Everflame (Finished)

[HowlTheGrayWolf]

Howl nodded to the women and said, "I hope in the future, that you can explain more." He then turned to the exit of the cave and took off. When he looked back, he saw a large group of enemy soldiers running down the cave, and they started shooting at him. Luckily, Howl was out of their range, so he kept sprinting until they were no longer visible.

A while down the caves, he got onto his intercom in hopes of contacting someone. "Hello, is anyone there? This is a survivor from the veteran squadron, is anyone out there?!"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"What the heck was that about!" said Asia, looking between Korius and back at the body disappearing in the distance. "Am I missing something here?!" Tabby sat beside him with a look of disbelief.
"Yo man that was cold, what the flip man. You're dangerous." She breathed a laugh, eyes wide at the excitement. The car sped along, swooping low over the dirt, clipping the tips of leaves as they passed. In the distance, several GA ships sat at the port, people pouring out of them.
"Where's the ship?" Asia asked.






Back on Raven's Nest, a voice on the intercom was heard.
"Roger that veteran squad, what is your designation and purpose here, and be quick about it.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Korius continued to speed around and between trees. "The ship's probably in the main hanger. Sloan sold us out. He lied when he said his men were keeping the GA busy. But his time, there's no way they can set a blockade with less than half an armada." Korius stopped the car just behind the tree-line and got out of the car, signaling the others to follow with the supplies. He reached into the ground and found an emergency hatch. "This is an emergency exit used to exit the hanger. We're using it go get in." He opened the hatch, and drew his M500. As they made their way in, they could hear orders being shouted left and right above them. They waited under the door for people to leave. It just so happens, the commanding officers stood on top of the hatch. "Have we heard from that Sloan yet?" "Yes, sir. He told us about 20 minutes ago, that they were going to  come in." "What's your status in getting into the Streamer?" "Still no luck sir. It's fueled and ready to go, but it's still..." At this, Korius slammed the hatch open while punching the button on his key. "Go!" They ran straight for the open hatch. Korius fired three successive shots at the three armoured men that were trying to get into the hatch. They fell to the ground and gunfire started. "Stop! Only shoot the people. We need this ship intact!" However, it was too late. Before they could re-aim, the hatch was closed. Kroius's hands flew the controls again and they were off. This time, there was nothing in the atmospere waiting for them and they made the jump.

[KittKat chunky~]

Kitt laughed dryly after nodding a greeting to his rescuers... "what attacked us? where you been hidin' for the last three weeks?... seven foot freakin' daffodils thats what attacked us...." he winced as he attempted to mop up some of the blood dipping from his forearm...

[HowlTheGrayWolf]

"I have been sent here to retrieve an item, I need to know the exact location of where the main outpost is, my other coordinates were scrambled during the landing."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Over the skies of Skeeva, images, sounds, voices threaded through the dreams of Commodore Kali. The light, the dark, colour in black, the everflame. Stolen, abused, stolen, and found. Fear and danger of a thousand souls.
The rabbit awoke, a sullen grey room forged around him, the noise of his dreams echoing inside him. With lethargic sway, he climbed out of bed to the sound of a comms request. Moving to his desk, he pressed a button and the voice of a female engineer sparked through speakers in the wall.
"Sir, we ran a diagnostic on the comms system, it's working fine sir."
"What about visual?" he replied.
"We checked that too sir. Nobody else has had any problem with it. We could send someone down to check your screen functions," she said.
"No," said the rabbit. "I was probably just too tired." As he spoke, he looked around for his uniform. "What's the status of the ship? When can we get going?" he asked, while pulling on a top.
"Momentarily, sir. We should be able to jump by this afternoon," she replied.
"Thanks, good work."
"Aye sir, Engineering out."







As Vee jumped, Tabby cackled with joy, looking over herself, her new guns and the adventure she had joined.
"Followin' you guys was the best decision I ever made," she said. Asia looked to her, a frown chiselled upon him.
"No it isn't, you could get killed at any moment," he said.
"You ain't been down the border worlds much, 'ave you," she replied. Asia sat in his seat, staring, his mind pulling away, somewhere else.
"Well I'll sort all that out," he whispered, barely enough for even himself to hear. Over the atmosphere of G7, Vee arrived. Several thousand kilometers away, a fleet engaged the outpost, pounding the surface with ordinance and troop drop pods.





