Darwin's Soldiers

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #320 on:** December 02, 2008, 12:38:27 AM

Neku nodded.
"Should one of us go in case they need backup?"
He asked, raising an eyebrow...

Kagetora nodded.
"If that is the case, let me go. I have...stealth training."
He said, his goggles glowing...

Serris · **Reply #321 on:** December 02, 2008, 01:01:51 AM

The Beagle stopped a few meters from the door. "His scent seems to be coming from that lab." He pointed to the lab that James and the rest of the group were in. "You know what to do?"

The other scientists nodded.

"Ok then. Let's go."

The Beagle and the Human, with their rifles at the ready, stood out in the hallway. The draft horse and the Bear stopped outside the door and peered inside.

Seeing no one, they entered the lab.

------------------

"Hello." the Bear said as he entered the lab.

"Are you looking for something?" Zachary asked.

"Yes, but we need to search the lab."

"We searched already, everything of value has been taken." the Dhole said, keeping her rifle at the ready.

"Ok. Sorry for wasting your time." the draft horse replied.

The draft horse and the Bear left the lab.

The Dhole went to a lab bench in the far corner and kneeled down next to James, who was crouched behind it.

"I think those guys are after you or something in Dr. Kerzach's lab." she said.

"I'll call Shelton." James replied. He took out his radio and radioed Shelton.

"Shelton, this is James. We met 2 anthros, a Bear and a Shire draft horse. I think they're scientists because I managed to get a glimpse of them and they're wearing the standard issue lab coats and pants. They entered this room claiming they are looking for something. What is in Dr. Kerzach's lab could they want?" he said into the radio, keeping his voice as low as possible.

The Bear and the Draft horse went back to the Beagle and the Human.

"We didn't see him." the Bear said.

Suddenly, the Shire's ears pivoted towards the lab he had just left. "He IS in there! He's radioing someone!" he said.

"What are you waiting for! Get him!" the Beagle shouted.

The Shire and the Bear burst into the room brandishing their shotguns.

"Where the hell is Dr. Zanasiu!?" the Shire demanded. He looked at Zachary and leveled his shotgun at him.

"He's dead!" Zachary shouted back.

"Don't give me that crap! Where is he!"

"Get it through your damned skull! He's dead!"

The Shire clubbed Zachary across the ribs with his shotgun and grabbed Zachary's lab coat. "You know he's alive and if you don't tell me where he is, there's going to be a problem!"

James heard the commotion. He left the radio on, so Shelton could hear the commotion. "Shelton. Those two scientists from before. They're attacking Zachary."

The Dhole aimed her rifle at the Shire and fired but she missed.

"Get that dog with the rifle!" the Bear shouted. The Shire threw Zachary aside and leapt behind another lab bench. The Bear also leapt behind another lab bench. They fired at the Dhole but she ducked down and the shotgun blasts struck the lab bench.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #322 on:** December 02, 2008, 09:35:14 PM

Shelton racked his brain. "Try the utility closet! If they'd managed to build a Small Hadron Collider, that's where they'd store it!"

He downloaded the garbled sounds of the two enemy scientists, and ran them through a voice analyzer. "And if you give me a second, I'll tell you who you're attackers are!

(OOC: Is there anything in particular you want Shelton to tell you about these guys?)

Mirumoto_Kenjiro · **Reply #323 on:** December 02, 2008, 10:05:41 PM

Vic was crossing wires on the door console when a fight ensued behind him, and he glanced back to see Zachary and the Dhole engaging a bear and horse brandishing weapons. Gunshots forced him to duck down to keep from getting seen, but he continued to work the security to open the door. He's only got a few seconds to make one more connection...

----------

Dr. Joe listened as gunfire is heard over the radio, and then checked her handgun and started towards the door. "I'm coming too," she responded. "We gotta provide backup."

"I...think we should come with," Snow added. "The greater our numbers the better..."

----------

The hitman raised his head as the faint echoes of gunfire reached his ear. "I hear fighting," he said, not turning his head to the group. "It's not from any of our cells either..."

