RP: NSS Sledge Mama [NSS Sledge Mama] Ep. 3 - Into Steel

Mark picked himself up off the floor groaning and cursing. "Just because my brilliant plan failed doesn't mean you have to hit me," He muttered to himself as he waited for a plan of action.

The wait was broken when Wulfe started to put some kind of plan into action. "On it," Mark said, stacking up. On the go command he swung left, sweeping the area with pistol as he moved. Moving far enough to peek around the corner down the other hallway he stopped and crouched.

It was a complete and utter bloodbath once through the door. "God damn there's a lot of dead cats out here. There's at least one more Militant somewhere and no telling how many more through the various doors. This is going to be highly interesting to say the least." He called over his shoulder trying not to be overly loud. However many more hostiles there were, he didn't want them coming down on them.

Max felt lucky to be alive. He hadn't gone into combat without armor in a long time. Being outgunned in a fight wasn't the Nep way, much less avoiding a fight, but considering their armament, it seemed like the only way to go. Looking down at his pistol he wished he had something better. "Too bad we can't salvage that autocannon commented Max as he pushed up to the door. He looked at the carnage in the hallway and moved up behind Wulfe. He didn't want to be anywhere near Mark or Terrance, least they pull more BS shenanigans

Richard let out a loud long sigh as the Militant was put down, giving them a bit of a break. Though it was a moment to relax, they were not out of the woods yet, so he kept his senses sharp and his eyes on the board, he was aware that there was another militant in the area, but he had lost sight of it when the door was closed, it could be anywhere now. Instead of partaking in the brief exchanges though he decided to fill his moon clips with ammunition and free load the cylinder on his HHG to capacity, he wasn't sure when he'd next get time to load the clips so keeping them well stocked was a priority.

"Sar- I mean Chief, I'm not a tactician or anything, but wouldn't it be logical for them to attack life support since they're machines as well as engineering and the armory? It would take out our ability to fight them, so that might be the locations they're most focused at..it might be something to keep in mind as we move."

Rachael watched Emi punch Mark in the balls, and that brought a grin to her face, she approved of such actions and gave Emi a big thumbs up before following the group, as she had pick and chosen her shots instead of shooting blindly she only now had to replace her ammunition in preparation for the next battle. She moved to follow the group sticking close to Richard for the moment since he definitely seemed like one of the smarter marines instead of Mark and Terrance...who at the moment seemed the dumber of the group. She sighed a bit and listened to Richard. "...Actually that does make a good deal of sense, if we can't breath or live, it would make their mission all that much easier."

"Oh, alright." Terrence sounded slightly dejected after being denied. He had stepped back from his position when the Nekoes proceeded to attend to him. "Oh, right, forgot about that." Not really, he had just done his best to ignore it. "Thanks, guys... Girls. Uh, undefined?" The marine shook his head to bring himself back to the present and not worry about what the call the two cat-women. "I guess I'll stay back and provide support then." He said to no one in particular. Wulfe was right, he wasn't in too much of a state to continue fighting, as much as he'd like to be. Speaking of support troops, Terrence looked over to watch Kelly blast the downed Militant. It was actually kind of saddening, hearing that Militant speak, not understanting of the fact that the other combat robot in the room was serving in the NSMC. He didn't know Kelly all that well except that she was a Freespacer, (in name if nothing else) and that she was the unit's medic. He approached her while throwing a few furtive glances at the room's entrance, making sure no hostiles were entering or that Ylfa wasn't ordering the rest of them to leave. "Hey, Kelly, you alright?" Of course she was alright, but it would take a hermit to not realize that he was checking in to make sure she wasn't emotionally impacted by taking out the fellow machine. Even if he was fighting for someone else.

War was hell. It was a fact. And not that place on Yamatai - war was the place after which that particular set of caverns was named. It was the one that people had a large, heaping slice of to themselves when any war broke out. The kind from old legends and horror.

