RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mission 4.1] In Before the Close

"Pfffhahahahaha! Rita laughed heartily, nudging Rana in the stomach with enough force to feel it through the armor, but not enough to move her or to hurt her. "You're a tough little cookie, ain'tcha'? Well, that's good, 'cause I'd rather you didn't get your guts ripped outch'er stomach. The more guns I got covering my ass, the better." It seemed that Rita had been impressed, somewhat, by Rana's moxie.

Rita walked away toward Matteo, a bit interested in chatting with possibly the only member of the squad who had a goddamn sense of humor, but she turned to mutter one last quip to Rana before reaching him. "Just make sure you don't get weak in the knees when we land, green-bean."

If the Aggressor armour was that thin she was really beginning to wonder how she should feel walking about in it. That sheet of metal encasing her had nearly been dented by someone in a hostile, that did not bode well. Still she gave her the feed chain into her rifle one last check as she began firing off her systems one at a time. The mono-eye system sparked to life as it began to scan the room and she gave the push/pull system a tentative test. Though she couldn't leave that last comment hovering in the air.

"Oh, I'm sure you're strong enough to support me if I fall over. We rooks do have a habit of just keeling over sometimes. It's rather sad," she continued on in that same neutral tone. It was impossible to tell whether this was sarcasm or self admitted defeat. The answer would never come from her.

"Thank you," Artan replies to the Junker droid. As he began to run through every pre-deployment drill he had been taught. The last few tests, and he shifted to collect his weaponry. Loading up the few items that required placement, or he had removed to check upon.

The banter of Rita brings Artan's helmet turn to peer at her for a few moments. Instead of speaking on the matter he simply shakes his now armored head, "Stark, ready to go," he sounds off.

Kurt was mentally walking himself through the pre-launch checklist he had developed over the years while serving as an infantryman. There was the slightly off-beat AI, this time acting like a pirate.

Kurt tried his best to look a little skittish as he entered the power armor bay, but could only really pull off a mildly annoyed look as he entered the bay, immediately requesting a NIGHT, outfitted with an Multiphase Rifle instead of the Dead Eye system, mostly because he liked having a rifle that required a careful mind capable of precision fire, but mostly because...

"Hey, Lisa!" Kurt called out across the armor bay, slipping into his suit and relaxing as it was assembled around him. "Looks like I'll be covering your rear from far away." Kurt lifted his hand up to his right eye and forming an "O" with his thumb and pointer finger, before the helmet closed around him, allowing him to escape any quick retorts from the female Marine.

When all of the pre-launch checklists were completed, Kurt immediately opened a private channel with Sergeant Phaedra Volkov, sending her a copy of his "official" record, in order to soothe any doubts the Sergeant had about a newcomer picking an armor as advanced as the NIGH2.

The record indicated that he had received sniper training. Really not a lie; just a downplaying of how many years of training and experience he had received.

"Ma'am," He opened with, careful to adopt a more professional tone with a superior. "Where do you want me?"

Lisa laughed at Kurt. He was fun guy too, which was good. Also they shared the experience of the Fun-House fiasco. At she though it was fiasco. "Hah, you just like looking at my butt mate. Can't really blame you, it is great butt." She commed back ot him and smacked her ass, while in her armour for comical addition.

Alrik waited next to his Hostile, checking over the various parts of the armor and inner workings of the machine. His datajockey in hand and his eyes fully in tune this time around for this kind of work. He had already gone through the checklist for preflight, but he wanted to make sure every part of the machinery and circuitry was up to his par. " Hostile..." He muttered to himself, still despising the Power Armors and his lack of experience in them. He would rather be out there, instead of inside one of these machines. He knew it was better than being guarded only by a bit of armor, or just in clothes. He just preferred the term infantry, rather than power armor.

His armor had been eqquipped with a NAM Light Plasma Autocannon LPA-01B and a HPAR fitted with short ranged equpment; stunted barrel, Reflex Sights, Fore Grip and a Stun Prod equipped as a bayonet option at the tip of the barrel. He also used a Virtual Trigger option, rather than a physical trigger. Believing his mind fast than his actual trigger finger response.

