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Joe covered his mouth and closed his eyes, stumbling into the Akrid cave. He went over a small ledge, landing in a dark cave full of Sepia and Bolsepia. He cursed, shooting his shotgun at the ones in front of them, clearing a path deeper into the cave, hoping to get away from the large horde.

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The Pack Hunters swarmed in small groups, some clawing at the Rig if they weren't dead yet, the others charging and clawing at Petra and Wren.

Wren was blasting the Akrids with her shotgun, taking one down with every other hit, she was swearing quite violently all the while, "I hate this planet!" She snarled as a Pack Hunter leaped at her, trying to knock her to the ground to rip her to pieces. She was quicker, however, and managed to shoot the thing in the head as it leapt, at near point-blank range.

Wren was retreating away from the Pack Hunters and the mustard gas the HRA black ops team had unleashed, heading towards the Akrid cave Joe had taken refuge in. Once she was inside she turned around and came face-to-mandible with the horde of Sepia and Bolsepia Akrid.

"Oh for ... you are kidding me!" She exclaimed as she start shooting the Akrid spiders that came swarming towards her, "That is it. If I live through this I'm damn well quitting the Navy."

"Dodger, Johnson, watch the exits. Duke, find the computer and start hacking it. The perfect time to get them to their knees." Robbins ordered, pointing the gun at Petra. She may have a machine gun, but she was the only one inside the Rig, and they were outnumbering her.

"Well, well, well, ma'am. What do you know?" He asked, chuckling. Dodger and Johnson could shoot her in a second before she even fired, and she knew it. Especially with that Bolt gun.

Petra saw that they saw that she was outnumbered. "You're seriously going to take over this rig while my friends out there are being mauled by God knows what?" She ought to blast them immediately where they stood. Instead it was more than likely that she was going to get shredded with gunfire. They didn't look to be in the taking-hostages mood.

She raised her hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, just let me out peacefully, that's all I ask."

Of course, as soon as she was just free of the doorway, she'd launch a smoke grenade into the Rig and dive for cover.

Outside of the rig, the was a roar and a white vehicle with bright blue markings burst through a snow drift. Etched on it's side, barely visible was the words:

United Earth Federation: Type-XXIII Land Rover: UES Poseidon.

A team of seven in slim, environmental suits sat in the open rear of the machine. Two sat in the front, one driving. One more person was manning the EP Gatling Gun which promptly opened fire on the surviving Akrid. The seven in the back hopped out and proceeded once the gunner finished. They proceeded forward cautiously and the person in the passenger seat got out. They were all sporting Earth standard combat rifles.

"Now, would someone like to tell me what's going on here?"

Joe fled deeper into the tunnel, running through tunnel after tunnel of hordes of Akrid. Too many to take on alone in such a small place. He ran until the ice below him shattered, sending him tumbling into the depths below.

Wren knew that Joe had fled deeper into the Akrid-infested caves. She hesitated a moment, wanting to go back and help Petra. She didn't even know if the cyborg had escaped the HRA black ops team... but she couldn't abandon Joe to the Akrid, "Joe... you owe me big time for this." Wren muttered as she ran deeper into the caves, blasting Akrid as she went, "JOE! JOOEE! YOU ALIVE!?" Wren shouted at the top of her lungs. She was hoping that he'd hear her and they could meet up and find a way out of the caves without getting eaten.

"YOU OWE ME A DRINK FOR THIS! YOU BETTER NOT BE DEAD!"

"Yes. We seriously are going to take over this rig. Don't worry. Those two can deal with what they have out there. I know enough to tell you that. I've read their profiles." Robbins said, looking out into the white field. The storm had stopped, and so had the Akrids. Duke was working on the rig so he could get it out of the area.

"A'ight. I can't see why not. You won't survive there anyways. But you should know that we were prepared to keep you here," Robbins said, grabbing a cigarette and a flask. He handed them to her, and gave her a match box. "The flask has enough provisions for a week, and the cigarettes have a distress signal inside the box. Oh, and the cigarettes? Just for fun. They have adrenaline inside, though."

And he opened the door, letting her get out if she so wished.

Petra hesitated. To leave the rig or not? Then again, Joe and Wren were out there in the weather taking on God-knew-what.

If she could commandeer the Rig back...maybe, just maybe she could still save them. She took the cigarettes and the flask.

