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

Christian sat there, ignoring the words given to him and the shout from the other marine, his left hand tapping against his right cybernetic arm. He cared not to ask anymore questions to mess up the mission plans, but he did listen to the other ideas given, pondering on how successful each one could be.

Dragonnova said:

"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.

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Anselm nodded at this and raised a hand "Speaking of which, how intact do we want the Emden when we take full control of her?"

He looked around at a few of the upleasent faces directed towards him and shrugged "I just wanna know what I shouldn't be blowing up in case things get- hairy..."

Several more sets of steely eyes joined the first wave and the albino tried to shrink deeper into his corner muttering a silent "nevermind" as he stared intently at his boots.

Lilly, who had been sitting wide-eyed at the front so far, finally had something worth saying. She'd remained silent thus far mostly because she barely had any idea what was being said. She stuck a few fingers vaguely into the air, to get Henry's attention. She turned and looked in his direction. "With all due respect, we can't just disable environmental controls, if that's what you're implying. There are hostages aboard, rescuing them should be a priority." She wasn't sure what kind of tactical situation that would present, but certainly getting those hostages out of the enemy's hands would leave one less thing to worry about.

Anselm nodded at this and raised a hand "Speaking of which, how intact do we want the Emden when we take full control of her?"

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"It would be a bonus if the Emden can be returned to active service under the SMoDIN. But if the IPG can accept the possibility that we might return sans the Emden, then I suppose they wouldn't mind if we scratch the paint or lose a generator somewhere."

"Is there any reason for us to disable this ship only temporarily?"

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"I think its because they want us to hightail it out of there as soon as possible with or without the Emden, with it being near Mishu territory." Fian put his thumb to his chin in thought. "Mmm, I suppose Epsilon can wreck the engine room if they manage to start the ship again. That should buy us some time. We can sink the ship later."

"With all due respect, we can't just disable environmental controls, if that's what you're implying. There are hostages aboard, rescuing them should be a priority."

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Fian brought up the list of the hostages. "Lilly is right, more than the well-being of the ship, I would like you to prioritize the well-being of the hostages."

"Considering they have a very clear material motive and that, if caught by our forces would mean certain annihilation, I highly doubt that they are intentionally leaking their position." The Master Chief turned off the projector. "Gentlemen, we have the element of surprise, and we wouldn't want to squander that by going in without preparation. No need to fire up the VR Simulators because the Acadia is a near carbon copy of the Emden. The operation starts at 9.00 AM tomorrow, but I want all of you in the in the hangar bay in two hours for practice."

The black haired Nepleslian gathered up his disks and documents and then stood at attention. "DISMISSED!"

Harrison nodded grimly and marched out of the room. Instead of the mess or the can, however, he headed for the PA bay as ordered. He sighed, realizing he had just made a serious dick move. He'd made MCPO Vel Steyr look like an idiot in front of hundreds of marines. What's worse, now he was going to be penalized for it as well. He shrugged. "Beats eating whatever shit's at the mess today," he said quietly.

Lilly made her way out of the briefing room, stopping for a moment to consider what she was doing. She headed for the hangar to retrieve her still-waiting belongings. Everyone else had probably settled in by now; Lilly would probably be stuck wherever there was still room. She reached the hangar quickly. It was more or less empty, since most of the crew was taking advantage of their off-time. She saw Harrison walk in before her, a cloud over his head. She came up behind him. "Hello, Harrison. Are you alright?" she said in a neutral, inquisitive tone. She cocked her head slightly to the side, her wide eyes contemplating him.

When the briefing ended, Viktor already knew bad shit was going to happen. There were just too many damn variables for this mission and not enough clear-cut options. They'd be winging the whole operation from start to finish, regardless of how seemingly sound the Master Chief tried to make the plan. Typically speaking, Kingston wasn't one for much worrying or fretting, but this mission had him spooked.

First, they were dealing with pirates aboard a PA-loaded stealth craft.
Then they were supposed to disable and commandeer the ship without harming the hostages, all with minimal damage to the Emden... supposedly. That was up in the air. But the real kicker was that they were going to be bordering Mishu space. That was one big list of troubling factors. If this were to succeed, they'd have to pull it off with some space cowboy bravado and plenty of Hollywood luck.

These thoughts kept Private Kingston's mind entertained as he made his way to the bay, as requested. He wanted to make sure he was able to get his hands on that VOID M7 again. It was a wonderful piece of machinery and exactly what Viktor was looking for in a Power Armor. A well-rounded support unit. If they needed defense, it could provide. If they needed cover, it could provide. Communications or sensory disruption? The VOID could do that too. He could only hope it would be there waiting for him to supply it with the proper equipment and a good scrubbing.

