Escort, Cpt. Sandy Doss, Mirellia Dark

[Sammy]

Captain Sandy Doss, just Captain Doss to her subordinates and team. She stood at a shorter stature than most of the men she worked with, even though she was 5'9", a fairly above average height for humans in the 50th Century. "Team, we'll be picking up a lovely ambassador that just arrived from Earth today, and escorting her to the TXS Science Building, a.k.a., home of the genetic freaks." A few members of her team groaned at the mention of the beings, while a couple grinned.

"We're not there to shoot any of them, so don't get too excited. But once we get to HQ, I'll be taking her the rest of the way, understood?"

"Understood Captain." they said in unison.

She cocked her rifle and slung her M203 Grenade Launcher over her back and hung her helmet from her back too. "Let's get going then." They all left the prep bay together, getting into an APC with Sandy at the wheel.

--

The Spaceport.

Large buildings, even bigger landing bays. Mirellia would be getting off at Bay 3B. Sheens of cleanness seemed to bounce off of the various walls and buildings, unhindered by the black APC as it roared across the bays, finally slowing to a stop right out the front of Bay 3B. The blonde woman kicked open her door, and stepped out onto the tough, cemented ground.

The Shuttle had landed.

[Symphia]

Mirellia Dark, the most powerful of TXS's ambassadors rode in on a T-111 shuttle, it was configured to be able to land on any level terrain that could be thrown at it. Today, however, a nice landing pad was it's destination. The large shuttle glided through the atmosphere, unhindered by the powerful magnetic storms before firing the retro-rockets to bleed off excess speed and make a smooth landing.

The shuttled touched down without incident and Mirellia rose from her seat before walking to the elevator and descending to ground level. As she passed the shuttle, she paused and looked up at it, getting a feel for how large it really was.

She neared the soldiers and noticed a young woman standing out in front, wearing the rank of a captain. "Captain Doss, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said, extending a hand to the woman. "I trust we'll be making it without incident today?" she asked, looking with interest at the captain's scar.

[Sammy]

Captain Doss looked up at that girl, the girl's long legs, the rusty red hair, and the eyes she couldn't unlock from. "Greetings Abassador Dark, and yeah, we'll be taking you - hopefully - without incident." She nodded and a couple of the soldiers in the APC got out, offering the middle seat, so that the woman is shielded in case of bullet fire. The ambassador needed to be protected; everybody knew that.

The woman held up her fist, telling the soldiers to shutup, as she could hear various comments about the Ambassador's figure, look, and face. Sandy's brown eyes finally unlocked from the Ambassador's, and she was able to shake the strange feeling of danger from the air around her.

She couldn't tell just yet, but it felt a lot like something bad was going to happen. It was strange that when things seemed as if they were going to happen, they most likely didn't.

Then again...

MURPHY'S LAW.
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

She sighed and offered a hand towards the APC, "If you would, Miss Ambassador."

[Symphia]

Mirellia nodded slightly and stepped into the APC, sliding into the middle of the bench seat. A soldier was seated on either side of her, rifles in their hands as they looked at her, one was scrutinizing her face, the other was scrutinizing her figure. She sighed and ignored them.

"Captain?" she asked, looking at Sandy as she boarded the APC. "There are respirators in the vehicle should we run into trouble, right?" she asked, looking worriedly at the magnetic storm savaging the road between TXS's Central City and the Spaceport.

The ambassador thought back to a news article she'd read a while back, concerning attacks on convoys passing between the city and spaceport. "Captain, leave the rest of the convoy here, our vehicle will be okay on its own," she said, looking at the captain.

[Sammy]

The blonde Captain nodded to the Ambassador as she got in, and climbed into the Driver's seat, closing the door after herself. "Are there respirators? Yeah, of course there are... the soldiers are equipped with one each, and there should be a respirator in every seat. Please take one when or if you want it." She smiled back at her, and winked.

"Don't worry, we're going to be safe."

