Episode Three - Extinction

[Andrew McManus]

1451
Enemy Vessel
Meropis Orbit

The vibrations could be felt through his chains, delicate but nonetheless certainly there. He started counting again, one... two... three... four... There was the tell tale noise, like a defibrillator charging only much, much larger. The enemy ship fired another enormous energy blast toward the planetary surface. The ship subtly vibrated. The monotonous pattern had given him a headache, but with all of the bruises, marks and injuries inflicted during his torture that was the least of his worries. The chains held his arms up above his head, his shoulders ached with days worth of discomfort. His ankles shackled, slightly more than shoulder's width apart, his head bowed, chin touching his chest. He had almost given up hope...

That was until he saw what he at first thought was a mirage. Through the straggles of ginger hair, drenched in sweat, as his own dried blood was smeared across his brow... He spotted them. At first it made him angry. A boiling pit of rage seething up from within him, five weeks worth to be precise. They had left him for five weeks without so much as a rescue attempt. No messages of support, no care in the world. He may have trained with the world's most elite but whatever happened to never leave a man behind? He did not doubt what the Etruscans had tried to tell him, the puny vermin as they had called the humans, did not care for one of their own... He put the thoughts aside as he glanced at the oozing scar on his left bicep, where his beacon locator had formally been implanted. They were smart, he had to give the aliens that. Lifting his head very slowly his eyes widened slightly. He saw the crisp, clean uniforms of the Meropis personnel cautiously moving down the corridor. Weapons in one hand, life signs scanners in the other. Projecting his weak voice just enough to be heard through the open archway, he croaked,
"You know you're in trouble when they send yer old C.O huh... His soft Scottish brogue finished with a smirk. His mind cleared, all he needed was his gear back and a gun. He would take this ship down with him.

<Tag Cptn. Oliver>    

[John Callaghan]

1450
Meropis Balcony
Meropis

John had just fired the last shot of the railgun, when the enemy fighters retreated. Several cheers were heard coming from the Marines with him on the balcony. He heard his radio crackle, and the General's voice followed. The man gave him orders to go down to the lower deck to clear it. He turned to a Sergeant, and shouted "Sergeant Mendoza! I'm taking Williams, Johnson, Gutierrez and Braddock with their rifles, and Taylor with his SAW". The named soldiers abandoned their position and joined the Captain as he walked back into the gateroom. "General, we are Oscar Mike.", he said into the microphone of his radio as he walked towards the transportation rooms.

After the Captain stepped into it, he transported to the lower deck with his Marines. John took point, and rounded a corner, his rifle raised. The Marines followed him closely. The group came to a halt when one of the Men saw something move. Three of the riflemen knelt down, and the other two stood beside John, all of the men's rifles trained for the hallway ahead of them.

Then came the enemy. The men all fired, some in bursts and some firing single shots. Their bullets didn't seem to hurt the tango, though. John took an M302 grenade from his pouch and popped it into his launcher. He raised the rifle again, and fired the grenade at the alien. An explosion followed, which resulted in the man falling down, dead. John popped out his magazine to see how many rounds he had left, and after seeing only three bullets in it, and another in the chamber, he decided to put a new magazine in, and the five others did the same.

A few moments later, John came upon several friendlies grouped together. He motioned for the Marines to take up defensive positions, while he stepped up to a female. "Afternoon, Miss. I was told y'all needed some help here?", he said as a smile crept onto his face.

[Dominic Evans]

1452
Lower Deck
Meropis

All at once the gunfire seemed to die down. The cavalry had arrived. Evans lowered his P90, a realization slowly dawning on him as he allowed his vision to scan the scene in front of him. Bodies, lots of them, some alien, some human. He did not recognize some soldiers, but a few names sprung to mind. Robinson, Bishop, Halcyon... Brave men he had served with for the past two months on the expedition. He glanced at one of the corpses, a great smoldering wound on the mans back, steam slowly rising. A scene of horror confronted them. Evans nodded to Ahrima who was acting as the bronze commander on the lower levels, her no-surrender attitude was exactly what the men needed. Dominic admired her unrelenting fury, to hell with these aliens, they wanted this city? They can have it, when we run out of bullets...

