[IC] Hijacked - LowInt ops, In Character thread for Low Intensity Options

[LordArcana]

Murphy : Vashon Island, East Coast beach, in the shadow of a WALL

As the critters move in to swarm the area two of the beasts pounce at Murphy with their mandibles clicking. The first one manages to sink its chompers into his armor midway up on the right side just beneath the rib cage. Thankfully his platelet factories automatically kick in making the wound far less than it could have been. The second creature, smelling the scent of blood, lurches forward trying to land its mandibles on Murphy's head but he brings the butt of his Colt up in time to push the creature aside.

[phlapjack77]

Exiting the humvee with a snarl on his face, Crispy popped the safety button on the flashbang and tossed it left-handed at the small pack of locusts. The flash was filtered out his combat goggles, and he felt the pressure wave slam against his body as a few locusts were blown into the air. He didn't pause, but started laying down tactical bursts with his battle rifle, firing short, controlled bursts. Blood flew everywhere, most of it thankfully that of the giant paranormal insect kind. Murphy seemed to be holding his own helping out the locals, and Nova..well, that was rapidly becoming a problem.

The sounds picked up and amplified, isolated and cleaned-up by his earbuds sounded increasingly like some kind of security patrol aircraft heading their way, possibly of the kind they had avoided just a little whie ago. Between that and the spotlights that he could barely make out being turned in their direction, things were looking bleak.

<<@Team {Crispy} : Got possible security lights coming online, and inbound small aircraft, possibly drones. We gotta MOVE! I'm heading to assist Nova now.>>

With an experienced eye, Crispy saw the ebb and flow of combat start to focus around the humvee...with the locusts seeming to be gaining ground there. That humvee wasn't going to last much longer. He needed to get Nova out of there, and see if he could save some of the team's gear while he was at it. The merc started to slowly make his way to the driver-side door.

As he went, a small tear started to slide down Crispy's cheek as he thought of the brief romance he'd had with the humvee's AI. Ah, memories...

[Mach_Ten]

Hijackers : Vashon Island, East Coast beach, in the shadow of a WALL

The blazing white light of a search-lamp ponderously swings across the bay and slowly approaches the site of the ignited mine,
It zigzags the beach, searching for movement trying to get towards the wall, not quite reaching as far as the team yet.

To the west the buzz of the swarm is joined by the mechanical hum of jet propelled engines as a pack of drones bursts over the top of the crops and heads south along the beach,
Dangerously close to the team position, but thankfully not directly overhead.

With a deflated whump, another critter falls unconscious to the sand while its brethren mill around it, trying to get into a position to take chunks out of the vehicles.
Nova floats on the astral winds “this is too easy!” She smiles satisfied with her work as her pet fire-demon below relishes in her command to seek and destroy.

Huge gouts of flame shoot out and envelop the dual natured critters, roasting them ihn their own carapaces.
back in meat space more insect forms crumble into the sand, they hiss and steam as if baked by some invisible nuclear blast.

Murphy, rocked on his feet as a flash-bang lands at his feet, looks at the apologetic face of his mate, Crispy while readying another burst of fire to aim at a nearby critter.

“They aren’t attacking us !! … this is freakin’ me out man !”

It’s true, the insect creatures are the size of sub-compact cars, according to the TRIDs they should be blood thirsty monsters out to kill as many meta-humans as they can and laying eggs in their chest cavities
but they seem to be single mindedly trying to devour non-biological material and are un-fazed by the deaths of their hive-mates or anything else except the noise of the grenades.

With their vehicle nearly completely destroyed, the locals take to their heels and flee up the path from the beach,
heading for the cover of some nearby abandoned buildings.
“We can’t go in there Pa’ ! … Mom’ll have yer hide !” one of the kids protests, but continues running in the same direction, heedless of his own advice.

Surrounding the hummer, a cloud of unidentifiable tiny black insects swarms, to the casual observer, not involved in a firefight,
it would seem that paint flecks peel and vanish leaving only bare metal, this then also peels away layer by layer until the chassis is revealed and that too stripped away to nothingness

Standing back from the Hummer, only seeing enemies all around, Crispy and Murphy finally see that the vehicle is almost a complete husk of bare metal,
Nova is completely visible and vulnerable in the seat as the vehicle body panels have nearly all disintegrated now, in the trunk, the ammo container crashes out of the bottom and is almost immediately devoured in a blur
The remainder of their gear in duffel bags rests on the struts that hold the vehicle tenuously together, the creaking sound indicates that they won’t last much longer.

A glance around the situation reveals that only a few bugs remain standing, those that haven’t landed on mines, been mutilated by fiery spirits or blown apart by grenade fire.
There’s three on the remnants of the locals truck and two that finished on the shore by Sanchez have moved to the hummer to continue to devour.

[phlapjack77]

We'll always have Vashon Island...

Crispy slung his rifle over his back and grabbed Nova's inert form. He shook her, screaming NOVA! We are leaving! Not getting any response, he threw Nova's body over his shoulder and started to stagger towards safety. After just a few steps, a muttered curse escaped his lips as he turned around and staggered back to the decimated form of the humvee, where he snatched up his duffel bag moments before the locusts would have devoured it.

