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

No one was quite sure whose rounds did it but the NMX Crab roared as it slumped to the floor. Its lifeblood leaking out of and pooling around it as the Marines and Commandos surged forwards.

Max didn't get the satisfaction of getting his second kill. The woozy Neko tripped over its foot and flopped onto the ground. His bullets sailed past without harming a thing. Before he could adjust his aim, a Commando stood over the Neko and blew its brains out with his shotgun.

From where she was, Lisa could see at least one of her shots hit the Mishhu but it wasn't enough. The Advanced Types were armored to take multiple hits. While not as resilient as the Crabs, they were still deadly in their own right.

Around the Nepleslians, now gathered in the main facility, the various barrack rooms remained shut. Inside were the trapped NMX thralls and Nekos. All under the mercy of one IPG Operator who was busy hacking and subverting the NMX systems as fast he could. Whoever was on the other side was an adept opponent. While his programs were crafted with the complex subtleties of the Freespacers, his opponent was simply brute forcing its way through in typical NMX fashion. Crude, but effective. Yet the overall digital battle was in the Nepleslian's favor.

All he had to do was keep this up until the others broke into the NMX command center in the back.

Ducking behind cover and Rakowski made a quick check of the amount of rounds in the loaded mag before leaning out and shifting his aim from the, now deceased, Crab to the Mishhu itself, ready to spend the rest of this I-APE mag on the "big" target, unless he received orders or the situation forced him to change his plan.

"That's what I like to hear!" Henry yelled, alluding to either the sound of gunfire, the yells of his soldiers charging in and making some statistics, or the screams of the enemy; It could've been all of them. Refocused and standing back up with his rifle in hand, he had to continue his tradition of leading from the front where possible.

He dropped the Monoeye drone's violin case from his back and executed a command for it to open, but not to jump out forward and make itself a target. As it did this, he gave it and his marines covering fire, trying to aim for the centres of mass and the heads on the Advanced Type Neko. He wasn't going to waste a grenade. He had to hurry lest the tide of the hacker battle swung in the NMX's favour and they regained control of the system, turning them into rats in a trap.

"Turn the turrets on in the command room!" He told Hawkins over radio as he made a strafe of fire using his last few rounds before dropping the empty magazine and slapping a new one in. "Marines, Commandoes, we're going to get some - we need to get to the Command room ASAP before they regain control of their systems!"

By putting a mutual goal in, he was making sure both Marine and Commando had a common goal of not being gassed and perforated by Mishhu with computers instead of something a little more appropriate for a lead-eating Marine or Commando.

Max was disappointed that he didn't get to finish off the enemy soldier. He sort of enjoyed all the combat he had seen and had been noted as "highly aggressive" in some of his duty reports. While being aggressive wasn't an extremely desired trait in civilian life(by the standards of other species anyway), it certainly came in handy in the Marines. Especially now that they were on the attack. Max reloaded his weapon and turned his attention to the advanced type in the room. He took some cover and unloaded on the ATN, aiming for the heads. He wanted to take this thing down quickly so that they could get moving before the enemy regrouped and counter-attacked. If that happened, Max knew that they would probably all be in trouble.

Lisa did not relent, she kept aiming at the Misshu and kept shooting heavy shots of her rifle at it. It did not do much at all so she just grabbed one of her plasma grenades, weighting it in her hand for a second, before she armed it and tossed it at the big squid. "EAT PLASMA FUCKER!" She shouted at the squid. " Fire in the hole, end of the hall!" She shouted.

Lisa's grenade exploded brilliantly in the darkness, blinding everyone as well as incinerating the Mishhu. None of the combatants could do anything with their eyes so badly hurt by the sudden brightness. For a few moments, aside from the cursing and screams of ocular pain, no one fired. No one could see what happened or where anyone else was.

