Post by Professor Arachnus on Apr 11, 2024 4:50:25 GMT -8
Turning his domed chassis aside, the Professor braced his droid body for impact, shutting off his photo-receptic lenses as the undead leviathan skull came skipping across the sands towards him. It seemed certain that by his calculations he was about to be crushed. After a moment, when he found his chrono-meter still counting down despite the fact that he should have been flattened like a flapjack from Clem's Pancake and Joke Emporium on Felucia, the cybernetic spider deigned to reactivate his photo-receptors. As he opened his mechanical eyes, the chief librarian saw the Demon Lord's winged form hop off the sithspawn skull he had rode like a chariot up to the front of the temple, his malefic figure partially obscured by the dust cloud he had kicked up with his impromptu landing.
When Valefor spoke, it was unclear to the academically inclined arachnid-robot what his master was referring to. Was he impressed that the 113th Brigade was still mostly in operational order? Did he mean the leviathan, or whatever nefarious spell had given it unlife? More likely, he must be referring to the temple whose front steps they now found themselves standing upon.
Arachnus followed his master's leering gaze at the temple, then looked back towards the giant pile of leviathan bones, gesturing towards it with two of his razor limbed legs. "I'm adding the leviathan to your tally, master, but that only counts as one." Firm, but fair. While the data addicted assassin updated their score card, the rest of the Iron Brigade formed up in a defensive circle around the tomb entrance, with the outer ranks kneeling with their rifles aimed back towards the dunes where the dead still appeared to be clawing their way up from. The ranks behind them stood, while the inner sphere stood on standby to switch with the second row when they needed to reload. For whatever reason, the desiccated sentinels of the valley continued to dig their way out of the dunes and come at the droid intruders to their domain in wave after wave, occasionally joined by spectral apparitions that took the form of mounted massassi warriors. An organic force would have succumbed to despair at such a sight, but not the Legios Cybernetica, who were programmed without fear. Well, the behaviour of some of the B1s brought that into question, but they didn't have time to trouble shoot any bugs in their software while out on a mission. In a war of attrition, they'd eventually succumb, but for now the Exorcists seemed to be holding the line. Sergeant Corrosion could be found stomping back and forth in front of their line, smashing through dusty skeletons before they could reach the kneeling front ranks. Even the hailfire tanks could be found helping, raining down a chorus of missiles onto groups of the recently reanimated, though they quickly wore through their ammunition.
They'd need to leave the bulk of their forces outside the temple to guard the rear. No point of searching inside just to find their way out blocked by an army of the dead. Of course, the Dark Forge only knows what sort of other dangers they might find inside. For the Professor's part he placed his viral faith in the Forge Master, whose resplendent red form had seen him through worse situations.
"Droid Force 66, to the front! On the double, droids!" Screeched the bookish metal spider, whose order caused a group of four B1s to peel from the inner row and form up in front of the Sith Sorcerer and his robot side-kick. Compared to the other B1s, these appeared a bit wonky, as though the Dark Forge had the hiccups or something when it manufactured them. For instance, one had the chassis and arms of a B2, another wore a bandana and carried a large vibro-knife strapped to his forearm. The third was holding a long blaster with a scope instead of the muskets of the rest, and the last appeared to have modified their hands to include a number of maintenance tools. Well, the last of the B1s, anyway. Droid Force 66s last member was a DUM-series pit droid, that stood next to the motley mix of B1s and offered the Fabricator General a salute. "This is Droid Force 66, milord, known amongst the Legios as the Bad Bunch. They are...mmmm, how shall I put it? Mildly defective, but their ratio of mission success to failure is off the charts. They'll get us to our destination. Speaking of which..." Activating a holo-projector on his chassis, the SD-K4 droid projected a three dimensional light recreation of the tomb's exterior on the stones in front of them. "The composition and density of the stone used in the creation of this temple is making penetrative sonar scans impossible, but based on my research of similar archeological finds in this region, most of these ancient structures contain a hollow central chamber. If we can locate a path to the heart of the temple, I believe we'll find what you're looking for, master."
