RP: NSS Altomir [Mission 1.1] Gathering the Bearings

Thomas moved towards the subway station, noticing that Bernhard wasn't following him upon looking on his display and seeing that the P2C's icon remained static. That was fine with Thomas, who at least had not bothered to give back the HPAR he had acquired from the other marine, and it wasn’t like the latter had asked for its return anyway. The P3C moved towards the entrance in a slow jog, the helmet of his suit scanning left and right, up and down and so on.

It was only then that Thomas realized how exposed he was, the area between the subway entrance and the street where he’d come from was; A textbook place for an ambush. Thomas hurried up, using his thrusters to jump over a stack of burned out vehicles. He landed and then proceeded to get inside the station, going down the escalator as fast as he could, figuring out that if the two other marines had gone in first, any threat must’ve have been cleared out by then. Maybe the place was clear after all, and there were several other marines who had managed to make way to the destination, including the previous two he had ‘met’ outside, but he would only find it out once he got there.

Thomas hurried, making more noise than his good sense would’ve normally allowed him, and then breaking out on the large subway station. Much to his surprise, the place was seemingly deserted except for two other contacts, both being friendly thanks to their IFF signals, and unless something really shady had happened, were the same he and Bernhard had seen outside.

As one of them moved inside another room, which he presumed to be a restroom, Thomas turned toward the other Hostile. He lowered his HPAR and got into the open, if such a place as an underground station had something like that, “Hey, we’re on the same side here, so hold your ammo and insults for the squids next time.” He said crisply to the marine.

‘Well, if they decided to shoot me, it’s not like their guns would do any real damage anyway, right? At least that was what the other marine had said.’ Thomas thought, grimly reflecting if that was a good decision or not.

As soon as he recognized the IFF, Devlin dove behind cover with outstretched arms, rolling into the center rock with ease. He placed his left palm upon the fountain's smooth surface and leaned around cover where only the mono-eye and readied pistol could be seen.

"That is far enough, bandit," Devlin warned smugly, testing his buddy's choice term on the tongue, "we warned you not to mess with Team Muna, and now you shall receive your retribution!" 

Water began to collect between his fingers as the seconds dragged on, spilling over the Durandium glove and along the length of his arm until it fell to the floor in uncertain columns.  The redhead found it odd, if not a little impressive,  that this person would walk into a two-on-one scenario with a casual air and his rifle down.  At first, Devlin thought it was carelessness, but there was no hesitation in Mort's steps and he hadn't threatened to fire on either of the two P3Cs. So who was he?

Devlin sidestepped into the open, keeping his eyes and gun trained as he moved closer to Mort.  "What do you think Saveli," he said over the squad channel, checking for the geometric diamond on his HUD, "should we trust him?"

There it was again. Sleep-deprived and hyper-tense as he was, Bernhard figured he wasn't just hallucinating now. Or if he was, those footsteps behind him were really life-like.

Someone, or something, was outside the apartment. And it was time to find out who or what it was.

He activated his thrusters to smash through the apartment wall and pointed his shotgun at Alex. "NSMC, identify yourselves!" he shouted. Suddenly, five guns pointed at him. Bloody hell, he cursed silently.

Alexandra watched as two divided. She frowned as order to contact them came too late and one quickly disappeared in station and second jumped in the building. She held her fist up, looking at the rest of the squad. "Too late, one went in the station, second is in this building." She said and knocked slightly on the wall.

Alex then tuned her audio receptors. She could hear much clearer and soon heard someone walking in the building. Even if you try to sneak and move quietly, when building is full or rouble and garbage it is hard. Though she could not hear if she did not altered her Hostile's receiving suite. When she heared he was behind window above the squad, she pointed to the window and stepped from under it.

A moment later a hostile burst through the wall. When it landed his shotgun aimed at her head, Alexandra's HPAR was leveled at his chest as well. He told them to identify them and she could clearly see bear on the suit. It was Bernie after all.

"Put the gun down Private!" She said and activated her IFF. "You were always too trigger-happy Greer! Put the rifle down or I will bloody stuff it in your ass!"

It was simply too much for Yuriko to bear as armored fingers and palm came up to her faceplate. There was a soft shake of the helmet as the three marines at either of her sides nodded toward the three ahead of them.

"Tha' fuck's that all about?" Winters asked.

"Hell if I know. Bound to be some jumpy Marines out in the field by now. Too many stimulants, too little sleep, or a wicked ass case of paranoia." was all the answer he got out of Yuriko as she held her HPAR up in one hand, barrel to the sky.