"Thank you." And then when she stepped outside, tossed in a smoke grenade and dove for cover. They weren't going to get out of it that easily!

Wren was not in the best of moods. She was lost, cold, hungry, tired and scared. Not that she would ever admit that last one to anyone. These caves seemed to hold an endless supply of Akrid wanting to eat her face, and she didn't have an unlimited supply of ammo. She'd been fleeing the Akrid deeper into the tunnels, and now she didn't know where she was, or worse; where the exit was.

She still hadn't found Joe yet, so she was starting to worry that he'd been eaten. Wren slumped again one wall tiredly resting her shotgun on her knees. If she could get a couple of minutes of peace and quiet, she could rest, take stock, figure out what to do.

And then she heard chittering and skittering coming from somewhere down the way she'd come. More of those spider-Akrid were coming. Wren groaned and pushed down her fears and worry. It would do her no favours to have a breakdown. She could go into shock later when she wasn't about to be eaten, "Joe if you're dead I'm gonna kill you." Wren muttered, "I've not gone through all this to rescue a half-eaten corpse."

(Poor Wren xD)

Joe slowly stood up, his leg hurt. It was dark, and colder than the surface. He began to walk forward, looking at his wrist gadget, the heat signature was just steps away. He grabbed the canister from his suit, jabbing it into the ground. He knelt down, activating it as it drilled into the ground. Hopefully the others were still alive, if they weren't, he still needed to provide for his family. He heard an odd sound beneath the surface, but dismissed it as a metal deposit that the drill hit. The sound didn't stop. He bent down, examining it, confused. He looked at it's readings, it was metal all right, but it wasn't a deposit.

They weren't ready for the smoke, but at least one person had his mask on still. The rest chocked and couldn't see through all the smoke. Robbins was the one who didn't have the gas mask on, but he still could see. Barely. His aviators helped that much. "Get ready! There may be more!" He shouted, groping for the gas mask.

Wren finally found the hole down which Joe had fallen, though she didn't know it. The Akrid were swarming down the tunnel after her and she was blasting at them with her shotgun, trying to keep them at bay. Now she was standing on the edge of the hole, trying not to fall in, "Great... so this is how I die. Damn it, eaten by alien spiders. I wanted to die flying." She kicked a small stone into the hole, trying to hear how far down it went. The hole was her only chance at escape, but she couldn't hear if the pebble hit anything over the sound of the Akrid and her gun.

"Well... Last chance Wren." She muttered and let loose one last blast from her gun before jumping down the hole, "God I hope this doesn't kill me!"

Petra, seeing she had taken them by surprise after all with her smoke grenade, switched tactics. Oh Joe was going to kill her, but well, she figured they'd be dead anyway without the rig.

Switching over to her cybernetic eye, she could read the thermal energy signatures more easily. All it would take was a few well earned shots--or better yet, seizing a hostage.

She wasn't fast, nor was she silent, but she could see when they couldn't--necessarily. So she grabbed for the first and nearest heat signature, swinging her cyborg arm with all the strength she could muster to knock it prone before tackling it with her immense body weight and pressing her gun against the body.

(PM me if you wanna do a series of dice rolls to see if she succeeds--I can edit this either way.)

"I'm down! Goddammit help me!" Duke shouted, not prepared for the hostile situation. He was knocked forward, hit in the back of the head by the gun. A huge bruise appeared there, as well as hairline fractures. He'd be fine unless he was hit there again. His helmet wasn't on, mainly because he took it off to better see.

"Sonoffabitch!" Dodger swore, grabbing his Boltgun, ducking down to avoid being hit, and sliding to one of the consoles, holding his gun in his hand, aiming it somewhere where he thought the voice came from. He saw Duke fall. "Dammit! Robbins, they got the Techie!"

Johnson had his gas mask on, but wasn't exactly concentrating on them, and more like concentrating on the Akrids. Discharge after discharge he fired from the LMG, splattering Akrid body matter all over the terrain, until he heard a cry for help. "I'm coming!" He shouted, and recharged his gun, running for the smoke and voices.

Joe stood in confusion as TE leaked from the machine. The snow and ice in the small cave began to melt, until he stood in a metal room, the NEVEC symbol on the wall. A half open door was on the other side of the room.