Blood curdling and stomach churning nightmares.

Center Hallway

Having made sure the area was clear for the moment, Wulfe and Max knelt and searched the closest bodies to them. The former spotted his prize first, making a grab for the weapon as soon as he saw its dull blue. Its owner's cold hand clung on to the half-depleted NSP jealously. Glancing at her, Wulfe realized she was the Neko he had seen being dragged earlier, before Ylfa had shut the door. Up close, even as he started to struggle in prying her fingers off the grip, the young man's eyes could tell she was practically torn in half by autocannon fire.

That meant whatever ammo she had was on her remains from the waist down - he could get that first, then come back to the stubborn gun. Meanwhile, Max had an easier time; the Yamataian woman that had dragged her friend hadn't even drawn her own pistol. Stepping into the large pool of blood that had come out of the quarter-sized holes punched through her, he easily got what he wanted. As Wulfe turned around to follow the blood trail to the Neko's batteries with his eyes however, an agonized gasp came from between the two Marines.

The Neko was still alive, and though her eyes were lifeless, she wasn't giving up her gun.

West Hallway

Rachael's thumbs up to Emi got her a blank stare back as the chocolate flavored Neko turned away to get moving, only looking back over her shoulder for a brief moment. It was hard to read the smaller girl, but even then, it felt like a century ago with what was happening now.

"Not Cats. Girls," a voice whispered in Mark's ear.

Looking down at the dozens of dead, the sudden scare had him make the mistake of looking at just one close by. The way she looked, he could have sworn he saw her out of his porn-mag. The feeling only added to the crushing sensation that Emi gave him in between the legs earlier. Before the marine could budge, Mark saw one of Ylfa's hands pointing at one of the doorways. As still as a statue, was a destroyed Militant, its legs standing upright. Around it were the slagged and molten remains of another, and something else. Something that caught their full, undivided attention. A pair of men clad in heavy armor, one Nepleslian in make, the other an upgraded Lorath one. The rifles that lay next to their bodies them couldn't be distinguished this far away, but it was clear that they were with the Militant and were heading into the energy weapon riddled doorway when they died.

Ylfa held a finger up to her lips. "Militants mean Freespacers, and Freespacers doing this means IWL, or something related," her thoughts came to their implants. "I know life support isn't their style since there's civvies on this station, but these are Yammy citizens. On the other hand, cutting off life support to kill is touchy for them, since they all live on ships. Even then, it isn't our biggest concern until we get comms," the Master Sergeant pointed out to them all. The body Mark looked at was closest, but the next two were just a few feet past the corner, and that much closer to the destroyed Militants and the damaged doorway, just 10, maybe 15 meters away.

"We take this slow and quiet as possible," she told them, taking the lead. "I'll take point and cover while you three police those guns."

East Hallway

"Hmph. Get it right next time, or I won't bandage you up again," the raven haired Neko replied out to him, making a little show of it by crossing her arms and turning away. She didn't hold it up for long though. "Not that it matters, with what's going on," Mayumi added, ears drooping at the thought. Both Emi and Kelly were already moving on ahead, but when he addressed the Freespacer next, she paused. Looking back, the pair of red dots she had on her screen had the upper, outer corners flattened. Her eyes were frowning at him.

"Nuh huh," the young-machine shook her head. The two red dots merged together into one, which looked angry and menacing by its lonesome.

With the four of them taking a right down the relatively untouched hallway of neatly hidden maintenance terminals, the two neared the corner and the hallway they were going to go down. Giving them the 'halt' signal, Kelly went first, swiftly but silently 'slicing the pie' like the well oiled machine she was. Motioning them forward, what they saw was shocking. This hallway was painted in red, with green strewn over its floor. It was where the other marines were at. Looking down its length, they could see the two doors closest to them were closed, while further down they were open.