Sandy put the vehicle in gear, started it once more... she kneed the dashboard, and it finally started up. "Damn thing..." It always acted up...you'd think that as one of th highest ranking officers, she might be able to get one of the newer APCs...

"So, Miss Ambassador, what brings you all the way to Telia?"

[Symphia]

"I'm here on business from one of the mining companies that TXS employs on MNRHE. According to them, there's terrorists stealing mining supplies and demolitions equipment. I don't buy it, but I'm paid to deal with messes like this, so I have no say in the matter," Mirellia answered, feeling the vehicle lurch as the high winds collided with the armored vehicle.

She pulled on a headset and listened to the radio chatter, ready to pull her Mk. II Medium Laser Pistol from her suit jacket. "I hate being a corporate liaison instead of an ambassador, but like I said before, TXS pays me to...." she sighed.

She sat up straight suddenly and stuggled into one of the respirators, startling the soldiers seated next to her. A dull explosion sounded outside the vehicle and drew her laser pistol. "Put your respirators on!" she ordered, watching as a fireball erupted from the vehicle leading theirs.

"I told you to leave the rest behind!" she shouted at the Captain.

[Sammy]

A dull thud of the explosion before the fireball, and Sandy already had her respirator on. She heard the ambassador yell something at her, probably at the fact that she refused to leave the rest of the convoy at the spaceport. Hell, the convoy comes as a convoy, they leave as a convoy. She growled as she swerved to avoid the smoking wreckage of the forward APC, and stepped on the gas pedal. The vehicle sped forwards, passing 140 mph and moving a lot faster than some civillian cars because of the special engine inside.

"I'm sorry Ambassador, you're going to have to tell me off at HQ!"

All the guards were on alert, looking out of the windows for a possible source of the huge fireball, but all saw nothing; the smoke was thick and the damn communication wasn't even working properly.

"HQ, this is Captain Doss, we seem to have a problem at the Spaceport! Our forward vehicle in the convoy has been eliminated! Repeat, our forward vehicle has been eliminated! Please, keep the Storm Sewer gates into the Building open! We will be coming in that way; no way in hell are we stopping just out the front!" She yelled into her communicator, which was linked up to her ear and with a microphone near her mouth. Smaller and easier to use than a radio.

The APC screamed down into a smaller area, one that was least likely to contain a sniper or whatever the hell that was going on, and the doors opened automatically. Everyone literally had to jump out of the side of the car, escept for Sandy, who set the Cruise control and then jumped, tumbling into an egg shape as did everyone else. The woman bounced along the pavement, but otherwise, she needed to run against the storm and reach a manhole that led into the sewers, one that everyone, including the Ambassador - thank fuck she was ok - was already climbing into.

Sandy climbed down after everyone else, dragging the manhole cover over the top just before the resounding boom of an explosion sounded.

Suddenly Sandy knew she'd be getting a new APC.

[Symphia]

The ambassador felt the vehicle lurch as the gas pedal was driven to the floor. She held on tightly to the "oh shit" handle welded to the ceiling. She watched as the soldiers pressed the emergency release on their seatbelts, and she did the same. The doors flew open and she jumped out after the soldiers, tucking and rolling like she'd been trained to.

Gunshots flew past her head and she yelped slightly as one grazed her shoulder. She pulled her TL 8 Body Pistol from her suit-top and fired over her shoulder a few times before being pulled into the tunnels by Capt. Doss. Her handgun flew into the air and landed on the tunnel floor, discharging as it landed, putting a hole in Mirellia's skirt.

Mirellia grabbed the Captain by her flack jacket and shoved her against the tunnel's wall. "I warned you, but you didn't listen!" she yelled, grabbing her respirator and throwing it aside. "I told you to leave the rest of the convoy behind! I should get you demoted!" she snarled, being pulled off the Captain by a pair of soldiers. "Unhand me!" she snapped.

The soldiers did as they were told and she knelt, picking up the plastic and composite handgun. It had a crack running through it from the fall and the accidental discharge. "It's useless now..." she said, holstering the weapon.

