RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mission 5.5] The Digging Cavaliers

The Neko stared blankly, dark red hemosynth continuing to run from its ears and eyes. If it knew it had a gun barrel in its mouth, the Neko gave no sign.

A look around revealed more rooms. They weren't cavern walls but rooms dug out and then lined with metal walls. The power armors' AI read that they were only 20 meters underground. If the NMX were using conventional, modern methods of mining, they wouldn't have stopped a mere 20 meter below surface.

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Above them, Luke and Francis began their search as Laura fiddled with Lisa's toy. The sensors pings kept returning with metallic readings. Not surprising since they were standing above a metal mining complex.

There really was not much to see. The NMX facility was about the only structure in any direction. No plant life or animals lived on the barren rock. In fact, besides some scattered rocky outcroppings and surface undulations, it was impossible to hide anything out here.

"I begin to see why they might use prisoner labor," Leon said, looking around, to the Marines with him. "Even if you escape the complex, where are you going to run to? Where will you hide? There's no local population to help you, no terrain to mask your escape. And no way are you getting off this rock."

"Cheerful today, sir," Laura commented as she keyed in the commands to link the drones to this jury-rigged power generator. Once she had this thing set up, she would go and check the other direction.

"Leave it," said Phaedra, meaning the wounded Neko at their feet.

"We will not get anything out of that one."

"Clear out these rooms and continue downward. There has to be more elevators down to the mine proper. Lead the way, Corporal."

Even though her HUD showed that she was only 20 meters below ground, already Phaedra was breaking out into a sweat. The walls themselves seemed to be closing in on her. She closed her eyes for just a moment.

"Their lives depend on you. You will not be afraid!" thought Phaedra.

She opened her eyes and then raised her HPAR to advance with the rest of the squad.

Talbain glanced at Bastilen as he attempted "wireless communications" with the cat. It really wasn't anywhere near what the corporal had in mind. Volkov stepped in and put a stop to the situation before he had had a chance to himself. "Leave the cat alive. IPG might be able to get information out of it if it doesn't die on us." With that he sent his suit's systems to passively scan across the spectrum for wireless signals repeatedly. It might serve as a way to tell if there was chatter going on in the background. Even if he had no way of being able to listen to what was being said itself.

As far as advancing into the mines went Talbain took a moment to point at Stones and Daniels. Then to the room that was on the left as they had come out of the elevator (Right side of the map). The ID-SOL didn't give any instructions this time, instead it was just a simple statement. "You know what to do."

As far as he himself was concerned he advanced what he assumed to be deeper into the mine (Bottom of map). "Wreno on me, I'm your cover." Talbain made his advance with his weapon at the ready. If anything decided to cause him issues he was ready to end it's existence.

"Roger that!" Wulfe replied, hefting his AS4GS and proceeding to the door leading to the room, holding position there until Daniels approached so they both could breach it at the same time.

The marine pressed himself against the wall besides the door, facing it, then, as he waited for his other squadmate, switched between the several sensors in his Hostile to get an idea of what lay beyond the door.

Just judging by her face alone, Bastilen knew he wasn't going to get much out of her. She looked braindead, though he had heard Nekos could recover from just about any injury given the proper time. In truth, it'd be safer to kill her, should she regain consciousness behind their backs. Yet, even with lack of safety, she'd serve more to them alive than dead. So he tugged the barrel of his LSP out of the Neko's mouth, and holstered the weapon on his armored thight.

Then he tucked a hand into her hair, the other on her opposite shoulder, and gently laid her down onto the rubble. Just as the back of his hand made contact to the floor, he slid it out, oh so carefully. She was now on her side, but in what he assumed was a comfortable position.

With that, he redoubled his efforts to rejoin his fellow marines, readying his rifle and taking position behind Talbain.

Stan frowned as he looked over the rather pitiful looking Neko. Any sympathy he may have felt, however, was tempered by the fact that she would have left him in a similar state had she been given the opportunity. He noted their depth below the ground with something between excitement and dread. He would get to show his mettle, hopefully, but at the same time danger lurked around every corner.

Prudence would be one of Stan's most valuable assets. Keeping a good look out, the ID-SOL trailed to one side and slightly ahead of Phaedra, assuming that for now his orders were still the same (i.e. to keep close by to her) though he kept in mind the fact that he would, in all probability, need to move forward at some point to help clear a room.

