RP: NSS Acadia [Mission 1] B Side: "The Guns of Patriots"

As the squad moved forward, they encountered no resistance for a while. They didn't even encounter station staff and marines, and were faced with an eerie silence as they made their way to the armory, with a faint electronic buzz thumping in the background. According to crew manifests, the Starbase Golding was understaffed and due for a shipment of new crew any minute now, but the lack of any sort activity inside was abnormal.

They all received a voice message on their earpieces.

Hold up a second. There's a patrol of Jimmies passing by the intersection up ahead.
-Gyles

Click to expand...

----

Gyles downed half of a coffee and continued to maintain surveillance on his fellow marines for as long as possible. While they had crippled local communications and put the station into a lockdown, it didn't take much to reroute his accessing of the starbase's network through a docking cable. and he made it a point of pride that he was probably the most technically qualified person on the Acadia.

It's too bad I can't get station security turrets working automatically, or the battle would have been over already. Fucking NDI tech is hard to work with with a non-NDI OS. He reminded himself mentally.

----

The squad of rakish androids was slowly approaching, the faint tapping of plastic and alloy feet touching down on metal bulkhead coming ever closer. They were probably a few dozen feet further from the intersection than the Marines, all seemed to be of standard design, and were carrying Zen Arms 10mm SMG weapons, with a slightly modified commander unit holding up a conventional gatling rifle with both spindly mechanical arms.

Autumn pressed herself against the bulkhead as she heard Gyles' soothing voice over her headset, she hoped to make herself as small of a target as possible. She idly wondered why she hadn't yet made a stronger attempt for "Sug" as a bunk buddy...

Not that this is really the time to be plotting out sex partners... although staring at nice tight, firm well toned Marine asses is a hobby of mine... I can't get too distracted by the pieces of beefcake walking in front of me right now. I need to focus and cover them but not... cover them. It's hard to be professional! she inwardly pouted as she forced herself to stay still until they were told to go ahead. She felt her pulse quicken as she heard the 'gentle patter' of mechanical feet against the metal deck.

Her eyes went towards the backs of her fellows squadmates as she waited for the order to fire or move. She felt the weight of her gear increase in those long growing moments of anticipation, she wanted so desperately to feel the heat and recoil of her gun on her hand. Her trigger finger itched and it took most of her control to stay still.

Android patrols? Go figure. Amelia would have much preferred organic opponents. Harder to outmaneuver a machine that has a bloody autoaim. The young Nepleslian woman held her shotgun close to her and pressed her back against the corner. She looked over at her squad leader for this operation. She still didn't like the way he looked at her, but now wasn't the time for that.

She pretty much had one chance to pump shells into the synthetic bodies before they decided to tear her to shreds. Then again, the others still had grenades so she might only have to pick off the odd straggler that survived the blast. Whatever the plan, she waited, listening for orders while still keeping an ear open for the metal footsteps getting closer.

She briefly wondered if Alice would be a better choice. She seemed to fare better against robotic foes for whatever reason. Amelia quickly ended that line of thinking though. She likely wouldn't be able to regain control for a while and who knows what she would do? Probably something along the lines of pumping a shell into the first marine to annoy her and then get herself killed in response. Bitch...

Adrian quietly moved up the hall, going into a crouch behind Amelia, slightly further from the wall, pointing his HAS down the opposing hall. He also reached down and unclipped the restraining strap for one of his plasma grenades.

The medic wasn't looking forward to a brawl with a squad of robots, so he was hoping the marines would be able to clear the bastards out before they had much of a chance of retaliation.

Shit... The Chief thought to himself, quickly moving against the wall and flattening himself against it, in order to present as small a target as possible to any enemies.

Ran opened his mouth slightly, breathing very slowly out of it. Slowly and quietly opening the bolt back on his shotgun, the Chief put a single slug directly into the barrel, and while grabbing the bolt, slowly released it on the slug.

This is some bullshit... He lifted the shotgun up and pressed it against his shoulder by pulling back on the pistol grip with his right hand, reaching down to his grenade belt for a plasma grenade. His sights were aiming approximately at where an android-sized robot would be once it passed into view, and his left hand tensed up on his plasma grenade. Since there were several people in front of him, he didn't need to shoot off his shotgun immediately, but one could never be sure what would happen.

The crowd of droids shuffled past the intersection, not noticing the marines to their left and unaware of the combat going on outside. The conditions on the station had them isolated from the main of their forces, and had to rely on basic 'kill or detain' protocols, and so, they would not be on alert. However, the slightly improved commander unit seemed to perk its head just as it escaped from view, realizing that something was amiss, and stopped its subordinates.

Proximity sensor data was analyzed and reviewed, and paused to process the possible reasons for the data. It glanced around lazily, before it clicked. If the hallways were supposed to be empty, then the man-sized signatures were obviously humans. Command protocols stated that no humans would be allowed outside of certain detainment rooms, so it relayed the only natural order it could compile.