[Sammy]

The Captain was somewhat thrown offguard by the woman's sudden anger and forwardness in what was a passionate telling off and lecture about the fact that she needed and probably should be demoted. She looked on with uninterested eyes until two men from her team took it into their own hands to pry the Ambassador off her flak jacket.

Cough.

"Have we had enough screaming, Miss Ambassador? Because if I knew anything about military strategy, if we went first over that path, we would have been the ones blown to smithereens." She said blandly, conveying no sort of emotion or sarcasm in her voice as she checked her grenade launcher and Assault rifle, not managing to find anything wrong with both, she checked out her pistol and handed it to the fuming Ambassador.

"Refrain from shooting me. If I die, we ALL probably die." Most of the men in her group nodded and grunted their agreements, and began to follow the blonde Captain further into the darkness of the tunnel, having to turn their lights on to counter any 'jack-in-the-box attacks from mutants who liked to hide in the dark.

[Symphia]

Mirellia grumbled silently to herself as she walked in the midst of the soldiers, there was simply no use in arguing. She examined the handgun she'd been given. It was much heavier than the TL8 Body Pistol she was used to, but it would do, and she did have her Mk. II Medium Laser Pistol as well.

There was a grinding of metal on metal, then a loud clang that caused her to stop in her tracks. A small object, about the size of a pop can came flying down the tunnel and landed with a muted thump. She knelt and examined it, knowing better than to touch it. It was a grenade of some kind wrapped in a tar-like substance.

She quickly realized and took a deep breath. "Grenade!" she screamed, ducking into an alcove that would leave her sheltered from the blast. She closed her eyes and covered her ears, hoping the soldiers would be okay. A rumbling explosion followed by an intense wave of heat raced past her as she lay curled up in the corner.

"Is anyone alive?" she called, getting up and looking around the smokey tunnel. Gunshots rang out and bullets bounced off the ferrocrete near her head. She returned fire with Capt. Doss's weapon before casting it aside in favor of her laser pistol. She snapped off several shots before the weapon needed to cool as she ducked into hiding.

[Sammy]

The Captain only needed to hear the tap, tap scraping sound of something coming towards the group to know that it was a grenade coming their way, and had instantly pivoted on her forward foot, turning and pulling whatever soldiers she could around to run the other direction.a couple took the chance of jumping off the catwalk and into the water below, while others tried to make it for the alcove in which Mirellia had already sought refuge within.

Sandy growled when she realised she had nowhere to go fast, she crouched away from the grenade, now a good 7 metres away, and was thrown forwards as the grenade went off. Shrapnel whizzed past her ears and sides, and she felt a couple of painful thumps as some bits bounced off her Ultra-kevlar plates she wore under all uniform, as did all other TXS military officers.

Bullets soon rang out, and she turned around on one foot to instantly return fire with the Assault rifle. Soon, her bullets were the only ones ringing and pinging against the ferrocrete, and she stopped, looking for the source of any possible weapons fire. She saw nothing.

The Captain stood and reloaded her weapon, rushing to the edge of the catwalk and seeing two men swimming towards the edge of the tunnel and climbing the small ladder that would give them access to the catwalk once more. At least they were ok... But she looked back, towards the direction of the blast...and saw two lifeless bodies...ones that had been unlucky enough to trip and fall. They were big men...not the fastest...

She sighed and made a cross symbol over her chest, taking a small moment to turn on her radio and contact the two men that ended up alive, and the Ambassador.

"...Griggs and Nathans are dead. Survivors, give me some noise. That includes you, Miss." She still kept watch, but doing so was a little hard when she'd just lost two men that she'd been training for just over seven months now.

[Symphia]

"I'm all right, I think," Mir called, ducking back as a new wave of gunfire hammered against the ferrocrete. She leaned back around and fired with her laser pistol. Shooting into the dark was a useless idea when you couldn't see your enemy, but it let them know that you were still alive.

