Project Warfighter - Operation Necropolis (IC, Open@OOC)

[The United Remnants of America]

Jolly was standing behind Rogers, looking over his shoulder at the map, the rest of the Sentinels milling around with the DEN squad. Jolly pointed onto the map and gestured in a line, "No, don't you see? If the door behind us closed, and that door closed... We're either being herded or led to a safe place by someone watching us."

Captain Kowalski came over, "Rogers, both of you, how would we be herded? The enemy is mindless undead, not a true OpFor, right? So we're probably being led by someone to a safe zone. I've been reading up on the Atlas profiles and I think it might be the Hurti named Kayora, since she'd have the ability to survey us and lead us like this." Jackie looked pleased with herself, the young new captain trying to be a star student.

Jolly smirked and chuckled, rubbing the scruff on his chin from not shaving for 3 days, "Jackie. You'll learn soon enough not to take the best of every situation in a battlefield. For all we know, it's a killing zone for the undead and us if we go there.... But it's the easiest way.." Then Jolly spoke to his DEN counterpart, "You're right, we should go that way. Least that'll happen is we find out who's forcing us to make that decision."

[Congreveopia]

“Well that’s unfortunate.” said Leighton, shooting out one of the flashing lights and indicating for Thomas to take out the rest of the lights and alarms near them. The damage was probably already done, though: the zombies were coming. “All of our stuff is in the main armoury, and I’ve already said that I don’t think we can make it there. Especially not with all these doors closing.”

“Sigh.” said Charles “I wish I didn’t have to do this, but here goes.”

Charles pulled out his PCU and opened the email app. He typed 54-characters into the message’s subject, and then a typed thirty words into the message body.

“Storm signature misnomer horn value curtain frame ivy voting baby harp wave lane dice pasta lord ice cream machine survey aid ipod arm paranoia banana sheet bird applause blanket croissant?” asked John.

“It’s a code, obviously.” said Nexus “Charles did a favor for me back in Qubec, and he just asked for recompense; which he could not possibly have done at a worse time, I might add.”

“Whatever.” said Charles “You know you owe me. Anyways, we’re here.” He turned his PCU around, giving it a full view of the corridor they were in. “SRPA’s luring zombies to us with these alarms. Firstly, I want you to take a map of the Revelation and the audio data from our phones…”

He was interrupted by one of the GAmeTopians gunning down a zombie. The rest of the troops began to fire as more arrived.

“...use it to plot a course to the main armoury avoiding the alarms, and SRPA personnel.” yelled Charles over the noise “Secondly, hack this ship and give us control over it. Begin with the doors, then the alarms, then cameras, and finally see if we can use the weapons systems or engines.”

“Course plotted.” said Nexus, as a map and suggested route appeared on all of the Platinum Soldiers’ PCUs. “I can’t believe that you’re asking me to suborn a supercarrier in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.”

“Believe it.” said Charles “My laptop in my quarters has a wired connection to the ship’s internet. That’s the best hardware access I can give you right now.”

“Fine.” said Nexus “I’ll call in a couple favors form Ex-AI too. Still…”

“Oh be quiet.” said Charles as the two squads moved out along the path Nexus had plotted. “It’s not as if this is the first time you’ve killed a carrier.”

[Die Erworbenen Namen]

Jolly was standing behind Rogers, looking over his shoulder at the map, the rest of the Sentinels milling around with the DEN squad. Jolly pointed onto the map and gestured in a line, "No, don't you see? If the door behind us closed, and that door closed... We're either being herded or led to a safe place by someone watching us."

Captain Kowalski came over, "Rogers, both of you, how would we be herded? The enemy is mindless undead, not a true OpFor, right? So we're probably being led by someone to a safe zone. I've been reading up on the Atlas profiles and I think it might be the Hurti named Kayora, since she'd have the ability to survey us and lead us like this." Jackie looked pleased with herself, the young new captain trying to be a star student.

Jolly smirked and chuckled, rubbing the scruff on his chin from not shaving for 3 days, "Jackie. You'll learn soon enough not to take the best of every situation in a battlefield. For all we know, it's a killing zone for the undead and us if we go there.... But it's the easiest way.." Then Jolly spoke to his DEN counterpart, "You're right, we should go that way. Least that'll happen is we find out who's forcing us to make that decision."