Dom turned to Callaghan who had arrived with the heavies now that the enemy fighters had pulled back. They exchanged salutes,
"Thanks. I think they might be back with more but that's the least of our worries. A splinter group separated off from the first wave as we gave 'em hell and headed to the right, down into the maintenance levels... From what I remember, that path leads to the cities defunct star drive systems." The look of urgency on Dom's face said enough. There were still two or three of the seemingly unstoppable aliens roaming the city. Time to eliminate the threat. Evans glanced up as dust sprinkled from the ceiling, another of the great green energy blasts from the ships in orbit taxing the city's shields. He was sure residual energy was making it through now, weakening the structure slightly with every hit. They didn't have long, fight... or flight?

<Tag Callaghan & Ahrima>

[Michael Black]

1451
Control Room
Meropis

Doctor Black snapped his attention back to the control panel in front of him. His expression grim as he analyzed the data it presented them with. The alien face had reappeared, and they had played their ace in the hole, what appeared to be a captured member of the Meropis personnel. Micheal wasn't aware of any such personnel having been captured or gone missing so that was more of a shock to him than anything else. Whilst the city reeled from this revelation a further two ships had appeared and begun a furious bombardment upon the ancient city. To cap it off, Micheal was certain they may have depleted their drone stock and all they'd got for it was one of the ship's weapons disabled.

In truth he felt shell shocked, disorientated and confused. He had been thrust in to a new galaxy, setting up a base of operations in a strange alien city and he had no choice but to deal with it and put his skills to good use. Another two thunderous blasts rocked the city. His eyes widened and he placed a hand over his mouth deep in thought as he refreshed the data, this couldn't be right... He turned to the control room in general,
"Shields are down to 20%, we cannot take much more of this." He had raised his voice over the commotion caused by several different people having panicked and heated conversations in the midst of battle. Micheal had heard the General issue the orders to begin evacuating. Was there really nothing they could do? Had they really just uncovered an ancient city only to alert a dangerous alien race to it's presence and possibly get it destroyed in the process? Thousands if not millions of years this beautiful city-ship had been hidden and now the SGC expedition had discovered it they were about to ruin everything. No doubt the ancients were watching and no doubt they were disappointed.

The thoughts running through his head were cut short when he noticed the other male, the doctor he had met earlier, beginning to usher people down to the gate room, the other technician behind him had begun the dialing sequence to their alpha site. Micheal quickly ran to the terminal behind him, shut his laptop and scooped it up. It wouldn't be of much use where they were going but he wanted to the peace of mind that it hadn't fallen into enemy hands. He quickly made his way out of the control and down the steps into the gate room, pausing only to hold on to the hand rail as another two blasts shook the city.

<Tag Control Room Buddies!>

[Ellenor Clark]

1450
Hallway
Meropis

El hadnt even heard the voice as another entered the vicinity she had been occupying, the voice startled her more so then the gun fire, as that at least she had gotten used too. The voice was friendly, kind even, she looked up and finally saw the small woman infront of her, a wave of calmness washing over her at the thought of no longer facing this alone. Clearly embarrassed, El took the hand offered to her and nodded once, this fear she had was not only stupid but dangerous. There were many nonmilitary personal on this base, scientists, even simply visitors, seeing a trained officer -even if she was trained in nothing but culinary arts- cowering like a child was enough to cause mass discomfort, even hysteria. "Of course, im sorry. Ill be alright" El's voice was stronger now as she took control of her emotions, standing up as tall as she could while the base was still shaking -or perhaps that was her legs? she wasnt sure. "Ellenor, ahh, sorry Private Clark" She wanted to believe this woman was saying, faith in this crew she had only served food to, faith that they will full through, in theory it was lovely, good always pays out. However Ellenor was military -even if she was a poor example or such- she was military meaning she never really knew if they were the good guys or not.

