Dual wielding

Posted on Wed Jan 31st, 2018 @ 12:43am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Commander Cor Cordale & Lieutenant Commander Alec Wescott & Lieutenant Hel Samedi & Lieutenant Simon Stevens & Lieutenant Sara'draphia T'eseri

Mission: Of Machines and Men

The arena was clear and the attention of the away team turned back to the ringmaster.

"Now, I believe that you two were next," he indicated to Wescott and Stevens, "But these ladies asked for advancement so..."

There was a red flash and both of Val were gone before anyone could protest.

Bertrand ground his teeth, "They're picking us off one by one. But at least we know what we are facing. We need a plan of attack. i do not think the same thing will work everytime."

Cor motioned to the arena, "Let's see if it's the same combatant each time. Either it's going to learn, or they'll send out new and different drones."

The screen lit up and a new set of figures were displayed. Val appeared on the arena already running to cover.

A voice boomed over the arena, "Ladies and gentlemen, and other viewers. I present to you Combatants 1338545 and 1338546, Gunnery Sergeant Val Seran!"

The cheer went up and the same robot rolled slowly out to face the pair. Unlike the previous couple, it would be hard for Val to split up in the same way.

Simon knew this looked bad and having no choice but to play the game, it seemed to be like the old Roman amptheters when the Christians forght the lions, now here they were fighting this drones and that Simon and Westcott were next up and for them they knew it was fight or die. as he looked at Westcott, Simon said, "You better be ready when its our turn," as he didn't want to die.

"Pretty much...although I have a hunch...it is possible they only have one robot. Therefore if someone were to fully destroy it that might mean the rest don't have to fight it." Alec said, looking around at the rest of the crew.

"However good that hypothesis sounds, we can't make that assumption" Sara said, not moving her eyes off of the display, "we should to prepare for the worst case scenario. I'm just glad that Val's link hasn't been disrupted"

"What do you mean Link?" asked Simon as he looked on watching the Officer work as this was the first time he had met someone like Val before, he knew that if they survived this then he better get acquainted with her and get to know her pretty dam quick as well. as he knew that this was a fight she had to win not just for her but for the rest of the team.

Oh that's right, Simon wasn't there for the big ...

"She's a Dalacari." Cordale started. "A while ago we helped them out with a bit of a puzzle, and we got a briefing on them from one of our crewmates. Dalacari are... weird." he admitted. "They're two living beings, identical twins, but they have one consciousness. One mind. It's a form of cloud empathy I think, or shared collective telepathy I guess. I couldn't honestly tell you how it works or if anyone aside from her could describe it properly. All I could tell you, is that there's two bodies down there, but only one person."

"Have a chat with her when you can, or Valeria. Their people have been allies for, hell I dunno. Hundred years? Two hundred?"

"Even to my people Val is a rather strange individual" Sara commented, watching the display. "Something I can say for sure, they may be one mind, but their bodies are vastly different"

"Oh boy, I wish someone had given me a chance to read up on the crew of the Victory," replied Simon shaking his head, he continued," It means I'm going to have to have a chat with them later." as he looked back at Val.

Val didn't waste time. There were two of her, and although they had to remain within a certain distance from each other to enable the best level of cooperation, she was banking on this seamless cooperation to carry the day. Well, the cooperation and her signature weapon, the Dalacari designed and manufactured GX-80 heavy marksman rifle.

The bioform with the prosthetic arm, nickname 'lefty' and the heavy backpack dropped said backpack at the feet of the one with the weapon, nickname 'Trigger'. 'Lefty' then drew her type III compression rifle and started firing short bursts of suppression fire at the robot while sidestepping, trying to draw its attention, leaving 'Trigger' free to hook the GX-80 up to its support pack.

The robots tracking began to follow 'Lefty' but then it turned back to refocus on the ammo pack.

