Almost before Slayde issued the command to run, Ruby set to work slicing a path through the undead with her Blade Sweeper. It would have been easier to just use one of her grenades, but there was nowhere for them to duck in cover. It would have been suicide. And then an idea occurred to her, and she glanced around wildly, searching for Amber.

Seeing her on the other side of their tightly packed group, Ruby shouted, "Amber! Amber, use your Blade sweeper to help me! You cover that side, I'll take this side!" Though the Grotesnian saw no pause in Amber's shots, she saw the almost imperceptive nod and the quick movement of her hands toward her Blade Sweeper.

Once Ruby was sure Amber understood, she began firing, using the sweeping motion this weapon was famous for. A glance to her left told her that most of the marines were covering their rear, and a glance to her right showed the two captains and the rest of the marines blazing a path in their front. Slowly but surely the group moved like a wedge firing from all sides. Sweat was running in rivers down Ruby's neck when she heard Slayde shout: "We're almost there!"

And then they were out, running full tilt to escape the undead crew...

OOC: I don't think she had a blade sweeper...ah well, she does now.

IC:
She nodded, brining out her blade sweeper and working with Ruby to cut a path through the animated dead, together they worked fast and a path formed for them to escape through, from behind her visor (just realsied she's wearing a helmet now)she smiled softly to herself, the creatures puppets were easier to face than the adnihilo.

"Lay down a base of fire and push forward!" ordered Ray once the shooting began. Eight marines fanned out and opened fire with the 100-round drum magazines attached to their assault rifles. Six of them continuously fired on the reanimated bodies, while the other two provided support where it was needed - particularly when they were reloading. They advanced this way step by step while the other marines protected the flanks, rapidly pushing through the bloody mass. They were gaining ground while losing it, but they were making progress towards their destination.

"Low on ammo," reported some of the marines, still shooting.

"Keep shooting or we won't live long enough to run out of ammo!" exclaimed Ray as he shot into the fray with his pistol. He reloaded after the first cartridge was emptied, and noticed that he only had two more left. Thirty bullets was definitely better than none; he loaded and fired.

They reached the door to the engineering section, and the rest of the marines spread out and continued shooting with what ammunition they had left. If they door could not be opened and the issue resolved in time, they would need either Bezarin or a miracle.

(OOC: I could have sworn she took one when they were in the armoury...ah well. My apologies. ^^; )

Ruby looked down to see that her Blade Sweeper was a little more than halfway used up. Soon it would be useless. Hearing Ray's words, though, she grimaced and nodded in agreement: If I live long enough to see it become useless, that is.

She prayed to God that they would be able to make it to the engineering section, and fast. They couldn't hold out much longer.

(OOC: *Shoots self*

On another note, Vic had us arrive at the engineering section doors, but actually we're still down in the hold (my fault entirely for not making the ship layout clear enough, sorry). No need to edit or anything, I'll iron it out in this post.)

Slayde brushed sweat from his brow as he raced into the gap opened up by the rain of fire, the others following swiftly as the group charged down the cargo bay, constantly firing over their shoulder at the relentless swarm of corpses behind. If it wasn't the Adnihillo it was something else...would they ever get a break???

One bit of good news, though, was that the undead mass seemed to be somewhat slower than the aliens had been...they still advanced pretty swiftly, like a wave across the floor of the cargo bay, but the survivors were actually outpacing them, rather than the other way around.

Then, through the gloom, Slayde spotted the other end of the massive cargo bay and the long ladder leading up the wall to freedom. He quickly called to two of the Kirov Marines over the sound of weaponsfire: "Up the ladder! Open the hatch and make sure there's no Adnihillo above!"

The Marines nodded and as their allies swiftly dropped into a defencive wall around the bottom of the ladder, they quickly climbed the metal rungs, opening the hatch at the top and looking round. After a second one of them called back down: "Clear!"

Slayde's responce was immeadeate. "Everybody up! Gogogo!!!" he shouted, leaning back against the wall as he continued to blast for all he was worth at the swarm of crewmembers heading towards them. One by one the group began to climb, quickly vaulting the ladder up out of the massive room.

