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

After a period of time at attention and having reseated himself, it did take a few moments for the achievement to sink in. The General Defense Ribbon. He stifled a chuckle with a little smile. Well, go figure. My first active mission, and I'm walking out with a medal. That's... exhilarating. Maybe I could work up a spree, eh? Let's go for a hat trick, then. 3 missions, 3 medals. That smile became an irrepressible grin as Private Kingston contemplated the thought of actually accomplishing such a feat. As the thought came to an end, he made a second realization: The 1st NSS Acadia Power Armor Wing. Yet another groundbreaking achievement, he thought, to be an original member of the Acadia's first PAW and already decorated. He took a deep breath, and the smile subsided as his rationality kicked in. Viktor was letting this go to his head, he realized, and he had to ease off. Yes, it was an achievement, but groundbreaking wasn't really appropriate. He needed to stay level.

Regardless, these two ideas would occupy his mind for the duration of the speech.

Christian couldn't help but let out a smile, resisting the urge to start clapping for the people who were awarded. He looked around to attempt to recognize each and every marine in the Briefing room, wanting to be able to know each one by the end of at least this mission if not sooner.

I won't want to be alone if I'm sent out in battle, Christian thought to himself, blinking and looking down. He stared at his dog tags before turning his attention directly at the briefing, not wanting to miss any of it.

"Morris? That's your name yeah?" One of the medics poked him as he begun coming back around. Henry groaned, he'd been out for a while with his arm in a sling. He sat up from the bunk and nodded to the medic.

"Good, you're back on your feet, didn't expect a skinny guy like you to recover so quickly," He looked down at his datapad with Henry's file on it, noting that he'd be ready for action soon, "...especially considering your apparent Laliophobia. Is there a reason why you don't talk?"

Henry looked around for his notepad, he reached for it with his other arm, put it in front of him, and penned this message:
"My voice sounds strange. You may have heard me before. I feel like it's alienating when other people hear it."

The medic shrugged and sighed, "Fine, well," He motioned to the door, "You better get moving. There's an awards ceremony on for your buddies o'er on the mid-observation deck. Uniform only. Now move your ass, quickly."

Henry moved out of the medbay, got his uniform back on and all of his standard issue gear and slipped to the briefing room quietly, next to his buddies.
On the way, he realised that he might have to upgrade his Zen-Arms .45 for something with more oomph.

He was within talking distance of Harrison, Anslem and Talbain.
Not knowing who Talbain was, he leaned over and nudged him.
"hey, what - happened?" He asked in his monotone, lifeless drear.

Odd thing was, while it did sound like Henry, it didn't sound nearly as energetic as it did when he was in an armour.

Fian's speech practically flew over the ID-SOL's head. Mission done, have a medal. Other than that the Chief might as well have been giving a lecture about the ships construction.
Talbain practically ignored Henry sitting down next to him until he asked about what he missed out on in his distinct tone. Talking in as quite of a voice he could manage. "Good to have you back. Long story short, we kicked ass, found the armory, freed some fellow Nepleslians and took back the Golding control tower. Be sure to ask Harrison and the Chief about elevators though." Pausing for a second he pointed out P3C Livia. "Ran into her at the tower too. You'll have to ask someone else about leave though."
Having finished his abridged version of the first mission he went back to listening to the Chief. Hopefully there was going to be a mission brief following the speech. Getting leave cut short for no reason would be a pretty big downer otherwise.

The Master Chief cleared his throat to silence the murmurs of excitement, he started the next part of the briefing in a more solemn note. His hand discreetly rested on the IPG file.

"That was the 'Official' story. The truth is that we lost big time." Here the image switched to that of the NSS Acadia and another Hray-type ship in the drydocks prior to the attacks. "The S-1 Gunships are the pinnacle of Nepleslian Navy technology. Small and stealthy, it could cover large swaths of our space undetected, but still packing enough firepower to take down ships larger than itself in one alpha strike. Versatility comes in its modular underslung attachment, and the capability to carry a Power Armor OR Fighter wing."