It was the Mishhu, however, who rallied first. NMX Nekos wearing gas masks emerged from the far end of the hall, dressed in ornate body armor. They were clearly a bodyguard unit though the Marines who had been blinded were unaware of their entry. Their leader hissed orders in Yamataian and immediately, shots started darting towards the Marines. A fourth IPG Commando went down, impaled by a trio of blue particle beams. A beam sliced right through Zyv's hidey-hole, mere centimeters from his face. Another burned through Lisa's left leg, creating a smoking hole. Max took a hit to the shoulder but his armor managed to barely shrug it off. It was, however, painfully hot where the beam had impacted. Any movement of his left shoulder caused the burning sensation to increase and vigorous movement was terrifically agonizing.

Slowly, though, their eyes cleared as the Nepleslians shot for cover. They could see a dozen masked Nekos with another half dozen thralls. Behind them was quite obviously the last two ranking members of the facility. Another Advanced Mishhu and one of the rare NMX Nightmares.

By now, a couple of the IPG Commandos had grabbed the NMX Impaler rifles and started firing those back at the NMX with excellent effect. It was as deadly towards its creators as it was to the Nepleslians. A pair of Nekos in armor crumpled to the ground with charred holes in their chests. "Flashbangs in three, Marines. Cover your eyes!"

With barely any warning, the Commandos tossed some flashbang grenades into the open area which erupted into another dazzling displaying of lighting. This time, however, only the Mishhu were affected as the Marines had managed to cover their eyes. Lisa had managed to crawl to Zyv, resting her head against the hole where the particle beam had almost lanced Zyv's head. The Commandos rose, firing and screaming like wild men. "KILROY!"

Something went wrong in Henry's helmet. The message was clear that the grenade was sailing towards the NMX, loosed by Lisa and he made the neural command to shutter his visor with blast goggles. They only came halfway down and they locked up before they could fully protect his eyes. The consistent grinds and clicks signified that there was perhaps a flaw in the blast goggles of the helmet - perhaps when it was exposed to dust or vacuum. A more robust mechanism is needed for these for vacuum exposure, Henry footnoted when he had to give his feedback on the armour.

If he and the team survived. He was blind for several seconds, but his heads up display did its best to compensate for the fact that Henry was effectively blind right now. the targeting computer in the helmet and the link to his weapon were compensating for his blindness by giving him feedback when there was an available target to fire at. Using this information, he was able to place shots on NMX.

Having the queen bee come out of the woodwork was just what he needed. "Lay down your arms. For your information, we've got several hundred angry Freespacer civilians in on this, and they're willing to leak the locations of your other bases if you refuse to comply."

"1 G0T Y0U BY TH3 SH0RTH41RS, T33H33," the speaker beside Henry's helmet scrawled in Freespacer dialect as it crackled to life, patched through from the IPG and tunnelled in their own sheath of secure connection. "SH0ULD 1 L34K SH14NSH1 0UTP0ST 0N TH3 BLU3 R1FT 0R TH4T 3NCL4V3 4 F3W L1GHTY34RS 34ST 0F N3P PR1M3?" Shianshi Outpost and that Enclave weren't sensitive, but they still existed. They didn't have time to scrub their logs.

"And that's just our counter-security detail," Henry added. "With those leaks you'll be wishing we'd tried to shoot you instead."

Apparently they were a friend of his brother's who specialised in counter-security and tended for being a freelancer in addition to many other jobs. Apparently there was more than one of her too. "00PS! D1D '3M B0TH. 3NJ0Y Y0UR B4NS, S1ST4H!" A scratching, digital, lilting laugh could be heard.

For a moment, the NMX fire hesitated, the Nekos and thralls looking for guidance. The Advanced NMX roared something in its perverted language but was cut short by the sharp, sudden impalement of the Nightmare's arm through its brain. Regardless of whether or not you have such support, further resistance is, as you imply, pointless. After all, we have no ships and I am sure you have plenty more on the way. And if the rumors are correct, then whatever we desired from the fighting is already unattainable. So, I surrender.

The voice was inside everyone's heads, a psionic thought projected from the Nightmare. It was smooth and seductive, both male and female and yet neither. It walked forwards, presenting itself to the Nepleslians. Its form was a perversion of the Neko yet from all the reports that the Nepleslians had, it was a Mishhu and not a Neko.

