[VC] Star Frontiers PBEM

            Kah'liss was in the midst of a wonderful dream.  Lyrium and he were
seated around a  table in the Tre'hes Tower on Hor'Tac'Tars.  The dazzling
rays of the morning shone through the windows onto the two as they talked
about Genetic disruption through wave emissions.  Lyrium suddenly became
very quiet.  The cascading colors of the dawn reflected on her face made
Kah'liss think that if he were human, he might find her quite desirable.
She smiled softly before saying to Kah'liss, "I fear this will be the only
place the two of us will ever converse again."  Kah'liss was confused and
about to ask why, when the room was suddenly filled with screaming people.
Someone was shouting their names.  Kah'liss jumped to his feet, and then
felt a searing pain in his leg.  He crumbled to the ground. A scream from
Lyrium broke through the cacophony.  He turned to see Lyrium's waist
disappear in a shower of blood and flesh.  "No!!!"
        Kah'liss bolted out of his bed, his leg slamming into one of the
cargo boxes that made a makeshift bed.  It was just a dream ... he reminded
himself as he crumpled to the floor, a searing pain in his leg from hitting
the box too hard.  Then ... he noticed the screaming and shouting from
without.  Déjà vu can be a horrid thing ... for Lyrium's scream followed .
Kah'liss grabbed his Med-Kit and gun and stumbled out ... out to see the
death of a friend.   His weapon is quickly readied, and he moves, with a
slight limp to be of help where he can.  He comes out just a little late to
hear Brennon's original command to him to follow.

    Raleigh reaches the edge of the pit, just a few steps
behind Brennon, and recoils in horror at the scene
below.
    Rolgar, obviously the first to be attacked by the
sandworm, lay in two parts at the bottom of the pit.
His insides smeared the bottom third of the pit,
coloring the sand a deep crimson red.  Lyrium's body
was still in the beasts mouth, her lifeless body
hanging limply from the unconcous monsters maw.
    Something inside Raleigh snapped at this point.  A
blank expression removed the look of horror on his
face and Raleigh himself felt removed almost from his
body.
    Switching his assault rifle to "full burst," he began
to descend into the pit, walking directly at the giant
creature that slept below
    Telgar's eyes focus on the pit as Raleigh descends further down towards
the worm.  He takes in what has just happened and stores it as a memory he
will come back to later.  Meanwhile, he scans around for other signs of
sandworms or any other menaces so that no more will have to perish.  If he
hadn't been desensitized to this sort of carnage by his stint in the
military, he may very well have lost his stomach.

A spasm of anger flits across Brenon's face as he views the horrific scene
below him. Of all the damnable luck. Brenon looks to his waist, making sure
the rope was secure and semi-loose. Brenon feels the tension in the rope
decrease as Raliegh drops it and approaches the pit; evidence of his
emotions etched on his face as he brings his weapon to bear on the worm.
Hatred and determination; Raliegh's driving forces. Brenon quickly places
his arm up to halt Raliegh's approach, placing his hand on Ralieghs chest.
"No Raliegh. I know your anger all too well. We'll do something about it in
a minute but I want to get Lyrium outta there.....maybe she still has a
chance. I need you to pick up that rope and support me." The seriousness and
urgency in Brenon's voice could be heard by all present.
    Raleigh had only made it a few steps before Brennon
stopped him. He never really heard what Brennon said
but could see in his eyes that this was not the right
thing to do. It felt as if everything he had inside
was in fire, he burned with so much rage and hatred.
In the end though he knew Brennon was probably right,
and this was not the answer.
  Slowly Raleigh climbed back up to the top of the pit
and grabbed the rope, supporting Brennon as he went
in. All the while hoping he would be chosen to end the
beasts life...for good!
    Brenon quickly decends into the pit and checks Lyrium for a pulse. He
shimmys down, scootching on his hiney. He doesn't detect any pulse from
Lyrium, and she looks quite unconscious, if not dead. Being this close, he
now recognizes that her hip has probably been shattered by the worm's
pressure. Brenon snags Lyrium from the Jaws of Death and flags Raliegh to
tell Telgar to move the explorer back; pulling he and Lyrium up.
    He looks to the worm, who is still breathing in heavy, slow bursts. It
is impossible to tell how long it will remain unconscious.

