RP: Galactic Horizon [HEF] First Expediton - Fresh Coat of Paint

URSA Roof

"The communications network is currently being restored by two other members so that will not be necessary, currently we have no knowledge of the attackers and our forward scout Captain Terrins is outside of available communications distance and pinned down. When the satellite link is restored I should be able to contact my separated self that is with him and gain some insight, however we will not reach him for another 10 minutes at this current speed." Dawn spoke to Zeke as it activated the temporary satellite route through Phreakers own mind and body, the feeling for the spacer wouldn't hurt per say but rather felt like a million voices all running through his head and paralyzing his body.

"This link will only last for a minute, beginning data sharing now." It said to him before the voices seemed to amplify and were joined by an undertone of static as the Dawn on the URSA attempted to reach the Dawn with Terrins.

Signal

"Communications detected, the URSA has managed to create a direct line to us Terrins. I'm initiating a data transfer with myself now, you only have a minute if you want to say anything and note that all combat data we have here will be sent to the URSA." It said into his ear. "I thought you might also want to know I found an RPG user, here." The AI said, marking a faint outline on his HUD of a person sprinting along the sand dunes, head and shoulders poking up above the lip and in full view.

URSA Roof

As the AI started the data sharing, all communications routed through his brain. It was as if he was in a large room with millions of people haveing a million different conversations, and he could barely hear any of them due to the static. Some of his motor functions gave out as he dropped to his knees. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he started to over heat. He could barely think over everything.

As he continued to wire the new antenna in, he heard the sound of Phreaker hit the ground. He quickly turned around and saw him kneeling. "Dang it. i only have a few more minutes" He thought. "Hey Zeke! Can you hold him and make sure he doesn't fall over!" yelled Andrew over the sound of wind. "We only have a couple more minutes of up time before i fix this!" his hands were shaking as he soldered more cabels together.

"Acknowledged!"

Zeke wasn't getting a bead on a target for now. He hopped back up and rushed over to Phreaker, lifting the man only a little bit. The spikey blonde ducking under Phreakers arm to support him as he had been taught in the marines.

"One hell of a first day on the huh?", Zeke said with a optimistic smile that could be seen through his visor, "Just stay calm and get it done, I got him. I'll worry about him, you stay focused."

He adjusted the man to better accommodate his weight before speaking to Phreaker, "I got ya man, you're doing good."

Having heard the alert, 40 had quickly took Titan to the back most hatch to the roof, crossing paths with 78 once they got there. She was carrying with her an odd looking rifle that would look relatively typical if it weren't for the strangely cone shaped muzzle. Despite her profession having nothing to do with the use of sophisticated weaponry, she seemed almost alarmingly comfortable holding it. Perhaps more alarming, was Titan's face when she saw the weapon. It lit up with an enormous grin, much bigger than when she had been presented with her toy which was now in the robotic clutches of Fleshmender 40.

"I performed a scouring of the local arsenal." Freethinker 78 announced, "This was the only firearm that deserved my attention. Projectiles: Sonic. Recoil: Suspected."

As she mentioned recoil, she pointed towards the recoil suppression located at the back of the gun before tossing it towards her partner. Faulkner 40 flinched at this, but caught it by the barrel nonetheless, throwing Titan's doll towards 78, who caught it likewise. He quickly shifted his grasp to the handle and allocated grip, recognizing the danger in holding a weapon in the wrong places. Although, realistically he was still holding it wrong, having the handle of Titan's chain between his hand and the grip.

"Aye, watch it! Maybe under our roof but I don' see anyone here throwin' guns like they're rations!" He remarked.

78 was quick to reply with a contradictorily long riposte, "Dilute your disquietude. The safety mechanism is latched to negative."

While 40 seemed mostly confused, 78 was looking up at the hatch nervously. Titan in the meantime, was busy knocking on nearby walls, chirping about in her mindspace quite obliviously.

"...Disquietude? Surely that ain' a word." He mused to himself quietly, 78 interrupting not long after.

"You do not suppose I could fit through that egress..."

He looked at the ladder leading up, then directly up at the hatch itself, closely observing the girth of it, then looked back down at his wife's mechanical body. His response was particularly avoidant, "...Ehhhht would be a tight squeeze?"

Freethinker immediately threw her head back and groaned in frustration, deliberately smacking the wall next to her with one of her arachnid themed legs. The contact producing a loud, echoing "THUD", contrasting quite amusingly with the plush toy in her hand. Titan thought so, too, because she too kicked the wall, creating a much lighter noise and screaming "YEEEAAAHH!!!".

