Kalli peered about the darkened tunnel, her eyes adjusting to the dim light, not wanting to light a light lest it call attention to their presence. Alpha's sight likewise adjusts, though he did wish he could risk making a small light.
Dolen walked quietly forward, the image enhancement within his helm sufficing for at least reasonable visibility. Nothing was immediately within sight, awaiting to leap upon them, and he motioned the others forward.
They came to a staircase and Kalli proceeded to descend the narrow stone stairs, winding down into the earth. Following lightly after, Dolen divided his attention between ahead and behind, lest the jaws of a trap be sprung whole about them.
The stairs went down and down and down. They climbed down a great many stairs in the dark before finally reaching the bottom.
Another blank hatch opened into a storeroom, the entryway concealed amongst a stack of crates and seemingly part of the stack itself. The room was dark and cluttered with countless low lying objects to trip over or crash into. Dolen was merely glad that his helm was capable of compensating for the fact as he stepped neatly around several piles and moved quietly toward the outer leading doorway.
Alpha peered around. Kalli climbed out into the room, peering about the vicinity and squinting at the lack of light, alert for the slightest sound, but it was very still in here. For the moment at least.
"Careful of your step," Dolen said quietly, stepping to the hatchway leading out and looking back at the two questioningly before opening the door. Power still remained within the base, curiouser and curiouser. Alpha followed after Dolen.
"Right.." Kalli murmured, creeping through the room, hand on her gun in case something jumped out and started to shoot at her.
Dim light greeted them beyond, the hallway leading in either direction currently unoccupied but showing no real signs of neglect. No evidence was seen of violence or residue of active Chaos presence, but Dolen remained cautious as he stepped out and glanced at them.
"Does either of you have a preference in direction?" he asked softly, the layout of the facility wholly unknown to him.
Alpha whispered, "Think I should risk a small light? I haven't seen evidence that we're being watched..." Alpha peered around again for anything that could reflect a light and give them away. "Might as well go left."
Kalli smirked at Alpha. "Excellent decision making process." She turned and headed left.
Alpha shrugged. "Next time we should bring a map, then."
"I somewhat doubt that those at the other station might have accommodated such a request," Dolen replied with a faint snort, turning to follow the indicated direction.
Alpha rolled his eyes and covered the rear again.
Odd that the escape path had remained unsealed, in light of the 'Chaos contamination' and subsequent events, Dolen mused, lightly walking around a corner and coming suddenly to a halt. Perhaps best that it was something unusual to those crouched behind a barricade down the hall that turned the corner first, as they allowed for a momentary hesitation and a quick duck back around said corner.
"I believe," Dolen said lightly, "That something may be amiss." The statement was somewhat redundant as energy fire streamed down the hall just before them.
"Ya think?" Alpha commented.
Kalli frowned and whipped out her blaster, peering out around the corner and leaning back against the wall.
Alpha pushed back against the wall for cover and drew his baretta. "How many?"
"Three," Dolen replied readily, nodding aside to Kalli May. "All wearing that uniform."
Alpha looked at Kalli half-questioningly.
Kalli murmured, "But are they Chaos or not?"
"Yeah. No kidding," Alpha said.
"That," Dolen replied, "would be an excellent question. Shall we find out?"
He personally loathed the idea, but set his rifle aside and raised his hands into the air, then stepped around the corner... hoping his reflexes sufficed should they open fire once more. Kalli thought that was a fairly bad way to go about it, and kept her blaster at hand to start firing should this turn bad. Alpha agreed.
The Death Dancers were apparently in no mood to parley, or were simply quick on the draw as movement caught their eye at the end of the corridor. Question of Chaos or not remains moot as fire rains down the hall and slammed into Dolen' armor. Designed more for mobility than protection, it slagged in several places and burned through, the Eldar crashing against the opposite wall and sliding down.
Kalli didn't hesitate to leap into action, stun first and ask questions later, and brought down the attackers, but not quick enough to stop them from shooting at Dolen.