"The NSS Emden is completely identical to the NSS Acadia right down to the carpeting, you could say that she is the Acadia's sister ship. But unfortunately, she does not share the same luck." Fian took an audible breath. "Long story short, the sacrifice of the Yui-4 and the Power Armor raids was actually a giant diversion. The pirates ambushed the crew of the Emden and made off with the ship in all the chaos."

"Your sister has been kidnapped."

The projector changed to that of a starmap. "Because we managed to recapture the Control Tower BEFORE the NSS Emden jumped to lightspeed, Starbase Golding was able to track and determine the ship's exit coordinates." The area directly below the Nepleslian coreworlds lit up. "Southwards, just a few light years away from our Mishu borders."

The image changed to that of another Hray, but this one looks like it has seen better days. "This is the NSS Alder, it has been stalking the Emden since the jump. Unfortunately, with its four N/F-A Fighters and standard issue Aetheric cannon, it is only equipped to obliterate the Emden in the worse case scenario." A slight shudder ran through the ship. "Our NSS Acadia is currently being fitted with an experimental EMP cannon for the job."

"This is our mission." Fian paused as he allowed the projector to fully load the next slide.

"Stealth in, hit the Emden, board, clear, capture, stealth out?" Harrison stated. "That seems pretty simple, but are we sure the Yui-4 pirates didn't have anything else up their sleeve?" The merc was merely stating the thought on his mind, if anyone else had that question it was presumably going to be answered. After all, the Yui-4 crew were pirates. They could have their hands on all kinds of exotic technologies, from nerve scramblers to interstellar thermobaric warheads the size of a large moon.

"I agree," Christian spoke up without realizing, biting his tongue instantly after. He believed that it was too late to hold his tongue, so he spoke again.

"If they were able to capture a ship, then I can imagine that they'll have another trick on their sleeve for us. I don't think that they'd be laying back and sleeping at what they did, but alert... Sir," Christian said, looking around, waiting to be scolded or worse... Thrown out.

Deep down inside, he could feel a pang of guilt for already speaking up on his probable first mission.

After hearing the brief Talbain stopped for a second to think about the information sink in. "Chief, when the ship jumped they claimed they had the captain on board. Do we know if we're dealing with hostages again?"

He mentally braced himself for a yes.

Fian noted that William 'Waltzed-Into-Obvious-Trap' Howard Harrison and Christian 'Grass-Green' Rivers had recognized the potential danger.

"They pulled off a starbase raid and jacked an SMoDIN Gunship. The IPG wants to learn all their little tips and tricks, including those they have yet to play. Sorry, but our job is to find out firsthand." Fian looked to the side apologetically, a bunch of marines have already started groaning since the word 'IPG'.

"Captain Vera was never on board. The last I heard was that she's sharing a hospital ward with Captain Esther."

"Though, some of the station's crew are unaccounted for and presumably on that ship. A number of them are confirmed to be the pirate's insiders, but the rest are probably unlucky sods press-ganged into running the ship. The Emden is running an imperfect cloak, allowing the Alder to track it so far. Either the pirates are lacking the expertise operate it properly, or we have people resisting on board. How we deal with this will be explained in the next section."

The screen switched to namelists for the four squads of the mission labelled 'Epsilon (Emden Attack)', 'Gamma (Emden Boarding)', 'Delta (Acadia Defence)' and 'Bravo (Alder Defence)'. Fian briefly scanned through the list one last time.

Fian said:

Either the pirates are lacking the expertise operate it properly, or we have people resisting on board. How we deal with this will be explained in the next section."

Click to expand...

"Or they're allowing us to track it, but keeping it working despite it not functioning correctly just to make us assume they're being sloppy. What's to say they aren't expecting us to follow? Or rather, wanting us to?" Amelia frowned mildly. People called her paranoid sometimes, but she was one of those who was always prepared for the worst.

