RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mission 6.5] The Naked Raid

The IPG Operator went about his work swiftly. His datajockey was chock-full of the best hacking programs that the IPG had. While the Marines' own hackers and systems were nothing to laugh at, the IPG still kept the best toys for themselves. Plus, they were helped along by some "volunteer" Hacker Cultists from the Free State who worked "part time" doing "odd jobs."

Making a silent entry was good. Making a silent entry because the security systems were now under IPG control, that was better. Usually, for a Freespacer, that was about as hard as thinking about breakfast. They lived and breathed technology. For a Nepleslian who wasn't quite so blessed in the synthetic gifts of the Spacers, it was usually more like taking a high level calculus test while answering existential questions about whether AI were fully sentient. That was for the uninitiated. An NMX system like this would have taken a Marine hacker about four to six minutes, depending on whether he was tripped up by the hidden firewall.

Now a skilled IPG hacker could do it in under a minute. A skilled IPG hacker like Operator Gavin Haines could do it in thirty seconds with five simple steps.

"Security's all ours, Corporal."

The outer doors rolled open and the combined group entered without a problem. Once within, the inner doors stayed shut until the atmosphere in the airlock pressurized to the same level as the interior.

Haines showed Henry Morris the map he pulled from the security system that now only obeyed him.

"I can vent atmosphere, activate defensive turrets, turn off lights, lock blast doors, pump all sorts of lovely gases into the various rooms. You dream it, I can probably do it right now," the man grinned behind his mask. "Can't say how well any of it will work but once I do something, they'll know we're here. If you want turrets, I can only enable them to shoot everything that moves."

- ‘Understood Corporal.’

Rakowski confirmed his orders before taking his position and queitly establishing with the others what sectors they were observing to minimize the chance of blind spots. After entry he merely continued, taking a position and observing his sector while awaiting further orders.

Max moved into the station quickly and immediately began to secure his sector. This was a special operators mission and Max was just a trigger puller. He would guard his section and shoot at any threats that popped up. Max attentively watched his section looking for movement or any sign that the enemy had detected them. From the lack of blinking red lights ,loud alarms and people trying to kill them, he figured it had been a silent entry. Now all he needed was some orders to go and make some noise and tear up the place. Of course until they knew just how many enemies were there Max figured it was best to be as silent as possible.

There were so many options, so many toys at Henry's disposal and so many nasty things he could do. "If we flood the rooms with gas or cut the atmos, we'll have to take advantage of the rebreathers in our armours." he observed openly. "Make a loop of normal security to fool anyone watching, leaving the timestamp unmodified first, that could buy us an extra minute or two while they figure out what's going on."

Another idea crossed his mind as he relayed to Haines, "If stealth fails, we'll activate turrets for rooms we've left behind and leave us a path out, deactivating them as we leave. It'll be extra incentive to keep moving and it'll cover our tracks if anything tries to sneak up behind us."

He then ruminated on what to do for the actual assault part of this venture could be. "For our first trick, let's drain the atmos for the barracks area, control, command and armoury. Very slowly as we move or they'll notice. I want them not to realise how little they've got left to breathe until the worst possible time."

There was one last thought that went through his mind: "Prisoners could be in further below in the more isolated rooms, or probably a kitchen. We get them on the way out when there's help waiting for us, and that they don't run into our turrets."

With a tap of the right buttons, entire facility's air supply began to decrease. "There aren't any prisoners," the IPG man pointed out absently.

The lack of air flow was hardly noticed at first. Thralls, Nekos and Mishhu moved about to the loud, clamor of industry. In the main birthing chamber, the Crab Mishhu and its attendant Neko bodyguards were overseeing the working Thralls as an Advanced Mishhu inspected the latest batch of clone soldiers, still in their amniotic birthing tanks.

In the back, a Nightmare and another Advanced Mishhu were "inspecting" some of their own Neko soldiers. It was they who first noticed the thinning air, given their rigorous exertions during the "inspection." The Nightmare, as the leader of the cell, halted the "inspection" and moved to a computer station while summoning the AI.

"They know we're here, Corporal," Operator Haines spoke, "What next?"

Within, the Nekos and Thralls were holding their breath as they raced to grab oxygen masks and tanks from the storage units. The Mishhu, however, were less fazed by the decreasing oxygen. As long as there was air, their genetically crafted lungs would figure out how to breathe. Plus, their leader would soon restore things.

Watching as the IPG hacker went to work on the computer, Aleksei glanced over at Henry. "Corporal Morris. I brought some RX-33 along for the ride. I can rig the cloning tanks to go up and anything else we can to make fireworks out of. If you want." spoke the hybrid while he held his rifle in a loose ready position with the muzzle down.

Max groaned as he listened to the IPG operator tell the Corporal that the enemy knew they were here. With the element of surprise gone, much quicker than Max would have liked, he became even more attentive to his section, scanning for approaching enemies. He knew that it wasn't his place to speak on the matter and so he quietly waited for orders to move out or do something.