"Well, that was stupid," Kalli observed.
"Dolen getting shot, or them attacking us?" Alpha went to help Dolen up.
Dolen was accustomed to pain, but that did not mean that he enjoyed it, and he merely snorted at her accusation. Kalli went over to check on his condition after ascertaining that nobody else seemed likely to shoot at them in the immediate moments. She apparently couldn't believe he just did that.
Nodding briefly in appreciation to Alpha, Dolen raggedly gained his feet. "I shall live, if not pleasantly for a time." He had experienced worse by far in the past.
Alpha channeled a bit of Healing to Dolen to lessen the pain, but seemed confidant that Dolen would otherwise be fine.
"Well, the fact that they shot at you anyway is either a sign that they're not on our side, or that they're really paranoid about random people showing up in their base for no apparent reason," Kalli said.
"In all honesty, the second choice is perfectly valid," Alpha pointed out.
Dolen returned to gather his rifle, the healing causing a momentary twitch in the scheme of things but overall shunted aside to be ignored. "Agreed, perhaps an examination is in order," he said. "Chaos will often mutate its followers, or other signs might be evident that such is not the case. If naught else, waking them should suffice."
Kalli went to keep watch for more of them and let him poke at them. "I don't like this all one bit..."
"Which part?" Alpha asked.
"All of it." She smirked.
"Wake one of them at your leisure, Alpha," Dolen said, content to remain nearby and keep them covered with his rifle.
Alpha tossed their weapons to the side and checked for other hidden weapons before picking one at random to wake up. Kalli glanced down at him momentarily as she kept watch uneasily. The Dancer woke with ease, internal workings likely having already been attempting to shake off the effects of the stun. He glared at Alpha but said nothing immediately.
"Alright, sorry about the stun, unless you're Chaos, in which case I'm not sorry," Kalli said.
"Quite diplomatic, Kalli May." Dolen chuckled lightly, although not greatly inclined to generosity himself at the moment.
The Dancer reacted with surprise to the name, looking around suddenly, but still remained silent, suspicious.
"Now, if we're done attempting to kill one another for the moment, will someone kindly explain what in the name of hell is going on here?" Kalli asked.
Her identity and real presence registered fully on the Dancer at last, and he worked his throat against the remaining effects of the stun. "You're really here?" he asked. "Please tell me it's not another of their tricks..." he finished on a clearly-plaintive note. The Dancer was quite young, overall, surely not beyond his early twenties at the most.
"Kalli May of the Dancers on the Edge of Death," she said.
"I can assure you, she's the real thing." Alpha didn't really have a soft spot for idolism.
It didn't so much appear to be a case of idol worship, in the young Dancer's case, more simply an edge of desperation and forlorn hope. He nodded sharply and pushed himself slowly up to sitting, not making any sudden moves. "Sorry, the sensors registered the entry and we've... well, things have been a little tense since the revolt."
"Revolt?" Alpha asked. "What happened?"
The Dancer shook his head, "The commander had better explain it. We were just sent to make sure there wasn't another break-in."
Alpha nodded.
"Presuming they aren't about to shoot at us too," Kalli said with a smirk.
Alpha chuckled.
"No ma'am," the Dancer replied with a grin. "Not as long as we comm it first and warn them we've got real, non-Chaos guests incoming. I think Commander Daling will probably be delighted to see you."
Kalli gave a nod, and said, "Alright."
Alpha helped the other two Dancers up. The Dancer nodded sharply, glancing over a bit nervously at the armored figure that only now was lowering its weapon, then called ahead on a comm. A brief, coded response was received and he stood, motioning them to follow him.
"I'll take you there, though you'll have to surrender your weapons," he added the last apologetically. "Too many weird things going on lately."
Alpha sighed. "Figures."
Kalli looked at him fairly distrustfully at that. Alpha didn't seem too enthusiastic about the prospect either. Kalli knew she has cybernetic weapons embedded in her body that they wouldn't be able to confiscate easily, but still didn't like the prospect.
