RP: NSS Acadia [Mission 2]: Brotherhood and Sisterly Love

Ten Marines rushed up the stairs with Ran in tow, 5 splitting off to join Henry and Volkov, and the other 5 and the Chief splitting off to join Talbain. The group that joined Talbain immediately poured suppressive fire down the hallway the IDSOL was firing down, either sending the pirates back into the cover of the bunk rooms or killing/wounding any that didn't get to cover fast enough.

The Chief stacked each group at the end of either hallway, getting ready to send them both down to clear out the rooms. But, the announcement made by Henry caught his attention. Instead of clearing the rooms one by one, the Marines could simply clear the halls and center rooms and take the Com room to flood the bunks with KO gas.

"Wait, what the fuck am I thinking about?" Ran spoke aloud, causing some of the Marines to look at him strangely. "Morris, we're going to take two groups and clear the rooms one by one down the hallway. You take the team down your hallway. Keep men posted outside in the hallway while you clear 'em. And watch out for those fucking center rooms."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Ran picked up Volkov's broadcast that she had captured the prisoners. "Fuck in a dick basket. Morris, make sure that noone runs out of the bunk rooms to kill Volkov."

At that, the Chief motioned for Talbain to take point, and situated two Marines between himself and the IDSOL, with others stacked behind him. Reciprocating a firm pat on he received on his shoulder forward, Ran sent his team down the hallway.

=====

The two gunmen couldn't believe it. A single Marine had charged into the Canteen and killed three of their comrades. Their disbelief was less directed towards her combat prowess, but that they could not believe a Marine had breached a room by herself.

Behind one of the many cold storage crates that had fallen down into the Canteen, the two waited for the shooting to die down and for the Marine that assaulted the Canteen to call for backup.

As soon as the two gunmen, hidden behind the cold crates from IR, heard Volkov radio for assistance, they opened fire.

One had sent a few well-aimed shots towards Volkov's midsection, while the other had fired several poorly-aimed but suppressive shots to her, separating away from his comrade to take up a different position behind another crate to Volkov's left flank to divide Volkov's attention towards two directions at once.

(I'm so sorry for not keeping up. I could give reasons, but they wouldn't matter. I hope you all don't mind me returning at this point.)

"Phaedra!"

Amelia sprinted forward after she charged in, seeing her breach, but not take cover before attempting to communicate to the rest of the squad. She had a split second to register the bare basics of her surroundings as she entered behind her. Just as she finished calling for help, she finally reached her ally and friend.

But rather than fire back at her attackers, her free arm extended and hooked around Phaedra as they collided. Amelia pulled her down with her as the tumbled over behind the nearest crate. A couple of shots flew past her head, but the next one hit her in the thigh as she slid down into cover with her friend. She let out a short cry in pain before pulling herself up into a sitting position. She placed her hand on the new wound and her hand came away bloody.

"Volkov, are you insane? Take cover even if you don't see any hostiles... There's almost always someone you can't see...." Amelia might have chastised her further if a fresh wave of pain hadn't shot up her leg, causing her to wince.

"Target locked!" Peter's Weapons Officer shouted. A green bracket has neatly framed a pirate Yui-4 similar to the one that attacked Golding Station on the main screens.

The Captain was gently surprised that it wasn't a Mishu ship, and it had decided to enter the NSS Acadia's interdiction field at an angle where its entire side was exposed and its main gun (or what's left of it) pointed in another direction. Perhaps it was in the process of running away from something, but Peters wasn't going to take any chances, not with these odds. "Barrage them with the cannons, prep a spread of torpedoes for launch!"

"Barraging, readying torpedoes for launch!" The handsome WO intoned. A rhythmic thumping pulsed through the ship as it spat out 120 starship-grade LBR bolts a minute. Coming to its senses, the Yui-4 quickly engaged its sublight engines while throwing out Power Armors in the general direction of the Emden.

The marines wont be the only people expecting company though. "Numerous CDD jumps from random points in our area detected, all moving coreward!" The long haired Sensors Officer squeaked.

It seemed more obvious to Peters that the remaining pirates in the area are fleeing the area like animals fleeing a forest fire, except the fire is most likely a Mishu invasion. "Drop the Interdiction Field to half strength, I don't want to be catching any more trouble!" He turned to his SO. "Give me a deep scan south-coreward, confirm the status of the Alder and if it's really Mishu!"