"I would go there, except for just one small detail. This:" Rogers replied, showing Jolly the screen. He had a command module on it, as well as a record of a few other items. Jonathan was good at this job. "A little before this happened, the defense systems went online for a short, short time. Keep in mind that short means seconds. After, the were remotely shut off, because I can't find any records of them shutting it off, or it being destroyed. Here's the fun part. The bridge was unlocked a little bit later, and a damage indication here is that some computers were destroyed on the bridge. At least, I think...

"Now we get to the fun part. Someone must've been spying on us, because from every single camera I can see, the rooms with people in it are being herded to one spot: forward. Towards the bridge. If there's one thing I learned, there's never anyone watching over you. And it's compounded by the fact that nearly every system except engines and life support was remotely shut off and turned back on, sparking the alarms. Remember, someone could have hacked into this from the hull, but I can't see why..."

Rogers looked back at his URA counterpart, then at the rookie. He didn't like how this would play out. In fact... He didn't like this at all in any way shape or form. It was just too... Creepy. He spoke again, though: "Now, I'd go back to the armory and grab whatever weapons we can and to our best to bypass this. Just because what if you're wrong? If I'm wrong, well, we still have our guns. And no matter. We could just continuously blow holes in the walls or doors with the C-4."

[The United Remnants of America]

Jack Rogers thought it over. He knew as well as Jonathan did that it was a trap, but saying it out loud near Jackie was a reason to keep his mouth shut. She needed hope, because only veterans knew what it was like to be in a situation where you're either fucked or your screwed.
"Can you find the Emmerians on that? Our systems were knocked offline for a short bit and we can't raise them. If we're going roundabout on this, we need to find them or the Platinum squads. Jackie? Go get the rest of the squad back to the armory and get them to load up on all the extra ammo they can get." Jackie saluted and ran off to start grabbing some of the other Sentinels. On the other side of the far door, dull, distant thumping could be heard, the sound of the undead creatures being lured to the location of the Atlas operatives.

[Die Erworbenen Namen]

"Let's see if I can check the cameras..." Jonathan replied, and started looking around. It took him a little while, but he managed to hack into both the live database as well as the actual data banks of memory. Good thing it wasn't wiped. He was looking, then he found something. Something besides the regular dead and undead. "Well... I found the Emmerians... But we've got something else on the cameras."

"What? What is it?" Rogers asked, and looked. There, standing around, was something new. It was different soldiers. Black Ops soldiers. Just like the Death Korps. "Oh shit... Jolly, here's who's trying to herd us:"

[The GAmeTopians]

"Your AI has taken down supercarriers? Your scientists need to show us how to build an AI like that!" Thomas took potshots with a sniper rifle, taking out two zombies at once occasionally.
"Please ask your AI to hurry!"

[New Emmerian Coalition]

OOC: Zombies are already pretty anti-realism. Might as well make the AI Cortana esc one.

The admiral shut the door behind him just in time, hearing the plinking and rattling of SRPA bullets smacking into the thick steel behind him. He clutched his stomach, blood profusely pouring out, and staining his crisp uniform. He heard more blasts of gunfire as he limped through an inactivate microwave corridor, blood seeping from his clothes. His service pistol's slide was open, and he looked down, realizing this. He simply tossed it to the side. The next few doors took a moment to open, and the Admiral sat in searing pain as he awaited the large vault-esc doors to reveal the A.I. within. There it was; a pristine A.I. pod, linked to various structures around the room. He slowly made his way towards a security console, and leaned over it.

"Activation code..." He muttered, "Ailes de la Liberte." He coughed a bit, pain surging through his abdomen.

"Welcome Admiral." The A.I. announced, in an official tone. "How may I assist you?"

"The ship's under attack, your protocol's have allowed various unidentified personnel access to our entire system." The Admiral spoke as clearly as he possibly could, trying to ignore the pain he was in. "I-I need you, to lift lockdown protocol."

"Lockdown Protocol in place to prevent opposing force from gaining access to onboard systems and memory banks." She said, matter of factly."You know this, Admiral."

