RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mision 5.1] Operation Roundhouse

"Oh fiddle-sticks!" Lisa shouted, quickly drew on her cigarette for the last time and tossed it on the floor. She then quickly put helmet on. So their pilots was one of these people's. Lisa started listing all those regulations, Fletchet just went against when she started venting atmosphere with marines having their helmets off. Worst of all Lisa was envious of Fletcher. Fletcher might be just brick-pilot, but she was still pilot, while Lisa could only run around with burly man and get shot at. Oh yes, Lisa won't like Fletcher.

Sawyer chuckled to himself inside his suit, yet another reason not to smoke, other than the fact that it irritated his sinuses and gave him a headache, smartass navy pilots will vent air if you piss them off and smoke in their ship. "Well I guess that's the final word from our pilot folks, time to get our game faces on and be ready for when we hit that battleship" Sawyer said with a hint of excitement creeping into his voice, as if he was looking forward to getting some of his own back from the creatures that had cost him his leg.

Ulrich scowled and crushed his cigarette, flicking it aside as he put on his helmet "Is there no place in this universe where a man can have a bloody smoke before he jumps into the fire?" Ulrich sighed and turned to Lisa "These flyers don't seem to like us grunts much do they?"

Henry, who'd remained quiet and didn't smoke until there was a job well done watched the others. However, Bastilen's war story proved to strike a chord with the engineer, "Fuckin' A," He replied simply with a nod that made the neck servos in his suit whirr.

It was always the times before the proverbial feces hit the fan when Henry sat back and wondered about how much these bastards would take just to stay the hell away from his homeworld. He never wanted the damned squids to be his problem, but they made themselves a problem when Yamatai moved in next door and their out-of-control experiment of a problem knocked on his doorstep one day, took up residence on the couch, drank all of the good beer, smashed the vase on the mantelpiece and crapped on the expensive carpet. (so to speak)

To him, it was time to put the problem out and hurl them back to their owners, one bullet at a time.

"Aww, you called me 'love'! Nice to meet you all!" Bridget curtsied in her armor. "But see, this might be the last time any of us get to be happy, so I'm trying to get as much of it in as possible! I don't like those grody squids. EEEEW! In fact..."

Bridget suddenly narrowed her eyes and the pitch of her voice suddenly shifted to something sinister. "...I want to smash their heads in and slowly rip out every last of their tentacles. I want to play ping-pong with their eyeballs and use their exoskeletons as..."

Like a switch, Bridget snapped back to her chipper self. "Oh! Uh, I mean, who likes trading cards? I have almost the complete set of TREaTS magazine street fashions!"

"Their boat, their rules. You'd do the same," Laura muttered icily. The complaints and gripes about smoking were annoying her to no end. If they wanted a smoke, they should have gone to the lounge or the toilet for that. No live ammunition there.

"Hang onto your hats!" Laura heard. The shuttle rocked violently and in the weightlessness of zero-gravity, caused her to hit her head. Right then, it juked haphazardly to left and right before spinning. The erratic movements continued as the Marines heard the two plasma turrets mounted on the shuttle firing at a distant target.

In the cockpit, Fletcher was calling out the battlepods dogging her bird to the escorting FA4 jockeys. "Taking hits from a pair of pods, 11 o'clock high and a solo, 3 o'clock low," she reported calmly, thrusting the control stick forwards and down. It sent the shuttle into a dive, just as a battlepod's cannon round exploded against the shuttle's overtaxed shields.

She scanned the radar, looking for the FA4s which were supposed to be watching her but it was chaos. Friendly and hostile blips danced across her board like fireflies in the night. The shuttle rocked again, causing the Marines to swear and curse as they rocked about in their harnesses.

"Green Six, coming in hot!" Fletcher looked around but couldn't see the FA4 that streaked by. Wherever he was, Fletcher thanked him silently. That mad pilot had knocked out the pair of battlepods dogging from above. And the third battlepod was being harrassed by a trio of F2 drones.

A few more moments and they would be at the XSS Momoranth. Fletcher spotted a large breach in the ship's hull amidships and guided the shuttle there.

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Mwigflukbajik, NSS Dauntless

Levant and Audacious were out of control. The two cruisers had lost their bridge crew to kamikaze battlepods. Until the engineering and tactical officers scattered through the ships could regain control of the ship with Drei's help, the cruisers and their attendant escorts were out of the match. Loss of control did not mean loss of the ship, not if the NSN won this battle and controlled the field. But the loss of Captains Bart and Shafter hurt the 4th Fleet. Experienced warship captains were hard to pry from the more senior Grand Admirals.

Valken watched as another Sword frigate, the Lance tore apart under sustained NMX cruiser fire. The ship seemed to split into two on his 3D display.

"Signal Fleet, reform. Double wall formation, heavy front." Valken no longer concerned himself with the pitifully few NMX warships still resisting from the first formation. His bombers were on their final attack runs to kill those warships and render the NMX battleships unprotected.

Now he had to contest the second, larger formation approaching his. There was, at most, an hour or two until contact with them. Valken needed to his relatively unhurt heavy DD5 Cruisers up front to protect the more damaged Blackjack and escort units. "Drei, prioritize getting control of the Levant and Audacious. I want them in line, not adrift and alone."