"Not to me, ma'am," the Dancer replied, "And not till we get to the commander. It's... well, she's been pretty much all that's kept us alive and we've had to be awfully careful after some of the things that came in."
"Right..." Kalli murmured. "Lead on." She headed after him reluctantly.
The Dancer nodded and led them onward, deeper within the base, the lack of personnel disturbingly apparent as it was not until they near the command center that they encountered guards at all. "Commander Daling's expecting us," he addressed the guards, then looked at those following him, "This is the final checkpoint. Have to ask you to give up your weapons here."
Dolen shook his head once and stepped back to stand against a wall, blandly replying, "I will await here, and shall answer at need."
Kalli handed her weapon to Dolen, not trusting these folks with it just yet. Alpha did same. Dolen accepted the weapons without comment, quietly approving their wisdom of choice as he returned to sentinel duty with rifle only a trifle turned away from firing readiness at the guards.
The younger Dancer wasn't sure if that quite met with what the commander might wish for security purposes, particularly leaving someone who might have full reason to be somewhat hostile about getting shot at before fully armed outside, but... he led them through the secured hatch and into the chambers beyond. The first served largely as a communal room, with cooking facilities nearby. He stopped at a door opposite their entry and keys for entry, then motioned for them to enter while he remained outside.
Commander Daling stood behind a broad desk and nodded briefly to Kalli and Alpha as they entered. "Please, have a seat," she said, "I must say we weren't expecting any reinforcements or help at all. This is a bit of a surprise."
Kalli headed inside and took a seat. "We've been flying through the fringe systems scouring any Chaos presence that we came across. I don't think we would have gotten in here at all if it weren't for some clever work by my engineer."
Alpha sat as well, but seemed to be having trouble deciding whether the chair was comfortable or not.
The Commander settled back into her chair, listening closely to her guest, then nodded. "You're fortunate you survived as far as you did. Chaos forces are certainly running loose in all nearby systems, far more energetically than we might have predicted."
"Yes, we had to fight our way through New Scotland, we destroyed Theta Base and killed all those corrupted by Chaos in Omega Station," Kalli explained.
"I don't suppose you know if the gate to the Empire is still sealed?" the Commander asked. "That was the last action we were able to perform before than damned fool nearly destroyed us all." She scowled at the memory, then returned to blank impassiveness, that it showed at all an indication of her anger on the matter.
"It is," Kalli said. "What damned fool?" She raised an eyebrow.
Alpha listened intently.
"Captain Solo, damn him," she replied heatedly. "I don't know where he found the thing, probably while he was slumming around at one station or another, and it must have gotten to him before he brought it back here. Some kind of generator, one he didn't report, and it wasn't discovered until it had corrupted ninety percent of this base's personnel."
"A... generator? What?" Kalli frowned in consternation.
"I don't know," the commander replied. "I'm no expert on the things that're rampaging through this sector, all I know is that in the space of forty-eight hours I found the majority of my personnel suffering from delusions and displaying bizarre behavior, one which included incinerating himself and two others on the spot. I managed to locate the remaining Dancers and turn internal systems on them, but..."
"This is most bizarre..." Kalli said. "Was this destroyed, then? Or would that explain why I felt so uncomfortable in the surface base?"
Commander Daling shook her head, "No, he'd apparently gathered enough of his converts together to repel an attempted attack, there was no way to get to it. I assume he stowed it away on one of the freighters that were used to take those who survived elsewhere. We did what we could to speed their progress, or halt it completely, but they managed to escape with a greater percentage of available resources."
"Do you know where they might have gone then?" Kalli said worriedly.
"They destroyed our remote sensors," she replied with a snort. "And nothing local can reach past the mineral interference for any great length. There is also the small detail that they either made off with or destroyed all available spacecraft before departure, leaving us with few options. We suspect they remained somewhere near, as several attacks have been aimed at digging us out, but we can't be certain."
Alpha frowned. That didn't sound particularly reassuring.
Kalli gave a nod. "We'll deal with the Chaos presence in the system as soon as possible, then. What other immediate assistance do you require?"
