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

As they freed Wulfe, Stan averted his gaze for a moment. Forcing himself to look, the ID-SOL sucked air in sharply through his teeth. Though Wulfe didn't seem to be overly concerned by the state he was in, Stan knew that it couldn't be pleasant. Bastilen's pat on the arm and comment helped alleviate his feelings of guilt somewhat. "It's fine," Stan offered lamely in response to Bastilen.

Talbain's orders - and Volkov's affirmation of it - jolted Stan into action. There wasn't anything further he could do to help the Nepleslian, so he prepared to move off after his fellow Marine. Sparing one last glance at Wulfe, he said, "Sorry about what happened."

With that, he turned and ran after Bastilen, pushing thoughts of what had transpired out of his mind in favour of whatever would await him in the tunnels.

Wulfe might not have been so stoic if he had known the reasons for Laura's offer. Now she got to try out a trauma procedures she had never before done except in practice.

"I'll be quick about it," she said, seizing one spike running through his leg and pulling it out swiftly using the VOID's enhanced strength. As it came out, so did a small fountain of blood, staining his armor. Laura was sure that it was painful but she ignored whatever nonsense Wulfe was saying or doing. Now it was business time.

Now for the next one in his midsection. That too was yanked out without any ceremony or warning from Laura. It too was followed by blood fountaining from the entry and exit wounds. Now that those were out, Laura shoved the hypolathe needle into Wulfe and pumped him with medical nano. She also watched as his own suit pumped him with even more blood coagulants. But the nano and coagulants took time to work. A more immediate solution required implementation.

She took the Quick-Clot sponge and tore it into four pieces before rolling the poor victim of her ministrations onto his side and shoving them into each of the entry and exit wounds to stop the bleeding.

"Right," she breathed, "besides huge amounts of pain if you try to do anything, you're fixed for the next hour or two. Can't really guarantee anything for more than 30 minutes though."

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Greer and the others finally got the new Spiky popped open after much pulling and cutting. The helmet was still on but they could see the pilot's torso. He was definitely a Nepleslian. Rather, a Nepleslian thrall and he was connected to the machine with wires and plugs sticking all over him. It was clear that he was not supposed to come out.

A moment later, the Zachitnik shuttle arrived, touching down the surface and dropping its ramp. A pair of Navy medics rushed out with a gurney to get the Chief aboard.

"Do you want us to load that aboard as well, Sergeant?" Rochester asked Phaedra, pointing to the Spiky.

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The Marines in the tunnels continued forwards until they ran into more disciplined fire. An NMX Crab was directing thralls and Nekos to fire in controlled, aimed volleys down the narrow tunnels. There was little cover besides the stalactites along the ground. As a result, NMX particle beams smashed into the Marines' shields, reducing them some but not totally defeating them.

Talbain continued forward into the enemy fire spraying fire across the enemy positions with his AMP and PCTs to force the enemy infantry into cover or death. Monoeyes feeding targeting data into the squad network.

"Focus fire, crab type. Brandt, white rounds on target."

The ID-SOL pushed his advance using cover where possible. But only where it wouldn't compromise his ability to provide covering fire. He was determined to dictate the terms of the encounter to be the marines offensive.

"Yes sir," said Stan. The ID-SOL had already pre-set his Bulldog to fire White rounds, which simplified the process. The most important threat right now were probably the Crab as his superior had identified. Shouldering his weapon, Stan shot at the enemy in a methodical three round burst.

Taking a moment to see what effects the projectiles had, Stan then fired in a two round burst just to be sure. He wanted to take this somewhat more slowly than the previous firefight - his gung ho attitude had been quite simply careless.

Francis braced himself as he took the NMX's particle beam fire, and returned with shots of his own. Francis aimed at the thralls, so that his squadmates could focus on bringing down the Crab. He put three round bursts down toward the thralls, moving from target to target in an attempt to take out as many enemies as he could. Francis was confident that his shields would last long enough to take out the NMX, but the was coming up with back up plans in case they didn't as he continued to fire.