<Tag All / Sakanoue Yoko>

[Jacob "Jake" Oliver]

1452
Enemy Vessel
Meropis Orbit

Step after step, Jake found his heart racing more and more with the sound of the creatures aboard the ship calling violently to one another; barking orders in their foreign tongue and moving about rapidly through the halls. For every moment, it seemed that Jake and his company, Harrison, were taking cover in the rooms that offered themselves up as a hiding place as they proceeded down the hallway, until finally, the Captain turned his attention down to the life sign detector he had in hand. His eyes widened. For a brief moment, he forgot about the tangos that were around them, and how close he and his fellow Meropis personnel member had been to being discovered. A human was on board. Someone resembling their own life signs. Someone, who, until now, they had no idea of the whereabouts of aboard this vessel.

"Harrison..." the Captain spoke just above a whisper. "Do you see it?"

He watched as the doc looked down at his own scanner, and noted him nod in return; confirming to him that he hadn't just been seeing something himself.
"On my mark.... make for that room... I've got you covered, Doc." the Captain weaved himself out from behind his cover, aiming his firearm down the hallway, a steady eye looking onward as he hoped, hell, even prayed, that the enemy didn't decide to show themselves in this crucial moment of advancement.

There was nothing for it. Waiting would give them no advantage now. The enemies movements had become scattered as they rushed around in the chaos that came with battle.
"Go, go, go!" he called, watching Harrison make for the room. The Captain broke from his own position, bursting quickly into the room himself, until he was within it's confounds. There, he slowed to a careful walk once more, deliberate, well placed steps leading him onward as he examined the room about them - hoping for the love of everything good that the enemy wasn't within.

It seemed clear. At least, it did for now.

Oliver breathed a relieved breath from his lips, but before it could completely escape his lungs - it caught in his throat when the familiar voice of a soldier broke the air. The dimly lit room allowed for just enough light for Oliver to see the outline of the source of sound, however, even in the greatest of lighting, Oliver never would have recognised the man he would soon be within the vicinity of. It had only been the voice that had given him away. That accent. That tone.

McManus.

Oliver felt his mouth drop a little, and his eyes widen even more than they had when he had noted the sign of a friendly on the life signs scanner. And for a moment, he was silent. Until finally, he found some air and took control of himself once more, allowing a exasperated "McManus..." break free.
Then he snapped into overdrive. Grabbing the stunned Harrison, whom seemed more than taken aback by McManus's injuries and condition, Oliver shook some sense into the tech, "Harrison, hey, hey, hey?" he jarred him a little more, "C'mon, doc, keep your head here. Stay with me, Harrison." he felt the doctors eyes lock with his and he knew now that he had his attention. "I need you to cut McManus loose. Get him on his feet, okay? Give him a quick check and make sure, for the love of Christ, he's not gonna' drop on us when we hoist him around this damn death-trap." He watched as Harrison nodded, and rushed to do the Captain's bidding, tending to McManus.

Jacob gave the hallway a once-over, and, once content, returned back to the room, closing in on a man he knew well. A man, he believed to be a dead. A man, he was unbelievably thankful to have alive. Once close enough, and given a very unconvincing 'he's okay' from Harrison, Jake drew McManus into a brotherly embrace.
He hadn't expected himself to react in such a way, but the sheer relief he had felt in finding a man he considered his friend, alive and, to a degree, well, had overtaken him.
"You have no idea how good it is to see you, you crazy Scotsman." the emotion in his tone was clear; almost as if he had been holding back a wave of tears, tinted with joy.

"Can I get you shootin'? Harrison here's not so confident with a gun, and I'd rather having you covering all our asses while we get what needs to be done up here sorted. You in, McManus?" he smirked, giving the man a gentle clap on the shoulder.
"But hey, if there's anything worth knowing up here - you're our inside man, buddy. Where's the best place to set up some C4 up here.... But before that, please tell me we aren't missing any other Meropis Personnel to these alien douches."

<TAG McManus>

[Deleted]

1454
Chair Room
Meropis City

Achilles looked up at the targeting hologram once again. This was beginning to become boring. Oh how he longed for close battle.

"Targeting second alien hostile ship's life support. Drones 13 through 40 away at second alien hostile."

As soon as he finished saying those words, 27 golden streaks filled the sky as five drones exited various magazines around the city. Approximately 30 seconds later, a white energy disruption can be seen as drone 13 works it's way through the enemy shield, followed by the other 26 in various locations around the ship's hull. Three seconds later, the drones impact the hull and begin tunneling through the extremely dense armor plating and hull paneling.