"No you don't understand; they're already aboard, they've triggered the system." He replied, trying to convey to the AI that the ship was in danger. "They have us plotted for a course directly at the heart of Union City. God knows we'd never make it and everyone aboard this vessel will die!"

The A.I. was silent for a moment. Bold letters 'PROCESSING' flashed across the terminal screen. It never took her more than a couple seconds to process some data, especially data as simple as that.

"The ship is acting under a S.R.P.A. Black Protocol; Romero Protocol. As such, S.R.P.A. has deemed it necessary that the ship and its occupants are expendable for reasons regarding... unknown circumstance."

"We're crippled, laying face down in the water as these freaks tear the ship apart. Why aren't our defense mechanisms active if you know this is a hostile intrusion?" The Admiral hit the terminal. "Do you know how many soldiers are dead today?"

"3,147 of the Infinity Class E.S.C. Revelation Garrison Expeditionary Unit out of 4,120 Garrison Expeditionary Forces are K.I.A., 249 S.R.P.A. Science Unit Personnel out of 250 S.R.P.A. Science Personnel K.I.A., and 2,500 out of 4,500 Emmerian Naval Forces are K.I.A., S.R.P.A. Paramilitary Operations Squads are marked with Coalition Garrison I.D.S. and cannot be targeted by Infinity Class E.S.C. Revelation automated defense weaponry. Various other entities are requesting access to Infinity Class E.S.C. Revelation Databank and A.I. Platform."

The Admiral had no words, and simply slumped into a seat.

"So because these bastards are marked as Coalition, there's no hope of combating them, or even redirecting our course?"

"By allowing some of the other entities limited access to our security network, they will be able to override the lockdown protocol without compromising my position or getting into the A.I. Databank system. However they will need to enter via access station on the Infinity Class E.S.C. Revelation. Such access stations may be found in; A.I. Corridor, V.R. Simulation Chambers, Main Armory, or the R/D Hall. Task Force Atlas forces are nearing V.R. Sim Chambers and Main Armory, Hurti Royal Marine Raider "Keyora" will be given access should they be able to reach terminal. Congrevopian A.I. Nexus will need to be inserted via Access Terminal to be given access."

"Sounds great." Admiral Carrasco gave a weak thumbs up. He reached down towards his duty belt, and pulled a radio. His command position allowed him to communicate via the ship's loud speakers before the incident. He flipped the switch, and the radio turned on. He relayed the information as easily as he could through as many channels possible.

"Onboard AI is aware of situation, locate 'AI Access Terminal' in Main Armor or V.R. Sim chamber. Will require SRPA Clearance; if you lack clearance, kill one of those bastards and take his iDroid." He coughed up a bit of blood. "Access to Hangar Bay will give access to--to--main unmanned security force; manual control of Gekko Unit 215 is possible through A.I. Means. I'm talking to you, Hurti. Show those bastards how Atlas operates." And with that, his radio fell to the ground, as he slowly bled out in the corridor. Trying to stand up, he sighed as he heard the final steel door slide open. Walking into the corridor, the A.I. Bulkhead closing behind him, he was met with five different Black Ops operatives.

"On the ground, now!" One of them called.

"Go to Hell."

--- --- ---

Lennox received the message, loud and clear through his iDroid.

"Garcia, you get that?" He called out.

"Sure did." Garcia answered, checking a door way before proceeding further down the corridor.

"We can make it to the V.R. Sim room, our S.R.P.A. friend surely has access." Lennox slid his iDroid into a pouch on his rig. "Sergeant?" He looked to Zoe.

"I don't know, they've killed most of the SRPA Scientists onboard already, my access may have been revoked." She sighed.

"How would they know you're still alive? There's got to be some chance." Lennox heard distant gunfire, he spoke faster.

"They don't; it's worth a try but we could all end up dead in the process." Zoe said, looking at both Garcia and Lennox. "You guys already saw what they did to your buddy."

"Do we have a choice? We'll end up like him either way." Garcia looked at Lennox.

"Guess we're heading to the V.R. Sim room, mid sector. And right through a SRPA Killzone... well if this place is sealed, chances are we'll all meet at the same place. That is, if SRPA has more than one Killzone."