The voice rang over the auditorium, narrating the action, "This is interesting. One of the combatants is trying to draw fire, but we can't tell which one. The Opponents Threat Matrix seems fixed on the new heavy weapon in the arena. The disruptor rifle is not a real concern but it doesn't know what to expect from this new... ooh, look out!"

The mount one the Drone's shoulder flipped open, exposing a rack of small missiles. A red beam of light shot out and marked the Ammo pack.

'Lefty' let out a Dalacari swear as 'Trigger' leapt to her feet, yanking the cord and releasing the quick release to the support pack.

A flurry of small rockets surged from the robot and swarmed the pack like angry wasps. There was a huge burst of heat and flame, but all the combatants were well clear. The Charger, however was reduced to hot shrapnel.

Fortunately the weapon was charged. "Heavy armor piercing round should do the trick~" She replicated a 1800 grain tungsten core long rod projectile as she dashed away from her support pack. Velocity set for 1500 meters per second she took aim and -

'Lefty's targeting optics told 'Trigger' where to hit the drone. Left of center mass, half a meter above the rotational cuff - that's where the machine's power reading was the highest - as well as its armor the thickest. A deafening BANG rang out, the GX-80's onboard inertial dampening coils handling most of the recoil, and the tungsten cored round slammed into the drone's armor with a force of nearly a hundred kilojoules.

"A physical attack! And right at the Opponents energy distribution node. Was that a lucky shot?" the narration chimed.

The android flashed around. It was moving faster now than it had with the previous opponents. Piercing it had accelerated its threat potential respond. the turret tracked 'Trigger' for a meter and then...

There was a white beam, a short scream and one less combatant on the field.

Cordale almost fell out of his chair. This feeling of helplessness never sat well with him. Not back in the fleet actions, not back in Academy, not back in the mines... never. To watch someone just ...

It sure was dusty in here.

Bertrand was at his side, gripping him. There were probably few with the strength to restrain the Weasel once he was roused, but it was Bertrand's voice more than his arm that gave him pause.

"Wait," he hissed, "Something's not right here."

'Lefty' barely flinched when 'Trigger' was vaporised. In fact, Val's one remaining form seemed more surprised at the drone's increased speed and lethality compared to what she'd observed when Jaton and Scotty were fighting it, than the death of her other form. She dashed forward towards the drone, raising her type III compression rifle.

Bertrand murmured quiet enough for Cor to hear but not be overheard, "She didn't stumble or falter. Remember what Valeria told us; losing half of you, for a Dalacari, is a shattering experience. She didn't even break her stride. One of her was deliberately drawing the fire and took the hit. This isn't everything it seems."

The drone turning to engage the remaining Val, who lept up onto the tank treads and braced herself, jabbing the muzzle of her compression rifle into the sparking, jagged hole in the armor, left there by the heavy armor piercing shot earlier. Emitting a feral snarl she pulled the trigger - again and again and again and again - ripping into the drone's unprotected internal systems with her phaser.

"You're damn right something's not right here! We're just..." and then something clicked in the Thux'brain. Bert was right, she didn't even break stride. Though it didn't sit right with the Thux to just sit there and watch his friends get hurt... or worse...

What if. What if he was right? What if there was more to this than meets the eye.

"So you're suggesting that she is still alive somewhere? So she wasn't killed, can one of you more engineering inclined people take a tricorder scan of 'Trigger's' last know position. I think we may find some answers," Sara suggested, noticing that 'Lefty's' medical display had also not changed as drastically as it should have.

There was a series of explosions as the Robot's internals were torn apart by the energy weapon, now able to penetrate the protected hide. At first the robot simply rolled on, but it quickly ground to a stop.

"Victory to our remaining combatant!"

There was a flash and the remaining Val vanished, and the robot was slowly drawn back out of the arena.

"Looks like we might have missed our window," Bertrand said.

Bertrand turned to Stevens, "Com pin. Now!"

Grabbing the pin he flipped it open and changed a few settings before tossing it back.