The Weapon's Officer already knew the answer, another anti-fleet beam pierced the darkness of deep space near the beleaguered NSS Alder, he knew no Yamataian or Nepleslian weapon fired a beam like that.

"...And where is the Master Chief, I wanted him back on the ship ten minutes ago!"

Back on the NSS Emden

The pirates with most of their numbers literally cut down put up less and less of a fight and eventually the six or so that were remaining quickly surrendered, dropping their weapons and their knees. They were immediately set upon by some of the marines, but the rest of the squad weren't so perky, at least six members of Epsilon squad were either seriously injured or dead, the remaining twelve were in varying states of damage with little to no remaining ammo.

Fian wasn't too happy about the current state of events, he was in fact worried. "Take the prisoners and wounded into the safety of the Locker Rooms, and see what you can do." He instructed a marine in an M2 with a Medtech MED Pack attachment, that soldier promptly enlisted a few others to help him carry the infirm.

After nearly half an hour of only registering static, his command-link intercom sprang to life. The Master Chief quickly resigned himself to one corner of the bay to get a better reception. "Mmm, mmm." He momentarily turned around to look at the wrecked Power Armors of Gamma and the dead and wounded. He ran a quick calculation in his head, but the answer was obvious.

"I'm afraid that's impossible, sir."

With the battle at an end, Viktor recalled his drones for a recharge, and surveyed the room, taking it all in. Most suits were displaying obvious signs of combat wear, giving them a more hardened countenance. The floor was marred, and littered with Power Armors and eviscerated corpses. It was a rather gruesome sight, all in all. Then he caught a glance of MC Fian in the corner, and gently slid his way across the floor with the aid of boosters. "Sir, what's our next move?"

*Several moments ago*

It all happened in a instant. The pair of pirates emerged from behind the cold-storage crates and opened fire upon Phaedra. But in that same instant, Phaedra heard a familiar voice shout her name. The next thing she knew was behind some of the fallen storage crates, with Amelia nursing a fresh leg wound.

Phaedra's remaining eye widened at the sight of Amelia's blood.
"She pushed me out of the way..." thought Phaedra, glancing up to Amelia.

"Damn it..." said Phaedra as she reached for some Medicagel from her utility belt.

"Don't move," she said, slathering the gel onto the wound.

Phaedra retrieved her GSAR and held it close; she glanced over her shoulder, trying to locate the heat signatures of the gunmen through the crate.

"Are sure I'm the insane one? You are the one that burst in here and took a bullet meant for me," she said, intending for it to be a joke but it didn't really come out that way. Phaedra gripped her GSAR tightly as she saw one of the gunmen warily approaching the crates they were hiding behind.

"If there's one thing I can't stand, it's my friends getting hurt because of me," she thought.

Phaedra popped out from behind the crate and fired a burst at the slowly approaching gunman, the pirate dropping as the rounds thudded into his torso. But this immediately drew fire from the gunman on the other side of the room, causing Phaedra to jump back behind the crate. More of the hostages yelped in surprise from the gunfire, and Phaedra popped up from the top of the crate, her GSAR trained on the second assailant.

"Drop the weapon!" shouted Phaedra. The pirate quickly grabbed a nearby hostage and pulled the human shield infront of him.

"I'll kill him!" shouted the pirate, "I'll kill them all!" he said with wild eyes.

"Drop the weapon! Now!" shouted Phaedra in reply. Her eye implant zoomed in on the pirate's right hand, and she adjusted her GSAR to compensate. When the pirate did not drop his weapon she fired a single shot, punching through the pirate's hand and causing him to drop his rifle. The hostage screamed and leapt away from his captor.

When the pirate looked up from his ruined hand, the pirate suddenly found a fist flying towards his face. The blow connected solidly and knocked the pirate onto the floor. Wiping the blood from his broken nose, the pirate looked up to see a female marine looming over him, her remaining blue eye sending an icy chill through his spine.

