MARAUDER: The Hunt for Marauder One

[ballisticwaffles]

"Very well" She sneered, and went about her business, Saying a prayer over each horribly disfigured corpse and crossing them each. She cut it close, but she said her last "Ave maria" and looked to Vokun, her eyes betraying nothing but contempt.

"i wish i had more time, but whatever, i am done here."

[Salem]

He looked to Vanessa, then tossed the disruptor to her. "Here," he said, "You need this more than I."

Vanessa caught the gun; almost dropping it, "Thanks... I guess", She replied, obviously oblivious of the past few minutes. She looked at the weapon that was tossed towards her and then holstered it.

[Star_Dragon]

(technically, old friend, the Model 76 Kadgeron Disruptor is a rifle. I'll post an image in the discussion thread.)

Vokun headed into the open hangar storage area where the Yaut'ja hunter was shot, found a doorway, and opened it. "Let's move, people. Be on the lookout for any survivors that either the Yaut'ja or Marauder One may have missed."

[Salem]

(technically, old friend, the Model 76 Kadgeron Disruptor is a rifle. I'll post an image in the discussion thread.)

(oh I know, maybe 'holster' isn't the right word... "strapped it across her back" is along the lines of what I probably should of said sorry)

[Geo Stelar]

"What about the factory?", asked Geo. "Will we check it out? Somehow I think Marauder One went there.", he continued as he walked in the back of the group.

[Star_Dragon]

"Trust me," Vokun said, "That's where we're headed - but keep your guard up and your teammates in mind; this isn't a slalom course."

* * *

As Marauder One sat patiently in his sniping post, his AI came over his radio headpiece. "Foxtrot to Marauder One," she said, "I've managed to tap into the intruders' radio channel."

"Do they suspect?" Marauder One asked.

"Negative," Foxtrot responded.

"Good," Marauder One said. "Route it to me."

[Salem]

"Do you think Marauder one is ex-military?",Vanessa asked

[ballisticwaffles]

"Unlikely" Charylin snorts, eyeing the multitude of corpses that lined the way to the factory. "Note the brutalistic way these men and women were murdered. In Any military this sort of brutality would result in a section 8 almost instantaneously."

Charylin growled.

"The experiance one would gain in the armed forces would be minimal if this is the way MArauder does things"

[Star_Dragon]

"I don't think Marauder One was the one who killed everyone here," Vokun said, examining a corpse. He looked back at Charylin. "Someone else did - and I have a hunch that the Yaut'ja presence here isn't a coincidence, either. Either Marauder one is tracking them, or they're tracking him. Either way, we must find out who he is." Vokun led the group toward the docking bay, beyond which was the factory, then stopped just shy of the entrance. A window showed the massive docking bay - empty, with no shortage of alcoves, hiding locations, and ledges overlooking the entire bay.

A sniper's paradise.

"Ready weapons," Vokun whispered. "It's a sure bet Marauder One will be somewhere in here."

[Salem]

'If Marauder is using long range, I should do the same',Vanessa thought as she put away here shot gun and pulled out the disruptor rifle Vokun gave her.

[Star_Dragon]

Marauder One watched from his high perch as the team entered the bay. The sight of his scope was settled over Vanessa's head. He steadied his aim, zoomed out, and spotted something the others hadn't yet seen...

* * *

Vokun cautiously entered the docking bay, his P3A2 pointing this-way-and-that, ready to drill any Yaut'ja that presented themselves. Almost as soon as he motioned for the others to enter, he came under fire. The weapon didn't sound like any typical bullet weapon, but the flying metal bullets filled the air and compelled Vokun to take cover.

The source made itself clear; an Imperial Officer, armed with an Imperial Heavy Repeater, had slotted himself behind a barricade, firing from cover.

"Hold your fire!" Vokun called out to the officer, "We're here to help you!"

"BULLSHIT!!!" the Officer responded, continuing to fire the repeater until it was empty.

[Geo Stelar]

Geo deactivated his weapon, and held his shield's handle behind his back, ready to activate anytime. He then came out of cover and went towards the Officer, walking slowly. He put his arm a bit forward, saying, "Put your weapon down, sir,we're not your enemy." 'And then he'll say, "Bullshit" again', his mind continued...

'On second thought, I could knock this guy out already', Geo thought.

[ballisticwaffles]

"Shit!" Charylin dove behind cover, the bolts of metal ripping through the air to stab into her arm. The deep flash of pain wracked her very core, the burning sensation swallowing conscious thought. Crying in pain, she slipped and fell to the floor, her cane ratteling and rolling away.

Her first thoughts after she collected herself was immediate medical triage.

Her mind snapped to it immediatly, reaching for the wound. Her lifeblood was slipping fast from her shoulder, the bullet lodged.

She kicked and dragged herself behind a container, snarling and panting the entire time. At this point the Officer had ran out of ammo, Charylin still dragging herself behind an isolated container opposite of botht he officer and , Unknowningly, MArauder.

"Help me, someone, please!" she hissed, already forming a mediccal plan in her head. "Vokun, get overhere and help me!"

[Arashikage]

Diving out of her cover, Nora ran to where Charylin was. She ducked behind the container with her and examined her condition. "Where're the bandages?" She asked, beginning to search her bag. Hopefully she'd tell her how to fix it, Nora didn't know much about the medical field, just enough to stop bleeding. That bullet needs to come out sooner or later.

(Sorry for my absence, been kinda busy lately.)

[Star_Dragon]

(@Arashikage: It's fine, old friend. I'm not gonna chastise you for having things to do outside of this RP.)

Vokun moved over to Charylin and, noticing Nora was already at her side, moved over, weapon at the ready, to the attacking Imperial Officer.

"You won't escape them, rebel scum!" the officer sneered.