Henry held his breath. He had no idea what was going on and he held his hand up, ear against the door and listening to what was going on. He tried to remove the sounds of his rebreather, the layer of material between his ear and the wall, his slow breathing and the sound of blood. He could hear footsteps as people, perhaps the Neko and Thralls were rushing and racing. He chewed on his thoughts for a moment and mulled over what he was hearing. "Shh. They think it's a malfunction." He breathed to Haines, "They don't know we're here yet. We've bunched the thralls and Neko to where gas masks are."

Henry then looked over to Operator Haines and started relaying a fresh set of orders to both him. "On the count of three - lights out, flush atmosphere with sleep gas and get the doors open. Rebreathers on. Three," he pulled a rebreather over his mouth in the Golem armour. "two," Henry raised his Showstopper rifle and disengaged the safety, cradling it with his left hand as his right pulled a flash-bang strapped to his suit off, thumbing the pin off and keeping the lever depressed. "One."

Corporal Morris took point and tossed the flash bang in once the doors were open and put his right hand around. The lever and the grenade made for stunning that which was more than human flew ahead into the room.

Rakowski took his position, conducting last minute checks and double checks to ensure that every part of his gear was where it should be as it should be. Once done it was just waiting for the order to move, storm the room and eliminate anything that wasn't in Nepleslian uniform.

3…
2…
1…
Crump.

At the altogether unimpressive sound of the flash-bangs detonation Zyv filed into the room, Showstopper resting on his shoulder as he set the red dot on the first target he saw and pulled the trigger repeating the process until the lack of viable targets or new circumstances forced him to move.

Lisa was in the back on the overwatch, watching the space around them with a spy-girl. She watched the asteroid around and checked for any sign of enemy that could notice them. Soon it showed up that was moot point by then. Henry called the charge and Lisa moved to stack up with others, holding her Xaser rifle. It was unlikely she would get to shoot much, but she could still toss grenades over the head of others.

"Everyone keep masks on, I am tossing the nasty stuff!" She radioed to every and made a grab for relaxant grenade and tossed it along with Henry's flashbang. Those thralls were up for a fun evening of vomit and pooed pants. Hopefully nekoes too, though it probably would not work on those. As the flashbang went out, Lisa turned the volume of her metal up and let the lout combat metal out into the area.

Standing behind Zyv in the stack, Aleksei rocketed through the door behind the medic while he focused his Showstopper on the nearest target and gave the trigger a squeeze. Once. Twice. Three times. Moving to the nearest cover. Hearing Lisa give her warning over the radio, Aleksei quickly made sure his rebreather was secure on his face before poking his head over his cover to fire off a few rounds at any exposed NMX troops.

Reaching for a frag grenade, he primed the explosive and waited a second before lobbing it at the largest concentration of NMX he could see.

Marines... No imagination... Haines sighed as he keyed in the commands. At the same time, he began uploading a virus to mask his presence in the system and distract the NMX who began trying to access the system. Thankfully, there was no AI to regulate the system. That made it terrifically easy for him to manipulate things.

As the NMX Nekos and thralls took deep breaths of what they took to be oxygen and almost immediately started feeling drowsy. And then the lights went out and as most of them tried but failed to figure out what was going on. Dozens simply collapsed onto the floor, fast asleep. Others were kept awake by the adrenaline running through their systems. Some tried to fight the gas, listening for the Mishhu masters' voices and telepathic commands. But the drugs were powerful.

Then the flashes of lights. It shocked some of them into life but most of the remaining Nekos and thralls fell unconscious. Their bodies had finally succumbed to the sleeping gases with the latest shock. Only the NMX remained alert and mobile.

As the Marines entered, stepping over bodies, the NMX Crab charged them. It swatted Henry and Zyv aside like rag dolls, bowled Lisa over like a raging bull then, as his bullets bounced off its thick hide, simply slashed at Aleksei. The young Marine fell backwards as his Showstopper, or its two halves, clattered onto the floor in front of him. In the darkness, the Crab roared as it stabbed downwards. Aleksei rolled and dodged the first strike.

Behind, a pair of Nekos tried charging the Marines with Impaler rifles firing. The bright blue beams lit up the darkened room with an eerie glow. An IPG man screamed as a particle beam bore right through his guts. Another barely missed Henry's head as he tried to get up.

Max made sure that his rebreather was on properly and then moved into the room behind his fellow marines. He was surprised at the effectiveness of the gas as most of the enemies were out cold without them firing a shot. Of course, there were those who were left, in particular a NMX Crab. Max watched helplessly as his squadmates were bulldozed by the rampaging creature. It was a scary sight as Max raised his rifle to engage it. He had watched as Aleksei's rounds did nothing to stop the creature. Max wondered what his light rifle would do against the creature if the showstopper had utterly failed to do anything meaningful.