Phaedra balled her metal left hand into a fist and repeatedly slammed it into the pirate's face. She leapt on top of the pirate, growling in anger as she obliterated the man's face, blood splattering her front and side of her face. After a few moments of panting from exertion, Phaedra stood, slung her GSAR over her shoulder, and strode over to Amelia's location. She helped Amelia onto her feet, pulling Amelia's arm across her shoulders for support. Other marines rushed into the canteen to free the hostages as Phaedra helped Amelia into the corridor.

*Currently*

Phaedra helped Amelia limp into the hangar where the wounded were being collected.

“Thanks Amelia,” said Phaedra. “I owe you my life. Just…don’t throw yours around so carelessly for my sake.”

Anselm clambered out his mostly pristine Aggressor and looked around at the blood and oil pooling around the damaged and destroyed armors and the bodies of their pilots.

"Hmm," was all the private could say before he was conscripted as a body-mover and emergency nurse. One of the marines with him, another green recruit seeing his first action with a bad cut across his forehead helped him with a female private who had taken a nasty blast to her thigh.

"Guess we're the lucky ones, eh?" the boy asked him, probably assuming the scars on Anselm's face meant he had seen some heavy fighting and several years of service.

The Albino grimaced and made a small noise that was taken for agreement, doing his best to stop the girl from bleeding out. Luck, he thought, watching the medic take over and point the two of them at another badly injured soldier how I hate that word.

"Don't throw mine around so recklessly? Look who's talking!" Amelia gave her a rather cross look despite being supported by her. But for all of her criticism, she was really just glad Phaedra hadn't been killed in there. Hopefully her lack of serious chastising of Volkov showed that she was only showing her concern for her comrade. She might not know it, but anyone who had been around Amelia for even a little while would know that to be a rarity.

Amelia looked like she was going to say something else, but lost her footing and winced as her weight shifted onto the injured leg. She gave a bitter chuckle. "The ironic thing? This is the same leg that got filled with shrapnel back on the Nerkat..."

Transphasic beams shot out from the Yui4, not as many as Peters would have expected but it was still enough to make the ship shudder. It appears that the Yamataian-made vessel had lost most of its 'floating turrets', this in addition to its busted main gun made the fight very one sided.

It would be the easiest kill for the veteran captain, but he decided that it would be best if it left on its own accord and not fight a drawn out battle. "Sustain fire until it reaches the edge of the interdiction field, continue to sustain if it doesn't immediately power its CDD drive."

"Captain, we have a shuttle and an N/F-A approaching from the south region, most probably from the NSS Alder. I'll put it on the screen." As soon as the SO finished saying that, a screen appeared to show two medium sized green dots moving towards the NSS Acadia, closely followed by the edge of a large grey field.

The elderly Captain knew that it represented a combined fleet's interdiction field. The Alder was easily a write-off in his mind, the Acadia too if it catches up with them. At least now with the two incoming ships there is some mitigation to this disaster of an operation. Now if only the Master Chief and Yui-4 knew what's good for them. Like with the Yui-4, Peters would have to do something with the marines to make it happen.

Meanwhile...

Fian Vel Steyr was just finished deliberating the next course of action when Viktor decided to pop up behind him, this startled the MC a little who had not finished deliberating how to present it to the rest of the squad. "Er, uhm. We'll proceed as planned."

At this, a glaring red warning message with yellow text appeared on the bottom of the screen of every marine still in his power armor.

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MISSION ABORTED, ALL MARINES RETURN TO THE NSS ACADIA FOR IMMEDIATE EVACUATION OF THE COMBAT ZONE.
**************************

Click to expand...

"And then there's that." The black haired Nepleslian clenched his teeth and pushed past Viktor. "Oh bugger this." He triggered his loudspeaker to address every marine in the bay. "As a rule, I will not make a decision that would require you to sacrifice more than you have signed up for." He yelled, absolutely pissed that everything seems to be conspiring against the success of the operation. "But I must warn you that there is are at least thirty pirate power armors out there between us and the Acadia. Take your chances if you will."

"While you make the decision to fight or fly, I would like you to bear in mind the other people who cannot make that decision, the power armorless and the injured. Have we not made that choice long ago to come in aid of the defenceless?"

"If you want out, do it now. There isn't a lot of time left before things get dicey again in here. I wont stop you, but I strongly recommend against it. Not because going out is almost certain death, not because I wish to appeal to your sense of pride or honor, but because making out of here with the Emden and accomplishing the mission is still a real and distinct possibility."