As his suit's painkillers kicked in, Wulfe could focus again. The pain wasn't entirely gone, in fact, it was still there to constantly remind him of his injury but it wasn't debilitating like it had been when the metal rods had been pulled out, not even close. He looked down to check the damage, spotting the blood staining his Hostile's chestplate, and was relieved to see that there wasn't any more coming out of it.

The marine slowly got up, steadying himself as the pain resurfaced, and pumped more of the drugs from his suit into his bloodstream, realizing that the original amount that Romero had given him simply wouldn't do. He looked back at the medic and gave her a thumbs up as his heart frequency started to get much faster from the stimulants.

He took his HPAR, then made his way towards where the fight was going on.

"Do you want us to load that aboard as well, Sergeant?" Rochester asked Phaedra, pointing to the Spiky.

"That is an excellent idea, Rochester. If it can be restrained properly, have it loaded into the shuttle as well. Hopefully we can glean new information about our enemy from it."

Phaedra had to restrain her impulse to put a round through thrall's brain; it would be a waste if this new armor could not be analyzed properly if the thrall was dead.

Laura bounced up to her feet, landing with an audible thud on the concrete floor. "Right. Let's go kill some squiddies!" she said to Wulfe.

And then she remembered the Neko. "Hey Sarge, what about this deaf and blind Neko? Want to keep it as a pet?"

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The others were doing quite well, even without Laura, Wulfe and Phaedra.

It had only required two rounds to kill the crab. The first had blown off two of its left legs while the second had driven home into the Mishhu's brain. Grey matter and crimson blood spattered the nearest thralls, who didn't flinch. Instead, they fought harder and to the death.

With the death of the Crab, the surviving Nekos and thralls launched themselves at the Marines. Most were cut down before they reached but a pair of Nekos managed to get onto Talbain armor and began trying to pull apart the pieces of his armor.

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"Should be safe," Rochester commented, "This is the one your girl, Romero, shoved a knife through the neck. Very.. surgical" The older man lowered his voice so that it was just between them, "Always scary that the people who know how to put you together are the ones who know best how to kill you."

Two of Rochester's Marines dumped the Spiky in the back after the Chief had been loaded. Then Laura's message came in.

By the time Wulfe arrived at the fight it had been almost over. The marine was trying his best not to over-exert himself and rupture the quick-clot sponge that had been applied on his wounds, he transferred all his weight to his uninjured leg when he was standing and tried not to move his chest area too much.

Each one of his shoulders monoeyes locked on a different neko as thetwo enemy troopers climbed onto Talbain's armor. Upon locking onto them, Wulfe fired his suits PLA instead of his HPAR. The laser would be strong enough to kill them, but not enough to damage Talbain's armor.

Stan smiled slightly to himself as he saw the crab's life end in a rather messy manner. That'll teach you to mess with us! Any further thoughts of that nature were put on hold, though, as the remnants of the Nekos and thralls decided to make one last charge. Their luck seemed to hold for several moments, though, as the majority were put down by the Marines.

The fire, however, didn't stop two Nekos from getting to Talbain. Stan froze, unsure how to react. Firing a weapon was out of the question - there was too much risk of hitting the Corporal (and the ID-SOL was already starting to look dangerously incompetent; no need to make himself appear actively malignant). Luckily, Wulfe cut the Gordian knot for Stan, who tried to keep an eye simultaneously on Talbain's Aggressor and his surroundings. It was a tricky juggling act.

Leaning forward Talbain engaged his suits boosters for maximum burn. Aiming for the crab type as the target for his crash course. It seemed to be the least likely thing to smash into that would bring the roof down. And if the nekos decided to go on the ride well problem solved. If they didn't He was fairly certain the problem would be solved by a team of marines and the environment not being so target rich anymore.

"Hey Sarge, what about this deaf and blind Neko? Want to keep it as a pet?"