"We're actually fairly well situated," the commander replied. "At least so far as the immediate future is concerned. We're going to need to regain contact with support forces and the ability to travel, but that can certainly wait on eliminating the Chaos infestation. If there's anything that we can do to assist, be assured we will happily do so. Lost some good men and women in this."
Kalli gave a nod. "We'll get on it immediately, then. I hope between the cloak and the coronite that they can't find where we parked our ships."
"Then you'd best go and check that they're still intact," the commander replied, rising. "I'll pass along the word that you're welcome here, there shouldn't be any unpleasantness on your return."
Kalli stood up quickly, and gave a nod. "Thank you, I'll be sure to pass along the apology to my companion for the holes in his armor."
Commander Daling cleared her throat lightly at the mention of the firefight earlier, but didn't apologize for it as her subordinates were doing what they had been trained and sent to do. She wasted no more of their time, seeing them escorted out and reunited, the Eldar still carefully alert on their return.
"All then is well?" Dolen asked levelly.
Kalli nodded to him, retrieved her weapon, and motioned to him to follow. "We must get to our ships as soon as possible."
Dolen was curious as to the passage of events, but remained silent through their return to their craft. He was already due several hours in repairing his armor, and he highly doubted he'd be given the opportunity to do so by the brevity of Kalli's directions. As they were climbing out, Kalli went over what the commander had said to her.
"Such workings are the dominion of the Changer," Dolen replied grimly, having listened with keen interest to the explanation, "and it would explain much to the more subtle unease which has plagued us about this system, although why this Captain Solo would fall prey to such manipulations is unclear. Your Death Dancers have not appeared to be greatly interested in power, yet it such which that one most readily offers in exchange for its damnation."
"There's always a few bad eggs in every group of sufficient size," Kalli muttered. "I'm inclined to believe her."
Dolen nodded in agreement. "As am I. The details which were presented are clearly within the reach of that Foul God and its artifacts. It does, however, leave us with a certain difficulty regarding the other fortification in this system. Our departure will have undoubtedly given rise to speculation, if not the rampant paranoia common to any of Chaos, returning openly would be, I believe, unwise."
"I agree," Kalli said. "I wanted to get to our ships in case they were somehow able to trace us. Between the cloak and the coronite, it's doubtful, but I don't want to suddenly be stuck planetside. What should we do with the other base?"
The ships were, thankfully, undisturbed and fully intact upon their return, Dolen mulling their options as they neared them. "The most likely effective option," he mused thoughtfully, "due to our lacking the resources of a fleet, will needfully employ more subtle measures and an indirect approach. Landing some distance away beneath the cover of cloak and infiltrating their defenses may be our only real choice."
Kalli gave a nod. "Sabotage will suffice. I hate having to resort to it, but I'm more inclined to practicality in getting the job done than needless heroism."
Climbing into his own craft, Dolen waited until she had embarked as well before resuming over the commlink. "Most installations do have sufficient machinery which might be used to effect their destruction," he agreed, "The most notable being the main power core, while another suitable option would be the storage facilities for the missile armaments our earlier sensory sweep detected. Either should suffice, readily."
"Roger," Kalli replied, flying the ship over in the part of the planet the other base was located on.
Dolen followed closely behind, maintaining a distance from the ground carefully estimated to minimize risk of detection and a threat of displacing a telltale trail on the ground below. "At the near end of the range of mountains encircling should serve us well, Kalli May," he said, gentling over in that direction, the proposed site placing them a good ten miles or more from the base but providing significant cover along the way.
Kalli went to set her ship down over where he indicates, absolutely not complaining about the prospect of having to walk all that way in -40 degree weather. At least they weren't going to expect anyone to try that.
The smaller craft settled neatly at the far side of a small hillock, the winds from the mountains barely a low howl sending snow swirling across the landscape. He took a few minutes performing basic sealing repairs on his armor, then disembarked and examined the terrain nearby. "Not wholly pleasant, but one doubts they shall expect our arrival upon such an unconventional path."
