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[Great Lord Foofah]

The place David just ran from was blown into nowhere and didn't come back.

The ship was upside-down now and David was clinging to one of the Spec Ops team. He was whimpering and sobbing, confessing things to God in wet, teary gibberish, and still not knowing what was happening. He looked around, and fainted out of stress.

Dav8290 activated and quickly assessed the situation. It let go of the being it was clinging to and landed on the ceiling. It had one skill, and that was to create basic AI. That is exactly what it did.

Not much later, the AI sent truckloads of information on the origin of this almost magical ability: it was the creation of real beings, things somehow connected to the creator. The generation of things like it, only lesser. It looked at the other beings, strapped up and presumably calm about it. With a basic command of some language it has in its memory, it told the AI to look up the word 'spider.' That is exactly what it made. It tried the AI generation method with a different focus, and not long afterward a black Giant Wood spider the size of its torso appeared.

After a quick glance at the spider, the safety belts, and the spider again, it almost immediately went to work. It began spinning a web in one corner of the room. It guided its master to the most secure spot on the web and spun him up in it, not long after it began holding onto the web for dear life. Dav8290 had fallen unconscious due to the magical stress, but his familiar was holding on well enough.

The ship crashed violently into the ground, and the web was only slightly damaged.

[sashbandit]

As the ship met violently with the ground below and slowed to a stop, Maximus wasted no time in casting another spell. Since they were in enemy territory he decided it would be better to see what was out there before the group went themselves. Placing two fingers to his forehead he channled his enrgy and let out a small sigh. "Invocation of the Elements: Gaia's Eyes." Before long 7 six inch towers encircled the ship each giving off a faint green glow. After setting up the towers Maximus closed his eyes allowing the towers to begin relaying whatever it saw back to Maximus in the form of 7 'screens'.

After a moment of studying the horizon Maximus dispersed the spell and sighed heavily. The situation is worse than I would have thought how did they react so fast?" Unhooking his harness and flipping gently down to the ceiling Maximus began to inform the commander on the situation outside the ship. "Commander Viletta there are are hostile force now approaching the ship to the west, also there are enemies on the ridge to the north. Once they gain a position it won't be long before they signal for backup. What are your orders Ma'am? Shall we engage the enemy?" Although the news he had just given made the situation seem bleak Maximus still retained his optimism not doubting for a second that they would live after this incident.

[Selothi]

"Viletta, you all, I can provide support and smoke screens, along with suppressive fire, should you all wish. I can get a smoke screen done, exit quickly and provide a gun barrage, while you exit the shuttle and find cover. Don't any of you dare start worrying about me, and thank you if you don't. Shall I start, if you're okay with it Commander, of course ..."

Lucius stood there now, rifle in one hand, smoke grenade in the other, his thumb lazily tracing lines across its circular black surface. These AI would soon get their asses wiped, Nielfax just hoped that they wouldn't take too long to accept his idea and get going. every moment they lost in thinking meant a few more feet gained by the enemy AI. That idea didn't please Lucius, simple military tactics in the end really: never let the enemy overwhelm you.

[Ryand-Smith]

Spectre floated above the shuttle, smiling as she took a head count of the survivors. "Well, we all made it, and yes Lucius, could you cover us before we exit. We are going to do three things. One, break out master Sanger from the AI's captive centers, Two, retrieve the Space Noah ship that the AIs have illegally constructed, and finally, we need to blow up the AI hive down here. Team, we shall break up into two groups." Viletta got up, shaking the ride off. Spectre focused, firing a quick series of flames toward David's position, the spell burning through the toughened silk. "Nice work, see you don't want to die. If you stick with me, you will not only live, you will thrive, and get a bath..."

"Well, I'm sorry about that, but we have a mission here. Lucius, Maximus, David, you are with me. We are going to break out. Liliana, Aranom, Iris, you are going to secure the rear, before I can get enough will to smash through those AI." She sighed, Spectre leeching from Maximus' field spell. "All teams, load up, and head out. Spectre, let us combine now, that will help us go and BREAK OUT!" As Viletta said those words, two AI Drones neared the impact crater, the large, globe like objects firing their beam cannons at the downed machine.

"G-Wall," she chanted, deflecting the beams of energy. "I am not in the mood to play with you, so have some of our arts of the Genphest!" While she said this, the armor covered her face, the blue machine fading into a near blur, the magical driving stakes on the Genphest knocking a hole, about 4 inches wide, into the machine. It fell down, as several more, jet like craft flew towards the crater, the investigation forces in full swing. "Spec Ops, GO!"

