441 Deaths and Drills (1/2)
Red and blue flashing lights covered outside the entrance of the Seacliff Mining Station where the dungeon was located. Already a large crowd of miners and other workers had formed, all watching the ambulances and security personnel waiting at the entrance.
Shortly after a group of rag tagged medical staff and their escorts came running out with stretchers carrying the critical wounded between them. They rushed up to the waiting ambulances and the crowd parted to allow the ambulances to rush the wounded to the hospital where the emergency rooms were already ready and standing by to receive them.
Karl watched as the next group of people carried out the bodies of the dead. He looked at the remaining Adventurers' Inc. members who could still walk, escorting the remains of their comrades out. Karl saw the two youngsters covered in blood and their faces were ashen being laid out by the usually cheerful Leon, whose expression was grim and dark.
”Turok!” Karl called out at the unmistakable figure of the bulky Orc. Turok paused and spotted Karl and he strolled over, his body covered in blood and wounds. ”What happened?”
Turok gave a sigh and set his surprisingly clean double bladed axe down down. ”Any drinks?”
Karl gestured to one of the support staff and the elf returned with several flasks of cold water, which Turok gratefully took one and finished it in one go, before opening another bottle and pouring it over his body.
Turok gave a grimace as the water caused some of his wounds to sting and he sat down. ”Dark King... Many bones warriors...”
”Dark magic very strong...” Turok explained. ”Team Two and Three wiped out by dark magic...”
”Too many bone warriors... Cannot die...” Turok took another bottle of water and gulped down its contents. ”Dark magic keep bring back many bone warriors...”
”We charged to Dark King,” Turok said and gestured to the black body bags being laid out. ”Great courage them. Many died to reach Dark King.”
Turok patted his axe beside him and mimicked a chopping motion with his hands, ”Smash dark magic with Mooncleaver! Chop, chop, chop, Dark King into many pieces! And level cleared!”
Karl shook his head dejectedly, ”Shit... this mission just effectively crippled two thirds of our teams!”
”Did you see what was on the last level?” Karl asked.
Turok nodded in acknowledgement, ”Last level covered in liquid fire with long bridge in middle!”
”Lava?” Karl frowned. ”Did you see what monsters were at that level?”
Turok gave a shrug, ”Nope.”
”Alright...” Karl replied and he gestured towards the exit. ”Go rest and recover, I will handle the rest here.”
Turok nodded and stood up, swinging his axe over his shoulder and strolled out with a slight limp. He waved away the medical team that approached him and headed towards the rows of body bags and he kneeled down and whispered a prayer in Orekish.
”Worthy comrades! You honour your ancestors! Your ancestors be proud! Your great deeds shall be known to all under the sky! Go with peace and pride!”
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United Nations, Outskirts of Haven, Research and Development Site, Hangar 9
The exposed skeletal airframe of the stripped down Valkyrie gunship laid bare as a small group of goblin techies fussed over the machine. Sparks flew as power tools saw through the frame over the background music of death metal.
The goblins and humans engineers worked for weeks to remove parts of the old Boeing 848 Super Spacebus turned gunship. The troop compartment was removed and the previously stripped off space armour was to be reinstalled. The space armour will protect the crew against heat, cold and radiation from space.
WIthout the troop compartment, the airframe will be shortened by at least six meters and replaced with an airlock and the turbofans removed and replaced back with the original thrusters. The reduce in the length of the Valkyrie will also reduce its overall weight.
Life support systems and other essential systems were also to be reinstalled back and once the Valkyrie was reassembled, it will carry a maximum crew of four and have enough oxygen and fuel to survive in space for roughly fifteen hours which will be more than enough time for them to grab the probe in orbit and reprogram it.
Two tanks will also be installed on both sides of the airframe just under the armpits of the wings which will run from the cockpit to the tail of the machine. A pump linking to a heating and cooling system will run through both tanks and storage tank for the Aetherium crystals salvaged off the crashed airship.
The heating of the Aetherium crystals will provide lift for the Valkyrie, thus drastically reducing the need for extra fuel and weight. As the original space shuttle was not rated for atmospheric flight and re entry or orbital insertion, much changes to its external airframe were needed. To achieve orbital insertion, a pair of disposable hydrogen fueled rocket boosters will be strapped on the back of the Valkyrie to give it the extra boost it needed to exit the planet's gravity.
The crew for the mission had already been chosen, which will include one human, two elves and a goblin with the human, Airforce Major Peter Mitch, heading the mission.
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United Nations, Outskirts of Haven, Research and Development Site, Hangar 11
Wattz worked the controls on the side of his waist as he was taught, as he half floated inside a massive pond wearing some kind of suit and helmet. Manoeuvring jets mounted on his backpack pushed him forward towards the huge white grey cylinder before him. ”Weeeeeeeee!”
He didn't really like water that much, especially being submerged in a deep pool. The first he was dropped into the huge pond which he thought the size was ridiculous when he saw it with the rest of his gang. He protested to the instructors telling them that goblins don't do drowning well nor swim well either, if not why would he sign up with the Airforce instead of the Navy.
The God like Instructors laughed at him and shoved him into a surprising fitting suit and forced him to memorize all the hundreds of steps of how to wear it and take off all within five minutes. He soon dreaded the suit as it was hot and stuffy inside and it made him unable to scratch the parts that needed to be scratched!