"Intruders, surrender yourselves! Units, take them down."

"Welp, so much for this hidey shit," Rico said with a sigh as he witnessed the Commander Jimmy reel back and order his lackeys down their way. Rico began reaching for one of the plasma grenades on his waist belt...but as he did so took notice of Adrian standing on the wall next to him, his arm held out slightly holding one of his own grenades. Rico quickly reached out and snatched the device out of Adrian's grasp, activated it and hurled it down the hall towards the approaching foes in a single swift, if not very accurate, movement.

"Common boys, we ain't lettin' those shits outside have all the fun!" Rico said, mixing his own blend of encouragement in as he moved up to the corner and took a knee. The Sergeant took a moment to fix his weapon against his shoulder and give it one final look-over before he leaned around the corner, quickly lined the sights of the weapon and pulled the trigger.

The blast of high energy plasma messily destroyed half of the Jimmy platoon, but alerted the others to the position of the infiltration team. Rico's salvor of GSAR rounds were somewhat ineffective against the metallic construction of one of the intact Jimmies, but it managed to puncture coolant canisters and shatter a vision monoeye, causing it too reel and flail wildly, causing it to crash into a neighbooring unit.

The remaining handful of units were either melted to bulkhead surfaces or still stumbling around for weapons, as their commander had been destroyed in the initial blast.

However, while Rico had solved the initial problem, he now faced a worsened tactical scenario. The pitter-patter of small composite feet could be heard coming closer from the hallways in all directions, save in the direction of the wrecked combat androids.

Adrian lurched away from Rico after his grenade had been hijacked by the other marine. "What the fuck, man?!" he yelled. He would have continued a verbal attack, but the massive flash and bang from the plasma grenade put him off that course of action, as did the substantial volume of gunfire.

"Shit! Shit!" The medic yelled before firing wildly at the the remaining androids. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear the incoming droids thanks to the rather loud report of the marines' assault.

"Well this is perfect. So much for sneaking around and shit." Ran shouldered his weapon and started advancing down the corridor to Rico and Adrian's position in order to put a few slugs into whatever remained from the plasma grenade. The Chief was in the process of switching out a magazine full of shot with a magazine full of slugs when he heard the sound of several little feet, all moving in on their position from what sounded like multiple directions.

"I've got multiple unknowns coming in on our location!" Ran shouted, motioning Adrian to follow him to one of the corridors that the sound was coming from.

Rico whirled back around the corner, fitting a fresh magazine into his GSAR just as Ran made mention of reinforcements on route. When he wasn't focused on firing his weapon down the corridor, it was easy to make out the echoing scrapes and scuffles. The sergeant smiled devilishly as he stood back up against the wall, turning to the rest of his squad while Adrian and Ran continued to suppress their hallway.

"Okay, we're makin' for the armory. We stick around here for long an' our asses are grasses," Rico motioned back down the hallway. "Prime your plasma's an' stick together, watch the flank, an' shoot first. On my mark..." Rico held his hand up and peeked out behind the corner, waiting for Ran and Adrian's continued assault to deal with the last pocket of resistance in the one hallway. When he was satisfied, Rico tensed for a moment, gripping his rifle and clenching his teeth into a grim smirk.

"...HIT IT!" Rico shouted as he turned the corner and ran at the head of his team's advance. His mind was dead-set on that armory; without some better equipment, he stood little chance of besting Fian in his own self-proclaimed rivalry.

Amelia rounded the corner roughly the same time as Rico did, breaking into a sprint to catch up with those in front. She stopped only long enough to empty a shell into anything that was moving and wasn't a marine. Plasma grenades sure were noisy. Oh well. She hoped that Rico knew where he was going, because for some reason she couldn't remember the way herself.

((Sorry for the short post, I'm not thinking too clearly right now.))

Esther followed along with her marines, taking shots at any targets of opportunity, but largely letting the others take care of the targets. Having not partaken of the same training regiment as them, she felt unsure how to proceed or coordinate with them. Still, whenever a target presented itself, she unloaded on it, frying circuits with a burst of high-energy coherent X-rays.

----

Android forces continued to advance on them as Rico's team made their way to the armory, and despite proving to be rather ineffectual, remained organized and relentless in their approach. 10mm fire whizzed through the air, inaccurate, imprecise and generally aimed at the torso, despite the marine's wearing of heavy ballistic armor vest.

There was little resistance in front of the team, however, and most of the forces seemed to only be coming in from behind. However, as they approached a large pair of blast doors marked with yellow engineering decals that spelled out 'ARMORY', with supply crates strewn about the hallway leading up to it. It was guarded by four heavily armed and armored Jimmy variants guarding them, with sufficient armor to take a plasma grenade or two to the chest, and what appeared to be dual-wielded Novacorp Electrolaser Rifle weapons.

Before they had even acknowledged the presence of the marines, they had already aimed their lasers at the squad and had prepared to fire.