[kingmonkey+1]

"Sir, I've determined the origin of the massive psi-link," one of Boris' Cyphers called him over to the console, "it's the summoner Aranom."

"Piggyback an astral link," Boris commanded, "I need to relay the message directly."

Boris Kyrilenko leaned back in his command chair. Closing his eyes, he allowed the cypher team to boost his mental projections, while they modulated the spiritual frequencies until the message superimposed on Aranom's familiar link. The feeling would be somewhat disorienting to the summoner, as his link was powerful enough, it should override any attempts at outside interaction.Boris' team were experts in their field, though, and the team was able to put Boris in direct, one-way, mental contact with Aranom.

Summoner Aranom, I am unable to contact Viletta directly, someone has cast an aura of distraction over the entire hemisphere. It's too powerful to be a mere reaction; this was prearranged. I am encountering heavier than expected resistance leaving atmosphere. We are also getting orders from on high to extract from this sector. The Afric is in serious condition and is already withdrawing to prevent destruction. Charlemagne and the Majestic need to withdraw as well. We've detected a surge of troop movement in your area: at least 4,000 heavy combat drones are on the way. We've been lead into a trap. Charlemagne will provide covering bombardment to see you safely out of the insertion zone. It's going to get hot, I suggest you leave posthaste. I am going to contact my people to see what's going on behind the scenes. We will have effected repairs in 72 hours, and can return only then at full strength. Good luck-- to all of you.

[Selothi]

"Your orders, Commander ..." as she downed the two AI that had attacked the shuttle. She'd barely finished, that Lucius lobbed a smoke grenade and a electro-chaff grenade, the latter to obstruct most ray weapons the AI would try to use. He rolled out of the doorway, landing on one knee, Bar Mk VII in hand, headset to electromagnetic field detection mode, and a scarf over his mouth and nose to protect him from the chaff. Immediately, a blue, hazy form entered his line of sight, but Lucius let his trigger happy finger go wild, blasting two rounds in its ocular receptacle, before it blew up.

Several more forms came, "Hey, Spec Ops, get your asses out of the tin can and find some cover, damnit !" he shouted, blasting a Bhelkan spell at oncoming AI, its legs ripping out of their sockets. The smoke screen was still very much thick, and his clothing prevented heat from escaping, thereby annihilating heat-vision. For the moment, Nielfax had the upper hand.

Three more blue forms poured over from the rim of the crater, firing beams in all directions. Their shots were deflected and cancelled by the chaff, as Lucius pushed one onto its back, pummelling the two others with heavy fire, his rifle's goggle zooming in on the rim around their head. "When aiming at them, shoot the silver ring that crowns their head, holds it shut, and when broken they blow !"

Lucius heard something, metal hitting stone. He turned, only to see a grenade place itself at two feet of him, the blue haze around it signifying it was about to detonate. "Oh, bugger ..."

[sashbandit]

"Inovocation of the Spirits:Gaia's Wrath!" Maximus shouted as he launched himself out of the ship. The ground surrounding the grenade next to Lucius began to shift and absorbed the grenade underground where it exploded without causing too much damage. "Don't worry I've got you covered." Maximus said as he dodged a few sets of incoming lasers.

"So all I have to do is destroy the silver rings eh?" Channeling his energy again the aura surrounding his gloved hand began to change from a deep green to a dark red. Anyone close enough could even hear the energy start to sizzle as the magic deepened. "Invocation of the spirit: Efreet's fury!" The magic aura around Maximus' hand began to lash out violently against the incoming AI effectively taking out four of them by melting their rings. "That took way to much energy I'm not suited for mass combat. "Hey Lucius" Maximus shouted as he ripped through the hull of another AI "I'm no good at fighting big groups I'll just cover you while you take out most of them."

[Selothi]

"Sure thing; he was interrupted by a laser hitting the ground a foot away from him, and he proceeded to take down the AI responsible for it; and thanks for the grenade. Just cover me, I'll take care of everything !" shouted Lucius, taking cover as he reloaded his rifle. Rolling out of cover, he blasted a heat wave spell at an AI, frying its interiors, before shooting its companion repeatedly.

The mercenary quickly grabbed a frag. grenade from the back of his belt, as a Heavy AI cleared the edge of the crater, heading for Lucius who was now singled out in the rapidly thinning cloud of smoke and chaff. Pressing the central button on it, Nielfax flung it at the hulking machine, just as it started unleashing the full fury of its two barrel machine guns, raining bullets down on the lone man.

