"So, we're going to clear out the ship that we had never even seen before a few weeks ago, after taking it down with a ship they made just the week before, and we're going with just the 6 of us, and Karl is using a new set of armour?" Maxim asked in the skyranger, as they made their way towards said location. William, Karl, Masambe, Keith, Aya, and Himself were heading there.

"Yep" Karl said from across, looking quite happy. He'd gotten the new 'Ghost' armour, which was a lot slimmer than everyone else's, and allowed him to become invisible for a short time.

"You see, this sounds like that level where you're just playing it thinking, 'Why am I doing this on foot. We should just nuke the place'. Why don't they just bring more ships over here, and just blow it to hell for a few hours. Then the cleaning crew can come in"

"Because then we'd never know what was on the ship" William replied "And you know Vahlen's going to want a closer look at the commander of this ship"

"I guess. Still seems like a dumb idea"

"We've faced worse" Aya said

"When?"

"Every time we encounter the aliens" Masambe replied

"Fair enough"

"Everyone spread out. Move towards the ship" William said as they exited the skyranger. The ship was very clearly right in front of them, just a few walls, and a bit of rubble between them.

Maxim moved up, getting behind a tree "Fielding" before focusing, and releasing his Psionics in a nova, but maintaining it, rather than letting it go, creating a 'Telekinetic field', which absorbs energy from things coming into the field, but not going out of it, just in-case something came running out of the ship. He could only maintain this power for a few minutes, but it should be just as effective in not getting shot as hiding behind a boulder. So if they ducked behind a boulder in a field, it should be almost impossible for them to be hit. He also, if he focused, could make the field visible to non-psionic people, he did so, allowing them to see where the protection ended. Masambe moved through the field, stopping just at the edge of it, and ducking behind a wall "Mutons" he called out, Maxim only saw 1, the other had obviously ran around the other side of the cliff, they were the big fuckers Harold had encountered, these ones actually wore helmets, and had a lot more armour. Maxim saw the purple glow showing Masambe was using Psionics, and the Muton stumbled, but didn't fall. As he did so Keith ran over next to him, and did the same, the combination of mental assaults caused it to fall over, but it did so behind a wall it was running to.

"Stealthing" Karl called. Maxim glanced over, and could see Karl moving towards the cliff, able to see him only because of his Psionic vision, and even with that, only seeing him as a light purple haze in a roughly human shape. Damn that armour was good, Maxim needed Keith to give him a go with it. Maxim turned back towards the Muton he could see, but stopped raising his rifle as William unloaded at the alien, driving it even deeper into cover, and clipping it's helmet as he did so. Suddenly Aya ran past, no idea what she'd been doing, and, engaging the jets to jump over a plasma ball fired from behind the cliff, taking cover behind a chunk of rubble near the alien, the Star-Thrower in hand.

"Got it" Karl said, and Maxim looked up to see him, visible now, behind a fallen tree, and a Muton with 2 smoking holes in it, one in the chest, one in the head, slumped behind him. At this point the Psionic energies dissipated, the Telekinetic field drifting off.

The Muton tried to fire at them, but the supressing fire prevented it from doing more than poking the gun around the rock and firing wildly, and this spraying stopped as Aya appeared next to it, brought up the Star-Thrower, and the Muton stiffened, and dropped to the floor next to the 'door' of the ship.

"Head to the door. Typical formation. Rest and Reload" William called, as he moved up to some rubble near the door.

Maxim moved around from his tree, and began jogging towards the boulder Aya had been behind earlier, and was about to reload when he realized he hadn't actually taken a shot that fight, and watched the others get into position and reload. He looked at the ship. It didn't look that impressive. A bit bigger than the normal ones, sure, but still a lot smaller than the cargo ships they took down occasionally. It didn't look much different, it didn't even have flames painted on it. Red makes things go Fasta.