Serris · **Reply #324 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:05:43 PM

(OOC - Perhaps, Shelton could reveal the names of these scientists are and what their research area is. And incase you are wondering, these are some of the Dragonstorm scientists and the characters don't know that.)

James was crouched behind the lab bench as the gunfire erupted around him. He readied his shotgun, checked the magazine and prepared to engage his attackers.

"Stay down!" the Dhole ordered over the gunfire. She reloaded, stood up and fired a quick burst and ducked back down as the two scientists returned fire.

James nodded and remained crouched behind the lab bench. "Shelton! Who are these scientists!?" he shouted into the radio.

Zachary managed to crawl behind a lab bench where he checked his ribs. "Damn that hurts." He gently palpated it and grimaced as a spike of pain shot through him. "I don't think it's broken but I can't do anything for now."

-----------

The Iguana guard headed towards the door with Snow and Dr. Joe. "I'll come too."

The four Cobalt Squad soldiers stood in place. "We need to guard these two. They are a vital contact to Dr. Zanasiu's team." one of the soldiers said.

-----------

The Bear crouched behind the bench as the Dhole returned fire. A piece of metal struck his lab coat but the tough cloth easily stopped it. He reloaded his shotgun.

The Human scientist outside the lab made a move to enter but the Beagle stopped him. "We need to guard the entrance. If terrorists enter the lab and we're in there. We'll be trapped between two hostile parties."

-----------

Dr. Kerzach heard gunfire in his lab. Please be soldiers he thought. He paced around the utility closet.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #325 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:21:47 PM

Neku nodded and joined the others.
"Yeah. I'm with you there!"
He said, his eyes resolute...

Kagetora simply turned to the door, loading a fresh magazine in his weapon...

Hawkeye's lens eye flickered.
"I'll come too, Doctor. We should all stick together if we want to maximize our chances of survival..."
He stated, calm and composed as always...

Serris · **Reply #326 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:27:26 PM

The Iguana guard turned to the gathered group. "Um, I managed to overheard Dr. Zanasiu's transmission to Dr. Shelton. It seems that the attackers are not terrorists but scientists. Now my main question is, why the hell would other scientists attack Dr. Zanasiu's group?"

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #327 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:37:05 PM

"Who cares?" shrugged a Cobelt soldier. "They're enemies. Let's kill them."

"That is why you're a soldier, not a scientist," said one of the scientists.

"Still," said the Cobalt commander, hefting his gun, "we need to get going. Follow me."

"Bye," waved Shelton, as the collective group left the control room. He turned his attention back to the laptop. It was still scanning.
"C'mon, you damn thing..." muttered Shelton. When was the last time this laptop was defragmented?

Suddenly, it bleeped, and two scientist profiles came up.

"Gotcha. James, the horse is Kegan O'Neill, minor scientist from BioChem and member of the Equestrian Scientific Union. The other is Petr Kozlov, in Weapons Development, only achevement to date is the unpatented flare shotgun. Only thing I see in common of the two is they both got their degrees at University of California Three Rivers. Which actually is where Oli went too."

Serris · **Reply #328 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:43:10 PM

"Gotcha!" James said into the radio. "Got any more info? Like who their assistants are and what O'Neill's research was? Any guesses why they want me dead?"

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #329 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:44:30 PM

"Hold on," muttered Shelton. "I'm cross-referencing the graduate degrees of every Pelvanida scientist to see who else went to UC3R.

"You were also curious about O'Neill, right? O'Neill was working on a genetic compound which increased the immune, cardiac, sensory, and muscular systems of equestrian species. Current status of the project according to the logs is Failed, though he might just want to keep the formula to himself. Looks like he's worked on-and-off with every equestrian scientist at least once, even Zach, back in '04. That might be how he knows your name, James."

The computer finished it's search.

"All right, here we go. Three Rivers is a small school, but we've got three other graduates stationed at Pelvanida. Lester Montgomery, a Beagle; and two humans, Howard Hicks and Greydon Zenarchis."

