The Briefing.
On the ground floor of the factory the PD had fortified as its base of operations sat a modest factory floor that spanned almost a sports fields length across and half as much away. Machines of seemingly unknown purpose had given first to rust from the humidity and salt in the air before being hasilty broken down by the new residents and piled up against walls with only the largest of scrap hulks sitting static on the floor. Beyond this catwalks of questionable stability and structural integrity not only lined each wall but also made a criss-cross of ceilingways that only the bold had taken up residence on and only briefly when every added pound seemed to jerk or creak the scaffolding before being told off by the sorry sods underneath and under threat from their collapse.
Here, some three thousand men, women, and everything in between filled the floor in a loose mob with a few outlying exceptions such as the medical staff and those holding the perimiter. Slowly the last dregs filled in as each man or women wore a loose assortment of unequal weapons and armor that made the assembly look more like the gathering of marauding warbands than once marines and sailors were it not for the olive fatigues and simular dress attires upgrading their look from raiders to underfunded mercenaries.
From two different paths entered two different groups with opposing tasks.
Making few waves save for a rare and stunning elysian in their ranks the A-team was able to loiter in their own little corner at the back.
The B-team made more of a presence when the towering and intimidating form of Erin Zelegar; Massive cybernetics and unsettling gray skin set her apart while a tight group of obvious unintelligent
mooks followed her at the heels and included Francis Euphoria. They moved slightly deeper into the crowd and against one wall until only Easy was in sight ahead as those with actual survival instincts cleared a path lest several hundred pounds of cybernetic legs crush their feet. They made it to the very front of the assembly and were only short of being in the front row save for a handful of more organized squads holding their positions.
Before too much conversation could bleed over one another several much more armored marines in mostly uniform sets of Golem armor came out from a set of double doors followed by the command staff. Looking much the same as all the other convicts save for a few of them actually having choice equipment the group of ten made their way to stand opposite of the thousands before them as one man unassuming in their midst broke off and scaled a pile of crates of surplus equipment.
Looking rather an average sterotype of a Nepleslian male in the same fatigues as the rest of them and just a simple worn leather holster with the grip of a 45. laying out, he was broad and barrel chested with red-brown hair and light blue eyes with only the barest of stubble on a hard set jaw.
He stood silently, his glare openly judging the thousands before him with a hard gaze that reminded far too many of their own dissapointed fatherly figures until just when it became unbearable one of his staff hefted a large bulky speaker-box to the mans feet and passed up a megaphone-style microphone.
"I wont sugarcoat it; There are forces outside of your control. Most of them-
All of them do not care for you." He growled, causing a stir of confusion around the crowd.
"None of them know your names; But for a lack of caring, not ignorance. Your faces, your genders, even your crimes. They simply saw a hard obstacle and chose a cheap and expendable tool to soften it up before the sharp axe takes its turn.
You are the expendable tool today and this city is the obstacle that needs to be softened. But to do that there's one hell of an obstacle in our path before we get to go home and I check a box next to your name that cuts five years off your vacation with us."
His next words caused an uproar.
"There's a ship hull-down in this city and we need to take it down."
Men yelled and jockeyed and pushed and moshed against the frost ranks as the front-most squads; Strategically placed beat back or discouraged the tide. On the stage made of Boxes the warden neither attempted to settle the crowd nor make excuses.
He simply waited and stared down three thousand irrate criminals without even flynching.
"Some of you here know me, many do not; My name is Colonel Anthony Hargraves. In the year zero-three I earned the nickname of the
Living Sun for burning elysian city nobody ever heard of and earning my place within this unit as its commander. I've seen thirty-two hundred of you to parole and ten times that many buried. I sit watch with you, I eat the same chow as you, I share the same fate as you win or lose. Never above you or bellow you, i'll always stand on your side when shit kicks the bucket you can believe that. " He settled them after it became clear that rioting wasnt working.
"So when im telling you we need to take out that ship it's not because I want it. Not because I dislike the sight of it. Not because I care overmuch that the kids in orbit will get toasted by it before reaching groundfall.
It's because every one of us is
expendable. When the brass up in orbit finds out there's a hard target down here costing them
unexpendable lives they arent going to think real hard on the scale of a couple thousand of us or tens of thousands of their own. They'll write us off and our objective and turn this city into a parking lot before you make it a mile from this spot. So we're going to take that ship down the
old-fashioned way, And in return, I'll see to it each of you gets an extra ten off your sentences; Fifteen years.
For many of you that will be an early parole, a medal, and a handshake before I get to slap you on the ass and give you a nice intimidating speech about ever ending up in my prison again and how I won't be mad, I'll just be
disappointed in you
.
So it's not going to be easy. But some of my boys here for being a bit too liberal with their professions assure me that once inside we have enough ordinance rigged up to crack the corvette in half.
So pick yourself up by the bootstraps, untwist your panties and check your mags. You are every mothers cautionary tale and I want every cat and whatever squids have been hiding so far in that ship to piss and ink themselves when they see you coming, heard?!"
There were some cheers, some affectations and assertations of the wardens words. But these were hardened men and women and not young kids in need of a pat on the back or excuses. An overwhelming majority nodded in somber acceptance and grim determination as their commanding officer tossed the megaphone down to one of his staff and stood with arms crossed and waiting.
One by one squad leaders and veteran sergeants started taking command of their squads and slowly ushering them out.
A-team
After the speech, the team was forced to wait until only the last few douzen people were starting to file out. Locust was still there with her group, very obviously waiting for the last dregs to leave as her and her mooks waited. The colonel, still standing on his box had more than noticed her and seemed to be waiting expectantly until the only ones left in the factory was the fifteen men including the warden of the command staff mingling about, Locust and her goons, and the anti-assassination faction that made up the A-team.
There was at least a hundred feet between them and Locust. Though the psychopath had seemingly not broken her target fixation to notice them yet. When the last person of the final squad left through the doors; Locust strode forwards towards her target.
B-Team.
The warden; Colonel Hargraves had been looking directly at them for several minutes now with his deadpan glare as squads began to file out. Some of his staff looked their way every now and then but seemed rather unconcerned about them or their intimidating and very noticeable superior but seemed to be more invested in whatever they had going on between themselves than to worry or question it.
It wasnt off the plan. Erin would be seen and have an alibi enough to get into the right spaces with the command group if they stuck to it. She already had some kind of rapport and they were still within acceptable parameters to complete the job. They had enough guns, supplies, and kit including medical to look the part of being ready to fight, But still the man had noticed they they had yet to move out.
There were a few stragglers, however, clearly staring them down with oddballs like a freespacer type-two, an elysian, and even a mutant in a menagerie in the back clearly looking to bail on the operation somehow by loitering to likely make a dash for it or even to try to make a move on convincing the warden otherwise but were clearly put off by their teams presence.
When the last had left, however, Erin beckoned them forwards towards their target for the first part of her plan. Hypothetically beyond just her this man was the controller of the little bombs inside of their heads and if they didnt want their heads to swell up like a watermellon before popping she had to make first contact.
Behind them at the back of the factory the other stragglers were clearly taking on a hostile posture. Caffran perhapse before all of his team was able to instantly take notice that the chameleon looking mutant had seemingly disappeared which did not bode well. If the stragglers were looking to make a move on their target Erin had explained it had to happen under the right circumstances for her to be able to take control in the command center and disable their charges.
Anything before then like a hostile move against their superior there was no doubt all of their heads would pop even if they werent involved...