"Sir! If everybody stops firing as they climb, the enemy will reach the last few before they get to the top!" shouted another of the Marines who was crouched down before the ladder. "I offer to stay and hold them off while you escape!"

Slayde gritted his teeth. He didn't want anyone left behind. They'd done that at the other entrance to the cargo bay, he didn't want a repeat performance!

"That will not be nessecery." The Captain looked round in surprise as the voice spoke, one he hadn't heard in a while! Ivallice, who had largely been focusing purely on fighting off the team's attackers up to this point, stepped forward in front of the fortified marines, crouching down and bringing his arm lazers to bear on the dead crew. "I will hold them off. You go."

Slayde stepped forward with a look of worry on his face. "Ivallice...!"

"I am a robot Captain, expendable." retorted the machine, cutting over his pleas. "All of you are not. Go...now!"

Slayde opened his mouth to protest again, but closed it without saying a word. It seemed the metal titan had made up his mind. He paused for a moment, placing a hand on Ivalice's huge shoulder, before turning and following what remained of the Marines up the ladder. Behind him, he heard a loud whirring as Ivallice's rapid-fire lazer cannons roared into life...

Quiclly the last of the group climbed up onto the deck, and the hatch was sealed securely behind them. Slayde looked around at the silent corridors, much the same as any other corridor on the ship, except for the massive blast doors that blocked off a huge opening in one wall a few feet away from the hatch. The blast doors had come down because of the radiation, but now they should oopen on his command.

The others were catching their breath as he slowly stepped over to the control pannel. "Adnihillo mustn't have got this far down yet." muttered Halter, scanning the deserted corridors carefully. "Bezarin must be keeping them buisy."

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Amber, leaning over slightly as she gasped for air. "I don't think I could run from them again!"

Suddenly a loud rumble echoed around the corridor, and everyone jumped, spinning round to look at the massive blast door in front of the engineering section. Slayde held up his hand. "It's okay, the doors are just retracting." he muttered as the thick metal doors slid backwards into the sills, opening up the huge, long corridor streaching the length of the ship towards the engineering section. Slayde had half expected something else to be waiting for them there, but with a sigh of relief he saw the corridor was empty.

Well, almost empty...

He blinked as he spotted the object on the floor. Slowly he took a step forward, looking down at the curious black shape embedded in the deckplating a little way past the door, the others following him in and looking themselves at the black blob of...something unrecognisable...

It was Ruby that first made the connection. "Marines uniforms?"

Halter grunted and quickly knelt down, examining the black blob that seemed to be made from some kind of melted plastic. He caught his breath as he spotted the barrel of a rifle sticking out from under the mess, securely glued to the floor by the hardened material. "Mike...?"

Some of the Marines around them swore under their breaths. "First guys we lost?" muttered one, shaking his head. "So this is where they got to..."

Slayde bit his lip at the revelation, shaking his head slowly. In all the chaos he'd almost forgotten it, but there were so many that had been lost from both ships...so many of his own crew that were either missing or dead...Leon...Zoran...Ivallice, who had just pretty much sacrificed himself...it suddenly ocured to him how little he'd thought about Ivallice. He had tried to convince the robot to change it's mind, but when he realised he couldn't, he had simply left. No tears, no pain. Out of sight out of mind...

Had all this really made him so cold?

Perhaps there was a reason for it though...if he stayed looking at those melted uniforms for too long he really would start crying, and now was most certainly not the time! Averting his eyes to the massive corridor streaching away before them, he took a deep breath. "Come on, we're almost there. Let's go."

He set off down the long corridor, his footsteps echoing as he moved in the cathedral-like space. Cathedral...or crypt. As the heavy metal doors once again rumbled closed behind the group, coming together with a resounding BOOM, he couldn't help but feel they had just entered the area of the ship that would become their tomb. They were, after all, heading directly into the lion's mouth.

"Stay on your toes, everyone."

