Hijackers : Early Sunday Morning : Somewhere on Puget Sound

<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : Gods dammit Nova, This was supposed to be the EASY way to the island ! >>
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : Now I've got FED-BOEING asking questions about a stolen ferry that YOU tell me was sunk by pirates? >>
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : I've had to pay out through my OWN personal accounts to keep Magic Over-watch from tearing through your sector >>
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : NEWS Stations querying the use of Rocket Munitions in civilian shipping lanes, missing persons reports on top of that! >>
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : A Terrorised group of gangers in KE protective care and a ferry terminal that looks more like Swiss-Soy than a building! >>
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : and to cap it all, The Star are crawling up my ass and personal vehicle records because their officers were assaulted and sent out into the barrens to... to get ... >>
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : I can't even imagine what happened to them out there ! .. and I've SEEN some Drek ! ..>>
The comm goes silent for a second, you can tell Ricoh is pausing for his first breath in the entire tirade

<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : NOW you tell me... WHERE THE FRAG ARE YOU PEOPLE ?!?!?!? >>
Fortunately the sound filters and noise suppressors kick in and shield your ears from the yelling, you get the impression that without the comm, you would probably have still heard Ricoh, and reflexively wipe spittle from your face as if he was stood right there.

He calms down momentarily and continues more calmly as if he is counting each breath and speaking very precisely
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : I've got some good news of my own for you, Brians Bio-Monitor signal dropped a while back, we've sent you some backup, Murphy should be aboard somewhere,>>
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : if you can join up with him without fragging up this whole operation ? that would be nice, Thank-you >>
You detect a certain amount of dry sarcasm, but it lasts only a moment before he gets very serious
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : Bad news is the RIB that delivered him has gone dark, the boat was last seen on a direct intercept with your vessel >>
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : Find that RIB and the pilot at all costs, Speedy was a close friend of mine, forget about Corporal Stumpy if he survived, he's one of Hammerson's rejects! >>
<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : Supposedly on the career ladder, You respect his authority though.... but get me that pilot ... OUT>>

The call is cut off and a data packet pops into AR, opening it you are presented with the dossier and pictures of three obvious mercs who have seen their fair share of stuff

also popping up on the map overlay is a locator *ping* somewhere in the ship towards the very front...

<< @Hijackers [Hammerson] : Breaking protocol here Amigos, but seems you need a hand, I hear Ricoh before and understand his brother was in that boat, Speedy >>
<< @Hijackers [Hammerson] : The Corporal Stumpy, -> Sanchez Him and me go way back comprende? almost as far as Crispy, but not many go back that far hey Amigo >>
<< @Hijackers [Hammerson] : He will steer you true, My team is getting prepped, I'm out, viaje seguro >>

<< @Ricoh [Nova] Ok, we are looking for the crew of the RIB already... >>

With that message out, Nova gets up from her hiding place on the stairs and moves down again, floating above the ground with her levitate spell.

As soon as she can see the inside of the boat again, she begins to search for the two survivors they are looking for.

Crispy : Early Sunday Morning : The Bridge of "The Diamond Pony" Puget Sound

Ears still ringing, Crispy climbs what is left of the staircase up to the bridge on the next level,

it's been long enough waiting down here for the air to clear, for him to know that there's a high probability that it's safe enough up there.

The wreckage is amazing "Maybe one less grenade next time" He has always had the most amazing ability to see the dark humour in most things.

A pool of mess and gore that was once at least ... he counts four boots with limbs still in them, around the room "Two bad guys down, awesome!"

Lying in the middle of it, slumped against the wall is the crimson covered form of a slightly older man, unconscious, Crispy checks his vitals and sighs heavily, he should live.

Going over to the only other 'complete' body, he rolls it over to see the sneering face of Drago "Damn, You ugly!" he states and delivers a face breaking punch to the already slumbering Ork, just to be on the safe side!

Looking around, he spots the basic controls of the ferry and on the advice of Murphy while he gave him careful medical aid, grabs the lever marked FORWARD and slams it back to ALL STOP

The Ferry lurches heavily sending people almost to their knees as the momentum carries them slowly to a mild drift, free in the eddies of the sound.

Moments later the sound of a high whistle echos out of the PA system as it crackles into life
<< Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking! we will shortly be stopping todays pleasure cruise for a maintenance break, >>
<< The crew will be serving refreshments in the Aft refectory, Please notice that Swimming is strictly prohibited after eight PM >>
<< Normal services will resume, once we have investigated the source of the minor technical issue >>
<< I'd like to take this moment to thank you for your custom and wish you a safe journey, unless you are a spider.. in that case, could you kindly vacate the vessel and go die in a fire >>
<< Thanks >>

<< @Team [Crispy] : Uhhhh ... Guys ! ...You got a problem! ... theres a huge Fraggin' Spider blocking my view.. it's heading your way and.. I don't speak spider ... but .. I think it's PISSED! >>

Murphy” : Early Sunday Morning : Somewhere on Puget Sound

The verbal assault by Ricoh sends Murphy's mind reeling back to the days of boot camp when Master Sergeant Tamp would get so in his face, he could feel his breath like wind passing through leaves. I wonder if I sounded like that with the men of Second Platoon.

