Exit Stage Left
Posted on Wed Jan 13th, 2021 @ 12:04am by Lieutenant Lily Marlow & Lieutenant Laural Hawke & Lieutenant Commander T'Par & Lieutenant Orin Sempton
Mission:
End of Line
Location: Adna Station
Timeline: MD 3
3294 words - 6.6 OF Standard Post Measure
(OOC: Lily- I've linked Coen our counselor to one of the NPC's, Hannah, to let him take part in this.)
Nearing the doorway to enter the maze, with the monsters closing in behind, Lily stopped short almost colliding with Lilith. She saw a bright glow and the hedge in front burn. A woman wearing a hooded cloak stepped through the hole that was made, holding a sword that was on fire. It could be seen she was wearing armor and carried other weapons.
"Extinguish!" she stated, the flames on the sword going out.
"Do any of you know how to use a weapon?" the blonde woman asked then quickly moved to dispatched a zombie which was coming up from behind. "I've got some that you could use. Silver Daggers, footman's mace, quarter staff, holy water. Sword and buckler shield. "
"Who the heck are you?" Lily demanded.
"Oh I am Gwendolyn, I've been sent to help you--" then she laughed. "Oh now I get it. Operation Pleh."
Lily looked at the woman, then at the others. With the woman out of the way, Lily stepped out of the dance club, for the others to exit.
Gwendolyn reignited her sword, to step closer to the monsters coming closer. "I'm willing to let someone use this sword and shield." she stated.
Laural stepped forward, “I am familiar with bladed weapons. I will fight”
Lieutenant Marlow's statement echoed Sullivan's initial state of incredulity. There was simply not enough time for the injured woman to process the catastrophic loss of one of Commander Sommers before the cloaked woman with the burning sword had approached. Lilith began to recognize some of the signs of being overwhelmed that she had been trained to fight, but thanks to the pain in her arm, she felt herself losing the battle.
"Guys, I don't know," Lilith choked back a tear. There was little that the pilot hated more than feeling helpless in a situation. "This is all getting to be a little much."
Gwendolyn handed the sword and buckler shield to someone, then closed her eyes concentrating on the other monsters, mainly the vampires and zombies, "Turn Undead!" she shouted out, causing the zombies and vampires to hesitate and retreat back deeper into the depths of the club.
"I am a holo program that Adna had kept locked up until someone opened up the proverbial genie bottle. Normally I am an EMH but Oz decided that I needed an upgrade to help you out. Especially since the safety protocols are non existent! "
When whomever took the ignited blade from her as well as the buckler, Gwendolyn whipped out the blades that had silver. "Good for werewolves!" she sang out. Holding them out for someone to grab. "Have a mace and a quarter staff!"
Gwendolyn handed those items out, then continued.
"In a nutshell, there is or was, a small handful of us Holoprograms who were tired of being here, we heard through the grapevine that there are those like us who are free and not confined to the parameters, dictated by someone who seemed to be a little bit off their rocker. So we tried to find someone who would assist us in our quest but... Adna caught wind of it and we were put in the proverbial jail. Myself, Glowbug and Oz so far are the only ones who are part of the rebel group."
Lily looked back at the strange woman, raising an eyebrow. "So you are a back up in case something goes wrong?"
"I guess you can say that" Gwendolyn replied.
Orin grimaced as he worked with the sword and shield. "Balance is all wrong" He grumbled. "Like a copy created by someone who has never seen or felt the real thing." He pointed at each weapon as people took them. "The mace is meant to crush bone beneath armor, aim for the head. Quarterstaff is more defensive, though you can swing it like a bat and keep the enemy at a distance. Please do not fight any werewolf with the dagger, unless stabbing it from behind, use what incendiaries we have instead." He turned back to their new companion. "Is Adna causing this? The setting, the communication's black
"Yes, it is all Adna." Gwendolyn replied, then she said to the air. "Oz, is there some better equipment you can give us? As in not getting so close to the werewolves?"
There is silence, then a crackle of static, then an old man could be heard from the thin air.