Upon reaching the final stretch of corridor separating Rico and his final goal of the station's armory, the sergeant looked ahead and cursed under his breath. He knew getting there wouldn't be a walk through the park, but knowing there would be opposition didn't make him appreciate it any more.

"Eyes up front!" Rico yelled as he slid into the cover of one of the large crates. When he was situated, the sergeant began making hand gestures following his orders to his subordinates. "Two a' ya hold the flank, everyone else concentrate fire forwards!"

"Gah!"

Amelia slid down behind a crate, firing a shell at the android behind her that had shot at them. It fired one last time before her shell hit, sending a 10mm round into her breastplate. Of course, the armor protected her, but she still felt the impact. For all of her training and murderous tendencies, she still had a rather light frame. The bullet had hit the scar on her chest as well, causing the shot to make her pause and wince for a hit that would otherwise just make her flinch. She shook it off however and properly got herself behind cover, hoping no one had noticed her reaction.

Hearing the sargeant yell out their next set of orders, she moved from cover to cover till she was in a position to watch their flank. Having only a shotgun, she figured she could hold the flank better than firing at the enemy in front, as they weren't exactly in the ideal range for it. Perhaps out of spite, she put another shell into the android that had shot her. (Maybe she saw it twitch?) "Securing the flank, sir." Had to at least inform the other marines that their backs weren't vulnerable. (Along with whoever else decided to join her that is.)

Grabbing the shotgun by it's foregrip and holding it with one hand, the Chief pulled out a single plasma grenade, armed it, and threw it in the midst of the enemy Jimmys, hoping to distribute the damage caused by the grenade evenly between all four Jimmys.

While the grenade counted down, the Chief immediately slid behind the cover of a nearby supply crate, emptying his magazine full of slugs into whatever Jimmy was situated most in front of the other, hoping that the slugs sent down the hallway would over penetrate the first Jimmy and hit the other one.

"Well this is just two gallons of bullshit, isn't it?!" He growled over the sound of weapons discharge and rounds impacting around him, flinching as the supply crate in front of him jumped as four 10MM rounds impacted to his right and left, one grazing the top of the crate, right next to his head. Loading a new magazine full of shot into the shotgun, Ran stood up and ran after Weynolt, helping her secure the flank. "Weynolt! Keep yourself pressed against the fucking wall!"

The Jimmies retaliated with rapid bursts of electrolaser fire, but were inaccurate in their attempts due to the delay between target and firing. Ran's plasma grenade was well-thrown, and tumbling at the feet of the center-left Jimmy, detonated violently into a ball of bright orange plasma. Just as before, the Jimmies were melted to nearby surfaces or reduced to acrid ash, and damage to the Nerimian-built station was minimal.

As they cleared the defending Jimmies, the advancing reinforcements as a whole had nearly caught up, slightly impeded by the robotic husks of their fallen comrades.

----

"Keep them off my back for a minute and get ready to breach, Sergeant!"

Seeing that the coast was clear, Esther made a dash for the door to open it up, using her officer's clearance to gain access without having to go through currently-disabled station security systems. In reality, it would likely take longer for the doors to open than for her to make them open.

"You heard the lady!" Rico shouted above the din of the action ensuing around him. The sergeant unhinged another plasma grenade from the belt across his waist and tossed it back down the hall before leaning back down under the cover of the large cargo crate in front of him, pressing the top of his helmet down over his head as he readied himself for the anticipated explosion.

"Cover the Cap'n...an' watch your goddamn grenades! This section loses pressure an' we're all fucked all kinds'a ways!" Rico ordered, despite the fact that he himself just threw his own explosive down the hall but mere seconds ago.

Esther had just finished overriding the security protocols, all that was left to be done was to press the large blinking 'OPEN' button on the terminal and a small gap would open in the doors just wide enough for the group to pass through single file. Before she could do this however, a reddish laser beam from far behind the advancing forces struck her from behind, penetrating her body armor and searing flesh. The Captain collapsed in a heap from the trauma.

Behind the waves and waves of of Jimmies was something even larger and more formidable making its way to the marines. Even after four of them were blown to bits by Rico's grenade, Bellmonte's assailant didn't give a damm to the survivability of the droids, but rather fired another burst into the crowd hoping to hit the marines behind cover but destroying a few more Jimmies instead.

Rico, between bursts from his weapon, was able to catch the tail-end of Captain Esther's devastating blow. "FUCK! MAN DOWN!" the sergeant bellowed out as he backpeddled towards Esther's fallen position, blindly firing his rifle from the hip as he approached. Rico peered through the narrow passage through the bulkhead door Esther was able to produce before she was hit, then hastily attempt to lift the collapsed captain.

"Fall back to the armory! Suppressive fire from the rear, support your goddamn teammates as they move back!" Rico ordered loudly amidst the din of the firefight, trying his best to slide in between the two doors with the unconscious captain in tow.