(OOC: Forgot Ivallice was still with the group lol. Anyway that's rectified )

One clip left... wonderful. Ray cursed silently to himself. He had seven bullets, including the one in the chamber, in his pistol right now. There were fifteen more in the remaining clip, but he was saving those for any emergency. "Check your ammunition, everybody."

"We're all really low on ammo, Sir," replied one of the marines. "Everybody probably has a hundred rounds or so left."

"Wonderful. Just wonderful," commented yet another.

"Shut up, Marvy," snapped the fire team leader as he slapped Marvy on the back of his helmet. "And keep your rifle at thirty degrees down. Stay alert, people."

"Sir," reported one of the remaining special infantry, her right hand holding onto her rifle's grip while her left rested on the torso area of her suit. "I'm having a premonition."

"What is it?" asked Ray as they continued hurriedly through, making for the engineering section.

"I don't know exactly what it is. It's an odd feeling I'm having in my chest."

"Odd feeling...?" Ray said as he turn to look at Slayde, who made no visible response. Probably, the pace and gravity of everything that had happened was starting to build stress on him. "Right. Keep us informed if you sense anything else. Don't let your guard down."

Ruby snorted quietly, muttering to herself to ward off her nervousness. "Pssh...as if I've had the chance to relax recently. Feels like I'm in a damn ballet!"

Eternity and one of the marines standing nearby grinned shakily at her jest, in dire need of some good comic relief. After a few seconds though, that grin faded back to the standard worried frown they had all been wearing as of late. Ruby twitched her ears, sure they were doing their job, and turned her silvery gaze to inspect their surroundings. Like Slayde, she was getting this ominous feeling...

As if that was something new...

IC:
Amber sighed to herself, now Ivalice was gone too, after all they did, how many of them would actually survive all this? Who would live to tell the tale, and would anyone believe them?
"I'm going to need serious therapy after this," she muttered, just loud enough for if anyone else needed humour.
And now everyone's getting a bad feeling about what's going to happen next. Atleast there are no Adnihilo...yet.

IC:
She smiled slightly at Ruby's joke, anything to keep the feeling of impending doom at bay.
"Zaeda, scan for any life signs,"
"Complying,"

OOC: So short but I'm biding my time

Ruby turned her gaze briefly, to raise her eyebrows at Amber. "Yeah," She agreed. "Though I think our therapists will need therapists, after we get through with our tale."

Amber snorted quietly, causing Ruby's grin to return for another short-term visit. Not ComedyCentral, but hey...we do what we can. And then: Seriously, though...what kind of therapist would want to listen to our nonsense? We'd be sent straight to the looney-bin! Ruby sighed.

She would wish for a camera, but...considering what they had seen and the nightmares she would have (if she lived), she would not wish for even her worst enemy to watch what might be on the tape. No one deserved to see what she had seen...

Slayde seemed to be half listening to the conversation from the front of the group, and as Ruby spoke, he glanced over his shoulder. "On the plus side," he muttered, "that "tale" might be finally coming close to it's end." His voice dropped lower as he turned back towards the long corridor: "One way or another."

Halter glanced over at him. "Captain, are you thinking..."

"We're about to find out." interrupted Slayde, pointing with his gun towards the heavy blast doors that were now visable at the end of the corridor. "I can't help thinking it's too easy...but then, maybe it's waiting for us..."

The group reached the doorway, the Marines taking up positions around it as they secured the area, and slowly Slayde stepped up to the control pannel beside it. "Okay everyone, stand ready." Gritting his teeth, he jabbed at the button to open the doors.

There was a loud BOOM as the metal licks slid back, then a heavy rumbling sound started up as the doors slowly began to slide sideways. Beond was the engineering section of the ship, and the heart of the Cruisader's experimental Quantum Field Drive.