        Kahliss raced to the scene of activity, shock at the recent events still being a dominant  emotion.  The images of current events splash across his retinas , leaving him to wonder what exactly he could do.  It seemed as if the worst was over ... for now.  But it also looked like his serves would only be needed in a post-mordium fashion.

        While the death of two friends left him in shock, especially that of Lyrium, a part of his mind nagged at the loss of their botanist/biologist.   She may not have been a rated exobiologist, but in a strange, new world, any help on biology was needed.  That was one part of his education that he had planned to start on 'before' the 'incident'.  It appears that he was going to become very good friends with the biology and botany books that Lyrium would have in her possessions.
     Zhirrzh  removes the clip in his rifle and replaces it with the spare clip,
yet he is not consciously aware of what he’s doing. His complete attention
is focused on the scene below and he allows his hands to perform the actions
they’ve done hundreds, if not thousands, of times before. His left thumb
turns the safety on as his right thumb presses the clip release. The clip
slides out smoothly into his hand and is brought up and slipped into a slot
on his bandoleer. Moving one slot over, his hand finds the spare clip and
pulls it out. A solid slap with the heel of his hand snaps the clip into
place only a moment before his other hand comes up and loads the first
needle into the chamber.
     Zhirrzh kneels at his lookout point on the rock face. A child, looking
at him now, would run screaming in panic. The anger, and the pain, has
twisted the features on his face into a cruel snarl filled with hatred and
death. A constant, low, guttural growl can be heard coming from within his
chest. The deep resonant sound carries clearly for several meters in every
direction. In impotent frustration, he watches as the Explorer pulls
forward, dragging Lyrium and Brenon to the top of the pit. He keeps a keen eye on the worm, waiting
for any movement from the creature.
        Telgar sees Raliegh's signal to back up the explorer and turns to do so.  Not noticing any other danger around them, he focuses his attention to the task at hand and to the worm below.  He makes sure his needler rifle is ready for loaded and ready to go; if the worm wakes up, he wants to make sure that it doesn't like what it wakes up to.  Telgar brings the explorer to a stop just as Brenon crests the rim of the pit with Lyrium's body.
        As Telgar rolled the explorer slowly back to hoist Brenon and Lyrium up; Brenon had his arms wrapped around Lyriums lifeless form. Her head bobbing from side to side at every little bump. Blood trickled from her mouth and onto Brenon's chest. He knew she was dead; along with Rolgar. How would the team take it? Would this be too big a demoralization factor? Could the rest move on? 'I have to be strong...' Brenon thought to himself.
    Clearly, but slowly, Telgar speaks to the group as he allows the anger of his comrade's deaths to set in a little, "If we have...any fragmenting grenades...I say we blow this fucker up..."
    Brenon carries Lyrium's body a few yards from the pit and lays her down. For a moment he thinks maybe he should go back for Rolgar's torso... 'No', a soldiers body was meant to die and be burried on the battle field. Brenon's anger could be felt by those around him. "Everyone with a weapon gather 'round the pit and stand by!!" Brenon orders. He quickly dashed to the explorer to retrieve a frag grenade; just one as their supply of those was limited.
 
      Raleigh watches somberly as Brennon drags Lyriums lifeless body from the pit. Every part of him begs
that somehow she is still alive or that Kahliss can do something but deep down, even he knows it's too late.
      Viewing the scene below, he shudders to think what would have happened had it been his shift. The remains
of Rolgar were scattered across the pit in a horrid display of the tragedy that had just unfolded.
      Was it just yesterday that he and Rolgar had been in a life struggle together, battling the pirates on the
Dawn. He remembered the respect he had for Rolgar when he stayed to fight when he could have easily retreated
to save his own hide.
    Brennon untied himself and stood and for a moment they exchanged glances. Both knew how the other felt,
remorse, pain, anger, all wrapped into a helpless feeling as there was nothing they could do now for
their fallen comrades.
      The silence was overwhelming and finally Raleigh spoke... "Telgar, if it's all the same, Id like to see you
use that frag now."