"Who are they?" Vokun asked. "What did they want with this place?"

"Does it look like I know?!" the officer yelled. "We didn't even know they were here until it was too late!" As the officer spoke, he slowly reached for something behind him, behind a toppled crate.

"But who--" Vokun began. His sentence was cut off when a gunshot rang out with a loud bang! The bullet, however, wasn't meant for the officer. It impacted on metal with a loud whang!! and the officer jerked his hand up, inadvertently tossing what used to be a blaster pistol in the air.

"Son of a bitch!" the officer screamed. He ran from the sniper, but...

Almost as soon as he got more than ten meters away from Vokun, he was killed. Not by the unseen sniper, but by a shimmering apparition. The Yaut'ja hunter forced wrist blades through the man's abdomen, and he coughed up blood. The Yaut'ja de-cloaked afterward. His plasma caster went up, and...

CRACK! Another gunshot rang out, burst through the predator's head, and took out his plasma caster. The bastard dropped like a rock. After that, silence settled over the bay.

[ballisticwaffles]

"I SENSE HIM" Charylin screams already digging her fingers into her arm to draw the slug out. "I CAN SENSE HIS GUNFIRE, UP IN THE FUTCHING RAFTERS!"

She roars as she withdraws the bullet, casting it away with impunity. "gimme the bandages!" She snarls, wrapping the wound herself. Leaning back against the crate, she eyes her cane sitting a few meters away.

"Havent done this in a while." she notes, raising her arm and struggling to find the force. Her cane rolled a few inches, but then lay still.

"Gottenverdamnt!" She swore, sighing as she felt the resedual dark side in her leg prevent her from accessing the force.

[Salem]

(sorry I'm late, got back from prom and I was dead tired)

"over there! on the right plat form" Vanessa Shouted as she readied the Disruptor rifle but she couldn't see where he went, "I saw the muzzle flash after that last shot",She added.

[Star_Dragon]

"over there! on the right plat form" Vanessa yelled as she saw the muzzle flash after the last shot. She readied the Disruptor rifle but could not see where he went.

Marauder One spotted the one who shouted the alarm. He operated the bolt, ejecting the empty bullet casing, but held his fire. Vanessa was not his enemy.

"Foxtrot," he said, "Am I still patched into their comm channel?"

"Affirmative," the AI replied.

* * *

Vokun saw where Vanessa was pointing - a platform high up that overlooked the entire docking bay. None of them had weapons with that kind of range. Marauder One had them right where he wanted them.

It was a complete surprise, then, when everyone's comm watches activated simultaneously, and a voice said, "You didn't think you could catch me unawares, here, did you?"

"Who are you?" Vokun demanded. "How did you get on this line?"

"Who I am is unimportant," the assailant said. "What I want... well, if you want to find that which hounded so many targets unprovoked, what I want is very important."

[ballisticwaffles]

"Eat me you murderer!" Charylin yelled gleefully into her communicator, still vainly attempting to access the force in despiration to reach her cane. "And the horse you rode on as well!"

[Geo Stelar]

"Know what", Geo whispered to Vokun, "I can run up there"

Geo looked up at the platform where Marauder One is. Surely he an run up there, but a slight mistake will make him fall down. 'And that guy's got one hell of a sharp eye', thought Geo, considering how he somehow knew there was a predator in their presence earlier. 'There's a chance he could actually shoot me'

[Salem]

"Charylin! don't antagonize him! right now he has the upper hand",Vanessa warned

"And you",She now said towards the assailant, "what exactly is it that you want?"

[Star_Dragon]

Vanessa's query toward Marauder One elicited a scoff over the comm channel.

"Such arrogance to think that you could ever understand what I want," he said. "Your kind has not changed. Bumbling into situations completely unprepared for what lies in store. You cannot understand what I want, any more than you could understand who I am. You have not seen what I've seen. You did not survive the world-eater's assault, as I had. You did not defeat the world-eater at the heart of Sovengarde, as I had. You did not prey on the lost followers of the world-eater, finally forcing them to turn their backs to their master, to serve you, as I did. You did not spare the ancient one, who was wanted dead by a disbanded order of accursed dragonslayers.

"But If you are determined to learn who I am, follow my words to the world in the depths of space - fly the skies of Keizaal, and find the ancient one high atop the Throat of the World - and perhaps then, you will know what I want." It was after Marauder One said this that he rose from his sniping post. He simply stared down at the others, then leapt from his post. At the same time he leaped, he shouted, "Wuld!" and in a split-second flash of blue-yellow light, he was catapulted forward with the fury of a tempest, sailing through the air, and landing on a platform no lesser man could reach. He then disappeared inside a control station.

"... Am I the only one getting a reference to a... certain world in the middle of nowhere?" Vokun asked, staring in shock at what just happened.

[ballisticwaffles]

"HOw the FUCK should I KNOW!" CHarylin says, breathing deeply with every wave of pain, her voice raising in conjunction with the worse of it.

"Pah! DId you hEAR HIm?" She snorts. "Such arrogance and hubris! No wonder he is a mass Murderer." sHE calmed down as the pain became familiar, her bandaged arm being released infavor of grasping her cane with ferver.

"What a jackass... What was he talking about anyway? WHich "Throat of the world" did he mean anyway? Its not like space has a THEORETICALLY" She paused as her arm shot a wave of fresh pain.

"LIMITless (pant) amount of worlds"

[Salem]

"No, I know what he referring to as well",Vanessa replied back at Vokun "I don't usually say things like this, But I think we've gotten ourselves into some deep shit"She added.

[Geo Stelar]

"Shall I follow him?", Geo asked Vokun. But he didn't wait for an answer. He wanted to ask Marauder One a few more questions. He then started to run up the wall, going towards the platform Marauder had leapt into, with the intention of following him all the way through the control station.