After about 30 seconds of drilling and tunneling through the ship's hull and armor plating, the drones began to puncture holes in dozens of compartments around the ship. The explosive decompression began evacuating the oxygen out of the various ship compartments, sucking alien crewman into the vacuum of space as well.

"Chair to control."

"Control here."

"Drone attack on enemy vessel successful, resulting in enemy vessel severely damaged and possibly crew-less. How you like them apples General? We have one enemy vessels basically intact, but unopperable with crew to interrogate. One enemy vessel with systems intact and no or very little crew to contend with, and our team is getting our man from the other vessel. Since our team is supposed to detonate the third vessel from the inside, I am going to go hunt the bastards left in the city."

After that, Achilles got into the transport room and transferred to the one closest to the stardrive. Achilles figured that he'd start at the most sensitive system and work his way up to join up with the combatants already searching.

1456
Meropis City
Stardrive Control Room

"To all ground personnel searching the city. I have joined the search."

<Tag Ahrima, Callaghan, Evans & Conway>

[John Callaghan]

1454
Meropis Balcony
Meropis


John was told that there were still some hostiles on the loose. As he was not looking to pointlessly wander around the ancient hallways, he called up. "Callaghan to control.. Any chance you can track all lifesigns around here? And then filter out all humans, so you can guide me to the Aliens?"

He didn't wait for an answer, though, and he and the Marines went down the corridor one of the other people pointed the Aliens went down. Slowly but surely, they progressed. While after a minute or two, the mission XO joined the searching parties, too, John kept going.

[Ahrima]

1452
Tower Base
Meropis

Ahrima gripped the Tau'ri weapon firmly as she advanced on the kneeling invader. She had never seen anything like this. Well, that may not have been entirely true. At one point, the System Lord Anubis had used the Kull warriors. They were genetic abominations, but they were nearly unstoppable. She could hear the sounds of feet shuffling behind her. She had to assume it was the scientists finally fleeing to safety. And it was in that moment that she cursed herself for becoming distracted. A burst of green energy struck one of the other marines that had been with her. Instantly, they broke to take cover as more of the invaders began to open fire.

"Jaffa! This is Warrant Officer Dom Evans backing you up."

Evans had arrived in time to lay down cover fire, which gave Ahrima and the others a chance to bank for cover. Once she was situation, she checked the ammunition remaining as she had seen the Tau'ri do. She realized she did not have much ammunition. And honestly, that didn't bother her. These invaders had proven that they could fight with weapons, however, how did they fair in close quarters combat? She watched as a bullet finally took down one of the invaders, and then the loud whining pitch served as a warning to take cover. The invader exploded. It seemed that no matter what, they would not allow themselves to be captured, possibly hoping to kill their enemy as they tried to take whatever spoils they could in the aftermath of the battle.

The tide began to turn for the worse as even more of the invaders emerged. Had they breached the city's defenses to this degree. Ahrima's finger squeezed the trigger and finally it ceased firing bullets. She was out of ammunition. She muttered a curse and lowered her head once more as a flurry of green blasts came in her direction. Her eyes searched the area for a vacant weapon. There was one, but it was more likely that Ahirma would find herself mowed down by enemy fire. Just at that moment, friendly fire came into view as Captain Callaghan appeared leading a team as they tried to drive the enemy back. It eventually took firing a grenade at the enemy before there was finally a break in the fire exchange.

"Afternoon, Miss. I was told y'all needed some help here?"

Ahrima stared at him for a moment before turning estimate the damage that had been done and the casualties they had suffered. "That is a matter of opinion," Ahrima said simply as she noticed his smile. "Nevertheless, your assistance was appreciated, Captain." Her eyes then moved towards Dom. "As were yours." She nodded at him and then looked at one of her fallen comrades. As she kneeled down next to him, she took a simple moment to honor his sacrifice and then her eyes moved towards his attire. She picked up a pair of clips and one of them into her P90. She also removed a knife that was sheated at his side. Standing, she placed the knife in her boot and returned to the others.

"A splinter group separated off from the first wave as we gave 'em hell and headed to the right, down into the maintenance levels... From what I remember, that path leads to the cities defunct star drive systems."

