RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mission 6.5] The Naked Raid

[Sigma]

The room was both well lit and dark at the same time. The figure standing by the podium still seemed shadowy despite having the rooms lighting shining directly onto her. That was the nature of the IPG agent, defending Nepleslia from threats within and without, no matter how hard it hurt to themselves or Nepleslia. She took her place behind the podium and leaned in.

"Gentlemen," she said into the microphone to address the Minutemen, led by Cpl. Henry Morris, sitting in the front row. His left foot was resting against his right knee as the woman assessed the engineer quietly before starting the briefing. If the files on him didn't have the right mix of skills he and his squad had, she would've looked elsewhere.
Henry himself seemed a little suspicious, as most addressed by IPG personnel were two-faced affairs, sometimes three-faced. Nostrovia knew of this love/hate relationship between the Marines and the IPG intimately and knew that cutting to the chase would be wise.

"I am here to brief you on a combat operation that requires your expertise. Some time ago we were sent a transmission through an agent." The person in question was Alex Burning, a civilian salvager, but the Marines didn't need to know the source. "They found an asteroid base in the Port Hope system, given to them from an information broker." A picture of the system upon the star map appeared, accompanied by some census and astrological data.

It was a demilitarised zone where Freespacers once thrived, cruelly cut back by the Yamataians in a knee jerk genocide. "The Privateer forwarded the coordinates to us. The coordinates in question were from a cooperative information broker. We sent probes out to investigate the claim and found evidence that supports Burning and the Broker's intel."

Another picture appeared on screen. This time, it was of the asteroid closer up. A ship could be clearly seen exiting through a hidden alcove, and the signs of infrastructure could be seen dotting the darker areas of the asteroid, standing out in the shadows of the starlight. The photos had been taken only a couple of days ago, according to the date stamps on them.

"We're sending you in on a IPG-owned Nepleslian merchant vessel that's been seen in the area frequently, to avoid suspicion from the native Freespacers. We will be forbidding the use of power armour. You will be using the new Golem assault armors developed by Nepletech." A picture of the vessel in question, an Origin Mule nicknamed the NMV Never Again, after the Freespacer's 'bible' of dogma. The ship's trade was mostly entertainment for entertainment, culture for culture. Bits of Nepleslian culture in exchange for bits of Freespacer culture - with the fat untrimmed on both cuts. The Freespacers valued the honesty.

"Weapons and tools wise, I trust your judgement for selecting the right tools for the job. Your superiors have allowed freedom of choice in this, though Corporal Morris may have a final say in what you bring." Henry looked back at his team and knew that some adjustments might need to be made, given the new uptake and shuffle he'd felt the need to guide their hands somewhat.

"I expect a thorough job - capture or destroy any NMX installations, capture or destroy any cloning facilities, kill anything that resists. Do not be afraid to violate a law or two in the apprehension of the NMX - their laws do not stop Nepleslian bullets."

"Hear hear." Henry replied out of turn. He caught himself and closed his mouth, Nostrovia giving him a steely stare for talking out of line that could've made his bones freeze. She agreed, but protocol was protocol.

"If the Freespacers notice, our crew will handle it until you complete the mission. If there are no further comments, are there any questions?"

 

[Fenix Aldaris]

The hybrid sat toward the far side of the squad listening closely and attemtping to dedicate as much to memory as possible. Finally the call for questions came. Rising to his feet, the young marine stood at the position of attention. "Does this mean that unavoidable civilian casualties are acceptable?" Asked Aleksei as he prepared himself to ignore any glances from his squadmates.

"I only ask because if we have to demo NMX fortifications on the asteroid, there may be decompressions in other sections of the asteroid base." Added the man as he waited for an answer.

 

[ShotJon]

Lisa looked at the soldier that spoke up. She still did not know him all that well, but their last mission showed her he could fight very well. And seeing him fire HPAR from hand on gun-range showed her was freakin' strong for a hybrid.

"Are you a moron?" She asked looking at him. She raised her eyebrows as if she just heard something she could not imagine. "We are there to kill squids not civvies. Last thing we need is to piss of bunch of Freespacers There are other ways to destroy a station you know! We could use an incendiary bomb and burn the whole place out. It is good enough to kill everything and destroy electronics. All we need is to open all the doors, so the flames can travel. Nothing you could not do, if you access their computer."