"Hey One Man Army, as you can see we're friendlies. So unless you wanna crack and pull that trigger, or grow a pair and let us approach I suggest you pick and choose right now because I'm coming either way."

The marines would find both the mens and womens restrooms to be empty and in relatively pristine conditions. The light signs of combat they had seen outside of the restroom alcove were nowhere to be found within. Considering, however, that it was a Nepleslian subway restroom, it wasn't exactly clean of other unsavory elements; gratuitous graffiti covered the walls, and the mirrors above the sinks were filthy.

Bernhard lowered his shotgun. "Mayhew? What the hell are you doing here?" he asked incredulously. He ignored the other Marine. Either they were all hallucinations and figments of his imagination or... Alexandra Mayhew was here on Rok'Veru with him. The latter sounded a lot healthier than the former. By a small margin.

"There's a bunch of idiots in there. Threatened to attack if we followed." He pointed to the station entrance. "They've only got Hostiles LSPs... and maybe one HPAR. But they could use their PPPs to ambush us. Some newbie I was with decided to go in alone and hasn't said anything or come out. What the hell's going on here? I thought we were winning!"

Saveli had made his way into the men's restroom, checking it after the lady's. He felt somewhat culturally enriched after seeing both rooms were heavily decorated in expressionistic word art. The Nepleslians were a lot more deep than they had let on, especially with the larger, painted varieties. There were loud declarations against societal norms on the wall, like 'Fuck tha' Police' and 'Fuck the Cats', along with several more Fuck the's--. Others were personal invitations, some he couldn't quite understand. He wasn't sure who B.J. Handy was, but there were several positive reviews on this woman's performance.

Devlin sidestepped into the open, keeping his eyes and gun trained as he moved closer to Mort. "What do you think Saveli," he said over the squad channel, checking for the geometric diamond on his HUD, "should we trust him?"

Click to expand...

Ah, Saveli had been admiring the artistic culture of Nepleslia's bathrooms too long. The Marine quickly moved outside to find Thomas trying to ease his way down the escalators-temporarily-stairs.

"He doesn't seem to have his trigger-happy friend with him." mentioned the soldier, who seemed to be more interested in the shop a little further down, north-side. "If he has come to us, he's clearly willing to trust us, we'll offer the same courtesy."

He peeked into the Book Store.

"Hmmm..."

Alexandra put her gun down and turned around to watch the intersection again. She listened to Bernie describe what happened. Apparently the time spent here did a job on him too. His armour looked like it came through hell. Same as her own or the rest of the squad. He was here all day too.

"I took transfer to first fleet right when I heard they will be retaking Rok'Veru," she explained to Bernhard. "But there is no time for catching up. We do need to get in the station. These guys I am with are E-squad, 2nd fleet detachment. I linked up with them on the way." She then pointed to Towa. "This is P1C Towa, she calls the shots here."

Saveli's glance into the small book store near the back of the subway station revealed little more that his exploration of the restrooms had given him. A single wide line of fluorescent lights stretched across the ceiling, while a second near the left end of the store remained dead and unlit, possibly from damage from the surface above it, or simple disrepair. A number of rows of shelves ran along the length of the store; mostly magazines, newspapers and other cheap forms of literature, sold mainly for use during long trips on the subway tram. The register and counter on the left of the entrance was empty, although it was obvious that the register had been pried open and its contents retrieved at one point before the marine's arrival.

Devlin lowered the LSP at his friend's words, glancing toward all corners for the one with the AS4GS, as if he would spot a shotgun barrel poking out of a vending machine slot.  Remnants of the demigod's threat rang inside his helmet, resounding off the sides and replaying for the marine who still had goosebumps from the confrontation.  Devlin swore he had seen a predatory gleam off of the man's mono-eye.  He wasn't scared of Greer, but the possibility that he may have told off two possible friends did not bode well with the childish redhead.

He circled Mort, stroking his chin in a manner that filled the station with a metallic grating, and closely scrutinized the other suit for any faults that would mark him as a fraud, like an artsy-fartsy critic would dissect a sculpture's integrity.  Honestly, Devlin wasn't sure what he was looking for.  He finally decided to just continue his movements until the other broke down and gave into Devlin's intimidating gaze.

This had an opposite effect.

Sweat began to form on the Private's forehead and his bottom lip quivered as his emotional dam buckled under the pressure.  He holstered his gun and pulled Mort in a desperate hug as the dam burst, releasing a torrent of guilt upon the unsuspecting marine.  "I'm so sorry, friend!" he cried a little too loud over the external speakers, "Please forgive us!"