<<@Team:[Murphy]: So you say fire works well on these creatures? In that case I have a sweet little surprise for big nasty then.>>

Billy takes a moment to load the first three spots in his grenade launcher with White Phosphorus. “ I almost feel sorry for big nasty now.”

As I make my way out the water if possible, higher ground or getting up on something I'm speaking into my commlink.

Anyone out there? This is Sanchez... things went very bad and Speedy is dead I think. I in an area that has 5' water and what looks to be a giant spider and some kind fire spirit elemental thing. I'm engaging the spider!

Realizing he is trapped, Sanchez watches the spider descend cursing his luck, he tries to position himself so he is facing the spider square on and will fire off a couple shots with his Ares Predator IV or punch the spider in one of it's eyes!

Hearing the words over the comm, Tatjana wants to answer them, but with the huge spider making its reappearance, there was no time for that at the moment. Instead, she raises her rifle and aims at the critter.

The fire spirit has noticed the presence of the spiderbeast as well, apparantly, as it whirls around and sends a lance of roaring fire towards it.

Only a moment later, a gunshot is released from Nova's rifle, aimed at the head of the queen spider.

Oi Chummers!
Nice shooting that spider didn't know what hit it!

Sanchez makes his way over to his gear and quickly grabs the duffel bag and his assault rifle.
He reloads his pistol so that it has full mag again and holsters it. Keeping his assault rifle out with his bag slung over his left shoulder.

Early Sunday Morning : The Vehicle Hold of "The Diamond Pony" Puget Sound

The Fireball envelops the Para-monster in flames, the supernatural scream of anger and anguish pierces the eardrums of all within the hold, and masks the sound of a suppressed rifle shot that catches her off guard, directly in the torso.

Floating in the debris filled water, with the aid of his waterproof and buoyant rucksack,
Sanchez cheers triumphantly as he empties two high-calibre shots into the face of the giant spider monster, not waiting for the effects he kicks his legs as hard as he can and makes good progress deeper into the ship towards where he hopes for some cover.

"Ding dong the spider bitch is DEAD!" he mutters happily to himself, unaware that from the waves behind him where she has crashed out of the ceiling, her steaming and carbon encrusted form is rising and ready to strike.

Fortunately She ignores the tiny form swimming away and begins to invoke alien magics with waves of her many legs and an imperceptible whisper in a chattering and insectile language.

Lining up another shot, Nova follows the red dot of the laser in her AR vision, the scope is filled with a view of arachnid body, hunting for a weak spot.
There seems to be a glistening field though, that covered in droplets of water like dew clinging to cobwebs in a bubble around her... there hanging in mid air almost is the tiny form of a depleted uranium round "NIET!" She gasps "I Killed her!"

incredible thoughts fill her mind and she raises the rifle again, only then noticing .. the weapon is covered is insectile droppings ... and insects, bugs and spiders crawl up the barrel and scope ...She swats at them and more fill the gaps ... looking down she sees them floating on the water, crawling into her armor ... around her face and into any orifice they can get to ....

Glancing left and slapping at the 'Swarm' of bugs she notices Murphy is in a similar position, an idea forms in her mind as she battles the instinct to flee from this
"Come to me, My minion of flame!" she mentally commands, but the only answer she receives is an Ignan roar of rage and frustration, She turns and the spirit is covered like an active volcano as bugs pile on the ashen corpses of their kin in an attempt to smother the fiery being
it roars again and bugs tumble from it's ... whatever can be considered a mouth for an astral being.

it going to be of no aid to her own predicament.

Murphy is no better off either, the bugs cover his entire body like a crawling cocoon
Despite which, he grips the white phos grenade and pulls the pin with the other, it arcs true across the holds and the white flash causes the monster to rear back up and scream once more, the shield of web almost completely in tatters now as the burning chemical eats away at it

As the grenade goes off and white fire engulfs the Shaman.... Sanchez realizes the damn thing is not dead! Ignoring the duffel bag Sanchez instead takes up his Ares Alpha assault rifle and opens up on the spider bitch firing two bursts at it.
de morir hijo de puta!

His head still ringing, Crispy wobbily tied off the last of the bandages around his chest where the explosion had hit him. It sounded like a cat was being put through a cement mixer in the bowels of the boat. Could be that fraggin' paranormal giant carnivorous spider thing. He could also hear small pops, what he knew to be small-arms fire, with the occasional buzz-saw rip of burst-fired weapons. The muzziness of his thinking kept him from internalizing just what those sounds might actually mean. He wished the captain guy would come awake, so he could pilot this rig to a safe spot on the shore. Hell, it didn't even have to be safe at this point. Just landing SOMEWHERE would be ok.

Remembering Drago and how he seemed to be somewhat in charge, Crispy bent to search the inert forms belongings. Maybe he had something of use...what the frag!?!? Was that a phophorous grenade going off?!? Was there another party going on that he was late for? This kind of thinking shot a burst of adrenaline through his system, finally clearing his vision and his head once and for all. With a quick motion he scooped up his f'n scar and headed towards the sounds of battle.