"Forensic analysis tells me most of the fighting happened inside the rooms up ahead, with some of it spilling out into the hallway," Kelly told them via radio. They had the option of whether to check the two doors first, or skip them to get to the bodies towards the end and scavenge for goods.

West Hallway

Rachael looks around at all the girls who were dead, and took a breath. That scowl taking a form of somber sadness for a second in quiet respite. "May not of liked them...but they didn't deserve this..." she said through her teeth in a low whisper, and then the scowl returned to her face "Lets kill as many of these IWL fucks as we can...and get out of here alive." Her voice still rather low, not having the luxury of implants to speak through those. She then moved to search a nearby girl for a weapon once she's found one she stands up and gets in position ignoring the bloodshed, and carnage. It was unfortunate, but that was war... everyone suffered in times like this... at least the Neko's and Minkans and Geshrins; As rare as the Geshrins are, all had the Soul Transfer Technology... That means chances are a majority of these girls would find life once more..

Unfortunately, that doesn't take away the shock, the suffering, or the pain that those who live would have to go through seeing their friends, their families, and the ones they love die. Rachael's face looked more angry then normal, her focus impeccably accurate now, she had one goal, and one goal only...to survive, to ensure her new family survived, to ensure that everything that she has worked for won't come to an end. She was going to kill as many of these fucks as she had to to survive.

"Top I'm going to to inspect the downed individuals in the power armor." Mark quietly said. Taking a deep breath, he set out. Taking extreme care not to trip over any of the dead while trying to move quietly enough and fast enough to close the distance to his goal was nerve wracking. He felt that at any moment he was going to get shot by something he hadn't noticed previously.

Upon arrival, Mark let out a sigh of relief. He began to search the area around the bodies and discovered two MG-32 machine guns. Only one was functional but at least he would be getting a better weapon. "Apparently we have to worry about militants as well as men with machine guns in golem and wind armor," He said while holstering his pistol. He picked up the weapon and removed ammo from the dead men. "I think our situation just got a little bit better. Anything else you want be to take or look at while I'm over here," he asked crouching whilst making sure the weapon would be ready to fire if the need was to arise.

Terrence blinked at Kelly's brusqueness before setting off after her. He wouldn't act tough himself, he was far too expressive. Even if she was a machine, he presumed she had feelings, like any organic being. Ah, but that kind of musing had to wait, they needed to get out of this Hell-hole. The colonist set up the pistol against the corner leading into the hallway to steady his shots, in the event they had to do some fighting in the hallway as well. "Whatever killed them might still be through those doors. I say get to those guys on the ground and use whatever they're packin'."

West Hall

Richard looked around to see the carnage around groaning some in disgust. "This is horrible..." He muttered under his breath as he followed Ylfa's gestures to see anotehr Militant as well as two men in heavy armor, one Nepleslian and one Lorath, he wasn't sure if the race matched the armor, but either way it wasn't a good sign militants were hard enough with their current gear. However there were many bodies laying around with several different weapons so when he heard Ylfa's orders through his ear piece he moved to check the bodies, getting his hands on an HAS that he could make use of.

Center Hallway

"Fuck," Wulfe whispered with surprise, putting his pistol back to its place on his belt as the marine's left hand stopped trying to pry the gun out of the neko's hand and instead moved to clamp her mouth and silence the gasps. The marine quickly looked down the hallway to see if any of the enemies were coming to finish what they started, and then looked back down at the damage the neko had received; it was as good as dead and beyond saving as far as he could tell, not that it mattered, because the cats could just revive later. 'Immortal, but not invulnerable,' he quickly thought, echoing one of the first things that he had been taught during the training regimen that the IPG had imposed on some squads of the 4th fleet.

Wulfe brought his then free hand up to his face, making a "shhh" gesture for the neko even though he wasn't sure it could still hear him, then brought it down again and started insistently tugging at the NSP again.