 

[Luca]

"Corporal Simmons is correct - unavoidable is tolerable and mercy kills are acceptable," the agent was referring to having to see people for whom there was no hope, they no longer people - just incubators and meat for their masters. Once you kill your first it gets easier, "but unnecessary civilian and non-combatant casualties will result in the same treatment being thrust upon you." A smirk crept across her lips. "Fair's fair; correct?" The condescending leer that the IPG agent gave the hybrid at the back of the room did not diminish with distance.

Henry turned around to look around at those assembled and decided to break the ice. "Ladies, gentlemen, there's no harm in asking the right questions here - she won't bite..." as he turned back around he mumbled "...hard."

He sighed hard as he took inventory of his team. He heard that there was some new blood arriving from the intakes that'd happened in the reconsolidation following the destruction of the Dauntless. He knew he wouldn't have the Cavalier's support on the line, so he had to trust his team and the IPG - and they had to trust him and the IPG.

 

[LitD]

Zyv sat silently alongside the other Minutemen listening to what was being said and doing his best to memorize what was important. With questions forming in his mind he nevertheless waited to see if somebody else would ask them, seeing as nobody seemed ready to he sighed and asked them himself.

- ‘Do we have any Intel regarding the numbers and equipment any opposition might have or about the asteroids interior, floor plans and such?’

His service thus far would suggest otherwise but one could hope that the marines wouldn’t be expected to go in blind and “make do”.

 

[Sigma]

"We have scanned as much as we dare to, so as not to reveal our presence to either the NMX or the Freespacers. I want to make it clear, this is an NMX facility hidden inside an asteroid. Its presence is not known to the Freespacers and it would be preferable that we keep them out of the loop. There shouldn't be any Freespacers there.

"The main thing we can tell you is that we don't believe there are any power armored troops at the location. This base's main defense is its stealth. Power armors with active sensors tend to be very unstealthy. We know its a cloning center, which means that you will encounter Thralls, Nekos and actual Mishhu. From what we can tell, they receive a monthly supply drop and ship out their latest batch on the same transport. From what we can tell, the facility should have enough space to house a couple hundred humanoids at most. So the plan is to wait until we can confirm that they've sent out their current inventory of clones and then hit them. I hope I'm not using too many big words for you."

Nostrovia had contempt for the Marines. They were, in her opinion, mere trigger-pullers, attack dogs whom the Imperium pointed towards the enemy and released. Subtlety was not their forte.

And subtlety was needed in this mission. It was a job for the IPG Commandos, not the Marines. But the Grand Admiral, in his infinite wisdom, had chosen to use Henry Morris.

"I want to see how successful he is with independent command," had been the entire explanation. Just like that, the operation shifted from a pure IPG in-and-out to a joint operation. All so that the Admiral could test a corporal's leadership skills. It was maddening.

"You'll be using the new Golem Assault Armors. Please let us know how well they work, especially when damaged. Your method of entry will be decided upon when your ship can get a close up look for entry points. So be ready for anything, even jumping out of an airlock."

 

[Fenix Aldaris]

Aleksei accepted the answer given by the IPG spook as their normal cop out. 'Fuck up and we'll make sure you never see daylight again.' thought the Marine in regards to a rough translation of the agent's reply. Chewing on the end of his cigar while he listened to Zyv's question get answered, which was not something he was overly fond of. Jumping out of an airlock was not the way he wanted to spend his day.

'Suck it up, Marine.' came the thought from Aleksei's mind. Pulling a book of matches from his pocket and striking it with a snap of his fingers before letting the flame kickstart the cigar's partially burnt end.

 

[Warriorx1]

Max listened attentively to the clusterfuck of a situation he thought that they were getting into. Not only were they going in without power armors or serious backup, they were going into a situation that was completely unknown with "new" equipment. This meant that it could fail spectacularly and the Marines, not the equipment would get the blame. It wasn't the kind of situation that he wanted to be put in, but it was what he was getting. "Welcome to the world of special operations" he thought to himself. They were marines, not commandos but eh he would accomplish this mission to the best of his abilities.

Still he did have a lingering question on what to do if things went tits up. "Sir, do we have an alternate extraction plan in case our primary transport is... unavailable? Are we authorized to... commandeer any ships from station to serve as an extraction vehicle?" Max was curious for this part because it would show if they were truly expendable assets. Certainly no one would know they were there and they would certainly be on their own if something happened.