"They pulled off a starbase raid and jacked an SMoDIN Gunship. The IPG wants to learn all their little tips and tricks, including those they have yet to play. Sorry, but our job is to find out firsthand."

Click to expand...

"So they're paying me to walk into a trap this time instead of just getting paid to shoot stuff and walk into the occasional trap?" Harrison smiled a little bit. At least he managed to be light-hearted about his near-death experience in the elevator. Stupid? Yes. Bold? Yes. Funny? Probably not, but he was going to have fun with it no matter what. "Hell, that's probably the best thing I've heard all day."

Then he cocked his head to the side. A little scowl appeared on his face. No doubt somewhere on his head his merc's instinct had kicked in. "We're not getting paid extra to walk into an obvious trap, are we?"

Cipher said:

"We're not getting paid extra to walk into an obvious trap, are we?"

Click to expand...

Anselm grinned "I wouldn't put it past the IPG to let us, but I certainly hope we're being paid extra to do so."

Trap or not, the Albino was almost chomping at the bit to get into an armor again. He looked at the four operations, hoping that, whatever he was assigned to do, it would involve him in that Aggressor again. Anselm sincerely wanted to be in the PA Bay working on the suit more than anything else, except perhaps being in the armor and an intense engagment with those pirates again.

"great." Henry sighed, mumbling a few things unintelligibly, "dealing - with spooks. elusive - they..."
How was he going to deal with the IPG, whose spookery was only second to SAINT. Still, Henry didn't like the back-room and behind closed doors tactics. He have a rough idea of how to fight like one, but to fight with one wouldn't be so successful.

"...the sorry - buggers, shouldn't get - themselves, INTO this mess," Henry grumbled a bit louder, "- in, the first - place..."

"Hmmmmmm... This doesn't sound right at all," Rivers said, looking around quickly.

"First, the pirates are lacking on keeping themselves quiet, and there may be possible captives? I bet that they're preparing anything to blow us to pieces when we attempt to board when we do," he added.

"I'm up for this mission as long as we discover some -if all- of their tricks that they've been hiding up their sleeves... Even if I die in the process," he said, feeling a bit of regret at the last statement.

Though, Christian would give himself for a better cause if need be.

"Idiot," Anselm growled at Christian "don't talk about dying, or failing the mission, or anything like that, it's bad luck..." he paused and took a breath as if he were about to make an impassioned speach "and it puts me in a foul mood."

The marine clenched his hand into a fist and made a show of punching his other palm, he lived for these moments of cliche bravado "Hell, now that I'm so angry I can't wait to knock on those punk pirates' door and give 'em a face full of hot lead!"

The scarred albino looked down to the front of the observation deck where Fian was standing amidst the rising tensions of his troops "Well, Master Chief, let's hear the plan to knock these sons of vermin down and take back our sister from their rotten clutches!"

"FUCK YEAH, TESTOSTERONE!" Harrison shouted, mocking Anselm's gung-ho behavior by screaming at the top of his lungs the most manly things he could think of in a list. And there were several things in there. After he had calmed down from his little joke towards Anselm, he smiled a little bit more sympathetically. "Yeah," Harrison said a bit more quietly, "talking about death is bad luck though."

Then he affixed his attention back on Fian. "So then, Chief?" The ex-merc stated. "Anselm and the new guy already stated their questions, so that kind of nulls mine. I'm gonna ask anyway: when do we leave, and what's our plan when we get there?"

The Master Chief cringed at the random outburst, hopefully not one of those stuck-up types back at HQ will review the briefing video. "P1C Harrison, a refresher course on professional marine behaviour is in order. See me at the Power Armor bay after the session." He also narrowed his eyes at Anselm, indicating how close the Albino was at being student No.2 in that course.

"Or they're allowing us to track it, but keeping it working despite it not functioning correctly just to make us assume they're being sloppy. What's to say they aren't expecting us to follow? Or rather, wanting us to?"

Click to expand...

Fian simply shrugged, "You to find out." He replied, referring to an earlier segment in the briefing.