"Titan, vacate first. Then you, Forty." Freethinker ordered, "I will observe from here if conditions are favorable."

With that, she opened a compartment in her spider shaped torso and took out a sash loaded with pistols, ammunition and a more extravagant rifle shaped gun which seemed to have a few accessories. She stomped forward and fastened it to 40, who stepped on the first step of the ladder to open the hatch, inviting Titan to climb up. He fastened the Sonic Rifle to the sash, barely finding enough room on it and held the handle of Titan's leash high to give her the necessarily slack needed to pass. She bounced to the roof of the URSA and he followed shortly after, immediately looking around to address the situation and figure out how his daughter could best help.

Signal

Terrins counted himself lucky nothing had hit him directly yet, the security officer thought it was the same luck that managed to land him in the arms of a back-alley bonesaw after that bear tore his arm off but the Minkan had bigger things to think about now - namely that distant figure the voice in his head had marked as he began leading the shot to land where the distant figure would be rather than where they were.

"Just... tell them I'm alive and to make sure they're alright, I can hold out a little longer," the redhead spoke with a bit of stubborness his twin sister had once been known for, though having rolled out of a vehicular accident with a rifle in one hand and a hole in his shield you couldn't blame the guy for breaking away from his usual self a little.

The trigger was finally squeezed, causing a crack and a flash as the 7.62 bullet was propelled out the end of Terrins' rifle - followed by a roar of escaping gasses being burnt off. As the wad of high-speed metal travelled through the air he gripped the weapon's bolt and cycled the spent casing out with practised grace as the next bullet was extracted from the magazine and chambered - all going according to plan there would be a nasty exit wound in the rocketeer's neck in but a moment, though Terrins still had to deal with the other marksman who remained unseen for now.

URSA Roof

"Temporary link will cease in 10 seconds, communications equipment requires calibration." Came the voice of Dawn over several hidden speakers on the URSA's roof, directly addressing the party up there preparing for a fight. So far no enemies had moved to intercept the vehicle although it was still a little way off from them anyway and the raiders we're intent on eliminating Terrins and recovering what scrap they could before it arrived.

Since the Equipment had been fixed however the vehicle picked up its pace once more, it would be a matter of minutes before it arrived to help.

URSA Cab

"Just... tell them I'm alive and to make sure they're alright, I can hold out a little longer" The voice of Captain Terrins echoed slightly through the cab as Dawn relayed the message to the crew while sending all the combat critical data to both Dusk and Phreaker who would be in direct control of the weapons platforms when the fighting began.
"Hmm, well at least he's as tough to kill as ever, direct the URSA towards the raider locations marked, and have any available Redback pilots take the remaining 3 from the hold to join Anna and Bella to attempt an exfiltration operation." Brin ordered.

Signal

Seeing the URSA approaching at a higher speed the raider activity picked up in intensity and many more men who'd been in hiding seemed to rise from the sand, his shot had landed a little lower than intended as the sniper was roused by all the commotion, however a bullet through the windpipe even at collar level was enough to send him spluttering to the sand. Another sniper opened fire on Terrins, but his shot went wide as his nerves and adrenaline got the better of him.

The two men with launchers turned their attention to the lumbering vehicle and fired off a volley, almost certain to miss from such a distance but none the less several alarms went off on the vehicle just to give the Horizon team another problem to worry about.

Meanwhile a squad of 5 men advanced on Terrins with large makeshift metal shields and what seemed to be small assault rifles, although their fire rate was patchy as though also makeshift in construction.

"Alright! That Should do it Phreaker! Disconnect when you're done!" yelled andrew. He stood up and threw everything back into his tool bag. "I Better get back down to engineering and see if Ivan needs a hand with anything" He Thought, grabbing the guide rails and starting to make his way back down the ursa, he turned to ensure that Phreaker and Zeke were still doing ok.

URSA Roof

When the connection ended, his senses came back from the overload and he found himself kneeling, being supported by another crew member.
"You werent here before" he chuckled. And the he stood up. "Thanks, Im good now. A little sore, but good."

He noticed the URSA was on the move, and saw Andrew heading down below. He sent a quick query to the AI's. Are we operational now?

He turned to the man who had helped him. "When this is over, remind me to get you a drink. If they have drinks around here. I got to get back to the cockpit."

He turned towards the walkway down where Andrew was and started that way to head down to the cockpit, his legs moving stiffly. He kicked off a self diagnostic to see if anything was damaged, some of the initial reports were that some of his internal connections had degraded a bit, he had lost about 10 percent efficiency. Nothing his repair subroutines couldnt fix or reroute with time and rest. But he didn't have time for that now.