Alrik fitted himself inside the Hostile and proceeded to start the start up procedures and making himself comfortable in the machine. " Sergeant, Private Third Class Alrik Wolf, Hostile, showing all green." He broadcasted across the squad channel, before standing still and ready for combat. It would be his first time in a military scenario that didn't include rubber bullets or paint balls. It would also be the first real battle since he was in Funky City.

He could almost imagine a switchblade in his hand.

None of the Marines had noticed that the ship had gone from STL to FTL, jumping from Artume to the NMX outpost of 87I. But on the bridge of the Dauntless, Rear Admiral Dominic Valken paced back and forth much to the irritation of his flag captain. "Sir, respectfully, sit down," was what she wanted to say. Instead, when she spoke, "Sir, perhaps the crew would benefit from a last word before battle?"

Valken stopped pacing and seemed to consider this. "I dislike speech making before battle. Not my style. But perhaps a change may be refreshing." He went to his command console and keyed in a command to allow him to speak over the ship's speakers.

"All hands, this is the Admiral. The fleet will be entering combat momentarily. All Marine units are to prepare for landing on the airless moon and storming the facility. None of you have permission to die. If you die, I will bring you up on charges of insubordination. That is all. Godspeed."

Outside, the ships of the First Cruiser Squadron transitioned from FTL to STL speeds at the edge of System 87I.

Minutes later, the NMX forces were speeding to engage. Valken examined the threats. 1 Line Battleship, 4 destroyers, 4 scout ships, 4 Tivurinth patrol ships, 300 battlepods. The escort ships were of little threat to the Nepleslians. The battleship and the battlepods, on the other hand, were a threat. "Launch the Greens and Greys. Their orders are to kill the battlepods. Captain Ironside, the squadron will engage the battleship. Sergeant Volkov, have the Marines board their shuttles."

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On paper, against 300 battlepods, the 128 FA4s of Green and Grey Squadrons seemed to have no hope of victory. When considering how each one carried two F2 drones, it was actually the NMX who were outnumbered in small craft.

The battlepods, fighters and drones danced about like tadpoles in a pond whilst the Nepleslian sharks began engaging the NMX whale.

Plasma lances and torpedoes were exchanged with hypervelocity rounds and high powered lasers. The initial Nepleslian volley was enough to kill the battleship and the destroyer escorts for the price of the Comet lost with all hands and the Bastion too badly damaged to continue the mission. All other ships reported minor damage and shield loss.

Valken pounded his fist onto the console but his face showed no anger. "Bastion will return to Artume with news of our victory. Captain, the fleet will advance."

Ironside nodded, giving the order for the flagship to lead the charge. The NMX vessels attempted to make suicide runs at the Nepleslians but were swatted away before they could do much damage. The FA4s were taking longer to finish off the wilier NMX battlepods.

Soon, the warships were in orbit over the target moon and facility, laying waste to all the surface defenses set up there. It was a barren dustball, pockmarked with craters. Each time a plasma lance struck a surface emplacement, grey dust was kicked up in the explosion.

When Valken was satisfied that the Navy had done all it could to support the Marine landing, he gave the order. "Send in the Marines."

Phaedra took note of the squad as they assembled in the hangar, assigning them each a position in the squad. She was nearly done with her task when one of the new Marines by the name of Kurt approached her. Phaedra was surpised that he was clad in a NIGHT, and was glad to have another sniper in the squad. She read his dossier quickly and then put her hands on her hips; a gesture that looked odd while wearing Power Armor.

"I will be watching you with great interest, Private McNair," she said through a private channel. She was about to say more but Admiral Valken began to speak to the crew.

"Sergeant Volkov, have the Marines board their shuttles."

Phaedra switched over to the squad channel and then sent the Marines a message:

Squad Assignments-

-Alpha-
Sergeant Volkov
Private Aubrey
Private Romero
Private Wolf
Private Balthior
Private Stark
Private Tybalt

-Beta-
Staff Sergeant Sommerville
Private Greer
Private Stenton
Private Witt
Private McNair
Private Simmons
Private Kalev

Click to expand...

"Alright Marines, you have your assignments. Mount up!"