<<@Team {Crispy} : Murphy...you sunavabitch! Watch your tail, there was some kinda giant fraggin carnivorous paranormal spider drek in the hold of the ship, and it's headed your way. What's the sitrep Nova?>>

As he ran, Crispy noticed all the messages from Ricoh. He rolled his eyes at the ranting of the man. That Humvee's chances of making it back in one piece were falling with each angry message...

The angry spirit sends another lance of flame at the nasty spider. Under the combined wounds suffered from bullets, white phosphor and the spirit's attacks, it finally slumps down to the ground. At the same moment, Tatjana's vision is free once more. No mass of crawling spiders and insects over her, anymore, which is good. Really good. They weren't real after all, even though it certainly felt real enough.

I should really learn some anti-magic sometimes...

<< @Team [Nova] Crispy? Good to hear you. The spider seems to be down for good. We'll make sure it stays that way. Is the bridge under control? We really need to get this thing on the shore before it goes down as well... >>

Then Nova turns to Murphy.

"We need to look for Speedy. Hopefully it's not too late..."

Murphy : Early Sunday Morning : Somewhere on Puget Sound

Murphy wipes away at the phantom insects. Despite knowing they are not real, he can still feel the creepy crawly feeling all over his body. Slowly he wades through the water heading towards the bow of the ship. He slips the Colt M22A3 over his head and on his back before he removes the flashlight from his FN P93 and begins searching the water for the body of the RIB pilot.

<<@Team:[Murphy]: Copy that Nova. Did you by chance see where the boat exploded? Crispy, If you haven't left the bridge yet can you look and see if there is an auxiliary bilge pump system up there? Perhaps we can get rid of some of this water down here.>>

Turning on the external speakers of his armor.

“Hey Sanchez is that you swimming around out there? I thought you had a dinner date with Hammerson and Estevez? See, I knew you couldn't stay away from the action. Where is your buddy Speedy?”

Nova shakes her head. She steps back towards the wall to lean against it with her back, then she closes her eyes to concentrate on her magic.

She extends her newly gained senses to search for the life force of other living beings around her.

Hey Murphey it's me Sanchez! A giant spider thing attacked me and Speedy when we arrived it killed Speedy I think... I'm going to find his body and check to see if he is okay.

Sanchez searches for Speedy body and drag's it to dry ground and checks Speedy for signs of life.
Sanchez finds a pulse and and see's he breathing very shallow...

<<@Team {Sanchez} : Speedy is just barely a live, I need some help here if he is going to make it. Him being a rigger and all he could pilot this ship I bet!>>

Sanchez picks up his duffel bag and reloads his Ares Alpha and checks his gear once he is done with Speedy and waits before trying to remove the toxic webbing off his face.

Sanchez will offer trauma patch, stim patch or medkit to anyone who needs it.

Screeching to a halt as he reached the cargo hold, Crispy's eyes popped open at the scene unfolding before him. Water flooding everywhere. A giant fire...something...shooting lances of flame at the giant fragging carnivorous paranormal spider queen. Various teammates floating in said water taking shots at the spider queen. White phosphorous casting eerie shadows as it flickered away in small pockets of luminescence on the water. It was fantastic! Glorious! And Crispy had fragging missed all of it!

Seeing the spider queen go down and hearing the messages from his teammates, Crispy turned with a small tear in his eye and headed back to the bridge to try to get the captain conscious so they could get this boat underway. He hadn't even gotten to fire the scar...

<<@Team {Crispy} : Uhhh....sure. Yeah, I'll...uh, check for a bilge pump.>>

What the frag was a bilge pump?

"Not even a single shot!" the muttered words echo back down the metal stairs and are lost in the noise of the hold as the team search for bodies.

Crispy concentrates on his feet, inching up to the wreckage of the upper deck. He looks up admiringly at his work and rubs absently at the scorch marks on his body and slings his rifle ready for the climb.
Jumping down in an emergency was easier but its not a hard climb by any means and in moments he's at the door to the control room.

".. nnngh .. No sudden moves LAWMAN !"
A trail of guts and crimson across the floor draws Crispys eyes across the floor the where he left the captain recovring , somehow Drago has recovered enough to get a weapon and take a hostage.

Instinctively Crispy reaches for the FN Scar.
"Nuh uh... don't do it or I redecorate the place in grey matter"
His hands relax and he stares at the Ork captor.

In the hold.
Sanchez paddles around searching desperately for his comrades body, Floating under the semi truck he spots a pair of boots and dives for them .. pulling the form up to the surface he goes to attempt resuscitation but the spiders venomous spit has hardened into a solid mask like fibreglass over his head and chest.

Nova stands up to her neck in the the freezing waters while Murphy covers the angles.
Her eyes flush white and silver as the magical energies flow into her and she casts her vision around at the same time as the body is located... My God! He's still alive .. what is that stuff?

