Tiff jumped in, quickly followed by Kirby.
"We all in?" Gabriel shouted.
"Yeah - GO!" roared Kirby, jumping into the hold of the ship.
The ramp slowly raised, the hydraulic whine drowned by the aft thrusters. Kirby picked himself up and hurredly covered the rear arc,halting the door sealing in case of any threats. A jugger shattered through the outside doors, the sheen of its hull glinting through the airwash. It started firing, but was in turn struck by numerous shells, blowing chunks out of its metallic hide. It scuttled into cover, a trail of biofluid leaking from numerous holes. Kirby trained his fire over the doorway, stopping any more 'things' emerging.
"Kirby, move! Salvo's hit, I need to treat him." Kirby looked down and saw Trace desperately holding a salvpatch to the sniper's leg. He snarled and swatted away spent shells and moved.
"Crith it, Trace, you'll have no-one to patch if we get shot down! Are we going to get moving or what?"
"Kirby, I'm in the turret now, get that door up." As if to confirm this, another jugger appeared and was promptly blown to smithereens.
Kirby slammed the hold seal and dropped to the floor. The door seal locked and immediately, the transporter pulled away. The big man was thrown over once again. He picked himself muttering an obscenity under his breath, face glistened in sweat and breathing hard.
"They were mightily unhappy, is this what got them riled up?", indicating the limbless torso. Trace ignored him, and finished his temporary patch on Salvo. He moved over to the unfortunate, and carried out an appraisal. He then got to work on some cuts, that the person had picked up. Trace tapped his earpiece and contacted the helm.
"Gabriel - I dunno what they've done to this - girl, but there's very little I can do. I can stabilize her until we reach the ship, but we need proper facilities."
" Ok Trace, you keep her alive until we get there."
Trace motioned to Laady to assist, and the pair of them strapped the person into a stretcher. Trace glanced at Kirby, looking intently at his arm.
"You OK, Kirb?"
Kirby nodded. "Took a hit in the arm, it's not bad."
"Let's have a look - yeah, you'll live. We'll get that sorted on the ship, just apply some pressure, slow the bleeding. You need a tranq?"
" Don't need that rubbish, got my own!", and pulled out a bottle. " Here's to a successful mission!"
"We ain't done yet. Tiff! We got incoming vessels, watch out!"
Laady clamboured up to the cockpit and sat behind Gabriel. She leaned in close.
"What happened with that temporg? You getting sloppy?" She mused.
"Crith off."
The assasin laughed, and twisted jumping down into the hold. She strode over to Kirby and sat down.
" Stratch Alex; he isn't coming back."
"Why? Did you see what happened?" asked Kirby sipping his beer.
"Saw his body, his head was removed."
" Crith, that's too bad," muttered Kirby. " I was beginning to like the lad."
He raised his bottle. "Well, here's to you Alex and Marko", he gestured, and downed the remainder of the bottle.
Iv'e actually written a whole story on this to-be-modified-into-an-adventure. Here's a little piece of it for the time being. More will be produced once I get the hang of being a dad for ankle biter two!
Gabriel rapped repeatedly on the facing door.
"Yeh?", growled a stifled voice.
" It's me Kirby, I need to speak."
Gabriel's head leaned on the door and he tapped the frame, slapping the framework as it edged open. A leering eye peered out, a pause, and the door flung open. Behind it revealed a huge, brawny man with a beaming smile. Dishevelled, and hung-over, Kirby motioned for Gabriel to enter.
" Gabriel! What brings you here? Come in, come in! Don't mind the mess!", Kirby exclaimed cheerfully.
The staleness of the air struck Gabriel as he entered. The room, unkempt and filthy. Clutter streamed over any attainable surface it could cling to. Kirby reached down and shovelled a seat clean, offering it to his visitor. The blond man steered around to the proffered chair.
" Cleaners day off?" Gabriel mused softly, as he kicked a couple of empty bottle out of the way.
Kirby smiled, and hunkered down on the sofa and clapped Pup, a huge mongrel, who grumbled softly.
"So what can I do for you friend?" The large mans attention on Pup.
Gabriel leaned forward. "I've got a job for you. Merc work, in and out. Hostage rescue."
Kirby glanced up. "I got a job with Stanta. Easy work, sociable hours."
"Very sociable, I see." Gabriel looked at the liquor bottles. "This job, it's good money. Enough to get you out of this hole."
"Wanna drink?" Kirby offered. Gabriel shook his head. Nonplussed, the big manripped open a can and quaffed a good portion. He squinted at Gabriel as he drank.
"So, what's the catch? Who's yer hostage?"
"Juggers."
Kirby stopped drinking and stared directly at Gabriel, his genial mirth suddenly gone.
"Crith! They're no walkabout! You got appropriate hardware to tackle them?"
Gabriel nodded. Kirby resumed drinking slowly, and paused.
"Who's employing?"
"Your old associates, Vroom"
Kirby's face bunched into a scowl at the name.
"Them?" he hissed, "No chance, find someone else!", spitting the last words out venomously.
"Come on Kirb. Look, the money is real good, and it's quick. In and out."
"Gab, I don't care about the money, an' you bloody know why! I ain't workin' for those crithers!", he snarled.
" Kirb, I really need you on this, and besides I'm employing you, not them. I need the best team on this. You said yourself, Juggers are no walkover."
"Said it already, Gab. No chance. Why you so desperate for this job anyway?"
"I owe someone and they called it in," Gabriel leaned back in the sofa, sighing. " And that's what I'm doing with you Kirb. I'm calling in what you owe me."
Kirby said nothing and drained the remainder of the beer, wiping the spillage from his face. He looked down.
" You're that desperate. You knew I was going to say no."
Gabriel shrugged. "I had no choice. Like you."
Kirby stood up, resigned to the fact. "Okay, I'll grab my stuff and Pup's coming too." The dog raised its head at the mention of its name. grumbled, and laid back.
Gabriel stared at the mongrel. " You want to bring that stinking mutt, fine. Be at the docks, 19 bravo, at 1700hrs."
He stood up, negotiated the debris, and opened the door.
"See you then." He said, " and Kirby, clean yourself up first - You're a mess!"