 

[Sigma]

A few days later

The NSS Snooper, a converted Red Hill cargo hauler, arrived in the Port Hope system. Ostensibly, it was the independent cargo freighter, ISC Jimmy-Bob. Its exterior had been made to look worn and in need of repair, though the truth was that the Red Hill was in top condition and fully crewed by IPG Naval personnel.

That was the interesting thing about black ops, everyone on board had to know the stakes so within the group, there was no need for secrecy. There was, however, no shortage of rivalry between the enlisted ranks.

As planned, their arrival coincided with the orbital path of the asteroid they wanted. That meant that even after they had received permission from the Spacers to dock at Port Hope, they could conveniently "break down" near the asteroid and send a "repair team" out of the airlock. If they were lucky, the Spacers would accept that and stop paying attention. If not, well, then they'd just start shooting the NMX in broad daylight and then remind the Spacers about Nepleslian protection and the dangers of letting the NMX set up shop in a system.

"Corporal Morris, I believe we're just about ready for our 'unfortunate accident.' Please get your boys ready. We'll be in position in ten minutes," Captain Darren Walters told Henry via radio.

The Minutemen were at the ship's armory, making their final checks on their weaponry. All of their Golem armors had been checked and double-checked for seal breaches and given the okay. Once they were sure that their guns were ready, the Marines would proceed to the airlock and pretend to be an EVA repair team. And then after that, they'd hop over to the asteroid, a mere 10 kilometers from the ship.

 

[LitD]

Zyv stood by in full kit waiting for the order to move. He had already double and triple checked his kit that consisted of the Showstopper assault rifle as the primary weapon and the standard issue Styrling Silver Special in a drop holster and the Compact Zen .45 in a cross draw as secondary arms. The addition of the standard combat knife plenty of Fragmentation and EMP grenades as well as, as much ammunition he could take and the medical kit completed his load.

Deploying into action dressed in something other than a Hostile was nostalgic and only ruined by the fact that he was going into combat wearing the untested Golem armour rather than the familiar weight of the Styrling Muur armour but what could he do? It’s not like he could deploy into space in it so he just had to hope that the Golem would not reveal itself to be unreliable.

With a sigh Rakowski looked around seeing what the others were up to.

 

[Warriorx1]

Max walked stood in the armory trying to figure out what he wanted to bring on the mission. He wasn't sure how reliable his armor was going to turn out to be, but he did want to make sure he had a realiable weapon. Max wasn't quite sure what kind of situation he was walking into, these black ops operations were... questionable at best. So he decided to go with a weapon with a nice mix of firepower and range.

Walking up to the weapons rack he picked up an M2 Assault Rifle. He figured the rifle would be best for most situations as he wasn't sure if heavy weapons would be needed. He did however want to be prepared for close quarters fighting so he selected a CQB12 as a rifle attachment for his bottom railing. Just in case he had to get upclose and personal with NMX thralls. He mounted a tactical flashlight on his upper rail to complete his rifle's loadout. As a secondary weapon he picked up a full size Zen Arms .45 for his holster. Max used the rest of his spots for ammo, frag grenades, a set of stun grenades for room clearing and his trusty combat axe for close encounters.

Checking his weapon and equipment he was ready for action. While this armor wasn't nearly as imposing as his HOSTILE, it was still pretty awesome. He just hoped that he managed to make it to the target. Moving through space was risky business. A minor suit malfunction would be a death sentence. He hoped that these suits preformed as designed or else it would be a really short operation.

 

[Luca]

Henry was smoking a cigar with his helmet tucked under one arm as he was sitting down and waiting for showtime for the IPG. They had been straightforward with everything they'd said, and the freedom to choose may have appeared crippling at first, but he picked up the following items to accompany him in this assault.

A matte black OI-W8-1A Showstopper was by his side, and he had four magazines of I-APE on his abdomen plus one in the gun. It was Origin tech, so some of the more Nepleslianised marines gave him dirty looks - but if he was to encounter heavy resistance, this was his answer.

By his side was a HHG - a gun powerful enough to put two wheels on and call a cannon. Henry, however had bought it along for utility purposes, bringing three moon clips of BLUE rounds for taking on security, and two moon clips of WHITE for general purpose attack. In addition, he had a clip of solid lead rounds, meant to be used with the Mass-Driver only for silent attacks.

Finally, hanging on his left breast was a marine's combat axe. Sometimes the answer to your problems was an axe. His right breast was adorned with two flash bangs and two EMP grenades. Those were just his armaments.