Stepping out of line, the B1 with the bandana spoke up. "Leave that to me, sir. The name's Poacher and I'm the finest tracker in the Legios. I'll get you there, sir. You can count on it." He claimed confidently. Smasher, Reticle, Mech, and Alpha all seemed to stand a little straighter as their squad leader boasted.
When Valefor spoke, it was unclear to the academically inclined arachnid-robot what his master was referring to. Was he impressed that the 113th Brigade was still mostly in operational order? Did he mean the leviathan, or whatever nefarious spell had given it unlife? More likely, he must be referring to the temple whose front steps they now found themselves standing upon.
Arachnus followed his master's leering gaze at the temple, then looked back towards the giant pile of leviathan bones, gesturing towards it with two of his razor limbed legs. "I'm adding the leviathan to your tally, master, but that only counts as one." Firm, but fair. While the data addicted assassin updated their score card, the rest of the Iron Brigade formed up in a defensive circle around the tomb entrance, with the outer ranks kneeling with their rifles aimed back towards the dunes where the dead still appeared to be clawing their way up from. The ranks behind them stood, while the inner sphere stood on standby to switch with the second row when they needed to reload. For whatever reason, the desiccated sentinels of the valley continued to dig their way out of the dunes and come at the droid intruders to their domain in wave after wave, occasionally joined by spectral apparitions that took the form of mounted massassi warriors. An organic force would have succumbed to despair at such a sight, but not the Legios Cybernetica, who were programmed without fear. Well, the behaviour of some of the B1s brought that into question, but they didn't have time to trouble shoot any bugs in their software while out on a mission. In a war of attrition, they'd eventually succumb, but for now the Exorcists seemed to be holding the line. Sergeant Corrosion could be found stomping back and forth in front of their line, smashing through dusty skeletons before they could reach the kneeling front ranks. Even the hailfire tanks could be found helping, raining down a chorus of missiles onto groups of the recently reanimated, though they quickly wore through their ammunition.
They'd need to leave the bulk of their forces outside the temple to guard the rear. No point of searching inside just to find their way out blocked by an army of the dead. Of course, the Dark Forge only knows what sort of other dangers they might find inside. For the Professor's part he placed his viral faith in the Forge Master, whose resplendent red form had seen him through worse situations.
"Droid Force 66, to the front! On the double, droids!" Screeched the bookish metal spider, whose order caused a group of four B1s to peel from the inner row and form up in front of the Sith Sorcerer and his robot side-kick. Compared to the other B1s, these appeared a bit wonky, as though the Dark Forge had the hiccups or something when it manufactured them. For instance, one had the chassis and arms of a B2, another wore a bandana and carried a large vibro-knife strapped to his forearm. The third was holding a long blaster with a scope instead of the muskets of the rest, and the last appeared to have modified their hands to include a number of maintenance tools. Well, the last of the B1s, anyway. Droid Force 66s last member was a DUM-series pit droid, that stood next to the motley mix of B1s and offered the Fabricator General a salute. "This is Droid Force 66, milord, known amongst the Legios as the Bad Bunch. They are...mmmm, how shall I put it? Mildly defective, but their ratio of mission success to failure is off the charts. They'll get us to our destination. Speaking of which..." Activating a holo-projector on his chassis, the SD-K4 droid projected a three dimensional light recreation of the tomb's exterior on the stones in front of them. "The composition and density of the stone used in the creation of this temple is making penetrative sonar scans impossible, but based on my research of similar archeological finds in this region, most of these ancient structures contain a hollow central chamber. If we can locate a path to the heart of the temple, I believe we'll find what you're looking for, master."
Stepping out of line, the B1 with the bandana spoke up. "Leave that to me, sir. The name's Poacher and I'm the finest tracker in the Legios. I'll get you there, sir. You can count on it." He claimed confidently. Smasher, Reticle, Mech, and Alpha all seemed to stand a little straighter as their squad leader boasted.