[The United Remnants of America]

"Well.... That answers a lot of our questions, doesn't it?" Jolly let his rifle hang by it's 5-point sling and leaned against the wall while looking down the hallway at his squad mates. "So, it's safe to assume that everyone is heading the same direction since these kill squads are herding us. I say we go with the flow and let ourselves get herded, since we'd be joining up with the rest of Atlas at that point, and these SRPA guys don't know what they're in for when we link up together." Jolly looked down the hall to Ninja, "Hey, Ninja, can you raise the Hurtis on the radio? If they're going to get Gekko, they can at least switch on the N2 Rhino while they're there so we can remote-operate it, alright?" Ninja replied with a raised half-salute to show he understood, as Ninja was never a man to speak much. Jolly looked back at Rogers, "Sound like a plan? I think we can take 'em."

[Die Erworbenen Namen]

"Jolly, honestly, do you want to be killed? Are you working with them? What are you, some secret double agent? I honestly cannot agree with you. Moreover, I'm not going that way. If you want to, go ahead." Rogers replied, and stared him down. Now he was suspicious of Jolly more than ever. Especially since he was so cocky... And suggesting only one course of action, which by far, was the most dangerous. "After every single thing I've given you, the only damn suggestion you've given me is to head RIGHT into the bullets! You haven't even thought of any other way! In fact, you don't even know who these people are! They're herding us RIGHT TO THEM, with probably no intention of helping us! LOOK AROUND THEM, JOLLY! There's fifteen dead people, shot with bullets, and I KNOW they weren't infected! You think you can take them, but I'll tell you something. If there's a special black ops that is kept secret, there's a damn good reason why!"

[Congreveopia]

“Well that buggers things.” said Leighton once the announcement stopped.

“It sounded like conformation that what we are doing it a good idea, and a suggestion for how to additionally benefit from it.” said Charles “How is that bad?”

“Who controls the ship’s loudspeakers?” asked Leighton “And do they have our best interests in mind?”

“Oh crap. You’re right.” said Charles “Nexus, voice analysis?”

“That is Admiral Carrasco.” said Nexus “Audio quality isn’t great. I’m sixty percent confident he isn’t lying.”

“That’s not good enough.” said Leighton “I say we toss the plan of heading for the main armoury. Regardless of whether the Admiral is on our side, the enemy will expect it now. Let’s go directly for the main deck.”

“We’ll be walking through the SRPA.” said John.

“I believe I can probably get one door open briefly.” said Nexus “Then the ship will probably lock me out, and I don’t have the hardware acess to fight back. I’m not certain, though.”

“One door’s all we need.” said Leighton “Let’s go.”

[Hurtful Thoughts]

[Not sure how much has happened, really, since I was waiting for Xantos to.. not post?]

"Kayora again. Have linked-up with Golden Legion troopers, making way for primary backup armory, via belowdecks, topside, X1J."

She then looked at the soldiers. "Take everything. Leave nothing. We'll need it." It was the only advice she gave before moving-out to relieve the other six Hurti Marines, passing word that they were moving-out, and so to grab an overload of kit. Kayroa herself had not only her pistol in tis holster, but both the R-8 in her hands and model 416 slung on her back, plus an Emmerian SMG... looked 10mm; funny how they never bothered much with pistol/SMG commonality, must make situations like this a pain in the arse.

The journey to the primary backup armory amidships was oft difficult, and they quickly lost the mechanic while he was busy manually clearing a blocked door from lockdown when one of Kayora's team finally succumbed to the virus, both were exterminated. On their favor, they had plenty of arms and ammunition so long as they kept quiet, and Kayora managed to finish that particular bulkhead, so it wasn't all in vain.

As they neared their objective, the loudspeakers bared in a human voice, and it wasn't Kayora this time:

"Onboard AI is aware of situation, locate 'AI Access Terminal' in Main Armor or V.R. Sim chamber. Will require SRPA Clearance; if you lack clearance, kill one of those bastards and take his iDroid." He coughed up a bit of blood. "Access to Hangar Bay will give access to--to--main unmanned security force; manual control of Gekko Unit 215 is possible through A.I. Means. I'm talking to you, Hurti. Show those bastards how Atlas operates."

Gibbons took a knee and the other squad-leaders followed suit for a quick re-brief as the rest of the team held a perimeter in the earily-quiet hall.