URSA Phoenix Chamber

Ivan was indeed in need of a little bit of help, while the vehicle hadn't taken any damage for the time being maintaining a steady output and temperature on a fusion reactor was no small task and the greasy engineer was running all around the cramped space between the reaction chamber and the outer shielding trying to attend to every switch and dial at once. "Hey I know your just out there kid, mind giving me a hand down here?" He called out to Andrew.

URSA Cockpit

"Yes, the communications equipment has been fixed however it will take a little more time before we can reestablish all the correct links to satellites and personal communication units. For now you are requested in the cockpit to man one of the Shooting-Star turrets." Dawn replied to Phreaker as he moved towards the cockpit from the roof.

URSA Roof

Fleshmender 40 began to think and felt pressure to do so quickly. Terrins was clearly in danger, especially so seeing as many of the shots from these invaders were aimed at him, alone in the sand. Something more had to be done and just a few seconds too late and he could be hit by a rocket launcher and would cease living. It was risky to act without orders but being a former medical practitioner, he allowed his instincts to kick in. Hesitant to let Titan loose, completely aware of the dangers his daughter posed, he grabbed at one of the guns attached to him, opting for the fire arm with the most range and accuracy; The MWS1-MAVERICK in a carbine configuration. He looked ahead of the vehicle and searched for a target, allowing himself just a few seconds to do so. Sand kicked up in his eyes and the URSA itself bounded up and down on the hills and dunes recently intensified by the sandstorm. He was panicking.

40 couldn't hit a shot in these conditions if everything he loved in life was at stake, let alone a friend, or more appropriately, a coworker he met in passing. His mind chased itself trying to find a solution. Should I fire? Should I wait? Is this worth the risk of releasing Titan from my grips?

The sound of piercing gunshots penetrated Fleshmender's ears. First, yet another sound of a sniper rifle. It was now or never. Startled, he released his grip on the leash and threw the gun forward. As the MWS1 was flung through the air 40 yelled atop his lungs in a desperate attempt to get his daughters attention.

"TITAN!!!"

TITAN

There is this sweet I like. As the broader category would suggest it is quite sweet but unrelatedly it is brown and white and swirly shaped! I like swirls and things that swirl like wheels and sand and wind and. I breathed in. I like fresh air. It is pretty but I can't see it. It is pretty to the nose and face. I could hear some loud gun noises but I do not mind. I hear lots of loud noises in training!- "TITAN!!!"

I turned around. Dad letted go of my funrope and was yelling at me. Am I in trouble? I didn't steal any treats this time. I didn't do anything except be here and be a good daughter and friend. Maybe I unhanded Mrs Strawberry wrong? Oh. There is a gun coming towards me. The silly one with the funny parts that come on and off and on and off and on and off. It was 1742~ millimeters off the ground when I saw it and approaching me at a speed of 2.185~ meters per second but wait I forgot the speed of the big metally thing I am on top of which is something lik- DOESN'T MATTER. I got distracted again, sorry Dad. I backed up and jumped 370~ millimeters off the ground to catch the gun which I did by the handle and it was good! I am good! Mum would had been really happy if she saw that. Maybe Mum saw it! Mum did you see tha- I AM BAD.

I spun around with my shooty and ran to the front of the metal boy. He is a boy. I have decided he is a boy. He tries to shake me off a little which is naughty but mistakes happen so it is fine. I did not trip and explode my face which is good. I am good. I hear the second bullet. Wow. What was this stupid aiming for? It looked like he missed? What kind of silly woman fires wildly like that? I decided she is a she because I am too far to see her. It is good, I saw where she used her shotty from. Shot... Bad words... Bad... Evil melons... I like watermelo- NO. SILLY SILLY SILLY SILLY ME!! Metal boy is 1800~ millimeters big- positive 4~ degrees from here- positive 10~ almost approximately from the ground- angle such and so distanceok-yes-good-321JUMP-

I spun through the air as big explosion missiles went passed the metal boy. I do this a lot. Dad was confused at first because he thought this would make me worse at shooting. But Mum thinks that being able to directly preset and rail the speed and direction I pan leaves the only factor to be controlled by me to be exactly when I pull the trigger. She is sort of right. Which is why I lock my body into place while I am aiming and jumping at the same time. Until I land, anyway. Then my muscles are helpful instead of annoying. I stared down the sights of my sooty gun. Sooty. Watermelons. I like watermelons... Evil... Watermelons...

I reached the maximum height I allowed myself before jumping. Everything froze... I will fall soon. Falling... Drop...

I pulled the trigger. I hoped I did my mathy thoughts right. Just to be sure, I decided I should hold the trigger and give the evil watermelon a little line to get hit by. It is easier to get hit by lines...