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After several agonizing moments waiting in the shuttles, the order finally came:

"Send in the Marines," ordered the Admiral.

"Listen up. We are entering hostile NMX Territory; unfortunately that means we have little solid information to go on about what we might be facing. Think, and remember your training. Communicate and keep a level head. Stick with your teammates and we will all make it out of this alive," said Phaedra. She paused, and then because she thought it rediculous, mentioned the Admiral's order in an attempt at humor.

"Also, the Admiral said he will charge you with insubordination if you die. So don't."

Matteo had been watching the rest of his teammates get ready with a hint of amusement; they were all decked out in gear, gear and more gear while he himself was already suited up and ready for most of the time. But on the other hand, it was because he was going in with nothing but a HPAR and ARROW missiles, plus minor bits necessary. "NO offense Sarge, but that sounds like an easy set of orders to follow."

Right after his remark though, Matteo realized something. "OH SHIT!" The marine started in horror. "I forgot to grab a chainsword off a WATER!" He lamented, now sounding genuinely heartbroken.

"How the hell am I going to pretend to be a pirate without something like a cutlass?"

Matteo felt like crying.

The worst part of the operation came on rather quickly.

Waiting.

Sitting patiently in a shuttle with the squad under his command, while outside the hull a battle raged. Right now the sailors were earning their share of the glory: engaging the NMX fleet around the moon in order to pave a bloody, fiery trail for the Marine shuttles to go down. At the moment, Cedric was totally useless in terms of aiding the fight, and all he could do was wait as patiently as possible for the final orders to come in. Inside the shuttle, he looked over each member of his squad, and mentally kept a check of who did what as far as specialities went. He'd want to know for when the bullets started flying.

Bernie was the medic for Beta.
Matteo, one of the more experienced members of the squad, was primary hacker.
Stenton was a ground-pounding grunt. Good for bringing the pain.
McNair was a sniper, apparently. Fresh out of basic (like most of the people in the squad).
Simmons, the secondary hacker.
Then Kalev: a grunt mostly, but according to her file she had maintenance and repair experience.

Beta was the hacking team, apparently. That meant they would most likely be the bullet magnets once the Mishu caught on to what the Marines wanted to do. However, Alpha squad would be able to provide good enough support (after all, Phaedra had proven herself more than once to be a capable soldier) to keep the Squids off of them.

Looking to his squad, Cedric opened up a comm-line for them to hear.

"Here's the plan, ladies and gentlemen. Matteo, I know you wanted a nice lil' sword, but you've gotta' cowboy up so you can focus on ya' job. Stenton'll be your baby-sitter and make sure to take some of the heat off ya' on the way to the objective. Simmons and Kalev will do the same, understand? McNair, I think it goes without saying that you'll be on sniper support. In your NIGHT, you can move faster than the rest of us, and so until we get close-quarters I want you to be our forward element for the two squads as we close in on the facility." Cedric looked to Greer, medic, and one of the top three or four most experienced veterans of the squad, "Bernie: you know your job. You know what you're doing, you're good at it, and so I want you to just not get shot in case somebody else does."

He grinned underneath his helmet, "We're goin' in fast, hard, and none too polite! Aim low and fight dirty; and I'll give extra points to anybody who gets a nut shot!" The speech was hopefully going to motivate them, at least a little, "Navy's had their fun, it's our turn. We all know how violence of action works, so I want to see some damn violent action from all of you today!"

Samuel shifted nervously in his armor as he followed the rest of the marines into their shuttle, trying to tune out the steady drizzle of shrapnel against the hull. He got placed in the Alpha squad; that probably meant that they'd go first and soak up all the fire, and then they'd all be court-martialed for not following orders when they got wiped out.

Still, they had the Wolf on their squad. Both of them, actually, but the only one he trusted was the Sarge, Volkov. He hadn't really talked with her - or anyone else, for that matter - but if there was anyone who would survive, it'd be Volkov. She had those cybernetic limbs, but that was nothing special for a Nepleslian; even his mom had her eyes replaced a while back. No, what really caught his attention were all the scars on her stumps he had seen when they had been in the workout room together. Between those, the way she carried herself, and how people in the mess avoided her gaze, he knew who he'd be standing behind.