"Their presence in the area leaves Meropis at the mercy of these invaders," said Ahrima. She checked her weapon, and satisfied that it was battle ready, she continued. "And I do not believe they practice the concept of mercy."

---

1457
Lower Decks
Meropis

Moving slowly, and with her weapon outstretched, Ahrima carefully surveyed her surroundings. It wasn't as if she were expecting the invaders to be lurking in the shadows. They simply didn't seem the type to lurk. Nonetheless, she sought to take advantage of any elements of combat that she could: including surprise. Moving with the rest of the marines she waited for an answer from the Control Room to see if they could find some sort of way to track the aliens. She had already heard the voice of the Tok'ra, stating that he was joining the search as well.

Ahrima quickly halted her position as they reached an intersection. She turned to her right, and peered down the corridor. Her body had turned so that she was facing, as well as her weapon in the same direction. She could have sworn that she'd heard something. After a few seconds, she was only met with silence. She was nearly content and prepared to move forward she heard a noise once more. She couldn't have been the only one. "Down there," she said aloud. Slowly, she began to move down the corridor, not certain what lay at its end, but at least the mystery of what was causing all the noise would be solved.

<Tag: Callaghan, Evans, Arson>

[Mikaere Glavish]

1458
Control Room
Meropis


"... Since our team is supposed to detonate the third vessel from the inside, I am going to go hunt the bastards left in the city."


Mik turned in his seat.  "Wait... in the city?  In as inside the city?!"  Mik exhaled and rolled his eyes as he heard Arson's voice over the comm.  He quickly turned his attention to the laptop in front of him.  His hands moved like a blur as he began to bring up the city's schematics.  "Are they anywhere near us?" he asked hoping that some doting tech would open the door to take a potty break and allow the control room to be flooded by these aliens that seemed content on leveling the city... or worse.

"Callaghan to control.. Any chance you can track all lifesigns around here? And then filter out all humans, so you can guide me to the Aliens?"


"Working on it," Dr. Glavish called back.  He sighed in relief that there didn't seem to be any immediate anomalous readings in the vicinity of the Control Room.  His search began to branch out to include the other ares of the city.  On his screen the radius slowly began to expand.  His eyes narrowed on a particular area on his screen.  A sigh of frustration escaped his lips.  "Captain... I'm getting some heavy interference approximately 100 meters from your current position.  That's the main power room.  It could be due to damage from the attack, or... someone could be using the interference to mask their location while they do who knows what to our...."

Glavish's voice trailed off as an alert came up on his laptop.  "Dammit!  We just had a 7% drop in power city-wide.  Something's sapping up energy.  Someone find out where we're bleeding!"  Glavish turned his eyes back to his screen as he began to run algorithm after algorithm to determine if he could find the cause of the drop in power.

<Tag: Control Room>

[Hamish Flanagan]

1459
Control Room
Meropis

Standing side-by-side with the General and exchanging looks of worry, the CMO allowed his eyes to settle back on Dr. Glavish when he spoke of the power lose that had begun to occur across the city. The fact that the enemy had been able to cause them so much damage in such a short period of time left him with unmatched concern. These alien creatures were not only ruthless and volatile, but they were exceptionally capable of waging warfare of an unseen capacity, and, worse yet, being more than equipped of winning that war.
Truthfully, Hamish was just thankful that thus far, he hadn't been called to patch anything major up with the personnel on base. Despite the constant fire that they had all been under, no one on the expedition, thus far, had sustained substantial injury to his knowledge.

The Medical Bay had been in constant contact with him, informing the CMO of the minor wounded that had been coming through their doors - though - his staff had it completely under control.
But something had him at odds with the idea of men and women of the expedition being down in the city's frontline, putting their lives on the line to save everyone on-base while he just stood by and did nothing.
But he had to remind himself that there was a legitimate reason he and the General had to be sidelined. They were leaders. People that the others on the expedition turned to for advice and aid. If they were put out of commission, things had the potential to fall into chaos; especially with no proper preparation for a replacement for either of them.