Teddo said:

"Hello, Harrison. Are you alright?"

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Harrison looked up from the foot of his FIRE and smiled a bit. It was Lilly, the crying girl he'd dragged away from the barfight. Well, she didn't seem all crying-y right now, so it was probably just a simple question. He smiled a little bit, although some of it was forced.

"No, I'm fine." Harrison thought back to the briefing and chuckled. "Anselm and I got called down here by the chief after the briefing due to our little 'skit' in the briefing room. Probably nothing big."

Anselm spoke up from behind Harrison "Sorry, sir, but the Master Chief only called you out, he just gave me eyes of death," Anselm shivered remembering the glare Fian had given him "or he figured I'd be headed to the Armor Bay anyways."

The marine shrugged "either way, I can help make adjustments to your machine after he's done." the Albino almost asked.

"Thanks, but no." Harrison said, looking at Anselm with the kind of face he would usually surmise troublemakers with. That would be a perfectly blank facial expression, with sharp eyes. "I've tweaked this equipment over the course of two major engagements. It works just fine for me."

Henry decided that while his idea might need a bit of refining, he had to get his hands on a new sidearm. As he was leaving, he paused and thought for a moment - looking for the Quartermaster in his mind's eye.

He then decided that he may be closer to the armour bay. He walked down over there, wondering where he was. He did appreciate all of the armours lined up and primed to go. He eventually found someone near the locker area, behind a desk with a series of pigeonholes stuffed with various pieces of standard issue gear behind him. He was drumming away on his datapad.
"Yes?" He looked up from his datapad, "I'm kinda busy, so make it quick."

Henry unholstered his Zen-Arms .45 and gave it to the Quartermaster, with two magazines, "Swap - out, for - new gear," Henry half-mumbled.
"Mmmhmm, sure, lemme get your file." The quartermaster said as he begun tapping away at his datapad, "Hmm, says here you're missing the canteen and the wallet, too." He reached under the table and gave him the missing articles, while taking his former sidearm.

"Weapon of choice?" The quartermaster asked as he sent a selection to his datapad.
Henry tapped the Styrling Silver Special .45 on the screen of his pad.
"Excellent choice, marine." The quartermaster smiled as he gave him the weapon, with two spare magazines, "Now don't shoot your eye out."

"Ah," Lilly said, "I thought he was going to give you a spanking or something." Rather than a smile and a laugh, Lilly had a slightly worried expression. In her somewhat warped experience, spankings were the generally preferred disciplinary action for naughty girls...


Her face returned to its spacey, sincere self, her eyes focusing on something about a million miles behind Harrison. "Well, if everything's alright, then. I still need to find myself a room." She finished speaking, but remained where she stood. Her eyes drifted absently to the corner where her belongings were.

"If he tries touchin' me for disciplinary action, MCPO or not, I'll toss him out the airlock." Harrison said softly. Ddeespite the serious tone, there was actually the beginnings of a smile on his space. He reclined against the thigh of the PA, making himself a bit more comfortable.

"Anyway, you should probably go ahead and find a bunk. I have a feeling that hanging around here's gonna get you in trouble..." Harrison added.

At the other side of the Hangar Bay, the Master Chief started clambering abroad his old white AIR2, as it was never involved in the defence of Golding, it wasn't in need of additional maintenance or repair. The other marines in the bay took no heed of Fian while they focused on getting their suits fixed or customized before the next mission. The AIR-R he used in the previous mission was in a similar state of disrepair in the corner of the bay, but Fian felt that it was time to take the old girl for a spin.

When all the internals checked out green, he dusted the soot off the suit by hitting all the thrusters in all directions at once, creating a swooshing noise that rang out loudly in the bay but achieving a total acceleration of zero. This done, he then calmly walked the AIR2 over to the center of the room to wait for Harrison.

Just as he had hoped, Viktor Kingston came upon the very same VOID M7 that he had commandeered on Golding Station. It was still in good condition, but could certainly use some freshening up. First things first, Private Kingston worked on a full cleaning of the Powered Armor. While he was at work, he requested an appropriate ammo loadout for the new mission: the SGL was supplied with two full cycles of Red and Blue shells and one full cycle of Yellow shells. The pair of Guided Assault Fusion Mortars he felt was a bit more than he needed, so the GAFM attached to the right backpack hardpoint was removed. The remaining launcher was outfitted with eight standard rounds and then four of both the EMP and scalar rounds.A Tracer rack was attached to the left calf and a rack of BOLTs were attached to the right.

The weapons were cleaned first so that the engineer assisting the pilot could get to outfitting the weapons ASAP. The whole process with two men working vigilantly would take roughly an hour.

