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"Warning: 60% increase in hull temperature detected." The lifeless voice of the computer controlled automated warning system announced.

Robert blinked as everything came back into focus. He looked over to the command chair to see the captain's body slumped over it.

"We have entered the atmosphere!" The sensors officer cried out before turning to Robert. "Commander, what are our orders?"

It took Robert a few seconds to realize that with the captain dead, he was in control of the ship. After blinking in susprise for several seconds, the commander strode forward.

"What's the status of our engines?"

"Warp drive is offline, impluse drive is offline, thrusters, however, are still working." The officer manning the Ops console reported.

"Ensign, could you use the thrusters to get back out to space?" Robert asked.

"No sir, but I could use them to slow our descent."

"Then do it!"

"Yes sir!"

The helmsman's hand flew across the controls as he began to coordinate the thrusters so that impact on the planet's surface wouldn't squash the crew flat.

"Warning: Impact to planetary surface in two minutes."

"HELM!"

"I'm working on it sir! I'm working on it!"

The helmsman finished the coordination and hit the execute button.

To onlookers on the planet, they would see a bright ball of fire shooting down to the ground, as the fireball neared it's impact with the surface it would begin to change direction till in was moving parallel to the ground and the fireball would extinguish revealing the heavily damaged Poesidon. The ship then lost it's altitude as the thrusters petered out and it crash landed onto the snowy surface, coming to a stop after sliding for a few thousand meters.

The entire bridge crew was disorinentated after the bumpy landing. Acting Captain Robert got himself together and looked around at the bridge crew. "Get to the rest of the ship and begin triage for the crew. I'll join you shortly."

The bridge hurriedly made their way to the lift which was, miraculously still working. Robert moved towards the sensors console and began scanning the area for possible threats.

Wren looked relieved that the storm was finally starting to pass, she finished off her hot chocolate and smiled slightly, "Mm... at least the hot chocolate it good." When Joe opened up the Rig and started after the Dongo she grinned, "Well, at least we can get some action." She propelled down out of the Rig herself, her pistol held at the ready and her shotgun at her back, but when she finally saw the creature her eyes widened, "Holy Terra..." She glanced down at her pistol, "I'll need a bigger gun." She holstered the pistol and unslung her shotgun, ready to go chase after the Dongo alongside Joe and Petra.

It was then, however that she saw the fireball, "Look!" She shouted, pointing to the sky, "That... that's not a meteorite. I've seen enough ships crashing from orbit to know what that is!" As she spoke the falling vessel managed to right itself so that it at least wouldn't smash into the planet, revealing the battered Poseidon. Wren shook her head, "Forget the Dingo...Dango... the whatever! We've got to go help them. I doubt they'll survive if another storm blows in."

Barbara nodded. Nothing was in there. Still, it wouldn't be a problem just to make sure... Strapping on their Gasmasks, Johnson grabbed his grenade launcher, and put in two Tear Gas rounds. Cocking the gun, he pointed it inside, and fired them. They shot out with a deep thump, and landed with a clank, hissing as the gas left it.

"Go!" Robbins whispered, and ran in, gun at the ready. He didn't expect anyone to be inside the rig, but he knew there was someone. They took up cover positions inside the large screen of Tear Gas, which acted like smoke.

Petra had been about ready to follow Wren and Joe down to the ground, when there came an ominous noise behind her in the rig. She turned just as two grenades were tossed in.

"Oh hell no!" Petra cursed, closing her human eye as gas began to fill up the room. It was going to be painful anyway--breathing wise--but she'd had worse before.

She threw herself behind one of the consoles, thankful that the smoke would at least hamper those who were intruding as well, while she could rely on reading the thermal energies that entered. She raised her metal arm, propping it up to give her the best angle to shoot towards the entrance and waited, trying not to cough.

Joe aimed his shotgun at the Rig cockpit as smoke shot out of it. He slowly snuck his way to the other side of the Rig, aiming at the back entrance. The Dongo had fled, and hopefully it wouldn't be back. He heard a distant howl, but didn't pay attention as he aimed his shotgun at someone at the back of the Rig.