On his back and connected to his suit was his datapad, sitting inside an insert to keep him connected and wired to the others once he got his helmet on, and by his side was the 'violin case' for a Monoeye drone and his prized, modified Meditech/Terratech TEK he used previously in Operation Roundhouse on the small of his back for field repairs.

"Max," he said, exhaling and releasing a cloud of smoke. "Nervous?"

 

[Fenix Aldaris]

Performing his own ritual to prepare himself for the future tasks, Aleksei puffed merrily on a cigar as he loaded two of the two pound blocks of RX-33 in a leg bag that would sit on his left leg. The spool of detonation cord was in a pouch at the rear of his belt along with the Wakizashi he had procured from an NMX Neko which hung horizontally beneath the rear pouch.

Popping the cylinder of his HHG, he made sure it was loaded in a 1-1 fashion starting with RED followed by FMJ. Satisfied with the arrangement, he slid it into it's holster. Grabbing 5 magazines of I-APE ammunition for his Showstopper and checking to make sure the weapon was in condition for combat.

Frag grenades were the next on his list as he grabbed four of them and made sure his ax and knife were the finishing touches as they found their way to his right breast while his knife sat on the left. Tucking his helmet under an arm, he found himself standing next to Corporal Morris and Max. He happened upon them as the Corporal asked if the man was nervous, while the Hybrid held the cigar between his teeth and a grin was visible. 'I think it's safe to say that everyone is nervous.' thought the man.

 

[ShotJon]

Lisa spent most of the day they travelled locked up in armour, playing with her Golem armour. First she put it on and did a seal check. It seemed that there were no holes in the suit. That was kinda important if they were supposed to space-walk somewhere. Then she did more viable upgrade of the suit, taking pair of electrified knuckledusters and attaching them to the suits gauntlets. She then most happily some stylish short spikes on her left shoulder-pad. Last thing was putting a smiley face on her helmet from one side and bright punk sign SEXBOMB on other side.

Then she just spent time getting used to movement in the suit, playing in it, trying out how hard it is to reload a gun in the gloves and stuff like that. Then was time to put on the most important upgrade of all. She did that with a bit of help from Drei. She connected a fresh datajockey to her helmet. Fresh... except for few terrabytes of heavy metal and rock music. Then she put strapped two speakers on to the suit and connected them to the data-jockey. After all that she did a bit of programming with Drei. Her data-jockey connected to the HUD, would now simply start playing a random song anytime, enemy would be detected. Or whenever Lisa would just order it to.

With that the suit was perfect. And in that suit Lisa was sitting next to Henry with helmet already on. The suit was playing a nice tone of eletctric guitar. Lisa did another check on he equipment. Knuckledusters now drew power from the suit itself, so that was okay. She also got herself a good knife and Axe like Henry did.

For sidearm she picked a tiny pistol loaded with HE shell and 3 extra mags. She wanted to have this in case she would have to fight in space. Not that it would be a problem as her primary gun was an energy rifle anyway along with 10 extra batteries.

"Hey mates," Lisa talked to others with a smile. "If you see any of the kaserine gas grenades I am buyying them off, 100 DA a piece!" As for grenades Lisa had those too. Several actually. 2 frags, 1 EMP grenade, 2 plasma grenades and pouch on her belt with 4 relaxant grenades. She also put a TEK in her buttpack. Finally she had a canteen of water. One does never know.

 

[Sigma]

"Change of plans, Corporal Morris. I'm sending a team with you. Got word from one of people planetside that the troop ship has not been observed as per its schedule. It may have come and gone or it may have been delayed. As insurance, I'm detaching ten of my crew to you. They answer to you," Captain Darren radioed to the Minutemen.

A few minutes later, the ten IPG Operators had quickly equipped themselves and reported to Henry. All that he caught was that the leader was a woman named, "Hawkins."

-----------

Once out of the airlock, the Marines and Operators began fooling around in the vacuum as though they were mechanics. That basically consisted of them banging the hull randomly with the butts of their weapons. When Captain Darren was satisfied that the Freespacers had stopped paying them much attention, the soldiers kicked off towards the asteroid.

Each of them carried a small thruster pack to maneuver and slow down. The glide towards the NMX base was long and stressful because of their helplessness. If NMX sensors picked them up, they could easily be killed by whatever hidden defenses they had.