Aya lead the way in as usual, followed by Karl, then the others, Maxim staying in his position for a few moments. "Clear" Aya called. Maxim moved up, taking position by the door. The inside looked the same as the other ships, computer terminal in front of them against the wall, some weird things next in the 'entrance', and 2 corridors. Maybe it was a bit bigger, but that was about it. The aliens clearly weren't into ostentation. Maxim shook his head, he was getting into little details again, he kept doing this, why? It wasn't like it was some random ladder with no reason to be-. No, stop it, focus. He paid attention again, just as a massive robot came around the corner up ahead, and 2 of the little drone things they'd met before. One of those massive machines Harold's group had encountered, a 'Sectopod'. How'd it get that name. No. Stop it. He shook his head to clear the last dregs of those thoughts out, and get back into focus, just as William and Masambe launched rockets, William firing down the hallway towards the Sectopod, and Masambe firing out a hole in the wall, through which Maxim saw another Sectopod, as well a couple of it's own drones. William's rocket cleared out the hallway, taking out the corner wall leading inside, and Maxim heard a roar, but couldn't see inside. The drones with the first Sectopod were destroyed, and it was leaking oil and sparks (Not a good combination). One of the drones with the other Sectopod had avoided the blast, and the Sectopod itself didn't seem as badly damaged either. Maxim saw something green fly towards the Sectopod Masambe and fired at, and recognised it was a grenade just as it blew up, taking out the other drone, and further damaging the Sectopod. Masambe tried to take a shot, but he could only get vision of the one Masambe had shot at, and only it's leg, so didn't think he could do much damage anyway, he hopped inside, dropping behind one of the things in the entrance, and focusing, creating the Telekinetic field again, this time not bothering to make it visible since they were so close together anyways. Aya moved around, almost going outside, and fired a shot towards the Sectopod Masambe had fired at first. Karl popped up, and fired, a loud roar from inside was cut short, and Maxim guessed Karl had dropped a Muton inside. There was a whirring sound, different than the sound of an LMG, and a massive red beam fired towards Aya, but it didn't reach her, as it got thinner, and faded as it entered the field, another laser was fired from the same position, but it achieved similar results, losing power and dissipating in the Psionic protection, Maxim felt kinda smug to have absorbed the shots of one of those Sectopod fuckers. Aya ran back over, red lights going through the wall that had been there, but had apparently fallen down, either a bit of the energy from the Sectopod hit it, or the fire weakened it enough. She ducked down behind the bit of wall remaining after the Rocket's, firing at the Sectopod now revealed by the missing wall, striking straight in the 'head' of the robot with a hail of shrapnel from her 'shotgun'. The robot stumbled, then fell forward onto said 'face', and blew up. "New guy and 2 Muton's" Aya called, and Maxim turned to see 2 Mutons standing where there had been a wall, one almost right over Aya, and a stranger alien. It was extremely thin, almost looking like a skeleton, with grey, wrinkled flesh, 4 arms, and some strange robes covering it's torso and legs, if it even had legs, it had a helmet on, at least, Maxim assumed it was a helmet, which was pure white, except for an area that looked like a speaker, the grille of the helmet, it didn't seem to have any eye holes. But none of that really drew Maxim's attention, what he saw was a massive concentration of the purple glow signifying Psionics, not just around it's head, but around it's entire body, almost making it difficult to see, so he disengaged his psionic vision, dulling it to a light glow. "It's got insane Psi Levels".

"Got it" William said, turning, rocket launcher in hand "Move back" Masambe and Maxim moved back a bit to give him room, everyone else already being significantly far away to not get hit by it. William fired. The 2 Mutons stumbled forward, but grabbed onto things before they fell off the platform, their aim put off by the blast, buying them a few more seconds before they fired, the 4 armed alien spread out 2 of it's hands as the rocket came towards it, and it seemed unharmed by the blast, and Maxim saw only a slight drop in the glow. It must be powerful if it can block a rocket and only lose a bit of force from it's barrier. "Fielding" Keith said, and Maxim saw the glow come out showing the field. The Sectopod down the corridor moved to the side a bit, absorbing the shot that Karl fired into it's side. Masambe raised his LMG, and began spraying over the 4 armed alien and the Muton. The Muton dropped to the floor to avoid the spray, and the 4 armed alien raised 2 of it's hands, and the plasma bolts firing towards it were reflected up into the roof as they approached. Masambe spraying to keep the in those positions. Maxim noticed that William was in the open, and quickly Mindfrayed the Alien closest to him. There was still one left over than wasn't supressed or Mindfrayed, that would have a clear shot, but he had Titan armour, he could take 1 shot. There was the whirring of the Sectopod again, but again the lasers dissipated within the field. The Muton not currently supressed or Mindfrayed recovered from the blast, raised it's gun, and fired at William, who brought up the Rocket Launcher in his hand, and caught the ball with the weapon. The end of the Launcher dropped to the floor, sizzling, and William dropped the other bit before pulling out a grenade (This guy carried a lot of explosives on him. Maxim decided to get away from William should fire ever get near him). The Other Muton was currently trying to get out from under the supressing fire, and the other one was holding it's head and stumbling around a bit, apparently it was very weak-willed, and the 4 armed alien continued to stand there, reflecting the Supressing fire into the roof. William launched his grenade. The Muton stumbling about caught the blast full In the face as it wrenched off the helmet just as it landed, the face disappearing into a mush of shrapnel, bone, blood, and shredded flesh, and dropping to the floor. The other one, keeping it's helmet on, stumbled backwards a bit, but didn't fall.