"It's a long walk to either, but the VR-room is behind us and out of the danger-area, the armory is deeper inside the ship and the likely rendezvous-point of the rest of ATLAS, it also means SRPA forces have set-up killzones around it. Golden Legion, this is where we'll part ways, take the heavier caliber gear, the undead tend not to use body-armor or cover as much as the spooks up ahead. Godspeed and hurt 'em plenty."

With that, the Hurti unit was reduced to just pistols and SMGs, although now they had enough to more than simply dual-wield and new-York reload a dual-wield. Which should be enough to get back.

And then a bulkhead slammed shut in front of them.

"Kayora, put the surveillance cameras on this sector into maintenance-mode." Foyt suggested, and Kayora nodded and threw a conduit at one camera, followed by tricking the serial-feed into thinking EVERY camera on that circuit had been hit. It would take another restart to reset the cascade-error. With that, they went around the blocked hulkhead via a the lower decks where they knew of a hatch blocked-open by debris.

[The United Remnants of America]

"Jolly, honestly, do you want to be killed? Are you working with them? What are you, some secret double agent? I honestly cannot agree with you. Moreover, I'm not going that way. If you want to, go ahead." Rogers replied, and stared him down. Now he was suspicious of Jolly more than ever. Especially since he was so cocky... And suggesting only one course of action, which by far, was the most dangerous. "After every single thing I've given you, the only damn suggestion you've given me is to head RIGHT into the bullets! You haven't even thought of any other way! In fact, you don't even know who these people are! They're herding us RIGHT TO THEM, with probably no intention of helping us! LOOK AROUND THEM, JOLLY! There's fifteen dead people, shot with bullets, and I KNOW they weren't infected! You think you can take them, but I'll tell you something. If there's a special black ops that is kept secret, there's a damn good reason why!"

During Roger's rant, Koopa slowly inched closer to the URA and DEN team leaders. He was over a decade younger than Jolly, but was still older than every other Remnant by nearly another ten years. Koopa counted no one as a closer friend than Jolly. As the second-in-command scratched the growth on his chin, he leaned forward and tried to enter himself in before Jolly could answer, "Um, Jack? Ninja's picked up radio reports from a good portion of Atlas. Seems that everyone's heading in the same-ish direction. Jus' figured it's something you should know...." Koopa slowly backed away from the two squad leaders and walked back towards the knot of Sentinels.

Jolly grinned after Koopa and looked back to Rogers. "See? Have some faith, dammit. You act like they're some force of nature, well, what the fuck do you think all of us are? Have some faith in your special operations unit, and I'd like it if you had some faith in mine. The comms says that all the Atlas teams are migrating to the same location. From different areas, mind you. That means that if we can coordinate, we can potentially catch these bastards on their heels and over-run them. Listen, Rogers, there's a reason I'm a squad leader and not dead. Is it risky, yes, but it's a whole lot better than sitting around here with our hands down our pants waiting for them to come find us. I'd rather take them by surprise. Now, you can stay here and wait for SRPA or the undead to get you, or you can come with us, follow the plan, and make a push." Jolly pointed to Ninja, who was kneeling down with a hand to his ear to push the receiver of his Cross-Com further into his ear, "Hey, Ninja, get a message out to everyone. We need to time this right in order to make sure we're not cut apart."

Ninja nodded and started speaking quietly and quickly: "Attention all surviving Atlas Task Force members. We are making a concerted move on the SRPA kill zone outside of the VR Simulation Room. Once all Atlas units are in position, the attack will commence. If we can destroy the SRPA units there, we can begin to take control of this ship. Again, Attention all Atlas personnel, we are moving on the VR Sim Room. Sentinel team out.

[Die Erworbenen Namen]

"Jolly... I didn't say that they were SPRA... nor did it imply they were. We all know SPRA is like the Death Korps- it doesn't exist. So why would it be here?" Rogers asked, and stared at Jolly. His suspicion rose even further. He had caught him there, making a classic mistake. There wasn't enough information on the screen that he had shown Jolly to say it was SPRA. Nor was there any indication or identification that could do so. He had known it might've been the SPRA, especially after seeing how they fought before he showed him the clip. But this? This was out of the blue.