With a glance around, She checks for anything else living down here and to her horror the enormous form of the Spider Queen thrums with energy and She could swear it just moved, swimming towards Sanchez

"Hold on there! I'm not doing anything. What is it you want? You're leaking pretty bad..."

<<@Team {Crispy} : Nova, I know you just got finished fighting a giant fragging paranormal carnivorous spider queen and all that, so you're probably a little tired right now. But our friend Drago is back, and he's got a hostage. Is there any chance...any chance at all that you could find the time to somehow invisibly sneak up here and kill this fragger with your mind or something? A sniper shot would be fine as well I guess...>>

"Yeah, " *cough* "chances are slim for me right now if it weren't for the platelet factory I'd be gone already thanks to your crew of misfits"
He glances up at the controls and you follow his gaze back to the acceleration lever
"So, you be a good chummer and hit that control up there, Full speed ahead and get me to dry land, I'll do the rest from there"
He coughs up more blood and spits it on the floor
"No tricks, LawMan ! .. I'm sat on two kilos of C-12 and a pressure switch ... you so much as fart in my direction and we all go!"
He Smiles evilly
"Ya Scan?!"

<<@Team {Crispy} : OK Nova...uh....never mind. Belay that request. Cancel that order. Return to sender. Forget about it. DON'T KILL DRAGO. REPEAT! Don't kill Drago. He claims to be sitting on a pressure switch and some TNT. He also said something about not farting, so keep Sanchez and Murphy away too. Thank Christ Hammerson's not here, we'd be gone already. I'll deal with this.>>

"Yeah, sure, no problem. You know which direction we're headed? I sure as drek don't. Figure this captain might be our best bet to get us somewhere like dry land and in one piece...well, in your case..." Crispy gestures helplessly at Drago's condition. "We're both men of our word. You let the captain pilot us to dry land, I'll patch you up after dropping my rifle. How about it?"

Growing rather bored... Sanchez makes busy by watching some kind of video on his commlink.
His eyes grow big and he gets a huge shit eating grin on his face....

The smooth skin or the twin sisters writhing on the bed sunsuously reflects the soft light from the lamp in the corner as they wrestle in gun oil ....

Gun oil ? what the hell .. come on Sanchez, get it together, enjoy the moment .

their oiled bodies entwine sinuously as they play in the light, the camera focusses on the lamp in a fade to new scene

the lampshade though has a silhouette on it of some eight legged thing crawling down it and the image sticks in his vsion..

Spiders ? aaaaw man ... what the frag

He turns the comm off in disgust, utterly unable to enjoy the moment

Sanchez puts his commlink away and digs around in his duffel bag... pulling out a sealed plastic bag with a tarry cloth and black bottle in it.
He pours some of the oil on the cloth liberally and then dabs at the webbing on Speedy's face to see if it has any effect of loosing, he tries to works the outer edges of the webbing doing this to see if it loosens.

With a shrug, Crispy reaches over and pushes the lever to FULL SPEED AHEAD.

<<@Team {Crispy} : Get ready for a surprise!>>

"Ok you're in control. Totally in control. But in a few ticks, we're gonna hit ground, and hard. Your insides are going to spill out all over this floor unless you let me patch you up."

"Gnnnnnnnh ... yeah... ! you're a good samaritan just interested in my wellbeing.."

he looks pale, the platelet factories and other ware he has at the limits of their capabilities, he looks ready to drop ..

he looks well PAST ready to drop, you've seen healthier looking corpses !

Another cough and half a litre of blood goes on the floor
"Gaaah .. okay okay ,... just remember Law Man ... I'm sat on enough boom boom to send us both on a one way trip to sunny Rio !"

he drops the gun from the guys head but holds it in his hand across the other mans chest.

Seeing the gun oil is not having any effect Sanchez puts it back in the duffel bag.

<<@Team {Sanchez} : Uhhh....so does anyone have any ideals how to get this webbing off Speedy's face?>>

Sanchez breaks out his Wireclippers and does his best to get the webbing off of Speedy face.

Crispy set his rifle down lovingly and moved over to the messy form of Drago. That face was just asking to be punched, again and again and...the daydream was so real, Crispy had to shake his head for a moment as he reached for the medkit. When he started working on the merc, he made sure not to make any moves towards the gun...at least, he hoped Drago wouldn't interpret anything he was doing that way. That wasn't the plan...

"Hold still while I get this compression bandage around you...ok. Now you need some kind of blood stabilizer..." Crispy mumbled something medical sounding as he slipped a pain-eeze patch from the medkit onto Drago's arm. Just a few moments before the quick-release DMSO shot 4cc's of medical grade synth-opiate into his bloodstream...

While he was working, Crispy tried to secretly assess the truth of Drago's statement about the C-12. He almost hoped it hadn't been a bluff - he could use some more explosives...

Sanchez finally calming down and realizing he has a pair wireclippers.... he sets about to cutting the webbing off and waking Speedy.
Hey man you lucky as hell to be alive! You almost died when that giant spider covered your face with that toxic webbing!
Some how the webbing must had pocket air trabbed between it and your face and you didn't drown or suffocate.
Speedy: Thanks Sanchez I owe you one... oh shit I feel horrible!