Upon G7 itself, deep in the left wing of the ex-military facility, a voice was emitted out of the intercom,
"You are in the left wing, the Central outpost is a mile due west of your position. The tram should take you there. If not then you're gonna have to run there. Now stop clogging up the comms for your little errands!" Wind, snow and gunfire battered the walls around Howl, and back down the cave, screams could be heard.







Over on the Admiration, Colonel Crow flinched and groaned. Max looked over to Kitt with a the softest, most empathetic smile he could muster.
"Now I know you've had a rough time here, kid, but this boy here is worse off than you and might join yer dead buddies down on the surface unless you tell me everythin' you know, unless that's what you want, in which case, I'll be chuckin' this boy out right now." He looked over to the dog. "Alain, could ya open the bay doors, we better throw this carcass out before he stinks the place up." He began shifted his arms under the colonel, ready to pick him up.

[KittKat chunky~]

Kitt frowned as the ship jolted and shuddered again...

"they'r plants... they probably use spores or seeds for reproduction... they attack with roots and vines, and have a single seven foot stinger on a vine that contains a toxin, they almost always aim for the eyes... never seen one attack like this..... thats all i can tell you... i aint no botanist so i got no idea whats wrong wiv 'im...."

finally stemming the flow of blood Kitt stood slowly, leaning against the wall of the carrier, fumbling in his equipment belt across his chest...

"Triffid enforcers... thats us.... are issued with a shot against the toxin in the stinger.... whether this is somthing new i dont know, but this is all i got.."
with that he pulled out a device similar to a small pistol, upon closer examination it was a needle and small canister of a clear fluid, designed for quick 'in the field' administration.... limping over to crow and max he held out the shot administrator.... "try that... best i got..."

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

The two days in the jump to Raven's Nest was the longest ever, for Korius. Asia continually tinkered with his new toys as did Tabby, he felt uneasy about that last one and feared for both his life and Vee. Tabby hung around him like a bad hangover, but actually gave him a headache. She pestered him for the full two days and asked question after question without letting him answer. He popped aspirin after aspirin, trying to suppress his headaches. He set up his new PDA to access his accounts and to run his scanner into his shades. He was upset a bit, already missing all the database access he used to have. He didn't like not being 3 steps ahead. But at the same time it gave him a bit of excitement. It's been a very long time since he had any kind of challenge. He had finally gotten peace and quiet when Vee's consoles alerted his PDA and his shades lit up, letting him know that they were about to exit the jump. Korius growled and cursed under his breath as he made his way to the bridge. As he sat down and turned to his already seated passengers. "We're here, G7, Raven's Nest." As they exited their jump he saw the spectacle of bombardments and drop ships. He keyed in the scanners and magnification ports. "Those aren't GA troops. What in the bloody sphere is that?"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Max took the shot administrator in one hand and held up Crow with the other, moving the device to his neck. Just before it pressed against the colonel, his eyes opened and his hand darted to the bear's, pushing the shot away.
"Woah, what you doing? What's going on?" he asked, eyes spinning around the room, looking from stranger to friend.
"You were infected, we're gonna treat you. It's OK kid," Max replied.
"But I'm fine, looked I'm perfectly healthy, who are you?" asked Crow.
"You're not fine, boy. You took a stinger to yer knee," said the bear, before looking over to the leg. The wound was gone. He put the shot on the metallic floor of the bay. "Well now, that ain't normal."
"See, I told you, I'm perfectly fine."







Over the skies of G7, Asia looked through the viewscreen to the fleet.
"That would be a military task force. Surprised you dont recognise them. They're top level Delta classification, and have been after this outpost for years, and finally found it. We need to get down there, now," he said. Tabby marvelled at the power, open mouthed.

[KittKat chunky~]

The carrier jolted again, the shot administrator sliding across the bay with a sharp clatter before being caught by Kitt who was watching the colonel closely....
"Sir.... how many finger am i holding up?"

The colonel looked over at him, sharp fox eyes foccusing on him quickly...
"Kitt isnt it? Seargent Kitt of third division?"

Kitt nodded, still holding up a paw with four fingers shown...
"its four you dolt... i'm fine, takes more than a stupid daffodil to take the old colonel down..."

Comms officer and bodyguards watched him with growing suspiscion, awe and downright confusion as the colonel pulled himself to his feet....
"sir? you got hit by a sting in the leg, i saw it with my own eyes i did..."