The IPG Commandos kept their weapons trained on the Nightmare, waiting for Henry Morris to say something in reply. He was the mission leader.

As they waited, the Nepleslians realized that the thralls began turning their guns on themselves while the Nekos were obediently throwing down their guns and stripping. I doubt you have any use for useless lumps of meat but some say your kind enjoy Nekos as sex slaves. They will be obedient.

One thrall's brains exploded in Henry's direction and splattered his left leg. He didn't flinch at all and flicked the shards of bone and viscera off of his foot as though it was just a piece of dirt stuck on his boots.

"We're not fans of sexually transmitted diseases, you're mistaking us for Yamataians ma'am," Henry replied with a stone face to the woman who was above being a Nekovalkyrja, a sort of apex 'next step' in evolution if he'd ever considered one. He had a craving for headache pills thanks to the psychic intrusion but he'd have to worry about that later. "We'll have to decline." He then radioed a command to the IPG commandos as the thought of whether or not the Nightmare was listening to the radio, or his other thoughts, "Alright, arrest them and shoot any that resist. Tell the pickup we're ready and we've got 'passengers'."

It was almost too easy afterwards. The Nightmare placidly obeyed, as if it found the entire thing amusing. The Nekos followed suit, exhibiting nervousness rather than the aloofness that their master displayed. The lights were restored and a normal atmosphere reintroduced into the facility, allowing the Nepleslians to breathe more easily.

As the Commandos shuffled their prisoners to the docked transport, more IPG crew came aboard to retrieve the bodies of the dead. One Commando pulled out a spray can and went to work on a patch of wall. In big, bold black letters, he wrote "KILROY WAS HERE "

The end of the fighting and return of lighting allowed Henry Morris to survey the NMX facility properly. Part of it was given to the manufacture of NH bodies, specifically NH-29 Nekos. Others were more similar to cloning facilities on Nepleslia used to create ID-SOLs and quirky medics named Laura Romero. As he looked closer, Henry realized that one of them was a Mr. Brown clone.

"A couple cruisers will be here tomorrow with NAM techs and geeks to look over this stuff. I'll be leaving some of my crew here as guards. Best get your people aboard. First time we've caught this kind of fish. Good job, Corporal," Captain Walters said, appearing beside Henry.

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The NSS Snooper left Port Hope for Dejection and the IPG prisonworld of Abjection. The Nightmare was locked up in a cell that was most definitely psionic-proof. It was standard considering how any captured Nekos could communicate telepathically. The IPG wanted no risks and posted guards outside the cells. The Marines, now, were merely cargo without any duties aboard the ship. On a Navy ship, they would have taken turns standing guard over the prisoners, the Captain's quarters and the Admiral's quarters. Nonetheless, it made for an excellent opportunity for the two branches to see who could outdo who.

At Abjection, the Marines took their gear and headed for a civilian courier contracted to return them to Prime. Aboard the courier, they found another passenger. An IPG man with a top knot.

"I am Commandant Shang. This shuttle will take off in ten minutes so I will be brief. This operation falls under the greatest secrecy. We are not yet prepared to reveal the presence of a NMX outpost in a Freespacer territory publicly. We did this without the Freespacers' knowledge and already their streams are abuzz with theories. Once we finish up the details, an announcement will be made and the secrecy order lifted. Also, I want you all to know that when you get back, there will have been two more attempts on Grand Admiral Valken's life. Both were thwarted by your colleagues. While they won't know what you did, the Grand Admiral does. We might soon be able to produce replacement bodies for our Jiyuuian comrades thanks to you," he said. Shang spoke quickly and sharply, not letting any of them say a word.

"Good day to you all. I suspect that the last act of this drama will be an IPG only operation."

With that farewell, he stepped off the transport as the ramp closed behind him. And that was an end to the Minutemen's foray into black ops.

Two days later, they found themselves back on Prime and a very ruined neighborhood around 4th Fleet HQ.

End