    Kah'liss leans over the limp body of Lyrium, immediately using his medscanner to check for any signs of life. She looked in a bad way; Kah'liss has seen this face before, and it never looked good. Multiple bone fractures, internal and external bleeding, punctured organs...Sadly, Kah'liss knows there is nothing he could do. Theoretically, there was time to put her in stasis. Perhaps a hospital, with the proper facilities, could revive her. She was most certainly dead, but if an emergency team felt like excercising their skill to their fullest ability, test their training to the extreme, she might possibly survive. Kah'liss knew the situation, however. Even if he did put her in stasis, she would have to be delivered to a hospital within 48 hours, using much of the medicine that the rest of the live members of the team would surely benefit more from. This was the hard part of being in the medical field. Sometimes, as they say, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Sometimes, you may be able to save someone in the field...as long as they could be taken to the proper facilities in time. Looking around him, Kah'liss knew there would be no welcoming arms of a crack Emergency Room team waiting nearby. No, Lyrium was indeed dead. Nature would have to take it's course this time around.
    The words of a dear friend ring through his head as he watches the lifeless forms of Lyrium and Rolgar before him.  'It will be a hard road ... without reward ... but if you follow it, you will learn who you are.'  He whispers under his breath, "I hope you learned who you are Lyrium." He looks at Rolgar, "And you also."

    "When I toss this grenade into the mouth of that beast," Brenon begins, "I want everyone to fire 3 quick bursts into that bitch, then hit the deck!!"  Brenon preps the grenade and looks to everyone to make sure they are ready. He tosses the grenade and waits for the all too familiar sound of weapons discharging, then quickly hits the ground....
     Telgar listens to Brenon's request and is certain that they would be a good thing to do right about now.  Telgar grabs a frag grenade and tosses it to Brenon as he approaches the Explorer.  Then, Telgar gets out and walks towards the pit.  Knowing that most travel will be done at night and laser weapon use will be minimal, Telgar puts down the needler rifle and takes out his two laser pistols.  He sets them both to 10 SEU.  Upon reaching the pit, Telgar takes aim with both weapons and waits for Brenon's order to fire...
      Raleigh hears the command and is satisfied thouroughly with the decision, glad that he wasnt the
only one burning up inside from rage.  Bringing his assault rifle to bear on the worm, he switches over to
full auto and awaits the signal.

    Moments later, the worm snorts loudly, as if someone just rudely shoved it from a good evening's rest. Brennon tossed the frag grenade down the pit, and seconds later the quiet Volturnian desert coughs in a brief shower of laser fire and shrapnel....

    [DieRoll Brenon]
    Fragmentation Grenade - Automatic hit (sliding down funnel)
    Column = +X
            DieRoll = 53    DAMAGE = green = 40 Stamina

    [DieRoll Telgar]
    2 laser pistols
       Column shift 0 (penalties firing 2 weapons and wounded arm)
      Using full SEU (10SEU for pistol) he fires both pistols up..
       2 clips expended
            DieRoll = 47, 61, 42, 9
                                    Damage = 120 total from all shots

    [DieRoll Raleigh]
    Triax Assault Rifle
        { "Bringing his assault rifle to bear on the worm, he switches over to
        full auto and awaits the signal."}
        Column Shift +2 (PGS Weapon)
        DieRoll = 17,  7,   60, 26
                                Damage = 130 total

 
    [DieRoll Kah'liss]
       Laser Weapon, Full clip used:
        DieRoll = 54, 80, 54, 19
                                Damage  = 60 total

    When the dust settles, everyone sees the gaping hole at the bottom of the pit, dug deeper and wider by the assault. The worm's meaty body dissapears deeper into the sand, anything that was above the ground moments earlier shot into an inumerable amount of fleshy carnage. If it was vengeance they were after, it surely was achieved.
 

=================================================
Referee's note:
    It was last shift of the morning; it was still 6 hours of evening after the well, but it was elected to remain camped through shifts. It is now almost dawn of your second day on Volturnus. We can speed things up by giving a broad explanation of what you wish to do, which direction you go, plans, etc..

Either way, we'll move on from here. Time to bury our dead and continue!!

- Jeff