"This is where I leave you guys. I have faith in everyone's squads here. Even my own. Here's the difference between you and me. After fifteen years of fighting in secret, and fighting secret men, I know when to quit, and when to fight. I have more faith in the SPRA that you just named off, then I do us. Maybe not Death Korps, but I'm not going to go on a whim." Rogers said, and looked at his men, then at his ally's. "I'm finding a different way in there. If you want to follow me, you won't get mowed down by the probable MG they're going to have. I'm not going to be shot at like fish in a barrel. Sarge! Get the C4!"

[The GAmeTopians]

"We're on you. We have no idea how you're doing what you're doing, but go ahead."
The HellBent loaded their carbines, and prepared to escort the Platinum Soldiers.
"Ballistic armor on, affirmative?"
"Affirmative, sir!"

[The United Remnants of America]

"Jolly... I didn't say that they were SPRA... nor did it imply they were. We all know SPRA is like the Death Korps- it doesn't exist. So why would it be here?" Rogers asked, and stared at Jolly. His suspicion rose even further. He had caught him there, making a classic mistake. There wasn't enough information on the screen that he had shown Jolly to say it was SPRA. Nor was there any indication or identification that could do so. He had known it might've been the SPRA, especially after seeing how they fought before he showed him the clip. But this? This was out of the blue.

"This is where I leave you guys. I have faith in everyone's squads here. Even my own. Here's the difference between you and me. After fifteen years of fighting in secret, and fighting secret men, I know when to quit, and when to fight. I have more faith in the SPRA that you just named off, then I do us. Maybe not Death Korps, but I'm not going to go on a whim." Rogers said, and looked at his men, then at his ally's. "I'm finding a different way in there. If you want to follow me, you won't get mowed down by the probable MG they're going to have. I'm not going to be shot at like fish in a barrel. Sarge! Get the C4!"

Jolly rolled his eyes. He was going to have to spell it out to this kid. "Rogers. They have to be SRPA. It's the only choice. Only an Emmerian unit could get to this ship from the water or air without being gunned down or turned away by the Remnant and Emmerian, and other ships in the area. They're killing fellow Emmerian civilians, so we know it's not line grunts or STIGRU. That leaves the SRPA. Saying they don't exist is like saying the Vanguard don't exist, except they do. Emmerian SRPA is the only unit that would have the freedom to open fire on their own countrymen. Our only safety is to truck through the killzone and get into the VR simulation room, which is the general direction where everyone else is heading. You and your team have the freedom to go anywhere else, but I'm just trying to remind you that there's safety in numbers and your people will be all alone if you go somewhere else and have to face the undead or the SRPA teams." Jolly moved out of the way as the DEN operative with the C4 showed up.

[Die Erworbenen Namen]

"Safety in numbers? More like bait for machine gunners." Rogers replied, and Johnson shut the laptop, putting it away. He zipped up the backpack and placed it on his back, drawing his gun and switching on a dazzling laser. When aimed, it would temporarily blind people and electronics, making it impossible for the enemy to know how many men were in a room at a given time. "Good luck. We'll be at your funerals. I'll bring flowers, don't worry."

Sarge placed some C4 on the wall leading to the other side of the bulkhead, and everyone rushed back. He pushed a button, and the explosives detonated, ripping apart the wall almost with the precision of a saw, allowing for the soldiers to walk through there unharmed. And they did, aiming at the cameras to blind them, and walking tactically on, looking for their place to go.

[Congreveopia]

*Clink clang clunk clink*

A roughly spherical object bounced down the corridor. It was olive green, made of metal, and had a radius of an inch or two. It came to rest roughly in the center of a group of zombies who were all scrabbling at a speaker blaring alarm noises. Only two of them noticed. One ignored it, but the other turned to see where it had come from. The zombie saw something dart back into cover in another hallway. It considered its options and then began shambling towards the thing that threw the sphere.

Suddenly, pain shot through the zombie’s body. Tiny shards of metal tore through it and the others, killing most and incapacitating the rest. The zombie fell to the ground, its legs unable to support it, and it briefly saw the thrower glance out and then signal to his group to move forwards before the zombie died.

“Okay, Nexus. We’re here.” said Leighton as the group reached the door. “What’s the plan?”