Kalli gave a nod of agreement as she came outside wearing clothing covering a bit more of her body than normal. That was, she was bothering to wear gloves and a mask this time. "No, I expect not. Let's get moving." She headed off over the ice and snow toward the base.
Dolen set off beside her, measuring his stride carefully so as not to pull ahead with the natural speed of his race. It wasn't really necessary, anyway, the distance was readily enough crossed in short order and they began to slow outside what could be presumed to be visual range. The terrain was flat and featureless, making for a good killing field, he'd grant them that. There were always ways, however. Kalli kept pace well enough, and a bitter wind cuts across the frozen wasteland.
They stopped to study the layout of their target, the prospect likely requiring a great deal more luck than they were entitled in this lifetime. Dolen mused on that, and altered that by the general disarray of Chaos forces when they believe themselves to be inviolable, their chances were perhaps even. Perhaps. Kalli thought they could succeed. They might fail, but then, not trying wasn't an option.
"Onward," Dolen said simply and moves forward once more in a ground eating sprint. With luck, they'd remain unnoticed in the frigid landscape, lost among the clutter that sentinels would possibly be ignoring or dozing over without any sign of invasion from the skies.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) the weather was fairly mild, well, aside from the wind and cold, but there was no immediate snowfall. Although a blizzard might conceal their approach, it might also be not very nice to walk through.
Dolen could have hoped for fouler weather, even barring the difficulties associated with passing through it, but ultimately the difference in detection probabilities were minimal when dealing with the sensors available in this age. He could only hope that the Bloody-Handed One would watch over and approve of their purpose. Regardless, their path led to a separate entrance than used before.
Kalli continued on across the snow, aiming for a different part of the base than where they'd landed. The morning sun glared out across the frozen landscape.
Their path was, unfortunately, entirely too close to one sentinel who was apparently either very alert or bored out of his mind. Weapons fire arced out in their direction in a very lackluster fashion, and Dolen was inclined to believe more the latter as he wove and ducked past the searing beams. Kalli was not quite so fortunate, one stray shot clipping and stopping her forward momentum.
Nearly straying into the stream of fire, Dolen swerved to his teammate and snared beneath her arm to steady and offer a moment of support, long enough to bring them within range of the newly visible sentry.
"Umph..." Kalli grunted, whipping out her blaster and glad that her personal shields stopped at least some of the attack. She took aim quickly to try to take down the enemy firing at them.
Perhaps he'd seen something, or more likely he was truly on the path of the insane, either way the quick-snapped return shot took the semi-alert guard neatly and dropped him. He was, luckily, the only one stationed outside the entrance or the only one crazy enough to accept the order or take it upon himself to do so, and they enter otherwise unmolested. Dolen took immediate account of their surroundings on the inside, searching for any signs.
Kalli ducked inside and mumbled, "You know, I never fail to be glad about getting those shields installed. Okay, where the hell are we now? Is this the back entrance or something?"
"You ask as if I know, Kalli May?" Dolen replied with faint, dry amusement, looking around for a terminal that they may gain access to. No sign of one is immediately found, however, and he crosses lightly to the hall leading from the entryway, "Your access codes may prove invaluable shortly, should a terminal be found. Until such time, however, walk carefully. I would not wish to explain your loss to our Patron." He chuckled quietly.
"It was a rhetorical question," she replied, creeping inside with her blaster firmly in hand in case anyone notices them and decides that they would be good to shoot at.
There was a faint crackling of energy in the air about them, neither of them likely to explain it away as a result of the dry winter-like air at this point, the sensation bringing faint unease. Dolen motioned down one of the connecting hallways and proceeds with rapid, quiet steps, counting the moments until their intrusion might be noticed. Fortune smiled on them as they rounded a corner, a terminal set within a niche in a wall.
Kalli headed over toward it, peering about uneasily. "I don't think I like this place," she whispered.