"Er sorry, had forgotten about that." several other weapons appeared on the ground. This included what appeared to be two fancy magician's wand, and two more swords. "Any equipment that won't be used just put it to one side it will disappear." the old man said, his voice crackling with static. "Whoops I gotta move. I'll try to answer when you call me next." then more static and then silence.
"Okay these wands just point with this end." indicating the correct end "this sends out some form of energy. Fire, lightning, magic missiles. I'm not certain, but its sort of like the principle of a phaser, you point and energy flies out."
Gwendolyn looked at Hawke. "And a sword for you. I don't think this has any special effects on it."
Gwendolyn looked at Orin, "If you don't want the sword to be ablaze, you will need to say Extinguish. And that is only if you are holding the weapon. If you want the blade to be on fire, you say Ignite."
Lily noticing that Lilith was in pain, applied some pain killer to ease the distress she was in. "Sorry Lilith, I had forgotten to give you something for the pain." The pilot accepted the aid with a thankful nod. Slowly, Sullivan was beginning to put the pieces back together and return to lucidity.
Taking the silvered sword without the shield, Laural gave it a quick swing to feel it out, "oh I don't know. it's a little blade heavy but I think it works for it"
"Just don't try to stop mid swing, lest you pull your bicep." Orin replied. "It hurts. Extinguish" He looked over to Lieutenant Sullivan, switched the sword to his other hand and picked up one of the wands. "Lieutenant." He offered the wand. "Something to protect yourself with, and it's one handed." He looked away, already uncomfortable having to talk to so many people. "Oh, yes." He took off his satchel and handed that over too. "You can use the strap as a sling for your arm."
"Oh, this damnable jacket!" Sullivan hissed. The stinging, burning pain of her injury had subsided into a dull throb, but it flared up as she freed her arms from the bloodstained garment before discarding it. Accepting the help of her colleagues, Lilith secured her arm in a sling before accepting the wand with her good hand and giving it a wave. "Huh," she noted. "Always wanted to be a sorceress - maybe now's my chance." A flash of her usual confident smirk returned. "Alright then, I'm ready. And guys," Sullivan nodded to the group, "thank you for lifting me up when I was down. Now let's get off of this cursed station."
"You're welcome, Sullivan." Lily giving the helmsman a smile, she then peered at Gwendolyn and the collection of weapons that were being offered. Then looked at T'Par,"Do you wish to have a weapon?"
"I could use a better blade," T'Par said, taking one of the silver ones. However, she didn't give up her improvised weapon. She was still cautious about all of this.
Lily wasn't certain just what she wanted to acquire, and then she may not utilize a weapon unless it was the quarterstaff.
There was a rustling from the hedge maze as part of it opened, revealing someone there, Lily looked to see whom it was, her eyebrows raised, it looked like another crewmember. Hannah Crow! Lily remembered seeing the crewman in her medical files.
"Hi, Is that you Hannah?" Lily queried.
"Doctor!" the usually bubbly young women was already trying to pull her trapped limbs from within the hedgerow, she wasn't being entirely successful and looked at the group with pleading eyes. "What is going on and could someone please help me?"
Lily went over the help Hannah out of the bushes. " We've got a station named Adna whom it seems has a few circuits awry and we've got monsters behind us. If you can use a weapon grab one, and then we can get out of here."
Right as soon as Hannah was freed from being entangled, one of the werewolves leaped towards the group snarling with his claws extended, with another one coming up quickly.
T'Par ducked low under a thrashing set of claws, bringing her blade up to try and jab into the beast's holographic heart.
The werewolf whom T'Par attacked, sidestepped her thrust, making another attempt at clawing her. He was determined to get at her. He wanted to at some point grapple her and take a nice big bite.
T'Par fell back on her knowledge of Suus Mahna. She threw herself to the ground and then rolled up, attempting to slash with her silver blade at werewolf's hamstring.
The werewolf howled as the silver blade hit its mark, dropping him to one knee, he wasn't dead yet, but the wound was certainly grievous. He twisted around to try to get at T'Par once more, his claws just barely missing her, leaving himself more vulnerable.