At this point Sanchez will use the Medkit or a Trauma/Stimulant patch which ever is needed or would best suit what is wrong with him.

<<@Team {Crispy} : Uh huh...ok...got it. I'm looking for what again? Murphy, I can't fraggin understand what you're saying! What do the cables look like? All I see is this mess of blood and some kind fiber-optic looking stuff under him, but it could be normal ship equipment....say again? Why should I look in his hands? Because he might be holding a what-detonater? Never heard of it - maybe send me a pic or something?>>

The ship lurches forward, once more, engines roaring as it tries to achieve top speed,

a wake of water from the bow floods the hold by another few inches

Orange flashing lights begin their warning dance in every area of the ship, the automated PA system throws out it's accompaniment warning of impending collision.

On top of the mostly submerged eighteen-wheeler, Sanchez has managed to rouse his pilot friend just as Murphy manages to swim over to them with his medi-kit.

the shock of movement almsot tumbling them all back into the water, they look at each other in a momentary shared appreciation of continued existence.

Rising up from the waters, arm blown off at the shoulder, flesh and carapace burnt away and carbon black, all vestiges of magic abandonned she wants only blood, desires only the tatse of flesh and vengeance.
She lunges at the trio around the truck.

The Shadow cast from the flashing warning lights over Sanchez, the only indication of anything wrong.
instinct kicks in.....

Up on the Bridge the sirens blare deafeningly... standing up quickly and instinctively despite Dragos look of concern Crispy peers out of the windows into the night

Directly ahead the jagged rocks loom out of the darkness...
"Oooooh Fuuuuuuuuuuuudge!"

Dropping all pretense of friendliness, Crispy bodily dropped down on top of Drago. "You stupid fragger! Glad you're such a fat piece of drek, you'll make a handy cushion for the crash. I'll see you in hell!" In a distant place of Crispy's mind, far, far away from his happy place (filled with plenty of explosions and flamethrowers that grow on trees), he wondered if lying on Drago like this would keep any potential pressure-sensitive detonators from going off. He hoped so, or it was going to be one helluva explosion...

<<@Team {Crispy} : It's been a pleasure serving with each and every one of you. If anyone survives, tell Hammerson it was me who fixed him up with that scabby lady-boy in Bogota after roofie-ing his drink. Bracing for impact....transmission ends>>

Murphy : Early Sunday Morning : Somewhere on Puget Sound

The last three minutes have been absolutely surreal and to think we were not even two hours into this day yet. What else could go wrong? Murphy swims over to the most forward trailer where Sanchez has already scooped his buddy Speedy out of the water and began clearing the crustified webbing off his head. He climbs up the ladder at the rear of the trailer.

“How are things going Sanchez? Have you cleared his air way yet?”

The warning lights and the automated message system alerting to a collision are a bit startling even with the warning from Crispy it was about to happen. Murphy rolls up onto the top of the trailer getting ready to help with the first aid on Speedy if necessary.

Hey Murphy I got him awake now and used some wireclippers to get the webbing off his face... he should be okay I hope.
Speedy looks over at Murphy and tries to smile, I feel like drek chummer... Speedy seems to be in shock still.

Sanchez notice Rufus sticking his head out of his jacket for the first time since all hell broke loose.... heya lil'buddy! Sanchez reaches a finger up and scratches the rat behind it's ears and then it scurries away back inside the jacket as if something scared the shit out of it!
Hmm whats got into Rufus?

The hairs on the back of Sanchez neck stand on end.... he senses something is not right.

All of sudden the alert message goes off with an alarm blaring loudly!
Oh hell are we about to crash into the island!

Nova has emptied the clip of her sniper rifle into the spider, hoping to keep it down for good (in fact, she was going to do that anyways, so it just seemed like a perfect excuse).

When it finally stops moving, she breathes a sigh of relief, but it wouldn't be long until the next problems came around. Crispy's messages mostly confused her and so she just grabbed the nearby door handle to keep herself from being thrown around by the sudden movement.

Hopefully, we are going towards the island at least...

"Tired! that must be it tired, or.... tired, yes"
Nova berates herself quietly under her breath which She tries to bring back under control as her finger convulses on the trigger.
Momentarily, the distraction of the others in the hold desperately searching for the fallen RIB pilot draws her attention from the corpse of the Spider.

Dropping the rifle from her shoulder she absently touches the ammo pouch and draws a fresh magazine, no memory of expending the full clip, but it is barren.
She takes a moment and casts an easy spell to detect any life forms in the area.

"SPEEDY!!" Elation and terror fill the yell from the Dwarven merc who finds himself in their company as he drags the body of his friend out from under the truck
he sets to working the mass of spider goo from his limp body.
Her magical sight flashes over the corpse and his vital signs flood her vision, Nova wants to shout out to them that he is alive, but something else living catches her eyes.
"nyet! .. is not possible!" She can hardly believe it but the Queen is alive and bearing down on the trio as they attempt to revitalise the fallen one.