"Bind it and load it into the shuttle with the captured armor, Romero," said Phaedra. Her childish attitude was irritating sometimes.

"Corporal Talbain! What is your status?" said Phaedra to the Corporal's team.

"I thought there were just a handful of Nekos down there. What could be taking so long?" she thought.

"Can do," Laura replied chirpily. Its eyes were bleeding and considering how it had received the injuries, the Neko was probably also suffering from internal trauma. From the way it just dragged itself without direction, almost pathetically, Laura also deduced that it was blinded. Possibly grey out or another temporary shock induced blindness. Or it could be permanent. Couldn't know unless she operated.

No response to sound stimuli either so Laura couldn't even try to warn it. If she touched the Neko, would it react violently? Time to find out!

A pair of strong zipties in hand, Laura advanced swiftly upon the Neko, a malicious grin on her face.

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Neither of the Nekos suffered as Corporal Talbain's own shields stopped the laser pulses from penetrating. And then the Aggressor shot forwards with both Nekos clinging on for dear life. When Talbain came to a halt before the Crab's remains, only the two unarmed Nekos banging uselessly on Talbain's armor were left alive.

Farther down the cavern, numerous cages filled with people could be seen.

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Privates Greer and Black descended down the elevator behind Romero to hold it. They watched as Laura tied the hands and feet of some poor lump of flesh. It hadn't even reacted to the touch from her Hostile. Private Black wordlessly took the Neko from Laura and started boosting his way back up the ruined shaft.

"All's secure here, Sergeants. Package is on its way," Matthias reported to the two Sergeants up top. "Good man, Greer. We just found a rather interesting piece of trash ourselves," Rochester growled.

"Hey guys, take prisoners if you can," Laura added to the rest of her squad.

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Privates Evans, Wilks and Thomas had breached the roof of the complex on Edward Rochester's orders. It hadn't been a particularly difficult operation, just tedious. They'd cleared each floor expertly, sweeping and securing without much regard to the surroundings. All that they really paid attention to were the rather lavish and luxurious office and living spaces. Some of it was obviously designed for Mishhu but some of it was designed for humanoid use. No Mishhu ever used a wooden desk with a swivel chair. And no Cat was an officer in the NMX.

It was only when Wilks had checked into what looked like a boudoir that the Marines found the reason why there were human quarters. A Nepleslian male in NMX uniform was dragged out by the power-armored Marine. The man tried to shoot him with a PIP. A futile gesture of resistance as the bullets bounced off, ricocheting across the room.

The Marines were all of one mind when they saw the man, dressed as he was. Nepleslian thralls weren't officers, they were ground troops. They'd all heard rumors of fifth columnists and defectors working for the NMX. None of them had actually encountered one before. "Traitor!" Thomas roared, held in check on by Evans' outstretched hand.

The female Marine blasted a hole in the wall with her PPG for Wilks to return with the trash. Wilks, his "cargo" struggling under his left arm, exited and boosted towards the Sergeants.

"Beg to report, Sergeants. Found this ... person," Wilks dumped the NMX Nepleslian officer at the two Sergeants' feet. He looked particularly at Sergeant Volkov.

As they studied him, neither one of them could see anything telling about him except for one thing. His pistol was Paragon. That company's weaponry was rarely found outside of mercenaries who had once been part of the company. Most Nepleslians in the NSMC stuck to weapons companies which didn't try to raise private armies, like Zen or Styrling.

"I think the Admiral will be interested in this catch, don't you, Sergeant Volkov?"

Just then, Black arrived with the wounded Neko and passed it onto one of the medical technicians who hauled it into the shuttle like it was a sack of flour.

"Beg to report, Sergeants. Found this...person," said Wilks, dumping the prisoner at Phaedra's feet. A quick thermal scan revealed that this man was no brain-worm controlled corpse, but a very much alive Nepleslian. Phaedra scowled from behind her helmet.