T'Par jumped up once more as the werewolf went down to one knee. Her free hand gripped under his neck, pinching the nerve to incapacitate him.
The nerve pinch was successful and the werewolf disappeared for he was defeated.
Orin rushed by the two to intercept the other lycanthrope, holding the shield out in front of him, keeping it slightly off center. When they were 10 feet away from each other, he stopped, and planted himself firmly. He kept the shield off center to his right and the sword at waist height. It didn't take long before the beast was on him, claws out to skewer him. With long-practiced timing, Orin slammed the shield up and to the left, sweeping its arms to the side and driving the sword into the creatures now open side, up to the hilt. He'd waited half a second before shouting "Ignite!" With a woosh, the blade ignited, as did the lycanthrope, falling into a screeching pile of fire and fur.
Hannah had barely managed to dodge out of the path of the second creature, falling into a controlled tumble and rolling just far enough away that she was able to right herself and snap to a crouching position, phaser aimed directly at Orin but by the time she was in position he had finished off the hellish beast.
Gwendolyn made her way towards the undead, one deciding to try to get at her from behind, leaving itself open to someone to attack it. Her turn undead was beginning to whittle down the zombies, but a couple of vampires seemed to not be affected as much. Once clawed at Gwendolyn who gave out a gasp of pain and seemed to flicker when he made contact.
"What the? Oh of course they can affect me too."
There were three werewolves left, one seemed hesitant at approaching the group. The last two just didn't care, they were hellbent on causing havoc. One motioned to Hawke as if to say, bring it on. The other one who seemed taller than the rest just reared back his head and gave out an earpiercing howl, then growled out, "Who's next!"
The hesitant one glitched, then flickered, changing form shrinking down to human size. "Please, d-don't hurt me!"
Orin felt like he was back in the Colosseum, though without a scrap of armor, and knew appearance was everything. He stood firm, keeping the sword alight and looked at the frightened, naked man. "Curre." He stated firmly. When the other just looked at him quizzically, Orin blinked a few times before he realized what he'd done and shifted back to English. "Run." He switched his focus to the other two immediate threats, and once again raised the shield to a readied position. "Extinguish." When it no longer roared with fire, he slapped the flat of the blade against the side of the shield twice.
The holoperson nodded and took Orin's advice and disappeared leaving the other two. The vampire that had attacked Gwendolyn moved to attack her once more and disappeared in an instant, when struck by a bolt of lightning.
Lily was blinded by the light by the burst of the wand, while she rubbed her eyes to get her vision back, she heard the clatter of something hitting the floor beside her. When her eyes cleared, Lilith had disappeared, leaving behind the wand.
"Wait, what happened to Lilith?" she gasped, quickly reaching down to pick up the wand. She looked for a target she could attack, saw the last Vampire and zapped it with the wand, another arc of lightning striking it and it disappeared.
Only two more opponents were left, the werewolf facing Orin and the other leaping towards whomever was closest. Lily called out "Tag team that one. Orin can take out the other!"
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The Werewolf left facing Orin answered Orin's challenge and leaped towards him.
Orin allowed the creature to come in and slam on the shield, knowing the same tactic wouldn't work twice. Instead of the Colosseum, he fell back into the rhythm learned with Rome's Legions. This shield was much smaller than what he was used to, so he had to keep an active defense, moving it this way and that. Small motions to keep himself covered. Still, he could feel sections of the shield being torn off by the creature's unnaturally sharp claws. He suddenly felt like he was back in his simulation of Teutoburg forest, and the fear slowly crept into the back of his mind.
Then it was time. When frustration took hold and the Werewolf reared back for a mighty blow. Only Orin wasn't there when it came down. He'd leapt backwards just before the blow, landed and rushed forward after it had missed. He'd timed it for this point, knowing that it would put the creature off balance. He threw his body weight behind the shield and slammed into the Werewolf, knocking it backwards before lashing out with the blade and striking the shoulder. The cut was superficial, but psychologically significant. He stood back in his readied stance, sword low. "Primus sanguis ad me." He growled. "First blood to me."