The terminal glowed quietly in the alcove, though its light seems subtly different from their last visit as though it pulsed faintly to the crackle of energy, surely an illusion... or not, Dolen refrained from an expression of anger as the lights flickered briefly in synchronization with the console and then returned to normal.
"It might be best to gain what we came for quickly, Kalli May," he remarked needlessly.
Unfortunately, she found that the codes she'd used so recently had either been changed or simply no longer worked as the terminal refused to respond with sullen silence.
"No luck," Kalli muttered, restraining herself from smashing the terminal in annoyance. "My codes won't respond. I think they're onto us. We'll have to try another approach."
"Finding another warden of this den," Dolen responded, "will likely be our greatest asset, should they provide amenable to persuasion." The faintly ugly turn of his voice at the last showed no hesitation for resorting to less than pleasant means to acquire what they would need to continue this mission. The difficulty might revolve around the issue of finding one within reach and beyond the reach of their support.
He idly regretted the lost opportunity of their former sniper, but dismissed it readily and moved to continue down the hall. Oddly, they had seen no one on their journey thus far, while their last venture had found them scattered here and there.
"I don't like the look of this," Kalli murmured again as she went along with him quietly. "Something isn't right here... Something feels very, very wrong..."
"Something is indeed amiss, Kalli May," Dolen readily agreed, the long held paranoia of the Eldar nearly screaming in his blood by this point. "We should make haste, at all cost. The feeling arises that we have arrived at a most inopportune moment in the workings of the Changer."
He dispensed with the cautious advance, breaking into a lope and continuing corridor after blank corridor. A most ill omen indeed. Kalli moved along quickly as well, quietly cursing under her breath.
Their path wound this way and that, still finding no sign of any of the Death Dancers who should be going about normal duties on this day as with any others. Unease continued to grow as they moved on, the very air seeming to take on an electrified life that became stronger with each step. Dolen stopped suddenly, listening, and a faint sonorous chant could be heard in the near distance, a foul song composed of many voices.
"This," he said, "is not the path which we seek." He then turned to retrace their steps and find another route. He had no desire to see what lay beyond that corridor, nor inclination to meet the mendicants at their foul rites.
If she had still held any doubts as to the corruption within this base, she definitely didn't now. Kalli moved along with haste, and thought that this was one of those situations in which a normal person might be feeling that "fear" thing.
Reaching the last fork in the corridors, Dolen took another hall and proceeded along it quickly. Fear might be an issue, were it not for the rigid frame of self-discipline and the molten hatred of Chaos at his core. He wanted only to find their target and see them returned to the hell of the Warp that spawned them! Several untenanted security checkpoints were passed along the way, giving hope to the trail.
Their goal finally drew within sight, an armored door all that stood between them and the explosive storage facility that would be used to obtain their purpose. "The codes," he nearly snarled. "There must be another way within!"
Kalli tried it, and tried the emergency backups or manual release that should be there as well, making all due haste in the process. Kalli took the time needed to disable the alarms attached to the manual override, careful to cut the proper wires although wincing mentally and listening for a klaxon with each one. Satisfied at last that it was done, she hit the override and the door swung ponderously open. The shrill glaring of the klaxon reminded her that perhaps she should have cut the fuchsia instead of the lavender wire.
"Time is certainly not our ally," Dolen remarked with aplomb and ducked into the ammunition depot to begin working on the job at hand, not now certain that they may escape were the minions of the Changer to intervene in the meantime, but determined that they would return those spawn to their rightful state.
Deep in the heart of the complex, Captain (Now General, thank you!) Solo looked up from his devotions and ministrations to the device he'd been blessed with finding, the klaxon barely noticeable through the roar of power building in his head but nonetheless bringing a distant thought that something important was wrong and should be dealt with.
"Undoubtedly," Dolen murmured absently, setting about the task of arranging for an untimely demise to the depot, not wholly content with the haste which he must needs work under and certain of only one of the three devices even being functional. It would needfully suffice, at least hopefully, for the one should create a cascade of explosions as the warheads were breached one by one.