"A traitor..." thought Phaedra. Had she not been in her Hostile, she would have punched the man's teeth out. The very idea of turning against her homeland, even her own race, appalled and infuriated her.

Phaedra yanked the man's pistol from his hand and inspected it closely; it certainly was not NAM make. It seemed to be familiar somehow. Paragon?

"I think the Admiral will be interested in this catch, don't you, Sergeant Volkov?"

"Yes. Yes he will..." said Phaedra, staring at the man at her feet, her icy gaze inscrutable behind her helmet.

"Wilks, check him for other weapons. Then bind this bastard and lock him up. And keep it quiet, we do not need word of this leaking out," replied Phaedra. She pointed to the shuttle for emphasis.

Phaedra created a message to send to Admiral Valken on her internal SavTech:
"Drei, encrypt this message. Admiral Valken's eyes only." Phaedra then switched over to a private channel between Sergeant Rochester.

"Rochester, I have the feeling we have stumbled upon something big. Have your men secure the area this...thing...was found in and see if any useful intel can be found. Keep it quiet; the Admiral will most likely want to debrief your men about what they found."

The corporal boosted away from the crab. It was about to be a bad place to be standing.

Talbain waved off the nekos trying to get them out of his personal space before starting to track them with his monoeyes and PCTs, any value to their capture was quickly becoming outweighed by their value to him as red paint. One warning was all they were going to get. "Surrender or be destroyed." His armors speaker system more than made up for the low tone his voice had taken.

Switching over to the team comms channel he had some tasks to set people to do. Incidentally that would about how long the cats had to choose between prisoner or paint job. "Brandt. More rounds in that crab, I want it to be unmistakably dead."

"Stones, scout out the next room from the doorway. Brandt when you're done pumping shells into that crab move to support."

Finally there was the sitrep that was requested. "Still making sure everything is cleared Sergeant. Lots of prisoners down here. Looks like ours."

Looked like decision time.

'Damn it, not as planned.' Wulfe thought as he saw Talbain speed away with the two unwanted passengers still clinging to his armor. The marine followed after the corporal intent of relieving him of his cargo until he received his new orders.

"Roger that." He grunted, raising his HPAR boosting past the corporal so that he could scan the other room for any hostiles.

The sight of the remaining Nekos vainly trying to harm Talbain was an almost humourous one. Stan's mouth split into a slight half grin but no further - there was still work to be done, after all. It probably wouldn't be fun work either, but the ID-SOL wasn't going to complain.

"Right away," he said to Talbain, moving closer to the corpse of the Crab. He was pretty damn sure that it wouldn't be getting up any time soon, but the more experienced Marine probably had his reasons for the order. Shouldering his Bulldog, he shot it twice in its vital organs.

Reasonably satisfied that the thing wouldn't be getting up from that, Stan moved up to a position that would allow him to give Stones ample covering fire if necessary. Feeling tension build up in his body once more, he braced himself for what he might see inside. He had no doubt that the NMX were capable of doing some horrific things, even if he had thankfully been spared the worst of it thus far.

Phaedra Volkov's Cavaliers now had three Nekos in the bag as the last two gave up their futile attempt to hurt Talbain. And soon they would have six hundred and twelve liberated prisoners.

Many of them were survivors of original Nepleslian colonies established on SC-4. Others were slave workers brought in Rok'Veru to make up for the miners killed during operations. All of them, according to Laura, were underfed and showing clear signs of Vitamin D deficiency and scurvy. Even with the supplies that Matthias Greer had, or even every other 4th Fleet Medics' kit, there was no way she could treat all of them.

Some of the workers were so emaciated that Laura feared to even move them. Those who couldn't make it to the destroyed elevators on their own two legs were left where they were. The others were transported upon carefully by Marines and a makeshift pulley elevator. But for all the work that they could do, even aboard the warships, Laura and Matthias were all too certain that many of these starved and beaten prisoners wouldn't live for long.