After the briefing had concluded, Phaedra returned to her room. She figured as long as she had a small slot of time, she should clean her rifle and ensure it was in working order. She took off her beret and tossed it onto her bunk, grabbed her rifle case and then set it onto her desk.

Phaedra plopped into her chair and opened the case. She pulled the Longbolt out of the case, set it on the desk and retrieved the cleaning kit. Phaedra then proceeded to strip the weapon down and wipe it clean; taking extra time to scrub the barrel and the action. After Phaedra was satisfied with her cleaning job, she reassembled the rifle, stowed it in the case, and snapped it shut.

"Well, a sniper rifle is pretty much useless in a boarding action. I should stop by the armory and requisition something more appropriate," she thought.

Phaedra stood, grabbed her beret and then left her room once again, affixing the beret onto her head as she did so.

Anselm shrugged, failing to keep the pleasant expression off his face as he jogged across the bay to the Aggressor he'd commandeered on the Golding, giving a quick salute to the Master Chief. It still had the chainsword secured to the hip plating, the one weapon he'd spent precious moments finding during the fight, the one weapon he hadn't gotten to use.

The marine pulled up a datapad jacked into 'his' machine and looked over the diagnostics, making mental notes of connections to tighten up, sensors to recalibrate, and parts to be replaced for optimal performance.

Ah, a good three hours of work and this baby will be in prime fighting shape, let's see how she moves. he thought, popping the suit open.

Anselm quickly doffed his outerwear for the piloting suit he'd worn underneath, putting his effects in the nearest empty locker, and clambered into the Aggressor. Leaving the AOP in it's carrier and making sure his missile racks were disconnected, the stripped down armor trotted onto the open floor of the bay, going through several motions similar to a martial arts kata or taichi excercises to test its range of motion and fluidity of movement. The Albino mentally logged each joint, actuator, and musculature bundle that felt too sluggish, adding to the list of work he would be doing to bring the armor in line with his demands of perfection.

After the Briefing, Trey found his way to the armor bay, surprised to find the same Hostile PA he had Jury-rigged to wield an LBR sitting, in much the same condition he had left it in. a quick once-over told him a few minor parts needed replacing, as well as some more important parts, the Mechanism that made the PPP work having been damaged from so much feedback during the fight at Golding (shoving nothing but pure projected force through a powered armor could do that to a machine). His Shield system, likewise, was in need of repair, something he noted was almost constant on the PA's in Nepleslia, but he didn't mind. The missile racks were still partially depleted, so he busied himself with those before finally coming to the main attraction; the jury-rigged LBR. The gun itself was gone, a victim of the battle, but it could easily replaced. of most importance were the two Antimatter canisters stuck to the arm. Now that he had time, the former tech sentry realized how precariously perched they were, and went about retrieving a welding torch and some scrap bits of durandium lying somewhere, beginning work on what would be an armored rack for the two canisters, allowing him to replace them if they ran out, without needing half a workshop's worth of tools.

Henry remembered that his name was on the list of the Non-Powered Armour group, so he'd essentially be without his metal shell to protect him. He had to make do with what he could buy. He got his datapad out and begun doing a quick search for items suitable for his mission.

"...excellent." He murmured with delight as he made his selections and passed them over to the Quartermaster, with a brief of his mission.

His selections were a
Styrling Dart, with four magazines loaded with hollow-point bullets, a threaded barrel and a "4 suppressor to match. For close quarters encounters, he'd packed himself a
Utility Combat Knife M01A, and to protect himself and allow easy access to his datapad's files, Styrling Murr Armour with a helmet.
He searched for a way to activate his datapad without having to get it out, able to access it from the wrist rather than the helmet for when he wasn't wearing an armour - but he couldn't find one. He decided he'd attempt to build one after this mission.

After the quartermaster delivered the hefty order, he gave Henry some advice, "If you wanna keep a low profile, the suppressor will come in handy, but that little gun won't do jack against a powered armour, and against tactical armour, you'll have to empty the magazine. Now don't get killed out there."

Fian observed the marines tinkering with their Power Armors around him. Looks like nobody wants mechanical problems during or after training. The Master Chief was pleased that his men knew that their survival really depended on. This done, he then yelled at Harrison. "Hey Harrison! Join me outside and quit flirting around, unless the lady's gonna use a FIRE1 too!"

To be honest, he was about to single the unlucky Harrison out anyway regardless of his outburst because of the potential difficulty of using the M3 in the next mission. If the ...Tarakian... Wants in as well, then he just might kill two birds with one stone.

Spurring his AIR2 into a run towards the open hangar doors, he then triggered both his thrusters and P/p system to clear the ledge. It wasn't a combat-worthy launch, but it wasn't launching but landing that he wanted to work on. He allowed inertia to take him further and further away to a point around two kilometers away from the Acadia.