This done, he kicked open a recess in the hangar wall to reveal a small store of handheld weapons. Selecting an LBR-00p and a T-1 Panzerfaust amongst these, he boosted to the rear of the hangar opposite the open hangar door, just to indicate where he stood on the matter.

Stareing intently at the group of newly released hostages Gary came from, he breaks off from them. Hearing the loudspeakers from outside of the bay. Making loud footsteps as he begins to make his way to the locker rooms to retrieve his gear. Turning down the hallway in front of him he continues on for a few more feet before coming to his room. Pushing in a few numbers Gary unlocks the door and begins gathering his niknacks before headin for the lockers once more.

Gathering his rifle and sidearm, he makes his way back to the back and stands on the sidelines. Waiting for whatever was going to happen to happen.

((Who is "he"? Jesus Christ I hate it when people post pronouns instead of their name for the entire post...))

"You should know where my loyalties lay by now, Chief." Harrison looked up from the salvage work he had been performing on the assorted corpses of the Red armors. He plucked a Panzerfaust from the wreckage, piling it alongside other scavenged pirate weaponry on a fairly large tarp. Gathering the corners of the tarp in the hands of his FIRE, Harrison stamped over to stand alongside the Chief.

"We'd better be getting paid overtime for this," the ex-merc grumbled quietly to himself. He then turned to the Chief. "Alright, this is what I've managed to scavenge from the pirates in terms of equipment. It's all still in working order, mostly light weapons like Type 02s and such, but there's at least two Panzerfausts in there, even an HPAR." Harrison stopped fast at the "even an HPAR" part, dug into the sack and withdrew the HPAR. "Scratch that," he added, "no more HPAR."

"It's safer inside a working ship than outside it." Trey pointed out, shifting in his armor. "And if we get rid of the pirates fast enough, I can hotwire doors" he added, hoping that skill would be helpful. The Tech sentry-turned PA sniper thought back to the old days, when he would repair things on board ships and get past doors people had accidentally forgot keys or codes to.

"What have we got coming at us, immediately, sir?" The Yamataian-bodied Nepleslian asked.

The Albino ran to his Aggressor and jumped in, opening a channel to Lilly, hoping the girl was still ready for some more red-bashing "Lilly, we're going to take the bridge, I don't feel like waiting for Gamma to take the com room first, what d'ya say we make their job a little easier?"

Anselm loaded his last drum of red shells into the AOP and discarded the rest of his magazines, packing them with more RED shells, the last one with a box of six GREEN shells sitting behind the numerous RED boxes. Aw, shit, these'll come in handy. The marine smiled behind his armor's impassive face of durandium.

Getting ready to bust up into the floor above, the marine dumped his extended weapons cases, giving the suit a reduced profile and more agility.

Anselm switched back over the the squad-wide channel "Master Chief, I figure we'll bust down a few walls, burn through the bridge doors and force a surrender, then we can get everyone out of this mess; what's going on outside that has the captain calling for evac?"

Gary began to look around the bay as he realized now will not be a time for mindless descipline. Laying down his bags he unzipped his MB-901s and loaded one clip before leaving the rest of the ammo in the bag. Then opening his sidearm bag and equipping the heavy automatic. Slinging the rifle and holstering the sidearm Gary began to walk over to the PA that had stepped against the bulkhead on the interior side." Sir, Private First Class Diovi' reporting for duty, sir. Geurilla warfare and long-distance engagement are my secondary trainings" Gary said in a loudend but deep voice. Staring at the monocle of the PA he stands saluting for a moment before returning to combat protocal and leaving the bay to look for anyone not being attended to.

"We've got Mishu hot on our tail." Fian stated, somehow an old proverb from antiquity walked into his head. When the clam and heron fights, the fisherman wins. "I bet they planned the whole thing."

The Master Chief picked up his ever-useful Trey Penton and autoboosted the both of them to a control panel in a recess near the open hangar door. He jabbed at the volumetric keyboard a few times with his finger to confirm that it was still resisting his advances. "The Starfighters must have busted the mechanism. I don't know, see if you can dislodge it or something and then have the Aggressors push, or whatever."