Her rifle, reloaded makes it's fluid way to her shoulder without a spark of synapse, it has a life of it's own, the words of command form the rote in her mouth and the minion obeys reflexively sending gouts of flame at the beast.

Unaware of their attacker until now the three atop the floating truck look up to hear the tannoy announcing impending collision, the shot and the fire draw their gaze backwards.

From this angle the corpse of the spider seems to dance on the large wave caused by the ships acceleration, it's limp and lifeless limbs could almost be seen to be reaching out to embrace something in death
and the fire hits.

A million and one, motes of ash explode from its form like spores, Nova sees this now,
the Queens body was pregnant with myriad baby spiders, their vitae making the monster seem alive once more and tricking her sight.

The words of an apology to her friends forms on her lips but the breath is stolen from her before she can utter them as the sight out of the bow doors catches them all

Jagged rocks and moonlit beaches roar with surf, they all reflexively dive for something solid to hold onto just as the deafening scream of metal on stone masks all other sound
The momentum throws them in all directions as the flood of water is ejected from the hold with all the debris with it.

"Am I dead ..?" From his position on an I-beam in the ceiling Murphy calls drunkenly as his vision swims,
he certainly feels it, hoping that every day with ZERG is not going to be like this one !

The impact felt ike being tossed inside of a cement mixer and having it turned on "blend". The occupants of the bridge were thrown around, with the captain ending up partially on top of Crispy while Drago was halfway out the window. With a muttered curse Crispy checked for a pulse on the captain and was relieved when he found one. He pushed the still-unconscious form away and stood up to survey the situation. Too bad that Drago had been bluffing about the explosives, but at least there was that shiny pistol of his that quickly found it's way into Crispy's kit.

<<@Team {Crispy} : Everyone alive? I'm heading your way. Oh, and about that thing with Hammerson..hahaha. I was kidding. Forget I said it.>>

The merc was beginning to head down to check on his teammates when a low moan from the window turned him about. Drago was apparently still among the living, having displayed as many lives as a whole city full of cats. Crispy thought about it for a moment, then moved Drago down to a place in the cabin where he could be secured to the ship's structure with some tactical utility cords (zip-ties). After then making the captain as comfortable as possible, Crispy slung his rifle and headed down to the hold. He glanced at the scenery on his way out. The ship had struck land hard, sending debris for a long distance in front of them, as if a giant explosion had rocked the coast. The front half of the ship was a mangled wreck of twisted steel. This thing was never going to sail again, it seemed.

Crispy saw all this from the the bridge and had a single thought. Cool

Murphy : Early Sunday Morning : Somewhere on Puget Sound

Laying in a heep on top of one of the main structural support beams in the vehicle hold, Murphy opens his eyes wondering if this is that mystical 'light at the end of the tunnel'. He clenches his hands feeling the pain left behind from the exertion and strain of holding on for dear life. He ques his sub vocal mic...

<<@Team:[Murphy]: Nova?..... Please tell me you killed that big...ugly...evil...nasty...monsterous...spider creature. For good this time...... Over.>>

Murphy shifts his weight enough to turn on to his side. Looking down he admires the scene of carnage below. Hammerson never said anything about beaching the ferry. I wonder if he is going to be mad about this?

<<@Team:[Murphy]: Oh by the way Crispy, I told hammerson I'd have you call home once we got to the island. If you wouldn't mind... I'm sure Dad is worried sick.>> Even without seeing his face those on the sub vocal frequency can tell Murphy has a smirk on his face.

While the fire spirit continues to burn down the remains of the spider queen in fiery determination, oblivious to the struggles of the mere mortals, though it does agree that water is bad, Tatjana shakes herself spraying her surroundings with droplets of water while getting back to her feet. The ship had stopped, for some reason, which might be good or not so much, depending mostly on where it came to a halt.

She takes a moment to sit down on the stairs and examine her rifle, making sure it is working properly and cleaning it from the dirty water it had been exposed to. She also puts in a new clip, seeing that the previous one has been emptied by now. Then she puts it back into her rifle bag for the time being.

Taking a look around, Tatjana notices that Ricoh's hummer is completely submerged by now. Wonder how we are supposed to get that one out of there... and whether it will still drive...

Crispy seemed to be alive and well, judging from his message. At least he was his usual self. Murphy and Sanchez were also stirring nearby. As for Speedy, she could only hope that he would be able to pull through. Maybe her healing magic could give him a fighting chance.

While moving over to where the rigger lies, she answers the call.

<< @Team [Nova] Yeah, I'm alright. And pretty sure that spider is not. Where are we now? Can we get off this blasted ship? >>

Then she switches her senses to the astral to take a look at Speedy's aura, which should give her a good idea about his current state, before casting her healing spell on him.

Sanchez had held on to the handle of the tractor trailer doors and to Speedy during the ship crashing onto the beach shoreline.... poor guy is bruised and battered to hell and most likely has horrible case of whiplash.
Thankfully the augmentations Sanchez has allowed him to do this without having his ligaments and muscles torn or joints dislocated.