Clicking his earpiece, Hamish allowed his message to broadcast down to Callaghan, Achilles, Dom & Ahrima.
"Dr. Flanagan ta' all combat forces. If ya' need any medical assistance, please, fer th' love o'God don' hesitate to comm me direc'ly. Take care my frien's." that was all there was to it. A simple reminder. Something to make sure they knew, even if all went south, Hamish would be at their side, making sure things didn't get any worse for any of those loyal soldiers thereafter.

<TAG All Callaghan/Achilles/Dom/Ahrima>

[John Callaghan]

1458
Control Room
Meropis

"Rodger that, control. We are on the move. Callaghan out.", the Captain said, smiling. Finally technology was on his side for once. Hugging the walls, the group of men progressed to the target. The door to the main power room was open, where normally it would be closed. This could only mean one thing: The enemy was there. John had the men take cover on both sides of the door as he peeked in. He could see two Aliens. He had a full magazine in his rifle, and a round in the chamber. Thirty-one rounds. Then he also had a grenade in his M302. The man saw that everyone was ready.

John left his cover, and began firing his rifle at the two targets. They turned around and returned fire. John just launched his grenade as he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. The man fell on his back, while the others kept up their fire. A few moments later, they ceased their fire and checked up on the Captain who was now trying to get up, grunting and swearing.

Corporal Williams took the mic and said: "Control, this is Williams... Main power is cleared, but we have a man down. The Captain took a hit. He's okay, but in much pain. Please advise, control"

[Aear Charter]

Location and time unknown

Alarms blazed around the outpost, an explosion had released one of the prisioners and caused significant damage to the sensor grid. From the sky it would be easy to see a large hole blown in the centre of the base. Aear ran down a dark corridor, he'd lost his arm and the left side of his face was stained purple in his blood. He place his hand on his knee to catch his breath and looked around. This base was better reinforced than he'd thought. The explosion hadn't carried this far. There was nothing hot or burning that he could use to cortarise his wound. His military uniform was dirty and bloodied, his aunt was not going to be happy about that. He'd argue with her when he was back home though.

"Eizoku-tekina bijinesuūman ne..." he said in his native tongue. He closed he's eyes and put out a chima-space signal, wincing in pain as soon as he'd sent it. He'd already damaged his linker core fighting not to get captured and now he was having to use blood magic and everything else at his disposal to get out. He looked at where his right arm would be. He'd have to use a burn heal as soon as he'd grabbed Cyleo, it'd cortarise the wound but transfer the damage to his linker core. What choice did he have though? He was going to bleed out if he didn't do something.

Aear's ears twitched as the signal returned, a location beacon just for a split second. Aear imediately broke out into a run, if he could hear it so could they. It didn't take long to find the door to the room and trew it open. No one was here. Good he wasn't going to be much of a fight in his state. He slowly crossed the room, it looked like a mana cartridge supply room. Why were they storing Cyleo in here? Whatever, he moved to the crate his weapons was stored in and yanked it open with some difficulty. If he had both arms he'd hold his shoulder fromt he pain. He gritted his teeth and pulled out the small metal pendant that was his partner. "Suma, okurete." he joked. [Yes, some time has passed.] chimed the device in synthetic and deliberate tone. "Watanutsachiha, bōru o gurabu no kātorijji wa, suru koto ga deki, o mezasou ze subete torisarou to shimasu." said Aear forming a plan. [Understood, partner. Accessing dimensional storage. Transfering local supplies. Transfer complete.] said the device as magic circles appeared underneath various boxes so they could take the contents. Now it was time to leave, a magic circle appeared underneath Aear as two of his captors burst into the room weilding some sort of ballistic weapons that he didn't recognise. [Dimensional transfer location:] chimed the device once again before being cut of by the two men opening fire followed by an explosion. They were away but with no location data who knows where they would end up or much the explosion would react with the transfer.

[Deleted]

1501
Meropis City
Stardrive Control


"This is Meropis Command Two Actual to all search teams. Please respond." Those words spilled out of Achilles' mouth in his own voice, it would be obvious that he was very concerned in his tone of voice. "I am currently, being engaged by five hostiles. These bastards are tough." Sounds of serious battle could be overheard through the radio as he spoke.