Lunging behind an overturned piece of concrete, Lucius smiled wickedly as he heard the huge explosion, and the bits of metal flying around the zone. Letting his head rest down against his chest, his face went livid when he spotted a bullet wound on his left leg. "A bullet's winged me, medic please !" he shouted, clambering out of his hiding place and jumping on an oblivious AI, ripping its head apart with his vibrator knife, the pain in his leg making him scream as the AI under him toppled over.

[Lilina]

-I guess is was our job to cover their assault then- She had thought this to herself, though was a little confused as the why Iris was not part of their team. Iris seemed more like the person suited for a break out operation such as this, and not to protect their rear. Maybe there was something about her Lilina did not know about. All the excitement cause adrenaline to rush throughout her body. She was ready now, and looked at both her comrades. "Are we ready, then?" Thought she tended to keep herself closer the summoner than Iris, there was still something about her...

Lilina held out her Lunar Flower, and a large magic circle appeared underneath here, filled with geometrical shapes, and glowed a bright blue. Five orbs, larger than the ones from before, spread out from the tip of the staff and four of the planted themselves in the ground to form a square around the group, while the fifth hovered around. This was here wide area shielding and recovery system. Inside, the magical aura would help speed up recovery and regenerations rates while protecting those inside. However, you could not attack from the inside to the outside as it would destroy the aura and render the shield useless.

Lilina planned on using it to protect the forward team from rear surprise attacks, as the orbs could be moved around freely and replanted. "I'll hold up fort here, I'll let you two handle the dirty work. I will be keeping track of enemy movement, making sure that the forwards don't get ambushed from their rear." That wasn't to say that she had no ability to attack or destroy any of the A.I., she still had some tricks up her sleeve...

[Great Lord Foofah]

David heard something and got the vague idea to follow someone.

He slumped to the ground. He was slightly more conscious but his head was throbbing. The magical and mental stress put upon him were immense. Magical... David looked to his side and saw a large spider facing him. He wasn't sure weather to run or say hello. He decided he would wait for a decision to come to him.

Instantly a sea of information flooded to him: how the spider got there, what the spider is, many other things he really didn't understand but pretended he did. He finally looked around and decided he would do what everyone else was doing.

As it turned out, they were getting shot at. He stood up and instantly regretted it. He sat back down and stood up again and trudged over to where people were getting shot at, hiding behind a wall so the same wouldn't happen to him. He saw someone he recognized to be the person he was supposed to follow. After a moment of thought, he decided he would do so.

[Iris Lilium]

She exited from the ship carrying her calm manner from before, her staff clutched softly in her right hand. Seems she had underestimated this mission a bit and she wouldn't be able to be as gentle as she had wanted to be with this many AIs. A smile came to her face "How frightening" as that pink outline of her eye turned a light silver and blossomed like a flower across her eye, "Sakuya, 4th song, Haku" the device emitted a soft chime like a crystal being tapped by a hammer. That pink aura slowly outlined her body as she floated gently up into the air.

A quick sweep with her eyes over the area in about 2 seconds she had a rough idea where most of the enemies were, this was an easy job but it would be.. time consuming. "Oh well.. Sakuya.." she said to her device a layer of frost starting to form on the Device now turned into a Katana.. her first priority was to give further cover to her friends and draw fire onto her self for now, so a simple swing of her sword she chanted "Hiding secrets of the world, son of the water, converge and give the illusion.. Midnight Mist" the air around them for a 250 foot radius suddenly condensed and became a thick mist of which to hide the rest of the team.

Now her job was to take care of the 5 AI's who had sneaked into that area and was within 5 yards of the team, she didn't know if the rest of the team knew they were there but she did. "Queen of frost, bring forth the cod, binding bonding, bringing the end of creation. Frozen Lotus Funeral" the mist around those AI's suddenly stuck to them condensing more and more util they were encased in blocks of liquid water which then froze hard, almost seemed to blossom like a flower and then shatter shattering the frozen AI's as well

[Blazingstar]

The summoner ARanom simply stepped from the wreckage, calmy and slowly without much of a care. His keen eyes observed the battle commencing around him; however, as great as the cover and atmospheric modifications were, they severely limited his own combat skill. Summoners were not trained in the Bhelkan style, nor did many wield any form of ranged weaponry. Although these people were his comrades, the wise man did not feel like revieling all, or even much, of his strength at this point. Human sight had a hard time seeing through the layers of chaff, mist, or various other defensive barriers that had been set in place by Spec Ops.

