[Prologue] Hitting Home

The Roughest, the toughest, the Galactic Marines. Set in a world where peace is more prevalent than war, the Marines are here to ensure that the status quo does not get flipped around. taken from the best and brightest of every race in the United Galactic republic, the Marines will sacrifice everything to keep the peace they have fought for through generations.
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Straken
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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"I'll be fine to walk, pal. Thanks though," Cormac said as he took back his arm, wincing slightly as the motion strained some of the patches. Gripping his pistol in his uninjured hand, the Irishman gave an off hand salute. "I'll slow ya down more hangin' offa ya like that. Besides, legs barely got touched. So lead the way and I'll be right behind ya."

Falling in behind Camilla, Cormac stretched tentatively as he tested his range of motion. While understandably limited, he was pleased to have as much as he did, and figured he owed that to the medicine while guessing he shouldn't push the limits too far.

"Thanks, by the way," the specialist chimed. "We were lucky ya showed up when ya did."
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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The corpsman let Cormac go with a shrug. Camilla let them out of the warehouse to end of the small side alley.

"You can thank us by staying alive and killing a few separatists." That last word was uttered begrudgingly, as if she felt the title was hardly deserved. It expressed the apathy of a woman with years of experience winning skirmishes similarly lacking in merit.

She peeked the corner to investigate the situation if the firefight. Meanwhile, the other three Marines arrived at the open end of the transport, weapons ready. Skip repeated Camilla's orders, "Authorized lethal if anyone draws."
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Straken
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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"Don't have to tell me twice, I've reached my quota for near death experiences for the day," Cormac said back, his tone light with only a slight hint of strain. "Don't need anyone thinkin' I've got a death wish, besides, I can't chuck fireballs anymore so I'll let you lot have point."

Keeping pace as he said he would, Cormac cast a glance over his shoulder to the ship before heading into the alley. Niall would be fine, he kept telling himself.
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Kai
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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"Ah think Cormac'n ah did a pretty good job b'fore so it'll likely be nice an' quiet" Niall commented as the two marines mentioned about being ready for lethal. Regardless, the young Irish Marine kept his laser pistol at the ready, before climbing up into the cargo bay of the craft, which now sat at an awkward nose-down angle. In side were a number of casualties, from several KIA to a few unconscous and injured, the few who were awake were still disoriented. Further toward the cockpit, the copilot lat unconscious, but still breathing if raggedly. Further inspection of the cockpit showed the pilot to have been impaled by reinforcing bars from the warehouse walls.

Turning away from the more greusome details, Niall noticed one of the floor panels had popped partially open
Eyeing the newly revealed space, the young marine turned to the other two. "Would ya two mind evacuatin' tha wounded afore this 'ere ship explodes er sommat? Ah've got some investigatin' ta do."

Without much pause, Niall began pulling up the floor panel, finding a small box not much bigger than a softball nestled within. "Hrrrmmm...." he went as he reached for the package.
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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Skipper and Dhalsim exchanged a roll of the eyes at the request. They didn't need to be told their business. It was methodical and clean. Dhalsim kept watch on the length of the transport while Skipper went through the lot of them, tossing corpses to one side and potential captives out the back through the hatch. A few more bumps and bruises wouldn't matter much. Throughout the whole ordeal, Dhal only had to shoot two men. One went for his sidearm while the other tried to flee after being 'evacuated' by Skip.

Otherwise, the business was uneventful and the pair of up-armored marines hopped out when it was all wrapped up. It was Skipper that addressed their hostages: "Already, we're gonna play a game. It's an easy one I like to call, 'Staying Alive.' Winning is easy: you do what I say when I say it, and you don't say a fuckin thing. Got it? Nod your heads." He got several nods and ignored those who made no movement. "Great. Nick or whatever, let's go. We're moving." Skipper pointed to the blast hole in the warehouse wall. "Go." And the hostage train started moving. "Single file, no words."
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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Disarmed, disoriented, and injured, the insurgents turned hostages did little to resist. while apparently they were ready to die for their cause if need be, they weren't dumb enough to needlessly throw their lives away. Niall helped the injured copilot, after pocketing the box, or cube, or whatever the hell it was, supporting to bleeding woman as she struggled to walk along with the others. "So, uhh, wasso important y'all're goin' crazy an attackin' everythin' fer?" Niall asked, hoping to find out what the cube was, but it was ppointless, as the woman was too injured to respond.

They walked, and soon everyone was outside, the three marines inside meeting up with those outside, and within a few moments the 'proper authorities' showed up- City police officers who looked like they were more than a little bit concerned with everything that was going on lately. The officer in charge came up to Camilla and began asking her questions. "It's absolutely nuts out here, apparently the entire planetary guard went rogue and tried a coup," he mentioned while looking over the 7 or 8 prisoners they had managed to round up, the other officers moving to handcuff and or help the captives. One of the police officers took the copilot away from Niall and giving him the opportunity to make his way to Cormac.