The bridge crew cheered as an NMX light cruiser burned up under the Dauntless' fire. Valencia smiled and reported to the Admiral, "First kill today, sir." Valken looked up, his eyes looking askance. "Only just? I expect the flagship will not lag behind the other cruisers, Captain." Valencia's grin only grew. "Dauntless will have the most kills in the Fleet after today, sir. Isn't that right!" The bridge crew cheered again in affirmation.

Valken merely wondered what the point of the incessant cheering was for. But he allowed himself a smirk, both to the sailors and to himself. The Marines had begun their boarding operations.

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Mwigflukbajik, XSS Momoranth

Fletcher's shuttle hovered over the 20 meter-wide wound in the NMX ship. Lights still flickered within but it was clear that this section of the ship had been hit some time ago, exposing everything that had been there to the void of space. Most of the hole ran the length of a single deck, with only partial exposure to the decks above and below.

The Marines jetted over to the deck, carrying their equipment. Farther down on both ends, they could see blast doors slammed shut between them. A third door was sealed to their left.

"Holmes, take that way. Find and secure a hangar for the sailors. Rui, Morris, take some men and cut left. Volkov, you and the rest of your squad is with me." Leon dished out the orders, advancing in his Hostile towards the sealed blast door to the front. The corridor was large enough for only one Hostile to walk through, though others could squeeze past if they did so sideways.

He halted some steps from the blast door, looking to see how the Cavaliers got divided. Far behind, he heard the quick comm chatter from Holmes' Irregulars as they started their hack of the blast door's security system.

Phaedra stayed silent as the shuttle closed in on the enemy. Unlike the rest of the squad she was not one for endless banter; she needed to focus on the upcoming mission. As the pilot took evasive manuevers, Phaedra had the presence of mind to grab a nearby handhold to keep herself from flying into the bulkhead. Soon after their objective was spotted, the Marines left the shuttle and boosted over towards the damaged NMX ship.

She felt a small twinge of relief when she felt the boots of her Hostile touch with the metal of the ship's hull.

"Alright Cavaliers, you heard the Chief. This way!" she barked from behind the wolf skull painted on her helmet. HPAR held at the ready, she boosted towards Leon's location with eyes watchful for any NMX suprises.

Rita had stayed silent during most of the discussion, preferring instead to pay attention to what was going on outside the shuttle. When the vehicle started to swerve, she grabbed onto one of the ceiling rungs, letting her Plasma Lance drop to her side, suspended by the sling she wore. She followed along out of the shuttle quietly, obeying the Sergeant's orders and proceeding towards their objective.

"Rui, Morris. Take Aubrey, Stenton, Rakowski and Stones. Head for the bridge. We'll have a race to see who can get there first. Losers buy the winners drinks." Leon directed the fire team towards the sealed left door. "Everyone else, follow the sergeant. Wreno, get up here and get this door opened. On the double. No way in hell am I paying for drinks for those ugly turds!"

"Everyone else, follow the sergeant. Wreno, get up here and get this door opened. On the double. No way in hell am I paying for drinks for those ugly turds!"

Click to expand...

"Yes, sir!"

On command, Bastilen shot forward to the door; his mono-eyed expression, faceless and unmoving, sought for a panel. He noticed one on the side, very small, purely for the sake of hand working the door and entering access codes. The hacker, without a part to enter into, decided to hack in another way. He drew his combat knife, chained-teeth whirring to life, before stabbing it into the roof of the panel. With a little focused, and forced effort, Bastilen made a slot large enough to stick his armored fingers in, and rip out the panel, sending out sparks and exposing wires.

Despite hailing from so many worlds, people had a tendency to run side by side when it came to developing the wiring. Everything was connected for a specific purpose and item on the door. Just like car doors, there was a specific line to power the locks.

For a few seconds, the electrician stood there, fingering wires, looking at each one, inspecting them. He bent over, looked back into the space he had made. Then, he pulled back, and yanked out two wires. His studies taught him that commonly, these types of ships had lock-down modes for the doors.

Zap! He touched the two wires together, resetting lock-down procedure on the door, manually. Then, he went back to feeling for more wires, looking back into the hole, before yanking out another two connections.

Zzzt! There he touched another two wires together, wires typically in charge of deciding whether to activate the door's motor or not. With them ripped out like that, those doors were going to stay open, unresponsive to any commands from the Ship's A.I. or Bridge controllers due to disconnection.

Lisa quickyl exited the shuttle, her AMP held in her hands at the ready. Even if she used other suits previously Hostile was the one she was most used to. She spent most her training with it after all. It was good sturdy power armour that could be used in any situations. It just lacked big fucking guns that VOID or Aggy used.

"Roger!" Lisa replied and moved in with other. They made Basti open the doors so she just waited, ready to for the doors to open. She expected a bunch of enemy combatants behind them and she was ready to lean in and gave them all hot lead.

Ulrich ducked silently out of the shuttle, quickly falling in with his comrades. His breath quickened, his hands were sweating, his heart racing; apprehension and doubt coursed through him, wrapping his mind in it's cold hand.

