Stage Act

Chapter 2, Emotional Rescue

A violet and mahogany VTOL ship exited FTL as its sublight engines flared up, propelling the vessel into a field of metal debris and amethyst dust, flying towards the Tangled Shore that was now abuzz with activity; Eliksni Skiffs, Cabal Harvesters and Hive Tombships. Eve sat behind the console of the craft, watching Nolan deftly manuever the controls as the ship approached a blinking point on the radar.

Nolan; "On approach to sector designate "Kingship Dock"... Beacon is still active there, but it denotes a hot landing zone."

Evelyn nodded with a smile, standing from the pilots seat as they neared an asteroid flanked by large thrusters set up like pillars on a play set. She went to the hold and a red light came on, Nolan disappearing over Eves shoulder as she went to the back of the hold and removed her new grenade launcher from a mount on the wall. Turning around, a panel on the floor lowered, permitting exit to the ground below. She stepped out as the ship closed up and took off in the opposite direction, immediately met with a gunfight between two Eliksni gangs, the closer ones wearing House Winter colors. Nearly being shot by a wire rifle, she took cover behind one of the upright thrusters, accidentally kneeling down near a Vandal. The Vandal slowly turned to look at Eve, his shock rifle still open to expose the breech and battery inside. Eve smiled sheepishly and held her hands up by her head, speaking in Eliksni.

Eve; "**Don't worry, I'm not here for you.**"

The Vandal seemed surprised by Eves fluency, nodding slowly as he closed up the breech, the rifle powering up.

Vandal; "**I'm not going to question your presence yet, but... Could you give us some help, at least? I've got the dead and the damned trying to keep us from extracting.**"

Evelyn nodded, confused a moment as she processed what the opponents were referred to aim and thumbed the safety on her weapon. She stood and went to take aim, finally seeing the other gang in detail; they were clad in scrap armor and cloth, more so than the Eliksni she was fighting alongside, and their chitin was missing in some places, replaced by boils of neon blue and grotesque blisters. Some had their faces exposed, their eyes and mouths leaking a heavy vapor, while others had their eyes concealed by helmets, seemingly making them blind, yet they still attacked as though they could see. Eve hesitated, her mind flashing back to sights of SIVA swarms pulling Eliksni bodies back on their feet and puppeteering them to continue fighting until there was nothing for the nanomachines to support. 

Her breathing picked up, blinking rapidly as she took steps back, watching the Eliksni get gunned down one by one, including the Vandal she'd originally spoken to. She watched as all of them, including the Vandal, were exposed to the dark mist leaking from one of the larger Eliksni, the vapor causing the dead bodies to convulse and swell up, and they staggered to their feet after a moment. Eve put a hand to her chest, hyperventilating as the newly resurrected Eliksni slowly approached, holding out their hands towards her. Just before they could lay hands on her, a gunshot rang out from a hand cannon, pulling Eve from her panic attack as the Eliksni directly in front of her was shot dead. 

She turned to see where the shot came from, spotting a Skiff with several holes in the bow, still burning with Void Light flames. She'd see Brian leap from the Skiff as it slowly fell from the air and wrecked into the lower portion of the asteroid. Once on solid ground, Brian disappeared in a flash of Void Light, the undead Eliksni being stabbed by near invisible daggers, exploding in Void Light one after another, the other Eliksni confused and firing blindly to try and hit him. Eve watched with a mix of inquisitiveness and relief, eyeing the larger Captain that allowed for the resurrection of the others. She took in a deep breath, leveled her Prideglass, and fired a round with a distinct "thump". The round broke a shield around the Captain, and they let out a vicious roar, beginning to run towards Evelyn. She quickly loaded another round and fired at center mass, sending them flying backwards with a large, burnt crater in their chest, landing on their back and dead at the other end of the room.