The last of his set, he looked over to check on Kalli's progress, content as she broke off from her own last device and he nodded to her. "Time and past to be gone," he said evenly, checking his rifle with habitual ease, "Be prepared. I could hardly merit their paying this clangor no heed, regardless of ceremony."
General Solo, in fact, had only recently broken away from the ceremony with a full and resounding string of invective, the ritual to break open the gate and firmly cement Tzeentch's power in this space shattering and its power flowing in queasy waves outward. Oh, someone would pay for this, he swore, and ordered his minions to the offensive. He, personally, would see that the device was escorted safely away, off-planet by preference.
Kalli, blaster in hand, proceeded to head for the exit posthaste, not especially caring to be here when the explosives go off. Dolen couldn't agree with her unspoken sentiment more, and he leapt out the door and took off through the corridors at a light run. Fortunately, they had passed several exits while looking for the depot and they would have little difficulty finding and making use of them in short order, provided the base's defenders did not prove too greatly meddlesome.
The defenders in question had swarmed from the ritual chamber quickly after their orders had been given, long training as Death Dancers serving them with some degree of success to stave off the psychic shock of the shattered energies. Their outward advance was perhaps slower and less steady than might otherwise be expected, but nonetheless dangerous.
Solo found his own path readily enough, though the weight of the generator dragged heavily at him and his own inherent slothfulness serving him equally poorly at shunting aside the shock. He couldn't be sure what the intruders might have done, but he was determined to get away before any harm might come of his glory!
Kalli bolted for the nearest exit, shooting anything that gets in her way and making some use of her gravity implants to speed her up a bit in the process. She didn't really give a damn how cold it was out there... it was going to get awfully hot in here soon.
Their passage was a blur through the corridors, a stray blast of energy searing a wall as they near an exit but impeding them not in the least as both go hurtling out into the frigid air. Dolen didn't slow in the least at that point, wanting to put as much distance between himself and the fury of what should shortly be unleashed, worried less upon those following them than the fire.
The Dancers crackled with varied energies as they ran through the corridors, two incompatible clashing with each other and soaring into an unstable and ultimately lethal explosion that reduced the pursuing force dramatically. The remainder continued unevenly, a considerable distance behind their prey at the last.
General Solo wheezed and looked at the machine in his arms, scowling at it and the delay it was causing him, then cursed and let it fall. Fortune had never been his friend, however, or perhaps Chaos is merely demanding its pound of flesh this day as it crashed and turned his foot into a rather unpleasant jelly. He and the Dancers shared a similar view at the end, the timers at the depot reaching zero.
Two failed to detonate at all, but it mattered not in the least as the third exploded in a brilliant fireball that incinerated the casings of the others and proceeded to act precisely as Dolen might have hoped. The shockwave of the multiple explosions ripped through the base and slammed outward like the fist of a God...
Kalli, fleeing from the scene as fast as making "down" directly in front of her would manage, glances back for a moment as the base went up in flame. "Sweet," she murmured. "And good riddance to them!"
"My sentiments precisely," Dolen agreed heartily, after picking himself up after the blast, watching with appreciation as the flame boiled upward into the sky. A faint glimmer of awe passed through him as he might almost swear to have seen the eyes and mouth of the Furnace looking back from the fires with speculative approval. "Surely not," he muttered and looked away, suddenly intent on discerning the path back to their ships.
Kalli stared for a few moments, put the gravity back on "down" properly again, and proceeded to walk normally with him now that they were not in immediate danger of being blown up as well.
"I could do with a week's peace," Dolen remarked idly, walking along heedless of the arctic chill, "Though I suspect I shall needfully be content with time spent aiding your Commander Daling in establishing communication with those of New Scotland who might be glad to aid and receive such in return," he shook his head, and continued quietly, "Provided the War God does not see fit to find another task for us sooner."
"Ah, flying around, climbing up and down a mile of stairs, trudging back and forth across miles of frozen tundra, running from explosions... all in a day's work," Kalli chuckled softly.