<< @Team [Sanchez] I'm alright. I'm here... I managed to hang on to Speedy and I believe he is gonna survive after all. The Spider looks dead I can see little baby like things have popped out of it's belly... they're dead thankfully! >>

Sanchez moves to gather his duffel bag and Ares Alpha, he will sit on his duffel bag near the bay doors and clean his weapons and keeping an eye out for anything that may have noticed a ship crashing into the island beach.
(Rufus has came out and is sitting on Sanchez's shoulder while he cleans his guns)
Speedy is laid out on the floor beside him resting... he is passed out from the pain and shock.

Hijackers : 01:55:00 SW Spring Beach, Vashon Island

"Now, THAT is what I call Precision Parking!"
Striding confidently from the bow doors, Crispy beams at his team-mates,
he drops his duffel to the floor and brushes sand from his pants where he had to crouch out of the mouth of the ship over the mound of beach, piled up by the impact.

Nova and Sanchez, sat cleaning weaponry and prepping for the next phase both look up at him, smile and return to their tasks shaking their heads bemused.

Murphy has his ruk' open between his knees and he digs through it for a med kit that has spewed it's contents around the bag, hoping for some pain meds to clear his aching head.

None of the team even blink with surprise when the comm-call comes, secretly they all think Ricoh would have been better served by turning up in person and doing this mission himself

"ne par'sia Ricoh ... Drek this guy complains more than a Shluha vokzal'naja !"
Nova says exasperated.
The others glance around looking for some help with that one, nothing comes and they silently check the comm-link Auto-Tanslate™ which is no more use.
Whatever She said, probably wasn't nice.

<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : Before we begin, Thanks team, For getting Speedy out.. The guy owes me a few NuYen, can't collect from a dead guy! >>
The tone is his usual sarcastic and grouchy one,
But the accompanying AR screen of his night vision lit face, shows much more relief than for a few lost creds.

<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : Okay, Business time, I've got an agent in the field inbound to your location to collect Speedy and any other survivors, there ARE other survivors.. right?! >>
Crispy mutters something under his breath and is suddenly intent on something under the heel of his boot, dodges the question.
Ricoh is about to continue, but the headlights of a vehicle swing onto the winding path that follows the hill down to their location.

Pulling onto the beach, a converted 4x4 with Ambulance kit on the rear almost blinds the team before killing the full beams,
Stepping out of the drivers side, a gangly tall youth runs over to the injured, leaving a dwarven form in the passenger seat
"Ruh..ruh..Rigger!" the medic stammers,
As if that single word explains everything, he kneels down to administer to the Captain who has lost a lot of blood and Speedy.
"eh .. eh.. anyone eh..eh..else?" he inquires, looking up at the team.

<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : we'll get to that later, listen up, you have .... Two hours ... to get to the V-TOL location highlighted here ... and then to find yourselves a vantage point to cover for Extevez >>
The team check the map in AR, spinning it and zooming in on the different locations and routes

<< @Hijackers [Ricoh] : Seems easy enough, BUT be aware ! .. this island is inhabited, so TRY to keep a low profile this time! I can't afford to pull your asses out the fire, Ricoh OUT>>

The comm call closes with an AR flash of static, the encryption delay, and the clouds part to allow the moonlight to flood the area
it's like a scene from an ancient re-mastered TRID movie from the twentieth, Black & white and silent, made all the more horrific by all the small arachnid corpses strewn around them.

When the dust had settled, Tatjana sent her fire spirit back to the metaplanes, to wait there until she would require another service. This guy would come in handy for sure at some point.

Packing all her stuff, she heads out of the ship, nodding to Crispy. "Yeah, not too bad."

Ricoh seemed a little more relaxed now, too, knowing that Speedy should pull through. Whatever it was between those two.

<< @Ricoh [Nova] Affirmative. >>

Shrugging her shoulders to noone in particular, she thinks: Hey, wasn't our fault, really, that things went down so hard...

Tatjana watches the EMT do his job. When he asks, whether there is anyone else, she shakes her head, but heads towards him, saying: "No, only those two. Well, there is one of the pirates, I think, not sure he is still with us, though. But we could use some patching up as well, before we move on. Most of us have been bruised and battered quite a bit on this bumpy ride."

Then a thought hits her and she smiles brightly... "Ohh, and we could use a little help from your car!"

Looking around for a sturdy rope, that is long enough to make it back to the hummer, Tatjana looks for a way to pull it out of the ferry's hold with the help of the ambulance.

<<@Team {Crispy} : Yeah, ok, I'm on it.>> Crispy replied, with no intention of actually doing that. Hammerson could wait, the slag.



Crispy grinned a drek-eating-grin at his teammates as they receive all of Ricoh's latest tireades. "Yeah, that's how we operate, low-profile! Glad you two could make the party." nodding to Sanchez and Murphy. "We're going to have to hump it to the VTOL landing spot. You two should accept the invites I sent you, join the tacnet I set up."