Center Hallway

Max collected the NSP and pistol clips and put it into his pocket. He holstered his own pistol and switched to the NSP as it was more effective. Walking over to Wulfe to cover him he was startled when the Neko appeared to still be clinging to life. Seeing Wulfe going down to struggle with the gun, Max moved his eyes to follow the blood trail down the hall towards where the batteries were to collect them. He figured they had to move up anyway and at least this way he could cover Wulfe while he tried to get a hold of the weapon.

East Hallway

As Terrance steadied his gun, the others nodded in response and moved forward, looking for weapons and ammo. Already though, Emi was quick to notice something. "There aren't as many dead Nepleslians in the hallway as there were Neko in the last one," she pointed out, picking out a Zen .45 for herself. It was also the closest thing she could get. "I'm going back - the stuff I want isn't here, and we're over-strength anyways."

"Well, they're not as fast as us - they probably all got killed in their rooms instead of managing to fight," Mayumi innocently suggested. When she started to rummage through one of the bodies though, her mouth soon opened slightly as an eyebrow twitched in disbelief. She found a grenade, the dead man's finger still looped around the pin. The Neko simply stared at it, not quite comprehending what was in front of her, nor how or why it got there. Emi simply picked it up and dropped her handgun in exchange as she went back, leaving the confused Neko to try to come to grips with what just happened.

The Freespacer merely shook her head as Emi made to leave - rummaging over one of the bodies she saw holding an HHG, she went through the pockets and found exactly what she was looking for, pulling the dead marine's hand out. Servos silent, she removed the previous moon clip and slipped the new one in before making her way back to Terrance. "Your index finger and thumb are still good on your shooting hand, right?" Kelly whispered to him. "You can still steady your shots - just make sure to use both hands when holding this then - it's got RED rounds. The guy was still reloading and didn't get to put them in," she explained. Making sure he could hold it right with his bandaged hand, Kelly told them what she was planning.

"There's blood leading into the two closed doors, and I'd rather not risk finding out what's inside, so Mayumi and I will go past them and check on the open ones. If it's something bad, we'll back off and lure what's inside out so you can hit it," she suggested, synthesizer volume set to low for his benefit. "Unless you got a better idea."

Center Hallway

Looking at her, Wulfe could see that her eyes weren't blinking or focusing - the young woman was so far gone, she couldn't see. But she could still feel. Being shushed as she lay there in her own pool, the Nepleslian Marine could feel the Neko's grip tighten as he kept tugging at the pistol. And her trigger finger start to squeeze. Luck was the only thing that kept the blaster from going off at this range; she went limp, the last bit of life she had fleeing in despair. With her dead, he easily took the weapon and found it was at 25 shots left as Max meandered back in the direction that they came from.

He didn't have to go far to find what he was looking for though. The both of them had passed the lower half of Wulf's Neko moments ago after all. It was right about then that Emi came into view with a grenade in her hand, her footsteps relaxed and casual, but also quiet. Keeping watch, she stood there with her explosive at the ready as he searched through the blood soaked belt holster that the dead woman was wearing over her pleated skirt. Out of it all, he found two batteries. It was something.

Both marines and Neko still had the four open rooms up ahead to check, and a squad's worth of bodies in the hallway in front of them before they could get to the doorway in the T junction up ahead. Even then, they had no idea what was around the corners.

West Hallway

Despite communicating with them over radio earlier, Ylfa shook her head and whispered back, "No. They're after the Yams, not us." As cold as it was, it was also most likely the truth. Rachael plucked an NSP off the ground, and checking its battery, found it with 30 rounds left. The owner was just a few feet forward with two more magazines in her holster; considering that the redhead was face down, and with her right arm shot off, it wasn't a surprise the weapon was dropped. It wasn't much, but more firepower was some consolation to the grim situation they found themselves in.