"Surrender now, and no one will be hurt!" Robbins shouted, holding up his gun. He was looking through his visor of the gas mask, and he could clearly see through the Tear Gas. And the best part? It didn't affect him at all. Unfortunately, the enemy would be hurt by it. It was going to send them into a world of pain for their lungs and eyes.

"I'd take a second look about who is in the gas." Joe said, holding up his shotgun. "I can shoot you before you have a chance to react, so drop your gun."

"The gas doesn't harm me. And in case you didn't notice, there's five heavliy armed people here. Who's going to not react?" Robbins said, and five lasers appeared, pointing at Joe's head.

"This is Commander Robert of the United Earth Ship Poseidon. We have crash landed on the surface of the Class Y planet E.D.N. III and are heavily damaged. Requesting immediate assistance from any vessels or facilities in range. This is Commander...."

The Acting Captain gave a satisfied nod as the distress call continued to play, being boardcasted by the barely functional communications array. He left the communications console and headed to the lift. He hit the button that would take him to Deck 8 where the sickbay was located. It took a few seconds for the damaged computer to process the command, but finally the lift's doors closed and decend down to Deck 8.

As soon as he stepped out, a sence of utter carnage met his eyes. Heavily Injured crew filled almost every available space as cries of agony filled the air. Doctors rushed about, treating the most serious cases before anything else.

After a bit of searching, Robert spied Doctor Charles Jacob, the Cheif Medical Officer of the ship. He walked over to the doctor and waited until the CMO noticed himself. "Rob! Did the Captian send you down?" Jacobs questioned.

"The captain's dead." Robert replied, bluntly. "I came down to get your casualty report."

The CMO nodded. "Of course." He looked down at his data pad. "So far, we have 154 confirmed dead, 321 injured and 125 missing crew memebers."

Robert nodded. That was half of the ship's crew. "Alright Doctor, keep up the work. I'm going to see if I can find the Cheif Engineer and Cheif of Security." With that, Robert turned away and walked back into the lift, and headed deeper into the bowels of the ship.

"How about this one in here," Petra hacked out, as she rose a little from behind her hiding spot. Her human eye was tearing despite holding it closed, but the heat signatures showing up on her cybernetic eye were still perfectly good to allow for an accurate shot.

"And if you don't lower your gun from pointing at my friend, I'm going to riddle the five of you with bullets."

If they could see her mechanical arm pointed at them, they'd realize that instead of a hand, it was just the muzzle of a gun.

Dodger fired his 20mm gun into the air, which embedded itself into the ceiling and exploded, leaving a nasty crater there. He turned it down, and pointed it at Petra. "If you make a move, I will shoot you so many times that you will explode. Am I clear? AM I CLEAR DAMMIT?"

Robbins smiled. He loved having Dodger on his team. A good man, but a trigger happy man. He did, however, know how to fight. And he loved fighting. Robbins held his gun, pointing it at Petra, too. Everyone was ready. Including Johnson.

"If anyone makes a move, I'm filling this room with Mustard Gas," Johnson said, holding the Grenade launcher in one hand, and the las LMG in the other.

"YOU BETTER NOT PUT ANOTHER GOD DAMN DENT ON MY RIG! DO YOU HEAR ME!?" Joe shouted, the roaring from earlier was closer, and was being made by several things.

Wren's eyes were wide, shock written plainly on her face, "Who the hell are these guys?" She asked Joe as she levelled her pistol at the nearest target... though it was five to three and it seemed like everyone was a hairsbreadth from blowing each other away, "I hate being grounded... I hate it!" She muttered, "If I were in my Valkyrie... but she wasn't. She was stuck on this icy waste of a planet.

"Look, we don't want to kill you, you don't want to kill us. It'll get messy and it'll provoke both sides. We're not giving up this Rig and there's a Navy carrier within comms range of this system, if we go silent they'll come investigating."

She was bluffing of course. The Illustrious had her own duties to perform and she would be well away from this system by now, she'd only stopped in-system for a brief time to off-load Wren.

Petra snorted. "You're threatening the wrong person here. I can unload my arm at you all, repainting the side of this rig with your blood before you have time to squeeze off two rounds." She shifted slowly, so that her metal side protected her more delicately exposed fleshly side. "And the mustard gas will take you out as well."