With that said, the merc bagan checking and cleaning all of his equipment. After what they'd just been through, spiders and water and fire and explosions...but surprisingly, most of his gear was still in good shape. To the EMT kid, he asked "Any chance you have spare medkit supplies in that truck? I'm running low now after that Love Boat experience." Thinking a moment, he then motioned up into the ship's interior."There's a guy secured in the cabin, answers to the name Drago. I'd appreciate it if you could see that he gets taken care of. Tell him he owes me one when he wakes up. If Ricoh doesn't authorize it...just tell him he can bill me!"

Nova's plan got a nod of approval from Crispy, although he would've had no problem leaving Ricoh's hummer to sink to the bottom of the ocean. He joined the hunt to find a way to pull the vehicle out of the water-filled hold. Would it even run, after being flooded like that?

Hijackers : 02:07:00 SW Spring Beach, Vashon Island

"Duh..duh..Drago! Got it, I'll. fuh..fuh..find him after i'm duh..duh..done here, what yuh..yuh..you need my truck for?"

He's obviously not exactly the brightest spark but seems happy to help, pulling the truck in front of the ship and letting Crispy set up the tow rope to the hummer.

Fortunately the water was drained from the stern doors enough that the front fender and tow point is visible,
Nova doesn't relish the thought of descending into the cold sea water again after drying off once already.

"GO GO GO!" She shouts out of the hold once it is secured and the ambulance throws up trails of sand as the wheels spin, 4WD auto kicks in and it begins to get some momentum, the hummer emerges from the water, enough for nova to get in and release the parking brake, making it a hundred times easier to move.

Murphy and Sanchez have found some tools and managed to scrape the mound of sand down to give enough clearance to the emerging vehicle, it only scrapes paintwork from the roof rather than giving it a full convertible conversion.
"That's not coming out of My pay!" the team chorus as one, grinning foolishly.

Standing on the sand, free of ropes the hummer looks clean and glistening.
Jumping into the drivers seat, Nova presses the ignition, fingers crossed for luck.
It catches and roars into life first time, the AR HUD listing a full systems diagnostic, including cabin and engine Enviro-Seal ™

For once, something was easy.

"Well, that will make traveling around here a lot easier," Tatjana says as she climbs out of the vehicle again. She takes a look at the remaining stuff in the cargo hold, to see if everything is fine.

At this point she remembers that something is missing...

Turning to Crispy she asks: "Uhhh... where's Longshot?"

Murphy : Early Sunday Morning : SW Spring Beach, Vashon Island

A few minutes after purposefully beaching the ferry on Vashon Island the team had already fallen into a decent working rhythm. It was important to get the Humvee out of the vehicle hold and Nova had a great idea using the 4x4 ambulance to assist pulling it out. Murphy assisted with digging away of the sand berm enough to allow the Humvee to fit through. This wasn't exactly the insertion to the team or the mission Murphy had expected but it certainly wasn't boring.

The sound of the Humvee starting was like the most perfectly played music he had ever heard. That is exactly what this team needed, things to go smoothly. Walking to the back of the vehicle Murphy pops the back latch of the Humvee opening the storage compartment. He tosses in his ruck of extras before stowing his M22A3 making sure he reloads the existing clip and sets it to safety. All the currently loaded mini-grenades come out and a fresh load of flash-bang, fragmentation, flash-bang, high explosive are loaded leaving two slots available for emergencies.

A small red blip in his AR field of vision catches his attention. A notification for a tacnet subscription run by Cripsy. Without hesitation Murphy accepts the invitation linking his sensors to the mix. All the information from his Cyber-Eye output as well as Orientation system, Touch Link and Smartgun System gets fed into the tacnet's data processor.

<<@Team:[Murphy]: While I enjoy a nice romantic night on the beach like any man, especially when the company is enjoyable, but perhaps we should consider leaving the scene soon. HQ can only do so much to keep prying eyes out of the area but that little Broadway Spectacular we just put on will undoubtedly draw some attention. Plus the clock is tickin'. It looks like the medics have everything under control here.>>

Murphy stands at the rear passenger door of the Humvee as he reattaches the flashlight to his P93.

Opening the trunk of the hummer, the green glow fills the area as normal, not even a trace of condensation here.

"Good Morning miss Tatjana, can I be of any assistance?"

Artemis silky voice purrs from the holographic image that appears, hovering over the vast array of munitions layered before Nova and Murphy, it still evokes a low whistle of appreciation from them, it must have taken years to accumulate such a hoard of various calibres of death and dismemberment.

"The bio monitor of callsign LongShot, is currently at grid 2546,6587 .. This location is 1.46KM WEST from your present position. The signal is weak, should I despatch a rescue drone?"

"Yes, please. I am sure he would appreciate being rescued." Tatjana answers, assuming that, while nearby, the location is out in the water and thus unreachable for them at the moment.

When everyone is ready, she thanks the paramedic for his help, makes sure once more that her equipment is in order, and gets back into the driver seat.

"Gentlemen, get into the car, fasten your seatbelts, we will head out!"