explosion of sparks and molten metal the hatch became welded to the bulkhead, effectively locking it open and simultaniously preventing the inner hatch from being operated.

Dashing up the ramp into the barge he quickly dispatched the first of the Villie guards as he made his way to the holding pens. As he headed deeper into the ship the chaos became more pronounced as smoke from overloaded circuits filled the corridors. Here and there sparks flashed from various panels as the lights flickered, faded to black and flickered back on and off again. The resulting effect gave the cramped corridors a surreal appearance that under most circumstances would have been highly disorienting.

Thanks to the link with the W'ykkryn, the huge B'Thraanti could navigate the labyrinthine interior with the ease of his own home. Making his way deeper into the ship the low number of guards he encountered after his initial entry left him somewhat uneasy.....where were they?

Reaching the holding pens, he cracked the sealed hatch and for all intents and purposes entered Hell.

The stench was overpowering. The pens were jammed with people so tightly they could only stand up. The sight of the gigantic silver wolf sent them into fits of terror filled shrieks and screams. In an attempt to calm them, he retracted the helmet to try and talk to them. Unfortunetely, in the dim flickering light, his lupine face, oversized ears and glowing eyes only added to their terror.

Replacing the helmet, he tried another tactic.

*Shouts at the top of his lungs*

"I AM NOT HERE TO HARM YOU....I AM HERE TO SET YOU FREE..." (repeats)

Putting action to words, he began burning off the locks and hinges of the cell doors as he walked the length of the hold. Slowly the calmor began to subside as the prisoners began to push the cell doors open and cautiously step into the corridor. Şaaruuk turned to face the bewildered prisoners the mirror-like armor reflecting their aprehensive faces.

*In a softer and lower voice*

"Let me take you out of here....just follow me out and I'll see to your being fed and cared for.....do you understand what I'm saying?"

Murmered acknowledgments and furtive glances told him that at least some of them did.

As he strode toward the open hatch he continued talking to them, reassuring them, and trying to calm them. There were about 75 prisoners all total and trying to move that many thru this maze by himself would be impossible.....let alone if he ran into any more guards.

*"Where are the guards?"*

Turning to face them he said: "I can only take about 10 of you at a time thru these corridors....any more and I won't be able to protect you effectively if we run into any guards."

*Turns and glances up and down the corridor.....hears an odd sound behind him*

Stars......stars.....and galaxies......"What th'....??"

The blow temporarily scrambled the video screen in his helmet rendering him essentially blind. Before he could react, another sledgehammer blow to the side of his head sent him staggering into the corridor.

[Spacewolfomega]

"N-no," the Viledarian stammered. "We were trying to remove them from the combat zone!"

Omega threw several more punches, not letting up, striking the Viledarian again and again. The green-skinned alien handled the punishment well, but it was starting to take its toll. The Viledarian began countering.

"To WHERE?!?!" Omega demanded. "Where were you taking them?!?!"

"Anywhere!" the Viledarian protested. "We were trying to keep them out of harm's way!"

Right. Like Omega hadn't heard something like that before. Admittedly, it was an unusual tactic for a Viledarian to try and come off as being sympathetic to other beings... usually it was all about some subtle trick to play on your sympathies... but not making themselves appear to be sympathetic at the same time. It didn't matter. These children had to be freed.

Omega managed to score a knockout punch straight to the Viledarian's face... however, although it would've knocked out someone of Omega's size, it only dazed the Viledarian, but not for long. Instinctively, the Viledarian returned his own punch, striking Omega squarely in the face and sending him sliding across the floor.

The Viledarian was angry now. As rage overtook him, he tore a large component from the ship and held it high above his head, prepared to smash Omega into the floor. There was no place to evade and Omega was too stunned to react quick enough. His head lolled over to one side and he could see his laspistol lying on the floor... but too far away.

The Viledarian was breathing heavily, straining under the weight of the component. "I tell you... we were trying... to SAVE THEM!!!!!" Shouting those last words, the Viledarian shed his excess rage by hurling the component into the wall beside him. Then he leaned against the bulkhead, fatigued.

Omega took the opportunity to roll to the side and grabbed up his laspistol and aimed it at the Viledarian. None of this made sense... the Viledarian didn't kill him... wasn't trying to fight back... Could it be that the Viledarian was teling the truth? Impossible... surely. A Viledarian with a heart? Omega still kept his laspistol trained on the Viledarian, who noticed the situation, but simply held his position.

Suddenly, Omega felt a small hand on his shoulder... and then another on his other shoulder... now there were many other hands that gripped him tightly, some holding his arm and causing him to lower the pistol. The children had come forward and were begging him not to shoot the Viledarian... their savior... their friend.

As Omega was listening to their pleas, he noticed the Viledarian had walked over to him and was now extending his hand, offering to help Omega up.