The sound of something, of several somethings encroaching on their location finally reached her ears. "Besides that, I think we've got something bigger to worry about than just who is going to take over the Rig. Like what's approaching us so rapidly."

"We threaten whomever we damn well please. Just try firing those bullets. Before one round gets off, that LMG will tear you to cooked up bits, medium well, please." Robbins said, and growled. He was taking this rig for himself. And when Wren bluffed him? He called the bluff. There was no Carrier. They would've been told if there was. "No carrier, hon. The Battle Barge didn't see it when it left."

The five lasers evenly spread across, two pointing at Wren, and two pointing at Petra, and one pointing at the other guy. So what if they had her? They had five highly trained guy. And their armour could absorb whatever small arms they had. Except, maybe, the shotgun.

((Not everything affects my characters. I have Gas Masks and Air Tight enviro suits. It won't touch me. But that gun of yours will. ))

The roaring was heard from all around them. A large group of pack hunters jumped over from the ravine. At least 40 of them. Joe started aiming his shotgun at him. "You need to help us or we will ALL die!" He said as one jumped at him. He fired his shotgun into it's mouth and it reared back, the color of orange now slightly red, it circled him, barely injured. The group poured over the sides of the ravine, circling the Rig and the people around it. Joe looked at his wrist as a small map went up. "Good god! There are 40 of them!"

Robert had just arrived at the bridge from main engineering when the sensors console began to beep urgently. He strode over and looked at the flickering readouts.

Apparently, the few functioning sensors had picked up weapons fire roughly two kilometers away along with a structure that the computer identified as a NEVEC Rig. The commander reached up and tapped the comm pin on his left chest. "Acting captain to Makarov."

With a few seconds of delay, the Chief of Security's baritone voice, with a thick Slavic accent, replied. "Makarov here."

"Sensors are picking up weapons fire near a NEVEC Rig. Take a security team out there and check it out. Make sure to get in a environmental suit and to arm yourselves."

"Yes sir. Makarov out." With that, the comm pin gave a quiet beep, signifying that communications had ended. Robert turned his attention back to the sensor panel and began trying to fine tune it so he could get more accurate readings of the lifeforms.

Wren's eyes widened as the Akrid-wolves descended on them, "Oh for god's sake..." She muttered, "really? The universe just freaking hates me doesn't it?" She shot a couple of bursts from her plasma pistol, the super-heated plasma smashing into the creatures, but she soon realised that her little gun wasn't going to cut it with over forty of those things, so she took out her shotgun and started firing, "I just hope Akrids have a taste for black-ops teams."

Petra cursed as the Akrid Wolves descended on them. "Let me out, I'll take care of whichever ones I can." She stood up, carefully keeping her massive arm pointed down so that none of the other men would take fright and shoot her on account of thinking she would shoot them.

Assuming they didn't--and were perhaps distracted by the cacophony outside, she made her way to the door and looked out at the...the monsters. Her face paled.

"Good God." Just then one of the wolves spied her and came charging towards her. She pulled her arm up and unloosed a barrage of bullets, not unlike a machine gun. The thing not only took the hit, it kept on coming.

She narrowed her eyes and adjusted her aim briefly until finally the thing went down with a dying cry, sliding to a halt just three feet away. Her heart pounded in her chest.

"Alright, higher caliber rounds are needed." She flipped a switch on her arm, finding a new target to repeat the process. "Three down, 37 to go," she called. "And now would be an excellent time to use that mustard gas."

"Everyone, in!" Robbins shouted as loud as he could, and Dodger and Johnson moved to the edges of the Rig, bringing out their heavy weapons. Dodger fired one 20mm round, and blew a wolf clean apart, sending gore into the air. He was enjoying this. With every shot he fired, something died. Johnson, on the other hand, let loose with a huge stream of Las Discharges, killing the creatures quickly and efficiently.

As soon as everyone was in, Johnson let loose four Mustard Gas canisters, and shut the cockpit doors, watching as the greenish yellowish gas filled the air, and began slowly killing the wolves in great pain.