Scum. Luke thought as he glanced at the NMX Neko on the floor. Those things were worthless. Better off dead. Talbain's signal caught Luke's attention. Luke hoped there was something to blast in that room. With Stones already making his way to the right door, Luke also wasted no time to heave himself there.

He took the opposite side of the door, leaning against it. Setting his Monoeye for scan, he turned to Stones. "Ready, man," he said to him, clutching his AS4GS in position.

Francis kept watch on the scanner while he and Luke combed the area in search of hidden enemies. The landscape was so barren, the Marine swore he could see the small insects crawling around miles away. There was absolutely nothing to hide an attacker out there. However, that was not where Francis was concerned with the most.

"Keep your eyes open for any pit traps or stuff like that. If Nekos are hiding out here, they'll be beneath our feet," he told Luke. Just because the scanner wasn't picking up anything didn't mean that the NMX hadn't figured out a way to avoid detection. The thought made Francis more nervous, and he gripped his HPAR tighter as he continued to scan the barren waste stretching out before him.

Leon looked around and realized that one of the Marines he had detailed to work on finding those hidden tunnels was gone. "Lasalle, where is that idiot who's supposed to be with you? What's his name... Daniels!" Chief Santiago asked, seeing that the P3C was doing the job alone.

Laura looked around and didn't see him either. That was odd. He was there a moment ago when the Chief had given him his orders.

"Sergeant Volkov, do you know where Private Daniels is?" Leon transmitted to Phaedra.

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Talbain and Bastilen smashed open the doors to reveal an expansive mine tunnel with numerous offshoot caverns. Industrial mining equipment and signs of recent work were evident but not a soul was to be seen.

The shaft itself was huge and had a gradual downward descent that seemed to go on forever. Unlike the rooms they were in, the caverns were quite natural in their formation. Stalagmites and stalactites were visible all across the cavernous expanse, providing ample cover. Standing lights had been set up all over the place to provide a sort of eerie illumination. The walls and ceiling darkened the further down one looked.

Francis was surprised by what the Chief had said. He turned around quickly, expecting to see Luke there, but to his surprise and dismay, Daniels was gone.

"What the hell?" Francis was confused and concerned. "I swear he was here just a minute ago. We left the mining facility together and started the sweep," he reported to the Chief. " Damn it, the bastard had me talking to myself." That comment Francis made under his breath.

Wulfe looked one last time to the door, and then at Daniels. He was half expecting a broom closet inside the room, but if there was something else he'd have to breach it hard and fast.

"Alright, on three. One. Two. Three."

Just like the last time, the marine used the sheer mass from his Hostile to crash through the door, then moved to the side to give Daniels a clear line of fire when he also got in.

For lack of other orders, Ice followed the first team into the mine works proper. It was dead quiet down here, emphasis on the dead. It was possible that all of the NMX garrison had been in those elevator cars. And it was possible that they'd get back topside to find a hearty round of beer and steak waiting for them with Admiral Valkin at the grill. This place was quiet the way that her old hood got quiet, right before the local gangs decided that the decor really needed some more bullet holes.

She shifted her grip on her shotgun, her hands unaccountably sweaty in the climate controlled armour. Moving up to a likely looking stalagmite, she took a position to cover the nearest side tunnel as well as the main shaft. Wishing that her drone hadn't been smashed up top, she pulsed her active sensors for a second to see what might be waiting. Subtlety wasn't the name of the game tonight.

"Daniels...what...the hell are you doing down here?" said Phaedra when she saw his name appear on her HUD. She strode to where he stood by the door, lowering her HPAR and placing her other hand on her armored hip.

"I told you to go with Francis to back up the Chief. Upstairs; outside. Yet here you are. Tell me...do you see a problem here, Private?"

"Maybe you just got disoriented or maybe you lack a brain in that skull, but you have fifteen seconds to go back up that shaft and arrive at your assigned postion. Move it. NOW!" snapped Phaedra.

"Sergeant Volkov, do you know where Private Daniels is?" said Leon.

"The Private is on his way up as we speak, Chief," reported Phaedra, shaking her armored head in disbelief.

Stan was just as confused as everyone else was at Daniels' presence, but he didn't really have anything to add that hadn't already been said. No reason to waste his breath. Trusting that Plainsview had got "her" team adequately covered and noting that Wulfe may well find himself without adequate back-up now that Daniels had been ordered back up to the surface, the ID-SOL lumbered over toward the Marine's position and transmitted to him, "Hey, do you want some help?"