Meanwhile, both young men moved forward, past Ylfa, and to the dead enemies at the doorway. Richard managed to grab the SMG off of one of the two dead men, but not before Mark got his weapon and pulled on its loose ammo belt. The rounds clinking and clattering, the wall to their left cam apart as an automatic stream of energy bolts shot through it, the shooter firing blind in an attempt to kill whoever was outside.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Terrence responded quietly, stowing the pistol Ylfa handed him in favor of the HHG. He opened the wheel to check out the ammo. "Rock on." He thought to himself as he loaded the RED rounds. "Okay, I think I can do this." This was as much to himself as it was to Kelly. He crouched and took up position, steadying the revolver against corner of the wall. In his peripheral, he took in the revolver's appearance. Once again, he was reminded of his foolish destruction of his own HHG. That was a childhood weapon right there. This revolver was... Different. It felt different, the scratches and burns were in different places, and lower in quantity. It simply wasn't his. "Keep an eye out, you done fool. You can fix your revolver later." Terrence privately berated himself, bringing his sight back to the hallway. He heard energy weapon discharge, but it would be dealt with by the others.

Center Halway

"Got the gun," Wulfe said, removing the hand that had clamped the formerly alive neko's mouth shut. The marine inspected the gun, turning it around his hand for a couple of seconds before finally looking down the hallway. The IPG had taught him to use many weapons than the standard stuff that he had gotten his hands on as a marine, so he figured he wouldnt have much trouble operating the NSP. He was about to stand up and keep moving when he heard the chatter of automatic fire on the hallway to his left.

"Shit!" he whispered, springing up and pressing his side against the wall to his left. He glanced behind to see which backup he had and spotted the neko with the grenade. Simply perfect. "You with the grenade, I'm gonna open this door and you lob it inside if I give you the okay, got it?" he said to Emi, pointing with his left hand at the first door to the left of the corridor. If whoever was shooting wasn't in that one, then the she could throw the grenade on the next one.

Not waiting for confirmation, the marine crept along the wall, gun pointing forward as he got closer to the door. Wulfe slammed a closed fist on the panel next to the door, waiting for it to open and quickly glanced inside, pulling his head out after he got a brief look at the room.

"Well fuck you too," Mark muttered as he crouched and fired a few bursts into the wall with his new MG. Without waiting to see if his attacker would still be around for another attempt at killing him, he fell back a few feet. He crouched again with his weapon at the ready and waited while he took a moment to assess the situation.

West Hallway

Richard was checking the HAS over as the bullets burst through the wall, causing him to dive to the ground quickly to avoid fire. "Damn it! Why can't anything be easy!?" He quickly moved himself to a position out of the line of fire and got back up to a kneeling position he wanted to stay low, but he also wanted to be ready to run if someone else showed up. Once he was up he took aim into the space ready to fire, but then it hit him, the militant was not using energy weapons, that's Yam's thing, so his finger stopped just before pulling the trigger and shouted. "We're from Sledge Mama, with Nepleslia!" He shouted, hoping they could hear him.

West Hallway

Rachael moved forward and got the extra rounds from the red head, she sighed a bit and put them on her belt for easy access. She looked over the NSP and began doing the check on it before nodding and taking it off safety once done. She moved to get back into position only for the shots to be fired through the wall. She was lucky to avoid one, so she was able to react rather quickly dropping down on

She looked over to check on Richard, moving with him by crawling on her belly until out of the line of fire, putting her back against a wall. She prepared her own weapon to fire, but noticed that Richard wasn't firing as such she hesitated and listened to him announce who they were. She looked clueless for a moment, before pausing and realizing what he was doing. The person inside wasn't a militant, cause they were not using bullets, but rather an energy weapon. She paused and kept her gun trained on the wall, waiting for the persons response.