Ulrich tightened his grip on the AS4GS, bringing the butt of the weapon to his chest, and thought of home; of Maria. His breathing slowed, his heart was calm; his hands still. Ulrich was ready.

Bridget had achieved focus. She followed her teammates and waited for whatever was beyond those doors; her rifle was in hand and ready to do business. It was like waiting behind stage with her dance troupe: Watch, listen and follow along. Watch, listen and follow along... it was her teacher's mantra.

Others would lead, but Bridget would watch, listen and follow along to support her comrades. And kick some ass, too.

Let the show begin!

The blast door sealing the way in front of Cavaliers slid open, gushing air at them. Leon, Phaedra and the Marines assigned to their team entered the corridor beyond, which was slightly larger. It allowed for two Hostiles to pass side by side. The corridor was empty but there were rooms on either side.

Once all of the Cavaliers in their detachment were through, Leon told Bastilen to shut the door. The Marine Chief did a quick headcount. Phaedra, Romero, Simmons, Hollister, Vater, Blackwood and Wreno. All present. "Rui, Morris, you'd better get a move on! And don't stop for anything!"

Just then, Holmes reported in. "Heading towards rear hangar. ETA is five minutes. No resistance so far. Don't think they know we're inside. Expect the backup to arrive in ten to fifteen minutes. Out."

Leon looked at the four rooms in the corridor and the closed doors. "Marines, clear them! Two each. Simmons, Hollister, the first one on the right. Vater, Blackwood, first one left. Rest of us will cover the corridor and the other two doors."

Rayne unlimbered his suits shotgun and reflexivly racked the action, chambering a plasma round as he quicktimed it towards the door he ha dbeen assigned to clear. Stacking prior to a breach was a little awkward in a PA suit, but he adjusted just liek he had been trained, breathign and focusing on the objective, waiting for the go order.

"Rui, Morris. Take Aubrey, Stenton, Rakowski and Stones. Head for the bridge. We'll have a race to see who can get there first. Losers buy the winners drinks."

Click to expand...

"You heard the man, move it!"

Henry moved out and had his Monoeye drone deployed and watching his flank as he moved ahead with his HPAR up, "Stay together and be ready for anything, at this point stealth is redundant."

As he made his move he started thinking about a plan of attack, "Stenton, keep the Lance out - I feel they'll be responding in kind. Stones, Aubrey, be prepared to cover Stenton. Rakowski and I will keep an eye on the flanks." He didn't have the advantage of a wide open space to work with, so he had to do the opposite, "And once we see them, we fall to the sides and hug the walls for cover."

"Sir! The A.I. probably felt the loss of that door, though judging by external damage, I'm gunna' guess 90% sure it'll attribute the loss to those damages." piped Bastilen a few analyzing programs running in the background. His SAVtech screamed alarms at him, stating that his irregular use of her processing power would hinder combat capabilities. A small threat to void her warranty shut that up, along with a promise to cut extraneous programs when the bullets started flying.

For the most part, though, his small database on NMX converted material was hinting towards a certain wariness in the A.I.'s protocols. There was still that 10% chance that it suspected something, a 10% chance that someone would be sent to check something the A.I. couldn't.

"Can you seal it shut without the NMX AI knowing?" Leon asked Bastilen. He preferred fighting in atmosphere rather than a vacuum. Safer if there was a breach in the Hostile's integrity and air could leak out.

Laura kept quiet, obeying orders. They made sense. No need for her to add anything. She was the only medic, risking her in a room breaching procedure was stupid. Good thing that Chief Santiago had a brain after all. The way he sometimes acted like a goof and then got all business-like made her wonder about his psychological profile. But then, she was self-aware enough to know that her's was just as spotty, if not worse. He, at least, seemed to have had a fairly normal upbringing.

"Covering second door on the right," she reported, raising her plasma autocannon at the shut door farther down on the right. This section of the ship, unlike the damaged corridor they had entered in, was still powered. The lights did not flicker but stayed on.

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In front of Henry and Ran's detachment, there was a large sliding metal door. Behind them, the blast door they had entered through slammed shut. At the far end of the corridor, there was another sealed door but it may not be locked. This section of the ship, unlike the damaged corridor they had entered in, was still powered. The lights did not flicker but stayed on so it was a good bet that this corridor was meant to be accessed by the ship's crew.

A quick examination of the door revealed that it was accessible with a simple push of a red button. "Who's going to press it?" Sawyer asked, looking at the other Marines present.

"Aye Sir!" Ulrich braced his AS4GS and made his way to the far side of the door he'd been assigned. Keeping his weapon levelled at the door, he pressed himself against wall, ready to sweep and clear. "In position!"

"Acknowledged," Wulfe said, replying to Henry's orders and moving behind Rita, keeping his HPAR pointed over her shoulders. His head felt much clearer then, unlike the time that he had been waiting in the shuttle, despite the fact that he could feel his heart thumping on his chest just as strong, he just didn't seem to think too much about it then. He kept staring at the end of the corridor, waiting for whichever enemy he would face to come at them at any second.