The ambassador ducked back into hiding when her right shoulder was grazed. "I'm hit!" she shouted, changing hands with her gun and shooting around the corner again. "Cover me!" she cried, knowing she would be safer with the rest of the soldiers instead of trapped in an alcove.

Mirellia fired one last shot and started running toward the soldiers, only to be shot in the leg as she ran. She tripped and fell onto the catwalk and began dragging herself across the surface, determined to survive.

[Sammy]

Sandy heard the few calls of hash on her radios to indicate the men were alive....only two left....just a Lance Corporal and a Private First Class... That was a Gunnery Seargant she was working with, along with her long-time friend... She shook her head of the thoughts and looked up when Mirellia called out instead of using her radio to communicate in a quiet voice. She rolled her eyes as the gunfire started, and shielded her head with one arm while crouch-walking towards the place where she heard the woman call out, but apparently was too slow to defend the girl, because she called out something about being hit, and tried to make a break for it while using the 'cover me' line.

The Captain didn't have time to deal with this sort of thing... it was supposed to just be an escort mission. Now Seven of her fellow soldiers, officers or non, were dead...

She looked down at the two burnt corpses as she passed, and ripped the dogtags from their necks, stuffing them in a flak jacket pocket as she fired back into the darkness, where she could see a small muzzle flash. Suddenly Mirellia was running...and then she wasn't. Shot. She got shot!

The blonde simply got up and ran at this point, towards the rusty-red head , leaping over the dragging body and crouching in front of her, effectively shielding from the onslaught of bullets that followed. Two it her chest, and were painful, but bearable; great thanks to the Telian Ultra-Kevlar she wore, which was infused into every fabric under her military greys and greens. Somewhat uncomfortable moving around, but you got used to it.

Two more hit her chest and knocked her back a bit. "Ambassador, go! As fast as you can, get to the other catwalk!" The fire was coming from beyond a curve...and if they went into one of the smaller side-tunnels on the right side of the Sewer, they would be blocked from view. "Go. One of the soldiers should be able to jump across with you. I'll catch up." She of course made sure to speak quietly, and started returning fire, reloading a second later, dropping the spent cartridge into the water.

"Go!"

[Symphia]

Bullets ricocheted all around, pieces of ferrocrete and metal flying all over. There is a pause in the shooting as a grenade is wrapped in C4 before it's thrown. A dull thud sounds as the grenade lands, sticking to the side of the tunnel.

KRA-KOOM!!! The entire tunnel was filled with smoke and flame once more. "Sandy!" Mirellia shouted, firing blindly down the tunnel with her laser pistol, going on the assumption that the captain is dead, unconscious, or prone to avoid the explosion.

Tap tap tap tap, the tapping of boots echos on the catwalk as someone moves. It grows closer, tap tap tap tap. Someone is lifted from the ground and tossed over the side into the water with a splash. Tap tap tap tap.

"Oh my god..."

[Sammy]

Sandy's eyes widened as she heard the clink of a grenade's pin being pulled in the dead silence of the pause in silence, and instantly she laid down in a proned position, arms over the back of her head in a defensive position....waiting for the almost deafening explosion that followed, her ears ringing instantly as all the metal and ferrocrete shot across the tunnel, shaking a man from the catwalk's ladder and down to the water, but hitting his head on the way down on the sloping curvature of the tunnel.

More or less, they body stayed floating on the surface of the water.

The Captain's vision when she lifted her head was blurred...her ears still rung and she had no comprehension of where she was...everything was moving...sparking...large sections of the wall and left catwalk were blown away...and her hair and body were coated over with the remnants of the explosion, dust and other things.

If she had her hearing, she would have heard the Lance Corporal paging in to say that their Private was dead...she would have heard the tapping on the catwalk just ahead of her...

If she had any sense at that moment at all...she would have defended herself as she was lifted and thrown down into the water...but she had none, and did nothing but curl into a ball as she hit the surface of the water with a loud splash.

She saw the world from under the water, a shadow that passed over her vision, the body of their Private, and she snapped back into her senses. She kicked her legs and came up to the surface once more, taking in gasps of air.