“Charles, get your PCU plugged into the panel.” said Nexus as Charles pulled out a multitool and began removing the front of the door’s control panel. “Leighton, this door will give you access to a stairwell to the main hanger. The door from the stairwell to the hanger is open, although you will need to hurry as I have no way to prevent it from closing as soon as someone notices what we’re doing.”

“The hanger’s not what we want.” said Leighton “We need to get on deck. We can’t takeoff indoors.”

“The enemy will have no way to prevent you from gaining access to the deck through the main elevators once you are in the hangar, other than by direct confrontation.” said Nexus “This is the best that I can do.”

“Zombies are coming…” said Thomas as he heard footsteps approaching, attracted by the noise of the grenade.

“Almost done.” said Charles, tossing the outer layer of the controls to the ground and plugging wires into his PCU.

“Will we have control over the elevators?” asked Leighton.

“No.” said Nexus. “You’re going to need to improvise a bit.”

“We don’t need a helicopter necessarily.” said John “If we have a way to get outside, all we need are lifejackets and we’re away.”

“It’s a possibility.” said Leighton. “We’ll decide once we see what the situation in the hanger is like.”

“Ready.” said Charles, his PCU connected to several wires in the panel. Zombies began walking into the hallway and charged at the group when they noticed them. The HellBent and the Platinum Soldiers began firing on the zombies as they ran forwards.

“Here goes.” said Nexus “Hrm. Ha! Gah! Crap!”

A popping sound came from the panel and the wiring began to smoke. The door slowly slid about half way open.

“Nexus?” asked Charles.

“Cut and go!” yelled Nexus.

Charles ripped his PCU out and the group hurried into the stairwell, shooting the few zombies there as they went, a wave of zombies rushing through behind them. The door to the hanger was still open and The Platinum Soldiers sprinted through. Leighton stayed by the door and slammed it shut once the last person was through while the rest of the group split up and took cover, looking around for hostiles.

[The GAmeTopians]

Team Hellbent followed the Platinum Soldiers, saluting Leighton In a sign of respect.
"Where to? We do not want to be going back to those zombies. Any way out of here?"
They engaged the HUD on their helmets, and Thomas scanned for system connections.
"Are you going for the elevators by any chance? That would make since. I don't see any SRPA there."

[The United Remnants of America]

The Sentinels waited a few beats before going into the hole after the DEN squad. Right before they entered, Ninja peeked around the corner of the hole and shot out the camera with his pistol before moving on, the rest of the surviving 3rd and 4th Squad following him. The Remnants went the opposite direction of the DEN squad, starting the path towards the VR Simulation room. The Sentinels moved in a staggered pattern, every other operator on the same side of the hallway, their weapons raised towards the center of the hallway ahead of them. They reached a fourway in the halls where Oreo leapfrogged up the line to take the lead. The 4th Squad medic and machine-gunner had taken the initiative to copy down the map that the DEN troops had downloaded. He pointed down the hall to the right and led on forward, the rookie now at the lead of the squad.

[Servinta]

The Servintans having survived their little spat with the dissident hordes at the bulkhead and being resupplied with fresh ammunition at the armory found that they were now behind the other teams and despite the commissars complaints that the brave defenders of Servinta didn't need anyone to help them escape this ship, Vlad was not content to let pride blind him to the situation that they were stuck in.Their numbers were being slowly whittled down from the original ten and now with barley half of the squad left he was having to put up with Bogdans propaganda bull-speeches.

"We will catch up with the New Emmerian Coalition soldiers and then we will find our way out together." Vlad said as the group jogged down the maze of empty hallways, silencing the complaints and hopefully ending Bogdans ranting.

They ran down the halls seeing that several of the automatic bulkheads had been closed shut, giving only one way for them to go.The path they were going was toward the V.R. Sim room in the mid sector if the sings that were occasional hung above the many intersections of hallways were to be trusted.Thankfully the way was light on the infected dissidents and the few that appeared were quickly dispatched on the move by the Servintan's massed fire, they didn't know if this path had been made for them to lessen the dead or if that had been a coincidence but in any case it was a relief from the situation earlier back at the bulkhead.Finally they caught up with them and were brought up to date on the situation that had developed with the hostile special forces and their channeling of all atlas personal into a kill zone.