Last chapter. The Heaven's Wing

Explosives ruling
Explosives pose a significant risk of collateral damage. When used, we will roll 2d6 to see if they will affect the lab/station or not.

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Activating the explosives takes your action. Roll 2d6 instead of the D20. Only one explosive is allowed per round.

Corbin hears the excitement in the others voices as the 'Ryans' have returned. Feeling that he's close, he focuses on bringing down the power.

Hank will trigger an explosive that is well placed to hit the three Ryans at the top of the map, from within the corridor. This will hopefully take at least some of them out. This also means he won't be able to fire on one of ones closest to him, unfortunately. (I have to go for the bigger number to start with.)

EDIT: It was a well-placed explosive with no collateral damage, but it was apparently the only one we had. Bummer.

The corridor blazed with sudden light as Mercer snapped off a laser shot, but it sizzled past the shifting form of one of the Ryans, scorching the wall behind him.

Then came the boom—controlled and sharp. Hank had activated the explosive they’d planted earlier as a last-ditch trap. The concussive force slammed into the northern Ryans, catching all of them mid-step. One of them dissolved instantly into flickering black mist, gone as quickly as he’d appeared. The other two staggered, visibly destabilized.

"Nice!" Mercer shouted, ducking behind cover as telekinetic energy surged in retaliation.

Douklan took the moment of chaos to draw a clean bead and fired—his plasma projector lighting the space with a blue-white pulse. It struck one of the wounded Ryans dead center, burning through the telekinetic shield and making it disappear.

There were just 3 left now.

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Meanwhile, Corbin barely registered the noise. His mind was deep in the tangle of cables and conduits, fingers working with ruthless precision. He’d seen the sequence once in the logs—and somehow he knew this would work.

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Corbin re-routed, disengaged, unlocked the magnetic safeties with a manual override. Sparks danced briefly around the control node—then silence.

A sudden, heavy hum dropped away. The lights dimmed, and a low red glow filled the space.

MAJOR POWER FAILURE. NON-ESSENTIAL SYSTEMS SHUTTING DOWN. EMERGENCY GENERATOR NON-RESPONSIVE.

Corbin stood, wiping sweat from his brow, chest heaving as the final command sequence blinked its confirmation. Then—relief.

From the far end of the station, unseen by most of the team, Corbin observed through a camera while the wormhole twisted… stuttered… and collapsed in on itself with a low, thunderous whump—like air being sucked out of the universe.

He smiled grimly before the camera shut down as well.

That’s one gate to hell closed.

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Corbin’s moment of triumph froze as he glanced around. The wormhole had collapsed. The gate was gone.

But the Ryans were still here.

Merceris going to drop his rifle onto his cover and draw his weapon and swing now that the Ryan closed the distance.

Hank is taking a shot at R4.

Unaware that Corbin had shut down the gate, Douklan swiveled and shot at the ghost that has just come through the door on the other side of him (that is, R5).

With the power shut down, Corbin moves to Hank's side and opens up on R4.

Corbin hid beside Hank, the hum of his laser rifle in sync with the tense rhythm of the emergency lights. Without hesitation, he leaned forward and fired a disciplined burst at the fourth Ryan. The bursts hit home, striking the creature’s form with pinpoint accuracy.

Across the room, Douklan raised his plasma projector, and fired. The bolt of energy hit center mass, staggering the clone-thing—but it didn’t vanish.

Neither did the one Corbin hit. The Ryans stood firm, their bodies writhing and distorting slightly as if held together by something beyond flesh. The familiar inky outlines fluttered—but did not collapse. Then one of the creatures raised a hand, fingers curling with invisible force. A sharp crack sounded as a burst of shimmering telekinetic bullets ripped through the air—right toward Hank.

Hank staggered, gritting his teeth as the force struck his side, pain flaring.With practiced precision, Mercer dropped his laser rifle onto the cover beside him and drew his vibroblade in one smooth motion. He met the creature head-on, blade sweeping in a powerful horizontal arc. The edge sang through the air—and through the clone-thing’s midsection.

For a split second, it was like slicing through molasses. Resistance, then nothing.

The Ryan shimmered—shuddered—and then dissolved into a cloud of inky black, pulled apart like smoke in a strong wind. No sound, no scream. Just gone.

Mercer exhaled, already turning to face the next threat.

"One down," he muttered.

Mercer pauses until the next volley from his allies to act.

Risking a glance over his shoulder, Douklan is reassured to see that Mercer has dispatched the ghost behind him. With that, he turns his attention back to R5 and releases another ball of plasma in its direction.

Risking a glance at Hank, it appeared he'd taken the hit in stride. Refocusing he targeted the Ryan again.

Hank takes another burst fire shot.

Well, that was a crap turn for us. :-(