It was, perhaps, an entirely unnecessary question, but it was better than blundering blindly into the room when Wulfe might have had the situation perfectly under control. As it was, Stan waited outside the doorway, straining his ears for the confirmation he in some ways craved. The fact that resistance had been comparatively light thus far had made the ID-SOL feel as though he was on tenterhooks, and actually engaging the enemy "proper" would almost be a relief.

Almost.

Talbain continued into the tunnel complex. Weapons sweeping from blind spot to blind spot as they would become exposed to him, floor and roof alike. There was a lot of space to cover and the ID-SOL found himself switching through different visual spectrum as part of his search as he would pass by lights and back into darkness advancing into the natural formations in the cavern.

The corporal got on the squad comms a few moments into his search "Looks like the actual mine starts here. Pressing forward."

Bastilen trudged purposefully behind Talbain, his mono-eye scouring over the empty mining area. He altered trough low-light and infrared to scan for any hostiles, but found nothing immediately. So, in a tangent thought, he broke off of Talbain and began to search around at some of the mining equipment. His mother had been a mantle miner, and he had been familiar with some of the items scattered. He picked up one of the energized rock cutters on the floor, and tested its weight.

With a cursory eye, he glanced at the energy counter, and saw that it was at a reasonable level. After a little more searching, he picked up a few energy cells to stow away.

"Corporal, I've got a cutter, just in case we run into some natural trouble," mentioned Bastilen, as he caught up, having stowed his rifle on his back in favor for the bulky piece of mining equipment.

Kokuten said:

Corporal, I've got a cutter, just in case we run into some natural trouble,

Click to expand...

The ID-SOL kept conducting his searches. Not needing to look at what Bastilen had picked up to know what it did. Simple names were nice like that and he probably wouldn't know what the object did just by looking at it anyways. His understanding of mining roughly equated to blow a hole in the ground and check the debris for what you were looking for.

"Sound's like it would be more useful than the utility knives they strap to the armors. How is it at cutting unnatural trouble?" The Corporal was a bit distracted from his focus on searching and his statement certainly reflected it.

"Well, it's designed to cut through rock, and at higher power, metal," explained Bastilen, adjusting a dirty yellow nob on the side of the cutter. With another quick scan around the room, the tech expert spotted a small cropping of metal in the rocky wall of the mine. He trudged on over, before placing the tip of the cutter on the wall. A small bar on the front pressed into the nose of the device, and its neck splayed up and down looking like some kind of cross-bow mining pick..

"You just set it to the wall... like... this," he made a few more adjustments, before tugging on the trigger. The item thoomed a bolt of plasma through the wall, leaving an orange-hot marking. "Then you just pull the trigger."

He pulled the heavy cutter back, and slammed one of the pick like ends into the wall, wedging it under the metal. With his power armor strength he tugged out chunk of material that plodded onto the floor.

"You can lock in the safety prod on the front to make some range, but the core on this thing uses a plasma burster, not a projector. So, without being right on someone, you couldn't make much difference. Well, unless they weren't wearing armor. Then they can say good-bye to any limbs they had that were in this things way."

"So it's just a plasma gun with a shitty range profile?" Ice asked, displacing from the cover of the stalactite as soon as she was satisfied that the side passage she was covering wasn't about to disgorge a horde of NMX troops. She moved forward to cover Talbain and Bastilen's backs, taking full advantage of her suit's sensors to watch for hostiles. "I'll take a knife myself, thanks. At least it's meant for fighting."

"This thing isn't meant for fighting in the first place," Bastilen groaned in annoyance, the lens of his mono-eye reflexively stretching thin, before blossoming again. He heaved the blocky, unwieldy device and rested the majority of the weight on his knee, "These cutters are mining tools, they only thing they're meant to deal with are stubborn juts of metal."

The cutter's arms bent in and back onto the device itself, and the pitched whine of the device fell silent.

"We'll just be wasting our time if we use our knives for any natural obstacles, and it's too dangerous to use ordnance on those kinds of things in a mine," Bastilen turned back towards Talbain, "Anything with a high seismic profile should be kept stowed until we clear the mine. If the ceiling crumbles on us, our nano-fiber muscles aren't going to get us out."