He sighed, unable to give any useful information or objectives to his two greates allies. Khornim simply opened the pocket that the mini-Canis was trapped in, letting the canine out. Although Aranom possessed keen natural senses...Draconis and Canis could find enemies in the dark, even if their scent was masked completely. As the wolf fell to the ground, he grew to his normal, large size; his lips peeled back, reveiling a feral snarl. Draconis flicked out his claws, this action mirrored by Canis, as both began to spring into action as Aranom stood there. With a brief thought, Aranom realized that he could stand completely within Lilina's defensive barrier; it was not his role to fight, that was his familiars' job.

Canis howled, the sound matching the dragon's roar as both leapt into the fray. Canis' claws, harder than almost any substance, tore through armor plates, not aiming for the silver rings. There was no use for him to do so. Any wolf or hound or predator relied on instinct and what place was it for Aranom to interrupt this? The duo bit, slashed, clawed and tore through anything they could see. The actual number bored the summoner, but it was a decent amount for one person. Draconis accented the sounds of rending metal with his own hissing fire breath, the purple flames lighting up the area he occupied. Only one order was given to the animalistic pair. "Destroy"

After this order was given, Aranom raised his voice, the booming voice speaking of power and authority, "Commander Villetta! Message sent from the Charlemegne to me via psy link. Her and her companion ships are pulling out due to damage...they can't contact you directly...interference. I think we were led here, commander!"

[Ryand-Smith]

Viletta sighed, as she placed her hands on the processor of another AI, blasting this one into shrapnel with a sharp, focused blast. "I thought so. With Sanger down, and the Space Noah... we have to break out, and fast. Did command say how many foes we have to fight, or do we have to do this the old fashioned way?" As she saw two aerial drones, Viletta quickly chanted, her armor producing two summoning circles at the edges of her hands. "Spectre, take aim for me, I will have to blast them out of the sky..." The Unison device nodded, as she smiled, mapping out her targets. "Spell of the Steel Spirit... Kai General Destroyer!" The shout seemed to trigger two cannons to emerge from the circles, each one resting on her arms, feeding from the magical stakes already on her wrists. "Aim true..." Spectre focused, waiting for the shot to fire.

"Iris, as soon as I take those last flying machines, we run." Viletta ordered, her eyes aiming to the sky, the dagger shaped drones attempting to fire a combination of bolts and steel at the team. "Quarter blast... NOW!" The first cannon fired a beam of energy, breaking into four smaller shots, the power tearing through the first two drones, the delta formation broken up by the attack. "Did I say you could go..." she went on, blasting the drones with her left hand, but this blast managed to scrach the armor of the machines, some sort of shielding active in her case. "Damnit, I should have..." "Mistress, it is my fault," Spectre said, "I should have calculated for that possibility..."

[kingmonkey+1]

Boris' astral voice boomed over Aranom's psi-link once more.

Damn it, Khornim, have your team fall back. Aerial bombardment began three seconds ago. The first particle beams should be ripping through the enemy any time now. You are too close to the combat zone! Withdraw! Withdraw!

[Lilina]

Lilina could feel something approaching, something very powerful. Hordes of enemies could be seen from all sides. Standing next to her in the barrier was the summoner, with a worried look on his face. Who would of thought that we would all fall into such a trap so early off. Lilina's held her staff high in the air, transferring a large amount of mana to it. Another, larger magic circles, filled with ancient runes and writing filled the entire floor of the barrier and slowly began to spread out. She was going to try and enlarge the shield so that the whole team could take refuge in it before a new plan is put into place. "Hey, someone bring Sanger in here so that I can work on his wounds." Everyone was needed to get out of this jam. The powerful force that she felt seemed to grower more powerful with every moment, almost...like some sort of...attack, but wasn't sure.

One rouge drone seemed to have made it's way to her barrier, and violently smashed itself against it, though it was mostly in vain. Pointed her staff towards it, Two orbs raised from below it and extended a magical net around it, and lifted it up high in the air. She then, looking very excited that this could be her first kill, swung her staff downwards, which caused the drone to come flying at her barrier, smashing it to piece upon impact, a minor fluctuation caused in the shield.

[Blazingstar]

Aranom scowled, his face growing dark as the idiot admiral pestered him with various orders. Canis and Draconis appeared by his side, a wind seeming to ruffle the summoner's robe and duster as they leapt to their master. He spoke one more, relaying the entire message to Viletta this time around; however, he doubted they would be able to clear the strike zone in time to completely escape the barrage.