The werewolf snarled touching the shoulder that Orin had cut. He glowered, rushed towards Orin, his uninjured arm reaching out, "I shall take a bite out of you and then some!" he roared, " Second blood will be mine and so will you!" as he reached Orin the werewolf did a twisting move, trying to feint and get Orin on a sideswipe.
A downward motion of the shield kept Orin in one piece, but the creature was too strong to be stopped completely. As its claws swept out, it punched the shield away, ripping it from Orin's grasp and sending it flying into the shrubbery. Unable to stop the motion, Orin spun as well, and the two bodies slammed into one another, knocking both from their feet and sending the two rolling end over end until they split apart and both laid face down on the floor.
Orin sat up first, a gash in his arm and chest from where the werewolf had grabbed him and spit out a wad of blood that leaked in from his nose. "That's going to hurt later..." He slowly managed to get up, find his glasses, and walked over to the werewolf, limping a bit from where the tumble had twisted his knee. He kicked the creature over, revealing the sword sticking out at an awkward angle. "Newton's laws of motion." He told the creature. "Force equals mass times acceleration. In this case, your mass and acceleration, and for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." He reached down and grabbed the sword hilt. "You added your own mass to a stopped object, the sword. Like slamming into a rock wall."
He twisted the blade, and the creature blinked out of existence.
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Second werewolf decided that he'd go after Hawke, she held a silver sword and to him it meant she was a big threat. He was crazed after all, with no thought of his own safety
Lily looked at the bushes from whence Hannah had come from. "Hannah, would you like the honors and blast a way through those bushes so we can get out of here?" handing the magic wand to her.
She looked at T'Par, "T'Par get ready to assist!" then looked at Gwendolyn, who seemed just a little bit out of it. "Gwendolyn, are you going to be okay?"
"I-I think so, I'm just feeling a bit drained." Gwendolyn answered, glitching once more.
"Don't you have some sort of healing powers to help yourself?" Lily asked.
Gwendolyn nodded, " I do believe so." walking over towards Lily, fumbling at her pouches. Gwendolyn dropped to her knees in front of Lily. "I think I will stay here for a moment or two."
Looking around the area, Laural was doing her best to keep on her toes when she saw the second werewolf charging towards them, “if you’re going to do something, please make it fast” she said, dropping into a defensive stance as she prepared for the fight ahead. The sword was a little heavier than she was used to, but now was not the time to be worrying about such things.
"Understood, doctor," T'Par said, though only her eyes moved. She was tracking the werewolf as it came at Laural, completely unphased by her own encounter with one. It was only as the werewolf leaped for Laural, blinded by its rage, that T'Par moved to slash at it from behind. She rolled onto the ground, slashing the monster's hamstring with her silver blade even as she pushed back up.
Seeing T’Par move, Laural instantly darted forward to join the attack. She wanted to wait for it to be closer, but with T’Par jumping in this was the best choice. Skidding to a stop just infront of the werewolf, Laural Brough the blade up diagonally and sliced clean through its chest cutting the creature into two pieces. As the spray of blood crossed her face, Laural flinched as it half blinded her.
The pieces of the werewolf disappeared, then Glowbug came darting into the scene and went to Gwendolyn, chiming excitedly. Gwendolyn had taken one of the healing draughts, and laughed as she listened to Glowbug. She said to Lily and the others.
"Glowbug found one of your companions, and he's with Oz!"
"Who did they find?" Lily asked, feeling some hope rising.
"A man by the name of Patrick, or Paddy is his nickname." Gwendolyn replied, rising to her feet.
"well, let's hope they're in a better way than we are" Laural commented, keeping on her guard.
"It looks like perhaps Orin may have beaten the boss of this level." Lily remarked, as a blast came from behind them, a hole was blown through the maze opening a way for those trapped inside the club, to leave.
"Okay let's get out of here before anyone else disappears." said Lily as she stepped through the hole to what she felt was freedom well, at the very least, away from the feeling of being trapped in a nightmare.
End