Crow turned to the young comms officer, a dark tan wolf, eyes set grim with determination...
"you musta been mistaken.... i taken my fair share of Triffid attacks, this aint the first time nor will it be the last..."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"I saw the wound up close," said Alain. "And I am not mistaken. "I say we put him in quarantine," he said, walking up to the colonel, who clambered to his feet, pushing Max away and whipping out his shock baton. The point of the weapon crackled and glowed.
"Get the hell away from me. Soldiers, stop these men. I am perfectly fine, are you blind or something!" the colonel said as Tina leapt down from the catwalk, wrestling the colonel to the ground. Alain ran in and pressed him down with gargantuan paws. Max stood up and walked over to the colonel, kneeling to his side.
"I say we take him Serra Draconis, get him checked out," he said.
"Sounds like a plan," replied Alain.

[HowlTheGrayWolf]

"Thanks." After he got off the intercom, Howl made his way to the Tram station. When Howl could see the tram not too far from his position, he heard footsteps, so he did a 180 spin and aimed with his gun to see 2 squadrons of delta troopers sprinting towards him. "Quick! Apprehend the suspect!" "Over my dead body you pricks!" With a long burst of energy rounds, he killed 4 men. One shot embedded itself inside his armor, so he ran for the tram, which was only 20 meters away. Howl screamed, "WAIT!!" Luckily, the tram owner saw him running desperately towards the doors of the tram, and he let him in. "Quick, get me out of here!" The man nodded and made the tram speed off. "Well well, what do we have here? Another veteran. It's good to see more survivors, considering the Raven's Nest is under attack." Howl sighed. "Just great, another mountain of enemies to concur..." He looked at the digital map, only five minutes from his destination. He then thought to himself, "I hope that guy with the everflame isn't dead..."

[KittKat chunky~]

None of the Triffid enforcers made a move to stop the crew of the carrier, they too had seen the wound, they too where suspiscious... one bodyguard made an involuntary movement, like a small twitch with one paw towards his cleaver shotgun, but no more....


"sir.... you could be infected, or poisoned... or who knows what else those Triffids could cook up...."
The comms oficer was now almost shouting over the scuffle going on between Crow and the huge Alain...
"BUT ITS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"

Crow was still struggling, shock baton pulled from his grip expertly by one of his own bodyguards he still fought. there was no doubting it, he was strong... but no match for the large built Alain and a whole group of other people....



Kitt looked down at the administrator in his paw, before holstering back into his ammo belt... sliding back down the wall of the carrier he tucked his legs up to his chin, not caring if anyone could see him...

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

In the Raven's Nest complex, the trams shuddered to a halt.
"Ah heck, they've disabled the system. I'm locked out. We're gonna have to get out and walk," said the driver as he opened the doors to the frozen outer rim of the complex. "Luckily it's not ten minutes from the main complex, and it's warmer in the outer ring. We should get there before we freeze to death. My name's Salvus by the way, nice to meet you," he said as he pulled on the mask of his protection suit. Suddenly, the tram shuddered again, as it began to move back the way they came.
"Oh heck no, we gotta go!" He grabbed Howl, shouted "JUMP!" and threw him off into the snow, jumping off after him.





Alain pulled Crow's arms in, pulled out energy rope and tyied his wrists together.
"I'll take him to the cell," he said as he pulled the colonel to his feet, pushing him to the back of the bay. Tina opened a door and the two men walked down some stairs. A second door was opened and the colonel was thrown into a small toilet cubicle. The door was closed behind him and locked up tight.
Max walked up after them.
"I've told the cappy, we're heading over there now," he said. Alain nodded in reply while the colonel yelled in protest

[KittKat chunky~]

"ta hell with you! you let me outa here right now or i get the whupin' on all of ya!"
Clambering back to his feet the colonel slammed his shoulder into the door of the cubicle, the door juddered but to no avail, slumping down onto the floor he panted... the last few minutes of frantic struggling had taken it out of him....

Arms still bound he attempted to reach for his sidearm holstered on his thigh, but the energy rope held him tighter than a Triffid givin' a bear hug and all he could reach was a stick of mint gum..... not what you would call helpfull in an escape situation, yet decidedly fresh and minty, or so claimed the packaging...