West Hallway

The rapid fire bolts of energy ate through the wall and blasted it apart, hot pieces and fire flying through the air. As the machine gun in Mark's hands shoved him hard and roared at the shooter, a stream of shining brass cases poured onto the ground. Already through half of the hundred round belt pulled out of the pack, the fragments from the exchange peppered his uniform and fell to the ground, stinging the marine but otherwise not hurting him as he fell back. Even this close, neither party could tell if they even managed to land any hits. Richard yelling at the doorway got more solid results, as they heard a familiar voice.

"In that case, you have nothing to fear. So please step forward, right into my line of fire," Freiya replied.

"You little runt! You're still alive?" Ylfa yelled back, turning her gaze at Richard with a nod. Before they knew it, the Neko had stepped into their view, weapon at the ready. Except, she wasn't quite how they remembered her at all. She was peering out of the cupola of a humanoid mech or frame like a driver would with a tank. Except, this 'mech' was practically five feet tall. At that, two things dawned on them. First, though it was blackened and damaged, it was the same exact Sylph she used on them in the sim, complete with blue paint and ocean inspired whorls. Second, that Freia was roughly seven inches tall and the size of a doll; she was a Mini-Neko. One that was peering out of the little hatch at the base of the neck.

As this all dawned on them, her Sylph kept its palms aimed down the hallway the marines were about to go further down. "One Militant. It went that way," she tersely replied. Looking at where Freia was pointing her palm weapon, they could see the corner to the right was blasted several times during an earlier exchange.

"Marines, there's one confirmed Militant, last slighted somewhere in the back of the hallways, where we're heading," Ylfa quickly told the others over their comms.

Center Hallway

As Wulfe stacked up at the doorway, Max caught up with him and passed over a few of the spare batteries he had scavenged. At the same time, Emi winced at the idea of what the two marines were about to do. Getting ready to back the two up with her grenade if things got particularly bad, she held her breath, finger on the pin. The moment the door opened, black smoke poured out of the compartment; not a thing moved inside, considering most of it all was burned to cinders. Whether or not any of the weapons and batteries they had was salvageable was out of the question - a slagged room with burned bodies was not where they wanted to be. Moving up past the two marines' room, Emi took up to getting herself an NSP and batteries from the hallway massacre.

"I tried to say something, but that Nepleslian phrase? 'Cat got my tongue', I think," the Neko shrugged.

Up the hallway and towards the back, the three of them heard a heavy, stomping footfall as something shifted. They couldn't tell exactly where it was, but it was most likely to the right.

East Hallway

Steadying himself, Terrance watched as the two women with him began to move up. Mayumi's footsteps were soft and silent as she moved like a cat. Kelly's movements had the same effect, but for much different reasons; each move she made was precise and mechanical, carefully calculated to not make a single sound. The Freespacer and the Neko both moved up and past the first set of closed doors, the former on the left and the latter on the right, until they were past. Nearing the last and final set however, they both froze still. Mayumi's black furred ears perked as the hair on them stood up on end, while Kelly's head silently turned on a swivel.

All three of them heard the weighty stomp of a war-machine somewhere ahead of them, just as Ylfa's message arrived.

'Shit, no wonder that Cat left us - she already knew it was here somehow! Can't trust a Neko!' Kelly angrily messaged the squad, quietly backpedaling, step by step.

'Shut up you stupid toaster!' Mayumi angrily spat back over the line. Already, the two were staring daggers at each other.

Terrence didn't bother speaking. He simply tilted the weapon in his hand to the right and tapped the handle against the wall, loud enough for it to catch the attention of his pals, but quiet enough that anyone out of sight shouldn't be able to hear. Rat-tat-tat... Rat-tat-tat. When he was sure he had caught the other survivors' attention, he made the universal hand signal of "enemy infantry," and motioned for them to get to cover. He stared down the hallway past them, motioning the barrel of the HHG for emphasis, and prepared to fire the RED rounds at whatever came around that corner. Perspiration appeared on his forehead as he became unsure of himself. "Don't miss... Don't miss... Come on, you fuckin' thing, get out here so I can shoot you in your ugly face!"