"Summoner Aranom, I am unable to contact Viletta directly, someone has cast an aura of distraction over the entire hemisphere. It's too powerful to be a mere reaction; this was prearranged. I am encountering heavier than expected resistance leaving atmosphere. We are also getting orders from on high to extract from this sector. The Afric is in serious condition and is already withdrawing to prevent destruction. Charlemagne and the Majestic need to withdraw as well. We've detected a surge of troop movement in your area: at least 4,000 heavy combat drones are on the way. We've been lead into a trap. Charlemagne will provide covering bombardment to see you safely out of the insertion zone. It's going to get hot, I suggest you leave posthaste. I am going to contact my people to see what's going on behind the scenes. We will have effected repairs in 72 hours, and can return only then at full strength. Good luck-- to all of you."

The aging combatant hated these circumstances, lack of strategy and information leading perfectly good soldiers and people into a death trap...it was sickening. There was no reason for people's lives to be ripped away from their own grasp just because high command didn't add up the numbers properly; how the military had fallen over the years. There was no use for him having Canis and Draconis fight...right now his concern was on getting out of this zone as soon as possible, without the members of spec ops being labeled casualties to their own guns. "Viletta, your orders?"

[sashbandit]

"This definitely isn't working there are way to many of them and my energy is running low." As he was thinking Maximus rolled once more to dodge a barrage of A.I heading in his direction. "Man, where are they coming from? There has to be some way to stop the-" Maximus' train of thought had been interrupted when a laser clipped his right arm. Even though it barely grazed him it was enough to disrupt the flow of magic. "Damn it!" Maximus swore as he retreated back to gain some leverage. "My body can barely produce anymore magic and there are too many friendlies near me to start consuming any. This looks bad but there still has to be something we can do."

[Selothi]

Shrugging off the pain, Lucius broke his cover, wrenching apart another airborne AI with a Bhelkan spell, before dodging a heavy laser beam. He'd heard what Aranom had relayed, and while he was not afraid to die, he preferred not to. "Spec Ops, we need to get out of the crater, screw formations for now, we need to leg it for our lives !" he shouted, above the clamour of the battle. Reloading yet again, Lucius quickly fired another volley of rounds, hitting several AIs as their explosions filled the air.

He looked at each one of them, most consumed in some form of magic, and the summoner not bothering to do anything. I feel I'm gonna hate that guy, his calm and composed attitude, his pets, and the facts he considers himself so much superior because of his age, reputation, and expertise. Yep, a number one class snob.

Cutting his thoughts short, the mercenary quickly ducked behind and inside Lilina's magic field, trying to get a handle on the situation, and sorting out the best way to deal with it.

[Ryand-Smith]

"You really think Machines could contain me?" the voice from the hills said, the armored man covered in a demonic armor. His face had a red edge to it, the silver faceplate matching his own by a sort of enchantment. "Sanger... you made it," Viletta began, before the first of the orbital beams rained down on the planet, the magical pattern vaporising the drones in one hit, "Yes, but the ship and Major Elzam are still captured, and I lack my sword. I shall open a way for us to escape."

He made a chant, the magical energies collecting in what appeared to be golden armored shells on his shoulders, the magic focusing on the wave of aerial drones. "Dynamic Guardian Remote Weapon: DYNAMIC BLASTER!" With the invocation of power, a burst of power broke through the air, turning the first group of flying drones into a group of melted ash and waste. "Quickly, into the tunnels, grab the pilot, everyone into the escape routes." Sanger's barrier armor, the next step from his normal barrier jacket, seemed to have an imposing feel, as he pulled out his short blade, defending the team.

"You heard the man, let's get into that tunnel!" Viletta ordered, the pilot scrambling from his craft first, making it under fire into the long abandoned sewer path. "Team, I'll provide support with Sanger, you move, NOW!"

[Selothi]

"Sure thing, boss !" shouted Lucius as he rushed in, behind the pilot, into the dark and damp sewers. Just before reaching the entrance, he had to shoot down two incoming AIs, before retreating into the recesses of the tunnel, turning his headset to night-vision. He was still close to the exit, and had fun shooting any AI that came within his field of vision, or melting them down with a quick Bhelkan spell.

There were still all the rest of them to come, all the Spec Ops, busy keeping alive, even though their best bet was to do like Lucius, and leg it. Still, a few rounds could still be seen escaping the mouth of the sewer, fired by the merc to try and give them some time to retreat. The constant assault of his gun made its detonation resound throughout the sewer, ringing in the pilot's ear no doubt. Still, Lucius preferred to down some more AI, giving the operatives the break they needed to escape into the dark tunnel, rather than flee.