To pass the time, he scanned through the fleet's imagery of the dropzone yet again, looking for potential weak spots in their defense, their strong points, any sufficiently large guns, etc. With all the organic look the Squids' stuff had, it was sometimes hard to tell what was what. He flicked on his comm to get some help. "Hey, in the pictures we're getting, check out image 14. What do you think that big squarish thing is, in the center left? Is it a defense structure, a target, what?"

"Rooks, remember that there aren't any civilians down there. If it moves and it ain't one of us, shoot it dead." Rita said, not so much in a commanding tone of voice as it was a suggestive one. It had happened more than once that an apparently unarmed neko had "surrendered" itself before suicide bombing their "captors" to death, so she'd recommended the "shoot first, ask questions later" approach.

Rita looked over to Matteo and frowned. She knew the feeling. It always sucked when you had a great idea for killing people, or squids, and then forgot it at the last second. Then she grinned, because she remembered that she'd had a similar idea, and hadn't forgotten. "Don't worry, Sarge, I remembered mine. I'll take real good care of you." Rita said, pointing to the vibrosword attached to her hip. Not the same weapon precisely, but close to it.

"Of course, of course." was the reply that came from the Aggressor as it stood secured to the drop ship wall. It was the type of response someone would give if they heard the same order for the umpteenth time, but as they began their approach she couldn't help giving a nervous swallow. Draw heat off the hacker, hmm? Well he better be one good hacker if they were supposedly doing this fast. Though since drawing heat was their goal, perhaps it was a good thing she had gotten the bulldog anyways, but as the comms flared to life with their so-called hacker whining about something or other she couldn't help flinching ever so slightly.

"You can hack into a NMX server right?" she asked with some scepticism. Her hand was already resting on the handle of the weapon with index finger caressing the trigger guard. The mono eyes taking in their fair share of information. A battle raged outside, but within the thick hulls of the shuttle they could barely hear a thing. Hell it sounded like fireworks were going off outside.

Artan hrmed softly to himself in thought, his gaze moving to his HPAR as he shifted his grip on the weapon slightly. A hint of nerves perhaps? His helmet shifted, and he took in the view of each of his squad members, analyzing their load-outs.

"Orders received and understood," Artan states simply in response to the squad assignment, and perhaps even to the shooting first. "No civilians," he murmured to himself. With another glance at each of his comrades, he rolled his shoulders and bobbed his head once more. "Time to prove the drill sergeant wrong," he muttered off-coms once more.

"Also, the Admiral said he will charge you with insubordination if you die. So don't."

Click to expand...

The thought hadn't entered Alrik's mind until the sergeant mentioned the admirals orders and his attempt at an inspiring speech. He quietly sat there inside his Hostile, pulling up system diagnostics and software readouts, he wanted to get a feel for the software as well of the machinery of his PA. With the ability to access certain parts of software and networking technology, he might be able to improve the PA's reaction time or handling software. Yet that was just raw speculation at the moment, it was something to pass the time while they waited to enter the NMX base.

Hurtling through space and straight towards the compound disoriented Alrik, he had never gone through a real live shuttle launch and none the less one into enemy territory. Sure, there were simulators, but experience was the best teacher of them all. And he was sure as hell about to get his experience in one of these things, he held tightly onto the NAM Light Plasma Autocannon LPA-01B, checking the sites as he steeled himself away for the initial combat that was going to take place seconds after the shuttled crashed or landed... Whichever one was first.

" Roger that, over." He stated over the squad communication channel as they received their squad assignments, he would be working with Phaedra and the rest of the people in her squad. They looked to be the support of the mission, drawing fire away from the hackers in the other squad. Although, it occurred to him they might not know he was a capable hacker as well. It was too late to state it now, but perhaps it would come in handy later on in the mission.

Behind his helmet, Bernhard frowned, "My name's not Bernie, Staff Sergeant." He kept his attention on the new Marines and on Laura. The former were bound to have jitters and there was nothing to do about that. Just watch it and make sure it didn't boil over.

But his female counterpart seemed quieter than usual. But then, he'd only been in combat with her once so who was he to say what was usual or unusual.