"Continuing on, friendly forces consist of our Power Armor Wing, the NSS Acadia, the NSS Alder and it's pair of N/F-A fighters. Hostile forces include the thirty-something pirates onboard the NSS Emden, an unspecified number of stolen Power Armors and possibly a civilian-registered Red Hill transport recently observed in the mission area. The pirates might also be holding up to six hostages."

"Both the NSS Acadia and Alder will approach the Emden from the rear. The single-shot EMP cannon that the Acadia is now equipped with is projected to completely but temporarily disable the Emden's shields, weapons, engines and electronics. As soon as the shot connects, the Acadia will come up the side of the Emden."

"As soon as that happens, Epsilon and Gamma will launch and enter the Emden through its main hangar bay. There may be opposition from enemy Power Armors at this point. The Alder's N/F-As will be called in to breech the hangar doors with torpedoes should it be closed."

"The hallways beyond the Locker Room is intentionally designed to NOT permit Power Armors through. Gamma team is to dismount from their suits and take the bridge. If its not possible, then they are to move upstairs to take the Computer Room. Epsilon is to secure the hangar and Engine Room, to engage any enemy Power Armors and prevent their pilots from dismounting to intercept Gamma team."

"Control of the Engine and Computer rooms effectively translates into control of the ship. Pirate remnants inside and outside the bridge will then be dealt at our own leisure. However if the two rooms cannot be taken or if there is a high chance that the Emden will escape, Plan B involves Aethering the vessel and anyone unlucky enough to be still onboard, gentlemen we do not want to go there."

"The T4, should it be discovered to be in cahoots with the pirates, will be dealt by the Alder."

"Delta and Bravo will serve as point defences for their respective ships and as a reserve if needed."

Fian rubbed his temples. "Any questions?"

"Just one thing..." Amelia drew a small breath. "Is there any reason for us to disable this ship only temporarily? It's not like disabling the ship indefinitely is unrepairable. At least that way it won't escape... if we're worried about reinforcements then we can just tow it out, the PA wings and fighters would be able to provide cover if necessary. I know we want control of the ship, but it would be much better if we were to make sure the ship wouldn't become active again while the team is on board. That way they couldn't use the ship's internal defenses against us, or self destruct it... However long this 'temporary' disablement is supposed to last, there is honestly no telling how long it may take us to wipe out the pirate resistance within." Some who didn't know her might think she was just worried about her own hide for plan B, but it wouldn't matter if she were on Gamma or Epsilon. Their plan just felt a bit too 'conditional' for her considering they were essentially going in blindly towards whatever they had waiting for them.

Phaedra's eyes widened when she heard the MC say: "Gamma team is to dismount from their suits and take the bridge."

She grew apprehensive, her left hand slowly clenching into a fist and a hint of nausea appearing in the pit of her stomach. The last place Phaedra wanted to be was inside of one of those armored coffins, but it seemed she was going to be dealing with her fears much sooner than she anticipated.

Unconsciously, her right hand reached to stroke the stitches on the left side of her face, but she caught the mannerism before it was completed.

"No!" Phaedra thought, "It will only be a short hop from between the ships. I'll just...have to deal with it. This is my first real mission, I can't screw up now. I have to show my comrades what I can do, and I won't let my fears stand in my way."

Phaedra furrowed her brow and slowly unclenched her left hand.

"With - all fairness, sir," Henry proposed, raising his hand, "We could - gather a team, of engineers, to disable the ship from - the inside, out - among other things, such - as restricting - access to weapons! Or even... kill them without us raising - a finger."
His voice was barely able to get to the front of the room, with some anonymous marines exchanging murmurs.

"We just - have, to, be, subtle... not, like those - damn spooks."
He got out his notepad and wrote his plan down with care, passing it via a small string of Marines over to Fian.
Henry figured that a plan like this, while the marines distract their main fighting forces, a smaller strike team could slip in and disable certain areas of the ship, or even make it all work against the pirates running it.