"Oi, lookit wha' Ah nabbed" the young Irishman said, pulling the odd cube out of his pocket and handing it to his friend to look over. However, as soon as the cube was in Cormac's hands it started glowing, first a dull red before becoming a bright orange, humming slightly in an almost soothing way. it didn't seem like it was going to explode or anything, rather it was Reactig to Cormac in a positive way for some reason.
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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Camilla curtly supplied answers before retaliating with her own. "The entire guard? Absurd. Coups are power plays for politics, religion, or abuse. So unless the entire guard is comprised of separatists or converts, you've got a bigger problem. But that's for important people to resolve. Point us toward the firefight sir and--"

"The hell is that!?" Skipper blurted out, drawing everyone's attention. All eyes were on the glowing gem now. The Staff Sergeant's response was immediate and visceral, stiffening and then bristling with noncommissioned authority.

"Throw it away, NOW!"

Skip, Dhal, and Bentoo all distanced themselves from the pair huddled around their leader's distrust, guns at the ready.
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Straken
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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While the sergeant was talking, Cormac took the time to low key rest against a nearby wall. Even with the patch work he got from the medic he was still quite fatigued, so he was going to rest as much as he could before someone tried shooting him again. With mild disinterest the specialist listened on as the full extent of the conflict was revealed, and only an exasperated sigh suggested that he cared much for the information. When he had enlisted he had little interest in war, and only saw fighting as a way to improve himself. So he was fine with handling skirmishes, and rescue ops like back in the jungle were right up his alley; but a war, especially a human war, was bound to be messy.

The arrival of the other marines and their prisoners snapped Cormac back to the moment. The Irishman felt relieved when Niall made his way back, and when the younger marine began talking about something he had found on the ship it was like they were back in the pub. "Oh yeah, j'ya find a souvenir ta bring back?" he asked as his old friend fished out the cube, and gave it a curious look over when it ended up in his hand. "Ya know, most people take a knife or a gun, but hey, paperweights are cool too."

Almost as soon as Cormac had finished his jab a few things began to happen. First and foremost it began to glow, which rightfully worried the other marines, but the Irishman was transfixed on the object. In part this was due to the second happening. As the cube began to glow he felt an electric heat begin to run up his arm, and his eyes were transfixed on the source. As if in response, another heat began to grow deep in his chest and radiate out toward his hand. When the two met, the warmth from the cube suddenly felt alien and bizarre, and the heat from his core was roaring to life to expel the foreign energy. The resulting collision made his arm jerk, and the cube was thrown away. From start to finish he had only been holding the cube a few seconds, and a numbing sensation began to run up his bandaged arm.

"Ach! De réir titim ghlas Gaia!" Cormac exclaimed as he began to massage the palm of his hand. "That was a helluva trip. Ah think it was allergic to me."
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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Camilla charged over and punted the cube out of the alleyway. She paused just long enough to watch it land and feel certain there would be no explosion before turning to Cormac. "Good thing it was." Then she walked back to the police officer and reiterated: she was offering the services of her squad to wherever the fighting was still strongest.
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Kai
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Re: [Prologue] Hitting Home

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"Oi! Tha' was importan' Ah'll have ya bet!" Niall protested to Camilla as she punted the small cube after it seemingly reacted to Cormac. Since it had been perfectly safe in his hands, the younger Irishman hunted down the cube quickly, stuffing it in his pocket and zipping the receptacle closed before the grumpy Sergeant could do anymore harm to the device.

almost immediately afterward, Niall's communicator started buzzing and chiming urgently, causing the young man to pull it out of a different pocket than he'd put the cube into, answering it quickly, which brought up a small holographic image of one of his squadmates. Niall and even Cormac would recognize it as the Sabeline Scout that typically took point during Niall's squad's missions. "Oi, Brownie, ya seein all this shit?" Niall said, before the girl could get a word in edgewise. She sighed, and then nodded her head before responding.

"It's pretty bad. They've got the base on lockdown, and someone took over the armory, the MP's and security forces are doing what they can to keep most of us safe, since we can't get to most of our gear. A lot of non-humanoids have been taken hostage or even killed, but for some reason they've been leaving Terrans and Sabeline alone unless we resist. Ironbark is dead, Roughhide's gone missing but I doubt he's been taken down yet. I think him and Bob went to try and take the armory back with a few others. I've got my rifle with me because I had checked it out for cleaning, but I'll need some ammo to do anything."

The chestnut-skinned Sabeline took a bit of a break, as she noticed that there were others around Niall, and they all seemed to be armed, but this just gave Niall a chance to respond. "Och, Aye, we've jus' had a bit of a row with a troop ship, brought 'er down an' took some prisoners. There's a squad o marines with us all kitted out for heavy combat, so we migh' be able ta do sommat if'n ya can give us the inside dish on where tha enemies are an' where we migh' be able ta sneak in. Ah'll getcha some ammo an' bring it to yah, just keep in contact, aye?"

"Rog, and stay safe out there Niall. And if that's Cormac with you, as much of a perv as he is, that's a good thing. We need his skills and his Magitech to get through this crap," But before Brownie could continue, Niall cleared his throat and interrupted her.

"Well, yah see, abou' tha', Cormac's been right hammered an' blew his MTek unit, so he aint got naught but a pistol innis off hand fer now. See ifn't ya can scrounge up sommat for 'im if ya get tha chance, aye?"

Brownie sighed, shaking her head. "Copy. I'll do my best over here and see if we can round up anyone else to help the guards. Brownie out." and with that, the transmission stopped, and Niall looked to Cormac and Camilla. "Well, either o ya catch tha? looks like we gotta get on wit' a rescue mission."
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