SMASH. I let go of my muscles and land on my feet. I hope I did okay.

Signal

The spotty sounds of poorly improvised weaponry graced Terrins' knife-tipped ears and caused the redhead to grit his jaw, though he was happy at least that his shot had put one of the sand-dwellers out of commission - it was one less threat they had to deal with. The Minkan rolled his armoured form back into cover behind the metal scrap and leant his rifle against it for now, seeing no real use for his bolt-action weapon in such close quarters as Terrins reached down for the purple bit of metal slung to his thigh.

He rolled once more, though out of cover this time as the security officer's organic arm locked itself at the elbow and aimed his revolver toward the approaching foes - assisted by the suit's metal skeleton, his cybernetic hand rapidly shot down to pull back against the revolver's hammer once, twice, twelve times as wads of super-heated, anti-armour plasma were lobbed out of the sidearm's barrel with enough recoil to make his strength-enhancing suit's arm waver a few hairs.

URSA Cockpit

Phreaker made it into the cockpit and looked around. "We having a bit of fun today?" He asked no one in particular. He dropped into a chair and connected to one of the turrets, ready to fire at targets.

"Gun ready, lets go."

Signal

While Titan's superhuman feat was quite impressive it was always bound to have a low chance of hitting, of the short burst fired several shots smacked into the sand around the feet of an RPG wielder while another two grazed his lower leg and side causing the man to clutch his side and quickly take cover, pulling a previously concealed metal shield from the ground up in front of his body.

Of the 12 shots fired by Terrins, all 12 found their marks with varying accuracy, every one of the five advancing shields now had one or two holes in them with one of the raiders collapsing from a direct hit in the gut super-heating his insides. The others advancing wavered for a moment unsure of what to do faced with such firepower. After the slight hesitation the remaining four tossed their shields towards Terrins like discs, of deadly spinning sheet-metal, before they dashed forwards spraying madly at his position and swerving from side to side.

As the skirmish nearby resulted in yet another loss for the raiders the two with RPG's pulled back behind their dune along with the remaining sniper. Their ambush had gone far worse than they imagined and the three now hiding knew it would be a matter of moments before the huge vehicle was upon them and the assault group was wiped out entirely.

"We have to call him."
"ok, but what do we say?"
"We fucked up, but we need him, that massive speeding tank thing would be worth a fortune to the boss."

As the three ended their brief planning session the sniper pulled a shoddy two-channel radio transceiver from his belt and barked a quick series of requests to who ever was on the other side.

URSA

The two RPG shots smashed into the sand just behind the lumbering vehicle sending sand flying over the exposed roof and anyone who was up there, the shock-wave however barely had an impact on the mammoth vehicle as in continued on at its usual pace.

URSA - Cockpit

"Weapon user acknowledged, mental link established, remote control confirmed." Came the faint voice of Dawn in Phreakers head as he connected, somehow sounding more mechanical than her usual sub personality.
"Alright Phreaker, Dusk, we need to support Terrins. Fire on that dune where the other three ran to and try to flush them out, or decimate them. Don't use the Orbit Jumper though, missiles is just overkill and a waste of funding for these low lives." Brin ordered as he continued to monitor the situation near the other security officer using the many optical sensors available to him.

"Anyone else who shows up without a white flag or raised hands is also fair game, keep our man safe."

Signal

He almost felt disembodied from the whole situation as hand-loaded rounds that had been shoddily packed together plinked off of his armoured carapace, chipping away at the damaged suit as the Minkan leant back and tucked his body in - using the momentum of that motion to dump the now empty plasma core and cycle in a new one by the time he can executed the backwards roll and was standing on his feet again.

Terrins wouldn't have been surprised if something backfired for them soon but compared to what the ex-saint officer was used to this was just a walk in a swelteringly hot park, the shots were more focused this time now that he had a measure of the unorganised crew they were - a focused point of his revolver, a delicate squeeze of the trigger and a quick flick of his thumb to re-set the hammer before he squeezed again, not stopping firing until he was out of ammo or they were all still.

And considering the bolt action rifle was a few meters away at this point... Terrins hoped it wasn't his last plasma core being depleted that stopped him.

URSA - COCKPIT

Phreaker aimed the turrets towards the sand dune that had been pointed out.

"Firing - guns hot" He said as he initiated a barrage of ammo on the dune. Hopefully thier man was no where near the danger zone and would be safe.