Serris · **Reply #330 on:** December 02, 2008, 11:46:14 PM

"Wait. You mentioned a 'Greydon Zenarchis'. The only Zenarchis I found was Dr. Johnson Zenarchis who was killed by Dr. Cass. Something isn't right. Now, about Montgomery, Hicks and Zenarchis - this one- what did they work on?" James said.

Gunshots from the two enemy scientists rang out every so often as they tried to hit the Dhole as she returned fire.

Zachary managed to crawl to James's side. "Ugh. I'm out of the fight for a bit."

"It's okay. Now did you work with a certain Shire draft horse named Kegan O'Neill?"

Zachary nodded. "Yeah, back in '04. We tried to work on a serum that would supercharge cell division in an attempt to speed up healing; unfortuately it was strongly carcinogenic in all species except equines. I stored it away until I could get it to work with all species but I never got the chance. In late 2006, all those samples went missing. I assumed that someone threw it out by mistake."

James's eyes widened. "Shelton, Zachary worked on some kind of equine specific accelerated cell growth factor but shelved it due to its carcinogenic effects in other species and claims that the samples were lost in 2006. See if there is an incident report on that. I have a feeling that O'Neill is responsible." he said into the radio.

Zachary growled under his breath. "I'll kill him."

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #331 on:** December 03, 2008, 12:55:54 AM

"It's not like 'Zenarchis' is an extremely popular last name. I bet they're the same person," said Shelton, checking the dates of the pages.

"Ah, here it is!" Shelton exclaimed. "The college report is archived, so that's where the problem came in. Greydon Zenarchis was involved with a security breach shortly after being posted at Pelvanida, and his job profile was impounded. Afterward, it was decided that his role in the breach wasn't as important as previously believed, and he was allowed to resume his job at the base. But he had to reate a new job profile, so he used his middle name, Johnson, as the given name. I was wondering how Johnson could be a first name.

"Anyway, Zenarchis, Hicks, Montgomery, O'Neil, Koslov, and Oli never specifically worked on the same project, mainly because they all have diferent credentials, but, reviewing these old lab arrangements, the six of them were nearly always stationed in adjacent programs to each other. Whatever they've been doing together, it's been going on for a long time."

(OOC:This actually is a bit of a problem. How do we justify the datafile? Maybe some of the rogue scientists had their names removed from the files because they feared incrimination. Oli and one other just wasn't smart enough to do that.)

Serris · **Reply #332 on:** December 03, 2008, 01:13:51 AM

(OOC - the rogue scientists could have bribed a computer tech to delete their personnel files and make it look like it was lost due to a computer glitch or they could have deleted it themselves)

"What exactly was the security breach? And his 'role', are you stating that he was involved with others in a breach?" James asked as he tried to ignore the exchange of gunfire.

James turned off the radio and thought. Six scientists with different credentials are stationed in lab arrangements next to each other, Oli tries to steal those notes I found, Johnson and Graydon Zenarchis are the same person. This only points to one thing. He immediately turned the radio back on. "Shelton! Those scientists you mentioned! I think they work on 'Dragonstorm'! They know I have the notes, that's why they're trying to kill me. Do you have someone guarding the control room?"

The Dhole crouched behind her lab bench and loaded her last magazine. "Great. Hopefully those guys are..." a shotgun blast to the lab bench cut her off.

James remained behind the lab bench.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #333 on:** December 03, 2008, 01:28:12 AM

"Not really," Shelton replied. "Everybody except Hans and Werner just left to reinforce you."

Serris · **Reply #334 on:** December 03, 2008, 01:43:11 AM

James frowned. "Shelton. Try and see if you can get some guards. We cannot discount the probability that they'll come after you."

"What is taking so long?" Hicks demanded.

"They probably ran into resistance." Montgomery responded.