The room was gigantic, almost as big as the cargo bays for size. Computer terminals and workstations littered the walls, and metal gantries criss-crossed above their heads for at least five levels! The room was longer than it was wide, and at the far end the floor rose several steps to the throbbing heart of the ship, the Quantum Core. Surrounded by massive machinery to bleed off the power for use throughout the ship, the core itself was suspended in the air twenty feet from the floor, a massive sphere of pure, radiant energy ten feet across, lighting flashing across it's surface and lancing up into one of the collectors suspended above the apperition. The light in the room was bright, plenty bright enough to see by, but the gleam from the core itself paled the artificial lights into insignificance with it's blinding yellow glow, burning like a minature sun and casting long shadows on the walls from all the equipment surrounding it.

Slowly Slayde stepped down the stairs from the doorway to the floor of the room, his eyes fixed on the energy sphere before them. "Just as I thought." he muttered quietly. "Look."

Squinting against the glare, the group slowly became aware of the shape behind all the energy, the figure within the ball of light. It was curled up almost like a fetus un the womb, arms crossed across it's chest, long neck curled round against the outside of the sphere...it looked far too big for the space it was confined in, like it could barely fit within the glowing ball. It's arms ended in long, sickle-shaped claws, and it's head was long and thin, with long horns splaying backwards from the base of it's neck. It had no back legs, instead the body simply ran smoothly into a long, thin tail, curled around like a snake to fit into the confined space, and the creature's skin was covered in small, reptillian looking scales.

Eternity gasped in shock. "That looks like the thing that's been chasing us through the ship...but not skeletal and decaying!"

Slayde nodded. "Face of the enemy." he muttered quietly. "It was you all the time, wasn't it." he continued, seeming to speak directly towards the core.

The creature's eyes remained closed, however it's long tail seemed to twitch slightly as the words. "You see what you have done?" a deep voice rumbled from off to the side of the group, making them all jump, including the Marines, who had accidentally forgotten their guard duties as they stared at the scene before them. They span round now, swiftly raising their weapons, but Slayde raised his voice.

"Weapons down everyone, don't fire!" There was a long pause as the words sunk in, then slowly the Marines lowered their weapons again, looking distinctly jumpy.

The voice had come from behind a bulkhead to the group's left, and now, slowly, a large figure stepped around the corner, moving stiffly as he stepped forward, towering over the group. His square jaw and angular features looked normal, but where his eyes should have been, a glowing yellow light gleamed from inside his skull, just like th animated corpses in the cargo bay.

Slayde sighed quietly to himself. "Zoran. I wondered what had happened to you."

"Imprisonment." Zoran's deep voice rang out across the room, controlled by something else. "Kidnapping. Constant pain. I asked you to releace me, but you refused." Suddenly the lights in the room darkened, as though power to them was being drained by something. At the same time, though, the bright yellow light from the core intensified, casing even longer flickering chadows across the large room as the atmosphere darkened. "I will do anything nessecery to defend myself..."

"My God, this can't get any worse," muttered Ray. "Lights!" At the command, everyone turned on the flashlights attached underneath their rifles' respective barrels.

"Sir, step back please," said one of the marines, standing in front of him, nervously breathing as he brought his rifle to bear on Zoran - or what seemed to be left of him.

"I will not leave my men alone," declared Ray as he patted the marine's body armour. "But thanks anyway."

They watched intently, fingers on the triggers of their weapons as the lights in the room continued to dim.

Ruby was standing stock-still, right behind Captain Slayde. Her eyes were locked on Zoran, and if one looked hard enough in the failing light, they could see the shadow of tears lingering there. She had looked up to Zoran all the five years she'd served under Slayde; he had treated her as an equal from day one. And now all that was left of her friend was his body, a living husk of what he once was.

Ruby gritted her teeth and quietly turned her head away. She decided it was best to monitor the rest of the room, since the marines had their eyes and guns trained on Zoran. Ears twitching, eyes becoming accustomed to the dimness, the Grotesnian mulled calmly over the creature's words to Captain Slayde. She wondered just what awaited them in case the creature decided to...defend itself.

Why can't we all just get along? She questioned silently, sarcastically. Gripping her BladeSweeper, Ruby turned briefly back to Slayde and Zoran...