She double tapped her radio.

"Ambassador."

[Symphia]

She appeared out of the dust like a phantom and smiled down at the ambassador. She knelt and lifted the woman from the ground by her lapel. "So, you're the one these weaklings are protecting...." she said, feeling a burst of rifle rounds collide with her cape.

She turned and fired her shotgun, killing at attacker. She looked down into the water when she heard someone speak. "Military lacky..." she said, her gaze once more turning to the ambassador. "Are you scared?"

"O.... Omega...." Mirellia managed before screaming. The powerful project held the woman over the side of the catwalk as though she weighed nothing. "Wait! Don't do it!"
"Why shouldn't I?"

"Please don't kill me! I could be useful to you! I know everything there is to know about TXS!" she explained, letting her negotiation skills take over. Omega thought for a moment. "It would be advantageous for you to take me back with you, Omega."

"I'm called Symphia," she growled throwing the injured woman over the edge.

[Sammy]

Sandy watched in both awe and horror as the rusty-red head was picked up... and then sighed as she begged for her life...even going so far as to bribe the supposedly dead project with her knowledge of TXS, and its ways. She scoffed, and didn't try to catch the woman as she was thrown over the side.

But then again...

Symphia...

She'd do her best to remember that name, and remember the Ambassador's face when Symphia came out of the mist. The woman she would have been protecting splashed into the water, and she helped get her up to surface level...but after that, she left the woman alone; she was too involved with studying the Leader of Legend.

The Captain looked up to the Resistance Leader...meeting her eyes and taking a small shake of her head to give her opinion.

"Ambassador...can you climb a ladder with your leg as it is?" She looked away from the Emerald eyes to focus on the task at hand. "And....thanks, for getting us out of that alive...I'm not sure if we'd still be alive if you didn't talk to her." Looks like the Ambassador has some negotiating skills after all...

[Symphia]

Symphia killed a man as he stirred before moving past, leaving the injured ambassador and soldier behind. She didn't want to deal with anything of the sort. The project had failed to do what she'd set out to, so she waited quietly, watching as the soldier and ambassador scaled the ladder and made their way back up to the catwalk.

Mirellia felt the water suddenly surround her shortly after she was dropped by the mighty Subject Omega. Had her life been spared, or was there something sharp in the water that couldn't be seen? She felt a slight current, then felt someone grab her hand and pull her up to the surface. She made her way to the ladder and slowly climbed it, one leg hanging uselessly as she made her up.

At the top she leaned back against the side of the tunnel and looked toward the project. She drew her laser pistol, only to have it shot from her hand. Omega watched as the captain pulled herself up as well, she was patient and silent as she rested.

Mirellia couldn't believe it, she'd survived an encounter with Omega...

[Sammy]

Sandy simply watched as the Subject made her way back into the mist and rubble, turning her attention to the Ambassador...who was....who was trying to climb the ladder with a shot leg. Sigh. The captain helped the woman climb, rung by rung, she lifted the woman's leg for her, and supported her waist so that she wasn't held up by an otherwise crippling wound. Upon reaching the top, she helped the single soldier left up to the catwalk.

"Ambassador..." she turned to the woman, and signalled to the soldier that he should help support her while taking the walk back to the Sewers just under TXS's main building. But upon seeing that the man was much too short to even half-support Mirellia Dark, Sandy sighed and moved her shoulders under her arm, wrapping an arm around the tall woman's waist. She was only a couple inches short of Mirellia's height, so the pose wasn't too uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, but if you walk on that any more you risk losing too much blood. We can't have that, now can we, Lance Corporal?" The Captain's right hand pointed to the Ambassador's leg, and he immediately wrapped a tight bandage around it, being a bit tentative about hurting the important woman; especially since they had no medical supplies except for those in the pockets of their flak jackets.

"Ma'am."

"We need to get moving; navigate and take point... shoot anything that looks hostile."

"Yes'm."