Before he could fire, Max saw two Nekos approaching the marines, firing impaler rifles. Judging that engaging these enemy units would be a more effective use of his weapon, he quickly switched targets, engaging the two Nekos to provide cover for his squad. Max moved up, trying to find some cover to safely engage the enemies while the rest of the squad recovered.

"Shit!" cursed the marine as he recovered from the narrow escape, thankful that most the Nekos he could see were laying on the ground, either unconscious or dead. He didn't care which it was, all he knew is that they wouldn't be presenting a threat anytime soon and with the Crab that had almost taken him out, he was thankful for the lessened resistance. Pulling his HHG from it's holster along with his combat ax, he ran to the nearest cover so he could get out of the Crab's line of sight. "Corporal. That Crab is going to be a bit of a problem. I've still got that RX-33 if you have any ideas." spoke the man.

Zyv cursed as he was knocked off his feet, cursed when he landed and cursed as he obeyed his training and rolled to a crouching position. Taking into account its performance against the Crab it looked like the assurances from Origin Industries that rounds fired from the Showstopper could stop a Mishhuvurthyar were baseless. Perhaps a more appropriate name for the weapon would be the “Can’t Stop Shit” rifle.

Regardless Rakowski decided it would be prudent to put some suppressing fire against active neko’s so he could slide into cover. Once there he ejected the magazine and put it into his thigh pocket before loading one that contained the, supposedly, more powerful I-APE rounds. With that done the medic aimed for the crab and pulled the trigger.

The I-APE rounds did the trick. They bored into the Crab's thick armor and made tiny detonations within, causing the beast to back up, writhe and roar in discomfort. It was, however, not yet close to dead.

"Don't use the damn explosives! Just aim for its head!" Henry Morris yelled, firing his own Showstopper in short bursts. He knew his own was loaded with I-SLAP but the trick wasn't to spray and pray. Aim for the head. Though it was a smaller target, it was also less densely armored. One short controlled burst of I-SLAP told him that his decision was correct. He was rewarded by another roar and the Crab closing its front two legs over its head to protect itself. The less powerful rounds could hurt Crabs, if you aimed for the weak spot. And other types of Mishhu weren't as thickly armored as a Crab.

One Neko screeched as Max's Showstopper rounds blew apart her chest, knocking her over. The other rolled away floppily, clearly affected by the gases in the room.

Behind the Marines, the IPG Commandos followed them with their own assortment of weapons. Mostly, however, they were armed either XARs (Xaser Assault Rifles) or shotguns. Given the confined spaces, they were aptly equipped. The compact energy rifles fired invisible beams that were obviously effective as great scorch marks appeared on the Crab's armor and it flinched wherever those marks were.

A pair of Commandos with shotguns fired armor piercing slugs that ricocheted off before quickly switching to squash rounds that detonated on impact. The Crab continued backing up, supported only by a scattered resistance from a few Nekos and thralls.

"Commandos!" the Marines heard Hawkins shout. "Kilrooooooy!" the others answered just loudly.

Not to be outdone, Henry shouted, "Marines!"

"HOORAH!" shouted Aleksei in response as he turned from behind his cover and fired his HHG with the red and FMJ mixture at whatever NMX troops happened to be within the effective range of the sidearm. Emptying the cylinder, he popped it out before using a speed loader filled with Red ammunition, switching his fire to the Crab along with the rest of the Nepleslian combatants.

"Fuck" Said Lisa as she found herself being barreled over a charging crab. At one point she had marines in front of herself and at other there was a mad misshu creature running through her. It was a bit similiar to being run over by an angry truck, but luckily Lisa was in the Golem armour. Her rifle skittered away to the side and she hit her back hard. "Owww," she said, then she started rising fast.

Lisa crawled to the side and grabbed her rifle. On the flank of the marines and commandoes she had a fairly good outlay of the room and its occupants. The crab was backing away from the barrage and Thralls and nekeos did not seem too good from all the various gases in the room. But back in the room, fairly away behind the bunch of nekoes was a Misshu. It towered there and seemingly tried to organise his slave troops.

Lisa's eyes went wide. A bloody Misshu. "HURRRRAAAY MOTHERFUCKERS!" She shouted and grabbed her Xaser rifle. The Misshu was fairly far so she just put on the heavy mode, aimed at the monster and after making sure there would be no blue-on-blue she started firing, pumping shot after shot into the monster.

With the Neps going on the offensive Rakowski added his own “Hurrah!” to the other marines’ war cry.
With the crab falling back it meant the creatures head was now in plain sight making it a viable target. Hopefully what would follow was a good hit and the I-APE rounds would end the crab’s life and Zyv would be free to kill something else.

Max watched as his rifle tore apart the enemy Neko in front of him. He could see that the other enemy was dazed but still needed to finish her off so she didn't cause trouble for the rest of the squad. Hearing the marines battlecry spurred him on as he continued to fire on the enemy unit. "HUUUUUUUUUUURAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" he screamed, firing controlled bursts in the direction of the fleeing Neko.