Turning once again, doubly encumbered, Crispy headed in the direction that the locals had gone just moments before he was buffeted by the shockwave of a large nearby explosion...

[Mach_Ten]

Hijackers : Vashon Island, East Coast beach, in the shadow of a WALL

The blast of the Hillbillies truck with it's compressed oxygen cylinders and illegal alcohol distillation unit forms a bright blue and green mushroom cloud
as it is ignited by the Hi-Ex grenade.

Murphy and Crispy are momentarily transfixed by the amazing blossom of flame,
Crispy has the foresight to duck and cover, dragging Nova from the hummer before it collapses.

But, unable to move from sheer wonderment, the shockwave lifts Murphy from his feet and a solid part of a gas cyclinder impacts his cranium rendering him unconscious.

laying there staring at the stars, his last sight before darkness envelops him is a wave of sand covering him completely from sight.

<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : I dunno which of you Drek-Heads muted my line .. and I Dun' care! .. Why am I not getting a locator ping on your vehicle ? and why is Artemis local shell offline?
Are you people in position yet or what ? >>

[phlapjack77]

Picking himself back up from the sandy ground, Crispy shook his head to clear the cobwebs from the explosion. Searching around for his recent possessions, he found his weapons, duffel-bag, and a now-conscious Nova. Things were looking up...until he noticed the bio-monitor readout for Murphy on the tacnet. Frag!. Grabbing Nova's shoulder, he motioned towards the retreating form of the locals before crawling over to Murphy's inert form. Bio readout was steady. Unconscious. Ok, no time like the present. Crispy peeled off the backing for a No-Stun squeeze ampule and stuck the tab on Murphy's neck, where it could do its work quickly.

No time to wait though, those drones could be back any moment and the searchlights were even more dangerous. With a sigh and a grin, Crispy now slung Murphy's body over his shoulder and made his way (slowly) to safety. Gonna feel this in my quads later.

To keep his mind focused on the herculean task, Crispy let a little frustration out as he ran. Gorrammit Murphy! Fraggin you and Sanchez need some trigger discipline! This ain't no trid-show, no Neal-the-Ork sim. We can't just go around blowin things up anytime we want! Much as I hate to admit it! Wonder who your CO was before...

[LordArcana]

Murphy : Vashon Island, East Coast beach, in the shadow of a WALL

It was hot and dry in Israel. Company commander made it a standing order to stay hydrated at all times. If you weren't out humping a pack on patrol or digging a hole, you were drinking water under the cover of camouflage. The wind made things made things worse yet. It would whip the sand around which would get into everything. We would break our weapons down three times a day to keep them clean and operational. Our training exercise was going to last three months. Three months in his hell hole was a long time.

************

Day 37: Night Training Op, Hostage Rescue Situation

We parachuted from the skytrain at 00:30, just three klicks south-west of Buq'ata. Intel said the hostages were being held in a building north of the soccer field. Green paint on the bottom of the front door was our signal. It was dead calm that night. Advanced weather systems said there was a storm coming in from the north but it was going to side swipe this area mid morning so we would have plenty of time to get in, grab the hostages and get to Rendezvous One.

Humping the three klicks to the town was nothing we weren't already accustomed to. When we started taking down two-man patrols on the outskirts of town we really thought command was going all out for this training op. Rules stated we were not to defile the resistance when they were stunned. Once they recovered they would leave the exercise area so we continued in. We followed our devised route taking a naturally eroded ditch right up to the soccer field. The target building was just on the opposite side of the field. There were two roof guards on the building doing a haphazard perimeter sweep every couple minutes and two automated search lights sweeping the open areas of the town. Getting the hundred twenty meters across this open area was going to be a matter of impeccable timing.

'Rat' was the first to go. He practically disappeared into his surroundings. I remember joking to 'Flea' that even if spotlight stopped right on him, nobody would know he was there. 'Nerf' followed him across. Both made it without incident to a shallow alcove on the west side of the building. 'Flea' and I shot rock, paper, scissors to see who would go next so i was the next to go. I no sooner crawled into the cover of the alcove when the sound of an AK-97 being fired full auto caught everyone's attention. You could see the tracer rounds as they streaked into the sky. That son of a bitch was cheating! He was alerting the defense we were coming. With zero finesse, 'Flea' ran across the open area just missing the edge of the spotlight as he dove into the alcove.

Something just didn't seem right. The whole town seemed to wake up all at once. We could hear the guards on the roof gibbering away and we only spoke thirty-seven days worth of Arabic so we could only make out a few words, but something made this seem a whole fuckload more serious than a training exercise. Two men came running around the southern edge of the building but the lightning fast reaction of Nerf plunked a stick-n-shock into each of their heads. They hit the ground like an asteroid, random impacts with the earth. It was Rat's idea to grab one of their weapons to check. Sure enough, live ammo. You could almost feel that big green weenie right at that moment.