There was a loud explosion, and Maxim looked over to see the Sectopod drop to the ground and explode. Maxim quickly turned back, and put the Muton in his scope, firing a bolt into it's weakened helmet. Before it had even dropped, he turned and pumped a shot into the Muton getting up off the ground, nailing it right in the chest. Masambe continued his rain of fire on the Ethereal, Aya ran over next to Keith and Maxim. Maxim felt a calm and focus come over him, as Keith used what Maxim called 'Inspiration' to focus his and Aya's mind against Psionic attacks from the alien. Maxim could see the faint glow of Karl approaching the alien from behind, in stealth. "Try and capture it" William said, as the Alien turned to look at him. William stumbled backwards, but was fine. There was 2 consecutive thuds, as the Muton's Masambe had killed finally dropped to the ground. Maxim fired a shot, striking one of the alien's hands as it brought it's other 2 hands up to block the shots being fired at it by the rest of the group. Yellowish blood sprayed out of it at an insane rate, spraying out like a hose. "It's barrier's down". It raised it's 3 unwounded hands, and pointed at William. William flew backwards into the wall, denting it, and dropped to the ground. As William hit the ground, the alien fell to the ground, and Aya appeared behind it, putting the Star-Thrower away.

"Confirmed, all hostiles down and the area is clear" Central said over the coms, confirming they'd killed all nearby aliens

"You alright Crash" Maxim asked, going over to where William had hit the ground after being launched by the alien.

"I'm fine. Armour absorbed the worst of it" William grunted as he got up. His armour was dented in the chest where he'd hit the wall, not enough that it'd be hurting him, but enough that it would be awkward and irritating until he got it off

"You appear fine" Keith said, giving him a quick once over "But that attack was psionic in nature. Vampire, see anything? You're more sensitive to it than me"

Maxim engaged psionic vision again, and looked at him, there was a slight glow of fading psionic usage around his person, nothing signifying a lasting effect "Nothing I can see. But it could have done something inside, I can't see through the armour"

"Well then, let's head back" William said "Psycho, bring the new guy, the clean up crew's needed here for the Sectopod's and the ship anyway. And they'll need to get that thing" he motioned towards a strange device that Maxim hadn't noticed before. It was large, about the height a person at the highest part, and a few feet across. Box shaped at the bottom, but becoming a thinner curve at the back, with a large silver-ish ball floating by the top of the curve bit, it had a slight purple glow, like it was psionic, but that could just be a left over from the Psionics used nearby. He had a strange feeling to touch it, but resisted, having played too many games to know to not touch that strange glowy thing that you find in the enemy base.

"You feel that?" Keith asked

"Feel what?"

"Like you should touch it"

"Yeah"

"Whirr? You feel it?"

"Yes"

"Psycho, Crash, Spray, do you feel like you want to touch it?"

"No" Aya replied

"Nope" Karl said

"Not particularly" William said

"It might be something psionic in nature then" Keith said "It would be best if those of us with psionic abilities avoid close proximity to this thing, just to be safe"

"Of course" William replied "Come on, let's get out of here. I'm going to get a rash if I keep this on too long"