Zeke stayed on the roof, and magged the soles of his armored legs to the deck of the roof. Moving forward at a low crouch as sand was blasted over him, the power armor wearing spiky blonde took a prone position once again up front. Adjusting his sights, he aimed for the shield holding figure that were approaching Terrins. The 30 round magazine of exploding heat sabots would hopefully make short work of such crude equipment. With his smart linked scope he tracked to each target and fired off three rounds at each. The rifle made a thundering retort as the ceramic cased projectiles were sent flying from the barrel, the casings flung aside in mid-air, followed by a trail of distorted air.

Zeke grinned as the situation felt nostalgic, "Feels good to be back."

Signal

With the fire coming from both Terrins and Zeke the group of raiders advancing on the security officer were cut down in a bloody rain. Not even 50m behind them at the dunes peak the sand exploded upwards and outwards in all directions as the massive anti-fighter flak tore through the fine mineral powder. Each of the raiders hiding behind it were all but shredded and sent flying down the other side of the hill.

URSA - Cargo Bay

2 more redback units had been readying since the beginning of the ambush and finally the large cargo door was opened, the two critter-like vehicles shooting out before turning in a wide arc and speeding towards Terrins, the security officer in each one stocked with extra ammo for their captain as the rescue mission was staged. Within a few minutes the two redbacks made it to the dune where Terrins had fended off the raiders while the URSA was close behind, only going at half of the speed the two smaller craft could manage.

"Are you injured sir?" Came the first question from one of the guards as the other kept a watch for any more attackers. "Do you know if there's anymore coming?"

URSA - Cockpit

"Good shot Phreaker." Brin said somewhat proudly, it seemed this team of mercenaries wouldn't be as useless as he was warned about. "Terrins has been reached, and he's still alive and in once piece!" The security chief spoke over the large vehicles intercom, a statement which was followed by a loud chorus of cheering from the other Horizon personnel on board. "Thanks to the efforts of everyone aboard we have sustained no losses in the skirmish, you have all earned that paycheck." He continued before switching it off.

"Dawn, Phreaker. We all know they would have been a small hunting party with a base not far from here, keep an eye on our scanners and see if you can find anything with the satellites." The nepleslian instructed as the hulking vehicle finally reached the dunes, deploying several squads to make a defensive perimeter.

URSA - Cockpit

Phreaker smiled at the compliment, glad he was able to help. His next orders came and he went right to work.

Dusk, Im handing over gun control, focusing my processing power on the scanners.

He relinquished his control over the weapon and settled back into his chair, as his eyes closed and he looked internally, to the sensor feed. The more processing power he relegated to the task, the fast he could process the data, looking for anything out of the ordinary, anything that would signify a raider base.

If anyone were to enter, they would think he was asleep, apart from his rapidly twitching eyes.

Signal - URSA Roof

Fleshmender 40 stood frozen after letting go of Titan's leash. Between the battlefield the URSA just became and the realization that he had just let loose his combat savvy and arguably dangerous daughter, it was a lot to take in so fast. Titan looked back at him expectantly after landing back on her feet, expecting praise. It took her father a long five seconds to snap out of his trance and bolt towards the end of the URSA, laying down on the bow of the vehicle behind her.

"Titan! What are they doing?" He authoritatively barked.

Titan turned her attention back to where the gunfire was coming from, apparently only now remembering that she was in the middle of a fire fight and aptly being a bit more avoidant about standing out in the open, ducking a little. Her eyes darted across the dunes, searching for her enemies.

Her eyes rested on the dull glimmering of the scrap shields the bandits had began using, "Shields!"

The moment the word left her mouth, she threw her gun down at 40 who caught it. He choose not to check if the safety was on or not in fear that he might discover his one good leg could had been blown off. Instead, he simply put the gun beside him and grasped the sonic suppression rifle his partner had given him earlier.

"Try this!" He yelled back as he passed the weapon to her by the barrel.

He had not the slightest clue what the effective range on this weapon was. Fleshmender was familiar with most guns but this... thing. He had barely even seen sonic weaponry used in almost any combat situation ever. It struck him as a miracle that 78 had found one in the armory at all. Despite this. He was a well read individual and the behavior of sound waves was not alien to him. He doubted any kind of shield these bandits had could stop the penetrative power that this device likely held.

With that, Titan dutifully and unwaveringly snatched the sonic gun and took but a brief glance at it before turning off the safety, standing up straight with her left leg stretched back and right leg bent forward, aiming it at the bandit most immediately in her vision and holding the gun far away from her body. There was no count down. No suspense. A loud, brassy and bass like boom echoed across the desert. It would be obvious to say Titan has an itchy trigger finger, yet her perhaps not immediately noticeable however abundantly calculative aura would put a halt to that assumption.