The suit's nano chains contracted as Devlin attempted to raise the Hostile off the ground in a death grip and squeeze the forgiveness out of him.

Bernhard looked at the strangely named Nepleslian. There were crazier things in the universe. Like Laura Romero.

"Then, if you don't mind, I'll tag along. I don't suppose anyone has spare shotgun shells?" he said. "Only have the fourteen loaded in here."

Thomas followed Marsh with his monoeye as the marine circled his Hostile. He couldn’t believe that there was a war raging a just outside the door and the two marines were acting that way. On top of that, he was starting to lose his patience at that little show, and for a while he regretted leaving the other marine with a damaged armor and low on ammo outside.

“Are you quite don- What are you doing?! Asshole!” Thomas yelled when the other marine ‘hugged’ him. He could hear the metal of his armor creak and complain and gritted his teeth as he pushed back against the hug as well. “Yeah! Yeah! Okay, I forgive you! Now stand down!” The P3C protested, slowly prying open the bear hug with his Hostile’s own nanomuscles.

"Spares?" Yuriko asked incredulously with a shake of her Hostile's head. "My squad's been fighting for the better part of an entire day. Our supply drops never showed and we haven't been able to get into contact with our regiment."

The Hostile pointed toward the sky and the still falling debris. "S'all up there being incinerated from atmospheric reentry or was atomized when the ships popped. What you see is all we got. And that ain't much. Use your head and what you've got on that suit'll do fine."

Two fingers came up before slicing the air in a downward arc toward the subway. Automatically the rest of her squad began to move towards the entrance.

"Any other questions we can answer on the move. Staying up here in the open'll be suicide."

"Let me go. If you don't have any more ammo, then I need to retrieve my other gun," Bernhard volunteered. He didn't care much about how Yuriko spoke. She was in charge and used to it so who was he to question her. Plus, like him, she was clearly suffering from stress. And if she vented it on him, fine. Now he just had to find someone or something to vent his own frustrations on.

Her Hostile nodded toward the entrance. "Go ahead, but take Mayhew with you for support. We'll be waiting just inside of the entrance way once you move in. And when you radio us back we'll move forward."

"Devlin." Saveli said, sticking his head back out, a little metro map in his hand. His mono-eyed head looked at the other Marine, his SAVtech locking him in the IFF system. "Thomas."

"Most of this area has already been salvaged." The scouting Iromakuanhe said, looking about, until spotting one last room on the north side that had yet to be explored. The small space was right next to the rails which flowed into the dim tunnels that led further on. There was a certain hesitation in approaching them, a mild suspicion of anything that may exist with that darkness. The stare into that mild area lasted a little while.

But not for long, he looked back at the other marines.

"You two check both ends of the rails, check for any signs of travel. We may need to travel north or south to find our contingent." went Saveli with something that sounded somewhat like an order, but unlike a commander, he stepped off towards the Panel Gate without seeing if they'd follow up.

Bernhard looked to Alex and then activated his snakeskin as he moved quickly towards the entrance. He peeked in quickly and saw nothing. "I'm going in," he said over the radio to Alex and the others.

With his shotgun leveled, Bernhard entered as quietly as a 7 foot, 1 ton power armor could. He got to the bottom of the stairs and saw nothing. But he was picking up three contacts ahead. "Three contacts ahead. IFF registers as Nepleslian," he reported.

Alex was listening to those two. What made her only tired and passive made these two frustrated. Being on their toes all day sure made everyone jumpy. Alex herself managed to stay composed, but she knew that it took its toll on her too.

She wanted to take the point, but Bernie moved ahead, without waiting for instructions on entry. She sighed and followed, activating her snakeskin and holding her rifle at the ready. With her monoyes on passive she just let it illuminate her surroundings. As they got down Bernie reported three Nepleslians.

"Okay, I will make contact." She said to him. "Cover me, but don't fire unless they start firing. Got it? They are most likely just confused and scared friendlies." She said and moved out of the cover.

She moved forward and activated her monoyes getting data on three armours in the station. "This is P1C Alexandra Mayhew, First Response. Identify yourself." She called out to three other armours, while looking for nearest cover should they open fire. She noticed two of them only had LSPs, but third had HPAR. They would be dangerous if they wanted to.

Bernhard acknowledged Alex and moved to cover her. A quick check of his AS4GS revealed a solid slug up the spout followed by a plasma shell. He was ready and knelt to take aim at Saveli's chest. The kick and rise from the discharge made aiming for the head at this distance an unwise choice. Bernhard was also ready to fire the six ARROWs in his left leg launcher if needed. Hopefully not but there was no such thing as today.