O'Neill ceased firing and crawled towards where James and Zachary were. Kozlov still fired at the Dhole but with much less frequency than before.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #335 on:** December 03, 2008, 02:11:09 AM

Kagetora and Hawkeye reached the lab quickly, and Hawkeye swiftly set a single explosive feather on the door.
"You might want to step back about now..."
He said, prepping the charge...

f-22 "raptor" ace · **Reply #336 on:** December 03, 2008, 11:28:23 AM

"Anybody up some poker,' hans asked holding up a deck of playing cards.

Serris · **Reply #337 on:** December 03, 2008, 04:20:10 PM

(OOC - the lab's doors are already open and two of the rogue scientists are outside the entrance.)

"How did these scientists manage to escape detection for so long? And the last time I checked the personnel roster, which was back in '05, right when I started working with Zachary; Zenarchis, Hicks, Montgomery, O'Neil, Koslov, and Oli all showed up on the personnel roster. I didn't have clearence to see anything other than their names and their current project so I don't know. How could six names disappear from the computers in three years and not be noticed?"

O'Neill had crept behind James as he was talking to Shelton.

Zachary turned his head and noticed O'Neill behind James. "James! Look out!"

James immediately turned around and saw face to face with O'Neill. James tried to escape O'Neill but he reached out and grabbed James and forced him to the ground.

"Kazlov! I have Dr. Zanasiu!" O'Neill shouted.

"Good! Let's get out of here." Kazlov shouted back. He had stopped firing.

O'Neill grabbed James and dragged him to Kazlov.

Zachary staggered to his feet and went over to the Dhole. "O'Neill's got James."

"Who's O'Neill?" the Dhole asked.

"The Shire draft horse."

"He's not getting far." The Dhole readied her rifle and pointed it at O'Neill's head. "You! Let James go or I shoot."

Kazlov went over to James and placed the barrel of his shotgun to James's head. "Lower your weapon or he dies."

Unbeknownst to Kazlov and O'Neill James's radio was still on, allowing Shelton to hear everything.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #338 on:** December 03, 2008, 04:47:48 PM

As Kazlov raised the shotgun, Neku turned to face the door. He quickly brought his focus onto the weapon, and used a small surge of electricity to disable the mechanism. At least he hoped so...

Kagetora brought his rifle up to one of the scientists guarding the door.
"Hello, sir. Care to explain what you're doing and why you want James?"

Hawkeye aimed carefully at the second guard, arm cannon at the ready.
"Stand down, or perish."
He said calmly, eye glowing red...

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #339 on:** December 03, 2008, 08:23:45 PM

Shelton listened wide-eyed at the conversation going on in Kersach's lab.
"Well?" asked Donitz, who heard it as well. "Do something!"
"Like what?" snapped Shelton. "Turn on the sprinklers?"

The radio cackled. "Hey, who was that?" said someone on the other end.

Shelton paled. They'd heard him.

There was a burst of static as somebody tapped the mic with his finger. "Hey, who is this?"
Shelton reluctantly hit the intercom. "I'd prefer to remain anonymous, if that's okay with you."
"Suit yourself. Hicks, get over here," the voice snapped, away from the mic.

"What are they doing?" asked Donitz. Shelton put his finger to his lips.

A second later, a third voice spoke. "The signal's coming from the control room."
"Really..." The first voice came back on, muffled, as if he was shielding his words from the others in the room. "Control room guy, shut the lights off in this sector."
"What?"
"You heard me. Make it pitch black in here."

Shelton glanced at Werner. "I can't. The central mainframe was destroyed in an explosion."
"So you were going to turn the sprinklers off with what? Your mind?" the other person, who sounded like Koslov, laughed. "The lights. Or Zanasiu dies."
"You can't kill him," Shelton retorted. "He's the only one who knows where the Dragonstorm datapad is."
"Then it won't be found again. That's what I want."
Shelton hesitated. "Let me speak to Zanasiu first."
"No."
"Then shoot him, and die in a hail of gunfire," Shelton countered. "The lights stay on until you put Zanasiu on the line."