So Bernhard decided to make sure he had all the medical gear necessary. Emergency release codes, medical kit, hypolathe, laser scalpel and heatlube. All set and ready.

----------------------

The shuttles carrying the Marines from 4th Fleet rocketed downwards to the moon, ignoring the passengers' comfort. The Navy pilots enjoyed trying to make the Marines bring up their lunch and forcing them to go the entire mission with bile in their face.

Six minutes later, the shuttles were hovering over the surface and waiting for the Marines to disembark.

------------------------

Laura went out of her shuttle first, deploying four shield drones in a wall formation ahead of her. She thumped quietly onto the moon's surface. "All clear," she reported.

Phaedra was surprised when Laura was the first one out of the shuttle. The medic had touched down safely and had deployed shield drones for Alpha squad as they landed.

"Let's go, Marines. Move out!" said Phaedra over the comm. She promptly jumped out of the shuttle and used her thrusters to slow what inertia she had. Phaedra reached behind her and retrieved the Multi-Phase Rifle from the small of her back; the weapon unfolding to its full length. By the time Phaedra landed she had the weapon at the ready, scanning the horizon for hostiles.

"Rendezvous on my location and then fan out. Defensive formation," she said to Alpha Squad. She then switched over to Cedric's squad channel.

"Beta, this is Alpha. Staff Sergeant, what is your status?"

Though Matteo acknowledged Sgt. Cedric's spiel with a not-so-confident thumbs-up, he immediately went back to what looked like moping.

Tripe said:

"You can hack into a NMX server right?"

Click to expand...

The Hostile, monoeyed head in hand and seemingly mourning, perked up at this question.

Chance!

"Huh? Hack? Who said I could hack Rana? I mean, I'm pretty good at sniffing out the good stuff on the net, but I don't think that counts for hacking." Matteo replied. He let that hang in the air for a few seconds. "Kidding! I'm just kidding!" the marine laughed for a bit, a hand instinctively moving to wipe a tear away only to bounce off the faceless helmet he wore.

"Yeah, yeah, I can hack; the stuff's all standard issue and its not going to be anything particularly special so I'll have no problem." He replied, giving the other marine a thumbs up with confidence. He shifted his tone a little to something more sneaky.

"But if you do want me to sniff something up for you...~"

Lisa got on board of shuttle with everyone else. She held her plasma gun in her hands and was ready. At she thought she was. She did not want to be here at all. She wanted to be out there, in the cockpit of the fighter, shooting down battlepods. There she would be start, here she is just lousy zero.

She listened to Staff Sergeant diving them up, giving them assignments. "Cool I never had baby-sitter before," she responded to that Kavel girl being assigned to her. She then went back to pouting. She would be even happier if she could fly this stupid shuttle down. She also noticed pilot rocking them about, which about as much fun as shuttle pilot could have. "Yo dumbass, stop trying to show off. I know you can fly this down smoothly!" She shotued over to pilot.

When they got down, Lisa waited for Sergeant to give her go and released 4 shields drones, ready to build a shield war. "Ready to give us protection upon exiting the shuttle sarge," Lisa said to Cedric, waiting for his go. She hoped he knew what she could do with VOID drones. It would be stupid if he did not so she smacked herself for that though in her mind.

Hearing the order given by the Sergeant, Victor didn't have to think twice about his next course of action. It was finally go time, and more importantly he'd finally get off of this ship that felt like it was about to fall apart with all the rocking. Honestly, he was starting to wonder if a wild animal could fly the thing better than the Blue Caps piloting it.

Without a moment's hesitation the private leapt forth from the shuttle into what could only be described as a new hell as it seemed the descent was quite a bit rocky for him even out of the shuttle. It took him awhile to realize he should probably use his thrusters to stabilize and slow his descent. Upon landing he made a quick sweep of the area pointing his LPA in front of him as he did so. Seeing as his head hadn't been blown off, it was a good start to the festivities. The violence junkie began heading towards Sergeant Volkov's location as per orders. Speaking into the comm he began to make a quip, "I was hoping for a welcoming committee. Nothing fancy, maybe a few streamers and Squids serving punch. I'm hurt, makes me think they don't want us here blowing their brains out."