She wasn't affected too badly by it. The Most Brilliant Medic in the Universe couldn't change fundamental biology, no matter how much she could use artificial manipulators to adapt it to her own needs. But the young Greer, who was in his first combat assignment, was taking it very badly. While his elder brother may have been a rock-solid man, it was obvious that this Greer was taking his own helplessness badly.

Meanwhile, the shuttle containing their prisoners and wounded took off. A quarter of FA4s joined it on its ascent.

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"It was the weirdest thing, Sergeant. On one side, it was totally like an office. The other side was closed off by a curtain and it was where they seem to have ... abused female prisoners. Sort of like a private brothel, except the women probably weren't paid. I mean, I'm guessing that's what it was," Thomas reported, still stunned by what he was trying to describe.

"He was workin' for the squids and raping prisoners! That's what you mean," Cassandra Evans, the only female of the trio who had found him, spat viciously. Her vitriol wasn't directed at her squadmate but she had been the most disgusted by what they had found. That was the sort of behavior the Marines expected from Mishhu. They were the sadistic bastards. Not Nepleslians.

Behind his mask, Edward Rochester scowled. It made him want to shoot the man even more. But no, 4th Fleet's Naval Intelligence would love to meet him. And so too would the IPG. They would almost certainly have far more... interesting ways of punishing the man.

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Word of the prisoner liberation spread back to the flagship and Captain Ironside, acting as Fleet Commander until Admiral Valken recovered, started sending down more shuttles and medical technicians. She wanted to bring as many of their people home or, failing that, ensure that they passed away in a more comfortable place than a cage.

None of them would be going to Dauntless. The flagship was too damaged to act as a transport. Its medical staff were also too busy dealing with their own wounded to be able to attend to the liberated prisoners.

But Dauntless' shuttles were among those streaking down into the creeping twilight to transport the Nepleslian prisoners. FA4 Interceptors provided an escort screen down, in case any NMX fliers decided to make a last ditch suicide run at the vulnerable shuttles.

Slowly, the prisoners were being moved up to the undamaged units in 4th Fleet. More critical cases were shuttled to 3rd Fleet's Shaika carriers, which had more advanced medical equipment.

As the last of the light faded, a message was broadcast in the clear to all Nepleslian units. "Checkmate! Checkmate! I say again, fucking Checkmate!"

That was the codeword for the final capitulation of organized NMX resistance at their main fortresses. The 3rd Fleet Marines had ground them to dust. All that was left to do now was mop up.

Phaedra watched grimly as the former slaves were loaded up into shuttles. Righteous anger welled up inside of her; the thought of the injustice done to her fellow Nepleslians by the NMX was intolerable.

"This is why the Marine Corps exists. This is why I exist. Those NMX bastards will have no where to run when we are through with them!" she thought.

Upon listening to the accounts of Rochester's men, Phaedra was deeply troubled. The VIP they captured had all the comforts that an NMX officer would enjoy...but never would a Nepleslian be granted this. Why the man was not a brain slave, and was instead a willful traitor to the Neplesilan people was a question that gnawed at Phaedra's mind.

But that information would soon be revealed. As much as Phaedra mistrusted the IPG, they would have the best chance of breaking the traitor in a timely fashion.

"Sergeant Volkov," chimed Drei. "Admiral Valken has been wounded and Captain Ironside is acting Fleet Commander. Shall I submit your encrypted message to the Captain?"

"Yes Drei. Please submit the previous message, Captain Ironside and Admiral Valken's eyes only."

"Cavaliers, sound off. Everyone alright? Lets get these slaves out of here," glancing up at the new wave of shuttles landing nearby. She nodded at Rochester.

"See what you and the Renegades can do to help with the evac."

"Corporal Morris, what is the status of the Minutemen?"

As the last of the light faded, a message was broadcast in the clear to all Nepleslian units.
"Checkmate! Checkmate! I say again, fucking Checkmate!"

Upon hearing the message, a rare smile formed on Phaedra's face behind her helmet.

"Checkmate," said Phaedra.