Arson spoke in the standard Goa'uld or Tok'ra manner. "They are fighting very aggressively and my shield is holding, but heir shots are draining it's power supply. I am unaware of how long it will hold, and it took five shots from the Traveler weapon to drop one of them."

"All search personnel converge on the stardrive section. That is a direct order." Was heard over the radio in Achilles' voice again.

[Andrew McManus]

1453
Enemy Vessel
Meropis Orbit



McManus winced as Harrison helped him down from the shackles, muttering a pained thanks under his breath he stumbled over to the table where the alien warriors had laid out his Earth gear to inspect. They disgusted him, some of this was personal equipment and the self-proclaimed Scottish hero had grown very fond of it over the years and hated seeing the aliens pry and prod it with mild dis-interest. He slowly shrugged his Meropis jacket back on, clipping bits of his gear back in place as he did so. The Captain embraced him a delicate hug to which Andy fell in to and could only manage a smirk in reply, such were the extent of his wounds. His training had not prepared him for the kind of torture the aliens had exacted on him, akin to the fantasies of several Texans he once knew, but thankfully for him the Etruscans did not believe in probes. No time for jokes, they were still deep behind enemy lines, Jacob reminded him of the situation at hand, "I'd rather having you covering all our asses while we get what needs to be done up here sorted. You in, McManus?" Andy cocked his pistol, winking at the nervous looking scientist who had unchained him,
"Aye, I'm in. There's work to be done." He gingerly cricked his neck from side to side, trying to shake some life into his tired and exhausted body.

McManus listened attentively to the plan, "If there's anything worth knowing up here - you're our inside man, buddy. Where's the best place to set up some C4 up here..." Keeping an eye on the path his saviors had entered through, he calculated the situation. He had guessed they were back in Meropis orbit, hence the crisp, clean looking rescue party. "But before that, please tell me we aren't missing any other Meropis Personnel to these alien douches." And there it was. Any other Meropis Personnel. Andrew McManus knew for a fact that there were not any, there never was... Just him. The anger boiled up inside him, he stared down at his feet, those boots that he hadn't been able to take off in weeks. The aliens probably thought the boots were a part of his anatomy, while his feet rotted inside with trench foot and hell knows what else. He took a deep breath, looked up at his Captain and replied, taking great care not to grit his teeth, "No. There is only me." He knew Jake would see through that, he knew his old friend would sense something wrong but now was not the time. McManus had taken plenty of time when the aliens were busy eating or mating or or fighting or whatever it was they did in the other parts of the ship. He had carefully planned and plotted and he was very glad this day had come. From here on out there was a new man filling these stinking boots and the shackles had been cast aside.

Andy lifted his head just as Jake was about to break the tension with a few choice words and quickly answered the question. "C4 huh? Well, I had enough time to listen to the subtle noises the ship made. Particularly when she dropped out o' hyperspace. I bet there's a nice power supply somewhere down there to the right boss. You want my advice? Follow me..." He made toward the doorway, pistol out in front of him. He stopped suddenly, causing Harrison and Oliver to fall short behind him. "Oh, but first Cap... I made a promise." Looking his C.O in the eye he hoped that he didn't need words to explain what he meant, "His name is Oberon Dassos, he has a family and..." He sighed quite audibly and gulped down his pain at the thoughts now sounding slightly distressed and unable to hold himself back, "These aliens will destroy him, slowly, and turn him into one of their own. I've seen it. I don't know how they do it but I've seen it. And it's like... A right of passage..." He listened to the stutters of confusion from Harrison before clarifying, "Their initiation is to return to the world after they have selected their poor pathetic slaves that they'll use as soldiers, and these soldiers will then have to maim and kill their loved ones. And I, me! Andrew McManus! I have watched it happen four times... FOUR times Jakey." He maintained eye contact with Captain Oliver. They all knew what this meant. Just a few weeks more and these two might have been pointing weapons at each other rather than a common enemy, and the old McManus everyone knew would be gone and replaced by an armored, mutated creature controlled by some malicious force. With a snarl he raised his gun toward the open hallway in front of them, nodding toward the life signs scanner Harrison was holding, "Come on then, let's kill some of these bastards!" He spat, droplets of blood in his saliva. He nodded and let the two saviors lead the way.

<Tag Jacob Oliver>