They nothing to worry about. They went undetected. Possibly because the NMX base had no windows.

After touching down against the hard rock, they regrouped at an airlock to enter. "I can hack it, if you want, Corporal," one of the IPG volunteered.

 

[Warriorx1]

Max floated through space, trying his best to look like a worker to anyone who might think otherwise. Of course if anyone actually bothered to look out the window they might notice the group of heavily armed marines and IPG operatives pretending to be workers. During his time banging on the hull Max had plenty of time to think about how the plan wasn't going according to plan.

The troop ship had never actually arrived so they were given reinforcements. This of course meant that there was probably a couple hundred NMX in there plus whatever happened to arrive on the troopship if it showed up before they left. It wasn't a very positive prospect considering the overall mission was dicey at best. Of course thoughts like that turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy so Max left it alone when he was given the order to move onto the main objective.

More floating helplessly in space as they made their way toward the objective. Max was probably sure that the suit could stand up to small arms fire, but if any anti-ship defenses fired on them they would be toast. It was a thought that Max was sure he didn't share alone, but it was still a distressing one.

Max's distress faded a bit as he touched down on the outside of the NMX facility. Instinctively he moved to "cover" his section although his rifle weapons would be pretty ineffective in this environment. He realized he should have picked a Showstopper like the other Marines but it was too late now. All he could do was wait until they were inside and a long wait it would be.

 

[LitD]

Zyv scowled at the appearance of the IPG operatives. He did not like having to co-operate with marines he did not know but having a political unit like the IPG insist on sending men in he found even less pleasing. It raised the question whether they had been honest about the mission’s objective and whether the marines were nothing more than a diversion while the spooks did their job.

Even if not it still was a problem of having a group of people of unknown skill being dumped on them at the last minute.

Despite his thought process Rakowski continued to do as he was expected, floating towards the asteroid before kneeling and observing his sector as he awaited entry.

 

[Fenix Aldaris]

Floating through the vast emptiness of space was something Aleksei never enjoyed. Just something about having the knowledge that if your calculations were off and you missed the target, it would be quite some time before S&R found you, set him on edge. Plus with a complete deniability mission like this, there was always the chance that the IPG spooks would leave him for dead.

Finally feeling the solid rock of the asteroid beneath him caused the marine a small sigh of relief while he covered his sector. Having the spooks along was just another thing to make him nervous. He had never personally dealt with them in the past. Like all marines though, he had heard stories about them. None of said stories put his mind at ease.

 

[Luca]

Henry was drifting through space towards the suspected NMX outpost. He had drifted through space, but this was one of the only times he felt like he was in control of things. He wasn't drifting aimlessly after being struck by a stray round and having to recalibrate balance while in a power armour.

But here he felt like he was in control despite being so lightly armoured and wearing only an EVA suit, the Golem Armour and his epidermis with his comrades and agents by his side for all that could protect him. The fluids within his ears that governed balance were floating - his sense of balance was null - but he knew how to work around it. Zero gravity training was part and parcel with marine training.

He grabbed the asteroid and started shimmying along it, weapons and equipment on back like a Zero-G mountain climber. He eventually regrouped with his squad. "Proceed, Sergeant." Henry replied to the IPG operative before he patched a line to his squad.

"Simmons, Hawkins, keep a look out while your agent gets the door open. Raikowski, Carter, Voronov, stay by the airlock. I'll take point once the door's open." He paused for breath as he anticipated what could be behind the doors. He put himself into position as close as he could, pulling the Showstopper rifle off of his back, disengaging the safety and pulling the cocking lever. "If it appears hostile, shoot it and make sure it's dead."

 

[ShotJon]

"Aye sir," Simmons replied to Henry and waved at that woman, named Hawkins. "Come on Hawkins," Lisa said and by holding on the station she drifted up above the airlock to have a good vantage point. She did not mind being in space. When she was back in flight school they took them up to space and tossed them out in space-suits few times. If a fighter gets damaged and you got to bail, the pilot needs to know how to move in the space. This was nothing new to Lisa then.

Except for now being a heavily armed marine on a look out for enemies. Lisa went to the upper edge above the airlock, to catch a glimpse over it. It would be bad if someone got a jump on them. Fact that they were not shot, did not mean that the enemy did not know about them. After all there could be bunch of suited neko zeroing on them now to make an ambush. It could happen and Lisa wanted to be ready.