He then hit the squad wide to answer Anselm. "Well if you think it works, do it."

Another Marine wanted a piece of him. This one was so tall he had to look up from his AIR-R Power Armor. "Whoa, you all right there? Mister..." His Savtech brought the data up his screen, a certain PFC Gary Diovi, presumed captured on Golding by the pirates. "You should let the Medics look at you. But if you feel okay report to Chief Ran upstairs, this is a PA only party." Fian boosted back to Harrison and his little cache, but not before snapping at the huge ID-Sol as he left. "And drop that salute!"

Before the Master Chief even spoke, Viktor Kingston knew the answer. He took a deep breath and followed Fian across the room, unable to come up with his own plan at the moment. Then he heard Anselm's idea, and he agreed; the faster, the better. They needed to take the Emden before they could worry about anything outside. The Emden would be key to their overall success. Kingston boosted over to Anselm's side slowly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to join you on this little crusade."

Talbain took point as instructed and set a charge that was handed over his shoulder on to the door. In the seconds between setting the charge and the door being ripped out of place he quickly went over the process in his head. As soon as the blast happened he was through the newly opened doorway. For the ID-SOL is was just going through the processes he had been taught, blanking out his mind of anything else. Weapon up, through the door, work from the center, cut right, sweep and put bursts into anything pointing at the doorway along the way.
In only a moment it was over. Two bursts from his own firearm had covered his own sectors. Only registering to him as the recoil in his shoulder with their noise being drowned out by the sounds of the rest of the teams fire as the swept their own portions of the room for enemies.
"One up!" Talbain called to signal he hadn't been shot. His final position being a kneel near one of the pirates he had downed near the corner of the room.

Gary nods before turning around in the hall and running past the door again." Sir yes, sir" he said as he kicked a door into the stair well and went up to the top deck. Machine pistol in hand he began wandering down the corridors and searching rooms for hostiles or Chief Ran. Smelling the air near the gym as he approached it, Gary shouldered his sidearm and stacked against the bulkhead." Sometimes war is really screwed up" he said to himself before opening the door and crouching. Bobbing his head in slightly as he glimpsed around the room before slowly walking in.

Turning around as he finishes his lap around the gym Gary left and closes the door. Sighing a moment he thinks better of it and goes back in heading for the showers. Gary began stacking into the wall before entering and ends up not shooting a round for either shower. Workout machines appearing as they normally would to him in the bright room he leaves once more." Its not like normal training for a large room not to be taken" Gary said to himself as he continued to walk down the halls.

While covering the Marines advancing down the hallway, the Chief had the glorious opportunity to send a slug traveling down the hall and into the chest of a pirate who had decided to move out of cover. The unfortunate pirate would then come to a screeching halt as the slug impacted an inch above his growing, shattering bone and damaging organs as it traveled through his body.

Keeping his shotgun leveled down the hall for a few seconds, the Chief lowered it in time to hear the sounds of joy from Talbain's carnival of fun erupt from the room being assaulted. "Excellent, keep that momentum going" was a token response he offered as the rest of Gamma kept leapfrogging their way down the hall, clearing rooms one by one, some finding nothing inside of them and some murdering pirates inside others.

"Are you new here, dude?" Was his only reaction to the sudden appearance of Gary, who he did not remember being one of the Marines that came over with the rest of Gamma.

Anselm looked up at the ceiling, dearly wanting to cut it apart or blast it away, with great effort and a sour face he turned away and made for the stairs "Alright, with me then, we're taking the stairs."

The marine nodded to the MC as he stomped past and over to the wide hallway and stairwell to the bridge, HPAR at the ready and Monoeyes scanning for enemies.

"Better idea," Kingston offered, clamping a metal gauntlet to Anselm's shoulder. "Square-shield formation in the front; it'll hold the line, push them back, and after that it's like shooting fish in a barrel." Without awaiting a response, the order was given for four functioning and almost fully charged drones to set up the rectangular barrier and slowly advance, keeping five feet between themselves and Anselm who was currently on point. "I've got your back," Viktor assured his fellow Marine, although he doubted much assurance was needed: they were in Power Armors and their enemies had basic body armors at best. "Might I suggest we aim for minimal collateral?"