There we were smack dab in the center of hell with only s-n-s rounds while the weight of the Syrian anti-Isreal rebel force came swooping in on us. Bad Intel? Bad planning? Perhaps we had pissed off someone "up there". We had to make a decision right there how we were going to handle this. If it really was a training exercise and we bugged out... we failed. If this was just one big CATFU'ed mess... we were probably going to die. We at least had to check to see if there were hostages in the building so we entered the cellar through the slopped doors. Once inside we could hear the frantic ramblings of several voices upstairs. Even with our limited knowledge of Arabic "Kill the Infidels" was fairly easy to make out.

************

We waited in that basement for nearly two hours when we were able to confirm several soldiers left the building leaving two maybe three moving around inside. This was the best chance we had to take the building and make a stand. We moved in stunning with extreme prejudice the three men left behind to guard the hostages. We barred the doors shut and the windows best we could. When we found the hostages they had been tortured and beaten so close to death it was going to be nearly impossible to get them out of here on foot. It was time to notify command of our situation. "Say again Alpha Team Red" is the response we got to every thing we said. It was like they refused to believe us. "We need immediate evac under cover of gunships. I repeat Insurgents are using live rounds, we need immediate evac and air fire support!"

When air support arrived we managed to get the hostages to the medi-vac chopper. The four of us took cover as we waited for one of the gunships to touch down giving us a ride out of here. There it was on approach. Rat popped green smoke out into the clearing and we ran for the chopper. None of us saw the grenade coming, we just felt the blast. The last thing I remember before the black was the sight of Nerf's mangled body and the sand hitting my face.

"Sir, the next thing I remember was waking up with Doc Morgan shining that light in my eyes. I have no recall of how we got back."

[Mach_Ten]

Hijackers : Vashon Island, Putnam Projects, SW 249th Lane

Crouching in the dark corner of the kitchenette, Pa' huddles over his kids under the window as the searchlight flashes over the landscape outside.

The Team barge in, Crispy supporting a barely conscious Murphy followed by Nova as she covers their retreat
"All clear, the drones have passed over head, I shall leave the spirit on guard out here"

Crispy clears the small dining table ..Weird, there's china and table cloths still..
he tries to think about it, but more pressing matters present themselves, he throws Murphy prone on the table that nearly collapses under the weight.

Retrieving the small medikit he takes out a stim-patch, weird name for it, it's a massive hypo concealed in a tube with a compressed air charge to accelerate the needle through the chest plate and into the heart.

Murphy sits bolt upright and draws a massive lungful of air as the adrenal hits
"FRAAAAG MEEEE!" he exclaims with eyes wide "Not as advertised !! Daayamn!"
he is given a tactical signal for silence by Nova, one angrily raised eyebrow does the trick
looking around he quietens and begins to examine the surroundings,
the same as Crispy, weirded out by the presence of furniture and possessions, nothing of monetary worth, but someones homely belongings
as if they just vanished over night.

[phlapjack77]

So this Momma you're talkin' about. She some kinda chika? Maybe we can meet her sometime, right? Right?

[LordArcana]

Murphy : Vashon Island, Putnam Projects, SW 249th Lane

After having been abruptly awakened from his military career flashback by the timely placement of a stim-patch, Murphy takes a moment to gather his focus on what has happened while he was out cold. Obviously that explosion had taken its toll on is body more than he first thought. Looking around for the landscape for the rest of his gear he remembers back to seeing the critters eating the humvee and his carry along gear being in the back of the vehicle at the time. I guess those are the only casualties so far. With no medkit available to heal his wounds Murphy takes stock of what gear he has remaining. Looks like weapons and ammo are secure.

Murphy ejects the partially spent clip from his Colt M22A3 and begins reloading it with Ex-ex ammo stored from the ammo pouch built into his armor. Checking to make sure the weapon itself wasn't damaged from the blast he begins reloading mini-grenades into the under barrel launcher. Firing order should be Flashbang, Frag, Frag, HE leaving two spots open in case the need for special alternatives comes up in a pinch. Loading the High Explosive round into the weapon Murphy remembers back to the mushroom cloud set off by the last time he fired an HE grenade.

"That sure was pretty." Murphy mumbles under his breath with a smile crossing his face.

[LordArcana]

Murphy : Vashon Island, Putnam Projects, SW 249th Lane

While Murphy loads the clip for his Colt he listens to Crispy talk to the locals about what he assumes is their mother. A happenstance glance up at one of the children at just the right time fills his head with nightmarish memories of his early career days along Hellbender Vale. Paranormal seems to be the theme to this island. Sure would have been nice to have had that bit of intel before starting this op. Trying his best to be nonchalant Murphy finishes loading the clip with ammo and inserts it back into the weapon. He stands up leaning heavily on the frame of a couch for support.

Murphy moves to a corner of the same room standing guard over the situation making every effort to anticipate possible worst case scenarios. At the same time he makes it a point to observe each of the locals for anything else that appears to make them look paranormal.